Fablehaven Kendra bravely seeks help from the Fairy Queen and when all hope seems to be lost, summons the fairies into war and saves the day.
Again in Grip of the Shadow Plague Kendra helps save the day with the Fairy Queen's help.
In Rise of the Evening Star Seth relies on his own courage to defeat the revenant after the potion's effects wear off. It even impresses a demon.
Kendra and Warren fighting off all sorts of traps and monsters to retrieve the artifact.
Vannessa's pretty tough! After she's been locked away in the Quiet Box she still retains her cool and uses whatever she can to try and coax her way out.
Kendra kills the Demon King. Sweet, gentle, can't lift a weapon to save her life Kendra channels her great inner magic for the first time, hamstrings a Physical God with her Cool Sword and then finishes him off. Not even the Fairy Queen had managed so much.
Everything that Patton Burgess did in life. Crazy-Prepared does not begin to cover the insane amount of work he put into stopping the demon horde. He found secrets no one else could, slipped past guardians and outwitted or outfought hundreds of magical creatures. It says something when the Sphinx, an ancient Chessmaster that's persistently one step ahead of the heroes with a huge and talented organization at his disposal, does not even come close to what Patton did solo.
Bracken regaining his second horn and then using it to kill Mirav and The Gray Assassin near the end of Keys to the Demon Prison. Just try to read that passage and not picture it in glorious cinematic slow motion:
Laughing, Bracken threw his sword aside and extended a hand toward the wizard. "To me," he said. Although Kendra understood the meaning of the words, she felt certain he was not speaking English. The unicorn horn leapt from the wizard's hand and streaked to Bracken, who caught it effortlessly. In his grasp, the horn immediately transformed into a sword with an opalescent hilt and a gleaming silver blade. Despite the cloudy sky, with the new weapon in his hand, Bracken suddenly appeared as if standing in sunlight. A new glow suffused his countenance, and a sudden fire flashed in his eyes. "The fool brought him his second horn," Janan murmured beside Kendra.
Dragonwatch series
The first book of Dragonwatch has Seth's plan to get the scepter back: Send in his cousin, whose ignorance protects him from the dragons, and just have him grab it and run back, then escape on a half-tamed griffin to the Fairy Realm. The sheer Refuge in Audacity of it works so well, it takes the dragons a while to react.
This is quickly followed up by Kendra facing a dragon on her own for the first time. And not just any dragon, King Celebrant. And she denounces him as caretaker!
It's revealed at the beginning of the next book that Kendra standing up to and denouncing Celebrant was a massive blow to his authority, such that he is facing challenges to his crown for the first time in centuries. Just by standing up to him and giving him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Kendra has caused Celebrant a great deal of trouble and cost him some of his finest soldiers.
In Master of the Phantom Isle, Knox defeating the demon Remulon by blowing him into the razor coral with the sack of gales. Knox could have fled, but instead he took on a demon that had effortlessly defeated Kendra and multiple Knights of the Dawn, and won.
The climax of Master of the Phantom Isle. The Fairy Queen gives Kendra her crown and title. With that power, Kendra storms the Phantom Isle and fights her way down to the throne room of the Underking (the ruler of all undead). She faces the Underking, defeats it, and forces it to free Seth from his vows of service, release Bracken from prison, and return the stolen Sunset Pearl.
It's specifically stated that the Fairy Queen's crown draws on the bearer's courage and willpower for power, and that if Kendra's will had ever faltered the darkness would have consumed her.
Immediately after, Bracken fighting Ronodin, with both in their full unicorn forms. After an extensive fight, Bracken wins, breaking off Ronodin's third horn and purifying it.
It may be a villainous example, but Ronodin conquering the Fairy Realm and taking the Crown is still a damned impressive feat (in every sense of that word).
