Episode 21 - "Shimmered Sunsets" (Season Finale)
***
Impervia shook off the rubble, ears ringing still as the dirt flew from her hair. The ringing in her ears gradually shifted pitch to sound more like a shouting Rainbow Dash. Impervia turned towards the noise just in time to see Shadowstrike hit the ground and bounce into a rubble wall. The ruin crumbled around her like tissue paper.
Impervia scrambled out of the trench her impact had made and rushed towards her fallen friend. She found Shadowstrike still on the ground, folded with her chest on the ground and her legs bent back over her head. Impervia hurriedly unfolded Shadowstrike and leaned her head down, listening for a heartbeat.
"Strike, speak to me!" she shouted, gently slapping her friend’s face. "Come on, snap out of it."
With a nervous glance back, Impervia could see Mayhem’s tentacles closing in. Seeing no other option, she scooped up Shadowstrike and ran. But only made it a few steps before one of the tentacles slammed into her back. Not braced, Impervia winced and dropped to a knee, but braved the brunt of the force to protect her friend.
The massive tentacle lifted and Impervia braced for another strike. To her surprise, it never came. Instead, a shriek came from Mayhem, and Impervia took another cautious look back. The villain’s tendrils were whipping into a frenzy, desperately trying to fend off Andrea swiping at Mayhem’s back.
But neither had time to catch their breath before Andrea had been bound up by several of the tentacles wrapping around her wings and arms, pinning them to her body and slamming her into the ground with earth-shaking force. Plumes of dust rose from the impact as Andrea gave a weak growl of injury, reaching up as if to cling to any purchase for help.
Setting Shadowstrike down, Impervia turned to aid her other friend, only to be blindsided by another huge tentacle and slammed through a wall. The crumbling mortar collected on her like rain in a thunderstorm as she desperately flailed about, hurrying to save her friend from a possibly fatal blow.
Two meaty appendages grabbed a huge chunk of concrete, and pulled them up over Andrea. Mayhem’s agony-filled laughter grew more maniacal, her body rapidly multiplying its hairy appendages as she readied for a deathblow.
Bleary from the previous impact, Andrea fought for consciousness. Her world became clear when an enormous shadow loomed overhead. Her eyes widened and she struggled in vain against her constrictions. Helpless, all she could do was turn her head away and brace for impact.
A deafening explosion rang out overhead and rubble rained down upon her. Shaking her head and spitting dust, she managed to catch a glimpse of the vanishing figure of Twilight’s Matterhorn armor.
Covered in a deflector shield, the armor flew through the debris and circled in a wide arc, turning around to take another flight pass at the monster. Dipping and dodging through lethal strikes, the armor burned through the assault like a blue fireball.
“Oh hey, good timing!” Splitsecond shouted, pulling Andrea from the pit in a flash of pink and white energy, coming to a rest near Shadowstrike. “I was beginning to wonder if she had forgotten!”
“Sorry about that,” Matterhorn’s speakers chirped as deflector shields parried oncoming attacks. “Took Spike a bit longer than I’d have liked to wake me.”
“Constarn it, Spike!” Impervia shouted into her coms.
“Impervia!” Twilight responded into everyone’s ears. “Let's knock this hair nightmare down for the count! The rest of you, get clear!”
“Whatever you do, do it fast!” Spike chimed in. “The energy he’s stored is getting unstable. It needs to go somewhere or it’s going to go everywhere!”
Impervia loaded all of her strength into her legs and leapt off the ground with a grunt, propelling herself up to Matterhorn’s level in seconds. When a tendril tried to strike her down, she grabbed it and swung her legs around. Landing on another tendril, she slid down towards Mayhem’s body.
“I’ve had about enough of this!” she hollered, her teeth clenched as she pushed off again. She gained tremendous momentum and jumped up to throw a mighty roundhouse.
Matterhorn cycled on all her power cells at once, channeling it into the horn on the top of her helmet. Lighting up with solid purple energy, she fired and hit just above the mark Impervia struck, both landing a direct hit on Mayhem’s spinal protrusions.
A wail of agony echoed across the area as Mayhem quivered a moment, all her tendrils flailing and shrinking slightly. She wilted like a broken flower as her tentacles failed her and crashed into the old Sugar Cube Corner, flattening what was left of it. Huge clouds of smoke and splinters of wood and concrete flew every which way, settling in an eerie silence as the twice manipulated villainess lay still in defeat.
Splitsecond was the first to arrive at Mayhem’s broken form. Matterhorn was not far behind, followed closely by Impervia, who immediately started digging through the rubble.
Clearing a ton of bricks in seconds revealed Mayhem’s body. When Impervia gasped and took a step back, Splitsecond put two fingers to her neck.
“She’s… Alive!” Splitsecond exclaimed, holding up the woman’s wrist and letting it drop limply. “Out like a light, but alive!”
“A shame,” Andrea’s voice came over them as she limped onto the scene.
“Now let's not get into that again,” Impervia scolded.
“We may have more pressing issues, girls.” Matterhorn chirped into their ears. “Meet me at the machine.”
Sunset crouched behind a wall of what used to be the gymnasium and spied her opponent through a small hole. Each step Malcontent took left icy stalactites in his wake. The cracking of each step grew louder as he slowly approached. His gauntlets of ice glinted with the surrounding light, betraying their sharp, jagged edges.
"You can't hide forever," his tone dripped with smugness as he hunted for her. "Only another ten years if we're being generous."
Sunset focused on his position, anger sparking inside her.
"It wasn't always that way, I know. But you chose to take the path of least resistance. Your so-called friends weren't able to help you when the school still hated you. They weren't there to help you when the portal exploded," Malcontent rifled off as he turned his search away from the wall. "In fact, they weren't able to help you now. The Sunset I remember was strong-willed, able-bodied, independent, confrontational. Not at all like what you've become."
A faint creak of leather gloves made Sunset realize how hard she’d been clenching her fists and how his words drilled into her head.
Malcontent smiled wider as he felt his power increase. "Finally just when you start to regrow a spine, you bring your friends back into danger." He chuckled. "Into a toxic ruin, nonetheless. This new Sunset is a friend to be had indeed. It's no wonder they abandoned you!"
Mal launched himself to the side to flank a nearby wall, only to find no one behind it. Puzzled though he was, it ended when Sunset’s scream tore through the air. He turned just in time to cover his head from the thick rebar she was swinging.
Meeting the hit, chunks shattered from his gauntlets, saving him from major injury. Staggered, he turtled under his gauntlets as Sunset’s onslaught continued. Stumbling with each hit, he endured several before her hardest hit exposed his arms and threw him weakly to the ground.
Forced to move, he sent ice into his palms. Malcontent braved Sunset’s murder stroke and managed to grab the rebar. Wasting no time, he poured all of his ice into it. Sunset spun, swinging a flaming foot at Malcontent’s head. He dodged, and they backed away from each other just as Mal froze the pole down to its molecules. Scoffing at Sunset, he held the rebar in thirds and snapped it over his knee.
"Much better!" he erupted with laughter, throwing a barrage of punches.
Sunset felt the onslaught increase and backed away desperately, taking several harsh blows to her guard before an opening appeared. Grabbing his wrist from a near miss, she used his own weight against him and threw him forward to buy herself a moment to recoup.
Her sense of victory was cut short as her attacker regained his footing at a frightening pace, shoulder checking her into another wall. The air knocked from her, she clutched her chest as she struggled to regain it as he continued to gain momentum.
"All the lessons and the teachings from Celestia," he spat to the side as he spoke her teacher's name. "All the friendship and the humility you swore changed you." He grabbed her by the throat, ice threatening to puncture her skin, his eyes flaring wildly with steely blue and billowing thick purple smoke. "Look where it's gotten you."
Sunset felt her boots leave the ground as he spoke. She clutched at his hand as it tightened, air becoming a focus and immediate need in her mind as the world began to dim around her and sounds muffled
"You have no idea how disappointed I am with you, Sunset!” Malcontent growled, clenching on Sunset’s neck. “All the time I spent learning everything I could about you, learning what made you tick.” Ice crept up through his glove to start framing her cheeks. “Do you have any idea what sort of devotion that takes? I could have chosen anyone, but I picked you!” Malcontent snapped, his eyes flashing ice cold. “How did you repay me? Just as you start to get interesting, you up and join the friendship bandwagon!"
“Sunset, if you have that fob still, we need it to shut this thing off!” Twilight’s voice rang in her ears. It was distant and fading, but gave her a lifeline to latch onto. Grabbing at the harness under her jacket, a metal scrape sounded as a small pin fell to the metal flooring, followed by the thud of a flash bang.
Malcontent felt the full brunt of the discharge, letting Sunset drop as he fell backwards to the ground.
Shaking off the ringing in her ears, Sunset glanced around and saw Matterhorn, Impervia, Splitsecond and Andrea sprinting towards the machine. Malcontent hadn’t moved yet and Sunset saw her chance. She broke into a dead sprint towards her friends.
“We’ve got reports that something unusual is happening out in No Man’s Land.” Lyra pressed a gloved finger to her earpiece. “More than usual, unusual that is.”
“Better get out there, make sure we don’t have any more bad news–” Drops began to reply.
The lights of the elevator went out at the same time as the car itself halted.
Drops gave an audible sigh as she pulled out what turned out to be a flashlight from her side, the soft toggle clicking as its beam found Lyra’s eyes. She quickly turned it away as she noticed the archer wince in pain. “Sorry.”
"Vault, this is Drops, you secure there?" Drops toggled get headset on, static sounded briefly as the lights flickered in the car.
"All secure, situation normal." A rather bored female answered.
"No power loss? We're above you and lost main power." Drops asked.
"All secure, situation normal." An eerily duplicate voice droned back, the director frowning in concern.
"Vault one, report time and date for log purposes." Drops demanded, the lights of the car flickering on and the entire unit moving down again.
"Vault one, situation normal." The same voice and tone radioed back.
"My ass." Sweetie said to herself, pulling her side arm, watching the floor counter change slowly as they both descended.
Lyra snapped her bow open, knocking an arrow and taking a knee to face the doors. "Surface operations, Vault one compromised, request immediate assistance, Director on site."
Static sounded in their earpieces as it became clear no signal was reaching anyone. The two girls looked at each other as the car came to a halt, their focus on the door as they parted.
"So much for no more bad news." Drops whispered.
Malcontent pulled himself up and cracked his neck, surveying his console and the women surrounding it - the six perpetual wrenches in the cogs of his well-laid plans. It was interesting to see Shadowstrike here. She was only ever spotted within the downtown area. Malcontent suspected she lived there. Weakened now, though she may be, her stealth and agility was not to be underestimated.
Splitsecond was another matter entirely. She seemed to be everywhere, likely due to her ability to be anywhere within moments. She’d proven herself unstoppable to petty criminals and frustrating to some metas. She was chaotic and random but didn’t seem good at strategizing for a fight.
Impervia was a more rare sight. But her strength and invulnerability had a fearsome reputation. He could tell by the state of Mayhem that the rumors were not unfounded. Although he had seen how deeply she cared for the others, not much else was known about her. But Malcontent suspected by her accent and skin that she was from the rural outskirts.
The pink-furred humanoid must’ve been the Andrea he’d heard rumors of from the streets. He’d seen her ability to regenerate and shapeshift. But he knew a simple-minded animal when he saw one.
The most immediate threat was the armored Matterhorn. The armor was strong, fast, AI-guided, and piloted by a genius that was cracking away at his computer as he approached. Twilight needed to be dealt with first.
“Don’t let him get to the console!” Sunset shouted as she threw a weak fireball at Mal. He bunted the attack to the ground as he marched forward.
“I got him!” Shadowstrike called, shoving her way to the front and charging forward.
Shadowstrike spun, flourished and swung as usual - and Malcontent grabbed her staff in response. A swift punch to her thigh knocked her off balance with a yelp and encased her leg in ice. He wasted no time in baring down on her head with his gauntlets. But she managed to roll out of the way just in time, leaving him to freeze the ground where she’d been.
Malcontent waved his hand, freezing the ground behind him. A shocked cry preceded Splitsecond sliding and rolling across the ground. In the same motion, he threw his other arm out. A ball of frost shot forth and struck the advancing Impervia, instantly freezing around her face. One more wave sent shards of ice into the air, intercepting Andrea and grounding her. Once there, he thrust both palms down and encased her into a frozen tomb.
“Not that impressive.” Malcontent smiled as he entombed the four that attacked him. Raising his arms to the air, a massive cloud began forming over everyone’s head.
“Twilight, we need to move,” Sunset stated coldly.
“I need more time!” Twilight shouted.
“Checkmate,” Malcontent chided, swinging his arms down.
“Now!” Spike shouted, grabbing Sunset and propelling them both away from the console just as a blizzard of hail and spikes peppered the area.
But much as Sunset had run herself ragged during the fight, Malcontent could feel his own reserves dipping. Reaching for the anger inside himself, he manifested the energy from within. A dangerous move for any Windigo. Yet he couldn’t deny the amplification the rush of emotions gave to his power. Thrusting his hands forward, he encased his console.
"Kind of you to introduce me to your friends," Mal exclaimed, fighting for a calm demeanor through feeding his own power. "Now then, where were we?”
Twilight groaned angrily. “We were so close!” She sighed, turning to Sunset. “I’m so sorry.”
“You tried. We just need to shut this corrupt program down!” Twilight remarked into Sunset’s earpiece. “Spike, try to find some weak point for me to strike.”
“Roger!” Spike saluted and dashed off view.
"That program is about to open up my way home, and not one of you can stop it!" He yelled maniacally.
Twilight unleashed a barrage on Malcontent’s console. Before she could get through the case of ice, Malcontent erected a wall in its defense.
"We need to warn people,” Twilight shouted while blasting at the wall. “This thing is going to wipe out a much bigger area if it reaches critical mass!"
"How?” Sunset pleaded with barely enough breath. "That much magic thrown out at once is either going to do what he wants or wipe out half the planet."
"We can't just bludgeon our way through this guy. Whatever he has for power, it’s renewing itself every few minutes."
Malcontent’s smarmy voice came over the wall, "Now one of you is going to have to pony up and get on that other platform." A volley of softball-sized hail rained down around them, forcing Twilight to pause her attack and shield them. "At this point I dont care which."
"Yeah you seem to be all about forcing your will on a girl, not surprising." Sunset taunted back.
Spikes formed in the wall in front of them and launched forwards. Twilight was barely able to redirect her shields in time to stop them, as one got through to cut Sunset’s cheek. Twilight responded with more blasts.
"Could you not make him any more mad!?" Spike chimed into their comm units. "I, for one, don’t want to-"
"Wait," Twilight interrupted. "That might be it."
"What, piss him off?" Sunset asked. “I was trying to do that earlier and it didn’t work.”
Shattering ice caused a quick glance around them to see the other four slowly regrouping.
Twilight smirked. “This time you’ll have friends to help distract him.”
“Whatever we’re doing, do it now!” pleaded Spike.
"He seems to have a thing for you," Twilight remarked.
"Good point,” Sunset sighed, remembering everything they’d said to each other this night. It then occurred to her that she needed to busy the would-be destroyer. Pulling a grenade labeled 'phosphorus', a soft click could be heard as she pulled the pin. "Get to the console. I'll buy you time."
The echo of the metal handle falling from her hand made Malcontent turn towards it. "Ah. You'll do."
Leaping over a bit of damaged railing, Sunset let the grenade cook for a moment before dropping it at his feet. Her own momentum sent her clear of the initial spray as it detonated.
Malcontent realized half a second too late what she was doing, pulling up his hands to shield his face and eyes. The burning element ignited him and his clothing, a loud howl of pain as it consumed them. Stumbling backwards with frantic motions to escape the flames, he felt chunks of his body begin to turn brittle.
Harnessing all his anger and pain to focus, Malcontent flexed outward and coated his body with ice. The first layer melted off rapidly, covering the area with steam. Each attempt to extinguish thickened the patch until he disappeared into it entirely. The next layer exploded off him as the ice began to win against the chemical reaction, showering the immediate area.
Sunset landed with a roll, taking cover from the ice shower and trying to get a visual on her opponent. Steam began to clear, giving way to a more ragged looking figure in the middle.
Malcontent arched his back, his clothing and body entirely ravaged by the flames, he looked worse than some of the buildings around him.
Holding his head as a wave of fatigue struck him, he gritted his teeth, parts of his skin on his face flaking off. Holding the right side of his head, he stumbled and caught himself on a wall while the feedback from feeding on himself began to take its toll.
“No.” he brushed several spots of his body shedding off of him from his eye sockets. “NO!” Malcontent shouted louder, digging into the nothingness of his power.
Jagged razor sharp ice covered his body, the facade of his human form now more dissolved than ever as his true windigo identity leaked through.
Sunset closed the distance with a fireball between them. It impacted square at his face, stumbling him and letting her reach melee range. "You know, you don't look well enough to travel, Mal." She threw two more balls of fire, each hitting him in the chest now. A third round came out much smaller and weaker, fizzling out before hitting him on the cheek for little impact.
"You look a bit out of breath yourself." He sneered back, ice replacing the missing parts of his clothing and face the more he lost his flesh.
“Nothing I can’t shake off. You ain’t leaving.” Sunset grappled with him, narrowing her eyes as she worked to counter his counters, neither gaining a foothold. Various punches, elbows and knees barely connected or hit nothing vital in a flurry of exchanges. Finally linking an arm through his, she locked elbows and tried to leverage him to the ground to no avail. “You know for being all talk, you certainly know your stuff…magic, martial arts?” she grunted, losing her momentum.
“You’d be surprised what one can do with a thousand years in isolation,” he growled back, knocking her in the back of the skull with a glancing palm strike. He felt her slide around behind him, but reacted too late to stop her elbow smashing into his spine and chipping his ice armor.
“I bet you do a lot of things alone,” she quipped back, sweeping his legs with her own, missing as they both flipped out of the other’s way. Both ran at the other, hoping to catch the other off-center, their fists connecting and bringing them to a stop as an explosion of steam from their powers meeting covered the area.
“You’ve trained a bit yourself, I see.” Malcontent froze the air, the shards of ice falling to the ground and clearing their vision. “All aggression, no finesse, but all Sunset.” he laughed, repositioning his hands to defend again. “It speaks volumes of your failures. They call it survivor’s guilt I believe?”
Sunset gritted her teeth, biting back the urge to answer and closed the gap between them, ducking under his lunge. Moving up an arm to clothesline him, she felt him lock her wrist. Pressing forward, she shot around his body, holding tightly to his waist, yanking at his belt and grunted as she yanked him up. But failed to budge him.
Malcontent laughed heartily at her failure. “That all you got left?” He jibbed, sinking his elbow into her forehead with a lightning-like jab to stumble her and spinning to backhand her across the cheek. “I’m insulted!” he pressed his advantage with a haymaker that took her off her feet. “And I think I’m done with you, sadly.”
Reaching down to his feet, he gripped another rebar. Sunset sputtered weakly and quivered to her feet as he wound back with all his might. Whipping forward and swinging, the rebar bent over Sunset’s body. The heroine was sent flipping through the air and crashing into another wall, which then crumbled on top of her.
Turning to the console, he barely took a step before Imperiva landed in front of him, rubble and dust rippling from the impact.
"Y’all gotta get through me first." She said firmly, a look of confidence taking her face as Mal threw both fists at her face. She caught both of the attacks in a gladiatorial test of strength, her own powers slowly cracking his ice.
"I can only assume you are that quaint little rustic farm girl," he quipped while holding eye contact. "You’re sturdy but not clever!"
A flash of white magic surged from his face, the arctic magic coating her head in a rough and jagged chunk of ice. While she clawed at the ice case on her head, Mal threw her to the side. Only to be struck on the back of the head by Shadowstrike’s staff. He stumbled but steadied himself just in time to see Andrea flying at him with an improvised spear. He shielded himself from the harpie’s stab and sent her flying with a blast of cold air.
"Fluttershy!" Shadowstrike yelled, dropping her guard and leaving herself open to a massive backhand that sent her spinning to the ground.
"You really are all handicapped by your feelings." He turned back towards his console and started walking. "That's why I can't stand how you all go about trying to encourage friendship when it’s done nothing to help any of you!"
I have to end this now. I can feel...my might leave me... he thought, desperately holding his composure. The spike of emotions he felt warned him that the heroes had regrouped and were advancing.
With a touch, Malcontent dissipated the ice from the console. Then it only took a few keystrokes and the turn of a knob to change the siphoning direction of his machine. Its power surged. With a smile, Mal turned around to see the heroines collapse to the ground one-by-one. The machine drained their magic and fed it into the swirling vortex overhead.
"That's better," he panted. Turning back again, he typed a few more commands, causing two focusing arrays aimed at both the slumbering Aria and the empty platform. "Let's see about getting you out of there." He grinned down at the dead Matterhorn armor as he casually approached it, several razor sharp ice blades forming on his fingers.
"I've always hated your self righteousness, Twilight," Malcontent mused as he raised his claws to Twilight. Eyes ablaze, he stabbed them down. The steel gave way like nails to a soda can. Gripping firmly, Malcontent peeled back the steel.
"You aren't the brightest, are you?" Spike waved from a screen inside the helmet. Everything went white.
The Matterhorn’s self-destruct ripped through the immediate area and pitched Malcontent across the former campus. It wasn’t until after he landed that he knew what had happened. The world was silent besides the horrible ringing in his ears. Everything blurred, spun and shifted around itself as he desperately clamored for footing. He could feel gaping holes in his shell and his Windigo magic pouring out from them.
An eternity of fighting got him to his belly. He willed the world to focus and in the distance, he could make out Twilight tampering with his console’s circuitry. Pushing himself up, he growled, eyes locked on her as he drew back an iced arm and swung with deadly force. Spikes shot up from the ground in a path towards her. The rumbling ground brought up her attention and she dodged. The attack barely missed. But she traded her balance for her life. Twilight tripped, hitting her head on a guard rail on her way to the ground, where she stirred for a moment before passing out.
Malcontent’s human shell continued to chip away, leaking icy flame-like fog through the gaps in his skin and clothes. Nevertheless, he trudged forward until he reached Twilight’s unconscious body. Picking her up by a leg, he dragged her carelessly down the ramp, her skin and clothes cutting and tearing on debris as they went. Picking up some discarded cabling on his way, he dragged her until they reached the other holding pylon, which he wasted no time in tying her to.
"I can't say this has gone entirely as planned,” he chuckled as he clamped the buckle. “But all's well that ends well." His smile grew, cracking his cheeks and flaking off more of his face. His power was overflowing and his body wouldn’t last much longer like this. But he still had plenty of time to return to his machine and throw the large lever on its side. Alarms rang as it began the next phase of transfer.
Beams of light shot into Twilight and Aria from the portal and raised them from the pylons as their shrieks of pain cut through the air over the noise of the machine. Dark magical veins streaked over their flesh and moments later, magic shot from their bodies towards the empty Canterlot High mascot podium. Slamming into an invisible barrier, the beams touched and congealed into a pulsating heartbeat before swirling into a portal. Loose debris was sucked in, causing it to grow steadily bigger than the white stoned pedestal. Each new inch brought thunder, roaring like an awakened mythical beast. And darkening storm clouds of black, green and purple spread over No Man’s Land.
Malcontent’s hair whipped in the gathering wind that pulled away more chunks of his skin. His grin grew into raucous laughter. Fully revealed was the endless void inside of him, swirling with steel blue colored magic shifting in vague shapes of his missing face. He stepped closer to his achievement with a triumphant, “Finally, you got your just reward!”
“Hey!” the voice of Sunset shouted behind him a split second before a blazing fist crashed against his remaining cheek. The last of his face shattered like glass as he was thrown to the ground.
Malcontent rolled to his feet, shedding the last of his hands. He stood as a body with the billowing mist of a windigo’s head and his arms smoking with the rough shape of misty hands. He gazed at a brilliant ball of flames that gently touched the ground in front of him, which then subsided into the outline of Sunset’s body. The flaming veil around her head dissipated to show her face while the rest of her continued alight with the same familiar aura that normally surrounded just her hands. Barely visible in the middle of her chest was the red geode from his belt.
Malcontent’s misty body flared with surprise and he grasped for the pouch on his belt, only to find that it was no longer there. He looked down to confirm. And when he looked back up, he saw the Elements of Harmony hovering around the center geode.
“NO!” he bellowed in defiance. The wisps of his body whipped into a swirling storm.
Clearing his thoughts of anger or fear, his body settled back into a silhouette of his human form. Glowing blue eyes in the head narrowed at Sunset. A sly, silvery smile of jagged teeth formed from the nothingness in his face. "The offer to join me is still open,” he spoke with many echoing voices.
Sunset smirked.
Their powers surged at each other. The last of Malcontent’s magical shield blocked the flare from her punch and shattered. The storm of his body quickly regrouped and whipped back with hypothermic winds that melted and dispersed before they got close.
Sunset stepped forward casually. Her power flared again. It was a familiar sensation she hadn’t had since she’d left Equestria. But with no horn to channel, the magic was wild and barely controlled by her will and focus. It coursed through and out of her with another step, leaving Malcontent reeling and desperate for defense.
She pressed forward and threw a punch, releasing a colossal wave of flames. The wave struck Malcontent and launched him back. He desperately grabbed onto the railings to hold himself down. Sunset stepped forward again, releasing another surge that was followed by two more punches. The flaming waves engulfed Malcontent, rending arms and legs that could not reform in time.
When both of his hands were gone, Sunset threw both of her hands forward. The white-hot flash that surged forward engulfed their entire platform. Malcontent was blown back, flailing for purchase, until he collided with the magical beam between his machine and the portal. Its energy tore off half his face like a belt sander. An agonized growl was ripped from his throat. The interference stopped the flow of magic and dropped him to the ground again.
Malcontent felt the world heating up around him as Sunset gently touched down. As he tried and failed to reform the mists of his body, he realized there was nothing left of his power. He turned the half of his head that remained towards Sunset. The flames around her body extinguished themselves, revealing her outfit had been restored to perfection.
"Is this where we talk about the power of friendship?" he asked spitefully. "How I've got a lot to learn but you'll show me how?"
Sunset knelt down and looked into his eye. "Usually," she answered with little emotion in her tone. She reached down. Grasping what she could of his mostly incorporeal form, she picked him off the ground and chambered her free hand into a fist. “Today’s been an unusual day though.”
"There’s the brutality I admired in you,” Mal quipped while staring into her eyes. “You should show your true self more often. I’m the only one who likes it."
With the remainder of his left arm, he struck her in the stomach. Sunset retaliated by punching another explosion into the remainder of his face and throwing him.
Malcontent’s limp body careened through the air and collided with Aria’s. The siren’s restraints finally snapped under the pressure and she awakened just in time to see herself and her master getting sucked into the portal. And then nothing as magical feedback ripped both of them into dust. Without its conduit, the portal destabilized and blasted rainbow-colored energy into the air. An explosion of electrical energy blasted from the console. The machine groaned as it shut down. The pylon that Aria was strapped to collapsed to the ground. Twilight’s body slumped against her own bindings.
And then everything was silent.
Sunset fell to her knees, feeling like she’d been run over by a tractor-trailer. She could feel no more magic within her. Only the echoing memory of its presence remained. Attempting to stand only sent her into a dizzying spell and she dropped.
Pinkie Pie appeared just in time to catch her. Soon after, a groggy and barely-standing-herself Rainbow Dash tried to shove herself under Sunset’s arm and pick her up. They were greeted by loud pops from within Sunset’s side.
"Oh. That has to be something broken," Sunset chuckled weakly. With cloudy eyes, she looked down to her ribs to see blood pooling around an ice spike that jutted from them. "Oh that's...not…"
The world dimmed and went black around her, muffled voices of her friends filling her subconscious.
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MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
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8051496
Imma bout to start my journey and read this and I get the feeling I won’t be disappointed.
11762071
Can't wait to hear! :D
11594147
It's heeeere!
11550563
As far as dead? We shall see!
11314920
Can't wait to see your input as always friend
11295604
It's ready!
11292045
and here it is!
11157566
Alive it is! :D
This has been an interesting and entertaining read. Interesting spot to end on. Nice work ^_^
11766159
Gotcha, hope Coco isn’t dead too!
11762110
Finally caught up to the and, and I liked it.
I really enjoyed reading this. All the superhero action, the lore of this universe, character developement, the group reuniting, and finally defeating the villains at the end and saving the day
Can't wait for the epilogue and season 2.
Now on to EQUESTRIAN CITY STREETS!
(Avengers 2012🎶)
https://youtu.be/QtxeJ703w18?si=vjsPV4ZCWumrMYSI
Prediction of future villians:
Northen Empire;
Sombra, Tempest, Professor Midnight, Scootaloo possibly.
Others;
Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Chrysalis.
I am ashamed of myself that it showed me so long to finally read this epic finale. What an absolute war that was to finally put an end to Mal.
11886885
Thank you for the words! It helps motivate me :D
11887409
Welcome!