All across Equestria, celebrations raged. With the demise of the Three Sisters, the invading demons had fled back into the Netherworld from which they had spawned. Just as the Valkyr had said, it truly did feel like a new day had come, as if a great burden had been lifted from every ponies' back.

Inside Canterlot Castle, a small crowd had been gathered for the traditional stained glass window ceremony. Each window represented a momentous event in Equestria's history. Princess Celestia revealed the new windows: a beautiful piece commemorating the marriage of Shining Armor and Mi Amore Cadenza, and an exciting piece representing the battle against the Three Sisters. A burning Equestria was extinguished by Clover the Clever's friendship heart, underneath which were representations of every pony that aided in the battle from Twilight Sparkle and her friends to the royal guards that held the line against the demons back in Equestria. The background was designed to invoke the image of the morning sky, and at the bottom were effigies of the Three Sisters, surrounded by the insignia of the Horsadrim.

Celestia waited for the joyous clapping and stomping to die down then addressed her audience. "The forces of darkness and evil were vanquished today thanks to the special bond we all share: the spirits of friendship and harmony. Our love for one another, our love for Equestria. I am so proud of everypony. Now, my niece and Shining Armor would really like to get their new life together started, so we have set up their wedding reception in the ballroom."

Celestia winked at Trixie. "Hopefully there won't be anymore... inconveniences. The victory celebrations will likely be continuing into the night, so I hope you are all ready to party!"

Pinkie Pie put her leg around Twilight's shoulder."Are you ready to sing, Twilight?"

"You better believe it! Excuse us, Princesses, we have a wedding reception to go to," Twilight said. "Come on girls!"

The Unliving Queen watched them leave, a deep sadness in her eyes. She really wanted to go, of course, but wasn't sure how well she would be received. It was one thing for her brother or Celestia to accept her for what she was, they were close to Twilight Sparkle after all, but the general populace's opinion was a different matter entirely. She remembered how her own citizens had felt about her, and, not that she had hurt anypony, or at least hadn't been trying to, she had just led an assault on Canterlot.

Luna saw the turmoil on the Queen's face and nudged her in the rear with her wing, pushing her towards the door. "Go ahead, Twilight. He's thine brother, too," Luna said.

Celestia nodded. "Your daughter is already there, on 'overwatch,' I'm afraid. We tried to convince her that it wasn't necessary, but she insisted. I'm sure your presence would help alleviate her fears of another attack on her dear aunt and uncle."

The Queen needed no further encouragement and galloped after the others. The remaining ponies dispersed to join the festivities. Trixie began to leave but Star Swirl put a hoof on her flank. He glanced at the two princesses and grinned. "Not so fast, Trixie. We need you here."

"What do you mean?" Trixie asked.

"He means," Celestia said, " as leader of the Horsadrim, you get to join us for our traditional 'kingdom has been saved' debriefing."

Celestia led the others to a relatively quiet bastion overlooking the Canterlot Castle Gardens. Below, the three Horsadric foals played with the animals. Luna smiled contentedly as she watched the three play as Star Swirl conjured up four glasses and a bottle of wine then poured their drinks - the same vintage they had enjoyed after defeating the Unliving Queen.

Celestia sipped at her drink and stared at the bottle. She turned to Star Swirl. "Now, Star Swirl, I know you well enough to know damn well that you weren't just using your time travel magic to get us this wine. As soon as you saw that Valkyr you were probably making incantations."

Star Swirl laughed. He took a long draught of wine and refilled his glass. "I did not wish to admit it, but since the death of Nostrildamus, I have been too reticent to attempt much time travel. I saved these bottles in my tower. No time travel from me I'm afraid."

"I see, I was wondering how you went from seeming to know it all to being just as scared and worried as the rest of us," Celestia said.

Trixie grimly nodded. "Baphomeena was always four steps ahead of everypony else it seems. I guess that could be part of why she made me do what I did. Take away Nostrildamus, make you afraid to use time travel spells."

Celestia looked down at the foals. "Baphomeena let me observe her as she received the gifts the girls brought her. Fizzle Hooves may have wanted to be saved, but I think a part of Baphomeena wanted to be as well. She could have just struck us down, but she didn't. She told Applejack that she and her sisters were just little girls when they were attacked and dragged into a never-ending war. I think she purposefully may have let herself and her sisters get vanquished in order to give Fizzle Hooves and the others the same foalhood that they themselves were denied, as well as avoid more years full of bloodshed."

Star Swirl nodded and stroked his beard. "Trixie, you, sadly, had the most contact with Baphomeena, any insights?"

"Well, Star Swirl, you and I saw the old Horsadrim in action," Trixie said. "They are certainly powerful, so I do not doubt that Fizzle Hooves was able to coerce the demon inside her. Uh, this is going to sound really weird, but Baphomeena was actually sort of nice. I don't think Fizzle Hooves was in charge at all times, it seems unlikely. She was really swell when we were just working on my training. She always had my favorite foods, helped me if I was struggling with a spell, got me anything I desired. I don't really know which personality was doing all of that though."

Trixie drained her glass and motioned for more. She licked her lips. "Mmm, this is really good. I think I shall have the cellars of my tremendous palace stocked with it. I am the grandmaster of the Horsadrim, you know."

Star Swirl laughed. "I'm afraid that may be the last bottle of that anypony is able to imbibe in for quite some time. Time travel is a necessity in its acquisition."

Trixie frowned and slowly swirled the wine in her glass. "Anyway, even when she was doing those things to me, what Baphomeena was doing, she would use some kind of memory blocking magic on me, so every night I would at least have a sound sleep. Even though she probably didn't need to, she kept training me, too, and let me keep those memories. A lot of it could have been Fizzle Hooves, but I definitely think some of it had to have been Baphomeena."

Star Swirl topped off Celestia's glass. "Speaking of Fizzle Hooves, have you decided what is to be done with those three?"

Celestia started to speak, Luna interrupted. "I'm going to raise them."

Celestia raised her eyebrow. "Oh?"

Luna smiled. "Yes, sister. When I saw their sweet little faces, I knew I had to take care of them. They need somepony, and.. and I think I need them."

Celestia shook her head. "You can't take them to the moon, Luna. I don't think that would be good for them."

"I wasn't going to, Celestia. At least, not all the time. We will stay here with you. It is not a great inconvenience to travel from Canterlot to the moon," Luna said.

Celestia held her sister's hoof. "I can see this means a lot to you, and I am glad that it does. To answer your question, Star Swirl, it would appear we shall be raising them ourselves."

Star Swirl smiled at the princesses. "Ah, splendid. You both missed out on seeing the Horsadrim in action, you may be in for quite a few surprises. Speaking of the Horsadrim, have you been putting any thoughts into what you plan to do with your order, Trixie?"

Trixie grinned. "My order... Yes, I have. Right now, we just have unicorns, which is good, because I plan on setting up a magic school once you finish training me. But the Horsadrim was made of all the tribes. I figure we should probably try to keep those spirit stones a secret, but we also need members. So, I'm going to set the Horsadrim up as a secret society. We'll implement a bunch of rituals, secret hoofshakes, signet rings, things like that to give it an air of mystery and attract ponies. We'll do charity and community work and provide a social club for the ponies, then we can choose specific ponies to initiate to the inner circle that knows the truth of what we are really about."

Celestia smiled. "Ooh! That sounds fun."

Star Swirl pat Trixie on the back. "Clever lass. Princesses, any thoughts on what to do with the Unliving Queen? In Hoc Signo Vinces would appear to be fine, but I do not know if we can trust the mother. She is powerful. Perhaps too powerful, and she has already tasted the fruits of evil."

"I must admit I do have my doubts, but Cadence assures me that her magic will work," Celestia said. "She still is Twilight Sparkle, even more-so now, but... I said that Baphomeena let me observe her receiving the gifts? Considering she was the mistress of lies, I do not know if it actually happened, but she made Rainbow Dash watch the Unliving Queen massacre my magic school. It broke my heart."

Luna wrapped her wing around her sister. "We'll give her Westmarech. The place is in ruin anyway, nopony lives there. We will be able to monitor her, and, if need be, move against her."

The four took a drink then watched the three foals scamper about the garden in silence. A short while later, the glasses and the bottle were all empty. Celestia stood. "We'd better go see our niece off, Luna. I hope there's some cake left. If we're not too late, we might even get to see Twilight Sparkle dancing."

Luna assumed a look of mock horror. Twilight Sparkle was known for being adept at many a thing, but dancing was definitely not one of them. Celestia snorted with laughter as Luna groaned, "Oh gosh, anything but that!"

* * *

There had been no fireworks nor celebrations when Azazandra exited the portal and returned to the shadowed lands of Netheria, the home of the Three Sisters. Azazandra scowled up at the pitch black sky - even after all these years, the supernatural darkness still held her homeland in its grasp. It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the gloom, and when she was able to see clearly, Azazandra found herself at the edge of a forest of dead trees.

Azazandra could make out the large shape of a structure in the distance, and began to make her way towards it. There was something familiar about this location, and as she neared the structure she realized the shadow had brought her to Castle Fiendblood, the seat of power of Netheria's ancient monarchs. The Netherian throne had been vacant since the mysterious departure of Netheria's last ruler, Queen Lilith the Betrayer, with a council of three elected officials ruling in the place of a true monarch since her disappearance centuries ago. The Netherian knighthood - the Order of the Black Thorn - lived in Castle Fiendblood and kept it in pristine condition, awaiting the return of Lilith or someone worthy enough to claim her throne.

Azazandra whinnied as the shadow demon from the canyon suddenly began to whisper in her ear. "Your destiny awaits you within those walls, Azazandra. You can feel it within, can't you?"

Azazandra felt a tingle in her flanks that spurred her forwards. A strange, masculine voice began reciting lines of a prophecy in her mind as she ran towards the castle. "And the evil that was once vanquished shall rise anew. Wrapped in the guise of a foal shall She walk amongst the innocent; and Anguish shall consume thee who dwell upon Equestria. Behold! The war shall not be contained; and the children of Equestria shall be engulfed in the flood of conflict, and all hope shall be lost unto them. And She shall make war upon the righteous, and the righteous shall gird themselves as for battle. The righteous shall fall upon the wicked and lay siege to the very gates of Netheria. And She shall take peace from ponykind and loose great destruction upon the land. The Queen of Hatred shall ascend her throne; and Chaos shall devour all."

The strange feeling in her flanks intensified as she galloped through the castle gates and into the courtyard. The brand of the Horsadrim had begun to disintegrate from her flanks as she ran and had vanished entirely as she neared the castle's chapel. The tingling and the prophetic recitation sent her into a frenzy and she smashed through the stained-glass decorated, oaken doors of the chapel, then tumbled to the ground in a shower of splinters and glass.

At the far side of the chapel, slumped against the altar, was the body of King Umbre XII, the last of the Netherian centicore royals. The centicores - a goat-like beast around the size of a horse with two long, flexible horns, the jaws of a boar, and chest of a lion - ruled Netheria until King Umbre XII made the mistake of befriending Lilith, a charismatic outsider whom he had become enamored with. One night while the King was praying, Lilith stabbed him in the back with a legendary cursed sword called Kingslayer. The sword's magic had preserved Lilith's act of betrayal, and though centuries had passed, the King's body and the sword remained just as they had been upon the night of his death.

In the tumultuous times after Lilith's disappearance, it was decreed by the Netherian council that any who could pull the blade from the corpse would be made ruler of Netheria. Many had tried to remove the sword from the body with brawn or magic, but all attempts failed. It had become a Netherian tradition to bring ones' foals to have a few tugs at the sword; Netherian children learn of life's cruelties all too quickly.

With sweat pouring from her, Azazandra staggered to her feet and slowly approached the sword. It looked so plain for such a powerful artifact. The hilt was wrapped with leather, there were no runes upon the flawless blade, and the only indicator that it wasn't 'just another sword' were the cluster of rubies and emeralds in the pommel. Azazandra and her sisters had tried to pull the sword many times before their exile to Equestria, but she knew this attempt would be different - she could feel it. She licked her lips as she slowly, confidently, walked towards the altar. A broad smile stretched across her face as she looked at her reflection in the blade. It felt good to smile once more.

Without hesitation, Azazandra thrust her hoof towards the sword's hilt, twisting her equine limb into a taloned hand and firmly clenched the hilt of Kingslayer, the Monarch's Bane. The air crackled with magical energy as Azazandra twisted the blade in the King's back and pressed her hoof down on his torso as she pulled back on the blade. As the cursed sword left his body, the King uttered his last breath, "Damn you, Lilith..." before he rapidly disintegrated into dust.

Azazandra ran her hoof along the blade and smiled. "I have walked Equestria, always searching for that which will make me whole. I never suspected it was in Netheria all this time. I finally have it within my grasp!"

Azazandra swept the sword through the air and giggled in delight at the audible *swish* of the magical blade. She could hear the sound of hoof steps outside in the courtyard and smirked as the knights of the Black Thorn began to kneel before her. There were knights of many races: a myriad of demons, half-demons, horses, ponies, goats, and many more magical beasts. Each knight wore a purple surcoat bearing a black circle of thorns - the symbol of the Order and of the Netherian royalty - over a suit of black plate mail armor. She held the sword up before her and shouted, "Behold! I have claimed the sword of Lilith and now I, Azazandra, am Queen of Netheria!"

The knight commander, a black-haired catoblepas (a scaled, bull-like creature with a shaggy mane whose gaze was lethal, like a basilisk), addressed their new queen. "Your majesty, I am Lord Anaxius. My knights and I are honored to be at your command at last."

A pair of knights bearing a large chest galloped towards Azazandra and opened it before her. One of the knights gestured towards a deep purple, fur-trimmed cloak and an obsidian crown. "Your royal accoutrements, your majesty."

Azazandra expertly twirled the Kingslayer blade and sliced through the remains of the purple robes Baphomeena had created for her, then shimmered a step forwards as the destroyed garment fell to the ground behind her. She caught sight of her rear in the reflection of the sword and smiled - the Horsadric symbol was gone and its in place was a black circle of thorns. Her new cutie mark. Her destiny!

Azazandra held her forelegs out to the side and nodded at Lord Anaxius and then pointed the sword towards the chest. "Sir knight, if you would be so kind."

Lord Anaxius stood and swiftly clasped the royal cloak over Azazandra's shoulders, then grinned as he placed the obsidian crown upon her head. He stepped back and saluted. "Hail, Azazandra, Queen of Netheria!"

The knights continued to chant as they followed Azazandra to the throne room. The room fell silent as she lingered before the throne, then plopped down into the plush seat with a satisfied sigh. She looked down at the knights, her knights, and smiled. It was like a dream come true, like something out of a story book. Her long-lost mother seemingly had returned, she had finally made it back to Netheria, and had not only claimed the Netherian throne but her destiny as well.

Azazandra brought the sword up to her face and gazed into the blade. She brought it to her lips and kissed it. She whispered to it, "I know not why you rejected me so long ago, but you, and the throne, are mine now. My sisters will NOT have fallen in vain!"

Azazandra jumped as the sword emitted the shadow's voice, "You shall see your sisters soon, Azazandra. You now possess the necessary tools to save your sisters, save Netheria, save everypony!"

Azazandra raised her eyebrow as she looked past the sword to see that time had slowed to a halt once more. "Thanks to you... I must know, who are you? Something stirs within me when I feel your touch, memories that have been lost for a long, long time... Are you my mother's spirit?"

The shadow's voice was twinged with sadness, "Hmm, what am I? I am a demon, of course - no more, no less. To some, that has meant one thing; to others, another."

Azazandra frowned. "You said before that it would all be revealed in time... When will you give me a real answer?"

"When the sun sets in the east and the shore swallows the tide. When the moon smiles upon the day and the blind mare sees once again," the shadow replied with a laugh. The shadow paused and drew in a deep breath. "You will know soon enough, Azazandra, but I know you already know the answer in your heart."

"My heart believes that you are my mother," Azazandra said.

"And your heart is right. I am sorry to say that I must leave you, Azazandra, just for a while," the shadow gently said.

Azazandra scowled at the sword. The words would not come, but the look of anger on her face spoke for her.

"I'm so sorry," the shadow said, "but this is how it must be. I will return to you, to Baphomeena, to Lucifiona, once you pass your upcoming trial. That is how it must be, as it was decreed in prophecy."

The prophecy, Azazandra had nearly forgotten about it.She heard it repeat in her mind. "How do I pass this trial?" Azazandra asked.

"The fate of us all rests upon your shoulders, Azazandra. All you need to do is trust in your heart once more, and let your new sword strike true," the shadow said as a shadowy limb extended from the sword and pressed against Azazandra's chest.

Time began to flow once more as the shadow whispered, "I shall see you once the deed is done, Azazandra. Believe in your heart! I love you!"

Azazandra grit her teeth, "Wait!"

One of the knights curtseyed before Azazandra, thinking she had addressed her, "You desire something of me, your majesty?"

Azazandra looked confusedly at the knight and sighed. "No, no, continue what you were doing."

"Of course, your majesty," the knight said with a salute.

Azazandra sighed and sat back in her throne. She had so many questions for her mother, yet she abandoned her once more. As she began to think upon the chain of events that had just transpired, the mysterious masculine voice returned and recited the prophecy it had spoken before, except this time Azazandra gave it her full attention. The recitation ended with additional lines, and a question that sent twinges of fear through Azazandra, though she did not know why: "And She shall mete out her vengeance upon all flesh. And the blood of innocents shall run as great torrents. Who then shall be saved?"

From the cryptic hints from her mother, Azazandra knew the prophecy was about her, that she would lead Netheria against their enemy, Aesirlund. She did not like the implications that Aesirlund would push back their assault, nor the burning question the voice had asked that echoed in her mind. She idly sipped at a goblet of mead that had been offered to her and frowned at the Kingslayer. "Who then shall be saved...?"