Discord closed his mouth and looked round the lab, taking in the destruction.
“Oh, I see the party has started without me,” he said. “And it’s an old-fashioned one.” He paused, looking at Aurora. “Oh, Celly. That is interesting. Are you Aurora again?”
The Elements all turned towards him, their foci beginning to glow.
“I was never ‘Celly’,” said Aurora with a glare. “Arrogance trapped me and leeched my power.”
Discord stared at her. “Oh my, I really did miss a lot. Looks like getting turned into stone again was not such a good idea after all. Anything else I should know about?”
The floor rumbled, and some dust fell from the ceiling.
“Are these plants yours?” asked Twilight.
Discord looked around, just in time to see one of the black vines burst out of the wall behind him, coiling threateningly. “Plundervines? Oh, yes, of course. You think I’d let Celly and Luna turn me to stone without having a plan to break free when they grow weak? I’m the Lord of Chaos, not the Lord of Stupid. You of all ponies should know that.”
“We’ll see,” said Twilight.
The Elements flared up, and Discord’s eyes widened as he realised what was to come. He snapped his claws, but the magic flooding the room extinguished his teleport spell. A large green gemstone flew at him, and when the rainbow beam hit, the draconequus found the stone embedded in his chest and sucking him in.
“Hey! What… wait-” he managed to shout before disappearing with a loud pop. The emerald fell to the ground, but Pinkie dove in, grabbing it with her teeth before it could hit the floor. She tossed it up and let it fall inside her mane. Around them, the wave of white spread down corridors and through the walls, burning the vines to dust.
“So this was the infamous chimera in person,” said Obsidian. “That was very… efficient of you.”
“We don’t have the time to deal with him too,” replied Twilight. “He can monologue at somepony else, some other time.”
“Speaking of time…” said Rainbow Dash.
“There’s no way firing the Elements at full power wasn’t visible all the way to Ponyville,” said Aurora. “We’ve just lost our element of surprise.”
“It’s time we get out of here,” said Applejack.
“But what about Deception?” asked Rarity, finally recovering enough to speak.
“We’ll never find her in time,” said Obsidian. “And the vines seem to have wrecked her lab enough without our help. I say it’s time to retreat. Today’s mission is a failure, let’s not make it worse by suffering losses.”
Everypony nodded, and started running, back the way they came. Now with no enemies in sight, it was easier to navigate the tunnels at a gallop. They’d almost reached the stairs up, when another vine burst from the wall, aiming at Pinkie Pie.
“Hey!” shouted Rainbow Dash, leaping over her friend to crush the offending plant. “They’re growing back! I thought they’d be gone with Discord.”
“They were made to stay when he was gone!” shouted Twilight, galloping on. They reached the stairs, and then ran up, the sound of cracking stone following them. Evidently the plundervines were growing back, and very quickly.
“Do you think they’ll follow us?” asked Rarity, as they reached the second flight of stairs.
“Unlikely,” replied Obsidian, “They don’t seem to target us specifically, and you six have done a good job sealing Discord; I don’t even feel the stone when I’m not focused.”
“So, now we only need to get far away from them and out of the dungeon, and we should be able to teleport out -” Twilight projected a shield in front of herself, two blasts of magic bouncing off it. They were now on the ground floor of the castle, and the shots came from unicorn guards barring their path outside.
Twilight pushed, sending the half-sphere of force flying forward, knocking down the two unicorns in her way, and sending them out through the front door. She followed, the rest of the group in her wake.
It was dark outside; it seemed sealing Discord had jutted the sky a little, pushing it towards the night. The main courtyard was filled with over a hundred ponies. About half of them were guards. The rest seemed to be courtiers, servants, and even some ponies from the streets outside the castle; Twilight vaguely recognised some of them. They were all armed, the guards with their weapons, the others with whatever they could find - kitchen knives, hammers or gardening tools. Everypony looked at the Elements, and in a moment, angry shouts filled the courtyard: “Murderers! Monsters! Traitors!”
“What’s going on?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“They think we’re evil,” whispered Fluttershy from behind her. “They’re scared… they’re all scared out of their wits. But they are even more angry.”
***
Pierce looked into the corridor, listening intently. The whole lab echoed with cracking stone, as if the whole complex were in danger of collapsing. But he was looking for a different sound. Shaking his head to get some dust and custard off his ears, he listened again. There it was, a faint sound of hooves on the stone floor. As quickly as he could, he ran in that direction. He heard a scream just before passing the last corner: Bluebonnet was there, cornered by a vine with a fly trap jaw. Pierce reached under his cloak for a pair of knives. He had already used up all of the special darts from the lab, and his normal poisoned needles didn’t have much of an effect on these plants.
One knife flew at the jaw. It narrowly missed, the magic interference affecting Pierce’s aim, and bounced harmlessly off the wall, but got the monster’s attention before it could strike at its prey. The other however, found its mark, the magically sharpened steel cutting the vine where it emerged from the wall, the stone around the plant acting like a chopping block.
The vine spun to lash out at him. Pierce charged forward, skidding on the stones to slide under the jaw as it snapped at him, holding his breath when the plant exhaled a cloud of foul gas. He continued his movement until he reached the base of the plant, and then kicked, his whole weight striking the handle of his knife embedded in the vine.
The stem broke, and the vine fell to the floor, thrashing. Pierce stomped on it several times to make sure, and then recovered his knives. “Are you okay?” he asked Bluebonnet.
Bluebonnet took a deep breath to calm herself. “I… I think I am. What’s happened?”
“That blast passing through the walls, that was the Elements of Harmony. There is no doubt about it,” said Pierce. “Any idea what they used them on? I heard them backtracking, but had no means to engage.”
“I don’t know,” said Bluebonnet. “Unless we’re really lucky, and they ran into Discord. I think he was what the vines were looking for in the containment area.”
“Let’s go and find out,” said Pierce. “We need to find Dr. Stone.”
He run towards the lab where they had been working when the alarm started. When he reached the place, he nearly lost his lunch. Gesturing for Bluebonnet to stay in the doorway, he slowly walked through the room, careful not to step into any of the pools of blood.
“Are these… constructs? Spare bodies? I have no idea if the real one is among them,” he said, walking through the room and into the pod chamber ahead.
“I don’t know either,” said Bluebonnet, doing her best to keep her eyes level and focused on Pierce. “These were made to look just like her. And I’ve never seen her die before."
There was a click, and one of the empty pods in the chamber rose, revealing a secret tunnel. Dr. Stone ran out of it, a syringe in her teeth.
“Her a am,” she slurred through the object in her mouth. She nodded her head at Pierce, who took the syringe from her. “I think I’ve figured out the proper formula,” she continued. “But we need to deliver it to the main root system, otherwise it will only kill a part of the plant.”
“So, what do we do?” asked Pierce.
“The Elements pushed the vines back for now,” said Dr. Stone. “They’re growing back now, but some of the bigger cracks could still get us access. Follow me,” she finished, taking off towards what used to be the high security containment area.
When they got there, it became obvious that Dr. Stone’s instinct had proven true; white the rest of the facility had cracks in the walls, the containment area was half-collapsed, a five foot wide chasm open through the floor, as if from an earthquake. Bluebonnet looked worriedly at the cracked ceiling above them. Dr. Stone meanwhile, stood at the edge, and looked straight down.
“Light,” she commanded.
Pierce reached to his bandolier, and produced a small ball, like an egg. When he twisted the top half, the whole thing began shining brightly. He dropped it into the chasm, and looked. The inside of the hole was moving, vines twisting, and stretching, crawling along the walls back into the chamber.
“We don’t have much time,” said Dr. Stone. “Do you see the thick one at the very bottom?”
“I do,” said Pierce. “But that’s an impossible shot. Too many moving vines in the way.”
Dr. Stone reached under her coat, and passed Pierce three more syringes. “It’s the fast acting version we used earlier,” she said.
Pierce took a deep breath, and looked down again. The light ball had fallen all the way to the bottom, marking the spot he wanted to reach, its light flickering on and off as the moving vines got in the way.
I can get rid of three vines, he thought, and by how fast they’re growing, only for several seconds. I’ll only get one shot at this…
***
“What do we do?” asked Rarity, looking around. She sent a tendril of magic towards Twilight, who covered her whole team with a bubble of magic.
Obsidian closed his eyes, and his staff glowed. “We’re still inside wards,” he said. “They must have added some new ones since last time.”
A blast of unicorn magic hit the barrier, and as if it were a signal, the crowd attacked, dozens of shots coming from all directions. Those who had no access to magic were flinging spears, or improvised weapons. Those who had none were flinging insults.
“Fluttershy?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Can you do something about them? We can’t fight them, and we need to get out… or stop them long enough for Obsidian to get around this blocking spell.”
Fluttershy looked around with her pupilless, pink eyes. “There’s an awful lot of them,” she sighed. "I'l see what I can do.”
She inhaled purposefully, and then exhaled slowly. The hail of projectiles stopped, and for a moment silence fell over the courtyard. It didn’t last. While no further attacks came, the silence turned into an angry murmur, then shouts again.
“This is no Kindness at all!” shouted one of the pegasi officers. “Fight through her influence, and attack! For Celestia! For Luna!”
More shouts followed. Nopony was able to attack, but sweat started appearing on Fluttershy’s face.
“We better keep moving,” said Obsidian.
They tried to, but found the ponies surrounding the barrier rush to stop them, forming a living wall of stomping hooves and beating wings, the shield stopping inches from pushing through them.
“It’s not fair!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, looking for a way out. “Can’t they see we’re on their side?”
“They can’t,” said Obsidian. “It’s a drawback of herd mentality. They’re making each other angry.” His voice was calm, but his stance betrayed growing tension. He kept looking at the sky beyond the angry crowd.
“You monsters!” screamed some young mare dressed in a maid outfit, tears in her eyes.
“Murderers! Traitors!” shouted some guard, visibly struggling against the power that prevented him from direct violence.
“How could you!?”
“You’re not ponies! You’re monsters!”
“Go away and never come back!”
“I wish you disappeared!”
“I wish you were never born!”
“It’s not true… we aren’t…” stammered Fluttershy. Her power held fast, but tears appeared in the corners of her eyes.
“It’s not true!” shouted back Rainbow Dash. “Won’t you listen for a moment!?”
“It’s no use!” shouted Aurora. “We need to get past them somehow.” She looked around, but of all the ponies inside the shield, only Obsidian remained calm. The Elements were being pushed back, trembling, ears going flat, as if trying to block out the voices.
“All those deaths because of YOU!” shouted some old mare from behind the first line.
“It’s not like that,” replied Applejack, grinding her teeth. “It’s… Your Princesses! THEY’RE MONSTERS IN DISGUISE! THEY ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! It’s them who are the villains!”
The voiced echoed around the courtyard, louder than all the crowd combined. There was deathly silence after that.
And then screams. The wall of angry ponies turned into a disorganised mass, neighing, running in panic, tripping over each other. Some just slumped where they had stood, sobbing helplessly, others tried to escape to safety, but didn’t seem to have an idea where to.
“Well, that could have used some context,” said Obsidian with a sneer.
Applejack looked around in shock. “I… I didn’t want to… I didn’t want that.”
“It has cleared us the way,” said Obsidian. “Let’s get out of here while there is still time.
There was a sound of breaking glass somewhere, and fire appeared in one of the palace windows.
“We can’t just leave it like this,” said Applejack firmly.
There were more shouts from the streets. It seemed some of the ponies had run out through the front gate. Twilight looked around, trying to get the grip of the situation. “We need to stop the panic from spreading, or it will be a disaster. Fluttershy, can you calm them down?”
“I… I don’t think I can,” said Fluttershy. “I could reach all the ponies in the courtyard, but I don’t know where the others are.”
“I assure you, you could, with some more practice,” said Obsidian.
“We don’t have time for practice,” said Rainbow Dash.
Twilight bit her lip, looking around frantically. “What to do, what to do? We can't just live this chaos behind, or we really will be the bad guys here.” She turned around, taking in the situation. "we need something to calm them down. Or something to give them direction. Something familiar they can all grab onto."
“I know!” she suddenly exclaimed. “We can raise the sun!”
“What?” Obsidian was genuinely surprised.
“Raise the sun,” repeated Twilight. “It won’t be as bad with the sun in the sky. And you said we’re much stronger than Celestia.”
“We don’t have time for that!” growled Obsidian.
“We have no choice,” said Fluttershy, with firmness that was unlike her.
“But let’s be quick about it,” added Rarity. “We really don’t have much time.”
“Yea, there’s no telling how much longer the Shattered will be busy with those vines,” said Pinkie Pie.
“Everypony, join me,” said Twilight, bracing herself, the others quickly forming up around her.
The sensation came rapidly. One moment she was connected to her friends, the Elements glowing together, filling her with power. The next, something was there, on the other end of the spell, something unbelievably distant, and unbelievably huge. Twilight almost broke contact for fear of being crushed. She remembered the vision seen in the Amaranthine, of the uncaring goddess, always on the move, her innumerable hooves trampling a path through the skies. Um… hello… she tried to say in her mind, I don’t know if you hear me… but we’d like to have the day now, please.
Twilight gasped, her mind overwhelmed with a sensation of what she could only guess was a nod. Then dawn broke over Canterlot. Twilight broke the spell, observing the results of her actions. There were still frightened ponies running, but without the stumbling in the dark, they had one less reason to panic; a new day started, and some of the ponies were stopping in their tracks to try to understand what had just happened. Until today, it would be their princess who would bring them the light, but now, with Applejack’s revelation, what were they to think of it?
“It seems to be working,” said Fluttershy.
“You have much more power than needed for that,” commented Obsidian. “I could feel you almost make contact with her.”
“Aaaaaand we’ve just ran out of time,” said Pinkie Pie, looking up.
There were three winged figures in the sky above the courtyard; Princess Luna, Spitfire, and a huge, black, red-armored pegasus, who could only be the newest face of Hate.
Luna was the first to descend, a halo of lightning forming around her. She looked tired, her coat bearing the signs of a recent battle, but her moves were as precise as ever, as she prepared for the fight.
“EVERYPONY!” she shouted, her voice reverberating around the courtyard, “THIS IS OUR BATTLE ALONE TO FIGHT! GET TO SAFETY AT ONCE!”
The ponies that were still in the courtyard did start to ran away, but not the way she had expected. As she watched, some of the ponies turned towards her, fear and revulsion on their faces.
“What is going on?” she asked nervously.
A maid who had got stuck in the courtyard when the crowd panicked, fell backwards, trying to get away from the descending alicorn. “Don’t… don’t come any closer!” she shouted panically.
Luna stared at her, then the other ponies, the Elements, and finally Obsidian. Her eyes widened as understanding of the situation hit her. “What… have you done?” she gasped.
“What you deserve, MURDERER!” screamed Twilight. A blazing bolt of white light shot from her gem, skidded off a wedge of lightning Luna projected to shield herself, sending her spinning sideways, and then flew into the sky, turning some unlucky morning cloud into fine mist.
The next second Twilight saw Hate flying at her like a cannonball. She was about to project a shield, hoping it would be strong enough to stop him, when something yellow flew in front of her - Fluttershy spread her wings wide, staring down the Shattered.
Twilight flinched away instinctively - awakened bearer or not, she fully expected her friend to die there and then. When the expected splatter of blood didn’t hit her, she opened her eyes to find Fluttershy unharmed. Then there was a deafening crash behind them - Hate had veered off course, missed Fluttershy, and plowed through the base of one of the castle towers. The tall spire was now toppling like a felled tree, directly towards Twilight and her friends. They scattered to avoid it. Then the first of Spitfire’s explosions hit the courtyard. Windows shattered, and the last of the castle staff ran for cover, while the combatants shielded themselves how they could.
Luna was the next to strike, shooting a bolt of lightning before the dust even cleared. It went straight for Twilight, but Obsidian’s staff flew in its way, grounding the charge harmlessly. Pinkie Pie hopped into the air, throwing two custard pies; one narrowly missing Luna, the other hitting Hate straight in the face, just as he burst from the pile of rubble he had created.
He pounced towards her, the horseshoe that had been inside the pie dangling on his faceplate for a moment before sliding off. He fell short, but as he landed, he stomped the ground, causing bits of rubble to shoot into the air, forcing Pinkie into a desperate dodge. “I don’t need to see you!” he growled. He then turned and bucked, forcing the charging Applejack back in a clash that blew the rest of the dust away.
Twilight used the time Obsidian had bought her to project a proper armor, and strike again. She felt her power surge, and she knew Rarity was behind her, boosting her magic. Rainbow Dash and Aurora flew by, speeding through the flames of another explosion, as they went for Spitfire.
“How can you both use it?” she exclaimed, dodging in the air, the wind around her pushing her attackers aside.
Dash took the brunt of the wind blast, and pushed back, giving just enough free air for Aurora to slip through. The white pegasus flew past Spitfire, leaving a long gash along the side of her barrel with the blade of force extended from her wing. “Sharing is caring, you sow!” she shouted with a grin. Dash just stared at her. Then she had to shield herself with her own gust of wind, as Spitfire tried to fill her lungs with poison.
“What do we do!?” shouted Twilight towards Obsidian. She was sending shot after shot at Luna, but only managed to blow off chunks of the buildings across the yard, as the alicorn dodged or deflected incoming spells. Obsidian sent his staff to intercept another lightning, then jumped to the air, the cobblestones under his hooves exploding as Hate flew low through the place where he had stood.
“I can’t fight him in the air!” shouted Applejack.
“Just keep him busy!” shouted back Obsidian, landing, and somehow rolling back to his hooves in one fluid motion. He tried to say something more, but his voice was lost in another explosion.
Twilight’s eyes darted left and right, as she tried to keep Luna and Hate in her view at the same time. It looked like Pinkie had at least managed to get Hate’s attention. The giant pegasus seemed oblivious to the stones bucked at him by Applejack, letting them shatter uselessly against him, as he kept flying in straight lines around the battlefield, swooping low whenever there was a chance to catch anypony by surprise; he would have squashed Rarity if Twilight hadn’t teleported her out of the way, and then he went after Obsidian again. But when Pinkie Pie worked her magic, a weird, shaky dance that apparently involved painting a target over her cutie mark, he went straight at her.
That’s where things stopped going to plan. She tried slamming the door in his face - it appeared out of nowhere in front of him, but its magic weren’t nearly strong enough; Pinkie was flung away in a shower of splinters, hit a wall, bounced off, and disappeared behind the rubble from the collapsed tower. “I’m alive!” she called from behind her cover, just as Applejack used the opportunity to clash with Hate again.
Meanwhile, Twilight was doing her best not to get fried. Teleporting Rarity had saved her, but left Twilight herself exposed, and worse, briefly denied the magical boost from Generosity. Luna wasn’t going to waste the opening, shooting a continuous stream of lightning that left Twilight blinded and holding for dear life, her hastily erected magical defenses crumbling around her.
Just as her shield was about to collapse, the pressure suddenly disappeared. Twilight found herself in a solid pink bubble of energy, the lightning pushed away from her. She also felt a pleasant warmth from the new barrier, quite unlike the scorching heat she had felt seconds before; it seemed to relax her, and banish the pain, and when she chanced a look down on her front legs, she could see her coat smoothen, and some of the cuts start to close. She didn’t dare turn away from Luna, but she knew without looking that Fluttershy was now standing behind her.
Firing another blast at Luna, Twilight tried to get a general picture of the situation. Rarity was back in action, now supporting Obsidian who apparently switched from blocking Luna to helping Dash and Aurora fight Spitfire. Makes sense, thought Twilight. She’s the least durable of the three. The three pegasi were zipping around the castle grounds like swifts, exchanging blasts that knocked off balconies and blasted the tower tops to bits as they dodged around them trying to get into the enemy’s blind spot.
There were more ponies in the air beside them. Twilight saw four Canterlot guards rise into the air around Luna. At first she prepared to knock them about with another spell, but then she realised that they weren’t focusing on her at all. “No! Don’t!” she screamed, but it was too late. The four pegasi charged at Luna from behind. The princess didn’t turn, but her face became an image of fury; there was a flash of lightning, and the four guards fell to the ground, charred and lifeless, their natural resistance to lightning powerless to save them from the Shattered’s power.
Luna shot again, then again. Some shots aimed at Twilight and Fluttershy, crashing against their new barrier, others striking seemingly randomly around the courtyard. What is she doing? thought Twilight. The Shattered don’t do ‘random’. When the answer struck her, she gasped with horror. “She’s targeting ponies hiding among the rubble!”
Luna met her gaze, and her expression turned from rage to smug superiority. “What did you expect, turning ponies into traitors!?” she shouted. “That I’d be as merciful as my sister!? The time for mercy is over!”
“Below!” yelled Pinkie Pie.
At that moment Luna exploded with white light. Everything became a blur of pulsing red circles. Twilight had enough sense to heed Pinkie’s warning; she teleported blind some six feet ahead. She heard the ground exploding behind her. She quickly cast a spell Obsidian had taught her during training, expanding her perception; she was still blind, but she could feel the tall stone spike rising from the ground where she had stood. There were more of those around. Twilight felt Rarity lifted into the air - the spike had missed her vitals, but ripped through the side of her armor, catching the metal and pushing her up off the ground. And now there was an invisible line of not-magic stretching towards her.
“Rarity!” shouted Applejack somewhere. Twilight sent a spell of her own towards her trapped friend, knowing as she did that she would be too late. Somepony else was faster though; Rainbow Dash swooped in, smashing the tip of the spike and pushing Rarity out of the explosion.
“Dash!” shouted Twilight. The pegasus crash-landed, and rolled to a halt, the tips of her blue feathers burning. A bubble of pink magic enveloped her before anypony could deal a finishing blow.
“And now for you,” said Spitfire, turning around looking for Aurora. However, the white pegasus was nowhere to be seen, only Obsidian continuing his attack, sending a barrage of low power shots at her.
An explosion of rubble announced that Pinkie had managed to set Hate up for another kick from Applejack, but the Shattered simply flew straight through the pile he collided with, with no visible damage beyond a new dent on his armor.
Twilight resumed her bombardment of Luna, this time using telekinesis to pelt her with blocks of broken masonry, attracting her attention, and forcing her to defend herself at least for a moment.
“How does he keep doing that!?” shouted Applejack in frustration, “That was a clean hit!”
“Guess,” sneered Hate, bucking a large piece of a broken wall at her, forcing her to defend by kicking it into pieces. “You may have powerful magic-” He lunged forward through the dust, accelerating from standing still to cannonball speed in the space of a breath. This time it was Applejack who was sent flying, pieces of armor falling off, but she blocked enough of the impact to roll with the rest and recover, armor plates of orange magic patching the gaps in her protections. “-but you’ll never match me in a brawl, see?” grinned Hate.
Meanwhile Twilight fully recovered her sight, and realised that Luna wasn’t exactly where she appeared. Through some trick of light she was moving her image, which explained why all of Twilight’s initial attacks had missed - it was the perception spell that let her find her target. Now, that the attacks were more precise, Luna had switched from lightning to a magical force shield, better suited for blocking solid projectiles. Then she teleported above Twilight, firing a powerful beam straight down. It partially penetrated her barrier, and Twilight screamed with pain, as it left a red-hot spot on her metal shoulder pad. Twilight teleported away, shielding herself again, this time with a reflective barrier - the next beam strained it, but bounced off.
We need to get out of here, she thought, screaming in pain again, as she ripped the hot metal off her shoulder. Wait, there was no resistance when I teleported. We must have broken the wards. She deflected another shot, this time purposefully back at Luna. The alicorn dissipated the beam, and shot another one, this time at Rarity. Luckily, Rarity remembered her training and her shield absorbed the shot.
Something zipped in Twilight’s peripheral vision. Hate slammed into her shield from the side, breaking it with one blow. Twilight was sent spinning through the air flying towards the building opposite the palace. She saw, with horrible clarity, the bricks of the approaching wall. Instinctively, she teleported; she was still hurtling through the air, but now away from the wall, the spells on her armor dissolving one by one as she hit the ground and kept rolling, finally coming to a painful stop in a pile of rubble behind the collapsed tower.
The world kept spinning. Twilight knew she was sprawled on her back, hooves in the air, but she couldn’t catch enough of a breath to roll over and get up. Her ears were ringing, her ribs protested to every move, and she now had a coppery taste in her mouth.
Spitfire was above her, looking down on her. Their eyes met, and Twilight knew that whatever was coming, she wouldn’t be fast enough to dodge it. Why was there aurora borealis above her?
The shockwave hit, taking the rest of her breath away. She saw Aurora fly by, making an impossible turn just before she would hit the cobbled courtyard. Spitfire was pushed aside before she could strike, the air around her in a visible swirl as she used her powers to keep herself from spiralling out of control. While this kept her from crashing, it held her in one spot for a precious second.
Obsidian’s staff flew at her, wreathed in a double magical aura of Obsidian’s blue and Rarity’s purple. It struck the pegasus in the side below the left wing, dislocating the joint and deforming the armor; then it discharged its power in a magical explosion, sending Spitfire flying out of sight, her wing nearly torn off.
Twilight closed her eyes. She would live, at least for a second. She quickly projected a barrier, a crude, simple spell that enclosed her in a solid, opaque bubble of purple while she recovered enough to get back on her feet. Two left, she thought, but we can’t keep at it much longer.
Throwing on just the most basic armor spell, she weakened her bubble enough to see through it. She found the barrier half buried in rubble already, the battle not stopping during the couple seconds she needed to catch her breath. She teleported across the yard to get a better view of the situation. Applejack and Pinkie were still struggling with Hate, keeping him busy, but unable to deal a decisive blow, one for lack of flight, the other - direct attack power. Meanwhile, the rest were facing Luna; Dash was too injured to fly, but kept fighting, shooting beams from her focus while Fluttershy was doing what she could to protect everypony, and Obsidian alternated between attacking Luna and thwarting her counters. Rarity was behind, still backing Obsidian. Twilight looked around for Aurora, and was scared for her fate for a moment, but then noticed her standing behind Fluttershy, protected by her barrier. She was holding one wing pressed to her body, and had a pained expression on her muzzle; also, she was no longer glowing, her power apparently returned to Dash.
“You know you can’t win this!” called Luna, dodging a pair of shots from Obsidian and Dash, while firing some of her own - It seemed Obsidian had used some metal from broken window frames for make in improvised fence, enchanted to ground Luna’s lightning.
“We can. and we will!” shouted back Dash.
“It’s you who can’t win!” shouted Aurora from her covered position. “We’ve already exposed you! Now we’ll get Aquila back, and then we’ll get rid of you lot for good!”
“Aquila?” Luna made a mock pout, a gesture that delayed her just enough to almost get her hit - she saved herself by projecting a reflective barrier that bounced the two incoming shots back towards the castle, while she herself was launched backwards. “You mean the brat you sealed away along with me?" Luna grinned vengefully. “She was delicious.”
Aurora trembled. So did Fluttershy. Even Dash and Obsidian ceased firing for a moment.
“What did you say!?” asked Aurora angrily.
Luna kept grinning. “What did you think was going to happen when you put us both in the belly of a goddess for a thousand years? There was nothing there, no magic or pattern, nothing but us two and our wills. Except I was an immortal warrior, thousands of years old, and she was a pathetic little filly. There is NOTHING left of her, but the power that is now mine!”
Aurora’s scream of desperate disbelief was lost in the noise of colliding powers, as Dash and Obsidian fired their spells together. Luna deflected Rainbow’s shot with a wedge of lightning. Obsidian’s attack, charged over several seconds, was too strong to block, but Luna got out of the way - it peeled her right cheek to the muscle, and took some of her mane off, but she didn’t even stop grinning, as she bombarded their shields with rapid-fire beams.
“You murdered her!” she shouted. “You got her killed with your self-righteous, stupid rebellion, just like all the other ponies you claimed to care about!”
“STOP GLOATING!” roared Twilight, firing her own spell. She had been charging it since the exchange began, and she could feel the tiara turning painfully hot on her forehead. She couldn’t see herself, or anything but her target, but a part of her mind knew that her eyes had to be blazing white now. The rest of her didn’t care. Luna saw the spell coming, but was too late to teleport, and most of her defenses were already committed to other threats. The blast hit her in the barrel below the wing, and launched her into the front of the palace, an explosion of debris and crashing sounds indicating as she pierced through wall after wall, finally disappearing from sight.
The battlefield seemed to freeze; suddenly there was just one opponent left. Everypony looked in Hate’s direction, just in time to see him rebound off a wall, fly past Applejack, and into Pinkie, finally catching the pink pony off guard. Pinkie seemed to be doing the hula at that moment - the powerful headbutt sent her flying in a trail of loose fruit and discarded leaves, smashing her into the tower on the other side of the yard.
“Pinkie!” shouted Rainbow Dash in horror. Everypony followed her gaze, including Hate himself, a predatory grin visible through his busted face plate - all except Obsidian, who struck the ground with his staff, the spell causing the pavement underneath Hate to erupt, bursting into a muddy tentacle that managed to snag the pegasus’ leg before he could take to the air again. Hate shot up anyway. The earth couldn’t hold him, but it could slow him down; before he could fully break free, Applejack pounced at him, landing on his back, and sending him crashing back to earth. Obsidian wasted no time, turning the extra power he received from Rarity into spell after spell, this time not shots, but strands of energy that wrapped around Hate, tying him down tighter and tighter.
“Pinkie…” gasped Twilight. She tried to teleport towards her friend, but her powers failed her, her stamina spent of spectacular feats of magic she had performed. She could see her friends running towards the tower, Fluttershy the fastest of them. Twilight stumbled after them, trying to stay upright.
She saw movement ahead, a dusty pink mane. Pinkie stumbled through the rubble in a daze.
“Pinkie, you alright!?” shouted Dash.
Pinkie flashed him a crooked smile. “You...kiddin?” she slurred. “You ever played dodgeball with my sisters?” And then she swayed, and fell on her face.
Twilight tried to continue towards her, when she heard a loud crash behind her - Applejack was stomping on Hate, again and again, while Obsidian was keeping him tied in strands of magic. With Rarity having run towards Pinkie, he only had his power left to draw upon, but it seemed to be enough now that Applejack could land a clean hit, and start doing serious damage.
“No!” called Twilight, gasping for breath, “don’t… you’ll kill him!”
The two stopped, and stared at her with puzzled expressions.
“That’s the point,” said Obsidian.
“No…” repeated Twilight, stumbling towards them. “He’ll come back. You’ll just kill another pony.” She stopped, and inhaled deeply. “Luna was right, we can’t win today. We’re too tired to continue, or to seal any of them now. And we need to help Pinkie. Luna will be back here any minute. We need to get out of here, now!”
Obsidian and Applejack looked at each other, then at Hate, who was still conscious, and glaring angrily at them from underneath his bindings.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Obsidian.
They ran towards their friends, Twilight following the best she could, and once they were standing in a group, Obsidian started an emergency teleport spell, not even bothering with the circle.
Seconds later, the only one left in the courtyard was Hate, slowly rising to his hooves as his bindings dissolved, overpowered by his pattern aura. He had just enough time to stand straight, and spit out a broken tooth, when the whole front wall of the palace collapsed, covering everything in white dust.