Across space from where the Star-Sapphires' planet used to be rested a single ship, a ship that held two Lanterns who were stunned beyond all words by what they had just witnessed. For a brief moment, all of the pain, rage and sorrow from the previous events were forgotten, as both Lanterns stared at the void where the planet belonging to a Lantern Corps used to be.
"That's...not possible," Sweetie whispered in disbelief before she slowly looked up at John. "He...he can't do that. There's...no way Brainiac could...what did he just do? Did he...kill all of them?" John remained too stunned to answer Sweetie for a few minutes before he slowly looked down at her, realization and fear starting to creep into his eyes.
"This was his plan all along...he never wanted to destroy the Lantern Corps...he wanted to collect them, to add their knowledge to his sick collection of cities that he's taken!" John snarled with rage as he clenched his fists and glared off towards the space station. "But that bastard somehow found a way to shrink whole planets down now, instead of just cities! That must be what he needed the other Lanterns for, to overpower the Central Battery!"
"So...what do we do?" Sweetie asked softly, John noticing that her eyes looked lost and afraid.
"We head back to Oa and focus all of our efforts on strengthening the defenses," John ordered as he sat down in the Captain's seat...only to realize that the skulled space station was already starting to move. He narrowed his eyes as it slowly began to turn away from where the Star-Sapphires used to be...before its course changed to right where they were hiding.
"Sweetie...we need to go--now!" John stated in a deadly serious tone. Sweetie looked out the viewscreen and realized immediately what was happening. "I need you to get to the engines and infuse them with your power. With that kind of speed we might just make it away. Go." Without another word Sweetie bolted towards the ship's engines as John stared into the hollow eyes of the station that was growing larger and larger. He didn't bother to start the engines, because he knew that even with the Interceptor's incredible speed, that Brainiac was sure to have something that could stop them.
'Our only chance is to supercharge the ship's engines and fly out of here faster than even Brainiac could reason,' John planned, not aware that he had a death grip on the controls. Suddenly, lines of blue energy began to course through the green power lines that traveled through the ship, causing the green lights to turn cyan and for the whole ship to hum with power.
"Alright John, I did the best I could," Sweetie's voice spoke through his ring, getting a small smile out of John as he gripped the controls tighter.
"Good job, Sweetie. Sorry Brainiac, but we can't stick around," John growled as he turned the ship around...and saw that four Manhunters were floating behind them. "SHIT!" John roared right before the Manhunters unleashed their fire upon the ship, relentlessly pounding its shields and engines. He rammed his way past the Manhunters and activated the hyper drive, but his heart sank with horror when the engines didn't go off. "SHIP! What's the matter with the engines?!"
'The engines received a bad shot from one of the Manhunter's blasts,' the A.I. informed John, who cursed as more laser fire bombarded the ship.
"Can you repair it?"
'Yes, but it will take some time.'
'Which is something we don't have a lot of right now,' John raged as Sweetie came running back into the cockpit, looking around in confusion as more fire bombarded them. "Sweetie, the engines are offline! We need to land the ship so it can make repairs! I hope you're ready to fight, because we're going to have to hold off those Manhunters while we wait!"
Without waiting for an answer, John flew the ship down towards the nearest stationary asteroid, skipping across the rock as he crash-landed the ship for a little extra time to repair. Once the ship had stopped skidding, the two Lanterns flew outside without a moment's hesitation, where they spotted the four Manhunters quickly approaching them.
"Sweetie, back me up!" John ordered as the Blue Lantern's light flooded into his ring, supercharging him. With a roar he crafted a massive anti-aircraft gun and began to unleash green hell upon the Manhunters, the sheer volume of fire ripping two of them apart within seconds. The other two managed to touch down on the asteroid and lunged at the pair of Lanterns. John snarled while he constructed a green rifle with a bayonet on the end, while Sweetie constructed a staff with a dragon's head on the end of it.
"No man escapes the-" a Manhunter began before John fired a bolt of green right between its eyes, snapping its head back and cutting off its infamous phrase. Sweetie bellowed with a fury never before seen, and she slammed the side of her staff into the side of the other Manhunter's head, rocking it to the side with enough force to break her construct in half. The Manhunter retaliated by blasting her point blank in the chest, but the pain barely seemed to phase the blue belle as she roared with fury and jammed the shattered construct into the Manhunter's eye. It staggered back while she created a massive, pointed gemstone and took aim with it.
"Go to hell!" she roared, and she drove the gemstone through the machine's skull, shearing it clean from its body. The Manhunter had barely begun to fall, before Sweetie grabbed it with her unicorn magic and hurled it over at the other Manhunter that was battling John. The headless Manhunter slammed into the back of the other one and brought them both to the ground, where the functional one had just begun to push itself up before Sweetie drove a spear construct through its skull. With a twist of the weapon, she separated it's head from its body, gaining her a look from John while she looked at her prize on the end of her weapon with a snarl.
"Ship...how much longer until the repairs are done?" John muttered into his ring after a moment.
'Not much longer, Lantern Stewart. Please hold out a bit longer.'
"Alright Sweetie, all we have to do is hold out a little longer," John informed the mare as she tore the metal skull off of her weapon before punting it into space. "So as long as we work together and keep our cool, we should be able to-"
"Able to do what, Lantern Stewart?" John's blood went cold as he and Sweetie both looked up to find the emotionless face of Brainiac looking down at them, with over a dozen green-clad Manhunters floating behind him. "Do what? Escape? Even with your limited intelligence, you would know THAT is not an option for you," Brainiac said as he floated down with his hands behind his back, while the Green Manhunters surrounded the two Lanterns.
"You monster! You were never after just a bit of the Corps knowledge! You wanted to steal it all!" John roared at Brainiac, but the cold machine didn't even flicker at the accusation. "But you won't get away with it! Even if you kill us, the other Lanterns will defeat you! You might have an army, but you can't defeat the entire Green Lantern Corps!"
"I will not need to. I have allowed this little quest of yours to go on for long enough, Lantern Stewart. It is time that you die." As he said this, he lifted a hand and sent a blast of electrical energy hurtling into John's chest, blasting the senior Lantern skyward. Then, with a twitch of his head, Brainiac sent half of the Manhunters after John while he and the rest stayed to face Sweetie Belle, who glared at them all with absolute hatred flashing in her eyes.
"How interesting. Just over six hours ago you were filled with fear at the mere sight of me, yet now there is only rage within you," Brainiac observed while Sweetie snarled at him.
"I might have been afraid of you at first, but now I'm glad that you're here. Because I'm going to tear your head off and use it as my personal football!" she roared at Brainiac while lunging towards him, but one of the Green Manhunters stepped forward and intercepted her. "OUT OF MY WAY!" she roared while she constructed her staff once again and swung with all her might at the Manhunter, but the rage turned to shock when the Manhunter reached up and snapped her weapon in half with one hand. She barely had enough time to register what had just happened before another Manhunter slammed its fist into the back of her head, sending her crashing into the rock below.
"W-what's going on?" she snarled as she sent blasts of blue into the advancing Manhunters, but all her attacks seemed to do was make their green eyes glow even brighter while they attacked. She created a shield before her that was shattered by one punch, leaving her open to be struck in the gut by a blast of laser fire. She spat in pain as another Manhunter drove its boot into her side, sending the mare skipping across the stone.
"Is it not obvious, you beast of burden?" Brainiac asked while the six Manhunters began to float towards her, all of them taking up aim with their laser rods. "The light of a Blue Lantern will increase the power of a Green Lantern simply by being in close proximity. That is why I brought only Green Lantern-infused Manhunters to deal with you and Stewart. You cannot harm them. All your "hope" will do is make them stronger, strong enough to kill you and then strong enough to kill Lantern Stewart." Sweetie spat out a bit off blood while she pushed herself back to a standing position, but her eyes didn't hold fear or hope. The was only anger.
"It is fitting. A Green Lantern gave his life to protect you, but in the end you will be killed by the same power he wielded," Brainiac informed her with no emotion, but magma began to violently bubble beneath Sweetie's blank face. "I will never understand emotion. Despite knowing he was beaten, he continued to fight me and my army even long after he should have died--all because of his love for you. And that love was still in his eyes when I snapped his neck." If Sweetie could grit her teeth any harder, she would have shattered her teeth with the sheer amount of hate that was flowing through her.
"And in the end, his "noble sacrifice" amounted to nothing. All his death did was instill agony within you for the short time you had left. He bought you six more hours of life--life that meant nothing," Brainiac said as he pointed at her and the Manhunters lunged for the Belle, who still had yet to move. "And I find it ironic, that love, the emotion that fueled him to give his life for you, was the first to fall--and easily at that. Just another example at how insignificant emotions are. Now, die."
Sweetie was hurled across the ground as a Manhunter slammed its fist into the side of her head, but the look of absolute wrath never faltered as she slowly pushed herself back up. Another Manhunter pointed its rod at her head, but her horn flashed and her unicorn magic caused the Manhunter to turn its rod back towards its own face, which was then blasted off. She forced the rod to take aim at another Manhunter before she took a boot to the head that sent her tumbling back, where once again she slowly pushed herself back up with blood trickling out of her mouth.
"Damn...you..." Sweetie spat as she glared at the remaining five Manhunters, all of which glowed with green energy that was continuously charged by her own ring, by her own hope. Faster than she could register Brainiac appeared in front of her and grabbed her by the throat, lifting the limp mare into the air as she continued to glare at him.
"This is exactly how Lantern Spike died," Brainiac informed Sweetie, who just glared at the machine with eyes of complete hate. "But before I broke his neck, he muttered his oath as his last words. It amused me. So why not tell me yours before I send you to join him? Then you can tell him how his sacrifice meant nothing...no? Then I have wasted enough time. Die-"
At that moment, a massive blast of light went off with enough force to break Brainiac's grip and force the machine to take a few steps back. But to the brilliant machine's surprise, the light that was radiating from Sweetie was also pushing the Manhunters back, despite them being fueled by her ring. But then, Brainiac registered that the light that was bombarding them was not a blue light. It was a crimson red.
'Sweetie Belle of Equestria. You have a great rage in your heart.'
With a shriek of fury that could be heard in all the corners of space, a column of red energy consumed Sweetie Belle. She roared while the red energy seeped into her, changing her blue outfit into one that was a bloody red. The hatred in her eyes seemed to magnify a hundred fold and red, almost blood-like energy began to seep from her mouth. And the blue ring that had once shone with the light of hope slowly burned away into space, leaving only her wrath while she glared down at the Manhunters and Brainiac with crimson red eyes.
'You belong to the Red Lantern Corps.'
"I'LL MURDER YOU!" she bellowed with unholy fury as she lunged at the nearest Manhunter, shrugging off the laser blasts like they were nothing while she grabbed hold of its skull. With a howl of pain and wrath she strained with all of her might, tearing the Manhunter's head right off of its body. She then spun and hurled the skull towards another Manhunter, stunning it long enough for her to fly right through the center of its body. With another howl she drove her hooves into the recently made hole and began to pull, causing metal to shriek before she tore the Manhunter clean in half.
"How interesting," Brainiac muttered, gaining himself Sweetie Belle's attention while she slowly turned and faced the pale machine that had caused her such pain. "Instead of holding onto your pathetic hope, you instead surrender yourself to your rage to destroy me. Blue. Red. The result will be the same. You will die."
With another howl Sweetie Belle unleashed a column of red energy right at Brainiac, who moved a hand to grab one of the Manhunters and place it before him as a shield. The red energy punched a hole right through the Manhunter's armor before tendrils of red erupted from its joints, causing all of its limbs to fly off in different directions.
"I'll kill you! Tear you apart!" Sweetie bellowed as she began to float towards Brainiac, giving off so much red energy that the very ground around her was being eaten away by her power. Yet no emotion crossed Brainiac's face while the bloody belle advanced towards him. The remaining two Manhunters lunged at her at the same time, but in a flash of motion she drove her hoof through the chest of one them. With a bellow of fury she ripped out the central structure of the Manhunter, causing it to collapse to the ground in a pile of metal as its lights extinguished. The other Manhunter backed away and started firing at her with its laser rod, but the red aura that crackled around Sweetie intercepted the shots while the attack gave her a new target.
"To hell with you!" she bellowed as she lunged right at the Manhunter, driving herself head first into its metal stomach. With another yell she unleashed her full fury and tore right through the Manhunter with her body, leaving it to look down at the giant hole that was now in its chest. It turned to face Sweetie just in time for her to punch its head clean off, where it floated next to Brainiac as its eyes extinguished.
"I'm going to murder you, Brainiac! Send you to hell! Then, I'll bring you back to life so I can murder you again!" Sweetie snarled with hatred as she slowly stalked towards Brainiac, whose response was to shake his head slightly, and he began to walk forward.
"I have fought countless beings stronger than you. What can a girl with a broken heart do against a being that has bested gods?" Brainiac asked her before a thin smile crossed his face. "Spike found that out the hard way. And now, so will you." With an unholy cry to space, Sweetie lunged for Brainiac's throat with only the thought of killing him filling her mind. Brainiac took aim at Sweetie as she flew straight at him, knowing this battle was over.
"Now die."