Mountains shook, waves crashed against the shore, and the wind howled. Gabby, the plucky medic Griffon, soared to her next target as a deafening roar bellowed through the canyon. With a cursory glance, Gabby took notice of the absolutely massive blue ram-like creature that towered over the skyline - the returned king of monsters, Grogar. Having absorbed several of Equestria's most powerful artifacts, as well as consuming the souls of the failed villains Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow, in addition to the soul of the longstanding ally to the ponies, Discord, he had grown to an absolutely gargantuan size, dwarfing the aforementioned Tirek nearly tenfold.
Thankfully, she thought, at this size, he was far too large to pay attention to a simple medic like herself.
Gabby finally found the source of the cry for help - Lightning Dust, pegasus soldier, was downed with a cut wing. She landed as quickly as she could.
"H...hey, Lightning Dust! Hold still, I've got you," comforted Gabby, quickly removing bandages from her bag.
"Hurry up already!" complained Lightning Dust. "I'm NOT letting everyone else finish this without me!"
While this kind of comment would normally annoy Gabby, this situation was too dire to be arguing. Grogar had to be stopped. She worked quickly and silently, patching up the wing. Without even a "thank you", Lightning Dust blasted off into the sky as soon as she felt she was able. Gabby shot her neck up to follow the magnificent sight. As if on cinematic cue, a massive rainbow explosion lit up the sky as a tiny blue spec that could only be Rainbow Dash performed a Sonic Rainboom, launching herself directly at Grogar's chest, staggering him a bit, eliciting another mighty roar. Four beams of light, presumably from the four alicorn princesses, suddenly materialized from different directions, focused on Grogar's head. However, he seemed to be only mildly inconvenienced by this, lowering his head and swinging his massive horns, knocking several more pegasi and other creatures out of the sky. Gabby hoped Spike was ok.
"GABBY!" shouted a familiar, stuffy voice. Gabby turned to see fellow medic, Plaid Stripes, dashing across the heavy terrain as best she could. "They need us back at the castle! QUICK!!!!"
Gabby didn't bother watching Plaid Stripes struggle the uneven ground anymore. The buck toothed earth pony soon found herself whisked off the ground by Gabby's strong claws, flying as quickly as she could to the castle. Gabby huffed a bit - it was a bit more weight than she had expected - but she wasn't just going to leave Plaid Stripes there and go slow. Normally, a commoner like Plaid wouldn't be helping in such an operation, but Grorgar's threat was so widespread that literally everycreature had to do their part.
Again, as if on cue, a Storm Guard leapt from a nearby rock, cementing itself in Gabby's path, eyes growing a sickly blue and greenish color. She immediately panicked - the Storm Guards, while docile after the Storm King's defeat, were easily persuaded and controlled by Grogar, becoming his own minions, as well as gaining power they never had dreamed of before. She wasn't exactly a good fighter, but even if she was, she couldn't do much with her claws full of...
Plaid Stripes, without a hint of fear, immediately threw out her hoof, part of her ridiculous spoon clothing flying off in the process. This incredible spoon managed to hit its mark perfectly, knocking the minion with enough force between the eyes to cause it to trip backwards, into a nearby ravine - the bottom of which was too dark to see.
"We have to keep going!" shouted Plaid, predicting Gabby's apathy. "I'm sure he's fine, okay? We don't have time to worry about everycreature!" Having been read like an open book, Gabby sighed, continuing her flight without losing speed.
"I wasn't going to stop, okay?" she grunted, not sure if she was trying to convince Plaid, or herself. "I just don't like the idea of HURTING anycreature."
"Oh yeah?" retorted the pony rather quickly, sudden emotions spurred on by what she, and everyone around her, had lost. "You gonna say that even after what Grogar did to Grandpa Gruff?"
It was only about a second before Plaid Stripes hit the ground face first, as if Gabby had released her grip the instant the words left her mouth. Furious, the griffon forcefully crashed into the ground, feet first, before turning around to face her friend with a look of absolute fury. The image came to her briefly, for only a split second - Grandpa Gruff, belly up, with a leg pointing a direction legs aren't meant to point...despite her earlier cool dealing with lightning dust, she found herself unable to control herself, squinting at the now terrified pony, and grumbled two words.
"Shut. Up."
Plaid Stripes groaned as she got her bearings. "S...Sorry. We've gotta go...we're losing time. I'll just...shut up, okay?"
Shining Armor, now an aging stallion, had taken back over his previous post as captain of the royal guard, in the stead of its new captain, Gallus, who was needed on the front lines of battle. A cough came forth from his mouth as he stood guard, waiting for news from the medic he had sent off...
The cough had just barely left his mouth when he noticed the shape of Gabby materialize on the horizon, flapping as hard as she could, carrying poor Plaid Stripes, who stared off to the side solemnly as the breeze blew her mane around a bit. Shining Armor immediately got up from his sitting position, waving Gabby down, triggering another sickly cough. Gabby didn't wait for any sort of verbal cue, gently setting Plaid down on the ramparts, before approaching Shining herself and landing gracefully. Plaid kicked the ground a bit, essentially waiting in the background, unsure if she was wanted, or even needed.
"I came as quickly as I could," stated Gabby, showing her respect to the former captain. "What did you need?" Shining opened his mouth to respond, but once again coughed. Gabby continued to stoically and respectfully await a response, showing no signs of annoyance.
"You need to get a message...." he managed to weakly say, "to my sister."
The door opened behind Plaid Stripes. Gabby turned, and saw a pony she had never seen before. The air suddenly became much warmer.
"Yona!!!!!"
Sandbar shouted his wife's name in dismay as she saw her crash backwards through several tress. The resilient yak had taken nearly the full force of Grogar's massive hoof, but unlike her comrades, was still getting up for more.
"Yona FINE, Sandbar!" she grunted, regaining her footing. "Stay on canon!"
Sandbar gulped, and turned back to his canon, taking aim at the massive ram again, as if it was possible to miss something that took up 80% of your periphery. Yona charged past, away from him, back into the fray. He wished she wouldn't do that.
"Come on, friend, focus now," said Capper, manning the canon directly next to him. The tall, slick cat had arrived to help out of almost nowhere, Sandbar recalled, when Grogar started becoming a real threat. He had been a major asset so far. "You've got quite a fine missus, but you gotta quit worryin'. She's a yak. They don't go down easy."
"I know," sighed Sandbar. "But she never-"
He was cut off by a loud canon blast nearby. As he and Capper recovered from the shockwave, he continued.
"-She never lets me join her on the front lines. I want to be there...to help her, you know?"
Capper blinked, not even sure if the pony he was speaking to was serious. "I'm gonna lay it on you, cat," he said, as smoothly as he could, "but the likes of you and I aren't gonna be doing any damage to that brute up there."
Thump.
"Oh, thank you SO much! What I really needed was a shot to my failing ego right now. Sorry dude, but you're too WEAK to protect the ones you love."
Thump.
"It's not like that at all! But you can't go out there and waste your life! You saw what that mean mother hubberd did to Discord, right? We need to stay here, where we can make a difference!"
THUMP.
"Oh, BIG DIFFERENCE we're making with these stupid canons! I don't even think he KNOWS WE'RE HERE!"
"SANDBAR!!!! WATCH OUT!!!!"
Yona's voice took Sandbar out of his argument enough to notice the massive shadow being cast over the pair right now, courtesy of Grogar's massive hoof. The gargantuan foot began lowering at breakneck speed towards the two of them. As Capper began to run, Sandbar, frozen in fear, could only scream in terror as his end grew closer by the second. Great, he thought. As final thoughts go, it can't get much worse than dying pathetically in front of your wife who you were just told you were too weak to protect, and...wait, why was he still thinking? Opening his eyes slowly, he looked up to see the massive hoof still inches from his face, but held in place...by what looked to be a magical aura.
A deafening roar shook the earth around the poor pony, nearly destroying his eardrums, as the mighty Grogar realized his foot was stuck on...something. This soon proved to be the least of his problems, as his entire body began to shift backwards, the magical aura on his hoof pushing back. With one more growl of defiance, he finally lost his balance, falling over on his side, crushing several trees. The moment the cost was clear, Yona rushed to hug Sandbar, who was still frozen in fear, brain pumping adrenaline. Capper, who had similarly stopped in his tracks when he realized he was not about to become squished worm food, scanned the area for the source of the magic, before a certain orange alicorn with a brilliant flowing mane of pure fire caught his eye.
Sunset Shimmer slowly strained her head to face upwards, her horn glowing so hard that sparks began to fly from it. She screamed in a rage, causing a massive explosion where her magical aura rested on the downed king's hoof. She fell to her knees, but quickly regained her composure, but still doubled back for a moment, as if her height came as a surprise to her. She was a tall alicorn, nearly the size of Luna in her prime. Capper stared wordlessly in awe, joined by Yona as soon as she realized what had happened. Sandbar, while still out of it, was slowly understanding the situation.
Only moments later, Princess Twilight Sparkle, in all her glory, landed powerfully near the gathering group of creatures. Capper immediately bowed before her. Without even noticing this action, Twilight turned to Sunset, with nary a look of surprise.
"Twilight..." Sunset managed to speak. "I'm...."
"I can see that," stated Twilight. "Gabby told me. Come on. There isn't much time. Grogar will get up soon."
"I...I mean...the last time I ponied up...I had wings, but....this is...."
"It's not that big of a surprise. You are an alicorn. Not only that, but possibly the most powerful alicorn Equestira has ever seen. Be ready, the others are coming."
As if on cue, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy soon landed. Fluttershy, who stared off to the side, as if lost in anger, had little reaction, but Rainbow Dash did manage a comment.
"Woah...Sunset. Lookin...flashy."
Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity made their way through the trees, arriving at the spot. Twilight immediately addressed them all.
"Girls, this is it. Our secret weapon is here."
Behind her, the massive figure of Grogar began to get up. He did not seem happy.
"Our secret weapon looks quite divine, complimented Rarity, trying to lighten the mood for the very obviously nervous Sunset.
"And ON FIRE! Like, literrrallyyy!" cooed Pinkie in response.
"Oh, dear, you must let me sample your mane once all of this ugliness is over," continued Rarity, now fully cutting off a rather peeved Twilight. "It's not often I get to work with solid flame-"
"Would you all BE QUIET?" shouted Fluttershy, still facing away from the group. "Let's just get this DONE. I'm sick of this. I'm sick of seeing that big, ugly, terrible, HORRENDOUS BEAST in the sky. I want this OVER. After what he did to Discord...."
"I think we all feel the same way, Fluttershy," assured Twilight. Behind her, Grogar had town slowly turned to face the group, steam literally pouring from his mouth as his anger fueled heat and rage, a mile-long scowl across his face, as he saw the group of seven ponies. "Sunset, with you with us, it's time to use the elements."
"Will it...will it weaken him?" asked Sunset.
"It will destroy him," stated Twilight flatly.
In the sky above them, Grogar's bell, now huge as well, floated between his horns, and began to charge up what seemed to be a very dangerous ball of energy. Loud gusts of wind swept around the group as Grogar began to scream at the top of his lungs at the ponies who had caused him so much trouble. By this point, Capper, Yona, and a now-lucid Sandbar had made their way behind some nearby rocks to hide.
"The bell is our target!" shouted Twilight over the noise. "If we destroy the bell, he'll be compressed into antimatter!"
"DASH!" shouted Applejack, over all the noise. "If this doesn't work, I..."
"I know, stupid," replied Rainbow Dash, smiling in return. The two turned to face the massive ram in the face, now seconds from launching his attack. The sound was unbearable.
"ON MY MARK!" screamed Twilight, now barely audible over the noise. "ONE!"
Sunset, in the center of the line, saw her friends around her glow in the colors of their elements.
"TWO!"
The group was lifted off the ground, Sunset gaining he own aura. Not wanting to fail, she focused her attention directly on Grogar's bell. She could see a rainbow forming around the group. She knew this part. She closed her eyes, and prepared to fire all her energy.
"THREE!!!!!!!!"
Iron Will didn't really know what the last thing he saw before the massive explosion was. Coming to his senses, he realized that he wasn't dead yet..and looking around him, none of his allies were, either. It took a moment before he realized the massive ram no longer took up the skyline as the dust around him cleared.
"Is...it over?" asked Pistachio, the pony emerging from his hiding spot behind a broken down hut. Iron will, unflinching, stared to the sky, as it began to rain.
"It looks like the ponies a victory gained, but not this time without some pain."