Sit-ups, pull-ups, and plenty of juice
“No, Discord! You didn’t have to protect me!”
“Ha! Even the Lord of Chaos fell to my power!”
“Discord, please stay with us! We need you! I don’t know what to do without your help!”
Equestria was on the verge of ruin. King Sombra, a dark-gray Unicorn, by unknown means, had returned.
He invaded the Crystal Empire, captured the Crystal Heart, as well as Princess Cadance (What else is new?) Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart. The King all but made himself at home in the Crystal Castle.
Luckily, Princess Twilight Sparkle thought of a gutsy plan to save her brother, sister-in-law, niece, and the Crystal Empire. With an assist from Spike, Twilight and her friends, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie defeated King Sombra with the Elements of Harmony.
Alas, Sombra only pretended to be defeated. After his “defeat”, Sombra secretly followed Twilight and her friends when they returned the Elements of Harmony to the Tree of Harmony. There, he destroyed both the Tree of Harmony and Elements of Harmony.
After brainwashing the ponies of Canterlot and Ponyville, and with the Elements destroyed, King Sombra’s victory seemed inevitable.
But after escaping Sombra’s prison by digging out, Princess Twilight and her friends made their way to Canterlot and eventually Canterlot Castle.
Unfortunately, in the throne room of Canterlot Castle and near its open door, Discord, their best and (to Twilight and her friends) only hope had just fallen protecting Fluttershy from one of Sombra’s magical blasts. Sombra himself stood where Princess Celestia’s and Princess Luna’s thrones would normally be, but was replaced with a dark-purple crystal, which Sombra had created with his magic. More crystals grew from the floor and ceiling throughout the room.
Surrounded by the six ponies wearing worried or frightened frowns, Discord was going to give a semi-heartfelt speech. It would be of how the friends only needed each other, and hoped it would spark a power on par with what they had with the Elements.
But, paying special attention to Twilight’s frown, Discord changed his mind. His goal was to prepare Twilight to handle any crisis, before she ascended to the status of Equestria's ruler, and he only now discovered a flaw that he overlooked. What would happen if Twilight found herself alone against a villain and thus couldn’t tap into the power to unleash an unstoppable rainbow?
No. Discord needed to get Twilight to stop a bad but honorable habit she’s had for years: holding back at least half of her full power out of fear of “showing off”. This way, she truly would be ready for anything.
Discord weakly waved his hand at Twilight, signaling her to lean her head closer. She previously admitted that she didn’t know what to do, so he planned to not say it with hints or in riddles that’s more his style this time. He would simply tell Twilight what needed to be done.
Gazing into Twilight's violet eyes, Discord whispered, “Twilight?”
“What is it, Discord?” Twilight whispered back.
“Here’s what you do: you let it go.”
Twilight’s worried frown became a baffled one. What could Discord have meant? He didn’t tell her using a hint or riddle, but it nevertheless puzzled her. “Huh?”
“Twilight, if you and the girls are defeated here, you all will either perish or become brainwashed.”
“I know, but like I said, I don’t know how to defeat Sombra! I didn’t even think of how we would fight him if you didn't come!”
“You must use...it.”
“‘It’? What do you--” Twilight gasped, and leaned her head away from Discord. She realized what he meant, but couldn’t bear to do it. She hated the thought of unleashing her true power, risk “showing off”, and make somepony think her friends weren’t necessary to protect Equestria. She wanted her friends to be as vital to Equestria as her. “But I can’t! I don’t want to look like I’m more important than my friends by defeating Sombra by myself!”
Discord pointed out, “Uh, Twilight? It is a bit too late for that: you’re the only one of your friends who's a princess.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. True, she is a princess and the others aren’t, and would in itself make her more important. But still, Twilight, at the very least, wished to avoid “rubbing it in” by saving the day by herself, but instead do it as a team with her friends. “Yeah, but--”
“Equestria’s at sake.”
“I know, but...I…”
Twilight’s eyes showed that she would not be persuaded. The fear oozing from them was too strong. Twilight Sparkle can be prone to making questionable decisions from emotion, and this was no exception. With a sigh, Discord decided to press the button. A mental button that would trigger Twilight into summoning her full power, no matter how much she might currently be protesting to do so. “Okay, Princess Twilight Sparkle? Listen to me. If you keep holding back, then Flu--”
The ponies except Twilight shouted, "Nooo!" They knew what Discord was about to say, and why. As much as they wanted to get out of their desperate pinch, they didn’t want to that much.
“Don’t do it, Discord!” Rarity pleaded.
Pinkie begged, "Yeah! It’s not worth it!"
“And we’re not that desperate!” Rainbow admitted.
Twilight looked at her friends one by one with a puzzled frown. “What? What is it?”
“I’m trying to say--”
“Don’t you remind her of ‘that’, Discord!” Applejack ordered.
Twilight’s frown grew into an agitated one. What secret did Discord wish to tell her, and why did her friends not want him to tell her? “Okay, what is going on? Why don’t you guys want Discord to tell me whatever he needs to say?”
Sombra yawned at the seven friends’ babbling, forcing them to look to his direction. “Just tell her so we can get your defeat over with. Gloating's fun and all, but I have a busy schedule to keep.”
Pinkie asked, “Wait, you have a schedule? Can’t you just do whatever you want or have brainwashed ponies do it?”
“Well, yeah, but I can’t just snap my hooves and have everything I want to be done, and neither can my new slaves. Conquering the rest of Equestria will be hard work. Fun, but hard.”
Rainbow admitted, “You know, I never thought about how hard it might be for you villains to do your plans before we defeated you or if you won.”
“Of course it’s hard! Perhaps I could let you try being a villain for a while before I defeat you, so you can see how tough it is?”
Fluttershy responded, “Um, no thanks, Sombra. I’m good.”
“Well, so be it. Anyway, since you won’t accept my offer, to keep from falling behind on my schedule, I need to blast away or brainwash you in the next five minutes. Starting with the yellow one.”
Upon hearing Fluttershy being singled out in a threat, Discord gasped and gritted his teeth. He was reminded that his favorite pony was in danger. He would rather his existence end before allowing a hair of that Pegasus to be harmed. Any doubts Discord still had about tapping into the true power of Princess Twilight Sparkle vanished. “You DARE threaten Fluttershy?! Oh, I’m definitely telling you now, Twilight.”
Rainbow shouted, “No, Discord!”
“Sombra can threaten me all he wants! What could happen to him would be far worse if you remind Twilight!”
“I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but I’m saying it.” Discord stared into Twilight's eyes, which showed a mix of curiosity and annoyance of the situation. “Twilight, if you don’t defeat King Sombra, Flurry Heart will suffer. And her pain would be all your fault for letting it happen, instead of fighting for your niece with all the power you have.”
Twilight’s eyes doubled in size, her mouth dropped open, and she became motionless. Pure unbridled rage built in her heart. The kind of rage that only a mother seeing her child in danger could experience. Or in this case, an aunt that loves her niece like her own daughter. If Princess Cadance possessed the level of power Twilight secretly did, the Princess of Love actually would have not been captured this time. This story would have ended before it began, with Cadance blasting Sombra across the Crystal Empire.
Rarity asked, “Discord, how could you push the ‘Flurry Heart’ button?”
Pinkie said, “Yeah, and you shouldn’t have done that! Now I feel sorry for Sombra!”
Twilight’s facial expression remained unchanged, but her body started shaking.
Sombra, oblivious to the true nature of the situation, stared at the shivering Twilight. “Uh, is she broken or something?”
In a voice full of concern, Applejack said, “Sombra, I know you took over my town and brainwashed my little sister. But I’m serious. Run. Fast. Now.”
“Why? You fools are acting like Princess Twilight’s about to use more than half of her full power or something. I heard how she never uses more than half because she hates to risk ‘showing off’, even against villains like yours truly.”
Rainbow corrected, “Oh, she has. Ask a Unicorn named 'Starlight Glimmer'.”
Sombra’s baffled frown changed into a nervous one. He understood that, if Princess Twilight Sparkle held nothing back, he would not last even five seconds against her magic. But because of Twilight’s outright refusal to utilize her terrifying true power, Sombra believed his plan to destroy the Elements would ensure his victory. “Wait, she has?”
Rarity said, “Yes! She showed some of her full power to Starlight Glimmer for interrupting one of her friendship speeches, then punished her with ‘The Treatment’ and--”
Sombra’s frown became one full of fear. He knew about “The Treatment”, which is Twilight forcing you to listen to her friendship speeches for a torturing five hours. She would tie you down in her castle if she has to, which was what happened to Starlight Glimmer. “Wait, this ‘Starlight Glimmer’ received ‘The Treatment’?! I didn’t think Princess Twilight would ever do that to anything, much less a pony!”
“Yeah! Then later Queen Chrysalis got ‘The Works’ for three weeks because she messed with Flurry Heart!” Pinkie explained.
Sombra failed to resist shaking. He stared at the still-shivering Twilight as if she were a monster. “The Treatment” was horrible, but “The Works” was far worse: a spell where your consciousness is trapped in a lightless void and forced to hear the voice of Pinkie Pie screaming Twilight’s friendship speeches. It would be at twice the volume of Pinkie’s loudest scream, 24/7, and would last until Twilight reverses the spell to bring you back. After Chrysalis recovered enough to exit her fetal position after being freed from “The Works”, which took her a month, she begged to be sent to Tartarus. She wanted to feel safe.
Applejack explained, “And the reason Twilight didn’t use her full power earlier: she didn't want Flurry Heart to see what she wanted to do to ya.”
Discord added, “But this time, Flurry Heart's not here.”
Realizing he made a terrible mistake, Sombra gulped. “Uh...I think I hear my mom calling me and--”
Fluttershy shouted, “Sombra, just get the buck out of here before Twilight can punish you with either ‘The Treatment’ or ‘The Works’!”
Before Sombra could follow the best advice of his life, Twilight stopped shaking. Her eyes returned to normal size before they formed the fiercest scowl of Equestria's history. Twilight gritted her teeth. Two of them cracked, but her anger made her immune to the pain. She still heard them crack, and mentally planned to heal them with her magic after she got done with Sombra.
If she ever got done with him.
Twilight’s horn glowed magenta, and a large magenta beam fired from it. Sombra created a green barrier around himself with his magic, but Twilight's beam shattered the barrier with the greatest of ease. The beam smashed into Sombra himself, sending the hapless King screaming into a dark-purple crystal behind him. He bounced off it and hit the floor, and lay motionless.
The impact of the mighty blast broke Sombra’s brainwashing spell, waking up everypony that was under the spell. Most shook their heads, wondering what happened. One of the freed ponies felt the need to travel to Canterlot as soon as possible. That pony sensed Twilight’s immeasurable anger, and knew what was about to happen.
But in Canterlot castle, Discord and the ponies stared at the motionless Sombra.
“We tried to tell you to run,” Pinkie said to Sombra, ignoring that he couldn’t hear her.
Rarity asked, “Why didn’t you block his ability to use magic first like you did to Starlight and Chrysalis?”
Twilight answered, “With all that ‘twilighting’ I did, I was already in need to get out some aggression, so I wanted him to put up some sort of a fight.”
After a minute, Sombra regained consciousness. Twilight wasn’t finished with him, so she didn’t move an inch. Unaware of what was going on, or even what he was previously doing, Sombra rubbed his head. “Oh, what happened?”
Twilight’s horn glowed again, and the cracks in her teeth vanished. Then, she ominously answered, “I happened."
Sombra immediately remembered what was happening, and of his grave mistakes. The first was returning to take over Equestria, and his second was not leaving Flurry Heart out of his conquest. "No...no...how are you so strong anyway?!"
"Sit-ups, pulls-ups, and plenty of juice. And now, I have plans for you, Sombra.”
Sombra wanted to beg for mercy, but Twilight Sparkle's hate-filled eyes showed she was not in a merciful mood. Discord’s words of Flurry Heart suffering, because of Sombra, would have been her fault if she didn’t use her full power infuriated Twilight too much to even consider mercy. Fighting back would have only further angered the Alicorn in front of him, so Sombra knew struggling would simply worsen the situation for him.
But Discord had taken steps to make sure that Twilight wouldn’t deliver one of her two harsh punishments, no matter how mad she got. “Oh, no you don’t, Twilight! You promised to never give either ‘The Treatment’ or ‘The Works’ again!”
Rarity asked, “She did?”
Applejack asked, “When?”
Discord answered, “Oh, let’s just say we had a...talk.”
Sombra had never felt so much relief in his life. He nearly danced out of happiness, but didn’t want to reveal his mad dance skills with others watching. “She can’t punish me with ‘The Treatment’ or ‘The Works’? Yes!”
Pinkie reminded, “But don’t get too happy, Sombra. You’re still at Twilight's mercy.”
“Oh, right. Okay, I’ll go to Tartarus, or do whatever you want, Princess Twilight. I’ll take anything if it’s not ‘The Treatment’ or ‘The Works’.”
Twilight rested a hoof on her cheek and looked down, and the others stared intently at her. She shook her head every three or four seconds while profoundly in thought. What could have been going through her mind? Could Twilight be considering breaking her promise, despite being a pony of her word? Should Sombra take a chance and attempt an escape with Twilight's attention not on him?
Soon, the hoof on Twilight’s cheek returned to the floor. She raised her head to glare at Sombra. “I have decided. Sombra, for your punishment, since I can’t punish you with either ‘The Treatment’ or ‘The Works’, you will get ‘The Ultima’.”
“NO! Not ‘The Ultima’! Twilight Sparkle, are you cra--” Pinkie’s plea attempt was ended by a fact that she didn’t immediately realize. A bewildered frown appeared on her face. “Wait, what is ‘The Ultima’?”
Twilight’s eyes remained locked on Sombra, and her friends looked to one another for answers. They knew of “The Treatment” and “The Works” but even they never heard Twilight speak of “The Ultima”.
Fluttershy answered, “I don’t know what ‘The Ultima’ is, Pinkie. Do any of you guys know?”
“No, not me,” Rarity answered.
Applejack shook her head. “I don’t.”
“Beats me.” Rainbow looked to Discord. “Do you know, Discord?”
Discord answered, “No clue.”
The stumped friends turned to Sombra, who said, “Well, don’t look at me!”
Twilight explained, “Well, of course none of you know. Only Spike and Starlight know what ‘The Ultima' is.”
Applejack asked, “Well, what is it?”
Twilight didn’t answer verbally. Her horn again glowed magenta and fired a beam that struck Sombra. There was no scream. Sombra fell to the floor with a thud. His eyes were closed, and he let out quiet grunts, as if he were seeing something unspeakably horrible.
Pinkie walked to the unresponsive ex-King and poked his head. “Uh...Twilight? What did you do to Sombra?”
“He’s getting ‘The Ultima’, and will for a month.”
Rainbow questioned, “Okay, and what is--?”
From behind the group, a turquoise beam was fired and struck Twilight.
Without a scream, the Princess of Friendship fell to the floor with a thud. Like Sombra's, her eyes were closed and she let out quiet grunts. The friends spun around to the source of the blast and gasped.
The source of the blast?
A Unicorn.
The Unicorn’s name?
Starlight Glimmer, who stood in the doorway of the throne room, panting fiercely.
Fluttershy asked, “Starlight? When did you get here?”
“And what did you do to Twilight?!” Rarity questioned.
Pinkie asked, “You’re not turning on us, are you?! I thought we were friends!”
Starlight answered, “First, when I came to, I did a…*pant*...chain of teleportation spells to get here…*pant*... a minute ago but I stayed quiet. And…*pant*...second, no, I’m not turning on you! Of course…*pant*...we’re friends!”
“Then what’s going on?” Rainbow questioned.
Starlight said nothing. She still needed to fully catch her breath. After her breathing returned to normal, Starlight answered, “If you knew what Twilight Sparkle just did to Sombra, you would understand why she needs to be punished with ‘The Ultima’ for two weeks to make sure she’ll never do it again. Unless you guys want to risk her becoming too mad, turn into 'Midnight Sparkle', and give us all her ‘punishments’ for ‘fun’ someday?”
The other ponies shouted, “NO!”
Rarity questioned, “But even so, what is ‘The Ultima’ that both Twilight and Sombra are getting?”
Starlight bit her lip. She knew most of her friends’ hearts wouldn’t take hearing what “The Ultima” is, and learning it could render them unconscious for a week. She thought that Discord might be able to take it, thanks to the mental toughness he gained from once being a motionless statue for a thousand years.
“It's even worse the 'The Works' and is why we can hear Twilight and Sombra grunting from it, where Chrysalis was quiet when her consciousness was getting 'The Works'. So, do you really want to know?”
The friends shouted, “Yes!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!” They shouted again, but with wider eyes.
“Are you really sure?”
“Yeah!”
“Uh...are you really really su--”
Applejack shouted, “Starlight Glimmer, for Celestia’s sake, just tell us!”
“Okay! Remember a month before Chrysalis captured you all, when Twilight, Spike, and I were in fetal positions for a week?”
Rarity answered, “Yes, and Twilight said it happened because she lost a book, and you and Spike did it too out of sympathy.”
“When we recovered, Twilight told Spike and me to never tell you the real reason.”
Discord asked, “Which is…?”
“Okay. When Twilight was testing her full power with only Spike and me watching, she accidentally tore open a hole in dimensions and we saw...something.”
Pinkie asked, “You did?”
Starlight nodded her head. “Yeah. It was horrible and Twilight was barely able to fix the hole before she fell apart with Spike and me. After we got out of our fetal positions, Twilight decided that if somepony deserved a worse punishment than ‘The Works’, she’ll cast a spell to send their consciousness to that dimension to see what we saw.”
Rainbow asked, “But how could you cast a spell to do to Twilight what Twilight did to Sombra? She’s way stronger than you at her full power!”
“I could do it because Twilight's guard was down, and I drunk a little of the juice that she likes without her knowing. Even so, it took so much of my magic, I won’t be able to cast spells again for the next three years.”
Rarity asked, “Really? You won’t be able to use spells for three years? And, could you get me some of Twilight's juice?”
“It’s a small price to pay to prevent Twilight from becoming Midnight Sparkle someday. And sorry, Rarity, but Twilight's out of it right now.”
“Okay. Well, back to the big question, Starlight: what is ‘The Ultima’?” Rainbow questioned.
“Uh, did I ever tell you about the time--”
Fluttershy yelled, “Starlight ‘Speech Interrupter’ Glimmer, TELL US!!”
Starlight jumped back from Fluttershy’s mighty shout. “Eep! Okay, I will, but remember, you guys asked for it. When we looked into the hole Twilight's magic opened, we saw a different version...and..."
Starlight couldn't say more. Thinking too much of what she saw made her faint.
"Wow. 'The Ultima' must be bad if Starlight fainted just tryin' to tell us," Applejack commented.
"Still, I want to know what 'The Ultima' is!" Pinkie whined.
Rainbow suggested, "Discord, maybe you could let us see Starlight's memories so we can learn what 'The Ultima' is?"
Everypony stared at Rainbow. This is something that the still-reforming Starlight might have suggested, but not Rainbow Dash!
"Rainbow Dash! How would you ask Discord to let us see Starlight's memories without her permission?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah, who do you think we are? Sunset Shimmer?" Pinkie said.
Rainbow countered, "But maybe she needs, uh, 'help' but doesn't want to tell us? By seeing her memories, maybe we could...help her?"
The friends thought about Rainbow's words. Starlight Glimmer have had serious issues, mostly because of what Twilight Sparkle did to her with "The Treatment". Maybe they should let Discord allow them to see Starlight's memories, in case it could help their friend?
Discord ended their inner debate, said, "Okay", and snapped his fingers. Every memory Starlight have ever had, from her fillyhood to what happened before she fainted, immediately became known to the seven friends. And the memory they wanted, what was "The Ultima", make every one of them faint.
Somewhere far away, Cozy Glow, Tirek, and Grogar were watching. They were also curious about what "The Ultima" was, and Grogar used his great magic to allow them to learn what it was. The trio then immediately fainted. When they woke up, Tirek and Cozy begged Grogar to return them to Tartarus, so they would be safe-ish from Twilight.
And Grogar joined them and Chrysalis in Tartarus.
The Unicorn Starlight Glimmer never knew how she saved Equestria from facing another dire crisis by giving Twilight Sparkle “The Ultima”. Even if it cost her the ability to cast spells for three years.
And even if Starlight meant it to be a safeguard to prevent Equestria from facing an immensely worse threat.
Oh, and what was "The Ultima"?
It is something that even Twilight at her fiercest was hesitant to show Sombra, much less her friends: seeing a fear-filled world under the iron hoof of the evilest, cruelest, horrifying tyrant of all-time.
Molestia.