"Will you two grant me this last request?" said Starswirl. "Just let me tell this story. You two will kill me after anyway. Just listen."

"Why should we?" inquired Solaris.

"A number of reasons." said Starswirl casually. "To get this off of my chest. Tell Twi a little more about me before we die. But mostly to stroll down memory lane with Luna. Do you mind if I get some water?" Without waiting for an answer, he summoned a glass full of water with his magic. Taking a seat, he began to drink. "This story begins years ago, before we earned our wings." At that moment, Starswirl realised, for the first time, that he would never have wings again. "It's common knowledge that me and Luna went out for a short period. Short, of course, being a relative term. We went many places, had many adventures. This adventure in particular happened when we took a trip to Saddle Arabia."

"Um, Starswirl?" asked Twilight. "You might want to know th-"

"Hold your tongue, Twi. I got it." said Starswirl, shooting her a look of pure relaxation. "Now, where was I? Oh, right. We were in Saddle Arabia, running a quick errand for Discord. We finished way too early, so we decided to make reservations for dinner. We had a couple hours to kill, so we went and had a drink or two. We were relaxing, having a good time. I may have gotten a little tipsy."

"After we left, you threw up then passed out in a puddle of your own vomit." called Luna.

"Ok, ok. I got pretty plastered. Keep in mind that it's that strong Saddle Arabian vodka. So I went to go get another bottle, when I bumped somepony. Spilled his drink all over his nice, fancy robes. Turns out he was a prince of that country. I had no clue. So I looked at him, trying to apologize. 'I'm sorry. I'll pay for it' I said. I reach for my saddlebags, to grab my bits. He stopped me and said… What did he say again?"

"I believe his exact words were 'That drink cost more than you are worth, you filthy peasant.'" said Luna.

"Right, right. Just to clear this up, I am a very different stallion when I'm drunk. Normally, I would have said something sarcastic and walked away. But, when I've been drinking, I'm a little less stable. I tried one more time to pay him off. He said 'You can't afford this drink with money alone.' I thought he meant I could work it off. He said 'Your bits can't pay for this, but I'll take your mare.' I didn't like that, not… one… bit."

"Starswirl!" called Twilight. "This is urgent."

"Twilight, hold all questions until the end." replied Starswirl. "I do not want to repeat myself. Back to the story. I replied with something witty. I can't remember exactly what I said."

"You said, 'Go drown yourself in a lake of rubbing alcohol.'" supplied Luna.

"Thank you Luna!" yelled Starswirl. "Suffice it to say, he was ready to fight. I would have taken him out right then, if he didn't call his gigantic bodyguard over. So I had two ponies to deal with. I was nervous, but I couldn't back down. So I blasted down the bodyguard with two quick spells. I had no idea what to do next, so I rushed at the prince. I don't really know how to explain what happened next, so I'll just show you!"

PEWM!

Starswirl shot a blast of magic right at Chrysalis, knocking her out.

PEWM!

Solaris retaliated, she aiming to kill. The spell soared through the air, at high speed right at Starswirl. Right before it hit him, Starswirl turned his body to smoke, allowing the spell to fly right through him.

POING!

The spell bounced off a mirror directly behind Starswirl, flying through his body and colliding with Solaris, knocking her out. As she fell to the ground, Starswirl materialized himself and galloped at full speed to the two queens. Concentrating hard, he hoisted the queens in the air. He spread their hooves apart, spread-eagle. Glowing energy formed around each of their hooves, which connected to the floor and roof of the throne room. The energy solidified into steel, dark as night.

"That's how you save a princess!" yelled Starswirl. "Nice work, Luna!"

"Thanks! Now fix this spell!"" said Luna.

"Will somepony explain what happened?!" asked Twilight, who hated being kept out of the loop.

"When I summoned my water, I also placed a spell on Luna that would make it hard for others to notice her." said Starswirl, placing more and more spells on the chains. "A perception filter. Didn't make her invisible, just very hard to pay attention to. Coincidentally, when did you realise?"

"When you started talking about that night." said Luna. "Up until today you never acknowledged that night ever happened."

"Ah." said Starswirl. "All that actually happened by the way, Twilight. Can you guys get over here so we can remove this magic before Solaris comes to?"

"We still can't use magic." said Twilight patiently.

"My word, he's hopeless." said Luna with a small smirk.

"Right. I can cure that lickety-split." he said, aiming his horn at the group. His horn began to glow, launching tendrils of light, all of which hitting the team in the chest. After a second, they simply vanished. "There. Now, get over here!" Twilight and Luna sprinted over to assist the exorcism of dark magic.

"Aww. She's almost cute when she's not trying to murder us." said Luna.

"Well, let's try and keep it that way. I think I know a spell that will work." said Starswirl, his horn glowing faintly. "Lend me some power?" Luna and Twilight leaned their horns towards Starswirl, feeding him some of their magic. His horn grew stronger and stronger and stronger, until the light was almost blinding. "Alright. That's enough. This will only take a sec-"

BOOM!

Starswirl flew backwards onto his back, his horn smoking slightly. Luna ran to re-confine Solaris who, to her shock, was still chained and unconscious.

"It's ok!" called Starswirl, getting back to his hooves. "The spell backfired, that's all. I'll try again." Returning to Solaris, he fired up his horn once more.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!
BOOM!

Again and again Starswirl tried the spell, and again and again, he failed, him being launched against the wall. He was running out of energy and running out of hope. What to do?!, screamed Starswirl in his head, I can't do this! The spell's not working! Why can't I do anything right?! What to do, what to do?!

"What do we do?" asked Luna concerned.

"I should have known it would come down to this." sighed Starswirl. He didn't want to do what he was about to do, but it was the only way.

"What are you going to do?" asked Twilight. When she got no answer, she got worried. "What are you going to do?!"

"I can't destroy the dark magic. So, I'll do the only thing I can: I'll take it back into my body."

"NO!" cried Luna.

"Surely there's another way?" asked Twilight desperately. "You don't have to do this!"

"I kinda do have to do this." said Starswirl, with a weak smile. "Don't worry Twilight. You are a powerful unicorn. Sorry, a powerful princess. If you could finish my destiny-swap spell, you can find a way to fix me later."

"No." said Twilight, tears rolling down her eyes. "I was just getting to know you. I can't lose you now."

"You won't be losing me. I'll just be taking a little… vacation. When you fix me, we'll surely have more adventures. I would like to mentor you. If that's cool with you." said Starswirl, trying very hard not to cry.

"Of course you can!" said Twilight. "As soon as we leave here, I'll get to work on that spell."

"I'll be waiting for you." laughed Starswirl. "Now, can I have a talk with Luna? In private?"

"Of course." said Twilight, trotting over to her friends. She walked up to Shining Armor and snuggled up against her brother.

"It'll be ok, Twily." said Shining Armor tenderly.

"Yes it will be." said Twilight. "Because I'm going to fix this right now."

"Not that ah doubt yer skill, sugarcube, but how are ya gonna pull that off?" asked Applejack.

"Not I. We." said Twilight. "Wait until my count of three, then fire your Elements."

"At what?" asked Rainbow.

"Me." replied Twilight. "Just wait. It will all make sense." Turning her head, she saw Starswirl was still talking with Luna. Tears running down both of their faces, Luna threw herself into Starswirl's hooves. After a few seconds of tender hugging, they separated. Starswirl gestured for her to return to the group.

"Farewell, friends. Can't wait to see you again." called Starswirl, tears flowing down his eyes. Turning to face Solaris, he began to cast spells. His horn began to glow crimson instead of it's normal blue. Turning to face his friends one last time, he shot them a teary smile. Then he placed his hoof over Solaris' heart. Her coat began to glow orange, which melded into black.

"One." said Twilight, calming her nerves. The black glow rose up into Starswirls leg, eventually covering his entire body. "Two." said Twilight, walking towards Starswirl. Solaris' black glow brightened, turning from black to white. "THREE!" bellowed Twilight, placing her hoof on Starswirl's back. The Spirits of the Elements of Harmony sprung into action. A beam from each Element flew out and hit Twilight, each a different color. Applejack's was orange, Rainbow's red, Fluttershy's was pink, Pinkie's was turquoise, and Rarity's purple. All five beams collided into Twilight, melding into one white light. The room filled with light, blinding all in the room. The light began to subside, and when the ponies regained their sight, they could see Starswirl and Twilight falling to the ground, purple smoke pouring from her eyes.

"What happened?" gasped Starswirl. "Did the spell fail?"

"Uhg!" moaned Twilight, lying on the floor.

"Twilight!" he yelled, helping her from the floor. "What did you do?"

"I absorbed the magic, then converted it to light." coughed Twilight.

"But that would require a large amount of magic, more than can exist in any one pony. Not to mention you would need a conductor to stop it from burning through your life energy. The only thing that could do that is an Element of-" he said, looking up at Twilight's crown. "That's an Element of Harmony! You turned them into jewelry! That's kinda brilliant. How did you know to use the Elements?"

"I do teach my students pretty well." whispered a voice from behind them. Turning around, Starswirl noticed that Solaris was awake. Only this was no longer Solaris. He could tell just by the tone of her voice: Celestia was back.

"I'm awake as well." said Chrysalis. "Not that anypony cares."

"I actually wanted to talk to you Chrysie." replied Starswirl. "We need to talk about our deal."

"Yeah… what do we still have to talk about?" inquired Chrysalis. "I helped you save your princess. I get my love."

"Actually, you don't." said Starswirl, watching Chrysalis' face contort in anger. "If you remember correctly I said, and I have no clue how you didn't catch that, I said 'I, Prince Starswirl'. Do you see it yet?" Seeing the blank look on Chrysalis' face, Starswirl turned to show her his side. "No wings. See? I'm technically not a prince, leaving the contract we signed null and void."

"Just because you don't have wings, doesn't mean you're not a prince. Look at Blueblood." said Chrysalis desperately.

"Yes, but Blueblood is only a prince by family. I'm not related to either of the princesses. I earned my royal status and then lost it. That contract had no legal binding."

"You cheated me, Starswirl! You will pay for this." spat Chrysalis.

"Don't worry. You won't starve. I will work something out with Tia."

"After you unbind me, right?" said Celestia. "I mean, I love being hung uncomfortably from the ceiling as much as the next mare but, come on."

"Sorry." said Starswirl, dispelling the chains from Celestia. "You may want to tell your guards to stop brutalizing the changelings. We can send them on their way."

"Agreed." replied Celestia, trotting out of the throne room, levitating Chrysalis behind her. "Take your queen, changelings. She is injured. Care for her. Guards! Retreat!"

Starswirl looked around the throne room, basking at his victory. Finally!, thought Starswirl, I won! I saved everypony! I get to teach Twi, date Tia, and be friends with all these awesome mares! Awesome!

"Come on guys." said Starswirl. "Let's go to the library. We need to relax." He was so excited at having all these friends that he didn't notice Twilight's eyes flash crimson.