Flight to Dreadlands

Duel Of Ages - Alicorn Down - Calamity - The Darkest Spell

“Flurry Heart mi Amore!” shouted Twilight, in a voice that almost shook the earth.

The pink Alicorn stopped mid-air and turned towards the other. “Aunt Twilight! You attacked Crystal City!”

“First, give me one reason why you thought sacrificing hundreds of thousands of Griffons to use Sombra’s spell to cast Crystal City thousand years into the future was a good idea?!” shouted Twilight. Despite her flying at a high attitude her voice was loud and clear enough for Frey to hear. It was also filled with anger.

“I want to protect my ponies!”

“Have you got any idea what you unleashed? Ponykind had to leave Equus. Your short-sighted decision has destroyed Equestria.”

“I am the Princess of Crystal Empire.”

“Flurry, don’t get me wrong. I know you have a good heart, but something made your judgment very off. I wish to help you. I know I should have done it sooner, and for that, I apologize.”

“I know that I did the right thing. If I didn’t banish it into the future, ponies would be long-extinct by now.”

“What do you talk about, Flurry?”

“It wants to get out! It wants entertainment. Entertainment! For it, hundreds of thousands of Griffons obliterated by megaspells are entertainment! Entire civilizations destroyed, whole continents wiped out, for fun!”

“Flurry, calm down, I want…”

“What do you want? Tear the barriers between the Panthalassic Ocean and the Realm of Probabilities?”

Twilight stopped for a bit. “We can’t undo the past, but we can search for a better future. Maybe, somewhere, there is another Equestria, one that hasn't collapsed…”

“AAAArghhh!” Flurry shouted, grabbing her head in her hooves.

She's a bigger nutcase than Pinn, Frey thought.

“You’re gonna DESTROY EVERYTHING!” Flurry shouted.

“Flurry, I…”

“I won’t let the universe get devoured! Crystal Ponies, attack!” Flurry ordered, and shot a bright golden beam of magic at Twilight. Twilight raised a magical ward that absorbed the beam.

“I hoped it won’t come to this, Flurry, but you leave me no choice,” Twilight said, and shot a purple beam towards her niece.

As the alicorns started dueling in the sky, Frey heard gunfire. The battle has resumed. He saw the pegasi in Crystal Empire’s uniforms attacking the Blocker robots. The robots replied with a volley of arrows, shooting far faster than anyone else would be capable of.

Frey drew his cultrass again and cut a robot’s arm. They were close to the entrance to Twilight’s laboratory now.

Robots have blocked the path. They began charging once again. Frey drew his revolver, attempting to slow them down. There were too many of them. He needed to back down…

“Fus!” someone shouted, and the robots got pushed back by some kind of force.

Frey looked, and saw Ugrik trying to massage his neck. “You did this?”

“Greybeards taught me,” he said in a hoarse voice

Frey saw the robots beginning to get up, so he charged with his cultrass. Ugrik followed him with the Blade of Ages.

They came to the main battlefield, close to the entrance to the underground. The robots in their diamond armor were attacking ceaselessly. They were not bothered by taking damage. Yet, they were more frail than the golems of Cyrodiil, and they were falling before the Pegasi gunfire.

Ground shook again, and Frey saw a hill crushing down on the ground some place further. He looked up, and was able to see two very bright balls of purple and golden magic attacking each other. Each spell sent a wave of energy downward, and the air was filled with it.

If that’s the kind of magic everyone was capable of hundreds of years ago, how come anything is still alive? Frey thought.

His thoughts were interrupted by arrows. He ducked, barely avoiding getting pierced. Frey started shooting towards the robots.

Then, a huge explosion landed them on the ground. Frey managed to quickly get back up, and saw pieces of rubble falling from the sky. There was a smoldering crater some distance away. Frey saw Twilight fly towards it, before a series of golden beams forced her to evade.

“We need to help her!” shouted Trinica.

“Let’s go!” Frey shouted and the group rushed towards the battling alicorns.

Frey and his crew ran towards the crater. Twilight and Flurry still exchanged the magic beams.

Frey had a revolver and a cultras in his hands, but he knew these were not enough to deal with an Alicorn. Yet, he had to help.

He reached the edge. Flurry Heart was quite battered, but didn’t seem willing to stop. She saw Frey, and was about to cast a spell, before having to jump at the last moment as a purple beam hit the ground.

“Stop fighting, Flurry! I’m only trying to protect you!” shouted Twilight. She had to put on a shield spell as Flurry shot magic at her again.

“Never! You want to give the world to it!” Flurry shouted.

Just as Twilight put down the shield spell, gunfire erupted. Bullets flew past her, but none of them landed.

“Leave us, humans!” said Twilight.

“I’m not letting you unleash a monster!” shouted Frey.

Flurry took advantage of the distraction. She casted a spell. Magical energy hit Twilight, and she fell to the ground.

Twilight quickly got on her hooves and shot a spell towards Frey. Golden ward appeared in front of him, absorbing the magic.

The ward disappeared. Silo tried to point his shotgun at Twilight, but a purple aura made him drop his weapon. Rest of the crew also got disarmed, except Frey and Ugrik, who still carried their enchanted swords.

Flurry cast another spell at Twilight, but the older Alicorn parried the attack.

“Fus!” Ugrik shouted, using the ancient Nord art. Twilight was pushed back, surprised by a magical attack from a human. Frey wasted no time, raised his cultrass and ran towards Twilight.

Just as Twilight was about to stand up, she received a powerful kick from Frey. Then, a spell from Flurry also hit her. Frey was about to strike with his cultrass…

“Stop!” shouted Flurry.

Frey stopped, his blade close to Twilight’s neck. Flurry casted a spell that seemed to bound Twilight.

“Auntie, surrender. Your crazy plan ends now!”

“Flurry, please! Don’t do this!”

“I’m not going to hurt you. I promised my father so,” she said. She flashed her horn, and a mirror covered in cloth appeared.

“No!”

“I won’t let you throw the world into chaos,” Flurry said, and uncovered the mirror.

Twilight attempted to get herself free from the magical bound, but was too weakened from it. Flurry used magic to make her look into the mirror. Frey saw Twilight’s hooves turning into stone. He almost turned to look at the mirror himself, but Flurry casted a spell on him that made him unable to move. Twilight attempted to scream or to free herself, but after a few seconds, she turned into a stone statue.

“Sorry, auntie,” Flurry said.

Frey was still frozen in place, but soon Flurry released him from her spell. Frey looked at the stone statue, then back at Flurry. “You killed your aunt?”

“No, of course not. Petrification is reversible and doesn’t have many side effects. She will be fine.”

“Great. Let’s go to…”

Suddenly, some kind of alarm started to ring. Flurry flew a bit up.

“She must have made an autodestruction system,” she said. She flew up. “Retreat!” she shouted, her voice enchanted by magic.

Then, she flashed her horn, and Frey and his crew were teleported away.

Flurry Heart was back at her palace. Her aunt was by her side, now a stone statue frozen in terror.

“Twilight!” somepony shouted. Flurry couldn’t turn around to look at him.

“What have you done?!” Shining Armor shouted.

“She couldn’t listen to reason.”

“That’s why you turned her into stone? Like if she was some kind of criminal too dangerous to be left alive?”

“Father, calm down. Aunt is okay. I would reverse the spell once I would finish my task here. Then, she will understand.”

Suddenly, she felt the ground shaking. Something was happening.

No, she couldn’t! She couldn’t! the panicked thoughts that were not her own filled her head, but she managed to shrug them off. Just wait. I will get you out and you will wish you stayed out of the mortal realm, she replied in her mind.

The shaking was getting worse. “Earthquake!” one of the guards shouted.

There was never an earthquake in the Crystal Empire. It must have been unnatural…

Then, it dawned on Flurry. Twilight Sparkle didn’t rig the Vanhoover Shelter Zone to self-destruct if she was out of the picture.

She rigged all of Equestria to self-destruct.

She quickly casted a translation spell and looked at the humans. “No time for talking. Give me the sword!”

“What about our payment?” asked Ugrik.

“I will teleport the gold to your airship. You get her airborne, fly as high as you can and get out of here. Watch up for falling mountains.”

“Wait, mountains?” asked Frey

“GIVE ME THE SWORD!” Flurry shouted. Ugrik gave her the Blade of Ages. Then, she flashed her horn and teleported them away.

“Father, find Sunburst. Help him to prepare the Darkest Spell.”

“You mean, Sombra’s spell?”

“The continent is breaking down! We have to save Crystal City.”

She saw the way Shining looked at her. Like on a monster.

“Please!” she said. Shining galloped into the palace.

Flurry grabbed the Blade of Ages and teleported to the Crystal Heart. Then, she casted a spell.

She felt the connection to Heart’s primordial magic. She used the Blade to redirect the power of the Heart.

Giant dome of golden magic surrounded Crystal City. Flurry teleported other artifacts, including the crystals she found in Baltimare. She poured their magic into the Heart. The ancient artifact started spinning quickly, its magic enchanted.

The shaking of the ground was becoming more violent. Flurry flew upwards, above the palace, and with all the power of the Heart in her control, she casted an levitation spell.

She saw that the city had already suffered damage. She saw ponies panicking in the streets, and buildings starting to crack. Luckly, the shaking has stopped after one powerful push.

Flurry felt as if her horn was on fire. Levitating a city with five million inhabitants was far beyond even the Alicorn powers, but with the Heart, the Blade and other artifacts, she was able to do it.

Dad, help me! she thought. She saw the earth breaking in the distance. She was pretty sure she saw a mountain jumping up and falling on its side.

She poured even more magic into her spell. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long, but she had to do this. For her ponies.

Shining Armor galloped through the corridor. The paintings on the wall had fallen, and it seemed as if the palace would break down at any moment.

He saw an unicorn running towards him. “Prince, the Archmage is waiting. We need your help!”

The shaking was getting worse, until it suddenly ceased. Shining looked out of the windows and saw a golden glow surrounding the city.

He galloped into the archmage’s workplace. Sunburst and a few other unicorns were here.

“No time to lose. We need to cast the banishing spell!” said Sunburst.

“Sombra’s blood magic?”

“Only way to survive this!” Sunburst said, and picked up a walkie-talkie. “Everything ready?”

“Ready, Archmage. Should we begin the harvesting?”

“Harvesting? Who do you talk to?”

“Our soldiers at the POW camp.”

Shining Armor went pale. “No. I refuse. I order you to stop this!

“It’s the only way. Flurry ordered me to do this. She knows far more about the world than any of us. She knows what needs to be done.”

Suddenly, a violent shake got them all on the floor.

“Princess cannot keep us up for long. I beg you, Shining. You’re the strongest mage of us all.”

“I… will do it,” Shining said. Sunburst threw him a scroll, then shouted at the walkie-talkie. “Now!”

Shining opened the scroll. Foreign magic, he recognized it as Flurry’s, filled him. He poured his own power into the spell in the scroll. Others did the same.

He felt blood covering him. He looked at his leg, but she saw none of it. It felt beyond wrong to use dark magic, but it had to be done.

He looked at Sunburst. The sheer power of the magic started to overwhelm him. Shining saw Sunburst’s horn turning black, with corruption spreading on his head and his legs. Shining looked down, and to his shock, he was also being corrupted.

Yet, he pushed on. If this was what it would take to save Crystal City, then so be it.

He felt another magic added. Heart’s power.

The sheer strength of the spell overwhelmed him. He lost control, becoming only a vessel through which the magic was pouring. He felt as if he was on fire.

I wish I could’ve saved them, he thought, thinking of his wife and daughter.

Then, a great flash of magic overtook everything.