Twilight’s body screamed as she tried to push herself a little bit further. We have to defeat Grogar! Everycreature is counting on us!
But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t find an advantage. The Elements were evenly negated by their dark counterparts. And all around, Grogar’s forces were regrouping. It was all Chrysalis, Tirek, Sombra, Midnight’s skeletons, and Cozy could do to keep the Grogarite creatures away.
Her horn burned. The beam flickered and destabilized, and a moment later it exploded in a wave of energy. She was hurled head over heels away. Grogar was blown backwards and out of sight as well.
Twilight groaned, clutching her stomach. She looked up at the tower. How could we win? Grogar is older and wiser than any other creature in the world. His power is beyond compare. What hope is left?
In desperation, she cast her eyes around the battlefield. Tirek moved from one monster to another, gobbling up their magic and growing exponentially stronger. Chrysalis shifted from form to form, sowing chaos and mistrust among their ranks. Sombra slammed lances of crackling dark magic into the creatures, blocking any counterattacks with walls of purple crystals. Midnight ordered the skeletons in one strike after another. And Cozy directed her allies efficiently, safely positioned between her classmates.
Gears whirled in Twilight’s mind. All these villains, cooperating, working together to aid each other and the world, using their malicious talents for good instead of evil… what does it mean? What am I missing?
In that instant, a tiny spark flashed in Twilight’s eyes.
“I know how we can save Equestria,” Twilight whispered to her friends. “They are the Elements of Disharmony. Not Grogar.”
“Are ya sure?” Applejack cautioned.
“No,” Twilight admitted. “But I’m pretty sure. And if this doesn’t work, we’ll be no worse off than we are now.”
“Okay?” Rainbow agreed with a nod. “What do you need us to do?”
“I’ll go make sure Grogar doesn’t teleport away again,” Twilight replied. “I’ll be right back!”
Shining grunted as hailstones pounded against his barrier. The windigos high above weren’t letting up. “They really want to get you, dear,” he chuckled to Cadance. “Guess that little fire spell of yours struck home.”
“So it seems,” Cadance grinned. “Let’s give them something else to think about!” She waved her horn across the sky, more cyan flames igniting on the windigos’ ghostly auras.
Twilight appeared before him in a flash. “Midnight, Shining, help me set up this spell. Quickly!”
Midnight picked her up and righted her with her telekinesis. “What do you require?”
Twilight took a deep breath. “An anti-teleportation bubble. If I’m right, then we’re about to win this, and we need to make sure Grogar doesn’t escape again.”
“Sorry, Twily,” Shining replied with a grimace, “but I don’t think I can keep two shields up.”
“I will attend to it, Twilight Sparkle,” Midnight stated. She turned to Starlight, who was still engaged in the control of the skeletons, and murmured, “Do what you can; this shouldn’t take long.”
Midnight raised her head, and her entire body shuddered with latent power. Tongues of off-white energy licked off her and onto the ground. A slick ray of pale mauve speared up from her horn and into the thick clouds above. A second later it oozed downward across the entire outcropping Tambelon stood upon.
With another flash of white-purple light, Twilight reappeared beside her friends with Midnight in tow. Tirek, Cozy, Sombra, and Chrysalis had assembled nearby. “What’s your plan, Princess Twilight?” Tirek asked brusquely.
“Indeed, I am quite curious as well,” Grogar called down from above. “What is your newest trick, Twilight Sparkle?”
“It’s no trick, just something you didn’t take into account,” she shot back. “You don’t have the Elements of Disharmony?”
“Don’t I?” he asked smoothly. “They’re right here.”
“But you don’t,” Twilight countered with a grin. “There are six of us, each with one of our own. And you’re the owner of all six of these elements? Please.”
Grogar raised an eyebrow. “And who are the owners, then?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Twilight answered, smirking.
“Cozy Glow, who used her words to trick others into doing what she wanted, represents the spirit of… Deceit!” One of the gemstones fluttered over to the filly, who batted her eyes daintily.
“Sombra, who enslaved an entire empire by trapping them in their worst fears, represents the spirit of… Cruelty!” He took an apprehensive step back as his Element floated around him.
“Tirek, who devoured all magic in Equestria to sate his appetite, represents the spirit of… Greed!” Tirek reached out to the gemstone and clutched it hungrily.
“Chrysalis, who pretended to be my old friend Cadance only to strike me at my weakest, represents the spirit of… Betrayal!” Chrysalis slithered forward to take her Element.
“And Midnight, who rejected all companionship and connection in favor of perfecting her own powers, represents the spirit of… Desolation!” Concern flashed across Midnight’s face, but a moment later it was replaced by clinical superiority.
“That’s only five,” Grogar contended. “I take it you concede I am the spirit of Despair, then?”
“I do,” Twilight agreed. “But you need all six! And now you only have one.”
Grogar gave a hint of a smile, and the bell hanging around his neck flashed with undiluted power. His blue and black magic floated out to the rest of the Elements of Disharmony. “Think again, Twilight Sparkle.” Together, the six twisted gemstones resonated and pulsed together.
Twilight bit her lip. How is this possible? What else can we do?
“Now hold on just a second,” Applejack interjected. “Cozy Glow might’ve used to be the Element of Deceit, but that just ain’t true no more. She’s been pretty honest with us all things considered. Maybe not Element of Honesty level, but certainly not Element of Deceit neither.”
“Applejack, what are you doing?” Twilight asked urgently. Applejack just gave Twilight a little wink.
“Why, Applejack has a point,” Rarity added. “Tirek’s been quite generous towards his fellow villains. Certainly not the greedy, magic-sucking beast he once was! Eh, no offense.”
As Cozy and Tirek glanced to each other, hairline fissures pierced through their Elements. But before either could speak up, Rainbow dashed in. “I mean, come on. Chrysalis could have betrayed us all to you, Grogar, at any time. She’d have won a seat as ruler of the Changelings and probably most of Equestria. But she didn’t!”
“Now hold on,” Chrysalis hissed over the sound of her gem cracking. “I haven’t gone soft-skinned, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”
“Oh, you’re right,” Fluttershy agreed. “Think about Sombra. He was working to avoid any unnecessary harm. That doesn’t seem cruel!”
“And Midnight isn’t desolate at all! She has her friends!” Pinkie added with a giggle. “Oops, sorry Twilight. That was yours.”
Twilight rolled her eyes cheerfully. “Don’t worry, Pinkie.” She looked up at the blue ram. “So you see Grogar, not only do we have five of the Spirits of Disharmony, but they’ve all rejected their element! They’ve broken the power of those elements! They’ve each made friends!”
At Twilight’s final word, all five of the elements orbiting the Legion of Doom shattered before their eyes. Grogar took a step back, and then another. He flashed the energy of the Bell again, trying to teleport away, but Midnight’s spell swiftly blocked it.
One by one, Twilight looked at her closest friends in all the world. “And it’s like we’ve said so many times before. Friendship is magic!”
A beautiful, rainbow glow engulfed the six friends, and a sphere of pure power surrounded them. A lance of light slammed from Twilight into Pinkie, and there into Rarity and around back to her, forming a thick hexagon. A moment later, smaller rods impacted it it from the Pillars, and then the Students, all binding together ever stronger and brighter.
Grogar dug his hooves into the stone of his balcony, and touched his Bewitching Bell. He looked down to his monsters far below, and with a twist of his horns, drew black and blue energy from each of them.
At once, all the magic flowing up into the Elements of Harmony crashed outward like a tidal wave. It barrelled towards Grogar, but at the last second he struck it with the Bewitching Bell’s energy, nudging it off-course. The harmony tore open a hole to Limbo, just behind him, as he steadied himself against their next strike.
“You… are not the only ones who can work together, ponies,” he grunted. “I am not called the Father of Monsters for nothing.”
Cozy blinked. That’s it. That’s how we beat him. A smile softly snuck across her face.
“Golly,” she called up, “it’s really impressive to see how good you are at working together, Grogar. You’ve really taught us a lot.” She put on her best evil face. “Buuuuut… unfortunately for you, we’ve figured everything out! We don’t need you anymore!”
“And what, in particular, have you figured out, Cozy Glow?” he replied, steadying himself against the heroes of Equestria.
“That Twilight was right! That we… well, Tirek?” She gestured a hoof to Tirek, who tapped his chin.
“Well, Twilight said we have rejected our respective Elements of Disharmony. And if we have, then …” he paused.
“Then we’ve begun to have bits of… eugh… friendship in us,” Sombra finished, his voice dripping with disdain.
“Now see here!” Chrysalis snarled. “There isn’t a drop of that detestable infection in me!”
“It remains a possibility,” Midnight reflected. “We do stand to gain more through cooperation than competition in some circumstances, and that seems akin to so-called ‘friendship.’”
“Absolutely not!” Chrysalis roared. “I will never become some polychromatic, oversaturated, beetle-horned, holeless, love-sharing, f—”
With a flash of turquoise magic, Chrysalis’s tirade was cut off. She glared daggers at Starlight, but could say nothing.
“Sooooo~” Cozy teased. “If the five of us can find friendship, then what about everycreature here?” She swept a pink hoof across the vista of the assembled peoples of all the world. “How much friendship is bottled up in all of them?”
In an instance, a long, narrow whip of scintillating rainbow light curled up from Spike to his friends, gripping onto the bubble surrounding their hexagon. Another from Starlight followed just behind, sliding into the whirling sphere, followed by Celestia and Luna. A heartbeat later Shining and Cadance joined in, and then Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, Big Mac and Pony Joe all poured their friendship with the Elements, and with each other, forth.
Tempest Shadow, Moondancer, Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, Night Light, Twilight Velvet, Autumn Blaze, Little Strongheart, Flim and Flam, and so many more let the friendship they’d found flow forth. Hovering high, Terramar and Sky Beak, Gilda and Gabby, Ember and even Torch, sent out ropes of magic. In a few seconds, the entire sky was dazzling with the rainbow beauty of friendship.
Sombra scanned the sky, noticed a string disturbingly close to him, and then looked down to his chest. “Augh! Help!” he pleaded, jerking back. “I only just got my body back!”
Beside him, Midnight stared at her own wire of harmony with a terrified expression. “My sisters…” she whispered.
Cozy squeezed between the two of them, a hair-thin thread of her own darting up to the Elements, and slipped wings over each of their withers. “Shhh, it’s okay. I won’t let them hurt you.”
Chrysalis tore the silence spell to pieces with her own magic, and just as she was about to unleash a scathing insult against Starlight, she spotted some of that coruscating light oozing out of her own chitin. “No! No! I don’t have any friends! I don’t have any friends!”
For his part, Tirek shrugged as he saw the telltale sign of his friendship appear. It wasn’t all that surprising, really.
Twilight looked around, her mouth agape and her eyes sparkling. Slowly, she turned back to face Grogar, her five best friends floating beside her.
“Your plan worked too well, Grogar,” Pinkie admonished. “You brought them together, you made them cooperate, you made them trust each other, you made them teammates. But like one of Discord’s talking apples, you didn’t realize the consequences of what you’d done!”
“Talking—apples—?” Grogar demanded, obviously befuddled.
“Nevermind that,” Twilight insisted. “What’s important is that it’s exactly what I told Starlight all those years ago. Everypony’s friendships are important to Equestria. When hers ended, it nearly destroyed the world. But when these five found friendship…
“It saved it.”
The rainbow network now covering the entire sky contracted, and a tidal wave of pure friendship slammed towards the top of Tambelon’s spire.
Grogar’s eyes went wide. He pulled every last bit of his magic up to call forth a shield, but it was blasted down with the same effort required to step on an ant. “Nooooooo!” he screamed as the friendship hurled him back into the inky blackness of Limbo.
The assorted monsters raised their tentacles and claws, their pincers and prehensile tails, against the glowing six friends. But like a kraken called from the depths of the abyss, thin tendrils of harmony’s energy reached down, gripped the monsters, and their power seemed to vanish like a nightmare before the morning sun. Gently, without excess harm or violence, the harmony beam tossed them into Limbo after Grogar. “Not agaaain!” the Pony of Shadows whined as he vanished into the darkness.
But Harmony was not done yet.
Cadance’s cyan magic flowed freely from her horn towards the orb surrounding the Elements. From there, it took on the consistency of fire: very angry fire. It exploded outward in a tornado of flame, engulfing the Windigos and leaving the other peoples untouched. The snow piled upon the ground melted instantly, evaporating into thick, warm fog as cool water pooled on the ground.
As for the Windigos, they thrashed against the flames, but there stood no chance against them. After a flurry of howls, they vanished before the incinerating might, as did their vicious stormclouds. The newly clear sky revealed the not-quite-darkness of shortly before dawn, a few stars still visible.
All around everypony, Tambelon shuddered and buckled. The entire city flickered, like a movie theatre with a faulty projector. One of the towers cracked, and hurled down towards the students, only flickering out of existence long enough to avoid hitting them. It shattered against the black stone foundations below.
“We have to get out of here!” Starlight shouted. “Hurry!”
The ponies and other creatures rushed out. “Twilight, come on!” Spike begged, flying up to her. Her eyes were pure white, and she was neither moving nor speaking. “Wake up!” The same was true of the other five Elements, each of them silent and seemingly comatose. He reached in and jerked her torso, but she was limp.
“Twilight! Twilight!” Celestia pleaded. “We need to go, now!”
“No.” Spike ordered down at the Princesses. “You have to go. Equestria still needs its rulers.”
“What about you?” Luna asked, tears forming on the edge of her eyes. “Spike?”
“I’m staying with my sister. Whatever happens to her, happens to me too.”
Starlight whirled to Midnight. “Drop the anti-teleportation bubble, now!” she ordered. “We have to get them out of here!”
“No point,” Midnight replied coldly. “Examine their auras if you want; their magic is overwhelming anything else in the area. No one, not even Tirek at full power, could teleport them out.”
“What’s wrong with you?!” Starlight gasped, putting her head right against Midnight’s. “Those are my friends! We have to save them!”
“I’m being realistic,” Midnight answered, her voice as cold as the Windigos’ magic. “There is no point to trying if failure is assured. Wasteful expenditure of reasons may leave us vulnerable to any lingering attacks. But if you refuse to listen to reason…” She flicked her horn, ending the spell. “You can fail yourself.”
Starlight grimaced, and teleported to beside Spike and Pinkie. She repeated the spell, trying to drag them out, but when she reappeared on the ground outside Tambelon, she only had brought Spike.
Starlight dropped to her knees. “No,” she whimpered. “Twilight…” She looked at the green dragon beside her. “At least… at least you’re safe, Spike.”
Tambelon shimmered, like a mirage up close, and collapsed into a thick cloud of dark dust.
Starlight howled, and summoned a hurricane-strength wind to blast the dust away. Only a few pieces of dark masonry remained, and even these seemed to be partially nonexistent.
But of the Elements of Harmony themselves, there was no sign.