Author's Note

I'm sure most people are gonna recognize this one.

I have... ho-boy. So much to say about how quick the climax of this is... really, there's no other way for it to be. I'm sure you saw the length of this chapter right now. Have a listen, have a read. This may seem like the end...

~ But The Song Is Ever Sung. ~

There's an epilogue on the way soon.

Thank you all, for reading their story.

and that's why pumpkins are yellow

Cadance regained consciousness with a start.

Whoah

Ignoring what she'd just experienced, it looked like all of that magic sitting in her system had decided to make itself at home permanently. her legs were longer, and her mane had dropped down to swing in the air. It was smoky, silently burning like emotion magic did. Pink, purple, gold, and tiny little spots of sparkling white around the edges. There was also a chain wrapped gently draped over her neck. She could feel the magic inside of it.

Okay. I'll deal with that later.

She took a deep breath and pulled herself up on the snow. The constant blizzard had replaced the melted snow nearly instantly; not to mention covering her in a thick blanket that didn't feel nearly as cold as it should have. Giving herself a quick shake after stabilizing herself on her new height, Cadance turned her head slightly towards a twinge of emotion a few hoof lengths away.

Silver was there, staring.

She's okay.

Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and her mouth hung open.

Cadance smiled at her, Silver flinched. Surprise and confusion shot off of her, suddenly a weight shifted. Silver looked down at her hooves as she started to wake up. Cadance watched the now much smaller mare let herself feel the first swaths of emotions she'd felt in thousands of years. It was mind numbing. The weight that Silver had kept stored away in the back of her soul to keep her curse from affecting the ponies around her was nearly too much for Cadance to weather.

Except she simply Did.

Cadance took a few steps, Silver's gaze snapped up towards the movement as Cadance approached.

"You said I was the 'Alicorn of Connection'."

Silver smiled. Cadance slapped her over the head with her wing. Silver laughed.

"Damn liar."

Silver laughed again, "It's not a li-"

Cadance failed to fight beaming. "Silver! I swear if you say that one more time I'm going to curse you again!"

Silver's chuckles turned into roaring laughter as she stamped her hoof in the snow and tossed it around. She screamed in levity, and Cadance got close enough to notice the crying.

"I was wrong!" She yelled, "HAH!" She flopped backwards into the snow, "Wrong! Wrong! ha-HAH!" Two shuddering sobs ran through her, and Cadance got close enough to touch.

"Cmon. Let's get o-"

Silver jumped forwards and hugged her.

...

...

...

Cadance's wings came down around the smaller mare as she cried-

~ And This Moment Was Not Meant For Us. ~

Cadance and Silver eventually found their way through the Heart's shield where they were greeted by the rest of the Pantheon... and Twilight's friends. It was clear from the looks on their faces that they'd recognized they didn't really belong in this moment, except they also weren't leaving without Twilight. Stuck in that place of going to your in-laws as a filly and not knowing who the heck anyone was or what the traditions meant, but nodding and smiling along without complaint anyways.

Luna was the first to approach the pair. Cadance leading Silver under her wing. "Cadance-"

Cadance held up a hoof.

Kept walking.

Silver tried to avoid everyone's gaze, hence the wing. She'd gone back to smothering her emotions for fear of igniting something, much to Cadance's chargin, but the argument of setting a pony's mind on fire at range quieted much of her frustration, along with the promise that Silver wouldn't stay like that, now that she didn't have to. Discord's eyes widened upon glancing at the chain hanging on Cadance, but he didn't speak.

Luna was, of course, deeply baffled by the casual, non-aggressive brush off from Cadance.

Celestia on the other hoof, stepped directly in her way. "You deserve an explanation."

Cadance stopped and raised an eyebrow. "You and Silver made a bet to see if I could break her curse. She bet no, you bet yes. If she lost, she had to live, if you lost, you'd have to kill her. Except you planed on killing her being the thing to push me over the edge in order to break her curse, because you also banked on Silver being impossible, and me coming to the conclusion that none of this mattered except..."

Cadance pulled Silver closer with her wing. For the first time ever, she didn't resist the contact.

Celestia blanched, "Err-"

"On top of that-" Cadance interrupted, "you manipulated Luna into thinking the whole thing was her idea to begin with, giving you something to hide behind if this whole project went sideways, while also making sure neither Luna or me would catch onto Silver's or your intentions, or the bet you to made."

Celestia blinked.

"I'll take that as a yes." Cadance shrugged, "Well it worked, Silver's curse is broken, you're welcome."

An angry smile rose on Celesta's face. "You hear that Silver? I win."

Silver stepped out from underneath Cadance's wing. "You did. Though, I feel like this loss..." She glanced back at Cadance momentarily, despite not having to. "I'm certain it was worth it, for me at least."

Celestia frowned at the neutral admission, and narrowed her expression in preparation for violence when Silver stepped forwards to hug her. A growl, followed by, "Get. Off."

Silver stepped away, "Good to see you again, fluff ball. Good luck with your student."

Cadance, sensing the oncoming tension (based off of Celestia's 'I'm going to punt you into the air' look) stepped forwards and put her wing over Silver again. "Ho-kay. Let's not draw this drama out any further then. It's been a long day of explosions and bending the universe to my whim, so I'll be off." She looked over her shoulder, waved a hoof at Twilight, and matched Discord's hat tip by inclining her muzzle downwards. "Ta-ta!"

She imagined Shining, Chose to be there, and he jumped out of his fur as she appeared next to him, Silver in tow.

Flurry Heart blew a bubble with her face in excitement that mom had returned.

Shining rushed forwards to hug his wife.

Silver tried to move, but with a clever application of telekinesis, Cadance kept the silver mare shoved face first into the family group hug. Shining didn't like it, but he accepted it. Flurry was excited to see the sparkly pony again. Just generally excited, she could probably feel the relief and Love flowing around the hug.

Unfortunately, it had to end eventually, and Cadance pulled away.

Shining didn't know what to say.

"Will you watch her for another minute? I need to find Silver somewhere."

Shining glanced over at Silver, who was still trying to hide her light crying.

Shining opened his mouth to say something, but the words caught in his throat.

Silver wiped her face. "I'll bother you later, fart bag, I promise."

Cadance snorted. She had no idea what kind of relationship her husband and Silver had with one another, but that particular insult was not what she expected, nor something she thought could put a smile on Shining's face. He readjusted Flurry in his mane, "Yeah, I got her. Go do your thing."

Cadance shortly debated forgetting about all of this garbage and teleporting her and Shining to an island where no-one would find them, like Silver suggested.

Just a thought.

Cadance leaned down for a smooch. Her new height was slightly awkward for that, but likely great for spooning. A later thing. Then she led Silver out of the room and into the hallway.

Silver stepped away from her, and stared at the floor opposite to Cadance like a filly who'd been caught with her hoof in the cookie jar.

A beat passed.

"I'm not sure what to do now."

Cadance countered immediately with, "Well you're not turning yourself into stone again."

Silver let out a tiny smile along with a chuckle. "Silver wasn- I wasn't meant to live past helping you, metaphorically, and literally. I'm not sure what else I can do. I don't even know if I want to do anything. Usually if I'm meant to do something, I don't get a break between adventures."

"Mmmmm."

She looked up, "You don't care at all do you?"

Cadance frowned, "I do. I don't care for what you tried to do to yourself, there's just no point in talking about it."

Silver shook her head. "Thank you."

"You made it happen."

"That tends to..." Silver looked up, "Oh no, I saw that. You're not gonna catch me so easily."

Cadance stomped a hoof and rolled her eyes. "You're incorrigible."

Silver narrowed her eyes, "Didn't I tell you not to call me that ever again?"

A smirk mixed with a proud smile. "You did. I ignored you."

Silver smiled back, and then deflated. "I dunno if I've got banter in my right now, Little Empress."

Cadance gestured with a wing. "How about a warm bed, some food, and sleep." Cadance made it clear the last one was not a suggestion.

Silver looked... guilty.

"I changed my mind." Cadance joked, "I'm no asking anymore. Cmon, I'll get you room service, and come check up on you later." Cadance pushed, Sliver laughed and let herself get dragged along to a guest room. Get assigned a guard, and get handed a menu before Cadance left her to her own devices. With a parting joke about antagonizing the staff, to which Silver promised: "Only, 'enough'."

Cadance had a Royal Crystaling to attend to, and a husband to attend to, and it also metaphorically just smacked her upside the head that she'd have to get her entire wardrobe refitted now.

A breath.

Time just kept on chuggin' along. Cadance left a mental reminder in her head to see if Silver had chosen to sleep after the ceremony was over. Also, to make her if she hadn't. Then she set off back the way she came to start on that massive list of things she still had to get done today.

At the very least, it was a start.