The Rainbooms were all sitting out in the sunshine, talking to each other as they all ate a picnic together. They bit into apples, sandwiches, and some treats that Pinkie Pie had brought from Sugarcube Corner, all enjoying their day together.
The geodes around their necks then began to glow brightly, humming small noises with each and every flash. The girls all looked down and put their hands on the crystals, feeling their warmth sink into their hands before letting them slip back down onto their bodies.
"That's odd..." Sunset broke the silence once the other girls let their pendants fall as well. "They've never glowed like that out of thin air."
"Do you think it might be a new form of magic? Like a distress call or something?" Twilight asked, pushing her glasses close to her face.
"Ooh! What if, we're being called to Equestria to fix a problem that Princess Twilight can't handle, like some super-mean guy conquering her home with an evil army?" Pinkie blurted out, eliciting silence from the others. "What? It could happen."
"No, I don't think it's anything like that, Pinkie." Sunset shook her head and reached out for the journal in her backpack. "If it were, then Twilight would be writing me as fast as she could. Everything seems to be fine in her little world."
"Still, why would our geodes just start glowing for no reason?" Rarity took a quick gander down at hers again. "Something doesn't seem right... Stay on your guard, everyone."
The sky above them began to fill with clouds, and the rumble of thunder could be heard breaking through the calmness of the sunny day. Red bolts of lightning streaked down as the clouds consumed the sun and replaced the sheet of clear blue sky with a fuzzy mess of red storm clouds. Ferocious winds howled through the world, blowing thousands of leaves from the trees and causing papers to fly and dance around erratically. Birds were being pushed back against the trees and the picnic blanket the girls were sitting on began to blow up at the corners.
"Red storm clouds?" Sunset looked up at the darkened sky, coated in blood red. "This is bad. Girls! Get your geodes ready. We might be under attack."
"With blood and rage of crimson red..." Sonata's voice echoed throughout the world around them.
"Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead..." Aria's voice joined in and whistled in the Rainbooms' ears.
"Together with our hellish hate..." Adagio was the last voice to accompany the others, as red energy began to spring up from the world around the Rainbooms and converge in front of them, creating the same black hole that Atrocitus traveled through. "We'll burn you all!"
"That is your fate!" The Dazzlings all walked through the portal and bore their red rings out towards the Rainbooms, slowly taking steps towards them.
"The Dazzlings!" Sunset gasped, opening her eyes wide as she took a few steps backwards. "What are you doing here? I thought we'd gotten rid of you!"
"Foolish Sunset Shimmer," Adagio smirked devilishly. "You can destroy our music, but our bodies will live on. We might not be able to sing, but we can sure as hell get revenge on you little twerps."
"You curs committed the worst crime imaginable, Dazzlings!" Rarity jabbed a finger at their bodies. "You're wearing so much red on such a nice day!" She shrieked loudly. "Somebody call the fashion police on them right now!"
"Silence!" Adagio threw her hand down towards the earth, causing a red hard-light fly-swatter to flatten Rarity. With a few more swings, the swatted struck Rarity over and over again until she was covered in bruises and dirt. "Honestly, Rainbooms, you haven't changed a day since the Battle of the Bands. You're still stubborn, unintelligent, and so clueless to how we work..."
"What?" Sunset gazed at Rarity as the others pulled her out of the ground and cleaned her ruined clothes up. "How do you still have Equestrian magic?! Your pendants were destroyed! You should be harmless now!"
"Oh, we were, but thanks to Master Atrocitus and the Red Lantern Corps, we've been reborn..." Aria punched her hand and drove her knuckles into her other palm as Atrocitus and the others came out of the other side of the portal. "We are now part of the emotional spectrum, and our rage will allow us to finally take revenge on you for what you did to us..."
"And honestly, red rings beat red gems any day." Sonata still had a goofy smile on her face.
"So now, Rainbooms. I think it's time for our rematch..." Adagio raised her ring with her sisters, causing three red hippocampuses with seething red eyes to materialize and roar at the Rainbooms. "Only this time, the results will be a little different."
"Oh yeah? Well you're not the only ones with new powers!" Rainbow Dash clutched the geode around her neck and darted off at the speed of light, putting the picnic supplies away and removing the basket from sight. "After that little trip to Camp Everfree, we've got some new superpowers of our own."
"Then you've at least evened the playing field out a little." Nite-Lik glared at the Rainbooms, cracking his neck. "Good. It's no fun fighting an enemy with no hope of standing up to the Red Lantern Corps! This will be a great battle!"
"Be careful, girls." Sunset watched the others grab onto their jewels and Pony-Up, ready for their battle. "I don't think the Dazzlings are gonna go down that easy, and their new friends might be too much to handle."
"Oh, believe me, Sunset. We're not going to be taking any chances this time..." Rarity scowled and created a diamond shield around her left hand. "After the Dazzlings not only violated fashion laws but ruined my marvelous casual wear, I'm going to make sure that their funerals will be very quick and very painful!" Fires sprung up in Rarity's eyes as she stood her ground.
But before either side could make a move, a bright green light broke through the veil of red clouds and shone down in between the Rainbooms and the Red Lantern Corps.
"He's here!" Atrocitus snarled, looking up at the light.
"In brightest day. In blackest night. No evil shall escape my sight..." A human male descended from the light, bathed entirely in green with a sigil representing a circle sandwiched between two bars in his chest. "Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power. Green Lantern's LIGHT!" A bright green burst shot out as he slammed against the ground, knocking both sides back.
"Grrrrggghhhh..." Atrocitus slid on the balls of his feet as he tore up the road behind him. "Hal Jordan. The Guardians' hunting dog..."
Once Pinkie got back onto her feet, she squealed and bounced on the spot. "It's the Green Lantern! We're saved!"
"And here I thought he was just a silly little comic book character, but he's really here right now!" Twilight Sparkle sat on the ground, gazing up at the green-clad metahuman. "I would ask him all about his hard-light powers if we weren't still in danger."
"Atrocitus." Green Lantern walked up towards the Red Lantern Corps. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm indoctrinating a new trio of Red Lanterns, and you will not stand in the way of it!" Atrocitus pulled out a slab of the ground and threw it towards the Green Lantern, who simply blew it up with some green rockets.
"You know I can't let that happen, Atrocitus." Green Lantern shook his head and continued walked towards the corps. "After multiple attempts of trying to kill the Guardians, I'm not about to let you just bolster your ranks. I'm going to take you in, have you stand before the Guardians, and stop this madness before it even starts."
"Always the errand boy, Hal Jordan." Atrocitus stepped aside and approached Green Lantern himself. "Do you think that the Guardians are still the good guys after their ferocious attacks on Ryut and Ysmault?!"
"You know as well as I do that the Ryut attack was executed by the Manhunters—not the Guardians!" Green Lantern tightened his hands into fists. "I know that they aren't entirely perfect, but what you're doing is not going to change anything!"
"Tell that to my family! Tell that to my friends!" Atrocitus pinned Green Lantern to the ground and punched his face in repeatedly. "You green lanterns make me furious! I will not stop until your corps burns for what it did to me!"
"Then diplomacy has failed, then!" Green Lantern knocked Atrocitus into the air with a radiant blast from his body. He flew up and met the Red Lantern leader in the air. "Let's let our powers do the talking..."
"I was hoping you'd say that..." Atrocitus grinned and darted towards Green Lantern, driving him towards the buildings around them. He was about to smash him into some, when Green Lantern slipped underneath him and smashed him through. "Grrrrrraaaaaggghh! LET'S END THIS, HAL JORDAN!"
"We'll fight as well, seeing as how this is our revenge party you've crashed!" Sonata flew towards Pinkie Pie and pulled her high into the air, causing screams to ring out. "Take this!" She threw Pinkie towards the ground and created a red hammer, which she smashed her down to the earth with.
Rarity was about to create a diamond platform to catch Pinkie, but Nite-Lik grabbed her and dug his tendrils into her body, making her squeal in agony as he licked her face. He swung Rarity around in his tentacles, before throwing her towards a tree, where she crashed straight through it.
Rainbow Dash was already fast at work. She flew into the air and retrieved Rarity from the tree, then helped her avoid a series of attacks from the Red Lanterns. But just as she was about to fight Aria, Bleez flew into her from the sides and took her on a flight over the town, biting into her neck every second.
"Hey! Get offa me!" Rainbow Dash tried to shake the bone-winged Red Lantern, but it was no use. So instead, she flew towards the buildings and smashed Bleez against them over and over again. "Rainbow Dash is not food, kid!"
"And you are no warrior!" Bleez spat, driving her sharp nails into Rainbow's neck, causing red gashes to appear on them. "Now, bleed for the Red Lanterns!"
Skallox and Applejack were fighting it out on the ground. The goat-headed red lantern and the blonde cowgirl were exchanging blows one after another, but neither side showed any sign of slowing down—no matter how many times their heads were punched.
"Ya'll need to skedaddle on outta here!" Applejack vaulted over Skallox and pulled him into a headlock, bashing his exposed skull a couple of times. "Ah ain't about ta have some varmints from another world hurt mah friends!"
"And we're not going to let the Dazzlings go without having their revenge!" Skallox grabbed Applejack by the neck and threw her violently into the earth, causing rocks and rubble to fly up around her, before tumbling down onto her body. "Now, burn, Rainbooms!" And with a roar, he spat embers down onto Applejack's face, causing her hair and clothes to catch on fire.
Fluttershy was desperately trying to avoid being knocked out by Rankorr's powers, but she faced off an endless stream of hard-light objects. Walls, rocks, and swords appeared out of nowhere and grazed against her skin so many times that it was a wonder none of them were hitting. Even with the help of eagles, bears, bunnies, and many other different animals, Rankorr was still effortlessly mowing them down as he stomped up towards her.
"W-Wait! I think there's been some kind of misunderstand—" Twilight was flung back against Sunset as Aria's hippocampus moved in on them both.
"Oh, there's no mistake, Princess Twilight." Aria gritted her teeth and thrust her hand forward, sending her beast to try and eat the girls. It viciously snapped its' jaws at Sunset and Twilight as they tried to keep it at bay. "You ruined our lives, so it's only fair that we conquer you, and your pitiful kingdom back in Equestria!"
"But I'm not from Equestria! I'm from he—" Twilight took a hit from Aria's tail.
"Twilight! It's no use!" Sunset pushed the hippocampus away. "We have to fight them!"
"But I don't see how we can defeat these red lanterns with just horns and magical powers!" Twilight cried out, rolling away from another quick attack from Aria. "We're doomed, even with magic!"
"No we're not!" Sunset was about to drive herself into Aria, but Adagio came up from behind her and grabbed her chest, carrying her high into the sky, up towards the clouds.
"Shame you're not a pegasus, Sunset Shimmer. You could've survived a fall like this if you were..." Adagio threw Sunset towards the ground and summoned her own hippocampus, knocking Sunset back up into Adagio, who gave her a powerful heel kick to the face. "Now die!"
All around Canterlot, chaos was unfurling. Each and every one of the Rainbooms was being steamrolled by the Red Lanterns. Rainbow Dash couldn't get rid of Bleez, Rarity was being tortured by Nite-Lik, Rankorr was making Fluttershy's animals extinct, Adagio and Aria were outclassing Sunset and Twilight in every way, Applejack and Skallox still refused to give in on their fight, and Pinkie Pie was crying as Sonata Dusk combined physical attacks and red lantern hard-light against her. Even with Green Lantern keeping Atrocitus occupied, the Rainbooms all knew that they wouldn't be able to win, given how grave their conditions were.
"How long must it be before you and your kind die out, Hal Jordan?!" Atrocitus lunged at Green Lantern, causing red flames to appear around his body. "How many green lanterns must I crush before I get to stamp out the Guardians once and for all?!"
"All of them!" Green Lantern created a spiked baseball bat and swatted Atrocitus away, chasing after him with a green hard-light jet engine around his arms. He ran into Atrocitus and created more rockets behind him, smashing the red lantern back into him, which he then promptly kicked towards the ground.
"Gah! Your attacks do nothing, Jordan!" Atrocitus snarled as Dex-Starr darted towards Green Lantern and bit into his neck, just as Atrocitus himself got back to his feet. "My rage makes me invincible! No matter how many you bring to help you, they shall all crumble before the might of me and my corps!"
"Rage might be strong, Atrocitus, but willpower is even stronger!" Green Lantern created a huge pirate cannon and opened fire on Atrocitus. "And it's that willpower that'll be your end!"
"Your willpower is flawed!" Atrocitus punched the cannonballs into pieces. "The Green Lantern Corps is weak! You are the only one worthy of my time! And I swear that this battle shall be your last, Jordan!" He flew towards the cannons and punched one into the Green Lantern. "The Guardians will see your death as a warning, but by the time they ready themselves, it will be far too late for them to do anything!"
"I'm not playing this game anymore, Atrocitus!" Green Lantern headbutted Atrocitus and flew him against a massive green saw blade. "By order of the Guardians, I command you to stand down! Continued resistance will result in death!"
"Death for YOU!" Atrocitus spat lava into Green Lantern's face and grabbed his head, smashing him against a fleeing car as hard as he could, causing the car to explode and send him flying into many more. "And all of the others that follow in your footsteps!"
As Green Lantern looked into the sky, he caught a brief glimpse of the Rainbooms being harrowed by the other red lanterns. Flying back up into the air, he raised his ring into the sky and shot a massive beacon of light into the air.
"I just hope someone on Oa gets this..." said Green Lantern before Atrocitus swatted him away with the back side of his hand straight through a set of buildings.
"Let this day be known as the day that the Dazzlings seized their revenge." Atrocitus hovered into the air and watched as his corps continued to bully and torment the other Rainbooms. "The day that Hal Jordan failed. And the day that the Guardians realized who they have messed with! Let this day be known as the Red Eclipse!"