The battle had only started an hour ago, but Canterlot already looked and sounded like a warzone. Bits and pieces of burned buildings and signs lay scattered on the streets. Dragons and ordinary ponies clashed viciously on the ground below. The dragons shot blasts of fire at the ponies, who dodged them and struck back with whatever they could find - brooms, chairs, pillows even!
In the sky above, the Princesses Luna, Celestia and Cadance fought Atrocity, the huge leader of the dragons, a dark crimson-coloured dragon the size of a palace, with long fangs and yellow eyes that contrasted so much with everything around them they appeared to glow.
An exhausted Luna fired a beam of starry purple magic, filled with miniature stars and galaxies, at the giant creature. It sprayed off like a fire hose aimed at a wall. Luna struggled to hold herself up, flapping her wings to re-stabilise herself.
"This is no use!" she declared, looking in the direction of Celestia, flying next to her. "We cannot go on like this, a new plan is required!"
"I think our new plan just arrived", Cadance smiled, pointing her hoof in the direction of 8 small figures in the distance - the Mane Six, Spike, and Trixie!
---
"Okay, we need some kind of plan", Twilight Sparkle noted, watching fearfully as the battle in the sky raged on, the princesses taking turns attacking Atrocity, then avoiding his giant beams of fire, which had already driven back the Royal Guard.
"What kind of plan?" Spike asked.
"Not entirely sure, but we definitely need one very soon!"
Confidently, Rainbow Dash placed herself into the conversation. "I might just have the plan you're looking for".
Sarcastically, Twilight answered, "we're all ears!"
---
The battle turned around pretty much immediately once the Mane Six arrived on the scene. Pinkie fired her party cannon into the dragon ranks, covering them in silly string and confetti. The ponies behind her laughed and cheered, filled with hopefulness they thought was lost hours ago!
Applejack proved just as effective - with one swing of a garden hose she took out several dragons, wrapping them into a bunch and slamming them straight into a wall - the Canterlot ponies attempted the same but only ended up breaking the hose.
Trixie, standing in open space to the side of the battlefield, charged up firework spells and launched them at the dragons, distracting them and causing them to topple over.
Rarity was initially unsure of what to do, but when one of the dragons tried to attack Spike, that was it! Rarity didn't think twice before charging straight into the dragon army and smacking them with her hooves from every which way. Spike watched on in admiration, Rarity was so strong, so elegant, and she was doing it all for him.
He was snapped out of it when Fluttershy bowled him over, racing towards a large bucket, which she promptly pulled over herself. Spike shook the dirt of his scales and followed.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing?" he asked, astonished.
"Hiding" Fluttershy said plainly.
"They need you out there! Come on, you faced a dragon before."
"Yes", she said, "one dragon. Not one thousand. All the fighting, it's just horrible."
Suddenly, Spike's eyes lit up in realisation.
"Hey", he began, talking slowly so his thoughts could keep up with the sentence, "I know what to do."
---
Back at the front line, with the battle ferociously raging behind them, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash spread out their wings, scratched the ground and prepared to take off.
"Ready?" Dashie asked, her voice and her face lighting up with confidence.
"I think so", came the nervous reply.
"Awesome!"
Twilight wondered if Rainbow Dash even acknowledged her answer, but there was no time to find an answer.
FLAP! Rainbow Dash was airborne!
Shakily Twilight Sparkle took off, following her nearly directly vertically upwards, feeling a little queasy in the stomach.
To think, she thought flying was bad before!
Rainbow Dash zipped smoothly up into the air beside her. Just the presence of such a great flyer did calm Twilight for some reason. Logically she knew there was no way she'd be safe if something went wrong at this speed, but she still felt as if Rainbow Dash would somehow catch her.
Then the moment came...
Twilight closed her eyes and frowned, her fur standing on end in fear and blowing back from the wind. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and smiled, taking a deep breath of pride with a touch of 'awesomeness' and a hint of 'radicalness'.
Then they stopped, time seemed to slow down as their wings turned them 180 degrees.
With the ground straight below them, they zoomed downwards nose-first!
A cone of air built around them, sparks began to fly out, then it began to glow - first red, then orange, then yellow, then a glorious white, brighter than every sun Celestia raced in the last hundred years.
BOOM!
A huge sphere of rainbow blasted out in every direction, sparkling with magic, followed by another sphere, and another! They passed right through the ponies like a hologram, but they hit the dragons with the force of twenty bucks from Applejack.
The entire dragon army toppled over and the ponies steamrolled over them. Rainbow Dash and Twilight opened their eyes, and Dashie found the time to comment "awesome".
The two ponies then pulled up in opposite directions just before reaching the ground. Rainbow Dash zoomed towards the mane six, and Twilight towards open space. Atrocity seized the opportunity.
Twilight looked up in shock to see a huge pillar of fire flying down towards her! She slowed down in an attempt to turn around but just ended up stopping completely.
Rainbow Dash did a u-turn and flew towards her but she was too far away! The mane six raced over too but they couldn't even reach Rainbow Dash. Just when it looked like Equestria would have one less princess - Trixie leaped in front of Twilight Sparkle!
---
VWOOM! A magical warping sound could be heard as a semi-sphere of bright magic formed in front of Trixie and Twilight. Twilight looked up to see Trixie's horn aglow, casting a shield spell and dispersing the fire harmlessly in all directions.
Twilight stared in astonishment, that was Trixie! The pony who had tried to drive her out of her own town. The pony who tried to humiliate all her friends. And there that pony was, pouring everything she had into saving her!
Atrocity tried as hard as he could, but Trixie tried harder. The fire ran out, Atrocity roared in anger and turned away, and Trixie finally let down the shield spell, collapsing onto the ground.
Twilight and her friends rushed to Trixie's aid. The student groaned to let them know she was alright, but that was it. Twilight examined Trixie with her magic, then sighed with relief.
"She's alright, it's just shock", Twilight announced. "I - can't believe she did that", she quietly followed, more to herself than anypony else.
A look around revealed the entire battlefield had quietened down to watch Trixie and her friends. Spike and Fluttershy took the opportunity.
---
Spike hopped up onto Fluttershy's back, and the pegasus took off smoothly into the air. She spiraled up above the clouds, and stopped to hover between Atrocity and Princess Celestia, who were preparing their final attacks on each other. She turned to face Celestia, and Spike turned to face the king of dragons. Spike began to speak.
"Enough! Dragons and ponies don't have to be enemies!" he declared.
The injured dragons and tired ponies on the ground looked into the air and listened out of curiosity.
Spike continued. "I'm a dragon! I might not fly, but I have scales, I breathe fire, I beat all other species in burping competitions, just like you guys! But I was raised by ponies, and you know what, it's worked out!"
"It's true!" Fluttershy added, "we love our little Spikey Wikey! Sure he's different, but that just makes him more special!"
Spike blushed before going on, "I've searched all my life for my place, trying to find out whether I was a dragon or a pony, whether I would ever fit in, and now I realise the truth. I'm both! If I can get along with ponies, so can you!"
"And if we ponies can get along with Spike", Fluttershy finished, a mixture of confident and nervous, "then we can get along with other dragons too".
The dragons and ponies nodded and chatted amongst themselves in agreement. Celestia stopped charging her spell and the other princesses backed away.
Atrocity yelled in anger. "Nonsense! Ponies have always looked down on us! Dragons will always be their enemies! If Spike wants to stand in the way of our victory, then let him get incinerated with his namby-pamby princess!"
The dragon king prepared a blast of fire and Fluttershy and Spike covered their faces in fear. Then - they didn't get hurt. The two of them looked up to see all the pegasi of Canterlot and the whole dragon army teaming up together and driving Atrocity away. The ponies on the ground cheered wildly. The war was over!
---
The dragons cheered as their old leader flew away, before forming a large circle around Spike and joyously chanting "Hail Spike! Hail Spike!"
"What's... going on?" Spike asked, puzzled.
"Atrocity is gone", the dragon facing Spike replied, "you are our new king!"
Spike's face swung between several emotions at once, excitement - this would be so awesome, surprise - him, a king?, anxiety - what was he going to do?, and relief - he wasn't dead! Spike decided to settle with excitement, if everyone was going to worship him, he might as well be happy about it.
---
Trixie awoke to find herself on a bed in Twilight's castle, surrounded by the relieved faces of Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. She wasn't sure how she got there - last thing she remembered clearly was using the biggest spell she'd ever attempted - every last scrap of magic she could muster went into it, everything after that was a blur.
"What you did back there was really brave", she heard Twilight Sparkle say. "I'd even call it magnificent."
"Me?" Trixie gasped in disbelief.
Twilight smiled, "yes, you!"
"But, it was just a shield spell. Trixie wasn't even that powerful."
"It's not having power that makes a pony magnificent, it's whether they use it to help others. And you did just that!"
Trixie smiled, amazed. Twilight held her hoof.
"By the way," continued Twilight, "sorry for what happened before. Will you still be my student?"
"YES" exclaimed Trixie, before repeating herself more calmly, "Trixie meant to say yes".
Twilight chuckled and picked up Trixie in a huge hug. The rest of the Mane Six and Spike joined in.
"W-what's that warm fuzzy thing?" Trixie questioned.
"You mean a hug?" Twilight asked. "Wait, you've never had a hug before?"
"No, Trixie hasn't. But the great and powerful Trixie approves of the activity!"
"Well you'll be getting plenty from now on!" Twilight declared, hugging tighter.
"Heyyy" Pinkie Pie suddenly began, "I have to teach you about all the types of hugs! There are huggles, and cuddles, and group hugs, and tackle hugs, and glomps, and -"
"Alright", Twilight's student interrupted, "Trixie gets the idea."