And I will beat back the darkness, until I am so broken I cannot move anymore. Then I will pick myself up and make the darkness choke on me!

Tirek looked up from the go board, the white stones and black stones now at an even keel. The landscape of the board looked much more like a checkerboard with stones to the untrained eye. Turning his golden eyes back towards his opponent, he saw Titan looking down with the same look he had. With a cruel sneer, Tirek said, “The game is nearing its end. The players are all set, God. And who do you think will win? Your daughter and her angels: The honest knight, the loyal soldier, the tarnished diamond, the broken clown and the kind flower?”

“Or Conquest and his fallen angels,” Titan remarked, looking at the board with a tinge of curiosity, “The mad doctor, the fallen soldier, the broken bird, and the doll maker. This leaves Twilight, the one who is the embodiment of friendship, vs the embodiment of hate.”

“You forgot one more,” Titan said, putting a black stone onto the field, “The guardian of death. His role in this will help tilt the balance. What winning move do you suppose the girl will play?”

“I cannot answer, not any more,” Titan said, shaking his head, “My role in the immortal game is done for the moment. As are Celestia’s, Discord’s, and Luna’s. No gods, no rulers, only six brave mares who are willing to put everything on the line. Death, life, and all else...will be decided by them.”

As the sun rose high into the sky, signaling the dawn of the new day, the light filtered through the curtains and into the bedroom of Twilight Sparkle. When the light hit her eyes, it woke her up to the world around her. Eyes shooting up and open, she sat in her bed and took a look around. With a few minutes of inspection, she realized that she was in her old bedroom back in one of the towers of the library. She smiled as a lifetime of memories came flowing back to her, of late nights and of happy times falling asleep on a book.

Sliding herself off the bed, she took a minute to walk around the library, using some of her magic to remove the dust that had accumulated there. Each step brought to her a new memory of home and of her days when she was an unicorn. Walking to a book, she recognized it as the book about Nightmare Moon. As she ran her fingers along the spine, feeling the raised words, she said, “If I had never read you, wonder where my life would’ve ended up by now.” she let out a chuckle as she responded, “Lonely and bored. What a wasted life it would’ve been.”

Pulling away from her books, she took one last look around the tower. Her eyes looking up and around the building, she allowed herself a few more moments of reflection before she closed her eyes. Clenching her fists, she teleported away in a flash and wound up back in the library. Looking to her left, she found the closet containing her two outfits designed by Rarity. Grabbing the long purple robe in her hands, she looked at it admiringly for a moment.

This robe is meant for your spell casting. It has the same functions as the other’s outfits and protects as well. However, since you are facing more magical enemies, I made this robe resistant to all five pools of magic. It’s not a perfect defense, but it will save you in a pinch.

Nodding, she opened a small portal next to her and placed the robe within the null space. Taking a breath, she made a note to call it when the time came. Her eyes then drifted to the armor that Rarity had fixed up, and she nodded as she summed the pieces onto her body one by one. Rarity’s voice echoing in her mind as she did.

Twilight, why are you interested in this old thing?

“Because, I want to enter there as Celestia’s knight first. And besides...you wanted me to wear this one day.”

“Today is the perfect time,” Twilight said as her greaves and pauldrons came onto her with a loud snap.

All right, let me walk you through the advancements on your armor. It’s magical resistant and like Starfleet’s, it will help protect you and increase your inner magic. However, I did install something new: those five gems that you see...

Twilight watched as the breast plate, gauntlets, and boots all came onto her form, each one holding a gem faceted to their face.

They contain a small amount of magic within. Now, while I know you are a magical prodigy and have more mana than even the princesses, I wanted to give you an extra boost with these.

With a nod, Twilight summoned the helm to her hand. Holding it in her hands for a moment, she looked at the violet design and the pony shape it had taken. She was hit with a bit of a warm feeling her heart as she remembered who made it, and why.

Looking back over her shoulder, she spared one last glance at the photo on the table next to her bed. A picture of her friends as they all stood together in an embrace, the day of her resurrection. Next to it was a photo of Belle standing with her friends, and then another photo of her and her friends standing together when they were quadrupedal. A long breath escaped her lips as the weight of the world hit her.

Lifting her head up, she narrowed her eyes as she whispered, “For them.” and then teleported away.

Applejack opened her emerald eyes along with the rising dawn as she always did. She yawned, letting the feeling of a goodnight’s sleep flow through her. She had always slept well whenever Caramel would hold her through the night and love her. Turning around, she started to look at the stallion who had won her heart as he slept peacefully. Tenderly, her hand ran through his short cut brown mane before she leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips.

Breaking the kiss, she reluctantly slipped out of his arms and went to her dresser to get dressed. Grabbing her vest, she put it over her white t-shirt and straightened it up. Next, she threw on her jeans along with a pair of boots, and then she looked at her fingerless workout gloves. Holding up each hand in turn, she put on each glove with a flourish, finishing her ensemble by putting on her neckerchief around her neck. Looking back at her hat, she began to pray, “Ma, Pa, Ah know you are listening to me right now. If you can let me be a little selfish just this once, Ah have a request.”

Grabbing her hat, she held it in her hands for a moment, looking at it and remembering all of her times with her friends, “Please...let me see my friends again.”

“Applejack?” Caramel asked, slowly waking up and looking at his marefriend while she stood in the light. When Applejack turned to look at him, he said, “Win this one.”

“Sure thang, sugarcube,” Applejack said, tipping her hat with confidence. Turning around she began to walk slowly down the stairs and out the door. When she opened it up, she was blasted back by the loud sound of cheering.

When Applejack opened her eyes, she saw her entire family standing there with a huge banner that said, “Good luck Applejack.”

“Wha-” Applejack gasped, “The whole clan? But how-”

Applebloom happily ran to her big sister and gave her a hug, “Before supper, Granny talked to Golden Delicious and had her call up the whole family to see you off.”

“Eeyup, need to make sure you knew we are behind you all the way,” Big Mac said with a nod.

“Guys Ah,” Applejack paused and wiped a tear from her eyes as she smiled at her family, and for a moment, thought she saw the ghosts of her parents right behind them.

“Go on and kick his ass, AJ!” Braeburn said, cheering his little cousin.

Granny Smith hugged Applejack tightly and said in her ear, “I know you are having trouble with Hamon. Just remember the most important thing, dig deep inside yourself, and then...you’ll find the answer.”

“Thanks Granny,” Applejack said, hugging her grandmother tightly. “Thanks, all of you, Ah’ll be back!” she said, before running down the path towards Ponyville proper.

Rainbow Dash looked in the mirror at her torn sleeve shirt and shorts, admiring herself. With a smirk, she reached to her left and grabbed some tape to put on her forearms and hands. As she finished taping them up and stretching her fingers, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, “One more fight, and this is all over,” Fluttershy said with a whisper.

“Yeah, and then we can get back to normal,” Rainbow Dash said, “The pegasus who loves the ground and the fastest flyer in alive.”

Fluttershy giggled a little, “I don’t know if that counts as normal.”

Rainbow put on a cock sure grin, “It does to me.” Pulling out of the embrace, she looked at her lover with a coy smile. She had to admire Fluttershy’s light yellow dress with two shield cufflinks. Then she said, “Hey, Flutters...if it gets too much out there I want you to-”

“Now, don’t you dare tell me to leave,” Fluttershy said, putting her hands on her hips.

Dash shook her head, smirking as she looked at her, “Wasn’t thinking of it. I want you to come and heal me for round two.”

This made Fluttershy giggle and then hold her marefriend’s hands, “You know I will. It’s what I do for everypony, heal them.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Dash said with a smirk as she walked ahead towards the bedroom door, “Now, come on, let’s go make an entrance.”

Rarity looked at her archer outfit and its design, her mind wandering and thinking of the last possible refinements she could make.

Hearing her daughter coo from her crib made her come out of her examination of her outfit, and she gave a nod. Rarity said, “I suppose you are right, it is the best it’s going to be.” Levitating her compound diamond bow to her, she let it rest against her light purple hood and cape. She took extra care to make sure it would billow and flow along her white corset that covered a light purple one piece bodysuit along with her white boots.The last piece of her suit she put on were two metal bracers to protect her arms as she fired shots.

Stepping out, she made her way down the stairs where Spike waited for her, “Spikey?”

“Um, Rarity? Sweetie Belle and Glarity worked a little bit last night on this,” he said, bringing out a rapier sheathed in a diamond sheath. The handle of the blade shimmered in the light, the pommel rounded at the end. It’s crossguard covered the hand and looking like diamond umbrella, “It’s Vorpal.”

Rarity looked down at her family’s blade, and shuddered as she stepped back a little, “Spike, why did they fix it. They know I don’t want to pick it up again.”

“Rarity, I’ve been thinking about something Twilight said,” Spike said, “Conquest is going to be prepared for this, for all of you. He’s gonna have someone who is going to stop you from using your bow and arrows.”

“Then I’ll just change my bow into a blade like before,” Rarity said, looking back at her bow.

Spike then had a worried look cross his face, “Then what if it gets knocked away. You need a backup, you need this blade at your side.”

Rarity closed her eyes for a moment, images of Melantha lying dead on her blade still floating in her mind. Scrunching her face in an effort to hold down her fear, she said, “All right. But, I don’t see me needing such a weapon. I’ll should be able to handle what comes my way without it.” she said, taking the long and thin blade and putting it at her side.

“One more thing,” Spike said, kissing his fiance softly, “Come home alive. I don’t ever want to deal with the loss of someone close to me ever again.”

“I promise,” Rarity said, kissing him back before walking towards the door.

Pinkie Pie smiled as she looked at her t-shirt and shorts, her mind examining her body over in an attempt to figure out what she needed to add to her outfit. After a quick examination, she winked at herself in the mirror, proud of the way she looked. Reaching down to her bed, she pulled out her utility belt with all of her tools and gadgets.

Taking only a moment to make sure everything was in place, she made her way out of the room. Standing on the threshold for a moment, she looked back at a photo of her and Belle and smiled at it. Giving a quick nod, she jumped to a banister and slid down it, cartwheeling to the door.

“Pinkie,” Maude said, standing and waiting for her, “Be safe out there. I don’t think we would stand losing you.”

“Aw thanks Maude,” Pinkie said, hugging her sister and walking towards the door.

“Pinkie, wait!” Artie said, running down the stairs, “I have to say something. I...I-”

Pinkie then wrapped her forearms around his neck and kissed his lips, “You’re welcome!” and with that, she bounced out of the corner.

Applejack remembered well the location that Twilight told them to meet. It was the place they had gathered before journeying to fight Nightmare Moon, it was the place where their journey began and where this war would end. PAying no mind to the cheers and the exclamations to push forward from the populace, she put her hands into her pockets and continued to walk with her hat over her eyes.

She took each step with a purpose, letting the events of the past year sink in while the crowd around her began to disappear. Looking up, she smiled slow looked up to see Rainbow Dash fly in and land next to her. After landing, the pegasus smirked to her friend, fixing her taped up fists before punching her palm. On Dash’s right, Fluttershy fluttered in, looking worried for a moment, before a look from both of her friends made her smile. Looking ahead, she watched as Rarity stepped out from the shadows.

Leaning against the wall, she looked up at the group and nodded. Fixing her arrows she walked to join her friends, staying at Applejack’s right and giving her hair a little flip to keep it in place. After taking a few more steps, the band of ponies were joined by Pinkie Pie, who stopped her bouncing long enough to match her striped with her friends. Applejack calmly looked back and forth between her friends and smirked as they continued to walk to their destination. All of the crowd watched in awe at the traveling band of heroes, all trace of fear leaving their hearts as it was replaced by a sense of hope.

It did not take long for the group to reach the edge of the Everfree Forest, stepping and walking as slowly as they could to take in the world around them as if for the last time. Once there, Rainbow Dash looked ahead and saw Twilight hugging Trixie, “Whoa, what’s going on there?”

Trixie broke the embrace and looked at Twilight in the eyes, “Trixie still wishes you would let her and the others join you girls. You need the backup.”

“No,” Twilight shook her head, “Conquest might attack while we’re away and go for a two front battle. I need someone here I can trust to help fight back. And who better than the most powerful and greatest rival I have?”

Trixie smirked and stepped back, taking a bow and said, “Well, of course, who else but Trixie would you trust.” Then she gave a chuckle before saying, “Just...be careful. Trixie doesn't want to lose her friend.”

Twilight smiled and said, “You won't.” then she turned to her friends and ran over to them. Taking one last look back at Trixie, she gave another reassuring smile before waving goodbye.

“So, what was that about?” asked Applejack.

“Just some last minute goodbyes,” Twilight said, turning to look back at the entrance of the forest. “Now, step back girls.”

Closing her eyes, she clapped her hands together with a loud slap, igniting her horn as she did so. Breathing slowly, she could feel the magic around her flow from the planet and into her hands, creating a powerful glow of magical energy. Her mane began to billow as her violet aura turned blue as she tapped into blue mana. In front of her, the world began to ripple and curve, flying out in waves. When she parted her hands, it was like she was ripping a hole in the face of the world, creating a large crack of light in front of the girls. Pulling away, she depowered her magic, and looked at the glowing large crack of light that appeared before her, showing the tiniest glimpse of the pocket dimension within. Twilight smirked, “Knew you couldn’t resist not healing that wound Conquest,” then she turned around.

Looking before her, she saw her friends all ready to join her. In each one, she could see the battles that they had endured, the struggles, and the challenges they conquered. She could also see the stress that the war had put on them. Putting on her compassionate face, she said, “Girls, you have been through a lot over the past year. You had to fight without me, had your ideals questioned and stepped on, and you had to struggle with an oppressive force. So many had brought you down and insulted you. And through it all, you perservered and came out stronger than ever. After so much, it would be selfish of me to ask you to continue on further.”

She looked back at the portal and then back to her friends, “If any of you want to go home right now, and just back down... then I won’t stop you.”

For a moment, the five looked at each other. Each one looking at the struggles that each had to endure and the leves they had lead. For them, they could see the scars that the war had left, both emotional and physical. Then they turned to Twilight, with Applejack stepping forward, “Sugarcube, remember when Ah said Ah was your pillar? Ah meant it then and ah mean it right now,” she said, putting her hand out for Twilight, “Ah am always gonna be there to support ya and to lift you up when you need the strength to go on.”

“What I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe..”

Fluttershy stepped up next, putting her hand on top of Applejack’s “Conquest has killed so many, and hurt so many more. We need to stop him, no matter what.” she then looked down, “And if any of you got hurt while I could’ve done something to help, then I would never forgive myself.”

“ Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness.”

Pinkie Pie bounced in next, putting her hand on top, “There has been a lot of tears, frowns, and angry faces lately hasn’t there? Well, it’s my duty as the premiere party pony and the deliverer of happiness to bring back the smiles and good times. And I can’t do that from here, I need to be with you Twilight!”

“If there is one thing that makes me happy, and my life worthwhile, it’s to get you to smile!”

“Twilight, I made a promise to my daughter to have her see the Equestria I grew up in. One free of war and strife,” Rarity said, putting a hand onto Pinkie’s, “And I will do that, no matter what the cost. If you need my help, you have it.”

“It’s no problem,it’ll grow back eventually.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged, “Do I even need to say it? For the past two years I have been kicking myself in the flank because I thought I abandoned you. I am going to be damned to Tartarus and back before I let that happen again. I am always going to be on your side Twi, and you know it!” and then she placed her hand on top of the others.

Twilight's smile brightened up as she looked back and forth between her five friends, feeling the energy flow from them and through her. For a moment, she felt the tinge of a rainbow shine pass by her eyes as she looked at all of them.

“when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic!”

“You know,” Twilight said with a warm smile, “I should’ve figured you girls would’ve answered like that.” she said putting her hand on top of the others, feeling a bit of a spark of energy flow through her. Looking back at the portal, she said, “All right, let's do this!!!”

From the top of his headquarters, Conquest watched as a giant purple portal opened not too far away from his fort. His cape flapping in the breeze, he let out a chuckle that quickly evolved into a laugh, “HOHOH! This is perfect!” Crossing his arms across his bear chest, he put one foot onto the edge of the roof and said, “It seems that Twilight is here to bring the party to us. Buddy, get your skeleton soldiers, it’s time for the welcoming party.”

Necromancer nodded and said, “Yes, Conquest.”

“Kudos, Raven, Rhymey,” Conquest said, looking behind him as the trio stayed back, “Get into position, you are about to have some company.”

Kudos nodded and walked away, “Good, I have some things prepared for Applejack.”

“About time,” Rhymey said, smiling, “Wait for me, Fluttershy.”

“After this...I’m done,” Raven said, disappearing.

Conquest then looked back at the bright purple portal, “Ok, dear Twilight, lets see what you got.”

Down below, at the front gates of the fort, one of the griffon soldiers could hear a loud knocking, followed by a muffled voice, “If you excuse me, sirs. But could you kindly open the door before we are force to barge in like a bunch of barbarians?”

“Oh no,” the griffon said, “You aint getting in.” After that, a massive explosion rings out as the door creaked and then exploded off its hinges, knocking the griffon to the ground. Looking back up, dazed, he looked at the six mares standing there in the doorway, “Oh, I get it...you’re coming in!” he said, before falling unconscious.

Each mare stood in the doorway, ready to charge at a moment’s notice. Rainbow Dash began to adjust her goggles as Applejack straightened up her gloves. Rarity began to notch an arrow in her bow while Fluttershy straightened her gems and Pinkie Pie smiled wildly, spinning her hammer. Twilight stood in the center of the six, her magical aura flaring up around her, and her eyes narrowing at the soldiers within.

The mortal soldiers all had differing reactions to this small group of heroes. Some of them began to lose control of their bowels, while others screamed like small children, and some others looked at their weapons, back at the six, and then to their weapons before throwing them to the ground and saying a collective “FUCK THIS SHIT!!!!!”and then ran to the purple portal.

The skeleton warriors, made from necromantic energy, knew no fear. Thus, seeing the small group of ponies did not scare them and readied their weapons. Rarity slowly walked forward of the group with Fluttershy right behind her. Cool and collected, she began to fire shot after shot of her arrows, taking out the soldiers and opening a way for the girls, “You head to the main base. Me and Fluttershy will save the remaining slaves and take care of the forces here.”

“Fluttershy, you-”

“I know Dash,” Fluttershy said, giving Dash a quick kiss before walking and running with Rarity.

“Couldn’t hold off on one quick kiss could ya?” Applejack asked, running with her friends as they ran towards the main building.

Dash flashed a cocky grin, “Why? Jealous or just mad you couldn’t lock lips with Caramel!”

“N-Neither!” Applejack said, blushing as they went in, Pinkie Pie blowing up the doors for them.

“Girls, keep focus,” Twilight said, looking up the stairs, “Conquest is on the top floor. And it’s up... stairs, great.” she said with the roll of her eyes.

“Aw, how nice of Connie! He wants us to have exercise!” Pinkie Pie giggled as she ran after the others as they ran up the stairs, floor after floor.

After heading up a few floors, Pinkie Pie felt a shiver run down her back. Gasping she pushed her friends to the side, out of the way of a fireball. Looking up, she saw Raven standing alone in a dark room, illuminated only by a few torches. Nodding, the pink mare got up and walked inside, “Girls...go on without me.”

“Pinkie wai-” before Twilight could say anything, Raven threw a series of fireballs that caused the entrance of her room to collapse on itself, blocking the way out. “PINKIE!” Shouted Twilight as she pounded at the door.

“It’s going to be ok,” Pinkie’s muffled voice came out, “I’ll beat her with three words, you just watch!”

Applejack put her hand onto Twilight’s shoulder, and sighed, “It’ll be ok Twilight. She’ll be fine, let’s just get to Conquest.”

Twilight sighed and then yelled to Pinkie, “Just don’t die, ok! I want a big party at the end of all of this, and I need the best party planner there!”

“You got it!” Pinkie said, smiling.

Looking up, the trio continued their run up the stairs, soon making it to a lone room with straw mats lining the floor, surrounded by stone walls. Standing there, eating a jelly bean, was Kudos. Applejack tipped her hat as she said, “Girls...go. Ah got this one.”

“Applejack, I can take this, let me-”

Applejack brushed Dash’s hand off of her shoulder, “This fight is all on me sugarcube. You just get going.”

Rainbow Dash paused, before narrowing her eyes, “Just don't’ die!” she said, holding her hand with her elbow flexed.

“No problem sugarcube!” Applejack said, with confidence as she returned the hand shake, holding her friends hand and flexing her own bicep.

Twilight rolled her eyes at this as she and Rainbow Dash ran up the stairs, leaving Applejack alone to walk inside the dojo, straightening her hat as she did so.

Once they made it to the second to last floor, Rainbow Dash looked inside and then sighed. Looking over her shoulder to Twilight, she said, “Twilight? You think you can handle Conquest.”

“Alone? Sure,” Twilight said, putting her hand onto Dash’s shoulder, and sighed, “Just...don’t do anything reckless. When I said we are all coming home? I mean all of us.”

“Back at ya!” Rainbow Dash said, smirking to her friend as she stepped into the room. This left Twilight alone, and with only one floor left. Looking back up, she narrowed her eyes and began to run up the stairs.

As she neared Conquest’s door, she said to herself, “Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, don’t forget, we need to all head home together. So don’t die on me now!”

Necromancer smiled as he stepped into Equestria, breathing out a low breath as he gazed upon the world, “How many years has it been since I last laid eyes upon this dimension? Countless, has it not?” he chuckled lowly as he peered out, his red eyes glowing with a haunting glare.

A stallion walked up behind the necromancer, “Hey, what’s going on? Who are-” he could speak no more as the necromancer’s hoof stuck through his chest, causing the heart to decay, causing him to die on impact.

“Me? I am the embodiment of death,” Necromancer said, watching as a bird landed on his cloak, only for it to waver, before falling dead to the floor. “I am the end of all things, the bringer of the final days. I am what truly lies at the end of the world, and the deliverer from the pathetic things you hold onto.”

With each step he took, the grass withered beneath his cloven hooves. Around him, the world fell silent, as though the world began to die at his presence. Soon, he found the cemetery of Canterlot, “I must thank Conquest for his slow timing in the conquering of this planet, for it has given me so many subjects to claim for my own.”

Ramming his hoof down into the ground of the first grave he came to, he touched the corpse that still laid within, “O’ world that has been around for too long, prepare for your final judgement.” he said, looking above at the clouds above his head, summoning the dark skies that began to encroach upon the city.

“Hey, back away from the-AHHHH!” the soldier could barely move before a lightning bolt struck out from Necromancer’s hoof to strike him down.

Slowly, Necromancer pulled back his cloak, revealing his goat head. Leaning back, he began to cackle as the dead began to rise from the graves around him. Everywhere around the planet that the dark clouds began to surround the world, the dead of every race: Griffon, pony, boar, and more, began to rise from their graves.

“Three years ago, someone thought to attack with the dead monsters of the past,” NEcromancer said, “ He failed, thus, I will show the real power of the dead.”

Rarity ducked under the scimitar of one of the skeleton warriors, firing her bow at it’s head to knock it off. From her crouching position, she jumped back away from three spears that threatened to be plunged at her back. Pulling out three arrows, she fired all of them at once, each shot making their mark on the skeleton’s foreheads.

Once she got back up, she let out a scream as a sharp pain come across her back. Feeling a warm trickle come down her backside, she looked behind her to see the skeleton that she had decapitated reach down reattach his head, his scimitar dripping with her blood. Reacting almost on instinct, she blocked the blade with her bow, moving it around and then using the side to hit the skeleton in the side. At the end of her spin, she watched as the others she struck down began to try reassemble their parts. Biting her lip a little and narrowing her eyes in determination, she pulled back and released another series of shots at the skeleton group, triny to keep them down.

As she fired her volley, she did not see a lone archer take a shot at her side. The arrow launched out with a loud thack and quickly found it’s mark in Rarity’s shoulder. She let out a scream of pain and turned around, getting another arrow in her side in the process. Looking up she fired her shot and struck down the attacking archer.

Looking next to her, she watched as the other skeletons readied their blades and began to strike out at her, slashing and thrusting. Pushing herself through her own pain, she began to back up, blocking the swords with her bow and firing a few rounds into her bodies. With each round she fired, another skeleton would get back up slash at her or to strike back with a thrust.

After a few jumps and rolls, she found herself cornered. Reaching behind her to her quiver for her arrows, she let out a gasp as she found it empty. Her breath came out in heavy pants as she looked to the skeletons and then to behind them. A faint trace of a smile came to her lips as she saw a wooden pole meant for target practice. Horn glowing bright, she used her telekinisis to pull down the pole amongst the crowd of skeletons, giving her an opening to run away from the corner.

Some of the skeletons got back up to their feet quickly and were able to slash at her legs as she ran by them. One of the skeletons got a slash at her calf, making her trip and roll off the log. Falling off the log, she felt an all too familiar tingling in her horn. It was the same feeling she had when she got near a gem. Looking back at the skeletons, she whispered, “Gems but where-” she then chuckled, “Oh, soul gems. Clever aren’t you?”

Moving to get back to her feet, she lifted up her arms and began to tap into her magic. It was a simple spell for her, one that was as connected to her as breathing. Closing her eyes, she used her personal magic to find and then pull the soul gems from out of the skeleton warriors, killing them as she ripped the glowing gems away. Panting, Rarity wiped the sweat from her brow, and stood up in spite of the cut in her calf. A faint smile crossed her lips, “Well, that was-”

A slow clap from an awning interrupted her sentence. Above her, on the wooden plank, a green unicorn with a chameleon cutie mark smiled as she clapped her hands, “Bravo, bravo my little tarnished diamond.” Melantha said, walking down the steps as her high pitched voice cut through the air.

“That voice,” Rarity said, looking up at the unicorn, taking note of the mane and coat color, “Melantha! But you’re dead!”

“Yes, and I thank you for killing me,” Melantha laughed, “It was quite... opening. Better than sex, more pleasurable than anything, and it felt oh so good to lose my life. Sadly, it was something I could do only once. But, you know what was the most annoying thing to me, the one thing that pissed me off while my soul was burning in Tartarus?” she asked, looking at her hand, before bringing out the knife.

“What?” Rarity asked, looking up at the mare, her hands clasping her bow.

“What you took from me!” Melantha said, throwing her dagger at Rarity’s hand, cutting it and making her drop the bow. Before she could pick it up, Melantha used her telekinesis to pick the bow up and throw it out of the HQ.

Meltantha let out a small insane giggle as she leap from the scaffold, using a feather fall spell to help lower herself to the ground. Slowly rising back to her feet, she said, “You took away my dollies. You kept them away from me, and stopped me from making more. So, when Necromancer offered me a second chance...I took it with glee.”

“You should’ve stayed dead, monster,” Rarity said, walking around her, keeping her eye on the unicorn.

Melantha giggled, “Monster? Oh, that’s rich, coming from a tarnished diamond like you.”

“I’m not tarnished!” Rarity said, twitching a little while feeling a cold feeling creep up her spine.

“Oh really? Let’s see then,” Melantha said, holding up her left hand and revealing a ring resting on her left hand.”

“That’s the-”

“Ring of Fear? Oh yes, and it’s the original one too,” Melantha said, reaching up and grabbing the ring with two fingers, “I personally hate it, because if I cause fear I want it to be from me. However, since it’s you... I’m making an exception. After all, you should never speed through a pleasurable experience like this!” She laughed, an ear piercing cackle that cut through the night.”

Rarity took a step forward, but stopped when she heard a voice whispering on the wind.

“ Slut. Slut of the dragon,”

“Now, that is a little unfair to assume. And if the ring thinks it can't beat me with such a smal-” Rarity stopped herself, and gasped when she saw herself, pregnant and being groped and pleasure by not just Spike, but other dragons as well.

She watched in horror as she was licked in her sensitive areas, nipped in the right ways, and turned into their plaything. As she stepped back in horror, she heard,

“Retard”

“ Airhead”

“No, I'm not-” Rarity began to object, but then felt a blade plunge itself into her back, cutting down diagonally.

“Ah, ah, my little tarnished diamond.you don't get to make your case until the vision stops. Oh and,” Melantha giggled, slashing Rarity’s arm, “That’s for denying that you are a whooooooooore.” she drew out the last word with a taste of venom, before kicking Rarity and taking her to her knees.

Through the pain, Rarity began to see visions of herself standing for long hours in a checkout. Her mind played out images of her losing herself in her daydreams, not doing anything but looking at the sky. She trembled and shook as she watched her own mistakes, own faults come out. With a whimper, she said, “B-B-ut I’m not. I'm not stupid.”

“You say that,” Melantha said with a cruel grin, grabbing a bunch of Rarity’s mane and pulled it back, eliciting a scream from the back of her throat. Melantha let out a chuckle before she spat into Rarity’s eye and kicked her to the ground, “But they all see the truth. Every single pony in existence, they all see how stupid and pathetic you really are. A slut, who will give herself to the nearest thing with a penis. You will do anything for your career, regardless who gets in your way.”

Rarity could feel her skin begin to shiver as goosebumps began to form under her coat as it became paler than usual. Her cold sweat mixed with the blood as it trickled down her arms from her wounds. As she gave a whimper, she began to plea with a whimper, “N-n-n-no, please. I’m not that way. I’m-”

“Different?” laughed Melantha as she kicked Rarity in the stomach, laying her onto the ground. “Special? Good? Untarnished?” she asked with a grin as she brought out her knife and began to cut into Rarity’s legs again andagin, leaving a deep red bleeding gash in her legs, “You KILLED me, remember? You then killed Soarin, and that one boar.”

Rarity shook her head, trembling, “I had no choice.”

“And you mean to tell me,” Melantha asked, sitting on Rarity’s stomach and caressing her chin. “You didn’t like the idea of killing me or Soarin? That it was fun to watch as the life flowed out of me in a crimson stream or to see Soarin struggle on the end of so many daggers? You were a hero that day,” she said dragging the knife along the curve of the skin of Rarity’s breast through the material of her suit, eliciting a painful howl from Rarity. “And all it took was sacrificing the purity of heart. Such a wonderful knight!” and then she kicked Rarity again.

Rarity struggled to her knees, looking up as she could feel the tears roll down her cheeks. The terror in her eyes was matched only by the pain that was burning through her body. Even though she could see her torturer clearly, she also began to see visions of her fears as they taunted her, mocked her, and insulted her.

“Sacrifice.”

“Her dreams will cause her to lose everything.”

“She’ll abandon everything.”

Rarity shook her head as she got to her feet, seeing her family walking away. Whimpering, she said, “No, please I would never-”

“She is too busy with her clothes to play with me anymore,” Sweetie Belle sad, crying.

Spike growled, “She doesn’t love me anymore. I can tell that, she was just using me to get a unique kid.”

“Let’s just let her stew in her own slime,” said her mother, “It’s where she belongs.”

“I’ve never been more disappointed,” Esteem said.

“Do you know what makes this ring so effective?” laughed Melantha as she threw her dagger, leaving a cut into Rarity’s forearm, “I can see your fears! Oh, isn’t it wonderful? Because, I know it’s all come to light already. You fear losing yourself to fame, to glory, and becoming like those nobels you once shunned. You are scared of losing all that made you...special. So, you hold yourself up with false images to try and keep pure. But, in the end, we all see the truth, that you are a slutty, airheaded bimbo who will give away her friends at the first instance of something better.”

The pain, the fear, and the taunting were finally beginning to take its toll on her as she fell to her knees and began to cry. Cuts in her arms, legs, and body were dripping onto the ground mixing with her tears as she sat and let the voices mock her.

“Slut”

“Retarded”

“Tarnished.”

“Where the BUCK do you get off, calling her names!” Rarity shot up at the new voice and looked to her side.where Applejack walked from out of the shadows. “Ain't you got anything better to do than insult her like that? And what’s with calling her retarded? So, she likes getting gussied up and looking fancy. Nothing wrong with that. She is still one of the hardest working mare Ah had ever known,” she then winked to her best friend, “aint every gal who could make twelve dresses in only a few days.”

Rainbow Dash flew in over head, and growled angrily at the ghost ponies, “How dare you call her a slut! She made love with her boyfriend before they were wed, big fucking deal! It happens, but you know what takes more power, getting up and owing to your responsibility. She was able to help us even when she was...in that way.”

“She has and always remained true to herself and her own inner beauty,” Fluttershy said, smiling, “Because she wants to bring out the inner beauty of others, and that means she won’t fall in with the likes of those snooty nobles back in Canterlot.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down with a big grin, making the shadows fade, “So she daydreams once in a while, so she likes to be pretty. Aren’t you forgetting she owns her own store,and is now a mother. It takes a lot of work to do all of that.”

“She made mistakes, but like a diamond, she refines herself, works over her mistakes, and fixes things. She’s not flawless...but what diamond is,” Twilight said, before narrowing her eyes, “Now, Rarity...show these nightmares who you are!”

Melantha smiled as she pulled back her dagger and plunged it towards Rarity’s eyeball; however, it was stopped by a light blue aura. The harder she pushed, the more force was applied from the telekinesis, until it began to burn from the friction. Rarity opened her eyes and unleashed a yell that sent Melantha flying back. As her opponent stood back up, Rarity began to summon the fallen armor pieces to her side, keeping her eyes closed as she did so. Around her, she began to pick up the torn pieces of cloth and began to make bandages for her wounds, “Thank you,” Rarity whispered, adjusting the armor to fit her body so precisely. “I remember now that, unlike my friends, I never faced the ring of fear. That was Glarity, and I must say that suffering through it is a harrowing experience.”

Raising her arms to let the gauntlets slide on, follow by her greeves, she continued, “Hearing your friends tell you about it, and then suffering it are two different things. But, I suppose it was necessary, very necessary. I was so scared of losing myself, of failing in my goal of being there for others and being of a help to somepony that I forgot for a bit of what makes me special. Of all of the good things in my life and the bad.” reaching back to her mane, she began to tie it back as a breastplate came onto her, “Mistakes, yes, but I will have to live with those. I will always strive to be me and to let my own inner beauty shine through and if others cannot see that...well, then more’s the pity.”

“So, what are you saying little diamond?” asked Melantha.

Rarity smirked as she made her mane into a ponytail and brought out her rapier, pointing it at Melantha with a cocky grin, “I am saying...let’s dance.”

Melantha smiled with a large grin, bringing her arm up to her face and then with a grunt, she extended a blade from her long sleeve. Out from her other sleeve, she summoned another blade. She let out a high pitched screech before racing at Rarity.

Unflinching from this battle cry coming from the maniac, Rarity began to walk slowly towards Melantha, pulling up her raipie and deflecting away two slashes coming from the two arm blades. With a quick motion, she pulled back her blade and thrusted it at Melantha with three quick strikes, following with a slash down her chest. The blows hit their mark and drew blood as they dug into Melantha’s flesh.

Melantha ran two fingers along the bloody cut and then licked the blood off her fingers, a sadistic grin appearing on her lips as she did. Letting out a hiss, she charged at Rarity and slashed at her legs. Each blade struck out at Rarity’s feet, hitting the ground with an audible clang and spark of fire as blade met stone. Backing up in a way that made herself resemble more of a dancer than a sword mare, Rarity kept away from Melantha’s blade strikes. After backing away from the strikes for a few moments longer, Melantha pulled back and stabbed an arm blade into Rarity’s side. Glad to have her strike into Rarity's flesh, she tried to slash upwards, but the strike was blocked by Rarity’s rapier.

Not allowing the wound to slow her down, Rarity blocked the next three strikes with a few quick flashes of her blade and then spun around in a circle to block a slash from both arm blades. Quickly disengaging the lock, she sent the arms up into the air and completing her spin, Rarity slashed four times along the chest of Melantha. Then Rarity thrusted her rapier deep into her opponents stomach before backing up towards the scaffold, leading to the upper parts of the fort.

Melantha took a moment to recover from the slashes to look down at her torso, seeing that Rarity’s slashes had left behind a scar in the shape of a capital R on her body. Looking back up at the unicorn, she growled as she watched Rarity wink at her and beckoned her to follow. Running out at her, she began to slash rapidly at her as the two began to make their way up the ramp. Each one of these strikes were blocked by Rarity with a few quick strikes. In the midsts of her parring and dodging, she would occasionally strike back, getting a wound in or a cut in. Soon they made their way to the top, where Melantha managed to strike at Rarity’s arm with a powerful slash, and the upper slashed her, nicking her chin. Raising her blades above her head, Melantha brought her armblades down to cut into Rarity's chest.

In a flash of movement, Rarity blocked the two blades with her rapier, keeping Melantha in a blade lock. After holding her opponent still for a brief moment, she pushed up the swords and broke the lock. Rarity then used the momentum to slash at the arm blade, breaking the weapon with ease and spun Melantha to have her back face her. Bringing her blade out, Rarity slashed at Melantha’s back, making a large cursive B in one fluid motion. Then she kicked Melantha to her knees. Looking to her side, Rarity slashed at the straps holding the oning to the wall, causing it to break down. Leaping off of it, Rarity used the planks as a series of steps to help lower herself to the soft ground.

Looking back up, she watched with a smirk as Melantha rose from the rubble, bloodied, arm broken, and hair all matted. Screaming in rage, Melantha slashed and struck out at Rarity with her good arm. Without moving, Rarity blocked the strikes with her rapier, counterting each blow without flinching. Then she knocked the arm blade to the side before thrusting her blade into Melantha’s arm, forcing her to drop the arm blade. Rarity then slashed the thighs, bringing the killer to her knees. Holding her arm, Melantha chuckled as she looked up at Rarity, “Well, go on...kill me! Show me your real colors bitch! Show me how you are nothing more than a tarnished diamond.”

Rarity said nothing, holding up her blade and slashing at her with no emotion. Melantha let out a scream of pain as she felt the blade cut her, “Heh, you see, you are nothing but a...” she paused, seeing nothing but darkness. “Why can’t I see anything! Why can’t I see-”

Rarity interrupted her as she put her blade away, “I have done something far worse than kill you, I have taken away your ability to see those dolls you love so much. Now, all you can do is just hear the sounds of the world around you.”

“No, no! Where are you?!” Melantha screamed, trying to touch and feel for Rarity, “Get back her and kill me you bitch!!!! KILL ME!!!!!” she continued to scream as Rarity walked away.

Rarity gave out a deep breath as she sat near a small hut on the training field. Shuddering, she said, “My word, these adventures do not help with my looks, I can say that.” she said, undoing her ponytail. As she did, she could feel the ground shake. Looking up, she could see all the escaped slaves leaving the headquarters. Muttering a silent prayer, she looked behind her as the world shook again and she could see two figures in the sky fighting it out, “Twilight must have started her battle! I hope the others are alright.”

Necromancer sat at a table in a cafe at Canterlot, drinking a little milkshake and eating a donut as he watched his zombies attack and kill ponies. With each life that was taken, the souls would begin to be absorbed into his body, making him glow darkly, “No one is born to be a multiversal representation of chaos, no, we are usually chosen by fate and are given the chance to become those avatars by the forces around us. Dark Conquest was placed into his position by his mother, and as for me... well, that is a tale.”

“It all began when I was nine and my baby brother was born. I was so ecstatic at seeing a new life and having a little brother that I never expected anything to happen to him,” Necromancer laughed to himself as he drank the shake and held a small soul in his cloven hoof. Chuckling, he said, “Life is funny that way, full of surprises. One day, that little brother of mine, who was full of life, went to bed and never woke up. SIDS they called it, something that happened to babies sometimes. I asked my mother if this was it for him, that was all there was to his life, just a few months and he was dead.”

Slowly, he began to crush the soul, hearing it scream an unearthly wail, “She said yes, that it happens, and that in this world, it is all there is to life. Pitty, I was hoping for a better answer; however, it did give me my love for death. After all, if your life can end so quickly, then what was the point of dreams, hopes, love, ideals, and the future when all it takes is a fluke of the universe and it all fades away into nothingness. Where do these things go when they die? No one knows, my mother certainly didn’t when I stood over her and slit her throat with the kitchen knife, or my father as I ran a blade through his heart.”

“They ran me out of town after that, Tambelon it was called in the era before the sisters,” Necromancer laughed, “They thought sending me away was the answer, but all it did was fuel my desire to study the arts of necromancy! I devoted my life into the field of necromancy, learning all I could about black magic, how to wield it, and how to bend it to my will. Then, when I was an adult, I returned to Tambelon and killed all who lived in it.”

A sigh escaped his lips as he looked into his empty cup, and got to all four hooves, “But I wasted enough of your time. I think I would like to go for a walk,” and with that, he patted the dead stallion on the chest, causing his body to rot away into dust.

Necromancer smiled as he watched the Equestrians fight the zombies, each of them managing to take down only a few before they were swarmed and quickly eviscerated. Every step he took, he could hear the screams of the dead and dying around him, while above, the sky was covered in a dark black cloud. Slowly running his tongue along his teeth, he held up his cloven hoof to grab an Unicorpian by the neck, and suck his soul through his hoof. Once done, he continued to walk with a cruel smile on his lips, “You see, Wind Whistler, this was what you failed to comprehend. All you do, will soon fall back into death. Every struggle, every hope you have, it’s utterly meaningless in the end.”

Celestia flew over head, finding a place to land, her body covered in the rot of the zombies flesh. Panting, she looked up as Luna flew over head and landed, “Report.”

“These undead creatures are overwhelming. Everyone we take down, two more just get back up,” Luna said, shaking her head, “Who is doing this? And where are our allies!?”

“Yeah,” Discord said, landing on the ground, shaking his head, “I just did a scan and, any dead world has just become a nice new home for the zombies. And those who are alive... are in big trouble too.”

Luna frowned, “Can’t you do something?”

“Hey! I’ve been trying,” Discord said, snapping his fingers, but then frowning, “But death is not my territory and whoever is doing this is right now stronger than I am.”

Necromancer laughed to himself as he walked out of Canterlot, “I must thank Conquest, for it was his prolonging of this little war that he gave me the power to be able to match a god. Hmmm, I wonder if Ponyville would like to hear the rest of my story.”

Pinkie Pie looked at Raven, feeling herself shake a little as she looked at her opponent. Her blue eyes looked at her with a worried look as she said, “Raven, please, stand down. We don’t need to do this, you can walk away.”

“Walk away? From all of this?” Raven said, waving her hand behind her back, “I’ve killed ponies Pinkie! I took a father away from his daughter and killed a brother in front of his eyes. My death count is in the hundreds and you tell me I can walk away from all of this?!”

“Yes,” Pinkie said, nodding, “You can. It’s easy.”

“No, it isn’t!” Raven said, feeling lightning crackle and dance along her hands. Looking back up she narrowed her eyes at her former friend, “Thanks to your little friends, you took away my hatred for Celestia, the only thing I had left. Conquest took away my memories, so I don’t even have that. Do you know what it’s like, dealing with two sets of memories!?”

Pinkie looked down, rubbing her arm and sighing, “No, I don’t. I’m sorry.”

“Kudos...” Raven said, looking away, “He reminded me of how messed up I am. It’s getting to the point where I love this now. The thrill, the anger, the rage, and the desire for death. Maybe, if I kill you...I can finally determine who I am!” with a few flaps of her wings, she took to the skies while electricity now encircle her arms. Thrusting out her arms, she sent out powerful streams of blue lightning right at Pinkie, causing to squeak and run away. Raven narrowed her eyes as she continued to send streams of lightning at her opponent.

Watching Pinkie run to a corner, she turned her lightning into flames around her. Generating blue flame in her palms, she threw fireball after fireball, making Pinkie jump and bounce out of the way of the shots. Sweat beaded down Pinkie’s face as she tried her best to keep away from being burnt. During one of her jumps, she was hit in the back by ice spikes, causing her to roll along the ground in pain, leaving behind drops of blood. Looking up, she could see the rage in Raven’s eyes as she said, “Where are your quips, Pinkie?” with that, she ripped a piece of stone from the wall and threw it at Pinkie, barely missing her.

Pinkie gasped, running away from a series of spikes that flew at her, “Where are your tricks, your weapons? Why aren’t you making this exciting!?” Raven shouted, holding out her hand and creating a gravity field around Pinkie, increasing it a little to slam her into the ground with a loud crunch.

Snarling now, she lifted Pinkie up with her telekinesis and threw Pinkie into the wall, throwing metal needles into her arms and legs. Watching as Pinkie Pie rolled to her side in pain, shuddering in pain, Raven frowned before holding up her palm, generating a powerful flame, “Well, if this is what life is answering me...then burn!” and then she let out a long torrent of flames at Pinkie, causing her to scream.

Raven grinned as she watched the flames die down, revealing a light pink barrier, “Wait, what?” she asked, blinking her eyes in shock at what she saw. As the shield and flames died down to reveal a yellow coat and pink mane, as well as a pair of wings, “Fluttershy!?”

“Um...hi?” squeaked Fluttershy.

“If you’re here, then where is Pinkie?” asked Raven.

Fluttershy rubbed her arms, “Oh, she is busy setting up the big surprise for later.” she panted, the pain subsiding thanks to her shield. Looking back up, she watched as Raven landed back onto the ground. She could feel her heartbeat quicken and pulse race as she watched Raven extend her claws.

The bat pony narrowed her eyes and gave a shrug, “Killing Kindness, killing Laughter, it doesn’t matter. Not anymore, all it matters is to prove who I am!” and with that she sped right at Fluttershy.

As the mare pulled back to slash at her, Fluttershy raised her hands to block and move the claws out of the way. Then she pushed aside an overhead slash, leaving her open for a snap kick from Raven. This was followed by a quick slash across her face and then stomach. Raven then put her open palm out for a quick ice blast, but Fluttershy stepped to the side, blocked it with a forearm and pushed the hand down. As Fluttershy held the arm down, she began to plea, “But, don’t you see, this is pointless. You can be your own pony, you don’t need to kill anymore.”

“Don't I?!” shouted Raven, breaking the grapple, and then beginning to slash at Fluttershy as she began to block and push aside her slashes, “Kudos messed with my head! He turned on my anger and rage to uncontrollable levels! This is all I can... no, it’s all I know anymore!”

Fluttershy swiped one of the punches up, but was tripped by raven’s sweep kick. She let out a gasp as she took to the air to get out of the way of a ground lightning spell, “That isn’t true, you can walk away. You can change, anypony can!”

“OH don't you start!” Raven said, taking to the air and throwing ice spears, making Fluttershy fly away to evade them. Her eyes filled with a bloodlust as she glared down at her, “You want to open your heart to me? You want to hope to find inner goodness? What a laugh! Haven’t you seen the state of the world right now? And all of those Unicornicopains?”

Fluttershy, when cornered, quickly turned on her shield, letting out a grunt of pain from the feedback, “Yes, I have, and I know deep down they are good. It’s not their fault that they were manipulated by a monster, they just need somepony to help offer them a better way.”

“And you think I have something like that?” Raven growled as she waited for Fluttershy to turn off her shield. Then she teleported to her, punched her hard in the stomach, “Did you forget what I did to you? What I did to Pinkie? I took away her best friend and ruined her life!”

Fluttershy pushed away the fist, then blocked the overhead strike before stepping back away from the roundhouse, “Yes, and I still don’t hate you for it.”

“Liar!” Raven shouted, lightning flowing and cracking along her body, “I am a monster, a killer! How can you not hate me! It’s as Kudos said...who could ever forgive me.”

In a flash, Raven flew at Fluttershy with he claws extended, a killing intent clear in her eyes. Fluttershy let out a small gasp as she began to think back to earlier before they entered the HQ.

“Ok, Pinkie, Fluttershy, take these,” Twilight said, handing each girl a talisman. “They are modifications to the talismans I used with the Umbra circle. Just hold onto the seal when you are ready and you’ll change places with each other. I also added a disguise spell to throw her off,”

“Oh, Twilight, I don’t know if I can beat Raven,” Fluttershy said, looking down and shaking her head.

“Ah, you got this Fluttershy,” Dash said, nudging her shoulder, “Compared to a dragon, emo gal should be no problem.”

Pinkie nodded, “Yep, you just need three little words and she’ll go down.”

“Three words?” Fluttershy whispered.

“Yep, just get her to talk, and you’ll know what those are,” Pinkie said with a coy wink.

Opening her eyes wide, Fluttershy whispered, “I forgive you.”

Raven paused in mid flight as she looked shocked, her eyes wide in horror as she said, “W-what did you say?”

“I said, I forgive you,” Fluttershy said, opening her arms wide.

For several long moments, Raven stood there speechless, her eyes looking on in disbelief. Then she began to shake her head, while her eyes started to water. Closing them to blink away her tears, she said in bearly a whisper, “D-don't say that. Don’t you dare say that!”

“It’s true,” Fluttershy said calmly.

Tears now ran down her face in rivers as she slapped Fluttershy hard again and again, “No! Don’t you say that! Don’t you try and forgive me. Hate me, despise me! Curse me, shit on me, make me feel like a monster, but you don’t forgive me!” she said, beginning to break down into tears as she laid her head onto Fluttershy’s shoulder, “Why...”

“Hatred, is so stupid,” Fluttershy whispered, rubbing her back. “I could stay and hate you, despise you, but what does that do in the end. It would just ruin my life and take away from my enjoyment of the things I do love. I chose to forgive and move on.”

“But, I can’t, how can I?” Raven cried into Fluttershy’s shoulder.

Fluttershy smiled as she rubbed and patted Raven’s back, “One step at a time, with your lover at your side.”

“B-b-berry? He’s-”

“We found him in Horn Kong,” Fluttershy said, smiling, “We told him everything and he misses you. He wants to see you again.”

Upon hearing this, Raven broke down once more, crying into Fluttershy’s shoulder. Reaching up to her head, she grabbed at the golden horn and snapped it off while giving out a loud and ear piercing scream. Looking down at her broken horn, she threw it to the ground and got up, “T-thank you.”

“You-” Fluttershy began, but was shocked by the rumbling from above them, “Oh my!”

“The boss is getting ready to fight Twilight,” Raven said, looking to Fluttershy, “There is a spare exit to the left, go. I am going to go back to Equestria.”

Fluttershy nodded and turned away to head to the exit, but was stopped by a call of, “Hey, Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash is your fiance, right?” when she nodded, Raven said, “Treasure her, she’s probably one of the best things in your life.”

Necromancer walked along the road that led to Ponyville, smiling to himself. There was a feeling of calm serenity as he stepped, watching as ponies began to fall to his horde of zombies. Those who weren’t torn and devoured were killed by him with a blast of lightning. As he stepped, he began to speak, “I spoke of Tambelon last time, did I not? Yes, my home that I wiped from the face of the planet. I suppose that was when I had attracted attention, for that was when an annoying god arrived in my realm and sealed me within a temporal dimension. All for the crime of reveling in my hobby, just because I enjoyed death and murder. Where was the justice in that? I was no criminal, but a force of nature, imprisoning me was like imprisoning a hurricane.”

Nearing the outskirts of the city, he watched as Cheerilee began to herd the students into the school. Waving her hand, she kept an eye on the children as Carrot Top ran to her, “Is this everypony?”

“Yes,” Carrot Top said, panting while looking behind her, pulling out a bomb to throw at another gathering horde. “All of the foals we could find. Think you could keep them safe here?”

“I can try,” Cheerilee said, looking up at the sky, “I hope those girls can stop all of this soon.”

Necromancer shook his head, leaning against a tree. Giving out a contented sigh, he could feel another life being taken away, “See, this is what annoys me about life, it continues to struggle against the odds. Why? It is all so foalish in the end. This was why I had to come back after Majesty sealed me away that first time, one hundred years later. And again, I was sealed away by the magic of Mimic and her five friends, and that was when I first posited the question, why?”

Raindrops flew through the zombies, kicking out their stomachs and heads. Looking back to the weather team, she began to order them into formation to wash them out. Growling, she flew back down and began to strike out with her fists, plowing down a small contingent of zombies.

“Why fight back against the inevitability that is death? The struggle is useless and is meaningless in the end, as we all fade back into death. That was a lesson that Wind Whistler learned all too well when I broke free the second time and came for her friends,” Necromancer then clenched his hoof, growling, “Would’ve continued to prove my way were it not for that damnable bell! It was thanks to her that I was banished from this multiverse and sent into the farthest reaches of the omniverse.”

Necromancer chuckled and shook his head, rubbing the head of a fallen zombie and sighing, “I guess I should thank her, though. It was because of this that I was chosen for death’s avatar, that I was guided onto my path. I have seen the deaths of saiyans, of ninjas, the world’s strongest, and so much more. Every world I went to, I have brought death at every turn, my only failing... was this world.”

With a smile, he watched as his zombies began to stumble and walk through the small town, “This world, seems so determined to struggle and hold on. Pointless it all is in the end.”

Daphne ran into her bedroom of her old house, painting. Her pale flesh serving to highlight the fear in her eyes as she tried to hide, shuddering. She had come to her house to look for some old things when the zombies began their attack on the town, and one of them spotted her. She gave a whimper as she hid under her bed, shuddering. With a small cry, she pleaded, “Please, please oh please, don’t let him come in.”

Her prayers went unanswered as she heard the door slowly open and footsteps followed. Closer she could hear the steps coming to her, with each sickening thud. She shivered, feeling the zombie make his way to her, whimpering as his head lowered to her ear and running his hand through her hair.

Not too far away, lightning and his team were finding themselves being backed into the corner. Starla had a frown on her face as she took aim and fired another few arrows at three of the undead, “Guess Twilight was right, Conquest was going to have a backup plan.”

“Yeah,” lightning said, panting as he held the rod in his hand, “A good thing we listened to her, or we might have had more casualties.”

Artie looked to lightning, “Where’s Krysta?”

“Getting the civilians to safety and trying to help get them away,” lightning said, “I tried to tell her to go, but she was determined to stay.”

“You regret not being with her?” Artie asked, “Or giving a goodbye kiss?”

lightning blushed, becoming too distracted to see a zombie leaping at him. Before the zombie could take a bite out of lightning, a loud sound followed by a whip crack struck the beast. Looking at the direction, lightning gasped, “T-that move!”

Artie turned his head towards the figure in shadows, before gasping, “Buddy!”

Buddy lumbered and stumbled to his teammates, rolling around thanks to his injuries, “Hey guys. S-sorry I’m late, but it was a little hard getting here.”

“Buddy, you’re here!” Artie said, running over and giving his friend a hug, “But aren’t you a-”

“Zombie? Yeah, I am,” Buddy said, looking down at his wounds where Conquest and Raven broke him in half, “but, somehow...I’m still in control.”

“BOOM BOOM ROCKET!” whouted two voices from above as twin fireballs struck some zombie attackers.

Dyno landed right next to lightning, “I think it might have something to do with the person or soul that was used. Like how Belle was able to break free and run home?”

“Same principal,” Myte said, twisting his head back to face his front, “We must still feel the desire to help out loved ones and that is overcoming the control of the Necromancer.”

lightning smiled and sighed, “Even me?”

“Well, we weren’t much of a team before,” Buddy said, walking to stand in a circle with the other members. “But, I think now is a good time to start learning how to become better.”

“Are you sure, we might not win this. We could die,” Artie said, standing in a circle with his team, putting his prosthetic hand out. Soon he was joined by Starla, Dyno, and Myte.

lightning looked at his friends, and then back to the horde of zombies as they rose from the ground, growling. In the distance, he could see undead monsters come from the everfree, and then he narrowed his eyes, “Winning was never the plan. Our mission is simple, save as many ponies as we can and hold it back as long as we can until the knights can win this. We...might die, but.” lightning looked at the group as he placed his hand on top of the pile, “what a better place to lay down my life then with a friend.”

Dyno rolled his eyes, “Come on, boss, let’s not get emotional now.”

“Sorry,” lightning chuckled before raising his head and looked at the horde, “Now, let's show these guys that we may not be Starfleet anymore, but we can still be heroes!”

“RIGHT!” they said, breaking the group and running right into the horde.

Spreading her wings, Starla leapt up and began firing arrow shot after arrow shot before hitting the ground. Spinning around, she rammed her bow into the head of one zombie before pulling it out and slashing one through the stomach. Glaring her eyes, she shouted, “Power of the Stars! Starla Shine!” her hands, as well as her flank glowed a bright white light as she held out her bow, making glow brighter than a star, and with a release, fired a light arrow into the horde of zombies, making them burn. “Starlight Arrow.”

Buddy rolled into a small group of zombies as they neared a young couple, and then jumped up allowing his vine whip to spin around him in a tornado, “Power of Flora! Buddy Rose! Vine Whip!” the zombies exploded in an explosion of gore as he glowed green, a bright light flashing on his flank as he landed back on the ground and smiled at the young couple before nodding them towards safety.

“Power of Art!” Artie whispered to himself, glowing orange while feeling the warmth on his flank. Looking up, he used his magic to summon a bow staff that had a smiling face on it, “Artie Bristles. Staff Strike!” holding up his prosthetic hand, he launched the staff as a buzz saw that struck out at the zombies, smiling as he watched them go down.

“Power! OF! FIRE! Dyno and Myte!! Fire balls!” the twins sair at once, their magic igniting as they began to fire bolt after botl of fire, becoming a flamethrower in the process.

Buddy looked at Starla and ran to her as he began to fight, “Starla, I need to tell you something!”

“Can’t it wait?!” asked Starla as she fired another arrow, “Busy!”

“No it can’t!” Buddy said, looking at the horde as he used his whip to break one of their necks, “Starla...I love you. I always have. I never had a chance to tell you this and then lightning took you from me, but I need to say it. I always wanted to look up at the stars with you, have you be a mother to Daphne, and to go out on a stargazing mission with you.”

Starla’s eyes opened wide, before breaking out into a laugh, “I...don’t believe this!”

“What, is it that silly?” Buddy asked.

Starla shook her head, “No, it’s just that, this is where my life has come to. The perfect guy for me is dead, I had been through hell, and now I am fighting for my life with my undead teammate.”

A sword cut through one of the zombies, “Don’t forget, working with your mother who was once your enemy.” Dementia said, looking back at her two friends. “Ok boys, let's show these undead freaks who’s boss!”

The sound of a cannon hearld not only the coming of the trio, but Brain as well, who smiled, “Yes...let’s.”

Necromancer watched all of this, and shook his head, “Pointless...”

Kudos stood alone in the middle of the room, watching as Applejack began to pace. Their eyes looked at each other, staring deep into their souls waiting. Her emerald eyes burned a hole in his chest as she continue to prowl, ready to strike as she felt her muscles tense. Kudos remained calm, reaching into his pocket and eating a jelly bean.After he finished chewing the candy, he said, “Tell me Applejack, what do you think of when you see me?”

“Murderer, monster, the reason why Applebloom will never hear my mom sing!” Applejack said with a snarl as she prowled.

“Still trying to put labels onto things, this why you are a disappointment,” Kudos said with a shake of his head.

Applejack shook her head, “Disappointment?”

“Yes, because you are still beholden to the idea that any of this means anything, that we should allow ourselves to be holden to titles and deeds,” Kudos said. “When time makes us all fools in the end.”

Kudos then held up a finger, “Consider this, a person becomes famous because of a book or a deed, everyone loves him. He is herald as a champion and people flock to his side; however, you then have that same person get hit with a bit of controversy, a sin he forgot or something that will incriminate him in the public’s eyes. Now, he is a pariah, hated and shunned by all who knew him.”

“Does this have a point?” Applejack asked, crossing her arms.

“Simple,” Kudos said, watching Applejack with a cruel smirk, “The moment that same person dies, then the sin is forgiven. You hear nothing but how he was the greatest person in the world, about how pure and perfect he was. Everyone will gather to say how much of a great person he was while deep down, they knew they were the same ones who just a day ago would shun him for a simple sin. A book, a movie, or even a place is connected to its owner and might be sinned, but as soon as their owner dies, it becomes a piece of gold in the public’s eyes. Even a work that is shunned at it’s release, will soon turn into the most wonderful art given time.”

Applejack looked at him with an arched eyebrow, “So, what?”

“The point is, dear Abigail, is this. You call me monster, and a murderer, but what about you? You and your friends have freed your world from Grand Ruler, saved your home and are poised to take the gold,” Kudos let out a little chuckle, “The brave rebels have saved their home. But what will the future see it as? Will they see it as a bunch of losers who took away the utopia they cherished, leaving them to the monsters to kill them? Will your group be shunned in the future, treated as monsters?”

“That,” Kudos said, spreading his arms and chuckled with a shrug, “is why I have long since separated myself from empathy, emotions, love, and caring about my deeds. Monster one day, hero the next. You all call me monster right now, but who knows, in the future someone might call me misunderstood or even a martyr. A champion for the greater good who was just misunderstood in his time.”

“Or just a murder who killed hundreds,” Applejack said, frowning. “Ah ain't buying this whole martyr speil that you are spewing.”

Kudos chuckled and then shook his head, “But can’t you see, I’m right. No matter the outcome of the fight today, history will be the one who determines who is the monster and the hero.”

“Ah don’t care about tomorrow,” Applejack said, shaking her head as she punched her palm, “All Ah care about is today! Protecting those who Ah care about and those around me with everything Ah got. It doesn’t matter what they say, all that is important is who Ah am and that Ah stand up for what Ah believe in.”

“You say that, but you can’t stand up on your own two feet,” Kudos said, shaking his head, “You have to have your friends backing you up and supporting you. You need them to keep in you check.”

Applejack took a step forward, “Without my friends, Ah would be dead a hundred times over because of my own pride. Ah need them to hold me up while just like Ah hold them up.”

There was a low chuckle from Kudos’s throat as he said, “You don’t get it. Filly, Manehatten, Vanhoover? Your record in this war has shown that you have more strength than any of them. You went out of your way to be their shoulder, their heart and for what? What do you gain from it all?”

“Nothing, because Ah don’t need any compensation,” Applejack said, “Just the idea that Ah’m helping those who are important to me is all that is important. Yeah, Ah won a few fights during this whole thing, but it was only by fighting together Ah was able to fight my best. That’s what it means to be me, the most trustworthy pony out there.”

“And this is why you are a shame upon our race,” Kudos said, “I gave you all the chances in the world to prove you are the pinnacle of Earth Pony power. I gave Titan the orb for you to appreciate the earth pony alchemy, I killed your parents to make you stand on your own two feet, and I had men fight you alone to show your inner strength and what have you done? Relied the weakling to stop the orb, others to help heal you, and then to battle Titan. Everywhere I look, you let others help you.”

“Because, no pony can really stand alone,” Applejack said, looking down, “Ah tried to be a lone leader, forgetting that they all were just as strong as Ah was, and almost killed myself. Ah should’ve realized that we all stand the best when we are together. That’s what it means to be an earth pony.”

“No, what you need to learn is to stand on your own,” Kudos said, holding up a syringe, “Now you see, this... allows me to stand above you and on my own above all ponies.”

“What is that?” Applejack asked, watching Kudos inject himself with a needle.

“This, dear Abigail, is the result of all of the experiments I have been performing for the past few years. The natural magical essence that lies within all of us who live in this universe,” Kudos let out a grunt as he body began to change, a faint glow beginning to surround him. His muscles began to grow in size as well as his body. Soon, his body began to have tone and definition, ripping his white jacket and brown pants in the process. His stomach became leaner, turning into a six pack, while his pecs began to enlarge, “See, by experimenting on the creatures of our world, I was able to understand the basic fundamentals of magic within us all. Thus, I was,” he groaned, the voice becoming deeper as his height increased along with his muscular frame, “Able to concoct a formula that would heighten a pony’s natural magic to their limits and beyond.”

Applejack straighten up her hat, putting it over her eyes before getting to a fighting stance, “So, aint really impressing me one bit. Not into muscular men after all.”

“Clever,” Kudos said, lifting up his arm to admire the rippling muscle, “But see, this gives me the perfect Earth pony body, getting in touch with the raw power of my Celestia given strength and durability. Give me time and I can make available to all earth ponies and make us the true superior breed on this planet.”

“To quote my best friend, ya gonna keep yakking or start fighting?” Applejack asked as she walked up to Kudos and delivered three jabs followed by a low punch into the stomach. While Kudos showed no pain, Applejack winced as she felt pain in her hand. A smirk came to his face as he slapped the back of his fist against Applejack’s face three times, drawing blood. Then he lifted his elbow and dropped it into Applejack’s skull, sending her to the ground.

After falling to the ground, Applejack let out a gasp as she rolled out of the way of the stomping foot and into a crouch. Looking up, she blocked a cross that came for her face and then moved to the side to perform a side kick straight into his side. Seeing him bearly flinching, she spun around and jumped up with a rising knee to the chin.

Kudos merely tilted back a little before grappling Applejack into a bear hug, wrapping his arms around her and tightening his grip. Applejack let out a yelp of pain as she could hear the distinct cracking bone as he gripped her. Then, Kudos let go of Applejack, before grabbing her arm, lifting it up and punching her several times in the chest and stomach before throwing her away into a wall like a rag doll.

Spitting out some blood, Applejack slowly rose to her feet and looked up at the butcher with a killing intent. Kudos responded by pointing to his cheek, beckoning her for a killing blow. With a growl, she ran at Kudos and delivered a rushing side kick into the stomach. Ignoring the pain that she felt in her leg, she spun and delivered three shin kicks into his side. Not giving him a chance to counter, she moved into a knee thrust and then used three snap kicks. Finishing her assault, she began to punch at him with all of her might.

As she pulled away, breathing hard, Kudos laughed a little before walking towards her, his strength making cracks in the floor with each step, “I barely felt that, but good job on helping to show my the limits of my endurance. A nice test.”

Applejack gave a roar as she threw three more jabs at Kudos, “Come on, girl, your father was stronger than this. Even your mother was more powerful, show me the strength of your race.” Kudos demanded, blocking each punch thrown his way. With a cold expression, he backfisted Applejack across the face, before grabbing her head and lifting it up by the ponytail. With a growl, he punched her hard in the chest repeatedly, listening for a crack of rib or the scream of pain. When he finally got one, he let go and then kicked her hard into a wall, leaving behind a crater and a trail of blood.

Her hat had fallen off her head as she hit the wall, not that she had noticed through the pain that she was in. Sitting there for a few moments, breathing harder than she had ever had in an attempt to catch her breath, she took a moment to look back at her opponent through blurry eyes. As she rose to her feet, she felt a surge of rage build up in her as she watched him step and crush her hat.

Reaching down, Kudos grabbed Applejack’s head and lifted it up, slamming her face into the wall twice, “See Abigail? I represent the pinnacle of Earth pony might and ingenuity.” he said, holding her head before spitting in her eye. Then he let go of her, allowing her to punch at him.

When she went for a round house, he blocked the kick and delivered one of his own into her chest, “The endurance of a mountain!” blocking a punch, he punched her in the face, “The strength of the earth. And the cunning of a brilliant mind!” he blocked Applejack’s next few punches, bruising her arms before he sent a side kick into her stomach and back into the crater. “This is why you are a failure of an Earth Pony and I am the pinnacle of our race! Because I can stand as strong as any tree, alone and powerful.”

Applejack sat on the ground, coughing up some blood and panting, feeling some liquid trail down her face from her forehead and into her mouth. Her breathing was labored and slow as she listened to Kudos’ speech, “I wish...you girls were with me. Ah need you,” she said, holding her arm and rubbing it to distract from the pain.

“Applejack...”

Struggling to get back up, she soon collapsed back on the ground, feeling some of the wounds on her legs sending jolts of pain. Sitting there, she continued to breath slowly, trying to work through the pain while she heard Kudos said, “Now, when you get up, I want you to to kneel before me and finally admit that I am the superior earth pony!”

“...get up!”

Applejack’s eyes shot up as she whispered, “Ma?”

“Look at her, my little Applejack, strong as a tree,” Pear Butter said, nuzzling close to her husband.

Bright Mac chuckled, “Yep, the little one is going to be as strong as any tree.”

“And that’s because my big sis is so strong and brave. Nothing and no one's gonna take her out!” Apple Bloom said, drinking her own cup of cider.

“Eeyup, strongest member of this family,” Big Mac nodded.

“You are getting close,” Granny smith said, patting her granddaughter on the shoulder and looking into her eyes, “You are almost close to mastering Hamon. Just remember your true strength isn’t in your muscles or your mind, but something nopony takes from you.”

“My true-” Applejack paused when she began to hear new voices, as her breathing began to slow down to a calm pace, focused and narrowed. Around her, she could feel the earth around her responding to her.

“Get up AJ! You aren’t gonna let this loser beat ya,” Rainbow Dash said, holding out her hand.

Pinkie Pie got behind her and rubbed her shoulders, “Come on, Applejack, breaks over. Get in there and kick his booty!!!”

“Please Applejack, we made a promise to all come home,” Fluttershy said, looking down and offering her hand.

“I will not let my daughter be short one aunt, now get up!” Rarity said, narrowing her eyes and offering her hand.

Twilight held a hand to her chest, “Please Applejack, I didn’t come back just to lose my best friend.”

“Please Applejack, get up!” Belle said holding out her hand.

“Applejack...I love you,” Caramel said, lying in their bed and kissing her.

“Mom, please get up,” a yellow colt with a blonde and brown mane said, holding out his hand. “Ah want to meet you one day.”

Applejack’s eyes widened before she slowly rose to her feet, keeping her breathing still, “I bow,”

Kudos smiled as he looked at her.

“For no pony.” Applejack said, watching as Kudos pulled back a fist and threw it at her. Without missing a beat, she raised her own fist and blocked the punch. And then she grabbed the fist and began to crush it, eliciting a yelp of pain from Kudos, “Especially you!” Pulling back her fist, she delivered an uppercut that sent Kudos reeling back a few feet.

Once he recovered, he watched as Applejack walked towards her hat, body glowing a dark orange. The earth seemed to be flowing energy into her body as she walked along the floor, turning her head to look down at her stetson, she bent down and then picked up her hat. Putting it on her head, she straightened it and then waved at Kudos, beckoning him to attack.

Narrowing his eyes he walked towards her and delivered a punch, wich was blocked by her forearm with a flash of light. Trying again and again, he watched as each punch was blocked with her forearms, a flash of light energy erupting with each block. When he tried to kick at her, she stepped to the side and raised an elbow. Dropping it down onto his leg, she knocked it back down to the ground. When Kudos recovered, he sent a punch at Applejack that was dodged easily by her moving to the left. She then punched him hard in the gut, making him double over in pain.

Her eyes narrowed in determination, she rose her knee into his chest and knock him into the standing position. Quickly pivoting around on her heel, she delivered a powerful sidekick into his chest, before delivering three roundhouses into his side. Each strike that she delivered brought with it a powerful flash of light and energy. Then she drove a hard right into his chest making Kudos back up and stumble.

Wiping some of his spittle from his mouth, he stood back up and let out a growl of frustration. Enraged at his loss, he spun around and delivered a round house to Applejack. Stepping to the side, she pulled back her hand and delivered a fist into the knee, breaking it with a loud snap. Kudos let out a loud scream as he was forced to take a knee.

Before he could move, Applejack round housed his other knee, breaking it with a loud crack and bringing him to his knees. When he punched at her again, she rose a knee and slammed it against his hand, breaking the arm. Defenseless, Applejack pulled back her hand, “Strength of friends! Powered by the earth! The true might of an EARTH PONY!” with a shout she delivered a jab, followed by a hook and a cross. Soon her fists were moving with such speed that it looked like a thousand different punches all being thrown at once. Each blow that she threw into his chest, stomach, face and arms left a ist shaped imprint. After punching so many times, she shouted, “Sunlight,” she then spun around to plant her hands onto the ground and then cocked her legs back ready to buck a tree. In her eyes she saw him as a big tree to break, “Yellow! OVERDRIVE!” she shouted as she thrusted her legs out, bucking him hard into the stomach with a loud clap of power and sending him flying into a wall.

Standing up, Applejack panted as she straightened up her hat and smirked, looking at the hole in the wall that Kudos left. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that, although he lose all of the extra muscle, he was still alive. Putting her hand over her belly, she asked with a contented smile, “Am Ah really...” before she could ask her question, she heard a rumbling from above, “Crud, Twilight’s fight is starting, better get the-”

“Applejack!?” Fluttershy asked, walking up the stairs. “Is everything all right?”

Applejack nodded, “Yeah, Kudos is down for the count. Where’s Raven?”

“Back on Equestria,” Fluttershy then looked up the stairs, “You think Rainbow’s ok?”

Necromancer walked into the treebrary looking at the books. As he walked he continued to talk, “Why am I so close to Conquest? Simple, because he alivates my boredom,” he said, reaching out and pulling one of the books on the shelf to read to himself, “See, while I had become an avatar of death, watching world after world die, I had also become stagnant and stuck only to the confines of my destiny. Conquest helped to fix that by offering companionship and loyalty. While I never gave into the idea that friendship was a powerful force, I did understand it’s necessity. Of course, when he discovered this little world full of hate and misery, I jumped at the chance to wander and kill it. To seek out my revenge and to put my hooves around the neck of Wind Whistler’s successor.”

With a small chuckle he sat down on a chair and began to read, letting the screaming and moaning souls of the dead feed into his body, “I should thank him for delaying the war, foolish though it was. It allowed me to reach levels of godhood I never did on any other world. It has now allowed me the power to speak to you, and to tell you my story.”

Red eyes looked up and peered own as a savage grin appeared on his face, “Yes you, out there. I was always talking to you and telling you about who I am and what I want. Now here we are, at the end of the story, with ponies dying left and right, souls falling and the six brave mares trying their best to succeed in their goal of conquering evil. I suppose you have bonded with them by now, cared for them and loved them. I supposed it is possible that they have surpassed the boundaries that have been set upon them by their creator, turned into living beings in your eyes. But, we know it’s futile. They will die, for they are mortal. The things that they stand for, will also die, fade into darkness. And even this story...”

He slammed the book shut and burned it, “Will die.”

Rainbow Dash stood in front of Rhymey, smirking as she straightened her goggles. Then she bounced lightly on the tips of her feet, flapping her wings. Rhymey watched Rainbow Dash do this with a frown, before covering the front of his fist with his palm and bowing. Then he said, “I suppose you do not wish to waste words with me before combat?”

“Nah, don’t see the point,” Dash said, leaning her head to the side before picking her ear. Then she cracked her head to the side as she said, “I mean, are we really doing this? Don’t ya remember the last fight we had or how I saved your butt from Raven? I’m a freaking speed demon and you-”

Before she could utter another word, she watched as he caught up to her in an instant, leaving behind a few bits of debris behind him in the air. Dash stepped back in shock at the speed, moving quickly to block and dodge the punches that came her way. When he ran back into his position, she looked down at her hands and then back up at Rhymey, “How did you get that fast!?”

Rhymey smirked, spreading his metal golden wings wide. Rainbow Dash looked on in curiosity as she looked at the strange sigils that lined his wings, each glowing with a brilliant light. Crackling along his body was intermittent red bolts of electricity that seemed to flow through him. Looking at her with lightning in his eyes, he said, “The Wings of lightning, Meadow’s little gift to the world. It allows anyone to become one with the Speed Force.”

Another flash of light, and Rhymey was able to move fast enough to be by Dash’s side in an instant. He then thrusted his fist at her in a flash of lightning, following it up with three roundhouse kicks, each blow quickly dodged and blocked by Rainbow Dash. When Rhymey threw another punch, Dash blocked the punch with her forearm, “You know, I think I now understand why you said that we were never truly fast. This speed, this power, is nothing like I had ever felt before! I was a snail compared to what I was before, and you, are nothing!” with his free hand, he delivered a hard uppercut into Dash’s chin, knocking her head back. With a crack of lightning, he then did a side kick into Dash’s stomach that sent her flying back and rolling along the ground.

One hand on the ground, her legs and wings spread, she put on her goggles as lightning began to crackle in her eyes, “You want to race? Fine then, ass-wipe, let’s race.” and with that, she took off in a blur of motion, leaving behind debris that floated in the air for a few brief seconds before falling.

Rhymey smirked, allowing the lightning from the wings to crack before he two took off in a blur. Across the large one floor room, two lightning bolts began to run around it, one red and the other cyan. Occasionally, the two bolts would cross each other, colliding for a few brief seconds. Whenever they would collide, the sound of flesh on flesh would erupt as Rainbow and Rhymey would deliver several punches at each other in a second.

As their race took them to the ceiling, Rainbow Dash tried to send a quick jab his way, but Rhymey blocked it and then uppercutted her in the gut, following it up with two quick jabs in the chest. Recovering quickly, Dash jumped and did a mid-air roundhouse that knocked Rhymey back. In a flash, Rainbow Dash sped away from him, circling back and doing a jumping roundhouse kick to his chest. She let out a gasp as her kick went through his after-image. This left her open for him strike out at her with a powerful flying kick himself. In response, Dash used her own after image to dodge the attack and run at him from behind.

A smug look came to Rhymey’s lips as he back fisted her in the face, knocking her back off her feet and back onto the the ground. Looking up, she disappeared in a blur of speed before she was hit by Rhymey’s knee drop. Standing a distance away from him, the Speed Force crackling around her in bright bolts of lightning, she spun around in place to build up lightning and then threw several bolts at Rhymey. Not allowing a hit to strike him, he ran away from the bolts as they came at him until the last one. This he grabbed, spun around to collect the lightning energy and mix it with his own before throwing it at Dash and electrocuting her, eliciting a scream from her.

With her stomach wide open, Rhymey ran in and hit her stomach with a round house. As she keeled over in pain, she used an after image to dodge out of the way of his back kick. Then she went in for a sweep, making Rhymey step back in order to dodge. Getting back up to her feet, she cocked her leg back and did three standing side kicks so fast that they were a blur. Two of these kicks hit their marks, but the third was grabbed by Rhymey and blocked.

Dash moved in closer to Rhymey, delivering a rapid series of punches at Rhymey, each of which began to become blocked or countered by her opponent. Just the same, Rhymey began to punch out just as fast as her, his own punches becoming either blocked or dodged by Rainbow Dash. Their duel of fists continued for several seconds until Rhymey delivered a hard hook into Dash’s face. Then sent five hard punches into Dash’s chest, followed by a kick to legs. After he punched her hard once again in the face, sending her spinning in a circle, Dash recovered with a back kick into his stomach. Still spinning, she soon began to spin so fast that she created a tornado in the center of the room. Taking a step back, she kicked it straight at Rhymey.

Rhymey smiled and then leapt up, spinning horizontally in a circle, and then kick a buzzsaw of lightning energy that sliced the tornado in half. Rainbow Dash took a step back in shock at this sight of this, before shaking her head and taking off to race along the battlefield again. As Rhymey watched the lightning bolt take off, he raced right after her, taking off in another red lightning bolt. The two bolts ran through the battlefield, creating small sonic booms in their wake as they ran along the room. Occasionally, they would clash as they crossed each other’s lines. This time, however, Rhymey was beginning to gain the upper hand in thier clashes, blocking one of Rainbow’s strikes and delivered a punch to the chest or stomach. During one of the clashes, Rainbow Dash used an after-image to duck out of the way. Rhymey then used his own after-image to dodge her punch and then kick her in the back to sent her crashing out of the run and to the ground.

“Ok, you’re good,” Rainbow Dash groaned in pain, getting to her knees while holding her arm. Her breath came out in short pants as she looked at Rhymey, “I’m...a little impressed, just a little.” she winced, feeling the sharp pain shoot up her leg and in her left arm.

“Good?” Rhymey sped off and slammed a fist into the side of Rainbow Dash’s head, knocking her to the side and breaking her goggles, “I am a superior being, I am your better, I am everything you are not. And when I get to Fluttershy, I’ll be everything to her that you aren’t. And believe me, I’ll have a good time breaking her like the animals she loves so much.”
Dash growled and crackled with lightning, “You stay away from her!” she roared as she took off in a flash of light.

Rhymey smirked as he stepped forward and stuck out his arm, hitting Rainbow Dash with a forearm and knocking her flat onto her back, “Fool! Your overconfidence, your ego, is why I despise you so much. You are a stain on this world.”

“Why?” Rainbow Dash asked, slowly getting back up to her feet, panting, “Because you are just afraid of knowing someone is better out there? Like me?”

“You are no better!” Rhymey said, kicking Rainbow Dash in the chest and knocking her back onto her back. Then he walked to her and slammed his foot into her chest, squeezing her, “You will never be better, and you cannot be better than me!” he began to stomp repeatedly, “This, is, why, I, hate, you, so, much.” then he kicked her in the side to send her rolling across the floor.

“Ponies like you,” Rhymey said, running his hand through his yellow mane and shaking his head, “Spit in the face of the truth of this world. You progress, you become better, and you change. You strive to become better against all odds in a desire to make yourself better.”

“So, what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with trying to make yourself-UGGH!” Dash screamed in pain as Rhymey ran at her and jabbed a lightning clawed hand into her chest.

As he electrocuted Rainbow Dash, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Because it is all pointless!” he pulled his hand away and then back handed Dash in the back of the skull to knock her to the ground. HE slowly walked around her, and kicked her side in the ribs, “See, progress is all about give and then take. You learn to fly, but you take away something special from the birds,” he kicked Dash again, hitting her stomach, “you become stronger or faster, but you make others feel weaker,” another kick, causing Dash to scream in pain, “and you gain more fame, but then you get more people hating you. You, who have progressed so far, what have you lost to gain anything, what have you sacrificed?”

“You...don’t need to give up anything to become better,” Rainbow Dash said, struggling to get up and push through throbbing pain in her sides. “You should always try and improve yourself, otherwise you’ll never get better.”

“You change things, you try and improve yourself? And you know what happens?” Rhymey asked, stepping on Dash’s hand, before kneeling in front of hher and tucking her chin, “You get hurt. And if someone gets hurt, it might as well be you!” he said, punching Dash in the face, five times in rapid succession. He smirked as he walked around her prone form, “We are all born into certain casts, certain lots in life that we are destined to stay in for the rest of our lives. Some of us are born to be strong, and some of us are born to be weak to support the strong. You seek to defy this. You seek to defy the impossible, and all that does is get you hurt.”

Rainbow Dash grunted in pain as she felt Rhymey sit on her back, hurting her spine. Then his forearm slipped around her neck and while he lifted his other arm up to lock it in place and began to squeeze slowly, crushing her windpipe. As she felt the air escape her throat and gasp in a vain attempt to get air back into ehr lungs, Rhymey continued, “See, this is what trying to change things get you, what trying to break your limits gets you, and where your stupid dreams gets you. As you die, I want you to know that they will die soon: That dragon slut, that pudding brained loser, the hick, and Twilight will have to die again. But, don’t worry, Fluttershy will live...she’ll just learn her place.”

Blackness began to surround Rainbow’s vision as she continued to slowly lose conscious

“Rainbow Dash, I know you'll never leave us hanging,” Twilight said with a smile.

Applejack placed a hoof onto her shoulder, “You’re the wind Dash, you back us up.”

“Do you know why she can be so arrogant? Because she has the skills to prove it. And that... makes you want to be better,” Pinkie said with a smile.

Rarity sighed, “You want to know why we are friends? Simple, because you are the only other mare I know who wants to remain as true to herself as I do.”

“Rainbow Dash, you're the best big sister!” Scootaloo said, hugging her.

Fluttershy laid in bed with her, a content smile on her lips, “I love you, my knight of the wind.”

lightning began to crackle in Dash’s eyes as she could feel energy building up in her, a smirk on her face as she felt the energy flow through her body. Rhymey did not hear this as he continued to talk, “Maybe I should finish this with one last rhyme. What a shame, Rainbow Dash.
Your dreams are destined to-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, RHYMEY!!!!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she slammed her head back into Rhymey’s face, causing him to break his hold on her. Rolling around in his grip, she bucked him hard in the stomach to get him off of her and then she uppercutted his head.

Standing tall, she looked to the recovering Unicorpian and began to remove the bandages on her arms, “Ok, ass-wipe. One last lap, you and me!”

Rhymey growled, red lightning arcing along his body, “Fine by me.”

“Ready,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk, “GO!” and she turned around to run off, becoming a lightning bolt as she ran away.

Rhymey growled as he raced off, becoming a red lightning bolt as he quickly began to catch up with Rainbow Dash. Running alongside her, he began to strike out with a rapid series of punches at the mare. Each punch, each blow, Rainbow Dash began to catch, block and weave out of the way. Feigning one jab at her, he then sent a hook at Rainbow Dash’s head, hitting through her after image. With a smirk, he threw his arm back to attack Rainbow Dash as she came from behind, only to hit another after-image, Dash sticking her tounge out as she faded from sight.

Distracted by the second after-image, Rhymey was left open to a standing side kick into his stomach. As his world seemed to move in slow motion from the powerful blow struck into his gut, he was then hit by two more quick side kicks and a flying roundhouse that sent him rolling across the floor. Looking up, he saw Rainbow Dash bouncing on her feet, flicking her nose with her thumb and taunting him. Snarling, he raced out in a blur of motion.

Unlike before, Dash saw him move in slow motion and closer towards her. Smirking, she blocked his next set of punches by slapping his hands away, her hands becoming blurs of motion as she began to block each hit. After blocking one of his jabs, she delivered three back hands to his face, following it with another roundhouse to the head, and knocking out Rhymey’s teeth. Recovering quickly, Rhymey delivered five quick hard punchest into her chest and then kicked her away.

Rhymey smirked, thinking that those blows would break her confidence. However, when he looked into those magenta eyes and saw the usual cocky smirk, he snarled as he ran at her, watching as she took off into the distance, leaving behind more upturned floor in her wake.

Racing after her, he soone caught up with her again, and began to strike with a series of punches, getting angrier as she blocked all of his hits. Then he became confused when he saw her smirk at him and pointed behind him. Turning his head around to look over his shoulder, he saw Rainbow Dash’s speed mirage following right behind him. Gasping, he threw a roundhouse at his opponent, only to hit her after-image instead and when he looked at her speed mirage, he was hit with a punch powered by a sonic boom that sent him flying through the air and into the second Rainbow’s forearm.

Getting to his knees, he watches as Dash stood there before him, holding out her palm. Using her wings to gather the wind from around her, she began to force and concentrate the wind into a swirling ball of red mana. Holding the small tornado ball in hand, she ran at him and slammed the ball into his chest and sent him flying in a spinning tornado. While he was still in flight, Dash chased after him, lightning crackling along her forearm before she pulled back and struck the lightning punch right into his chest and slammed him into a wall.

After pushing himself off the wall, he charged right at Dash and began to lay blow after blow, striking her hard in the stomach, face, and chest. Once a few punches were thrown, he spun and round housed her in the stomach, making her back up. A cock-sure grin spread along his lips, until he saw Dash lift her head up and grin, “What’s the matter, Rhymey old pal? Still mad that you are so close to the finish line, but you still can’t beat me? Come on,” she said, waving her hand, “We still have a few feet left!” and with that, she took off.

Gnashing his teeth in rage, eyes narrowed, Rhymey raced off towards her, chasing her with his wings fully extended and tapping into every ounce of speed that his wings granted her. As Dash ran, her coat began to become pushed back along with her mane, the wind and g forces increasing on her body as her speed increased. Crackles of lightning began to flow along her body as she became faster. Her wings extended behind her as her speed increased. The faster she ran, the more lightning began to flow along her body and crackling along her as it seemed to fuse with her. To Rhymey, he began to watch as she started to turn into a yellow lightning bolt, leaving him father and farther behind. Shaking his head, he picked up speed, trying his best to catch up as he became the red lightning bolt.

As he neared her, his world vanished in a flash of white light, and soon he found himself in a white empty void, “Where am I?” he asked, his voice echoing. That was when he felt a rock slam into his breast plate and breaking it, hurting him. Letting loose a scream of pain, he felt another rock slam through his breast plate and hit his stomach hard. Taking the time to look down where the ‘rock’ hit him, he saw what had really him. Where he thought a rock once was, was the imprint of a fist instead, an inch deep in his flesh. Soon he felt another blow, followed by another.

“Where are you?” Rainbow’s voice echoed around him, “You’re in the Speed Force, where all of us speedsters gain our power. Do you feel it?” she asked, punching him again and again, breaking away his armor piece by piece with a punch and a kick, “The energy, the spirits of all the speedsters around you, past present, and future? They are watching you...and they find you inferior!” Soon her blows began to pick up the pace until she was a whirlwind of punches and kicks, each blow breaking the armor away until Rhymey was left naked.

Rhymey struggled to find Dash, but all he could see was a blur of blue followed by a punch or a kick into his body, leaving another imprint of a foot or fist behind, “You maybe big and bad out there, but here? I’m the queen!”

“You talk about the impossible?” she asked, as Rhymey tried to hold up a defense, but her punch to the gut broke his defence. “Rhymey? I live the impossible!”

“I breathe the impossible!” Dash screamed, kicking Rhymey in chest, adding to the many craters that lined his naked body.

“I live the impossible!” she screamed, delivering another punch into his face.

Staggering, Rhymey could barely stand when he heard a loud boom. Turning around and looking behind him, he saw a ring of prismatic energy exploding forth, and a rainbow lightning bolt coming flying at him. Her arm crackling with lightning energy, she shouted, “I AM THE IMPOSSIBLE!” and with that, she slammed her first hard into Rhymey’s face, breaking much of his skull in the process and sending him flying.

Dazed, and one the verge of passing out, Rhymey felt himself being grabbed by Dash. Struggling to lift his head up, he looked at Rainbow Dash, and shuddered at what he saw. Her cyan color was brighter now, lightning crackled and danced along her body as if it was a part of her. Her mane and tail now jagged like lightning. With a slight growl, she said, with a voice that was now reverberating, “You don’t deserve those wings.” and with that, she grabbed his golden wings and ripped them off, before kicking him out of the speed force and dropping the wings into the real world.

For a few moments, Rainbow Dash stood there, breathing slow and steady. Holding up her hands, she looked at the lightning as it crackled along ehr body in awe, “So cool,” she whispered in her normal voice.

“Indeed it is, Rainbow Dash. You have broken every boundary out there and have breached the Speed Force,” a voice whispered.

Rainbow Dash looked around her, “Who’s that?”

“I’m Buried Alien, I am the former fastest pony alive,” Buried said, smiling. “You can now live here if you want, free to run and race for all of eternity.”

Rainbow Dash gasped as she looked around, finding herself surrounded by speedsters. Some ran on four legs and were ponies like her. Others ran on two legs and were mamailian, and others were blue hedgehogs. Some ran behind her while others ran ahead. Everywhere she looked, she found a speedster running. She sighed and said, “This place, it sounds like heaven. It really does and I would love to stay here. But...”

Buried asked curiously, “But?”

“I have friends, family, a marefriend waiting for me back home. I just can’t abandon them,” Rainbow Dash said, looking up at the voice.

“Somehow,” Buried said with a warm tone, “I knew you would say that. You can leave if you wish.”

“How?” Rainbow asked.

“Just think about them, your friends and lover. They will be your lightning rod to guide you home,” Buried said, smiling.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and said, “Right, figured that.” She then got into a ready position, ready to run.

“Good, now,” Buried smiled as he said, “Run Dash, RUN!”

Nodding, Rainbow Dash took off like a living lightning bolt, racing out of the white void and back into the real world. As she stood there, she looked back at the broken and naked Rhymey to the wings of lightning, and then back to her hands. Her eyes widened as she whispered, “Whoa...”

“Dash, are you ok?” Applejack asked as she and Fluttershy ran up the stairs.

“Applejack, did you see me?” Rainbow Dash shouted as she raced to her friend, “I was in the Speed Force, the actual Speed Force! I can use it now, on my own terms! I can control it and wield it!” she began to fly in the air, her eyes wide in excitement, “Oh man, I wonder if I should brag about this?! No, wait, maybe I shouldn’t and let it be my secret so ponies could be surprised when I bring it out! But I want to brag about it to somepony! Oh god, what if I change my position with the bolts and I need to leave.”

“Flutters, tame her!” Applejack said as she walked to the prone Rhymey and picked him up.

Nodding, Fluttershy floated up and kissed Dash fully on the lips. Then she broke it and smiled cutely, “You talk to much dear.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and rubbed the back of her head, “Um, yeah...maybe.”

Applejack chuckled and shook her head, “Over excited mare,” but anything else she could say was interrupted by a loud explosion and a small rumbling, “Sounds like the fight’s getting started.”

“We should go, now!” Rainbow Dash said.

Applejack nodded,” Yeah, this place ain't built to withstand a fight between two gods!” and with that, she ran along with her friends.

Tirek smiled as he looked at the board, “Three left until the end of the game. Three moves, until it is all over.”

“I think you’ll find Twilight still has her winning gambits set,” Titan said, leaning back and looking at the go-board.

“Are you sure, she is going up against a powerful foe, alone,” Tirek said, “She could die.”

“No, she won't, watch...”

Conquest sat on his large plush chair, reading a small book, “Oh Buckley, you and your CAD comics are truly a gift to this world,” he said chuckling to himself. Looking up, he smirked as he looked to his few remaining soldiers and said, “You guys might want to leave.”

A very buff minotaur shook his head as he said, “Sir, as your last few remaining members of your guard and proud soldiers of the Suicide Squadron, we are ready to give our lives to protect you.”

Conquest shrugged, “Suit yourself.” Turning the page, he gasped, “Ohhh, an IQ test. Hmmm, a child of unwed parents, commonly used as a synonym for a complete asshole.”

The door to Conquest’s office exploded in a shower of splinters, Twilight standing where the door once stood and her horn glowing bright. Looking straight at Conquest with a glare, she spoke out in a low version of the Canterlot Voice, “Conquest!” the power of her aura caused the guards to faint in seconds.

“Awww, thank you, Twily,” Conquest said, standing to his feet and waving a hand, teleporting the guards away. “You just saved me the trouble of having to watch my guards get their buts handed to them.”

Pushing his large chair away, he stepped out from behind his desk. Gone was his large trench coat, now replaced with a long flowing red cape worn over a black leather jacket and tank top. Walking out, he showed off his hot pants and boots, “Like my new outfit? I figured for a final fight I should be a little dramatic.” he said brushing aside his cape.

Twilight said nothing, watching him with a glare as he strode to the floor, stand across from her, a red carpet laid between them that led to his desk. Once he took his position, Twilight finally said, “I hate you.”

“Oh really? “ Conquest said with a smile. Closing his eyes for a brief moment, he could see the waves of red hate flowing off her body and into him.

“Discord, how can you hate a force of nature. Chrysalis, I thought I hated for what she did,” Twilight said, pulling back her lips in a snarl. “ But, all I felt was pity. Then I met you, and now I know what hate really is!”

Conquest bowed, “It was my pleasure to introduce you to a new world of torment.”

Twilight began to flare up her magical aura, “I am going to make you pay for every life you had ever taken.”

“You might be here for a while then,” Conquest said, undoing the buckles on his cape. His own black magical aura began to flare up around him, “ Maybe you should stick to your own world.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes, allowing her magic to flare up around her in a bright violet aura and then launched herself straight at Conquest. Conquest threw his cape off his back, allowing it to flutter softly to the ground as he took off with a thunderous clap of magic. With the force of a sonic boom, the two fighter’s fists collided in the middle of the room, their power causing a deep crater to form beneath them and destroying the carpet.

Their fists stayed locked with one another, neither moving as the two combatants glared at each other. Around them, bits of debris from below began to rise from the power of their magic, floating in the air for the briefest of moments before they were destroyed by a crackle of lightning that would spark from their arms. After waiting for a briefest moment, Conquest broke the lock and uppercutted Twilight.

With a gasp, Twilight barely moved out of the way of the uppercut, only to try and block each of Conquest’s fists. Up, down, and to the left, she used her open palm to start moving and blocking Conquest’s many punches. Stepping around him to strike at his side, she moved her head side to side quickly to move out of the way from a well thrown roundhouse. After he pulled back his kick, Conquest pulled back out of the way from Twilight’s cross. Now on the defensive, Conquest began to block Twilight’s palm strikes with his forearms.

During one exchange of blows, Twilight knocked Conquest’s hands into the air and left him open. Charging her fist with lightning magic, she slammed her fist into his stomach, making the building shake. Using fire magic, she then uppercutted him before delivering three blows into his torso. As he backed up, Conquest wiped a small trickle of blood that escaped his lips. He looked down at the red fluid as it laid on his thumb and smirked, “First blood, hope you are proud of yourself.”

Twilight said nothing as she looked to her side, and lifted up the chair with her telekinesis. Crushing it down into a small ball of metal, she then heated it up to a molten ball of steel. Looking back at him, she threw the ball at Conquest with the speed of a meteor. With a gasp, he moved to the side, allowing the ball to fly pas him. Looking back at Twilight, he watched as she grabbed it with her magic, turned it into a long wooden spear, and then broke it into a thousand shards. Magic now flaring green, she turned all of the pieces of wood into metallic sharp spears. Thrusting her hand out, she sent the rain of spears flying at Conquest.

Conquest barely had time to erect a protective barrier to block the blade storm as it flew at him, cutting deep bleeding gashes in his arms and legs. Letting out an impressed chuckle, he held out his claws and made them glow a cold blue light. Cold mist flowed from his palms as he created long javelins made of ice.

Eyes wide with shock, Twilight quickly began to jump back from the first thrown spear. When the second was thrown, she used a fire blade to split it in half.

Conquest laughed as he threw more spears at her, each one either dodged or melted by Twilight as she neared the wall. Once she was close to the wall, Conquest lifted up two fingers that generated a large tower of flame that singed the breastplate of Twilight's armor. After the flames had died down, twin ice spears flew out at Twilight, one impaling itself in her shoulder, while the other cut into her side.

While she struggled against the spears, Conquest formed a small tornado in his hand and launched it at Twilight. This hit her hard enough the it blasted her through the wall and out of the room.

Conquest stood and crossed his arms over his chest confidently. His confidence was shattered when he felt a hot burning beam blast through his arm, followed by another that cut through his side. Spinning around, he watched as solar rays began to blast its way through his room.

Looking to his left, he allowed his magic to detect her. Once her found her, he launched himself out of the room and slammed his forearm right into her throat. Holding her throat in pain and trying to catch her breath, she was open to a punch in the gut from Conquest and a mid-air roundhouse into her helmet. Twilight recovered quickly and blocked Conquest's next series of jabs and kicks that he threw at her. Blocking his next punch, she moved to the side and struck out with three punches into his side and a kick into his thigh.

Using the momentum from her strike, he flew down and around her, striking out with a crescent kick into her wounded shoulder, knocking her down. With her open to attack, Conquest rapidly punched her hard to leave cracks in the armor, following with a side kick that sent her flying into side of the headquarters. Twilight writhed in pain as she laid in the crater of the impact, letting out a scream of pain as a bolt of chain lightning struck her prone body. Conquest held her in the grip of his lightning and smiled as he dragged her along the wall. Then he held up his hand and snapped his fingers, unleashing a powerful thunderclap that blew her through the wall of the building, and through several floors of the building.

Twilight soon crashed to the bottom floor of the building, face on the floor. Slowly getting to her knees, she held her wounded arm and began to heal it with her white magic. Looking at her surroundings, she found herself in a room with several glass cases. Each item held a bloodied item within, or a limb. Ears perking, she listened to the sound of a teleport and turned towards Conquest as he landed on the ground, “Not bad for the first part of the round. I was expecting you to die a lot quicker than this.”

Twilight rose to her feet, looking at the various items with disgust, “What is this place?”

“Like it? It’s my trophy room, where I collect my various conquests over the years,” Conquest stated, snapping his fingers and turning on the light showing the countless glass cases. With a sneer, he opened one case and pulled out a blue tiara, “I seduced this one senshi and turned her on her friends. Told her how she meant the world to me shortly before I gutted her like a fish. And this,” he pulled out a headband with a metal plate, that had a leaf inscribed on the plate. “Convinced this ninja boy that no one loved him, and laughed as he caused the end of the world, plus raped the shy girl right in front of him.”

Conquest gave a small grunt as he pulled out a giant metal arm, and looked down at it, “And this came from a world where a young boy had some serious daddy issues. Helped that out real quick, and this straw hat,”he then paused as he held up a torn hat and looked back at Twilight as she said nothing, but kept her eyes closed. At the bottom of her feet, twin balls of lightning began to rise up and spin around her in a helix formation.

On the apex of their rise into the air, they settled back down at her sides and an arm’s length away from her. Holding her arms out at length, she grabbed onto the two balls of lightning, feeling them crackle and spark at her touch. Opening her eyes, she revealed two pupiless white orbs that pulsated with electricity. The lightning then flowed out from her eyes, encircling her arms, and connected to the balls of lightning. The balls of lightning flashed for a brief moment before unleashing a torrent of white hot lightning. When the bolts of lightning hit the glass cases, it caused them to explode into flames, “Wha-what are you doing?!” gasped Conquest in horror.

“I’m destroying it,” Twilight said as a case exploded, “Your history, your fame, and your legacy! I’ll wipe it all out of existence. That way, the world will see the truth, that you are nothing to be afraid of, that hating you is pointless!”

“Now don’t you daaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!” Conquest creamed as he took a step, making the lightning leap out from the two cases and into him, creating a circle of lightning that flowed from the balls, into the cases and back into him. He could feel his skin burn, pop, and bubble as the lightning crackled with power, “Wha-AHHHHHH-What is this?!”

Twilight smirked, “Arc-Bond, my second most powerful lightning spell. It links me up with two powerful lightning balls to begin a circuit. When a target, like yourself, steps into the path of my lightning magic, it completes the circuit. What you are right now feeling is the equivalent of two billion joules of electricity flowing through your body.”

“Ahhhhh, you miserable BITCH!” Conquest shouted, waving his hand to break out of the lightning spell. His lips pulling back in a snarl, he leapt up through the roof of the room and out of the building.

Breaking the spell, Twilight stepped into the center of of the room and looked up out of the hole. In the sky, next to the clouds, she watched as Conquest began to circle his finger in the air, creating a giant ring of fire in the clouds. Her eyes widened as she recognized the spell and crossed her forearms in front of her face just as a large pillar of flame struck down upon her.

Conquest gave a small chuckle as he watched his pillar of fire envelop her, and then gasped as he saw it being pushed back by a pink and yellow dome that came from where he had struck at her. The dome continued to increase in size until it obliterated the entire headquarters and leaving behind a crater where Twilight stood alone. Conquest rolled his eyes, “Oh great, you destroyed my home! And I just made the last payment.” shaking his head, his eyes then began to look impressed, “But, I must say, combining your brother’s shield spell with your mentor’s sunburst spell was a work of genius.”

“Though,” he added, watching as her gauntlets fell off her arms, broken and sparking, “It came at a high cost didn’t it.”

Flapping her wings a few times for lift, she floated up in the air until she reached Conquest’s height, “Let’s take this fight elsewhere.”

“Why certainly,” Conquest said, smirking. “Anywhere in particular?”

“I’ll let you know,” Twilight said, flying at Conquest with a kick, wich he easily blocked. For a few seconds in the air, the two combatants traded blows, ducking, blocking, and dodging until they both vanished from sight.

“Aw hell,” Applejack cursed, “Where did they go, Ah can’t see them!”

Rainbow Dash pushed Rhymey’s unconscious form through the portal and came to stand with Applejack, “I can!”

“Well, that’s nice and all sugarcube, but what about for those of us who don’t have superspeed?” Applejack asked.

Fluttershy gasped and pointed to the clouds, “Look!” she said pointing to the clouds.

There, they could see the fight, every punch, every kick, was highlighted by a crack of thunder and flash of lightning. With each movement, the knights could watch the fight play out in a dance of pictures. After a few moments of fighting, Twilight was kicked out of the clouds and was sent crashing down onto the solid ground in a purple fireball.

Slowly rising up from the impact crater, she looked behind her and jumped out of the way as Conquest flew straight down and slammed his fist down into the ground, creating a crater.

Conquest turned his head up to look at Twilight, letting out a hiss as he spread apart his fingers. A black glow enveloped his hand as a series of deep dark fissures in the ground raced towards Twilight. Gasping, she jump out of the way of three of the fissures. The other two caught up to her just before she could take to the air and pinched around her ankles, trapping her.

Rising to his feet, Conquest summoned two large magma fists from the ground. Crossing his arms, he brought the fists down upon Twilight. Just before the fists cloud hit her, she grabbed the fists and held them in place
Her hands flashed blue for a moment and she froze his hands. Grunting, she shattered the fists and turned them into frozen ice spears. She the sent the ice spears at Conquest.

As the ice blades tore through Conquest's body, Twilight shattered her greaves, leaving her with only breastplate and helmet. Spreading her wings, she flew off with a loud thunderclap and punched Conquest hard in the face, breaking bone and teeth.

After flying for a few moments, Conquest landed back onto the ground and rolled to his feet. Looking up, he watched as a vertical wave of flame cut through the ground and flew towards him. As he jumped back and away, he watched as that flame wave was followed by another and another, backing him up furter. A large crack of thunder alerted him to a powerful surge of energy. That was when he saw a wave of lightning flying at him, erupting from Twilight as she clapped her hands together.

Flying backwards as fast as he could, he slammed his back against a giant wall of thorns, and when he tried to move to his left, he found a wall of ice, to his right was a wall of force. Then he looked up and watched as Twilight trapped him in her box by creating twin walls of flame, one in front and over his head. This left him open to the wave of lightning that struck him hard, electrocuting him.

Landing on the ground, Twilight waited for her walls to disperse before getting ready for her next spell. Letting out roar, Conquest quickly broke free of his confinement and generated twin whips of fire that he lashed out at her. Each whip struck her hard, breaking her breastplate and helmet, leaving her in a blue blouse with a short purple skirt and boots. When his next whip came at her, she grabbed the whip with hand and held it tight. She then grabbed the other whip with her hand and held it tightly. Wincing through the pain, she froze the whips into whips of ice and shatter them. As they broke, Twilight generated a torrent of fire on her hand that she used to slash a giant x across Conquest’s chest. Then she created a powerful fireball that she threw right into Conquest’s stomach and sent him flying across the field, howling in pain.

Growling, he took off into the air and generated six large meteorites, set them flying down the air and right at Twilight. Slowly, she crouched down in response and generated a large blue dome around her by waving her hands. This dome caught the large flaming rocks and stopped their flight. Hands turning black with black mana, she made the rocks disintegrate and melt away. Then she held out her hands, twin mini tornadoes formed in her palms. With the grace of an acrobat, she threw the twin mini-tornadoes at Conquest who had to watch in horror as the twin tornadoes increased in size until they were as high as a mountain. When the two tornadoes flew to his sides, she slammed them together, allowing the tornadoes to hit Conquest with all of the debris that they picked up.

As he suffered through the pain of the rocks and stones cutting into his body, Twilight snapped her fingers, summoning lightning bolt after lightning bolt that stuck him in the twin tornadoes, electrocuting him. Once the tornadoes broke, she snapped her fingers, using a powerful gravity spell that dragged him back to the ground, creating a crater.

Rising back up from the crater, he reset his broken arm and leg, and then ran at Twilight to deliver a powerful hook into Twilight’s face. When he did a roundhouse, she ducked under it and quickly delivered three rapid punches into his body. Conquest sent an uppercut her way, hitting her chin and allowing him to kick her in the stomach. Recovering quickly, she double punched Conquest in the chest and stomach, sending him flying back.

Conquest stood still for a moment, and breathed in, allowing the hate to flow into him. Twilight nodded, and began to use her white magic to heal her wounds. Rainbow Dash growled, “What the hell? They’re allowing each other to heal?!”

“Ah think, Twilight has impressed him, Rainbow,” Applejack said, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’s allowing her to heal and expecting her to allow him to do the same.”

Rarity shook her head, “Impressive. I... never thought someone could impress Conquest that much.”

“Twi’s the only one that’s kept him on his toes so far,” Applejack said, “He has to be impressed.”

“I just hope that they are ok,” Fluttershy whispered, “Especially her.”

Back on the battlefield, Twilight sighed as she ran her hand through her mane and let out a chuckle, “You know...she’s right, you are silly.”

“Who?” Conquest asked, looking at her.

“Pinkie, she said that you are silly,” Twilight said, laughing, “And you know what? She’s right. You are silly.”

“I raped, murdered, and killed countless and you call me silly? I must have hit your head harder than I thought,” Conquest chuckled.

Twilight chuckled, and shook her head, “No, you’re right. You aren’t silly... you’re pathetic! Let me ask you something, why did you let my friends live? You could’ve killed them instantly and stopped any resistance. You had the power, you could’ve wiped them out and this war would’ve been over before I came back,” she raised a finger to answer before he opened his mouth, “Answer? It’s easy actually, as I came up with it during our battle. Your desire for hate, for rage, it’s not just a power source for you, it’s a drug. One that loses its potency with each world you conquer.”

Conquest chuckled, “Are you trying to psychoanalyze me, Twilight? It wont work. I’m the one who breaks people, not you.”

“Please, let me continue,” Twilight said, smiling, “I love to break down puzzles, and yours is so simple to mess with. See, you could’ve killed my five friends right off the bat, wiped them out before they had a chance to meet Belle, and the world was yours, but you chose not to. You could’ve attacked during Dark King’s reign, but you didn’t. You chose this place because your addiction told you to. You knew that this was the best precious drug. Because, you are afraid to admit that all of that precious hate is losing its potency.”

She barked out a laugh as Conquest began to growl, “You are a classic case of being an addict. You need the hate to be stronger because the tiny doses are just not doing it for you. So you go to a bigger source, and then another, needing to get more in order to get that same rush that you felt before. However, the rush is fading, and you need to savor it, thus you needed to keep us all alive in order to keep it going. How... predictable.”

“What, did you say?” Conquest growled, his eyes narrowing at her.

“It’s interesting,” Twilight said, brushing aside her mane, “You insult Grand Ruler for being predictable, and you pride yourself on being able to subvert the tropes, of ‘breaking’ the rules, but in the end you are just like him. Predictable, overconfident, and childish.”

“Shut up, I am nothing like him!” Conquest denied, his claws growing.

“You are,” Twilight said calmly, a little smirk on her face, “Or can you just not face the truth when it’s shown in front of you. You crave hate, you desire it, and so, you will do ANYTHING to get it. You will do whatever extreme and say whatever comes to mind just to get a bit of hate. And for what? A tiny bit of pleasure that fades away in an instant? A tiny bit of pleasure that will never last. This is why you will lose. Love, compassion, friendship? Those things I represent? They will last longer than your little silly desire.”

Conquest shook his head, “I am finding this less fun, Twilight, shut up.”

“What’s the matter? Breaking the almighty king of hate? Good, I’m glad. Because, in the end, you are just a little child, as bad as Grand Ruler. Which is why I no longer hate you,” Twilight shook her head, “I pity you, for all you can do is hate and fade away. While those of us who love, will remain for far longer.”

“Don’t say that again,” Conquest demanded.

Twilight smirked, “I pity you.”

“Don’t you dare pity me!!!!” Conquest shouted and flew right at Twilight with his fist extended, ready to punch her.

Twilight moved her head to the side, dodging the punch. Then she blocked the hit by knocking it to the side. With his chest open, Twilight began to deliver a series of quick punches along Conquest’s chest and stomach before doing a side kick that knocked him back.

Holding back his desire to retch, he struck out at Twilight with a foreamy to her forehead, following it off with a side kick. Twilight moved to the side, knocking the kick away before hitting his head. Her next sets of punches and kicks were quickly blocked by Conquest. As the blows were exchanged in a blur, Conquest began to think, “What’s going on? She’s...” his eyes opened wide as he began to realize, “catching up with me, keeping me at bay?!”

Conquest managed to hit in the side with a roundhouse, and while Twilight let out a grunt of pain, she punched him hard in the stomach and then uppercutted him into the air. As he floated, Conquest wiped some of his spit and spat out a bit of blood while forming two fireballs. Holding his hands out, he fired a series of fireballs at Twilight, forcing her to fly away from the bombardment, leaving behind a small trail of fire that followed her along the ground.

Once she was under him, Twilight stopped her flight and created a barrier around her, blocking the shots as she was covered in a giant dust cloud. After dispersing her shield, she looked up and narrowed her eyes as Conquest pulled back his hand, glowing with a rainbow of colors. Throwing his hand out, he fired a spectrum beam straight at her.

Slowly, Twilight cupped her hands and pulled it back, forming a ball of rainbow energy. Then she thrusted her hands out, sending her own spectrum beam right at Conquest. The two beams met in mid-air, colliding together and forming a ball. As the tug of war began, pushing one way and the other, Twilight formed a shadow clone who formed a prismatic orb beneath her and used it to grind along the beam up to where Conquest was and she spun a mid--air roundhouse into his arm, cracking it and breaking a bone.

As Conquest recovered, he watched Twilight’s hands glow black with magic. Holding her arms out, she let out a loud yell of power that began to bring down a storm of hail, fire, lightning, and acid around them. Wincing at the burning and the acid as it struck him, Conquest flew in with a punch right into Twilight’s chest. Letting out a groan of pain, she swiped the hand away and began to deliver a three punch combo and then a roundhouse to the head.

Conquest delivered a hook to her face, and then a side-kick which Twilight dodged. The two combatants once again engaged in a series of blocks, blows, and maneuvers as they flew through space, “What is this, Twilight?” asked Conquest with a sneer. “ Are you starting to enjoy this?”

“In truth, no.” Twilight said, “It’s just the fact that I see a demon wanting to kill my friends right now. It’s telling me to fight even harder than ever.” It’s something else.

Twilight saw Rainbow Dash blocking the hits for her, while Applejack used her punches to strike Conquest in the sensitive spots. She watched Rarity as she told her what the next move was, Fluttershy helping her to remain calm. She could feel Pinkie telling her to never give up, “I can feel them. My friends, they’re fighting with me, helping me, guiding me!”

“Look at them go!” Applejack shouted, watching as loud explosions were heard and felt, little white flashes of light going off as the two warriors collided.

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy asked.

“They’re going fast, Flutters, really fast!” Rainbow Dash said, watching in awe. “Conquest is giving his all, but Twilight...she’s something else.”

Rarity smiled, “Well of course dear, that’s what she does. She is our hope bringer when we needed her the most. Conquest... never stood a chance.”

Twilight’s roundhouse knocked Conquest out of the sky and hurdling down into the ground, creating a large crater as he did. Before he could move, Twilight flew down, her fist coated in black and red magic as she slammed the fist hard into Conquest’s back, leaving a large fist imprint. Then, with a grunt, she increased the gravity around him by ten, and then flew off his body.

With a roar of rage, he flew up into the sky and created a large fireball that he threw down towards Twilight. Fling up towards the flame, she easily swiped it away with her hand. Conquest then created a black fire ball that he threw right at her. For a moment he chuckled, but then watched as Twilight grabbed the fire ball and turned it into a black fire sword. Shaking his head, he summoned a large asteroid and threw it at Twilight.

For a moment, he watched as Twilight seemed to be eclipsed by the asteroid, and then gasped when he heard, “Ragna Blade!” and in a flash, watched as the asteroid was cut in half, turned into little dust motes. Once Twilight flew up to his level, she slashed at him several times with her blade, eliciting screams from him with each slash.

Before he could recover, Twilight snapped her fingers and increased the gravity around Conquest to send him crashing to the ground. Seconds before he could land, Twilight teleported to the ground and roundhoused kicked his arm so hard that it broke the bone and caused it to break out of the skin. Before he could react, Twilight side kicked him away and flying across the field.

Twilight waited for Conquest to teleport back and ducked under his roundhouse. When she tried to uppercut him in the face. Dodging out of the way, Conquest slashed Twilight’s chest and stomach with his claws before impaling her with his claws. After he pulled out, he went for another slash, but Twilight blocked and knocked it aside. She then began to punch rapidly into his chest and stomach, blocking his occasional attack back. Then she delivered her forearm into his throat, sweep him off his feet, and then ax kicked him right in the private area, eliciting a high-pitched scream from him.

Slowly, Conquest got back up, rubbing his groin in pain, “It was such a small target,” Twilight snarked, “I am surprised I hit it.”

Conquest, his mane now wild and crazed, roared as he flew at Twilight and began to punch wildly at her. Twilight flew back, blocking and dodging out of the way from his punches. As they flew, they soon found themselves flying into a tall pillar of rock, ending up destroying it in a flash of power.

Twilight teleported on the bottom of one of the rocks, looking back at Conquest as he was on the bottom of the other rock. Holding out his hand, he began to flick a pebble at Twilight with the force of a sonic boom. Twilight held out her hand, blocking the pebbles with her magic. After several of the pebbles flew at her, she held them all in a small ball before throwing them at him in a flaming fireball that exploded when it connected with him.

Watching as Twilight flew back at him, Conquest began to block and exchange blows with Twilight as they flew across the battlefield. Each punch that one threw, the other received and retaliated. Each blow coming at a speed unseen by anyone before in the world, and soon their battle took them to a small plateau.

“What? Now their resting again!” Rainbow shouted.

Applejack looked at the plateau, “Probably recharging now. They both know they’re getting to their limits, so they’re readying for the final contest.”

“Please be safe,” Fluttershy whispered.

As Twilight glowed with white magic, healing her wounds, Conquest began to walk around her, “You call me pathetic? What about you, Twily?” Conquest teased. “You are risking everything for those pathetic Starfleet ponies. Those little bitty cardboard cutouts? Do you think they would’ve cared? They didn’t! They were just pathetic little morons who deserved to die!”

“No one deserves to die,” Twilight said, narrowing her eyes. “And they were not cutouts. They never had a chance to grow beyond what their maker had set for them. Grand Ruler forced them into those roles, forced them to be little puppets with nothing else to them. But, if you gave them a chance, let them show their true selves. Then you could see that they were full of potential, just waiting to be unleashed.”

Conquest rolled his eyes, “You think they would show you the same respect? Forget what they did to your friends?”

“No, but I also see what my friends did in return,” Twilight said, feeling her heartbeat a little faster. Deep inside, she could feel her magic burning brighter.

“Applejack was willing to lend a hand to one of them, even if he didn’t ask for it. Rainbow Dash was willing to stand with her friends to help the Starfleet ponies because she believed in her own ideals. Rarity was willing to help them, even though she was hated by them, Fluttershy kept her heart open to them, and Pinkie.” Twilight sighed contently, holding her hand to her heart, “Treated them as ponies, and as friends, and in return she broke through their cold hearts and allowed them to shine as ponies.”

“What’s happening to me?” Twilight asked, looking around “I can still feel my friends. Like they were always there with me, always by my side. What am I saying, of course they are. Belle, Spark? They were always there for me and I was always with them, because death would never stop a friendship. The lessons we learned from each other, helped us become better ponies. That’s what it means...to be magic. To be... friendship!”

Conquest just chuckled as he walked to her, “Hun, they were as they always will be Just cardboard cutouts, and nothing will ever change that.”

“They just needed a chance, and I know that. Allow me to show you,” Twilight said, her voice low and soft, almost a whisper.

Shaking his head, Conquest threw a punch her way, and Twilight stepped forward, merely dodging out of the way. Conquest threw another punch and Twilight stepped to the side, before delivering a hard punch right into Conquest’s stomach, making him doubling over in pain.

As she walked away from him, he threw a fireball at her which she just grabbed in her hand and crushed it. Then she held her arms down at her sides, vibrating them a little. Conquest let out a scream as punches began to rain down upon him, striking at him from all sides. Struggling to get up, he looked back at Twilight, seeing her covered in a long purple robe. On her back was her cutie mark, surrounded by five gems that represented her friends. When he blinked, he did not see any rage or hate flowing off of her body. Shaking his head in horror, he said, “Impossible.”

“I am going to beat their names into your body,” Twilight whispered, looking over her shoulder at him with eyes of silver. Gone was her violet aura of magic, replaced by a white aura of magic with bits of energy flowing off of her.

Before Conquest could say anything, Twilight vanished and reappeared behind him, her hands covered in flames, “Dyno and MYTE!” she shouted summoning large fireballs and slamming them into Conquest, causing the plateau to crumble beneath him and sending him falling to the ground.

As he fell, Twilight teleported in an instant to the ground and snapped her fingers without looking, “Buddy Rose.” her magic flared and a giant forest of vines erupted from the ground and grabbed Conquest by the throat and pulled him into the ground with a loud crash, making a crater. Then she turned around and held open her palm, “Artie Bristles,” she said, unleashing a torrent of paint blobs that forced Conquest to stay on the ground. Then she charged a powerful lightning ball, “lightning Dawn!” she said, firing the ball into Conquest’s stomach.

Then she flew up into the sky, “Cookie Dough, Brain, so many others, but the one that you have hurt the most, the one that deserves divine retribution?” Twilight said softly, summoning a large volley of light arrows around her, “STARLA SHINE!” she screamed sending the barrage of arrows crashing into Conquest and stabbing him.

Panting, Conquest looked up into the sky and stepped back in horror. He heard Twilight let out a loud scream of power and rage as her body was enveloped in a bright white light. When it faded, she floated in the air, her mane now a bright silver while she was developed in a bright white aura that flickered like flames. Landing on the ground, she looked at Conquest and said, “ Conquest, when you fight me...” she said, floating down onto the ground with a few flaps of her wings. “You don’t fight just one pony, you fight six!”

Conquest, still dizzy from the blows he received, watched as Twilight got into Applejack’s fighting stance. With her aura flowing a light orange, she stepped up close to him and began to deliver an elbow and a forearm to the throat. She then followed it with a series of strong powerful kicks that shattered bones. She then began to ruthlessly punch and strike at Conquest’s body with powerful blow after blow.

Try as he might, Conquest could not keep up with the blows, unable to respond with a counter move. When he saw his opening, he delivered a punch, only for Twilight to grab his hand, her magic glowing yellow, and then threw him far. Aura now white tinged with purple, she held out her hand and fired fire, acid, and cold arrows into Conquest’s prone body. Before he could get up, Twilight flew straight at him with her aura now blue and crackling with lightning. Conquest could not even see the blows that she was delivering, only her arms and legs vibrating at high speed.

Once he landed on the ground, Twilight stood, waving her arms around to create a dense fog. Conquest looked around when he heard a voice.

Power beyond the twilight
and crimson blood that flows,
Buried in the stream of time
is where your power grows,

From the fog, out stepped Twilight, her coat grey with a purple mane, “Belle?” gasped Conquest.

I pledge myself to conquer,
all the foes who stand
Before the mighty gift bestowed,
in my unworthy hand
DRAGON SLAVE!

‘Belle’ pulled back her hand and threw out a giant stream of fire magic. With only seconds to act, Conquest held up his hand to block the blast. To his left he heard another voice. Looking to his side, he saw Twilight with a grey mane, “SPARK!?”

Oh gods of lightning and thunder
Bestow upon me your grace
Give me the power to decimate those before me
lightning STORM!”

Putting the heels of her palms together, lightning crackled and spark from her palms. With a grunt, she unleashed a torrent of lightning magic. Conquest quickly held up his hand to block the other shot. His two arms held at his sides as he tried to hold back the two magical waves from crushing him. Sweat beading down his face, he looked ahead to see Twilight walking slowly towards him, “You laughed at the power of the uniforce. Now, see it’s uncorrupted form!”

Sticking her arms out diagonally from each other, she began to circle her arms in a circle, generating five orbs of black, white, blue, green and red. As she began her spell, each orb began to glow brightly.

Here me oh five pools
Green as the strength of Earth
Red as quick as lightning and fire
Blue to craft what I desire

Ascend beyond mere tools
Allow me to prove my Worth
White to protect life
Black to craft strife

When the orbs began to glow their colors, the energy from the water, the land, and air seemed to flow into the orbs in trails of their colors. Soon each orb began to circle around each other rapidly, combining into one multicolored ball of mana. Cupping her hands together, Twilight began to pull back as her white aura started to flare up bright.

Oh leyline of the planet
Magic of the world
Join with me your might
And bind me with your light

The energy from the planet began to flow into her, as images of her five friends each began to walk up right behind her and placed a palm onto her shoulder. Each smiling at her as they gave her their magic.

Join as one
Lend me your power as I call upon your name
Join with me and unite
Give me the strength to lay waste to my foe

Hear me now as I summon your true name

ULTIMA!!!!!

With a shout of power, Twilight threw out a powerful beam of rainbow energy that flew straight at Conquest. His eyes opened wide in horror as he said, “OH SHI-”

The explosion could be seen for miles on that day.

Twilight panted, allowing her shadow clones to dissipate and flow back to her. Her aura quickly faded as she looked to the crater. Her breathing slowed as she waited, watching as a skeleton hand rose from the ground, “You think you won bitch?” Conquest moaned, using his hate energy to restore himself to normal, “Hurt me all you want! Make me scream, I’ll just regenerate! It doesn’t matter if I can’t find your hatred, I’ll just use the rest I got from the other worlds and back in Equestria. I’m a god, I am immortal!!!” Panting, he smirked, “You are nothing! You have almost limitless mana, which means you have limits. Limits that can be broken, by the way. Even now you are having problems keeping up with healing yourself and using your magic. Soon, I’ll win this, and then...oh, I’m not just gonna rape your corpse, I’ll bring you back, do it in front of your friends, eat your tits, and then resurrect you just to do it again! You can never win!!!!!”

Twilight shrugged, “I know. I know I could never beat you. All of this was planned by me.”

“What?” Conquest asked in a dead-panned expression.

“Yeah, I know I could never beat you, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to win this,” Twilight smirked, “Party Time!”

Conquest looked confused, “Party wha-”

“SURPRISE!!!!!!!” Pinkie shouted at the top of her lungs, wrapping her arms around his stomach and embracing him in a tight hug. As her arms wrapped around his stomach, his flesh began to boil and pop, dissolving away to muscle and fat.

Conquest’s eyes opened wide as he screamed in pain, and when he tried to pry her away, he watched as his hands began to dissolve away to bone, “What is-When did you-I planned for-” his eyes opened wide, “No.”

A few hours eariler

Twilight looked at her friends, “Ok girls, here’s the plan.” she said, giving Fluttershy and Pinkie the switch talismans. Then she gave Pinkie an amulet, “Pinkie, this was the amulet Trixie gave to Raindrops that allowed her to hide in invisibility. Trixie modified it to hide your magical signature.”

“Twi, what’s the plan?” asked Applejack.

Twilight smiled, “I am going to fight Conquest in that building, and then take the fight outside. Pinkie is going to predict where I am going to take the battle and then when I give the word, she is going to finish him off.”

“Twilight, I don’t think I can do this,” Pinkie objected, “You know my pinkie sense is only for sudden events!”

“Pinkie, you can do this, I believe in you,” Twilight said. “I trust you to help me.”

A few seconds later, as the fight began.

Pinkie watched the fight happen in earnest, her eyes widened in awe and wonder. Shaking her head for a moment, she said, “Come on, Pinkie, think! Where are they going to land? Tail twitch? No, that’s falling. Ear flop? No. Hair buzz, no that means I want a cupcake.” shaking her head, she said, “Come on! You said you always wanted to be there when Twilight fought Raven. Now’s your chance to think of something to save her! Come on, think, think, THINK!”

Ash she shouted this, she squinked. After her little wink, she gasped and shouted, “That’s it!”

As Twilight, in Harmony Mode, flew over the battlefield, she looked down and saw a giant x and a smiley face that said, ‘Twilight, land here!!!’ painted in bright pink.

“Pinkie, you are so random!” Twilight smiled.

“I knew you had something planned for her, for everything I did. Any move I made, you were ready for. So, I just let Pinkie do her thing, she’s so unpredictable that even you can’t figure her out,” Twilight said with a chuckle as Conquest continued to scream in pain and agony.

“Hate, fear, depression, anger? All of it can be wiped out by a mare like her,” Twilight said, “Pinkie, who only needed her friends beside her to see the light at the end of the tunnel. She is the antithesis to everything you are. Thus, your ultimate weakness, devoid of hate!”

“You think that? HA!” Conquest looked back at Pinkie as she held onto him. “You just watch me!”

Conquest looked around inside Pinkie’s mind. Stepping through, he could hear Pinkie giggle, “Whatcha looking for?”

“Your hatred, everyone has something,” Conquest said, looking around. “Just give me time and I will destroy you.”

“Ok, but good luck!” Pinkie giggled as pink energy floated over to a bright blue gem in a shape of a balloon.

Conquest turned to see a small filly, crying into her sister’s chest. Laughing, he said, “Ha! You hate your parents, because they didn’t understand you.”

“Hate? Nah. I was only a little mad at them, but I didn’t hate them. I got over it!” Pinkie said, as her filly self smiled at Conquest and slapped him with a fan.

Conquest spun around, only to see Pinkie surrounded by her friends, seeing and watching as each time they dismissed her, yelled at her, or the wedding, “You hate them. Your friends!”

“My friends? No, never” Pinkie said, smiling behind the gem as it glowed brighter, “I mean, sure, we argue and get mad at each other, but I could never hate them! They are like my sisters and I will always be there for them. After all, I need to be their hope!”

Pony Pinkie let out a loud shout of laughter that sent Conquest to his knees. Looking back, he could see Starfleet glaring at her, “They-”

“Now I know you are stretching,” Pinkie laughed, “Those guys are just party crashers. They only needed to be given a chance to become friends and allowed time to cool down.”

Starfleet Pinkie, naked, smiled as she back flipped and double kicked Conquest, forcing him back. Looking around the dark void, he watched and heard laughter, cheers, and happiness all flowing into the gem behind him. As he looked, he saw Pinkie Pie walked to the gem, it floating onto her chest. As she closed her eyes, a horn began to grow onto her forehead followed by a pair of lovely wings. Smiling, she said, “Now these, I did earn!” she said as she floated up into the air.

“No, no no no ono nononononononononononono!” Conquest stepped back, a look of terror crossing his face as he stepped back.

“See Conny, all of that hate? It fades away, just like pain,” Pinkie smiled as she looked down at him, “But hope? Laughter, friendship? They don’t fade away. Oh sure, it runs away for a bit, it hides, but sooner or later, they come back stronger than ever. Unlike you! Now, how about a smile!” she said, pushing out her chest as each of her friends added their hooves to her gem and fired a beam of magical energy at Conquest, burning him alive.

In the real world, Conquest collapsed to his bony skeletal knees, most of his body melted and dissolved into a puddle of black oil, “You think you won? You think this is over? Just wait, there will be a new world, a new source of hate. Somewhere, someone will create another world of hatred and I will return.”

Twilight held a stony expression as she said, “You may be right, but as long as there is someone out there who cares about the world, loves it, and is willing to fight back, then we will always win!”

“FUCKKK YOU!!!!” Conquest shouted as his body finally melted into a puddle of black ooze and then vanishing into smoke.

Twilight sighed and then sat down on the ground, panting as beads of sweat streamed down her face. Looking back at Pinkie, she smiled and asked, “Are you all right Pinkie?”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said, wiping the ooze off, “Just feeling slimy! Ewwwww.” she said with a giggle before running to give Twilight a big hug, “See?”

“Ew, Pinkie!” Twilight laughed as she playfully pushed at Pinkie, before returning the hug. “Slimey hugs are ok though.”

“My word, that was,” Rarity said, running towards the two girls, shaking her head, “Amazing!”

Fluttershy looked around, “Is he really gone?”

Twilight nodded, “Pinkie was his antithesis, he couldn’t regenerate because of her. So, yeah he’s gone.”

Dash shook her head, “Twilight, that silver thing was so AWESOME! How did you do it?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said with a shake of her head, “I just felt all of your energy next to me, like you were there. Then, I felt all of you standing with me and the next thing I knew, I was in that weird form.”

“Well, we can think about that later,” Applejack said, “The war’s over so it’s time to-”

Applejack was then interrupted by a slow clap, and the group turned their heads to see Necromancer standing a few feet away from them, clapping his cloven hooves together mockingly. Once he was done, he continued to walk on all fours towards them, “Bravo, bravo. You six have bested your opposites, defeated your demons, and best of all,” he narrowed his eyes, “Killed my best and only friend. Quite an accomplishment.”

“Necromancer,” whispered Fluttershy as she stood next to Rainbow Dash.

Twilight shook her head, “It’s not your true name, is it? It’s something old, back before even Equestria or even before the princesses were born. It was a story I read when I was a filly.”

“Yes, I do have a true name. The sovereign of death, the Bringer of Darkness, and the Scourge of Tambelon,” reaching with his cloven hoof, he pulled back his hood to reveal a ram’s head with horns curled back behind his head and coming to an end in front of his face in sharp points. His red pupiless eyes glared at them as he spoke in his whispery voice, carrying with it the wails of the dead, “My name, is Grogar!” his head moved unnaturally as he spoke, his face almost skeletal in appearance, as the fading light gleamed off his necklace.

“Grogar, as in the legends?” Applejack said, shaking her head, “But Ah thought...something like him couldn’t have been allowed to-”

“Exist?” asked Grogar as he laughed, the souls of the dead flowing into his body, “OH, but I do, Abbigail. As a story told to children to scare them to obedience, as a legend to make adults hide when they want to know true terror, and a force to be respected.”

Rainbow Dash struggled to keep her footing, though her knees were shaking, “News flash, asswipe. War’s over, your buddy’s dead. Now go on ho-AAAAAAH!” she screamed as a lightning bolt struck her in the chest and knocked her down.

“Rainbow!” gasped Fluttershy as she went to Rainbow’s side and held her. She smiled when she saw she was still breathing.

“Home? I am home. After so long I can finally return to my place of birth and wipe it from existence,” Grogar laughed and then placed his forelegs down.

“You are an evil monster,” Applejack said, falling to her knees.

Grogar laughed, “Evil? Is a hurricane evil because it destroys a home, or a predator evil just for eating prey? I am not evil, but rather the answer to the multiverse’s mistake.”

“Mistake?” Twilight asked, she and Pinkie the only two who could find the strength to stand. “Is his aura so terrifying that it’s weakening us?”

“In the multiverse, a new world is created every few seconds. Each of these worlds are made because some creator has a love for the prime verse. They love the characters, the story, or the plot, and they make stories where the heroes win over evil or find their true love.” A low throaty chuckle escaped Grogar’s lips as he said, “But once in a while, there is a world based not on love for the world, but pure hatred. Where he wants to destroy the prime world, insult all it stands for, and to destroy the heroes. We call these worlds, mistakes. And you, are living it.”

These words struck the mane six hard, leaving all of them with shocked and horrified looks on their faces. Pinkie was the first to speak up, “W-what?”

Grogar laughed, “You heard me, you are a mistake. Mere shadows of the originals that should never have been born. Me and Conquest, we serve as the exterminators of the omniverse, wiping these mistakes from memory.”

“Who gives you the right to wipe those worlds from existence?” Twilight asked, frowning, “There are still living beings out there, trying to live their lives. They deserve to live too.”

“Like you? You try to live your lives the way you want to even though you are nothing more than miserable shadows of the originals?” Grogar laughed.

Applejack shook her head, “Ah don’t give a flying if Ah’m a mistake or not. Ah’m still me, Ah still have a life worth living and that’s all that’s important to me.”

“A life? Is that what you call it? It’s nothing in the grand scheme of things, nothing more than a few years to be used up and then thrown away like trash,” Grogar said, chuckling. Then he waved his cloven hoof over the six, showing images of their adventures, “Look at the waste. Living, loving, and being hopeful, it’s pathetic. You put such strong emotions into things like hope, love, dreams, and happiness that you fail to see how easily they break. And then they die, I wipe them all from existence until they are dust!”

“B-but you can’t. That’s horrible,” Pinkie gasped, finally collapsing to the ground.

“What are we going to do? We’re too badly injured from our previous fights and we don’t have the strength to fight back,” Twilight thought to herself as she looked back behind her, as her friends struggled to get to their feet. “Just keep him talking and then think of a plan.” Taking a shuddering breath, she said, “You won’t get away with this, we will win.”

“Will you now?” asked Grogar. “Do you really think I would come here if you had a chance of beating me? I had already begun destroying your universe an hour ago before coming here. As we speak, my dark cloud is covering the entire universe, summoning the dead and killing all in its wake.”

“Let me guess,” Applejack said, frowning, “You saved us for last?”

“Why yes,” Grogar said, throwing out a lightning cascade that began to electrocute all of them. “You killed my friend, and thus you must pay. I am not about to let you defeat me with some bell, or some new spell or trick. I am going to kill you here and now.”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Twilight screamed as the lightning blasted through her body, singing her fur. Turning her head back to look at her friends, watching them suffer and writhe, she winced before turning to look back at Grogar. When she tried to move, another lightning bolt forced her to her knees.

“After all of this, friendship has failed you. All of your talk about friendship being magic has come for naught. Guess Grand Ruler was right,” Grogar laughed. “Friendship is failure, because it can’t save you, can’t stop me, and can’t save the day!”

Twilight winced, feeling her heart stop for a moment as the lightning flowed through her body. Taking one last look at her friends, she got a memory flash through her mind.
Applejack walked to Dyno and held out her hand, “Come on, let’s have some supper.”
“To be honest, Ah’m a little worried.”

Honesty.

“Here, give her my crystal bow. Starla will need it.”

Generosity

“Like hell I will leave you guys!”

Loyalty

“I can’t stand to see anyone suffer.”

Kindness

“You can NEVER take away my smile.”

Laughter.

A rainbow shine flowed through Twilight’s eyes as she stood up once more. “You don’t get it, neither of you do. That isn’t what fighting with friendship is about at all.”

Somewhere in the Everfree Forest, deep in the cavern of the Tree of Harmony, the ground cracked and shattered until the Tree of Harmony rose from the depths once more. The Elements of Harmony, once dulled in color, shined bright in the light and flew off through the heavens and through the portal.

Grogar growled as he threw a fireball, and this one dissipated in a cloud of smoke, revealing Twilight standing tall against the lightning cascade. Her cloak replaced by a suit of shining purple armor, while atop her head was a crown with the Element of Magic within. Her mane had gained a long yellow stripe running down it, “Fighting with friendship means that no matter where you are, where you go, you are never alone. That somewhere, your friends are right there by your side, even beyond death!”

In Equestria,as a zombie was about to bite into lightning’s arm, he was destroyed by a purple light. As he looked up, he watched as the dark sky was wiped away by a bright violet light, leaving behind a piece of blue sky. Trixie looked up as well and gasped, “She’s doing it...she’s doing it!”

Smiling, Trixie ran to stand on a stone, “Ponies, hear me well! Do not fear this horde of monsters, for Twilight Sparkle is right now battling against death itself. So do not worry, we will be safe as long as we place our faith in Twilight!”

lightning smiled and fist pumped the air, “GO TWILIGHT!!!!!!!” Soon, the entire town began to cheer.

Enraged, Grogar threw another fireball, wich was punched by Applejack. Wearing orange armor, her element was now on her chest and shining bright. Slowly stepping to stand by Twilight's side, her mane gained red and green stripes, “It means holding your friends up, being their pillar and source of strength. Because you know, deep down, they would do the same for you!”

Applebloom gasped as she looked to the sky, “You hear that? That’s Applejack! She’s saving us again!!!!!”

“Eeeyup,” Big Mac smiled and nodded, hugging his little sister.

Raindrops looked up, and pumped the air as she shouted, “You go girl! Give that monster what for!!!!”

Buddy’s zombie sat down and sighed, “Maybe now, I can finally rest.”

When another fireball was thrown, Rarity sliced through it. As she took her place at Twilight’s side, her armor began to glow on, with her own gem on her chest. Running a hand through her now indigo and striped mane, she smiled, “It means helping each other, being something to someone, an aid through all of life's little changes.”

“I hear her, I hear Rarity!” Sweetie Belle cheered.

Spike held Crystal in his arms, watching as she stopped crying, “See, your mama’s a superhero. And superheroes always save the day no matter what happens.”

“Rarity, please, win this so we can go back to our normal lives,” prayed Carrot Top.

Starla smiled as she looked to the sky as it was cleaned by the indigo light, much like the orange one before it, “Rarity, you are a better mare than me. I can see that. Now go and kick his ass!!!”

Fluttershy lightly blew away the lightning with her wings, before floating down onto the ground, sighing as the armor came onto her body fully. She smiled warmly at the gem on her chest and wiped it, admiring it’s pink color. Turning her head up, feeling a light blue ribbon flow through her mane, she said, “It’s about opening your heart up to others. Knowing that there is more to them then they let on and believing that they are better.”

Zephyr threw his hands up into the air alongside his parents, “Go Flutters. Show them what you got! We know you can win this thing!”

Ditzy held her daughters close, “Don’t worry girls, mommy’s here. Fluttershy is just taking her time, but she’ll save the day like she always does, don’t worry.”

Krysta sighed as she looked back at her people and then back to the light pink light that wiped the sky clean of the dark clouds.

“It’s about staying with your friends,” Rainbow Dash said, kicking the lightning aside while her armor glowed back on. As she looked back at her Element of Harmony, she whispered, “Man I missed you element. Welcome home.” then she looked back at Grogar flying down to join with her team, “Backing them up, because you believe that you can help them be their best.”

Firefly and Rainbow Blitz threw their hands up and cheered, while Scootaloo shouted what they were both thinking, “Aint no way Dash is gonna lose this one. She never does!”

Lyra continued to play her song as she stood and watched the light pass them over head, “Now everypony, stay and listen to the song of the Elements of Harmony and their many victories. Of why to challenge them, is to dance with death.”

Dyno and Myte gave out a loud cheer as they watched a red light buzzed and cut through the clouds.

Pinkie Pie happily bounced to stand with her friends, finishing the line-up that the six had made. She giggled at the warm feeling of magic that came over her and the blue ribbon of rainbow magic that flowed through her frizzy mane, “It’s about helping your friends find the hope in the darkness and telling them to hold onto it. To show them that it is as never as bad as it seems and it will get better one day.”

“Pinkie!” shouted Pumpkin.

“Pie!” shouted Pound.

Carrot cake smiled at his twins, “Yep, that’s your sister saving us again.”

“Oh honey, should we make another victory cake?” asked Cup cake.

“YEAH! Go kick that miserable sun of a bitch’s ass!” shouted Limestone.

“Now Limestone,” Pinkie’s father said.

“We don't go for that language, usually,” smiled Cloudy.

“Mmmhmm,” nodded Marble.

“Go Pinkie, yay,” said Maude Pie calmly.

Cheerilee looked at her students, “Now, I believe in heroes, because I know they are always watching us. We are always safe, because they are there waiting to do their duty.”

Artie nodded and smiled, “Pinkie, win this thing. I know you can do this.” he paused and shouted, “I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!”

“It’s about all of this and more,” Twilight said, as she and her friends rose into the sky, glaring her eyes at Grogar, forcing him to stand back. “It’s knowing that for all of your strength, all of your power, you are nothing if you don’t have someone to stand with you in the end of it all. Your power alone, is nothing compared to when you stand with others, for they will remove your weaknesses and make you stronger than ever! For alone, you may be powerful, but together you are invincible!”

As the last of the dark clouds faded, Celestia sat back and smiled warmly, “I knew my faithful student could do this. You have never let me down yet, my Twilight.”

“Twilight has grown, has she not,” smiled Luna.

Shining Armor thrusted his fist in the air, “Yeah TWILY!”

“Oh, I'm in love,” said Flash smiling.

Cadence chuckled as she looked up into the sky, “Now, beat him!”

Celestia nodded, “Go Twilight, finish this once and for all. End this war!”

Grogar backed up in horror as he threw lightning bolt after lightning bolt, watching as it dissipated against them. Shaking his head, he heard Twilight speak, “Fighting with friends is knowing that you will always have someone there to lift you up again. That you can be better, for it is a promise that you can achieve something better together than you can on your own!” as she said this, a rainbow of light flowed from their bodies and began to spin in a helix above them. After it twirled and spun in a circle it flew down from the heavens and struck Grogar hard in the chest.

Rainbow Dash smirked and thrusted her hand up, having the Rainbow of Light become her cutie mark and knocking Grogar in the head. Rarity nodded, allowing her cutie mark to take over and slashed his head. Pinkie giggled and thrusted out her hands, making her cutie mark into her party cannon and blasting him in the stomach. Fluttershy squeaked, allowing her cutie mark to slap him in the head, allowing for Applejack to buck and used her cutie mark to send Grogar into the air. Twilight nodded, sending out her cutie mark and turning it into a powerful rainbow alicorn that impaled Grogar, “You represent death and darkness? We represent life and hope!” Twilight shouted as the Rainbow of Light continue to plunge into Grogar, swirling around him.

“No, this can’t be! I’m death, eternal! I’ll just,” As the Rainbow of Light began to turn him into stone, he saw images of all of the knight’s friends and family, the ones that they had met and helped since the war had begun. Chuckling he said, “Turn me into stone? Ha! I’ll just,” he gasped watching in horror as his stone body began to shatter and crumble away.

“No, not stone. We’re breaking your stone form into pieces and sending it flying across the omniverse. You will live forever, broken in pieces!” Twilight said.

As he began to become encased in stone, he shouted, “No! STOP PLEASE I BEG OF YOU!!!!!!!!!” as his body began to crumble away by the rainbow of light as it faded away.

For a few moments, there was silence. Then, the slow sound of movement was heard as Rainbow Dash rose from the crater that she and the others had made. Panting, she smiled as she watched the rest of her friends rise back to their feet, all fully healed and restored. She sighed as she looked to Twilight, “Ok, so, did that do it? Did we officially win?”

“I think so,” Twilight said, smiling warmly.

“You sure?” Asked Applejack, rubbing her forehead, “No additional bad guys, Conquest’s little brother or something? We won?”

“Yes, we did, we won,” Twilight said with a smile, “The war is finally over, we won.”

“YES!” Rainbow Dash shouted, wrapping her arms around Fluttershy and pulling her into a deep kiss.

Rarity sighed, “Good, I am so glad for this war to be finally done! Now we can go home and return to our normal lives.”

Twilight shook her head, “Not yet Rarity. I have plans for one more miracle,” she said, much to the confusion to her friends. “Rainbow, when we get back, gather up the Umbra Circle and tell them to meet at the Palace of the Two Sisters.”

In the courtyard of the Palace of the Two Sisters, Twilight finished tracing an outline of a large white circle on the ground with twelve smaller circles surrounding it. Once she was done, she stood up and looked at the eleven mares in front of her, “Twilight, what is with the circle and why did have we all come here.”

“A little while ago, “ Twilight said, walking around the circle, “I went to the human world and helped stop Sunset from misusing my crown. There, I learned an important lesson when I used the Element of Magic to tap into my friend’s elements there and summon the Rainbow of Light to stop Sunset.”

“What lesson is that?” Cheerilee asked, sitting on a stone block.

“That it doesn’t matter what is on the outside of a person, what is important is our spirits and souls. The only reason why I could use the Element of Magic to make a connection across universes and touch my friend’s souls was because they were the same thing.”

“So, what does this have to do with us?” asked Trixie.

Twilight smiled and placed a hand onto Trixie’s shoulder, “Trixie, I don’t think it was a coincidence that you and your friends found the Elements of Fate. I believe that there is a world where you are the Element of Magic, and they are your fellow barbers. Your bond with your friends just naturally lead you to each other. It’s why you picked these five specifically to join our group.”

“Wow!” Ditzy gasped, “An element like the knights! I wonder who I am, probably Laughter, or maybe Loyalty!”

“I wouldn’t mind Honesty myself,” chuckled Raindrops.

As the Umbra Circle talked about elements, Applejack tipped her hat and asked, “Um Twilight? What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’m getting to that,” Twilight said, smiling, “Remember what happened when we fought Discord? How our Rainbow of Light fixed all of his chaos and machinations.”

“Yeah, Ah-” Applejack gasped, “You don’t mean.”

Twilight nodded, “Imagine if we had two rainbows. Think of what we could fix, think what we could do with it, think of the possibilities!”

“We could fix all of the damage Grand Knucklehead did, and Conquest!” Dash said, smiling.

Twilight nodded, “By using the connection of Trixie’s elements plus ours, I am going to summon a double Rainbow of Light, that will fix everything that has happened. There’s just one flaw,” she said, looking down. “If, I mess up, there is a high probability that I will cause a rebound that will hit the two magic wielders. That would then cause me and Trixie to overchannel and we...will never wake up again.”

Everyone in the group gasped in shock, “But, that means we might lose you all over again Twilight!” Pinkie said.

Twilight nodded, “That’s why I am putting it to a vote. If anyone one of you objects to this, then I’ll just throw this idea away. We’ll go back home and forget this plan.” she said, looking down and waiting for their response.

Applejack was the first to stand up and walk to Twilight. After taking a deep breath, she spoke, “Twilight, you know Ah am always here to support you. That Ah am always here to be by your side and hold you up. If this plan of yours has even a small chance of fixing things, then Ah say lets do it.”

“Snails thinks the world of me and Trixie,” Raindrops said, walking to Twilight, “I am not about to let the little tyke down now.”

“Conquest has hurt so many ponies, and killed so many others,” Fluttershy said, looking down. “If there is even a small chance that we can save them and fix this by working together, then we need to take it.”

“I always taught my daughters that you need to be brave and do what’s right,” Ditzy said, walking to her friends, “And momma isn’t a liar.”

“Everypony is so miserable lately,” Pinkie said with a smile, “I think it’s time we put some smiles on everypony’s faces again.”

Cheerilee got off her stone, “I have taught my students so many stories about heroes and legends. I think it’s about time I become a part of the legend myself.”

“I want my daughter to grow up in the world of Equestria I grew up in, and to know a world of peace,” Rarity said stepping forward, “This is the first step.”

“I was born to help everypony. I am not about to go back on that duty now!” Carrot Top nodded and stepped forward.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and smirked, “Did you even need to ask, Twilight? I never leave a gal hanging. Let’s see if you can pull off one last miracle today.”

“Bonnie sees me as her knight,” Lyra said, “It’s about time I live up to it.”

Twilight smiled as she looked at her friends, and then looked to Trixie as she stood away from the others. Sighing, Twilight said, “Well, Trixie. You are deciding vote, we need all twelve to be unanimous.”

Trixie looked to the eleven mares and then at her feet. Sighing, she shook her head and then tipped her hat, “Why not!? Trixie cannot think of any better way to go out and trying to save the world one last time! So, let’s do it and go out in a blaze of glory!”

“Thanks Trixie,” Twilight said, smiling warmly as Trixie stood in the circle. Twilight took her place and held Applejack’s hand along with Trixie’s. Soon the group were all holding hands as one, while Twilight began to speak, “Girls, I want you to focus on your harmonic connection. To focus on the bonds of friendship we have made together. Remember the feeling of the first time we unleashed the rainbow together.”

Each of them did, closing their eyes as a ribbon of rainbow energy began to flow through each of the twelve. The jewels that they held upon their necks began to glow in sync with each other as they rose up, a white light surrounding the two teams. After a few moments, twin rainbows of light shot out from a white dome in the center of the field, circling each other in a helix as it reached up into the sky. One the ground, the two teams vanished into the darkening storm clouds that had formed in the sky. For a brief moment, nothing happened as the world waited with baited breath. Then the clouds parted as two stary alicorns descended from the storm clouds above.

One was a violet alicorn with a mane of white, cyan, orange, pink, and yellow. Her sister was a blue alicorn with a mane of grey, yellow, magenta, jasmine, and green. The blue alicorn nodded to her sister and then flew off, the purple alicorn flying soon after.

As the blue alicorn flew across the land, everywhere she touched the world began to change. Lands that were once fallow were given new life once more, while buildings were restored once more. Waters that were ruined were restored, and a sense of harmony was brought to the land. once she was done with Equestria, the alicorn flew to the next planet followed by the next, healing it.

The violet alicorn had a different purpose, one that was very special. As she flew across the land, things had begun to change for a moment. In the home of Dyno, he sighed as he sat alone in his home, “I wonder what I am going to do now?” he asked to himself when he heard the door open.

Looking up, he gassed as he saw Myte stepped in, “Brother? What’s going on?” he asked looking over his body. “How did I get here?”

“Brother!” shouted Dyno as he hugged his brother tightly, “I thought I would never see you again. But, how are you alive?” he asked through his tears.

“I don't’ know brother, I just-” there was a flash of light, and when the brothers opened their eyes, Dyno looked down and gasped at what he saw. When Myte looked down, he gasped at the lack of hands and feet, “Dyno, I’m a pony! I’m a pony!”

Dyno laughed as he looked at his now earth pony brother, looking at his flank, “Not just a pony, look brother!” he said, pointing to a chemical bottle on his brother’s flank, “You got a cutie mark!”

“So do you!” Myte said, pointing to the stick of dynamite on his brother’s flank. “We’re Equestrians!!!!”

“Oh my Celestia, we’re Equestrians now!!!!” shouted Myte, hugging his brother tightly.

Daphne sighed as she watched herself become an earth pony. Then she felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up at her earth pony cousin. Smiling, she shouted, “Buddy! You’re alive, and ok!”

“Hey there, Daphne. I’m glad to see that Applejack took good care of-” before Buddy could say another word, a flash of light shined overhead. From the sky, dropped a piece of paper.

“What’s it say?” asked Daphne as she watched Buddy reading.

“Dear Mr. Rose, After much discussion and deliberation, we have decided to offer you full guardianship of your ward Daphne Dill. Please take good care of your daughter, signed Celestia.”

“DADDY!” shouted Daphine as she jumped and hugged her new father as tight as she could, a flash of light shining on her flank, revealing an image of a flower popping from a seed.

Rhymey growled as he looked at his pegasus wings and at his cutie mark. Turning his head to the sky, he said, “You think you can insult me like this!? Think that I am deterred by this? I will have my revenge! You hear-”

“Rhymey!” shouted a loud, obnoxious voice from behind him.

“What,” Rhymey said, before turning around and looking at the looming shadow before him. As he saw what was looking at him, he let out a loud girlish scream as a rolling pin hit him upside the head.

Starla gasped as she watched the light flash over her, changing her into a unicorn. Looking at her flank, she gasped, “A cutie mark?” looking at it closely, she saw an arrow shooting through a star, “But, what does it mean?”

Dementia, now a unicorn with a long red mane, stepped forward and smiled at her daughter, “I think it has a lot to do with your love of astrology. Just like mine,” she said, showing her cutie mark of an arrow through a heart, “I think it means I can always find my loved ones no matter where they are.”

Starla smiled at this and hugged her mother with both forelegs. Turning around, she watched as the light changed Rep-Stallion into a kirin and Inquirious into an unicorn with long green mane. Rep smirked as he grabbed his wife and said, “Hun, you have never looked better!” he then tipped her over and kissed her deeply.

Mysterious changed into a dark stallion with a white mane. Looking back to his little brother, he saiad, “You aren’t going to kiss me to, right brother?”

“No, not this time,” Mysterious chuckled as he hugged his little brother.

Artie tapped his forehead, feeling the spiral curves trailing up his horn. Then he looked back at his flank, seeing the mark of a paintbrush with a sword attached to it. He chuckled as he said, “What, am I now a painting warrior?” he laughed as he jumped around, enjoying his new freedom.

lightning laughed as he flapped down to land next to Artie, now a white pegasus with a black mane, landed on the ground and smiled, “Well at least you can tell what your mark means.” he said, looking at his flank at a lightning bolt over a rising sun, “I have no idea what this means yet.”

“That’s what friends are for to help you with,” Artie said patting his friend on the shoulder. “Now come on, we’ve got some heroes to meet. Right?”

lightning nodded, “Dang straight!”

In a crater near Canterlot, a white hoof rose from the ground. Looking around, he gasped, “I’m alive! Yes, and now to restore my-” the high pitched voice squeaked as he felt his throat, “My voice, what happened to my voice!” turning to look at the mirror, the young colt stepped back in horror as he took in his sight, “I’m a colt!? I’m a-”

“It seems the eEements don’t really kill when they bring back the evil ones,” Titan said, chuckling as he walked by Grand Ruler. “They merely dole out an ironic punishment.”

“What?” asked young Grand Ruler as he ran around, noting the lack of wings and a horn. “No, this can't’ be! I can’t be a colt again!!!”

“Why not? You have acted as a child for so long that the Elements decided that you should be forced to relive those days until you learn humility,” Titan said, laughing. “Oh, and since I don’t think Celestia wants to be married to a child, I think you can consider your marriage null and void.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” screamed Grand Ruler as he laid back and proceeded to kick his legs up and cried.

Back in the Castle of the Two Sisters, the alicorns landed back on the ground and dissipated, leaving behind twelve passed out ponies. Applejack was the first to get back up and shake her head, “Whoo Whee, it’s an exhilarating feeling to do that, but Ah don’t want to do it again.”

Raindrops nodded, “Yeah, did anyone get the number of the cart that hit us?”

“Wait,” Fluttershy whispered, “Where’s Trixie and Twilight?”

“There!” Pinkie shouted, pointing to the prone figures of Twilight and Trixie as they laid flat on the ground. Their bodies unmoving as they laid.

For a long silence, nopony in the group moved. Then Applejack rolled her eyes and walked to Twilight, nuding her with a hoof, “Get up Twilight, it ain't right scaring us like this!”

Twilight mumbled, “Sorry, but it was Trixie’s idea.”

Trixie nodded as she stood to all fours, “Of course! Trixie wanted to see what you lot would say about her if you thought she and Twilight were dead!”

“Yeah, well it aint happening!”Dash said with a roll of her eyes, “You can’t prank this little pony that easily. Come on Twilight, let me give you a hoof,” she then paused as she looked down at her fingerless hoof. “A...hoof!?”

“Well, Ah’ll be darned!” Applejack gasped as she looked at her hind legs and forelegs, “Ah’m an earth pony again!!!”

“We’re normal ponies again!” Pinkie cheered jumping for joy and hugging her friends.

Rarity flipped her mane and smiled, “Yes, it’s wonderful for all of us to be back to our normal sizes.”

Rainbow’s wings stuck out as she got a good look in between Rarity’s legs, “Um, maybe not all of us our normal size again. Man those things are big, and look good on you Rarity.”

“Things, what do you,” Rarity paused, and looked between her legs, noting her very large mammaries that were not in between her hind legs. Blushing, she crossed her legs, “Well, when one becomes a mother. It is only natural that your mammaries tend to grow in size, and my family has been known to be quite, well, um endowed in that area.” blushing, she thought to herself, “Going to need a maternity dress for this.”

This caused the group to break out into laughter at this, only to stop at the sound of a voice, “Ditzy?”

“I don’t believe it,” gasped Ditzy as she saw a yellow stallion with a light blue mane step out, “Sunstar!?”

“I don’t know what happened. One point I was laying in the ground, and the next I was-” that was when he was tackled and taken behind a bush by a very happy wife.

Lyra shook head, “Ok, will somepony tell me what’s going on?”

“The Elements,” lightning said, stepping out of the shadows, joined by the other members of Starfleet. “I think they reset everything to back before Grand Ruler ever came to Equestria and healed everyone.”

“Just, back to before he came,” Applejack sighed and looked down.

“Oh, Applejack, I’m so sorry,” Fluttershy said, hugging her friend.

Applejack smiled faintly, “No, it’s ok. I’ve made my peace with it, really. Ah’m not expecting too many miracles, and we can’t have everything. Ah’m good.”

“Wait,” Dash asked, “What happened to Rhymey?”

Rhymey then ran out of the forest, screaming his head off as he was chased down by an overly obese earth pony with a ball and chain cutie mark, “Come back here and love your wife!!!!”

“Get away from me she-devil!!!!” shouted Rhymey as he ran away.

This caused the entire group to laugh, just as a heavenly voice spoke from above, “You have done well, my faithful student. Once again you have surpassed my expectations and saved the world.” Celestia said as she landed on the ground and smiled at her student.

Luna smiled as she landed next to Celestia, “And you Trixie. You have performed well above my expectations. I cannot be prouder of you.”

“Princess!” Twilight shouted and ran to nuzzle her teacher.

“Master!” Trixie said, following Twilight and nuzzling Luna’s neck.

Celestia smiled as she watched her student return to her friends, “Once again, I am impressed by everything you have done. Not only did you fight back against death, and defeated hatred, but you used the powers of friendship to bring back our world. This past year has shown how powerful the bond between you and your friends truly are. Even when faced with impossible odds, you kept true to yourselves, and never lost hope no matter the cost and did the impossible.”

“Indeed,” Luna said, “All of you fought well and above the call of duty of anypony on the planet.”

“And I think,” lightning said, lowering his head between his forelegs and bowing before Twilight and friends, “It’s time to show you six the respect you deserve.” As he bowed, Starla, Buddy, Artie, Dyno, and Myte soon bowed to the six.

When Twilight turned around, she saw her friends about to bow, “Girls, please, you don’t need to bow to me.”

“She’s right,” Celestia said, bowing low to Twilight, “On this day, you and your friends bow to no one.”

Luna bowed, “Trixie, this includes you girls too.”

Twilight stepped back and watched as her teach bow to her and her friends. Somewhere, she could feel everypony in Equestria turn towards her and her friends, taking a bow and lowering their heads. In the Griffon Kingdoms, the mighty people took a knee and placed a claw to the ground. Where ponies did not bow, others would jump for joy and cheer on the heroes. On the many worlds, others began to either bow or cheer for their saviors.

Twilight then looked behind her at her friends and smiled as she saw them. Trixie topped off her hat and bowed, taking in the applause while Raindrops showed off her muscles. Ditzy smiled and waved to the crowds while Cheerilee and Lyra began to preen and show off. Carrot Top did her hair a little and bowed.

Then she looked to her five friends and smiled warmly. Rainbow Dash flew in the sky, begging for more cheers. Applejack tipped her hat and crossed her forelegs, while Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind her mane. Rarity primped her mane while crossing her hind legs. Pinkie bounced up and down, giggling happily. Sighing softly, she walked to join her friend as the world began to cheer them on.

...

And that’s my story. A story about my life, death, and rebirth. More importantly, it’s a story about the five greatest mares I have ever known and how they conquered all odds. Brought down an empire, defeated a god, and saved the universe. Of how they refused to give into darkness and despair, only to come out better than ever.

It was a story about redemption, heroes, and how it all came to an end in the light.

Thank you for listening to my story.

Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Note

Thanks to Zolt and Wyvernseeker for thier hard work. No, thank them immensly for the past few years of hard work. I don’t think I can thank these guys enough for sitting through the writings and ramblings of this writer.

This chapter had been a long time coming. I had written it, rewritten it, and talked about it every chance I got. The only other scene that I think I did just a much was the Dash and fireball scene, and that was just to have her be awesome. While this chapter continued to be modified and recreated through the years, the meaning of this inal battle and the reasons behind it remained the same.

So, what are some of the biggest differences. Well, in the original rough draft, rarity wasn’t really there, she was missing from the original fight and was still pregnant (Clarity wasn’t to be born until the epilouge) so her fight came in later. This was also to help serve as a chance for lady Rarity to have a small character arc of her own to join her friends.

Originally, I didn’t have much in the way of opponents for the mane ive to fight. I forgot who Dash and AJ were to fight in the rough draft, and I think Pinkie’s fight with Raven was there and carried the same meaning about the futility of staying angry and spiteful. However, she didn’t really start to come onto her own until the story developed. Kudos was also added later on and was first a Dash opponent.

So, this means that the main fight was Conquest and Twilight. And, before I say more, yes...Twillight’s new mode is based off of Ultra Instinct from Dragon Ball. I figured I better jump on the bandwagon and make it awesome beore Toriyama comes up with a new more powerful form. And you know it’s gonna happen! I hereby dub this mode, “Harmonic Twilight!”

But anyway, the end to the fight, the death of Conquest, was always the same. Pinkie or Fluttershy (It was Fluttershy in the original, because she had lacked the ability to hate. Please not the foreshadowing) Why is that? Well, it has a lot to do with why Conquest was who he was. Conquest is meant to represtent how silly and stupid it is to write a fanfic based on hate. He is what happens when you craft a fic based only on a desire to bash, hate, or even just troll the fanbase. I wanted him to be silly, over the top, and just wrong because that is how I see the original author or writers of things like “A scorcerer and emeralds” or “Vengance Chronicles”

Pinkie? She’s the representation of what it is like to craft a story based on the love of the story. What happens when you write a fice because you love the characters and because you love the world. In a sense, I wanted Pinkie’s killing of Conquest to represent the power of a love of the material vs hate. The power of caring and compassion over the desire to kill and cause misery.

Actually, I realized that I had made the six representations of what it is to write from a love of the world.

Twilight: the magic of crafting a well written story.

Pinkie: Having fun with the world

Rarity: Giving of yourself ad being creative

Applejack: Remaining true to the world.

Rainbow Dash: Staying true to the characters.

Fluttershy: Beinh kind to your fans.

For me, Twilgiht’s victory was my own victory over my writing of hate fics. It was my conquring of hate and misery.

The Grogar fight was originally meant to be Titan, complete with Celestia saying daddy’s home.

And the ending...

Remember how I said that I am a guy who doesn’t believe in a no-win scenario and a happy ending? Well, here you go. I had always planned on having the mane 12 use the power of the elements to bring back the dead, savign everything that can be potientially saved. Granted, this was meant to have some scenes of Lighting coming back to life with his horn and his cutie mark, plus Fluttershy and Celestia looking at the revived due of Rhymey and Celesto, saying how they want a divorce.

Nothing much more to say then stay tuned for the epilouge.