It was years ago, but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked back on their time with Ophidian fondly. Remembering the day when they first brought the teen dragon to Diamond’s mansion, their butler had indulged in her young mistress’ requests for a long time, but this most recent act of taken in a dragon was a little worrying. Diamond Tiara noted Randall’s concern but in the end insisted that she knew what she was doing. All three were currently residing in Diamond Tiara’s large room, with the dragon lying on the filly’s lavish bed. It wasn’t a big deal, she could always have her father buy another one. To the same degree as Randall, Silver Spoon was objecting as well.
“DT are you serious?! He’s a dragon! A! DRAGON! What makes you think this is a good idea?!” Silver Spoon asked.
“It’s just a dragon, besides, he doesn’t look that much bigger than that dragon that hangs around the blank flanks, you know, what’s his name…? Spike, the one who works for Princess Twilight.” Diamond stated.
Silver Spoon shook her head. “Tiara, that…that baby dragon was raised by Princess Twilight, which means he’s lived with ponies for a long time! How do we know this one’s not just some random dragon who was passing through?! Need I remind you, he blew up a Timberwolf! BLEW IT UP!”
Diamond rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know, I was there. I also remember it almost eating us before he called out to it and fought it. Just chill out Spoony, everything will be fine.”
Silver Spoon was the opposite of chill, she was freaking out. Dragons didn’t exactly like ponies, and after witnessing how easily a teenage dragon just obliterated an Alpha Timberwolf, it would take literally a blink of the eye to destroy two fillies. There was a stirring from the bed, catching both fillies’ attention.
The orange dragon groaned loudly, feeling every muscle in his body ache. “What happened to me…?”
“You fought a Timberwolf, and blew it up, and you saved us in the process,” said Diamond Tiara.
“‘Sssaved’?” the orange dragon sat up slowly. He glanced about the room, noting that it was quite large and filled with expensive toys, tiara’s of different fashions, and a plush bedspread. “Why in the name of the Life Entity did you sssave me?”
Diamond Tiara rubbed the back of her head and chuckled nervously. “Well…you saved us, and you looked really banged up - ugh - look, who cares why! I just did it because you helped us, simple as that!”
Silver and the dragon glanced to each other with deadpan expressions, with a unified thought running through their heads. Yeah right, ‘simple’.
Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses and narrowed her gaze. “I still think that colt messed with your head, that one with the weird purple light!”
The dragon’s eyes narrowed his gaze. “‘Purple’ light, as in indigo?”
Diamond and Silver cocked their heads in confusion.
The dragon waved his claw over Diamond Tiara and immediately he could see a small amount of the indigo light of Compassion was lingering within pink filly. The dragon snorted flames, he could sense the filly’s Avarice, but it also had traces of Compassion.
“So, do like, have a name?” Silver Spoon asked.
“Ophidian,” he grunted.
“‘Ophidian’, weird name,” remarked Silver.
“No offense, but I find most of you creaturesss in this world have funny names.” Ophidian shot back.
Ignoring the death glare Silver Spoon shot him, Ophidian tried to reconnect to his true power, but as he did the Seal of Compassion appeared before him, cutting off his connection to his stronger abilities. “I really am powerlesss now. If a creature as lowly as that wooden mutt could hurt me, then it’ll make things more difficult.”
Diamond and Silver Spoon glanced to each other, Diamond then stepped forward and asked Ophidian, “So…what happened? You said powerless, does that mean you had magic powers before now?”
Ophidian glanced to the filly, he considered eating her, compared to him she’d more than likely give him enough sustenance to regenerate, and with the other gray filly, he’d have enough to get some firepower back. But then again, what was the point? With the seal on, he could not return to his glorious serpent form, and with his brothers and sisters, the Positives, and the White Lantern, there was no chance of even mounting a counter attack. So, he decided to indulge the pink filly.
“You could call them ‘magic’ powers, it was power that was born when living things first coveted, and from that spark the light of that want, that greed, that Avarice, was born my power. I used to be one of a few strong beings, but now…” Ophidian looked to his claws and clenched them into fists. “Now I’m trapped in this form.”
Diamond Tiara’s eyes widened a bit from his story, and without realizing it, so had Silver Spoon’s. “So what will you do now?!”
Ophidian snorted again and moved to get out of the bed. “I’ll just wander until something kills me. As a gesture I’ll refrain from eating you both.”
Silver Spoon gulped. I knew this dragon was a killer!
But as Ophidian began to make his way to the door, Diamond Tiara got in front of him, adopting her normally haughty attitude as she stared down Ophidian. “Oh no you don’t, you’re still messed up, so you’re not going anywhere.”
Ophidian scoffed at the filly, and even chuckled. “Little creature, you stand before the Entity of Avarice! I have crushed beings equal to gods, pillaged and plundered every cosmic treasure, and brought droves of creatures under my control! You think a little filly can order me?!”
“Sit!” Diamond ordered.
Without realizing, Ophidian plopped to the ground on his rear. After Ophidian figured out what he had done, he scowled, and rose to his feet. Vermillion light rippled off his body as Ophidian’s slit eyes flared with energy. “HOW DARE YOU ORDER ME LIKE THAT! I WILL EAT YOU!”
“SIT!” Diamond Tiara ordered as her cutie mark glowed little.
While attempting to lunge for Diamond Tiara, Ophidian found himself compelled by the filly’s strange power, making him sit back down on the floor. Ophidian’s left eye twitched in both confusion and agitation, how was he, the all powerful Entity of Avarice, obeying the orders of a little pink horse thing?
“How are you doing that?!” Ophidian demanded.
“It’s my special talent. I was always good at telling others what to do. So you’re staying here. I’m going to have Randall bring some gems for you to eat, dragons eat gemstones, right?”
Silver Spoon nodded.
“Good, and then, once you’ve healed up, then you can go off and do whatever you want.” Diamond Tiara stated.
Ophidian really wanted to tear the filly apart now, not only was she using her strange magic to force him into complying with her, but she had the audacity to treat him like some kind of invalid. Ophidian opened his mouth to protest, again, but was beaten to the punch when his stomach growled and earned him a giggle from both fillies. The Entity of Avarice snorted flames and crossed his arms. “Fine, the moment - the very moment - I am fully healed, I’m out of this place! The last thing I need is pity!”
(1 Month Later)
“Daddy, you’re seriously sending me to Manehattan?! Why?” Diamond Tiara asked.
Filthy Rich glanced about for a moment as he collected his thoughts. “Quite frankly sweetie, I don’t feel it safe for you here anymore. Not after that attack, and certainly not after you and your mother’s incident.”
Diamond Tiara huffed. “Okay, I understand something happened to me, but I’m not hurt! The doctors at the hospital even say so!”
“And I believe them Diamond, I really do. But this is a decision that I think is for the best, and besides, the Silver family thinks it’s a good idea too.”
The pink filly cocked an eyebrow at that. “Silver Spoon’s parents said so too?!”
Filthy Rich nodded. “They believe it best to have you both stay in Manehattan for a while, there are schools up there that would better for your education, a Rich must be up to date, and besides, I’ve been thinking about doing something like this for a while now.”
“B-But Daddy, I’ve always lived in Ponyville! We’ve visited Manehattan, but…I won’t know anypony there!” Diamond Tiara argued.
“Well honey, Silver Spoon is goin’ as well, so you won’t be alone. Besides, think of it as a fresh start. You both can make new friends, friends that are more like yourself, sweetie.”
Something about that last statement didn’t sit right with her. “Friends more like yourself”, it didn’t sound right, sure Silver Spoon was a rich filly like herself, and both had high standards when it came to certain things. But more recently, Diamond Tiara had been feeling differently about her actions in the past. She knew it was because of the purple pegasus colt, but at the same time, she felt that she couldn’t blame him.
Guilt…this is guilt I’m feeling…isn’t it? Oh Celestia how I could I forget how this feels?!
“Diamond, you alright there?”
The pink filly shook her head. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine…There’s no way to talk you out of this, is there?”
“I’m afraid not, your aunt and uncle in Manehattan have agreed to take you and Silver in.”
“Okay…” Diamond Tiara said sadly.
Diamond Tiara turned around and walked off to her room, feeling the gaze of her father on her back, and at the same time hearing a sad sigh from the stallion as well. It seemed that the decision was not an easy one for him, despite what he said, Diamond knew her father loved her, and would rather have her close than far away. However, it still made her sad, Ponyville was a bit of a Podunk town, but still it was her home after all. She met Silver Spoon here, and they had been through a lot together, more than what her classmates at her current school would know.
When Diamond Tiara entered her room she became annoyed at seeing Ophidian horde most of her stuff in the one corner of the room. “I swear, you’re such a hoarder.”
The orange dragon hissed. “It’sss my nature, I am the –!”
“‘Entity of Avarice’, yeah, yeah, you’ve said that like a million times,” said Diamond Tiara as she hopped onto her bed and plopped onto it.
Ophidian snorted orange flames and went back to rearrange his small collection of things by color and shape, however, the fact that the pink filly wasn’t laying into him about his hoarding of her stuff was a little off putting. Normally she’d order him to put everything back, but it seemed as if she couldn’t care less. Not that he cared, but he was curious.
The orange dragon skulked to the other side of the bed and cocked his head to the side, studying her. After a moment of silence and awkward staring, Diamond Tiara relented.
“Why are you staring at me?”
“Normally you yell and order me to put thingsss back, but you haven’t, why?” Ophidian asked.
The pink filly sighed and turned away from him. “Because my Daddy says he’s having me and Silver Spoon sent to Manehattan, it’s a big city near the ocean. He thinks it’s not safe for me to be here in Ponyville after what happened a few days ago.”
Ophidian thought over, remembering that he was in fact one of three instigators in the attack, and that he and the others did do a fair bit of destruction around the village. “Hmm, in that I see what he means. Should be fine for you, I always hear you complain about those other ponies.”
“Yeah…You’d think…” Diamond Tiara watched as Ophidian slithered back to his mound of stuff. She then raised her head and looked in his directly at the dragon. “Hey, do you think I’m…bad?”
Ophidian’s frills twitched at the question, making him turn around. “Isss this a trick quessstion?”
“I’m serious, do think I’m a bad pony?” Diamond asked.
Ophidian rolled his eyes. “I find you annoying, and it’sss quite vexing to be under the order of a small thing like you. You’re better off asking someone else, I’m not exactly a saint myself.”
“Ugh, you’re no help at all!”
“I never said I wasss.”
“Put everything back, now!” Diamond ordered as her cutie mark shined.
Ophidian felt that annoying tingling of the small pony’s magic working on him, compelling him to do as she said. Rather than fight it, Ophidian grumbled and began putting things back where he found them.
“And after you’re done you can go.”
Ophidian stopped in his tracks while carrying a large painting. “Wait what now?”
“I mean you can leave, if me and Silver are going to Manehattan then there’s no way Daddy’s going to let you stay here. I’m surprised you stayed this long, but yeah…”
Ophidian for some reason felt conflicted. Freedom from this filly was what he wanted, but now that he was given it, for some reason, it wasn’t as satisfying. He was back to full strength, but his full power as an Entity was still sealed away, and dragons were exactly received with friendly greetings, mostly suspicious stares and quaking in fear. Which wasn’t all that bad, but without his full power, he couldn’t do much. Pillaging and plundering with his limited powers would have him getting double teamed by Adara and Ion and hauling him back to a jail cell.
“Hmm, and what if I don’t want to leave? What if I like ssstaying in a place of luxury?” Ophidian asked.
“Then you’re out of luck, unless you can think of a reason why I would need you around,” said Diamond.
Ophidian hummed, thinking of a way to at least appear useful to a rich filly. A rich filly and her friend who are moving to a new city, a city where they know little to no one, and because of their wealth could be seen as potential targets for the more popular if not richer foals in their new school.
“Why not a bodyguard?” Ophidian suggested.
“Bodyguard, you?” Diamond asked skeptically.
“Of courssse. I am strong, powerful, with me around you run a lesser chance of being targeted as bully fodder, having a dragon around makesss a ssstatment.”
Diamond Tiara thought that over for a moment. She definitely did not want a repeat of what happened to herself and Silver Spoon a long time ago, if they had somepony like Ophidian guarding them, it would definitely act as a major deterrent for bullies and anypony thinking of messing with them. Plus, who else can say they have a dragon bodyguard?
The pink filly got off her bed and walked over to Ophidian, looking him in his slit orange eyes. “How do I know you’re not going to just abandon us when things get bad, or that you’ll get away the first chance you get?”
Ophidian shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know, sssuppose you’ll have to trussst me. Jussst as I have trusted you to not tell of my being here.”
Diamond Tiara may be young, but she wasn’t stupid, she saw the truth in his words, and if nothing else Ophidian was a dragon that liked to be around shiny and expensive things, it almost seemed to give him strength. And it was becoming abundantly clear that he had literally no place to go, the Dragonlands themselves were probably hostile towards him.
“Hmm, okay, we’ll make a deal, I’ll convince Daddy to hire you as a bodyguard, and you’ll protect Silver Spoon and me,” said Diamond.
“And in exchange, I’ll continue living in a palace, ssso to ssspeak,” Ophidian added.
The pink filly extended her hoof towards the dragon, to which the orange dragon gently took her hoof and gave it a firm shake, their deal struck.
Months passed while all three were in Manehattan. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon found themselves acclimating to the new school, before arriving, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon decided to make an agreement. They would be better than they were in Ponyville, they would not condescend or ridicule, or make anypony feel less than, blank flank or not. A new school and new ponies meant a new beginning, a chance to better themselves.
Silver Spoon agreed, and to be honest, she was relieved to hear that. She knew why they acted the way they did, but Diamond kind of took it too far at times, and there were times when Silver Spoon regretted what was said and done, and wanted to apologize. Now, she didn’t have to worry about that.
She still believed that the purple pegasus colt did something to her, but maybe it wasn’t so much something he did as much as made her realize, opened her eyes so to speak.
Meanwhile, Ophidian had been keeping to his word as their bodyguard, and coincidentally, their impromptu butler. He would escort them from school and back, and when he wasn’t needed he’d just hang around in the lavish loft that Diamond’s aunt and uncle possessed.
In a year, they had cemented themselves into their roles, and were looked upon with friendly gazes. After a time, Ophidian was growing semi-content with the arrangement. At this time he’d believed there would never be a chance for him to regain his true power, especially considering it was the Seal of Compassion, an emotion that was the opposite of his in every way. Avarice took all and cared for only itself, while Compassion gave all and cared for everyone. How could an Entity of Avarice feel Compassion? It was absurd.
“Ophidian, are you alright?” Diamond Tiara asked, now about twelve years of age.
“Uh, yeah, fine,” said Ophidian.
“Good, because we have a lot more shopping to do, right Spoony?”
Silver Spoon smiled and bumped her flank against Diamond’s. “Right Di.”
The orange dragon huffed. “I am the Entity of Avarice, and yet even I still can’t comprehend how you females continue want more without having proper space for it. At least Larfleeze was smart enough to dedicate a whole planet to his horde.”
Just as they were walking along, they passed by some construction, Manehattan was always expanding, and it had taken the fillies some time to grow accustomed to the loud noises and workarounds that were involved in it.
Some police ponies were redirecting hoof traffic around the construction zone, and during this time a crane carrying some steel girders was hovering overhead. There was a small sound, almost insignificant to the untrained ear, but Ophidian heard it, making him stop as his ear frills twitched.
The snap went off again, but it sounded like it happened three times in one second. The sound kept going again and again until it sounded more like tearing. The Entity of Avarice shot his head up and watched as the crane stopped overhead, and the steel girders it carried began to wobble.
And then he saw it, the cable line snapped, quickly and suddenly, and all ten, fifty foot long girders began falling right on their position.
Everything happened in slow motion, Ophidian was already running for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon before anypony even said “HEADS UP!”
The two fillies did look up and watched in horror as the girders came plummeting down on their position. Ophidian kept rushing towards them, even with his strength and current power levels, there was no way he could get them out of harm’s way in time, he only had time to, at the very least, save himself.
For a moment, his pace slowed, he could save himself, he could just leap back a far as he could and make it out without a scratch, but then they would die. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would die, those who bothered to take in a wretched creature like himself, the Tempter, the Serpent of Greed.
With renewed determination, Ophidian poured his stored energy into his legs, granting him enough speed to close the distance between them and stand between them, however, that was all the energy he had, having not fed on magical energy in a long while.
“Ophidian!” Diamond and Silver shouted.
The orange dragon inhaled deeply, it was a stupid idea, with an extremely slim chance of this working or any of them living. But he had to try.
Ophidian then exhaled, releasing a plume of dragon fire right at the ten beams that were falling on them. But as he feared, even with his flames they weren’t hot enough to burn them to nothing, at most he was making it worse, and instead of cold steel they would be molten and burning.
I’m not giving up! Ophidian thought. I won’t…I won’t…I won’t let them die!
COMPASSION
Suddenly, a symbol appeared around Ophidian, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon’s position. It consisted of a circle, with one triangle pointing up and another below it pointing down. This was the Seal of Compassion.
The circle shattered apart, and instantly, Ophidian felt a familiar surge of power that made his grin manically on the inside. Channeling his very light of Avarice, Ophidian bellowed out a torrent of superheated dragon fire that roared into the sky and reduced the girders to nothingness, not even ashes were left.
The light of his flames grew brighter and before Diamond and Silver knew it, they were whisked away, surrounded by a bubble of orange light as they rode the pillar of fire into the sky, on the back of a giant orange serpent.
Ophidian quickly brought them to the rooftop of a tall building, having them slide off his back as he reduced his size, big enough that he towered over them, but not enough that he wouldn’t noticed easily.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon on other the hand were still trying to process what just happened, how the young drake they knew suddenly turned into a glowing orange serpent with a similar symbol etched onto its face.
“O-Ophidian?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“I am,” he answered.
“W-What happened to you?” Silver Spoon asked.
“This is my true form, I am a cosmic entity, the Entity of Avarice, the source of it throughout the universe.”
“Y-You mean you could become this at anytime?” The pink filly asked in both fear and astonishment.
“No, my true power was sssealed until I could one day feel Compassion towards others, in other wordsss the opposite of what I am. I am a creature ssspawned from the first act of Avarice in the universsse, to feel towards others than myself is normally againssst my nature……However I did care. I cared that you two would die in front of me, that is something I did not want to see happen or have happen.”
The large snake coiled around himself in slight embarrassment. “I consider you…friends…something that I never had, something that I could never obtain. Friendship was a rare treasure that not even I could claim. And now I know why. If you wish, I will leave you now, seeing what I really am you must have second thoughts about my presence.”
Diamond Tiara looked to Silver Spoon, a silent conversation was going on between them, and after a full minute of silence from them. Diamond Tiara walked up to Ophidian and placed her hoof on his large trunk body. “You idiot, I don’t remember saying you could stop being our bodyguard.”
Ophidian perked up his head.
“And I certainly don’t recall saying you could be our friend, right Di?” Silver asked.
“Right.”
A deadpan expression befell the Entity of Avarice.
“But,” Diamond Tiara began rubbing her foreleg as she blushed a bit, “it would be nice to have another friend close to Silver and me.”
“I definitely wouldn’t mind,” said Silver as she too placed her hoof on Ophidian’s trunk.
The Great Tempter’s mouth widened into a creepy smile, but it was a genuine, happy smile.
(Present)
“So that’s how that happened, but Ah don’t get it. When Spike was possessed by you, you turned him into a greedy, giant dragon monster! Why aren’t y’all like that? ” Apple Bloom asked.
A construct of Ophidian appeared and answered the question. “Sssimple, I can stave off the corrupting influence of my light for a while, but then I have to separate.”
“So Silver and I decided to share being his host and uniting with him. When I start to act strange, then Spoony will take over being Ophidian’s host,” said Diamond Tiara.
“Same with me, if I act strange Di will take over. So in essence we both become Ophidian’s hosts,” said Silver Spoon.
“Uh, huh, and how long do ya have before you do go greed crazy?”
“Previously it was only a couple of hoursss, but with practice we’ve managed to extend the time to five hours a piece.”
Apple Bloom looked between the three, her former rivals and bullies, and the one responsible for turning her now boyfriend into a monster and putting stupid ideas in his head to boot. She took this information with a grain of salt, not exactly trusting of a Negative Entity, she’d sooner trust the red one more than this one.
“Well…so long as ya got a system goin’, Ah guess it’s alright, but Ah’m watchin’ you mister.” Apple Bloom warned as she gave the serpent a narrowed eyed glare.
“Fair enough, I do not expect you to forgive and forget that easssily.”
“So…does that mean we’re good?” Silver Spoon asked.
Diamond Tiara walked up to Apple Bloom and lowered herself until she was lying on her stomach in front of her. “I know we were total…ahem…bitches…to you and your friends. But, really, part of it came from us not wanting to be hurt again, or be weak.”
Silver Spoon’s serpent trunk coiled comfortingly around her marefriend as she rested her head atop hers. Diamond looked up, asking with her eyes. Silver Spoon nodded, it was time to let it out.
“Silver Spoon and I were bullied, worse, harassed. Back before we met you and our classmates in Cheerilee’s school, we were at a private school further from Ponyville that had filly dorms. There was a group of fillies that were popular and like the Queen Bees of the school.”
“They were from ‘old money’ and because of that they thought they were better than everypony who walked in there. They would mess with Silver Spoon, hiding her glasses, leaving bugs in her bed, and whenever I would tell them to stop, they’d switch to me, so in the end were both miserable, bullied constantly…until…”
Apple Bloom leaned in with intrigue, she wondered if her rival was messed with the same she was doing to the Crusaders. It still didn’t excuse anything, but it did provide a basis for understanding. “Until, what?”
“Until they threatened to throw Silver into the Everfree Forest at night! They even said they knew spells that would keep us asleep and we’d never know until we were deep in the woods! I couldn’t take it anymore…I wouldn’t take it. I began fighting back, not in the normal way but more…more…” Diamond Tiara waved her hoof in the air as she tried to think, as if she was trying to pluck the right word from the air.
“Ahem, manipulative?” Silver tried.
“Yeah, that’s it. I just made sure that they were at the right place at the wrong time, if they picked a fight, I made sure that they were seen and heard, if they put a bug in our beds, I made sure to have an anthill waiting for them. Tic for tat.”
“Ah get it, ya did what ya had to do protect yerselves, and somehow you just stayed like that, decidin’ to be the bully all the time than to be bullied. Still…”
Diamond Tiara reached out with her hoof and placed it over Apple Bloom’s. “Look, nothing I can say will make up for all the horrible things I did and said to you and your friends when we were little fillies. But…can we all start over?”
Apple Bloom felt a bit hesitant at accepting that offer. Then she saw the tip of Silver Spoon’s snake tail rest on top of Diamond’s hoof, showing that the pink teenage mare was not the only one seeking a fresh start. After a moment, Apple Bloom sighed, “Actions speak louder than words, if after all this mess is done and over with, that y’all are really willin’ to start over, then we’ll give it a shot.”
A smile formed on both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s faces, it was a step in the right direction nonetheless.
Suddenly, a crack of yellow lightning erupted from across the way making all three mares turn their heads in that direction.
“What in tarnation was that?!” Apple Bloom asked.
The construct form of Ophidian appeared next to them and smiled. “Seems Parallax has released his seal as well, and found a host to boot. I like our oddsss. We need to link up and then find Ion.”
“Ion, what the heck do ya want him fer?”
“Our lights alone cannot destroy the Black Lantern scourge, we need the green light of Willpower, Ion’s light, and combine it with oursss to effectively destroy them. Otherwise they will reform again and again endlesssly.”
Apple Bloom smirked. “Then it’s a good thing that mah Sis and Ion are here with me, Ah just don’t know where…”
A bright green flash went off in the distance, taking their attention away from the yellow light explosions on the other side. At the same time, a streak of yellow flew off towards the green light.
“Looks like Parallax and his host are underway, we mussst join them!”
Silver Spoon nodded, in an instant her pearl shined and enveloped both Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom in a protective sphere of orange light. Constructs began to form around them, that of Diamond Dogs, Timberwolves, and griffons, creating a small army around them.
“Then let’s go!”
(1 hour earlier)
Ion laid next to Applejack, although, the farm mare had kept her back to him the entire time. Ion was going to be the first to admit he was new to this whole “love” thing. He cared about Applejack, a lot, and Predator assured him that this was love. Although there still seemed to be some things about this coltfriend and marefriend thing that still eluded him.
After what felt like hours, Ion turned to face his marefriend’s back. “AJ, are we going to talk?”
No response came.
“I know you’re not really asleep. I know I can be thick headed, so…can you tell what I did wrong, or why you seem to be angry with me?” Ion asked.
Silence still prevailed, although there was a shift in the blankets. Ion continued to stare at the back of Applejack’s blonde mane for a while until he heard a sigh from her.
“It ain’t that Ah’m mad at you…well, partially…but Ah’m also mad at mahself,” said Applejack.
Ion quirked an eyebrow at that explanation. “Why are you angry at yourself? You did nothing wrong.”
“It’s because Ah’m afraid deep inside, afraid that one day, while you’re out there bein’ a hero, you won’t come back…”
Ion reached out and placed a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. “AJ come on, you know that won’t happen, you know how strong I am. And with Adara teaming up with me we’re pretty much unstoppable. But…if you want me to, I’ll stop.”
Applejack sighed again and shrugged off his hoof, only to turn around and face her stallion. “You and Ah both know ya can’t, and Ah won’t fergive mahself or you if somepony got hurt and the Emerald Giant could’ve stopped it.” The orange mare placed a hoof to her forehead. “Consarn it all, Ah wish I could stop feelin’ like it’s goin’ to be like my Ma and Pa all over again.”
Ion smiled sadly and gently brought Applejack into his strong forelegs. “I know that was a bad thing that happened, but you have to remember, it’s a parent’s job to protect their children. Willpower flows so strongly from moments like that, so don’t think that for a second that they wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Applejack rested her head against Ion’s chest. “Just tell me whenever you do leave, Ah’d rather know you were out than find out later.”
“No problem, and don’t worry, I’ll always be here for you,” said Ion as he nuzzled the top of his mare’s head.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash of thunder and every light in the city went out at once, leaving everything pitch black. Ion concentrated, making his body glow with a green aura that illuminated the room.
“What in Equestria’s goin’ on? Thunder on Hearth’s Warmin’?” Applejack asked confounded.
Ion felt something was off, he knew snow was supposed to be scheduled, everypony did, but a thunderstorm? That had not been announced. Just then, from the window of their room, Applejack and Ion spotted an explosion in the streets in the distance, followed by several more.
“What in the hay is goin’ on?!”
“We need to wake the others, now!” Ion suggested.
Both the stallion and mare hurried out of their room and went to banging on the doors to each room, Sunflower woke up with a start and was rubbing her eyes, Spike was already awake having felt something was off as well. Apple Seed and Marigold were in the halls now, along with Big Mac and Granny Smith, when asked why Ion was glowing, the eldest apple stated, “He’s bright young lad!”
To which both ponies gave a deadpan expression.
When Applejack reached Babs and Apple Bloom’s room, she banged on the door, but there was no response. “Ion, can ya come over here?!”
Ion hurried to Applejack, once he was there, she opened the door, allowing his green light to shine in the dark room. Much to both ponies’ fears, neither Babs Seed or Apple Bloom were in the room.
Applejack rushed inside, tossing everything up and calling out to them. “Babs, Apple Bloom! If y’all are playin’ some game now ain’t the time!”
“What’s wrong?” Apple Seed asked.
“Babs and AB are gone,” said Ion.
Sunflower rushed over to Babs’ room, and a look of knowing appeared on her face. “Dammit Babs, please tell me you didn’t…Ion, sir, can you come over here into the living room?!”
Ion followed the younger mare, focusing more to make his light shine a little brighter in the room. Sunflower went to the refrigerator, she cursed under her breath and moved just as fast to the hall closet. When she opened it, Sunflower’s suspicions were confirmed.
“Celestia dammit all Babs, why did you have to do that tonight?!” Sunflower cursed.
“Do what exactly?” Marigold asked with pointed glare. “Young lady, do you know where your sister is?!”
Sunflower sighed. “Babs…Babs has been sneaking out for a little bit now…she’s been going to see somepony…”
Apple Seed and Marigold stared at their eldest child in shock.
“I thought it was just a pet she was taking care of off the streets or something, but after a while she let it slip that it wasn’t some stray animal, but a pony, and from the times I’ve seen her sneak out food, this pony is probably homeless,” said Sunflower.
Both parents were utterly speechless, their brains trying to figure out the right words of how to both scold their daughter and ask another question, fortunately, Applejack beat them to the punch.
“How long has Babs been meetin’ this pony” she asked.
“The last four years or so…”
“And do ya think she’s gone to see this pony?”
Sunflower nodded. “Probably…”
“Do ya think she took Apple Bloom with her?” Big Mac asked.
“Probably not, if anything Babs may have wanted to keep that a secret from AB, she probably went out looking for her on her own,” said Ion.
Applejack threw her hat to floor and cursed under her breath.
“We need to find them, Babs may know her way around Manehattan, but Apple Bloom will get lost! And now that the power went out –!”
Granny Smith walked up to the dragon and placed her hoof against his arm. “Simmer down now Spike, Apple Bloom’s a tough mare, you of all should know that. Apple Bloom will find Babs and they’ll both come back. And then…I’ll tan their hides for makin’ us worry about their fool heads!”
Many gulped at hearing Granny Smith speak of Babs and Apple Bloom’s punishment, even Apple Seed, Marigold, and Sunflower were made to take a step back from the old timer mare.
However, while this was going on, Ion couldn’t help but feel a disturbance, something was not right, the Emotional Spectrum was unbalanced. As the green light of Willpower sat in the middle between the positive and negative spectrums, Ion could often times sense when there was a danger to it, although compared to Proselyte it wasn’t as good. But tonight, whatever was happening was big enough that it was making him worry. That’s when he saw a black figure approaching them.
“HIT THE DECK!” Ion shouted.
Everypony and dragon quickly got down to the ground as something smashed through the patio windows and bounced about in the house until hitting the other side of the wall. Everypony rose back up and looked in the direction of what entered their home.
It was a pegasus stallion, a cop, his uniform was in tatters, his badge changed with a symbol of an upside down triangle with five vertical bars rising up from it. Glass riddled his body, piercing places that would prove fatal for most ponies. The glass riddled pegasus snapped his gaze at them all, seeing the bright light of Willpower coming from Ion.
The Entity of Willpower gritted his teeth as his aura flared up like an inferno. He recognized this symbol, this desecration of the dead. “Black Lanterns…The Blackest Night has come….!”
The undead pegasus stallion gave an unholy screech and rushed towards Sunflower. But Ion quickly formed a green light barrier around them, upon which the stallion smashed his head against, throwing him back a couple feet in a disoriented state.
Ion quickly turned to his marefriend with a serious look in his eyes. “AJ we have to unite now!”
Applejack looked to her coltfriend in surprise, they hadn’t become one being since the Battle of Canterlot, and that was against the Negatives. But nevertheless, Ion would never suggest this unless it was serious. With a nod of the head, Applejack took Ion’s hoof and both began to glow with emerald light.
“In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night,
We will stand against evil’s blight!
Let all those who doubt our might,
Behold this power – Will’s grand light!”
Ion and Applejack were gone in a flash of green light and once it died down, Ion was gone, but Applejack was still there, but now donned in a green and black uniform. Upon her chest burned the symbol that was upon Ion’s flanks, and on her face was donned a mask made of pure emerald energy.
The undead officer, upon further inspection showed the name Officer Buckeye, rose back up and hissed at the now unified Entity and pony.
To which Applejack responded with a construct baseball bat that she used to crack Officer Buckeye upside the head, sending him flying towards the balcony. Another construct formed, that of a bull, which snorted and ran towards the undead cop, smashing it all the way until it was outside. With a flash of Applejack’s eyes, the construct exploded and took Officer Buckeye with it.
Apple Seed, Marigold, and Sunflower were just staring in shock and awe at what just happened to Applejack. The farm mare glanced to her cousin, aunt, and uncle and chuckled nervously. “Heh…long story.”
“This is worst case scenario AJ, we need to link up with others and have the seals on the Negatives released as well,” said Ion.
“What?! You wanna let them have their full power back?! You know what they could do!”
“In this case AJ, the Blackest Night will consume all life and light in this world, the darkness is an enemy of the light, it’s something that – good or evil – all must stand against it or death will blanket this world and the universe like a cancer!”
Applejack could feel the distress in Ion’s words, he wasn’t joking on how serious this situation was, so serious as to even have the Negatives help in the fight. “First thing’s first, we need get y’all out of here and someplace safe.”
“But Apple Bloom and Babs!” Spike protested.
“Sugarcube, Ah’ll definitely find ‘em, but Ah can’t be worryin’ about y’all while Ah’m figthin’, and Ah ain’t budgin’ on this Spike,” said Applejack as she encased her family in a sphere of green light.
Considering that the patio was already wrecked, Applejack flew out the same way the zombie pony did. The rain fell upon the city, with flashes of lightning granting brief glimpses of the chaos down below. Several shadows chased after ponies, not even the skies were safe as Applejack witnessed several pegasi getting blindsided by shadows and taken to the ground, or through windows.
Unfortunately, several of those shadows saw her, and began to attack. Applejack’s eyes shined as her hooves were wrapped with two green construct hands that clenched into fists, spikes formed at the knuckles and along the fingers as she reared back and punched one.
Black ichor was released as the spikes tore through the decayed body and sent it flying into the distance. Applejack released more of her light, granting her a better view of what she was up against.
They were ponies, and not just pegasi, but Earth ponies and unicorns as well. They were flying in the sky, without wings, much like herself. “What in the name of all things holy are these things?!”
“Black Lanterns are the dead brought back, do not be swayed by anything they say, whoever they were in life, in death they are only husks filled with darkness and with one goal. Eradicate all life. So do not hold back AJ!”
One unicorn mare came up behind Applejack, but thanks to Ion’s awareness, a construct lasso formed and quickly wrapped around the undead pony. Applejack turned around and prepared to blast it with a light beam, but stopped when she saw a pleading look befall the mare’s face.
{Please have mercy…I-I can’t control myself…Help me…!}
Applejack’s heart felt heavy at hearing the mare’s words. But at that moment, the Black Lantern saw indigo light in her heart, seeing that her little plea weakened her concentration, the mare broke free from the lasso and lunged for Applejack.
However, before the Black Lantern mare could reach Applejack, a beam of yellow light struck the undead mare and sent her crashing into another building in the distance. Applejack looked to her right and saw a pony with a long and tattered yellow cape, and bearing the symbol of the light of Fear. Applejack’s eyes narrowed as wisps of green energy came out of the corners.
“Ah recognize that light anywhere, Parallax! Who the hay did ya possess this time?!” Applejack accused.
The masked pony threw up her hooves and shook her head quickly. “Cousin Applejack hold yer horses, it’s me, Babs!”
Sunflower, Apple Seed, and Marigold quickly moved to the edge of the bubble staring at the masked, caped pony. Applejack eyed the pony before her with scrutiny, not sure if this was indeed her cousin or if Parallax was playing a trick with them.
Soon the question was answered as the mask retracted and revealed Babs Seed, smiling nervously as she waved to her cousin. “Hey everypony…heh, heh.”
“Babs?! Wha- who-what the hay?!”
“Long story short, kckt, Babs helped me release the Seal of Hope upon me, and we Unified. This is not a possession, I assure you.” Parallax stated.
“He’s telling the truth on this one AJ, that seal couldn’t be broken any other way unless he inspired hope in somepony,” said Ion.
Applejack was having a hard time believing this, after seeing what Parallax did to Queen Chrysalis, turning her into a monster of Fear, although, looking at Babs, she didn’t look altered like the Changeling Queen once was.
“Trust me Cuz, Perry’s on our side, he knows how bad dis situation is and wants to team up, and he needed my help, we’re workin’ together,” said Babs.
Ion snickered. “‘Perry’?”
“Say it again and I will eviscerate you when this is over!”
Applejack sighed. “Fine, but if you’re one hair outta line, Parallax, Ah will make ya pay. Now, Babs, where is Apple Bloom?”
“Wait what?! What about Cuz?” Babs asked.
Looks of worry began to cloud their faces. Spike made his way to the edge of the bubble and looked to Babs. “She was gone, both of you weren’t in her room, we thought you went together!”
Babs looked out into the city below, somewhere down there her favorite cousin was lost in Manehattan, which for a pony from a small town, was bad, but during a night like this, much, much worse. “W-W-We gotta find her! She could be hurt, lost or –!”
“Lost no, hurt, yes.”
Everypony now turned towards an orange light that approached them. It appeared as a teenage mare that was half serpent, and on the large pearl below her neck was etched the symbol of Avarice. Behind this young mare was an orange bubble that contained Apple Bloom and a pink teenage mare.
“APPLE BLOOM!” Spike shouted.
“Spike!” Apple Bloom shouted back.
Diamond Tiara looked between the two and smirked knowingly. “Nice catch.”
Apple Bloom blushed and nudged Diamond Tiara. “Shut up.”
They floated closer and got in a circle. Applejack was having a hard time believing what she was seeing. She recognized the two young mares as Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, her little sister’s bullies from back in Ponyville, but apparently now one of them was united with Ophidian.
“Seems like the gang is back together, can’t believe you inssspired hope,” said Ophidian.
“Can’t believe you cared about someone else.” Parallax shot back.
Applejack face hoofed herself. “It really must be the end of the world if these two were able to break those seals, and are willin’ to help.”
Suddenly, bolts of black light were fired in their direction. On instinct, Applejack, Babs, and Silver Spoon formed a shield that was combined with each light. The energy bolts struck against the shield, but unlike the times before when they would defend against these attacks, there was no sign of cracking, it was holding.
“Perry says we gotta combine our lights with yours Cuz, it’s the only way to put ‘em down permanently!” Babs announced.
“Ophidian says the same!”
“Alright girls then let’s get ‘er done!”
A bridge was formed from the green bubble to the orange bubble as it expanded to accommodate the new passengers, and at the same time, five orange construct sentry griffons appeared to guard the bubble.
With that, Applejack, Babs, and Silver Spoon charged forward.
A squadron of Black Lantern pegasi attacked from the right. Applejack took aim, creating a construct cannon barrel, at the same time, Babs crafted a construct futuristic cannon.
“Wow, how’d ya think of that?” Applejack asked?
“I read a lot of comic books,” said Babs.
The two cannons primed, and fired at the same time. Applejack’s cannon fired a cannonball made of green light that was sparking as it flew off. Babs’ cannon fired a beam of pure yellow light, the light beam wrapped around the sparking green cannonball, and together the two flew into the squadron.
Once close enough the cannonball exploded, showering that part of the sky with green shrapnel that was coated in yellow light. The combination of lights proved to be just as effective as they were told, upon getting hit the Black Lantern pegasi began to disintegrate into nothingness, not even the black sludge remained.
Another group came at them from above, this time made up of unicorns. Their horns glowed all at once and from the skies they summoned forth a black lightning bolt that aimed directly at Applejack.
Silver Spoon saw this and formed a barrier over Applejack in the form of a U. Applejack added her own green light to it, reinforcing the construct. The moment the lightning bolt hit, it was redirected right back up to the unicorn Black Lanterns and shocked them all with their own spell.
Applejack formed constructs of wolves that charged for their attackers, while Silver Spoon formed feral Diamond Dog constructs. The two packs attacked one Black Lantern after the other, sinking their vermillion and emerald fangs into their decayed flesh and destroying their bodies due to the dual lights of Willpower and Avarice.
Several more of the undead rose up from the city and began to attack the three Entity hosts, and each one fell before the combined lights of Willpower, Fear, and Avarice working in unison. Beams of three lights would stream out in all directions, hitting one after the other, Applejack even created arrows of green light, with the tips of each one either using Fear of Avarice light; then fired them all in different directions.
The rain of arrows would strike one undead pony after the next, some hitting their targets just in the nick of time before they could attack an innocent citizen.
While the fighting went on, Apple Bloom was being tended to by Spike, looking over her injured hind leg and wincing when he saw it. Thankfully the orange construct cast was keeping it in place to minimize any further damage.
“Don’t worry Apple Bloom, when we get back home we’ll have either Adara or Proselyte heal you up,” said Spike as he cupped her cheek.
Apple Bloom relished the warmth of her coltfriend’s claw, after spending most of the night running for her life in terror, and nearly getting killed twice, to be there with Spike, safe and sound, was a great relief. The young mare leaned forward and began to release soft whimpers into his chest, to which Spike wrapped his arms around her in comfort.
“Ah was really scared…Spike, so many ponies died in front me…and Ah almost…almost…”
“It’s alright, Bloom, I’m here, and so is your family, don’t worry,” cooed Spike.
During this time, Babs could feel it, Apple Bloom’s fear, the fear she felt when she was on the run and almost killed by the Black Lanterns, a fear that only served to fuel her fury against the undead.
“Youse creeps made my cousin cry! Bastards!”
The Manehattan mare charged for a group of Black Lantern Earth ponies. She launched her chain pincers that quickly snagged two of them, with a quick thought, the chains whipped both ponies higher into the air. At that same time, Applejack came down, wielding two half-swords and slashing them at the midsection, making both Lanterns burn up into nothing.
“Same here, nopony makes mah baby sister cry!” Applejack proclaimed.
“Cuz, copy me, okay!”
Babs Seed focused and then generated a flame thrower, Applejack saw this and copied the same construct. Both mares yelled at the same time as the flamethrowers bellowed out emerald and gold flames onto all the Black Lanterns, bathing in the dual lights of Fear and Willpower.
“Yeah Babsy, kill ‘em with fire!” Diamond Tiara shouted out. After hearing herself she blushed in embarrassment. “Sorry for that outburst.”
The other occupants of the bubble did not mind at all the outburst, feeling the exact same way.
Silver Spoon’s autonomous constructs were already at work destroying, Applejack had created green light armor for them, and with the combination of both lights, it made it easy for her servants to take each of them down. Some pegasi, Earth ponies, and unicorns tried to attack from all angles, but it was a futile effort as autonomous constructs slashed and tore through each one that tried to get near them.
However, one managed to slip by and tried to attack Silver Spoon. The young mare’s slit eyes darted to the incoming Black Lantern and swiftly whipped the stallion across the face with her snake tail. The stallion tried again, but again Silver Spoon denied him by lashing at him with her tail again, each lash sounding like the crack of whip.
Silver Spoon lashed out again and wrapped her snake trunk around the stallion, squeezing him to the point she heard bones breaking. The bespectacled mare glared down on the Black Lantern as her slit eyes glowed. “You’re bothering me.”
The host of Ophidian released her captive with a quick toss. From her pearl, Silver Spoon fired a beam of vermillion light straight for the stallion, at the same time, a green flame was passing over the area, and in perfect sync, the beam and flames hit the Black Lantern stallion, turning it into dust.
Silver Spoon flicked her mane and gave a huff of disappointment. But then she noticed something was off. The skies were becoming less crowded, Silver Spoon flew over to Babs and Applejack and drew their attention to the remaining Black Lanterns.
“They’re not coming after us,” said Silver Spoon.
“Maybe they took da hint and realized they’d get destroyed if they got closer,” said Babs.
“No…Somethin’ ain’t right here. They’re backin’ off fer a reason, we should regroup and get everypony outta here while we can.” Applejack suggested.
{Now, Sugarcube, it ain’t right to leave so close to the big family reunion.}
That voice, so familiar, so comforting and strong, hearing it made Applejack’s blood run cold, causing her Willpower suit to spark as if short circuiting.
{Well dear, can you really blame our little Jacky to be one for sticking around for ugly affairs, I was trying to raise to be somewhat of a proper mare, well as much as possible anyway.}
This voice, this feminine, melodic, and soothing voice. It was too familiar, a voice that she could still hear sing to her on stormy nights and during the times when she was sleeping.
Applejack turned around and her eyes went wide.
Two Black Lanterns hovered in the sky a few feet away from the trio, and both were Earth ponies. The first was a mare, he coat was a faded white, and her mane tail a dingy green color. On her right was a large, burly stallion, with a faded red coat and a brown mane.
Babs could feel it, it was coming off of Applejack like steam from a sauna. Applejack was afraid.
“Cuz, who are these ponies?!” Babs asked.
The Black Lantern placed her hoof to her mouth. {Oh goodness me, where are my manners. My name is Citrus Mist, but you can call me Misty.}
The burly stallion then tipped his Stetson hat towards them. {Ah’m Alexander Apple, pleased to make yer acquaintance.}
“No…It can’t be you – either of you! Ma…Pa…!”
Babs and Silver Spoon looked to Applejack in shock and then to Alexander and Citrus, these were Applejack’s parents, brought back from the dead, Babs Aunt and Uncle. It then hit Babs like a bolt of lightning, looking back towards the bubble that kept the others safe, she couldn’t let Apple Bloom, Big Mac, or Granny Smith see this.
The host of the Fear Entity created two construct revolving Gatling guns and readied to fire. But just then a blade of green light slashed down both constructs, shattering them to pieces.
“CUZ WHAT THE HAY ARE YA DOIN’?!” Babs shouted.
“Don’t y’all dare lay a hoof on them,” said Applejack in a dangerous tone of voice.
Misty clapped her hooves together in approval. {Brava my little Jacky, Brava. And quite the elegant blade you created, too.}
“Ma…Yer…Yer back, both of ya,” Applejack spoke as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Applejack, stop! They’re not your parents! Those are nothing but husks, the black light of Death is using their memories to manipulate you!”
“HUSH ION!” Applejack snapped before turning her attention back to her parents. “Pa, Ma, Ah…Ah’ve wanted to tell you for so long…Ah wanted to see ya both again…For us to be a whole family like before.”
{Now AJ, no need fret none about that, we can still be a family again, all ya have ta do is come over to us,} said Alexander.
Without realizing it, Applejack began to float towards them. But a brick wall construct blocked her way. “Don’t Applejack! They are not your parents, listen to me –!”
“You listen! Those are mah parents and Ah –!”
Suddenly, a beam of yellow light shot past Applejack and split down the middle, striking both Alexander and Misty in the head, destroying their heads in the process. Applejack looked on in horror at the now headless bodies of her parents. She turned around and saw Babs’ eyes glowing and dimming a bit.
“I’m sorry, Cuz, but I can’t let ya do that,” said Babs with a serious tone.
Applejack gritted her teeth and charged for Babs, barreling into her and taking the both of them into a freefall. “HOW COULD YA DO THAT?!”
“They’re not yer real folks Cuz! They’re freakin’ zombies that can talk!” Babs argued.
Appeljack’s eyes narrowed as she cocked back her right foreleg, a boxing glove construct formed and in that same moment, Applejack struck Babs and sent her flying into a skyscraper, creating an impact crater against the steel and glass of the building.
“Ion, control your female!” Parallax warned.
“I’m not like you Parallax, I don’t control!” Ion retorted.
Babs peeled herself off the building and narrowed her eyes at her cousin, who snorted and turned her back to go back to her parents. Babs launched her chains at Applejack which quickly ensnared her, wrapping around the mare’s body tightly and locking her down.
Fear’s light had a corroding effect on Willpower, so it made it hard for Applejack to break the chains easily. “Cousin Applejack, ya gotta listen, those two aren’t your real parents! They’re just……things, they sound, act, and even think like ‘em, but they ain’t!”
“Babs, dammit all, if you don’t let me go Ah’ll –!”
A streak of orange flew past Babs and Applejack and smashed into a building a block away. Babs released the chains and chased after the streak, with Applejack right behind her. Both mares entered the hole that the impact created, and saw Silver Spoon, resting a hoof against her head as she tried to get her bearings.
“Silver Spoon, you alright?” Babs asked.
“Ugh, I’ve felt better, that stallion has a stupid amount of strength,” said Silver Spoon.
“Heh, Pa was always crazy strong,” Applejack commented.
{Glad ya remembered, little Sugarcube,} said Alexander.
All three mares turned towards the entrance as they saw the burly stallion glow with dark light energy. Silver Spoon slithered back into attack position and Babs’ cape ends sharpened to a razor sharp point, preparing to launch at Alexander.
“Cuz, I know he’s yer pa and all, and I’m not even goin’ to pretend I know what kind of baggage ya got with them. But right now, we need ya, Silver and I can’t do this alone without your light! So get off yer ass and –!”
Suddenly, a black tendril lashed out and took Babs by the throat, it then reeled her in quickly, dragging her through glass, desks, and every other piece of debris that littered the floor. The tendril brought Babs to Alexander, where he gazed upon her as if peering through the mask.
{Huh, so yer my kin huh? Ya know, shootin’ me and mah wife in the head isn’t how we act in the Apple Family little missy,} said Alexander.
The tendril tightened around Babs’ neck, making her flail about as she tried to concentrate to form a construct.
Silver Spoon’s aura shined as she prepared to attack, but a rumbling from up above drew her attention away as something came crashing down on her, making Applejack sidestep to the left to avoid the falling debris. When the dust settled, Applejack saw as her mother, Misty, was currently choke holding the teenage mare, using her dark aura to disrupt Silver’s orange light as she inflicted pain on her.
Applejack flinched as if about to move, but one swift glance from her mother froze her in place. {Now, now, Jacky, you need to sit there young lady while I attend to these ruffians and teach them a lesson. We’ll be with you shortly, Dear.}
“But…But Ma, ya can’t –!”
{Do not question me young lady, considering that we’ve come back after all this time you think you can honor your parents’ wishes as an adult!} Misty scolded.
“Applejack stop doubting yourself, if you keep this up I can’t – can’t –!”
With a flash of green light, Applejack and Ion were separated, causing both ponies to look upon each other in shock.
{Oh, well now that is quite convenient,} said Misty as she fired a beam of black light towards Ion.
At the same time, Alexander fired a beam from his hoof at Applejack.
Ion was captured inside of a bubble of dark light, obscuring him from view. At the same time, Applejack was hogtied in a black rope construct from her father, all four of her legs trussed up and completely immobile.
It had been a while since the group witnessed the three mares enter the far off building. They knew something was wrong, especially when they saw the green light chase down the yellow light into a building.
Sis, Cuz, what the hay is goin’ on?!
“Um, everypony, we need to start worrying,” said Diamond Tiara.
“Why?” Spike asked.
“The bubble’s cracking!” Sunflower shouted.
Apple Bloom and Spike looked more closely at the construct bubble, noticing that it was indeed showing signs of cracking. Spike, Diamond, and Apple Bloom had a fair bit of knowledge when pertaining to light constructs, so when something like this was happening, it either meant the caster was under strain or…
Diamond Tiara shot her gaze to the building where Silver Spoon and the others had flown into as worry gripped her heart. “Spoony!”
“Somethin’ must’ve gone wrong,” said Big Mac.
Apple Bloom slammed her hoof against the bubble, looking back at her hind leg she gritted her teeth. Ah hate this…Ah wanna help ‘em, but Ion’s…Ion can’t combine with me…And if Silver’s doin’ bad then we’ll all die!
Silver Spoon’s in trouble, Diamond Tiara thought, she’s in trouble and I can’t help! I won’t let anypony take her away from me!
From the thundering sky above, two lights shined and began to descend towards the group’s location. One was colored green and the other orange. Spike, Apple Bloom, and Diamond Tiara wondered if these were other light wielders come to help, but it was soon discovered, as they got closer, that these were pieces of armor.
The lights pierced the bubble and presented themselves before them. Spike looked upon the orange light bracer, seeing that it bared Ophidian’s symbol. The orange bracer seemed to be confused, it was vibrating as if thinking, pointing at Diamond and then at Spike. The teenage drake stepped far away from the bracer, he never wanted to be a monster of greed again. Seeing how Spike rejected it, the bracer pointed to Diamond Tiara.
[Apple Bloom of Equus, you have the ability to overcome great fear. You persevere, never stopping, never giving up even when faced with failure. You who bear a strong aura of leadership and strength, will you accept the light of Willpower?]
[Diamond Tiara of Equus, you want it all! You seek the finer things in life that you rightly deserve, but most importantly, you seek the affection and attention of the one you care most about. Will you let someone else take what is yours away?]
Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom’s answers to the bracers was sticking out their right hooves. The bracers quickly attached to their wielders and the bubble was aglow with vermillion and emerald light.
Black chainmail mesh formed over both mares’ bodies. Armor plates of orange and green quickly formed over them, gleaming in their respective lights. When the lights faded Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara were fully armored and coated in the lights of Willpower and Avarice.
Spike looked to Diamond Tiara with worry, she was way too calm for somepony who had taken on Ophidian’s light. “Diamond Tiara, you alright?”
The rich mare grinned at the dragon. “Of course I am, whatever this is, I don’t feel the gree effect at like when I’m united with Ophidian. But I can tell it is almost as powerful.”
Apple Bloom looked to her injured hind leg, the pain that was radiating from it earlier was lessening as the seconds ticked by, the emerald light working to heal her injury the best it could.
“Apple Bloom, we gotta go,” said Diamond.
Apple Bloom nodded, but before she could exit the bubble, Spike put a claw on her shoulder, gaining her attention. The teenage drake looked into the amber eyes of his marefriend and spoke softly, “Be careful Bloom.”
Apple Bloom placed her hoof on his claw and smiled to him. “Ah’ll be back, all of us will.”
With that, Diamond and Apple Bloom phased out of the bubble and began to float. Diamond Tiara created another bubble around the first one, she couldn’t hijack Silver’s bubble, so she created a second layer should the first one crack. With that done, both teen mares flew off towards the building where the fighting was going on.
“You’re pretty good with controlling that power,” said Diamond.
“Thanks, Ah got the gist of it from Ion, it all works on imagination and yer will!” Apple Bloom stated as she flew faster,
leaving a green streak in her wake.
And that you have plenty of, Diamond thought.