"What do you mean we are not the Elements of Harmony anymore?" Twilight backed down a couple steps, she was hyperventiating and freaking out.
"The harmony between you is broken", replied Luna, "the elements respond only to the spirits of harmony."
"Luna and I used to be the Elements of Harmony", Celestia's forhead began to sweat, she was falling into hopelessness, while she explained herself, "But day by day, our differences started to separate us. First we began by disagreeing in one thing or another. Then, we began to argue by every little thing. In the end, ponies all over Equestria didn't appreciate Luna's nights, so she turned into Nightmare Moon, but it wasn't all her fault. I could have searched for a better solution, I could have lent my ear. But I also got angry because Luna exposed herself to dark magic, I ended up using the Elements of Harmony against my own sister. And so, the harmony between us was broken."
Applejack picked up her necklace and took a closer look, waving it like trying to repair it, "well, we've had a couple o'fights, sure", she said, "and the harmony between us never broke before."
"It doesn't break just by any fight", said Luna, "it has to be something big, something that really spoils a friendship. Something like... battling against each other in a big epic war."
"So it is my fault", Fluttershy was discouraged, as usual hiding half of her face behind her long mane, "I suppose I was not part of the team after all. I didn't help the dragons get their home, and I only gave a chance to King Sombra to take over Equestria. My cause did nothing but bring misery upon both sides."
"You! Did you know this?!" Twilight yelled at Discord, "You cheated us! You set us on a game we couldn't win!"
"Uh... yes, thank you for noticing", the draconequus smiled and bowed to the ponies, "anypony else has something to add? No? Well, I hereby declare myself as the winner of the game! Thank you all for participating, it was a fun, yadda yadda yadda, and now if nopony has any objections, I'll claim my prize, Equestria will live in eternal chaos!"
The ponies were teleported out of the palace, which slowly returned to its original position, and the walls and towers started morphing to a twisted, rainbow colored castle, with lights flashing out of the windows. From the main entrance, a huge sign with Discord's face which said Welcome to Echaostria.
"That's it? did we lose?", said Pinkie. The others just looked down and stood silent. Finally, Twilight broke the silence.
"This is not happening..." she said, "without the Elements of Harmony, Discord is unstoppable, there is no hope."
Rarity, however, she gulped and fixed her mane. Then, she walked towards the main door of the castle.
"Maybe you're right", she said, "maybe it's hopeless. But if this is it, if this is the way Equestria is supposed to end, I don't want it to be because we were cheated like little fillies, I don't want it to be because I gave up and walked away. I want it to be because my cold, dead body is laying on the floor, uncapable of fighting anymore! Only then, I will accept that Discord has defeated us!"
"She's right!" General Shining Armor hopped on Princess Cadance's head and raised his funny, squeaky voice, "I feel embarrased that she is acting more like a stallion than I am! Captain Rainbow Dash, Guardian Sword, Spinwind, Crystal Pony and you too, Cowboy Pony! Are we stallions or are we mice?"
"Actually, the right term is cowpony."
"Uhh... General... I am a mare", said Rainbow Dash, "and you are a mouse, I mean no offense, sir. But right now, I'd appreciate more whatever Twilight decides and I'll follow her, no questions asked."
"Me too", said Applejack, and held Twilight's shoulder, "whatever you decide, you have my entire support. I wouldn't blame you if you decide to throw the towel."
Twilight stood silent, staring at the castle, after taking a deep breath, she looked back at her friends, "I would have given up a long time ago if you weren't always there beside me. My dear, good friends are my infinite source of strength. Let's do it! I'm not sure if we can win, but we will not let Discord have his way as long as we are breathing! Elements of Harmony or not, I promise I'll use all of my magic to stand against him and his daughter, and everything that tries to destroy the beautiful land I hold so dear. So please, lend me your friendship one last time, and give it our all!"
"YEAH!" All of Twilight's friends cheered as they marched inside the castle.
Meanwhile, inside the castle, Discord was seated in his throne, contemplating the crystal where Crystalis was imprisoned as if it was the main piece of an art gallery. "Screwball, come out, you can't hide from me", he called. The doors before him slowly opened, and the little filly walked in, crestfallen, she sat on the floor in front of her father.
"I'm sorry, daddy", she mumbled, "I lost... to all of them."
"My little darling, of course you lost. Those ponies are something else. They have defeated your father a few times in the past. Do you know why I made you a pony? It's because they're marvelous and beautiful creatures! You see, I used to rule this land with the dragons under my command, until one day, ponies came and attacked us, I thought they wouldn't be a match for my mighty dragons, imagine my surprise when I watched two little alicorn fillies defeat my huge Dragon General."
"Why did you not stop them?"
"Because they won this land fair and square, it was fascinating, and besides, they weren't that powerful, it wouldn't have been a fun game to play. I waited until they were much older and more experienced, but they weren't the ones that surprised me the most. Fluttershy was the only one to really fill my heart with her friendship, one by one, I befriended each one of them. The Spirit of Disharmony was living in harmony with the ponies. It still pains me that our friendship had a tragic end."
"If you really loved their friendship, then why did you end it, daddy?"
"I'm afraid I can only answer that question with a lie. We'll talk about that another day. For now, I think it's better off if we prepare ourselves to meet our guests. They are coming, and they're not happy. I know you'll do a great job. After today, I'm sure you'll know a valuable lesson that you will treasure for the rest of your life."
"Daddy... it's so strange to see you this serious", Screwball walked out the doors, leaving Discord alone with his thoughts, plotting his next game with his silly little smile, still contemplating the crystal.
The castle's corridors made loops and twists, and the walls were decorated by a display of paintings starring Dsicord's tricks and pranks, all those that included Twilight, her friends and the princesses as victims for his own fun. Some paintings were from the days when he betrayed the ponies, days that Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie remember with sorrow and anger. Walking up a spiral corridor of stairs, they found paintings with old and rotten wooden frames, they were from days that Twilight and her friends never witnessed, but Princesses Celestia and Luna could only stare at, with memories of fear and confussion.
After walking through the stairs, they walked through yet another corridor, and more paintings. This corridor, however looked normal, as if Discord didn't dare to disturb it. The paintings showed the days when Discord was an ally. The frames of the paintings were golden, and beautifully decorated with rubies and saphires, so differently placed than the paintings before, the ponies stared at them with sadness, as they kept silently walking.
Shortly after, the floor began to tremble, and stone by stone it began to crumble down to a dark chamber. The ponies crashed on a black chamber's floor, although the pegasi had the advantage to land softly. Rainbow Dash wasted no time to fly upwards, only to meet a solid roof with her face.
"Of course, no easy way out, why did I even bother?", she said rubbing her face with her hoof.
"Wait, where's Applebloom? Where are the crusaders?", Applejack startled, as she scanned the room with her sight, unable to find the younger ponies.
"Diamond Tiara is missing too!", Pinkie Pie added, "maybe they're behind that door?", she pointed to a big steel double doors firmly shut on the bottom of the chamber.
Meanwhile, in an unknown part of the castle, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Diamond Tiara landed on a big pink room. There were big dollhouses, several balls of blue, pink and red colors, toy soldiers marching on their own and dices rolling their numbers for no apparent reason. The crusaders looked for an exit, they spotted a red door behind them, but they also spotted the pink young pony with those twisted purple eyes. Diamond Tiara gasped in terror.
"Welcome to my playroom", said the young pony, with that evil smile of hers.
"S-Screwball, what're you up to, this time?", Sweetie Belle asked, as she stepped back, trying to stay as far as possible.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good", Screwball laughed, her eyes turned red, and immediately a mysterious force pushed Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle away. The chaos pony teleported right in front of Applebloom, she punched her in the face and Applebloom fell on her flank, and unable to react, she felt a hard weight on her throat.
"I feel like a teacher, leaving homework to her students", Screwball claimed as she stomped on Applebloom's neck, the pale yellow pony couldn't breath and her sight was turning blurry, "you! You have no idea of how much I longed for this moment! You will never speak garbage about me or my father ever again!"
Suddenly, Diamond Tiara snorted and charged at the chaos pony, connecting a hard headbutt on her flank and knocking her off to the floor. Applebloom coughed as she tried to regain her breath. "Thanks, Diamond", she said, as Diamond Tiara helped her up.
But Screwball was enraged, but Sweetie Belle stood between her and the earth ponies. The unicorn aimed her horn at Screwball and shot a slim light green beam. Standing still, Screwball summoned a small mirror and reflected the beam back at Sweetie Belle, and the unicorn was hit by her own spell, being knocked off, she fell right beside Diamond Tiara.
Scootaloo also charged at Screwball, she pushed herself with her wings, and tackled her at a high speed. Screwball received another headbutt from Scootaloo, and crashed agains the wall. Screwball stood up quickly, she tapped twice on the floor with her hoof, and a pink lasso appeared in a blink, which wrapped Scootallo's torso, disabling her wings. Then, she kicked the pegasus away, and knocked the rest of the ponies like bowling pins.
"Owww... sorry..." said Scootaloo, as she rubbed her head.
"To think you would put up a fight", Screwball panted, as she was coming closer, "but it's over", she said, her red eyes shone and a red aura surrounded the ponies. Screwball looked determined to end their lives, but she didn't. She stopped at the very moment. The red aura around Applebloom and her friends faded, and Screwball smile again. Just like that, she turned around. She was surprised to see that her father was watching from the door.
He was reading the strategy guide he gave to his daughter, "didn't you wait so much to kill Applejack's sister? It's all written here, Applebloom, not so strong, not so fast, really smart, extremely annoying. Extremely dangerous, attack to kill. Why did you stop?"
"Because I already won", Screwball smiled at him, "the game is over and that's it. I'm no one to decide who lives and who dies. If I let my anger drive me into revenge, the game stops being fun. We will play again someday, and hopefully, we'll have a more entertaining game."
"That is my daughter! I'm so proud! You have learned well from your father!", the chaos pony hopped on the draconequus head, and they both disappeared, leaving the ponies laying on the floor, exhausted and defeated, but more important alive and relieved.
"I don't know about you, but I was totally NOT having fun at all", Sweetie Belle said as she fixed her mane, and shook the dirt off her coat.
Meanwhile, Twilight and company stood in front of the steel doors,, Guardian Sword pushed as hard as he could, but the doors remained unmoved. Spinwind and Rainbow helped him push, then Applejack and even Rarity joined, but the doors didn't even budge, they all tired out their muscles and got no results.
Twilight inspected the door a bit closer, and found a legend scripted on a silver plate.
The only key to this door is inside your mind.
Use brute strength, and only failure, you will find.
"A'ight! This time we pull!", Applejack stated, after having rested a while.
"Wait", said Twilight, "let me try."
Applejack and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing, "YOU want to push the door!?", Rainbow Dash said between laughs, "yeah, right! Did you also read how to open locked doors?"
Twilight said nothing, she just aimed her horn at the doors, and casted telekinesis. Little by little, the doors began to move, just barely. The laughs of her friends turned into surprise and disbelief. But Twilight was also tiring herself, her legs began to tremble due to the effort she was doing, as she nailed her hooves to the ground to keep her balance.
"It's working!", said Moondancer, she quickly stood beside Twilight, she summoned five small, crimson orbs around herself which seemed to cast telekinesis alongside her and Twilight. The doors moved a bit quickier, and shortly after, Rarity joined them and the doors succumbed another bit. It wasn't until Trixie joined to help when the doors finally opened in their entirety.
Upon crossing through the doors, this would lock up again, leaving the party inside another chamber with another door on the other side, and a long, dark pit which prevented their progress. Not a problem for the pegasi, Rainbow Dash reached the other side without crashing against anything. She tried pushing, but of course, this door was also locked. On the door there was another silver plate with a legend scripted on it. She read it out loud.
Look up for the bridge to open this door,
the wingless ones, will only find the floor.
"Darn this mind games!", Rainbow Dash yelled she hit her head against the door.
"Maybe there's a switch hidden in the walls or in the floor", Twilight suggested, the pegasi inspected the walls, and as the legend claimed, the rest looked on the floor, and after a couple of minutes, there was still no bridge.
"Look up for the bridge, look up for a stupid bridge. Look up, look up, look up", Rainbow Dash began to lose her patience, and suddenly, the answer hit her, as if somepony had thrown a pebble at her nape, "That's it! Look up!", she found a group of clouds floating right under the ceiling by, literally, looking up. She smiled victorious, feeling a lot smarter, it was the very first mind game she had solved in her entire life.
"Buncha clouds, but ah don't see no bridge up there", said Applejack.
"Not yet", replied Rainbow Dash, she quickly flew to one of the clouds, and held it with her hooves, then, she moved it to place it right where the floor ended in front of the door. The rest looked confused. She returned for another cloud, and placed it next to the first cloud.
"Oh, now I get it", Fluttershy understood what Rainbow Dash was trying to do, and she helped her, Guardian Sword, Spinwind and Princess Cadance helped. They formed a bridge which crossed the abyss, by placing cloud after cloud. When Fluttershy placed the last cloud, the bridge turned from a cloud bridge, into a solid stone bridge, and the door on the other side opened by itself.
Once past the second doors, once again, they found themselves locked in yet another chamber. There were seven levers sticked to the walls, and yet another door blocking their way with another legend scripted on a plate.
Only those who can make tremble the field,
join your forces and this door will yield.
Guardian Sword pull with all his might one of the levers, but it was like trying to pull the whole castle down with his bare hooves. "Maybe there is a certain order?", he wondered, as he tried to pull all the levers one by one, but none of them moved. Twilight read the script over and over again, rehearsing the words in her mind, but the annswer didn't feel any closer.
It wasn't until Braeburn tried to pull a lever, when this one easily moved from its resting position, and a hard click sounded from behind the wall. He caught everyone's attention and shrugged, he then noticed that Pinkie Pie was also watching in admiration.
"Well, ah don't like to flaunt 'bout my strength", he showed off his arms, letting go of the lever, which immediately deactivated again. Pinkie Pie walked to him, stared at him really closely, and pushed him aside to try and pull the lever by herself. Once again the lever moved with relative ease. Pinkie Pie midclosed her eyes and stared at Braeburn with an unimpressed look.
"What did you do?!" Twilight quickly grabbed Pinkie Pie by her shoulders, as Guardian Sword tried to dessperately pull that same lever as hard as he could with no possitive results.
"I just pulled, see? No biggie."
"Join your forces! I got it! We must pull all the levers at the same time", claimed the crystal pony, he pulled another lever himself, and Applejack, Trusty Link, Braeburn and Pinkie Pie were also successful. However, only five out of seven levers could be pulled. The others tried hard, but the levers won't move.
"Please, let us try", asked Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, Rainbow Dash and the others quickly stepped aside, the princesses raised their long, regal arms and placed their hooves on a lever, they pulled gently, and the levers went down as if they were also obeying orders from the princesses.
The doors opened, a white light shone from beyond, and they all stood in front of it. Beyond this doors, there was the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony waiting for them, with powers to manipulate and disorganize reality as he wishes, virtually invincible. One by one, they all marched through, ready to defy Discord, this time, with their own powers.
The light door teleported the ponies once again to the throne room where Discord and Screwball were waiting for them. The Crusaders were also there, sitting on stands like a crowd of a sports event. Discord stood up from the throne, he smiled and snapped his eagle fingers. The doors behind the ponies locked, there was no turning back.
"This is your last chance to give us back our wings and horns", Celestia stood against the draconequus.
"But Celestia, I thought you missed your original form", Discord spread his arms, "don't you remember how easy your life was when you were just an earth pony? Back when you only wanted to have fun, and play around. You were so reckless and wild that it was your younger sister the one who had to look after you."
"Hold on, time out!" Applejack interrupted, raising her hoof, she turned to Princess Celestia "you were an Earth Pony?"
"Yes, we were", Celestia nodded, "It's been an eternity since I roamed freely on the green prairies with no worries to chain me. And I am grateful, Discord, because you let me sit in the background, freed me from the responsibility. But I am the princess, I have a huge responsiblity! It was I who decided to be a hero, I set this path upon myself, and I will stand behind that choice! I will protect my little ponies with my life!"
And without any warning nor plan nor strategy, Celestia just charged at him, she attacked with all her speed aiming her head at Discord's belly. The draconequus quickly moved to the left, dodging swiftly Celestia's attack. Then, he was relentlessly assaulted by Celestia's sister and their subjects. He dodged punches, charges and magic beams from all directions. He barely noticed that there was a small mouse biting his right ear.
Discord just raised his lion paw, and the castle lifted off from the ground. Clouds reunited above the throne room, and after a loud roaring thunder, and fireballs began to crash through the ceiling. Everyone could barely dodge the fireballs, Twilight, Moondancer and Princess Cadance joined their horns to summon a magic barrier. This was clearly what Discord wanted, their magic was busy forming a barrier strong enough to block the fireballs, he extended his eagle claw aiming at the them, and he casted a telekinetic spell. First he captured Moondancer, and Twilight was the second, but just before he could capture Princess Cadance, another unicorn jumped in between and was captured instead.
"What? who the hay are you?" Discord smiled and met face to face with the blue unicorn, "I think you got lost on your way home."
"Of course not!", responded Trixie, "the Great and Powerful Trixie is exactly where she wants to be!"
"Really? Wouldn't you preffer to stay hidden back there like you've been doing this whole time? Ask your friends around, being at my mercy is not a place anypony wants to be."
Trixie gulped, but while Discord was distracted, the giant crystal suddenly shattered behind him. The draconequus turned around and widened his eyes in surprise. He saw the crystal alicorn with glowing eyes, aiming his horn at him, and almost instantly, the alicorn shot a light blue beam at him, not even considering the safety of the captive ponies. Discord teleported aways as fast as he could, the light beam passed by and everypony jumped away from it. However, the beam was received by the three dragons who were unable to move quickly enough due to their small sizes.
"Skyclaw! Lednik! Quetzal!", Fluttershy screamed as she tried to approach and save them, but Rarity held her back. The three dragons fell on the floor with a light blue aura burning around their bodies.
"Phew, I was NOT expecting that", Discord reappeared behind the alicorn, panting, "and here I thought you were perfectly imprisoned, maybe the Crystal Empire's magic is not as cool as they say. How did you escaped?"
"I thought you liked surprises", the alicorn smiled at him, "I was not imprisoned, I just pretended. The crystal was perfect, but the spell requires a lot of magic. The caster was an alicorn, therefore her magic is powerful, but she is no spellcaster, her magic wasn't enough to create a strong enough prison."
"I also have a surprise for you", said Discord, and suddenly, the crystal blue color of the crystal queen began to fall apart, like pieces of ceramic, her horn began to twist, the feathers of her wings dropped one by one, leaving only her exoskeleton wings, she was left with her old black and hollow changeling body. The crystal pony suffered the same transformation alongside his queen.
The queen of Changelings looked at her own hooves, and smiled, "the princesses warned me this would happen. But you forget one important fact. I also am deceitful and treacherous."
Behind her, the three dragons woke up, and they began to increase their size. Surprised, the dragons contemplated each other as they recovered their old sizes. Fluttershy's weeping disappeared and passed straight up to joy as the three dragons roared proudly, and then, they turned their attention to a Discord that now looked so small to them.
Quetzalcóatl extended his wings and the strong winds began to blow. Protecting himself, Discord released the three unicorns, who quickly moved away. The second attack came from Lednik's he combined his magic with Quetzalcóatl's winds to bring a tempest of blizzard, that immobilized Discord. Finally, Skyclaw opened his mouth and shot a green burning flame at the Draconequus, who could only raised his arms to shield his face.
"Daddy..." Screwball looked worried, she was watching from the throne, as everypony cheered and celebrated that they finally connected a punch on Discord. Everypony except the sister princesses.
"That's not enough", said Princess Celestia, "We must find a way to seal him or we will never win."
"I'm glad you're aware of it, Celestia", Discord was covered in ashes and snow, he cleaned himself, he spread his arms, and a yellow orange aura started to glow around him, the earth began to tremble and the winds blew so strongly that not even Quetzalcóatl could control it. Discord's presence had suddenly become more imponent, and the enviroment around felt heavy and suffocant, like the whole world around them was against the ponies and the dragons.
After a short silence, Discord talked again.
"Hate and love, peace and war, light and darkness, good and evil. The world you have created is filled with opposites. Constant conflicts you have to face every single minute. Making decisions you don't want to make. What is wrong and what is right. It is an endless struggle, there are always two sides that fight for what they think is right, and not realising that they are just bringing a greater wrong. Mine is a world where there is nothing to fight for, where there are no wrongs and rights. Isn't it a wonderful world where hate and war does not exist? A world where you can live just for the sake of living? Where there is no evil to fight?"
"No hate and no war doesn't mean anything if there is no love and no peace either", Twilight responded, very adamant, her eyes began to glow as she kept talking, "our world is not perfect, and it certainly is not rainbows and sunshine! But at least it is a world where we can feel. That's why we keep fighting! We want to protect the beautiful world we believe in! Passion, joy, sorrow, pain, tears, all those amazing feelings are the pabulum of our lives!"
"Opposites create conflicts", Moondancer's eyes also began to glow, "and just as you said it IS a constant struggle, but opposites complement each other. There can be no light if there is no darkness! Love is more sweet because everypony has tasted the bitterness of hate. And wherever there is something wrong, there is also something that is right!"
And unexpectedly, Trixie joined them, her eyes were glowing as shiny as Twilight's and Moondancer, "I've dreamed of besting Twilight Sparkle, since the day I saw her tame an Ursa Minor. She is my rival as much as my role model. In a world where there is nothing to fight for, our entire lives would be a waste, everypony living in it would be just for decoration! A world like that has no purpose! A world like that should not exist!"
"You see, Discord", Twilight added, "our world is more beautiful than yours! It makes us experience all kinds of feelings and enriches our lives by making us improve ourselves. We love everything good about it! We love so much that we are willing to deal with everything bad with it, too. That is the true Harmony!"
The three unicorns where surrounded by a radiant pink light, and the symbol of a pink star with a crimson moon on its right and a blue moon on its left was portrayed on the floor where the unicorns were standing. Then, the pink light striked directly at Discord.
"No! Daddy!" Screwball jumped from the throne and approached Discord, trying to protect him. But Discord extended his eagle claw to her and pushed her away. The young pony could only stare at the draconequus being consumed by the light.
"Daddy... don't leave me... please..."
"Of course not, my little dolly... I'll stand by your side... as long as you keep making chaos."
The light shone intensely, blinding everyone present until it faded. In the end, nothing but a statue of Discord remained. Screwball watched it, he was left posing with his eagle claw extended, protecting his daughter from the newborn spell. The world around had returned to normal. Shining Armor returned to be the strong stallion he was. Celestia and Luna recovered her wings and horns. The castle was once again the proud palace where the princesses ruled, and the city of Canterlot returned to be the immense metropolis, capital of Equestria.
"You did it, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie jumped on Twilight's back, "that was exciting, and amazing, and crazy, how did you do it?!"
"I don't know... it just happened, but I didn't do it alone, we all did it."
They were all celebrating Discord's defeat, except for Screwball who leaned her face against the statue, weeping for the lost of her father.
"Why does it always end like this?", she said, "we were sure to win this time, but they always seem to find a way to make us lose. And of course, I ended up alone again. Why does it always end like this?"
"You don't have to be alone if you don't want to", Fluttershy talked to Screwball, "if you promise to be a good girl you can make a living in Equestria. Discord and I used to be good friends, I don't want you to be like him."
"She is right", said Princess Celestia, "Equestria is willing to accept any creature looking for a place to call home."
"I would die long before accepting such request!", Screwball turned around and glared with anger, "but that is not going to happen anytime soon! I will concede this time! But next time we meet, I'll be more powerful! And I'll bring you a world more chaotic and more twisted than this one! I swear it for my father!"
After that, Screwball disappeared, leaving only her propeller hat beside Discord's statue.
"Princess, did I hear you say any creature?", Fluttershy looked up to Princess Celestia, very confused.
"That's right, Fluttershy", Princess Celestia nodded and turned to the dragons, "it is more than evident that ponies and dragons can work together. I admit I was scared, and I'd be lying if I say I'm not anymore. But your valuable help against King Sombra and Discord will not go unrewarded. We'll find a way to make it happen."
Fluttershsy cheered as loud as Pinkie Pie, and at last, it seemed like peace had returned to Equestria. However, after a short celebration, the doors of the throne room opened. The Observer and five cloaked ponies walked in, and they looked rather happy, however, Celestia wasn't too excited to meet the emerald unicorn.
"Nice, nice, nice", said the cloaked unicorn, "I knew you could do it, Princess Celestia."
Celestia gasped in surprise. She clearly knew who this unicorn was, and she immediately bowed down to her, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't expect your visit!", she said, and the ponies took away their cloaks, finally revealing themselves.
"You are Starlight, the salespony we met in Hayseed Swamps!" Rarity pointed her hoof at the unicorn.
"And she is the pony I met in San Palomino desert!" Pinkie Pie also pointed at a light brown earth pony.
"I met that pegasus in the falls", Fluttershy pointed at the blue green pegasus who was just taking off her cloak.
"And she is the pegasus from the mountain, White Wind, is it?", Rainbow Dash recognized her, and the pegasus yawned as if she had just woken up.
"And she is the cookie pony from Foal Mountain! Somethin's fishy here" , said Applejack. The tall earth pony just waved at her.
"What's going on, Observer? What is the meaning of this?" Twilight demanded answers, but the unicorn remained silent.
"Princess Celestia, please! I am the one who should be bowing", said Starlight, bowing down to her, "I guess some introductions are required, yes?"
"Ahem... My name, I mean, my real name is not Starlight, it is Platinum, former Princess of Equestria, and one of the Three Leaders.
These are my two colleagues, the bad comedian, is Puddinghead, former Chancellor of the Farming Confederation.
And the sleepy one is Hurricane, former Commander of the Royal Guard.
And these are our assistants and advisors. The walking calculator is Smart Cookie. The grumpy one is Pansy. And of course, the egghead here is Clover the Clever, in the flesh."
Twilight and her friends watched in awe, and she and all of her friends dived to the floor, bowing to the Three Leaders and their assistants. The rulers of Equestria before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.