They were arguing again. Why did they always argue? Nothing ever got solved, it was just the same thing every time.
"Gotdamn it Amanda, don't you see what I'm trying to accomplish here? Don't you know what it means for us, for our family?" a male voice asked in frustration.
"You're obsessed Edd! This isn't about 'us' any more or anyone else! This is just what you want, hell, it always was!" female voice responded in disdain.
Parents. They know better right? At least, that's what everybody always said. But they didn't know better. If they knew better, they would know where the conversation was going, how it would end and how nothing would be solved. Funny, the son knew that but no one else did. And that certain son was tired of preaching, tired of trying to explain it to the parents, just tired. He turned up the volume of the television and practically pressed his face against the screen, doing anything to just escape the noise.
"This is NOT about me Amanda! If those IDIOTS could just understand-"
"You're the one who doesn't understand! NO ONE has that much money and even if they did, they wouldn't invest in something that's not going to benefit them for thirty years!"
"If we don't start now, that's how long it's going to take after we DO start. This HAS to be started NOW. None of them get that-"
The son didn't care really about what they were arguing about. Neither did anyone else or they would've stopped arguing about it. He stared intently at the screen, watching the ponies. It was no secret that the television was his escape. The only problem was, sometimes it wasn't good enough.
"What is that noise? Turn that racket down, Ernst!" his father shouted. Ernst did as he was told; it was best just to go along with what his father said. His parents could get angry sometimes, very angry. Ernst was beyond being scared though and now had just gotten used to giving in. Still, he did his best to ignore them and continue watching a different, peaceful world in front of him rather than the violent abuse behind him. He was caught between two worlds but forced to inhabit only one and watch another, like a prisoner looking out the window of a cell. At least prison was usually quiet when the lights went out.
"Don't you yell at him, Edd!"
The two continued to fight long into the evening. The young Ernst Stavro Blofeld would find no peace in his parent's household tonight. Little did he know, at the same time, there was another world that wouldn't be finding much peace either that night...
"Always, always so limited. You realize that?" King Sombra taunted, the fiend flashed an arrogant smile at the six ponies before him. "Limited in scope, limited in resources and now you're out of options as well."
Twilight fought to get to stand. She rose her head and squinted, her vision fuzzy, to look past the fiend at the Elements of Harmony floating behind him. They glowed with a dark, other-worldly light as they slowly rotated, casting shadows on the walls of the Crystal Palace dungeon.
"What're we gonna do, Twilight?" Applejack asked, struggling to stand up herself. Sombra was powerful and without the Elements of Harmony, the six ponies were almost defenseless. The king unleashed spell after spell and Twilight hadn't been able to counter them all. With her Element of Magic stolen and now in Sombra's possession, she didn't have an answer for her friend. But she knew she couldn't give up.
King Sombra's horn charged with another spell. His dark crystals circled around him forming an almost impenetrable shield as he hovered off the floor in front of the Elements. He grinned wickedly as his opposition was helpless before him.
"This was inevitable, Twilight. It is the way of things. The magic of friendship was not enough... because it was limited. Limited by your pathetic friends, they held you back when you could've ruled this world!"
"No...," Twilight said, standing. Inspired, her friends followed suit. They would not let this villain achieve his goals. "You're wrong. The magic... it's still here."
"Hahahaha!" the fiend cackled. "I must admit, your powers... are not without merit. Join me. Become my Elements of Darkness and enforce my will across Equestria!"
"Never!" Twilight shouted back. The others stood with her, the six brave heroines advanced upon the shadowy tyrant.
"Fools!" his horn crackled. "The power of your very Elements is corrupted!" Behind him, it was true; the Elements of Harmony had been twisted by Sombra's dark power. The corrupted Crystal Heart's own energy had infected the six elements and now the combined power threatened to fulfill the dark king's desires.
"Your powers are mine now! Using the Elements, I shall rip fourth a hole into another dimension and a new darkness shall reign fourth over Equestria! Face it girls; without your trinkets, the magic of friendship is gone!"
"You're wrong!" Twilight stomped the ground. She charged her own horn with a spell, Rarity followed suit. Applejack joined in by swinging her lasso while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hovered close by, bracing for an attack. Pinkie Pie stood on her back legs ready to box with the fiend and deliver a hook to his jaw if given the opportunity. She was a master of Pinkie Pugilism.
"Even without the Elements of Harmony, the magic of friendship is still here! And we'll prove it to you!" Twilight and friends charged the villain, one last, desperate attack. Eyes barred, teeth gritted, the ponies galloped to the hovering tyrant, refusing to let him win.
"Pathetic." Before they even reached his hooves, a blast of dark energy ripped through the hall. Twilight and the others were thrown to the walls, rebounding off of them and crashing to the floor. Electricity rippled through the air and jagged, black spikes rose from the ground.
"Hahahaha..." King Sombra levitated to the floor. Triumphant, he strode over to where Twilight Sparkle lay. "You've lost, student of Celestia." Twilight looked up at him. His horn glowed an eerie green as he prepared to deliver his final attack. She didn't close her eyes. "You should've known; the power of a princess could never compare to the power of a king!"
"I don't know," a voice spoke out. A look of confusion dawned on King Sombra's face. He looked to the right to face whoever was speaking... when something blasted a hole through his forehead. In a single motion, the force knocked him back to the floor where he lay still, dead. The black crystals levitating around him fell to the floor with a thud.
"I've always thought of a king as more of a figurehead role," the voice said again.
Twilight sat up and carefully got to her hooves again. It was difficult to stand. She walked over to where King Sombra was lying. What had just happened. Turning to the right, Twilight saw a very peculiar sight for Equestria; a biped.
Standing across the hall holding a strange object in his outstretched hand was a being that stood on two legs. Garbed in what looked like a tuxedo, the individual lowered the object it had just used to kill Sombra. He approached Twilight Sparkle.
"You'll have to excuse me; thought I'd shoot in and out of here." The strange figure walked past Twilight over to where the Elements of Harmony lay motionless in a circle around the Crystal Heart. He knelt down and picked one up, Twilight's Element of Magic.
"What... just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked, rubbing her head.
Twilight slowly walked over to the mysterious stranger. She spared a glance at Sombra again who remain where he lay. The being in a suit picked something off of Twilight's tiara.
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked.
"King Sombra didn't just steal your Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart. He also stole a microamplifier, a device that would've boosted and amplified his power across all spectrums."
Twilight didn't understand a thing he was saying. "What does that mean? What... who are you?"
He turned to her. "The name is Bond- James Bond."
