Chapter 25
Light The Darkness

Alexei, also known as the Dragon of Darkness, was the greatest threat Equestria ever faced. It was thought when Alexei was defeated by Flareon, ponies in Equestria would never have to fear him ever again. It would soon turn out, that was not the case. It all began one seemingly peaceful afternoon. Just outside of Death Valley, a small rabbit was digging a whole in the ground, when suddenly, it spotted something strange. It seemed to be a black object, like dragon scales, buried in the ground. The rabbit was unable to resist its curiosity and decided to touch it. It would soon learn that was a very bad idea. Right after the rabbit made contact with the black dragon scales, they erupted like a volcano, and the rabbit was instantly engulfed in darkness before it had a chance to escape. However, the darkness didn't stop there as it began to engulf everything in sight, including the sky itself. The worst part, it was slowly beginning to make its way towards the capital of Equestria. Speaking of Canterlot, Princess Celestia was standing out on the castle balcony, admiring the city and its residents. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something that made her heart stop. It was a gigantic black wall that even touched the sky.

"No," Celestia muttered, "The darkness? This can't be...Luna! Luna!" Soon after, Princess Luna came running due to hearing her sister's panicked cries for help.

"Sister! What's wrong?" Luna asked concerned as she saw the scared face of Celestia. Luna then turned to where Celestia was staring at and just like her sister, she too began to panic. Suddenly, Celestia grabbed Luna.

"Get all the residents to evacuate the city immediately!" Celestia exclaimed, "I'll go contact Flareon and Twilight." Right away, the two princesses went off in different directions, but their goal was the same. The darkness was coming and they had to everything they could to make sure everyone was safe. Later on, while Luna was busy getting the Canterlot residents to safety, Celestia brought Flareon and Twilight over to where the darkness was. Both Flareon and Twilight couldn't believe their eyes. It was as bad as Celestia had told them back when she arrived at their house.

"No...this isn't possible! The darkness? How is even happening?!" Flareon exclaimed. Celestia turned to face him with a serious look on her face.

"Flareon...back when you fought against Alexei. Did you happen to notice anything that seemed off about him in anyway?" Celestia asked. Flareon immediately began to ponder about when he prepared to fight against Alexei to see if he could remember anything that was different about him. Just then, something came to his mind. Even though it wasn't a big deal at the time, now it meant everything.

"Wait...I think I remember seeing Alexei with a small hole on the right side of his chest," Flareon muttered, "I was so caught up in wanting to beat him, I didn't really notice it."

"You think Alexei purposely tore off a part of his body and hid it somewhere before he fought against Flareon?" Twilight asked, "It's almost like Alexei designed a backup plan in case Flareon ever defeated him."

"That is most likely the reason Twilight," Celestia replied, "Even in death, Alexei still finds a way to haunts us." After seeing the depressed faces of Celestia and Twilight, Flareon gritted his teeth as he wasn't about to let Alexei get his revenge. Flareon quickly went into Flame God Mode and flew to the darkness. He then charged up a huge fireball and shot it directly at the darkness. Unfortunately, the fireball had no effect whatsoever as the darkness simply consumed it like a small lit match disappearing inside a giant dark cave. Seeing as how wasting any more of his power would be pointless, Flareon turned back to normal and flew over to Celestia and Twilight.

"It's ok Flareon," Twilight muttered as she put her right hoof softly on his shoulder, "I'm sure there has to be another way to stop it."

"Twilight...I'm giving you the mission of inventing a spell that can destroy this darkness once and for all," Celestia stated confidently, "This will be your final mission as my apprentice." Twilight was completely caught off guard as she couldn't believe Celestia was giving her such an important task.

"You can count on me Princess Celestia!" a determined Twilight replied, "I promise I won't let you down!"

"The future of Equestria rests on you Twilight," Celestia said with a smile, "I believe in you." Soon after, they made haste for Canterlot so Twilight could get started on making a spell that could destroy the impending darkness. If she failed, Equestria would be lost in darkness forever. Later on, in the castle archives, Twilight was furiously going through books trying to find anything that could give her some sort of clue on a spell that could destroy darkness. Flareon was also helping her while Solana, Spike, and their friends, brought books from Golden Oak Library that Twilight had requested. Hours later, the darkness was almost near Canterlot, and Twilight was getting desperate. She still hadn't figured out a spell yet. Things were looking grim. That's when Twilight began to break down in tears.

"There has to be something...anything!" Twilight exclaimed as she tossed a book onto a nearby pile. Flareon walked over to her and put his roof hoof softly on her shoulder.

"Come on Twilight...don't give up," Flareon replied, "I know you can do it." As Flareon was trying to comfort a worried Twilight, Solana walked over and put down a book before them called 'Light Your Fear'. This book is Solana's favorite and one Flareon and Twilight read to her as a bedtime story more than a dozen times when she was little.

"Um...mom," Solana muttered, "Maybe this book can help. After all...remember how it helped me when I was afraid of the dark?" Twilight looked down at the book that Solana placed in front of her. After Twilight open the book and flipped through some of the pages, her eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's it! This book...I think I know what to do!" Twilight exclaimed happily.

"What do you mean? How does this kid's book have the answer?" Flareon asked.

"Look!" Twilight replied as she showed him the open book, "Three fillies were afraid of the dark and couldn't go to sleep. Their mom sensing their fear, told them to gather all their hope and happiness and direct it towards her. She then fired a magical beam of pure light that was able to make the darkness go away. As a result, the three fillies were finally able to fall sleep." She then slammed the book shut and hugged Solana. "Thank you." Twilight turned to face Flareon. "We're going to need the Elements of Harmony and your fire magic Flareon. I'll contact the others and tell them to bring their Elements of Harmony and to met us in front of the darkness." Soon after, Twilight quickly left to send word to their friends. Later on, Twilight and their with friends, while wearing their Elements of Harmony, made it to where Flareon, Solana, and Spike were waiting with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna before the wall of darkness.

"So...we ready to do this or what?" Rainbow Dash asked eagerly.

"Ok everyone...I'm going to need you to activate your elements at send a magical beam to my tiara, while at the same time, Flareon will send a beam of fire at my tiara too," Twilight stated without hesitation, "I also need all of you to think of everything that gives you hope and happiness while your magic charges my element so I can shoot a beam of pure light at the darkness. This should destroy it once and for all." After the others nodded their heads in agreement, Twilight turned to face the darkness that was slowly coming towards her. "Do it now!" Immediately, Rainbow Dash and the others activated their elements. Each of them shot a magical beam at Twilight's tiara, while Flareon shot a beam of fire at her tiara too. Once her element was charged to the highest level possible, Twilight activated her tiara and shot a beam of pure light directly at the darkness. Suddenly, the darkness quickly began to disappear as the light pushed it back and destroyed it all the way back to where it had originated from. The darkness was finally gone. Adding to that, everything that was previously consumed by it, including the rabbit, were left unharmed. Meanwhile, as Flareon and the others were beginning to celebrate, Twilight suddenly began to float into the air. A bright flash of light appeared from Twilight's tiara that quickly engulfed her. Once the light vanished, Twilight was seen with wings. She had transformed into an alicorn. As Twilight landed back to the ground, everyone was left absolutely speechless.

"Wings? Twilight...you're an alicorn!" a surprised Flareon burst out, "How?"

"I think I may know," Celestia replied, "The spell Twilight used must have fulfilled her deepest desire in return for using it." Flareon quickly turned to Twilight, who was admiring her new wings.

"You're desire was to become an alicorn? Why?" Flareon asked.

"No silly," Twilight replied as she hugged him, "I just wanted to have wings so I could fly with you and Solana. We're a family after all." Flareon smiled back at her and then kissed Twilight. Soon after, Twilight was surrounded by her friends who began to congratulate her on getting wings, and of course, saving Equestria.

"Now you, me, and dad can all fly together," Solana said. She then looked at her own small wings and sighed. "I just wish mine would grow out already so I could actually use them." Twilight smiled as she patted her daughter on the head.

"Be patient Solana," Twilight replied. She then turned to face Princess Celestia. "What was that special something you were going to give me Princess Celestia?" In response, Celestia flinched as if she had just regretted something.

"Oh...um...I'm making you an official princess! Congratulations!" Celestia exclaimed awkwardly. Everyone was left completely dumfounded.

"Really?!" Twilight exclaimed happily, "Thank you Princess Celestia! Thank you so much! I've always wanted to be one! It was actually my second deepest desire." As everyone was trying to figure out what just happened, Princess Luna grabbed hold her Celestia.

"Sister...what are you doing?!" Luna whispered, "Why are you making Twilight Sparkle a princess?"

"Twilight just saved Equestria and had her deepest desire fulfilled! I had no other choice!" Celestia whispered back, "Also...I might have promised Twilight a special reward once she destroyed the darkness. I was going to give her a nice fruit basket, but that's clearly out of the question now. Besides...it's her second desire to become a princess after all. Having another one isn't going to hurt anything." In response, Princess Luna let out a deep sigh as her sister dug a hole she couldn't get out of.

"Wait...if Twilight is a princess, does that make me a prince?" Flareon asked.

"Um...sure Flareon...you're a prince now! Congratulations!" Celestia exclaimed awkwardly again.

"Sister...shouldn't we be having a ceremony for this?" Luna asked. In response, Celestia put her right hoof on her face as she sighed deeply.

"Fine," Celestia muttered, "We'll do it your way then." Later on, much to Princess Celestia's exhaustion, she hosted a ceremony in Canterlot Castle announcing Flareon and Twilight and as the new prince and princess of Equestria. The party that followed after it was one of the biggest ones Canterlot ever had. After the party was done, everyone left to return home for the night. Flareon, Twilight, Solana, and Spike were about to head home too, when suddenly, they were met by Princess Celestia. She asked them if they wanted to move into the castle seeing as how Flareon and Twilight were now a prince and princess. Celestia was actually pleasantly surprised when they refused her offer and told her that Golden Oak Library was their true home. After they waved goodbye to Princess Celestia, Flareon and his family took a nice long train ride back to Ponyville.