It was a quiet morning in the cold castle, and Celestia and Luna sat in silence. They each had a metal cup of wine in front of them, and as Celestia ate a light breakfast, Luna merely picked listlessly at her small supper. The younger sister was bruised and aching, her fur soaked through and spotted with mud thanks to a sudden storm that had caught them at midnight. She’d be happy to get in bed, shortly.
“Luna?” Celestia asked, making the moon princess look up.
“Yes, sister?”
“Remember that first night after we banished the Spirit?” She said with a smile, which Luna mirrored.
“The first time in centuries that the world could be calm. We never knew that you could hold your mead that well.”
“Better than you hold your wine, dear sister.” They shared a little laugh at the pleasant memory. Of course, the bad times following the Spirit’s reign weren’t over yet, but they took joy and happiness wherever they could. And, even if they had wanted to get to business right away, the recently-freed ponies had other ideas. It had been a pleasant time, when the sisters could enjoy being sisters again.
“We are winning, Tia, though slowly. And I know that we shall be able to celebrate again once we do.” Luna stifled a yawn, but saw Celestia nodding sadly.
“Your majesties!” A guard shouted as he barged into the room. “The forest has advanced overnight again! The thorns have taken a family in the Red Valley!”
Both of the Princesses stood, but Celestia stopped her sister with a raised hoof. “I will deal with this, Luna. It is my duty to protect the day.” And Luna watched her sister leave, knowing that the celebration was a long way off yet.
Long ago, the area immediately to the south of Canterlot had been an endless, empty plain. Under the rule of the Spirit of Chaos, it had been farmland - even one as evil as he needed his subjects to eat, or else there’d be nobody for him to play with. And it was on this plain that the Spirit had encountered his downfall, the alicorn sisters who had ended his reign and cast him down.
But the banishment was not without consequences: the sheer chaotic energy released in the prolonged battle completely changed the landscape, creating what is now known as the Everfree Forest. Even today, it is dangerous, but it was something truly fearful in the years immediately following the Spirit’s defeat, the monsters that had been his servants leaving it to wreak havoc on the surrounding ponies and the forest itself ever shifting and changing, reaching out to spread itself overnight and consuming the tentative settlements built nearby.
Over the months following the Spirit’s defeat, the sisters cleared an area in the centre of the forest to build their castle and its town, so that they could keep an eternal watch over the greatest danger to Equestria. While the sun princess busied herself with the administration of the land during the day, the establishment of towns and roads, it was Luna’s duty to defend the people from incursions from the Everfree at night, a duty which stretched her to her limit, but one that she never gave up on.
And, after countless years, they won - the Everfree would forever be a dangerous place, untamed by ponykind, but it was a place with defined borders, the incursions of the Spirit’s wicked minions the stuff of legend rather than a true threat. When Luna abandoned the castle and its town, the Everfree eagerly ate the space stolen from it, but since then, nothing, no true threat like that of centuries ago.
And, as Luna flew over the Everfree, she wondered if she wasn’t being paranoid. Yes, there were wild storms, and the moonlit, gnarled canopy below her certainly didn’t appear welcoming, but it was nothing unusual, no change in the forest’s nature from how it had been a millennium ago.
That idea faded rapidly as she approached the centre of the forest. Below her, the trees moved like a living thing, like individual cells of one massive organism, their branches intertwining to create a shield-like canopy and their trunks swaying like they were in a furious hurricane. Sometimes, single, thorny vines would lash up and try to catch her like bizarre serpents, and she found herself bobbing and weaving around these increasingly frequent attacks as she came closer to the centre.
And the forest’s centre, where the Spirit had been laid low and where the sisters had lived for so long, was truly alive. Around the ruined structure of the castle the trees and the undergrowth and the ground itself heaved rhythmically, like the chest of a colossal organism. The air was filled with growls and yips and other eldritch sounds that made her shudder with the memory of the things that the Spirit had created. That settled it, then: he had returned.
Luna cursed herself for not being more prepared - they had built the castle here to watch over the forest and the stonebound form of the Spirit’s body, and she had abandoned them both. Curse your hubris, she chastised herself as she approached the gaping hole in the castle’s ancient roof, the trees seemingly parting to permit her entry.
The disorientation struck her immediately, and Luna had to take a moment to get her bearings. The main hall was twisted, the mouldy carpet that she stood on slowly curved up the left wall, then onto the ceiling, like some giant had grabbed the structure and twisted. Hanging from the ‘ceiling’ ahead of her were the twin thrones that she and her sister had shared, and a twisted figure, a hybrid of pony and lion and reptile and bird and who knows what else reclined across both of them, surrounded by a halo of blue and pink clouds.
“Discord.” Luna spat contemptuously, advancing closer to her ancient foe, somehow finding herself walking up the wall without the feeling of gravity changing.
“Ah, Princess.” He sighed in that tone she hadn’t heard for years, lazily turning to look at her. There was a thunderclap, and the technicolour clouds began to rain something brown. “I was awfully lonely, waking up and finding that you weren’t- Mooney?” It was impossible to judge the thing’s face accurately, but Luna got the sense that it was genuinely surprised. She stood on the same plane as it now, on what should’ve been the roof, and flared her wings threateningly. “Well, colour me shocked!” His body changed to look as though he’d been painted in purple and green stripes. “I really thought it’d be Sun-Butt meeting me here today. It just goes to show that even you boring little ponies can surprise sometimes.”
“You will not speak of my sister that way.” Luna snarled, concentrating magic in her horn for some spell she hadn’t decided on yet. “How did you escape your prison, wretch?”
“Now now, Mooney, that’s no way to speak to an old friend, is it?” Returning to his normal colours, he slunk through the air away from the thrones, not flapping his wings, and slowly elongated his body to curl around Luna like a twisted snake. “How are you? How’s the family? You’ve really kept this place nice for me, all full of lovely chaos.”
“I will return you to your prison before you can hurt anybody else, Spirit.”
“You and what army, Princess? You don’t even have a certain little set of pretty little gemstones any more.” He raised one paw, and conjured an illusion of the six gems that were the Elements of Harmony, closing a fist to dismiss them. “And it took two of you to use them last time. And your dear sister is… absent.” He said that last word with a knowing, mocking tone that made Luna’s blood boil, floating away into the air and settling on the twin thrones. “Besides, I’m not here to hang around while you monologue at me, Mooney; I’m getting bored already, but I can smell a delightful amount of my loyal subjects a little way to the west. I’ve already sent out the welcoming committee, to get them warmed up.” Outside, a monster roared. Luna hoped that Twilight had made it to Ponyville, for they would need protection from this monster’s dark interests.
“A question before you go, Spirit.”
“Oh, go on then.” He had been standing up, ready to fly, but he lounged back in midair again when she asked that.
“Why did you put life into the statues of Canterlot?”
“Well, after being imprisoned for as long as I had, one needs a little bit of time to limber up again. I figured it was odd enough to distract even the mighty Princess for an hour or two. Plus, the poor dears really did deserve a walk. Now, if that will be all,” he produced a brass watch from a nonexistent pocket in his fur, examining it for a moment before tucking it away. “I must be off. People to see, chaos to create.”
“You think that I will just let you leave here?”
The Spirit’s face slowly grew into a predatory grin, and he stood on the ancient ground for the first time since she’d seen him again. He balled his paw and claw, and a pair of old-fashioned boxing gloves appeared on them, accompanied by boxing shorts and an impressive moustache. “So we’re settling this the old fashioned way, eh?” He settled into a boxer’s stance, bouncing back and forth on his tiptoes.
Luna, secretly worrying for her own well-being, but not justifying his antics with any visible response, brought her focused magic to a crescendo in her horn, readying a blast that would destroy any mortal pony. “Have at you, beast.”
Twilight had never ridden a cargo chariot before - this one had a platform the size of a small room, and was pulled by four strong-looking stallions in Night Guard armour. She and Spike stood at either side of the object that Luna had asked them to retrieve. It was odd-looking, reminding Twilight for all the world of some sort of primitive orrery, one large, stone sphere surrounded by five smaller ones. Fortunately, she hadn’t had to delve too deeply into the Royal Vault seeking it - Raven Inkwell had met her outside and, on hearing the order that the Princess had given, immediately knew what was needed. Whatever this object was, it had been in pride of place close to the Vault’s mighty doors, a centrepiece to the countless, powerful artifacts.
“What is this thing?” Spike asked, climbing onto Twilight’s back to prod at one of the outer spheres. It was utterly unmoving.
“I don’t know, Spike.” Most of the objects within the Vault had questionable historical significance, but Twilight knew that they were all valuable to the Princess, and largely consisted of potent magical weapons, kept close at hand to defend Equestria from any true disasters. Indeed, in her brief moment retrieving this statue (with Raven’s help - it was heavy, even for someone of her magical power) she had seen several things she’d dismissed as foals’ stories before. “But it must be something powerful.”
“Maybe it comes alive, like the statues at the castle!” The little dragon enthused. “And all the little balls float around, shooting lasers!”
“Spike…”
“It could happen.” He shrugged. “Or maybe Luna just hits people with it.”
“It would be a good club.” Twilight giggled, before sighing heavily. “I wish Luna had explained more, before she left. I don’t even know why she needs this, much less what she’s fighting.”
“Um, Twilight?” Spike whispered, peering over the chariot’s edge from her back. “Does the Everfree look different to you?”
Frowning, Twilight followed his gaze. She didn’t have very much experience with the Everfree at all; most routes from Canterlot to Ponyville skirted its west edge, and everypony in the little town knew to avoid it in all but the most dire circumstances. But it didn’t take much experience to see that, yes, something was very wrong - in the gaps of the forest’s thick canopy, the undergrowth was moving. Dozens of forms moved over it, all walking in the same direction, like a river of wood and fur and starstuff. The chariot dipped beneath a wild stormcloud, and then she could hear them, a cacophony of monstrous noises, roars and howls and hyena-like cackles, echoing up from the midst of the Everfree.
“Monsters.” Twilight whispered, mentally cataloguing the many forms of beast she’d seen in books, but never in the flesh. “And they’re all heading for Ponyville!” The Guardsponies, already close to their physical limit, forced the chariot to fly that mite faster, closing the distance to the flickering lights of the town faster than a steam train yet agonisingly too slow.
Then, for an instant, the world was lit up like midday. The chariot rocked in the air as all of its occupants blinked away the afterimages of the blinding light, turning to examine its source. To the east, at the centre of the forest, there had been an explosion of white light, a single silvery beam still burning into the sky like an impossibly bright moonbeam.
The sound and the shockwave hit them a moment later, making their ears ring and threatening to knock the chariot from the air altogether. Twilight, one hoof wrapped around Spike, grabbed the apparent weapon with her magic, unsure if she meant to anchor it or herself. When Twilight’s ears stopped ringing, Spike was shouting, the Guards breaking their professionalism to assure each other that they were OK.
“Was that the Princess?!”
Twilight had read many things in her life, but she’d never read of anypony - any thing - that could produce a bout of magical energy that intense, other than Luna. “It must have been.” Illuminated by the strange moonbeam, she could just about make out a hill, some ruined structure topping it, close to the horizon at the forest’s centre.
“Should we go and find her?”
Twilight considered it for a moment, before shaking her head, her head winning out over her heart. “The Princess can take care of herself. If all these monsters are going to Ponyville, the ponies there need us a lot more.”
“You’re out of practise, Luna.” The Spirit yawned dramatically. “Sloppy. When’s the last time you were in a proper fight?”
Gritting her teeth, Luna forced herself back to her hooves, hearing her ancient foe pacing in circles around her. He was right - she was out of practise, exhausted, and hadn’t been in a fight with someone even close to her equal for centuries.
To tell the truth, though, the Spirit wasn’t her equal: he was stronger than her. He was stronger than both of the royal sisters together, and quite significantly so. It was only with the assistance of the Elements of Harmony that they’d been able to stand up to him so long ago. He utterly defied the laws of physics at every step, fighting her in incomprehensible ways, flipping the room upside-down and side to side and conjuring objects for blows equally painful and faintly comedic. Even the blast she’d made, one of the most powerful channellings of magical energy in known history, has only staggered him for a few moments. The strain it had put on her made it a less-than-equal exchange.
“I mean, really, aren’t you supposed to be the sole ruler of Equestria? Why ever would the ponies allow themselves to be ruled by some flabby has-been?” She was staring at the ground, struggling to regain her breath and power through the pain in her leg from her old injury, but she could hear him walking around her side. “Was this the extent of your plan? To confront me for a fight you had no chance of winning, and get your flank handed to you without even landing a solid hit?” Anger flaring in her belly, she glanced up to lash out with one rear leg, catching him in the jaw. His head spun on his neck like a top for a few moments before he reached up and halted it, glaring at her. “Only landing one solid hit.” He corrected himself.
“The magic doesn’t count, Spirit?” She drew herself up to her full height, flaring her wings threateningly.
“You call that magic?” He gave a ‘pfft’, waving his paw dismissively. “My little pony, this is magic.” He snapped his claws, and Luna found herself somewhere else.
All around her was a mismatched patchwork of insane colours and patterns, no sign of which way was up and which way was down. She couldn’t help but scream as she fell upwards and downwards, gravity impossible to determine but having a tremendously powerful effect on her. After a few terrifying seconds of no sky, now ground, no moon or stars or sun, just endless, demented nothingness, she found herself slumping to the dusty ground in the ruined palace, Discord standing over her.
“So,” he said smugly. “Enjoy that? I can give you a lot more.”
“You,” she panted, getting back to her hooves. “Used to be funny. Never as funny as you thought you were, but at least occasionally funny. But it feels like you’re barely trying, now.”
“Yes, well, being locked in a statue for a few dozen centuries will kill one’s sense of humour.” He said, with no trace of humour whatsoever. “I’m sure it’ll come out once I don’t have to deal with you any more, Mooney.”
How long had it been, now? They had been fighting for some time. Long enough, she certainly hoped. With any luck, Twilight and the Elements would be in Ponyville. She’d channelled them all once, so she could do it again. At least, she dearly hoped that she could. So she focused her magical energy, closing her eyes, and willed herself to teleport across the length of the Everfree, disappearing from in front of the Spirit’s face and reappearing on the cobbled stones of Ponyville.
Except, when she opened her eyes, she wasn’t there. She was surrounded by thorny, gnarled trees, hidden from the moonlight beneath a canopy of almost-black leaves. The magic, the sheer, chaotic energy of the Everfree had overpowered her teleportation, brought her up short.
“Perfectly fine, Luna.” The Princess assured herself, giving an experimental stretch of her wings. “Just fly the rest of the way.”
Out of impossibly dark trees, a huge being loomed, like seven tree trunks emerging from a great, walking boulder. Before she could fly, its many heads loomed over her, the hydra blocking her path of escape. Behind her, as the hydra glared down, there was a thunder of impossibly huge footsteps, shaking leaves from the surrounding trees, and she turned to see an ursa the size of a small building behind her. Already exhausted and magically drained, Luna swore under her breath and readied her magic, familiarly deranged laughter echoing through the forest around her.
“What the hay is goin’ on here, Twilight?” Applejack had stepped back from the edge of the Everfree forest, panting, wiping away sweat, and working out the stiffness in her hind legs. “All these critters just came out of the forest all at once!”
“The Princess said that something bad’s happened.” Focusing for a second, Twilight fired a blast of magic that struck a timber wolf in the muzzle, making it whimper and pull back to the edge of the woodland. “She’s in the Everfree dealing with it, and she said that I should bring this sculpture here.”
“Is that what that light was? What’s some dumb statue going to do for us, anyways?” Rainbow Dash swooped down from above, having just given a manticore a good enough bucking to send it whimpering back into the forest with its tail between its legs.
“I don’t know! But if the Princess needed it, it must do something.” Twilight protested, stepping back to catch her breath. There was a slight ebb in the tide of monsters flowing into the little town, letting her take stock of the situation.
Fluttershy and Rarity were helping a number of ponies flee from the town, while most other able-bodied ponies were here, at the edge of the Everfree, driving back the monsters. None had broken through yet, but everypony was tired and bruised, the attack having been ongoing for almost an hour now. She could pick out a number of faces that she knew, from Applejack’s massive, crimson-furred brother who made timber wolves fall apart with a single kick, to Zecora the zebra, who swung around a quarterstaff like a mare crazed, and hurled bottles that spewed multicoloured smoke and invigorated the others.
But they were losing steam rapidly - there were few Guardsponies in the tiny town, even when you included those who’d carried Twilight’s chariot, and even those trained fighters were quickly growing exhausted. Spike’s fire had sent a request for support to Canterlot, but Twilight had no idea how quickly their response would come. Add in the fact that the monsters retreated into the forest, and could well return soon, and it certainly seemed as if this was a losing proposition. The ponies were fighting hard to defend their home, but it was beginning to seem as if abandoning it and surviving was the smarter idea.
“Come on, ponies!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing effortlessly over a bemused ursa minor. “Buck those legs!” She bounced along the line, chanting random things like a cheerleader, and giving her many friends a brief bout of energy. But Twilight knew, even as she obliterated a pair of timber wolves, that it wouldn’t be enough.
“The foals are safe at the farm, darlings.” Rarity panted, slightly bedraggled from a gallop across town. “Now, lets stop these ruffians.”
“I wonder if I can stop them peacefully…” Fluttershy murmured, edging closer to the woods.
“Come on, Twilight,” she hissed to herself, turning back to the statue. “Think!” She tried half a dozen spells, trying to blast it with enough energy to wake it up or hit some sort of hidden switch that’d awaken this weapon and save the town.
“My little ponies!” Came a deep, singsong voice. The fighting stopped, even the monsters hesitating for a moment, and a bizarre figure, a chimera of many different species with an ever-grinning pony’s head. He set down gently on the edge of the forest, and bowed low. “I have returned.”
“And who the hay are you supposed to be?” Applejack’s voice broke the brief silence, and the creature looked up, glancing over the townsponies.
His grin faltered, and his eyes narrowed. “Really? Not even a little bit of recognition?” Ponies gave vaguely negative mumbles, glancing between each other uncomfortably. Even the monsters looked bemused. “Well then, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Spirit of Chaos, the true ruler of this land,” he was, somehow, slowly growing taller, and had manifested an extravagant purple cloak and gold crown. “Imprisoned for countless years but now back to reclaim my realm. But you can all call me… Discord.” He was as tall as the trees now, and his yellow-red eyes had a wicked gleam. There was a well-timed roll of thunder, many howls and roars from Discord’s entourage of beasts, and then a long moment of silence.
“Whoa, buddy, you want to take over Equestria?” Rainbow Dash’s voice rang over the crowd, making Twilight wince and pray that she wouldn’t say something stupid.
“Well aren’t you a perceptive one.” Discord smiled, his neck extending so that he could be snout-to-snout with the pegasus.
“That’s not gonna happen, pal! The Princess has been ruling Equestria for a thousand years, and we don’t want a replacement!” There were murmurs of assent among the townsponies, and the Spirit glared at the comparatively tiny Pegasus.
“I don’t think you understand that it isn’t up to you.” He deadpanned, before inhaling deeply, and blowing a stream of air that sent Rainbow Dash spinning off into the town, screaming the whole way through. The townsponies gasped and muttered among themselves, suddenly realising that this thing was worthy of some fear, the monsters howled in celebration, but Twilight was distracted by another sound - it was barely audible, but behind her, she heard something fall, like a coin dropped onto a stone floor.
Turning, she saw a faint glow coming from one of the smaller spheres of the statue and, on the ground below it, still rattling from where it had fallen, was an opaque, red gemstone, about the size of her hoof. Reaching out, she prodded it with one forehoof, and it was warm to the touch, and buzzing with magical energy to her trained senses. Loyalty, a little voice in the back of her head told her.
And then Twilight understood.
No individual monster was a threat to Luna; a dozen centuries ago, she had dealt with every form of monstrosity under the moon at one point or another, and a mage’s skill only improved with experience. Each of the beasts that came up against her was swiftly dispatched in one way or another, without the Princess having to break a sweat.
The problem arose from the fact that there were just. So. Many.
Every one that she smote was immediately replaced by some other monstrosity, and Luna had quickly become tired. All of the (very few) fights she’d had in the last millennium had ended within seconds of her really starting to try, so she had no endurance, and the monsters were rapidly wearing her down, crowding too close for her to teleport or fly away. The occasional assaults from the thorny, whip-like vines of the Everfree’s undergrowth certainly didn’t help, either.
She had only little bruises and scrapes, thus far, but it was only a matter of time until she really slipped up, until the exhaustion got the better of her and a spell fizzled out before it could be cast, or a dodge came half a second too late. She’d tried, at every chance she’d got, to call to the Elements with her magic, hoping that they would come to save her like they had saved her so many times before, but she couldn’t feel them at all. How far was she from Ponyville? Had Twilight even made it to Ponyville yet? What if one of the monsters had knocked her chariot from the sky? The unicorn could look after herself, yes, but against the forces of the reborn Spirit?
She should have assigned a larger escort to the chariot. Or come with the escort herself. Or brought the Elements herself, for that matter. Stupid, foolish, overconfident Luna! She certainly had distracted the Spirit, but at the cost of actually being able to defeat him! And as she ducked beneath the razor jaws of a hydra, sending a brief blast of moonlight into its chin and making it back away, she cursed everything and everyone aloud, but mostly she cursed the Spirit and herself.
She was thus utterly stunned when the sky became daylight once again, a light so intense that it even managed to break through the Everfree’s blackout canopy. Gazing up, jaw agape, an action mirrored by the monsters that had been just trying to make a meal out of her, she saw rays of rainbow light break through the leaves, shining down onto the undergrowth and dappling her coat in half a dozen colours. It lingered for a few seconds, bright and beautiful and impossible, before it faded again.
Shaking herself away from that stunning spectacle, she prepared to make the first blow while her attackers were still distracted, but they simply turned and ran, their rumbling footsteps quickly fading into the impenetrable gloom of the animated forest.
Not planning on looking a gift horse in the mouth, Luna immediately spread her wings and took to the sky, flying in the direction of Ponyville, a strange feeling of despair suddenly lifted from her gut.
One by one, the sculpture had surrendered its gems when Twilight’s friends acted against Discord. The pink gem had emerged when Fluttershy had flown off into town to tend to her oldest friend, and the orange when Applejack had told the Spirit exactly what she thought of his ‘humour’. The blue followed when Pinkie Pie had comforted a group made distraught by his furious outburst, and the purple when Rarity had tossed out the keys to her home, that it could shelter those who simply wanted to be away from this beast.
While his temper was easily riled (especially by certain earth ponies not appreciating his fantastic comedy), Discord was quick to calm again, and was amusing himself with the ponies of the little town. The Guards - who, to their credit, had not surrendered to him, had their helmets extended to completely cover their faces, and were wandering around and noisily bumping into each other, blind and deaf. Reduced to his normal size, but now seated in a carved, grey throne and flanked by his many monsters, Discord had instructed the terrified ponies to ‘entertain’ him, whatever that meant. A sort of terrified, desperate talent contest had broken out in front of the would-be king at that, greatly assisted by his willingness to tweak reality for a joke.
While this was going on, Twilight was pushing herself beyond her usual magical limits to teleport between all of her friends, pressing their fitting gem into their hooves and imploring them to trust her. And when the last had been handed to its appropriate pony, the largest sphere of the statue glowed for a moment, and a large, star-shaped, lilac gem emerged from it, immediately caught in Twilight’s magic. She could feel it resonating within her, a warm tingling in her chest that assured her that she was meant for this moment.
“Discord!” She exclaimed, projecting her voice the way that Luna had taught her to when speaking to the court. Her friends gathered behind her, clutching their gemstones and not sure what was occurring, but filled with an inexplicable confidence by the magical artifacts.
Lazily, the Spirit turned away from the Cakes desperately creating a cake larger than the creature himself under his watchful eye, and sighed. “Mooney’s little student.” He said patronisingly, standing from his throne and stretching out his back. “What, has she taught you some amazing magical spell that’ll put me down in a moment? Or told you some terrible secret that’ll make me surrender immediately? Somehow, I doubt it.”
“No.” Twilight said, smiling smugly as she raised the gem in her magic. “But she did give me these.”
Discord narrowed his eyes, looking between each of the Elements in turn. “Pshaw. You, my little pony, wouldn’t even know how to begin using those magical little trinkets. It took two alicorns to use them last time, what chance do you all have?”
Exhaling slowly, Twilight woke up the Element. It was like she’d always known how to do it, but only just now remembered after so long. The gemstone began to glow bright white, like a star on earth, and a ray of energy beamed from it into her chest. The others’ Elements reacted in the same way, and Discord’s impeccable confidence finally faltered. As his monstrous minions began to retreat into the Everfree, the forest itself shivering and seeming to draw away from the town, he merely watched, stunned, as the unicorn’s eyes opened, and they were filled with pure, white light.
From each of the six friends’ bodies, a coloured beam emerged, meeting and winding together into a colossal rainbow that flowed out of them like a raging river, thudding into Discord’s chest with a faint shockwave. The Spirit screamed and begged incoherently as his body was once again sealed in stone, spreading out from the point of impact like a liquid stain.
When his body was fully sealed, there was an explosion of multicoloured light and sound that lit up the town as though it was midday and wrapped around the six friends, the other townsponies looking on in wonder as the Spirit’s mad creations faded away. When the light vanished, and all of the ponies blinked away the afterimages of the light, those tiny Elements had changed, now shaped like the cutie marks of their bearers and embedded in elaborate gold necklaces, and a tiara for Twilight.
After a long, pregnant pause, all of the ponies erupted into cheers, gathering around the six to thank them or around the now-statue of Discord to curse and jeer at him. The friends gathered around each other, sharing a group hug and a number of slightly tearful words, before Twilight remembered one issue with a shriek.
“Where’s the Princess?!”
Smiling slightly, Luna descended to the edge of the town, just catching the end of Twilight’s worried shout. “I am here, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Princess!” She shouted, breaking from the huddle to hug Luna, who gladly returned it. “I- We did it! We stopped him!”
Gently breaking the hug, Luna walked to the life-sized statue of that wicked being, scrutinising it with a subtle spell. It was real: he was sealed again. And this time, rather than insufferably smug, he looked rather startled. She much preferred it this way. “You certainly did, my dear Twilight.” She turned back to the unicorn, subtly studying her new adornments. She’d had a good idea what had happened, when the rainbow had appeared, but now she knew for certain. “And you have found yourself connected to a great power.”
“The Elements… it’s like they came to us.”
“Oh they certainly did. They are alive, though exactly how I cannot say. As they chose my sister and I, it appears that they have chosen all of you.”
“What the hay does that mean?” Rainbow Dash asked, apparently now done examining her new necklace.
“It means that you - all six of you - are exemplars of your Element. You are destined to be the ultimate defenders of Equestria and to show us all the true meaning of friendship and harmony.” The six ponies all reacted differently, some puffing up their chests with pride and others shying away from the attention. “I know that this is a lot to take in, and it has been a terrifying night for you all, but this is something that we should celebrate and thank you for.”
She looked at the six arrayed there, but mainly at her beloved student. Little Twilight, a grown mare now, and ever the image of a legendary hero of Equestria. She could see them all in marble or stained glass. She’d have a piece commissioned to commemorate this night as soon as she could, that much was certain. It was an act of heroism and triumph over evil of the like that hadn’t been seen for a long, long time.
And it had been done by one of her favourite ponies.
She stepped forward, feeling tears welling in her eyes, and wrapped a foreleg around Twilight, pulling the little unicorn into a close hug. “I am so proud of you, Twilight.”