Hey guys! Are you as excited as I am?! You probably are. o.o Lol, I worked really hard on this chapter for you guys, so I hope you enjoy it and review if you do – and if you don't, you still can tell me where I went wrong. Well, before I decide to get wordy and bore you guys to death with a super-long speech, I'll just thank you for reading this and supporting A Change of Heart to where it is today.
Without further ado, I give you A Change of Heart's finale! (DUN DUN! :D)
Eris smirked as she stood tall above Princess Cadance, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get this party started!" Her eyes grew a brighter red as she prepared her battle stance.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie popped up with two ridiculously large cakes in her hooves and screamed happily, "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A PARTY!"
Both Eris and Cadance looked to her with eyes full of bewilderment; whispering the same thing to themselves, "Awkward…"
Twilight grabbed her pink friend by her tail and pulled her back to the ground, causing her to drop the cakes. "Pinkie! It's not that kind of party!" She blinked and shook her head, correcting herself then, "It's not a party at all! It's a figure of speech!"
Pinkie looked to the purple alicorn with her large, innocent blue eyes. "Oh. Sorry." She playfully giggled and rubbed the back of her head with her hoof, "I just thought I'd bring the best part of the party to the party."
Twilight giggled silently and rolled her eyes at the pink earth pony as she looked back to the fight, still amazed at out Pinkie Pie could make her happy in the most suspenseful situation in history. Sure, her special talent was to make everypony smile, but the fight for Equestria's fate was one of those moments that she didn't expect to smile during.
Her smile was erased from her face with haste when she saw that Cadance was the only one standing in the middle of the town square. She scanned the sky and the ruins of the buildings nearby quickly, but she couldn't find Eris anywhere.
"Where did she go?" Rainbow Dash asked as she floated above the others, her head tilted far right in confusion. A few equally oblivious mumbles came from the others as Eris officially went 'missing'.
"I don't know, Rainbow, but I have a bad feeling that she didn't go for long…" Twilight said uneasily, rapidly changing her gaze from place to place to find the Goddess of Chaos.
Cadance stomped her hoof on the ground and yelled into the silent, still air, "This is no time for games! Where are you, Eris?!"
"Behind you, princess!" Eris roared as she suddenly rose from the ground behind Cadance, raising her right arm in the air.
With wide eyes filled with surprise, Cadance quickly turned around and aimed her horn at the Goddess of Chaos, but she was much too late.
Eris threw her hand at the princess's side with devastating force, tossing her to the left with ease. Cadance yelped in pain and shut her eyes tight as she flew through the air.
Shining Armor gritted his teeth with anger, worry filling his mind as he stepped forward, calling out to his wife. "Cadance!" A pink aura covered his horn as he began to gallop into the fight.
Princess Celestia quickly rushed in from of him and held him back with one of her forelegs. Before he could ask why, she spoke with a serious tone, "Shining Armor, you mustn't interfere; this is Cadance and Eris's battle."
"But she needs my help!"
"You're too injured to go back to the fight, and besides," she paused and began smirking softly, "I'm sure she can handle it." She looked into the prince's eyes and gave him a nod, "Trust me."
Shining Armor sighed softly and nodded before looking back to his wife worriedly.
Cadance spread her wings as she flew uncontrollably through the air in attempt to gain her balance and get right back into the fight. Succeeding, she quickly turned around and landed on her hooves as she looked back to Eris. Shaking off the pain from the last attack, she let a battle-ready smirk cross her face, "Is that all you got?"
Eris pointed at the ground and fired a small beam of energy formed into a pool of darkness – almost like a portal. "No; I actually have something else in store for you, princess!" She replied to the princess as the pool began to emit a thick, black smoke.
Trying her best to wave it from her face, Cadance coughed and backed away, wondering what trick the Goddess of Chaos used this time. As the smoke cleared up, the pink alicorn widened her eyes with pure awe at what she saw, "Chrysalis?" Then, her expression turned to a deathly stare, "How'd you get here?"
The Changeling Queen chuckled softly as she took slow steps toward the princess, "Never mind that! How have you been, my dear? It's been much too long!"
"Enough!" Cadance demanded as she stomped a hoof on the ground. "If you're here to fight me, then let's do it; I have no time for games!"
With an evil grin, Chrysalis shrugged, "Oh, well; I was trying to give you a little more time to live." She began flapping her wings rapidly, a green aura covering her horn as she hovered into the air. "But if you insist…" Suddenly, she launched forward with her multi-voiced battle cry and fired a magical blast from her horn.
Walking away from the Changeling Queen and Crystal Princess, Eris turned to the group of ponies and stared directly at Twilight, "Now that she's busy, let's have our little battle, Twilight Sparkle."
"Hey! You brought Chrysalis here because you knew Princess Cadance would beat you!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed angrily as she pointed an accusing hoof at the Goddess of Chaos.
"What?!" Eris yelled back, "Listen here, you little brat; I do what I want and there's no one else who can stop me, so before you go around pointing hooves at –"
Applejack cut her off, laughing heartily, "Haha! Eris is a scaredy cat!"
"She is acting much like a coward, isn't she?" Rarity giggled.
Suddenly, Eris snapped her fingers and all three of the ponies' mouths disappeared. Rarity looked down at her mouth and fainted; that was just too extreme for her. Applejack sighed and stared to the ground, saying her long line of muffled words of anger. Rainbow Dash folded her forelegs and slowly lowered herself back into the small crowd with anger filled eyes, one thought ricocheting in her head, "She's going to pay for that…"
"That'll keep you quiet," Eris said with a low, satisfied growl.
"Eris, leave them out of this!" Twilight said as she stepped forward. "I'll fight you!"
Celestia quickly trotted right behind her student and spoke with a low, worried tone, "Twilight, are you sure -"
"Princess," She cut the elder princess off and turned to her, "Ever since the first day you've told me to make some friends, I have been watching other ponies take risks for me! I know that's what friends do, but sometimes, it makes me feel a bit useless. All I've been doing is coming up with plans that never work! I understand that you are all my friends, and you want me to be safe, but I feel the same way about you… So please, let me -"
Her miniature speech was cut short from the rough shove Nightfall had given her. As the princess tumbled across the ground, she used her magic to stop herself and looked to the colt with a hurt expression, "N-Nightfall?"
Before he could say a word to explain himself, his body was thrown to the ground by a giant magical blast Eris originally threw at Twilight.
Everypony looked to her with disgusted expressions, in which she returned with an 'innocent', "My hand slipped." She softly giggled and shrugged. "Sorry?"
Twilight quickly stood onto her hooves and galloped to the colt, tears filling her eyes instantly. "Nightfall!"
"Don't worry about me! Go and…" He stopped and coughed violently few times before continuing, "Take down Eris. Defeat her! You have to…"
"Y-You'll, be okay, right?" The young princess asked worriedly, unable to hold back the tears that now rolled down her cheeks.
Nightfall slowly nodded, honestly not knowing if he would be or not. It sure didn't feel like it. "Yeah, I'll be fine… But that doesn't matter right now; you have friends to save. You have a country to save."
Eris suddenly spoke as she took a step toward them, a confused expression on her face, "Wait, wait, wait; I just want to ask you one question before you perish, colt… Why would you jump into the way of a life-threatening attack for her, even if you knew it would cost you your own?"
Twilight growled lowly and turned to the Goddess of Chaos, her horn instantly shining bright with its pink aura. She was going to attack, but before she did, Nightfall stopped her. "Wait!" She looked down to him with quizzical expression as her magic died out, but he paid no attention to that. "Eris," he said weakly, "I jumped into the way of that attack because I feel something for her you obviously have never felt toward anyone."
He stood to his hooves and nearly tipped over, but he held his own. Looking into the eyes of the Goddess of Chaos, he finished his sentence, "I took that blast for Twilight… Because I love her!"
Everypony gasped as the colt as he fell over. Luckily, right before he hit the ground, Rainbow Dash swooped by and caught him, carrying him into the air. She flew right back into the small crowd and gently placed him on the concrete. Looking to the burn mark on his coat and the small amount of motion his body was giving, Rainbow Dash mumbled loudly, but nopony could understand what she said – she didn't have a mouth.
It didn't take long for Princess Celestia to realize that the light blue pegasus was saying that Nightfall needed some serious help. She gave a nod to Twilight and rushed back to the colt, speaking back to Rainbow Dash, "I'll see what I can do."
"Huh, I didn't know I powered the attack that much," Eris said 'obliviously'.
"Eris!" Twilight yelled as she switched her gaze from Celestia and to the Goddess of Chaos. In her peripheral vision, she saw Cadance and Chrysalis exchanging blows and realized what she had to do. "Tell Chrysalis to leave; I want this just to be one-on-one. No tricks or side-battles. Just us."
"Oh? Are you finally standing up to the challenge?" Eris asked, her dark red eyes growing wide with a sick joy; she finally got to fight the princess she initially wanted Blackheart to defeat first, but now that things were in her hands, it was her choice.
Twilight stood in her battle stance and narrowed her eyes, "Call it what you want, but just leave my friends out of it. Give the others their mouths back and I'll fight you."
With haste, the Goddess of Chaos aimed her hand at Chrysalis and held her captive with her magic, receiving a confused stare from both the Changeling Queen and the Crystal Princess. "What are you doing, Eris?! I'm in the middle of something!" She yelled angrily.
"I know, Changeling, but your services are no longer required," she replied blandly. "I'm sending you home now." Before she could refuse to give up her chance in defeating Cadance, Eris launched the Changeling Queen threw the air and far from the Crystal Empire. It soon grew silent as the Goddess of Chaos smirked and turned back to Twilight, "Just like taking candy from a baby."
"And?" Twilight said as she gestured to Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.
"Ugh, fine," Eris said lazily as she snapped her fingers, restoring the three ponies' mouths. The first to react was Rarity, who was laying in Pinkie Pie's lap, being fanned by her hooves. The white unicorn opened her eyes gleefully as she placed her hooves on her mouth and squealed with joy, not one real word coming out of her mouth.
Applejack hopped onto her hooves happily and looked to the lavender alicorn, tipping her hat, "Thanks, Twi."
Standing over Nightfall, Rainbow Dash felt her mouth appear on her face again, causing her to smirk. Seeing that Princess Celestia needed assistance with helping the colt recover, she held back the urge to fly off and holler in happiness; one whole minute without her mouth was absolutely dreadful. Now she could understand how Pinkie Pie felt when Trixie had come to Ponyville that one time. The light blue pegasus whispered enthusiastically to herself, "Yes!"
"There. Happy?" Eris spoke with an attitude as she stared Twilight in the eyes.
Twilight nodded and gave a soft smirk, "Very."
"Good, now let's get to the fun part," the Goddess of Chaos said viciously as she stood in her battle stance. She growled lowly and bared her teeth, which were a contrastingly bright white against her black coat.
With a pink aura surrounding her horn, the young princess replied as she readied herself for the battle of her life. "Let's." Her aura grew brighter and brighter as her attack got ready to fire until –
"Wait!" Eris said as she 'defenselessly' raised both of her hands.
"What is it?" Twilight asked with gritted teeth, her horn still growing bright.
"Before I defeat you," she began arrogantly, "I'd like to let your little friends know that if they feel like coming and taking a fall for you – despite the colt's example – you're more than welcome to."
Bouncing above the others, Pinkie Pie yelled back at the Goddess of Chaos as she floated in mid-air, "We're not going to need to come in to help Twilight, because she's going to beat your meanie rump lickety-split!
"Sure, whatever," she blandly replied as she turned back to Twilight with an evil grin. "Are you ready princess?"
Twilight said nothing and narrowed her eyes, concentrating on the spell she was getting ready to use.
"I guess so!" Eris put emphasis on her final word as she abruptly launched a large ball of magical fire at the small alicorn. As the fire slammed against the ground with devastating force, debris flew into the air and spread across the town square. With a smirk, the Goddess of Chaos called into the screen of smoke, "Was that a bit too much for you, Twilight?"
"No; you're just too predictable," she said with a small grin crossing her face as she appeared behind Eris.
Her eyes went wide as she heard the princess's voice behind her. Quickly, she turned around and swung her right claw at Twilight, yelling angrily, "Take this!"
Before she could feel the pain of being harmed by Eris's attack, Twilight used her teleportation spell to dodge it. With a blinding flash of light, she was gone.
Quickly recovering from Twilight's spell, Eris twisted around and growled loudly, "You can't run forever, filly!" She turned to where the princess reappeared and fired another magical blast, but this time, it shined a light blue color, for it was built up off the element of ice.
Like before, Twilight disappeared before the ball of freezing magic could affect her, a blinding light shining across the town square once more.
The ball splattered on the ground and turned the concrete within an immediate into ice. Eris looked away from the princess's former position and looked around ambitiously. She looked behind her and found nothing. She checked left. No Twilight. She looked right. Still, she couldn't find Twilight. Gritting her teeth, she balled her hands into fists and blew steam out of her nose in frustration.
Suddenly, she looked at the ground, where there was the shadow of the alicorn with her wings spread wide. With a gasp, she looked into the sky, where Twilight gently flapped her wings and floated above Eris, right beneath the blood red sun.
Far below the flying princess, Rainbow Dash hopped into the air and threw her hoof up; completely elated that Twilight was flying. She truly had a new flying buddy now, but that was beside the point. From Rainbow's point of view, not only did she look heroic, but she looked absolutely awesome. "Yeah! You got this Twilight!"
A few more cheers came from the group of friends as Twilight powered her attack, but she heard a distinctive voice from somepony she'd always remember. "You can do it, Twily!" She smiled softly to herself and recognized Shining Armor's voice.
"I won't let you guys down," she thought to herself as she flapped her wings once with a massive force, launching herself downward – right toward Eris. Flying down toward the Goddess of Chaos with speeds not too far from Rainbow Dash's, Twilight's magical aura began to surround her head as a cone shape in front of her.
As her jaw dropped dramatically, Rainbow stared intently at the princess, confusion riddling her face. "Is she going to…" Her sentence died off as she watched the one pony she knew as an egghead transform into an awesome hero right before her eyes.
With the exact cone formation surrounding her, Twilight's magic resembled Rainbow Dash's famous Sonic Rainboom, but this was much more… Purple. It wasn't long until the moment everypony was waiting for arrived, and it literally blew them away.
The cone disappeared as a wave of magic spread across the sky and Twilight officially broke the sound barrier. With wind blowing hard against her face, the small alicorn spread her wings and began to slowly change course from nose-diving right into Eris to flying amazingly fast above her.
Rainbow Dash whispered with a smirk as she watched Twilight reach speeds she thought only she could reach, "Hah… Twilight's own Sonic Boom, huh?"
When Twilight had gotten blurred sights on the Goddess of Chaos, she fired her magical blast from her horn and swooped slightly upward, slowing herself down. Panting, she looked back to Eris, who was flying back in pain from the powerful attack the princess threw at her. Smoke spread across the town square as the ground shook and a booming explosion from Twilight's Sonic Boom deafened everypony. With a triumphant smile, she began to slow even more, flapping her wings a few times as she gently landed on the ground.
As the sound of wind roughly blowing in her ears went away, she could hear her friends calling out to her with inspirational cheers. She blushed in slight embarrassment as she looked over to the group of ponies, who were throwing their hooves in the air happily.
"That's what ah'm talkin' 'bout! Get 'er Twilight!" Applejack enthusiastically yelled as she threw her hat into the air.
Pinkie Pie screamed loudly as she hopped into the air, wearing a shirt with Twilight's face on it, "GO TWILIGHT!"
"Teach that mongrel a lesson, dear!" Rarity called out.
Suddenly, a wave of weeping cut off the cheers, causing everypony to looked to the only draconequus who could've made the noise. Discord blew his nose as he sobbed, tears of joy rolling down his cheeks, "Oh, this is just beautiful! You go, Twilight! I'm so proud of you!"
Twilight began giggling slightly as she looked at Discord, who was waving to her with his handkerchief. Looking forward, the princess realized that she had a job to finish, and that was proven by a soft, feminine groan that came from the cloud of smoke. "Eris," Twilight whispered angrily, a soft fire burning in her eyes.
Using her magic to clear the smoke, the princess laid eyes on Eris, who was kneeling on the concrete, bruises and scratches covering her entire body. She had lost her former form, so she looked exactly how she was when she first arrived to Equestria, but a little more… defeated. Slowly trotting toward her, she spoke lowly with a serious tone, "I hope you understand why you've been defeated, Eris…"
"Is it because you're better than me in every way?" The Goddess of Chaos asked sadly, tears building up in her emerald green eyes.
Twilight tilted her head to the left slightly; why would she say something like that? "What?"
"You heard me! I'm nothing! I was just all talk!" Eris looked at the ground and forced herself not to sob. "I'm a failure…"
Instantly, the princess stepped beside her and placed a hoof on her shoulder, "No you're not Eris… Everyone has had their bad times, but there can always be a friend who gets you through them." She smiled softly as she tried to raise the draconequus's spirits. Then, something sparked in her head; maybe she could reform her.
"Friends? I have none," she simply said.
"Well, maybe… I could…" Slowly, Twilight looked back to her friends, who all shook their heads quickly. Discord even raised a poster that said, "She's a spirit of chaos! She's the Goddess of Chaos, for pony's sake! Do NOT trust her!"
Unfortunately, Twilight couldn't help it. She finished her sentence and spoke with a smile, "Maybe I could be your friend."
"You know Twilight…" Eris began to look up to her with a half-smirk, "You should really listen to your friends."
"What?" Twilight was utterly confused as the Goddess of Chaos said this; what did it mean? Was she tricking her? Well, that'd be no surprise.
"I'm the Goddess of Chaos, dear; there is no reforming me. You shouldn't be so forgiving next time," she said with an evil smirk. Suddenly, she placed a finger on her mouth and acted as if she forgot something. "Oh wait! There won't be a next time."
Before the small alicorn could move a muscle, Eris had already stood on her feet and let her right arm change back into its former black-furred state. With a ball of magic in her hand, she threw it forward – right into Twilight's chest.
The princess closed her eyes tightly in pain as she felt the magical blast push against her and launch her into the air. "Ah!"
Her friends called after her as they watched her get thrown to the ground, worry trailing across all of their faces. "Twilight!"
Slowly standing onto her hooves, the lavender alicorn looked up to Eris with half-open eyes, gritting her teeth in pain. The Goddess of Chaos smirked as the black aura covered her body again, returning her to her previous form. She was faking defeat the entire time. "Hah! Now can you see? Your defeat was inevitable, princess, despite all of your attempts of survival! I have won!"
"No," Twilight said wearily, a faded pink aura covering her horn once more. She opened her eyes wide as she fired her attack from her horn, yelling as she did so. "You haven't!"
Eris scoffed and simply smacked away the shining ball of magic, leaving the princess with a look of disappointment. "What, did you really think that would take me down?" Twilight stayed silent as she looked to the ground, her magical aura fading away. "Face it, filly, I've won… And you've lost."
"No…" Twilight said with tears in her eyes. She couldn't lose! She just couldn't!
"Yes," the Goddess of Chaos replied with an evil grin as she aimed her hand at the princess, a large black, electric ball of energy growing in her palm. Her heart began to pound harder as the joy of finally defeating Equestria's final hope filled her mind. With ease, she fired the blast as she began to chuckle softly. It was finally over.
Everypony watched with wide eyes full of hopelessness as blocks of concrete flew into the air. As the screen of smoke began to rise into the air, Eris heard a loud 'bang' behind her. Still chuckling, she turned around and aimed her hand at Twilight, who had just used her teleportation spell to dodge her attack, "And you say I'm predictable."
With that, she launched another blast of magic at the princess. This time, though, her success of harming Twilight was assured by the pained scream she let out as she dark magic threw her to the ground violently.
Eris turned around with a satisfied grin on her face as she turned to the others and spoke loudly, "It's all over, ponies," she spit the last word, proving her hatred for her enemies.
Behind the Goddess of Chaos, Twilight laid limply on the ground with her eyes shut tight, her mind racing from thought to thought as she realized that defeat was practically certain. Barely conscious, she began to speak inwardly. "I can't believe it… For so long, I've saved Equestria from whatever threats and yet I can't stop Eris… Why can't I? Was this meant to be? I… I should've been able to stop this. I -" Before she could let another depressing thought cloud her mind, a voice caught her attention.
"Get up, you egghead! We need you!" Rainbow Dash yelled angrily, trying to inspire Twilight in her own way; the friendly way wasn't working, so her coaching ways should do the trick.
Then, another friendly voice called after her, "Yes darling; Rainbow Dash is correct! You must defeat that beast of a lady once and for all!"
"Rainbow Dash… Rarity…" Twilight inwardly called their names as she shuffled slightly on the ground. They were right; she had to get up!
"C'mon, Twi, you can do it! Ah know 'ya can!" Applejack took off her hat as she yelled as loud as she could to the downed alicorn.
The princess's ears twitched as she heard a voice she never thought she'd hear again. Nightfall weakly called after her, "Yeah… Show her what you can do, princess…"
Among hearing the colt's words, Twilight's wings began fluttering to life as her horn began to glow with a bright purple aura. She opened her eyes as a foreign power consumed her and brought her to her hooves. Her eyes went wide as she whispered to herself, "What in the world is going on?!" Sure, she'd been inspired before – but this was different. She never was launched in the air and given a mid-battle power boost by an unknown entity. It didn't take long for Twilight to realize that she could figure out where her power was coming from later; she had a country to save.
Eris turned around quickly as she felt the wind pick up around her, staring directly to Twilight, who was floating above the ground, her wings flapping gently. "Oh, so you've decided to give it another useless try to defeat me?"
"I will defeat you!" She replied with a multi-voiced tone as her eyes magically grew all white, her horn glowing brightly with a white aura as well. With no hesitation, Twilight pointed her horn at the Goddess of Chaos and fired a giant magical blast that violently shook the ground. As the earsplitting explosion echoed through the town square, the attack rushed through the air and directly to Eris, who held both her hands in front of her with a mischievous grin.
Everypony watched with wide eyes as Eris caught the other side of the blast, holding it in her hands with ease. Keeping her position with the devastatingly enormous attack pushing against her, the Goddess of Chaos yelled up to Twilight, laughing evilly. "I see you've still got a little juice in you, princess!" With that, she returned the attack with her own blast that evened out the clash between the pink and red magic.
Twilight said nothing back to her as she concentrated on her magic, thinking of nothing but the fate of Equestria to keep her pushing forward. Her large, pink blast of magic slammed aggressively against Eris's blood red magic, in which she created to finish off the princess once and for all. The ground shook rapidly and the wind howled as the clashing magic began to grow stronger, twisting the clouds above with great speeds.
It was soon clear that Eris still had the upper hand against Twilight, for her blast was pushing the princess's attack right back at her. If she kept it up, she would've won for sure. Seeing this, the Goddess of Chaos taunted the princess, "See?! You still stand no chance against me!"
Back in the crowd of ponies, Rainbow Dash pushed against the rough winds and slowly flew forward. "I'm going to help her! I have to!"
Suddenly, Rarity grabbed her tail and pulled the blue pegasus back to the ground. "Wait! Twilight said that she wanted to fight Eris on her own! We can't interrupt, Rainbow Dash!"
She turned back and yelled over the loud winds, pointing to the giant blasts of magic clashing against each other. "I'm not leaving Twilight out there! I don't know about you guys; but I'm loyal to my friends, and I will not leave her behind! Besides; Eris gave us the all-clear!" Rainbow turned away and dashed to Twilight's side before Rarity could say anything else.
Overhearing what the blue pegasus said before she flew off, Applejack grinned and threw her hat to the side, "She's right! Ah ain't leavin' Twilight; no way, no how!" With that, the orange earth pony galloped into battle, determination sparking in her emerald green eyes.
Following right behind Applejack, Pinkie Pie bounced to Twilight's aid, wearing a military helmet and black tape on her cheeks. "Ooraaaah!"
Rarity watched her friends rush out to battle and blinked a few times, wondering what she should do. Feeling a tap on her back, she looked backward, right to Princess Celestia. The princess softly smiled and gestured to the others, "I think they'll need you out there."
"Of course, princess," she replied sheepishly giggled as she nodded and turned to her friends. With a smirk, she readied her horn for some serious magic use and galloped to assist her friends.
Rainbow Dash smirked as she zipped beside Twilight, "Looks like you need some help, egghead."
Snapping out of her former state, the lavender alicorn looked over to the blue pegasus and blinked in confusion. "Rainbow Dash?"
"I'm here to help you!"
"How? You can't use magic; you don't have a horn!"
Rainbow Dash looked down to her necklace and raised it in the air with her hooves in reply to Twilight's question. "No, but I do have this!" As if on cue, the pendant that resembled her Cutie Mark found on her necklace began glowing and shot a blinding beam of magic that added onto the princess's blast. She gave her an assuring nod and closed her eyes, trying her best to concentrate on using her own power to help Twilight take down Eris.
Standing ahead of the two, Eris scoffed as she spotted the other Elements of Harmony run to Twilight's aid. "Joining your friend isn't going to help you!" She actually seemed to be right, for her magical blast was still advancing on Twilight's – despite Rainbow Dash's assistance.
Twilight looked beneath her, where Applejack stopped hurriedly. The orange pony looked up to her and gave her a wink before her necklace rose up on its own, catching her attention. Just like Rainbow's element, Applejack's glowed brightly and added on to Twilight's massive attack with its own small beam of magic.
"All this time," Twilight thought as she watched Pinkie Pie bounce right beside Applejack. "I thought that fighting Eris alone would let me beat her… That my anger would help me win…" She softly grinned as she then saw Rarity 'fabulously' trot her way next to the others, her necklace working just like the others. "But I was wrong. My friends will help me defeat Eris, and now that I know that; it's time for us to save Equestria!" Twilight closed her eyes and prepared to use the power of the Elements of Harmony. A bright light surrounded the five ponies – and that's when she realized that something was wrong. With wide eyes, she gasped and whispered her friend's name, "Fluttershy!"
Suddenly, Eris's magical blast began pushing against Twilight's faster and faster as the alicorn began to lose hope in winning the fight. Without Fluttershy, the Elements of Harmony wouldn't work, and without the Elements of Harmony… Equestria was doomed.
The Goddess of Chaos put her all in her attack as it neared her enemies, an evil satisfaction filling her tone, "Hahaha! Not only will I destroy that wretched princess; I'll destroy the Elements of Harmony as well!"
As her magic began to fade out, Twilight looked to the ground hopelessly, receiving a bizarre expression from Rainbow Dash. "Twi? What are you doing?!"
"We don't have Fluttershy," she softly replied as her horn's aura began to fade away, bringing Eris's victory closer than ever. "Without her, our magic won't work..." With tear-filled eyes, she looked back to Rainbow and said sadly, "We can't win."
Before the light blue pegasus could reply to her nearly hopeless friend, Fluttershy flew beside Twilight and asked 'softly' over the rough winds and the ground's rumbling, "Why can't you?"
Suddenly, Twilight's expression changed dramatically as she turned around to the yellow pegasus with a giant smile, "Fluttershy!"
"I'm sorry for being so late, I was –"
"Never mind that; just use your element and help us finish this fight!" Twilight yelled as she looked back to Eris and put her all in the attack once more, her horn shining bright with its aura. Fluttershy's element added onto the magical blast that practically decided the fate of Equestria, strengthening it to powers never seen before.
Closing her eyes, the princess looked deep inside and found the exact power that defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, and even gave her the gift of transforming into an alicorn. She looked inside and found the Element of Magic. Twilight opened her eyes as the magical blast shined with a blinding light and pushed back against Eris's own magic easily.
Noticing the sudden gain in power the six ponies had, Eris felt her feet slide involuntarily backwards on the ground as the Elements of Harmony's attack pushed against her with a mind-boggling force. With wide eyes full of awe, the Goddess of Chaos stared to them and asked, "H-How are you doing this?! What kind of illusion is this?! St-Stop it!"
The giant blast didn't slow down as it easily pushed against the Goddess of Chaos's defense and slammed right into her. A massive gust of wind tossed everypony in the town square to the ground as a devastatingly bright light blinded them all. Right after, a deafening explosion shook the ground violently, launching debris into the air and toppling buildings with ease. As the miniature earthquake shook the Crystal Empire, a giant cloud of dust and smoke kicked into the air and blotted out the sky, leaving the ground in darkness.
The sound of rocks and pebbles tapping against the ground gently brought Twilight from her state of unconsciousness. She calmly lay there, right beside her best friends, staring into the sky, which was nearly covered by a thick, black smoke. As she relived everything that just happened in her mind, her heart skipped a beat as she sat up and looked around, whispering. "I have to stop Eris!"
She quickly hopped to her hooves and looked around, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head. Honestly, she was tired, but she had no time to rest; Equestria was still in danger. As she looked around, she found nothing but ruins and cracks scaling the concrete ground underneath her. It was unnaturally silent as she cautiously stepped through thick smoke, her purple eyes intently searching for the Goddess of Chaos.
Her ears perked at the sound of a pained groan, causing her to turn quickly and aim her horn at the area where the sound came from. "Who's there?!" Gritting her teeth, she squinted, trying her best to get a good sight on who was in the distance. After waiting for a reply and hearing nothing, Twilight huffed angrily and used her magic to clear the smoke from the town square, revealing all of her unconscious friends who were thrown around by the explosion, but most importantly - Eris.
Her black aura had faded away, leaving the normal-sized draconequus standing wearily ahead of Twilight. Eris stumbled slightly to the right and held her side in pain, looking up to the lavender alicorn with a disgusted face, "Wh-What are you? You're no normal pony!" Taking slow, feeble steps away from her, the Goddess of Chaos showed something that Twilight never thought she'd see in her eyes. Fear.
Twilight smirked and took some steps forward, seeing that the Elements of Harmony had worked and that Eris was facing inevitable defeat. "You're right… I'm no normal pony; I'm the Element of Magic."
"How did you do this?! I… I am the Goddess of Chaos! I am the strongest there is!" Still backing away from Twilight, she yelled with fury.
"Alone – you may be. But what you don't realize…" Twilight paused as she heard hoofsteps coming right behind her. It was Rainbow Dash.
The light blue pegasus gave off an arrogant smirk and wrapped her foreleg around Twilight's neck as she finished her sentence. "… Is that even though one person may be strong…"
As if on cue, Applejack trotted alongside her friends, a victorious grin crossing her face, "… A group of friends will always be stronger."
Eris shook her head and stumbled backward, shaking her head in disbelief rapidly. "No! This is impossible!"
"Well, actually; it is possible. I mean, it's happening right now so… It's possible!" Pinkie Pie popped up from behind the Goddess of Chaos and smiled brightly at her. "C'mon Eris, you should know that!" The pink earth pony giggled innocently as she looked at the terrified look on the draconequus's face.
Stumbling onto the ground, Eris began scooting away from the ponies, "S-Stay away from me!" She soon ran her back into Rarity, who stood right behind her with a mischievous grin as she cleared her throat. Letting out a small yelp, the Goddess of Chaos hopped to her feet and rushed in the opposite direction of the white unicorn; she had to get away from them.
It wasn't long until she ran into the small, feeble pegasus, nearly tripping over her as she stopped. Looking down to Fluttershy, she simply stared with wide eyes.
She looked to the ground and blushed with embarrassment as she softly spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to –"
The other Elements of Harmony stared at her with disbelief and yelled to her angrily, "Fluttershy!"
She blinked and remembered what she had to do. "Oh! Right…" Nodding to the others, she then looked up to Eris and spoke, "You… Bad… Draconequus! I'll… Uhm…"
Standing beside the others, Rainbow Dash quickly placed a hoof on her face and shook her head, groaning in annoyance.
Before Fluttershy could finish her 'menacing' sentence to the Goddess of Chaos, another draconequus came into play. Discord suddenly appeared between the two with a bright flash and smiled warmly to the small pegasus, "Thank you, Fluttershy, but I'll take this from here."
Turning around to his sister, Discord smirked and folded his arms, staring deeply into his sister's eyes that were full of fear. "I think this is the part where you leave…"
Eris growled and began backing away from him, shaking her head quickly, "I'll be back… Just you ponies wait… I will be back! I will –"
"Suuure you will!" Pinkie Pie jokingly said as she nudged her gently in the side with her forearm.
With a growl, the Goddess of Chaos flapped her wings and took off, a long line of curses echoing through the sky as she fled away from the ponies.
Amongst watching Eris retreat, Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and prepared to follow the Goddess of Chaos, "What are you guys doing?! She's getting away!"
Instantly, Discord calmed the light blue pegasus with an assuring tone, "Don't worry, Rainbow Dash…" He paused and watched his injured sister fly off in the distance. Beginning to grin victoriously, he continued his sentence, "I have a strong feeling she won't be coming back anytime soon."
"So…We've won?" Twilight asked as she looked away from the Goddess of Chaos and to Discord, her eyes sparkling with hope.
"Yeah… We did it," Discord replied softly, his grin growing larger than before.
Pinkie Pie sat on the ground and rubbed her chin with one of her hooves as a light bulb appeared over her head, "I think I know what we should do…"
"Pinkie, if it has anything to do with a party, can it please wait? I'm exhausted!" Rarity dramatically leaned against Applejack, who caught her with an annoyed expression.
With a sigh, the pink earth pony frowned and folded her forelegs. "Fine…"
Suddenly, a familiar voice called after Twilight. "Twily!"
Turning to where she heard her brother, the princess ran right into Shining Armor, wrapping her forelegs around him. "Shining Armor!"
Pulling away from the embrace, the prince looked down to his younger sister and smiled proudly, "I'm proud of you kiddo…" He ruffled her hair with his hoof and chuckled softly.
She shook his hoof out of her head and giggled in return, "Thanks…"
"Well, what do we do now?" Cadance asked as she joined the group of ponies, looking around to the town square of her destroyed empire.
Celestia then entered the conversation, catching the attention of everypony near, "We recover… And maybe we could have a party - as Pinkie Pie suggested - afterward." She grinned softly as she saw the happiness build up in the earth pony's face.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to a party," Nightfall said with a smirk as she limped to the group.
Twilight's heart skipped a beat as she heard his voice. She instantly rushed over to the colt and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. Saying nothing, she hugged him tight and seemed like she'd never let go.
Fighting the sharp pain that shot through his body, Nightfall smiled as well and closed his eyes, hugging her back.
Everypony looked to the two and let out a long, affectionate, 'Aww' as the two hugged; even Celestia had to admit that it was pretty cute. Shining Armor smiled as he saw the two and wrapped his foreleg around Cadance, whispering to her, "They remind me of us when we started dating."
The pink alicorn blushed and leaned into her husband and nodded, "Yeah…"
As the smoke from the battle rose from the ground and faded away, the wind grew weak and blew gentle breezes against the ponies, calming them. It was exactly what they needed… Besides; they did just fight off the biggest threat in Equestrian history.
"Twilight!" A light, tired voice called after the princess, "I'm here… To help!" Spike exclaimed as he rushed into the town square.
Pulling away from Nightfall, the lavender alicorn looked to her assistant and raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Spike? When did you get here?"
"I was here…When Princess Celestia arrived… But…"
Another high-pitched voice cut off the panting dragon's sentence, "When we got here, we saw a big 'boom', and Spike thought it'd be a good idea to let the princess go and fight while we found our way here. He 'knew the way'," Dawn mocked him with an annoyed expression.
Spike blushed slightly in embarrassment as the filly told the absolute truth.
"Long story short," Princess Luna continued with the story as she stepped closer to the group of friends, Dawn lying on her back comfortably. "After I inspired Fluttershy to assist you all, I prepared to leave, but before I went off, I saw Spike and Dawn trailing the streets aimlessly. I decided to take care of them until we got here."
Suddenly, Dawn hopped off of Luna's back and zipped over to her brother eagerly. She launched into the air and landed on top of his head, hugging his horn happily. "Brother!"
Once more, Nightfall ignored the pain he was given and smiled softly. "I missed you too…"
Before anypony else could say another word, a pained groan came from the only limp body in the town square. As the group looked to the black-coated stallion, they all asked in unison, "Blackheart?"
BOOM! Oh. My. Gosh. I tossed aside SO much sleep for this! I hope you guys enjoyed – no… LOVED – this chapter. Review if you did, and if you didn't (that'd break my heart :c), tell me where I messed up. I want to thank you ALL for helping me out here and allowing me to write this 7,343-word chapter for you guys! If you're wondering about the ending of this chapter; I'm going to let you know that there will be an epilogue, so you've got one more chapter to tune in for until I wrap up this story for good.
Aren't you guys happy?! x3 I am. Well, until next time… I'll see you guys for the FINAL chapter of A Change of Heart. Once again, thank you. – FrozenAgent47.