***

The blinding light was the first thing he felt.

David Elliot blinked, his eyes straining from the brilliant glare that was all he could now see. Placing his hand in front of his eyes didn’t do anything to lessen the light’s intensity, it seemed to come from everywhere.

W… What?

There was only a endless void of purest white light. His very surroundings seemed to be the source of the glaring illumination, meaning that no matter where he turned he seemed to be blinded by the light. Elliot took a tentative step forward, wondering whether the place he was in was solid. His foot stepped down on the featureless surface that surrounded him and stayed stable. Wherever he was it was a solid and real region.

Elliot stumbled forwards, heading in no discernable direction. The featureless white void offered him no hints on where he was going or if there was anywhere to go.

This isn’t the mindscape. Is it? Elliot looked around wondering whether the void would shift and reveal the familiar battlegrounds where he had been trained to master the abilities of the Avatar. No-one answered his question. In fact it had never even been spoken, despite opening his mouth and moving his lips there was no noise to be heard, just the claustrophobic silence.

And then a figure appeared in his field of vision... indistinct at first, and then gradually getting closer and closer, until Elliot could see him clearly. More figures appeared around him, slowly coming out of the impossible haze, but Elliot's eyes were fixed on the first figure.

Blonde hair, a slight, good humoured smile, blue eyes that seemed to glitter with mirth.

Sam.

Without saying a word, Elliot's old friend approached him, opened his arms wide, and hugged him, and Elliot could do nothing but hug in return, shell-shocked by the impossibility that stood before him. His old friend was dead and gone, his ponified body cremated years ago. How could he be here?

Behind Sam, more figures appeared from the misty veil of light that surrounded Elliot. A dark-skinned young man with wide, admiring eyes approached next, saluting proudly in the manner of the Knights of Albion, and Elliot disengaged from Sam to give Sir Eric Smith a nod of respect, his own eyes full of disbelief. he felt Sam pat him on the back.

Behind Eric were others - Jason sans le Argonauts, Sir Keith, Sir Trevor... Knights of Albion, one and all. Sir Elise was there with a salute of her own, as were her entire squad.

Next to Eric, a pale, dark haired man stood with a slightly younger woman and an infant girl, an uncharacteristically wide smile on his face, and Elliot blinked in shock at the sight of the Undead of all people smiling at him with pride and gratitude. Elliot looked behind him, to see that Sam and the others were following him.

There was no sound as he kept walking and more figures, human and pony alike, appeared - dozens... hundreds... he could see Desert Wind from the infiltrate squad standing next to Sapphire Steel, his friend who had died. There was Errant Flight and Cloud Ranger, her head rested on his shoulder and both smiling. There was Ditzy Doo in her Grey Squadron uniform, her expression bittersweet but still happy, and behind her were other ponies Elliot recognised - the cocky grin of Royal Flush, the cheery smile of Sharp Tip... there was Colonel Watts and Ever Stern from the Manchester base, and Well Spring, the Convie's eyes at peace for the first time in Elliot's brief memory of the Converted.

Others were there that Elliot might not have expected - Shining Armour was stood with a group of Royal Guard, all of them saluting him proudly. He could see Spike the dragon standing alongside Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy... the Elements of Order, all of them happy to see him, all of them in their own way grateful. He saw Rainbow Dash approach Lightning Dust and, to his surprise, the two exchanged a friendly glance before continuing to smile at him.

He continued on, more people and more ponies surrounding him, smiling at him, their eyes silently thanking him, full of gratitude and joy at... for... him, for what he had done. There weren’t just hundreds… there must have been thousands… no, maybe even millions... it felt almost like every single person and pony who had died in the course of this long, brutal war was here, greeting him with smiles and appreciation that made his heart feel full to bursting.

His eyes widened as two tall figures approached, both very familiar, neither expected. One was dark blue, and she wore a silver coronet, bowing before him regally, almost like he were royalty. The other... the other was white, an ethereal mane of many colours flowing behind her, making her seem like a rainbow was on her head. She did not bow, but instead smiled, tears of joy and sorrow in her eyes. Celestia and Luna exchanged their own glances, before returning their overjoyed eyes to him, both silently thanking him for what he had done for them both.

He kept walking... and then he saw them. One was forest green, and wore a khaki shirt, and one was turquoise and wore a white vest, but both smiled at him with what he knew instinctively was love and respect for what he had done.

Lyra Heartstrings and True Grit, his two best friends in the whole world. True Grit was smiling at him, looking happier and younger than Elliot had ever seen him. Lyra... Lyra was smiling, too, her eyes... her eyes full of something Elliot couldn't describe, and didn't want to try to.

Behind Lyra was a beige mare, smiling sadly at him - Bon-Bon - and Grit had several Royal Guards - his old friends - with him.

Elliot couldn't speak, and he didn't want to try. He was surrounded by love and respect and joy and gratitude, and he could feel tears welling up in his own eyes. All of these people, these ponies... they were here, somehow, to honour him, to honour the sacrifice he had made for all of them.

There was one final figure in Elliot's path, one he did not recognise. The figure wore an all-enclosing set of pale golden armour, a white cloak hanging from his shoulders and a sword, at once familiar and not so, held in one hand and resting in the ground like a prop. The figure regarded him from behind that helmet, and Elliot felt drawn to it, like he'd known it all his life.

He slowly approached this figure, looking down as he did so. None of them cast shadows as such, but around this being was a sort of indistinct blurring - the light that surrounded the place seemed to muddy the lines of this armoured figure - sometimes it would be taller, other times shorter. Sometimes the figure would be feminine, others masculine, and others it would be a pony form. Elliot stepped closer, eyes wide, and suddenly the figure reached its spare hand up to its helmet and pulled it off, revealing its face.

David Elliot's face.

The face was clean and bright and young, and the other Elliot smiled at David, who felt his eyes widen. And yet he felt no fear - this was where he was meant to be. The figure clipped the helm to his belt and extended his hand to Elliot, who reached his own out, clasping the preferred hand.

There was a moment where the world seemed to blur and shift. And then David reached for his belt and unclipped the helmet, before setting it back on his head, left hand still firmly clasped around Excalibur's hilt. He had come here to receive the thanks of others for his sacrifice, but his sacrifice was not over yet. All around him they were happy, joyous smiles reaching him, and he felt all weight leave his soul - he had done his duty for these people. He had saved them.

Now he had to go on to the greater duty.

Author's Notes:

Howdy again, readers - I figure it's a bit of a surprise to see something new for this story, but this is something extra we wanted to add to give this story a happier note to end on. Hope you enjoyed it, because I know we did :-)

And thank you again for coming on this journey with us. I hope that you enjoyed it all. I know I did. :-)