Hours passed until the sun began to rise into the sky, the train continuing on its route through the kingdom to its next stop. Inside one of the cars, Trill snored lightly, her limbs twitching in her sleep. She slowly opened her eyes, the light coming through the window immediately giving her a terrible headache, a little side effect from her first hangover. Groaning, she stumbled out of the bed she was sleeping on, highly confused.

"Wait...where am I?" Trill rubbed her head, feeling a little nauseous. "Wasn't Solly and I supposed to be in the Resistance Base?"

She realized she was on a train, and it was morning. Trill had no clue where the train was going, and she had no idea where Solaris, Fluttershy, or Pinkie were. As she tried to disguise herself, in case there were other passengers, she couldn't concentrate enough with her headache. She heard the door to the car open and panicked, only to see Pinkie walk in. She breathed a sigh of relief, but noticed there was something different about her.

Her coat and mane looked a bit darker, and her mane and tail were completely straight, not poofy and wild like it used to. The mare looked up, and there wasn't a hint of happiness in her eyes. It made Trill feel miserable just from looking at Pinkie Pie like this, wishing she would somehow cheer up and make the air around her more chipper.

"Morning, Trill..." Pinkie sadly said. She walked up to the slightly hungover changeling, giving her a glass of water and some pills. "That should help with your headache."

Deciding not to question how Pinkie knew of her headache to avoid making it worse, she swallowed the medicine, gulping down every drop of water in the cup.

"What exactly happened last night?" Trill asked.

"...A lot..." Pinkie stepped up to a top bunk, where Solaris was laying on, his back facing the mare. She couldn't see his face, but he had been wide awake all night. She patted his head, hoping to get some movement from him, but he didn't even flinch. She sat down on the bottom bunk, tears welling up in her eyes. "...Fluttershy died..."

Trill gasped, wishing she didn't want to know what happened to the pegasus. "...What happened?"

"...We were ambushed...We all ran to the station, getting shot at by arrows..." Pinkie's tears ran down her cheeks, her voice wavering as she continued. "She was hit...right in the back......She was paralyzed, and we couldn't remove the arrow......S-She fell...the arrow went through her...and...s-she suffocated..."

Pinkie began to cry, unable to continue explaining what happened to Fluttershy, but Trill got enough information. If she didn't wind up getting drunk and passed out, she could have probably helped, or made things worse. Even if they tried to save Fluttershy, she would have died no matter what they tried to do. Trill began to believe that maybe Solaris's fears about his trials being a curse were true. What's worse is that the last of his family still alive was the depressed mare weeping before her. Pinkie was supposed to bring cheer and happiness, her Element being Laughter, but it didn't look like there would be any laughter further down their journey.

"...I'm sorry," Trill said, the only thing she could possibly say. She waited for Pinkie to calm down, and by calm, she figured waiting until she wasn't about to break down in tears again before speaking. "...Where are we headed?"

"Ponyville," Pinkie mumbled. "We need a big break after everything this past month...And...I-I...want to say good-bye to my little Cherry...before something bad happens to me..."

"You mean you believe what Solaris thinks of his tests?" Trill asked.

"...I don't know..." Pinkie stood up, trying to style her hair back to its state when she was being a giant goofball, but it kept going back to its straight and depressing form. "...Cherry's not going to like seeing me like this...Her friends won't like hearing what happened to their moms, either..."

It was going to be a tough moment, telling their foals what happened to their mothers. As the locomotive grew closer to the town of Ponyville, it brought Solaris and Pinkie more anxiety as the town laid in sight.

"Ok, ya'll, now that we're all finally here after a few weeks, let's get this crusader's meetin' to order," Apple Seed said, leading the next generation of the Cutie Mark Crusaders created by his aunt and her friends.

Sitting before the podium in the furbished clubhouse were the rest of Apple Seed's friends, being the daughters and son of the other Elements of Harmony: Prism, a light cyan filly with rainbow hair like her mother's, Gemstone, a white filly with a darker purple hue for her curly mane, Cherry Pie, a miniature clone of her mother, though with a red coat and mane as bright as a cherry's, and Butterscotch, a pale yellow coated pegasus, his mane a lighter pink than his mother's. Unfortunately, not all of Apple Seed's friends were as excited to begin crusading as he was.

"I don't know why you want to think about crusading for cutie marks right now, Seed," Prism said. "Just look at Gem! She doesn't look like she wants to do anything after what happened to her mom!"

"...Ah know, but we gotta make up the days we missed," Apple Seed said, ignoring the glare from the cyan pegasus filly. "The good news is that all them dumb Shadow Knights have left for somethin', and Ah hope they don't come back. We got plenty of time to do somethin' to find our cutie marks, and we better do it soon before they come back."

"But how can we have fun when Gemmy's depressed!?" Cherry exclaimed. "She lost her mom, and you think everything can be solved with a party. News flash, Apple Seed: mourning can last for more than one day!"

"Ya throw a party every day. What's the difference?" Apple Seed asked, completely ignorant to Gemstone falling back into her depression.

"Well, we heard your mom came back when that weird snake guy came and found us, with you hanging upside down by the air," Prism said. "As fun as Discord was, I had a feeling he was hiding something."

"Actually, Prism, he's called a draconequus," Butterscotch corrected the filly. "My mom always got letters from him, though they always seemed to behave like bats when she stored them."

"Yeah, he's funny! Almost like my mom!" Cherry said. "He can do stuff she can't do! He'd be great at a birthday party!"

"Speaking of birthdays, I wonder how well Solaris's party went," Prism said. "Our moms went out to get him, and start his quest to save Equestria. Yet, Applejack came back, and you haven't heard or seen her out and about in the orchard."

"She's just sleepin', that's all," Apple Seed said, leering at the pegasus. "Aunt Apple Bloom said she got really ill and needs constant bed rest. So Ah thank ya for keepin' my mah's sickness out of this, Prism."

"I think there's something more to her 'sickness' than you think, Apple Seed!" Prism shouted, both ponies butting heads. "Maybe you're just too blind to see that she's probably-"

"Don't ya dare finish that sentence! Ah ain't afraid to hit a filly who acts like a colt!" Apple Seed shouted back.

While the two argued, Cherry's body began to suddenly act out like her mother's Pinkie Sense: wobbly knees, ears flopping, and an itchy nose. As the combo ended, Cherry began to grow a big smile on her face.

"My Cherry Sense is tingling!" the hyperactive filly shouted. "My mom's coming back home! That means Solaris is gonna be with the others! TO THE STATION!"

Cherry ran out of the clubhouse, followed by the others who wanted to see their moms again. Apple Seed and Gemstone stayed behind, the latter mostly out of sorrow, missing her mother greatly. The two eventually decided to hurry after them, wanting to see their older, non-related cousin, Solaris again.

The foals made it to the station, minutes before the next train pulled in. Cherry immediately got to work setting up a welcome home banner for their mothers, while another was for Solaris arriving to Ponyville for the first time, even though he was here weeks ago after leaving the Everfree Forest. The others didn't bother asking how the filly was able to carry the banners, knowing she and Pinkie were just so random. Gemstone and Apple Seed managed to catch up, right as the train made its scheduled stop.

"Ok! Prism, welcoming music!" Cherry shouted, pulling out her miniature party cannon.

"What music?" the pegasus filly asked, finding no sign of a musical device anywhere.

"Oh crud. I knew I forgot something. Forget it!" Not swayed by her lack of music to go with her welcome, Cherry readied herself to shoot off her party cannon. Luckily for the fillies and colts, the only ones disembarking were Pinkie, Solaris, and Trill back in her Evergreen disguise. She shot her little cannon, shooting out confetti. "WELCOME BACK TO PO-" Cherry's happy welcome turned sour as she and the others gasped, having never seen Pinkie Pie in a depressed state. "-ny...ville?"

Just from seeing how miserable Pinkie and Solaris were, there was something that went wrong. And with no sign of Prism's and Butterscotch's mothers stepping off the train with them, bad news was going to rear its ugly head for the young ones. Pinkie tried to smile, but it didn't help with her depressing attitude bringing dread to the foals.

"Wow...A surprise welcome party," Pinkie tried to say cheerfully, though failing miserably. "How nice, Cherry."

The banners Cherry worked hard to set up fell, one of them landing over Apple Seed.

"...Well...this isn't gonna be good," Solaris said.

In the famous bakery known all around Ponyville, the owners of Sugarcube Corner, Carrot Cake and Cup Cake, along with their twins, Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake, were busy baking several orders of their delicious pastries. These orders were mostly for charity, shipping out baked goods for those who had their places ransacked or robbed by the Shadow Knight youths. And with the fresh apples produced by the Apple Family not too far from the bakery, both families were able to help out when they could.

In the kitchen, Pound was busy pressing the dough for the several pastries, using his incredible strength he had when he was an infant, while Pumpkin handled filling or icing the many pastries already baked and cooled, her magical talents very helpful for the massive buildup of orders. The unicorn could have rivaled that of the librarian-turned-princess, Twilight Sparkle, but she wanted to help her parents bakery succeed, and her multi-tasking was a sight to behold.

The earth pony couple were busy packing their food to be shipped out across Equestria, glad to have their foals, fully grown into responsible adults, helping keep their family run establishment going. Even though the kingdom was being ruled by a tyrant, letting his soldiers do whatever they please, Pound was able to kick the corrupt soldiers out, quite literally too as they would be sent flying across the town for miles. They heard the front door's bell ring as it opened, signalling a customer had arrived.

"Oh great," Pound muttered. "If it's another one of those dumb brats thinking they can just take anything they wish, I'm gonna give them a good pounding."

"Do you mean that in a physical beating way or a sexual way?" Pumpkin teased, earning a piece of dough to smack her in the back of the head.

"I'm starting to wonder which of us is the immature one, sis." Pound decided to see who it was at the front of the house, having finished pressing the dough needed for the afternoon. As he exited the kitchen, he was surprised to not see any Shadow Knights, but Pinkie Pie, Solaris, Trill, and the young Cutie Mark Crusaders of this generation. At first, the pegasus was happy to see his long time foalsitter/co-worker, but seeing her in this depressing, straight haired state was a shock. "Pinkie Pie?"

"Hey, Pound. Working hard, or hardly working?" Pinkie gave a weak laugh, which wasn't at all cheerful to the pegasus. "Are your folks here?"

"Yeah..." Pound felt uneasy around this Pinkie. He wondered where the happy, crazy mare he knew growing up disappeared to and was replaced by a clone of her, very highly depressed and emitting an aura of sadness around her. "Are...are you ok?"

"I...I just wanna talk with you guys in private...about some things." Pinkie pulled out the remaining bits from Trill's "compensation" back in Saddle Arabia, paying for the special cake the Cakes made for the National Desert Competition many years ago; the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness. After placing the bits in the register, she cut the expensive, yet delicious dessert into slices, one for her and for the others. "A little something for the non-adults...for...reasons."

"Reasons?" Pound asked as he helped Pinkie lay out the slices on plates for the others. He went along with it, never knowing what the older mare had on her mind until she exhausted herself from randomly explaining. After handing out the plates, he followed Pinkie into the back, where his parents and twin sister were as shocked as he was when they saw the depressed mare. "Pinkie, what's going on?"

While Pinkie began to explain to the Cakes what had happened in the last few weeks, and the possibility of her survival in the next few days, Solaris, Trill, and the CMC snacked on the delicious snack, though the former of them didn't feel all that hungry. The alicorn looked over his non-related cousins, most of them oblivious to the fate that their mothers had taken aside from Gemstone. She must have found out about Rarity's death, noticing the bags under her eyes. To her, Solaris was considered her favorite relative and pestered him more than the others did, but now it seemed like she didn't care about life anymore.

Even Cherry seemed miserable, only from seeing the state Pinkie was in. It was so strange to anyone who had never met the two craziest ponies and see them go from happy to sad at the sound of a pin dropping. At least Cherry's mane didn't deflate like Pinkie's, at least not yet.

"...So, Solaris," Prism said, breaking the awkward silence in the empty bakery. "Where did you get the cool armor?"

"...My trials," he replied. "I have one more left..."

"Did ya fight a huge dragon?" Apple Seed asked excitedly.

"No...Though, they were...pretty difficult..." Solaris found it hard to try and stay composed, especially around the fillies and colts that looked up to him.

"Umm, Solaris?" Buttscotch asked, getting the alicorn's attention. "...W-Where are my mom and Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah. Did she have to do something somewhere in Equestria?" Prism asked.

Now it was difficult to keep his composure. He had no idea how to break the bad news to them, knowing they could end up like he almost did before knowing about his own mother's reason why she wasn't around. What was worse was that Apple Seed seemed normal, even though Solaris knew Applejack was brought back by Discord to Ponyville to be buried.

Trill could feel Solaris's trepidation, and most of the foals' eyes were on him. He just had to tell them, even if it hurts. Better to get it out of the way instead of hiding the truth until they find out and resent him, even though he was afraid they would after he said the unfortunate news.

"...I-I have...some bad news...about your moms..." Solaris took a shaky breath, not wanting to describe every gory detail that had gotten the mares killed. "...S-Something...bad happened to them...and..."

He couldn't even finish his sentence, tears welling up in the alicorn's eyes. Prism and Butterscotch looked at each other, unsure what Solaris was trying to say. He buried his head in his hooves, Trill gently rubbing her lover's back to try to calm him.

"Solaris?" Prism asked.

Trill sighed, wanting to help Solaris bring the bad news since he couldn't even utter it. "Guys, I'm really sorry to say this, but what Solaris is trying to say...is that your mothers unfortunately...died."

"And why should we believe what you say!?" Prism shouted, none of the young ponies believing her. "Who exactly are you, anyway!?"

"Look, right now, I can't tell you exactly who I am, but I've been with Solaris and your moms since meeting up with them in Saddle Arabia," Trill said, remaining calm so she won't yell at a filly who's a few years younger than her. "I'm...a really close friend of his after bumping into him. And I've seen the same things they have after going around Equestria and nearly dying several times. But that's what he's trying to tell you. Your mothers aren't here because they were killed, and it's hard enough on Solaris just to remember what had happened."

Prism was devastated, while Butterscotch was going to be sick. The pegasus filly slowly shook her head, unable to believe her mother could be gone and taken down so easily. The teens knew that if they told them how they died, it would have gotten worse, but it was already painful enough for young ones to experience death at their age. Cherry Pie, Apple Seed, and Gemstone were just as shocked, the former filly's mane slowly deflating like Pinkie's.

"...I-Is my mommy...gonna die too?" Cherry asked, her eyes threatening to shoot out waterfalls of tears.

"I'm not sure," the disguised changeling said, hoping that wouldn't happen for the filly's sake. She looked at Solaris, who was struggling not to sob loudly. "Just know that he's feeling just as bad as you guys...He even blames himself sometimes, but they were all just accidents..."

"Mah ma's fine," Apple Seed said, receiving a glare from Prism. "That Discord...thing brought ma back. She's been sleepin' for a while."

Solaris looked up, his face going pale, Trill just as shocked after hearing the farm colt. "...What?"

"She must have gotten sick with somethin'." He nibbled on his slice of MMMM, the others leering at him for his inconsideration toward three of their mothers deaths. "Aunt Apple Bloom and Uncle Big Mac aren't tellin' me what it is she's got, and they said Ah can't disturb her."

Prism punched the colt in the face, unable to take his ignorance. "You stupid idiot! Our moms are dead, and you think your mom's ok!? She's probably dead too, but you're just too stupid to see the truth!"

Before the filly could beat the colt up, Solaris pulled Prism back, keeping the struggling pegasus from causing more harm. He held onto her tightly until she stopped, tears streaming down her cheeks as she buried her face in the alicorn's chest. He looked back up at Apple Seed, rubbing his face from the light bruise slowly appearing on his cheek.

"Apple Seed, what are you talking about?" Solaris asked. "They didn't tell you?"

"Mah ma is sick. That's what Aunt Apple Bloom kept tellin' me," Apple Seed said.

"...Seed...Your mom is gone too," the alicorn sadly said, Cherry, Gemstone, and Butterscotch huddling closer to him as he wrapped his wings around them. "Discord brought Aunt Applejack back...so she can be given a proper burial...She died trying to save me."

"...W-What?" the colt asked in disbelief.

"...You...You really didn't know...?" Solaris knew the CMC looked up to him and believed every word he said in admiration, and seeing the look on Apple Seed's face felt like being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.

Apple Seed stared at him, unsure if he should believe him or not. After a few minutes of silence, the colt ran out of Sugarcube Corner.

"What's he doing!?" Trill asked.

"Oh no...He's going to try to find Aunt Applejack." Solaris gently let go of his surrogate cousins and chased after the colt.

The Cakes and Pinkie walked out of the kitchen, but they found no sign of Solaris.

"Where did Solly go?" Pinkie asked.

Laying on a cloud above Ponyville, resting in the afternoon sun, Scootaloo was taking a nap, the pegasus having idolized Rainbow Dash so much that she mimicked her daily schedule. Like her two best friends, her cutie mark was a shield as well, though with a pegasus wing in the center and a lightning bolt inside of it. She slowly opened her eyes, her internal clock telling her to get up and do some more flight training, or grab a bite to eat if her stomach demanded food.

She yawned, stretching out her limbs. "Aww yeah...That was a good nap." Scootaloo patted the cloud she slept on, enjoying the soft cushion of condensed water vapor beneath her hooves. "Boy, ever since I was able to fly, I always like clouds better than my own bed. Good thing I learned how to be patient, and got those awesome lessons from Rainbow. Maybe I'll be fast enough to pull off a sonic rainboom of my own!"

"Apple Seed!" Scootaloo's ears perked up as she looked down below.

"Hmm?" Down in the town square, where her cloud seemed to have wandered. She gasped when she saw Solaris running around Ponyville, hopelessly lost. "Solaris? What's he doing here? And where'd he get all that cool gold armor?" Scootaloo leapt off her cloud perch, freefalling down to the ground. As she got closer, she flapped her wings, stopping her descent and landing right in front of the alicorn, not seeing her landing and bumping into her. "Hey, kiddo! What's the rush?"

"Scootaloo? Where did-?" Solaris was suddenly pulled into a headlock, his hooves flailing as Scootaloo held him tightly.

"I should be scolding you for being out here in the town by yourself, but since there are no Shadow Knights around, I'll let it slide." She was oblivious to the alicorn's struggling. Even though he could have shoved the pegasus off him, Solaris was no match against Scootaloo when it came to wrestling, the mare keeping her distance from his flailing forelegs while keeping a firm grip on his neck. "Just don't tell Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom. They would kill me for being 'irresponsible'. I mean, I'm helping Rainbow by taking care of Prism for her."

"S-Scootaloo! Can you please let me go!?" Sighing, she let go of him, Solaris rubbing his sore neck, his crystal armor only reacting to physical trauma from intentional strikes and not playful ones. "Ugh...Why can't I ever break out of that?"

"Because you may have brawn, but I got mad skills," Scootaloo gloated. "So, what exactly are you doing here? I heard you set off on your journey around Equestria to finally kick that no good unicorn's plot into next year."

"As much as I would love to tell you how everything's been and hear you and your feats, I'm a little busy at the moment." Solaris looked around, having no clue where Apple Seed ran off to. "I'm trying to find Apple Seed. He ran off after he finally figured out Aunt Applejack was dead, and I'm afraid to know what'll happen after he sees her not in their home! Now I lost him and I can't find my way around this place because I don't know Ponyville that well!"

"...Uhh, dude? You have wings," Scootaloo said drolly.

"I know I have wings! But that doesn't he-" Solaris froze, looking at his sides and flexing his wings. "...Oh...right. I'm so stupid."

"Yet you have book smarts." They both flew up into the air to find the orange colt. "What's going on? And aren't the others supposed to be watching over you?"

"...There's...just too much to explain...Aunt Pinkie can tell you everything." Solaris knew Scootaloo worshiped Rainbow Dash, even after she grew into an adult, and it would have broken her too if she found out.

"Wait, why Pinkie? Can't Dash tell me what's been going on?" She didn't get an answer as Solaris flew off, spotting Sweet Apple Acres, knowing Apple Seed would check his home to check on his mother.

He entered the farmhouse, finding Big Macintosh in a crumbled heap at the bottom of the stairs.

"Uncle Mac?" Solaris questioned, wondering what happened to the burly earth pony.

"S-Seed's...a lot stronger than Ah thought..." Big Mac uttered.

While the stallion tried to get back up, making sure none of his limbs or back is broken, Solaris made his way upstairs to find the distraught colt. Apple Bloom stood in the hall, looking into what seemed to be Applejack's room, and she looked upset. He peeked in the room, catching the ex-Crusader's attention, finding Apple Seed looking at the empty bed, no sign of his mother resting on the mattress.

"...Apple Seed...?" Solaris carefully approached the colt, knowing he was eventually going to break down. He blamed himself, getting his aunts involved with his journey, even though they willingly volunteered to guide him around Equestria. "...I'm so sorry..."

"...Get away from me..." the colt muttered. Solaris wanted to comfort Apple Seed, but instead, as soon as he touched the colt, he was met by a powerful buck of Seed's hind legs, sending him flying back into the wall of the hallway, barely ramming into Apple Bloom. Luckily, his crystal enchantment kicked in and kept him from getting a broken nose, but the emotional pain hurt worse when he shook off his daze, staring at the infuriated earth pony colt. "STAY AWAY FROM ME! YA KILLED MAH MA! AH HATE YOU!"

He slammed the door, locking himself in the room, the colt's sobs echoing in the old farm house. Solaris could only stare at the door, his heart sinking as Apple Seed's painful words struck him like a knife. He didn't know when the others would resent him the same way the youthful Apple was, but he figured they would all hate him in time. If he did succeed in defeating Lucifer, he could never show himself in Ponyville without receiving death glares from the young CMC for getting their mothers killed over him.

As night fell on the peaceful town of Ponyville, it only seemed to bring more misery to the ones mourning the loss of several well-known heroes in the past month. The Pinkie, Trill, and the young CMC reached the Apple Family farm, along with Scootaloo, where the pegasus was given the unfortunate news about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. She tried to be strong, but losing her idol was devastating, having an almost sister-like relationship with the rainbow-maned speedster.

As the young CMC headed to the clubhouse for a sleepover, all excluding Apple Seed, Solaris lead Trill up the mountains to where he was raised, with Pinkie's permission. As much as the others wanted him around, the alicorn didn't want to hear them say anything negative toward him, at least that's what he believed they would say. Maybe, in time, they'll be able to move on and know their mothers will watch over them, but Solaris won't, having witnessed their deaths and partially blaming himself, losing the only ponies he knew as his family.

The fresh air eased his mind a little, trudging along the dirt path up the mountain a few miles from Ponyville. But as they reached the cave entrance, the memory of Spike's death still haunted him, a small patch of dried blood not yet cleared visibly by the elements of nature. If only he had listened and kept himself hidden, there would have been a slim chance his dragon uncle could have lived. He thankfully pulled out of his thoughts, feeling Trill's hoof against his shoulder.

"So, this was where you lived?" Trill asked, wanting to avoid the depressing thoughts that could pop into her coltfriend's head. Solaris lead her inside, where it was thankfully kept intact. "A lot cleaner than my home, and a lot brighter."

"This was supposed to be like a house, so keeping things tidy in here was mandatory to keep out-" They soon heard a shriek come from a group of bats, both teens ducking as they flapped out of the abandoned, cavernous home. "-critters...Doesn't work all the time."

"No kidding." Solaris guided Trill around his mountain abode, starting with the kitchen, his private gym, even wowing the changeling with the functional bathroom. The last of the tour was his room, where his birthday gifts were miraculously untouched by the wandering creatures that sought out shelter in the mountain. Trill went for one of his gifts, which unfortunately was the Playcolt magazine Rainbow Dash got for him, at the bottom of the pile. "Oooh. When did you get such a dirty magazine, Mr. Perfect?"

"T-That's not mine!" Solaris tried to snatch the magazine away, but Trill kept it out of his reach. "I-It was a stupid prank Aunt Rainbow did!"

"Sure it was." She opened the pages, letting a multi-layered portion fall out to reveal something that even made Trill blush. "Whoa. How does she fit something that big in there!?"

"Will you shut that stupid thing!?" Solaris finally grabbed a hold of it, blushing heavily as he caught sight of the poster-like picture, hearing Trill laughing hysterically. Grumbling to himself, he wanted to burn the "mature" magazine, but didn't have the heart to do it. He made sure to bury it under his little pile well enough for her not to see it again. "Why didn't I throw that thing away?"

"Because you, as a teenager, have hormones, and with said hormones, you would want to get some good looks at what lies beneath our tails," Trill said, mimicking Solaris when he went into lecture mode on random bits of knowledge. As he turned around, his face grew even more red, seeing the changeling bent over, tail raised high, and wiggling her rump in his line of sight. "Now, you got mine to look at whenever you please."

"T-Trill!" She began laughing again, only to yelp as she was pounced on by the alicorn, though not at all what she wanted. Even though he kept his hormones in check for the moment, his wings betrayed him, splayed erect in arousal as he flipped the giggling changeling over. "Is there a huge part of your brain I have to lobotomize to get rid of the perverted things you do!?"

"Maybe...but you didn't want to look away." Trill stuck out her tongue, relishing in Solaris's embarrassment.

He groaned in annoyance, flicking her horn to get back at her. After getting off of her and calming himself, he looked up at his bedside table, where he had his pictures with him and his family on display. Sitting down on the bed, he levitated all the frames, looking over each one. There was one with him as a newborn foal held in his mother's hooves, sleeping soundly while Twilight smiled tiredly on the hospital bed. There was a group photo of him with his surrogate cousins grouped up together, Cherry and Prism clambering on his back while Butterscotch, Seed, and Gemstone sat in front of him. The last picture was of him and the ponies and dragon he knew growing up, all of them smiling for the camera on his eighth birthday, the last of his happiest days with each year he grew up.

Trill sat next to him as he lingered on the last photo, seeing how happy Solaris was before she met him. "Aww, you were cute as a baby. Probably not like me. I hatched out of an egg. Kinda gross if you can imagine being kept warm in changeling goop for protection." Her disturbing image of changeling hatchlings didn't faze the alicorn, his eyes still glued to the family photo. "...You ok, Solly?"

"...I don't know if I will be," he said, gently laying the picture down. "I just wish none of this ever happened...Nopony would have died, everything would be peaceful, and things would have turned out fine...Now I'm scared of losing Aunt Pinkie, the last pony I knew growing up, my destiny to save Equestria being more of a burden for me to bear, and I have no idea how I can even defeat Lucifer if I was lucky enough to injure him." He rubbed his eyes, feeling exhausted from the lack of sleep last night, but unable to with the stress weighing down on him. "Apple Seed hates me, and the others are going to as well. I may be known as a hero to everypony else, but to the ones who really knew me, they're going to resent me for the rest of their lives."

"Solaris," Trill sighed, gently rubbing his foreleg. "They're not going to hate you. Right now, it's a little hard for them to comprehend losing somepony they love, but they'll look past it and see how much you've suffered as well. In Sugarcube Corner, I felt the adoration they had for you, especially the unicorn filly."

"Gemstone?" Solaris asked.

"Yeah." Trill smirked. "I think she might have a little crush on you, and it shows in this little picture of you all together." She pointed at five-year-old Gemstone in the group picture of his "cousins", her eyes more focused on looking up at Solaris than the pony who was taking the picture. "I might have some competition once she gets older."

"She's five years younger than me," he said, leering at his marefriend. "And don't even think about me trying to start a harem, or make one for me...I know it's not exactly illegal to have more than one life-mate as a pony, but it's uncommon and something that'll only drive me crazy if other mares want to be with me because I'm an alicorn and want to be royalty in an instant."

"I was just kidding!" Trill giggled, giving Solaris a light peck on the cheek. "Don't take everything I say seriously. That's all up to you...Though if you want my advice, you probably should once Lucifer's gone."

"...I hate you." Solaris grumbled, receiving another kiss from the changeling.

"Love you too." Trill nuzzled his cheek, turning his frown upside down as he returned the loving gesture. Solaris nearly passed out, struggling to stay awake. "Let's head back to Ponyville. I don't think you want to sleep in a bed that might be covered by rodents and pests."

"I slept with one a few times. I don't think that would be a problem," Solaris said with a smirk.

"Oh ha ha. Just cause I'm part bug." Trill rubbed her nose against Solaris's. "Guess you do have a funny bone after all. Now, let's go before you pass out. I'm not carrying you all the way back to town. You do that to me because you're stronger than I am."

Solaris grabbed his gifts, along with his pictures, stuffing them in his saddlebags before heading off. As they left the cave, he looked back at the entrance to his home, sadly sighing as the memories he had inside the mountain would be the only happy ones of him and his family. He had one final test to complete, along with losing Pinkie Pie if something were to happen, and defeat Lucifer once and for all, taking over as the righteous ruler he was meant to be. His journey is far from over, and it will be more difficult in the future, but Solaris won't give up, not when Equestria needed him.