Starlight and the others could only watch in horror as zomponies appeared from everywhere, growling at them with faces telling that they were famish.
Maybe a teleport would have made things easier for our friends, but they didn't have enough magic. In addition, they wanted to keep something for the ultimate battle.
"If we don't make it, I just wanted to say that it was an honor to meet all of you..." said Discord, getting ready for the worse.
"Same for me..." said Starlight, receiving an equal answer from the others.
But, when the zomponies were a few meters from them, something happened...
Starlight and co. were being surrounded by some type of magic bubble, shining more each second.
The zomponies looked, with surprise on their faces, as that bubble floated on the air and then flashed a blinding light before disappearing.
A few houses away from the Town Hall, they reappeared in Sugarcube Corner.
"What did exactly happened?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Me happened!" said a familiar voice. They turned around to see the three giant heads of the cerberus-pony Trixie.
"Trixie! It's so good to see you!" exclaimed Starlight, hugging one of Trixie's hooves.
"Me too! But... what happened with your eye, Starlight?" asked Trixie.
"Well, it is a long story..." answered Starlight, looking at Applejack, who made a nervous laugh.
"Right... Anyway, I came here to help, so everypony must be ready before we go out, ok?" said Trixie.
"We already had a nice rest; I think our magic has recharged." said Sunburst.
"That is a good thing to hear, darling." said Nightmare Rarity, getting a smile from Sweetie Belle.
"What do you think, Spike?" asked Apple Bloom.
Everypony looked at Spike, waiting for an answer, until he finally spoke.
"Let's go! We have to save Equestria!" he said, receiving a good cheer from everypony.
And there were them, getting out of Sugarcube Corner, and going to the Castle of Friendship to finish all that madness.
Midnight Sparkle was waiting...
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When they arrived to the path in front of the Castle of Friendship, Discord stepped on something. When he looked down, he saw it...
"It's a trap!!" he exclaimed.
Too late, the zomponies were surrounding them again.
And then, the castle's doors opened, and Midnight Sparkle stepped out, going towards Starlight, while the others watched with anger.
"Well, well, well. It seems that somepony finally committed an error! Game over, Starlight. I win." said Midnight.
"Listen, Twilight! I want to help you!" said Starlight.
"Help me? Why? I feel so good! You tried to defeat me, but YOU FAILED! I don't see what you can do for me." said Midnight.
"I can reform you!" said Starlight. Midnight stared at her with confusion.
Then, her face changed to anger.
"You cannot reform me, Starlight. I am your mentor!" she said.
"My mentor would not try to conquer Equestria and transform everypony into monsters!" said Starlight, and the zomponies growled.
"Don't tell me what to do, Starlight!" said Midnight, retreating to the castle's doors.
"You know, I was going to let you live. You would command Equestria as well, by my side! But I think I realized the truth. You don't deserve it." said Midnight. " So this is the end of the way, Starlight! Say goodbye..."
Midnight kept watching as the zomponies stepped forward, going to get rid of her former student and her friends.
Wait, what was that approaching dangerously?
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Starlight felt something was going on... Midnight and the zomponies were really surprised by something...
When she and her friends turned around, they felt the same surprise...
Ponyville was overrun by a horde of timberwolves, a swarm of bats, with Flutterbat between them, and an army of crystal zomponies, commanded by Cadence, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart.
All of them had the same expression on their faces, and they were looking at our friends' predicament.
"Twily! You still have enough time! Surrender now and end this madness!" yelled Shining Armor.
"Listen to your brother, Twilight! Do it for all of Equestria!" yelled Cadence.
Midnight stood there, thinking about what she heard.
But some seconds later...
"Forget about me! This is MY reign! And I don't wanna surrender against you!" she said.
After hearing that, Shining Armor spoke.
"We'll force you to do it then! Everybody, ATTACK!!"
With those words, timberwolves, bats and crystal zomponies ran, pouncing on Midnight's zomponies.
Our friends didn't waste more time, and they joined the battle.
Seeing what was happening just in front of her, Midnight turned around and ran inside her castle. But Starlight saw this and decided to do the same.
She needed to make Twilight change her mind...
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Spike saw Starlight chasing Midnight and he wanted to go behind them as well, but Discord stopped him.
"We have enough problems here, Spike. Fight with us!" he said, giving Spike a nice smile.
Spike reassured himself and, with a good "Yeah!", he fought alongside his friends.
The evil zomponies were not a match for Trixie's big heads and hooves.
"Is that the best you got? You can't defeat the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
Some zombie pegasi tried to attack Trixie, but they were outsmarted by Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Flutterbat and the swarm of bats.
Discord, Spike, Apple Bloom, Timberjack and the timberwolves were handling half of the evil zomponies, the rest of them being outnumbered by the Crystal Empire's army.
One zompony tried to make a surprise attack on Shining Armor, but...
"CAKE!!" exclaimed Discord, before a cake landed on the zompony's face. After that, Shining Armor left him unconscious.
"Thanks, Discord!" he said.
"Anytime!" said the draconequus.
Spike, having scratched some zomponies' faces, was ready to do it to another one, when he saw that it was... extremely terrified?
"I think her nightmare was too strong, am I right?" said Nightmare Rarity.
"Maybe." said Sweetie Belle, firing some spells at the zomponies.
And the battle continued...
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Meanwhile, inside the Castle of Friendship...
Starlight was trying to find Midnight Sparkle on the multiple halls of the castle. It was really hard to do that because there were so many rooms.
When she entered the Cutie Map's room, Midnight fired a spell, which Starlight avoided for a few centimeters, but the evil alicorn used that to escape.
However, she didn't go away before an organ pipe emerged through the doors and a minor chord was heard...
"Grrr! I can't believe it! Everypony betrayed me!!" exclaimed Midnight.
"You are going to lose, Twilight! Give up now!" said Starlight.
"Stop calling me 'Twilight', you fool! I would want other thing before giving up!" said Midnight, really angry.
Then, she flew past Starlight, towards the library, and our friend ran behind.
Meanwhile, the organ pipes continued to appear, and they were tearing apart the castle...
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Outside, the battle had already finished. The few remaining zomponies prefered to be reformed instead of waiting for the animals' attack.
The others were really tired after all, but Spike remembered something.
"Starlight is still inside the castle! We need to do something!" he said.
Despite being tired, Sunburst used some magic to create a giant shield, surrounding the entire castle.
"This will make sure that Midnight Sparkle doesn't try to escape elsewhere." he said.
Meanwhile, the organ kept sounding and breaking the castle...
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At the library, things got worse for the two confronting ponies. The organ's pipes made her fight very difficult, but they continued.
At some point, Midnight Sparkle got out to the castle's balcony, charging the ultimate spell.
"I hope you can find a new mentor in Tartarus!! Goodbye, Starlight!!" she said.
Starlight prepared herself, until one organ pipe appeared, crashing through the castle's walls, destroying the balcony and hurting one of Midnight's wings.
Midnight saw herself plummeting to the floor, and she closed her eyes.
Suddenly, she felt like she wasn't falling anymore. And she knew why.
Starlight catched Midnight with her own telekinesis to avoid the impact on the floor.
When she touched the surface gently, the spell broke. After a while, Starlight walked out of the ruins of the former Castle of Friendship.
"You... you saved me. Why?" asked Midnight.
"Being a villain doesn't keep you from being someone with feelings. When I saw you falling, I knew I had to do something." answered Starlight.
"I don't think you should forgive me... I was so bad. Sweet Celestia, I even tried to kill you!" said Midnight.
"After all those things, forgiving you can be an easy one. What do you think?" said Starlight, reaching a hoof.
Midnight saw Starlight's hoof and doubted. But then, she saw everyone: Sunburst, Spike, Discord, Trixie, the CMC, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Cadence, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart. All of them were looking at her, each one smiling.
Finally, Midnight reached with her hoof to touch Starlight's and, after a flash, she transformed back into Twilight.
"Thank you for forgiving me, Starlight." said Twilight, with tears on her eyes.
"Your welcome, Twilight." said Starlight, hugging her.
Later, everything started to give a blinding flash, engulfing everything, so everyone needed to close their eyes.
After a while and a final color explosion, Starlight opened her eyes... and she saw Ponyville.
Everypony was recovering and standing up.
All of them had transformed back into their own selves.
"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" It was Pinkie Pie, running to hug her friends. "The good side wins again! Like always!"
For Starlight, there were good news everywhere. And even better, Discord appeared at her side, summoning a mirror.
"Your eye is better, Starlight!" he said.
And it was true. Starlight was almost crying for it.
"Hello there!" Starlight turned around, only to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had appeared in Ponyville.
"Finally, after you defeated Midnight Sparkle, the spell broke, and the shield trapping us in Canterlot vanished, allowing us to come here." said Celestia.
"And we came to honor you, Starlight Glimmer, as a hero and Equestria's rescuer!" said Luna.
Starlight could only wait while everypony cheered her.
"Of course, your friends are also honored, Starlight." said Celestia. This caused more cheers.
"This is the perfect moment for a 'The-most-awesome-Nightmare-Night' party!! Let's celebrate, everypony!!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
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That night, at the repaired Castle of Friendship, the party was so good. Everypony was having the best time on their lifes.
Twilight called Starlight, and both of them went to the library.
"I already told you, but I'll say it again. Thank you for everything, Starlight." said Twilight.
"Your welcome! You told me once that whenever I could need it, you would always be there, right?" said Starlight.
"That's right, I told you that!" said Twilight.
"Then, I believe it is my turn to say the same thing." said Starlight, smiling and hugging Twilight, who returned the hug.
"Ok. Now, would you like to taste the cake Pinkie Pie made for you?" asked Twilight.
"I'd like that very much..." said Starlight.
And the two of them got back to spend the rest of the night with their friends.
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The End