Ash/Noctus, Rainbow Dash, and Gale materialized in the middle of the upper viewing platform and were quickly greeted by the other ponies waiting there for them. Rainbow dismissed all concerns for her well-being with her typical bravado, and the six Element Bearers drew off to the side to discuss strategy. Meanwhile, Heart, Soul, and Gale were looking at the black-coated, smoke-maned alicorn that was supposedly their friend and de facto team leader with a mixture of worry and anger. Gale put her mouth dangerously close to the trigger of her Gel Launcher and said, “If you hadn’t pulled me and Dash out of there, I’d suspect you’ve turned to Thamule again.”

“Thamule was a duplicate,” Soul and Ash both said at the same time.

“I wasn’t talking about that one,” Gale clarified. “Actually, I have a stronger suspicion that we’re looking at the Nightmare using Ash’s body.”

“You’re partially correct,” Princess Luna cut in, giving Ash/Noctus a hard look. “Ashen Blaze and the Nightmare agreed to work as one to gather all of you so we may put an end to the Changeling threat. Although, I am not sure I can fathom what the Nightmare could gain from such an agreement.” Her expression turned the last statement into command for Ash to educate her.

“Perspective,” Ash said cryptically, and then looked up at the dark barrier hiding the group and the damaged Lirin from Changeling eyes. “We’re still not finished, and every second wasted means more damage to life and property out there among ou- your subjects.” Luna narrowed her eyes, and Ash ducked his head slightly. “Sorry. A minor slip of the tongue there,” he said.

Luna did not appear convinced, but then Twilight came over to inform her and the Order-naries the Elements of Harmony were ready, and so she let the subject go for the moment. Luna and Twilight brought the barrier down until it only covered the Lirin, and then Luna walked to the edge of the platform, took a deep breath, and bellowed in the full strength of the Royal Canterlot Voice, “Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings! We call you out to settle matters between your subjects and ours, personally! We do not fear your ill-gotten power any longer! Come out!” A great stillness settled over the whole city of Canterlot in the wake of that shout, as the fighting slowly came to stop. Only the sound a building collapsing somewhere broke the silence for several seconds, and then the buzzing of Changeling wings rose up as dozens of the Darkness-twisted bug-pony-creatures converged on the platform and landed in a large ring around the twelve ponies.

“I don’t think the plan is such a good idea anymore,” Fluttershy said, trying to hide behind her friends. “Maybe we should just run away and come up with a different plan?”

“Well how rude of you, asking me to come up here and then just leaving.” Everypony turned toward the castle side of the platform to see Chrysalis stepping through the ring of Changelings, accompanied by one of the oversized tank-like Changelings. The black stone lodged in her hoof made her gait slightly uneven, but she still carried herself with royal condescension and poise. Fluttershy squeaked and shrank back a bit more, but held her position near the other five Element Bearers.

Ash looked around the tableau, and then nodded with a satisfied smile on his face. “The pieces are positioned,” he said in a low, quiet voice. “Mate in four moves or less.” The smoke of his mane and tail swirled around him and he vanished from the platform, much to everyone’s shock and consternation.

“Hmm,” Chrysalis said after glancing around quickly for some sort of trick. “Well then, Princess Luna, you said you wanted to settle matters I believe? Knowing you ponies and your admirable yet annoying tenacity, I assume you aren’t going to surrender?”

“No, we are not,” Luna said firmly, lowering her horn.

“Good,” Chrysalis said. “I intended to take your country by force, and turn your power against you like you did to me.” She gestured with a hoof and the Changeling tank charged the group.

“It can throw your spells back at you!” Twilight warned as Luna started casting a spell. The blue alicorn faltered in uncertainty, but Soul Mage started running at the giant himself, horn glowing ethereal blue.

“Let’s see how you like this then!” he said, lashing out a tendril that hit the Changeling’s head just at the base of the horn. Soul tried to pull the tendril back, but it refused to come out, and he found himself hauled off his hooves as he tried to veer around the chitin-covered bulk and dragged along behind it. The ponies were forced to scatter to avoid being run down, and Gale fired off a Magebane gel just before she leaped out of the way. The beige-yellow gel splattered into both of the Changeling tank’s eyes and it ran several more feet before stumbling and crashing to the ground. Soul’s spirit tendril finally came free and rapidly withdrew into his horn once he and the Changeling stopped moving, and he lay moaning faintly in pain. Heart and Gale ran over to check on him while Twilight and the rest regrouped, keeping an equal number of eyes on Chrysalis and the unmoving tank.

“How did that happen?” Heart asked, glaring back at Chrysalis. “How’d my brother get hooked like that? No matter how much dark energy you use, you can’t just grab a Spiriter’s soul with just one Element.”

“You mean this?” Chrysalis asked with amusement, raising the leg that the stone was imbedded in. “Did you really think I was using only its power? It’s merely supplementing my swarm’s natural abilities. We Changelings are very good at adapting. Although it seems I can’t quite ignore your weapons yet,” she added, looking at Gale.

“Enough talk,” Twilight said. “Let’s hit it, girls.” The Elements of Harmony began to glow, and a beam of light shot out from each necklace to gather at the gem in Twilight’s tiara. Chrysalis sneered and tried to interrupt them with a dark bolt from her Gem, but Celestia blocked the attack with a conjured shield and a smug shake of her head. Once fully charged, the Elements of Harmony released their power in a spherical wave of rainbow light that washed over the recoiling Changeling Queen effortlessly and brushed all the darkness out of Canterlot. In its wake, the Changelings surrounding the platform either vanished or keeled over, and Chrysalis herself had fallen to her knees, her eyes and carapace returned to their normal coloration. Panting heavily, Chrysalis looked around the platform in horror, but then looked herself over and smiled dangerously.

“That’s it?” she asked with a laugh. “That’s the fabled power of the Elements of Harmony? What a joke.” With that, she stood up and held out her left front leg, showing that the Gem of Darkness was still wedged into one of the holes. The Gem glowed purple-black and darkness spread across the platform again, reviving the Changelings as it touched them.

“Twilight?” Gale asked nervously, looking to the lavender alicorn even as she aimed her Gel Launcher at Chrysalis.

Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all looked worried as well, but Twilight remained calm, her eyes cool and calculating. “I guess we need a direct approach,” she said. “Are you still with me?” she asked, looking at each of her friends in turn. Inspired by her confidence, they each nodded and their necklaces started to glow again. This time, the lights from the six Elements came together into a rainbow beam that arced toward Chrysalis. Smirking, Chrysalis unleashed a magic beam of her own – sickly green and purple-black light twisting together and meeting the rainbow halfway. Gale mouthed the trigger of her launcher anxiously as the conflicting beams pushed back and forth, but eventually the Elements of Harmony won out, the beam dividing into its component colors to wrap around Chrysalis’s magic and consume it. The six beams then reached Chrysalis herself and bound her horn, wings, and legs, forcibly extending the left-front leg out in front of her. “Go, Gale!” Twilight shouted. “Shut it down.”

“Oh, gladly,” Gale said, aiming at the Gem with an evil-looking grin. She pulled the trigger and the launcher coughed out a blast of air, but no gel went flying through the air. Gale gave the reloading mechanism a kick and cocked an ear, frowning at what she heard. “Grr, I must have miscounted somehow… I’m out of ammo!”

“Leave it to me then,” Heart shouted, leaping from her brother’s side into a fast glide that ended with a buck to Chrysalis’s nose. “That’s for Soul,” she said, and then gripped the Gem of Darkness between her front hooves and pulled, bracing against the Changeling Queen’s outstretched leg. Dark magic energy lashed at her legs, face, and belly, but she refused to relent until, with screams from both her and Chrysalis, the Gem came loose and Heart tumbled backward to the ground. “Alright now, stop!” she growled commandingly, and the Gem obliged by ceasing to glow. One or two of the Changelings that remained on the platform evaporated with the overhanging shadows and the remainder keeled over again. Chrysalis let out a mournful buzz and went limp, held up only by the restraints created by the Elements of Harmony.

Twilight ended the spell, letting Chrysalis drop, and heaved a weary sigh. “It’s over,” she said grimly. “Is she… Are the Changelings dead?”

Celestia cast a spell that swept over the whole platform, and then shook her head. “They all live, but just barely,” she said.

A weak, angry buzz from Chrysalis confirmed the alicorn’s words, and Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Gale gathered around to hear her speak. “You’ve as good as killed us,” she said in a raspy voice. “I can barely hear just a small number of my Changelings. The rest, hundreds of my children, you’ve killed. I hope you’re happy.”

“You brought it on yourself,” Gale said. “Fighting with no quarter given; and most of your army was so completely overcome by the element of Darkness that they became mere extensions of it. You’re lucky there are any survivors.” Chrysalis’s eye glittered with rage, but then went dull and rolled back into her head before she could unleash it.

“Aw, I missed the final climatic moment,” a disappointed voice said from the entrance to the platform. Everypony turned to see Ashen Blaze, back to his normal grey-coated, red-and-orange-maned, non-winged unicorn self walking over to them. A large sealed flask containing a moving shadow speckled with starlight floated in a bubble of his magic near his right shoulder.

“Ash!” Rarity exclaimed, galloping over to grab him in a tight hug. She then began to shake him mercilessly, ranting, “You had me scared half to death, you terrible colt! Forming a pact with the Nightmare and not bothering to tell me; I had to find out from Twilight! Although I really should’ve guessed when you showed up looking that way… But never mind that! How dare you go and leave us right before the fighting started?! We could have used you! At least you’re back to normal, right? Don’t scare me like that ever again!” She hugged him again, sniffling.

“S-sorry, Rarity,” Ash said awkwardly. “But from the looks of things, you didn’t really need…” he trailed off as he saw Soul Mage, all scraped up and bruised from being dragged across the platform and giving the ash-grey unicorn a glare that promised intense pain. Ash sighed and brought the flask forward. “Look,” he said, “I had to hold Noctus to her word that she’d go back to living in a flask once the Elements of Harmony were reunited and ready to fight Chrysalis. I trusted you all could handle things without me for a little while, and it was obviously well-placed. Now quit giving me that look, Soul. You know how I am with mind control.”

Soul snorted. “Sorry, but I’m not so willing to trust your indomitable will in this world, after what Discord did to you.”

Ash let his eyes and ears fall. “Eh, point,” he allowed, cowed.

“Lack of common sense and courtesy aside,” Princess Celestia said with faint amusement, “I say you’ve performed admirably today Ash. You overcame setbacks to bring the scattered Elements together, and recaptured the Nightmare as well.”

“Yeah, good job with not turning evil again,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Thanks,” Ash said dryly, finally extracting himself gently from Rarity’s embrace. “So, now what? Where exactly do we stand now?”

“We’re on the upper viewing platform of Canterlot Castle, silly,” Pinkie Pie said with a giggle. Everyone except the Princesses and Fluttershy gave her a flat look. Unfazed, Pinkie chattered on, making a more serious list. “We stopped the Changeling invasion, saved the city, and took the Chaotic Gem of Creepy Dark Nastiness away from Chrysalis. That means we need to do something about the surviving Changelings, maybe help clean up Canterlot a little, somepony should probably check on Discord, and we need figure out where the Bipersonality Team went so we can give them the Gem.”

“Yes,” Celestia said slowly, “thank you for reminding me about Discord, Pinkie.” She trotted to the edge of the platform and spread her wings for take-off. Before she could take to the air, however, a pegasus of the Royal Guard ran out from the castle and threw a quick salute, breathing heavily.

“Your pardon, you Highnesses,” he said. “We’ve started securing the castle, and found the communication mirror from the Crystal Empire has been active for some time. I think it may be urgent.”

“Go see to Discord, sister,” Luna said to Celestia. “I will see to this matter.” Celestia nodded and flew off toward the commercial district while Luna followed the guard inside.

“Hey guys,” Heart said, holding out the Gem, “are we absolutely sure this is the Gem of Darkness? It’s not an amethyst. It’s… I’m not even sure what it is, to be honest.”

“Let me see it,” Rarity said. Heart tossed the black stone over and Rarity scrutinized it closely. “I do believe this may be an opal,” she said at last, “although I’ve never seen one so… uncolorful. I dare say its magic is to blame.”

“If it isn’t the Dark Gem, it’s a darn good replica,” Ash said. “The only element it’s focusing is Darkness, and that to a degree equal to other Gems we’ve seen since the Bipersonality Team showed up. I guess their set isn’t quite parallel to Tau’rin’s after all.”

More Royal Guards started to emerge from the castle groups of three or four and went about tying up Queen Chrysalis and the remaining Changelings and carrying them away, presumably to the dungeons or a secured infirmary. Princess Celestia returned with Discord floating lazily behind her licking an ice cream cone that happened to be colored the exact same way as Celestia’s mane. The Element Bearers and Order-naries finally started to relax, until Ash remembered his ship and started fretting again. Twilight obligingly removed the cloaking shield at his insistence, and then Applejack joined the two of them in doing a double-take. The Lirin looked pristine, its hull completely free of any holes, dents, or even minor scratches.

“How’d the…” Ash said, dumbfounded, and then gave the command to open in a cautiously experimental tone. The hatch opened and flipped down smoothly and Ash raced inside, followed closely by Twilight and the other Order-naries. “PC, status report,” Ash said, looking around indecisively.

“Welcome back, sirrah,” the computer droned in its usual quasi-sarcastic monotone. “I am pleased to report that all ship systems and essential parts are, at the minimum, 110% of the last established requirements for optimal status. All the original parts are as if fresh from the assembly lot, and the various replacements and upgrades by Maesi, Gale, and… others are likewise in superior condition.”

“How?!” Ash exclaimed. “It was on the verge of the scrapheap a minute ago, thanks to the Changelings!”

“I think this may be my doing,” Twilight said slowly. “Or the Elements of Harmony, rather. It took me two tries to find the right way to stop her and the Dark Gem. The first try was a spell meant to restore everything in range to the way it was meant to be. I was counting on the Gem having a more profound effect on Chrysalis’s nature than it actually did.”

“Changelings are adaptive,” Heart said dryly.

“And the Elements of Harmony are mind-blowingly impressive,” Gale said appreciatively. “Except, with the amount of magic these kind of repairs would need…” She ran into the cargo area and started rifling through compartments. “Argh, I knew it,” she called out sourly after a moment. “The spell overwhelmed the insulation. There’s not a speck of usable Magebane left in here.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, cringing. “Sorry Gale.”

“Don’t worry about it Twi,” Gale said as she came back to the group. “Most of my stockpile’s back home, and I can always make more.”

“Ah, but whatever shall you do in the meantime?” Ash asked playfully.

“You, shut up,” Gale snapped, hiding a smile.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Luna’s voice drifted in from outside. “Ash, everypony, I have news of the Bipersonality Team.”

“Well that’s convenient,” Soul drawled as he and the others exited the ship. “Let me guess: they’re in the Crystal Empire, wherever that is.”

“Correct,” Luna said. “Princess Cadance informed me they arrived a few hours ago and made a poor attempt to pass themselves off as you, Ash, and Gale. After getting an apology for that, Cadance gave them a Chaotic Gem that was found near the Empire, and at this very moment they’re locked in mortal combat with their enemy, Vanatos.”

“Wha- Already?” Heart asked. “They should be short two Gems though: this one and either the Aether or Fire Gem.”

“I’m willing to bet the dread Vanatos has the last Gem,” Ash said. “After all, he’s handed out two or three of them to others already.”

“How do you figure three?” Twilight asked. “We only know about him giving the Topaz to Discord and the Opal to Chrysalis.”

“And do you really think Trixie’s insane stalker just happened to find the Emerald and figured out how to make a giant golem with it by himself?” Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Now that you mention it, no,” Twilight said.

“I think we should probably get a move on, guys,” Heart said, tilting her head toward the Lirin. “I’d rather we don’t have to see another major city, empire, whatever, get half-demolished by fighting.”

“Cadance assured me that Vanatos is incapable of passing through the Crystal Empire’s perimeter wards,” Luna said. “Nevertheless, I agree that you make haste. There’s a good chance the Bipersonality Team may be tiring from prolonged battle.”

“Right,” Ash said seriously. “Point the way, and the Lirin will get us there. Unless teleporting’s an option,” he added, looking to Twilight.

“That’s too far even with the Elements,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Just follow the main rail line to the north. You can’t miss it.”