Princess Celestia and Queen Celestia cantered around, circling each other. Their horns were wreathed in flames as they fired short blasts of magic from their horns. The blasts either missed as they dodged, or glanced off hastily-raised shields.
Meanwhile, Optimus Prime and Nemesis Prime stood off a few feet from one another, ion rifles discarded as they swung their energon-axes at each other, the blades clashing against each other and sending out bright orange electric bolts with each swing.
Nemesis brought his ax up high and sent it crashing down at Optimus' head, who was barely able to raise his own ax and block it. Nemesis' optics wavered as he sent all available energy to his right arm. His feet dug furrows into the ground as he leaned forward and raised his free arm, but Optimus grabbed his forearm and squeezed, digging into his armor. The two stood there, stalemating each other. Nemesis growled as he brought his hand as close to Optimus' head as possible. “GIVE ME YOUR FACE!” he shouted.
Optimus suddenly let go with his hand, while also retracting his energon-ax. He ducked low and to the side, catching his opponent off-guard and unbalancing him. “Fat chance, fathead!” He shoved Nemesis in the back, his energon-ax extending once more. He turned, brought up his ax and, with one powerful swing, sliced Nemesis' head clean off his body.
A geyser of sparks erupted from the now-smoking hole where Nemesis' head once sat. His body spasmed before toppling forward, landing in a heap. Color washed out of his plating, purple and neon-green turning a dull gray. His body jerked once more, then lay still.
Optimus turned and looked him over. “I regret having to terminate you, but you gave me no choice. Innocent people would have suffered under your tyranny, Nemesis Prime.” His energon-ax retracted once more into his wrist socket, a clenched hand emerging moments later.
Queen Celestia flew up and back, taking her out of her counterpart's field of fire for the moment. “A shame,” she coolly said. “I would have honored our agreement, had he lived.” She looked to Princess Celestia, eyes narrowing. “However, it does impress upon me the need to end this now.”
Princess Celestia trotted over to Optimus' side. “It's done the same thing to me.” She spread her wings. “Give up, Queen! There's no way for you to match me in the long run.” She waved a hoof at the necklace around her neck. “This is a special power-amplifier. With it, not even the Heart of Ponyland can hope to match my magical might!”
Queen Celestia snorted. “I can't believe you just gave that away.” She lowered her head and fired a pencil-thin beam of magic from the tip of her horn. “Let me remove that advantage from you!”
The beam struck Princess Celestia's necklace, specifically the pink jewel embedded in it. The jewel shattered, fragments flying everywhere. A pink mist wafted out from the destroyed centerpiece.
Princess Celestia looked up at Queen Celestia and cocked an eyebrow. “I... I can't believe you fell for that. Megan told me about your last encounter with Discord. It all makes sense, now.”
The pink mist grew, expanded, and solidified. Limbs emerged from the main mass, along with wings, a neck, and head. Within seconds, Princess Cadance floated in front of Princess Celestia. She touched all four hooves onto the ground. “Thanks.” She rotated her head around. “It was getting claustrophobic in there.” She stepped back and cantered to Princess Celestia's side. Her expression hardened with each step back. “I am the Princess of Love, and I don't like to fight, but I've learned recently that sometimes there's no choice in the matter!”
Optimus Prime walked over to Celestia's side, opposite of Cadance. “Celestia, you're outnumbered, and outgunned.” He raised both hands, grabbed the two halves of his chest, and started opening them. “I call on you to surrender. Now!”
Queen Celestia whinnied and pawed at the ground, digging out a smoldering trench in the dirt. “All right, clever. I'll give you that. I fell for that far too easily. Still, it's not insurmountable. I do have backup beyond the late Nemesis Prime.” She turned her head around, towards Canterlot. “Bodyguards, to me!”
Princess Celestia shook her head. “Why involve them? You're delaying your defeat by... by...” Her voice trailed off as Canterlot's front gate opened, and two alicorns stepped out. “What the... what the Tartarus?”
A Luna and a Cadance trotted over to Queen Celestia's side. Their movements were stiff, almost mechanical. Neither of them spoke or made any sound beyond the clip-clopping of their hooves on the ground. They stared straight ahead, neither one blinking.
Queen Celestia looked from Luna to Cadance. “You spoke earlier about the Heart of Ponyland, my inferior counterpart. Luna and Cadance–my Luna and Cadence–help me with any excess overflow of power. I've accounted for everything.”
Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance stared at the three alicorns, eyes wide and mouths agape. “Luna!” Princess Celestia shouted. “Cadance! You-can you hear me? Can you respond?” She took a few steps forward. “Please, speak to me! Say something!”
Queen Celestia stared at her counterpart, eyes narrowed. “Luna and Cadance opposed my actions to save humanity. Even after she was freed from Nightmare Moon, she still opposed me. I had to take... drastic actions. I'm not proud of the result, but I'd do it again if I had to.”
Optimus pointed a shaking finger at Queen Celestia. “You monster!” he shouted, optic sensors blazing.
Princess Celestia slowly closed her eyes, but tears still trailed down her cheeks. “I held out hope, even a small sliver, that we could reach an agreement, a truce, something to stop the fighting. I held it until now.” She slowly opened her eyes. Fires danced inside them as her expression hardened. “Now that small sliver is gone. Now I know you are beyond hope, beyond redemption.” She jabbed a wing at Queen Celestia. “I can't even think of you as 'Celestia'!”
Queen Celestia grinned. “How pathetic. Very well, Pathetic Princess. Think as ill of me as you want. Hate me for having the will to save others. It makes no difference.” She gestured to the three opposite her. “Kill them.”
Luna and Cadance trotted forward. Luna's legs tensed before she jumped into the air, her wings spreading wide. Her eyes glowed a bright-white, and a wide beam of magic shot from her horn.
Princess Cadance's horn lit up. A translucent-blue shield formed over her, Princess Celestia, and Optimus. Luna's attack washed over the shield, finally ceasing after a few minutes. “That wasn't a physical attack,” Cadance muttered. She looked over her shoulder. “I'll deal with Luna, Aunt Celestia. You take C-you take 'me' out.” With that, she jumped into the air and flew up towards Luna.
Princess Celestia looked to her left. “Optimus, if I may, I would suggest getting the Matrix out rather quickly. I don't think I can deal with that thing and that Cadance, too.” She looked over her shoulder, down the dirt road they had traveled. “Twilight and the others are coming!” she whispered.
Queen Celestia started walking forward. “Your tin man cannot help you, weakling. I shall enjoy melting him into a puddle of dross. As for you? I am going to–”
A loud boom echoed across the battlefield. Queen Celestia's ears waggled back and forth. Her eyes shrank slightly. “What was that?” Her head turned around as a small black plume of smoke started rising above Canterlot. “That's coming from the far side. I–”
Boom!
Queen Celestia shot into the air. “Take them out!” she shouted behind her, as she soared over Canterlot's towers. “That's coming from Fort Bulwark. What in the Tartarus are they...” Her voice trailed off as the far side of Canterlot came into view.
Fort Bulwark's main wall had almost entirely blown apart. Small mounds of debris were all that remained of it. Several dozen machines of various designs were advancing upon Fort Bulwark, while ponies and other creatures attacked the disorganized defenders. Ponies and-and griffins flew about in armor, weapons mounted to their barrels occasionally spitting out bullets.
One of the vehicles, a tan-colored, tracked vehicle with a turret on it, slowed. Its main gun suddenly elevated, aiming right at Celestia. The top hatch popped open and a dark-skinned human popped out of it, a pistol in a two-handed grip. He raised it, aimed it at Queen Celestia and fired a laser at her. The main gun also started launching hypersonic railgun darts at her.
The darts struck her shield, disintegrating from the sheer kinetic energy. Unlike last time, the darts pushed her back. Queen Celestia's shield flashed with each impact, the glow lingering with each hit. Celestia grunted as her shield started wavering, cracking. “I've spent too much energy in this conflict!” Her eyes lit up for a moment, and her mane started to smolder once more. “I will END YOU! I WILL–”
Queen Celestia's eyes suddenly crossed. Her legs kicked wildly in the air, and her entire body spasmed. “Ah, ah!” she panted, as she descended back to the ground. She looked around, eyes darting back and forth. “The barrier! They... how? How did they destroy it?” Her mane turned from flame to ethereal once more. Queen Celestia's legs wavered, but she managed to remain standing, if barely. “Luna! Cadance! To my side!”
Luna fired a beam of magic at Princess Cadance before spinning around in midair and flying back towards Queen Celestia. Cadance, meanwhile, cantered back, keeping herself facing Princess Celestia while backing up towards her Queen.
Princess Celestia's eyes followed Luna as she descended. “Luna, Luna! Please, you have to snap out of whatever that monster did to you! She has to be stopped.”
Queen Celestia stared ahead. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, but her voice was strong as she spoke. “She cannot hear you. Only me. Cadance is the same. They opposed me, my plans to help humanity. Therefore I had to correct their ways of thinking.” Her head wavered back and forth. “Kill them. Incinerate their bodies and scatter their ashes to the wind.”
Luna and Cadance leaned forward. The tips of their horns glowed, and they fired twin beams of expanding magic at Princess Celestia, Cadance, and Optimus Prime.
Twin shields sprang up around the trio, right before the beams would have struck them. They washed over the shields, scorching the ground right in front of them. Princess Celestia ground her teeth together, and Cadance dug furrows into the dirt with her hooves, but their shields held.
A violet sphere popped into existence a few meters behind the battle. It disappeared, leaving behind Megan and the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Megan blinked, then gasped as she took everything in. “Holy crap!”
Optimus glanced over his shoulder at the seven. “Perfect timing!” He looked back and down at his torso. He pulled open the two panels on his upper chest and pulled out an orange metal sphere with off-white handles. There was a cutout in it, showing a shining blue crystal in the center. Optimus pulled the Matrix of Leadership from his chest and held it high. “Now, light humanity's Darkest Hour!” he said, as he raised it above his head. He slid his fingers into holes in the handles and pulled the two halves apart, leaving the crystal inside to float there.
Megan looked up. “Twilight, remember when I said that I couldn't use my power, except during certain circumstances?”
Twilight Sparkle followed her gaze. She and the others moved in as close as they dared to Megan. “I remember it quite well, Megan.” Her horn lit up, and the diadem in her Element of Magic also glowed. “Is this one of those circumstances?”
Megan's eyes turned white. A pair of ethereal wings sprouted from her back, and a long horn emerged from her forehead.
Rainbow Dash looked her over. “I'll take that for a 'yes'.”
The Elements of Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all lit up. A beam of magic shot from each of them and struck Twilight's crown. Megan raised her right hand and fired her own beam of magic at the crown, enveloping Twilight Sparkle’s entire head. The entire area around them brightened as the Rainbow of Light emerged and shot up, into the sky. It curved towards Optimus, enveloping the Matrix of Leadership.
A large sphere of multi-colored light exploded from the Matrix, rapidly expanding over the battlefield and engulfing. Queen Celestia could only watch as it approached her. Time seemed to slow to a crawl...
A serpentine creature faded into partial existence in front of Queen Celestia. He twisted around and focused yellow eyes on her. “Why hello, Celestia!” Discord said, waving a lion's paw at her. “Sorry to interrupt. I thought I'd pop my spirit out of the statue for a second to say hi. See how things were going with that whole 'ponify seven billion humans' plan you had going.” He spun around. “Hmm, not as well as you thought it would, did it.”
Queen Celestia stared at him for a moment. “Discord? What... no. It doesn't matter. How did this happen? You warned me about the blond-haired human, about humans in general! I acted to stop your prophecy before Megan would destroy all that I built up!”
Discord nodded, grinning. “I know, I know! And you bought it! You bought my entire spiel hook, line, and sinker!” He tossed his head back and cackled.”I couldn't have written a better script for you to follow, Celly!” He looked back at her. “I almost feel sorry for you, but almost isn't actually being sorry. See you around!” He waved at her before vanishing.
Time sped up. The wave of energy slammed into Queen Celestia. Bolts of energy raced along her horn, cracking it and sending chunks of it to the ground. Queen Celestia's wings shriveled up, feathers catching fire before vanishing. Her regalia dulled and rusted, breaking apart. And finally, one voice echoed in her ears.
“Celestia! Celestia, my sister! What have you done?”
Queen Celestia screamed, and darkness claimed her.
The golden cage around the Rainbow Bridge wavered and cracked. It fell apart, each segment of it vanishing. Next to it, the portal to Neo-Equestria wavered and rippled. It turned in on itself, shrinking until vanishing altogether.
For a moment, on that blasted Kentucky plain, silence reigned. For a brief moment, there was peace.