Applejack stood at the edge of what had now become a cliff. She looked out into the hellish sky, not changing the direction of her gaze once. She knew she could do nothing, but couldn’t bring herself to fully accept that and just wait. Fluttershy was sitting with her legs crossed, her attention swapping frequently between Applejack and the environment. She was almost like a filly trying to play two games at once. The pair of them were deeply worried, and understandably so: the planet had suddenly changed, becoming volcanic, and Rarity's ki was fading slowly. Fluttershy had done her best to stop the bleeding and the loss of air, by wrapping her bandana around Rarity's chest. They were able to guess how the battle was going by keeping track of Rainbow Dash and Omega's ki. They had felt Rainbow Dash drop out of the Super Pony form, then suddenly reactivate it. They had also felt Omega's ki drop like a rock from Cloudsdale, fully drawing their attention.
"She must be injured," Applejack said. "And badly too." Fluttershy's closed her eyes, appearing to be in deep concentration.
"Why hasn't Rainbow Dash finished her yet?" She sounded concerned, and with good reason too. Despite her kind nature, even she knew that mercy would be a bad choice in this situation. In the distance, the ground gave way randomly to reveal gaps of molten lava. Apart from the smoke created from every plant species being incinerated at one time, the scene was oddly picturesque in a way. Heavy thunderstorms had formed all across the sky, and lightning punctuated the monotonous glow of the magma with brilliant flashes of white light. There was a faint rustling sound that snapped the pair back to reality. It was Rarity! She was conscious, and trying to shift her weight. Fluttershy immediately scrambled to her feet and went over to her injured friend. She squatted quietly by her, and lightly placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, it's me. No, no no no, don't - don't try and move too much. Just relax, stay down." Rarity heeded her friend's words of advice, and relaxed back onto the ground.
"Yeah, there you go," She wiped her eyes, as she felt tears begin to rise. She hated seeing her friends hurt; she was just happy that Rarity was alive, as was Applejack.
"You've lost quite a lot of blood, even though the wound’s cauterised. And that wound'll make it a lot harder to breathe, so save your strength. Please. We'll be fine. We'll be alright..." Fluttershy's voice dropped to a whisper. "We're gonna be alright Fluttershy... Calm down you idiot." Applejack watched the interaction carefully. As far as she was aware, Fluttershy was holding herself together pretty well. If two of her friends had died, possibly soon to be three, before Omega came, she'd be uncontrollably grieving and would have isolated herself for weeks. Either that, or she’d unfortunately had to get used to seeing that happen.
'Hello? Applejack? Fluttershy?' The voice shocked them both. Rarity had lost consciousness once more, but was still managing to breathe.
'No, it's my turn to speak.' The voice said in a playful tone. It cleared its throat quietly.
'Hello, both of you. This is Princess Luna.' Applejack responded first.
"Hold on... How?? How are you contacting us?! You're all the way back home. Right?" Luna chuckled to herself.
'Yes, yes, I'm still on Equis; this is possible due to a telepathic linking spell. We have something very important to tell you.' Applejack and Fluttershy paid attention, waiting. Lava spewed high into the air, nearer to them than anything yet.
'My sister and I are going to bring the three of you back home to Equis.' Fluttershy let those words hang in the air for a bit, before realising what was troubling her.
"Wait, what do you mean 'the three of you'? What about Rainbow Dash?!" Luna remained silent for a few seconds.
'Rainbow Dash has asked us to only bring you three back. She said she wants to finish Omega herself. She's not going to change her mind.' Fluttershy and Applejack had to let that idea sink in. Lots of opposing thoughts ran through their minds: Rainbow Dash was selfish for taking all the glory, but also selfless for probably sacrificing her own life. She was stupid for taking the challenge, but brave for protecting her friends.
'Are you ready? This spell will take a lot of magic, too much magic for even my sister and I. We'll only be able to do it once before we're both out of energy. You must all be in physical contact with one another'. Applejack and Fluttershy worked together to pick Rarity up, and held her up between them. They looked at each other and nodded.
"Ready." Applejack confirmed. There was no response. "Uh, hello? Princess Luna??" Suddenly everything was replaced with a bright light, and they were gone. The hill they had been on became lifeless and quiet once more.
Omega let out a guttural scream. She gritted her teeth so hard her gums bled again. Rainbow Dash was still trying to properly take in what had just happened. Omega had cut herself in half. It may have been accidental, but that changed nothing. She coughed up a large amount of blood, then screamed in agony. She struggled to look up and saw Rainbow Dash staring down at her. There was only rage in her eyes.
"I tried to warn you. You idiot." Rainbow Dash turned away, reignited her aura and prepared to leave. Omega's expression changed to one of terror, terror at the possibility of death.
"Wait! Wait!!" Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder. "You're... You're not just going to leave me here, are you?"
"Why should I help you?!" Omega hadn't thought that far ahead; she'd hoped that trying to guilt trip Rainbow Dash would have been enough.
"This is what you deserve." Rainbow Dash was yet to feel any remorse for her opponent. Omega had to speak slowly, breathing had begun to hurt.
"I know I've done... terrible things, some of which were to people you cared... about. I know you think my actions... were irredeemable, but I'm asking you, as... a warrior, let me live to... fight another day." Omega waited for a response, panicking the whole time, and struggling to breath. Rainbow Dash ran the proposition over in her head.
'She's pretty strong, right now she's the strongest. Yeah but she killed two of your friends.'
'I know, but I'm not gonna pass this up, I can't. There's always someone better... right now, that's her.' Rainbow Dash scolded herself internally, but could deal with that later. She turned around quickly and gave a small amount of her ki to Omega.
"Don't use it to hurt anyone else, or I will end you. That’s a promise." Omega was astonished that had even worked.
"But... But why? Why help me??" Rainbow Dash remained silent for a few seconds.
"Hopefully, on the small chance you change your ways... and somehow put yourself together again, I can fight you again at some point. That's it." Rainbow Dash flew up into the sky to put some distance between them. Omega managed to rise off the ground, and had to focus to keep everything where it needed to be. Some of the pain had eased now. She looked upwards at her opponent. She had been absolutely humiliated as far as she was concerned. She wouldn't accept it; she just couldn't. She clenched her fist in rage.
'Damn it. Screw you! You know what? I don't need your pity!!' Omega used all the ki she had, and fired a Nova Strike after Rainbow Dash. The magenta glow slowly grew in Rainbow Dash's peripheral vision and she pivoted to see what was causing it. She was only a little surprised to see the Nova Strike heading toward her. Her teeth gritted in an uncontrolled display of rage, and she pulled one hand back.
"Omega, YOU FOOL!!" She shouted as she fired a devastating ki beam down through the attack. The Nova Strike collapsed inward as the yellow ki beam advanced mercilessly towards Omega. Panic and terror became her only emotions in those last few seconds. She let out a genuinely terrified scream before the beam struck her. There was a loud flash of light, and suddenly silence, punctuated only by Rainbow Dash's heavy breathing. There was a massive hole in the ground beneath her, which magma began to flow into, and no body in sight. She relaxed her hand as she steadied her breathing - she hadn't really exerted herself with that last attack, it was just because of how full of rage she had been. She stared down into the hole, feeling a plethora of emotions at the result of the battle. One thing she felt, more than she thought she should, was sadness. For some reason, Rainbow Dash partly felt she was to blame for Omega's actions - after all, she had come from her, and she was never able to persuade Omega to change her ways. Rainbow Dash was adamant in her belief that everyone can be redeemed, which was why she never stopped trying to do so. Omega was her only shortcoming, and she felt a kind of responsibility. She was also angry with herself for her friends' deaths, and not killing Omega when she first had the chance. Rainbow Dash remembered the instructions she had been given to return home. She focused deeply, drowning out the sounds, the heat, the bruises. She could feel her own ki, but she needed to search further. There seemed to be a collection of powerful entities all grouped together on one planet. She couldn't recognise anyone from the immense distance, but it had to be her friends! The princesses too. Either that, or she'd have a lot of introductions to make. She heard an ear shattering crash nearby and felt an increase in light through her eyelids. She mustn't have had any more time; she decided the unknown group was her best bet, and followed Twilight's instructions exactly. She used all of the magic instantly. There was a distorted sound, and nothing. There was no life on Marinus Beta. The tectonic plates shattered and fragmented, and anything combustible that remained was disintegrated instantly. Finally, after one last release, the planet exploded with a flash that would be visible for days.