//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eleven: The Battle of Tambelon 
// Story: The End of All Things 
// by Boltstrike58 
//------------------------------//

    	Tirek was the fastest of Grogar's group, charging ahead on all four hooves towards the multi-species crowd. He charged his magic between his massive horns, before firing his bright orange blast straight into the center of the crowd, looking to take out as many as possible with one shot. However, they easily saw his shot coming and spread apart, allowing the beam to hit the ground harmlessly. 

    	The earth ponies and unicorns continued their charge towards the massive centaur, with the unicorns charging up their horns to take shots at him. Tirek grunted as he shielded his face with one hand. If he could absorb the magic of these ponies, his problem would be solved, but it took time for him to take in magic completely, and these ponies certainly weren't going to just stand there while he did so. Perhaps if he immobilized them—

    That train of thought came to a screeching halt, as Flash Magnus and Somnambula flew towards his face. Somnambula took the lead, zipping around his head like an annoying little insect, drawing his fire. Unfortunately for Tirek, he realized too late that this was what they'd wanted, as Flash slammed his shield right between Tirek's horns. Tirek's head rang like a bell, and he swore he could feel his brain rattling around inside his skull.

    "Get him, now!" Flash Magnus called out.

    The ponies obeyed without question. Big Mac charged towards Tirek's legs, before turning around and bucking one of them, knocking the centaur off balance. This left him wide open for the Wonderbolts to fly directly at him, smacking him across the cheek with roundhouse punches. Other pegasi followed before Tirek could defend himself. 

    "That's for taking my magic away, you meanie!" shouted Derpy, as she drove a descending kick into Tirek's right eye.

    Grunting, Tirek swatted at the pegasi swarming around his head, before charging up the magic between his horns again. However, instead of firing a continuous beam as usual, he focused it into a sphere of pure power, then launched it skyward. The ball would soon come down, and bring with it an explosion of force. Tirek planned to cast a shield around himself, and the blast would take out all his opponents with one shot. The unicorns in the crowd seemed to have different ideas, however.

    "Stop that attack!" yelled Moondancer. 

    Her horn flared, and she fired her magic at the sphere as it plummeted. Lyra, Fancy Pants, Fleur, Vinyl, and Twilight's parents all joined in, along with many other unicorns. Soon, their combined magic beams were succeeding in pushing the ball back up. Unfortunately for them, that suited Tirek just fine, as he prepared another attack of his own and took aim at the unicorns.

    Then a heavy object slammed into his abs. Tirek grunted as the air was driven from his lungs and he was forced onto his rear end. Grunting, he got back on his hooves and looked down, discovering that he'd been interrupted by Yona charging and jumping up to ram her head into him.

    "Red centaur look strong!" the yak shouted. "But yaks strongest there is!"

    Then she charged forward again, this time followed by a large group of more yaks, including Prince Rutherford. As Yona leapt, Tirek caught her in his telekinesis before she could bash him again. More yaks jumped, and Tirek snagged them one by one. But there were just too many of them, and it wasn't long before some got past his grip. Prince Rutherford was the first, jumping into the air and nailing Tirek directly between the eyes.

    The massive centaur roared with pain, clutching at his own skull, and unintentionally dropped all the yaks he'd been holding. Free, the horned beasts charged once more, ramming into Tirek's legs and knocking him off his hooves. As Tirek opened his eyes, he saw that the unicorn squad had succeeded in blasting his energy sphere away, pushing up out of the planet's atmosphere. With that distraction gone, they were once again free to take shots at him.

    Filled with fury, Tirek charged magic between his horns and fired, blasting the ground in front of him and forcing every creature attacking him to scurry backwards. Then he reached down with one hand and seized Yona, pulling her up until she was face-to-face with him.

    "You find this amusing?!" he snarled, squeezing his fingers around the yak. She yelped in pain, though Tirek stopped before he broke any bones. He didn't want to finish her just yet.

    "Yona...getting the sense that...red centaur angry..." she wheezed, clearly having trouble talking.

    Tirek grinned wickedly. "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll feel much better after I drain you." He looked at the ponies and yaks, who were no longer attacking, clearly afraid of hitting Yona. "If any of you so much as take a step towards me, I'll crush her into paste!"

    Satisfied that he wouldn't be interrupted, Tirek opened his mouth, prepared to begin draining Yona's magic, only for a sudden blur to fly into his face, smacking his cheek. He grunted, looking for the source before the blur hit him again. This time, he felt his grip weaken, and Yoan pushed with her own hooves, prying his fingers apart and allowing her to fall safely to the ground. Tirek was only allowed to feel the frustration for a moment before the object collided with his face a third time. Once his vision settled, he looked up to find the source of his new troubles: a turquoise pegasus with a golden mane.

    "Sorry, pal," sneered Lightning Dust. "Looks like you'll have to go hungry!"



    Chrysalis had thought that her subjects agreeing to that nonsense about "sharing love" and rejecting her as their queen was the most infuriating thing she'd ever experienced. Now, as she faced Thorax, Pharynx, Ocellus, and the buzzing swarm of changelings that stared her down, she could say she'd been wrong.

    "How dare you stand against me!" she screeched, firing a laser from her horn. Thorax jumped into the air to dodge it. "If my plan had succeeded, the hive would've had all the love we'd ever needed to feast on! We could've been set for life! And you reject me for all this vile friendship?!"

    "We don't need to steal love!" Thorax shouted back, firing his own beam, which Chrysalis nimbly dodged. "We never needed to! And now, the entire hive isn't starving constantly anymore! Why can't you accept that your ways were wrong?!"

    "I am the queen!" Chrysalis hissed. "You have no right to question my judgement!"

    She would've continued, had not a blast of turquoise magic to the stomach cut her off. However, this attack didn't push her back, but encased her in a large piece of turquoise crystal, immobilizing her.

    "That's not how a leader acts," said the culprit behind the attack, Starlight Glimmer. "That's how a tyrant acts. A leader accepts new information that proves their methods are wrong when they receive it."

    "She's right," chimed in Cadence, as she trotted up behind Starlight. "You're ignoring reality, Chrysalis! If you don't stop doing this, you'll never be accepted by any creature!"

    "Heck, I'd be willing to let you be queen again!" added Thorax. "You know how hard being a ruler is! We'd all accept you back!"

    Chrysalis couldn't move inside Starlight's crystal prison. She couldn't even blink. But she could hear perfectly fine, and the things she was hearing only made her angry. Her horn lit up, and Starlight, Cadence, and Thorax quickly took a few steps back as she suddenly transformed, her prison shattering into pieces from her expanding form. In the place of the changeling queen, there now stood a giant ursa minor.

    "I would rather die that accept your idiotic choices!" screamed Chrysalis, towering over them. "I will have my revenge on you, Starlight Glimmer! And I will crush all who dare to oppose me!"

    With those words, she brought down her enormous paw, aiming to crush the three of them with one blow. However, Starlight was quick enough to grab Cadence and Thorax and teleport away, leaving Chrysalis to smash nothing. Chrysalis swiveled her massive bear's head from side to side, looking for them. 

    "Oh, CHRISSY!" came Starlight's voice. 

    Chrysalis spun around, ready to destroy the unicorn who'd taken everything from her. However, she found herself facing about a dozen Starlight Glimmers, each of them wearing a very annoying grin that made her blood boil. She knew exactly what was going on, of course. Her own changelings were using their magic against her.

    "Try to find the real me!" sang the Starlights, dancing around and waving their forelegs at her. 

    Chrysalis grunted and slashed at the Starlights with her claws, leaving deep lacerations in the earth. However, all the unicorns simply leaped upwards and changed back into their normal forms, buzzing away. None of them had been the real Starlight.

    A short distance behind her, Pharynx and Thorax had gathered another large battalion of changelings.

    "Well, we knew her coming over to our side was a long shot," Pharynx said with a shrug. "Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way. Everyone get ready!"

    Thorax swallowed, clearly uncomfortable with this, but he followed his brother, preparing his magic alongside the others. In a few seconds, the changelings had been replaced with a large pack of timber wolves, all of whom charged, baring their fangs. Chrysalis barely had time to turn around before the wooden beasts began to leap, latching onto her fur and sinking their teeth deep into her flesh.

    Chrysalis released a pained shriek, attempting to swat the timber wolves off her body. She did manage to knock off a few, but they were quickly replaced by more. While that was going on, she didn't notice Ocellus flying above her head. The small changeling made sure she was directly above Chrysalis, then shifted her form, becoming a large bugbear. Ocellus then flew down and latched onto Chrysalis' head, wrapping her arms around it and covering the eyes. Then she drove her stinger directly between Chrysalis' shoulders.

    Blinded and in pain from every section of her body, Chrysalis did the only thing she could think of and shifted back into her normal form. This left Ocellus, Pharynx, Thorax and the others grabbing onto nothing, and they plummeted to the ground. Chrysalis herself managed to avoid doing so by buzzing her wings, though her wounds made it more difficult. Her exoskeleton was dripping with green blood from dozens of tiny wounds, and she didn't know how much longer she could keep fighting like this.

    Then she heard more hoofsteps, and saw Starlight and Cadence walking up to her. It was clear that this was the real Starlight.

    "There's still time, you know," Starlight insisted. "It's not too late. You can—"

    With a furious roar, Chrysalis transformed into a chimera and lunged at Starlight, who barely dodged her claws, as well as the serpent's head. 

    "Have it your way, then," Starlight replied. Her and Cadence both fired their magic beams.



    Sombra had been annoyed when he'd been forced to fight Pinkie Pie. After all, that pony had a way of getting under his skin. This, however, was on an entirely different level.

    The dark king had been attempting to finish off Trixie, while the unicorn used her smoke bombs combined with illusory projections of herself to trick him. That fight had been interrupted by the arrival of Ember and her squad of dragons, including Smolder and Garble. Now, Sombra was battling Trixie, the dragons, Shining Armor, and Princess Luna, all at once. He may have been confident in his abilities, but this was beginning to irritate him.

    With a pulse of his horn, Sombra caused a line of crystals to erupt from the ground, aiming to stab Luna before she could fly away. Just before the final crystal emerged, Shining Armor cast his shield spell, encasing Luna in a bright magenta dome, upon which the crystal shattered. With Sombra's attention taken up, Trixie took the opportunity to jump onto his back and forcefully shove a smoke bomb into his mouth. Sombra's teeth instinctively bit down on the bomb, and as the blue gas filled his lungs, he bent down, descending into a coughing fit.

    "My turn!" yelled Smolder, as she flew down towards Sombra, beating her wings furiously. She collided with Sombra's side, striking his ribs with her shoulder. This sent the unicorn rolling over sideways, kicking up dirt and grass as he went. Ember went in for the knockout, aiming to smash Sombra over the head with the Bloodstone Scepter, but just as she brought it down, he shifted into his shadow form, allowing the scepter to pass through a hole in his body.

    "I am the king!" Sombra hissed. "I shall strike you down with all my power!"

    His horn reappeared on his amorphous body, creating a number of dagger-sharp crystals in the air. With another magical pulse, he started pitching the crystals at his enemies, aiming to impale them.

    The dragons were more than prepared for his clumsy assault, however. They spat streams of hot flame all over the crystals, melting them into puddles before they could be harmed. Shining Armor merely conjured a shield around his body to protect himself, as did Luna. Trixie wasn't as adept at shield spells, but she managed to protect herself just fine by zapping the crystals with her magic, turning them into teacups. 

    "Hah! And Starlight said I overuse that spell!" she laughed.

    Luna and Shining ignored the showmare's boasting, focusing their magical beams onto Sombra's shadowy body. Of course, he merely altered his shape to dodge them, and returned fire, but with his attention elsewhere, he failed to see Garble sneak up behind him and belch more flames onto the back of his head. 

    Sombra screamed and thrashed in place, the fire smoldering on his head and spreading across his body. He shifted back into his normal, pony form and rolled across the ground, smothering the fires into submission. But before he could get to his hooves, Luna blasted him in the side, and Trixie tossed a long line of handkerchiefs in a lasso over his legs, tying him up. Sombra was left lying on his back, with all four legs tied together, and a hole burned into his royal cape. Luna, Shining Armor, and Ember all approached him. They did not look happy.

    "King Sombra," Luna announced, a bit of the Royal Canterlot Voice slipping in, "you are a disgrace to ponykind. You are a cruel and wicked creature, causing despair and misfortune among others."

    "I'm barely even a pony anymore, you fool," Sombra spat.

    "Be that as it may," Luna continued, "you still were a unicorn once. And you inflicted that terrible curse on the Crystal Empire. Now, you've joined forces with the beast known as Grogar, and participated in the destruction of the Tree of Harmony. You are a monster of the highest caliber. And you must be punished for your crimes."

    "Surrender, and help us take down Grogar," Shining Armor added, "and we'll show you mercy. More mercy than you ever showed anypony, anyway."

    "Mercy?!" Sombra snarled. "By the time we are finished, you will be the ones begging for mercy!" With that, he assumed his shadow form once more, snapping Trixie's improvised rope and forcing everypony back.

    "Fool," Luna whispered.



    As his lightning drove away the most recent squad of ponies that had decided to attack him, the Storm King dropped to the ground, taking a few very deep breaths to try and regain some stamina. He'd been having a difficult time during this battle, even with the powers Grogar had granted him. The hippogriffs weren't happy about his previous attack on their kingdom, and had decided to use this opportunity to try and extract some revenge. Queen Novo had led a furious attack on him, and he'd tried blasting the flying creatures out of the air, but they just kept coming. Plus, using his lighting tended to tire him out for reasons he probably wouldn't understand. It was times like this that he wished he still had the Staff of Sacanas.

    "Somebody getting worn down?" came an irritating voice. The Storm King turned, finding himself facing Tempest, Grubber, Captain Celaeno, Capper, Rockhoof, and Mage Meadowbrook. 

    "You just can't let a guy have his fun, can you?" he demanded, allowing his lightning to spark and travel down his arms to his hands. "You gotta ruin everything."

    "After what you did to us? To all those lands you conquered?" Celaeno snapped back. "You got off easy before, being turned to stone and shattered. This time, we'll make sure you get the proper punishment."

    The Storm King didn't bother to reply, instead thrusting his fist at his enemies and sending a giant bolt of lightning at them. Every creature quickly moved to the side, allowing the bolt to pass through the crowd. Tempest retaliated with a burst of electricity from her own horn, forcing the Storm King to raise an electric shield to counter. As he was doing so, Capper, scurrying on all four paws, got behind him and leaped onto his back, covering his eyes with both hands.

    "Who wants first dibs?!" he called out.

    "Me!" yelled Tempest, springing on her hooves and diving towards the thrashing Storm King. She punched his stomach with one of her forehooves, driving the air from his body. With a roar, he threw out his arms, spraying electricity around him. Tempest leaped backwards to avoid the attack, while the Storm King seized Capper's paw and yanked, pulling the Abyssinian overhead and smashing him back first into the ground.

    "I'm gettin' real sick of all this crap!" snarled the king, raising both hands and forming balls of lightning in each one. Captain Celaeno and Tempest grunted, wanting to help Capper, but knowing that if they got too close, they'd simply be blasted away.

    That fear held no sway over Rockhoof.

    The massive earth pony simply chucked his shovel like a javelin, just as the Storm King fired. The metal in the shovel attracted the electricity, forcing the shot to curve around and follow it. The Storm King groaned in frustration, before Rockhoof suddenly charged forward and rammed into the creature with his shoulder. At the same time, Grubber curled into a ball and rolled forward, crashing into the Storm King's leg. The white conqueror was sent tumbling to the ground with a painful sounding thump.

    The Storm King tasted blood in his mouth, and he swore he felt another tooth get knocked loose. Looking up, he saw that his group of attackers was advancing on him again, and even worse, the hippogriffs were coming back. There were enemies on all sides, and the situation looked hopeless. Fortunately for him, the Storm King didn't get to be a conqueror without skills, and he knew there were unique ways for him to use his new powers.

    He jumped to his feet again, then pointed his index fingers downwards. The electricity crackled, before shooting out in a pair of twin blasts. The blasts then pushed the Storm King into the air, before any of his enemies could reach him. Once he'd reached the apex, the Storm King redirected one of his hands to point at the hippogriffs, and began firing pointed lightning bolts at them. 

    "EVASIVE MANEUVERS!" shouted Queen Novo. 

    Her squadron immediately obeyed her orders, spreading outwards to avoid the attack. They scattered, forcing the Storm King to target them individually, which was far more difficult. Silverstream swooped past his bolts and zipped up to where he was floating, aiming a swipe of her talons at his chest. However, he leaned back at the last second, meaning she only grazed him, and sliced off some of his chest armor.

    The force of the blow did manage to knock him backwards, forcing him to drop out of the air. Then he fired his lightning behind him, cushioning his fall just enough to prevent injury. Just as he landed, Captain Celaeno charged at him, aiming a slash at his leg with her saber. Storm King actually managed to catch the blade with his hand, and though it cut into his skin, he shrugged it off and sent a bolt of electricity through the blade, zapping the parrot with a painful shock.

    "You leave her alone!" shouted Meadowbrook, reaching into her saddlebags. She produced a small potion vial and chucked it at the Storm King. It shattered at his feet, releasing a cloud of smoke that blinded him, forcing him to release his grip on Celaeno. With the Storm King distracted, Meadowbrook released a swarm of flash bees, then pulled her mask on, leaving the bees with no other target but the Storm King. 

    The bees began stinging the king furiously, zapping him with their tiny bolts. The Storm King screamed in agony, swatting at the bees with both hands, his fingers leaving trails of sparks in the air as they went. Tempest and the others couldn't stop themselves from laughing as they watched him frantically try to get away.

    "I know we're in the middle of a war zone, but seeing him get his comeuppance is the funniest thing I've seen all week!" commented Grubber.

    "I agree," said Tempest, "but we gotta get back to business!"

    She powered up her broken stump of a horn and launched an electrical charge towards the Storm King, blasting him off his feet once more. The flash bees thankfully had the sense to fly away from him before the attack hit, then flew back to continue stinging him.



    Cozy Glow wasn't sure what she was supposed to do in the middle of this insane battle. She was the member of Grogar's legion least suited to be a warrior, even with the increased powers Grogar had given her, but those had been enough for her to deal with Fluttershy and her friends. But she was not equipped to deal with an entire army of angry ponies and other creatures. She was currently flying above the battlefield, dodging fireballs being chucked at her by the niriks.

    "Keep going, everyone!" yelled Autumn Blaze, forming another fireball in her hoof. "We've got to bring her down!"

    Cozy Glow was getting just as angry as the kirin had to be to transform into their fiery forms. She was returning fire with her horn, but the niriks were blocking her beams with fire, and they showed no signs of slowing down. If she was going to make it out of this fight, she needed to think of something quickly, or else—

    Cozy's train of thought came to an abrupt end, as a shape tackled her out of the air. The two tumbled downwards, slammed into the grass, and rolled a short distance, before coming to a stop, with Cozy's assailant standing over her. She looked up, discovering that she'd been attacked by Sandbar, that annoying pony who'd helped destroy her plans the first time.

    "You..." she hissed in a low whisper.

    "Why are you siding with Grogar, Cozy Glow?" Sandbar snapped, having not heard her. "You're a pony! You know he's going to wipe out all ponies if he can! This is even worse than your whole ‘draining all magic from Equestria’ scheme!"

    Cozy prepared to blast him with her horn just to shut him up, but a thumping to her side drew her attention. She discovered that Autumn Blaze and the other kirin, having changed back into their normal forms, were advancing on her as well. If she attacked Sandbar, she'd get pummeled by more fireballs than she could possibly dodge. Thus, she had to think of some other way to get out of this, and an idea came to her immediately: manipulation, her old standard.

    "Oh, golly, Sandbar," she whimpered, dialing up the pitch of her voice. She made her lower lip quiver, and her eyes began to water on cue. "I...I don't know what I was thinking. Grogar pulled me out of Tartarus, and he forced me to join up with him! I didn't know what to do..."

    So far, so good. The kirin seemed to be buying her act at least a little, judging by the uncertain looks on their faces. She just needed another few seconds, then she'd blast them. Sandbar, however, put that plan to rest as he trotted up to Cozy, reared back, and punched her in the face.

    "Don't let her fool you," he told the kirin. He turned back to Cozy. "Did you really think I'd fall for that after what you did? After you tried to have all the ponies in the school gang up on my friends and I? Plus, Grogar wouldn't have saved you from Tartarus if you weren't willing to work for him. It's like Professor Applejack said. You're rotten to the core."

    Cozy angrily rubbed the part of her jaw where he'd struck her. There were involuntary tears of pain threatening to drip from her eyes now, but she wouldn't show that weakness in front of her enemies.

    "You say I'm a monster?" she snarled. With a flap of her wings, she flew into the air. "Then I'll show you a monster!"

    She fired the most powerful beam she could muster directly at Sandbar, aiming to incinerate him. Even with his earth pony physique, he wouldn't be able to dodge in time. Unfortunately for her, life decided to throw another monkey wrench into her plans, this time taking the form of Autumn Blaze lighting up her horn and yanking Sandbar out of the way.

    "You know what, little filly?" she growled. With a quick flash of fire, she morphed back into a nirik. "You're one bad pony!"

    She took a deep breath, then blew towards Cozy, sending a stream of purple fire in her direction. Cozy Glow was forced to forget her rage and fly upwards to get away.  She returned fire with her own horn, only for a squad of niriks to protect Autumn Blaze.



    Princess Celestia had wanted to help Twilight battle Grogar again, but the two had become separated as the battle began. She decided she could be more helpful by leading her ponies to battle the Knights of Tambelon, and keep those monsters from helping Grogar's lieutenants. The knights weren't exactly mindless beasts, but they were vicious nonetheless. Celestia wasn't keen on any of them getting to her little ponies, or any of the other creatures. 

    She fired up her horn, creating a brilliant golden glow. She fired a beam as bright and brilliant as the sun itself, which expanded outwards into a fiery wall of destruction. The Knights of Tambelon she managed to hit actually dissolved into wisps of black smoke as the magic touched them. Celestia realized they were simply creations of Grogar's dark magic, meaning they weren't even technically alive. That suited her just fine, because it meant she could go all out.

    With a flap of her enormous wings, Celestia descended to the ground, landing on all four hooves with a powerful thump, scattering more of the knights in the process. Her horn fired up again, creating a long, crescent-shaped blade around the appendage. She swiped with the weapon, bisecting several knights before they knew what hit them. A hooful of the braver monsters tried to stab at her flanks with their spears, but Celestia bucked with her back legs, knocking them aside.

    "That's how you do it, Princess!" called Cheese Sandwich. Celestia looked over, discovering that Cheese and Party Favor had somehow created a massive, four-wheeled vehicle out of balloons, and were currently driving through the crowds of knights. Cheese had apparently borrowed some of Pinkie Pie's party cannons, and both stallions were blasting away with them, disintegrating knights left and right.

    Celestia smiled. As much as she wanted to protect her little ponies, and shield them from having to deal with any dangers whatsoever, she knew they were more capable than that. It made her heart soar with pride to see them standing up to Grogar's menace. She looked all around her, seeing Bulk Biceps smashing through a group of knights with his shoulder, Daring Do and Zephyr Breeze leading a squad of pegasi to drop heavy objects on the knights from high above, and Zecora bombarding the knights with exploding potions. 

    "Celestia!" called out a familiar voice. Celestia blasted away another knight, and turned around. She discovered Star Swirl, Mistmane, and Stygian standing in the middle of a crowd of knights, fighting them off with their own magical beams. Star Swirl beckoned Celestia with one hoof, and she hurriedly flew over to help them.

    "Here we go again, eh?" Mistmane asked, as she telekinetically lifted another knight, and used it as a flail to smack others away. "I don't think we've had this much fun since we battled the sirens. It seems appropriate, since they were probably Grogar's creations."

    "I'm glad to finally be part of the action for once," added Celestia. "We can't let Twilight and the others have all the fun, can we?"
    "But do we really have a chance?" asked Stygian. "Even with all this backup, the knights keep coming."

    He pointed with one hoof towards the swirling vortex above Tambelon Castle. Indeed, as the ponies and various other creatures finished off more and more of the knights, more tendrils of darkness descended, forming new knights to replace those defeated. The rate of knights being eliminated was higher than that of knights being summoned, but the battle was far from won.

    "We have to keep going," said Celestia. "Even if we fall, at least we'll fall knowing we gave Grogar the strongest resistance we possibly could."

    "You're right," agreed Star Swirl. "We cannot let that monster destroy Equestria. At least not without a fight."

    A loud battle horn drew the ponies' attention once more, forcing them to turn and discover another squadron of Tambelon Knights coming at them with their axes and swords raised. The three unicorns and one alicorn all charged their horns up, and prepared to fire once more. Before they could, however, shadows passed over them. Looking up, they saw a flock of griffons flying towards the newly summoned knights, Gallus and Gilda taking the lead.

    "Take 'em down!" Gilda screeched, priming her talons.

    The other griffons obeyed, swooping downwards to meet the charging knights. Gallus, Gilda, and Gabby were the first to meet their enemies, aiming slashes of their talons at gaps in the armor, mainly around the joints. They severed off the limbs of the knights, knocking them to the ground and forcing them to drop their weapons. 

    "Keep going!" Gilda yelled to Celestia's group, as she slashed the neck of another knight. "We've gotta lower their numbers!"

    Celestia gave a brief nod, before firing up her magic once more. The knights were formidable, but they weren't a limitless resource. At least, she hoped they weren't.



    Twilight's frustration was growing by the second as she, along with her five best friends and her number one assistant, battled Grogar again. These were the best odds against the ram they'd had so far, but even with that advantage, Grogar's magic seemed to be virtually limitless. He was deflecting many of the attacks they threw at him, and the damage they did get in seemed to be doing little to slow him down. The tide of the battle overall was turning in their favor, but it wouldn't mean anything if they couldn't take down the leader of the enemy.

    Twilight fired a continuous beam of pure magic towards Grogar, who easily blocked it with a barrier. However, what he didn't realize was that it was a distraction, as Rarity levitated Spike up behind him. The tiny dragon took a deep breath, before releasing a gush of emerald flame towards Grogar's rear. The ram gave a small grunt as the fire singed his hair, but he lit up his horns and levitated himself away before they could envelop him.

    "You honestly believe you and your friends are a match for me, Princess Twilight?!" he snarled. "Amusing. Crushing your pitiful hopes will give me great pleasure."

    "We're not going down to some overrated punk like you!" Rainbow snapped back in defiance. "You're going down today, Grogar! You can't beat all of Equestria!" She zoomed towards him, beating her wings furiously. Twilight and Rarity combined their magical telekinesis to try and pin Grogar down, but the ram lit up his own horns, and blasted them away. Then he generated a long arm from the studs on his collar, and snatched Rainbow out of the air. 

    "Oh, but I can," he cackled, pulling the pegasus towards him. "I planned to do so, and all this means is I get to finish off all these pathetic species at once!"

    "Leave her alone, you jerk!" yelled Pinkie Pie, throwing a pie towards Grogar's face. It splattered coconut cream against his horns and into his eyes, blinding him and forcing him to release Rainbow. Just as Grogar reached up with one leg to wipe the cream out of his eyes, Pinkie began spinning her forelegs, rapidly chucking cupcakes with ludicrous amounts of frosting at him, leaving him coated in sugary delights. 

    "Fly, my pretties!" yelled Fluttershy, thrusting her hoof at Grogar. 

    Her swarm of trained geese flew at Grogar, with Angel riding on one of their backs. They flew into the ram, attracted to the frosting, and began pecking and biting at his skin, creating many small cuts. While he swatted away at them, Applejack snuck up behind him, then suddenly spun around and bucked him in the rear. Grogar pitched forward and slammed face-first into the dirt, his horns digging long trenches in the ground. 

    "Everyone get him!" yelled Twilight. She flew towards the fallen Grogar, her horn blaring with power, the other six on her tail.

    But before they reached him, Grogar's eyes snapped open. He raised one hoof and stomped the earth. From the impact point, a shockwave of dark magic spread outwards in a dome shape, which slammed into all six ponies and Spike. The group was sent tumbling around and landed on their backs, creating pony-shaped implants in the dirt.

    "Ooooow..." groaned Pinkie Pie, struggling to lift her head.

    Twilight whimpered in pain and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her wings throbbing. If Grogar had hit her a little harder, she probably would've broken them. But she fought against the agony to get up anyway, because she could hear Grogar's hoofsteps approaching. She fired up her horn again, preparing to teleport, but a painful punch to her face interrupted her. Grogar grabbed her by the chin and pulled her up to face him.

    "You, Twilight Sparkle, are less than nothing to me. I'm going to destroy everything you care about, and there is no way you can prevent it. I will—"

    A pony-sized boulder flew past Twilight's head and smacked Grogar directly between the eyes. Twilight fell out of his grip and landed on her hooves. She'd noticed the boulder had been enveloped in a familiar, blue magic aura, and she turned towards the likely source. 

    Rarity panted as the magical glow faded from her horn. Her legs wobbled, and her eyes were sunken in ever so slightly. Twilight felt a stab of guilt, as Rarity wasn't the most magically adept unicorn, meaning that lifting that rock must've been quite a strain on her. Twilight stretched out her wings, ignoring the ache, and flew over to her.

    "You okay?" she asked, placing a hoof on Rarity's back.

    "I'm fine, darling," insisted the fashionista. "We're fighting for the fate of all Equestria! I cannot give anything less than my all!"

    Twilight swallowed sadly, but there really was no time to discuss it. Grogar roared with fury as he rose to his hooves once more. His nose was bleeding from the previous blow, and Twilight could've sworn he'd lost a tooth. His horns ignited, and he fired twin blasts of black magic at Twilight and Rarity. Thinking fast, Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her friend and flew away from the attack.

    Grogar lifted his head to fire at the moving target, but Applejack came to the rescue with her lasso. The rope sailed through the air and wrapped around Grogar's head. Applejack and Rainbow Dash yanked backwards, trying to pull Grogar onto his back, but the ram was far stronger than they suspected. He activated his own telekinesis and pulled on the rope, causing Applejack and Rainbow to fly off their hooves. They crashed into the earth, with Rainbow landing on Applejack's back. Grogar made a move to blast them, but Fluttershy zipped over and grabbed Rainbow, while Pinkie rushed behind her and scooped up Applejack.

    "This game has gone on long enough!" snarled Grogar. With a pulse of magic, he summoned his crown, containing his Element of Disharmony, to his head. "Everyone! We're taking them down now!"

    Twilight and the others had regrouped by this point, and the purple alicorn swallowed in fear. If Grogar was busting out the elements, she didn't know what they could do. Those knock-offs had been strong enough to overpower the Tree of Harmony with the elements inside of it, giving it it's full power. She didn't think they had anything that could stand up to that kind of power.

    "Twilight," asked Applejack, placing a tender hoof on her back, "what're we gonna do?"

    "I...I don't know," was all she could respond with.

    "G-girls...girls..." came a faint voice from behind them.

    Twilight and the others spun around, finding themselves face-to-face with the metal cage that held the powerless Discord, completely forgotten in the heat of the battle. The weak draconequus was tapping on the bars with his eagle talon.

    "Discord!" Fluttershy cried, her eyes beginning to water. She placed her forehooves against the bars, but she could not touch him.
 
    "Listen...listen..." Discord wheezed, clearly drained, "you can still win. Grogar...he made you think he'd already won. But you don't need the elements to defeat him."

    "But how?" asked Twilight, as her body trembled. "His elements are too strong! Even with all of Equestria backing us up..."

    "Have you forgotten?" Discord continued, "what made you able to use the Elements of Harmony in the first place? What gave them their power? It was those virtues you embodied, and still embody to this day. And it was your friendship, the unshakeable bond you share, that unites you.

    "Rarity, you will always be the most generous pony of them all. Applejack, your honesty will always be a part of you. Pinkie Pie, laughter is what you will always bring to everypony you meet. Fluttershy, you will always be the epitome of kindness. Rainbow Dash, your loyalty will always remain strong. And Twilight...Twilight Sparkle. You are the embodiment of magic, and the most powerful magic of all...the magic of friendship. 

    "And like you said, you will fight to your last breath, with everything you have. And that's something...something Grogar can never take away..."

    Twilight couldn't speak. She couldn't breathe. Her brain was trying to process what Discord was saying, to find some way to refute it, but in the end, she couldn't. Because he was right.

    Sure, the Elements of Harmony were powerful, but it had been the ponies bonded to them that gave them that power. Grogar couldn't make Rainbow less loyal, or Rarity less generous, or Applejack less honest. They still had those things within them. Maybe it would be enough. Looking at her friends, Twilight saw from their faces that they were all having similar thoughts.

    "Come on, girls," she announced. "Let's finish this."