"Why do you suppose the princess wants me at the palace all of a sudden?" Twilight asked Spike.
"I don't know" he replied.
The two of them had been packing a few things for the trip. Princess Celestia had made it seem as if she would be staying for a little while. Twilight levitated the note over to where she was standing and read over it again.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I need you to come to the castle as soon as you can. There is an urgent matter that needs your attention.
Yours Truly,
Princess Celestia
"It's so short and lacking of detail." Twilight said. "Whatever she needs, she obviously didn't have time to explain in a letter."
The little dragon placed Twilight's saddlebags on her back, and then quickly climbed up himself and took a seat on her rump. Without hesitation, Twilight took off in a brisk trot. It wasn't long before they were boarding the train to Canterlot and bidding all of their friends a hasty farewell.
~ ~ ~
Twilight Sparkle nodded a greeting to the Royal Guards as she entered the Royal Palace. The splendor of the giant structure was so much easier to appreciate after living in Ponyville for so long. All of it complimented Princess Celestia, who was standing a few steps away from Twilight with a welcoming smile. Spike had made a last minute decision to stay with Rarity while Twilight was at the palace, and nopony argued.
"Hello, Twilight." The princess greeted her. "I am relieved to see you."
"Thank you, Princess." Twilight said, with slight embarrassment. She was always nervous around her mentor. Nothing, in her mind, was worse than messing up in front of somepony as important as Princess Celestia.
"You said there was an urgent matter that needed my attention?" Twilight asked, deciding to skip any formalities and get straight to business.
"Yes" Celestia whispered. The purple unicorn was curious about what she needed to do, but the worried look on Celestia's face frightened her.
What could possibly happen that would worry the princess, and why does she need MY help? She thought.
The princess beckoned for Twilight to walk with her around the palace. They weren't going anywhere, but the motion was soothing. The princess explained what she had seen in the mirror. Twilight was confused and scared, but the princess continued. She told the unicorn all about the wars that had been fought. She told her about the powers that the two princesses had, and how they used them to protect Equestria. Celestia even explained their origins, telling Twilight that they weren't always immortal. Alicorns did live much longer than the other pony races, but only after defeating Discord did Luna and herself obtain immortality.
"What am I supposed to do about the machine?" Twilight asked. They had trotted all around the palace, both inside and outside, and were working on their fourth tour by time Twilight asked that question. Celestia was silent for a while, but eventually, she spoke.
"There is a secret about you, Twilight, that I have known ever since I met you. You wouldn't know the secret yourself, but I believe that it may be our only chance of survival against this new threat."
"What are you talking about?" the unicorn asked asked. Twilight was bewildered.
"You have," Celestia continued, "within your blood, a key. A piece of genetic code that makes you special. All unicorns and alicorns have it, but only a tiny bit of it. Its the magic gene; the piece of anypony that says 'I can use magic.' The difference with you is that, while all unicorns have a piece of the key, you have the entire key."
Twilight froze. This sounded very big and very powerful, but the purple pony still didn't know quite what it meant. Seeing the lost look on her student's face, Celestia continued again.
"The gene is the key to the Astral Plane. A dimension of pure energy and unlimited power. That little bit of DNA in you and in every unicorn is like an access point. It draws on some of the power from that dimension, and directs it though our horns. The more complete your key is, the more powerful your magic can be. You have the whole key, and so you can actually draw too much power, like what happened when you took your test to get into magic school. I knew I would have to explain all of this to you, and so I took you on as my personal student."
The white alicorn paused to give all of this information time to sink in. Twilight's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts; she felt as though, even through all of her studying, she had learned next to nothing. She wouldn't have believed what she was hearing if it wasn't coming from her most respected teacher and idol. As her thoughts began to organize, she came to understand what the princess had called her to do, and it made her feel queasy.
"You want me to fight the machine, don't you? How can I even do that? Even if I am some sort of key to a whole bunch of power, you are a million times stronger than me!" Twilight was almost angered, but she was mostly panicking.
"You are correct about my intentions for calling you, but it is not as feeble of an idea as you might think." Celestia said with an impressive calmness. "When I say that you have the key, I was not referring to it as a key to use magic, but in fact, it is a key to the Astral Bridge. A portal to the other dimension that can give you more power than you can even imagine. I think you can even use the key to go to that other dimension, or at least that's what Star-Swirl the Bearded told me."
Twilight's eyes went wide as she heard that all-too-familiar name. She spun around and faced her teacher.
"Was he a key too? How many other keys are there? Am I the only one?" The questions came flying out of the unicorn, but Celestia soon squashed her hope of finding others.
"Star-Swirl was a key, but you and he are the only ones to exist in Equestria since my sister and I stole the throne from Discord."
Twilight Sparkle felt the weight of this knowledge fall heavily on her shoulders. Not only was she powerful beyond comprehension, but she was an impossibly rare phenomenon. She felt as though she didn't even know who she was anymore, and the stress of it all caused her to black out.
~ ~ ~
Twilight Sparkle rolled over in her bed. Memories of her crazy dream still lingered in her mind. She opened her eyes to a marvelous view of the Palace Garden. That's when reality hit her; her talk with the princess hadn't been a dream, and the sound of her mentor giving a speech about the same matter they had discussed before she had blacked out dispelled any doubts she could have had.
Not knowing what else to do, the purple unicorn began to cry. The enormous amount of stress had really taken it's toll, and it didn't get any better when a palace guard burst through her door, startling Twilight so badly that she practically flung herself out of the bed and into a heap on the floor. The guard peeked around side of the bed to see Twilight Sparkle untangling her own legs. The embarrassment only made her cry even more, but she quickly stood and wiped the tears away.
"What's going on?" she asked. Her voice was shaky, but the guard pretended not to notice.
"I heard you..." the guard trailed off when Twilight raised an eyebrow at him. "Ah, nothing, ma'am. Just checking up on you, seeing if you were awake yet."
Twilight's heart skipped a beat - she didn't know how long she had been out, and so she asked.
"Just for the night. You seemed pretty exhausted, and so Princess Celestia had you put to bed here, and placed me on guard duty."
The unicorn seemed relieved, and the guard took that as his cue to leave. After quickly grooming herself, Twilight followed him. The guard went off towards the barracks, presumably for a nap, but Twilight went off to find where Celestia was speaking at. It didn't take very long, and she found that she had shown up just as the speech was over. Various ponies dressed in all kinds of armor, including uniforms from both of the princesses' guards, were leaving the area. Twilight guesstimated that there were probably around two hundred ponies that had been present. She walked up to the regal figure standing on an elevated platform, and addressed her.
"Princess Celestia?" she called out. The princess' eyes snapped to her student, and she immediately jumped down to embrace the unicorn.
"I am so glad that you are awake." she said. The princess regained her formal pose so quickly that Twilight almost didn't notice she had ever been informal.
"I have just asked the Equestrian Militia to scout and guard our borders while you and I prepare for the upcoming events." the princess said.
"Equestrian Militia? I didn't know that even existed."
"It didn't until today."
"How are we going to prepare?"
"I am going to go recruiting for a fighting force, and you are going to start studying the hidden scrolls of Star-Swirl and practicing your key abilities."
"First, many ponies don't have any fighting capabilities at all. Second, what hidden scrolls, and what 'key abilities?' Third, how long do we have until the machine gets here?"
The white alicorn was a little shocked at the fierceness in her student's voice, but she took as meaning that her mind was focused and ready to deal with this problem.
"I know, we have trainers. The hidden scrolls are Star-Swirl's documentations on the key and how to use it. Also, the machine has actually stopped, but it has released an army that is marching towards us as we speak. There are also considerable masses flocking towards the machine from various other places outside of our borders. I am seeing many creatures that I have not seen in a very long time, and even more that I have never seen before at all. However, the force marching for us appears to be mostly composed of ponies like ourselves. I feel they can easily be dealt with. Some of the other things that I have seen, though, look very formidable."
Twilight felt her gut twisting inside of her. At this point, the anticipation of the upcoming battle might kill her before an enemy even sees her. The only thing she could do was prepare, and so she followed a guard to the hidden scrolls Celestia had mentioned, and started reading.
~ ~ ~
"I found him."
A tall figure, who stood on two legs and had a thin body going vertically to his head, which lay just above where two appendages with many smaller appendages on the ends hung down to the middle of his body, was carefully picking through Equestria with his mind. The dark presence he had been hunting finally crossed his mentality, and he focused on it. When he opened his eyes, he saw the statue of Discord before him. The bridge of his ship was huge, and so the statue didn't take up much space, but compared to the ponies, it was rather large. It was, however, a tiny bit shorter than the figure, who was completely covered by shiny black armor. His deep, menacing voice rang out as he called out to the spirit of chaos.
"Discord! I have found you, and brought you to me. For the cost of your service, I will release you!"
All of the ponies around him looked on with fear. None of them knew who Discord was, but they all knew exactly what the armored figure was. He was their master. To some, he was even their god. This being was beyond powerful, and he had proven it many times. He was now on a quest to dominate the planet. No one quite knew where he had come from, but he had shown up a few years back and had quickly began enslaving and recruiting everything to his cause.
The human, as he was, waved his hand in front of the face of Discord. As he did so, the stone melted into flesh, and Discord breathed. His look of surprise became a look of wonder as he gazed at the massive space around him, and all of the unknown things. He then looked at the black figure who had called out to him. Immediately, Discord started playing his games.
"And who might you be?" the god of chaos asked.
"I am your master." the figure answered plaintively.
"I think not" Discord said with a chuckle. He smiled, and then vanished. The entire statue was gone, and Discord's voice rang out around the ship.
"I am the master here. Who are you? I don't even know, but I am a god. The lord of chaos, the puppet master, and the spirit of my own amusement."
The human stood motionless. His armor hid any expression he might have had on his face, but he was obviously not amused. Many of the slave ponies had stopped working at their stations, so that they may watch the terrible happenings unfurling before them. Many of them started to question their master's power, but that doubt was dispelled as a concussion wave reverberated throughout the ship, and a somewhat startled Discord appeared in front of him. Discord was yet again encased in stone with only his head being free.
"You are not the master, because I am the more powerful of us." the human said.
Discord smiled, but his smile soon faded to a look of horror.
"What have you done to me?" he demanded. The slave ponies all looked confused, but their questioning thoughts were soon answered.
"I took your powers. Now, you are going to answer a few questions for me."
"Who- who are you?" the fear was now evident in Discord's voice. Never before had any creature done something to horrible to him with such ease.
"I am Scourge. Now tell me, where is your brother?"
~ ~ ~
Twilight Sparkle read the scrolls well into the night. She noticed that they were all ordered chronologically, and so read them from the earliest to latest. The majority of what she read was detailing Star-Swirl's various attempts to activate the key in some way. It was only just recently that she read of an attempt that had seemed to make Star-Swirl more powerful for a while. Twilight worked on imitating what the ancient pony had done, but it was to no avail.
"Twilight?" a call came from the door to her room. Twilight, almost without thinking, opened the door with her magic to find Celestia standing there.
The princess walked into Twilight's room. It was the room she had stayed in while she had lived in Canterlot, and Twilight had taken to it quite well. The entire collection of the hidden scrolls had been moved there for Twilight to study.
"I just wanted to check up on you." the princess said. "How is the studying going?"
Twilight sighed. "Slow." she said. There were scrolls laying around everywhere, but most of the scrolls were set in a neat organized pile, signifying that they hadn't been read yet. She turned away from the scroll she was reading and closed her eyes in meditation. The princess observed the unicorn for a few moments before leaving to get the reports from the border scouts.
Celestia flew quickly across the palace garden to a pavilion where a large bluish-gray pegasus pony adorned with a red tunic and silver bits of armor on his back and shoulders stood holding a letter.
"Reports from the borders, ma'am." the stallion said with a stern voice. He raised his hoof in a salute, and flew off as Celestia took the note and dipped her head to him in dismissal. It was obvious by the note that the ponies in her Equestrian Militia were quickly adapting to the new way of things. The report was short, and told that all the teams of ponies were working hard to set up defenses and recruit locals. She added up their enlisting numbers, and came to a total of about 1,200 ponies on her militia.
~ ~ ~
"My... brother?" Discord questioned. His eyes widened with shock. "How do you know about my brother? Why do you want him?" The questions came.
"Tell me where he is." the human demanded. "Tell me how to release him."
Discord, realizing his position, smiled again.
"He is so much more powerful than me, you know." the chaotic god said in a teasing voice. "And he doesn't like being called upon."
"Where is he and how do I release him?" Scourge demanded to know.
"He is far away, and the first thing you need is a sacrifice. He deals with life, and so only death will work."
"Easy"
"Really? Are you willing to KILL to get him?"
Scourge cocked his head; it was the most emotion he had showed in a long time. He raised both of his hands, and two of his slave ponies flew from their seats and came between the human and Discord.
"I can do anything," he said, with the mare and stallion he had grabbed looking at him with fearful eyes, "and I will do anything."
"I doubt you can do everything" Discord said.
Scourge lowered his head, and then clapped his hands together. The two slaves flew into each other and collided with a loud 'SMACK.'
"I can make my slaves do whatever I wish." Scourge laughed out the sentence, and he pressed the tips of two of his fingers together. The two slaves had their heads forced into a deep and powerful kiss. The mare began to cry, and the stallion just looked at her apologetically. The two of them embraced each other on their own will, but were ripped apart as soon as the motion was made. Scourge brought the stallion close to Discord's face, and then twitched his fingers. A horrendous cracking sound emanated from the pony, and his lifeless body fell to the floor with a dull thud. His back was almost folded in half, and Discord gasped at the sight. The mare then floated in front of the chaotic god's face, and he gazed into her panicked eyes. She wept openly, but then stopped with a pinched off squeak. Her eyes grew wide, and she began to flail wildly. Discord knew she was being choked, but he was too horrified to say anything. The mare's struggles soon weakened, and after a few moments of stillness, her lifeless body was dropped next to the dead stallion.
Discord looked at the human with a new kind of fear and respect, but then he got another idea.
"Why don't I work for you?" he said.
Scourge laughed, and then back-handed Discord across the jaw.
"You are a pathetic fool! The only reason I haven't killed you already is because you are going to lead me to your brother. Only when I have Death under my control will I be willing to kill you, and only if you cooperate will I make your death swift and painless."
Discord swallowed hard, and had a look of misery frozen onto his face as it was turned back into stone.
~ ~ ~
Twilight was standing on top of the palace with her horn aimed at the sky. In the past several days, she had studied Star-Swirls scrolls with little rest. She copied everything he did, and had already doubled her powers. She had spent most of the day sleeping so she could be fully prepared for her testing of battle spells that night. She looked down at the garden at the two dozen dummies she had placed. She then looked at the darkening sky, and started her practice.
Many of the guards and Canterlot citizens gazed at the palace as they saw the show take place. Beams of light flew, lightning struck all over, and a single purple pony was moving too fast for anyone to focus on her. Twilight's spells flew out of her horn with near-impossible speed. She fought many imaginary enemies so that her dummies would last longer, but even so, she was only in action for about twenty seconds before the entire garden had been destroyed. Princess Celestia looked out of a palace window. She was fearful for her student, but proud that she had made such progress. Twilight turned to observe her work, and with a quick spell, it was all reverted to its normal state. Another quick spell caused two dozen flashes of light to teleport the dummies into storage, and one more to teleport her into her room.
Twilight marveled at herself. She had just done more magic than ever before, and she wasn't in the least bit exhausted. She looked down at the scroll she had been reading. It detailed a spell that vastly increased the magical capabilities of a unicorn for a short time. She placed a check mark by the spell to indicate that it worked. She turned now to the two piles of scrolls beside her bed. One was composed of scrolls she had read, which was about twice as big as the pile of scrolls she had not read. Yet another flash of a spell sent a type-writer clicking away as it added the strengthening spell to a long list of other spells she had obtained from the scrolls.
~ ~ ~
Scourge stood before an enormous boulder deep within a cave. He had a mirror strapped to his arm like a shield. He gazed into it and saw Discord, whom he had trapped within the object.
"What now?" Scourge's voice boomed in the cave.
"First" Discord's voice sounded in Scourge's mind, "you must place your hand on the Runestone and say the enchantment."
Scourge did as he was told, and placed his hand on the boulder. A ripple of light fluttered across its surface and illuminated the many symbols etched into its surface.
"Come to me, Death. I call you from the depths and release you into the world. Come to me, Death."
The Runestone became alive with dancing lights, and a low hum came from deep within it's core. The entire cave vibrated with the noise, and Scourge could feel it echoing within his armor. With a loud clap like thunder, the cave went silent and dark. Scourge immediately got on his game, and began reaching out with his mind to hunt for the presence of Death.
"Who dares to call me?" a deep demonic voice rumbled. The handful of ponies that Scourge had brought with him were trembling with fear, and most of them either screamed or soiled themselves at the sound of Death's voice.
"I have come, offering a sacrifice in return for your help." Scourge called out. He felt his mind coming closer to Death, but he hadn't pinpointed him yet. A whisper of a wind swept through the cave, and the moaning of the slave ponies ceased. Scourge spun around and found that they were all gone, with nothing but their releases left to mark where they had been standing. Scourge chased the whisper with his mind, and saw that it was the being he was looking for. He cast a mental spell that allowed him to trace that presence without having to focus on it. His focus then turned to the Runestone, which, to his knowledge, was the only thing that could contain Death. He focused on it's core, prepared his mind, and then snared Death's presence. It was a tough battle, but it lasted for little more than a few seconds. Once it was all over, Scourge held the core of the Runestone and felt it pulsing with the rage of the now trapped Death.
"I can't believe you actually did it..." Discord said. "You are going to set me free now, right?"
"Nope" Scourge replied without hesitation, and smashed the mirror on the wall of the cave. Discord's dying scream rang inside his skull for a few moments, but soon all was clear. With a blink of his hidden eyes, Scourge was again standing on the bridge of his ship. He placed the Runestone core in a small pouch fastened to his hip, and then ordered his slave ponies to get his ship moving again. The huge machine rumbled to life as all the ponies got to work. Several commanding voices blared over the intercoms in the ship, and within minutes, they were moving across the sky to the dome of light that marked the location of Equestria. His first attack should have just reached their borders.
~ ~ ~
Twilight Sparkle focused her magic on the mountainside. She had memorized every spell from the scrolls, and had just finished studying the last scroll the previous night. It confused her quite a bit; it ended so suddenly. Twilight was scared to copy Star-Swirl's actions, but she was proud of her accomplishments so far. Over the past two weeks, her magical capabilities had multiplied several times. At this moment, she was crafting an entrance/exit from Equestria to the outside world. The mountain in front of her was slowly being molded and hollowed out into a pathway that could easily be guarded from the Equestrian side. Several minutes passed before the side of the mountain exploded into an opening, revealing her craftwork to the several hundred ponies that were watching. The applause was short lived as the two princesses joined Twilight in forming some new magical barriers that would prevent anything other than an Equestrian-born pony through.
"Done" Celestia said after several minutes of laborious spellcrafting. The white alicorn flew up over the tiny valley and into a large fort that her ponies had built. It was their main border headquarters, and it was filled to the brim with ponies. Twilight had determined that this would be the spot that the attack would happen, and so this fort was equipped with all of the support they could possibly get. The princess ran over all of her recruitment reports, and came up with about 9000 ponies in her army. She hoped it would be enough.
"Enemies incoming!" one pony shouted. Celestia raised her horn in signal, and over two hundred pegasi took off into the air, equipped with slings and rock pouches that they could use to assail the ponies below with. Another four hundred pegasi with blades fastened to their limbs took off to battle the enemie's airborne troops. All of the six hundred ponies flew through the newly made gateway and began the attack on the enemy ponies. The fighting was particularly easy, since many of the enemy ponies seemed scared and even unwilling to battle. Celestia had told her militia to take as many prisoners as possible; the less bloodshed, the better. Over half of the enemy troops submitted with ease, and were taken to an outside holding area.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Twilight demanded to know. The battle was still raging outside, but the Equestrians were easily taking care of things.
"We are not your enemy." one pony stood forth and spoke. Twilight looked at him with curiosity. This pony was a fairly large earth pony with a light golden coat and golden brown mane. His eyes were also a shade of deep gold. His cutie mark boasted a compass with a sword as the needle. He was adorned in shiny silver armor, and seemed to be a leader of some sorts.
"What do you mean, 'you aren't our enemy'. Why are you attacking us?" Twilight interrogated.
"Because our master ordered us to. We are his puppets, and few of us serve him willingly. That is why you slaughter us so easily, and why so many of us surrendered, We hoped you would be able to help us to become free from the grip of the Scourge."
Twilight was baffled. She immediately felt guilty for harming these ponies, and she wanted to help. She peeked outside of the fort and saw that the fighting was over. The Equestrians had only lost a few dozen ponies, but the entire enemy army was either captured or dead. Twilight ordered that all of them be rounded up into the same holding area as the golden stallion so that they could all be addressed. She ordered a few pegasi guards to stand outside, and for the rest of them to start collecting the bodies of both sides so that they could be burried.
"How many of you here wish to be free of your master?" Twilight's question rang out over the crowd. There had to be at least one thousand of them, and their roars of approval were both surprising and deafening.
Twilight motioned for the earth pony she had met earlier to come up to where she was, and he did so.
"Everypony," he addressed the crowd, "for too long we have followed the Scourge! Now, in battle, we have the chance to turn on him. We know our master, and we know his allies. These ponies do not. I believe it is our duty to prepare them, and to fight with them against the tyrant."
Again, the excited cheering drowned out all other noise. Twilight nodded at the golden stallion. He was a natural leader, and a very intelligent pony.
"The most wonderful and gracious Twilight Sparkle has put me in command of our group, and placed me in command of educating her army. Together, let us rise against the Scourge and eradicate him from a planet that does not belong to him!"
This time the cheering was coming from both the ex-slaves and the Equestrians. They were excited to have such a huge addition to both their numbers and their knowledge.
~ ~ ~
Scourge looked out of the large windows of his ship's bridge. He watched the battle with some curiosity. The Equestrians fought well, but not as well as he had hoped. He smiled when he saw his slaves surrender. It was what he was hoping for, and their knowledge of him would prepare them for the oncoming battle.
"Now they might actually last a little while against my power." he said to himself. He played with the Runestone that held Death, rolling it around in his palm and tossing it into the air a few times.
"Once I absorb you and your powers," he said to the trapped Death, "I will truly be unstoppable."
The little stone pulsed more furiously, and Scourge could tell that Death was scared. He placed the stone back into his little pouch and blinked. He stood before his massive army and shouted out to all of them.
"Today, we conquer the last refuge in the world! Today, Equestria will fall, and today, I will become ruler of everything!"
Everywhere, beasts and creatures of all shapes and sizes made joyful noises and began to march towards the borders of Equestria.
Scourge blinked into a throne upon the back of a giant scorpion, and watched as his campaign literally marched to its completion.
"And so the battle begins."
"Okay everypony!" Twilight shouted out over the entire crowd. There were thousands of ponies there, all divided according to race, and then organized according to each individual's strengths.
"I need the stronger third of every race to mass inside of Equestria. You will be our emergency force. Hopefully, we won't need you."
The leader of the ex-slaves, who was standing beside Twilight, leaned over to whisper in Twiight's ear.
"Why do you put the weak up front?" he said, "You will have more casualties."
"Because, Dragon," Twilight whispered back, "all they have to do is keep the enemy away from me."
Dragon gave Twilight a suspicious look, and Twilight elaborated.
"If I am attacked, I will have to focus on protecting myself. However, if I can stay free of the fight, I can focus on the entire battle. The ponies simply have to keep Scourge's army away from the gate and away from me, and I can pick them all off. If I fail and the enemy gets into Equestria, then they will be met with an even stronger force. Coupled with my efforts, the stronger third of our ponies might be enough to stave off a weakened enemy."
Dragon nodded. It made sense, but it isn't what he would have done. However, this unicorn was powerful, and so he trusted her. He watched as the stronger third of the ponies all went through the gate and organized themselves to fend off any attacks that might break through. Twilight then called her five friends up to her, as well as Celestia and Luna.
"Celestia," Twilight addressed the white alicorn, "you have been protecting Equestria for a long time. I am going to ask that you aid the ponies I sent into the border."
Celestia nodded and took off.
"Luna, you have been defending Equestria for almost as long as your sister has been protecting it. I am appointing you as the battlefield commander. Go take your position."
Luna, too, nodded and took off.
"My friends." Twilight looked at Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.
"The Elements of Harmony are the second strongest things we have. I want you all up here with me. As long as I can complete the circle, you all should be able to control the elements. Use them to the best of your abilities."
They all nodded, and hugged Twilight in turn, before arranging themselves in a semi-circle behind Twilight.
Dragon left his spot beside the unicorn and went to be with the rest of the ponies. Many of them were scared, but determination trumped any other feelings in the crowd. His own ponies had been spread out quite a bit - Dragon had ordered it, because together they would be a weakness. He hoped that they would be encouraged to put forth more effort if each of his ponies were surrounded by allies who would fight to the death before surrendering to a foe as powerful as the Scourge.
"This is how we are going to do it!" Twilight started to announce her battle strategy.
"Earth ponies, form a complete barrier around the gate. Unicorns, behind them. Pegasi, stay far back enough to give yourself room to take off."
All the ponies did as told. Dragon and Luna were the only two to stay separate from the rest.
"The stronger unicorns need to be the farthest back. You will be the ones attacking the most. The weaker ones will be working to protect the Earth ponies in front of them."
The unicorns re-arranged themselves accordingly. Twilight slowly raised a hoof, and then slammed it down. Cracks formed before the half-ring of ponies, and the ground fell away into a deep chasm. Surprisingly, not a single pony flinched.
"Pegasi, your job is to make sure that no enemy reaches that chasm! If they reach the chasm, it's up to the unicorns to make sure they don't cross. If they cross, it's the Earth ponies' job to make sure they don't stay on this side."
Dragon smiled. They just might stand a chance. His hopes were about to be put to the test; the marching invaders just peeked over the horizon.
~ ~ ~
Scourge focused heavily on the little Runestone in his hand. It pulsed violently as he probed it with his mind. Death was ever weakening, and soon he would fall into submission. The line of ponies before him looked rather intimidating, but he knew he could defeat them easily. He felt a few powerful entities in their midst, but none were equal to him. The stone pulsed slightly weaker, and Scourge leaped into action. He knew that was the signal that Death was giving in. He breathed in, and crushed the little rock. Black smoke welled from his palm and threatened to constrict him, but instead, it seeped into his armor.
"Yes" Scourge breathed. He could feel the new power rushing through him. He also felt something else: every soul around him. Every single life felt like a glowing sun, and the only thing stopping him from taking every single scrap of that energy was the bodies that held those lives. He could see a large crack in the ground as his army neared the waiting ponies. He also saw a mass of dots rise from behind the line of ponies waiting on the other side of the chasm. The black dots neared, and he saw they were pegasi. The sky darkened by several shades, and clouds gathered. The pegasi hid in them, but Scourge could still see their souls. He waved a hand, and hundreds of raptor-like creatures jumped into the air and took flight on large thin wings that unfolded from their arms. They disappeared into the clouds, and the life-energy of both sides began to flow to him. Bodies fell from the sky and landed on his own army, but that did not matter. What surprised Scourge is when a massive bolt of lightning came down from those blackened clouds and completely obliterated a small number of centaurs who had been galloping extremely close to him. The energy flowing into him was exhilarating, but the loud booms coming from the lightning that was now striking everywhere was unnerving his soldiers.
Scourge looked past the events around him, and on to the purple pony standing above all the other enemies. She was focusing deeply, he could tell, and her gaze was sweeping across his ranks. The lightning seemed to follow her gaze, and he knew that she was the opponent he was looking for. He was surprised yet again as five ponies around her began to glow and rise into the air. From them, beams of color burned through his army. The losses on his side were significant, but not enough to weaken his overall numbers. Besides, every death meant more power for him. The distant onslaught continued, and all of his aerial troops were dispatched. The raptors were the only flying creatures he was able to obtain, but that wouldn't matter once they reached the rest of the ponies. The pegasi began dive-bombing his weaker warriors, and the life kept flowing in. They were a mere ten minutes from the enemy. Ten minutes after that, it would all be over.
~ ~ ~
"Unicorns, now!" Luna shouted in her royal voice. All of the unicorns set their horns aglow. A wall of light formed in front of the Earth ponies, and dozens of spells flew over it and into the approaching army. Dragon turned up and looked at Twilight Sparkle. Her horn was blazing magnificently, and her friends were all doing a fine job of controlling their multicolored death rays. His eyes returned to the battle ahead of them. All was looking well. They had taken out over a third of Scourge's army before it ever reached them. However, Dragon knew it wouldn't matter much. Scourge was the one they needed to kill. He was the real challenge; his army was just the intimidation factor.
Twilight Sparkle searched for the black figure Dragon had described. Her spells flowed like water and continued to fight for her, but they paused for a moment when she spotted an empty throne on top of a large creature with claws and a deadly looking tail. She gritted her teeth, and her most massive bolt of lightning yet shot down and decimated the creature and it's carriage. All of a sudden, everything went silent. The skies cleared, and the light spread. Twilight looked down in confusion, and felt her heart stop. The army had reached the chasm and were crossing the bridges that were forming. Her ponies were dying before they could even attempt to fight back. What scared her most, however, was the tall dark figure that was standing behind her lines and staring straight at her.
"I'm sorry, girls" Twilight said as she teleported down to Scourge. She heard a small clap of what sounded like thunder, and winced as she heard Applejack cursing at their sudden inability to use the elements. She quickly teleported two more times, once to be behind Scourge, and another to take them both far from the battle.
"So, you are the powerful one." Scourge scoffed. His armor bulged and distorted as his own power literally leaked out of him. He was saturated with energy, and was ready to release it all on this worthy foe.
"I am. What do you want?" Twilight said, allowing her more peaceful instincts to take over.
"Domination, of course." Scourge replied. He chuckled at the little unicorn that stood so boldly before him.
"Well, you aren't going to get it!" Twilight screamed. She launched herself at him, her horn ablaze with purple flames. Her charge was short-lived, and she found herself face down in the dirt. She looked up at Scourge, and saw that he had never even moved, but had simply held out his hand. In a flash of light, Twilight was back on her feet several yards away from the demonic human. She aimed her horn, and a powerful blast of light escaped her and rushed for the armored man. He, again, held out his hand, and the light deflected like water would deflect off of a wall. Twilight gasped, but she wasn't ready to give up. She charged again, this time forming a sword of light out of her horn while attempting to freeze Scourge with her magic. To her astonishment, an orange bubble formed around her and cut her spells off. She floated helplessly over to Scourge, where he held her calmly to his side.
"Look out there" he said, pointing a finger at the battle. "They are dying, and you are so far away, not even helping." Twilight didn't answer, and she didn't need to. Both Luna and Celestia appeared before them, and the sisters challenged Scourge.
"Put her down!" Celestia demanded.
"Or what?" Scourge laughed. "She is two hundred times stronger than you, and look what I have done!"
"Princess!" Twilight cried. "It's no use! You have to get inside Equestria. Take all the survivors with you, and get the barriers up. Try to bunker down as long as you can, please! Tell Spike that I am sorry!"
Celestia backed off. Twilight had said their secret phrase, which could only mean she had a plan. Celestia nodded, and played defeat as best as she could. She took Luna and flew off. Scourge chuckled at that ridiculously easy surrender, and was soon rewarded by victorious howls from his army.
"Now that I have won, we can fight." Scourge told his captive. He released Twilight and dropped her a few feet in front of him. She instantly closed her eyes and began searching within herself, attempting to copy the actions in Star-Swirls last scroll. She knew that there was nothing she could currently do to defeat Scourge, so whatever option she had was hidden in the key. Scourge stood, waiting. He was in no hurry, and so saw no problem with allowing the Unicorn some time to think.
Twilight focused on her own DNA, and on the gene that she had identified as the magic gene. She saw it, and tried her best to open it as Start-Swirl said he was going to try to do. Almost too quickly, it did open for her, and she found herself standing in a new space. She was suspended in a black and purple haze, with a dull thought of a vision in the back of her mind. It was Scourge still standing and waiting for her to move. She looked around her new surroundings, and almost leaped with joy when she saw Star-Swirl in the haze.
"Welcome, Twilight." the ancient pony spoke.
"Star-Swirl!" Twilight exclaimed. "I can't believe it's you! Oh my gosh, you have to help me!"
Star-Swirl nodded, and stepped closer to her.
"You have opened the bridge, as I did. You must decide carefully now on what you can do. You don't have long, so be hasty."
"What can I do?" Twilight begged to know.
"You can leave them forever and stay here, or you can go back, and bring the wrath of the Astral Plane with you."
"I can't stay here!"
"Figure it out for yourself. I cannot help beyond what I have said."
Twilight lurched, and felt tears welling in her eyes. She racked her brain for a solution, but could not find one. She focused on the image in her mind, and saw a bright sphere rapidly form over Equestria. It was the magic barriers - they had been renewed. It was right then that Twilight knew what she had to do.
~ ~ ~
Scourge stared at the unicorn who had been motionless for several moments now, He was growing impatient, and was about to kill her right then and there when he saw the barriers of Equestria strengthened. Right at that moment, Twilight looked up with a new anger and fierceness in her eyes.
"You..." she said "You dare to come here! You dare to try and take over this world! You DARE to try and challenge me! Well, let me tell you something. You are not the victor!"
Twilight felt her blood explode with power. She screwed her eyes shut, and began to levitate off the ground. An aura of energy surrounded her, and she rose to eye level with Scourge. She opened her eyes and stared at him. He was leaning back with his arms raised protectively, and he was obviously frightened. Twilight's horn glowed, and a gigantic beam of bright white energy erupted from her skull. Scourge raised his hand to deflect it, but was knocked back by its force. He cursed the unicorn as he lay on his back, but she was not done yet. She hovered even higher, and the aura grew brighter. Deep within her eyes, a spark ignited, and filled her pupils with a searing bright light. She spoke no more, but instead tried her hardest to channel her new power. A single tear ran down her cheek and fell to the ground as a crack formed across her chest. The crack poured out light, and slowly widened. Its spreading stooped for a moment, but was then followed by a loud boom. Twilight's filled with light that beamed like spotlights. Her mouth gaped and poured light as well. Several more cracks formed across her skin, and then all was consumed by light.
~ ~ ~
All the remaining ponies, including the five friends of Twilight, looked to the sky for any sign of a fight. None came for the longest time, and many were worried to the point of fainting. Screams of fear and shock filled the little fort inside of Equestria as a brilliant flash of light came across the sky and engulfed every visible thing. It quickly faded, and everypony waited, and listened.
Nothing.
"Should we go look for her?" Rainbow Dash asked her friends.
"Is she still alive?" Fluttershy responded, her voice shaking with fear.
The rest of the day passed with nothing happening. Celestia sent out several scouts to try and find something, but everything had apparently vanished. Everypony had low heads and sad hearts as the day passed into twilight.
