Everything was truly over this time. Stardust was gone, and Sunset and Spike were both alive.
A sour feeling went through Twilight as a thought came to mind. Trying to keep an accusatory tone out of her voice she turned to Rarity and said, “You knew Spike was alive the whole time?”
Rarity blushed as all eyes turned to her. In as gracious a voice as she could muster she said, “Yes, I did.”
The curious eyes around her grew angry.
“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US?” Rainbow shouted, not feeling nearly as tolerant as Twilight.
Sunset and Celestia turned to the commotion.
“All of us… we were in so much pain,” Pinkie said, tears coming down her eyes.
“And you kept the truth from us?” Even Fluttershy was feeling betrayed.
Rarity’s face burned brighter, but she kept her composure. “I knew it was wrong, and I felt guilty about it, but I don’t regret my decision.”
Twilight wanted to become furious, but with all that had been going on she was sick of anger. It still took a great effort to remain calm. “So why did you conceal the truth? Why didn’t you tell any of us that Spike was alive?”
Sunset gasped. “REALLY?” she called out, hobbling towards the rest of the group. She could only walk on three legs, but she didn’t care. “Spike is alive?”
Celestia joined the rest of the group as well. “I’m sure you had your reasons, and I think we all deserve to hear what they were.” She was also struggling not to be accusatory.
Tears shined in Rarity’s eyes. “I did it for your sakes.”
Applejack’s eyebrow went up. “How do ya figure?”
“Sunset and Twilight both changed when Spike was attacked. Sunset became indifferent to collateral damage and threatened to take care of us too.”
Sunset winced, turning away.
“Twilight lost control of her power and even resorted to dark magic in an attempt to take Sunset down.”
Twilight similarly felt a weight in her chest.
“There was so much going on that I barely had the chance to think. I just kept talking to Spike, encouraging him to hang on. This whole time I was waiting for Spike to regain consciousness. If that happened I felt it would have been safe then to tell you.
“I didn’t even know if Spike was truly alive or I was just imagining it, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up. In the middle of this gigantic battle I doubted Sunset would have let us leave to get medical care for Spike after she changed. And if it turned out him being alive was just in my head or he wasn’t going to survive until the end of the battle I didn’t want to make all of you experience that pain a second time. I decided to take it all on my back.”
Cadance ran a hoof through her mane. “Be that as it may, when you saw what Twilight was willing to resort to in her pain wouldn’t that have been a fine time to clue her in?”
Rarity let out a slow breath. “Well… we had to win, didn’t we? Twilight couldn’t bring herself to fight with all she had until she became enraged, and it put all of us at risk because of it. If I had told her Spike was alive she would have stopped fighting to look after him.
“And as for Sunset we all know that the longer one uses the Alicorn Amulet the worse they get. When she first thought she had killed Twilight she seemed upset, but then brushed it off and kept going. I had no reason to believe this would be any different. She might have even finished Spike off out of spite for getting in the way of her ‘saving’ Twilight.”
Twilight felt another blow to her heart. She might not have had to use dark magic if she had been willing to fight to kill. “I… you’re right about that. I hesitated too much. That was what led to Spike getting hurt.” She snuggled Spike, wincing slightly at the look of his injuries. “This is my fault, and I have to take responsibility for it.”
“No, Twilight!” Sunset said strongly. “It’s my fault! I was the one that put on the Alicorn Amulet. I didn’t know that it was going to corrupt me like that, but it doesn’t change the fact that none of this would have happened without me.”
“I think,” said Celestia in a meaningful tone, “that we should forget about who is to blame right now. Spike needs to get to the hospital before his injuries really do turn fatal.”
None of them could argue against that. As Twilight stood up she got a thoughtful look on her face. “Princess Celestia?”
“Yes, Twilight?”
She had a half-smile on her face, curious but hopeful. “Are the Elements of Harmony only an offensive power?”
“What do you mean, Twilight?”
“If the Elements are supposed to promote harmony, then do they only have to be used against enemies?” Her voice grew excited and filled with anticipation. “For example, could they heal Spike’s wounds?” All of them were interested now, and they all turned to Celestia for the answer.
Celestia was intrigued. “Truth be told… I don’t know. The Elements of Harmony are our strongest weapon, and thus have only been used against those with evil intentions.
“Your assertion is a little off though. The Elements are not technically an offensive power, as they do not harm the target. They either incapacitate them or purge the darkness from them. Luna was sealed away when I used them, and then freed of her darkness the second time when all of you used them. Discord was likewise sealed inside stone, and then Sunset was also freed of her darkness. The reason Stardust was destroyed was because he was nothing but darkness and he didn't have a proper body anyway.
"I’d say your theory is plausible, but the only way to know for sure is to try it. Worst comes to worst nothing happens to him, as I don’t think Spike has any real darkness within him to be purged. The Elements are within your control, so they should follow your will. If you want Spike to be healed that would certainly increase the feeling of harmony around us.”
Twilight nodded. “Let’s give it a shot. We’re going to need to combine all our hearts together, every single one of us, not just the six of us with the Elements. Our power is at our greatest when we all work together.”
Sunset squirmed guiltily. “T-Twilight?” she said in a small voice.
“Yes, Sunset?” she said as the others got into a circle.
“C-can… I mean… d-do you… do you think I can help out too?”
“Are you joking?” she said harshly.
Sunset flinched. She should have expected that. Why would Twilight want anything to do with her now?
“Did I not JUST say that we ALL need to combine our powers?” Her horn glowed, and pulled Sunset next to her, putting her hoof out.
Sunset took Twilight’s hoof, relieved. On her other side was Celestia.
All of them were holding hooves, and so they were all lifted into the air as the Elements powered up.
Each of them thought of Spike in their heads.
Pinkie thought of things like co-hosting the narration for the Running of the Leaves, and playing a practical joke on him that gave him the hiccups.
Rainbow thought of the silly performance they had done together when she got bored studying with Twilight for the Wonderbolts Exam. She was moving around on her stool and Spike was playing a little drum.
Fluttershy thought of the first day they had met, when she discovered that not all dragons were scary.
Rarity thought of the feelings he had for her, and how he had confessed his love when he thought they might be falling to their doom.
Cadance and Shining thought of how he had helped to save the entire Crystal Empire from King Sombra by getting the Crystal Heart.
Celestia thought of his early days as a baby, when she was raising him before Twilight.
Twilight had too many memories to count flashing through her head, but the one most prevalent of all was the one that had happened that day: Spike saving her life. He had taken the attack that would have killed her had he not intervened. She couldn’t be prouder of him than that.
Sunset had no real memories with Spike like the others, but she knew how much he meant to everyone else, and she didn’t want him to be taken away from them for her mistake. She wanted him to be there for them.
Their lights all flew into the air and then came back down like a waterfall. Spike was lifted up into the air along with them, covered in a bright rainbow light that circled around him.
‘Please, Spike!’ thought Twilight. ‘Come back to us.’
‘Spike!’ ‘Spike!’ ‘Spike!’ They all kept him firmly in their thoughts, their wish clear to heal their friend.
After another few seconds the process ended, and they slowly landed back onto the ground.
Hopeful and full of anticipation they all opened their eyes.
Twilight let out a shuddering breath. Spike was intact again. The black burn marks all over his back were gone, and his scales had been regrown. He was unrecognizable as ever being injured in the first place.
Twilight approached him, kneeling over him. She shook him gently. “Spike! Spike! Wake up!”
They all waited with bated breath. The Elements of Harmony had never let them down before. And this time it wasn’t just the six of them. They had had four additional hearts giving them strength.
“Come on, Spike. It’s okay now. Wake up, please!”
From a far distance her words slowly reached out to him. It took a minute but his eyelids fluttered, and all he saw was a blurry purple mass. “T-Twilight?” he muttered out.
Twilight gasped, her expression warm. “Oh, Spike! I’m so happy!”
Once again she descended into a sobbing wreck, but out of joy this time.
Spike’s memories were hazy. Before he could try to process things he was suddenly surrounded by ponies hugging him and crying.
“We thought you were gone!” Pinkie cried out, squeezing tighter.
That triggered something in his mind; a sense of dread as a helpless Twilight was about to be attacked. He had jumped in the way to protect her, and that was his last clear memory. The pain of the attack drove everything out of his mind before he collapsed.
Though Spike was conscious and his wounds were healed he still felt tired. “You won, Twilight?” he asked quietly.
She nodded, looking down at him. “Yes, Spike. We all won, thanks to your heroism.”
“That’s great.” He rested his head against her, closing his eyes.
She knew he would need some time. The physical damage had been healed, but the emotional and mental damage wouldn’t just go away. She didn’t want to erase the memory from his mind, either. He had saved her life. What right did she have to delete that from his memories, even if he’d be better off not remembering all the rest?
“Hmm?” Celestia looked over as she saw ponies hesitantly approaching all of them.
One gray-colored mare was shivering slightly. “I-Is it all over?”
“That was freaky!” said a brown-coated stallion. “What was that monster?”
Lifting her head Celestia said in a regal, soothing voice, “The danger is over, my little ponies. That monster is gone and he won’t be back.”
A colt, hiding behind his mother, asked, “Are you sure?”
“Quite sure, little one. The Elements of Harmony have saved the day once again.”
“When I left with the Element I was surprised to see no one around,” said Sunset, pulling away from their group hug. The rest of them did the same, except for Twilight. “I guess they were all hiding in their houses.”
“Is… is Twilight alright?” asked a green-coated pony. “I was watching the battle before, but when it looked like Twilight was taken over by that thing I hightailed it out of there to hide.”
Twilight flushed. “Yes, I’m fine now. That creature was extremely skilled at manipulating other ponies feelings. Even I was not immune to it.” Looking around she said, “That’s what good friends are for. They stopped me from making a big mistake.”
“So what do we do from here?” asked Applejack.
“For now,” said Celestia, “I think we need to do some damage control. Twilight and Sunset made quite a mess of the park, and the citizens of Ponyville need to be reassured that everything is alright.” She coughed a few times. “I can’t remember the last time I used this, but it seems the fastest way to go about things.”
Taking in a deep breath, she used the Royal Canterlot Voice to say, “CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE, PLEASE COME OUT OF YOUR HOUSES! THE DANGER HAS PASSED! COME TO THE TOWN SQUARE BY CITY HALL AND I WILL FILL YOU ALL IN THERE!”
Twilight giggled a bit. Her ears were ringing, but she couldn't help but smile. She had never seen Celestia shout like that.
Celestia walked over to Twilight and Spike, bending over and giving Spike a nuzzle. “You should stay here for now, Twilight. I’ll handle the public. I know there is much you might want to ask, and there are things that I need to say, but we’ll deal with all that a little later.
“You just spend time with Spike and your friends.” She winked. “That’s an order.”
Twilight let out a heavy breath and nodded. “Yes, Princess Celestia.” That sounded like just what she needed at the moment.
“Cadance, Shining… I’d like you two to come with me.”
Shining’s eyes darted to Twilight. “But I want-”
“I understand, Shining, but as I currently don’t have any of my guards with me it would look more appropriate to have you by my side. The needs of others must come before ourselves. As the former captain of my Royal Guard I hope you still live that philosophy.”
Shining hesitated a few seconds, then reluctantly tore his eyes from Twilight back to her. “Yes, Princess.”
Cadance gave him a gentle slap on the cheek. “Don’t frown so much. We’ll be back before long. We need to give courage to the people in Twilight’s stead. If you’re that concerned for Twilight then you should hurry up and just get all this over with.”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” Shining turned around and walked up to Twilight, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be back soon, Twily.”
“I’ll be okay, Shiny,” she replied, giving him a warm smile.
“Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said gently.
She flinched like Celestia had shouted. “Y-yes?” she replied meekly.
“Behave yourself, will you? There are things I want to discuss with you as well.”
“Understood,” she replied, bowing her head.
The three of them headed off to town hall.
Fluttershy fell to the ground, letting out a big sigh. “I’m exhausted. I can’t believe everything that went on today.”
Applejack joined her. “Same here. It’s not even noon, but it feels like that fight went on all day.”
“Well, let’s not think about that right now,” said Rarity, sitting down next to Spike, her eyes moist. “We’re all safe and sound. That’s the most important thing. Everything else can wait until Shining and the Princesses come back.”
“A part of me wants to throw a celebration party,” said Pinkie, sitting on the grass, “but the other part of me just isn’t up to it.”
Rainbow rubbed Pinkie’s shoulder. “Hey, hey! That doesn’t sound like the Pinkie I know. A party might be just what we need to brighten the atmosphere after such a dreary morning.”
Pinkie joined Applejack and Fluttershy, laying back on the ground and looking up at the sky. “Maybe a little later. I could sure go for a party, but not right now.”
Sunset had been watching the group from a short distance away, and Pinkie’s statement made her insides hurt. Pinkie never let an opportunity for a party go by. Looking around the park she saw it barely recognizable as a park. Almost all the trees had been knocked down, the fountain was broken, the lake had been emptied, and black patches and holes in the ground were everywhere.
She had caused all this. By some freak stroke of luck she had survived, but she really wished she hadn’t. Words from the Alicorn Amulet, Stardust, rang in her ears. Everything he had said to get on her side seemed so foolish and stupid now. How had she not seen what he was from the start? How had she not recognized that everything he was saying were just things that she herself had thought at one time or another in the past?
During lonely nights, bitter and angry or upset, she would reflect back on Celestia’s history, especially when she learned about Twilight. She had thought it odd how so many enemies had come out of the woodwork once Twilight had moved to Ponyville, but in retrospect Luna’s return as Nightmare Moon had been foretold a long time ago. Discord and Sombra’s return could be attributed to Twilight and her friends becoming the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, thus weakening the spells Celestia put on them. If the Elements followed the will of their wielders, then Twilight, not knowing about Discord or Sombra, would have no reason to want them to stay sealed away.
Celestia put Twilight in dangerous situations as a means of testing her. One could look at it as Celestia being callous and indifferent to her student’s health, or it could be that Celestia just had absolute faith in Twilight’s abilities.
Stardust had presented everything in such a narrow way, which portrayed Celestia as a monster. She couldn’t exactly blame him. In some ways he was right. His words came from her own thoughts. If she had had the courage to allow herself to feel angry and truly considered all the angles Celestia’s actions could be taken she might have resolved her feelings much earlier. She could have gone to Celestia truly wanting to apologize, not just because she felt she should.
All those mistakes were hers. Had she just been honest and dealt with her feelings instead of hiding them away Stardust would not have found his way into her heart so easily. He wouldn’t have had enough leverage to turn her to his whims.
These were all her mistakes, and she had to decide where to go from here. She wanted to run. She wanted to cry. She wanted to pretend nothing ever happened. She wanted to find a dark corner and hide. She knew none of those options would solve anything, but there were a lot of emotions she had to deal with.
Her mind turned to her human world friends, and she felt another stabbing pain in her heart. How could she ever face them again? She had left with high hopes, to resolve her past misdeeds. In the end, all she really accomplished was adding to them. For most of the battle everyone except Rarity thought Spike was dead. She had nearly killed Twilight several times. She nearly killed Celestia. Stardust had taken over Twilight’s body, leading her to nearly commit murder herself, as well as freed Stardust from his crystal prison.
It was true that Stardust would have prevailed if she hadn’t gotten the Element back, but they had only been placed in that situation because of her. She had simply cleaned up the mess she herself had spilled.
‘Even the Elements of Harmony couldn’t purge the monster out of you,’ she thought. ‘Stardust said something like that earlier. I guess he was right.’ She could feel her heart beating, despair eating away at her. What place was there for her anymore after what she had done? She was a danger to everyone no matter where she went from here.
She was scared, gasping for breath. She felt like an endless black void was swallowing her up. Wouldn’t it be better… if she wasn’t around?
“Sunset. Hey! Sunset!”
“Huh?” Sunset looked around, once more in Ponyville Park. Everyone was staring at her, and again she saw worry and concern like in Celestia’s eyes.
“What’s wrong, Sunset?” asked Twilight. She patted the ground next to her. “Come sit down with us.”
Since Twilight’s magic was exhausted Rarity used her levitation to pull Sunset over. “Yes, darling. You’re looking paler than my coat.”
Sunset, far from feeling reassured, just felt worse. “WHY?” she yelled. “Why aren’t you cursing my name?” Tears began streaming down her face. “I… I did so many terrible things to all of you.” Her head flopped down, and she buried it in her hooves. “W-why are you treating me like someone decent? I’m… I’m just a monster. It’s all I’ve ever been. Today just proved it!” She sobbed into her hooves, trembling.
Twilight turned her head. “Rarity, can you…” She gestured to Spike.
Rarity nodded, pulling Spike over to her lap.
Twilight put a hoof on Sunset’s back, gently rubbing it. “Sunset, you’re not a monster. You just made a mistake like any of us might have.”
Sunset looked up at her sharply. “Would you still be saying that if Spike hadn’t made it? Huh? Can you honestly say you wouldn’t hate me if Spike hadn’t survived? That’s the one and only reason you’re willing to tolerate me right now.”
Twilight was stuck coming up with a response at first. Knowing that Spike was going to be fine certainly brightened everything up. Still… “That’s not true, Sunset. At the end there, when I thought you had been killed by Stardust, I was upset, especially when the Element arrived to me. I thought it was your final act.”
“And you probably wish it had been!” Sunset spat out, self-loathing permeating every fiber of her being. “The 'noble sacrifice' that would have allowed me to be remembered as a hero. What a joke! I shouldn’t have survived!”
“Sunset!” Twilight said in shock, not liking where this was going. “Please don’t say that!”
“Why shouldn’t I? It’s true!”
As Twilight went to speak Rainbow gave her a shove. “Twilight, you’re far too gentle for this.”
“What do you-AH!” She gasped as Rainbow gave Sunset a hard smack.
Sunset recociled, her cheek burning from the impact.
Rainbow flipped the mare on her back, standing over her and pinning Sunset’s front legs with her own. “That’s ENOUGH! Enough of you and your self-pitying crap! I’m tired of hearing it!”
“Rainbow Dash, be gentle!” Fluttershy said.
Rainbow ignored her. “You want to know something? You could have died doing what you did. You chose to come back and try to make things right. Somehow or another you’re alive, and you should be far more grateful about it.”
“G-grateful?” Sunset replied weakly.
“YES!” Rainbow yelled. “GRATEFUL!
“Spike lived and is fine. Twilight isn’t possessed by some freaky monster. All of us are alive and well and that thing is gone! So what you caused all of this because you put on a necklace. If the worst that’s left of this incident is a couple of holes in the park we can always rebuild that.
“Nobody died! And that’s the only important thing here. And since they didn’t YOU, Sunset, have the opportunity to make up for the damage you’ve caused. You can make yourself into a better mare. You can’t change your past, so you can show that you’ve LEARNED SOMETHING from all of this so you can make a better future.
“So shut up! Stop whining! And be glad that there’s no permanent damage caused by your error. That’s all!” With that Rainbow got off her and silently fumed as she moved a short distance away.
They all seemed to let out a collective breath. After a few moments Applejack helped Sunset up to a sitting position. “Sunset, I have ta agree with Rainbow on this one. What’s ya bein’ dead gonna accomplish now? We all achieved this victory together. We couldn’t have won without you.”
“That’s right!” said Pinkie, hopping up and down. “You might have started this, but we couldn’t have finished it without you.”
“Please, Sunset,” Twilight said, hugging her. “Don’t lose yourself again. It had to have been difficult to do what you did with all your injuries. When I put on the Element of Magic I could feel your heart in it. I know just how much you suffered when you realized you were just being used.
“There’s no point in dwelling on the ‘What if’s’ in life. It will only make you miserable. All you have is right now, and I’m glad you survived and finally got to do what you wanted all along.”
Sunset felt another hug, and her vision went blurry as she saw it was Spike. Even he was willing to give her another shot when he should despise her most of all. The rest of them joined in, surrounding her with hooves and claws.
She was feeling something familiar. When she thought she couldn’t go on earlier her friends had appeared to her, offering their hearts to help her continue on. Now, before her eyes, the pony versions were doing the same thing. She felt like they should hate her and not want to associate with her, but they were doing just the opposite. They were bringing her closer and melding their hearts with her, not wanting her to give up.
She felt like her sanity was on the edge, and she had no choice but to rely on all of them now. She hadn’t died. Before her were endless opportunities to do better than before. There was still time to make up for her mistakes and show how remorseful she truly was.
She started bawling again, overwhelmed by their support of her. Even after everything that had happened they didn’t abandon her. She recalled something she said to the human Rainbow during her struggle to return the Element. “You’ll stay by my side? You won’t leave me? Even after the things I did today?”
“Of course not!” said Rainbow. “You’re never alone so long as you have us. Stop letting those heavy thoughts weigh you down.”
‘I’m not alone,’ Sunset thought, her heart lifting a bit, pulling her out of the pit she was sinking into. ‘I’m not alone! I’M NOT ALONE!’
When they broke apart Sunset looked around at each of them, lost for words to express just how grateful she was for them. They had every right to hate her guts, but they still held tightly to her, considering her a friend. In the end, she didn’t think she needed to say anything. There were times when words were unnecessary, and now felt like one of them.
About twenty minutes later Celestia, Shining, and Cadance returned.
Shining picked up the pace as they came into view. He ran over to Twilight, hugging her. “You’re really okay, Twilight?”
She hugged him back. “Yes, Shining. I’m okay.”
“Now then…” Celestia gathered magic in her horn, enveloping them all in a yellow aura. With a flash they disappeared, reappearing in Celestia’s room.
“All the distractions have been taken care of, so I want to focus on all of you. I’m sure you must have questions, and there are things I want to say as well. First, though, I think we should take care of Sunset’s injuries.”
Sunset felt awkward, but she knew if she resisted they would all override her. “Okay, Princess.”