Chapter 26
Rainbow Dash grinned wickedly as the power surged through her. The battle between an (relatively) underpowered alicorn and a (definitely) overpowered pegasus might have put them on a more-or-less equal plane, but Rainbow definitely held the advantage at the moment. She’d already gotten a measure of Sombra’s strength, abilities and tactics when he’d been knocking her around. On the other hoof, Sombra had no idea how the Alicorn Amulet would work on a pegasus. Neither did Rainbow for that matter, but she’d never let a minor detail like that stop her.
She felt like she had electricity in her veins, storm clouds in her stomach and a tornado racing inside her heart. Rainbow felt exhilarated, intense, alive. And most of all, she was going to reduce Sombra to a greasy red smear on her hooves.
Lunging at the newly ascended alicorn, Sombra was left with less than a second to react before Rainbow’s hoof struck him in the chest, sending him sailing up in the air. She sped over to where he was about to land.
“This is for Derpy!” She slugged him across the face. “For Dinky!” She punched him again. “for Cloud Kicker … and Applejack … and Rarity! Alula! Pipsqueak! Princess Glisten! The Crystal Ponies! The foals! Luna!” She hit him again and again, before pausing to wind up her hoof as much as she could. “And this … is for everything else!” She hit him, sending him soaring halfway across the room.
Rainbow flapped her wings, getting the air moving again within the room. She stuck out her tongue, partly to infuriate her foe, but she had another reason for it: she was tasting the water in the air.
Her wings flapped harder and harder as she separated out the water in the air and condensed it into a fine mist. Her wings began to beat, creating a gentle updraft that carried the mist to the ceiling where it expanded and cooled into clouds.
All pegasi had the ability to manipulate and shape the weather, but Dash was taking this to the next level. By flapping her wings, she wasn’t just pushing air around. She was creating winds: high pressure or low pressure, warm front or cold front, north or south or any kind she could imagine. She began beating her wings quickly, the wind whipping around her fiercely. For Sombra, he had to dig in his hooves and use his magic to prevent himself from being completely blown away by the howling hurricane winds.
But Rainbow wasn’t through. “Hey, you ugly sack of horseapples!” She waited for him to look up before she plunged a hoof into one of the clouds she’d constructed and—somehow—managed to pull out a thunderbolt! No pegasus had ever managed to simply create a thunderbolt, much less touch it! But Rainbow simply readied herself, and pulled back the thunderbolt, all the while grinning triumphantly at the dumbstruck Sombra. “Shazam!” She tossed the bolt right at the dark king. He hastily threw up a magical shield which the bolt impacted on. Even though it didn’t hit him directly, it still knocked him back Undeterred, Rainbow pulled out another thunderbolt, and then another. Sombra managed to block or bat aside the next two bolts, but the third struck true.
He roared out an anguished bellow of pain as he looked to his scorched side. He was far from powerless, but the initiative was firmly on Rainbow Dash’s side. With a toss of his head, he commanded the windigos to join the fray.
The ghostly apparitions howled as they charged down at Rainbow Dash. She made no move to stop them until they were practically on top of her. At the last moment, she flared her wings and started beating the air, creating fierce tornado winds that scattered the windigos.
With that threat neutralized, the grinning pegasus bucked the clouds, creating a torrential icy rain to fall on Sombra. It was soon joined by sleet and hail the size of hooves. Rainbow Dash—master of the elements! It had a nice ring to it. After all, Celestia had the sun and Luna had the moon.
Sombra reached out with his magic, a thousand black strands of crackling energy, trying to close in on Rainbow Dash. She snorted contemptuously. He might have been an alicorn, but she was Rainbow Dash—the Thunderer! Hmm, she thought to herself. The name is cool, but it could be cooler.
Rainbow dove, spiraling around the lightning as she traced it back to its source—and proceeded to kick Sombra’s horn. Hard.
This proved to be a poor move for both combatants. Sombra’s magic abruptly cut out with a pained yell as Rainbow Dash backed away, clutching her singed and smoking hoof. She flew back upwards, putting some distance between them. Okay, so perhaps that hadn’t gone perfectly. Still, it was just a small hiccup in the great battle of Rainbow Dash the Thunderstriker! Nopony could stand against her—alicorn or not!
Sombra stayed on the ground, having realized that any battle in the air would favor Rainbow Dash. He mustered his strength, content to wait for his magical reserves to replenish. He knew that this upstart pegasus was too enthralled by her sudden rush of power to think clearly. She would soon overreach and make a mistake. All he had to do was wait for it and then—strike!
A cold smirk crossed his face as he consoled himself with the thought of just what he would do once he seized the initiative. But for the moment had to settle for dodging thunderbolts.
The Alicorn Amulet shone brighter as Rainbow Dash drew upon its power. It was such a rush. She had never felt so energetic! So incredible! So … so … scared. A small tremor ran through her body as she thought of what would happen if she didn’t stop Sombra now. Images flew through her mind at near-rainboom speeds: Sombra standing triumphant on a pile of foals, including Dinky and her friends. His darkness radiated even stronger than it had before as he stood before her: a true alicorn of unfathomable power. Other visions soon followed: a dark shadow spreading across Equestria, plunging everything into terrifying blackness. Ponies screaming and panicking as Canterlot burned and everything fell into ruin. Celestia and Luna obliterated by a wave dark magic as Sombra strode through the halls of Canterlot Castle.
Then Rainbow saw Ponyville burn. Sweet Apple Acres lying desolate and fallow, Fluttershy’s cottage and Sugarcube Corner smashed flat and the library and Carousel Boutique burned down. She flashed to the Crystal Empire, seeing her friends in agony, crying and bleeding as Sombra stood over them. There was a flash of his horn and then … nothing.
Dash trembled at the imaginary visions of horror. Her friends being hurt…or worse…all because they had tried to help her do what should have been her job and hers alone—because she just wasn’t good enough. Her veins filled with ice. That was the truth of it. Her friends—the girls, Dinky and the kids, Shining Armor, Cadance, Zecora—they were in danger because she wasn’t capable of taking care of Sombra herself. And why wasn’t she? Because she was a failure. That was the truth of it. She was all talk … she couldn’t even get to the Crystal Empire without help.
She wasn’t good enough, and because she wasn’t, her friends and her fellow ponies were going to pay the price for it. Rainbow gripped a thunderbolt in her hooves, so hard that she could feel tiny jolts of electricity running up her limbs.
Dash wouldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t—couldn’t!—fail. She was going to make sure nothing happened to any of them, make sure they stayed safe: forever. And the only way to do that was to ensure that everyone who even thought about doing something bad ended up on the business end of a thunderbolt before they could even blink. That’s where Celestia failed, Rainbow thought bitterly. She didn’t act to nip evil in the bud until it was already a monster-sized threat. And what did she do when she did beat the bad guys? She banished them. Whoop-de-doo, Rainbow snorted. All that meant was that they could come back and try again, be given another chance to hurt the ponies Rainbow cared about.
Well, she wasn’t about to make the same mistake. If Celestia was too weak to permanently end evil before it took root, then Rainbow would have to do it herself. Some tiny part of her mind recognized that Celestia probably wouldn’t agree with her … but she ruthlessly shoved that thought aside. Celestia was immortal, all-powerful. She didn’t understand what it was like to be a normal pony, to see them so vulnerable and hurt. No, Dash would do what she had to do. And if Celestia or anypony else didn’t see the wisdom of it … well, she could take care of that later.
Rainbow Dash brought down the thunder on Sombra’s shield, again and again. His barrier began to crack under the strain as smoke and debris filled the air, completely shrouding the dark lord’s vision. Sombra’s eyes narrowed as he waited for the smoke to dissipate. It did—just in time for him to clearly see Rainbow Dash’s hoof crashing through his shield and snap his head back.
Once she had him off-balance, Dash was determined not to give him a chance to recover. She punched him, and punched him, and punched him some more. Her hoof actually started to ache from all the times she planted it against his face. But she didn’t stop, wouldn’t stop. Not until she was sure that it was over.
She wasn’t going to be as nice to Sombra as she foolishly was to Nightmare Moon. The Nightmare pony could’ve just as easily taken advantage of Rainbow’s mercy to hurt her friends again. They just lucked out that time. But the thing about luck was that it eventually runs out. This time, there’d be no second or third chance for Sombra to see the ‘error of his ways.’ Rainbow Dash hefted another thunderbolt as she decided that she would be his judge, jury, and executioner.
Hmm … Electrocutioner. Now that sounded nice.
Dinky was confused. She didn’t quite know what to do after Princess Cadance went away. How was she supposed to find Rainbow Dash? The little filly wandered around, calling for her godmom. “Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash, where are yooou?” After several minutes of wandering aimlessly through the void, Dinky sat down and grumbled. “Dumb place. How’m s’posed t’find anything if there’s nothing anywhere?”
She pouted for a bit before hitting upon a solution. My horn always tells me when Mommy’s nearby … maybe I can use it to find Rainbow! Dinky concentrated hard, her horn flickering and sputtering as she tried to find Rainbow Dash. She tilted her head, trying to get a better look to see if it was working. Looking at your own horn was hard!
Her horn started to glow when she tilted her head a certain way. She experimentally tilted it another way, but the glow died down, but returning it to the other position made the light shine again. Maybe Rainbow Dash is that way! She guessed as she started walking in the direction her horn was pointing when it got all glow-y.
Dinky walked and walked for what felt like forever and then, two minutes later, she found Rainbow Dash! She saw her beating up a really mean and ugly pony who must’ve been Mr. Sombre … Samba … Sombra … Sombrero … whatever it was.
“Rainbow Dash!” Dinky yelled as she ran over to her godmommy, ignoring the ugly pony. She would’ve kept on running but she ran straight into an invisible wall. “Owie…” She whined as she shook her head. Now she knew how her Mommy felt!
Dinky shook her head and tried to go around it, but the wall wouldn’t let her get to Rainbow! “Stoopid wall!” She banged a hoof on the wall and called out. “Rainbow Dash!”
But after a while it became clear that Rainbow couldn’t hear her. With a sad whimper, Dinky slumped down in front of the wall and sat, watching Rainbow Dash beat up the bad pony. She wondered if Rainbow was gonna give him a spanking. He deserved it for being such a meaney and taking her away from Mommy and Sparky and everypony.
And Rainbow Dash was rilly beating him up! “Go Rainbow Dash!” She hopped up and down. “Go get ‘im! Get Mistah Sombrero!” She grinned, knowing that Rainbow was going to stop that big, dumb, cootie-infested jerk. Beat him up until he said uncle!
Not until she was sure that it was over.
Huh? Dinky rubbed a hoof in her ear. It was like she was hearing invisible ponies—or maybe even ghosts!—talking. It sounded kinda like Rainbow Dash only more … grumbly.
Electrocutioner. Now that sounded nice.
Dinky whimpered. She knew that word from that time Mommy accidentally made the toaster all lightning-y like a storm cloud. It was a bad thing. “Rainbow Dash!” Dinky shouted, pounding her hoof against the wall. “Stop! You sound rilly grumbly, an' I don' like it!”
Rainbow had hefted Sombra, barely conscious--if at all--up and held him against a wall. A thunderbolt was clutched in a drawn back hoof, ready to deliver what she expected to be the coup to end all de graces. But all of a sudden, she heard something.
You sound rilly grumbly, and’ I don’ like it!
It sounded like … Dinky? In her surprise, Rainbow dropped Sombra. “Huh? What was that?” She turned around, looking hard. Something rippled out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, it vanished. Then it happened again, with similar results. Frustrated, Rainbow started headbutting Sombra's unconscious form. "Stop with the tricks!" After a minute of this, she backed away, her eyes bleary as she tried not looking at anything. And that time … a familiar purple-grey filly materialized before her. “Dinky?” Rainbow blinked. “Is that you?”
“WHOA!” Dinky jumped in surprise when Rainbow looked at her. A wide grin split her face as she rushed over to tackle-glomp her. “Hi Rainbow Dash!” Despite having materialized seemingly out of thin air, Dinky’s hug proved to be surprisingly solid.
Rainbow’s expression was torn between stunned surprise and horror before compromising on gobsmacked. “Dinky? What are you doing here? It's not safe!” She looked behind her at the still immobile Sombra. “Get out of here!”
She wasn’t even aware her voice had become a yell until she saw Dinky shrinking down. “N-nuh-uh! I'm here t' help ya!”
Dash closed her eyes and realized she was getting worked up. She tried counting to ten … but only got to five before her patience gave way. “I don’t need your help Dinky … I’ve got this.” She looked behind her at the stunned Sombra. “Just go--” she blinked as she tried to fathom just how Dinky came to be here in the first place. “--wherever it is you just were.”
Dinky refused to budged. “But Miss Princess said I had t’ help! She said ya needed help and--”
“NO!” Rainbow barked, stamping her hoof and summoning a clap of thunder, the power of the Amulet making her eyes glow red. “It's my job to help you, to protect you! I’m the pony who keeps all of Equestria safe! It’s my job, mine! I'm going to do it alone so nopony ever gets hurt by monsters like Nightmare Moon or Sombra!” Her voice had gotten progressively louder and angrier, taking on an enraged—and possibly deranged—tone. “Only I'm not gonna just lock them away for a thousand years and make it somepony else’s problem! No, I'm going to stomp their faces into the floor!”
“S-stomp ‘em?” Dinky gulped. “B-but that’s mean!”
Dash snorted. “It’s what they deserve.” She cracked her neck. “Should’ve done this from the start. Hay, I should’ve done this to Nightmare Moon when I had the chance.”
That made Dinky gasp. “But Miss Princess is really, rilly nice! She wants me t’ help you!”
Rainbow tossed her mane short-temperedly. “Whatever. I don’t need Luna’s help … I don’t need anypony’s help. I’ll take care of everything myself. I’ll stop the bad guys … permanently. And I’ll do the same thing to anypony or anything that gets in my way!” Her eyes flashed red again, terrifying poor Dinky.
“No ya don’t!” Dinky tugged pleadingly on Rainbow’s leg. “You don’t gotta do bad stuff!”
Rainbow paused, her anger ebbing slightly. “Dinky…ugh!” A sudden headache gripped her, the amulet glowing against her chest. “No!” She shook her head, as if bedeviled by flies. “I’ve got to crush Sombra beneath my hooves … make him pay … make him suffer.”
Dinky gave a scared little intake of breath as she tightened her hug on Rainbow. “Nuh-uh! Don' do that, Rainbow, that's mean an' bad an'--an'--an' EVIL!”
“Evil? EVIL?! I'm not evil!” Rainbow slammed her hoof against the floor, looking at Dinky suspiciously. “You--you just want me to spare Sombra! This is all just some trick of his to distract me and spare his miserable flank!” She flared her wings and snorted, agressively. “Well, it’s not going to work! I’m going to destroy him, just like I’m going to destroy everything evil in Equestria—no matter what anypony says!”
Dinky gasped, backing away from Rainbow. “Y ... y-you ... you're not ... Rainbow Dash wouldn't say that!”
“Yes, I would!” Rainbow stomped her hoof again. “Now that I have the power to make sure that all the monsters and evil ponies can be stopped once and for all! That none of them can ever hurt my friends, my family or anypony else ever again!”
Dinky stomped her hoof right back. “No she wouldn’t! 'Cause Rainbow Dash doesn't destroy stuff! She makes stuff, like she makes friendships with Mommy an' Miss Cloud Kicker an' other ponies, an' the only time she destroys stuff is when it’s food or clouds! She—she wouldn’t be mean like that!” Dinky rubbed her face with her foreleg, trying not to cry. “Rainbow Dash is a good pony, an' the bestest pony 'cause Mommy wouldn't let anypony else be my godmommy--but you're soundin' mean an' stuff, an' Rainbow Dash isn't mean!”
Rainbow raised her hooves to her forehead, suddenly stricken with a head-splitting headache. “I—I have to stop the bad guys from doing … bad things. Otherwise—it’s all my fault.”
“Then ya gotta be there when it happens, like I was there for Miss Princess” Dinky frowned as she hugged Rainbow tight. “Bad stuff happens sometimes, but if you make other bad stuff happen t' try an' stop bad stuff, then that makes you a bad pony, an' I don' like bad ponies!”
Dinky bit her lip to keep it from trembling. “Ya gotta be brave now ‘cept ya also gotta to it in a way that makes you a good pony, just like my godmommy'd only make me do things that make me a good pony.” She sniffled as she gave Rainbow a tentative embrace. “I—I love you, Rainbow Dash.”
Dinky felt moist drops fall on the top of her head. “D-Dinky…” Rainbow leaned down and wrapped the little filly up in the tightest, warmest hug Dinky had had in what felt like forever. She tilted her head up to see Rainbow Dash was crying–and her eyes weren’t all red and glow-y anymore.
“Rainbow!” Dinky grinned up at her. “You’re back t’normal! Yay!”
“I--I'm sorry!” Rainbow gasped out in between hitching breaths. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry....”
Dinky held her onto her. “S’okay Rainbow … you were just bein’ grumbly cuz you were scared. And I still really, rilly love you!”
“I--I love you too.” Dash hiccupped, trying to suppress her sobs as she kissed Dinky’s cheek and hugged her even tighter. “So, so much.”
“Whoa!” Dinky giggled as she mwa’d Rainbow’s cheek. “Now I know you're rilly Rainbow Dash, 'cause she's the only pony that can make me all squeaky when she gets snuggly!”
Rainbow gave a choked, half-laugh, half-sob as she held her goddaughter. “Dinky…”
Dinky held her godmom in a get-better-hug. “Ya gotta de-feet Mistah Sombra, but ya gotta do it while bein' a good pony, 'kay?” Dash nodded solemnly, earning an approving nod from Dinky. “Good! Now go get 'im! 'cause he's a super-big meanie that also made me super big!”
The vision of Dinky faded away and Rainbow found herself staring back at Sombra’s limp form, dangling from the end of her hoof. A thunderbolt had been prepped and was clutched tightly in her other hoof, preparing to jam it directly into Sombra’s eye. Her hoof trembled, still wanting to do it.
A glint of light caught the corner of her eye and she looked to see what it was: it was the Element of Loyalty, peeking out from behind the Alicorn Amulet. Rainbow regarded it for a moment, gently brushing the amulet away so she could stare at the ruby lightning bolt. Loyalty. That’s what she was.
Sure, she was loyal to the Princess, loyal to Equestria and of course she was super-loyal to her friends and stuff. But Rainbow started to realize that loyalty meant a bit more than doing anything for the folks you cared about. It was also about being true and loyal to yourself—to your morals and stuff. All that … stuff she had been thinking earlier was trying to sound all loyal and stuff to protecting ponies—which Rainbow was totally behind—but it was asking her to do it by being totally un-loyal to who she was.
She was Rainbow Dash: and Rainbow Dash is everything awesome and radical, but not a despot (she really will have to thank Celestia for the dictionary for Hearth's Warming. It was more useful than just looking up naughty words). She let the thunderbolt drop to the floor and dissipate, joined a moment later by Sombra’s inert body. Another pulse of energy ran through her body like concentrated adrenaline, courtesy of the Alicorn Amulet. If it had a voice, it would’ve been screaming at her to maim, kill, destroy, burn!
Rainbow flicked her ears. “Oh shut up.” She grunted as she fumbled with the clasp for the amulet hanging around her neck. While a part of her tried to suggest that she wait to take off the amulet after she dealt with Sombra, a much larger part of her knew that if she did that--if she took the step of actually killing another pony--she’d never be able to take the damn thing off.
She stepped away and tried looking over her shoulder, trying to see if she was even getting it right. After a moment she had succeeded, and pulled the Alicorn Amulet off her neck and away from her. She spent a long time looking at it and wondering if she was really doing the right thing, turning her back on this power—all the good she could do, saving Equestria from its enemies and stuff.
Then about half a second after she started thinking about it, she tossed the thing over her shoulder without a glance. With all due respect to Twilight and the Princess, sometimes thinking too hard about stuff was just a distraction; Rainbow had been all about listening to her gut. And right now, her gut told her she wanted nothing more to do with anything that had been created by King friggin’ Sombra of all ponies.
Speaking of, Dash turned around and walked back to the unconscious alicorn. As soon as she got close, she winced at the smell of burned feathers and charred flesh. She had really gone all out on the tyrant. Suddenly worried that she had already gone too far, Rainbow stretched out a hoof to check his pulse. He might’ve been an evil, monstrous creep who deserved every bit of the beating he’d gotten, but Rainbow didn’t really want to be a killer.
As soon as her hoof drew close to his neck, Sombra’s eye snapped open and grabbed her by the leg and tossed her aside. Rainbow landed hard, a whoof of air forced from her lungs as she hit the floor. She quickly scrambled back up just in time to see Sombra getting up, his wounds and injuries magically healing. “Great…” Rainbow flew over in a flash, intent on striking him before he was fully recovered.
But Sombra anticipated her, and used his magic to neatly slam her onto the floor. Rainbow groaned and turned over, just in time for Sombra to step over her. His right foreleg pressed down on her wing, his left foreleg digging into her chest. Rainbow struggled, but couldn’t dislodge the larger, heavier pony. “What now, pompous brat?” He hissed in her face as he stood over her.
“I…” Rainbow grunted as she raised one of her hindlegs “…improvise!” Then she jerked her hoof upwards and planted it firmly between Sombra’s back legs.
The tyrant’s pupils dilated as the pain registered with his brain; he screamed in agony and rage. With him distracted and the pressure on her lessened, Rainbow managed to break free and roll away. She got back into a fighting stance just as Sombra recovered.
“Fool.” Sombra spat furiously. “Did you really think you could defeat me all by yourself? Me? A living god?!
“Actually, yeah.” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, climbing back to her hooves and staring at something just behind Sombra. “But on the off chance I might have been wrong…”
Sombra turned to see what she was looking at—just in time for the wall to explode inward. Chunks of shattered crystal went flying in, giving Rainbow Dash the chance to put some distance between her and the enraged alicorn.
And enraged he was, snarling at being interrupted at the moment of his triumph once again. When the dust and smoke cleared, he found himself face to face with five unfamiliar mares, each wearing a necklace to match the Element of Harmony around Rainbow Dash’s neck.
The pink earth pony on the far right tossed her hooves up in the air and announced boldly: “Ta-daaa!”
Rainbow Dash had never been so happy at the sight of pure randomness. “Took you long enough.” She said casually, trying to offset the mammoth grin on her face.
“Aww, sorry Dashie!” Pinkie pouted. “But do you know how hard it is to arrive just in time for a Big Darn Hero moment?”
“Heh, it’s okay.” Rainbow joined her friends at the middle of their line, the six Elements together again. She grinned at Sombra. “So, has it sunk in yet how totally screwed you are?”
Sombra bared his teeth angrily at the six mares. Apparently it had. Applejack narrowed her eyes at the alicorn. “This that Sombra fella?” She scraped her hoof against the ground, snorting as if preparing for a charge.
“I am King Sombra.” He corrected. “Lord and master of the Crystal Empire and soon to be god-king of all Eques—” His introduction was cut off by a chunk of crystal bouncing off his snout.
Everypony turned to look at the thrower. “You @%#&!” Rarity spat at him. “How dare you steal away my Sweetie Belle and then take her youth?! I’m going to stomp you into the dirt where you belong and grind you into dust!” She panted as everypony just looked at her.
“…Oh my.” Fluttershy blinked.
Rainbow shook her head. “All right, Rare!” She grinned at her friend. “You said it! let’s curbstomp this creep!”
“Foolish wretches! Mewling impudent imbeciles! Sniveling tools of an outmoded order!” Sombra snarled as the six mares took up positions around him, forming a circle.
“Ah reckon that mean’s he don’t fancy us much.” Quipped Applejack.
“Would be my guess.” Rainbow deadpanned as they circled around him, drawing the noose tight and denying him any avenue of escape.
The six Elements of Harmony on their necks began to pulse in synch with each other. They glowed brighter and brighter, forcing Sombra to cover his face with his wing and shrink away from them. Each Element sent out a beam of rainbow light that spread to the ones on either side of them. By the time it had finished, the six friends had formed a ring connecting them. The rainbow light began to constrict, but Sombra summoned all his strength and created a black shield of magic energy to hold the Elements at bay.
“Come on everypony!” Rainbow Dash called over the din of the crackling and sizzling from the colliding magics. “Pour it on!”
“Fools!” Sombra laughed. “The entire Crystal Empire is my place of power! I have had over a millennium to weave my enchantments over it, to bind it and its inhabitants to my very being! Destroy me and you destroy them as well!”
“No.” A determined voice rang out. “Not this time.” The six mares risked looking at source of interruption … to see Princess Cadance, flanked by Shining Armor and Zecora, stepping through the hole in the wall and into the throne room.
Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “Cadance!”
“Shining!” Twilight cried out joyously at seeing her big brother.
“Zecora!” Pinkie whooped, not wanting the zebra to feel left out.
“Yay.” Fluttershy cheered softly.
Cadance gave her friends a nod and a smile. “Hello girls … sorry I took so long. I had to dig a family heirloom out of the basement.” In her magic grip, she held the Crystal Heart high. “You won’t be dooming the Crystal Empire or the crystal ponies this day, Sombra. This,” she indicated the Heart with a toss of her head, “is the heart of the Crystal Empire. Not you. And unlike you, it doesn’t take anything from the crystal ponies. It gives. The love of the crystal ponies is what powers the heart, and spreads love and joy across all of Equestria.”
“NO!” Sombra snarled as he tried to grab the Heart with his magic, even as he fought to maintain the shield around him.
Cadance staggered, but planted her hooves firmly and tugged back, keeping the Heart ensconced in her own magic. “Girls!” She called out to the six ponies surrounding Sombra. “F-focus your Elements on the Heart once I get it into position!” Unlike before where Sombra and Cadance were engaged in a pulling war over the Crystal Heart, now the two tried to push the Heart away. Cadance was trying to put it into position right above Sombra, in the middle of the girls’ circle and Sombra was trying to push it away to anyplace but there.
The pink princess grunted in an unladylike fashion, as she pushed and strained against Sombra’s more powerful magic. Her grip weakened and sweat beaded across her brow. She felt a pang of fear that the two of them might end up grinding the Heart to dust between them … like in her dream!
But her fears died before they could truly be reborn. Shining Armor saddled up next to her, lending her his warmth and strength. His own horn shimmered as the two of them managed to slowly push Sombra’s magic back, and helped Cadance push the Crystal Heart into position.
“Now!” Cadance called to the others. Rainbow and the others tilted themselves back and up, their Elements sending a burst of rainbows straight into the Crystal Heart. The Heart began to spin in place, beaming the power of the Elements of Harmony up and into the main crystal Sombra had used as a conduit.
The Elements of Harmony continued beaming out rainbow colored-light to one another. The beams of light began to crisscross until each and every Element Bearer was connected to each other; forming a complex lattice matrix, centering on Sombra’s failing shield in the middle.
With the power of the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart combining, Sombra’s shield gave way. Sombra let out a strangled cry of defiance as the light poured into him. He threw his head back as light poured out of his eyes and mouth. A multicolored shockwave burst out from him and spread out. The wave washed over the group … and it felt wonderful. All their aches, pains and tiredness seemed to be washed away as the rainbow light continued to spread out. All the black crystals shattered upon impact with the wave, and regular crystals became brighter.
And though the group couldn’t see what happened after the wave passed through the walls, it spread through the Crystal Empire and beyond, destroying all traces of Sombra’s dark crystals and ridding the Empire of his evil taint. With a fearful whinny the windigos were buffeted by the shockwave and knocked together, a solid wall of crystal forming around them: trapping them inside.
As for Sombra, he seemed to shrink as the light poured from where he stood, which wasn’t so far from the truth. His bat-like wings shriveled and decayed to the point of falling apart into nothing and his long, curved horn began to shrink and straighten out. The earth pony size and proportions he had gained melted away, leaving him a normal unicorn again.
There was a flash of light and then … it was over.
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
774 users online
1,204,418 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Taste the rainbow, Sombra.
Dashie: Shazam = Good, Electrocutioner = Dead Lian Harper = BAD
Also, go Rarity. Didn't think she had it in her.
Great chapter. I hate to say it, but for a minute there I was kind of hoping Dash really would end Sombra. And I like that you left Rarity's curse up to our imaginations, since it really could be a variety of things.
My comments on the chapter....
HAHAHAHAHA! YES! BRILLIANT! MARVELOUS! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
And all that.
Can't wait for more! (P.S. Your skills are just...WOW. YES.)
Nice!!
Epic
Other than that, can't wait for the next one! Thanks for satisfying my procrastination on my primary story!
That was close, but you did it, Dinky. You kept Rainbow Dash from becoming what she was trying to defeat.
And the Big Damn Heroes with the rest of the Mane 6 and Princess Cadance...YES!!! *pumps hoof*
The Crystal Heart combined with the Elements of Harmony were a massive Crowning Moment of Awesome! Here, have some badges!
fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/282/7/5/rainbow_dash_approved_by_ambris-d4bdn33.png
fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/282/e/5/twilight_sparkle_approved_by_ambris-d4c255h.png
fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/282/4/e/rarity_approved_by_ambris-d4cdq6y.png
fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/277/e/a/pinkie_pie_approved_by_ambris-d4brtm4.png
fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/345/0/9/fluttershy_approved_by_ambris-d4ivleb.png
fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/345/9/d/applejack_approved_by_ambris-d4ivlan.png
And winning without killing...that's what makes Rainbow Dash number one!
Later!
3395539 ...I get why you might have hoped for that, but what separates the heroes from the villains is the fact that heroes normally don't kill, unless every single alternative has already been proven useless and the villain is simply too dangerous to risk another rampage.
And Sombra has lost all of the power that he stole, turning him back into a unicorn. Now he can be locked up, with something to prevent him from using any magic again, and be left in a nice cozy jail cell for the rest of his natural life.
Great!!
Please don't use exclamation points outside of dialogue.
Good fight though.
Oh, sure, killing the bad guy makes YOU a bad guy. Never mind him being a murderer, kidnapper, torturer, etc.
Would anyone have honestly tried to rehabilitate Saddam Hussein after he got captured?
I'm slightly upset by the cliche Dinky talking Rainbow down and making her spare him, but this is coming from someone who draws a lot of inspiration for her own stories from Edgar Allen Poe, so... Ignore me!
Other than that, I await the next update!
All we need now is to find out what happened to Sombrero and get the fillies back home.
3396258 3396143
You're thinking like a human, a human raised in a human world with human morals.
Korra: BITCH WHAT?!
fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/230/b/1/korra_vs_rainbow_dash_by_avatarwolfman-d471mzs.jpg
3396728
Even in the human world, playing the Punisher can turn you into a psycho. That´s why we have a judicial system. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
You know the talking Rainbw Down thing would probably sit with me a lot better if they hadn't, you know, killed Sombra via EXPLOSION in the show. When the show aimed at little kids kills off the villain when it has redeemed, imprisoned (and later redeemed, but not yet by the point), and banished the villains before that point, the guy must really deserve it.
3397009 Well, it seems that in this version of the series, Sombra was sort of under the same corrupting influence that Luna was, sort of like how Symbiote worked on Spiderman and that guy who later became Venom.
Sooooo, Dash wasn't in a dream after all?
Anyway, good fight and good ending to the threat.
I found it interesting, your interpretation of the alicorn amulet: it corrupts the user, but each individual corruption is different. Sombra was a pony who desired power, both as a means and an end. Thus the amulet corrupted that and turned him into a megalomaniac willing to control everything. With Rainbow Dash, whose greatest desire is protect everypony, the amulet was twisting that so she would do whatever it took to protect her friends, to the point of thinking Celestia a failure for not doing so. Had that amulet stayed on her, and had she killed Sombra, her desire to protect her friends could have driven her to get the power to do so, eventually turning her into a megalomaniac that her friends would not hesitate to stop. Thankfully, Dinky was able to pull Rainbow Dash away from the brink. So in the end, the desire for power, no matter what our intentions, can destroy who we are and lead us down a terrible path. I wonder if Rainbow Dash could remember that lesson. Great chapter, but I wonder what will be the ultimate fate of King Sombra, and understanding what the desire of power can do, if she could come to if not forgive Sombra, at least walk a mile in his horseshoes.
3396143 In my personal view on him, Sombra is more of like... A Darth Vader, in a sense. He was once good, but slipped into evil.
But as for your comparison, that's too human for this. Keep in mind, they live in a world where murder doesn't happen on the local news nightly. Only the true monsters have killed, and most of those they've faced were unwillingly bad or just misunderstood, like the sea ponies or the gargoyles.
3397096
Sigh.
So the ponies here have never heard of Acting in Self-Defence? In Self-Defence of their own lives, of their loved ones, of their Property and Livelyhood?
How about Acting Against a Deadly Enemy?
And in case anypony didn't notice, this isn't a schoolyard bullying case, THIS IS A BUCKING WAR!!!!
Furthermore, Rainbow Dash, as a Bearer of an Element of Harmony, has an OBLIGATION to defend the Diarchy AND the Crystal Empire.
And did Dinky forget her own situation? She was KIDNAPPED, for Faust's sake! Her body, and that of many INNOCENT FOALS, has been drained of their youth in order to power that of an impenitent megalomaniac. Would any of the CMC have tried to stop Rainbow Dash? How about Pip? Snips or Snails?
I'm being criticised for thinking with human morals? Aren't we dealing with UNIVERSAL morals here?
Sorry, but no. The "if we kill the bad guy then that makes us as bad as he is" indoctrination is complete rubbish that I've had to wade through in great stories and series where, at the moment where one action could solve PLENTY of the Heroes' problems, the opportunity was thrown away by a sanctimonious objector who needlessly prolongued the Heroes' suffering.
And caused additional deaths by sparing the Villain's life.
Yes, that's right. If you think that the "if we kill the bad guy then that makes us as bad as he is" is valid, how about the opposite? "If we DON'T kill the bad guy, he'll recover and eventually cause MORE death and destruction, and that will make us WORSE than he is because we had the power to stop him but didn't because we were oh-so-self-righteous and didn't want to sully our reputation?"
There was a parody of a Sonic comic about this, where Tails is given the chance to kill Robotnik. In the original, Tails gives off the idiotic argument of not wanting to be a villain. In the parody, Tails goes ahead and kills Robotnik, and no, he doesn't turn into Robotnik. Sure, he needs therapy afterward, but he has just played a KEY ROLE in ending the freaking war!!!
Please, fellow bronies, please, think a bit more logically!
Needs more DashKicker.
3396728 Sombra doesn't deserve to live, one doesn't just get away with murder and mass enslavement like that, there's a certain point of no return. But yeah, by this thinking, should we have tried to capture the guys who commit mass shootings and rehabilitate them? Because I know that if I was in one of those situations... (Not trying to come off as some crazy gunslinger, just someone who believes in a punishment that matches the crime) Sombra could have quite easily snuffed them out along with all those foals-turned-adults, and gone on to kill more, with Equestria severely weakened by a lack of any EOH. Then the blame for allowing him to do that would rest squarely on Rainbow. Better one filly disappointed and shocked them hundreds dead and dying, that's a sacrifice I would be willing to make.
3397216 I have to agree with you, my ally in this debate. Also, FO:E perhaps fueling your thinking?
3395979 True. Plus him in jail would bring him more humiliation to bring his over-inflated ego down and, in his mind, might be worse than dying a 'glorious' death in battle.
3397216 3397411 I am very much with the two of you on this. Sombra really needs to be killed because he still knows how to do everything he did before and will almost certainly try it again if he gets half a chance so death is the only viable option here. If there were some way to permanently prevent him from trying this shit again then that might be an option, but I get the feeling that the only permanent barrier is death. I am really hoping one of the princesses goes ahead and puts him down when it is all over, but I seriously doubt that will happen.
That said, Dinky may have actually been right for the wrong reasons because the amulet's grip seems to have been getting stronger the more it was used so killing him might have made the bond too strong to break.
3398222 But it must be clear that Sombra is executed because that's the best option, and the one that prevents him from coming back and killing more ponies. Death is always an option for these scenarios, but it should be used with discretion, lest Rainbow (or whoever does the deed) becomes cold and desensitized. A life is a precious thing, and it should not be ended lightly. I'm going to draw from one of my all time favorite games, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. You can play through as a gun toting warrior, or a "Avoid killing at all costs" type, or like me, lethal when I deemed it necessary, so murderers were fair game. Essentially, we shouldn't consider death as something to rain down with impunity, but we shouldn't consider someone as bad as the evil person (or pony) if they do have to go that extra step.
3398420 Agreed. Death is always an option, but it is rarely the best option and must be carefully considered before anything is done. That said, this is definitely looking like a case where you cannot ever let the criminal out no matter what because if you do he will go right back to killing, so death is really the only viable solution in this situation.
3398539 I must concur with this conclusion.
Unless you're Edgar Allen Poe, in which case kill everybody.
3397411
"FO:E"?
Also, keep in mind that Sombra is trying to KILL Rainbow Dash. Therefore, Sombra has already forfeited his right to life and RD has EVERY SINGLE RIGHT to defend herself AND her loved ones AND save her and them by using deadly force.
3397411
Equestria is an entirely different world populated by an entirely different species with entirely different morals. What we see as what must be done, such as killing an person who committed terrible crimes, they will see as evil regardless. We humans are omnivores, therefore we have evolved to be much more used to the idea of taking a life, whereas the ponies are herbivores, they never had to kill another being in order to consume its flesh and survive and that's caused their society and way of life to be drastically different then ours. Heck, if Sombra is the worst a pony can become, then what they view as ultimate evil pales in comparison to our ultimate evil (Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Genghis Khan etc etc.)
Besides, it's one thing to kill in the heat of battle, it's another thing to kill someone, anyone, when they're in a state of defenselessness ie knocked unconscious or their power is taken away. We would put those on trial, give them a fair hearing, find them guilty, and then execute them, it would be the choice of multiple people, not one, never one. I think Dash was right not to kill Sombra then and there, and not just because of the Amulet's corruption. Also, it was the Amulet that corrupted Sombra and made him become the evil thing he is now, before, when he had a child, he was starting to lose his ambitious dreams before he created the Amulet, with the Amulet no longer in his possession, the power of the Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony may have purified him back to the state he was in before he fell to the Amulet.
First things first, this awesome chapter was awesome.
Gonna comment on the whole debate over Rainbow killing Sombra now, mostly because I feel like it.
Personally, I would say there's an important distinction to be made between killing an enemy in the heat of battle, and finishing off a downed and beaten foe. I wouldn't see any moral issues if Rainbow managed to land a lethal blow on Sombra in the middle of their life-and-death battle. Finishing him off after she's knocked him unconscious is a much more questionable thing. Granted, the fact that Sombra got a second wind after Rainbow chose to spare him complicates matters, but Rainbow didn't know that would happen when she made her choice.
I would say the other important factor is that Rainbow was making that decision under the amulet's influence. Making a decision to execute someone who's too dangerous to be left alive really isn't the kind of thing that should be done while under the influence of a magical artifact that brings out the darkest aspects of a pony's character. It's also indicated that in this specific context, killing Sombra would've given the Amulet a stronger hold on Rainbow, and driven her down a darker path.
Finally, there's the issue of Sombra's connection to the Crystal Empire and foals. Given his later comments, killing him could have had some very unpleasant consequences for all of them, including possibly taking them with him. That's a very heavy price to pay.
Considering all those factors, I'd have to say sparing him is the right choice.
That said, I think it's alright for heroes to kill, and that the whole "if you kill him you'll be just like him" line of reasoning is usually flawed. I don't think that particular position was being advanced by the story itself, though.
3398942
Let's see, how best to say this...
It's not killing the bad guy that makes you evil, it's how you do it.
If you have to resort to the very thought patterns and tactics that were what originally designated the bad guy as evil, if you're drawing out the fight just to make him suffer, if you let your emotions overwhelm yourself, than yes, you're quickly going down a steep slope from which there's no return.
When you've got your opponent at your mercy, there are several things to consider when deciding if killing him is the right thing to do. 1) Does time and situation permit you to take him prisoner? 2) Has he surrendered, or is he still trying to take you out? 3) Is there a judicial system already in place to handle scum like him? 5) Would you like to die in the way that you're about to kill him?
Rainbow had to resort to using Sombra's own power against him, and, because of that, she was quickly throwing away everything that made her who she was. There were still other plans in action to reverse what he'd done and there was still time to do it. By the point Dinky interceded, Sombra was unconscious and Dash was about to plunge a lightning bolt into his eye. This was the worst possible situation for Rainbow to kill Sombra.
Compare that to the canon way in which Sombra was dealt with. Cadance's shield had failed, Sombra, at full power, was bearing down on our heroes, one of whom was caught in a trap, and there was only one possible way to end it.
3398942 Wasn't defending Sombra... As for "FO:E"?- Fallout: Equestria? How the main characters seem to be prone to forgiving axe crazy murderers and letting them go with naught but a warning and a spanking, and they go off and kill again? *Shrug* That's just what I was thinking of when I read your comment.
3399413
Ah, okay, I didn't catch that reference.
3399149 Fair enough, but I do expect an execution from his trial.
3401531
I don't know, there might not be a trial. We haven't seen what the EoH did to Sombra yet, and those things have tendency of delivering an Ironic Hell punishment when they're not simply purging the evil from something.
Excellent chapter! I haven't read a good conceptualization of how the Alicorn Amulet would affect a pegasus, and this was everything I'd hoped for. The idea of Rainbow Dash outright wielding lightning bolts like Zeus is awesome.
It never occurred to me that Luna wanted Dinky to save Rainbow Dash from herself, rather than from Sombra. Given Luna's own descent into megalomaniacal evil, and her fondness for Rainbow Dash, it all makes perfect sense now. Well done, Dinky!
3397009
My belief is that the "talking down" thing works here because on the show, Sombra was less a character and more an EMBODIMENT of evil and horror. Here, he becomes a physical character who not only directly fights one of the main characters, but has an established backstory and a clear motivation. You can't really directly fight something made of smoke. One can justify destroying him that way because he exists just as a danger to this sparkling city. But seeing him as a true character, it is possible to justify not killing him, since Dinky can clearly see a living being struck down in cold blood.
I hope that Sombra ends up looking the way he did in the tale of One Shadow before the evil took over him owo
Also, yah, last chapter luna said everyone was under sombra's nightmare magic, except only cadance was. rainbow dash was being corrupted by the alicorn amulet and the others were just busy kicking a wall. Unless the next chapter says different, this is a blatant contradiction of facts that confused me and possibly other readers. You can make the arguement luna was simplyfying thigns for dinky, but that's a stretch.
Just thought the author should be aware of this.
3399132 Total agreement with it.
okay...
kill him with love!