Heartwarming / Aftermath of the Games

Aftermath of the Games

• After Twilight was returned to normal, Cinch started yelling at her for being a monster and refuses to acknowledge that she had a hand in it. The response of everybody else? To defend Twilight and call Cinch out. And the Crystal Prep team members are the first ones to do so.
• Applejack's family took Sunset in after the events of the Fall Formal after they discovered that she was living in an abandoned apartment building, with Granny Smith and Applejack convincing the rest of the family to do so. It's nice to know that there were people besides the Humane Five willing to help out with Sunset's redemption.
  • Also, the human counterparts of Applejack's parents are alive. That one's pretty huge on its own.
• Spike was given to Twilight as a gift from Shining Armor and Cadance to help her deal with the grief of her parents' deaths. It's clear that this is just what she has needed and the two have been taking care of each other ever since then.
• When Sci-Twi discovers that her doppleganger's parents are alive, she's relieved to know that they're still around in some form.
• During her first sleepover at Pinkie's home, after spending the whole day with her new friends, Twilight decided to have Cadance fill her transfer papers to Canterlot High the next day.
• After the Sirens were defeated in Rainbow Rocks, the Rainbooms sought them out and offered their hand in friendship. Although the Sirens turned the offer down and left, it's sweet to know that the Rainbooms tried to reach out to them instead of rubbing their victory in their faces.
• For Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo fans, it's heartwarming to know that while they're surrogate sisters in Equestria, they're real sisters in the human world.
  • The way Rainbow Dash talks about this, as if it should be obvious, is also sweet.
• In a change from the season finale, Twilight beat Starlight by talking to her past self, taking her to the future away from her terrible orphanage to be her student, and care for her and teach her about friendship to stop her from turning into the monster she would have been.
  • There's also how Princess Twilight is a supporting mother figure to filly Starlight, and how Starlight trusts Twilight enough to hide behind her when she's scared, such as when she sees Sci-Twi.
• Pinkie Pie states she's jealous of her pony self because she gets to be an aunt to the young Starlight since Twilight is the adoptive mother.
• Fluttershy upon meeting the young Starlight, immediately runs up to her and tells her how cute she is. Starlight also recognizes her as the human version of Fluttershy, meaning that she also sees Twilight's friends as people she can trust, too.
• Sci-Twi ponied up by talking about how much she loves having her new friends and doing activities with them. Even in this world she still represents the element of magic.
• Princess Twilight and human Flash Sentry can now talk to each other more through a pair of magic journals, just like the one Sunset Shimmer has.

Integration

• Human Cadance, now the new Principal of Crystal Prep, hugs Sunset Shimmer at the beginning of the story as thanks for all that she and the Humane 5 have done to help Twilight get out of her shell and recover from her demonic transformation. According to her, Twi hasn't been this joyful since before her parents died.
  • It's revealed that Shining Armor was fine with his sister transferring to CHS when he saw that she was much happier there than in Crystal Prep, despite him being an alumni of the latter.
• Between the two stories, each of the Rainbooms have been taking turns when they have been available to watch over Human Twilight during the night to help her with her nightmares and to let Shining and Cadance rest. Also, while she is still suffering from them, Twilight did sleep through one night without bad dreams, signifying progress in recovery.
• Princess Cadance both knows about young Starlight's origins and gladly accepts her as a niece. Likewise, Human Cadence loves her and hugged her upon meeting her for the first time. Starlight's feelings towards Cadence are mutual, too, and she has accepted her as an aunt.
• Flash apologizes to Sunset for not helping her after the Fall Formal, even though Princess Twilight asked the whole school to give her a second chance. He confesses that before he met Twilight he was hoping that he and Sunset could get back together so she could be the girl she is now. Sunset says he has nothing to apologize for because she was just using him and never really loved him. In the end they both decide to be friends and put any bad blood behind them.
  • Before Flash goes to talk to Princess Twilight, he asks Sunset if it's okay if he's dating one of her friends now. Sunset reveals that since they've been broken up for months, it's alright with her.
• Flash tells Princess Twilight that his parents are open-minded to them dating and know about Twilight's origins, because they were chaperones at the Fall Formal and they've seen evidence of Equestria.
• Princess Twilight, Dragon Spike, and Starlight having dinner with Human Twilight's family, and then Twilight reading Starlight a story until she falls asleep.
• When Human Shining Armor asks Princess Twilight if his parents' pony counterparts are really alive, she confirms it. She then tells him after finding out about the drunk driving accident, she put all of her princess duties on hold and spent an entire week with her parents.
• Shining Armor and Cadence were planning a big wedding ceremony before what happened to Sci-Twi's parents. After the funeral, Cadence decided that she wanted to help Shining raise his sister, so they went down to the courthouse to get legally married and she signed the adoption papers the same day. They decided to put both the fancy ceremony and having a baby of their own on hold until Sci-Twi finishes her high school career. Just how much they love their charge is evidence that they really are the counterparts of the Crystal Empire Family.
  • Shining tells his sister that he and Cadence have no doubts or regrets about putting their lives on hold to raise her, and that both their Mom and Dad would be proud of her if they could see her now.
• Celestia and Sunset's reunion, including Celestia saying that Sunset can call her "Mom", and later telling Twilight that she can do so as well. The chapter ends with all three cuddled up on a bed together.
  • Doubling as a funny moment, the next pony chapter shows a flashback of the three of them playfully tickling and laughing together as a real family, which Celestia states was "important things".
• Sunset tells Sci-Twi more about her past as a bully to better explain to her how friendship can change people for the better.
  • Flash was shown to stand up for Snips and Snails before they were Sunset's goons and got most of the school to apologize to them after the Fall Formal.
  • Applejack and Apple Bloom sleep with Sunset to comfort her after the Anon-a-Miss incident.
  • Later that night Sunset comforts Sci-Twi after another nightmare and sings her a lullaby version of My Past Is Not Today.
• Sunburst never abandoned Starlight; after he got settled into Canterlot, he tried to send her a letter saying he missed her and was going to give her a recommendation to come to school with him. Unfortunately, this never happened because shortly afterwards Sunburst was killed in a lab accident (or rather sent to the human world and captured by the Changeling Mafia) and Starlight never learns about this.
• While Twilight feels completely guilty over being forced to Ret-Gone the Villainous Starlight, everybody who is entrusted with filly Starlight's origins supports Twilight's choice and understands that it was an absolutely last resort.
• In "Ponies III", there's a flashback when Pony Shining Armor and Cadance meet filly Starlight. They already know about her origins, but they immediately accept her as one of their own.
  Starlight: Are you really Princess Cadance?
  Cadance: To most ponies, yes. To you, I’m Aunt Cadance.
  Starlight: R-really?
  Cadance: You better believe it. Now give me a hug (Starlight does just that).
  Shining Armor: And I’m your Uncle Shiny. How about a hug for me?(Group Hug. Starlight starts to cry)
  Cadance: Sweetie... are you crying?
  Starlight: Princess Twilight said everypony here was so nice. She was right. Nopony was this nice to me back home.
  Cadance: Well then, you hit the jackpot, haven’t you? Don’t worry, there’s plenty of love here to go around.
• Interlude 1 is a flashback chapter to how Twilight adopted filly Starlight:
  • It's shown that Twilight really did try to talk Starlight down. It was only when the original Starlight refused to back down when Twilight had decided to retgone her.
  • Twilight, upon approaching the sobbing filly, tried to fly down as graceful as Celestia's always appeared to her.
  • Filly Starlight's both amazed at discovering there was both a Princess who decided to teach her magic and seeing a real live dragon for the first time.
  • Pinkie Pie's reaction to Twilight having her first student is pretty sweet. After getting over the shock about Starlight's origins, Pinkie immediately swears that she'll be the best aunt she can be to the filly. Pinkie even insisted that Starlight call her "Auntie Pinkie".
  • Twilight reads Starlight some of the first Daring Do book to her as a bedtime story. Starlight kisses her on the cheek in gratitude.
  • When Starlight's unable to get to sleep because the castle's too big and scary for her, Twilight allows her to spend the night in her bed. This shows that despite Twilight feeling like she doesn't deserve to be Filly Starlight's mom, she still does her best to show care and affection for her.
  • Twilight went to the orphanage Starlight grew up in during the present day and arrested all of its staff for child abuse. She then got trustworthy caretakers to improve the orphanage and is keeping tabs on it's growth so no other orphans suffer underneath its roof.
  • When the adult Starlight realized that Twilight was adopting her filly self, she willingly let herself disappear from existence with a tearful smile on her face. While Twilight wonders if Starlight actually wanted to die during their battle, by the end of the chapter it turned out that Harmony was showing Starlight the timeline of the great life her new self was going to get, and she was happy about that. From the looks of things, it seems that Twilight will eventually overcome her guilt over the original Starlight, and that while it was going to be tough, both the princess and the filly were ultimately going to get a happy ending. What makes all this sweeter is that the original Starlight calls Twilight "mom" as she's praying for her.
• After Flash Sentry helped save Sci-Twi's life, Shining Armor gives him his trust. Even after hearing Flash is already with her pony counterpart.
  Shining Armor:(to Flash Sentry) Look, I worry a lot, but I know Twilight’s going to want to date sooner or later. I’d rather it be with a boy I know I can trust, and saving her life put you in that category.
• Twilight finding the retgoned village from the original timeline (minus the Equality ideology) with the new timeline's versions of Double Diamond, Party Favor, Sugar Belle, and Nightglider as its charter residents.
• Twilight's date with Flash Sentry and his family going great. They finally kiss when they're alone right before Twilight returns to Equestria.
• The parents of the Rainbooms all meet together, including Principal Cadance, at Sweet Apple Acres to discuss the situation about magic for their children and how to keep them safe from another attempted kidnapping like what happened to Sci-Twi. They aren't just talking about the Rainbooms safety either, some of them are thinking about sending all of their kids to Equestria so they will be safe, including Maud who is away at college.
  • When some of the parents begin to blame Sunset for what is happening, Jonathan Apple and Jonagold, Applejack's parents, immediately speak up and defend their adopted daughter.
• Sunset comforts Puppy Spike when he asks her if there is a spell that can make him bigger so he can do a better job defending Sci-Twi.
  • In Interlude II, Cadance thanks Spike for being there to help Sci-Twi through the days following her parents' deaths, in the same way that caring for baby Sci-Twi helped Cadance cope with the loss of her own.
• Pretty much all of Interlude II, showing how Puppy Spike and Sci-Twi met and bonded.
  • When they first saw each other, they could each see the sadness in each other's eyes and as soon as Sci-Twi learned that Spike lost his whole family to rabies, she knew he was the perfect pup for her.
  • Spike does everything he can to comfort Twilight whenever she starts crying over her dead parents.
  • Spike defends Sci-Twi for the first time when Fleur bullies her in the park, biting her ankle for pushing his master and insulting her.
  • It is mentioned that the reason Spike chased the jackalope during the Friendship Games wasn't because of some animal instincts to chase prey, but because Spike saw something unfamiliar and strange near Twilight and his first instinct was to protect her.
• Twilight talking to her friends at a local cafe about her first date and feeling like old times before her accession.
• Twilight and Celestia talk with each other, during which Celestia confesses that she has been trying to help Twilight keep her innocence for as long as possible.
  • Celestia also explains that the reason she needs students in her life is because it keeps her grounded and not get detached from mortals, and remember how much of a sacrifice one life can be.
• When Twilight finally tells Flash Starlight's origins she admits that she is scared and doesn't know what to do with her. Flash hugs her and encourages her that she can handle it.
  • Flash also believes that the thing that worries him the most about moving to Equestria isn't walking on four legs, losing his fingers, or learning how to fight again and learn about pony culture and manners. It's becoming a father to Starlight, and by extension Spike.
• Celestia, Twilight, and Starlight all taking a bath together in the Friendship Castle Bathhouse during "Ponies VI".
  • At the end of the chapter, Twilight tells Celestia that she made the decision to tell Starlight the entire truth about why she decided to take her in when the summer ends. Also, she doesn't try to deny the fact that she's a mother now in this chapter. This signifies that Twilight is starting to overcome her guilt from what happened with the original Starlight.
• Despite Sunset's fears, her friends don't blame her for getting them involved with the Changelings.
• Flash doesn't have any problems seeing Twilight in her true pony form and kisses her to show her that he is alright with it.
• It is shown that the pony Berry Punch (whose human counterpart was responsible for the accident that killed Sci-Twi's parents) has been given a job by Princess Twilight that has moved her to Canterlot for the Summer where she will avoid running into Sci-Twi while she visits Equestria. The payment for this job includes the condition that Berry consume no alcohol for the duration of her employment. The only thing that pushes Berry's cravings down is the sum of money that has been promised to go to her daughter Berry Pinch's education.
• The third Interlude chapter has the introduction of Harmony. She tells for Twilight and Sunset to call her "Mother" since all are her children. She says she is proud of all Celestia, Twilight and Sunset have done.
  • After Sunset has visions of her past and how she recovered from it, Harmony explains that after everything Sunset has done she has made amends and proven herself worthy of being the Alicorn of Empathy.
  • The end of the chapter reveals Twilight and Celestia had visions of their pasts too. While Twilight goes to Flash for comfort, Sunset goes to Celestia.
    • Celestia also says that it is required for both her and Luna to have visions of their past once every new Alicorn ascends. However, Harmony made an exception for when Twilight ascended so this was the first time for Celestia since Cadance.
• In “Humans VIII”, while Fluttershy is buying lunch for a homeless person, she and Rainbow talk about Adiago, who is currently hiding out at the former’s house. Fluttershy believes that showing kindness to the former siren can help her change for the better and she can’t be completely bad if she’s willing to team up with them to save her sisters. Rainbow then tells her that she hopes that Fluttershy’s not being too trusting, because while showing kindness worked with some former enemies (Sunset and Sci-Twi), it also failed to work in other instances (Cinch and the Original Starlight).
  Rainbow: “I’m not saying that Adagio can’t change... in fact, I think she’s on the verge of it. But I don’t want you to think you can change everyone. There are some people you just can’t help.”
  Fluttershy: “I know. But I’m going to try my best.”
  • Afterwards, Rainbow offers to pay for lunch for the next homeless person they go to.
• In the opening of "Ponies VIII", Celestia talks about the Human Flash Sentry for awhile in her letter to Luna. She states that Twilight's relationship with him is every bit as serious as she hoped it was while also calling him handsome and respectful, saying that Luna will like him even if she didn't get a chance to play matchmaker. Celestia is glad Twilight found at least one happy relationship before becoming untouchable like them.
  • The next scene is Flash waking up next to Twilight in bed, which is described as "the first of what would be countless mornings." Which perhaps hints that Princess Twilight and Flash do eventually make their relationship work and get married.
  • They greet each other with a good morning kiss, calling each other "beautiful" and "handsome" and Twilight helps Flash get ready before going to breakfast, brushing his mane and preening his wings.
  • When Twilight tells Flash why she spent the night with him, due to seeing her past and all her mistakes, she almost mentions the Smartypants incident before catching herself and stopping. Flash notices this and considers telling Twilight she can tell him anything, but decides not to press her since they are still only a few months into their relationship, and she can tell him when she is comfortable.
• Sunburst is alive! Yes he's currently in the middle of a very bad situation but once Twilight, Sci-Twi, Sunset and the Rainbooms find this out, it probably won't stay that way long.