Author's Note

So, I was really hoping something would change if I gave myself time, but it's just not happening. No matter how much I try to find that inspiration, I just haven't. At times, this story has been almost painful to continue. Perhaps, in the future that will change, but I have no idea. In the end, though, this was one of the first stories I ever wrote and while it does hurt to stop it, the fact is I just can't give it the focus and attention I'd want. I'm literally an entirely different person than I was when I started it.

But I don't want to leave people in the lurch, wondering 'But... what happened?' That's not fun for anybody. And rather than hoping one day I get inspired again, I'm just going to write it out here. I wrote up all of the arc outlines and what was intended to happen. At the very least, I hope this gives everyone closure and if I ever do get the inspiration to write this again, I can. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed and inspired me while writing this story.

Closing Remarks (Finale arcs)

Arc 1: Ironwing, Prism, Daring and Blaze work together, the first two fighting the Air Immortal while the latter two fight True. During this fight, Vinyl, Octavia and Big Mac are fighting Stony. Lots of bending, but while the air fight goes off well, with some injuries, they do manage to damage the Air Immortal. The earth benders, however, realize something is up. Vinyl swears she hit Stony, but there wasn’t a mark on the pony. In the end, the three are captured and the spirit removes their cutie marks, showing that Silver has given them the ability. However, the three stare at him, determined. They now realize they have information that may actually be important… something is off about these generals. Even more-so than just chaos magic.

Arc 2: Silver is getting more and more frustrated. Whereever she goes in the city, ponies look at her with fear and hatred. She keeps her head high, though. Focuses on that this is where she belongs. She’s MEANT to be hated. It was her destiny. Discord always was. He twisted and damaged the world.

Silver ends up going to her home, her old home. She starts getting to work, creating again. Just like Dr. Alicity. She begins to wonder if maybe her power could be used for good, to fix ponies. Like she was doing with Scootaloo. Repair horns that were destroyed. Something beyond even the artificial ones. She ends up falling asleep, only for Trixie to wake her up with warnings of assassins. She ends up being saved by Gracious. She’s oddly merciful. Takes their cutie mark, imprisons them. Gracious says she should have killed them on the spot. After all, what will ponies think if their ruler is ‘weak’? Silver denies it, but Gracious pushes her ever harder.

Silver is getting more and more frustrated. Her eyes drawn to the wind spirit recovering above the city. She feels tears welling up in her eyes. She rules the world. Harmony is defeated. And she’s miserable. She hugs the pillow to her chest and starts to cry. To her surprise, she realizes Gracious had come back. And was staring at her with the oddest, confused look. ‘What’s wrong? I thought you were gone.’ ‘It’s… it’s nothing, your highness. I was just… I was thinking you… reminded me of someone I knew many years ago.’ ‘... Really? Was she a tyrant, too?’ ‘.... No. She… cried a lot, though. But only when she thought nopony was looking. Would you like to forget that order?’ ‘.... Yes. I don’t blame him for trying to kill me. I probably would, too…’ She’d then stare at the spirit. ‘The rebellions are being crushed. Recall all spirits to the city.’ ‘Your highness?’ ‘That’s an order. Tell the generals to send them back.’ ‘.... As you wish.’ This is where Gracious begins to have her own doubts beginning to show.

Arc 3: Ponies are panicking. ALL of the spirits have begun to be recalled. Messages are being sent out. It seems the generals are returning with them. This is the best time to strike, though. The earth kingdom has fallen almost entirely. But without the generals or the spirits? Then things are going to be easier. They get into their airship and begin to take off. Colgate, however, is concerned. There’s no reason to recall all the spirits. The rebellion hasn’t been taken down. The world may have fallen, but the spirits are the number one way in order to keep the ponies under control. To deal with them. For Silver to be drawing them all in, it must mean she’s got something big planned. But they can’t let this opportunity pass them by. It’s the best time to strike. To save ponies. They put out the call. ALL members of the resistance are to move, now. To free as many ponies as they can. While they have the opportunity. Alicity, however, seems very concerned. The spirits are the most powerful tools they have. It’s incredibly likely that this is something major, Discord powered magic she has planned. Magic to compare with Discord’s magic back during Twilight’s time. Whatever it is, they need to be ready to face it. And so, they call the rebellion to go in… but they call for volunteers to make their way to Harmony. It might be a last hurrah but… well. They have to try. If things are that bad… if things GET that bad…

Arc 4: Grand prison break! With the pirates. Acrylic and co launch an attack. With Gilda to help them. This is where there's a lot of signs that something else is going on. Rainbow mentions that the so-called generals don't seem as Loyal as they act. Stony, in particular, makes her oddly uneasy. Something about the way they were talking. Lead to more hints about the immortals and who they were. They run into Stony, and get information from the Big Mac and co. Gilda, Rainbow, Pinkie and Lightning have to give a grand, heroic last stand when things turn south, but Acrylic and co flee, planning to group up again with Button Mash and co.

Arc 5: Grand gathering of the crew! Everypony (Except Diamond) is gathered again, ready to deal with whatever Silver has intended. Have them plotting and scheming, trying to figure out what they can do. If all four spirits are here, can they oppose them? They’ll likely have to try. A long night is readied as they stare out over the city and view the four great spirits, so many cutie marks. So much power. It looks suicidal. If she decides to change the world, like discord did… they have to stop her. They all ready themselves. Button refuses to believe it’ll come to that, though. And there’s a big argument. Button and Ironwing on one side, the others standing against the pair. However, Acrylic is torn between. Either way, they decide they have to interfere. Try to stop it. They have to-- And then there’s a flash of light and… four beams of light travel out from the city, into the portal. They are confused and have no idea what just happened.

Arc 6: Silver is surprised that her other three generals have come back with the spirits. However, she talks to them and tells them she’s done. This confuses them, of course. Done with what? Then she explains. ‘I’m done letting somepony else write my story’. She holds out her hooves and the Avatar’s cutie marks leave the spirit, flying off into the heavens. The immortals are shocked, of course. ‘Why?’ ‘Because I’ve been miserable. I conquered the world. For what? I hate myself. And upset. And lonely. I miss my friends. I miss Diamond.’ They share looks, confused, they whisper amongst themselves. Silver stares up at the portal. Finally… ‘I screwed up and… I made a mistake. A terrible mistake. Diamond won’t forgive me immediately. But… maybe if I work hard… maybe if I try with all my might. Maybe, one day, they’ll forgive me. If I try’. She then tries to scatter the other cutie marks, to send them all back. And, unfortunately… finds out that she can’t. It’s then that she discovers that True holds Chrysalis’ power. That building the spirits on the basis of changelings allowed them more time to absorb them, and the knowledge on how. They then absorb those spirits and unleash the magic on Silver. To her horror, they bind her. Her chaos magic is nullified by the echoes of the elements. ‘It’s not true elements… but we carried them, once. Wielded them. Some of their magic still lingers in us. And with the power you’ve given us? It’s enough to bind you.’ Silver realizes that she’s trapped. She tries to escape, but it’s too late.

Arc 7: Quiet. Nothing but silence. The group arrives in order to check things out and, well… Everything has been quiet. However, new commands from Silver. The spirits are gone, and so her decrees have gotten harsher. Apparently a few of the cutie marks escaped, but she is ‘searching’ for a traitor in her midst. The generals and the ruler haven’t left the massive tower since, all orders come from the changelings. Of course, well… When Diamond Tiara steps through the portal, she’s not quiet about it. She lands on the very top of her once tower and fire bends and air bends, creating a sign in the heavens with smoke and cloud. ‘Silver Spoon’. Her friends, of course, come FLYING to her. And, amazingly, the changlings don’t try to stop them. Scorched Legacy comes to meet with them, and reveals herself as Sunset. And how happy she is to see the Avatar again. She bows and says that a lot has happened. But that it has all been for the greater good. Please, trust her. Daring is shocked, of course. And the others want to know what Diamond discovered. The avatar says she’ll explain everything, she promises. But first, she has to meet with Silver. Acrylic nods and… sends a message back to Alicity to have the ship ready in case they have to escape, quickly. The group heads to the tower and… And find the immortals. Diamond is shocked… and then horrified to see Silver in chains. Some of the others move to stop her, but the immortals order them to stop. They explain everything. How dangerous Discord was. How they had been waiting for the time to help her, to help the Avatar strike against him. And when she defeated him, broke him, they knew that his taint remained. True is the primary speaker, of course. And he says that the time is here. Together, Diamond can slay Silver and end Discord. Once and for all. They can stop his foul magic from spreading. This is the chance. Diamond is shocked and, slowly, she steps forward… Staring at her friend. And… hugs her. Silver breaks down into tears. The avatar shatters the binds. And then turns to the immortals. ‘I understand why you did what you did. But you were wrong. The world needs Silver. Discord was evil, but she is NOT discord. And… I’m sorry I treated you that way. I’m sorry I didn’t listen. And I’m sorry when… you needed me, I was a terrible friend.’ Lots of teary eyes and then… Silver gives her the amulet. And just cries. Because she feels that it’s all over. She finally feels like she has escaped that destiny… And a hint of her powers return. And then her eyes widen when she sees what’s about to happen. She’s sent flying into the wall, hard, by a wind burst. Both her and Diamond. The immortal says he can’t allow this. He won’t. The other immortals are shocked. Of course, this is when the others step in and they manage to hold him off long enough to make their escape. As the air ship leaves, True considers going after them… but realizes his colleagues are torn as well. To have the Avatar turn on them was a shock. They need to plan…

Act 8: DT explains who they are and the two compare notes. With all those cutie marks and powers in them, there's no doubt they're the most powerful benders in the world. But without the spirits, it's just those four, so there is something to fight. One on one fights would be useless. SS mentions that now, though, they can't remove anymore cutie marks. Probably. She also apologizes. She just felt she had to be the villain, she had no choice. It was her destiny. DT says she always has a choice. She needs to make the right one. All those spirits inside had to be released if they want to have any chance of defeating them. Also, they need to remove the changelings. There's talk of queen Chrysalis and they realize one of them must have absorbed her. They imagine it's probably True. She thought she was doing the right thing, what she was supposed to do. Now she's just falling apart and breaking down. DT takes her aside and comforts her through it. She asks how DT could do that. Then DT says for so, so long she thought being the avatar meant she was the most important thing in the world. Then she felt she had to measure up and be like Twilight. Finally she realized that she was just like everypony else, just with extra powers. She had to earn her position, it didn't matter what the past avatars had done, it mattered what she did. And it was true for SS as well. Anything she wanted to do, good or bad, she had to do. And she would do. It helps her get through it. Now they have to make up a plan. SS mentions if she can close the portal, or at least block it, they have a shot of stopping the reinforcements of the changelings. It'll be dangerous, though. And they'll have to go back to Harmony to do it. They decide it's a bad idea... so DT asks what happens if they do it through the spirit world? They agree it could work. DT and SS go in together.

Act 9: They find the spirit world is in trouble. More spirits are being absorbed. And with so few remaining, it's not looking good. They also find the source of the changelings, a lot of them. SS is all set to sacrifice herself, but DT smacks her and says no. They'll distract the mare. They can, and will, do this together. It's not easy, but the two manage to lure of them them away, allowing SS to get through and close the portal. It's not truly closed, just blocked so the others can't use it to send more. DT is almost killed, though, and gets hurt. SS charges forward and then reveals some of her discord powers. In fact, she almost turns into a mini discord. This sends the changelings packing. When they get back to the real world, she looks ready to break down, but DT hugs her and says she's not discord. She has some of his powers, but that doesn't make her discord. SS then explains what happened, what she saw. How she betrayed them to get the amulet. DT says she understands. But Discord was good (enough) once and she knew SS was good now. Now they had to attack, though. And fight. The changelings could be sent back, that was easy enough. SS teaches DT how to send back the changelings and they decide to start with the ones around the dragons.

Act 10: Yeah, dragons don't like her. Nearly gobble her up. Spike is pissed. DT barely manages to calm him down. Barely. The others kind of want her to get gobbled too. But she says that SS is a good pony now. The dragons said they heard about it, how DT had gone rogue and been corrupted by the spirit of discord and was now helping her. But the others kind of back her up(wishy washy about it). But says they won't find much help. The changelings are now helping to protect and keep ponies happy. To be frank, most ponies LIKE the immortals more than SS. They'll welcome these new rulers. Hate to break it, but DT and the others are the bad guys in this story. SS starts hearing about the horrible things she'd 'done'. Slave camps for the defactors, etc etc. She's stunned and had no idea, but it was all done in her name. Oops. Even if they defeat the immortals, all it will do is create chaos. True chaos. Everything depends on them. Their changelings, their ponies. There's nothing they can do to replace them. Ergo, once they're gone, all government is too. It'll take years to fix. DT and SS crumble and nearly give up. It's too big for them, too much. How can they win? Amazingly enough, it's Colgate who steps forward, even though she's been cold throughout this entire thing. She says she doesn't care if these ponies have power and such. She won't allow them to trick and control her nation. How many hundreds, even thousands of spirits are being enslaved by them. What'll happen later when the spirits run out? How long until they decide to find other ways to extend their lives? The cutie marks are probably helping. How long until they start stealing those? They already had done some in SS's name. They'll control and force all ponies to bend and kneel before them, obeying their every whim. And they'll turn the avatar into a puppet. Luna and Celestia joke about her just wanting to be a ruler, she glares at them. Also mentions how each government has their own methods. The fire tribes have their councils(like Harmony, gee, wonder why? :P), the air nomads have their own mini governments. The water nation is the only one with a total ruler. The earth kingdom has its one emperor, but also has smaller kings and queens who rule their own sections separate. Forcing them all under the Water Nation's methods will lead to unrest. The changeling army won't keep ponies imprisoned forever.

Act 11: They really have no idea what to do. Fighting four of the most powerful benders of all time, with tons of cutie marks and spirits in them. Don't even know if they can die. Even if they defeat them and somehow get rid of their powers, all the changelings are everywhere. What if their culture is better, what if their world is. Then they get ambushed and attacked. They were betrayed by some of the dragons and now all four Immortals are her. True mentions that sending more changelings at them would be useless, they'd just be banished. Instead, the four of them would take them on. He then goes on about how the world is better under their control. How now it has rulers who will live long enough to see the error and mistakes they made. How under their iron control, all ponies will be able to live long, healthy lives and, eventually, there won't be four countries. That Harmony will be the city everywhere. Guided by the four of them and the next avatar. He mentions how ponies want to be ruled, how they desire to be controlled. And that they will fix all the mistakes the previous rulers have made. He frankly makes a lot of good (albeit twisted, element of honesty ho) points, before they fight. DT and SS fight True Breeze, earth fights Button, Copper and Acrylic. Fire fights Ironwing, Daring, Blaze and Prism(Go go shadowXwonder bolts!). Water fights Colgate, Luna and Celestia. Final fight, go!

Act 12: The off teams do well, but it's impossible to kill the spirit fighters, so they manage to win, then lose, then win, etc etc. The big fight is DT and SS vs True. The alicorn amulet is tossed between the two often and Silver becomes a 'discord alicorn' during the fight, using her artificial horn and wings as the baseline. True tells them how much better the world will be, how it needs an avatar to lead it, that they need leaders. DT is more and more confused, but then asks about Big mac, rainbow, etc. Will their cutie marks be returned? He says no, that there's no point. After all, they can use it better. That's when she starts to counter fight. Talking about how his way may be better, it might not be. But in the end it's only his way. Their way. They force everyone to kneel and obey, regardless of what they want. They take and take. She won't let the world be submitted to his tyranny. They fight, he finally gets hit hard, dt and ss go in and release all the spirits from him, shattering the echo of his element and the others. The spirits are all released and the four collapse. DT says that she agrees with him, on some things. But, not all. She then offers a hoof. He can help them, all of them. He has knowledge, skills. Can pass it on to the next generation. Help her make a full world harmony. But it won't be harmony if they force it. It'll have to be something they have to do together. A place for all ponies, zebras, minotaurs, etc. Equestria. He says there'll be war. She says there might be. Ponies won't always get along. But then she looks to SS and says there are two guardians now. Two avatars. Together they'll look out for this new world. Will he help make it? Solemnly, the six agree. Then, chrysalis appears. Says her typical bad guy speech, how now that she's in the world, her species is sent out throughout the world. Also, says.... she didn't plan this. But she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Now she's free, she'll do as she pleases. So... SS asks what she wants to do. She seems stunned... she wants to live here. And? She has no idea. So DT and SS offer her the same option. She can help them. She doesn't have to be a bad spirit. She agrees, heartfelt things all around.

Act 13: Final get together, talk. DT and SS group up with the others, say the cutie marks are returning to their owners. Now it's a new time, a new world. They'll have to fix it, again. The countries have fallen apart, but maybe that's not so bad. Because Harmony worked. In its own way. Maybe now it's time for all the world to become harmony. A new country, instead of four old ones. Colgate scoffs, but then DT says it's of their own choice. If they wish to remain with their rulers, their old ways of thinking, they can. But all will have the choice now. But first they have to restore all the nations. Set up peace and restore harmony. She'd smile to chrysalis, commenting that the changelings would be a boon in this. She'd then look to SS and move over. 'one last thing.' 'Hmm?' 'Ummm, before...' 'What?' *kiss* 'OH COME ON!' 'Yes, come on, we've got a world to set back in order.' *trots off.* 'I wonder what we should call this new... mega country... maybe something like... Equine... unit... Equestria?'