//------------------------------//
// Chapter 77: The Big Finish 
// Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

               Princess Celestia and Princess Luna left the Everfree Forest with a flap of their wings, they had a lot of work ahead of them to get the sun and moon back into their proper places and restore order in Canterlot.

Shining and his friends lingered in the forest for a bit, and when they found that Zecora's hut had not been damaged by the black vines and that the  zebra had already returned to her home, they were quite relieved.

At last, the group of seven departed the Everfree Forest. Discord was there to greet them, with much fanfare! Banners and streamers popped up and were soon everywhere, and in the midst of it all stood Discord himself sporting a foam finger. "Bravo, my good sirs, bravo! This is like, what, the fifth time now you've saved all of Equestria? That's definitely one up on old Lu-Lu and Cay-Cay, or Moonbutt and Sunbutt as I used to call them. They always seemed to take offense to that for some odd reason." Discord remarked.

"Yes, it's us again, Discord. And indeed, we've saved the day." Thunderlane replied. He had to admit, he was starting to see what Fluttershy had found in Discord, in a way the mischevious spirit reminded Thunderlane a lot of Rumble.

"So, how did you manage to save the day this time? If you don't mind a guy asking?" Discord spoke up. "Blast the baddie with your magic necklaces, I presume?" Discord made himself smaller, almost like a fairy, as he then inspected each of the stallions personally and took notice of something. "Where are those little trinkets of yours anyways? You know, the ones that you were going to use to send me back to my extremely uncomfortable stone prison?"

Big Macintosh sighed. "First of all, we never said we were gonna do that, so don't go puttin' words in our mouth. And second, I guess you'd have found out sooner or later, but the Elements are gone."

"Gone?" Discord asked, sounding quite surprised at the fact, as he returned to normal. Then he realized what the lack of controlling elements meant. "Gone?" He pondered, smirking ever so slightly.

Thunderlane quickly spoke up to silence any thoughts of evil Discord might have. "Yes, but our friendship remains. And if you want to remain friends, then you'll stop thinking whatever it is you're thinking now and help us clean up. After all, what would Fluttershy say if she found out you were having second thoughts about being reformed?" As he spoke Thunderlane tried not to take notice of the fact that Discord was slowly shrinking back down.

"It's just like you to make a guy like me feel small," Discord complained. "But you're right, I suppose the least I can do is clean up this mess, and I really don't want to lose our friendship," Dawning a maid outfit he then remarked. "But just a quick f.y.i, I don't do windows. Got it?"

"You know, there's one thing I still don't understand." Soarin commented, as the group of friends made their way back into town.

"What's that?" Braeburn innocently asked.

"Why did this all have to happen now?" Soarin pondered. "Doesn't it seem a little odd that the tree would come under attack now, as opposed to much earlier?"

Much to the surprise of everyone, Discord spoke up and said. "I have no idea, your guess is as good as mine. Those seeds that I planted should have sprouted up ages ago."

Shining shook his head while hoping that he'd somehow misheard things, he hadn't. "What did you say?" He asked Discord, while trying to keep his anger under control.

Discord stopped in his tracks and laughed. "Oh, why should I try to explain it when you can just see it for yourself?"

"What are you-" Shining began, but the rest of his sentence was cut off as Discord snapped his fingers and caused Shining to drink the last of Zecora's memory potion.





This time, when the flash faded, Shining found himself rewatching Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's battle with Discord. 

"Play time is over for you, Discord. The citizens of Equestria have spoken, and they're sick of your games." Celestia declared in a serious tone, repeating the very same line she'd said in the previous flashback.

Just like last time, it appeared that Discord was not concerned. He just munched on a bag of seeds he seemed to have pulled out of thin air, but this time it was obvious the seeds weren't just for a snack. "Oh, I doubt that very much," Discord commented in the same mocking tone as before, while he eat a pawful of seeds every few seconds. "Hungry?" He asked the two alicorns, as he randomly tossed the seeds for what were likely the plants that would later afflict the Tree of Harmony all about. A few of the seeds succeeded in hitting the two alicorns in the face. "No? Oh well, suit yourselves. Now let's make this quick, shall we? We all know you can't beat me, but by all means go ahead and try. It isn't often I find a good set of punching bags." 

Shining then watched as Discord was quickly defeated again, but this time the memory didn't transition to Celestia and Luna discovering the Tree of Harmony. Instead, Discord began to narrate as Shining watched the seeds sink into the ground. "Well, obviously things didn't quite go according to my original plan," He narrated to Shining. "As you can see, things went sideways in the most colossal way they could have. I didn't realize until too late that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna weren't fooling around, but I still intended to have the last laugh."

"Is that where the seeds come in?" Shining asked, even though he was certain of the answer.

"Hey, did you read the script?! You know that's cheating!" Discord quipped, before he continued narrating. "Those plunderseeds I planted in the ground should have sprung up, stolen the magic from the Tree of Harmony, and captured Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of years ago. But alas, nothing happened, and for the longest time I thought they were duds. It seems that somehow, the tree had magic even without the Elements to protect it. Enough to keep the plunderseeds from growing up big and strong. Until now, that is. Better late than never I guess."

And that comment from Discord was followed by another blinding flash that announced the end of the flashback, and the return to the present.

Once back in the present, Shining quickly came to his sense and cleared his head. Then he looked at Discord with narrowed eyes. "You DO realize that this is vital information that my friends and I could've used hours ago, right?!" He asked.

Discord pinched Shining's cheeks before anyone could say anything else. "And rob you of a valueable lesson about being an alicorn prince? Oh Shining Armor, what kind of friend do you think I am?" He teased.

"I don't recall asking for your 'lessons', that was truly a sink or swim moment!" Shining snapped. "After all that talk about how Princess Celestia sits on the sidelines when she could easily solve a problem herself, you go and do the same thing here!"

"You'd make a great politician, you know that?!" Fancy Pants added.

Discord shrugged off the complaints. "Oh sure, everypony's a critic these days. Honestly, politics is an arena even I'd prefer to stay out of it, it's far too chaotic even for my tastes. And in regards to those plunder seeds, how does 'I forgot' hold up?"

"You expect us to believe that?" Shining skeptically asked.

"Hey, I'm being serious!" Discord protested. "I got those plunderseeds from some mysterious cloaked figure, he said they were magical and I asked him 'How magical?'. And do you know what he told me?"

"What?" The six stallions and Spike all asked.

"He told me 'More magical than meets the eye.' and that was it, he took some bits I got off a random pony and disappeared," Discord replied. "And I never saw him again. Honestly, I thought he was pulling my leg, but then I figured 'Well, what have I got to lose? At least they taste good.'."

"Likely story, pal," Soarin remarked. "You'd better watch it. If we have to we'll take the Elements off the Tree of Harmony and turn you back to stone. So don't give us a reason to have to do it."

"Whatever," Discord shrugged. "Don't you all have some kind of festival to attend or something?"

"The Summer Sun Celebration!" Shining realized. "I still haven't perfected my big finish!"

"Hey, don't sweat it," Soarin commented. "Just do the best you can out there. Big finish or not, you're still our friend."





Shining returned to Canterlot as soon as it was safe to do so, and with the return of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Flash Sentry gladly relinquished his power. But before he returned to the Crystal Empire he told Shining. "You just say the word and I'll gladly accompany you on any journey, captain."

"Ah, Flash, you remind me so much of myself when I was the youngest recruit in the Royal Guard," Shining thought with a sigh. "If only you knew. As much as I harp on you, I actually quite like you. I like a guy with the guts to do what's right, even if it costs him personally. Who knows? Someday you might just take my place as Captain. Someday." 

But Shining's thoughts were soon consumed by another important individual, the remaining alicorn and his loving wife, Princess Cadence. With the danger lifted, the guard were willing to let her travel to Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration. And naturally, when Cadence learned about what had happened while she was away, she had quite a bit to say to her husband. "Shining, you really must learn not to doubt yourself so much," She scolded lightly. "Ponies will look to you evermore for guidance, and should anything ever happen to my aunts and I, you will be expected to take charge and lead."

"I'm aware of that, Cadence," Shining sighed. "I still can't believe I was so thickheaded and dumb."

But Cadence just put a wing around Shining and told him. "You're not perfect, nopony is. You saw it yourself, even my aunts Celestia and Luna have made mistakes. And you also saw what happened when they tried to keep their mistakes concealed and covered them up. You have friends, family, and a loving wife. And all of them are willing to help if you just let them. Being an alicorn comes with a lot of responsibilities, it gives you a lot but it also takes a lot away. However, I also hope you realize that there are some things that will never change. You may now have wings, but you're still the same pony so many know and love on the inside. So all anypony can ask for, is for you to be the best you can be."

Shining smiled, a single tear of liquid pride dripped down his cheek. He quickly brushed it aside. "Thanks, Cadence. I needed to hear that."

Cadence smiled and nodded. "Anytime. Now, good luck out there. I don't know what your big finish is going to be, but I know it's going to be spectacular!"

"Huh, but I'm not prepared. I haven't actually perfected what I'm going to do." Shining said with confusion.

Cadence only winked. "You don't need to practice, it'll come naturally. Just think about what's important to you."

Before Shining had a chance to ask Cadence what she meant, it was time for the Summer Sun Celebration to begin. And as always, the celebration kicked off with much fanfare from the trumpets.

Princess Celestia stepped out onto the podium and spoke directly to the citizens of Canterlot (as well as those from out of town who had come to attend the celebration). "Citizens of Equestria, it is no longer with a heavy heart but with great joy that I raise the summer sun for you," She told them, then waited for the applause to die down a little before she continued. "For this celebration now represents not my defeat of the wicked Nightmare Moon, but the return of my sister, Princess Luna."

Princess Luna stepped out onto the podium and stood next to her sister. She spoke only briefly, this day still carried a good deal of emotional baggage for her, due to the Nightmare Moon incident. "Thank you all for your attendence, and I look forward to interacting with you when you come to the royal palace. And I pray that, in time, you will come to see me as my sister saw me. Not a princess of darkness, but your beloved Princess of the Night." The crowd burst into thunderous applause and a deafly chorus of cheers and whistles!

The two alicorn sisters said nothing more, they just stood at each other side and winked. Then, Princess Luna flew up to the symbol depicting a crescent moon and lit up her horn, the moon slowly lowered. Princess Celestia then flew up to the symbol depicting a sun and lit up her horn, the sun began to rise.

Taking that as a sign to proceed, Shining took off at a breakneck speed. Any doubts he may have had about his flying abilities or what he would do for the Summer Sun Celebration were non-existant, he just focused on what was important to him, the ones he had risked everything for on so many occasions. Then, he lit up his horn! A powerful boom echoed through the early morning sky, as a giant blue shield like symbol blasted through in his wake. All the ponies watching in the audience were amazed, Shining's friends especially.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna watched, as Shining landed and stood next to them. His new crown shown brightly in the summer sun's rays, neatly complimenting the headpiece Cadence and the royal sisters were wearing.

Shining smiled brightly. Right now his mind wasn't focused on keys, or chests, or anything of that sort. Right now, he was just focused on the fact that he and his friends had restored harmony to Equestria once again. But a nagging thought still lingered in the back of his mind. "Just who was it that gave Discord those plunderseeds?"