The Sparkle of Twilight

My Little Pony: The Sparkle of Twilight

Five years in the future, your little ponies reunite to stand up to a classic form of evil, and one pony’s selfless act of generosity leads to life’s ultimate lesson.

Accompanied by solemn music, the following words materialize, read by Princess Celestia: “At the conclusion of the reign of the sister princesses, their spirits ascended to reside among the stars, Equestria will meet its fate at Magic Hour, in the Sparkle of Twilight.”—from the Book of Prophecies

A series of images from the My Little Pony TV show appear on the screen.  Most of the images pass in the blink of an eye, iconic scenes from the series that feature the adventures of the major characters as well as the greater community of ponies including the Cutie Mark Crusaders and certain favorite background ponies.  The quick flipping of images occasionally holds to linger on certain moments of the Mane Six at their most character-defining or heroic best.  After one of these moments is presented, each of the Mane Six’s Cutie Marks flashes on the screen.  Rarity’s Cutie Mark is the last image shown, gradually fading as the following words light up over the image: “Many moons later…”

Twilight Sparkle enters the throne room to her castle and furtively approached the Rainbow Generator, the magical device embedded in the floor that the Mane Six use to periodically invoke a rainbow which brings feelings of friendship and good tidings to Equestria.  After looking around to make sure she’s alone, Twilight closes her eyes and lifts her hoof toward the Rainbow Generator.  Her magic begins to develop and her eyes turn white while the colors of a rainbow appear and swell from the Generator but never mature.  Twilight’s eyes narrow in concentration, but the rainbow bubbles and explodes, knocking her over along with a couple of the thrones, and floods the room with rainbow liquid.

Flash Sentry bursts through the doors.  “Not again,” he says.  “You know you can’t cast a rainbow all by yourself.  Your magic has become so strong, but there are still some things you need your friends for.”  Twilight laments that she’s unable to unleash the power of the rainbow, which binds all of Equestria together in the bonds of friendship it creates.  It’s been too long since all of her friends were together to make this happen.  “If only it took one pony to summon the rainbow,” she says, “or if there was a way to amplify my magic.”  Flash reassures her that her friends will be together again soon, and that nopony seems worse for the delay.  “The sun is shining and Rainbow Dash has chased all the clouds away.  Get out of the castle and see for yourself.”  Twilight takes his advice.

The sun shines bright in Ponyville over blue skies as the movie opens with a song sung by Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Spike.  In human time, about five years have passed, and while the ponies look exactly the same, Spike has grown to the size of a teenage dragon.  When he sings, we first see him from the neck down, but the camera adjusts by rising and panning out to properly frame his new dimensions.

The theme of the song is “Can’t wait to come together after going so far.”  The words refer to a reunion of the Mane Six since Pinkie Pie and Rarity are currently out of town, while also indicating the mostly successful developments of the ponies’ lives since we last saw them.  In a montage we see how Ponyville and the lives of some of the ponies have changed since we last saw them.  Twilight has had to use her magic to safeguard Ponyville from an infamous Killer Cupcake Attack, a Haymaker Riot, and other such matters.  Applejack is married to a colt named Barnaby, a builder with a barn for a cutie mark and a good sense of humor.  Big Mac has married a mare named Chatterbox and they have a baby.  With the new additions to the Apple family, Sweet Apple Acres has expanded to be more prosperous than ever.  Fluttershy is the curator of a wildlife sanctuary that she presides over with help from her boyfriend Lovechild, who has a dove for a Cutie Mark.  We see them enjoying a picnic together, a jealous Angel stewing about the attention Lovechild garnishes that was once reserved for him.

Although they’re not present for the song, the other ponies sing about Pinkie Pie and Rarity, who are seldom home in Ponyville.  Rarity is a very successful fashion designer with an apartment in Canterlot and Pinkie Pie travels due to the success of her children’s show, “Pinkie Pie’s Prodigious Party Hour.”

During the course of the song, one particular pony, a mare with an early model airplane for a cutie mark, makes a ubiquitous presence in the background.  White with a short red mane, she appears good-natured and unassuming, merely observing with enjoyment.  However, the camera zooms in on her when she’s around, accompanied by sinister music (i.e. “dun dun DUN…”), which seems to contrast with the joyful expression usually on her face.

While five of the six main ponies look forward to their reunion with excitement, Rainbow Dash expresses less enthusiasm.  Her bitter words to the song are, “Together again, after going nowhere.”  After leaving Ponyville for an earned spot among the Wonderbolts, Ponyville lost control over the weather.  We see a glimpse of a soaked Fluttershy with a black cloud raining over her head.  Due to Rainbow’s sense of loyalty, she left the Wonderbolts to return to controlling the weather over Ponyville.

Spike shares the grimmer version of the lyrics with Rainbow because he feels like his current situation puts him in a similar rut.  A contrast from the optimistic pop sound of the song when the other ponies sing it, their version is more savage and aggressive.  Spike feels out of place living among the ponies, especially with Twilight Sparkle increasingly involved with princess business and not needing his help.  He’s become resentful and selfish, and reverting to his instincts of a dragon, has gone back to stealing and hoarding.  With his first 100-year nap looming, he’s looking to pick a fight with the ponies, subconsciously or not.  He resents how Twilight Sparkle checks his room at the castle to make sure he’s not hoarding, although she’s justified in doing so.

The song ends with Twilight Sparkle coming home to the castle, entering her bedroom, and curling up with a nice book.  When there’s a knock at the door, Twilight finds a guard with a message and she responds in typical custom by grabbing the letter, asking herself what it might contain, and slamming the door on his face without acknowledging him.  It’s an urgent message from Princess Celestia requesting her presence at the castle in Canterlot immediately.  In her excitement to see the princess, Twilight lightly packs and daydreams about what important task Celestia might need accomplished.  It could be yet another chance to prove her worth to the princesses.

As Spike makes his way home to the castle, he’s clearly awkward and uncomfortable in his growing teenage dragon body.  Born without wings, Applejack’s husband Barnaby had constructed a pair for Spike, but his attempts to fly result in catastrophe, as he smashes into ponies and buildings, causing destruction in his wake.  Ponies complain but he ignores them, knocking one down with his tail without an apology.  His attempts at flight resemble long bumbling leaps that don’t yield much air time, but he also seems used to these small failures.  He grumbles to himself as he knocks over a fruit stand and takes a watermelon that’s rolled up to his feet without acknowledging the pony he’s ruined.  In the aftermath, the background pony with the airplane Cutie Mark helps clean the mess.  Spike arrives at the castle just in time to see Twilight rushing off to Canterlot.  When he asks if she’ll be back to have dinner with him like they planned, she’s too far ahead to hear him.  Feeling ignored, Spike grumbles that Twilight Sparkle never thinks of him and decides he must leave Ponyville in another attempt to seek out a place for himself with his own kind, the dragons.

Spike bounds across the green pastures of Equestria in his clumsy attempts of flight when he comes across a flying contraption intersecting his path.  The ominous music plays as the camera zooms in to reveal the pilot, the pony with the airplane Cutie Mark, who seems to merrily fly by while minding her own business.  Spike marvels at the ingenuity of this flying machine and expresses his envy to the pilot, who greets him with a friendly wave and lands near Spike to chat.  The pony introduces herself as Air Heart and gives Spike helpful tips about flying, lessons about lift and drag, principles she uses in her own flying machines.  She even makes an adjustment to Spike’s wings that improve them.  While they fly together and develop a rapport, Spike says he’s looking for more dragons and expresses his insecurities about feeling left out and taken for granted by his friends in Ponyville.  Air Heart suggests that Spike shouldn’t settle for being a sidekick, and that with the proper guidance Spike can develop his own skills instead of playing second fiddle to a group of ponies who are holding him back.  In fact, Air Heart says she can introduce him to some ponies who will be much more supportive.

Air Heart sings a happy ska song about the carefree nature of flying and using one’s special talents to make life a breeze.  However, as the song progresses some of the darker elements to this point of view emerge when taken to the extreme, like putting one’s own needs ahead of others and thinking of oneself as superior.  These more nefarious elements build in the lyrics as the song progresses, in contrast to the consistency of the cheery tone of the instrumentation.  By the end of the song the horns carry on in melody while Air Heart sings about world domination.  Little does Spike know that Air Heart is a pony spy who infiltrated Ponyville to find a crack in the friendship of the Mane 6 in order to cause a rift in the magic of the Elements of Harmony.  Dun dun duuunnn….

Twilight trots along on her way to Canterville, humming the theme to the opening song on her way, then performing flips in the air while she flies.  However, her good mood turns to a more disconcerting feeling as she realizes the sun and moon have been occupying the sky together for a longer period of time than usual, holding Equestria in a state of twilight.  By the time she reaches Canterlot and passes through the silent castle, the mood is quite grim.  When she enters the throne room, she’s instructed by Princess Luna—or is it Nightmare Moon—to look upon each scene of the stained glass windows as she approaches.

Luna instructs Twilight Sparkle that each scene depicted in the glass windows , the heroic feats of her and her friends, were foretold by a sacred text.  The last pane of glass bares no illustration yet—it’s  blank.  Luna puts a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, showing her a vision in the glass of Equestria in flames.  Princess Celestia steps in and wraps her own leg around her, showing her a more optimistic vision of ponies celebrating with Twilight on their shoulders.  The sister princesses then fly to their thrones and Twilight bows to them.

“I’ve asked you here so that I may present you with a gift,” says Princess Celestia, “the very last book I’ll ever give you, and the most important thing you’ll ever read.”  Celestia gives Twilight the Book of Prophecies, and explains that it was created far before either of the sisters was born.  The contents of the book are told in riddles, and from what they have deciphered, it fortells that the end of the sisters’ reign of Equestria is coming soon.  They warn her that the book can be very dangerous if word of its contents get out, because its last words speak of Equestria meeting its fate, which could be interpreted to mean the end of the world, the Aponypacalypse.  However, there is still hope, and they believe it rests in Twilight Sparkle.  The book speaks of a “Sparkle of Twilight,” something that will happen at Magic Hour, which is the special time of day when the sun and moon both appear in the sky, just like now.

Twilight Sparkle protests, saying the sisters need to stay to rule over Equestria, but they tell her they long ago accepted this fate and are ready to move on.  They warn her that they’ve felt a chill in the air for quite some time now, an indication of an ominous threat, and that the book prophesizes a great battle for all of Equestria, one that may not be won for the side of good.  It’s a battle that the sisters may not be physically present for, or even survive, but they promise to do everything they can for the good of Equestria.  Celestia reveals that she has been grooming Princess Twilight to become the new ruler of Equestria all along.  She had a hunch Twilight Sparkle would be the successor to the throne when she first heard her name, as the Book of Prophecies does seem to reference it.  Her hunch was solidified so many moons ago when Twilight was just a filly and Celestia discovered just how powerful her magic was.  Twilight’s magic, combined with the Magic of Friendship, is much more powerful than her own ever was.  However, Celestia says there’s another pony who also has the ability to rule.

Before Twilight leaves, Celestia tells her that she’s confident all the lessons about friendship that she’s learned will give her the tools she needs to safeguard Equestria from any forces of evil.  Celestia warns Twilight not to let anypony but the Mane Six know about the impending danger, and to keep the Book of Prophecies secret, to stave off hysteria over the Aponypacalypse.  She tells Twilight to enjoy her reunion with the Mane 6, knowing that their coming together again may not be a coincidence at this crucial time, but destiny.  Twilight pleads with them that something must be done, that there has to be a way to combine all of their magic so that the sisters will never leave Equestria.  “You’ve learned many things, Twilight Sparkle,” says Princess Luna, “but you still have one more lesson to learn, to muster the confidence to lead, and inspire.”  Twilight cries out that she doesn’t want to lead, appealing directly to Celestia that she needs her and that she can’t die.  “Every life must come to an end, my little pony,” says Princess Celestia, “so that life may begin again.”

Now nighttime, Twilight reads the Book of Prophecies to herself in her bedroom.  The book explains that the Sister Princesses must reunite a dragon with his soulmate at any cost in order for Equestria to stay “in the light.”  Twilight says, “Won’t Spike be proud that one of his fellow dragons has such a vital role in saving Equestria!”  She then reads that the sisters’ mission will return them to the moon and sun and continues to deny the future departure of the princesses.  Spike returns to the castle and knocks on the door to Twilight’s bedroom.  Twilight panics when she hears the knock, asking who it is.  She looks around for a place to hide the book, but tells herself she can’t trust Spike anywhere near it, the way he’s lately been knocking things around and even stealing.  “You can’t come in right now!” Twilight calls through the door.  Spike growls at being blown off.  “Go see Rarity!” calls Twilight Sparkle.  “She just got home and could use some help unpacking.”  It’s about the only excuse Spike can accept.

At Rarity’s house, Spike’s confronted by the same shabby treatment from her.  When he knocks on the door Rarity shoos him away, saying that she’s busy, but tells him she’ll save a seat for him at Pinkie Pie’s show tomorrow.  Spike lashes out, swatting some kind of vehicle near Rarity’s house with his tail into the mud, where it slightly sinks.  “If nopony wants me around, I’ll let them have it their way!” Spike pouts.  He flies away, a much stronger flyer now, perhaps in part due to his anger.

Inside Rarity’s house, she’s unpacking with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and advising them to talk to Applejack about a concern of theirs that is not yet revealed.  The younger ponies have grown, although not quite to full adult pony height.  Rarity encourages her sister Sweetie Belle to use her Unicorn horn to unpack her things, and expresses her pride in the development of her magic.  “Now I simply must get my beauty sleep,” says Rarity.  “I had a long trip and I will see the two of you tomorrow.”

When they open the door to leave, Sctootaloo gasps at the sight and says, “The Sail Scooter is stuck in the mud!”  The Sail Scooter is a special vehicle for about four, designed and built by Apple Bloom with help from the Cutie Mark Crusaders.  The pilot, Scootaloo, is able to sit in back holding gears that position the sail in front of her as she propels it with her wings.  Rarity joins them outside and encourages Sweetie Belle to lift the Sail Scooter from the mud.  Try as she might, she can’t muster the magic to pull it out.  “I tried,” says Sweetie Belle.  Rarity closes her eyes and pulls the Super Scooter out of the mud with the magic of her horn.  “Do or do not,” says Rarity.  “There is no try…just kidding, you’ll get it one day.  Why, if you practice as much as Twilight Sparkle, I believe one day you might just pull up the sun!”

The next morning, we take the POV of Lovechild, Fluttershy’s boyfriend, as he opens his eyes to the vision of Fluttershy’s kind eyes, although comically very close up to his face, as she desperately urges him to get out of bed.  She needs his help.  It seems that Spike has lodged in the conservatory, but his presence has frightened the animals from coming out for breakfast.  “Time to wake up, sleepy head,” Fluttershy says, to which he responds, “Another ten minutes.”  Still seeing the world from his POV, Lovechild turns over, closes his eyes, and says, “Make that another 20 minutes, doll.”  He opens one eye to see Fluttershy look down on him with a half smile in helpless disapproval.  We next see Spike roaring at the cowering Fluttershy in the habitat, saying he knows when he’s not wanted, and launching into the sky to fly away.

Spike happens to again cross paths with Air Heart.  She teaches Spike some tricks in the sky such as barrel-rolls and loop-de-loops.  It’s clear that Air Heart performs such tricks with more adept in her airplane than the winged Spike, and he remarks that he’ll never be as good or fast of a flier.  “Never thought you’d say that to an Earth Pony, did you?” asks Air Heart.  When Spike laughs, Air Heart is not amused.  “We Earth Ponies may not look like it on the outside, but we can do anything just as well as anypony else.  Even better.”  Spike apologizes and says he didn’t mean anything by it.  Air Heart smiles.  “I know you didn’t mean any harm,” she says.  She then explains that there are some things that Earth Ponies can do that are better than any other creature in the world.  For instance, nobody works harder than an Earth Pony, and when they use that hard work in conjunction with their minds, there’s nothing they can’t come up with.  “If a pony without wings can fly, what can’t we do?” she says.

Air Heart asks Spike what he can do better than anypony else.  He responds by breathing a small amount of fire and Air Heart humors him by acting like her plane is in danger and takes evasive maneuvers to get out of the way of the feint stream of fire.  “I still need a little practice with fire, too,” says Spike sheepishly.  Air Heart says it’s still more fire than any pony can breath, and urges him that he has even more special talents if he thinks about it.  Spike admits to her, “I seem to be really good at stealing things.”  To his surprise, Air Heart doesn’t admonish him for it.  “Greed can be…good,” says Air Heart.

She says that he should never be ashamed of being a dragon, and that means embracing everything that goes with it.  He can use his greed to benefit the rest of Equestria, because the more you help yourself, the more society can progress.  Spike argues, saying it’s good to be generous to others.  “My friend Rarity taught me that,” he says.  “How do you feel when you’re generous to another?” asks Air Heart.  When Spike says it makes him feel good, Air Heart explains that it’s greedy to want to feel good, and so it’s greed that benefits everybody.  Spike says he’s not so sure about that and needs to talk to Twilight Sparkle about it.  “You should listen to the merits of both sides,” says Air Heart.  “Just promise me you’ll listen to a friend of mine, he can explain it better than I can.”  Spike agrees to let her take him to this friend sometime.

Apple Bloom is out spending time with her boyfriend Tater, whose Cutie Mark is a baseball bat and ball.  Tater is very sweet and caring to Apple Bloom, the kind of colt every filly dreams about.  Apple Bloom sings a song with the theme, “An Apple in Bloom.”  Part of the lyrics refer to the couple being “as Equestrian as baseball and apple pie.”  It’s clear that their relationship is very serious and loving.

After their date Apple Bloom comes home with stars in her eyes at the thought of Tater to find Applejack tapping her hoof and waiting for her.  Applejack is very cross and asks where her sister has been.  When she tells her she’s been seeing Tater, Applejack is enraged, saying that the boy is not right for her, and that the Apple family didn’t raise her to be the kind of pony who would associate with the likes of him.  Apple Bloom argues, saying that he is better than anypony she’s ever met.  This ignites Applejack, who responds by saying, “Nopony is better than anypony else.  That’s just not how you were raised.  That’s not the Ponyville way, and that’s certainly not the Apple family way!”  Apple Bloom responds that she and Tater belong together and there’s nothing Applejack can do to break them apart.  That’s when Applejack forbids her from seeing Tater, and Apple Bloom stomps off.

Rarity is the first pony to arrive for Pinkie Pie’s show that afternoon, reserving a seat next to her for Spike in the back row, but Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo crash into the scene on the Sail Scooter.  While Scootaloo flies into the clouds, Sweetie Belle hops off the scooter and explains to Rarity that there’s an emergency.  Apple Bloom has run away with Tater and Applejack is going after them.  She explains how Tater appears sweet and kind on the outside, but behind Apple Bloom’s back he’s been bullying her and Scootaloo, calling them freaks and making disparaging comments to them about other ponies, seemingly for no reason.

In flashback, we see Tater’s poor behavior.  He even ripped apart a bunch of flowers that Sweetie Belle levitated with her Unicorn horn while Apple Bloom’s back was turned.  She and Scootaloo talked to Applejack about Tater’s bullying last night, and she sought him out after finding her sister Apple Bloom safe in bed.  When confronted with his bullying, Tater revealed his ideas about Earth Ponies being superior to Unicorns and Pegasi.  He called Apple Bloom’s friends freaks for having a Unicorn horn and wings.  That’s when Applejack decided to forbid Apple Bloom from seeing him.  Now the couple plan to elope to the mountain in the San Palomino Desert, where Tater said he knows a stallion who will know what to do.  Applejack went after them, afraid that Apple Bloom had been put under some kind of spell, and directed the remaining Crusaders to go for help.  Scootaloo returns with Rainbow Dash.  With Rarity and Sweetie Belle, the four board the Sail Scooter and go after Apple Bloom.

Somewhere in an Equestrian forest, a very slow-moving sloth munches on a leaf and takes a look from the branch where it hangs to see what appear to be thousands of the same kind of leaves in all directions.  When it spots a single fig on a branch above and far away, it licks its lips and starts a long journey toward the fruit by swinging back toward the tree’s trunk.

Southwest of Ponyville, Applejack gallops toward Apple Bloom and Tater, who are driving at a reasonable pace in a steam car, unaware that they’re being chased.  Applejack gains ground, but when Apple Bloom sees her in the distance she urges Tater to speed up the vehicle.  He obliges to Applejack’s chagrin by adding more water to the boiler, but not before Applejack catches up close enough to attempt to persuade Apple Bloom to come with her.  At first Apple Bloom won’t listen to her sister, but when Applejack describes some of Tater’s beliefs about being superior to other ponies and his bullying toward the other CMC’s, Apple Bloom looks at her boyfriend with a more wary eye.  Applejack fades into the distance.

At the same time, Pinkie Pie’s children’s show is about to begin.  Backstage, ponies help her into a giant egg in preparation for the opening number when Pinkie’s tail twitches, indicative of her Pinkie Sense.  She continues with the show, knowing it may be an eventful one.  The theme of the show’s opening song is beginnings, as the song refers to such things as how Equestria was made and the birth of Pinkie Pie as she’s passed along in an egg and nearly dropped numerous times.  Throughout the show, her Pinkie Sense kicks in, but it’s activated in large part due to the events of the impending chase.

Spike arrives at Pinkie’s show and looks for Rarity.  From Spike’s perspective, she’d rather miss Pinkie’s show than have to sit next to him.  He stomps away in anger.

Tater looks around to make sure Apple Bloom isn’t watching and kicks an empty water barrel from the steam car toward Applejack.  She jumps it, but the Sail Scooter catching up in the distance isn’t as lucky.  The barrel hits a rock and flies into the air, landing in front of the Sail Scooter and bowling it over.  This validates the first incident of Pinkie Sense, her twitchy tail indicating something will fall from the sky.

Apple Bloom asks Tater if what Applejack’s said is true.  “It’s not like that,” says Tater,   “she’s lying.”  Apple Bloom knows her sister doesn’t lie and asks Tater to slow down.  He refuses.  “You don’t understand,” says Tater, “your sister is old-fashioned.  There’s a new way of thinking about things.”  When Apple Bloom demands that he stop the steam car, Tater ties Apple Bloom to her seat with rope.  “I’m sorry I have to do this,” he tells her, “but until you understand, you need to come with me.  You don’t know it yet, but I’m saving you.”

The Sail Scooter recovers and picks up Applejack.  With both Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash propelling the scooter, it quickly gains on Tater’s vehicle and catches up just close enough so that Applejack can hop onto the steam car.  She immediately attempts to untie her sister from the seat with her teeth, but only unties her back legs.  Tater brakes and turns hard, hitting the Sail Scooter and spinning it off course as well as knocking Applejack off her feet.  She tumbles off the vehicle but holds onto the rope with her teeth as Tater’s vehicle drags her along.  Ahead of them, a herd of buffalo charge along the road.

The Sail Scooter catches up again and when Rarity offers to help lift Applejack up off the ground with her magic, Rainbow Dash insists that she use Applejack as a stepping stone to board Tater’s vehicle first.  Rainbow Dash demonstrates by hopping onto Applejack, pushing her face into the road, and encourages Rarity to cross in the same way from the back of Tater’s vehicle.  Rarity daintily steps across Applejack with profuse apologies onto the vehicle.

Rainbow Dash fights Tater for control of the vehicle while Rarity uses her magic to untie Apple Bloom.  As soon as she’s untied, the rope slips away and threatens to leave Applejack in the dust, but Apple Bloom catches it with her teeth and holds on, falling to the back of the vehicle.  Applejack tries to climb up the rope as the vehicle enters the pack of charging buffalo.  Fighting Rainbow Dash for control of the vehicle, Tater slips off track and bumps one of the buffalo.  In retaliation, a buffalo from the other side rams into the vehicle, sending Rainbow Dash spinning in the air and into the forest.  Tater looks back and smirks.

At Pinkie’s show, she demonstrates her ability to catch a multitude of cupcakes in her mouth from every angle.  However, when a machine is about to launch over a dozen cupcakes, her tail twitches and they all splatter in her face.

Inside the edge of the forest, the sloth is about to reach the fig.  That’s when a spinning Rainbow Dash falls from the air and crashes into the limb of the tree.  In slow motion, super slow motion since we’re viewing a sloth, an expression of horror materializes on the sloth’s face as it’s carried away by Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo propels the Sail Scooter along with her wings, still giving chase with Sweetie Belle on board, while Apple Bloom reaches out to help Applejack who’s still being pulled along on the ground by Tater’s vehicle.  Rarity does the best she can to gently encourage Tater to stop the vehicle with very little results.  “Do be a dear and kindly pull this contraption over if you don’t mind,” she pleads to deaf ears.  It’s agonizing to watch the hooves of Applejack and Apple Bloom nearly touch as they reach out toward each other, knocked farther apart when Tater pulls the vehicle into the forest and maneuvers between the trees.  The vehicle dancing between trees, rocks and foliage isn’t enough to pull the sisters apart.  They finally prevail and touch hooves, but what we as an audience thought might be a small victory turns out to be faulty when Applejack bends her wrist and says, “Okay, just a little bit farther now,” as we realize that ponies don’t have fingers and can’t clasp hands.

At Pinkie’s show, a young colt tosses a ping-pong ball from his mouth into a Bozo Bucket and wins a prize.  As he tries to toss one into the next bucket, Pinkie’s knee pinches, and she kicks the ball away.  It pinches again and she knocks the buckets over.  A pony in the crowd explains that this means something scary is about to happen.

Tater’s vehicle pulls out of the forest, Sail Scooter in tow.  It nearly gets hit by a rushing train and then again by buffalo when it pulls into the herd.  We see Rainbow Dash fly out of the forest herself toward the chase, the sloth now hanging on her torso.

Rainbow Dash, the sloth firmly attached to her, catches the Sail Scooter and when the sloth sees Applejack’s Cutie Mark, it falls to land on her and attempt to take a bite from the images of the apples.  Apple Bloom pulls her sister onto the back of the steam car and Rainbow Dash climbs over the back seats to wrestle Tater for control of the vehicle, but inadvertently hits the button that activates the lifting device to the boiler, gripping Applejack and threatening to dump her in.  Still hanging from Applejack’s leg, the sloth is able to see the release button obscured behind a pipe and while the others panic, repels from Applejack to hit the button and save her.

Rarity points out a sign that the steam car just passed, which warns about a coming cliff.  Instead of avoiding it like some of the buffalo, Tater hits the accelerator with a maniacal look in his eye.  As the steam car hits a ramp and shoots into the sky, we see that the “cliff” was little more than a small bump in the road.  As the Sail Scooter catches up, the ponies take a collective sigh of relief.

However, once on the other side, Tater’s vehicle hits a small but asymmetrical rock and topples over.  Scootaloo can’t avoid it, causing a collision with the Sail Scooter that launches all the ponies into the air.  For a brief moment all characters pile up on the sail of the scooter before it recoils them into the air: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, a couple buffalo, Applejack, Tater, Apple Bloom, and the sloth.  Even Discord appears on the Sail Scooter for a moment before snapping his fingers and disappearing as quickly as he appeared.  Tater grabs Apple Bloom and hops back over onto his vehicle, leaving the others behind on the Sail Scooter, which has a broken wheel.  Duct taped down by Tater, Apple Bloom calls for help as they speed away.

Battered and bruised but unwilling to give up, Rainbow Dash grabs ahold of Sweetie Belle and takes to the sky.  “Use your Unicorn magic to pull Apple Bloom away from that guy,” Rainbow tells her, “and hold on.”  Sweetie Belle concentrates as hard as she can and her horn glows brighter than ever before.  On Tater’s vehicle, the magic is only enough to gently pull at the duct tape.

At her show, Pinkie Pie performs magic tricks.  However, during a routine in which she supposedly stands in a box while sharp swords are inserted, she shutters, revealing that she’s not in the box at all but has traded places with her assistant.  She continues to shutter, knocking over the box to reveal her assistant hiding behind it, and then shutters again as she goes off stage, knocking ponies over onto the stage who are preparing for the next trick by dressing up in Pinkie Pie costumes.  A pony in the audience says her shuttering means something unexpected is about to happen.

Rainbow Dash flies as fast as she can, but still can’t reach the steam car at this rate.  She needs to perform a Sonic Rainboom in order to catch up.  Due to a combination of the rainbow and Sweetie Belle’s magic, instead of the rainbow that usually trails Rainbow Dash, a rainbow ray shoots from Sweetie Belle’s Unicorn horn, aimed at Apple Bloom and her boyfriend, and washes over them.  The vehicle comes to a halt.

Behind them, the ponies left behind see the rainbow and rally together, galloping toward it.  When they catch up they find Sweetie Belle marveling at her ability to shoot a magic rainbow beam while Rainbow Dash says, “I always knew I had it in me.”  Apple Bloom immediately embraces her sister, and something has changed in Tater.  He just stares straight ahead in what looks like a state of shock.  He shakes his head and says he’s sorry for everything he’s put them through.  He says somebody put a spell over him, but he doesn’t remember the use of magic.  A very charming and convincing stallion put all kinds of ideas into his head that he knows are wrong, ideas about greed and selfishness being valuable traits, and how Earth Ponies are better than any other ponies.  The magic of the rainbow beam snapped him out of it, as he felt a great sense of love and togetherness when it touched him.

Applejack says it’s time for all of them to go home and when Tater offers his steam car for a quick trip back, Applejack says he’s coming with them.  “Until we figure out what in Tarnation happened to you, you have about a lifetime of chores to do on the farm to make it up to us,” she says.  Apple Bloom thanks her again for coming after her, calling her “the best sister anypony’s ever had.”  Applejack says, “I’m not the only sister who came to your side,” presenting Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle as friends so good that they should be considered family.  She starts a song with the theme “Friends are family,” which culminates by pointing out that the bond between Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo is also as strong as a sisterhood.  Along the way back home, Rainbow Dash drops the sloth off at the edge of the forest, telling it this was exactly where she found it.  The sloth looks up into the forest at the fig so far away and turns to Rainbow Dash, but she’s already gone.

Twilight calls the Mane Six together inside her castle to activate the Rainbow Generator.   Spike goes to the castle to find the entrance locked with guards unwilling to grant him entrance.  The guards apologize but say they’ve been given very strict orders not to let anybody inside the castle, and this must even include Spike.  Spike says he has something very important to talk to Twilight about, to no avail.  The guards intimate to Spike that Twilight told them she left a very powerful relic inside the castle that the guards must defend with their lives.

Spike won’t accept any of this and leaps into the air, flying toward one of the castle windows and crashing inside.  He goes on a rampage smashing the castle walls and finds the Book of Prophecies in Twilight’s bedroom.  He steals it and hides it from the Mane Six when he confronts them in the throne room.  He derides the entire concept of a Princess of Friendship and a group of friends tasked with spreading friendship to all of Equestria when they’ve ignored him and failed to maintain a relationship with him, their most loyal and willing servant.  When Twilight scolds Spike for his brash behavior, he picks up his throne and smashes it against the Rainbow Generator on the floor, cracking it.  Guards enter and Spike flies through them, knocking them to the floor.  He breaks out of the castle into the sky.  The Rainbow Generator broken, the Mane Six can’t invoke a rainbow.

Spike meets up with Air Heart, saying that he wants to leave Ponyville and he’s willing to go speak to the friend that she’s spoken so much about.  They fly south over the Ghastly Gorge and into the San Palomino Desert, where Spike notes that the weather seems a lot cooler than he’d expect.  Air Heart explains that a large group of Earth Ponies have assembled at a mountain, and that they had to migrate to such a hot environment because the blizzards of the Windigos have returned due to hatred toward this group.  Air Heart brings Spike to the mountain where these Earth Ponies have built an elaborate system of tunnels and chambers where they work on building vehicles, flying machines, and weapons.

Air Heart introduces Spike to the leader of these Earth Ponies.  His name is Brimstone, a stallion with mangy red fur and a blazing fire for a cutie mark, the tongues of which extend all over his scarred body.  Despite Brimstone’s battered body, he is very friendly in welcoming Spike to his realm.  Brimstone says Air Heart has told him a lot about Spike, and that he can empathize with what Spike’s been going through.  “You and I, we’re kindred spirits,” Brimstone tells Spike, “and I believe destiny has brought us together.  We’re going to be very good friends.”  Brimstone tells Spike that he too grew up with the intention of helping pony-kind, but that he was betrayed by the very ponies he meant to serve.

Brimstone explains his past which is shown in flashback.  As a colt, Brimstone showed great aptitude for engineering and as a builder.  However, his inventions were not appreciated because Pegasi and Unicorns could already do many of the tasks meant for his inventions.  In fact, some of them would make fun of Brimstone for creating things that were unnecessary to ponies with wings or the magic of Unicorn horns.  While everypony fully expected Brimstone’s Cutie Mark to have something to do with inventing, his Cutie Mark did not appear until he stood up to the bullies making fun of his inventions.  That’s when the passionate symbol of the fire appeared on his flanks.

Brimstone continued to work at his inventions even though he was marginalized for being “just” an Earth Pony.  For much of his life he continued to create things despite a lack of recognition for his innovation.  He learned that he only got ahead in life when he focused on his own gains.  Because Brimstone saw his inventions being able to fly better and faster than Pegasi and able to perform better “magic” than Unicorns could conjure, he developed the idea that Earth Ponies are better than the others.  He shows Spike around his headquarters in the mountain while explaining his past in song with the theme “Look at me now.”  He displays his assembly lines for creating machines and weapons, and through the song conveys that when somebody is better than the others he can’t let them hold him back.  The song culminates by exalting Spike for being better than everybody else himself, and Brimstone shows him to a cavern full of gems that could all belong to him if only he’ll join him.

Brimstone tells Spike that his greed and selfishness as a dragon are actually commendable attributes, and that society progresses only when superior beings lead the way and rule over the rest.  “You are one of those superior beings,” he tells Spike.  He says lesser beings are only worthy of contempt until they can prove themselves worthy.  He then expresses an interest in the item Spike carries, the Book of Prophecies.  Spike hands it over to him and basks in the praise and thanks he receives for giving it to Brimstone.

Accompanied by sad instrumental music, a montage begins in which Spike revels in his new surroundings and the riches of the gems around him while Brimstone reads the Book of Prophecies and the Mane Six notice malaise creep into Ponyville without the use of the Rainbow Generator.  We see the Mane Six console each other, Brimstone consult with Air Heart and some of his other minions, and Spike descend into the reverie of his own decadence.

While looking upon his army preparing for battle, Brimstone tells Air Heart that the Book of Prophecies confirms the rise of his kingdom, but the Mane Six still pose a threat.  “All we need to do is take out one pony to break the Elements of Harmony,” says Brimstone.  He marvels at how well his plan has come together, as the book mentions that a dragon will play a key component in Equestria’s fate.  The dragon must meet with his soulmate, whom Brimstone interprets to be himself.  He commends Air Heart for bringing Spike to his lair, saying that will surely draw the ponies, and once there, all they have to do is capture one.  Air Heart asks whether Brimstone thinks Spike will be loyal to their cause.  Brimstone explains that he’ll pamper Spike with riches, but he’ll have to somehow cement the dragon’s allegiance to him.  He gazes out at a particular group of Crystal Ponies and zeroes in on one of them.

The Mane Six go out looking for Spike all over Equestria, with Fluttershy entering the Everfree Forest, no longer afraid of it.  She is completely in her element, avoiding the dangers of the forest with skillful flair and listening to the woodland creatures’ accounts of seeing the shadowy figure of a dragon late at night flying southwest next to an airplane.  They’re concerned with the growing forces in the dessert and provide her with information about Brimstone’s mountain fortress as well as stories of his army’s cruelty.  Fluttershy lodges with Zicora in the forest, who provides advice and a potion to help anypony who enters the mountain.  There’s confusion about what the potion actually does, as Zicora only speaks in rhyming riddles.  “Drink and you’ll pass like the night, thus avoiding a fight,” says Zicora.  Fluttershy politely asks her to elaborate and she says, “You’ll instantly go ‘poof,’ keeping your enemies aloof.”  Fluttershy asks if that means the potion will make them invisible, and finally without rhyming Zicora confirms, “Yeah, nopony will see ya.”

The Crystal Pony Brimstone had singled out visits Spike in his personal cavern.  He offers Spike a special crystal from his homeland and says it’s an honor to meet the hero who saved the kingdom.  The pony claims that the Crystal Empire has become a very different place now, and that ever since Brimstone started recruiting Earth Ponies, the Crystal Unicorns and Pegasi began to hate Earth Ponies, telling them that they’re better because they can fly and use magic.  In their lust for dominance, they changed the history books, revising it to show that the power of magic and flight saved the kingdom, writing Spike out.  They even demolished the statue to Spike.  “But those of us who left the Kingdom know the truth,” says the Crystal Pony.  “We still believe in you.”

The rest of the Mane Six travel to other areas of Equestria looking for Spike.  They all hear stories of the army amassing in the desert.  Rainbow Dash visits a shady cider bar in Cloudsdale where she gets into a fight when the Pegasi accuse her of consorting with Brimstone’s army, using her return to Ponyville as a cover story.  Rarity visits Manehattan where Coco Pommel’s business suffers because so many Earth Ponies have left the city.  Pinkie Pie almost forgets all about her mission while partying in Las Pegasus, and Applejack finds tumbleweeds and practically a ghost town in Appleloosi, save for some eccentric townsfolk.  Twilight travels to the Crystal Empire where Princess Cadence and Shining Armor agree they must consort with the Sister Princesses in Caterlot.  The ponies all meet there, but the Sister Princesses don’t have any answers, telling them they’ll have to find the solution themselves.  Shining Armor decides to amass an army of his own, but Twilight and Cadence argue vehemently about the use of violence.  Fluttershy is the last to arrive with news of Spike’s whereabouts.

The Mane Six travel to Brimstone’s mountain, where tents and makeshift quarters surround it.  As they approach they each drink Zicora’s potion and become invisible, passing by the guards at the entrance of the mountain without trouble.  Once inside, Pinkie Pie suggests they split up, but the more prudent Twilight Sparkle insists that they all stay together.  As they make their way through the labyrinthine caverns and tunnels, their tails begin to materialize.  Fluttershy says she has a finite amount of potion leftover, but Rainbow Dash finds that she can disguise the visible portion of Applejack’s tail if she covers it with her hooves.  Twilight leads them as they continue in a single-file line, holding onto each other’s tails.  “She said to hold my tail, not to pull on it, if you don’t mind,” says Rarity to the pony behind her.  Pinkie Pie’s face pops into view just as they pass a soldier.  Thinking on her hooves, Pinkie yells “Boo!” and the frightened soldier runs away.

Fluttershy quickly provides Pinkie Pie with a swig of the potion.  One by one, parts of each of the other ponies appear and Fluttershy gives them some of the potion, but it’s running out.  Applejack declines from taking the potion, saying she has an idea.  When they reach the barracks, she’ll put on one of the soldier’s uniforms and inquire about where to find Spike.  She’ll just need one of them to cover her visible parts until she fully materializes.  Twilight volunteers.

Her mane and tail visible, Applejack enters the barracks with Twilight Sparkle riding her back to cover her.  The door opens and they see a uniform hung up on a hook at the end of the room.  Wisps of Applejack’s mane and tail flutter by as the full room of soldiers converse.  None of them seem to notice when the uniform at the end of the room fills up.  Applejack tells Twilight to keep covering her until her entire body manifests inside the uniform.  “Let go on my mark,” says Applejack.  “Wait for it, wait for it…now!”  Twilight stops covering her and Applejack stands in front of the troops now, completely visible—except for her face.  Twilight throws Applejack’s cowboy hat to the other end of the barracks and quickly jams a helmet over Applejack’s head, which she lowers to cover her missing face.

Soldiers just now notice Applejack standing at the end of the room.  “Officer on deck!” yells one of them, and they stand at attention.  All attention is on Applejack now as she stammers her way through inquiring about where Spike is.  As she gets directions to Spike’s cavern, Twilight’s wings become visible.  Applejack covers her and gallops out of the barracks, sliding on the ground to grab her hat from behind as she exits.

Once the Mane Six are safely alone, Applejack takes the last of the potion, but the others start to materialize.  On their way to Spike’s cavern, they find that their best way to pass relatively unnoticed is to combine their visible body parts so it appears that one very multi-colored pony is walking through the tunnels.  Just outside Spike’s cavern, all six of them come into view completely.  That’s when a wooden cage falls from the ceiling, neatly trapping five of the six inside.

Rarity the only pony free, she enters Spike’s cavern to find him all by himself.  She says she’s there to rescue him, but Spike hardly even acknowledges her presence.  “I don’t need to be rescued,” says Spike.  “I was already rescued, not by you but from you.  I was rescued from ponies who always ignored me and took me for granted and never cared about me!”  He finally turns to her, and when he looks at her the expression on his face shows inner conflict, but he says, “Maybe you’re the one who needs to be rescued!” before breathing a warning shot of fire in her direction.

“Spike, I know this isn’t you,” says Rarity.  “Do you know you’re the most generous dragon I know?”  She pulls out the heart-shaped fire ruby Spike gave to her in Season 2 Episode 10.  “You must be under some kind of spell,” says Rarity.  That’s when Brimstone enters the cavern.  “Earth Ponies don’t use magic,” he says.  Rarity demands that he release her friends.  Brimstone leaves it up to Spike whether they should be released, saying maybe Spike would like to have some words with them before he lets them go.  He encourages Spike to express all of his anger against the ponies starting with Rarity, that he can only purge his negative emotions by letting them out.

Spike yells at Rarity for not being around when he needed her, then breaking plans to sit with him at Pinky’s show, unaware that she needed to help the Cutie Mark Crusaders.  While doing so, he lets some fire fly, burning up the cavern.  However, Rarity refuses to relent, and counters by saying she might not always get to spend time with him, but she’ll always be there for her friends when they need help, and right now Spike needs her help more than ever.  She insists that he go with her, saying, “I’ll stay in this cave forever if I have to.”  Brimstone says he thinks this is a good idea and with the entire cavern full of fire, he exits and rolls a boulder to block the exit.  As the fire intensifies out of control, Spike and Rarity are both at risk.

Spike takes Rarity on his back and makes an attempt at flight.  He pounds his head against the rock at the top of the cavern a number of times to no avail.  Rarity uses her horn to pound on the rock as well.  The horn gets stuck in the rock, but it causes a crack, and as a tongue of fire licks at Spike’s tail, Rarity wriggles her head, causing some rock to break, but her horn also breaks off.  When Spike tries to fly through the small hole, he finds he can’t fit through with Rarity on his back.  Rarity tells Spike she’ll slip down his back and hold onto his tail to fit through the hole.  She slides down and grasps her legs around his tail, but as Spike slips through the hole, Rarity’s head bumps against the rock again and she loses her grip.  We see her face close up and then fade away as she slips into the fire below.

Spike emerges safe on the outside of the mountain and starts to celebrate before realizing Rarity is no longer holding onto his tail.  Panicked, Spike makes an attempt to fly back inside, but the fire is too hot.  He just can’t.  He sticks his head inside the hole far enough to singe his scales.  Even though he knows it’s hopeless, he keeps trying to get himself to fly inside, to no avail.  His tears drop and are burned by the fire as soon as they touch it.  Somewhere inside we hear Brimstone laughing.

Grief-stricken but more determined than ever, Spike flies around to the entrance of the mountain and charges in to rescue his friends.  Brimstone’s henchmen, unaware of what’s transpired, present the ponies to him in their cage.  Spike tells them to stand clear of the wooden cage and prepares to set fire to it, but catches himself and knocks it apart with his tail.  Realizing that Spike is attempting to rescue them, Brimstone’s troops attack, but Spike manages to carry all five ponies on his back and in his hands while flying out of the mountain.  Safe outside, the ponies rejoice and praise Spike for his bravery, but then see that Rarity is missing.  Spike tells them the one true shining diamond of Equestria is gone, and that they’ll never see either Rarity or himself again.  Heartbroken, he flies away.

Now the Mane Five, the ponies head back to Ponyville.  Applejack says she’ll break the news to Sweetie Belle with the help of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and they’ll go talk to Rarity’s parents, but Twilight refuses to accept Rarity’s death.  She demands that they travel to Canterlot for the counsel of the princesses, still holding out hope that Rarity may still be alive, or that they’ll somehow be able to bring her back.  When the others exchange concerned looks, Twilight says she’ll go by herself then.

Twilight pleads to the Sister Princesses that they must act to save Rarity and themselves.  They tell her there’s no magic that can save any of them; they have to move on to the next life, although their spirits will remain in Equestria.  Princess Luna inquires about Spike and when Twilight says he’s heartbroken, the sisters now know how to reunite the dragon with his soulmate and nod to each other in acceptance.

Princess Celestia says she now knows what she and her sister must do, as their last act in Equestria.  She tells Twilight that after they’re gone, to draw magic from the sun and the moon because the spirits of the two princesses will forever reside there.  Twilight refuses to believe any of this, thinking she can retrieve the Elements of Harmony still embedded in the Tree of Harmony and conjure some kind of magic to save the lives of the princesses and Rarity.  Luna tells Twilight not to bother going after the Elements because all the magic Twilight needs is already in the spirts of her and her friends.  Twilight says she needs to go and find a way.  Celestria begs Twilight to stay but she charges out.  “Call upon the spirit of the dragon!” Celestria cries out, words that ring in Twilight’s ears as she gallops away to gather her friends to find the Elements of Harmony.  Seeing that there’s no way to persuade her otherwise, Celestria bows down and says, “Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria.”  Princess Luna wordlessly bows her head.

Twilight rounds up the Mane Five and they head to the Tree of Harmony.  When they get there they discover Rarity’s element, the diamond, has faded into darkness while theirs remain lit but grown deep into the tree.  Rainbow Dash tries to rip the tree apart to no avail; nothing they do can pull the elements from the Tree.  As the Everfree Forest grows wild and overtakes the tree where Rarity’s dim Element lays, the ponies despair.  Pinkie Pie says she doesn’t think she’ll ever smile again.

Celestria and Luna dutifully change the sun to the moon as always, knowing that this will be the last time.  Alone together, they enter the courtyard.  Before they work up a very powerful magic, Luna expresses her regret that she wasted so much of her life full of bitterness.  They sing a duet together, about setting the past aside while leaving their spirits behind.  Their horns glow with the spirit of the moon and the sun as they touch them together.  They fall as their bodies turn to pure energy and these spirits shoot across the sky and leave Equestria forever.  We see Celestia’s bright spirit traverse the land together with Luna’s, deep into the sky.  While Luna’s spirit hits the moon, Celestria’s breaks apart from it and shoots down somewhere underneath the planet.

The Mane Five walk back to Ponyville defeated with their heads held down when all but Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie see the disturbance in the sky and the brilliant light.  For a moment it’s too beautiful for the three ponies to ignore, even in their state of mourning.  Rainbow Dash flies up over the trees to get a good view.  She looks at Luna’s spirit hit the moon, and an imprint of her face appears, similar to how her face appeared when she was banished as Night Mare Moon, but instead of scowling she slightly smiles.  Rainbow Dash darts down to her friends in the forest.  “It’s Princess Luna!” she says.  “I can see her spirit on the moon!”  Twilight Sparkle hangs her head lower.  “It only means that she’s gone,” she says.  Fluttershy flies up above the trees herself while Rainbow Dash encourages them, “She’s smiling!  It’s a sign!”  Twilight won’t look up until Fluttershy flies down and lifts her head up with a hoof.  Twilight sees the kindness in Fluttershy’s eyes and slight smile as she tells her, “Look up, Princess.”  Twilight finally takes a peak at the moon.  “She’s not gone,” says Fluttershy, “she’s looking over us.”  Twilight’s eyes widen when she looks up at Luna’s gentle smile on the face of the moon.  “You’re right,” says Twilight Sparkle.  “There’s still hope for Equestria.  Follow me!”  She leads the ponies as they charge through the forest.

The ponies sing a song about fighting their hardest when things are darkest, against the night, to see the light.  It’s a song of perseverance and destiny in the face of adversity.  When the song begins, Pinkie Pie, more serious than she’s ever been, overtakes Twilight to lead the charge.  She’s too determined to sing with the rest of the ponies.  At one point Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sing to each other behind them, Rainbow Dash praised for her sweetness and Fluttershy admired for her bravery.  Twilight sings to Applejack, praising her strength, saying “your muscles perform magic” and Applejack responds by telling Twilight she has the strongest mind.  All four encourage Pinkie with the lyrics that she’s “no joke.”

Brimstone sees Princess Luna’s face in the moon and snickers.  “This is the sign I’ve been waiting for,” he says.  “The princesses are gone.  Tomorrow we attack.  Equestria is mine.”  The cold spirits of the Windigos circle in a dark cloud above the mountain, feeding on the feelings of dissonance.  Brimstone assembles his troops and addresses them on the precipice of battle, riling them up with a speech full of fire and brimstone.  They march across the desert en route to the only town keeping them away from the capital city of Canterlot, Ponyville.

Spike, alone in the cave another dragon used in Season 1 Episode 7, goes to sleep, taking his first 100-year nap.  He has a dream in which Princess Luna comes to him and tells him how important he is to the triumph of the ponies.  Like her, he lost his way and forgot what was important in life—it’s not the selfishness of one’s own glory but being an element to a greater whole.  She says he made a huge mistake like she did, but he can still redeem himself.  She believes in him so much that she and Celestria gave up their lives in Equestria to search the afterlife to bring back the spirit of Rarity in his dream.  She explains that Rarity has a gift for him, the same gift she used when she gave up her life for him.  She steps aside and Rarity stands behind her.

Rarity looks around confused and remarks to herself, “I used to be a pony once.”  As Spike starts apologizing profusely, saying he should have gone with her, Rarity smiles and tells him what a wonderful place she’s in now, that it wasn’t his fault, and that where she is, there’s no time or space, only love.  She says her spirit is at rest, but that there’s still a sense of who she is, that she’s Rarity.  She says the gift she has to give to him is her generosity, that it’s something she used when she gave up her life to save him.  She touches her horn to his head and transfers the Element of Generosity to Spike, to save him from his selfishness.  “It’s a gift that will forever be in your heart,” she tells him.  She asks him to always remember her, and that she loves him.  “My life was always meant to be given to you,” she tells him.  “The bigger you get, the more you should remember  I’ll always be your little pony.”

The image of Rarity fades, leaving only Luna.  Spike expresses his concern to her that he could never replace Rarity.  Luna agrees that Rarity can never be replaced, and that her loss will leave a hole in the world forever, but Spike can still carry her spirit forward and that spirit will always exist as long as he shares it with others.

Shining Armor and his troops assemble on the battlefield, the grassland immediately southwest of Ponyville.  Ponies from all over Equestria have taken up arms to unite for the battle. The Mane Five join them as they wait to defend Equestria from Brimstone’s armies.  In addition, a number of background ponies who aren’t warriors arrive to stand behind Shining Armor’s army, hoping to contribute in spirit.  Discord stands with Shining Armor and points out that Brimstone’s armies recruited ponies from all over Equestria, but couldn’t get a single pony from Ponyville to join them.  “Nope,” says Big Mac.  As they wait for Brimstone’s armies to arrive, Twilight Sparkle doesn’t feel right about resorting to physical violence and argues with Shining Armor that there must be another way.  Princess Cadence sides with Twilight, but she doesn’t know what else they can do.  Twilight says she just needs time to think of a solution and Cadence says she knows Twilight will come up with something, but in the meantime they must take a place behind Shining Armor’s army.  As the ponies stand guard in an eternal night without Princess Celestia to raise the sun, the pony soldiers sing a song about their solemn duty to stand guard.

Brimstone’s legions of armies arrive under the dark cloud of the Windigos, which drifts onto the battlefield.  They display their innovative vehicles and machines of war, and the sheer size outmatches the number of soldiers defending Equestria.  They sing a march that contrasts to the Equestrian army’s more lyrical song.  Shining Armor takes a look at his wife Princess Cadence, and the hopeless look on his face indicates that he knows they can’t win, but in a reprise of the song, he sings about how he’ll fight to the end.  Then everything becomes silent before Brimstone’s troops charge.

Twilight looks at Princess Luna’s face on the moon trying to figure out what she must do.  That’s when everything comes together.  She thinks about what Celestia said to her and what the Book of Prophecies said about Magic Hour.  She realizes she must create twilight by raising the sun up next to the moon.  Then she can draw upon the spirits of the princesses and create a magic strong enough to defeat Brimstone and his troops.  Shining Armor commands his men to charge, but as Twilight Sparkle explains her plan to the Mane Five, Fluttershy shouts, “STOP!” as loud as she can to the troops.  It’s loud enough for an entire army to hear and get them to stop.

Twilight Sparkle recalls the words of Princess Luna, that she must have the confidence to lead and inspire.  Twilight realizes this is it, now is her time to save Equestria.  She flies into the air and shouts to the troops below, “Hold your ground!  It is time to follow me!  I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, and I will lead you to victory!”  As she says this, she creates her own magic symbol in the sky, her Cutie Mark and personal signature.  Everypony looks up at her in wonder.  She floats behind this Sparkle of Twilight, the symbol in the sky she first used at the end of Season 4 Episode 2, and looks off toward the moon while her horn begins to glow.

The Princess of all of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, closes her eyes and struggles with all of her might to use the magic of her Alicorn horn to raise the sun up into the sky to align next to the moon.  Her eyes still closed, she hears ponies below muttering, “It’s Princess Celestia!”  When she opens her eyes she sees everypony looking in awe at the rising sun, now with the white outline of Princess Celestia’s face on it, just like Princess Luna’s face on the moon.  The expression on Celestia’s face on the sun is an open-mouth smile of pure joy.  Aligned together in the sky, light shines down on the land now in twilight, the Magic Hour.  Princess Celestria’s face on the sun is looking at Princess Luna’s face on the moon and they’re smiling at each other.  Shining Armor and his troops cheer wildly.  Pinkie Pie beams.  We see ponies from all over Equestria, once in a state of melancholy, look up and smile at Celestia’s image in the sun.

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes turn bright white as her horn engages in magical congress between the moon and the sun.  The spirits of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna create a beam of magic between the two heavenly bodies that shoots onto Twilight’s horn as she hovers in the sky behind the Sparkle of Twilight.  Twilight rears back her head and shoots a beam of magic into the Sparkle, which seems to absorb the magic.  Twilight realizes that the Sparkle can amplify the combined magic, but nothing happens.  “Something is missing,” Twilight thinks to herself.  Then she remembers Princess Celestia’s last words to her, to call for the dragon, and she sees Spike flying into the battlefield as quickly as he can.  Without knowing exactly how this will help, she calls for him, “Hurry, Spike, we can’t do this without you!”

Shining Armor and his troops have their shields up and Brimstone’s troops charge ever closer.  Spike hovers next to Twilight and asks what he can do to help.  Twilight explains that he’s the dragoon from the prophecy, and that somehow he has to unleash the spirit from his heart.  She doesn’t know how he can do this—Spike doesn’t use magic—but he understands.  Spike closes his eyes and says, “This is for you.”  A beam of magic in the shape of Rarity’s Cutie Mark emerges from his heart and shoots into the Sparkle.  When Twilight sees this she encourages her friends, “C’mon, girls, I need all of you!  The Elements of Harmony are in your hearts.  They’ve been inside you this whole time!  Now let them out!”  The ponies concentrate and rise into the air, unleashing their Elements of Harmony.  It’s still not quite enough.

Behind them, the background ponies wonder how they can help.  That’s when Derpy asks herself, “She needs all of us?”  In her original voice, she says, “I know what to do.  I understand!”  She’s the first of the background ponies to rise into the air and unleash her spirit in the form of her Cutie Mark, which is absorbed by the Sparkle.  Many of the other follow suit, shooting their own Cutie Mark symbols from their hearts.  When Spike roars and yells “Let’s do it for Rarity!” most of the remaining ponies rise to join.   They hover in the sky with their eyes bright white like Twilight Sparkle’s.

With all of the Elements in place and absorbed by the Sparkle of Twilight, magic blasts out in a massive rainbow beam.  Just as Shining Armor’s sodiers cringe behind their shields in defense of Brimstone’s troops about to reach them, the rainbow beam covers the entire battlefield, turning many of Brimstone’s troops to stone.  Others become passive and gasp at the rainbow’s effect.   The Windigos blow away.  Equestria is saved.  Oddly, Brimestone faces the rainbow with a hearty laugh and a smile which will be set in stone.

The rainbow beam doesn’t just extend to the battlefield, but covers all of southwest Equestria.  As its magic washes over the sloth on the forest floor, figs fall from the trees and pile up around him.  POV pulls out to see the rainbow beam cover lands and seas outside of Equestria, the lower corner of the world, and then wrap around and cover the entire planet.  Ponies all over Equestria experience the joyousness of the Magic of Friendship.  Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, shopping in some Equestrian city, see the rainbow roll in like a tidal wave.  They brace themselves and fall over, then lie on the ground laughing.  Sweetie Belle, lying in bed mourning the loss of her sister, pulls the pillow away from her head and reaches out for a hug from Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Babs Seed.  The rainbow turns Twilight Sparkle’s castle from purple to all the colors of the rainbow, and the castle in Canterlot turns purple.

In the aftermath, the Mane Six, now including Spike, use their Elements of Harmony to turn Brimstone’s troops back from stone.  Princess Cadence uses the magic of her Alicorn horn to restore love to their hearts.  One at a time they bring the troops back to being good little ponies.  Princess Twilight Sparkle, now the ruler of all of Equestria and master of the sun and moon, leaves only Brimstone in stone, uncertain there’s anything anypony can do to bring love to his heart.

Twilight Sparkle realizes that the rainbow has always been an aspect of magic possessed by Rainbow Dash, and makes her an Alicorn, the new Princess of Friendship.  With her horn, Rainbow Dash can now unleash a rainbow beam by herself.   Twilight moves to Canterlot to rule as Princess of Equestria.

We see another close-up of Fluttershy’s face as her boyfriend wakes up in bed again.  “You didn’t even come to defend Equestria!” Fluttershy accuses, right in his face.  She gives him The Stare and he runs out of the house.

Pinkie Pie very tastefully caters a more somber type of party, the memorial for Rarity.  Ponies attending dress to the nines in honor of Rarity and wear pins that depict her Cutie Mark.  There, Spike announces that he’s ready to take his 100-year nap and will rest in peace, still available to be awakened if they need him.  “And for your birthday parties!” says Pinkie.

All of Spike’s friends accompany him to the cave where he’ll take his nap.  They leave him gems before they say goodbye, and Twilight Sparkle is the last to leave.  She tells Spike she’s written one last letter to Princess Celestia and asks Spike to deliver it to her through his usual means, wondering if it will ever reach her.  He reads the letter before delivering it.  “Of course it will reach her,” he says.  “She may be gone, but no spirit burns brighter.”  He sets fire to the letter and it disappears.  Twilight pets Spike’s head as he settles in, closes his eyes, and falls asleep.  On Twilight’s way out, she looks at the gems piled in the cave.  She catches the sight of three gems aligned very similar to how they looked on Rarity’s Cutie Mark.  She picks them up and hangs them on the cave wall.

In the days to come, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy also see or experience things that remind them of Rarity.  When they see these things they remember to commit an act of generosity in her honor.  During this montage, we hear Twilight Sparkle read her letter to Princess Celestia:

“Dear Princess Celestia,

When a life ends, that pony’s spirit doesn’t have to die.  We can all take an aspect of who that pony was, make it our own, and then share it with others.  We’re all an element to a greater whole.  Although we all have the capacity to forget this and descend to selfishness and evil, we must remember to honor the ponies that came before us by sharing our spirits and teaching the lessons we’ve learned to the next generations.  Friendship is magic.  Thank you for sharing your magic with me, magic that never dies.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle”

In the Everfree Forest, brush clears from the branch of the Tree of Harmony that holds Rarity’s Element, which brightly glows.