Fight as one!
Dark Moon smiled as he swept his wings forward, flinging his daggers at the fallen vigilantes. They were his now; they just didn't know it yet.
Suddenly, a cyan blur surrounded by multi-colored lightning bolts came to a rest in front of his victims. It resolved into a cyan pegasus sporting a blue bodysuit, sky-blue goggles, and a rainbow-hued mane.
The mare spat the daggers out of her mouth and said, "You dropped something."
White Nightmare raised an eyebrow. "And what do you want?"
"To prove a point." Dash hovered and clapped her forehooves together. There was a loud clatter as the parents' barding fell to the floor in pieces. "You said you'd leave when your daughters were ready to rule. They're ready."
Dark Moon growled, "They're too soft, too kind. To rule, they need to be ruthless and strong! They need to kill all their enemies."
"You know, technically, you two could be considered enemies? Would you really have wanted them to kill you?"
White Nightmare snorted, "Kill us? No pony is that strong, that skilled."
Dash looked down at what was left of the barding. "If I wanted you dead, we wouldn't be talking. We all want what is best for Equestria. There's no place here for conquerors."
Dark Moon said, "There are always enemies. What's there to stop the likes of us?" Dismissively, he waved at the fallen vigilantes. "Your friends showed great spirit, but they were no match."
Dash nodded to the princesses. "For anypony else, there would be your daughters. For you, it would be the metaponies." She landed and gave a warm smile.
Nightmare sighed as Moon put a hoof on her shoulder.
“What? You want me, is to ask you? Right?” asked White Nightmare.
The Dash gave the alicorn her best smile.
“Okay, what the hay is a metapony?” said White Nightmare as she rolled her eyes.
Rainbow’s smile grew wider as tiny lightning bolts coursed around her body. “Just ponies with superpowers!”
Dark Moon said, "You really expect us to believe that nonsense? Prove . . ."
In mid-speech, White Nightmare shot a powerful blast of magic at Dash. The next thing she knew, she was being body-checked into her husband.
Celestia and Luna looked on in astonishment and their parents were batted about like balls in a Newton's cradle. One would slam into the other, taking their place while the other flew off sideways. The other would then be slammed back into the first, reclaiming their original position. The process repeated fifty times in ten seconds before Dash returned to her position in front of the parents.
The speedster shrugged. "Nothing personal. Oh, who am I kidding?" In a fraction of a second, she zipped in front of the pair and slapped their faces fifty times in a second. Settling back in her previous position, Dash said, "That was for my friends!"
White Nightmare glared as the speedster. The Dash warily watched the two older alicorns as she took a sprinter's stance.
White Nightmare gestured with a forehoof. Dash accepted the invitation, charging headlong, only to bounce off the invisible shield that the alicorn had cast.
Dash laughed softly. "I didn't even see that coming! Good move, General."
Raising an eyebrow, White Nightmare said, "How can you even hope to be a protector when you refuse to use your most powerful weapon? A newborn could have predicted that trap!"
Pointing a wing at her fallen compatriots, Dash replied, "That's egghead stuff. I'm the muscle."
White Nightmare conjured three flaming axes and flung them at supersonic speed at Dash.The projectiles seemed to pass straight through to mare without leaving a mark. As the weapons embedded themselves into the stone wall, Dash chuckled. "You'll have to be a little faster than that."
The pegasus flew much closer to White Nightmare. "Maybe I should make it easier for you?"
White Nightmare launched a new attack before Dash finished talking. The alicorn frowned when the pegasus simply disappeared and tapped on the alicorn's shield from the rear. "You need to be better, 20% better."
The alicorn rage shifted, glowing white hot as her mane and tail transformed into flames. She projected a dome of flame, expanding out in an attempt to reach the impertinent pegasus. The attack disappeared in a cloud of steam.
Dash quipped, "Watch your step. You do not want to know where that water came from."
From the other side of the room, Dark Moon nodded as the formulated his strategy. "Wait, beloved!"
"What?!" asked White Nightmare.
"She can only deal with one attack at a time."
Dark Moon launched a barrage of daggers at the fallen vigilantes from one side of the room while his wife sent a column of flame from the other. Dash responded, praying her teammates would be fast enough.
At super speed, Dash dumped a bucket of water onto Batmare before flying to intercept the daggers. Batmare shook herself awake before covering the other vigilantes and herself with her cape.
When the flames cleared, the elder alicorns strained to see what remained .It looked like a dark metallic marble. The device detonated with a brilliant flash. As the two tried to clear the spots from their eyes, Dark Moon asked, "Are you sure there's only one metapony here?"
overing above the generals, Dash said, "You, of all ponies, should know that ordinary ponies can do extraordinary things."
The generals blasted at her with their horns. Dash dove out of the way, landing between the two. White Nightmare grabbed her with her magic. "Hey, what gives?" exclaimed Dash as she struggled to fly free.
Smirking, White Nightmare said, "Not so tough when you can't fly. Get her!"
Dark Moon blasted the pegasus with a powerful beam from his horn. White Nightmare screamed when the speedster dropped to the floor and the beam struck her instead. With the spell broken, Dash rocketed up high into the atrium. "Still too slow."
Snarling, White Nightmare flew up to Dash. Dark Moon followed close behind.
This time around, the generals took up positions so that Dash was not directly between them. Smirking, Dash said, "You two have already lost. Why don't you give it up and bug your kids about grandchildren?"
The generals snarled as they charged their next attack, only to be distracted by concussion arrows striking particularly painful locations.
Arrow said, "You should know you can't cast a bubble shield and fly at the same time." He then vanished in a flash of teleportation, only to reappear with a death grip on Dark Moon's hind legs.
At the same time, Batmare's grapnel caught White Nightmare's horn. The tugging distracted the alicorn enough Dash to land a solid buck between the general's wings. Both generals dropped to the ground.
White Nightmare glared at Batmare. "You'll wish your friend hadn't woken you up." As she spoke, Dark Moon dislodged Arrow and bucked him in the stomach, dropping him at Canary's hooves.
"Nephew!" exclaimed Celestia.
"Blue Blood!" whispered Canary.
Smiling, Dark Moon said, "It looks like this one already regrets it."
Blue Blood returned the grin. "It's only pain. You've already lost; you just don't know it yet." Shakily, he rose to his hooves.
Grimly, Dark Moon said, "I am going to enjoy crushing that confidence …" He looked at the other three. “… in all of you."
The general charged, smashing the Arrow into the wall and pounding Canary into the ground with a wing in passing.
Batmare tried to counter with batarangs, but the generals were ready. White Nightmare crushed hers with her magic, while Dark Moon redirected his. The batarang detonated on Arrow's face. The vigilante slumped to the floor.
“Blue Blood!” cried Celestia and Canary in the unison, running to the fallen prince.
Weakly, he opened his eyes and said, "That was unpleasant."
Celestia wiped a tear from her eye and said, "How could you even think you had a chance against alicorns?"
He replied, "If they win, then I have failed Equestria."
Gently, Canary lowered Arrow's hood, revealing his bruised and battered face. "The suit offers protection against common ruffians, not alicorns!"
Just as Arrow was about to reply, Dark Moon caught the mares in his magic and threw them aside. He approached the now-unmasked vigilante and said, "So, this is the face you were trying to hide. Now, we know your secret."
Arrow smirked. "You, and every pony in Equestria who hasn't been living under a rock."
Dark Moon’s eye twitched. “Careful, brat. I don’t have as much patience as my wife.”
Canary took a deep breath. But before she could shriek, Dark Moon caught her around the neck. He growled, "That goes double for you."
“Father, don’t do it!” begged Celestia.
“QUIET YOU!” he said, in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “The time for play is over!”
He slammed Canary onto the ground next to Arrow.
While Dark Moon was dealing with vigilantes, White Nightmare was contending with Batmare and Dash. The alicorn smirked as the pegasus flew around her shield, apparently probing for an opening as the bounced a small rubber ball on its surface.
Batmare called out, "A meter and a half diameter!"
Dash replied, "Good to know; how do I break it?"
"Before I break you?" taunted White Nightmare as she fired a tracking blast at each of her opponents. To her surprise, Dash landed a flying kick to her horn. With the alicorn's concentration broken, her shield dropped. The tracking blast homed in on Dash and struck its caster as the speedster dodged. A heartbeat later, Batmare galloped under the alicorn's belly and leapt as she cleared the mare. The second homing blast struck the alicorn's belly as it attempted to follow Batmare.
"How?!" cried White Nightmare.
Batmare smirked. "Nopony can cast through their own shield."
Dash bucked White Nightmare in the flank while Batmare detonated a glue bomb at the alicorn's hooves.
White Nightmare growled, "You little . . ."
“I warned you, the era of warriors is over! It’s time for the metaponies!” announced the Dash proudly.
“You have amazing powers, I give you that.” White Nightmare smirked. “But that isn’t nearly enough to defeat us.”
“Are you kidding me? If I was my Reverse, you two would be dead already!”
Celestia and Luna shivered at the memory.
White Nightmare replied, “Then you do understand. Power is nothing if you refuse to use it properly.”
“Enough talking!” protested the Dash, charging at White Nightmare again.
This time, Dash felt something was wrong. Her wings grew heavy with ice. She groaned, "Not again."
With gauntlets on her forehooves glowing with heat, Batmare charged White Nightmare. The filly shouted, "Dash! Retreat!"
The alicorn swatted the filly away as if she were no more than a fly. Batmare tumbled, landing in a heap next to the other vigilantes.
White Nightmare blasted as the speedster with a scattershot spell. Slowed by the cold, Dash could not dodge all of the projectiles. Each strike slowed her a little more. Finally, White Nightmare caught her is a freeze spell, encasing her in ice. The general sniffed. "You are no warrior. Without your powers, you're nothing."
As the general set the now-frozen speedster to the ground, she turned to her husband and asked, "So, is anypony left?"
Dark Moon replied, "That's everypony. These three are done for good."
White Nightmare looked over her vanquished opponents. "You fought well . . . for beginners." Nodding to her husband, she continued. "We know you acted out of loyalty to our daughters. Since you proved to be some little challenge, we offer you a reward."
Dark Moon smiled as he nodded back to his wife.
White Nightmare said, "You can join us in rebuilding the glorious pony empire, or you can suffer an ignominious death."
Batmare laughed weakly. "You fools. You are already defeated. You just don't know it yet."
Coldly, White Nightmare replied, "You have a very big mouth for such a little filly. You should know Dark Moon and I had sworn never to take another pony's life. We've changed our minds for you lot."
Arrow spoke for them all. "You cannot threaten a pony who is already dead. We all swore to protect Equestria with our lives."
Dark Moon slowly shook his head. "Such a waste. You would have made fine soldiers in our new empire."
Celestia and Luna move to intervene, but their mother teleported over and cast a lock on their horns. The elder alicorn said, "Not another word from you. They made their choice." She then froze the vigilantes and stacked them next to Dash.
Despite their best efforts, the sisters could not break free. The magic that their mother used had been lost with her, and only she knew the secret to countering it.
Dark Moon teleported the entire family outdoors, leaving the frozen heroes behind. The two generals blasted the roof, collapsing it onto those below.
As one, the sisters shouted, "No!"
White Nightmare moved to hug her daughters. "I know they were dear to you. But, you are supposed to be rulers now. Let this be lesson one. Power comes from respect. Respect comes from fear. Make an example of a few, and the rest will fall in line."
Dark Moon looked back to the castle. "What?!" he exclaimed. The roof that he had seen collapse now looked as though nothing had happened to it, except for the cupola. That piece, along the frozen heroes was being levitated outward. Above it all was an orange alicorn with the build of an earth pony. She was clad in a red body suit, white boots, and a white cape.
The alicorn set the heroes down in front of the castle before turning her attention to the generals.
"Unbelievable!" exclaimed White Nightmare. "How many of these are there?"
The generals flew up to intercept their new opponent. Once they were safely away from their daughters, Alicorn Marevel flung the cupola at them. "I think you dropped something."
As one, the generals blasted the cupola to dust. In that moment's distraction, Alicorn Marevel closed the gap between them and delivered a lightning-charged buck to each general, leaving horseshoe-shaped bruises on top of their cutie marks.
The generals crashed down from the sky, breaking their falls against a statue of their daughters.
Dark Moon growled as he launched himself skyward. With a scream of rage, he landed a widow-maker buck to his opponent's muzzle. He screamed in pain; it had been worse than bucking a brick wall.
Grinning, Marevel picked up the general with her telekinesis and dunked him in a fountain. She said, "Why don't you two surrender before you hurt yourselves any more?"
White Nightmare looked back to where the frozen heroes had been deposited. Destroying them should bring the new threat to heel. To her surprise, they were gone. In their place was a small white filly -- a small white filly with a plasma cannon aimed at her.
While Alicorn Marevel had distracted the generals, Sweetie Borg had busily melted her teammates free of their prisons. Her implants allowed her to convert her magic to infrared, and her communications dish let her deliver it in a wide beam.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, I heal fast.” said Dash with a shrug. “And the ice helped with the bumps and bruises.”
“What about you?” asked the filly as she turned to Canary.
“Not that bad. I’m better than Blue Blood, at least,” said the Canary, looking at her friend. “Seriously, what were you thinking?”
The Arrow shrugged, as he tried to stand. “It doesn’t matter, let’s go and . . .”
He fell on his knees. “Dang it!”
Canary supported him from one side as Batmare went to the other. "Our job here is done; we'll just be in the way now. We've forced the generals to waste far too much energy on us. It's up to the metas now."
White Nightmare screamed in anger as she launched herself into the air, taking the statue of Celestia with her telekinesis. She smashed it to smithereens against Marevel's head.
Marevel rolled her eyes. "Everypony's a critic." She blasted the general with a bolt of lightning that forced the general into the fountain where her husband awaited. Marevel shrugged. “The strength of Ponyrcules, and the durability of Equiles.”
The generals helped each other stand. As they exited the fountain and shook themselves dry, Dark Moon grumbled, "We're a couple of idiots!"
"Why?" asked his wife.
"We should have see this earlier. Every time we think we've defeated them, they bring out somepony even stronger."
White Nightmare replied, "They're making us wear ourselves out on their weaker forces to make their reinforcements look stronger."
Hovering above the two, Marevel said, "Do you surrender?"
Sweetie Borg urged, "Come on, give up already! I have dibs on show and tell!"
White Nightmare deadpanned, "Show and tell?"
Nodding enthusiastically, Sweetie Borg said, "I want to tell my classmates all about you two."
Smiling sweetly, White Nightmare said, "Why don't you introduce me to all of your meta friends first?"
Sweetie Borg shrugged. "Well, you've already met Dash and Alicorn Marevel; that's it."
White Nightmare now sported a shark's smile. "That's all I needed to know."
A torrent of flame flew from White Nightmare's horn, straight toward Sweetie Borg. The pavement underneath turned to glass. The filly cast a regenerative shield, converting some of the incoming thermal energy to power the shield and charge the systems, but the attack was stronger and longer than anything she had encountered before. It was only a matter of time before she was overwhelmed.
Marevel flew down to help her friend, but Dark Moon intercepted her. The general said, "Not this time; this is a one-on-one match."
Marevel grinned. "En garde." Their duel began.
Meanwhile, to White Nightmare's surprise, something exploded in her face, disrupting her attack. As she blinked the stars out of her eyes, she was surprised to see miniature missile launchers retracting into Sweetie Borg's flanks. The general groaned, "I can't believe I've burned my face more times today than in all of the Dragon Wars."
As she prepared her next attack, she felt something grab her forehoof. Sweetie Borg's ascender dragged her to the filly, who demonstrated her jackhammer attachment on the general's face.
In the meantime, Marevel and Dark Moon were locked in hoof to hoof combat. The general had years of brutal combat experience on his side. He soon learned it was nothing against the experience of multiple lifetimes. As he was sent tumbling into the fountain, Marevel shouted, "Sweetie! Throw her!"
“What?!”
“DO IT!”
“Okay!” said Sweetie, taking the white alicorn between her hooves, and throwing the general into the sky.
Marevel caught White Nightmare by the mane and whipped her down onto her husband.
The generals picked themselves out of the fountain and rolled on the ground, panting heavily at their daughters' hooves.
"Why didn't Eclipse Darkness warn us about these metas?" complained Dark Moon.
Pointing to the retreating vigilantes, his wife replied, "Shut up! You know what to do."
Dark Moon extended his wings and launched himself toward the vigilantes. Somepony bucked him into the ground. Above him, Dash grinned. "Remember me?"
"Forget this!" exclaimed Dark Moon as he went skyward.
Dash stayed near the ground, countering White Nightmare's charge.
At great speed, storm cloud gathered. Sweetie Borg analyzed the structure before shouting, "Marevel! Stop him!"
Dark Moon cackled. "You're too late!"
Sweetie Belle shouted, "It's a Devastation Cloud! They used that to destroy cities!"
White Nightmare nodded, looking at her daughters. "This time, your little ponies pay the price for your insolence."
Luna looked at her mother with pity in her eyes. "You really don't understand, do you?"
White Nightmare snarled, "Your city is doomed. You have no more metas!"
Celestia said, "We have no shortage of heroes."
White Nightmare sniffed, "Nopony can help you now."
Dark Moon laughed maniacally as he jumped on the massive thunderhead that he had formed. It released a single bolt of red lightning aimed straight for the three vigilantes.
As Dash flew up toward him, he said, "NOPONY CAN SAVE YOUR FRIENDS NOW, NOT EVEN YOU!!"
The thunderhead dispersed as Dash burst through and bucked the general away. "Who said anything about a pony?"
The red lightning struck with enough energy to melt a mountain. Instead of vaporizing the vigilantes, it struck a green shield that redirected and dispersed it skyward, converting it into a spectacular light show.
White Nightmare screamed at Sweetie Borg. "You lied! You said there were no more metas!"
Lantern shouted, "Take that back! I'm not a meta; I'm just an ordinary baby dragon -- with extraordinary responsibilities."
Dark Moon frowned. "Filthy dragon! I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart piece by piece."
The general's horn began to glow. Immediately, Lantern capped it with a green marshmallow. As the general tried to clear his horn, Dash bound his wings with rope. The instant she flew clear, Marevel came crashing down on his back bouncing him on the ground.
As the general shakily rose to his hooves, Lantern formed two giant hands and slammed his wife and him together between them. When the applause ended, the two slumped to the ground.
The two warriors lay on the ground, surrounded by their daughters and the heroes.
Calmly, Luna said, "We tried to warn you before, you've lost. Please, give up before anypony else gets hurt."
Celestia added, "Warriors as skilled as yourselves must recognize when the fight is hopeless."
The parents glared at their daughters. "What is wrong with you two?!" asked White Nightmare. "All we wanted was the best for us ponies! Your so-called Hall of History is nothing but a monument to your failures. Discord. Tirek. Chrysalis. If you had killed your enemies, they never would have come back to attack you!"
“Harmony had made you weak! We were meant to rule over all species! What is wrong with trying to restore our previous glory? WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT?”
“We will not build an empire on the blood of victims,” said Celestia. “Times change, mother, father. You must change with them.”
“Or leave.” finished Luna.
“Are you actually kicking us out?” asked White Nightmare, hurt.
Celestia said, "We love you, mother, you and father both. It's what you did that we hate."
Luna added, "Your legacy is the darkest in our history. But, it was needed to start the new era."
“Era of what? Harmony?” asked Dark Moon.
“It was the Era of Harmony. Now, this is the era of the Justice League!” asserted Alicorn Marevel.
The other heroes looked at her.
“What? You don’t like the name? It sounded great in my head.”
“No, that sounds . . . pretty neat,” said Dash. “I guess it fits our little team.”
“Justice League or not, we won’t give up that easily!” said Dark Moon, extending his wings.
“As you wish!” replied Sweetie Borg, turning her forehoof into a plasma cannon. The discharged drove the generals back onto the ground.
White Nightmare said, "Not going to stop us."
“I think Arrow warned you. We will fight as one!” said the Canary, slowly limping to her friends.
Lantern trapped the generals in a giant megaphone. "All yours, my lady."
Canary moved the the mouthpiece and shrieked. It would be a long time before the generals recovered.
Batmare limped up to the group. "I'm sorry we had to do that, princesses. I know they are your parents."
“They got what they deserved, unfortunately.” Luna sighed. “We shall not rule by terror again.”
“They are a product of their era,” said Celestia. “They just don't fit in; they won't accept harmony.”
The heroes nodded in silence.
Batmare snarled, "No! I can't let it end like this! There has to be a better way!"