"Spikey Wikey! I knew you'd have a plan to get us out of here!" squealed Rarity, causing Spike to turn a deep red color.

"What the - where did that come from?" I said, referring to the diamond in his hand.

"Oh, this? I was just sucking on this one, but I brought a few more," he said casually, kicking open the chest containing the elements of harmony where there were three more gems shining along with the elements. I was terribly confused.

"Um, am I missing something here, or is it just me?" I said.

"Gems and diamonds are to dragons what a fresh apple pie is to us," said Applejack. Spike was about to start shredding away at the metal bars with the gem, but he stopped and looked up at Twilight.

"Wait, why don't you just teleport all of you guys out of there with your magic?"

"You really think if it was that simple I wouldn't have done it already?" she said, facehoofing herself. "The dark magic in this place is so strong I can hardly manage a spark of my own magic!" she said, and Spike shrugged.

As Spike started shredding away at the bar with the diamond, I noticed the elements of harmony in the chest. Each one of them had their own gold necklace with a shiny gem in the shape of their cutie mark, except for Twilight, who had a crown instead of a necklace. It occurred to me that I had neither a cutie mark nor a necklace to put on around my neck when we used them.

"Wait, how is this going to work if I don't have a necklace of my own?" I said.

"None of us had our necklaces, or crown thingy in my case, when we used them for the first time. They appeared on us after the elements channeled through us and defeated Nightmare Moon. I'm guessing you just need to stand with Applejack when we use the elements of harmony and you will get a necklace of your own when they unleash the power of friendship on the evil one," said Twilight.

Just as she finished her sentence, Spike successfully shredded through one part of the bar, and Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie squeaked in happiness.

"Shhhh, you guys are gonna blow our escape!" whispered Rainbow Dash as Spike started shredding away at the top part of the bar. I thought for a second about what our plan was as soon as we busted them out, then turned and faced Twilight again.

"Wait, so am I to understand that we're just gonna walk right up to this guy and use the elements of harmony? Doesn't that seem too easy? Won't he at least try to put up a fight and prevent us from using them?" I said.

"Honey, you gotta remember how sure-fired cocky he is. In his mind, ain't no one gonna stop him from doin' anythin'," said Applejack. It was so nice to hear her voice again.

"Applejack is right, this guy's pride blinds him. Sure, he's powerful, but he's nothing the elements can't handle! We just need to bait him somehow," said Rainbow Dash.

Spike shredded off the top part of the bar and pulled it off. It appeared he was going to throw it on the ground which would make a lot of noise, but thankfully he caught himself and set it down gently. Rarity tried to squeeze her head through the gap, but she was just barely not able to fit through. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all tried to fit through, but they were all just barely too big as well. Realizing one more bar would have to come off, Spike grabbed a new gem out of the chest and began sawing away at it. It was now somewhat quiet as we waited for Spike to break them out, and I realized this was a good time to talk to Applejack in private. I pulled her over just a few feet from the action and once again rested my hand and on her mane, and I smiled at her.

"Hey, how you holding up?" I whispered, resting my hand on her face.

"Ah'm so happy to see you! When the elements of harmony didn't work and we were imprisoned here... ah' thought... ah' thought ah'd never see you again! Ah' didn't think there was any hope!" she said, resting her face against my hand.

"Hey, guess what! The Princess decreed our marriage. You and I can be like peas and carrots without having to keep it a secret anymore!" I said. Applejack's face brightened, and her heavenly eyes were peaceful again for a moment.

"We just need to tell mah' family when we get back. I jus' hope they ain't disappointed," she said looking burdened.

"I told them already. They're fine with it, even Big Mac. They love you so much and they're so worried about you, they just want me to bring you home safe and sound," I said smiling again.

Applejack looked surprised at first, but then she slowly started to smile in a way that you might expect from an angelic being, not an Earth pony. She looked at me as though I had just opened the gates of heaven for her.

"Aww, sugarcube! Yer gonna kill me from makin' me so happy!" she said.

We heard another cutting noise, and Spike had successfully cut through both parts of the second bar. He if off; Pinkie Pie came out first, followed by Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, and finally Applejack. She ran over to me and we joyfully and fully embraced, resting our heads against each other.

"Come on, you two! Save the sappy stuff for later, we've got to save Equestria first!" said Rainbow Dash. My heart sank as I was reminded of the fact that we still hadn't taken care of that yet. Rage started building up in me as I remembered what the evil one did to Applejack before I ran out to them. He had to pay for what he did. I do not deny that I still feared him a great deal, but my rage was keeping the fear lower then it would've been otherwise.

Spike hopped up on Twilight's back after they all had the elements of harmony ready to go on their necks (head in Twilight's case), and all eight of us took off up the winding stairs, which like the last ones were very dark and very narrow lighted only by a few torches on the stone walls. Pinkie Pie was giggling about something to which I heard Rainbow whisper "shut up!" and it wasn't too long before we came to ground level again. There was another great hall like the one Spike and I walked through before, and a staircase leading going upward. Twilight stopped and looked back at us very nervously, and she took a deep gulp.

"Ok, this is the north tower, the place where he is performing his ritual," she said, her voice trembling with fear. "We go up there, we use the elements of harmony and they do their thing on him, and that's it, right?" she said, looking to us for encouragement. We were all afraid, even Rainbow Dash, the brave one. To tell you the truth, I was rather shocked that Fluttershy was even here much less ready to face him with us, given how fragile she was in much less frightening conditions back in Ponyville. It seemed as though when her friends were on the line, she found the courage in herself to do what needed to be done, and I greatly admired that. Rainbow flew to the front of the pack and took a gulp.

"Ok guys, I think we can all agree that this is the scariest guy we've ever dealt with. Just remember, no matter how bad it looks, there's always a way through. It didn't look good when Discord turned us into jerks, but our friendship still won out in the end. It didn't look good when we lost to this guy last night, but here we are. Never lose hope!" she whispered.

"Ok everypony, let's go," said Twilight, starting up the stairs as we followed.

"That won't be necessary," said a low, coarse, evil voice from behind us.  

We turned around, and who do you think we saw? The evil one was standing right there in front of us, except now I could see his hideous face. It was dark green and almost skeletal looking; his mouth had no lips, only sharp teeth. His small, glowing red eyes pierced my soul as he looked directly at me as I held Applejack's hoof. His words were slow and drawn out, as before.

"I am surprised that Celestia would allow such a thing. Even I didn't think she was capable of stooping so low. All of that beauty wasted," he said looking at Applejack. As a sign of loyalty to her and disrespect to him, I grabbed her and held her tightly against me. Pinkie Pie stepped forward and laughed. Yes I tell you! She actually laughed.

"You don't like it, that's too bad! You don't stand a chance against the elements of harmony, and they're going to live happily ever after," she said. The evil one, confident in himself, smiled wickedly.

"Ah, the element of laughter. Let's see how much laughing you do after you've been tortured to insanity," he said, and he began shooting rays of dark magic out from his horn and into Pinkie Pie, who was now on the ground screaming with pain.

My next move was bold and maybe a little bit stupid to say the least. I looked around for anything I could to throw at him, so I picked up a torch from the wall and without hesitating, I threw it at his head in rage. He noticed it too late, and it smashed right into him, with the embers scattering all over his face. He cried out in pain, and all of this was now happening so fast; I nodded to Applejack, and she ran out to him and bucked him as hard as she could. He clumsily flew back into one of the decaying statues and crashed into it, causing it to collapse on him in a huge cloud of dust in which he disappeared.

We looked on in silence and shock as the cloud of dust began clearing. He laid there motionless for a second, then slowly lifted himself up and faced us, full of hatred and wrath. That may not have been the best idea. He had just been greatly humbled by a scrawny human and an Earth pony, and now he was going to give us his rebuttal. He raised his horn and pointed it right at Applejack, and I saw her look at him with despair. Lay down your life for her! I took the words in my heart literally, and I jumped in front of her as the evil rays erupted from his horn.

The most unendurable, unimaginable, incomprehensible pain surged throughout my entire body. As I fell to the floor in agony and the fire and electricity scorched me on the inside and out, I could feel the life inside of me leaving simply from the shear pain. My hearing, my seeing, and my thinking was getting weak, but even as he pumped all of those horrible tortures into me, I could see Applejack smiling and working at Sweet Apple Acres under a beautiful blue sky. I looked into those beautiful green eyes of hers and saw all that she was; loving, pure of heart, modest, adorable, hard-working. Her golden mane and tail flowed gracefully in the wind and her sherbet coat glistening in the sun. Amidst all the pain, I saw her, I loved her, and I rejoiced. I rejoiced as he tortured me to the point of death, because I knew that I had spared the Earth pony I loved with all of my heart the pain I was enduring. I took it all for her, and that alone was worth it.

When he finally finished, I was so weak that I could only faintly hear Applejack's sobbing and the cries of her friends. I barely saw the blurry dark figure of the evil one standing in front of me, and I heard a voice from deep inside reminding me what we had discussed earlier. Pride. This guy's weakness is his pride.

I opened my mouth as I laid on the ground deliriously and barely found the strength to speak. I didn't speak clearly, but I spoke to where he could understand me.

"If you're so powerful, then why not let us pathetic friends try to use the elements of harmony on you? They failed before. If you don't let us try, then I say you are a coward."

I heard the evil one laugh and seemingly agree to my terms, and I felt Applejack kneeling beside me, so I blindly grabbed her mane with my hand and she helped me up. I stood there in line with the rest of the elements of harmony and kept my balance by leaning against Applejack.

Suddenly, I felt rays of magic and love coming to life inside me and stirring around in my heart. They were like a flame, and they grew and grew. As they grew inside me, I could think clearly again. I could see and hear clearly, too. Applejack and I were next to each other in midair, and the rest of her friends were in lined up to our right, with Twilight in the middle. I saw Spike watching from a corner, and I looked down and saw the evil one looking up at us in fear. The rays of magic were now flowing connectedly through Applejack and me, and I felt our hearts joined together as one. The element of honesty channeled through us, taking the form of a beam of light that met with the other elements above us. The beams joined together and made a rainbow that shot down at the evil one. The rainbow engulfed him, and suddenly, there was a sound like rushing wind, and all of the dark magic in the castle began flowing into him, as the elements formed a forcefield between us and the him. Twilight opened her eyes that were now completely white, and the elements strengthened the force of the dark magic that was now flowing into the evil one and consuming him.

"CURSE YOU! NO! NOOOOOO! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHGGGGGG!" I lost consciousness as everything went white and the triumph of the elements of harmony drowned out the screams from the evil one.