BOOOM!
A blinding flash of light erupted in the center of the Canterlot Statue Garden, sending out a shockwave powerful enough to crack solid rock a mile away. Yet, despite the explosion’s power…none of the nearby buildings suffered a single scratch. Brilliant rays of raw magical energy exploded from the explosion’s core, searing a rainbow corona into the air. The corona itself rose into the sky like a hurricane of fire, shattering the storm’s iron grip on the sky. All of the clouds within half a mile of the explosion were immediately vaporized, ceasing to exist in a blink of an eye. The bright light of the moon glared down from the sky, no longer covered in clouds, its pale beams swathing the storm-drenched land below in a radiant glow of pure white.
The Masters of Harmony had arrived.
As the harsh moonlight faded into an ethereal shimmer around the six ponies who had appeared from nowhere in the garden, their opponents each recoiled in shock. No longer were they facing six normal, helpless ponies, the enemies that they had each faced before on their own…in front of them was an ensemble of gods, harnessing their full potential into one resolve that would not be broken. Each radiated an aura of pure magic, sending out ripples in the fabric of space and time, healing the broken land around them.
A sphere of deep forest-green magic flowed softly from the Element of Kindness like a gentle stream, soothing to the eye and to the soul. Blades of emerald grass rose from the muddied ground all around her, restoring life to the dead earth.
Next to her, fiery crimson light spewed out of the Element of Loyalty, punishing its onlookers with a blinding light that scarred their vision. Fire licked the ground beneath her hooves, causing all and any of the weeds that had grown up in the mud to disintegrate into so many piles of ash.
By her side stood the Element of Generosity, a deep azure glow shimmering around her. Indigo rays of light shone into the air like radiant diamonds, gracing the tense atmosphere with an aura of beauty. Gorgeous flowers rose up beneath her hooves, their rainbow petals glistening in the moonlight.
Vibrating and flickering alongside her was the essence of the Element of Laughter, her body encompassing all dimensions and realms in the plane of reality. Cyan-blue bursts of energy popped and crackled in and out of existence around her, creating an ever-changing field of sparkling magic. One simple look at it would have been enough to stretch an uncontainable smile across the face of any bystander who had looked on.
Finally, the Element of Honesty stood at the end of the line, her hooves shimmering with magical energy. A soothing aura of orange magic emanated from her, sending out a constant flow of magical energy that poured into the open air like a babbling creek. Its calming sounds and simplistic presence spread an aura that dried the mud-drenched earth, healing the broken land.
At the front of the group, all five auras were combined into one sphere of violet magic. It shone out across the garden, out over Canterlot Mountain, and onto the whole nation of Equestria like a beautiful sunset after a rainy day, emitting rays of pure violet light that reached out into the sky. Each ray of light reflected off of the all of the remaining clouds, filling them with pure light that exploded out in all spectrums of color, filling the sky with shining rainbows. The clouds then faded into nothingness, flickering and disappearing, leaving only an array of beautiful stars upon the curtain of the night sky, sparkling and twinkling in the sea of black despite the all-consuming moonlight.
Impressive. It’s a good thing that we have the only force that can match them, mused Lula, sporting a cocky grin as she approached her antithesis embodied in physical form. “Twilight Sparkle. It’s been too long…but the time has come for one final battle to settle between the two of us which is the most powerful being in Equestria.”
Drawing beside her a gigantic mace built of raw golden power, Lula asked, “Shall we?”
Twilight Sparkle’s horn glowed and a cascade of magic poured out of it like a tidal wave, splashing back off of the open air like a rock at shore and turning back to its master, swirling around her until it formed a dense yet translucent sphere of pure violet magic. Unimpressed, Lula took a swipe at the magical shield, swinging down her mace with all of her might upon Twilight’s head.
The mace shattered into a thousand pieces.
At the first sign of attack, the two groups charged into each other, not delaying for another second.
The garden of statues descended into an arena of chaos, flashes of blinding light exploding across the clearing as the magical powers of ponies and beasts alike clashed in a fight to end all fights. A sound erupted from the center of the clearing, the sound of a thousand spells and a hundred punches, the sound of the fabric of space and time being simultaneously sewed together and torn into shreds, unheard by every mortal pony in Equestria…save one.
From behind a cracked red window in a building in Canterlot halfway across town, one stallion smiled, paused a moment to shift a couple of pieces on his oddly decorated chessboard, and then continued to watch the show.
As soon as the midnight arena descended into chaos, Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and drew her mind into a state of relaxation.
She felt the magical energy flow out of her Element and into her mind and body. The thousands of sparks of magic poured into her veins like a river of fire; it cascaded in an unstoppable wave, flooding her body with raw energy. Twilight took a deep breath and relaxed, letting images of her friends fly past her eyelids; her rapid heartbeat slowed down to a calming, rhythmic pulse. The magic pouring from her Element was infinite, it was boundless; all of it was entering the Wielder of the Element of Magic at a faster and faster rate.
Twilight opened her eyes to see her vision tinted pure violet. The protective sphere of energy surrounding her had expanded and duplicated, forming seven layers of defensive magic. Her eyes glowing brilliant white, she looked down and noticed that her skin was also glowing with a faint purple light, pulsating with her heartbeat. Tiny wisps of steam came off of it as her skin began to absorb more power than it could handle.
She closed her eyes again, her mind slipping into the abyss of power as she became slowly more tired. Tiny flakes of skin peeled off of her body and atomized into shards of energy.
One last sight greeted her vision before everything descended into black. A gray ball of matter, and a note:
For when you are ready:
Twilight, wake up. If you don’t stop the flow of power into your body, you will die. I know you want to defeat Lula, and I know that this is your first taste of such pure power. Power is a tough temptation to fight.
But that amount of power is simply illogical.
Twilight’s eyes snapped open, and reaching out with her mental faculties she closed the valve of raw power flowing into her body. Her skin stopped steaming, and several magic spells dispensed unconsciously from her horn, floating to the areas of damaged skin and healing them wherever they had disintegrated.
She shook her head and looked around, drawing her vision up to a higher plane and reaching out with her senses. Her magic had fought against Lula with a life of its own, not only blocking her enemy’s attacks but responding with bolts of energy. Both of them had risen in their duel, floating higher and higher into the air; they could no longer see the individual figures in the Statue Garden so far below them.
Twilight took back control of her own magic, stepping back into her senses and feeling the instinctual drives recede from her actions. She withdrew some of the magic from her power-sphere, storing it safely in the Element of Magic. Even as her sphere vibrated upon impact from one of Lula’s deadly magical weapons, Twilight had one thought:
Never again.
KRAC-KOOOOOOOM!!!
A bolt of brilliant lightning shook the clearing, causing Rainbow Dash to wince despite her magically heightened physical strength. She jerked up her head towards the source and took in the sight of Nightmare Moon’s mane rising into the air, swirling like an indigo hurricane against the midnight sky. Nightmare Moon swept the battlefield with her piercing gaze; her eyes were glowing as bright as her Element as she looked for an opening to make her next attack. Her eyes locked on Fluttershy, whose timid form snuck through the moonlit garden, dodging magic projectiles left and right.
Zap one hair on her mane; I dare you…fumed Dash, feeling the magical energy course like liquid fire through her veins. She shoved her hooves off of the ground, rippling the mud with sheer force and creating an explosion of illusory red fire against her takeoff point. Nightmare Moon scarcely had time to turn her head before Rainbow smashed into her from the side, knocking them both out of the air and onto the ground. The glimmering indigo cloud faded back into its master’s mane, no longer fizzling with electricity.
The Night Mare rose swiftly off of the ground, drawing up to her full height and glaring at Rainbow Dash. Concentrating on her magic, she wove a thousand fibers of raw power into a single weapon which floated at her side a black sword as dark as the midnight sky. Rainbow barely rolled out of the way before the sword came slashing down in the space where her neck had previously occupied.
Jumping to her hooves, Rainbow shot into the air, her wings flapping like never before to get out of the range of the Night Mare’s blade. As quickly as she had risen she flew back towards her target, concentrating on her wing muscles, leaning against the wind to perform a simple stunt she had done a dozen times. Rainbow called upon her speed and blasted forward, feeling the intense forces of momentum tugging on her insides as she bent her body up and around, up and around again, spinning in a tight circle around the upright body of Nightmare Moon.
The Goddess of the Night looked up in terror as a crimson rainbow swirled around her, faster than any tornado, uprooting the very earth beneath her hooves and sending it whirling around her head in dizzying circles. Tiny rocks and pellets of earth assaulted her from all sides, making it impossible to move. She tried to swat them away with her sword, but there were simply too many targets to destroy. She squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on her horn to try and form a barrier of power against the deadly assault.
Suddenly, in this fleeting moment of fear…a memory began to play back against her closed eyelids.
A brilliant rainbow tornado of magical energy swirled around her body, trapping her within. Reaching out with her senses, Nightmare Moon could feel the raw magical energy of the Elements of Harmony around her, turned into a force of destruction by its cruel wielders. It descended on her like an angry swarm, like an unstoppable inferno, pushing and squeezing her back into Luna’s mind, burning with the fiery pain of a thousand suns…
“GAH!” Shouting the memories into submission, Nightmare Moon reclaimed control of her mind and snapped it back into the present, the here and now. She faded into a sparkling mist of indigo magic; the cloud was sucked up into the sky and out of Rainbow’s trap.
Her concentration absolute, Rainbow Dash almost missed the sight of a cloud of purple smoke fleeing to the South, towards the heart of the Everfree Forest. Rainbow pushed off against the powerful forces of the whirling gale, carrying her momentum and careening off towards the Everfree Forest to follow her target.
A slight twinge nagged at the back of her mind, cooling the liquid fire which had coursed through her veins at the one simple thought which seized her mind:
Rainbow Dash was now completely and utterly alone.
A deadly rain of black skulls burst against the ground all around Pinkie Pie, falling towards the earth at an alarming rate and suddenly turning back into wisps of black smoke as they inevitably missed their intended target. She jumped from spot to spot atop the broken earth, warping space, appearing and disappearing like so many flashes of light. Her adversary was nowhere to be seen, having created a thick cloud of shadows and hidden himself behind the veil of darkness. Bursts of smoke trailed out of the low-lying storm cloud as an uncountable number of invisible projectiles loosed from the attacker’s mind.
Pinkie jumped out of nowhere and leaped into the dark cloud, throwing a ball of light into its center. The miniature sun spewed out a thousand blinding rays of light, searing the darkness with white fire, vaporizing the cloud of shadows.
Its master was forcibly ejected, spat out onto the ground with enough force to crack the bones of an average pony. A deafening CLANG resounded right below the Shadow’s ear as his clunky metal armor collided with the ground, visibly shuddering as it absorbed the majority of his impact.
Jumping onto his hooves with surprising speed, the Shadow rushed to meet his enemy, unsheathing a set of narrow metal spikes from inside of his front hoof. He slashed down towards Pinkie, tearing four scars in the air as his knife-like claws slashed through it, draining out all of its color and its life. Every muscle in Pinkie’s body tensed, compressing like a coiled spring as she watched the shining chrome daggers rapidly approach her ever-beating heart.
At the last possible second she released all of her pent-up energy, shoving off of the ground with all of her might and shooting up into the air. In one fluid motion, Pinkie curled her body and spun around in a somersault, landing on all four hooves behind the Shadow, poised to attack. From right behind nowhere Pinkie pulled out her trademark party cannon, pointing it right at the Shadow’s back and holding her hoof a millimeter over the trigger button.
He whipped around, furious, fire dancing in his crimson eyes. Swinging his hoof as he whirled around, the Shadow’s dark claw slashed right through…
…a huge cloud of projectile streamers fired directly at his face. The cloud caught him off guard, temporarily blinding him; the fire in his eyes was extinguished as he flinched, blinking for the first time since Pinkie had seen him. A menacing growl reverberated from deep in the Shadow’s throat; his glaring eyes did not once move from Pinkie’s face as his metallic horn began to pour out black smoke. The powerful magic lazily floated onto the ground, freezing the broken earth wherever it touched, and swirled around the deathly still body of the Shadow. His essence flickered in the shadow of the moonlight, becoming one with the darkness; as more and more black fog poured from his horn his body slowly conjoined with it until once again he became the shadow that he created.
Bum-bum.
As Pinkie stared into the Shadow’s empty eyes, her heart began to beat faster and faster, pulsing rapidly against her will and out of her control. Her eyes began to ache as her muscles strained, stretching wider and wider, staring into the void, falling, falling….
Bum-bum. Bum-bum.
The brilliant cyan glow of Pinkie’s Element died with the spark in her eyes. Her knees began to tremble; syncing with the shaking of the withered and dead grass that had died beneath her hooves, beneath her care. The pulsing rhythm that drove her forward escalated into a driving hurricane, spiraling out of her control, out of her will, out of her essence.
Bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum-
The white, sparkling aura of happiness, once pulsing with life, slowly began to die into a whisper in the wind, consumed by the shadow of the black fog.
BUM-BUM. BUM-BUM. BUM-BUM-
Her strength gone, Pinkie gave in and fell forward into the abyss. Her body atomized into a blue fog which was consumed by the black.
In a storm of whirling darkness, Pinkie Pie was sucked into the mind of the Shadow, consumed by Fear himself.
Rarity shielded her eyes with the glowing panel of magical energy as blinding flashes of light exploded all around her. Her eyes scanned the scene, noticing all of her friends battling against the enemies she recognized all too well. She looked at the Elements around their necks, finding that she somehow knew what all of them were—probably thanks to the Element she herself wore.
Rainbow Dash was a blur of red fire charging towards Nightmare Moon a couple feet away, leaving a crimson trail behind her. Rarity could sense their clashing Elements, Loyalty and Betrayal, two shades of lightning, two battling storms. Turning around she noticed her other friends all letting loose on their antitheses, Laughter fighting Fear, Magic fighting Power, Honesty battling against Deception. Yet, reaching out with all of her senses, she could feel the presence of all of the Elements of Disharmony…except one.
Her magic could sense all of the Elements…besides Greed.
Rarity closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and letting the energy flow between her body and mind, between her Element and its magical constructs—the Shield and Armor of Harmony. Threads of energy woven from the magic of her Element spread across the vicinity, taking in and filtering every blinding sight and deafening sound, searching for the sickly diamond embedded in her enemy’s pendant.
Then suddenly a tiny sound registered in her hearing—the snapping of a twig.
Rarity whirled around, expecting to see a deadly monster or cruel enemy wearing their pendant with a smirk on their face and green fire in their eyes, wielding their Element with pride, ready to fight to the death. Maybe one of the villains she’d faced in the past, such as Flim or Flam, or maybe somepony she’d never even met, obviously and unquestionably evil.
Instead, staring up at her with wide, shimmering eyes…was Spike.
His shoulders sagged down below his huge baby head, weighted down by the black necklace hanging from his neck. The green diamond clinging to his chest pulsed with the beating of his heart, glowing with the light of a raging fire—the very same fire which was absent from Spike’s adorable eyes. His body was motionless as he stared unblinking at Rarity; unspilt tears of sorrow made his eyes glisten in the moonlight. In a painfully slow, machine-like motion, his claw lifted up from his unscathed chest, pressing against the air as if it was a thick pane of glass separating the young dragon from his sworn enemy.
A tiny green spark shot out from his Element, and immediately Spike’s claw clenched into a fist. Flames shot from the ground beneath his feet, consuming him in a violent inferno of orange light. Rarity winced as Spike doubled over in pain, roaring in a voice that was not his own. She could see his silhouette through the fiery smoke; a harsh light reaching out of the Element of Greed like a demon’s claw repeatedly stabbed his innocent eyes, blinding him to who he was fighting. The horrific sounds were drowned out by Spike’s screams of pain.
Rarity looked on, petrified in horrific fascination as the inferno tightened its iron grip on her friend, swirling closer and closer, clinging to his scales and entering his body, filling him with dark power. His body tripled, quadrupled in size, growing to that of a full-size dragon, bringing back dark memories to Rarity’s mind of sitting in the claw of the very same heartless monster so long ago.
…heartless?
Letting out one roar that made the vibrated the atmosphere itself with sheer force, Spike stood up to his full height. Tasting the air with his tongue, he let out a grunt and stomped towards the mountainside, heading towards the extravagantly decorated city of Canterlot.
Her eyes narrowing, Rarity pressed her shield woven from Harmony’s magic against her side and ran after her mortal enemy, once her friend, fallen from grace. The Element of Generosity pulsated against her chest, glowing gently with a warm indigo aura.
On Rarity’s chest, where the Element held tightly and cast its light against her pearl-white coat…was the faintly glowing shape of a heart.
CRUNCH
Another armored Changeling went down beneath Applejack’s glowing hooves, a member of the elite guard Queen Chrysalis had brought with her in secret to the Canterlot Statue Garden. The Changeling slithered away, dragging itself away on its broken hooves to lick its wounds. It wouldn’t be hurting anypony for a long time.
Applejack’s vision was tinted with gold as her eyes darted around, searching for any more sneaky enemies creeping up behind her. Chrysalis had only brought a dozen-or-so Changelings to the battle, most of which Applejack had taken down with ease due to her magically enhanced strength. The Changeling Queen herself had hidden, preferring to let her minions do all of the dirty work, but now that Applejack had defeated them all, Chrysalis would have to reveal herself.
A blur of black and green swept past Applejack, followed by a rush of wind that spun her around, temporarily disorienting the Wielder of the Element of Honesty. Chrysalis and two of her personal guards had flown past her and rose up into the air, turning for a second pass. One glowing orange rope built from pure energy manifested in midair next to Applejack, who swiftly reached out and snapped it up in her mouth. Spinning it in tight circles as only such a well-trained rodeopony could, Applejack let the rope go at the peak of its arc and it shot towards the three attackers.
Applejack stared at the ropes and concentrated with all of her might, still unused to the feeling of magic energy running through her veins and her mind. Somehow, though, she had no trouble at all bending it to her will—it was almost as if the magic had a mind of its own and she simply had to guide it. The sensation was akin to the time when she was shocked by a Zap Apple tree as a little filly, feeling the dangerously powerful energies pass through her body, although she could twist and shape them through sheer concentrated power of will.
The rope snapped in two, startling the two Changeling guards who had successfully changed direction to avoid its initial curve. Each half of the rope snapped around its intended target faster than they could blink, winding through the natural holes in their bodies and wrapping around, forming a complex knot and immobilizing the two Changelings. Two loud crunches were heard as the enemies smashed into the ground, rolling over and uselessly flopping their hooves in a feeble attempt at moving.
Chrysalis swerved around Applejack and flew off in a different direction, shocked at how easily the mare had taken down her guard. Dozens of thoughts fired in her brain as ideas bounced around her head. I couldn’t take her on in hoof-to-hoof combat; that mare’s hooves are like blocks of steel. If I tried to use any magic against her she’d probably just dodge it. What could I do…? Maybe-
Suddenly a wide grin stretched across the Wielder of Deception’s tar-black face; she abruptly turned around and changed course, heading for somewhere that better fit her new plan: Ponyville. More specifically, Sweet Apple Acres.
Let’s see that apples-for-brains farmpony beat this.
Fluttershy was deafened as a thousand screaming voices filled her ears; she could hear the pain-filled cries of every tree, bush and blade of grass as Discord turned his reality-warping magic against the flora of the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. Flowers withered into blackened sticks and trees crumbled into towers of ash with every snap of the demon’s clawed fingers; his gleeful laughter clashed with the dissonant screams of the plant life.
Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Fluttershy turned her magic inward, allowing the magical energy to build up and collect in the center of her chest, inside of her heart. She felt dizzy as the excess of energy that had coursed through her veins all rushed at once into one spot. The magic formed a visibly glowing spot on her chest, in the shape of a butterfly, faintly pulsing; its rhythm was synced with that of her ever-beating heart.
Fluttershy exhaled, her lungs gently pressing all of the air she had taken in back into the atmosphere, once again freed into nature. As she did so she relaxed her shoulders, feeling her heartbeat slow and her mind slip into a state of pure calm. All of the built-up magic energy poured out of her heart and onto the ground, not the shining emerald of her magical aura but the translucent blue-white of a babbling brook. Like streams of water the magic flowed out from its source and across the land, sinking into the broken earth and healing its discordant scars. It washed over the dead grass; like a breath of new life the magic brought back the field of natural grass that had once covered the garden of statues; the grass shone faintly in the pale moonlight. The magic poured into the piles of dead ash that were once proud trees, bringing them back to their former glory. A tiny, glowing smile lit Fluttershy’s face as she looked back on the broken earth she had restored to life.
Discord’s cackling laughter had by then stopped, replaced by an ominous silence. His bright red eyes glared at her from across the clearing, unblinking, silent. With one snap of his fingers, Discord disappeared, popping back into existence right next to Fluttershy holding a gigantic baseball bat.
Her eyes widening, Fluttershy jumped out of the way right as Discord swung, a mischievous grin once again stretched across the demon’s sickly gray face. The bat missed its target, striking the ground and lighting the tiny patch of ground where it collided on fire.
Undeterred, Discord pulled a gargantuan pie out of a hole in nowhere and threw it directly at his foe. Flying up into the air, Fluttershy avoided the pie but not its effect—as soon as it landed, the pie exploded. A crimson fireball burst out of the pie, rushing up into the air and consuming Fluttershy’s body before she could even look down and notice what it was that had trapped her within the blazing inferno.
Fluttershy crashed into the ground, her wings singed by the fire, coughing as the air had turned gray with ash. Lying on the ground for a minute to regain her strength, she felt a relaxing warmth blossom across her chest, a healing magic from the Element of Kindness. She peeked open one eye to see a soft, glowing green light spread across her body, healing the flame-inflicted wounds, sealing the scars and wiping away the dead ash.
Suddenly a brilliant red light caught her eye. Fluttershy craned her neck upward to see Rainbow Dash flying away and searing a trail of light across the sky, as she undoubtedly followed a fleeing enemy. Turning her head, she also spotted two brilliant lights rising into the sky, one violet and one golden yellow; she then noticed Applejack running on hooves of wind towards Ponyville, chasing a grey-black blur flying low through the sky. As she turned back towards the garden, Fluttershy spotted Rarity chasing a gigantic purple dragon up the side of Canterlot Mountain. Finally she saw Pinkie Pie’s body disappearing inside a cloud of dark shadows that seemed to glare at her across the empty Statue Garden.
Discord, taking advantage of his foe’s momentary pause, snapped his fingers and the earth beneath him let loose a deafening rumble. Huge hedge walls rose up from the ground, taking the exact same position they had taken many months ago, when they had marked the first time that Discord had been released in thousands of years.
Fluttershy gulped.
I guess I’m really on my own now…