The walk through Canterlot gave Absol a little time to plan for what he needed to do. He ignored the looks the ponies gave him. He allowed their whispers about how he was back to bring another disaster upon the land to fuel his rage. And he reminded himself that despite how they felt about him, not all ponies were like them. Twilight and her friends were not like them. Marble was not like them. And Limestone...wasn't like anyone else he'd met. The ponies and some of the guards had been following him through the streets at a distance, but by the time he reached the main courtyard to the castle he found that was no longer the case.
Absol stood alone at the gates to Canterlot castle. On the other side of the gates stood Spiral, dressed as Sol, flanked by the Ambassadors of Harmony, the two princesses and his dearest friends, who were still being suspended in spheres of ghostly magic on either side of the king. Spiral smirked when he saw Absol approaching.
"Ah, there you are, Absol. I thought for certain that you would have come sooner. For a brief moment I had thought that you were using your brain and had fled to the furthest corners of the world. I am glad to see that you didn't," Spiral laughed, before a look of interest crossed his face. "But just hours ago you were speaking of how afraid of me you were? So why come here even if you have no chance of winning?"
"I am afraid of you. I am afraid of having my mind controlled and being forced to do your bidding. But I fear something else far more than that. And to make sure that fear doesn't come to light, I will fight you, no matter how hopeless things may seem. I still have a promise to keep," Absol replied, before crouching down and taking up a battle stance.
"So be it, Absol. While you may have made a tactical error, I can still respect your will. Girls...get him."
The Ambassadors and Princesses lunged towards Absol, unleashing explosions of magic upon the pokemon with enough force to tear apart the brick and stone that made up the main castle entrance. Absol, knowing that he couldn't afford to hold back, roared as he channeled the darkness into his horn and dashed between the ponies. His strikes were faster than their eyes could follow, leaving them unable to find him until he came to a stop behind them.
The ponies turned to continue fighting him before they all cried out in pain, dark slash marks appearing over their bodies. Twilight, Celestia and Luna all collapsed to the ground while barely moving. The other Ambassadors, though pain coursed through their bodies, lunged towards Absol with ghostly power crackling around them. and Pinkie didn't seem to be bothered in the least by the dark wound.
AJ and Rainbow were the fastest out of the remaining ponies and reached Absol first, meaning that they were the first to take his psycho cutter to their chest. The both of them cried in pain before they crashed to the ground, barely able to move after the impact. Absol didn't have a moment to relish his victory, as Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy were on him immediately. He slashed another night slash into Fluttershy and Rarity, putting them down for the count. But when he faced Pinkie, he found that he couldn't bring himself to fight her.
"Pinkie, I know that you are in there," Absol said to the pink pony, who stared back at him with blank eyes. "And I know that you would never want to make your sisters upset, so please fight this! Do not give into Spiral's power!"
"You are wasting your breath, Absol. She fights for me and only for me," Sol said with a chuckle. "Now either strike her down and face me, or fall to her and save me the trouble of dealing with you. Either option is fine with me."
Absol gritted his teeth in desperation before he glanced up at Limestone and Marble. The both of them were watching their sister, but when they saw Absol look up at them Marble nodded somberly. Limestone looked back and forth between the two...before she too nodded. Absol grimly turned back to Pinkie, who charged at him full steam.
"I am sorry to do this, Pinkie. Out of your group I liked you the most," Absol stated before he vanished, appearing behind Pinkie a moment later. A slash of violet light appeared on Pinkie's chest and she collapsed to the ground without another sound. Absol then turned his attention back to Spiral, who had an amused look on his face.
"You know, I had hoped that the Ambassadors of Harmony would put up more of a fight than that," Sol said with a shrug of his shoulders. "But I suppose when I drained their power of harmony I weakened them considerably. Consider yourself lucky for that Absol. Because now you have the honor of being my final experiment before I fully take over the world."
"Do your worst. I shall best you."
Spiral cackled in reply before a blast of ghostly magic erupted from the end of his horn. Absol leapt out of the way and just narrowly avoided the beam. Sensing his chance to attack he lunged up at Spiral, his horn cloaked in dark power as he swung at Spiral. Right when he was about to strike Spiral, the king moved the sphere holding Limestone in the path of the attack. Absol realized what he was about to do and spun himself to the side to avoid striking her. Yet in doing so he left himself open to an attack from Spiral. The dark king blast Absol in the chest and threw him over the gates of Canterlot castle, which caused him to come crashing down on the other side.
"Absol, you've made this too easy on me," Spiral said before he blasted Absol in the chest once more, hurling Absol down the streets of Canterlot and towards the center of the city. "Ponies of Equestria, hear the words of your prince! Absol has returned and tried to bring down the royals that fight so hard for you. He has beaten the Ambassadors! He has beaten Celestia and Luna! But he will not beat me!"
Absol weakly got back up to his claws, amazed at how badly the magic was hurting him. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that he was in the main center of Canterlot, where over a hundred ponies were all watching the match, be it from the city center itself or from their houses. But one thing that all of the ponies had in common was that they were all cheering for Sol, having completely bought into his lie. They didn't see an evil threat that was about to slay their only hope and enslave them for eternity. They saw a hero about to bring down the monster responsible for so much of their trouble. Absol was again the enemy.
Absol bellowed with fury and fired three psycho cuts towards Sol, who nimbly dodged out of the way of each strike, before firing a blast of magic into the chest of Absol. Absol tanked the blast before firing off a massive night slash towards Sol. Sol raised a barrier that managed to absorb the blow, but to Absol's relief he found that he attack hit the spheres holding the two mares...and it slight cracked them. Then Absol took a giant beam of magic right in the face.
Absol howl of pain was drowned out by the roar of the crowd, before he crashed into the side of a fountain with enough force to crack the marble. Pain lanced through his body as he weakly pushed himself back up. His vision was blurry, his body was in agony and he was fairly certain that he was running out of power.
"And this is how it ends, Absol," Sol said to Absol, who didn't even have it in him to spit out a retort. "With you finally paying for all the disasters that you have brought upon this world. For aiding Spiral. For bringing Palkia to destroy us. And just plaguing the ponies of this land with your presences. As the only ruler left standing, it is up to me to sentence you."
"I considered banishing you. But when has banishing ever worked, ponies? Discord came back! Sombra came back! Tirek came back! There is only one way to deal with this being," Sol said as he channeled all of his power into his horn, aiming at the barely standing Pokemon. "To erase them off of the face of the planet."
"Let's do something about that face of yours first!" Sol barely registered that somepony had spoken before a rock slammed into the side of his face, snapping his head to the side. The crowd of ponies let out a shocked and confused gasp as Marble and Limestone, who had broken free of their spheres, landed on the street next to Absol and sided with him. "Nice aim back there, Absol. Glad to see that you haven't give up the fight completely."
"Heh, I knew that if I gave up you would never let me hear the end of it. At least if we all die here you won't nag me all the way in the after life," Absol weakly replied.
"Come on you guys, let's do this together," Marble said nervously, as she, her sister and Absol all turned to face Sol, who had recovered from the attack. He narrowed his eyes at the group, before a dangerous smile crossed his face.
"So Absol, you would use your powers of darkness to control these mares and then sacrifice them to gain even greater power?! I will not allow it!"
"What? We're not being mind controlled!" Limestone bellowed up at Sol, who smiled deviously.
"Maybe not," he said just loud enough for Limestone and Marble to hear. "But he is."
Limestone heard her sister cry out in pain and she turned just in time to see Absol slam into her, knocking her to the ground. Sol let out a cry and rushed forward to stop Absol, but in a flash of darkness Sol was sent tumbling backwards. Absol then placed a paw on Limestone's chest, pinning her to the ground as he glared down at her with crimson eyes and a horn billowing darkness.
"No...no you're not going to do this," Limestone spat up at Absol, more angry than afraid of him. "You will not allow him to turn you into what you fear! You are better than him! You are stronger than him! And I know that you're deep down in there, that you are fighting! You are not a bringer of disaster! You are a force to stop disaster! So what are you waiting for? Fight it!"
For a brief moment, Absol's eyes seemed to wave and he didn't seem certain of his own actions. Limestone seized that chance and slammed a hoof into the side of Absol's jaw, her sucker punch snapping his head to the side and staggering the Pokemon. The action freed her from Absol and Limestone rolled up to her hooves, turning to see that Absol was shaking his head in confusion. That was the opening she needed. Limestone raced towards Absol, extended both of her hooves...and wrapped the Pokemon in a hug.
"Come back to us, Absol. Come back to me. I need you."
Absol slowly shook his head, before he looked down at her with eyes filled with reason once more. "Limestone? What happened? And why does my jaw hurt?" he asked as she released him from her hug.
"Because you dumb dumb, I had to find some way to snap you back to reality," she said with a smile. "Now come on, we need to stop-"
A blast of magic drove itself into Absol's chest, hurling him away from Limestone and sending him crashing to the ground. Sol appeared in front of Absol, glaring down at him with eyes that a benevolent ruler would not have. He unleashed spears of magical energy from his horn that pulverized Absol, who was too weak to some much as cry out in pain. Only after he made sure that Absol was unable to move did Sol finally speak to him.
"You have managed to overcome my mind control. Impressive, despite the fact that you clearly needed help to do so. But impressive, none the less. Take some small comfort in that," Sol snarled as he aimed his horn at Absol's heart. "Before I bring you back as a soldier in my army of the damned!"
Sol then unleashed his most powerful blast of magic at Absol, who closed his eyes and awaited to join his mother in the afterlife. But the pain that he expected never came and instead he felt something fall onto him. So slowly he opened his eyes...and then wished that he had died.
For laying on top of him was Limestone...who had used her body as a shield.