The Hero Within

" Ah just don't get it. " Applebloom told Twilight.

The alicorn didn't understand it either. At first the Voidian, that Hase had upgraded, was attacking furiously, without any target. But now it was cautiously avoiding everypony but Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. This made it easier for the rest to attack the Voidian, but the damage they dealt was like if a bee had stung the giant. Celestia and Luna were barely retiliating now.

A sudden idea came to Twilight's mind. The edge was near. What if...

" Scoot! " she yelled. After a second the lavender mare recognized the pegasus mare. She was flying around the Voidian and shot multiple optic beams at him, but no effect.

" What? " Scotaloo asked after she landed nearby.

" Do you think you can blind him? " the alicorn glared at the monster. The two Princesses' magical shields were quickly melting.

" Should be pretty easy. " the orange pegasus flew off to the Voidian.

Nearby there was Wanda and a miniature green tornado near her. Twilight knew what caused it.

" Quicksilver! " she called and before she even finished his name the unicorn already stood before her.

" Any ideas how to deal with this? " he nodded at the Voidian.

" Push him to the edge. " the purple mare suggested.

The hero smiled. A lot of shouting was heard, after Cyclops succeeded to blind the Voidian. Quicksilver got him near the edge. Guessing her friend's plan, Rainbow Dash fired a rocket, which caused the giant to fall from the edge.

" Hey! Look! " Wanda exclaimed. After she turned around, Twilight got confused. The rails weren't broken anymore.

" An illusion of some kind, I guess. " Luna supposed " Tricks of darkness. "

After they got back on the train, they heard, that the comm device was beeping. Twilight reached it first, but since she had no idea which button to press, she stepped aside and Scotaloo got in front of it instead. After the correct button was pressed, Fury's worried face apeared on the small screen.

" I need Twilight and the two Princesses. Where are they? "

" Right here, Nick. " Luna spoke. She got in front of the device together with Twilight and her sister.

" What's the case? "

" I've got  especially good news, but also pretty bad news. " Fury spoke " First, we caught Hase. But before you cheer, listen up. We got him in our special prison chamber and we let Cadence speak with him. The results were better than we have expected. We can say, that now Hase is almost the pony he once was. He gave up destroying our dimension and killing us all. Instead, he offered us to share Equestria with the Voidians. But there is a catch. The session with Cadence caused him to realize the real reason for all of the misery he and his parents had suffered. You. Now his entire hatred is focused on you, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia. We sent Angel to stop him, but in that fight, he reforged the Bow and the Robe. Before that he also reforged the Mace. So be careful! Your trip to Canterlot might lead you to a trap! "

The transmission ended.  Deep inside, Twilight was happy. But sad too. Was the price for the old Hase the death of Luna and Celestia?

" All underestimate us! It's time to show them the power of the sun and the moon! " Celestia spoke.

Canterlot was no further than 5 or 6 miles away. But, strangely, there were no Voidians at all.

" Shouldn't this place be overflowing with them? "  Dash referred to the servants of Hase.

" It should. " Scoot replied " This leads me to the thought this is probably a trap. "

" It's a trick. " Celestia agreed and looked through the window. The city was close. " But I start to wonder, why did he make it so obvious? "

This couldn't be explained. Twilight was still thinking. Why would Hase, an excellent tactitian, make his trap so simple? It was obvious, that all of the Voidians didn't just vanish.  But the more importrant question was: Where were they hiding?

" Can't we locate the Voidians by magic? " she turned to Luna. The princess of the Night shook her head in responce.

" For years he has been shrouding this place with dark concealing magic. On a magical level Canterlot is covered with thick layers of mist. "

" So... we'r just waitin' ? " Logan wasn't very happy to hear that.

" Sad but true. " Sweetie answered his question.

After 10 minutes the train finally reached the gates of Canterlot. Even there there weren't any Voidians. The train didn't meet any obstacles all the way to the train station. As the group got out of the train, they saw, that the station was also completely empty.

" Is he trying to turn it into a ghost town or something? " Dash asked Twilight.

" I'm not sure. " the purple alicorn studied her surroundings. Indeed the whole station was empty. The ponies slowly made their way to the exit. They expected an ambush, but again, there was nopony.

" This is getting too easy. " Luna threw a suspicious look at the streets. Either the Voidians were the best in hide and seek, or Hase had learned his lesson in concealing magic. The group tried not to make any noise as they followed the street to the castle. And still, nopony was tracking them and nopony was attacking them.

" Maybe that dark guy is trying to scare us to da bones! " Deadpool suggested " If we are frightened from his ghost town, we can't shove a katana in his muzzle! "

" Nopony is going to shove a katana in his muzzle! We don't kill ponies! " Twilight spoke to the unicorn with the red spandex.

" Oh, come on! It sounds bad the way you say it! We're just going to unalive him or K-word him! " sometimes Deadpool sounded like if Pinkie Pie went crazy. No wonder- he was partially crazy.

" Twilight's right! Killing him isn't part of the plan... oh. " Luna just remembered what they'd came for.

" Princess, after he's now closer to being himself, can't we use another plan? " Twilight turned to Celestia.

" I know you and your friends had became close to him. But he doesn't realize the truth about the Voidians and he'll never accept it. He takes them for innocent victims, that will be satisfied after he grants them a homeworld. Bu the truth is, that the Voidians are monsters. Few Chaotics have succeeded to change the Voidians. Their true nature is destroying everything on their way. They feed off dimensions. If we are defeated and Hase bargains, eventually Equestria will be destroyed. Hase will defend his " folk " , but he will never realize, that all they want is destruction. We need to stop him now. " Celestia replied.

" Well, well, well. " a dark figure landed on their way. After it came a little closer, Twilight recognized Hase. Now his mane had a little more light purple colour. The stallion was unarmed, so Luna took immediate actions. A blue bolt of magic flew to the pegasus. He didn't try to dodge it, but stopped it with his chest. Now Twilight noticed, that instead of the scales sacristy, now he had a silver armour with beatiful ornaments. Dragon heads stood on his shoulders.

"  Instead of the Armour of Extinction, that sounds too cruel, why not the Dragon Doom? It will withstand not only dragon fire at it's maximum temperature, but it also makes me immune to any hostile spells, if fired at it, of course. But let's play fair. " the Dragon Doom vanished and in front of them now there was a pegasus with no armour at all.

" At least your last battle, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, will be fair. You have no armour, so I won't be armed too. " the pegasus told the two alicorns. Than he looked at Twilight. Dash in the Iron Patriot landed nearby. Only happiness could be seen in his eyes.

" Hase... you don't have to do it. " the purple alicorn hoped her friend would listen to her.

" I wish I could. " the pegasus sighed " But they... they are the reason for everything bad, that happened during my whole life. We met in three ages. In all of them they ruined my life and tried to destroy me and my family. " he stared at the Princesses with hatred.

" Hase, you don't know the true nature of the Voidians. They won't just live peacefuly. They'll destroy Equestria! " Celestia tried to convince the vengeful pegasus.

" How could you be so sure, Celestia?  Where does your knowledge originate from ? Books ?!? From my point of view, anypony can be changed. " the ruler of the Voidians answered.

" Anypony but the Voidians. " Luna spoke to him.

Suddenly Hase vanished, leaving behind some trails of darkness.

" I'm afraid I don't have time to chat. " Twilight couldn't find out where the sound came from " Celestia, Luna, prepare for the fight of your life. The others - I would suggest you leave Canterlot. Now! " his voice sounded desperate. Instead of running, the group made a circle around the two Princesses.

" There's nothing easier for me than killing them, but protecting you. " an arrow stuck exactly between the two Princesses. When she looked up, Twilight saw a sillouethe hiding in a cloud.

The arrow exploded and shrouded everything around them in darkness. Twilight felt she was being pushed away. When the darkness dissapeared, she saw the two Princesses were trapped in an energy field and everypony else were out of it. It was quite big, so the royalties had space for manouvers, but their back- up was blocked.

" You never fight your own battles. " Hase materialized from darkness inside the field " Once, you sent Starswirl the Bearded. During my service, you have sent me numerous time to eliminate dangerous criminals and even skillful magicians. 15 years ago you sent my future friends to stop me and imprison me once and for all. Now it's time to see how do you battle by yourself. "

Outside the Iron Patriot was trying to breach the shield with her whole arsenal. Nothing seemed to work, but rainbow Dash kept trying. Untill suddenly Hase threw the Furious Nine- Tail outside of the shield. It transformed into the fire drake and swirled around the field.

" I would be grateful if you don't interrupt me exactly now, Dash. Everything is going to be as it once was as soon as I deal with the ghosts of my past. " Hase told her and summonned the Cleaving Morningstar.

" I thought you said it was going to be a fair fight? " Celestia knit her brows.

" Oh, right. I did. " the horrible weapon dissapeared, together with Hase and the force field.

" However, you'll have to guard eachother's backs. " balls of pure darkness started pouring at the two Princesses. They guarded eachother's backs. Twilight tried to rush at them, but the fire drake landed in front of them.

" Nah- ah - ah! " Hase spoke " Two vs. one. We don't need more. "

" Hase, if you're planning to defeat us with these, you underestimate us greatly! " Luna challenged the pegasus. The balls stopped pouring  and now Hase's voice was heard again:

" I am not underestimating you nor am I overestimating you... "

The drake flew away and the silence returned. The ponies regrouped. Than Celestia and Luna noticed something. A big pony was running towards them. This pony resembled...

" Father? " both Luna and Celestia ran to the pony, but when they were on the half way there, a hole to the Void opened and the pony fell inside. The two alicorns fell on the ground.

When Twilight neared them, she heard, that they were crying.

" Reborn to be destroyed. " Hase taunted from the darkness.

" Princess... this was probably a trick. Do you remember? Only ponies with power, equal to that of 5 alicorns can bring back from the dead. Hase hasn't got such power. "

Those words brought the two princesses back on their hooves.

" You're right. . But what was the point of this? " Celestia wondered.

" Fear for the closest ones. it isn't just fear, there's something... primal inside of it. Everypony are equal when facing their fears. And your fears, dear Princesses, gave me what I needed. So much fear, enough for me to reforge my shield and create.... the Dreadful Guardian! " Hase appeared from the shadows with a shield, that was as long as him and had rectangualr form. Unlike it's previous form, this one had ornaments and many horrible details.

" Face your nightmares come true! " the pegasus triumphed, as dark figures got out of the shield. This reminded Twilight of the enchanted mirror, that once Sunset Shimmer used.

The figures became clear and everypony gasped in horror. There was one of the figures for each of the group.

" The Headless Horse... with 4 rusty horseshoes? " Scotaloo shivvered. One of the figures was indeed a pony with no head. Those rusty horseshoes made a horrifying noise.

" The Scorpion of the Desert Heat! What awaitens us is defeat! " Zecora gasped, as a huge yellow scorpion pinched the near street lamp, cutting it in half.

" Jelly! " at first Quicksilver's primal fear sounded ridiculous, but when twilight looked at the figure, that stood against him, she understood him. The jelly was full of junk and had two hollows for eyes and a third for mouth. The creature smiled and opened it's mouth wide. Wanda was also very afraid, so she obviously shared her brother's worst fear.

" Your style is horrible! " a pony, that slightly resembled Photo Finish, yelled at Sweetie. The unicorn began to cry.

" I am the Great and Powerful Tiara! Nothing can match my magical strength! " a grown up Diamond Tiara alicorn was facing Applebloom. The earth pony was hiding behind a crate.

One of the few, that faced their fears, was Logan. He was growling. In front of him there was a pony, covered in yellow furr. The Wolverine's opponent smiled, revealing his beast- like teeth.

" Victor. " Logan spoke

" Jimmy. Well, nice to meet you again. " Victor replied. Did he just call Logan Jimmy?

"Oh, Celestia. Noooo! " Deadpool yelled. Against him there was a clown. Deadpool was afraid of clowns?

In front of her and the Princesses there was nothing. Because Hase was their fear. They feared they might lose him forever.

" Go away! " Deadpool got out his katanas and jumped over the clown. Before his enemy could react, he stabbed him in the back. The clown fell apart and vanished, levaing only his clothes behind.

" That's it! " Twilight guessed the right strategy against the feared " Face your fears! " she yelled at her friends.

When she heard that, Zecora smiled. She got over her fears and unleashed a lightning at the scorpion. The monster hissed and vanished.

Following Zecora, the twins Wanda and Pietro attacked the jelly. While Quicksilver was distracting it, the Scarlet Witchmare shot a magical blast in it's face.

Scotaloo took advantage of the fact, that her enemy had no eyes and made him fall on the ground. While the headless horse was trying to get back on his hooves, Scotaloo eliminated him with an optic blast. Nearby Sweetie jumped over the head of the stylist pony and stabbed him in the back. On Scoot's other side Applebloom jumped and sunk in the street. While the fake Tiara was wondering where was she, she jumped out behind her and kicked her. The fake alicorn rolled down the street.

Meanwhile Logan pretended to jump and Victor jumped for real. The Wolverine slid under him and stabbed him with his adamantium clwas.

" I wish he was the real one. " Logan commented.

" You're brave, I admit. " Hase spoke to them, after all of them got together " But why proect a ruler, that hasn't done anything good for you? "

After saying those words the pegasus vanished again. There were still no Voidians or Sentinels and the ponies decided to use that while they can. The group continued on their way to the castle.