Third assault
Sweetie Belle was brought down to earth with a muffled thud. In her haste to follow Princess Luna's order, she had awoken with a start and leapt out of bed, only to be forcibly restrained by the umbilical cables that were refreshing her systems. With an annoyed huff, she detached herself and activated her floodlamps, illuminating Rarity, who dozed peacefully, oblivious behind her sleeping mask.
Sweetie Belle yelled, "Rarity! Rarity! Wake up! Wake up!"
The fashionista responded with an unladylike snore.
Frowning, Sweetie Belle activated her public address system. A loudspeaker dropped down from her barrel.
"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"
Rarity launched a flying buck toward the disturbance as she whipped off her sleeping mask. Sweetie Bell's shield spell, amplified by her cybernetic systems, was barely able to stop Rarity's hoof before it reached Sweetie's face.
As Rarity dropped to the floor in an attack stance, Sweetie Belle said, "Remind be to send Opal to wake you up next time."
Rarity said, "Don't do that, Sweetie! I'm not a morning person."
"No time for that! Forest Thing is attacking!"
“What?!”
Diamond Tiara opened the door and turned on the lights. She was wearing a lavender bathrobe, and her mane was crowded with curlers.
“Are you ready? We have a tough day ahead of us.”
“What’s going on? What are you talking about?” asked Rarity, more calmly.
"We just got out of a shared dream with Princess Luna," explained Sweetie Belle. "We tracked down Forest Thing."
“He said he's sending more golems. We better hurry,” said Diamond. “Randolph!”
The butler appeared behind his little miss, carrying a tray laden with nutrition bars.
“I was planning to serve a proper breakfast, but, given the circumstances, this will have to do,” said Diamond Tiara, taking one bar in her teeth. “Follow me!”
Each of the Belle sisters accepted a bar and ran behind the filly, eating as they went.
Diamond Tiara guided them to the living room, right in front of an old family portrait that was over the fireplace. The portrait showed Filthy and Spoiled Rich, carrying a swaddled Diamond Tiara in their hooves.
Diamond Tiara stared at the portrait for a second, and then she pressed a series of bricks. A panel beside the hearth slid away, revealing a staircase. The pink filly looked at Rarity and said, "I don't think I need to ask you to keep my lair's location a secret."
Coldly, Rarity replied, "Consider it a professional courtesy."
"Thank you. Now follow me."
The staircase led to a construction elevator. Rarity struggled to make out details of the shaft as they descended.
When the door opened at the bottom, Rarity stepped back, startled by the curtain of black that flew out of the way, revealing a pathway dimly lit by strategically placed firefly lanterns. She shivered. "Bats. Why must you have such disgusting creatures with you?"
Diamond Tiara said, "They're special in their own way. Besides, this is their home; I'm just a tenant."
Rarity grimaced. "Tenant? What does a bat do with money?"
"I pay them in fresh fruit. It's a good deal for everyone."
The filly led the Belles down the path. A lantern on her desk illuminated a remote control. Diamond Tiara pressed a button. Shutters dropped away from more powerful lights. A ponyquin with her Batmare suit was close at hand, and further away, an array of crystal panes was set in a giant frame. Colored dots twinkled in each pane. Except for the one marked "Ponyville", each pane was labelled with the name of a major metropolitan area.
“What are those?” asked Rarity.
“They're thaumatic activity monitors. We'll be able to tell exactly where the golems are by looking for unusual fluctuations in the magic field."
"That's very pretty, but what is it telling us?" asked Rarity.
Sweetie pulled a cable from behind her ear and connected it to the equipment.
“It's the same as before; they're attacking from the sewers. Canterlot, Crystal Empire, Ponyville.”
Diamond Tiara frowned. "We know those are just diversions." She shouted, "Doctor!"
The stallion appeared, yawning. “What now?”
“I need you to monitor the array. We need to know exactly where the Forest Thing is."
“The male alicorn?”
“Exactly.” said Batmare, who had just finished putting on her costume. She turned on more lights, revealing the aerial transport.
“The autopilot is set to drop you off at Luna's tower,” she said to Rarity. “Find Arrow; knowing him, he's already fighting the golems in the sewers. In the meantime, Sweetie Borg and I will take care of the menace in Ponyville.”
"Wait a minute," said Rarity. "Arrow already knows what's going on?"
"Everypony else knows; you're the only one whose identity Luna doesn't know. Now hurry!"
Rarity looked at Sweetie one last time.
“But . . .”
"I'll be fine, sis. Go! Arrow needs your help!"
As the transport's ramp lowered, Randolph entered, carrying the Canary's costume and telescopic bo staff.
As she used her magic to don her costume, Canary said, "Fine." Glaring at Batmare, she said, "If it weren't for what you did to my sister, I'd be happy to make you a proper costume. I'll still do it to stop this crime against fabulosity."
Batmare shrugged. "No offense, but while I love your dresses, your costumes are just too froufrou for me."
Canary pouted, offended by the obvious gaucherie, but she accepted the criticism
The Canary trotted into the jet as Batmare and Sweetie Borg galloped through the tunnels toward the threat.
“This is gonna be fun!” cheered Sweetie Borg. “My very first mission!”
Batmare glared at her. “Just be careful, all right? I don’t want you to hurt somepony, too.”
Sweetie Borg smiled. “Okay! I’ll be careful!”
It had taken less than five minutes to get Canary to Canterlot, but the Royal Guard and a wall of golems stood between her and Arrow. She tapped her commlink and said, "Arrow, where are you?"
"Not sure. Smells like bad cheese and worse perfume."
The doctor's voice came over the link. "Go to Rennet and Mane. There should be a ponyhole cover in front of the newsstand."
Canary rushed to the location. She used her telekinesis to remove the cover as she donned her rebreather. She dropped into the stream of golems and galloped through them. Over the din of their babbling, she could hear bow striking mud. As she homed in on the sound, she saw Arrow on the bottom rungs of a maintenance ladder. Golems were coming too quickly for him to escape. She spat out her rebreather and turned back. Her shriek destroyed the golems she had passed. With her bo staff, she cleared her way to Arrow as she decapitated golem after golem.
Once there were no golems between them, Arrow yelled, "Duck!" He shot a volley of concussion arrows over Canary's head, dispatching the stragglers.
After breathing a sigh of relief, Canary said, "How many got past you?"
“Zero. This time, Forest Thing sent them against us.”
“What?!”
“Apparently, he thought we were a bigger threat than the princesses. He must have remembered our auras from the dream. I knew it was a bad idea, but my aunt didn't give us a choice."
“I see. I just hope we can stop him before he can release his parents.”
Ponyville Outskirts, Merry Meadow:
The golem horde divided its attention between Sweetie Borg and Batmare. The unicorn yelled, "I thought they were after the alicorns!"
Batmare flung another batarang with her mouth before she replied, "You heard Twilight; they're ignoring her now."
A parabolic dish rose from a shaft telescoping from Sweetie's back. Her horn glowed, and the crystal array hidden under her exoskeleton amplified the spell, projecting a beam of destruction from the dish, undercutting several of the creatures that charged at her.
“Cool!”
Slowly, the legless creatures dragged themselves toward each other, fusing together into a larger golem.
“Sweetie, aim for the head!” said Diamond Tiara, throwing a small grenade at the creatures. The device detonated mid-air, decapitating several of the golems.
Sweetie Borg replied, “Sorry, I just wanted to see what this thing was capable of!”
“We can train on the cave later! Now I need you to focus! Please, this is no game!”
A new wave of golems approached from the swamp. Batmare mentally tallied her inventory. "They're going to run me out of ammunition." Angrily, she placed a forehoof on her ear. "Randolph! Take over for the doctor."
“On it, Little Miss.”
“I guess you have something else for me, right, kid?” asked the doctor.
“Yes. As soon as Canary is in Canterlot, send the aerial transport to our position."
"It should be there soon."
This time, the horde moved to flank the heroes. Despite fillies' best efforts, the horde slowly closed in from all directions. Batmare's ears perked at the sound of a familiar hum. She yelled, "Get ready!"
Sweetie Borg smiled as Batmare jumped onto her back. Thrust nozzles extended from her exoskeleton. A blast of compressed air boosted her jump and blew back the golems. The creatures tried to regroup. They had started the first level of a pyramid when a concussion grenade dropped in their midst. The resulting detonation bought just enough time for the heroes to enter the transport unmolested.
For several minutes, Batmare flew the transport in a lazy circle above the horde as it began to form another pyramid in an attempt to reach the aircraft. Once satisfied that no more creatures were approaching, she said, "Time to try my new toy." She firewalled the throttle as the pressed the new red button on the control panel.
The aircraft shot skyward as it was suddenly relieved of a great weight. From a safe altitude, the fillies watched as a fireball engulfed the remaining golems.
“Cool!” said Sweetie Borg.
“Yeah, I must admit, that was pretty impressive. I should give a raise to the doctor.”
Sweetie Borg smiled happily.
“That was fun!” cheered the unicorn. “Now, shall we join my sister?”
“No.”
“But . . . we destroyed all the enemies.”
Batmare nodded patiently. “Yes, but, more can come. Besides, the Arrow and Canary can let us know if they need any reinforcements.”
“Oh, right! Sorry, it's just that this superhero thing is new for me,” apologized Sweetie Borg.
Batmare sighed. “It takes time to get used to.”
Crystal Empire:
Shining Armor smiled in anticipation. Spike was not a morning person, and the white stallion had just the thing to wake up the purple laggard. He had promised to give Spike the full Crystal Guard treatment, and the Guard would be ecstatic to have their hero train alongside during their pre-dawn PT. With his telekinesis, he brought his flugelhorn to his lips; he had a special version of "Reveille" just for this occasion.
The door burst open, and Lantern ran headlong into Shining Armor. Startled, the stallion dropped the flugelhorn, firmly seating its bell on Lantern's head.
Lantern snarled as he struggled to dislodge the annoying instrument. Shining Armor quipped, "You don't look half bad as a unicorn."
The horn came off with a squelch. Lantern replied, "Golems are inbound! Send backup!"
As his brother flew off, Shining Armor cast a communications spell. He shouted, "We are under attack! Deploy and cover the sewer entrances!"
The sleeping guards quickly prepared for duty while the others flooded out to their pre-assigned duty stations. The golems were already on the streets, but there were few civilians out.
To everypony's surprise, the creatures showed no interest in the palace. Instead, they made their way toward the low-flying Lantern. The guards took advantage of the creatures' momentary inattention to dispatch as many as they could, but there were far too many for them to handle.
Lantern shouted, "Don't let them surround you!" He flew to the train station, leading the creatures away. The Guard followed, picking off the creatures from the rear.
Lantern landed with his back to the barrier. The extreme cold outside the barrier would prevent the golems from attacking from that direction. As before, he used his ring to create a funnel, but this time, he was at the end; he was now bait.
The horde flooded in, intent on their objective. A simple warp gate teleported them away to uninhabited Ponynesia before they could reach Lantern. Lantern smiled grimly. It was a bit boring, but this trap would hurt no one. All he had to do was hope that he had enough willpower to handle the entire horde.
As the minutes passed, Marevel's voice crackled over the commlink. "Hey, Lantern! Need a hoof?"
"I think we can wait things out; they're all coming for me."
"What if I speed things up a bit?"
"Sounds good. How soon can you get here?"
"Now. Brace yourself!" announced Marevel, as she showed up.
Lantern focused his willpower to its maximum. Outside the trap, the Crystal Guard had taken shelter, clearing the way for Marevel. A red and white tornado collected all the creatures and shoved them into the funnel. Minutes later, there were no more to be found.
With the threat gone, they Crystal Guard came out to welcome their heroes.
Canterlot Castle, Princesses’ personal library:
The royal sisters were sickened by what they read. A lesser pony would have been driven insane long ago. These were records from the rule of Death Ride, the first emperor, their grandfather.
Celestia grumbled, "I can't believe the author. He actually enjoyed recording every last detail of each of father's atrocities."
Luna replied, "If you think that is bad, this one actually bragged about how mother murdered a foreign queen and then forced the princess to bury her mother before digging her own grave."
"What?!"
"No wonder Chrysalis hates ponies."
"How in the world is she still alive?"
Luna shrugged, "Apparently, mother was too busy laughing when Discord rescued the changeling."
Celestia groaned. "I can't take any more of this."
As the sisters took a break, Luna had an epiphany. "Wait a minute! The only ponies sick enough to write about these things would be our parents!"
"So, we don't have to read any more of that?"
Nodding, Luna replied, "We can ignore everything in their mouthwriting."
“You’re right!”
The two attacked their task with renewed vigor. Their parents' works were cast aside, greatly speeding the process. Finally, after three hours of hard work, they found it.
Celestia said, "This is it; the spell from the original Dragon Lord."
Luna pored over the document. "It looks easy enough. Getting the essence of your enemy seems to be tricky; you need to get close enough to get a piece of their body."
Celestia added, "The keepsake would be even tougher to find; it has to be something precious to the target."
Luna said, "In order to reverse the spell, our brother would need to reunite all of the spell components, and the original caster."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Celestia smiled. "Then he can't do it; everypony knows that the original Dragon Lord died in that battle."
Luna frowned. “Unless he can make substitutions and use descendants instead.”
Celestia’s eyes widened. “What? Do you have any idea how long it would take to collect everything!?”
Luna nodded. “He said he had been working on this for centuries, plenty of time to collect everything he needs. Obviously, he saved the ones closer to us for last.”
“Like the dragons . . .”
“We must warn them about the coming danger,” said Luna.
Canterlot sewers:
Since they were able to create a bit of separation between waves of golems, Arrow was able to bait the creatures into an ambush. The Royal Guard thinned the creatures as they entered the sewers, and Arrow stood behind a chokepoint, allowing only two creatures to face him at a time. With couriers feeding him supplies through a ponyhole, Arrow could rearm while Canary fended off the creatures with her screams.
In the end, they finished all the golems in two hours.
“Is just me, or was this too easy?” asked Canary, worriedly.
“He did keep us busy for hours. Maybe that's all he wanted to do.”
“Well, he’s being forced to do all this,” grumbled Canary.
“What's your status?” asked Luna via the commlink.
“We’re done in Ponyville!” said Batmare.
“Same here in Canterlot!” said the Arrow.
“A bunch of those things intercepted me halfway to Manehattan. They were easy to dispose of,” giggled Dash.
“We took care of them in time for PT and breakfast,” said Lantern.
“I helped!” added Marevel.
“Perfect! Lantern, I need you to go to the Dragon Lands! Protect the Dragon Lord. She is Forest Thing's target.”
“On it!” answered the emerald guardian.
…
The rim of the caldera was completely covered with cheering dragons. The caldera itself was clear, except for two dragons locked in unarmed combat. The larger was a dark green brute with cobalt blue spikes and a yellow belly. The smaller was turquoise blue with dark blue spikes and a robin's egg blue belly; it was none other than the Dragon Lord herself, Ember.
Although she was dwarfed by her opponent, Ember had locked his arms and wings in a particularly painful hold. The green dragon screamed, kicking feebly. Abruptly, he stopped, going limp.
Half of the crowd groaned in disappointment as the other half cheered.
GO, GO LORD EMBER!”
“CRUSH HIM!”
“KILL, KILL! DESTROY, DESTROY!”
Ember smiled as she picked up a small boulder. She flew over her opponent and yelled, "VERDICT?"
The cheering dragons chanted, "DO IT! DO IT!"
Ember flung the boulder at her opponent's head. To every dragon's surprise, the rock disintegrated into a cloud of green dust just before it struck. A collective groan of disappointment filled the air.
Ember looked back. Hovering above her was a baby dragon in green body suit with black limb coverings and white gloves and boots.
“Are you out of your mind?!” asked Lantern. “What the hay are you thinking?”
Ember groaned. "It was pumice, Spike. His head is a lot harder than that. Why are you all dressed up?"
"I'm here to protect you; you're in grave danger."
“What?”
Lantern nodded. "A crazy alicorn called 'Forest Thing' wants to do who knows what with you."
In a mocking tone, a red dragon from the crowd said, "Do you think we're afraid of your kind, puny dragon-shaped pony?"
Lantern turned, annoyed. "Not the time, Garble. This is serious!"
“So is our tournament!” replied another dragon.
“Tournament?” asked Lantern.
Ember nodded. "If we can't talk things out, we form teams and fight it out. I set things up so that we have a tournament each month; if there are no disputes, we use it to set our combat rankings."
As the two landed, Lantern groaned, "Well, that's different."
Smiling, Ember asked, "You want to take me on? This is a great way to work out your frustrations."
"Thanks, but we have a situation. There's a really dangerous pony after you!"
"Easy, Spike!" said Ember. "We're dragons; there's no way a little pony can hurt us. Come on! Why don't you join in the fun?"
“What?!” asked Spike.
Garble yelled, "Shut up or put up, pony lover!"
Exasperated, Spike created a huge green extension of his hand and dragged Garble in front of him. "I told you Garble; this is not the time. The Dragon Lord is in danger!"
Smirking, Garble said, "We dragons are tougher than you think, pony." He pulled himself to his full height. “And you know what? You pushed me to our arena. That means you challenged me to a fight.”
Spike facepalmed. “Garble, I don’t have the time for this!”
“You should have thought of that before interrupting our tournament!” said the red dragon, flexing his muscles.
Lantern rolled his eyes. His body glowed green as he hit Garble with a double tiger claw palm strike. The red dragon flew out of the crater and crashed to the ground, unconscious. "There, I won. Now, Ember, please! That alicorn is a lot stronger than I am.
Ember put a finger on his lips. “Spike, stop worrying. I can handle any pony. We can handle any pony.”
“But Ember . . .”
“No, that’s my final word. Now leave or sit with the others. Please.”
Storm clouds gathered as Spike scowled. The skies opened up and the caldera greedily drank the rains. The crater began to tremble as hundreds of trees grew out of the now-soaked soil and charged against the dragons.
Lantern created several chainsaws with his ring, but where one tree fell, two rose to take its place.
“Forest Thing!”
The alicorn of the forest appeared between the trees. He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you always have to stand in my way, dragon boy?”
Spike stood between the alicorn and the Dragon Lord, spreading his arms. “I won’t let you touch my friends, Forest Thing.”
His anger flew toward the alicorn in a verdant blast. A wall of trees sprang up, absorbing the ire. Forest Thing made a show of yawning. "You know you're no match for me, dragon boy. Lucky for you, I'm in a hurry."
The trees moved to overwhelm Lantern. As he prepared his ring, Ember pushed him aside. "You're afraid of that?! COME ON GUYS! FIRE!"
As one, the dragons unleashed their fire breath, reducing the soggy trees to ash and exposing Forest Thing.
“I told you, Spike. We’re dragons; we’re tough,” said Ember with a grin.
Lantern was about to reply when Forest Thing surrounded himself with an overwhelming aura.
The emerald guardian gulped, but he created a wall between Ember and the alicorn.
“I won’t let you touch her, Forest Thing! I don’t care how strong you are; my friends are off limits!”
Forest Thing shrugged.
“Believe me, dragon boy. I have no intention of touching your filthy little friend here. I came for the direct descendant of the original dragon lord.”
“But . . . she’s the dragon lord,” said Lantern, concerned.
“Yes, but, she’s not even related to the original,” explained Forest Thing, turning his back to the confused dragons. “This guy, on the other hoof . . .”
More trees grew out of the ground, trapping the unconscious Garble.
Lantern gasped. “What?”
“Thank you for knocking him down for me. Have fun, dragon boy.”
Golems and more living trees appeared and attacked the dragons.
“What?” asked Ember.
“I warned you!” said Lantern, sending powerful blasts against the golems. “Aim for the heads! That’s the only way to stop them!”
Ember shouted, "Use your dragon magic!"
"This is no time for a letter!"
"No! Feel the power of earth!" The other dragons stood with arms raised. Dimly, their hands glowed. "Now strike!" As one, all the dragons, except Lantern, slammed their hands into the floor of the caldera. It quaked like jelly before it started steaming. The trees started to wilt. The ground melted, dropping everyone into a pool of lava. The dragons casually lounged around as their enemies were reduced to ash.
Forest Thing and Garble were long gone.
Lantern flew above the caldera. Tapping his commlink, he said, "I failed. Forest Thing got the descendant of the first Dragon Lord."
“You couldn’t save Ember?” asked Batmare.
“We were wrong; Ember wasn't the descendant. It was Garble, an acquaintance of mine. I should be able to track the residual ring energy on him."
"No! Come back with us; we have to outthink him, not outfight him."
Spike nodded, and after apologizing with Ember, he flew back to his friends.
Location unknown:
Garble screamed, and twitched, trying to escape the green magic aura surrounding him. The alicorn's power was far more than a fully-grown adult dragon could handle. The teenager didn't stand a chance.
The dragon faded to gray as the last of his essence was transferred into a small crystal, adding to the other spell elements that Forest Thin had been collecting over the centuries. The counter spell was finally complete.
The crystal glowed with all its power, creating a portal.
A white hoof came out of the wormhole, followed by a dark blue one.
After their hooves, the lovers followed.
The stallion looked like a male version of Luna. He was taller, more muscular, and dressed in black barding. His cutie mark was a red lightning bolt coming from a black cloud.
The mare could easily have been mistaken for Celestia. Her cruel expression and her cutie mark, a flaming axe, showed her true identity.
The princesses' parents, the lost generals, Dark Moon and White Nightmare had returned.
“Finally!” said White Nightmare, enjoying the breeze. “After all these years, we’re finally free!”
“We have to thank our son. Slow as a slug, but he managed to achieve his goal.”
They looked around, but he was nowhere to be found.
Finally, White Nightmare noticed a small rock with some words engraved on it.
With a smile, she read out loud:
“Now you’re my sisters’ problem. I’m out of here.” She giggled. “Charming, isn’t he? He actually believes we won't find him.”
“We’ll deal with him later. Right now, we need to pay our daughters a visit.”
“You’re right. He deserves a little time to enjoy himself now that he freed us for good.”
The two calmly stepped over what was left of Garble. Smiling they strode out toward Equestria. This was a day nopony would forget.