Ass kicked. Ready for another round.

So, if you've checked your feed, 100.5 Part 5 is out. However, I should point out that this chapter was going to likely end up being 20,000+ words if I didn't cut back where I did and publish what I have here and now.

If you've read the chapter already, then perhaps you can see why parts of this took so long. Where the fights pick up and how they're handled had to be weighed and balanced properly. Both scenes in the cave and outside of it needed to share the same time constraints for combat and development, while keeping the characters in line with what they were capable of.

Spoilers for those who haven't read the chapter yet:
The fight with Spike was hard to do. It couldn't be just him, as so many others would be itching to get their hits in as well. Bat ponies, Vogt, Guilda, the Wonderbolts, all of them. However, which characters have more skill than power or strength? How strong really is a yak? What would happen if a pony hit Harmony harder than their body could take? How much damage could a standard weapon do against Harmony who is still adjusting to being exposed to Order? How much stronger has Twilight and her herd grown because of their time with Sniff vs how much strong the oldest alicorn with 70% of Harmony's power would be? Is one stronger than the other?

Then coming to the humans in the cave, I didn't feel like Cerb finally snapping or Pinkie's musical accompaniment justified a complete inhalation of the remaining Echoes. Not when both sides were so worn down and the injuries were stacking up. It simply had to end, and I found this to make the most sense where both sides knew it was going to end one way, but the fight wasn't worth it.

The same thought went into getting the kids out. It couldn't be too easy, and Gruff, just from being an ass, was the only one fit to finish the job.

So, here we are. It's almost over, and I just want to give this story a proper send off. My apologies for it taking so long.