Twilight and I stood in absolute silence at what we heard, Princesses getting rid of thier own magic as a sacrifice sounds like a heavy burden that neither one of us could handle.

"Tirek is set on possessing Alicorn magic. When he comes for us, we cannot have what he is looking for." Luna said.

"Does that mean I have to get rid of my magic as well as Twilight?" I asked.

"You misunderstand. Our magic cannot just disappear into thin air. Somepony must keep it safe."

"That somepony is you, Twilight." Cadence added.

"Why me?" she gasped.

"We believe that Tirek is not aware of a fourth Alicorn princess exists in Equestria, and Bond, thanks to your protest against being recognized as a Prince in Equestria, he may not be even aware of your title, even though he saw you earlier." Celestia said, "If we transfer our magic to you, Tirek will not know where it has gone."

"Do you understand what we're asking of you?" Cadence asked.

"Yes. It's just... I'm only now learning how to control my own alicorn magic." Twilight replied, "To take on even more–"

"Twilight, you represent the Element of Magic. If there is anypony who can do this, it's you." Cadence assured.

"Taking on this task will be one of the most difficult things I'll ever do, but with the help of my friends–"

"I'm sorry, Princess Twilight and Prince Bond, but you must keep your new abilities a secret, Twilight." Celestia said, cutting her off. "I fear that your friends being aware of your new power could put them at great risk. Do you still think you can take on this responsibility?"

"This is the role I am meant to play as a princess of Equestria! I will not fail to do my duty!"

"Then we must begin at once."

"Meanwhile, I'll stand well back." I said as I walked several steps back.

Celestia, Luna and Cadence circled around Twilight and used their magic to create a huge circle of coloured power like a ball, it then shrank as the power went into Twilight's horn.

The three princesses fell down in exhaustion and I noticed they didn't have thier cutie marks now and Twilight hugged Celestia.

"It is done." Celestia sighed.

I checked my scouter to see the power level of Twilight...it was over umm...six thousand.

"For now, I better watch over you, Twilight. Just in case you get a magical surge you can't control." I advised.

"Good thinking Prince Bond, you two may now leave and find a way to stop Tirek." Luna said.

"We will."

Twilight and I flew away from the castle until she had a surge that teleported away from me. I could only assume that she went back to the library. When I arrived, she was there and she sneaked into the library and so did I until Spike woke up.

"You weren't gone very long. Does that mean everything's okay?" Spike asked.

"Yep! Everything's fine!" Twilight replied, chuckling nervously as a few of books went flying around via a magic surge.

"In that case, I'm going back to bed. Sun's not up... and neither am I."

"That's strange. The sun should be up by now..." she then gasped, "The sun should be up by now!"

"Of course!" I said quietly, "Because you have the princesses magic, you have to raise the sun as well to bring forth the next day."

Twilight went up to her bedroom and looked through the window to see the moon.

"Okay, I can do this..." she said to herself.

I stood back as she began using her magic and in a few seconds, she lowered the moon and then raised the sun although it took a bit to get it controlled and soon the sun was now in the sky. At least we could see the lands better now.

Twilight walked downstairs and attempted to open the door with her magic but she ended up blowing the door away.

"Well, at least you be getting any knock-knock jokes anymore." I said with a wink.

"I have to gain better control. I sure can't practice here." Twilight said.

"Well, there is an open field where you can try, away from the town." I suggested.

"Then let's go."

We began galloping away from Ponyville, until I heard Spike from behind us.

"Uh, Twilight, where are we goin'?" he asked.

She then had another magic surge as she flew up fast leaving a small boomed crater before landing on the field where we could just see her. I galloped along towards her and so did the other mares who turned up.

"Oh, my goodness, are you all right?" Fluttershy asked.

"Jumpin' junebugs, Twilight! When did you learn to fly that fast?" Applejack asked.

"I must have caught a particularly strong breeze...or something." Twilight replied nervously.

"Must have been "or something", because there wasn't any breeze up there." Dash said.

" I don't know what happened, but I don't really have time to figure it out right now."

"Another visit to the Castle of the Two Sisters, I presume? We'd be more than happy to accompany you!" Rarity said.

"Not today! Tirek may still be a threat. I need you all to stay here and encourage everypony to remain inside."

Twilight then walked into the forest, leaving us six worried about her. I was the only one who knew about the magic transfer, but I had to keep it a secret. We then began working on bordering up every single door and window all across Ponyville, when we were done, it now looked like a ghost-town.

"Alright, y'all. Ah think we've warned everypony to stay inside." Applejack said.

"I'm sure Discord will catch Tirek and this will all be over soon." Fluttershy added.

"I'll bet he takes his sweet time." Dash said.

"Or perhaps these things just take time." Discord intervened as he showed up near us.

"You're back! Did you bring the cucumber sandwiches?" Fluttershy asked as she hugged him.

I then noticed he was wearing some kind of necklace of medallion around his neck...Tirek must've succeeded in convincing him to join forces...I placed my bubble shield on standby, ready to activate.

"I did. I imagine they'll be your last decent meal for quite some time."

He clicked his fingers but at the same time, I used my spell and teleported to another area and then activated my stealth spell.

"Ta-da...what, where did Bond go?"

Suddenly, Tirek showed up and to my surprise, he looked much bigger and he wasn't a monkey as I thought, he was a centaur. Somepony's been playing too much Acropolis, I thought.

"You've gathered up all of them?" he asked.

"And her little dragon, too."

"Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends!" Fluttershy cried.

"Oh, we were. But Tirek offered me so much more than just tea parties. Surely you saw this coming."

"I didn't. I really didn't."

Tirek lifted up the cage and opened his mouth and breathed in the magic and strength from the five mares, I saw Discord looking away in sadness and regret. Tirek grew even bigger and had much more power.

"You really think she'd do anything for them?" Tirek asked.

"If Twilight has magic to give, it will be yours." Discord replied, "Soon there won't be a Pegasus, Earth pony or unicorn who will be able to stand up against us."

"Us? Who said anything about us?"

"You did."

"You've helped me grow strong, you've provided the means by which I can obtain Princess Twilight's magic, and now you are no longer of any use to me."

Tirek then grabbed Discord and drained him of his dark magic, which surprised me.

"But you said this was a sign of your gratitude and loyalty. A gift from someone close to you."

"My brother who betrayed me. It is as worthless as he is."

Tirek then walked off, possibly to find Twilight.

"Surely you saw this comin'." Applejack remarked.

"I didn't. I truly didn't."

Looks like Discord got a taste of irony once again, I couldn't stand here whilst in stealth, I had to fly away and find Twilight fast before Tirek does. To my relief, I found Twilight first by the edge of the cliff, looking over at the abandoned castle.

"I can do this." Twilight said.

"Twilight! We are in big trouble now!" I exclaimed as I approached her.

"Bond, what is it?"

"It's Tirek, because of the portrait of you in the throne room, he found out about you. He captured our friends and then turned his back on Discord and drained him of his magic. He's on his way to find you, but he still doesn't know about me....wait a minute, I think we can still play that card."

"What do you mean?"

"Would you be able to transfer the princesses magic to me, but not your own?"

"I'm not sure I can do that."

"Princess Twilight!" Tirek yelled from afar.

"Tirek!" Twilight gasped as we looked over to other side of another forest.

"You have something that belongs to me!"

I teleported away fast and I stayed in mid-flight, I then saw Twilight teleport to the library balcony and she looked through the telescope. We noticed Tirek approaching towards us and began to hurl a huge fireball at us. Twilight and I got away from the library just in time before the fireball exploded. I was able to grab Twilight and landed her down on the ground, before we looked back and saw...the library completely burnt and destroyed.

"YOU MANIAC" I shouted at Tirek, "YOU BLEW IT UP!"

Twilight got up and showed a determined look, I stayed behind one of the houses whilst she flew up and launched a massive burst of energy at Tirek who got pushed back a long way. Twilight landed on the ground as Tirek began to smirk.

"Now I understand what your fellow princesses have done!" he said.

And thus the the battle that would certainly pass off as a Dragonball Z confrontation began. I looked to see Twilight and Tirek trying to defeat other, but neither of them could finish the job. The battle seemed to be declared as a no winner as Tirek got up from a pile of rocks.

"It appears we are at an impasse. How about a trade, Princess Twilight?" he then showed the others, Spike and Discord all trapped in bubbles, "Their release for all the Alicorn magic in Equestria."

I then showed up beside her.

"Even mine?" I asked.

"Yes...even yours...Prince Bond Racer!"

"Sooo you finally figured me out."

"Silence! What's it going to be?"

"Don't do it, Twilight!" Dash exclaimed.

"We aren't worth it!" Fluttershy added.

"Oh, but you are, Fluttershy." Discord assured, "You're the pony that taught me that friendship is magic. I had magic and friendship, and now I don't have either."

"Enough! I want an answer, and I want it now!" Tirek demanded.

I then thought of what Discord was wearing and with my mind, I sent a telepathic message to Twilight about it and she agreed, we hoped this plan would work.

"I will give you my magic, in exchange for my friends." Twilight declared.

"As you wish."

He clicked his fingers and the bubbles popped and all of our friends fell down to the ground slowly, except for Discord.

"All of my friends."

"After the way he has betrayed you, you still call him a 'friend'?"

"Release him!"

"If that's what you want."

The bubble around Discord popped and he fell down a little hard.

"Thank you, Twilight." he said before he looked at Fluttershy, "I'm sorry."

"I know." Fluttershy replied as they hugged.

"Now...it's both of your turn." Tirek said.

Tirek then proceeded to drain Twilight of both her magic and the princesses magic...he then went ahead with draining my magic and I felt extreme amounts of pain and torture until he was finished and Twilight and I both fell to the ground, feeling weak and empty of magic. Tirek then began to grow even bigger and larger than ever before, he was now a complete giant compared to us.

The others ran towards us as we got up and Rarity held onto me tighter than before and cried on my shoulder.

"Bond Racer...my fiancé!" Rarity exclaimed as she cried.

"Oh Rarity...I feel so weak...even though we all do right now." I replied.

I could barely gather the strength to keep myself standing and kissing Rarity, let alone be strong in the face of overwhelming odds.

"Twilight, what were you thinking?!" Spike asked.

Discord walked towards us with guilt.

"Tirek tricked me into believing that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship. But there is nothing worth more. I see that now. He lied when he said that this medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty. But when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship, I am telling the truth."

He then took off the medallion and placed it on Twilight's neck and a rainbow colour shone through it.

"That's it!" I said quietly.

"You think that might be the last one we need?" Applejack asked.

"We have to get to the chest." Twilight replied.

We all agreed as we walked away from Tirek and pretended to feel lost and defeated as we left him and walked into the cave and to the tree of harmony. When we arrived, I could see that the other five keys were already in place.

"So tell me, my friends. How did you get these keys?" Discord asked.

"Well, we each got our keys per one encounter." I started off explaining.

"It began with me getting my key from Coco Pommel in Manehatten when I showed my generosity with my friends." Rarity explained.

"Then it was me who got the wonderbolts badge from Spitfire at Rainbow Falls, proving my loyalty to my own team.." Dash added.

"I was next when Cheese Sandwich gave me his rubber chicken when he came to Ponyville." Pinkie said as she jumped up and down.

"I got mine from Seabreeze when I brought the Breezies home after learning how to be kind but firm." Fluttershy added.

"With me, ah managed to get mine from Silver Shill when he learnt about being honest." Applejack finished.

"But what you, Bond...what is your key?" Spike asked.

"Princess Luna told me that my pocket-watch..." I paused as I took it out my suit pocket. "...contains a vital key which I have never got around to looking at yet. But I guess this was given to me by my late parents whenever I needed faith in whatever I do in my life."

I looked all over at my pocketwatch and began to notice a tiny gold flap, I flipped it and I saw a tiny gold bar shaped like headphones, it showed off the rainbow glow....I was speechless, I realized that I already had the seventh key all along.

I placed my pocketwatch back in my pocket and Twilight took the tiny gold bar of mine and her medallion which both spun around fast and turned into keys before they went into the holes. Suddenly, we began hearing hoofsteps from far away...Tirek was still at large, literally and was wanting to finish off the lands.

"Together! I think we have to do this together!" Twilight announced.

We nodded quickly as there wasn't much time, we all turned our keys in unison and the a huge light appeared around the box and then a rainbow travelled from the box to tree of harmony. Then, auras of rainbow light appeared on each one of us and we all began ot feel a new source of...rainbow power I guess. We then flew out of the caves and confronted Tirek and we were in mid-air, supported by the rainbow power, we all looked at each other and agreed that we were much more stronger and powerful than before.

I blushed slightly as I saw Rarity in her rainbow power form, she was even more beautiful than ever before, but to me, she's always been beautiful. Tirek grinned and attacked us with his fire-beam, but this time, it had no effect.

"How is this possible?! You have no magic!" he exclaimed.

"You're wrong, Tirek! I may have given you my Alicorn magic, but I carry within me the most powerful magic of all!" Twilight replied.

We then blasted our rainbow power at Tirek and he screamed in agony as he began to shrank down to his weakened state before he was placed in Tatarus...hopefully locked up away permanently. The three princesses were then able to escape and return to Canterlot as we all flew across the central land of Equestria and restoring all power and magic to everypony and undid all the damage that was caused by Tirek.

When the whole land was restored, we were returned to the tree of harmony, I gave Rarity a quick kiss before we noticed the crystal box flying away and over to the bit of empty land just outside the town. We galloped over to the town just in time to see the crystal box sinking into the ground before an earthquake came and we saw a huge crystal castle coming out of the ground. When we saw it and gasped, the rainbow power around us vanished.

"Sweet Celestia! Are you all seeing what I'm seeing?" Rarity asked.

"But... whose is it?" Twilight asked.

"I believe it is yours, Princess Twilight." Celestia said as she appeared beside us along with Luna, Cadence, Spike and Discord, before we walked into the newly created castle, "You've been wondering what you are meant to do as a princess. Do you know now?"

"As princess, I believe I have the power to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria. That is the role I am meant to have in our world! The role I choose to have! But I didn't defeat Tirek on my own – it took all of us to unlock the chest!"

"Then it is unlikely you are meant to take on this task alone."

We all nodded in agreement before we gasped in awe as we walked into a throne room with seven throne chairs and a small throne chair, probably for Spike.

"You are now Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. But what is the princess of friendship without her friends?"

We all sat in our throne chairs that had our cutie marks above it, mine was next to Rarity whilst on my right side was Twilight.

"Wait a minute, where's my throne?!" Discord asked.

"I don't think you're quite there yet." Fluttershy replied.

"Yes, well, I suppose not."

We all then got into a group hug, even Discord joined in, seeing that he finally understands the true meaning of friendship and harmony. We then left the castle and walked out to find a crowd of ponies outside, cheering for us, I swear I never get tired of hearing or seeing that, it feels good to be one of the heroes.

Upbeat music began to play, I knew that this called for a musical part as a celebration.

Each one of us has something special

That makes us different, that makes us rare

We have a light that shines within us

That we were always meant to share

All of us then joined in.

And when we come together

Combine the light that shines within

There is nothing we can't do

There is no battle we can't win

When we come together

There'll be a star to guide the way

It's inside us every day

See it now! See it now!

Let the rainbow remind you

That together we will always shine

Let the rainbow remind you

That forever this will be our time

During the part, Discord gave Celestia a tiny bouquet of flowers...I wonder what that's all about.

Let the rainbow remind you

That together we will always shine

The music was then over and we had a group photo taken to remind us the moment. Things were then quiet and normal in Ponyville again. Cadence went back to the Crystal Empire and the two sisters returned to Canterlot, all of which had thier powers back, thanks to the rainbow power.

Twilight and Spike have thier new home and I looked all around the other parts of the crystal castle. There was a huge library and a big kitchen and also separated rooms for each of us, all having our own beds and everything else. It's like a holiday resort in a castle...I did now wonder, where do we seven ponies go from here?

Just as I was pondering some more, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey Darling, I some news for you and I think it's very important you know about it." Rarity said.

I turned around and kissed her. "Okay, we'll go somewhere more private around here and you can tell me." I replied.

We went into one of the separated bedrooms and sat down very close, holding each other.

"Just out of curiosity dear, I went to the hospital to check myself out."

"Oh you're not hurting are you?"

"No, it's nothing serious, but when the nurse told me, I couldn't believe it."

"Believe what, Rarity...remember, we have the power and the love to tell everything together."

"Alright, Bond Racer....I'm...pregnant."

Next Chapter: The Cutie Map Part 1. Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 32 Minutes