It was the last day before the return to Ponyville. Nyx, Bright Eyes, and The Cutie Mark Crusaders were at the royal park, having a grand day out down by the pond-- For once, not chasing their cutie marks, just running about in the sunshine having fun. The park and the immediate environs had been restored with astonishing speed; a visitor would never be able to tell that the crystal clear pond and the gently rolling parklands had been torn into a muddy slurry by warring monsters mere days ago. There was no sign of the former destruction-- save for two enormous clawed footprints, one long and skinny, one broad with blunt, spade like toes, that were planted close by the slides and swing sets. The park renovators had decided to preserve them as a memorial, and turned the enormous meter-deep footprints into sandboxes for the foals to play in.

The foals were running back and forth around the pond, racing paper sailboats across the placid surface in the gentle breeze as Night Light and Velvet watched from a nearby park bench. They'd all abandoned their saddlebags for the day, only wearing their sunhats and shades. Bright Eyes had neither, but was wearing his knife-belt; one of the guards had made it for him to hold the dagger he'd found in the wreckage. He never went anywhere without it hanging by his hip.

While all the foals were having fun, neither of them had missed that their granddaughter seemed a touch withdrawn. After the third impromptu race, while the other two founders of the CMC started quibbling with Scootaloo that using her wings to fan her boat across the pond was cheating, the indigo filly flounced over to the park bench and flopped down next to it in a heap. She pushed up the brim of her enormous hat (where in Equestria had she gotten the silly thing?) and poked at her sunglasses. "I'm bushed," she announced, sprawling on the cool grass for emphasis. "They can do the next race without me."

Night Light grinned around his cigarette holder at her and fanned himself with his bucket hat. "Something bothering you, Nyxy Sticks?" he said. "You've had the thinkin'est look on your face ever since we got here."

Nyx screwed up her face. "I... I dunno," she said. "It's kinda hard to explain."

"Just one word at a time, then," Velvet said. "It's how I do it when I get stuck on what to write."

Nyx nodded and thought it over, sticking her tongue out to touch her nose with the tip. "Did you ever feel like... like somepony made you a background pony in your own story?"

Velvet blinked. "I can't say I know what you mean, yet," she said. "Go on dear."

"Like..." Nyx wrestled with the words. "Like you're reading a story, right? And you start out, and the first chapter or two you think 'oh, this story is all about THIS character! the peasant colt in the cottage!' and you go along and... then somewhere in the middle suddenly it's not anymore, it's all about the lonely princess in the tower or the wandering knight and the peasant colt is just a pony in the background for the rest of the story." She waved a hoof. "I kinda feel like that. Like I'm the peasant pony and the writer's just forgot all about me and gone off and did something with somepony else."

Velvet went "oh" and nodded. "I think I know what you mean," she said. "Sometimes when I'm writing a story in one of my series, the story will change and suddenly the important characters and the unimportant ones all switch places. And if it goes on often long enough, sometimes I'll get letters from readers asking 'but what happened to Lady Elegance, I thought this story was about her, but we haven't heard about her since book three!" She chuckled, reminiscing. "But what's making you feel like that, Nyx?"

"A bit jealous of your brother?" Night Light suggested.

Nyx thought it over, lip pooching out. "NNnnno," she decided. "It's more like-- when we first got here, Mom and me, I mean, everything just kept happening. And stuff started building up, and building up, and it felt like, I dunno, like something big and important was going to happen to me-- but instead it all happened to Spike."

"So you are jealous a bit, then," Night Light said. "You think you got passed up?"

"Big and Important doesn't always mean Good," Nyx said a trifle scornfully. "Getting smacked in the mush by a dragon? Noooo thank you." Night Light laughed so hard he choked. "It's more like," Nyx went on after he recovered, "More like... I feel like I came all this way and something was supposed to happen... I was supposed to make something happen... and I never did." she prodded at a dandelion with a hoof.

"Ah, I think I see, now," Night Light said, nodding. " I imagine Twilight feels the same way, a bit."

"You do?"

"Yes, I think so. After all, usually it's her and her friends out there beating the evil monsters and things. This time she spent the climactic battle down in a hole, watching it all happen to somepony else. And Shining Armor-- how many times has he had to sit on the bench while the big hitters were out there taking a swing?" He gave Nyx a pat on her back. "It happens to the best of us, sprout."

"Life can be a lot like a story, sometimes," Velvet said. "But it doesn't always follow the plot we think it does. Don't worry, dear... your time will come." She sighed. "As it often does; over and over again."

Nyx nodded. She could live with that.

"So what was that with you and the Princesses?" Night Light said idly. "You backed out of that hospital room like you expected them to take a bite out of your rump."

"You saw that?" Nyx said.

Night Light nodded. "Couldn't miss it."

Nyx hunkered down under her hat till she all but disappeared. All that was visible of her were her tailtip and the tips of her front hooves. "Because they scare me," she said. "All I can think about when I run into them is all the bad things I ever did, and how sooner or later--- how sooner or later I'm gonna screw up." She disappeared further under the hat. "And they'll finally whomp me like they want to."

"They don't want to punish you, Nyx!" Velvet protested.

"Why wouldn't they? Everytime they look at me they remember what I did.  I'm Nightmare Moon. I'm every bad thing that ever happened to them! Especially Celestia. Whenever she looks at me, she gets this look on her face like she wants to yell or cry." Nyx huddled under her hat, remembering what Spell Nexus had told her. She found out what I was, and she wanted to unmake me. To melt me away...

"Nyx, you did do a lot of bad things," Velvet said gently. "But Twilight told me what happened. It sounded to me like Celestia did some bad things too. Do you ever think that maybe she looks like that when she sees you because she feels bad for all the things she did wrong?"

It was a revolutionary thought. Nyx emerged from under her hat like a turtle, blinking in surprise at the very idea. She scuffed a hoof thoughtfully. "Okay, maybe," she said. "But I don't wanna find out. I'd rather she'd just forget all about me."

Night Light and Velvet smiled and rolled their eyes at each other. "That'd take a mighty long time, Nyx," Night Light said.

"I'm an alicorn, I can wait," Nyx muttered. She heard them sigh and saw them give each other one of those insufferable, oh-isn't-she-silly, know-it-all looks that grownups always did. Ugh.

There was a yelp and a splash. Applebloom and Sweetiebelle were standing, staring at a space between them with startled looks on their faces. Scootaloo was sitting on her rump in the water. The other two started laughing at her. She could hear Bright Eyes laughing as well, and noticed his knife-belt hanging in midair.

Grandma Velvet eeped in surprise and Grandpa Night Light made a spluttering sound, spitting his cigarette holder out in surprise. "What in Equestria--?"

A moment later Bright Eyes flickered back into existence. He was shaking with giggles.  He and the others helped pull Scootaloo out of the pond. "Oh, Bright Eyes must've showed them his disappearing trick," she said idly.

"He can turn invisible?" Night Light said, incredulous.

It was the perfect set up. Nyx couldn't resist. She just couldn't.

"You mean you can't?" She said, her face the picture of innocence.

The dragons were locked in the New Crystal Empire Penitentiary. There had, in fact, been a Crystal Empire dungeon, thanks to King Sombra, but it had been far too small for the new prisoners, so the citizens of the Empire had quite gladly contributed to the construction of one. As they were criminals in the Empire, Celestia and Luna had brought back the ones that had landed in their laps and turned them over to Cadence and Shining Armor for disposition.  They were caged, chained, manacled, wing-bound, locked in stocks for both their heads and their feet, and had clothespins painfully pinching their nostrils. (1)

A physician from Canterlot,(2) an expert in the rather narrow field of dragon medicine(3), had just examined them all and was giving them all his diagnoses in his bland, semi-casual voice.

"Let's review. You six, outside of the injuries from the righteous plot-kicking you all received--" they growled; he only smirked and kept talking "-- are suffering the aftereffects of a massive overdose of fire opals, resulting in dangerously hyperaccelerated acromegaly, including...." he walked past Skrag and Flange. "...skeletal attenuation..." the two anemically thin-looking dragons cringed. He looked at Rockjaw. "...mineralized and calcified epidermal protrusions..." Rockjaw moaned and scratched himself feebly. He gave Grundle a glance. "...Chronic digestive eruptions and detonations..." Grundle gurgled, smoke still steadily leaking from either end of him. "...Scale shedding..." this was directed at Blizz, who had seemingly gotten off scot free, only to start having all his scales drop out a short day after his capture. He looked like twenty tons of dandruff. "...and of course, everypony's favorite, bifurcating polycranial extrusion." Garble glared impotently with all three heads at the unflappable(4) doctor from his stocks.

"You suck!" his left head said to the doctor.

"Yeah, bite me!" added his right.

The middle head ignored the two. He'd grown to hate them more than anything else around him. "Why didn't these two go away when I shrank?" he snarled.

"Oh, don't worry, you won't be stuck with those two charming individuals forever-- as much as you deserve it," the physician said. "Hydras are designed to have multiple heads. Dragons are not. Your own physiology will rectify the condition."

"Really?" Garble brightened. "You mean they'll go away? Like warts or something?" his two passengers looked a little uncomfortable at the possibility of their wart-like demise.

"Oh no no no, you misunderstand me, Mr. Garble," the doctor said. "They're not going to just 'go away.' As a matter of fact, due to a peculiarity of dragon's self-healing properties, you are going to eventually be three of you. So to speak."

He had all three heads' attention. "Huh?" they all said.

"Oh, basically, you're going to, ah..." the doctor seemed to savor his next words. "split into three.

"Allow me to describe the process. First, the skin between your necks will split." Garble flinched. "Followed by the slow peeling apart of the muscle beneath. Your skeletal structure will distort, often cracking and breaking to form new bone.  You will begin growing duplicates of all your internal organs as the splitting and branching of your spine slowly works it's way down, one vertebrae at a time. Each split of you will grow small, initially vestigial appendages through the red, scaleless, weeping skin that grows over where you've torn away from one another. The tearing will continue all the way down---" he looked pointedly at Garble's groin. All three heads looked ill--- " until you finally, aheheheh, rip your own ass into three pieces.

"At this point your tails will eventually separate in the same fashion-- but as I understand it sufferers of this condition have typically reached the end of their patience by this point. So they will hack their own tails off and let new ones grow in." He looked at them and smirked.  "Understandable I suppose, as this is a slow, laborious, and incredibly painful process that can take upwards of a year to reach completion.

"But look on the bright side. Your father isn't liable to kill you for breaking the truce between the Dragon and Pony lands... he'll probably figure your suffering for the next year or so is punishment enough." The doctor paused. "Well. Unless he decides three intolerable sons is more than he wants, kills two of you and starts all over with the third." At the mention of Garble's father, all three heads managed to mingle misery and terror in a single expression.

The doctor turned and trotted for the door. "Congratulations, Mr. Garble," he said over his shoulder. "It's going to be triplets."

As he was stepping out the door, a small purple dragon stepped in. "Well, hello, Spike!" the doctor said cheerfully. "How's my favorite patient?"

"You mean your only patient," Spike chuckled. "And feelin' pretty good."

"Well, I'll say this much; this bunch has made me glad that having more than one patient is an oddity for me," the doctor noted. "Let me see, you do seem to be doing well." He peeked behind Spike's sunglasses. "And the chemical burns around your eyes are healing nicely. Why the sunglasses? Are you experiencing any eye sensitivity?"

"Nah, thanks to PeeWee here," Spike said, petting the bird on his shoulder. "It just hides the burns so Twilight doesn't fret so much." He took the sunglasses back and slid them back on. "Besides, the look says everything about me: too hip for the room."

The dragon physician chuckled. "Well, take care, Spike," he said.

"Later, doc," Spike said as the doctor walked on out.  The door closed behind the doctor with a boom. Spike gave the guards standing on either side of the door a casual salute and walked on into the room. He was limping a bit, and was leaning on a crutch. He walked down the pathway in front of the cages, looking over the dragon prisoners without saying a word. They glowered and tried to look tough. Even if they hadn't looked like miserable wreckage, it would have been a sad effort; even an innocent like Spike could see the faint fear behind their eyes.

Spike came to the last cage and stood in front of Garble. Garble's nostrils smoked with the desperate burning need to fire-blast the baby dragon. "So, came here to gloat?" Garble sneered.

"No." Spike said seriously. "No, I.... *snort* Okay, yeah, a little." Amused, the dragonling leaned on his crutch and idly inspected the claws on his free hand. "Celestia's idea, actually. Something about closure, but gloating is fun too."

Garble stared at Spike with loathing. "Well?"

"Well what?" Spike shrugged.

"Say whatever you came to say, dweeb," Garble snapped.

"What do you want me to say?" Spike said idly. "Anything I say is just gonna be 'Me out here, you in there. Me win.' Coulda seen that one coming."

Garble faked a lunge at the baby dragon, trying to intimidate him. Spike didn't even flinch. The baby bird on his shoulder didn't even flinch. "You got lucky this time, runt--"

"Yeah, I did," Spike agreed cheerfully. "I really, really did. I mean, six to one? That's bad news anywhere. I mean, if it hadn't been for the Princesses, and Shining Armor and his army, and oh yeah, the fact that you guys are all losers and idiots--"

This time Garble did lunge at Spike. His manacles and chains brought him up short. He thrashed, the chains jangling "Next time you won't be so lucky, you little puke," he spit through clenched teeth.

"There won't be a next time, Garble," Spike said. His voice was so cold that it actually gave the angry adolescent dragon pause.

"You think that little teleporting flame trick will work on us again?"

"I didn't think it was working the first time," Spike said. Garble felt a chill go down his trifurcating spine.

"You--"

"It was a mistake," Spike said. "I didn't even know my mail-sending flame was on. If I had... I woulda turned it off. I figured I was doing what it looked like I was doing. Torching you to ash." He paused. "And they tell me I would have, if I hadn't used the mailing spell cast on me by accident. My flame was more than hot enough to do it."

A roomful of dragons, and a chill settled on the air; It dawned on all the loutish beasts in the room that despite the little dragon's soft, innocent exterior, there was a core of stone-cold dragon predator at his heart. They would never know that it was made of solid gold. All the better.

"This is where you screwed up, Garble," Spike said, stepping closer to Garble's cage. "Prince Shining Armor? He's my uncle. Princess Cadence? My aunt. Twilight Sparkle? My mother. All those other ponies running around? Those are my friends and neighbors.  I don't have a big shiny hoard of gold and diamonds. I have THEM. You messed with the ponies here, you messed with my FAMILY.

"My ponies. MINE! Got it?"

He got even closer, almost nose to nose with his rival. "You're right about one thing, Garble. I was raised by namby pamby ponies. But I'm not a pony. I won't beat you up, then put band-aids on all your boo-boos and send you home. I'm a dragon. And I'll treat you like any dragon would if you touched their hoard.  If you ever try to hurt my ponies ever again..."

He lowered his sunglasses, letting Garble stare into his burning green eyes."I'll rip you apart."

Then he slid them back up his nose, turned around,  and limped away.

Garble made a last-ditch effort to save his ego. "Yeah, right. You think the Crystal Empire will keep feeding you fire opals forever?"

Spike stopped and looked back. "Fire opals?" he said, genuinely surprised.

"I've never eaten a fire opal in my life."

Garble's gang was stone silent. Spike shrugged and limped on out of the room.

After about a second, Blizz spoke for the lot of them.. making a sound like a stepped-on mouse.

"Eeeeeeeeeeee...."

Lessons Learned

by Ignatious M. Dubious, Professor of Cultural History and Folklore, Canterlot University

PhD in folklore, mythology, oral folklore and ancient history

Dubious stood at the rail of the observation deck, looking down over the rebuilding city. To say the ponies looked like ants would be a misnomer; at this height, they were barely visible as flyspecks.

"Are you ready, Professor?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

Dubious looked down. "No," he said bluntly.

There is a great scarcity of skepticism in our world. It is a contention that I have made before, quite frequently; it could almost be said to be the mantra of my existence. I have dedicated my life to that philosophy, exercising the pursuit of truth, casting a jaundiced eye upon the world's trappings and its exuberant assertions. For all that I have been proven in the wrong, my work has been to the good, for I have been right far more often than I have been wrong, and even in my error I forced discussion to turn to the issues of proof, rather than simplistic belief.  For this I will never apologize.

"Come on, Professor, this was your choice, you know. Launching from here was your idea. Exorcising old ghosts, you said. Remember?"

"I immediately regret this decision!"

This time the others joined Twilight in laughing.

What I must repent here is the fact that in my pursuit, in my single-minded devotion to skeptical thinking, I have forgotten the other side of the pursuit of truth, the other end of the balance.

"Professor, I assure you it's absolutely safe. Both the cloudwalking spell and the temporary wing spell are the real deal. I have improved and stress-tested them both myself."

"This is factually true, however it is not persuading the rest of me in the least."

"Come on, egghead," Rainbow Dash shouted. Dubious looked over. The rainbow pegasus and her shy yellow friend were hovering just a few yards away. "Just picture in your head what you're going to do."

"There's only one thing I can picture in my head right now," Dubious said, his eyes riveted on the ground far below.

"What's that?"

"Silver Tongue and his friends, waiting on the pavement with a giant spatula."

Twilight Sparkle laughed.

In my recent excursion to the Crystal Empire, I discovered something that I had not learned while safely ensconced behind my desk at Canterlot-- that a scholar may be right nine times, and wrong once, and that one error will not only overshadow but completely outweigh and undo all the good of the times he was correct. Bear in mind a sailor may come to port safely a hundred times and run aground on the reefs but once-- it is that one time that dooms all on board. I encountered those outside my own sheltered field of work and learned that my own errors, which I had dismissed as minor, had gained my work and my precious philosophy of skeptical thinking nothing but scorn, and worse, had brought injury and ruination on others. An innocent athlete had been ruined by me when I falsely debunked her achievements. A hero of this nation had been dangerously hampered in her efforts to save us all, because my false conclusions had led her down a rabbit trail at a crucial moment. And even then, my skepticism, which was supposed to be a tool for the unearthing of the truth, had become an impediment to the search for one of the lost treasures of the ancient world.

Where had I gone wrong?

"Look, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are right there to catch you---"

"Considering that one is by her own testimony the weakest flyer in Equestria and the other has sufficient motivation to be a suspect in my own murder, this is not encouraging."

"Professor--"

It took many experiences, and many painful lumps, while working with that extraordinary crew for me to learn, in the end, what I had gotten wrong. Skepticism is only half a tool.

The other half is faith.

Not the 'faith' of blindly wishing and believing and hoping on a morning star. Faith in others.

"Look, there are even some nice fluffy clouds to land on if anything goes wrong."

"Do you realize how absolutely insane that sounds?"

For too long, from my childhood, even, I had operated under the assumption that I was ALWAYS being lied to.  Even when it made more sense to trust what I had been told. I was not a skeptic, I was a cynic... and a rather childish one, at that.

Do lies exist? Yes, but if you go through life refusing to believe anything is true, demanding that everything be proven to you with a twenty bullet point list and a double-blind test, then you are just as biased and unreliable as the gormless rube who believes everything he is told.

At some point, at some final bottom level you have to have some starting axiom before you can build an edifice of reason on top of it. And more often than not that starting axiom is "I can trust you. I can believe you have told me the truth." You have to believe that someone who came before you got their facts straight. That your ancestors knew what they were talking about. That there are, in fact, some absolute certainties in the world. That there are some few ponies who you can trust.

"And didn't you tell me the first time you used this spell on somepony they ended up plummeting out of the sky?"

"PROFESSOR!"

Dubious stopped rambling.

Twilight smiled at him. "Trust me."

You have to believe something before you can learn anything.

Dubious climbed up onto the rail, spread his gossamer wings...

You have to stop questioning, stop demanding proofs--

Closed his eyes--

and take a leap of faith.

and leaped.

For an agonizing second the professor of folklore hurtled for the ground... then his long, silvery wasp-like wings caught the wind, and he flew back up and over the top of the Spire in an enormous loop de loop.

"Wooohooooooo!!"

"I would call this assembly of the Parliament of the Crystal Empire to order."

The nobility of the Crystal Empire were gathered in the royal throne room. Many of them were rather rumpled-looking and quite a few were still dressed in scruffy work clothing, much to Princess Cadence's satisfaction. It gave her immense pleasure and pride to know that the few nobles in the Empire weren't too full of themselves to get their hooves dirty with the rebuilding. They were not so removed from things that they did not see that this was their home, too.

"From the day of the Crystal Empire's return," she continued, "The armed forces of the Crystal Empire have operated without a single legitimate head. Recent events have illustrated the peril of this. It is time this oversight was resolved." She had had enough; she was tired of flailing about while her headless Guards stumbled over one another or sat idle for lack of direction. If Shining Armor hadn't stepped in, if he hadn't commanded the respect of the ponies in all three divisions so thoroughly--- she shook her head, focusing on the present. She was going to appoint Shining Armor as supreme commander of the military by royal decree, and damn the consequences. She braced herself; no matter how the diced it, what she was about to propose would cause division and strife. She could only hope it would be possible to resolve...

"Indeed," one dignified-looking stallion with white in his mane and dirt on his sleeves(5) said, stepping forward. "Which is why I wish to propose an amendment to the Articles of the Empire." It was Lord Jade, the chairpony of the House of Lords.

Cadence froze with her mouth open. She quickly covered for it. "--You have the floor, Lord Jade," she said. "And this amendment would be?"

"For a single Commander In Chief, of the Civil, Military, and Royal Guard," he said, producing a scroll. "I've spent the last day or so ruminating on it." With a bow he handed it over to the Princess' magic aura; the scroll flew through the air and opened before her. She quickly scanned it as Lord Jade continued to speak. "It's very straightforward," he said. "there will be a new position of Commander in Chief, final authority over all three branches of the Guard-- ah, second only to you, of course, your Majesty," he gave a bow of the head to the Princess.

"And to the House of Lords," she noted idly as she scanned the document.

"...In some respects, yes," Lord Jade deferred. "Seeing as the candidate for the position must be approved by them by vote." There was a twinkle in his eyes. "Of course, the Discord is in the details. To qualify the candidate must be from within the ranks of the Guard, must already be a ranking officer, be above a certain age or must have some battlefield experience in command-- like, say, leading the forces of the Guard against an invading flock of dragons--"

"I... see..." Cadence said, amused. "I do believe I know somepony with those surprisingly specific qualifications..."

"I motion that we sign it into law immediately!" somepony from the back shouted. A murmur of voices, some approving, some objecting, went up.

"I second it!" the murmur grew.

"All in favor?" Lord Jade said. A forest of hooves went up. "All opposed?" A couple of hooves were raised. "Well that's that," Lord Jade said. "You'll pardon us skipping the signing ceremony. Next order of business; I hereby nominate Prince Consort Shining Armor for the currently unoccupied position of Commander in Chief of the Guard---"

The murmur turned to an uproar; surprisingly many were cheering; some few were objecting. Cadence had to fire off a flash-bang spell to get a semblance of order. A vote approving his candidacy was made in a heartbeat...

"I object!" a Lady of the court stepped forward.

"On what grounds, Lady Quartz?" Jade demanded calmly.

"He is the Prince! He's married to the Princess! He's a unicorn noble tied to the unicorn nobles of Equestria!"

"We'll try not to hold his shady past against him," Lord Jade said drolly, cocking an eyebrow. Everypony laughed.

Lady Quartz sighed. "It muddles the separation of powers," she said, trying to be patient. "You're all swept up in the moment, but will you not regret this later? Appointing authority to him simply because he's a unicorn prince?"

"We denied him authority simply because he was a unicorn prince," Lord Jade said calmly. "We're giving it to him because he's earned it. He proved himself worthy of it. He has experience, he has power..."

"The common ponies will object to a Prince Consort wielding power!"

"The common ponies will grow used to it--"

"I object as well."

A gasp went up from the court. Shining Armor had been standing beside the throne, slightly behind it. He moved out in front of it now. "I object as well," he repeated. "But this is how the Empire got into this mess. The powerful pandering to their own, favoring one another.

"Kings making Kings.

"This is why my wife's rule has been so rocky, why the ponies of the Empire were so broken in spirit; because the ponies here had bitter experience of it. That was the pre-Modern era unicorn's mistake; they assumed that they had the "natural" right to rule. That was our mistake as well. It wasn't racism that made the ponies here resentful of unicorns, it was helplessness. They're afraid not of rule by unicorns, but rule without a choice. Every moment of difficulty and heartache since the defeat of Sombra has been because the Crystal Ponies feel that we were imposed upon them. Any pony, any living creature would resent that. I cannot lead ponies that resent me.

"I will not take this much power without the consent of the common ponies of the Crystal Empire."

The House of Lords was muted by surprise. But more than a few saw how the Princess's eyes shone when she heard her husband speak. "And how do you propose we gain that consent, your Highness?" Lord Jade said, a touch sarcastically.

"I think the answer should be obvious," Cadence said with a smile, rising to her feet. She nodded at the two Crystal Hearts that were hovering above the throne.

Lord Jade blinked, then grinned. "Ah. Of course..."

"Lords and Ladies," Cadence said. "Will you accept the verdict thus obtained?"

A general assent was made. Cadence turned to face the throne and looked up at the hearts. Her eyes closed and her horn glowed as she opened a connection to the twin hearts, and from there to all the ponies of the Crystal Empire. There was no spell, no command, no call for a unanimous uplifting of power. This time, it was just a message. An image of Shining Armor, and a question.

What of this one?

A torrent of images flowed back from every corner of the Empire. Memories: of Shining Armor giving advice to his men, consulting with recruits, chastising, leading, commanding, dragging a wounded warrior from the battlefield, comforting a frightened foal lost in the rubble, charging headlong into battle with his horn blazing--and a tidal wave of thoughts and feelings; some mixed, some negative, but overwhelmingly ones of admiration, respect, approval... . Every pony present in the throne room, including a stunned and humbled Shining Armor, was deluged with one thought from the citizens of the Crystal Empire about their Prince, and whether he should be Commander:

Affirmation.

The sensation passed, and every pony present let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. "Well, I think that settles that," Lord Jade said cheerfully. "Allow me to be the first to congratulate you, Prince Shining Armor, on your new position as Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the Crystal Empire." He chuckled. "It can be truly said  that you have the heart of the common folk behind you." A speechless Shining nodded in acceptance as his smiling wife pressed her side against his. "We'll add in all the fiddly little ceremonial details later, of course...."

The Lords broke out in ragged applause. Even Lady Quartz, who stumbled a bit as she shook off the lightheadedness that came from being bombarded by the Hearts. "Quite good," she said a touch woozily as she regained her balance. "But perhaps next time we could use a ballot box instead?"

That evening, all of them-- Cadence and Shining, the six Element bearers, Night Light and Velvet, Nyx, Spike, Bright Eyes and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all got together for a final dinner. It was less a formal banquet and more a family picnic, with ponies passing around the food and swapping stories of the events of the past few days.

Afterwords as things wound down and ponies drifted about with after-dinner drinks on hoof, Rarity drifted over to Cadence's side, a champagne flute hovering next to her. "Your highness--"

"Please Rarity. Cadence."

Rarity smiled. "Very well, Cadence-- could I have a moment of your time? in private?"

"Of course." She led the unicorn fashionista to a nearby balcony, open to the night air. It was a beautiful view; even in a state of half-finished repairs the Crystal City sparkled under the moonlight like an upturned basket of jewels. "I think we're away from any casual ears," Cadence said. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Rarity sighed as she looked over the cityscape. "Relationship advice," she said. "With you being the Alicorn of Love, after all, it seemed the wisest course to speak to you." She paused. "You know about Spike's... feelings for me?"

Cadence nodded and smiled. "It's hard to miss," she said.

Rarity gave an effort at a smile. "That it is." She sighed and smiled. "And now... after recent events... My feelings aren't so certain." Cadence said nothing. Rarity continued. "Oh I have always been fond of him. And I thought his 'little crush' on me was charming and adorable. But after what happened-- it's obvious it's far more than some crush."

"And your feelings for him?" Cadence pressed gently.

Rarity sighed. "What can I say? He battled a dragon bare-handed for me! That sort of thing certainly turns a girl's head." Cadence chuckled in agreement. "He's kind and brave and funny and smart-- he would make any mare, or well, any female dragon, a good husband. If dragons have husbands, that is. I could easily see our feelings for each other growing into something more." Her face fell. "But how could it ever amount to anything?"

"Because of the species difference?"

Rarity blew a raspberry at that. "Hardly. But.."

"Oh, the um.... size issue?" Cadence said cautiously.

"What-- oh no no no!" Rarity said, blushing. "Besides, there are size changing spells and transformations and um...well." her blush deepened.

"Oh well then." Cadence coughed politely. "What then?"

Rarity sighed. "It's... the age difference. And the aging difference. He's just barely into his teens. By the time he's an adult, even by pony years, I'll be a middle aged mare. By the time he's an adult by dragon standards, I'll be an old nag.... or gone entirely. How could that lead to anything but heartbreak? I gave him an out; I asked him to wait just a few years... have I just given him cruel false hope?"

Cadence swirled her drink around in her glass, thinking silently. "I think," she finally said with a faint smile, "that you're worrying to much." When Rarity gave her a surprised look, Cadence continued. "Rarity, I'm an alicorn. I could live as long as Celestia or Luna. But my husband is a mortal unicorn. My foals, if any, will most likely be mortal as well. There is a fair chance that I will see all of them pass away. What do you suppose I was thinking when I got married to him?"

Rarity put her hoof to her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't think--"

"No, you misunderstand," Cadence interrupted her apology. "Think about it, Rarity. By all rights, he could just as easily outlive me. But either way, every minute we have together I will treasure with all of my heart. None of us have anything more than today. And throwing today away, out of fear of tomorrow-- there couldn't be anything more foolish."

Rarity pondered the wisdom of those words. "Yes. Still..." she said. "As wise as that is, the heart must make practical answers as well."

Cadence sighed and smiled. "All too true. But as for that-- there are 'practical' reasons to hope for the best, too. Do you realize that pony lifespans have nearly doubled in just the last century? And every day, research goes into magic and medicine to extend them further. It's one of Auntie Celestia's and Auntie Luna's most steadily worked-on projects. We live in a world with age-changing spells and magical plants and immortal firebirds...every day a new wonder, a new discovery. In time even aging will be a fairly mundane problem to fix. Besides, you might get lucky. Long-lived creatures and Nigh-immortals seem to just be popping out of the woodwork these days. Who knows? You might actually live for hundreds of years yourself."

"My, you are the optimist," Rarity said with a cheeky grin.

Cadence laughed. "I may choose to live in the today with Shining Armor," she said, "But I fully intend to keep him around me for as many years as I can. So yes, I hold out hope."  She lit her horn and summoned a bottle. "I see your glass is low," she said. "Let me refresh it."

"Ooo, thank you," Rarity said, holding up her flute. Cadence filled it carefully, the sparkling beverage dancing in the tapered glass. Rarity took a sip. "Mmm. What is this, exactly? It's not champagne. I thought it was mineral water at first, but it has this light flavor I just can't put my hoof on." She took another long sip.

"Oh, a gift from Aunt Tia and Luna," Cadence said. "It's actually a sort of... health beverage. The main ingredient is water from a tiny mountain spring. And a handful of other exotic ingredients." Her smile was oddly enigmatic.

"Beneficial to the body, then?"

"Very." Cadence smiled. "It's very difficult to make and the ingredients are very rare and very hard to obtain. Tia and Lulu want to make it available to everypony, but right now they're lucky to produce a single cask a year."

"Goodness." Rarity looked about the room. "Well, everypony here seems to like it." She noted that even the foals had a cup. "I hope we haven't dented your reserves."

"Oh, not at all. Shining and I have a glass every now and then."

"A shame it can't be produced in quantity yet," Rarity said, taking another sip. "It's so refreshing. I wouldn't mind having this to drink every day myself."

"That is the nice thing," Cadence said. "Tia says even a single glass will have... noticeable benefits. Ones that can last for years."

"You don't say," Rarity said. She looked at the bottle. "What is it called?"

"They don't have a name for it yet, really," Cadence said. "I think they're holding back on that till they find a way to make it as plentiful as water." She chuckled.

"Well they do have a nicely designed label," Rarity said. "A crane, how fascinating. Did you know that in Neighpon, cranes are a symbol of longevity?"

Cadence only smiled enigmatically.

It would be over a century before Rarity would remember that smile, and wonder....

The train chugged its way into the Ponyville station and hissed to a stop. Nyx hopped out of the train ahead of the others and took a deep breath of Ponyville air. "Home!" she said, happily. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed it. She did a hasty check. Hat, rhinestone sunglasses, saddlebags, souvenirs, hoopy frood towel--- everything was in order. She took off her hat and glasses and stuffed them away in her saddlebag, shaking her mane free.

Applebloom, Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo piled out behind her. Scootaloo had her giant panda strapped to her back; she'd refused to let the porters touch it.

Somepony cheered. Nyx realized that a crowd of foals, most of them Cutie Mark Crusaders, were standing on the platform, waving. "Hi Nykth, Hi Thweetie, Hi Thcoots, Hi Applebloom," Twist said, hopping up to give all of them a hug. "We mithed you guyth!" The other colts and fillies crowded in.

"We got your presents!"

"What was the Crystal Empire like?"

"Did they really try to blow you up?"

"Did you see the dragons battling? I bet it was COOL."

"Hey everypony!" Nyx said. "There's somepony I'd like you to meet." She stepped to one side; Bright Eyes disembarked and waved shyly at everypony. "This is Bright Eyes," Nyx said. "him and his family are moving to Ponyville, and it'd be really nice if you all made him feel welcome, okay?"

The colts and fillies all greeted him warmly. Bright Eyes found himself blushing and grinning under all the  unexpected attention. Applebloom gave him a slap on the back. "Y'all are gonna like it here," she said confidently.

There was a commotion down the platform. Nyx looked over; there seemed to be a crowd gathering. "Excuse me," she said, and trotted down the platform, curious.

She felt a little dumb when she saw the reason why. Uncle Shining and Aunt Cadence had overseen the shipping of the Crystal Heart to Canterlot, and afterward had decided to come visit Ponyville for a short while. The crowd had gathered in front of what Nyx now knew to be the royal car of the Crystal Empire. Guards were standing in front of the door, keeping ponies back. As she watched, Roller Reel-- carefully groomed and wearing a clean shirt; Rarity had apparently attacked him sometime on the train trip-- backed out of the passenger car, his new camera whirring away.

Immediately after came Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. They stood in the doorway of the train car as camera bulbs flashed and answered questions from a few reporters. The crowd broke into cheers and applause-- and shrill filly screams. Nyx whirled about; right behind her stood a group of mares ranging from foals her own age to ones older than her mother. They were squealing excitedly and waving signs that said things like "Welcome to Equestria Prince Shining Armor," "We Love You Prince Shining,"---"Prince Shining I Want To Have Your Foals"?? Ew. 'Don't any of them know he's married?" she wondered aloud. Maybe they thought herding would make a comeback.

Standing right in front of the screaming, airheaded group were.... Oh this was too good.... Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They were made up like they'd been caught in an explosion at a cosmetics factory, and holding up posterboards covered in hearts, lipstick kisses, and glitter professing their undying love for the fabulous Prince Shining Armor.

Nyx let out a shriek of laughter before cramming her hoof in her mouth. The two whipped their heads around "Oh Eww, you're back," Diamond Tiara said, her voice dripping with all the disgust she could muster. "What are YOU laughing at, Nightmare Ninny?"

Sometimes it was really weird how ponies like Diamond would torment something one minute they went around saying was dangerous the next, Nyx reflected. "What are you guys doing?" She finally managed to say. "Don't you know Prince Shining is married?"

"Oh shut up, Ninny Nyx," Silver Spoon said. "You don't know anything." Her face got incredibly soppy. "He's the dreamiest, hottest, hunkiest stud of a Prince in Canterlot--"

"In the Crystal Empire---" Diamond Tiara agreed. "In Equestria!"

"In the Empire OR in Equestria," Silver Spoon said.

"Go away, weirdo," Diamond Tiara sneered. "We don't want Prince Shining to see us standing around a loser like you!"

Nyx started to giggle. "You dimbulbs," she said. "Don't you know--"

"Foreverrrrrrrrr---!" Pinkie Pie's scream from the other end of the platform wafted on the air.

Oh darn it all, Nyx had Pinkie Promised not to tell! Strangling on her restrained laughter, she desperately tried a different tack. "D-didn't you read the magazine Sweetiebelle sent you?" she managed to choke out.

Diamond Tiara stuck up her nose and sneered. Really, sometimes it seemed to be her only facial expression. "Not a chance," she said. "I saw your ugly face on the front page and threw it right in the fireplace-- what is wrong with you?" she demanded. Nyx was stamping her hooves with the effort of holding the words back.

"Nothing," Nyx managed to choke out.

It was this scene that greeted Shining Armor and Cadence when they finally got past the reporters and cameraponies. Shining Armor facehoofed when he saw the signs and posters. His heartless wife was no help, giggling mercilessly in his ear and poking him in the ribs. Despite it all he pulled her close and went to face off with his nemesis. As they drew closer he saw their niece standing in front of the groupies, facing two of them her own age--- just standing there rigidly with the most extraordinary mix of anguish and glee on her face. She was biting her lip and holding her breath till her eyes bugged and her cheeks puffed out, tears leaking out and rolling down her cheeks.

Shining Armor walked up to face the group. The excitement on the two fan-filly's faces was palpable. It vanished like whipped cream dunked in dishwater when he gave Nyx a playful headrub and said "Hey, Nyxy Sticks. Friends of yours?"

"Not really," Nyx managed to say.

Shining Armor looked at them. Boy, did their parents know how much makeup they caked on? "Hi girls. I believe you met my niece here?"

The look of horror on Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's faces was indescribable. "NIECE?"

For the second time, a scream of inarticulate rage echoed to the Ponyville sky.

It really was good to be home.

1) Their erstwhile flunkies, the Diamond Dogs, after a sufficient amount of pleading, whining, whinging, groveling and just plain embarrassing behavior, had been marched to the border and banished, never to return on penalty of Rarity. Yes, they knew about her. They ALL knew about her.

2)Celestia did have certain scruples.

3)And not coincidentally Spike's old pediatrician. Twilight had come to regret that he'd not been lured to Ponyville as well; resorting to pony doctors and veterinarians for Spike's care had proved.... counterproductive.

4)It's hard to intimidate a doctor who's been a dragon pediatrician.

5)Sparkly dirt-- but dirt all the same.