//------------------------------// // A Constellation At Midnight // Story: The Legend of the Everfree // by Shadowmane PX-41 //------------------------------// Midnight's claws charged together a powerful web of black electricity as she threw them up and towards Constellation and her friends. With a growl, she fired a torrent of purple energy wrapped in lightning towards the girls and their giant. Constellation waved her hand, creating a wall of translucent energy, with twinkling stars all over it. The energy collided against her wall and vanished entirely, shattering like glass against her power. With another wave, she coated herself in stardust and shone brighter than before. She arched her body forward and dashed at Midnight, flying at the speed of light. With this otherworldly speed, she held her hand out, firing a beam of light around Midnight and leaving a white trail all over her body. She cocooned the monster's entire body and flew right back to where she was. She clicked her fingers, and the marks she had left on Midnight glowed the colours of the rainbow and started to burn her flesh. "ARRRRGH!" Midnight roared, casting her gaze at the girls before she was punched in the face by the giant, being operated by the Rainbooms. She had no time to react as Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat deluged her face with their powers. "INSUFFERABLE LITTLE MAGGOTS! DARKNESS IS ALL THAT REMAINS!" "It's working!" Gloriosa climbed up the body of the giant, clinging onto the vines for dear life as it took steps backward. "The Power of the Everfree is flourishing! It's banishing the darkness even now!" "That's what you think!" Midnight flapped her wings and held her claws up high, creating black thorns that moved with her arms. "TRY THIS!" She thrust her arms forward, sending the black plants towards the girls rapidly. Constellation graciously ducked, weaved, and flew around the vines as they swirled all around her and her friends. Every jab that was taken at her she was able to dodge, and when her friends were being overwhelmed, she shot a blast of light towards them, destroying the vines instantly. Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes and concentrated within the head of the giant. Gathering yellow and white magic, she sealed herself inside an orb and transformed into what she had become back at the Friendship Games. She burst out of the ball in a brilliant burst of light and placed her hands on the body of the created life-form. The giant's body shone the colours of the rainbow as the arms and legs became gold, but was still made entirely out of natural things. The limbs grew veins that were the same colours of the Rainbooms and Shadowbolts' hair and skins, to the point where it was almost a mess on the eyes with how bright it was. "YOU'RE ALL WEAK!" Midnight stomped her feet, sending an earthquake out to topple the giant and throw Gloriosa off of it. "I WILL DESTROY YOU, CONQUER EVERYTHING, AND REIGN AS THE SUPREME GODDESS OF MAGIC!" Gloriosa held on tightly as the giant wobbled and stumbled on the shaking earth. She waited for it all to stop so she could keep on climbing, but with no luck as her grip on the vines was beginning to slip, and the vine itself was falling out of the earth it was secured to. First it snapped, then she let go of it, and Gloriosa fell towards the ground. Constellation saw her out of the corner of her eyes and darted down towards her as fast as she could. Mere seconds before Gloriosa splatted onto the ground like a pancake, Constellation caught her and took her up to the top of the titan. She gently set her down on the head, causing a throne to appear. "There you go, Gloriosa." Constellation set Gloriosa down in the throne and held her hand out towards her. Magically, she was sealed into the chair by her legs and chest. "A throne befitting a queen. The Queen of the Everfree Forest." With another wave, she created a laurel crown and deftly put it on Gloriosa's head. "Watching you befriend those cowards sickens me, Twilight." Midnight scoffed and crossed her arms, causing spikes to form all around her body. "Magic is the ultimate tool to end a life with. It's not supposed to be wielded by some prancing widdle ponies!" She used air quotes when looking at Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms. "It's meant to be used to destroy!" "You're wrong, Midnight Sparkle. Dark Magic is meant to be used to destroy." Constellation shook her head as she stared down the demon. "True magic is meant to heal all wounds, restore all damage, and prevent any more lives from being lost to monsters like you!" "No. You're wrong. ALL forms of magic cause death and destruction, even yours!" Midnight hissed and stared down at the Rainbooms and Shadowbolts. "You blanket yourself with lies, ones that you reinforce with this stupid little nonsense such as the Magic of Friendship. Not even you know the magic's true power, or what it can do to your enemies!" "You're the one who's lying to yourself!" Constellation fired a shot at Midnight's eyes that travelled so fast that it blinded her. She watched the demon recoil and cry out as the clutched her eyes. "You let Dark Magic seep into your system so much that you don't even know who you are anymore. Any shred of humanity you had left is now gone, and you remain a monster who's only purpose is to hurt and destroy!" So what if I am?!" Midnight snarled, gnashing her teeth together as she tore open another rift with her bare hands. "I LIKE having the power to hurt. It's the only thing that gives me a sense of comfort in times of boredom or sadness. Anything that gets in my way is unacceptable, and a perversion of magic's true nature!" "Do not try to philosophise your way out of this one, Midnight!" Twilight drew a line with her own magic before making a large oval around it. A bright eye formed where she had drawn and gazed at the rift, removing it entirely. "Magic's true purpose is decided by the hand that wields it, not the ones who seek raw power. All that you bring yourself to is flawed power, when in reality, the strongest life-forms are the ones who are pure of heart, and willing to help people with the magic by their side!" "ENOUGH!" Midnight screamed and fired magic into the vortex, causing it to start pulling the forest out of the ground and up into the portal. "IF ALL THAT YOU CARE ABOUT IS SAVING THE WORLD, THEN THERE SHALL BE NO WORLD FOR YOU TO SAVE! I SHALL DEVOUR ALL OF IT AND SHATTER YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS LIKE GLASS!" "Girls! Now!" Constellation looked down at the other girls, who all started to glow their colours once more and make their giant radiate. She and Sunset both got together and held hands as they closed their eyes and smiled. "And so it shall be that the twelve heroes would unite on the fields of battle and destroy the darkness once and for all." Gloriosa closed her eyes too and began reciting something as the giant began to bloom all different coloured plants as the girls called on the six Elements of Harmony. "Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, and Generousity would be branded to magic, creating a force beyond anything that this world has ever seen. A force not only to purify the corrupted, but to destroy the wickedness and evil that plagues our worlds. "That time has come at long last." Gloriosa looked over at Midnight and remembered that Gaia was still a part of her. "But what shall remain of my friend once the dust settles? Where will Gaia Everfree be when Midnight turns to dawn? Will she perish along with her, or will she live on?" The Rainbooms and Shadowbolts controlled the giant and made it hold out its right arm towards Midnight, causing the light to get stronger and stronger as another emblem appeared by the behemoth's feet. It showed the six elements of the Magic of Friendship, as well as the emblems of the girls who embodied those elements, with both Twilight and Sunset's Cutie Marks at the centre of it all. A tornado of light swirled around the giant, striking into the sky high above, colliding with the vortex and making it begin to dissipate. At the same time, the massive construct pushed its arm forward and gathered magic from all twelve of the girls, with Sunset Shimmer and Constellation adding their own power to it. "NOW WE SETTLE THIS. ONCE AND FOR ALL! NOW AND FOREVER!" Midnight collected energy of her own and created a massive circular rune in front of her body, with thorns and archaic markings all around it, with a dark purple pool of black magic at the rune's heart. "I WILL NOT BE BESTED BY SOME LOWLIFE, UNDERAGED, UNDEREXPERIENCED, AND DOWNRIGHT UGLY BABIES!" Both Midnight and the Rainbooms fired off colossal beams of magic that violently pushed and struggled against each other as their wielders gritted their teeth together. The push was strong, and both sides let out a yell that got louder and louder the more they fought back against their opponent. "DIE! DIE! ALL OF YOU DIE!" Midnight pushed harder, making her beam of magic bigger, making a start on pushing the other one back towards the girls. "The only thing that shall die today is the forces of evil!" Constellation flew through the beam and rammed into the darkness to keep it held back. "Your time has come to an end, Midnight Sparkle. It's time for a new day. Time to let the sun rise once more. And more importantly, to put the past behind us!" "Weak. Do you not know that I am immortal?!" Midnight stared down at Constellation as she continued to fight back against the Rainbooms' magic. "Your darkness is what allows me to persist! As long as you have darkness, I'll just keep on coming back again and again, until at long last I achieve my goal and destroy all that remains of your precious light!" Without another word, the Rainbooms and Constellation shattered Midnight's magic and drenched her in the beam of light. Slowly but surely, the monster's body began to rot, burn, and collapse on itself against the sheer force of the Magic of Friendship. Midnight herself expected to feel no pain, but as soon as the blast had hit her, she felt something that she had never felt before. She could feel all of her insides burning away in the light, spontaneously combusting one after another as she clutched her chest and looked at the Rainbooms one last time. "No! This can't! You can't be—" letting out a final scream, she was completely obliterated by the light, leaving absolutely no trace of herself left as the magic overwhelmed her. As soon as Midnight was vanquished, a flurry of black energy appeared where she was standing. It swirled and fluctuated for a few seconds before it started to engorge and turn white. The anomaly then exploded, covering the entire Everfree Forest in light and forcing the girls to all shield their eyes to avoid being blinded. When the light died down, the sky was back to normal, the Everfree Forest was glowing a shade of light blue, and Miasma, her Cerberus, and the rest of her men were nowhere to be found. The giant vanished, and everyone floated back down to the ground before they all turned back to normal. Gloriosa still had her crown on, and Sci-Twi was still missing her glasses. Sunset Shimmer's clothes returned to normal as her wings and horn vanished, and the rest of the girls no longer had their pony appendages. There was a long silence between all of them for a while until Pinkie Pie finally broke the silence. "WE WON!" Pinkie cheered, looking around at the forest. "Yeah! Midnight's gone, Miasma's nowhere to be found, and those Treekillers of hers most likely ran away!" Rainbow Dash fist-pumped in celebration. "The Magic of Friendhsip wins again." "True. But not without a fair share of losses." Sugarcoat let out a sigh, pointing out towards the deeper part of the forest. "Gaia..." The realization hit Sunset hard, and she walked over to a bunch of leaves and sticks. Trying to swallow back a lump in her throat, she picked up a nearby flower and laid it down by the bushes. "She gave her life to protect the Everfree Forest and save us from Miasma and Midnight. We should all be proud of her." "Yes. We should." Ecoloris appeared before the Rainbooms and Shadowbolts in a green aura with a big smile on his face. He came up to the kneeling Sunset Shimmer and put his hand on her shoulders. "Gaia Everfree was a powerful being. One who I almost bled the forest dry trying to create." Ecoloris gently rubbed Sunset's shoulders as he looked down at the bushes with the flower by it. "The Everfree Forest's magic was what it required to create her, and after I did it the first time, our world was almost lost." "Daddy..." Gloriosa slowly stepped towards Ecoloris. "Gaia Everfree might be physical no more, but in the world of the Everfree, she lives on." Ecoloris gently put his hand on the leaves and cast a bright golden aura on them. He lifted it up and put it in a glistening bubble before tapping on it to make it disappear. "It may take some time to regenerate her, and you might not see her for a while, but she would be happy to know that you and the forest are safe." "Wait. What does this mean for us, then?" Sunny Flare stepped forward, looking Ecoloris in the eyes. "Gaia Everfree's disappearance has severed the supernatural powers that she granted to all of you." Ecoloris sighed and came over to Sunny, once he helped Sunset back on her feet. "Despite the fact that your powers have vanished, I am detecting a rather... different power coming from you and your Shadowbolt allies." "The Magic of Friendship." Sci-Twi nodded, looking over at her former Crystal Prep friends. "You all got a taste of Sunset Shimmer's power as we defeated Midnight. The magic might've seeded all of you." "Seeded?" Lemon Zest raised a brow. "As in, you all have the Magic of Friendship, just like we have." Sunset Shimmer walked over to the Shadowbolts, nodding towards them. "It might take some getting used to with the ability to Pony-Up every now and again, but when you learn to conrol it completely, then you can all do wonderful things with it." "What about Miasma?" Indigo Zap asked. "Is she really dead, or are we going to all get ambushed at the worst possible—" She gasped, getting everyone to frenetically look around for Miasma. No-one came, though "—Gotcha!" "Miasma truly is gone." Ecoloris crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "The life energy of all things in this forest are fed directly to me. I know everyone's health at all times. And I can safely say, hand-on-heart, that all of Miasma's vitals are negative." He opened his eyes up again. "She's dead." "Then New World will just be hunting us down even more." Sunset Shimmer hung her head. "We just killed one of their organization's members. These people WILL retaliate. And they'll hit back hard." "So... what now?" Fluttershy asked. "We brace for the future." Ecoloris looked over at Sci-Twi and gave her a wide smile. "Twilight Sparkle. As the guardian of the Power of the Everfree, I grant its blessing onto you permanently." He gently pressed his hand against her heart, inserting a stable flow of magical energy into her body. "Your power is now beyond anything that this world has ever seen before. I do hope that you will use it to save the rest of this planet from New World's malice." "I will, Ecoloris." Sci-Twi blinked and looked up at him. "I have the power of my friends with me. And together, we can stand up to anything." She walked over to the Shadowbolts and Rainbooms, all of which hugged her tightly and smiled. High above the sky, while everyone was hugging, the stars glistened and twinkled until bright lines were drawn between some of them. Together, the stars generated constellations of the Cutie Marks of Sci-Twi, Sunset, the Rainbooms, and the Shadowbolts. They shone the brightest in the night sky, and were accompanied by thousands more.