"Harold…Harold, wake up!" Harold slowly opened his eyes, looking around for the source of the voice that was calling to him. He realized the voice sounded very familiar. "Oh, good, you're awake." He turned around and was surprised to see his mother and father standing in front of him. He ran over to them, hugging them.
"Mom, Dad, I'm so happy to see you! Wait…" He said, letting go of the hug. "If I'm here, does that mean I'm dead?"
"Yes, well, sort of. You're not completely dead yet. If you want to go back, we can help with that." Mary said.
"We've been watching you ever since that day. We watched you slowly become more and more bitter over our deaths." James said.
"Yeah, I was. I just couldn't get over the fact that you were taken away from me. I keep thinking that if you had had some way to protect yourselves or if I had been faster, you could have been saved. I really regret my actions, but there's nothing I can do. Morde is too powerful for me to confront alone." He said.
"But you aren't alone. You never have been. There are so many ponies who care about you, including us. Morde only has power because of the guilt and anger you feel towards yourself. We don't want you to carry that burden around with you." Mary said.
"We don't blame you for what happened and we want to see you be truly happy." James said.
Harold started to tear up and cried into his mother's shoulder as she held him, letting him get out years of pent up regret and sadness.
"Feel better?" She asked as he started to calm down. Harold nodded, taking a deep breath and regaining his composure.
"You said you could help me in some way? How can I defeat Morde?" Harold asked.
"You already have it." Mary said, as Harold looked at her confused.
"As long as you have faith in yourself and the others around you, Morde can't harm you." James said.
He nodded and smiled. "I understand. I'm ready." He said.
"Great. We'll send you back. We love you and we'll see you later." Mary said.
"Love you too, Mom and Dad." Harold hugged them one more time as he was surrounded by a bright white light. When he could finally see again, he saw Morde's guards holding Twilight and the others down as Morde was about to use his magic staff to brainwash Twilight. Harold got up, which distracted Morde.
"What? How are you alive?" Morde asked.
"Because nothing can kill my spirit, Morde. Not even you." Harold said. "Let them go!"
Morde laughed as he walked towards Harold. "Someone's feeling bold to make such a ridiculous assumption." Morde said.
"Not an assumption. It's a fact." Harold said. "If I've learned anything from this, it's to not let anger and guilt rule your life. I know you feed off of it, but you'll no longer feed off of my soul."
"Like I said before, your soul is of little consequence to me if I lose it. Now, let me make sure I finish you off this time!"
Morde pointed his staff at Harold, blasting him with it. A white force field appeared around Harold, blocking the blast. Morde looked at him dumbfounded before trying to attack him a few more times, but his beams of magic didn't even scratch the surface of the bubble.
"How are you doing that? You shouldn't have any powers!" Morde said.
"I have something you don't: faith in these six here." Harold said, looking over at the Elements of Harmony. "You can have all the power in the world, but it means nothing, if you have nopony to believe in that makes using that power worthwhile."
"I can see Twilight's rubbed off on you. How disgusting."
"I learned that from my parents, actually."
"Who cares! Just die, you pest!" Morde charged up an attack from his horn and blasted Harold with it. Harold teleported behind Morde before kicking him hard, sending him tumbling forward. Harold used his magic to free Twilight and the other from their restraints.
"All right!" Rainbow exclaimed, as she took off into the air, stretching her wings before diving at Morde. She dodged the magic blasts he shot at her before slamming into him, sending him flying into the wall. They surrounded Morde as he slowly got up, rage in his eyes.
"Let's put an end to this once and for all." Twilight said, before activating her rainbow power form and the others did the same.
"I've already told you: the Elements of Harmony won't work on me. What makes you think it will work?" Morde asked.
"He does have a point." Pinkie said.
"Like Harold said, as long as we have faith in each other, there's no way we can lose!" Twilight said.
They charged up their attack, sending a wave of rainbow magic at Morde. Morde glared at them, before charging up his staff and blasting it at the rainbow beam. When the two collided, they were even but his staff slowly started to push his magic towards them, causing him to smile.
"I don't think our faith is enough!" Applejack said.
"What can we do? It's not like there's anypony else we can get faith from. Believe harder!" Rainbow said.
Harold watched as Morde's magic slowly started to overpower theirs. He knew he had to think fast, as he tried to come up with a solution. He got an idea, as he positioned himself underneath them and sent his magic up into theirs. The rainbow beam started to push back towards Morde's, until they were evenly matched.
"It's not enough! We need more, but how can we get more faith from here?" He asked himself. He then got an idea. It would be a stretch, but he believed he could do it. He closed his eyes and concentrated before sending a white beam into the air.
In the real world, Harold's body suddenly buckled before his body glowed white and the beam was sent through the ceiling. All throughout Equestria, the beam of light could be seen by every pony as they gazed up at the sky. An image of the Elements of Harmony trying their hardest to fight Morde could be seen.
"Citizens of Equestria, I don't know for sure if you can hear me, but please, we ask for your help! I am the one who caused this tyrant to come to power. You have no idea how guilty I feel for it and I ask for your forgiveness! Please, in our time of need, we need you to send your faith to us. Show us that you believe in these six mares, who sacrifice everything for us!" He said. The ponies watching gasped as Morde's magic beam started to steadily move towards them again. "Please, hurry!"
The ponies watching were confused on how they could send magic to them, when some of them couldn't, as the unicorns lit up their horns, sending their magic towards the beam of light in the sky. Twilight looked up to see their magic start to overpower Morde's.
"It's working!" She exclaimed. "Keep it up everypony!"
The other pony species closed their eyes and concentrated before their bodies were enveloped by white light and beams of magic were sent to help them. The rainbow beam quickly pushed Morde's magic down before engulfing his body. His body started to break apart as he looked down in horror. "No, stop! Nooooooo!" He cried before exploding into a million pieces. The rainbow beam then engulfed the whole dark world in white light, blinding everypony. The light that was around Harold's body in the real world spread to cover Canterlot Castle, turning it back to normal before white orbs shot out from his body as they flew around, going back to the ponies they belonged to.
Harold woke up, looking around as he saw Twilight and the others slowly get up. He saw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence stand up, seeing they looked fine. They had their horns, wings and seemed to be unharmed. He saw Twilight run over to Shining, seeing the two of them hug. He felt elated when he saw everything was as it should be.
"We did it…We actually did it!" He said, excitedly before seeing a bunch of Canterlot guards surround him, glaring at him as Princess Celestia approached him. He noticed her face was very stern, which was very unnerving.
"I know I messed up. I'm sorry and I'm ready to accept any punishment you think is fit." He said to her, before looking at the ground solemnly.
"Shall we take him to the dungeon, Princess?" One of the guards asked.
"I don't think that will be necessary." Celestia said. Harold was surprised to hear her say that and looked at her, seeing that she was smiling at him. He wondered if the experience of having her soul pulled out by a demon had broken her, or if she was playing him for a fool, but saw that she meant it genuinely.
"Y-You don't?" He asked.
"No. I can see that you have learned your lesson, and I sense that your demeanor has changed considerably." She said.
"Wow, thank you, Princess." Harold said.
"If my sister believes you are trustworthy, I suppose I can forgive you as well." Luna said.
"That means a lot to me." He said.
He heard the throne doors open and saw Scarlet standing there. He smiled and ran over to her, holding her tightly. She hugged him back, happy to see him as tears streamed down her face.
"Harold, I'm so glad you're back!" She said.
"I'm glad you are too." Harold said, smiling at her.
Twilight smiled as she watched the two of them, before walking over to Princess Celestia. "I wasn't expecting any of this to happen. I guess it'll be tough to top this Gala, huh?" She asked.
"Maybe." Celestia said.
"Maybe? But, ponies had their souls pulled out and all of Equestria almost fell to darkness! What could possibly top that?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know, but you never know what could happen." Celestia said, before starting to walk to the hall where the Gala was being held to help calm the guests. As she passed by Harold, she stopped. "By the way, Harold, I think that cutie mark suits you very well."
Harold looked down at his flank and saw he had a new cutie mark: A black shield with a white orb on it that had two overlapping swords on top of it. He smiled. "I think it suits me very well, too." He said to her before going back to nuzzling Scarlet. He noticed that one of the stain glass panels was different. It showed his new cutie mark, with a beam coming out of it that was obliterating a dark unicorn. He felt honored to have a window pane dedicated to him.
He walked to the Gala with Scarlet by his side. He noticed some ponies were still very weary around him, but he didn't pay them much mind. He was overjoyed that he hadn't caused the demise of Equestria, and that all of his past demons had been dealt with. He decided he wouldn't look back from now on, only towards what will be, knowing that any bumps in the road along the way would eventually smooth themselves out.