The stone tile cracked into a thousand pieces, rubble flying everywhere. When the dust settled, the two Royal Pony Sisters stood side by side, the five gems glowing and hovering between them. "Discord, this ends now!" Aurora said, tapping into the Royal Canterlot voice for emphasis.
Discord showed no sign of worry. "Ooh, a bunch of pretty little gems. What are you going to do with them? Throw them at me? I don't have time for your silly little pony games. I think it's time I ended some ponies' misery." He levitated part of the crushed pillar from when he first attacked Canterlot over the greyed ponies' heads. No one even looked up when their shadows vanished.
"Run!" Luna cried. "Starswirl, you have to move!"
Starswirl moved his head when he heard his name, and his eyes brightened when he spotted the Elements. "The sixth," he said. "Did you find the sixth?"
"The sixth?"
Aurora felt her heart drop. There was another Element? Where was it? What was it? They didn't have time to go back to Friendship's Fire to retrieve the sixth if it was there. Their grandparents would bar the way back.
Smirking, Discord twisted his neck around like an owl's and chuckled at the sisters. "Well, so much for your Elements." He dropped the stone slab.
As Aurora and Luna both reached out towards the ponies, they both felt something inside them at the exact same moment. They both realized how horrible it would be if any of those ponies were hurt, how much they would miss them, how much they needed them. If anything were to happen to them…
The entire throne room was bathed in light as the Elements lit up and focused their energies on a single point above the sisters' heads. Discord howled in pain; the stone slab crumbled into dust. The lights swirled and blended together until the light became white and a sixth gem, an amethyst cut into the shape of a six-pointed star, descended from above. It radiated a white light, pure energy, and it gathered the other Elements into it. The Elements burst into light again, revealing a pair of tiaras with the sixth Element acting as the crowning jewel. They each rested on one of the sisters' heads. Both of them felt a deep connection into a powerful force, one that few ponies had ever tapped into.
"Are you quite done putting on a light show?!" Discord snapped at them. "I have some chaos to get back to."
"No," the sisters spoke in unison. "You shall not return to your ways, Discord. You will never create such chaos again."
He scowled, then it twisted into a sinister grin. "I don't need to worry. You wouldn't use this magic on your subjects, now would you?"
Before any of the greyed ponies could move forward, the sisters watched as two halves of a rainbow shot from each of the tiaras, twisting around each other until the ponies were caught up in a brilliant rainbow of light. The second it passed them, their natural colors returned, and they each looked around, confused as to how they got there.
Starswirl was quick to recover, though. "The Element of Magic!" he cried, ecstatic. "I knew you two would find it."
Discord hissed. "So you can undo what I've done. Big deal. You can't stop me forever, though."
Aurora and Luna stepped down off the dias, their hooves clopping at the same time as they both walked towards him, step by step. He backed away, launching some of the tile floor at the other ponies. The Elements blasted the tiles into nothingness, a swirling rainbow barrier appearing in front of them. Discord couldn't hurt them now.
The Draconequus panicked, sending up a mass of hedges that separated Luna from Aurora. He cackled as he watched the maze take up most of the throne room.
"Luna!" Aurora cried. "Sister!"
"I'm all right." Luna's voice was distant through the bushes.
Aurora took off at a gallop, skidding around the corners as she worked her way to the center. Elements of Harmony, protect my sister and guide me to her.
The courage that having her sister and the Elements provided for her was gone now that Luna was all alone with Discord.
"Don't worry," he said, smiling. "I'm only here to talk to you."
"There's nothing to talk about!" Luna shouted. "You've wrecked Equestria, you've hurt my friends, you've killed my parents-"
"Ah, that. I was wondering when you'd get to that. You see, Luna, you and your sister have access to great magic, the first of its kind. Do you really want to waste it on me? You could use it to bring back your parents."
"There's no magic that can return the dead to life," Luna said flatly. She had known that since first learning to use magic. Starswirl had made her and Aurora say it every day when they first began learning from him.
"Not ordinary unicorn magic. You and your sisters, being alicorns and all, have access to greater magical potential than other ponies. And not only that, you've got these Elements that seem mighty powerful. You should use that power to try to bring them back."
"No, that's not what they're to be used for. And what happens if it doesn't work and they're gone again?"
"I don't know." Discord shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like it's going to be my problem anyways."
The alicorn pounced on him, her horn glowing, her eyes narrowing. "It's your fault! It's all your fault! Don't you DARE say this isn't your problem! You caused it. You're the cause of all the problems in Equestria!"
"Me? I'm not the cause of all the problems. Just most of the current ones. But I will tell you a problem I forsee. Your sister."
"What about her? You don't know her! You-" He vanished from beneath her and reappeared in front of her, standing on his mismatched legs. He placed a lion claw over her lips.
"Your sister is awake in the day and gets to go around the world and meet ponies and see the sights and it's such fun for her! But you…you're in charge of the night, when ponies are all asleep and there's nothing really to see. Not to mention your weird dream powers you're developing."
"You're the cause of all those nightmares!" She slapped his claw away from her face. "Don't try to blame me!"
"I'm not blaming you, Luna. I'm warning you that your sister is going to turn into an attention loving pony. And then who's going to care for you?"
"That's not true! You're lying to me! You're just trying to get me to not use the Elements on you. You've only made me want to use them even more!"
"Ho-hum," Discord said, yawning. "Wake me up when your sister gets here. Then things should get a little more entertaining."
The hedges trembled before they burst into flames. Aurora stepped through, glaring down Discord. The tiaras lit up and the magic coursed through the sisters. They became as one, undifferentiated from the other. This magic was stronger than any they had felt before. To anyone seeing them, their eyes were pure white as the magic reached its peak. Another rainbow engulfed Discord, swirling around him, changing him.
Despite his legs and tail turning to stone, Discord cackled. "Oh, I'm going to have so much fun when I come back. It may not be for a thousand years, but I assure you. I will be back. See you later, ponies." And his howling laughter was the last thing any pony ever heard of him ever again.
A shockwave followed this event, spreading through all Equestria. Discord's magic was undone, and the Windigoes circling the skies fled at this magic, for it felt the same as Friendship's Fire, and they left to find other places filled with hatred. The skies cleared, and the midafternoon sun melted the remaining snow.
Aurora awoke to her head pounding. She bolted upright when she remembered Luna. Luna lay next to her, still unconscious from the rush of magic. But she was safe. She was knocked over by a young colt, laughing for joy. "You did it!" Humble cried. "You stopped him and you fixed Equestria!"
"I'd say Equestria's far from fixed, son," Fruit Tart said. "But we've got a good start."
"And you got rid of that Discord for good." Spectrum dropped a stone statue in front of her. It was Discord, caught in his last act of seemingly triumphant laughter. To any pony else, it looked as though Discord was in the middle of hitting an high opera note.
"I don't want to see that," Aurora said, shying away from it. "Put him in the gardens." She didn't tell anyone she could still sense Discord, seething inside the statue.
"Of course, My Lady," Fire Spark and Skyheart said in unison, saluting the two.
Before they could move, a hush filled the throne room. Everypony except Aurora and Luna bowed. The Kings and Queens had returned. They stared around the throne room in awe, especially at Discord's statue.
"Perhaps," Castor said, looking at his granddaughters, "we were wrong to prevent thee from leaving. Thine efforts have saved us and all Equestria."
"Let us keep the Elements of Harmony somewhere safe," Pollux said, "that nopony should its power for evil."
"Your Majesties," Fruit Tart said, "I do not think the Elements can be used for evil I don't think they would allow such a thing."
"Faithful earth pony," Alcyone said, "Any power that can be used for good has the potential to be used for evil. 'Tis better we protect it, should we ever have need of it again."
"But let us not be troubled by such things." Pleione raised her hoof. "This is a day of celebration. Let us go forth and celebrate the end of Discord."
Royal trumpets blared all across Equestria. Ponies who were talented in planning and celebrations were notified with haste. In a matter of hours, Equestira was in a celebration. The Royal Family toured from city to city, presenting the saviors of their land to the masses who cheered when the young pony sisters came out. The celebrations lasted for over a week.
At last, Harmony had returned to Equestria.