The three turned to see Swift Strike standing there, his horn pointed toward them, his stance making him seem even lower to the ground than usual. A number of EIS ponies were on either side of him.

"I knew it!" Swift Strike said. "I knew the two of you were up to no good! And here I find the two of you, getting all buddy-buddy with King Sombra himself! That's enough to get you all sent to Tartarus a thousand times over!"

“Oh, come on!” Starlight said. “We just saved all those ponies from that explosion and a watery grave! You’re still going to arrest us?”

“You’re still fugitives and it is my job to bring you in,” Swift said. “I’ll let the princesses decide whether your recent actions have any mitigating effect on your punishment.”

“The princesses have decided!”

The whole crowd looked upward and began to talk excitedly. Princesses Luna and Twilight Sparkle descended from the sky.

“Princesses!” Swift called out. “I was just apprehending these dangerous fugitives on your behalf!”

“On our behalf?” Luna said. “Did we not instruct you to no longer involve yourself in this case?”

“I know,” Swift said, “but I was making a citizen’s arrest! I just happened to be walking along, enjoying the sights, when I saw them carrying out their nefarious plot over there and I was in just the right place at the right time to apprehend them.”

“Then why have you co-opted the agents we sent?” Twilight said. “Swift, you weren’t supposed to get yourself involved again.”

“I ask for your forgiveness, majesties, but I had to,” Swift said. “These are dangerous fugitives and someone had to stop them! Look what they’ve gone and done. They blew up that boat and tried to kill all these ponies!”

“It’s a ship, actually,” Twilight said. “Boats are much smaller.”

“We know the circumstances of what happened,” Luna said. “A certain Dr. Fiddly Fie sent us a message explaining everything. He said that they were evacuating everyone and that destroying the ship was a necessity in order to stop the umbrum from attacking the city.”

Luna then looked over to the water where the Empress had once been. “And, if I may say so, good riddance. That ship always made me uneasy.”

“But it was a historical monument,” Twilight said sadly.

“Yes, but it was haunted,” Luna said. “And I’ve always been afraid of ghosts.”

“And all the spells and memorabilia we lost from the exhibition….” Twilight said. “It’ll set Starswirl scholarship back a thousand years!”

“After seeing what one of those spells can do, I think it might be for the best,” Luna replied.

“But, majesties–” Swift began to protest.

“Swift Strike, stand down!” Luna ordered.

“But–”

“Stand down!”

Twilight approached Swift Strike. “Dr. Fie explained in his message that he and Radiant Hope were coerced into joining Starlight Glimmer and that Hope’s only concern was stopping the umbrum before they destroyed Equestria.”

“We have received another message, apparently from a highly-respected doctor of this community, collaborating Dr. Fie’s statement,” Luna added. “Due to this new information, we have decided that Radiant Hope and Dr. Fiddly Fie are no longer fugitives.”

Hope let out a sob at the mention of Dr. Fie’s name.

"Okay," Swift Strike said. "But how do you explain King Sombra?"

Luna and Twilight noticed the dark stallion. "King Sombra!" they both said together.

Sombra stepped forward. "Can we please not use the word 'king' anymore? Hope and I no longer wish to be royalty. Nor do we wish to be addressed as such. We just want to be normal ponies from now on."

"What happened? Where did you come from?" Twilight asked.

"The yellow pegasus who took me," Sombra said, "he was in league with the umbrum. When Hope and her friends defeated them, they were able to rescue me."

"The yellow pegasus was here?" the princesses said in unison.

Starlight stepped forward. "Yes, he was. And he was behind the whole thing. Turns out he was quite the expert on time-travel. But do me a favor, Twilight. Tell your friend Rainbow Dash to never breed!"

Twilight was taken aback. "You can't seriously be suggesting...."

Starlight's eyes narrowed. She nodded.

Twilight took a step back as she processed the information. "So he really was Rainbow's son.... She'll never believe it!" Looking back to Starlight, she added, "Did he survive?"

"No," Sombra said. "He and the umbrum all perished."

"Rainbow will be disappointed," Twilight said. "She's been itching for a rematch ever since that day in the Crystal Empire. I don't know what will upset her more, the fact that her son turned out to be an evil maniac or that she'll never get to beat him."

Twilight considered for a moment. "Actually, probably the second one."

"But he and the umbrum are gone now," Luna said. "It looks like a happy ending all around!"

"Not all around," Hope said, glancing back at the water.

"Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, I am ready to accept whatever punishment you decide on for me," Sombra said, "but let Hope and her friend go. They saved Equestria from the umbrum, at great personal loss. Please, do not do them any more harm."

Princess Luna stepped forward. "We don't want to punish you, Sombra. As far as we are concerned, you showed that you could be redeemed in the Crystal Empire. And now, after you have once again saved Equestria, we wouldn't think of preventing you and Radiant Hope from starting a new life together."

Sombra smiled. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Swift Strike sighed. “It’s back to hunting down that guy with the arrows in Seaddle for me, isn’t it?”

Twilight nodded sadly.

“So, they're all no longer fugitives,” Starlight said. “but what about me?”

“Under the circumstances, given your role in saving Equestria, we may be tempted to offer you a full pardon,” Luna said.

Twilight bit her lip.

“A full pardon?” Starlight asked.

“Yes,” Luna responded. “You just have to promise to renounce any ill-will toward any princess of this realm and you shall receive a pardon.”

“What do you say, Starlight?” Hope asked. “Don’t you think it’s time to put an end to your grudge?”

Hope offered Starlight her hoof. Starlight glanced at it and then back at the princesses.

“Starlight, please,” Hope said. “You came back to save me. That means there must be more that’s important to you than Twilight Sparkle. Maybe we can try to find out what that is together, as friends.”

Starlight looked around her and then back to Hope’s proffered hoof. She raised her own. Then, looking past Hope’s head, Starlight saw Twilight, eying her suspiciously. And all the old anger and the rage came flooding back.

Starlight lowered her hoof. “I’m sorry, Hope. I can’t.”

Starlight’s horn glowed. But before she could do anything, Hope grabbed onto her.

"Starlight, you said you didn't want to be controlled by rage anymore," Hope said.

"You... you heard that?"

Hope nodded. "I heard everything. And this is where you start to let it go! Make the right choice, Starlight. Let the anger go."

Hope once more offered her hoof. Starlight looked long and hard at it. Then she looked long and hard at Twilight Sparkle. Finally, a smile forming on her face, she took Hope's hoof in her own.

Starlight and Hope approached Twilight. "I accept the conditions," Starlight said.

To Twilight, she added, "And I'm sorry for the things I did in my town and for any trouble I might have caused you since. Can you ever forgive me?"

The look of suspicion disappeared from Twilight's face. It was replaced by a smile. "Of course, I can, Starlight! As long as you're ready to embrace true friendship, of course, I can!"

Starlight and Twilight shook hooves. But then Starlight pushed Twilight to the ground and fell on top of her.

“What are you doing?" Twilight said. "I thought we were friends now!"

"We are," Starlight answered. "That's why I'm saving your life!"

A beam of yellow light shot over their heads.

"You can't be friends with her, Your Majesty!" Swift Strike protested, smoke rising from his horn. "She is your sworn enemy! You've said so yourself, multiple times! You can't just forgive her! It may be a trick!"

Twilight wriggled out from under Starlight and stood before Swift. "It may be, but I wouldn't be the Princess of Friendship if I didn't give it a try."

"Oh, come on!" Swift said. "That title is just nonsense! You can't be princess of a concept! Don't tell me you take it seriously!"

Twilight nodded, not bothering to conceal her annoyance. "Uh-huh. I do take it seriously. Ideas may be the only things that are real, for all I know. So I do take it seriously. Just as seriously as I take being fired upon by a pony of the EIS. That would be considered treason, Swift Strike!"

Swift Strike began to tremble. "Treason? Me? How could I commit treason? I have always been your most loyal subject!"

"Recent events have done much to suggest otherwise," Luna observed.

Swift Strike looked nervously from Twilight to Luna and back again. "Everything I've done, has been for you!" he said.

Twilight approached. "Was it? Or was it merely your own need for power? How much haven't you told us, Swift? Not just about this case, but about everything?"

Swift's trembling became even more intense. His horn lit up. He fired a yellow blast between Twilight and Luna. It was not close enough to either to hurt them, but it did cause both of them to dodge out of the way.

While they were thus preoccupied, Swift Strike made a break for it.

"He didn't try to hit us," Twilight said. "Maybe he is trying to be loyal."

"We'll let the courts decide on that," Luna said. "Subjects, after him!"

The agents pursued Swift Strike, but he was already too far ahead. He lived up to his name and was a swift pony. The others, even the pegasi, did not seem to have a chance at catching him. Seeing that he was almost beyond their reach, Twilight Sparkle lit up her horn.

In a flash, she appeared before Swift, causing him to halt in his tracks so abruptly that he nearly collided with her.

"It's over, Swift," she said. "Please just accept it and things will go much easier for all of us. I'll try to be as lenient to you as I can. Though I don't know if Princess Luna will be so obliging...."

Twilight reflected that she probably should not have added that last part.

"Princess, I don't want to hurt you," he said, his horn beginning to glow. "But if you're going to accuse me of treason, I'll have no choice."

"Very well," Twilight said, her own horn lighting up in response.

And then, a giant clump of snow fell from the skies and buried the both of them. By the time they had dug their way out, EIS agents had the snow-pile surrounded. Princess Luna fluttered over.

“Thanks, guys!” Twilight yelled angrily into the night sky, where a couple of weather-pegasi were speeding away as quickly as possible. “Nice job on the new snow-schedules!”

“’Tis your own fault,” Luna said. “Downsizing the Cloudsdale weather department will make things so much more efficient, you said. Bringing in new management will revitalize the weather industry, you said.”

“Yeah, I don’t need the ‘I told you so’s’ tonight, Luna,” Twilight said.

Luna shrugged and flew away.

Radiant Hope sat at the edge of the pier, looking out toward the water, where the smokestacks of the doomed liner still jutted out from the ocean.

Sombra stood behind her, looking on sadly.

Luna flew over.

"What are you two still doing out here?" Luna asked. “While I normally would not recommend a pony missing out on my glorious night – and I did rather excel myself again tonight, if I do say so – you’re both soaking wet and should not be out in this cold.”

"I know," Sombra said, "but I can't get her to go in. I don't know what to say to her to make her feel better."

"Leave it to me," Luna responded. "I will speak with her. There are some things I need to say."

She sat down beside Hope.

“Where’s Princess Twilight and Starlight?” Hope asked.

“They've gone to talk things out," Luna said. "Twilight is going to help Starlight make peace with all the ponies she's hurt over the years."

“Good,” Hope said. “Starlight has good in her and I think she wants to make right by the ponies she's wronged. She always did. She was just confused before."

“We often are,” Luna said. “It is so easy to let our worse instincts take over and forget about the light that is inside of us.”

Luna put her wing around Hope. “And it is especially easy to judge others and forget about the light which they have inside of them.”

“He gave up his life for me,” Hope said quietly, looking out toward the water.

“What was that?”

“Dr. Fie. He gave up his life so that I could survive.”

“Oh, yes, him,” Luna said. “My sister and I met him once, during a royal visit to Seaddle. Nasty little pony, as I remember.”

Seeing the pain on Hope’s face, Luna quickly added. “But I suppose even a pony like that has his good qualities.”

“I learned that too late,” Hope responded. “All my life, I’ve been taken advantage of. I came to believe that nopony would ever really care about me. And he cared enough to sacrifice himself.”

“It’s hard to find ponies who are willing to care about you, Hope,” Luna said. “Especially after what you’ve done. I know from experience how hard it is. But they are out there. Not just Sombra, but there are others. You cannot let yourself think that you are unloveable, that you do not deserve love. There’s always somepony who cares for you.”

Hope shook her head. “They kept telling me that anypony who gets close to me gets hurt. That I bring darkness with me and hurt the ponies I care about. I cared about Dr. Fie and look what happened to him. If only I had never released the umbrum.... If only I had been the one to die–”

“Dr. Fie made his own choice, Hope,” Luna said. “You didn’t bring about his death. He made the choice to die so that you could live. For him to do that, you must have been special to him. You must have given him something to live for and something to die for. You didn’t hurt him, Hope. If anything, you must have saved him. Just like you saved Sombra, you must have saved him.”

Hope nodded and tried to hold back a tear. “Princess, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Do you ever… do you ever wonder if you’re still a monster?”

“Every day. Most of the time, I try not to think about it. But the question is always there. And I don’t know if I’ll ever have the answer.”

“I know how that feels,” Hope responded. “Dr. Fie told me that I have more light in me than darkness. I still don’t know if I believe that. I still don’t know if I’m a monster or not. How do you live with it?”

“I have ponies that depend on me. My sister and my subjects both need me. I have responsibilities to fulfill. And, whatever I am, I must fulfill them. As I see it, the only way to let go, to be free, is to live now with as much wisdom and understanding as you can, to focus and be aware of what you can do today. You need to strive, often mightily, to do and say what is right, and to always want to do it, and live your life as to only bring healing and not harm.”

“That sounds very difficult.”

“It is. And, to be honest, it is not always possible. But it is trying which counts, I think.”

“I see,” Hope said, very quietly.

“And what about you?” Luna asked. “How do you handle it?”

“I’ve never been very good with that,” Hope responded. “At least, not until today. I tried to make up for that by vowing to never let another pony lose their life because of me. But today, a pony made the choice to give his life so that I might live. I don’t know what I am, but I can’t let that sacrifice be in vain. I cannot heal him now, but that is what I can do. I have to live. I have to build a life for myself. It’s the only thing I can do for him now. Whatever I am, I have to live. For his sake, I have to live.”

Luna nodded. “Good. Now you are beginning to understand.”