The Two Sisters

Hitch set Sunny on her bed at the lighthouse. The mane 6 had been kind enough to escort them back and were waiting outside her bedroom. Covering her with a blanket, Hitch left the room and shut the door quietly.

"She'll be a'right? Won't she?" Asked Applejack. Twilight nodded.

"She'll be fine AJ, but first, I feel like we owe Hitch here and the others an explanation for our timely return."

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Got anywhere we can all sit and down and talk for a while?" The Princess of Friendship asked. Hitch nodded.

"Yeah, we can use the old town hall meeting building. It's on the south end of town, follow me." Hitch trotted over to the door and put a note on it for Sunny, looking back at Twilight.

"Could you possibly have somepony stay here and guard Sunny your majesty?"

"Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! I'll do it!!" Yelled Pinkie, slamming her helmet on and saluting Hitch. "I won't let her out of my sight Mr. Sheriff sir."

Hitch nodded and smiled.

"Thank you Pinkie, if you need help, radio to one of us on this," the sheriff said, tossing her a walkie talkie. "You just push the button on the side and talk into it." Pinkie nodded firmly and saluted before beginning to pace back and forth.

Hitch let out a quiet chuckle and trotted out with Twilight and the rest of the group.

~~~~~~

"This is the second attack on Maretime Bay in the last 3 months!!" Shouted a random pony from the large crowd gathered in front of the Sheriffs Office. "How are we supposed to defend ourselves from that level of magic!?" The pony pointed to a smoldering building that used to be a store. Hitch raised his hooves and tried to calm the crowd of ponies.

"Okay okay everypony, calm down. I will have answers for you in a few hours. I am personally meeting with Princess Celestia to discuss the safety and security of Maretime Bay and all of Equestria. Now please, go home and be with your loved ones while we sort this out."

There was a grumbling amongst the crowd of ponies, but slowly one by one they began to disperse and return to their homes. Hitch let out a sigh and looked out at the bay. It had always looked so beautiful this time of day. The way the sun reflected off the water.

"Everything okay there sheriff?" Asked a scratchy voice from above him. Looking up, Hitch saw it was a rainbow maned Pegasus.

"Oh.. you must be Rainbow Dash. It's, well.. an honor to meet you I guess." The sheriff said quietly, trotting forward to the railing across the street. Rainbow Dash landed beside him and stared out at the water as well.

"I'm guessing the stress of protecting your town from new and powerful threats is getting to you, huh?" She said.

"You could say that," said Hitch, shaking his head softly. "When Sunny restored magic to Equestria, I had no idea how many dangerous creatures and magical artifacts there were in our land. Before magic, the most I ever had to deal with was littering and Sunny's shenanigans with the Canterlogic Factory."

Rainbow smiled a little gave the sheriff a playful punch on the shoulder.

"You know Hitch, when I was your age, I was much faster and cooler than I am now. I was born in Cloudsdale, but Ponyville was my home. I loved it, and there wasn't anything I wouldn't do to protect it." The pegasus flew over the edge of the railing, reclining in midair as if she was laying on a couch. "But I realized that protecting Ponyville didn't solely rest on my hooves. I met Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight and realized that together, we could protect not only Ponyville but all of Equestria."

The sheriff looked up at her.

"But there's six of you, how could you protect an entire country all at once??" He asked. Rainbow chuckled a few times and put on a pair of black sunglasses.

"Friendship of course, oh, and also by being 20% cooler than the rest of Equestria."

Hitch rolled his eyes but thought about what she said. Could it be possible.. that they kept harmony and peace by befriending other species that lived close to Equestria? It seemed absurd but not farfetched.

"Your right Rainbow, thank you," said Hitch smiling, turning and trotting down the road to the meeting building.

"Anytime," she said, taking off at high speed toward the meeting hall as well.

~~~~~

"All I'm saying Twilight is that Equestria is extremely vulnerable to attacks from the other kingdoms and-" Pipp tried to say but she was cut off.

"No no no, while I understand it's important to protect our borders. It's also important to be diplomatic towards our allies as well." Said the Princess.

The doors to the town hall meeting building burst open as Rainbow Dash zoomed inside, followed closely by Hitch.

"Alright everyone. Before we start pulling each other's manes out, I believe we need an explanation from Princess Celestia about how they escaped and how many escaped with them."

Everyone around the table quieted down and looked at Celestia.

"An excellent idea Hitch," said the tall alicorn. Taking a sip of tea, Celestia cleared her throat.

"I will not lie to you my little ponies. Limbo was a terrible place. The void we were cast into was designed specifically to make us relive our worst fears. It drained us of all hope, and filled our hearts with sadness.." the princess hung her head a little. "However, it wasn't me who made escape possible. But Sunny."

"What???" Everyone said in unison.

"Okayyyyyy, now I'm really confused" said Zipp.

"The moment she was taken by the pony of shadows, a rift was opened up in spacetime. The dark spirits who imprisoned us there tried to close it but not before many of us escaped."

"So how many escaped with you Princess?" Asked Izzy.

"I'm afraid.. only a third of Equestria's original population." There were gasps around the room as Winter spoke up.

"What of the other species? The Kirin, Yaks, Griffins?" Celestia shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, they were captured separately and forced to live in other areas. Until Twilight finds a spell to free them, I'm afraid there are no other kingdoms. The artifact trapped the entire world in Limbo. Getting them out would require a magic so powerful, not even my sister and I could bring them back."

"Okay," said Fluttershy, "but that doesn't explain why the bat ponies weren't affected." The pegasus pointed to Winter. "Twilight never put bat ponies into the cryo chamber."

Twilight lit her horn and shined a projection of a bat pony on the table.

"According to ancient history, bat ponies magical ability to fly came from another part of the galaxy. The origin of the magic has never been found. But it is theorized that many many thousands of years ago, our planet was visited by celestial gods. Nopony knows who they were, and the only evidence that has ever been found of their existence is-"

Luna gasped.

"The Amulet of Cleansing..."

Everyone looked at Luna as she also projected an image, however it was of an ancient looking artifact. The amulet was square, with the symbol of a unicorn horn engraved into the center. The entire thing was made out of what looked like, silver.

"That's the amulet on the necklace that I used to rid Akira of our world. From my studies, I had discovered it carried the ultimate power of ridding the planet of all evil. But, the ultimate price was the amulet also sent any being with a heartbeat to Limbo. As always... there is a cost when it comes to using dark magic." Said Twilight.

The mane 5 looked around at one another and then at Twilight.

"So.. what do we do?" Asked Hitch. "We need to rebuild Equestria and rescue the ponies and other kingdoms still trapped in Limbo."

Celestia set a hoof on his shoulder, "All in due time sheriff."

Everyone around the table was silent for a few minutes. Each thinking about what to do.

"You know.." said Izzy, "Sunny's dad was extremely obsessed with ancient Equestrian history. When Sunny went looking for Twilight's castle, she had said her goal was to bring back Luna and Celestia. I guess it was because they were very important."

Twilight looked at her mentor, then at Luna.

"Princesses, do you know why you're so important to Sunny's fathers research? Because I sure don't."

Celestia looked at Luna, and Luna looked at Celestia.

"Sister, we mustn't. We promised mother and father." Said Luna.

Princess Celestia furrowed her brows and closed her eyes.

"I'm afraid my dear sister, that the time has come for Equestria to know the truth about us."

Luna shook her head and unfolded her wings.

"But Tia!-"

"No, no buts Luna. I understand well the promise we made to mom and dad, but the information about us will help bring back the rest of Equestria and the other kingdoms."

Celestia stood up and lit her horn. Luna looked around nervously at the bewildered looks the rest of the ponies were giving her.

"Honey?" Winter said, looking up at Luna.

Princess Luna sighed and closed her eyes. Lighting her horn, she leaned over and crossed her horn with Celestias. Almost immediately, a bright white blinding light enveloped the two Princesses, pulsing around them. And then, almost as quickly as it appeared, the magic vanished. However, it wasn't Celestia and Luna standing there. Two, all white, large pony shaped beings were hovering next to the table. Their elegant manes billowing like silk sheets in the wind, and their horns were curved. The wings on their backs were massive and twice as fluffy as their alicorn ones. Their eyes were almost completely white, with golden irises as they peered at the group of ponies. Rarity was the first react. Letting out a slightly crazed laugh and proceeded to fall out of her chair in a faint.

"Simply DIVINE!!" *WHUMP*

Celestia looked to her sister.

"Luna and I, are the children of the celestial beings who visited Equestria thousands of years ago."

Hitch was the only one of the group who said anything rational.

"Well shit. That explains a lot."