“Canterlot?” Twilight gazed towards the light illuminating the sky in the distance. Her friends only managed shocked gasps, their imaginations probably conjuring images matching the one in front of Twilight’s own mind’s eye. “But… why?”
“I can only guess,” replied Enigma, “I lost the best part of the last two days. But it seems the third player you’ve been looking for has finally revealed herself.”
“The third…” Twilight’s ears perked up, the horror of the situation momentarily forgotten in the excitement of the dawning realisation. “You know who sent us to the Void Passage?”
Enigma’s ear flicked with annoyance. “I think I do. Which means I should’ve been smarter. Ever since I learned it wasn’t Obsidian’s doing, I kept looking for someone with the power to cast such a spell. Very few creatures would have the ability, but I also searched for artifacts that could amplify magic. I disregarded the Shattered though. It would take something like combining alicorn magic with Ambition for them to succeed, and it was against their interest.”
Twilight pushed closer to him, almost passing the threshold. “But the device Deception used to try to transform me, it had that kind of power! And there could’ve been more than one!”
“Now I’m not convinced it was Deception at all,” replied Enigma. “I fought the ‘Dr. Stone’ occupying the lab, and she was nothing like her. I suspect-”
“Could this wait!?” shouted Rainbow Dash, flying over Twilight’s head to push to the front. “Canterlot's on fire! We need to go there, now!”
Enigma looked up at her. “I don’t think you’ll be in time to make a difference.”
“We need to try,” said Applejack from behind Twilight. “If we could seal Hate and dis… undo his Shattered thing, that would be three down.”
Enigma turned his head to stare at her. “Three? You mean…”
“We have a spell to undo the splicing,” said Obsidian. “Vengeance and Arrogance are no more. Gloria is still in our custody, but Libra is gone, and she won’t be coming back.”
Enigma blinked. “You… and I spent so much time trying to find you allies for the coming war. I guess I was wasting my time.” He turned back towards Twilight. “We have a lot to talk about. But if you can really end this, it is worth a try. In that case, time is of the essence.”
“Does it mean you’ll help us?” asked Applejack.
“Not much I can do,” replied Enigma. “There is nothing I can do to Hate in this state, and if I get too close, his magic will slow down my powers, and he’ll turn me to dust.”
“I think I can help,” said Bluebonnet over the crowd.
“Yes, Bluebonnet?” asked Enigma.
“I’ve been working on the pattern gun,” explained the engineer. “I used the parts from the lab to make a simple neural reader - enough to pull the trigger with your mind. It still has a problem of aiming, and the ammo interferes with teleportation magic. But for you, neither is a problem. You’re the best possible user for this weapon.”
“As long as I recover the ammo you stole from the lab, isn’t that right?” said Enigma with a smirk.
“Yes,” said Bluebonnet, nodding.
Enigma returned the nod. ”Fine. Bring it. I’ll help however I can.”
“Stand with me,” said Twilight. “I’ll send us to the palace and back.”
“So, we’re trusting him now?” said Obsidian, glancing from Enigma to Twilight.
“You know, so far he’s manipulated us less than you have,” said Pinkie from behind him.
Obsidian turned towards her, opened his mouth to speak, paused, then exhaled slowly through the mouth. “Have it your way.”
***
Once Twilight returned, it took them only seconds to prepare the teleport. Enigma moved ahead with the pattern gun, disappearing as soon as Bluebonnet finished fitting a metal ring around his head, connecting the wire to the gun harness. The Elements just formed a circle by themselves, Obsidian standing aside as they combined their powers.
“You’re not coming with us?” asked Twilight.
“I was thinking of staying behind in case anything goes wrong,” said Obsidian. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Twilight considered the question. “We can handle it on our own… but if something does go wrong, you won’t help us sitting here. Hop aboard.”
Obsidian smiled, and walked past Twilight inside the circle. The Elements flared up with power, and the barrier between the pillars marking the entrance opened for a second, allowing the spell to pass.
***
We’re here. No magic circles needed anymore. What?
Twilight was prepared for a fight. Her imagination conjured the images of the previous battle - buildings exploding, screaming ponies running away from a roaring monster.
She wasn’t ready for what she saw instead. The Canterlot castle was gone, the remains of its outer towers standing awkwardly, like half-melted candles. And half-melted was the right word, Twilight realised - the surrounding area was more reminiscent of a volcano than a ruined city, everything on the highest tier of the city turned into slag, red-hot rock providing illumination to the grisly scene.
Twilight looked around frantically, her magic whipping around with cool wind, forming an area of breathable air around her friends. She tried to see beyond the courtyard, and as she turned, she felt something crumble beneath her hoof. She looked down, and stared into an empty socket of a charred pony skull.
“We’re too late…” gasped Rarity. “Everypony is already…”
“Not everypony,” said Enigma next to her. “The city has been in turmoil for days, and when the palace exploded, everypony ran for the gates. Most of those on the lower levels outran the fire.” He pointed his head towards the lower city. Twilight couldn’t see over the piles of hot rubble, but she could see the smoke - clearly the rest of the city was burning. “But of those unfortunates still left in the palace? Very few made it to the gate.”
“Where is Hate?” asked Applejack. “He hasn’t already burned out, has he?”
Everypony looked around. Pinkie Pie closed her eyes, and stood on hind legs, front hooves to her temples. “No, he’s still raging somewhere.”
“He should have burned out by now,” said Enigma. “Ever since…Portus, his bodies are designed to burn out faster, to mitigate the damage. If his current body isn’t… we need to find him quickly.”
“It’s not like he’s easy to miss,” said Rarity. “Should we raise the Sun to get a better view?”
“Three hours early?” asked Twilight. “It might help... No. We don’t need more chaos, and we need to conserve our powers. Dash, take a look from the air, and -”
“Found him,” said Enigma. “He’s in Cloudsdale.”
“What!?” Dash jumped up into the sky, clearing the black smoke obscuring the clouds above them. She spun in the air, pointed west, and then looked down and shouted, “I can see him! We need to get there, NOW!”
“I’ll try to get his attention,” said Enigma, and disappeared.
The Elements all turned towards Twilight. She considered another teleportation, but after the experience of the first jump, she reconsidered.
“Rarity, help me, please,” she said, conjuring a translucent disc of magic underneath her hooves. As Rarity’s magic flowed into her to reinforce her, Twilight pushed gently, the disk soaring into the sky, with her and her friends standing on top of it.
“There he is,” she said, swallowing loudly.
And there it was, far in the distance, a stormcloud like she had never seen before, flashing with yellow and purple - the city of Cloudsdale in the process of being consumed by a magical conflagration. As her magic responded to the intent to see, expanding her sight forward, she could just make out the tiny silhouettes of panicked pegasi scattering in all directions, disappearing into the night.
“He isn’t just raging,” said Fluttershy, paling. “He could be wrecking the mountain, or burning Everfree forest, but he went there, on purpose. Why is he doing that?”
“Maybe somepony is guiding him,” said Applejack. “I didn’t think it possible, but, whoa!” she braced herself, as the disc accelerated. A bubble of protective magic formed around it as Twilight took it towards Cloudsdale, the night air rushing past them. Beside the sphere there trailed a streak of red - Rainbow Dash kept up with them as they rushed towards the battle.
“I’m having a twitchy tail,” said Pinkie Pie suddenly. “And you’re not gonna like it.”
“I hope Enigma can keep him busy as he promised,” said Twilight, staring ahead, trying to see a sign, any sign, that the Shattered joined a fight against his former companion.
There was a flash of pale silver in the distance, one she wouldn’t mistake for anything else, and then an angry roar that shook the clouds.
“Brace yourselves!” she shouted, as she prepared to teleport everypony ahead towards their destination. But before she could, there was another flash, and then the purple flame burst through the underside of the clouds. Hate was flying down, a twisted mass of churning blackness wrapped in purple flame, descending at an angle, like a burning airship about to crash. And then, in a moment of horrifying certainty, Twilight Sparkle knew where he was headed.
***
They teleported down towards Ponyville, landing just in time to see Hate crash into the town hall. The old building burst apart like a giant, flaming puffball, launching burning pieces of wood all over the neighbourhood. Some bounced off Twilight’s barrier before she dismissed it, her friends fanning out around her, their personal defense spells taking over.
“I once had a nightmare like this,” said Pinkie Pie.
“So had I,” replied Twilight.
No lights. The town is still empty. But that means there is nopony but us to-
A cloud of black swirled inside the burning building. A single eye, a ball of angry red light in the darkness, looked towards the Elements.
“Together!” shouted Twilight. She could feel the power of her friends flow towards her, and she shot it forward, a wedge of force that split the incoming wave of flame in two. Everything around them became fire, but the Elements were unscathed.
From the left, she saw a blue beam of power striking at Hate. It was Obsidian, firing a spell from his staff, and teleporting away just as a tendril of blackness lashed in his direction.
He can’t do a thing to Hate, she realised, he’s just distracting him for us.
The rest of the town hall had already fallen apart, leaving only Hate standing in the middle, a dark cloud with a vaguely pony-shaped head, and half a dozen limbs of swirling flame, illuminated by the much brighter regular fires from the buildings surrounding the town square. Did he… shrink? thought Twilight.
The monster slid forward, reshaping with every second, limbs sprouting out and being reabsorbed. It twisted to aim at a side of the wedge, and roared, and Twilight barely managed to reshape her barrier into a curved slope, directing the shockwave upwards, and over the town. Still she felt the soil beneath her hooves give way as everypony were pushed away.
Hate lurched forward, and what currently passed for his front hooves dug into the ground. Twilight could sense the buildup of power underneath her.
There was a blindingly bright blast - a beam of silver that seemed to drain colors from the world. It hit Hate in the neck, sending him reeling, and causing the arms to dissolve. Enigma was standing to the right, preparing for another shot.
“Now! Together!” shouted Twilight. She gathered the strength of her friends just as Enigma shot again, blasting a huge hole in the black miasma surrounding Hate. Twilight exploded with rainbow lights, sending the combined power of the Elements through that hole, unravelling the monster layer by layer.
The spell wasn’t perfect. Enigma’s shots had opened the way by dampening the magic, so the Elements weren’t at full power either. But they were enough. There he was, a large, orange pegasus with wild eyes and sharp teeth, lines of black flame clinging to his fur even as he half-emerged from the burning cloud. He looked at Twilight, and bared his teeth.
“So, you’ve came to end this,” he said, his voice hoarse, but defiant.
“We almost have him! Push harder!” shouted Rainbow Dash.
Twilight found herself hesitating. She looked towards Hate. “Why are you doing this!?” she shouted over the clashing powers. “Why did you destroy Centerlot!?”
Hate scowled, returning her look. “Because that’s all that’s left, isn’t it? I’m the last one.”
“What?” Twilight pulled back her spell. “The last of-”
“Libra is dead!” snarled Hate, “Gloria will soon be. Enigma has betrayed us.”
“Twilight!” shouted Applejack, “What are you doing!?”
“I need to know,” replied Twilight impatiently. “How do you know about Vengeance?”
“She told me,” replied Hate, the flames crawling on his skin increasing in intensity. “Dr. Stone. She got rid of Eve and Absinthe. She played everypony, pulled you into her game, and now I’m the only one left. The last rabid beast that needs to be put down.”
“Wait! Envy and Deception are gone?” Twilight was stuck for loss of words. “But that means…”
“It is over,” said Hate. “Just you and me now. I was told you have a spell that can kill me for good…”
His eyes erupted with purple flame, and in a blink of an eye he was once again wreathed in a monstrous cloud of deadly magic. “SHOW ME!”
He pushed forward, and his flames spread out, the giant maw opening to swallow all the Elements whole. Twilight felt her friends preparing to scatter, but held them together with her magic, teleporting the whole group out of the way.
“Why did you stop!?” screamed Applejack from behind her, as they reappeared in the air.
“I needed to know!” replied Twilight, “There is more going on than we know, and It may be too late to talk to him later!”
“And now you’ve wasted our chance of taking him down!” shouted Obsidian from outside their bubble. He was standing on a nimbus of blue smoke, his staff balanced on his withers. “How many shots does Guilt have left?”
Below them Hate faced up, coiling like a snake. He roared again. Obsidian teleported just in time, the smoke left in his wake blown away by the shockwave. But Twilight and her friends were sent flying upward, with nothing but air to brace against, the sphere spinning for a couple of seconds before Twilight was able to right it. She was just in time to see a giant fireball a split second from impact.
She felt the wave of heat wash over her, as the layers of protective magic barely kept the explosion away.
“Stay together!” she shouted, as she teleported the sphere aside, dodging the next two blasts. “Don’t let him split us up!”
“Two shots left,” said Enigma, blinking into existence close to her. “Then I need to go reload.”
He disappeared when Hate flew straight at them, trying to grab them with his jaws again. Twilight performed another dodge to get out of his way. He flew past them, the heat of his flames washing other their barrier.
Uh? I wanted to get further away… thought Twilight as she formed a spell to strike back.
Then Hate’s form split, the jaw lashing forward continuing with the momentum and slowly dissolving, while a new head shot from the torso at the right angle, straight at the girls. Twilight shot an unfinished spell, but the monster just opened his mouth and swallowed it. Then he inhaled, a hurricane wind pulling them in. Twilight tried to teleport away, but found her magic being pulled towards her foe - a pure instinct to devour turned into a spell that dragged his victims into his open maw.
There was a shot of the pattern gun from the outside, but the mouth would not let go. They were surrounded by roiling black and purple flames, the semi-solid shapes of the giant fangs crushing the protective sphere from all sides. Twilight struggled to break them free, and felt her power slowly winning the struggle. She was breathing heavily, struggling to keep her focus against the pain of the unbearable heat, her armor spells only enough to keep her lungs from being burned, while her nose filled with the smell of burned mane hair. But she could feel the jaws slowly getting pushed open. Hate was a monster like no other, a force of destruction that frightened even Discord. But there were six of them working together now, and the combined power of the Elements-
Then the light at the bottom of the gullet started getting brighter. Twilight’s heart froze, even in the overwhelming heat.
“We won’t make it in time!” she shouted in panic.
“We will,” said Fluttershy next to her. ”Make me the center of the spell.”
She didn’t plead, she didn’t sound scared. She made a request, as if she was stating the fact, and in that moment Twilight found out she had no way or time to argue. Her friend had a plan to save them all and no time to waste being scared.
All it took was a small shift. The white light changed to pink. Suddenly the pressure eased, and the heat became more bearable. Twilight stepped aside, allowing Fluttershy to take a central place. I haven’t seen her like this since… but this is so much bigger than some dragon. Is she using her own power to calm herself too?
“Stop it, Lightbringer,” said Fluttershy loudly. “You know you don’t really want to do it.”
The cloud around them kept struggling, but some of the fangs withdrew from the barrier. Slowly, with great effort, the giant gullet formed words that rumbled like a descending rockslide. “I… DO.”
“No, you don’t,” said Fluttershy. “You said you wanted to see if we can kill you. You’re raging, but it’s not really us you’re angry at, is it?”
The cloud rumbled again, and purple flames hissed from the gullet, but not strong enough to break the barrier; they merely washed over it. Fluttershy didn’t flinch.
“I think I know,” said Fluttershy. “You’re angry at being alone, aren’t you? At being rejected by those who feared you, and at losing ponies you couldn’t save. And then you become angry at yourself, but you can’t destroy yourself no matter how hard you try.”
“YOU DON’T KNOW ME.”
“No,” said Fluttershy. “But I listen when you speak, and I notice things. I know how it is when nopony listens. You keep bragging how much you hurt and kill, but you also keep talking about you being hurt. Harming others doesn’t make you happy.”
“STUPID MARE! I’VE KILLED MORE PONIES THAN YOU WILL EVER MEET!”
Fluttershy gave a sad nod. “You have. And it didn’t make you happy. But you always tried to fight for something, didn’t you? Even at your worst. There was always your side, somepony you called friends, or allies. And now you’re about to be alone for the first time, and you feel that all that death might have been for nothing. This is why you’re so angry, isn’t it?”
“THEN END IT! DESTROY ME!”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, not you. The monster you became. I don’t want to hurt you. I couldn’t if I wanted. But I can help you find peace, if you let me. Get rid of Hate.”
The cloud shook with a deafening roar. The fangs closed in again, and the barrier flashed with sudden strain. Fluttershy shuddered, but did not back down.
“I AM HATE!”
“Do you want to be?”
Twilight could feel the spell start, weaving through her and her friends, and then flowing outward from Fluttershy. Lines of pink light stretched from the sphere and through the black flames, and Twilight realised she didn’t feel nearly the amount of resistance she was expecting. In seconds, the flaming jaw around them dissolved, letting in some night air. The spell kept feeling around with immaterial tendrils, as if searching for something.
And there he was, right in front of them, the knot of deepest darkness at the heart of the monster, the spot where the dark magic originated, tied to the soul of the pony stuck inside. Twilight couldn’t see it, but she could feel it through the spell, the moment his resistance ceased, the magic reaching through his essence. He’s not like the others, she thought. I can feel two powers inside him, but it’s different, even from Vengeance; these powers oppose each other, and the magic is dominant right now. It’s just like Obsidian said, like a living creature inside him. How do we disconnect it?
Now the black miasma was giving way, and Twilight could see more and more. She could already see the outline of the pegasus in front of her, framed by the pink tendrils extending gently like growing vines. The flames were disappearing, replaced by pink motes of light fluttering about like butterflies. But that was just a visible symptom of what was happening inside. Twilight could feel Fluttershy struggle with the asymmetrical connection, trying to disjoin both powers from Lightbringer at the same time; one inimical to magic, and barely perceptible beneath the overwhelming magical aura - the other sentient and terribly powerful, a ball of burning rage only kept at bay by Fluttershy’s Kindness oura supercharged by the other Elements.
“You can do it, Sugarcube,” she heard Applejack whisper reassuringly from behind.
“You’re doing great,” said Twilight herself, careful not to raise her voice above a soft whisper. She considered her own statement, and realized that it was true - more than empty encouragement, she was impressed with how Fluttershy was able to handle the spell, and the task before her, despite it being her first time as the focus pony. She was keeping her calm, and slowly making progress, getting closer and closer to achieving her goal.
As long as nothing interrupts us, we should - Twilight looked around frantically, but found both Obsidian and Enigma standing in the air outside the spell area, looking around vigilantly while waiting for the fight to resolve.
We’re technically attacking him, she thought, or at least attacking the thing inside him. How come it isn’t stopped by Fluttershy’s aura? Is she able to get past her own spell, or perhaps she doesn’t see it as an attack? Is it because she’s helping, or perhaps it’s what he thinks that matters?
There was a soft ping when the connections broke. Twilight was nearly pushed back as the spell retreated from Lightbringer, and then shot in all directions, the magic turning night into day as it cascaded over the town, extinguishing all the fires. The black flame went out, and there was a moment when Lightbringer was hanging in the air in front of the Elements, a strange, pained smile on his face. thin lines of bright red appeared under his coat. He looked straight at Fluttershy.
“Thank you,” he said, and then burst into flames.
It wasn’t like when he ignited before. There was no spreading blackness, but a short burst of red and purple, blindingly intense, exploding upward and flying up towards the night sky, reducing the pegasus to ash in a span of a single breath. Twilight could only huddle behind her barriers, as the last dregs of the released energy washed over her.
“What… what happened?” asked Pinkie Pie, shaking her head to get rid of the red spots in her vision.
“He’s gone, isn’t he?’ asked Enigma, appearing just outside the Elements’ barrier. “I’ve seen him burned by his own power before, but never like this.”
“It seems the power was no longer his, was it?” asked Obsidian, approaching from the opposite side, careful to keep the Elements between himself and Enigma. “It had already turned him to ash, so when you released it-”
“Poof,” said Rainbow Dash. “Just like that, he’s gone. You destroyed him for good.”
“I freed him from his torment,” said Fluttershy, looking at her with disapproval, though her voice remained calm.
“Same thing. He’s gone,” said Obsidian.
Fluttershy turned her gaze upon him now, and it was far more disapproving. “I assure you, there is a difference.”
“Having watched him for thousands of years… I must thank you for this,” said Enigma. “Nopony should be this-”
“Hey, guys?” interrupted Rainbow Dash, fluttering above them. “I’m sure we can spend whole days talking about feelings… but right now I think we have a problem.”
They looked up at her, and then at the sky. The red light did not disappear. It was now hanging above them, illuminating the night like a second moon, an angry red boil basking the world in a foreboding tint of red.
“My goodness. What is that thing?” asked Rarity.
“This is what was inside Hate all along,” said Obsidian.
Rarity suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. “We all know that.”
Enigma sighed. “Why do I have a feeling we’ll learn exactly what it is very soon?”