Chapter 30-

Then...

"I can't thank you enough for bringing us home, Chancellor Sky Runner."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, Miss Sparkle. Glad to be of service to Equestria's greatest heroines!"

It had been several weeks since the disaster at Tambelon, and all of the ponies involved were on the mend. The Nocturnal chancellor had offered to personally escort the six mares home, and even now the six mares rode in Luna's chariot of night with him.

"Oh my, it's so good to see Ponyville again!" Fluttershy exclaimed. as they came into view of the small town. "Oh, I need to go and check on my babies!" The yellow Pegasus zipped ahead of them.

""Well, that's Fluttershy for ya!" Applejack said with a laugh. The other four burst into laughter as well.

It was then, that the chariot came to a stop on the outskirts of Ponyville, the little town these six had started out from. Rarity hopped out, and trotted off towards the Carousel boutique.

"Well, this has been lovely, darlings, but I really must get back to my work." She trotted away with a smile. "I have orders that simply must be filled."

"And I got ta get back ta the farm!" Applejack said with a snort. "Bic Mac an Apple Bloom er probably lost without me!"

"And I'd better get back to Clousdale!" Rainbow Dash added, zipping away into the sky. "How'll they keep that place together without me?"

When only silence followed, Twilight and Sky Runner looked around. There was no sign of Pinkie Pie anywhere.

"Huh, probably already ran back to Sugarcube Corners." Twilight said with a nervous laugh. "That's Pinkie Pie for ya!"

"Miss Sparkle, I want you to have these." Sky Runner handed her a box, and two tiny flutter ponies the size of a flower flew out.

"Wow! What are these things?" The purple unicorn asked in surprise. "I've never seen anything like them before!"

"They're called Breezies, they are the last of the creatures we were engineering in the lab." The chancellor replied. "I need you to take good care of them, and keep them away from anypony who would harm them."

"You can count on me!" Twilight Sparkle replied with a smile.

It was then, that Fluttershy came galloping back up. "Oh, Mister Sky Runner? I have a gift for you!" She gently dropped a small bunny she was carrying in her mouth into the chariot. "This is Habit, he's Angel's baby brother. We call him that because he has a habit of stealing shiny things." Fluttershy looked away. "When you said you didn't have a pet and all, it sounded so lonely..."

"Thank you very much, Miss Fluttershy."The unicorn stallion replied with a smile. "Strap yourself in, Habit, it's going to be a bumpy ride back to Canterlot."

"Thank you again, Sky Runner." Twilight Sparkle replied. "For everything!"

"Are you sure you girls are going to be all right?" Sky Runner asked her in a concerned tone. "After all the stallions-"

"Don't worry about it, Sky Runner, we'll be fine." Twilight told him with a laugh. "We've all had boyfriends before that things didn't work out with... it happens!"

The Chancellor could not tell if she were lying, in denial, telling the truth, or a mixture of all three. The only thing he did know was that they were all doing an amazing job of hiding their pain, and acting as if nothing had happened. As if they had never had lifebonded, and the whole thing had been a dream.

"Very well then, take care of yourselves." The two Bat winged Pegasus took off into the sky, taking the chariot of night back towards the capital.

On the ground behind him, a resolute purple unicorn trotted back towards her library. The glint in her eyes might have been tears she was holding back, or perhaps it was only the reflection of the sunlight.

...

"So the Tambelon incident has been 'cleaned up'?" Celestia asked Luna, who had come to her as soon as the sun had set.

"Yes, my sister. The public will ever know there was a Tambleon incident, and the everfree forest has been placed off limits to ponykind, to keep Dream Valley a secret." Luna stamped her hoof. "But we still disagree with these isolationist policies of yours, Celestia! Thou cannot hide all these races existence from our subjects forever!"

"It was your establishment of that city in the northern pass, that drew the goblin's attention in the first place!" Celestia snapped back. "The griffon royalty is furious! they are having a hard time covering up the existence of the goblins, and the Tambelon incident, to their own subjects!"

"Sister, we cannot hide our ponies from all the evils of the world forever- consider the changeling invasion at Candence's wedding two years ago." Luna shook her mane. "Others will cometh... and all of Equestria shall suffer as a result!"

"My dear, dear Luna..." Celestia nuzzled her sister. "One day, you will understand why it's in our best interests- and the best interests of our subjects- that we do what we do. Equestria will last for ten thousand years, so long as we work hard to keep it safe."

As the solar Princess trotted away, Luna could only wonder if her sister was correct.

Now...

"Look... she's coming to!"

Twilight Shine's eyes flickered open, and she saw both her five friends- and her husband- standing over her.

"Twilight! Oh thank the horsemaster!" A relieved Tornado started to nuzzle and lick her. "I was afraid I'd lost you!"

"Good ta see ya back, kid!" Firefly told her. "We was afraid we lost ya!"

"Where am I?" The pink unicorn asked, as her head started to clear. "Tirek... the battle..."

"We won the battle, Twilight!" Medley told her. "The princess ponies used the elements of harmony, and it and the rainbow of light destroyed Tirek for good!"

"But we lost a lot of good mares and stallions today." Glory continued. "Nearly three hundred Dream Valley ponies are dead."

Twilight sat up, and looked around. They were all in a bunch of tents, surrounding the ruins of....

"Dream Castle!" Twilight Shrieked. "What happened to our home?!?"

"Now just calm down, Twilight!" Bow Tie told her, even as Twilight noticed the castle was starting to 'repair' itself, bricks reforming and cracks sealing up like a rapidly healing wound. "Our Friends in the castle are safe in the tesseract, and the castle's auto-repair spells are fixing things right up in a jiffy!"

"The castle's re-forming... lavender." Twilight whinnied in a confused tone, noticing the bricks were changing color as they fused and grew. "Well, that will look better than it used to. Princess Luna's mages had some crazy designs when they built this place!"

"Hey, Twi." Applejack greeted her. "How's it going?

"We'll leave you two to talk." Glory said, and the five mares and Tornado trotted out of the tent.

"I'll be back in just a few minutes." Tornado told her.

"I know." Twilight replied, smiling back.

After they had gone, Twilight looked back up at her friend. "You were there, weren't you?"

"What?" AJ asked, surprised. "What are you-"

"I felt you and the other harmony bearers, in my mind, when we all took Tirek down together." Twilight stared directly at Applejack.

"Yes, we were all there. I saw my old friends again." The earth pony sighed.

"Do you miss them, AJ?" Twilight asked her. "Do you miss Equestria?"

"I miss em' each and every day, Twilight." The orange earth pony replied in her 'Brooklyn' accent. "But they told me to stop living in the past, and live for the here and now."

"I guess that's a lesson I should learn, too." The pink unicorn nodded."Let the past take care of itself, and worry about the present."

AJ hesitated for a moment, before replying. "One of the unicorns looked me over after a Fakie bit me... I've started to age again, Twi. For the first time in centuries, I'm actually growing old."

"Oh, AJ! I'm so sorry!" Twilight replied sympathetically. The pink unicorn thought for a moment. "The fakie bite must have drained the chronal energy, restoring you to normal."

"Eh, I really don't mind, I never wanted to outlive my own mate and children." AJ whinnied. "Besides, that magic he drained didn't quite agree with Bronco."

It was at that point, that the main gate of the castle re-formed, and ponies came trotting out across the re-formed drawbridge.

"Poesy!" Glory yelled in happiness. "Surprise! You're all right!"

It was then that two foals, one red and one orange, ran across the drawbridge, and galloped towards the tent the two mares were in.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Baby Applejack yelled, talking her mother to the ground, and licking her.

"Twilight!" Ember rushed up, and embraced a tearful Twilight Shine. "I'm so glad you're safe, Twilight!"

"This is what we live for, Applejack!" Twilight told her friend. "For our future!"

...

"I am so sorry to hear about your mother, Baby Masquerade." Queen Majesty told the yellow Pegasus in front of her. "She was a loyal and faithful servant."

"Thank you, your highness. But as I am an adult... I am Masquerade now." She bowed before Queen Majesty's throne, now that full accessibility to the castle had been restored. "And like my mother before me, I am at your full and loyal service."

"I trust you have your mother's full range of abilities?" The Queen asked her. "Such will be needed as my head of palace intelligence."

The yellow Pegasus first morphed into Twilight Shine, then shifted into Firefly, then camouflaged herself to blend in with the wall. "Such is the power, of a changeling like myself, my queen."

"Your family of defectors from Queen Chrysalis, has severed the crown of Dream Valley well for over a millennium." Majesty agreed. "Can you assume your true changeling form?"

"With all due respect, my queen, as far as I'm concerned, this is my true form." She morphed back into the yellow Pegasus with jewel eyes. "My family and I are Dream Valley ponies, and the herd are our brothers and sisters.The rest of Changeling-kind means nothing to us."

"That pleases me, though the Changeling kingdom's treaty with Dream Valley keeps them well outside of our borders." Majesty's eyes blazed. "Considering what happened the last time they tried to invade us a millennium ago, Queen Larvae, thier current ruler, would do well to continue to fear the ponies of Dream Valley."

"Shall I go and look over my mother's intelligence files, my queen?" Masquerade asked.

"Yes, go ahead." Majesty waved her hoof dismissively. "Now, I have other matters to attend to."

...

High on the cliffs above Equestria valley, a old gnome dressed in green leaned on his cane, and stared at the mighty face of Canterlot mountain off in the distance. The place where the evil Tirek had met his final defeat.

"I hope you have finally at peace, old friend." The Moochick stroked his beard. "I am so sorry, that I failed you so long ago."

Tired of standing, the old gnome sat, and rubbed the weariness from his eyes. Tired... he felt very tired so much these days. But he couldn't let that tiredness get to him. The Moochick had so much he had to do, and so very little time to do it in. Oh, how he wished he was young again...dancing and playing under a night sky, the flowing cobalt blue hair of his beloved by his side, shining like the glittering sea of stars above..

It was at this point that the moochick broke himself out of his reverie, and sighed. "Come along, Habit!" The old gnome called to his pet rabbit, as he started his way down the cliffs. The Moochick looked back up at the moon one final time, and smiled.

"Even if your spirit has moved on." He whispered to himself. "It pleases me to think that you're still up there, watching us all."

-END-

If you enjoyed this, please read the spin-off story, Equestria Exiles: Dawn of Dream Valley