Waking up was not what she had expected, at least not in excruciating pain. She hadn’t really believed in something like an afterlife but was not against the idea. So returning to consciousness in agony had to mean that she was still alive, somehow. Or so she hoped. If the pain carried over to the afterlife then hers would totally suck.

Luckily a certain voice managed to confirm her suspicion that she was, indeed, not dead. What was said eluded her but she knew that this was Nightmare speaking. That revelation caused her to react in the only way that seemed appropriate right now. She groaned, which led to a coughing fit that made the pain flare up even more. Moving at all was obviously a very bad idea, but she had to in order to learn what happened and why she was alive, when the last thing she remembered was that a very pissed, possessed princess had charged at her with a warhammer, ready to crush her to pieces.

Before she could lift her chest, though, she felt a gentle pressure on her shoulders that tried to push her back onto… whatever she was lying on. A muffled voice droned through the haze in her head but again the words were lost on her. That was when she realized something. She was still alive and obviously very badly injured, enough that her Cells had not managed to heal her to this moment. Fuck… Max will chew me out for this.

Without putting up much of a fight she let herself sink back down again, two different voices exchanging something, both sounding worried but one afraid, too. Honestly, they didn’t help with her headache and when they just didn’t stop talking she braced herself, before saying with as much force as she could - which would amount to a kitten’s whisper, “Shut up.”

And they actually did, for all of a glorious twenty seconds until the first time one of the voices became understandable. Not because her hearing was getting better but because it was a loud enough shout. “SHE’S AWAKE!”

Groaning again she flinched in pain. “Shut the fuck up! Never heard of patients needing their quiet?!” Fuck, had that hurt her throat, but it was worth it. After a few more moments she could feel fractured pieces of bones shifting in her arms and it was more than just a little uncomfortable. Concentrating she searched for one of her more powerful abilities that was a kind of ‘last resort’ thing, as it left her drained for several days. But the decision being drained or in utter pain was not really a tough one. Her whole body was engulfed in an intense green light and instantly her bones mended, her wounds closed and her pain faded, not even a scar left behind.

With a relieved sigh she tried to lift her arms to stretch them only for them to remain firmly planted on the surface beneath her, suddenly weighing as much as a mountain, each. And then the fatigue hit her with the force of a freight train. She fought against it but in the end she knew that it was futile and she drifted back into darkness.

When she awoke the next time, there weren’t any voices and opening her eyes a gap showed that it was dark, night maybe. Or she had gone blind but that would have been fixed by her Cells, so… either night or a dark dungeon or something. The ‘dark room’ idea was discarded rather quickly when she saw the moonlight, shining through the curtains in front of a window. Just like she had thought, she felt utterly exhausted, but not tired. And yes there actually was a difference. exhaustion was physical, tiredness mental. At least, she thought so.

She wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, so she tried to lift her arms again. It worked, but it was hard, like, really hard.

“Welcome back in the land of the living, Sephiroth.” If she would have been able to she would have jumped in surprise. As things were she just flinched and turned her head to the source of the voice. Nightmare sat at a small table, a book floating in front of her, but her eyes were fixed on the woman. “Celestia has been defeated and cleansed of the being, so don’t worry.” She just lifted an eyebrow to signal that she wanted to know what happened and the mare understood. “Right before she could reach you, to land the final blow, she was stopped by the Elements and consequently cleansed. You should ask them if you want to know further details, but something that you did in the fight reached Twilight’s heart and enabled her and her friends to utilise the full power of the Elements.” Nightmare paused for a second, walking over to Sephiroth in the meanwhile and sitting down beside, what the woman now identified as a bed. “You are in hospital right now. To be precise the Ponyville General, as it was the closest medical institution. You were gravely injured and the doctors weren’t very optimistic that you would make it, even with your Cells. They seemed to be overstrained with the sheer amount of wounds. But then you woke up for a moment and did… something. Nopony is really sure what it was exactly, but I assume it was one of your powers, that aren’t magic.”

The woman took her time to digest this new information but she wasn’t relieved, not yet. Gathering her strength she tried a few times to say something, with little success, but eventually she managed to get out a single word. “Celestia?”

Nightmare smiled serenely. “She is free. Though she lost the greater part of her powers. They will return in time.” The mare giggled. “You should see her. She’s even smaller than an average pony at the moment.” Then her expression turned sorrowful. “She understands that she is not really to blame for everything that happened, but she feels indescribably guilty. I had to put her to sleep, because she insisted staying by your side and apologizing all the time, despite being in utter need of rest, too.”

With great effort, Sephiroth lifted a hand and put it on the mare’s withers, shooting her an exhausted smile, before she forced herself to speak again. “Can’t… sleep…” The alicorn nodded in understanding and her horn began to glow gently, putting the woman in a well deserved slumber.

For the third time, awareness returned to Sephiroth. Light flooded the room she was in, indicating that she slept through the rest of the night and seemingly the bigger part of the day, too. She had needed this and already felt a little refreshed. Enough to attempt to lift her chest and lean onto her elbows for support. Succeeding in that emboldened her and she sat up fully, swinging her legs over the side of her bed. It left her feeling a little dizzy but nothing more. She was considering if standing would be such a good idea when the door to her room opened, revealing a snow white mare with a bright pink mane. The lack of both, horn and wings, meant she was an earth pony but she didn’t look like she was actually paying attention to the room she had entered. Instead her worried eyes scanned the hall outside before she cautiously closed the door, ensuring that it wouldn’t make a sound as it closed.

Confused the woman watched the mare and decided to question what was going on. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

The pony jumped and yelped in surprise and even her wings flared wide. That got a double take out of Sephiroth. Hadn’t the mare been an earth pony a second ago? Then it clicked and her eyes widened briefly before she smirked. “Celestia, I presume.”

The mare in question let her head lower in shame and a horn appeared in her mane, confirming the woman’s suspicion. But before Celestia could begin showering her in apologies, she lifted a hand to silence the princess. “Don’t, just don’t. If you came to grovel before me and beg for my forgiveness then you can turn around and leave. You can’t have my forgiveness because there isn’t anything to forgive. And I’m just giving you this chance once.” she paused briefly and then smiled friendly at the alicorn. “Hello Celestia, long time no see.”

For a few moments it looked like the mare was going to cry and beg anyways but then she hastily wiped at her eyes, dispelling the tears that had accumulated in them and returned the smile. “It’s very nice to see you again, Sephiroth.”

Nodding in satisfaction, the woman struggled to her feet, almost faltering before she managed to steady herself. She then put a serious scowl on her face and pointed to the ground in front of her. “Now come here.”

Celestia hesitated but complied, walking over to Sephiroth. Standing in front of her, the mare just reached the height of her thighs. Maybe big enough to poke her belly button with her horn but nothing more. She then proceeded to lower herself on one knee before enclosing the shocked alicorn in a hug. “I can not even begin to fathom how much you have suffered for the last thousand years, being forced to watch this psychopath parade your body around. I’m sorry I didn’t see it back then and didn’t prevent your torture.”

Celestia couldn’t take it anymore and broke down into tears then and there and Sephiroth could imagine why. The very woman that had suffered the most under what she had done under the influence of the being apologized to her! The human - or rather human like - female just held the distraught mare close and summoned her wing to offer the small pony even more comfort, wrapping her in its feathery warmth.

She didn’t care how long they stayed like that, but eventually Celestia had cried herself to sleep. Not wanting to wake her, Sephiroth lifted her up off the ground and placed her onto the bed. She had to strain to be able to do so, but she did it anyways, tucking the princess in after that.

Walking over to the table, where Nightmare had sat the last night, she planted her rear on a chair and sighed, more relieved than she could describe. It was over. She hadn’t been the one to obliterate the being but it didn’t matter in the aftermath. It was gone and Celestia was free.

Leaning back she closed her eyes, resisting a sudden urge to laugh until her throat was raw, and just relaxed. Her body was completely fine but there was a dull ache that ran deeper than any physical pain ever could. She had worsened the wound with her ‘Full Heal’, the one she inflicted upon herself when she shared her Cells with Golden. But it wasn’t life threatening. It would be better to lay low for a while, though. Yeah, just relaxing for once and recover from it all. Maybe taking a little time to sort her own thoughts.

Just when she was about to doze off, the door to her room opened again and a very unamused looking Nightmare trotted in, her expression changing to confused, though, when she didn’t find a silver haired woman in the bed but Celestia. Sephiroth waved lazily when she was spotted and smiled at the black alicorn. “Hey there. I think your sister understood that she needs to rest. Kind of convinced her of the fact.”

“I’m glad and I hope she hasn’t been too overbearing with her apologies.” Nightmare came over to her and sat down beside the table.

“Actually, I didn’t let her. Not once. She suffered enough under the being and shouldn’t even consider to stand for the things it has done.” The woman paused shortly before continuing. “I said to her as much and I think she really needed to hear that-” She shook her head. “-and actually believe it. I broke through to her when I apologized to her instead.”

The black mare nodded solemnly and they both lapsed into a comfortable silence for a long while. Sometime in between, a nurse came to check up on Sephiroth, stating the obvious, namely that she was healthy and could leave in theory, but the docs wanted to keep her under surveillance for another day. When the nurse had left again they returned to their positions at the table.

“So. How is Lofty? Still getting used to live in another universe?”

Nightmare giggled at that and nodded. “You could say that. He is very fascinated by the burmecians and that there aren’t two races of giant reptiles trying to erase one another from existence. I don’t know if I can get him to move into Everfree Castle with me if that means that he has to leave their city.”

A little grin stretched across Sephiroth’s face. “Oh I think that won’t be a problem. You could employ some of them as maids, though. In name of reintegration into equestrian society or something. But speaking of family, no Problems with the twins so far?”

“Pfff, please. I’m not pregnant long enough to develop any kind of symptom already. Ask again in a few weeks.”

“Heh, you’re right.” Again she fell silent, gaining a very thoughtful expression as one of her hands lay itself across her stomach. “You know… now that this is over, and hoping that Lance will accept me, I start considering to bear a child.” Slowly a small smile crept onto her lips. “I’m looking forward to being pregnant for real this time.”

In contrast, Nightmare’s expression became troubled and her ears flopped down. “Yeah… it’s over now.” The woman raised an eyebrow at the strange behaviour and was about to voice her concern, when the mare continued. “Sephiroth… there is something you need to know. And I think it’s for the best if you knew it sooner rather than later.” She hesitated and with a glow of her horn they were encased into a translucent blue shield. A really bad feeling started to creep into Sephiroth’s stomach but she decided to wait for it, granting the mare the time she seemed to need to deliver this message.

The alicorn sighed deeply and looked into her eyes with such overwhelming sadness and pity that her heart clenched in fear. “Max told you already that you carry a part of Discord in you, right?” Confused she nodded but let the mare continue without interruption. “Don’t you wonder, why, besides magic originating from me, you do not carry any part of me?” After considering the words for a moment she nodded again. “The only possibility - and trust me I would never say this if I weren’t absolutely certain - is that your first pregnancy was real.” Her eyes widened in shock and she felt utterly sick all of the sudden. So sick that she had to cover her mouth with a hand to prevent from vomiting. But Nightmare wasn’t finished. “That part of Discord in you proves without fail, that you bore his child and that it was killed inside your womb.” Now she was dry heaving into her hand. “Your Cells have recovered that part and kept it alive inside you, while your body resorbed the dead body of the foal…”

Sephiroth’s whole body shook as tears streamed down her face and over the hand that still covered her mouth, but before she could fall into the abyss of depression, the alicorn pressed on. “It sounds macabre, but what your Cells did enabled you to bear his child, again. We think that it will latch onto the next child to grow in you, making it his as well.” The tears didn’t stop, but at least her stomach wasn’t trying to expel something that wasn’t there. The mare, on her part, smiled slightly. “Just think about it, how proud he would be that his child would have three full blown parents.”

That actually managed to make her chuckle and she lowered her hand again. “His greatest strike against order… Yeah, he would have a blast.” Wiping away her tears, she realized something. “You just said ‘we’. So Max knows about this?”

“Yes, she does.”

“She knows and still wants to have that child with me?” Smiling, the woman shook her head incredulously. “Will she ever cease to amaze me?” Just then the strangest sensation ran through her, originating from where her wing would have been if she had one at the moment, and making a shiver run up and down her spine. What was that?

Moving over to her, Nightmare sat down next to the woman and laid a wing across her back, hugging her softly, obviously misinterpreting her shuddering. “I can not say that. But I do so hope that it will work out for you. Oh and just so you know. I’m considering you family now. You saved me and my sister, you reunited us and without you I’d never met Lofty and wouldn’t be expecting twins.” The mare leaned her head down to nuzzle Sephiroth’s cheek, making her blush. “Thank you, sister.”

Groaning, the woman pushed the muzzle away. “Why do I get the strangest sense of deja-vu right now? Just don’t get any ideas about me joining you in bed.”

Author's Notes:

So that happened.

Seph missed the end of her own battle and used a 'spell' called 'Full Heal' to regenerate her body.
Her sword became the last key for the box from the tree of harmony, seeing as there is no Discord to make Twilight see that friendship can conquer all.

The mane6 purified Celestia with their rainbow powers.