//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 (2/2): The War's Conclusion 
// Story: MLP FiM x Fairy Tail: Wizards in Equestria 
// by SonnL 
//------------------------------//

It has been one long and difficult journey for Fairy Tail. They fought alongside a magical princess, a former dictator, a loyal athlete, an honest apple farmer, a kind animal caretaker, a joyful party planner, and a generous fashionista. 
 
They went into battle... to stop an evil so terrible... that it sought to extinguish all light. They fought for those who could not. 
 
And now... It’s all coming to an end. 
 



Equestria’s defenders successfully stopped one major catastrophe. However, their victory was cut short by the sudden reemergence of Scarlet Night. 
 
In the open field outside Canterlot... 
 
Right after receiving word of Scarlet Night’s reappearance, Natsu swiftly teleported to her current location. Upon arriving, the wizard spotted the dark alicorn standing in the open field all by herself. 
 
“SCARLET NIGHT!” Natsu shouted out to her. 
 
“You sure are quick to arrive here. Have you come for another humiliation?” Scarlet Night spoke to Natsu in a mocking tone. 
 
“I’ve come to end you!” Natsu roared. 
 
“You should know that I could have easily ended your life back at the fortress. You ever wondered why I didn’t. It’s because killing you would be a mercy that I’m not willing to grant. I want you to continue to struggle. I want you to live with the weight of your failure to end the war. You couldn’t stop me back then and you’re not going to, not today, tomorrow, or anytime in the future.” The dark alicorn continued being condescending. 
 
Enraged by Scarlet Night’s taunts, Natsu hurled a fiery blast at her, but she easily nullified the attack with her barrier. 
 
“Didn’t you learn anything?” Scarlet Night rolled her eyes. 
 
Arriving at the scene next were Gajeel and Laxus. 
 
“Oh, two more just showed up.” Scarlet Night noticed the new arrivals. 
 
“So, this is Scarlet Night in the flesh.” Gajeel uttered. 
 
“The final enemy.” Laxus said as he narrowed his eyes at the dark alicorn. 
 
Scarlet Night then conjured a multitude of dark magic spheres and launched them at the wizards. Natsu and Laxus repelled them by generating waves of fire and lightning. The alicorn followed up by firing a large dark red magic bolt and the trio jumped away to dodge a red-colored explosion. 
 
“IRON DRAGON LANCE: DEMON LOGS!” Gajeel turned his arm into a large spearhead, from which he unleashed a storm of iron spear projectiles, but all of them bounced off the barrier protecting Scarlet Night. 
 
The dark alicorn stomped one of her front hooves on the ground and sent out a torrent of dark lightning towards her opponents. Laxus quickly punched the ground and stopped the incoming attack with his own torrent of lightning. 
 
“FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!” Natsu rushed at Scarlet Night with a fire-empowered fist and attempted to punch through her barrier. 
 
“IRON DRAGON HARD FIST!” Gajeel threw a punch with an iron-hardened fist. 
 
“LIGHTNING DRAGON IRON FIST!” Laxus also attacked with a fist engulfed in lightning. 
 
As their fists clashed with Scarlet Night’s barrier, they poured more power into their punches, but they were still not breaking through. The dark alicorn wasn’t even flinching. 
 
“Amateurs.” She then caught the wizards in a telekinetic grip, slammed them face first into the ground, and tossed them back like ragdolls. 
 
After flinging the trio, Scarlet Night summoned a dark red corrosive cloud and sent it towards her foes. Natsu swiftly blew out a stream of flames and burned the cloud away. 
 
The three wizards proceeded with a barrage of fire, iron, and lightning attacks, but Scarlet Night remained unharmed due to her barrier. 
 
“FIRE DRAGON...” 
 
“IRON DRAGON...” 
 
“LIGHTNING DRAGON...” 
 
“... ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!!!!” The three unleashed a combined breath attack consisting of their respective elements, creating a gigantic explosion around Scarlet Night. 
 
However, when the smoke cleared, they saw that Scarlet Night remained unscathed. The attack proved to be another useless gesture. 
 
“We’re not laying a scratch on her! Her barrier is blocking everything we throw at her!” Gajeel exclaimed. 
 
“And she has been only using a fraction of her power. I hate to think how much trouble we’ll be in if she decides to get serious.” Laxus added. 
 
“Acnologia wasn’t unbeatable, so she can’t be either! FIRE DRAGON SWORD HORN!” 
 
Natsu launched himself towards Scarlet Night like a flaming rocket, but the dark alicorn simply smacked him away with her right wing. 
 
“You’ll never defeat me! I am... ALL-POWERFUL!!!!” Scarlet Night bellowed as her voice also sent out a powerful shockwave. 
 
Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus were sent spiraling in the air and the three landed back onto the ground with a heavy impact a few moments later. 
 
As the trio groaned and grunted, a colossal red flash of light enveloped the land behind Scarlet Night and her army of Night Terrors emerged. 
 
“I’ll tell you now... After I finished conquering this world, I’ll find the realm you humans came from. You’ll all pay dearly for interfering. For what I’m going to do to your people, I’m going to enjoy it... very, very much.” Scarlet Night declared. 
 
Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus rose back to their feet and prepared to face against the monster army. 
 
Suddenly, a large golden portal appeared near the trio, much to their surprise. Then one by one, the other Fairy Tail wizards walked through and soon, almost the entire guild arrived. Only Makarov, Warren, and Romeo were not present. 
 
“So, is this all?” Scarlet Night asked. 
 
“Not just us.” Lucy replied. 
 
As if on cue, another but bigger golden portal appeared. Out of it came the Mane 7, Spike, the former royal sisters, the Pillars, Shining Armor, the Wonderbolts, and the soldiers from Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. Numerous more portals then emerged and marching together were yaks, dragons, griffons, changelings, hippogriffs, and kirins. Rutherford, Ember, Thorax, and Pharynx were there to join the fight. Celaeno, her pirate crew, Tempest Shadow, and the Storm King’s former minions arrived as well. All of the kirins transformed into niriks as they prepared for battle. Scarlet Night wasn’t fazed by the forces that gathered to oppose her. 
  
“EVERY WIZARD AND EVERYCREATURE!!! CHAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!! Twilight commanded in her royal Canterlot voice. 
 
While letting out battle cries, every wizard, pony, and creature charged towards their common enemy. The dark alicorn pointed her right front hoof forward, signaling her monsters to charge as well. 
 
The two opposing forces soon entered a titanic clash. There were magic blasts flying around. The dragons and niriks destroy monsters with fire. The yaks went to smashing. Changelings took on the form of ferocious beasts. Griffons and hippogriffs fought with spears and arrows. Tempest fired lightning beams. Jet zoomed around the battlefield, knocking down as many Night Terrors as he could. Laki used her Wood-Make magic to create multiple weapon-shaped wood that erupted from the ground and attacked the Night Terrors from below. Droy used his plant magic to sprout large vines to bind monsters. Max repelled enemies with sandstorms. Juvia unleashed water cyclones. Reedus materialized various beasts to fight the enemy. Applejack grabbed a monster by the neck with her lasso and pulled it down to the ground. Elfman (in his Beast Soul: Ape form) then finished off the monster by crushing its head with his fists. Panther Lily, Celaeno, and her crew cut down Night Terrors with their swords. Celestia and Luna flew side by side, shooting down the flying monsters with their magic blasts. Alzack and Bisca were gunning down enemies left and right. Lucy (in Star Dress: Leo form) fought alongside Loke and Capricorn. Macao and Wakaba stood back-to-back fending off incoming enemies with Purple Flare and Smoke magic, respectively. 
 
As her enemies engaged her army, Scarlet Night remained in a single spot, observing the battle as it unfolded. 
 
“SCARLET NIGHT!” Twilight called out, gaining her attention. 
 
After fighting through the Night Terrors, the Princess of Friendship now stood face-to-face with the alicorn of darkness. Joining Twilight in the confrontation are Starlight, the other five Friendship Council members, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Laxus, Wendy (in her Dragon Force mode), Gajeel, and Gildarts. The fourteen heroes stood side by side with the intention of slaying the evil alicorn once and for all. 
 
“Scarlet Night! We’re putting an end to your legacy of war!” The princess declared. 
 
“Come! I welcome anyone with the courage to challenge me!” The dark alicorn goaded her foes. 
 
“We got you outnumbered!” Rainbow Dash boasted. 
 
“Numbers aren’t everything. It’s power that wins a battle... absolute power.” Scarlet Night retorted. 
 
“Enhancing all elemental resistances, Deus Corona! Enhancing all physical abilities, Deus Eques!” Wendy casted the enchantments on herself and her allies. 
 
Twilight and Starlight followed up by casting a spell to further enhance Wendy’s enchantments. The two also casted a protection spell on the group, giving each member of the team an invisible armor. 
 
The final battle has begun. 
 
Twilight started off by firing a powerful beam, but it was negated by the dark alicorn’s barrier. 
 
“Flurry Heart’s magic, give it back!!!” Twilight demanded. 
 
“Alicorn magic is meant to be earned, and your niece never earned it. Tell her to get it back herself.” Scarlet Night sneered. 
 
“Then, I’ll take it back by force!” Twilight launched a beam big enough to enshroud Scarlet Night, but the latter’s barrier held up without a problem and she didn’t even take a single step. 
 
“Don’t kid yourself, Twilight Sparkle. You’re leagues below my level.” Scarlet Night mocked as a dark lightning bolt struck the princess from above. 
 
“HEAVEN’S WHEEL: SCATTERED PETALS!” After requipping her Heaven’s Wheel Armor, Erza summoned a plethora of swords and launched them all at Scarlet Night. 
 
“ICE-MAKE: FREEZE LANCER!” Gray joined in by launching multiple ice lances. 
 
The swords and the ice lances had no effect on Scarlet Night. The seven wizards then charged at her together while the Mane 7 stepped in to provide support. Twilight and Starlight fired beams, Applejack repeatedly hurled rocks, Fluttershy summoned a small flock of ethereal crows, Rarity conjured a barrage of energy needles, Pinkie fired a blast from her party cannon, and Rainbow Dash rained down lightning bolts on the dark alicorn. Their attacks had the same outcome. None of them fazed Scarlet Night. 
 
The dark alicorn also let out a blood-curdling shriek, releasing soundwaves that stopped the incoming wizards in their tracks. While they were stunned, Scarlet Night formed bladed whips out of her mane and flailed them at blinking speed. Each of the wizards received several cuts as they were knocked back by the whips. They were lucky that Scarlet Night did not aim for their heads and thanks to Twilight and Starlight’s protective spell, their injuries were not too serious. 
 
Fluttershy flew towards the wizards, intending to heal them. “Hang on! I’ll fix you all right up!” 
 
She attempted to use her healing power, but it wasn’t activating. 
 
“Oh no! Why can’t I use my healing light?!” Fluttershy was alarmed. 
 
“I’ll tell you why. Before this battle, I placed magic runes all over the battlefield and they negate all healing magic.” Scarlet Night explained. 
 
Fluttershy was completely dismayed to learn that her healing ability has been rendered useless. 
 
“Don’t worry! We got something that can help!” Twilight smirked. “Pinkie, toss it to me!” 
 
Pinkie pulled an object out of her mane and threw it to Twilight, who caught it with her magic. What she held using her telekinesis is Grogar’s bewitching bell. 
 
“Wait a minute. Isn’t that the same bell that was used by three of your old enemies over a year ago?” Gajeel asked inquisitively. 
 
“Correct, my iron-eating friend. This here will give us the advantage we need.” Twilight grinned. “It’s over for you, Scarlet Night! Time for you to lose your magic!” 
 
Twilight then tried to use the bell to drain Scarlet Night’s magic, but the bell wasn’t doing anything. 
 
“Um, Twi. Anytime now.” Applejack said. 
 
“Come on! Do something!” Twilight rapidly swung the bell up and down to make it work. 
 
“Sorry to rain on your parade.” Scarlet Night chuckled. “Even during my slumber, I’m not ignorant about the events that occurred in Equestria, especially those revolving around the Council of Friendship. After all, my loyal followers observed those events and I was able to see through their eyes. A few days after the battle in my fortress, I took the liberty of sneaking into the vault containing that bell and wiping away all of its power. Now, it’s nothing more than a useless paperweight.” 
 
“Of course final boss battles are not meant to be won easily.” Pinkie groaned in annoyance. 
 
“Oh, and I also located the Alicorn Amulet and absorbed its power.” Scarlet Night added. 
 
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!!” The Council of Friendship was shocked. 
 
“Oh, that’s just great! Scarlet Night gained even more power!” Rainbow grumbled. 
 
“Doesn’t matter. We keep fighting until we win!” Natsu clenched his fists. 
 
The heroes pressed on with their assault on their final enemy, but breaking through her barrier was already proving to be an exceptionally difficult task to accomplish. The dark alicorn has been assailed by one attack after another, but she wasn’t affected in the slightest. 
 
“ALL CRUSH!” Gildarts sent a blast imbued with his Crush magic towards Scarlet Night, but it was unable to shatter her barrier. 
 
“SKY DRAGON WAVE WIND!” Wendy generated a large and very powerful tornado, but it was also ineffective. 
 
Erza requipped her Armadura Fairy armor and dashed towards Scarlet Night with swords infused with green lightning energy. The wizard delivered several explosive slashes, with no positive results. Scarlet Night then used telekinesis to throw Erza back. 
 
Twilight conjured swords of light and sent them towards Scarlet Night, but none of them left a scratch on the barrier. 
 
Applejack threw a maelstrom of rocks, but the dark alicorn’s barrier deflected all of them. 
 
“Applejack, couldn’t you use your earth powers to drag Scarlet Night into the ground or raise stone spikes to attack her from below?” Rarity asked. 
 
“If I could, I would have. Her magic power is keeping me from manipulating the earth that she’s directly standing on.” Applejack answered. 
 
For her next move, Scarlet Night created a plethora of red crescent moon-shaped blades. In a wild barrage, she spread them out in multiple directions. 
 
To block, Twilight and Starlight generated shields, Gray formed an ice shield, Rarity created a multi-layered shield construct, and Applejack raised a dense stone wall. Rainbow Dash evaded by using her skillful and super-fast flying. Laxus zipped around like lightning. Pinkie could dodge due to her impressive agility and only a part of her mane got sliced off. Erza tried deflecting the incoming blades while Natsu and Wendy ran around to dodge, but some of the blades grazed them. Gajeel hardened his body as best he could though he still suffered scratches. Gildarts used his magic to shatter any blades coming at him. Fluttershy avoided the blades by simply lying low on the ground and keeping her head down. 
 
“ROARING THUNDER!” Laxus rushed at Scarlet Night and released a large burst of lightning from his fist, only for it to be blocked by her barrier. 
 
Scarlet Night responded by swatting him away hard with one of her mane whips. Meanwhile, Gajeel leaped high into the air. 
 
“KARMA DEMON: IRON SPIRAL!” Gajeel transformed his legs into a giant drill that rotated at high speed. He thrusted himself towards Scarlet Night at full force, but his drill wasn’t powerful enough to pierce through her barrier. 
 
The dark alicorn blew Gajeel back by firing a beam at him. Scarlet Night then created several large dark spheres and sent them high into the air. Once above the heroes, each of the spheres unleashed a rain of destructive blasts down on them. Twilight and Starlight used teleportation magic to bring their twelve allies close to them and conjured a dome-shaped barrier to shield against the blasts. The alicorn and unicorn had to combine their magic power to keep the barrier from breaking. After the barrage ended, the heroes were completely surrounded by small craters. 
 
A large number of storm creatures rushed in to aid the Mane 7 and the wizards. They all charged at Scarlet Night and tried to overpower her with their numbers and brute strength. They swarmed the dark alicorn and continuously swung their weapons at her. 
 
“No! She’s far too powerful! Get back!” Twilight implored, but the storm creatures continued with their attack. 
 
Unfortunately for them, the dark alicorn’s barrier made her untouchable. 
 
“I have no interest in playing with bottom feeders.” Scarlet Night said casually as she slaughtered the storm creatures by impaling them with dark spiked tendrils that erupted out of the ground. 
 
Furious, Rainbow Dash then flew up to an extremely high altitude, past the dark clouds in the sky. Once she was over the clouds, she divebombed towards Scarlet Night at breakneck speed, creating a Sonic Rainboom in the process. She flew like a missile while leaving behind a rainbow trail. 
 
The rainbow-maned pegasus soon collided with the dark alicorn’s barrier with astounding force and the resulting shockwave caused the ground beneath Scarlet Night to shatter. However, the dark alicorn remained unfazed. She then flapped one of her wings, releasing a gust that sent Rainbow Dash spiraling in the air. 
 
Rainbow managed to recover in midair, and Gildarts rushed towards Scarlet Night. She flailed her bladed whips at Gildarts, but he managed to deflect them with his arms. He then threw a punch with his left prosthetic arm to deliver a powerful explosive blast that created a massive explosion. Alas, it did not form a single crack on Scarlet Night’s barrier and she still didn’t budge. While Gildarts was stunned to see that his attack had no effect, one of the whips destroyed his prosthetic arm and the dark alicorn sent him flying back with a magic blast. 
 
“You really think you can corner me!?” Scarlet Night scoffed at her enemies’ futile efforts. “None of you can match me in power like Aura Light could! Try as you might, all you will find in this battle is despair!” 
 
Starlight was visibly unnerved by Scarlet Night’s apparent invincibility. “Can we really beat her?! What does it take to get through her barrier?! So far, nothing we did fazes her! At this rate, we’ll just be wasting magic power and we’ll still get nowhere close to defeating her!” 
 
“I hate to say this, but... I have no doubt that she could have killed us a hundred times over if she wanted to. The reason we’re still alive is because she’s holding back. It’s clear that she enjoys toying with us.” Gajeel chimed in. 
 
“Well I ain’t giving up. No matter how much the odds are against us, I’m fighting to the very end.” Natsu remained determined to see the battle through. 
 
“Your determination is admirable, but it can only get you so far.” Scarlet Night then generated a gigantic sphere of darkness over her head. It kept enlarging until it was around 10 meters wide. Its sheer size intimidated the fourteen heroes. 
 
“Um, I think we better dodge this one.” Rainbow said nervously. 
 
“But there are many others fighting in the battlefield! They could get caught up in the blast!” Wendy replied. 
 
The dark sphere released a supersized mega-beam. Knowing that the blast would wipe out anyone in the line of fire, Twilight, Starlight, and the seven wizards opted to try to stop it. The alicorn and unicorn fired the biggest beams they could. Erza requipped her Lightning Empress Armor and helped by firing a wide lightning beam from her spear. Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Gajeel, and Laxus unleashed their elemental breath attacks. Gildarts also used his magic to weaken the enemy’s attack. 
 
The heroes struggled to stop Scarlet Night’s mega-beam, but with tremendous effort, they successfully counteracted the dark alicorn’s attack. A monstrous explosion was created and Applejack raised stone walls for the heroes to hide behind. The stone walls crumbled down after taking the brunt of the resulting shockwave, but they did prevent the heroes from getting blown away. Scarlet Night wasn’t affected by the wind pressure because of her barrier. After stopping an attack so massive, Twilight, Starlight, and the seven wizards were out of breath. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were left shaking with terror. 
 
“I’m impressed that you managed to stop my last attack, though it seems that it took a lot of effort. If I unleash another blast like that, what will you do? Let’s find out.” The dark alicorn began generating another gigantic dark sphere. 
 
“Not good. She’s about to use another big attack!” Gray exclaimed as he and his allies braced themselves. 
 
Luckily, the next attack did not happen. Scarlet Night suddenly started coughing and wheezing. While she was writhing in agony, the dark sphere she was generating dissipated. 
 
“W-wha... what’s happening to me?!” Scarlet Night wondered as she felt searing pain coursing through her body. Her opponents were just as confused as well. 
 
“What’s wrong with her? Just a moment ago, she had no problem blocking our attacks.” Gajeel was very puzzled by this turn of events. 
 
“My spark is taking effect.” Aura answered. 
 
“Aura Light! Is this your doing?! What have you done to me?!” Scarlet Night screeched. 
 
“Long before Flurry Heart was captured, I planted a spark of light inside of her. When you absorbed her magic, you also absorbed that spark. I waited for the opportune moment to activate it, and that was just before the Council of Friendship and a sufficient number of powerful Fairy Tail members started fighting you together. It took some time for the effects to kick in, but as we speak, the spark is draining your power and destroying your body from the inside.” 
 
“Curse you, Aura! This won’t be enough to destroy me! I can decompose this spark of yours!” 
 
“Now’s your chance! Push her to the limit!” Aura urged the heroes. “My spark will inflict continuous pain on her body, and it will get worse the more power she uses or the weaker she gets!” 
 
“You got it! PARTY CANNON RAPID FIRE!” With her party cannon, Pinkie unleashed a bombardment of colorful rapid-firing cannon blasts. 
 
Twilight and Starlight released wide beams, Applejack launched another barrage of rocks, Rarity conjured a volley of energy arrows, and Rainbow summoned thunderstorms. Scarlet Night continued using her barrier to block any incoming attacks, but she was actually flinching this time. 
 
Natsu charged at her again with a fiery fist. At that moment, Scarlet Night suffered a seizure, causing her barrier to fail and enabling Natsu to strike her. The dark alicorn was sent skidding back after taking the blow. 
 
“Yes! I landed a hit on her!” Natsu shouted proudly. 
 
After taking a moment to process this, Scarlet Night was then bubbling with rage. She was utterly furious that a being other than Aura Light managed to harm her, even though the wound she received was only minor and superficial. 
 
“Mark my words! EQUESTRIA DIES TODAY!!! AND SO WILL ALL OF YOU!!!” Using her magic, Scarlet Night took control of the dark clouds above. 
 
The clouds unleashed a storm of dark red lightning, raining destruction on the entire battlefield. Twilight, Starlight, Rarity, Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, Star Swirl, and many unicorns generated barriers to stop as many dark lightning bolts as they could. Those that could not create shields scurried around to avoid getting blasted. 
 
Fortunately, the storm did not last long as it stopped when Scarlet Night was wheezing again. Pinkie then threw a pie at her face, but it wasn’t the magical sparkly explosive kind. It was just an ordinary cherry pie. As the dark alicorn glared at Pinkie after the pie dropped to the ground, the party pony stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. Infuriated by the disrespect, Scarlet Night repeatedly fired magic bolts at her, but Pinkie effortlessly dodged the attacks by bouncing around. While Scarlet Night was focused on trying to get a hit on Pinkie, Gajeel landed a clean hit on the dark alicorn with his Iron Dragon Club. 
 
“Ha! Not so tough when your barrier’s not working like it used to! Now it’s our turn to dish out the pain!” Gajeel grinned. 
 
Twilight unleashed another magic blast. Unable to rely on her barrier anymore, Scarlet Night canceled out her enemy’s attack with a blast of her own. Fluttershy summoned another flock of ethereal crows and they swarmed the dark alicorn. 
 
While Scarlet Night was distracted by the ethereal crows, Pinkie splattered a sparkly pie on her face and the dark alicorn’s head was covered in a glittering explosion. She was trying a similar tactic that she once used against Thunder Blast, but it didn’t achieve the same results since Scarlet Night is far more resilient. 
 
“Dang it! I was hoping to blind her and damage her horn like I did with Thunder Blast!” Pinkie whined. 
 
“RAGING BOLT!” Laxus struck Scarlet Night with a large bolt of lightning. 
 
“LEADING SKY ARROW!” Wendy cloaked her leg in a whirlwind as she delivered a kick to the dark alicorn, pushing her back many feet away. 
 
With growing frustration, Scarlet Night released a bombardment of explosive magic projectiles all over the place. Erza switched her armor back to Armadura Fairy and charged forward while evading the explosions, and the dark alicorn tried using her bladed whips to keep the wizard back. With her energy-charged swords, Erza repelled the flailing whips. Once she got within striking distance, Erza aimed a sword slash at Scarlet Night’s neck in an attempt to behead her. The dark alicorn managed to save herself by casting a dark magic coating around her neck just before Erza’s sword connected. The wizard then tried to cut off her horn, but it is extremely durable. Scarlet Night promptly used her wings to blow Erza back. 
 
“ICE-MAKE: ICE CANNON!” Gray created a large, long-barreled ice cannon and fired an ice cannonball at the dark alicorn. It blew a portion of her mane off as she narrowly dodged it. 
 
Twilight proceeded with launching an explosive magic bolt. 
 
“FIRE DRAGON BRILLIANT FLAME!” Natsu flung a very large fireball. 
 
“LIGHTNING DRAGON DEMOLITION FIST!” Laxus released a high-speed lightning blast in the shape of a giant fist. 
 
The dark alicorn managed to jump away and avoided a massive explosion. 
 
“I’m getting weaker by the second and it’s difficult to focus with this burning pain eating away inside of me. If I stay, I risk facing death.” Scarlet Night then conjured thousands of dark floating orbs, with a majority of them forming a barricade between herself and the heroes, and each of them unleashed a storm of dark lightning on her enemies, forcing them to either block or evade. 
 
With the heroes held at bay, Scarlet Night begrudgingly decided that retreating is her best option for survival. “I hate fleeing from a battle, but I’ll just retreat... temporarily. I’ll teleport away from this battle for the time being and after I rid myself of this spark and recover all of my strength, I’ll return and make all of them face true terror!” 
 
She attempted to teleport, only to discover that she couldn’t. “What’s wrong?! Why can’t I teleport?!” 
 
“You’re not going anywhere, Scarlet Night. Aside from the continuous magic power draining and body deterioration, my spark prevents you from using teleportation or transport spells of any kind. As an added precaution, I took away your ability to fly as well, and you won’t be able to use levitation either.” Aura explained. 
 
“Then I’ll just use my allies! MONSTERS!!! COME TO MY AID AT ONCE!!!” Scarlet Night bellowed. 
 
To her surprise, none of the Night Terrors were following her command. They continued battling those who were not fighting the dark alicorn. 
 
“DIDN’T ANY OF YOU HEAR ME?!!! I SAID COME TO MY AID!!!” 
 
“Save your breath. The spark also interferes with your ability to communicate with your monsters, so you can’t give them any new orders. Too bad that one of the commands you gave them before the spark took effect was not to meddle in your battles. Even though I can’t restrict all of your powers, at least I can keep you from escaping. You will remain here, where the Friendship Council and Fairy Tail can fight you until they destroy you.” 
 
“You think you thought of everything! Twilight Sparkle is your anchor to this physical plane, isn’t she!? If I destroy her, then your power will be undone!” 
 
While the heroes were still busy defending themselves from the dark lightning-spewing orbs, she aimed a continuous destructive beam at Twilight, who formed a protective shield around herself. A sudden throbbing headache caused her attack to cease and all the dark orbs vanished. 
 
“Natsu! I got something for you!” Starlight conjured a magical flame and tossed it to Natsu. 
 
He grabbed the flame and swallowed it. With his power enhanced, Natsu entered Dragon Force. 
 
“FLAME LOTUS: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!” Natsu created a powerful and highly destructive torrent of flames that barraged Scarlet Night. 
 
“Laxus! Here’s another power boost!” Rainbow created a massive storm cloud and sent a gigantic lightning bolt down on him. 
 
While his powers were magnified, Laxus entered his Red Lightning Dragon Mode and launched a large torrent of red lightning at the dark alicorn. She screamed in pain as she felt the devastating force of Natsu and Laxus’ attacks. 
 
“Time to go all out!” Gajeel took his last steel bar and consumed it, transforming his body into steel once more as he rushed at Scarlet Night. The latter tried to stop him by creating a chaotic vortex of crescent moon blades. 
 
“STEEL DRAGON SWORD!” Gajeel turned his hand into a long steel sword, cut through Scarlet Night’s defenses, and delivered a multitude of powerful slashes. 
 
Scarlet Night hardened her body to lessen the damage from Gajeel’s strikes and as she winced, she used magic to close her wounds. 
 
“She can heal herself?! SO NOT FAIR!!!” Pinkie grouched. 
 
“Don’t worry. She still uses up her stamina.” Aura assured. “Keep up the attack and whittle away her strength!” 
 
The heroes continued with their efforts to wear down Scarlet Night. Never before has she felt so incensed. At first, she held back because she felt that her opponents were not worth using her full power against and she never fathomed the possiblity that anyone other than her sister could be a threat to her. But now, she had to hold back as much as possible lest she worsens the speed of her corrosion. Aura’s spark was well concealed that the Red Moon Generals and even Scarlet Night did not notice it before, and it is so potent that the dark alicorn could not eliminate it right away. She would need time and concentration to extinguish it, but resisting the spark and fighting her enemies at the same time was proving rather difficult. As she desperately tried to ward off her foes with bladed whips, dark spiked tendrils, crescent moon blades, and dark magic blasts, she suffered another headache, providing an opening that her foes could capitalize on. 
 
Applejack dealt a painful blow by hurling a boulder at Scarlet Night. Pinkie covered the dark alicorn in sparkly cake and she was shortly enveloped in a big glittering explosion. While she was stunned, Natsu and Gildarts landed some punches. Gray pierced her with ice spears. Twilight slashed her with swords of light. Erza and Gajeel delivered several slashes as well. Wendy and Rainbow Dash sent her flying with a twister. While she was in midair, Laxus flew towards her like a streak of lightning. 
 
“LIGHTNING DRAGON JAW!” Laxus locked his lightning-imbued hands together in a tight fist and swung them down onto the dark alicorn, sending her back down to the ground. 
 
Scarlet Night conjured a dark magic bubble around herself to soften her landing, but she was then rammed by an ethereal rhino. 
 
“We can beat her! We’re going to win!” Rainbow bellowed as the battle was going in their favor. 
 
Twilight, Starlight, and Rarity wrapped magical chains around Scarlet Night and bound her in place. While immobilized, a thought was going through in the dark alicorn’s mind. 
 
“How did it come to this? Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that my life would be in mortal danger, not like this. This was never supposed to happen. That’s the reason I attained power long ago. I remember the time when Aura and I first sought strength. When we were fillies, our home was once invaded by warmongering centaurs. Our mother was taken from us, but fortunately for us, Father was strong enough to protect us. The helplessness we experienced when we lost our mother was what made us decide to become the most powerful there is. After all, those with power have less to fear and are more capable of commanding respect than those who do not. That’s what I believed. Unlike the Princess of Friendship and her entourage, who needed trinkets to defeat their foes, my sister and I were able to overcome any obstacle with the strength we gained from years of rigorous training in which we constantly pushed ourselves beyond our limits. We not just studied magic. We also trained our bodies, mind, and spirit. Even after becoming alicorns, we never stopped improving our skills and reaching new heights. I was very proud of the fact that our power was second to none in all of Starquestria, if not the entire world. It makes me sick to think that the two alicorns who used to rule Equestria were so incompetent that they relied on lesser ponies to defend this weak land, time and time again. It’s laughable. I won’t allow myself to be overcome by those beneath me! NOT NOW, NOT EVER! ONLY MY EQUAL HAS THE RIGHT TO DESTROY ME IN COMBAT!!!!” 
 
Natsu, Erza, Gray, Gajeel, Laxus, and Gildarts then rushed at Scarlet Night, aiming to strike her down with one combined attack. 
 
“ENOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUGH!!!!” With a deafening roar, she released an enormous omni-directional shockwave that spread out with terrifying speed. 
 
The Mane 7 and the seven wizards gasped as the magical wave came at them so fast that they hardly had any time to react. Twilight instinctively formed a barrier around herself, but the dark wave broke through and blew the princess back with staggering force. 
 
After she was sent reeling from the attack, Twilight groaned with immense pain. She struggled to stand but she felt incredibly weak in the legs. She then looked around and to her horror, she saw her thirteen allies all lying on the ground unconscious. Gajeel was no longer in his steel form. 
 
Meanwhile, Scarlet Night was having severe convulsions and difficulty breathing after her outburst. It took her time to regain her focus. 
 
“Now, all I have to do is end Twilight Sparkle!” The dark alicorn turned her attention towards the downed princess. 
 
But before she could attack Twilight, a group of dragons and niriks assaulted the dark alicorn with streams of fire. 
 
“This is vengeance for my kin!” A dragon bellowed. 
 
Scarlet Night cried out in pain as she was being scorched by their flames. The dragons and the niriks succeeded in drawing her attention away from Twilight, but they also made her frightfully angry. 
 
“FOOLS! I may be weakened, but I WILL NOT be brought down by lowly creatures such as yourselves! DROP DEAD YOU WORTHLESS INSECTS!!!!” 
 
In a fit of unbridled rage, Scarlet Night eradicated the attacking creatures with a volley of magic blasts. Shortly after she killed them, she was hit in the head by a magic beam. She then turned to the one responsible, Star Swirl. 
 
The Pillar kept firing beams at Scarlet Night, but she countered with her own powerful blast that knocked the elderly unicorn to the ground. She subsequently unleashed a stream of red flames towards him, and Star Swirl saw his life flashed before his eyes right before he was incinerated by the dark flames. The flames instantly consumed him, not giving him a chance to scream. Twilight’s eyes widened with terror, having witnessed the demise of the unicorn she admired. 
 
“Noooooooo...!!!” Rockhoof screamed in anguish as he charged towards Scarlet Night. 
 
Joining him were yaks, griffons, and changelings, including Pharynx. Scarlet Night created a cyclone of crescent moon blades and unleashed them on the attackers, killing Rockhoof, Pharynx, and all creatures caught up in the barrage. 
 
The dark alicorn was met with more disruptions as she was struck by more magic blasts. She then noticed Celestia and Luna attacking her from high up in the air. 
 
“We won’t let you destroy any more lives!!!” Celestia cried out. 
 
“Begone from this world!!!” Luna roared. 
 
The sisters continuously attacked Scarlet Night with magic beams, and the evil alicorn used her wings to shield herself. 
 
“Celestia... Luna... no... she’ll kill you too.” Twilight said weakly. 
 
“You two are nothing compared to me! I’ll show you both the might of a true alicorn!” Scarlet Night violently barraged the sisters with spears of darkness. 
 
The two alicorns generated a shield around themselves, but the dark spears pierced through and grievously wounded them, causing them to fall to the ground. 
 
“You both can die together. You two are eyesores that don’t even deserve to exist! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!!” 
 
With pure spite, Scarlet Night then engulfed the sisters in a devastating dark red explosion. 
 
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...!!!!” Twilight cried. 
 
After the explosion, the two former rulers of Equestria lied on the ground... lifeless. 
 
Scarlet Night then suffered another coughing fit, which is much worse than the last as she was violently coughing out blood. She also had trouble breathing. 
 
“Curses... I got so worked up I worsened my corrosion.” She thought to herself while trying to get her breathing under control. 
 
Twilight gazed in despair at Celestia and Luna’s fallen forms. She tried crawling towards them only to see their bodies dissipated into particles of light. The Princess of Friendship was completely devastated as the cruel reality sank in. Even her beloved mentor has been taken from her, and she watched helplessly as it happened. 
 
“No more... No more...” Twilight sobbed. “NO MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!” 
 
As she cried, an aura of intense light erupted and flared around her, which took Scarlet Night by surprise. Twilight’s coat, mane, and tail are all completely covered in a golden hue and her golden armor now shine like the sun. The dark alicorn stared in awe as she unwittingly enabled Twilight to find the emotional trigger she needed to reach Aura Light’s full power. 
 
After her transformation into her ultimate form, Twilight then rammed Scarlet Night at the speed of light. That knocked the wind out of the dark alicorn as she was launched back a great distance. 
 
While recovering from the hit, Scarlet Night gazed at Twilight in utter shock. For a quick moment, she actually saw Twilight as Aura Light. 
 
“Let’s end this!” Twilight uttered while glaring at her nemesis with fire in her eyes. 
 
The princess hurled a large trident of light, which Scarlet Night barely dodged by jumping to the side. Twilight continued with a bombardment of radiant magic bolts, and the dark alicorn responded in kind with a storm of dark bolts. 
 
The two entered a fierce magic firefight and both alicorns screamed in fury as they continuously fired a maelstrom of blasts at each other. Big explosions were created as their blasts collided. 
 
Scarlet Night was holding her own despite Twilight achieving her ultimate form, but the dark alicorn was put under more pressure since the spark inside her is still in effect. As she strained herself, she was bleeding from the nose and mouth. 
 
Determined to destroy Scarlet Night, Twilight did not let up for a moment. Due to increasing fatigue, Scarlet Night was struggling to keep up with Twilight’s relentless attacks. Thus, some of the light magic projectiles managed to hit their mark while none of the dark bolts managed to harm the princess. 
 
During the exchange of magical blasts, Scarlet Night attempted to skewer Twilight by summoning dark spiked tendrils. They rapidly lunged towards the princess, but this time, Twilight has the luxury of having a powerful barrier that blocks all enemy attacks, rendering the tendrils completely useless. 
 
Light and dark blasts continued to clash and flared like a fireworks display. Twilight had the upper hoof, but as she carried on with her onslaught, she was sweating and panting heavily. Apparently, the use of Aura’s full power is taxing on Twilight, and Scarlet Night noticed this. 
 
“Tch. She’s still nothing like my sister.” The dark alicorn thought as she continued exchanging magic blasts with Twilight. “She lacked the experience and the fortitude to wield the full extent of Aura Light’s immense power, so she won’t be able to stay in that form for long. But I’m at a disadvantage because Aura’s spark continues to weaken me! It’s already taking me strenuous effort just to keep myself alive! If it wasn’t for the accursed spark sapping my strength, I wouldn’t be struggling against this lesser alicorn in a one-on-one confrontation!” 
 
As the battle between the two alicorns raged on, the other Friendship Council members, Starlight, and the wizards that Scarlet Night knocked out earlier are regaining consciousness. 
 
Knowing that she needed to defeat Scarlet Night as soon as possible, Twilight increased the ferocity of her attacks and several of her magic bolts struck the dark alicorn dead on. 
 
As she continued sustaining damage, Scarlet Night’s deterioration reached a critical point. Her wings are starting to lose their feathers, her mane and tail are losing their sparkle, and the color of her coat is becoming paler. She was soon sent tumbling to the ground after receiving an explosive blast. 
 
“YOU’RE FINISHED!!!!” With Scarlet Night down on the ground, Twilight charged her horn up and was about to deal a decisive blow that could end the battle. But before she could unleash her next attack, her ultimate form reached its time limit and she reverted back to her previous form. “No... I was so close!!!!” 
 
“Now, YOU DIE!!!!” Seizing an opportunity, Scarlet Night sent waves of crescent moon blades towards Twilight while her guard was down. 
 
After getting back on her feet, Erza leaped in to aid Twilight. She had requipped her Ataraxia Armor and used her eight blade wings to deflect the dark moon blades. 
 
“NOT YOU AGAIN!!!!” Scarlet Night was unpleasantly surprised to see a familiar hindrance. 
 
“Don’t stop fighting, Twilight! It’s not over till it’s over!” Erza yelled before charging at Scarlet Night. 
 
The dark alicorn once again created bladed whips out of her mane and flailed them at Erza. 
 
“Erza, keep her busy while I charge up my magic. I will take her down with one shot!” Twilight said telepathically as she began focusing her magic into her horn. 
 
While Erza parried the whip strikes, Twilight was approached by Starlight. 
 
“Twilight, I’ll help you.” Starlight began transferring her magic power to Twilight. 
 
Having lost a considerable amount of strength after her bout with Twilight, Scarlet Night’s attacks have become more sluggish and her whips became brittle enough for Erza to cut through them. After slicing the whips, Erza sent her flying blades towards Scarlet Night. 
 
However, dark spiked tendrils emerged out of the ground and stopped the blades. With a scream, Scarlet Night released an ultrasonic blast. The sound waves connected to Erza, knocking her down and causing immense seizures, convulsions, and rendering her unable to breathe momentarily. 
 
“SURPRISE ATTACK!” Scarlet Night wasn’t given any respite as Pinkie blasted the dark alicorn with her party bazooka. 
 
“Hey! Guess who’s also back in the fight!!!” Pinkie hollered with a wide smile. 
 
“That maddening pink earth pony too?!” Scarlet Night then fired multiple blasts at Pinkie, which she was able to evade. 
 
“SPARKLY SWEET STORM!” Pinkie bombarded Scarlet Night with various kinds of sparkly explosive sweets. 
 
Scarlet Night countered by conjuring gusts of wind to blow Pinkie away. An ethereal cheetah then pounced on the dark alicorn and started mauling her. After a brief struggle, she fended off the beast by creating a magical pulse. Going all out, Fluttershy summoned a massive flock of ethereal falcons and a stampede of ethereal bulls. Scarlet Night summoned dark lightning-spewing orbs to repulse the incoming creatures. 
 
All the ethereal creatures soon faded away. Given her injured state and the amount of power she used when summoning numerous ethereal creatures at once, Fluttershy collapsed from exhaustion. 
 
Scarlet Night fired a stream of dark flames at the defenseless pegasus, but Gildarts jumped in and stopped the flames with his hand. The dark alicorn was suddenly grabbed by Natsu after he jumped on her back. 
 
“Burn to ashes! FIRE DRAGON GRIP STRIKE!” Natsu released a vast amount of explosive flames. 
 
After screeching for a short time, Scarlet Night launched Natsu away by discharging dark lightning. In the following moment, she found herself under siege by pony soldiers led by Shining Armor. 
 
“The Council of Friendship and Fairy Tail fought hard to defend Equestria! It’s time we return the favor!” Shining Armor rallied his comrades. 
 
Shining Armor and the unicorns attacked with a barrage of magic blasts while most of the non-unicorns fired energy bolts from their spears. Some earth pony soldiers bombarded the dark alicorn with bazooka fire. 
 
“More insufferable pests!!! I’LL OBLITERATE YOU TOO!!!!” Scarlet Night’s horn glowed as she prepared to retaliate against Twilight’s brother and his fellow soldiers. 
 
“ICE DEMON ZEROTH DESTRUCTION BOW!” Gray interrupted her by launching a high-speed ice arrow that turned into a spiky array of ice once it hit its mark. 
 
Scarlet Night could barely stand on her four hooves, but she was still too stubborn to fall. 
 
“Damn, she’s still standing! HURRY UP AND DIE YOU MONSTER!!!!” Gray bellowed. 
 
Scarlet Night was then forced into the ground when a giant hammer construct created by Rarity dropped on her from above. Afterwards, Applejack buried the dark alicorn under a mountain of rocks. Gajeel pitched in by piling heavy iron objects on the rock mountain, adding to the crushing weight. To free herself, Scarlet Night released a magic shockwave to blow the rocks and iron away, but exerting herself caused her to cough out blood again. 
 
Laxus unleashed a massive stream of red lightning, with Rainbow Dash adding her own lightning to the mix. 
 
“COME OOOOOOOOOON!!!! DISINTEGRATE ALREADY!!!!” Laxus roared as he and Rainbow poured on the lightning. 
 
After all that punishment, Scarlet Night was like a dead pony walking. Her deterioration has gotten to the point in which she could not recover from, but what kept her going was her rage and will to not lose to anyone she deemed to be inferior. 
 
“You will soon meet your demise, sister. I had foreseen it.” Aura once again spoke to Scarlet Night through telepathy. “You could have eliminated your tenacious foes if you had used your full power at the beginning, but because of how powerful you were, you always had a bad habit of taking any opponent who isn’t me lightly. Your arrogance will be your undoing. Your enemies don’t need to be stronger than you in order to kill you. I just have to make you weaker. Thanks to my efforts, attacks that are normally meaningless to you are now capable of bringing you down.” 
 
“Shut up...! Shut up...! SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!” Scarlet Night replied. 
 
“I’m truly sorry, dear sister. I do not enjoy making you suffer like this, but I cannot allow you to continue your path of destruction. If destroying you is what needs to be done in order to stop you, then so be it. I hope Mother and Father can forgive you.” 
 
In the Crystal Empire royal castle throne room, Cadance and Flurry Heart waited anxiously for the final battle to end. 
 
“Council of Friendship... Fairy Tail... please win this.” Cadance prayed with all her heart. 
 
Back at the battle, Scarlet Night’s enemies were making one final push towards victory. 
 
“ICE DEMON ZEROTH LONG SWORD!” Gray created an ice longsword and slashed the dark alicorn, inflicting a deep cut and freezing her body. 
 
“MEGATON: RED LIGHTNING!” Laxus delivered a powerful punch with a fist coated in his red lightning. 
 
“NAKAGAMI STARLIGHT!” Erza, while in her Nakagami Armor, swung her halberd down on Scarlet Night with incredible force. 
 
“PURIFYING TRUTH: FIRMAMENT!” Gildarts landed a mighty strike with a fist imbued with his Crush magic. 
 
With Scarlet Night on her last legs, Gray, Laxus, Erza, and Gildarts put all their might into their attacks. While shrieking, the dark alicorn retaliated with another shockwave attack. Though it’s far weaker than the previous one, it still pushed back the four wizards. As they were blown back, Natsu and Gajeel stepped in. 
 
“FIRE DRAGON KING DESTRUCTION FIST!” Natsu threw a punch that released a large quantity of flames. 
 
“KARMA DEMON: IRON GOD SWORD!” Gajeel joined his hands together to create a gigantic iron sword and swiped it down on Scarlet Night. 
 
After their attacks connected, Twilight finished charging up her magic, with a giant orb of light formed at the tip of her horn. 
 
“SCARLET NIGHT! FOR YOUR CRIMES, IT’S TIME YOU FACE YOUR JUDGEMENT!” Twilight bellowed in her royal Canterlot voice as she released a humongous beam of light. 
 
Still refusing to accept defeat, Scarlet Night channeled her remaining strength into firing a wide blast of red darkness and their attacks entered a beam struggle. The dark alicorn stood firm even though she was reaching her limit, but Twilight on the other hoof felt like her power was increasing. 
 
“Twilight! I’m enchanting all of our magic power into you!” Wendy used her magic to transfer more power into Twilight. 
 
“Take her down, Twi!!!” Applejack shouted. 
 
“End this now!!!” Rainbow yelled. 
 
“FINISH HER!!!!” Natsu hollered. 
 
With the extra power given to her, Twilight’s attack pushed through. Realizing that she could not fight any longer, Scarlet Night closed her eyes in resignation, and she was then enshrouded in a gigantic dome of blinding light. 
 
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Bisca was shooting down some flying monsters with her machine guns when five of them swooped down on her. She managed to shoot four of them, but the fifth one was about to slash her with its claws. However, the monster quickly turned to dust before it could attack Bisca. 
 
The monsters throughout the battlefield disintegrated in droves until there are none left, and the dark clouds covering the skies have dispersed. 
 
As for Scarlet Night, once the smoke cleared up, it is revealed that her body has been turned to stone. Her stone form then slowly crumbled down into pieces and they were soon reduced to dust in the wind. 
 
There was complete silence in the open field, until... 
 
“SCARLET NIGHT HAS BEEN DEFEATED!!!! WE WOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!” A Canterlot soldier shouted at the top of his lungs. 
 
In the next second, the sound of victory cheers erupted all over the entire field. With Equestria’s greatest enemy finally vanquished, many were completely overwhelmed with jubilation and started crying tears of joy. 
 
The weary combatants that just fought Scarlet Night spent the following moments letting this victory sink in. 
 
“I-is it... o-over?” Happy stuttered. 
 
“Yeah. Mission accomplished.” Natsu spoke with a smile as he sat on the ground. 
 
Suddenly, Discord popped out of thin air, now finally able to leave the chaos dimension. 
 
“HURRAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! YOU DID IT!!! YOU WON THE WAR!!!” Discord cheered while surrounded by flying trumpets and colorful explosions of confetti and streamers. 
 
“Discord, are you really free?” Fluttershy was surprised yet joyful to see him. 
 
Discord responded by giving the pegasus a hug. “Yes! The seal that kept me imprisoned in the chaos dimension has finally lost its power!” 
 
Fluttershy then snuggled in Discord’s embrace. “Oh Discord, I’m so happy it’s all over. I’ve never been so tired.” 
 
Discord snapped a finger and created a new prosthetic arm for Gildarts. “Consider that as thanks for saving Fluttershy.” 
 
As Fluttershy and the draconequus cuddled, Twilight got something to say to Aura. 
 
“Aura, there’s something I need to discuss with you. You knew all along that Shadow Mayhem would abduct Flurry Heart, didn’t you?” Twilight questioned. 
 
“During my years in the ethereal plane, I gained powers of precognition. If only I had this ability before the incident that drove my sister into madness.” 
 
“Aura, why didn’t you warn us?!! How could you allow Flurry Heart to suffer?!!” Twilight responded angrily. 
 
“Twilight... it was the only way. If I told you, this victory wouldn’t have happened. After I chose Fairy Tail to aid Equestria, I looked through countless possible futures, and I only managed to find one in which Scarlet Night loses. Allowing Flurry Heart to be captured was not a decision I took lightly. Without my spark to weaken Scarlet Night, you and your allies would have fought her to the death in vain.” 
 
“Really? Couldn’t we somehow get a friendship power boost or something like that?” Pinkie muttered. 
 
Aura’s explanation completely stunned Twilight to the point she was left frozen in shock trying to understand what she had just heard. Shining Armor was busy helping the wounded at the time so he didn’t hear this. In the meantime, Starlight had a question of her own. 
 
“I also wonder. Were you also aware of the location of Scarlet Night’s fortress even before Dread Lord revealed it himself?” 
 
“Yes, I was. And before you ask why I didn’t-” 
 
“Even if you reveal the location of Scarlet Night’s fortress, the dark unicorns had a contingency plan in case the fortress’ location was compromised. They would just transport their stronghold to a faraway land and later return to Equestria with their master. The battle in the fortress wouldn’t happen and the Red Moon Generals wouldn’t be defeated before Scarlet Night awakened and we would be at a huge disadvantage if we had to fight Scarlet Night and her generals at the same time. Scarlet Night would have given her generals more power, making them much more difficult to beat.” Pinkie explained for Aura. 
 
“Yes... that is correct.” 
 
“How could you have known that?” Starlight asked Pinkie. 
 
“Just a hunch.” Pinkie answered with a shrug. 
 
After taking the time to process the revelation that Aura knew what was going to happen to Flurry Heart but let it happen, Twilight was embittered. “I cannot accept this. Flurry shouldn’t have to pay for the sins of another princess! And now... she’s in so much pain! And not just her, but also her parents too!” 
 
“In life, we all have our own hurdles we need to overcome, and Flurry Heart is no exception. Shadow Mayhem believed her to be nothing more than a spoiled princess who is underserving of the power she was born with, and it’s up to her to prove him wrong. Shadow Mayhem couldn’t move forward, but she still can.” 
 
“Wait a minute. Since Scarlet Night is destroyed, that means Flurry Heart is going to get her magic back.” Pinkie tried to be optimistic. 
 
Twilight was pretty ticked, but she was too exhausted from the battle with Scarlet Night to enter a heated argument. 
 
“I understand if you’re upset with me. You have every right to despise me. After all, this war happened in the first place because of my moment of weakness during my battle with my sister. I actually knew deep down that she was beyond reason, but I let my love for her cloud my judgement. Many have paid the price for my failure, including your niece and your mentor. Hopefully, there won’t be any more regrets after today.” 
 
“Come on, we should tend to the wounded and the fallen.” Erza said. 
 
The end of the war has been relayed to Warren, Makarov, and Romeo. Meanwhile, messenger pegasi traveled around Equestria at extraordinary speed to spread the news of Scarlet Night’s defeat. One of them just arrived at the Crystal Empire. 
 
“EVERYPONY!!!! THE WAR IS OVER!!!! THE WAR IS OVER!!!! EQUESTRIA HAS PREVAILED!!!!” The messenger bellowed as loudly as he could for all to hear. 
 
Everypony took a few seconds to process this. What quickly followed were loud, thunderous cheers. 
 
“It’s over! It’s finally over!” A crystal pony cried as he can hardly contain his tears. 
 
“Does this mean there will be no more monsters?” A colt asked his mother. 
 
“Yes, dear. We can live in peace again.” The mother answered while hugging her foal with a tearful smile. 
 
In the royal castle, Cadance sighed with great relief as she listened to the cheers of her citizens. 
 
At last, after a harrowing battle, the war has ended. However, not everyone lived to see it. Thorax tearfully held his brother in his forelegs while the Council of Friendship and the remaining Pillars grieved for Celestia, Luna, Star Swirl, and Rockhoof. Nothing can be done to make up for the pain of losing loved ones, but those who survived must not only mourn but also carry on and live for the future.