Twilight Sparkle looked around at her friends, shaking her head. "I can barely believe it," she said softly, tears streaming from her eyes. "All of you...you're really here...I'm really back..." She sniffled. "My friends...I've been dreaming about you for decades, aching...aching to see you all again..."

"Decades?" Applejack asked. "But...Twi...you've only been gone a couple'a days..."

Twilight smiled. "Is that all?" she said, laughing. "Just a couple of days..."

"The hardest couple of days any of us have ever faced," Rarity said.

Twilight hugged her. "For me, it's been sixty years," she said softly.

The others gasped. "WHAT?!"

"Wow, no WONDER you're so big!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Oh, Twilight..." Fluttershy said. "It must...it must have been so awful..."

Twilight scratched her head. "Well...I missed all of you terribly," she said. "But...I wasn't alone." She trotted over to the obelisk, staring up at the prism with sad eyes. She laid a hoof on the cold marble. "My beloved," she said. "Thank you..." She looked back at Princess Celestia. "What went wrong, Tia? Inner Light should have brought me back here..."

"Dongnocc stole the prism, Your Highness," Daring Do said. "We...we got it back, but...not in time."

Twilight frowned. "I see," she said. "So that's why it's...dark..."

"Father is...Father is truly gone now, Mother," Celestia said. "Not even his spirit remains."

Twilight smiled, tears spilling down her face. "You're wrong, Tia," she said. "His spirit resides in all ponies. It has for thousands of years. Every time a filly gets her Cutie Mark, it's...it's him. And...he lives inside the two of you." She swept her daughters up in a great, feathery hug, and they cried together. The others gave them their space, watching with misty eyes and sad smiles.

Rainbow Dash's lip quivered. With a loud, bawling wail, she threw her hooves around her own mother and pulled her into a crushing hug. Daring Do rolled her eyes, smiled, and hugged her back, nuzzling her affectionately.

"So...does this call for a party?" Pinkie Pie wondered as the moment reached its apparent end. "I'm...I'm not really sure what kind of party to have here...so much has happened..."

Twilight sniffled, then teleported over to her mother and hugged her. "How about a redo on the Mother-Daughter Picnic?" she suggested. She smiled around at the room. "We can all bring our mothers...daughters...grandmothers...whatever." She looked at Rainbow and Daring. "ALL of us."

"I think...that would be lovely," Celestia said.

The vast expanse of hilly terrain between Ponyville proper and Twilight Sparkle's castle had dozens of pavilions set up, with picnic blankets and sun umbrellas and cushions scattered haphazardly far and wide. Huge picnic tables covered with dozens of serving dishes filled the area. It was a warm, sunny day, and an atmosphere of good cheer, frivolity, and love filled the air. All across the picnic area, families sat in groups; beneath the largest, most lavishly decorated pavilion, nearest the grandest buffet table, an entire crowd had gathered:

Granny Smith, Applejack, and Apple Bloom.

Fluttershy and her mother, Cherry Blossom, who stared around in fear at all the ponies, but refrained from flying away in terror due to constant whispered assurances from her daughter.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle and their mother, Cookie Crumbles.

Pinkie Pie, her sisters Marble and Limestone, and their mother Cloudy Quartz. Much to their surprise, Maud had managed to show up this time—completely unannounced; she'd spontaneously appeared out of a large picnic basket, scaring Pinkie half to death.

Rainbow Dash and Daring Do, who had decided, in light of the most recent adventure, to come out into the open and reveal her secret to all of Equestria and damn the consequences. Tank flew over their heads; Daring watched him with wide, wary eyes.

And on the largest blanket was the family that had shocked Equestria: Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Velvet, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. To the chagrin and bemusement of many present, Celestia wore a T-shirt which said "I'M GROUNDED", and Luna sported one which said "I'M GROUNDED TOO."

"I still can't believe I'm the grandmother of the rulers of Equestria," Velvet said, shaking her head. "Especially when you're both thousands of years older than me."

Celestia laughed musically. "Ours is quite a complicated family." With a twinkle in her eye, she whispered, "Don't worry. We won't insist on back birthday presents."

"Mother, how long must we wear these embarrassing shirts?" Luna complained.

Twilight chewed absently on a hay cake. "Well...how about one day for every year I spent in the past?"

"Sixty days?! But Mother...!"

The others around them laughed. "THAT...is gonna take some getting used to," Rainbow Dash said.

"No kidding," Daring agreed. She shook her head and sighed. "You know, you've probably pissed off a lot of my readers."

"How so? By being your daughter?"

"By killing off Dongnocc," Daring said. "He was a popular villain. Not as popular as Ahuizotl, but still."

Rainbow shrugged. "You're Daring Do. You'll never run out of bad guys."

Daring laughed. "True." She ruffled Rainbow's mane. "And...you know...having my estranged daughter as my sidekick might actually go over well with the fans. Whaddya say...next adventure, wanna come with?"

"Do I?!" Rainbow cried.

"Oh, by the way," Velvet said, casting an aside glance at Twilight, "while you were...away...Spike and your friends told me some very...interesting stories." She raised an eyebrow at Twilight. "I don't seem to remember raising you to be quite so neurotic, dear..."

Twilight cringed. "Aheh...I have no idea what you're talking about..."

Celestia and Luna exchanged wicked grins. "Oh, I'm sure I can vouch for at least some of what they told you," Celestia said.

"Tiiaaaaaaa," Twilight growled. "I made you. Don't make me unmake you."

Luna looked out over the gathered ponies. "You know...until recently, I hadn't thought of Father in years," she said softly. "He...he would have loved to see Equestria as it is today..."

"Yes, he would have," Twilight agreed. "I told him...I told him ponies would find harmony. If only he'd lived to see it..."

"But he did," Celestia said. "You said it yourself. Father's spirit lives on inside all ponykind. Luna and I may be his flesh and blood, but we are all his children, in a way..."

As the sun shone down on happy families laughing, talking, eating, and enjoying each other's company, a ghostly golden alicorn stallion stood on the highest balcony of the crystal castle, watching them with eyes like liquid sunfire. He smiled. "Take care of yourself, my love..."

Author's Notes:

What can I say? This story went WAY off the rails from what I had originally planned. And I couldn't be happier for it.

I think I'd actually have liked this to be longer, but I wanted it to read and feel like a pulp adventure novel, without getting too bogged down. There probably should have been more action sequences. I maybe could have given it even more of an Indiana Jones vibe. But I think there's just enough action in the story to do the job. On the whole, I'm mostly satisfied with this little story.

For those who haven't figured it out: Inner Light's name is a multiple-level play on words. First and foremost, his name is a reference to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Inner Light"; you'll notice that what happens to Twilight Sparkle in this story is quite similar to Picard's experiences in that episode, with the major exception that Picard merely had a lifetime of memories and experiences implanted in his brain, whereas Twilight actually did go back in time and become part of a stable time paradox. The framing device, however, is the same: more and more time passes for Twilight as the characters in the present deal with the immediate crisis of getting her back.

Inner Light's name is not merely a reference to this, however. It also refers to his destiny as the source of Cutie Marks, which are the inner light within all ponies; lastly, it refers to his soul being the power source for the time machine. He was the inner light within the prism.

There's sequel potential in this story. I'm not sure if or when I'd ever get around to writing a sequel, given my laundry list of other unfinished stories that need attention, but it's not outside of the realm of possibility that I'll pay another visit to the world in which Daring Do is Rainbow Dash's mother and Twilight Sparkle gave birth to Celestia and Luna. Only time will tell.

Thank you for reading. I hope you've enjoyed it. And to all mothers everywhere, I hope you have a joyous Mother's Day in the bosom of your family.

~ MythrilMoth, May 10, 2015