Night Blade opened his eyes, looking around to see a strange, ethereal plane full of stars and nebulae. It was nothing like Rainbow Dash's area of paradise, nor was it anything like the areas the others had described.

"You made it!" a happy, feminine voice suddenly exclaimed, and Night Blade let out a startled squeak as a pair of long forelegs grasped him from behind, pulling him into a hug. "Oh, I just knew you'd be here someday..."

"Gah!" Night Blade gasped as he squirmed in her forelegs. "Let... me... go!"

"Oh! Sorry." The limbs let go of him, but rather than falling, a magic aura gently lifted him to the ground. When it was gone, Night Blade turned around to look at the speaker, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"You're... Mi Amore Cadenza," he breathed. "But..."

The pink alicorn waved a hoof. "That's just my formal name," she said dismissively. "Please, call me Cadance. Princess Cadance, if you have to."

"Of course, Princess." Night Blade bowed. "It is an honor..."

Princess Cadance smiled. "The honor is all mine, Night Blade," she said gently. "After what you did today... you have truly proven yourself."

Night Blade frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Princess. I just did what I had to do."

"You did more than that," Princess Cadance said. "Tell me, how does an alicorn come into being?"

Night Blade blinked in surprise. "I... assumed you just... happened," he said faintly. "After all, you are goddesses..." He was cut off by a surprising sound.

The Princess had thrown back her head and was laughing. "G... goddesses? Oh, my... ponies still believe that?"

Night Blade tilted his head, a slight frown on his face. "You mean you're not?"

"Heavens, no," Princess Cadance said as she wiped a tear of mirth away from her eye. "We were immortal in a sense, that we stayed eternally young and would never die of old age... but we could be killed, as evidenced by what that... that monster did."

"Then..."

The pink alicorn gave him a very serious look. "Only a few naturally-born alicorns have ever existed in the history of the world, my aunts among them. I was one of a few mortal ponies who eventually ascended to this state... you see my Cutie Mark?"

Night Blade nodded.

"It represents my talent with love magic." She smiled happily. "I was born a pegasus, raised among earth ponies. Eventually, I discovered a talent for love - there was a couple in my village who were so happy. But one day, they started fighting for no real reason, until I stepped in and reminded them of how much they loved one another. When they realized I was right, that's when I got my Cutie Mark."

"That's... some story," Night Blade managed.

Princess Cadance nodded. "Later on, a horrible unicorn mare named Prismia came to our town. She was using a special pendant to amplify her magic, but it was also amplifying her hatred and jealousy. She decided to steal all the love from everypony around her... when she tried to take mine, it didn't work. Her pendant amplified my love, enough to reverse the effects of her spell and break the shell of negativity around her heart. When that happened... when my talent was pushed beyond its limits thanks to that pendant... all of a sudden, I woke up here, in this very plane. And here, I was shown the truth: not only had I truly embodied my special talent, I had embodied love, one of the greatest forces of all. And the spirit of Love chose me to represent it on Equus. That was when I was granted the magic of the other tribes: unicorns and earth ponies. And, even if it wasn't as obvious, the Crystal Ponies and seaponies." Her horn lit up, and in an instant, her rear legs had merged into a seapony's tail, which she wiggled in the air before reverting back to normal.

"I... think I see," Night Blade said. "But if that is the case, why am I here?"

"Because," the Princess said, a smile on her face. "You were like me. You pushed your talent beyond its limit, and you did so by fueling yourself with the strongest emotions possible. What you felt for Page, for Wind Breaker, for Rex and the others... was nothing less than pure, unadulterated love."

At her last word, a pulsing light surrounded him, and Night felt himself rise into the air. There was a brilliant flash...

And then, as he floated back to the ground, he groaned for a moment, before flaring his wings.

"Night!" Page exclaimed as she rushed over to him. "You're okay!"

"More than okay," Vix-Lei said in awe as she pointed towards him. "Looks like he's come back with a little something extra!"

Eyes widening in surprise, Night Blade reached up to feel what Vix-Lei had pointed at. "A horn... I have a horn..." he muttered in surprise.

"Of course you do," a familiar voice said. Stepping out of the air in front of them, a ghostly alicorn smiled. "It's only fitting... Prince Night Blade."

"Prince?" several voices exclaimed.

"Of course," Princess Cadance said as she looked at each of them. "Night Blade has earned what few have. He has become an alicorn, and all alicorns are, by definition, princes or princesses. And you're not just any prince," she said as she reached out a phantom hoof to lift his chin. "You are the Alicorn of Love, my heir as well as Rainbow Dash's. Love is one of the greatest powers of all, for it connects and unites all living things." She smiled at him. "Let love guide your actions, Night Blade. And with it, you will be able to guide others, as I once did."

She stepped back, and began to fade away as she returned to the other side, the others watching in surprise.

"So." Page looked at Night. "You're... an alicorn now."

Night nodded.

"The new alicorn of love."

"Yes," Night Blade said in an embarrassed tone.

Wrapping her hooves around him, Page smiled. "Then if love really is your totem... come here, you!" And with that, she pulled him into a massive liplock.

Cheers and catcalls broke out around them, but the two ignored them. Finally though, they had to break for air, and pulled apart.

Just in time for Night to begin screeching as another arm wrapped itself around his throat.

"Come here, loverboy!" Wind Breaker teased him as he began grinding one talon into Night's head with a grin.

"Wind Breaker, knock it off!" the newly-ascended alicorn bellowed. Finally, still grinning, Wind Breaker let him go, watching as Night Blade straightened his mane out.

Only to have it ruffled again. "Nice look, Nighty," Vix-Lei teased him. "The horn suits you."

"Thank you," Night said dryly as he tried to straighten his mane once more.

From where he was standing, Rex nodded in approval. "Given your feelings for Page, and its own connection to your Element, I would have to agree that this new totem suits you."

"No kidding," Xvital agreed. "But the real question is... since you're a prince, does this mean you rule Equestria, or the Crystal Dominance, or something like that now?"

Night Blade froze, and he groaned. "Dear maker I hope not... it's bad enough that I'm helping keep this band of roughnecks in line, the last thing I need is to try and run an entire country."

"Don't forget, you're already a consort to a queen," Rex reminded him. "You were going to wind up in a position of leadership anyway." He glanced at Page, who nodded.

"Prince-Consort Night Blade does have a nice ring to it," she mused, then looked at him and smiled. "I'm so happy for you, Night Blade."

Night Blade smiled, and pressed his lips against hers again.

As the others began to whoop and cheer again (except for Rex, who just stood there with a reserved smile), Page threw up a shield of silence around them.

Equestria could find out about its new Prince later. This was their moment, and she wasn't going to let anypony interrupt them again.

Author's Notes:

Author’s note: Anon e Mouse Jr. speaking here. Evilhumour came up with the concept for this around the time we were writing their trip to the Crystal Dominance, and I made it a reality. Not entirely sure when it would take place… but I certainly had fun with it.