Twilight and everyone else was waiting at the campsite for Shining Armor's return with Cadence so they could get out of here. Flash started handing her a glass of water and Twilight magically took it, but when she was about to sip it, the water inside started to ripple and the ground started to shake violently.
The ground shook more as the source drew near. The next thing they knew, Tirek was right in front of them.
Every pony braced themselves as Tirek spoke, "Give… me… the book…" he threatened.
"NEVER!" Twilight yelled.
"Yeah! You have to go through us first!" Rainbow shouted and she and Soarin' began to charge and flew around Tirek.
But when Tirek opened his mouth, the magic of their flight was sucked out of them and they landed on the ground hardly.
"Dashie!" Pinkie rushed to her sister and glared up to Tirek, "You're going to pay for that!" She was about to pounce, but Tirek did the same thing to her that he did to her sister, only he was sucking out Earth pony strength.
Pinkie fell down weak and Cheese and the others started to charge, but he just sucked out their magic as well. Discord was about to attack when Tirek blasted him and knocked him out.
"Who's next?" Then he spotted the ponies that had served him, "You! You traitors!"
Coco whimpered as she hid behind Silver, who was keeping her protected and faced Tirek in defiance.
Tirek blasted away, but Twilight came to their rescue by putting up a protective barrier. Flash saw that Tirek kept blasting and Twilight was losing her grip on the spell. He quickly flew up to distract the centaur, but once he got too close, Tirek blasted him and Flash fell, battered and bruised.
Twilight saw all of this in horror and screamed, "FLASH! NO!" Tears ran down her cheeks.
"Give me the book and I shall spare his worthless life…" Tirek commanded.
Twilight looked at her beaten husband and then her sisters, who were drained. She lowered her head and took out the book. She knew she shouldn't, but what choice did she have at this point…? She magically threw the book and he caught it.
"Yes…" he felt the energy of the book running though him and he grew larger by the second, "The power… The absolute power!"
Twilight went to her husband's side and she could barely feel his heart beating. His eyes were half-open as he looked up to her, asking weakly, "Twilight… what have you done?"
"I was thinking of you and everyone else… I didn't know what else to do…" she sobbed.
Tirek started rampaging with his new power when a voice cried out.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
Tirek turned to see Shining Armor, "Oh, it's only you… No matter…" He started widening his mouth when he felt a blast. He turned around to see that the princess he had imprisoned was free. "You! How did you escape?!"
Cadence smirked towards Shining Armor, who replied, "Shield spells are my specialty!"
"Not for long!" He blasted away and Shining did all he could to keep his shield up.
"I won't be able to hold it for much longer…" he told his beloved.
"Then tell me what you were going to say at the Gala…"
"Now?!"
"Yes, now! If you finish your vow of everlasting love, then my curse will be broken…"
"And his power would diminish! Brilliant, Cady!"
"I'll hold him off while you say your vow!" She flew up and started blasting, giving Shining Armor the chance to speak.
"I make a vow of everlasting love to Cadance! Because to me, she is not just a beauty with appearances, but because she is beautiful at heart! Her kindness, her courage, I have always loved her for that! And I will never stop loving her even until the day she dies because I will love her for much longer than that! That is my vow!" he smiled up to her and she looked like she was going to cry.
Suddenly, his horn and Cadence's began to glow and Tirek's eyes widened at the sight, "What have you done?!"
Cadence simply stated, "Ending your curse…" Her horn glowed brighter just as she landed next to her love, and then they combined horns, making the glow even more bright and intense.
"NO! NO!" Tirek screamed as the bright rays touched him, causing him to lose power.
The others suddenly felt strong again, feeling their magic coming back to them and looked up to see the centaur getting smaller by the second. Discord had woken up in time to see this happening and felt his powers being restored.
Once Tirek lost his power, Cadence and Shining Armor's glow from their horns stopped and they stared at each other lovingly. She asked him, "Did you really mean all those things you said?"
"Of course I did. You told me to speak from the heart, didn't you? It's exactly how I feel about you every single day…"
She had him lean closer and kissed him before Pinkie came between and shouted out, "That was incredible! The way Shining Armor declared his true love for you and then you both glowing…it was amazing!" She took out a jar, "The best part is I got something new for my bug collection!" It showed a tiny Tirek in the jar and he pounded his fists against the glass.
"I got a much better place for this tick…" Discord took the jar, put on a baseball uniform, and held out a bat, "Ten thousand years in Tartarus oughta chill him out!" He threw the jar in the air and used the bat to hit it at the speed of light, "And it's out of there! The crowd is going wild!" He had a stadium full of his clones cheering him on. He sighed and relaxed, "It's great to have chaotic magic back. I missed it so much…"
Rainbow flapped her wings to take off, "No kidding! I don't want to go through that again!"
They all agreed and started celebrating when Coco noticed Twilight crying to a dying Flash, "Oh, no…"
Everyone turned their heads and noticed the same thing and quickly went over hearing Twilight pleading with her lover.
"No… Please… you can't leave me…"
Flash moved his hoof to her face, "I will always love you…"
"No…" she blubbered onto his orange coat when he closed his eyes.
The couples hung their heads and released tears. They were going to miss Flash dearly.
Shining and Cadence exchanged sad glances. He said, "I wish… it didn't have to end this way…"
Cadence lowered her head in sadness until suddenly, she had an epiphany about what Tirek said about the magic within her. She and Shining had the magic of everlasting love in them, and if Flash and Twilight loved each other just as much as she and Shining did, then there was still hope…
Cadence placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, saying, "Twilight, I need you to say or sing something to Flash that professes your love to each other…"
"But why?" Twilight questioned in confusion.
"Just trust me…" She had Shining on one side of Flash while she was on the other side. She had their horns touching and they lowered them to Flash's head. "Okay, Twilight, go."
Twilight was still confused as to what Cadence was doing, but she did what she was told and starting singing a song that Flash sang to her on their first date, "You will be my wings… You will be my only love… You will take me far beyond the stars…" She didn't take notice of Cadence and Shining Armor's horns glowing with the same magic they used to defeat Tirek. She kept on singing, "You will lift me high above… Everything we're dreaming of will soon be ours! Anything that we desire… Anything at all… Everyday you'll take me higher…" She found herself choking back tears.
Everyone was crying as well until suddenly, they heard a familiar voice, "…And I'll never let you fall!"
Twilight gasped and saw her beloved husband awake! "Flash!" she was crying tears of joy as she embraced him.
Cadence and Shining's glow died down and Twilight faced them, whispering, "Thank you…"
They smiled in return.
Then everyone got into a group hug, and Discord pointed out when the hug was broken up, "Geez, give us a heart attack, why don't you?"
Everyone just laughed.
When they were making their way back to the castle as the sun was rising, there was no doubt it was a sign that their parents and Aunt Luna had regained their magic. Celestia could raise the sun again, so when the sun had risen, Cadence was so happy to see that she was officially back to being her true self for good.
Twilight told Flash, "I was so afraid that I lost you… I thought I was going to have to raise the children myself…"
"Yeah… I couldn't imagine them being fatherless…" he stopped, realizing, "Wait, did you just say 'children'?"
She smirked.
"Does this mean you're…"
She nodded excitedly.
"How…? When…?"
"Before the Gala started, I felt woozy, so I called for the doctor and… well…"
"When were you going to tell me?"
"After the Gala was over and that we knew Cadence's spell had been lifted, but when everything else happened…"
"Well, I'm glad I know now and cannot wait to see the look on Fire Spark's face when we tell him."
She smiled and pulled him in for a kiss.
When they reunited with their parents in the throne room, Luna was especially overjoyed to see her daughter was no longer a Breezie in the daylight. When the girls left their cousin, they traveled back home to the Everfree Kingdom, where they were happy to see their children. Their children were happy to see them and told them all about their own Grand Galloping Gala while their parents attended theirs. The parents agreed that their kids' Gala went far better than their Gala did.
Later, Applejack and Rarity met with Silver Shill and Coco Pommel and asked them what they're going to do now that Tirek was out of the picture. Silver explained that they were heading to Manehatten together to start a costume business. The girls wished them the best of luck.
Twilight and Flash told their son the news about having a possible brother or sister and he was ecstatic! And finally, the biggest news of all came when Shining Armor and Cadence announced their upcoming wedding…
*Three months later*
The crowd went wild as the royal newlyweds stepped out onto the balcony and waved down to the ponies below. It was a beautiful wedding with Luna presiding and the kids got to be part of the wedding party. Twilight was even Shining Armor's Best Mare. Everyone of the royal family had been there, including Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, their husbands, and Scootaloo and Rumble's twins, who had been born a few weeks earlier.
The reception in the garden went on as the new married couple, plus the old married couples, danced while the kids stood by with the babies in the playpen. Finally, it was time for the couple to get going on their honeymoon. A chariot awaited them, so they said goodbyes to their loved ones. Cadence got a long hug from her mother, who told her she wished she didn't have to go so soon, but she gave in when Cadence reassured her that she would be back. Cadance also said that Luna could visit them in the Crystal Empire, since that would be where she and her husband were going to be living as a wedding gift from her aunt and uncle.
Shining and Cadence got into the flying chariot and waved farewell. Cadence threw her bouquet and who should catch it but Coco Pommel and standing right next to her was Silver Shill. They glanced at each other, smiled, and waved back to the happy couple.
Cadence and Shining faced each other and leaned in to kiss with the moon shining bright on them…