Forgotten Legacy

We galloped across the plain, quickly approaching the overlook. As we neared, several more of the risen ponies made to stop us, but a quick outburst of song from the Sirens and the unicorns among us either made them lie down peacefully or - in the case of two undead Unicorns powering spells - explode violently. I winced as bits bounced off my armor, missing my stetson something fierce. It's weight and shade were comforting to me, but it had been knocked from my head sometime during the last offensive and I hadn’t had time to retrieve it.

It was just us, the Element Bearers from both sides of the mirror and the Sirens. I glanced over at Rainbow Dash, a pang of worry cropping up. I knew she’d back me up just as sure as Jackie would, but that didn’t mean I could stop the worry. Jackie’s red mane flickered into my vision, reminding me of her vow to stick with me, Apples to the end.

Sunset and both Twilights were flying in the lead, shielding us from incoming magic bolts. I remembered Sunshine being carried into the infirmary, a huge, bleeding gash along her side. I was surprised to see her join us out on the field so soon again, but all things being equal, I’d seen stranger things.

When we crested the hill, we saw Sorla standing with a pair of undead who looked decidedly less than friendly. They had spikes sticking out from multiple surfaces and the red of their eyes glowed with the sheen of fire, small wisps of smoke rising from their bodies.

“Demonspawn,” Twilight spat. “I’m surprised even you would resort to calling those.”

The Unicorn sneered. “You have no room to talk,” she gritted. “I know of who your three friends there are. I thought the last were banished long ago.” She glared at the Sirens. “Your songs will have no effect on my personal guard, though perhaps a funeral dirge would be appropriate. After all, you have taken the strongest of your army and brought it here, leaving them open for the flanking attack I have just ordered.”

The two demon ponies stepped forward, the snow melting around their feet. Sunset and Sunshine landed, wings spread in an aggressive manner while Twilight settled down behind them, eyes narrowed.

“Dash,” she said. “You and Shot get warning to the vanguard. You’re the fastest way we have right now.”

The two Pegasi turned to wing their way off when Sorla stamped her hooves down, horn flaring brightly as a hemispherical dome of ice appeared, trapping us inside. Dash couldn’t quite pull away in time and rebounded from the wall, landing dazed by my hooves.

I knelt down in front of her, brushing her mane from her face as she blinked and shook her head. I smiled as I heard magic start to be exchanged.

“You’ve landed hardern’ that,” I said. “Sure yer not just lookin’ to take a nap?”

She smiled dazedly and reached up to boop me on the nose, just as I had done shortly before she kissed me for the first time. “Just a short one,” she said, rolling back to her hooves. “Been a long day, after all.”

I turned to see our friends not just fighting the two demons that had been there when we arrived, but a handful more risen ponies that had appeared. I winced as Diane grabbed a small chunk of ice from the ground and threw it, the shard of ice exploding as it struck her target. I was a little uneasy being that close to a Pinkie that could make things explode. Dash nudged me in the ribs as Jackie came over to me, a grin on her face.

“One last charge?” the red-maned pony asked, holding her hoof out.

I bumped mine against it. “Lets go,” I said.

Dash grinned. “Go get em, sugar cube,” she said, darting off to run interference with Hot Shot against a few skeletal Pegasi.

Our friends were locked in combat, but Sorla was slowly edging her way back towards her tent. I pawed the ground for a second, making sure that I had good traction as I bore down and charged, shouldering one of the demons aside as I did.

Sorla was mine.

I saw AJ dart off as I turned to buck the demon that had squared off with me in the jaw. My wing twitched as I connected, feeling like I had just kicked a concrete wall. I stumbled forward, my red mane falling into my face as I turned and threw up a shield to block the slashing attack made in return.

What is she doing? Sunshine thought at me as she fired a bolt of force into the face of our opponent.

Evening the score, I said, charging up a complex spell. Payback for the specters.

Sunshine threw up a shield as I continued to power the spell. Should we duck? she asked as the glow began to expand past my horn and encompass my body as well.

Might not be a bad idea, I replied. I never thought I’d cast this thing.

Twilight turned and saw the spell.

“Are you crazy?” she shouted as she came over to me.

“Just a little,” I said, holding the spell to let the natural resonance build the power beyond what I could conjure on my own. “But trust me!”

Twilight gave me a look that screamed You’re bucking mad! and started backing away, taking the legs off of another risen as she did.

Sunshine nuzzled me roughly, the mana trickling off me making her mane stand on end for a moment. Don’t break your promise, she sent with a stern look before falling back herself.

I turned to face the demons, and they howled as they lit their horns as well, black waves of magic flowing in towards me.

I grinned and released the spell, the mana swirling away from me in a vortex that captured their attack and curved it around back towards them.

“Eat that,” I said as I watched their own magic spell consume them, then stumbled as mana exhaustion hit me. That rebound spell took a lot out of me.

Just before I blacked out, I saw AJ’s hoof collide with Sorla’s jaw.

The way it felt when my hoof cracked into her jaw was satisfying in a way that had no reason to feel that good. She stumbled backward, blood trickling from a split in her lip. She looked shocked.

“What’s the matter, cupcake?” I sneered. “Can’t take a hit?”

She climbed to her feet and stared at me in rage. “How dare you?” she seethed.

“How dare Ah?” I asked, circling around, looking for another opening. “You attacked one o’ mah friends, endangered folk, and used mah dead Mom and Dad against me!” I glared at her, tensing to spring forward. “The moon is too good fer the likes’o you.”

She smirked. “So, that’s all?” she chuckled before spitting some blood out on the snow. “If that’s all it took, I should have tried sooner.”

The sky started turning dark, storm clouds rolling in and thunder crackling in the distance.

Her horn glowed with an eerie dark purple sheen, and I suddenly couldn’t move, yanked forcibly into the air. I heard the shouts of surprise and turning my head I could see my friends in a similar spot, Pinkie actually flailing her legs about trying to right herself from the prone position she had been in when the spell took effect.

“You want to see true suffering?” Sorla sneered as she came up and got in my face. “Real reckoning for wrongs done?” Her eyes shone with anger and indignation. “I’ll show you the apocalypse, little pony.”

A wooden chest floated out, settling before her. It was engraved with countless runes and magic circles. She opened it and a curved, red and black horn floated out, jagged at the bottom.

I heard Twilight curse behind me.

“It seems fitting that I should use this to destroy you,” she said, the horn hovering in front of her as though she were contemplating a ripe apple. “Since you destroyed him when you stripped him of his horn.”

“Sorla,” Twilight said. “Don’t be a fool! Nopony knows what happens if you fuse another Unicorn’s horn to your own!”

“True,” she said, tilting her head to accede the princesses point. “But there’s only one way to find out.”

And she settled the horn over her own, the purple aura surrounding her horn moving to encompass her entirety. Her laughter grew deeper and began to echo in on itself.

“Oh, horseapples,” I heard Aria whisper.

The glow faded, and Sorla stood there, her father’s horn now fused with hers, spiral grooves circling out from where her horn ended. She was also larger, taller than Celestia and broader that Gleam Star. Her eyes glimmered with barely contained magic and her teeth were sharp as a timberwolf’s.

“Now,” she said, her voice reminding me of Nightmare Moon's. “Shall I give you despair?”

All the risen ponies that had been milling around disintegrated suddenly, the mana that animated them flowing into Sorla. Black crystal towers burst from the ground all around us, glimmering with mana and the faces screaming inside the glittering crystals.

I looked around as lightning flashed.

In the wake of the lightning, another, different light flashed, and I found myself floating in a white field. Slowly, each of my friends joined me.

Sunset stood there, hazy and indistinct.

“I can’t maintain this link long,” she said. “I’m really low on mana. We’ve got one chance, and we have to get the horn off of her.”

“Not to criticize, darling,” Rarity spoke. “But she does seem to have us immobilized.”

“Ya mean trussed up tighter’n a runaway hog,” Jackie said. “Ah can barely twitch mah tail.”

Sunshine smiled. “We don’t need to move,” she said, and raised a hoof to her Element.

Light flowed out, connecting her to her friends, and then a beam of golden light shot from each of them to their counterparts. I felt the beam strike just below where my neck met my barrel, and I felt a solid weight appear, a very familiar weight.

I looked down to see the apple-shaped ruby gem of the Element of Honesty.

“Well, this is a welcome surprise,” Twilight said as her crown appeared, the lavender gem inset once again.

“Think you can remember how to use it?” Sunset smirked.

“I think so.”

The light faded, and I dropped to the ground, suddenly released from the telekinetic grip. We had been separated from each other, I was surrounded by my friends from this side of the portal.

Sorla frowned. “What…”

A rainbow beam shot out from our friends from across the mirror. I focused on the Element around my neck and it powered up, synching with the other Elements and firing out as well.

I saw Sunset, Sunshine, and Twilight floating in the center of the group. Their elements glowed but hadn’t fired yet.Their wings spread and their eyes flared with magic, and two lavender beams shot out, joined by a red bolt, acting as the joint line of the two mirrored rainbows.

Never seen the red bolt before, I thought. Makes sense, though. Rainbows got red in em.

The combined rainbows wrapped around Sorla, and she writhed in its grip. I saw hairline cracks appear on her horn, light shining within. It suddenly shattered and she cried out in pain as she collapsed. The power from the Elements shot out and burst into the crystal towers, breaking them down and releasing a wash of mana that burst forth like water from a damn.

The Elements died, mine vanishing in a glimmer. I felt a momentary pang of loss as it went, my hoof coming to rest where it had laid. I felt a hoof rest on my shoulder, looking over as Dash rub my shoulder, a wing coming over to embrace me. Her face showed the same look I'm sure was on mine.

Sorla stumbled to her hooves, a cut just above her left eye streaming blood down her face. She snarled and a scroll flew out from under her cracked and bent barding, unrolling and landing before her. I tensed as a crystal flew out and landed in the center, flashing as it connected to the scroll.

“I’ve had enough of this,” She snarled, lighting her horn and placing a hoof on the scroll. I tensed as I prepared to dodge whatever came out, but the blue light suddenly flashed red, reaching up and latching onto her horn, a look of fear grabbing her.

“No,” she growled. “No, this shouldn’t happen!”

“What’s happening?” I asked as more as more red arcs of light reached up to grab at her.

Sunshine looked with a sad look. “Thaumaturgic spells prioritize live mana over stored,” she said. “Whatever spell she just tried to cast, it’s consuming her mana to power it.”

Twilight nodded. “And from the looks of it, she doesn’t have enough left to do so.”

The mana crystal shattered in a flare of red light, and the exposed fur on Sorla’s coat started to smoke, sections curling and singeing right down to expose the skin. She was screaming in pain.

I watched with a glare. This was what she deserved. She deserved pain for what she had done.

Does she, really? a voice asked in my head.

“Aw, applesauce,” I muttered before rushing forward.

She was now wreathed in the red light of the spell, writhing and screaming still. I spun as I approached and bucked her hard in the face.

Red light exploded, flinging me away in the force of the blast.

I remember rain starting to fall as darkness closed around me.

“Rain?” I murmured. “Shouldn’t it be snow?”

Unconciousness claimed me.