Princesses of Equestria

Chapter 35: The Silent Realm

They'd failed her. She'd needed them, and they had failed her.

Too slow to help, the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony dragged themselves to Spike and Fluttershy, congregating near the smoldering pit that their Princess, their leader, their friend, had plunged into. Through it, an empty sky went on forever. Even as they watched, even as Spike hung over the edge, one tiny scaled arm stretched into nothingness, the portal began closing.

Silhouetted against its grey, static-tinged flames, Rainbow Dash stomped the ash-covered ground, slumped, and buried her face in her hooves.

"Princess Sparks ... I should've helped ... I promised Celestia and Luna I'd ..." She stomped again, but there was no vigor left in it, or in the rest of a body weighed down by anchors that were once wings. "Too late—"

"It is not too late!" Dragonfire flared, cutting her sobs off.

Though Spike was crying too, he didn't throw in the towel. The thing was, he'd noticed something. Where his arm hung, the banishing portal's edge quivered, unable to fully close. Reaching a decision, Spike got to his knees, braced himself, and prepared to jump in.

"Spikey!" Rarity lunged, holding him back with what little strength she had left. "Don't go in there!"

"She promised she wouldn't leave us." Though barely more than a whisper, Spike's words steamed in the air before him, holding Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash spellbound. "So I'll make a promise too, right here, right now: I won't leave her either!"

For the briefest instant, a brilliant emerald blast blotted out Queen Armonia's foul sanguine eclipse. Then, Spike's dragonfire faded, leaving him panting on the portal's brink, straining to hold it open, staring at the only ponies in Equestria still capable of saving his sister.

"Who's with me?" Quieter than before. Less certain. Traces of a sob in it.

After a moment's thought, Pinkie spoke for them all:

"You only live once."

Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rainbow joined Spike on the precipice, linked hooves, braced themselves ...

... and leapt into the Silent Realm.

At once, the unobstructed portal snapped shut behind them.

Overhead, Queen Armonia watched the only ponies in Equestria capable of threatening her consign themselves to eternal banishment.

"Madness ..." she whispered hollowly, shaken despite her victory. "Utter madness." Armonia waved at the space where the suicidal fools had stood.

"So long, my little ponies."

Then, using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, their Crown, and Queen Eponia's own Heartstone, Armonia cast a Spring Equinox spell of such potency and grandeur that it could be called nothing less than her magnum opus.

"Don't bother writing."

Absolute darkness, etched by rainbow lightning, blossomed.

In an instant, it swallowed Cadance, Shining Armor, and the rest of Armonia's cowering subjects, cutting off their screams.

A second later, it spread over plains, mountains, valleys, rivers and oceans.

In five seconds, it blanketed the world.

In five seconds, Equestria was reborn.

At last, Queen Armonia had fulfilled her destiny.