//------------------------------// // The Final Battle // Story: Twilight Gives Way to Dawn // by Lawpony //------------------------------// "Reinforce the walls! Barricade the gates on all entrances! Bar all the windows! I want every soldier on the streets! They will be met with all our strength!", Diamond Death yelled over the crowd of scrambling ponies. It took two hours and all of the defenses had been raised. Soldiers were now waiting from the gates all the way to the palace doors. Inside these doors stood one hundred of the strongest warriors under her majesty. Up the stairs in the hall of the Princess stood ten unicorn master mages. Inside the queen's quarters, RedDawn was in place to watch over the battle. "She is ours! We have her! We will kill her, and finally end this stupid fight for nothing!", she growled at the mirror. "I won't let you kill her," a voice said. "You again? How do you keep coming back? Stay down where you belong!", she lit her horn and the voice didn't speak again. It was ten in the morning. Both sides were anticipating what was about to happen. Rainbow Dash sent a messenger with a shield over to the guards at the front gate. The messenger looked at the guards and waited for their response. The guards did what they were expected to do, they took the shield and attached it to the gate. The messenger bowed and flew back to Rainbow Dash. "They are ready for battle, commander," the messenger pony informed her. "The shield is in place, signifying the start of the battle." "Good job, now get the flag," Rainbow replied. The messenger grabbed a red flag and flew into the air with it. After three seconds of flying around with it in her teeth, everypony and dragon had seen it, and began to march. As she was finishing her rehearsed course of flight, a soldier on the wall of Canterlot gave an order. "Fire!" A large mounted bow shot a five foot long arrow that took the messenger out of the sky. "Oh crap!", she looked over to her designated unicorn communicator. "Give the signal!" The unicorn sent the go ahead to another unicorn on top of the mountain, and the catapults were released. Five huge rocks came tumbling down the mountain striking their desired targets. Three rocks made contact with bridge in the inner portion of the city, one boulder hit and destroyed the main well in town, and the last smashed though the entrance, opening it wide to the outside. "Direct hit!" Both armies began their charge for the gaping hole in the wall. Rainbow Dash ran into battle with her forces as the two powers collided. Death met many ponies as the initial impact came, but soon it turned into a standing battle at the wall. Rainbow Dash was too busy to notice, but there was a portion of wall hanging over the Empire's side that was barely still intact. Pineshield took notice of this and devised a plan. "Pegasi! Fly down and kick the hanging portion of wall! That should give our ponies a chance to step in!" They all flew down in unison, and with grace flew down and kicked the wall portion downward. The chunk of bricks fell down and crushed over thirty soldiers and startled a hundred more. This gave the Resistance some time to act. Rainbow Dash yelled and flew into the crowd of awe-struck soldiers. She swung her large hammer around and swept three soldiers into the wall, crushing them. She then continued it into a back swing and smashed two more. By this time they were back to their senses and were fighting back. She lifted her hammer's long neck and blocked a sword, followed by twisting the sword into the ground. In one move she had smashed the pony's head into the ground. Another pony came at her with a two hooved axe. She stepped to the side as it swung down past her chest, ducked as it came over her head, then bashed him in the face with her wing during his follow through. She continued this fluid march like a rhythm until she had stepped through past the wall. She looked back for a split second and could see her forces were making it through with her. With new found courage she charged the hundreds with her followers. Meanwhile, Pineshield was flying over the city, giving orders to his Pegasi as he saw the need. At one point, he found a gathering on top of the wall with crossbows aimed down at his allies. He gave the order and his Pegasi flew down and collided with them, sending them one by one off of the thirty foot wall. Another time, he found a massive catapult being armed with large boulders.He went down and they followed, as they all began smashing beams and cutting ropes until it fell in on itself. The changelings were beginning to form into Resistance troop lookalikes and tricking them. Rainbow turned to her unicorn companion. "Patch!" She turned her head. "Ma'am?" "Tell the unicorns to use the identity safe guard spell we practiced!" "Yes ma'am!", she began to think the words as she fought. "It is time for the identity spell! All at once now! Three, two, one, NOW!", she preformed the spell with the others as all of the changelings were changed back into their own forms. A gem came out of nowhere and killed a nearby rebel soldier. "Diamond!", Rainbow yelled. "I'm on it!", she looked at Diamond Death, who was on a roof top firing gems down on her enemies. Before she teleported, she sent out a message to the other unicorns. "I need twenty unicorns to meet me at the hole in the wall! I'll have a gift for you shortly.", and she vanished. "Take that you insolent little worms! And that!", Rarity was sending gems off of the roof at rebels below. "I will tear you all to pieces!" "Having fun?" "How-", a magic beam collided with her face. "Did I sneak up on you? Sweetie Belle the Silent taught me. She is the best you know." "Let's hope you were trained just as well in magic combat!", she shot a gem at her face. The gem stopped inches from Patch's face and disintegrated. "Shining Armor taught me that. And he was the best at the time." She sent back a knife in her magic. The knife spun around Rarity's head and flew into the ground behind her. "Twilight taught me, and she's the best now!", she sent a gem hidden behind another gem. The first flew up into the air as the other flew into the ground in front of Patch. "If he were still alive would Twilight still be the best?" Rarity looked at the floor, then up into the air. She looked back at Patch with a grin. "I hope so," she flung herself at Patch. Patch rolled under the attack, and stood to her feet. Rarity landed on the wall behind her, kicked off and flew at her again. This time, she collided with Patch's back and sent her to the ground. When Patch hit the ground, Rarity kicked off of her and landed ten feet from her. Patch rolled backwards and jumped back another ten feet. The two began shooting magic beams at each other. Diamond sent one at Patch's face, only for it to split into two and hit the wall behind her. She sent back a volley of three. One went around her and came back and hit the second, while the third met a magic shield. Diamond sent back a gem inside of a magic ball. The ball split in two and left the gem flying by itself. Patch closed her eyes, and caught the two in her magic, spun them around her back, and met them together stopping the gem. This went on for ten more minutes, and neither mage grew tired. Finally, when Diamond sent another volley, Patch teleported past them and met Rarity's face with a hoof. She slid back and suddenly charged up and stabbed Patch through the chest with her horn. "OH! GLP!", Patch gargled. She spat blood onto her foe's face and spoke. "Guess who's won now!", her words drenched in acid. Before Diamond could react they were both enveloped in a blue aura and disappeared. They reappeared in the center of twenty unicorn rebels that were surprised at first. Diamond pulled her horn out of Patch and let her fall to the ground. " Well CRAP!" Rainbow Dash had led the charge through the city and had finally made it to the castle. Golan was now by her side as he had brought his warriors down the other side of the city. She opened the doors to the castle and was met by one hundred massive warriors. Some were changeling Juggernauts, some where highly ranking Knights. "I've got this, you go on up ahead." "Okay, see you when this is over." He looked back to his gathering. "Take them out!", he shouted followed by leading a charge into the main throne room. Rainbow Dash looked behind her to see that a hundred soldiers made it through with her. "I'll need twenty volunteers to head upstairs with me." Slowly, twenty ponies stepped forward. "Are you ready for this?" The twenty nodded. "Then let's do this!", she yelled as she charged into the throne room. Getting through alive wasn't easy. It was, however, easier than going in without multiple dragon warriors to keep the heat off of you. They made it up the stairs in one piece and began their journey to the queen's quarters. Upon entering the Hall of the Princess, they were met by ten unicorn mages. Instantly, two of her gathering were dropped by their sorceries. She flew into one, bashing it in the face with her hammer. She then dodged a magic bolt and shot toward another, uppercutting it into the ceiling. Another unicorn rebel shot a bolt through the heart of one of the mages. A Pegasus troop flew into one and broke its back with the force. After about ten more seconds, her ponies were victorious in this small skirmish. "Her chambers are just ahead. On me, and we'll take her in for treason. Once we come out with her, this whole thing will be over,".she whispered to the fifteen remaining soldiers. Their faces were aglow with anticipation. They couldn't wait to restore order. "But remember, she'll be taken alive. Understand?" They nodded in unison. "Good." Rainbow Dash sneaked up to the door and began to open it. She opened it fully and stepped in. "Queen RedDawn, you are under arrest for treaso-", she was flung into the wall by magic. RedDawn shut the door and blocked it with a spell. "You were going to arrest me? You really thought you could get away with it?" "Commander?!", the soldiers were trying to get in. "How cute. Too bad though," she mocked pouting as she dropped the ceiling just outside the door on them, crushing them all. "You monster!", Rainbow coughed from the other side of the room. "You've just now noticed? I've been this for quite some time." The roof above the Hall of the Princess caved in as well. "What changed you Twilight?" "DON'T CALL ME BY THAT NAME!" The very room shook. "I'm sorry, what changed you RedDawn?" "Nothing has changed! I am RedDawn, not Twilight Sparkle! How could one be the other?" Rainbow was confused. "Allow me to let you in on a little secret. One day, Twilight Sparkle was trying to save a certain empire from a certain dark sorcerer king. She made the mistake of using black magic to open a door in his kingdom. Though she succeeded, she was scarred by something, something dark that lurked in her very mind. That was me. One day, many years later, I finally became strong enough to take over. I took over and made it my goal to rule the world, as was my original plan so long ago." Rainbow's eyes opened wide with shock. "King Somba?! It can't be! He died!" "Not exactly. I am not exactly him. I am his essence, living on in another body. I am the essence of his power, though he-I died long ago. Trust me. It's black magic, your puny mortal mind could never comprehend. How do you think Twilight had no clue of my existence until it was too late? She hadn't a clue what was thriving inside of her mind!" "That didn't sound good!", Pineshield exclaimed. "What?", another rebel replied. "I heard a noi-", he looked back at the castle to see the roof over the Hall of the Princess caving in. "That's not good." "They're dueling it out!", another cried. "It doesn't feel like it's that. Something tells me she's not winning." "Then do something!" He looked over to the unicorn waiting for the order to teleport with Twilight's elemental crown. "Any word?" "Nothin'. No pony's said a word yet." "Give me that! I'm going to bring it to her!" "Yes sir," the unicorn levitated it to him. He flew into the air and shot in the direction of the queen's quarters. As he got closer to the queen's quarters, he saw that the window had been bricked up. "Brace yourself Pineshield!", he gritted his teeth. "But what of Rarity? And all of the ponies of the royal guard?" "The dark power can spread and take over minds. The minds under this power are much weaker and rely on the base power to stay alive. I have created a dark army that will obey me because I am their master!" "What of the sun and moon? How do they continue to move? You did kill Celestia and Luna did you not? Is this another power of your black magic?" "I actually don't know. Twilight fights back now and again, and sometime I can't remember what I did with somepony's body when I've killed them. I can't remember if I burned them or buried them or ate them." "Well, you aren't...going to...get-", she wheazed heavily,"-away with this." "Oh yes I am. As I speak I am crushing you! You will die soon and your puny Resistance with it!" "Puny? Take a look outside. Your forces are scattered and beaten!" "I will raise more! No pony can withstand the power of black magic!" "I did. Applejack did. Thousands loyal ponies of Equestria who stand out there upon your wrecked army did!" She tightened her magical grip on Rainbow Dash. A tear spilled out of her eye, and her thoughts took a new path. "I love you Equestria! I love you Pinesh-", she was cut off as a blast came from across the room. Pineshield came bursting through the wall right where RedDawn stood. He collided with her and they both flew into the adjacent wall and he fell unconscious. RedDawn was extremely dazed as she had lost her horn in the impact. Rainbow fell from the wall and crawled along the rubble over to where Pineshield laid. She saw the crown tucked under his wing, still intact. YES! She took it from under his wing and fluttered over tiredly to RedDawn. "What are you doing?", she slurred. "I am doing what must be done!", she took the crown and placed it firmly on the queen's head. "NO! THIS CAN'T HAPPEN!", suddenly, as if peace washed over her, she stared blankly at Rainbow Dash. She floated into the air as images of her past flew over her vision. It went from her birth to the day she entered magic kindergarten. Then they changed to her becoming Celestia's personal student. Next she could remember coming to Ponyville, and then, her memories of her with her friends. Her memories recalled the day they defeated Nightmare Moon, to King Sombra, and all in between. Memories of deepening her friendships and ultimately, becoming princess came. It seemed to her like she remembered the whole encounter with Celestia as they spoke of her destiny. Finally, she remembered the day she lost her will and fell into endless black and void. I am Twilight Sparkle After three minutes of being suspended in mid air, she fell down on her face and wept. She wept until she had no tears and continued. Finally, after Rainbow Dash had taken her cold metal armor off, she walked over and looked into the shivering and shaking mare's eyes. "T...Twilight, is...is that you?", she asked. Twilight answered by looking into Rainbow's eyes, tears streaming out of hers, and wrapped her in a tight hug. "OH! Thank you Rainbow! I thought I would be trapped there for eternity!", she sobbed into her friend's shoulder. Her voice returned to it's natural softness. Rainbow began to cry. She'd done it. She had gotten her friend back. She was so overwhelmed that words just couldn't come to her. She simply looked down at her friend and began to sob with her. The two sat there sobbing in each other's hooves. Finally, Pineshield woke up against the wall. He hadn't seen what happened, but given a second to think, he found out pretty quickly the mood of the situation. Tears began to flood into his eyes, as he watched the happy reunion. He had waited to see this moment ever since he'd heard Rainbow Dash's story. And now, finally, he was looking at it finally happening. To not interrupt their happy moment, he got up to head back out the hole. However, as soon as he moved he shouted in pain. Both mares looked at him shocked. They looked at the area he was holding, it was his side. "What's the matter?!", Rainbow was kind of worried. "It's my side! It's killing me!" She looked closely and saw that Twilight's severed horn was embedded in his right side. "Oh my! You need a medic! Both of you!" "I can get down there fi-INE! Don't worry about me, carry her down to the medic and get her checked on," Pineshield assured them. "Okay, but I'll be back for you." She flew off out the hole, holding her dearest friend in her hooves.