It is said history repeats itself. However, it was never said that history 100% repeats; something Princess Twilight was banking on. The bookpony and her eleven fellow love defenders present had suffered embarrassing failure after embarrassing failure trying to stop Chrysalis.

But not this time! Chrysalis would fall where it all began: Canterlot’s Equusmart. The heroes and heroines had caught wind of Chrysalis being spotted there, so they decided to wait outside its front double doors. The proud moon shining from above almost seemed ready to celebrate its mover’s victory.

And it was a very good thing alicorns heal quickly. After a mere two weeks removed from suffering the biggest accidental flank-kicking in Equestrian history, Princess Celestia’s body and coat had healed to be good as new.

That said, she, like the others, did have green letters written on her back. In Celestia's case, they spelled out "Big feast."

*Screaming*

Ponies ran out of Equusmart’s door and past the waiting group of changeling hunters, who sidestepped out of the path of the panicking ponies. One fleeing unicorn mare shouted, “I’m not having my love eaten or being dropped on the ground again!”

Celestia said, “The reports were right: Chrysalis is in there.”

Rarity bore a wide, deep, Cheshire Cat-level grin. “Yes. I can’t wait for her to finally receive what she deserves.”

“You and me both, Rarity.” Cadance extended a hoof to Rarity, who promptly hoofpumped it. “We should have sold tickets for this.”

“Oh, I did." Pinkie pulled out some blue tickets from her mane. "Why do you think some ponies are waiting way behind us?”

“Wait, you did sell tickets?! Why didn’t ya tell us?! Ah would've offered to sell some apples to them!”

“I was going to have the bits I made be a surprise." Pinkie pushed her unsold tickets back in her mane. "I had planned to sell them some popcorn too, but I couldn't make en–"

Chrysalis calmly stepped through Equusmart’s door. Wearing a cheerful, almost friendly smile of all things, she greeted, “Hi, my cute favorite fools. Sorry about the love I ate in there, but nice night, isn’t it?”

“Apology not accepted, Chrysalis,” Celestia said firmly. “You will not fly away laughing this time.”

“But it is a nice night," Luna added, her moon seemingly shining even brighter. "It will soon be even nicer.”

"Uh, what?" Chrysalis stared at the group, puzzlingly tilting her head to the side. She let out a laugh and remarked, “Oh, that's a good one! Aren’t you forgetting that none of you can fight or punish villains who say they are sorry?”

“That’s what we thought,” Shining Armor said, “but Twily remembered some details in the forgiveness law that even she had misunderstood or overlooked.”

“Oh?”

Cadance said, “Yes, ‘oh’. It indeed states ponies are prohibited from fighting or punishing villains who claim to be sorry, as long as the villain didn't injure anypony."

Celestia chimed in, "Rule #12 in the 'Benevolent Alicorn' book states good alicorns can neither break laws nor directly encourage other ponies to break them, so even my hooves are tied.”

Twilight laid a hoof on Starlight’s back. “Unfortunately for you, though, Starlight is herself a villain, albeit a reformed one. Therefore, if she were to break it but doesn't injure any pony, she would be eligible for the forgiveness law's protection.”

The reformed villain smirked. “And after I’m done with you, changeling, I will say ‘I’m sorry’.”

"'Tis just a shame that Nightmare Moon, not me as Princess Luna, was a villain so I cannot join in. But, I will settle for watching Starlight 'punish' you, her way."

“Well, I see ponies aren’t as dumb as I thought. Still, she can't beat me now, or shall I give a demonstration?” Chrysalis’s horn glowed green. A colossal blast of magic fired from it, far beyond any blasts she had ever shown, into the sky. A gust of wind from the blast ripped into Chrysalis's and the ponies' manes, bullying them to helplessly flap until the wind storm canceled itself.

“See?" She leered at Starlight, who defiantly pinned her ears and scowled back. "Your little villain reject might have stood a slight chance a couple of weeks ago, but she wouldn’t last ten seconds against the new me! She can try if she's dumb enough to; I could use an after-dinner workout.” Chrysalis unleashed her vintage evil laugh, again.

More, non-evil laughing joined in. Thirteen creatures, not just one, laughed into the night.

Make that twelve.

“Wait, why are you laughing? This isn’t supposed to be funny for you.”

Spike and the ponies, their laughing stopped, backed away ten ponylengths from Starlight. The four alicorns’ horns lit; magic shot from them and seeped into Starlight’s body, illuminating her in a blinding white aura. Short-range sparks of magic-fueled lightning and a gust of wind, powered by the raw force of the magic, flared from the glowing unicorn.

“Well said.”

Smaller sparks of magic-lightning continued to arc from Starlight’s glowing body, but a grin from her lips peeked through the glare. A type of grin she had only shown during her unreformed villain days. "I am going to enjoy this.”

Fluttershy said, “Um, if I were you, I would run.”

Cadance flew to and wrapped a foreleg around Chrysalis's neck in mock affection. “And fast while her body is still adjusting to our magic. If you stay, we will have to clean you off walls later.”

"Not that we or Pinkie's paying customers would mind seeing you get defeated, painfully. I just wish I had some gems to eat."

“Not a chance, and get off me, you pink love-loving pony!" Chrysalis slapped Cadance's foreleg away. "We ain't old friends!" While the pink love-loving pony giggled and backed away, Chrysalis planted her hooves and flared open her wings. Her eyes burned with unflinching determination. "I don’t care how much magic she has! There is no way I will run from Starlight Glimmer of all ponies!”

Two ‘okay bet’ sparks of magic-lightning snapped from Starlight’s back, her body still shining with raw power.

“On second thought, nuh-uh.” Chrysalis turned tail and flew off. So much for that unflinching determination.

One last magic-lightning fired, and Starlight’s body dimmed back to its normal lilac.

Twilight looked over Starlight, then nodded. “All right, it looks like our alicorn magic has fully stabilized inside you.”

"Now, as Princess Luna, a good alicorn, I am encouraging you to return to Ponyville. However, if you, a reformed villain, just happen to feel like it, I am not encouraging you at all to–" Luna pointed a hoof, squarely toward the fleeing Chrysalis in the air “–SIC HER, STARLIGHT!!”

“And give her one for me and Flurry! Uh, if you want to. No pressure from a good alicorn like me.”

Starlight levitated into the air…and shot herself halfway, screaming, across Canterlot as a turquoise magic trail followed her. “Whoa! This is way harder than I thought it would be! I should have read ‘For Everything 2’ for tips on controlling so much alicorn magic.” She zigzagged throughout the air, gradually slowing and gaining better control of her 4x alicorn + 1 unicorn-powered flying.

Celestia said, “You were smart to realize a loophole in that ill-thought-of forgiveness law, Twilight. Once it is finally repealed, we will never have to worry about villains exploiting it again.”

Rainbow snickered. "But at least we have a way to mop the floor with a villain if one were to try it again."

Luna added, “And it was even more impressive that Twilight had preemptively given Starlight some training in alicorn magic as a precaution.”

“Actually, I never trained Starlight in alicorn magic. She is simply as gifted in magic as me, so that was why I thought of the idea of lending her most of our magic. Of course, she was the one to choose what to do with it once she had it.”

Cadance's brain ordered a red alert. She slowly turned toward Twilight and asked, “So let me get this straight. An untrained unicorn in even a single alicorn's magic now has the magic of four alicorns, and on top of her own unicorn magic to boot?”

Sudden realization dug into Twilight’s brain, triggering it to signal its own red alert. Her pupils shrank and mouth fell agape as per said brain's first two orders. "Oooops. Put like that, it sounds much worse than it did in my head. Now that I think of it, we could’ve had Discord 'volunteer' to help–”

*BOOM!*

A shock wave of magic tore through the entirety of Canterlot. Cracks and fissures struck roads, windows, and walls of buildings – even Canterlot Castle watching from a distance. By sheer luck, no pony appeared to be injured but instead just stunned, confused, or annoyed. The ponies who had brought Pinkie's tickets cheered about how they got their money's worth, but also booed about how their houses might require repairs by their landmares.

Oh, and emphasis on how “no pony" was injured.

“Ow,” Chrysalis whimpered as she lay bruised, broken, embarrassed, and defeated. She was utterly ruined – and also some of Canterlot.

“Oops. I-I can fix this, I hope, but I'm sorry, for real, about destroying half of Canterlot. Also, ‘sorry’ for breaking Chrysalis.”

Author's Note

Jokes aside, it was revealed what was written on Twilight's, Starlight's, and Celestia's back, but what would you guess was written on the others' backs?