The Demon Within

by DOOT_Slayer

Rating: teen
Tags: Profanity, Adventure, Violence, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Death, Dragon Ball Z, Zecora, Anthro, Main 6, Princess Luna, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 43835

To save Equis from immanent destruction, the main six must harness an unknown power, and break through their new limits.

When seven strange objects, known as the dragon balls come into existence, the main 6 gain access to a power nopony has ever witnessed before, but along with it comes an enemy stronger than even the royal sisters. They must train hard, and break through their limits, if they're to even stand a chance of victory against this immanent threat.

Alternate Universe after Season 4. Despite having a gore tag, it’s quite light but it is there.

Published 2016-08-10 04:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-02-10 08:06:11 UTC

Prologue

The night sky was beautiful, Rainbow Dash thought. She was mesmerised by the vast black sea populated by countless stars, slowly burning in the silence of space. The moon glowed greatly, and the atmosphere calmed her nerves. Rainbow Dash was leaning out of her window, restless and unable to sleep. She was pretty excited about the upcoming entrance exam for the Wonderbolts. She hadn't attended the last two, but she had watched; she wanted to be sure that she was truly ready before trying. The Sonic Rainboom was becoming less exerting each time she performed it, so she must have been getting faster.

As she admired the stars, she noticed one very bright one in particular and couldn't help but stare at it.

"Wonder what’s up with that one..." Rainbow Dash pondered aloud. Its brightness steadily increased, until it was around three times its initial luminosity. Rainbow Dash had sort of zoned out a little bit, not really focusing on anything. That was, until the bright star began to - quite literally - fall out of the sky. She thought her senses were playing tricks on her, and chocked it down to fatigue.

'Right, that just about does it. I think I’m done hallucinating for tonight.' Rainbow Dash told herself, rubbing her eyes. She kept watching the comet, and saw that its path was diverging slowly. She was back to being wide awake now, this new development had brought her back to being alert. After a few seconds she could see each individual path clearly, and counted seven. Rainbow Dash watched as the comets plummeted towards the ground, screeching as they fell. She saw them dip below the canopy of some forest, and heard them hit the ground a few seconds after, so they couldn’t have been far. There was a gap of roughly one second between the sight and the sound, so it was maybe a kilometre away. They appeared to have landed fairly close together, all things considered. Rainbow Dash stood up straight, almost frozen in place.

"Well that was... pretty cool actually," Rainbow Dash could see a dim orange glow coming from the forest, where the meteors had landed.

"I should probably go check if everything's alright over there... I might be the only pony who saw that." She quickly drank a decent amount of water to keep herself hydrated, and flew out toward what would be the impact site. She couldn't wait to see just what she would discover. This was just like a Daring Do adventure.

The smoke had barely began to clear when Rainbow Dash touched down. Her landing helped a bit, but visibility was still quite low. She racked her brain for a few seconds, then a solution came to her. She jumped into the air, spinning rapidly; her wings were held close to her torso, and when she spread them the dust in front of her cleared quickly. The smile on her face grew by the second, along with the anticipation building within her. She wondered if it was worth all the effort of flying out there, practically the middle of nowhere in some random forest. Everything seemed to be fine, nopony or animal was injured and thankfully nothing was on fire, which had been her greatest worry when she saw the glowing from her window. She took a deep, calming breath and looked up into the sky. There was a steady breeze moving the clouds above her, and blowing the rest of the dust away slowly. Something didn’t feel right about this place. Rainbow Dash tried to figure out what, but it evaded her ever so slightly. Until she looked up again. The clouds were moving... on there own.

'Wait,' Rainbow Dash thought to herself, as she realised where she was with a flinch.

"Oh. Oh, shit. This is the Everfree Forest!" Her excitement changed to urgency once she realised her surroundings. She looked around quickly for the meteors, then stumbled upon a collection of craters, each about three metres radius. Seven to be exact. Curiosity took the better of her, and she made her way over to them.

A now faint, orange glow originated from the bottom of each of the craters. She slowly walked toward the glow, constantly aware of her surroundings. Rainbow Dash thought her eyes were deceived when she finally saw what had made the craters. Lying inside each, was one spherical object, like an orb. They looked like orange crystal balls or something.

"Oh my... wow! This... this is amazing! Imagine how much these are worth! How much are they worth?!" Rainbow Dash was ecstatic; Twilight was probably gonna like her discovery too. She'd want to examine them, and find any hidden properties about them, Rarity would absolutely love what ever they are, and Spike... Spike would do anything to eat these. She stood in the middle of all the craters looking at the strange objects, and noticed they had a different number of red stars on them, spanning from one to seven. Out of impulsiveness, she decided to pick one of them up. The worse they could probably do was burn her hand a bit. She reached out hesitantly, and touched one. It was smooth, perfectly spherical, and cool, oddly enough. Rainbow Dash rested her hand on it for a few seconds, but then it glowed much brighter than it ever had before. There was a large, sudden pulse of energy, and Rainbow Dash was knocked back from the craters into a large tree. She fell unconscious from the impact, and her mind started flooding with new information. The last thing she saw was the strange orbs fly up into the sky, and scatter in different directions, spreading across Equis. She looked back in front of her, and thought she saw a shadowy figure of another pony. Her eyes became heavy, and she heard a mysterious voice before she passed out.

"I will be free... you will let me out!"

When Rainbow Dash finally came to, she was still resting below the tree. Either no one had found her, or anypony else was actively avoiding the impact site. The latter made a lot more sense to Rainbow Dash, she was in the Everfree Forest after all. She looked up and realised it was now daytime. She shook her head to wake herself some more, then got to her feet. Other than a mild, lingering pain where she hit the tree, she was fine. She spread her wings, and took off slowly. Well, she was aiming for slow at least. The sudden increase in her wing strength took her completely by surprise. She had barely tried, yet she was already above the tree line. She observed the sky more, and deduced that it was the middle of the day. Her wings flapped gently, keeping her almost still. The orange orbs had disappeared somehow.

"So I wasn’t imagining that, the dragon balls did disappear. Wait... how the hell do I know what to call them?!" The more questions she asked herself, the more confused she became. There was other stuff floating around in her mind that she had no knowledge of yesterday. She thought it best to ask Twilight about this, so she tried to fly upwards gently, but immediately shot through the air.

"Woah. What the hell?!" She was all the way in the clouds, and turned around quickly. She briefly saw the rainbow trail left behind by her mane and tail. She had nearly gone super sonic just from that. She decided not to fly to Twilight's, as landing would probably do more harm than good. She let herself fall towards the ground, using her wings to glide so she landed outside of the Everfree Forest.

'I'd rather not walk through there today.' She stopped her descent at the last second, and got her bearings. Once she knew the correct direction, she began walking to the Castle of Friendship. There were many thought processes going on in Rainbow Dash's mind, some good, others not so much. She pushed all those thoughts to the back of her mind, she could worry about them later.

"Well, I guess things can only get more interesting from here."

Author's Note

Hope you enjoy what's to come. Leave some tips and suggestions if you like, it's always welcome. :pinkiesmile:

Chapter 1

Twilight pondered her mind as to what could've possibly caused that energy surge a few minutes ago. She walked downstairs promptly, and was met with Spike cooking breakfast.

"Mornin' Twilight. You sleep well?" He said cheerfully. She smiled at his mood, and was briefly taken away from her previous thoughts.

"Honestly, no. Spike?" He looked up from plating the food.

"Mm hmm?"

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need you to take a note." He quickly found his quill and a sheet of paper. Twilight took a deep breath, and began speaking.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I don't know if you felt that surge of energy last night, but I certainly did, which means it can't have been that far from Ponyville; I believe that it came from the same place where that - where those meteorites fell last night; another odd thing is that I still can't tell what type of magical energy it could be, it could be normal unicorn magic, it could be dark magic... What if there's another alicorn! Actually it might not even be magical energy at all. Wait! It's moving... it's coming towards Ponyville. It's slow, like it's walking. Princess Celestia, I think it would be best if you came here and attempted to reason with this being, we still don't know if it's harbouring ill intent towards us or not.

I humbly await your reply.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle"

Spike hesitated briefly then exhaled a green flame, sending the letter.

"Twilight?" He sounded worried. She turned to face the young dragon.

"Yes Spike?"

"Are... are we gonna be ok? You sounded really worried at the end." Twilight smiled kindly at Spike. She walked over to him and embraced him in a hug, which he returned as best he could given his size. Twilight spoke quietly, barely a whisper.

"Yeah... we'll be fine."

Fifteen minutes had passed since Twilight’s letter. After finishing her breakfast, she was delighted to hear Spike release a flame with a loud belch. He quickly caught Princess Celestia's reply before it could fall to the ground. Twilight levitated the letter out of his hand as he offered it to her, then unravelled it and started reading.

'Dear Twilight,

I too am aware of this sudden energy, and you're right, it is heading towards Ponyville; it's almost there.

Apologies for the short reply, I am on my way and shall arrive shortly.

Princess Celestia'

Twilight finished reading the letter and immediately went into a panic about what she should do if the source of the energy arrived before Princess Celestia. Just as she started to go into an internal rant, a loud knock shook her from it. Twilight calmed herself down as quickly as she could, and yelled to whichever pony was outside.

"Coming!!" She rushed to the door, composed herself, and opened it to the guest.
Twilight was met not with the presence of her mentor, Princess Celestia, but with that of one of her greatest friends. Rainbow Dash seemed rather excited, even more so than normal. She rushed in through the door, and Twilight just had to ask.

"What is it..." The grin on Rainbow Dash's face grew even wider.

"Oh my gosh you won't believe it, it's the best thing ever!" That exclamation did little to explain what was going on to Twilight. Just as she was about to ask, Rainbow Dash quickly placed a hand on her collarbone.

"Umm... Dash, what's wrong?!" She only smiled back.

"There's not enough space here." There was a sudden jolt of movement, and the pair were standing opposite each other in a plain. Twilight's mind was racing.

"Ok! I'm gonna try and ask only a few questions,"

"Sorry, I was messing around on the way here, and I figured out I could do that so I wanted to try with another pony too. You were saying something about questions." Rainbow Dash managed to contain her rambling.

"One; what the hell is going on??" Twilight sounded like she was halfway to having a panic attack already.

"Okokok... last night, I found these things in the Everfree Forest right? They're called dragon balls, dunno how I know that. They fell out of the sky last night like meteors. But anyway I touched one, they kinda blew up, I woke up about twenty minutes ago, and now I can do all this!" Twilight was quite informed, but a small detail was still left out.

"Ok... two; what is 'all this'?"

"I'm about to show you." Twilight was both intrigued and terrified by that statement.

"Does anypony else know about this... yet?"

"Don't think so, no." Twilight chuckled lightly to herself.

"Alright then. So, you gonna stop talking and start showing me?" Rainbow Dash smiled tenaciously. She stood up straight and raised her hands up to her side. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She suddenly reopened them.

"Oh... you might wanna step back a bit... ok, a lot." Twilight looked confused as she slowly walked away from her friend. She finally stopped when she was about 20 metres away. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes once more, and focused. Pieces of stone and small pebbles started to rise off the ground. Twilight began to worry, and crouched behind a shield she created from magic, which became transparent shortly after. Rainbow Dash started screaming, and a small dust cloud started rotating around her on the ground. The scream grew louder and ended abruptly. Twilight was astounded by what had just happened. Rainbow Dash had learned to tap into a power that wasn't magic, but certainly was just as strong; and she had become about thirty percent as strong as Princess Luna, which was still quite a lot. Rainbow Dash was looking smug as ever.

"So, whadda ya think? Pretty cool huh?" Twilight was speechless. "Lemme try something else." Rainbow saw a distant stone formation, and held a hand out toward it.

"Rainbow Dash?! Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?!!"

"Trying to concentrate, if you don’t mind." That was the only response Twilight got. Her attention was quickly snapped away by the yellow ball of energy that had formed in front of Rainbow Dash's hand. She didn't know how, but just after it had formed it fired forward into the formation. It flew extraordinarily fast, and impacted the side of the stone with a small explosion. It left a small crater and some charred blackening around the edges. Rainbow Dash looked down at her hand in awe.

"I might start to enjoy this." Her curiosity quickly got the better of her, and she began to power up again! A crater formed at her feet as chunks of rock were torn from the ground, and a translucent grey aura surrounded her. She began screaming once more, and the area around them started shaking. Twilight hadn’t realised it before, but the source of that energy surge last night was Rainbow Dash. Whatever she had discovered had given her use of this unknown power, and from what Twilight has seen and felt already, she knew it was not to be trifled with. Rainbow Dash stopped yelling after a while, and her hands dropped back down, limp. She was stumbling, and Twilight went to help her friend. Rainbow Dash turned to face her with a vicious smile on her face, and the irises in her eyes were light grey instead of red. She uttered a single sentence before she passed out. There was something off about it though; there was a second voice.

"I'll see you soon..." Rainbow Dash's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed onto the ground. Twilight was a little creeped out at what had just happened, but she still picked her friend up. She began to walk back to Ponyville, with Rainbow Dash on her shoulder. She spread her wings to take off, but stopped upon seeing Princess Celestia herself land in front of her. She had a look of suppressed rage on her face. Twilight bowed respectfully to her mentor - or as best she could with an whole other pony weighing her down.

"Twilight, what happened here?! My sister and I felt that energy surge again coming from around here. Is Rainbow Dash ok, and are you hurt?" The Princess wasn’t doing a very good job of masking her anxiety, Twilight could see it well enough. She wanted to answer Celestia's question, but she needed to help Rainbow Dash.

"Princess, I'll answer all your questions, I promise but we must get Rainbow Dash to a healing suite in Canterlot immediately."

"...Your urgency is well warranted and I admire you’re compassion," She replied. "I'll take us there right now." She took Rainbow Dash into her own arms, and teleported the three of them to the gates of their castle. They quickly rushed in with the help of some guards. They called for healers as they made their way to the medical wing.

Two hours later, and Rainbow Dash was on the mend fast. According to a nurse, the majority of her bones had sustained at least one fracture. Unbelievable, her whole body was being crushed by her own power. She was awake now, and said she didn't mind being spoke to by Princess Celestia. They chose to wait for a bit, so that she could recover from her injuries completely, and so the two princesses could discuss what they thought was going on.

"And these 'dragon balls' she mentioned; did she see where they went?"

"No, Rainbow Dash said she passed out as they flew up into the sky." Celestia took this in. Rainbow Dash had found a collection of seven orbs that were able to protect themselves, fell unconscious, and awoke with the ability to form energy beams from her body. None of this was making much sense to her.

"There's something else..." Twilight began. That ominous phrase piqued Celestia's interest even further.

"Go on..."

"That energy isn't all that happened. She changed for a bit. It wasn't her... it-it was something else using her body. It said to me: 'I'll see you soon'. I don’t have much to go on, but it seems to me that this entity is using Rainbow Dash's mind as a hiding place, until it's either removed, or gains full control. We've gotta get it out of her." Celestia stood up and started walking to Rainbow Dash's door.

"This is lining up much too well with... that story for my liking. Come, Twilight!" She shouted behind her. "If it’s as serious as it sounds, we must deal with this immediately." Twilight quickly rushed to her feet, and caught up with her mentor.
They entered the room to find a team of medical unicorns finishing up on Rainbow Dash. Celestia waved her hand, signalling for them to leave. Rainbow Dash was propped up on some pillows, and looked well. She only had a limited range of movement though. There was silence in the room until the lock turning in the door broke it.

"Rainbow Dash. I see you've recovered quite quickly, even with the medical team's assistance." Rainbow smiled at that.

"Can't stay cooped up in here for too long; now can I?" Celestia appreciated the banter, but moved onto more serious matters.

"Twilight tells me this is quite the power you have. Is that true?"

"Honestly princess, it's amazing. It's unlike anything I've seen any unicorn or even alicorn do before. And it definitely isn't magic; no, this is... something else."

"...What else are you not telling me?" Rainbow Dash was reluctant at first, but brought herself to say what was on her mind anyway. She struggled to the side of the bed, and sat properly.

"Well, there is one more thing. When I touched the dragon balls I felt... something, something alive force it’s way into my mind. It's only a voice so far, but soon it’ll want a body to live in, and I’d prefer it not to be mine. She almost managed it too; when I passed out. I felt her take control. It-it felt like I was just a passenger, along for the ride." Celestia and Twilight were reminded of Princess Luna's predicament; Nightmare Moon was still in there somewhere.

"I want it gone. Whatever it takes get rid of it, please!" Celestia thought over Rainbow Dash's request.

"How badly do you want it gone?"

"As soon as possible!" Celestia nodded.

"I'll notify Princess Cadance, we'll need all the power we can get." She began leaving the room. "Oh, Twilight come with me. We'll need your help too."

"Wait. Really? But I wouldn't even make that much of a difference."

"Like I said; We're gonna need all the power we can get. You included." Twilight was anxious and excited.

"Come on." Princess Celestia called. "You and I are going to prepare the spell."

When Rainbow Dash eventually recovered, Princess Cadance, Luna, Celestia, and Twilight were all standing around a circular pattern of ash and charcoal. Inside the first circle were some patterns and incantations which led into another circle. This was clearly where Rainbow Dash would be. She walked into the circle, careful not to step on any of the powder. When she was stationary in the centre, Princess Celestia's horn began glowing, then Luna's, Cadance's, and finally Twilight's.

"There are a few things I must warn you about with regards to the spell we are about to perform:
First off, this is an exorcism spell; You will have to channel all your magic into the incantation, even the reserves that keep you alive. The spell will act as a temporary life source for all of us. Secondly, the entity that we remove from Rainbow Dash will need a physical body, otherwise it will just take control of one of us. Also, that body will most likely be based on somepony familiar, and the only pony this thing is familiar with is Rainbow Dash, meaning that it will look very similar to her.

"My final warning is this. We have no control over how it will act and react when it's manifested in a physical form. Be careful." Celestia nodded to Twilight, and she regained her focus.

"Ready?" Celestia asked. Rainbow Dash prepared herself for whatever was coming. "Begin!" A field of magic formed around the circle, and there was a faint hum. After a few seconds, the black powder mixture began to glow red hot like a ton of embers. The searing pain went from Rainbow Dash's stomach and grew to her head; and the scream that followed was ear piercing. Twilight opened her eyes to see - what was in her books, absolutely terrifying - a mysterious black energy seeping out of her friend's body. Celestia noticed Twilight's anxiety.

"Twilight, you have to keep going! If you don't, the spell will absorb your magic and you will die. Not to mention the fact that we won't be able to extract the entity out of Rainbow Dash! Keep going!!" Twilight refocused, only to notice the black plasma was forming a body, an equine body. Then, she heard it again; that second voice, and it was screaming too; only this time it was coming from the new body! As it continued to form, Twilight began to recognise it. It looked like Rainbow Dash! She had dark grey fur, and her mane, it looked almost identical to Rainbow Dash's; the only difference was that the purple streaks were black instead. The body was completely formed, and the spell was complete.

It was a pegasus, it had pointed feathers, and it's teeth were very sharp. Rainbow Dash had blacked out at some point, and the mare was getting to her feet. She stumbled at first, but got her balance after a while. She opened her eyes, and they were a light shade of grey. They darted around, afraid and angry. Twilight froze the instant it's eyes locked with her own. They were cold, filled with rage. She turned to fully face Twilight. It began walking towards her. She neared the edge of the barrier, and stopped. The other three princesses were silent. Cadance was the one who decided to break it when she called for the Royal Guards. They ran in, spears at the ready. The mare on the inside of the barrier smirked. She truly spoke for the first time.

"Really? Is that all the people you bought for me to kill?! Pathetic!!" She sounded genuinely angered by this display. It was like she thought they weren't worth her effort. She reached out, and touched the barrier with her right hand. It cracked, and bolts of energy flew out from it. She pushed some more, and decided to withdraw. She pulled her hand away, and looked at it. Celestia decided to intervene.

"It's no use! That magic barrier was created from the magic of the four alicorn princesses; you'll never be able to break thr-" At that moment, the mare punched the barrier, and it shattered into pieces, leaving everypony in shock. In response, the guards moved in for their assault. They didn't even get close. The mare grunted and a gust of wind blew everypony away. Celestia and Luna were injured a bit from the impact. Cadance bruised her side, and Twilight suffered a broken rib upon landing. The guards were piled up on the floor. She turned around, raised her hand, and fired a beam out of it. It expanded and engulfed the guards. She walked down the steps, and was about to leave through the hole she had made in the wall.

"What in the name of Tartarus are you?!" It was Celestia.

"Huh. That’s... not a bad question." The mare began. "I just... am. If you want a name, the truth is I don't really have one; but considering what I picked from her mind." She gestured towards Rainbow Dash. "I think I'll go with... Omega. After all, I think it fits. I understand it means 'the end'. With that, she exited the Castle.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long, I wanted to make sure it was much better than the previous version. Hope you enjoyed.

Chapter 2: First Battle

Rarity had been focusing on the same set of dresses for the past week or so. She decided to make a dress each for Princesses Celestia and Luna, and give it to them when they next visited Ponyville. She wanted them to be perfect - absolutely perfect.

She reached for the embroidery thread, only to find it had ran out. She sighed lazily, and got up to get some more. It had been two whole years since Tirek had been defeated and Rarity was still making dresses. She liked it, but there was no variety; she was bored. Using her magic, she pulled open the drawer and looked for the thread. Rarity found the correct colour thread and closed it.

She was walking back to her workbench when she felt a powerful energy surge rush through her. It hit her like a train, and she dropped to the floor. It was so overwhelming she was almost sweating, and couldn't even get to her feet. It was amazing, unlike anything she'd ever felt before. She took a few deep breaths and slowed her heart rate. She looked for the energy using her magic, and found the source was within Canterlot Castle; along with it were Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and all three of the alicorn princesses. She could feel that the unidentified energy was completely malicious. Rarity mustered up enough strength to get to her feet. She composed herself, and contemplated what to do. She decided it would be best to gather Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. She set down her needle and thread. The dresses could wait. She cantered to the door and pulled it open a bit too excitedly.

"Hi!" Rarity jumped back, shocked to see her fluffy pink friend standing right their.

"DAMMIT PINKIE, WHAT THE HELL!"

"Hey... language."

"Suck a di-" Pinkie shoved a hand onto Rarity's face.

"Come on, let's go get Fluttershy and AJ." Rarity stood there, utterly speechless.

"I- how did you know??" Her question remained unanswered as Pinkie hopped away toward Sweet Apple Acres.

Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity were all running at full speed toward Canterlot. Fluttershy was actually a bit ahead. Rarity sensed the energy getting even stronger; they had to stop it. They dashed through a crowd of ponies running away from Canterlot Castle.

"Damn it, things are getting outta hand fast. What do we do?" Applejack commented. Canterlot Castle came into view, and there was a grey coloured pegasus floating in the air, shooting beams at innocent bystanders. And it was utterly merciless. As far as Rarity could tell, it was only killing the ponies who were running away; that's why it hadn't fired at them yet. Fluttershy was quivering, but she was still in control.

"Look everypony, it's using magic without a horn." Rarity had to chime in.

"No, it isn’t. That's not magic; I don't know what it is yet, but it definitely isn't magic." The evil pegasus stopped firing, and turned to face them. Everypony's blood froze instantly. It smiled, wide eyed, psychotic.

"What’s the matter, aren’t you afraid?" No one dared to move an inch. "It's ok you know. You can feel it can't you; the quaking in your knees, the creeping chill running down your spine, and the soul crushing anticipation of your immanent death!" She drew back a hand, and a ball of energy formed in front of it. She pushed her hand forward, and the ball flew toward them. It got about halfway to the four ponies when a beam of yellow energy collided with it from the side. It flew away and instead hit an empty building.

"OMEGAAAA!!!" Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all looked toward the entrance of the Castle. Standing in it was Rainbow Dash. She looked extremely angry. She dropped her hand to her side, and uttered one sentence.

"Don't... hit my friends!" She flew up into the sky, and punched Omega square in the face. She reeled from the impact and even though the punch drew blood, it clearly didn't hurt; she was smiling. She raised her hand and wiped her mouth.

"Good. A challenge, finally." Omega flew forward, and tried to kick Rainbow Dash in the stomach; she moved to the side and returned with a smash, knocking Omega downward. She grunted a bit and threw an energy ball at Rainbow Dash, who powered up, so that the energy ball disintegrated as it touched her aura. Omega smiled at her opponent's quick thinking. She vanished and reappeared directly in front of Rainbow Dash, then launched a barrage of kicks, all of which were either blocked or dodged. Everypony down below was astonished by this display of strength. Just yesterday, Rainbow Dash could barely perform two sonic rainbooms at a time, yet now she was moving faster than the eye could see with minimal effort.

"What could've possibly happened to cause this?" Rarity was curious as ever. "Not that I can see much of it, but what I can looks rather fascinating." She was referring to the shockwaves and sudden flares of auras appearing in front of them. Twilight came out of the Castle now too.

"I believe I can help with that one." She came down the steps and joined the group.

"Well?" Applejack began. "Explain." Twilight inhaled deeply before she spoke.

"Wow. Where d'ya think they came from Twilight?"

"That all sounded pretty scary."

"Oh my, that sounds rather dreadful dear." The responses Twilight got were fair enough in her mind. The only one who didn't respond was Pinkie, who was surprisingly quiet.
Rainbow Dash and Omega were still battling it out. They had moved around a bit, destroying a few buildings in the process. Rainbow Dash reappeared in front of the group on the ground. She was grazed and bleeding all over, and she was out of breath. Omega leapt up from the rubble a few seconds later. She was fatigued as well, but nowhere near as much as her opponent. Rainbow Dash raised her hand, ready to fire another energy ball; she wasn't giving up yet! Omega was bored of the fight though. She vanished, and reappeared right in front of Rainbow Dash. She punched her hard in the kidney, and she fell to her knees. Omega looked down pitifully at her counterpart.

"You did well, but you're not ready." She turned and walked to the edge of what had become a cliff. "And don't fight me again until you are." A light red aura surrounded her, and she flew off into the distance.

Rainbow Dash awoke to nothing but blackness. She looked around, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly a bright yellow light appeared in front of her; it startled her so much that she fell onto her back! She sat herself up as it shot past her. It faded away, and more beams appeared and fired. She realised they looked like the energy beams she and Omega could use. She developed a sharp migraine as more knowledge forced its way into her mind. Specifically, one word.

"Ki." Rainbow Dash said it as soon as she knew the word. She turned around to see a large blue ki beam heading straight toward her. There was nothing she could do, and the blast engulfed her.

Rainbow Dash jolted awake in a soft, warm bed, which Fluttershy was sitting adjacent to. She jumped up the instant her friend awoke.

"Oh my gosh. Rainbow Dash, I hope you're ok... TWILIGHT!!" Twilight ran in as soon as she heard Fluttershy call.

"Ugh. Hey Twilight." Rainbow Dash began. "What time is it?" Twilight quickly looked out the window and gauged the sun's position.

"About... eight." Rainbow Dash was surprised at how little she slept for.

"A.m.?" Twilight nodded. "Huh; that's not so bad. That means it tomorrow now, right?"
Nopony replied. Rainbow Dash was confused now.

"What's wrong? It's Thursday, I got knocked out by Omega on Wednesday; that means it's been a day."

"Ummm." Twilight stuttered slightly. "It's uh, it's been eight days."

"Wait. What?!!" Rainbow Dash jumped out of the bed. "I wasn't asleep; I was in a coma!" She calmed herself down, and focused.

"Speaking of Omega, do we know where she is?"

"No. Honestly, I think it's for the best; you're nowhere near strong enough to beat her, none of us are." Twilight was speaking truthfully. She was right. Rainbow Dash got to her feet and stretched until she heard a few good clicks from her spine.

"Where is everypony?"

"Downstairs," Twilight said. "Waiting to see if you're alright! You really need to learn when to quit." Her point was acknowledged, and Rainbow headed down the curved staircase.

The moment everypony noticed Rainbow Dash was walking down the stairs, they all rushed to hug her. She was overwhelmed by the weight of everypony piled onto her, so she thought she'd try something. She vanished briefly, then reappeared behind all her friends. Pinkie was the first to notice she was gone.

"I-What happened? She disappeared! Or was she never there in the first place..." somehow ominous music played in the background.

"I'm over here." Rainbow Dash finally spoke, after partly enjoying her friend's bewilderment for a bit. Pinkie tried to continue, but Rainbow Dash put a stop to it.

"Before you ask, I'll explain later. We have bigger fish..." Rainbow randomly stopped mid sentence.

"Uuuh." Twilight interrupted, zoning her blue friend back in.

"Sorry, kinda hungry. Oh yeah, we have bigger problems to deal with. I need to ask something of you, all of you." Rainbow Dash paused and focused. She took a deep breath, and began. "Omega is the strongest adversary we've ever seen, and currently we stand no chance; and as much as I hate to admit it, I can't do this alone. But, after I teach you all how to utilise ki, and we train for a while, we should all be able to beat Omega together. I think I know who can train us, but I'm not telling you, I'm asking you. If you don't want to, there's no shame in walking away now." Rainbow Dash waited for a response. Applejack was first to come forward.

"Rainbow Dash, we've had our differences in the past but we understand each other perfectly, and I know that you hardly ever ask for help; so now you must really need it, and I'm not gonna say no to a friend, now am I?." Fluttershy then followed suit.

"Rainbow Dash, I'm here to help in any way I can, whether I end up strong enough to fight alongside you or not. Besides, I owe you this much for being so kind and welcoming to me, that's why I try and return the favour to all of you." Next was Rarity.

"Darling please, you never even had to ask; I was already on board. And I get to make weighted training clothes for all of us." She could hardly contain her excitement at the prospect. Pinkie Pie then hopped forward.

"I'm happy to help RD! Ooh, this is gonna be so much fun!! Oh I know... WE'LL BREAK HER LEGS!!!" Pinkie's rant continued on in her head. Last to step forward was Twilight.

"Rainbow Dash. I was with you whether you asked me or not. I'll help you defeat Omega, even if it means sacrificing my own life." Twilight had said many meaningful things before, but this was by far the most heartfelt. Rainbow Dash smiled.

"Good," She said. "I just needed to make sure you were truly willing to help." She thought to herself quickly, and began to leave the castle.

"Rainbow? Where are you going?" Rainbow stopped in her tracks, and turned around.

"To find somepony who can train us. Come on!" She yelled as she kept walking. "We're going back to Canterlot!"

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed. Be sure to like and comment what you thought could be improved. Thanks

Chapter 3: Climb

Both Celestia and Luna were forced to decline the Main Six's request.

"I'm sorry everypony but neither my sister nor I know the slightest thing about ki. We cannot help you." They were going to leave disappointed, when Luna remembered someone else.

"Wait," Rainbow Dash and Twilight both turned around, keen to hear what was next. "There might be someone who can help." Twilight noticed something odd about what Luna had said.

"Princess, don’t you mean 'somepony'?"

"No, I’m not talking about a pony. I believe Zecora may help you. She stays in the mountains every year for around six months, practicing and honing her magic abilities, and she's there now. Odds are she's seen the same visions as you Rainbow Dash, if not more. If there's anyone who can help you, it'll have to be her, because it certainly isn’t us." The Main Six thanked the princesses, and turned to leave.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, all of you, be careful; she trains on one of the highest mountains in the range; it's a long journey."

The Main 6 headed back to their respective homes first, then met up in Ponyville. They gathered supplies they would need for the journey to, and up, the mountains. They decided to stay at the Castle of Friendship for a few more days, giving Rainbow Dash the perfect opportunity to teach the others about ki.

"Everypony paying attention? If so, then we can begin." Rainbow Dash wasn't the smartest pony in the world by traditional definitions, but she knew quite a bit in regards to physical activity - including fighting. She was also the only one who knew about ki.

"Now, obviously I don't have a lot of time to teach you what little I know, but I think in the next day or two, you can learn how to access your ki, sense the ki of others, and create basic ki blasts," Rainbow Dash believed that was a realistic goal, even if it did sound like a bit too much.

"Ki is a dormant energy inside of us which, unlike magic, every race of equine pony has. It seems the energy from the dragon balls awakened it in those who had enough to begin with.

"I need everypony to take a seat, and focus - concentrate. It'll well up inside of you after a while, it'll make its way to the surface, and then... it'll explode, forcing its way into your body. But you’ll have to find it first." Rainbow Dash and the others were sat there for nearly half an hour but nopony had accessed their ki yet. Rainbow Dash let them take a ten minute break before getting back to the meditation.

It was another hour before anypony unlocked their ki. The first one to do it was Fluttershy. She was surprised by it, but quickly regained control. Then followed Twilight and Applejack. Finally came Rarity, then Pinkie Pie. Everypony was amazed at the sudden power increase from their ki.

"I know it's a rush, but try and control it. When you first unlock your ki it could be very overwhelming. It's a good start, but we still have more training to do. Tomorrow." Rainbow Dash got up and stretched.

"My body had about 12 hours to get used to my ki before I first used it, so I should give you time to adjust too." Everypony said their goodbyes, and headed their separate ways.

Rainbow Dash commenced training in the morning, at approximately 7 o’clock, this time in a recently felled section of Sweet Apple Acres. She began to explain sensing other ki signatures to her friends, as best as she could with words.

"It's a bit tricky at first, but it becomes second nature after a while. To sense the ki of another pony, you have to first radiate yours off of them. Eventually you'll learn to sense it as either vibrations in the body, or a sound of varying pitch and intensity. The weaker the other pony's ki is, the further you will have to extend your own." Everypony took this in quite well.

"Let's try it out. A little game of hide and seek. You all hide, I try to find you using ki, and you try to avoid me.

"I'll count to thirty. 1... 2... 3... " Everypony quickly realised she wasn't kidding, and ran to find a suitable hiding place. There were rustling sounds from a few bushes, and sounds of trees being climbed. Rainbow Dash was almost done.

"27...28...29..30!!" Her eyes shot open immediately. She looked around and saw no signs of anypony; they all hid pretty well. Rainbow Dash concentrated, and tried to sense the others' ki. She felt Pinkie Pie's immediately. She walked quietly over to the bush she hid behind, and spread apart the branches and leaves. The grin she saw was from ear to ear, and she jumped back, startled.

"Woah! Jesus, Pinkie!!"

"We don't have Him here." Pinkie added in quickly.

"How are you always so happy?! Can’t you contain yourself even for a minute?" Pinkie looked genuinely lost in thought for a few seconds.

"I don't know, good question." She kept her smile the whole way through. Rainbow Dash let out an exacerbated sigh.

"Ok. But try and learn to suppress your ki by keeping calm and concentrating." Pinkie nodded rapidly, and went back to where they had originally started out. Rainbow Dash searched for the others. She found Rarity next, then Applejack. She had to search around much harder for Twilight; she could've been using an invisibility spell too. Rainbow concentrated, and noticed the tiniest flare in Twilight's ki. She extended her hand out, and shot a small beam next to Twilight. She yelped and her concentration broke, deactivating the spell.

Everypony was gathered back in the garden, except for Fluttershy. It had been about an hour, but try as she might, Rainbow Dash couldn't find Fluttershy's ki. She was beginning to get worried, when there was a rustle from a bush. Fluttershy's head popped out.

"Is everything alright?" she inquired. "Sorry if I missed anything." Rainbow Dash smiled.

"No, no. Well done Fluttershy, you did it. I couldn't sense your ki once. Good job."

"Oh, thank you... it was quite fun." Fluttershy sounded happy, yet still timid and kind.

"Ok, that went pretty well. I thought of something else though; everypony, bring out as much ki as you can right now." An aura enveloped everypony, and Rainbow could feel their power increase.

"You can sense each other's ki now, right?" Everypony nodded.

"Alright, great. Then I only have one thing left to teach you." She was talking about creating ki blasts. It still wasn’t noon, but Rainbow Dash decided to end the training for that morning. They would continue later in the day. The break worked out quite well, as Rarity apparently had something 'highly important' to get at the Boutique. Everypony had a couple hours to get used to their new capabilities whilst Rarity was retrieving whatever it was she needed.

Rarity's excitement finally made sense to her friends. She had finished making the training clothes for them all. Rainbow Dash had an orange gi, under which she wore a blue top. She also had weighted wristbands, a blue belt, and navy blue boots. Twilight wore a baggy dark blue top and close fitting trousers, with white boots. Pinkie wore a dark green gi, the top only covering one shoulder, with black boots and a red belt. Rarity and Fluttershy had rather similar outfits. They both wore dark purple gi with black boots, the only difference was that whereas Rarity's belt and wristbands were blue, Fluttershy's were red and she wore a white headband. On top of that, Rarity also wore a white cloak adorned with her cutie mark. Applejack wore a pair of dark grey jeans and a grey vest; she had brown boots and a normal belt.

Everypony appreciated the new clothes, but they had work to do.

"Alright everypony, this part is a bit simpler in my experience. What you need to do is focus some ki into the front of your hand, not too much, and a ball should appear." Everypony followed Rainbow Dash's instructions, and as she said, a ball did form even if it took hours for some.

"Now, when you think it's powerful enough tense the muscles in your hand a bit, and it should fire. Let’s aim it up at the sky for now, don’t wanna damage anything." The ki blasts flew quite fast, and didn't take up a lot of energy. It was clear that they would hinder an opponent, but not hurt them very much. Everypony practiced firing the blasts for another hour or so, and it became natural. Rainbow Dash thought they were ready enough to go train with Zecora; so she decided that after they had repacked, they would leave for the mountains immediately. In total, they had spent two days learning under Rainbow Dash.

The loads they carried were a decent size and weight; nothing too fancy, just the essentials like food, water, spare training clothes, sleeping bags, pillows and - in Rarity’s case - lots of soft blankets. Everypony wore an extra insulating layer under their training clothes, seeing as the mountainous regions were very prone to snowstorms. Spike was left in care of Fluttershy's animals, and they set off on their journey.

The first leg wasn't too bad; the stony groves that led up to the mountains were easy enough to navigate, that was, until the first storm hit. It was just wind, but it was so fierce that it was nearly impossible for them to even jog! The storm did eventually let up, but the group's progress had been massively slowed. They stopped for food and rest once for that day, then immediately resumed the journey. By the time the sun had set, the main six could already see near the base of the mountains. Twilight had to persuade Rainbow Dash that they needed to rest and set up camp. They had a basic campfire, and sleeping equipment; good enough. Twilight set an invisibility field around them, and an awakening spell; if somepony crossed through the barrier, it would instantly wake them all. They all wished each other a goodnight, and went to sleep early.

It took them just over two days to ascend a quarter of the tallest mountain. There was another storm, a snowstorm, and Rarity and Twilight had to set up another barrier spell to protect their friends from the environment. They didn't go to sleep fully, they just meditated and waited it out. The hardest part was the cold; it gnawed away at their souls, destroying their will from the inside, threatening to leave nothing. The snowstorm settled after approximately two hours, and the group continued the arduous climb. Applejack was first to point out that they were getting low on food, and also that the water was all frozen. After a little time, Twilight had a solution; she focused some ki in her hands, and the water slowly started to defrost. Everypony followed suit quickly, and the ice was no longer a problem.

Rainbow Dash decided to quickly teach the group how to fly without wings, but using ki instead.

It didn't take long to teach and practice, and the group's speed more than doubled. They carried on for a few more kilometres, and set up camp for the night.

In the morning, the sun peaked out over the horizon, signalling the beginning of the day. Rainbow Dash's eyes crept open, and were met with the sunlight blazing in her eyes. She woke to find Fluttershy doing extra training. She felt that she was making up for her initial lack of strength by training harder. Rainbow Dash slowly got up, and woke all her friends. They all changed into a spare set of training clothes, and then continued their ascent of the mountain.

One week in, and they were nearing the peak of the mountain, where the plateau was. The air was somehow getting easier to breathe as they got closer to it, the complete opposite of what should've been happening; there must have been a spell active, creating more air to inhale. Twilight was the first to reach the plateau. What she saw surprised her. She was expecting a dojo and everything, but all she saw was a small, fortified house, a campfire, and Zecora sitting in front of the house, meditating. Everypony else reached the plateau shortly after. They noticed that the instant they got to the top, their fatigue became less and less noticeable, until eventually it was gone. Twilight was the one who decided to speak to Zecora, and state their purpose of being there.

"Uum, excuse me Ze-" Suddenly she vanished, and reappeared behind Twilight. It left her in complete shock, they could all now see Rainbow Dash at her fastest speed; how could there be somepony faster?!

"I appreciate the visit, but why here?" The zebra said with her estranged accent. "It is a perilous journey at this time of year."

"Zecora, we came here to train with you," It was Rainbow Dash who spoke. "Please, we need your help." Zecora thought about the request, taking her time. She finally responded.

"I am aware of the threat you seek to dispel, but I may not be able to teach you well." Fluttershy decided to chime in now.

”Well, we thought that... you've probably seen all the same things that Rainbow Dash has, if not more, and you could know more about ki than any of us."

"This power is still quite new to me, and I've never taught more than one you see."
"C'mon, you can’t be doubting yourself at a time like this," Pinkie had joined in now too. "You said you knew what we're up against, so you also know that we need the right teacher." Zecora looked away from the party pony, clearly weighing the options.

"Prove you are worthy of my time and respect, and I may consider this prospect." Her statement was a foundation for something at least.

"Out of you six before me, which has the strongest ki?" They all stood there in silence, until Rainbow Dash stepped out.

"That would be me." She answered. The zebra smiled, and took a fighting stance.

"Fight me, give all you have to give. I must see what I am working with." Rainbow heard this, and didn't hesitate. She rushed straight for Zecora and threw a telegraphed punch. The zebra dodged, making Rainbow Dash overshoot her attack. She landed and immediately prepared to go in for another strike. She vanished in front of Zecora and tried to uppercut her in the jaw. She jumped back quickly, waiting for another attack. Rainbow Dash changed her offensive tactic, and fired a barrage of ki blasts at her. Zecora fired back, matching them shot for shot. The collisions of ki blasts kicked up a thick cloud of snow, which Rainbow Dash took advantage of. She dashed through it and threw a rapid volley of kicks at Zecora. She dodged the assault with ease, and finally threw a punch back. Rainbow Dash dodged and manoeuvred behind Zecora. She wasted no time, unleashing a swift barrage of punches and kicks. She finished her assault with a two-handed smash, sending the zebra backwards. She smiled, taking mental notes. She appeared close to Rainbow Dash before she could react and kicked her square in the jaw. The hit staggered her, but recovered she quickly. Then she had an idea. Rainbow Dash vanished, appearing behind Zecora, but instead of striking she vanished again. She vanished and reappeared five times before attacking. She was right in front of Zecora. She kicked her in the jaw, sending her upwards; Rainbow Dash flew above her and punched her in the spine. Zecora fell back toward the ground, and stopped her descent a metre above it. She'd seen what she needed to see, and decided to end the fight swiftly. She flew up towards Rainbow Dash and kicked her in the torso; she followed up quickly with a strong punch also to the chest. Rainbow was sent backwards, in shock. The zebra reappeared above her, and kicked her back downwards. Rainbow Dash hit the ground hard and knew she had lost. Zecora slowly came back down to the ground. Rainbow Dash got to her feet slowly; she looked disappointed, in herself. There followed an eerie silence. Zecora finally made her decision.

"If I do not try, I will never know. I say we should at least give this a go." Whereas the others were delighted to hear it, Rainbow Dash was confused.

"Wait... but I lost. Why would you want to train us?" The zebra smiled, as if she’d expected that from Rainbow Dash.

"Your current power matters not to me, when compared to the potential I see." She turned to face the others. "Twilight, you noticed and seemed intrigued that up here you will not be fatigued. Due to a spell I have in place, hunger, thirst, and tiredness won’t rear their face. You will be able to use all your time to train, sun, snow or rain." Twilight spoke next.

"When can we start?" Zecora replied quickly.

"I have my methods, don’t you remember how? Quick, efficient. Your training starts now."

The first thing Zecora taught everypony were the physical aspects of fighting, including the correct punching techniques, kicks, proper blocks, and efficient exercises to rapidly increase speed, stamina, and strength. In total, all of that took just over a week to complete and master. The next thing Zecora wanted to focus on was ki based attacks.

"Now to see if you are as capable as you seem. Can you all fire a basic ki beam?" Her question was answered quickly with everypony firing once into the sky. It didn't really surprise Zecora that they could do it, but the next level was much more difficult.

"Today you will learn a technique I devised on my own, which I will help you to hone."

"Clear your mind of everything in these lands, and focus ki into your hands." The group didn't waste any time, following the instruction immediately.

"Put your hands together in front of you. A small ball of ki should form too." Zecora waited for everypony's kamehameha to form.

"Bring your hands down to your side, and bring them closer to your shoulder, nice and high." The action felt odd at first, but they all got used to it.

"As you let the time flow, the attack will continue to grow." The training was going well up until that point. When they got to that step the ki balls just disappeared, even Rainbow Dash was having trouble. Zecora started off with the notion that their ki capacity was the problem, but decided against it. If they didn't have enough ki, then the ball wouldn't form in the first place. She worked out that it must've been their ki control. She changed the training around, focusing instead on enhancing physical attacks using ki. This involved concentrating varying amounts of ki into certain parts of the body. If they could do that properly, they could easily keep a large ki ball together.

Zecora and the others flew over to the largest mountain in the whole range, which loomed over them like a ravenous chimera. They approached the side of the mountain and stopped. Zecora instructed them to hit the mountain as hard as they could, no holding back at all. The impacts shook the ground, but only created a large crater in the mountain. They meditated, as Zecora instructed, whilst trying to focus their ki into the same limb they hit the mountain with at first.

It took them just under two days to learn to properly focus their ki into their extremities. They all went back to the mountainside, and tried again. They each calmed themselves before taking the hits. They felt their hands tense up slightly, and knew they were ready. They all drew an arm back and struck the mountain again. This time the result was much different. The mountaintop shattered like diamond, fragments falling down the slopes! Everypony - even Zecora - was shocked at how much their striking power was increased when using ki. They flew back to the plateau in awe of their own power, but as far as Zecora was concerned, they were only just ready to learn the kamehameha.

"If you thought it would take long, quell your fears, it only took me one small year." As usual, the blue ki ball formed in front of their hands; they bought their hands down to one side, and hoped to Celestia that it would keep its form; even Zecora. Thankfully, the ball grew larger instead of disappearing. Everypony was surprised, especially Fluttershy; she’d doubted she would’ve pulled it off.

"The mountain to he east, you can all see it at least?" They looked to the mountain, which had a jagged peak due to their milestone earlier. They had to make sure they kept their hands in the same position, otherwise the attack would disperse.

"It’ll make sense how, fire above it when I say..." The attacks were fully charged, and they waited for Zecora's command.

"Now!" They all knew what do. Everypony pushed their hands back in front of their chests, and the beams all fired at once! The six blue beams lit up the sky gloriously. Surprisingly, their was no recoil at all from them. The beams shrunk and disappeared after a while. Zecora was impressed that they learned it in just one week. They truly were prodigies.

Another week passed, and the main six started sparring with each other. The first match was Twilight against Applejack. It was early when they started; Celestia hadn't even risen the sun yet! Most of them had learnt to adapt and refine the kamehameha into their own attacks. Twilight was the first to do this with her Galick Gun. Rarity figured it out pretty soon after as well, and created the Masenko, which she had decided to teach Fluttershy too. Rainbow Dash decided to stick to the kamehameha, and created a completely different attack; the Spirit Bomb. Pinkie Pie created a much smaller, but faster and more focused attack called the Dodon Ray. Applejack hadn't yet perfected her own attack when Zecora started the sparring matches. The sun just began peeking over the horizon as Applejack and Twilight stepped into the ring, which was just a larger, empty plateau higher up in the mountains. The rules Zecora had set were simple: a win was obtained by concession or ring out. They took their stances, and Zecora fired a ki beam into the sky, signalling the beginning of the match.

Applejack rushed towards Twilight and launched a kick at her chest. Twilight jumped back, easily dodging the hit. This fight could go either way really. Twilight was tactical and highly intelligent, whereas Applejack was tenacious, stubborn, and very strong, and her aggressive nature and fighting style didn't leave Twilight any time to formulate a possible strategy. Applejack followed up swiftly with a barrage of punches and kicks enhanced with ki. Twilight blocked all the hits, except the last punch. Applejack had paused slightly on purpose and raised a leg, fooling Twilight into changing her block; she simply waited and threw the final punch. It hit Twilight directly in the face, and as she recoiled from the hit, a purple aura sphere began circulating around her. It pulsated, and Twilight moved her hands behind her right side. It was her Galick Gun. Applejack prepared to either dodge or block the blast. She charged up her ki and flew higher up, so the beam wouldn't damage the mountain. Twilight grunted now, and spoke.

"Galick Gun..." Applejack suddenly had an idea, and decided to try it anyway.

"Fire!!" At the last possible second Applejack vanished in front of Twilight and unleashed a flurry of blows. No one thought she had successfully refined her ki attack yet. She ended her combo with a hand very near Twilight's chest. She screamed, and a short range ki explosion surrounded Twilght. Applejack must have just finished the attack recently, as nopony had ever seen it before. She decided to name it the Burning Blast. Twilight flew backwards, and ringed-out. She began healing herself, and the next match began.

"Rarity and Pinkie Pie. You must be excited, don’t lie." They stepped into the ring, one, an unpredictable party animal, and the other, a proud and generous seamstress. Zecora raised her hand into the air, and fired the ki ball. Rarity charged up suddenly, and started focusing her ki into one attack. Pinkie Pie noticed this, and oddly became serious. She took a defensive stance, and thought of a plan. She started vanishing and reappearing wildly across the ring. Rarity was puzzled now; she had no idea how to respond. Pinkie appeared in front of Rarity, and punched her in the face at near enough full strength. Rarity was knocked back, and returned a swift frenzy of kicks. Pinkie Pie blocked or dodged all of them; Rarity's attacks were a bit slower because she had no ki left, but it was all Pinkie needed. She landed an uppercut and grabbed Rarity's legs; she spun her around, but Rarity powered up, and stopped the rotation. She spun out of her grip, and landed a kick on Pinkie Pie's shoulder; she then, all whilst charging more ki, flew upward. In a few seconds Rarity had a masenko ready and fired it down at Pinkie Pie. She vanished behind Rarity and punched her back down towards the ground; she landed hard, making a crater in the ring. Pinkie landed shortly after, and they continued their fight. Rarity started with a powerful kick, breaking Pinkie's guard; she wasted no time, vanishing behind her, and elbowing her in the spine. Pinkie stumbled forward, but regained her balance after a while. She turned around quickly with a hand out in front of her chest; she fired the Dodon Ray at Rarity multiple times over, to which she had to react extremely quickly to dodge. She dashed toward Pinkie and vanished behind her at the last second. Pinkie noticed and turned around, but she was already too late. Rarity hit her with an uppercut, sending her into the air; she appeared behind her again and kicked her in the back. She vanished once more and appeared in Pinkie's path. Rarity let loose a barrage of hits, then quickly fired a masenko down toward the ground. Pinkie had no time to react, and was hit fully by the blast. It sent her down, and she hit the ground hard. Zecora waited for a bit, to see if Pinkie Pie could continue. But she knew it was over.

"Rarity, well done. Hope you both had fun." Fluttershy went to help Pinkie off of the ring, and Twilight began to heal her friend. Zecora announced the final matchup.

"Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, don’t go too high."

Fluttershy knew it was coming, but still, her blood froze the instant she heard her name. She looked to Zecora as if to say 'Wait, really? Are you sure?' and she received a nod in response. Fluttershy turned to the ring and saw Rainbow Dash already waiting for her. She calmed herself, and slowly walked into the ring.

"Ready, I hope so?" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash took their stances. Zecora raised her hand slowly into the air. "Alright then, go!" She shot the ki beam into the sky. They waited, each trying to anticipate other's first move. Rainbow Dash vanished as soon as possible, but Fluttershy hesitated; when Rainbow appeared in the air in front of her, she could only block the kick. She realised her mistake, but kept her cool. Fluttershy kicked at Rainbow Dash's leg the moment she landed, making her lose her balance; she quickly followed with a spinning backhand to the face, which Rainbow avoided, and dashed backwards quickly. They sized each other up from a distance; Fluttershy vanished behind Rainbow Dash, kicked her in the spine, then punched her in the jaw as she turned around. Rainbow Dash stumbled back, looking disappointed.

"You're holding back. Why?" Fluttershy remained silent.

"You don't want to hurt me, do you? That's fair enough, but when you’re fighting for your life, or more importantly somepony else’s, you can’t afford mercy. If you're not willing to fight me properly now, how do you know you won’t hesitate to fight Omega at full power? She’ll continue to murder and destroy as she sees fit." Rainbow Dash started slowly walking towards Fluttershy.

"That would be our fault... your fault. And if you had a chance but failed to stop her in because you held back, the blood of those innocent ponies would be on your hands" At that moment, Fluttershy snapped, boiling over with rage and fury. She flew forward elbowed Rainbow Dash in the stomach so hard, she doubled over in pain. She hit her hard with an uppercut, sending Rainbow Dash into the air. Fluttershy appeared above her and fired a masenko downward. Rainbow Dash hit the ground hard, cracking the ground beneath her. Fluttershy was breathing heavily from her sudden outburst, and as she calmed down, she realised her actions. She descended quickly.

"Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash are you ok?!!" She groaned in mild pain, and rolled onto her back.

"Where the hell do ya get that from?"

"I'm sorry, I- I lost my tem-"

"No, it's... it’s alright," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "You didn't hold back after that, well done." That lightened Fluttershy's mood, and Zecora praised her for her victory. She and the main six flew back to her plateau, and she addressed them as a group.

"You have all trained remarkably well, even ignoring the rejuvenation spell. You are ready to fight Omega. That much is true, but there is one more technique I must teach you."

Author's Note

Hey everyone. Finally finished the rewrite of the story. Wanted to have Zecora speak in rhyme, so I was editing this chapter for a while longer. Hope you find this version much better than the original. Enjoy. :pinkiesmile:

Chapter 4: Justification

Fluttershy sat with her legs crossed and hands together on her lap, whilst her eyes were sealed shut. In total, an entire month had passed during the Main 6's training, during which Omega had been completely inactive. Probably for the best, as they wouldn't have been able to do much to stop her anyway. It had been a further week since they left Zecora's plateau, and she said they would always be welcome.

Fluttershy was meditating in front of her cottage, and had been for the past half hour, when she felt Omega's ki for the first time in weeks. It shocked her out of her relaxed state, and she jumped to her feet. She looked south, to the direction of Manehattan. A purple hemisphere lit up the sky suddenly, and a wave of wind came rushing past her. Fluttershy ran in quickly and dressed in her gi, making sure to remove the weights, as she would need all the extra battle power she could get. The new technique Zecora taught them would also be very useful, but very dangerous too: everypony was yet to use it in combat, but Zecora had made the limitations quite clear. Fluttershy remembered what she said.

'When you use it remember this too. Be sure to finish your opponent with it, or it may finish you.'

She finished getting ready, and headed back outside. She sensed her friends also heading toward Manehattan, but chose not to wait for them; if she did, Omega would just continue to act on her destructive habits. She was the closest to Omega, so she could help the quickest. Fluttershy subdued her fear, and threw herself out of her petrified state. She rose into the air, and flew quickly towards Manehattan.

The young colt snuck through the debris, looking for a place to hide. He knew the mare who somehow did all this was still close, he heard her talking to herself as though she was having a conversation. Something about the Royal Sisters. One thing became clear to him: she was no ordinary pony. No, she was a monster, a demon, and she would not spare his life just because he was young.

Spotlight was one of the lucky ones, he was at a safe distance when she commenced her spree of demolition. Massive spheres of hot energy lit up the city, killing thousands instantly. The shockwaves from the blasts were responsible for a lot of the destruction further away, decimating buildings like they were made of sand. Spotlight had considered in his head that maybe it was they who were better off. After all, they weren’t afraid when they died. Not like the rest. The mare descended into the ruins to admire her work, flying without her wings, and using some type of magic without a horn. Not one of the ponies who laid eyes on her lived. Now she was looking for survivors.

Spotlight heard footsteps and peeked from his hiding spot, an overturned wagon, to look. An injured mare was trying to escape with her life. The fabric of her trousers was shredded over her left leg, and was covered in blood from the knee down. Her face was a permanent grimace as she fought through the agony across her body, adrenaline being the only thing keeping her moving. She was going as fast as she physically could, but her injuries hindered her progress. If she was too slow, she'd inevitably be found, but if she wasn't quiet the mare would find and execute her on the spot. She was leaving in the general direction of Ponyville, and Spotlight wanted to help her because even if she did escape, she wouldn't make it before tiring out. Hypotheticals and questions didn't matter to this mare though, only her determination to live meant anything worthwhile. An unnoticed slab of rubble stopped the tenacious mare in her tracks, catching her foot. Her eyes widened as she realised it was too late. Gravity did its job and brought her crashing to the ground. She hit the rough surface hard, letting out a yelp as the edges of stone cut into the skin on her arm. She quickly brought her other hand to cover her mouth, but the sound had already escaped it. Tears filled her eyes as hope drained from her soul. Perhaps this really was it. She closed her eyes tightly, letting herself cry in silence, waiting for the end. Spotlight had froze when she fell, unsure what to do. If he left his cover to help her, he risked throwing his life away, but if he did nothing he could've been leaving her to die. His breathing steadied as seconds passed. The mare hadn't come yet. Spotlight and the injured mare made eye contact as she got to her feet. They stared at each other for a few seconds before the mare looked down at her leg. Her chest heaved from the exertion of getting up and she didn't waste anymore time, turning to head towards Ponyville. Spotlight couldn't help but smile, he almost let out a chuckle. The mare had ensured she would live for now, and he was still safe. But the monster had a different plan.

His breath caught in his throat. From behind the wagon above him, he heard a high pitched whirring sound. A beam of energy blasted through the injured mare's torso. Blood splattered from her mouth and chest. She collapsed forward, hitting the ground limp, silent. Dead. Spotlight stared at her bloodied face, unable to look away. Her eyes were blank and cold. She had died before she even hit the floor. The genocidal mare landed beside her latest kill, prodding the corpse with her foot to be sure. Spotlight held his breath, hoping to Celestia, and the God he was raised to believe in, that she would leave without finding him. He hoped that she would rise back into the air and continue her hunt elsewhere.

"Shit. Idiot, I told you, keep the next one you see alive just for a bit, listen to what they might say. But no, you're too much of a trigger-happy impulsive idiot with no restraint for that!" There she went, speaking with herself again. Now that Spotlight was closer to her, and could actually see her, he thought her appearance was familiar from somewhere. Where though? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

"They'll definitely be coming now, no way this hasn't drawn their attention. You have all this power just waiting to be tapped into, but you can't bring it out without fighting them? I don't know, that's kinda pathetic," She growled, and kicked the mare's corpse with enough strength to shatter one side of the rib cage. "You can't even kill them yet thanks to that! Okay... calm down. Once they're out of the way, there'll be nothing more to stop me from finally ravaging the world those two bitches call home." Wait a minute... Of course. Spotlight almost gasped, giving away his position. He remembered why the murderous mare was familiar. There was a story his grandmother told him once before she passed away: The legend of the Super Pony. He couldn't remember it word for word, but he remembered what he needed to. It was said that following a time of unbroken peace and prosperity, the ponies of Equis would face a terrifying, seemingly insurmountable evil, wielding a new & strange power far beyond that of even the Royal Sisters. Their only desire would apparently be to see everything destroyed by their own hand, as if they were a force of nature beyond reasoning. A warrior gifted with similar power, vengeful, brutal and fuelled by rage, would rise up to battle this monster and finally defeat them, defending everypony from their wrath. This selfless warrior was the Super Pony.
At least, that's how Spotlight's grandmother told it to him. Then again, she had reckoned the story was as old as Starswirl the Bearded too, but that was most likely an exaggeration; were it not for his current predicament, he would've loved to continue reminiscing about her. And besides, he couldn't rely on folklore and myths to save him, not when death was within a stone's throw from him. Or at least, it had been. He listened carefully. Footsteps, fading footsteps. She was walking away! The evil mare was walking slowly, whilst continuously mumbling to herself. Soon he'd be safe, just a minute more and she'd be out of earshot.

'No, I'll leave it a little longer just to be sure, then run.' He thought. Better to be paranoid than dead, right? Spotlight listened as her footsteps continued to get further and further away, and let out a sigh of relief. One last crunch of the ground and rubble. A loud one, as if she'd jumped back into the air. Was she gone? He didn't really know, and wasn't gonna risk looking. He waited in silence, receiving silence in return. He hadn't realised before just how much he was sweating. Adrenaline and stress probably. His body would calm itself after a couple minutes of not almost dying, or so he had hoped. Light filled his eyes as the wagon was ripped of the ground, leaving him exposed. The evil mare stood right over Spotlight, glaring into his eyes. Hers were full of malice and rage, whereas his were panicky and afraid.

"I knew I heard somepony else before... you hid pretty well, all things considered." He scrambled on the ground, moving away from the mare. She walked forward slowly, towering menacingly over him and keeping a constant distance between them.

"Oh, no no no. We aren't finshed yet, you and I." A wicked smile crept onto her face, filling Spotlight with dread.

"Anything to say? You a silent one or loud like some of the others I found? They were kind of annoying to be honest." Spotlight cleared his head for a second. He really was about to die. What did he want his last words to be? He had always been one for theatrics, so he thought he'd give her something to remember. He looked her in the eyes, no longer scared, but confident.

"You won't get far you know. They'll stop you!" The mare seemed to be confused. Either by the choice of words or what they implied. He couldn't possibly know about Rainbow Dash and her friends trying to stop her, so who the hell could this stupid little teenager be referring to?

"What? What are you on about?! Who in this world is gonna stop me? Huh?!" There was that look of confidence again. What the fuck was up with this guy? He was even smiling!

"The Super Pony. You won't stand a chance. They'll beat you easily, probably even kill you." The mare started visibly panicking now. Did this kid really know what he was talking about? He couldn't, could he? The mare raised one hand at him, and a ball of energy appeared in front of it, growing slowly. Spotlight was ready. He had said enough. The seed was planted in her mind, and would grow by her own thoughts.

'I missed you Granny, can't wait to see you.'

Fluttershy had been flying as fast as she could without revealing her ki. She could see smoke rising from the desolate ruin left by Omega long before she got there. Dusty rubble along with destroyed wagons and stands littered the silent streets of Manehattan. A few minutes ago the city would have been vibrant and lively, full of ponies going about their days... until Omega descended, having chosen this place as her next slaughter, in a bid to draw out the only ponies with a chance of stopping her. Fluttershy tried not to let the sadness she felt get to her as she descended into the chaotic remain. It was littered with corpses of all ages. She searched around for a bit, and eventually discovered Omega. What she laid her eyes upon sickened her very soul; she was slowly charging up a ki blast, aimed at a young colt. Fluttershy threw caution to the wind, abandoning her previous subtlety; she could still save one life today. She charged up her ki as she moved, ready to strike. She reappeared in the air beside Omega, taking her completely by surprise. She charged a masenko in one hand, and fired the attack at point blank range, sending Omega a considerable distance backwards. Fluttershy turned her attention to the scared colt on the ground. He seemed petrified, completely unable to move from shock. She couldn't tell if he was more scared of Omega or herself, but that didn't matter. She decided to bring out the stare, along with the voice she used when scolding one of her animals.

"Run to Ponyville now, and don't stop." He still sat there, amazed at her strength, and helpless in the situation.

"Now. Go!" The reinforced command, and Omega flying back toward Fluttershy prompted him to run as fast as his legs could carry him.

Her concentration shifted once again to Omega, more rage than focus though. Omega tried to surprise Fluttershy by vanishing behind her, but it was an all too familiar move; she simply kicked her effortlessly in the stomach and backed away to keep her distance. Omega stumbled back, winded from the hit.

"You... what do you want from the ponies of this planet?! We've done nothing to deserve this!!"

"I want a worthy opponent, a challenge." Omega replied.

"But why all the death and destruction?" Fluttershy retorted. "This world, and it's inhabitants are all kind, benevolent, loving, and peaceful ponies." She was close to breaking point.

"Don’t you see? That’s why it’s perfect. Damn it... I'm not explaining it very well am I? I didn’t just blink into existence when Rainbow Dash touched the dragon balls; I’ve been alive for... for a very long time, not here, some other place. A void almost, no physical body and nopony else, just... me. With all that time, I began to believe I was alone in the world. One day I discovered two others, just like me. Your rulers, Celestia and Luna. I wasn't sure if it was them at first, but once I was near them I was sure of it. They were born into powerful bodies, and I thought I would join them, but I waited for... I don’t know how long... for a dream that would never come." At some point, Omega began looking at the ground, clearly feeling something close to regret. Her expression wavered and was replaced by sudden anger.

"Those bastards left me behind! That's why I kill their citizens and ruin their lands, to destroy their pride, as they once did to me." Fluttershy almost felt bad for her, but would never forgive her for slaughtering an entire city. That type of transgression wasn’t forgotten just because somepony thought they were justified, even by as kind a pony as Fluttershy.

"It's possible to feel so much hatred, you stop feeling it at all. During those countless years I became extremely bored, more bored than you could possibly imagine with that feeble mind of yours, and this is my entertainment." Her face contorted to a wicked grin. "Oh, how I love the looks on their faces before I kill them... I haven't felt it in ages, but it's helped me to remember what joy feels like." She purposefully looked Fluttershy in the eye for the next part.

"After all... There's nothing I find more satisfying than watching a pony die slowly by my hand... and watching the light leave their eyes."

Unable to contain herself any longer, Fluttershy flew into a rage, and sucker punched her across the face. Omega shifted backwards from the hit. A small amount of blood splattered onto the rubble, and she wiped her mouth before smiling.

"So try not to bore me. Or you might end up like her." She said, pointing to a dead mare on the ground behind her with a gaping hole in her chest. She screamed quickly and spread her limbs outward, before a gigantic ki explosion engulfed her and Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Twilght, Applejack, and Rarity all flew at full speed toward Manehattan. They saw the yellow explosion coming from over the horizon. Rainbow Dash could feel Omega's and Fluttershy's ki, but they were both less than she remembered.

"Twilight, how long do you think it'll take us from here?" She asked. She knew there was no point, but she couldn't help her impatience.

"Maybe... 5 or 6 minutes at this pace."

"This feels like it could be a rather even fight, I know it's quite a bit early to be making predictions, but I think that Fluttershy might beat Omega." Rarity said what they all had been thinking, all except for Rainbow Dash.

"No, she won't." She stated with a deadpan voice.

"Oh come on Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie yelled spontaneously. "Fluttershy's at equal power with Omega already!!"

"Can't you tell?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Omega's still not at her full potential, and Fluttershy's holding back a bit too. She's probably still at like ten percent power, but Fluttershy's already at around seventy. If we don't hurry up... she's in way over her head." The mere implication of Rainbow Dash's warning was enough. With that thought embedded into their minds, they hoped Fluttershy would hold her own long enough for them to arrive.

The explosion cleared, and the dust settled. Fluttershy looked around as the blinding light and ringing in her ears subsided. Her and Omega were both at the bottom of a deep crater. Fluttershy had protected herself by creating a dense barrier of ki around her body. She charged up quickly, to make up for the ki she’d spent. Omega wanted to test her opponent's strength fully, so she let Fluttershy have the first hit, and she wasted no time with it. She charged a masenko and fired it quickly, but Omega swatted it upwards. They flew towards each other, and began trading a long series of blows. Eventually, Omega gained the advantage by moving slightly backwards, making Fluttershy lean into her punch too much. Omega hit her with a knee to the stomach, then followed with an uppercut to the chin. Fluttershy shot out of the crater and flew through the air. She realised she'd get nowhere if she held back any of her power, and charged up fully, making sure to use one hundred percent of it. She fired a volley of ki blasts down at Omega, who was still in the crater. Omega appeared in front of Fluttershy, easily dodging the futile attacks. Fluttershy reacted subconsciously, flipping over Omega's punch, and kicking her downward. It surprised them both, but neither showed a reaction. Fluttershy charged her ki again, but it suddenly dropped down to nothing, disappearing totally. A look of perplexity came across Omega's face as she tried to make sense of it. All of a sudden, Fluttershy's ki erupted well beyond its original level, and a violent red aura enveloped her.

"Kaioken!!" Fluttershy's body and clothes were tinted red from the dense aura, and she gained a fifty percent power increase. Omega was startled for just a moment too long. Fluttershy was in range almost instantly, an aura trail following her. She was so much faster now, and she made sure to abuse that advantage. She kicked Omega in the face, sending her flying. Fluttershy flew down fast, barely touching the ground before she took off once again! She came up from underneath Omega, and uppercut her in the back, making sure to hit a kidney. She wasted no time, flying into Omega's path once again, this time punching her hard in the face. Fluttershy would have continued, but she was beginning to feel the physical stress of the technique. She flew above Omega, and charged a masenko, firing it down into the ground. Omega had no time to recover from any of the attacks, and was caught off guard by every single one. The masenko pushed Omega downwards, eventually slamming her into the ground before dissipating, leaving her lying in a small crater. She came to her senses as Fluttershy regressed to her base form, and she crawled to her knees after a while before getting to her feet. She was off balance, and shaky. For some reason unknown to Fluttershy, she smiled.

"That's quite a technique you have up your sleeve Fluttershy."

"It's called the kaioken." Fluttershy added. "It's a power multiplier." Omega knew she would have her work cut out for her now.

"You know what? Let's try bringing out some more of my power, shall we?! I think I feel a lot more ready to use!" Fluttershy's heart jumped at that thought. Omega's power was still growing? That couldn't be true, it couldn't!

"Y-you're bluffing." Fluttershy accused, which only made her opponent’s smile grow, revealing blood stained teeth.

"Am I?" She raised her hands to her sides. "Am I really?!" She growled, tensed her muscles, and let out a short scream. A blast of wind rushed past Fluttershy, forcing her to shield her eyes from dust. As the wind settled down, she regained her composure, and her heart sank. She could feel it. Omega’s power has grown by just over double. Fluttershy was left astounded, her fear returning to her. Omega closed the distance between them in an instant, and punched her hard in the stomach, making her cough up blood. She followed up quickly with another punch to the face, sending her back. Fluttershy rolled across the ground, beaten. Omega charged a ki beam with the intention of killing her opponent. Her victory was short lived, as the rest of the main six arrived. While the rest of them had landed near Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash appeared in front of Omega and hit her in the face with all the strength she could manage. Despite her normal - almost courteous - attitude to fighting, anypony who tried to kill her friends was unworthy of mercy. Omega jumped back, ready to fight, but she was heavily outnumbered. She knew there was no point starting a fight she couldn’t win, and that the odds were stacked against her. She flew up into the sky, so that they all had to glare into the sun to see her. Omega raised her hands to her temples.

"Solar Flare!!" There was a blinding flash of light, leaving them impeded and effectively sightless. Omega used the gap to escape. She suppressed her ki once again, and flew off into the distance.

"Hey Fluttershy, you alright now?" Applejack asked. Although she was still injured, she managed a quaint smile, and a little laugh.

"Now that you're all here, yes." The remark made everypony a bit happier, despite the temporary blindness.

"You'll be ok, I'll get you healed up." Twilight reassured her friend. They all waited for their sight to return, and flew back to Ponyville, with Rainbow Dash aiding Fluttershy.

Ponyville - Three days later:

Twilight had worked around the clock to heal Fluttershy, using both magic and medicines she was given from Zecora, but she still needed to rest. Fluttershy was able to move around and walk, but her right arm was in a sling made of magic infused cloth - it still pained her to move it, so training wasn't an option. Zecora had warned them about the physical backlash of the kaioken, but nopony thought it would be anywhere near as bad; maybe it was because Fluttershy was using it for the first time?

She had been under house arrest in the Castle of Friendship, enforced by her friends for the past two days, and although she enjoyed her own company more than most she was starting to get bored. Omega’s ki had been concealed since their battle, and she hadn’t attacked anywhere else yet either. Nopony at all had the slightest clue where she could have been hiding, not even the Royal Sisters or Zecora. Thankfully for her, Fluttershy was still able to fly. She had spent a few hours up in the clouds, with the countless avian and insect species. She was laying on a cloud high up in the stratosphere, staring up at the mesmerising daytime stars, when the purple glow of her sling faded, and it disintegrated mostly. Fluttershy brushed the remaining fibres and fragments off, cautious of her arm. She dared to move it, and to her own surprise there was no pain! She needed to be sure. She punched the air and still, nothing; lastly she shot a ki beam into the sky, parting the cloud she laid on, but still no pain. She couldn’t help but smile, and let herself fall down to the ground. She focused her ki again, stopping just a metre above it, then walked back into the Castle. She listened out for a couple seconds and searched around, and was surprised to find nopony there. She concentrated, and felt them all at Canterlot Castle. She laughed quietly to herself.

"Well, you've all certainly been busy..." She flew in the general direction of Canterlot, leaving a normal, greyish aura.

The Main 6 was in the Canterlot Royal Gardens when Fluttershy arrived. Her friends welcomed her back, some congratulating - others scolding - her battle with Omega. She asked what they were all doing together, and that was when Princess Luna gestured toward the seven dragon balls. They laid on the ground, glowing regularly every second or so. Celestia cleared her throat, drawing everypony's attention.

"Now, from what Rainbow Dash and Zecora told me, I think I know how this should work. Are we all ready?" Everypony nodded in response, watching with bated breath. "Perfect, let’s begin..."

"We summon you forth, so that you may aid us in our pursuit of peace. Eternal dragon!!" The dragon balls glowed extremely brightly, and a yellow beam erupted upwards from them. It coiled around itself before revealing the form of a dragon, at least 300 metres long with blue scales, a light brown underbelly, and green eyes. It also had sharp teeth, four limbs and antlers that looked like branches. The sky darkened ominously, accompanied by flashes of lightning and crashing thunder. The dragon spoke with a commanding, somewhat feminine voice.

"I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON, RHEAGAL. I SHALL GRANT YOU ANY TWO WISHES THAT ARE WITHIN MY POWER, AFTER WHICH THE DRAGON BALLS WILL NOT FUNCTION FOR ONE FULL YEAR. CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY..."

"Wait, you give us two? I had expected it would only be one." Princess Celestia muttered then paused for a few seconds, before continuing to speak.

"Rheagal, please, if it is within your power, we need you to create another moon for this planet, a quarter the size of the current one and with five times the gravity of our world, so these warriors may train efficiently to defend us. And make it so its mass doesn’t effect any other celestial bodies." A few seconds of silence passed before the dragon's eyes glowed, and she spoke again.

"IT HAS BEEN DONE. YOU HAVE ONE WISH REMAINING."

"We'd like to use the second wish to create an atmosphere for the moon." The dragon's eyes glowed once again, and it spoke for a final time.

"YOUR WISHES HAVE BEEN GRANTED. I BID YOU ALL FAREWELL… AND GOOD LUCK." The dragon dispersed into the balls, and they shot up into the sky, scattering back across the planet. The clouds cleared, and light covered everything once more. Twilight broke the silence.

"So… how are we gonna get there?" Her question was answered quickly by Princess Celestia.

"Oh that won't be a problem, I can just teleport all of you up there, and I recommend you start training as soon as possible." Her horn glowed, and its aura enveloped the group. They were lifted off the ground slowly, then in an engulfing flash of light, were transported to the newly formed moon. The sky was a reddish pink, and there were a few clouds floating up there. There was a small house, and inside it were six beds and a bathroom area. The moon was tiny compared to Equis, but still had five times its gravity. The Sun appeared smaller and more orange from the surface of this new moon, as if stuck in a perpetual dusk. Six loud crashed rang out as the gravity of the moon made itself known, slamming them hard into its surface.

"Well… seems we got what we asked for… f-feels like it too!" Applejack exclaimed in a strained tone, barely staying on her feet. The others weren’t fairing too well either, Rainbow Dash being in a similar position, Pinkie and Rarity on both hands and knees, and Fluttershy and Twilight on one knee, supporting each other’s weight as they were close together.

"I know, it’s great! Rhaegal really did a great job… even if it is kinda painful." Rainbow Dash chuckled through gritted teeth, already trying to walk around and adjust to the environment. Rarity laughed at that remark, looking over at her tenacious friend while trying to stand herself.

"E-Ever the optimist aren’t you dear, you’re lucky I’m under too much stress to be cynical right now."

"Well, this’ll help us catch up to Omega’s current level pretty fast, but that doesn’t mean we can take it easy. We got work to do everypony, starting now! It’s baby steps for now though… literally."

Chapter 5

"W-Well, it was a lot more difficult to keep up than I expected, it started to hurt pretty quickly, and I had to go back to normal before I could do too much damage to Omega… do… do you think we can get around that? The kaioken is our best bet for now." Fluttershy sat at the table along with her friends, all of them resting from a recently finished sparring session. It had taken a good few days to get used to the increased gravity they were under, but now that they had, training had resumed as normal. The gravity of the moon was already proving beneficial, every training exercise was much harder but brought so much more reward, and they intended to use that fact to its fullest. Twilight chimed in with some realisations she had made over the last couple days, hoping to come up with a way forward.

"So, our bodies can only hold so much ki at once, which is why we reach a cap on our power eventually, you can’t just charge up forever. Now as long as we’re alive and y’know, have souls, we won’t really run out of ki, but our bodies act like a container for it, one with a limited volume and a maximum pressure it can take. The kaioken boosts all aspects of our strength and speed, but not endurance or stamina from what we’ve gathered. It suddenly amplifies the amount of ki being produced and our bodies, the containers, can’t keep up." Applejack put down her cup as she grasped Twilight’s analogy, able to tell what was being insinuated.

"Ah, I think I get it Twi. If we can increase our stamina or endurance we can handle it a lot better, and probably go even higher than a times 2. Like making the container bigger or stronger, right?"

"Yeah, exactly AJ! Seeing as the technique doesn’t help us there we’ll have to fill those gaps ourselves though…" Twilight got up and paced around a little, intermittently sipping from a water bottle as her mind raced over her recent ideas.

"Well forgive my lack of proclivity but that hardly sounds enjoyable darling, endurance and stamina training is essentially torture by a more pleasant name." Rarity joined in now, her dislike of the required type of training like salt in a wound for her. Then again, she knew the importance and what was at risk, pushing her grievance down and moving her pristine mane aside. "Although if it is necessary then I suppose we must. I at least hope I don’t damage my mane, it does need care after all." Applejack couldn’t help but snicker at that last remark from Rarity, her continued daintiness being the perfect target to poke some fun at.

"Aww I’m sorry M’lady, would ya like a bubble bath and a manicure while we’re at it too?"

"Actually yes, that sounds wonderful now that you mention it Miss Soil Turner, I appreciate the offer.” Applejack chuckled at the response, and Rarity found herself smiling as well, turning her attention back to Twilight. Just as she was about to continue, Rainbow Dash spoke up instead, cutting her off accidentally.

"Something I noticed as well, is the auras that surround our bodies when we power up seem to basically just be excess ki that we can’t contain. If we increase the size of our auras we could probably stay in kaioken for longer as is." Twilight’s shoulders sag as she finally got to chip in.

"Come on Dash, I was getting to that!"

"Too bad, shoulda been quicker bookworm! Come on, I got an idea how we can start, lemme show you all." Rainbow Dash stepped outside as she called her friends to join her. Fluttershy, Twilight and Applejack followed her outside but stayed close to the house, while Pinkie and Rarity looked out the windows. Whatever she was about to demonstrate she’d likely need space for. Rainbow Dash stretched a little before bringing both hands up to her sides, her mane and tail rising slightly before a bright red aura ignited around her.

"Kaioken times four!" The crimson aura was much larger than normal, flaring out violently as she struggled to vent all the excess ki. Rainbow Dash repositioned her hands and a familiar blue ki ball formed between them. "Ka… me…" the orb grew to fill the gap between Rainbow Dash’s hands as she started to feel the stress of the kaioken already, a multiplier this big clearly more than she could handle for long right now. But that was the point of this after all. “Ha…Me… Ha!!" The beam fired out from her hands and raced along the surface of the moon, sending out gusts of wind as it went.
Rainbow Dash sustained the beam for a few more seconds before dropping her hands and standing still, as if she was waiting. The kamehameha she had fired was bending around the moon due to its gravity, and came back towards her from behind at immense speed. Suddenly, she turned around, and the kamehameha slammed into her, pushing the air past her friends like a hurricane as they watched. Rainbow Dash pushed back against her own attack while still maintaining kaioken times four, until the form of the beam finally collapsed, exploding and dissipating into a cloud of smoke. Rainbow Dash regained her composure and powered down, breathing faster now.

"Ok, when you start out, I’d say stick to base, we wanna work our way up slowly so we don’t really injure ourselves. Then once you're feeling comfortable blocking the attack at that level, go up by one level of kaioken until you reach… let’s say times four, at least that’s where I’m peaking right now. Once you’re at your limit maybe start charging the kamehameha for longer, or let it hit you without blocking. That should also help us get used to higher kaioken multipliers as well so that’s a plus. It’s gonna be difficult and it’ll start hurting real fast, but it’ll work. And hey, Rarity and Twi can always heal us up if we overdo it a bit." Rainbow Dash winked at Rarity in a playful manner.

"Oh is that right? The healing spell takes quite some time to heal proper injuries, in a pinch it’s more like a stamina refill. And besides, Twilight and I aren’t medics you know." Rarity scoffed and looked away dramatically, drawing a giggle from Pinkie and Twilight.

"Yeah I know, drama queen, just playing around." Rainbow Dash began. "Anyway, eventually we'll be able to take what we can dish out in higher kaioken levels, which is exactly what we’re gonna need against Omega, we gotta assume she’s not done growing yet." Twilight noticed a smile creeping onto Rainbow’s face after she added that last point. She really couldn’t help but enjoy fighting now, it was like watching a bad habit slowly develop, and the alicorn hoped that wouldn’t spiral into an addiction and come back to bite them, but she saved that thought for later before joining Rainbow Dash along with the others and copying what she had shown them.

During the first day of this new training, they all managed to go up to kaioken, with Rainbow Dash and Applejack making it to times 2. There were plenty of channels carved in the surface of the moon from some of the beams not being held together that well, and quite a few craters from the collisions with each mare. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground, sitting in a cross legged position as she panted heavily and wiped her brow.

"Phew, great job everypony, you’re all doing good. What do you say we… try some sparring again, to see how much progress we’ve really made. If any of you girls are up for it that is… I’ll sit this one out while I catch my breath." The other five mares stopped their training for now, taking pause before somepony finally offered to spar.

"I’ll have a go, I wanna see how this progress translates to an actual fight." Twilight offered, hoping to test herself at her current level. She smiled as one of her friends responded, taking her up on the offer.

"Well, I can’t say I’m not curious darling, I’d be happy to be your partner for this." Rarity answered with a stretch before fixing her mane. The others moved closer to the house to watch the approaching match, Pinkie sitting on top of the roof with a box of popcorn already in her hands that she got from Celestia knows where.

"This one’s gonna be lotsa fun, don’tcha think AJ?" The party pony said to her friend as she was joined up on the roof.

"Yep, I’m looking to see how our training’s paid off so far, last thing I wanna be is left in the dust, y’know?" Applejack sat down and took her hat off, taking a piece of popcorn as she was offered it by Pinkie, before returning her focus to the match that was about to begin.

Twilight got into a stance she found comfortable, her left hand raised in front of her head ready to block, her right held out to the side for a counter, and her legs bent far to keep her steady. Rarity took a more elegant yet aggressive stance, most of her weight on her back leg with one arm raised in front and one held to her side, her hands open as if ready to scratch. Now they waited, looking for an opening to try and gain an early advantage.

Seconds passed with naught but the sound of wind blowing through grass and rustling trees. Twilight repositioned her foot slightly to keep her balance better, and that was all Rarity needed. She lunged forward, vanishing from view thanks to the sudden acceleration, and kicked up a cloud of dust. Twilight braced to block Rarity’s opening attack, but she reappeared off to the side instead of in front. Twilight barely had time to intercept Rarity’s kick from this new angle, blocking the strike just in time before pushing Rarity off and going on the offence herself. As Rarity spun away and was about to land, Twilight went for a sweeping kick, pre-emptively knocking her off balance just before she would’ve landed. Rarity adapted to the new spinning motion quickly, using it to wind up another kick. Twilight rose to her feet after the sweep, catching Rarity’s next kick with both hands and smiling at her before throwing her into the distance. The violent red aura of the kaioken exploded from her and she flew after Rarity, catching up incredibly fast.

"Crap, c’mon everypony!" Rainbow Dash managed to scramble out before following the battle. The others stood and flew after them to continue watching, not wanting to miss anything either. Rarity flipped over a few times before landing almost like a gymnast and even flicking her mane out of the way just before Twilight caught up. She threw a lunging punch at the pristine mare, blocked. Rarity sliced an uppercut towards Twilight, dodged as the alicorn rose into the air slightly, before coming back down with a ki empowered dive kick. Rarity stood taller and held her hands out ready, her horn glowing as she cast a paralysis spell. Twilight was caught by surprise and saw Rarity step to the side before catching her leg, and swiftly met the ground face first. Rarity stepped back and settled into a new, more elegant stance as Twilight flew at her once again, the pair trading and dodging each other’s blows as their friends watched nearby.

"W-woah… they’re already moving faster than I was against Omega, and they don’t seem tired at all… I think your training’s working Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy commented softly as she focused on the sparring match in front of her.

"Oh, thanks! If we can keep this up we might be able to deal with Omega the next time we meet before she can access more of her latent power, but she’ll only stay inactive for so long…" She turned her attention back to the match, and could see Twilight scolding herself under her breath and mentally at each of her mistakes, even the smallest. Twilight crouched as if for a low strike but as Rarity went to block, she sprung up into a flying knee that struck Rarity in the chin.

"Say, you ever think about being a teacher of some kind? You do a pretty good job so far Dashie." Applejack rested an arm on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder and jostled her a bit, a teasing but proud smile on her face.

"Nah, I never really thought it was my thing, but I guess when it comes to fighting something just clicks, y’know?" She let out a sheepish smile of her own and continued watching the match. Things seemed to be evening out between Rarity’s unorthodox fighting style, focused mostly on style and flash, and Twilight’s incredible analytical skills.

Twilight caught a punch from Rarity and held her arm as she spun into a strong kick, sending her back. Rarity had to dig her hands and feet into the ground to stop quicker, but Twilight wasn’t letting up, firing a Galick Gun almost immediately. She had been in kaioken for the almost the entire fight and felt fine, and Rarity decided to close the gap by doing the same.

She burst into kaioken before dodging the beam and flying along its length towards Twilight. Having not felt the Galick Gun hit anything, Twilight stopped firing it and watched it begin to bend above the moon’s surface, just before Rarity landed on her with an axe kick. Twilight took a step back but didn’t disengage just yet, raising a knee in front of her Rarity blocked her stomach expecting a powerful kick, but was met with an overhead hook to the head instead.

Twilight always regarded the first engagement as data collection, and now believed she had what she needed to get the better of Rarity in this particular match. She vanished behind Rarity and kicked her in the back, sending her back a good distance, before moving to a specific spot and firing another Galick Gun at her opponent. Rarity rolled and sprung back to her feet, but the attack was already too close to dodge, so she met it with a Masenko in a beam struggle. She pushed herself to kaioken times two and began to push the Galick Gun back, but from behind her came the first beam Twilight fired off not too long ago. Rarity was forced to drop the Masenko and turned to try and stop them both, holding both hands out to her side and pushing as hard as she could. Twilight decided to finish the job before Rarity got a chance to think of something, flying above and throwing one last ki ball down at her. The attack hit Rarity dead on and exploded, the Galick Guns blowing up as well in a booming detonation that kicked up plenty of dust and smoke. As the smoke cloud dispersed Twilight saw Rarity now in base form, panting hard, covered in marks and singed fur. She dropped to one knee and looked up at Twilight, smiling as she recovered.

"Whew… Good match dear, I think I’m done now unfortunately, the fatigue seems to have caught up with me finally. Although would it have hurt to end this less explosively? This dust will stick to my mane and tail quite incessantly." She took Twilight’s hand and pulled herself to her feet, the pair flying back to their friends slowly.

After the match, everypony headed inside, the evening quickly turning to night. They washed, got changed, and ate together. They had noticed that since finishing training with Zecora their appetites had massively grown. By the time they were all satisfied there was a pile of three or four plates and bowls high in front of each of them. Everypony went into the bedroom and laid in their beds; one by one, they all fell into deep sleep.

Three days in, and they had all achieved kaioken times two in the ki resistance training, Rainbow Dash managing to push herself to three. Their meditation sessions were an hour and a half long now, and all of the main 6 could use the kaioken for a whole three minutes before the pain kicked in. Twilight regularly established telepathic contact with the royal sisters, reporting their progress and her personal well-being, and checking whether Omega had attacked again yet. Rarity was developing a new attack, especially to use against Omega. Pinkie Pie had also created a new technique, which she had called the Scatter Bullet. Their progress continued steadily, spurred on by a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment.

The grass blew softly in the constantly recirculating wind. Many drips of sweat had soaked into the soil, as Twilight ran through an intense muscle group exercise regime; the arms section consisted of various types of press ups and punches. She coughed violently from the lack of air, and blood splattered the grass as well. She took this abruptly as a sign to begin healing herself. The sun had risen about twenty minutes before Twilight began exercising, and she had been doing so for around the same time. Healing took another ten minutes, during which time she had decided to wake the rest of the main 6 up. She walked back into the main room, and clapped as loudly as she possibly could. The others all jolted awake, poised and alert. They realised Twilight's - slightly insensitive - practical joke, and were able to all relax.

Ki resistance training resumed once they had eaten breakfast.

"Alright everypony." Rainbow Dash began. "I know what I said when we initially started training up here, but I think we should stop the beam collision training now that we achieved kaioken times three, and focus all our time into stamina training. Mainly sparring with each other for as long as we can."

"How come? What are you thinking Rainbow?" Twilight questioned.

"Well, if Omega's anywhere near as impulsive as me, she won't be able to wait much longer, so we might not have the liberty of getting past times four like I hoped. She could be running rampant again for all we know…" Everyone quickly pushed that thought to the back of their minds, and they began the final session of beam collision training.

Rainbow Dash was the first to reach kaioken times four, followed quickly by Applejack and Twilight. After a few more tries, Rarity followed suit, then Pinkie Pie, and lastly Fluttershy. A few sparring matches ensued afterward, causing craters and distortions all around the main part of the moon. There was then one final stamina training session, and one last meal, then Rainbow Dash asked a very important question.

"So," she began. "Do you think we're ready to face Omega once again?" Everypony more or less agreed.

"That's good. Good." She lost her cheerful tone, and trailed off.

"Look, I can't promise that we'll all come back from fighting Omega, and I definitely can't promise we'll win. I just want you all to know... that none of this would be possible if we didn't all work together, and help each other progress and become stronger. I never would have been able to do this alone. You've all supported each other, and me. Thank you. All of you."

Twilight focused greatly, and her magic aura enveloped everypony. There was another blinding flash of light, just like the one that bought them up to the moon, and they were all back in Equis' atmosphere. They were freefalling toward the ground. It seemed Twilight's teleportation spell wasn't anywhere near as powerful as Princess Celestia's. The main six agreed that they would fight Omega as soon as possible, but Rarity was absolutely incessant that they acquire new gi before doing so. They flew directly to the Carousel Boutique without stopping. The new sets of gi that Rarity had given them were aesthetically identical, but they'd had half the weights removed. After ten minutes of meditation, the main six set out on the journey to their final battle. They located Omega's ki somewhere in the badlands, to the west of Equestria.

After flying for less than ten minutes, The barren desert, commonly known as the 'badlands', was in their sight. Nopony bothered to go through the trouble of hiding their power levels, not even Omega herself. The landing was hard and impractical, but made Rainbow Dash and Pinkie feel like true badasses. For some unprecedented reason, Omega was laughing maniacally.

"Well... I was beginning to wonder if you were gonna bother protecting this fragile, miserable planet of yours. I'm sorry to disappoint you all." She took a fighting stance. "But I will watch it all burn, and you can try your best to stop me." Silence dominated the moment.

"Who's first?!" She demanded. Twilight and Rarity looked at each other from the corner of their visions. They anticipated each other's ideas, powered up - making sure to preserve some strength - and flew toward Omega, without a single regret of thought of doubt.

Twilight started the battle by quickly firing a Galick Gun at Omega. She easily dodged it, and wasn't given the chance to retaliate. Rarity came at her with a flurry of kicks, which she blocked, then followed up with a flip kick. The change took Omega by surprise, and hit her square in the jaw. She charged a masenko, but it was the opening Omega was waiting for. She raised an arm, and fired a Death Beam towards Twilight. A cheap move, but it had its desired effect; Twilight didn't react quickly enough to dodge, so she created a shield out of magic, which absorbed the attack, but also shattered. The masenko in Rarity's hand disappeared as her concentration broke. Omega took advantage of the small gap, and raised a hand into the air, creating a Supernova. As it grew slowly, Rarity vanished from Omega's field of view, puzzling her. She reappeared behind Omega with another masenko charged and ready. Omega let the Supernova dissipate and decided to block the attack. Rarity fired it at almost point blank range, ensuring that her opponent had no chance of dodging. The beam cleared, and Twilight continued the fight quickly; she flew up towards Omega and kicked her in the spleen, then Rarity hit her with an uppercut to the chin. Twilight vanished above her, hitting her with a barrage of ki-enhanced punches and kicks and chased after her when she went flying; she smashed her back toward the ground. She took a few heavy breaths, then smiled.

"Wow... that was pretty good. But you'll have to try harder than that!!" She flew back up toward Twilight and Rarity, rage burnt onto her face. They knew she would no longer hold back, and so neither did they. They released one hundred percent of their power, and prepared to fight back. Omega started her retaliation with an uppercut and a spinning kick directed at Rarity, then she traded blows with Twilight until Rarity came back, firing a multitude of ki beams at her from behind. Omega vanished behind her and kicked her in the side of the head, before she had a chance to block it. The attack shook her, but Rarity didn't let up. Twilight had powered up to kaioken whilst Omega had been focused on her friend. Omega was serious when fighting, but slowly, a smile crept onto her face.

Time after time, both tried to land a hit on Omega, but she was always a step ahead, ready to dodge or block, and even counter-attack! Twilight formulated a strategy as she realised she held the speed and melee advantage. She held back momentarily, observing a possible fighting pattern. She rushed in at Omega after she knocked Rarity away from her; Twilight yelled, and pulled back a punch. Omega fell right for it, and got cocky. Twilight vanished above Omega at the last second so that she was already blocking one attack. She smashed Omega back down to the ground, but Rarity kicked her in the back, sending her flying. Twilight vanished into her path, and hit her upwards with a ki enhanced punch. She charged a Galick Gun, and Rarity charged a Masenko. They both vanished above Omega, and fired their attacks downward. Omega blocked the attacks mostly, but they still pushed her down toward the ground. Before she hit it, Omega charged and fired a Nova Strike back up at Twilight and Rarity. They couldn't combat the strength of the attack so they let their attacks dissipate, and dodged the blast. It flew up past them and into the sky, eventually fading. Twilight wasn't feeling tired yet, but she had come out of kaioken to preserve ki. Omega raised her power as high as it would currently go, by roughly a third, vanished above Twilight and kicked her in the kidney, sending her plummeting toward the ground. She crashed where the rest of her friends were observing the battle from. That last hit had taken Eve that was left out of her; she could barely move to sit up. After watching Rarity fight alone for a while, she began to heal herself. Rarity was losing on her own, but Applejack was ready to assist her. She released her full power and vanished above Omega, starting with an kick aimed at her head; Omega blocked the hit easily. She backed away slowly and took a fighting stance. She smiled maliciously.

"Come on, if you wanna beat me, you’ll have to use more than that. Unless... that’s all you have?." Applejack and Rarity took different stances, and waited.

"What are you waiting for?! Let’s see how long you live!!" Omega flew towards Rarity and Applejack, finally starting to enjoy the battle.

She threw a punch at Rarity and used the momentum to throw a kick at Applejack, but both attacks were blocked. Applejack noticed a small opportunity and put a hand close to Omega's chest. She sensed the sudden flare in ki, and blocked reflexively. The Burning Blast shot out from Applejack's hand, sending Omega backwards. She reacted, firing a barrage of Death Beams at both her opponents. Rarity and Applejack dodged them all luckily. Applejack powered up to kaioken, and began charging something up, while Rarity held her off.

"You do realise you can't win, right?! Not one of you stands a chance against me!!" She kicked Rarity in the stomach and hit her with an uppercut to the chin. Rarity powered up to kaioken as well and began her counter-attack. She shot through the air towards Omega and threw a barrage of kicks before vanishing repeatedly around her. Omega couldn't keep track of where Rarity was, so she decided to release some ki in the form of an explosion. It caught Rarity off guard, and damaged her as it knocked her back. Omega was about to continue, when Applejack spoke.

"Hey Omega!" She turned to face the mare.

"This is something that I've been working on since Fluttershy fought you." It was only then Omega noticed that their was a yellow ball of ki in her hands.

"I think it's fitting that you should be the first one to see it." Everypony was paying attention now. She grunted a bit as she expanded the ball. She spread her arms apart completely, and the ki ball surrounded her body. Omega tried to attack her through it, but her hits couldn't penetrate the barrier. She grew frustrated and fired a few Death Beams at Applejack, which also did nothing. Applejack screamed as her ki rose.

"Here it is! You said you wanted my full strength, well here you go Omega!!" This was a surprise for everypony. No one had imagined that Applejack would've been able to create a ki attack this strong. She brought her hands in to her sides and the yellow aura flared one final time. Applejack thrust her hands forward, firing the beam.

"HEAT DOME ATTACK!!!"

Chapter 6: Loss

Applejack thrust her hands forward, firing the beam.

"HEAT DOME ATTACK!!!"

The yellow ki beam filled Omega's field of view, and she didn't react quick enough to dodge or fire an attack back. She blocked quickly, and the beam engulfed her. Applejack held the attack for as long as she could. She let the attack fade, and dropped out of kaioken. She had put all her energy into that one attack. She knew it was risky putting all her eggs in one basket, but it was a risk she was willing to take. Their advantage was short lived as Omega appeared in front of Applejack and kicked her hard in the face. She recovered after a while, taking a defensive stance. Some of Omega's fur was singed, and streams of smoke were still flowing off her. She looked pissed.

"You bitch... that actually hurt. I'll make you suffer for that! I'LL MAKE YOU BEG FOR DEATH!!" Omega charged a Supernova extremely quickly, filling their field of vision with what looked like a miniature star. Applejack flew back down to the rest of the Main 6 and Twilight created a magic shield, reinforced with ki. Omega yelled violently before throwing the Supernova down onto her opponents. The giant sphere pulsed and crackled with energy, creating a sound like screeching as it pushed down on the magic barrier. Twilight couldn't push hard enough against it and the barrier, along with the Main 6 and ground they stood on was forced downward into the earth. The Supernova exploded shortly after making ground contact. The blast wave was ear-piercing; it tore up large chunks of the ground. When the explosion subsided Twilight dropped the shield. They were down in a deep crater, burned black from the blast. They all flew up, and their surroundings had changed greatly; what little vegetation had existed within a few kilometres was burnt to a crisp from the heat of the explosion.

Omega was still in the sky, waiting. Twilight spoke.

"Rarity," Her attention was now on Twilight.

"Heal yourself and Applejack. It’ll take a while, so Rainbow Dash and I will buy you some time." She looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was barely hiding her excitement.

“Leave it to us." She powered up to kaioken X2 before dropping the shield and flying up to Omega. Rainbow Dash used kaioken before following her friend. She knew what was at stake, and the risk, but she couldn’t help being excited for the battle at hand. She could hardly wait. Omega saw the two adversaries coming up towards her, and flew down to try and catch them off guard. Omega and Rainbow Dash’s fists collided with each other, creating a large shockwave. They continued by trading blows quickly for a few seconds, when Twilight vanished behind Omega and threw a kick at her back. Omega dodged the hit and Rainbow Dash backed away out of courtesy. Just then she had a plan and flew below the pair while Omega’s attention was elsewhere. Twilight tried to hit Omega with an uppercut then another kick but Omega dodged both, returning with a punch to the stomach and a kick to the face from above. Twilight fell for a bit, but suddenly flew off to the side. Omega didn't know why until she saw Rainbow Dash below her, who’d just finished charging a kamehameha. Rainbow Dash fired the attack immediately. The beam flew up toward Omega, who fired a Nova Strike in response. The two attacks clashed, but they seemed to be evenly matched. Rainbow Dash was so involved in the battle, she forgot about the limits of the kaioken. She dropped out of it unexpectedly, and the Nova Strike came down towards her. She tried her best to push it back, but it was no use. She had already dropped the attack and braced for the impact when Twilight grabbed her gi and pulled her out of the way. She was just in time as the beam shot down behind them a split second after, the wind fluttering their clothes. Everypony let themselves breathe again.

"Thanks Twilight, I owe ya one."

"Please, you owe me more than one and you know it." They were interrupted by Omega vanishing above Rainbow Dash and smashing her down to the ground. She began fighting with Twilight whilst she still had the advantage. Twilight vanished behind Omega, then vanished back in front of her immediately. The moment of confusion was all she needed. She kicked Omega into the sky and followed her up, continuously hitting her all the way up into the clouds. She let up eventually and landed on a cloud. Omega recovered quickly, and landed on an opposite cloud. They both took stances, and tried to psych each other out. Omega was rash and angry right now, whereas Twilight was keeping her cool, so she would no doubt make the first move. Omega vanished from Twilight's view. She turned around, expecting Omega to appear behind her. Omega instead reappeared about halfway between their original positions. She rushed at Twilight, who turned back around just in time to dodge Omega's kick, aimed at her head. She spun around and threw Omega back down to the ground. She charged a Galick Gun quickly, and fired it down. Omega saw the attack coming and vanished out of its path.

"Kaioken X2!!" Omega looked down, only to see Rainbow Dash fly up to her and kick her in the stomach. A mix of saliva and blood flew out of her mouth. Rainbow Dash vanished and reappeared over and over in random places around Omega, hitting her each time. Omega was beginning to spot a pattern, and vanished above Rainbow Dash when she tried to hit her again. She kicked her down towards the ground. Rainbow Dash recovered from the hit and, after a brief pause, flew down to the ground deliberately. Omega wasn't far behind; she fired a strong ki blast at Rainbow Dash, who dodged it easily. The blast hit the ground, making a crater. When they landed in the crater, Omega and Rainbow Dash paused momentarily.

"Damn it, you’re pretty strong, but I feel like you're still holding out on me, aren’t ya?" Omega smiled before speaking.

"You're right. I'm only fighting at… roughly a quarter of my full power I’d say."

"So you still can't bring out the rest yet, huh?"

"Not yet. But, I'm starting to enjoy our little battles." Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself.

"Heh, glad to hear it."

"Although, it’s a shame I can’t kill you yet." Omega began. "I can only hold myself back... for so long. Hell, I'm already struggling to hold it together." She began searching. She spotted Twilight watching them from a distance.

"The urge to do what? What are you on about?"

"You know what?" She smiled menacingly, baring many teeth.

"Omega, hold on!" Rainbow Dash tried to deter her, but to no avail.

"You’ve been a thorn in my side for a while now!!" A red aura appeared around her before she flew toward Twilight, her eyes full of bloodlust. Rainbow Dash realised the peril of the situation, and chased after her immediately. Twilight noticed Omega's expression, and urgently took a stance. Omega vanished in front of Twilight and put a hand around her neck, forcing her to the ground. Rainbow Dash caught up with Omega, but was hit with an elbow in the stomach before she could react. The blow was strong enough to incapacitate her in one hit. She was knocked back far, rolling to a stop near where the rest of the Main 6 were, leaving a trail of rising dust behind her. Rarity began healing her; she wanted to help Twilight more than anything, but Rainbow Dash was the strongest out of all of them, and Omega could do the same to anypony else who tried to stop her. Applejack was still hardly healed and therefore exhausted, and Rarity was the only other pony capable of healing their wounds, if she got injured or died there’d be no chance. Fluttershy watched anxiously, Twilight’s request to be left alone still in her mind. She held out hope that the alicorn would be able to back up her confidence, even against such an agressive opponent. Omega pinned Twilight against a rock formation and punched her in the stomach, cracking the stone behind her. She threw Twilight a few metres away.

"Come on. Fight. FIGHT!!" Omega raised one of her hands in front of her chest, pointing at Twilight. She fired a Death Beam, hitting her spleen. It fired straight through, leaving the wound cauterised. It was non fatal, but still hurt immensely. She fell to the ground, gripping the wound in pain. Omega walked slowly over to her. Twilight was trying to scream from the pain, but no sound would come out. Omega stood there for a bit, looking annoyed.

"Come on, the torture's no fun if I can't hear you scream." She grabbed Twilight by the collar of her outfit and tossed her back into the side of the same rock formation, using one arm to hold her against it. She drew her other arm back, and punched Twilight's horn. Only now did the air escape her lungs, in the form of screaming and wailing. Her horn had cracked, sending waves of agony through her body, making her jolt and writhe in an attempt to escape the pain. Omega hit Twilight's horn again, widening the crack with an audible crunch, causing blood to trickle from the base. Tears flowed from Twilight's eyes like a fountain. She struggled against Omega's arm with all the strength she could muster, watching in terror as she pulled her fist back once more. Twilight had no control over the words that she spoke; adrenaline pumped rapidly through her body, and her brain told her to try any possible way of stopping what was about to happen. She pleaded, no, begged.

"Please, no. You can’t, Omega." Her breathing became ragged and irregular. "Listen, you psychotic maniac you don't understand. Don't do it Omega ple-" Omega launched her fist forward, shattering Twilight's horn. The scream that followed was despondent and excruciating. Twilight's screams were loud enough to have jolted Rainbow Dash back to full attention. Omega spoke once more.

"Go on... I wanna see that face. The one when you realise that this is it, this is where you die... it's the face all those ponies in Canterlot and Manehattan had before I slaughtered them like animals." Twilight's perception of time slowed massively, and all the pain stopped. She looked up at Omega, shock and sadness evident on her face. Omega smiled.

"There it is... You can take comfort in the fact that your friends are gonna be joining you soon." For some unknown reason, Twilight began laughing, hysterically. It was so odd, Omega actually jumped a few metres back. Twilight propped herself up on her elbows.

"Can’t you tell Omega? You aren't dealing with the average equine warrior anymore. And it's not me you should be worried about." Omega was curious now.

"Rainbow Dash… she’s risen above, and become a legend. The legend that will defeat you, the one that you fear…" Omega had had enough at that point.

"I spoke with that colt from Manehattan, you know who I’m talking about. Don't you realise it yet, you fool? She has become a Super Po-" Omega fired a Death Beam right through Twilight's left lung. She was wide eyed, shocked, then she fell back down, and blood bubbled through the wound.

"TWILIGHT!!!" Fluttershy rushed over to her friend, abandoning caution. She was holding back tears already. Omega thought about stopping her, but wanted to enjoy the sight as much as possible.

"Twilight no, p-please, come on don't die, please please stay with me, it’ll be alright... we’ll get you healed up, j-just hold on. It’ll be..." Twilight tried to speak, but she had no air to do so with. Her hand came up slowly and touched Fluttershy’s cheek lightly. She was looking past, maybe even through Fluttershy, and her eyes became empty. Her body fell limp.

"T-Twilight? Twilight?!! Come on. I- I need you, we need you. Please, you’re one of my best friends, p-please..." Eventually, she realised it was no use, her friend was gone. She couldn’t hold it in anymore, and her tears flowed freely. Rarity and Applejack struggled to hold their tears at bay, whereas Rainbow Dash was simply too shocked to cry. She really was just... gone. And none of them could’ve done anything. Their attention was drawn to Fluttershy, as her power began rising.

"You..." Her aura began violently emanating from her body, blowing the wind away from her. Her voice was still shaky, but became more and more furious with each word. Omega couldn't help but be intrigued by the development.

"You deranged, heartless..." She turned around and looked at Omega. Her eyes were piercing like needles. The expression of pure rage on Fluttershy's face was absolute and unwavering, it even shook Omega to the core.

"Psychotic BITCH!!!" Fluttershy cleared the distance between them almost instantly and began her assault with a punch to the face, snapping Omega’s head back, followed by a barrage of stomach punches. Fluttershy hit her with an uppercut, the shockwave reaching the stratosphere and destroying some clouds above them! It sent Omega flying upward, and she was given no time to recover. Fluttershy vanished beside Omega and hit her with a knee in the stomach; she flew up even further and faster. She waited and, when Omega reached her, elbowed her in the spine, sending a shockwave booming through the air. She drew a hand behind her back and a green ki ball appeared. She threw it down and Omega accelerated toward the ground even more. The ki ball grew to nearly twenty times it's size, basking everything in its violent light. Omega hit the ground, and the gigantic ball exploded. It left a massive crater, which Omega laid dazed and confused in.

Eventually she got to her feet. She stumbled at first, but regained her balance. Fluttershy came back down, breathing heavily. She was full of rage, and was nowhere near finished with pulverising the mare who just murdered her friend. Omega inhaled deeply, calming herself. She bought her fists up to her sides, and charged up more of her ki. She was already at around thirty percent, but Fluttershy didn't care. She flew down at Omega, retribution being the only thought in her mind. All of a sudden, Rarity had an idea.

"Girls, I think I have an idea how I can beat Omega, but I need to fly up to Zecora's plateau. I shouldn't be that long. It’s a bit of a long shot, so I’d hate to get your hopes up. Good luck." She flew off toward the Limestone Cliffs before anypony could respond, leaving her friends to fight on their own until her return.

Fluttershy rushed at Omega, throwing a ki enhanced punch at her head. She dodged it and countered with an uppercut to the chin. Fluttershy used the recoil from the hit to kick Omega in the face. Blood flew from her mouth, enraging her further. Omega punched Fluttershy hard in the stomach and spin kicked her in the face. She flew back for a bit, then fired a volley of strong ki blasts at Omega. She fired back, their blasts colliding, creating a large blanket of smoke. Fluttershy overcharged a Masenko, and fired towards where she could sense Omega. She held it for a few seconds, then let it fade. Omega vanished behind Fluttershy and kicked her in the back of the head. She followed up with a kick to the spine, sending Fluttershy flying. After a few seconds Fluttershy dug her hands & feet down into the ground, eventually halting her movement. She was more tired than she had realised, and her power plummeted below its normal level. Omega realised her opening, and fired a Nova Strike right at Fluttershy. She saw the attack coming, but didn't even have enough strength left to dodge. She began to accept her fate, and looked over to her friends. They had already lost one friend, and she was about to be next. No, she couldn’t let herself die. She couldn’t do that to her friends. Fluttershy mustered all the energy she could spare and powered up as much as she could.

"Kaioken!" She blocked moments before the attack struck her. Omega dropped the attack, expecting to see Fluttershy lying dead; instead, she saw a pony who was fighting for more than just personal satisfaction and pleasure, but for the sake of others, and for the memory of a fallen friend. Fluttershy gripped her abdominal muscles in pain, and dropped out of the kaioken. Omega flew towards her and kicked her all the way back to her friends. Now, only Pinkie Pie and Applejack were left to fight.

"Well then... that was fun, so who wants to go first?!" They both were scared to answer Omega as she began walking ominously towards them, murder and bloodlust prevalent in her eyes.

Chapter 7

Rarity flew as fast as she was physically able to, generating many strong winds in her wake. She knew she had no time to waste, for the sake of her friends.

She flew over the Everfree Forest and the limestone cliffs came into view. Her idea was risky, based entirely on a hunch. It only occurred to her halfway there that she could have completely misinterpreted Zecora’s words, and she might have deserted her friends for nothing. But she had to at least try.

The beauty of the landscape helped reduce Rarity’s anxiety and just barely take her mind off Twilight. They had to win, otherwise her death would be for nothing. She was already going as fast as she could, so there wasn’t much point in fretting.

'My, it’s a shame I wasn’t able to admire the beauty of this place the first time we travelled through it. It’s simply incredible, I must remember to come here with Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle after... come now, you’re on a clock you haven’t got the time for admiration.' She approached the base of the mountain range and began flying upwards into the clouds.

Omega kicked Pinkie Pie in the chest then punched her in the same spot, briefly knocking the air out of her and sending her back. Applejack rushed in to keep Omega busy, opening with an uppercut and a kick; Omega dodged the uppercut and blocked the kick, before the two began trading attacks at a blazing speed. Omega saw an opportunity, and went for it. She ducked one of Applejack's hits, and returned with an uppercut. Omega was about to fire a point blank Nova Strike at Applejack, when suddenly she powered up to kaioken, and retaliated with an elbow strike to the neck; the hit made Omega choke momentarily, and Pinkie rejoined the fray as well. They attacked Omega from both sides, trying to overwhelm her. They attacked her as fast as they consistently could, but Omega still kept up! She even mocked the both of them by putting both her hands behind her back and dodging effortlessly. Then, to add salt to the wound, she laughed in her hysterical manner. With a growl and a burst of anger, Applejack realised the insult being thrown at her.

"Screw you, damn it! See what happens when you taunt us!!" She paused briefly, then increased her multiplier to kaioken X2. Applejack backflipped and kicked Omega into the sky and fired a Heat Dome Attack, being careful to use less ki than the first time. Omega shot a Death Beam back down at Applejack. It shot down with a frightening speed, and Applejack doubted she would be able to match its power. Pinkie knew Applejack didn't have the time to dodge either, so she took the initiative to fire a Dodon Ray to perfectly intercept Omega's attack. They collided before deflecting in random directions. Omega panicked as the Heat Dome Attack closed in on her, undeterred by her Death Beam. She jolted back from her initial position, barely dodging the attack. The yellow beam continued on its path into the sky, eventually dissipating. Applejack dropped out of the kaioken and gripped her arm as an ache grew within it. Omega slowly looked down upon her opponents, smiling slightly.

"Just how long do you think you can last against me? Out of the six… five of you, you two are already tiring out, Rarity has left you, and both the pegasi are too exhausted to fight right now. I’d say this is quite unfortunate for you. After all, you’re my only source of entertainment for now... oh, and you let Twilight die. I bet that stings, doesn’t it?" They managed not to show it, but Pinkie Pie and Applejack knew she was right; they wouldn’t be able to last much longer. They were barely holding there own, and Omega wasn't showing any signs of tiring. They weren’t just fighting for time, they were fighting to live.

Zecora was meditating when Rarity shot over the edge of the plateau, and landed hastily. She opened her eyes slowly, feeling a mix of surprise, curiosity and satisfaction.

"Rarity... to what do I owe you visiting me?"

"All due respect Zecora, drop the small talk. I think you should already know why I'm here." Zecora showed no reaction to this statement. She unfolded her legs, and rose slowly. Rarity had never really noticed it before, but Zecora was a good four inches taller than her, and she was a little intimidated by it.

"I apologise, that was foolish," She finally replied. "I've been observing your battles with Omega. I... I'm sorry Twilight had to perish."

"Nopony else has to! And nopony else will if you help me. I need you to use the power increase spell you mentioned when we were training up here with you." Zecora thought momentarily, before answering the question.

"I must apologise once more, but I cannot give you what you are asking for." Rarity was starting to lose her composure now.

"Pardon me? What do you mean you can't?! Why can’t you? Enlighten me Zecora." Zecora turned around to face Rarity, a blank expression on her face; Rarity realised demanding would get her nowhere with somepony so peaceful. She took a deep breath, and tried again.

"Why won't you help us? Or at least... why don’t you think you can?"

"I designed this spell to take effect in half an hour, no less, and you need it in a few minutes by my guess."

"Forgive me but I... don’t really see the problem."

"The sudden increase in ki would be too much for your body to handle, like holding a star to a candle."

"How bad would it be?" Rarity sounded like she was coming up with an idea.

"Due to the excess, in the worst case you would die from the stress." Zecora could practically see the wheels turning in Rarity’s mind, she stood silent, in a deep train of thought.

"...Do it." She eventually said. There was no hesitation in Rarity’s voice. She was dead serious.

"Are you insane? I will not endanger your life, regardless of the stakes involved in this strife!"

"So you'd rather sit idly by and watch the rest of the world die? Besides, I believe I have a solution." Zecora was taken aback by that.

"Well, I’m quite surprised. Tell me, what method have you surmised?"

"You said the sudden increase in ki is what could kill me," Rarity began. "The auras that surround us are essentially just ki leakage, so if I can increase my aura size enough, I should be able to compensate for the extreme influx of ki." Zecora still had her doubts, but she could see the logic. She began the spell by mixing various powders and other magic ingredients in a mortar. The powder that resulted had a blue glow. She then spread the powder in a circle and created an incantation. She added a burning root to the circle, and it emitted a gloriously bright blue light. Gusts of wind formed around the pair, kicking up snow clouds. Zecora placed a hand on Rarity's chest.

"It’s completely up to you. Are you sure you wish to continue?" She couldn’t disguise the concern she felt.

"Go ahead, what’s the worst that could happen?" Rarity replied nonchalantly.

"Answer with absolute clarity. Are you ready, Miss Rarity?" Rarity nodded in response. A massive aura appeared around her.

"How will this go? Who knows." Zecora said. "Now then, here goes..." She activated the spell.

It was all over and done with in a minute or so. Rarity felt the extra ki flow into her body fast, and she almost couldn't keep up. Multiple sharp pains shot through her muscles, and she screamed slightly. The aura surrounding her doubled in size, and the pain subsided. Zecora was reluctant to continue, but she knew it wasn't enough yet; if Rarity could just hold out for about twenty more seconds...

Rarity’s second scream was much louder, Zecora thought she almost felt Rarity's pain. She was about to take her hand away from her chest and deactivate the spell, when Rarity gripped it tightly, and kept it on her chest.

"No! Keep going; I can take it!" Zecora was surprised that she could even speak through all the screaming.

"Trust me." She said with her usual tone of friendly snark, and Zecora knew she meant what she said. For her sake, she tried to finish the spell as quickly as possible. Rarity's scream and aura grew one final time, then the wind subsided along with the pain.
Rarity was breathing heavily from shock, when she had an idea. Zecora was tired out too from performing the spell.

"Zecora, do you have any advanced spell books I can use?" Zecora replied quickly.

"Yes, in my hut I have a rather large quantity. What has stirred this new curiosity?"

"It’s just that I can think of a few spells that would help us a lot, if you don’t mind of course. Assuming they exist, that is." Zecora was a bit confused at this, but she obliged nonetheless.

"By all means, help yourself. Look on the second level on the bookshelf." She led Rarity in, and sat her down at the table. She found the book she thought Rarity was looking for, and gave it to her. She thought Rarity was on a clock before, and her urgency proved it. Rarity's horn glowed, as did her eyes, then she began reading at mind boggling speeds. The pages were only a blur to Zecora. She must have been using a perception spell to alter her sense of time, slowing it down massively. Only a few seconds later, and she had read just over halfway before stopping; she had obviously found the spell she was looking for. She got up, and left the house. Zecora followed her out.

"Thank you Zecora, I know that was hard for you. But I won't waste this new power you have given me. I promise." Zecora bowed calmly, and was about to see her student off. A grey aura surrounded her body as she prepared to leave.

"Wait!" Rarity turned to face Zecora again, curious. "One thing comes to mind. Exactly what spells did you find?"

"Just two. The long range teleportation spell, and the zenkai spell." Zecora was satisfied now. She wished her student good luck, and went back inside. Rarity admired the scenery for a bit, before flying back the way she came. She shot through the air much faster than before, at what was now her normal movement speed. She would get back to her friends and Omega in less than half a minute. And she was ready.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie were both breathing heavily. Applejack raised her hands to her sides, and mustered up all the strength she had left.

"KAIOKEN TIMES 3!!!" Pain already gripped her entire body. She vanished and prepared for one final assault.

'I will not let you hurt any more of my friends! I refuse to give up yet. Not while you still live!!' Applejack thought to herself.

'This may just kill me, or push me to the brink of death, but that's a risk I'm willing to take... to protect my friends!!'

'Pinkie Pie,' She thought. She appeared behind Omega and side kicked her in the spine, before intercepting her with a downward punch.

'Rarity, Rainbow Dash,' She fired a Heat Dome Attack up at Omega, then followed her up, all whilst punching her rapidly in the face and stomach.

'Fluttershy,' a tear came to her eye.

'...And for you Twilight'. Applejack felt a splitting pain in her chest - probably a rib breaking - but ignored it anyway.

'I don't want to leave any of you behind.' She hit Omega with an axe kick, sending her toward the ground.

'But I don’t think it’s up to me.' Omega hadn't been able to react to or dodge any of the hits. Applejack felt light-headed as she regressed to her normal state, then started falling to the ground as she had absolutely no strength left; she had used it all to delay Omega. Omega saw Applejack falling, and smiled maliciously at the thought of killing her and her friend. Applejack hit the ground hard, throwing up a dust cloud around her. She tried to get up; she wouldn't dream of giving up until she died.

'I leave the rest to you.' Omega was in front of her now. She had a borderline sympathetic expression on her face. Applejack got to her feet somehow, and threw a punch at Omega. She sidestepped it easily, and kicked Applejack in the stomach. She doubled over in pain and stepped back, then kept going. Pinkie Pie was struggling to watch her friend get injured so badly.

Again and again, Applejack kept trying to fight, only to be stopped effortlessly by Omega. She went down one final time.

"Applejack," Omega said. "You have my respect." She raised her hand, and charged a Death Beam.

"But your time is up." Applejack looked over to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Tears fell from her eyes.

’Good luck.’ She thought. She looked back at Omega, choosing to be defiant in what were very likely her last moments.

There was a massive sonic boom somewhere in the distance. But Rarity was easily going supersonic, and she was already there. She punched Omega with all her strength. She landed, and looked infuriated with her.

"You bitch. You murder innocent ponies like it’s a damned sport, and you had the nerve to steal the appearance of one of my best friends. Believe me, I hate that we haven't been able to stop you yet. But I'm changing that now." Rarity flared her power to around 60%.

"Because I'll stop you right here!" She took a fighting stance before rushing at Omega.

Chapter 8: Retaliation

Rarity charged up and flew at Omega, not bothering to use the kaioken. Omega fired a Nova Strike directly at Rarity; it was larger than all the previous ones she fired, but Rarity flew straight at it. The Nova Strike engulfed her fully. Omega smiled, thinking her opponent was no doubt dead. Her victory was extremely short-lived, as Rarity's top half appeared out of the beam, and she wasn't playing around. Omega was dumbfounded that Rarity had even survived, let alone taken effectively no damage whatsoever. Rarity punched her in the face, then hit her with a kick, sending her flying. She vanished above Omega and smashed her down toward the ground. She landed hard, attempting to comprehend how Rarity had become so strong in such a short amount of time. She couldn't figure it out, so she just had to ask.

"How?!" The veins in her eyes were a deep, solid red from increased blood flow.

"HOW DID YOU GET THIS STRONG?!!!" Rarity said nothing, instead she vanished and reappeared right in Omega's face.

"That doesn't matter now." Rarity released 100% of her power and created a multi form copy of herself.

"But know that I will defeat you." Her copy began fighting Omega, as she went over to her friends. She began healing all of them and increasing their power simultaneously using the zenkai spell. Only Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie remained. All their injuries began to heal as they regained their energy. Rarity's copy powered up to kaioken X2, giving her the edge. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.

"Holy crap, am I glad to see you." She smiled softly.

"Save your strength dear. But thank you. I'm delighted to see you're all ok - mostly." She turned to Applejack, and she wasn't impressed.

"What ever were you thinking, Applejack!? You as well Pinkie Pie. What on Equis were you both thinking? We’re you trying to hand your lives to Omega on a silver platter?!" She sighed from relief.

"You know what? No, it doesn't matter; I'm just happy you’re still alive." Omega was fighting a losing battle against Rarity's copy. She threw a ki enhanced punch at her, which she caught easily. Rarity elbowed Omega in the kidney and pulled her back in. She elbowed her three or four more times, causing her excruciating pain; Rarity's copy let Omega's hand go and then spun and kicked her in the chest, sending her backwards. She was slowly becoming more and more aggravated.
Rarity was done healing her friends - they were all back to full strength - so she flew up to Omega, and dispersed her copy as its kaioken depleted. She was in base form, but Omega could tell her power had remained exactly the same. Rarity hadn't said much to Omega yet. She decided to put a little salt on the wound.

"What's wrong darling? What happened to 'watching the world burn'?" Omega was clenching her jaws so hard, her gums began to bleed. She couldn't believe that Rarity had the sheer audacity to turn her own words against her.

"Well? Are you not entertained?!" She realised what Rarity was getting at, and forced herself to calm down.

"It's clear that my current power isn't sufficient to beat you; I wanted to save what I’ve accumulated so far, but you’re not leaving me much of a choice. I’ll have to use it all if I wanna have a chance of beat you." She raised her hands up to her sides, and began powering up. Her mane and tail grew slightly and became more rigid and spiked. Her power hadn’t quite doubled, but it wasn’t far off. She smiled menacingly, showing her bloodied, pointed teeth.

"Let's start the real fight!" Rarity and Omega resumed their battle.

They were more evenly matched now, and Rarity began needing to use the kaioken to overpower her opponent. She thanked Zecora in her head. The power increase really had given her enough strength to beat Omega, and thankfully it hadn't stopped her from using the kaioken; Rarity was partly surprised that she had even needed to. The two had been fighting for nearly ten minutes now, but neither particularly showed any signs of tiring out. Omega flew at Rarity as fast as she could and threw a kick at her opponent's head. Rarity caught Omega's foot in her hand, and smiled arrogantly.

"Is that really the best you can do, darling?" The mockery enraged Omega, and she fired a strong ki blast straight at Rarity's face. Luckily she powered up to kaioken and blocked the blast before it hit. In response, she spun Omega around numerous times before letting go, throwing her down to the ground, then powered up to kaioken X2 and followed her opponent. Rarity flew below Omega and kicked her in the kidney then the spine, sending her flying. She smashed Omega into the ground, kicking up dust and making a crater; as her opponent bounced back up, Rarity hit Omega with an uppercut to the torso, before grabbing her leg and slamming her back into the ground. Everypony watching was amazed and in firm belief that Rarity could surpass, and defeat Omega, so long as she played it carefully.

Only now did Omega realise the full power of the mare she was facing; she had been mocked, taunted, man-handled and toyed with... and she'd had enough of it all. She focused an immense amount of ki and fired countless volleys of Death Beams above her at Rarity from point blank range. Rarity was barely able to react in time; she jumped up, then vanished and reappeared a few hundred metres high. Then she had to dodge and block Omega's volley until it was completely over. Rarity focused some ki in her hand - and released it as an invisible wave when she punched down at Omega. The wave hit Omega precisely in the stomach, causing her to cough up blood and bile. Rarity flew back down to the ground at blazing speed. She landed, grabbed Omega by the leg, and threw her into the side of a rock formation. Rarity powered up to kaioken X2, and placed two fingertips on her forehead.

'Everypony? I have a smaaall problem.' Rarity was communicating to her friends using the telepathy spell.

'Ok?' Rainbow Dash sounded quite confused. 'What is it?'

'I'm charging up a rather powerful attack right now,' Rarity began. 'I have yet to try it out, but I may be able to kill Omega using it. The problem I-we have is that the attack might take a while to fully charge, an-'

'And you need us to hold her off until you're done, right?' Pinkie even managed to yell in her mind.

'Exactly that, thank you. Good luck.'A few seconds later, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both flew towards Omega. She was still shaking off the rubble when a still furious Fluttershy powered up to her limit, vanished and reappeared beside Omega, then fired a full power kamehameha at her from just a metre away! The beam split around Omega as she blocked it, but eventually the kamehameha engulfed its target. As Fluttershy let the attack dissipate and Omega prepared to retaliate, Rainbow Dash flew up and hit her with an uppercut to the chin. As she rotated in the air, Omega released a high amount of ki in an explosion around her body, knocking her opponents back. Her advantage didn’t last however, as Rainbow Dash powered up to kaioken X2 and flew toward Omega, nothing but a rainbow blur. She came back into view as her hit connected, a knee planted firmly in her opponent's liver. The hit had the desired effect, incapacitating Omega for a few seconds; she clutched her torso in pain as she coughed up a mix of blood and bile. When Omega finally stopped, her eyes were wide from rage and had many burst blood vessels. She was breathing heavily.

"You-" She winced as another wave of pain shot through her lower chest. "YOU BITCH!!" Everypony was always offended by Omega's use of foul language, but Rainbow Dash was offended more than necessary.

"Hey! Come on, that’s just racist." At first Omega was pissed, but all that anger dissolved into pure confusion.

"W-what??!"

"I'm not a stupid dog." A stream of blood came from Omega's nose.

"I'm going to enjoy this," She said as she clenched her fists. "I'm going to enjoy this far more than I should." Omega vanished and reappeared above Rainbow Dash and smashed her down towards the ground before firing a Nova Strike down after her. Rainbow Dash dodged the attack and looked over to Rarity. Their eyes met, and Rarity gave a quick nod before opening a telepathic communication.

'Somepony hold her. It’s done.'

Applejack powered up to kaioken and vanished behind Omega, then held her arms out to her side in a lock. She struggled and tried to free herself from Applejack's grip, but it was too great. It was only as Omega sensed Rarity's immense power level that she realised their plan.

"Rarity, I can't hold her much longer. It’s now or never!"

"DO IT NOW RARITY!!" Rainbow Dash shouted. The electricity crackling around Rarity's fingers subsided and all the ki she had gathered focused at the tip of her index and middle fingers. She took her fingers away from her forehead. Omega created a ki explosion around her, knocking Applejack back just enough to get free. She then elbowed her in the liver and flip kicked Applejack down to the ground.

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!!!" She fired the attack. Omega realised how easily she'd been distracted and scolded herself in her head. The orange spiralling beam came toward her at an alarming rate, clearly with enough power to kill. Omega prepared to redirect it away from herself, but she knew well enough that she had to time it perfectly. Those remaining of the Main 6 watched intently with hope of victory. Hope that was dashed. Omega let out a yell, and swatted the Special Beam Cannon down to the ground; Fluttershy watched in fear, petrified as the beam came toward her now. Rainbow Dash acted in a split second, vanishing in the path of the stray attack and redirecting it once more into the ground. She turned to Fluttershy.

"Hey. You alright?" Fluttershy nodded shyly.

"Uh-huh." She replied quietly. Rainbow Dash exhaled a sigh of relief. She focused on Omega once more.

"Tell Rarity to stay with everypony else; you go too." Omega locked eyes with her and smiled in an almost mocking way.

"I don't want to see any of you get hurt anymore, let alone killed. I'll fight Omega myself now, alone. Go!" Rainbow Dash looked around, then flew up to a large stone pillar with a wide, flat peak. Omega followed shortly after. Rainbow Dash landed just before her opponent. They both stared at each other for a while, neither one nor the other willing to make the first move. The wind picked up suddenly, causing their manes and tails to wave furiously.

"Omega, nopony else has to die. If you stop this bloodshed now, we'll let you go." Omega had to fight herself not to laugh.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just... I just don't get it is all. Let me go? LET ME GO?!! I am stronger than any of you could ever hope to be!"

"Then how come Rarity was beating you black and blue?"

"You idiot, evidently I'm still not at my full power yet. I could obliterate all of you maggots right now... and probably your whole planet too!" She raised a hand above her head and another Supernova formed above it. The expression of sheer malice on Omega's face indicated that she really wouldn't hesitate.

"Hold on Omega." Rainbow Dash said. "Even if you survive destroying this planet, who could challenge your power then? Huh? You said it yourself, we’re your only hope of getting stronger." That statement planted a seed of intruige in Omega's mind, which was all that was needed. She scolded her curiosity, but began to listen.

"Go on." She prompted.

"I can give you the best fight you will ever have. You understand, I know you do; you’re not gonna pass this up because I know I wouldn’t. You know, we’re not so different. We’ve got the same motivations: to improve, better ourselves, to always get stronger... Let me fight you. One last time. But don’t even think about involving my friends in this anymore. If they fight, it’s on my terms. That's all I’m asking for." Everypony below waited to see what decision Omega would make. She thought it over in her head numerous times before acting. The wind from the Supernova subsided, and the attack slowly shrunk, then disappeared.

"Alright then, have it your way." Omega took an attacking stance, and waited.

"Hey guys!" Rainbow Dash shouted down to her friends. "Uhh, you might wanna step back a bit, Omega and I will probably end up moving around a bit." She was usually cheerful when she said stuff like this, but this time she was completely focused. She took a defensive stance as her friends heeded her advice.

"Ready when you are." Omega attempted to goad her opponent into attacking unplanned. Neither made a move though. The silence was only broken, momentarily, by the howl of the wind. The two warriors' eyes were fixated on each other, neither wanting to look away. The wind stopped. Rainbow Dash went kaioken and a red aura surrounded her. She leapt back into the air and fired a kamehameha as soon as it charged. Omega met the attack with a Death Beam, which caused it to collapse and dissipate. Rainbow Dash wasted no time and flew toward her opponent furiously! Their first hits clashed, neither one winning out. Omega stepped back only to attack again; she jumped, throwing a kick as she rose - which Rainbow Dash blocked - then flipped over, bringing her heel down towards Rainbow Dash's head. Rainbow Dash dodged the second kick, and retaliated with a punch to the jaw. Omega reacted quickly enough to sidestep the punch, which Rainbow Dash overshot, but didn’t anticipate the knee that followed. It surprised Rainbow Dash that she had even landed the hit so, as she fell she tucked her legs to her chest and thrust them upwards, hitting Omega right in the face. She rose up into the air for a bit and fired a Nova Strike down at Rainbow Dash just as her kaioken ran out. She couldn't block it, or intercept it, so she had to simply move out the way. The attack hit the stone pillar and kept going down to the ground. The blast of dust that was sent outwards surprised the Main 6, they had to shield their eyes quickly. The next they saw, Rainbow Dash was flying up into the clouds, closely followed by Omega. They landed on opposite ends of a cloud, and immediately resumed their battle. Rainbow Dash rushed forward at her opponent and threw a ki enhanced punch at Omega's chest; she blocked the punch and countered with a kick aimed at her opponent's chin. Rainbow Dash leaned back, dodging the hit, and threw a punch with her available hand. The two opponents tried to overpower each other by pushing the other down. Neither gained the advantage, realising it was pointless. Rainbow Dash attempted to back away, but Omega's grip held firm. She smiled and flipped her opponent overhead, then threw her down through the cloud; she wasted no time, firing a volley of ki blasts after her prey. Rainbow Dash saw the ki blasts coming toward her as she fell; she righted herself and stopped abruptly, before firing her own volley of ki blasts back. The projectiles collided and created a smokescreen. Omega became frustrated at its sudden appearance, and was further dismayed when Rainbow Dash shot through the dust and crashed headfirst into her stomach. Nopony was expecting something that unorthodox, but that's why Rainbow Dash was so difficult to fight against - her quick thinking was almost impossible to strategise around. She chuckled slightly as a small trickle of blood ran from her mane down her forehead. Omega had barely recovered when she spoke.

"That was an unnecessary injury, not that there's much up there to injure anyway."

"Talk all you want Omega, hubris won’t get you anywhere."

Author's Note

I think the fights in this chapter were my favourites to write, hope you enjoyed them too. See ya. :pinkiesmile:

Chapter 9: The Will to Live

Shockwaves filled the sky. Craters formed from nothing. Rainbow Dash was holding nothing back, she had been in kaioken for the past two minutes, but she still wasn't letting up. Omega was stronger than she had previously given her credit for; she was actually finding it difficult. The rest of the Main 6 watched attentively, after all, they knew there was really nothing they could do now; On top of that, Rainbow Dash wanted to fight Omega alone unless she asked, and they were willing to honour that request. The two combatants came back into everypony's view, but they did not stop fighting; they were still trading hits, most of which were dodged or blocked. Suddenly, they both stopped fighting and backed away from each other.

"Is that really the best you can do?! I’m kinda disappointed." Omega taunted. She had a few cuts, but she looked much less damaged than her opponent. Rainbow Dash had many cuts all over her top half, her outer gi was gone from her left shoulder down to her right side and there were holes and rips on her gi trousers.

"You talk a lotta crap for somepony in punching distance," She retorted. As she was speaking, Rainbow Dash removed her outer gi - what was left weighed about 30kg - as well as her wristbands, which were 10kg each.

"Besides, don’t you worry. I'm just getting started." Rainbow Dash immediately powered up to kaioken X2 and resumed her attack. She rushed at Omega with a blitz of kicks, some of which made their mark, then smashed her downwards with such great strength, she went underground! Rainbow Dash flew down through the tunnel, and emerged in a cavern half full of water. Above ground, the rest of the Main 6 were confused.

"They've stopped fighting again." Fluttershy commented.

"I wonder, what could they possibly be talking about?" Rarity added.

"Beats me." Applejack added simply.

In the cavern, both Rainbow Dash and Omega stood on the surface of the water.

"It's a shame, you'd have made a great sparring partner." Omega smiled.

"What are you on about? We're fighting right now!"

"It's not the same, I'm fighting to win now, not for fun. You went too far when you killed those ponies in Canterlot and Manehattan. And when you killed Twilight. That was unforgivable; you're a monster, you're evil..." An idea came to her in that moment.

"And I’ll stop you myself!" With that, she vanished behind Omega.

'Let’s see how you like it!' She placed one hand in front of each temple.

"Solar Flare!!" A flash of blinding light filled the cavern, and Rainbow Dash fired a volley of ki blasts at various supporting pillars in the cave, bringing it down around Omega. She flew out the same tunnel they made before, as a plume of dust and water shot up after her.

"That won't hold her off for long." Rainbow Dash shouted to her friends as she made her way over to them. "I have an idea!"

"Shoot." Applejack and Pinkie Pie said simultaneously.

"The Spirit Bomb. I can use the Spirit Bomb!"

"Are you sure it’ll kill her though?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Definitely. It's effectiveness depends on the intentions and morals of the target. But I don't have enough ki left to charge it myself, so I should be able to use dormant ki from surrounding life forms; not to mention, it could destroy the entire planet if I miss." Rarity chipped in now.

"I believe I can fix that. Before I left Zecora's plateau, I learnt two new spells. The zenkai spell, which heals you whilst boosting your power, and the long range teleportation spell. Considering Princess Celestia got us up to the second moon using just the normal teleporting spell and no ki, I reckon I could get us to another planet altogether!" Rainbow Dash was elated to hear the news.

"How about it, Rainbow Dash? Let's go!" Omega burst from the ground, breathing heavily from both anger and lack of air.

"ARE YOU DONE RUNNING?!!" The Main 6 all faced her.

"We're not done fighting yet." She vanished in front of Rainbow Dash and kicked her in the stomach, sending her across Equestria, then chased after her. Omega didn't realise how hard she'd hit her opponent; by the time she had caught up, they were surrounded by waterfalls and rivers. Omega punched Rainbow Dash across the jaw; she flew through one of the waterfalls and impacted the cave floor hard, making a crater. She laid on her back, staring up at the cave ceiling while catching her breath.

"'I can fix that, dahling' She said, 'let's go' She said. What happened to that Rarity, huh?!" Rainbow Dash ranted to nopony but herself, before she mustered the strength to get up. The cool water left her partly refreshed and she was grateful for that, but she still didn't have much ki left.

"You alive in there?" Omega taunted from outside.

"No way I killed you with that... unless you truly are that weak." Rainbow Dash rose off the ground slowly, and crossed through the waterfall once more. She realised that her gi were soaked, which would impair her mobility. She powered up to kaioken, and the dense aura evaporated the liquid in her clothes.

"Sorry to disappoint you, not dead yet." The rest of the Main 6 caught up with them.

"How 'bout now Rarity? Can we go now?!"

"I believe so; Fluttershy helped me to find a suitable..." She glanced quickly at Omega.

"Location." She resumed as her horn began to glow.

"It should do just fine." Omega reacted now, confused.

"Wait, what's happening? WHAT ARE YOU UP TO!!?" Rainbow Dash smiled smugly as Rarity's magic enveloped everypony, including Omega.

"You'll see, Omega. Who knows where we end up; only time will tell." There was a silent flash of azure light as the Main 6 and Omega were teleported across space.

Planet: Marinus Beta - Star System: Exodus I

The light faded away, leaving the Main 6's new surroundings. The landscape was odd to say the least, though it was beautiful and well maintained. The vegetation was blue in colour, and the water was green. Omega wasn't pleased by the change of scenery.

"Wha- WHAT THE FUCK!!? I... WHAT? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!!"

"You think we should leave her alone for a bit or..." Pinkie enquired. While Omega was still trying to come to terms with what had happened, Rarity began examine the planet and its neighouring celestial bodies in detail.

"Ok, one habitable moon, two... no, three suns and two neighbouring planets. From the look of the land and lack of noise or structures... no intelligent lifeforms."

'Probably for the best,' Rarity thought. 'This planet is much too beautiful to be disturbed.'

"That's more than enough." Rainbow Dash confirmed. She addressed her friends now.

"Girls, I need you all to help hold off Omega while I charge the Spirit Bomb."

"No problem." Fluttershy replied.

"Sure!" Pinkie yelled.

"You didn’t have to ask." Applejack said.

"Of course dear." Rarity replied, but she was cut short.

"No, not you Rarity."

"What? But I-"

"If you get hurt, or die, I'm pretty sure we have no way of getting back home. You don't need to fight anymore; besides, you deserve a break after what you accomplished today."

Rarity considered protesting, but remembered her friend's tenacity, and gave up on the idea.

"Aight, everypony ready?" Applejack asked. She received a collection of nods in response. "Well then, LET'S GO!" Rainbow Dash raised her hands above her head. The rest of the Main 6 flew towards Omega, except Rarity.

'Alright then. I’m pretty sure I need to ask the life forms to give me their energy, but does that mean like, saying please? Let’s try that first.' She had originally planned to use the energy from the planet they were on, but it didn't have much - it must have been near the end of its 'lifespan'. She decided to instead draw the ki from the surrounding planets, the star and the Royal Sisters back on Equis - she could still feel their energy from the next star system over!

'Come on, concentrate Dashie!' Rainbow Dash regained her focus, closed her eyes, and started the process.

'I call upon the sun and the stars, the moon and the trees, all living things; on this planet, there is a pony, an evil one, who desires nothing more than death and destruction. If you give me your energy, I'll be able to defeat her for good. If you all have the will to live, well, this is probably the only way we survive. So please, let me share your power!' Rainbow Dash felt the Spirit Bomb begin to charge, but didn’t want to look at the risk of breaking her concentration; she reckoned it would take about five minutes to fully charge.

'We're finishing this now.'

Author's Note

Man, I didn’t realise how much shorter this chapter is than the rest. Sorry about that. :twilightsheepish: Hope you enjoyed regardless of the length. Cya bois!

Chapter 10: The Legend

Fluttershy knew the fight had to last long, so she only used kaioken X2 at the start. She had still not fully recovered all her strength, but it would have to suffice. Omega was thoroughly enjoying the challenge of fighting three different ponies at once. They were all weaker than her individually, but collectively they proved capable enough to match her strength. Applejack took advantage of a missed hit from Omega by kicking her in the liver, debilitating her for a few seconds, in which Pinkie Pie followed up with an spinning kick to the back of the head. Omega was sent down to the ground fast and was given no time to recover, as Fluttershy fired a kamehameha as soon as she landed. The attack engulfed her entirely and dissipated after a few seconds. There was silence for a few moments.

"Keep your guard up everypony. Now she’s a lot faster than I thought." Applejack warned. The hole was deep enough that they couldn't see all the way down. Suddenly Omega flew out of the hole at full speed as Applejack powered up to kaioken X2, and Pinkie powered up to kaioken. Omega didn't stop or slow at all, but hit Fluttershy with a knee to the stomach as she came up. Blood spewed from her mouth and she doubled over in pain. Omega began trading blows with Applejack; she wasn't as quick as everypony else, but she never pulled her punches, and was physically very strong. Their bout lasted for a few seconds, after which Pinkie Pie came in with an uppercut, blocked, followed by a kick which hit Omega perfectly in the stomach. She backed away as Fluttershy and Applejack attacked in unison. Applejack attacked with a punch to the stomach that Omega blocked, after which Fluttershy came in with a kick to the face; Omega was knocked back, but steadied herself quickly, retaliating with a Nova Strike. Fluttershy dodged and flew along the blast, obscured from Omega’s view, whilst Applejack dove straight down. Omega wondered why, but thought nothing of it. She let the Nova Strike dissipate and recoiled slightly at seeing Fluttershy only a metre away from her. She held out a ball of ki, almost telegraphing it. Suddenly, in an instant, the blue ball expanded around Omega. She was now trapped. She pounded her fists on the inside of the sphere, but it was no use. She calmed down, and looked straight ahead, to she Fluttershy staring her down. Those eyes, those stone cold eyes... they showed no more mercy. She flipped over quickly and kicked the sphere downwards with all her strength. Omega was surprised to feel the ball suddenly change direction; she didn't see Applejack punch the sphere towards Pinkie Pie, who sent it back to Fluttershy. Fluttershy powered back up to kaioken X2, charged up a kamehameha and fired it as soon as Omega was below her. The sphere of ki protected her for a bit, but it quickly gave way to the power of the blast coming from above. Omega hit the ground and kept going under until the stone below her began to glow from the heat of the kamehameha pushing down on her. The beam dissipated and Pinkie Pie went down the hole before either of her friends could object at all.

"Should... should we go down after her?" Fluttershy asked. She was hesitant, unsure if it was a good course of action.

"Probably not. They both have to come up soon, I doubt there’s a lot of space to properly fight down there." Applejack replied with strained breath. She had remained in the kaioken throughout the rest they had been given. Whereas everypony else tried to minimise their time using it to avoid the stress, Applejack saw it as something unnecessary to focus on. The time it took to power up to kaioken was more than enough for Omega to get the drop on them.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and looked above her, seeing the Spirit Bomb up in the clouds. It was enormous, probably half the size of the second moon already! There was no doubt in Rainbow Dash's mind it would be strong enough to kill Omega. She just had to wait. She closed her eyes again, ensuring that she would keep her focus. Rarity looked over to Fluttershy and Applejack conversing, and decided to join in. She focused, and her magic aura emanated from her horn as she established a telepathic link with her.

'Darling, you’re looking a little tired now. How’s it going over there?'

'I am starting to feel a little worn out, but it’s no problem. Ask Rainbow Dash how much longer it’s gonna take... please.' Rarity cut the telepathy spell briefly, now speaking aloud.

"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy would like to know how much longer this trump card of yours will take, I can imagine all three of them are quite anxious over there." Rainbow Dash opened one eye, trying her hardest to split her attention.

"Umm... It's a little hard to be exact. I'd... I'd say around two... two minutes. Sorry, it's a little difficult speaking and concentrating on the Spirit Bomb."
"No need to apologise dear, I understand. I’ll be quiet now if that helps."

'Rainbow Dash said it’ll be around two minutes.' Rarity relayed.

'Ok, thank you Rarity. You must still wanna fight, right?' Fluttershy could only guess how frustrated her friend was.

'Honestly, yes, definitely better than being a messenger. But you three seem to have this handled. Not to mention I’m the only one who can get us home. Regardless, I don’t want to distract you any further. Good luck.' Rarity deactivated the spell, and Fluttershy refocused on the task at hand. After waiting for only a few more seconds, Pinkie shot up from the hole. She flipped over and threw a volley of ki blasts down as Omega flew up through the opening. She put an arm in front of her face and flew straight up through all of them. Omega threw an uppercut at Pinkie, who dodged quickly and retaliated with a kick to the liver. Omega blocked the hit barely and threw another punch, which connected cleanly. Pinkie Pie flew back whilst firing a continuous volley of ki blasts at her opponent, giving her some much needed space to charge another attack. She raised her hands to her sides then thrust them forward. A white ki ball formed, and fired as a beam almost immediately. Omega dodged the blast easily and focused on her opponent again. She clearly didn't realise, but the beam had split into seven more projectiles, which took individual paths back towards her. Pinkie could only direct the diverging beams once, so she had to aim carefully. Omega heard the first beam and turned to see it heading toward her; she evaded the first three beams and redirected the next two. She fired a Nova Strike to counter the penultimate beam, but was hit from above by the final beam. It dug her down into the ground before subsiding. Omega was getting annoyed now, so she decided to even the odds a bit. She flew up as fast as she could and punched Applejack in the chest, then flipped over her and kicked her down to the ground. Applejack was left winded and stunned from the sudden onslaught, and probably wouldn't join the battle again for a while. Fluttershy focused, and found that anger within herself once more. Her aura reignited violently, and she opened her eyes.

'I might not be able to hold this level of power for very long, but as long as it delays you. We need every second we can get, and I refuse to watch you hurt my friends anymore..' Fluttershy's anger made her alone stronger than Omega at her current power, but not by much since her last increase in power. Omega was facing away from her, so she wasted no time and hit her with a backhand to the side of the face from behind; Omega didn't appreciate the unfairness of that attack, and certainly showed it. She dashed towards Fluttershy and launched a frenzy of kicks. Fluttershy wasn't expecting the sudden barrage and had no choice but to block as many hits as she could. Omega allowed a slight pause in her onslaught, and the moment Fluttershy's guard began to lower she threw a punch straight through the gap. The hit knocked Fluttershy back, and dazed her for a second. She threw a few hits of her own back at Omega, all of which were dodged or blocked. Omega dodged to the inside of one of Fluttershy's punches, and grabbed her by the neck. She kneed her in the stomach repeatedly before throwing her down her and firing a ki blast after her. Fluttershy hit the ground hard. She was knocked out of her rage, and out of the battle for good.

'Please, tell me it's done now Rainbow Dash, we won't last much longer. Hurry up and throw it.' Rarity was weighing up the outcomes of her joining the fight, but she knew she had to survive. She also knew that the Spirit Bomb wouldn't be much longer.

'Damn it, it’s not ready yet! Hold on everypony, just a bit longer.' Rainbow Dash could do nothing but wait for the attack to be ready. Pinkie Pie flew at Omega, who admired their efforts, but was becoming bored now. She dodged Pinkie's kick easily and elbowed her in the back of the neck, sending her into unconsciousness with one strike. There was nopony left as far as Omega was concerned.

"What a shame... I was having such a good time. But I guess you’re all too weak or too scared now." She rose into the sky slowly and extended a hand above her head.

"You know, it's pretty funny as far as I care," She created a large ball of black, crackling ki at the tip of her finger.

"You're the only ones who I've really considered not killing. I needed you so I could get stronger. But now you're all gonna die, and so's everypony else on that waste of a planet you call home!!" She started laughing maniacally. There was no more time, no way to delay Omega.

'Screw it, this’ll have to do!' Rainbow Dash threw her hands down, and the Spirit Bomb descended upon its target, Omega's malice attracting it like a magnet. Omega rose a little higher in the air, but stopped. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She turned and looked up to see the Spirit Bomb descending upon her mercilessly.

'Oh shit! When did she do that?!!' Omega's attack was engulfed in the blue sphere like a cupcake from the bakery on Sugarcube Corner. She tried to push the attack back, but it was no use. There would be no stopping it.

'No! No, I won't be defeated like this. It can’t be... I cannot die to this!' She only realised the futility of trying to prolong her life once it was too late. She was trying so hard, her gums bled. Omega let out a final, blood-curdling scream as the Spirit Bomb exploded in a glorious flash of blueish-white light.

Minuscule droplets of water sprayed onto Rainbow Dash’s face. The explosion from the Spirit Bomb had thrown tons of water into the sky, some of which was still raining down. Rainbow Dash was exhausted. The lakes and rivers nearby were calmer than she would’ve expected, but it wasn’t something she was gonna worry about. She dropped to her knees, then onto her back. She looked up to the sky through the gap in the clouds that the Spirit Bomb had made.

'We did it... We actually did it. It's over.' She got up and walked over to her friends slowly. She placed a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder and shook her rapidly; she jolted awake and shook her head rapidly.

"Oh, hey RD. Did I miss anything good?" Rainbow was delighted to hear that perky voice again.

"Well Omega's dead... so maybe?"

"Not to rush you... but when do we get back home?" Applejack asked, obviously in pain and sounding very impatient.

"Gimme a minute," Rarity said, quite informal in her terms. "I still need to find home first." She closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow. Fluttershy was about to say something to Pinkie, but noticed the look of pure fear on her face.

"P-Pinkie... what's wrong? Are you ok? You look... you’re starting to scare me now." Pinkie couldn’t process what was being said to her, and instead started speaking to herself.

"No... No, that's-that's not p-possible. No way. How..." She was staring past Fluttershy, at something else. Rarity opened her eyes now, sensing the tension around her; all four fighters followed Pinkie's line of sight.

'No. No way! That's impossible!' Rainbow Dash was shaken to the core at what they saw - a walking nightmare. Omega glared down at the group from a hill. There were wounds all over her body, and the expression on her face said only one thing: ABSOLUTELY LIVID.

"I have to admit, that was much too close for comfort. Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not dead yet! You on the other hand..." She pointed at Rarity and fired a Death Beam at her. It pierced through her right lung, cauterising the wound and slowing the loss of blood and air. Rarity fell to the ground, too shocked to even scream. Omega smiled now, maliciously.

"I’ve been finding you pretty annoying for a while now. Let’s fix that, shall we?" She pointed at Pinkie Pie now - a purple ki ball flew from her finger and connected with Pinkie's chest, but nothing visible happened. Omega moved her hand up, and Pinkie moved up through the air with it.

"Uhh, guys. I can’t move my body, help me." Pinkie began to panic. "Seriously, HELP!" Everypony started to panic now too. Rainbow Dash saw Omega begin to close her hand, and realised what was about to occur.

"OMEGA NO!!" But it was too late.

"HELP ME RAI-" A loud boom rang out through the air like a bomb. In an instant, Pinkie was gone - she just... exploded. The cloud of dust and smoke lingered for a bit. Rainbow Dash stared at the last spot she saw her cheery friend. As far as she was concerned, she had just let somepony else die.

'No... I said nopony else would die. That’s the whole reason we came here. But when it mattered I couldn't do anything. Pinkie... Rarity... Twilight.' Rainbow Dash looked to the ground, the rage inside her threatening to erupt like a volcano. Fluttershy and Applejack felt her power begin to rise. The waves crashed violently now, and lightning came down from above.

"So," Omega began. "Any last words from the rest of you?!"

"You killed... one of my best friends. I won't... let you... get away with this." Rainbow Dash was holding in a scream and speaking through gritted teeth. Omega was curious - and naturally a little worried - about her counterpart's words of warning.

"You... HEARTLESS... RUTHLESS BASTARD! I WILL... MAKE YOU... SUFFER!!" Chunks of rock bent at Rainbow Dash's feet. She had reached her limit - Her anger exploded outward. Her mane mostly faced backwards and became yellow as a golden aura surrounded her, and she let out an ear-splitting scream.

Chapter 11: Unstoppable Force

Tears flowed from Rainbow Dash's eyes in sorrow and rage. Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides and her breath caught in her throat. 'When it mattered I couldn't do anything. Pinkie... Rarity... Twilight.' Rainbow Dash looked to the ground, the rage inside her threatening to erupt like a volcano. Fluttershy and Applejack felt her power begin to rise. The waves crashed violently now, and lightning came down from above.

"So," Omega began. "Any last words from the rest of you?!"

"You killed... one of my best friends. I won't... let you... get away with this." Rainbow Dash was holding in a scream and speaking through gritted teeth. Omega was curious - and naturally a little worried - about her counterpart's words of warning.

"You... HEARTLESS... RUTHLESS BASTARD! I WILL... MAKE YOU... SUFFER!!" Chunks of rock bent at Rainbow Dash's feet. She had reached her limit - Her anger exploded outward. Her mane mostly faced backwards and became yellow as a golden aura surrounded her, and she let out an ear-splitting scream.

Rainbow Dash's eyes were blank for a bit - her irises faded back into her eyes, a greenish blue as opposed to crimson, without any pupils. She turned to face Omega with a prominent death stare on her face. Omega flinched back, petrified at Rainbow Dash's new power.

"Wha-What happened to your hair? What happened to your eyes?!" Her voice was shaky, fearful.

"AJ, Fluttershy," They were already paying close attention to her, but they listened carefully now. "Get Rarity a safe distance away from here, do your best to help her." Fluttershy was hesitant.

"But... we can't leave you alo-" Rainbow Dash's anger flared out again.

"If Rarity dies we have no way to get back home! Get her and GO!!" Her response had its desired effect, and her two friends flew slowly into the air and lifted Rarity between them. Omega spoke now.

"You really do know me well. I do love a bit of target practice." She raised her hand with her index finger pointing out. Rainbow Dash appeared right in front of her and grabbed her wrist tightly. Omega was surprised by this action.

"Wha- Let go. Let go of me damn it!!" Rainbow's grip remained absolute. She leaned closer to her opponent.

"I'm going to break you," Omega panicked. She had never felt this way before. It was her first taste of true fear.

"WHAT?!" She tried in vain to pull her hand away.

"Like a twig!" Rainbow Dash threw a punch into Omega's stomach. Another new feeling for Omega: agony. Blood spewed from her mouth. Rainbow Dash pulled back and threw another punch at her face. It sent Omega flying insanely far, but Rainbow Dash caught up like she was a small hop away. She raised both hands and smashed them down onto Omega's chest, sending her flying down into an island and obliterating it entirely. After a few disorienting seconds, Omega flew out of the water and up at Rainbow Dash; she threw an uppercut, which was easily dodged. Rainbow Dash kicked Omega hard in the chest, both to punish her and put distance between them. Omega's frustration grew with each failed attack. She recovered after a few seconds and fired four Death Beams in quick succession. Rainbow Dash dodged all of them effortlessly and focused on her opponent again, who was trying to wrap her head around this change that had occurred so suddenly. It was driving her mad.

"How... how, TELL ME HOW! YOU WERE JUST A PUNY WEAKLING LIKE THE REST OF THEM!! WHAT CHANGED!!" Her eyes were visibly bloodshot now. She realised something obvious.

"You... you're different now. Tell me... just what the hell are you!!?" Rainbow Dash smiled as she thought of what to say. The first thing she had experienced other than pure rage in the last few minutes.

"Can't you tell Omega? I think you already know; it's just like Twilight said." Omega frowned and gritted her teeth.

"I am the pegasus from Equis who brought you here solely to kill you. I am the legend that you've come to fear, awakened by fury…" Rainbow Dash rose her arms to her side and her golden aura reignited. "And I won't forgive a single thing you've done!! I AM RAINBOW DASH, THE ELEMENT OF LOYALTY, AND I AM A SUPER—" Omega fired a Death Beam at Rainbow Dash's head. She flicked her chin up, deflecting the beam into the sky. She looked back down at her opponent slowly before finishing her monologue with a mocking smile.

"Pony." Omega could hardly contain her frustration, letting out a loud growl.

Fluttershy and Applejack had been flying for around two minutes. They laid Rarity down on the side of a hill, so her blood flow could return to near enough normal.

"How's she doing?" Applejack asked. "Be honest." Fluttershy knelt down next to their injured friend and put two fingers on her jugular vein. There was a pulse, faint, low. Fluttershy next put her hand on her chest. Rarity was breathing lightly, but she probably wouldn't hold out much longer.

"She's holding on but... we need to get her home, fast. I don't think her body has the strength to keep going for very much longer." They both looked onwards to where Rainbow Dash continued to battle with Omega. They could feel the obvious difference in power and knew Rainbow Dash could win easily, they just hoped her enjoyment of fighting didn't cloud her judgement. Fluttershy whispered to herself.

"Rainbow Dash... please hurry. Please..."

"You... you bastard! You think you compare to me?! You think now you're this so-called 'Super Pony' you're better than ME?!!" Rainbow Dash was distracted by the beauty of her surroundings: the green, salt water stretched for as far as the eye could see, populated by land masses topped with dark blue grass. Maybe Equis would've looked something like this if ponykind hadn't evolved.

'Food for thought.' Rainbow Dash told herself.

"Well, let me tell you something!" Omega continued. "I practically own you! I own your friends. I own your planet! Hell, I own THIS planet! You live because I allow it, and you will die because I demand it!" Rainbow Dash retained her concentration now.

"Actually, you know what?!" Omega threw her hands into the sky with a hysterical grin on her face. She created a giant ki ball above her hands, which appeared like a void. Purple electricity crackled around it and it pulsated regularly. Rainbow Dash realised what she was thinking.

"NO WAIT!!" She plead in vain.

"FUCK THIS PLANET!!!" Omega threw the attack down. It collided with the surface of the planet, and exploded in a flash of blinding light.

Author's Note

Took a while but I'm almost caught up with where I was before. Hope you enjoyed reading. 👍

Chapter 12: Immovable Object

The omnipresent light subsided, as did the ringing in Rainbow Dash's ears. She was still alive, and mostly ok, but the planet wasn't; it had a gigantic hole in the ground and had started to turn volcanic, it looked like the pits of hell itself. Hills became cliffs as they crumbled into the magma below. Omega was staring down angrily into the hole below them.

"What? I know I hit the core... I must not have used enough power. Damn it!" Rainbow Dash thought of something else to irk her opponent.

"Or... you just couldn't go through with killing us both. You don't have the guts." Omega looked up at Rainbow Dash, scorn and hatred burning in her eyes.

"That isn't the problem you fool. I copied your body, remember? I can leave it whenever the hell I want, and copy someone else's."

'Shit, that makes this a bit harder.' Rainbow Dash would never have guessed.

"Honestly, I'd say you've got five... yeah, five minutes until this planet explodes." Rainbow Dash knew she couldn't hold back anymore.

"Then I'll have to kill you before then." Her intense yellow aura flared to life again, and she got into the firing position for the kamehameha.

"It's over, Omega. You’re finished." Omega panicked now as she thought of a way out.

"Ka...me..." Omega moved backwards, fear plaguing her face.

"Hold on. I'm only at half my full power, but I can bring out the rest now. All of my power." Whatever she was playing at, it wasn't working yet.

"HA...ME!!" Omega had an idea now.

"Wait!!" The sudden shout froze Rainbow Dash momentarily, giving Omega just enough time to start her explanation.

"If you kill me now, you'll never face the challenge you desire..." Rainbow Dash's curiosity had grabbed hold of her mind. Against her better judgement, she let Omega continue.

"...Go on." A devilish smile grew on Omega's face.

"As I said, I'm only at half of my full power. If you let me power up to one-hundred percent, I'll give you the fight of your life. Think about it; in this new form of yours, who can even hope to challenge you?" Rainbow Dash said nothing for a few seconds. The kamehameha shrunk a bit, then dissipated completely. She stared at her opponent.

"Fine. But no holding back from now on, from either of us." Omega smiled in relief and anticipation.

"You won't regret this..." She raised her hooves to her sides and began screaming through her teeth. Her aura crackled and flared viciously as it expanded, and her muscles bulked up. Her mane and tail became more jagged and grew slightly. She continued to power up.

'Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash?' It was the voice of Princess Celestia. Rainbow Dash was confused until she realised she was using a telepathy spell.

'Princess Celestia? What is it?!' She was aware of the proper way to address royalty, but formalities were hardly important given the situation.

'Zecora informed us that you were battling Omega. My sister and I are observing your battle right now, and I must say, I am very impressed with your skill level of fighting.'

Thanks.' Rainbow Dash replied simply.

'We were scared that Omega really had destroyed that planet with all of you on it, and I think you should know that neither of us approve of your choice to let Omega fight at full power. We're aware that Rarity is injured and... Twilight and Pinkie Pie have perished. You have no way to return home safely.'

'True, but why did you need to contact me then Princess?' That was still a mystery to her. Celestia began once more.

'Even over the drastically long distance, providing you with the ability to teleport shouldn't be very hard.' Omega looked up viciously, and her aura dispersed.

'Hold on a bit.' Rainbow Dash instructed the Princesses. She focused again on her opponent, now at her full power. This fight had better be worth it now, Rainbow Dash thought.

"So, you done? When ca-"

The punch to the stomach came out of nowhere and its strength surprised Rainbow Dash. As soon as Omega pulled away Rainbow Dash retaliated with a knee to the stomach, followed by an elbow straight to Omega's cheek. Omega wasted no time and after steadying herself, flew straight back at Rainbow Dash. The two fighters traded a blurred frenzy of attacks for a few seconds, until Omega dodged to the outside of a punch, and successfully hit Rainbow Dash downwards. Right after landing, Rainbow Dash threw a ki blast through the dust cloud. She could feel Omega’s ki, but neither of them could see the other, so it was a guessing game as to whether or not the blasts would hit. Omega threw a single ki blast back through the cloud, which Rainbow Dash dodged easily. The rain of ki blasts that followed was a different matter. She braced herself and began either dodging or swatting away as many as she could. A few did hit her directly, causing rage to swell within her again. Rainbow Dash threw two ki blasts of her own, pausing before the third, and listened carefully. She heard the first two connect, probably blocked. Then silence. Omega must have dodged. Rainbow Dash bolted up through the dust cloud, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake, and kicked Omega hard in the chest. The shockwave from the hit dispersed a lighting bolt as it came down from the clouds. A pained scream escaped Omega’s lips, along with saliva and blood. She looked at Rainbow Dash’s hoof, still pushing into her chest, with bloodshot eyes and gritted teeth. She grabbed Rainbow Dash's leg firmly, and spun her around rapidly. After a few seconds Omega tossed her down into the magma, then fired a Nova Strike after her. Rainbow Dash quickly charged a kamehameha, and fired it immediately. The two beams met and struggled, parting the lava around them. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, then let out a loud scream as her kamehameha shot upwards. Omega felt the Nova Strike compress under the pressure, and braced herself for the impact. Rainbow Dash let the beam subside after a while. The magma flowed back around her, hardly a nuisance to her anymore. Then she heard it.

'Well, you're doing better than I'd have expected.' The voice sounded familiar, but Rainbow Dash was still confused and couldn't quite put her finger on it.

'Hey, dumbass, get yourself together!' Rainbow Dash briefly snapped out of her angry and confused state.

'What? What the hell is going on?!' She still couldn't tell who she was talking with. She heard a light chuckle.

'Seriously, get up there and beat her or you're gonna die just like Pinkie and I!' Rainbow Dash's stomach dropped, and her next words faltered.

'T-Twilight? Is- is that... is that really you??' She couldnt believe it, let alone understand it. Her friend, her dead and buried friend, was really communicating with her.

'Yup. Unfortunately I have to bare your stupidity for a bit longer.' Rainbow Dash almost laughed, forgetting momentarily she was submerged in molten lava. Externally she may be unharmed by it, but her insides would be a different and very painful story.

'I have to say, I've got a lot of catching up to do if I get back, you've reached a completely new level of strength from any of us.'

'I suppose. What's it like? You know, being dead, what's it like?'

'It was odd at first. Everything's black for a few seconds, its a bit scary, then you're in the Otherworld; apparently that's what it's really called. Those who are good or brave in their lives get to keep their bodies, and thankfully I got to keep mine.'

'Ok, but what about -'

'Oh right, I have an idea.' Rainbow Dash remembered that Twilight often went off on tangents during conversations. 'I'm gonna give you enough of my magic for you to teleport. Don't use it for anything else, I mean it, otherwise you really will have no way to get back home. If you use ki with the magic as well, you should be able to go much further with it.'

'But-'

'Don't worry, you won't have to go through learning it like I did, just feel for the Princesses magic, then use the magic, it should be... instinctual almost; it’ll only work for the teleportation, I don't think it's enough for much else.' Rainbow Dash took all this in, and realised there was no point arguing anymore.

'Ok, go on.' She waited for a few seconds, during which everything was normal, then a purple magic aura surrounded her.

'There you go, all done.' Twilight confirmed. Rainbow Dash was reluctant to part ways with her friend, possibly for the last time, and Twilight could tell.

'Hey, don't worry about me, honestly. I'm already dead, what more can happen? Now go kill this psycho.' Rainbow Dash was motivated by her friend's last words to her, and reignited her golden aura. The telepathic link was gone for good. She shot out of the magma and threw a hard punch at Omega. Her fist glanced off of Omega's block and she came back with a kick. Rainbow Dash grabbed her leg and spun Omega around before throwing her into a cliffside. She flew straight at Omega, giving her no chance to recover and kicked her further into the stone, then fired an overcharged kamehameha into the hole.

"That one's for Twilight." She said to herself. Omega flew out of the hole at full speed, and grabbed Rainbow Dash by the mouth with one hand, then charged a Nova Strike in the other. Rainbow Dash, acting instinctively, opened her mouth wide and bit Omega's hand. The initial shock caused Omega to pull her hand away, and the Nova Strike to disappear; she refused to let up and threw a punch aimed at Rainbow Dash’s body. Her opponent sidestepped the attack and slammed her elbow into the top of her head. The ground cracked under Omega's feet when she landed, and Rainbow Dash flew straight down at her. Omega realised an opportunity, and quickly charged and fired a Nova Strike at her opponent. Rainbow Dash knew there was no chance of dodging, so she prepared herself and flew straight down through it. She landed in front of Omega, with just the top half of her inner gi remaining, and threw an elbow strike which connected with her jaw; she continued with a volley of various punches, ending her assault with a uppercut. Omega felt each of the hits significantly, and wanted to cause the same amount of pain. She started with a headbutt, a stomach punch, then a kick to the face, and fired a ki blast at point blank, sending Rainbow Dash into the air. Omega flew up ahead of her and smashed her hands down onto her back. Rainbow Dash vanished and reappeared behind Omega. They began trading blows once more, none connecting with significant force. Whilst they had been fighting, the sky had turned black, and the entire planet had become a volcanic hellhole.

'Rainbow Dash, I must tell you something important.' It was Princess Celestia again.

'Sorry, I’m a little busy, can it wait!?' Rainbow Dash only wanted to focus on the fight.

'Not really, no. We have discovered a way to bring you all back to Equis. We can teleport you all back, and leave Omega there.'

'No.' Princess Celestia was taken aback by this response.

'Wait, what? I don't understand.' Rainbow Dash dodged a kick and grabbed Omega's leg, then threw her a great distance away to buy some time.

'Teleport everypony back home except for me and Omega. I have to finish this myself. She can't be allowed to hurt anypony else, and we can't risk her coming back eventually!' There was silence for a moment.

'Are you sure, Rainbow Dash? The spell will take a lot of magic as neither my sister nor I can use ki, we will likely only be able to perform it once.'

'Well then don't waste your energy on me! What are you waiting for?!! Sorry, I'm still pretty angry.'

'Do not worry about it. I will honour your request. Thank you, for everything you've done Rainbow Dash. Goodbye.' Celestia talked as if Rainbow Dash was already dead, but she understood why; there was quite a large possibility she wouldn't make it off this doomed planet, and that conversation was the last contact she'd have with anyone on Equis. She knew she wouldn't be speaking with anyone friendly again whilst she was on this planet. Omega finally returned with a wild punch thrown at Rainbow Dash's face. The attack was dodged, and Omega felt a knee connect with her stomach. She doubled over for a few seconds, then straighten herself again. Rainbow Dash dropped her stance, feeling much of her rage leave her, replaced with boredom.

"I'm done fighting now." Her opponent visibly felt a mix of emotions at that statement.

"W-what?" Rainbow Dash decided to elaborate.

"I'm done, I'm bored. You're boring me." Omega couldn't believe what she was hearing. She attempted to goad Rainbow Dash into continuing their battle.

"Oh, I get it. You're afraid; afraid knowing this planet has so little time left, aren't you?!" Rainbow Dash saw right through the attempt at an insult.

"No, I just don't wanna fight you anymore. Imma go now." She took a deep breath and returned to her normal state as she exhaled.

"Try not to murder any more ponies, or else I’ll have to kill you," She prepared to fly away.

"Later." A translucent grey aura emanated from Rainbow Dash as she flew from her battle leaving her opponent behind. Omega struggled to comprehend what had just transpired. She had lost, no doubt about it. But she wasn't about to accept the defeat she had been handed, not by a longshot. Tremors rang out across the planet now; it really was going to explode soon. Omega held a hand above her head, and a magenta ki disc formed above it.

'Damn you, how dare you mock me like that? I won’t stand for it. I will not be belittled like some... some meaningless thing!' She found Rainbow Dash quickly, and launched the disc towards her. Rainbow Dash heard a faint buzzing coming from behind her. And it was getting louder. She turned around to see the disc zooming toward her. It was slightly off target and zipped past her, without contact. Anger swelled within her once more. She clenched both fists at her sides, and the golden aura surrounded her again. She re-entered the Super Pony form with a burst of energy, and flew back down at her target. The disc flew in front of her face, missing by around a foot, and continued on. She realised Omega's hand was still outstretched, and figured that she could still control the path of the disc. Rainbow Dash flipped over the disc and saw it begin to circle back again. She vanished, just as the disc would have hit her, and appeared next to Omega.

"So, you really done now?" Omega allowed the disc to return to above her palm. She smiled wickedly.

"Oh, far from it; I've got two hands, haven't I?!!" Another disc formed above Omega's right hand, and she threw them consecutively. They kicked up trails of dust as they flew towards Rainbow Dash. She jumped over them, and was surprised to see Omega's fist hurtling at her head. She dodged the punch and threw one of her own into Omega's kidney, sending her flying. The discs were on a converging path back to her, and she thought of something. She flew towards Omega, and a look of smugness came across her face.

"Really? You seriously think that age-old trick is going to work agai-" Rainbow Dash threw a ki blast into the ground at Omega's feet, creating a smokescreen.

'You clever bitch!' She thought to herself as she jumped. The discs whizzed under her feet as Rainbow Dash hit her with a two handed smash on the head; she was sent down into the ground a couple metres, but she jumped out immediately. The discs were heading back their way. Rainbow Dash could see them, but they were to Omega's back. She tried to warn her.

"Quick Omega, behind you!" Omega smirked at that.

"I already told you, idiot, those dumb trick won't work!!" the discs drew closer.

"Seriously, get down!!" Omega mockingly laughed in response.

"Oh, very funny. Now stop playing games so that I can kill you, you stupid, inbred basta-" Omega's insults were cut short, as one of the discs sawed straight through her torso and one of her arms. Her body parts fell to the ground in a growing pool of blood.

Author's Note

Finally figured out how to properly embed a video link, only took me three years!

Chapter 13: Mercy

Applejack stood at the edge of what had now become a cliff. She looked out into the hellish sky, not changing the direction of her gaze once. She knew she could do nothing, but couldn’t bring herself to fully accept that and just wait. Fluttershy was sitting with her legs crossed, her attention swapping frequently between Applejack and the environment. She was almost like a filly trying to play two games at once. The pair of them were deeply worried, and understandably so: the planet had suddenly changed, becoming volcanic, and Rarity's ki was fading slowly. Fluttershy had done her best to stop the bleeding and the loss of air, by wrapping her bandana around Rarity's chest. They were able to guess how the battle was going by keeping track of Rainbow Dash and Omega's ki. They had felt Rainbow Dash drop out of the Super Pony form, then suddenly reactivate it. They had also felt Omega's ki drop like a rock from Cloudsdale, fully drawing their attention.

"She must be injured," Applejack said. "And badly too." Fluttershy's closed her eyes, appearing to be in deep concentration.

"Why hasn't Rainbow Dash finished her yet?" She sounded concerned, and with good reason too. Despite her kind nature, even she knew that mercy would be a bad choice in this situation. In the distance, the ground gave way randomly to reveal gaps of molten lava. Apart from the smoke created from every plant species being incinerated at one time, the scene was oddly picturesque in a way. Heavy thunderstorms had formed all across the sky, and lightning punctuated the monotonous glow of the magma with brilliant flashes of white light. There was a faint rustling sound that snapped the pair back to reality. It was Rarity! She was conscious, and trying to shift her weight. Fluttershy immediately scrambled to her feet and went over to her injured friend. She squatted quietly by her, and lightly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's me. No, no no no, don't - don't try and move too much. Just relax, stay down." Rarity heeded her friend's words of advice, and relaxed back onto the ground.

"Yeah, there you go," She wiped her eyes, as she felt tears begin to rise. She hated seeing her friends hurt; she was just happy that Rarity was alive, as was Applejack.

"You've lost quite a lot of blood, even though the wound’s cauterised. And that wound'll make it a lot harder to breathe, so save your strength. Please. We'll be fine. We'll be alright..." Fluttershy's voice dropped to a whisper. "We're gonna be alright Fluttershy... Calm down you idiot." Applejack watched the interaction carefully. As far as she was aware, Fluttershy was holding herself together pretty well. If two of her friends had died, possibly soon to be three, before Omega came, she'd be uncontrollably grieving and would have isolated herself for weeks. Either that, or she’d unfortunately had to get used to seeing that happen.

'Hello? Applejack? Fluttershy?' The voice shocked them both. Rarity had lost consciousness once more, but was still managing to breathe.

'No, it's my turn to speak.' The voice said in a playful tone. It cleared its throat quietly.

'Hello, both of you. This is Princess Luna.' Applejack responded first.

"Hold on... How?? How are you contacting us?! You're all the way back home. Right?" Luna chuckled to herself.

'Yes, yes, I'm still on Equis; this is possible due to a telepathic linking spell. We have something very important to tell you.' Applejack and Fluttershy paid attention, waiting. Lava spewed high into the air, nearer to them than anything yet.

'My sister and I are going to bring the three of you back home to Equis.' Fluttershy let those words hang in the air for a bit, before realising what was troubling her.

"Wait, what do you mean 'the three of you'? What about Rainbow Dash?!" Luna remained silent for a few seconds.

'Rainbow Dash has asked us to only bring you three back. She said she wants to finish Omega herself. She's not going to change her mind.' Fluttershy and Applejack had to let that idea sink in. Lots of opposing thoughts ran through their minds: Rainbow Dash was selfish for taking all the glory, but also selfless for probably sacrificing her own life. She was stupid for taking the challenge, but brave for protecting her friends.

'Are you ready? This spell will take a lot of magic, too much magic for even my sister and I. We'll only be able to do it once before we're both out of energy. You must all be in physical contact with one another'. Applejack and Fluttershy worked together to pick Rarity up, and held her up between them. They looked at each other and nodded.

"Ready." Applejack confirmed. There was no response. "Uh, hello? Princess Luna??" Suddenly everything was replaced with a bright light, and they were gone. The hill they had been on became lifeless and quiet once more.

Omega let out a guttural scream. She gritted her teeth so hard her gums bled again. Rainbow Dash was still trying to properly take in what had just happened. Omega had cut herself in half. It may have been accidental, but that changed nothing. She coughed up a large amount of blood, then screamed in agony. She struggled to look up and saw Rainbow Dash staring down at her. There was only rage in her eyes.

"I tried to warn you. You idiot." Rainbow Dash turned away, reignited her aura and prepared to leave. Omega's expression changed to one of terror, terror at the possibility of death.

"Wait! Wait!!" Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder. "You're... You're not just going to leave me here, are you?"

"Why should I help you?!" Omega hadn't thought that far ahead; she'd hoped that trying to guilt trip Rainbow Dash would have been enough.

"This is what you deserve." Rainbow Dash was yet to feel any remorse for her opponent. Omega had to speak slowly, breathing had begun to hurt.

"I know I've done... terrible things, some of which were to people you cared... about. I know you think my actions... were irredeemable, but I'm asking you, as... a warrior, let me live to... fight another day." Omega waited for a response, panicking the whole time, and struggling to breath. Rainbow Dash ran the proposition over in her head.

'She's pretty strong, right now she's the strongest. Yeah but she killed two of your friends.'

'I know, but I'm not gonna pass this up, I can't. There's always someone better... right now, that's her.' Rainbow Dash scolded herself internally, but could deal with that later. She turned around quickly and gave a small amount of her ki to Omega.

"Don't use it to hurt anyone else, or I will end you. That’s a promise." Omega was astonished that had even worked.

"But... But why? Why help me??" Rainbow Dash remained silent for a few seconds.

"Hopefully, on the small chance you change your ways... and somehow put yourself together again, I can fight you again at some point. That's it." Rainbow Dash flew up into the sky to put some distance between them. Omega managed to rise off the ground, and had to focus to keep everything where it needed to be. Some of the pain had eased now. She looked upwards at her opponent. She had been absolutely humiliated as far as she was concerned. She wouldn't accept it; she just couldn't. She clenched her fist in rage.

'Damn it. Screw you! You know what? I don't need your pity!!' Omega used all the ki she had, and fired a Nova Strike after Rainbow Dash. The magenta glow slowly grew in Rainbow Dash's peripheral vision and she pivoted to see what was causing it. She was only a little surprised to see the Nova Strike heading toward her. Her teeth gritted in an uncontrolled display of rage, and she pulled one hand back.

"Omega, YOU FOOL!!" She shouted as she fired a devastating ki beam down through the attack. The Nova Strike collapsed inward as the yellow ki beam advanced mercilessly towards Omega. Panic and terror became her only emotions in those last few seconds. She let out a genuinely terrified scream before the beam struck her. There was a loud flash of light, and suddenly silence, punctuated only by Rainbow Dash's heavy breathing. There was a massive hole in the ground beneath her, which magma began to flow into, and no body in sight. She relaxed her hand as she steadied her breathing - she hadn't really exerted herself with that last attack, it was just because of how full of rage she had been. She stared down into the hole, feeling a plethora of emotions at the result of the battle. One thing she felt, more than she thought she should, was sadness. For some reason, Rainbow Dash partly felt she was to blame for Omega's actions - after all, she had come from her, and she was never able to persuade Omega to change her ways. Rainbow Dash was adamant in her belief that everyone can be redeemed, which was why she never stopped trying to do so. Omega was her only shortcoming, and she felt a kind of responsibility. She was also angry with herself for her friends' deaths, and not killing Omega when she first had the chance. Rainbow Dash remembered the instructions she had been given to return home. She focused deeply, drowning out the sounds, the heat, the bruises. She could feel her own ki, but she needed to search further. There seemed to be a collection of powerful entities all grouped together on one planet. She couldn't recognise anyone from the immense distance, but it had to be her friends! The princesses too. Either that, or she'd have a lot of introductions to make. She heard an ear shattering crash nearby and felt an increase in light through her eyelids. She mustn't have had any more time; she decided the unknown group was her best bet, and followed Twilight's instructions exactly. She used all of the magic instantly. There was a distorted sound, and nothing. There was no life on Marinus Beta. The tectonic plates shattered and fragmented, and anything combustible that remained was disintegrated instantly. Finally, after one last release, the planet exploded with a flash that would be visible for days.

Author's Note

Sorry it took me so long - between A-Levels and work, balancing spare time between multiple hobbies is a challenge sometimes. Hope you enjoyed reading and you found it worth the wait.

Chapter 14: Reunited

Rainbow Dash appeared an inch or so off the ground. She didn't realise how fatigued and exhausted she was from her battle, her legs could barely hold her up once she touched the ground! She remained standing for a few seconds, then fell onto her back as she dropped out of Super Pony back into her base form. She vaguely recognised the ceiling she was staring up at, the eccentric murals on them. Her ears were still ringing significantly, so she didn't hear the voices calling for her. She laughed slightly, despite the pain, and closed her eyes to rest. She won, she did it; she was alive as were the rest of her friends, and that was good enough for her. She felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking her rapidly. Rainbow Dash didn't want to open her eyes again, she was tired, and everything was hurting. Still the shaking persisted, increased even. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes. She winced at first, but Rainbow Dash's eyes adjusted after a few seconds. The pony shaking her was Applejack. Fluttershy and Rarity were crowded around her too, as well as some medical staff who had begun working on Rainbow Dash almost immediately. The princesses were there too, observing from slightly further. Rainbow Dash was happy to see all her remaining friends were ok, especially Rarity. She sat up and hugged Applejack and Fluttershy, working through the pain.

"Rainbow Dash, darling, don't scare us like that again. I thought we were going to lose you too." Rarity said with a big grin across her face. Fluttershy was holding back tears, and Applejack let a few out too. Rainbow Dash managed to reply between taking laborious breaths; her throat was dry and raspy due to the volcanic fumes.

"You were pretty close too you know."

"The princesses told us y-you probably weren't gonna... make it." Fluttershy managed to stammer through her sentence before bursting into tears and hugging Rainbow Dash again. She yelped from the sharp pain in her shoulder.

"Hey, don't break me yet, I just got back." She jested. Fluttershy let go and apologised profusely, wiping her eyes. Rainbow Dash held out a hand, and the others helped her to her feet; Applejack and Fluttershy took her on their shoulders. They were directed to the Castle's medical suite, which Rainbow had seen before with Twilight. She was admitted immediately into an empty ward, and the medical staff were able to begin working properly once they got Rainbow Dash's friends to leave. They cut parts of her gi away and some started using healing magic. She was asked where she felt the most pain, which was around her torso. Her wounds were disinfected and bandaged, pain relief spells were applied to her injured areas, and she was left to heal naturally, while under round the clock care of course.

Over the next few months she had regular visits from her friends, the princesses, and at one point, even a unicorn who survived Omega's attack on Canterlot had come to leave her a gift, and properly thank her. However, after the first few months, the medical staff decided to restrict her visitation hours, and eventually stop them entirely, as all her excitement and energy would often end up being counterproductive for her recovery. Rainbow Dash spent about ten hours of the day asleep on average, as some of the healing spells required it. She still retained her massive appetite though. After two or so months she was able to get up and walk around normally, and even do a few exercises. Rainbow Dash had obtained many broken ribs, a fractured shoulder blade and a fractured collarbone during her battle with Omega; all the adrenaline going through her body must have stopped her from feeling any of it. Her ribs all took about twelve weeks to fully heal, her collarbone and shoulder blade required roughly four weeks altogether, and it took two weeks for her body to recover from the complete exhaustion. Rainbow Dash accidentally injured her leg whilst training and needed an extra three weeks to recover from that. The medical staff at Canterlot forced her to stay bedbound for another ten weeks as a precaution. Altogether, including her strength, it took Rainbow Dash's body just over a year to heal completely.

The sounds of nature filled her ears. Bushes rustled as small rodents ran through them, birds chirped their fanfare, and the wind blew quietly, calmly. She stepped out into the Royal Gardens, barefoot. Her toes felt the soft, almost carpet like grass settle around them, and the soft soil beneath. She walked slowly into the garden, paying equal attention to every aspect of her surroundings. A squirrel with a nut scurried away from her as she approached it, which bought a smile to her face with a light chuckle. The natural world never ceased to delight Rainbow Dash with its consistent randomness, and convoluted simplicity. It was always balanced, provided no external force was overbearing, and it was always at peace. She was happy she had returned to the peace and tranquillity she had known before, when she was just an ambitious and tenacious pegasus with a truly great circle of friends. When she thought about it, that's who she still was. Only differences between now and then being the immense increase in power, and the change in ambition. No longer was Rainbow Dash's dream to be a Wonderbolt, for it had become something more, something abstract, and technically unreachable; Rainbow Dash's only desire now was to be better than she was before, in any way possible. Improvement had no limit as far as she was concerned, and if there was even the tiniest bit of room for it, she'd give it a go. She took a deep breath and sighed. It was good to be home.

After a half hour or so, Rainbow Dash went back inside to her temporary accommodation. Today was her last day before she was checked out of the medical staff's care & supervision. Although she knew she'd needed to rest, she didn't enjoy being confined to a few rooms and a garden for the past year, and wanted more than anything to leave and see her friends properly again. She knew the dragon balls had been used a couple weeks ago, and that Rheagal had been able to grant all three wishes. Rainbow Dash suspected what they had been used for, but wanted to be sure. There was a knock on the door. She knew there was only one pony it could've been.

"Come in." She said. The doctor who had been checking up on her for the past year, Dr Lulla Bye came in through the door with a smile on her face.

"Morning Rainbow Dash. You're up early, well for you at least." Lulla Bye had a calming voice and piercing purple eyes. She had a platinum silver mane and tail, and ultramarine fur. She always examined her patients beyond their words. She had apparently left Canterlot's top University five years ago with a doctorate in medical sciences and a degree in clinical psychology. During the last year, Rainbow Dash and Lulla Bye had become something like... no, they truly were friends. They both trusted each other, confided in each other, and genuinely cared about one another.

"How are you feeling today? Anything out of place, or not feeling right?" She flipped through the pages on her clipboard, and levitated her quill at the ready. Rainbow Dash stretched briefly, throwing a few hits, then ignited her aura before dispersing it quickly. She smiled briefly and looked at Lulla Bye.

"I'm doing pretty good honestly, nothing feels too odd, all that sleep and few bits of exercise have paid off. Oh, and I've been eating pretty well too."

"No surprise there, knowing your appetite." She wrote quickly on her sheet of paper. "Your body has fully recovered, and you've reported that you've regained all your strength, including the supernatural portion." Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. She was distracted from her self-inspection by a sheet of paper being offered to her along with a quill. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, what's this for?" She asked before properly reading the paper. Her heart jumped as she read the words in large, bold writing: 'Conformation of Discharge'.

"It's a form assessing the risk of discharging you from our care. In my personal and professional opinion, I believe you to be physically and psychologically ready to leave; I've already approved it, along with two nurses. However, the final decision on this has to be yours. I mean, we can't just kick you out. That'd be wrong." Rainbow Dash scoffed at that last sentence. All she had to do was sign her name and she'd be able to go out into the world again, feel truly at home again... see her friends again. Her eyes teared up slightly as she smiled.

'They must have so much to tell me...' She was about to sign the form, but something was eating at the back of her mind.

"Will I be able to see you again? I really did enjoy my time here with you. Hopefully we can catch up later?" Dr Lulla Bye was surprised at this statement, she even blushed a bit.

"I'd love to keep in touch with you down the line but I'm a very busy mare, and my work comes first. If you wanna meet up in a couple weeks, there's a new cafe in Canterlot that I've wanted to try out. You’re ... welcome to join me. If you want to, of course." Rainbow Dash contemplated the idea briefly, then signed her name swiftly. She handed the clipboard and quill back, then hugged Lulla Bye tightly.

"Just let me know when you're available, there's no way I'll be late. Promise." Lulla Bye returned the embrace, accepting the proposal and the form, before Rainbow Dash went to quickly exit her old room.

"Goodbye Rainbow Dash, let's hope you don't end up back here too soon." Lulla Bye smiled and waved her friend farewell, but quickly became disheartened.

"Aren't you gonna say goodbye too?" Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped and turned around at the doorway.

"Nah, I don't really like 'goodbye', feels too final; that’s only for ponies I don't like, and you're definitely not in that bunch. See ya soon Lulla Bye, don't miss me too much." With that, the pair parted ways.

Rainbow Dash was quick on her toes, obviously excited. She could sense that all her friends were in one place, and had been for a while. They seemed to be at the Sugarcube Corner Bakery, not much of a surprise for the eager pegasus. She exited Canterot Castle and appreciated her surroundings for a bit. The sun was high in the sky, illuminating all that was in sight with its warmth. The summer breeze blew lightly, rustling the grass and trees nearby and birds sung cheerfully, creating a beautiful cacophony of life. The pollen in the air made Rainbow Dash's nose tingle. She was about to take off in the direction of Ponyville, before an idea struck her. She closed her eyes and focused, blocking out all the sounds and sensations around her. She concentrated on her breathing, her ki, and her friends' ki as well. She put two fingers to her forehead. She wanted to test if the teleportation she had been gifted would work with ki alone, or if it was just a one time thing. She stood silently in deep concentration for almost half a minute, then heard the same distorted sounds she did back when she escaped the exploding planet, and heard her surroundings change considerably. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to a small town, with a bustling weekend market selling fresh produce, a jewellery shop closed for lunch and the exterior of a cafe. Ponyville. At one of the tables she caught the gaze of five very familiar faces. She wasn't really surprised to see Fluttershy, Rarity or AJ, but she was no less delighted. She was knocked off balance by somepony tackling her. She looked down to see... Pinkie Pie hugging her tightly, refusing to let go. Rainbow Dash was paralysed momentarily by a plethora of emotions, she was almost too shocked to return Pinkie's embrace. She hugged the pink party animal properly, burying her face in her mane. Tears threatened to flow from Rainbow Dash's eyes. Pinkie broke the embrace with a huge smile on her face. Rainbow Dash smiled lightly after composing herself

"Hey Pinkie," She said between sniffles.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you. Hard to believe it's be- oh crap, it’s been a year since we last spoke! How's the living world been treating you?"

"Oh, it's great being back. Turns out you get a new body when you're resurrected, so the training I did in Otherworld carried over. Oh yeah, there's no food, none at all, you don't need to eat - I didn't get to eat any sort of food the whole time! So of course the first thing I did when I got back was eat until I couldn't move. Wasn't the best idea, but it was so worth it."

'Wow, I missed listening to you ramble like this...' Rainbow Dash felt her smile widen as Pinkie continued to talk to herself. She sat at the only vacant seat at the table; the five of them had been saving a seat anywhere they went for the past few weeks, just in case Rainbow Dash showed up. Her sheepish smile hadn't once left her face. She still fought back tears.

"Hey, it's alright, let it out if you need to." Rainbow Dash looked up at Twilight Sparkle, who sat almost opposite from her. A few tears finally rolled down her face. This was all 100% real, there were no tricks here - Twilight and Pinkie really were back.

"Believe me, I'm just as happy as you are." Twilight gave a loving smile along with a small, nearly unnoticeable giggle.

"It's been a while huh, everypony? So, come on what did I miss in the last few months? And don’t you even think about leaving anything out." Rainbow Dash wiped her eyes once more, before listening intently to her friends. More than anything, she was just happy to be around them like normal. The damage done to Canterlot after Omega's creation during her and Rainbow Dash's subsequent battle had almost been completely repaired. Fluttershy told her they had even started to rebuild Manehattan as well.

"How long did it take? They started rebuilding while we were training up on the gravity moon, right?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

"About 7, 8 months, right Rarity?" Applejack asked.

"That's right, but there's so much more left before everypony can live there again." Twilight mentioned that the Princesses gave a speech in Canterlot about the terror Omega had wrought, as well as informing the rest of Equestria about what had occurred the previous year.

Rainbow Dash sat at that table for hours catching up, reminiscing, joking, and laughing with all of her friends. She didn’t realise how welcoming normality could be.

'We did it. We won. Everypony's ok, Omega's dead... I almost can't believe it. I missed you guys. As long as I’m here with you all, nothing'll ruin my day. You mean the world to me, all of you.

'Wow, that was... a lot of sentimental stuff. Good thing I’m not talking aloud, that'd be kinda embarrassing. Anyways I’m starving, what should I eat?'

Celestia's sun shone radiantly high in the sky, casting its warm light onto all that it could. Although it was nearly midday, morning dew still clung to the grass and trees. Fluttershy floated about a foot off the ground, deep in meditation. The cool breeze tickled her fur, and made the grass sway quietly. Squirrels, birds and other creatures called to one another from the trees in which they lived. She was careful not to make any sudden movements as a squirrel had taken shade in her shadow, sleeping peacefully. It all helped to keep her focused and calm, the sounds of the forest animals and her own breath, the feeling of the sun on her fur, the— BOOM!! And then there was... that. Fluttershy sighed with mild annoyance, and opened her eyes. She rose in the air a bit and let her feet touch the ground, stretching a bit. The squirrel that was sleeping under her had been shocked awake and was shaking, clearly thinking about running. Fluttershy turned around and knelt in front of it.

"Hey little guy... it’s ok, it’s alright, you can go back to sleep," she offered it her finger, and stroked its head gently.

"I should probably check on them, right? You can stay or go if you like, I shouldn’t be too long." She walked slowly and quietly to not disturb the little rodent any further. She went in the direction which the loud crash came from

'I swear, I came here for peace and quiet, and a change of scenery. Why did I expect to get both when I let Rainbow Dash tag along? Oh well, at least they're having fun it sounds like.' Sweet Apple Acres was a lot greener this year; the trees bore more fruit than normal, and they were projected to lose their leaves a lot later in the year too. Fluttershy saw Apple Bloom up ahead, who had been collecting apples for most of the morning.

"Apple Bloom, sweetie, you look tired. You should probably rest a little, you've been doing this for hours now." The young filly looked up from her baskets and wiped her forehead.

"Trust me I'd love to but there's just too many; we've gotta use as many as we can or they'll just go to waste." Fluttershy commended her tenacity, briefly reminding her of her sister. Apple Bloom seemed to be a lot more motivated since she and the other crusaders earned their Cutie Marks. She always conducted herself with purpose, and tried her best to persevere regardless of setbacks. Fluttershy smiled compassionately, letting out a chuckle.

"Alright then, but please don't overwork yourself. And make sure you eat." She continued walking to the barn, the booming and crashing growing louder with each step. As she approached the large red barn, she saw Rainbow Dash hit the ground hard, digging up the soil around her. She quickly began brushing herself off and was ready to go in just a few seconds. But then something caught the corner of her eye. She turned quickly to look, and saw Fluttershy coming slowly towards her.

'Huh. I thought I saw something... else. Hmm, guess not.' Rainbow Dash ignored the confusion and greeted her friend.

"Hey Fluttershy, how come you've come over here? I thought you were meditating." Fluttershy laughed at that for some reason.

"Well I was, but I wanted to check you two were alright. You're pretty loud after all," She offered a hand to Rainbow Dash, and helped her up from the ground.

"Besides, I was doing that for a while already. I think I'll sit and watch you two now."

"Hey, feel free to join in after I mop the floor with her!" Fluttershy looked up, and saw Applejack hovering about five metres above the ground, breathing heavier than normal. Both of them were wearing their training gi. Rainbow Dash's was pretty much the same, except the orange gi was a slightly darker shade than the original. Applejack's new training clothes looked more similar to everypony else's now. She wore a dark turquoise gi with an orange belt and brown boots.

"Oh so you’re getting cocky now, huh? Don’t get comfortable yet AJ."

"Well then get back up here, you're taking your own sweet time." A smile spread across Rainbow Dash's face and she flew back up towards Applejack. They immediately continued their sparring, trading many blows with each other. Fluttershy went to sit by a tree, and leaned against it. Unfortunately, Twilight had been preoccupied with the Princesses, something about a Discordant cult causing trouble in Canterlot and the Everfree Forest. Why anypony would willingly spend their time there was beyond Fluttershy especially on a regular basis. Rarity had a deadline for a client's order to worry about as well, so she was next to impossible to convince. She wasn't able to find Pinkie for some reason, no matter where she looked, not even in the Sugarcube Corner Bakery. She would've asked them to come along too, but it would have to wait until another time. Fluttershy decided to focus on the sparring match she had ended up watching. Rainbow Dash seemed to have limited her power so it was a more even fight, and was not using the Super Pony form. She had tried to access the transformation again before, but it would still be a while until she could use it at will.

'They look like they're having fun, and if they're still up for it I might have a go after. For now though... I'm good here.' Fluttershy let out a deep sigh, relaxing her body. She felt a small weight on her lap, and looked down to see the squirrel preparing itself to sleep on her. She smiled, and stroked its fluffy tail.

'Aww, you followed me. Sorry I left you there earlier little guy, I got a little distracted. I'm not going anywhere, don't worry. Sleep well.'

The display faded to darkness as Ivory Rose got up from her seat. The tinted window panes did their best to shield her eyes from the brightness of the suns, but still allowed some through. She walked towards them and leaned on the ledge. She had been up since early morning, eager to continue her work from the day before. As she looked out over the industrial zone she saw there were others already flying about, some going to work, some leaving.

'Heh. Imagine having to leave home at this time. Almost feel sorry for you lot, flying around...' Ivory Rose slowly reached over her shoulder and touched her back lightly. She could almost feel them still.

Preparing expeditions and colonisations was always something she found exciting, but especially this one. There were a small number of highly anomalous power readings detected on the planet that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. On top of that, some of those readings were detected on Marinus Beta less than an hour before it was destroyed half a cycle ago. The target planet, apparently called Equis, had a dominant species that was practically identical to Shivoans, and had a similar population size to Shival Prime. The planet itself had a gravitational pull about ten percent that of Shival Prime, and had an orbital period matching two Shivoan cycles. Although Ivory Rose would normally just put together and supervise the colonisations, she felt it was necessary to go to this planet herself.

'I know it’s not customary, but we’re warriors first, expansionists second. There’s no way I’m gonna miss the chance to fight somepony strong enough to destroy a planet.'

Ivory Rose heard a ringtone coming from her display. She pulled herself from her imagination and made sure she was presentable. She sat back down and accepted the call. The voice of her superior greeted her.

"Good morning Ivory. I’m rather busy today so let’s get straight to the point; how far has your planning of the Equis colonisation come along?"

"Hello Moonshadow, sir. You’ll be happy to hear that I’ve essentially completed the plan. There’s just a few loose ends left to cover."

"Hmm. Good, very good," Moonshadow began.

"Given the nature of this planet and the problems you may encounter, your request to participate in this colonisation personally has been considered and approved." A smile of delight came to Ivory Rose's face. She cleared her throat and responded.

"I- wow... thank you sir. Honestly, it-"

"I’m not the one you should be thanking, it wasn’t up to me this time." Ivory Rose was taken aback at that notion. She did have an idea of who had granted her request, but didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

"Oh, ok then. May I ask... who did give me permission to go?" Moonshadow took a long pause, possibly thinking of a false response. He sighed heavily before answering.

"Prince Midnight Haze superseded my decision. We both know he’s always stuck his nose in this profession more than he should. At least in my opinion." Ivory laughed quietly and let Moonshadow talk. She couldn’t believe it. She had worked under the prince before, and considered herself to be quite close with him. And Moonshadow wasn’t wrong either, Midnight Haze had taken an interest in the expansion of the Shivoan Empire, specifically how it went on the ground, for easily a few years.

"And if you think that’s all he wants to do with this expedition you’d be mistaken. He wants to participate in it himself. You really can’t make this shit up. I mean, can you believe that? The Prince himself wants to attend a colonisation. If you ask me, his father gives him too much freedom." Ivory Rose remembered something she intended to ask her supervisor before.

"It’s not necessarily a bad thing, he’s probably the strongest pony on the planet," Ivory hesitated before continuing. "Umm... Moonshadow, I have one more small request regarding the Equis Colonisation..." She bounced her leg while she waited for a response, unable to stop it. Moonshadow sighed once more from exasperation.

"Go on..."

"Due to the high risk this planet poses to us, I would like to add somepony else to the group of elite soldiers we will be taking. A good friend of mine, who I met during my own time as an elite soldier. His name is Madcap. I thin-" Ivory Rose was cut off suddenly.

"Are you crazy? Assuming we’re talking about the same stallion, I heard he levelled an entire continent on one expedition because he was in a bad mood that day, and one of the locals dared to insulted him."

'Yeah, that sounds about right for him. Actually I think I was there on that one.'

"Now I know he sounds like a bit of a wildcard, but I assure you sir, he’ll coordinate himself with me just fine. We know each other, he’ll listen to me. Besides, whatever you’ve heard about Madcap is either the truth or an understatement." Ivory Rose knew it would take more to persuade Moonshadow.

"I was thinking we send him ahead on the colonisation by maybe one Equine cycle or so, so we leave when he gets there. He can scout it out for us, and if he encounters resistance or those anomalous power levels, he can deal with it before we get there. It’ll make the overall process a lot more... streamlined. It’s a win-win." Moonshadow was a stickler for efficiency, and liked things to be as simple as possible.

"Alright then. But since this is your suggestion, he will be your responsibility. You keep him in check, otherwise it’s your ass, not mine. The planet has a population similar to ours; if they’re willing to cooperate, then keep damage and loss of life to a minimum please."

"And what if they don’t sir?"

"Well then, thin down the population, make an example for the rest of them." Ivory Rose hoped the answer would be different, but such were the ways of the Shivoan Empire.

"Thank you sir. You won’t regret this, believe me."

"You better hope I don’t. Anyway, don’t let me stop you, get back to work. Have a good day." With that, Moonshadow ended the communication.

Ivory Rose sat back in her seat, dumbfounded. She smiled, and laughed from disbelief.

'Incredible. Not only do I get to join in again, but Madcap gets to go too. I should let him know now actually. And with the prince coming along as well there’s no doubt I’m gonna enjoy this. A yawn escaped Ivory Rose's mouth. She had hardly slept the night before, and didn’t realise how tired she was. She closed her eyes, and finally let herself sleep.

Author's Note

A little message to anyone who’s read this far: I really enjoyed writing this story, and knowing that even a few people read it motivated me to keep going; that includes deciding to rewrite the whole thing. I knew I could do better, and I’m much happier with the results. I will try my hand at a continuation, and hopefully I can stick to a more regular schedule next time. To the few who see this, I hope you enjoyed. Have a good day and stay safe. :eeyup: