//------------------------------// // True Pony Potential (true final boss) // Story: PONY POV SERIES SEASON 8: FINALE! // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked at each other, exchanging determined nods... until the the shadow of Golden Tiara fell over them. "Don't even think about it, young ladies," said Golden Tiara in a tone that left no room for argument. Most of the ponies left behind in the Canterlot Gardens had no bloody clue what was going on. They knew Diamond Tiara was free of being a Nightmare, and that Discord had been expelled from her body, but his powers had gone completely out of whack, even for Discord. And apparently Discord had a brother and a father. That last part was the kind of thing that could stand a pony's whole world on end. Whatever was going on, Twilight and her friends were the only ones who could stop it. They'd all come this far together, but now the Bearers would have to finish the journey alone. - Twilight Sparkle We pursued the monster that had taken Discord higher and higher, flying through roiling and churning storm clouds. It was like there was no Equus below and no sky above, only two planes of storms with lightning arcing between the two. Was the very presence of that thing turning the weather against us? = Sonic Heroes - 'What I'm Made Of!' = The monstrous avatar didn't turn around so much as it morphed back to front. The sphere containing Discord shone like an angry red jewel in its forehead... and then it was grasped in a claw, then at the tip of a tail, shifting whenever I tried to focus on any detail. "Long time no see!" Its voice had a distorted echo, like it was close by and far away at the same time, two or three creatures speaking just out of synch. Little ponies! The termites of the cosmos!" For once, I couldn't think of what to say. Rainbow was quicker. "You're the termite, you big ugly!" Its chest opened to reveal a minotaur skull, which spat a hailstorm of red crystals at us. Before I could shout a warning, Rainbow Dash was already smashing through them like clock work. "Ignorant animal. None of this would have happened if you hadn't destroyed the windigos. The windigos wouldn't have come if you hadn't surrendered to hate. You wouldn't have given into hate if you hadn't treated reality itself as a toy and nearly destroyed everything that was and is. This is your end! You have none to blame but yourselves." Three of its claws slashed, leaving giant glowing slash marks in the air. We all dodged without missing a beat. I finally chose to speak... this was no time for secrets. "You can stop with the games, Avatar of Havoc! I know you're just a piece of Discord's father! You're nothing but a mad puppet!" "A puppet indeed! My creator never thought to give me a name. I was merely an extension of his will. Once the chaos of the war freed me, I gave myself one: Fear of peace! I am every soldier ever bred and groomed into a killer, then discarded as soon as his war was over, demonized for the crime of doing what he was made to do. I am Paxphobia." Then came the eye lasers, as if we hadn't been dodging those all day already, except they contorted in impossible angles from a million eyes... a maze of death stretching as far as we could see, ready to cut us to shreds. "I'LL TAKE THE LEAD!" Pinkie Pie cheered, and we fell in line behind her, following her example as she darted in and around the lasers without getting so much as singed. Each time we slipped through his attacks, we got closer and closer! Fluttercruel emerged from Fluttershy, shouting to be heard over the wind. "I don't give a buck what you are or what you call yourself! Give up or else!" "Half-mortal, half-god mongrel, fight for your grandfather!" A pair of its eyes flashed red. Fluttercruel's eyes dimmed to glowing red embers, and her mouth became a mess of fangs. "Yes, grandfather." Before Fluttercruel could do anything, Fluttershy hugged her daughter in midair, returning her to normal. "We've had enough of that, thank you very much!" said Fluttershy defiantly. "CURSE YOU!" Four of the avatar's arms grabbed some passing storm clouds, turning them to solid stone in a surge of chaos before hurling them straight at us. "SHIFT, BUCK, YEAH!" Applejack shouted as she took point, her legs bucking the giant stone clouds. Each kick propelled her to the next cloud, until all of them were pulverized. Applejack had never been this strong before... was our proximity powering us up somehow? "Devil Blade Serpents!" I saw what I'd only read about. From one of its claw tips came a rusted metal pipe as wide as a carriage. Swords, scythes, knives, and razor blades stuck out at chaotic angles in every direction, and multiplied like branches on a tree. Its wires and blades spreaded like twigs at us, but all of them stayed the same size and density instead of getting smaller. "That's Strife's technique!" I automatically shouted. "Idiot. Havoc taught her!" Rarity zipped ahead, flying before us. "Allow me darling!" She launched more gems than I knew she had with her, and combined them into a set of spinning saw blades. She whirled the blades with her telekinesis so fast they left after images, following every twist and turn of the attack with uncanny precision, cutting the Devil Blade Serpents to pieces before they came anywhere near us. After all, she'd seen this attack before in her former life. "I can help!" shouted Spike, his voice an octave deeper than I was used to. His powered-up fire breath melted the pieces of the Devil Blade Serpents together, turning them into a mass of twitching metal. "Hang on, Spike!" I couldn't tell what was below us, but I wasn't risking somepony getting crushed by metal raining from the sky! I took the half-molten mass in my telekinesis, straining my magic, and smacked Paxphobia in what might have been his face. "Agh! One of Tiamat's spawn, you're as conceited as your creator." "YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTHS!" roared Spike, as if he was instinctively angry at the jab at the Dragon Queen. "BE AFRAID!" All of his eyes swiveled creepily and focused directly on us. Suddenly I froze, knowing only that I couldn't move, couldn't even breathe, or the vicious pony-eating predator would seize and devour me! "Destroy!" A gorilla head emerged from its stomach, charging up a red beam of true Destruction. "ALL STAND TOGETHER!" Fluttercruel shouted, and just like that, the spell was broken. We were a herd, a tribe, and unlike our ancestors, we don't leave a herdmate to die before the wolves! I shoved the remains of the metal serpent spell into the gorilla's mouth to violently block the attack. While Paxphobia was reeling from that, I spell copied the beam that Celestia had used to overwhelm Queen Chrysalis, pouring much more mana into it than Celestia had dared use in the palace. It shot right through Paxphobia as Destruction's spell detonated. "AGH!" He bellowed like a dozen angry hydras. "We're ponies!" I shouted. "We survive! We survived Tirek! We survived the Spell Plague, we survived the windigos, we survived Discord, and we'll survive a mockery of his Father! And we'll do it all-" My friends shouted with me. "TOGETHER!" I don't know why I was surprised when the Fires of Friendship themselves appeared, and in a spiral reached for Paxphobia and set him ablaze. He roared. And the fire wasn't so much put out as it was forced away, and back towards us. We weren't burned either... the Fires engulfed us and faded away, as if we'd reabsorbed them. "HA! Did you think my creator was THAT STUPID that he wouldn't take precautions against the crime done to his lovely bride?! YOU THINK ME THE WINDIGOS? They were mindless automatons made for dealing with you ponies! I was made to stand against my own kind!!" 'Twilight Sparkle!' Discord? His voice came from everywhere, yet nowhere. 'Can you hear me!? Normal attacks won't be able to finish him!' "That just means we have to hit you extra hard!" I shouted to Paxphobia. Our Elements of Harmony were already glowing. Had they brightened up as we each helped? I hadn't noticed or cared. I already knew my friends would be with me to the end! We didn't need to think about it... glowing white lines joined us together, forming into a six pointed star in the sky, and the rainbow crashed down on the avatar. "AGGGGH!" Paxphobia screamed, and then with two of his fists it pushed the fading rainbow AWAY. "You thought you could harm me with the Rainbow of Light? Have you forgotten that harmony's power was born from my family as well?!" My friends shivered. 'Twilight! He's bluffing! I can feel it! It hurt him! KEEP IT UP!' "I'll skewer you!" Claws launched from one of its giant paws like missiles. Applejack started to buck one off course, but the moment she made contact the claw shattered on its own, trapping Applejack in a giant red ruby like an insect in amber. Pinkie Pie gasped. "You big meanie! You said..." "I lied." Applejack must have had no other way to react. Or could not even Applejack pierce his lies? Rarity began shooting the talons at a distance with her jewels, setting them off early. Rainbow dove and caught Applejack, but then the red crystal multiplied on contact, trapping her in a second jewel. "DON'T LET ANY OF THEM TOUCH THE GROUND!" I caught all the red crystals in my magic, then gasped in alarm when the crystallization infected the flow of my magic, travelling back towards me like poison in a blood vessel. I magically moved them further and further away from me, delaying what would happen. Before I could reach the limit of my telekinesis range, Spike swooped in and ate all the smaller rubies before chomping on the ones containing Applejack and Rainbow Dash. With a tongue like a chameleon, he struck, breaking them free and munching up every last crystal shard. For a moment I feared that they'd grow from inside Spike, but the dragon digestive system proved stronger. 'Do a barrel roll! Do the hula! Do something... Twilight, Destruction's essence and mine are diluting Paxphobia's true power, but he'll realize he's better off without us sooner than later! You might want to stop him before that happens!' "AGAIN! ZAP HIM AGAIN!" I shouted. It felt odd that what had been the crowning moment of our friendship was now reduced to a cannon to pummel our enemy, but there we were! For that matter, it's a wonder we didn't faint from using the Elements of Harmony twice in just a few minutes, but we couldn't afford to hold back now. Maybe the armor was feeding us the strength we needed. This time, Paxphobia dodged the rainbow beam, only to be tracked down and blasted from behind by the attack instead. He bellowed like a wounded Ursa, but he wasn't finished yet. Paxphobia slashed the air with its claws again, but this time with five of his limbs. We started dodging in between the slashes just like before, but at the same time he flapped five of his wings. Black whirlpools formed in midair, sucking in everything... light, air, sound, and then the eight of us! Then Rainbow Dash showed why she wasn't worried about having a smaller team to work with for 'Hurricane Fluttershy.' She spun about and created a twister going the opposite direction, cancelling out the whirlpools and negating them from existence! Paxphobia shuddered, shaking off solid bits of leathery flesh like fleas. Lamprey mouths with teeth-like buzz saws opened up, and they buzzed towards us like a swarm of parasprites, moving along the trails of emptiness that had always been in the sky since history began. 'Some of Mother's pet time-eaters, eh? Fluttershy, Fluttercruel, give them what for!' Fluttercruel flew in first, and the time-eaters hesitated. Maybe they could sense something of Fluttercruel's grandmother in her too? Then Fluttershy darted in front. They might not have had eyes, but they must have had something because Fluttershy's Stare made them fly erratically, bumping into each other, snapping and swallowing each other and... Streaks of nothingness in the sky? Why would there have ever been those? Had there been more than one time-eater here? It imploded. Paxphobia was open. "AGAIN! Use the Elements again!" Our six-pointed star of light bloomed in the sky once more, and Paxphobia held back the rainbow with one limb, then three, then with everything it could, but the light finally punched through, whooping it in what I'm pretty sure was its jaw. After that... it did everything at once. The homing claw spears, the laser eyes, the energy slashes, the black whirlpools, releasing even more time eaters, the red-crystal-breathing minotaur skull, the destruction beam gorilla head, the Devil Blade Serpents, while hurling chaos clouds made of solid lava, or diamond, or steel at us, never the same thing twice. Where that wasn't enough, it simply grew extra limbs and eyes. All of them, all at the same time. In some distant corner of my mind, I wondered why it hadn't tried to use the fear-eyes or take control of Fluttercruel again. It also opened its mouth and limbs to breathe violet flames at us, all the way around like a wall. The attacks were coordinated so perfectly that none got in the way of the others. I moved to the forefront, focusing my magic. "ANTI-CHAOS BARRIER! FAILSAFE SPELL! Pinkie, take care of the rest! " My Failsafe Spell had utterly failed to ever affect any of Discord's magic, but the Anti-Chaos Barrier could, and Failsafe had worked on Destruction's magic. Casting both spells at once, without the rune to power it up, and directing both spells so they struck the enemy and not Fluttercruel or any of us... I actually blacked out for a moment... but Spike swooped in and caught me in his strong arms before I could fall. I felt so proud of him just then. So many times, it had been me catching Spike... In the meantime, my cloudy vision saw Pinkie Pie at the edge of my sight, constructing her own air force of automated whirly-copter party cannon drones in mere seconds. They swarmed every which way, and intercepted the attacks my two spells hadn't unmade with cream pies. They quickly overheated and exploded into masses of confetti, but they got all of Paxphobia's attacks. I'd never seen Pinkie Pie look so exhausted. "ALL TOGETHER AGAIN!" I shouted over my ringing ears, even if our target to me was a big evil blur right now. Our big beautiful holy blur of light formed, filling me with joy as I thought about all my friends, and the rainbow flew straight down the evil blur's throat as my vision cleared and the bells stopped. 'AGGGH!!!! THAT'S IT, TWILIGHT! AGH! KEEP GOING! OWOWOW! YOU'VE ALMOST GOT HIM!' 'Discord, what about you?' I heard myself think. 'DON'T START CARING ABOUT ME NOW!' Paxphobia drew in a mighty breath, and spoke in a voice that sent a shockwave through all of us, rushing like a tidal wave through our minds. "Hear My Voice and Know The Truth That You Most Fear: Four Times, Your Species Has Damaged Reality Itself. Why Should The Gods Give Ponies A Fifth Chance To Destroy The Universe?" Time slowed. Like a second stretched to forever. Like the world itself was winding down like a clock. I shuddered. Not wanting to, I thought of Kimono's and Bon Bon's journals, entire galaxies unmade because of the disaster of the Wish Spell. The damage done to reality when Smart Cookie, Pansy, and Clover The Clever saved us all from the Windigos. The evil that Nightmare Nhilis claimed to have committed, but I couldn't remember. And... a vision I barely understood: A pegasus filly with a heart as black as pitch, impaling a colt with a spear as dark as she was, and so many beautiful things never having ever been. (Interviewer's Private Notes (Half-Light Dusk): I saw it all ... every worldline destroyed by Nightmare Eclipse... a reality made and unmade over and over just to satisfy her endless insane need for revenge. All those planets and civilizations out there, suffering and never knowing why, for the grudges of a pony they'd never even meet.) It was like my life was words on a page, written by some monstrous hand, then dragged down into darkness. I struggled for an answer, any answer... but every thought that came to mind felt selfish, egocentric, or shallow. Ponykind... in our brief time as a sapient species, how much destruction had we wrought on reality, either accidentally or intentionally? If we'd done this much in just a few Ages, what would we do in hundreds of thousands of years? Fourth chances? Seventieth chances? Where did it end? If I gave an aquarium of sea monkeys self-awareness, and they nearly blew up Equestria four times, including one that was barely stopped by a time travel spell ... would I really just let them continue on doing whatever they pleased? Would I tolerate even one such disaster? How could I argue for their safety over the safety of everything else that lived? How many science-fiction stories had I read where a robot destroyed Ponykind for reasons that only made sense to it? Did we have a right to continue to exist, if one well meaning but idiotic stunt, one pony having a bad day, could destroy everything? If even innocent galaxies in the far corners of the universe could suffer from our messing with the laws of reality? Had the draconequi been right all along? Was it better to smother us in our crib? In all the possibilities out there, all the different versions of Equus out there... were we just a bad batch? Was it kinder to just... get rid of us? "It's true, we've messed up. We've messed up bad, more than once!" Applejack? "We've messed up with help and without help! But we've also fixed up stuff, and fixed it up better than before! We're just foals learning to crawl! Some of yer kin gave us crossbows, and of course that ended about like you'd expect! Should all of yer kin be 'gotten rid of' because of those jerks? Ya've cleaned up our messes that were only our own fault yeah, have we never cleaned up any of yer kin's?" (Interviewer's Private Notes (Half-Light Dawn): Big brother Shining Armor, he's the reason why the Blank Wolf was ever able to catch Nameless at all! He saved us!) "We're a part of yer lives as much as yer a part of ours!" Applejack finished. I smiled. Leave it to good old down-to-earth Applejack. Time moved forward, as if Applejack had given the world itself the courage it needed to keep going forward! Applejack, you wonderful silly pony! What needs to be elaborated on? Applejack said it! If you remove a 'good' or 'bad' pony from the world, you can't say things will be 'all better' or 'all worse,' life's too complex for that. Good ponies have to make hard decisions, and bad ponies can stop other bad ponies from causing trouble. Neither can you remove the 'not important' ponies like Carrot Top and think nothing will change. All of our lives contribute, it's not just the six of us that matter! And right now, I see today's happy ending just one last Harmony Blast away! "Focus everypony, this is it!" The Elements charged for the final blow! This was for everything! "That is far enough." It dimly occurred to me, too late: by now we were most definitely outside the range of the seal Moon Dancer and the others had been sustaining. "I will not be defeated by the likes of you! I am Paxphobia, the Sword of Fear! Back in town." Energy rushed into what might have been the avatar's outstretched hand. "And I'm stronger than you!" He snapped his fingers. 'Hey! That was my old idea...' I heard Discord say in dismay. A shockwave of invisible power buffeted us. I felt my Harmony Armor absorb the impact, using what power it could to shield me before reverting back to a crown. I saw the same thing happen to all my friends. Should we have flown closer together, concentrating our energy to resist something like this? Should we have spread wide apart to not be an easy target? Too late to wonder now. Spike shrank down to a baby dragon, his wings gone. We didn't have time to think, because in the same moment, the gossamer wings vanished... along with Fluttercruel, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's normal wings. Rarity's horn disappeared, and so did mine. We hung in the sky for one heartstopping moment, just long enough to realize what Paxphobia had done. Then we fell. I couldn't help but recall the hedge maze, when we first saw Discord face to face, and he stripped us of our body parts so we couldn't 'cheat.' This was worse. I'd learned since then that earth ponies were more than just ponies without wings or horns, and Paxphobia had taken Pinkie Pie and Applejack's earth pony strength as well. Something about their hooves was no longer the same. "I'll try to teleport us down!" shouted Spike. Crazy, but we didn't have a lot of options. Spike breathed in and out and... nothing. "My... my flame! It's gone!" "Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said, waving her legs at the edge of my vision and not appearing on the other side. "I can't feel my Pinkie Sense! I can't get my emergency stuff! And I can't move out of the Frame or anything!" Applejack blinked her eyes in confusion, looking around like her vision had gone strange. None of us had to say anything, because we all knew the answer... We'd been cut off from ALL magic. "FORMATION!" We could hope for the magic floating effect to save us, and if not, at least we'd save Equestria from him. Except... the Elements didn't respond at all. He hadn't done anything to them, he'd done something to us. There was no sympathetic symphony to our fall, only the rustling of the winds. Havoc's Avatar didn't even look at us anymore, we were already dead to him. We fell through the storm clouds, and the ground became visible below, not that it mattered. Ground or ocean, from this height our bodies would be obliterated on impact. I was proud of my friends. Nopony was panicking or screaming... they knew there was no point, nopony to cry for help to. Not here. Not this time. We all knew we were going to die. My heart lifted, and I smiled when I saw Gilda, Scootaloo, the Princesses, and a strangely familiar orange and blue pegasus guard flying towards us as fast as they could... only to bang head first into an invisible wall. Once upon a time, Scootaloo's ancient pegasus warcry and Gilda's enraged shriek would have been on opposite sides of a battlefield. Today, they fought together, bucking and slashing, actually seeming to tear into the barrier for a moment before it rebounded and hurled them away. I saw the Princesses blast the barrier with everything they had, knowing that they wouldn't break through in time. Celestia teleported, only to reappear as a white dot on the horizon miles further away. It really had thought of everything, hadn't it? I imagined Cheerilee and Zecora and Cupcake looking up in horror, wanting to do something, anything, as they spotted our tiny shapes falling to the distant ground. Pegasi from Ponyville and maybe Cloudsdale would be flying up to try and catch us, only to get hit by another invisible wall, or perhaps the storm clouds pushing down on them, and our neighbors using everything they had to try and get through to help us. It wouldn't be enough. I saw the look on Rarity's face. Maybe she was thinking of when she last fell to her death, only for Rainbow Dash to save her after her panicking knocked out the Wonderbolts trying to catch her. She was using all her willpower to hold her screams at bay. Fluttershy is biting her lip as tears begin to flow. My vision begins to blur too. I blink the tears back; I want a clear view of my friends right to the end! Poor Spike is digging his claws into his palm to keep from screaming. Could dragons survive a fall at terminal velocity? Probably? But their legendary toughness came from their magic... no hope there. 'Twilight!' I could only faintly hear Discord now. 'I... I can't do anything! They won't let me! I'm... I'm sorry!' ...There was nothing we could do but talk. Maybe Paxphobia wanted us to die terrified. If all we could do was rob him of that, then that's what we'd do. After all, there was still hope, if not for us, then Equestria. Cadence beat him once, the Elements would survive... there was hope... we just wouldn't be it. Applejack... laughed? "So, uh... this is what it's like to be as weak in the muscles as the rest of ya." "We make it up with horn muscle," I said with a smile. "Hey, mom?" said Fluttercruel. "For what it's worth, life with you... It was one hay of a ride to the end!" 'Fluttershy, Fluttercruel, I'm so sorry for everything.' "It's alright dear," Fluttershy said maturely. "Hey!" exclaimed Fluttercruel, brightening up a bit. "Maybe those grandfathered rules apply to me too, so I can cohabit a new body and carry on the fight!" Fluttershy beamed. "That's nice dear. Be sure to ask for permission first." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Ya know, I wouldn't have changed anything, but next time I'll call- eh, who am I kidding? You can still call me." "Twilight, I don't regret following you into Everfree," said Fluttershy, sniffing. "Not for a moment." My friends all nodded. I allowed myself a few tears. "Poor Apple Bloom's gonna be a wreck, having to take care of the farm without me. She'll figure out somethin', though, she's a smart filly. Big Mac will be there for her." "Dangit Scoots, your mom and dad better be there for you, or I'll haunt them! Be Superstallion, not Batmare!" "Sweetie Belle..." "Well, they do say anti-climaxes make for good comedy, right?" Pinkie Pie leaned back and put her forehooves behind her head like a pillow. "I get one last good punchline with you girls." "Spike." Rarity hugged him. "Rarity!" He hugged her back tightly. "Trixie, take care of yourself," I said softly. "Cadence, I believe in you. Big Brother, kick his ass." Mom, Dad, Teacher, I hope I did you all proud. We all managed to drift closer to each other, and formed into a group hug as the ground reached up to greet us. +++ = 'vs. Nega-Wisp Armor - Phase 2 (Reach for the Stars - Orchestral Version)' - Sonic Colors = Princess Luna No time to talk. No time to think. No time to plan or discuss, only act. I teleported above the Royal Entryway, just outside the wards that prevent direct teleportation into Canterlot Castle from outside. I used up one irreplaceable moment to ensure there were no sapient creatures in my way. Celly had built the security around the Well of Truth explicitly against me, or rather, against Nightmare Moon, and so it took more than one Alicorn to use it. Too bad for the security. With my sister's sun in the sky, no pony could see more than a vague outline of my moon appear as I moved it overhead to channel every ounce of power within my domain. I'll compensate the ponies who suffer damages from the sudden changes in tides later! In less than a breath, I raised the strongest barrier I could before me. Then I did a cold start Sonic Moonboom. The ripple of moonlight and shadow blew out all the windows except the enchanted shatterproof stained glass, and made a hole through the expendable roof and the heavy stone slabs of the floor, and then through the much tougher hidden runes that distorted time and space around the precious treasure. I felt my horn burn and my wings break. Compared to that, smashing through the spiral stone staircase was but an irritation. The succession of impacts reduced stone to dust, a consequence of Earth Pony and Unicorn might combined with super sonic speeds. Rainbow Dash WILL do this herself one day! I will not allow anything else! 'I seek the truth!' I think as I blow through layer after layer, destroying all between me and what I MUST reach. 'I will sacrifice what I must to share it with those who need it for everypony's sake.' The temporal-spatial distortion unfolded, snapping everything into normal space-time at the mental key. I angled my ballistic descent towards my door to the Well, which would respond to me only if I wasn't corrupted. Normally I was to insert my horn and it would sense my magic and unlock itself, and undo the barrier all around the well that prevents creatures from simply digging to it. I didn't have time for that, so I simply rammed it off its hinges. The door went flying with such force that it embedded itself in the opposite chamber wall. Alarms went off, explosive runes began to charge. I ignored them. Inside the chamber was the mechanical spiral shutter for the Well of Truth, along with cogs, gears and the mechanism meant for two Alicorns to open it and stop the mightiest of creatures' attempts to pry it open - Not even adult dragons could do it. Every shadow in the room surged into me, granting me all the strength they could. I overclocked my physical body and tore the shutter open with my bare hooves, cracking the walls and threatening to make the chamber collapse. That could be dealt with later. I heard tendons and bones snap in my legs. The silvery smooth surface of the Well of Truth lay exposed, liquid and yet not. I know this will not be without cost. The pool likely won't survive this use, but mother and grandmother would both have gladly made this sacrifice. It took two Alicorns to awaken it. My Father was no Alicorn, but half our power came from him. I tapped into the fraction of that power he'd given me so long ago, the essence of My Father. I'm using it, to end the last remnant of a war. I hope he'll be proud. I dove in as fast as I could, creating a water crown, and plunged into the Well of Truth. It's taken me this long to explain it, but in reality it took but a few moments. I dove deep into the dark, and I saw a thousand lights, sparkling like rainbow jewels. I became my shadowy stardust form and spread myself further than I ever have or will ever dare again, reaching out to touch those stars all at once. I beheld possibilities so limitless that they'd drive any mortal mad, and across the hearts and minds of those stars I travel! +++ Your Chaotically Handsome Sounding Narrator A spark ran through ponies near and far... in Cloudsdale, in Canterlot, but particularly in Ponyville. Back in the days when Granny Smith had been young, Princess Celestia had guided the founding of that town to create a breeding ground for those worthy of the Elements of Harmony, just as the School for Gifted Unicorns had been a training ground for potential Elements of Magic. The awakening didn't happen to ponies one by one, it was effectively simultaneous! Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann OST - Ten wo Tsuke What everypony saw and thought and felt would take another six years to describe in full, and it would not affect the end results. While their experiences in the physical world during the event remained crystal clear, what their mind's eye saw was like a dream, and for most, the dream faded afterwards. Just to mention and describe every equine and creature touched by Princess Luna was a monumental task. Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends had been the first with the courage and wit to rise to the challenge, but that didn't mean they were the only ponies in Equestria to embody Harmony's virtues. It's doubtful that even Princess Luna has a complete list, she worked so fast and frantically. Many of the ponies of Equestria, consciously or unconsciously, chose to mentally sweep it under the rug like so many other epic events, preferring their chosen peaceful lives. With how dull and every-day-the-same things get around here, you'd think they would've appreciated a little chaos in their lives! Dame Cheerilee was recovering in the Apple family home, with Big Mac close at hoof. Granny Smith (rest her soul) was drawn to the window by some intuition, and she spotted a group of falling creatures despite of her poor vision. Her gasp brought the couple two other ponies to the window, and they all saw who it was. But they'd only had time to form one or two thoughts in their adorably limited little pony brains before their eyes glowed white. Thankfully, all the ponies touched by Princess Luna's desperate gamble retained enough awareness of their surroundings not to crash into buildings or drop any sharp objects. A glowing orange outline of Big Mac's cutie mark appeared on his throat, and an orange outline of Granny Smith's cutie mark appeared on her forehead. A pink outline of one of Cheerilee's cutie mark flowers appeared on the back of her right ear. - Aloe and Lotus stood side by side, outside the spa they'd chosen to maintain in Ponyville, when they could have become wealthier by setting up shop in a larger city. Purple outlines of their matching flower cutie marks appeared on opposite hooves. - The blue earth filly wished she could shoot the big monsters out of the sky. Her name was Archer, once named Blue-Luck before she got her cutie mark. A striking red outline of it formed around her left eye. - The Doctor, meanwhile, was shocked to see a pink outline of his hourglass cutie mark form over his second heart! - Thinking of Silver Spoon and Apple Bloom, Twist stuck out her tongue and giggled, seeing a glowing purple outline of her sugar cane cutie mark on it. Next to her, Truffle wasn't that surprised to discover a pink outline of his cutie mark on his belly. - The charter Cutie Mark Crusaders were not surprised at all when they saw glowing shields appear on their coats, in the same places their sisters wore their Elements in the Harmony armor, but only Scootaloo wasn't surprised by the color. Screwball Golden Tiara touched a hoof to the purple glow over her heart. "Yeah!" cheered Princess Fidelitas, grinning from ear to ear. "I knew you girls had this!" No mark appeared on her... she wasn't supposed to be here, after all. Silver Spoon, seeing what was going on, wasn't surprised in the least when she looked over her shoulder and found the red outline of a spoon shining on her back. For beautiful Diamond Tiara, there was only a malformed white scribble that barely flickered purple, hidden on the back of her neck. - Next to her beloved Bon Bon, in the tunnel under the park with the other Gifted Unicorns, Lyra squinted at a sudden flood of light. "Whoa! Bon Bon, you're glowing!" she exclaimed, pointing at the pink candy mark shining on the inside of Bon Bon's ear. "Well, you are too!" said Bon Bon, pointing at the glowing blue harp in Lyra's ear. The rest of the Gifted Unicorns looked to each other. Moon Dancer found a glowing moon in the same place and color as Twilight's, Minuette a purple hourglass around her mouth, Twinkle Shine a red star at the base of her horn, and Lemon Hearts an orange heart over one of her hooves, which her lemon familiars flocked around. "What do you know..." mused Minuette, her strange nature giving her more insight to what was happening than most. She imagined the look on her original self's face if he could see this. - Photo Finish - Blinky Pie to her family, not to be confused with her sister Limestone Pie - wasn't known for her good cheer. She knew that part of the model business was telling beautiful lies, and she wasn't known for being gentle to her clients. While she'd give anypony a chance if she thought them worthy, she gave nothing away for free. She'd even bluntly told Fluttercruel, daughter of one of her sister's dear friends, said friend also being her previous star model, to reapply to be a model when she was more mature. If she'd inspired one thing among her entourage, though, it was loyalty. She might have been demanding, but she never asked from them more than they could give. And even if she didn't show it, if her sisters ever needed her, she would be there for them. A star camera outline appeared underneath her dress at the base of her tail, a hint of her own early days as a model. - Even at his worst, as any noblefilly in Canterlot could attest to, Prince Blueblood had stayed loyal to his Auntie. His servants, when questioned, grudgingly admitted he did not mistreat them. Even when word of Nightmare Moon being very real and Princess Celestia being gone came to him, the idea of changing sides had never once entered his beautiful, if somewhat empty, head. A glowing red compass rose appeared on his cheek. Some had joked that Prince Blueblood was Princess Celestia's second pet, and if her 'second pet' would be this loyal... was it that much of a surprise that her 'first' pet would be much the same? A glowing feather symbol appeared on the forehead of Philomena the Phoenix. Arcane Spell found a glowing orange outline over one of her eyes, while her little sister Neatly Spell giggled at the blue one forming on her own throat. - Octavia looked down to see an orange treble clef appear on her front right hoof, while a glowing blue note appeared on Vinyl Scratch's front left hoof. - Outside the post office, Derpy lifted up her front right hoof, showing a glowing red bubble pattern underneath. - Amethyst Star blinked, finding an orange jewel symbol on her neck. She looked over to her little uncle Derby Hooves, who was visiting Ponyville at the time, and saw a blue glowing pattern of lines appear over one eye. - Many would have been surprised, and many more would have appreciated the irony when a glowing orange outline of Mayor Mare's scroll cutie mark appeared around her muzzle. Not least of all Mary Mare herself. Matching symbols appeared on her husband, their daughter Fair Ruling, and their son in law. The red symbol on Raven's back startled several of the palace staff when it appeared, but the color surprised nopony at all. - Carrot Top was one of the few ponies who crossed her glowing eyes to see a glowing red carrot symbol in her mane! Beside her, Noi had a blue glowing blob in her beautiful little locks of hair. - Snails casually noted the blue glowing snail on his nose. Most ponies, if they'd imagined him as a Bearer at all, would have assumed he'd get Laughter, since he had a reputation for being a dimwitted laughing stock. They would have been dead wrong. Do not underestimate the enlightened fool. Snips... well, if anything could be said, at least he would never ever abandon Snails. - Lovestruck, still getting used to her new existence as a Demi-Goddess, had purposely avoided getting involved in the conflict, so she was caught off guard when a glowing pink bow and arrow appeared over her heart. Her little Heart Throb giggled happily and poked at a tiny glowing heart in the same place, while the filly's father Grand Slam found a glowing pink baseball on his foreleg. - Nurse Redheart paused in the middle of checking on patients to examine the glowing pink cross on the bottom of one of her hooves, wondering if some exotic new Cutie Pox was going around. Her little sister Tender Heart had the same colored glow where hers was, and Little Nursery Rhyme had a glowing blue cross in the same spot. - Button Mash, who uncharacteristically had not been playing his games, but rather staring anxiously and worriedly at Canterlot for reasons he couldn't explain, blinked and found the inner side of his hoof glowing brilliantly blue. "Cool..." A few rooms over, his mother found a glowing pink baby bottle on her stomach. - "Of course." Coffee Swirl rolled his eyes, seeing a purple glowing outline of his cutie mark in the middle of his chest. - "Dear Kamadhenu!" Daisy-Jo the cow oooh'ed as a purple 'pair of horns' symbol glowed on her udders. - "Sweet Jesus!" Flash Sentry exclaimed, seeing the glowing red outline of his shield and lightning bolt mark reflected in his helmet, unaware it was the same spot as Twilight Sparkle's. Red and purple glows shone from Death Stalker and Filthy Rich nearby. - Sapphire Shores had gotten a commission from Celestia to perform a free concert in Canterlot on that very same day on the opposite end of the city from the Statue Gardens. Unknown to her, the concert was meant to be loud and flashy, distracting everypony's attention from whatever might happen during the battle, and even if she had known, she would have sung anyway. Despite her surprise at finding the glowing purple outline of a clam shell on her throat, she signalled that the show would go on. In the audience, her body double Jewel Tide found a glowing blue outline of a theater mask on her face. More and more ponies in the audience lit up with glowing symbols, outshining even the usual magical sparklers and wands of her dedicated fans, but Sapphire never stopped singing. - The 'crew' of the Moon Pearl paused during their game of pretend, feeling something strange in the air. Pipsqueak gasped, finding a glowing blue blob over his eye like an eyepatch. "What the bloomin'... I mean, avast! What be this, mateys?!" Alula waved her wing, showing them the glowing pink feather at the tip. "I don't know, captain, but I have one too!" "And me!" Tootsie had a glowing blue horseshoe in the same place as Bon Bon's. "And me!!" Dinky's blob was over her horn. Moonlight gave them a small smile. Moth, watching them, had a sudden urge to return to her true form. When the blue flames faded, she found a pink moth glowing on her wing, in the same place as Alula's. - Zecora looked up at the falling ponies with alarm... then gasped as a glow formed over her heart: a pink spiral shaped just like her tribal cutie mark. The Zebra instantly knelt, giving thanks to the goddess she'd chosen to serve. Cupcake found a glowing red cupcake on one of her new wings and joined Zecora in prayer. - Outside Sugarcube Corner, the Wuv Cats paused in their busy-busy-busy work preparing for the Crusaders' cute-ceaneras, and collectively lifted their gaze to the sky. "Oooh..." Blue outlines began to shine from them, one after another. "Ahhh!!" The Potential Chief Priest of the Thalia took off his official party hat, showing everyone the glowing cat smiley-face on his forehead. '...Fight on, potential goddess!' he cheered, and all the cats yowled their agreement. - Shady Daze stood in Ponyville with his little sister and her best friend. The big brother blinked, finding a glowing orange blob outline on his throat. He might not have always gotten everything right, but at least he always spoke what he believed to be true. Peachy blinked too, finding a glowing blue peach outline over her muzzle, while her friend Sunny Daze found an orange sun over her eye. - Shiny Star looked towards the site of the battle... and found a red outline of her Cutie Mark over one hoof. Nurse Tender-Loving Care found a glowing pink outline on one hoof. "My word!" mused Randolph. He rushed to a mirror and found that he had a new mark too, glowing pink. - Silver Axe had been staring out a window, waiting tensely for any word from his daughter in Canterlot, when he discovered a pink outline of an ax, glowing on his bicep. His wife found a red tray outline on her cheek, looking almost like a blush. - Just as Twilight Sparkle had predicted, a number of pegasi were flying at top speed out of Ponyville, trying to reach the falling ponies in time. Rainbow Shine was startled by a flash of light, an orange outline of a rainbow on her right wing. Her best friend Sprinkle Medley found a glowing red outline of a cloud on her left wing, and Wonderbolt member Surprise the Nth's symbol glowed blue. - Spitfire flew from Cloudsdale with more of the 'Bolts, desperate to save Rainbow Dash and her friends from their fate... when suddenly they each lit up with a different colored outline. An orange flame on her wing, a blue lightning bolt on Soarin's, and a red tornado on Misty Fly's. More of them had marks hidden by their flight suits, but the glow was there nonetheless. - Twilight Velvet was with her husband, still recovering from the damage inflicted by Chrysalis. The Heart family couldn't be everywhere with their miraculous healing hooves, unfortunately. At least, she could still work on her secret edits for A. K. Yearling while she was laid up. Suddenly, a blue star appeared on Velvet's head in the same place as her daughter's Element, and Night Vale found a glowing pink crescent moon over his heart. Velvet gasped. "Our daughter needs us, honey! I can feel it..." "Then let's be there for her," replied Vale, nuzzling his wife, as both ponies thought of their daughter and glowed even brighter. - Right in the middle of his myths and legends fan club, Lickety-Split trailed off and checked a mirror, blinking at the glowing blue outline of an ice cream sundae on his ear. - The ponies of Pinkie Pie's park all paused in mid-step, looking to one another to find glowing outlines appearing in all different colors, different symbols. Deep down in their souls, whether their minds knew it or not, they were filled with a resolve to not see another world die, and they glowed brighter, turning the park into a wonderland of rainbow lights, almost like Hearth's Warming... no, Christmas! From the edge of the forest, Ruby looked up at the sky. A glowing purple magnifying glass formed on her right wrist, looking almost like a manacle. - Cherry Coke, Caramel, Noteworthy, and Banjo stood guard in Canterlot... each wearing a different glowing symbol. - A.K. Yearling, once just a fanfilly, now the author and embodiment of Equestria's legendary secret protector Daring Do, dropped her feather quill in shock when she found a glowing purple compass, in the same place that Rainbow Dash wore her Element. - Celestia gasped, crossing her eyes trying to see her forehead, where a glowing sun outline shimmered with magenta, blue, and pink afterimages. She slowly smiled, looking up at her falling student. "Don't worry, Twilight, we're with you. We're ALL with you. Take our power and end this!" - Gilda, for her part, was both disappointed and relieved when she checked herself all over and found no glowing symbol. Of course she couldn't find one. Her true calling was to bear an Element of Chaos, like Trixie! - Featherweight's Aunt Mayflower and his older brother Nambi Pambi... who only Featherweight recalled not living with them before... looked in amazement at the glowing blue symbol at the base of his tail. - Lulu Princess Luna, sacrificing so much in this brief moment, managed to channel the awakened Elements of Harmony from every possibility she saw within the Well of Truth, through her ponies. That didn't mean that just any one of them could pick up an Element and use it afterwards... You couldn't channel a whole alternate life and instantly become Worthy yourself... but there was a risk of ponies snapping under the spiritual strain. I'm impressed that none did. Did you think I'd already named all of them? Far from it! I haven't even mentioned Thunderlane and Rumble! Post Haste/Speedy Delivery! Moon Pearl crewmate and Cheerilee's niece Ruby Pinch, and her mother Berry Punch! Jade Singer. Jade the Pegasus. Glitterglide at the hospital. Fleece the Sheep. Link and Saria, the Pegasi hugging each other on the edge of Cloudsdale. June Bug, Cloud Kicker, the Flower Trio, Sunny Days... Dramatic gasp for breath and... Button Mash's father 8-Bit, Gizmo, Gaffer! Mouse Squeak and Quick Squeak, Pipsqueak's parents. Rarity's parents! The Cakes, four in all... that was as many as two two's, and it was wonderful! Lickety Split's mother and grandmother! Flash Sentry's little brother First Base! The Mare who dreamed of Daring Do saving her from vampire ponies a short time ago. 'Thor' and Silver Spanner, the generous couple Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis and their maid Straight Lace! Loyal Cranky, Matilda, Steven Magnet, and even Jet Set and Upper Crust and Vendetta Mask! It might as well have been a thousand lights. Maybe it was. I sure didn't count. That much Harmony would have give me an instant stone suntan if I'd been corporeal! Beams of light shot from the ponies' hearts: blue, pink, purple, red, orange, and one or two magentas. Some phased through glass windows and solid ground, others zipped around other ponies and solid objects, all heading for the same destination. +++ = Wildfire Swords - Sou En Zan [Stardust Eyes] ~ Osamu Totsuka = The One And Only Trixie What Trixie saw in the sky... she found herself momentarily at a loss for words! Her keen, razor-sharp mind was blank. Her inability to help her friends nearly drove her mad, and Trixie... Trixie cursed her weakness from the bottom of her heart! All Trixie had done, all Trixie had grown, all Trixie had endured, and all of it was completely worthless in saving her friends from certain doom? Trixie... Trixie didn't want to be alone again! When the lights began to shine from ponies near and far, I wondered why none appeared on me. Was Trixie not worthy!? Hadn't my inner Element fought and struggled to join with the Elements of my friends when we defeated Nightmare Whisper? Hadn't Trixie nearly broke herself from her own fear of losing her individuality in the oneness called Harmony, only to fall wretchedly ill when she finally joined her friends in Harmony? Oh, and perhaps the inexplicable time-traveling Alicorn didn't have a symbol either, but Trixie had greater concerns to worry about. I'm not certain what Moon Dancer and her friends were up to down in the Anti-Chaos Ritual burrow, but a full-fledged complete harmony beam passed through the ground like it wasn't even there, shooting into the sky! (Moon Dancer later told me that her friends' lights had all first shot into her, while Diamond Dogs and Lemon Familiars were yipping and barking in awe and alarm.) Meanwhile, Trixie saw little stars. Twinkling rainbow lights rose into the sky from the ponies around her... from Ponyville, from Cloudsdale, and if Trixie had looked behind her, Trixie is certain she'd have seen them rising from Canterlot too. It was the single most breathtaking thing she'd ever seen in her life. Three lights rose from Princess Celestia. Why was Trixie not surprised? One tried to rise from Diamond Tiara, but it flickered out and fell back into her. A thousand glorious lights filled the sky, and then they all began to fall... straight towards Trixie?! Faster and faster they descended, leaving streaks of color in a show that would have made Sapphire Shores envious! If Twilight were present, Trixie imagines she'd have called it a meteor shower. Trixie didn't have time to pick one or the other, as Moon Dancer's rainbow beam looped back around and struck Trixie in the heart! And the far-too-many-for-Trixie-to-count stars zoomed into her not an eyeblink later! Just like when she channeled the Elements to cure Neatly Spell, Trixie felt a sense of profound discomfort, as if she wielded a power not quite in tune with her own. (Not that Trixie would ever admit she'd nearly puked her guts out after first channeling the Elements in front of a filly). Trixie wondered why it amused Fate to once again place Trixie in such a position, but Trixie never ever turned down a chance at a starring role, and she was not planning on doing so today! Trixie's channeling of the Elements before had felt insultingly low key, this was anything but! So I did not fight it! So many lights, so many stars, so many ponies. All of their heartfelt wishes filled Trixie to the bursting point. Trixie's magic and body did not like it, but Trixie pressed forward. Nopony said the leading role would be easy!!! It was frightening! It was unimaginable! It was maddening! ... It was beautiful. It was, UNLIMITED HARMONY! TRUST! HONESTY! LOYALTY! GENEROSITY! KINDNESS! LAUGHTER! MAGIC! And for that horrible wonderful moment, Trixie became the most powerful unicorn to ever live. Trixie had boasted of being such in a hundred performances, but now she truly was. Twilight Sparkle was an infant compared to Trixie's might. Trixie's dream was complete. (Celestia's word: Trixie was correct. Starswirl, Majesty, Twilight... for that one faction of a second, Trixie was the greatest of them all.) In hindsight, Trixie is surprised that ruling the world did not once cross her mind. But all good things come to an end, and for Trixie this was a split second. There was nothing Trixie could not do, but she didn't have infinity to do it. And oh, did it hurt! I aimed my horn at my falling friends, my eyes and insides all glowing like a solar flare brought to earth... and fired. Trixie was knocked on her flank from the power of her own magic as it left her, leaving her half buried in a recoil crater... and a miracle happened. +++ == Japanese Instrumental Digimon Savers Opening 1 == A blazing white comet intercepted the falling ponies and lifted them all the way back up to Paxphobia, before detonating in a nova of pearly sparkles. Paxphobia's jaws dropped. Flying before it was six ponies and a dragon, every one of them burning with determination. Fluttercruel briefly back inside Fluttershy. Each pony bore an Alicorn's horn and wings, made from ghostly sparkles. Spike was a wingless baby dragon, riding on Twilight Sparkle's back like he so often did, but now he was clad as a knight in shining armor. The armor was bright silver with golden trim, a spiral-pattern lance in one claw. The other claw clutched reigns tied to the harness that Twilight Sparkle wore. Without letting go, Spike reached up and slid down his helmet's visor, glaring at the monster before him through vertical slits. He aimed the lance at Paxphobia's heart and all the corrupt love within. None of them wore harmony armor, but the Element necklaces and crown shone, each a beacon of purest light: purple, blue, red, pink, blue, and magenta! "You... YOU! You horrid little horses!" The ponies and the dragon shouted as one, "That's little ponies!" They charged! There was no time for Paxphobia to react. Time stretched out for them and crushed into a moment for him. The attacking ponies and dragon formed a white aura shaped like a comet that briefly became a stampeding equine and then a ryujin, before becoming a spear that harpooned straight through the avatar. From the point of impact, thunderous explosions spread underneath Paxphobia's hide in a chain reaction, before at last, pearlescent light shined through and his entire form was consumed in light, and he exploded three times! As everything went white, Twilight Sparkle heard Discord's voice say, "Now that was a grand finale."