A war zone.

It was the only description that fit in Shimmering Night’s mind: It was a war zone. She had walked through the gateway Red had opened up using the Key of Ages and immediately thought that one phrase.

The chamber itself was massive, the walls and floor were made of some strange substance that reminded her of glass, but she knew it was anything but due to the simple fact that all the fighting would have shattered it. Up top she could make out a second chamber and knew that—if viewed from the outside—this entire place would look like an hourglass.

Dead center in the lower chamber was an hourglass that was ornately decorated and largely untouched, which was saying something as she took in all the damage that had been caused. The walls of the chamber were lined with blast markings. The floor, even more so.

It didn’t take the demigoddess of magic to know that an incredibly, exponentially large amount of magic had been unleashed here. It did take someone like her to know that that was an understatement by several thousand degrees.

“I-I-I’m scared, sis,” Dayspring said from atop his sister’s back. He had climbed back on right before they walked into the gateway.

“Yeah, me too,” Vela said absentmindedly as she looked around.

“What happened here?” Ataxia asked. The dragacorn’s body was far too large to fit through the gateway so she settled for just her head and neck.

“Twilight!” Luna called out. “Rainbow Dash, Dayspring, Radiant!”

“T-there, over here,” a voice spoke, one that chilled Ataxia’s spine, almost causing her to endure a heart attack.

“There’s… no… fucking… way…” That voice haunted Ataxia’s nightmares on more than one night. It was as if it came from the deepest recesses of her memories to pain her yet again. It was the voice of a god.

A dead god.

Every head snapped to the direction the voice came from. They all gasped as they saw a black shape pull itself from the wall and fall upon the floor. It was a pony… or at least, it had been. His form was mangled and mutilated beyond recognition. If it weren’t for his voice—and Ataxia recognizing it—nopony present would have known who it was.

Another form fell soon afterwards, right next to it. This one was in much the same shape: They all would have been concerned with who these two were if not for the fact that once they fell, four other forms were revealed to the group.

“Mom!” Shimmering Night yelled as she saw Rainbow and Twilight pull themselves away from the wall, their lives only spared by the other two taking the blasts for them. The group ran over, helping their comrades recover as they were reunited with the two princesses, Dayspring and Radiant. Relief reflected upon every face that saw them.

Well, almost every face. Ataxia’s eyes were glued on the black form on the ground. Her anger and hatred obvious to any soul that looked at her.

“He helped us, let him be,” a soft voice spoke, making Ataxia turn away.

Eros coughed as she tried to steady herself. Her body was hurting, but it was not as bad as Tartarus’s.

“We can’t trust him,” Ataxia growled.

“Later,” Twilight said as she got to her hooves, only to look around as she truly took in the situation. “Ataxia… you’re… you’re a dragacorn again?”

The dragacorn chuckled a little at that.

“Night. Y-you’re up?” Twilight asked as her eyes took in her daughter, they then fell to the rest of the group. “You all have the Elements of Harmony?”

Starlight blushed as she looked down at the star gemstone in her armor. “Yeah, we wanted to help.”

“If you want to blame someone, blame me, it was my idea. I convinced them to go,” Taz admitted, hoping to take the blame away from his friends.

“Help they did; they were all helpful in ridding me of the nightmare yet again,” Luna said.

“Even if it didn’t quite go according to plan,” Nighttide said.

“Looks like they’ve grown up a little,” Rainbow stated with no small amount of pride in her voice.

“I’m not mad, honey. I’m just surprised is all,” Twilight admitted. “But where’s… where’s Ana?” she asked, looking around.

A silence descended upon everypony before Night spoke up. “We’ll talk about her later, but for now, Mom, hold out your hoof,” Shimmering Night said.

Twilight looked at her in confusion but did as she was asked. Night smiled as she concentrated on the offending hoof with the essence stone wrapped around it and, with a wave of her horn, she surrounded the upper part of her mother’s hoof with her magic.

Twilight looked down in shock as her hoof started to grow on her. No, that wasn’t right, it started to shed itself, almost as if it were a snake shedding its second skin. The sight was disconcerting to say the least.

“Mom, calm down. You have to breath normally for this to work,” Night whispered.

Night’s words helped, but it was Rainbow wrapping a hoof around her that truly did the trick. The entire process only took a few moments, but soon a clanking sound could be heard as the stone fell to the ground. It was crushed seconds later by a black hoof slamming down upon it as Taz took that small vengeance for himself.

“I—” Twilight paused as her power—denied to her for six months—came flooding back. She could feel it returning to her, wave upon wave of it. It was as if by removing the stone, Night had destroyed the dam holding back an entire river of power, and now it was reclaiming what was rightfully its.

“You’re next, Mother,” Dayspring Gleam said.

Rainbow didn’t hesitate. She held out a hoof and watched Night do the same to her that she had to Twilight. The sensation made her skin crawl but this was beyond worth it. She smiled as the hoof shed itself, leaving her with one that was better than new. The stone that had been around her hoof suffered the same fate as the last one.

Taz smiled as he started to crush the remains of the stone. He only stopped when he realized that no one else was smiling. Not by a long shot. He looked around, seeing that everyone was staring at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow didn’t look back, she had her head down and her eyes closed.

“Isn’t she supposed to get her wings back?” Blaze asked.

The question reverberated around the room.

“Mother, I’m so sorry.”

“Rainbow, I…” Twilight stated, unsure just what words of comfort she could give.

Rainbow opened her eyes and looked up. And then, in a sign of maturity that gave true credence to her age and the life she had lived, said, “I think we all knew it was a possibility. I regret no—”

She paused as her eyes went wide and her back arched. Huge golden wings shot from her back: They were made of pure magic energy and expanded to the length of the entire room.

The frowns that had filled the space all become smiles of amazement and wonder at the sight of them all over again.

“Damn, that hurt!” Rainbow growled before looking back, flexing her wings. “Hah, now Typhon can kiss my flank with these babies back!”

“Typhon?” Vela asked.

“You called?” A dark brooding voice echoed from up high, stealing the attention of everyone in the room.

“Red!” Taz hissed and spit up in his direction.

“That’ll be the last time you ever call me that in your short life,” Typhon replied.

“Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red-Red!” Taz yelled out his name until he was blue in the face.

“What do you want‽” Shimmering Night yelled out.

“Ah, now that is the question. What is it the God of Gods wants? I have it all now, what could possibly be my objective? Well, other than to cement my place by killing those that might prove a challenge. Like my parents, Eros and Tartarus there. Or you, Gaia,” he stated looking at the two bodies still upon the ground, and then to Twilight. “Or even you, Chaos.” He smiled at the big dragon’s head still poking into the gateway.

“You’re dead meat,” Ataxia growled and went to eat his levitating form whole.

Typhon just laughed and, in a burst of power, slammed her head against the wall. They all cringed when it bounced off and landed on the floor, unmoving.

“Ataxia!” Shimmering Night yelled as she ran to the big dragon’s head.

“Mom!” Starlight’s cry joined in.

Twilight extended her wings and flew up at that. “You want to kill us? How about you start with me!”

“Well, it’s always nice to have a volunteer,” Typhon replied with a sickening smile. “But make no mistake, you’re first, not last.”

“We’ll see about th—”

Twilight’s words were cut off as a wave of dark magic shot from Typhon right at her. She didn’t blink. She didn’t have time to blink. Only her power warned her about it at all, and even then it wasn’t quick enough for her to respond.

Not quick enough for her to respond, but Rainbow was another story. When Twilight blinked her eyes clear, there was a huge golden wing wrapped around her, shielding her from harm. “I… Rainbow?”

“Wow, that was close,” Rainbow replied, her body seemed exhausted by that one maneuver. Which being that the flight was based on will, was saying something.

“Impressive, Rainbow Dash,” Typhon admitted.

“That’s it,” Vela and Luna shouted in unison. They sent up a blast of their own, each from a different direction.

“Vela, no!” Twilight yelled out. But it was too late. In much the same way he had deflected Eros’s attack back at her, the blast wave from Siros’s Vengeance was sent back at Vela. The shot from Luna he didn’t even seem to notice. Although he did look at her, the smallest glance of regret lingering his eyes, before it was gone.

The hippogriff looked up in shock as her own attack lashed back at her.

Four hooves in front of her it simply stopped it from being. She never saw it though: A white pegasus threw his body over hers and her brother’s, shielding them both from any possible harm.

Taz glanced up from the middle of his friends, his power radiating out as he said, “Looks like Red’s learned some new tricks.”

“That’s not my only new trick,” Red replied with a smile as he reached over and picked Radiant up off his hooves. In a grim parallel of the rock and Nightmare Moon, he tossed the stallion right at Taz.

They collided with the sound of something breaking. But from who, nopony could really say.

“Taz!” Nighttide shouted as she flew over to him, horrified that she could even fly at all. Something that should have been impossible with the stallion using his ability.

“You bastard!” Dayspring Gleam yelled as he shot out several attacks at Typhon’s underbelly while he ran away from the group.

They watched as Typhon simply took them. The new god didn’t seem to care, almost as if they were beneath his notice.

“You will regret attacking our family,” Luna growled, her voice more and more taking over the royal canterlot voice.

“Spread out!” Dayspring yelled. "That way he can’t turn our own attacks against us!”

“Good idea,” Shimmering Night said, flapping her wings and readying a blast of her own.

Her’s wasn’t the first to hit though. No, that honor went to Rainbow. The mare was pissed, beyond pissed that someone would dare hurt her son right in front of her. She lashed out from two different directions simultaneously. Her first attack was deflected back at her, but her second, that one landed a blow.

Typhon grunted as his form was cut by the magic of Gaia. That alone surprised him, but the real shock came from the tallest alicorn in the room. Shimmering Night lay down fifteen enhancement circles before shooting a blast aimed right at the back of his neck.

The magic energy, striking his head, rivaled that of what he unleashed on Eros and Tartarus moments ago. He cried out and snapped his head around, enraged.

Twilight responded next, choosing to go for a sustained barrage against the weak spot that Night had opened up for her. The beam of energy struck true, causing him to hiss further in pain as his flesh hadn’t healed yet.

“If we can wound him, we can kill him!” Vela said, flying underneath and lashing out with the spear again and again. Each and every cut left its mark, spilling his blood.

“That’s the way!” Luna said, flying underneath him with her, her own attacks striking moments after Vela’s, at where she assumed he might be weaker.

Little Dayspring watched in fear and trepidation when his sister left him in the hooves of Flash. She had departed their company with a kiss to each of them, and a knowing smile to her coltfriend. While she had asked Flash to watch her brother with his life, she hadn’t exactly promised that she’d come back from this.

“I love you,” Flash had said, his words still ringing in her ears.

Echoside looked, in a word, scared. Starlight walked up to her. “Hey, what—”

Echoside tore her eyes free from the battle and stared at the blue unicorn. “This is… insane. That power, they’re…” As if to emphasize her words, a blast wave shot out of Luna’s horn that caused a blinding explosion on the back of Typhon’s flank.

“Godly?” Starlight asked.

“How… I… I…”

“Welcome to my family,” Starlight said with a smile as she hugged the trembling bat-pony.

She only held her for a minute before Echoside asked her something that took Starlight completely by surprise. “How do we help?”

“We… we can’t. If we tried we’d just get in their way,” Starlight mumbled.

“Think again. In training they told us that there is always a way. Sometime it’s easy to find, other times you have to dig for a solution.”

Starlight looked at her confused, until she felt something glowing upon her chest. Looking down she saw the six pointed star, the element of magic. It was starting to glow with an inner fire all of its own. “We… we could try using these, but I doubt they’d do that much against someone like him.”

Echoside looked up at the pony they were all fighting. In spite of everything that they were throwing his way, Typhon looked annoyed. The minor damage that had been caused was skin deep at best, and even that healed far too quickly to truly matter. “I think those will have a part to play. Every enemy has an opening, even him… We just gotta wait for the right moment.”

“Assuming Vela doesn’t get herself killed,” Starlight added, watching as Typhon turned his attention to the hippogriff after suffering a slash across his right leg. Vela only lived through the next moment because Rainbow Dash swooped down and carried her off to safety.

Both mares’ eyes went wide as another blast was deflected their way. Starlight couldn’t even raise a shield as they faced certain death, only to be teleported away by the hairs on their coat. Starlight looked around to Dayspring Gleam, who was panting with the effort of having to cast a split second teleport, once again.

“Okay, that’s enough. On my back, it’ll give you time to catch your breath and think of a plan,” Echoside snarled.

“On your back? What‽” Starlight asked.

“You heard me!”

“Go with her,” Dayspring said as he shot out another blast, only to watch with a frown as it did nothing. He snapped his head to the left to teleport Princess Luna away from yet another attack that would have claimed her life. “I can’t even lay a scratch on this fucker, one less pony to worry about would help.”

“We have the elements!” Starlight protested.

Dayspring spared her a second's glance, seeing the star in her armor. “Yes, but you gotta wait for your opening to use them.”

“Just what I said,” Echoside replied with a smile as she bent her back to Starlight. “Now c’mon, hop on already.”

She frowned, but did as she was asked. Echoside lightly grunted with the extra weight on her back as she flew up to the second chamber of the hourglass. Seeing her intent now, Starlight smiled and looked down at the others. She surrounded Flash, Blaze, and little Dayspring in her magic as Echoside flew them up to the second chamber safely out of the blast radius of any attack that might come their way. As soon as they cleared the second chamber, Starlight teleported the others up there with her.

“What?” Blaze asked, scared and not knowing what he had just happened.

“We’ll be safer up here, until we’re needed.”

What about sis?” Dayspring asked.

Starlight took a quick look down to the first chamber. Along with Luna, Vela actually looked to be enjoying herself a little. “I seriously doubt she’d come, and if I forced her, she wouldn’t stay.”

“Taz?” Flash asked.

“Still unconscious. That bastard knew what he was doing when he knocked him out,” Starlight said, glancing to the side where Radiant and Taz lay. Nighttide was doing her best to protect the two of them.

“Yeah… why did he use that unicorn and not someone more dangerous? Like one of the alicorns?” Echoside asked.

Flash answered the question. “I think he wants this, he wants to truly test himself. That’s why he waited until we were all at full power before doing anything.”

“Oh, shit, get away!” Starlight yelled as a blastwave of chaos fire rocketed up to the second chamber.

Shimmering Night growled in frustration as, after twenty-five enhancement circles, she still couldn’t knock the bucker out of the sky. She really didn’t want to lay down any more. Each circle doubled the strength of the attack, anymore and she was worried that she’d be the one to kill them all.

Rainbow lashed out, her wings slicing into his neck from multiple angles. They dug deep, causing him to roar in pain as he turned his attention directly to the cyan mare.

“Big mistake!” Twilight yelled as she shot him dead in the eye.

“A telling blow!” Luna commented as she flew around to try and strike his other eye.

“I… have had… enough… of this!” Typhon yelled as he unleashed a blast wave of magic that threw everyone back against the walls. Dayspring’s shields and Rainbow’s wings were the only thing that kept them alive.

“They’re clear, Ataxia, now!” Shimmering NIght yelled out. She had been expecting this, she had planned it as soon as she felt most of the foals teleport away.

The dragacorn’s head shot up, and Ataxia roared out with all her might. Shimmering Night lay down fifteen enhancement circles right in front of her muzzle, just to make sure it’d get the job done.

The room was flooded with dragon fire. So much of it that it rocketed up to the second chamber in a fountain or pure, unimaginable heat. A loud, blood-curdling scream echoed around the room that came from only one pony, one god.

When it cleared out, the temperature in the chamber was easily twenty-degrees hotter and would stay that way forever. Twilight lowered the shield she had around Dayspring, Vela, Radiant, Taz, Nighttide, and the still healing bodies of the two gods. Rainbow removed her wings that had offered them all a second layer of protection.

Dayspring Gleam and Shimmering Night shielded each other with the help of Princess Luna. They glanced around, grateful that everyone was okay. Ataxia’s head was simply grinning as she looked down upon the charred remains of the newest god. “That’ll teach you, you bitch.”

“I’m… I’m not done yet,” Typhon coughed, much to their shock. Collectively their jaws dropped as his charred remains started to get to its hooves. They watched in awe as he stood back up.

“I must admit, you got me with that last attack. I was curious to see exactly what I could take and you didn’t disappoint, Chaos. But now that I know the best you’re all capable of, I think it’s time we put an end to this.”

“That’s not… Twilight… what do we do?” Rainbow asked.

“I-I-I…”

Typhon looked at the confused princess and laughed. “Yeah, Twilight. What are you going to do? Oh, I know, why don’t you offer to teach me the magic of friendship right before I’m about to destroy the entire universe. Won’t that be grand?”

“I think you forgot something,” Luna spoke up

“And that would be?”

“We’ll show you the real, true power an alicorn can possess if she controls an element like the night!”

“Oh Luna, you were so much more fun as my Nightmare. The nights we had together.” Typhon seemed reminiscent about that.

“We will break you for everything you did! The revenant might’ve controlled us, but we know everything. And we will break every bone in your worthless body for it,” Luna shouted before her eyes went dark, her blue magic surrounding her horn.

“What do you think you are doing? Using black magic against a god like me? You fool,” Typhon teased.

“We’re not using simple black magic. We’re using the same black magic that got banned by our sister eleven-hundred years ago. Let us tell you, it will hurt.”

Dayspring Gleam’s eyes went wide. He knew the spell she was about to use. “Luna no!”

“‘Tis a necessary evil!” Luna shouted as her eyes went black.

“Don’t do it, it’ll drain your own magic and you know it! Think about Nighttide, damn it!”

Luna lowered her head. “But she can survive if we can stop him.”

“But at what cost? We just got you back! We will defeat him, but we’ll do it together, and no one will die today!” Twilight shouted.

The alicorn’s eyes went back to their normal hue as she looked back at her daughter. Nighttide was still standing over her fiancé’s body, but she was looking up at her mother, a pleading expression on her face.

Typhon saw that look too. But rather than the heartfelt way Luna had seen it, he just laughed about it. “A pity. I wanted to see what this dark magic could do. Oh well.” At a wave of his hoof, black magic knocked the alicorn out of the sky and sent her flying into the wall with a sickening crack.

“Mom!” Nighttide yelled and threw caution into the wind. Her shadows emerged and sped for Typhon.

It wasn’t something he expected. He managed to avoid the first blow, but the second, the third and the fourth hit him from different directions.

“Now!” Twilight yelled. “Hit him with everything!”

At her words, Dayspring, Shimmering Night, Luna, Vela, and Twilight each shot a blast of magic at him, or in Vela and Rainbow’s case, it was a hard swing of Siros’s Vengeance or Rainbow’s wings. Ataxia joined in too, giving him a concentrated blast from her dragon fire.

They all kept it up as long as they could, each pushing themselves to the very brink of what they could manage. Twilight, Dayspring, and Night each tired out, their own magical supply dwindling. Ataxia’s breath continued longer, her huge body supplying more than her fair share. Vela ended with a swing and blast from Siros’s Vengeance.

It simply wasn’t enough. Typhon held himself against the attacks, deflecting or simply vaporizing them. As soon as the attack weakened, he collected his whole power and shot back. His main strike aimed for Night and Twilight, since their attacks had been the most dangerous.

Both alicorns hit the back wall with a thud. Rainbow raced towards her wife, and Ataxia turned her head to check on Night, only for her jaw to be impaled by a spike that shot up from the floor.

“Enough of that,” Typhon said with a smile as he started to walk towards the two downed alicorns. “It was fun, my little ponies, but the novelty has worn off.”

“No!” Nighttide shouted as she charged forward. The mare didn’t even make it into contact with her father. He caught her in a magical grasp, his magic holding her up by the neck. “Oh my daughter, my mistake. I wonder if how I feel for you is the same way that my parents felt for me?”

A pink and red blast shot him dead center of his body. Typhon was sent flying backwards, his grip on Nighttide’s neck broken by the sudden surprise hit from two beings of phenomenal power.

“Thanks, that time was more than sufficient,” Tartarus said as he stood side by side with Eros.

“Took your sweet time with it,” Shimmering Night mumbled.

Eros chuckled as she gave the alicorn a friendly smile. “My niece, always a wildfire.”

“Got that right,” Night said with a smile.

Rainbow helped Twilight recover, holding her up while she hobbled over. “Night, you… you planned this?”

“Well, no. They just said we needed to buy them some time though. That if we do they’d be able to help us,” Night said.

“Think Gaia will come out to play as well?” Tartarus asked as he looked back from Twilight to Typhon and then to Eros. “We could use her help, not to mention Chaos.”

Eros shrugged. “If she hasn’t, it means she doesn’t think she’s needed. Or that she’s got her own plans.”

As Tartarus stared back at his son, he said, “I’m not sure which of those scares me more.”

“I wouldn’t worry about me,” Twilight said, but her voice was different. “Twilight will do well. I would be more concerned about Chaos.”

“You should be concerned about me!” Typhon yelled from across the room. “Because now I’m pissed!”

“And why would I care?” Gaia asked before turning to Tartarus and Eros. In a flash of gold, a small little golden pegasus filly appeared right in front of Twilight. The alicorn looked down, confused as to who this was.

“Gaia?” Rainbow asked.

“Hello, my love,” Gaia replied with a friendly smile that left Rainbow a little creeped out. She turned to the large head of the dragacorn. “Chaos, you too, get out here!”

A flash of white later and the god Chaos was amongst them. His ever-changing form hurting the eye to look at for too long. “Ahh, I was hoping you idiots would deal with this one alone.”

“It changes nothing!” Typhon yelled as he gathered his full power.

“Together,” Eros said.

“Together,” the rest replied, as all four gods shot out against their would be killer. The dark energy of Typhon was by far the most powerful of them all, but it now faced four separate powers. The gold of Gaia, the red of Tartarus, the pink of Eros, and the white of Chaos. But that wasn’t all. The pink and the red power melted together, creating a far bigger blast than would be possible alone. They all collided in the middle, the melted, pinkish-red blast among the white and the gold.

Right where the Sands of Time stood.

The resulting implosion echoed around the chamber as the Sands of Time were destroyed. It tore a gaping hole in the fabric of spacetime that shocked all that saw it.

“Oops,” Chaos said with a chuckle.

“Brother, if I found out you did that on purpose, I’m going to…” Gaia growled.

“Hey, I just got here! Besides, I created the fucking thing, I can fix it when we’re done.”

“W-what happened?” Twilight asked.

“The Sands of Time have been destroyed. It’ll throw things a little out of whack until we put it back.”

“What does that mean?” Twilight asked.

“It means, sugarcube, that we get to say hi one more time.”

“AJ?” Rainbow asked, her eyes bugging out.

“She’s not the only one, darling.”

Twilight spun her head, looking all around her, seeing AJ, Rarity, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and even Fluttershy appearing in front of her and Rainbow Dash. “Girls…. I… I…”

“C’mon, let’s see that smile,” Pinkie said.

“They’re not the only ones, Twily.”

Her head snapped to the left to see her B.B.B.F.F. walk out with a smile upon his muzzle. Right next to him was his wife, Cadance. The pair walked over and nuzzled their son’s mane, helping him get back to his feet. “Mom… Dad?”

“And somepony else,” a sweet voice that still echoed in Radiant’s dreams called out.

“F-F-Firestar? Is that really you?” Radiant cried out.

“Hey, my idiot,” she chuckled.

“Guys… not that I’m not pleased to see you all, but how‽”

“Honestly, no clue, but we weren’t going to miss a chance to help you one final time. We will help you to bring harmony back to Equestria, and put an end to this,” Cadance said, smiling at her.

Twilight eyes were shedding tears as she looked around at all the faces she never thought she’d ever see again, “You guys… you… I—” she paused, seeing the pissed off look on Rainbow’s face. “Rainbow?”

The cyan mare bolted off and struck a certain griffin on the back of the head. “You jerk! You don’t just get to go off and die like that!”

Emperor Siros chuckled as he rubbed a hoof across the back of his head. “Sorry, sorry, jeez.”

“Same old Rainbow, always a firecracker,” Icarus said with a smile.

“Well, are any of you surprised that we’re still the same?” Rainbow laughed. “I’m always awesome, and I’ll stay that way forever!”

“I think she’s right with that,” Twilight smiled, wiping the tears from her muzzle.

“As much as I would love to let you all celebrate the reunion,” Eros spoke up, “we’ve still got a problem.”

Everyone knew exactly what she meant in the blink of an eye. Typhon coughed, but still laid alive in front of them.

“Can we defeat him?” Siros asked.

“No, not even with all of us combined,” Gaia said, her eyes never leaving Typhon as he stood up. “Not without a little more help anyway. Starlight, I think it’s time.”

Up top, Starlight gulped as the little golden filly looked dead at her. The stone in her chest armor was glowing hot against her fur. “Yes, my lovely granddaughter, that.”

She nodded and teleported everyone down.

“Oh, time for the Elements again?” Chaos asked. “It’s so nice to be on this side for a change.”

“I imagine it would be,” Gaia said with a smile. “Everyone, all at the same time. Give him everything you got!”

“W-what do I do?” Echoside asked. She gasped when a spear was tossed into her hooves.

“Lose it, and I’ll hunt you down and skin your hide,” Vela said with a smile as she felt herself starting to levitate, the magic in the elements starting to activate.

Echoside nodded her thanks. Spears weren’t her choice of weapon, but she had trained with them before. She could feel the power flowing off this one in waves. Waves that increased when an old griffin stood by her side. “That’s a mighty fine weapon,” Siros said.

Luna got to her hooves, she could feel that one was broken but she wasn’t going to let that stop her.

The living, the dead, and the gods each turned to Typhon as one. They glared at him, their combined power radiating off each other, coalescing into something far greater than the sum of its parts.

“You think that’s going to stop me? I’m supposed to rule over this world and kill everyone of you! The time for games is over!” Typhon yelled.

“But I like games!” Chaos and Pinkie Pie spoke at the same time.

Given the situation, it’s understandable that no one noticed the one pony missing from their group.

Typhon smiled as he taunted the group into attacking. He was still smiling as he slowed down time just enough in the area around him to do what needed to be done. He had tricked Eros with the exact same maneuver when their battle had started.

He took his time, setting up his deflections for each and every attack that was coming his way. Something that was only achievable because they all stood in one nice big group. Had the gods known, they would have told everyone to spread out. But they didn’t know, and they couldn’t have known. After all, he was new to this universe.

They wouldn’t know either. His deflection not only sent the attacks back to their sources, but also increased them in power by several magnitudes. In one fell swoop, they’d all kill each other.

Typhon laughed as he started to increase the flow of time. Only letting it flow by a fraction of a second at a time. He wanted to watch the moment that the spells, blasts, shots, wings attacks, and blade sweeps all went back to their respective owners. It was his reward to himself for engineering this moment.

They moved past his barriers like they weren’t even there. Typhon looked in confusion as he set up another set, only for those to disappear right before the shots would have been sent back passed through them.

“I promised I’d kill you.”

Typhon looked to his left, just in time to see a black earth pony focus on the next set of barriers he laid down. Taz extended his magic just enough to cancel Typhon’s deflection but not so much to cancel out his friends and family’s attacks. “And I always keep my promises.”

Taz nullified Typhon’s magic next, ending the bubble that slowed down time in the hourglass and removing the god from all the power he had gained.

Taz’s last sight of Red was of the stallion shrieking as his entire being was overcome with the pure power unleashed by everyone.

“Hey, Mom, wake up.”

Twilight forced her eyes open as she felt a hoof poke against her side over and over again. She raised her head, looking up into Taz’s face. “T-Taz?”

“Yeah, it’s me. It’s over, Mom, you all won.”

The mare raised her head and looked around. All around her ponies were starting to stir, each of them exhausted beyond belief and being awoken by lost loved ones. In the center of the chamber stood the four gods. They were musing over the shattered remains of the Sands of Time.

“Oh… did Twi and Dashie need a nappy nap?” Pinkie asked with a smile upon her face.

Rainbow ran a hoof over her head. “Yep, you’re Pinkie Pie.”

“Hello my big girl,” Spike said as he and Rarity nuzzled their daughter’s mane to help wake her up. Ataxia transformed back into a pony after she fell unconscious.

“And who is this?” Siros asked as him and Icarus looked down at the sleeping form of Vela. The hippogriff lay on her back, her tongue out in a very un-regal manner.

“This… this is my daughter, your granddaughter,” Icarus smiled.

The mare awoke. “D-daddy?”

They both chuckled at that.

Off in the corner, Firestar held her two boys as Cadance and Shining Armor tended to their son. He awoke with a start, momentarily surprised by seeing his parents again, but it didn’t come as a surprise when he rushed over to his wife. Firestar looked up at him and they kissed.

“I never thought I’d get to do that again.” Radiant said with tears in his eyes when they broke apart.

“I kiss you every day,” Firestar admitted. “You’re in my Elysium, at least a fake copy of you anyway. It’s just holding your place until you can join me forever.”

Tears fell down his eyes. “That’s cheating.”

“I think it’s fair, you get to hold these two every day.” She held her sons tighter to her breast. “The real ones.”

Radiant collapsed next to his wife’s form. He grasped her and his two sons in a hug, not knowing or caring if he’d wake them.

Firestar felt like she was going to melt into his touch. She felt tears of joy fall down her muzzle and onto his coat. “My boys. My precious, precious boys. All three of you.”

“I’ve missed you. I have. I’ve missed you every second of every day,” Radiant sobbed.

“D-dad?” Blaze asked as he felt himself squashed between two different ponies.

“Look who’s here, boys,” Radiant whispered with a smile.

Blaze blinked his eyes clear as he stared up at the face of somepony he never thought he’d ever see again. Somepony that they had all said was dead. “M-m-mommy?”

“Hello, my angel,” Firestar said, tears falling freely from her eyes.

“Mommy!” Blaze yelled as he leapt up and hugged her with all his might.

Radiant smiled as he watched Blaze hug his mom. It felt right to him, like this was the universe’s way of apologizing for taking her from him all those months ago. He looked down at the display and noticed that Flash was stirring. He also noticed a certain hippogriff standing in front of him.

“Is he alright?” Vela asked.

Firestar looked at her with a smile. “His marefriend is worried about him?”

“How do you know that‽” Vela asked.

Firestar smirked. “We can see everything that happens down here, you know.”

“E-everything?”

Firestar chuckled and invited her over with a hoof. The hippogriff was worried, but came over anyway. She sat down next to the mare, Flash starting to open his eyes. “Don’t worry. I think you two make a great couple. But… be nicer to my son. He’s got a strong heart, but it will break if you put too much pressure on it.”

Vela held out a claw for Flash to take. The pegasus raised a hoof and was helped up by his marefriend. “Flash, guess who’s here.”

Flash looked over and noticed the ‘other’ pony that was there. “M-mommy? I mean, Mom?”

Vela chuckled a little, as did Firestar. The latter of which took her son’s hoof from Vela, and pulled him into a hug to join his brother. “Mommy’s fine,” Vela stated with a kind smile as she watched the two embrace. “I think, given the circumstances, it’s okay for my coltfriend to show a little intimacy.”

Firestar kissed her boys on the tops of their heads before she felt Radiant nuzzle into her once more time. “This is… this is more than I could’ve ever dreamed about,” Firestar lamented.

“To me, you’re all I ever dream about,” Radiant said through his tears.

“How long will they stay,” Twilight asked Gaia.

“Not long. Even now, they’re start to fade. They don’t belong here, and the magic holding them is getting weaker and weaker,” Gaia replied before looking at the other gods, who all nodded. “But we can give you more time. We’ll each contribute a fraction of our power, it should be enough to hold them in this world, at least for a little while longer.”

“You would do that, for us?” Rainbow asked.

“Of course. After all, you deserve it, and we can see that they’re happy as well.” Eros smiled.

“You can keep them in a solid form?” Luna asked. “‘Tis very impressive.”

“We are gods after all,” Chaos said. “In fact, I think there’s someone else who’d like to say goodbye to you, Luna.”

“Chaos?” Gaia asked.

“If you’d be so kind brother, to let her out?” Chaos asked Tartarus.

He nodded and red magic flooded the room, just to be replaced by a soft, golden aura.

“Sister,” Celestia smiled softly as she walked out of the portal.

“Celestia,” Luna gasped with tears in her eyes.

“Celestia!” Twilight yelled as she ran up. “But I… why didn’t she come earlier?”

“The rift attached itself to bloodlines, Celesta simply didn’t have enough kin to free her,” Gaia admitted.

“We thank you,” Luna said as she nuzzled her sister once more.

The four gods poured their power throughout the room. Helping to extend this moment for as long as they could. As families and friends were reunited, Chaos turned to his sister Gaia. “This is something I might do, I thought you all were a little bit more of a stickler for the rules.”

“We have broken no rules, this place doesn’t exist so therefore there’s no transgression,” Gaia replied smartly.

“Speaking of transgressions, what about him?” Chaos asked, pointing a hoof at Tartarus.

Gaia, Eros, and Chaos all turned their heads to face their brother.

“Hey, I helped you! Eros, tell them!”

Eros smiled as she nuzzled him softly. “Technically, he’s right.”

“Were it not his own actions that caused such help to be necessary?” Gaia asked.

“Technically, she’s right,” Eros said with a devious smile upon her face.

“Hey, who’s side are you on?” Tartarus asked.

“Oh this is going to be good,” Chaos added in.

“Then his punishment stands, no?” Gaia said.

“Well... “ Eros started to say, trailing off.

“Let him be,” Twilight cut in.

“I don’t think you have the right to say something in this,” Gaia spoke gently but firmly.

“We do, we all do,” Rainbow said. “We fixed everything he bucked up, he even helped us. I say let him be, I’m sticking with Twilight in this.” She looked at Gaia. “And since Twilight is your Avatar, she might as well have a word in this.”

“This coming from the mare that said she would never forgive you, brother,” Chaos said, impressed.

Tartarus looked down, only for a muzzle to nuzzle him softly.

“All good points,” Gaia said firmly, “but it changes nothing. You may be my Avatar, but you are not a god, Twilight. His punishment is ours and ours alone to decide, and the seriousness of his crimes cannot be forgiven so easlly.”

“What about another option?” Eros asked.

Gaia turned to Eros with a questioning glare on her face. “What other option?”

“Probation. Leave Tartarus under my care for a few hundred thousand years. If I can’t shape him up, then we’ll sentence him.”

“Seconded!” Chaos said with a smile.

Gaia turned to a grinning Chaos, and then to her other siblings. Tartarus looked one part worried and one part excited.

“I think that might be a fitting punishment,” Gaia said with a smile.

“He’s bucked, isn’t he?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh yeah. I think he’ll enjoy it though,” Twilight said. “Plus, she’ll be able to keep him under control. I mean, as much as anyone can anyway.”

“Twilight, Rainbow, for what it’s worth… I mean, I…”

“I think he’s trying to say he’s sorry,” Eros said.

“You’re not forgiven,” Rainbow stated, causing everyone to turn to look at her. “I just owed you one, that’s it.”

“Rainbow, quit it,” Twilight said before placing a hoof on her shoulder.

Rainbow smiled at that, but not at Tartarus. She couldn’t even if she wanted to. Twilight just kissed her on the cheek before turning back to the gods. What she saw shocked her. They were all gone, save for Eros. The Goddess of Love levitated the Sands of Time hourglass and placed it right in front of Twilight. “When you’re done, return this to the pedestal in the center.”

Twilight nodded in understanding as the goddess beamed a smile at her. She looked down to the hourglass and back up to the goddess to find that she too was gone.

“Sounds like they’re letting us have all the time we want,” Rainbow stated.

Twilight looked around at all the families, the friends long dead, but reunited after such a long time apart, and the foals playing with their long lost parents.

She did the only thing she could do.

Twilight cried.