Cozy’s mind went numb. Nightmare Moon was back. Celestia had turned into Daybreaker. Her worst fears had come true.
She searched their eyes for any sign of discontent, anything she could use to turn them against each other—or against Grogar. But Nightmare Moon’s gaze was that of a natural-born ruler, and Daybreaker’s was of a cackling tyrant.
Nightmare Moon hurled a lance of blue-black lightning down at their shield, and it shattered into pieces. Daybreaker followed with a wide-beam of scorching heat that set Cozy’s mane on fire. “Aaaaugh!” she screamed, and dove for a snowbank.
With their shield gone, she spotted a gigantic pony made of black tentacles rear up. He roared something to the Pillars, and smiled wickedly towards Stygian.
“The Pony of Shadows!” Starswirl shouted. “Stay together! And Stygian, we’ll need your guidance!”
Twilight tore her eyes away from the Pony of Shadows and back to Daybreaker and Nighmare Moon. She pleaded, “Please, Celestia, Luna, don’t do this! Luna, think of how long you were banished to the moon! Celestia, think of the ponies you care about!”
“My little ponies will learn to adore me just as I am,” Daybreaker replied with a smug grin. “And if they don’t? I’ll destroy them!” She punctuated her sentence with a massive fireball that slammed into the snow below her. The air turned thick with steam.
“I shall never be banished again!” Nightmare Moon added. “No, it is you, Twilight Sparkle, who will pay for your insolence against the Night!”
“Luna, think about who ya really are inside!” Applejack cried. “Yer not a bad pony!”
“Luna? I am Nightmare Moon!” she roared, and a slick ray of midnight sliced towards the Bearers.
Cozy scanned the battlefield. Across the courtyard, the six Pillars were fighting desperately against the Pony of Shadows, who was trying to engulf Stygian once more. The Elements were parrying or blocking the ferocious spells of Daybreaker and Luna. And her fellow frien—conspirators were up against creatures she’d never even imagined. Suddenly, Cozy knew what she needed to do.
Her gaze turned towards the six students. Alright, Cozy, she thought with a half-smile. It’s just convincing the creatures who stopped you last time to follow your orders. No big deal.
Cozy beat her wings forcefully, and flapped forward. Gallus isn’t much further! She struggled against the swirling winds and freezing air.
Daybreaker aimed her horn down at the filly, “Where do you think you’re going?’ she taunted, and let loose a searing wave of fire.
Cozy screamed, and tried to duck for cover. She couldn’t make it, however—she was just a filly, and the solar magic was too swift. But before she was consumed, a thick layer of black crystal stabbed up from the ground, diverting the flames to around her. The crystals glowed red-hot, but they held back the fire.
Cozy shot Sombra a grin of thanks. He answered with a slightly smug smile and a nod.
“Gallus!” Cozy called out.
His head swiveled towards her. “Cozy?” he replied cautiously.
“Gallus, I need your help,” she replied. “Yours and your friends’.”
Gallus snorted. “You need my help? Aren’t you supposed to be a supergenius or something?”
Cozy pouted. “I am! But I’m only one pony.” A stray bolt of black lightning slammed down beside her, sending her jumping in shock. “And you and your friends have, uh, uhrhm...”
She trailed off. Gallus raised an eyebrow. “What do we have?” he echoed dubiously.
“A talent for prevailing when you really, really shouldn’t,” Cozy muttered with a hint of resentment. “Just like the Professors do. So, I’m asking you to help me out, and by extension the whole world.”
“Eh, sounds fine to me,” Smolder interjected, parrying a downward halberd attack. “Just tell us what we need to do!”
“I agree,” Ocellus added. Her eyes appeared on the snowbank Cozy was standing on. “You already have a tactical plan, right Cozy?’”
In her mind’s eye, Cozy could see the the strengths and weaknesses of every member of the six. Even more importantly, she could see how to fit them together like the mechanisms of a clock.
“Alright,” she began with a hint of a giggle. “Here’s what you’ve gotta do...”
With every shield spell, Twilight felt like a piece of her soul cleaved from her. Celestia, her mentor, her friend, her close confidante for over a decade, had embraced the same inner darkness that Luna had a millennium ago. How could even Grogar make that happen?
No answer appeared in her mind. Whatever kind of magic he wielded, it was an order of magnitude stronger than anything she’d ever encountered. Mind control was one thing, but to engineer a creature’s very spirit?
She glanced to the Pillars, still fighting—and losing—against the Pony of Shadows. She wanted to help them, but it was already pushing her to her limit to just deflect the awful magic Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon unleashed upon them.
Further deliberation was shoved from her mind as a blur of brown slammed into the Pony of Shadows’ hoof. Both he and Twilight glanced towards it, but her eyes jerked back upwards as an orange smear sent a burst of fire into his face.
“Ocellus, now!” Gallus shouted. At her command, a flash of green fire transformed into a huge, armored baby blue insect. The insect gripped six of the Pony of Shadows’ tentacles with her legs, and tied them into a quick knot.
Unfortunately, the students just didn’t have enough talent at combat. Unlike Twilight, the Legion, or the Pillars, many of them had never been in a battle before yesterday. She winced. But can they actually do it?
Beige, blue, and pink swept across the Pillars. Twilight thought she could hear a hint of conversation, but the storm made it hard to tell. Before she could come to their aid, Fluttershy cried out, “Help!” Twilight whirled back towards her best friends, and dove forward to knock Fluttershy out of the telekinetic control.
Spike hugged the shadows near the edge of the battle. The air shimmered and crackled with magic. He could taste the ozone from the spellcraft at work. This far away, it was easy to avoid any attacks and still join in when needed. He’d wanted to be more involved, but Twilight had been quite insistent that he had to keep himself safe.
Down the mountain, the air seemed to warp and twist, like a droplet of water bending light. And in a flash of light, Starlight, Midnight, Shining, and Cadance appeared.
Starlight looked exhausted, while Midnight’ expression was dulled and deadened. Scratches and dents crisscrossed Shining’s armor, and Cadance’s eyes wore pained weariness. But what caught Spike’s eye most of all was the shuddering, blackened Crystal Heart hovering alongside Starlight and Midnight.
“What’s going on?” Spike demanded of the four ponies. “What did you do to the Crystal Heart?”
“I see you repurposed it after all,” Sombra commented with a sly smile. “I am most pleased, Midnight.”
“Riiiight,” Shining agreed with a frown. “Starlight, other Twilight, proceed when ready.”
Midnight flicked her head in a simple nod, and lifted the Crystal Heart high. Starlight stepped close to her, pointing her own horn at it.
Midnight focused her mind, narrowed her eyes, and hurled a spear of magic into the altered Crystal Heart. It felt much like a great clockwork machine, complex and opaque, but with an internal logic she intuitively understood. With a simple twist of her spell, the Crystal Heart released a shockwave of pale grey light. It spilled over the great walls of Tambelon, shining like a tiny sun trapped beneath the storm clouds.
In an instant, her mind exploded with information. Data poured in from the countless minds she was now linked to. Pieces of their old lives, facts they knew, Grogar’s spellcraft. But more than that, she felt a desire to return to the comforting earth.
“I apologize for the intrusion,” she murmured mentally, “but I have need of you for a little longer.” She extended her mental presence, and ordered the legions to attack all targets they had previously been ordered not to, and conversely to attack no other targets.
Another nugget of information flowed past her mind: the two unidentified alicorns high above, both charging spells to fire down on her. With her mind so immersed amidst the necromantic power, she could only watch in mute horror as their spells descended upon her.
Shining Armor leapt in front of her and raised a massive shield of magic. The anomalous alicorns’ spells crashed down upon it like twin tidal waves, sending its ethereal field shuddering and gasping. But Shining’s shield held.
Beside him, Princess Cadance spread her wings, and rose into the sky. She examined the windigos with open detest. Even her presence, and the raw love magic she radiated, was enough to send the horrors cringing back.
She scowled, and hurled a beam of gentle blue light at the nearest one. The magic descended upon it, and it screeched in terror as its body caught fire. The fire burned a beautiful sky blue, growing larger each second.
Starlight smirked, and teleported up to near the Windigos. She ignited her horn, and conjured a mighty wind. Cadance’s flames were whipped into a wall of fire that swept across the ancient horrors. They beat their hooves to call down more snow, but they could not stop the inferno descending upon them.
Below her, Cadance was shining brilliantly. More tongues of flame reached upwards, and in a moment the entire sky was devoured by beautiful cerulean fire.
As Cadance unleashed the full power of her love magic on the hateful windigos, Rarity slammed a hoof down into the crusted snow.
“Now see here, Celestia! You as well, Luna!” she snarled. “That fiend Grogar may have corrupted your bodies with dark magic and overloaded your minds with power. He may be powerful beyond imagination and the greatest creator of monsters. But he cannot take one thing from you. He cannot take your goodness. He cannot make you into monsters!”
Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow, and chuckled darkly. Daybreaker beside her cackled. “Oh, Rarity, Rarity, Rarity” Daybreaker purred. “Has all that time making dresses turned your brain to cloth? We aren’t monsters. We’re just the princesses we were always meant to be. Your heartfelt speeches won’t work on us, my little pony. ”
“Then maybe this will,” Rainbow shot back. She puffed her chest out, and a gentle blue glow engulfed her.
“What?” Nightmare Moon asked. “But the elements are gone!”
“It’s like we said aaaaall those years ago,” Pinkie chuckled. “The spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!”
Daybreaker gasped. She flicked her horn down, a bolt of searing laser light darting angrily towards Applejack. A flash of magic from Twilight diverted it into harmless sparkles.
“Now, we’ve got the elements,” Rainbow commented snarkily. “Time to give us back our princesses!”
Twilight dropped to the icy ground. A sphere of pure, brilliant light engulfed her and her five best friends. She gave them a quick, joyous look, and turned to face her corrupted mentor.
“Honesty!” Applejack called out.
“Kindness!” Fluttershy agreed.
“Laughter!” Pinkie giggled.
“Generosity!” Rarity continued.
“Loyalty!” Rainbow proclaimed.
“And Magic!” Twilight finished.
A wide wave of beautiful rainbow light flowed upward towards Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon. Fear crossed their faces, and Nightmare Moon even took a few paces back, but there was no way they could outrun it. Twilight’s heart soared with hope.
The serene light flooded around the corrupted alicorns. “Nooooooo!” Daybreaker cried out, futilely trying to teleport away.
In a moment, it was over. Celestia and Luna were freed from their own worst emotions, and they plummeted towards the ground. Rainbow shot forward and slammed into them both. The three ponies landed in a snowbank, turning what would have been a grievous fall into merely a painful landing.
Fluttershy hurried over to Rainbow and the princesses. They were okay, but only weakly moving. It was obvious they were not in any shape to fight. “How are we going to protect them?” she asked fearfully. “There are still so many dangers here!”
“Leave that to me,” Shining answered. He picked up Celestia and Luna with his telekinesis and carefully placed them inside his bubble of force.
The cries of ponies and other creatures from around the world, and the clang of skeletons, were even louder than the storm. High above, the Windigos howled in pain and fury as Cadance’s magic burned through their ranks. Twilight allowed herself a smile. Maybe we can win this after all.
A terrible blade of black and blue light slammed downward towards her. Only Applejack’s lightning reflexes hurled her out of the way. Where the beam landed, the snow and stone had become somehow even more twisted, darkly corrupted and pitted in the most hideous way.
From the top of Tambelon’s highest tower, Grogar stared down at them in cold fury. His old, scruffed blue coat was thrown into haunting relief among the pitch-black blizzard. And around his neck orbited the six gems the Tree had described.
The Elements of Disharmony.
They are real, Twilight realized in mute horror. She slipped into a defensive position. Beside her, she felt her five best friends do the same.
One way or another, this war was coming to a close.
A tenebrous claw slashed downward towards Chrysalis. She rolled forward and planted a hard kick into the monster’s torso with her hind legs. Its insubstantial body wobbled against her, and new claws formed where she struck.
But before it could counterattack, Tirek hurled a devastating blast of raw magic. The horror shattered into scraps of liquid blackness. As it began to reform, goop flowing back together, Sombra trapped the globs in little crystal cubes. Chrysalis whirled around. There were more pressing threats to deal with, after all.
The rainbow her teammates had taught her to fear hurled up into the sky and down upon the evil alicorns. She glanced over to the other members of the Legion. Midnight was still deeply engaged in control over the skeletons, Cozy was organizing the students, and Tirek and Sombra stood near her.
Sombra, for his part, winced at the lightshow. “We’re lucky that’s not angled at us,” he half-joked to Chrysalis. “I have a feeling the all-good and all-merciful harmony beam wouldn’t be particularly interested in mercy when it comes to us.”
“The ponies would not betray us,” Tirek answered smoothly. “In particular, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t let them. But, if by some chance they do...” he trailed off, and glanced to Midnight. “I am confident we can take them.”
“Indeed,” Chrysalis purred. “Alone, each of us nearly succeeded. Together, I expect we’ll win.”
“If it comes to that, that is,” Tirek added. “I think it’s more likely they’ll desire some kind of ‘diplomatic resolution’.” He chuckled. “That has, after all, been a desire of theirs for quite some time.”
Cozy flapped between them. “Guys!” she interjected urgently. “Grogar’s back!”
Sure enough, Grogar stared down at them ominously, his body radiating pure power. Chrysalis dropped to the ground, and prepared to strike.
“Forward! Hug the wall!” Cozy ordered. “We need to stay out of his line of sight!”
Chrysalis struggled to hear Cozy’s words over over the agonized howling of the windigos caught in Princess Cadance’s fiery aura of love magic. The blizzard that had raged throughout the battle was intensifying as the ice monsters tried desperately to quell her amorous flames, and Cozy was nearly hurled from the sky as a particularly nasty downdraft slammed into her.
A firm but gentle shove of pale mauve telekinesis stabilized her. She shot Midnight a grin, which Midnight answered with a hint of a smile.
Under her, Yona, Sandbar, and Ocellus ran through the snow, their legs pounding against the ancient, withered black rock. Gallus and Silverstream flew on either side of her, with Smolder just behind. Even with the stronger, bigger creatures all around her, Cozy kept pace, driven by her own determination. We have to succeed! All my co-conspirators are counting on me!
From somewhere high atop a pillar, a wave of blue-black magic flowed down towards her like an inky waterfall. She shrieked and swerved desperately to try to dodge, but she could already see she’d be too late.
Twin slanted planes of hateful orange magic speared out of the ground and over her and the other students, forming a sort of energy tent. The black magic slammed against it furiously, but it held. When she looked up, she met Tirek’s eyes. He flashed her a smile, and her heart soared.
Just as she felt her self-assured confidence returning, a gangly green insect charged towards her and her former nemeses, jointed talons outstretched.
Gallus grabbed her roughly. Before she could even protest, he clamped his wings in and dropped to the ground. The monster, unable to stop in time, rushed right over them.
“Sorry,” he apologized with a chuckle. “Figured you’d rather not get minced, so I decided to handle it myself.”
Cozy giggled. “Thanks, Gallus.”
She looked over at the Elements of Harmony. Grogar stared down at them with contempt. The six disharmonious jewels around him glittered with black light.
He said nothing as he channeled fresh magic. A cascade of dark, putrid colors washed downward in a deluge of power, but this magic was not directed not towards Luna or Celestia. No, the beam angled for the Bearers of Harmony themselves.
Pinkie reached deep inside her. Not to her heart, no—to her kidneys. That infinite font of laughter was still there, just waiting to be scratched. And with a huff Pinkie yanked a rank over it!
“You’re not gonna win, you big meanie!” Pinkie proclaimed. “Heehee! Oops, I mean GRRR!” Her own beam of harmony joined with those of her five best friends, together soaring up to counter Grogar’s.
Harmony and Disharmony clashed with a brilliant flash of light and a screaming crescendo like a chemical rocket. Sparks reminiscent of Twilight’s early magic, only a thousand times stronger, hurled away where the beams slightly differed. One such spark burned a hole straight through a tower without stopping. Pinkie’s eyes burned as the impact of the twin beams glowed like a miniature sun. With so much pure magic crashing against its opposite, will anything in Canterlot survive?
Stowing that thought for the moment, Pinkie glanced past the beam to the cloudy sky above, and narrowed her eyes. The Windigos were regrouping, concentrating their magic on Cadance. She was barely staying standing under a torrent of hailstones.
Pinkie growled. Okay Grogar, this has gone on long enough. It’s time to finish this!