//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: The Legend 
// Story: The Demon Within 
// by DOOT_Slayer 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy knew the fight had to last long, so she only used kaioken X2 at the start. She had still not fully recovered all her strength, but it would have to suffice. Omega was thoroughly enjoying the challenge of fighting three different ponies at once. They were all weaker than her individually, but collectively they proved capable enough to match her strength. Applejack took advantage of a missed hit from Omega by kicking her in the liver, debilitating her for a few seconds, in which Pinkie Pie followed up with an spinning kick to the back of the head. Omega was sent down to the ground fast and was given no time to recover, as Fluttershy fired a kamehameha as soon as she landed. The attack engulfed her entirely and dissipated after a few seconds. There was silence for a few moments.
"Keep your guard up everypony. Now she’s a lot faster than I thought." Applejack warned. The hole was deep enough that they couldn't see all the way down. Suddenly Omega flew out of the hole at full speed as Applejack powered up to kaioken X2, and Pinkie powered up to kaioken. Omega didn't stop or slow at all, but hit Fluttershy with a knee to the stomach as she came up. Blood spewed from her mouth and she doubled over in pain. Omega began trading blows with Applejack; she wasn't as quick as everypony else, but she never pulled her punches, and was physically very strong. Their bout lasted for a few seconds, after which Pinkie Pie came in with an uppercut, blocked, followed by a kick which hit Omega perfectly in the stomach. She backed away as Fluttershy and Applejack attacked in unison. Applejack attacked with a punch to the stomach that Omega blocked, after which Fluttershy came in with a kick to the face; Omega was knocked back, but steadied herself quickly, retaliating with a Nova Strike. Fluttershy dodged and flew along the blast, obscured from Omega’s view, whilst Applejack dove straight down. Omega wondered why, but thought nothing of it. She let the Nova Strike dissipate and recoiled slightly at seeing Fluttershy only a metre away from her. She held out a ball of ki, almost telegraphing it. Suddenly, in an instant, the blue ball expanded around Omega. She was now trapped. She pounded her fists on the inside of the sphere, but it was no use. She calmed down, and looked straight ahead, to she Fluttershy staring her down. Those eyes, those stone cold eyes... they showed no more mercy. She flipped over quickly and kicked the sphere downwards with all her strength. Omega was surprised to feel the ball suddenly change direction; she didn't see Applejack punch the sphere towards Pinkie Pie, who sent it back to Fluttershy. Fluttershy powered back up to kaioken X2, charged up a kamehameha and fired it as soon as Omega was below her. The sphere of ki protected her for a bit, but it quickly gave way to the power of the blast coming from above. Omega hit the ground and kept going under until the stone below her began to glow from the heat of the kamehameha pushing down on her. The beam dissipated and Pinkie Pie went down the hole before either of her friends could object at all.
"Should... should we go down after her?" Fluttershy asked. She was hesitant, unsure if it was a good course of action.
"Probably not. They both have to come up soon, I doubt there’s a lot of space to properly fight down there." Applejack replied with strained breath. She had remained in the kaioken throughout the rest they had been given. Whereas everypony else tried to minimise their time using it to avoid the stress, Applejack saw it as something unnecessary to focus on. The time it took to power up to kaioken was more than enough for Omega to get the drop on them.


Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and looked above her, seeing the Spirit Bomb up in the clouds. It was enormous, probably half the size of the second moon already! There was no doubt in Rainbow Dash's mind it would be strong enough to kill Omega. She just had to wait. She closed her eyes again, ensuring that she would keep her focus. Rarity looked over to Fluttershy and Applejack conversing, and decided to join in. She focused, and her magic aura emanated from her horn as she established a telepathic link with her.
'Darling, you’re looking a little tired now. How’s it going over there?'
'I am starting to feel a little worn out, but it’s no problem. Ask Rainbow Dash how much longer it’s gonna take... please.' Rarity cut the telepathy spell briefly, now speaking aloud.
"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy would like to know how much longer this trump card of yours will take, I can imagine all three of them are quite anxious over there." Rainbow Dash opened one eye, trying her hardest to split her attention.
"Umm... It's a little hard to be exact. I'd... I'd say around two... two minutes. Sorry, it's a little difficult speaking and concentrating on the Spirit Bomb."
"No need to apologise dear, I understand. I’ll be quiet now if that helps."
'Rainbow Dash said it’ll be around two minutes.' Rarity relayed.
'Ok, thank you Rarity. You must still wanna fight, right?' Fluttershy could only guess how frustrated her friend was.
'Honestly, yes, definitely better than being a messenger. But you three seem to have this handled. Not to mention I’m the only one who can get us home. Regardless, I don’t want to distract you any further. Good luck.' Rarity deactivated the spell, and Fluttershy refocused on the task at hand. After waiting for only a few more seconds, Pinkie shot up from the hole. She flipped over and threw a volley of ki blasts down as Omega flew up through the opening. She put an arm in front of her face and flew straight up through all of them. Omega threw an uppercut at Pinkie, who dodged quickly and retaliated with a kick to the liver. Omega blocked the hit barely and threw another punch, which connected cleanly. Pinkie Pie flew back whilst firing a continuous volley of ki blasts at her opponent, giving her some much needed space to charge another attack. She raised her hands to her sides then thrust them forward. A white ki ball formed, and fired as a beam almost immediately. Omega dodged the blast easily and focused on her opponent again. She clearly didn't realise, but the beam had split into seven more projectiles, which took individual paths back towards her. Pinkie could only direct the diverging beams once, so she had to aim carefully. Omega heard the first beam and turned to see it heading toward her; she evaded the first three beams and redirected the next two. She fired a Nova Strike to counter the penultimate beam, but was hit from above by the final beam. It dug her down into the ground before subsiding. Omega was getting annoyed now, so she decided to even the odds a bit. She flew up as fast as she could and punched Applejack in the chest, then flipped over her and kicked her down to the ground. Applejack was left winded and stunned from the sudden onslaught, and probably wouldn't join the battle again for a while. Fluttershy focused, and found that anger within herself once more. Her aura reignited violently, and she opened her eyes.
'I might not be able to hold this level of power for very long, but as long as it delays you. We need every second we can get, and I refuse to watch you hurt my friends anymore..' Fluttershy's anger made her alone stronger than Omega at her current power, but not by much since her last increase in power. Omega was facing away from her, so she wasted no time and hit her with a backhand to the side of the face from behind; Omega didn't appreciate the unfairness of that attack, and certainly showed it. She dashed towards Fluttershy and launched a frenzy of kicks. Fluttershy wasn't expecting the sudden barrage and had no choice but to block as many hits as she could. Omega allowed a slight pause in her onslaught, and the moment Fluttershy's guard began to lower she threw a punch straight through the gap. The hit knocked Fluttershy back, and dazed her for a second. She threw a few hits of her own back at Omega, all of which were dodged or blocked. Omega dodged to the inside of one of Fluttershy's punches, and grabbed her by the neck. She kneed her in the stomach repeatedly before throwing her down her and firing a ki blast after her. Fluttershy hit the ground hard. She was knocked out of her rage, and out of the battle for good.
'Please, tell me it's done now Rainbow Dash, we won't last much longer. Hurry up and throw it.' Rarity was weighing up the outcomes of her joining the fight, but she knew she had to survive. She also knew that the Spirit Bomb wouldn't be much longer.
'Damn it, it’s not ready yet! Hold on everypony, just a bit longer.' Rainbow Dash could do nothing but wait for the attack to be ready. Pinkie Pie flew at Omega, who admired their efforts, but was becoming bored now. She dodged Pinkie's kick easily and elbowed her in the back of the neck, sending her into unconsciousness with one strike. There was nopony left as far as Omega was concerned.
"What a shame... I was having such a good time. But I guess you’re all too weak  or too scared now." She rose into the sky slowly and extended a hand above her head.
"You know, it's pretty funny as far as I care," She created a large ball of black, crackling ki at the tip of her finger.
"You're the only ones who I've really considered not killing. I needed you so I could get stronger. But now you're all gonna die, and so's everypony else on that waste of a planet you call home!!" She started laughing maniacally. There was no more time, no way to delay Omega.
'Screw it, this’ll have to do!' Rainbow Dash threw her hands down, and the Spirit Bomb descended upon its target, Omega's malice attracting it like a magnet. Omega rose a little higher in the air, but stopped. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She turned and looked up to see the Spirit Bomb descending upon her mercilessly.
'Oh shit! When did she do that?!!' Omega's attack was engulfed in the blue sphere like a cupcake from the bakery on Sugarcube Corner. She tried to push the attack back, but it was no use. There would be no stopping it.
'No! No, I won't be defeated like this. It can’t be... I cannot die to this!' She only realised the futility of trying to prolong her life once it was too late. She was trying so hard, her gums bled. Omega let out a final, blood-curdling scream as the Spirit Bomb exploded in a glorious flash of blueish-white light.





Minuscule droplets of water sprayed onto Rainbow Dash’s face. The explosion from the Spirit Bomb had thrown tons of water into the sky, some of which was still raining down. Rainbow Dash was exhausted. The lakes and rivers nearby were calmer than she would’ve expected, but it wasn’t something she was gonna worry about. She dropped to her knees, then onto her back. She looked up to the sky through the gap in the clouds that the Spirit Bomb had made.
'We did it... We actually did it. It's over.' She got up and walked over to her friends slowly. She placed a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder and shook her rapidly; she jolted awake and shook her head rapidly.
"Oh, hey RD. Did I miss anything good?" Rainbow was delighted to hear that perky voice again.
"Well Omega's dead... so maybe?"
"Not to rush you...  but when do we get back home?" Applejack asked, obviously in pain and sounding very impatient.
"Gimme a minute," Rarity said, quite informal in her terms. "I still need to find home first." She closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow. Fluttershy was about to say something to Pinkie, but noticed the look of pure fear on her face.
"P-Pinkie... what's wrong? Are you ok? You look... you’re starting to scare me now." Pinkie couldn’t process what was being said to her, and instead started speaking to herself.
"No... No, that's-that's not p-possible. No way. How..." She was staring past Fluttershy, at something else. Rarity opened her eyes now, sensing the tension around her; all four fighters followed Pinkie's line of sight.
'No. No way! That's impossible!' Rainbow Dash was shaken to the core at what they saw - a walking nightmare. Omega glared down at the group from a hill. There were wounds all over her body, and the expression on her face said only one thing: ABSOLUTELY LIVID.
"I have to admit, that was much too close for comfort. Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not dead yet! You on the other hand..." She pointed at Rarity and fired a Death Beam at her. It pierced through her right lung, cauterising the wound and slowing the loss of blood and air. Rarity fell to the ground, too shocked to even scream. Omega smiled now, maliciously.
"I’ve been finding you pretty annoying for a while now. Let’s fix that, shall we?" She pointed at Pinkie Pie now - a purple ki ball flew from her finger and connected with Pinkie's chest, but nothing visible happened. Omega moved her hand up, and Pinkie moved up through the air with it.
"Uhh, guys. I can’t move my body, help me." Pinkie began to panic. "Seriously, HELP!" Everypony started to panic now too. Rainbow Dash saw Omega begin to close her hand, and realised what was about to occur.
"OMEGA NO!!" But it was too late.
"HELP ME RAI-" A loud boom rang out through the air like a bomb. In an instant, Pinkie was gone - she just... exploded. The cloud of dust and smoke lingered for a bit. Rainbow Dash stared at the last spot she saw her cheery friend. As far as she was concerned, she had just let somepony else die.
'No... I said nopony else would die. That’s the whole reason we came here. But when it mattered I couldn't do anything. Pinkie... Rarity... Twilight.' Rainbow Dash looked to the ground, the rage inside her threatening to erupt like a volcano. Fluttershy and Applejack felt her power begin to rise. The waves crashed violently now, and lightning came down from above.
"So," Omega began. "Any last words from the rest of you?!"
"You killed... one of my best friends. I won't... let you... get away with this." Rainbow Dash was holding in a scream and speaking through gritted teeth. Omega was curious - and naturally a little worried - about her counterpart's words of warning.
"You... HEARTLESS... RUTHLESS BASTARD! I WILL... MAKE YOU... SUFFER!!" Chunks of rock bent at Rainbow Dash's feet. She had reached her limit - Her anger exploded outward. Her mane mostly faced backwards and became yellow as a golden aura surrounded her, and she let out an ear-splitting scream.