A shocked silence seemed to fall over the battlefield. Those there struggled to process what they had just seen. Was it really over? Had Discord just done what he did? Was this really over?
It was one of those situations where you know you should say or do something, but don't know what to say or how to say it. Instead, a disbelieving silence had fallen over the area. Until a loud voice interrupted the silence.
"YES! YES!" Discord cheered. "I have finally done it! I have destroyed magic! Roll out the red carpet and the banqueting table, as I have emerged the mighty conquerer of the evil forces that damage our world!"
Everybody else was shocked and disgusted, and Pipp finally mustered some words. "You monster!"
Discord turned the cockpit and laughed. "Your friend was a hybrid. A freak. A creature created by the magic. She didn't belong here, and now the secret dies with her."
"Her name was Sunny," Izzy said, as she readied Porter to move.
"And she understood more about being human than you ever will," Hitch added, switching to his radio. "Let's finish this guy off."
"Understood," Zipp added. "On our mark, one two thr-"
Suddenly. a bright glow was visible under the foot of Discord's war machine. He looked at it. "What? There's no way..."
Suddenly, the light grew to a fever pitch, and it was followed by an enormous blast of energy. Discord's mech was thrown backwards, and the area was bathed in a brilliant orange and golden light.
"Guys, is that-?" Argyle asked.
Izzy answered it for him. "SUNNY!"
Sure enough, it was. Sunny Starscout floated in front of Discord's machine, her wings glowing brighter than ever before and the familiar sheen also producing enough light to brighten a galaxy. "This ends here," she said. "You claim to want to save the world. The truth is you want it for yourself so you can rule everybody else with an iron fist. I won't let that happen. The gloves are off!"
Discord laughed. "Brave words for such a little girl."
Sunny shifted her neck. "I think you'll find I'm average height for my age."
Before Discord could react, Sunny suddenly flew forwards, energy pooling around her hands and slammed into the robot, smashing several holes in the cockpit and blowing one of the eyes out. The fragments crumbled to the floor and fell all over the ground, shattering and smashing as they did so.
Discord wheeled back and swung the right arm at Sunny at speed, but she dodged the attack as well as some stray bullets which flew her way. Those which did connect splattered against the golden energies surrounding her. She then made another impact. This had the desired effect, as it blew the cockpit dome off completely, exposing Discord to the elements.
He was hunched over in his machine, looking up and snarling. "I can fight without a colander lit to protect me," he replied, before throwing some switches. A blast threw Sunny back, and the machine switched to another attack mode.
Weapons fire began to streak across the sky as the arm mounted cannons began to blast away at the small target, shells rocketing through the skies and missing targets or producing golden visual feedback.
Through it all Sunny rocketed through the air at incredible speed, looking down and around the threat at a pace that would have made most people dizzy. The firepower gave her an idea. "Time to level the playing field a bit."
As she whizzed around, she focused most of the energy in front of her, and setting her height and speed correctly crashed into one of the arm joints... and went through it... and out the other side. The arm of the machine fell downwards to the floor, now starved of ammunition or electrical signals to keep the barrels turning. Sunny then looped around and repeated the process with the other arm, also succeeding in blowing it off the machine and causing it to explode onto the ground. With one single attack, it seemed that Discord was crippled. "You have no more weapons, Discord. Your machine is crippled. You have no more way to keep up the fight. It's over."
"Nothing's over whilst I'm still breathing, Sunny," Discord replied, before the machine's chest mounts pulled back, revealing an entire battery of cannons. "A good thinker always keeps a backup plan in place. You haven't stopped me Sunny. I'm only getting warmed up!"
Sunny dodged out of the way as cannon fire began to fill up the sky before her, and the back of the machine shifted.
"Witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational war machine. ACTIVATE MISSILE BATTERIES!"
A massive storm of homing missiles roared into the air, followed by another set. "Let's see how you like heatseekers, Sunny. I think they'll like you very much."
Sunny realised how dangerous this was. Her ponied up form was probably giving off a lot of heat, and as such was ringing the dinner bell for every heatseeking missile in the area. She simply kept going, thundering towards the mountains nearby to try and get the missiles to change targets or explode in mid air.
Cannon fire continued to fly in her direction, but that was a lesser threat to her than the missiles, which could actually track her. She glanced back. "This is one of those days you wish this thing had countermeasures."
Until this gave her an idea. She rolled over and focused once again, her mind centering on the missiles chasing her. A series of golden blasts roared from her hands, impacting the chasing missiles and destroying many in flight, whilst others became confused and flew off target, slamming into the ground below.
Sunny flew back towards the robot, focusing the energy to work as a shield once more as she flew into a gigantic storm of missiles and shells fired from the robot which lit up the sky with explosions. And yet, from the ground, a familiar golden streak was clearly visible through it all. Sunny kept going at incredible speed. At last she made it through the fire, and the last Discord saw of her was a focused face with determination focused on her features.
She slammed into the machine's core and flew out the other side, causing explosions to echo everywhere. Discord looked down and saw alarms and warning screaming at him. "Time to get out of here!"
He pulled a lever, and a pod formed around him, which was then fired high into the air as the machine below exploded into flames, parts and equipment flying all over the place and destroying the enormous machine.
At last, it was finished. The Battle of Sodor was over.
The next morning, the sun rose once more over a safer, better world. The fiery ball opened his eyes upon the island of Sodor, a place now much quieter and safer now that Discord was gone.
At Vicarstown, the Falmouth team were preparing to move off for their homeland. Sunny had safely packed the crystals into a case, so they could be placed back in their housing when they returned. Right now, they were standing on the platform, saying their goodbyes.
"Hopefully we'll be able to chat at some time and exhange fashion ideas darling," Rarity said to Pipp. "You and I do seem to have an eye towards the fabulous."
"I'd totes love that!" Pipp exclaimed, as she raised her phone. "It's official, guys; Rarity is on Team Pipp!"
Rarity sighed. "I refuse to acknowledge that 'totes' is a word."
Rainbow Dash shook hands with Zipp. "We should totally go toe to toe in soccer some time. I bet somebody as awesome as I am would give you a real challenge."
"I'm more of a runner than a socker player," Zipp admitted. "How about 100 metre sprint?"
Fluttershy was saying similar to Hitch. "You were very brave out there. If you're that willing to lay down your life for your friends, your bonds must be very strong indeed."
"The bond of brothers is the strongest of all," Hitch admitted. "I intend to keep true to that."
Applejack was speaking to Misty. "Now remember, sugarcube, hard work is more important than anythin' else. An' yer friends are the closest things to family you will ever find. Hold them in yer heart."
"I will," Misty said.
Finally, Twilight had some parting words of wisdom for Sunny. "What you did out there for us gives me hope for the world," she said. "Friendship is the greatest power the world has ever known, allowing us to stand against the darkest moments and emerge victorious. It warms my heart knowing there will be others who will continue our work after we are gone. Always keep the light of friendship and magic burning bright within your heart."
Sunny nodded. "Wow. That's quite the burden. But one I'm more than happy to bear."
"Time to go!" Rebecca called. The drivers all scrambled for their engines, and with a whistle Rebecca pulled away towards Barrow.
A massive chorus of whistles started up behind them, seeing them on their way.
For this was no goodbye. This was simply see you soon. And no matter who or where you are, Sodor will always be waiting to welcome you home.