Early the next morning, Claudius was buried at the edge of the land, far, far away from the Valley. Everyone was silent. No one knew what to say.
"How are we going to fight Enchantra now?" Fleur-Di-Lis asked. "Claudius was the only one who could handle her."
"I hope you know magic, Mr. Moochick," Camille said.
"My dear, indeed, I do!" the Moochick shouted. "It just doesn't work half the time."
"A lot of good that'll do us," Tara said.
"Well, anyway," the Moochick said, ignoring Tara. "We need to find the unicorns."
"But how?" Fleur-Di-Lis asked. "We know Enchantra has them, but we don't know where she's hiding them!"
"That's what we'll have to find out," Tara said. She turned to Camille. "So tell us what to do. You're the one with the brain!"
"We'll have to be sneaky," Camille said. "Now offhand, I can't really think of how we're going to get in there."
"We can't do this without Claudius," Fleur-Di-Lis said.
"Yes, we can!" Tara shouted. "He wouldn't want us to sit here and give up! We've still got magic."
"Right," Camille said. "The Moochick has his magic, and you've got magic in your horn, Fleur-Di-Lis."
"All unicorns do," Tara said.
"But all I can do is wink in and out," Fleur-Di-Lis protested. "All unicorns can do that! And they can do something else with their horns. My mother could read people's minds. And my father could light up the darkest of night, and made it look like day. I don't know what I can do."
"You can make light, too," Camille said. "We all saw you."
"Right," Tara nodded. "You make a blue ribbon of light."
"Enchantra hates the light," the Moochick said. "That will be a good strategy."
"But what good will it do?!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted, stomping her foot. "Without Claudius, we'll never free the other unicorns! He's the one you need! Not me!"
"But Fleur-Di-Lis!" Camille shouted.
Fleur-Di-Lis wouldn't hear of it. She turned around and ran off. The girls were about to go after her, but the Moochick stopped her.
"She needs time," he said. "She'll come back. I know it. And when she does, we'll be ready to go to Midnight Castle."
"How do you know?" Tara asked.
"Trust me," the Moochick said. "I know the mind of a little pony. Yes, indeed. Yes."
Tara and Camille glanced at each other. They weren't exactly sure if they understood what the Moochick meant.
Fleur-Di-Lis sat by a riverbank, crying into her hooves. She didn't want to fight Enchantra. She didn't know what kind of powers she possessed. She didn't know if she could use them. Most of all, she didn't know of she could do it without Claudius. Claudius always seemed to have the answers. What was she going to do now that he was gone.
"I can't do it!" she wailed. "I can't do it, I can't do it!"
"Of course you can do it, girl!" a voice shouted. "I didn't raise a quitter!"
Fleur-Di-Lis sniffled, and looked up into the sky.
"Papa?" she asked, in disbelief. "But . . . . but you've been dead for years."
"Fleur-Di-Lis," the midnight blue unicorn said. "The land of your birth is in danger from being plunged into darkness. You must stop feeling sorry for yourself, and find your courage. You must try your horn again. You must find your power."
"But Papa, I don't know how!"
"You'll figure it out. You're a smart girl. I have complete faith in you."
The image of Fleur-Di-Lis's father faded away just then. Fleur-Di-Lis stood up, and looked at her reflection in the water. Then she began to think of what her father said. And what Claudius said. It was all up to her, and she couldn't let her friends down.
Fleur-Di-Lis ran back to the others. They looked at her for a moment, and stood up, waiting to see what she was going to do. She looked at Camille and Tara, and smiled at them.
"Let's go," she said.
Camille and Tara smiled, and hugged Fleur-Di-Lis around her neck. The Moochick cleared his throat, and began walking.
"Come on," he said. "It's quite a long walk to Midnight Castle."
Fleur-Di-Lis, Tara, and Camille followed the Moochick down the path. They had to make it to Midnight Castle before midnight. If Enchantra wasn't stopped before then, the entire world would be dark, dank, and dreary forever.
Midnight Castle looked even darker and scarier than it did the last time the foursome was there. Fleur-Di-Lis thought that it seemed scarier because Claudius wasn't there. The blue unicorn sucked up her courage, tilted her head down, and concentrated as hard as she could. She lit up her horn, and the blue ribbon of light flew out of it, creating a magic carpet of some kind. She climbed on, followed by Tara, Camille, and the Moochick.
"So once we get up there, what do we do?" Tara asked.
"Find the Rainbow of Darkness," Camille said. "And destroy it."
"How do we destroy it?" Fleur-Di-Lis asked.
"I think the Moochick is the right person for that job," Camille replied. "You have magic, right?"
"Indeed, yes, yes," The Moochick said. "But the Rainbow of Darkness is very powerful. I'm not sure if my magic alone can defeat it."
"Well, we have to try," Fleur-Di-Lis said. "We can't let Claudius down."
The others agreed to that. Fleur-Di-Lis gulped.
"I hope we can do this," she said.
Fleur-Di-Lis gulped again, and started leading the way towards Enchantra's throne room.
"There it is," Camille said, pointing to a table. There was a bag, pulsating. The group could hear a heart beat from inside it.
"Oooh creepy!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted.
"Well we got it," Tara said. "Now what do we do with it?"
"Should be simple enough," the Moochick said. "Now then, ahh, hmm, let me see. What do we do with it?"
"Absolutely nothing!" Enchantra shouted with an evil laugh. "I can't believe you came all the way over here without Nelson! Oh you all are fools!"
"Where are my unicorn friends?!" Fleur-Di-Lis demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Enchantra asked, picking up her Rainbow of Darkness. "Very soon, you'll find out. You'll be part of my collection."
"Collection?"
"Why of course, dearie!"
"I don't like the way this is looking," Tara said.
Enchantra smiled sneakily and started to open her pouch. A dark, purplish-red rainbow flew out of it and headed for Fleur-Di-Lis. Fleur-Di-Lis took a deep breath and lit up her horn. A blue light flew out of it, and burned Enchantra's eyes.
"Aaaaahhhh!" the sorceress screamed. "I can't see!"
"Everyone run!" Tara shouted.
The foursome took off like a shot to the roof. Enchantra couldn't follow them. She was temporarily blinded by the light.
"Oooohhh!" she growled. "I'll get you yet! Just you wait!"
Tara, Camille, Fleur-Di-Lis and the Moochick ran to the roof, and caught their breaths.
"I think we lost her," Camille said.
"But not for long," The Moochick said. "She'll be coming for us soon."
"We'd better find those unicorns and fast," Tara said.
"I know where they are," Fleur-Di-Lis said, looking over the edge of the ceiling at the moat surrounding Midnight Castle.
"You do?" Camille asked.
"Where are they?" Tara asked.
"In the sea," Fleur-Di-Lis replied.
"The sea?" the Moochick asked, quite confused. "How could they be in there?"
"Believe me," Fleur-Di-Lis said. "They're in the sea."
"Well, if they got in," Tara said. "There should be a way to get them out."
"The question is how," Camille said. "This might be a job for Claudius."
"Why don't you try, Mr. Moochick?" Fleur-Di-Lis suggested. "I know you can do it!"
"Hmm, I just might be able to," the Moochick said. "Yes, yes, I think I can. Quite possibly I can, yes."
"Then do it," Tara said. "We don't have all day to hang around here!"
The Moochick rolled up his sleeves and wiggled his fingers. The seas began to churn. Suddenly, they split open just like in The Ten Commandments. From the waters emerged thousands and thousands of colorful little ponies. Some were earth ponies, some were unicorns, and some were flying Pegasus ponies.
"My friends!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted, happily. A pink unicorn with blue hair, wearing golden horseshoes winked up to the castle roof.
"Fleur-Di-Lis, what's going on?" she asked.
"I'll explain later, Parodist," Fleur-Di-Lis said. "I need every last unicorn to come up here!"
All the unicorns closed their eyes, and winked up to the tower. All the other ponies gathered around as well. Once they were all there, the ground began to shake. Everyone lost their balance and crash landed.
"What's going on?" a baby pony asked.
The wall behind the group blew open and Enchantra came flying out, in a chariot being pulled by the Strattadons. She was carrying the Rainbow of Darkness.
"I'm glad you're all here," she said, as she prepared to open the pouch. "Now you can all see me take over the world, and bring in the night that never ends!"
"I'll get her!" a pink Pegasus pony called out. She flew into the air, and knocked the pouch right out of Enchantra's hand.
"No!" she shouted.
A blue earth pony jumped into the air and caught the pouch. Enchantra swooped down to grab it, but she threw it to a pink unicorn. It was a game of monkey in the middle. Enchantra wasn't too happy with playing this game. Finally, Enchantra managed to grab the Rainbow of Darkness back.
"Why you stupid little so and so's!" she shouted. "I'll turn you all into dragons for this!"
"Unicorns!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted. "Light up your horns! She can't stand light!"
All the unicorns looked at each other, closed their eyes, and concentrated as hard as they could. All their horns lit up, and ribbons of colored light flew out of them.
"Everyone stand back," the Moochick warned. "This is powerful magic. The most powerful kind of magic there is."
Tara, Camille, and the rest of the little ponies stood back. The colored ribbons swirled together all of a sudden. Then six of the colors formed one large ribbon. It was pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
"What in the world?" Tara asked.
"They made a rainbow," the Moochick said. "A Rainbow of Light to counteract the Rainbow of Darkness!"
"You think a rainbow's going to defeat me?!" Enchantra shouted. "It is to laugh! Behold the power of Darkness!"
Enchantra opened her pouch, and the Rainbow of Darkness flew out of it. It shrunk the rainbow down to size a bit, and surrounded it.
"The rainbow's gone!" one of the earth ponies shouted.
"We're doomed!" Camille shouted.
"No!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted. "I've come too far to quit now!"
Fleur-Di-Lis took a deep breath and concentrated as hard as she could. A bright, white light shot out of her horn and surrounded the Rainbow of Darkness. The Rainbow of Light came shining through, and took over the purplish-black rainbow.
"Oh no," Enchantra said.
The Rainbow of Light then surrounded Enchantra and her chariot. The chariot blew to pieces, and the Rainbow of Darkness practically exploded. Enchantra crash landed onto the roof, disoriented. She sat up, powerless.
"Ouch," she said. "You . . . . you destroyed my power!"
"That's right," Fleur-Di-Lis said. "Leave this land, and never return!"
"I'll be back for you," Enchantra said. "All of you! You haven't heard the last of me!"
Enchantra climbed on top of a Strattadon, and flew away, never to be heard from again. At least until she restored her power, but who knew how long that was going to take?
The Rainbow of Light swirled around Midnight Castle. It began to transform into a lush land filled with green trees and flowers. In the distance, a large pink castle appeared out of nowhere.
"Oh, it's so beautiful!" Fleur-Di-Lis shouted. "No wonder Claudius calls it Dream Valley."
All the little ponies cheered and jumped around. There were so many little ponies around, romping through the fields, and around the castle.
"This place should be called Ponyland," Tara commented. "Look at all the ponies!"
"And if the little ponies are going to be living in a castle," Camille said, taking off her tiara. "It should have a queen."
Everyone seemed to agree on that, and they all looked over at Fleur-Di-Lis.
"I hereby crown you, Fleur-Di-Lis, Queen of all Ponyland," Camille said, putting her tiara on the blue unicorn's head.
"Oh," Fleur-Di-Lis gasped. "Me, the queen! Oh! Thank you! Thank you all so much!"
"Not only do I proclaim you queen," Camille said. "I also proclaim you keeper of the Rainbow of Light."
Camille opened her heart shaped locket, and the rainbow the unicorns had made flew into it. Camille closed it, and put it around Fleur-Di-Lis's neck. All the little ponies bowed down to her, as did Camille and Tara. Fleur-Di-Lis smiled and looked down. She reared and let out a whinny of joy.
The End