Pony POV Series- Fading Futures: Final Cut

Fading Futures: Final Cut
By Kendell2 and Alexwarlorn
My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
Fanfiction
Pony POV Series Dark World

"Oh Twilight Tragedy, you've failed me?" asked Discord, in that sickening false compassionate tone he likes to as he set on his throne. "Tisk, tisk, tisk, how completely unlike you."

"Apologies, my master. An older pony was there, they knew you'd send me and had a trap set. I managed to delete him, master, but I had to retreat for the time being. They laughed and said you must be slipping, letting your second-in-command walk into a trap so easily," I reply, an arrow sticking through my head like a party prop. I had a calm, emotionless look on my face, caring as much as chariot would about being broken down for spare parts.

Discord gets furious, glaring straight down at me, his normal silliness vanishing in an instant. "Oh did they?! Well, I think it's time those precious little fillies get a visit from their widdler-in-chief banana slug!" He snapped his fingers and I fell into a spike pit of colored as random plaid patterns covered in various ice cream toppings, then the pit filled with live Fire Snails who continue to snuggle me as I climbed out of the pit.

"Consider yourself punished dear. And do get Spikey-Wikey for my next ride, I have a feeling I'll have a few dancing chocolate statues to parade around my kingdom!" he growled, disappearing with the sound of phaser fire from the original Space Trot.

I smirk as he goes, standing up tall and wiping the Fire Snails from me, pulling the arrow out, letting myself regenerate. Watching Applejack for so long has made me a pretty crafty liar myself.

---

"Yah sure yah want me to do this, Twilight?" asked Apple Pie, the little filly staring up at me, fear in her eyes.

I nod quickly, a determination in my eyes that I had to be very careful to hide from my 'master'. " You can't kill me that easily, for this to work, Discord really has to think you kicked my flanks!"

Apple Pie nodded with a sad sigh. "Alright, hold still... " she muttered.

---

Apple Pie is definitely an Apple, even if the Sweet Apple Acres is now who knows what (last I checked, it was covered in snow and on fire at the same time). The Apples and Pies are even tougher than they used to be.

My name is Twilight Tragedy, at least that's what 'Master' Discord calls me. Oh, I remember when I called him Master and meant it, he thinks I still do. A thousand years. A thousand years he's stolen from me. A thousand years I've been under his iron claw. But given how long it's been, it was only a matter of time until the old man slipped up and one of us got free without his knowing. Yes, that is logical. Yes, that is perfectly reasonable. Yes, that is correct. Yes, inevitable, inescapable, unavoidable, just like what awaits him.

---

I walk down around my room, Master is out taking a ride on Spike, nothing for me to do but read up on the latest black magic he wants me to try out. As I lift up the book, something catches my eyes, a little scroll, shoved in between the desk and my bed. For some reason I feel like it's calling out to me...  

Yes. Take it. Read it. Do what you were meant to do.

My horn lights up, so does the paper as I telekinetically pull it from it's hiding place. Unrolling it, I instantly notice something. It's my writing, but I don't remember writing it... Then I read what's written on it.

"Friendship Is Magic... "

Friendship is Magic? But... Tragedy is magic, that's what Master has always told me... But why don't I remember writing this? Its my writing, I had to have wrote this...  Maybe Master is playing a game with me... But then why... why does it seem so familiar? Why does it sound so right?

---

I head into my room, opening an old book I found in archives buried deep in the castle. He gives me access to every archive in every castle, having his Second-In-Command up to snuff on all the deadliest spells is useful. Seeing me mess up on them was a favorite pass time of his. Now he's going to regret it...and that's not the only thing... Oh no, not at all.

---

I walk down the hall. Friendship is magic? Why... why does that just click? Why do I feel like it's important? Why do I feel like... like it's right? I can't ask Master, I know that... why do I know that? What's going on?

I see a dull orange Earth Pony walking past me. A thought comes to my mind. "Liarjack," I call, getting her to turn to face me.

"Bye-bye, Twilight?" she asked, looking at me.

"Tragedy is magic, right?" I ask, innocently as possible.

"Why of course it is, Twilight, no doubt about it!"

Funny thing about Liarjack... she lies, and even I knew it.

---

I know Apple Pie and her friends won't be able to hide from him...but they don't need to.

"Ready, Applejack?" I asked, putting down the book Princess Cadence had used to teach me from.

Liarjack nodded. "Ah'm not ready now that mah lyin' is still vital to our plans."

I touch my horn to her head and use the Memory Spell that Cadence taught me. I see both our memories flow between us. All the good honesty did when Applejack did it...Our friendship.

Her colors come flowing back, followed by tears down her face. "Twilight...I...I am sorry…"

I just hug her. "I know, Applejack...you already told me...come on, the others are waiting…"

It was a necessity to purify Applejack last, been the first I welcomed back.

---

"Applejack?" I asked her. Prepared to restrain her if I needed to.

Liarjack blinked in confusion. "Did ya just call meh Liarjack?"

I shook my head. "No, Applejack. I'm me again. Sparkle."

"Master let you go for good, huh?"

I shook my head. "Not this time...remember when I asked you that question before?"

The thing about Applejack? Apple Pie had told me that she's known as Saint Liarjack, because in her heart out of all of us she'd defied Discord the best. When we'd fought Grogar, she'd even tried to defect. I didn't need much force to get her on my side again. Still tainted by Discord or not, Applejack was helping other ponies.

---

"I'm sorry I needed a liar for so long..."

"...It's okay...I don't like it, but if it means an end to this nightmare, I shall do it."

"Alright. Come on, the others ar-wait...where's your accent?!"

She simply smiled and mimed a cursy. "...I'm being honest, Twilight. Rarity may have rubbed off on me in the last thousand years...But I'm still Applejack. I'm still an apple to the core...I'm just not the same apple I was a thousand years ago darling."

She hugged me...and I believed her: our hearts were connected by the Elements...I could feel Honesty was back in hers.

The others? That was the hard part: reuniting us under Discord's nose.

---

Fluttercruel was in her 'play room'. We were lucky, she was in one of her trances. Sometimes she'd simply sit in her room and talk to 'herself'. And cut herself like she was one of her own victim. Applejack was the only one who'd ever seen her like that, Fluttercruel normally locked the room so none of us could interfere, but thankfully, I could teleport. After teleporting myself inside a wall upside down in the kitchen, and then into the chamber beneath the castle where Cadence's platinum statue was kept surrounded by the most annoying musical instruments in the world playing constantly, I teleported again aiming for anywhere BUT the inside of her play room.

She didn't even notice we were there, so I created ropes, pulling them tight the moment I hit her with the Memory Spell.

This wasn't like Applejack...it was much different.

I don't know everything that happened, but for a moment, it looked and sounded like Fluttershy was struggling with HERSELF...before finally her colors went back to normal and she broke down crying her eyes out and hugging me.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

"Fluttershy...It's okay, I know you wouldn't have ever done this…"

"You're right...but that's WHY I'm sorry!"

Fluttershy explained Fluttercruel wasn't her, at all. She was her and Discord's daughter in the most vile of ways (even Fluttershy admitted it), a spirit of chaos born inside her head when Discord forced his magic on her. And poor Fluttershy had been a prisoner in her own body this entire time with Fluttercruel in control.

Fluttercruel's trances...she wasn't torturing herself, she was torturing Fluttershy. Fluttershy insisted Fluttercruel believed it was 'showing her love.' I almost threw up.

When I'd used the Memory Spell...she pled with Fluttercruel, just like she said she'd done countless times...but this time, Fluttercruel took a step back in shock (well, in their head) like she was hearing her for the first time.

Fluttershy...She noticed the chains holding her to the table in their mind were undone by my spell and took advantage. She knew it'd be her one chance to end her daughter's terror and put Fluttercruel in her place: a prisoner in her own mind. If Fluttercruel still had any control, we never saw it.

"She asked me if it was my turn to 'show her I love her'…"

We also unstrapped the poor filly that was currently awaiting 'play time' with Fluttercruel. She looked familiar, but like most of Cruel's 'toys' was roughed up. It was too dangerous to get her out of the Castle, but the Castle had so many rooms and subdimensions even Discord didn't know them all, there were plenty of hiding places when no one was looking for you. She didn't want to talk to me and Applejack had to do most of the talking... That was because I'd rescued her before as Twilight Sparkle only to hand her back over to Discord as Twilight Tragedy . . . Not one more Discord, not one more!

---

"How you holding up Fluttershy?" I asked as we prepared to launch our plan.

"I'm okay," Fluttershy said, looking determined, but there were a few tears in her eyes. "...Fluttercruel is in time out...I don't know where she learned all these bad words."

Let it never be said Fluttershy is weak. Discord's spell kept her trapped in their body, but Fluttershy's will was all that kept Fluttercruel contained, or that kept her sane for the last thousand years.

---

Rarigreed was both the easiest and the most dangerous. On one hoof, she was so preoccupied with her endless gala with her rock golems she barely noticed us, on the other...a fight with those golems would undoubtedly reveal us to Discord.

Thankfully, Applejack was on the 'guest' list and…there was a little golem of Sweetie Belle who helped us.

In the end...I ended up going into her mind and breaking her free inside…

I don't need to tell you how hard it was to watch her say goodbye to Sweetie Belle...

---

"Are you sure, Rarity dear, that you don't want a bath now that we no longer need to fool Discord?" Applejack asked holding her nose as politely as she could.

"I might be myself again, Applejack...but I don't think anypony could go through this unchanged."

"I would be lying if I said I didn't know exactly how you feel."

We all hugged her, dirt and all.

---

Angry Pie...We chose to go after her while Discord was out of the castle. We knew freeing Angry Pie wouldn't be easy, even when she and Dash were the only ones left.

And it wasn't.

We HAD to restrain her; she had the strength of several hundred ponies. In the end, Fluttershy finally managed to give her the Stare, Rarity and me used our telekinesis, and Applejack her strength and several ropes, and even then her anger had just kept rising and rising, along with her strength. She was screaming out the names of Gummy and her dead adopted foals at the end: cracking Rarity's horn with the strain, making Fluttershy fall to her knees crying even while she kept the Stare going, and breaking bones and tearing ligaments of Applejack's, the room was going to collapse on us. Thank Celestia we could all still regenerate.

Then she popped in/out of nowhere, anvils dropped on us, cannons fired at us from every direction, landmines blew beneath our hooves that hadn't been there before, Angry Pie kicked me in the back of the head with her in front of me from across the room. Doing all this while Fluttershy was still wrestling with her will against the stare. She ALMOST broke free of Fluttershy's stare. I got close, and she punched through my chest, grabbing my Element FROM BEHIND while staring at her face to face . . . this broke my friends' focus for one moment, but they were relentless, mobbing her, distracting her long enough for me to regenerate my body enough from just my Element to have a horn that grew right into her forehead.

I used an inversion of the Memory spell to shatter Discord's spell.

---

"Pinkie, are you sure you're alright?" Rainbow asked, looking at her as we got on Spike's back. Pinkie's mane was straight.

"I'm fine, Dashie!" Pinkie said, giving a smile. "I've just...made friendly with Pinkamena and the others is all...I'm all of me now."

---

Rainbow Dash was...easy to trap...It was like clockwork...Discord's favorite game with her was to make her the offer that if she killed her best friend (meaning me, since I was the only 'sane' friend she thought she had left) he'd turn things back to normal. I can see why it was tempting. Not just tempting. Realistic. A pretty rational deal considering I wouldn't even be dead if none of this ever happened to begin with.

It played out like it always played out. Rainbow Dash comes into my room in the middle of the 'night' when I'd be sleeping, planning to kill me but breaking down crying because...she's Rainbow Dash, in her heart she just can't bring herself to do it…I touched my horn to her head and used the Memory Spell. What I got wasn't what I expected.

"NO NO! Get away! Come here! Go away! Stand still, I'm aiming for your Element, no no no!"

Rainbow started fighting with herself and me at the same time, literally...a part of her wanted me dead remembering the old days, wanting to bring everypony back to life and restore the world, and part of her wanted to be by my side again and face what she'd done and leave the world with its scars.

I had to dodge a machine gun spray of electrified feathers that left an uncomfortably precise outline as a I dodged, followed by nearly being beheaded by an electric blade sword that RD was aiming with one hoof and try to throw her aim off with the other. I still created a forcefield around my parents to protect them from the collateral damage as Rainbow's electro-vibration punch attack tore my bed's atoms apart when she'd been aiming for my Element.

A part of me couldn't help but be flattered she'd been inventing all these new techniques just for me.

"DIE! RUN! DIE! RUN! Uh, die and run?"

It took the others coming out of hiding and holding her down to make her realize that we actually had a chance of stopping Discord. I think what really made her stop in pure, absolute, emotional shock was the sight of seeing most of her friends with bright colors again, hearing Fluttershy's loving voice, hearing Pinkie Pie sound cheerful, hearing Rarity say something besides 'MINE!' when hugging something, and Liarjack shouting, "Rainbow Dash! I'm your enemy! You can't trust me! I'd never be your friend! Our races we never had in Ponyville meant nothing to me! You're my worst enemy! I was ALWAYS on Discord's side! I LOVE Discord and HATE all of you! You TOTALLY have to do this! We're all separated! We don't have a snowball's chance again Discord!"

I think it's safe to say that broke Rainbow Dash's brain hearing Applejack say that. That gave time for the group hug to do its magic to finally calm her down and relight that Element of Loyalty in her heart.

"Where am I?! Where are the Elements?! Did we beat Discord?!"

"Yer totally as good a liar as me Rainbow Dash."

"Sorry...I guess I just...didn't want to..."

We all hugged her again. "...We ALL know how you feel, Rainbow...but we're all free now…"

We held the hug for a few minutes...just happy to finally be together again...

And then we saw a fourth dimensional parakeet float by the window with a t-shirt saying: 'I'm stupid and I'm by myself'.

"...It might be too soon for a group hug."

---

"...I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble, Twilight…" Rainbow said as we flew towards Ponyville. "I just...I wanted things back to how they were...I...I didn't know we had a chance."

I hugged her and gave her a nuzzle. "It's okay...We've all been in the dark...now we just need to bring back the light."

It's funny though...I'd almost did the same thing Rainbow had wanted to do.

---

I stared at the completed spell I'd done all the research and planning for...all the preparation for. A spell that could set right what happened...make it so Discord's reign never was! EVERYTHING back to the way it was, everything normal, everything the way it was supposed to be. Ponyville, friendship reports, Golden Oaks Library, student to Celestia, unicorns and pegasi still around instead of being a terminus species, Pony civilization back on top instead of under Discord's heel, everypony happy,  I just had to…

*Will it really be worth it?*

Worth it...this horrible world will have never been, why wouldn't it…

*If the world will have never been...what about Apple Pie?*

Apple Pie...I'd not thought of that...Honestly, I sincerely hadn't…I'd been so zealous towards ending Discord for good...I...I'd just overlooked it. I'd been wanting so badly for the nightmare to end, I hadn't thought of what the price might be.

Apple Pie's ancestor...was Apple Bloom...if Apple Bloom was never cursed by Discord, she'd never have met her husband because her husband had come attracted to the legends of Saint Applebloom of Sunny Town if the Apple Pie's and Applejack's stories were right...so if Discord never was...the Apple Pie family...they'd have never existed at all…

And not only that...how many families only existed because of Discord's world?...Apple Pie told me about a family of carrot farmers hers knew that had come to be because their ancestor had been rescued from her Discording by her husband...

...how many stories was I about to erase from time along with Discord's list of atrocities?

*If one thing about this world can be worth wanting to keep...why not more?*

How many ponies had Discord murdered? How many families never existed because of his sick games? How many species no longer existed? How many existed in their place? Would dragons remain separate individuals instead of a civilization? Would the cows never ascend to a higher plane of existence? Would we be able to defeat the Empire of Man?

How much had Discord DESTROYED? How many innocent ponies had he turned into monsters and murderers?! What right did I have NOT to do this?! How many innocent ponies would never be BORN? What right did I have TO do this?

Why shouldn't I replace 1000 years of misery with a better future? How could I delete a 1000 years worth of new families and ponies?

A world without Discord's evil, and all the accomplishments Pony kind could have made by now if not for him. Was I really going to deny all of Pony civilization for the sake of one filly? How was that NOT being selfish? But what about all of Apple Pie's friends? Their families? What about their sakes? Was a bigger civilization more important than ponies ever existing?

To say I had a crisis of conscious was an understatement.

---

I went with Apple Pie and asked the only thing I could want to ask... "What do you like about this world?"

And she showed me...the Hippogriffs in Cloudsdale, the Virgacorns she knew...the intelligent Diamond Dogs born from an underground crystal and deep underground the Diamond Dogs showed me the cheerful and welcoming Lemon-Ponies and the mysterious and fairy like Windy-Gos always at odds but good friends by themselves,...the beautiful and majestic changeling ponies...  the songs of the seaponies... So many things I'd been overlooking in my desire to end it.

---

When we arrived, Discord had the rebels in bunny costumes hopping backwards over watering cans singing the alphabet forward, with a quarter turned into opera singing turtles with wings, and a Equalist, an Anarchist, and a Luna's Witness, turned into a three headed pony arguing philosophy.

Apple Pie wasn't hurt at all. She was put right on a tea party stool wearing a frilly girlie-girl dress and bonnet surrounded by pool toy animals filled with sawdust in the other seats, herself across from Discord.

She'd apparently somehow gotten him started on some sort of game about heroic one liners. I'd given them orders to keep Discord monologuing as long as physically possible.

"Uh...Ah'm finally gonna stop yah, Discord?" Apple Pie asked.

"9,851," Discord recited. "Can somepony PLEASE come up with some I haven't heard? Otherwise this is simply going to be BORING."

"Yer a monster!"

"9,000,945, 425. You had to see that coming."

"What about with the accent?"

"Oh, good one! Only about 650,345 times."

"Ah'll never marry you!"

"217."

"Really?"

"Yes really. I had to make a pocket dimension to keep my shrines in."

And now what I saw in the portal in Discord's closet makes disturbing sense.

"Leggo my waffle!"

"12."

"If only ya'd use yer magic for good."

" . . . Can we skip that one?" Discord sighed.

"Hey it's yer game!"

"Yes and my rules."

"It's no fun if ya change the rules in the middle of games."

Discord crossed his arms. "Yes it is!"

"No it isn't. Then ya can't really say ya won."

"Yes you can!"

"But then it isn't really the same game anymore."

"What does it matter as long as you won?"

"But then it isn't REALLY winnin'. It's a contradiction. What's the point of even playin' then?"

"You play to win!"

"Ah thought you played games to have fun."

" . . . you do!"

"Then shouldn't the playin' be more important than the winnin'?"

" . . . Want to be Queen?"

"What?!"

"Want to be Queen of the world? Spikey-Wicky never does anything unexpected. The Legion of Reserve Minions have imaginations inferior to lemons. The Valeyard is interesting, with his plans to betray me and steal my power, but he's fixated on blech, order. Angry Pie didn't turn out to be as fun as I wanted. Fluttercruel is adorable and wonderful but she needs to learn finess. Traitor Dash and Rarigreed are one trick ponies. Liarjack is at least funny. And Twilight Tragedy's two personalities have never reached where she embraces her inner crazy like I've hoped for all these years. I really need someequus to add something new to the mix. You know, helps ponies behind my back, sublimely lead me to do slightly less evil, teach the finer points of chaos magic and aloofness to, get my minions out of their rut, trick me into leaving ponies alone (in new and interesting ways I never see coming), someApplePie who UNDERSTANDS ME . . . The job comes with an infinite supply of chocolate cake!"

Apple Pie looked at him for a moment. "...Will yah stop hurtin' ponies if Ah do?"

Apple Pie, don't listen to him! He's a liar! He can't be trusted!

I heard Fluttershy whispering something to Fluttercruel-Fluttershy! Why are you looking at that MONSTER with PITY?

Discord looked dumbly at her, tilted his head in a childlike manner. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Because yah can have friends."

"With who? My minions are all boring as my statue prison, everypony on the planet is beneath me, except if you accept my offer. My ex-girlfriend and her family hate my guts."

"...If yah can't stop hurtin' ponies, Ah can't be yer wife."

"Well, I was thinking more Queen first, and we'd work up to wife as you got older, unless you'd like me to age you up to your prime and make you immortal. I'm a sadistic hedonist, not a cradle-snatcher. More chocolate tea?"

Apple Pie looked sad...like Discord would have ever listened to her on the best of days...then she noticed us and smirked. "Hey! How's this one? 'Ah'm a distraction!'"

"99 times...Huh, that's one I normally only hear AFTER sometoy lost…"

Discord blinked and turned to us. "Twilight Tragedy? Didn't I tell you to stay at the Castle? I was having fun!"

"Play time's over Discord!" I said, narrowing my eyes with a glare. "You're going back in time out, for good!"

Discord blinked for a moment, then laughed. "Oh! I see! HAHAHA! You had me going for a moment! I must be playing THAT game. I can be so forgetful, but then again I AM the Crown Prince of Chaos! Or the Chaos Prince of Clowns on Tuesday. Or the Uncrowned Princess of Onions on Opposite Day. I tend to tear up my own reminder notes for giggles. Looks like you got far, but we all know how the game ALWAYS ends."

"This is no game, Discord! Our friendship's back together and you are going down, knave!" Applejack yelled.

"Oh come now, Liarjack, you can't lie to me, I MADE you a liar," the tyrant stated with a laugh. "Oh! Wait! I've been wanting to use this material for a thousand years!"

He teleported back, wearing a pair of red rimmed sunglasses with studs. "I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies. Fire when ready," he said in mock resignation, making a target over his chest.

"Alright girls, he asked for it, let's show him what friendship can do!" Oh I was going to enjoy this.

We all focus, each light in our heart igniting one by one. Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, Laughter, and Magic...harmony reborn.

Discord smirked as we floated into the air and snapped his fingers, trying to put Twilight Tragedy back in control...sorry, Discord...She's gone for good, I'm Twilight Sparkle and I'm free at last. And so is the world!

His eyes went as wide as dinner plates as he had to duck under a bolt of harmonic energy from Rainbow's chest where her Element still set. "Mother, not again…"

Apple Pie and her friends' eyes went wide as well as our Rainbow finally erupted, arching into the air and right down at 'the Clown Prince of Popsicles,' who was too stunned to react.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Light covered everything, cleansing Discord's taint from the world. The sky bright blue. The air no longer smelling of stale cotton candy. The warm sun finally feeling warm against my fur instead of for some reason cold or indigo. Green grass and flowers instead of an endless checkerboard pattern.

Discord's statue fell to the ground with an echoing thud, a look of terror embedded in it. A satisfying pose if I do say so myself.

The rebels (all of which restored to normal) stared in utter disbelief at the dethroned and petrified tyrant laying on the ground before them. They, and us, half expected Discord to suddenly appear from behind himself laughing at having fooled us….it didn't happen.

Apple Pie's sister Cream Pie trotted over and knocked on him. Nothing happened. Everything was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Discord's...gone...they did it...we won!" Apple Pie announced, setting off cheers so loud Canterlot probably heard. Several ponies hugged us like we...well, just dethroned the tyrant that'd enslaved them for the last thousand years.

Pinkie Pie lead the town in singing 'Ding Dong Discord's Gone.' Yes, I sung too! We all did! We all cried.

Fluttershy...was crying while having a long talk with her 'daughter.' I don't WANT to know what was said.

Mayor Mare (yes, she was still alive, Discord had turned her to living stone so she hadn't aged a day, and ironically was still considered mayor of Ponyville) broke down crying and thanking us...it was good to see an old face again.

And, considering foals were involved, Discord got some amusing body art. Spike added "Discord Drools" himself.

Cream Pie was about to blow Discord to rubble when…

"STOP!"

We all turned and...

"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" I yelled, not even TRYING to hold back tears as I ran up and hugged my restored mentor.

She cried too.

"...It's good to see you whole again, Twilight…"

Princess Celestia then gratefully explained destroying Discord would have FREED him and allowed him to possess somepony else. Probably for the best, as satisfying as seeing Discord blown to bits would have been, it probably would've been giving him the easy way out. I wonder how much of his body could be infested by stonemites without it counting as him being dead? There was so much more beautiful payback he was due. I had been SOOO looking forward to BREAKING OFF THAT OTHER FANG OF HIS! I'll admit, I felt cheated at not getting to. What? I just want to pay him back for everything he's done...He stole everything from me, can't I just have this?

"Ah'm just glad it's over," said Apple Computer, Apple Pie's father. "Ah don't need tah see 'em blown tah bits tah see that."

"Wanna dress 'em up in a cheer leader costume?" Banana Pie (Apple Pie's OTHER sister) asked.

"No, I have far too many good memories of that to have it tainted like this," Celestia said.

"You do?" I asked, staring in shock.

"...Monsters aren't born monsters, Twilight. I agree with Mr. Computer, I simply want this nightmare to be overwith. That is why I did not try too hard to preserve history of his reign: a legacy would be both painful for his victims, and pleasing to him."

That...that made some sense...But he still deserved much worse...but...Gah! My head's starting to hurt...Ugh! We just won back the world, and here I am giving myself a headache thinking about the one we took it back from! He needs to be punished, not just stopped, but I'm not giving him the satisfaction of ruining the first real day I've had with my loved ones in a thousand years!

"Sunshine, Sunshine, ladybugs awake!
Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" me and Cadence chanted before hugging one another tightly. We'd captured her at the fall of Avalon...you have no idea how many changelings were hugging her after I was done. And the CURRENT Acting Queen Cadenza offering back the changeling crown to Cadence on the spot. I'll let you figure out if Cadence took it back or not.

Derpy's entire family were there too...all saved by the Elements. Apparently the reason that it took the Princesses time to come to Ponyville in the first place was they had to help Derpy deal with the Valeyard...he was back to being the Doctor. It had taken all three Princesses with Derpy's help (attacking him physically, emotionally, and mentally all at once, asking Ponythulu for a favor, and getting the TARDIS to rebel against him), and they still admitted they barely won against a Doctor with no scruples.

Seeing Derpy, Dinky, and Sparkler reunited was was a happy sight, but not just for obvious reasons. I guess a part of me felt like we were a dying breed. Earth Ponies hadn't changed too much, but Pegasi and Unicorns...It was good to get a reminder that we weren't alone. That we weren't the last of us.

"Hey, what's this stuff?!" Apple Pie asked, looking at the now green grass beneath our hooves after the afterglow of Discord's end finally began to BARELY fade.

It would take awhile for everypony to get used to normality again...maybe too long… what was normal anyway?

Sky Ocean didn't come crashing out of the sky with Discord's defeat, it simply gently lowered back into the body of water Discord had removed it from in the first place...I'm guessing they would take the longest to readjust to the world, given the lies Discord had fed them. And they were used to looking DOWN on the land below, not up.

...My parents...they were waiting for me back at the castle with a big hug. The biggest I've ever had...Well, until Spike decided he didn't want to be left out...

However, there was one last big question...one thing that my mind couldn't stand to go unanswered...

---

"What are we going to do about HIM?" Rainbow Dash asked, pointing to Discord's lifeless stone prison, now wrapped in nigh unbreakable chains forged from the combined magic of three Alicorns.

It'd been a few days. Needless to say, Equestria had been very busy...We'd all been so happy we'd let Discord's final sentence wait...I can't say I'm angry I'd put celebrating with my friends and family first after a thousand years with the world revolving around him. Literally, the planet's axis had been 'wherever Discord was at the time'.

And of course...we all had a thousand years of mental scarring to finally get through. I think Applejack and Pinkie Pie got that from the Apple Pie family more than anypony else. Family was what they both needed more than anything.

One of the Apple Pies, a mare named Minty Pie...she felt so familiar for some reason. Pinkie acted like she was a long lost friend... She, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, all got along amazingly well. It really was like they'd reunited with an old friend.

Rainbow Dash had to get something off her chest to Cloudsdale and met a little curious little Hippogriff chick with a forgiving heart. She also found a few Hippogriffs that had an old friend in their blood line.

Rarity finally got a bath, even if we had to force it on her. And let's just say she finally has that coltfriend she always wanted...or rather drakefriend. And she also showed she hadn't lost her touch and made Applejack a new dress. It was great work.

Fluttershy...she and Luna had a lot of work to do with Fluttercruel every night…Let it never be said that Fluttershy will give up on anyone.

I was even more shocked to learn Apple Pie's friend, the virgacorn Magica, according to her family tree, could trace her roots back to the Sparkles. It was going to be quite a family reunion.

And that filly? That one that we barely saved from Fluttercruel? She was Apple Pie's twin sister, Poison Apple...I...I hadn't noticed with how badly Fluttercruel had messed her up...You have no idea how shocked I was when Apple Pie forgave me...it would take a long time for her to heal, and longer for her to trust me or Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy...but at least one of Fluttercruel's playthings lived.

"...We're still trying to figure that out…" Princess Celestia told us. "...I wanted to send him to the core of a dead moon in the most lifeless corner of the universe where there is no chaos to potentially release him.."

"Our suggestion was far more pragmatic," said Princess Luna. "We suggested shattering his statue while you six prepare the Elements of Harmony to banish his soul to His Parents for a long overdo punishment for his heinous actions."

"NO!" Fluttercruel yelled, for the first time managing to assert any influence. But in that split second, she looked so...afraid...

"...I suggested we just keep him locked up in the castle's vault as securely as possible surrounded by as many harmonious things as possible," Cadence explained.

"...Unfortunately all three have the potential to either release Discord or allow his escape," Celestia explained. "...Now you see what we faced when we defeated him so long ago…"

I gave a small growl. 'And we're going too easy on him.' Yes, I hated Discord. More than anything. I didn't think it was POSSIBLE to hate anypony as much as I hate Discord. Except he wasn't anypony. He was a thing. A plague. A disease that needed to be cleansed! I wanted to see justice done...to see him PAY. It felt like after all he'd done, this was too light a sentence.

But...on the other side...a part of me thought Celestia and Apple Computer were right. Maybe we should just say 'it's over'...move on...have this be the end of it...Just be done with him, let him have his lonely, constant, utterly orderly stone existence, nothing to torture or play with, forgotten and the world just moving on without him.

Spending time with my family and friends...it'd reminded me of how happy things were before he even came...maybe it really would be best to let him rest in stone, my friends seemed just fine with that so why can't I?...but still...I just couldn't.

I guess me and Rainbow really were similar.

I wanted to suggest torturing Discord, and making him pay for every last drop of blood in the ocean he was drowning in...I wanted to suggest imprisoning him for all time...I wanted this.

He was a sickness, he was filth, he was a horseapples stain that needed to be removed. He was a lowly criminal who'd caused untold suffering who deserved to be punished like any other criminal instead of given some grand over the top punishment like he'd WANT.

I feel like...I wanted both but…

UGH! My head feels like it's splitting in two! I can't...Ugh...

I wanted that...I just wanted to…

(Make it fair?)

Suddenly my world went black.

---

[Persona 4 Soundtrack - I'll Face Myself]

Ugh...Where...where am I?...Huh?

"Stained glass?"

I'm on a gigantic stained glass platform. On one half is a window of me and my friends...of Discord's defeat...of the world being saved...On the other…

Discord...only a Discord with flaming chains holding him up like a puppet, a look of pain and misery on his face. Above him...a dark violet Alicorn...no...a dark violet Nightmare pulling the chains. Below him . . . how Ponyville used to be.

"Hello, myself…"

Huh?

I turn to see...me.

The only difference between us is her Cutie Mark has the inverted colors of mine…

"Who...who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm you."

I take a step back. "How can YOU be me?"

"I'm the smart, intelligent part of you! Your true self!" she said, giving that smile...I give whenever I'm giving a lecture. "The part of you that GETS IT!"

"...That gets what?"

"That gets that Discord has to pay," she explained, trotting over to me. "You know, for making our friends into horrid strangers? For making our beloved teacher a lawn decoration? For putting us through a thousand years of living Tartarus?! For putting EVERYPONY through a thousand years of living Tartarus! Leaving him to rot in stone or killing him would be too KIND! It'd be far better than he DESERVES."

My blood ran cold...the look on her face...On my face...

"I...The Princesses...they have ideas…"

"Yes, and their decisions let Discord out to begin with, our perfect mentor's perfect decisions led to their perfect nightmare, but we all know Twilight Sparkle isn't wrong," the other me said. "We all know we're always right…"

"I...I'm not ALWAYS right…"

"Of course you are! Except, you know...when you decided not to just get the real Ponyville back."

I blinked. "What?"

The other me scoffed. "I mean really, can you honestly say you're HAPPY with this world of scar tissue? You know we still have that useful little spell to set things right."

I felt sick to my stomach. "I'm not using that! I don't need to anymore!"

"Oh really? What about Big Macintosh? Dead. Granny Smith? Dead. Lemon Hearts? Dead. So many ponies dead!"

I gulped. "Yes...but...Apple Pie...all the others...they're alive...they'd be...worse than dead if I did that."

"So? They'd never feel a thing. You mean you're not the slightest bit BITTER they live but all those ponies we knew died and are never coming back?"

"...I'm upset...but...I...I can't just undo this world! It'd not be fair! That's why we beat Discord this way!"

"What's NOT FAIR is this world of horseapples standing instead of our real world! OUR REAL LIFE!" the other me spat back at me. "That you'd rather stand in an ocean of blood than wash yourself clean!"

I heard them...so many voices...so many pleads for mercy...so many calls I'd never listened to...so much blood...so much…

I covered my ears. "I'm sorry! I...I...it was Discord...he…"

Celestia make it stop!

"All we need to do is use that spell, and it's all gone...and maybe we can even have one last little play date with Discord before the world goes...after all, why would what's done in Never Was matter? In a time that never mattered?"

Never matter...never matter…NEVER MATTER?!

I snapped up, glaring daggers at the other me. "Never matter?! What about Apple Pie? What about her family?! What about ALL the families who live here?! Don't THEY matter?"

She gave a tsk. "I'm not saying they DON'T matter. I'm simply saying they don't matter AS MUCH. They lived in a chaotic hell. Are you saying their lives are BETTER than those who lived in Equestria, happy and safe? It's clear which is the better quality. Think about it OBJECTIVELY! Now stop being so stubborn and let's get the world back with a nice side of revenge."

"...No."

"What?"

I glared. "No. I'm not doing it."

The other me snarled in rage. "Can't you see what you're throwing away?!"

"Can't YOU?"

She gave a look of pure anger and hatred. "...So that's how this is going to be?"

I had to jump back as hellfire erupted around my twin, rising high into the air above me. It's so hot…

I see the flesh of the other me BURN AWAY to reveal…

"Sweet Celestia…"

[=The Genesis- Persona 4=]

Standing before me...was me….but... she was an Alicorn, like Princess Luna when she was . . . she was . . .  A dark violet 'Nightmare' dressed in spiked barding covered in chains, mane and tail made of flames.

"If you're not going to listen to reason, I'll just have to do this the hard way...There's only room in this soul for one Ego."

I took a fighting stance. "...I couldn't agree more…"

I wasn't about to let this...impostor? Erase everything...everything we've worked so hard to save.

She launches at me, forming a blade of magic along her horn, I narrowly dive out of the way and fire back with magic beam.

She deflects it with that sword and retaliates with an ice spell. I evaporate it with a fire spell.

I use a bolt of thunder, but she counters with a barrier before trying to charge me head on. I form one of the same and charge back, the two of us colliding and slamming off of one another like pinballs!

She floated backwards and formed a sword in her telekinesis. It had MY Cutie Mark...no, her inverted one, seated in its grip. Along the blade were six smaller blades curving off.

My Nightmare charged me and I had to use a magical blade around my horn to block, and nearly got it cut off in the process. I forced her back and counter swung, but she blocked it.

We parted and charged again, slashing at one another as we passed, my mana blade sending sparks off of hers. Again and again we trade blows and spells.

Ugh! This is getting us nowhere! Okay, new plan! Her blade is designed so sliding down it to strike her won't work...

We charge one another again, but I flicker my beam the moment our blades are about to collide...and then relight it right after, slashing into her chest.

My Nightmare screams in pain and jumps back, giving me a brutal slash across the back...both of us heal instantly.

"Play time's over…"

The Nightmare flies straight up, charging energy into her horn.

Uh oh…

I barely cast the glosomer wing spell in time to fly up as her beam slams into the stained glass on which we stood and shattered it to pieces that now floated throughout the void.

She charged up another beam and I charged up one of my own. The two beams collided with such force that I felt myself being pushed back.

Her beam...overtook mine.

GAH! I slam hard into one of the floating pieces of stained glass hard enough to crack it.

Ow...that blow...I could-

I barely managed to dodge as she came charging at me engulfed in hellfire like a rocket and slammed straight through the glass like it might as well not even been there.

"You don't get it do you? Everything YOU want is everything I want. So if I want to destroy this awful world to get ours back, so do you! If I want our life back, it's because you do! If getting payback on that monster is worth this much to me, then it's worth just as much to you!"

"No I don't!" I yell, firing the strongest beam I can manage. "No, it's not true! I...I WANTED it, but I don't anymore! Not if YOU are what it'd turn me into!"

She dodges my beam and charges again, the two of us trading blows.

"That's all well and good, but if you throw those desires away...what are you left with?"

I freeze up when her words hit my ears.

Gah! My leg...she cut part of it off…

"What is the one thing you've actually been planning to do all this time? The one PLAN? The one driving force in your thoughts? Revenge on that devil...so without it, what do you do now? If you don't have your old life and refuse to get it back, then what IS this precious new life you're fighting for?"

...I...I hadn't thought about that...

She slices both my wings off! I'm falling! Cast it again!

"Tell me Twilight Sparkle, what are you going to DO with yourself now? Go back to studying under Princess Celestia? You've emptied ever spell book in the kingdom of knowledge."

I...I hadn't…

My Nightmare slams me through one of the shards, embedding them in my back.

I rip them out and send them back at her with my telekinesis, but she blows them away with a wind spell.

"Are you going back to the Golden Oak Library to be its Librarian for eternity? Oh! Right, so full of bad memories, remember how we found the bones of our precious pet there?"

Tears start down my face. Owlowcious...I'm so-

That moment gets me frozen solid and slammed through several of the shards like a wrecking ball.

"Sit on your rump and write poetry until the end of time? Go out and explore the rest of the universe until the stars burn out?...But...that'd mean being alone, wouldn't it? And we both know whether pony, Nightmare, or anything, Twilight Sparkle can't stand being alone. Be a walking, talking history book for ponies to read? Oops, Discord already had those classes so everypony would have a CONTEXT to suffer in!"

I try to charge up a fireball, but she blows it up in my face, shattering my horn.

"Ski down every mountain while whistling the Equestrian anthem backwards? Summon every untold horror from beyond the Veil just to see how you can beat them blindfolded with all four hooves tied behind your back? Oh right right, that'd be 'wrong.'"

"FINE! You're right! I hadn't thought about what I'd do once Discord was gone!" I screamed, my head spinning like a top. "But why does that matter?!"

My jaw just got broken by an Earth Pony level buck to the muzzle.

"Because of this, myself: did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason you didn't want to let things stay buried is because you knew without it, you'd have nothing? That maybe the reason I exist...is because part of you is smart enough not to throw away its reason to live? Maybe you NEED me just to keep moving?"

Right as my horn regenerates, she slashes at me with a horn blade that I block with my own-

GAH!

My...my element...She...she stabbed her physical sword straight...straight through it…

"Sorry it had to be this way, but you're so stubborn," my Nightmare said. I feel myself... fading... like... like I'm being sucked dry and going straight into her... like…

"Do you know WHY you lost, myself?" she asked, looking me in the eyes. "Because you don't have any drive left. Revenge? You threw it away. Getting our home back? You apparently don't want that either. You don't even have DEFEATING DISCORD left because you already did. You have no drive to win...while I still have the drive to make that monster suffer in full for what he did. To undo this Tartarus the world has been twisted into. I have that...you don't...and because you don't, you never had a chance of beating me."

Drive? Is...is that it? I don't have drive?

Maybe...maybe she's right...maybe I don't have anything left that can drive me…

*Are you sure?*

What is there? I don't want revenge, I don't want my home back, I don't even have a villain left to fight…

*But are those really what's most important? Are those really things worth risking everything for? Are they the ONLY things someone can risk their life for?*

…No….No they aren't!...I've just been pretending they were...

My Nightmare gives a gasp as my magic grabs her sword. I stop fading and become whole again. "...You're wrong...I do have something to drive me...Apple Pie...her family...my friends...this world...to protect THEM from anything, even myself! That's my drive!"

I pull the sword out of myself, the wound healing. In a flash of purple light the sword gains my Cutie Mark instead of hers and morphs into a long, thin sword. A much more precise weapon "...You're me...the part of me that can't let go of our pain, of what we lost, so much so that you can't see what we HAVE...you're just a Lingering Nightmare…"

Lingering Nightmare roars in fury and creates another sword, charging me.

Our blades bounce off of one another as we clash several times before an overhead strike from me forces her back. We both extend magic blades from our horns and clash with BOTH blades at the same time before finally forcing each other off.

We fly at each other several times, slashing as we pass, both ending up with wounds that heal in a nano second. I fire an ice spell to freeze her, I get burned from a fire spell. We both shock one another with thousands of volts.

We both collide our weapons again, forcing against one another until we fire a point blank blast that sends us both flying backwards into opposing shards of floating glass from the resulting explosion.

We both regain our bearings and charge our beams once more and turn them loose. This time they're even.

"So you've evened the odds, you still can't beat me! I'm fighting for my real friends!" Lingering Nightmare snarls, forcing against me.

"...If you think this world isn't worth saving, then are our friends not worth saving?" I asked, forcing back with all my might.

"They'll have happier lives like they were meant to!"

"...They have happy lives NOW...you can't see that...but I can...and I want to live with them! And I know they do with me! My friends are more important to me than a shade of times gone by!"

[=MLP: Equestria Girls- Rainbow Rocks - Friendship Through the Ages=]

I feel my heart call out...Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike, Apple Pie...we're friends...and friends share a special connection. From before they met to after they've parted, there's no where I am you aren't too.

My Element of Magic glows like a star, forcing Lingering Nightmare to shield her face with her wing. I reaches out.

"You'd throw the friends we have now away like trash just to get the world you miss back! I never will!"

Seven spheres of light form around me.

"Honesty."

The orange sphere forms into Applejack, gauntlets on her front hooves with the Element of Honesty in each.

"Kindness."

The pink sphere forms into Fluttershy, a shield with her Element of Kindness in the center.

"Laughter."

The TWO blue spheres form into Pinkie Pie and Apple Pie. Pinkie Pie had a wooden ping-pong-paddle with her Element of Laughter in the hilt. Apple Pie had a bladed...shape I'm pretty sure can't physically exist with her orange and apple slice cutie mark as a blue jewel on the side.

"Generosity."

Two purple spheres formed into Spike and Rarity. Rarity had a rapier with the Element of Generosity as the guard. Spike had a lance...with a purple gem shaped like a scroll in the handle?

"Loyalty."

Rainbow Dash manifested from the red sphere, pegasi wing blades mounted on her wings, each having her Element of Loyalty on them.

My friends power and hearts connecting to mine.

My beam gained a rainbow hue and plowed through Lingering Nightmare's, slamming her hard through several of the glass shards. My friends flew with me as I charged her and thrust forwards through the explosion.

My Nightmare gasped out as my sword ran straight through her chest.

One by one my friends flew past me, each delivering a blow from their weapon and leaving a glowing wound of their own respective color on her.

"...Magic."

My Element of Magic's symbol appears briefly on Lingering Nightmare's back before a purple beam pierces her. Each of my friend's wounds glows with their Elements' symbol before sending off a pillar of their respective light.

My Nightmare burns away like a bad dream fading with the dawn…

Inside the shell of hatred. Inside the shell of revenge. Inside of all of that...

"Twilight Tragedy?"

A little greyed out Alicorn filly, sobbing.

She looked up at me, tears running down her face. "I...I just wanted to go home..."

I stare at her for a few moments.

"...So did I...but...I realize now...I have a home...we have a home…"

I nuzzle her. "...You ARE me...you're the piece of me that doesn't want to let go...and maybe that's good...because it reminds me of why I should never let go of what I have now…You're me...I'm you...We're Twilight Sparkle...and we're free.

"...Can we go home now?"

"...Come on in…"

She slowly slides down, turning darker and darker until she becomes what she always was: my shadow.

My butterfly wings shatter as a pair of purple feathered wings emerge to take their place. Huh? Why would...

"Twilight?"

I look up at my friends, standing where they stopped...all looking concerned.

---

Saved Future: Dawn of a New Day
By Kendell2 and Alexwarlorn
My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
Fanfiction
Pony POV Series Dark World

My eyes flutter open. "Ugh…"

"Thank...well, you Princess, she's alright," Rainbow said, helping me to my hooves along with Applejack. The Princesses looked down on me, smiling proudly...why did they look so proud?

"Twilight, what happened?" Rarity asked, staring at me. Why does she look so shocked?

"I don't know...I had the strangest dream…" I rubbed my head with a wing...wait, what?!

I looked down to find that I had wings…Wings...just like Celestia's...No, they weren't just wings, they were much more than that. I could feel it...

"I'm...I'm an Alicorn…"

I became one at the end of my...dream? Was it really a dream at all? What kind of battle was that?

Fluttershy nodded, staring in shock. "Twilight...what happened?"

"Yeah, we felt our Elements go crazy for bit and I...uh…" Rainbow Dash started.

"We felt you," Rarity said simply.

"Yeah, that. We're happy you're an Alicorn but...well, how the Tartarus did you become an Alicorn?!"

I explain everything...my battle with Lingering Nightmare…

"But...why would any of that cause me to become an Alicorn?"

"I believe I know, Twilight," Princess Celestia said, putting a wing over my back. "An Alicorn must be able to accept ALL of themselves, and all of the world. You can't just care about those you know, you must care for everypony. You must be able to see something in the world you don't consider fair and be able to still see the value of the world. If this being you call Lingering Nightmare was truly your difficulty accepting this world, overcoming her was likely your final step."

"A Nightmare tis one who looks upon the world and says 'I shall make it fair...' An Alicorn tis not this. An Alicorn looks upon the world and chooses to make it a better place, even if tis not the quick and easy path. They doth not take the easy way out, instead choosing the right road no matter how long it tis," Princess Luna continued. "Believe us, we know this first hoof. By accepting that fact...thou were better than we once were."

"And besides," Princess Cadence said, nuzzling me. "You just turned a thousand years of Discord's reign around, and saved all your friends...I think you deserve this…"

"Are you sure?" I asked, it...was just so much to take in...almost too much…

All three smiled proudly...so did my friends.

"Twilight, the truth is this: if you have to ask that, it's just more proof that you do," Applejack told me with a grin.

"You did earn this, my faithful student. And I always knew you could," Princess Celestia told me, giving me a nuzzle.

Teacher...began to sing…

"You've come such a long, long way
And I've watched you from that very first day
To see how you might grow
To see what you might do
To see what you've been through
And all the ways you've made me proud of you
It's time now for a new change to come
You've grown up and your new life has begun
To go where you will go
To see what you will see
To find what you will be
For it's time for you to fulfill your destiny."

She used her magic to...to show me all the things I've done...all the things WE'VE done.

"I'm so proud of you, Twilight…"

"We all are dear," Applejack stated, giving a smile as everypony hugged me…

"Come on, everypony! We have a big 'we saved the world/coronation' party to plan!" Pinkie announced, flying over to the door and opening it…

"Twilight!"

Oof!

A little paradoxical bundle of energy suddenly hugtackled me. "They said somethin' was happenin', are yah okay?" she asked, then cocked her head, looking at my new wings. "Twilight...did yah always have wings?"

I chuckle and give her a hug. "No, Apple Pie, I didn't...but I have you to thank for them."

"Huh? But Ah didn't do anythin'!"

"Yes, you did. You taught me that this world was worth saving...worth keeping...and if you hadn't done that, I would never have these wings at all…" I told her, giving her a nuzzle.

"Hehe...Ah don't get it but yer welcome!"

---

Apple Pie had a good resolution to our 'what to do with Discord' problem: Luna bringing the little filly along to Fluttershy and her dream meetings with Fluttercruel...then maybe some day the four of them could have some with Discord. Most of us thought Fluttershy was being crazy. But Apple Pie's greatest strength was always her willingness to do crazy things that had a chance to work.

Honestly, I didn't care what they did with Discord anymore...seeing my grudge at its absolute with Lingering Nightmare had made what Celestia and Apple Computer seen clear as day finally come into focus. I was focusing so much on what punishment Discord should be facing. It was getting in the way of what was really important. Good luck Apple Pie, but Discord's stolen the last thousand years, my family and friends deserved all the ones from here on out. The world was healing and I wasn't going to miss it for anything.

Speaking of which...Diamond and Golden Tiara were both in a mental clinic (the first new one built sense Discord's defeat) now that they weren't in a music box or toon powered minions. Surprisingly, psychological help had grown better in the past thousand years thanks to ponies needing it daily with Discord around. There was a good possibility they'd recover, an opportunity Golden wouldn't have had a thousand years ago. Diamond Tiara broke out of the foalcare ward to be with her mother so many times that they finally were given rooms next to each other. The doctor say she spent most nights hugging her pillow saying 'Silver Spoon' in her sleep. A part of me wonders if she's faking insanity just to be closer to her mother.

As for the Dirt Maids that'd been at the castle Celestia and Luna merely said they'd handle it and we're better off not knowing everything about where they came from. (What kind of name was MacXCher?) A surprising number chose to stay in our world. Saying how they wouldn't get a chance like this again.

Strangely, the Castle itself was now alive. Apparently the Elements had refused to kill the spirit Discord had gave it. Celestia taught it how to buy cooking supplies to save the staff trouble.

Princess Celestia...she had already commissioned a memorial to all the lives Discord...and us had taken...I'd probably never stop visiting it.

Pinkie Pie insisted she add the name of every last of her foals to the list herself. She might not have killed them...but she loved them and felt guilt at the road she'd lead them down. She hoped someday she'd be able to tell them she was sorry.

Princess Luna now had the Windy-Gos as her loyal subjects and admirers. Apparently her pet Windigo was their ancestor, and apparently Luna had to reach the heart of their lonely queen. Luna could sympathize with loneliness.

There was the Island of the Amazon Mares, but they mostly kept to themselves. They'd been isolated all their existence, and with Discord gone, that was all they knew. We'd try to get them to open up, but it'd take little steps.

Our immortality? For now, we just want to live a new life after our last one was stolen...though Rarity was in no rush to say goodbye to hers, she had a very long lived husband to spend it with. And so long as I had ponies I loved, I wanted to live. The one thing we all agreed on was that it was nice to have a long time to add to the world to make up for what we took away.

Oh, and Derpy is dating the Doctor now.

The world...it lived. It had scars, but piece by piece, it began to patch itself back together…

---

"My baby's an Alicorn!" Mom cried, hugging me so tight that I could hardly breath and had to regenerate three ribs.

"Honey, I'm proud too but please calm down!" Dad replied, trying to free me...but having 'liquid pride' running down his face.

After mom calmed down, she told me that she couldn't be more proud, that she always knew I could...and then nearly crushed my chest again.

...I wouldn't have it any other way.

"And here we had the surprise for you."

"What?"

"There's going to be more love in our family."

---

My coronation? It was planned by Pinkie Pie, I think it being great goes without question.

'Saint Liarjack', or rather now Saint Applejack, had her crowd of fans too, the Apple Pies eager to welcome her back into a fold.

There was really no 'upper class' anymore, but Applejack and Rarity felt that wasn't really the point of dressing up. Who do you think made my dress?

Rarity and Applejack's friendship is stronger than ever, even among us six I've rarely seen a friendship so true.

Rarity and Applejack were like a pair of princesses themselves. Few ponies even recognized Rarity as the beast Greedity, and even those that did could not believe their eyes. Ironically it was Applejack who had beautied up Rarity for the event! And of course Spike stayed with his love during it, but he'd up so nicely that no one made a joke about Greedity having a dragon for her husband. He looked kinda cute with his spines dressed up right.

Rainbow had planned the first real airshow Equestria had seen since Discord took over. You bet she loved it!

Fluttershy, despite her troubles with Fluttercruel, wouldn't miss it for the world. She even had time to train some birds to sing.

And of course, the entire Apple Pie clan was in attendance. They all pitched in together and made the biggest rock cake in the history of Equestria for the celebration. Princess Celestia was overjoyed.

"One good thing about missing a thousand years is how many new kinds of cake I have to try now," Princess Celestia joked. I admit, it made me laugh. So did Pinkie Pie grabbing a slice bigger than her head and eating it whole. The others didn't find the rock cake quite as tasty, even if our teeth regenerated on the spot.

But...it wasn't about the crown. It wasn't about the praise. It wasn't about the stained glass windows or standing on a castle balcony before a crowd of thousands. It wasn't about being this entire world's hero...I enjoyed those things (Rainbow Dash REALLY enjoyed them), but we all agreed they weren't what this was actually about.

...It was about the ponies standing up there with me...the ones who in the end Discord could only bend my bonds with, never truly break. The ones I'd shed blood, sweat, and tears for and alongside. It was about my family.

It was about this world we'd managed to save. All the praise in the world can't ever hold a candle to all that. This wasn't just my coronation, it was a celebration of the world being set free.

My first declaration as a Princess wasn't going to be 'Discord Lost Day'...It'd be to set aside a day for ponies to remind themselves of that. What? If Hearts and Hooves Day was inspired by a dragon and a kingdom falling, why can't a day about remembering what's important be inspired by a tyrant's fall?

Our past does not define us. What we've lost shouldn't hold us back. But it shouldn't be forgotten either. If I just erased everything, then that'd be disrespectful to all those who have died. If I had written off my friends as unsavable, that my past with them was dead, that it didn't mean anything anymore, none of us would be here. We're all of our moments.

This world isn't the one we lost, but it's the one we found.

I left one last letter on Princess Celestia's desk before going to be crowned a Princess…

... Dear Princess Celestia...I learned that even when everything looks hopeless, when it seems the bleakest, that's when friendship is the most important. As long as we don't forget what our friendships mean to us, there will always be hope. And as long as there's hope, there's a chance to set things right... And also, we need to remember that even if somepony hurts our friends, it doesn't give us an excuse to become just like them in return. You can still stand up for your friends without acting like a monster yourself...And those friends, and this world are priceless...nothing is worth throwing them away. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle…

My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle...and we're all free...