How My Daughter Saved Equestria

Remember Hard Head, the foal who made light of Twilight and myself and bullied others earlier in the story? Well, he plays a rather big role in all of this, and it all started when we arrived at our evacuation site. Cadance, Shining Armor, and the teenage Flurry Heart met us there, albeit with some fussing from their filly. She had recently become enamored with a member of their castle guard, and she saw no reason why they had to evacuate The Crystal Empire when the fire had been in Ponyville.

“But, Mom,” she complained as they walked into Celestia and Luna’s home in Silver Shoals (our “undisclosed location”), “Valorous Swift and I were just about to kiss!”

“You were NOT going to kiss that stubborn young stallion!” Cadance said, “you’re too young to be thinking of such things.”

“Didn’t you fall in love once, Mom?”

Cadance rolled her eyes, and I had to keep from laughing. “Yes, sweetheart, I did. But I was much older when I met and began loving your father. Now, why don’t you go play with your cousin?”

Flurry huffed and pouted a bit, thinking that her entire future had come crashing down around her ears. I heard her mutter something about “stupid evacuation” and “that HUNK Valorous” as she trotted off down the hall to see Diamond. She truly loved her cousin, and Diamond reciprocated the love fully. I just hoped that our filly’s sweet and gentle affection would be enough to pull Flurry out of her bad attitude.

“Hi, Cadance,” I said as I embraced my sister-in-law, “I would normally offer the traditional assumption that everything is well in your home, but…”

She pulled back and smiled sadly. “You’d do well to avoid that assumption right now. Everything went to absolute hell when Dystopia made her television debut. Ponies were scrambling over each other, and Shining Armor and our forces had to become violent with some in order to keep some kind of structure.”

“It was terrible!” Shining said as he trotted up next to his wife, “The Crystal Ponies were in a panic, screaming that Sombra had returned and a new millennium of darkness was upon them. I felt awful about having to become physical with one or two of them, but they would have attacked others just to escape. We needed to create at least the illusion of peace and order.”

Twilight came up beside me and hugged her older brother and sister-in-law. “I wish we could meet under happier circumstances,” she said as she pulled away.

“Me too, Twilight,” Cadance said, “I keep telling you that we need to get together when Equestria isn’t on the line.”

The two chuckled, finding comfort in each other. I loved watching them interact. The love that they had shared from the time Twilight was a filly had continued, and it was unbreakable. They had faced so much together, and they were not about to surrender to this evil. I noted the determined glint in each of their eyes, and I felt peaceable about the whole situation. We’ll make it through, I told myself, I don’t know how, but I just feel like we will.

Suddenly, a small knock was heard. We all gathered against each other, preparing for the worst should Dystopia come barging in. We knew that we had kept our evacuation site a classified secret, but we also knew that things have ways of leaking out. So we readied ourselves for disaster. “Alright,” Celestia said, “Cadance, you open the door and we’ll cover you.”

Cadance nodded and weaved her magic over the handle. After a moment of thought, and perhaps to reflect on her entire life, she opened it…and the small colt, Hard Head stood before us. We were shocked, to say the least. We had no idea how he’d gotten there, nor where his parents were. But Celestia, kind soul that she is, gently stepped forward and bent down to nuzzle and comfort the young one. “Little colt,” she said, not knowing his name, “how did you get here?”

“My aunt dropped me off,” Hard Head managed to squeak out.

He looked absolutely terrified, like he had just seen the world’s most grotesque apparition. Celestia took great pity on him and shielded him with her wing. Even though she was no longer a Princess, her Alicorn abilities and powers had not been removed. She would remain that way until she was entombed. She trotted Hard Head over to where we were, after shutting the door and locking it with a very powerful magic.

“Do you know this young pony?” She asked us.

“Of course we do!” Twilight said happily, “this is Diamond’s friend, Hard Head. My only question is…how did his aunt know we were staying here?”

“She just said she knew,” Hard Head said, “and then she plopped me on the front porch and took off. Oh, she left this note that I’m supposed to give to you.”

Here, he turned and pulled the small parchment out of his saddlebag. Twilight magically took it and opened it. As she read it, I could see the chills running down her spine. I managed to peek at it from over her shoulder, and I felt the same reverberations. This is what it said:

Royal Fools,

This pitiful colt is now yours. Do whatever you wish with him, because I don’t care now and I never did. He was thrust upon me by the hoof of fate itself, and he’s been nothing but a nuisance and a hindrance. Hard Head is a very fitting name for such a dumb colt. He’s worthless to me, but I figure…worthless ponies ought to be put together. So he’s yours. For the record, I hate all of you, but especially that brat. I would have killed him, but he wasn’t even worth the bloodshed or wear and tear on my horn. I hope you all rot in hell.

Dystopia

Twilight immediately bent down and wrapped the colt up in an embrace, trying desperately to show him that somepony cared. “How awful!” She cried, “to treat a young foal this way is the most despicable evil anypony can commit! Hard Head…or is that your name?”

He shook his head. “My real name is Silver Blaze, but my aunt took it away and named me Hard Head.”

“Listen, Silver,” I said, using his real name and eschewing the insulting old one, “that pony was not your aunt. She was-“

“-Dystopia, I know.” Silver finished, “She killed my Mommy and Daddy in front of me, but I was too scared to go for help. I was forced to help her intrude on the E1 broadcast, and I was forced…to…help her set Ponyville on fire!”

The poor colt began sobbing, and Twilight tightened her embrace. Love and friendship, like a magic aura, wafted off of her and infused itself into him and he grasped her back. “Nopony cares about me!” The young one cried, “I have no friends!”

“That’s not true!” Twilight said in desperation, “Diamond’s your friend!”

“She won’t want to be that anymore when she learns what I’ve done.”

Cadance smiled and bent down to nuzzle the foal. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Silver Blaze,” she said kindly, “you were forced into it by that horrible Dystopia.”

Suddenly, we heard a small gasp from the other side of the room. Diamond and Flurry had come in and found us all trying to console Silver. Diamond trotted across the room and gave him the sweetest hug I’ve ever seen. Tears played with the corners of my eyes as I watched our beloved filly bring friendship and harmony to somepony else. Twilight arose and stood next to me, and I noticed the same liquid in her eyes.

“It’s okay…Silver Blaze,” Diamond said. It became apparent that she had heard most of the conversation, and was now willing to call him by his new moniker. “I’ll always be your friend,” she went on, “no matter what. That’s what friendship is. We can’t let it die in the face of this evil. Mommy taught me that, and now I need to act upon it.”

With that, she tightened her hug, and Silver returned it. The two friends sat motionless for a while, and I could tell that they were just enjoying the feeling of being together. You’ve done a hell of a lot of good, my love, I silently told Twilight, but this might be your greatest accomplishment yet. Just seeing friendship abound between these two is amazing. If this kind of amiability can be fostered within everypony, then Dystopia wouldn’t have a chance in hell.

Twilight must have read my thoughts. “I’m so proud of these two,” she said, “for they are embodying the true spirit of friendship. It is their innocence that we must defend against Dystopia and all of the evil she brings. We must fight to the bitter end for Equestria, and we must not allow ourselves to waver from the things we’ve taught ourselves and each other. Friendship must reign supreme, both now…and forevermore.”