A Mercenary's Ending

It felt like a typical farming life scene to the now twenty-seven year old Megan Williams. Sitting on the porch of her family farm in a rocking chair, a glass of lemonade in her hand as the cool late autumn breeze blew through her still very blonde hair, she watched the herd of horses she was responsible for breeding as they galloped through the fields. The crops she grew had already been harvested and sold to the local town’s businesses for a solid profit.

Sitting on a swinging bench next to her, her twenty-five year old brother Daniel Williams and her twenty-three year old sister Molly Williams both sat, also watching the scene before them as it played out in the late afternoon. Both of them had their own looks of satisfaction on their faces as they watched their family farm from their own seats. When the family had moved away from their farm seven years ago, none of them thought they’d ever see the place again since their family’s farm had not been doing well thanks to a failing crop yield. Her parents both got jobs in another state as farm hands on a larger and more profitable farm. It had been a jarring experience for the three younger Williams, but not so much that they couldn’t handle it.

After all, they had been on insane adventures at only twenty, eighteen, and sixteen years old. Being called to aid in a parallel magical world full of ponies, dragons, gnomes, elves, booshwoolies, grundles, evil witches and more was not something that the young college student at the time would ever forget. That year of college back in 1984 felt like a lifetime ago. And now? After her parents had gone into an early retirement over a year ago thanks in part to some smart planning and investing by said parents, the siblings had decided to move back to their old family farm after the family renting it from them moved away after yet another poor crop yield.

It was during the first week after moving that Megan had found a large crate hidden carefully in the barn in a hidden room that only Megan and her siblings knew about. Megan recognized it as a crate that had come from Ponyland. The note on it came from Queen Majesty and it explained that she knew about the family’s farming troubles and hoped that the contents of the crate would aid them. Inside she found four large barrels full of soil. Despite the soil being hidden for nearly ten years, it was still fresh thanks presumably in part to whatever magical properties the barrels had.

When the siblings experimented with a small garden in front of their house, they discovered that the local soil only needed a pinch in order for the plants to grow large and healthy. With excitement, the three spread the soil all around the farm while at the same time reminiscing about their adventures in Ponyland. Megan had the most stories to tell since she’d been to the world of Erda more than her siblings, but the young adults didn’t mind that much. They wondered just how their old friends were doing.

Another side effect of the Ponyland soil that none of them expected was the increased intelligence of any horse or animal that ate crops from their fields. Not only that, but the crops they ate gave the three siblings a youthful vigor that made them feel like they had when they had been in Ponyland. It helped them do their jobs on the farm and had made them even start looking younger.

“Mighty fine sunset,” Danny said, interrupting Megan’s reverie.

“Eeyup,” Megan replied as she took another sip of lemonade. “Really beautiful. Kinda like sunsets in Ponyland.”

“Those were some beautiful skies back then,” Molly chuckled as she sipped on her own lemonade. “You get the feeling something big’s gonna happen?”

Megan paused to think. The three siblings had been living and working on their farm for over a year and thanks to the gift from Majesty they had raked in a record number of profits from their crop sales with their last harvest. Enough that they could afford to get some new farming equipment and upgrade the barn and the farmhouse when the next spring came. Nothing major had happened during that time aside from the discovery of Majesty’s gift. Megan wished she could fly back one more time to thank her old friend. “I don’t think so,” Megan said. “It’s just a right darn beautiful sunset.”

“I hear that,” Daniel chuckled as he sipped on his own lemonade. “Still, Molly could be right. Tonight feels different. Almost magical.”

Megan closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. The smells of the farm entered her nostrils and filled her with nostalgic thoughts of their magical adventures. It was a bittersweet sensation for her. She never wanted to leave home six years ago, but she’d also been able to understand that their farm had been in dire straits and her parents had no choice but to leave. Still, they couldn’t sell the farm as it’d been in the Williams family for several generations so they’d rented it out. One family had lived there trying in vain to make crops grow, but to no avail. “You’re right,” Megan said as she opened her eyes and looked to the sky, “tonight does feel magical.”

“You think someone’s gonna come here from Ponyland?” Molly asked with hope.

Megan chuckled. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Still, I don’t think that’s too likely.”

“I guess, but it’d be nice,” Molly said wistfully. “I miss them all.”

Megan reached around her neck and grabbed the heart shaped locket she’d bought at their town’s local mall before they’d left for their new home up north. A locket that reminded her of the Rainbow of Light. Inside was a picture she had taken with a camera she’d brought with her for their last trip. An image of her and her siblings standing next to their pony friends. Majesty, Firefly, Applejack, Bow Tie, Spyke, the Moochick, Prince Chethan and more. The other two had similar lockets around their own necks. Inside, there was a picture album that had the other pictures they’d taken that day, and they had taken plenty of them. Pictures of Dream Castle, Paradise Estate, the baby ponies playing in their play area, the siblings playing with their friends, and more. “I do too,” Megan said with her hand over her locket. She stood up. “I’m gonna get some more lemonade. Daniel, Molly, you want some more?”

“Please?” Molly held up her own glass.

“I’m good for now,” Daniel said.

Smirking, Megan went inside and grabbed the pitcher from the fridge, glancing at a magnet image on the fridge which showed her, her siblings, and their first horse TJ, who was still alive and who was showing signs of not only increased vitality but intelligence. There had been times when Molly said she thought she’d heard TJ making noises like he was speaking recently, but neither she nor Daniel had heard that. They did believe her, of course.

When she returned to the porch, a soft breeze had begun blowing, sending a shiver down her spine as she handed the full glass of lemonade to Molly. She took it and sipped at the straw, sighing contentedly. “Applejack’s recipe is always the best,” she said.

“True,” Daniel said. He downed the rest of his lemonade and set it down on the table next to him. “God, today was tiring. Who knew TJ could still run that fast?”

“He has been acting a bit oddly today, hasn’t he?” Molly added. “Any idea why, Megan? He’s your horse.”

“Not at all,” she said. She’d never seen the horse acting like that at all, even when he was a young foal. “At least he’s calm now.”

As if she’d jinxed it, there was a loud neighing sound from the stables followed by a crash. Daniel looked at his sister with a frown. “You just had to jinx it, didn’t you?”

“Well, shit,” Megan sighed as she put her lemonade down on the small table next to her rocking chair and stood. “Better see what’s going-Hey! He got out!”

Molly and Daniel pointed to where Megan was pointing. Sure enough, the light brown mustang was bolting across the field, heading towards the old well. “What in tarnation is that old horse doing?” Daniel asked as he stood. “TJ! Come back here!”

The old mustang ignored Daniel’s call as he began circling the well at a brisk trot, nickering as he did so. Megan set down her lemonade and stood. “Damn it, TJ, come on now,” she called out as she walked over towards the ten year old horse. “You’ve got plenty of water, you don’t need any more from the well.”

TJ didn’t reply, only speeding up and continuing to circle the well. Daniel and Molly walked after Megan, who was focused on reining in the horse. When the siblings got there, he galloped away, now heading towards the old riding arena. He leaped over the fence and began galloping around at great speed. “Well, shit,” Molly said, mirroring her sister’s words from earlier, “what the hell’s gotten into that stallion?”

“TJ, come on back here!” Daniel pushed his Stetson down and grabbed the rope hanging on the fence. “What’s gotten into you?” He leaped over the fence and began to give chase.

Megan and Molly began to do the same, but after a few seconds, Megan stopped. Something felt off about this. Off not in a bad way, but there was a sudden shift in the air. A shift she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Amidst the shouts from her siblings and TJ’s galloping and neighing, she looked up into the sky. Nothing up there. It was a cloudless cold evening. She narrowed her eyes as she scanned the skies. Still nothing.

Until there wasn’t nothing. A small cloud formed above them, growing rapidly. Soon, she felt little drops of rain began falling, and from the cloud there was a rainbow-colored flash. From the cloud, she saw five flying figures, but these weren’t pegasi. Instead, these were eagles. This confused Megan, but she continued watching. She saw these eagles begin to circle the farm, then descend swiftly. The closer they got, the more Megan realized that these weren’t any normal sort of eagle. These eagles were massive.

The flapping of wings and the screech of one of the eagles caught the attention of her siblings, and they both exclaimed in wonder and shock at the descending birds. As they got closer, Daniel and Molly joined with Megan. “Are those eagles from Ponyland?” Molly asked with awe.

“Do you think any bird like that could exist here and not be able to be known about?” Daniel asked. “Besides, I think I can see some figures riding on their backs.”

Megan narrowed her eyes, quickly spotting what her brother had just seen. He was right. There were figures on the backs of four of the eagles. She immediately noticed that one of them was a pony. The other three were bipedal. One looked like a male of Queen Catrina’s species, the other looked vaguely human but with gray skin and glowing red eyes. The fourth was masked and wearing all black, the mask having glowing eyes. The birds continued to descend, looking for a place to land, and eventually finding that the yard in front of the farmhouse would do very well.

Megan didn’t even hesitate. She leaped over the fence and rushed at the eagles and their occupants at full speed. Behind her, she heard her siblings shouting at her to wait for them. TJ also galloped towards the eagles as their charges jumped off. Megan saw the masked creature reaching up for its mask. It removed said mask, only to reveal a human face behind it. A man, one definitely older than her. He was looking around when Megan called out a greeting. He and the other four turned to her. The man stepped forward. Megan saw now that he wore pretty much all black, and his clothes looked like they’d seen better days. He also had a couple of knives at his side along with two strange metallic objects hanging from his belt and two pistols.

When she saw the weapons, she paused in alarm. Had the human neighbors to Ponyland developed firearms? That was a worrying development if so. The man must have noticed her hesitation before he raised his hands. “We’re not here to fight,” he said. “We’re here because we’re looking for you, Megan Williams.”

Megan raised both eyebrows in shock. The humans from the neighboring country all had a strange accent to them, but this man had a clear American accent. Probably somewhere west of here, but clearly American. The humans from Lantea had what she could only describe as a British accent. Either that had shifted, or this man was from Earth. “You know me?” Megan asked.

“I’ve seen you before in a magical memory projection and in some old historical records,” the man replied. He then turned to the other two. “I take it these are you siblings, Daniel and Molly Williams?”

“Uh…” Megan said dumbly. This wasn’t going how she expected at all.

“That’s us,” Molly said.

“Who are you?” Daniel asked, looking suspiciously at the man.

“My name’s Gregory Graystone,” he said before turning to his companions. “These are my companions Tobias, Dengal, and Sunset Shimmer.” He indicated the cat creature, gray skinned humanoid and unicorn. “These eagles helped us cross between Erda and your Earth. This is their leader, Gwaihir.”

Molly’s lip cracked a half smile. “Like that eagle from Tolkien’s books?”

“Exactly,” Gregory replied.

“Gregory gave me the name,” the eagle next to Gregory said, somewhat startling Megan, and judging from the expressions on her siblings, shocked them as well.

Recovering quickly from her temporary brain lock, Megan looked at Gregory. “What’s going on in Ponyland? Is there any danger? Who’s threatening the ponies?”

Gregory sighed, then gestured to the house. “Let’s not discuss it out here,” he said as he removed the overcoat he wore and draped it over the gray skinned humanoid woman. Megan noted the amount of tenderness in the gesture along with the look of affection and gratitude that Dengal gave to the man. “It’s colder than I expected, and there’s a lot you need to know.”

Megan couldn’t even begin to comprehend all of what Gregory and his companions, who she now knew was a mercenary group called Shadow Dawn, had told her. Dream Castle destroyed, various races she knew from Erda having gone extinct or missing in a deadly war, splitting up of the tribes, the rise of xenophobia and speciesism, the death of a human who only wanted to befriend the ponies and so much more information was more than she could think about.

Not to mention the fact that her adventures had, on presumably another Earth, been broadcast as a children’s adventure and had significantly de-aged her and her siblings. That fact had completely screwed with her sense of reality. Gregory had even taken out some kind of advanced piece of technology he had called a smartphone and displayed a watered-down version of her first adventure in Ponyland, but without the inclusion of Majesty.

That was her biggest concern, however. More than two thousand years may have passed on Erda since she had been last there, but Majesty was not only still alive but had become something called an alicorn. An immortal blend of three of the pony races who possessed aspects of the three races. And she was currently a danger to the current pony nation called Equestria.

After listening to everything, Megan couldn’t think of anything to say or ask. She didn’t even know where to start. Daniel, however, having grown smarter since his time on Erda, did know what to ask. “What do you want my sister to do?”

Gregory sighed, then reached into his shirt and pulled out a very familiar looking locket. Pulling it off, he set it on the table and slid it over to Megan. “You’re the bearer of the Rainbow of Light,” he said to Megan. “This thing won’t respond to me. It could very well respond to you.”

Megan reached out with trembling hands. The Rainbow of Light looked the exact same as it had before, and she could feel the raw power from the object as she took it in her hands. Molly reached over and put her hand over Megan’s, and Daniel put his own hand on her shoulder. Slowly, she reached for the clasp and opened it. The mirror inside showed her reflection as others saw it, not like any normal mirror. The rainbow glow from beyond the mirror surrounded her form. However, before she could say anything else, the mirror morphed. The reflection of her brother appeared, also surrounded by the rainbow’s light. It morphed again, this time showing Molly surrounded by the light.

However, the last morphing showed the reflection of Gregory, but instead of the bright rainbow that surrounded him. there was a darkness surrounding him. A rainbow-colored darkness. Unlike the serious expression on the current Gregory’s face, the Gregory that the Rainbow of Light was showing her was one with a resigned expression, one that had lost all hope. It was as if the Light and Dark were merged within Gregory. She looked up at the man sitting across from her at their dinner table. She wondered just what kind of life Gregory had on Erda. Nothing good, she mused.

Help.

The word wasn’t so much heard audibly as it was ingrained into her. It was as if the Rainbow of Light was speaking to her. Slowly, she closed the locket before she straightened. “This is all a lot of information you’ve given us,” she said. “So much has changed since my siblings and I were last there. I still find it hard to believe that my friend Majesty has done what you say she’s done.”

“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” Gregory said as if quoting something.

“War changes a person,” the unicorn named Sunset Shimmer said. “She’s probably suffering from a severe case of PTSD after losing her husband and her kingdom.” She raised her horn which lit up and displayed an image of a drawing in an ancient looking book. “This was something I found in the Canterlot Restricted Section several years ago. Recognize any of them?”

Megan immediately nodded. “Majesty, Applejack, Twilight, Spyke, me and my siblings…”

“Firefly, Bow Tie, Princess Mimic, Sky Dancer,” Daniel continued.

“Medley, Moondancer, Posey, Lickety-Split,” Molly added.

“They’re all there,” Megan concluded as the magical image faded. “And they’re all dead now except for Majesty and Spyke…” She looked down at the table. She knew she’d never see her old friends again, but this was much worse. Now she had to contend with the fact that one of her friends had taken a turn down a dark path. Of course, the Gregory before her had a stern look on his face. “You said the next opportunity to leave is early tomorrow morning?”

“Correct,” Gregory said. “We’ll be going back with or without you. I’d have no place here, and certainly the others with me would be captured by the government if they discovered a living, breathing unicorn, goblin, abyssinian, and magic eagles.”

Megan scoffed at this, but she couldn’t deny his claims. “Yeah…still, this is a lot to think about.”

“We understand, Miss Williams,” Tobias said with a sympathetic tone. “Nobody is going to force this on you.”

Megan nodded, then put the Rainbow of Light down before standing. “Well, since it’s still a bit early, do any of you want pizza?”

In an effort to be hospitable, Megan had ordered Domino’s Pizza from the nearby town for her guests to eat. The pizza was better than Gregory remembered, but that could be because on this Earth it was 1991 and he’d come from the year 2027. The technology in the house was, to his eyes, retro. Tonight was even the premiere of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but Gregory had elected to skip it, instead electing to check on Gwaihir and the other eagles to be sure they were okay. The cold didn’t seem to bother them and they said that they would be alright. The barn was big enough for them, and they could sleep while pressed up against each other, so they’d be alright.

The night sky was ablaze with stars, constellations that Gregory hadn’t seen for two years. The moon, a waxing gibbous, was the exact same as the one he’d seen on Earth. Being on any version of Earth was a joy he couldn’t readily describe, but sadly said joy was being overwhelmed by the sense of urgency and the ever increasingly building frustration of his circumstances. Were this any other circumstance, he would love to just remain on this Earth, perhaps hire on as a farmer on the Williams farm, live out his days in peace and without any sort of danger to worry about.

But he couldn’t do that. He had his friends on Erda to worry about. Tobias, Dengal, even Sunset were the ones he wanted to protect, the unicorn slowly growing on him despite her irritating attitude. If her personality change in Equestria Girls was any indication, she could become a better person, pony, whatever.

He walked around, the temperature quickly dropping as he walked around the midwestern farm property until he came to a large pile of discarded burnable garbage sitting on another part of the farm. He reached down and touched one of the lightsabers on his belt. Grabbing it, he ignited the blue blade and roared in frustration as he attacked the garbage and began destroying anything he could. Just like the elegant weapons from Star Wars, the blade sliced through everything with ease. The blade itself had a bit of weight which was good since that was the most dangerous thing he feared about the weapon. The hum and sound of lightsaber cutting through wood made him feel a little bit like Kylo Ren in the one scene from The Force Awakens, but he needed this. The frustration he felt at his situation, at Celestia, at Majesty, and at the world of Erda for spitting in his face, was almost overwhelming.

He reached down and grabbed his other lightsaber, igniting the green blade and falling into the dual wielding stance that he had learned from Tobias. “Fuck you, Erda!” he bellowed in rage. “Fuck you, Majesty! Fuck you, Celestia! Fuck you, Twilight Sparkle! Fuck you, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie fucking PIE!” He moved around the pile of discarded broken garbage, slicing through wooden furniture that had since been damaged. Megan had said that was a bonfire pile they planned to light at a later date.

After about ten minutes of this venting, Gregory was sweating despite the late autumn cold. He was also panting heavily, thirsty, and just plain tired. He de-ignited the lightsabers and collapsed onto his behind, looking at the glowing embers that the lightsaber had formed. He panted heavily, watching his breath exhale out as clouds of vapor. Falling onto his back, he held his arms outstretched, a blade in each hand. He felt his heart racing, his breath ragged as he began to calm down from his outburst.

Just as he was about to sit up, a figure appeared over him. In the moonlight, he could see that it was Megan. “Damn,” she said, “you look exhausted.”

Slowly, he sat up only for Megan to sit next to him, offering him a steaming mug of what smelled like hot cider. He took the liquid and blew on the liquid before sipping experimentally on it. “Wow, this stuff is delicious,” he said as he took another sip.

“Applejack taught me the recipe on our last day in Ponyland,” Megan said.

Gregory snorted. “I bet the Applejack in my time would love to learn about her ancestor’s recipes,” he said.

“It surprises me that there’s an Applejack where you’re from,” Megan said.

“Rainbow Dash could very well be Firefly’s descendent with how reckless she once was and how she claims that danger is her middle name,” Gregory replied before sipping on the warm liquid. “Aah…”

The two sat in silence for a bit before Megan spoke. “Do you really have a pair of lightsabers from Star Wars?” she asked, “or is that some facsimile made from magic?”

“I haven’t looked at them that extensively,” Gregory said, “but since they came from Discord, I’m going to guess they’re really from the Star Wars universe.”

“It’s still hard to believe that our adventures in Ponyland are just a girl’s cartoon on your Earth,” Megan said. “Kind of disturbing, if you ask me.”

“It’s a children’s cartoon from the eighties,” Gregory said, “so it’s not like it would show inappropriate stuff.”

“Not quite my point, but I guess you’re right,” Megan said. She reached into her pocket and Gregory saw the Rainbow of Light flash in the moonlight. “Still, I never thought I’d see this again…” She clasped it close to her chest and smiled slightly. “Reminds me of more innocent times…”

Well, if the history of this Earth is anything like the one I’m from, this is a more innocent time before the internet and social media, Gregory thought. Still, he found it fairly amazing that he was sitting next to what amounted to a living legend. A legend lost to time back in Equestria, but a legend nonetheless. The bearer of the Rainbow of Light, savior of ponykind on a number of occasions. The Megan Williams.

After a few minutes, Megan looked over at Gregory, who was now staring up at the winter night sky. “Life hasn’t been kind to you since you went to Erda, has it?”

He tensed up at the question. Her tone was one of concern. “The only good thing I’ve gotten from moving to that world is that I’ve gained some friends. Not the friends I was hoping to make, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

He felt a tender hand being placed on his shoulders. Turning, he saw the blonde woman’s piercing blue eyes looking deep into his. There was a seriousness there that put him on alert. “Gregory,” she said with a serious tone, “we talked about it, and while it is a bit disheartening to hear that ponies have changed so much for the worse, we’re going to come help. We can’t, in good conscience, just let Majesty hurt others even if she thinks she’s doing this to help ponies. Maybe us being there will help.”

He nodded. “We leave at first light,” he replied, looking up at the solitary cloud that still hovered above the house. The cloud that hadn’t disappeared since appearing earlier that afternoon.

Megan’s serious expression became one of concern, something that confused Gregory. “Are you okay?”

In this moment, Gregory remembered just how kind-hearted that the show version of Megan was. If this Megan was similar to the one in the show, then perhaps she could help calm Majesty down. He sighed. “Being kicked out for trying to befriend ponies and then living in a desert hive of scum and villainy for two years while needing to take a job with the city’s mercenary guild tends to really screw with a guy’s mind,” he said heavily.

Megan gave him an empathetic look. “I’m so sorry you went through that,” she said, and to Gregory it sounded like she meant every word. “I hope that we can help stop what’s happening with Majesty,” she added. Then, Gregory saw a look of disappointment pass over Megan’s face as she concluded with, “I also need to speak with this Celestia pony. Sounds like she’s complacent. When I knew her, Majesty was a ruler who was active and traveled throughout Ponyland regularly. Does Celestia do this?”

Gregory almost smirked, hoping he could be in the room to show that so-called master manipulator be torn down by a hero to ancient ponies, a hero who had helped save the pony race from being turned into Tirac’s personal slaves. “Celestia…she treats ‘her little ponies’ more as her children than her subjects. At least, until recently. I’m guessing she’s about to change how she rules. At least, let’s hope she does, because if she doesn’t another alicorn will rise up and try to steal all of Equestria’s magic, causing the three tribes to split up and hate each other.”

Megan looked at him with a horrified expression. “How do you know that?” she asked in a trembling tone.

“I saw it on the show,” Gregory replied. “Of course, since Twilight Sparkle won’t become the sole ruler of Equestria, that’s probably not going to happen, or if it does it will not happen in the same way.”

Megan frowned at him. “You sound like you don’t particularly care.”

Gregory sighed. “Megan, when I first came to Equestria, I was hoping that I could befriend the main characters of the show. I realize now that was a pipe dream. The real Equestria is a lot darker than the show. Honestly, I should have realized it from even before, but I was blinded. I had nothing on my Earth, and a new start in Equestria was like a dream. Life, however, seems to want to punch me in the dick. So you’ll understand if my priorities are to my friends and not a nation who has systematically discriminated against any creature who isn’t a pony and actively tortured and abused a single human enough to drive him to suicide.”

Megan looked down at the ground, then back up at Gregory. “I know you’ve lost faith, but there has to be good in ponies still. You said that there have been protests on the current state of affairs in this Equestria? That shows that there are some ponies willing to change.”

“Not soon enough for my fellow human Jason,” Gregory said, but sighed. “Maybe, but I can’t take that risk. I have absolutely no magic over there. I’m just as vulnerable as Jason was. All I can rely on are my own physical attributes and my close companions. Majesty is targeting Equestria, and I personally have no connection to the ponies there. I just want to live a life away from that continent.”

Megan looked at him for a long while, then nodded slowly. “I understand,” she said.

Gregory downed the rest of the mug of hot cider, then exhaled. “You probably think I’m being selfish for not wanting to help the ponies.”

Megan’s expression betrayed her. “Well, not quite, but-”

“Megan, I’m a mercenary,” Gregory explained. “I work for money because that’s the only job I could ever get in that world. Celestia has even tried to buy my help. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m heartless. Like I’ve said before, my first priority is to my friends. Their safety is paramount to me. Now that Majesty practically terraformed the old Badlands and turned almost all of the inhabitants of my old city into animals, I don’t have a home. Tobias has suggested we go to the kingdom of Abyssinia to start a new life. At least there, I can find work since the abyssinians are more accepting of outsiders.”

“I see,” Megan said. There was silence for a bit, then she stood up taller and put a hand on Gregory’s shoulder. “I will do my best to stop Majesty. She might have treated you like an honored guest, but she’s still acting on her own now. The fact that she’s trying to make ponies aware of their fall from grace is promising, but her methods are too extreme.”

“Promising?” Gregory paused to ponder this.

Megan explained before he could think. “There’s still good in her,” she said. “She’s just been through so much that she’s become misguided. I hope I can break through to her.” She stepped back. “Listen, I’m going to go pack.” She took the mug from Gregory. “Why don’t you come in and I’ll show you where you can sleep. We have a couple of spare bedrooms and a cot you can use to sleep on tonight.”

Gregory nodded, then began following her in. He looked up at the stars one last time, burning the image into his retinas. It was probably the last time he would ever be able to see the stars from Earth, from any Earth, so he wanted to remember them. The stars of home.

Princess Celestia stood on the balcony of her guest quarters in the Crystal Palace as she raised the sun on time. Since she was farther north than Canterlot, she had to raise the sun earlier than normal due to the spherical nature of the world and the time of year. She had a sixth sense about her on when to raise the sun no matter where she was on Equus. She yawned as the sky began brightening in the east.

Satisfied with her daily work, she looked up at the sky, but not at the horizon. Instead, she stared at the static cloud that hadn’t moved since it formed the day before when Gregory and his group had flown through on the back of the eagles. It had been an interesting sight, seeing the cloud forming as the eagles seemed to create the cloud from nothing. She wondered if there was a way for a pegasus or even an alicorn to duplicate the effect of whatever advanced magic was needed to make that cloud. If this was the same method that ancient ponies had used to cross to a human world to summon help, then pegasi had to have been able to do it at some point.

That only brought forth a fresh wave of sadness. She had learned so much about the history of ponykind and it looked like they had changed, but not for the better. That saddened her, and she knew she herself was included in that. Clearly, her race didn’t value the past as much as it should have. She wondered what other hidden secrets were buried in obscure history books and what else had been scrubbed from the common knowledge of ponies. When this crisis was over, she would actually help scour the restricted library to find ancient history that had likely been lost.

She was so lost in thought staring at the cloud above the city that she didn’t notice a yawning Luna as she joined her sister. “Nnng…did you raise the sun already?” she asked.

Celestia was startled from her reverie and looked down at her sister. “Ah…yes, I took care of it.”

“What are you doing now?” Luna asked.

“I was just taking in the cool morning air,” Celestia replied. To emphasize her point, she turned back and inhaled deeply.

Of course, Luna saw right through her horseshit. “Uh huh…and what were you really doing?”

Celestia chuckled without mirth. “I can’t hide anything from you anymore, can I?” She pointed up at the cloud with her wing. “I was staring at the cloud and thinking.”

“What about?” Luna asked.

“Our ancient history,” Celestia explained. When Luna said nothing, Celestia continued. “We had no idea that this war with Tartarus even happened. We had no idea that anypony named Majesty even existed. We didn’t know about how humans and their allies sacrificed themselves to save the remnants of our race. And how do we repay their sacrifice? By changing for the worse.” Celestia lowered her head remorsefully. “Jason might still be alive today…if I had acted differently.”

“That is a dangerous line of thinking, sister,” Luna said sternly. “You cannot keep thinking about all of the little what ifs in life. It will keep you up at night. Trust me, I’m an expert on that subject to a frightening degree.”

Celestia turned to her sister, a look of worry on her face. “You did that?”

“Not just about Jason,” Luna admitted, “but when I came back from being Nightmare Moon I was up for many nights fretting about how I could have acted differently all those years ago. That was one reason why I punished myself with the tantabus. It would show me better versions of the future sometimes, ones where we had made up a thousand years ago and expanded Equestria further than today. Hay, it even showed us making alliances with other nations. After Jason’s death, I guess there were remnants of the tantabus still inside me or it was the extreme guilt on my part for not doing more for him that I began seeing better versions of history for Jason.”

Celestia put a wing around Luna’s back, tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “you shouldn’t have had to suffer like that. It wasn’t your fault. I made assumptions that Twilight and her friends would do the right and friendly thing.”

Luna leaned against her sister’s frame, letting loose a sigh. “We are never too old to learn and change,” she said tiredly.

Celestia nodded, and the two stared out of the window at the cloud. For the next few minutes, that’s all they did. Until the cloud began to flash slightly with colors of the rainbow. That caught their attention as they stood and watched. The lights flashed for several more seconds until a group of birds came flying out of the cloud. “They’re back!” Luna said excitedly, spreading her wings and flying out towards them.

“Luna, wait for me!” Celestia called out as she flew after her sister.

As they approached the five eagles, Celestia saw that each of them now held one or two passengers on their backs. The lead one, the one Gregory named Gwaihir, carried Gregory and a blonde haired human who clung to his back and buried their face into Gregory’s back while simultaneously holding onto a brown Stetson. Celestia saw two other humans flying with the abyssinian and the goblin, one with red hair and another with lighter blonde hair. In the claws of three of the eagles were carried luggage, which the eagles gently placed down onto the grass when they landed. Celestia and Luna landed a respectful distance away and walked up as the eagle’s passengers dismounted. Gregory was the first to leap off, reaching out his hand to help the blonde woman off. “Some flight, huh?” he commented. He was still wearing his mask.

“Just as terrifying as I remember it being,” the blonde human said in a clearly female voice. She looked like she had shaky legs, and as she stumbled, Gregory caught her. “Ah, thanks. I just need to sit down.”

Gregory led the human over to a large rock where the human sat. Celestia saw that this female human wore a pair of dark brown boots over blue jeans, a dark brown overcoat, an orange collared shirt, and a brown Stetson along with a pair of goggles which she hastily took off. Celestia looked at the other two humans who were also recovering from their flight. The other blonde, also clearly a female, wore light blue jeans, a pink shirt, and a dark pink sweater, blue beanie, and a pair of goggles, the latter three of which she was immediately taking off. “It’s warmer here than back home!” the female said.

The third human, male, wore dark blue jeans, a sky blue collared shirt with a white stripe through the middle, and a leather jacket along with a baseball cap that had red and white on the cap itself while the visor was blue. He too also wore a pair of goggles which he removed hastily and hung around his neck. He put his hands on his hips and was staring at Crystalia. “Well, goddamn,” he said with a whisper, “is that city made out of crystals?”

“That is correct,” the eagle he was standing next to, a female, replied.

The male human chuckled and nodded. “Radical. I bet the gnomes would go crazy for that.”

The second female turned and gawked at the city. “Wow…I wish we could explore it.”

“I’m sure that you can at some point,” Celestia said as they approached.

The two humans who had been speaking turned their attention to Celestia. “Wow…Gregory wasn’t kidding about you having wings and a horn,” the male human said. He removed his cap and inclined his head politely. “You’re Princess Celestia, right? And you’re Princess Luna?”

“Correct,” Celestia said, instantly reminded of Jason and how polite he was when they first met. “Who are you?”

“Well, I’m Daniel Williams, ma’am,” the male said, then turned to the female beside him. “This here’s my younger sister Molly, and the older woman over there is our older sister Megan.”

Celestia turned and stared at the older blonde human woman who was accepting water from Gregory. This was the human who had helped the ponies in multiple situations before the war with demons? Looking around her neck, Celestia saw that the Rainbow of Light was hanging there. Unlike before, the object now emanated magic of a kind that felt both familiar and unfamiliar. She turned back to Daniel. “It is nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Daniel said, tipping his hat to the two. Celestia, now that she was focusing, could hear a somewhat southern drawl to it. Not to the same extent as the Apple family, but it was there. Daniel then leaned back, stood up, cracked his neck and hands, and said, “So, Majesty’s gone and done something heinous and you need us to come in clutch to save the day again?”

Celestia didn’t quite understand the strange lingo Daniel said, but she got the gist of it. “If you three knew her, maybe you can appeal to whatever goodness may remain inside her.”

“There is definitely still good inside her,” a female voice said. Celestia turned to see that Megan was up and had walked up to her siblings. Gregory and his group remained behind, watching with varying degrees of curiosity. “If what Gregory told us about recent events in your kingdom is true, then her intentions are still the same as they were thousands of years ago: to make sure her ponies are safe, and that includes keeping them safe from themselves. Not only that, but she wants them to presumably understand that xenophobia is not the way to go.”

Celestia’s ears went flat against her head. “Won’t you please come in for breakfast? I have a feeling there is much we should discuss about current affairs.”

Sitting on a cliff overlooking a now verdant valley, Majesty’s eyes shot open. The sun had just risen but hadn’t yet crested the mountain that surrounded the entire new valley below her. Her magic was still being recovered and would take another few hours to recover since she was surrounding the entire former Badlands in an impenetrable shield. Below was the relocated Sanctuary, sitting snugly along the coast of the reborn lake. On the other side of the lake opposite Sanctuary lay a large forest, one completely dark inside and full of glowing foliage that wouldn’t bother the nox ponies. They had already begun adjusting very well minus one extremely worried maid who was scared that her former charge hated her. She wanted to keep him safe. She’d have to help the poor maid through her trauma. To the north, she saw the former city of Thornfall, which by now was a zoo full of new animals. Those she hadn’t punished like Dengal had fled, and since some of them were able to fly, they helped those who couldn’t fly across the ocean east of the continent. She didn’t care about that too much.

She looked north as she sensed something new. No, not new. Old. A presence. A presence she hadn’t felt since…

Her eyes widened in complete shock. “Megan…” she whispered in a stunned whisper.

Behind her, the massive dragon Spyke raised his head up. “What did you say, my queen?”

“It’s nothing,” Majesty said as she spread her wings. “We’re done here. The shield is in place. Let’s go. It’s time to rebuild what was lost.” And with that, she lept off of the cliff.