Bits of concrete and dust cascade onto the ground as bullets collide with the wall. The drone of machinegun fire was accompanied by the hum of magic and fizzling of lasers as a group of ponies and one human took cover behind the ruined wall of an old clinic.
“Twilight! We need that shield now!” A brown maned unicorn shouted over the din of the battle.
“I just need a few more seconds!” Twilight called out as her horn glowed even brighter, until the power in her horn spiked. Her magic compressed and formed a massive shield around the group hidden behind the wall. With the shield up the weapons fire was pushed back and the sounds quieted a bit and the group was given a reprieve.
“Much better” Sarah said as she stood up and started firing back at the amassed group of misshapen monsters. Bolts of super-heated plasma gracefully passed through the shield from her augmented plasma caster. It wasn’t her preferred type of gun but you can’t really be picky when all of time and space depends on the success of your mission.
“I see the gem! Let’s smash it!” A giant purple alicorn shouted from outside the shield as she happily trampled the dark creatures. Smashing one of them, her hoof crushed it’s machine gun arm, human torso and imp legs all with ease.
“Not so fast Swan!” A giant purple and green dragon shouted before breathing flames onto a group of the mutant demons, setting them on fire before their internal ordinance exploded. “We need to deal with the shield around it first.”
“Pip,” Twilight shouted as they charged forward, “Can you rip the generators out using your telekinesis?”
The grey unicorn shouted back that she would try. As the shielded group of ponies advanced across the dusty wasteland they were flanked by their giant companions and as a whole cut began to cut a path towards the gem. Standing amidst a field of mutated monsters was a massive gem that glowed a vibrant yellow and atop the gem sat the greatest monster of all. Faze, he who sunders the universe, sits there in a mocking visage of Discord. The head of an Earth horse, the torso of an equestrian pony, cybernetic arms from stable 101, pair of mismatched synthetic wings and imp like legs.
“Looks like their master has saved us the trouble of finding him later,” Twilight called out as she pointed towards Faze with a hoof. She continued to feed the shield power as she drained the magic from the partial souls of the monsters they mowed down on their path to the gem.
“It won’t be easy Sparkle!” Sarah exclaimed as she hopped over the fallen corpse of a particularly nasty warrior. Several shots from her plasma caster burned through crowds of weaker minions. “He’ll be ready for us after last time.”
“I know! But we’ve gotten stronger and smarter too!” She called back as her shield began to spin and vibrate. The new rotation of the shield began to shred the mutated warriors, slicing them into ribbons. The modification doesn’t last long but helps clear the path, just as Faze lands in front of them.
“Fools” Faze screams, “You are no match for me!”
Before Faze could even move he was pummeled by four heavy hunks of machine, they were the generators from Faze’s shield array. They weren’t on top of him for long as he sent them flying in random directions, completely ruining them.
“You think pummeling me with junk will stop me!” He screamed and snapped his fingers causing bullets to start raining from the sky. To Swan and Spike they were nothing but it put a huge strain on Twilight’s shield, even managing to crack parts of it and piercing parts that were closer to the ground as the bullet rain continued. The others under the shield fired their weapons wildly at Faze but to no effect, even magical arrows and dragon’s fire weren’t able to hurt Faze, nor did they stop the bullet rain.
Cracks arced across Twilight’s shield as Faze punched and kicked Swan and Spike forcing them back. At this point Twilight was certain they were going to fail, until a beam of yellow light sliced into Faze. To everyone’s surprise it came from the gem which was cracking and falling apart, revealing their secret weapon Captain Skyla Windsong, aka Princess Flurryheart. Like all of them, from their own unique worlds, and with their own unique skills each enhanced under months of combat.
“Now!” Skyla screamed as her horn glowed from within the gem as she worked to shatter it from inside and out.
The bullet rain stopped and Twilight’s shield gave way to a glowing sword, embedded with the elements of harmony. Spike breathed fired into the sword as Swan grabbed the hilt, driving it forward with her magic. The sword pierced Faze’s chest as Twilight fried his arms, Sarah blasted his head with plasma bolts and Pip held him in place. Faze exploded into an array of pieces and colors which washed over the assembled ponies, turning the world white and then black as everything faded.
***
Twilight leapt out of bed and looked all over the place. She was terrified and yet she didn’t know why.She flung her doors open and took off quickly towards the map room, zooming by a sleepy Spike and a dazed Starlight before slamming open the map room’s doors. The map was there, just as it should and with no cutie marks hovering over it either.
“Just a dream,” Twilight whispered to herself, “Just a really, really bad dream that I can’t remember.”
“Twilight, what’s wrong?” Spike asked as he and Starlight stood in the doorway, looking at the mare stood in front of the map.
“I thought something really bad had happened. A dream that I can’t remember anything from and yet somehow it was real. Not just a dream but it really happened and it was horrible.” Twilight said, as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Twilight you’re crying,” Spike said as he rushed over to hug her.
“Don’t be silly Spike, I’m not crying,” She put her hoof to her cheek and was surprised to find it wet, “W-what? I’m really crying, but I’m not sure why… no it feels like I’ve lost some friends but I don’t remember them.”
“Let’s just shelve this away for later,” Spike said, “Come on we all need some sleep. I’ll stay with you tonight Twilight. Like you use to for me.”
“Thanks Spike,” Twilight said wiping her eyes dry. As they walked back to her room where they slept peacefully for the rest of the night.
