"So... I think we should head back and check on the Elements, Mom... and my gal." Rumi broke the silence completely after spending a full hour of a peaceful reunion with his mother.

"I suppose." Luna sighed, reluctant to end her time with her son. She didn’t really want to since she hadn’t seen him in more than a thousand years… but duty calls as some would say.

"Truth be told, I do want to stay some more and spend a little bit longer with you, Mom... but duty calls." Rumi sighed as well – he had read his mother’s mind easily and knew that she wanted what he wanted.

"Aye, that it does." Luna agreed with a small nod.

Rumi hugged his mother as tight as he could before smiling gently. "We have a lot to catch up though..."

"I imagine we do." Luna hugged him back – a smile plastered on her own lips as well. Once they broke off the hug, the two headed back down to see the Elements awakening with Namine and Celestia watching over them.

"We didn't miss anything important, did we?" Luna asked as the new keepers were slowly standing up and groaning – the princess of the night must have guessed that they were still tired from using the Elements on her dark side.

"No, you haven't." Celestia assured before walking over to her sister and hugging her once more. "I just want to say again how happy I am to have you back and how sorry I am for what happened."

Luna nodded and hugged her elder sister as tight as she could. "The same, Tia... but don't you have something to say to your nephew?"

"Rumi, I'm sorry for having the aim of a blind mare," Celestia said, only a slight note of self-deprecating humor in her voice… albeit a failed one.

Rumi crossed his arms in annoyance and looked away much to Luna’s amusement. Her little boy was definitely going to remember this for as long as he lived.

"Yes, I know it's going to take more than an apology and a poor attempt at humor to earn your forgiveness," Celestia admitted before going silent for a bit. "But I'm willing to make the effort. I ignored my family once, I don't intend to repeat that mistake." She assured her nephew who was still ignoring her.

Yet… her words had the effect that Celestia was hoping for. Rumi sighed before looking at his aunt – no sense in remaining in the past. It was time to focus on the present… and the foreseeable future.

"Fine... I'm eager to let you earn back my trust... Auntie." Rumi spoke before allowing himself to hug his aunt.

"Thank you, Rumi." Celestia replied and hugged her nephew.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked drowsily as she and the other Elements shook off their unconsciousness.

Celestia cleared her throat and turned to her student. "My dearest Twilight, I'm so proud of you."

"Proud of me?" Twilight echoed, her memories slowly coming back to her of fighting Nightmare Moon.

"Yes... you've done Equestria and our land a great service... because of you and your friends, Nightmare Moon has been purged from our land and we're all safe and sound." Celestia declared with a smile towards her student and her friends.

It was then that Twilight noticed the three strangers who were with Celestia. Before she could speak, Rainbow spoke up in her stead and already posed the question that was on her mind.

"So who are these guys?" Rainbow asked with a curious expression. "And what exactly happened to Nightmare Moon?"

Rainbow was referring to Luna, Rumi and Namine much to Celestia’s amusement who giggled and decided to clear the confusion. "My little sister who was formerly Nightmare Moon and her... son Rumi." She revealed.

"As for who I am... I'm Namine. Rumi's independent and loveable girlfriend." Namine introduced herself with a grin.

"WHAT?!" The room exploded at that shocking revelation.

"So the sisters in the tale of Nightmare Moon..." Twilight trailed off as she realized something from reading the legend.

"Were myself and Luna, yes. I, the foolish older sister who ignored Luna's suffering and she, the unhappy younger sister who felt she needed to do something drastic just to get my attention at all." Celestia replied in a somber voice.

"And... SHE had a horrible aim that turned me into a stone statue along with my girlfriend." Rumi pointed at his aunt with an annoyed expression on his face much to Luna and Namine’s amusement.

"And I suspect it will be a very long time before you let me forget that." Celestia noted banally.

“Oh, he isn’t forgetting at all… right, hon?” Luna asked her son who nodded immediately.

"Sounds like someone needs to spend a mite more time at the shootin' range." AJ quipped and backed Rumi completely.

Celestia sent her a look while her student sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this... but AJ has a point. You definitely need more practice with your banishment spell, Princess. If what your sister and her son say is true… then, yeah – I’m inclined to support them on this." She was firm with her words.

"I could make the excuse that running an entire country takes a lot of time," Celestia said mildly. "But that doesn't excuse how bad my aim was when Luna and I were searching for the Elements to stop Discord."

Twilight grinned. "Sorry, Princess… the excuse doesn’t work anymore." She told her.

"Yes, now that Luna has returned, once she has a chance to acclimate herself to the modern day, I'll have a little more free time on my hands. I'll be sure to use it to practice my more practical skills," Celestia promised.

"I hope so, Auntie." Rumi sent her a look as Namine kissed his cheek.

"Just you wait and see, once I'm done, I'll be able to hit a gnat off a pinhead!" Celestia jokingly promised yet nobody bought that.

"Or you'll fail again." Luna giggled at her expense and Celestia pouted at her younger sister – she always had to be the joker of the family. It wasn’t fair!

"As fun as this is to watch, might we have this conversation somewhere that isn't a dank, dirty castle that's falling apart?" Rarity asked.

"I agree... it's time for a party!" Pinkie declared with a grin.

Most people had the common sense to not get between Pinkie and a party, so everyone agreeably headed back to Ponyville and in short order a huge party was underway, to celebrate the return of Luna and her son. Rumi and Namine were also enjoying the festivities as well but a little bit away from the crowd since they wanted to have a moment alone.

"I'm... happy that we finally got my mom back." Rumi admitted with a soft smile.

Rumi was laying on Namine’s lap while she petted him on the hair.

"I'm glad you're happy with your new family, even if your aunt can be a bit dumb and can't hit the broadside of a barn." Namine said with a joking smile on her face.

"Sadly... so, now that we're here... any ideas for your spare time?" Rumi wondered as he started in the face of his queen.

"Well, that all depends on what you want, my King. Despite not using it all that often, the millennia have taught me patience. It has definitely been… rewarding." Namine admitted with a sly grin.

"Oh, I have a couple of ideas... but business before pleasure... do we have any idea when Luxu might arrive?" Rumi asked – the arrival of Luxu and the Foretellers was on top of their ‘to-take-care-of’ list.

"No idea, but hopefully not until after you get a fair bit of training under your belt." Namine answered.

"Say, speaking of training... Did you meet other Key Bearers? Not like the Destiny Trio... more like: wielders from other forms of media - anime, games and whatnot?" Rumi wondered.

Before he became Sora, Rumi often read fanfics involving heroes and heroines becoming Keyblade Wielders instead of Sora back home. Now it was time to see if the answer was intriguing or not…

"Yes, I have," Namine answered truthfully. "I was surprised by how many heroes could wield the Keyblade."

"Displaced or... canon?" Rumi wondered – they might be other cosplayers or the real thing.

"Canon. I only met the Merchant fairly recently. Honestly, the Void Dwellers and their thing with Displacement has never made a lot of sense to me." Namine responded.

Rumi was also on the same page - it didn't make a lot of sense as well at times. Getting sent as the actual character to Equestria or another world was an interesting offer but it wasn’t exactly a cup of tea at the same time.

"So, which people became wielders?" Rumi wondered.

"I'm not sure. I rarely stuck around in any one place long enough to see if any of them would get a Keyblade, I just saw they had the potential to." Namine explained.

"Oh... what about the ones you did stick around for?" Rumi asked.

"There were three: Ragna the Bloodedge, Ruby Rose and Maka Albarn." Namine answered.

Rumi was surprised by her answer – he never expected that the scythe protagonists would become wielders. "Both girls are scythe wielders though... how'd they get to be Keyblade Wielders?"

"Just because you have a Keyblade doesn't mean you can't use other weapons. The Keyblades look for a quality in a person's Heart. Sure, they both still almost always use their scythes, but they can and have used their Keyblades." Namine remarked.

"Huh... so, did they have a sort of Kingdom Hearts I experienced adventure or just the simple 'Get a Keyblade, save the world' thing?" Rumi wondered.

"'Get Keyblade, save world'. " Namine answered before adding. "World hopping isn't uncommon, but also not a universal standard."

"Ah, gotcha. Anything else?" Rumi asked.

"Not that I can really think of... those Element girls sure are cute though." Namine smirked and remembered all the times she had her fun with different women her age.

"Ooh! That reminds me - I'm gonna be getting Hell for this... but who did you do it with - Maka or Ruby?" Rumi asked with a sly grin.

"I only did it with Ruby. You should've seen Yang's face when she found out!" Namine giggled.

Ruby Rose was definitely a special someone that Namine was fond of… she was gentle, sweet and caring… like her somebody Kairi. The most interesting time was when they both were in the bedroom…

Rumi smirked. "She was angry, I can tell."

"Yeah, good times," Namine recalled fondly.

Yang definitely had thrown several fits and wanted to kill Namine for defaming her little sister… yet Blake and Weiss managed to keep her in line.

"I'm surprised you didn't do it with Maka though..." Rumi added.

"Maka was devoted entirely to Soul." Namine replied with a small shrug.

"I always did find her as a sort of... stubborn donkey. I wish she had been toned down a bit." Rumi admitted.

"Hmm, yeah, I can see how you could get that impression." Namine agreed with her King.

"Oh? You noticed it as well?" Rumi asked with a raised brow.

"She was more reasonable in person, but also had an undeniably stubborn streak." Namine told him.

"Yeah... definitely. Alright, enough grim talk. Let's go and chat with the guests." Rumi suggested.

"Aren't we the guests here, my King?" Namine asked teasingly to which Rumi peeked her nose in retaliation. "Smartass." He replied.

Namine giggled at how silly her Kind acted… just like the real Sora did long ago. God, she was glad that she had found the perfect man in her life.

Before the pair could leave however Namine noticed a presence behind the statue. "Twilight... I know you're hiding behind. Please come out."

Twilight chuckled nervously as she stepped out. "Was I that obvious?" Was her question.

Namine smirked and pointed at herself. "You can't escape this witch. In the time I've been alive, yours truly learned some very good techniques for sniffing out scents from a mile away.”

"What's up, Twilight?" Rumi asked with a curious look.

Twilight blushed a bit and replied. "I... I wanted to meet you."

"What for?" Rumi asked in confusion but Namine smiled with understanding. Her King had found his first harem girl… and he didn’t even notice it.

"Oh... just to... meet Luna's son. I didn't even know the princess had a child." Twilight admitted while still having the blush on her face. It was clear that she was infatuated with him.

"I'm actually adopted." Rumi clarified.

Twilight made a surprised face. "Oh..."

"Was there anything else, Twilight?" Namine asked.

"Oh... y-yeah. I wanted to ask you both some questions though... if that's alright." Twilight answered.

"Go ahead," Rumi encouraged.

Twilight nodded albeit still nervous over discussing things with Luna's heir. She didn’t know why but for some reason… he was just so irresistible, handsome and gentlemen-like.

She took a deep breath and began to question both him and Naminè. "So... how did you both meet Celestia and Luna? I can take notes right?" Twilight questioned while procuring a notepad.

Rumi and Namine both gave her a nod in response to her question as they began to recount the tale of how they first came to Equestria and met the Princesses.

"It was a little over a thousand years ago, Namine had first brought me to this world." Rumi recalled.

"We came a few months before Discord was banished... naturally, our first meeting was a little... awkward." Naminè explained.

"Given that Discord was still kicking about, they were both understandably nervous about the newcomers they'd never seen before who didn't quite look like ponies." Rumi added.

"I can't say I disagree... my mentor can be a bit of a..." Twilight trailed off, trying to think of the right words.

"Chess Master?" Namine suggested with a sly grin.

Twilight shrugged. "I guess. Can't really find the right words for it... So, what happened next?"

"After we convinced them we weren't twisted by Discord's magic, we traveled together until we found the Elements. Then when Celestia and Luna used them to seal away Discord, Celestia screwed up her half of the aiming and got me and Rumi imprisoned in stone as well," Namine said.

"This was after Mom and I bonded a lot... a while back before the whole 'imprisonment', she took me on as an apprentice of sorts and taught me some things - magic, light and darkness, Keyblade abilities... the works. After some weeks, she started acting a lot more motherly to me than just a mere teacher..." Rumi explained as he closed his eyes and began to experience the memories from long ago.

"Something about the two of them just clicked and before I knew it, Luna was treating Rumi like her son and he accepted her as his adoptive mother." Namine shrugged.

"Yeah... exactly. I do recall Celestia taking a liking to you though Naminé." Rumi grinned a bit.

"I mean... I like talking to her. We're about the same age, she can be smart when she's not being a dummy..." Namine said.

"Huh... so that's why your name was familiar!" Twilight realized.

"She told you about me?" Namine asked in a surprised tone.

"Yeah... she cried a lot when we spoke about you. She saw you as a daughter figure and felt guilty a lot for accidentally hitting you and Rumi." Twilight admitted.

"Oh..." Namine wasn't sure how to feel about that. She knew Celestia was truly sorry for stoning them, of course. But she hadn't known Celestia had viewed her as a daughter, "...I'm pretty sure I'm older than her..."

"So? What does it matter if you are older than her? She viewed you as a daughter figure." Twilight told Namine who was still trying to figure out what she was feeling towards Celestia.

"I don't know… I'm still trying to figure this out." Namine admitted with a shrug.

Rumi placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "You'll figure something out. You're smart enough to do the right thing." He encouraged her.

"I think that's part of the problem. I don't know what the right thing is. I had no idea Celestia thought of me as such. She never told me or hinted at it or anything. I'm gonna have to talk to her about this." Namine decided – she was definitely having a talk with Celestia later.

"Better soon than never as they say." Twilight advised.

"I thought it was 'better late than never'," Rumi said before posing a question. "Or is it different in the 1000 years we've been stoned?"

Twilight grinned in amusement. "Definitely different nowadays. So... what is this 'Keyblade' you mentioned?"

"An ancient weapon of great power that is still only a pale imitation of an even more ancient and more powerful weapon." Namine replied mysteriously.

Twilight's face morphed into an awed one. "Ooh! Can I see? Please, Please?" She pleaded.

"I can try, but don't be too disappointed if it isn't ready yet," Rumi warned her.

"Of course... I just wish to know about the weapon. I'm a fan nut for these sorts of things." Twilight admitted.

Rumi nodded and attempted to summon his Keyblade.

In a flash of light, Sora's Keyblade - Kingdom Key with its grey blade, blue rainguard, yellow guard and crown teeth appeared much to everyone's surprise.

"Ooooh," Twilight was burning with curiosity at how the Keyblade had appeared in Rumi’s hands.

"Huh... wasn't expecting that." Namine admitted in a surprised tone.

"Which part, the part where I was able to summon it so soon after my Dive Dream or that it's the Kingdom Key?" Rumi asked with a raised brow.

"The former... I thought it would be a while until it was summoned." Namine admitted.

"I did too." Rumi agreed with his girlfriend.

"From how you were able to summon it sooner than later, it must have accelerated the summoning procedure… at least that’s what I think." Twilight told them.

"A mystery for another day, I guess. For now, let's enjoy the party." Rumi proposed.

"Agreed." Namine and Twilight both spoke much to their surprise.

So they partied, Namine, Rumi and Luna all enjoying their first freedom in a thousand years.

After a long day though, the party began to wind down, as all such things must. Twilight, for her part, was unsure of what she wanted to do.

"What's the matter, Twilight? Aren't you happy that your job is over? Aren't happy that you'll be able to return to Canterlot and continue your studies?" Celestia asked her student upon noticing her despondent look.

"Actually... I almost don't want to leave. I've made new friends here and I don't want to say goodbye." Twilight admitted before adding something else. "But I also want to get to know Luna, Rumi and Namine better and help them get used to the modern day."

Celestia nodded and then smiled when an idea came up – a teasing one for her student. "Does this involve being around Luna's son?" She asked.

Twilight blushed hard at that. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She summarily denied.

Celestia giggled at her denial. "Why do I feel... like you are just delaying the inevitable?" She wondered.

"I am doing no such thing." Twilight said in full tsundere mode. Her mentor was just teasing her. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Sure you are..." Celestia teased with a smirk on her face.

Twilight was a blushing incoherent mess at this point.

It didn’t escape Celestia’s gaze as she giggled with a smirk. "Better hurry though... My nephew might get tied down." She warned before adding something with the smirk still there. "Of course, there are those old herding laws still on the books..."

Twilight blushed heavily. "P-princess, stop i-it! P-please!" She pleaded.

"Twilight, do you want to stay in Ponyville?" Celestia asked.

Twilight didn't agree or disagree... in truth she did want to stay in Ponyville. Not only to be surrounded by her new friends but also get to know Rumi and Namine a little bit better. Especially Rumi…

"I think it might be wise for Luna and her family to take up residence here as well. Certainly much better than being pressured constantly by stuffy nobles..." Celestia trailed off.

Twilight was surprised by what her mentor said. "But... she's your sister!"

"Yes, which means I know her temperament better than most. She would have little patience for the way politics are played in the modern day and until she gets acclimated to the present, she'd simply try, fail, and punish herself for her failure," Celestia sighed.

"Oh..." Twilight could see what her mentor was referring to.

Then she realized that her mentor's plan to keep Luna here also meant her reconnecting with her son... hmm, interesting. With all of that cleared up, Twilight made up her mind and came to a decision.

"I want to stay... to learn about the magic of friendship." Twilight declared while thinking in her mind. And possibly to get closer to Rumi… Oof, why I am thinking about him already?

"Then it shall be so. From today on, you will live here in Ponyville, studying the magic of friendship," Celestia declared. A great cheer went up when the news was announced that Twilight and Luna's family would be staying in Ponyville.

A little later after the party died down, Celestia was ready to depart back for Canterlot only for Namine to stop her. "Celestia?" The blonde spoke.

"Yes, Namine?" Celestia responded.

Namine stared at the princess, unsure of how to proceed. Then she sighed and decided to get the question out of the way. "Did you really cry when I was turned to stone? Did you view me as a daughter?"

"Ah, Twilight must have told you... I know it is foolish of me. I know you're likely angry with me for turning you and your loved one into stone. Yet despite all that, yes, I came to see you as my daughter as Luna saw Rumi as her son." Celestia confessed truthfully.

Namine was surprised before she sighed in frustration. "Ugh! This is wrong... I don't know how to deal with this!"

"I understand." Celestia said with a touch of melancholy in her voice. "It is a big thing to spring on you, given recent events. You and I have plenty of time, Namine. You are free to give me your answer later."

Namine nodded, turned away and started to walk away yet she couldn’t keep the tears from leaking from her eyes.

Why…? I’m older than her and I’m still a little mad at her for turning me to stone… but still… why can’t I stop the tears from leaking? Why…

Celestia watched Namine go and sighed heavily. "Well, Celestia, you seem to really have a talent for upsetting your family..."

She really needed to work on restoring her relationship with her nephew and her daughter figure. If she can…

Author's Note

Okay, not gonna lie - I was impressed on how well the story and pairing was received by the readers! Thank you for giving the story a chance - hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the future chapters! Expect more of Luna and Rumi bonding, Namine trying to figure things out between her and Celestia and Twilight trying to find ways to win Rumi's heart.

More to come as soon as I update other stuff - enjoy! As usual, I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor My Little Pony - they belong to their respective writers.