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Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any of the ideas or characters related to it. I really wish I did though. I make no money from this writing. I really wish I did though.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Final Crisis of Power and Love Chapter 7

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"High above us the stars do shine,
And I have not lost all that's mine.
It waits for me at journey's end,
So I must hurry past this bend.
Though our hearts may fill up with dread,
Heroes hold on to true love's thread.
Through shadow, through the Dreaming's wake,
Keep your hope, darkness will not take."

*

In the safety of the night, Princess Luna looked into the dreams of their ally from the future, looking for some sort of insight into the unicorn that called herself Galaxy.

“Galaxy, sweetie, daddy’s home!”

Galaxy’s head shot up at the voice, a sudden shock from the continuous drum of the rainfall and the pounding of her little heart. Her ears perked up and her bloodshot eyes, normal organic eyes, opened wide at the scene playing out before her, lit up in a cone of light from the heavens above.

A dozen yards away stood a unicorn stallion and an alicorn mare, shrouded in shadow so that Galaxy couldn’t make out any of their features. The world went deathly silent, the still-falling rain like a soundless scream as it formed a blue-grey backdrop. The two ponies stood like giants over a foal’s crib made of the most beautiful crystal Galaxy had ever seen, filled with every color she could imagine. The sound of foals cooing came from the crib, muted and echoing as if from a great distance, and the stallion and mare answered with laughter, mouths open in shining smiles.

Screams rent the scene. The mare staggered away from something outside of the scene’s view, while the stallion lowered his horn and charged at the unseen danger. Moments later the stallion staggered back to the mare, falling to the ground at her hooves and staying there.

A shadow loomed over the crib, fangs gleaming in the darkness. The alicorn mare let out another scream, a scream of rage now, and flew at the towering shadow, forcing it away from the crib. Beams of light lanced out from her horn and pierced the shadow. Tendrils of darkness shot from the shadow and slashed at the alicorn. Neither gave ground, the mare and the shadow locked in a battle to the death.

Yet as Galaxy watched from outside the scene, helpless to do anything, she saw another shadow, smaller than the first, go unnoticed around the mare to the crib. Galaxy screamed, desperate to get the mare’s attention, but no sound passed her lips.

The unnoticed shadow reached into the crib and took out two bundles, both vague to Galaxy’s eyes. With a private giggle the unnoticed shadow disappeared in a swirl of violet and ivory.

At the same moment a shout of triumph rang through the air as the alicorn mare smote the looming shadow to the ground, dispersing it to the void. The air of triumph died as the alicorn mare turned back to the crib. The fog around her features cleared then, allowing Galaxy to see purple eyes fill with the kind of despair that blots stars from the sky. A multi-colored mane twisted in the wind.

Luna broke herself out of the dream, a cry on her lips and her body covered in a cold sweat. She sat there in her throne for several minutes, simply panting and trying to pull herself from what she had just seen and felt.

“Galaxy… is a very disturbed mare. Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor must never know.”

*

Galaxy woke up to silken sheets, a pillowy bed, and warm sunlight streaming in through high-arched windows. Crystal dust sparkled in the light, drifting across the room to walls, floor, and ceiling of the brightest blue imaginable. Galaxy felt calm in the room, safe, secure, more so than she had felt in years. Shifting from her left side onto her back, Galaxy stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before pushing the blankets off of her body and sitting up. Bandages were wrapped across her mid-section and over her left foreleg, and her right rear leg ended as a bandaged stump at her knee. She felt around her head with her good hoof and felt only one ear. "Oh."

"Hold on there, be careful with yourself."

Galaxy looked from her body to a chair set by the bed. A pink-coated alicorn mare sat there, looking to be warming a large basin of water with her magic. A stack of dirty bandages lay crumpled to her chair. Galaxy swallowed, wishing either one of them could be anywhere else at the moment. "Cadance. I... am honored to be in your palace."

Cadance smiled, taking her eyes off her work to look Galaxy in the eye. "Well, you have kept Sweetie Belle and the others remarkably safe, given the circumstances, so I feel like the honor should be all mine. Do you feel like you're hurting anywhere?"

Galaxy shook her head, looking down from Cadance. "No, I don’t hurt. I remember… the state my body was in when I teleported Belle and the others to here. I didn’t expect to live when I did it, not after breaking the alicorn amulet. How long was I asleep? Where is Sweetie Belle? Is she okay?"

If Cadance was put off by Galaxy's gruffness, she didn't show it. Instead she levitated the wash basin to a counter and stood up. "You slept the whole morning away. I'll bring your lunch in myself. As for Sweetie Belle, she is with her friends in the castle library doing... well, I'm not sure. But they are safe, I assure you."

"Good." Galaxy gulped again, and then looked over at the younger mare. "You should take care of yourself. For the children."

Silence. Then Cadance grabbed the dirty bandages from the floor and near-ran from the room. Galaxy watched her go, sighed, and lay back down in the bed. Some more rest, perhaps, before lunch. Then she could think about what to do next, before final end came.

*

"Sweetie Belle, stop! You're gonna hurt yourself!"

Sweetie Belle ignored Scootaloo's cry of warning and grabbed another book from the library bookshelf, adding it to the stack of books she held motionless as possible several feet above her with her magic. Sweat from the exertion dripped down her cheeks and forehead, her mane hanging in limp twists, but she refused to set the stack down or even lower it. "Huff. That's f-fifty, right?"

A few feet in front of her Button Mash nodded, his eyes never leaving the thick, leather-bound book before him. It was weird seeing the colt reading and not playing video games, and Sweetie Belle dearly wanted to ask him what he was reading, but she had her focus on more urgent matters for that moment.

Scootaloo came over and wiped the sweat from Sweetie Belle's brow with a napkin. "Sweets, seriously, you probably don't need to be pushing yourself like this. I mean, you've been at it since breakfast!"

Sweetie Belle grit her teeth. "I know how long I've been at this, Scoots. And yeah, I think I do need to push myself like this. Aside from my singing, I was hardly able to help at all yesterday when rescuing Button from the changelings. Huff, huff, it s-sucked." Grabbing, she added another book to the stack, feeling it teeter in her grip a moment before getting it to balance again. "If it hadn't been for Galaxy showing up, we'd have all been goners! And besides, my sister Rarity can levitate around lots of things at once!"

Scootaloo sighed, wiping the sweat away again. "Yeah, but aside from her mannequins she levitates around scissors and ribbons and stuff. Way lighter than these books. Can't unicorns, like, over-exert their magic or something?"

Sweetie Belle decided against adding a fifty-second book to the stack and instead opted to lift it up higher into the air, groaning and letting off sparks from her horn as she did. "Y-yeah, but there's a flower to help cure that. We could-"

Button jumped from where he sat, the book he’d been reading all morning tumbling from his lap as he waved his forelegs frantically. "No, no no no! One epic quest at a time, thank you very much! Changelings and mad unicorn kings and time travel is enough dangerous business, right?"

Sweetie Belle blinked and shared a look with Scootaloo. "This all just got a little too meta. You want to go find where Apple Bloom got off to?"

"No need," the earth pony said, trotting up the staircase behind Button and going over to Sweetie Belle. She set down a bottle of water next to her. "I saw you weren't gonna stop this nonsense any time soon, so I thought you might need this."

Sweetie Belle smiled and levitated the bottle up to her mouth, taking a sip of the painfully-cold water through the straw until the stack of books above her started to waver. Then she set the bottle back down. "Thanks. I really needed that. While you were out, did you run into anybody? Any word yet about Galaxy or what's going to happen next?"

Apple Bloom nodded, going to sit down beside Button. "Yeah, I ran into Princess Cadance on the way back. She had just finished changing Galaxy's bandages when she woke up." She frowned. "It was weird. Cadance looked really spooked by something."

Sweetie Belle frowned and, to the obvious relief of all her friends, set down the stack of books. “That is weird. I’ve only ever seen Princess Cadance happy. Uh, fake weddings not counted. Did you learn anything else?”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “Well, I didn’t really learn anything important. There was nobody around to talk to. All the adults except Galaxy are locked up in the throne room. I guess that’s where Cadance was off to when I ran into her.”

Scootaloo sat down after hearing this and folded her forelegs across her chest. "Hmph. You'd think we would be allowed in on that. We have been involved in this situation since the start, you know!"

"I know," Sweetie Belle said to the rhetorical question. Turning to the bookshelf she began levitating the books she'd borrowed back to their proper places. "It's just that they still think of us as kids." She frowned. "Honestly, I still think of us as kids, I guess. I mean, before this whole mess started I wanted I was, eh, happy I guess to think of myself as all grown up, having a cutie mark and a volunteer job and all. But after everything we've gone through... I don't know...."

"It's been scary," said Apple Bloom, going over to sit beside Sweetie Belle. "When this started I couldn't wait to get off the farm. I felt a little bad leaving Big Mac and Granny Smith on their own, but I wanted to have an honest-to-goodness adventure like our sisters get to have all the time!" She sighed and hung her head. "It hasn't been what I hoped for. Queen Chrysalis and that Sombra fellow are scary."

Sweetie Belle nodded. "I hear that. Although, it was kinda fun to sing in front of that big crowd like I did." She stopped her shelving and looked at the book she currently held in her magic. "Music and How it Relates to Spell-crafting". Cute. "I mean, I've never had to sing under that kind of pressure before. It was scary, but exhilarating. Like I really got to push myself to the limit."

Button looked up from his book at this. "I think I know how you feel. In Manehattan, playing that riddle challenge was the toughest moment in my life. I... I was scared to do it at first. Scared of failing you three at something I knew I was good at." He looked down, frowning. "I guess that's why I acted the idiot so long."

"Whoa, that was acting all this time?" At Button's embarrassed squeak Scootaloo loved and ruffled up his mane. "Nah, I'm just kidding with ya. You did great in that riddle game, man. Certainly blew my mind."

Button blushed and chuckled. "Aw, thanks. You girls were really awesome saving me."

Sweetie Belle beamed and shelved another book. "Anything for a friend."

After that, a minute of companiable silence passed, before Sweetie Belle looked back over at Button. "What's that book you're reading, by the way? I don't recall ever seeing you reading books in Ponyville. And you certainly never visited Golden Oaks Library for any reason other than me."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both giggled at this, while Button looked like he'd prefer to bury himself in the book and disappear. "It's uh, just a book of Crystal Empire riddles. Thought I should use this chance to learn riddles from a thousand years ago and from a totally different country, haha, hah...."

Sweetie Belle sidled over. "Any good ones?"

Button flipped to the next page, scanned it a moment, and then grinned. “Ooh, here’s a good one! Giving me food keeps me alive, yet giving me water kills me. What am I?”

Sweetie Belle blinked. “Wait, that’s one of the riddles that shopkeeper told us.”

Button blinked, looked back at the book of Crystal Empire riddles, and turned to another page. “Cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind the stars and beneath the hills. Ends life and kills laughter. What is it… the dark!”

Scootaloo came over. “That’s another riddle that Chrysalis told us as the shopkeeper!”

Button looked farther down the page. “I’m the last home all ponies come to, yet the home they never want. I have one door but none ever—”

“Coffin!” Apple Bloom came over. “What’s going on here? These are all riddles Chrysalis knew. I thought this was a Crystal Empire book.”

Sweetie Belle sat down, eyes on the book of riddles as she began to think. It was all a riddle, she thought. Galaxy, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, Tartarus, the future; it was all a riddle she and her friends had to solve. Was it chance or destiny that had put this unexpected connection before them? Was the impossible answer slowly taking shape in Sweetie Belle’s thoughts possible?”

“I think… I think we need to find some Crystal Empire history books. Who ruled here before King Sombra?”

*

Shining Armor dismissed the messenger at his side and turned to look at his friends and family gathered before the crystal throne. At the looks on their faces he took a moment to gather the right words. Our worries from last night are true. A massive army of changelings, diamond dogs, and some dragons just passed over the border between Equestria and the Crystal Empire. They will be here within three hours."

The reactions were varied. Fluttershy squeaked and hid her head beneath her hooves, whimpering. Pinkie Pie's mane deflated a little. Rainbow Dash scowled and flew up, throwing kicks and daring the changelings to come on. Applejack narrowed her eyes and pawed the floor with a hoof. Rarity cast a glance toward the door, worry for her sister etched into her features. Princess Celestia was the only one to speak. "Are you prepared for war?"

Shining Armor sighed, slumping into the throne. "I must be, for the ponies of the Crystal Empire. My main worry right now is getting the ponies that can't defend themselves away to safety." though he did not think it out loud, his thoughts went to his wife and the growing blessing she carried.

Applejack, ever the sensible mare, laid out a map of the Crystal Empire and the surrounding area on the floor. "Let’s get this sorted out right quick. Sending refugees down to Manehattan is right out. The fastest way to safety would be the train down to Canterlot, but...."

Celestia looked over Applejack's shoulder at the map. "That still takes the ponies too close to Chrysalis's swarms for my liking. The southwest train to Appleloosa would be longer, but safer."

Shining Armor nodded. "Yes. Cadance has to be on that train."

“No.”

Everyone turned around to see Princess Cadance walking down the throne room toward them. Shining Armor stood up from the throne and went to meet her. "Cadance, please, you have to go to safety!"

Cadance embraced her husband for a moment, before pulling away and shaking her head. “I can’t. You and the Guard will need my ability to inspire love when you face the changelings. You know that it was the two of us together who beat back Queen Chrysalis the first time. And if I’m helping here it will give Chrysalis less incentive to attack the refugees, make her focus all on us here.”

Shining Armor stared at her a moment longer, during which she matched him and didn’t back down. Then he sighed and stroked a hoof to her cheek, remembering one more reason he’d married her. “I can’t talk you out of it.”

Cadance smiled. "No, you can't. So let's focus on more important things right now, like saving everyone we can."

Celestia walked over. "I have sent word to the Equestrian soldiers to start assisting in evacuation of the city. For now, how is Galaxy doing? Has she woken up yet?"

Cadance nodded, her smile disappearing and a troubled look appearing in her eyes. "Yes, she woke up right after I finished changing her bandages. I was able to clean and heal her superficial wounds. Her false eyes and leg seemed years old couldn’t be helped, as she looks like she's had them for years. I set her broken bones and helped the growth of scar tissue where I could. Strangely, as I was cleaning her I noticed a faint glamour on her. There's something about her she hides routinely. I have no idea what."

Rainbow Dash flew over. "Is she dangerous? Do we have to put a guard on her or something? Cause if so, I volunteer!"

Cadance shook her head. "No, I don't think she's a danger to any of us. She’s dying.”
Gasps from the assembled ponies. Celestia closed her eyes and steeled herself. “I see. Is there nothing that can be done?”

Cadance shook her head. “I’m so sorry, but no. She could’ve survived her wounds, but she broke the alicorn amulet while she was wearing it. Every ounce of its evil magic poured into her at once.”

“Magic overload,” said Celestia, lowering her head. “It would take a young unicorn, one whose magic core has not finished growing and stabilizing, to have even a chance of surviving the transfer.”

“How awful,” said Rarity. “She must’ve done it on purpose, as some last ditch effort to stop King Sombra and save the girls. Oh, Sweetie Belle’s going to be crushed when she hears this.”

Celestia sighed, at that moment feeling every year of her life. Her eyes found Shining Armor. “I will leave you to organizing the defense of the city. I must go for now.”

“Wait,” he said, “where are you going? There’s so much more that needs discussing!”

“I know,” said Celestia, marching to the door. She refused to look back, lest it betray her intent. “But I also need to see to my nephew.”

*

Galaxy pulled herself from bed, unwilling to just lay there and die. Glowing red cracks began to run across her skin, sparks of magic escaping her with every breath. “Belle… need… to get Belle….”

*

"Girls! I found something!"

Everyone ran over to where Button Mash stood triumphant near the farthest corner of the library from the stairways going down, holding aloft with his forelegs possibly the biggest book Sweetie Belle had ever seen. It was bigger than the colt was! "Button, how in Equestria are you holding it up like that?"

Button grinned, even as his forelegs began trembling. "Well you see, as long as I don't think about-"

SMASH.

They all winced. Sweetie Belle lifted the gargantuan tome off Button, setting it beside the squashed-flat colt before helping him to his hooves. "Are you okay? Anything hurt?"

"Besides your pride, anyway?"

Apple Bloom shushed Scootaloo.

Button gave his head a shake, blinked, and then smiled once more at Sweetie Belle. “I’m okay! More importantly, I found a history book from before Sombra!”

Sweetie Belle turned to look at the book. It certainly looked old enough, with faded type on the front and a bent spine and frayed pages. It reminded her of an older version of the book Twilight had her read once of the original banishing of Nightmare Moon. “Well, there’s only one way to be sure.”

Sweetie Belle opened the book to the first page and, with her friends gathering beside her, began to read.

“Once upon a time, in the magical Crystal Empire, a regal princess ruled the land with love and compassion for her fellow pony, fostering a powerful friendship with her sister country of Equestria. Whereas the sister rulers there maintained harmony and balance with nature through their bringing forth of the sun and the moon, Princess Crystalis maintained harmony and balance with among ponies through her boundless heart. It was she who healed the scars left by Discord’s rule.

“One day, a powerful and proud earth pony prince came to the Crystal Empire, seeking the hoof of the crystal princess in marriage.”

Scootaloo sidled closer, squinting down at the page. “This sounds really familiar.”
Sweetie Belle hushed her and continued.

“With her fellow princesses from Equestria presiding, Princess Crystalis set a series of challenges for the prince: a game of riddles, martial combat, and potion-crafting. Each challenge the prince passed. Yet, because he was a mere earth pony and would eventually grow old and die, the crystal princess still refused to marry him.”

Apple Bloom scratched and ear. “Scoots is right, this does sound familiar.”

This time, Sweetie Belle shushed her.

“And though he made his displeasure at this decision clear, the earth pony prince made no move to argue it until the Equestrian princesses had returned to their own kingdom, believing all was settled. They had both of them been deceived. For in his dark, windigo-infested realm in the frozen wastes beyond the Crystal Empire, the earth pony prince was no prince, but in fact a king of unicorns, hard as steel and with a heart black as night. With forbidden potions and dark magic the king stole Princess Crystalis’s heart from her, banishing her and her transformed aristocracy from the Crystal Empire to forever haunt the world, hungering for the love they can no longer feel.

“And the unicorn king took his throne, and wielded the stolen Heart, and made the crystal ponies his forever.”

Sweetie Belle closed the book as she came to the end of the story. She stared at the cracks running through the cover as silence reigned over the group of friends. Their thoughts were nearly audible to those who listened.

“So then,” said Button, looking out the nearby window to the palace in the distance. “The Crystal Heart… was a pony’s actual heart once… ewww.”

Sweetie Belle followed his gaze, thinking to herself she could just manage to see the item in question twinkling beneath the arches of the palace. “Not just any pony’s heart. Queen Chrysalis’s heart. King Sombra took it from her.”

“It reminds me of the love potion story,” said Scootaloo, still looking down at the book. “I guess the story got messed up over a thousand years. Or maybe Chrysalis got it changed herself to keep anybody from knowing where she and the changelings came from.”

“Or maybe,” said Apple Bloom, opening the book back to the start of the story. An illustration was there of the lost crystal princess. “Maybe King Sombra changed the accounts of what happened so nobody would ever think of reversing what happened.”

Sweetie Belle, still in thought, took the book from Apple Bloom and set it down on the nearest shelf. Ideas were emerging and converging. Queen Chrysalis only existed because she lacked the Crystal Heart. They had the Crystal Heart. Queen Chrysalis wanted them.

“I have an idea,” said Button Mash.

"It sounds to me like you kids are up so something."

The group shot to their hooves as one and turned to the stairs. Twilight Sparkle stood there, a bright but weary smile on her face.

"Twilight! You made it back!" Sweetie Belle started to run to her beloved mentor, only making it a few steps before noticing she was transparent, ghostly. “Or, um, maybe you didn’t. What’s going on here?”

Twilight sighed but kept up her smile. “That mare, Galaxy, destroyed the crystal covering the mirror portal I’d gone through. The portal had already sealed by that point and won’t open again for three whole years, but at the moment the crystal was shattered there was a burst of intense magic that managed to disrupt the portal. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for me to send out this ghost image. It won’t last for much longer, but maybe I can still help you.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, saddened yet grateful that they had this much at least. “The adventures always seemed so much more exciting when we were watching you and Rainbow Dash and Applejack and the others going on them. Now I realize how exhausting they must really be, heh.” A part of her hoped that for her and her friends, the adventure was over and they could return home to safety and peace. Another part of her, the part that perhaps she shared with her older sister and made her fit to be Twilight's apprentice as Twilight had been Princess Celestia's apprentice, hoped there was more she and her friends could do to help. The adventure couldn't be over yet.

Twilight chuckled and made a gesture to rub the top of Sweetie Belle's head, and then looked at each filly and colt there. No, not fillies and colt anymore. Young mares and stallion. "It’s not nearly so exhausting when you have your friends to rely on. Though, now’s not the time for lessons. The whole city is getting evacuated as we speak. Queen Chrysalis is on her way with an army of changelings and diamond dogs. She was serious about her revenge, I guess."

Button gulped. "That sounds bad. Does this mean... you're sending us away with everyone else? Are we just supposed to go home after everything we've gone through?"

Sweetie Belle looked behind her at Button, eyebrow rising at the tone in his voice. She thought he might be feeling the same way she did.

Twilight kept smiling, though the image of her began to waver. “What do you think you should do?”

Sweetie Belle knew what she wanted to do, but not the others. She turned around to look at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and Button Mash, looking each in the eye and they in turn looking her and each other in the eye. Though they kept silent a feeling passed between them, an unspoken message born on the bonds of friendship that connected each of them to each other.

Twilight seemed to get the message as well, for the next moment she was turning toward the stairs, motioning for them all to follow her. "Come on, then. Let’s find Princess Celestia. Only she’s strong enough to teleport you to Tartarus once I—"

A tremor ran through the library. At the same instant Twilight’s ghost image froze and flickered, black sparks running across it. “D-d-d-d-dark magic! Galaxy! Blueblood! St-st-st-st-stop!”

“Twilight!” Sweetie Belle ran for her, making it just as the ghost image disappeared.

Sweetie Belle skid to a stop where Twilight had been but a moment ago. “No! No!” She screamed and smashed her hooves to the ground, finally reaching the breaking point as all of the fear, anger, despair, and frustration of the last week poured out of her. “Come back! Damn it, come back! You can’t just leave us again like this! You can’t just leave it all to me again! Please! I don’t want it all! I don’t want the weight of the world all on me!”

“Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, go get Princess Celestia! Get Rarity! Just get going!”

From the corner of her tear-blurred eyes Sweetie Belle saw her two friends, two oldest friends, running away. Leaving her maybe, just like Twilight had. Twice now, with what felt like the weight of the world on her shoulder. She hated it. She hated all of it.

Then there he came, out of nowhere as always. Front legs around her shoulders Button Mash hugged her tight, face buried against her neck, legs squeezing until Sweetie Belle couldn’t concentrate on anything but him. Her idiot.

She pried his legs apart with her magic and pushed him away. “You’re always being such an idiot! Why can’t you ever just leave me alone, you stupid, video game-loving colt? Just leave me alone!”

“No!”

This quieted her, made her calm down if only a little. He had never, ever raised his voice to her before. “What?”

Button Mash looked as surprised as she felt, but kept going. “You’re scared. Twilight left you to tend to the library for who knows how long, you hardly ever get to actually express your cutie mark, Sombra tortured you in your own head, and you had to go on this crazy adventure because a unicorn from the future crashed through your roof and Sombra attacked your friends. The grown-up life hasn’t been what you hoped for at all. I get it! But that’s the thing, it’s never what you expect! It can be so much darker and brighter and happier and sadder and terrifying and thrilling than you could ever expect! It’s what we make of it, together, as friends and family and lovers and enemies! And it’s what ponies like Sombra will never have! A life!”

He finished and stood before her, panting for breathe. Sweetie Belle looked at him, stunned into silence. She thought about what he’d said and found, upon reflection, her anger was gone. Her sadness was gone. Her fear was gone. There was calm.

“Button Mash. Beyond your eccentricities… you’re a good pony.”

He smiled, stepped back over to her, and with a nod of permission from her hugged her again. “What can I say? I want to be better for ponies like you. For my friends.”

Sweetie Belle smiled and hugged him back. “That’s something Sombra doesn’t have either.”

The first kiss was hardly a kiss at all, their lips just grazing each other before the quick pull away, an inch perhaps, enough for Button to see Sweetie Belle’s blush, her wide eyes, surprised but not resisting.

The second kiss was more substantial, if only just. Their lips touched and stayed touching, neither daring more than that. Yet it was enough, a shock running up their spines from the contact, their bodies shivering, their hearts beating like hummingbirds in their chests. Thought was gone, surrendered to the emotion of the moment that stretched on into eternity, emotion beyond any magic.

A sudden cough from nearby made them break the kiss. Button and Sweetie Belle looked to the side and jumped apart at the sight of Galaxy standing there, quite literally glowing with energy.

“Belle. You’re ready to save the world.”

*

“Aunt Celly, Aunt Celly, look at the map of Canterlot I drawed! Do you like it?”

“Oh, it’s wonderful, sweetie! You have a real talent at this.”

“I do? Yay!”

Princess Celestia came to Prince Blueblood’s hospital room. She put her hoof against the door, prepared to push it open, but stopped. She closed her eyes and tried to understand how they had reached this point.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to hatch the egg, Aunt Celly. I tried my best, really. I guess I’m just a failure….”

“Don’t worry, my sweet prince. Just practice your magic some more and try again next month!”

~

“Aunty, I’m ready to go try the egg again!”

“Oh, Blueblood, I’m so sorry. This filly here, Twilight Sparkle, managed to hatch the egg. Sorry….”

~

“Aunt Celestia, look, my cutie mark! My special talent’s maps and helping others find their way!”

“That’s wonderful, my nephew. Now run along, this is a very difficult spell I’m teaching Twilight and we can’t afford any distract—no, Spike, put that duck down!”

~

“I didn’t see you at my graduation ceremonies this morning. I think you would have gotten a laugh at all the mares swooning over me.”

“Well, I didn’t see you at dinner yesterday. I wish you wouldn’t stay out so late every night, it gets me worried.”

~

“Princess Celestia. The drake skirmishes in Dodge Junction have been dealt with. There was minimum loss of life on both sides.”

“I’m happy to hear that. Here is your next assignment.”

Celestia sighed, opened her eyes, and pushed the door open. Right off she spotted her nephew, the once-proud unicorn hunched in a wheelchair facing the window on the far wall. Both rear legs, broken by his fall as King Sombra, were encased in bandages and hard casts to allow them to heal. More bandages wrapped around his head where his skull had been cracked.

“Prince Blueblood. My nephew.”

Blueblood straightened, shoulders tensing beneath his hospital gown. Celestia steeled herself for the worst as he wheeled himself around to face her, but still she was unprepared for the bloodshot eyes, filled with darkness and anger the like of which she hadn’t seen since her sister became Nightmare Moon.

“Oh,” he said, “so now, after all this time, you’ve decided to stop ignoring me. For years I’ve lived in Canterlot, and all I ever heard was praise and instruction for Twilight Sparkle, over and over. I would do everything befitting a prince of my station, commit any deed, attend every event and party. Mares threw themselves at me and I never wanted any of it! I only wanted you to teach me. To appreciate me.”

He paused for breath. Celestia could find no way to respond.

“But when I dared to ask to become an alicorn myself, to be equal in some level with you, I was told I had to be patient. To be BETTER. But when Twilight does nothing but fix her own mistake… she gets her own wings as if she was the second coming of Faustus.”

The tears were hot and heavy in both their eyes as he wheeled himself closer, starting to tremble as he lost his composure. “So, why her? Hm?” He wheeled closer, until they were face to face. “What was it that was so wrong with me? What about m—”

Celestia lunged forward before he could say another word and wrapped him in a tight embrace, letting her tears wet the bandages on his shoulders.

“Wh-what are you doing? Stop that! You should be angry with me! You should hate me!”

“Oh, my nephew.” She hugged him tighter, careful all the while not to worsen his injuries. “I was never angry with you, and I could never hate you. I was sad that you lost your way. I was sad that I made the same mistake with you as I made with my sister and wasn’t there to help you find your way. I’m sorry.”

The next second seemed to last an eternity for Celestia, until with a sob Blueblood reached out and returned her hug. “I’m sorry too! So sorry! I’ve allowed King Sombra to do horrible things through me.”

Celestia broke the hug and pulled away, giving him a warming smile. “It’s over now. You’re free from him now. I will help you become better than you were now.”

After a moment he managed a smile back at her. “I would like—”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom burst into the room, panting and eyes wide with fear. “Princess Celestia, it’s Sweetie Belle!”

*

Galaxy stepped toward them, cringed as if from sudden pain, and fell to a knee. Sweetie Belle gasped and moved to help, but stopped as Galaxy held up a hoof. “No, it’s okay, it’s okay.” She pushed herself back onto her hooves and smiled, though Sweetie Belle could see pain in the smile. “It’s okay. I’m only dying.”

“No!” Sweetie Belle tried to reach her again, but Galaxy moved until a table sat between them. “You can’t be serious. There’s nothing okay about dying!”

“It is though. It really is-nngh!” Here Galaxy cringed again, a hoof going to her chest as she used the table for support. The magic surrounding her flared and lines began to spread across her body. Yet still she managed to look up at Sweetie Belle and smile. “I earned this, for breaking the alicorn amulet and for what I’m about to do next. I have done things I deserve to go to Tartarus for… nngh, but first, it’s time I was truthful with you. I never believed it impossible to stop Sombra’s plan and change the future. I was just scared of what would happen next.”

“What?” said Sweetie Belle, circling around the table to Galaxy. Dread grew in her belly, dread that she knew the truth and it would be better. “What would happen next?”

Galaxy looked lost for a moment, but then the pain in her face cleared as cracks of light formed around her eyes. “It would all just disappear. Everything I am, gone in a moment like, like breath on a mirror. Me, Sombra, the future we came from replaced for a better future. And there she’d be, laughing and content.”

Button Mash came over. “Who?”

Galaxy smiled brighter. “Galaxy. The right Galaxy. The Galaxy I could’ve been if not for King Sombra. Out with the old, in with the new.”

Sweetie Belle shook her head, tears in her eyes. She knew, deep down, this was how it had to be, but she didn’t have to like it. She didn’t have to like a pony’s death, even if it led to a better life. “I’m sorry. If there was anything I could do….”

This got a laugh from Galaxy, though the red light now shown from her mouth and her mane and tail seemed transformed into coronas of magic. She staggered toward Sweetie Belle, who did not retreat. “There is. I beg you, I beg you, never forget one word I’ve said. Never forget one day you’ve known me.” Leaning against the table, she met eyes with Sweetie Belle and reached a hoof out to her. “Always remember when Galaxy was me.”

Sweetie Belle nodded and reached out, putting her hoof to Galaxy’s and finding the magic shining through to be warm and comforting.

This was the end. With a final laugh Galaxy shattered and burst into a blaze of light and magic, knocking back everything and everyone around except for Sweetie Belle. She gasped, that warmth and comfort everywhere now as the magic funneled into her through her outstretched hoof. It felt like her mind was made of fireworks and her blood starlight. In an instant she felt as if she’d seen the width and breadth of the world, learned the terrors and wonders of it, loved and lost a world’s worth. Yet through it all, most of all she felt like herself. More herself than she thought possible. And once it was over, once every ounce of the magic Galaxy had once suffered came to rest within her, Sweetie Belle could only think of one thing to say.

“I understand.”

A grunt from behind her made Sweetie Belle look around. There was Button Mash sprawled on his belly, looking dazed with a jumble of chairs atop him. She grabbed them with her magic and set them back in place, before helping him back onto his hooves.

“Thanks,” he said. “Now, does anypony want to explain to me what just happened? Ooh, also, I really like your mane.”

Sweetie Belle glanced and saw the tips of her mane and tail now shifted into a variety of colors and hues, just as Galaxy’s had. “Oh, that’s interesting.” At a thought she checked her back and sides. Nope, no wings.

“Sweetie Belle!” Princess Celestia flew through the shattered window into the library and landed beside the two ponies. The elder alicorn’s gaze went to where Galaxy had stood moments ago and became confused. “I… I thought I had felt another pony here, but now… I’m not so sure.”

“It was Galaxy,” said Sweetie Belle, unable to keep her sadness from her voice. Yet, she couldn’t let that distract her as she began to think. “She was dying, so she passed as much of the alicorn amulet’s power into me as she could. She died to give us a chance to stop King Sombra once and for all.” And that was something she’d figured out on her own, that King Sombra was still out there somehow. Otherwise, time would have changed.

The three of them shared a moment of silence.

“It’s too bad she didn’t give us any idea how to get to Tartarus before she blew up,” said Button Mash. He sat down beside Sweetie Belle and rested his head on her shoulder, an action she allowed. “I mean, we never managed to get the Staff of Tartarus from Sombra, so we can’t find our way to Tartarus, so we can’t actually put the beat-down on Sombra and save the world and oh man this all suuuuuucks. I miss Galaxy already.”

Celestia looked at Sweetie Belle. “She… gave you all the power of the alicorn amulet? Oh!” She smiled then. “You never wore the amulet yourself. You don’t have to worry about the insanity it causes. You can use that power responsibly.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, looking herself over once more as she thought; not only on Galaxy’s last words to her but further back, to a conversation they’d had only days ago, yet it felt like forever.

~

“Here’s an idea. I’ll teach you a spell my brother came up with to track down lost ponies by their magic. It goes like this….”

~

“I have done things I deserve to go to Tartarus for.”

Sweetie Belle would have laughed, were the situation less dire. So instead she settled for a smile as she released the weakest pulse of magic she could with just the right thought. And there it was, she saw, a translucent trail of red magic going from the spot Galaxy had exploded in and leading to… elsewhere.

“I know how to get to Tartarus.”

Description
Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any of the ideas or characters related to it. I really wish I did though. I make no money from this writing. I really wish I did though.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Final Crisis of Power and Love Chapter 7

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"High above us the stars do shine,
And I have not lost all that's mine.
It waits for me at journey's end,
So I must hurry past this bend.
Though our hearts may fill up with dread,
Heroes hold on to true love's thread.
Through shadow, through the Dreaming's wake,
Keep your hope, darkness will not take."

*

In the safety of the night, Princess Luna looked into the dreams of their ally from the future, looking for some sort of insight into the unicorn that called herself Galaxy.

“Galaxy, sweetie, daddy’s home!”

Galaxy’s head shot up at the voice, a sudden shock from the continuous drum of the rainfall and the pounding of her little heart. Her ears perked up and her bloodshot eyes, normal organic eyes, opened wide at the scene playing out before her, lit up in a cone of light from the heavens above.

A dozen yards away stood a unicorn stallion and an alicorn mare, shrouded in shadow so that Galaxy couldn’t make out any of their features. The world went deathly silent, the still-falling rain like a soundless scream as it formed a blue-grey backdrop. The two ponies stood like giants over a foal’s crib made of the most beautiful crystal Galaxy had ever seen, filled with every color she could imagine. The sound of foals cooing came from the crib, muted and echoing as if from a great distance, and the stallion and mare answered with laughter, mouths open in shining smiles.

Screams rent the scene. The mare staggered away from something outside of the scene’s view, while the stallion lowered his horn and charged at the unseen danger. Moments later the stallion staggered back to the mare, falling to the ground at her hooves and staying there.

A shadow loomed over the crib, fangs gleaming in the darkness. The alicorn mare let out another scream, a scream of rage now, and flew at the towering shadow, forcing it away from the crib. Beams of light lanced out from her horn and pierced the shadow. Tendrils of darkness shot from the shadow and slashed at the alicorn. Neither gave ground, the mare and the shadow locked in a battle to the death.

Yet as Galaxy watched from outside the scene, helpless to do anything, she saw another shadow, smaller than the first, go unnoticed around the mare to the crib. Galaxy screamed, desperate to get the mare’s attention, but no sound passed her lips.

The unnoticed shadow reached into the crib and took out two bundles, both vague to Galaxy’s eyes. With a private giggle the unnoticed shadow disappeared in a swirl of violet and ivory.

At the same moment a shout of triumph rang through the air as the alicorn mare smote the looming shadow to the ground, dispersing it to the void. The air of triumph died as the alicorn mare turned back to the crib. The fog around her features cleared then, allowing Galaxy to see purple eyes fill with the kind of despair that blots stars from the sky. A multi-colored mane twisted in the wind.

Luna broke herself out of the dream, a cry on her lips and her body covered in a cold sweat. She sat there in her throne for several minutes, simply panting and trying to pull herself from what she had just seen and felt.

“Galaxy… is a very disturbed mare. Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor must never know.”

*

Galaxy woke up to silken sheets, a pillowy bed, and warm sunlight streaming in through high-arched windows. Crystal dust sparkled in the light, drifting across the room to walls, floor, and ceiling of the brightest blue imaginable. Galaxy felt calm in the room, safe, secure, more so than she had felt in years. Shifting from her left side onto her back, Galaxy stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before pushing the blankets off of her body and sitting up. Bandages were wrapped across her mid-section and over her left foreleg, and her right rear leg ended as a bandaged stump at her knee. She felt around her head with her good hoof and felt only one ear. "Oh."

"Hold on there, be careful with yourself."

Galaxy looked from her body to a chair set by the bed. A pink-coated alicorn mare sat there, looking to be warming a large basin of water with her magic. A stack of dirty bandages lay crumpled to her chair. Galaxy swallowed, wishing either one of them could be anywhere else at the moment. "Cadance. I... am honored to be in your palace."

Cadance smiled, taking her eyes off her work to look Galaxy in the eye. "Well, you have kept Sweetie Belle and the others remarkably safe, given the circumstances, so I feel like the honor should be all mine. Do you feel like you're hurting anywhere?"

Galaxy shook her head, looking down from Cadance. "No, I don’t hurt. I remember… the state my body was in when I teleported Belle and the others to here. I didn’t expect to live when I did it, not after breaking the alicorn amulet. How long was I asleep? Where is Sweetie Belle? Is she okay?"

If Cadance was put off by Galaxy's gruffness, she didn't show it. Instead she levitated the wash basin to a counter and stood up. "You slept the whole morning away. I'll bring your lunch in myself. As for Sweetie Belle, she is with her friends in the castle library doing... well, I'm not sure. But they are safe, I assure you."

"Good." Galaxy gulped again, and then looked over at the younger mare. "You should take care of yourself. For the children."

Silence. Then Cadance grabbed the dirty bandages from the floor and near-ran from the room. Galaxy watched her go, sighed, and lay back down in the bed. Some more rest, perhaps, before lunch. Then she could think about what to do next, before final end came.

*

"Sweetie Belle, stop! You're gonna hurt yourself!"

Sweetie Belle ignored Scootaloo's cry of warning and grabbed another book from the library bookshelf, adding it to the stack of books she held motionless as possible several feet above her with her magic. Sweat from the exertion dripped down her cheeks and forehead, her mane hanging in limp twists, but she refused to set the stack down or even lower it. "Huff. That's f-fifty, right?"

A few feet in front of her Button Mash nodded, his eyes never leaving the thick, leather-bound book before him. It was weird seeing the colt reading and not playing video games, and Sweetie Belle dearly wanted to ask him what he was reading, but she had her focus on more urgent matters for that moment.

Scootaloo came over and wiped the sweat from Sweetie Belle's brow with a napkin. "Sweets, seriously, you probably don't need to be pushing yourself like this. I mean, you've been at it since breakfast!"

Sweetie Belle grit her teeth. "I know how long I've been at this, Scoots. And yeah, I think I do need to push myself like this. Aside from my singing, I was hardly able to help at all yesterday when rescuing Button from the changelings. Huff, huff, it s-sucked." Grabbing, she added another book to the stack, feeling it teeter in her grip a moment before getting it to balance again. "If it hadn't been for Galaxy showing up, we'd have all been goners! And besides, my sister Rarity can levitate around lots of things at once!"

Scootaloo sighed, wiping the sweat away again. "Yeah, but aside from her mannequins she levitates around scissors and ribbons and stuff. Way lighter than these books. Can't unicorns, like, over-exert their magic or something?"

Sweetie Belle decided against adding a fifty-second book to the stack and instead opted to lift it up higher into the air, groaning and letting off sparks from her horn as she did. "Y-yeah, but there's a flower to help cure that. We could-"

Button jumped from where he sat, the book he’d been reading all morning tumbling from his lap as he waved his forelegs frantically. "No, no no no! One epic quest at a time, thank you very much! Changelings and mad unicorn kings and time travel is enough dangerous business, right?"

Sweetie Belle blinked and shared a look with Scootaloo. "This all just got a little too meta. You want to go find where Apple Bloom got off to?"

"No need," the earth pony said, trotting up the staircase behind Button and going over to Sweetie Belle. She set down a bottle of water next to her. "I saw you weren't gonna stop this nonsense any time soon, so I thought you might need this."

Sweetie Belle smiled and levitated the bottle up to her mouth, taking a sip of the painfully-cold water through the straw until the stack of books above her started to waver. Then she set the bottle back down. "Thanks. I really needed that. While you were out, did you run into anybody? Any word yet about Galaxy or what's going to happen next?"

Apple Bloom nodded, going to sit down beside Button. "Yeah, I ran into Princess Cadance on the way back. She had just finished changing Galaxy's bandages when she woke up." She frowned. "It was weird. Cadance looked really spooked by something."

Sweetie Belle frowned and, to the obvious relief of all her friends, set down the stack of books. “That is weird. I’ve only ever seen Princess Cadance happy. Uh, fake weddings not counted. Did you learn anything else?”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “Well, I didn’t really learn anything important. There was nobody around to talk to. All the adults except Galaxy are locked up in the throne room. I guess that’s where Cadance was off to when I ran into her.”

Scootaloo sat down after hearing this and folded her forelegs across her chest. "Hmph. You'd think we would be allowed in on that. We have been involved in this situation since the start, you know!"

"I know," Sweetie Belle said to the rhetorical question. Turning to the bookshelf she began levitating the books she'd borrowed back to their proper places. "It's just that they still think of us as kids." She frowned. "Honestly, I still think of us as kids, I guess. I mean, before this whole mess started I wanted I was, eh, happy I guess to think of myself as all grown up, having a cutie mark and a volunteer job and all. But after everything we've gone through... I don't know...."

"It's been scary," said Apple Bloom, going over to sit beside Sweetie Belle. "When this started I couldn't wait to get off the farm. I felt a little bad leaving Big Mac and Granny Smith on their own, but I wanted to have an honest-to-goodness adventure like our sisters get to have all the time!" She sighed and hung her head. "It hasn't been what I hoped for. Queen Chrysalis and that Sombra fellow are scary."

Sweetie Belle nodded. "I hear that. Although, it was kinda fun to sing in front of that big crowd like I did." She stopped her shelving and looked at the book she currently held in her magic. "Music and How it Relates to Spell-crafting". Cute. "I mean, I've never had to sing under that kind of pressure before. It was scary, but exhilarating. Like I really got to push myself to the limit."

Button looked up from his book at this. "I think I know how you feel. In Manehattan, playing that riddle challenge was the toughest moment in my life. I... I was scared to do it at first. Scared of failing you three at something I knew I was good at." He looked down, frowning. "I guess that's why I acted the idiot so long."

"Whoa, that was acting all this time?" At Button's embarrassed squeak Scootaloo loved and ruffled up his mane. "Nah, I'm just kidding with ya. You did great in that riddle game, man. Certainly blew my mind."

Button blushed and chuckled. "Aw, thanks. You girls were really awesome saving me."

Sweetie Belle beamed and shelved another book. "Anything for a friend."

After that, a minute of companiable silence passed, before Sweetie Belle looked back over at Button. "What's that book you're reading, by the way? I don't recall ever seeing you reading books in Ponyville. And you certainly never visited Golden Oaks Library for any reason other than me."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both giggled at this, while Button looked like he'd prefer to bury himself in the book and disappear. "It's uh, just a book of Crystal Empire riddles. Thought I should use this chance to learn riddles from a thousand years ago and from a totally different country, haha, hah...."

Sweetie Belle sidled over. "Any good ones?"

Button flipped to the next page, scanned it a moment, and then grinned. “Ooh, here’s a good one! Giving me food keeps me alive, yet giving me water kills me. What am I?”

Sweetie Belle blinked. “Wait, that’s one of the riddles that shopkeeper told us.”

Button blinked, looked back at the book of Crystal Empire riddles, and turned to another page. “Cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind the stars and beneath the hills. Ends life and kills laughter. What is it… the dark!”

Scootaloo came over. “That’s another riddle that Chrysalis told us as the shopkeeper!”

Button looked farther down the page. “I’m the last home all ponies come to, yet the home they never want. I have one door but none ever—”

“Coffin!” Apple Bloom came over. “What’s going on here? These are all riddles Chrysalis knew. I thought this was a Crystal Empire book.”

Sweetie Belle sat down, eyes on the book of riddles as she began to think. It was all a riddle, she thought. Galaxy, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, Tartarus, the future; it was all a riddle she and her friends had to solve. Was it chance or destiny that had put this unexpected connection before them? Was the impossible answer slowly taking shape in Sweetie Belle’s thoughts possible?”

“I think… I think we need to find some Crystal Empire history books. Who ruled here before King Sombra?”

*

Shining Armor dismissed the messenger at his side and turned to look at his friends and family gathered before the crystal throne. At the looks on their faces he took a moment to gather the right words. Our worries from last night are true. A massive army of changelings, diamond dogs, and some dragons just passed over the border between Equestria and the Crystal Empire. They will be here within three hours."

The reactions were varied. Fluttershy squeaked and hid her head beneath her hooves, whimpering. Pinkie Pie's mane deflated a little. Rainbow Dash scowled and flew up, throwing kicks and daring the changelings to come on. Applejack narrowed her eyes and pawed the floor with a hoof. Rarity cast a glance toward the door, worry for her sister etched into her features. Princess Celestia was the only one to speak. "Are you prepared for war?"

Shining Armor sighed, slumping into the throne. "I must be, for the ponies of the Crystal Empire. My main worry right now is getting the ponies that can't defend themselves away to safety." though he did not think it out loud, his thoughts went to his wife and the growing blessing she carried.

Applejack, ever the sensible mare, laid out a map of the Crystal Empire and the surrounding area on the floor. "Let’s get this sorted out right quick. Sending refugees down to Manehattan is right out. The fastest way to safety would be the train down to Canterlot, but...."

Celestia looked over Applejack's shoulder at the map. "That still takes the ponies too close to Chrysalis's swarms for my liking. The southwest train to Appleloosa would be longer, but safer."

Shining Armor nodded. "Yes. Cadance has to be on that train."

“No.”

Everyone turned around to see Princess Cadance walking down the throne room toward them. Shining Armor stood up from the throne and went to meet her. "Cadance, please, you have to go to safety!"

Cadance embraced her husband for a moment, before pulling away and shaking her head. “I can’t. You and the Guard will need my ability to inspire love when you face the changelings. You know that it was the two of us together who beat back Queen Chrysalis the first time. And if I’m helping here it will give Chrysalis less incentive to attack the refugees, make her focus all on us here.”

Shining Armor stared at her a moment longer, during which she matched him and didn’t back down. Then he sighed and stroked a hoof to her cheek, remembering one more reason he’d married her. “I can’t talk you out of it.”

Cadance smiled. "No, you can't. So let's focus on more important things right now, like saving everyone we can."

Celestia walked over. "I have sent word to the Equestrian soldiers to start assisting in evacuation of the city. For now, how is Galaxy doing? Has she woken up yet?"

Cadance nodded, her smile disappearing and a troubled look appearing in her eyes. "Yes, she woke up right after I finished changing her bandages. I was able to clean and heal her superficial wounds. Her false eyes and leg seemed years old couldn’t be helped, as she looks like she's had them for years. I set her broken bones and helped the growth of scar tissue where I could. Strangely, as I was cleaning her I noticed a faint glamour on her. There's something about her she hides routinely. I have no idea what."

Rainbow Dash flew over. "Is she dangerous? Do we have to put a guard on her or something? Cause if so, I volunteer!"

Cadance shook her head. "No, I don't think she's a danger to any of us. She’s dying.”
Gasps from the assembled ponies. Celestia closed her eyes and steeled herself. “I see. Is there nothing that can be done?”

Cadance shook her head. “I’m so sorry, but no. She could’ve survived her wounds, but she broke the alicorn amulet while she was wearing it. Every ounce of its evil magic poured into her at once.”

“Magic overload,” said Celestia, lowering her head. “It would take a young unicorn, one whose magic core has not finished growing and stabilizing, to have even a chance of surviving the transfer.”

“How awful,” said Rarity. “She must’ve done it on purpose, as some last ditch effort to stop King Sombra and save the girls. Oh, Sweetie Belle’s going to be crushed when she hears this.”

Celestia sighed, at that moment feeling every year of her life. Her eyes found Shining Armor. “I will leave you to organizing the defense of the city. I must go for now.”

“Wait,” he said, “where are you going? There’s so much more that needs discussing!”

“I know,” said Celestia, marching to the door. She refused to look back, lest it betray her intent. “But I also need to see to my nephew.”

*

Galaxy pulled herself from bed, unwilling to just lay there and die. Glowing red cracks began to run across her skin, sparks of magic escaping her with every breath. “Belle… need… to get Belle….”

*

"Girls! I found something!"

Everyone ran over to where Button Mash stood triumphant near the farthest corner of the library from the stairways going down, holding aloft with his forelegs possibly the biggest book Sweetie Belle had ever seen. It was bigger than the colt was! "Button, how in Equestria are you holding it up like that?"

Button grinned, even as his forelegs began trembling. "Well you see, as long as I don't think about-"

SMASH.

They all winced. Sweetie Belle lifted the gargantuan tome off Button, setting it beside the squashed-flat colt before helping him to his hooves. "Are you okay? Anything hurt?"

"Besides your pride, anyway?"

Apple Bloom shushed Scootaloo.

Button gave his head a shake, blinked, and then smiled once more at Sweetie Belle. “I’m okay! More importantly, I found a history book from before Sombra!”

Sweetie Belle turned to look at the book. It certainly looked old enough, with faded type on the front and a bent spine and frayed pages. It reminded her of an older version of the book Twilight had her read once of the original banishing of Nightmare Moon. “Well, there’s only one way to be sure.”

Sweetie Belle opened the book to the first page and, with her friends gathering beside her, began to read.

“Once upon a time, in the magical Crystal Empire, a regal princess ruled the land with love and compassion for her fellow pony, fostering a powerful friendship with her sister country of Equestria. Whereas the sister rulers there maintained harmony and balance with nature through their bringing forth of the sun and the moon, Princess Crystalis maintained harmony and balance with among ponies through her boundless heart. It was she who healed the scars left by Discord’s rule.

“One day, a powerful and proud earth pony prince came to the Crystal Empire, seeking the hoof of the crystal princess in marriage.”

Scootaloo sidled closer, squinting down at the page. “This sounds really familiar.”
Sweetie Belle hushed her and continued.

“With her fellow princesses from Equestria presiding, Princess Crystalis set a series of challenges for the prince: a game of riddles, martial combat, and potion-crafting. Each challenge the prince passed. Yet, because he was a mere earth pony and would eventually grow old and die, the crystal princess still refused to marry him.”

Apple Bloom scratched and ear. “Scoots is right, this does sound familiar.”

This time, Sweetie Belle shushed her.

“And though he made his displeasure at this decision clear, the earth pony prince made no move to argue it until the Equestrian princesses had returned to their own kingdom, believing all was settled. They had both of them been deceived. For in his dark, windigo-infested realm in the frozen wastes beyond the Crystal Empire, the earth pony prince was no prince, but in fact a king of unicorns, hard as steel and with a heart black as night. With forbidden potions and dark magic the king stole Princess Crystalis’s heart from her, banishing her and her transformed aristocracy from the Crystal Empire to forever haunt the world, hungering for the love they can no longer feel.

“And the unicorn king took his throne, and wielded the stolen Heart, and made the crystal ponies his forever.”

Sweetie Belle closed the book as she came to the end of the story. She stared at the cracks running through the cover as silence reigned over the group of friends. Their thoughts were nearly audible to those who listened.

“So then,” said Button, looking out the nearby window to the palace in the distance. “The Crystal Heart… was a pony’s actual heart once… ewww.”

Sweetie Belle followed his gaze, thinking to herself she could just manage to see the item in question twinkling beneath the arches of the palace. “Not just any pony’s heart. Queen Chrysalis’s heart. King Sombra took it from her.”

“It reminds me of the love potion story,” said Scootaloo, still looking down at the book. “I guess the story got messed up over a thousand years. Or maybe Chrysalis got it changed herself to keep anybody from knowing where she and the changelings came from.”

“Or maybe,” said Apple Bloom, opening the book back to the start of the story. An illustration was there of the lost crystal princess. “Maybe King Sombra changed the accounts of what happened so nobody would ever think of reversing what happened.”

Sweetie Belle, still in thought, took the book from Apple Bloom and set it down on the nearest shelf. Ideas were emerging and converging. Queen Chrysalis only existed because she lacked the Crystal Heart. They had the Crystal Heart. Queen Chrysalis wanted them.

“I have an idea,” said Button Mash.

"It sounds to me like you kids are up so something."

The group shot to their hooves as one and turned to the stairs. Twilight Sparkle stood there, a bright but weary smile on her face.

"Twilight! You made it back!" Sweetie Belle started to run to her beloved mentor, only making it a few steps before noticing she was transparent, ghostly. “Or, um, maybe you didn’t. What’s going on here?”

Twilight sighed but kept up her smile. “That mare, Galaxy, destroyed the crystal covering the mirror portal I’d gone through. The portal had already sealed by that point and won’t open again for three whole years, but at the moment the crystal was shattered there was a burst of intense magic that managed to disrupt the portal. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for me to send out this ghost image. It won’t last for much longer, but maybe I can still help you.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, saddened yet grateful that they had this much at least. “The adventures always seemed so much more exciting when we were watching you and Rainbow Dash and Applejack and the others going on them. Now I realize how exhausting they must really be, heh.” A part of her hoped that for her and her friends, the adventure was over and they could return home to safety and peace. Another part of her, the part that perhaps she shared with her older sister and made her fit to be Twilight's apprentice as Twilight had been Princess Celestia's apprentice, hoped there was more she and her friends could do to help. The adventure couldn't be over yet.

Twilight chuckled and made a gesture to rub the top of Sweetie Belle's head, and then looked at each filly and colt there. No, not fillies and colt anymore. Young mares and stallion. "It’s not nearly so exhausting when you have your friends to rely on. Though, now’s not the time for lessons. The whole city is getting evacuated as we speak. Queen Chrysalis is on her way with an army of changelings and diamond dogs. She was serious about her revenge, I guess."

Button gulped. "That sounds bad. Does this mean... you're sending us away with everyone else? Are we just supposed to go home after everything we've gone through?"

Sweetie Belle looked behind her at Button, eyebrow rising at the tone in his voice. She thought he might be feeling the same way she did.

Twilight kept smiling, though the image of her began to waver. “What do you think you should do?”

Sweetie Belle knew what she wanted to do, but not the others. She turned around to look at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and Button Mash, looking each in the eye and they in turn looking her and each other in the eye. Though they kept silent a feeling passed between them, an unspoken message born on the bonds of friendship that connected each of them to each other.

Twilight seemed to get the message as well, for the next moment she was turning toward the stairs, motioning for them all to follow her. "Come on, then. Let’s find Princess Celestia. Only she’s strong enough to teleport you to Tartarus once I—"

A tremor ran through the library. At the same instant Twilight’s ghost image froze and flickered, black sparks running across it. “D-d-d-d-dark magic! Galaxy! Blueblood! St-st-st-st-stop!”

“Twilight!” Sweetie Belle ran for her, making it just as the ghost image disappeared.

Sweetie Belle skid to a stop where Twilight had been but a moment ago. “No! No!” She screamed and smashed her hooves to the ground, finally reaching the breaking point as all of the fear, anger, despair, and frustration of the last week poured out of her. “Come back! Damn it, come back! You can’t just leave us again like this! You can’t just leave it all to me again! Please! I don’t want it all! I don’t want the weight of the world all on me!”

“Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, go get Princess Celestia! Get Rarity! Just get going!”

From the corner of her tear-blurred eyes Sweetie Belle saw her two friends, two oldest friends, running away. Leaving her maybe, just like Twilight had. Twice now, with what felt like the weight of the world on her shoulder. She hated it. She hated all of it.

Then there he came, out of nowhere as always. Front legs around her shoulders Button Mash hugged her tight, face buried against her neck, legs squeezing until Sweetie Belle couldn’t concentrate on anything but him. Her idiot.

She pried his legs apart with her magic and pushed him away. “You’re always being such an idiot! Why can’t you ever just leave me alone, you stupid, video game-loving colt? Just leave me alone!”

“No!”

This quieted her, made her calm down if only a little. He had never, ever raised his voice to her before. “What?”

Button Mash looked as surprised as she felt, but kept going. “You’re scared. Twilight left you to tend to the library for who knows how long, you hardly ever get to actually express your cutie mark, Sombra tortured you in your own head, and you had to go on this crazy adventure because a unicorn from the future crashed through your roof and Sombra attacked your friends. The grown-up life hasn’t been what you hoped for at all. I get it! But that’s the thing, it’s never what you expect! It can be so much darker and brighter and happier and sadder and terrifying and thrilling than you could ever expect! It’s what we make of it, together, as friends and family and lovers and enemies! And it’s what ponies like Sombra will never have! A life!”

He finished and stood before her, panting for breathe. Sweetie Belle looked at him, stunned into silence. She thought about what he’d said and found, upon reflection, her anger was gone. Her sadness was gone. Her fear was gone. There was calm.

“Button Mash. Beyond your eccentricities… you’re a good pony.”

He smiled, stepped back over to her, and with a nod of permission from her hugged her again. “What can I say? I want to be better for ponies like you. For my friends.”

Sweetie Belle smiled and hugged him back. “That’s something Sombra doesn’t have either.”

The first kiss was hardly a kiss at all, their lips just grazing each other before the quick pull away, an inch perhaps, enough for Button to see Sweetie Belle’s blush, her wide eyes, surprised but not resisting.

The second kiss was more substantial, if only just. Their lips touched and stayed touching, neither daring more than that. Yet it was enough, a shock running up their spines from the contact, their bodies shivering, their hearts beating like hummingbirds in their chests. Thought was gone, surrendered to the emotion of the moment that stretched on into eternity, emotion beyond any magic.

A sudden cough from nearby made them break the kiss. Button and Sweetie Belle looked to the side and jumped apart at the sight of Galaxy standing there, quite literally glowing with energy.

“Belle. You’re ready to save the world.”

*

“Aunt Celly, Aunt Celly, look at the map of Canterlot I drawed! Do you like it?”

“Oh, it’s wonderful, sweetie! You have a real talent at this.”

“I do? Yay!”

Princess Celestia came to Prince Blueblood’s hospital room. She put her hoof against the door, prepared to push it open, but stopped. She closed her eyes and tried to understand how they had reached this point.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to hatch the egg, Aunt Celly. I tried my best, really. I guess I’m just a failure….”

“Don’t worry, my sweet prince. Just practice your magic some more and try again next month!”

~

“Aunty, I’m ready to go try the egg again!”

“Oh, Blueblood, I’m so sorry. This filly here, Twilight Sparkle, managed to hatch the egg. Sorry….”

~

“Aunt Celestia, look, my cutie mark! My special talent’s maps and helping others find their way!”

“That’s wonderful, my nephew. Now run along, this is a very difficult spell I’m teaching Twilight and we can’t afford any distract—no, Spike, put that duck down!”

~

“I didn’t see you at my graduation ceremonies this morning. I think you would have gotten a laugh at all the mares swooning over me.”

“Well, I didn’t see you at dinner yesterday. I wish you wouldn’t stay out so late every night, it gets me worried.”

~

“Princess Celestia. The drake skirmishes in Dodge Junction have been dealt with. There was minimum loss of life on both sides.”

“I’m happy to hear that. Here is your next assignment.”

Celestia sighed, opened her eyes, and pushed the door open. Right off she spotted her nephew, the once-proud unicorn hunched in a wheelchair facing the window on the far wall. Both rear legs, broken by his fall as King Sombra, were encased in bandages and hard casts to allow them to heal. More bandages wrapped around his head where his skull had been cracked.

“Prince Blueblood. My nephew.”

Blueblood straightened, shoulders tensing beneath his hospital gown. Celestia steeled herself for the worst as he wheeled himself around to face her, but still she was unprepared for the bloodshot eyes, filled with darkness and anger the like of which she hadn’t seen since her sister became Nightmare Moon.

“Oh,” he said, “so now, after all this time, you’ve decided to stop ignoring me. For years I’ve lived in Canterlot, and all I ever heard was praise and instruction for Twilight Sparkle, over and over. I would do everything befitting a prince of my station, commit any deed, attend every event and party. Mares threw themselves at me and I never wanted any of it! I only wanted you to teach me. To appreciate me.”

He paused for breath. Celestia could find no way to respond.

“But when I dared to ask to become an alicorn myself, to be equal in some level with you, I was told I had to be patient. To be BETTER. But when Twilight does nothing but fix her own mistake… she gets her own wings as if she was the second coming of Faustus.”

The tears were hot and heavy in both their eyes as he wheeled himself closer, starting to tremble as he lost his composure. “So, why her? Hm?” He wheeled closer, until they were face to face. “What was it that was so wrong with me? What about m—”

Celestia lunged forward before he could say another word and wrapped him in a tight embrace, letting her tears wet the bandages on his shoulders.

“Wh-what are you doing? Stop that! You should be angry with me! You should hate me!”

“Oh, my nephew.” She hugged him tighter, careful all the while not to worsen his injuries. “I was never angry with you, and I could never hate you. I was sad that you lost your way. I was sad that I made the same mistake with you as I made with my sister and wasn’t there to help you find your way. I’m sorry.”

The next second seemed to last an eternity for Celestia, until with a sob Blueblood reached out and returned her hug. “I’m sorry too! So sorry! I’ve allowed King Sombra to do horrible things through me.”

Celestia broke the hug and pulled away, giving him a warming smile. “It’s over now. You’re free from him now. I will help you become better than you were now.”

After a moment he managed a smile back at her. “I would like—”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom burst into the room, panting and eyes wide with fear. “Princess Celestia, it’s Sweetie Belle!”

*

Galaxy stepped toward them, cringed as if from sudden pain, and fell to a knee. Sweetie Belle gasped and moved to help, but stopped as Galaxy held up a hoof. “No, it’s okay, it’s okay.” She pushed herself back onto her hooves and smiled, though Sweetie Belle could see pain in the smile. “It’s okay. I’m only dying.”

“No!” Sweetie Belle tried to reach her again, but Galaxy moved until a table sat between them. “You can’t be serious. There’s nothing okay about dying!”

“It is though. It really is-nngh!” Here Galaxy cringed again, a hoof going to her chest as she used the table for support. The magic surrounding her flared and lines began to spread across her body. Yet still she managed to look up at Sweetie Belle and smile. “I earned this, for breaking the alicorn amulet and for what I’m about to do next. I have done things I deserve to go to Tartarus for… nngh, but first, it’s time I was truthful with you. I never believed it impossible to stop Sombra’s plan and change the future. I was just scared of what would happen next.”

“What?” said Sweetie Belle, circling around the table to Galaxy. Dread grew in her belly, dread that she knew the truth and it would be better. “What would happen next?”

Galaxy looked lost for a moment, but then the pain in her face cleared as cracks of light formed around her eyes. “It would all just disappear. Everything I am, gone in a moment like, like breath on a mirror. Me, Sombra, the future we came from replaced for a better future. And there she’d be, laughing and content.”

Button Mash came over. “Who?”

Galaxy smiled brighter. “Galaxy. The right Galaxy. The Galaxy I could’ve been if not for King Sombra. Out with the old, in with the new.”

Sweetie Belle shook her head, tears in her eyes. She knew, deep down, this was how it had to be, but she didn’t have to like it. She didn’t have to like a pony’s death, even if it led to a better life. “I’m sorry. If there was anything I could do….”

This got a laugh from Galaxy, though the red light now shown from her mouth and her mane and tail seemed transformed into coronas of magic. She staggered toward Sweetie Belle, who did not retreat. “There is. I beg you, I beg you, never forget one word I’ve said. Never forget one day you’ve known me.” Leaning against the table, she met eyes with Sweetie Belle and reached a hoof out to her. “Always remember when Galaxy was me.”

Sweetie Belle nodded and reached out, putting her hoof to Galaxy’s and finding the magic shining through to be warm and comforting.

This was the end. With a final laugh Galaxy shattered and burst into a blaze of light and magic, knocking back everything and everyone around except for Sweetie Belle. She gasped, that warmth and comfort everywhere now as the magic funneled into her through her outstretched hoof. It felt like her mind was made of fireworks and her blood starlight. In an instant she felt as if she’d seen the width and breadth of the world, learned the terrors and wonders of it, loved and lost a world’s worth. Yet through it all, most of all she felt like herself. More herself than she thought possible. And once it was over, once every ounce of the magic Galaxy had once suffered came to rest within her, Sweetie Belle could only think of one thing to say.

“I understand.”

A grunt from behind her made Sweetie Belle look around. There was Button Mash sprawled on his belly, looking dazed with a jumble of chairs atop him. She grabbed them with her magic and set them back in place, before helping him back onto his hooves.

“Thanks,” he said. “Now, does anypony want to explain to me what just happened? Ooh, also, I really like your mane.”

Sweetie Belle glanced and saw the tips of her mane and tail now shifted into a variety of colors and hues, just as Galaxy’s had. “Oh, that’s interesting.” At a thought she checked her back and sides. Nope, no wings.

“Sweetie Belle!” Princess Celestia flew through the shattered window into the library and landed beside the two ponies. The elder alicorn’s gaze went to where Galaxy had stood moments ago and became confused. “I… I thought I had felt another pony here, but now… I’m not so sure.”

“It was Galaxy,” said Sweetie Belle, unable to keep her sadness from her voice. Yet, she couldn’t let that distract her as she began to think. “She was dying, so she passed as much of the alicorn amulet’s power into me as she could. She died to give us a chance to stop King Sombra once and for all.” And that was something she’d figured out on her own, that King Sombra was still out there somehow. Otherwise, time would have changed.

The three of them shared a moment of silence.

“It’s too bad she didn’t give us any idea how to get to Tartarus before she blew up,” said Button Mash. He sat down beside Sweetie Belle and rested his head on her shoulder, an action she allowed. “I mean, we never managed to get the Staff of Tartarus from Sombra, so we can’t find our way to Tartarus, so we can’t actually put the beat-down on Sombra and save the world and oh man this all suuuuuucks. I miss Galaxy already.”

Celestia looked at Sweetie Belle. “She… gave you all the power of the alicorn amulet? Oh!” She smiled then. “You never wore the amulet yourself. You don’t have to worry about the insanity it causes. You can use that power responsibly.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, looking herself over once more as she thought; not only on Galaxy’s last words to her but further back, to a conversation they’d had only days ago, yet it felt like forever.

~

“Here’s an idea. I’ll teach you a spell my brother came up with to track down lost ponies by their magic. It goes like this….”

~

“I have done things I deserve to go to Tartarus for.”

Sweetie Belle would have laughed, were the situation less dire. So instead she settled for a smile as she released the weakest pulse of magic she could with just the right thought. And there it was, she saw, a translucent trail of red magic going from the spot Galaxy had exploded in and leading to… elsewhere.

“I know how to get to Tartarus.”