"So, this is it?" I asked with far less enthusiasm than the situation warranted. Maybe a lifetime in Ponyville had desensitized me to insanity more than I realized.

"What's left of Celestia, Luna, and Twilight," Sunset Shimmer replied. "The best I can figure, their very essence is slowly bleeding out of them. Killing them."

"You mean they're still alive, like this?" Scootaloo asked, pointing to the crackling, but otherwise perfectly still, ponies on the level below us.

"Kind of," Applebloom answered. "Their bodies are here, trying to keep the world going as best they can, but they don't respond to any sort of external stimuli. They're just stuck here, burning and bleeding magic out into the world."

"That's why the sun didn't go out right away," I said. "And the moon still shines a bit, and... what happens if Twilight dies?"

Sunset and Applebloom shared a quick glance. Sunset sighed, then said, "Twilight is the Element of Magic, and the Princess of Friendship. Both of these things existed before her, obviously. But so did the sun and moon before Celestia and Luna. Our best guess is that her ascension to an alicorn made her the avatar of one, or both. So, just like with Celestia and Luna, if Twilight goes, magic goes with her. And without magic, or friendship—"

"No weather, no seasons, no farming. War, maybe, and then the return of the Windegoes. Eventually, when the sun goes cold, even the Windegoes will freeze, if they don't starve first." Applebloom took a long breath. "Basically, it's the end of the world."

I looked down at the three ash-covered figures standing in a circle and burning below us. "What's with the ash and soot everywhere," I asked. "I get that they're on fire, but the whole place is covered in the stuff."

Applebloom looked at Sunset, then hung her head. "You tell 'em. I can't stomach the story twice."

"Not long after I came back to Equestria and started moving the sun, a group of desperate, crazed ponies broke into the throne room and threw themselves at the princesses. Every single one of them turned to ash as soon as they touched one of the princesses. I only managed to stop one of them. When we interrogated him he said, 'a dying fire needs more fuel. It's as simple as that.'"

"Where is he now?" I asked.

Sunset pointed down to the pile of ash. "He escaped confinement after a few days and threw himself at Celestia's feet. The guards tried to stop him, but they weren't fast enough."

"Why are we here, Applebloom?" Scootaloo asked. "You could have told us all this back in Ponyville. It would have sounded crazy, but we probably would have believed you. What's the deal?"

"The zealots weren't wrong, unfortunately," Sunset started before Applebloom had a chance to answer. "I brought some equipment with me from my old home that measures solar radiation. Sure enough, the sun burned just a little brighter for almost three days."

"Four dozen ponies died to teach us that we had to feed a fire," Applebloom said. "But it ain't enough kindle a bonfire if you don't stop the logs from rolling out."

"So, what? You want us to kill ourselves to make the weekend a little brighter? Applebloom, I think you've spent too much time with your head in the algae pools."

Applebloom grabbed Scootaloo and shook her. "Of course Ah'm not sayin' we should die for a sunny picnic. I'm desperate, not stupid. Ah—consarn it—[i]I[/i] think the three of us can fix the leak in the princesses." 

Scootaloo pulled away from Applebloom's grasp and fell shaking into mine. "Why do you think we'll do anything different than the others who tried?" Applebloom's a smart pony, and Sunset's no dull needle, but I was having a hard time buying into this whole thing.

Applebloom pointed at her cutie mark, then to Scootaloo's, then to mine. "I reckon we might be just the right fit to fill what's missin'. Probably won't bring them back, but stopping things from getting any worse would save a lot of lives."

Sunset walked in closer and put a hoof on Applebloom's shoulder. "Alicorns are exemplars of the three pony tribes' traits. The form and magic of three made into one. You have the magic of one spread across three, in a sense. Your shared cutie marks are unique in all of recorded Equine history. I don't think it's a coincidence that you also represent each tribe."

"Hold on a second," Scootaloo said, shaking her head. "Are you telling us we're, what proto-alicorns or something?"

"Or failed alicorns," I add.

"It's more like you're the concave to their convex. Maybe a parallel brach off the same magical evolutionary tree. There's so much..." Sunset shook her head, grunted, then leaned against the wall. "There's just so much we don't know. It's wrong to bring you here and hit you with all this, I do know that. But we're not sure what else to do. If the sun dies, we die. If the moon dies, the monsters of the night run rampant, we die, and then they die. If magic dies, we die."

"We get the picture." Scootaloo looked over to me. She seemed more tired than angry or shocked now. "How long do we have, if we don't do anything?"

Applebloom and Sunset looked at each other again. They both sighed. "A decade, at best," Sunset said.

"And that's with the work I've been doing the last few years. The shelters, the geothermal heating, the food substitutes; it all ain't gonna last long."

"I'll do it." The words fell out of my mouth before I even realized it, but I knew I meant it. "If it doesn't work we're all screwed pretty soon anyway, right? May as well try to be a hero."

"Runs in the families, doesn't it?" Scootaloo stood up and flared out her wings. "Feather it all to Tartarus, I'm in, too. If Rainbow Dash saved the world half a dozen times, then I can do it at least once."

"It was my idea, so obviously I'm in. Looks like we're all good here, Sunset. Heh. I almost can't believe it. Pretty soon I can finally... rest..." Applebloom fell asleep on her hooves. Sunset grabbed her with her magic before she fell over.

"She's been running herself into the ground for years now," Sunset said. "I think anypony other than an Apple would have ended up in the hospital long before now. I... I'd like to wait a few days to actually do this thing. It would give Applebloom some time to recover, Starlight will want to see you, I'm sure, plus..."

"The Summer Sun Celebration," I finished for her. "I get it. If it works, starting off the new cycle on a historical high note would be great for public morale. It's a clever theatrical choice."

"Yeah. I feel so selfish calculating pony's lives like this, but I have to think about what's good for the nation."

"Calculate Applebloom into a bed, then find me a route to the nearest bar. If I'm going down, I'm taking as much of this town with me as I can."

"South side of town, near the cliff. Only building with a green roof. Can't miss it from the sky."

"Awesome." Scootaloo hopped into the air and hovered for a second. "Sweetie?"

"I'll meet you there after we put Applebloom to bed. See if they can set up some Karaoke?"

Scootaloo saluted, then flew out the door.

Sunset and I walked a while in silence with Applebloom hovering behind us, still asleep. The castle was deserted, except for the guards keeping watch over the single entryway which hadn't been sealed shut.

"Is there anything you need to take care of back in Ponyville before the, well, before?" Sunset asked. "I'm no princess, but I could arrange an air chariot to get you there and back."

I shook my head. "Not really, nope. Just, do something useful with the Boutique. Maybe something beautiful, if you can manage that, too."

"Isn't your sister living there still?"

"Rarity passed a few days before we left." I started crying. I didn't at the time, really. Too much to do making the arrangements. But now, the swell of Applebloom showing up, traveling to Canterlot, and this whole dying business had slowed down, I could finally feel the grief hitting me. "The three of us only have each other now." I kept walking as I cried, until I noticed I was walking alone. I looked back to see Sunset on the ground, covered in tears herself.

"I'm so sorry, Sweetie," she said. "She was one of my closest friends. Sort of. Oh hell, it's complicated." She stood up and wiped her face clean. "As long as Ponyville stands, so will the Carousel Boutique. Starlight and I will make sure of it."

"Thank you," I said as a fresh round of tears began to roll.

[hr]

Scootaloo made sure the three of us milked the last few days we had for all they were worth. I think she was trying to cover up how scared she was. She thinks I'm projecting. "Saving the world will make us heroes," she said, over and over. "But doing whatever feather-brained thing I'm thinking of right now will make us legends!"

She wasn't wrong. By the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration most the town knew the names of the three crazy mares who showed up in town one day and brought the party with them. The bartenders said it's the most fun they've seen anypony have in years, and, yeah. That feels pretty good, too. Have to keep the world worth saving, after all.

We took the last night slow, though. Just the three of us hanging out like we used to. Talking as the sun went down, laughing as the moon came up and swam across the sky. The only way it could have been more "us" is if we were sitting in a tiny clubhouse out in an apple orchard.

As it started down to the horizon, somepony knocked on our door.

"Come in," I said.

Sunset and Starlight walked in, sober as a funeral. Well, sober as some other pony's funerals. Ours had been a blast.

"They say time flies when you're having fun," Applebloom said.

"It's about time, girls," Starlight said.

"Are you ready?" Sunset asked. I could tell they'd both been crying, but Sunset didn't hide it as well.

"Just one more thing before we go." Applebloom pulled a bag out from under her bed. "A little style for the road I dug up while we were back in Ponyville." She turned the bag upside down and out fell three red, filly-sized capes, each with a blue insignia in one corner. "I lengthened up the neckties a bit. They should fit alright."

Scootaloo started crying first, the big chicken that she is. Applebloom and I started right after. It didn't take long for Sunset and Starlight to join in the waterworks. But, between the sobs, we managed to get our old capes on. We looked at each other and smiled. "Now we're ready," I said.

[hr]

We stood on our rear legs in a circle beneath the burning princesses. Easier to reach this way. The plan is simple enough: make sure we're touching each other, then, just before sunrise, we each touch one of the princesses. Sunset should know right away if it works, since she'll be handling the sun at the time.

"Scoots, Sweetie," Applebloom said as we wrapped one arm over each other's backs. "Whatever happens, I'm thankful you believed in me. Ah love ya both so much."

The barest sliver of light started to creep in through the lower windows. We reached out with our other forelegs toward the princesses. "We love you too, Applebloom," Scootaloo and I said.

"On the count of three," Scootaloo said. "One,"

"Two," I counted

"Three," Applebloom finished.

Together, one last time, as we touched our charred sovereigns, we yelled, "Cutie Mark Crusader Legendary Heroes!"