In Pursuit of...

Chapter 19: Free Equestria

Twilight Sparkle looked down at Celestia, who appeared to be asleep in the magical dome.

“Princess!” she whispered, “wake up!”

Celestia’s eyelids fluttered once, and she cracked open her eyes, gasping.

“Girls, you’re alive! But I saw-“

“We don’t have time to explain,” said Pinkie Pie frantically, “we’re looking for the Elements of Harmony, and now we’re going to free you.”

“That will be easy,” Celestia said. “The Elements are buried in these walls. They’re creating this field around me. If you remove them, you free me.”

Twilight smiled at her Princess. “Then let’s get to this. It’s time to save Equestria!”

…

Eclipse looked down in disbelief at the four fillies in front of him, then at the shattered skylights, then to the documentary crew in the crowd, and finally back to the fillies again. Slowly, he began to chuckle at the ridiculous sight before him.

“Who in Equestria are you?!” he asked, practically rolling on the floor. Sweetie Belle did not seem amused at all.

“I just told you who we are. We’re the Cutie Mark Resistance.”

“Right,” Eclipse gasped, “and your plan is to earn your Cutie Marks by fighting me? This is rich!”

“Now!” Sweetie Belle whispered to an orange Pegasus next to her- Scootaloo. Scootaloo nodded and launched herself into the air, flinging a nearby dinner plate at Eclipse. The black Alicorn stepped to the side and hit the plate with a blast of magic, vaporizing it. Suddenly, he’d become quite serious.

“How did you avoid my control?” he hissed.

“Simple,” a little yellow filly- Applebloom- said, “we didn’t come because we were all stuck in a tree at the time. Looks like it’s a good thing we were, too.”

Eclipse growled. “I see. Well, as I cannot have any… dissenters, then I must act.” His horn began to glow as he looked straight at Sweetie Belle. “Say goodnight, little filly, and see just how little your resistance changes things.”

“Sweetie Belle, move!”

Eclipse looked towards the source of the voice. Until now, he’d thought the fillies and the documentary crew were the only non- brainwashed ponies here. It seemed he was mistaken. Scanning the crowd, he picked out the voice’s owner- a white Unicorn with a purple mane. He lowered his horn as his magic dissipated.

“You,” he said, looking right at Rarity, “it can’t be. I saw you and your friends at Skywatch tower when the magical field collapsed. How did you escape?”

Rarity was petrified. Her cover had been completely blown, and to make matters worse, the documentary crew had their full attention fixed on her now. She could do nothing but stare.

“Never mind,” Eclipse said, his horn glowing again, “it seems I have a new target.”

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle screamed, running for her sister.

“Everypony back!” From out of nowhere, three other ponies joined Rarity- a black earth pony, and two Pegasi. Eclipse recognized them all.

“You foals,” he whispered, “dare to show your faces here? You dare defy me?! I am more powerful than Celestia herself! You cannot hope to defeat me!”

“Too much talking!” Rainbow Dash said, streaking straight for Eclipse. Eclipse swatted her out of the way with a magical tendril, diverting his attention from Rarity for just a moment. It was all she needed.

“Come on, everypony!” Rarity yelled, “out!” No one listened, however. The all simply stood, oblivious to everything going on.

“Yes,” Eclipse said, playing off Rarity’s desperate plea, “everypony out. I want to deal with these ponies myself!”

The ponies began to congregate towards the doors. Mecha ran to the exits to ensure all of them made it out safely, while Nimbus took to the sky and joined Rainbow Dash in distracting Eclipse. By now, they’d all removed their outfits and were prepared for battle. Rarity, rapier clutched in her mouth, ran over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Sweetie Belle!” she said, “you and your friends need to get out of here!”

“Not without you!” Sweetie Belle countered. Rarity groaned.

“Then we go together! We have to find Twilight Sparkle and the others!”

“You got it!” Scootaloo said, leading the way towards the doors. Nobody saw Sugary Spice stumble and become lost in the crowd.

Nimbus and Rainbow Dash had proved successful at aggravating Eclipse. They zoomed around him, making tight turns and complicated maneuvers in an attempt to confuse him. Nimbus noticed the crowds leaving and made a decision.

“Rainbow Dash,” he called, “we need to get out of here. We can’t take Eclipse on without the Elements of Harmony!”

“We can’t just give up!” Rainbow Dash yelled back, dodging a blast of magic.

“We don’t have a choice!” Nimbus said, turning away, “let’s go!” Eclipse watched them go, opening his wings in

preparation to give chase, but a blast of magic stopped him. There was one pony left. Eclipse turned and saw Mecha standing by the ballroom doors. He sneered.

“You wish to fight me?”

“That’s the plan,” Mecha growled.

“I would prefer to avoid such trifling activities,” Eclipse said smugly. He then turned to the last of the fleeing ponies and spoke, his voice layered with magic.

“I need one of you to stay here. You know which one.”

A movement caught Mecha’s eye, and a very familiar pony stepped back out of the crowd- Cheerilee.

“No,” Mecha whispered, “no!”

“And now the fun begins,” Eclipse thought, channeling all of his mental energy into controlling Cheerilee.

The pony’s eyes were flashing from Eclipse’s mind-controlled blue to their original colors rapidly, and Cheerilee appeared to be strained.

“Mecha!” she said, “help me! I can… fight it!”

Mecha rushed to Cheerilee’s side. “I know you can, just concentrate!”

“Ms. Cheerilee!”

Mecha turned to see Sugary Spice approaching. “Sugary Spice, get out of here!”

“No way! I have to help Ms. Cheerilee!”

Mecha turned back to the schoolteacher. “Cheerilee, it’s me! Try to focus on me. You’re my marefriend. Remember…”

Cheerilee put her hooves to her forehead in what appeared to be a gesture of pain. “I’m trying, but it’s so hard- he’s too strong-“

Suddenly, her eyes flashed back to solid, glowing blue and stayed there.

“No!” Mecha yelled, “Cheerilee!”

A force hit Mecha in the side, lifting him off his hooves and smashing him into a wall, winding him. Eclipse was approaching, retracting the tendril of blue magic that did his bidding.

“I’m honestly amazed that you fell for that,” he said, “it seems like your love is strong for dear Cheerilee here.”

Mecha tried to move, but it only brought pain to his chest. “Stay away from her!” he yelled.

“Well, I’d love to respect your opinion, but-“ Eclipse turned to Cheerilee, “she only does my bidding now.” He looked at Sugary Spice. “My, my, it seems we have the whole gang here today. Cheerilee-“

Cheerilee snapped her head towards Eclipse.

“-restrain this annoying filly,” he said, pointing towards Sugary Spice. Cheerilee approached, emotionless, forcing Sugary Spice to back up until she tripped over her tail.

“Ms. Cheerilee!” Sugary Spice said, “wake up! It’s me!”

Cheerilee, however, heard nothing. Instead, she grabbed Sugary Spice’s tail in her teeth and dragged her to the head of the room, tying her against a column.

Mecha noticed Eclipse watching intently and saw his chance. He jumped straight at Eclipse, transforming his sword leg for attack. Eclipse turned and smugly swatted him away again, but this time Mecha was ready, landing on his back legs and jumping back into the fight, trying to find the right spot to strike. As he approached, he channeled magic into his eyes, charging his sword. An enemy like this would be much more predictable if he could actually see where Eclipse was channeling his magic to. Mecha jumped out of the way as a bolt hit the ground right where he’d stood, rolling and slicing upwards at Eclipse’s wing. Eclipse moved out of the way in time, and kicked at Mecha. The black pony took the hit and stepped back, readying his sword to block. Eclipse sent another bolt his way, but Mecha managed to block the shot this time, sending it into a chandelier and bringing it down. Now Eclipse was forcing Mecha back towards the head of the room, underneath the massive, glass observatory dome. Mecha looked back at Cheerilee and Sugary Spice, and received a magical blow to the shoulder for his troubles. The hit sent him spinning, and he collapsed to the floor in a haze, staring up at the glass ceiling.

Eclipse smirked, pressing a hoof on Mecha’s chest and forcing him to gasp for air.

“I could have finished you a long time ago,” he confessed, “but I just wanted to have a little… fun first. You see, I must confess that it gets awfully boring ruling without competition. But now my fun is over, and I’m afraid it’s time for you to be done here. Any last requests?”

“Yeah,” Mecha coughed, “I can think of a few, some of which I don’t plan on saying in front of my daughter here.”

“Just one request,” Eclipse snarled, “and make it quick. I’m reasonable, but not foolish.”

“Alright,” Mecha said, gritting his teeth, “then I have a question for you.”

Eclipse nodded, not noticing as Mecha glanced up through the glass dome above.

“Why is it that the cavalry always comes in at the last possible second?”

Eclipse raised an eyebrow. “What is that supposed to mean? I give you a last request and you say something as mindless as that? Say farewell to your sweet Equestria, it’s time to-“

“Really?” Mecha said, now apparently talking to himself, “he had to choose the most expensive window in Equestria to break? I’m totally gonna get stuck with repairing that thing, I just know it.”

Now Eclipse was completely confused, but his confusion didn’t last long. The dome overhead shattered, and before Eclipse could react, an orange blur streaked towards him. There was a small, slicing sound, and suddenly Eclipse felt as if something was missing. He looked down. The Unifier was gone! Somepony had sliced through the chain. Eclipse turned to where the orange blur had landed, in a rage. Nimbus stood there, holding the Unifier.

“Give that back, colt!” he snarled. Nimbus shook his head.

“Absolutely not. I’m just here to reclaim what’s mine.”

Eclipse threw back his head and laughed, lifting his hoof off Mecha and walking towards Nimbus.

“And what makes you think you can control that? You have no way of harnessing its power, as I do. You’re just as defenseless as you were before.”

“That might be,” said Mecha standing up again, “but so are you. Already your connection with the ponies of Equestria is waning.”

Eclipse looked back just in time to see Cheerilee, her eyes now normal, in the process of untying Sugary Spice.

“No! I command you to stop!”

“Not on your life, pal!” Mecha said, appearing from seemingly out of nowhere. “This is for Cheerilee!” He landed a punch across Eclipse’s face, sending him reeling. “This is for Luna!” he followed up with a second punch. “And this is for making me endure those ridiculous Pegasis’ idea of a fun time!” he brought his back legs in, then bucked Eclipse square in the chest, throwing him backwards. Nimbus saw the opportunity and jumped into the air, coming down right on top of Eclipse and forcing him to the ground.

“Please,” Eclipse moaned pitifully, as Mecha approached and stood next to Nimbus, staring down at him, “please stop. I’ll give you Luna back, I’ll do anything!”

Nimbus hesitated for a moment.

“Don’t listen to him,” Mecha said, “he’s got to be lying.”

“Oh, so observant!”

A sudden wave of blue magic flung both Mecha and Nimbus into the air. Nimbus tried catching Mecha, but grabbing hold of him upset his stability, and the two crashed to the floor. At the head of the room, Eclipse was positively glowing with energy. Mecha saw Cheerilee and Sugary Spice duck out a side door.

“Good,” he thought, “they’re safe.”

Eclipse approached slowly, magic crackling in blue sparks off every inch of his body. “You foals- I don’t need the Unifier to defeat you. Now that Luna and I are one again, I have all of her power. There is no magic or power in all of Equestria that can match me.”

“Well actually,” Mecha said, “I could argue that point.”

“You wha-? That’s it! I am tired of your incessant banter,” Eclipse said, pointing his horn at Mecha, “prepare yourself for death!”

“Actually, he’s right,” Nimbus said, sparing a short glance out the ballroom doors, “there is something greater in power and magic than you out there.”

“Oh?” Eclipse growled, “and what, pray tell, is that?”

“Friendship,” Nimbus grinned, ducking just in time as the wall behind him and Mecha practically exploded inwards.

“What?” Eclipse gasped, looking at the intruders, “it can’t be!”

Standing amidst the rubble were Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, all of whom were bearing the Elements of Harmony.

“Better think twice before you say that!” Twilight said, “ready?”

The Elements began to glow, and the ponies lifted into the air. Mecha looked at Eclipse, smiling and narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, you’re in for a treat,” he said, “looks like they’re pulling out the Rainbow of Death!”

“That’s not what it’s called!” Pinkie Pie shouted down, as white light began to envelope the ponies. Mecha shook his head.

“I’ll call it what I will, thank you very much!”

The light became more intense, until a rainbow shot up from it, arcing down and smashing into Eclipse, surrounding him in a multicolored force field.

“Nimbus, we need that Unifier!” Mecha called out. “The magic’s not going to be strong enough!”

“I’m working on it!” Nimbus yelled back, examining the Unifier from every angle. Above, the rainbow field began flickering.

“I’m not sure how long they can keep this up!” Mecha pressed, “hurry!”

Nimbus flew over to his discarded Gala suit and rummaged through its pockets, hoping to find something, anything that might help. All he found was the smooth stone with the Unifier’s symbol etched on it. Nimbus groaned in frustration. He had nothing- no way to activate the Unifier and no way of saving his friends if they failed. In desperation, he struck the Unifier with his stone- and then everything happened at once.

The stone began to glow, merging into the Unifier. Nimbus drew his hoof away initially, but found it attracted to the now glowing Unifier. He extended his wings, hovering and placing both hooves on the Unifier for support. He pointed the object at Eclipse and concentrated, thinking only one thought: “free.”

Nimbus’s eyes and wings lit up with the same white light that was surrounding his friends, and he could feel magic coursing through his body. This time, he spoke his thoughts aloud.

“Free Luna!” he yelled, as a beam of pure white light shot out of the Unifier and directly into the rainbow force field. Upon contact, the swirling field turned into a glowing ball of energy completely encircling Eclipse. As they watched, the light inside the sphere grew into an intense white. Suddenly, streams of rainbow-colored energy blasted out of the glowing sphere and arced towards the Unifier. If he’d still had control of his body, Nimbus would have no doubt flinched, but he could do nothing. Instead, he just watched as the beams impacted the Unifier with a roar. Then, as suddenly as the whole event began, all of the lights and magic subsided. The ponies all hovered back down to the ground gently.

“It’s done,” Nimbus said quietly.

“What about Luna?” Mecha asked, “where is she now?”

“In here, I think,” Nimbus replied, looking down at the Unifier. “We need her body to put her back in control.”

There was a great rush of air as a figure flew by overhead, landing amongst the gathered ponies. It was Princess Celestia herself, with Spike and Luna’s body on her back.

“I went back to the carriage with Spike,” Celestia said to Twilight Sparkle, “thank you for telling me where to look.”

“Quick!” Spike said, dragging Luna towards Nimbus, “let’s bring her back!”

“Okay,” Nimbus said, pointing the Unifier at Luna again, “let’s see what we can do.”

He channeled his thoughts into a single goal: “release.” At once, the Unifier began to glow, and a soft stream of white energy traveled into Luna through her horn. The Unifier pulsed and hummed gently, and Nimbus could feel its power again. Then, as it had before, the light faded, and the humming ceased. Now all they could do was wait. No one dared to breathe. Finally, as if awakening from a deep slumber, Luna opened her eyes to see everyone staring at her.

“What in Equestria-?” she said, then got her bearings, standing and looking at all the faces around her.

“Thou hast… saved us,” she said finally. “How can we repay you?”

Nimbus shook his head. “Princess Luna,” he said, “I think I speak for all of us when I say that having you back is all the payment we need.”

The others nodded in consent as Luna turned to her sister.

“Celestia- is it over? Is Eclipse defeated?”

“Yes,” Celestia said, “but his essence is not gone. I believe the Unifier placed his essence deep inside your mind. You’ve become complete again, but your role is reversed. Instead of Eclipse being in charge, you now hold what remains of him captive within your mind. I wouldn’t trust any other pony with that responsibility as I would trust you.”

“Thank you,” Luna said. “And thank you,” she added, turning to face the ponies once again. “If it hadn’t been for you, we would still be lost. Thou art brave indeed.”

Luna stretched her wings and hovered, addressing those below her. “Now, if thou wilt excuse us, we have a kingdom to watch over. Night, it seems, has fallen.”

“So Eternal Night-“ Spike said to Celestia, “it’s over, right?”

Celestia looked at him with a very serious expression. “Well, that depends. I could choose not to raise the sun tomorrow morning, if that’s what you’d prefer…”

“Oh no,” Spike said hurriedly, “I’m just fine with the way everything is now, but, er, thanks for the offer!”

Celestia laughed softly, turning to the hole in the ballroom and raising an eyebrow.

“I’ll, uh, fix that for you, Princess,” Mecha said quickly. “It’d be no trouble at all.”

“That would be very kind of you,” Celestia said, “after all, I’m not really sure this is what I had in mind when I said I wanted some remodeling done here.”