The One True King

by JDPrime22

Chapter 45 – Never Made to Rule

In a rapid impulse, Twilight Sparkle abandoned the street and took off into the skies, screaming as she did so, “Girls, move!”

They did well to heed Twilight’s warning, for if they were a second too late, they may not have been there any longer. For when King Sombra shuddered the world with his massive fists, his dark magic coiled throughout his body, was empowered through his horn, and shot free from his mouth in a devastating dark roar.

The entirety of the street before him exploded.

It was the scream that resembled the sounds of nightmares, of hellish demons wailing through the fires of eternal torture. The shock wave eviscerated houses and turned them into rubble, nearly turned them into dust. A stream of dark forces flew over the street, purple and green bolts of electricity coursing through it and striking anything caught within the whirlwind of power Sombra unleashed. It looked as if nothing would have survived such power, or even escape it for that matter.

Thankfully, the Elements of Harmony were not in any way intending to die today.

Each mare broke off. Rainbow and Fluttershy each took a different path, Rainbow zooming off to the right while Fluttershy evaded to the left. Applejack slid to cover outside of the street, ducking and shielding herself in the safety of a small trench carved into the earth from the Titans’ rampage. Rarity did the same on the opposite street, finding no trench and instead shielding herself with a magical bubble behind a home. The home itself was shredded by the dark roar, but Rarity remained safe. Pinkie Pie bounced, zipped, and practically teleported from one house to the next.

When his dark roar had ceased, all that was left was a mile of pure devastation.

And not a single Element within it.

Sombra’s moment of mild satisfaction was interrupted by a cannon blast and a helping of cake batter splattering across his right eye. He howled, trying to turn to the childish attack and being met with a ferocious kick from high above. A dive-bomb from none other than Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus slamming her hind leg directly into Sombra’s horn.

He actually physically recoiled from that, Sombra feeling a pang of worry flow through his demented spirit. Not wishing to give them any more breathing room, Sombra thrashed out in an attempt to swat the Pegasus out of the sky. It was difficult with half of his vision covered in cake batter, and it certainly didn’t help with more of the sugary ammunition launched his way.

Pinkie Pie cheered triumphantly from the rooftop she was standing on, pulling the cord on her party cannon and pelting Sombra relentlessly. “Ah, yeah! Take that you big, ugly meanie! Say hello to my delicious friend!”

She pulled the cord once more, and once more cake batter was fired and struck Sombra in the side of his head. By then, the MUTO had enough. He swung toward the source of the attack. Pinkie’s ears fell, her eyes widening as the shadow of Sombra’s claw fell over her.

“Uh, oh—” she tried to mutter before being forced to take evasive action. She practically teleported out of harm’s way, bringing her party cannon with her just as Sombra crushed the entire house with his claw alone. Growling, Sombra found himself being distracted once more, a rainbow trail constantly circling his face and hitting, bucking, and screaming at him relentlessly.

The MUTO Prime flailed about, cackling and roaring with a flurry of rainbows zooming around his head and body. Applejack and Rarity emerged out of hiding, gazing to the sight with incredulous expressions. Fluttershy hovered in mid-air and watched Rainbow Dash do what she did best, Fluttershy knowing deep down Rainbow would never make any progress on her own. Twilight seemed to share Fluttershy’s sentiments.

She hovered high above, staring down below to see Rainbow Dash keeping Sombra distracted. Tilting her stare left, she met Fluttershy’s eyes and the two knew right away what needed to be accomplished. Twilight made that clear with a solid nod to the Pegasus. Fluttershy nodded back, reaffirming her decision.

Twilight made that clear to everypony when she shouted, “Girls, come together! We need to finish this once and for all!”

That was enough for Pinkie Pie to suddenly zip right in-between Applejack and Rarity. The two mares turned to the Earth pony next to them, Pinkie Pie unable to keep her smile contained. Applejack and Rarity felt the exact same way. Together, all three of them galloped toward King Sombra, lifting their eyes sky high to see Twilight and Fluttershy flying in the same direction. All of them coming together. All of them intending on ending this for good.

Sombra did not let that happen. Not again.

He reared up high, bringing his forelimbs with him, and bellowed as he came crashing down and slammed his fists into the earth. A tremoring shock wave of dust and debris erupted from the impact, washing over the eviscerated street. The wave of destruction was headed directly for the three grounded ponies. And Pinkie Pie, with her strangely enhanced speed, was the first to meet it. Her smile faded, her ears flopped down, just as it hit.

Her screams followed her when she was blown away, directly over Rarity and Applejack’s heads. They remained where they were, with Rarity conjuring a magical shield for herself and Applejack. She wasn’t the greatest magic user around, and she was willing to admit that. Not nearly as good as Twilight, but she had a little skill under her belt. Just enough to keep her and those she cared for safe.

As the shock wave washed over them and finally settled, Rarity cut off her magic and looked down to see Applejack shakily rising to all four hooves. She gave a sturdy thank you, to which Rarity replied with a weak nod and an even weaker smile. Their smiles thankfully increased when Pinkie reappeared next to them in the blink of an eye and a trail of dust behind her.

Coughing and shaking the dust out of her fluffy mane, Pinkie Pie gave her friends a big, toothy grin and told them, “I’m all right! A little woozy, a little bit of crystal in my lungs, but other than that, a-okay!”

Applejack and Rarity appreciated Pinkie’s positive spin on every situation, especially theirs now. But even that assuredly faded when an ocean of darkness slowly filled the street.

In an instant, a flood of shadows surrounded them. They moved about like waves, crashing and churning throughout the road until it slowly circled around the three ponies. Surrounding them. Trapping them. Ensuring they had no escape for what was to come. Applejack kept her forelegs shielding both Pinkie and Rarity, the mare intending on keeping her best friends safe by any means. Even if she herself couldn’t fight it forever.

Rainbow Dash went for his horn again.

Punched nothing but a black mist. She made the mistake of stopping, of staring at the mist fading from her hoof and turning to see the wall of shadows evaporate beneath her. For it was then that the mist shot out and coiled itself around her like serpents, wrapping her legs, body, wings, and neck.

Her eyes popped open when the realization came that she couldn’t breathe. The shadows tightened around her windpipe and ensured a slow and agonizing death, and one she couldn’t fight against no matter how hard she struggled. Unfortunately for Sombra, she didn’t have to fight it. Fortunately for Rainbow Dash, she found her breath once again after Twilight’s magical beam cut through the shadows.

Severing the black serpents from her friend, Twilight flew over shielding Rainbow with her own body, keeping the darkness at bay. Meanwhile, Fluttershy caught a breathless Rainbow Dash coughing and sputtering for air. Peering back at them, Twilight saw that Rainbow was safe. Fluttershy’s expression gave her that indication.

Just then, a darkness fell over Fluttershy’s face. Her expression fell with it.

All while her eyes rose. And Twilight, fear and curiosity mixing with her intentions, slowly turned to see what it was. Slowly let her eyes rise as well. The shadows, to her horror, reformed into the same terrible claw belonging only to the MUTO Prime. It opened. It fell. It captured all three of them under its shadow and gave Twilight only a second to react.

To protect her friends with a magical shield.

A wall of shadows became solid, and Sombra’s body became whole again. He held the protective ball of magic in his left claw, with the three Elements inside of it. Soon, that would change. Soon, he would have all of them under his mercy, to which he had none left for the Elements of Harmony. With a swift and deliberate crushing strike, Sombra slammed them into the earth.

The tremor alone shook several miles of the Crystal Empire. But in doing so, Sombra ensured all six mares were together. That, or Twilight’s shield crushed the three beneath her. He would take either.

Twilight would have never allowed it, her shield enveloping around Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, all six of them safe in Twilight’s embrace. All six now trapped beneath Sombra’s claw. Shaken from the impact, Twilight lifted her head only to feel her world dull and blurred. Her feelings were numbed considerably. Her friends hardly looked any better, barely moving. Barely rising. Turning to Twilight for hope when she could provide none.

Nothing more than the magic bursting from her horn.

She tried to rise, pressing her hooves into the shattered street. Immediately faltering and falling when Sombra slammed his fist down. She cried out when he pressed further, crushing them through the street and making a clear indent into the earth. Their unanimous cries were a relishing music to his ears, and Sombra couldn’t get enough of it. It was then where he should have relented, but…

King Sombra held no mercy to his name, not any longer. Not for them. He slammed harder and harder, making the earth sink in until the plates of the world cracked and shattered beneath his strength. Until then, until he heard nothing more beneath his fist, Sombra released them.

He removed his claw, seeing the shield still barely holding on. It was fractured, and it eventually fell apart, leaving the six ponies lying together in the large indent in the earth.

It was if the greatest weight was lifted from her shoulders. That did not mean she was inherently safe. If anything, it meant the magic she relinquished left them vulnerable, open for destruction. Yet there was only so much left that Twilight could do. She tried to bring her friends together, she tried to enable the power of the Elements of Harmony within them, but Sombra was there every step. Evading or stopping them every single time. Now, Twilight could only weakly open her eyes and see what was left.

Rainbow Dash had all but lost consciousness, Fluttershy prodding and shaking her, begging her best friend to get up. Pinkie Pie shakily tried to rise to her hooves, only to plop back down on her chest and sigh sadly. Applejack tried to lift up Rarity, but neither one of them truly having the strength themselves to stand. Instead, Applejack settled with lifting her glare skyward. Fluttershy followed her, her stare being more frightened and less furious. Pinkie Pie did the same, Rarity joining them. All of them filled with fear one way or another.

Twilight eventually stared to the sky as well, and she could understand their fear.

King Sombra overshadowed them.

His fists were planted on each side of the tattered road he had decimated, crushing the homes on his left and right. His head was only about fifty or so yards above them, the piercing emerald glare of his visor peering down on them with a sort of murderous, devilish intent. The purple mists flowed. His horn cackled and stirred with unholy power. His jaws fell open as a soft growl emanated deep down his throat. Yet even deeper than that came something far worse…

“You reeeaaally believed you could stop me?”

When they all heard that familiar voice call to them from the shadows, from the beast, from Sombra himself… that fear was made real.

“Even now you see how pointless it all was…”

His jaws were open and yet they didn’t move to accompany his words. The voice of Sombra not only came from the MUTO, but it came from everywhere. From every shadow that slowly swirled and stirred around the large crater in the center of the road. From the howling winds washing over the six mares and chilling them to the bone.

But from MUTO Prime, from Sombra’s new body, his voice growled the loudest. And it told Twilight and her friends, “There was never any hope you could have found to help you survive this. This new age was always meant to come. It was never meant to be contained. It never could have been, nor was there anything you could have done to contain it. Not even the magic of friendship could defeat me this time… nor could it save you.”

Rainbow’s eyes weakly opened, the mare grimacing at the sight of Sombra’s ugly face peering down at her. Everypony else practically cowered at his words, knowing his words—though they meant to spread fear and discord within them—held some truth. Their bodies were broken. Their spirits were weakened. Fear clouded their hearts and they couldn’t come together to unite the power of friendship. It was too much for them to handle. Too much to fight against…

“And now… our time together must finally come to an end. Before that, I would like to thank you… Twilight…”

Not a single head turned her way. They couldn’t bring themselves to turn away from Sombra’s head glaring down at them. Twilight, however, visibly flinched to her name uttered in that same damnable tongue. Her breaths were frozen, shuddering more and more as she tried to meet his eyes.

“You brought your friends to meee. Your deaths will help satisfy my vengeance… but only so much. Then the princesses… then these resilient Titans… and then I will riiise…”

His jaws opened wider.

“Finally… rise… as the new King of the Monsters…”

His teeth grew closer near them.

“For my new world.”

It was enough to earn a petrifying cry from Fluttershy. One so loud that it traveled…

Godzilla slammed Ghidorah’s heads across a multitude of buildings, ripping Ni and Ichi out of the crystals and pushing his body through the towers of black rock before him. San shrieked, Ichi and Ni following as Monster Zero was flung through the towers and crashed on the opposite side. He laid in the rubble beneath Godzilla, hissing and crying but unable to move. For but a moment, not having the strength to.

Lifting his head, glaring down at his hated foe, Godzilla narrowed his eyes. A golden opportunity was granted to him, with Ghidorah wounded and open for the kill. There was nothing to interrupt him this time. No opposing Titan. No rival alpha. In that moment, it was just the two of them and nothing else. Godzilla desired nothing more, and he took one step closer. One step closer to ending this war and reclaiming his rightful crown.

But just then… he heard it.

He heard her cry.

His head perked up. His breath faltered. And Godzilla, for but a moment, hesitated. The cry, the voice, it was all so familiar. Softer than a brush of wind against him. As gentle and kind as Mothra’s soothing songs. A voice he could understand… and could understand him. Recognizing the cry, Godzilla turned to it and saw where it came from. Where she was…

He faced Ghidorah once more, saw the Demon crying and writhing. Still weakened. Still open for the kill. It could be so easy. He could end it now.

Godzilla slowly turned back. His pupils radiated with a fire untamed. His glare centered on Sombra and Godzilla snorted. Growled so very softly…

Their seconds of survival were dwindling. Time was short and each pony knew it. King Sombra was finished talking, was finished playing mind games with them. The fear they held was enough. All he needed was them finally out of the way, and his vengeance would be assured. The only power in the world that could have a singular hope of stopping him would be annihilated.

And so, his jaws neared the Elements of Harmony, ready to devour and silence them forever.

To prove to the world what happened to those who defied him.

But as for Twilight, her eyes were lifted up once more. Through the fog, through the blizzard, she saw something that took her breath away. She quickly regained it. “Sombra!” she screamed.

For a moment, he stopped. He listened, if to hear her last words of feeble defiance.

“You’re wrong!” she cried. As steadfast and hopeful as ever, Twilight Sparkle pressed her hooves into the earth and lifted herself up. She settled to a sitting position, lifting her head once more and meeting Sombra’s agape expression. “The magic of friendship will save us!”

Sombra growled. He had enough. He couldn’t bear to hear another one of her speeches about friendship. He had already proved it was dead. And so, he zeroed in on her and intended to silence them all for good. His jaws were mere feet above their heads, but even then, Twilight did not stop. She did not fall prey to fear as Sombra desired. She did not go quiet.

In fact, she roared, “The magic of friendship will live on!” His jaws were seconds away from closing in on her, but Twilight was not worried. She no longer had a reason to fear.

Instead, she smiled. “If not in us… then in the one true king.”

Sombra did not stop because of her words.

He stopped when he heard the soft pulses of energy ripple through the air behind him.

Though he didn’t intend for it, Sombra found himself oddly mesmerized by the sound. By the light. Turning fully to face it, Sombra released his desire for the deaths of the Elements for but a moment. In that moment, he was caught under the low frequency of harmonic hums and the piercing, shimmering whiteness washing across the fog.

The pulses of energy steadily increased, with the light emanating from the end of the swaying tail. Sombra saw the tail and knew it.

The dorsal plates all slowly glowed the same white, with mixtures of rainbows pulsating within them. Sombra chittered out an agitated cry.

As the tail swayed aside, the dorsal plates were all radiating a bright whiteness. And Godzilla, facing Sombra fully, stood tall in the midst of the blizzard, arriving to the aid of Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, and the rest of their friends. He lit up the shadows with his light, washed away the darkness, and left Sombra breathless beneath him.

Godzilla stole his breath and puffed out his chest.

Before Sombra could properly react to it, Godzilla unleashed a devastating blast of his harmonic breath upon him.

The sound of the blast was otherworldly. It looked otherworldly just as well, a white ray of atomic energy mixed with the most powerful magic of all. Surrounding the fiery blast were rings colored every shade of the rainbow. The rings shuddered and pulsated around the harmonic breath, steadily growing larger the more Godzilla kept up the fire.

And he kept it up. He was relentless. He ensured Sombra did not harm the ones who gave him a second chance.

Pelting the MUTO Prime furiously, Godzilla watched as his ancient enemy slid back and impacted numerous crystal structures. Homes, buildings, his own dark crystals, nothing remained standing as long as Godzilla pressed on the assault with his fiery breath. Sombra howled and cry, unable to do much of anything as long as the harmony ray struck him.

It felt so familiar, like a sting he once knew. Close to the magic of friendship, but contained. Mixed with an ancient power that Godzilla controlled. Whatever it was, it hurt. It burned and tore and slowly killed Sombra.

Be it fate, luck, or some other power beyond him, Sombra could breathe again when the harmonic power ceased. That did not stop Godzilla.

He struck without giving Sombra even a second to recover. With his body burned and torn, Sombra felt the teeth of the Alpha Predator dig into the side of his head. He howled, but his cries were not answered. None of his Titans came to his aid. They couldn’t. Mercy had all but abandoned him. In that terrifying reality of abandonment, Sombra was thrashed around by Godzilla.

He threw him into various structures, dragging the MUTO for several hundred yards and biting, clawing, and tearing at his flesh to get as much of Sombra as he could. Sombra did all he could to fight back, clawing at Godzilla’s legs and body, but it was for nothing. Nothing could stop the Titan’s rampage. He tasted blood and wanted more of it. In an unrelenting display of ferocity, Godzilla dragged the King of Shadows directly to the heart of the empire he conquered.

And knocked him directly into the castle.

The force of the impact crippled the entire structure, causing the castle to teeter over and fall. It nearly fell all the way, but the castle instead landed on some fallen buildings and dark crystals, preventing it from hitting the ground. Causing the sharpened tip of the castle to jut outward. Godzilla noticed that, his eyes widening.

He rapidly turned from it and onto Sombra when the MUTO lunged for him.

It was his last desperate act to kill. Thrown into a corner with an overwhelming force pressed against him, Sombra could do nothing else but strike back. One last vicious act to hopefully catch his foe off guard. So, he lunged. He went for the neck with his teeth, intended to tear Godzilla’s throat clean from his neck. If Sombra was to die, he would at least take the former King of the Monsters with him. The loss of his kingdom, of his global empire, it would have all been worth it to see Godzilla bleed and die with him.

But that did not happen.

Sombra lunged for him, but Godzilla dodged away. His claws grasped the Prime’s back, and Sombra felt himself freeze in mid-jump. He then felt himself being flung back. Back to where he laid. Back to the castle.

Godzilla roared and drove Sombra directly into the Crystal Castle’s tip.

Thus, impaling him upon it.

Sombra howled a blood-curdling, agonizing roar.

His black lifeblood spilled from his frozen, agape jaws, joining the darkness flowing from the wound piercing his back and jutting out from his chest. His limbs trembled, his actions stiffened to the point that he practically lost control of them. He had lost control of himself and did nothing to fight back. It was all vanity. His dream, his desire, his status as the king had all but crumbled before him.

When Godzilla planted his foot on the side of his chest, pressed down with a sudden jerking motion, and crushed Sombra to the ground, that was when he knew it was all vanity.

The tip of the castle broke off from the rest, still impaled through Sombra’s chest even as he laid flat against the earth. With Godzilla’s foot crushing Sombra more and more, the agony the fallen king felt could have never rivaled the defeat making its reality known in his mind. For with all of his efforts, to come as far as he did and still end… the same way… that alone destroyed him.

Destroyed his spirit, his will, and his destiny.

Godzilla destroyed the rest.

Bending low, Godzilla proceeded to roar into the MUTO’s face. The ferocity, the rage, the sheer power and unhinged savagery in that expression—in that roar—had all but confirmed Sombra’s fears. His fears… as if he ever believed that could be possible, that he, the master of fear, could be afraid of anything. And yet there it was, the true king of this world asserting his dominance over Sombra for the first and last time.

For his dorsal plates began to electrify.

The harmonic magic flowed from his back and consumed his body, to a point where his body couldn’t contain it. By then, the harmonic magic was set free. His roar ceased when the blinding whiteness escaped his being in a devastating pulse of raw power.

In one pulse, he was gone.

Sombra was gone.

His new body, his horn, his dark spirit, his influence in the Crystal Empire and on a global scale… all vaporized in a singular pulse of harmonic power.

That wasn’t all. The Crystal Castle’s remains were also vaporized, alongside any nearby building or structure within a several block radius. The intensity of the heat was so immense that everything simply burned to fragmented glass or ashes, until very little remained. Until only Godzilla remained standing atop the ashes of his fallen, ancient enemy.

The death of the rival alpha was not met with celebration. Forces of T.I.T.A.N. watched from afar, either on the ground or in the air, as Godzilla steadily rose back up. Everypony within the Radiance shared the same feeling of unsettled dread, their scanners washing over Godzilla in the wake of his shocking aftermath.

Shining Armor gasped lightly. Just as they feared. The pulse signified what was to come. The most powerful magic of all mixed with his atomic energy did not bode well, for any of them. Because of the indications, the number of lives they still had in the battlefield, and because of him.

Because Godzilla was going to blow.