After questioning Chrysalis for a while, Twilight and her friends figured out where Princess Celestia and Luna were hidden. It turned out to be in the crystal mines underneath Canterlot Castle, where Twilight Sparkle had discovered Princess Cadence so long ago. Indeed, when they reached the darkest depths, they saw the green lights glowing faintly. Celestia and Luna hung upside down in a comatose state. With the help of Twilight’s rejuvenation spell, they quickly found their bearings, and moved out of the dungeons.
They held court in the throne hall. It was decided that Twilight Sparkle would go to Cloudsdale, and pull the city out of the tropical rainforests of the Mysterious South, pushing it back where it belonged. Then, it was her task to rally a fighting force of pegasus ponies, to drive the remaining changelings back. In turn, the main cities of Equestria would be liberated; Appleloosa, Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Manehattan, Vanhoover, end ending their campaign at the Crystal Empire.
Mayor Mare, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack would go to the hidden village in the Everfree forest, and make sure everypony could wait in safety. They would gather as many ponies willing to fight as they could, and chase away the changelings in Ponyville and the surrounding lands, as far as Canterlot, if they dared. But they didn’t need to worry, because the changelings didn’t return to Canterlot.
But first, they needed to go to the Crystal Empire to set things right. Princess Luna had dipped in the frightened dreams of some crystal ponies, and saw that Discord had made his home there. He had to be dealt with first. Nopony knew what would happen to him now; he always was a wildcard. In the end, they nodded, agreed, and trotted off to find themselves a chariot.
**
They expected the whole Crystal Empire to be put upside down, but, much to their astonishment, the place looked exactly as it had done before. The changelings that were still there made way for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, scared as they were for their powerful alicorn magic. After walking through a completely abandoned Main Street, they reached the Crystal Castle.
The guards let them through without a word or a hiss or a snarl. When they entered the throne room, they discovered Discord, slumped back in his chair, surrounded by dozens of Fluttershys. All of them froze, and stared wide-eyed at the alicorn princesses. Then the changelings dropped their disguises and flew out of the first window they could find.
“Well,” Discord said, his voice bland, devoid of any emotion. It looked as if he weren’t interested in his unexpected guests at all. “Here you are, once again taking away my Fluttershy.”
“Just one?” Pinkie said, “there were like, thirty of them, and they weren’t even real.”
Discord got up from his throne. He slowly descended the stairs, his ears drooped down and his back bent. “I know, and I don’t care. I have seen every Fluttershy illusion they could summon. I know every trick in the book.”
On the way to the Crystal Empire, Rarity had told Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about the grudge Discord held against them. They expected Discord to be angry, to fly into the air and summon dozens of tricky and deadly illusions to try and destroy them. But now, they saw that there was almost nothing left of Discord.
Celestia stepped forward. She spoke with her soft, regal voice. She wasn’t angry, but she did want to set things right. “I know about your loss of Fluttershy, and that you think it is my fault. Yet, I never had the chance to offer my condolences. So I hereby say that I am sorry.”
Discord frowned. “You know those words mean nothing to me. The words that do mean something to me are the words you used to kill Fluttershy.”
“It was never my intention to put Fluttershy’s life in jeopardy, Discord. I honestly didn’t know that the creature she was dealing with turned out to be a Wyvern. I admit, that was a mistake of mine, and for that, I am also very sorry.”
“You can say how sorry you are a thousand times,” Discord said, “but that will not get my Fluttershy back.”
Now Twilight stepped forward too. She could guess what Chrysalis had given Discord. “But conjuring up false illusions also won’t bring her back. They are fake.”
Discord sighed. “I know that, but they are the closest thing to Fluttershy I can get. Chrysalis has helped me more than you.” He pointed to everypony with a claw.
“Chrysalis has been captured,” Princess Luna said. Her voice was colder than her sister’s. “You cannot get the illusions you want anymore. We came here to demand your surrender.”
“Fine, I surrender. You won. You can banish me to Mount Tartarus now. Wohoo.” And he accompanied his words by some fake cheering.
“We know we won,” Twilight said. “There is no doubt that the changelings have to be driven away, but you, Discord, you won’t have to.”
Discord looked up at Twilight. “What do you mean?”
Twilight walked up to him and raised his head a little with her hoof. “Discord, we know that losing someone dear to you is difficult.”
“Really? How would you know?” Discord snapped.
“We… we lost Rainbow Dash on Earth,” Twilight said, blinking away some tears.
To that, Discord stiffened. “Wait, what?”
“The world we went to… it was not pretty,” Twilight said. “Rainbow Dash got captured, and then, well…”
“Then she went to play with Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, although there was no enthusiasm in her voice.
Discord sat down. The last thing he had wanted when he offered his alliance with Chrysalis was more ponies getting killed. He had been sure to agree on that with the queen of the changelings. Yet, because of his fight against Celestia, because he reflected that magical beam which created the glowing cloud, because it struck Rainbow Dash and sent her to a terrible and terrifying world, she had died. Discord raised his uneven claws and looked at them, imagining them soaked in blood.
But, why wasn’t Twilight angry at him? Why weren’t her friends angry at him? Did their forgiveness stretch that far, or was it all a trick? Discord felt very confused. The emotions swirled around each other in his body. He had no idea if he should be angry at the princesses, angry at himself, or angry at Chrysalis. In the end, his emotions manifested themselves into tears, which fell upon the bright blue carpet. He realized he only felt sad and sorrowful.
Twilight unfolded a wing, and put it on the draconequus’s shoulder. “Losing someone dear to you is difficult, Discord. And the emotions can stir up impulsiveness. Before you know it, you’ll do things that you regret, things that are irreversible.”
Between sobs, Discord said, “I-I-I’m sorry. I d-d-didn’t know what I was doing.”
Princess Celestia put a wing on Discord’s other shoulder. “We know you are, and even though your actions sowed great fear into the hearts of all the ponies in Equestria, we are willing to give you another chance.”
“W-w-what do you mean?”
“We can help you, Discord,” Twilight said. “We can help you to process the loss of Fluttershy. We can help you to give it a place in your mind. We can help you to deal with your emotions, and make sure that you’ll never make strange, impulsive decisions again. All together, we can make you feel better, much better than those phony illusions do.”
Through tear-soaked eyes, Discord looked from Celestia to Twilight and back. “D-d-do you mean that?”
“We do,” Celestia said, folding up her wing again. “But only if you cooperate, and do exactly as Twilight and her friends say. Right now, they know what is best for you, and they will teach you to find that out for yourself too.”
With a snap of his fingers, a magical box of napkins appeared. Discord wiped his eyes and snorted his nose. As he threw the napkin over his shoulder, it incinerated before it touched the ground. Once again, he looked at the two alicorns. “I will, and… thank you.”
“We are happy to help,” Twilight said, and when she looked at her friends, she saw that they all nodded along.
**
And so began the final changeling war. But it wasn’t really a war at all. As soon as the changelings found out their queen had been captured, they had no idea what to do. Some went south, some went north, some went east, and some went west—but they all left Equestria behind. Twilight and her squadron of pegasi—including the Wonderbolts—chased away the few changelings that remained. Soon, the cities were liberated, and ponies started to pick up their daily lives again. It seemed that, even without the element of loyalty, harmony and peace reigned in Equestria.
Twilight and her friends spent a lot of time with Discord, talking and giving suggestions that helped him greatly. Soon, the cutie map started calling them again on friendship missions throughout Equestria. Discord sometimes went along. He could never forgive himself for the death of Rainbow Dash, and tried to make up for that assisting on friendship missions. His help was always appreciated.
But still, there was a certain absent-mindedness which manifested itself in the ponies’ heads. When they talked about their feelings to one another, they realized that they were thinking more about Ground Zero than they thought. Ground Zero still left an impression on them, more negative than positive. But after all they had been through, they felt that their bonds had only grown stronger, and after seeing that horrible, poisonous world, the ponies saw how lucky they were to live in Equestria, and how beautiful and wonderful Equestria was.
And when their thoughts got redirected to Ground Zero, they thought about the ponies that were still there, and how they were doing. They wondered if Filthy Rich was still busy exploiting the travelers and traders, and they wondered how Zecora was doing in the forest.
Of course, they didn’t forget Raspberry Trick. They hoped for him, hoping that he had found Amanda, that he had reunited with his parents, that he had been able to create a base for himself and start his pony rescue mission, and that he had already enlisted an army to chase the remaining changelings away—or kill them, which was far more likely.
And Raspberry Trick thought about his new friends too. Even though they lived worlds apart, he knew he would always share a common bond with those extraordinary mares. And who knows? Maybe he could find a way to get back to Equestria. After experiencing the power of the elements of harmony first-hoof, he reckoned everything was possible.
When he stood on top of a small hill, gazing over the cracked and broken world he called home, he realized the mares had shown him even more than magic tricks. They had shown him the magic of friendship. A faint smile played at his lips, as he thought that over. But then he shook his head and snorted.
Let’s not get too soft, Trick.
THE END .