The ponies, now in possesion of the Rainbows of Light and Darkness, are in their way, back to Canterlot, decided to put an end to King Sombra's reign at once. However, Twilight's concern of being unable to control the Rainbow of Darkness still haunted her.
"Lickety Split, can we talk?" Twilight talked to the pink pony, who was sharing a few laughs with another pink pony, "What would have happened if you wouldn't saved me?"
Lickety Split answered, very happily. "Well, in theory, the dark rainbow would have consumed the multi-colored one, creating a completely negative magic and..."
"No no no, I mean, what would have happened to me?" Twilight interrupted, showing a frowning face, and after hearing the last question, Lickety Split's smile disappeared, turning into a serious face.
"You would have been driven to pursuit your own greeds, considering your enemy everything that stood in your way. The Rainbow of Darkness would have granted you his power to get what you want. Good or evil would not be important to you anymore, not even your friends, not even your family, the only pony you would care for, would be yourself."
"It was awful, I could have betrayed the princess. I can't believe King Sombra had the power get in my head all the way to the Midnight Castle."
"Hold your horses, Twilight. Don't blame King Sombra for your own problems."
"What?" Twilight lifted an eyebrow. "But it was his voice, and those were his exact words. I remember perfectly!"
"It was the Rainbow of Darkness in your head. It manifests differently to everypony, but in the end, YOU are the only responsible for it, that is your dark side."
"Whoa there, Nelly!" Applejack intevened in the conversation. "Dark side? For the beards of my uncle Traders Joe! What is a dark side?"
"It's that little voice that induces you to do bad things to fulfill your own desires." Lickety Split explained. "Stealing, lying, that kind of stuff. Every rational creature has a dark side. And when exposed it to the Rainbow of Darkness, it messes with your greeds, fears, and even your love interests to let the Rainbow of Darkness corrupt you. Twilight lost control of her dark side, and that's why she couldn't wield the Rainbows."
"Maybe Twilight can't" Pinkie Pie popped out between Twilight and Lickety Split. "But what about the others? Can any of us wield the Rainbows? Or maybe YOU could use it. You know, since you know a bunch about it."
"Good idea, Pinkie!" Twilight perked her ears and smiled. "You know how it works, I can't think of anypony more capable than you."
"Actually... no, I can't." Lickety Split also smiled back at Pinkie Pie. "I also have trouble dealing with my own dark side, but I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Well, what about me?" Pinkie bounced in front of Lickety Split, anxious for an answer.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Lickety Split widened her eyes and shouted at Pinkie Pie, she startled the rest of the ponies around them.
"Why not?" Pinkie asked very confused.
"You are the most dangerous pony to attempt to wield the Rainbows," Lickety Split pictured the consequences of letting Pinkie Pie wield the Rainbows in her head. "I don't know what could happen if sad Pinkie takes over. And I don't even want to think about it, if the angry and rancorous Pinkie prevails in the end. That wouldn't be nice at all..."
"Well, then, who would be the most suitable pony?" Rarity asked curiously.
"The wielder must have total control of herself. She must face the darkness within her, accept it and defeat it." Lickety Split touched her chin and took a closer look at everypony around her, even Spike was considered. But nopony seemed to be capable of wielding the Rainbows, for all the candidates had potential dark sides that could bring catastrophic results, including herself.
Twilight was doubting her loyalty to her teacher. Rarity's love for fame might betray her. Rainbow Dash's pride could turn her into another tyrant. Applejack would do anything to see her parents again. Fluttershy lacks confidence, has a lot of phobias, and tends to care more for the creatures than for anything else. Guardian Sword doesn't seem to know what light is. Pinkie Pie has a light side, a dark side, and an angry side. Scrapped Cloak was driven by revenge. And Spike had a greedy dragon deep inside of him.
Lickety Split finally came to an answer, after staying silent for a few seconds as everypony else stared at her impatiently.
"We'll be sure when the moment is right... It could be any of you. Except for Pinkie Pie, of course. But also... Maybe it's none of you."
At that time, the battle in Canterlot seemed like a lost cause. The Dark Ponies were outnumbered by the equestrian army, the changelings and the dragons, but that didn't matter if every defeated ally turned inmediately into a new enemy unit. The battlefield was mess, with dark crystals covered almost the entire city, the buildings were crumbling down like domino pieces, and a dark sky which showed it was not daytime, but certainly it wasn't night either. King Sombra was enjoying his spectacle from the lord's balcony with an arrogant smile covering his face.
Inside the throne room, Dark Princess Celestia turned out to be a hard challenge for Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon. With her magic powered by darkness, her Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis could barely get closer to her. Dark Princess Celestia striked with a black beams at her opponents.
"Ugh... this is getting annoying." Chrysalis rubbed her head.
"This is leading nowhere." Nightmare Moon answered, standing up again. "And Twilight may come back anytime soon..."
"How do you know she was successful? And even if they are, King Sombra, undoubtedly, will catch their presence."
"That's where you come in." Nightmare Moon said.
"I knew it. I suppose that evil minds think alike. Fine, I'll distract him, but just because I'd love to get him angry. But what will you do with Molestia? Not even together we can get a scratch on her. What can you possibly do by yourself?"
"I didn't want to tell you this, but you are holding me back. I'm going to use my full power now, so if you don't want to get hurt, I suggest you leave at once." Nightmare Moon smiled at Chrysalis.
"Awww, so kind of you." Chrysalis smiled back, and she left the throne room to find King Sombra, while Nightmare Moon faced Dark Princess Celestia, with excitement in her face.
"O my sister! I've been wanting to do this since a really, really long time ago. And now, I finally have an excuse to punch you in the face, once for all those mistakes you've made as a ruler, and twice for being too stubborn to admit.
Nightmare Moon took off and blasted the rooftop, she gained considerable altitude over Canterlot Palace. Princess Celestia followed her, ready to confront her. Nightmare Moon's wings and horn unleashed a dark cobalt blue aura, as her eyes shone in a dark turquoise colored glow. Nightmare Moon was combining the power of Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna into a new power.
Princess Celestia quickly shot a powerful dark beam, but Nightmare Moon only had to stop it with her hoof to made it vanish in thin air. Upon seeing this, the Dark Princess Celestia spreaded her wings, preparing her next attack, but Nightmare Moon quickly teleported in front of her, surprising Celestia. The Princess of the Night calmly aimed her horn at her sister, and a dark blue burst, blew away the Dark Princess Celestia.
The elder sister regained balance, and shot dark beams, and waves of dark magic, but Nightmare Moon quickly gained the advantage in battle, as Princess Celestia's spells meant nothing to her. As a last resort, the elder sister began to spin on her own axis, turning into a spinning needle, wich attacked Nightmare Moon, but it was another meaningless effort, for she could not penetrate the magic barrier Nightmare Moon lifted before the impact.
Suddenly Nightmare Moon's barrier compressed to her horn, and was shot in form of a beam directly at Princess Celestia, who fell and crashed on top of one of the towers.
"Too weak." Nightmare Moon stared at her sister, who was standing up. "I don't remember our fights at all, sister. But somehow, my body seems to remember that your original magic was supposed to be stronger than this."
"You have seen nothing!" Dark Princess Celestia released a strong energy coming out of her horn, her whole body was covered by a dark purple glow, the flowing of her mane and tail changed to a raging pattern, imitating the motion of fire, and the shape of her cutie mark, the sun, projected behind her, as purple and sinister as the glow behind her green eyes.
At the same time, Luna's body was also covered by a dark blue glow, beautiful as the night sky, and as well, her mane and tail changed the frequency of their flow, but unlike her opponent's, her mane and tail both waved like a flag following the momentum of the winds of storms.
Both alicorns summoned magical swords from her horns, and dashed directly at each other. Upon the first contact of the swords, a huge spark exploded from the impact, strong enough to destroy the throne room if the battle would have taken place there.
"What is that? Fireworks?" A young pegasus soldier stopped to gaze the sparks shining between the blackness of the sky.
"The moon and the sun... It's the princesses... They are fighting, using the forbidden spells..." An older pegasus, also stopped to share the sight.
"Forbidden spells, sarge? What does that mean?" The young pegasus asked.
"They were created by Star Swirl, and are extremely dangerous. Legend says, that when two ponies with equal skill in magic, fight using these spells, it will be a battle that will last a thousand days."
But the older pegasus quickly regained concentration. "Now focus, soldier! We have our own battle down here. Don't get distracted and maybe, if you're lucky, you will tell this tale to your grandchildren someday."
"Yes sir." The young pegasus nodded, and advanced beside his elder, with one thought in his mind. Wait for me, Serena. I will save you!
After an exchange of hits by crossing swords with her sister, Dark Princess Celestia, decided to change the strategy. Spreading her wings once again, countless purple orbs spawned around her, and one by one, they were launched toward Nightmare Moon, who summoned a magic barrier around her.
Although the barrier took a few hits before the Nightmare Moon, the orbs completely shattered the barrier and hit Nightmare Moon one after another, more than a hundred orbs impacted on her legs, wings, body and even her face, causing her to fall and crash on the palace.
Nightmare Moon barely got back on her hooves, she stared up to see the Dark Princess Celestia, and was shocked by seeing a huge dark red sun above her sister. Dark Princess Celestia, then, slowly aimed her horn at her sister, preparing to shoot, as Nightmare Moon summoned a huge quarter of the moon in front of her. Nightmare Moon used it as a bow and set up herself as the arrow.
Princess Celestia shot a purple solar beam at the same time Nightmare Moon shot herself toward her sister.
"The battle of a thousand days. It looks like this is one of those." Princess Luna thought to herself, as the solar beam and herself were quickly getting closer to each other. But suddenly, Luna sighed, and smiled. "But, when it comes to magic. We both know this..."
"I am more skilled than you!" Upon the impact, Nightmare Moon pierced through the solar beam, and reached to her sister's chest, the solar beam disintegrated, and after a long fall, both alicorns landed on the garden of statues, but only one of them was unconscious.
After a short while, Nightmare Moon slowly crawled at her sister's side, her body invaded by pain. The darkness in Princess Celestia was slowly fading away from, recovering her original colors.
Eventually, the younger alicorn reached the elder, and stared at the unconscious face of her sister for a while.
"Wake up!" Nightmare Moon punched Celestia's face. "I know you're not dead! I didn't hit you that hard!"
"Uhhh..." Celestia opened her eyes after a second punch, and suddenly, she was punched a third time. "Oww! Hey! I thought you said only twice!"
"Thrice for having banished me to the moon!" Nightmare Moon yelled at Princess Celestia.
"Does that makes us even?"
"Well... Maybe I should banish you to the sun for joining forces with King Sombra."
"Very funny, Luna. Ha ha ha... Ummm, you're kidding right?"
Nightmare Moon carried Celestia on her back, heading back to the Crystal Caves.
During the battle of the princesses, somewhere inside the palace, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Ditzy Doo, sneaking in one of the palace's hallways, were looking around for any clues of the whereabouts of the Crystal Heart, as Scootaloo was investigating room after room, her friends followed, trusting in the carefully calculated plan of the young pegasus.
"You have no idea what you're doing, right?" Ditzy Doo had lost faith in Scootaloo after trying a few rooms with no results at all, as Scootaloo kept investigating a cabinet.
"Of course I do!" Scootaloo glared at her, very angry. "I am looking for the Crystal Heart! I don't see you helping at all, Derpy!"
"Can you please stop and listen to me?" Ditzy Doo started tapping the floor with one of her front hooves, losing her patience after hearing the popular nickname she always hears.
"The Queen of Changelings and Princess Luna are fighting Princess Celestia! There's no time to waste! We gotta keep looking! We'll find it eventually!" Scootaloo emptied the cabinet as she was falling into desperation. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were helping her looking around, but their hopes weren't too high.
"King Sombra will find us eventually! We can't just go around, checking room by room, expecting to find the Crystal Heart under King Sombra's bed!" Ditzy Doo stopped Scootaloo by stepping on her tail. Scootaloo turned around and tried to release herself.
"Then, what do you suggest?" Scootaloo finally pulled her tail a last time, as Ditzy Doo lifted her hoof to release her, causing Scootaloo to fall on the floor.
"We use our heads. Where is the most secret place in the palace, where King Sombra wouldn't want anypony to get close to?"
"How're we supposed to know that?" Applebloom said, after thinking the answer for a second.
"Yeah. If it's a secret place... How can we know where it is?" Sweetie Belle added.
"Well, by asking somepony who knows the palace far and wide, General Shining Armor, for example." Ditzy Doo answered. "We find Shining Armor, we decrease the number of places to look, and increase the chances of finding the Crystal Heart."
"Wow, that's... actually smart." Scootaloo thought about the plan.
Ditzy Doo glared at Scootaloo directly at her eyes with an unhappy look in her face. "Oh, excuse ME! You thought I was dumb? You thought you can make fun of me? Just because of my eyes? Is that it?"
"Umm... N-n-no?" Scootaloo answered, feigning a confident smile. Ditzy Doo, let go a sigh, and led the group outside the palace to look for Twilight's brother.
Meanwhile, General Shining Armor, shooting beams indiscriminately at her enemies, was leading his unit toward the palace. Making haste, he knew that the enemy's numbers were increasing each second. Dark changelings were a real pain to fight, but dragons powered by dark magic were enemies so much stronger and more ruthless, the kind of creatures that would have never spawned in his worst nightmares. Slowly advancing through a sea of dark creatures, little by little getting closer to the palace, he was driven by one single desire, to find and rescue his beloved wife. With no idea of where she is, or how to find her, however, that didn't stop him from crashing through his fallen troops, who have now became into his enemies.
Finally, General Shining Armor and his squad got into the palace, smashing through the main gate. He stopped for a second to examine the hostility inside the palace, he spotted a few silhouettes coming down the main stairs. Silently and quickly, he organized his soldiers in an assaulting formation, and slowly surrounded the hostiles. When the suspects came down the last stair step, Shining Armor and his troops showed up, aiming their horns and lances.
"Wha... What the? What are you doing here?" Shining Armor was surprised to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Ditzy Doo. "Don't you know it's dangerous here?!"
"S-sorry, w-we were looking for you..:" Sweetie Belle answered nervously, raising her front hooves as if she was interrogated as a criminal.
"Go back to the Crystal Caves. You're in the way of our mission."
"And what mission is that, General?" Scootaloo asked with defying eyes.
"To find King Sombra, defeat him, and seize the palace." Shining Armor answered with the same defying eyes on Scootaloo.
"You can't defeat King Sombra..." Ditzy Doo said. "And you know that."
"Yeah, Ah know you want to save Princess Cadance." Applebloom added, standing beside Ditzy Doo. "But this isn't the way."
"Even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna lost to King Sombra." Sweetie Belle also tried to convince Shining Armor, making the face of a nice filly and huge teary eyes. "You are just exposing yourself, and your soldiers, too." It was a very effective move, even for a mare of her age, the whole squad fell for it.
"I know that!" Shining Armor shouted, and after calming himself, he sighed. "There must be something we can do."
"There is! Help us find the Crystal Heart!" Scootaloo suggested, as she turned here and there, talking to the whole squad, trying to convince them that it was the better option. "King Sombra said it himself. With the Crystal Heart under his possession, we are no match for him."
"But where could King Sombra hide the Crystal Heart?" Shining Armor touched his chin, thinking for a few seconds, until he remembered something. "There is a perfect place in Canterlot Palace that only the royalty knows."
And so, Shining Armor ordered his troops to guard the palace, and led Ditzy Doo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders through the Palace.
"What's going on down there?" King Sombra sensed Shining Armor getting closer to the Crystal Heart, and performed a spell that opened a window, wich allowed him to see them. "Ha ha ha. You fools. Even if you know where the Crystal Heart is, that doesn't mean you can find it."
"Why don't you just simply move the Crystal Heart from it's current location?" Queen Chrysalis showed up, hovering in front of the balcony, she landed on the balcony fence.
"Well, well, but if it isn't my favorite queen?" King Sombra said. "The Crystal Heart is immune to magic. It must be grabbed by bare hooves. But you already know that, right Crystalis?"
"I'm so flattered! You still call me by my true name." Chrysalis smiled, and stepped beside him.
"Sombra, do you really think you can win? Your Dark Princess Celestia is fighting Nightmare Moon, right now. Their subjects are close to find the Crystal Heart, and most importantly, Twilight Sparkle and her little group went looking for the Rainbow of Darkness. How come you can sit still, with all these threats against you?"
"Your simple minds can't possibly understand." King Sombra laughed. "My dear Crystalis, do you want to know why I have succeeded where many others have failed? Including you."
"You mean the conquest of Equestria?" Chrysalis glared at King Sombra.
"Equestria has many means of defense." King Sombra replied. "Even if you can break through one of them, there are still others that can ruin everything. The princesses are one of the most dangerous, next to the Elements of Harmony. But if you keep all of this defenses busy with something else, the path to victory becomes clearer and easier to traverse."
"Keep all the defenses busy?" After thinking for a while, Chrysalis gasped, as she realized and smiled. "I see! Clever!"
"I gave power to that foolish dragon, Foskiá, to keep war between ponies and dragons. I showed my presence to Nightmare Moon to make her leave Canterlot and seek for her sister. Who would have thought that she would turn to you? Also I defeated Princess Cadance effortlessly while her army, her aunts, and the Elements of Harmony were too busy dealing with Foskiá."
"A flawless checkmate, I must say." Chrysalis nodded, showing respect to King Sombra, but she wasn't as impressed as King Sombra expected. "But still, you are just a lucky foal."
"WHAT?! A LUCKY FOAL?!" King Sombra glared at Chrysalis, very loudly and intimidating. "How dare you talk to me like that, everything went according to my master plan!"
"Yes. But think about this, what if the war between ponies and dragons would have never occurred. What would have you done, then? Show yourself, just to be defeated by Celestia and Luna once again. You didn't started the war, did you? You didn't even know it would happen."
King Sombra widened his eyes, and stood speechless for a few seconds. "Well I... That was... Details are not important. My master plan worked just fine! And the best part is yet to come! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Queen Chrysalis mid closed her eyes, as King Sombra made the loudest evil laugh she's ever heard. She was annoyed, for she always preferred the smoother laughs, those were more elegant than the laughs of a maniac. She stared at the horizon from the balcony, and watched the flying vessel aproaching.
"Well, well, well." King Sombra noticed the Sky Wanderer without even watching it. "Looks like Twilight was successful. I see you didn't come looking for a fight, Crystalis, so if you'll excuse me, I have some guests I need to attend." Thus, King Sombra headed to the throne room.
Chrysalis took a deep breath, and said. "Who said that I'm not?" And so, she shot a beam against him. But it was no match for King Sombra, he also turned around, and turned Chrysalis' beam against her, then, he defeated her with a single dark beam shot from his horn. A battle so uneven, it had ended even before it started.
Shortly after, the Sky Wanderer finally reached Canterlot, with Rainbow Dash on the steering wheel. Everypony was shocked to see Canterlot Palace even more obliterated than before. They landed on the center of the plaza, where there was a secret entrance to the Crystal Caves.
Once inside the caves, the ponies wasted no time to meet Princess Luna, they had a nice surprise by finding Princess Celestia was back on herself, although she and her sister were badly injured, both of them were recovering with the help of some medic unicorns of the royal guard.
"Princess Celestia..." Twilight saw her mentor, she was concerned but not very excited, she didn't trust Princess Celestia as much as she used to.
"It's nothing, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Celestia tried to hide her wounds, even though the bandages around her were more than evident. "But more importantly, what happened while I was... away?"
"Well... about that..." Inmediately, Princess Luna, who next to her sister, reacted with a nervous face.
"We ventured in a quest to find the Rainbow of Darkness!" Pinkie Pie informed. And upon hearing this, Princess Celestia stood silent, comprehending what she just heard.
"You did what?" Princess Celestia questioned, and without expecting an answer, she made a second question. "Luna, does that imply that they have met you know who?"
"Yes, I think they did, sister..." Princess Luna sighed and raised one of her front hooves to cover her eyes.
"Did you truly went all the way to find that... that... that ungrateful witch?!" And so, Princess Celestia talked so fast, complaining and pointing out all the defects of the mentioned pony.
"Doesn't look she's on the same page with The Observer, right?" Pinkie Pie wispered to Rarity.
"Same page? I'd say they're not even on the same book..." Rarity replied.
Eventually, Princess Celestia's grunt was interruped by Lickety Split. "With all due respect, princess. My master may be all that and more, but I think we have more important matters we need to attend to."
"Lickety Split?" Princess Celestia recognized her. "You're right. King Sombra must be stopped once and for all."
"Wait, princess." Twilight called for the word. "King Sombra said he was one of your students. What happened back then. Why did he turned evil?"
"I reckon I am be the one who must answer that question." Princess Luna intervened in the conversation.
"Once, Sombra was my sister's most dedicated student. Telekinesis, summoning, transformation, he could master all kinds of magic arts. The other students called him a magic genius. But he was no genius, his mastery in magic is the result of rigorous studies and hard training. He was respected by everypony, he had good friends, a promising future, and there was even a mare who was dumb enough to fall in love with him."
"Yeah, he sounds a lot like Twilight. Except for the love part." Spike commented, grinning at Twilight. But she just ignored him.
"But one day, he was sent to the Crystal Empire for an exam, he was sent as an ambassador to exchange knowledge of magic between the countries. When he returned, he was not the same unicorn. He locked himself in his own ivory tower, and began a new study. Always reading a strange book. He started ignoring the letters and summons from my sister. He grew distant to his friends, and was occasionally visited by that mare who loved him blindly, but he always ignored her, she insisted, denying the fact that Sombra wasn't the same unicorn she was in love with. Until one day, he ruthlessly broke her heart to pieces."
"The poor thing." Rarity cleaned some tears. "That monster! It takes some nerve to hurt a lady's feelings!"
"It was a matter of time until we found out what he was reading. A book containing the secrets of dark magic. Celestia asked him to stop, but he refused, so he was banished from Equestria as punishment. That's when he made an alliance with the Crystal Queen, to take over Equestria, but he betrayed her, and took over the Crystal Empire instead. And well... I think you know the rest of the story."
"How did he return?" Guardian Sword asked. "I thought he was destroyed by the Crystal Heart, when Miss Twilight was sent to the Crystal Empire."
"He was." Celestia answered. "But his whole existence is one with darkness, he is a shadow, he can't die, but once destroyed, it takes some time for him to recover his true power, that's why the Crystal Empire is so important, the secrets of dark magic are hidden there.
"But now that Princess Celestia is free!" Rainbow Dash stated. "The seal on the Elements of Harmony can be lifted. We can use them to turn him into stone."
"No, the seal can't be lifted yet." Princess Celestia said. "As you may know, the seal was created to prevent the Elements of Harmony from being used against Equestria. My sister and I can seal the Elements, but remember that Luna and I used to be the Elements of Harmony, so there's no point in sealing them, if the Elements can release themselves from the seal."
"The seal has a time limit of twenty-four hours." Luna complimented. "And only when twenty-four hours have passed, the seal is lifted automatically. That's why I agreed with the plan of the Rainbow of Light."
"So did you completed it?" Celestia asked Twilight, filled with excitement and pride. "Was my star student able to handle the Rainbows of Light and Darkness?"
But suddenly, they were surrounded by a dark mist. Everypony was alerted, Rainbow Dash and Guardian Sword used their wings to blow the mist away, and when they did, the group was located in the throne room.
"That was a brilliant hideout." King Sombra was seated on the throne, beside Chrysalis, who was hurt and defeated next to him. "But you knew that it wouldn't last forever."
"We have the Rainbows, King Sombra!" Twilight stepped forward, and acted brave. "Your reign has come to an end!"
"Well, then, go ahead and use it." King Sombra walked down the steps from the throne, exposing himself in front of Twilight, but she obviously couldn't do anything.
"You can't, do you?" King Sombra walked around Twilight. "I knew you couldn't, Twilight. You were so easily influenced. All I did was plant a small seed. And just like that, your mind was filled with doubt and fear. How much time will it pass until you turn evil, just like every single one of Celestia's star students. Maybe the Rainbow of Darkness is the power that will turn you against your teacher."
"Twilight..." Princess Celestia saw how her student was intimidated, how Twilight accepted those words, as if she was read like an open book, how she was psychologically defeated by King Sombra.
Lickety Split saw the need to hand over the Rainbows, she decided for Applejack, but just before she could give it to Applejack, she was forewarned by King Sombra.
"Be very careful, young mare. A wrong decision could make things worse."
Thus, Lickety Split hesitated, and changed her mind for Fluttershy, and then, changed her mind again, this time, for Rainbow Dash, but nopony seemed to be the right one. However, a strong, yet feminine voice came from the gardens.
"We found it! The Crystal Heart!" Scootaloo and her friends were in the center of the maze of bushes, and she held the Crystal Heart over head, victoriously.
"What?!" King Sombra, quickly sprouted a dark crystal from the ground, capturing the Cutie Mark Crusaders and raised them at a very high altitude. King Sombra changed into shadow, and rushed to recovered the Crystal Heart, wich was dropped by Scootaloo.
Before King Sombra could reach the Crystal Heart. Ditzy Doo caught it before him. She maneuvered between the dark crystals that King Sombra sprouted to stop her, but one of the dark crystals hit her, and Ditzy Doo was forced to make a crash landing on the statues' garden, while she protected the Crystal Heart with her body.
"That's enough mischief for now." King Sombra appeared in front of Ditzy Doo. "Give me the Crystal Heart."
"Give up, Sombra. Face it, you are defeated!" Celestia teleported herself, and everyone in the throne room, behind King Sombra. At the same time, Shining Armor released the Cutie Mark Crusaders from the dark crystal. And they all surrounded King Sombra.
"Is that so?" King Sombra chuckled for himself. "So, you have the Rainbows and the Crystal Heart. And still, you can't do anything to defeat me. Look at yourself, Celestia, neither you nor your sister can fight another round. The Elements of Harmony are sealed, and even if you have the Crystal Heart, there's no Crystal Queen to use it. Princess Cadance was swallowed by my darkness, she is lost forever. I told you before! I have already won!"
King Sombra turned into a giant shadow, and striked the ponies with dark beams and everyone was blown away. After standing up, Twilight's cutie mark portraited behind her, she had unleashed the forbidden spells, and striked King Sombra with a violet colored beam, but King Sombra's shadow form was immune to it. Twilight summoned the huge javelin from her horn, the same she used to defeat Skyclaw, and threw it toward the Dark Unicorn. However, it was another failed attempt, for the javelin was stopped, and turned against Twilight. She tried to teleport away, but King Sombra teleported her back to the javelin's destination. Twilight was hit by her own magic, she was hurt and coud barely stand up again, so she decided to use her most powerful spell. She summoned magical wings, and flew toward King Sombra, turning into a light beam, she could hit King Sombra, but she was defeated again by his shadow form, she was completely covered by it and knocked back on the ground.
King Sombra returned to his normal form, and put his front right front hoof on Twilight's lying body. Twilight did her best to get up, but the pain was unbearable through every single inch of her, and King Sombra's hoof felt as heavy as if she had a whole mountain over her body.
"Put your dirty hoof away from her!" Shining Armor shouted at King Sombra.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Guardian Sword also shouted at him.
Both stallions bursted into a rage, and dashed directly at King Sombra to save Twilight. But King Sombra grabbed Twilight from her neck and used her as a shield, causing Guardian Sword and Shining Armor to stop their attacks. Suddenly, another dark crystal sprouted from the ground, wich captured Shining Armor, Guardian Sword tried dodged it, but his left wing was caught by the dark crystal.
"Now, now, if you don't want anything bad to happen to Twilight. You will hand over the Rainbows and the Crystal Heart." King Sombra got closer to Lickety Split, and extended his hoof to her.
"Y'could have stopped us from getting the Rainbow of Darkness if ya wanted, right?" Applejack deduced King Sombra's plan. "You used us like toys to get it for yourself."
"With the Rainbow of Darkness on my side, my power will be unlimited!" His smile was enough to proof that Applejack was right. "But don't worry, I will let you all live, as my personal slaves."
"Wait!" Fluttershy stopped King Sombra, who was about to take the Rainbows from Lickety Split. "But you think you are powerful enough to defeat the three Dragon Lords of the winds, ice and heavens? All by yourself?"
"Yeah! Now that you mention it. They are very powerful, how come they did almost nothing to help us defeat King Sombra in the first place?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, you could ask them if you want." Fluttershy smiled, and pointed behind King Sombra. A dark sphere appeared out of thin air, it increased and decreased its size, as if something was trying to get out of there.
"What is happening? How is this possible?" King Sombra gasped.
"You thought you defeated my dragons so easily, right?" Fluttershy explained to him. "You didn't do anything, they just let you win so they could release all the ponies you have imprisoned. As you can see, you are not the only one who can plot a master plan."
"It cannot be!" King Sombra, striked with a dark beam the sphere to seize it again, but it was that same impact that caused it to blow up, a dark aura covered the entire garden. When the aura vanished, Moondancer, the three dragons, Princess Cadance and all the ponies who were swallowed by darkness were finally released, and no one was very happy to see King Sombra.
"What?! But why?! My dark magic should have sealed you again!" King Sombra was shocked, and exposed Twilight in front of him again. "You... You don't want to hurt Twilight, do you?"
But then, Guardian Sword took advantage of the confussion, and forced himself out of the dark crystal, breaking it to pieces, he snatched Twilight from King Sombra, and flew as far as he could away from him.
"Guardian Sword... Your wing..." Twilight could barely speak, and noticed that Guardian Sword's wing was broken alongside the crystal that captured him.
"I'd rather to lose both of my wings, instead of losing you, Miss Twilight." Guardian Sword smiled at her.
"You... I know it's only your mission... but thank you very much." Twilight said.
"This wasn't for my mission. It was because I care for you. I want to protect you by my own will, because everything is better when I'm with you."
Guardian Sword held Twilight's hoof, as her face blushed, but the scene was cut short by King Sombra who was taking his shadow form again.
"This is not over yer! Feel the wrath of the darkness!"
"Darkness is a part of everything." Moondancer stated. "If you accept darkness as the true nature of the universe, it is no longer harmful, in fact, you realize that it never was. Darkness is not an evil power! It's ponies like you, the ones that make it do evil!"
Lickety Split heard Moondancer's words, she perked up her ears and her eyes shone as if she would have found the most precious jewel in the world.
"You are the one!" Lickety Split gave the Rainbows to Moondancer. "I'm sure! You must be able to wield of the Rainbows!"
Moondancer opened the pendant containing the Rainbow of Light, and the bag containing the Rainbow of Darkness. Both Rainbows joined together without even struggling, and expanded all over Canterlot. King Sombra completely covered by the Rainbow of Light and slowly, began to fade away.
"No... No way! I had already won! NOOOOOO!" King Sombra shouted as strong as he could, but his defeat was imminent, he faded completely, and only his crown was left.
"This is your own fault, Sombra... You asked for this..." Princess Luna mumbled to herself, as she stood in front of the crown. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I couldn't save you... My dear..." She held the crown against her chest, and tears began to stream down her face.
And so, the dark ponies, changelings and dragons, returned to their true selves, the conflict was finally coming to an end. The dark spells were broken all over Equestria. Finally, Princess Cadance shared a long kiss with her husband, then, she put her hoof on the Crystal Heart, and just like that, the dark crystals sprouted from the ground shatered to pieces. The Princesses Luna and Celestia vanished the darkness in the sky, bringing life to a new day, and returning Equestria to normality.
Before the Rainbow returned to the necklace, it started to take form before Moondancer. It was there, just standing, the shiny colors slowly gave form to a young woman with country clothes, and a long blonde hair tied by a red ribbon as a pony tail, everypony gathered around to witness the event, specially Fluttershy, who even pushed some ponies to have a better sight.
"Thank you, Baby Moondancer." Her gentle voice spoke to her. "No... You're not a baby, anymore. You have grown up."
"Who... Who are you?" Moondancer got closer slowly to her, she tried to touch her, but Moondancer's hoof trespassed Megan.
"Moondancer... You were too young to remember." The human ooked at her with tenderness. "I am Megan. And I... I no longer exist... I was friends with you, little ponies."
"She's not the same Moondancer, Megan." Lickety Split got closer to the strange woman. "She is her daughter."
"I see... This is wonderful!" Megan responded. "And Lickety Split, look at you! You haven't aged at all!"
"Megan... How is this possible?" Princess Celestia also came to talk to the human.
"So good to see you again, Princess Celestia." Megan bowed down. "Our spirits were trapped inside of the Rainbow of Light. And now that you finally released it again. We can finally rest in peace."
"Excuse me, but our spirits, you said?" Twilight asked.
"Spike's and mine. We... used the Rainbow of Light without the Rainbow of Darkness. So we were punished for cheating. Our spirits would be trapped, until the Rainbow of Light was used properly once again."
"Punishment?" Twilight wondered. "What kind of punishment?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell." Megan scratched her head. "Or I'd be breaking more rules. By the way, who might you be?"
"My name is..." Twilight tried to answer, but she was abruptly interrupted and pushed aside.
"I am Fluttershy! And I... I like all kinds of animals and creatures! This is the first time I meet a creature such as you."
"Wow, Fluttershy! You are very energetic and extroverted! I like you!" Megan smiled back at Fluttershy. "I'd love to stay a little longer, but my time is running out. I must say good bye."
"Wait, Megan. I'm sorry it took me so long to find an apropiate wielder." Lickety Split apologized to Megan. "Finding a pony who can control the Rainbow of Darkness was not easy."
"It's fine. Ponies' hearts are usually happy, and they usually live in peace and harmony." Megan grouched to Lickety Split's level. "That's why finding a pony who is capable of handling the darkness is no easy task."
"This world is much better than mine. My world was always hard, working at something you don't like, millions of people living as foes. Crime and corruption everywhere, but somehow, somwhere, there was good people. People that never gave up against the adversity of the mean world we had built. Congratulations, my little ponies, you made a beautiful world."
In the end, the Rainbow of Light returned to the pendant, leaving Megan behind, who simply disappeared, waving her hand, smiling at the ponies, until she was completely away.
Remember, ponies. Never give up hope...
Cheers and laughs were shared by the creatures who joined forces to fight King Sombra's oppresion. Friends and families were finally reunited, except fot a single pony, that young filly who was always wearing a brown cloak covering herself.
"What are you waitin' for, sugarcube? Go and meet your father!" Applejack talked to Scrapped Cloak.
"Oh! I will. Any second soon..." Scrapped Cloak giggled like an innocent filly, but that little laughter became louder and louder, until it started to sound evil.
"Wow... she must be very happy, or she just remembered a really good joke." Pinkie Pie came by, alongside with the main six.
"Ah dunno, Pinkie." Applejack stepped away from the young pony. "She's kinda creepin' me out..."
"I'm sorry, everypony, but I lied to you! My name is not Scrapped Cloak! It's Screwball!" She stated, and took off her cloak, revealing a pale violet earth pony with purple and white, curly mane. She was wearing a propeller beanie. Her violet eyes had white spirals instead of pupils, and on her flank, her cutie mark was a screw and a baseball.
"What? But darling, why would you lie about that? What about your father?" Rarity tried to talk to the young pony. But she dissapeared in a blink.
"Oh! I didn't lie about that!" She reappeared on Discord's statue. "I told you I am here to take revenge on the ones who separated me from my father."
Pinkie Pie stared at her, hugging Discord's statue, and after a few seconds, she realized. "I am starting to suspect that Discord IS your father!"
"If he is... then that means..." Twilight deduced. "You want to take revenge on us?!"
Screwball smiled, and nodded slowly. And little by little, the stone around Discord's body started to crumble, liberating the Draconequus, spreading his limbs as far as he could.
"Ahhhhhh... It's so good to be back..." Discord rubbed his eyes. and yawned. "And look at this! You organized a welcome party in my honor? Oh! You shouldn't have bothered, Pinkie Pie."
"I would never throw a party for the likes of you! Snake tongue!"
"How dare you show your face again!"
Pinkie Pie and Flutershy yelled at Discord, for they will never forget how he used both of them as toys to play his chaotic games.
"Huh, excuuuuuse me! Whatever happened to love and tolerance?" Discord rolled his eyes in a sarcastic manner.
"Daddy! I missed you so much!" Screwball hugged Discord, hanging from his neck.
"Oh, my dear! I missed you too. So tell me, what would you like to play this time?"
"I learned a really, really funny game in kindergarten!" The little filly whispered to Discord's, as she turned an evil sight to the ponies.
"Wonderful, wonderful! Let's make all of Equestria our playground! But wait... do you know what time is it?"
"Discord! DONT. YOU. DARE." Celestia forewarned him, but he ignored her, as usual, raised his eagle claw, and snapped his fingers. And just like that, everything turned blank.