The sum of our sins

Celestia lead the crusaders outside to the balcony, she glared off into the distance. Feeling the life forces of the ponies she calls subjects. She felt some of the life forces being extinguished at a rapid pace and at the center she felt Boreas. She shivered and then looked towards the three fillies that stood next to her. “Little ones, do you know what is happening?”

Applebloom looked extremely confused by the statement. “Of course we know what’s happening. There's some sort of evil guy hurting ponies.”

Sweetie Belle stepped in and continued, “He’s hurting ponies like Twilight and Discord. And this is making you scared. Really scared.”

Celestia was baffled by this statement, “I-I am not scared. I’m a Princess, we don’t fear anything.”

Scootaloo cocked her eyebrow, “Really because you honestly do look scared, more then scared. Terrified even. What with the shaking, your hopeless talk, and you showing up in tears when you came back.” She looked up at the Princess and saw she had a rather stern expression. This caused the Crusaders to nervously back up. “With all due respect Princess.”

Celestia relaxed herself and gave a great big sigh. She wanted to act stoic to the children, to show that their was nothing to be afraid of and that their was a chance that they could win. But that wasn’t the case. The crusaders already could tell that she was no longer a proud symbol of hope. But instead that she was just as scared as a foal who is sleeping without a night-light for the first time. “Anyway... It’s good that you know the situation. Now as Discord said, you are the only chance we have at defeating it. Discord ment-”

Scootaloo interrupted, “Excuse me princess, but... Where is Rainbow Dash?”

Celestia sat down and began to scan for Rainbow Dashes life force... She found it. She looked down to the young filly. “Scootaloo... She’s...”

“Dead.” A voice came from down the hall. Twilight marched down it, with all four legs healed up. Her friends followed, some had grim expressions on their faces others were sobbing violently. “She was absorbed by the God’s Sin... She’s gone.” Twilight said sounding hopeless.

“How are you-” Celestia tried to question her but was interrupted by Twilight herself.

“Fluttershy seems to have gained healing abilities from her merging with Discord. There is no need to fill me in with the details of what has happened. They already told me what happened.” Twilight said as she walked towards the group. She bent down to speak to Scootaloo who was staring at the ground in a state of shock. “Scootaloo... I’m sorry.”

Twilight looked to her. Her pupils were small and dilated from hearing the horrifying news. The mare she looked up to... The mare she... She couldn’t live with out, was now gone. Scootaloo began to sob violently. She grabbed onto Twilight held her tight and screamed “Why?! Why did she have to die?!” Tears began to fall from Twilight’s face too as she put her fore-legs around Scootaloo.

“I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry...” Twilight said trying to calm down, but instead began to blubber. The mane six started to weep for their lost friend and Sweetie Belle and Applebloom ran towards their sisters for comfort.

Celestia turned away from all of them and appeared to be looking in the direction of Ponyville, but she was actually facing the direction of the Tree of Harmony. “There is a way... A way for the victims of the God’s Sin to be revived...” She said. Her voice was stern and cryptic.

Twilight heard this passing comment and wiped her tears away. “Wha- What do you mean.”

Celestia turned to Twilight and her mournful friends, “The Tree of harmony can be used to restore life.” She looked around her to see her some of the ponies wide-eyed and hopeful and the others confused. “Let me explain. When the god’s made the pact to never interact with the mortal realm they gave a artifact that was meant to provide miracles to the world if they ever needed it. This was the Tree of harmony. If one of us absorbs the tree’s power, and simply wishes for all the victims of the God’s Sin to be brought back to life, it shall be done.”

Scootaloo looked at her, her eyes gleaming with hope, wiping her tears away. “That means-”

Celestia gave her most motherly smile, “Yes that means that your mentor will return.” Scootaloo began to cheer and the rest of the ponies followed. “But first we have to defeat the God’s Sin... And there in lies another problem...”  She turned to Applejack and Rarity. “There is know easy way to say this... Your sisters are going to have to die to save the world.”

All the celebration stopped dead in it’s tracks. There was dead silence that lingered on for a good 2 minutes, until Applejack broke the silence by asking, “W-What did you just say?”

“Actually that was to blunt.” Celestia said anxiously. “They’ll still be alive, but you’ll never see them again.” Everyone stared at her in shock. AJ and Rarity looked like they were going to pounce on her. “Ok, again not the best explanation. Let me explain. I wouldn’t do this if their were was any other way. But we have to use the fusion technique. This technique is when two or more ponies merge together to create one being. The problem here is... They will be stuck like that for the rest of their lives. Only separated by death.”

Applejack looked stunned and grabbed Applebloom. Pressing her against her side.  The young filly tried to pry herself off but to no avail. AJ firmly announced, “There is no way my little sister is going to be subject to your magic tricks! Find somepony else!”

“Applejack you have to understan-”

Rarity interrupted, “Understand what?! You expect us to give up our family! Our sisters! Find someone else.” She had Sweetie Belle locked down on her chest. It looked like Sweetie Belle was trying to say something... Or breathe.

“That’s the problem.” Celestia said as she closed her eyes in sadness, “If I could I would. Hell I would try this myself with Twilight... The problem there is that when ponies gain a cutie mark they attain a form of identity in their souls, and there bodies set limits of how much strength and magic they can hold. If two ponies with cutie marks fuse there is a good chance that the two ponies identity’s would collided, leaving the resulting pony be a mentally broken mess. Not just that but their new body would have limits. But... Ponies with out cutie marks... They don’t a have a true identity, making the chance of insanity miniscule. But also they wouldn’t have limits to their power...”

AJ and rarity looked at each other, then looked down at their siblings. “No.” They said together.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle broke free and gasped for air. “Yes, we’ll do it.” Applebloom said.

“No yah won’t!” Yelled AJ.

“Why not?!" Sweetie Belle screamed.

“Your not going to throw away your liv-” Rarity tried to retort, but was interrupted by Sweetie Belle.

“To save other lives?! Guys, don’t you get it? Ponies are being hurt! Suffering! If it takes us to give our lives up, then fine!”

“But-"

“There’s no excuse! We were booth raised on the beliefs of helping others and doing the right things! Well now were going to  live up to those beliefs!" Sweetie Belle scolded, she began to pant.

Rarity backed up and tears started to well up in her eyes. She rushed to Sweetie Belles side and started to blubber. “I jus- just don’t want to lose you. I-I love you!” Tears started to well up in Sweetie Belle’s eyes to, she gave a comforting smile and hugged Rarity back.

Applebloom was so moved by the scene she didn’t notice AJ walk up behind her. She was startled when AJ began to speak. “So is that the reason... To help others?”

Applebloom nodded, “Just like dad.”

Applejack felt one tear roll down her face and she said,“You deserve this more then ah do then.”  It was her dad’s old hat. She gripped the brim and nodded as tears came out of her eyes, she smiled and hugged her sister.

Celestia smiled at the display but then turned to Scootaloo who was standing next to Twilight, “How about you? What do you think?”

Scootaloo stood tall and gave a strut with so much pride that it would have put a tear to Rainbow Dash’s eye. “I’ll do anything to defeat him. I’ll do it for Rainbow Dash.”

Celestia nodded and took out some chalk. In the center of the Balcony, she began to draw symbols that spiraled into a circle. She guided each crusader to their position, and began to chant ancient words. A ball of light engulfed them, and the mane six gathered around.

“What’s happening?” asked Pinkie.

“There bodies are merging. Based on how many ponies the fusion should take up to a whole hour to complete... Let’s just hope we have that much time....” Celestia said grimly.

Boreas perched in the middle of the Vanhoover town square, he was surrounded by dead bodies and buildings lit a flame. He was feeling if their was anymore ponies left in the city. Most were escaping, they can live for now. Others were trapped in the rubble, they would die soon enough. But then he felt something, a power source growing rapidly in the distance. He had to see this for himself. He got up and flew into the sky but then remembered that there were still ponies left in the city. He looked down and saw ponies attempting to escape. He lifted his hand up and sent out an energy wave that engulfed the city and the ponies attempting to flee. He flew towards Canterlot leaving Vanhoover nothing but a crater.

More the forty minutes passed. They paced around the ball of light waiting for the fusion to finish. Celestia was the most anxious for it to complete, the God’s Sin was coming. She could feel it in her bones, he would have felt the energy spike. She scanned for his life force energy, just to come under the realization that he was heading right for them and he was almost there. She began to panic. “He’s coming!” she screamed.

The mane six got into a battle stance, all except for Fluttershy who hid in the shadows. Twilight transformed into her metamorphosis form and they all braced for his arrival. In a matter of seconds Boreas was standing on the balcony. He turned towards Celestia and gave a sickening smile, “Hello Coward. What have you been up to?”

She shivered, but she held her ground. He smiled and turned to the rest of the mane six , he gazed upon them all and then stared at the ball of light. “Oh what is this? A new warrior? To bad they won’t get a chance to fight.” He lifted his hand and readied a blast.

“Wait!” Celestia screamed. Boreas looked at her.

“What, coward?”

“In that energy ball is a warrior mighty enough to give you a good fight. Give us thirty minutes please. And then you’ll have a opponent worthy enough to fight you.”

He smiled, she had played to his pride that he absorbed from Rainbow Dash. “Fine then. But what shall I do in that time. I want a appetizers before I go for the main course.”

Celestia looked around her and then put her head down in shame. She pointed to the hills that could be seen from the balcony. “Give us thirty minutes and you can go kill as many mortals as you want.”

The mane six gasped in shock. “Are you crazy?!” Twilight screamed.

Boreas smiled and flew up and began to observe all the beings that inhabited the planet. He spent five minutes up there before he started to laugh violently and raised one hand into the sky. A large black energy ball appeared and sent out a ray of light that shot up into the air.  Going past the clouds it began to disperse. Turning into billions of smaller rays of energy that dove down across the planet.

Did the inhabitants of earth know what was happening? No. This was just another ordinary day for them. Nothing special, nothing new. But in the sky the rays plummeted down to the ground. People would look up into the sky and they wondered what it was. Metors? Magic? Fireworks? That was the last thing that most mortals thought about before they were either impaled or blown up by the attack. Nothing was spared by the attack. Children, females, males. Ponies, Changelings, Griffons, minotaurs etc. Everything had died in one swift move.

The mane six watched this in horror. Once Boreas finished he landed on the balcony, “Well that didn’t fill me up to much. I have room for seconds.”

Celestia fell to the ground and began to sob, “I’m so sorry! Please forgive me! I’ll bring you all back! I promise!” Celestia couldn’t stop crying, everything she worked for died in a blinding flash. She curled up into a ball and lay there sobbing.

Boreas began to chuckle, “She won’t be any fun.” He turned to the mane six, “How about you?”

Rarity, was willing to do anything for her sister and there was nothing she could do to protect her. The only thing she could do was stall for time. She ran towards Boreas and screamed blasting magic through her horn. He grabbed her by the horn and by the legs. He held her above his head and slammed her back into his leg. Snapping her spine in half.

“RARITY!” They all screamed together. He threw her body to the left then vanished and reappeared behind them. They jumped back but before that he grabbed AJ by the neck.  She tried to struggle and breathe, but he tightened his grip and crushed her neck.

Pinkie ran up to him and began to punch him. He turned to her and smacked her with AJ’s body sending her flying into a wall. She slammed against it hitting her head. She tried to pick herself up but saw Boreas charging up a beam of energy. She knew she was about to die, tears began to stream down her face and  she gave a hopeless smile. She chuckled and was instantly disintegrated by his blast.

Boreas turned to Twilight and Fluttershy. Fluttershy was crying, but Twilight gritted her teeth and hoped that her new form was enough to at least stall Boreas enough for the Crusaders to fuse. She launched herself at him and started to wail on him. Tears streaming down her face, she knew this being had to die. Her attacks were actually doing damage, he was actually being effected. She continued wailing on him until, he let out a burst of energy causing Twilight to fly into a wall. She quickly got up and saw that he was coming at her very fast. So she raised her hooves above her and charged up a energy attack, and threw it at him with a overhead swing. It graced him and burned his right side. He gripped the injury but then rammed her with full force causing her to fly back and collide with Fluttershy.

She was on top of Fluttershy and was about to get up until she saw him charging up another energy attack. She closed her eyes and braced for the attack. There was a loud blast and the sound of punches. She opened her eyes, to see a new mare standing over a wounded Boreas.

The new mare turned to Twilight and smiled. She was a Pegasus with a messy red mane, and white coat. She had a red bow tied to her arm, but most notably was her Cutie Mark. It was the Cutie Mark Crusaders symbol. “Is that you guys?” Twilight questioned.

The new mare laughed, “I’m non of those fillies. My name is Crusader!” She turned to Boreas who was starting to get up. She pointed towards him and yelled, “And I am the mare who will defeat you!”