It was a sunny and cheerful day in Ponyville: birds were singing, bees were buzzing, and everypony was laughing, singing and trading goods. However, the good mood of the town suddenly turned sour when a massive black shadow fell over the town. The citizens looked up into the sky and saw the silhouette of a massive dragon imposed against the sun. A second later, ponies were screaming, running here and there, hiding in houses and trying to figure out how they could possibly survive an encounter with a dragon. It was not long before Inferno landed heavily on the lawn of Princess Twilight’s Castle, scoffed at the hideously shiny building and turned his attention to the cottages before him.
“Attention citizens,” he spoke in a clear but spine tingling voice, “I have come to your town with the intent of devouring you all and destroying everything you hold dear. However, I am a merciful dragon, and so I shall offer an ultimatum: if I am offered a sacrifice in the next ten seconds, I shall allow the remainder of you an hour’s head start before I begin hunting you down. I am certain that this is a most reasonable offer, and one that no other dragon would provide to his prey. Your time begins… now.” Inferno stared down at the cottages before him and kept an eye out for any movement. “Tick tock, equines, you have but eight seconds left. Five, four, three, two…” And then stopped when he saw two pegasus ponies huddling in fear beneath a market’s canopy. “Ah, how wonderful, my sacrifices have arrived!” Inferno taunted as he watched the ponies shiver in fear at the sight of the dragon before them. “Oh, and I suppose I ought to tell you that I have a tendency to exaggerate: instead of giving you all one hour to escape with your lives, I shall instead give you five seconds. But on the bright side, these two will be dead before seeing that happen.” The leviathan licked his lips and leaned down to devour the helpless ponies, who could do nothing but hug each other close and wait for the inevitable. But strangely enough, the ‘inevitable’ never came. Instead, the couple heard a blast of energy from fifty yards away, and the roar of a dragon from two yards away: somepony had saved them from a horrifying death, but who? They looked up to see Inferno clutching his eye in pain, and a yellow unicorn standing in front of Princess Twilight’s castle, sweat streaming down her face and a light trail of smoke emanating from her horn. Before Inferno could regain his composure, the two ponies took the opportunity to run away from the scene and hide, and not a moment too soon, because just then Inferno turned a baleful eye upon Sunset Shimmer.
“I said that I wouldn’t let you hurt my friends,” Sunset Shimmer growled, “And I meant it.” She and Inferno charged at each other and attacked with all their might. Inferno was severely injured, and had been rendered virtually blind in his left eye as a result of Sunset’s most recent attack, but Sunset fared no better, as the energy expended from fighting Inferno in Canterlot and teleporting from Canterlot to Ponyville left her weak and exhausted. The two ponies that Inferno had threatened took the opportunity to find safety in a nearby shop, while Inferno himself cast his full attention on Sunset Shimmer.
“Very well,” Inferno growled. “Let us finish this battle, once and for all.” Inferno let loose a column of fire, but Sunset galloped out of the way and blasted Inferno with a spell that knocked a fair bit from his left horn. Sunset prepared to cast another spell, but by now it was obvious that she could not continue the fight much longer. Inferno made note of the sweat running down her brow, her shaking legs and twitching eyes, and took full advantage of the situation. The dragon made a move to swipe at Sunset with his left claw, and when Sunset dodged to miss his attack, Inferno grabbed her with his right claw. Sunset struggled and tried to break free from the dragon’s grasp, but she was too exhausted to cast a spell, and Inferno merely chuckled at her feeble attempts to save herself.
“I applaud you for putting in such a profound effort to stop me from taking over Equestria and its people, but the simple fact of the matter is that I am The Alpha Predator. I have feasted upon entire armies, turned my own people into my personal slaves, even battled The Great Princess Celestia for several days without rest! You are not the first to defy me, but you will certainly be the last. Goodbye.” Inferno opened his jaw wide and dangled the nearly unconscious Sunset Shimmer above his gaping maw, giving her an unobstructed view of his razor-sharp teeth, slimy pink tongue and the bottomless pit of his gullet. Sunset Shimmer began shaking in fear, but after realizing that fighting was useless, stopped struggling and shed a single tear.
“I’m sorry, Equestria, I have failed you.” Sunset whispered, before closing her eyes and waiting for the end.
Sunset Shimmer was unceremoniously dropped into Inferno’s gaping maw, but before she landed on the dragon’s massive forked tongue, a streak of blue caught her and set her down on the ground, far from the dragon’s grasp. Before either Sunset or Inferno could react, a blast of purple energy hit the dragon full in the face, knocking him to the ground. Sunset weakly opened her eyes, and was greeted with a surprising, but welcome sight: she had been rescued by Rainbow Dash, a pegasus who was the self-proclaimed ‘Best Flyer in Equestria’, and the spell that hit Inferno had been cast by her friend Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. Even better, their friends, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, joined them; although these six ponies were different in regards to appearance and personalities, each of them was a living representative of friendship and harmony. The athletic Rainbow Dash represented Loyalty, the spirited Pinkie Pie represented Laughter, the elegant Rarity represented Generosity, the industrious Applejack represented Honesty, the gentle Fluttershy represented Kindness, and the studious Twilight Sparkle represented Magic. Just as these six elements together can create and maintain harmony and friendship in a society, the six ponies together possessed a powerful magical force, whereupon they were known as The Elements of Harmony, and were often the last line of defense when Equestria faced a threat.
“Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight said, and Sunset cringed in fear, fully expecting Twilight to chastise her as Princess Celestia had. But instead of yelling, Twilight enveloped Sunset in a hug, and said, “I’m so happy to see you again. I’m so sorry that we didn’t get here sooner, but we were investigating a strange town at the edge of Equestria, and just got back home from the trip. Are you okay?”
“Um, what?” Sunset said after getting past her initial shock. “You’re… happy to see me again? But I stole your crown and tried to take over Canterlot High. I was a traitor and a monster and, well, a villain.”
“Yes, but you’ve changed.” Twilight insisted. “I helped you make friends in Canterlot, and came back to help you defeat the sirens when they had threatened to take over Canterlot High. I know that you’re not a villain because I’ve seen you change, and in spite of your past, I am willing to forgive you and accept you as a friend.” Sunset smiled and shed a tear of joy and hugged Twilight close, before looking back at the other five ponies.
“But what about the others?” Sunset asked. “They were here in Ponyville while you went to Canterlot High, and they only have your word of honor that I’ve changed!” Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up on behalf of the group.
“We don’t need Twilight to tell us that you’ve changed.” Rainbow explained. “We’ve seen it for ourselves! You took on that huge dragon all by yourself and made sure that everypony in town was safe!”
“That’s right, sugar cube.” Applejack chimed in. “If you were still a villain, you would’ve gone back to Canterlot High and saved your own hide. But you didn’t.”
“You were very brave,” Fluttershy admitted. “Not even I could stop such a big, mean dragon all by myself.”
“You have made us all proud, dear.” Rarity said. “I’m just sorry that we didn’t get arrive sooner to help you defeat that horrible dragon.”
“But it’s all okay now!” Pinkie Pie squeaked. “Because the big, mean dragon is gone!” Suddenly, the ‘big, mean dragon’ exhaled loudly, lifted up his head and opened his eyes. The Mane Six and Sunset Shimmer stared in a mixture of surprise and fear at the leviathan that suddenly turned his spine-tingling gaze on the group.
“Or maybe not.” Pinkie said.