Discord had never wanted this to happen to his daughter, his only daughter. He did not want her to endure the same fate he had now endured three times. He wanted to keep her from suffering the experience of being turned to stone. Discord fought back tears and closed his eyes to keep from looking at his still daughter.
Belladonna scoffed, “Oh, save the weeping, Discord. You went through the same thing yourself.”
That did it for Discord. Like when he was almost defeated by Nightmare Moon, all the despair and pain inside of him turned into pure rage and hatred. His eyes reopened with a newfound fire in them and he growled, “That…was a huge mistake.”
The Umbrum princess chuckled, “Why? Because you couldn’t save your daughter?”
“No. Because the only way to get her back…” As he said that, yellow magic glowed on his hands and morphed into energy swords. “…is by defeating you!”
He gave a yell and charged at her. Belladonna flew at him and created an energy sword from her magic. The two clashed in mid-air and dueled with swords.
Meanwhile, the other royals faced off the other four villainesses. After a few moments, Nightmare Moon shouted, “Attack!”
The Umbrum soon tackled with the royals. Miraculously, Sunset, Spike, and Snow Pea managed to hold them at bay. But whenever Snow Pea trapped the Umbrum in ice, the sirens used their singing to break them free. Sunset noticed this and told her niece, “Snow Pea, the sirens will only keep breaking the Umbrum out of ice unless we do something.”
Snowy told her aunt, “I’m on it!”
The sirens and Nightmare Moon were watching the battle from the platform. Sonata said as she was chewing popcorn, “You gotta admit: this is a cool show.”
Aria held up her hoof and looked around the skirmish, saying, “Speaking of ‘cool’, where’s Princess Snow Pea?”
A small voice said, “I’m right here!” Snow Pea jumped up and froze the sirens in one huge block of ice.
Nightmare Moon then appeared before Snow Pea and snarled, “That was a foolish thing to do, young princess. Now face my wrath!”
Snow Pea whispered, “I’m sorry, Aunt Luna.” She then conjured up a snowy gust of wind that froze NMM’s horn.
The dark alicorn gasped, “What?”
Snow Pea proceeded to encase NMM in a dome of ice. NMM yelled and pounded at the ice, but the ice would not break.
Discord had paused his duel with Belladonna for a moment to look at Snow Pea. He remarked, “Wow. I didn’t know she could do that.”
Belladonna growled and resumed their fight.
After about a minute, Spike was starting to lose his strength – and his fire. He began to gasp, “There are…still too many…of them…What should we do?”
Sunset thought for a moment until she got a great idea. She told Spike, “Why not get rid of them all at once?”
Spike and Snow Pea looked at her with confused looks and said, “Huh?”
“Look, just follow my lead.” Sunset then ran to a wall and kicked it, leaving a hole to the outside. She shouted to Discord, “Hey, Discord! See if you can create a strong wind!”
Belladonna heard Sunset and scoffed, “Ha! You foal! I am wearing the Air Vest, so only I have control over the winds and the air!”
Discord realized something and smirked. When Belladonna turned to face Discord, he had vanished. Just then, Discord flashed up under Belladonna and tickled her stomach.
He smiled, “Tickle, tickle, tickle!”
When Belladonna started laughing uncontrollably, her wings flapped in excitement, creating a tornado in the process.
Sunset cried, “Perfect! Thanks, Discord!” She then used her magic to grab the tornado and drag it to the hole to the outside. She shouted to Spike, “Spike, grab onto something really sturdy and don’t let go of Snow Pea!”
Spike then dug his claws into the floor and scooped up Snow Pea. He told her, “Hang tight, Snowy! It’s going to be a bumpy ride!”
Sunset then tilted the tornado towards the Umbrum and the shadow ponies got sucked into it. In the midst of it all, Belladonna stopped laughing when Discord stopped tickling her. She soon found herself being pulled into the tornado. Discord, not wanting to see his corrupted friend being destroyed with the other Umbrum, conjured up a cage to trap her. He then used his magic to push the cage to the platform and caused it to shatter the ice prisons, knocking all of the villainesses out cold.
When Sunset felt she had gotten all of the Umbrum in the tornado, she pulled it outside and shouted, “Okay, Snow Pea! I need you!”
Snow Pea jumped out of Spike’s arm and rushed to her aunt’s side. She asked, “What do I do, Aunt Sunny?”
Sunset grunted from the stress of holding the tornado, “Ungh! Remember what you did to drive away the Windigos! Do it again for the Umbrum!”
While Snow Pea focused on her emotions and the tiara, Sunset spun the tornado around. She then told Snowy, “Okay, ready?”
When she saw the Fire Tiara glow, Sunset took that as a “yes” and then shouted, “NOW!”
With all her might, Sunset threw the tornado into the air. It was a safe distance away from the castle when Snow Pea fired a blue ray of magic and destroyed the Umbrum with a blast.
Sunset cheered as she twirled Snow Pea around, “You did it, Snow Pea! You destroyed the Umbrum! Now that’s a mark of a true hero.”
Spike then told the girls, “Uh, guys? There’s one still left.”
The girls peered inside and saw Belladonna, unconscious in her cage, and the other villainesses lying in chunks of broken ice.
Discord shrugged, “What? I only did it so she could tell me where Hope is.”
Sunset said, “What? But you said that Hope was gone.”
Snow Pea spoke up, “It’s not true! She’s-“
Before she could say more, Discord covered the filly’s mouth. He nervously chuckled, “What Snow Pea means to say is that Hope might still be alive.”
Sunset and Spike didn’t buy this and the dragon crossed his arms and asked sternly, “All right. What’s really going on here?”
Discord sputtered, “Well, I don’t know!”
Sunset said, “Yes, you do! You just won’t tell us what it is!”
“Don’t, won’t. They’re the same thing, right?”
“No! You know something about all of this! You just don’t want to tell us!”
“Well, that’s absurd! Why wouldn’t I want to tell you?!”
“Why won’t you?!”
At that moment, Discord lost it and blurted out, “Because she’s Radiant Hope!”
Spike and Sunset were both in shock until they heard a voice say, “Your sentiment betrays you, Discord.”
They looked to see that Belladonna was out of her cage! The Umbrum princess then delivered a mighty blast of magic that drove Discord against the wall. When he fell to the ground, Nightmare Moon wrapped three of the royals in chains.
When he saw this, Discord let out a pained gasp, “No…”
Belladonna walked towards Discord and continued, “Radiant Hope is gone, but Belladonna remains.”
Discord said, “No. I know Hope is still here, in you. Please let me speak to her.”
“Hmm…A futile effort, but worthy of a sporting chance.”
Discord then sighed, “Look, Hope, you’re not the prissy princess I once thought you were. You were always a good princess, and not just to the crystal ponies. You were always my friend…but then I turned you away.” His heart became heavy with emotion as he continued, “I was never a good friend to you, Hope. I should’ve seen how much I upset you, but I was such an idiot. I was so blinded by my own chaotic ways that I didn’t realize it sooner. All I wanted was freedom, but now I’d trade that to get you back.”
Belladonna remained silent until Adagio offered, “Well, I don’t know about saving your friend, but if you want to save your little family, all you have to do is join us.”
Aria said, “So whaddya say?”
Discord looked at the three royals tied up in chains and then sighed, “All right, but they have to be unharmed at all times.”
The royals gasped while Sonata said, “All righty. A deal’s a deal.”
When the chains loosened around the royals, Snow Pea ran into Discord’s arms and pleaded, “Don’t do it, Uncle Discord! We’ll never get you back.”
Discord hugged his niece and sorrowfully said, “But I failed Radiant Hope.” His voice then choked up as he said, “I’m not going to fail you, too.”
Snow Pea began to cry as she raced into Sunset’s arms. Discord also shed tears as he said, “Trust me, if I could just fix everything, I would. But right now…” He sniffled, “This is the only way. I’m sorry. I truly am.” He walked to the villainesses and said in a calm voice, “All right. I’m ready to join you.”
Aria then said, “Yeah, not gonna happen.”
Before he knew it, Nightmare Moon wrapped chains around him and fastened them to the floor. The other royals were also chained again.
Discord grunted, “But we had a deal! You promised they wouldn’t be harmed!”
Adagio said, “Well, there’s a problem with that. We knew you were going to turn your back on us just so you could save your precious family. If you had joined us just for evil, that might’ve been a different story. But the way we see it, we’re going to eliminate the biggest threat to our takeover.”
Sonata said, “Bye-bye, Discord!”
Snow Pea shrieked, “No!”
The sirens then began singing and amassing their magic into a growing red ball of energy. When Adagio had mentioned family to Discord, it opened a small crack of goodness in Belladonna’s black heart. Belladonna started thinking of how she had hurt her mother so that she herself would never get hurt again. So did that apply to emotional pain or physical pain? Or both?
The sirens then fired the mass of energy at Discord…only for Belladonna to fly in its path and take the hit instead.
Everyone in the room was shocked by Belladonna’s sudden deed. The sirens were distressed by this because they knew what it meant.
Adagio shouted, “What have you done?!”
Just then, the two pearls on the neckpiece began to glow white and sent jagged lines of white all over Belladonna’s body. The inky blackness cracked by the light slinked away from her body, revealing an unconscious princess underneath. The darkness then slithered back into the sirens’ pendants, cracking them in the process.
The sirens shrieked, “NOOOO!!!”
When the pendants broke, there was a bright amaranth flash. That flash reversed a few evil spells; Nightmare Moon transformed back into Princess Luna, Pip appeared – now freed of the mirror realm – and Screwball and Apple Jewel broke free of their stone prisons. When the flash died off, the sirens themselves were tiny fish jumping and gasping on the hard floor.
Screwball put them in a fishbowl and said, “I think I’m going to keep them as pets.”
Princess Luna grabbed the fishbowl and chuckled, “I might have a better place for these troublemakers.”
The royals all embraced each other. Screwball told her father, “Now I know how you felt being turned to stone. It’s not comfortable.”
Discord chuckled as he rubbed Screwy’s head, “Don’t I know it.”
Snow Pea hugged Luna and said, “I knew you were still in there! I knew it!”
Luna smiled, “Yes, you did. I’m glad you never lost faith that I would come back.”
Just then, Discord heard groaning and turned to see somepony on the floor. Radiant Hope had returned, but her colors had dulled and she had no cutie mark.
Discord ran to her and held her, saying, “Hope! You’re back! But how is it possible?”
Radiant Hope said while gasping, “The Sirens’ deal is broken. They promised I wouldn’t get hurt.”
“Deal? What kind of deal?”
“Long ago, I had fallen in love with Sombra, but he chose Celestia instead. I got over that heartbreak, but it came back when you turned away from me. It grew tenfold when Sombra and Celestia turned you to stone, so I went to the Sirens to become somepony else in exchange for never getting hurt again.”
“Oh, Hope. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have deserted you like that. Some friend I was, always running off and playing mischief on other ponies. If I was a better friend, then maybe…maybe none of this…would’ve happened.”
“No. I’m to blame. I shouldn’t have trusted the Sirens. I succumbed to the darkness and killed my mother…” Her eyes glistened and her voice choked, “…because I didn’t want to be a princess anymore.”
When Hope let out a sob, Discord said, “Hey, hey, hey. Save your breath, now. You can’t waste it on crying.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have much left.”
Discord’s heart dropped and he breathed, “Hope, you don’t mean to say…?”
“It’s probably my punishment for doing so much evil as Belladonna. I deserve this fate.”
“Hope, please don’t…don’t say that. Nopony should go through this even for all the evil they had caused. They should be given a second chance. I know because…I was given one. It can be like that for you, too, Hope.”
“I might be gone before then.”
“No, it’s not too late! We can fix this! You’ve just lost your luster, that’s all. I’ll take you to Zecora and she can…”
“Discord…” When she touched his cheek, he let out a sound that was half a chuckle and half a sob. She continued, “I forgive you… and when…you see Sombra…again…tell him…I’m sorry…for…everything.” As she drew her final breath, her eyes closed, her body stilled, and her head and hoof went limp.
Discord pleaded as he shook her, “Hope, no! No! No! No! No! No! You can’t do this to me! You can’t…Please…” He started crying when he said, “I’m sorry, Hope…I am so sorry…Please come back…Please…”
Everyone looked at the sad scene with much sorrow. The fillies even started crying and Luna and Pip embraced them in comfort.
Discord sobbed, “I wish I could fix everything.”
A tear then fell from his eye and trailed down the chain of the necklace. When it reached the pendant, the pendant absorbed the tear and flashed as proof. The necklace continued glowing and soon everypony noticed this. It then lifted Hope into the air and a blinding flash of light followed. When the group of royals opened their eyes, they found that they were back in the Frozen North. The sky was now an ominous green and the shadow nearly covered the moon. Another flash followed and the royals had to close their eyes again.
When they opened their eyes once more, the night sky had reverted back to its normal color, the moon was once again bright, and the red crystal had vanished completely. What amazed them most was that Radiant Hope was on the ground again…alive and sparkling!
Discord cried happily as he embraced her and twirled her around, “Hope, you’re alive! Thank goodness you’re alive!”
Luna deduced, “It must’ve happened when you shed that tear, Discord. The Water Necklace controls any liquid and can derive power from it. You have chaotic powers and your tear was born of love for Radiant Hope. When combined with the Water Necklace’s magic, I think it did fix everything, just like you wished!”
Hope asked, “But how do we know that it broke the sleeping curse?”
“Well, the ponies would normally be asleep at this time, so we will have to wait until the morning.”
Apple Jewel asked, “You mean when Grandma raises the sun?”
Luna smiled, “Yes. That’s how you’ll tell the curse is broken.”
Sunset said, “Well, if the curse is broken, then that might mean we can take the jewelry off now.”
Hope said, “Well, let’s find out.”
To their delight, Snow Pea, Sunset, and Radiant Hope were all able to take off their pieces of Elemental Jewelry.
Snow Pea said, “All right! No more heat headaches!”
The royals all laughed at this.