With the villains approaching, we can spot the bell floating by itself around them.
“That bell has Tirek’s magic inside,” Twilight notes before Fluttershy interrupts. “If they use it against us…”
“His magic is so unique, he’s the only one that can capitalize.”
Everyone looks ahead again when Adagio starts taunting. “You just can’t accept we will dominate you no matter what! Can you?”
“You can’t beat us if we never give up!” Twilight retorts, before realizing something. “Wait a minute; that sample of Grogar’s magic in the bell could power one of US up!”
“Oh no you don’t!” Svengallop laughs, spinning in the air with his horn charging up for an attack. Chrysalis, Twilight, Sunset, Firelight and I teleport behind a nearby bush to dodge the blast.
“We need to get that bell and get Tirek’s magic back,” declares Twilight quietly to us. “My friends, Lightning Dust, and Chrysalis, you’re all with me.”
“Sweet!” Rainbow Dash cheers, her hoof pulling the air from above. “I’ll grab that bell in ten seco-”
“No,” Twilight interrupts, pointing to me, Spike, Trace Light, Cozy Glow, Firelight and Sunset, much to our confusion. “We’re the distraction. They’re gonna get the bell.”
Meanwhile, the villains have been looking for all of us, destroying all the other bushes and rocks.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” taunts Svengallop.
CHS Spitfire points to Twilight and the others while Spike and I, as well as the rest assigned to get the bell, step away. “There!” she shouts.
With everyone yelling, I lower my ears a bit and press my eyes closed. Twilight and Chrysalis work together to attack Adagio, Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust take care of Svengallop and Spitfire respectively by spinning them out, Rarity and Applejack cover Aria with diamond shields and lassos, and Fluttershy and Pinkie cover Sonata by taming her with massages.
Once everyone is lured away from the bell, I charge the bell and jump.
“Do they have to be SO ANNOYING?!?” Spitfire vents.
“Not annoying! DISTRACTING!!!” screams Adagio, pointing to me while I’m in midair.
Aria dives for me, so with lightning quick thinking, I hover and teleport behind her, then wave the rest of my unit on to distract her while I change into a siren of my own. In this form, the only thing I have to be careful of is not to sing, but I take full advantage of what I am free to use: the default mouth beam. I circle around her and attack twice the part where Aria’s pendent is supposed to be.
“Cozy Glow! Now!” I call as I now coil around Aria and dodge her blasts. I bite her in the midriff, causing her to howl, only to get blindsided by an attack from behind. I revert to my natural form as I fall to the ground.
“Aita!!!” I hear an all-too-familiar voice call out.
I can now only watch as Cozy Glow attempts to zoom for the bell, but stops and gasps. I suddenly see a glow coming from behind me, as well as a wave of love knocking down the sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop.
“Cozy! Take the bell!” I can barely hear myself shout over the auditory overload going on.
Cozy Glow nods, grabs the bell and rings it.
Averting my gaze from the brightness of the magic flowing in front of me, I can see a floating cocoon where Chrysalis was that suddenly explodes, revealing a new form of Chrysalis. Instead of near-black, she is bearing a silver carapace, and possesses the same wings Thorax once did as king. Something is off about the form though. Instead of the faded sea green I’m always used to, her eyes glow yellow-green when she first opens them. And if that wasn’t enough, her hooves now have holes in them like they did before she befriended Twilight.
Cozy Glow, take the bell. Snap it to the castle. Return as soon as you can. I can somehow hear Chrysalis’ instructions to Cozy in my head, her voice hitting lower than usual pitches, but still sounding normal otherwise. While hearing those instructions, I can see that Cozy’s wings have grown, and she’s also gained a horn. She is an alicorn now.
Cozy frantically nods. “Okay!” She nervously but swiftly does as Chrysalis tells her.
I struggle to get up while Cozy is gone for the moment as the villains manage to recover before me, and they get back in the battle as she reappears.
But just when I am standing, I flatten my ears to the sound of Svengallop. “What happened to the bell?!?” he shouts as he yanks me up close to him with his magic.
The rest end up going for Cozy Glow, who joins everyone else in the battle as Svengallop is forced to release me by a green beam to his horn. I skid on the ground and look to see Chrysalis taking on Svengallop and dominating him now. She pins him the same way she did before and glares at him. Unlike last time, he’s flailing his hooves, trying to get her off him.
“NOW WHAT DID YOU SAY DIDN’T AFFECT YOU?!? HA?!?”
That is a weird effect: hearing Chrysalis through the air AND in my head at the same time. She charges up her horn, causing Svengallop to shriek, only for us to hear Spitfire.
“That’ll be enough out of all o’ you!” With everyone else looking to the back of the battlefield in horror sans the other villains, she is holding Spike in her magic, specifically in the torso. “Anymore shenanigans and I’ll open fire!”
“No!! Don’t hurt him!!” Twilight desperately orders as the sirens and Svengallop join Spitfire.
“Don’t worry about me! Just sa- hmmm!!” Spitfire cocks Spike like a gun, making him gag mid-sentence.
While everyone else is looking on even more horrified, the sirens and Svengallop have no objections to this, but a super-enraged Chrysalis charges her horn enough to make sparks fly out of it without a word, yanking Spike to out of Spitfire’s magic and onto our side. As a result, Spitfire plops forward but recovers quickly, her and Svengallop charging a beam while the sirens’ mouths are glowing.
“Turns out that life science lesson was correct, wasn’t it?” Svengallop says.
Spitfire nods. “Couldn’t be MORE true. Pretty fitting for an ending.”
“No matter what, we FACE IT TOGETHER!!!” Rainbow Dash declares.
Just as the villains begin their attack, Chrysalis steps in and blocks it with her own that ends up closing in on them. It produces a small explosion that knocks all her targets backward.
“Enough,” she coldly says. “You five will never see the light of day once you destroy my friends. This. ends. now!”
When I see Twilight and her friends, their eyes all spark when Chrysalis is defending everyone around me.
“Just because I let my instincts overtake me, it doesn’t mean I will ever forget the reason those are there in the first place. Two special changelings planted the seeds for who I have become today. The elements of harmony nurtured those seeds even when all seemed lost. But they can’t solve everything alone, which is why we continue to build harmony in new ways. Without the fandom, embrace, stride, forgiveness, inspiration and hope around me, I wouldn’t be where I stand today, protecting the ponies I love!”
Throughout Chrysalis’ speech, she performs a special teleportation for Garble and his army, as well as Tirek, Starlight, Celestia and Luna. The bell is also teleported this way. Twilight, Spike and their friends float up to Chrysalis on one side with a white aura, then my friends and I do the same, just on her other side. Both groups proceed to pour out rainbow lasers that combine within Chrysalis, reverting her to her previous form, shooting out a column of magic that vanquishes the windigos then comes back down to rain on the sirens, Spitfire and Svengallop.
As a result, Spitfire is reverted to a pegasus, Svengallop an earth pony, and the sirens their base forms. All fourteen of us safely float down to the ground once the villains are defenseless.
Soon after, Starlight teleports Celestia, Luna and Tirek close by. Meanwhile, Cozy Glow approaches the bell, then uses her magic to ring it, reverting her to a pegasus. She then turns the bell around with her hooves, pointing it to Tirek, and rings it once more, which just gives him his magic back.
Celestia, Luna and Tirek now confront Spitfire, Svengallop and the sirens.
“There isn’t a punishment WORTHY of all you’ve done!” snaps Celestia.
“Maybe we could…” Tirek walks between the princesses and whispers between them.
“Oh! That does seem fitting,” remarks Luna, seemingly agreeing with Tirek’s idea, whatever it is. “Take it away, Tirek.”
Tirek steps forward and drains the villains’ magic, growing in size along the way. Everyone unaffected cheers at the result.
Chrysalis and Twilight teleport next to me as Celestia turns to us.
“Each one of you brought high hopes within me. Going to Ponyville, Twilight; befriending Equestria, Chrysalis; and defeating Stellar Flare, Aita. But nothing could prepare me for how proud I am right now. Equestria is definitely in the right hooves with ALL your involvement. You are ready.”
“You know what, I think we are,” Twilight replies to Celestia.
“Thank goodness,” Applejack says in relief as she and the rest of our friends come to us. “First question, Twilight: what do we do with everyone here?”
“We’re gonna need a LOT more chairs for the coronation!” Pinkie adds.
Twilight looks on past Celestia, Luna and Tirek, at Garble’s army. “Actually, as ruler of Equestria, I’d like to postpone the coronation while the castle’s being rebuilt. Besides, we have another to attend.” She then wraps her hoof around me, hinting at which coronation she’s referring to.
In Ponyville Town Hall, everyone Aita has ever met is gathered in the main room. She isn’t inside yet, but the coronation has only just started.
I currently stand at the same podium I met Rarity at, in front of an isle between the chairs that leads to the main entrance. As I begin my speech, two changelings behind me begin using their wings to play a quiet song I can only guess Aita’s heard before exclusively.
“Citizens of Equestria and beyond, when I became the princess of friendship, I was given the mission to make Equestria a better place, but in light of my succession of the royal sisters, it has become abundantly clear that I will need my own: one that will continue my old mission after I’ve moved back to Canterlot to rule Equestria. And the past two years have shown me there is nopony more willing and capable of fulfilling that role than who I have in store.
“As we look toward Equestria’s future, I can assure you all she will carry on the principles we have taught her, even learn some of her own to build upon those principles. And everyone here knows she will be up to the task. So for the very first time, may I present to you Aita Bagley-Handy: the new princess of friendship.”
On cue, the front doors open from Aita’s magic as she begins walking down the aisle to the podium. As she steps on, the hardware clerk from Canterlot, Handy Wrench, presents the new crown on a pillow and floats it off onto her head. Aita and I hug as the crowd cheers for her as the flameless fireworks begin to go off.
“Say something, Aita,” I whisper.
Aita steps up to the front of the podium and clears her throat.
“Three years ago, I never imagined I would be standing here in front all the friends I’d go on to make. It is an honor to be receiving this title, and all I have to say is… thank you, everypony. Thank you for everything.”
And so, the audience cheers Aita on after the short thanks she gives. I wrap my wing around her, knowing that with her, everything in Ponyville is going to be just fine without me.