Sundownby SilverQuyllChaptersPrologue: Bad WheatChapter 1: BenchChapter 3: BellChapter 2: I'm SorryPrologue: Bad WheatHe was running, but he wasn't really sure why. It wasn't raining, but he still felt the sensation of something coming down on him. All around him, he could sense hostility, danger...the sky was an unnaturally natural shade of orange, without a cloud in the sky. None of this was particularly terrifying, however. At least, not for a stallion like him. The lack of sound, though, was another story. Not a bird chirping, not a leaf whistling, not a single gust of wind. Even this, though, wasn't impossible...but his lack of hoofbeats was. He could glance down and see them - his huge, sturdy hooves smashing into the mud as he ran down the seemingly endless trail. But he couldn't hear them. It was as if he was deaf, and couldn't hear a thing. It was because of this unnatural silence that the inequine whispering caught him so off-balance that he fell down into the dirt. Without a sound, he crashed into the earth below him, dirt and mud kicked up around his hulking body without a trace of auditory stimulation. But the whispers continued. He could hear his name, as well as every fear he ever had, seemingly at the same time, a thousand times on loop. Now cowering on the ground, he unleashed what he hoped to be a scream, but as he feared, no voice came out. The whispers became louder and louder, now bellowing in his ears, even though they still carried the tone of a whisper. He began to cry, before sobbing outright, at his pathetic attempt to console himself in this situation. He closed his eyes, and resigned himself to the whispers, which seemed to grow and grow to a near infinite volume, before suddenly cutting off completely. The stallion stayed curled up, with his eyes closed, still weeping, for nearly a whole minute. The silence persisted. In its place, a low hum began to creep its way into his ears. It wasn't a vocal hum, but not a mechanical one either - it sounded completely unnatural, like something that couldn't be replicated. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and saw the feet of another pony. Immediately relieved to not be alone, he shot up in excitement, ready to greet whoever was in front of him. The other pony was not so excited, staring directly at the stallion with a blank expression, unmoving, her eyes fixed directly on him. At least, they probably were. It was hard to tell without the pupils. The stallion froze in a mixture of fear and sorrow as he stared at the pure white voids on the emotionless mare in front of him, before realizing that she was not alone - several other ponies stood, circling the stallion, all with the same emotionless, iris-less stare. He recognized some. He didn't recognize others. None of that mattered, though, because none of them felt like themselves. The hum continued, as the stallion started to walk backwards, trying to find an escape. He might have found it, had his attention not been drawn to the wheat left of the ground. The wheat was a sickly brown and green color. Left to rot on the ground. Who did this? Who ruined the wheat harvest? The stallion was overcome with these questions. As he was drawn, unnaturally, to the innocuous wheat, he began to see things - terrible things - things that may happen to him in the future. The wheat was ruined. Who did this? Who ruined the wheat harvest? The hum suddenly cut off. The stallion, in shock, turned around his head in the silence, only to find himself face to face with one of the white-eyed mares, who happened to take the form of his sister. She suddenly opened her mouth, and at the top of her lungs, she screamed. Big Macintosh suddenly woke up in a sweat. It took several deep breaths and a look around his room, with its cold, natural colors, to realize that he was back in reality. Starting to calm down, he looked to his side, and saw his wife slowly wake up. "Honey, what's the matter?" asked Sugar Belle groggily. "I....I had a nightmare," stated Mac, still getting his grip on reality. "The wheat harvest was bad." Sugar Belle giggled. "Leave it to you and your family to consider dreams about bad crops nightmares." Big Mac huffed. "No, that wasn't all. It was...real scary. There were all these white-eyed ponies, and I couldn't hear a sound." "Don't be ridiculous. Nopony is supposed to have nightmares. I haven't had one since I was a foal, and Princess Luna was still in the moon." "I'm tellin' you, I had one!" "Well maybe you woke up a little too soon for it to be taken care of. There's only one Luna, you know." "Why in tarnation do you not believe me? You NEVER believe me anymore. Like that time I told you I bought the-" "You DIDN'T BUY the grapes! I know you told me you bought them, but I KNOW YOU DIDN'T! You do this a lot, you know. You'll try and cover up your mistakes, like me not knowing you made a mistake is a better solution to your problems than just letting me accept them!" "But I'm TELLING YOU, this time, I DID have a nightmare! Why would I lie about that?" "Celestia knows, Mac! But-" "I had a nightmare, too." The third voice took the couple by surprise. Big Mac turned to the source of the voice to find, unsurprisingly, his son, Big Sugar, standing in the doorway with tears in his eyes. "It was really, really, scary..." Sugar Belle, now a bit perplexed, scooted over a bit on the bed, making a nice, snuggly space. "Well, why don't you come and tell us about it, dear?" she asked sweetly. "Eeyup," agreed Big Mac. In Canterlot, Gallus flew briskly through the halls, with a strange mix of urgency and apathy. I mean, its not like there would be a real problem, right? Problems don't happen much anymore. Not after Grogar's defeat at the hands of what was now known as the Legendary Seven. He landed in front of Luna's door, and slowly pushed it open. The princess lay neatly on her bed. Gallus couldn't see her face. Chapter 1: Bench"And the greatest spell you'll know... ...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!" "And the greatest spell you'll know... ...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!" "And the greatest spell you'll know... ...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!" The stupid, low density, camrip quality rendition of the song sung by her friends in Equestria at the end of "Era 2" played on loop over Sunset Shimmer's cheap-ass alarm clock, signaling the start of her pathetic day. She heard the song at least four hundred times a week - it was practically the national anthem at this point. She yawned and stretched her arms, looking around the pure white futuristic room, as if expecting something to have actually changed. Disappointed in this impossible notion not being a reality, she clapped her hands. Immediately, her magic room activated. The wall to her immediate left slid open, to reveal her view from her penthouse apartment in the middle of the busting city of New Equestria. Flying cars with magical glows soared past her window. "Good morning, Sunset Shimmer!" called out a voice indistinguishable from that of Twilight Sparkle. The tone at which her name was spoken sounded like some cheap AI software that was just learning voice recognition. The actual level of magical technology was far above this kind of tomfoolery, but Sunset knew that Duke Twilight set her up in this stupid room for "irony". The alarm ABSOLUTELY had to do with that, too. Ever since Twilight married Timber and became the ruler of the country, she had been treating her like some kind of weird playmate, "trolling" her, as she liked to call it, in various aspects of her otherwise mundane life. It was like something had changed in Twilight's mind, and Sunset was now just a lowly sidenote in her otherwise busy life. Sure, Twilight set her up in the most luxurious, automated apartment complex in the country, at the heart of the city, and tried to keep her entertained with the "trolling", but she never had any time to actually hang out with the one she used to call a friend. Sunset continued to move slowly towards her shower. It wasn't like she had anything to do today. She never had anything to do any of the days. Twilight made sure of that. She had even extracted her magic power of being able to sense the inner feelings of those around her out, and given it to....Wallflower Blush? Okay? Duke Twilight claimed it was so that Sunset would never have to deal with the thought of having to help someone every again. Thanks Twilight, she thought. Wouldn't want my life to be too interesting, now would we. As she turned to face her bathroom mirror, she was greeted with what would, normally, be a frightening sight - a head full of bed hair! Her brilliant red and yellow hair stretched in all crazy directions, giving new meaning to the phrase, "bad hair day". Except she knew it wasn't real. Sure enough, after just a few moments, a tiny image of a cartoon Twilight danced in the corner of her mirror as what sounded like some sort of carnival music played in the same horrible quality as her alarm clock. "Gotcha!" came Twilight's voice again. "It looks like I got you this time, Sunset Shimmer!" "You didn't", replied Sunset blankly. "I'm sorry," cooed the Twilight voice innocently. "I do not understand the following phrase:" "You didn't", the voice clip Sunset just spoke, played over the intercom, but with audio compression that would have been considered low quality fourty years ago. In fact, the speech was so barely audible and muffled that Sunset only recognized it as her own due to the unrecognizable monotone. "Please try again!" finished the voice. Sunset knew it was complete baloney, that it understood perfectly what she said, and that it was playing up some more stupid AI irony. She played along though, because she knew that the sooner this stupid thing got bored, the sooner she could leave. "You. Did. Not. Surprise. Me." she stated clearly, stepping into the shower and closing the door. At least this part was safe from the cameras, though knowing Twilight, she probably put one in the drain pipe or something. "I understand completely!" bellowed the Ai. "Setting water temperature to: negative seven! After Sunset finished screaming while trying to open up a shower door that was mysteriously stuck for about five minutes, she was ready to start her day. Out of Twilight's Funhouse she walked, into the hallway of fresh pine smells and other tells of a futuristic society that never fell. As she exited the elevator, passed through the lobby, and exited to the bustling street, she reflected on the city of New Equestria. New Equestria was the capital city of Thanvion, which was the name given to the human equivalent to Equestria after the two worlds economy became linked. Sunset thought back to simpler times, when only her and a handful of others would traverse the worlds...but as time went on, more and more became curious, and eventually, Equestria opened itself up to tourism - Thanvion was not far behind, as, just as expected, ponies wished to know what life was like without hooves. The main portal was moved from Canterlot High to a more secure location, with a vetting process and other amenities. Duke Twilight made sure to include a little statue of Sunset there, for some reason, but "little" in this case means something so small it can only be seen with a microscope. Literally. Part of the entrance process to Thanvion includes staring through a microscope at a tiny statue of Sunset in a goofy pose, hanging out with some goddamn dust mites. The growing alliance between Thanvion and Equestria grew only stronger when the two were forced to unite to stop an ancient evil, Grogar, who threatened to destroy them both. It was a pretty old story by now, but Sunset remembered it as the last time she ever traveled to Equestria - to help defeat Grogar. Sunset crossed over a bridge, towards a lake - her favorite spot to relax. Images of Duke Twilight and her "Dude", Timber, shined high in the sky, projected on every surface, grinning and waving. Timber always had a curious expression in these live feeds. Sunset chuckled to herself as she thought of her favorite way to describe it to others - "it looks like the kind of face you make when you sign up for a petsitting job because you love pets, but when you get there, you realize that there are no pets, and it was a babysitting job all along." The day was honestly perfect. The weather was great, and all around, everything seemed to be going just swell. Sunset arrived at her favorite lake, approached her favorite bench, and took her favorite seat. She sat there in silence, enjoying the breeze, and the distant sounds of the city. She thought about her life, her adventures...her time at Canterlot High, her time with the ones she used to call her "friends". She remembered when life was fun, and when it seemed like they would always be fighting the next evil girl to get her hands on Equestrian Magic. She lost herself in these memories, thinking back even to the final battle against Grogar, and how great it was to have a purpose. She was so lost, that Twilight's voice almost didn't take her out of the moment. "Sunset?" the too-familiar voice called. Sunset didn't process it at first. She was so used to having this voice hammered in her ear every day as a joke that hearing it for real seemed downright alien. Thankfully, the voice called out again. "S...Sunset? Do you...remember me?" Confused at that last part, Sunset slowly turned around. Standing before her was a grown woman, who looked exactly like Duke Twilight, but...different. Simpler hair, simpler clothes....Sunset recognized her almost immediately as Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. In an almost overjoyed state, Sunset leaped from the bench and embraced Twilight. "Of...of course I remember you, silly! It's been years!" "Yeah...I'm sorry about that. As the current ruler of Equestria, 'free time' isn't exactly in my strongest suit anymore..." "It's okay. I'm just...so glad to see you." "Why's that? Don't you still see me around...if you know what I mean?" "Too much. The Duke of Thanvion, as she calls herself, has gone out of her way to make SURE that she remains a part of my life...despite having nothing to do with it." Sunset sighed, and sat back down at the bench, slightly defeated. "I guess things are fine with you and your friends, right?" Twilight, with a resigned look, took her seat next to Sunset, ignoring the latter question and addressing the former. "What exactly do you mean? What has this Twilight done?" As if on cue, a voice boomed through the heavens. "GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE! IT IS I, YOUR GRACIOUS RULER, DUKE TWILIGHT SPARKLE OF THANVION! In today's forecast, we've got...SUN! ALL SUN! I made sure to get rid of ALL THE RAINCLOUDS! Because as you know, today is a VERY SPECIAL DAY....THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S JUNIPER MONTAGE'S BIRTHDAY!" On one of the idiotic sky projections, a shaky camera began to focus on an unsuspecting woman - unrecognizable to Sunset, but it was probably Juniper Montage. Duke Twilight came into frame, giggling, before creeping over to Juniper and screaming, "SURPRISE!!!", as about fifteen trumpet players surrounded the poor woman, and hundreds of screaming fans made themselves known. Twilight stared at the image in the sky with a completely blank expression. "I think I get it now," she stated. Sunset looked back over the ocean. "You know, Twilight, a part of me wishes I didn't stay here." "Why did you?" asked Twilight, tilting her head. "Because I thought that it was part of my journey to stay here, in the life I built for myself. I thought that was important. I thought it meant something. But honestly, ever since Grogar...I've been wanting to see what it's like again. It's just never felt like the right time." Twilight took a deep breath. "Well, now might be the right time." Sunset turned to her, her hands gripping the bench a bit more. "Why's that?" "Luna can't watch over dreams anymore," said Twilight, matter-of-factly. "We need somepony who can." Sunset stared at Twilight, weighing her options. Chapter 3: BellMountains shook, waves crashed against the shore, and the wind howled. Gabby, the plucky medic Griffon, soared to her next target as a deafening roar bellowed through the canyon. With a cursory glance, Gabby took notice of the absolutely massive blue ram-like creature that towered over the skyline - the returned king of monsters, Grogar. Having absorbed several of Equestria's most powerful artifacts, as well as consuming the souls of the failed villains Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow, in addition to the soul of the longstanding ally to the ponies, Discord, he had grown to an absolutely gargantuan size, dwarfing the aforementioned Tirek nearly tenfold. Thankfully, she thought, at this size, he was far too large to pay attention to a simple medic like herself. Gabby finally found the source of the cry for help - Lightning Dust, pegasus soldier, was downed with a cut wing. She landed as quickly as she could. "H...hey, Lightning Dust! Hold still, I've got you," comforted Gabby, quickly removing bandages from her bag. "Hurry up already!" complained Lightning Dust. "I'm NOT letting everyone else finish this without me!" While this kind of comment would normally annoy Gabby, this situation was too dire to be arguing. Grogar had to be stopped. She worked quickly and silently, patching up the wing. Without even a "thank you", Lightning Dust blasted off into the sky as soon as she felt she was able. Gabby shot her neck up to follow the magnificent sight. As if on cinematic cue, a massive rainbow explosion lit up the sky as a tiny blue spec that could only be Rainbow Dash performed a Sonic Rainboom, launching herself directly at Grogar's chest, staggering him a bit, eliciting another mighty roar. Four beams of light, presumably from the four alicorn princesses, suddenly materialized from different directions, focused on Grogar's head. However, he seemed to be only mildly inconvenienced by this, lowering his head and swinging his massive horns, knocking several more pegasi and other creatures out of the sky. Gabby hoped Spike was ok. "GABBY!" shouted a familiar, stuffy voice. Gabby turned to see fellow medic, Plaid Stripes, dashing across the heavy terrain as best she could. "They need us back at the castle! QUICK!!!!" Gabby didn't bother watching Plaid Stripes struggle the uneven ground anymore. The buck toothed earth pony soon found herself whisked off the ground by Gabby's strong claws, flying as quickly as she could to the castle. Gabby huffed a bit - it was a bit more weight than she had expected - but she wasn't just going to leave Plaid Stripes there and go slow. Normally, a commoner like Plaid wouldn't be helping in such an operation, but Grorgar's threat was so widespread that literally everycreature had to do their part. Again, as if on cue, a Storm Guard leapt from a nearby rock, cementing itself in Gabby's path, eyes growing a sickly blue and greenish color. She immediately panicked - the Storm Guards, while docile after the Storm King's defeat, were easily persuaded and controlled by Grogar, becoming his own minions, as well as gaining power they never had dreamed of before. She wasn't exactly a good fighter, but even if she was, she couldn't do much with her claws full of... Plaid Stripes, without a hint of fear, immediately threw out her hoof, part of her ridiculous spoon clothing flying off in the process. This incredible spoon managed to hit its mark perfectly, knocking the minion with enough force between the eyes to cause it to trip backwards, into a nearby ravine - the bottom of which was too dark to see. "We have to keep going!" shouted Plaid, predicting Gabby's apathy. "I'm sure he's fine, okay? We don't have time to worry about everycreature!" Having been read like an open book, Gabby sighed, continuing her flight without losing speed. "I wasn't going to stop, okay?" she grunted, not sure if she was trying to convince Plaid, or herself. "I just don't like the idea of HURTING anycreature." "Oh yeah?" retorted the pony rather quickly, sudden emotions spurred on by what she, and everyone around her, had lost. "You gonna say that even after what Grogar did to Grandpa Gruff?" It was only about a second before Plaid Stripes hit the ground face first, as if Gabby had released her grip the instant the words left her mouth. Furious, the griffon forcefully crashed into the ground, feet first, before turning around to face her friend with a look of absolute fury. The image came to her briefly, for only a split second - Grandpa Gruff, belly up, with a leg pointing a direction legs aren't meant to point...despite her earlier cool dealing with lightning dust, she found herself unable to control herself, squinting at the now terrified pony, and grumbled two words. "Shut. Up." Plaid Stripes groaned as she got her bearings. "S...Sorry. We've gotta go...we're losing time. I'll just...shut up, okay?" Shining Armor, now an aging stallion, had taken back over his previous post as captain of the royal guard, in the stead of its new captain, Gallus, who was needed on the front lines of battle. A cough came forth from his mouth as he stood guard, waiting for news from the medic he had sent off... The cough had just barely left his mouth when he noticed the shape of Gabby materialize on the horizon, flapping as hard as she could, carrying poor Plaid Stripes, who stared off to the side solemnly as the breeze blew her mane around a bit. Shining Armor immediately got up from his sitting position, waving Gabby down, triggering another sickly cough. Gabby didn't wait for any sort of verbal cue, gently setting Plaid down on the ramparts, before approaching Shining herself and landing gracefully. Plaid kicked the ground a bit, essentially waiting in the background, unsure if she was wanted, or even needed. "I came as quickly as I could," stated Gabby, showing her respect to the former captain. "What did you need?" Shining opened his mouth to respond, but once again coughed. Gabby continued to stoically and respectfully await a response, showing no signs of annoyance. "You need to get a message...." he managed to weakly say, "to my sister." The door opened behind Plaid Stripes. Gabby turned, and saw a pony she had never seen before. The air suddenly became much warmer. "Yona!!!!!" Sandbar shouted his wife's name in dismay as she saw her crash backwards through several tress. The resilient yak had taken nearly the full force of Grogar's massive hoof, but unlike her comrades, was still getting up for more. "Yona FINE, Sandbar!" she grunted, regaining her footing. "Stay on canon!" Sandbar gulped, and turned back to his canon, taking aim at the massive ram again, as if it was possible to miss something that took up 80% of your periphery. Yona charged past, away from him, back into the fray. He wished she wouldn't do that. "Come on, friend, focus now," said Capper, manning the canon directly next to him. The tall, slick cat had arrived to help out of almost nowhere, Sandbar recalled, when Grogar started becoming a real threat. He had been a major asset so far. "You've got quite a fine missus, but you gotta quit worryin'. She's a yak. They don't go down easy." "I know," sighed Sandbar. "But she never-" He was cut off by a loud canon blast nearby. As he and Capper recovered from the shockwave, he continued. "-She never lets me join her on the front lines. I want to be there...to help her, you know?" Capper blinked, not even sure if the pony he was speaking to was serious. "I'm gonna lay it on you, cat," he said, as smoothly as he could, "but the likes of you and I aren't gonna be doing any damage to that brute up there." Thump. "Oh, thank you SO much! What I really needed was a shot to my failing ego right now. Sorry dude, but you're too WEAK to protect the ones you love." Thump. "It's not like that at all! But you can't go out there and waste your life! You saw what that mean mother hubberd did to Discord, right? We need to stay here, where we can make a difference!" THUMP. "Oh, BIG DIFFERENCE we're making with these stupid canons! I don't even think he KNOWS WE'RE HERE!" "SANDBAR!!!! WATCH OUT!!!!" Yona's voice took Sandbar out of his argument enough to notice the massive shadow being cast over the pair right now, courtesy of Grogar's massive hoof. The gargantuan foot began lowering at breakneck speed towards the two of them. As Capper began to run, Sandbar, frozen in fear, could only scream in terror as his end grew closer by the second. Great, he thought. As final thoughts go, it can't get much worse than dying pathetically in front of your wife who you were just told you were too weak to protect, and...wait, why was he still thinking? Opening his eyes slowly, he looked up to see the massive hoof still inches from his face, but held in place...by what looked to be a magical aura. A deafening roar shook the earth around the poor pony, nearly destroying his eardrums, as the mighty Grogar realized his foot was stuck on...something. This soon proved to be the least of his problems, as his entire body began to shift backwards, the magical aura on his hoof pushing back. With one more growl of defiance, he finally lost his balance, falling over on his side, crushing several trees. The moment the cost was clear, Yona rushed to hug Sandbar, who was still frozen in fear, brain pumping adrenaline. Capper, who had similarly stopped in his tracks when he realized he was not about to become squished worm food, scanned the area for the source of the magic, before a certain orange alicorn with a brilliant flowing mane of pure fire caught his eye. Sunset Shimmer slowly strained her head to face upwards, her horn glowing so hard that sparks began to fly from it. She screamed in a rage, causing a massive explosion where her magical aura rested on the downed king's hoof. She fell to her knees, but quickly regained her composure, but still doubled back for a moment, as if her height came as a surprise to her. She was a tall alicorn, nearly the size of Luna in her prime. Capper stared wordlessly in awe, joined by Yona as soon as she realized what had happened. Sandbar, while still out of it, was slowly understanding the situation. Only moments later, Princess Twilight Sparkle, in all her glory, landed powerfully near the gathering group of creatures. Capper immediately bowed before her. Without even noticing this action, Twilight turned to Sunset, with nary a look of surprise. "Twilight..." Sunset managed to speak. "I'm...." "I can see that," stated Twilight. "Gabby told me. Come on. There isn't much time. Grogar will get up soon." "I...I mean...the last time I ponied up...I had wings, but....this is...." "It's not that big of a surprise. You are an alicorn. Not only that, but possibly the most powerful alicorn Equestira has ever seen. Be ready, the others are coming." As if on cue, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy soon landed. Fluttershy, who stared off to the side, as if lost in anger, had little reaction, but Rainbow Dash did manage a comment. "Woah...Sunset. Lookin...flashy." Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity made their way through the trees, arriving at the spot. Twilight immediately addressed them all. "Girls, this is it. Our secret weapon is here." Behind her, the massive figure of Grogar began to get up. He did not seem happy. "Our secret weapon looks quite divine, complimented Rarity, trying to lighten the mood for the very obviously nervous Sunset. "And ON FIRE! Like, literrrallyyy!" cooed Pinkie in response. "Oh, dear, you must let me sample your mane once all of this ugliness is over," continued Rarity, now fully cutting off a rather peeved Twilight. "It's not often I get to work with solid flame-" "Would you all BE QUIET?" shouted Fluttershy, still facing away from the group. "Let's just get this DONE. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of seeing that big, ugly, terrible, HORRENDOUS BEAST in the sky. I want this OVER. After what he did to Discord...." "I think we all feel the same way, Fluttershy," assured Twilight. Behind her, Grogar had town slowly turned to face the group, steam literally pouring from his mouth as his anger fueled heat and rage, a mile-long scowl across his face, as he saw the group of seven ponies. "Sunset, with you with us, it's time to use the elements." "Will it...will it weaken him?" asked Sunset. "It will destroy him," stated Twilight flatly. In the sky above them, Grogar's bell, now huge as well, floated between his horns, and began to charge up what seemed to be a very dangerous ball of energy. Loud gusts of wind swept around the group as Grogar began to scream at the top of his lungs at the ponies who had caused him so much trouble. By this point, Capper, Yona, and a now-lucid Sandbar had made their way behind some nearby rocks to hide. "The bell is our target!" shouted Twilight over the noise. "If we destroy the bell, he'll be compressed into antimatter!" "DASH!" shouted Applejack, over all the noise. "If this doesn't work, I..." "I know, stupid," replied Rainbow Dash, smiling in return. The two turned to face the massive ram in the face, now seconds from launching his attack. The sound was unbearable. "ON MY MARK!" screamed Twilight, now barely audible over the noise. "ONE!" Sunset, in the center of the line, saw her friends around her glow in the colors of their elements. "TWO!" The group was lifted off the ground, Sunset gaining he own aura. Not wanting to fail, she focused her attention directly on Grogar's bell. She could see a rainbow forming around the group. She knew this part. She closed her eyes, and prepared to fire all her energy. "THREE!!!!!!!!" Iron Will didn't really know what the last thing he saw before the massive explosion was. Coming to his senses, he realized that he wasn't dead yet..and looking around him, none of his allies were, either. It took a moment before he realized the massive ram no longer took up the skyline as the dust around him cleared. "Is...it over?" asked Pistachio, the pony emerging from his hiding spot behind a broken down hut. Iron will, unflinching, stared to the sky, as it began to rain. "It looks like the ponies a victory gained, but not this time without some pain." Chapter 2: I'm Sorry
Prologue: Bad WheatHe was running, but he wasn't really sure why. It wasn't raining, but he still felt the sensation of something coming down on him. All around him, he could sense hostility, danger...the sky was an unnaturally natural shade of orange, without a cloud in the sky. None of this was particularly terrifying, however. At least, not for a stallion like him. The lack of sound, though, was another story. Not a bird chirping, not a leaf whistling, not a single gust of wind. Even this, though, wasn't impossible...but his lack of hoofbeats was. He could glance down and see them - his huge, sturdy hooves smashing into the mud as he ran down the seemingly endless trail. But he couldn't hear them. It was as if he was deaf, and couldn't hear a thing. It was because of this unnatural silence that the inequine whispering caught him so off-balance that he fell down into the dirt. Without a sound, he crashed into the earth below him, dirt and mud kicked up around his hulking body without a trace of auditory stimulation. But the whispers continued. He could hear his name, as well as every fear he ever had, seemingly at the same time, a thousand times on loop. Now cowering on the ground, he unleashed what he hoped to be a scream, but as he feared, no voice came out. The whispers became louder and louder, now bellowing in his ears, even though they still carried the tone of a whisper. He began to cry, before sobbing outright, at his pathetic attempt to console himself in this situation. He closed his eyes, and resigned himself to the whispers, which seemed to grow and grow to a near infinite volume, before suddenly cutting off completely. The stallion stayed curled up, with his eyes closed, still weeping, for nearly a whole minute. The silence persisted. In its place, a low hum began to creep its way into his ears. It wasn't a vocal hum, but not a mechanical one either - it sounded completely unnatural, like something that couldn't be replicated. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and saw the feet of another pony. Immediately relieved to not be alone, he shot up in excitement, ready to greet whoever was in front of him. The other pony was not so excited, staring directly at the stallion with a blank expression, unmoving, her eyes fixed directly on him. At least, they probably were. It was hard to tell without the pupils. The stallion froze in a mixture of fear and sorrow as he stared at the pure white voids on the emotionless mare in front of him, before realizing that she was not alone - several other ponies stood, circling the stallion, all with the same emotionless, iris-less stare. He recognized some. He didn't recognize others. None of that mattered, though, because none of them felt like themselves. The hum continued, as the stallion started to walk backwards, trying to find an escape. He might have found it, had his attention not been drawn to the wheat left of the ground. The wheat was a sickly brown and green color. Left to rot on the ground. Who did this? Who ruined the wheat harvest? The stallion was overcome with these questions. As he was drawn, unnaturally, to the innocuous wheat, he began to see things - terrible things - things that may happen to him in the future. The wheat was ruined. Who did this? Who ruined the wheat harvest? The hum suddenly cut off. The stallion, in shock, turned around his head in the silence, only to find himself face to face with one of the white-eyed mares, who happened to take the form of his sister. She suddenly opened her mouth, and at the top of her lungs, she screamed. Big Macintosh suddenly woke up in a sweat. It took several deep breaths and a look around his room, with its cold, natural colors, to realize that he was back in reality. Starting to calm down, he looked to his side, and saw his wife slowly wake up. "Honey, what's the matter?" asked Sugar Belle groggily. "I....I had a nightmare," stated Mac, still getting his grip on reality. "The wheat harvest was bad." Sugar Belle giggled. "Leave it to you and your family to consider dreams about bad crops nightmares." Big Mac huffed. "No, that wasn't all. It was...real scary. There were all these white-eyed ponies, and I couldn't hear a sound." "Don't be ridiculous. Nopony is supposed to have nightmares. I haven't had one since I was a foal, and Princess Luna was still in the moon." "I'm tellin' you, I had one!" "Well maybe you woke up a little too soon for it to be taken care of. There's only one Luna, you know." "Why in tarnation do you not believe me? You NEVER believe me anymore. Like that time I told you I bought the-" "You DIDN'T BUY the grapes! I know you told me you bought them, but I KNOW YOU DIDN'T! You do this a lot, you know. You'll try and cover up your mistakes, like me not knowing you made a mistake is a better solution to your problems than just letting me accept them!" "But I'm TELLING YOU, this time, I DID have a nightmare! Why would I lie about that?" "Celestia knows, Mac! But-" "I had a nightmare, too." The third voice took the couple by surprise. Big Mac turned to the source of the voice to find, unsurprisingly, his son, Big Sugar, standing in the doorway with tears in his eyes. "It was really, really, scary..." Sugar Belle, now a bit perplexed, scooted over a bit on the bed, making a nice, snuggly space. "Well, why don't you come and tell us about it, dear?" she asked sweetly. "Eeyup," agreed Big Mac. In Canterlot, Gallus flew briskly through the halls, with a strange mix of urgency and apathy. I mean, its not like there would be a real problem, right? Problems don't happen much anymore. Not after Grogar's defeat at the hands of what was now known as the Legendary Seven. He landed in front of Luna's door, and slowly pushed it open. The princess lay neatly on her bed. Gallus couldn't see her face.
Chapter 1: Bench"And the greatest spell you'll know... ...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!" "And the greatest spell you'll know... ...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!" "And the greatest spell you'll know... ...is how the Magic of Friendship grows!" The stupid, low density, camrip quality rendition of the song sung by her friends in Equestria at the end of "Era 2" played on loop over Sunset Shimmer's cheap-ass alarm clock, signaling the start of her pathetic day. She heard the song at least four hundred times a week - it was practically the national anthem at this point. She yawned and stretched her arms, looking around the pure white futuristic room, as if expecting something to have actually changed. Disappointed in this impossible notion not being a reality, she clapped her hands. Immediately, her magic room activated. The wall to her immediate left slid open, to reveal her view from her penthouse apartment in the middle of the busting city of New Equestria. Flying cars with magical glows soared past her window. "Good morning, Sunset Shimmer!" called out a voice indistinguishable from that of Twilight Sparkle. The tone at which her name was spoken sounded like some cheap AI software that was just learning voice recognition. The actual level of magical technology was far above this kind of tomfoolery, but Sunset knew that Duke Twilight set her up in this stupid room for "irony". The alarm ABSOLUTELY had to do with that, too. Ever since Twilight married Timber and became the ruler of the country, she had been treating her like some kind of weird playmate, "trolling" her, as she liked to call it, in various aspects of her otherwise mundane life. It was like something had changed in Twilight's mind, and Sunset was now just a lowly sidenote in her otherwise busy life. Sure, Twilight set her up in the most luxurious, automated apartment complex in the country, at the heart of the city, and tried to keep her entertained with the "trolling", but she never had any time to actually hang out with the one she used to call a friend. Sunset continued to move slowly towards her shower. It wasn't like she had anything to do today. She never had anything to do any of the days. Twilight made sure of that. She had even extracted her magic power of being able to sense the inner feelings of those around her out, and given it to....Wallflower Blush? Okay? Duke Twilight claimed it was so that Sunset would never have to deal with the thought of having to help someone every again. Thanks Twilight, she thought. Wouldn't want my life to be too interesting, now would we. As she turned to face her bathroom mirror, she was greeted with what would, normally, be a frightening sight - a head full of bed hair! Her brilliant red and yellow hair stretched in all crazy directions, giving new meaning to the phrase, "bad hair day". Except she knew it wasn't real. Sure enough, after just a few moments, a tiny image of a cartoon Twilight danced in the corner of her mirror as what sounded like some sort of carnival music played in the same horrible quality as her alarm clock. "Gotcha!" came Twilight's voice again. "It looks like I got you this time, Sunset Shimmer!" "You didn't", replied Sunset blankly. "I'm sorry," cooed the Twilight voice innocently. "I do not understand the following phrase:" "You didn't", the voice clip Sunset just spoke, played over the intercom, but with audio compression that would have been considered low quality fourty years ago. In fact, the speech was so barely audible and muffled that Sunset only recognized it as her own due to the unrecognizable monotone. "Please try again!" finished the voice. Sunset knew it was complete baloney, that it understood perfectly what she said, and that it was playing up some more stupid AI irony. She played along though, because she knew that the sooner this stupid thing got bored, the sooner she could leave. "You. Did. Not. Surprise. Me." she stated clearly, stepping into the shower and closing the door. At least this part was safe from the cameras, though knowing Twilight, she probably put one in the drain pipe or something. "I understand completely!" bellowed the Ai. "Setting water temperature to: negative seven! After Sunset finished screaming while trying to open up a shower door that was mysteriously stuck for about five minutes, she was ready to start her day. Out of Twilight's Funhouse she walked, into the hallway of fresh pine smells and other tells of a futuristic society that never fell. As she exited the elevator, passed through the lobby, and exited to the bustling street, she reflected on the city of New Equestria. New Equestria was the capital city of Thanvion, which was the name given to the human equivalent to Equestria after the two worlds economy became linked. Sunset thought back to simpler times, when only her and a handful of others would traverse the worlds...but as time went on, more and more became curious, and eventually, Equestria opened itself up to tourism - Thanvion was not far behind, as, just as expected, ponies wished to know what life was like without hooves. The main portal was moved from Canterlot High to a more secure location, with a vetting process and other amenities. Duke Twilight made sure to include a little statue of Sunset there, for some reason, but "little" in this case means something so small it can only be seen with a microscope. Literally. Part of the entrance process to Thanvion includes staring through a microscope at a tiny statue of Sunset in a goofy pose, hanging out with some goddamn dust mites. The growing alliance between Thanvion and Equestria grew only stronger when the two were forced to unite to stop an ancient evil, Grogar, who threatened to destroy them both. It was a pretty old story by now, but Sunset remembered it as the last time she ever traveled to Equestria - to help defeat Grogar. Sunset crossed over a bridge, towards a lake - her favorite spot to relax. Images of Duke Twilight and her "Dude", Timber, shined high in the sky, projected on every surface, grinning and waving. Timber always had a curious expression in these live feeds. Sunset chuckled to herself as she thought of her favorite way to describe it to others - "it looks like the kind of face you make when you sign up for a petsitting job because you love pets, but when you get there, you realize that there are no pets, and it was a babysitting job all along." The day was honestly perfect. The weather was great, and all around, everything seemed to be going just swell. Sunset arrived at her favorite lake, approached her favorite bench, and took her favorite seat. She sat there in silence, enjoying the breeze, and the distant sounds of the city. She thought about her life, her adventures...her time at Canterlot High, her time with the ones she used to call her "friends". She remembered when life was fun, and when it seemed like they would always be fighting the next evil girl to get her hands on Equestrian Magic. She lost herself in these memories, thinking back even to the final battle against Grogar, and how great it was to have a purpose. She was so lost, that Twilight's voice almost didn't take her out of the moment. "Sunset?" the too-familiar voice called. Sunset didn't process it at first. She was so used to having this voice hammered in her ear every day as a joke that hearing it for real seemed downright alien. Thankfully, the voice called out again. "S...Sunset? Do you...remember me?" Confused at that last part, Sunset slowly turned around. Standing before her was a grown woman, who looked exactly like Duke Twilight, but...different. Simpler hair, simpler clothes....Sunset recognized her almost immediately as Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. In an almost overjoyed state, Sunset leaped from the bench and embraced Twilight. "Of...of course I remember you, silly! It's been years!" "Yeah...I'm sorry about that. As the current ruler of Equestria, 'free time' isn't exactly in my strongest suit anymore..." "It's okay. I'm just...so glad to see you." "Why's that? Don't you still see me around...if you know what I mean?" "Too much. The Duke of Thanvion, as she calls herself, has gone out of her way to make SURE that she remains a part of my life...despite having nothing to do with it." Sunset sighed, and sat back down at the bench, slightly defeated. "I guess things are fine with you and your friends, right?" Twilight, with a resigned look, took her seat next to Sunset, ignoring the latter question and addressing the former. "What exactly do you mean? What has this Twilight done?" As if on cue, a voice boomed through the heavens. "GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE! IT IS I, YOUR GRACIOUS RULER, DUKE TWILIGHT SPARKLE OF THANVION! In today's forecast, we've got...SUN! ALL SUN! I made sure to get rid of ALL THE RAINCLOUDS! Because as you know, today is a VERY SPECIAL DAY....THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S JUNIPER MONTAGE'S BIRTHDAY!" On one of the idiotic sky projections, a shaky camera began to focus on an unsuspecting woman - unrecognizable to Sunset, but it was probably Juniper Montage. Duke Twilight came into frame, giggling, before creeping over to Juniper and screaming, "SURPRISE!!!", as about fifteen trumpet players surrounded the poor woman, and hundreds of screaming fans made themselves known. Twilight stared at the image in the sky with a completely blank expression. "I think I get it now," she stated. Sunset looked back over the ocean. "You know, Twilight, a part of me wishes I didn't stay here." "Why did you?" asked Twilight, tilting her head. "Because I thought that it was part of my journey to stay here, in the life I built for myself. I thought that was important. I thought it meant something. But honestly, ever since Grogar...I've been wanting to see what it's like again. It's just never felt like the right time." Twilight took a deep breath. "Well, now might be the right time." Sunset turned to her, her hands gripping the bench a bit more. "Why's that?" "Luna can't watch over dreams anymore," said Twilight, matter-of-factly. "We need somepony who can." Sunset stared at Twilight, weighing her options.
Chapter 3: BellMountains shook, waves crashed against the shore, and the wind howled. Gabby, the plucky medic Griffon, soared to her next target as a deafening roar bellowed through the canyon. With a cursory glance, Gabby took notice of the absolutely massive blue ram-like creature that towered over the skyline - the returned king of monsters, Grogar. Having absorbed several of Equestria's most powerful artifacts, as well as consuming the souls of the failed villains Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow, in addition to the soul of the longstanding ally to the ponies, Discord, he had grown to an absolutely gargantuan size, dwarfing the aforementioned Tirek nearly tenfold. Thankfully, she thought, at this size, he was far too large to pay attention to a simple medic like herself. Gabby finally found the source of the cry for help - Lightning Dust, pegasus soldier, was downed with a cut wing. She landed as quickly as she could. "H...hey, Lightning Dust! Hold still, I've got you," comforted Gabby, quickly removing bandages from her bag. "Hurry up already!" complained Lightning Dust. "I'm NOT letting everyone else finish this without me!" While this kind of comment would normally annoy Gabby, this situation was too dire to be arguing. Grogar had to be stopped. She worked quickly and silently, patching up the wing. Without even a "thank you", Lightning Dust blasted off into the sky as soon as she felt she was able. Gabby shot her neck up to follow the magnificent sight. As if on cinematic cue, a massive rainbow explosion lit up the sky as a tiny blue spec that could only be Rainbow Dash performed a Sonic Rainboom, launching herself directly at Grogar's chest, staggering him a bit, eliciting another mighty roar. Four beams of light, presumably from the four alicorn princesses, suddenly materialized from different directions, focused on Grogar's head. However, he seemed to be only mildly inconvenienced by this, lowering his head and swinging his massive horns, knocking several more pegasi and other creatures out of the sky. Gabby hoped Spike was ok. "GABBY!" shouted a familiar, stuffy voice. Gabby turned to see fellow medic, Plaid Stripes, dashing across the heavy terrain as best she could. "They need us back at the castle! QUICK!!!!" Gabby didn't bother watching Plaid Stripes struggle the uneven ground anymore. The buck toothed earth pony soon found herself whisked off the ground by Gabby's strong claws, flying as quickly as she could to the castle. Gabby huffed a bit - it was a bit more weight than she had expected - but she wasn't just going to leave Plaid Stripes there and go slow. Normally, a commoner like Plaid wouldn't be helping in such an operation, but Grorgar's threat was so widespread that literally everycreature had to do their part. Again, as if on cue, a Storm Guard leapt from a nearby rock, cementing itself in Gabby's path, eyes growing a sickly blue and greenish color. She immediately panicked - the Storm Guards, while docile after the Storm King's defeat, were easily persuaded and controlled by Grogar, becoming his own minions, as well as gaining power they never had dreamed of before. She wasn't exactly a good fighter, but even if she was, she couldn't do much with her claws full of... Plaid Stripes, without a hint of fear, immediately threw out her hoof, part of her ridiculous spoon clothing flying off in the process. This incredible spoon managed to hit its mark perfectly, knocking the minion with enough force between the eyes to cause it to trip backwards, into a nearby ravine - the bottom of which was too dark to see. "We have to keep going!" shouted Plaid, predicting Gabby's apathy. "I'm sure he's fine, okay? We don't have time to worry about everycreature!" Having been read like an open book, Gabby sighed, continuing her flight without losing speed. "I wasn't going to stop, okay?" she grunted, not sure if she was trying to convince Plaid, or herself. "I just don't like the idea of HURTING anycreature." "Oh yeah?" retorted the pony rather quickly, sudden emotions spurred on by what she, and everyone around her, had lost. "You gonna say that even after what Grogar did to Grandpa Gruff?" It was only about a second before Plaid Stripes hit the ground face first, as if Gabby had released her grip the instant the words left her mouth. Furious, the griffon forcefully crashed into the ground, feet first, before turning around to face her friend with a look of absolute fury. The image came to her briefly, for only a split second - Grandpa Gruff, belly up, with a leg pointing a direction legs aren't meant to point...despite her earlier cool dealing with lightning dust, she found herself unable to control herself, squinting at the now terrified pony, and grumbled two words. "Shut. Up." Plaid Stripes groaned as she got her bearings. "S...Sorry. We've gotta go...we're losing time. I'll just...shut up, okay?" Shining Armor, now an aging stallion, had taken back over his previous post as captain of the royal guard, in the stead of its new captain, Gallus, who was needed on the front lines of battle. A cough came forth from his mouth as he stood guard, waiting for news from the medic he had sent off... The cough had just barely left his mouth when he noticed the shape of Gabby materialize on the horizon, flapping as hard as she could, carrying poor Plaid Stripes, who stared off to the side solemnly as the breeze blew her mane around a bit. Shining Armor immediately got up from his sitting position, waving Gabby down, triggering another sickly cough. Gabby didn't wait for any sort of verbal cue, gently setting Plaid down on the ramparts, before approaching Shining herself and landing gracefully. Plaid kicked the ground a bit, essentially waiting in the background, unsure if she was wanted, or even needed. "I came as quickly as I could," stated Gabby, showing her respect to the former captain. "What did you need?" Shining opened his mouth to respond, but once again coughed. Gabby continued to stoically and respectfully await a response, showing no signs of annoyance. "You need to get a message...." he managed to weakly say, "to my sister." The door opened behind Plaid Stripes. Gabby turned, and saw a pony she had never seen before. The air suddenly became much warmer. "Yona!!!!!" Sandbar shouted his wife's name in dismay as she saw her crash backwards through several tress. The resilient yak had taken nearly the full force of Grogar's massive hoof, but unlike her comrades, was still getting up for more. "Yona FINE, Sandbar!" she grunted, regaining her footing. "Stay on canon!" Sandbar gulped, and turned back to his canon, taking aim at the massive ram again, as if it was possible to miss something that took up 80% of your periphery. Yona charged past, away from him, back into the fray. He wished she wouldn't do that. "Come on, friend, focus now," said Capper, manning the canon directly next to him. The tall, slick cat had arrived to help out of almost nowhere, Sandbar recalled, when Grogar started becoming a real threat. He had been a major asset so far. "You've got quite a fine missus, but you gotta quit worryin'. She's a yak. They don't go down easy." "I know," sighed Sandbar. "But she never-" He was cut off by a loud canon blast nearby. As he and Capper recovered from the shockwave, he continued. "-She never lets me join her on the front lines. I want to be there...to help her, you know?" Capper blinked, not even sure if the pony he was speaking to was serious. "I'm gonna lay it on you, cat," he said, as smoothly as he could, "but the likes of you and I aren't gonna be doing any damage to that brute up there." Thump. "Oh, thank you SO much! What I really needed was a shot to my failing ego right now. Sorry dude, but you're too WEAK to protect the ones you love." Thump. "It's not like that at all! But you can't go out there and waste your life! You saw what that mean mother hubberd did to Discord, right? We need to stay here, where we can make a difference!" THUMP. "Oh, BIG DIFFERENCE we're making with these stupid canons! I don't even think he KNOWS WE'RE HERE!" "SANDBAR!!!! WATCH OUT!!!!" Yona's voice took Sandbar out of his argument enough to notice the massive shadow being cast over the pair right now, courtesy of Grogar's massive hoof. The gargantuan foot began lowering at breakneck speed towards the two of them. As Capper began to run, Sandbar, frozen in fear, could only scream in terror as his end grew closer by the second. Great, he thought. As final thoughts go, it can't get much worse than dying pathetically in front of your wife who you were just told you were too weak to protect, and...wait, why was he still thinking? Opening his eyes slowly, he looked up to see the massive hoof still inches from his face, but held in place...by what looked to be a magical aura. A deafening roar shook the earth around the poor pony, nearly destroying his eardrums, as the mighty Grogar realized his foot was stuck on...something. This soon proved to be the least of his problems, as his entire body began to shift backwards, the magical aura on his hoof pushing back. With one more growl of defiance, he finally lost his balance, falling over on his side, crushing several trees. The moment the cost was clear, Yona rushed to hug Sandbar, who was still frozen in fear, brain pumping adrenaline. Capper, who had similarly stopped in his tracks when he realized he was not about to become squished worm food, scanned the area for the source of the magic, before a certain orange alicorn with a brilliant flowing mane of pure fire caught his eye. Sunset Shimmer slowly strained her head to face upwards, her horn glowing so hard that sparks began to fly from it. She screamed in a rage, causing a massive explosion where her magical aura rested on the downed king's hoof. She fell to her knees, but quickly regained her composure, but still doubled back for a moment, as if her height came as a surprise to her. She was a tall alicorn, nearly the size of Luna in her prime. Capper stared wordlessly in awe, joined by Yona as soon as she realized what had happened. Sandbar, while still out of it, was slowly understanding the situation. Only moments later, Princess Twilight Sparkle, in all her glory, landed powerfully near the gathering group of creatures. Capper immediately bowed before her. Without even noticing this action, Twilight turned to Sunset, with nary a look of surprise. "Twilight..." Sunset managed to speak. "I'm...." "I can see that," stated Twilight. "Gabby told me. Come on. There isn't much time. Grogar will get up soon." "I...I mean...the last time I ponied up...I had wings, but....this is...." "It's not that big of a surprise. You are an alicorn. Not only that, but possibly the most powerful alicorn Equestira has ever seen. Be ready, the others are coming." As if on cue, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy soon landed. Fluttershy, who stared off to the side, as if lost in anger, had little reaction, but Rainbow Dash did manage a comment. "Woah...Sunset. Lookin...flashy." Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity made their way through the trees, arriving at the spot. Twilight immediately addressed them all. "Girls, this is it. Our secret weapon is here." Behind her, the massive figure of Grogar began to get up. He did not seem happy. "Our secret weapon looks quite divine, complimented Rarity, trying to lighten the mood for the very obviously nervous Sunset. "And ON FIRE! Like, literrrallyyy!" cooed Pinkie in response. "Oh, dear, you must let me sample your mane once all of this ugliness is over," continued Rarity, now fully cutting off a rather peeved Twilight. "It's not often I get to work with solid flame-" "Would you all BE QUIET?" shouted Fluttershy, still facing away from the group. "Let's just get this DONE. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of seeing that big, ugly, terrible, HORRENDOUS BEAST in the sky. I want this OVER. After what he did to Discord...." "I think we all feel the same way, Fluttershy," assured Twilight. Behind her, Grogar had town slowly turned to face the group, steam literally pouring from his mouth as his anger fueled heat and rage, a mile-long scowl across his face, as he saw the group of seven ponies. "Sunset, with you with us, it's time to use the elements." "Will it...will it weaken him?" asked Sunset. "It will destroy him," stated Twilight flatly. In the sky above them, Grogar's bell, now huge as well, floated between his horns, and began to charge up what seemed to be a very dangerous ball of energy. Loud gusts of wind swept around the group as Grogar began to scream at the top of his lungs at the ponies who had caused him so much trouble. By this point, Capper, Yona, and a now-lucid Sandbar had made their way behind some nearby rocks to hide. "The bell is our target!" shouted Twilight over the noise. "If we destroy the bell, he'll be compressed into antimatter!" "DASH!" shouted Applejack, over all the noise. "If this doesn't work, I..." "I know, stupid," replied Rainbow Dash, smiling in return. The two turned to face the massive ram in the face, now seconds from launching his attack. The sound was unbearable. "ON MY MARK!" screamed Twilight, now barely audible over the noise. "ONE!" Sunset, in the center of the line, saw her friends around her glow in the colors of their elements. "TWO!" The group was lifted off the ground, Sunset gaining he own aura. Not wanting to fail, she focused her attention directly on Grogar's bell. She could see a rainbow forming around the group. She knew this part. She closed her eyes, and prepared to fire all her energy. "THREE!!!!!!!!" Iron Will didn't really know what the last thing he saw before the massive explosion was. Coming to his senses, he realized that he wasn't dead yet..and looking around him, none of his allies were, either. It took a moment before he realized the massive ram no longer took up the skyline as the dust around him cleared. "Is...it over?" asked Pistachio, the pony emerging from his hiding spot behind a broken down hut. Iron will, unflinching, stared to the sky, as it began to rain. "It looks like the ponies a victory gained, but not this time without some pain."
