//------------------------------// // Chapter 32: Magic // Story: The final challenge // by Dianabel //------------------------------// At the moment Grogar roared, every creature ran for the attack. As soon as Twilight tried to enlighten her horn, she realized that she forgot a tiny yet the most important detail. “Oh no!” “What is it?” asked Rarity. “I haven´t got my magic.” she put her hoof on her temple. “I forgot completely.” Grogar eavesdropped her. He smirked and blew fire at them. Rarity quickly cast a teleporting spell on herself and her friends. They reappeared in a place far enough from being hurt by Grogar but near enough to watch over the allies. “Oh dear. We were so excited about reuniting with you that we forgot about that.” Rarity said nervously. “But don´t worry! You´ll get it back!” Pinkie surrounded Twilight with her foreleg. “We all have!” “That´s true, I now realize it. But how much time did it take for you to get back your magic. What if it takes long for me?” “Welp. In that case, we´ll stay with you.” Rainbow answered confidently. “But girls! Every creature needs you.” “They need you too!” Applejack replicated. “And for that you need to get your magic back in good conditions.” “Hmm… Maybe if you tell me how you got your magic back, the process will be faster. So how did you get it back?” “I guess it´s because somepony reminded us about the importance of our elements.” Fluttershy suggested. “And we also accepted them by not giving up!” Pinkie Pie added. “In other words, you´ll just have to remember your own strength. When you do, you´ll find the magic.” Spike smiled hopefully. Those words strongly reminded Twilight of Gusty´s. Every creature had a magic inside, herself included. Yes, she might not be able to cast spells or fight physically against Grogar along her allies. But surely she had a strength inside that she could use. She just had to find which one was. She observed the scene. She saw how many creatures were fighting against Grogar. Creatures that nopony had ever imagined that they would join with them. Changelings, dragons, yaks, so many! Despite their differences they all had one thing in common: they were all here because of her and her friends. Her friendship with the girls had changed so many creatures´ lives. Not only did it save Equestria multiple times, it reunited two sisters, helped a draconequus to see the beauty of having a friend, made an unicorn give a chance to friendship again, united different creatures, and opened to new possibilities. If they were here, it was thanks to what she and her friends built. All her adventures drove to this moment. The moment their actions would be gratified. After realizing how much impact she and her friends had, she almost shed a tear. Her friend´s voices interrupted her thoughts. “There, there. No! Not there…” Spike thought aloud as he watched the dragons fighting. “Is it me or do they seem a little lost?” Rarity asked her friends. “They do. They do.” Applejack confirmed while nodding her head. Twilight´s ears perked up. “What do you mean?” she asked. “It seems like they know they have to fight, but they don´t know how exactly.” Fluttershy explained. It was then when it clicked for Twilight. “That´s it! I know how to fight back.” Her friends stared at her. “You´re not thinking on going there to fight him just like that, are you?” Spike said scared. “No. But what we need to win is leadership. And I happen to have a general idea on how to take the bell away from him.” They smirked in determination. Rarity ignited her horn and took them back to the battlefield. “Every creature, listen!” Twilight exclaimed. There was no answer. The creatures were still focused on fighting Grogar. “Guys?” Her friends make her jump away when a magical zap was coming to them. “They can´t hear you.” Applejack shook her head. “Can´t you make the Royal Canterlot voice?” Spike asked her. “I think I need magic for that.” Twilight lamented. “Wait! Try this instead.” Pinkie handed her a megaphone. “I´ll hold it for you.” Twilight smiled at her friend. She cleared her throat. “Every creature that can create a force camp do it right now! I need to tell all of you. Quickly!” This time, thanks to Pinkie´s megaphone, they heard her. All the unicorns, alicorns, changelings and Discord joined forces. It was strong enough for Grogar not to destroy it, but it needed a bit more magic to stabilize it. Twilight quickly saw who else was needed. She glared at Tirek and Chrysalis, who were avoiding eye contact with any creature. “I said, every creature.” Cozy poked both. They sighed frustrated. “Do we really have to?” Chrysalis asked Cozy complaining. “If you really want the throne, yes.” the filly whispered in her ear. Tirek and Chrysalis sighed frustrated. They ignited her horns and united their magic with the others´, finally stabilizing the force camp. “Thank you.” Since Tirek was near Discord, the two creatures avoided eye contact, not so sure what to say to each other. They hated each other but since they were working together, they couldn´t insult or try to kill each other. However, they wanted to make sure they were aware of that feeling, so they just shared glances of mistrust. “Alright. Our main goal is taking the bell away from him and in order to do that, we need to weaken him to the point he falls to the ground and loses conscience. Only then, we´ll be able to do that. You can help in any way you can, but you need to work together in groups. So, fire away all the ideas you have and I´ll lead you with them.” Every creature nodded. Grogar couldn´t hear very well what Twilight was saying, but he knew it was important and about how they´ll defeat him. He tried to break the force camp, but it was too strong. However, after some time kicking it and zapping it, he managed to break it. “Go go now!” Twilight commanded every creature. They were fast enough to avoid Grogar´s zap. Every creature separated from Twilight, except her friends. “You may go now. We´re going to make it. I promise.” They hugged Twilight before going into battle. However, a certain dragon stayed with her. “You can go to fight if you want to.” she reassured him. “N´ah… That can wait. I prefer staying with you.” he hugged her. “At least until you got you magic back. Besides I can help you guide them!” She smiled sweetly at him. Then, they observed every creature in order to supervise them. The dragons and changelings teamed up. They surrounded Grogar´s enormous head. “Ready?” Ember asked Thorax. At that moment, the changelings nodded at each other and transformed into dragons. “Ready.” he confirmed. They took a huge amount of air in and blew all the fire they could. Grogar clenched his teeth and blew fire in return. They yelped and dodged the attack. Seeing that they needed help, Twilight notified Rainbow. “Rainbow now!” “Oh yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed excitedly as she, and all the flying creatures got off the ground. She flew in front of all of them. “Remember. As hard as you can!” “Yeah!” they exclaimed. “On the count to three. One, two, THREE!” They prepared their legs for a kick and flew the fastest possible to Grogar´s belly. When they got there, they gave the strongest blow. Though it affected Grogar as they expected to, they also ended up dizzy, as the blow sent them backwards. “Urgh...” Rainbow put her hoof on her temple, as her eyes running in circles. She quickly shook her head. “Is every creature ok?” Every creature was in the same situation as her. Dizzy, their eyes going everywhere and with a huge headache. “Uh huh…” they all answered. Fortunately, they recovered quickly. “Did we hurt him?” Soarin asked. Rainbow turned around. She saw Grogar holding his belly and bending his back forwards. He breathed smoke out of his nose and rang the bell. “Scatter!” Rainbow ordered. They all flew away from Grogar´s strike. Once it was safe, they reunited again. “I think there´s our answer.” Seeing what happened to Rainbow´s group, Twilight bit her lip. “Whenever you feel like can´t anymore or your head hurts a lot, you can retreat to take a break and then fight again.” Twilight joined her hooves. “I don´t want you to get badly injured.” “N´ah. They go away fast. Right guys?” The creatures nodded their heads. “Alright, go on then. You´re doing an amazing job.” Rainbow nodded and carried on leading her group to kick Grogar´s belly. Twilight turned to Applejack and Pinkie. “They´re doing an amazing job, but I think they need help, don´t you think girls?” Pinkie started laughing maniacally. Applejack smirked. “You got it!” Applejack exclaimed excited. She turned back to her group. “Alright every creature. Let´s go!” Earth ponies, kirins, yaks, pirates followed them. Zecora, Capper and Sugar Belle also joined them. They went for the legs and the tail. Applejack and her family held a lasso. “Try to keep him as distracted as possible!” Applejack told them all. “We´ll join you once we´ve done our part.” “Cover us too please! We also have something to do here.” Pinkie said excitedly. Every creature raised their eyebrows confused. She, Cheese Sandwich, and Party Flavour were inflating balloons. Though not seeing the function of balloons in a battle, they shrugged and obeyed Pinkie. The yaks jumped over Grogar´s feet as if they were smashing logs. The earth ponies jumped and kicked Grogar´s legs, in Rockhoof´s case, he used his shovel. They were helped by Sugar Belle, who started zapping at their legs. Since she was struggling, the kirins joined her and ignited their horns, combining their magic and creating a huge blast that made Grogar roar from pain. “Didn´t know you guys had magic!” Fluttershy said surprised. “Well, if you think about it, we´re unicorns. Different, but unicorns!” the kirin replied excitedly, making the pegasus smile. “And that´s not everything!” Cheese Sandwich said, as he eavesdropped their conversation. “Wait till you see what Pinkie has on store!” Party Flavour added. “Um… The balloons?” Sugar Belle asked confused. “No! My sisters!” Pinkie turned to them. “Girls! Rock manoeuvre!” The three mares took a few steps backwards before jumping to Grogar´s legs and kicking them with great speed. Every creature had their mouths quite open. “That´s some stamina.” Meghan commented. “I know.” Mudbriar sighed dreamily as he watched Maud. “We also have more to show!” Celaeno exclaimed as she and the pirates drew their swords out. With great ease, they managed to make some cuts on his legs. “Good job!” Twilight congratulated all of them. She noticed that A.J and her family had some trouble binding Grogar´s legs, as his tail was down. Luckily, she knew who could deal with it. “Guys.” she said to the Young Six, the CMC, Gabby, Terramar and Punja. “Do you see his tail?” she pointed at it. “Let´s see if you can put it up.” “Yes professor Twilight!” Sandbar exclaimed excitedly. “Come on!” he told his friends. He and his friends ran to Grogar´s tail´s back. “Alright, so how do we do this?” Scootaloo asked. “SMASH IT!” Yona exclaimed. “That´s a great idea but I don´t think it will be enough for his tail to go up.” Apple Bloom lamented. “Luckily you have two fiery fellas by your side!” Smolder said smugly. Ocellus gasped excited. “Oh yeah!” Ocellus transformed into a dragon. “I get to be a dragon! But wait, aren´t dragons immune to fire?” “Real dragons are immune to fire. He might look like a dragon, but his body still works like a ram´s.” Smolder held her laughter. “And we could hit his back!” Silverstream surrounded her arms around Terramar, Gabby and Gallus. “Yeah! It will be so much fun!” Gabby agreed. “Fun is not the word I have in mind, but it will be very satisfying.” Terramar said. “As much as I´d love to do that, I don´t think that we´ll be able to hurt this huge dragon just like that.” Gallus pointed out. “He´d barely feel a thing.” “That´s true but I have something that might be of help to you.” Punja opened her bag and took two pictures out. “What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked as she held them. “Just a scheme of the most sensitive parts of any four-legged creature´s nervous system. With just a pinch in one of them, he will scream.” They smirked mischievously at the same time as Punja. “That´s so cool!” Scootaloo exclaimed- “Did you just make these?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I made them weeks ago. When your only chance is surviving is a picture of your studies, that´s something you can never know.” “Why is Spike in one of your pictures?” Apple Bloom asked curiously as she showed a picture of Spike´s nervous system. “Did you experiment on him?” Smolder frowned. Punja smiled nervously. “He was in great pain after he reunited with Twilight, and I did acupuncture on him to make him feel right, but I accidentally hurt him some time, so I drew it to never again make that crime.” “Oh, in that case it´s cool.” Smolder calmed down. “Uh guys… We have a goat-dragon to defeat.” Sandbar reminded them. The group approached the tail. They looked at Punja´s picture. They nodded and went to their respective places. Sandbar, Yona, the CMC and Punja on the tail´s triangle, Ocellus and Smolder a little ahead: and Silverstream, Gallus, Terramar and Gabby a little above Grogar´s tail. “I hope this works.” Gallus thought to himself. “Before we begin we should count to three so we all jump at the-” Ocellus tried to advise. “SMASH!” Yona yelled excited. Quickly, Smolder and Ocellus blew fire, the flying creatures kicked Grogar´s back and the earthly creatures jumped on the tail. Punja´s picture was accurate, as a chill ran through Grogar´s back making him paralyzed for a moment, with his tail up. Thanks to their work, the Apple Family was able to tie Grogar´s feet, making him lose some balance. “Yeehaw!” Applejack exclaimed. “Well done!” The young creatures high fived. “So how much time does that last?” Silverstream asked Punja. Suddenly, Grogar´s tail went down abruptly again. Luckily our friends were able to dodge it. However, Grogar had noticed what they had done, as he was frowning at them. “We´d better get out.” Terramar said scared. “Agreed!” Gabby said in return. Twilight gasped horrified. “He´s coming for them!” she exclaimed anxious. “No worries!” Pinkie reassured them. “Party squad coming to the rescue!” Pinkie, Cheese Sandwich and Party Flavour showed their balloons. They tied around their waists they also took out some fire extinguishers. Cozy, Tirek and Chrysalis held their laughs. “Yeah, I don´t think that will take you to-” Cozy said sassily. However, she and her mates were wrong, as the three ponies started to float. They used the fire extinguishers to approach Grogar´s head. They stared confused and surprised. “I know that this question has no answer, but how do they do it?” Tirek asked. Chrysalis shrugged. “I suppose that they have the power of weirdness.” As they flew up, Cheese looked away while blushing before he started talking to Pinkie. “You know it´s been a long time since we last saw each other, so I was thinking that once this is over, we could… I don´t know… Do something together.” “Like a date?” Pinkie raised her eyebrow playfully. “Yes…” “Then count me in!” Party came near Cheese. “See? I told you she´d accept!” Cheese smiled. Once they were at Grogar´s head´s level, they took out their weapons. While doing so, they dropped their fire extinguishers. “Hey you!” Party Flavour caught his attention. Grogar turned around angrily. “Behold…. The PARTY CANON!” Pinkie screamed at the top of her lungs. She fired confetti at Grogar´s nose. Every creature, specially Grogar, looked at her unamused. Cheese and Party looked at her a bit worried, fearing that the canon didn´t have any effect on the ram. However, the pink pony was relaxed. “Wait for it…” she elevated her hoof. Suddenly Grogar started taking short amounts of air. Seeing what was about to happen, Fluttershy flew to their help, followed by Discord. Just before Grogar sneezed fire, they were able to get the three ponies out of the way. “Nice one Flutters!” Pinkie said to her friend, making her blush. “Take us to him!” Cheese pleaded Discord. Although unsure, knowing that they were friends of Pinkie, they surely had a reason for wanting that. So, he snapped his fingers and made them appear near Grogar´s arms. “We still have something in store, you know?” Party said to Grogar. “Beware because we´re using the power of static electricity!” Cheese drew his balloon swords out. The two stallions started rubbing the balloons all around Grogar´s arms causing some painful sparks. Meanwhile, Discord, Pinkie and Fluttershy observed. “Figured you two might need this.” Discord summoned a collection of stones and handed them to Pinkie and Fluttershy. The two mares laughed mischievously. “Definitely.” Fluttershy grinned. She and Pinkie divided the amount of stones to themselves. Pinkie put them inside her canon and Fluttershy on her tail. Grogar widened his eyes when he saw the stones. “You didn´t think you freed yourself from the stones, did you?” Fluttershy said playfully. “FIRE!” Pinkie exclaimed. Pinkie pushed the button and Fluttershy threw the stones the fastest they could to Grogar´s eyes, making him close them. “Seeing Discord in the battlefield, I think it´s due time we joined.” Rarity said to Twilight. “You may.” Twilight smiled confidently. Rarity made a gesture to every unicorn and alicorn. “Let´s show these amateurs how it´s done!” Tirek smacked his fist against his hand before running into the battlefield. Cozy smiled at Chrysalis. The changeling rolled her eyes and put her on her back. “Yaay!” Cozy cheered. “Just for this time. Only because you´ll be giving me advice.” she put her hoof on Cozy´s nose as she frowned. They all started attacking Grogar´s chest and wings, the alicorns flying all around Grogar´s body, looking for spots to fire at. Discord rubbed his hands. “Now you´ll see the potential you wanted in me.” He opened flexed his fingers, however, nothing happened. “OH, COME ON! Seriously? Right now?!” Celestia and Luna heard Discord´s complain. “What is it?” Luna asked concerned. “While you still were separated, Grogar hit me in the chest and I´m having some problems with my magic. I wanted to throw a lightning at him but I guess the universe doesn´t want me to!” “Well, you can always fight physically. Or throw stones like Fluttershy!” Celestia said to calm him. She and Luna put their hooves on Discord´s shoulders. “Whatever you do, we know you´ll do it well.” Luna reassured. “Brother.” Celestia added. Discord smiled at his sisters, feeling more confident. He nodded and they went to attack Grogar. Though focused on defeating Grogar, every creature had some trouble, as Flurry´s magic was out of control. Cadence and Shining Armor were by her side, a bit nervous. Twilight bit her lip. “Can you control her more?” she asked her brother and sister in law. “We are! She´s just having some trouble.” Shining replied. “I have an idea!” Cadence exclaimed. “Flurry, whenever you see creatures and you want to target Grogar, think of them as if they were Whammy. You never hurt Whammy, do you?” Flurry shook her head. “Then, let´s start again!” Shining exclaimed. Before shooting, Flurry looked for a spot free of creatures and when he saw it, she threw magic. “Now we´re talking. Good job Flurry!” Twilight congratulated her niece. The baby laughed and her parents smiled in pride. As she threw stones to Grogar´s eyes, Fluttershy noticed Discord was hitting Grogar instead of using his magic. “Oh my, he´s still having trouble with his magic…” she thought aloud. She looked at Pinkie. “Um, Pinkie… Would you mind following without me for a few seconds. I think Discord needs my help.” “Sure thing!” Pinkie accepted as she picked Fluttershy´s stones. Fluttershy flew to Discord´s side. “You still can´t control your magic, can you?” she told him. “Nope. The magic just doesn´t appear!” Discord yelled frustrated. Fluttershy put her hoof under her chin as she thought of a solution. She widened her eyes and smiled when she came up with an idea. “After we returned to Canterlot, were you still very tired?” “Well… Yeah!” “Then maybe you need an energy rush….” Fluttershy started to blush hard. Discord raised an eyebrow confused. “And how are we going to do that?” Fluttershy grabbed Discord´s cheeks. “Just leave it to me…” she smiled shyly. Then, she gave Discord a small and quick kiss in the lips. His muscles tensed up and his ears and tail went up. His eyes widened and his pupils´ size decreased. “How are you feeling now?” Fluttershy grabbed her tail. Discord took some time to answer, as he was still in shock. “I feel…” Discord laughed as he shrinked and then stretched his body energetically. “MARVELOUS!” Out of control, fireworks started going everywhere. Fortunately, it didn´t hit any of his allies, but each of them hit Grogar. Fluttershy giggled excitedly. “I need to go with Pinkie. Good luck!” “Uhuh…” Discord replied in a dreamy tone. Despite having experienced the best moment in his life, he quickly focused on fighting Grogar, now being able to throw lightnings at him. In the meantime, Twilight gave every creature indications and cheered them up. “More to the left Moondancer! Careful with Cheese and Party Flavour, go for the chest every creature! You´re all doing a great job! Come on, you can do this! We´re close to win, I know it.” Every creature smiled at Twilight, and she smiled back. Spike hugged her foreleg. “See? You´re still having an impact. You always do.” He told her. Twilight smiled warmly at Spike and hugged him. “Thank you.” she whispered. Suddenly, her eyes went white. From the scare, Spike jumped backwards. Without controlling it, Twilight´s wings opened and elevated her from he ground as magic surrounded her. Then, there was a huge flash that caught every creature´s attention, making them stop fighting. After the flash disappeared, Twilight breathed calmly, with a serene smile on her face. When she opened her eyes and noticed she was flying, her eyes filled with tears from joy. She looked at her friends and they cheered. In fact, every creature was happy for her. “I never thought I´d say this, but I am really relieved that she got her magic.” Tirek commented. “Same for me!” Cozy elevated her hoof. Chrysalis smirked at Grogar, who was in shock. “Well, well, what you´re going to do now, huh?” she asked with a victorious smirk. Grogar frowned and roared. With his wings, he pushed every creature behind, except for Twilight and Spike, who hid behind his sister. Grogar took a step and breathed heavily as he stared at Twilight, full of fury. “You want a face to face duel?” Twilight asked. “Fine, let´s do this.” she accepted while lightning her horn. Every creature widened their eyes. Spike held her leg. “Twilight no! You said it yourself, you can´t defeat him on your own.” “I know. But I´m sure that at least I´ll take him down.” “What makes you say that?” “Look at him! Look at the way he breathes. He´s completely exhausted, he´s at the brink of passing out. He just needs a last push. You all have done your part. Now it´s my turn.” “But I haven´t fought him.” “You´ve done your part by protecting me and staying by my side.” Twilight smiled warmly. Spike smiled in return. However, he wasn´t still sure of the idea of letting Twilight fight Grogar alone. He still needed to be by her side, even though if it was farther than he wished. “I´ll be nearby if you need me, though.” “Fair enough.” She cast a spell that made him visible to her but not Grogar until she made sure he was in a safe place. Spike hid behind a rock. They smiled at each other. Then, Twilight undid the spell and both she and Grogar stared at each other, with confidence and fury in their eyes.