"-always weaker than me, I*****!"
My eyes snapped open, and were momentarily blinded by the sunlight as I woke at the feeling of being stabbed in the gut. Gripping the area served to remind me of my dream. A cry drew my attention away from myself, and to the group in front of me.
Even as my eyes met those of my betrayer, they vanished in a burst of white light.
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Every pony held their breath as the golden haze exited the creature and made its shimmering way towards the still body of their Princess. With the sound of skin and muscle tearing, small amounts of blood flew from the light cuts and bruises spreading black and blue. For a moment, they all sanctioned a sliver of hope, that the alabaster Alicorn wasn't seriously injured. For a moment, they believed that everything would be fine.
With a sound akin to ripping paper, a gash started from the top of her forehead and travelled down to her brow, cut the eyelids in half, continued down her cheek to her jaw and disappeared only to continue its journey down her chest almost instantaneously shattered that hope.
"Sister!" Luna cried out, racing back to Celestia as blood sprayed from the newly opened wound onto the ground.
"Princess!" the six Elements yelled out in shock, Twilight most of all.
'I... I can't...' Her world seemed to be shaking as she spotted the bloody mar on her mentor's perfect coat. Turning back to the creature, which now seemed to be twitching erratically, before gripping it's stomach for some reason, she took a deep breath and made her choice.
'I'm so sorry... I don't want to... but I have to protect my friends!'
"Girls, NOW!" yelled Twilight, as she focused on the bond that the Elements provided, eyes squeezed shut to maintain that concentration. Feeling each of her friends as they connected to the flow of Harmony, her eyes shot open to see a horned mask of bone... and vivid, almost glowing yellow eyes staring back at her.
The power of the Elements of Harmony surged through them and in that instant, Twilight 'heard' the thoughts of her friends;
'No freaks gonna hurt the Princess and get away with it!'
'This thing ain't gettin' near my family!'
'Oh, dear... I hope this doesn't hurt it...'
'I refuse to let such a barbarian walk where they may!'
'Ooooh hereitcomeshereitcomeshereitcomes!!! Super Rainbow Party Cannon, GO!'
With the sound of rushing wind, the Rainbow of Harmony* arced above their heads...
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I watched as a freaking rainbow appeared from nowhere above the six ponies' head and shot up to come down on me.
'They don't seriously think a rainbow's gonna- AAAARRRRGH!' Instinct bellowed as he cut himself off, the rainbow having somehow wrapped itself around me once it reached me and began causing me to roar in pain myself. Looking at my arm, my eyes widened as flakes of my skin slowly began lifting away and crumbling to dust. Though it was difficult to see, I think there may have been another colour under it...
My rage surfaced as I looked to where the ghostly flames of the six were. Crouching slightly, I charged a Cero that grew to it's normal size in moments before firing.
Only for the rainbow to somehow wrap itself around the beam and break it into nothing.
'Shit!' Instinct snarled, 'How the hell could that have happened?!'
Charging another Cero, I released it before charging and firing another right behind it. Both met the same fate as the first.
'Oi, if you don't do something soon we're dead!' Instinct snapped.
Bracing my feet more firmly, I did something I'd never tried so far - I charged a Cero, and kept charging. Doing so, I saw how the so-called "anti-magic cuffs" affected me; After the usual charge time, it was difficult to force more energy into the Cero. With a roar, I kept straining to cram more and more energy in while drawing more up from somewhere deep within myself, the red flames appearing around me and keeping the rainbow at bay.
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Unseen by all, each of the cuffs began cracking, minutely at first but steadily becoming larger until...
With a vicious retort, all five shattered at almost the same time. And the results were instantaneous.
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Celestia came to at the feel of a wet cloth dabbing at her face. Flicking an eye open, she saw her sister's worried face, as well as a white cloth tinged a dark pink coated in a midnight blue aura. She winced as memories of what occurred surfaced in her mind, grateful to be alive even as the burn of her wound made itself known to her.
Hearing the relief of Shining Armour and a filly she identified as Rarity's sister, she looked around to blink at the absence of her student and her friends. Looking to Luna, she asked, "Luna? Where are-"
Something struck her on the muzzle as she spoke, drawing her attention to a shard of a blackish-silver metal about the size of a bit. The curvature, as well as the colour seemed to ring a... ring... Her eyes widened as the dots connected. Forcing herself to stand up, despite a few cuts on her haunches and legs stinging at the movement, she saw where her student and friends were.
Hovering above the ground slightly in the five-pointed gem shape, a rainbow being channelled from them to a spot where it cocooned around the creature, the red flames from earlier forcing the cocoon from wrapping it entirely. She took all that in, for the next moment everything changed.
The cocoon suddenly bulged out one side, a spherical lump the size of a beach ball expanding instantly. As the rainbow began trying to break the magic down, she saw what it was.
"No... it can't be..." Celestia whispered, eyes widening in horror at what she saw. For there, the beach ball barely connected to his horns, stood the creature, some patches of his black-marked white skin being eroded away. She looked into his eyes, almost hidden as they were in the vivid red of his magic, and saw pure, unfettered rage. She immediately knew his intent, but was too late.
"No... please..."
Time slowed, as with a screeching, rumbling whirr, the ball of magic exploded into a beam as thick as an oak tree trunk towards the source of the rainbow, rings of the multicoloured beam expanding and dissipating along the length of the streak of red. In the centre, Twilight looked slowly back at her teacher, a look of fear on her face as her glowing eyes wept a single tear.
"TWILIGHT! NO!" Celestia screamed as time resumed it's torturous pace, and the beam struck into the Elements of Harmony, and a massive mushroom explosion of vivid red with streaks of rainbow sounded like thunder as it consumed the six.
That moment echoed on forever, even as she numbly became aware of Luna dropping to the ground beside her in shock. As the magic and smoke slowly cleared away, all that was evident of there being six, healthy young mares, each with their own quirks, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the champion fighters that fought Nightmare Moon, Discord and Sombra and won...
Was a smoking, soot-coated crater.