Twilight Sparkle made her way to Canterlot and into the castle where she saw Luna pacing and Celestia was nowhere to be found. "Luna? What's going on?"
"Twilight?" Luna turns to face her and smiles. "I'm glad to see you again..but why have you returned?"
"I came to talk to Serenity." Twilight said.
"That...will be a problem." Luna admitted.
"Why?" Twilight asked.
"Because while you were gone, Serenity broke out thanks to Daring Do." Luna added. "Paradise is the only one left and Celestia is trying to get answers from her."
"That's not good." Twilight said before going into the room Celestia and and Paradise were in.
"Just make it easier on yourself Paradise. All we want is to know where your sister went." Celestia said trying to reason with her prisoner.
"I told you before...she hates me now…she just ran off with Daring Do, I don't know where she is. All I know is she's coming after you." Paradise admitted.
"You expect me to believe that?" Celestia looked at her annoyed. "After everything you two did."
"What!?" Paradise said shocked. "We!? I betrayed my only family for the sake of YOUR daughter!"
"I don't believe you." Celestia said coldly.
"Yet another reason why we're the bad alicorns and your so innocent perfect princess huh? I stop your daughter from getting hurt and I'm a prisoner." Paradise mocked. She really didn't care anymore.
"I don't have a daughter, and you and your sister are dangerous, with your magic you could doom us all!" Celestia said slamming her hoof onto the table.
Twilight had enough of this and stepped up. "Oh just stop Celestia."
Celestia looked over at Twilight. "Twilight?"
"We could all say the same about you." Twilight pointed out. "You control the very sun itself, if you wanted to you could doom us all."
"It's not the same Twilight." Celestia tried to point out.
"Keep telling yourself that." Twilight said rolling her eyes, she was still upset at her teacher after all. "You can lie to yourself all you want, but the fact is Shining Star and Dusk Sparkle share our DNA. And you can say every alicorn is a danger to the world. Luna controls the moon, you control the sun. Cadance controls love. I mean come on. Think about it. The Celestia I grew up believing in wouldn't be so paranoid, she wouldn't push away fillies. She embraced them. You took Sunset Shimmer in, you took me in. WHY is Shining Star and Dusk so different?"
Paradise smiled at this. At least ONE alicorn in this day and age was smart. Celestia didn't know what to say, she knew she was right and she knew the problem. She was afraid. Starswirl put that fear into her when she was young and she didn't know how to face it. Starswirl made it clear to her that having children when she has such a responsibly to Equestria was a bad thing, that's why she always had young fillies as her students. It was the only way to have something close to children for someone of her position.
Then there was the fear of alicorn's misused power. That's why they had to seal away Paradise and Serenity away. Starswirl made it a point that only the closest of ally's should have alicorn magic. That's why most of them were banished so long ago. Sealing away Paradise and Serenity was only because Starswirl made it seem like they were a threat.
Celestia took a deep breath and stood up. "I...need some time alone, Twilight, maybe you'll have better luck with her."
Celestia walked out of the room and Twilight smiled at Paradise. "Listen Paradise."
"Save it….I don't know anything." Paradise explained.
"I know, I just want to know if you were given a hard time. You are my friend after all." Twilight admitted.
Paradise looked at her confused. "Friend? You want to be friends with me? But everyone hates me."
"Only because they don't know you. And that's what I want to know." Twilight sat across from her. "Tell me about yourself."
Paradise didn't really know what to say. She shrugged at this and began. "Well you know a lot about me already, I was the number one reason for births in the world. I didn't just help ponies. I helped all species, and when my sister got pregnant from that rainbow pegasi she was so happy. Oh those were the days. Smiles and love."
"It sounds lovely...wait, rainbow pegasi?" Twilight looked at her confused. "Do you know that pony?"
"Hmm...I think it was….Rainbow Burst." Paradise explained. "He was a nice guy, always trying to help Serenity with anything he could. He wasn't the greatest pony, but Serenity couldn't help but love him."
"That's the same name as...Rainbow Dash's father!" Twilight stood up. "Paradise, I don't know how, but I need you to find your sister, I think I know where her daughter is!"
"What!?" Paradise looked at her confused before Twilight ran out the door. "Wait!"
Twilight ran out the door and slammed into a pegasi wearing the royal guard armor and they hit the floor. "Oof!"
"Oh I'm sorry princess. Are you okay?" The guard got up and helped her up. "Did I hurt you?"
Twilight looked at him, he was a silver stallion around her age. He had red medium short mane but his tail was long, he had a cutie mark of two crossed swords and a third sword going down between them. He was wearing the royal guard armor and a pair of glasses over his blue eyes. Twilight blushed from this.
"Princess?" He asked again.
"Oh uh...I'm fine...thank you uh..."
"Oh I'm sorry princess, My name is Silverwind. It's my first day as a knight." Silverwind said. "May I ask why you were in a hurry?"
"Oh! Sorry, but I have to hurry, can you release Paradise for me? Thanks!" Twilight said before she ran off.
"Ye-yes princess." Silverwind said with a nod watching her run off. "Well that was weird."
He then goes into the room and Paradise was in there waiting. "And who are you handsome?"
"Just the new guy, princess Twilight ordered me to release you." Silverwind said unlocking her chains.
"She was serious...I have to find my sister." Paradise stood up feeling better. "You, come with me!"
"Are all alicorns this bossy?" Silverwind asked himself as he followed Paradise out the room. Princess Luna saw them and came over.
"What are you doing out?" Luna said annoyed. "Did Twilight do this!?"
"Sorry princess Luna, princess Twilight's orders!" Silverwind said as Paradise ignored her and they ran off.
"Hey!" Luna chased after them.
Meanwhile outside the castle Serenity was looking at all the happy faces as she stayed in the shadows. Daring Do didn't really do much as she was under a spell. "My family...gone...my sister betrayed me...I have nothing left..."
"So what now master?" Daring Do asked.
"This town...this world..it should feel what I feel...it should burn for everything that's happened to me!" Serenity said before her magic flared up and she created a ball of flame. She flew out into the open and in a booming voice spoke to everyone in the city. "YOU ALL HAVE BEEN JUDGED, ALL OF YOU WILL SUFFER FOR WHAT YOUR PRINCESSES HAVE DONE!"
Paradise saw this as they came out of the castle. "Oh no..."
"What is she doing!?" Luna asked.
Paradise saw that Serenity had a flame around her and it kept growing and growing. "She's going to blow up the whole city!"
"We have to stop her then!" Silverwind said.
"We don't have time, she's been charging it since she was taken!" Paradise said. "That flame around her will explode any second!"
Paradise grabbed Luna and Silverwind before running into the castle and used a spell to cast a shield around the castle. "Luna, you need to used your magic and teleport everyone in the city into the castle NOW!"
"Me!?" Luna asked. "I can try!"
Celestia runs inside after seeing the sky darken. "Luna, Paradise!? What's going on!?"
"No time, help me teleport the people in the castle!" Luna shouted.
Celestia didn't know what was going on, but she knew that Luna wasn't kidding around so she joined her in casting the spell.
The four of them watched as Serenity's magic exploded like a bomb nuking the city, luckily the princesses teleport spell went off just in time and every citizen in Canterlot was teleported to safety, thanks to Paradise's shield magic the blast didn't hit the castle but a good chunk of the mountain and the city was gone in a flash of fire.
Twilight Sparkle had teleported herself to Ponyville right in the park and saw Rainbow Dash, she counted that as ton of luck on her side and ran over. "Rainbow Dash!"
"Twilight?" Rainbow Dash looked at her confused as to why she looked out of breath.
"Hey mom!" Shining Star smiled and waved.
"Rainbow Dash, did you ever have a mother when you were growing up?" Twilight asked.
"Where did that come from?" Rainbow Dash asked even more lost. "And yes I did, my dad married. But he told me that he married my mom after I was born. Does that matter?"
"Your birth mother...I know...who it is!" Twilight said trying to not panic just as all of Ponyville suddenly saw the blast coming from Canterlot. "Oh no!"
"What the!?" Rainbow Dash gasped from the horrific scene.
"Oh my!" Fluttershy quickly covered her eyes.
"What is that!?" Dusk asked holding onto her twin.
"I don't know!" Shining Star said doing the same.
"Rainbow Dash, I know it doesn't make sense right now but I think your mother wasn't your birth mother, You have to come with me!" Twilight shouted over the blast.
"What?! Your not making any sense!" Rainbow Dash shouted back.
"Just come on!" Twilight said grabbing her and and teleporting away.
The fire blast finished leaving just a crater that was the city. She landed and took a deep breath. All that magic focusing was a lot even for an alicorn. "Celestia...forced my hoof..."
Twilight teleported with Rainbow Dash behind her. "Serenity!"
Serenity turned to her and glared. "You, you always try and stop me, well it's too late for that. Canterlot is wiped off the map!"
"Not all of it." Twilight explained looking at the castle that was barely standing. "And I have something to ask you...your daughter, your lover...what were their names?"
"What? Why do you care? I'm the villain here!" Serenity said annoyed. "I just turned this city and all it's people into ash!"
"I spoke with Paradise, she told me about you and how you were once happy, you had a family. I know for a fact you helped others and asked for nothing in return. You are not a villain, your just a mother that lost her child and is acting out because you want her back. Now tell me their names." Twilight pressed her on trying to get the truth out.
Serenity sighed. "Fine, you want to know so badly before I hurt you. My lover was...Rainbow Burst...we named our child...Rainbow Dash before she was lost to me...I took her to her father and hide her away."
"Wait what!?" Rainbow Dash looked at them as if they were crazy. "What are you talking about Twilight? This can't be real."
"Serenity...this is Rainbow Dash, her father is Rainbow Burst. After you were sealed away he married another mare to be Rainbow Dash's mother, the daughter you thought you lost was right here the whole time!" Twilight said.
Serenity stopped and looked at them in shock. "Is...is that true? Are you really...her?"
"I'm really confused." Rainbow Dash said. "Are you saying all this time my parents have been lying to me and my real mother is a princess?"
"I know it sounds weird. But thanks to Zecorra I know a spell that can show us the truth." Twilight said using a spell that made a screen appear and it showed Serenity With her baby in a cloak.
Rainbow Dash and Serenity watched as the Serenity in the screen spoke. "There you go...I'm sorry I can't be here for you...but they are hunting me...I don't want that for you...your special."
Serenity laid down her baby and opened the blanket a little revealing a baby Rainbow Dash. "Gaa..."
"I'm so sorry...someday...we'll meet again..I love you my little Rainbow." Serenity said before knocking on the door and leaving.
Twilight's magic faded and she smiled. "The baby she lost...it was you Rainbow Dash, don't you see that?"
Rainbow Dash looked at Serenity and Serenity looked back at her. "So...it's true...you really are my mom...I have two moms? And one of them is an alicorn!?"
Serenity hugged her. "I can't believe it! Your alive! Your safe and sound! This is amazing!"
"This is crazy." Rainbow Dash said hugging her back.
"Don't you see Serenity? You've been trying to get revenge, but you never needed to. Yes Celestia and Luna made mistakes. But they didn't know any better, I know you hurt people. But it's never too late to fix your mistakes." Twilight explained.
"You would forgive me...after everything I did? After THIS?" Serenity looked at her shocked.
"Of course I will, we all made mistakes in our lives. And with magic we can fix what magic ruined." Twilight answered.
"Wow...I….I don't know what to say." Serenity smiled at Twilight. "Thank you Twilight, I promise I'll fix what I destroyed and serve my time."
"Serve your time!?" Celestia came down from the castle that looked like it was about to fall apart from the blast. "After what you just did, I'm going to seal you away forever!"
"No!" Rainbow Dash said getting in front of Serenity. "I just reunited with my mother, I won't let you take her!"
"She blew up the city!" Luna said in rage as she came up with Celestia. "She must pay for what she did!"
The ponies looked at the giant crater, all the ponies looked at the princesses, each one angry from what Serenity had done. "We want justice!"
Twilight looked worried, she was too late to help Serenity, she didn't know what else to do. "Oh no..."
"Hold it!" A voice called out and Rarity came up to them from out of nowhere.
"Rarity!?" Twilight said and everyone looked at her. "What are you doing here?"
"Well all of Equestria saw the blast! I came here as soon as I could!" Rarity explained. "And I have something to say!"
"What is she doing?" Celestia asked.
"My family knew about Serenity and Paradise for a long time. You can't blame them for what they did here!" Rarity announced. "They didn't do anything wrong, they were sealed away for years for no reason!"
"No reason!? Look at our city!" A mare said angry. "It's not even rubble, it's just all gone!"
"We're lucky to be alive!" A stallion pointed out. "Their monsters!"
"If they are monsters then the princesses here are worse!" Twilight shouted. "Celestia is the reason Serenity attacked the city, all Serenity wanted was her child. Her family and it was taken away from her, yes she made bad choices, but it was a mistake and she can knows it, We gave DISCORD and Luna who was Nightmare Moon another chance. Why can't they get one!?"
The ponies all looked at each other unsure of what to say. Rainbow Dash then stepped up. "I agree with Twilight, Celestia gave Discord of all people a second chance, my mom and her sister didn't even do anything like he did. And I'll help fix the city with her."
Silverwind walked up to them with some other guards. The girls looked worried believing they would do arrest the Serenity and Paradise. Silverwind smiled however. "I believe in you princess Twilight, and I stand by you."
The other guards nodded in agreement, Paradise ran up to Serenity. "Sister...please...I'm sorry I betrayed you..."
Luna sighed and nodded. "Twilight and her friends are right, we punished them without reason and yet we freed villains who actually hurt us."
Celestia noticed that the people were now agreeing with them. She realized that this was a good chance to finally get over her fears. "Twilight Sparkle..."
Celestia went over to her ex student and smiled at her. "I...I was wrong, I wanted to keep the peace so badly I couldn't see what I was doing to others, and I was afraid to do anything else because I grew up scared of things I didn't understand. I put too much faith into my teacher Starswirl and I did things I'm not proud of..more mistakes then I would like to admit to..and I want to make things right...starting with Serenity and Paradise."
"Celestia...I am sorry I ran out on my duties..." Twilight admitted.
"Twilight, thank you for coming back. Thanks to you, me and Luna will work to fix what we have done. I was leaving in the past for so long I even turned away from Shining Star and Dusk Sparkle when they needed me...but I want children, I want to be a mother. But a teacher to others children, so...will you come back as a princess? Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia added.
"Yes, I will come back, but being a mother is also my duty." Twilight explained. "That's my condition okay?"
"It's a deal." Celestia said. "If I can do the same."
Twilight smiled at this, she never really saw this side of her, but it was nice. She really felt like this was the start of a new beginning for everyone. Serenity and Paradise hugged and Serenity spoke. "I'm sorry I got so angry sister...I hurt you so much.."
"Hey, I forgive you. We're family after all." Paradise said happily.
"Oh! I forgot." Serenity looked over at Daring Do and released her from her spell.
Daring Do Shook her head and stomped over to her. "You!"
"I'm sorry…" Serenity said feeling bad.
"Don't do that again! Got it!?" Daring Do said annoyed and then left. "Alicorns with their magic."
"Okay, maybe it'll take a bit more time." Twilight said to herself.
"So what can we do to fix this...mess?" Luna asked.
"Well there is ONE unicorn that knows nature magic." Twilight said. "Melody Bloom can heal the land with ease!"
Serenity and Paradise got to work on clearing up the debris, Twilight went off to get Melody Bloom and Rainbow Dash was helping Serenity to catch up, it was different for Rainbow Dash because she had two mothers now. Rarity was more then happy to help Paradise.
Luna and Celestia watched as everyone was working together to fix the damage. Celestia noticed Shining Star looking at her, she took a deep breath and went over to her. "Shining Star?"
Shining Star backed up a little. "I...I'll go..."
"No...don't go." Celestia quickly said. "Listen..I'm sorry for what I said...I didn't mean it."
"Re-really?" Shining Star asked.
"If it's okay...maybe we could start over?" Celestia pondered.
"You...mean it?" Shining Star asked again.
Celestia nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you officially."
Shining Star hugged her leg and Celestia hugged her back, Luna smiled at this and nudged Dusk. "Go join them."
Dusk jumped at the chance and hugged Celestia's leg. Celestia hugged her as well. "I promise I'll be there for you two, just like Twilight."
"Yay!" The twins said in unison.
"So all that happened to you huh?" Rainbow Dash asked as they cleared most of the debris around the crater. "You had it rough."
"That's an understatement Dashie. But I'd say it was worth it, because now I know that you had a good life and are happy. I mean your a wonderbolt." Serenity said enjoying the time they had.
"But I do have a question about this, if you are my mother then why am I not a alicorn like you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"It's actually a low chance for that to happen, alicorns are born but it's rare. Your father is a pegasi so you had about a fifteen chance to be an alicorn. But do you realize what this means for you?" Serenity explained. "You are a princess."
Rainbow Dash looked at her shocked. "Me!? A princess!? No way!"
"YOU!?" Rarity shouted. "Oh come on!"
"Uh...did I say something wrong?" Serenity asked.
"Why does all my friends get to be princesses and not me!?" Rarity complained.
Rainbow Dash just looked at Rarity dumbfounded. "Come on Rarity, me? A princess? As if."
"But it's true." Paradise said. "You are of royal blood even if you aren't an alicorn."
"Honestly I'm good just being myself." Rainbow Dash pointed out. "I don't really want to be a princess."
"It's a birthright, you can't just ignore it." Serenity pointed out. "But we can worry about that later."
"Great, my whole life is changing in a lot of ways." Rainbow Dash said. "And it's hard to tell if it's for the better or not."
"Well don't worry to much about it darling." Rarity said. "A lot has happened and we just need to take this all with filly steps."
"Your right Rarity, let's keep working." Rainbow Dash said and they got back to work.
Twilight returned shortly with Melody Bloom. "So that's what happened."
"I can see that, you really should have told us this was a problem." Melody explained. "I mean I could have fought them or something."
"But can you fix the damage?" Twilight asked.
"Oh this just requires a sixth level restore spell." Melody said with a smile. "I got this."
Melody then cast the spell and her magic flared. She focused for awhile and then the ground started to sparkle and glow. The crowd of ponies watched in awe as the magic filled the ground and the land started to repair itself, the mountain started to grow back a little but it wasn't enough.
"We need more magic!" Twilight said joining in and using her magic to help Melody's magic.
Celestia, Luna, Serenity and Paradise then joined in their own magic as well, the combined magic created a large ball of energy. The land healed but even with all their magic it would take time. The magic finally finished and the crater itself was healed but the magic would take weeks before the mountain was back to normal.
Melody sat down panting a bit, it took a lot out of her as she never had to heal a mountain before. Twilight smiled at her and gave her a quick hug. "Thank you Melody, you did it."
"It's no problem." Melody said with a smile.
"Well now all that's left is to build new homes and buildings." Celestia pointed out. "For now we will have to stay somewhere else until everything is back to normal."
"Ponyville doesn't have enough room for all of you though." Rarity explained.
Then a voice spoke up. "I know where you all can stay."
The crowd turned to see another alicorn, she had a red coat and blue long mane and tail with golden highlights coming down from her royal chariot with her royal guards dressed in red armor. She had a crown on and she looked extremely regal. "Greetings ponies of Equestria!"
"Who is that?" Twilight asked to anyone that would answer.
"I...don't know." Serenity said.
"I know her." Celestia admitted.
"My name is Nova. Princess of Maretopia. And I feel awful seeing what happened here today. So I invite you all to come stay in my kingdom until your homes are restored." Nova spoke in a calm and regal manner.
"Okay, WHAT!?" Twilight turned to Celestia. "How many alicorns are there!? I thought we were the only ones!"
"To be honest...it was only half of a lie...I said we are the only alicorns...in "Equestria" Maretopia is in Unicorn Grove." Celestia explained.
"What's that?" Twilight asked, she knew all the surrounding areas and that wasn't one she knew about. "I never heard of Unicorn Grove."
"It's actually considered the new Unicornia, I honestly don't know much about her, but I have seen her in the princess meetings." Celestia pointed out.
"As a fellow princess it is my duty to help those in need. I am willing to rebuild your city and your homes, and I am willing to give you shelter in my kingdom while it is being done." Nova said with a smile.
"You are willing to send your own resources to fix my mistake?" Serenity asked. "That's very kind of you...but why?"
"Well my kingdom is fairly new considering and I wish to extend a hoof in good gesture to my fellow princesses." Nova said.
"Doesn't it seem a little...convenient?" Luna asked Celestia who nodded.
"That's very kind of you, but we can handle this." Celestia pointed out. "Thank you anyway."
"I understand why you would think that. But all I bring is a kind gesture, nothing more." Nova's chariot landed and she got off of it. "People of Canterlot, most of you don't have a place to go, nowhere to sleep or anything like that. Now I am sure your princesses have "Something' planned to fix what's theirs. But after what just happened...do you believe them?"
The crowd all looked at each other and then at the princesses and started to talk among themselves. They all knew now that Celestia had been lying to them about Serenity and Paradise, what else could they be lying about?
"Now please don't take this the wrong way, I don't want to judge or turn you against your princesses, all I offer is food, shelter and your trust in me with your homes." Nova said. "And if you don't like what I do here, then I will take it all away and nobody loses."
"I believe my sister made it clear Ms. Nova. We don't want your help." Luna said.
"Now wait a minute." Moondancer spoke up from the crowd and came up. "I don't know about a lot of you...but my home was all I had here. No family or friends. I think this is a good idea, a princess that we can trust is offering us a stay at her city and is willing to fix our homes for free. That sounds like a much better deal then what the other princesses would make us do. If we left it to them we would be paying to fix the town from our own pockets. Remember what happened the last time our city was destroyed?"
Celestia and Luna looked at each other worried. Twilight stepped up to Moondancer. "Are you sure?"
"You didn't just lose everything to a princess argument." Moondancer pointed out. "Serenity was just upset at Celestia and we all paid for it, we had jobs here Twilight. Not just homes. Princess Nova is offering us a chance to make it the way it was. Can we afford not to take it?"
"But Moondancer…" Twilight tried to think of a reason to not go but she couldn't think of anything.
"Let them go darling." Rarity spoke as she walked up to them. "You have always had royal funding, you never needed money before. These ponies work for a living, Moondancer is right. And I don't sense anything evil about Nova, she wants to help."
"Nova, if you are going to do this. I wish to help rebuild." Serenity came up to her. "I made...a huge mistake and I want to make things right."
"Can I help as well?" Paradise asked.
"We all will." Luna brought up. "People of Canterlot. Please go with Nova to her city, we will fix everything we can as fast as we can. Thank you."
Nova brought out a small disc and placed it on the floor before pushing on it and a portal opened up around it. "Step through and you will be teleported to my city of Maretopia."
The crowd of people started to head through the portal and Celestia watched them all go as she walked up to Nova. "Something is up Nova...what are you really planning?"
"Well I was thinking about getting some Cantorlot delights for the trip back from my meeting with the princess of Saddleberg but that's out." Nova said innocently.
"Can I go and check out your city?" Rarity asked.
"Of course Miss. My city is open to all." Nova nodded.
"Come on girls. It's not like we will get another chance like this." Rarity said happily.
"I don't know Rarity, I have a lot of work to do and I shouldn't leave the castle for so long." Twilight admitted.
"Hey uh...mom? You want to check it out with us?" Rainbow Dash asked Serenity.
"You...want me around? After what I did?" Serenity looked at her confused.
"Well sure, I mean you are family and nobody got really hurt. And that blast was awesome! Even if it destroyed the city it was so cool!" Rainbow Dash admitted.
"Well...okay!" Serenity said with a nod trying to hide her tears of joy.
"You don't have to be so busy Twilight, it's just a map, if any danger happens in the few hours we're there then Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie can handle it. Plus we have Starlight, the wonderbolts. You need a break and the twins seem to want to go as well."
Twilight looked over at the twins who were jumping around excitedly. "Yay! Field trip with both mommy's!"
Twilight nodded. "Okay. Your right, it's just for a little bit."
"Wonderful. Then come along every pony." Nova said going through the portal.
The rest followed after her and Melody Bloom looked at Twilight before they reached the portal. "Things have been pretty crazy around here huh?"
"Yeah." Twilight agreed. "But with Serenity and Paradise no longer trying to be evil I think the worst is behind us."
They then walked through the portal.
