Band of Five Attributes (Re-Written)

The spire continued to grow taller at an alarming rate, and chills caused the ponies standing on it to shudder briefly. Koto’s boomerang and Rekka’s cannon began to emit a faint glow as well, and as the group got closer, they could make out the orb encased in reddest ruby.

“Only a few of you out of the whole lot dare challenge me?” The Sombra replica asked as the group got closer still. “Very well, then. I shall have the pleasure of killing you first, then your little friends, and then the Crystal Empire shall be rightfully mine once more.”

“He speaks almost as if he were the real deal…” Rainbow murmured, blinking.

“He certainly looks it, too.” Twilight replied with a nod.

The air hung heavy as, at last, the lot was now standing before the face of the very monster they wanted to fight. The monster seemed living, breathing, and even capable of withholding emotion despite being made from a crystal castle now that they looked at it close-up.

The beast looked at the lot, and it flashed them a smile of sterling silver. “What do we have here…?” It asked, looking the group over once again. “One...two...seven ponies, I see. This ought to be interesting.”

More spires sprung forth hastily, forming a perfect circle around the beast. They then hit each other in a way the spires formed a solid bridge on the spot.

And then the bridge broke apart, leaving just the one spire standing before the Sombra replica. The other spires that had formed the bridge broke into many pieces, raining down below like a thick hailstorm of sharpened black shards.

“I was going to give you a fighting chance, but where’s the fun in that?” The monster asked, eyes gleaming with ill intent. “I have the opportunity to end your pitiful lives here and now, after all.”

“In that case…” Rainbow started, making her way to the very edge of the spire. She turned around to the edge and looked down, finding nothing but a storm of volts, flame, and crystals of blackest hue forming down below. Her eyes widened, and she quickly rejoined the group with a quick “nevermind.”

“I think I’ll start with...this one…” The monster stated, horn glowing in an amalgamation of black, crimson, and navy as it spoke. The same colored aura grasped Tenmei and hoisted him into the air effortlessly. “My, what an interesting weapon…” It said, eying the crossbow intently.

Tenmei was silent, letting his legs dangle as he was held in the air.

“Why aren’t you speaking?” The monster asked, arching a brow.

“If this is my final moment here, I figured it was best to keep my lips sealed.” The earth pony replied curtly.

“So be it.” The Sombra replica said, grinning maliciously as its magic released its hold on the stallion, allowing him to plummet to the darkened storm below. As he fell, Tenmei smirked, readying his crossbow to strike. As he got closer to the storm of darkness, the crossbow enlarged its frame, and he fired the bolt.

The monster screamed as half of the ruby barrier was shattered, the other half just barely holding the gargantuan bolt in place mere inches from the orb of shadow.

The crossbow shrank to its original size, and Tenmei descended still. His eyes widened as his bolt failed to break the orb itself.

“Don’t lose hope.” Spoke a feminine voice as the young stallion landed on something which stopped his descent. He glanced around, finding himself on the back of Luna. “You still have a chance.” She quickly flew to the other spire the other half of the group was waiting at, letting him get off her back to join them. Luna delved back into the shadows before the monster could spot her.

“When did she get here?” Koto asked, blinking at the anomaly. Tenmei merely shrugged back, unable to answer the unicorn’s question.

The monster yanked the bolt out of what remained of the ruby barrier with its magic and promptly snapped it in two. “If only I had predicted that he’d pull such a cheap tactic on me…” It murmured, brow furrowing and eyes narrowing.

The beast’s magic grasped Applejack and lifted her into the air. “Any last words?” It asked.

“Nope. If yer asking that, then yer lookin’ for the wrong pony.” Applejack replied, slowly uncoiling the yo-yo as it began to glow brighter.

“So, what you’re saying is that nopony of the lot before me has any last testaments before I drop them to their waiting demise?” The monster asked.

“Exactly what I'm sayin'.” Applejack replied. Pinkie fired off a cannon which exploded in a bright flash of light, sending confetti everywhere and blinding the monster, the yo-yo growing in size all the while. When it was at full mast, she swung it with all her might, hitting the monster right on the cheek. Rainbow Dash, noticing that her borrowed weapon was glowing brighter, jumped off the spire, descending rapidly towards the half-broken barrier and its orb. The cannon grew in size, and the resulting laser hit the remains of the barrier, shattering it into a few pieces. It did, however, hold off much of the beam by itself as it broke, and as the beam winked out of existence and the cannon returned to normal, the orb cracked just slightly.

The pegasus flew to the first spire, grabbing Pinkie and putting the party pony on her back, and then flew to the other spire before she could be noticed as the monster threw another roaring tantrum. Applejack descended as the monster finally released her, the yo-yo returning to normal as well, and she was carried to the platform by Luna.

Nagare looked at Rarity. “There’s not much time. It’s either now or never--we have to take the plunge.” He said.

“Are you crazy? That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard!” Rarity exclaimed, eyes widening.

Nagare looked to his sword, noticing it was glowing brighter. He looked at Rarity, whose borrowed boomerang was also glowing brighter. “We have to use the weapons soon. Just throw it when I say ‘now,’ alright?” He stated.

Rarity groaned. “If it gets rid of the monster, then we’ll make the jump.” She sighed. The monster stopped its fit of roaring, and Nagare quickly jumped off the spire. Rarity also made the leap of faith, leaving just Twilight on the platform.

The beast reacted quickly, covering its orb in a layer of sapphire. Its eyes lost the darkened wisps that emanated from them, and the emeralds making the sclera became whitest quartz. Its magic lifted Twilight in the air, and it narrowed its eyes at her.

“What makes you think you can best me?!” It roared.

Twilight smirked. “You shouldn’t be paying much attention to me.” She said.

“What do you--” The monster fell silent, ruby irises shrinking as it heard the tell-tale sound of gemstones breaking after hearing a masculine voice shout “NOW!”. It looked down, only to find an enlarged boomerang and sword breaking through the sapphire with ease, and with the barrier, the black gemstone. The storm of darkness began to fade, the flames and volts within flashing at random, swift intervals as they were dying out. Then, hues of crimson and navy encased the monster briefly before a blinding white light started to glow from within the beast.

Luna picked up Rarity and Nagare, the weapons of both having returned to normal. The black gemstone pulsated once, then twice, before it crumbled into miniscule pieces. The spires too began to crumble, and as the monster’s power faded, those with afflicted horns and wings found that dark crystal fragments fell from the appendages, or were no longer paralyzed. A few more royal guards showed up, bringing with them carriages so those who lacked wings could be escorted away safely.

Celestia came as well, and she picked up Twilight personally before flying away. The monster roared a long, continuous cry that sounded like “NO” as it burst into pieces, the light shining within blinding all as it was released, and the rest of the dark crystal spires and storm were wiped clean from existence, save the damage they already caused to homes and whatnot. Then, miraculously, the Crystal Castle rebuilt itself as it had been before it had been morphed into a monstrosity.

All landed in front of the crowd safely, and an orange pegasus guard with a blue tail and eyes came up to Cadance with an open saddlebag that contained the Crystal Heart.

“Thank you for securing the Crystal Heart, Flash Sentry.” Cadance said with a smile. Her horn aglow, magic grasping the Heart, she flew towards the castle to return it to its proper place.

A wave of energy shot forth as soon as the Heart was returned, and the crystal ponies regained their luster even before it hit them. The houses that were damaged had been repaired, the sky became clear blue, the clouds ceased their weeping, and the crowd rushed back into the streets to resume whatever it was they had been doing before the shitstorm transpired.

Celestia looked at the lot. “That was a terribly close call. Had we not arrived sooner, there would’ve been horrible casualties.”

“Dreadfully close indeed. Just jumping down towards that storm made my heart skip a few beats.” Rarity sighed, shuddering at the thought. “At least there was a good reason for that, though, so I’ll let it pass for the time being.”

“Just try not to be reckless again, please?” Koto pleaded, causing all to turn to her and Rekka.

“I’ll try, but that’s not quite a guarantee I’ll succeed.” Rekka replied, sighing while he was sitting on his rump. He tried standing on his legs, only to wince and sit back down as his injured foreleg wobbled and threatened to give out.

Big Mac approached the unicorn and, with a swift motion of his forelegs, placed him upon his backside. “I’ll tote him all the way back home.” He said sternly.

“He’s not in too bad a condition, at least.” Nagare sighed, shaking his head afterwards.