Author's Note

Special thanks to anyone who read this!

Special thanks to Author of MADness for proofreading!

Sorry for this long delay, but I promise the next chapter and the Epilogue will come sooner rather than later!

Edit: Added theme songs to each phase of the battle.

Phase 1-Windigo-: Theme 1-Treachery

Phase 2-Alicorn Amulet-: Theme 2-Xaxas

Phase 3-Sombra-: Theme 3-The Seal Is Broken

Chapter 4: ...you might burn yourself...

The gushing wind. The slight clang of metal shifting every now and then. The collective breathing of twenty-five thousand souls.

That was all that could be heard in the Trap Zone while they waited for the arrival of a monster that had been created in the hopes of bringing Spike Solaris back to life. They would unmake it or die trying, each and every one of them more than prepared for that. Everyone was willing to give down their lives with the utmost gusto if that meant preventing another Fall from ever happening again.

Even those that didn’t suffer the effects of the Fall directly but had seen the aftermath of almost four years of the vilest, putrid, and disgusting depravity of those who did suffer it, were more than ready to do their part.

In the center of the army, Twilight Sparkle and her friends were standing next to each other; each clad in armor and wielding their weapons of choice. She couldn’t help to look around from time to time to see the faces of her friends and the army around them. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to calm her shaking hands.

“Please tell me you’re joking, Twilight,” Soarin said rubbing his temples.

Twilight did a quick glance around the restored Cutie Map meeting room to see the leaders of the Equis Alliance, Lord Ember, and the captains of the Scaled Units looking at her with varying degrees of bafflement. To her side stood Torch, Chrysalis, Discord, and her five closest friends. The only one not present was Shining Armor, but Cadance made sure he was listening through a telepathic link.

“I wish I was, Soarin. But all of the evidence fits into my new theory with terrifying sense. Still, it’s just a theory, but if it is true then…” Twilight stopped herself from finishing that sentence.

“Great. Just fucking great!” Soarin shouted throwing his arm up in the air. “So we fucked it up from the fucking beginning!?” Blueblood placed a hand on his shoulder causing Soarin to calm down and sigh. “Sorry… my point is, we actually managed to bring Spike back, BUT this ‘Corrupted Spike’ is now something we don’t have the faintest of ideas how to properly fight against?”

“...Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. That thing we brought back is our Spike. A broken, mindless, horrid, and abominable version of our Spike,” Twilight answered while Chrysalis grasped her hand for support.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said in a tone that sent a shiver down the spine of everyone present, even Discord. “Are you absolutely, completely, utterly, perfectly, entirely, irrevocably certain that that monster is my boy?”

Twilight nodded in response. “Discord was right when he said the ritual and the materials needed did their part. The ritual was a success,” looking down to the map, Twilight was able to see her own reflection glaring back at her. “However, in my stupidity, I never once took into account the most important element of all: Spike himself.”

“We never took into consideration his uniqueness because we were ignorant of how far it really goes,” Chrysalis said looking directly at Celestia’s eyes. “In our quest to bring Spike back to life we ended up bringing him back as a tainted vessal for what we fear are several conduits of power, tainted or otherwise.”

“So what are we looking to fight against right now?” Zhaka asked crossing his arms. Just like everyone else present, he was dressed and suited for war.

“From what I can understand, and if Princess Twilight’s theory is correct, we are dealing with a being that has several forms of magic and power at its disposal,” Chief Thunderhooves said rubbing his chin.

“Do we have any idea what those sources might be aside from the Sickness?” Shifting Sands asked.

“With such a short notice I can’t be entirely sure. According to Dolorian and the ‘battle’ in Deerasian, I believe that Spike… that the creature also possesses remnant powers of Sombra, the Crystal Heart, and Discord since it is immune to his magic.”

“Didn’t you say that the monster is indeed my cousin?” Blueblood asked raising an eyebrow.

“True. But I refuse to call that thing by the name of my number one assistant anymore,” Twilight said firmly. “Anyways, we may also have to deal with my own powers, Celestia’s, and maybe even with changeling magic.”

“So our only real advantage is that the creature is but a mindless husk?” Ember asked.

“Not entirely, I’m afraid. According to Fluttershy and Shining Armor, that monster is guided by blind rage and hate, unable to form any form of rational thought. In all instances, it is a soulless, mindless husk. Its actions thus far prove them right. Except it does possess a soul… or at least a small fraction from which it draws a ‘focus’ of sorts. It would explain why it has only attacked places where we knew or was suspected of Faithful activity. Spike would’ve hunted them down with murderous zeal, and that’s why it has hunted them across the world.”

“But since it doesn’t have any sense of even the most basic signs of intelligence, it attacks everything and everyone near it without any kind of regard. We can only assume that this momentary instinctual ‘focus’ is due to the fact that the part of your Spike that may be inside that thing is the dominant part… for the moment,” Torch told.

An uncomfortable silence followed after their explanation.

“What could happen after there’s no more Faithful's or tainted?” Blood Talons asked while Sebastian stood at his side.

“That monster also spreads the Sickness everywhere it goes. How long will it take for it to take complete control over this new Horned King?” Creslin asked in a rhetoric manner while spitting venom with each word she said.

“It matters not! We won’t allow that to come,” Yog said taking by surprise everyone with his harsh, hateful tone. Not even Chrysalis or his fellow captains had ever heard him speak in such a way before. “That filthy creature of pain, death, destruction, corruption, and debauchery will be obliterated. The Lightbringer shall not be sullied any longer!”

Most in the room showed their agreement with a short nod or by voicing it. Or in Rutherford’s case by shouting it.

“Wait, what about the Elements of Harmony? It is possible that their power lies inside the monster, too?” Luna asked looking at Twilight. “Spike spent much time alongside the six of you and the Tree of Harmony, did he not?”

“Yes, but he was never directly in contact with their power as far as I know,” Twilight and the girls turned their gaze to the empty rebuilt seat of Spike at Twilight’s side. The top of it showcasing a single scroll with an ‘S’ in the center of the golden button keeping the scroll close. “Our strategy remains the same. All we have to do is be more cautious about its actions. Fighting it hand to hand is not a feasible option until we are able to weaken it.”

“He’s nearing.”

Twilight opened her eyes when she heard Ember speak. “How close is it?” She asked with her friends at her side.

“If he doesn’t slow down he’ll be here in about two minutes!” Ember said loud enough for Celestia and Luna, who had decided to join her sister in the sky, to hear her.

“This is it, everyone! You know what to do. Steady your hands and hearts, let us end this nightmare once and for all!” Luna shouted using her Royal Canterlot Voice. The entire army replied with different shouts of approval. Some cheered for Equestria, others for all of Equis, and others for Spike or ‘The Lightbringer’ in the case of the changelings.

Seconds that felt frozen in time passed. Everything was quiet now. The tamed monsters were still. The soldiers were silent and unmoving. The wind had stopped. The giant statue waited patiently. And the only thing everyone could hear was the rushed beating of their own hearts drumming away in their ears.

More than twenty-five thousand souls stood firm withstanding the almost unbearable wait before the fight.

To them, an eternity had passed until the silence was broken.

“... I… I LOST HIM!” Ember shouted in desperation. Frantically shaking her scepter. Instead of finding panic, Ember turned around when a hand touched her shoulder. She was greeted by the firm yet friendly face of Cadance, assuring her nothing was wrong.

“It’s coming,” Cadance reassured.

Ember nodded to the pink alicorn before taking a few steps forward to stand side by side with her father. She noticed Torch was ready for anything.

More seconds passed until everyone heard a distant roar. Nothing more than a whisper to their ears, yet it still managed to send a shiver up their spines, making their hearts beat faster.

The Mane six, Cadance, and Discord step closer to each other until they were able to lock their hands together as a chain.

A moment later something landed on top of the bait sending fumes of purple fire and mist all over the place, followed by a powerful tremor.

Needing no indications to start, several unicorns, changelings, and shamans began channeling their magic to create a barrier that wouldn’t let anything but air come in or out of it. Meanwhile, the units hold on their place, clutching their weapons tight. The leaders for their part moved to their positions, readying themselves to face such a tainted beast.

They heard as the monster roared without stop; screams of pain breaking through the roars every few seconds. They were unable to watch its actions as the cloud of fire and mist covered the monster and its latest victims.

Shining saw through the eyes of the statue how the cover of the creature dissipated revealing the maimed corpses of the treacherous leaders. He watched with morbid satisfaction how Orestes was still alive, unbound from the crux but held up by one of Spike’s monstrous hands with ease.

He smiled seeing Oreste's kick and wail while Spike stared at the gray pegasus with those lidless, empty glowing eyes. Only for a moment, Shining wondered if somehow Spike was able to recognize Orestes. He was pulled out of his thoughts, however, when it let out a deafening and terrifying roar that causes Orestes’s ears to bleed. He watched with a huge smile on his face as Spike used his other hand to tore Orestes’s genitals with a hateful pull. It then proceeded to impale Orestes by his guts with his sharp pointy tail for support. Then, Spike grabbed Orestes’s arms and extended them, but instead of ripping them, he pulled at them just enough to dislocate Orestes’s shoulders and then shoved the arms into his body. Spike then grabbed Orestes’s head, whom by some miracle was still alive (much to Shining Armor’s joy), following it up by retreating his tail only to slash through his gut. Orestes’s severed, twitching lower half fell to the ground with some of his vile and inner organs falling too before Spike tossed the upper half to the air.

Celestia watched the mangled body of Oreste's land in front of the statue then returned to the motionless monster about a hundred meters away in front of them. It let out another far more powerful roar that made her flinch. Looking up she saw the barrier was complete.She closed her eyes for a moment to focus her power, she lifted her flaming sword until she was pointing at the still roaring and stomping draconic abomination, and then her eyes snapped open shining with yellow light.

A beam of fire and magic emerged from her sword directly at the creature with blinding speed.

From Luna’s urga a dark blue yet shining beam of magic surged forward.

Blood Talons drew his twin swords, each engraved with runes of his ancestors, crossed them and then slashed at the creature sending an electric wave his way.

And Twilight and Chrysalis both joined their magic into a powerful beam.

The rest of the leaders who didn’t have means for range combat simply took guard while Discord snapped his fingers to reinforce the great shield all around the area.

“FIRE!” The echo of the captains of the Scaled Units was heard a moment before lighting strikes, a shower of magically enhanced arrows, overcharged magical beams and spells came down on the creature from all directions.

Everyone was able to hear the mighty roar of the creature come to a halt the moment the attacks of their leaders hit its hide, a cloud of dust and magic covered the creature entirely. The roar was replaced by one that was dripping with fury. Even so, no one stopped firing everything they got upon it.

Ember looked at her father and nodded. Torch roared signaling his fellow dragons and those within the Scaled Units to send a fire stream directly at the monstrosity.

The fire of the dragons cleared away the dust of dirt and magic covering the creature and letting them see in a multicolored blaze how it thrashed around trying to extinguish the flames and the plethora of attacks raining down upon it.

The colossal statue began to move forward seeing that the attacks so far were proving to be effective. Inside, Shining Armor stopped for a moment before stomping hard on the remains of Orestes. Just for good measure, he thought with a genuine smile on his lips while continuing his march against the creature.

Up in the sky, Celestia saw the monstrosity stop its trashing mere steps before Shining Armor could reach it. She frowned seeing it slump forward, and then her eyes went wide when an instant later the creature roared with an intensity that made the very ground tremble and a massive surge of purple mist to erupt as if it was a volcanic eruption that disrupted all attacks by shielding it within the mist.

She then saw it roar to the sky while its arms began to shake. Moments later she saw a white mist begin to emerge from the ground below it.

“Defensive positions!” Steeling herself, she shouted just as Shining Armor got close enough to it for him to deliver a devastating punch to the creature trying to squash him. Then her eyes went wide once more.

Twilight and her friends watched in disbelief how a white barrier was in between the statue’s fist and the monster they were trying to destroy. She also noticed that the white mist was spreading.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack said out loud.

“What the hay is that monster doing?” Rainbow Dash questioned while Rarity allowed a young phoenix to land on her shoulder, it shivering with fear.

“Peewee, are you alright darling?” Her answer came in the form of a soft whimpering chirp. With a quick look around Rarity saw almost every other creature brought for the battle was cowering.

“W-what?” Fluttershy murmured looking at Peewee. “A-are you certain?” Peewee chirped again. Fluttershy gulped before holding her husband’s paw tighter.

Glaring at the creature while Shining tried to squash it again with another punch, Discord noticed his wife’s hand gripping his lion paw. Without looking at her, he asked. “What’s wrong, Flutter?”

Fluttershy gulped, her hand trembling. “Peewee said--”

Before Fluttershy could answer further, the beast stopped roaring for two whole seconds.

Then it roared again, but something was different in this roar. The roar quickly morphed into something more akin to a screech, less powerful but equally, and maybe even more so, terrifying than its previous roars. That something was only a selected few had the immense misfortune to know exactly what it was.

*WHHHHHRRRRROOOOAAAAHHHHH*

“WINDIGO!” Someone shouted amongst the unit that had formed behind the statue.

Twilight saw how many of those Scales Guards, the elite of the elite, veterans of countless battles that had fought alongside Spike since his days playing as a General of Dainn had discarded their weapons and were curling up in fear; crying out in terror and pain as the screeching roar continued. Looking up, she saw how Soarin was trying to calm down some of his Battle-Brothers, also veterans from those dark Shadow Hunter days. She then felt an icy chill hug her body and was forced to look at the creature once more.

Luna gritted her teeth as she witnessed how Shining Armor retreated two steps while a swirling tornado of purple mist and white ice formed around the creature sending flying any upcoming arrows and dispersing every magical beam and spell. She then saw the creature take a step forward sending out a burst of icy mist that dispersed the fire coming from the dragons. The creature continued to screech and she saw ice solid stalagmites emerged from the ground around him and began to spread out quickly.

She also saw hundreds of icy spikes form from thin air around the creature. Her horn lit up and her eyes turned silver creating a barrier around the monster just in time to stop the first spikes launching forward in random directions.

Soon enough Twilight, Cadance, Celestia, and Chrysalis added their own barriers and magic to Luna’s to stop the attacks of the creature. A task that was difficult thanks to the added chilling fear the screeching brought to their very bones. All around them zebra and buffalo shamans were performing their rituals and their unique magic to destroy and repel the stalagmites.

“Heart Unit, now!” Blueblood commanded and every unicorn, changeling, and shamans forming his unit added their magic into a single concentrated blast of energy in the direction of the beast.

The statue took a knee and covered itself the moment the multiple barriers around the monster dropped and a moment later the massive blast hit the monster squarely.

A bright flash of light followed by a thunderous roar and cracking of raw magical power that extinguished the screeching of the creature and buzzed in the ears of everyone present made themselves known. It took them a few moments to come out of their haze and what they saw sent jubilant cheers out of the mouths of everyone. The creature stood in place, right arm missing along with half of its torso and face and no trace of ice anywhere.

Celestia zoomed in without wasting another second with her flaming sword ready to strike.

The creature looked at her with its single eye and once more screeched meeting her strike with a swing of his claws. The impact created a loud shockwave, one that sent Celestia flying back only to be captured by one of the statue’s hand and for the creature to lose its other arm in the process. She shot a stream of fire and magic through her sword again, but it was met by a stream of purple fire that consumed her attack. With a nasty glare, Celestia saw the missing parts of the creature regenerate in a matter of seconds while the mist protected it against the renewed attacks of her forces.

Celestia felt anger boil inside her upon seeing the icy spikes beginning to form once more. The statue released let go of her and she ended her attack, ducking in time to avoid the purple stream of fire. Upon landing, she prepared to fire another beam when two figured landed at her sides.

“Ready, Dad?” Ember asked, her entire body covered in the energy of the Scepter.

“Let’s end that abomination!” Torch shouted, his body also surrounded by the same energy as Ember. “The three of us at the same time, Celestia!”

Celestia merely gave a nod, focusing on feeding her sword more and more energy. She then noticed how the creature looked at them, it screeched again before sending out a thick stream of purple fire with white mist surrounding it.

The Princess of the Sun shouted at the top of her lungs soon accompanied by the powerful roars of Ember and Torch. Three streams of fire, blue, golden, and red-orange, surged forward to meet the purple and white stream. Before colliding with it, the three streams combined into one, the impact of the now multicolored stream and the purple with white one sent a loud shockwave throughout the field.

A smile spread across the three of them seeing their combined attack push back against the stream of the resurrected Spike until it hit reached the protective mist. Their combined stream burning right through the purple mist slowly until it made direct contact with its scales.

*WHHHHHRRRRROOOOAAAAHHHHH!*

The creature screeched in pain as fire engulfed it once more. The creature fell to the ground, hitting, clawing, and stomping on it trying to get rid off of the flames consuming it ruthlessly. Lightning bolts, several kinds of spells, magic bolts, arrows, fire streams from other dragons, and even javelins from the closing ranks of the Claw Unit began to shower the creature once more, the purple mist around it dimming down by the second.

“Keep going, brothers and sisters! The beast is almost defeated! For Equestria. For the Alliance. For Spike!” Soarin shouted from the skies.

“REAPER! LIGHTBRINGER! SPIKE!” The chants were loud and clear coming from everywhere and everyone on the battlefield.

Celestia watched the downed creature in the shape that was a cruel mockery of her son stir in pain, the screeches slowly changing back into roars as it continued to thrash around uncontrollably. Her gaze was stern when it was met by the eyes of the creature. She squinted her eyes just enough to see how the white mist emitting from his right eye began to die down but the red mist grew to replace it.

Before something else could happen, Shining Armor stepped closer once more, the attacks ceased, and this time there was no mist or barrier protecting the creature so Shining began to punch the still flaming monster over and over again dozens of times. Each hit drawing a short-lived roar before another punch wrecked its form, it also made the army cheer loudly for the demise of the monster and the end to the Caribou’s curse once and for all.

Shining Armor pulled back the statue’s right arm back as high as he could, then a bright, thick, powerful lavender aura surrounded the entire arm of the statue before it struck down the creature one final time. The punch was so ridiculously powerful that not only it did create a thunderous shock wave that made the ground tremble, but it also created a small crater from the impact.

Seconds passed as the dust cloud the last impact had stir up began to disperse. The cheering died down, all eyes focused on the crater and the statue waiting for the confirmation that the monster had been defeated.

Celestia took a couple of tentative steps flanked by Ember and Torch. With a flash of magic, Luna, Zhaka, Blood Talons, Sebastian, and Creslin appeared alongside them.

“Is the beast dead?” Zhaka asked eyeing the crater and the unmoving statue.

The answer came in the form of the ground below them beginning to tremble. The group was forced to stop to maintain their balance while they saw tendrils and sparks of red magic shoot out from within the crater. The red magic blasts began to increase in number and grow in intensity alongside the shaking ground.

Suddenly, it stopped as fast as it began. No one was sure what was happening or what was going to happen. Then, without any sense of warning, a powerful blast of pure red, sickening magic exploded from the crater creating a pillar of energy that destroyed the statue’s right arm all the way to the shoulder, shattering it into dust and sending the statue stumbling on the ground with a loud crash.

Celestia and her group then saw a hulking figure land about ten meters in front of them, it creating a small quake when it landed. Her eyes widened when a second later she recognized that the figure was the creature, but she noticed it was different. It was bigger, the arms, legs, horns, and tail were now longer and thicker, its torso, arms, and legs thick with bulging muscles, the scales were a tad bit darker, there was more of that purple mist coming out from its body, and the feeling of dread it's heavy aura projected was far more intense than when it had arrived. Only its head, eyes, and face remained the same.

The only other differences she could notice were that alongside the purple mist, red sparks of energy also emerged from its body.

“Zhu’l kar-iji, Koptaka zu hawarudo!”

Eyes turned to Zhaka in time to see a multitude of zebra markings glow all over his exposed body, armor, spear, and mane while his eyes turned black. A moment later he lunged forward against the creature so fast some believed he had just teleported.

The beast roared the moment Zhaka’s spear pierced through its chest scales, the tip of it digging deep into where the creature’s heart was supposed to be. Zhaka ducked avoiding a claw swing from the creature before pulling back his spear, struck its open maw driving the tip out the back of its head, then dodged an upcoming tail swing from the creature and another claw swing. Zhaka pulled back, rolled to the side, chanted something in his native tongue making his spear glow with a deep green aura, he rolled to the side dodging more of the beast’s attacks before skewering the abomination’s torso, abdomen, throat, and arms with an onslaught of lightning fast strikes of his spear; each strike spilling almost black, putrid goo from the quickly regenerating wounds and onto the ground that in turn turned into more mist instants later.

Despite Zhaka’s formidable efforts and outstanding speed, he wasn’t able to evade a sudden burst of red energy that knocked him back. He was caught by Blood Talons and Ember while he saw the creature pull his spear from its throat, the green glow diminished only to be replaced by a purple one; two seconds later the spear was reduced to ashes. Once they landed, Zhaka spits out some blood and they noticed that the statue was on its feet once more and near the beast.

The creature then lets out a powerful roar while more and more red tendrils of energy shoot out of his body. Shining Armor took this moment to stomp on the creature, he focused his magic around the entire right leg before bringing it down upon the monster.

Cadance had to suppress a gasp when she saw the further deformed creature stop the statue’s foot with its claws. Despite the distance, she was able to hear the cracking of the statue’s gem structure and saw the arms of the abomination bulge and triple their thickness before ripping the statue’s entire leg in a single pull. Not content with that, the creature then tossed the leg with strength enough to shatter it and the head of the statue upon impact. It then roared sending a blast of red energy against the remaining pieces of the statue. The statue shattered almost immediately after the blast hit it, thankfully she saw a lavender sphere descend before popping revealing her husband before landing at Luna’s side.

She then saw Celestia and those with her resume their assault. The monster roared in defiance and began to walk towards them. Each slow, dumb step of the creature creating a tremor and a short quake.

Looking down at the Crystal Heart resting on her hands, she saw the light coming out of it was dim. Cadance felt her heart ache with dread and fear upon seeing more fractures forming on the frame of the Heart. Worst of all, she could no longer feel the complete presence of the Heart itself.

“That thing destroyed the statue and is still standing after all those attacks…what in the name of our ancestors have we done?” Thunderhooves asked seeing the group of Celestia back away or split up to attack from different angles while the Scaled Units busy themselves to enclose a full circle around the monster. He also saw Shifting Sands and her personal guards, Blue Moon, a couple of Warladies, Rutherford, and Chrysalis arrive with Celestia’s group to add their own efforts to the fight.

The multitude of attacks had forced the beast to come to a halt but they weren’t doing any damage. The monster had a red sphere of magic protecting it from any attacks that managed to trespass the purple mist. Taking this chance, Rutherford, Blood Talons, Sebastian, Zhaka, the newly arrived Big Macintosh along with some of his best heavy hitters of the Crest Unit, Yog alongside his elite squad of the Claw Unit, and Shifting Sands moved to engage the barrier protecting the monster in melee. Discord’s protection proving effective by repealing the tainted and corrupted mist surrounding that horrid abomination.

“We were stupid and blinded, Thunderhooves, but our intention was good. I just hope that Spike and our people can forgive us for our shortsightedness.” Cadance said to the buffalo leader sitting on his spot. She knew Thunderhooves was no coward and would gladly join the battle if he had to, but his talent relied more as the Great Shaman of his people than the Brave Warrior he was more renowned for. He was doing all he could to strengthen the defenses of the army like every other shaman was, not their armor or bodies, but their minds and spirit.

Standing next to her sister, Luna frowned when the monster stopped roaring and the red magic barrier began to flare with excess energy. She knew what that energy was, and she was sure Celestia and perhaps a few others had deduced it by now. There was no way to deny that the red energy was the same as the Alicorn Amulet, the only difference she could notice was that the magic coming off of the monster was heavier and foul; tainting the already dark magic of the original Amulet further thanks to the caribou’s sickness no doubt.

Luna saw the right white lidless eye of the creature turn into blood red as it began to bend over with it facing down to the ground. She could see the creature opening its maw as more magical energy flared up all around him. There was a pulse of energy that pushed back all of those attacking the barrier head on. Most were caught in the air while others landed on the ground on their own.

With a guttural roar, the jaws of the creature snapped forcing the maw to open up way past any natural limit it could possibly possess.

“Don’t let up, keep attac--” The order from Big Macintosh died down the moment dozens of tentacles emerged from the purple mist driving back any charging attacker. He saw some of those tentacles sprung to the sky to take down the pegasi still dropping lightning strikes down on it. Some tentacles managed to disperse clouds the pegasi were using to hide and store the lightning while others were knocked back by the tentacles.

“Destroy this Caribou abominations!” Soarin shouted while he destroyed any tentacle he could get his sword and estoc on.

Suddenly, several white runes appeared out of thin air all around the creature. Any tentacle that made contact with them was destroyed, the runes were also forcing the purple mist to wither as more and more appeared. Big Macintosh watched how Creslin had her arms up straight, her hands stretched open, while she chanted in her tongue while the rune bracelets around her wrists, neck, waist, and antlers were shining brightly with that same white light.

“What is that thing doing now!?” Shifting Sands yelled with three of her bodyguards standing close to their Empress.

She had only voiced the concern of all those watching the creature attentively. It had raised, without even looking up, its left arm, claws ready to tear anything it got caught apart with ease, pointing directly at Creslin. Sparks and tendrils of red magic began to emerge from its arm, then a small sphere of red magic appeared in front of its palm. The sphere quickly grew until is was bigger than the palm and claws of the monster.

“SHIELDS UP!” Blueblood called.

Without even questioning it, Luna cast a shield around Creslin, Shifting Sands, and herself. She pumped all the magic power she could manage into the shield. With a quick glance at the side, she saw her sister and those who could do the same as her.

The telltale sound of a beam of magic being shot was all the warning they got before a thick and powerful beam of raw magic hit Luna’s shield making her fall to her knees from the sheer power of the creature’s beam threatening to shatter it. The overwhelming pressure of the beast’s attack was thankfully diminished as others added their shields to help her.

Meanwhile, with Creslin putting a halt to the tentacles and it focused on attacking a single target, the Scaled Units resumed their attack. Blueblood was taking the lead, covering his units until they recovered enough force to strike at the creature with another Mega Blast. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, the monster didn't seem to be faced by their combined attacks, and those that were able to hit it didn’t cause enough damage to stop him. Still, it proved enough to at least somewhat weaken his attack against Creslin.

Without warning, the monster stopped his attack and brought it’s arm down. Before Blueblood could wonder what it was doing, a torrent of purple and red fire, actual fire, spew out of its disturbingly wide open maw. The fire quickly snaked it’s way all around the creature as it was water, his magic casters were forced to create a barrier at their hooves to prevent the fire from washing them. Others either took to the sky or were saved by a flying unit. It spread at alarming rates, but what really caught Blueblood’s attention was that the stream of fire was becoming thinner by the moment. He also noticed that it was changing color to a more intense reddish one.

It wasn’t until the ‘fire stream’ was as thick as an adult pony’s arm that it now was the same color as the red magic, and the fire had been replaced by excess and focused magical power. The monster slowly brought it’s head up staring directly at Luna’s shield with his bright right red eye piercing through them.

Blueblood was speechless as he saw the ground below the creature, plus what the beam touched, had been superheated into glass. Which served for his jaw to drop even further when the beam collided against the combined shielding protecting Creslin. Random blood red bolts and waste magic beams shot out in every direction, some striking an unlucky soldier or flying off until it hit the giant barrier around the Trap Zone. The amount of power that thing displayed made him gulp and shudder in fear. He quickly slapped himself for letting that get to him.

“Attack!” He commanded before picking up a rock and throw it at the monster with an overcharged impulse. Soon after blasts of every kind were showering down upon the creature once more. He looked at his aunt Luna’s multitude of shields and saw one breaking apart after the other. That beam is too powerful! He thought as he shot another spell at the creature.

A yellow flash of light appeared next to him and he saw none other than Celestia standing next to him. Her mane and tail were on fire, her eyes were shining with an intense yellow light, and she looked like she was ready to explode.

“Blueblood!” Her voice commanded unshakable authority and a heaviness that he had only heard twice before. “Reinforce Luna and Creslin while I prepare a Solar Strike!”

Blueblood felt the blood in his veins turn ice cold and for a moment felt more fear towards his aunt than to the creature. He turned back to order those that had already recovered or had magic to spare to aid Luna, careful to shield themselves from the weaker but still dangerous residue beams shooting out everywhere. He then turned to Celestia again.

“I don’t think we can hold for thirteen minutes, aunt Celestia,” Blueblood said eyeing the monster in a deformed shape of his cousin Spike. “Not against that kind of power.”

“I know,” Celestia whispered. “That’s why I’m teleporting it right on top of that monster’s head.”

Blueblood felt the ground below him vanish for a moment and he forgot how to breathe.

“FORGET THE MEGA BLAST!” He shouted turning to his entire Unit. “Focus your magic on creating a shield around that monster on my signal!” Blueblood ordered before looking at his aunt once more. “How long?”

Celestia didn’t answer, instead, she focused on her task at hand.

Meanwhile, in space near the crown of the small yellow star orbiting around Equis, a tiny sphere appeared. Minuscule amounts of solar rays and plasma were starting to get drawn into the sphere; it, in turn, turning brighter and bigger by the second.

Back on the Trap Zone, Blueblood watched as his unicorns, shamans, and changelings were positioning themselves around the monster at a safe distance of two hundred meters to properly distribute the strength of their magical barrier once the command to form it was given. He gulped, unsure if it would be enough to contain a Solar Strike from Celestia. She had used the Solar Strike just a counted number of times during her life, he knew. It wasn’t hard at all for her to use them thanks to her direct link and connection with the Sun. The problem was that according to Celestia, a single use left her exhausted and spent for days, and the last time she had used one was from a time before Sombra. It was also extremely hard to plan around, given that it takes the strike twelve minutes and ten seconds to reach Equis, let alone pinpoint the position of the Sun itself, Equis, and the selected terrain. A true nightmare to calculate without days or weeks in advance for planning.

Blueblood shuddered. Despite that, the destructive power it held couldn’t be ignored. And he felt that in this case, it was more than justified to use one. The fact that Celestia said she would teleport the blast itself (he wasn’t entirely sure if she could actually do it) for it to be practically instantaneous only served to convince him it was necessary given the urgency of the matter. He was convinced this was most likely her ultimate last resort, even further than the Elements if all else failed. The Elements of Harmony, or Rainbow Powers as Twilight and her friends now called them, were going to be used until they could confirm that the monster was not immune or tolerant to it. There was no room to take any chances.

‘Better be sure than lucky.’ As Creslin had said. Though, he was hoping they could end the monster without resorting to their more drastic measures.

A mighty, enraged roar pulled him out of his thoughts. Blueblood shook his head before looking at the creature, wondering for a moment how it was possible it could roar while spitting out a beam pure concentrated magic at the same time. He watched the monster rise both of its hideous, oversized arms; one pointing to the showering lightning bolts from above, and the other pointing at a large group of unicorns and shamans aiding Luna’s shield. He felt a void in his stomach when spheres of red energy began to form in front of its palms.

Fifty meters or so behind Luna’s shield, the Bearers, Discord, and Cadance appeared in a flash of light. A second later Twilight and Cadance joined their magic and conjured another layer of protection for Luna’s group.

“Discord, Princess Celestia is going to use a Solar Strike! Can you contain the beams of that monster until she’s ready!?” Twilight asked while she focused more and more magic into her horn and onto the shield.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Discord snarled. “There’s too much of the Sickness taint around that thing, go figure, so my magic won’t be as strong but it’ll do the trick! I’ll see what Blueblood has in mind. Stay safe!” Discord then snapped his fingers and teleported away.

The other five mares had their weapons drawn while looking at the seemingly unstoppable creature continue to attack despite their best efforts. Just then a sharp but not painful chirping was heard and they looked up to see Philomena flying above them, behind her every phoenix that was brought to the fight followed suit. Without permission, Peewee took flight and joined the flock taking lead alongside Philomena.

“What the hay are they gonna do?” Applejack questioned before looking at Fluttershy for an answer.

“They’re going to create a fire barrier,” Fluttershy answered tugging at her bow’s string while she watched the phoenix flock spread in a perfect circle around a few meters above the monster before their bodies began to emit an intensely bright light.

Meanwhile, Blueblood watched the spheres of the monster were almost the same size of his hands; he could already see them shaking in preparation to fire despite the longer time it had taken them to form. Discord was at the ready to support the containment shield and by what he could gather so were the phoenixes; whether to contain the Solar Strike or the monster’s upcoming attacks he didn’t know.

He felt the void in his stomach diminish the moment he felt a warm light touch his very soul. Without really thinking it, he looked over to where his oldest aunt was and saw her shield, painted in the center with her own cutie mark, was shining brightly and soothingly. He didn’t bask for more than two seconds in that glorious light when he saw Celestia leap to the sky.

It was time.

“NOW!” Blueblood shouted at the top of his lungs. Immediately after, hundreds of unicorns, changelings, and shamans united their magic into a single form and created a translucid dome thirty meters wide around the monster; instantly cutting off the thin deadly beam attacking Luna and her group while at the same time stopping the two new beams of magic just in the nick of time. The pegasi, changelings, griffons, and thestrals stopped their actions from above while Discord wasted no time and with a snap of his fingers, the dome was reinforced with a field of pure chaos, which was then covered in a layer of fire and light from the phoenixes above. It took less than a second for the three barriers to meld into a transparent dome; one that was capable of withholding the monster… for the moment. Dragons stepped to the front where they could spreading their wings wide in an effort to provide their own kind of shielding for the army behind them.

Luna and the several groups aiding her dropped their shields, most of them now adding their efforts to the newest dome, and Luna dropped to a knee using her urga for support. She looked at the creature and smiled when she saw a yellow portal appear about three meters above its head.

Near the star of Equis, the small sphere Celestia had conjured to absorb the sun’s power for her Solar Strike shrank down until it was the size of a golf ball. Then the ball split in two and an intense, almost white yellow colored beam five meters wide shot out in direction of the planet Equis. It didn’t get to advance more than a few hundred thousand kilometers before a yellow portal slightly bigger than the beam itself opened up in front of it.

Luna was forced to half-close her eyes when a sudden yellowish almost white pillar of energy fell upon the creature; instantly the three beams were cut off and the roars of the monster were swallowed into that blazing inferno. The excess energy of the blast instantly expanded to every inch within the dome making it rattle and crack in several places. It lasted but few scarce seconds, yet to the onlookers, it felt like an eternity. The yellow portal closed, the remnant energy of the Solar Strike collapsed on itself creating an explosion that shook the ground and nearly shattered the protective dome.

Before the dome could completely fall, two yellow vortexes appeared inside it; absorbing any harmful residue and excess magic left in the area. It also cleared the scorched dust that was lingering about. The vortexes disappeared leaving behind a scene that caused Luna to gasp and stand up.

With wide open eyes, Luna didn’t want to believe what she was seeing: the monster was still standing. It was scorched, unmoving, with most of its body missing and what little remained was nothing but charred bones or something similar, and there was no fire or mist surrounding its body. Yet it was still alive. It was still staring at her with those white, soulless eyes and that incredibly heavy aura was still present. It hadn’t even dwindled. Looking closely, Luna noticed that the red mist emerging from the creature’s right eye was becoming smaller until it simply ceased to be.

*GGGRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAA!*

The monster’s sudden roar caught her by surprise, forcing her and everyone to cover their ears, but not as much as what was happening to it now.

Small bursts of purple mist began to regenerate its body almost instantly while it roared. The torso of the creature became wider, the arms thicker and longer, the horns once again grew a bit longer but not thicker, the crest turned blacker, thicker, and pointer all the way down to the tip of the tail, and finally a long, thick penis emerged from the beast’s crotch. The rest of the body remained the same, giving it a more abnormal and unnatural shape than before. It was only a matter of seconds before the body of the beast was completely reformed and ‘improved’, and then it stopped roaring.

Taking her hands off of her ears, Luna picked her urga up ready to fight the beast when it’s long, thick arms were once more covered by purple fire and mist. The monster took a step forward before it halted. It brought both hands to cover its face while bursts of green and purple magic erupted from its chest.

Not wanting to find out what was happening, Luna shot a silver beam of magic at the creature soon followed by a renewed onslaught of attacks coming from all directions. The beast was finally surrounded.

“Cadance, we need the Crystal Heart!” Luna shouted before turning back. She saw Creslin being aided by Shifting Sands while her three bodyguards stood guard, behind them she saw the Bearers and Cadance approaching. And she saw the Crystal Heart her niece was holding. “Oh no…”

“The Crystal Heart… I can’t feel it or hear it’s voice anymore…” Cadance said once she was in front of her aunt. The Princess of Love presented a fractured, pale gray Crystal Heart with little chunks of it already missing.

“What do we do now?” Shifting Sands asked from her position. “A Solar Strike wasn’t enough to destroy it.”

“No,” Creslin said with a rough voice, clearly tired. Yet everyone could feel the dripping hate in her voice. “But it has damaged it. We must continue until the Horned King is no more, no matter the cost!” Creslin punched the ground as she glared at the still unmoving creature.

“Creslin is right. We all came here knowing we might have to give our lives to stop that... thing,” Twilight spat. “We can’t give up now.” Steeling herself, Twilight moved forward. “Girls, it’s our turn to act,” she closed her eyes and she began to glow. Her friends nodded to each other and they too began to glow.

The six friends grabbed their hands forming a chain as their glow intensified. “For Spi--”

A monstrous, echoing snarl cut them off and all six of them looked at the creature.

Cadance gasped and took a step back in horror. On another side of the battlefield, Shining Armor’s mouth went agape.

The creature’s chest was now protected by a chunk of dark crystal while small equally black crystals began to emerge all over his body. The protective purple mist around it now had green mist mixed into it and the mist covering the beast’s arms had changed to an eery, repulsive green. It then roared again, though not as powerful as previous times.

It took Twilight a half a second to realize that her theory was correct and that they were now facing the remnant powers of Sombra. It took her the other half of that second to realize the creature that was parading around in a horrid mockery of her little brother’s body was looking directly at her.

“AAHHHHHHHH!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs at the same time she brought her hands to clutch her head tightly and fall to her knees.

“Twilight!” Her friends yelled as they rushed to help her.

“Twilight!” Cadance kneeled at her side and saw her sister-in-law was crying and she could see small fumes of green coming out of her eyes. “Twilight, it’s just an illusion! Fight it!”

“GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OOOOFF!” One of the saddle arabian bodyguards screamed as he tossed his armor aimlessly and rolled on the ground.

“The hunger… I’m so… hungry… please, kill me!” A mareling while she clenched her stomach tight a few meters to their right.

“NO! I am not your pet!”

“IT BURNS! IT BURNS!”

“Why have you left me?... WHY?”

“It’s over… the caribou won… it’s over…”

“I’ll do anything, please! D-Don’t… I don’t want to--NOOO!”

Luna watched as more and more fell prey to the illusions created by the monster’s dark influence. She bit her lip in frustration to the point she draws blood. Discarding her urga, Luna’s eyes shone white and entered the dream realm to expand her influence all over the battlefield.

Despite feeling the presence of her friends, sister-in-law, and now Luna in the back of her mind, the illusion she was in proved to be strong. She was back in the classroom for ‘Twilight-Cunt Time’ where she saw the ruined, brainwashed version of herself teaching her friends on how to be proper pets.

She knew it wasn’t real. She knew it was merely an illusion. But that didn’t make it any less painful for her to remember those dark days of her life.

“Fight on! Break free and rejoin the battle, brothers, and sisters all! Do not let that monster bring forth the Fall on Equis again!”

In that moment, Luna’s words made her see the real faces of her friends and family, of her students, of all the innocents that would suffer what they had to suffer if they failed. Fear and guilt were quickly replaced by disgust and then by anger and hate. The illusion shattered before her eyes and was replaced by one of Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, herself… and Spike. All seven of them spending a nice evening together. Their last evening.

Twilight opened her eyes and gasped for air, she didn’t hear her friends caring words. Her full attention was on the monster in front of her. The purple mist was once again protecting it as did the dark crystals and the reformed tentacles trying to counterattack. Its white eyes were fixed on her, so when she was pulled up and she glared back, it roared before hitting the ground with both fists creating several dark crystals all around it.

“You alright, Twilight?” Rainbow asked concerned.

“Just peachy,” Twilight wiped away her tears. “Cadance, can you protect Luna while she’s in her trance?”

Cadance nodded. “Leave her safety to me. Creslin, Shifting Sands, stay close to me,” she said before creating a small bubble shield around said, small group.

“Time to use the Rainbow Powers?” Pinkie asked digging her axe on the ground.

“Don’t!” The radiant but tired voice of Celestia called from above a moment before her landing near them. The pristine white princess fell to her knees with ragged breath, damp fur, unmoving mane and tail, and shield and sword laying at her side forgotten. “Not until we are sure that it will be destroyed,” Celestia said in between pants, struggling to keep herself conscious. Numerous rays of light surrounded Celestia before she looked up to see the phoenix flock giving their energy to revitalize her. “Thank you, dearest friends,” Celestia bowed her head to the flock as she rose to her hooves with the help of Applejack and Rarity.

The group of seven mares looked at the creature now waving its large arms around trying to protect itself while more and more dark crystals began to spread around the area. A particularly big one emerged twenty or so meters in front of them with the only difference that this one was covered in purple mist. There was a green gleam of light coming from it for a second before it began to crack and change shape. The seven mares opened their eyes in disbelief when the dark crystal took the shape of the Spike they remembered. Another gleam of green light shone and this time it was Spike himself inspecting his arms and touching his face. He then saw them and smiled widely, tears forming in his eyes.

“Twilight! Girls! Mom!” Spike yelled spreading his arms wide. “Cadance, is that you? It’s been so long since I last saw you guys!” He began to run towards the stunned group.

Twilight, her friends, Celestia, Cadance, Shifting Sands, Creslin, and many soldiers had tears in their eyes and huge, wide smiles. Most stopped their fighting or dropped their weapons, a couple of Followers even kneeled and started praying to the divine creators for their gift. But a group of certain mares was well beyond elated.

All except one.

“Spikey!” Rarity called moving forward to greet the coming drake, her vision partly blurry with tears, her arms stretched forward towards him. “Y-You’re back! Precious scales, I have miss--”

Her words died in her throat when an arrow flew past her head and embed itself straight into the chest of Spike. The purple dragon with light green underbelly, green spikes, and emerald colored eyes came to a halt three meters in front of Rarity and the rest of the group. He looked down at his chest to see the shaft of an arrow sticking out of his chest.

“W-Why, Fluttershy?” Spike asked with a trembling voice and wide open eyes. His hands shaking as he grasped the shaft.

Incredulous and shocked eyes turned to the yellow pegasus with a pink mane and found her staunch, serious face and glaring eyes while she drew another arrow with her right hand and one more with her right wing.

Before anyone could act, Fluttershy unleashed six more arrows in blinding fast succession; all of the arrows hitting their target. Two arrows hit Spike’s chest, another pierced through the back of his open maw, another hit him in between his eyes, another embedded itself on his throat, and the last one pierced all the way until the tip came out the back of his skull through his left eye.

Spike trembled for a moment, fell to his knees, a gleam of green magic dissipated leaving behind a body made entirely of dark crystal with deadly fangs, a piercing tail, sharp, deadly claws, and nothing more. It then shattered into a pile of shards.

“That was just another illusion: a trick by that monster!” Fluttershy yelled at her friends while she walked in front of the group. “What little of the real Spike there is it’s inside that thing!” Using an arrow, she pointed at the creature. “Everything else is fake!”

The monster roared almost like in defiance of the mare’s declaration and a short wave of purple mist erupted in all directions along with hundreds of tentacles. Most were destroyed by the combined, ceaseless attacks of the allied forces but some were able to touch the scattered dark crystals and they too began to morph.

With shouting orders of their leaders, captains, and other commanding officers, those attacking the monster stepped back to allow the members of the Claw and Crest units to form in front of them in defensive positions along with a few Warladies and Followers to support them. Changeling Mind-Mender were doing their best to help those affected by the illusions of the monster, but despite their’s and Luna’s efforts, more continued to fall.

Some of the morphing dark crystals were destroyed by the allied forces but dozens formed without a problem. Almost every dark crystal had morphed into the figure of a big, armed, angry caribou buck, yet here and there another Spike could be seen. The moment they formed, they attacked whatever was in front of them leaving behind more sprouting dark crystals that also began to morph. The first ones let out an angered warcry or in the case of the Spike shaped ones they roared before colliding with the Scaled Guards, most being shattered instantly while the few surviving ones were soon crowded and destroyed before they could do any damage. Dragons, ursas, minotaurs, buffalo braves, earth ponies, and zebra warriors proving the best suited for such a task.

Flying units not attacking the abomination were busying themselves with targeting dark crystals before they could finish morphing. Some shamans, changelings, and unicorns used their skills to stun, freeze, shatter, and snare the ever increasing numbers of charging dark crystal constructs.

It went on for minutes that felt like ages for the allied forces, but the increasing tide of dark constructs and those falling victim to illusions began to push them back, forcing them to contain them more and more. Still, they fought on bravely and surely, their leaders leading the example by shattering hordes of those constructs

Shifting Sands and her guards seemed to dance around the protective barrier of Cadance destroying any and all incoming constructs with their scimitars.

Celestia flew across the battlefield shattering the heads of any construct she could, especially those in the shape of her son, while the flock of phoenixes melted and shatter any construct fool enough to leap at Celestia.

The Bearers, all six united, moved with grace destroying constructs left and right. Twilight used regular magic pulses from her staff to push them off, while at the same time made constructs explode from within with a blast of magic. Pinkie sliced multiple constructs at a time with each swing of her axe. Applejack took down one after another with her bastard sword. Rainbow used her twin swords to carve her way through any construct foolish enough to get too close to her or her friends. Rarity, fighting with blind zeal and fury, dodged and moved quickly while her special diamond daggers cut through the constructs like they weren’t even there. And Fluttershy showered death upon them with arrows that never missed their target and a quiver that never depleted of arrows thanks to her husband’s doing.

Discord found his magic was doing little to nothing to the constructs, so he instead divided his efforts into bolstering the magical defense of the army, and provide a paw to Luna in the dream to increase her influence over the illusions.

Zhaka, Blood Talons, Sebastian, Rutherford, and Shining Armor formed a defensive perimeter that proved a death sentence to anything that came close to them. The white unicorn proving to be quite ferocious.

Torch, Ember, and a few of their own dragon soldiers busy themselves to provide an unstoppable and mighty bulwark that swept dozens of constructs at a time. More so with the power of the Scepter flowing within them.

Chrysalis was on her own, but thanks to her skill and her scythe she was cutting clean entire groups of charging enemies with each swing of her weapon. While her magic enhanced her attacks and allowed her to blast even more from range.

The monsters were unleashed upon the constructs, the few hydras, bugbears, and cragadiles wreak havoc upon the construct numbers, while the timberwolves, cockatrices, and orthos served to lay off some steam from the front units.

Hundreds of constructs were destroyed each second by the allied forces and yet more and more came crashing against their shields, spears, and swords. It didn’t take long for some of those attacking the creature to refocus their efforts against the growing tide of constructs pushing the army back. In turn, the mist surrounding the beast increased little by little and it soon began to take steps towards the Bearers.

“HOLD THE LINE! Don’t stop attacking that monster!” Big Macintosh shouted to his troops as he crushed another three with his spiked battle hammer. The red stallion knew that if the constructs managed to break their lines, or worse, get pass them, then they would be forced to fight individually; breaking the constant onslaught showering upon the blasted abomination in the center of it all and allowing it to move freely. To make matters worse, there were still many victims falling to the creature’s illusions despite the efforts of Luna, the shamans, and the Mind-Menders. “HOLD!” He shouted again while crushing another two constructs.

Twilight and the rest of the Bearers took full notice of the monster getting closer to them with each of its tremorous steps and rageful roaring. There was a flash of yellow light behind them that went largely unnoticed. Then, they saw the monster come to an abrupt halt before it let out a powerful roar and an eruption of green mist bursting out of his body. Twilight also made quick notice to see it was now looking past them as it began to drip green foam from its maw.

The Princess of Friendship sent a powerful burst of energy out of her staff shattering several constructs before she looked back to see what had angered the creature.

Her answer came in two ways at the same time. First, she felt a wave of warmth and tranquility that helped her concentrate better. And the second was the sight of her two nieces, Flurry Heart and Skyla, holding hands while they held the Crystal Heart Cadance had forgotten in the heat of the moment with their free hands. The Crystal Heart itself was shining bright with an intense shifting blue, green, and purple light.

“Flurry, Skyla!? What are you doing he--ARRGG!” Twilight asked before she had to return her focus to a new set of attacking constructs.

Aside from Twilight, almost no one noticed the arrival of the two young princesses of the Crystal Empire, not even their mother. Those that did couldn’t do much to stop whatever they were doing or move them away to safety.

The two twelve-year-old princesses were surrounded by a shimmering blue bubble before they were lifted off the ground. Once they were about three meters above ground, the bubble began to float towards the snarling, mad creature now destroying its own constructs with each loud, dumb step it took trying to get to them.

The Crystal Heart started to spin in front of the sisters, their faces not showing any sort of fear or doubt, just sadness. Tears began to trickle down their cheeks when their eyes began to shine with an intense white light while the Heart’s spinning increased in speed. They came to a halt above the Bearer’s group and both looked down.

“We’re sorry, auntie Twilight,” Skyla said with a sob. Her voice carrying over the noise of battle “We promised uncle Spike to help him if he ever needed us.”

“Uncle Spike called us to stop that thing,” Flurry sobbed. “He said only we could help him.”

“W-What are you talking about!?” Twilight asked back repealing a group of constructs back.

“Flurry, Skyla, get out of here right now!” Rainbow shouted.

“Darlings, get behind us, quick!” Rarity called.

The bubble around the young sisters grew in intensity and size, the border of it destroying any construct or shard that came in contact with it until it too swallowed the Bearers. “Uncle Spike and the Crystal Heart are protecting us. They need our help.” Skyla said again.

The six older mares were stunned by their declaration as they looked up at them.

“Aunties,” Flurry closed her eyes. “Uncle Spike told us the truth.”

“I know grandma Velvet is my mother, auntie Twilight,” Skyla confessed, further stunning the group. “But mom is my mommy, not grandma Velvet.”

“He told us… he told us he’s sorry for everything, aunties,” Flurry said. “And he told us to tell you that-”

“I love you all, girls.” Both sisters said in unison with Spike’s voice.

Before any of the six older mares could do or say anything, their vision was instantly blurry with tears as they saw the bubble expand and the Heart was now spinning faster than ever before.

The monster roared in defiance sending out a huge blast of purple mist and green magic before it took a great leap directly at the two young princesses.

Flurry Heart and Skyla shouted in unison as the Crystal Heart stopped spinning and shot a green, purple, and blue beam of pure energy that hit the monster in the chest.

The abomination was stopped and suspended in the air by the magic beam as it roared and thrashed angrily about. The dark crystals around its body began to shatter and the constructs below stopped before shattering into shards and then turning into less than dust. Cracks of blue and white light began to appear all over the creature’s scales while it did nothing more than roar in pain and fury; his body becoming brighter at brighter by the moment.

Twilight wiped away her tears to see the monster’s horrid face and saw the purple and green mist coming out from its left eye was diminishing quickly. When the mists were finally extinguished, a huge explosion of light accompanied by a roar of pure agony and pain rumbled everywhere in the Trap Zone at the same time.

And then, everything went silent.

Chapter 4 end.