//------------------------------// // The Age Old Battle // Story: The Reason to Smile // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// With an explosion of magic, Twilight, All Might, Celestia, Luna and all of the Ambassadors appeared at the entrance to Canterlot Castle. When no attack came to greet them, Celestia lowered the shield that she had cast around the group. After a quick glance around, Twilight motioned for her friends to follow her and she lead them up to main entrance to the castle. There, they were stopped by the darkness that seeped through the doors, halting their advance. "So what should we do, Twilight? Blast down the door? Dig under or around? Or do we bring out the Elements and start the fireworks early?" Pinkie asked. "Hmm, I have an idea," All Might said. He walked up to the doors and held up a fist. "If Sombra is the gentleman that he claims to be, then he cannot resist answering when I knock. Let us see." Bum bumbumbum bum bum, bum- WHAM! The doors were blasted off of their hinges, slammed into All Might, and sent both tumbling through the streets. The ponies whirled around to where the doors had been in time to see a torrent of darkness begin to pour out of the castle. Twilight, Celestia and Luna grabbed the others with their magic and took to the skies, barely getting them out of the way of the sea of darkness just as a voice spoke from within. "Who is it?" "You're reckoning," Twilight spat back. "Now come out here and die like a stallion." "Alright, but you'll have to give me a moment. I'm not decent." "Tell us something we don't know," Luna smirked. "Did you know that there's a species of frog that freezes to death every night in response to the cold and then revives perfectly fine the next morning? There's something I bet you didn't know," Sombra replied. Luna rolled her eyes. "Alright, that should do it. Ready or not..." Then the whole castle exploded and the giant, smokey form of Sombra rose out of it, cackling like a lunatic as he rose higher and higher into the sky. His darkness swarmed overhead and blocked out the sun, with his twin, glowing red eyes were the only source of light in Canterlot. "Here I come." Sombra opened his maw and a blast of dark magic erupted from within. The ponies barely weaved out of the way in time to avoid the magical beam, which sailed off into the distance until it exploded a far off mountain. "Girls, time to pony up!" Twilight roared. She and the other princesses dropped the Ambassadors, who all began to glow with light as their Elements appeared on their bodies. The magic of the Elements allowed the others to take to the skies, flying alongside Twilight, who placed her own Element on her head. "Sombra, you have been a plague on this land long enough," Twilight called out to the cloud of evil. "However, as I believe in chances...and the good within everypony...I will say this only once. Stand down, return the power that you've stolen and atone for your crimes. And I will have mercy." "Mercy? From you? Please Twilight...before this battle is over, you will be the one begging for my mercy," Sombra replied. "So be it. Girls...end this." The girls gathered together, allowing the Elements power to reach it's maximum. They then turned all of that power towards Sombra...only for a blur of white to dive into the center of their group and snatch the Elements off of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. "What in the-?" Rainbow barely had time to say before the Elements power was broken. Without the Elements to support them, AJ, Rarity, and Pinkie began to fall towards the ground. Rainbow took off after Applejack, Fluttershy grabbed Pinkie's tail and Twilight grabbed Rarity with her magic, leaving Celestia and Luna to try to figure out what had just happened. "That is not possible. Nopony can just...snatch the Elements like that," Celestia said. "Their power would prevent any evil force from taking hold of them!" "But's that just the problem," Twilight said. She pointed to one of Sombra's smokey hooves, which had caught the thief. A small girl in a white outfit. "The thief isn't somepony evil. They are somepony who has been used, tossed aside and brought under the control of true evil. The Elements didn't work against her before. Why would they do so now?" "I see. But we still need the Elements to stop Sombra," Luna pointed out. The group landed in the middle of Canterlot, gazing up at the dark king who towered over them. "Twilight, do you think you can get them back from her?" "I will try. But what will you all do?" Twilight asked. "What we do best, Twilight." A pair of metal doors sailed overhead, slamming into the giant head of Sombra who roared in pain. The group turned around to see All Might standing behind them. "We will stop the villain. I leave White Noise in your hooves." "Are you sure, All Might?" Twilight asked. "You said that you wanted to show her that there was at least one hero that would be there for her." "I did and I still plan to. But she does not trust me right now. And after all she has been through, why should she?" All Might said with a biter smirk. "But all she knows about you is what Sombra told her. And I know you. I know that you are kind, caring and refuse to give up on others. If there is anypony here that can chase away her darkness...it is the Twilight." "Was that your attempt at a pun?" "Best I can do given the situation. Now go. Let us handle this false king," All Might said. Twilight looked up to see that Sombra was coming down upon them once more. She looked around at all of her friends, who all nodded at her in reply. She smirked before nodding. "Don't worry. She's as good as saved." Twilight took off just as Sombra brought down a dark hoof atop of the group. Celestia and Luna both threw up shields around the group, but All Might had moved first. He leapt into the air, cocked a fist back and gave the biggest laugh he had. "DETROIT SMASH!" With the force of a thunderclap All Might hurled his fist forward, creating a punch with such force that it obliterated the smokey form of Sombra. The giant horse of darkness was blasted into nothingness, but to All Might's surprise, the dark king wasn't there. "Looking for me?" Celestia whipped around to take a blast of dark magic to her chest that sent her rocketing through the nearest building. Luna blasted at Sombra with a beam of lunar might, but the dark king laughed as he deflected her spell with ease. A blast from his horn sent Luna to join her sister. He whipped his head upwards and blasted All Might off into the distance, before turning his attention to rest of the group. "Sombra! You're mine!" Rainbow roared as she rocketed towards the dark king. "I appreciate the offer, but you're not my type," Sombra said as he turned to shadow and allowed Rainbow to pass through. He then grabbed her with his magic and hoisted her up by her throat. "To annoying, pigheaded and just a pain in my flank. But don't worry, I'm sure there's some fool pout there desperate and crazy enough to want you." "LET HER GO!" Applejack roared as she rushed Sombra. "And here comes Ms. Desperate right now!" Sombra laughed. AJ threw out a hell of a haymaker, but with a smirk Sombra turned into a metal unknown to the ponies. AJ's hoof slammed into the side of Sombra's head with a sickening crunch, except that it was Applejack who crumpled in pain. Sombra cackled as he hurled Rainbow into Applejack, knocking both of the mares back. "And that just leaves you three," he said as he turned towards Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie. "The three who don't belong here." "We are Equestria's heroes! We will stop you!" Rarity promised. Sombra's response was to turn his right arm into a mass of muscle and punch Rarity in the face with enough force to send her spiraling backwards. He then ripped crystals out from beneath the hooves of the ponies and pelted Pinkie with a shower of crystals, burying her beneath them. Then he casually turned to face Fluttershy, who held her ground while her legs shook. "You? Heroes? Don't make me laugh," he chuckled as he walked towards the mare. "Twilight has magical powers that could potential match me. Rainbow Dash is the fastest mare in the world. Even that hick Applejack has some strength and a good head on her shoulders. But the rest of you? One of you is a dress maker that cries if she has a wrinkle. One is a wack job that has ingested enough sweets to be in a permanent sugar high. And then there's you. The coward. The pacifist. The weakest of the bunch. What can you do to me?" "Nothing. I can't do anything to you. You're right, I'm not like the rest. I'm not magical gifted, super fast or even strong. I'm just me," Fluttershy replied. And then she smiled. "But I can buy time. And keep you distracted just long enough." Sombra had just enough time to register what she meant before a pair of hooves slammed themselves into the side of his head. He skidded backwards and snapped his head to the side to see Applejack was back up. He prepared a spell for her, only for a blur of rainbow to assault him on all sides, not giving him a moment to cast his spell. Crystals erupted around his hooves and wrapped themselves up his body, encasing him in their light. And even as he tried to use his quirks to begin to grow larger, a giant wad of taffy slammed down atop of him. "Good thing he likes to talk," Fluttershy said as she gazed down at the taffy that had covered Sombra. Then a massive explosion of darkness went off, pushing the ponies back as Sombra rose back up. He stood up, cracked his neck, and then turned to face the ponies with a smile on his face. "Well look at that, you're actually putting up a fight. How cute. To bad it doesn't mean anything." "Talk all you want. You're still going down," Rainbow spat. "You still don't get it. Everything I just did to you was with my own power...mostly...just to show that even without the humans quirks I am still more than a match for all of you," Sombra cackled. Then he darkly smiled at the group. "But now I will crush you so thoroughly that future foals will cry themselves to sleep when they think about your failure." "Your quirks won't help you. We can match your strength," Applejack began. "Ruin any gem you summon," Rarity continued. "And even break through your armor eventually," Rainbow finished. "Perhaps..." Sombra chuckled. "But tell me, my little idiots, do you have an answer to me...stopping time?!" The ponies braced themselves as Sombra threw back his arms...only for nothing to happen. He looked down at himself after trying again, a look of confusion on his face. "Huh, wonder what that means? Did the old man actually kick the bucket?" "It means you've lost." Sombra whipped around to see Twilight floating above him, with White Noise sitting on her back while she held the Elements in her hooves. Sombra's jaw went slack as he backed up, shaking his head. "White Noise...what is the meaning of this?!" "It seems that she has finally realized what we have known all along. You're evil. And you must be stopped," Twilight said. She teleported next to her friends and tossed their Elements back to them. With the six Elements gathered together once more, the full power of the Elements shined at its brightest. White Noise leapt off of Twilight's back as the six floated into the sky once more, leaving Sombra to look up at them in terror. "I gave you one chance to end this peacefully, Sombra. You refused. Which means that there is only one way that this ends for you. By being your end," Twilight roared. "Please, if you think that I am going to stand here and just take your power-" Sombra never got the chance to finish his sentence, for in the next moment a pair of massive arms wrapped themselves around Sombra and hoisted him into the air. Sombra glanced over his shoulder to see the smiling face of All Might. "You? Please, if you think your might can hold me..." Sombra tried to turn into his smokey form, but nothing happened. He tried to teleport out, but again, nothing happened. He then looked down at All Might's arms to see he was wearing black gauntlets, made of a material Sombra knew all too well. "Negastone," he whispered. "We made these after we borrowed some Negastone from the golems that you sent after us when we first got here!" All Might laughed. "They work wonders at keeping a slippery villain in place." "Release me!" "Now why would I do that?" All Might said. "The fireworks are about to start." "Fool! You will be caught in the Elements power as well!" Sombra roared. "HAHAHA! Of course I will. But I have nothing to fear," All Might laughed. Then he looked down at Sombra with a dark smile on his face. "But maybe you do. Because you are here." Sombra's eyes went wide as he turned to face the full might of the Elements, glaring at Twilight as she narrowed her eyes at him. Then, with a roar that could be heard all across Equestria, Twilight and her friends unleashed all of their power into Sombra, the full power of the Elements. Sombra watched the approaching wave of light come with absolute terror in his eyes...before a smile once more crossed his face. "Heroes and idiots. So predictable." The Elements slammed into their target...only for the ponies and All Might to gasp as when they saw who had stepped in their way. White Noise had moved in front of Sombra, taking on the full power of the Elements herself. She let out a scream as the Elements power coursed into her, cracks forming in her body. But then her screaming stopped and the Elements light began to waver...before Twilight and her friends started to scream as the magic was siphoned from the Elements. "What...what did you do?" All Might asked. He dropped Sombra and tried to run to the ponies, but he was stopped when dark magic wrapped itself around his limbs. All Might roared as he strained against the bonds, but the darkness was strong. And growing stronger by the second. "I didn't do anything," Sombra laughed. "It was all her. That little girl has quite the amazing quirk. Able to absorb any form of energy, even magic...with no limit. Even something as powerful as the Elements." And as All Might watched, Sombra's words came true. The Elements light completely died and Twilight and her friends fell to the ground, their now dull Elements falling from their bodies and breaking against the ground. Twilight slowly raised her head as her friends struggled to rise and gazed at White Noise, who was now glowing like the Elements. "H-how?" Twilight weakly asked. Sombra let out a dark laugh as he walked over next to White Noise, who was shaking as if she was caught in a storm. "That's not possible...how did you...?" "It is amazing how easily I was able to pull this off. I could have easily killed you, but the Elements always have a nasty habit of stopping a villain right when they've won. I need to be rid of the Elements long enough to finish all of you off," Sombra laughed. "So I needed somepony who could either nullify or absorb their power. And then the gods dumped her right on my doorstep. So now their power belongs to me. The ponies who have bothered me for so long lay defeated at my hooves. And even another worlds hero is now bound before me. The princesses are done, Canterlot is in my hooves...do you know what this means, Twilight?" "I have finally WON!"