"So... What now?"

I looked up at Razor.

"Now we try and repair Equestria. The Day Guard was almost completely taken over by the unitologists, and those that were not one of them were killed as traitors. Luna's been out of things for the past week and a half ever since she had to... Yeah. For right now, it's up to the four of us and Livy to bring Equestria to order. A large amount of the Nobles have been ousted as unitologists, but there's been a few that weren't. I had a couple of crystal mages work with some of our Night Guard unicorns to create these."

I took out the latest creation of the Magic College in the Empire. They resembled the original dragon's eye amulets used by the Night Guard, but rather crafted out of emerald rather than yellow topaz.

"They're called Wraith's eyes. They have all of the original enchantments of the original set, but they can counteract the maddening effects of the Marker, not just on the person wearing one of them. They're all heavily charged with magic, and create a small bubble that disrupts the Marker's effects on sentients. I doubt it will destroy any that are as far gone as a full necromorph but anyone who's only got the mental touch of the Marker will be mentally overloaded with white noise."

Razor looked impressed.

"So any unitologist that's got a guard near them gets taken out?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, add that to the fact that there'll be Guards at every corner of Equestria and in every town, not to mention the fact that we'll have guards for every road in and out of Equestria and we should be able to root out every last one of them and get them locked up. And with the help of Livy's gem hunters we have a big enough supply of gems to make all the Wraith eyes we need. Along with that all of the enchantments are being put together with a full set of six Crystal Hearts to be used by the survivors of the settlements that got destroyed her in the mainland. There's gonna be a lot more settlements in the north now, and there's plans to try and set up the hearts in a magical network. You know how the whole north of the world is frozen from the Windigoes that came to live there in the age of the three tribes?"

He nodded.

"Well with the six Hearts of Harmony as they've been named, we should have the ability to connect a few key points in the area around the empire with Luna's Heart, and from there the seven hearts should have the power to undo a large portion of the curse on the land, and then bring it back into being as much a paradise as Equestria. All we have to is wait or Luna to be well enough to initiate the process. After that we'll have a much easier time with moving ponies and supplies. Not to mention the fact that we'll need something like this for the reforming of the two countries."

Razor gave me a confused look.

"Equestria is without a leader, without guards, without a way to survive. The ponies of Equestria have opened up to Luna, the thestrals, even the gem hunters after all this. The current plan that I've worked with the nobles of the Empire and Equestria is to merge the two into one force, to be called the Equestrian Empire. The new capital will be right here, in the original Crystal Empire. So far nobody seems against the plan."

"And after we're all one big country, what then?"

"Then I take a team to make sure Tartarus is secure. If there's a Marker there then I want a guard station to make sure no unitologists can even come within a mile of it. Along with that I'm gonna send a team of guards and workers to join those already stationed at the castle to move all of the stuff left behind, all of the armor and weapons and magical tomes out here to the Empire. It's gonna be a while before we can get everything settled, so I hope that you can handle some long nights."

He nodded and then went to spread the plan to the others, while I went to find Luna.

---

Along the way I was stopped by the sound of yipping and running behind me.

"Jack! Jack!"

I looked and saw Akira bounding towards me, and I caught her as she leaped into my chest in a hug. She looked up at me.

"Auntie Luna's gotten all smooshie-sad!"

I gave her a small smile.

"Well we'll have to see about fixing that."

I lifted her around and onto my back, my lower arms holding her as she planted her paws on my head.

"Mush, noble steed!"

I gave a small chuckle and bounded down the hall with her shrieking in laughter. After a few moments we found Luna's room. I knocked on the door and then opened it.

"Hey Luna you have a visitor."

She was sitting by the window, looking sadly at the sunset outside. She didn't respond. I walked up and placed Akira on the ground beside her.  Akira took her in a small hug.

"You know, maybe you should take a walk? Everyone's getting worried."

She let out a small sigh. I walked over and took her in a brief hug with all four arms. I knew she was mourning, but I decided then that I had to do something.

"Luna... I'm sorry for this but just sitting here and mourning won't bring her back."

She whirled on me, livid.

"And what would you know!? I have lost the only family I have in this world!"

I looked down, and then looked back at her with fir in my eyes.

"One hundred and two years. That's how long I have been in Equestria and the first hundred of that was spent in madness. Luna you've lost a sibling, and I lost both my own sister and my parents. Your sister will return in a thousand years , but my family is gone forever. But I got over it with your help, and so I'm gonna repay the favor."

She had a blank expression at this, and then looked sad.

"I am... Sorry, Jack.  I had forgotten that yo- eep!"

I cut her off by hoisting her over my shoulder and heading for the door.

"Jack release me!"

"Luna I'm taking you out partying with the kingdom, and you are going to have at least a short while where you cheer cheer up!"

Akira waked alongside me as I carried Luna, giggling.

"Akira, go get Razor, Shield, Orchid, and your mom. Tell them I said that we're going to discuss plans for the Empire and then we're gonna get plastered in the name of Celestia!"

Akira gave a brief salute, and I was glad that she was old enough to know what 'plastered' meant and that Livy wouldn't sock me for using the term.

It only took a short while for Luna to catch up on the basic plans we had set up, and after that we all found ourselves in one of the ballroom areas of the castle, the whole area raised into a celebration of the unveiled plans for the Empire and for the idea of helping Luna.

I looked around and could see Orchid and some of the female gem hunters had led out Akira and all of the children of the guards, hunters, and nobles into a separate chamber. I could see the whole ballroom was filled with celebrating ponies of all tribes, along with the gem hunters and even a few dragons that had come here to help us out for slaying Tharn. As it was there were quite a few orphaned dragons that had escaped and wanted revenge on Tharn for killing their families. Part of this was that they took responsibility for the stolen eggs with their siblings and into their care. Everyone down below was laughing and singing and it only took a moment to find Luna swaying and singing with Razor and Shield, producing a drunken rendition of "I'm Walking On Sunshine".

"An doon it fell gooood!"

They all lit up when they saw me. Yeah, they were pretty buzzed already.

"Jayack! You gotta get somma dis!'

Shield yelled this in my ear as he put a hoof around my shoulders. I took the mug he held out and flashed a grin.

"Well alright then!"

The next few hours were spent between heavy drinking, singing, dancing, and then eventually blacking out. Even to this day I can only remember brief flashes. Luna stage diving off of a chandelier, Shield punching a gem hunter, Orchid leading a drunken Razor away, me somehow chugging down a small keg of scotch, Livy attempting to lift a pillar, a room wide singing of 'We Are The Champions'...

It was one of the best parties I've ever been to, and it was all fun until I woke up the next morning. My head screamed in pain, and I saw through blurry eyes the sun shining through the window. I was only wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and not my armor. This set off alarms in my extremely hungover head as I had grown accustomed to wearing it almost everywhere, and I had been wearing it to the party last night. Along with that I was laying down on the weirdest pillow ever. It was rough but still soft, and seemed to emanate warmth. And it was...

Snoring? I opened my eyes and saw the sleeping form of Livy wrapped around me.

Well shit.