Silver felt the need to take care of a usual pressure and detoured to the bathroom, but as he did so, trying to calm himself and making a tinkling noise in the bowl, his eyes snapped up to the mirror hanging there. Looking back at him was Princess Silver Stars. The anatomy he clearly felt while doing his business was proof enough that he was quite male.

Trembling, he reached a hoof out to the mirror, and the princess' hoof reached back, touched gently with only the glass separating them.

The princess let out a slow sigh, one that the prince did not. "I am you."

"Who are you?" Prince tilted his head.

"You know the answer to that." She nodded slowly. "Neither of us asked to be here, and yet..."

"I am you? I didn't die, did I?" Prince Silver Stars drew his hoof back, looking over the princess. "Why do I keep encountering my other self?"

"I am the one whose world you were thrown into... I know you didn't ask to come here, but the longer you stayed, the more unstable my entire thread of reality became, becoming more and more frayed with every passing day." She put another hoof on the mirror. "I know that wasn't your choice. I am you, after all. We both lived that... You... You were there, holding my foals, kissing my wives... You hurt with me when my world upended itself. It's broken and dying..."

Silver paled across the snout. "Is there something I can do to help? You know I will, if I can."

"I do know that," said the princess with the ghost of a smile. "But there's so little that can be done... The damage is so great, and spread so far. Ponies are falling right out of reality itself. I'm watching the end of times, and I thought, if I could, I'd want to say goodbye to you."

Silver's eyes widened. "No! No... Please. Who's left? Is it just you?" The idea that his beloved family could already be victim was tugging painfully, even if they were a copy. They didn't deserve that end, nopony did.

She glanced back into the darkness, then returned her gaze to the prince. She lifted her pendant, shining with Twilight's magic. "This is all I have left..."

Silver felt a stab through his heart, even imagining so little remaining of his family. "This isn't right... Please. If I can save you, will you let me save you? We made a promise, both of us. We'd never die until we had no choice, and you still have a choice."

She leaned forward. "But I'm already dead. Everything I fought for... All the things I died once for, gone... What would I live for? Myself? Go back to being alone and miserable? You know that's probably brought it all crashing down. So much strain on the weave of this world, it all came unraveling around me, the sore spot, the thing that didn't belong. My thread's the only one left. The irony, eh?"

Silver put a hoof on the mirror. "You'll start over, in a friendly world, where the sun shines. We found out why this happened in the first place, and we'll fix it."

"There can't be two Silver Stars."

Prince Silver Stars clopped his hooves together slowly, thinking and frowning. "Then don't be Silver Stars. Start from the beginning, but you won't be alone." He reached out again. "I'll be your father, your mother. I am you. I won't let you just die. You deserve a life. I'll do whatever it takes to get you that chance."

She pressed her snout against her side of the glass, horn tinking against it. "Would you really? Of course you would. I know you. I am you. Would you accept me, as your child? How freakin' weird would that be, being my own child..." She smiled suddenly. "Fudge it all. I did promise, didn't I? Do you mind if I stay this way? I feel more at home as a mare."

Prince Silver Stars met her hoof and pressed his snout to hers, still separated by that glass. "I would take you in as a colt, filly, or both if that tickled your fancy."

She stuck out her tongue, licking the glass. "That's what magic is for, which I will relearn. I know just where I can go."

"Where?"

"Clear Twilight, your filly with Night Watch. This is earlier, is it not?"

"It is."

"I'll be a lunar unicorn again." Her tail swayed gently. "Yours, both of yours. I won't take her over, mind. No. I'm ending this."

"What?! You just said--"

"I will be reborn through her. This life will end, but me, my spirit, my very essence... You'll see yourself in her, and there'll be more there than your genetics."

"Don't you want to be you?"

"There's already a me, right here, and he looks quite happy." She smiled gently. "Mmmf, I have to do this now, or never. Take care of me, alright? Hold me tight and remind me I'm loved, even if it's me saying it."

Before Silver could raise further concerns, the image faded, and the mirror cracked as a wail pierced the night. Night Watch's water had broken, and she was calling him. He tunneled through space itself, appearing beside her with a flash and assisted her as he hadn't had the chance to do in the other world. He held her hoof, mopped her brow, and never left her side.

His soft words assured her she was loved and safe, and all was well. Others arrived soon. Zecora assisted and Twilight and Fast watched, but only Silver remained glued to her side, always speaking in soft droning words of love and adoration. Every time she cried, he squeezed her gently. When she bit at him, he accepted it, and kept her embraced. Together, they brought life into the world. Clear Twilight was born. It was with a bittersweet turn that he heard Night Watch granting that name to her as if destiny itself had chosen it. Perhaps it had.

He locked eyes with the little filly, and he could feel it. The filly was filled with a spirit that would be there, like a past life or a guardian ancestor. Princess Silver Stars lived in behind Clear Twilight, but not through her directly. The little coo the filly made convinced him that both of them were happy with the arrangement, even if Silver was still unsure.

One thing he did know for certain. He loved them all. He hugged Clear and Night, then Twilight and Fast, and even Zecora. "Thank you for your help."

"For a stallion you were well behaved, to your instincts you are not enslaved. You should be proud of what you've done, the life of your filly has just begun." They shared a brief embrace, and she departed back to her borrowed room, allowing them to rest and bond. The entire family slept together with its newest member, only one of them aware of its origins.

It wasn't until morning that Silver realized he had been in the middle of something and sat up in a panic. He dashed from the room with a clatter of hooves and spread his wings. "I'll be right back!" Before anypony could ask what he would be back from, he launched from the balcony and soared for Canterlot, praying that everything hadn't exploded while he was dealing with other things. "Why does everything have to happen at the same time?"

To his surprise, when he landed at the castle, the guards didn't just let him walk by, but bowed before him, low and humbled. "What?"

"You're expected, Prince Silver Stars. Please, proceed to the throne room."

Silver nodded to each of them and trotted past into the palace. Every guard and servant he passed stopped to bow to him just as they might if Celestia were walking past, making him more confused. He reached the throne room and reached for the door, only to have it opened hastily for him by the guards standing nearby.

"Announcing Prince Silver Stars, Hero of the Land!" came the shrill cry of a pony, announcing his presence.

Seated on the thrones were a smiling Celestia and Luna, side-by-side, and sharing a hoof.

Silver smiled back at them shaking a little. "Is it over?"

Luna shook her head. "It's barely begun."

Celestia gestured to the space before her with her free forehoof. "Stand before us, Prince."

Silver strode down the carpet, ponies watching his every motion, but it wasn't with scorn or hatred or fear. He felt genuine admiration and warmth. He reached the spot Celestia had indicated and began to bow, but she cut it off with a sweep of her hoof.

Celestia rose from her throne and stepped down to be before Silver, then sank before him. "Thank you, my savior. Savior of Equestria, and the world entire. Thank you, one whom I have wronged in ways no pony should ever accept, but that you did, being who you are. Thank you, Prince Silver Stars, and may everypony be aware of that a true hero stands before me."

Luna slid off of her own throne and copied Celestia's bow immaculately. "A thank you from me as well, for rescuing my sister, and returning harmony to our land. Even when I was blind, you kept looking. I cannot be prouder to name you rightful bearer of the title of Prince of the Night." She extended a wing. "Long may we rule it, together."

Silver smiled, no, smiling was too weak. The expression he had refused to go away. It was a grin that wouldn't go away. He reached out with his leathery wing and met her feathery one, brushing against hers and nodding. "Long may we rule it, together." His gaze turned to Celestia. "You have wronged me terribly, and we need to talk, to both understand why and how, but know that I forgive." He put a hoof at his chest. "On one condition."

The court became hushed and tense, all allies turning to Celestia as she rose up. "And that is?"

Silver smiled. "I would see my foals trained by the best. When they are done learning the essentials in Ponyville, they will both learn at either of your hooves in turn, to learn the glory of sun and moon, and to fully appreciate the magic that helped form them."

Celestia drew back slightly. "You would have me mentor your foals... after that?"

"Do you refuse?"

"No... I mean, I accept your condition." She clopped the ground with a loud sound of metal on stone. "May they grow strong and well in our shared tutelage."

Luna drew her wing back as the crowd erupted into a wild cheer. "My ponies of Canterlot, let us celebrate this time of renewed peace!" The cheering redoubled and Luna led them in a procession, leading the court empty save a few guards, Celestia, and Silver.

Silver nodded at her. "We do need to speak, but I think we'll both listen to one another, perhaps for the first time."

"For the first time," agreed Celestia. "I have learned much of you from this, if there is to be a good side of it... You are unfathomably alien, but undeniably good of heart, even at your most wicked." She flashed a gentle smile. "And you do have a very wicked streak that rivals my own. Yes, we have much to discuss." She rose to her hooves. "Come. Today, we celebrate. Tonight, perhaps, we can speak."

Silver walked with her, still smiling.

His rainbow had come.

Author's Notes:

Well, shoot. I could end this here and I would not feel bad, even if I never go into a single additional detail of what the hell happened.

How do you feel? Was this all a typo?