Chapter 9 - the Fire of Friendship

The howling winds can be heard outside the dome of ice, while it's still complete windstill inside. White snow lies on the ground, like a cold blanket. The mind is blurry, trapped within reality and imagination. When it finaly begins to see the light to truth, the purple mare inside the dome of ice slowly starts to wake up. Twilight has returned to the crater, next to her frozen friends.

'My... body...,' Twilight whispers, barely able to speak with the cold air in her lungs.

Though she didn't feel cold or warm inside the memories of the ancient mare, Twilight suddenly feels how the cold has completely overwhelmed her in her absence. The unicorn starts to realize that she can't feel anything anymore. Like she's been asleep in a fridge this whole time, guessing that though she was in a memory this whole time, her body was lying still here in the freezing cold, dropping in temperature to the point where Twilight can barely wake up and remain that way.

Her eyes slowly focus on the light above her, which is barely able to shine through the vast sphere of ice. Working like an isolated freezer, the inside of the dome becomes colder and colder by the minute. Twilight looks down at her hoof, which is still encased in ice. A little scared by the sight of her skin, she realizes that she is now light-blue due to the bitter cold. Her nemesis is still with her, standing as tall as ever before her. Barely able to breath or move, Twilight looks sleepy up to the blue mare, who grins down at her. Trixie's terrible intentions have shown fruitation: Breaking the purple mare's spirit completely before freezing her up, painfully slower than how Trixie did it to her friends.

'And now you know the truth... How does it feel, Twilight Sparkle? Lost hope? Friends in doubt? Trust in the princesses waning?' Trixie whispers down to the unicorn, who barely seems to hear what she's being told. 'Ofcourse, it should be hard to think about anything now in your situation... How does it feel when all your body functions are failing? Mind going numb? The will to win fading?'

The blue mare is obviously fine, thanks to the protection of Lady Fame's power. 'Celestia always was a student to take over their dictatorship, Night Mare Moon was supposed to be what Celestia never managed to become, and Discord was made thanks to the friendship she shared with him. Just goes to show: You can't trust anypony...ESPECIALLY those close to you,' she laughs, even trying to make Twilight more insecure while she's already about to pass out in defeat.

'-Kgh-......,' Twilight grunts, unable to speak full words. With the little strength left, the unicorn tries to raise a hoof up towards Trixie and speak to her. But before another sound could be told, it drops back in the cold snow along with her head, unconcious.  

The Mane Six are defeated by Trixie.

The wind continues to sound outside, creating a tranquil yet scary atmosphere inside the dome. Trixie looks down at the unicorn, taking a moment to let the moment process through her mind. She can hardly believe that it's over and she has won, while the Mane Six have all bitten the snow. Looking over the snowly landscape with five piece of ice, containing a pony each, Trixie takes  a deep breath of satisfaction. 'It's a Pity...What a way to go,' Trixie sighs, followed by a soft chuckle. 'Farewell... Twilight Sparkle. It was a pleasure.'

Trixie turns around, ready to walk away from the battlefield and leave her opponents behind in permafrost. Her plan to torture Twilight and her friends is done, completing her need for revenge. Now it's up to her to head to Canterlot and take the fight up to Celestia and Luna, claiming the throne for herself, like she believes she earns it.

But then she suddenly hears a noice behind her, causing her to turn around. Looking with her puzzled light-blue eyes around, she sees nothing out of place at first. But then she looks down at the purple mare, who seems to have regained conciousness somehow.

'-Ghuuuuuh...-' Twilight gasps, trying to stay awake.

'T-Twilight Sparkle...,' Trixie whispers, slightly impressed by the underheated mare's ability to remain awake now. 'How did you...'

'Y-You're right, T-Trixie... Celestia has been a student to Ignis and Fame... Hay, she may be somehow responsible for Discord in a way...,' she stutters, obviously having become ill by the cold. 'B-B-But... You are W-Wrong about one Th-Th-Thing...'  

Trixie walks back to her, curious about what Twilight is speaking about, obviously saying the last words she got left before she will pass out again. 'And what is that?' she mumbles.

'I don't think any less about Princess Celestia now...,' Twilight says, followed by a soft laughter. '-Hehe- In fact... I-I know now that Princess Celestia is more a heroine than I thought she was before...'

'Wh....WHAT?!' Trixie suddenly shouts, aggrevated to the extreme by the few words of the weak little mare.

The tall alicorn can't believe her ears. She went through all this trouble to break Twilight Sparkle's spirit completely. She ruined their friendship, froze Equestria, froze her FRIENDS and shown her the true past of her mentor! And yet, there lies Twilight: Half unconcious and freezing, but laughing at her.

The unicorn tries to stand back up, barely able to with her light-blue legs. 'W-W-Without her, friendship would probably still be a m-myth... She was the only one that shown sympathy to somebody that others treated so badly, e-even if he became a god a chaos by accident soon after. She...She saved Equestria from certain doom, having found the courage to choose the greater good above her own safety...,' she whispers while she continues to look at the ground, unable to raise her head with the little energy that courses through her body.

'My r-r-respect for her will n-n-NEVER fade now. My g-g-greatest pride is that I am.... her... faithful student...,' Twilight chuckles and drops on her back into the snow again when she runs out of energy. Still concious by the few strings in her head, Twilight can't do anything now but laugh as much as she can, which isn't as loud as she would like to. She has seen the truth of her mentor with her own eyes: A past that she would probably never have seen in any other way than with Trixie's help. She knows what Celestia went through, reminding her of herself alot. She couldn't feel more happier now. 'Thank you, T-Trixie... Without you, I never would've seen the truth...'

'You... You thank me?' Trixie hisses. With heavy stomps through the snow, the furious mare approaches the weakened unicorn. If she wasn't in such a terrible cold right now, Trixie would probably be blazing from rage. Her pupils are small, her teeth grind over each other and she breathest deep clouds of air out. When she stands before Twilight's body, she stops and lowers her head to hers. 'What does it take... Why...WHY WON'T YOU BREAK!?' Trixie screams in rage.

But Twilight doesn't answer, looking aimlessly towards the icy dome above her. She possibly didn't even hear her, laughing even softer than Fluttershy can. It only makes Trixie more and more provoked.

'GRAAAAAGH!' Trixie screams and kicks the snow around her hooves away. 'HOW DARE YOU?! I DID ALL THIS! I DID ALL THIS TO BREAK YOUR SOUL INTO TINY PIECES! AND YET YOU DON'T GIVE UP, EVEN AFTER FACING THE TRUTH! TH-THIS IS ABSURD!'

Trixie is so furious that she even forgets to speak into third person as usual, going mad over Twilight's strange victory over the almighty alicorn.

'I...,' Twilight whispers a word of an unfinished sentence, right before falling asleep again. With a smile on her face, Twilight leaves Trixie on her own in this isolated area. In a way she's the winner.

'No... No this can't be..,' Trixie whispers, growing mad over the impossiblities. 'I did so much... I planned ahead... I have power... So why? Why don't you give in....'

And then it snaps: Trixie has lost the last bit of sanity left in her head. Bursting out in a loud laughter, the almighty alicorn has lost it. 'I DID ALL THIS! AND STILL IT DIDN'T BEAT YOU!' she cackles and continues to kick the snow around her away. 'YOU.... YOU WRECKED MY LIFE! YOU RUINED MY SHOW! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE US EVEN!'

But her shouts are left unheared, echoing throughout the entire dome. Even though on the brink of losing everything that made her Trixie, It is then that Trixie starts to realize how alone she truly is.

'You... You'll never hate your friends... You'll never mistrust your mentor...,' she whispers. '...Then there's only ONE thing for me left to do!'

Pointing her horn at the sleeping Twilight Sparkle, Trixie begins to conjure a spell that causes her horn to glow bright-white. The gem on her chestplate glows along, radiating a glow of equal sapphire-blue colors as the crystal itself. Since she can't crush Twilight's spirit, she decides to freeze her into a popcicle like she did to her friends. Not saying another word, Trixie unleashes the magic. A white flash is followed, filling the entire dome with frozen dust. Now that no winds blow over the crater, it takes much long for the dust to fall back down to the ground. Trixie can't do anything but anxiously wait until she can see the results.

And then the clouds fade, revealing the spot where Twilight was sleeping in the snow. Frozen like an iceberg, Twilight Sparkle is encased in a thick coat of ice, keeping her from waking up. Like Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, she now shares the same fate of her friends: Frozen in unbreakable ice.

Like snow for the sun, Trixie calms down again. Forcing herself to see victory in this sight, she declares herself the winner, ignoring that her original plan failed. '-Hah!- What do you have to say now, Twilight Sparkle?! Nothing? I'd expect so, because you're frozen in ICE! -Hahaha!-' she laughs at the frozen smiling mare in on the ground. 'Trixie wins! Trixie wins! The Great and Powerful Trixie wi-'

But just when the tall mare was preforming a little victory dance, she is shaken by a loud noise from behind her, which even shakes the entire ground beneath her. The ice of the dome shivers from the blow, dropping a few tiny pieces of ice to the earth. Dazzled by another unexpected occurance, Trixie looks surprised around to see what it was.

She cannot comprehend what is happening. With wide eyes of fear and astonishment, Trixie finds herself at a loss of words. 'C-Curses...,' is all she is able to whisper as she continues to stare at the red glow that covers the entire east side of the dome, bright as the sun sinking down the horizon.

The heat is causing the dome to drip water, proving to be more powerful than the strongest of Lady Fame's abilities. Loud screams of fear are heard, coming from the windigos that used themselves to make out the dome. They can feel the heat behind outside, which is forcing them to move out of its way.

The screams are quickly overthrown by the sound of the flare that bursts inside, burning like the sun. The windigos have surrendered to the irresistable fire, which cracks a hole the size of an appletree into not-so-unbreakable dome. Frozen by shock, Trixie looks up at the giant fireball that comes crashing towards her, bursting with the heat of a forestfire.

'AAAAAAH!' the mighty mare screams in fear and covers her eyes, knowing that she's unable to defend herself against this.

And then it strikes. The flame courses around Trixie's body like the wind, instantaneously melting the snow around her into steam. The flame rages through the entire dome in a circle, causing it to shatter into tiny shards of ice. Though she stands in the middle of the burning horror, Trixie opens her eyes, noticing that she doesn't feel the burn. She looks up and lowers her hooves from her sight, astonished that the fire moves around her body, yet doesn't burn her. 'Wh-What is this...,' she gasps.

But though she's is remaining clueless, the fire ball doesn't stop at nothing until it reaches the top of the dome, before crashing down to the earth. Right in the center of its crashcourse stand the six frozen statues of the defeated mares, moment before being struck by the explosion of fire and cinders, flashing the entire crater into a bright-white light. Trixie is forced to cover her eyes again, being blinded by the light that burns more than the fire. But before she even gets the chance to cover her eyes, it already stops abruptly.

At the crashing point, where the fireball has vanished into thin air, grass starts to rise back from the soil, waking from its slumber. Six mares slowly stand back up out of the flora, unharmed by the seemingly harmless spell.

'Th-That was awsome! Do it again!' Pinkie Pie cheers, finding being frozen funny.

Rarity decides to stay down, knowing that she's to dizzy to remain standing anyway.'W-Wow... Wh-What happened?' the pretty mare asks with rolling eyes.

'We... We're unfrozen!' Fluttershy gasps, looking at her hooves. 'B-But I thought this ice was supposed to be permanent!'

'N-No.....,' Trixie hisses, looking horrified at the impossible: The Mane Six are slowly recovering, from their imprisonment, completely unharmed after all these conflicts. The blue mare's entire plan has been crushed to pieces.

'Hey! My cold is gone!' Rainbow Dash cheers, being able to talk normally again.

'My.. My hoof!' Twilight cheers as well, looking at the original purple colors of her body. 'My hoof is free too!'

All the ponies are back to their original selfs, including their entire health. As if they've never been experiencing any cold, the friends look at each other and feel relieved to see they're all alright. Whatever it was that happened, it saved them from being living statues for the rest of their lives.

'NONONONO!' Trixie screams, alerting the mares. 'You're supposed to stay frozen for all eternity!'

'Trixie! Ya' back-stabbin' snake!' Applejack grunts, not having forgotten about the cowardly battle she put up against her and her friends a moment ago. 'Too bad your "Eternity" is a couple a minutes to me!'

The friends turn towards the powerful mare again in the crater filled without snow or ice. The soil isn't even soft from the molten snow, due to the heat that made it into steam before it could even touch the ground. Trixie's entire scheme has been crushed by one unexpected margin, so little and tiny that she deemed it impossible. Shaky and angry, Trixie moves forward, closing the gap between her and the six mares. When she stands with furious hoofsteps before them, they realize that Trixie must have really lost it, considering the deep breaths she takes and her nervous twitches on her face.

'Who.....,' she hisses. 'WHO was responisble for that.......'

Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all look at Twilight, expecting that only she would be able to do something as powerful like that. But Twilight looks just as surprised as her friends and shurgs. 'T'wasnt me!' Twilight tells them.

'Was it YOU, Twilight Sparkle?! -Hehehehe-' Trixie chuckles insane with a pluck of her white mane hanging in front of her eyes. 'I should've known! I shouldn't have underestimated you! You.... You are the most powerful mare in Equestria! All beings are nothing compared to you!'

Hearing something crazy and untrue like that from Trixie, nopony has any idea what to do with her now. Considering Trixie is still very powerful, and possibly even more dangerous now that she's gone apples, they have no idea how to prepare for her insanity.

'But I can do it again! I'll freeze you six even if it takes a lifetime!' Trixie shouts and makes her horn glow again, ready to freeze everything up again.

'Everypony! Out of the way!' Twilight shouts to the others, preparing them for another beam of ice.

The mares split up, afraid to get struck by one shot. Rainbow Dash doesn't even dare to fly up, afraid it would just make her another easy target again. But while they all try to seek shelter in the empty crater, they slowly realize that the magic around Trixie's horn isn't growing, but fading instead. Astonished herself, Trixie looks at her horn, with the glow that soon dies out like a candle. She can't freeze anything anymore.

'Well... That was an anticlimax,' Pinkie Pie shurgs.

Shaking her head, trying to throw the magic out of her horn somehow, Trixie is growing impatient. 'C'mon! C'MON! Why won't it work?!' she shouts, unable to preform her ice spells anymore.

'That would be MY doing...,' a voice echoes through the dome. Originating from where the hole in the ice started, another individual has entered the crater. Trixie and the others look surprised behind her, noticing the red stallion with the dark mane in the distance. None of the seven mares have trouble recognizing him.

'S-Spectrum Brush!' Trixie hisses, growing further mad everytime something completely unexpected happens to her, against her advantage. 'You're supposed to broken by guilt... Nothing you know could have gone past Fame's knowledge! How in Equestria's name did you do that?! Wh-What did you do to me?!'

The red unicorn shrugs. 'You thought you knew everything, didn't you? But you only saw FAME'S version of the past, Trixie. You did not get to see what Ignis is capable of, because he kept alot of secrets from anypony else, including her!' he shouts to her and jumps down into the crater, landing on his hooves without any trouble. 'Ignis may be the most destructive and evil pony in Equestria, but he ALSO knew a few harmless tricks. One of them is rendering the second-most strongest pony's powers useless... Which happens to be the mare who's powers you're abusing right now.'

Trixie grunts, not having anticipated the possiblity of further unshown skills in Brush's possession.

'Brush! Y-You're alright!' Twilight gasps, astonished by Brush' quick recovery. Even though he still wears the bandages around his waist and had a terrible beating a moment ago, Brush walks to them as if nothing ever happened.

Her friends are even more surprised, seeing Brush for the first time after months again. They knew he was in the picture, but never got to see him live and well until now.

'Well Ah'll be...,' Applejack mumbles, surprised to recognize the stallion that saved them from an icy prison. 'Ah know that face from a mile distance!'

'Applejack. good to see you again,' Brush greets her and smiles. 'I believe I still owe you a payment for spilling paint all over the orchard months ago...'

Applejack grins, finding the timing for this little thing very unexpected. It's funny to her to hear that Brush hasn't forgotten a thing about what happened months ago.

As he walks further towards the seven mares, the stallion's eyes move towards every individual, followed by a personal greeting.

'Fluttershy. How are the birds in the meadow doing?' he asks, referring back to the day he arrived in Ponyville and accidently scared half a forest of birds awake.

'G-Good...,' she whispers, shy over the idea that Brush still remembers her and that day, deeming it not special because it was about herself.

He nods at the pegasus and turns his look to the pretty mare, who is sharing both her attention to the surprising stallion and her mane, which looks messy because of the frost.

'Rarity... I owe you an apology for running out when you were showing me your creations,' he apologizes, referring to the time she helped him and shared her artistic knowledge with him.

'Th-That's ok,' she says and giggles. 'I should thank you for unfreezing us. It's not good for hair to stay frozen that long...'

They all seem a little surprised over the stallion's incredible change of character, barely able to recognize the bashfulness he shown them months ago when they met. Only Twilight isn't surprised, knowing that alot has happened during the past months. Spectrum Brush is different now: More confident and hardened. He may not be covering his emotions anymore, but is still not an emotional wreck either.

Having crossed halfway the crater, he turns his attention to the fourth mare: The one with the colorful mane. 'Rainbow Dash,' he says her name, who looks surprised up when he speaks to her. 'Would you accept my apology for calling you a "flapperback"... twice?'

'-Hehe-' she chuckles and winks. 'No problem, "hothead."

That joke referring to the moment he shouted against her on day one makes even Brush smile, though proceeding to look confident in all their eyes.

His eyes move further to the pink mare that jumps up and down from the energy overflow in her. She's very excited.

'Well, Pinkie Pie. Glad to see you too,' he says and smirks, expecting a barrage of greetings from the energic pony back.

'Hey, Brushy!' she cheers, having decided to use that as his nickname. 'Been a long time! Where've ya been? Are you alright? Cause we're fine now!'

The ecstatic joy in her voice makes even Brush slow down his pace, still not used to the contrast between him, the calm stallion, and her, the cheerful party mare.

'I -eh- will explain everything later... ok?' he mumbles to her as he walks passed Trixie, who continues to glare silently down at the red unicorn.

Brush doesn't even give Trixie one glance, turning his focus to the purple mare that stands before him instead. When he stands between Twilight and Trixie, he halts.

'Sorry I'm a little late, Twilight. Making a fire took me a little while and the weather was a little against me today,' he jokes.

Twilight only gives a smile, while Pinkie Pie laughs out loud, taking everypony's attention. When she realizes that her laughter ruins the moment, Pinkie Pie quickly presses a hoof on her mouth to giggle in silence.

'What happened to ya?' Applejack asks, noticing the bandages around his midriff. 'Ya look like a bruised apple.'

'Applejack is right!' Twilight speaks out worried. 'How are you even standing? I saw how you got thrashed around by Trixie! Are you alright?'

'Well... I admit: It hurts ALOT more than I expected it would,' he chuckles, acting like it's funny that he underestimated the madmare. 'But I'm ok... Really.'

Though hard to believe that he's truly alright, rather thinking that he must be hiding his pain again, Twilight is still glad to hear that all her friends are out of harms way. They all have so many questions left to ask the stallion from the begin to the end, but remain silent instead and listen to what he has to say. They know that he has come for more than just saving their flanks from being frostbitten.

'Where are the Elements of Harmony?' he asks to Twilight, who turns her head to the only spot that is still frozen.

The humongous flame of Brush wasn't enough to melt through, considering it was too deeply burried in the ground. The mares say nothing, astonished to hear that the Elements of Harmony were brought here and out of grief that they're lost.

'I see...,' Brush grunts. He turns away and walks over to his sidepack, which lies in the soil a few steps away from him.

Twilight continues to stare at the spot, still frozen shut by meters-thick frozen water. With the Elements burried under more than thirty layers of ice, they are unreachable by any means.

'That's right, Brush,' Trixie chuckles. 'You lose. Your Elements off Harmony are lost for good! Not even you can get them now!'

'No way! We'll find a way! No matter what!' Twilight snaps back at the gloating alicorn.

Trixie turns her grinning face from the red stallion to the purple mare. 'I highly doubt it, Twilight Sparkle,' she mocks her. 'Have you ever succeeded in removing chaos without the Elements? I don't think so.'

Though spiteful, her words speak truth. Ever since Night Mare Moon, the first villian that threatened Equestria, they've been bringing harmony back to Equestria thanks to the Elements of Harmony. If they have no access to it, how do they actually hope to win now? They stood no chance against Discord without them, so why would it now?

'Wh-What are we supposed to do now?' Rarity asks to her friends, who don't have any ideas either.

'M-Maybe if we ask nicely?' Fluttershy suggests, which is obviously taken as the worst idea of all.

While the six mares fall in heavy discussion over what they could posssibly do now, growing more and more concerned. Trixie merely looks down at them and grins by the idea that she still got the upperhoof, laughing at their desperation. And yet Brush calmly picks up his bag and brushes the dust off with his hoof. When he's done, he walks back to the noisy crowd of mares.

'Nothing is lost,' he shrugs, catching the mares' attention.

'D-Do you have a plan, Brush?' Fluttershy asks hopeful.

He looks up at the pegasus, who stares at him with both hope and fear, wishing for good news from him. 'To get the Elements of Harmony? ...No, I don't,' he simply answers in honesty.

Trixie starts to laugh, drawing all of their attention again. 'See, you foals? Even the "mighty" Spectrum Brush is at a loss here! We all know that the trinkets in that pit are the REAL Elements of Harmony! And now we also know that not even your flame could tear the ice away! How do you think you can beat me with the Elements of Harmony now if there's no way to reach them?!'

Brush looks over his shoulder at the mares, who look clueless back at him, hoping that she's wrong. He then looks back at the alicorn and shrugs. 'I don't. We'll never beat you with the Elements. That's a fact.'

'Wh-WHAT?!' Twilight gasps along with her friends, suddenly feeling sickly from the undeniable truth. Yet the stallion before her remains as calm as a millpond, showing not a little sign of worry. 'A-Are you saying we lost?!'

Brush turns around and looks deep into Twilight's eyes, burning with confidence. It startles her a little, because Twilight recognizes that look: It's a look that says that he's just beginning.

'I never said THAT, Twilight...,' he mumbles. 'I simply mean we don't need them.'

'Hahaha- Eh... What?' Trixie cuts her laugh, having heard how Brush still seems to have a plan up his sleeves.

'Not... need... them?' Fluttershy repeats after him, a little unsure if that's what he just said.

'...Brush, do you even know what you are saying?' Rainbow Dash asks him, as if he's gone insane.

But he ignores the others and continues to look at the purple mare in front of him. 'Don't you see, Twilight? The Elements of Harmony are NOT what defeated Night Mare Moon, Discord, Queen Crysalis or Ignis!'

She looks at him like he's gone mad, telling her something that she never thought of before. 'Wh-What do you mean? We had to use the Elements of Harmony everytime Equestria was in danger! If it wasn't that, what was it then?' she asks confused.

'It was the friendship between you six that did that! The Elements are merely TOOLS to enhance it into a force!' he tells her, bitter serious about his words.

Twilight can hardly believe it. She knows that her friendship between her and her friends are what unleashes the power from the Elements of Harmony, working like a key. But to think that their friendship is what truly is the thing that defeats the wicked, using the artifacts as a conduit, has never occured to her before.'A-Are you saying that-' she whispers in astonishment.

Brush nods at her. 'Those jewels aren't the Elements of Harmony! If they were, they wouldn't need you six to unleash their power! It's Pinkie Pie's cheerful joy, Rarity's great generosity, Applejack's honest truths, Rainbow Dash's unwavering loyalty, Fluttershy's sweet kindness and Twilight's magical presence that makes it all happen! Those things that lie in the pit over there are mere babysteps that allowed you to learn to control your friendship in a way like this! But it's YOU who are the real power behind it! The friendship you share is a bond that expresses the most powerful of all, which is why you are the chosen to work with the Elements of Harmony...'

Everypony is silenced by the stallion's words, both confused and puzzled about the truth he shares with them. At first they were a little sceptical about Brush' claims, though they start to make more and more sense when they think about it. They look at their friends, realizing it as well. This whole time it wasn't five necklaces and a crown that safeguarded Equestria, but THEM instead!

'He... He's right...,' Rarity whispers. 'How could've we been so blind?'

'The...I...-eh-...Wow...,' Pinkie Pie stutters, stunned by revelation.

Twilight looks Brush in his eyes, knowing from his look that he's completely serious about this. She has no idea how Brush came up with this information, considering it wasn't in the past of Princess Celestia, and yet he knows it. 'So... all this time... It was all thanks to ourselves that we stopped all the evil that tried to overtake Equestria? It had nothing to do with the Elements of Harmony?' Twilight asks to be sure.

The red unicorn nods again, knowing that it's a lot of truth to swallow. They still have a chance to win now.

'Insolence! You can't win without the Elements! Your merely bluffing, stallion!' Trixie shouts, believing his story to be the greatest nonsense she ever heard. 'You pray and hope that you are right, while you actually know that it's all futile now!'

But the blue mare is completely ignored by the mares, trusting their stallion friend over the blue mare that only wants to harm them with despair.

'I think you're right, Brush...,' Twilight admits, though still finding it a tough truth to suddenly swallow. 'But... that doesn't change the fact that those artifacts were the thing that enhanced the power of harmony! We are only seven ponies together! If we would want to reach that same limit or above, we would atleast need a THOUSAND friendships to even the odds!'

Brush remains silent, giving no contradictions to her claims. They all know she's right about that it requires that much ponies, though they are horribly outnumbered now. And yet, Brush begins to smile and whispers: '...Exactly...'

Without taking any more time, Brush opens his sidepack and uses his magic to levitate something out of it. He takes out a object, which turns out to be a little purple orb. It was hiding beneath the artifacts this whole time.

'Wh-What is that?' Trixie asks, never having seen something like it before.

The orb looks like a marble, in both shape and size. But the inside of the sphere seems alive, filled with a strange purple smoke. Though when Brush levitates it above himself and the Mane Six, causing it to hover in the air by itself, it starts to glow faintly.

'WHAT IS THAT?!' Trixie asks again, tired of being ignored.

'It's a little thing I call: Preperation,' he chuckles at Trixie, as if he's about to outsmart her again. 'You should've put this thing into the pit rather than the jewerlry, Trixie. If you would've put my entire bag in there and froze it, even I would've gone mad by despair.'

The sphere starts to glow brighter with a familiar purple glow like the night, as if it's charging up. The purple lights starts the spread out of the object, until it reaches the ground around the seven ponies, surrounding them in what almost looks like bars of a cage.

'NO! NO MORE TRICKS!' Trixie shouts, afraid of any more unexpected tricks from the stallion. Without hesitation she fires a blue beam of magic at it, which have returned to her control, intending to tear it apart before it could activate. But with no signs of effect, the orb only continues to glow more.

'Ah, it's time to go,' Brush smiles and nods at her. 'We'll be seeing you soon, Trixie! I'll tell Luna you said "Hi"!'

'Wh-What?' the alicorn asks confused, not sure what is happening.

But before she could, the orbs flares out a purple field shaped like a sphere around the seven ponies, sealing them inside like a shell. Trixie jumps back from anxiety and looks at how the ponies are vanishing behind the purple smokes inside the large orb, keeping her from seeing what happens. She quickly fires another blue beam at it, which disperses the moment it touches the glowing sphere, hovering silently in the crater before her.

'C-Curse you...,' she hisses defeated.

***

The smokes fill the air of whatever space it is. They have no smell whatsoever, yet are definitly magic by nature. Lost in a bright light again, Twilight find herself in a void again. She recognizes it: It's a void like that of Lady Fame's memory. Yet instead of pure white, this void is as black as the night and covered by stars all around her. Just like the previous time, this place has no visible floor either, making it seem like she's standing in space. Looking confused around her, she sees that's nothing but void. 'Wh-Where is everypony?' she whispers to herself.

'Twilight!' a shout sounds behind her.

The purple mare turns around quickly, recognizing the voice of Brush. Appearing out of the darkness of this place, the red stallion gallops towards her.

'Looks like the mists are a little thicker in the begin than I thought,' he mumbles with a smile. 'The others should find us real soon when the magic preperations will be lifting a little.'

'What is this, Brush? What was that orb?' she asks, not having any knowledge about the orb Brush used a moment ago.

He moves his last steps calmly to her, until he stands before her again. 'We are currently in a magic sphere, blocking all types of senses from our original location: The crater. We may still be present there physically, but this orb allows us to communicate with another place, as if we teleport,' he explains his actions, still rather confusing for the smart mare. 'It wasn't easy to do this, considering how much time it costed Luna to make this orb in the first place.'

Twilight looks up surprised and suddenly recognizes the magic in the air and the reason for the endless nightsky in this void. 'Princess Luna?! She's channeling us away?!'

'Ofcourse.' he chuckles, amused by Twilight's noticable surprise. 'Once she has found this void that is.'

'Why...,' Twilight asks, having asked this specific question probably a hundred times in her mind now.

Her friend stops snickering and smiling, turning his gaze from her to the sky above them. '...When I saw how you six split up in a fight, I doubted that it would be the end for you,' Brush speaks honestly to her, remaining calm while at it. 'But when I saw you get back together, I KNEW something changed within all of you. None of you may show it: But you're all scared.'

Twilight looks a little surprised at the seemingly distracted stallion, as if he doesn't know what he's talking about. But remaining sceptical about herself thanks to her several misjudgements, she won't suddenly start to doubt her friend's assumptions. 'Scared?' she repeats.

'Yes, scared. You lost each other so easily, when you thought that wasn't possible... All of you six came to realize that your friendship doesn't mean that it lasts eternal, but is still fragile. You're all afraid to lose each other again and that you'd be all alone then...'

'I...,' Twilight speaks, but sighs instead of finishing her sentence. 'You're right, Brush... I guess I am scared to lose them. They're my best friends! I don't want to risk to lose them again! Wh-What can I do?'

The mare presses her hoofs on the stallion's shoulders and looks him desperatly in the eyes with a few inches between their faces, urging him to comfort her with words that should take all the worries away.

'I -eh- I can't help you with that, Twilight,' he sighs. 'This is something you should speak about with your friends... They are worried about the same thing. They want to stay with you each of you for the rest of their lives as well.'

'I see...,' she sighs, knowing he's right. She drops her hooves back on the starlit floor of the void, surprised to hear that the impact made a sudden clop sound, instead of sounding like she presses in dirt. 'But... why are we here then?' she asks, though still a little distracted about the changing sound of ground, which remains as invisible as usual.

'Why are we here you ask?' he repeats after her. 'To show you what you all forget sometimes... For several times you all felt lonely: The ponies left Ponyville, leaving you all alone behind. You think that a connection of friendship is sensitive and only connects to close ones... But you must realize: There are always friends, not matter how far away you are... Even when you've never met somepony, they are still a friend in some way.'

'Yea, but...,' she whispers.  

'TWILIGHT! BRUSH!' shouts sound again from the dark void, followed by five different colored mares than gallop towards the two ponies.

'Pinkie Pie! Fluttershy! Rarity! Rainbow Dash! Applejack! You found us!' Twilight cheerfully greets them, glad to see that they indeed found their way to her like Brush promised.

'Oh, Darling! That was just awful!' Rarity tells her with dread and grabs Twilight to give her a hug.

'I-I'm glad to see you safely too, Rarity,' Twilight says a little surprised of Rarity's worried attitude like this.

'I was CERTAIN that I would have to go through the rest of my days as a blonde!' she gasps, giving away her greatest fear of these moments.

'What's wrong that...,' Applejack mumbles, a little insulted about the color of her mane.

But rather than arguing with each other again, the happiness just makes them want to push together for a grouphug. Laughing and seeing each other, the mares are rejoiced to be able to be back together again. Even if Trixie is still out there, removed their instrument of harmony, froze them up easily, harmed them both physically and mentally while she remains untouched, they have no despair about what comes next. The only fear they hide under their smiles is the fear of losing this moment for good.

Brush watches happily at the mares, glad to see them back together again. But even though he feels nothing but joy for their recovered friendship, he can't ignore the lingering feeling of envy in his heart. And something else is missing: The group only exists out of five ponies.

'BRUSHY!' Pinkie Pie cheers and throws herself against Spectrum Brush.

'-URK!-' Brush grunts, completely surprised by the pink mare's enthusiastic greeting. Dropped on the floor, with Pinkie Pie clamping around his midrif to give him a hug, he feels a little embarressed at how it must look for the other mares to see Brush thrown down by Pinkie Pie like this. 'H-Hello, Pinkie... Good to see you too,' he mumbles.

'You still owed atleast this from me! I didn't even got to properly welcome you to Ponyville last time we met! You better prepare yourself for the party of your life when this is over!' she laughs as she squeezes the stallion harder and presses her face against his unbrushed mane.

'I -ooph!- I'm not the type for parties, Pinkie Pie!' he gasps.

The others have already have a suspicion that this message will be unnacceptable for their pink friend, knowing Pinkie Pie well enough.

The words fall indeed heavily on the partypony's ears, causing her to gasp in horror. 'NO TYPE FOR PARTIES?!' she shouts, only a few inches away from his ears. 'THEN IT'S HIGH TIME YOU GOT ONE!'

The other mares giggle at the two ponies and how the red stallion is trying to get himself free from Pinkie Pie's lethally tight hug. They didn't expect any less from the pink mare, breaking even Brush' moment of seriousness with her entertaining presence.

'Eh... I think you should maybe let him go now, Pinkie...,' Twilight suggests, knowing from Brush's desperation to get free and Pinkie's joy that this could go too far against Brush' comfort zone, no matter how kind the gesture is meant.

'...Ok!' she reacts, not any bit less happy about it.

Brush drops on the ground when the pink earth pony lets go off him, making him gasp for air again. 'Th-Thanks, Twilight...,' she sighs.

The female unicorn smiles and giggles, happy to help him. The stallion stands back up from the invisible floor and gets his act back together. He pushes the mane out of his sight and stops breathing too fast.

'So... Where are we?' Rainbow Dash eventually asks him, having paused the moment of endless joy with her friends to move ahead. 'What happened to Trixie?'

The red unicorn shurgs. 'Trixie is still in the crater, just like we are,' Brush tells all the mares.

'Just like we? What in tarnation are you talkin' about, partner?' Applejack asks him with disbelief. 'I know we're in some sorta magic bubble... But I can say absolutely sure that this ISN'T a crater!'

'Well... It may not seem, sound or feel like it...,' the stallion mumbles as the mares turn their attention from Applejack back to Brush. 'But right now we're waiting to get contact with another location, which should happen anytime now.'

'Why...,' Applejack asks, like Twilight did before her.

Before the answer is given, the mares start to take notice of sounds in the background. Turning around to check what it was, they see nothing but stars, shining towards them like the night. But though there may be nopony there, the sounds grow in volume, slowly coming from all around them.

'Ah, Luna has finaly found us,' the stallion says satisfied with a smile on his face.

While he continues to stand and wait, the six mares continue to look confused around, hearing the voices coming from everywhere.

'What is that?' Rainbow Dash asks. 'It sounds like cheering!'

'Big chance that it is, Rainbow,' Brush tells her.

The stars of the void starts to move around, swirling around the seven ponies that stand in the center. Like the universe being twisted like a football, the mares grow dizzy by the surroundings that start swirl faster every second. The magic of the sphere is reaching stability, resulting in the the tearing of the sky.

'Ah!' Fluttershy yelps, surprised by the sudden light that blinds them all from the tearing background.

But the others give nothing but a grunt, knowing that it's all part of this, even though it blocks their vision for a moment. Brush closes his eyes too and smiles.

***

The cheers are raised tenfold, sounding from everywhere around the blinded ponies. After the void was torn apart, the sounds and light returned in a second of time. They are curious to see what all the cheering is from, but are forced to wait until the light in their eyes fade down.

'What is going on?!' Rarity asks confused, shaking her head with closed eyes.

'A little gift from Luna and me,' Brush tells them, blinking a few times until he can see clearly again. 'Your greatest fear is to be alone, losing the friendship and binds you six. But we want you to know that even in the darkest hour: You are NEVER alone.'

Twilight's eyes begin to adjust, allowing her to see blurry visions of the tall towers that stand before her. She can recognize it, having seen these buildings for years when she was just a foal.

'This is...,' Twilight whispers.

The stallion nods, though nopony of them can see it. 'Our former home, Twilight...,' Brush completes her sentence.

Twilight looks down at the floor, recognizing the tiles as well. There's only one place where she's seen these tiles. 'N-no way…,' she gasps, able to see that they're completely surrounded.

Once the light has faded completely, something shows which nopony could ever expect. The town square, the towers around it, and the air are filled with hundreds and hundreds of ponies, easily counting into the thousands. Barely space for anypony left in the huge area, all the mares, stallions, colts, fillies of all types, races and colors are cheering at the seven ponies that stand in the center.

“Wh-what is this?” Flutttershy whispers scared from all the eyes that look at them.

Brush sighs, relieved and glad about his accomplishments. 'This is the "haven" Luna and I sent all ponies to. This is where all the ponies wait and cheer for the Mane Six to end this horror and bring Harmony to Equestria,' the stallion tells them.

'This… This is Canterlot!' Twilight gasps.

A moment ago they were facing Trixie, about to confront the mare that turned mad by failure for vengeance. But as quick as all goes, they are now able to breath easily and feel the cold rising to a nice warm temperature. Having used the magical spherical creation of Princess Luna, both the Mane Six and Spectrum Brush are now visible at the haven where all ponies of Equestria have sought shelter: Canterlot.

An entire crowd of ponies and beings surrounded them. Stallions and mares look over each other, while colts and fillies stand on their father's or mother's heads to catch a glimpse of the six heroines. Ponies from Ponyville, Cloudsdale and even places like Appleloosa have come to the square to root for them. Even the hairy backs of the buffaloes from Appleloosa can be seen in the far back. They all cheer and smile at the seven ponies in the center, who look confused and surprised around them. Aside from the space between the center and the first row the crowd, the ground can't be seen by the masses. Pegasi that couldn't find space down on the ground flew up, crowding up the morningsky as well. The towers and buildings of Canterlot aren't spared just the same, now stuffed with ponies that try to get a view through the windows. Like a fish in a bowl, the mares and stallion are looking from the bubble that remains barely visible around them, being the border between Canterlot and the Crater.

'Welcome to Canterlot,' Brush welcomes them.

The mares are completely overthrown by the humongous crowd that surrounds them. They look everywhere around them, seeing hundreds of ponies in whatever direction they turn their head towards. Even the many pegasi in the air seem to cheer and root for them, unless they're too busy not to crash into each other.

'Wh-What is everypony doing?' Rainbow Dash asks, barely hearable over the cheers and noise.

'They are rooting for you,' Brush tells the obvious. 'They're rooting for you six.'

'I mean what are they doing HERE?' she corrects herself, not having trouble figuring out herself that the ponies are cheering for her and her friends.

Brush turns around to look at the puzzled mares, knowing that he owes them all an explaination. 'Luna and I forsaw what was going to happen right after Trixie betrayed us. She isn't a very clever pony, even if she would have access to Fame's vast knowledge. We knew that she was going to try and tear you six apart,' he begins to explain, revealing the plan he kept in secret until this point. 'I came up with this plan to secure every pony in Equestria, and possibly use it to the advantage as well... Though I never believed it would be needed.'

'You didn't?' Pinkie Pie asks in curiosity.

The red stallion shakes his head. 'It was Luna who convinced me to take no chances... Good thing she thought clear enough to see that even your friendship could severe...,' he sighs, having lost the illusion of a perfect friendship. Still, he hasn't changed his mind in believing that these mares' friendship is the best of all in Equestria. 'The reason we show this is because I could see your doubts and despair, like Trixie could... While she tried to manipulate you through it, I wanted to heal it by showing this: The ponies who'm you all fight for. The ponies that have always believed in you ever since you defeated Night Mare Moon! Months have gone by after that day and ever since you've all made new friends and rivals. Some ponies, aside from your family, have become so indirectly!'

'This... This incredible...,' Twilight whispers, witnessing for the first time how the ponies openly feel about them six saving Equestria time and time again. 'I had no idea.'

'I feel so honored!' Rarity giggles happily and waves her mane around to show off, feeling like a celebrity. Her feeling of joy and fabulousness only rises when she starts to hear a bunch of stallions cheer for her name in specific.

Though some of the mares lose their attention to the still-explaining stallion, Brush continues to speak to the mares that won't stop to listen to him. 'It was impossible to get them all to come to Ponyville unnoticed from Trixie, so we decided to bring you HERE!'

'But how? How did you do this? Teleportation at a scale like this is impossible,' Twilight seemingly contradicts him, having enough knowledge about magic to know that she's right about this.

Brush smirks. 'With a little help from Princess Luna, we are now channeled into the townsquare of Canterlot. Even though we’re not physically here, you can see and hear everypony here and vise versa!'

Pinkie Pie jumps forward as close to the edge of the sphere they're in and pokes it, only touching it like it's a mirror. 'Hey, I can't go to them!' she grunts and continues to poke the sphere from the inside.

'See?' Brush says, confirming thanks to Pinkie's efforts that they can't physically connect with the ponies on the other side of the spell. 'But we CAN communicate with them. We can hear them, just like they can hear us.

He turns his face to the dark-purple mare that stands the closest to the sphere from the outside, conjuring a spell ever since they arrived here. The red unicorn has no trouble in recognizing her in a split second.

'Luna, great job! We've finaly done it!' he cheers at princess, who remains silent and continues to think about keeping a connection between the two sides. 'If it wasn't so innapropriate, and I would be physically able to, I could kiss you right now!'  

The princess of the night shows no response. She is completely focused on her spell, sweating from the incredible effort and concentration it requires to keep it up. They both know that if she loses focus for a split second, the ponies will be send back to the crater in a flash.

Believing that Brush is done with his explaination, the girls look back at the crowd. They still have trouble believing that this is truly happening. There are so many ponies they know that have come to support them. And even some ponies they’ve never seen before are here for them too!

'So many ponies,' Applejack gasps and swallows, feeling a little nervous from so many eyes that look at her. 'Ah dun even recognize most of 'em.'

Brush turns around and walks to Applejack's left side, having overheard her words. 'And yet, I made special reservations for the first seats,' he jokes and points to the right of Applejack's sight, making her look at the three ponies that stand first in line.

The blond mare's eyes open wide when she recognizes them, having believed them to be in Appleloosa this whole time. But she knows her eyes aren't lying and feels overjoyed to see her family here with her in Canterlot. 'Granny Smith? Big Macintosh? Even cousin Braeburn?! Y’all here to support me?' Applejack says with joy in her heart.

Ofcourse the only real response she gets is the 'Eeyup' from her big brother Macintosh, ironically being the last of the three who expected to talk.

Brush smiles and turns around again, leaving the earth pony alone for some personal time with her family.

'...And I see YOU two are here too...,' Applejack mumbles and looks at the twin brothers that seem a tad embarressed to be here in the apple family's presence.

Flim and Flam sure were a pain in the plot before, daring to try and force the apple family out of Ponyville. But now they were obviously pressured to go and stay in Canterlot, leaving their Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 machine behind in the blizzard. Normally a very cocky and confident team, even these two stallions show anxiety from the idea that they're in a crowd which excists atleast 60% out of unsatisfied customers. Whether they've come around to see that their overconfidence and business was no good, Applejack still lets out a chuckle. she knows that even if there's a dark history of competition between them, the two scams are still counting on her and her friends to save Equestria. Even if it comes from them, it means something.

Rarity continues to wave at the crowd, receiving their cheers with pleasure. She gives a few kissyhooves at the many ponies. 'Thank you, thank you! I love you all just the same!' she cheers along with the crowd.

Her feeling of fabulous and joy only rises when she hears the stallions cheer louder and whistle at her, making her feel like a real queen of the people.

'You're really enjoying this, aren't you?' a voice sounds behind her, causing her to look up behind her.

She smiles when she figures it was from the red stallion, who walks towards her. 'Why, yes! If all these ponies are here to see me and my friends, I can't let them down, can I?'

'-Haha!- That's an entirely unique form of generosity!' Brush laughs.

The white mare has to laugh too, admitting that this is the form of generosity she likes most of all: One that puts her in the spotlight. Though aside the joy she finds in this cheering crowd, she also finds it nice to be able to laugh alongside the gentle stallion once more. Though she may not have thought about it much, she enjoys the company of somepony like him, who understands the finer things in life too.

When Brush stops snickering, he gives a sigh to let the last bits of laughter out to get back to his actually intention of approaching her right now. 'I do hope you understand what it means? Alot of these ponies know you, putting their hopes and trust on you without question. Even ponies that never have seen you are believing in you,' he tells her, giving her the absolute truth behind this crowd that cheers for her and her friends.

Rarity sighs, suddenly not feeling like parading without a care in the world anymore. 'I know, Spectrum Brush... I'm not letting mere attention get to my head, trust me on that. I have no intention of giving up on all these ponies,' she admits, promising not to tiny details of negativity get to her anymore.

Brush nods, glad to see that Rarity fully understands him. 'It's not something you wil do on your own, miss Rarity. Don't worry. We all stand with you all the way,' the stallion assures her.

The white unicorn smiles, happy to hear the words from him. 'Thank you kindly, Brush. I really appreciate it,' she thanks him gratefully, feeling comforted by the idea of not having to confront anything by herself.

Brush smiles along with her and points with his hoof behind her. 'Now I believe those two ponies ask for your attention in specific,' he tells Rarity.

The pretty mare turns around towards where Brush points at, noticing the two white ponies that stand in front of the crowd. They probably stood there all this time, though she didn't notice them until now: The stallion with the noticable brown moustache and the mare with a hairdo that Rarity strongly opposes.

'Mother! Father!' Rarity cheers and hurries close to the edge of the bubble. 'You are all well!'

'Well, hello thar, Rarity,' the white stallion simply greets his daughter with a noticable accent. 'Nice coincidence to be sent to Canterlot and see you in the middle of the crowd.'

Rarity's parents are surprisingly calm, as if this crisis in Equestria is perfectly normal.

The older mare nods. 'We even got'ta meet one of yer fancy friends here,' she tells her, as if they're having a vacation in this place.

'Friends?' Rarity asks, having no clue about who she could possibly mean, plus worried that her parents would embarress her to the clients she has and had in Canterlot.

'That would be me,' a tall unicorn with a monocle speaks from behind the couple and moves forward be seen as well. 'Marvelous parents you have, miss Rarity.'

'M-Mr Fancypants!' she stutters, overjoyed to see the famous stallion as well. 'A-A pleasure to meet you again.'

'The feeling is mutual, dear. The feeling is mutual,' he chuckles, glad to see one of his favorite aquantances again.

Satisfied by the sight of another heart-mended mare who comes back in contact with ponies she met before, Brush turns around and leaves the unicorn with her parents and friends. He knows now that his presence is not needed for now.

Rainbow Dash looks through the bubble surprised as well, though enjoying all the cheers for her as much as Rarity does. 'Thank you! Thank you!' she shouts proudly and waves at the crowd, feeling like she's the show of the day in front of all of Equestria. As she Gives them a few action poses to show off, the blue pegasus enjoys every moment of it. 'Dash is the name! Rainbow Dash!' she shouts, trying to make the crowd cheer out for her in specific.

Like she hoped for; a part of the crowd starts to cheer louder, encouraging the mare even more.

'I CAN'T HEAAAAAAR YOUUUUU!' the pegasus shouts back and presses a hoof at her ear, showing she's waiting for another cheer back.

'Yow, Dash!' a voice shouts over the noise, coming from the first row of the crowd. 'Remember me?'

If it would be anypony's voice that would've spoken to her, she would've ignored it and stuck with the crowd. But Rainbow Dash recognizes the voice, knowing it for many years. When she looks a little curious in the direction of its origin, she notices the feathered creature that stands out of the crowd of ponies by both appearance and size. The female gryphon believes that Rainbow Dash has seen her and smiles. She looks back for a second to push a stallion a little away, because he stands in her way.

'G-Gilda!' Rainbow Dash gasps and stops posing to the crowd to focus on her in specific. 'What are you doing here?'

'Aside from seeking shelter from the storm? ...I didn't have much of a choice,' she grunts and glares at the red stallion behind her friend. Brush looks up surprised by the grumpy gryphon's noticable presence, not feeling very welcome to join their conversation.

By the looks of how Brush suddenly turns around and moves away again, Rainbow Dash can speculate that it must've been tough to "convince" Gilda in seeking shelter here from the storm, most likely against her stubborn will.

'-Hehe-' Rainbow Dash chuckles, finding her feathered friend's defeat funny. 'Must've been tough to be forced by somepony that doesn't even got wings?'

'-Grrr-' the gryphon grunts. 'It's not like that! He had wings during his visit in Cloudsdale! It's not like he was helpless!'

'He's been a unicorn his whole life... Even if he got wings magically, he would still be an amateur flyer,' Rainbow Dash tells her and keeps on snickering. The pegasus is barely able to keep her whole laughter stomached about that Gilda, one of the fastest friends she has, got beaten by Brush somehow. It's even more funny when she thinks about it that Brush DID have wings before, when he was possessed by Ignis months ago, which Gilda has no knowledge about.

'...Know what? Whatever,' Gilda mumbles, acting like she's insulted now.

'C'mon, Gilda. you know I'm just messing with you?' Rainbow tells her and taps on the bubble, like a friendly push that she can't do from inside the sphere. 'But aren't you still mad about last time?' the mare asks carefully, recalling the last time she saw her in Ponyville.

'Mad? -HAH!-  Good one, Dash,' the gryphon suddenly laughs, proving not to be insulted after all. 'If I would get a coin for everytime we were mad at each other-'

'-You'd be a millionaire now.' Dash finishes her sentence, having said it probably as many times as they've argued with each other in the past.

Gilda chuckles and pushes the same stallion off, who was pressing against her wing due to the lack of space.

'Nah, I've come to realize that I may have been acting like a jerk too much to anypony last time. Which reminds me that I still gotta say a sorry to that bashful pegasus and the pink menace,' she kids, pretending to have a grudge against anypony still. 'That's why I have turned around and-' the gryphon stops talking when the stallion bumps into her again.

'HEY, STOP PUSHING!' Gilda shouts behind her, scaring a group of ponies back. Forcing themselves to keep a radius of a meter around Gilda clear, the ponies press each other back so they won't anger the gryphon any further. '-and now you're looking at a whole new Gilda,' she finishes her sentence with a calm voice again.

'-Heh- I can see that,' Rainbow Dash snickers and smiles at the gryphon, admitting that her friend was holding back this time against those ponies.

'So bygones be bygones, Dash?' Gilda asks and plants a fist against the bubble.

Rainbow Dash shrugs and smiles, as if her answer should be obvious to her friend. 'Forgotten and forgiven, Gilda. The Great and Almighty Dash accepts your apology,' the mare jokes and presses her hoof on the same spot as Gilda's fist, making both of them laugh.

'That's cool. If you wouldn't have, I wouldn't have shown you the "special arangement" I went through for you,' Gilda tells her friend with a mysterious tone.

'Special arangement?' Rainbow Dash repeats.

Pressing two toes of her claw together and putting it in her beak, Gilda blows her lungs empty to create a whistle that screeches over the noise of the crowd. Having heared the signal, three pegasi stop flying along with the other pegasi in the sky and rush down with a tremendous speed. Landing right between Gilda and Rainbow Dash, the two mares and a stallion in blue uniforms look up at the mare in the bubble and smile at her.

'They said that they've met you before. It wasn't hard to ask them to come down and meet you personally,' Gilda snickers.

'Th-The Wonderbolts!' Rainbow Dash yelps, joyous like a little filly to see her heroes again. 'Here to cheer for meeee?!'

'Oh... My...,' Fluttershy whispers with a red face.

Embarressed and humble about all the attention she's given, Fluttershy looks down at the ground and breathes rapidly. She's never been a mare that could handle attention, especially not from a crowd that excist out of all the ponies in Equestria. But when she suddenly sees a red hoof step next to hers, she looks up at the unicorn that stands at her side.

'Sorry, Fluttershy. Your friends seemed happy enough to be in your house. Luna and I decided to keep them there as an exception,' Brush whispers at her, but loud enough to be heared over the crowd.

'Th-That's ok,' Fluttershy whispers back. 'I'm happy.'

'Just know that even though they're not here, I'm sure they are all hoping for your safe return. I hope you do understand that you're never truly alone?' he asks, worried that Fluttershy may not find the crowd convincing at all. He knows just as anypony else that Fluttershy isn't very good at making friends.

'I-I know...,' she whispers, clearly finding this occasion more scary than realization-giving. But the pegasus acts like she's fine with it, while deep down she misses her cirtter friends alot.

Brush sighs, afraid that he's not able to help her this time. Having second thoughts, the stallion wonders if he should've attempted to get a bunch off critters all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot.

But when he looks a little moody towards the cheering crowd before them, he is surprised to see how several ponies are jumping out of the way, freaked out about something that rushes from the back of the pony crowd towards the bubble.

A little anxious about what is causing the trouble, he watches closely at the hooves of the front row to see what will show itself any moment now. 'Oh, seems I missed a few,' Brush speaks surprised, noticing the critters that pop out of the crowd.

Squirrels, bunnies, hedgehogs and all kind of critters have rushed through the entire crowd, just to reach the bubble in the center. Neither Brush nor the rest of the ponies have any clue why the animals all did the effort for, but Fluttershy looks up and gasps at the critters that look up at her.

'Th-These are...' Fluttershy whispers in realization, recognizing the little animals that came all the way to see her.

The mare remembers that day of the Galloping Gala, where the critters were too scared to show themselves to her. Even though she managed to lose her temper back then, scared the critters even further and crash the Gala with her friends, they have somehow suddenly decided to move to her instead.

A little exotic bird with multiple-colored wings jumps to the bubble and picks it, never having seen something like this before. Yet, instead of being anxious about the unknown wall between them, the bird remains in front of the pegasus and looks up to her with big eyes. It makes the others come closer as well, supporting the kind pegasus' confidence.

Fluttershy feels happy, joyous to see she finally managed to get a chance to become friends with the Canterlot critters after all these months since the Gala.

'They seem to like you, Fluttershy,' Brush tells her and smiles. He didn't forsee or planned any of this, but sure is glad that it turns out in the cheer-up Fluttershy needed so badly.

The pegasus has already lost focus on both Brush and the cheering crowd. Fluttershy looks happily at the tiny animals that seek for specifically her attention. Though unable to reach them from here, Fluttershy lowers herself to the eye-level of the tiny critters and presses her nose as close to the border of the bubble as she can. 'Hello there. My name is Fluttershy,' she whispers.

Brush decides to leave her be as well, knowing that the pegasus would prefer some time alone with her new friends.

Brush is about to walk up to Pinkie Pie, who has already noticed Mr. and Mrs. Cake in the front row. But when he realizes how Pinkie Pie is talking on and on about everything and nothing, he backs away slowly before he becomes dragged into another Pinkie disaster against his will.

But unlucky for him: Pinkie Pie turns around, having noticed the stallion's specific presence behind her. 'Ah! That's Brushy! Hey Brushy!' she cheers and waves at him.

'Eh, hey.' he mumbles over his shoulder and turns around quickly, trying to walk away again.

Just when Brush believes to be safe again, he suddenly feels a tug on his tail, pulling him back with a surprisingly lot of strength. The red unicorn looks around and sees how Pinkie Pie hurried up to him and pulls him towards the Cake's with her.

'This is Brushy! He's our new friend!' she gleefully tells the two ponies as she drops the stallion's flank back on the ground. 'Brushy? Have you met Mr. and Mrs. Cake yet?'

'The name is BRUSH...,' he mumbles and pulls himself back up from the ground. 'And -eh- we have seen each other before, yea...'

The tension between the ponies feels little awkward, considering Brush's strict attitude to force the couple to Canterlot. Even the Cakes don't know what to say to him, while they have already figured that Brush' intentions were forceful for a reason. Pinkie Pie on the other hoof has no clue about it, including the fact that it was thanks to Brush that she got to go back to Sugercube Corner.

'There was this big frosty mare that turned us all into popcicles and left us as icy statues like that! Then Brushy showed up and unfroze us, followed by getting us here!' Pinkie Pie summarizes, only to repeat it again in much more detail.

The red unicorn has little plan to continue to stand with the pink mare and the Cake couple, knowing that she's probably the most cheered-up pony of the seven that wouldn't let him escape knowingly. Waiting for the right moment, he waits when the earth pony is completely absorbed in her own story, allowing him to sneak away before she drags him again. He has a better place to be right now: The side of Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight Sparkle is in deep conversation with the four ponies in front of her, being her parents, brother and sister-in-law. Overjoyed to see her beloved family again, the purple mare savors every second of their reunion. She doesn't realize that Brush heads over to her, being too deep in her story about what has happened to her and her relief to see her parents, her brother Shining Armor and his wife Princess Cadence again. It is when her family looks up that she realizes that somepony is behind her.

'Ah, Spectrum Brush. Glad to see you're ok too,' Shining Armor greets him, alerting Twilight of the red stallion's presence.

Brush smiles, glad to hear a welcome like that from the Captain of the Royal Guards. 'Thank you, Shining Armor. Good to see you are well. I'm glad that it all worked out to handle his many ponies in one place,' he says back at the white stallion outside.

'-Hehe- Well, I admit I was sceptical about your plan. But I'm glad it's not something I and the guards couldn't handle,' the white unicorn gladly admits.

Twilight switches her look from Brush to her brother and back, surprised to see that the two stallions seem to know each other prety well. 'You know each other?' she asks them, just to be sure.

Princess Cadence nods with a smile. 'Well... We learned about Spectrum Brush's story when things were about to go sour. We discussed alongside Princess Celestia and Princess Luna with him about what he and the princess were secretly doing in the Frozen North the past months and his plan to bring an entire population into this city. So we sort of know each other thanks to that,' the princess explains.

'Really? I mean... I know Brush well enough that he would be stupid enough to keep all crucial info to himself...,' Twilight mumbles, simply saying what she thinks out loud.

'-Cough- Thanks, Twilight,' the stallion coughs sarcastic.

'So... you were all aware of this? This entire time you knew, without telling us?'

'We're sorry, Twilight... We wanted to, but we also shared Spectrum Brush's idea on keeping you in the dark up till now...,' the alicorn princess apologizes, feeling bad for it.

'Well... Aslong as you're all honest with me now: What else did you discuss about Trixie?' Twilight asks, painfully forgiving them by not going further about their silent treatment.

All ponies look surprised by Twilight's claims, which couldn't possibly be truth. Only Spectrum Brush knows what she's talking, but acts along like he's surprised as well.

'Who's Trixie?' Shining Armor asks, not knowing about the crazy mare at all.

'Eh? ...Wait,' Twilight mumbles, a little overthrown by the fact that her brother or anypony else hasn't even heard about Trixie.

Before she could even correct herself, Twilight feels a hoof poke her on her shoulder. 'Twilight? A quick word?' Brush asks for a moment between them two, stepping a bit back from the edge of the bubble to speak in private with her. Twilight follows him and listens to what he wants to say, leaving her family behind at the bubble in curiosity of what this is all about.

'You're right about that I keep info back sometimes for reasons I deem rightful personally... I didn't tell them about that Trixie,' the red unicorn whispers in her ear, unabling anypony else from hearing it. 'As far as they know: Only Luna and I were a team and accidenly unleashed Lady Fame into Equestria. I suspect Princess Celestia knows better... but as it turns out she seems to agree with us to keep silent about her involvement.'

'Huh? Why would you do that? What good does it do if everypony thinks Fame is responsible, while it's Trixie?' the mare whispers back, a tad bitter about the stallion's chosen actions. 'Why would you protect Trixie?'

Brush grunts and turns his look down at the ground, noticably uncertain about his reasons and intentions. But Twilight already has a slight suspicion, though hard to believe it for real. But taking the stallion's personality in account, his intentions are somewhat obvious to her.

'...You're still hoping that she could turn herself around, don't you?' Twilight speculates.

Brush sighs and nods, as if he's done a bad thing he regrets. '...Nopony deserves to be shunned by everyone... Not even a fool like her. She may have become insane by power, but I still can't bring myself to bring out somepony as a monster,' he mumbles, unsure what Twilight would say about his action.

'Brush... The Trixie you knew the past months was nothing but a cover from her real self... the Trixie you befriended was not the real Trixie,' Twilight carefully brings to him, not wanting to make him feel bad about his best intentions.

'I know.. I know...,' he sighs. 'Stupid as it may be, I can't help but think that she could become the Trixie I once knew, once she has found her own realizations.'

No matter how anypony can look at it: His action is called "Keeping information behind," which isn't the most honorable thing to do. Twilight always thought Brush hated Trixie for what she did to him, them, and everypony else. But when she thinks about it more carefully, considering they are not like that vengeance-driven Trixie, Twilight knows that Brush has done the right thing. He went through a same experience, though Brush never intended to harm anypony. It still doesn't leave out the possiblity that the power corrupts a pony, something only Brush, Luna and Trixie could possibly know.  

The mare sighs, feeling urged to admit to the minor chance that Trixie CAN turn herself around. 'Alright, Brush... I trust you,' she mutters, supporting him whatever he has in store.

The stallion looks up at the mare and smiles, causing her to smile as well. Just like he promised the mares just now, Twilight has promised him that he won't have to do anything by his lonely self now. 'Thank you, Twilight,' he whispers.

'-Ehum-' the white stallion coughs, ruining the two ponies' moment of agreement.'

'S-Sorry. Everything is fine now,' Twilight apologizes, believing to have kept her family silent for long enough now.

'Aaanyway... we wanted to thank you, Brush. Nopony must forget the trials you've overcome to get this far,' Shining Armor says and nods, saying what everypony thinks.

Brush chuckles, feeling a little strange to receive a compliment about it now. 'I-It was nothing, really,' he shrugs humbly. 'Twilight and her friends are the real heroes. I'm merely a stallion that helped them in the right direction.'

'You truly can't see what you have done... can you? Have you ever stopped to think what would've happened if you hadn't done what you did?' Cadence speaks to him, trying to persuade the stallion in understanding what heroic deeds he has done for everypony.

'I...I HAVE though about what would've happened if I hadn't done what I did... But still... Fame would've never been around now if it wasn't for me!' he tells them, only looking back at the bad things that happened.

'He's really as humble as you said, Twily,' Twilight's brother whispers in her ear through the bubble.

'I know, right?' Twilight sighs with a smile, finding Brush's humble personality still something that will always be part of him no matter what.

'It's inspiring, really. He's gone as far for you as I would for Cadance,' he whispers further with a grin on his face.  

'Yea, he defi-' she wanted to agree, but stops when she realizes some possible hidden meaning behind her brother's words. '... What are you implying, big brother?'

'Nothing, nothing...,' the white unicorn says and rolls with his eyes. 'I'm just saying that he's a nice guy who may remind me a just a little of you...'

'Shining... If you're trying to joke with what I'm think you're joking with...,' she hisses at him, trying to keep her words from reaching the red stallion's ears.

'No joke,' Shining Armor says and nods. 'I Just have to admit that you two would make a cute couple.'

That sentence was not something she prepared herself for, even though she knows her brother all too well. With an apple-red face she turns around to the grinning white stallion.

'Sh-Shut up!' she gasps with a blushing face. In an attempt to shut her big brother up, she tries to jam her hoof against his mouth. But thanks to the bubble around her and her friends, she can't even get close to him.

Brush looks a little puzzled at the two siblings: One snickering and the other being angry. Twilight turns around to look at her friend with her blushing face, with her hoof still pressed on the sphere. Shining Armor looks up as well and merely shrugs, acting like he has no idea what Twilight is so worked up about. Twilight fears that the stallion, who's trained himself to survive in the wild for so long, may have overheard them.

'I-It's not what it's like...,' she gasps.

'It's ok, Twilight. I understand,' he assures her and smiles.

'Y-Y-You do?' she whispers, blushing as much to the point that she's almost as red as the stallion next to her.

'Yea. I know you want to be with your family right now. But we can't take this bubble down yet, or we'll be sent back instantaneously. Ofcourse I understand that you'd like a familyhug together. I'm sorry about it,' he apologizes to her, feeling bad about not being able to help her.

Like snow in the sun; Twilight's worries vanish, completely relieved that this awkward moment ends now. Her face slowly becomes back to its original purple color, which she rubs clean from any sweatdrops that may have escaped through her skin by the tension.

'He apologized for something as little as that. He really is humble, isn't he?' Shining whispers to her sister again.

'You're going to regret this joke, bro...,' she hisses at the snickering stallion on the other side of the sphere, glaring out in provocation.

'You may not see it yourself, Spectrum Brush... But everypony else does,' Cadence tells him.

Brush looks back up at the alicorn and shakes his head. 'I dunno... All I did was set things right,' he tells them.

'Yet, you've gone this far to allow us all to see them all again. It means alot to everypony,' Shining Armor assures him and nods, respecting the work that the stallion has done for them. 'But if we can't convince you about the simply truth... Maybe THEY can.'

The couple stands aside, making way for the ponies that waited behind them for the right moment. Brush looks curiously at the two ponies that approach them: A brown stallion with a short spiky black mane, and a light-orange mare with a long red mane hanging along her face. The young stallion's breath halts, not having expected the presence of the two ponies that walk up to him.

'Brush? Is that really you?' the mare whispers, praying in her head that her eyes are not lying.

Twilight looks the couple and back her friend, surprised of his reaction. 'What’s the matter?' she asks him.

'My parents…,' Brush gasps.

The couple smiles at him along with a sparkle in their eyes, overjoyed to see the son they haven't seen for more than a year again. Slowly, without any words spoken yet, the couple walks to the bubble. Brush is unable to say anything by the surprise, choking in his own words.

A little tear escapes from the mare's eyes, overjoyed to recognize her grown son. 'It really is you...,' she whispers.

Twilight looks with big eyes of surprise along with her friends at the three ponies, none having expected to see the parents of their friend at this point. But what surprised them ever further is that the stallion is a unicorn, while the mare is a pegasus.

'So that’s why you and Dusty are…,' Twilight whispers.

'Brush…,' the mare whispers with tears in her eyes. 'I can't tell you how proud we are... We always believed you would land on your own hooves, no matter what you would've decided to become in life. But when your father and I heared about what you did for all these ponies here in Canterlot...,' she sobs, unable to finish her sentence.

'Mom… I-I-,' Brush stutters, unable to complete the sentence he wants to say.

'We knew that you would take the right path, son…,' the older stallion speaks. 'You should be more than proud about yourself! We knew you'd return one day, safe and sound!'

'But dad... I'm just one stallion who made wrong and right decisions...,' Brush tells him.

'Ah, I've heared enough! We ALL make wrong and right decisions! But the right decisions you made, son, are more important to Equestria than anypony could ever make! Pfoe!' he proudly tells his son, almost forcing him to look at himself in the mirror once in a while and only look back at what he did right. The stallion sounds confident and overjoyed, along with a little disciplinary, but even he has a hard time holding his tears in his head. 'Open your ears, son! If you do: you'll hear the fruitation of your actions! Everypony else seems to be proud of you too! Just listen to that crowd around you!'

Brush looks up around the crowd, realizing that everypony isn’t only cheering for The Mane Six now. The eyes of the ponies are suddenly all aimed at the red stallion; who sacrificed so much in order to prevent and save Equestria from chaos.'

'BRUSH! BRUSH! BRUSH!' the crowd continues to chant together, cheering for the stallion that made all of this possible.

Brush fights for harmony, rescued the Mane Six two times now. And on top of that: He personally made sure that everypony in Equestria would find safety inside the walls of Canterlot. His presence is just as valuable as the six mares, even if he may not realize it himself.

He looks shocked around him, hearing the cheers from all around him. He was never able to convince himself of his deeds, yet has no choice now that he can hear the entire population scream out his name in respect. 'Are... Are they cheering for... me?' he whispers, looking with wide eyes around him.

The five mares behind him turn around and walk up to him, chanting his name along with the entire crowd. Twilight smiles and nod at him, followed by chanting along. From the looks of his eyes and his twitchy smile, Twilight believes that the stallion finaly understands his value to everypony: A hero.

'They’re right, Spectrum Brush. If it weren’t for you, Equestria may have fallen to the chaos of Lady Fame,' a serene voice speaks to him, coming from the white alicorn that approaches the sphere.

Brush quickly bows for the princess, humble to her presence. 'P-Princess Celestia!' he gasps.

Celestia chuckles at his behavior and shakes her head. The royal alicorn is fully aware of Brush' humble nature. 'Rise, Spectrum Brush. Stand up and be proud,' she tells him. 'Your deeds of the past months have all been in good reason. You aided the Mane Six in recovering their friendship and you even set the steps to turn the bad situation into good. I commend you to your bravery and intelligence,' she compliments him.

Brush feels completely rejuvenated. All his effort for redemption suddenly feel much more rewarding than he thought it would be. If the crowd, his friends, his parents, and even princess herself tells him to be proud, who is he to dissagree?

Celestia steps forward, only a meter away from the rim of the hologram. 'Mane 6! For a long time you have saved Equestria with your power of Friendship from many fiends that threatened our lives! Our gratitude knows no bounds! And therefor it will now be Equestria that will help you! Use the friendship we all share with you, and banish this evil from Equestria!' her voice echoes throughout Canterlot. The princess' blessing to them gives confidence, making them feel ready for the final confrontation.

'Hey Twily-' Shining Armor speaks from behind the princess. 'You make an older brother proud for everything you have done and do. We are all here to support you. Don’t forget that, ok?'

Twilight shakes her head and smiles, living up to his promise. 'I won’t, big brother…'

'Twilight! Hey, Twilight!' a voice calls out to them.

Twilight looks up surprised when a small figure tries to squeeze himself through the crowd, coughing and panting from the effort it took to go through it.

'Sorry I'm a little late..,' the dragon coughs between his rapid breaths.

'SPIKE! You’re alright!' Twilight cries out happily. She tries to rush up to him, forgetting that there's an invisible wall between them to which she bumps into. The mare leans on the inner sphere as her eyes become wet from tears as she looks at her missing assistant.

'Of course I’m alright! Brush and Princess Luna asked me personally to gather everypony here! I'm basically the only guy around that knows all your aquantances out of his head!' he jokes, carefree as ever.

She only hears half of his words, completely overthrown and relieved to see Spike in safety. Forcing herself for control over her emotions, Twilight rubs in her eyes to stop crying, forcing herself to be ready to take on Trixie this time. 'I'm... happy...,' she whispers.

'Kgh......,' Luna grunts, growing tired of keeping the spell up.

Brush notices it, realizing that their time is cutting short. 'It's time to go... We'll see you all in a bit!' he shouts, ready to be warped back to the crater.

The six mares nod and stand ready, expecting to see the madmare once more and stop her from terrorizing Equestria.

'Ready as ever,' Applejack says and nods.

'L-Let's do it...,' Fluttershy whispers, but with a smile on her face.

'Let's show her!' Rainbow Dash laughs, pumped for action.

'For Equestria!' Pinkie Pie cheers.

'I'm not afraid!' Rarity proudly shouts.

Twilight nods at her friends. 'Because I know-'

'-I'm not alone!' Brush completes.

The sparks around Luna's horn die with a fizzle as she collapses from exhaustion. Like an implosion, the hologram of the seven ponies die with the spell. With a burst of lightning, the seven ponies vanish in a flash, back to the crater. Leaving the crowd behind with both worry and confidence, they continues to stand together in silence and wait until it's all over.

Luna gasps exhausted, drained from all her energy from keeping this hologram up all this time. Celestia put her hoof on Luna’s back and smiles. 'Did... Did I do ok?' Luna asks tired.

'You did wonderful, little sister,' Celestia proudly whispers. 'The rest is up to them now.'

***

Back in the crater, Trixie lies in the dirt, waiting impatiently as she stares aimlessly at the purple bubble in front of her. She has no idea how long it will take for it to break down by itself, but feels like she's able to wait for an eternity. If that is what's needed to take out Spectrum Brush and Twilight Sparkle, she gladly accepts it.

When suddenly cracks start to appear on the ball, Trixie looks up with wide eyes, knowing that the time has come. Quickly, the blue alicorn stands back up. The cracks continue to spread, until it's gone all around the orb. When smoke starts to leave through them, the sphere explodes in a wave of smoke. Trixie doesn't even close her eyes, staring impatiently at the smoke as a grin appears on her face. Seven figures appear from the fading smoke.

'At last... you have returned...,' she hisses at them. 'I hope you took this oppertunaty to bid your farewells to your loved ones... Because this is where it all ends!'

The ponies continue to stand defiantly against the madmare, not afraid of her anymore.

Brush looks next to him at the purple mare. 'Twilight… You know that this distance has no meaning anymore. We all know that we are never alone, and that litterarly everypony is rooting out for us! When we defeat Trixie, we can all go back home with all our friends and beloved ones!'

'Brush…,' Twilight whispers, noticing the change in Brush's behaviour.

Brush was once a victim: A young stallion with a lot of unprocessed emotions. And yet now he’s here to inspire them and aid them in a battle that once seemed impossible. And they all know one thing: They WILL win.

'Mane 6, Friends, It’s time to end this story with a happy ending!' he shouts, ready to take on everything that will come their way.

They all stand ready for round #2, with more faith in victory than ever before.