An enemy from the past threatens all of Equestria.
The fate of Equestria hangs in the balance when a familiar foe returns, far more powerful than ever before, seeking the power of an ancient artifact. And Shine Paladin must face dark secrets from the past in order to save all he holds dear.
It was early in the morning at the Napoleon Estate. The door open slowly, as Grimoire's head peeked in left and right.
"Okay, the coast is clear. Bring him in." He said quietly.
Grimoire entered the front hall, followed by his brothers, who were dragging a big bag.
"Geez, this guy is heavy." Vinny groaned.
"Less complaining, more pulling." Salt struggled.
"Yeah, it's important that we get this taken care of before somepony-" Murray added.
"Murray?"
The brothers looked up and saw their now marefriends glancing at them with confusion from upstairs.
"Oh, ladies..." Murray gulped.
"What are you doing up so early?" Grimoire asked.
"We could ask the same about you." Vinyl glared. "That Changeling dude said you guys had some family emergency to deal with."
"Is everything alright, on this dawn's early light?" Zecora asked.
"Oh yes." Grimoire nodded. "Turned out to be a false alarm. Nothing to worry about."
"What's with the bag?" Lyra asked.
"Oh, this bag?" Lars feigned innocence.
"Uh, yeah, that bag." Bon-Bon deadpanned.
"It's nothing." Sonny lied. "Just some junk that we need to take down to the incinerator in the basement."
"We have an incinerator?" Slot asked.
"Yes, we do." Salt growled. "And we need to get it taken care of."
The bag began to stir, much to the mares' shock, as they gasped.
"What's wrong?" Grimoire asked.
"The bag!" Redheart pointed.
"It's moving!" Mayor Mare gasped.
The brothers glanced behind them as the contents of the bag started to stand up.
"Oh, geez, must be a raccoon..." Salt said, trying to play it cool.
"I got this." Slot pulled out a crowbar from out of nowhere and began beating down on the bag. "Stay! Down! You! Mangy! Buck!"
The bag slumped. The brothers then glanced up at the mares, who were still confused.
"How about you ladies go to the dining room?" Grimoire suggested. "We'll be with you shortly."
The mares only shrugged and such as they passed by.
"Man, for a bunch of hot guys, they sure are odd." Berry declared.
"Yeah... but am I the only one who found it really hot when Slot went crazy on that raccoon?" Vinyl asked. The other mares glanced at her. "...No? Huh."
The brothers took the bag and dragged it downstairs. Grimoire walked up to a wall and tapped a brick, causing a secret door to open up. Minutes later, the villainous Earth Pony Red Eclipse woke up, his hooves and neck chained to walls all around him.
"Oh, my buckin' head..." He groaned, before looking around. "Where am I?!"
"A hidden cell under our estate!" Grimoire snarled. "Where you belong."
Red Eclipse glared at Grimoire, flanked by his brothers.
"You!" He made to lunge at him, but quickly realized he was bound. "What-what is this?!"
"Titanium chains, built to hold the strongest of prisoners." Murray smirked, as Red tried pulling on them. "You won't be breaking them anytime soon."
"Why did you bring me here?!" Red snarled, his one good eye staring daggers at them.
"Well, Wizel didn't want you threatening his kind again, and we don't want a genocidal megalomaniac running around, so this was the best solution." Salt said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah?" Red sneered. "Why not kill me now and be done with it? Have you grown too soft for that?"
"On the contrary." Lars glared at him. "That would be the easy way out. You don't deserve it."
"What you do deserve is to be locked up down here for the rest of your days." Vinny added.
"Or until some other dirtbag worse than you comes along… then we'll just kill you to clear up the living space." Slot sneered.
"We do hope you enjoy the accommodations." Grimoire smirked. "You may not be Twitch… but a guy with a background such as yours should make up for it."
"Mark my words, old stallion, when I get out of here, you and your brothers will be the first of many to go..." Red threatened, struggling futilely against his chains.
"That'll be the day, Eclipse..." Grimoire snorted. "Now if you''ll excuse us, we have mares to attend to."
The brothers turned around and left, as Red screamed after them.
"You can't keep me down here forever!" Red roared, "I will break out of here, even if it takes me years!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, culo-face." Vinny scoffed without glancing back.
Red Eclipse just let out a roar of fury.
The present...
A male griffon servant was carrying a tray of food, as he made his way to the entrance of the basement, where there were two guards, an Earth Pony and oddly, a buffalo, waiting.
"I'm here to bring chain pain his meal." The griffon declared.
"Go ahead." The Earth Pony stood aside.
The Griffon nodded as he made his way in.
"I don't get why we don't just kill this guy already." The Buffalo frowned. "I hear he's some kinda pony supremacist with genocidal tendencies."
"You got me." The Earth Pony shrugged. "I guess they see killing as being too good for him."
"Oh, and us feeding this monster is any worse?" The Buffalo asked.
"Let it go, man." The Earth Pony sighed.
The griffon entered the cell. Red Eclipse was still chained up, in the same position he had always been in. His usually short mane was now long and ragged, and he had a filthy beard to go with it. He also looked a little bit thinner, having been imprisoned for so long.
"Lunch time, psycho." The griffin declared.
The griffon noticed that Red's head was slumped. Perhaps he was asleep...
"Didn't you hear me?" The griffon frowned. "Wake up!"
The griffon tapped Red's cheek lightly. It was then that Red suddenly lifted his head up and snapped at the griffon.
"Aah!" The griffon yelled, his wings opening in fright.
In his shock, the griffon tossed the food tray into the air. As he dived to catch it, he failed to notice one of his feathers (lost when his wings flapped open) caught in Red's mouth. Catching the tray, he turned back to Red, who quickly pulled the feather under his tongue.
"I suppose you think that was funny, huh?" The griffon growled, as Red smiled widely. "I hope you choke on this food."
"Haha, what? Are you bloody hybrids part chicken or something?" Red snarked.
"Eagle, and you're lucky that I am even bothering to feed you. If it were up to me, you would be skin and bone right now!" The griffon sneered.
"Ooh, like I asked to be fed by a product of drunk mating between a lion and an eagle. You griffons are freaks." Red growled.
"Just shut up and eat your food." The griffon force-fed Red his meal (Red's chains preventing from feeding himself). Red made sure to keep the feather under his tongue the whole time.
"No chokin', huh?" The griffon sulked. "Pity. Ah well, maybe next time..."
"Speakin' of next time, tell the chef to go easy on the salt." Red chuckled darkly.
The griffon carried the empty tray out of the cell, muttering curses. Once the door shut, Red released the feather from under his tongue, and stuck it out, quill first. With some careful manipulation, he managed to bend the feather so the quill entered the lock of his chains. Turning his head back and forth, he succeeded in picking the lock. The chains clattered the ground, freeing them.
"Finally..." He stretched out his limbs. "Now to get out of here." He then cracks his hooves, "Muscles, don't fail me now."
On the other side of the door, the Earth Pony and Buffalo heard something banging against it.
"What the..." The Earth Pony gaped.
"No, can't be..." The Buffalo added.
They quickly rushed down into the basement, and opened the hidden door. Just as they turned to face the cell door, it suddenly tore loose from it's hinges, slamming them against the opposite wall. As they collapsed to the floor, Red Eclipse stepped out of the cell.
"I'm done with the room now." He told their prone forms smugly. "Thank you for your hospitality."
He made to leave… before coming back to kick the buffalo's unconscious body.
"By the way, you buffaloes reek!" Red grimaced.
Red dashed down the corridor, and up the stairs. Quietly, he snuck through the mansion, looking for the closest exit. As he turned into one room, he narrowly avoided being spotted by a Changeling servant, by ducking behind a chair. Once the coast was clear, he continued his sneaking.
As Red entered the living room, he lit up at the sight of the door leading to his freedom… but then he heard a loud sound.
"Be careful, you ricchione!" Murray snarled.
"Aw, crud!" Red cursed.
Quickly, he ducked behind a couch, as he saw the Napoleons (minus Caboose) bringing in a crate.
"Steady, steady…" Lars grunted.
"Saying 'steady' does not makes this crate any lighter." Slot groaned.
"Don't think about dropping this box!" Salt glared. "Because of this thing, our archaeologist friend's wife has to do all the 'work' for him the next couple of weeks."
"Just set it down here." Grimoire gestured to the middle of the room.
The brothers set the crate down.
"Slot, if you please…" Sonny gestured.
Slot smiled as he pulled out the same crowbar from ten years back, and cracked open the crate.
"Oh-ho-ho, looks like we hit the jackpot this time!" Vinny smirked, as he and the other brothers peeked inside. The crate contained a few recently-discovered relics, which the brothers hoped to donate to the museums… with a bit of remuneration on the side of course.
"Check this out." Lars held up an old vase. "This must be from the Whinnyin' dynasty!"
"And here's an authentic Roaman cooking pot!" Sonny smiled.
"And a genuine Coltic warrior's shield!" Salt declared.
"What's this?" Grimoire held up a curved red object that ended in a point.
"Beats me." Murray shrugged.
"Looks like a unicorn's horn." Lars inspected it.
"Well I don't think the Bitalian history museum will want some dead guy's horn." Murray snorted, as he took the horn and dropped it back in.
Knowing that they were too engrossed in their trinkets to notice him, Red started tiptoeing towards the open front door.
"What kinda junk is this?" Slot held up a rusty old cog. "Later!"
Slot tossed the cog over his shoulder. The cog struck Red Eclipse square in the face.
"Ow!" He yelped, unable to stop himself.
The Napoleons turned, and saw him.
"You!" Grimoire snarled. "How did you escape?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out." Red Eclipse smirked, edging towards the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have places to go, and vermin to stamp out. Buh-bye now!"
"You're not going anywhere, Eclipse!" Murray snarled.
"Oh?" Red smirked. "Just watch me."
He turned to the door, only for a chair fly by and barricade it.
"We made a promise to Mr. Yggdrasil that we would keep you locked up." Lars growled, "And we Napoleons never break our promise."
"Is that so?" Red turned to face them, his smile turning to a scowl. "That old bug and his 'prophecy' really messed things up for me. I'll have to give him and his mud-wallowing race a crash course in agony."
"Sorry, but the only thing that's going to get a crash course in agony is you, ya Tartarus-bound scumsucker!" Slot roared.
"Well, then…" Red Eclipse did a "come hither" gesture with one of his front hooves. "Bring it."
"Consider it brought!" Salt led the charge.
The brothers attacked as one, but Red Eclipse wasn't going to go down so easily. He caught Salt's first strike and flipped them. He wasn't so lucky against Sonny, who tackled him to the ground. With a swift strike, he tripped Sonny up. As Red stood up, he was put in a headlock by Slot.
"Give it up, scuzz-face!" Slot growled.
"Never." Red Eclipse kicked Slot in the stomach. As Slot went down, Murray pulled out his crossbow, and fired. Red dodged the bolt, then rushed over and kicked Murray in the face before he could reload.
"That's it!" Lars yelled, as he and Vinny charged.
Red Eclipse ducked their initial attack, headbutted Lars, and kicked Vinny in the groin.
"Oh, knackers..." Vinny groaned.
"My turn." Grimoire stepped forward.
"You wanna piece of me, too?" Red smirked, as he cricked his neck. "Come on!"
The two stallions started swinging their hooves at each other. Red managed to kick Grimoire's leg, and in return, Grimoire slugged him in the chin. Red retaliated with an even harder punch, throwing Grimoire into a wall, eliciting a groan from the old stallion.
As the brothers struggled to get to their hooves, Red let out a few pants.
"Okay, this brawl has been fun and all, but I really have to go. I'll see my own way out, thank you." The red stallion huffed.
"Oh no, you don't! Stop him!" Vinny yelled.
The brothers, determined to stop their prisoner from leaving, charged at Red. Red shoved a nearby chair their way, slowing some of them down. Grimoire, Salt and Sonny dodged, and tackled him.
As they struggled, Red lashed out with everything he had, knocking them all aside.
"This is really starting to get old." He declared. "How many times do I have to beat you down before you stay down?"
"Hey, big guy!"
Red turned, only to be blindsided by Slot, hitting him hard with a body check.
The blood red stallion was blasted headfirst into the crate. The crate shattered, sending the items everywhere.
"Didn't learn your lesson the last time, huh?" Slot smirked.
"Nice check." Salt rubbed a bit of blood from his snout.
"What can I say?" Slot smirked. "I've been practising."
"I can't believe he nearly escaped." Murray frowned. "We seriously need to beef up security around here."
"No kidding." Sonny agreed.
"Come on." Lars smiled. "Let's get this scumbag back where he belongs."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Vinny winced a bit, his groin still aching.
The brothers approached Red Eclipse's prone body… only for him to stir, as he slowly got to his hooves.
"Oy, this guy just doesn't give up, does he?" Murray growled.
"Well, there's still seven of us and only one of him, so let's kick his flank!" Slot snarled.
"Wait." Grimoire stopped Slot, as he noticed something different about him. "There's something on his head!"
The red curved object had somehow attached itself to Red Eclipse's forehead, making him look like he had a horn. The stallion seemed to be groaning a bit, clutching his hurt head.
"Then let's get it off him." Salt declared. "As painfully as possible."
Suddenly, Red's eyes opened. They were a sickly green and lined with sheer insanity. The horn started glowing.
"As I was saying..." Red smirked, as the horn glowed brighter. "Buh-bye now."
At the Crystal Empire, a royal summit was being held. The entire Canterlot royal family (with Caboose, Daring, Hurricane and Michael as their guests) were in attendance. Mist and Blue Blazes were unable to attend, Mist's pregnancy being too far along for her to travel.
"So good to see you, aunt Celestia." Cadance smiled. "Aunt Luna."
"The same to you, dear niece." Luna smiled.
"Hey, Twily." Shining greeted his younger sister. "Hello, Flash."
"Hi, BBBFF." Twilight smiled.
"Good to see you, brother-in-law." Flash nodded.
"Nice place you got here." Shine declared. "Must cost a fortune to polish..."
"That's what I said when I first saw this place." Gothic chuckled.
"First?" Constell snorted. "Try every time..."
"Hi, Ant." Dusk told his cousin.
"Great to see ya!" Starlight smiled.
"You too, cousins." Anthem beamed.
"How long is this going to take, dad?" Vito asked, bored already.
"As long as it needs to, son." Blueblood answered.
"Try and enjoy this, boys." Dusty declared. "You might even learn something."
"If you say so, mom." Pureblood shrugged.
"I've never been to the Crystal Empire before!" Hurricane smiled.
"Shiny!" Michael chuckled.
"Remember kids, best behavior." Daring told them.
"Yes, mom..." Hurricane rolled her eyes.
Sleight and Chrysalis were also among the guests.
"I must admit, this is a little strange." Chrysalis confessed. "The last time I was in the Crystal Empire, I was trying to conquer it."
"Ah, we've all committed little faux pas' at one time or another." Sleight shrugged. "You should've see that time I flubbed my show at Manehattan. Boy, what a mess..."
As the summit got underway, Miracle, growing bored, decided to go and explore the Crystal castle. As she entered one of the lower room, she came across a portrait of a fierce-looking Unicorn; One with a curiously curved horn.
"Whoa..." She gasped.
Twilight soon entered the room.
"There you are, Miracle." She noted. "Your parents are wondering where you wandered off to."
"Who's that, Twilight?" Miracle pointed to the portrait.
"That was King Sombra." Twilight declared.
"King Sombra?" Miracle repeated.
"Yes… you see, way before you and I were born, Sombra was a lowly duke who had an undying lust for power, which drove him to do something that nopony would dare do… practice dark magic…" Twilight said solemnly.
Miracle frowned upon hearing the words "dark magic". While she only heard tidbits here and there, she had saw first-hoof what it did to ponies, especially Echo Alchemy, a thestral who was corrupted by said magic while trying to study it.
"After months of mastering the dark arts, Sombra overthrew the king, and took over the Crystal Empire, enslaving all the Crystal Ponies. Your mother and aunt fortunately were able to defeat him…but before he was imprisoned in the ice, he cursed the Empire and made it disappear."
"Disappear?" Miracle gasped.
"Yes. The Empire was no more for a thousand year… it wasn't until nearly thirty years ago that it returned, and along with it, King Sombra." Twilight explained, "Me and other Elements of Harmony were sent there to defend the kingdom from him."
"Whatever happened then?" Miracle asked.
"He was destroyed by the power of the Crystal Heart." Twilight recalled. "His body shattered to pieces."
"And what of the pieces?" Miracle inquired.
"They were scattered for miles." Twilight noted. "No doubt buried under the snows of the Frozen North, never to be seen again..."
"He sounds like a really rotten pony." Miracle mused.
"oh, he was." Twilight led her out of the room. "Count your lucky stars that you don't have to deal with anypony like him..."
Up above, Caboose was taking in the summit, and trying to keep an eye on his youngest.
"No, Michael!" He yelled. "That's a potted plant, not a bathroom!"
Just then, a Crystal Pony messenger walked over to him.
"Caboose Napoleon?" He asked.
"That's me." Caboose nodded. "And you are?"
"Um, Mr. Napoleon, I'm one of your operatives." The crystal pony explained, "Facet."
Caboose glanced at him.
"Facet." Caboose still stared at him. "For Faust's sake, sir, I have been serving the family as the messenger for twenty years. Heck, you make a big celebration each time I brought you a new crossbow catalogue." Facet groaned.
"Oh, the Crossbow Catalogue guy!" Caboose smiled, "I remember now, what's up? Got a new catalog for me?"
"I'm afraid not." Facet shook his head, "I have an urgent message for you." He handed him a letter.
"Okay..." Caboose said unsurely, as he opened the letter.
Dear Mr. Napoleon,
This is Doctor Fractyl of the Crystal Empire hospital. I'm afraid to inform you that your brothers were badly hurt in an explosion at their estate, and were moved here for treatment. We have reasons to believe that dark magic was involved in the incident. Mr. Grimiore Napoleon was insistent that we send you this letter. We ask that you come as soon as you can.
"Ah, geez!" Caboose gasped, rushing over to Daring. "Can you take care of the kids, hon? Something big came up."
"Okay." Daring nodded. "Come back soon."
"I'll try." Caboose nodded.
Caboose rushed out of the room.
"'Scuse me... pardon me..." He squeezed past the other guests.
Fortunately, the hospital wasn't too far from the castle. Caboose rushed into the reception office, where a receptionist was waiting.
"Hey, miss!" Caboose panted, trying to catch his breath, "My name is Caboose Napoleon. I am here to see-"
"Oh yes, your brothers are expecting you." The receptionist said soothingly.
"Are they okay?" Caboose asked franticly.
"Don't worry, sir." The receptionist smiled. "They have some third degree burns and minor lacerations, but are all stable and well for the most part."
"Oh thank goodness." Caboose sighed with relief. "Where are they?"
"Upstairs, third door on the left." The receptionist instructed.
Caboose entered the brothers' room quickly. They were pretty banged up, but still in one piece and no broken bones as far as he could tell.
"Bros!" Caboose gasped.
"Caboose, you got here fast." Sonny mused.
"I was just in the neighborhood for the summit." Caboose explained, "…What the buck happened to you guys?"
"Eh, it's a long story." Salt frowned.
"But to make it short… if anypony asks why there's nothing but rubble where our mansion used to be… it was a gas explosion." Vinny deadpanned.
"What are you talking about?" Caboose asked, "What happened to our mansion?"
"I'll tell you what happened. This sonofvagun we were hiding in our basement for ten years broke out and we tried to stop him, when Slot checked him into the crate and got that stupid 'thing' stuck on his head and he blew up our home!" Vinny snarled, as he glared at Slot, "Way to go, by the way."
"How the buck was I supposed to know that horn would give him powers?!" Slot roared. "I lob horns off unicorns once a week, and they don't give me powers when I try them on!"
"That's messed up, man!" Lars growled.
"Hey, how often do you get to say you have two horns on your head?" Slot defended.
"Whoa, whoa, guys, I have no idea what you guys are talking about!" Caboose held up his hooves. "What sonovagun in our basement? What 'horn'? And more importantly, what do you mean our mansion is blown up?!"
"Well…" Grimoire trailed off.
The brothers explained the events of what happened a couple of days ago.
"...And then we got moved here." Grimoire finished, "…I'm so sorry, Caboose… our home is gone."
"No…" Caboose muttered, as he sat down, "What about the servants and the guards?"
"Don't worry. We've got stallions working overtime to extricate them from the remains. There were no casualties as far as we know…" Murray reassured, before scowling. "But it's safe to say that Red Eclipse has officially bucked with the wrong family."
"I swear, the next time I see that punk, I'm going to cut his heart out with a spoon!" Slot threatened.
"I'll rip his hooves off one by one!" Vinny added.
"I'll cut off his own tail and feed it to him!" Salt growled.
"Caboose, are you alright?" Grimoire asked.
"Actually, there's something I don't get…" Caboose muttered, as he rose to his hooves and paced, "Why exactly were you holding a power-hungry, military-trained megalomaniac in our basement? In our hidden cell?" He glared at his brothers. "Better yet, why am I now hearing about this guy?! You always told me when you guys are holding somepony down there, especially ever since I accidentally let out that Goldhoof clown."
"Um, well, you see…" Murray started to explain.
"Wait, was he the one that's been making thuds in the floorboards over the past ten years?" Caboose asked. "You told me and Hurricane it was that confounded gopher!"
"We did… though we didn't expect your kid to try and blow it up!" Salt protested. "Red was really grouchy that day…"
"Ten years…" Caboose said to himself, before realizing something. "Wait, that was about when me and Daring got married! What were you even holding him down there that long for? The longest we ever kept somepony in there for was about a month, given that Slot doesn't torture him or her."
"Yeah, good times..." Slot smirked.
"Well, Caboose, Red Eclipse was… a special prisoner…" Grimm explained.
"Special how?" Caboose challenged. "All I got so far that he's just a lunatic. We used to deal with all kinds of those on weekdays!"
"Well this 'lunatic' was a real piece of work. Ten years ago, he tried to lead a genocidal rampage upon the Changelings in the new Changeling Territory, before he was stopped by that Sleight guy." Vinny shuddered.
"By the time we got there, he was about to attack our old friend Wizel, before we intervened." Lars continued.
"Wizel… isn't he that old bug who was friends with our great-grandpa?" Caboose asked.
"Yup, that'll be him." Sonny nodded.
"Hold on, what were you guys even doing in the Changeling territory? Nopony knew about the incident till weeks after. There's no way you guys would have known before everypony else… and that doesn't explain why you didn't tell me about him." Caboose frowned.
Grimoire gave a grim look…
"Because… Red wasn't who we were originally after." Grimm admitted.
The other brothers glanced in shock.
"Grim?!" Murray gasped.
"What are you doing, bro?!" Salt yelled.
"No, Caboose needs to know the truth. It's been forty years… he has the right to know." Grimoire said grimly.
"Yes I do!" Caboose urged… before frowning, "Right to know what?"
"Caboose, it's time that you know... about Anarchy." Grimoire sighed.
"Wait, what?" Caboose gasped. "But... I thought Grim was the oldest!"
"He is now." Vinny agreed. "But he wasn't always."
"Hold on… you mean… all this time… I had a brother older than Grim?" Caboose tried to make sense of things. "Holy crud… did Sandy or Dusty know?"
"No… the only ones who knew Anarchy were us, mom, pops, and all the veteran members of the mafia." Grimoire explained.
"But why only you guys?" Caboose inquired. "Who was Anarchy?"
"Anarchy…" Grimm whispered, "He was honestly… the best big brother any of us could had ever asked for."
"He taught me how to fire a crossbow." Murray smiled.
"He got me into cooking." Sonny added.
"He introduced me to the wonders of fine wine." Vinny added.
"Anarchy was the best of us, that's for sure." Salt recollected. "He had the brains, the brawn, the looks, the charm... everything."
"He was an every-pony, to say the least." Sonny explained.
"Everypony loved him. He was practically pops' shoe-in for becoming the new don of the family… even more so, it looked like he could be the one to lead this family to new heights." Lars sighed.
"In fact, he was the one that inspired us to do the business the way we did it now… robbing the rich to help the poor." Murray mused.
"…What happened to him?" Caboose asked, before coming to a grim realization. "No…is he…"
The brothers nodded.
"A long while back, we had this friend… Twitch Cardinal was his name…" Grimoire sighed. "He was… shady…but he was good with weeding out all the snitches and getting intel on ponies. I knew something was off about him… we all did… but Anarchy trusted him, so we thought we could as well…"
"But we were wrong." Murray said in a low snarl. "One stormy night, mere months before you were born, Caboose… Anarchy was meeting Twitch at a lone lamppost not far from the mansion… when Twitch…" Murray had trouble finishing, his eyes growing watery. "Twitch stabbed him in the back."
"W-what?" Caboose gasped. "No…"
"Yes." Salt stifled a growl, as he was growing misty-eyed as well. "That little weasel just left him there out in the rain to die like garbage on the street."
"But Archie didn't give him that satisfaction… with the last of his strength, he got back to the mansion… held on long enough to tell us that Twitch had betrayed us… before he… he…" Sonny didn't finish, but nothing more needed to be said. The seven brothers were all visibly upset.
"I… I don't know what to say…" Caboose shook his head, "…What did happen to Twitch?"
"When Archie died, we were all out for blood." Slot muttered coldly, "We made a promise to him that we would find that little coglione and make him pay."
"But that little rat was quick on the fly." Vinny growled. "Twitch practically fell off the face of the world the moment we were on to him, and ever since then, we've been playing this game of cat and mouse."
"When Grim came to power as don, we devised a secret code among our veteran members, so that if anypony ever saw him, we would be the first to know and we could go and try to apprehend him." Lars explained.
"Or kill him." Slot snarled. "Whichever came first."
"That's what brought us to the territory." Salt explained. "We got a tip about him just after you left for your honeymoon. We set off to find him, but found Red Eclipse instead."
"Red Eclipse was just as bad, if not worse, than Twitch, so we decided to take him in." Grimoire declared. "And that's how he wound up in our basement."
Silence greeted the room. Caboose shook his head.
"Unbelievable... I had an older brother all this time... and none of you guys bothered to tell me?" Caboose frowned.
"We were only looking out for you." Murray told him. "You weren't even born when he died."
"Well, you still should've told me!" Caboose yelled.
"Yeah, that makes sense, tell a baby colt that his big brother Anarchy is not around because a Culo-head came and stabbed him in the back... literally." Vinny snorted.
"You had enough on your plate as it is, what with O'Malley, Peaches Cream, and the south beach incident." Lars explained.
"What?" Caboose asked.
"Nothing." Lars lied swiftly.
Caboose wanted to press the matter…but he hadn't the energy. Instead…
"So... where do we go from here?" Caboose asked.
"Well, once we're given clean bills of health, we'll have to establish a new base of operations, get settled in, and then set our priorities to finding Red Eclipse." Grimoire declared.
"Over Twitch?" Vinny asked.
"As much as it pains me to say it, yes." Grimoire nodded. "Twitch may have murdered our brother, but as far as we know, he's a coward. Red Eclipse on the other hoof sounds like a stallion on a mission. And with that 'thing' on his head, who knows what he might do."
"But how we will find him?" Caboose asked. "Do we even know anything about the guy?"
"'Fraid not." Lars shrugged. "I tried lookin' in the Canterlot Archives for a 'Red Eclipse' shortly after I became professor at the School For Gifted Unicorns, and I got nothing. He's like a ghost."
"So we turned to Wizel." Salt declared. "All he could tell from him was that he was well-trained in combat and weaponry and he's a 'supremacist'... we just figured that he was some disgraced military officer or something."
"Just how worried should we be about him?" Caboose asked skeptically.
"Not too much at first." Lars shrugged. "Red's been imprisoned for ten years, and given what we know about him, I doubt he'll do something to draw attention to himself."
"Yeah, besides, it's not like he's going to waltz in someplace and stage a hostile takeover." Vinny smirked.
Back at the summit, things were going smoothly.
"Looks like everything's good, huh, cherryblossom?" Shine smiled.
"I suppose so." Celestia mused.
"What's the matter, dear?" Shine asked.
"Call it paranoia, but whenever things are this peaceful, I find myself waiting for the other horseshoe to drop..." Celestia fretted.
"Ah, quit worrying." Shine waved his hoof. "What could possibly go wro-?"
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed throughout the halls. Everypony glanced at the door.
"What the?" Shine frowned. "What's going-"
The doors banged again, more violently. Then suddenly, the doors burst open. A hooded figure walked in...
"Who is that?" Blueblood asked.
"Whoever he is, he's not on the guest list." Shining frowned.
"Interesting fashion choice." Constell declared.
The figure stopped in the middle of the room.
"Forgive my rudeness, but who exactly are you?" Celestia asked.
"Why, Princess, I'm hurt you don't recognize me..." The hooded figure hissed.
"Pardon?" Celestia frowned.
"Of course, I don't blame you... it has been little over thirty years since we last spoke... but I remember you quite fondly..." The hooded figure declared.
"What are you talking about?" Shine asked.
The hooded figure pulled back his hood, revealing himself as Red Eclipse. His mane was back to being shaved and his beard was gone. Celestia's eyes widened in horror, as well as Sleight and Chrysalis...
"No... it can't be..." Celestia gasped.
"No... you?" Sleight gulped.
"That monster..." Chrysalis growled.
Red Eclipse gave her a devil-like grin.
"Sorry I'm late to the party…" Red Eclipse shrugged. "But I was horribly indecent, and I wanted to look my best for all eyes to see."
"YOU!" Chrysalis snarled, as she stepped forth. "What are you doing here?!"
"Chrysalis, you know this stallion?" Twilight asked.
"Yes! It's him, the monster who tried to murder my children ten years ago!" Chrysalis accused.
"Monster?" Red scoffed, "That's rich, coming from an emotion-sucking insect like you."
"That's enough out of you!" Sleight yelled.
"And the trickster..." Red smirked. "Nice to see you again…and no longer in your 'true' form, I see. Looking back on it over ten years, I cannot believe how I fell for such a meagre prank."
"Like you can talk." He smirked. "Nice fake horn by the way."
Red glared at Sleight... then blasted him aside with his horn.
"It is nice, isn't it?" Red chuckled, blowing off the steaming horn. "I now get why Unicorns think they're better than everypony."
"What an utterly backward way of thinking." Blueblood snorted.
"If anypony would know..." Red sneered.
"Sleight!" Chrysalis ran to her husband's side.
"M'okay." Sleight groaned. "He just winged me..."
"King Sombra's horn..." Miracle gasped.
"Good eye." Red smirked, "Didn't realize what it was till I boned up on the local history. Apparently, it still has some juice from it's previous owner."
"How did you possibly..." Twilight gaped.
"Sheer dumb luck." Red shrugged. "Now, I believe somepony asked for introductions: I am Red Eclipse, and I am here for something rather valuable… the Crystal Sun."
Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight and Chrysalis gasped.
"Crystal what?" Sleight asked.
"Crystal Sun." Cadence elaborated, before glaring at Red, "How on Earth do you know about it?"
"That's for me to know and you to not find out, pinkie." Red smirked.
"Don't even think about insulting my wife." Shining snarled.
"And why do you want this... 'Crystal Sun'?" Shine asked.
Red Eclipse paused for a moment, looking intently at Shine. However, he turned to face Celestia.
"Oh, I have big plans for it." He smirked. "Big, big plans. But I've said too much already. For now, as once sung by a band named after my favorite color, it is time to…'release the panic'."
Digging his hooves into the ground, Red Eclipse pointed Sombra's horn upwards, as it glowed with dark magic. A cloud of darkness enveloped the room, and dark crystals sprang up. From out of the shadows came forth a legion of shadow-like pony soldiers.
"What in Faust's name?" Shine gasped.
"No…" Celestia whispered.
"This is royally messed up." Flash declared.
"What are those things?" Dusty asked.
"Creatures of darkness…" Red smirked at his new "followers", as he then roared at the populace. "Attack!"
Chaos ensued, as the shadow ponies attacked everypony. Resistance was fleeting; The shadows were immune to physical attacks, and while magic assaults could destroy them, their numbers were far too great. They could unleash powerful blasts of dark magic from their horns, bringing down their targets instantly.
One shadow pony advanced on Miracle.
"Get away!" She charged up her horn and fired.
The shadow slid under the floor, dodging the beam, then came back up and returned fire with a burst of dark magic.
"Aaah!" Miracle screamed, as the burst grazed her legs, knocking her down.
"No!" Shine yelled. He blasted the shadow pony away, and picked up his prone daughter.
"Are you alright, sunbeam?!" Shine asked.
"My legs…" Miracle whimpered. "It hurts…"
"Don't worry baby, I'll help you." Shine lifted Miracle onto her back. "Hang on!"
Shine ran through the impromptu battlefield, as he glimpsed at Red Eclipse, just standing there in the middle of the field, watching him with that ghastly golden eye and devilish grin.
"Shine, over there!" Celestia called.
Shine rushed to join his wife.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Caboose heard the commotion, as screams were made.
"Something's wrong." He realized. "But I can't leave you guys..."
"Go." Grimoire urged. "Don't worry about us! We'll be fine!"
"Yeah." Murray nodded. "We've bounced back from worse than this."
"Okay." Caboose nodded, as he raced out the door. "Get well soon!"
The brothers just laid there…
"'Get well soon..." Slot snorted. "Whoever came up with that phrase oughta be shot."
"Too bad there ain't a medicine that can fix your bad attitude, Slot." Vinny smirked.
Back at the crystal castle, the royals were falling fast. Despite combining their efforts, Twilight and her family were brought down. Blueblood and Vito and tried to protect the magic-challenged Dusty and Pureblood, but were overwhelmed. Chrysalis was swarmed by the shadow ponies. Sleight desperately tried to fight his way through, but made little headway. Shining, Cadance and Anthem fought bravely, but were taken out one by one. Luna, Gothic and Constell were among those who held out the longest, but even they couldn't escape the unstoppable horde.
The only ones left uncaptured were Shine, Celestia, and Miracle.
"We have to go!" Celestia yelled. "To the stairs!"
Sidestepping the shadows, they rushed down the crystal staircase. As they reached the front doors, they ran into Caboose.
"What's going on here?!" Caboose asked. "I leave you guys for only an hour and it's like Buckapest down here!"
"Some nutjob pony with a dark magic horn attacked us!" Shine declared.
"Everypony but us has been captured." Celestia added.
"Everypony?" Caboose gasped. "Daring, Hurricane, Michael... I have to go save them!"
"There's nothing you can do." Shine told him. "They're just too powerful."
The shadow ponies raced towards them.
"Run!" Shine yelled.
They ran as fast as they could, but the shadow ponies glided across the ground like ice skaters, quickly catching up. Celestia stopped running.
"What are you doing?" Shine turned.
"Buying you some time." Celestia said matter-of-factly. "Take care of Miracle."
"No, don't!" Shine reached for her.
"Mom!" Miracle cried.
"Come on!" Caboose pulled him away. "We gotta go!"
"But mom..." Miracle quivered.
"We can't just-" Shine added.
"Didn't you just tell me they're too powerful?" Caboose groaned. "Take your own advice, pal!"
Celestia stood her ground as the shadow ponies surrounded her, and began swarming her. Just before they could grab her, she fired a concentrated beam of magic. As soon as she released it, the shadow ponies dogpiled her and dragged her away.
The beam Celestia fired soared towards the trio, and hit... Caboose.
"What the BU-UCK!" Caboose screamed as the blast hit him and rocketed him far away into the cold wilderness.
"What the-?" Shine frowned, not seeing Caboose. "Caboose?! Where are you?!"
He considered looking for him, but the shadow ponies were on his tail, so he had to continue on.
Soon they were nearing the train station…
"Hang in there, baby, we're almost out of there." Shine reassured to Miracle as they hopped onto the platform…
Only to be stopped by a shadow pony, pointing it's horn at him and Miracle.
Shine stepped back, using his wings to shield Miracle, though fear was in Shine's eyes.
"Please… please, don't hurt us…" Shine pleaded, knowing he had no way to hurt the pony.
The plea fell on deaf ears, as the shadow pony's horn began to glow viciously.
"Oh, crud…" Shine turned to run, as the shadow pony fired, grazing the spot of Shine's back Miracle was holding on, as Miracle fell from his back and Shine fell to the ground. Shine struggle to get up, before he was kicked over.
The shadow pony glares venomously as he points his horn again.
"Please… don't…" Shine whispered.
The shadow pony was about to fire once more, before it's head was sliced by a flat, rectangular object. As it dissipated into nothingness, the object landed at Shine's hooves; it was a playing card.
"You guys okay?" Sleight called as he ran over. His suit was in tatters.
"Thanks to you." Shine smiled. "I can't believe you managed to escape."
"Yeah, well, it's pretty easier when you can make portals with playing cards." Sleight shrugged. "Too bad those things tore it up after I went through. I could've helped the others."
"Let's not think about that right now." Shine declared. "Let's just be glad we're all okay. Right, Mir?"
There was no answer…
"Mir?" Shine turned, to find Miracle whimpering, clutching her abdomen, "Miracle!"
Shine rushed over to her, only to be horrified that she was bleeding, possibly from the blast the shadow pony fired.
"Oh no…" Sleight whispered.
"Okay, move your hooves, baby." Shine ordered, as he tried to suppress Miracle's wound, only for her to cry out in pain. "Listen to me, I know it hurts, baby." Miracle continued to whimper. "You're gonna be okay, baby. Stay with me."
Shine made to pick her up.
"Alright. I'm gonna pick you up." Shine tried to keep a calm voice, as he lifted her, but Miracle gasped even more. "I know, baby. I know it hurts. Come on, baby, please. I know, baby I know." Shine reassured her… though at the moment, it sounded more like he was reassuring himself.
"Shine, we gotta get outta here." Sleight whispered.
"We will, Miracle just…" Shine turned to Miracle, only to gasp as he saw her falling unconscious, "Miracle? Baby?"
She wasn't answering.
"…Don't do this to me, baby…" Shine begged, tears starting to flow, as he held her close, "Don't do this to me, baby girl. Come on…no…no…" He began to sob as he cradled her, "Oh no, no, no…please…oh, Faust. Please, please, don't do this… Please, Faust…"
"No, please..." Shine begged, as Miracle's eyes closed.
"I think I know how to help her." Sleight declared. "It's a little risky..."
"Do it." Shine nodded. "Save her, please!"
"First, we have to bind that wound." Sleight tore off a piece of his already ragged suit. "Hold this down."
Shine held the rag over Miracle's wound, and Sleight tied it tight. Miracle groaned in pain.
"Now what?" Shine asked.
"Now it gets tricky." Sleight frowned. "I learned a technique during my travels to counteract the effects of dark magic exposure... But it's risky, for both of us."
"You have to try." Shine urged.
"I will." Sleight nodded.
Sleight leaned down towards Miracle. He touched his horn to hers, and started flowing his magic into her. At the same time, a thin stream of darkness flowed from her into him. Sleight stepped back, staggered.
"Hoo, that was worse then I thought." He groaned, rubbing his head. "What a migraine!"
"What did you just do?" Shine asked.
"I infused her with some of my own magic, while at the same time siphoning off the dark magic still in her system." Sleight groaned. "A little something I picked up along my travels."
"Did it work?" Shine asked.
"Hard to tell." Sleight shrugged. "She seems okay, but we're just gonna have to wait and see."
"Well, we can't do it here." Shine declared. "More shadow ponies could be along any time."
"What do you suggest?" Sleight asked.
"We hop the train." Shine stated. "See if they can outrun that."
"Well then, lead the way." Sleight urged.
Stopping only to pick up Miracle, Shine and Sleight jumped off the train station platform, sneaking around back as to not attract attention. They hopped up on the rear of a freight train, and leapt into one of the carriages, which was packed with various foodstuffs.
"Oh, good." Sleight smiled. "All that running made me hungry."
"Isn't that stealing?" Shine asked.
"Probably." Sleight shrugged. "But we need to keep our strength up. We're no good to anypony starved."
"I guess you're right." Shine sighed. "And maybe a little food will help Miracle's recovery..."
Miracle suddenly sat up, groaning.
"Miracle, you're awake!" Shine smiled, nearly tearful again. "How do you feel?"
"Lousy." Miracle mumbled. "What happened?"
"Well, not to brag, but I pretty much saved your life." Sleight boasted, before rubbing his head, "Got a headache, but I will tough it out."
"Thank you." Miracle smiled. "Wait, what about mom?"
"I'm afraid she was captured." Shine admitted. "She bought us time to get away."
"Oh, no..." Miracle sniffed. "What are we going to do, daddy? That pony with Sombra's horn is going to do awful things… I-I-"
"Don't you worry, baby." Shine comforted her. "We have to keep strong. Not just for your mother, but for our entire family and all of Equestria. Okay?"
"Okay." Miracle nodded.
"How can you say that?" Sleight asked. "Our wives are in danger! We have to go back and save them!"
"No, we need to come up with a plan." Shine declared. "Who knows what Red Eclipse is planning this very moment?"
Meanwhile, in the Crystal Empire, Red Eclipse sat on the throne, or rather lounging in it.
"This was easier than I thought it was." He smirked, as he tapped his horn, "Who knew that having a horn would make life so much easier…"
The shadow ponies brought in Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight and Chrysalis.
"Ladies." Red Eclipse grinned. "So glad you could join me. I hope you are enjoying your new accommodations in the prison cells?"
"What is it you're after, Eclipse?" Celestia demanded.
"Come now, Celestia, I take over one of Equestria's greatest cities and you ask, 'what is it I'm after?'" Red asked incredulously, before chuckling darkly. "I'll tell ya what I'm after… power. Enough power to rule Equestria, if not the world. And the Crystal Sun is what will give me that power."
"How do you even know about it?!" Cadance snarled, "As far as I knew, only us five knew about it!"
"Hmph, you would be surprised by what I know, pinkie." Red scoffed. "Let's just say when I was bunked down at this little town called Maredina in Saddle Arabia, I had a lot of time to catch on a little light reading."
He then sat back up.
"But here's what I know. I know that about thousands of years ago, Cadance's ancestors had forged the Crystal Sun, with hopes of using it's power for the 'betterment of ponykind'. Pfft, as if…" Red Eclipse scoffed. "But then your and Luna's father decided to have it divided, so that it wouldn't fall into the wrong hooves, really dark times, back then. Then they decided to share the pieces among themselves and their fellow Alicorns. One for them for Cadance's ancestor, another for Twilight's, and for reasons I cannot understand, they decide to give the last piece to this wench's grandmother." He gestured to Chrysalis.
"How dare you…" Chrysalis snarled.
"Why now do you seek these pieces?!" Luna barked, "Why not before?"
"Well, Luna, as it turns out, the Crystal Sun, while being real powerful in it's own right, requires a tremendous amount of magic to even get it operational… before this horn and I became one, I planned to find a Unicorn that had the magic power… and then I would have to gather up an army to storm cities looking for the shards, and that costs a pretty penny… just too many hoops to jump through for me. But with Sombra's horn and these shadow ponies…" He gestured to the shadow ponies, who only nodded in acknowledgement. "I just saved myself most of the trouble… and you five can save me the rest of it by telling me the locations of the pieces… right now…"
"Never!" Twilight roared. "You think just because you have Sombra's horn that we'll lay down and let you walk over us?! Well, you've got another thing coming!"
"We would never allow a fiend like you to gain such power!" Cadance declared.
"Oh, no!" Red gasped dramatically. "My whole plan's ruined! I guess I'll just have to call off this whole thing. It's obvious that you mares seemingly hold all the cards…" The Alicorns glared deeper. "Ah, well, guess I'll have to go back to my old style of hurting anypony I feel like hurting. Like the Crystal Ponies, for example. Or maybe I could even finish what I started with the Changelings... and this time, not have my army scared off by cheap tricks!"
"No!" Chrysalis yelled.
"Heck, why not all your loved ones?" Red shrugged. "I do have most of them here, after all. There's plenty of kids for me to spank, husbands to put through the wringer.... Maybe I can make some of the older gals into my... concubines."
"You monster..." Luna seethed.
"Call me what you want, Luna, but as far as I can tell, I am running this show now, and there's nothing you can do about it." Red grinned. "Either give me what I want, or I will make good on my threats… I'll promise you that."
The princesses (and queen) shared frantic looks with each other, before coming to a unanimous decision.
"Very well." Celestia growled. "We shall tell you where to find the pieces."
"My piece is hidden in the basement of my castle." Twilight stated. A while after she had gained her title of the princess of friendship, Twilight had been given one of the pieces by her father, who (while unaware of it's true importance, due to it being passed down for so long) believed such an artefact would be safer with her.
"Our is in the vault of our castle." Luna added.
"You'll find my piece behind the portrait of the master bedroom, also in a vault." Cadance declared.
"And the final piece is in the caverns of the old Changeling territory." Chrysalis growled.
"Now was that so hard?" Red taunted. "Okay boys, take 'em back to the dungeon."
The shadow ponies obeyed.
"Hold it." Red suddenly declared. "You know, having you all here, imprisoned, kinda reminds me of that guy Tirek... and d'ya remember what he did?"
"No… you're bluffing!" Chrysalis snarled. "If I recall, Sombra didn't have the power to take magic!"
"Wanna bet, Queenie?" Red chuckled.
His horn glowing once more, Red Eclipse send out tendrils of dark magic that latched onto Chrysalis' horn.
"GAH!" Chrysalis gasped, trying to break free of the tendrils.
"Chrysalis!" Celestia gasped.
The dark tendrils began tightening around her, as it drained out her magic. Chrysalis collapsed to the floor, her body becoming thin and haggard.
"Chrysalis, no!" Twilight ran to her side.
Chrysalis struggles to get up, as she glanced at her now ragged hooves.
"No…NO!" Chrysalis howled, as she broke down.
"How could you?!" Cadance roared, about ready to charge, only to held back by the shadow ponies.
However, Red ignored her, as he gave a satisfied grin.
"Hmm, I gotta say, you were a lot tastier then I thought you'd be, bug. Tastes like chicory." Red smirked, before turning to the princesses. "I wonder how well you four will taste..."
"You won't take my magic without a fight!" Luna growled.
"Suit yourself." Red fired his tendrils at his her. She struggled to free herself, crying out in pain. "But as you can tell, it hurts more when you resist."
As Luna stumbled, Red moved on to Cadance.
"You won't get away with this..." Cadance groaned, as her magic was leeched.
"Watch me." Red sneered.
Cadance fell to her knees, completely drained. Then came Twilight.
"It doesn't matter how much power you steal." Twilight gritted her teeth as he drained her. "Good will always prevail."
"Not for long." Red taunted.
Twilight collapsed, just like the other princesses. However, none of them shared Chrysalis's thin, haggard look. Finally, Red turned to Celestia.
"Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this…" Red smirked darkly.
He fired tendrils at Celestia, who didn't resist at all… but as he began sucking the magic… none came out.
"What the-?" He gaped. He tried tightening the tendrils' grips, but there was no magic left. "What did you do? Where'd all your magic go?"
"My magic now lies with my husband." Celestia declared. "You'll never find him, or our daughter."
"We'll just see about that, sunbutt." Red growled. "To the dungeon with all of them!"
After the royals were led away, Chrysalis's sobs echoing through the halls, Red conjured up more shadow ponies.
"You guys, fetch me those Crystal Sun pieces." He ordered one group, as they quickly vanished, and he turned to another group. "As for you, find Celestia's husband and her daughter... I need as much Alicorn magic I can get… and whatever you do, bring them back alive!"
The shadow ponies nodded, and slid out of the room.
"As for me, I have business of my own to attend to..." Red declared.
He simply walked out of the throne room, to attend to his 'business'…
Far away, Caboose groaned, as he found himself lying on the ground in the middle of nowhere.
"Ugh... what happened..." He struggled to get up, and looked around. "Shine? Miracle? Anypony? Where am I?" He got no answer, as he growled, "Oh, great, I'm lost... hooves don't fail me now..."
Caboose made to move in one direction, getting some distance, before suddenly, his horn glowed, and he popped back where he started.
"What the?" Caboose gasped. "I didn't say to teleport!"
Caboose tried moving in the same direction... before being teleported back farther, and a bit higher, falling to the ground.
"Okay, this is weird..." He looked up at his horn. "What is going on here-"
The horn shot off a powerful blast, recoiling Caboose into the ground.
"Ow..." Caboose got back up. "This is freaking me out... I gotta find Shine..."
Somehow, his horn heard his request, and suddenly, Caboose took off into the air.
"AH! WHAT THE BUCK?!" Caboose screamed.
Caboose was sent rocketing through the air, zigzagging left and right, soaring miles, before coming to the very train Shine, Sleight and Miracle were on...
"I'm telling you, we should head back!" Sleight insisted.
"And I'm telling you, it's just not safe!" Shine retorted.
Their argument was interrupted by the sound of screaming, which was getting closer.
"What's that?" Miracle asked.
Suddenly, something crashed through the side of the carriage.
"Heads up!" Sleight yelled, pulling out his cards.
"Did they find us?" Shine asked, ready to defend his daughter.
They were ready to fight the new intruder…when…
"Oh boy, did that hurt..." Caboose emerged from the cloud of dust, rubbing his back.
"Caboose?" Shine asked. "You're okay?"
"If you can call it that." Caboose groaned.
"How did you do that?" Sleight asked.
"Do what?" Caboose asked dumbly.
"That! I 've known you for a few years now, and not once could you fly without wings!" Sleight stammered.
"Just what happened to you, Caboose? One moment you were right behind me, and the next, you were gone!" Shine asked.
"No clue." Caboose shrugged. "I was following you guys when something hit me from behind and sent me flying out into the tundra before I blacked out! It was weird…" But he shook his head. "But enough about me, what's going on with you guys?"
"Well, Shine's having us run away." Sleight said derisively.
"It's the best thing we can do at this point." Shine declared.
"Could somepony tell me what exactly we are running from?" Caboose asked. "Because I wasn't there when everything went crazy!"
"I'll tell ya what happened…" Sleight growled, "Red Eclipse… the pony who tried to kill the Changelings, had come back, with a bucking horn on his head and captured everypony!"
"Red Eclipse?" Caboose gaped. 'That's the guy my bros were talking about!'" He shook his head again. "What about my wife? My kids? Blueblood? Dusty?"
"I'm sorry, Caboose…they were captured too." Shine frowned.
"Poor Vito, Hurricane, and Pureblood…" Miracle whimpered.
"And princey here finds it smart to run away while Red has everypony we love under his hoof!" Sleight glared at Shine.
"What?! No way!" Caboose snorted. "My wife and kids are back there. I say we take the fight to Red Eclipse! Nopony messes with the Napoleons, especially me!"
"Good stallion." Sleight nodded.
"Look at us!" Shine urged. "Two Unicorns, a Pegasus, and a wounded Alicorn filly. We won't last five seconds without a plan, and maybe some backup! Tell me, what good can we do if we're captured too?!"
"Well, maybe you have a point..." Sleight said grudgingly.
"And of course, the humble guard doesn't get a say..." Caboose grumbled.
"So, where are we headed again?" Sleight asked.
"I know a place down south we can hole up in for a while." Shine declared. "They won't think to look for us there…"
A few days later…
In a bar in Fillydelphia, business was going as usual. So far, the happenings at the Crystal Empire had been contained, and nopony was aware of the dark machinations that were occurring just up north.
One of the pony that was there was none other than Twitch Cardinal. Since the snafu with the changelings ten years back, Twitch had been laying low, now hiding from Red Eclipse as well as the Napoleon Brothers. So far, he had been succeeding, although his disguise was rather odd. He was currently playing cards with some friends, donning a black moustache that deeply contrasted with his blonde mane, which was now paling.
"Say, Twitch, whatever happen to that feller you worked for?" One of them, an Earth Pony, asked.
"Oh, him?" Twitch shrugged. "I left him. He was a crazy old bat who hated Changelings. I only ever worked for him because he promised lots of bits... but it just wasn't worth it. He was fighting a losing battle…"
"Really now? That's not how I remember things..."
Twitch jumped at the familiar-sounding voice. The door to the bar was blown open, and Red Eclipse, wearing his cloak, stepped forth, with anger in his eyes.
"I-is that the time?" The Earth Pony gulped. "Gotta go. I have a soufflé waiting in the oven!"
"You win!" One of the other card players threw down his cards.
The other ponies ran off, scared. Twitch was too scared to move.
"R-r-r-r-r-red Eclipse?!" Twitch stuttered. "I t-t-thought you were d-d-d-"
"Dead?" Red finished his sentence. "You underestimated me, Twitch... among other things."
"L-look, pal, you aren't still m-mad about the w-whole Changeling thing a couple years b-back, are you?" Twitch asked nervously.
"Mad?" Red chuckled. "Why in Equestria would I be mad? You only left me alone to be captured by a bunch of wanna-be Godfathers and held in their danky basement for ten years..." His voice suddenly turned menacing. "You know, Twitch, old friend, if there is one thing I hate more than weaklings and Changelings... it's cowards like you."
Red Eclipse lowered his hood, revealing his horn.
"W-w-w-where'd that come from?" Twitch gasped, as he slowly backed away.
"A better question: Where are you going?" Red sneered.
In a blast of dark magic, Red sent Twitch flying across the room. Before the Earth Pony could hit the wall, he was caught in a magic field.
Twitch was about to sigh in relief, when he found himself thrust across the room.
"Aaah!" He yelped.
Red began tossing him around the room, smashing him against anything and everything.
"TEN YEARS, TWITCH!" Red roared, as he threw him against the wall. "Ten years I had been confined to a 10x10 cell! I was rotting away in a buckin' prison cell while you were up here, hiding like a filthy rat!"
"Ow… how did you even find me?!" Twitch groaned.
"Simple. I followed the stench of utter betrayal…" Red sneered. "That, and I had you implanted with a tracking crystal."
"Wait, wha-AHHH!" Twitch was sent flying again, this time into the bar cabinet, shattering glasses.
"You know, Twitch, when I made you my lieutenant, I expected the utmost loyalty…" Red Eclipse snarled. "Instead, you deserted me to be defeated… by insects no less!"
Red then threw him against the counter, scraping the side of Twitch's face along the bar, before throwing him to the ground.
"P-Please, Red…" Twitch coughed, hurting badly. "I didn't want to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-"
"ENOUGH!" Red roared, as he dragged him along the floor, throwing him at his hoof, as Red pinned him and raised one of his hooves, "You know, I have a very strict death penalty for deserters, Twitch… heck, I should punch your head into the floorboards right now…"
"No, p-please!" Twitch begged, growing teary-eyed, but Red was about to bring his hoof down. "GAH!"
*SMASH!*
Twitch winced and whimpered, as he opened one eye to see Red's raised hoof smashed into the floorboard, mere centimeters from his head. Twitch looked back up at Red, as he sadistically chuckled.
"Lucky for you, I'm in the mood to offer you a second chance…" Red declared.
"Um… w-why?" Twitch asked, finding this uncharacteristic for the war-monger.
"Because, while you may have left me to my fate… it wasn't you that imprisoned me…" Red admitted, "Before I was locked away, I heard that you have a bit of a history with the Napoleon Brothers…"
"Napoleon?! Where?!" Twitch gasped, as he looked left and right.
"Ah, so it's true, huh? Got into a little trouble with the mob, Twitch?" Red smirked, pressing a little harder with his pinning hoof.
"Well, you see, I kinda did something awful-" Twitch began, before being jabbed in the chest by the pinning hoof.
"Look, I don't know what you did to them, and I honestly don't care." Red scoffed. "All I do know is that I want them dead for wasting ten years of my life! And since you have beef with them as well, I will give you the satisfaction of killing them."
"Wait, really?!" Twitch perked up.
"Really." Red smiled, as he then brought Twitch to his hooves, leaving him a bit shaky. "They made you run and hide for so many years, it's only fair that you fight back. And I am going to be busy with my own project, so I will leave you to take care of 'unfinished' business."
"O-okay, boss!" Twitch nodded wildly. "You can count on me!"
"Good." Red summoned more shadow ponies. "Take these guys for a spin. And rally up any of our merc buddies from ten years back, we are going to need a lot of ponies for what we are about to do…"
"You got it, b-boss!" Twitch saluted, before frowning. "Do what exactly?"
"In due time, Twitch." Red smirked, as he gestured to the hole in the wall. "Now get to work." Twitch, not wanting to make him mad again, made his way to the door, before the stallion stopped him again. "Oh, and Twitch? If you ever get the bright idea of running away again... you might want this..." Red passed him a hammer. "It'll be easier on you then I'll be..."
"Wait." Red stopped him again, as he then ripped the moustache off Twitch's face.
"OW!" Twitch clutched his snout.
"Next time, get yourself a better disguise." Red rolled his eyes. "Now, get to work."
As Twitch and the shadows left the Bar, Red took a sip from one of the abandoned drinks.
"Ah, whiskey. How I missed ye." Red chuckled.
Back in the Crystal Empire, the Napoleon brothers had almost fully recovered. By then, shadow ponies were swarming all over the Empire, enforcing Red's rule.
"Hoo boy, this is bad." Murray watched events through the window, as they attacked innocent bystanders and broke into homes.
"Good thing our gals are in Ponyville, away from all this." Sonny sighed with relief.
"Let's not jump to conclusions." Grimoire declared. "Caboose may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's pretty tough. I'm sure he's okay."
"He'd better be." Salt growled. "If those things have hurt him..."
"Those 'things' may not be the crux of the problem." Lars noted. "Judging by their movements, I'd hazard a guess that they're just drones, serving the real villain of the piece."
"Yeah?" Slot snorted. "Wait until that guys gets a load of us."
At that moment, they heard the hissing sound of several shadow ponies outside their door…
"Uh-oh, here they come…" Grimm muttered.
"Today's a good day to die…" Salt cracked his hooves, ready to get out of bed to fight.
However, a darkly familiar voice echoed through the door.
"Okay, it's time we end this!" Twitch's voice declared. He had found the brothers by researching the best places for dark magic treatment. The Crystal Empire's hospital was at the top of the list, and thus, the best place to start.
The brothers' jaws dropped.
"Twitch?!" Murray gaped.
"He's here?!" Vinny gaped.
"And in league with those things?" Salt frowned.
"Typical." Lars groaned. "All that time searching, and he wound up coming to us."
"L-light up the place!" Twitch yelled. "Leave no pony alive!"
"Duck and cover!" Grimoire yelled.
Thinking fast, the brothers rolled off their beds, and took cover under them.
A barrage of dark magic blasts fired through the walls and door, razing the entire room, tearing up everything they could hit. Soon, the room was destroyed and filled with smoke. The now hole-ridden walls and door collapsed, revealing the room to Twitch and his comrades, ready to fire more.
"Hold your fire!" Twitch ordered.
As the smoke began to clear, Twitch stepped into the room.
"Where are you, boys?" He smirked. "I wanna see what's left of ya..."
Twitch overturned the charred beds, finding nothing underneath.
"What?! This can't be." Twitch frowned. "Where'd they-"
Twitch suddenly realized that the window was open.
"Noo!" He roared in frustration. "N-n-no way can this be happening. I had those f-f-f-f-f-fools! I was so close to getting some p-p-p-p-payback!"
Down in the streets, the Napoleons were running at full speed, which was quite a challenge, as their wounds burned with pain.
"Now what?" Sonny asked.
"Beats me." Slot shrugged.
"We should head to Ponyville." Grimoire instructed. "Protect our ladies. The way things are looking, those shadows could spread everywhere."
Meanwhile, back in the hospital, Twitch managed to calm down.
"Okay, Twitch, you can figure this out. Their home is gone, thank you, Red…" Twitch muttered to himself, as he then got an idea. "You." He pointed to one shadow pony. "Bring me their medical records."
The shadow pony complied, heading down to the reception area and bringing back the desired paperwork (but not before scaring the poor receptionist, who had already been paralysed with fear by their mere arrival).
"Let's see..." Twitch perused the documents. "Medical insurance info... Past injuries... Current health specs... Wow, does Vinny really weigh that much? Go on a diet, chubbo... Aha! Personal contacts..." He looked closely at the information. "Well, well, well! The boys have all got lady friends! Whattaya know? Better yet, most of them live in Ponyville!"
He gave a sinister smile, as he turned to one of them. "You, tell the boss that I will go to Ponyville to get whatever it is he wants from there!" The shadow pony gave a nod as he slithered away. Twitch glanced at the rest of the group…
Back in Canterlot, mere days after the attack, Mist, now nine months pregnant, was pacing erratically through the main hall. Her fiancée Blue was accompanying her, ever more concerned about their foal.
"Mist, would you please calm down?" Blue tried to sooth her.
"How can I, Blue? Shine and the others should had been back by now! We hadn't heard anything back at the empire for days! Something is wrong, I just know it!" Mist fretted.
"Please, Mist, all this worrying isn't good for the foal." Blue got up to stop her pacing, "I'm sure everything is fine."
"Don't give me that." Mist glared. "Everything isn't fine."
"Well, you stressing about it isn't going to help." Blue countered.
"I guess you're right." Mist sighed. "I just hate not knowing."
Suddenly, a loud horn blared throughout the castle.
"What the-? What's going on?!" Mist asked.
"Um, Mist…" Blue looked out the windows. "You might want to look at this."
Mist joined Blue at the windows, and her jaw dropped as a cloud of darkness approached the city of Canterlot quickly. Shadow ponies surged across the street, attacking random ponies. Luxury was one of the unlucky ones, thrown against a café table by one of the aggressors.
Soon, the shadows breached the castle walls. Iron Hooves and the guards fought bravely, but the shadows were relentless, breaking through their every defence.
"Oh, boy." Blue Blazes cringed. "First the silence at the Empire, and now this."
"Something tells me it's no coincidence." Mist said grimly.
"Your highness." Iron Hooves, badly bruised from battle, entered the room. "The shadow ponies are breaking through our ranks. As the only member of the royal family here, you are in charge. What should we do?"
"We should fight." Mist declared.
"Mist, no!" Blue gasped. "You're nine months pregnant! We should leave, now!"
"But it's like Iron Hooves said: I'm the only one of the royal family here." Mist reminded him. "If I ran, what kind of message would that send to my subjects?"
"Well said, your highness." Iron nodded. "Celestia herself couldn't have put it better."
The doors to the hall began shuddering like crazy.
"Here they come…" Blue gulped.
The doors were blasted open, and the shadow ponies came storming in, surrounding the three ponies. Iron Hooves stood ready to fight, while Blue was ready to protect Mist.
The shadow ponies charged up their horns, and fired... at each other. The beams intersected, and formed an image of Red Eclipse.
"Hello?" Red glanced around, tapping his horn. "Is this thing on?" He glanced down at the three with a devilish glee. "Ah, good. I'm still trying to figure out this thing."
"Who are you?" Mist asked. "And why are your forces attacking us?"
Red looked at Mist, eyes narrowing.
"Why, I've simply sent them on a little errand." He said simply. "I'm Red Eclipse, and my employees are here for the shard of the Crystal Sun located in your vault."
"Crystal what?" Blue frowned.
"I'm afraid I do not know what it is you speak of." Mist glared, "But if you think we are just going to give it to some guy talking through a projection, then you are sorely mistaken!"
"Wow, you've got spunk, kid." Red smirked. "I like that... but my shadow ponies might not share that sentiment. In fact, they might lash out on this here city and it's people... heck, I bet they would love to play tug-o-war with that captain of yours."
"Just try it." Iron snarled.
"And I'm sure your family here at the Empire will want you to do as I say… not just for your sake but theirs… and what of your foal?" Red asked.
Mist stifled a growl as she felt her distended belly.
"What do you mean?! What have you done to Mist's family?!" Blue roared.
"Oh, I've done nothing… yet." Red chuckled darkly. "But the choice is yours, princess." Red declared. "Either give me what I want, or everypony else will suffer for it…what do you do?"
Mist shared unsure glances with both Iron and Blue, and then looked at her unborn foal, before she let out a sigh.
"...Fine." Mist sighed.
"Mist! I don't know what this 'Crystal Sun' is, but you can't just give it to him!" Blue protested.
"I have no choice." Mist declared. "As princess, I must put my subjects first."
"Well said, kid." Red smiled.
"Just so long as your shadow ponies leave the people alone once I hand it over." Mist snarled.
"Of course." Red nodded. "You have my word."
"Iron." Mist gestured.
Iron gave a grunt as he quickly went to the vault and retrieved the shard, which looked like a quarter of a sphere, sky blue in color, shining in the light. With hesitance, Iron gave the shard to the head shadow pony.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Red smiled.
"Now, all of you leave." Mist ordered.
"Actually... I think I'll have my shadow ponies stay here for a while..." Red chuckled darkly.
"What?!" Mist gasped. "But you promised-"
"That the shadow ponies would leave your people alone. I didn't say that they would leave Canterlot." Red elaborated. "As of now, Canterlot is now occupied and a part of the new world order for the foreseeable future."
"You son of a-GAH!" Blue was about to attack, before being knocked down by a blast of dark magic from a shadow pony.
"Blue!" Mist gasped.
"I wouldn't do that." Red smirked. "I promised that they would leave you alone... but if you happen to get in their way, I can't guarantee your safety. Good day."
The screen vanished, as the shadow ponies left.
"Are you alright, Blue?!" Mist fretted.
"Yeah, that freak got you good." Iron helped Blue up to his hooves.
"I'll be fine." Blue grunted, as he glared at where Red's projection stood, "But just who is that guy?!"
"I don't know." Mist frowned. "But I got the strangest feeling that he... knew me."
Elsewhere, in the Changeling Territory, Sazh and Wizel were in a similar position to Mist and Blue... with Sazh worrying like crazy, and Wizel trying to calm him down.
"This is bad, this is bad..." Sazh paced, wearing a hole in the floor.
"Sazh, you are over-thinking things." Wizel rolled his eyes.
"Am I, Wizel? Sleight and Chrysalis left for the Empire three days ago, and Sleight usually sends a letter telling me how things are going... with a little humor to take the edge off." Sazh muttered, before lighting up in horror. "You don't think the Crystal Ponies are still peeved about the whole invasion thing, are you?"
"I'm sure everything is fine, Sazh." Wizel patted his shoulder. "They just must be busy with the summit. Or with each other, if you know what I mean..."
"Hehehe…" Sazh gave a half-hearted chuckle, before frowning. "I don't get it."
Then, in a sense of déjà vu, a high pitched buzzing sound went off.
"What the buck?!" Sazh gasped. "Is today emergency drill day and nopony told me?"
"I don't know think so." Wizel muttered ominously.
They ran outside of the tower, and saw shadow ponies terrorizing the Changelings; Pushing them around, pulling them out of the air, ETC.
"My word..." Sazh gaped.
"What is this?" Wizel asked, dumbfounded.
Glinda came running over to Sazh and Wizel.
"Sazh! Wizel!" She yelled. "We're under attack!"
"We can see that, little one." Sazh declared.
"But under attack from what?" Wizel asked. "That is the question."
"They're monsters." Glinda trembled. "They're attacking us for no reason."
"If only Sleight and Chrysalis were here." Sazh cringed. "They'd know what to do."
"Don't be so sure." Wizel declared. "I doubt anypony has seen anything like this before..."
As it was in Canterlot, the shadow ponies swarmed over in front of the group, and as before, the projection of Red appeared.
"Hello, worms..." Red declared.
"You!" Wizel growled.
"Me." Red nodded.
"So you're behind this craven attack." Sazh snarled. "Seeking to harm our kind again, eh?"
"Not quite." Red admitted. "It's just a pleasant side-effect."
"But how…" Wizel muttered, "How did you…"
"Escape your 'friends'?" Red turned to Wizel. "Oh, dumb luck…" He then pointed to his horn. "And lots of dark magic. You should be more choosy of who you have take care of your messes."
"'Friends'? Who is he talking about, Mr. Wizel?" Glinda asked.
"Yeah, what is he talking about?" Sazh turned to Wizel.
"What do you want?!" Wizel demanded, ignoring the questions. "Are you here to finish what you started?!"
"Oh no, that's for another day." Red sneered. "For now, I want the Crystal Sun shard your queen's been hiding." Red declared. "Give it to me, or I'll have my troops raze your settlement to the ground. And this time, your wizard won't save you."
"Sleight…" Sazh gasped, "What have you done to him and Chrysalis?!"
"Nothing too bad... but that could change, especially for Queenie. I would hate to make most of you filthy insects mother-less and without a queen…" Red threatened.
"I won't let that happen! We'll send a scout to the old territory to retrieve it." Sazh declared. "But what guarantee do we you have you'll leave us alone afterwards?"
"I guarantee I will end you all right now if I don't get I want!" Red roared. "Send somepony to fetch that shard, and I'll let you and your queen all live. Is that guarantee enough for you?"
"Like we have a choice." Wizel sighed. "Very well. We will send our swiftest scout."
"He'd better be quick." Red growled. "I have a schedule to keep, you know."
The scout was indeed fast. Within a couple of hours, he had raced to the old territory, found the shard, and returned.
"There, you have what you want." Sazh gave the shard to a shadow pony. "Now leave us alone. And don't let the quick-stick slime grab you on the way out!"
"Oh, I don't think so." Red smirked.
"But you said-!" Wizel barked.
"I said I'd let you live." Red reminded him. "And live you shall... as a part of my new empire. Now, my shadow ponies... stick these bugs back in their nests."
"No!" Sazh yelled.
"You can't do this!" Wizel added.
"Stop it!" Glinda cried.
"Stop?" Red chuckled, as his image faded. "I've only just begun..."
While the shadow ponies forced the Changelings into their homes, down in the dungeons, the disgraced soldier Char listened to the ruckus.
"What calamity hazzz befallen my brethren thizzz time?" He wondered.
Meanwhile, the train Shine and the others had hidden in had just reached Dodge Junction. They slipped out as quietly as they could. Miracle had recovered enough to work.
"Shh!" Sleight hissed. "Try not to draw attention to us."
"Sorry!" Caboose shrugged. "I can't help it."
"At this rate, we'll get there by sundown." Miracle smiled.
The sun suddenly dipped downwards.
"What the...?" Shine gaped.
The sun jumped back up, then left and right.
"How is thi-" Sleight stopped when he realized Caboose's horn was glowing. "Caboose? You're doing this?"
"I am?" Caboose asked. The sun moved as his head twitched. "Hey, I am!"
"I though only mom could move the sun." Miracle noted.
"You're right." Shine declared. "Somehow, her powers must have been transferred to Caboose."
"Wait, so I now have the power to control the sun, the very star that helps keep this planet alive? ...Cool." Caboose chuckled.
"Why him?" Sleight asked.
"It may have been an accident." Shine mused. "Celestia was pretty... swamped at the time. Anyway, let's keep on moving."
"You got it." Caboose nodded. A spark from his horn hit Sleight in the hoof.
"Yeowch!" Sleight cringed.
"Sorry." Caboose apologized.
They made their way to Big Red and Cherry Jubilee's ranch, and knocked on the door.
"Shine?" Big Red asked, as he opened the door.
"What's with the surprise visit?" Cherry inquired.
"It's bad, Cherry." Shine declared, "Real bad."
"Say no more." Big Red gestured in, "Come on in."
Shine and the others entered the house as they sat in the living room. Big Red took note of Sleight.
"And who is this feller?" Big Red asked.
"Oh, this is Sleight Gambit. King of the changelings and probably the best card magician in the world." Shine explained.
"Charmed." Sleight nodded, as he shook hooves with Big Red.
"Changelings, huh?" Big Red asked, "Never heard of a pony leading a completely different species before."
"Heh, it's not half bad... once you get used to the fact that your wife is a grouch come egg-laying season and you learn how to speak buzzing sounds." Sleight shrugged.
"So, what do you mean by bad exactly, Shine?" Cherry asked.
"The summit was attacked." Miracle told them.
"Say what now?" Big Red gaped.
"My word." Cherry gasped.
"Everypony but us was captured by some psycho named Red Eclipse." Shine added, "The four of us barely escaped with our lives." He glanced at Miracle's wounds.
"Wait, who was the guy?" Big Red asked.
"Red Eclipse... he's the pony who is doing all this." Shine declared.
"Pony?" Sleight snorted. "Try 'monster'."
"Or 'meany-weany-bo-feany'!" Caboose added, "Or as Slot could call him, a ~@#%!"
"Huh?" Shine asked.
"Sorry, had to censor it for the readers." Caboose explained. "This ain't no 'mature' story."
"Caboose, could we not deal with your oddities right now?!" Sleight glared.
"This Red Eclipse... is he a big red Earth Pony like me, shaggy fetlocks, and a lunar eclipse with a red eye for a Cutie Mark?" Big Red described.
The four were astonished.
"Uh, yeah..." Shine nodded.
"How the buck did you know?" Sleight frowned.
"By Faust…can you read our minds?" Caboose gaped.
"Red... it's him..." Cherry gasped.
"Ah can't believe it..." Big Red muttered. "After all these years..."
"What are you talking about?" Shine asked. "Both of you know this stallion?"
"You could say that..." Big Red admitted. "In fact, you could even say that we grew up with him... him and your father."
"My father?" Shine frowned. "Wait, what does my father have to do with Red Eclipse?"
"Quite a lot actually... he an' Red were real close back in the days... in fact... they were brothers." Big Red revealed.
The four gaped.
"Brothers?!" Shine gasped.
"My grandpa had a brother?" Miracle asked.
"And he's Red Eclipse?!" Caboose spluttered. "Wait, if he's Shine's dad's brother... that would make him Shine's..."
"Uncle..." Shine finished.
"Hold the phone!" Sleight declared. "There's no way that war-monger could be related to Shine! He's an Earth Pony, and his coat color greatly contrasts with his father!"
"Trust me, when Ah first met those two, Ah was thinkin' the same thing..." Big Red recalled, "But yes, Red Eclipse is your uncle, Shine…"
"So you mean to tell me that my wife is probably in dire peril... because of your genocidal uncle?!" Sleight glared viciously at Shine.
"Hey, none of that!" Big Red barked, prompting Sleight to wince. "This ain't Shine's fault…though I never thought that he would…would come back…"
"What do you mean?" Shine asked. "Pa never told me that he had a brother…"
"…It was something that White didn't want to linger on." Cherry frowned. "The memories were just too painful for him."
"Well, could you mind fillin' us in? We aren't going anywhere anytime soon." Sleight lounged back, still a bit peeved at the revelation.
"Ooh, major backstory time!" Caboose instantly pulled up a popcorn bag out of nowhere. "This is gonna be good."
"Tell us everything you know, Big Red." Shine requested.
"Okay…" Big Red sighed, as he went up to the mantle of the fireplace and pull out a box. He quickly opened it and pulled out a photo, and showing it to the four. In the picture was a young Pegasus, which was evidently White Knight, and next to him, with his hoof around his shoulder, a slightly taller and bigger Earth Pony that was nearly a spitting image of Red Eclipse, albeit with a black mane and two good eyes.
"To start off, his real name is Black Knight Paladin. Red Eclipse wuz just a nickname that me, Cherry, and White gave him when we were just kids…" Big Red muttered.
"Well, that explains why Lars didn't find anything on him back in Canterlot." Caboose noted, before the others glanced at him. "It's a long story."
"Him, White, and Ah went way back, ta when we were just colts." Big Red sighed, as he began to reminisce. "Both he an' White were like brothers to me. But Black... Black was like the cool kid on the block... and dependable too. Everpony looked up to him, includin' me an' Cherry. But nopony idolized him like yer father did, Shine. Your grandparents, Ivory Templar and White Dove passed away from illnesses when they were young, and Black was all that White had left in the world. There ain't a pony that White loved other than your mother than he did your uncle…"
"But that doesn't explain how Red-I mean, Black was an Earth Pony and White was a Pegasus." Sleight snorted.
"He's right. I was always told that the Paladin bloodline was purely Pegasus." Shine explained, before turning to Miracle. "Before you, of course, sunbeam."
"That is weird, isn't it?" Miracle frowned.
"That... Ah can't really explain." Big Red shook his head. "There's bin all sorts a' rumors over the years about Black. One said that White Dove cheated on Ivory with an Earth Pony. Another said that Black was a bad omen. The town's crazy guy, Mort, says he was Devil's Incarnate."
"Having met the guy, I can believe that." Sleight deadpanned.
"But there wuz no denyin' that Black wuz... different." Big Red frowned. "While White and Black loved each other very much, their relationship wuz real rocky at times, and Black wuz never really happy to be the only Earth Pony in a Pegasus family. One might say that he wuz jealous of White."
"Jealous?" Miracle gaped. "Really?"
"Well, I can understand the feeling." Caboose nodded. "Dusty always felt lonely being the only Earth Pony in our little Unicorn famigla."
"Caboose…" Sleight glared.
"Hey, I said I understand. I don't approve of world takeovers." Caboose snapped.
"As the years passed by, Ah had a feelin' somethin' wuz off about Black. Ah wuzn't sure what it was or anything, but he did some pretty questionable things over the years..." Big Red continued. "Sneaking off at night ta do who knows what, talkin' with some bad-lookin' ponies... heck, this one time, he beat the feathers off a griffin that had bin bullying me back then. He woulda killed him had White not stopped him. I never really thought it wuz somethin' ta be worried about..."
"Then what happened?" Shine asked.
"Well, war broke out in Saddle Arabia, and they were lookin' for soldiers. White and Black, being the Paladins they are, both enlisted and shipped off to Saddle Arabia." Big Red recalled. "Went up the ranks pretty fast, too. Before long, Black wuz made captain of this small platoon and White his second-in-command. For five years, Ah had only received a few letters from the both of them, but then, about five years since the day they left, Ah opened the door to find White Knight, plum hysterical."
"What was wrong with him?" Miracle asked.
"White wasn't all that clear about what had exactly happened in Saddle Arabia... but all he said was that Black had the platoon and him do something awful... something about razing this village that housed Changelings. In fact, they were one of the first ponies to create peace with them." Big Red proceeded with the story.
"What?! Why would he do such a thing?!" Shine gaped.
"Ah wished Ah knew. White and the others were completely unaware of what they were doin', thinking that the village was a depot for weapons, till it wuz too late. Everypony lay dead... and one of their own, a kid named Rookie Blue, got caught in the crossfire. Poor White wuz horrified when Black told him the truth." Big Red frowned.
"What did he do?" Sleight asked.
"What could he do?" Big Red rebutted. "Black had him and the platoon murder an entire village under his command, and a good pony got killed fer it. White wuz put in a bad spot. Black already made the rest sworn to silence, and if anypony could bring him down, it wuz White. It was just a question of who he wuz more loyal to... the brother who was the only family he had left... or the country and the ponies he swore to serve."
"Wow, this is getting good." Caboose took another hoof-ful of popcorn.
"Eventually, his duty to his country won out, and White came before Celestia herself, telling her of Black's crimes." Big Red continued. "Black was tried, and eventually found guilty, stripping him of everything and earning him a one-way ticket to a jail-cell. Black really hated White for that…"
"Wait, Celestia knew my father?" Shine asked, "I mentioned him so many times... and not once did she mention him..."
"She probably didn't want to upset you." Miracle offered.
"Anywho, things really got worse when Black swiftly broke out when they were moving him to the prison, and he lead a one-stallion charge to kill Celestia." Big Red said grimly.
"No way!" Miracle gasped.
"One stallion? Was Black that strong?" Shine asked.
"Oh yeah. Even more than me back in the days." Big Red shuddered, "Black wuz more than determined to see his vendetta to an end, and it soon came to a point when the only thing that came between him and Celestia... wuz White. Your father tried to reason with him, but Black wouldn't hear of it... in fact, he actually disowned him right there and then. Despite this, White fought his hardest and against his moral fiber, he... he killed him... threw him out a window and off the side of the mountain the castle stood on."
"Well, he obviously didn't do a good job of killing him if he's causing all this right now." Caboose snorted.
"Well, as far as Equestria knew, Black wuz dead." Big Red shrugged. "White just wuzn't the same since that day. Just days after, he retired from the army, bringing us back to that night he came ta mah doorstep. White never forgave himself for doing what he did to his brother…"
"But it was the right thing to do." Sleight reasoned. "Red-Black-whatever was a bad pony, and he needed to be stopped."
"Oh, Sleight, when you come ta be mah age, you'll learn that not all things are black an' white." Big Red shook his head. "Black Knight was really a good pony back then... Cherry and I didn't want to believe that he would do such a thing... but there was no changing facts."
"But that doesn't explain why he didn't tell me." Shine muttered.
"He wanted to protect you, darling." Cherry gave a sad smile. "He didn't want you to grow up knowing what kind of uncle you used to have."
"Yeah... to tell ya the truth, White also believed that Black was still alive, and he was afraid that he would come and bring harm upon you, Mist, or Silver." Big Red added. "That fear followed him to his grave... and now, Black is doing all a' this…"
Silence greeted the room.
"I just don't believe this." Shine frowned. "All this time, I had an uncle..."
"And a psycho uncle at that." Sleight added.
"And I thought my family tree was twisted." Caboose deadpanned, as he emptied out the last of his popcorn.
"Talk about having a black sheep in the family..." Miracle sighed.
"Still, that doesn't change the fact that as of now, all of us are in danger." Sleight declared. "And we need somewhere to hole up."
"Well, you came to the right place." Big Red smiled, "Ain't no safer place than your own hometown in your own home."
"Are you sure?" Miracle muttered. "If you do this, you'll be risking your lives for us."
"Oh hush now, dear." Cherry hugged Miracle. "We're family, and what family wouldn't defend their own against those who seek to harm them."
"Words well spoken, Juby." Big Red smiled.
"Juby?" Caboose asked.
"Long story." Big Red said abruptly.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Cherry rose to get it.
"Wait." Shine stopped her. He peeked through the curtains, spotting a group of shadow ponies. "Oh, no.... it's them."
"What?! You said they wouldn't look for us here!" Sleight barked.
"I don't know…Black must have figured out where we were heading and had them come here." Shine muttered.
"What do we do?" Caboose asked, his horn sparking a bit with Alicorn magic. "Those guys don't look so happy."
"Maybe we can hide in the barn." Shine suggested. "Big Red, Cherry, can you buy us some time?"
"Yew got it." Big Red nodded.
As Shine and the others snuck out the back way, Big Red opened the door.
"We... seek... prince Shine...and… his daughter..." The lead shadow pony hissed. "Have you... seen them?"
"Nah, can't say that Ah have." Big Red shrugged.
"We... sensed... Alicorn... magic..." The shadow pony growled. "Near... here..."
"Well, I'm afraid we can't help you there." Cherry smiled. "No Alicorns around here."
"Yeah, Ah mean, sure, Ah have an Alicorn granddaughter. Her name's Miracle by the way. And an Alicorn daughter-in-law named Celestia…" Big Red ranted on.
"Perhaps you've heard of her?" Cherry asked.
"Yes... we have...." The shadow pony growled.
"We got us some nice family photos, if' ya wanna see 'em..." Big Red offered.
"No... thanks..." The Shadow Pony hissed irritably.
"How about some nice cherry tea?" Cherry asked.
"I... don't... think... so..." The shadow pony growled, getting more annoyed.
"Cherrychimichanga?" Big Red asked.
"No!" The shadow pony snapped.
"Well, you don't have to get snippy." Cherry smirked.
Meanwhile, Shine and the others slipped into the barn.
"Okay, now we just wait them out." Shine whispered.
"Yeah, as long as we remain silent, we should be okay." Sleight nodded.
"I just hope grampa and grandma'll be okay..." Miracle worried.
"Sure they will." Caboose smiled. "They're tough as old boots, I'll bet."
Just then, Caboose's horn lit up.
"Gah!" Sleight covers his eye. "Caboose, put that light out! We'll be spotted!"
"I'm trying!" Caboose snapped, as he concentrated on his horn, but instead, it began to pulse erratically. "Uh-oh." He cringed.
"Uh-oh? What's uh-oh?!" Shine gasped.
"I'm getting a really bad feeling!" Caboose whimpered, as the pulsing was getting faster.
"Hold it in, Caboose!" Sleight urged.
"I can't!" Caboose groaned. His horn began to shake violently. "Oh sh-"
Outside, Big Red was trying to talk the shadow ponies away.
"I assure you, there ain't no royalty hidin' on this here proper-" He was interrupted by the barn exploding.
As the smoke cleared, everypony glared at Caboose.
"Hehe, oops?" Caboose said awkwardly.
"Get... them!" The lead shadow yelled.
Big Red tackled all three of them.
"Run!" He told the others.
Shine and the others started running. The shadow ponies threw Big Red off with ease, and ensnared him and Cherry in strands of dark magic.
"GRANDMA! GRAMPA!" Miracle screamed.
"Keep running, don't look back!" Big Red shouted after them, before his mouth got muffled by the shadowy tendrils.
"Miracle, we have to go!" Shine urged.
"But..." Miracle whimpered.
"Your dad's right, kid." Sleight agreed. "There's nothing we can do for them now."
"In other words, let's skedaddle!" Caboose declared.
The shadow ponies gave chase to the quartet. Shine led the group as they ran back to the train station, the shadow ponies in hot pursuit.
"They're getting closer!" Miracle looked back.
"Shine, you and Miracle go on ahead!" Sleight declared. "I'll hold them off!"
"Me too!" Caboose nodded.
"We can't just leave you!" Shine protested.
"We gotta stick together!" Miracle added.
"It's no good all of us getting captured." Sleight countered. "As long as even one of us remains, there's hope. Now get moving."
As Shine and Miracle raced to the train station, Sleight and Caboose turned to the oncoming shadow ponies.
"Guess this is it." Caboose smiled, "The end of the road…"
"Yep." Sleight grinned. "For one of us, at least."
Sleight flung one of his cards at Caboose, trapping him within.
"Whmmmt rrr yu do'n?" Caboose yelped, his voice muffled.
"Sorry, pal." He apologized. "It wouldn't be a good idea to let Eclipse get his hooves on all this power... Well that, and I'm not in the mood for another one of those surges causing me grief."
With a flick of his horn, Sleight teleported the card away.
"Nnnnn!" Caboose yelled. "Nnnn! Nnnnnn....!"
"Good luck, pal." Sleight said solemnly.
He then turned to the shadow ponies with a glare, as he pulled out two decks of cards from his jacket.
"You want a piece of me?! Then prepare to be amazed... by SLEIGHT THE MYSTIFYING AND EXTRAORDINARY!" Sleight roared, as he charged at the shadow ponies.
He threw everything he had at them, be they powerful blasts of magic or the sharp edges of razor-like cards. Ultimately though, he was beaten and captured.
Meanwhile, Shine and Miracle were riding the train to safety.
"Where do we go now, dad?" Miracle asked. "Where can we hide where they won't find us?"
"I know one place they won't likely think to look." Shine smiled. "The castle of the Royal Pony Sisters."
"In the Everfree Forest?" Miracle gasped.
"That's the place." Shine nodded. "If it can't hide us, nowhere can..."
"What do you mean, they got away?!" Red Eclipse raged at his subordinates, having just been informed of Shine and Miracle's escape.
"Apologies, master..." The lead shadow pony hissed. "We almost had them... but they slipped away..."
"Useless shadows." Red growled.
"We were able... to capture... a few of their companions, master..." The lead shadow pony motioned his fellows to bring in Sleight and Big Red, who were bound in dark magic strands.
"Ooh." Red smirked. "Why didn't you say so?"
He approached the two prisoners, with Sleight glaring at him.
"Hello again, trickster. Thought you could get away, huh?" Red taunted. "Well, you were sorely mistaken."
"Ah-ha, laugh it up, Red... or should I call you Black?" Sleight challenged.
Red Eclipse frowned.
"Who…" He was about to ask, when he noticed Big Red next to him, his condescending sneer fading as he turn to face him. "Big Red…"
"Black…" Big Red muttered.
"So... I see that you told our little magician here about me..." Red, or rather Black Knight, stated.
"Not just him. Shine knows as well." Sleight sneered. "We know what you did... and as king of the Changelings... you sickens me more than ever."
"Ah, so you heard about that little incident in Saddle Arabia?" Black gave a small chuckle. "I tell ya, things woulda gone without a hitch if they didn't try to fight back."
"Why wouldn't they? You attacked and murdered innocent ponies, and for what? Actually treating Changelings with pony decency?! If I was Celestia back then, I would have had you hung!" Sleight snapped.
"Easy, Sleight…" Big Red tried to calm him down.
"Is that a fact?" Black Knight snickered. "Well, too bad you aren't Celestia... all you are is a washed-up magician married to a wretched bug and a father to her filthy maggots..."
"You won't win, Knight." Sleight spat. "You will go down... just like last time."
"Speaking of last time, I think a little payback is in order." Black sneered. "Let 'em go, boys."
The shadow ponies let go of Sleight, much to his confusion.
"What are you do-GAH!" Sleight gasped in pain, as he felt tremendous pain coursing through his body.
"How does that feel, Sleight?" Black taunted, his horn glowing. "That's the pain of a thousand knives being inserted into your sorry little body. That's a beauty of dark magic: you learn how to inflict pain in so many ways."
Sleight let out a howl as he fell to the floor, writhing.
"Mah gawrsh..." Big Red gaped in horror.
"You think that hurts, Sleight? How about being slammed into a wall?" Black laughed sadistically.
Before Sleight could get a word in, his body was chucked into a wall, making a big indent.
"I have so much in store for you, Sleight... you think that beating I gave you ten years ago was bad? For the rest of your life, you are going to wish that you were dead." Black growled softly, as he then pulled Sleight to the ground unceremoniously, the poor magician still twisting in pain from his dark magic. "Because I'll be teaching you the true meaning of pain..."
"Stop it!" Big Red cried, unable to take anymore of it, "Please, Black, leave him alone!"
Black glanced back at Big Red, before turning back to Sleight. His horn suddenly stopped glowing, and Sleight let out weak pants, hurting badly.
"Okay, that'll do... for now." Black said. "Take him to the dungeons."
The shadow ponies dragged the barely-conscious Sleight away.
Black then turned to Big Red, his contempt fading away, replaced with... nothingness.
"Red... it's been a while." Black admitted.
"Black, why are ya doing this?" Big Red asked. "And more importantly, what's that thing on your head?"
"This?" Black gestured to this horn. "This is the key to my destiny. Once I have all four shards of the Crystal Sun, I will have enough power to rival those of gods. I have plans... big plans... not only for Equestria... but the world."
"Come on, Black... this ain't you." Big Red pleaded. "What happened to the Black Knight Ah grew up with? The one White called-"
"Don't you dare speak his name!" Black snarled, causing Big Red to wince. "That brother of mine... he ruined my life... took everything I worked for away from me... but the joke's on him... with the Sun, I will finally have all I wanted these years…"
"So... what? Is this yer way of gettin' back at him? By takin' over Equestria? By hurting innocent ponies?!" Big Red growled. "Ya know. they have therapy!"
"This goes far beyond revenge, Big Red... very far." Black Knight explained, as he gave a sympathetic frown. "I'm sorry that you and Juby had to get dragged into this... but you did get in the way of my ponies getting Shine and his kid…"
"Whaddaya want with them?" Big Red asked.
"It's rather simple really. Shine has something I want... Miracle has something I need. Let's keep it at that." Black said ominously.
"What about Cherry?" Big Red demanded. "What'd ya do ta my wife?"
"Wife?" Black repeated. "Oh, so you and her finally got together. How long did it take? Five, ten years?"
"Answer the question!" Big Red snarled.
"Would you relax?" Black chuckled. "She hasn't been harmed... but I can't guarantee her safety... the shadow ponies are rather... unpredictable."
"Why donchya just stop all this?!" Big Red questioned. "It ain't too late, ya know..."
"Typical ol' Red... naïve to the end." Black snorted. "It's been too late for quite a while now. There's no turning back... for me or for anypony else."
"Please…" Big Red whispered. "Think about yer brother... what would he think if he saw ya this way?"
"Pfft, you think I give a crud about what White would think?" Black sneered. "White was weak... he could not comprehend what I was doing, and when push came to shove, he chose 'her' over me... some brother he turned out to be…"
"Don't you talk about White like that!" Big Red growled. "He loved you!"
"Loved me?! He threw me to the timberwolves!" Black roared. "All just so he could clear his conscience!" He gave a scoff. "But what do I care?! I don't need him! He was nothing but a pitiful excuse for a pony!"
"No... no... yer wrong…" Big Red scowled deeply.
"Am I?" Black sneered. "White may have survived a war, but he couldn't save himself or that wife of his in that flash flood... good riddance is all I say. It's a shame that I couldn't be the one to kill him myself."
"That's enough!" Big Red roared.
His rage pushed to the limit, Big Red managed to tear through his bonds, and charged at Black Knight. The horned Earth Pony didn't have time to react as Big Red slammed his right hoof into his face, knocking back a few inches.
"Gah…" Black growled, as he rubbed his bruised cheek, glaring at the now peeved Big Red.
"Don't you ever talk about White that way!"Big Red snarled, tipping his hat. "Ah'm sorry Black. Truly, Ah am... But Ah'm stoppin' ya right here, right now!"
"Well then…" Black cricked his neck, as he gave an evil smile. "Bring it…"
A vicious brawl between the two ensued.
Big Red struck Black with his powerful hooves again and again. Unfortunately, Black just shrugged off each blow, his body having been tempered by war.
"That all you got?" Black taunted.
"Ya'll see what Ah got..." Red snarled.
Big Red aimed a punch, but Black caught it.
"My turn." he smirked.
Black threw some blows of his own, knocking Big Red back.
"That's it." Black rubbed his bruises. "Time tah end this."
Big Red wound up for a haymaker…
"GIT 'ER DONE!" Big Red bellowed, as he swung his hoof forward.
Unfortunately, at the last moment, Black ducked, and as Big Red's hoof flew over his body, Black quickly went under the farmer stallion, and with great strength, threw him overhead, sending him to the ground.
Big Red let out a weak groan, as he tried to get up... but Black stomped down on him, pinning him tightly.
"Hehe, you seem to forget who taught you and White how to fight." Black taunted, as he rubbed his bruised cheek. "But you got one hay of a hook, I'll give you that."
"Black…" Big Red groaned.
"I think we're done here." Black scoffed, as he called more shadow ponies. "Throw him in with the others."
The shadow ponies dragged the beaten stallion away.
Meanwhile, Sleight was thrown in with the weakened Alicorns.
"They got you too?" Luna gasped.
"'Fraid so." Sleight groaned.
"Sleight...?" Chrysalis whispered, barely able to stand.
"Chrys..." Sleight rushed over to her. "Oh Faust… what have they done to you?"
"Red Eclipse stole my magic." Chrysalis revealed, whimpering. "Without it, I'm just a shriveled shell."
Sleight embraced Chrysalis, comforting her.
"Oh, Chrysalis... if only I'd've been there…" Sleight whispered, rubbing her now dull blue mane. "I could have protected you... somehow..."
"Sleight, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean for any of this to happen…" Celestia declared.
Sleight turned to Celestia with a vicious glare.
"You're sorry?" Sleight growled. "For what?! For letting that monster drain my wife dry?! Or entrusting your Alicorn magic to that idiot Caboose?!"
"What?" Celestia gasped. "No, I was aiming for Shine..."
"But Caboose got it instead." Sleight glared. "Good going. It was because of him that not only I got caught, but Big Red and Cherry as well!"
"No... not them too." Celestia whispered.
"Surely, that was just an accident." Twilight declared. "Faust knows that I had trouble when I was infused with the others' alicorn magic."
"Not just that." Sleight snarled, glaring at Celestia. "This is all your fault! This whole incident"
"What do you mean it's her fault?" Cadance challenged.
"I know who Red Eclipse really is." Sleight declared. "He's doing all this because of what she did to him, years ago."
You can't blame my sister for what that madpony is doing!" Luna yelled.
"Can't I?" Sleight snorted. "It seems like every decision she's made has backfired in someway..... And this time, we're all paying the price! Soon, not only will he rule all of Equestria, but every Changeling, griffon, buffalo... anything without a buckin' cutie mark is going to die! All because you ticked off the war criminal with the genocidal tendencies!"
"Now that's going too far!" Twilight interjected. "Celestia has always put the good of Equestria first."
"Just what I'd expect teacher's pet to say." Sleight glared. "Good job with destroying Sombra by the way. Too bad you didn't think to make sure none of the pieces of him could attach to ponies and give them powers!"
"Now you can't expect anypony to think something like that would happen." Cadance declared.
"And you! What the buck were the guards when everything went to Tartarus?!" Sleight snarled. "Having their coats polished?!"
"That's enough!" Luna yelled. "Petty thoughts won't help us here!"
"Like you can talk, ms. Nightmare Moon." Sleight snorted.
"Sleight, please stop this." Chrysalis weakly begged. "This isn't anypony's fault. We need to stick together."
Sleight glanced at his wife... and let out a sigh.
"You're right." Sleight muttered. "Sorry, everypony. I wasn't thinking straight."
"It's alright." Celestia declared. "And Chrysalis is right. We need to stick together. All we have now is each other. And hope..."
"Yeah, hope." Sleight frowned. "Runnin' a little low, though... what of everypony else? Where's your husbands and kids?"
"We don't know." Twilight sighed. "They were taken... elsewhere."
"Who can help us now?" Celestia sighed.
Meanwhile, heading towards Ponyville…
After nearly escaping death at the hooves of Twitch back in the Crystal Empire, the Napoleon Brothers were able to catch a train to Ponyville, though, with all their bits and what-nots in their suits and being dressed in nothing but hospital gowns, the brothers had to hop onto a freight cart.
"So what do we do when we get?" Murray asked. "Does anypony have a plan?"
"First we see how bad it is, then we make a plan." Grimoire declared. "You never know, we might actually beat those slimeballs there."
"Let's hope so." Salt declared.
Vinny looked out the side of the cart.
"Say, Lars?"
"Yes, Vinny?"
"Are dust clouds usually black?" Vinny questioned.
"No... why do you ask?" Lars replied.
A swarm of shadow ponies suddenly surged past the train.
"Oh no..." Murray gaped. "They're heading towards Ponyville!"
"Aw crud!" Slot cursed. "Can't this train go any faster?!"
"If it could, I doubt the driver would want to." Sonny noted. "Look at those things..."
Soon the train stopped at the station, but by the time it did, the shadow ponies had already arrived at Ponyville.
"Oh, this can't be good..." Salt frowned.
"We've got to move." Grimoire declared.
The Napoleons raced into town.
The shadow ponies were laying siege to Ponyville, attacking any pony on the streets, and any structure they felt was weak.
Up ahead, the shadow ponies were laying siege to Twilight's castle. Twilight's friends were trying their best to defend it, but were making very little leeway. Only Rarity's magic and (curiously) Spike's flames were able to hurt their opponents. Before long, the doors were forced open, and Twitch entered.
"So, you're princess Twilight's little helpers." He stared disdainfully at them.
"We're her friends." Rainbow corrected him.
"And just who're you, anyhow?" Applejack demanded. "You the varmint in charge?"
"'Varmint' is too nice a word." Pinkie growled. "He's a... meanie!"
"Ouch." Twitch deadpanned. "No, I'm just the middle management type. I've come for the shard of the Crystal Sun princess Twilight has hidden here. The 'varmint in charge' wants it."
"That piece of glass in the vault?" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Whattaya want with that?"
"Beats me." Twitch shrugged. "Like I said, I'm the middle management type. I don't do the big stuff."
"Whatever it is you want the shard for, you won't be getting it!" Spike declared.
"Izzat so?" Twitch sneered. "You really think the six of you can handle an army of shadow ponies?"
"Try it, an' we'll see!" Rainbow boasted.
"What about this little town of yours?" Twitch threatened. "You think they can handle an army of shadow ponies?"
"You wouldn't..." Rarity gasped.
"I would..." Twitch smirked. "One word from me, and this town will be torn apart. And trust me, it ain't gonna be pretty."
"We can't let all those innocent ponies get hurt." Fluttershy spoke up. "We have to give him the shard."
"But-!" Rainbow spluttered.
"She's right." Applejack agreed. "Grab the shard, Rainbow."
"...Fine." Rainbow grumbled.
Rainbow flew down to the basement, dug up the shard then returned, grudgingly handing it to Twitch.
"Thanks." Twitch smiled. "Now, all that's left is to... capture the entire town!"
"What?!" Rarity gasped.
"You lying-" Spike snarled.
"Mega-meanie!" Pinkie growled.
"Take them first!" Twitch ordered the shadow ponies. "We can't have any surprises!"
The shadows swarmed over the six, capturing them. While the shadows went about their business, Twitch walked over to where his hired thugs were waiting.
"Whatcha need us for, boss?" One of the thugs asked.
"Yeah, looks like those freaks are takin' all the fun." Another muttered.
"Oh, I have a special job for you guys..." He smirked.
As the shadow ponies rampaged across Ponyville, Bon-Bon and Lyra hid in Lyra's home.
"This is terrible." Bon-Bon gasped. "Those... things everywhere!"
"What's worse is that we haven't heard anything from the guys." Lyra frowned. "You don't think they were caught by those things, do you?"
"I hope not." Bon-Bon sighed.
Suddenly, the door was broken down. Bon-Bon and Lyra turned to see, not shadow ponies, but a group of regular pony thugs.
"You gals have an appointment to get to." The lead thug grinned. "And we're your escorts."
The Napoleons snuck into town, sticking to back ways and alleys in order to evade the shadow ponies. At one point, they spotted one of Twitch's thugs carrying off Vinyl.
"Lemme go!" Vinyl struggled.
"Vi!" Slot gasped. "Let her g-!"
Grimoire covered his mouth.
"Shh." He whispered. "We'll follow him. He may just lead us to all our mares."
"Fine!" Slot growled, pushing Grimm's hoof from his mouth. "But this better work."
The brothers carefully and stealthily followed the thug that took Vinyl…
A short time later, the doors to Mayor Mare's office was kicked open as Twitch, flipping a butterfly knife around, waltzed in, catching the poor mayor off guard.
"Ah, May R. Mare, I presume?" Twitch asked pleasantly. "Mayor of Ponyville?"
"Um, that's me..." May trembled.
"I'm so sorry to drop in unexpectedly, but taking over a town came up out of the blue, and I hadn't the time to make an appointment." Twitch smirked.
"Look, I don't know what you want... if you want money, I can easily give you access to the town's-" May started.
"Oh, May, you are mistaken, I'm not here for money, in fact, I already got what we came for..." Twitch sniggered. "Then why are you-" May asked.
"I'm afraid my business with you girls is something of a more personal matter..." Twitch declared.
"'You girls'?" May repeated.
Suddenly, a group of thugs comes in, with Lyra, Bon-Bon, Vinyl, Berry, Redheart, and Zecora.
"Let us go!" Berry struggled.
"You thugs!" Redheart growled.
"Where you want them, boss?" Asked one of the thugs.
"Just set them down here and tie them up." Twitch ordered. "We're going to be here a while..."
Outside, the brothers were hiding in the bushes across from the town hall, having followed the thug with Vinyl there.
"Okay, there's town hall." Vinny whispered. "What's our plan of attack?"
"Simple. We march right in there, and kick Twitch's flank!" Salt roared.
"No can do, Salt." Lars shook his head. "In case you've forgotten, we are in hospital clothes! All we have is my handy-dandy crop!" He pulled out his crop. "Good thing I had a place for this beaut."
"Funny that's all you could save..." Vinny frowned.
"This crop was given to me by my teacher before he retired!" Lars protested. "It's very important to me!"
"Well, a crop isn't going to be enough to take on crossbow-lugging thugs and shadow ponies!" Slot declared.
"Any idea, Murray?" Grimoire asked.
"Only one." Murray pointed to the second level rooftop. "Under some shingles, I took the liberty of stashing some crossbows and knives, just in case..."
"In case of what?" Vinny asked.
"You got me." Murray shrugged. "I just wanted to be prepared. Unfortunately, if memory serves me, there were only four crossbows.
"Okay, we can manage with that... we climb up to the rooftop, get the weapon stash." Grimoire recanted. "Me, Murray, Sonny, and Vinny will take the bows, Slot can use the knives... Salt and Lars are good with their fists and crop, right?"
"Right." Salt smashed his hooves together. "They'll pay for taking my heavily-pregnant wife!"
"Nopony messes with my gal!" Sonny added.
"Let's kick some flank!" Vinny cheered.
"We gonna raise some Tartarus!" Slot added.
"That's good and all... but we have to keep a level head." Grimoire instructed. "We are still at a major disadvantage. All we've got for now is the element of surprise, let's not waste it!"
The other brothers nodded half-heartedly in acknowledgement, as they put their plan into action. The group quickly snuck over to the building, and after checking for enemies, they got up onto the rooftop. Salt smashed through the shingles to uncover the crossbows & knives, and they grabbed them and sidled over to where the office was.
"There they are..." Sonny whispered.
"Let's get 'em!" Salt made to smash through the windows, but Grimoire and Murray stopped him.
"What did I just say?" Grimoire said testily. "We must wait for the right moment. Let's just bide our time..."
Salt growled as he just stood there. Back in the office, the mares were bound and sat in front of Twitch.
"Okay... are we comfortable?" Twitch asked. The mares glared at him. "Good. You all are probably wondering why I gathered you all here today..."
"I'm wondering what kind of weirdo you are, to be honest." Vinyl sneered.
"Shut up, you f-filthy b-b-b-b-b-b-" Twitch took a deep breath, calming down. "Be quiet."
"What do you want with us?!" Bon-Bon asked.
"Yeah, I was in the middle of enjoying a margarita!" Berry declared.
"I guess a bit of clarification is in order." Twitch admitted. "Allow me to introduce myself... I am Twitch Cardinal..."
"Twitch? What parents would name their kid Twitch?!" Vinyl snorted.
"Oh, buck you, at least I'm not some wubs-loving bimbo." Twitch shot back.
"Why you-" Vinyl's horn sparked, and a marble bust was thrown at Twitch, who ducked. Slot, who was lookin' in, smirked.
"That's my girl." He chuckled.
Twitch glanced at where the bust shattered, before glancing back at the seething mare.
"Such hostility... you must be Slot's mare." Twitch noted.
The mares stiffened.
"Whoa, how you know Slot?!" Vinyl asked.
"Oh, not just him, honey... I happen to be good friends with the Napoleons..." Twitch smiled.
"Friend, my flank." Sonny hissed.
"You know the Napoleons?" May asked.
"Yup. Imagine my surprise when I read that all but two of them were now married... question is... who goes with who?" Twitch turned to Vinyl. "Vinyl is with Slot, obviously." He turned to Berry. "And you said something about margaritas, Berry? Then you must be Vinny's sweetsheart..." He frowned. "Come on, love, you could do so much better."
"Why that little-" Vinny growled.
"Shh!" Grimoire shushed him.
"Hey, I love him, you little culo-brain!" Berry snarled.
"Yup, definitely Vinny." Twitch nodded. He then glanced at Bon-Bon. "Hmm, the thugs claimed to have pulled you from a candy shop... and since candy is a food... I assume Sonny is your hubbie?"
Bon-Bon snarled. Taking that as a "yes", Twitch then turned to Lyra.
"And just looking at how you and Bon were together when you were snatched, I can only assume that since you two are good friends, and since Sonny is very close with Lars, Lyra must be with Lars... am I wrong?" He smirked.
"...Well, I guess that's true." Lyra admitted.
Twitch then turned to Redheart, and chuckled as he took note of her distended belly.
"Whoa, hello, nurse... I already know who you're with, preggo... Salt always had the biggest 'oomf' of the lot." He sniggered. "Too much if you ask me..." He poked Redheart's belly, much to her displeasure.
Salt made to step forward, but was held back again.
"Control your anger, Salt..." Grimoire urged.
"I swear, if that sick monster touches my unborn foal again, don't try to stop me..." Salt seethed.
Twitch then went to May.
"And you... you must be Murray's squeeze... he always like to date classy mares..." He recalled.
Murray held his breath.
"That's none of your business, you little toad!" May yelled.
"Hmph, that's where I beg to differ." Twitch walked over to Zecora. "That leaves only you... so, Grim ended up remarrying, did he?"
"Indeed, he did." Zecora nodded. "I do not kid."
"Huh, why am I not surprised?" Twitch snorted. "Grimmy always had a thing for zebras. You wouldn't believe all the dirty novels he had that involved female zebra."
"Seriously?" Vinny turned to Grimoire.
"Yes... I'm not proud of it, but zebras kinda hit a weak spot for me..." Grimoire blushed.
"Just who the hay are you?!" Mayor demanded, "And what's your deal with the Napoleons?!"
"Heh, if I told you the whole story, we'd be here for a long time." Twitch scoffed. "So I'll give you the summary: I killed somepony close to the brothers. They overreacted. Had me hidin' for over fifty years. Now I'm fighting back."
"You aren't going to get away with this!" Vinyl growled. "My coltfriend and the others are going to come for us, and when they do, they're going to buck your crud up!"
"Hoho, that's what I'm counting on." Twitch snickered, much to the mares' confusion. "Rather than waste my time trying to find the brothers and eradicate them… I'll just have them come to me… and what better bait than their little pretty mares…"
"That cheeky little…" Vinny growled.
"What makes you think they're going to come?" Redheart asked. "We don't even know where they are!"
"Don't you worry about that…" Twitch chuckled darkly, as he held up his butterfly knife. "It will probably be a while before they get here…but I'm sure if I were to…I dunno, waste one of their mares…" Both the mares and stallions gasped. "They'll hurry up." He then began pacing, flipping his knife around. "The only question is…which one do I kill first?"
He stopped in front of Vinyl, pointing his knife at her, causing her to cringe.
"Hmm, killing you would certainly get a rise out of Slot…" Twitch chuckled, before frowning, as he pulled his knife away. "Then again, practically anything can get a rise out of him."
"I'll show him a 'rise'!" Slot barked as he tries to charge in, only to be stopped by Murray.
"He's taunting us! We can't let our emotions get the best of us!" Grimm whispered.
"Which one, which one?" Twitch pointed his knife to each in turn. "Too old, too hefty, too sossed, too plain, too green, too ugly..." He said of May, Redheart, Berry, Bon-Bon, Lyra and Vinyl.
"Aah!" Zecora suddenly doubled over, clutching her stomach.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's with you?" Twitch frowned. "Nopony feels pain here unless I inflict it!"
"Zecora?!" Grimm gasped.
"Zecora? What's wrong?!" Mayor asked.
"I am fine." Zecora groaned. "Pay no attention to my whine."
"You!" Twitch gestured to one of his thugs. "Check her!"
The thug, a former doctor who had been struck off for malpractice, looked Zecora over.
"Well?" Twitch asked.
"Um, I don't know how to put it, but she... she's pregnant." The thug revealed.
Nopony, inside or out, was as shocked as Grimoire.
"W-what?" Grimiore gaped.
"Dude..." Vinny glanced at Grimm and held up his hoof. "Props."
"Pregnant?!" The other mares gasped.
"With Grimm's foal?! How is that… I don't even…" Lyra stammered.
"I didn't think he still had it in him." Vinyl declared, impressed.
"With foal, huh?" Twitch grinned diabolically. "That settles it, then. I'll take you out. A two-for-one deal, even."
"Whoa, you'd kill a pregnant mare?" One of thugs gasped.
"Yeah, I didn't sign up for killing babies!" Another thug barked.
Twitch glanced at that thug… before stabbing him in the neck, instantly killing him, much to everypony's horror.
"D-does anypony else have a problem with me killing babies?!" Twitch snarled. No thugs dared object. "Good! Because I'd kill anypony I'd feel like killing. That includes mouthy wusses like him!"
Twitch approached Zecora, knife raised.
"No!" May yelped.
"Don't do it!" Redheart cried.
"Don't you touch her!" Berry yelled.
"Stop!" Bon-Bon gasped.
"You monster!" Lyra snarled.
""Why, you..." Vinyl struggled to break free.
"Nice stripes." Twitch smirked. "Think I'll cut 'em off one at a time..."
"NO!" Grimoire roared.
"Grim, wait!" The other brothers called after him.
A loud neigh surprised everypony, as Grimoire suddenly burst through the window.
"Lauren Faust, what the f-" Twitch gasped, before he was blindsided by a furious Grimm.
The don, overcome by fury, threw Twitch to the ground, knocking the knife away before he react. The brothers followed Grimoire in.
"So much for waiting..." Murray shrugged.
"Hey, when your pregnant wife's in danger, there will be blood!" Salt declared.
While most of the brothers took on Twitch and his thugs, Sonny and Lars made to free the mares.
"I knew you guys would come..." Bon-Bon sighed lovingly.
"Not really the time, pudding cup." Sonny blushed.
Murray and Vinny used their crossbows to shoot the thugs down, while Slot simply sliced through them, and Salt viciously wailed on a bunch of them.
Grimoire seemed to have Twitch on the ropes, hammering him with blow after blow.
"You threaten my wife?" Grimoire snarled. "My foal?!" He put his hooves around Twitch's neck. "You don't deserve to live!"
"Gah! Ack!" Twitch gasped, his face being turning blue, "H-help-ah! S-sold-GAH!"
Suddenly, a horde of shadow ponies burst into the room, and before the Napoleons could react, they blasted each and one of them back, throwing Grimm off of Twitch.
The brothers groaned as their crossbows and knives were taken from them via magic and disintegrated, while Twitch himself slowly rose to his feet, wincing in pain.
"Heh, heh, you idiots... you t-think I would do a takeover with only an f-few stallions?" Twitch sneered, spitting out some blood.
"Well, stallions don't usually follow a coward." Salt grunted.
"Hmph. Good thing that my top stallions aren't really ponies..." Twitch smirked, as the shadow ponies growled in agreement. "I am very disappointed in you, Grim... if you were going to exact your vengeance, you should had at least come a bit more prepared. On the other hoof, your need for vengeance is rather... lackluster."
"Brother? What is he talking about?" Bon-Bon asked Sonny.
"…Long story." Sonny said briefly.
"Well, you stole my birthright!" Twitch roared.
"What?!" Grimm growled.
"You heard me! A long time ago, far before the Napoleons, there was one true family of Bitaly... the Cardinals! The smartest, toughest family around! I was the son of the family patriarch, Tweak Cardinal! We were kings and queens of the Bitalian Pennisula! Everypony bowed before us! And all of it was meant to be mine!" Twitch snarled.
"What crud are you spouting out?!" Vinyl asked.
"You see, I was meant to take control of Bitaly when my father died, and become the most powerful pony in all of Eurodeo! But that never happened… no... you, and the Faust-wretched Napoleons stormed Bitaly. One by one, you picked off the Cardinals, weakening the family to a point where we had to scatter for our lives! By the time my father died, we were all rottin' in the buckin' streets! So, yes, I killed your brother... but I didn't fire the first shot!"
"What we did to your family was for the betterment of Bitaly." Grimoire countered. "Your family was nothing more than parasites that infected Bitaly to it's core! Trafficking, murder, torture, a buckin' death camp for crying out loud... we took no joy in ruining your life, but it was-"
"Let me guess, the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few?" Twitch sneered. "Oh my gosh, I just can't stand you and your hypocrisy! You say that you kill and steal for the 'betterment of the ponies'... but on the inside, you're monsters... just like me..."
"We are not monsters!" Murray yelled. "Unlike the Cardinals, we don't rule Bitaly by subjugation and fear. We rule it by keeping the peace and letting them know that there are ponies up high that gives a crud about them!"
"We aren't saints, we know that!" Lars added. "But we do what we do to uphold what is right and good!"
"That was Anarchy's belief... and you tried to snuff it all out by killing him... but instead, you only sealed your fate..." Grimoire declared.
"My fate?" Twitch growled. "Oh no... you sealed your fate.. .instead of getting over it, or better yet, killing yourselves, you made me waste fifty buckin' years hidin'... and now I'm going to get my revenge for my family and fifty years spent livin' like a rat! Soldiers!"
The shadow ponies' horns glowed…
Meanwhile, above Ponyville…
A curious-looking card was fluttering through the skies… when it suddenly began to twitch and glow brightly.
"Lemee owwt!" A voice issued from within.
In a burst of light, Caboose was freed from his prison.
"YAY! I'm free!" Caboose cheered... before looking down and realizing he was fifty foot from the ground. "…Aw BUCK!"
Caboose screamed as he fell towards the earth.
Back down in Ponyville…
"So this is how it ends..." Murray sighed. "Sorry for dragging you into this, May."
"Don't be." May smiled. "Knowing you was the high point of my life."
"If I have to go, at least it'll be with the mare I love by my side." Salt declared.
"Thanks, Salt." Redheart nuzzled him.
"You're the best, Bonnie." Sonny declared.
"You too, Ly." Lars smiled.
"Aww..." Bon-Bon and Lyra cooed.
"I'll treasure every drink we shared, Berry." Vinny whispered.
"Me too." Berry beamed.
"See ya on the other side, babe." Slot told Vinyl.
"You know it." Vinyl smiled.
"I'm sorry, Zecor." Grimoire sighed. "For you... and for the foal."
"Do not blame yourself." Zecora declared. "It is not you who threatens our health."
"Fare thee well, Grimiore Napoleon... say hello to your big brother for me." Twitch raised his hoof. "And UP YO-"
A scream interrupted him, as it grew louder.
"Okay, who's yelling?!" Twitch demanded. "I'm trying to make an awesome send-off here!"
"YA-HA-HA-HA-HOOEY!"
The ceiling caved in, much to everypony's shock.
"What the buck?!" Twitch gasped.
The dust was settling, as a figure began to get up slowly, groaning... Twitch gaped in shock.
"No... NO!" He yelled. "Anarchy? It can't be! You're dead!"
The figure coughed as the dust finally settled, and Caboose came out, rubbing his back.
"Ugh... stupid unpredictable Alicorn magic... stupid trapping card magic... stupid Celestia and her bad aim..." He muttered.
"Caboose?!" Grimoire gasped.
"Caboose?!" The other brothers gaped.
"Caboose?!" The mares yelped.
"Caboose?" Twitch groaned. "Who the heck is Caboose?!"
"Caboose James Napoleon, at your service." Caboose bowed, before grimacing at the damage, "Sorry for dropping in like this. I just like to make an entrance."
"Another Napoleon?" Twitch gaped, "Good Faust, you guys are everywhere!"
"Yep." Caboose nodded. "And who might you be?"
Twitch stifled a growl.
"I'm Twitch Cardinal." Twitch declared. "The last surviving member of the Cardinal family."
"Really?" Caboose looked at him in shock. "…Wow, you're even more weaselly-looking then I thought." He turned to his brothers, who were still shocked to see him. "Doesn't he look weaselly, guys? And scrawny. Definitely scrawny. No wonder he had to stab Anarchy in the back. He'd've been no match for him face-to-face..."
"Hello?" Twitch growled. "Right here!"
"Of course you are." Caboose nodded. "Otherwise, who'd I be talking to?"
"I've only know you for a minute, and I already hate." Twitch snarled.
"Welcome to the club." Slot snarked.
"Enough of this bantering!" Twitch yelled. "N-now... where were we?"
"You were about to have your men kill us and say 'up yours'." Vinny declared.
"Ah, thank you, Vin." Twitch cleared his throat. "Farewell, Napoleons... looks like I will have the last laugh!"
The shadow ponies pointed her horns once again.
"Glad you could make it, Caboose." Murray sighed. "At least now, we can all die as a family."
Caboose looked at his horn and got an idea.
"Hold it!" Caboose smiled.
"Oh, what now?!" Twitch groaned.
"You better let us go right now!" Caboose demanded.
"Caboose, what are you doing?" Grimoire asked.
"Saving our flanks." Caboose whispered.
"Why should I?!" Twitch smirked.
"Because I am packin' Alicorn magic, baby, and I'm not afraid to use it! If you don't let us go, I will unleash a powerful explosion that will most likely kill all of us!" Caboose revealed.
"What?!" The brothers and mares chorused.
"What?!" Twitch laughed. "You gotta be kiddin' me! You expect me to believe that you have Alicorn magic? My Faust, you are an idiot."
"Hey, only we get to call him an idiot!" Slot declared. "And lots of other things, most of which would probably wind up censored..."
"I'm not foolin'!" Caboose insisted. "If you don't leave us alone, I will blow all of this up and take you with me!"
"Y-you're bluffing!" Twitch barked, though his eyes seem to say he believed him.
"Oh yeah? Try me!" Caboose charged up his horn, which glowed incredibly brightly.
"If this is a bluff, it's a very good one." May declared.
"Caboose, you can stop now." Lars declared, as the glow grew ever brighter.
"Wish I could..." Caboose groaned. "Here it comes!"
"Caboose?!" Slot gasped.
"Oh, not again…" Salt groaned.
The entire room was enveloped in a flash of light.
Twitch came back in to survey the damage, only to find the entire room gone.
"Red Eclipse is not gonna be happy..." he groaned.
Meanwhile, somewhere up north…
Once the light faded, everypony in the room slowly open their eyes to find themselves still in the mayor office, all in one piece.
"Holy crud…" Slot gasped.
"Whoa..." Salt gaped. "Guess Caboose really does have Alicorn powers..."
"When did that happen?" Vinny glanced at Caboose.
"Long story." Caboose shrugged.
"Well, the good news is, we are all safe and sound." Grimm gave a small smile.
"Indeed we are." Zecora nodded. "As long as Twitch is far."
The brothers freed their mares, and engaged in relieved hugs and kisses.
Mayor Mare shivered a bit.
"Is it just me, or did it get cold in here?"
Suddenly, the room tilted downwards.
"Whoa, what's going on here?!" Murray gasped.
The tilting got worse, as all manner of objects that wasn't pinned down began to slide towards the lower end. The mayor's desk notably went flying, smashing through the door frame, revealing the side of a very steep cliff.
"Holy crud!" Sonny cried.
"We're on the edge!" Lars yelped.
"We could go over any second!" Lyra stated.
The Napoleons and their mares struggled to keep their balance.
"I've heard of cliffhangers... but THIS IS BUCKING RIDICULOUS!" Vinny yelped.
Back at the Empire, Black Knight was having one of his thugs attempt to open the vault containing the final Crystal Sun shard. Black had just been delivered the other three shards, and was eager to complete the set. The thug strained, but couldn't open it.
"Umm, it's locked, sir." The thug declared
"Oh geez, I guess we'll have to pack up and go- OF COURSE IT'S LOCKED!" He roared, his horn sparking. He grabbed the thug and chucked him into a wall.
"Ow…" The thug whimpered.
Black then turned to another thug. "You! Get me prince Shining Armor! He'll know how to open this thing."
"Y-yes, sir." The thug bowed, before hastily rushing out the room.
The thug went down to the dungeon and retrieved Shining, who was still bound in dark magic.
"Ah, just the stallion I wanted to see." Black smiled. "I need you to open this vault for me."
"Never." Shining growled.
"Never say never." Black smirked, his horn glowing with dark magic.
"What are you?" Shining glared.
"I'm Equestria's reckoning." Black answered. "Here to end the borrowed time you've all been living on! "
"You're pure evil!" Shining spat.
"I'm necessary evil!" Black retorted, diving at Shining.
Black proceeded to beat Shining badly, throwing hoof after hoof against Shining's body. The prince was doing a good job in holding his ground, but it wouldn't be long before it would be too much for him to handle…
"Open the vault!" He kicked Shining in the side.
"Never!" Shining grunted, trying to shake off the pain. "I don't care what you do to me. I won't open it!"
"Ooh, self-sacrifice." Black snorted. "How noble. But about your wife and son? What do ya think they'll do if something happens to you? Oh, I can't imagine their sorrow! And all because you were too stubborn to give in. I'll have you know, I interrogated ponies with stronger resolves back in Saddle Arabia, and let's just say they aren't currently with us anymore…"
"I..." Shining stumbled, his resolve fading.
"If you ever wanna hope to see them again, then you'll open this vault." Black threatened.
"...Fine, I'll do it." Shining groaned. "But even if you have all four pieces, you'll never win."
"We'll just see about that, princey." Black smirked.
Shining opened the vault.
"At last..." Black took out the final shard, then turned to the shadow ponies. "Take him back to his cell. And bring me Celestia..."
Moments later, Black Knight was lounging in his throne, when Celestia was brought in...
"Ah, Celestia..." He turned to the shadow ponies. "Leave us alone, men, this is between me and her."
The shadow ponies nodded and faded away, as Black turned to Celestia.
"What is it you want now, Eclipse?" Celestia glared.
"Cut the crud, Celestia, nopony else is here but us... you can say my name..." Black smirked.
"...Black Knight..." Celestia muttered.
"You're Faust dang right." Black chuckled. "Look at us... how times have changed... with me being the ruler, and you being the prisoner... ironic, isn't it?"
"How did you do it, Black?" Celestia demanded to know. "How did you survive that night? I saw White throw you off the side of a mountain!"
"Ah, yes... I'll admit, I underestimated him that night... cost me my eye." He pointed to his eye patch. "But I managed to survive through nothing but sheer will... and a bunch of trees that broke my fall. Took me weeks to recover, even longer to find out what the buck to do."
"And this is what you decided?" Celestia snarled. "To take the power of the Crystal Sun? Well, now you have. I can tell by that smug smirk on your face. You have what you wanted, so why don't you just let us go?"
"Not just yet." Black declared. "I need your magic to power the Crystal Sun. As I said before, the Sun requires lots of magic, and I don't want to put in all the work of putting the pieces together only to not be able to use it."
"Well, unfortunately for you, I no longer have it." Celestia smirked.
"I'll get it soon enough." Black shrugged. "Your husband and daughter can't hide forever."
"You will never find them." Celestia declared. "Never."
"Oh, princess…after so many years, you are still that Faust wretched twit that ruined my life so many years ago…" Black growled.
"And you the same power-hungry war monger that took innocent lives and threaten other ponies, including your own brother, into defending you." Celestia spat back.
"My brother..." Black sneered. "He was weak. Too weak to see what I was trying to accomplish."
"No, he was strong." Celestia countered. "Stronger than you'll ever know."
"I highly doubt that..." Black huffed, as he laid back in his throne, giving a small grin. "By the way, how is that old castle of yours in Everfree holding up?" Celestia perked up in shock. "'Cause I would hate to send my men into a death trap..."
"What?" Celestia gasped. "How did you..."
"I served under you for five years, Celestia, and dedicated forty more to end you." Black declared. "I know more about you then you do about yourself. Speaking of which, lay off the cakes."
"No... no..." Celestia trembled.
"Yeah, that's always been your problem, Celestia... you underestimate every adversary you come across." Black taunted. "To Equestria, you may be a goddess... but compared to me... you are a lowly freakshow, and I, your better. Take her back to the dungeons, boys!"
"You monster!" Celestia roared, struggling against the shadow ponies grip. "You will not succeed! Do you hear me? You will not! And you will pay for all your misdeeds! Every last one!"
"Promises, promises." Black shrugged off, "But by the time I'm through, it is you who will pay the ultimate price…"
Celestia let out a scream of anguish as she was dragged back to the dungeons.
Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest, Shine and Miracle were trekking alone, just arriving at the Castle of The Royal Pony Sisters.
"This is the place." Shine declared. "We should be safe here."
"Are you sure?" Miracle asked. "I heard a story once about how this 'Pony of Shadows' still haunts the castle."
"That's just a scary bedtime story." Shine chuckled. "There's no such thing as a 'Pony of Shadows'. Now, come on. It'll be getting dark soon."
They hurried into the castle. Though it had been restored in recent years, it was still dank, and somewhat bleak.
"Okay, now we can finally rest." Shine sat on one of the old thrones, his weary hooves grateful for the reprieve.
"And then?" Miracle asked. "What do we do? Just keep on hiding?"
"For now, I guess." Shine sighed. "Not much else we can do..."
Miracle started sniffling.
"What's the matter, sweetie?" Shine asked.
"What do you think's the matter?!" Miracle suddenly started crying. "Our family and friends have been imprisoned, and we're on the run from an insane, power-hungry lunatic!"
"It'll be okay, Miracle..." Shine said half-heartedly.
"No it won't!" Miracle bawled. "Everypony I love is gone! Everything's hopeless!"
"Miracle, calm down..." Shine urged.
"Calm?!" Miracle growled. "Don't you realise how bad things have got? It's like a living nightmare!"
"Tell me, dad! How can things get better from here?!" Miracle demanded.
"Well…" Shine frowned, as his voice grew shaking, "It's... you see..." He then put a hoof to his head. "Oh, who am I kidding? You're right! I have no clue what to do! I just wish I could do something! Anything!"
"Dad…" Miracle whimpered.
"You think I wanted to leave your mother behind? Or Big Red and Cherry? Or even Caboose and Sleight? I didn't, but what could I do? I never once in my life thought I'd even be in this sort of mess." Shine ranted, tearing up.
"Exactly!" Miracle bawled. "How could anypony be prepared for this! It's just not fair!"
"I know!" Shine wept.
Shine embraced his daughter as the two let out their anguish. They cried for a few minutes before they were finally able to calm down…
"Everything will be fine." Shine sniffed.
"How can you still think that, dad?" Miracle hiccoughed.
"Because we at least have each other." Shine declared. "It's better than being alone, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Miracle shrugged.
"Look, I still don't know what to do, but I'm sure that if we keep strong, we will persevere. You think you can pull that?"
"…I think I can." Miracle sniffled, with a nod.
"That's my girl…" Shine smiled, patting her shoulder.
Suddenly, a loud bang at the door echoed throughout the castle.
"What the…" Shine muttered.
"Come on! P-put your back into it!" The familiar voice of Twitch barked.
"Oh no…" Shine whispered, "Not here…"
Suddenly, the doors were blast open as Twitch, his men, as well as the shadow ponies came in…
"Knock, knock." Twitch smirked. "Anypony home?"
The shadow ponies formed the image of Black once again.
"You…" Shine gasped.
"Hello again." Black grinned. "Let's keep things simple, shall we? I want the brat, and I want the magic Celestia gave you, Shine."
"What?" Shine frowned. "Celestia didn't give me any... Oh, who cares? Whatever you want, you're not getting it!"
"Oh, I'm getting it, alright." Black sneered. "Whether you like it or not."
"Attack!" Twitch yelled.
The thugs and shadow ponies attacked Shine en masse. Shine tried his best to fight them off, but he was exhausted, and badly outnumbered. They overwhelmed him, and beat him into the ground.
"Something's wrong." Black frowned. "Why isn't he using Celestia's magic?"
"Maybe he doesn't know how?" Twitch shrugged.
"Maybe..." Black shrugged. "Give him a bit more of a beating, just to be sure..."
"Stop!" Miracle stepped forward. "Leave my dad alone! I... I'll give myself up! Just don't hurt him!"
"Miracle... no..." Shine groaned.
"Sorry dad, I have to." Miracle said firmly. "I don't want any more ponies to get hurt. Especially you."
"My, what a refreshingly helpful attitude." Black smiled. "Such a thoughtful little filly. Just for that, I think I'll have my boys lay off your dad. Even bring him along for the ride. Wouldn't want you getting lonely."
"You heard the boss." Twitch declared. "Do it!"
Shine and Miracle were carried out of the castle.
"You didn't have to do that..." Shine whispered.
"Yes, I did." Miracle replied. "I'm not losing anypony else. Especially not you, dad."
Miracle put her hoof on Shine's. Shine nuzzled his brave daughter.
Meanwhile, the Napoleons and their mares ware trying to maintain balance in the slanted office, as they dangled off the cliff.
"Nopony make a move." Lars instructed, remaining perfectly still. "As long as we remain still, we should be fine."
"Are you kiddin' me?" Slot growled. "It's gotta be below zero right now! We can't stay in here forever."
"I know... we just have to go at this systemically... I'm sure if we slowly make our way over to the broken windows one by one, we could easily slip out of here." Lars declared.
Everypony remained silent.
"To buck with that!" Vinny grabbed Berry. "Every stallion and hot mare for themselves!"
Vinny and Berry rushed towards the other end of the room.
"Vinny!" Grimoire yelled.
The entire room began to slip off, and at once, every colt grabbed their mare and just ran towards the broken windows, with Vinny and Berry crashing through first. Salt charged up his horn and blasted through the wall as he and Redheart (on his back) leapt through. Everypony else followed suit... Grimoire and Zecora were the second to last out, as Caboose had to jump as the room slipped off the edge. He barely made it onto the snowy edge, but began to slip.
"No, no, no, NO!" He yelped.
Grimoire and the rest of the brothers formed a chain and grabbed him.
"Pull!" Grimoire groaned.
Working together, the brothers pulled Caboose back on to the ledge.
"Somepony's put on weight." Slot groaned.
"Yeah, Sonny." Caboose glared.
"It's good that we're all okay, but what now?" Lyra asked. "We're stuck on some snowy peak, out in the middle of nowhere!"
"Looks like it, yeah." Bon-Bon agreed.
"That's just great." Vinny started pacing back and forth. "That's just bucking great! What the buck are we supposed to do now? We are in deep crud now! That's it man, game over man, game over! What the buck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?"
Suddenly, Vinny tripped over something.
"Ow!"
"You okay, hon?" Berry asked.
"Yeah." Vinny groaned. "Just peachy."
"You must have tripped over a rock or something." Murray declared.
"Wait." Grimoire brushed away some snow from where Vinny tripped, revealing a metal wheel. "Well, I'll be..."
"Is that..." Lars gasped.
"One of our old emergency bunkers." Sonny smiled.
"It's been so long since we built 'em, we forgot one was even out here." Salt chuckled.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Vinyl asked. "Let's get in there, before we freeze to death!"
"Seconded." Slot added.
With a turn of the wheel, the hatch to the bunker opened, and they all went inside. The first thing they did was light the furnace.
"Ah, sweet warmth..." Redheart sighed.
"What's that over there?" Lyra pointed to a large room.
"Just the armory." Lars shrugged. "Packed with all kinds of weapons and armor."
As they all settled in, Grimoire turned to Zecora.
"So... you're pregnant." He declared. "How long have you known?"
"Not long, it is true." Zecora smiled. "I was hoping to surprise you."
"Well... mission accomplished." Grimoire hugged her. "I can't believe I'm going to be a father again, after all these years... I didn't think it was still possible…"
"Um, hello? Napoleon virility! It's kinda in our DNA." Salt bragged.
"Speaking of surprises, what's with this Twitch character?" Berry asked. "Something else you neglected to tell us?"
"Not exactly." Vinny scratched his head.
"It's a long story..." Lars admitted.
"We've got nothing but time." Lyra declared.
Hastily, the brothers told their mares the story.
"So... just so we're clear...Equestria is being threatened by this stallion named Red Eclipse, a pony that you boys had imprisoned under the manor for ten years, who had become infused with the horn of a dead pony you guys found, when you were actually trying to capture another stallion, Twitch, who murdered your older brother that none of us knew about, and now both of them are trying to kill us." May ran down the information.
"And according to Caboose, this Red Eclipse is actually an ex-Royal Defense Legion general who murdered an entire village, named Black Knight Paladin, making him the uncle to our own Prince Shine Paladin... are any of us missing something?" Vinny asked.
"No, that's pretty much the gist of it." Caboose shrugged.
"So basically, Equestria is in danger because of you guys." Vinyl noted.
"Pretty much." Slot shrugged.
"Great." Lyra frowned. "More secrets."
"I'm... just gonna go check something over there." Caboose said awkwardly.
"We only kept Eclipse and Twitch a secret because we didn't want to burden you." Grimoire declared. "It was our problem, our grudge."
"We had a right to know." May insisted. "We're in this together, for better or worse."
"May is right." Zecora agreed. "These secrets should have been brought to light."
"Yeah, maybe..." Murray shrugged.
" So... what do we do now?" Sonny asked. "I checked the rations, and there is only enough to feed all of us for only a few weeks, even lesser given that two of us are eating for two..."
"It's obvious, ain't it?" Salt declared. "We gotta jump countries! Equestria is no longer safe with Red and Twitch running the show!"
"And how you suppose we do that?" Slot inquired. "We're far from any city that has any form of transportation leading out of here, and that's even if Red hadn't cut off all the escape routes."
"Well..." Lars pulled out a map, a quill, and an ink bottle. "I'm sure we might be able to manage something... I'm sure if we take skis down to this lovely little town here..." He drew some lines. "Hop a cart, go here... and commandeer an airship from an airfield here... and come back here to pick up the mares..."
"Yeah, yeah, that could work..." Vinny perused the lines.
"Like we really have a choice..." Bon-Bon frowned.
"The only question is, where would we go?" Murray pointed out.
"Well, if Twitch is still lookin' for us, Bitaly would be the first place he'd look... how about Russiaddle?" Grimoire suggested.
"How about nowhere?!"
The brothers glanced up, to see an upset Caboose.
"Caboose..."Grimoire whispered.
"I can't believe you guys... are we seriously going to run away?!" Caboose asked.
"What choices do we have, Caboose?" Salt countered. "My wife is nine months pregnant! I can't protect her and my foal when there's a guy out to kill us!"
"Who says I need protecting?" Redheart said indignantly.
"Salt's right." Lars nodded. "We can't stay here forever! If Red and Twitch don't kill us, then starvation and thirst will! This is the best chance for survival for us and our wives!"
"...What about me?!" Caboose glared. "My wife, my daughter, and my buckin' BABY BOY is down there! You're asking me to abandon ALL OF THEM?!"
The brothers frowned deeply, as well as the mares...
"He's got a point there..." Lyra declared.
"Brother... we're sorry... if we could do something for them, we would, but we are seriously up a creek without a paddle!" Sonny sighed.
"We can do something!" Caboose urged. "We can march down there, take on the shadow ponies, and rescue everypony!"
The brothers gaped.
"Caboose, that is the stupidest idea I've ever heard, even by your standards!" Vinny snorted.
"At least my plan doesn't involve leaving only MY family to die!" Caboose shot back.
"Oh, right, because we made it to where only you have to lose somepony on purpose." Slot grimaced.
"BUCK YOU, SLOT!" Caboose roared.
Slot gaped at his words.
"Whoa." Vinyl deadpanned.
"Caboose, you're asking us to go into the heart of the enemy territory, up against an army of ponies that want to kill us... it can't be done!" Salt declared. "There's only eight of us!"
"We've been dealt worse hooves before!" Caboose pointed out.
"You don't get it, Caboose... every time we ever got into trouble before, we always had a back-up plan, a fail-safe, something to fall back on!" Lars stated. "But ever since our mansion exploded, we've barely survived on luck alone to get to where we are right now! The probability of us eight takin' on an army and winnin' is nonexistent!"
"Oh, and your plan to go to an airfield that might not even exist anymore is a better plan!" Caboose snorted.
"Lars was working with what he had... we've all been doing that the whole time!" Murray pointed out.
"No, you're just working with the least of what you have... I'm sure we can figure this out and go down-" Caboose started.
"No, Caboose! It's over!" Grimoire interrupted with a pained growl. "Once that storm settles down, we are going to that airfield, and with our wives, we are going to get as far away from here as possible!"
"But my family..." Caboose protested.
"I'm sorry, Caboose... I really am... but we can't do anything to save them..." Grimoire declared.
"And what of Dusty?" Caboose growled.
The brothers gaped, as Grimoire tried not to break down.
"Grim, your daughter is also down there... so is Blueblood and your grandsons... are you saying that we can't do anything to save them as well?" Caboose asked.
"Yes, Caboose... that is how it is..." Grimoire declared, trying to stifle his tears.
"...Bull-crud." Caboose snorted. "I know that if one of you guys' wife or marefriend was down there, you'd want to save them too!"
"Caboose, please..." Grimoire begged.
"You know what, fine!" Caboose began to storm off. "You guys can abandon your family all you want, but I am not! I'll go down there by myself!"
"No, Caboose! I forbid it!" Grimoire ordered.
"Sorry, bro, but I am a grown stallion... I don't take orders from you anymore!" Caboose said firmly.
"I said no!" Grimoire grabbed Caboose's tail and yanked him back.
"Let go, Grim!" Caboose tried to pull away. "I'm not leaving my family to die!"
"Well, I'm not letting my youngest brother commit suicide!" Grimoire pulled back.
"Why not?!" Caboose demanded. "You want to leave your daughter behind, yet you don't want me to stay behind?! WHY?!"
"Because I promised Anarchy!" Grimoire began to tear up. "I promised him on his deathbed that I would protect you! How can I do that if you go back to the Empire?! Huh?!
Caboose was silent.
"I know it hurts, Caboose!" Grimoire yelled. "Dusty is the only memory of Sandy I had left...but I have to go on with what I have! It's the only-"
Suddenly, Caboose slammed his hoof into Grimm's snout, knocking him to the ground.
"Bro!" The other brother yelped.
"Grim!" Zecora gasped.
They glanced at Caboose, who was seething with rage.
"What a load... of buckin... bull... CRUD!" Caboose spat.
Grimoire got back up.
"What the buck was that for?!" Grimoire demanded.
"You think Anarchy would want this?!" Caboose asked. "For us to run off to Faust-knows-where leaving our loved ones to die?! No! He wouldn't want that! He'd want us to fight!"
"And how you would know?! You never knew him!" Grimoire shot back.
"No, but I do know that he would be ashamed of each and every one of you for being cowards!" Caboose raged.
"Oh, that's tears it! You crossed the line!" Grimoire punched Caboose.
The whole room froze up. Caboose rubbed the bruise on his cheek, as he glared at Grimm, not with hurt but with disappointment.
"Is this what it's come to, Grim?" Caboose asked. "Attacking your brother?"
"Caboose, I..." Grimoire mumbled, regretful of his action.
"You're right, I don't know Anarchy." Caboose admitted. "But from what you all told me, it seems like he'd be the sort to fight for what's right. I'd wager he'd defend our home with everything he had. How could we call ourselves his brothers if we weren't willing to do the same?"
There was silence in the air.
"...You're right, Caboose." Grimoire sighed.
"First time for everything." Slot joked.
"Anarchy would want us to take a stand." Murray smiled.
"And not just any stand." Vinny stated. "He'd want us to stand up for what's right."
"He'd want us to fight." Salt agreed.
"To defend our homes, and our loved ones." Lars nodded.
"Because that was the kind of stallion he was." Sonny added.
"And that's why we looked up to him." Grimoire chuckled. "So it's agreed. We fight, and we save everypony."
"Yeah! And maybe lose five pounds while doing so!" Caboose cheered, "Let's do this!"
"That's all well and good, guys." Vinny frowned. "But how exactly are we going to save everypony? We're still eight ponies against an army of shadows and a genocidal war lord here!"
"I... have no idea." Caboose admitted, "Guess I just got caught up in the moment…" He leant against a wall…which gave way to another room.
"Caboose! Are you alright?!" Grimoire asked.
"I'm fine…" Caboose groaned, as he looked into the room, "What's with this room?"
"I dunno…" Murray looked in, as he then hit a light switch.
The room lit up, revealing an old and rather odd looking device.
"What's that?" May asked.
"Well, I'll be…it's the emergency beacon we been workin' on." Lars smiled.
"The what?" Lyra asked.
"The emergency beacon." Grimoire smiled. "A device of last resort. When used, it emits a powerful light, and sends a mental message to every official mafia member to come to our beckon."
"Wait, to every mafia member?" Redheart asked.
"Every." Salt nodded. "We didn't say anything, but when we let in new recruits…we kinda…implanted crystals in them."
"What?!" The mares gasped.
"Relax, it's only for keeping track of who's in the family." Sonny shrugged.
"You know…we could use this!" Murray suggested, "It would most certainly give us the stallion-power we desperately need!"
"Yeah, he's right. We just need to give this baby a bit of a tune up, and she's be golden." Lars chuckled.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Caboose smiled. "Let's use it!"
"Wait." May stepped forward. "If you do this, won't it reveal to everypony that you're 'the mafia'?"
"…She's right." Vinny nodded. "By the end of the day, everypony will know who we are… and I don't think most of them won't be happy to know who's been 'messing' with them for years."
"And you could end up imprisoned for your crimes and lose everything when this is all over!" Redheart muttered. "And we would all lose you…"
The brothers frowned…
"…It'll be worth it though." Grimoire said solemnly. "Worth the price for freedom and..." He glanced at Zecora. "A place for our kids to grow up in."
"Oh, Grim..." Zecora beamed.
"Whatever happens to us when this is all over happens." Murray declared, "But even if we end up dead or imprisoned, it would be nice knowing that it happened for a good cause…"
"Yeah…though, if we do get sent to prison, I call not being 'jailbait'!" Vinny pouted.
"Lars, if you will." Grimm nodded.
It took Lars but a few seconds to adjust a few things with the beacon before it began to make a small humming sound. The brothers each share a glance, before Grimm went forth and pushed the button in the heart of the machine…
Just like that, a burst of light beamed into the heavens.
"Wow! That is one strong light!" Sonny covered his eyes.
"What did you use?!" Vinny asked Lars.
"Some Crystal Empire crystals, a hundred watt bulb..." Lars ran down. "Basically we went for 'bright'."
"You think ponies will see it?" Berry asked.
"Maybe not the blind ones." Vinyl snarked.
The light was indeed strong, as ponies from all around Equestria could see it.
In the griffon territory, a griffon saw the light, and knew what it meant. He got off the eggs he was sitting on.
"Unbelievable." Gilda frowned, as her mate took off.
In Appleloosa, a buffalo herd was stampeding, when the beacon erupted. One buffalo broke from the herd, and ran in the direction of the light.
At the same time, a stallion hiking in Whitetail Woods saw the light.
"Well, whattaya know." He declared. "Never thought I'd see the day..."
The stallion started walking towards it.
Back in the bunker, the brother prepared to leave.
"Now then." Slot declared. "We got us an armory, so let's use it."
The eight brothers cleaned out the room, arming themselves up, each of them putting on Kevlar-based versions of their mafia suits.
Murray loaded himself with extra bolts and two crossbows, twirling them around expertly. Sonny wrapped his hooves in accelerant-doused bandages, ready to be set aflame when need be, Salt equipped himself with brass-hoof knuckles, Lars with a mini-crossbow while he flourished his crop, Vinny with a baseball bat (and a hip flask of "good luck juice"), Slot with an unhealthy amount of knives, including two machetes at the hips.
As for Grimoire, he simply loaded up a singular crossbow.
"Ready to go, Caboose?" Grimoire turned to Caboose.
"Buck yeah." Caboose nodded, as he etched black dashes on his cheeks, and tied a bandanna around his forehead. He was currently lugging a bigger than usual crossbow.
Sazh and Wizel were still in the tower, having been forced in by the shadow ponies.
"This is it." Sazh sighed. "The end of us."
"I hate to agree, but when you're right, you're right." Wizel sighed.
"Um, Mr. Sazh? Mr. Wizel?" Glinda rushed over to them. "You might want to see this."
The two rushed over to the windows, where they saw the beacon's light.
"Wow... that is a very pretty light…" Sazh stared wide-eyed at the light in a daze.
As Wizel glanced at the light, he felt a twinge in the back of his head… and immediately, a look of determination appeared on his face.
"The time has come…" Wizel whispered.
"What was that, Wizel?" Sazh glanced at Wizel.
"Sazh, do you have the prison cell keys?" Wizel ignored the question.
"Um, yeah… why?" Sazh questioned.
"Because as of now, we need strength right now… and I know where to get it…"
"Strength…" Sazh repeated, before he caught on to what Wizel was suggesting, "Wizel… you're not serious, are you?!"
"I am…" Wizel nodded, "Right now, we need all the help we can get…"
Moments later, Char was surprised to see his cell door opening.
"Are you sure about this?" Sazh asked Wizel. "After everything he did…"
"I know what he's done." Wizel declared. "But he always had our kind's best interests at heart. Right now, we're on the same side."
"I've heard what'zzz going on." Char declared. "Izzz it true? Izzz Red Eclipzzze…"
"I'm afraid so, Char." Wizel nodded sadly.
"I knew we zzzhould had killed that monzzzter when we had the chance!" Char snarled.
"Ah, how I've missed your brutish attitude." Sazh snarked sarcastically.
"Now is not the time for making fun, Sazh." Wizel admonished, "Right now, we need your help, Char."
"What do you need me to do?" Char asked.
"We need to rally our brethren." Wizel urged, as he break the chain collar off of Char. "We must fight this scourge that has infested our land. Can we count on you to do that?"
"With pleazzzure." Char smiled.
The trio stepped onto the balcony of the tower, and saw the Changelings being herded together.
"My brethren!" Char called. "Do not allow thezzze monzzzterzzz to puzzzh you around! We are Changelingzzz! We muzzzt fight!"
"He's right!" Wizel agreed. "We are nopony's slaves!"
"We won't go back to being second-rate citizen again!" Sazh added. "Give us freedom, or give us death! Who's with us?"
The Changelings, galvanized by the speech, rose up and attacked the shadow ponies, with a ferocity that assured the edge. Within mere minutes, the shadows were beaten back, reduced to nothing but wisps.
"Good work, everyone." Wizel smiled. "But this is just the beginning! Now, we take on the master of those shadows! To the Crystal Empire!"
"Company, forward march!" Char declared.
"What he said!" Sazh answered after him.
The Changelings began their march…
Meanwhile, in Canterlot…
Mist and Blue Blazes saw the beacon blazing in the sky.
"What is that?" Blue peered. "It looks like it's coming from the Crystal Empire."
"It is!" Mist smiled. "Don't you see? The other must've sent it, to give his hope!" She turned to Iron Hooves. "Captain, round up the Royal Guard who are able to fight! We're taking our home back!"
"Yes, your highness!" Iron saluted.
"Count me in!" Luxury, who had joined them earlier, smiled. "I'm coming, Constell!"
The Royal Guard renewed their fight against the shadow ponies. The citizens of Canterlot, inspired by their second wind, joined in the fight, driving the shadows away.
"Now, on to the Crystal Empire!" Mist declared.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville…
The Mane Six and Spike saw the light, and came to the same conclusion.
"It's a sign." Spike smiled. "I knew Twilight would be okay. She's calling us right now!"
"And it would be rude to be late." Rarity smiled.
"Come on, ponies of Ponyville!" Rainbow flew up high. "Our princess is sending us a sign. She's telling us to fight back. So let's do it!"
The ponies, inspired, rose as one against the shadow pony forces, with Pinkie of all ponies leading the charge.
"Take that, you meanies!" Pinkie cheered, as she blasted them with her party cannon.
Before long, they repelled the shadow ponies.
"Git 'er done!" Applejack cheered.
"Our job's not done yet." Fluttershy pointed out.
"Right." Spike nodded. "Let's get moving. Twilight needs us!"
With their homes freed, all the ponies of Ponyville and Canterlot joined the march, ready to take the fight to Black Knight… this was a call to arms, and they weren't going to let anypony take their country without a fight...
Shine and Miracle were brought into the Crystal Empire throne room.
Celestia was also in the room, chained to the floors, having been brought in earlier, while Black was lounging on the throne. As soon as Miracle saw Celestia, she ran over to her.
"Mama!" She squealed.
Celestia lit up as Miracle hugged her.
"Miracle! Oh, my dear daughter!" Celestia hugged her back, her eyes watering.
"Cherryblossom..." Shine joined in the hug. "...I'm sorry, we tried to get away... but..."
"It's fine, Shine." Celestia nuzzled her husband. "It's fine..."
"Ah, how touching." Black snorted. The three glared at him. "It almost makes me want to cry..."
"We meet again, Red Eclipse." Shine approached him. "Or should I call you... Black Knight Paladin."
"Black Knight..." Black's sneer faded, as the solemn glance returned. "Before all of this, I hadn't been called that for a long time... I ditched it when living on the lam, but to hear it again... it brings back bad memories."
"Big Red told me everything... I knew that not all of the Paladin bloodline were perfect... but never did I realize that my uncle would be a traitor to the crown..." Shine snarled.
"Surprising, isn't it?" Black regained his sneer. "You never thought that you had an Earth Pony in the family, didja? Thirty generations, the Paladins had been nothing but Pegasi, and I had the misfortune of being the first Earth Pony born to a purely Pegasi bloodline. Really got the rumor mill cranking when I came into the world."
"And in the end, you proved them right." Shine stepped forth, his glare hardening, "You murdered a village out of spite for the Changelings they sheltered! Got a young stallion killed while doing so, no less!"
"Oh come off it, you act as if I intended for poor Rookie to get killed." Black glared back. "His death was... an unfortunate 'accident'."
"Accident? He was killed, doing your bidding!" Celestia yelled.
"Hey, he knew what he was getting into when he signed up for the army." Black shot back. "Ponies die everyday! Murder, suicide, accident! His death was no different from all the ponies that died in that war! However…" He glanced at Shine. "Your father thought differently."
"Why are you doing this, Black?" Shine asked. "Is this all just to get back at my father?! Or is it to compensate for the fact you weren't born the way you wanted?"
"My dear nephew, I am hurt that you assume that I would do these things out of a grudge or pettiness." Black said quietly. "I am merely doing what I was born to do..."
"Which is?" Miracle asked.
Black chuckled.
"To cleanse Equestria of all filth. When I'm done, everything will be pure…"
"'Pure'?" Shine grimaced.
"Yes." Black nodded. "No more bugs infesting our wastelands, no more buffaloes stampeding over everything in their path, no more dragons hoarding all the world's riches and terrorizing the city folk. Nothing that can hold their advantages over us. Just us ponies. It'll be a perfect Equestria, at long last."
"You don't have to do this." Shine urged. "You could come back to the family. Make amends for what you've done. It's not too late."
"Family..." Black sneered. "I've had quite enough of that, thank you."
"What?" Shine gasped.
"My so-called family turned against me!" Black roared. "My brother betrayed me, and my parents practically disowned me!"
"That's not true!" Shine barked. "Surely they would never…"
"You wouldn't understand." Black scoffed. "All I was to them was an unfortunate 'kink' in their precious bloodline. They acted like they loved me, but I could see it in their eyes... if you weren't born with feathers, then you weren't a Paladin..."
"No... that... that can't be..." Shine muttered.
"You can deny it all you want, but it is the truth." Black grunted, "But that's okay with me... because I don't need family anymore. With the Crystal Sun's power, I'll have all that I ever need!"
"What about me and Miracle?" Shine asked. "You seemed pretty determined to catch us. Where do we fit into all this?"
"Well, 'nephew', it's like this..." Black grinned darkly. "The Crystal Sun, while a powerful artifact in it's own right, cannot operate without Alicorn magic. While I managed to snag plenty from the other Alicorns, I still need more... I need Celestia's magic."
Before Shine could get a word in, Black's horn reached out it's tendrils of dark magic, which enveloped Shine.
"Wah?!" Shine gasped, as the tendril wraps around him.
"Try and relax." Black smirked. "It'll hurt more if you resist..."
However, nothing happened.
"What th-?" Black growled. "Where is it?"
"Where's what?" Shine asked.
"Celestia's magic!" Black roared, as he glared at Celestia. "You little wench! You told me your husband had your magic!"
"Um, sir..."
Everypony glanced over to where Twitch was standing, having brought Shine and Miracle in.
"Funny story... apparently, in the thirty-to-forty years I spent running, the Napoleons had a new brother, and I really don't know how, but he has Celestia's magic."
"And where is this 'brother' now?" Black asked, his eye twitching.
"Eh... I don't know." Twitch admitted. "A lot of 'stuff' went down back in Ponyville, and I can honestly say he and his brothers are either dead, or somewhere far away…"
"And you didn't think that I would want to know all of this?!" Black growled.
"S-s-sorry, boss..." Twitch cringed. "Y-you were so happy when you got the s-shards that I didn't want to spoil it…"
Black's eye twitched once more…before he took a deep breath.
"Ah, well." Black muttered. "Guess we'll just have to make do without it for now. We've got all the ingredients anyways...."
"What does that mean?" Shine asked, confused.
"The Crystal Sun doesn't just need Alicorn magic to power it." Black revealed. "The reason nopony thought to use the Sun before was because it had a very steep price for using it…"
"Price?" Shine asked.
"Yes. Apparently, in order for the Sun to reach it's full potential, it's needs an intake of a mixture of matter and powerful magic." Black declared. "To put in laypony's terms: an alicorn child. In order for the Sun to work... one must sacrifice that child's life... surely, you can see where I'm going with this…"
"Miracle..." Celestia gasped, horrified.
"Me?" Miracle gulped.
"No... why Miracle?! Why not any of the other young Alicorns?!" Shine challenged.
"Because what better candidate than the daughter of the Alicorn who had ruined my life?!" With her powerful and untainted magic, the Sun would surely flourish! It's absolutely perfect!" Black laughed a bit maniacally.
"No... no..." Celestia whimpered.
"No!" Shine yelped. "You can't! I won't let you!"
"Oh, but I can." Black sneered. "I am close to achieving my goal and when I set my mind towards something, I see it to the end!"
"But she's just a child!" Celestia cried, "Please, Black… I don't care what you do with me, just leave her out of this!"
"Oh, but it is because of you that we are even standing here today!" Black chuckled darkly. "And thanks to you and that brother of mine, you get a front seat to when I activate the Sun and your daughter evaporates into nothingness..." Black then lifted Celestia's chin and grinned an evil smile. "Your daughter will die... and it'll be all your fault..."
"You monster..." Celestia wept.
"Oh, are you going to cry?" Black mocked. "Just like White did that night? Begging me to not do this? Huh? No wonder you married his son… you hybrid freaks always had a thing for flawed stallions!"
"ENOUGH!" Shine roared, as he charged at Black in a blind fit of rage. "RAAAARRRGHH!!"
Black simply glanced at Shine, before blasting him back with a blast of his horn. Shine grunted in pain as Black pinned him with a hoof.
"Easy there, papa wolf." Black chuckled lightly. "We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, now would we?"
Shine growled as he struggled underneath him.
Black then turned to his shadow ponies. "Take him to the dungeon. Me and the ladies here have to tend to some last-minute details before bringing about the beginning of a new Equestria."
The shadow ponies quickly grabbed Shine from underneath Black's hoof, bringing him to his hooves, as Shine attempts to break free.
"No! No! Please!" Shine pleaded, as Black turned away. "Uncle!"
Black perked up at the word "uncle", as he glanced back at his nephew, seeing the tears in his eyes.
"Black... please... don't do this to me... don't do this to your nephew..." Shine sniffled. "Miracle's my little sunbeam... do what you want with the Sun, or me and Celestia, but please... don't do this to your own family... please…"
The red stallion went silent for a moment, before letting out a sigh.
"Oh, Shine..." Black shook his head, as he took his chin. "It is because you're my nephew that you won't have to see her die. You don't deserve the same pain as your father or wife does..." Shine withheld a scream at those words. "But do know that I am doing this only for the betterment of Equestria... don't worry though... she won't suffer."
Shine was left dumbfounded, as Black then turned to the shadow ponies and gave a nod.
"Take him away."
The shadow ponies made to drag the pegasus away, as Shine finally came to his senses.
"No…" Shine muttered, as he then screamed, "NOOOOO! Please! Don't hurt her! Miracle! Miracle! MIRACLE!"
His screams echoed throughout the halls of the castle as they dragged him to the dungeon, as Black turned to Miracle and Celestia, the former whimpering in fear.
"Don't you worry, child…" Black assured her with a sinister grin. "It will be over soon…"
Shine was thrown into the dungeon with the rest of the royals. The cell he was in was occupied by most of the non-Alicorn prisoners: Flash, Blueblood, Dusty, Pureblood, Vito, Daring, Hurricane, Michael, Gothic, and also Anthem, Dusk Glow, Starlight and Constell, whose horns had been constrained by dark magic (Though they were Alicorns, Black had chosen not to drain them, on the grounds of their "tainted" bloodlines).
"Shine?" Shining groaned, still aching from his beating earlier. "They got you, too?"
"Great." Flash sighed. "Another pony in an already-overcrowded cell."
"Nice accommodations, huh?" Pureblood snarked.
"Not to mention the living conditions are positively medieval." Blueblood groaned.
"We'd be better off in the local cesspool." Vito grimaced.
"From what I've heard, a cesspool would be a step up from what Black Knight has planned." Constell declared, she and the rest of the captives having been filled in on the evil stallion's true identity as Sleight was dragged past their cell.
Immediately, Shine rushed back to the door, and began bashing against it.
"LET ME OUT!!" Shine roared, banging against the door for all he was worth.
"Shine?" Dusk gasped. "Are you okay?"
"What's wrong with him?" Starlight asked.
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO HER!" Shine screamed, as he continued to pound the gate. "PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF FAUST!"
"He's lost it." Gothic gaped in horror. "We can only imagine what's been done to him..."
"PLEASE! No…" Shine whimpered, as his anger was soon replaced with agony, as he soon slumped against the door, breaking into a sob. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."
"Shine, it's... it can't be that bad, surely?" Blueblood attempted to comfort him.
"It is." Shine choked back a sob. "He's going to kill her.... That monster's going to kill Miracle!"
"What?!" Dusty gasped.
"He said the Crystal Sun... requires the sacrifice of a young Alicorn to unlock it's power." Shine trembled. "And Miracle's been elected..."
"Oh, no..." Gothic whispered.
"You can't be serious!" Daring gasped. "That poor girl..."
"Mir..." Hurricane mumbled.
"He can't do that!" Vito blurted out. "It's... regicide!"
"I don't think he cares." Pureblood pointed out.
"But Miracle's just a kid!" Constell added.
"I can't believe this is happening..." Anthem frowned.
"That guy really is evil." Flash grimaced.
"This is turning into a nightmare." Dusk groaned.
"Too bad we can't just wake up." Starlight sighed.
"Black is going to pay for this!" Shining Armor vowed.
"What does it matter?" Shine despaired. "It's over. Black's won. He's going to kill my daughter, and take over the world, slaughtering any species he deems 'unclean'."
"Don't give up hope, Shine." Blueblood urged. "It's not over yet."
"It may as well be." Shine mumbled.
"Don't forget, Caboose is still out there!" Dusty pointed out.
"Yeah!" Hurricane smiled. "My dad'll save us!"
"No offense, Hurricane, but somehow I doubt it." Shine declared, "I don't even know where he is right now…"
"We can't give up." Daring urged. "I was in tougher scrapes then this during my adventurer days, and I always made it out."
"And just how are we going to get out of this?!" Shine yelled. "We have no magic, we're locked in a dungeon, and the entire Empire is swarming with shadow ponies. And let's face it, it's not like the cavalry's going to arrive any time soon."
Meanwhile, the Napoleon brothers arrived at the edge of the Crystal Empire. They surveyed the situation, taking note of all the shadow ponies and hired thugs.
"We've got to do this quietly, boys." Grimoire whispered. "Stealth and precision are the key."
"Yeah, not exactly my strong suit." Slot admitted.
"Just follow our lead." Murray instructed.
"Come on, guys." Caboose smiled, as he raised his hoof. "To victory!"
"Shh!" The other brothers hissed.
"Sorry." Caboose shrugged.
The Napoleons made their way to the palace, sticking to side streets and back alleys. When they reached the palace, they saw a crowd of shadow ponies guarding the entrance.
"Looks like we're going to have to fight our way through 'em." Salt declared.
"'Bout time." Vinny smirked.
"Shall we?" Grimiore gestured forward.
"Let's kick flank!" Caboose cried. "CHARGE!"
The Napoleons charged toward the shadow ponies with battle cries.
Slot pulled out two knives from the cuffs of his jacket, and ran towards a pair of shadow ponies.
"I now pronounce you... stallion and knife." He stabbed them both.
Salt leapt into the air and performed a flying press on another.
"Yippee-kai-yay, motherbucker!" He yelled, squashing it flat.
Vinny, after getting a wind-up, struck one shadow pony hard in the head with his baseball bat.
"It's just been revoked!" He smirked.
"Um, I don't think you were set up for that line, Vin..." Grimoire pointed out, as he dodged another shadow ponies' strike and blasting it's head off with a bolt.
"Oh... then 'I'll have what she's having!" Vinny declared, with the same gusto.
"...It's... it's better." Grimoire shrugged.
"Stick around, boys!" Slot threw more knives at the shadow ponies, pinning them to a wall.
"Hey shadow pony, what's your favourite brand of bottled water?" Murray fired a bolt at the shadow pony's head. "Mine's Arrowhead!"
"Nice product placement!" Vinny chuckled, as he caved in another shadow pony's skull with the bat.
"Thank you." Murray smirked, shooting another shadow pony point-blank without looking.
"You know what they say." Sonny set alight his accelerant-doused bandages. "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!"
Sonny punctuated his point by throwing flaming hoof strikes at the shadow ponies.
"Or in this case, out of our way!" Salt roared as he sent his brass hoof through another pony, hitting yet another shadow pony in the process.
"When a problem comes around, you must... whip it!" Lars struck a shadow pony with his crop. "Whip it good!"
Grimoire took out a batch of shadow ponies with his crossbow within quick succession, as he let a few pants.
"I'm gettin' too old for this slop..." He announced.
Soon, Caboose charged at a quartet of shadow ponies, his alicorn-magic powered horn glowing vibrantly.
"...INSERT WITTY PUN!" Caboose cried, unable to come up with a good line.
In one bright blast, he incinerated them.
And with that, the shadow ponies were dealt with, but more were bound to be on the way...
"Okay, what's the plan?" Slot huffed, as he picked up his thrown knives.
"I'm going to bust out Daring and the others!" Caboose declared.
"Are you sure you're going to be able to do it by yourself?" Murray asked.
"If not, then I picked the wrong week to cut down on my caffeine and sugar intake." Caboose smirked.
"Okay." Grimoire nodded. "We'll go after Twitch, then."
"Yeah." Murray nodded. "We still have a score to settle with that guy."
"And this time, no more running!" Slot snarled.
"Let's do it then!" Salt cricked his neck.
The brothers split up, Caboose heading to the dungeons.
Meanwhile, in said dungeon, Michael began to cry.
"I wanna go home!" He bawled.
"There, there, Mikey." Daring tried to sooth him. "I'm afraid our trip back has been postponed..."
"Hey!" The shadow pony barked, having been assigned to guard the prisoners. "Shut that... brat... up!"
"Hey, lay off, will ya?!" Shining barked back.
"You can't blame the boy." Blueblood added. "These terrible accommodations have me on the edge of tears myself."
"Michael, honey, please calm down..." Daring gently rocked her young colt.
"No!" Michael yelled. "I hate it here! It's cold, and dark, and stinky!"
"Enough...!" The shadow pony growled. "If you don't shut him up... I'll shut him up... myself...."
The shadow pony opened the cell door, and reached for Michael, who cried even louder.
"Waaaa!" He screamed.
"No!" Daring held him protectively. "Leave him alone!"
"Give me... the brat!" The shadow pony demanded.
"Leave him alone!" Flash yelled.
"He's just a foal!" Constell added.
"Yeah!" Dusk added. "Where do you get off?"
"You're as bad as your boss!" Starlight glared.
"Why, you..." Anthem snarled.
"Don't even think about touching my little brother!" Hurricane threatened.
"How... touching..." The shadow pony smirked, continuing his advance. "But... pointless..."
"HEY YOU!"
The shadow pony stopped trying to grab Michael, and turned... only to have a blur come in, lugging a huge crystal rock overhead, and downright smash the pony into wisps.
The others were shocked by the sudden appearance of the new pony, hidden in the shadows of the dungeon.
"Who in Equestria..." Luna gaped.
The pony stepped forward, towards Daring and Michael. As he stepped out into the light, he said: "PEEK-A-BOO!"
It was Caboose.
Almost everypony was shocked, as Michael giggled.
"Caboose?!" Daring gasped.
"Daddy!" Hurricane ran over and hugged Caboose, whimpering. "Oh, dad! You came back for us!"
"Of course I did!" Caboose chuckled. "You didn't think I would just leave you guys, didja?"
"Caboose..." Daring hugged her husband. "I was so worried..."
"Me, too." Caboose admitted. "I would've came back sooner, but the transport was terrible. Last time I travel economy..."
"How did you manage to get in here?" Dusty asked. "All alone?"
"Ah, but I'm not alone." Caboose smiled. "My bros came with me! We're here to fight and save Equestria!"
The other ponies looked unsure.
"No offense, Caboose, but I doubt you'll able to do much." Blueblood frowned.
"And what about Black Knight?" Gothic asked. "He's practically invincible!"
"And he has my wife and daughter." Shine added dolefully.
"Come on, guys!" Caboose smiled. "Don't you remember? Good always triumphs over evil! Besides, Equestria is our home, and we need to protect it!" Everypony remain silent, "For Pete's sake, I just did this last chapter, do I really need to say it again?"
"Good can only take you so far." Flash declared. "We're still way outmatched."
"All the more reason to fight harder." Caboose smirked.
"We could die." Gothic pointed out.
"Then we'll become martyrs." Caboose retorted. "Something for the regular ponies to get behind."
"But Black has all the cards." Dusk declared.
"We'll find a way." Caboose smiled. "The good guys always do. Now, who's with me?"
"...You're right, Caboose." Shining Armor smiled.
"Now there's something you don't see everyday." Blueblood chuckled.
"I'm in." Dusty declared.
"Me too." Daring grinned. "Always."
"And me!" Hurricane nodded.
"An' me!" Michael cheered.
"And us!" Vito and Pureblood stepped forward.
"Count me in." Constell smiled.
"Don't forget about me." Dusk chuckled.
"Or me." Starlight grinned.
"I'm in, too." Anthem added.
They all looked at Shine... who suddenly stood up, smiling.
"So am I." He smiled.
"Then let's go!" Caboose cheered.
After storming out of their cell, Caboose used his magic to blast open the other cells, freeing Sleight, Chrysalis and the Alicorns. The third cell, containing Big Red and Cherry, was also blasted open.
"Everypony out!" Caboose smiled.
"Well, Ah'll be." Big Red chuckled. "Nice ta see ya again, Caboose. You too, Shine."
"Likewise, Red." Shine smiled, as he noticed the bruises. "Did Black…"
"What, this?" Big Red shrugged off, though wincing a bit from the pain, "He and I got into it a bit, but nothing I can't handle."
"That's my big, tough, stallion." Cherry nuzzled him.
"Caboose... I'll be danged." Sleight laughed softly as he helped his weak wife out of the cell. "You saved us…"
"Hey, whenever I get somepony into a mess, I always get them out!" Caboose smirked. "Guess this makes us even."
"It sure does." Sleight nodded. "Sorry about the whole 'turning you into a card' thing."
"Water under the bridge." Caboose smiled. "Or is it off a duck's back?"
The separated families reunited.
"Gothic!" Luna embraced her family. "Constell!"
"We missed you, dear." Gothic smiled.
"So much, mom." Constell sniffed.
"I missed you, too." Luna smiled.
"Cadance, my darling..." Shining embraced her. "I was so worried..."
"Me too." Cadance agreed, taking note of Shining's bruises. "And with good reason, it seems..."
"Relax, it's just a scratch." Shining scratched.
"Dad's trying to be macho again." Anthem smirked.
Twilight embraced her own family.
"I never lost hope that I'd see you all again." She admitted.
"Me neither." Flash beamed.
"I knew you'd be okay." Dusk smiled.
"Ditto." Starlight chuckled.
"We're not out of the woods yet, guys." Caboose declared, as families and spouses continue reuniting. "I've gotta get you guys to safety. All of you."
"Oh, I'm not leaving." Sleight frowned. "I'm gonna get me some payback. For Chrys's sake."
"But, Sleight..." Caboose tried to reason with him.
"I'm staying too." Shine declared.
"You too?" Caboose gasped.
"You've given me a chance to save my daughter, Caboose, and I won't waste it." Shine said firmly. "Besides, I need to face Black Knight."
"But with all that power he's stolen, Red Eclipse... Black Knight... whoever he is... is too powerful!" Twilight reminded them. "You'll die for sure!"
"Wait..." Caboose gasped. "I have an idea!"
"This should be a doozy..." Blueblood muttered.
"But first, I'm gonna get ya all out of here!" Caboose smiled.
"But Caboose, this place is swarming with shadow ponies, and most of us can't fight!" Twilight pointed out. "It doesn't leave us much options."
"I make my own options!" Caboose boasted, his horn glowing.
Suddenly, a powerful and large magic beam burst through the ground, blowing up a part of the castle, leaving a gaping hole for everypony to escape through.
"Analysis: I am awesome!" Caboose smirked.
Shining, Cadance, and Anthem gaped at the giant hole in their castle.
"Sorry, kinda got caught up in the moment." Caboose giggled nervously. "Ah, well, my hindsight's 20-20."
"You're on a roll today, Caboose." Dusty smiled.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here!" Blueblood declared.
"I'll second that." Flash agreed.
"I've never been so eager to leave home before." Anthem quipped.
Everypony began to make their escape through the hole, as Sleight then passed his wife over to Big Red.
"Make sure Chryssy gets out of here." Sleight ordered.
"Ya can count on me, yer majesty." Big Red nodded.
"Sleight…" Chrysalis whispered weakly.
"Don't you worry, Chrys, I'll get your magic back." Sleight smiled, as he gave her a peck on the lips. "Now, get going!"
Big Red hefted Chrysalis onto his back as he and Cherry left through the hole.
The last of the prisoners out was Daring and her kids, as Caboose saw them out.
"Make sure you guys get somewhere safe. I have a bad feeling that the writer is going to put everypony through the grinder real soon." Caboose shuddered.
"Aren't you coming with us?" Hurricane asked.
"Sorry, Hurri, but my plan requires that I go with them." Caboose frowned.
"Daddy?" Michael whimpered.
"Don't worry, Mikey. Your daddy is going off to fight the bad guys. He'll be back before you know it." Caboose assured him with a smile.
"Daddy be okay?" Michael asked, his lower lip quivering.
"Daddy will be fine." Daring told him.
"That's right." Caboose nodded, nuzzling his son. "Trust me."
"...'Kay." Michael sniffed.
"Be careful, dad." Hurricane hugged him.
"When am I not careful?" Caboose chuckled.
"You don't really want me to answer that, do you?" Hurricane smirked.
"Your dad will come back to us, Hurri." Daring smiled. "He's done it before, and he'll do it again."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, honey." Caboose beamed.
"Anytime." Daring grinned.
Caboose gave his wife a small nuzzle, as he hugged his family. Daring (with a tearful Michael) and Hurricane left through the hole, leaving only Shine, Sleight, and Caboose.
"So, you're coming too?" Sleight asked.
"Yep." Caboose nodded. "What's the point in havin' Alicorn magic if I don't put it to good use?"
"Less talking, more walking." Shine urged. "I have a wife and daughter to save."
"We're right behind you." Sleight nodded, as the three ran up through the castle, "So, what's this plan of yours, Caboose?"
"Aside from not getting killed?" Caboose asked. "It's actually quite simple…"
Meanwhile, Black was prepping Miracle for the sacrifice (holding her still with his magic).
"It's almost time, kiddo." He smirked.
"Y-you won't win." Miracle, though scared, tried to be brave. "My dad'll stop you."
"Points for courage, little princess." Black sneered. "But you're in no condition to be mouthing off to anypony."
Twitch stumbled into the room.
"Uh, boss, y-you might w-want to see t-this." He pointed toward the balcony.
"This had better be good." Black growled.
Blac and Twitch came outside on the balcony to find an army of Changelings, griffons, buffalo and ponies marching towards the palace; Sazh, Char, Wizel, the Mane Five and Spike, Blue Blazes, Mist, Constell, Luxury, and the entire mafia army leading the charge.
"Impossible..." Black gaped.
"W-what should we do, boss?" Twitch asked.
Black remained slack-jawed…before snapping out of it.
"I don't have time for this." Black groaned. "You deal with them!"
"M-me?! What do you want me to do?!" Twitch protested.
"I don't know…send them away! I have bigger fish to fry right now!" Black snarled.
Black stomped back inside, leaving Twitch staring at the army.
"Uhhh..." Twitch mumbled, as he glanced down at the army, as they soon stopped in front of the palace.
"Where is Red Eclipse?!" Mist demanded.
"We've come to put an end to his evil!" Rarity added.
"What's the matter?" Rainbow Dash called. "Is he too chicken to face the music?"
Twitch glanced around nervously, trying to think of something to say. The crowd was beginning to get restless…
Then something came up.
"Y-you don't frighten us, Equestrian pig-dogs!" Twitch blustered. "Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly pony! I blow my nose at you, so-called Eeeekwestriiians, you and all your silly friendship c-c-c-c-c-c-crud!"
He made several taunting gestures to them. The army was now confused.
"...What is he talking about?" Luxury asked.
"No clue." Blue Blazes shrugged.
"Is he quoting Mounty Python?" Pinkie asked.
"I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wipers!" Twitch continued his deranged tirade. "I toot in your general direction! Your mothers were all hamsters, and your fathers smelt of elderberries! Now begone, before I taunt ye another time!"
"We're not going anywhere!" Sazh stepped.
"That's right." Wizel agreed. "We're here to take back our country, and our ponies!"
"Now let us in, or we will be authorized to use force!" Mist demanded.
"We'll see about t-that!" Twitch snarled, "Shadows, attack!"
The shadow ponies swarmed out of the castle and attacked.
"For Equestria!" Mist cried out.
The army charged right at the shadow ponies, resulting in an all-out brawl.
Seeing the battle breaking out below, Twitch smiled to himself.
"I think I handled that quite well..." Twitch smirked.
As he went back inside, he jumped when the door suddenly slammed shut, and none other than the Napoleon Brothers were standing in front of it.
"Going somewhere?" Murray taunted.
"You..." Twitch gasped, "How... Caboose... he..."
"Gave us the push we need to take care of business once and for all!" Slot snarled.
"It's high time we settle this, Twitch Cardinal!" Grimoire declared.
"S-s-sez you!" Twitch turned tail and ran. "Later, l-losers!"
"After him!" Salt yelled.
The Napoleons gave chase to their most hated enemy.
Meanwhile, the escaping ponies saw the army battling the shadows.
"Whoa." Flash gasped. "Where'd they all come from?"
"I don't know, but they need help." Gothic declared.
"But most of us don't have our magic." Luna pointed out.
"Doesn't seem to be stopping them." Dusk pointed to the army.
"Daring, take Chrysalis and the kids, and get to safety." Twilight instructed. "The rest of us will stay and fight."
"Okay." Daring nodded. "Good luck."
"Get 'em, dad!" Pureblood cheered.
"Show them what you're made of!" Vito added.
"Will do." Blueblood nodded.
Daring led the weakened Chrysalis and the kids away, while the adults joined in the fight.
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash smiled. "Nice to see ya!"
"We've been so worried about you." Fluttershy added.
"Well, worry no more." Twilight smiled. "I'm here, and ready to help."
"That's what Ah like ta hear!" Applejack smiled. "All of us, together again!"
"You said it!" Spike beamed.
"I'm so glad you're okay, Constell." Luxury declared. "I... I thought..."
"You came all this way for me?" Constell chuckled. "You're too sweet. Remind me to reward you when this is over."
"Gladly." Luxury nodded.
"Wait a moment." Twilight frowned. "What's with all the mafia ponies?"
"What, ya think we don't have a stake in this too?" A stallion in a bowler hat shrugged.
"Where's Sleight?" Sazh asked.
"And our queen?" Char added, after savaging a shadow pony.
"Sleight's inside the castle, and your queen is being led to safety." Shining revealed.
"On our side." Wizel declared. "You have nothing to worry about."
"Yezzz." Char nodded. "I have bigger fizzzh to fry today..."
"Yeah, well, keep it that way." Blue said protectively.
"Rezzzt azzzured, I have no intention of picking up where I left off." Char remarked, fending off another shadow. "Now, lezzzzzz chit-chat, more combat!"
"On that, we agree." Luxury nodded, as he destroyed another shadow pony.
Meanwhile, Black had the four shards of the sun floating in his grasp.
"Now, it is time for the pieces to come together." Black chuckled.
The four shards were pulled together, forming a giant crystal orb, as it began to glow a golden glow, and levitate on it's own.
"Perfect." Black smiled, as he slightly pushed the orb over Miracle. "Now we can begin…"
The captive Celestia struggled against her bonds.
"At long last, Equestria will be mine..." Black grinned triumphantly.
Suddenly, the lights in the room went off.
"Oh, what now?!" Black groaned.
A spotlight appeared in the corner of the room, showing the silhouette of a caped pony... who removed the cape, revealing himself to be Caboose.
"Behold!" Caboose said dramatically. "'Tis I, Caboose the mighty! ...And my sidekick, Sleight Gambit."
"Sidekick, me?" Sleight groaned.
"Well, well." Black snorted. "What's this?"
"We're here to stop you, Black." Caboose declared.
"Once and for all." Sleight added.
"Whatever you say." Black froze Miracle in place under the Crystal Sun. "Let's go."
Caboose and Sleight charged Black. Caboose fired magic blasts, while Sleight used his card magic (having generated more cards on their way to the throne room).
"Same old tricks." Black sneered, dodging their attacks.
"Then how about a new one?" Sleight asked. "Now, Caboose!"
Sleight flung two cards at either side of Black. Caboose fired a beam at one, which opened into a portal. The second card turned into a portal also, causing the beam to strike Black from behind.
"Gaahhh!" Black yelped, knocked aside.
Pressing their advantage, Caboose and Sleight kept up their assault, throwing everything they had at Black.
"Incredible..." Celestia gasped.
"They're doing it..." Miracle smiled.
"How are you…" Black muttered, before noticing the sparking of Caboose's horn. "You! You're the one with…"
"Celestia's magic? Maybe I am, maybe I'm not!" Caboose shrugged. "Maybe I think you're gonna lose this one."
"Well said, Caboose!" Sleight smiled, as he levitated more cards. "Let's bring down this monster!"
They doubled their efforts, throwing magic blasts, razor-sharp cards, and even a few hard hoof swipes at Black, as they backed him into a corner. Each successful blow made Black angrier, and angrier, until....
"ENOUGH!!" Black roared, releasing a blast of dark magic that sent his foes flying back a bit.
"Gah!" Sleight growled, trying to shield himself with his cards. Black blasted through it with his hoof, throwing him against the wall.
"Sleight!" Caboose gasped, as he tried to tackle Black, but the stallion only repelled him with another hoof, knocking him back. Struggling to get back up, he glared at Black, as the red stallion let out an evil laugh and a smirk of superiority.
Not willing to give him the satisfaction, Caboose let out a battle cry as he began to rapidly pummel Black's chest. But it seemed to do nothing, as Black just stood there, even when Caboose finished up with a vicious under-hook attack.
The mafia Unicorn stepped back, as Black simply swept off his chest, keeping that same smile.
"Oh, boy…" Caboose gulped.
Trying to not show fear, Caboose charged at Black again, hitting his chest with harder and more rapid punches. The stallion twitched a bit here and there, but he was still not taking damage. Caboose finished it up with a good apple-bucking kick, blasting the stallion back a bit, but still unscathed.
"Gah! Why won't you go down?!" Caboose snarled, as he shook his now sore hooves.
Black Knight gave a sinister chuckle as he held up his hoof, as dark magic ravelled around it, coursing right into the muscle.
"Dark magic, son." Black smirked. "I'll tell ya, Sombra was on the right track when he was using it... too bad he had too much of a sick obsession with crystals and stairs to make good use of it..."
He then slammed his raised hoof into the ground, creating small black crystals.
"Bottom line... you can't hurt me, kid." Black laughed darkly.
Caboose let out a growl as he charged at Black again, clotheslining him with a punch in the face. But thanks to the dark magic, the punch did nothing. Caboose groaned as he held his hurt hoof as Black continued laughing.
"What did I just say?!" Black sneered.
Without another word, Black slugged Caboose hard into the air, as he crashed down right next to Sleight, creating a small indent in the ground.
"Ouchie..." Caboose muttered.
"Time to end this..." Black muttered darkly, as he then grasped Caboose in dark magic. "Give me the magic, once and for all!"
The stallion attempted to drain the Alicorn magic from Caboose... only to find it wasn't there.
"Wha... this can't be..." He frowned.
"Heh-heh, gotcha!" Caboose smirked, though wincing a bit in pain.
"Where is the magic?!" Black demanded, grabbing Caboose by the neck. "Where is-"
Black was then blasted aside by a powerful golden blur, freeing Caboose instantly.
"Arrrh!" He groaned, skidding across the floor. "Who did tha..."
Glancing at the one who attacked him, Black was shocked to see that it was Shine, his wings glowing bright gold, and wearing golden armor (which he had lifted from the armory).
"Shine!" Celestia smiled.
"Dad!" Miracle cheered.
"Looking for something, uncle?" Shine glared, his wings glowing brightly. "Caboose transferred the magic to me. And now I'm going to use it to stop you! It's time to put an end to this!"
Twitch ran for his life, the Napoleons hot on his trail.
"Shadows!" He yelled. "Protect me!"
The few shadow ponies who hadn't joined the battle against the outside army flowed the cracks in the wall, and attacked the Napoleons.
"Grim, you go on ahead!" Murray yelled knocking one aside.
"I can't leave you!" Grimoire protested.
"You can't let that slimeball get away!" Vinny told him. "Not again!"
"Get after him, Grim." Salt urged. "Make him pay for what he did to Anarchy."
"Will do." Grimoire nodded, racing down the corridor, looking back hesitantly as his brothers fought off the shadows.
Twitch burst out onto the highest balcony looking all of the Crystal Empire. He skid to a halt when he realized he had come to a dead end.
"No. N-no. No, no, no, no, no!" He walked back and forth, trying to find a way out.
He turned around to find Grimoire, who shut the door to the balcony behind him, sealing it with his magic.
"Nowhere to run, Twitch... this ends right here, right now!" Grimoire declared.
"Oh come now, Grim... you're a honorable stallion... surely you wouldn't-" Twitch pleaded.
"Are you seriously pleading for mercy?!" Grimoire's face screwed up in distaste. "You, the stallion who murdered my brother, tried to kill me and my brothers, threatened our wives, and my unborn foal!"
"W-well, it s-sounds petty if you p-put it that w-w-w-w-w-" Twitch stuttered.
"You idiot... the time for mercy has long since passed... now... it's finally time to end this... to put you down for the mutt you are..." Grimoire pointed his crossbow at him. Twitch stiffened up in fear. Grimoire pulled the trigger... and nothing comes out.
"Yah!" Twitch yelped.
"Huh. Out of bolts..." Grimoire chuckled, throwing the crossbow aside. "No matter... a quick and painless death is too good for a disgrace to his family..."
Twitch paused and glared at him.
"W-what d-did y-you say?" He spluttered.
"You heard me, Twitch... for forty years that you could've spent trying to fight for your right to live, you spent hiding in holes and cracks of the world." Grimoire sneered. "You act like you're all that... that you're a god among insects... but when push comes to shove, when only you remain, you are no better than all the trash in this world."
"Am I, Cardinal?" Grimoire glared at him. "Or should I even call you a Cardinal? More like Chicken!" Twitch stifles a snarl. "No, wait, even a chicken is braver than you... no... you're nothing more than the fecal matter of chicken... and to think that you killed Anarchy, the once true successor to Clyde's legacy!"
"You want to know what you are, Twitch?" Grimoire asked. "Nothing... that's all you've ever been... nothing! And that is what you will always be... nothing... a piece of dirt on the hoof of life!"
"SHUT UP!" Twitch lost it. "I'm not nothing! You're nothing, you washed-up old fool! You're a joke of a Mafioso, y'hear? A second-rate has-been. I'm the superior one here! I deserved Bitaly more than you! Anarchy, you, and your entire wretched family deserves to be annihilated!"
"If that's so, Twitch... then prove it!" Grimoire urged. "You want to destroy this family? Start with me!" He pulled out a knife. "Put a knife in me, Twitch...feel the life leaving my body and my blood on your hooves! No more running... just you and me, mano e mano!"
"FINE!" Twitch flicked out his butterfly knife. "I'm going to enjoy this!"
The two charged each other, swinging their knives back and forth. Grimoire managed to nick Twitch's hoof, causing him to almost drop his knife. In retaliation, Twitch swung for Grimoire's neck. He narrowly missed, shearing off some of his stubble. Soon, their blades locked.
"Want to know something funny, Grim?" Twitch smirked. "This knife is the same knife I used to kill Anarchy."
Twitch threw Grimoire back, and the older stallion let out a growl.
"In fact, I haven't gotten the chance to wash it after the deed, since I had to run, so I think Anarchy's blood might actually be on here still..." Twitch mused, glancing at the knife.
"Why did you kill him?" Grimoire snarled. "Why Anarchy, of all ponies?"
"Well, aside from revenge, I had a plan." Twitch revealed, as he and Grimm circled each other, "I knew that Anarchy was going to change the way your family did things, and that he was well-beloved by everypony, so if I were to kill him, I would disrupt the balance of things in the family. With the proper heir to the family gone, and you, the poor traumatized son who was next in line, would more than likely listen to Anarchy's 'best friend', and I could destroy your family from within and then take my rightful place as the mafia kingpin of Bitaly... however... I should've checked to make sure he was dead before I left him there that night..."
"I don't believe you... Anarchy trusted you... he was your friend..." Grimoire spat.
"Friend?!" Twitch laughed maniacally. "He and the lot of you murdered my family! You actually thought I would be okay with that?! No! I may be a coward... but even if it takes the rest of my life, I will see to it that the Napoleons are run into the ground, starting with you!"
Twitch charged at Grimoire, swinging his knife. Grimoire blocked it with his own, then pushed it away, following up with a swing of his own. Twitch barely dodged it, and counter-attacked. Their blades clashed, scraping loudly as they struggled. Suddenly, Twitch's knife caught Grimoire's (via Twitch flipping it's handle back over it) and flung it aside. Twitch swung his, cutting Grimoire's side. As Grimoire yelped with pain, Twitch headbutted him, knocking his opponent to the ground. Twitch raised his knife, ready to kill Grimoire.
"This is it for you, Grim... just like it was for poor Archie... all alone..." Twitch jeered.
"But he's not alone."
Twitch perked up as the door to the balcony was blasted open, and the six brothers came in, a bit disheveled. They blasted Twitch off of Grimoire, and Murray helped the don up.
"Because he's family." Salt added. "And this family sticks together."
"Through good times and bad." Lars smiled.
"No matter what happens." Sonny added.
"And if somepony hurts one of us, the rest of us will come down on him like a ton of bricks." Vinny sneered.
The brothers approached Twitch menacingly. Twitch then hopped onto the railing.
"Don't come any closer or I'll jump!" He glances down, and realized that it was a very large drop. "Wait, that can't be right.
"Your choice, Twitch... come with us or jump to your death... either way, you're finished." Grimoire declared.
"Don't worry, if you come quietly with us, we can promise that your death will not be as painful as we originally intended." Slot smirked.
"It might not even be that long." Murray added.
"It'll be quick and easy." Vinny grinned. "Whattaya say?"
Silence ensued.
"...To buck with that!" Twitch stepped off the balcony.
"Oh no you don't!" Slot grabbed one of Murray's crossbows. "Give me that!"
Slot opened fire on the falling Twitch, hitting him constantly.
"Ah! Ooh! Eeh! Argh! Ugh!" Twitch yelled in agony.
Then he hit the ground hard. Somehow he was still alive.
"BUCK YOU, DUDE!" Slot charged a blast from his horn and fired it down.
"Aw... f-" Before Twitch could finish, the blast hit, leaving him blackened and burned to a crisp, but still alive.
"Now, for the coup de grace!" Slot climbed onto the railing and on his hindlegs, ready to perform the ultimate desecration... before being stopped by his brothers.
"Whoa!" Murray yelled.
"Too far, Slot! Too far!" Salt agreed.
"Seriously?" Slot snorted. "He tried to cheat us outta payback! He deserves this an' more!"
"I doubt there's any point to doing more." Lars shrugged.
"We'd better make sure, though." Sonny added. "Just in case."
The brothers teleported down to Twitch's crater.
"Arrrr..." Twitch groaned, clearly in tremendous pain.
"Still alive, huh?" Salt frowned. "Somepony's a tough nut to crack..."
"So let's finish him!" Slot urged.
"Later." Grimoire said firmly. "For now, let's give our guys a hoof with the shadow ponies."
"But Twitch..." Slot frowned.
"Relax, Slot." Murray told him. "It's not like he's going anyway. Besides, we'd be leaving him in total agony..."
"Ohhh... fine." Slot pouted.
Up in the throne room, Shine was confronting Black Knight alongside Sleight and Caboose.
"Well, if it isn't lil' Shine..." Black wiped some blood from his chin. "Just a little too late, as usual..." He stepped towards Shine, pulling out a cigar with his magic. "Gosh, this horn is so useful."
"Black Knight... you were in control before, but your plans end here!" Shine declared.
Black laughed.
"Idiot." He snorted. "You're not ending my plan. You're only about to pay witness to it." He glanced back at Miracle, who was still bound. "Look likes 'daddy' want to see his 'little sunbeam' die after all."
"What is your end-game, Knight?!" Sleight stepped forward. "If not the death of the Changelings, and not the subjugation of Equestria, then what?!"
"Yeah." Caboose chipped in. "I mean, Twitch seems to think you're out to rule this country, but you don't seem to care that we are winning..."
"Hmph, my reasons are known to me alone." Black sneered. "Ponies like you lack the capability to comprehend matters far beyond your mental capacity. A simple-minded mafia crony? A cruddy magician-made-king? A farmer chicken, son of the biggest fool I ever knew? And a naïve Alicorn? As far as I can see, you are all fools!"
"Well, I for one can care less what you have planned." Sleight glared. "Your army is being destroyed as we speak... your plan is ruined!"
"The Tartarus it is!" Black spat. "All I need is a bit of juice from the Sun, and I'll have just enough power to raze this land of all inferior beings! When all is said and done, I will be the most powerful being in all of ponydom! And once I take care of everypony here in the Empire, no pony in Equestria will question my power! My word will be the law!"
"So grease the gears with some innocent blood, is that it?" Shine growled.
"Oh relax, Shine." Black rolled his eyes. "I'm out for the inferior species, not for innocent civilians. Griffins, Minotaurs, Changelings!"
Shine, Caboose and Sleight glared at him.
"Of course, that will have to include you." Black puffed some smoke. "Can't have inferior species lovin' cretins mucking up my dreams and complicating the message!"
"Well, we're not about to let you take over Equestria!" Sleight declared.
"Yeah, three of us versus one of you!" Caboose added. "Way I see it, you'll be the one to fall!"
"He's right... and your army will fall right with you!" Shine agreed. "It's best that you surrender now, lest be faced with dire consequences!"
The three of them approached Black.
"Look at you, nephew... trying to be like your old stallion, huh?" Black glowered at Shine. "You certainly take after him in terms of ticking me off!" He flung his cigar away.
The three took positions, as Shine spread his glowing wings, Sleight levitated his cards, and Caboose... simply tried to imitate a kung fu master.
"As much as I would love to kick all three of your flanks at once, I think I'll settle for evening the odds a little..." Black smirked, his horn glowing.
Back outside, Twitch's body immediately began 'twitching', much to the brother's shock.
"What is going on here?" Lars gasped.
"What the buck's happening to him?!" Vinny asked.
"I don't know, but he's pretty energetic for a stallion that just got beat half to death..." Sonny declared.
Then, Twitch's body began to mutate, and grow into a very grotesque beast, with an overly-large left front hoof, green eyes, and a grinding jaw that oozed spittle, much to Grimoire and the others' horror.
"Lauren... Bucking... Faust..." Grimoire gaped.
"NAPOLEON!" Twitch roared, in a garbled, twisted version of his normal voice.
"How come every time we let somepony live, it bites us in the butt?!" Slot sighed.
Back in the throne room, Caboose hard Twitch's roar, and put two and two together.
"Oh no, bros!" Caboose gasped.
"Don't worry, you can join them!" Black cackled.
An aura wrapped around Sleight and Caboose and blasted them out the doors.
"SLEIGHT! CABOOSE!" Shine ran to aid them, but then black crystals rose up and blocked him in.
"You aren't going anywhere, boy!" Black roared. "You have something that I want, and dang it all, I will get it, even if I have to squeeze it out of your freakin' corpse!"
"Fine!" Shine growled.
Back outside, Caboose and Sleight landed just in time to find the newly deformed Twitch dominating the Napoleons with his powerful sweeps and tremor causing steps.
"You don't scare me, freakshow!" Murray fired some crossbow bolts.
The bolts hit their target... and Twitch nonchalantly reached down and pulled them out.
"Is that the best you've got?" Twitch sneered.
"Yaaah!" Slot charged with his knives.
"Oh, please!" Twitch swatted him aside.
Salt and Vinny attacked with their brass hooves and baseball bat. It had no effect, and the bat broke against him.
"Hah!" Twitch kicked them away.
Those at the head of the army noticed the hulking brute Twitch had become. The powerless Alicorns, not to mention Cherry and the pregnant Mist, had been encased in a magical forcefield, protecting them from the battle.
"What is that thing?" Shining frowned.
"Another of Black Knight's freaks, no doubt." Flash grimaced.
"You got that right." Sleight declared, racing to the head of the Changeling. "It's our old friend, Twitch."
"Whoa, really?" Sazh gasped.
"Really." Sleight nodded. "Some makeover, huh?"
"That's putting it mildly." Wizel declared.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Blue Blazes declared. "let's get 'im!"
The army charged at Twitch.
"Okay then." He sneered. "I'll take you all on!"
What ensued was a massive fight, the Changelings and many others helping the Napoleons.
The Changelings swarmed him, aided by Blue Blazes…
"Zzztrike fazzzt and hard!" Char urged. "Zzzhow him what Changeling zzztrength is!"
"As much as I can't stand that guy, I'm glad he's on our side." Blue declared, as he prepared a divebomb.
"For now." Sazh frowned.
"You know what they say: Every little bit helps." Wizel smiled.
Then Big Mac and Big Red two of the strongest ponies in all of Equestria jumped on his back, trying to "break" him.
"Yee-haaaah!" Big Red yelled. "Let's corral this dawgie!"
"Eeyup." Big McIntosh agreed.
Shining, Gothic, Flash, Luxury, Blueblood, Sleight, and the Napoleons attacked directly, striking Twitch as hard as they could.
"That's the way!" Murray smiled, as they struck Twitch's over-sized hoof.
"So, who are you guys again?" Flash asked.
"Just some good Samaritans." Grimoire declared.
"Nice suits." Shining noted. "Just like those guys over there."
"Of course." Slot nodded. "Can't be the mafia without nice suits- Ooops..."
"You're mafia?!" Luxury gasped. "Unbelievable!"
"I actually already knew." Blueblood admitted.
"Way to share with the group there, Blue." Flash deadpanned.
"Does that really matter right now?" Salt growled. "We're fighting our lives here!"
"He makes a good point." Luxury admitted.
However no matter how hard, or how many times they hit him, Twitch remained standing. The attacking forces soon gave in to exhaustion.
"Never thought I'd get tired of beatin' somepony up." Slot wheezed.
"Anypony wanna tag in?" Salt gasped.
"Even Wonderbolts training never made me this exhausted..." Blue groaned, his wings struggling to hold him up.
"My turn." Twitch grinned.
He started swatting Changelings out of the air.
"No." Sleight gasped. "This can't be happening..."
On one swing, he caught Blue's wings, sending him crashing down.
"Blue!" Mist cried.
With one thrust of his head, he threw Big McIntosh and Big Red into the air, then slammed them into the ground with one hoof.
"Oh mah gawrsh!" Applejack yelled. "Big Mac!"
"Red, no!" Cherry cried.
Then Twitch slammed the oversized hoof on the ground, creating a shockwave that sent the others flying.
"This new bod may not be much to look at, but it makes up for it in pure power..." He declared.
He then spotted Grimoire, struggling to get up.
"Payback time..." He grinned.
Twitch raised his giant hoof over Grimoire, and was about to slam it down...
"Oh, buck!" Grimm gasped, as he tries to get away.
"DIE, GRIM!" Twitch roared.
Suddenly, he was blasted in the face by a cannonball.
"Gah!" He cringed.
"HEY!"
Twitch and everypony turned to see Caboose, toting a cannon.
"Get away from my brother, you TWITCH!" Caboose yelled, pelting him with cannonballs.
"Dude, where did you get the cannon?" Slot asked.
"I!" Caboose fired the cannon. "DUNNO!" He fired again. "PLOT!" And again. "ELEMENT?!" And again.
The cannon blasts hurt Twitch, but they didn't stop him.
"Done yet?" He jeered.
"Not quite." Caboose pulled out a crossbow with rope attached to the bolt. He fired the bolt near Twitch's eye, and it embedded itself in his cheek.
"Yeow!" Twitch roared.
Caboose grabbed the rope and pulled, only for his hooves to get tangled it.
"Uh-oh." He gulped.
Twitch began shaking his head rapidly, trying to shake Caboose off, while Caboose himself tried to break free of the rope.
"Help!" He cried.
"Hang on, pardner!" Big Red said, as he and Grimoire jumps onto Caboose, grabbing him tightly.
"We've got youuuu!" Grimoire yelped, as he and Big Red were along for the ride.
"Dig in yer heels!" Big Red groaned.
The three strained, as Twitch struggled to pull free. Eventually, with a flick upwards, Grimoire and Big Red were shaken off, and Caboose went up and landed on Twitch's face.
"Get off me!" Twitch roared, trying to dislodge Caboose.
"Not on your life!" Caboose held on tightly to Twitch's mane. "I happen to hate heights!"
"Then I'll make you get off." Twitch snarled. He turned and starting charging around the battlefield…
Back in the throne room, Shine and Red were equally matched as they hit blow for blow, as Shine then shoved Black back.
"Slippery little gnat..." Black snarled, sweeping off his hoof, "I have no time for this!" Suddenly, he raised one half of his legs up high and stomped the ground hard, letting out a guttural roar, as aura steamed off him.
"Gah..." Shine flapped his wings, as they were burning from the aura. "Oh... you've gotta be kidding me!"
Red's body became slightly bulkier, but not grotesquely so, as the dark magic had made him stronger. After a few seconds, his horn unleashes a small shockwave, blowing Shine back a bit and shattering some of the crystals around them. As soon as the dust settled, the red stallion laughed menacingly.
"Let's go..." He chuckled.
"The Tartarus are you thinking-" Shine started.
"RAARGH!" Red roared as he charged and bashed Shine back, much to Celestia's shock. Shine was knocked to the ground. He tried to get back up, but Red grabbed him by his helmet.
"Played high school hoofball, ya know." Red grinned. "Built up the muscle!"
"Oh really? I'm not seeing it..." Shine growled in pain.
Black smashed his head into the helm, cracking it in half, then ripped it off, dazing Shine, and punched him hard in the face. Black tries following up with an uppercut, but Shine dodged it. Shine punched back while walking back, but Red blocked them. Eventually, Black caught Shine's left hoof, and put it in an arm lock, and tried punching him with his free left hoof. Shine dodged the first couple ones. Black then grabbed him by the throat and held him up.
"Hmph, as if!" He sneered. "I'll have you know, your old stallion and I came a long way from being nothing more than filthy hicks in a dead-end town! Could've gone pro had I not joined the Royal Guard with him! I'm not your typical patriotic block-head!" He turned around, while still holding Shine. "If I wanted, I could break every single one of those royal weaklings in two... with my bare hooves!" He threw Shine straight up in the air. "Don't buck with this GENERAL!" As Shine approach the ground, Eclipse bucked him with his legs into the wall, next to the Crystal Sun, as cheers are heard in the background for some odd reason.
"Daddy!" Miracle yelled.
"SHINE!" Celestia cried.
Shine fell to the ground weakly, and tried shaking it off.
"Gah..." He groaned.
Black gave a small sneer of superiority…
"What have you become?" Shine growled softly.
"Why don't you stick around and find out?!" Black chuckled.
Black charged Shine, striking him in the chest. Winded, Shine was barely able to dodge his next attack, but he managed it... barely.
"Come on, Shine!" Black taunted, "Is this the best you got?!"
Shine stifled a growl. After dodging a few more blows, Shine went on the offensive. He used kicks, sweeps, judo flips... but none of it seemed to phase Black.
"Stallion-to-stallion, I can't be beat. C'mon!" Black boasted some more.
Having enough of his jeers, Shine threw a punch at Red Eclipse, only for him to catch it.
"What?!" Shine gaped.
"Nice hoof..." Black remarked, before crushing it.
"AAAH!" Shine yelled.
Shine gripped his hurt hoof, and Black tried an uppercut, with Shine barely dodging it. Before Shine could sigh in relief, Black then sucker-punched him, sending his sliding across the ground. Shine groaned as he rubbed his scraped chin. Fortunately, he used the Alicorn magic to restore his crushed hoof. Shine turned to face Eclipse, and charged him, swinging left and right. Black tried to retaliate, but Shine caught his right hook.
"How typical of you... big ideals, but all talk!" Shine growled.
"What?!" Black snapped.
"'Purifying Equestria'?" Shine repeated. "That's the biggest load of bull-crud! All you care about is making yourself powerful!" Black freed himself, and the two exchanged blows. "That, and being a prick!" Shine pushed him back. "You got no principles, just like the rest of the villains Equestria had faced! Nightmare Moon! Discord! Chrysalis! Sombra! Tirek!" He punctuated each name with a punch, eventually knocking Black to the ground. "If Equestria, as you say, has gone to Tartarus, you're just one of the monsters making it worse!" He spat on the ground.
Black slowly got up, chuckling.
"All right... the truth then." He wiped his snout. "You're right, I might seem like a prick... and I might seem like your typical bad guy, out of a cruddy fanfiction. Purification of Equestria? You're right, I don't care... wanna know why?" He held up his hoof. "I have a dream!"
"...What?" Shine stopped.
"What?" Celestia gaped.
"Look at us, Shine... since our ancestor, Aurora Paragon Paladin, we have been nothing but servants, forced to serve those who would become great, while the ones who had made it that way were left forgotten in the dust!" Black roared. "Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, Starswirl the Bearded... For millenia, ponies like Celestia had made it to where we had to follow a certain destiny, destinies reserved for whom they had chosen! Does the name Sunset Shimmer ring a bell? She wasn't good enough for Celestia, so Celestia tossed her aside like garbage and chose a 'better' model!"
"That's not true!" Celestia shot back. "You know nothing of what I did!"
"Please, you alicorns and royals are all the same... you toy with our lives, decide what goes in this world, who is great, and who are left suffering in the undertow!" Black ranted. "But no more! A day is coming, when every pony in this nation will control their OWN destiny! The land of the TRULY free, dangit!" Black charged at Shine. "A nation of ACTION, not words! Ruled by STRENGTH, not committee!" He punched Shine and grabbed him. "Friendship?! Magic?! They won't matter!" Shine tried grabbing his neck. "I will bring power back where it belongs... in the hooves of the PONIES!"
Black grabbed Shine's hooves and held them apart. He then reared back his head, and brought it against Shine, who did the same.
"Where every pony is free to think... to act... for himself!" Black continued.
His hooves pushed Shine down to his knees. Then he bashed his head against Shine's left hoof.
"Buck all these high and mighty Unicorns and their power of magic!" He punched Shine hard in the face. "And the head-in-the clouds Pegasi and their power of the weather!" He punched him again, then slammed his face into the ground. "Buck the meaningless Earth Ponies, who Faust had screwed over from the very beginning!" He brought Shine up and pushed him away, leaving him dazed. "Buck Equestria... buck the Alicorns..." He swung his front hoof around and punched Shine hard. "...buck all of it!" He turned and bucked Shine away.
Shine groaned, as the Alicorn magic within him worked to keep him in ship-shape.
"Equestria is diseased!" Black sneered. "Rotten to the core! There's no saving it... we need to pull it out by the roots... wipe the slate... BURN IT DOWN!" He punched Shine down again. "...And from the ashes, a new Equestria will be born!" He stomped on Shine. "Evolved, but untamed!" He grinned evilly, grinding his hoof into Shine's back. "The weak will be purged, and the strongest will thrive... free to live as they see fit! They will make Equestria great again!"
"Hnngh... what are you talking about?" Shine struggled to get back up.
"You still don't get it!" Black sniggered. "I'm using all those idiots out there as a means to an end!" He kicked Shine over. "So I could rid this world of them! In my new Equestria, ponies will die and kill for what they BELIEVE!" He stomped on Shine again. "Not for money! Not for status!" Another stomp. "Not for what they're told is right! Every pony will be free to fight his own wars! He stomped Shine repeatedly, ending with a major stomp with four hooves, and one last stomp.
Shine let out a weak sigh, as Celestia and Miracle watched on in horror. Black pulled out another cigar and smoked it, while his hoof was on Shine.
"So... what do you think?" Black asked nonchalantly.
"How the heck did you get into the army with these ideas in your head?" Shine glared up at him.
"Simple. They had cruddy background checks." Black smirked. He took his hoof off Shine and turned to the Crystal Sun. "You should try fighting for what you believe in sometimes, Shine... not for a kingdom, or a country, or for anypony else."
Shine struggled to get up, the magic restoring him to somewhat good health.
"You know... I was wrong about you..." He admitted.
"Can it be?" Black ran up to Shine and helped him up. "Is my nephew finally coming around?" He dusted Shine off. "I'll rid this world of pointless fighting, Shine... much better than your father or your worthless wife ever could..."
"I was wrong..." Shine smirked at Black. "You're not power-hungry..." Celestia looked on in confusion as Black held out his hoof. Shine, pausing a bit to catch his breath, simply took his hoof and shook it as Black held him close... then let out a snarl. "You are bat-crud insane!"
Black gasped, as Shine blasted him back with his wings. Black caught himself, letting out a growl, as he punched the ground.
"Making a mother of all omelets here, Shine!" He roared. "Can't fret over every egg!"
"Not when 'you're purging the weak', right?!" Shine jeered. "What do you know about the weak?! You've never been poor... you've never been hungry... you don't know what it's like to fight, and steal to survive!"
"But you, Shine, did survive!" Black pointed out. "You rose above your parent's death! You became a ruler of Equestria, through sheer force of will... with your own four hooves, you took back your life, without anypony's help!"
"You're wrong... my family made me the pony I was today... my father... my mother... Big Red... Cherry... my sister... my wife... my daughter... and everypony else I came to know!" Shine declared. "They gave me the will to go on! And now... they will give me the will to defeat you, Black Knight Paladin!"
"...Grr... just like your father... blind and foolish to the very end!" Black snarled.
"We'll see..." Shine snarled.
The two charged each other. Black thrust his hoof at Shine, who blocked up by crossing his own. Shine then grabbed Black around the waist, flew him up, then slammed him into the ground. As Black got up, Shine bucked him hard, sending him flying across the room.
"Big mistake..." Black spat.
They once again charged at each other. Many punches were thrown, both sides connecting with devastating blows. But Shine, driven by more noble goals, struck harder. Once again, Black found himself backed up against a wall.
"It's over." Shine declared, putting his hoof against Black's neck.
"You're right." Black smirked, his horn glowing. "It is."
Suddenly, the Crystal Sun started glowing. Miracle, ensnared in reams of white energy, started floating upwards, her bonds coming loose.
"Dad, help!" Miracle yelled.
"No!" Celestia gasped.
"Stop this now!" Shine pressed his hoof harder against Black's neck.
"It won't be long now." Black chuckled. "Soon, her lifeforce will be extracted, and she'll be dead. And all that power will be at my command. Nopony will be able to stop me."
"You filthy..." Shine spat.
"Of course, if you kill me right now, I won't receive the power." Black remarked. "You'll save Equestria, but your daughter will be dead. On the other hoof, if you take the time to save her, I'll just come back stronger!"
Shine's eyes widened in shock.
"You only have enough time to kill me, or save her." Black revealed. "What's it gonna be, Shine?"
Shine glanced at Miracle, then back at Black.
"You wanted to be like your old man? Here's your chance... the fate of your country... or the fate of your daughter? What do you do, Shine?!" Black taunted.
Shine stifled a curse... he had a choice... and he had to make it fast... but what would it cost?
Shine looked on in horror as Miracle was lifted up towards the Crystal Sun.
"Time's running out." Black taunted. "Better make your choice fast... before it's out of your hooves!"
Shine glared at Black, his wings glowing.
"Dad!" Miracle called.
"Shine, please!" Celestia urged.
Shine grit his teeth, pushing his hoof further against Black's throat. His wings suddenly emitted a powerful flash of light. Everypony covered their eyes.
When the light faded, Celestia opened her eyes, as did Black, who was surprised to realise he wasn't dead. They glanced at the Sun, which was still glowing, but at the bottom, there was Shine, holding a trembling Miracle in his wings.
Clad in a dark aura, Shine was suddenly pulled back.
"DADDY!" Miracle cried.
Shine struggled as he was brought before Black, whose horn was regenerating his body.
"Heh-heh, looks like Shine here has no loyalty to his country after all... so much for taking after your old man." He sneered. "Rule one of battle, boy... never turn your back on a opponent unless he is dead. But what did I expect from the son of a deluded fool?"
"Funny... you could do well to learn a few things from that 'fool'." Shine chuckled... before gasping, as pain struck his very being.
"Well, one thing that your father had taught me is that there is no 'loyalty' between family." Black snarled. "He betrayed me, the pony whom he owed his life to! He chose his country and some dead kid over me, and ruined my LIFE!"
"You got it wrong... my father loved you... it tore him asunder knowing that he couldn't stop his own brother from going down this path... he did what he did because he was afraid you will become this... a monster..." Shine declared.
For a moment, Black was silent...
"Well, this monster is about to make Equestria a better place." He said, in a hurt voice. His horn glowed and Shine was sapped of Celestia's Alicorn magic, then dropped unceremoniously on the floor. "And I'm afraid you cannot be a part of it... not you or your father."
"You think killing me will rid you of my father, Black?" Shine asked, struggling to stand. "Your brother will always be there, and he will always be ashamed of what you have become... and there's nothing you can do to change that..."
"...Maybe..." Black shrugged.
Suddenly, Shine's throat began to tighten, leaving him unable to breathe.
"But killing you will be a start." Black said coldly.
"No!" Celestia cried.
"Leave him alone!" Miracle begged.
Meanwhile, outside, the giant mutated Twitch was lumbering all around the battlefield, trying to get Caboose off him.
"Hang on, Caboose, we'll get ya!" Grimiore called after him as he and the brothers followed after him.
"Don't worry, I'm hanging!" Caboose stammered, as he clutched onto Twitch's mane for dear life.
"Quit pulling!" Twitch roared in pain.
"No! You're not the crime boss of me!" Caboose yelled, tugging hard.
"Aaah!" Twitch yelped, veering off in the direction Caboose pulled.
"Hmm... this gives me an idea!" Caboose smiled. "Hi-ho Twitch, away!"
Caboose yanked at Twitch's mane again, sending him towards the castle.
"This may sting just a tiny bit." He noted, as they neared the crystal wall.
Without much effort, Twitch burst right into the throne room.
"What the buck?!" Black gasped, freeing Shine from his tightening magical grasp.
"G-G-GET OF-F-F M-M-ME!" Twitch roared.
"I'M TRYING!" Caboose struggled.
"Twitch, what the buck are you doing?!" Black roared.
"S-s-s-sorry, boss!" Twitch cringed. "I c-can't get him off!"
"Unbelievable!" Black roared. "Why did I even bother powering you up? You're useless! Always have been!"
"You really should treat your underlings better, Black." Shine rubbed his throat.
"You stay out of this!" Black yelled.
As Twitch stumbled around, vainly trying to dislodge Caboose, he tottered in the direction of the Crystal Sun.
"Whoa! Get away from that!" Black yelled in horror.
Black's warning went unheeded, as, in one fell swoop, Twitch tripped in a crater (formed during Black and Shine's battle) and fell right on top of the Crystal Sun.
"NO!" Black roared.
As soon as the entirety of Twitch's weight was on the Sun, the orb shattered into millions of pieces, far beyond repair.
"Uh…oops?" Twitch muttered.
Black stood in disbelief as the Sun was destroyed, growing weak in the knees.
"No... no... after everything... after all the work I put in... it's... it's..." He gaped.
"Over." Shine stood up slowly, Miracle trying to help him up. "Without the Sun, you are without power. It's over..."
Black's body then began to shudder with rage…
"You wanna bet?!" Black roared, his horn's magic grasped Twitch and Caboose.
"Uh-oh." The pair chorused.
"GET OUT OF HERE, YOU MOTHERBUCKERS!" Black threw Caboose and Twitch out of the castle, creating a big hole in the wall.
"YA-HA-HA-HA-HOOEY!" Caboose and Twitch yelped as they crash-landed in front of the castle. On impact, Caboose was finally thrown free.
"Whoo, what a ride!" He chuckled.
"You..." Twitch snarled. "Look what you made me do! The boss is probably gonna c-castrate me this is all over!"
As Twitch swung his hoof down, a bolt suddenly embedded itself it.
"Yeow!" Twitch yelled.
"Hang on, bro!" Murray waved his crossbow, as he and the other brothers charged in.
"Can't let you guys have all the fun!" Iron Hooves smiled as he joined them.
Sleight and several Changelings also followed, including Char.
"This again?" Twitch snorted. "Don't you ever learn?"
"We learned you're goin' down!" Vinny taunted.
Once again, they did battle. However, by that point in time, Twitch was starting to tire out. His attacks were slower, sloppier. They still punched quite a punch, though.
"Give it up, Twitch!" Grimoire dodged one blow.
"Never!" Twitch snarled.
"Enough of the mindless brawling." Iron declared. "Time for a little strategy."
"What do you have in mind?" Sleight asked.
"Aim for the legs." Iron revealed. "We trip him, then we pin him. I have some rope, weaved from ursa hair. It should hold him."
"A sound strategy." Lars nodded.
"Okay." Grimoire smiled. "Let's do it!"
They concentrated their assault on Twitch's legs. Magic blasts, crossbow bolts... nothing was off-limits.
"How 'bout a hotfoot?" Sonny smirked, using a fire spell.
"Yeowch!" Twitch yelped.
"I've alwayzzz wondered how you poniezzz tazzzte..." Char admitted, as he bit into Twitch's oversized hoof.
"Gah!" Twitch screeched. "Changeling cooties!"
"For my next trick: A flush that busts you!" Sleight threw several razor sharp cards at Twitch's third leg.
"Ow! Paper cut, paper cut!" Twitch winced.
"Time to take you down." Iron rammed Twitch's remaining leg with all his strength. "Timber!"
"Whoa..." Twitch started to fall, right in Sleight's path.
"Uh-oh." Sleight gulped.
Just before Twitch fell, Sleight was pushed out of the way by Char.
"You... saved me?!" Sleight gaped. "I thought you hated me."
"I did." Char admitted. "But I've had time to think. And zzzeeing you in battle today... Well, perhapzzz the queen wazzzn't wrong to choozzze you after all."
"Thanks." Sleight smiled.
"I zzztill think you're annoying, though." Char scowled.
"Fair enough." Sleight shrugged.
"Alright, let's tie this sucker!" Iron passed out some rope.
The group tied up the dazed Twitch, pinning him tightly to the ground.
Meanwhile, back in the throne room, Black, taking hate-filled breaths, turned viciously towards Shine.
"Now…for you…"
Black let out a battle cry as he charged Shine. Shine pushed Miracle aside and was knocked to the ground by Black. Black then proceeded to punch him into the ground.
"Die!" He punched Shine. "Die!" He punched him some more, then brought up his hoof. "Die, you piece of CRAP!" He threw his hoof down.
Black crystals erupted everywhere. Shine lay on the ground, badly bruised, unable to recover without the alicorn magic, as Black got up, finally calming down…
"All right." He cracked his hooves. "I think we're about done here..."
Miracle ran to Shine.
"DADDY!
"Miracle..." Shine coughed. "Get out of here..."
"No... I won't leave you!" Miracle insisted.
Black chuckled darkly.
"Hmph... you should listen to your father, Miracle... with the Sun gone, I have no further use for you..." He sneered.
"No... I am not afraid of you!" Miracle stood defiantly over her father's body. "Please, Black... don't do this to us... don't do this to your brother's son and his grandchild!"
"Shut up!" Black roared, causing Miracle to wince. "You didn't even know him! Don't you dare try to bring him into this!"
"You're right... but I know what he did to you." Miracle declared. "I know it must have hurt when your brother did what he did, but he was trying to protect you from yourself! Please, for his sake, leave us be!"
"Hmph, or what?!" Black snorted.
"You forget, uncle... I'm a Paladin too, and I will fight you if need be!" Miracle said boldly.
"Miracle, please!" Celestia gasped.
"Sunbeam... no..." Shine groaned.
"How cute." Black chuckled. "You think you can save your old pop with your weak Alicorn magic?" He shrugged. "Well, go ahead then. But make no mistake... once I'm finished with your father, you're next!"
"I was not raised to fear intimidation by brute force!" Miracle growled. "You should not underestimate the power of light, for it is darkness's brother... and when darkness rises, light will fight it!"
"You little buck..." Black half-scoffed, half-scowled.
As Black raised his hooves, Miracle unleashed her light magic, hitting him square in his one good eye.
"Rarrgh!" Black roared, clutching his struck eye. As he pulled his hoof away, his golden eye was now pale and milky, as he waved the hoof in front of him, "I can't see…I can't see!"
"That will be the least of your problem!" Miracle taunted. "Without your sight, you can't hurt what you can't see!"
"You wanna bet, ya damn brat?!" Black snarled. "I may not see, but I can still smell you!"
To emphasize his point, his snout snorted a few times, before he began approaching Miracle, much to the filly's dismay.
"Stay back!" Miracle stammered, her courage quickly faltering, as she tries firing more light magic.
Unfortunately, they merely bounced off the stallion, her inexperienced magic no match for his powerful dark magic.
"Miracle!" Celestia cried.
"You know what they say, kiddo." Black snickered. "Eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth! Blood for blood! We've all gotta die!"
"Guess again!" Shine suddenly rammed into Black, knocking him sideways.
"Oh, you want some more, huh?" Black smirked, steadying himself. "You're just like your father: too stubborn to know when to quit."
"You didn't know my father at all." Shine glared. "Not one bit."
"Seriously?" Black growled. "We were brothers! I knew him better than anypony!"
"If you really knew him, then you'd know it was more than stubbornness." Shine declared. "He did what was right, even if it meant going against family, even if it looked like he couldn't win. And I'm the same. That's why I'm still here, still ready to fight. Because I'm my father's son."
"You sure are." Black nodded. "You spout the same pointless gibberish he did!"
Black charged at Shine, and their battle began anew. They traded kicks, punches, and headbutts. Black swung a haymaker, and Shine dodged it.
"Why must you fight me, Shine?!" Black snarled. "Why must you side with Celestia, huh?! What good has she ever done this country?!"
"Much more than you can imagined, Black!" Shine declared. "She loves this country more than anything else, and she had done everything in her power to assure it's prosperity!"
"Oh yeah? The same alicorn that banished her sister, who failed to finish off a god of chaos, and got beaten by that maggot, a bunch of stupid plants, and a buckin' goat?!" Black snarled.
Meanwhile, in Tartarus…
"CENTAUR!" Tirek roared, "Why can't anypony get that right?!"
Back above surface
"Your precious Celestia is a joke of a princess!" Black snorted. "She doesn't deserve to rule anything. She's pathetic!"
"Don't you dare say that about her." Shine growled. "I love her. My Cutie Mark told me that my destiny was to defend what I believe in, and I believe in her."
"Really?" Black sneered. "Well, my Cutie Mark told me that destiny was to cleanse Equestria of evil. Only when the slate has been cleaned can I create a new world, free of evil. Isn't that what we both want?"
"It would be nice." Shine admitted. "But that is not a dream worth killing countless others for. I'd prefer the world as it is, rather then kill even one pony to make it better."
"What a load of idealistic claptrap!" Black snarled, charging at Shine again.
The fight resumed. Black lashed out with more punches. One caught Shine in the chin, and Black made to capitalise on his advantage. But Shine dodged the following blow. Shine then bodychecked Black on his vulnerable side, knocking him across the room.
Black scraped against the floor, as Shine limped towards him.
"This is the greatest fight of my life!" Black laughed.
Shine charged at Black, but Black grabbed him and smashed him into the ground. Then Black picked him up and held him by the throat. Shine managed to kick Black in the face, knocking him out of his grasp. As Shine struggled to his hooves, Black reared back his right hoof and threw it at him, only for Shine to repel it. Black stepped back a bit, then growled as he charged at him with his left hoof raised.
"I'll blow you away!" He screeched.
Shine repelled that attack as well. Black shook his hurt hoof, then full-out charged at Shine with all he had. Shine then spread his wings, and uppercutted him, hitting him hard in the ribs.
"Gah…" Black groaned, acknowledging that his ribs were probably broken. He then glares at Shine, before letting out one loud yet oddly demonic roar as he grappled hooves with Shine.
They struggled for a few moments before Shine then headbutted him, cracking Sombra's horn.
"Of course..." Shine mused, looking at the horn.
Shine proceeded to hit Black a few times in the face, before he aimed his hoof at the horn.
"You little..." Black charged him again.
Putting every last ounce of strength into his hoof, Shine struck Sombra's horn. The horn broke off Black's head, hitting the ground.
"AAAAAHHHH!" Black screamed, as all the magic he stole flooded out through the spot where the horn had once been, and into the horn itself. He fell to the ground, powerless.
Suddenly, darkness began to rise from it as the form of Sombra began to materialize.
"Crystals..." Sombra hissed.
"Not today!" Shine stomped on the horn, and proceeded to stomp it until it finally broke.
"Noooo...." Sombra dissipated into nothingness...
The stolen magic flowed out of the shattered horn. One stream flowed into Celestia, restoring her.
"Yes!" She boomed, shattering her bonds instantly. "I knew you could do it, Shine!"
Down below, the shadow ponies suddenly disintegrated.
"Um... did we win?" Fluttershy asked meekly.
"Yeah, we did!" Rainbow cheered.
From up above, more streams of magic flowed down, restoring Luna, Twilight, Cadance and Chrysalis.
"Do you feel that?" Luna smiled.
"Our magic." Cadance smiled. "It's returned to us."
"That can only mean one thing: Black Knight has been beaten." Twilight smiled.
"Sleight!"
Sleight turned to see Chrysalis flying over to him.
"I'm back!" Chrysalis smiled, her normal form restored.
"Chrys..." Sleight smiled, embracing her.
"It'zzz good to have you back, my queen." Char bowed.
"I could say the same to you, Char." Chrysalis smiled warmly.
As for Twitch, who was bounded by ropes, dark magic began to sizzle off him, as his body began shrinking back to original size, and back to tip-top condition. He was able to slip out of the ropes now…but now, he was surrounded by lots of angry ponies…
"Uhhh... t-time out?" He stuttered.
"I don't think zzzo, zzzcum." Char sneered.
"You were working for that monster." Luna declared. "And you will pay the price for your part in his evil."
"Oh, don't tell me you actually took me s-seriously with all t-the threats and stuff, right?" Twitch stammered.
"If you call trying to kill us 'stuff', then yes." Iron growled.
"You're as bad as Black." Constell declared. "You did everything he said with a smile on your face."
"And now that you've been cut back down to size, it's payback time." Flash smirked, as the ponies advanced on Twitch.
"I'm getting' the f-f-f-f-f-f-f-!" Twitch yelped, running away as fast as he could, before tripping and getting back up. "I'm outta here!"
"Stop him!" Twilight called.
Several ponies moved to follow, but the Napoleons cut them off.
"Leave this to us." Grimoire declared.
"It's personal." Murray added.
"Ya hear that, Twitch?" Salt yelled. "We're comin' for ya!"
Twitch ran as fast as he could, the Napoleons in hot pursuit. He turned every corner he could find, eventually finding his way into an alley. Just as he reached the other side, an excruciating pain erupted in his two back legs, Murray having fired two crossbow bolts into them.
"Yaah!" He screamed, dropping to the ground in agony, "Lauren Faust!"
The Napoleons approached their fallen prey.
"Finally!" Slot panted. "This time, you're dead!"
"All the pain you've caused us will be paid back... in full." Vinny smirked.
"I'm gonna enjoy watching you squirm." Salt jeered.
"I think you should have the honor of wasting this slime, Grim." Lars declared.
"Seems fitting." Sonny agreed. "You knew Anarchy best, after all."
"Here you go, Grimm." Murray passed him one of his crossbows. "Locked and loaded."
"Thanks, but I think the honor should go to Caboose." Grimoire declined.
"Him?!" Slot gaped.
"Me?!" Caboose frowned.
"You deserve it the most, Caboose." Grimoire declared. "Twitch took the big brother that you never knew away. You, more than any us, should be the one to do the deed."
"Right..." Caboose nodded.
Caboose approached the trembling Twitch, pointing his large crossbow at him.
Caboose stared at the terrified Twitch... and sighed.
"I can't do this." He admitted.
"Say what?" Vinny asked.
"You gotta do it!" Slot grimaced. "This slime deserves it!"
"They're right, Caboose." Grimoire nodded. "This piece of scum scarred our family for life. It's time he got what was coming to him."
The other brothers muttered words of agreement.
"No, guys." Caboose said firmly. "Don't you see? Revenge won't solve anything. Killing Twitch won't bring Anarchy back, now will it?"
"No... but still!" Sonny protested.
"That buckface gotta pay!" Slot added.
"But if we kill him, we'll be as bad as he is!" Caboose countered. "We have to be the better stallions here!"
"Of course we're better." Salt scowled. "That's why we're doing this! To show Twitch what happens when you mess with the best!"
"We're only better then him because we don't do what he does." Caboose declared. "But if we stoop to his level, what would make us any better? Would we be worthy of the respect we've earned? Would we be worthy of our mares?"
Grimoire sighed deeply.
"Maybe Caboose has a point." He admitted. "All these years we've spent chasing Twitch has only kept our pain alive. Killing him won't end it…"
"I guess so..." Murray groaned.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Caboose does make a logical argument." Lars sighed.
"But Anarchy…" Vinny muttered. "We did all of this for him…"
"As much as Anarchy would had loved for us to avenge him… I don't think he would want us to kill somepony to do so." Salt shook his head.
"Yeah, Archie was good like that..." Sonny nodded.
"He was pretty forgiving..." Lars mused. "Didn't believe in holding grudges. Maybe we should follow his example."
"Personally, I still think we should waste 'im." Slot shrugged. "But it looks like I'm outvoted. As usual..."
"Welcome to my world." Caboose joked, patting him on the back.
Twitch glanced around…
"So, does that mean you're going to let me go?" Twitch asked hopefully.
The brothers glared at him.
"Oh, hay no." Grimoire shook his head. "You tried to take over Equestria, tried to kill our wives, two of which were carrying our foals."
"But y-you said…" Twitch muttered.
"We wouldn't kill you. But we cannot simply let you go." Caboose explained, "You obviously want us dead, and if we let you go, what's to stop you from trying to kill us again?"
"That's why we are going with plan B." Grimm declared.
The eight ponies light up their horns, and a rift opened up... revealing Tartarus. Twitch was horrified.
"No... No... NO!" Twitch screamed. "Not that! Anything but that!"
"Oh yeah. It's a good thing we all mastered this spell ever since Caboose accidentally brought Anti-Faust into the world trying to find parallel universes." Murray chuckled darkly.
"Y'know, she wasn't nearly as scary-looking as I thought she'd be..." Caboose shrugged.
"The only place fit for monsters like you is in a place filled with them…" Sonny muttered.
"So, in other words…see you in Tartarus, you mangy flank-buck." Vinny sneered.
Salt and Murray grabbed the scared Twitch.
"No, no, NO!" Twitch tried to fight them. "NO! PLEASE!"
"Give Tirek and Cerberus our regards!" Grimoire taunted.
"And let us know if Tartarus ever does freeze over!" Caboose joined in.
With a heave-ho motion, Murray and Salt chucked the poor pony through the portal.
"NO!" Twitch cried as the portal slammed shut behind him, leaving him trapped indefinitely…
"And that's the end of that chapter." Salt smirked.
"Come on." Grimoire urged. "Let's get back to the castle. We might still be needed.
Back at the castle, the leaders of the army was making it's way inside. Mist, Big Red and Luna entered the throne room first.
"Shine?! Celestia?!" Mist called.
"Shine?!" Big Red yelled.
"Sister?!" Luna called.
"Over here!"
The three glanced towards the back of the room, to see a bruised but still kickin' Shine limping, leaning on his wife for support. Miracle noticed her aunts and grandpa.
"Misty, Luna, Grampa!" She cheered, running over and hugging Big Red as her parents join them.
"Oh, Miracle, Ah wuz so worried about yew guys..." Big Red smiled.
"Sorry, Red... just had some family manners to sort out." Shine declared.
"Just what is going on?" Mist asked. "First, the shadow ponies, Crystal Sun, this guy named Red Eclipse, you almost dying..." She rubbed her head. "Oh, I'm nine months pregnant, I shouldn't have this much pressure put on me!"
"It's fine, little sister..." Celestia wrapped a wing around her. "Everything's okay now."
"And what of Black Knight?" Luna asked.
"Yeah, what of Black?" Big Red agreed. "Is it over?"
"Yeah... the Crystal Sun is no more, as well as the horn." Shine nodded. "Black is powerless to do any more harm."
The other royals and leaders came in to join them.
"Whoa, look at this place..." Sazh gaped.
"I'll zzzay." Char agreed. "Lookzzz like a bull went through a china shop... then set off a grenade, and had a hydra trample the ashes."
"That's a very interesting thought process you have there, Char." Sazh snarked.
"Well, at least we won." Twilight smiled. "That's the main thing."
"Yeah." Rainbow nodded. "We kicked their flanks!"
"No doubt!" Blue Blazes chuckled.
"I'm just thankful it's over." Wizel sighed.
"And I'm glad all our loved ones are okay." Luxury nuzzled Constell.
"Right back at ya." Constell smirked.
Shining and his family looked at their ruined home in shock. Shine stepped beside Shining.
"Sorry about your house." Shine apologized.
"Don't worry about it." Shining sighed. "I think insurance should cover this place..." A column fell over and shattered. "I hope..."
Sleight joined them.
"So... what are we going to do about Black Knight?" He asked. "I mean, I'm not one for the death penalty, but he did try to take over and destroy Equestria."
"And he threatened thousands of lives, including our loved ones." Shining added. "No doubt the entire country will be out for his head."
"...I don't know..." Shine frowned. "For all the terrible things he's done, there's a part of me that actually feels sorry for him..."
"Let's not linger on the matter." Celestia joined them. "For now, let's be grateful that we and all of Equestria can rest easily tonight."
"You read my mind." Shine smiled, as they walked over to the others. "I don't know about you, cherryblossom, but I could really go for some veggie shawarma right now."
Everypony laughed. Meanwhile, Royal Guard members moved to apprehend the prone Black Knight. As one went to touch him, Black Knight's eye darted open. A loud growl echoed, much to everypony's shock as they turned around just in time to see the guards get thrown into walls. Approaching the group was Black Knight, his body staggering a bit.
"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me." Sleight groaned.
Black Knight paused, before throwing up a little, and wiped his snout.
"Rule #1, boy... never turn your back on your opponent unless he is dead... you just don't learn, do you?" Black coughed a little.
"It's over, Black!" Big Red stepped forward. "Ya gotta stop this! Ya don't have anything left! No army, no powers... for Faust's sake, yer blind!"
"Bah! I have no need for sight or powers of darkness, nor the hooves of a thousand stallions!" Black boasted. "I will see my dream through to the end, even if I have to work for it with my four own hooves! And I won't let anypony stand in my way!"
"Guards, seize him!" Celestia, Shining and Sleight said as one.
Guards and Changelings alike charged at Black, but Black swatted them aside, still going strong. Unicorn guards and Changelings fired their beams at him, leaving scorch marks on his body.
"Gah!" Black yelped. "Go… with... the... pain..."
"Black... he can't take anymore of this..." Shine realized.
Char let out a growl as he charged at Black.
"Time to put you down for good, Eclipse!" He snarled.
Black threw out another vicious punch, blasting Char against a nearby wall. The magic blasts were finally getting to him though, and he grew weak in the knees. Shine couldn't bear to see his uncle take anymore punishment.
"STOP THIS!" He yelled. "Cease fire!"
"Cease-Shine, he's-" Shining protested.
"I don't care!" Shine cut him off. "No pony, not even him, deserves to be put through all this pain!"
The others glanced at him with shock. Black heard Shine's voice, and his body surged with rage.
"Are you serious?!" Sleight snarled. "He deserves everything he gets!"
"Who are you to say that?" Shine glared.
"Who are you to defend him?" Chrysalis growled. "Have you forgotten what that monster did to us?"
"Seriously, Shine, what's the deal?" Gothic asked.
"He's family... and family don't kill family!" Shine proclaimed.
Black heard Shine's words, but in White's voice... his rage got the better of him.
"That's... where you're wrong..." He hissed.
Shine looked on in shock, as Black Knight charged at him one last time, letting out a guttural roar.
"Shine!" Celestia yelled.
"Daddy!" Miracle cried.
A whistle of a bolt was heard, as Black stopped in his tracks. Shine gasped. Black, unable to see, felt around his chest, feeling blood and a bolt embedded in it. Everypony glanced at the direction of where the bolt came from, and Caboose was standing there, his crossbow shaking, while his brothers were right behind him.
"Uh-uh…" Black gasped, as he crumbled to the ground.
"Black!" Shine ran over and slowed his descent, as he laid him on his side, "Black…"
"Don't tell me... it was that Caboose kid... wasn't it?" Black gurgled.
"Shine... I didn't... he was gonna... I had no..." Caboose babbled in shock.
"It's fine, Caboose..." Grimoire comforted him.
"Black... I'm sorr-" Shine started.
"That kid... for being a pain in the neck, he sure has sparks... just like you... just like... Whitey..." Black laughed deliriously.
"Hang on." Shine turned to the others. "Somepony, get a medic!"
"Don't bother." Black wheezed. "No pony's gonna waste their breath on a traitor to the country. They never did..."
"...Oh, Black... why... why did it had to be this way?" Shine started tearing up. "Aside from Mist, you were the only family we had left. Had I just known..."
"Wait, what are you talking about, Shine?" Mist asked in confusion.
"Black was our uncle, Mist." Shine whispered.
"What?!" Mist gasped.
"It's true." Celestia nodded.
Mist was filled in on Black's story.
"Oh, my..." Mist gasped. "That's awful!"
"But it didn't have to be that way..." Shine sighed. "You could have done something good, atoned for your dark deeds, made peace with your family..."
"Don't beat yourself up, kid… that bridge was burned far before you were even conceived." Black declared. "There was no turning back for me... I knew it from the moment Rookie died... besides... I wouldn't been able to look at you without seeing Whitey in you..." He coughed. "I never stopped loving your father, you know, he was all I had when mom and dad died... guess with the whole betrayal, I just couldn't get over how he did that to me... maybe it was for justice... or to save my soul." He grunted in pain. "All I wanted was a better future for Equestria... was I wrong in wanting that?"
"...No... no, you weren't." Shine admitted. "But this wasn't the way... it just wasn't."
"Huh..." Black put a hoof on Shine's. "At least... at least there's you." Shine glanced at him, confused. "Break the cycle... make Paladin a name worth remembering. Faust knows I failed... but maybe there's hope for you." His breathing began slowing down.
"Black?" Shine gasped.
"I'm glad that if anypony were to best me one last time, it would be you... your old man would be proud..." Black smiled, his body getting cold.
"Black, please..." Shine begged, tears dropping from his eyes.
"Don't cry... Shine... tears makes us Paladins look bad." Black turned limply to Big Red. "Take care of him, Red... like you did Whitey... won't you?"
"Black..." Big Red muttered.
Black let out a small chuckle, as he whispered a somber song.
"I never... said I'd lie and wait forever... If I died, we'd be together... I can't always just forget her... but she could try..."
Black let out one last sigh, as he grew limp.
"No..." Shine murmured, as tears streamed down his face. "Black… I'm so sorry…"
"I killed him." Caboose dropped to his knees. "I really killed him. I really killed somepony on purpose… I feel sick..."
"Dude…what about the Clopranos?" Slot asked.
"I'm pretty sure that was O'Malley." Caboose shrugged.
"You did what was right." Grimoire assured him. "You defended prince Shine the only way you could. Nopony could ever say you were in the wrong."
"Tell that to my gut." Caboose groaned.
Shine, eventually running out of tears, wiped his eyes, and closed Black's blind one.
"Goodbye, uncle..." He sniffed, as Celestia placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Maybe now, you'll finally know peace..."
The hard-fought battle was over, but for Shine, the pain would linger. The uncle he never knew he had was gone. Despite his evil, he was still Shine's blood, and the loss of another family member weighed heavily on his heart.
A week after the final battle, an emergency meeting was held in the destroyed throne room of the crystal castle. Officials from all over the world had gathered to listen, as Shine made an address.
"Good afternoon, everypony." Shine announced, "As some of you may be able to tell from the state of this throne room... things have been rather hectic as of late. Well, to be truthful, we in Equestria have suffered greatly in recent times. A foe unlike any other tried to take our country, and oppress all who live here."
"My word..." Baron Broadbeak of Aerovis gasped.
"Again?" Prime Minister Head Strong of Minostan frowned. "Who was it this time?"
"An extremist pony named Black Knight, using the powers of an old enemy to try and enforce his vision of a perfect Equestria." Shine declared. "He and his shadow pony forces nearly brought us to the brink of ruin. But now, the crisis is over... and I like to think that we as a country had grown strong for it. In the last couple of days, I had seen ponies from all over Equestria come together to rise up and fight the evil that had threatened these lands. For that, I am sincerely grateful." Shine smiled.
"Sounds like quite a scuffle." Mr. Cavallo, the Prime Minister of Bitaly, remarked. "I hope the damage incurred during the conflict wasn't too extensive."
"Don't you worry about that. We have already begun to rebuild." Shine explained.
"If you need any help rebuilding, Minostan would be glad to assist." Head Strong declared.
"As would Aerovis." Broadbeak nodded.
"Ditto Bitaly." Mr. Cavallo smiled.
The other dignitaries made similar offers of help
"Thank you." Shine smiled. "Your offers are most appreciated. Our ponies have taken to the repairs with gusto, but we could always use some extra hooves, or talons, or... whatever you call those things at the end of your arms, Head Strong."
"Hands." Head Strong declared.
"Is that what they're called?" Shine shrugged. "I honestly didn't know. Anyway, the hardest-hit areas have already undergone major reconstruction..."
A few days after the battle, Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire were all in the process of being repaired. Though the damage was extensive, the ponies were giving it their all.
"That's it, pardners!" Applejack called, as she oversaw the repairs of Ponyville town hall. "We got us a mighty big gap ta fill!"
"Tell me about it." Rainbow Dash scoffed, as she gestured to town hall's missing top. "Not even Derpy did that much of a number on the place."
"Let that live forever..." Derpy frowned. "I keep telling you, I just don't know what went wrong!"
"The rest of us do." Rainbow glared. "And some of us still have the scars to prove it."
Twilight's palace had weathered the attack far better then the crystal castle did, suffering only superficial damages inside and out.
"Those shadow creeps had better not have been in my room." Starlight growled.
"Way to prioritise, sis." Dusk smirked.
"This shouldn't take too long to fix." Flash remarked, appraising the damages. "Too bad we can't say the same about Ponyville."
"Ponyville's weathered worst disasters in it's time." Twilight declared.
"I'll say." Spike agreed. "Remember the ursa minor? Remember Cerberus? Remember Tirek? Compared to them, that shadow pony attack was a walk in the park."
"I wouldn't go that far, Spike." Twilight sighed. "But at least things will be back to normal soon."
"Yeah, that's the way to describe our lives." Spike smirked. "Normal..."
In the Crystal Empire, the Crystal Ponies were having a harder time repairing the damage to the castle.
"Look at this mess." One Crystal Ponies sighed. "Our beautiful kingdom, tarnished."
"No kidding." Another frowned. "Did those monstrous brutes know how hard it is to repair buildings made out of crystal?! It's not like we can fill in the cracks with bricks and mortar. We have to find crystals of the same type, the same color, the same amount of facets, and in just the right shape to fill in the gaps seamlessly. But did they think about that when they smashed giant holes in the walls? Noooo!"
"This could take a while." Shining frowned, observing the slow pace of repairs. "And in the meantime, we're short on lodgings."
"Maybe a vacation's in order." Cadance suggested. "We could have a nice, relaxing getaway while the castle's being repaired."
"Somewhere nice and sunny, I hope." Anthem smiled.
"Then we're agreed." Shining nodded. "We're going on vacation!"
"We have been reunited with the loved ones we were cruelly torn away from..." Shine continued.
After the battle was over, Twilight hugged the rest of the Mane Six and Spike, glad to see them again.
"I've missed you, guys." She smiled.
"We've missed you too." Fluttershy beamed.
"Ain't that the truth." Applejack nodded.
"I was afraid I'd lost you, and the rest of our family..." Spike confessed.
"Not me." Rainbow smirked. "I knew you'd make it. You always do."
"She does have quite the track record." Rarity agreed.
"Hey, don't go hogging all the love." Flash chuckled. "Save some for me and the kids."
"Coming right up." Twilight grinned, giving Flash a hug and kiss, then embracing Dusk and Starlight.
"Come on, guys!" Pinkie cheered. "Let's get back to Ponyville, and have us an 'Equestria's been saved for the thousandth time' party!"
"Never change, Pinkie." Twilight smiled.
"Why would I?" Pinkie asked. "I just gotta be me!"
There was a lot of hugging going on; Big Red and Cherry were among the many.
"Oh, Red." Cherry smiled. "For a second there, I was worried we'd never have the chance to do this. When that big brute hit you..."
"Shoot, darlin'." Big Red chuckled. "Takes more than an oversized stallion to bring me down."
"Glad to hear it." Cherry kissed him.
Not too far from them, Mist was reuniting with her Shine, Celestia and Miracle.
"I was so worried about you." Mist admitted. "I knew something was wrong when you didn't come back. And when that Red Eclipse showed up, I thought..."
"It's okay, Mist." Shine hugged his little sister.
"Everything's okay now." Celestia added, as she and Miracle joined in the hug.
Just then, Big Red came up and grabbed them all from behind, lifting them up in a powerful hug.
"Darn tootin'!" He cheered.
"Whoa!" Miracle giggled. "Easy there, grampa. I've had kinda a rough day. Might throw up if I don't get down, y'know?"
"Oop, you got it." Big Red put them down.
Meanwhile, Caboose was reuniting with his own family.
"You okay, honey?" Daring asked. "You're looking a little down for a hero."
"I know." Caboose sighed. "It's just... I killed Black. I've only ever killed in self-defense before..."
"There wasn't much of a choice." Daring declared. "He had to be stopped."
"Yeah, I guess..." Caboose mused. "But it just felt so wrong..."
"We don't think any less of you for it, dad." Hurricane declared. "As far as we're concerned, you're a hero."
"So killing makes me a hero?" Caboose asked.
"No." Hurricane shook her head. "You rescuing all of us makes you a hero. Not to mention keeping Celestia's power safe."
"Our daughter's pretty smart." Daring grinned. "So you know, if she says you're a hero, you probably are."
"Daddy's a hero!" Michael squealed.
"Thanks, Mikey." Caboose smiled half-heartedly.
"Look, 'Boose." Daring said solemnly. "We all do things we regret. But we can't dwell on them, or they'll take over our entire lives. I know it's hard, but you have to try to let it go."
"...I'll try." Caboose nodded.
"And we'll be there to help you." Daring smiled. "If you want to dwell on something, dwell on us, and how much we love you."
Daring punctuated her point by kissing Caboose.
"That could work." Caboose grinned.
"Not to mention, old alliances have been reforged..." Shine smiled.
The Changelings were heading back to their homeland.
"Ah, victory..." Char smiled. "I had forgotten how it felt..."
"And we couldn't have achieved it without working together." Wizel smiled. "Ponies, Changelings, and more, all working toward a common goal. Deep down, we're not so different..."
"Perhapzzz..." Char frowned. "It wazzz not completely unbearable to fight alongzzzide them."
"Well, looks like prison mellowed you out some." Sazh smirked.
"Don't puzzzh it, runt." Char snarled.
"I must admit, Char, I was surprised to see you here." Chrysalis declared. "I thought you had given up on me, and our hive."
"For the longezzzt time, I did." Char sighed. "But my time in the dungeonzzz hazzz helped me zzzee the error of my wayzzz. I am ready to rejoin the hive, azzz a loyal and productive member... if you'll have me, of courzzze."
"What do you think, dear?" Chrysalis asked.
"I think everypony deserves a second chance." Sleight smiled. "And from what I've seen today, I think Char has earned his. Welcome back... Colonel Char."
"You would... reinzzztate me?" Char gasped.
"It's the least I can do, after you saved my life." Sleight declared.
"Thank you... my king." Char bowed curtly.
"Oh, joy..." Sazh groaned. "Ol' hardshell's back amongst the troops."
"Buck up there, Sazh." Wizel chuckled. "It's not all bad."
"That's your opinion." Sazh snarked.
"Even friends from as far as Bitaly played their part." Shine smiled. "For they, too, had as much to lose as any of us."
Up in the snowy mountains, the Napoleon brothers (minus Caboose) had returned to the bunker. Salt wrenched open the hatch. Inside was seven very annoyed mares.
"Oh, look who's back." May frowned. "Had your fun playing war, have you?"
"Don't be like that, May." Murray declared. "It was for your own good."
"It did feel like that." Zecora growled. "We were trapped, like a rat!"
"There was no choice." Grimoire declared. "We had to keep you here."
"How do you figure that?" Redheart asked.
"We couldn't let you risk yourselves out there." Salt answered. "And I would like to state this clearly... you are pregnant!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Redheart snarked.
"Come on, Red, as much as I would love our son to get a headstart in fighting, I didn't want him and you to get hurt..." Salt declared.
"Yeah, we wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to you." Vinny added.
"But it was okay for you to risk yourselves?" Berry demanded.
"Look at it logically." Lars urged. "Few of you have any real battle experience... in fact, the only one that ever did something remotely violent was Zecora back in her tribal days!"
"Logic, shmogic!" Lyra spat. "We should have done it together!"
"That's what love is." Bon-Bon added. "A partnership."
"True, but-" Sonny started.
"No buts!" Vinyl yelled. "Especially you, Slot!"
"Sorry, babe." Slot cringed.
"Please forgive us." Grimoire pleaded. "We know what we did was wrong, but we had to do it. We loved you too much to risk letting you die fighting."
As one, the mares embraced their stallions, tears in their eyes.
"Your deeds were noble and true." Zecora smiled. "That is why we love you."
"Thanks, Zecor." Grimoire smiled.
"You may be a chauvinistic doofus, but you're my chauvinistic doofus." Vinyl kissed Slot.
"Thanks... I think." Slot shrugged.
"I, for one, am hoping you'll make this up to us." Bon-Bon declared.
"How about I cook dinner for the rest of the week?" Sonny offered.
"Deal." Bon-Bon smiled.
"I'll be expecting a lot of hoofrubs from you, mister." Lyra told Lars.
"Consider it done." Lars smiled.
"And you're treating me to a night on the town." Berry told Vinny.
"My pleasure." Vinny smiled.
"I'm just glad you're okay." Redheart hugged Salt.
"Me too." Salt hugged her back.
"Just don't do it again." May chided Murray.
"I promise." Murray nodded, before pulling her in for a kiss. "Now c'mere!"
"I heard the heads of the Bitalian mafia themselves were there." Head Strong remarked. "They had even unmasked themselves... as the Napoleon brothers."
"Yeah... aren't you friends with them, Mr. Cavallo?" Baron Broadbeak glared at him.
The Prime Minister of Bitaly shrunk back nervously.
"Uh... uh... no, I'm sure you must be talking about another group of brothers..." Mr. Cavallo glanced warily.
"Really?" Head Strong snorted. "Another octet of criminal siblings? They must be very common in your country..."
"Rest assured, we have given the matter due consideration." Shine declared.
A couple of days after the battle, the royals had gathered to discuss matters, and the discussion soon turned toward the Napoleons.
"I knew there was something off about them." Shining shook his head. "What other family wear matching suits?"
"But this begs the question... what do we do with them?" Twilight asked.
"Aren't we supposed to have them arrested?" Anthem asked. "They are criminals, after all."
"Things aren't always so black and white, young Anthem." Celestia declared. "They may be criminals, but they are also philanthropists. Most of their ill-gotten gains are taken from those more corrupt then they, and donated to the needy."
"But they're still breaking the law, no matter where the money goes." Starlight pointed out.
"Starlight's right." Dusk agreed.
"But they do happen to be my in-laws." Blueblood reminded them.
"And my family." Dusty added sternly.
"So?" Twilight frowned. "That doesn't make them exempt from the law!"
"Perhaps, but they're far from the worst examples of evil in Equestria." Gothic declared. "From what I've heard, they had actually kept Black imprisoned for ten years, ensuring he wouldn't hurt anypony."
"They didn't exactly have the right to do that, though." Flash countered. "They're not Royal Guards, or even police."
"And what of Caboose?" Luna asked. "He is one of our most dedicated Royal Guardsponies. Losing him would be quite a blow."
"But he was still part of it, wasn't he?" Shining asked. "Before he came to Canterlot. So he should have to answer for his crimes too."
"I think you're forgetting that they summoned a large part of the forces that came to battle Black's shadow ponies." Cadance declared, glaring reproachfully at Shining. "And might I remind you that it was Caboose who freed us all? If it weren't for the Napoleon brothers, we probably wouldn't be here right now. Am I right?"
"...Yes, dear." Shine cringed.
"Cadance does have a point." Twilight sighed. "We may not have beaten Black Knight without the Napoleons."
"But the question remains: what shall we do with them?" Flash asked.
The royal family debated long and hard about that, before coming to a unanimous decision.
"Trust me, we are well aware of their wrongdoings." Shine declared to the visiting dignitaries. "But we're also well aware that if it weren't for them, we might not be standing here today. Which is why they were issued full pardons for their crimes."
"Isn't the youngest brother in the Royal Guard?" Baron Broadbeak asked.
"Yes, indeed." Shine nodded. "He was given the badge of honor for being there for all of us in our darkest hours."
In the Canterlot throne room, Caboose was given the badge of honor by Celestia herself.
"For your courageous and selfless actions, my dear stallion." Celestia smiled.
"Wow..." Caboose looked at the badge. He turned to Daring and the kids, who were waving at him from across the room. "This... really is an honor..."
As Caboose made to return to them, Iron Hooves came over.
"Not bad... for a former mafiosa." Iron declared.
"Oh, you heard about that, huh?" Caboose cringed. "Guess I'm not the Guard you thought I am. You're not disappointed, are you."
"On the contrary, I respect you more now than ever." Iron smiled. "You revealed your secret to save Equestria. I couldn't be prouder, lieutenant."
"You're not the only one." Daring smiled, as she and the kids came over.
"Way to go, dad." Hurricane smiled.
"Yay, daddy!" Michael cheered.
"Aw, you guys..." Caboose chuckled. "Am I a lucky stallion, or what?"
"The luckiest." Iron smiled.
"And what of the other Napoleons?" Headstrong asked.
"Well, I cannot disclose where they are now, but I heard that due to a gas explosion back at their manor in Bitaly, they decided to have a change of venue." Shine declared.
"And where would that be?" Baron Broadbeak asked.
"...Your guess is as good as mine." Shine shrugged.
Within the Everfree Forest, a new mansion was on the verge of completion. The Napoleons, their mares, and Blueblood and Dusty surveyed it.
"It's coming along nicely." Grimoire smiled. "What do you think?"
"It's a real beauty alright." Blueblood admitted. "Better than the original, in fact."
"This is just what we needed." Murray declared. "Now, our mares are just around the corner."
"But won't it be difficult to run the mafia from here?" Dusty asked.
"Yeah, about that..." Salt sighed.
"We've decided to take a little sabbatical." Lars declared. "Not only will we be spending time with our mares, but we're going to pursue other callings."
"Murray's my new bodyguard." May purred. "Which means we'll be working... very closely from now on."
Murray smiled furtively.
"I'll be doing full-time managering at my restaurant in Canterlot." Sonny declared.
"And I'll be doing the same with my teaching job at the School For Gifted Unicorns." Lars added.
"I'll be joining Vi on her next tour." Slot declared.
"I could always use another roadie." Vinyl smirked. "And a cute one, at that."
"I'll be taking up work as a boxer." Salt announced. "And father..." He added, stroking Redheart's stomach.
"What about you, dad?" Dusty asked.
"I got that all figured out." Grimoire nodded, "Given all that had happened, I think I'll start writing a book about the mafia life; An autobiography following the high and lows of a stallion who rose to power as kingpin of Bitaly and his seven crazy yet ever so steadfast brothers."
"Ah, you…" The brothers blushed.
"It'll certainly give me something to do, while I wait for my second foal." Grimoire smiled.
"That won't be all you do." Zecora smiled. "I have plans for you..."
"Well, good luck to all of you." Blueblood smiled.
"Wow." Dusty grinned. "It's like a whole new beginning for the Napoleons."
"And why not?" Murray smiled. "With Twitch dealt with, there's no more old ghosts to haunt us."
"And plenty of new life to look forward to." Salt smiled, rubbing Redheart's stomach again.
"What about Black Knight's second-in-command?" Head Strong asked. "What became of him?"
"That, I really don't know. When I asked Caboose, he just hummed the tune to 'Towroad To Tartarus'." Shine declared.
Twitch languished in Tartarus, his hooves chained to the floor. He glanced across at his neighbor, who was none other than Tirek.
"What are you looking at?" Tirek growled.
"N-n-nothing!" Twitch yelped.
"Nothing?" Tirek spat. "You're the one who's nothing. What you did was low, even by my standards."
"H-how did you know about that?" Twitch gulped.
"My body may be imprisoned, but my mind isn't." Tirek declared. "With careful focus, I can see what lies above. I saw you, and that pitiful master of yours. Your twisted campaign was one of the most repugnant sights I have ever seen. Now, turn away from my being. Your very gaze sickens me!"
Twitch nervously turned away, before snarling darkly.
"You'll pay for this, Napoleons." He seethed. "I don't know how, but you'll pay."
"And Black Knight himself?" Baron Broadbeak asked. "What will become of the fiend's body?"
"Don't you worry about him... I have it all taken care of..." Shine said grimly.
Two days later, Shine, Celestia and Miracle arrived at Dodge Junction. He travelled to the cherry orchard, where Black Knight's body was to be buried.
The grave had been dug right next to White Knight's. Shine and Big Red placed in the coffin, and covered it with soil. Shine stepped forward, wanting to say a few words.
"Black Knight did a lot of awful things." He admitted. "Terrible things. But he felt they were justified. He saw Equestria was corrupted, and he sought to cleanse it so that Equestria would become a better place... but somewhere along the way... he lost himself. But in the end, he wanted a better Equestria, where there was no strife, no anger, no war... An admirable goal, but the way he set about doing it was anything but. He killed, he maimed, he imprisoned my family and friends..." He glanced back at Miracle. "And he almost took you away from me…"
"Dad..." Miracle whispered.
"I want to hate him..." Shine confessed. "But I can't. He was family, and even after everything he did…I can't find it in me to do it. Even now…"
"That ain't nuthin' ta be ashamed of, Shine." Big Red comforted him. "That's what makes ya a good stallion, and ain't nopony can say otherwise."
"Big Red's right, Shine." Celestia smiled. "That's why I love you."
"Me too, dad." Miracle smiled.
"Don't forget me." Cherry beamed.
"Thanks, everypony." Shine smiled. "And I know dad would feel the same way. He'd want Black buried beside him, despite everything he'd done. Brothers to the end."
A slab of tree bark served as Black's headstone. The words "A stallion with a dream" had been etched upon it. Shine stood at the grave, still and silent.
"Are you coming in?" Celestia asked.
"In a minute." Shine sighed. "I just need a moment to compose myself."
"I understand." Celestia nodded.
As Celestia went indoors, Shine turned to his father's grave.
"I hope I did you proud, dad." He declared. "And I hope that, wherever you are now, you and Black can finally reconcile."
With that, Shine turned, and headed into the homestead, the sun setting behind him.
The ponies of Equestria had faced their greatest battle ever, against a foe that seemed unstoppable. But, through the power of love and friendship, they had pulled through. The darkness had faded, making way for a brighter tomorrow.