As Twilight and her friends lowered to the ground they saw all but a few of the lights around them had gone out, but more importantly they noticed the two ponies that previously had stood stock still had now collapsed onto the ground.
"Oh my goodness!" called out Fluttershy as she was the first to run over to them.
As she was running though they both shakily got to their hooves as the taller one said, "Oh my aching head," before blinking to clear her vision as she looked to the other saying, "Are you alright Hope?"
Radiant Hope then blinked herself as she said, "Well... I share your head pain my lady," she then shook her head in surprise at seeing her teacher before looking down at herself as she continued saying, "We don't seem to have turned a different color like the ones in the field... although my back feels a little odd."
"As does mine," said Amore as she flexed her muscles and caused the water wings to fold out as she said, "Well then, it seems Sombra fulfilled his promise after all."
Hope flexed her own wings before saying, "Indeed," as she noticed the other ponies standing before as she said, "What has become of Sombra? Do you all work for him?"
Rainbow snorted at that as she said, "Hardly!"
"Actually we're here to stop him and rescue you all," said Applejack.
"Oh, then we are eternally grateful and shall provide any help you need," said Amore before bowing as she continued saying, "Tell me did my sister Platinum send you?"
"About that..." said Twilight as she stepped forward saying, "This is a bit a long story."
"My lady! She's.. she's!" said Hope in disbelief and excitement at seeing both the horn and feathery wings on Twilight.
Amore blinked before simply smirking as she said, "So there really was something to that legend after all," she then looked at Twilight as she said, "Well Princess I gather we have been away for some time, but for now we should focus on the present and hurry to stop Sombra."
"Agreed," said Twilight as she ran forward with the others following after.
Pinkie gulped as she thought, "I just hope you're OK Spinel."
As Sombra exited to the surface he was greeted to the site of Spike standing before him as the small dragon gulped and attempted to stand his ground. "Hey big guy, if you want to get to my friends then you gotta get through," said Spike shakily.
Sombra groaned as he continued on towards his Injector paying the dragon very little mind, even as he felt the green fire lick at his cape he said, "I have little time for you organic clod." Before he could get much further though he suddenly felt a more intense flame go through his cape and scorch his back. He looked down at it and quickly repaired the hole before turning to face a now coughing overexerted Spike as he said, "Though I suppose I might spare a few moments."
Before he could get to him though he heard a yell saying, "Do you have time for some old friends then?!"
Sombra's eyes instantly went wide as he recognized that voice and said, "It can't be." He didn't notice Spike running over to the group as he turned to see Radiant Hope and Princess Amore being followed by the others. Sombra blinked before chuckling as he said, "Of course, that power surge must have reset all of your minds and returned your programming to the subconscious, it's good that I know that before I attempted to call any of you for assistance."
"We are here to give you assistance Sombra... assistance in ending this madness," said Amore.
"Please, it's not too late Sombra," said Hope.
Sombra chuckled at that before turning away as he said, "Oh but it is too late... far far too late. Homeworld has changed much since I have been gone and the only way for me to have a proper place in it again is to restore it by force!" He then gestured to the tunnel he just came out of as he said, "Just ask that lowly Court Jester when she wakes up."
"What did you do to her!?" asked Pinkie as her eyes shrunk down to pinpricks in fear.
Sombra thought for a moment before gesturing over his shoulder as he said, "Nothing permanent but you are welcome to see for yourself." Pinkie instantly booked it past him and down the tunnel as he said, "See, I'm not a totally cruel king, and in time you will all come to enjoy my rule."
"Yeah right," said Rainbow with a huff.
"We won't let that happen," said Twilight as she stepped forward and reached into her saddle bag.
As soon as Sombra saw what she had, all of his confidence and bluster melted away. At seeing the very object that himself and 3XF had been threatened with so many times in the past his anger rose higher than it ever had before. Twilight didn't even get to ignite the Rejuvinator as Sombra's eyes turned green and purple as he let out a yell sending a dome of dark magic out of at them knocking them all to the ground and breaking the Rejuvinator in the process. As they all groaned he wasted little time as he hopped on top of the Injector and called out, "I see now I am wasting my time with all of you, and that words will not convince you. So enjoy what little time you have left to yourselves for when I return you shall see an army of your strongest under my command!"
Before they could respond Sombra once again shifted his hand into an ocarina as he blew into it making the Injector rocket away.
They all watched as Rainbow said, "Dang, didn't think something that big could go that fast."
"But where is it going?" asked Rarity.
Amore quickly pointed at the tunnel as she said, "As long as back up power is still online we should be able to track it from the control room."
"And we should check on Pinkie and Spinel," added Fluttershy as the group ran down.
Upon reaching the bottom though they all stopped and stared in silence as Pinkie was looking down at Spinel's Gem with tears in her eyes.
The others looked at the scene not particularly knowing what to say as Fluttershy stepped up saying, "Is she-" but being unable to bring herself to finish the sentence.
"No... her Gem is fine and she should reform, I just don't know how long it will take," said Pinkie as she stared down at the pink heart shaped Gem between her hooves.
"Oh dear," said Rarity.
The group simply stood in silence for a moment before Twilight broke it saying, "Pinkie we-"
She quickly interrupted her with a raised hoof as she said, "I know, Sombra's still out there and we got to keep moving to stop him... I just.. can I just stay with her for a little while?"
Twilight looked down at the barely held back tears Pinkie had as she simply nodded before going over to the panel Hope and Amore were currently working at.
"So where is he going?" asked Twilight.
"We can't get an exact location, but judging by the speed and trajectory he should be going roughly... here," said Amore as she pulled up a map showing a mountain range.
"That must be a mistake, why pray tell would he be going there?" asked Hope.
The others stared at the map for some time before it finally clicked as Rarity was the first to gasp and say, "Oh my."
"So that's what he meant when he said he'd meet us with an army of our strongest," said Applejack as she gulped.
"What do you mean?" asked Amore.
Twilight stepped towards her saying, "I'm afraid that is Mount Canter and while in your time when this map was made it was barren, now though it's home to Canterlot the capital of Equestria and home to not only the other Princesses but a School for Gifted Unicorns which has some of the strongest magic users alive today."
"Oh my," said Hope.
"So... that's what he's after then, well we need to find a way to stop him before he can get there," said Amore.
Twilight turned to Spike as she said, "Spike quick, we need to get a letter to the Princesses, we need to evacuate the city immediately!"
Spike coughed as he said, "Wish I could, but I burnt out my flame slowing Sombra down."
Fluttershy then placed a reasurring hoof on him saying, "Well if you hadn't we might not have made it in time and wouldn't be tracking him now."
"I guess so," said Spike in thought.
"Can you hack his systems, make him crash or something?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"The wireless control is down," said Hope.
"Maybe we can figure something out, comb through the other systems," said Amore as she said that though the screen started to blink as she quickly added, "And reroute all power you can to this control room, we need it active as long as we can."
Spinel sat in the mindspace of her Gem, watching as energy built up in her like sand in an hourglass, slowly but surely allowing her to reform. She sighed as she curled up into herself saying, "I just don't get it, how could I have screwed this up so bad... I just did everything I thought Steven would do."
"I didn't bring Steven to help him," said a voice as Spinel looked up to once again see the strange sparkly Twilight he stared at her saying, "I brought you."
Spinel lurched at the figure that had somehow invaded her mindspace as she said, "Who... who are you?"
"I am Harmony," said the figure simply.
"Wha- you mean like the Elements... the tree?" asked Spinel.
"Neither, they are simply extensions, making it easier for me to act my will on this world," said Harmony, continuing to stare at her blankly.
"Your will... what do you think you are some kind of god?" asked Spinel as she stood up.
"I have been called that," said Harmony as her eyes never left Spinel.
Spinel walked closer to her as she said, "And so what, in your 'infinite wisdom' you brought me here to fix this problem for you?"
"Correct, though I see it has not gone as expected," said Harmony.
Spinel laughed at that as she said, "Oh that's for sure, what did you seriously think I could fix all this on my own?"
"You have been through something so similar to him, I thought that-" began Harmony before being interrupted.
"Yeah I have, and guess what it left me screwed up bad for thousands of years. I'm only now starting to pick the pieces back up and already everyone is leaning on me and expecting me to be able to help others with this stuff and I just can't! You're no better than the Diamonds asking us to do things no matter how much it might hurt us!" said Spinel venting a frustration that she didn't even realize she was carrying.
Harmony actually paused for a moment, showing emotion on her face for the first time as her muzzle fell in slight sorrow as Spinel instantly regretted her outburst. Harmony sighed as she said, "Perhaps... forgive me, I am not used to interacting so directly with creatures."
Spinel paused before chuckling slightly as she said, "I could have guessed that, well some advice for later, firstly try not to be so cryptic like you where in that first dream, secondly what's with stealing Twilight's look?"
Harmony looked up at her saying, "I lack a true physical form, her form was already ingrained in the memory of the Elements and seemed fitting."
"Well you might want to work on making a form of your own, maybe it will help get your point across better," said Spinel.
"I... shall consider that," said Harmony.
Spinel smiled at that before sighing as she said, "Too bad I won't be making a form of my own... at least not for a few hours, I hope Pinkie and the others can manage that long."
A deep silence echoed in the mindspace for a bit before Harmony spoke up saying, "If you could reform now... what would you do?"
Spinel shrugged as she said, "I'm not sure... acting like Steven didn't work, which I get that's why you didn't bring Steven here but... I'm not sure what I can do to help."
"Well... what have you done for him when you weren't acting like Steven?" asked Harmony.
"Well... not much I listened to his story, but Steven listened to mine," said Spinel.
"Did he?" asked Harmony as she tilted her head in curiosity.
At that Spinel's eyebrows raised as she remembered reaching out a hand in friendship only for it to be callously ignored as she said, "No... he just kept going, trying to save his friends.... just like Sombra refused to listen and is still going for-" At that she paused before lurching up as she said, "I know what to do!" Before groaning as she said, "But there's no way Sombra's backup power will last long enough to make it work after I reform..."
At this Harmony walked over to her and looked up with a smile as she said, "I thank you for this talk Spinel, I'm glad I could help you find the solution... and that you intern have given me a few things to think about. I wish you luck in saving your friends."
Before Spinel could ask what she could mean Harmony's horn suddenly glowed brighter than any Spinel had seen before as she felt the energy around her intensify. What once was the slow drip of an hourglass suddenly became an intense flow of a fire hose as before she could even process it she found herself leaving the mindspace.
As Pinkie stared at the Gem on the floor, barely hearing the others she quickly called out as it started to glow and float in the air as Spinel took shape.
As Spinel lowered back down she and Pinkie hugged as Pinkie cried into her saying, "I was so worried about you."
"I was worried about you too," said Spinel before she broke off the hug saying, "We don't have time to worry right now."
She then ran over to the controls as Rarity said, "Why Spinel, your new look is-"
"Nailed it I know, moving on," she then got to work on the panel as she said, "Why is there no power to the Communications Array?"
"We had to keep monitoring Sombra's Injector," said Amore.
"Well route it back now," said Spinel.
"How dare you speak to my lady like-" began Hope only to be interrupted as Amore said, "Right away, come on Hope."
Hope nodded slightly before they got to work, Spinel looked at the system coming back online as she said, "Come on, come on," before being greeted with a 'connection established' message. "Yes, the connection to Homeworld is still active."
"Yes but, whatever you're doing you're only getting one shot at it, power levels are fading fast," said Amore.
"Then we better split up if we're going to make this work, Hope and Amore right?" asked Spinel
The two nodded as Spinel continued saying, "That Warp Pad repair module in the corner, can you operate it?"
"I do believe so yes," said Amore.
"But we never found the Warp Pad?" asked Hope.
Spinel chuckled as she typed saying, "How do you think I got here, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, the pad is in the lake you found me at in the Everfree Forest, do you remember where it is?"
"I mean.. I'd know it I saw it again," said Applejack.
"I do believe I know about how far away it was from Ponyville at least," said Rarity.
"I... I think between the three of us we can find it," said Twilight.
"Good, you need to take Hope and Amore there," said Spinel.
"Wait, but how are we going to get there so fast!?" asked Applejack.
"I thought of that, Amore, Hope I just opened up the hangar," said Spinel.
The twos eyes widened at that before Hope said, "Understood, well girls who's up for a short in atmosphere flight," with a slight chuckle.
"Never mind the fact the fact your pilots have only ever flown simulated before," said Amore as they started moving.
"Wait, I'm coming with you," said Spike as he ran up after them.
"Before you go Spike, give that communication stone to Dash, she and Fluttershy will need it since they'll need to fly ahead to keep visual contact on Sombra while we work," said Spinel as she furiously typed.
Spike nodded as she said, "Gotcha," before giving Dash the stone as she nodded to Fluttershy before the two of them flew out of the room.
"You all good to go?" asked Spinel as the others agreed before heading out just leaving her and Pinkie.
"What about me Spinel?" asked Pinkie.
"Pinkie well... that's the tricky part," said Spinel. "After I send this message we're going to need to try and slow Sombra down until she gets here and judging by how he is now, the only thing that could slow him down is well... a fight."
"Oh, well I don't know much about fighting but," said Pinkie as she trailed off.
"I don't mean just you... or just me she may not be much of an experienced fighter but she's definitely stronger than either of us," Spinel with a smile.
"I-" began Pinkie before catching on as she said, "Sounds good to me, but who are you sending a message too?"
"The one girl in the whole universe he'll listen to right now," said Spinel before hitting send as she watched the message go through before the screen and room as a whole went dark. A darkness that was soon broken as the glowing light of fusion took hold as Pinkel emerged to the surface. She looked off in the direction the Injector had gone as she said, "Too far away to run," before reaching into her Gem as she pulled out a huge party cannon as she quickly loaded herself inside saying, "Looks like I'm gonna have to travel in style," before rocketing out.
3XF sat at the console saying, "Is it up yet?"
1XF sighed as she said, "You know we're not supposed to be in the lab after hours let alone hacking into a restricted view."
"I don't care! I just want to make sure he lands safely!" said 3XF as she watched at the screen.
2XF soon placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she said, "I'm sure he will, after all I triple checked everything."
"WE triple checked everything," said 1XF before tapping away as she said, "Image coming online," as they were soon greeted to the site of Sombra behind the controls of his ship.
"Sombra!" said 3XF beaming at seeing his face.
"He can't hear you, and... for the love of, I still can't believe no clod has approved of improving the security cameras in shuttles yet, I mean look at that poor resolution even with the long range transmitter," said 2XF as she glared at how pixely the picture was.
Before anyone could respond to that suddenly the image shook as they saw Sombra violently pull on the yoke as he said, "What is going on!" They all watched in sheer silence as he quickly said, "Energy levels off the scale, target vectors missed by miles, speed," suddenly they where greeted to an explosion that made the sound cut out.
"No... No!" said 3XF as she quickly ran to the controls, trying in vain to assist him.
"There's nothing we can do," said 1XF as she tried to calm her down.
"It's that radiation again, it's overloading the circuits," said 2XF.
Suddenly the sound cut back in as they heard Sombra say, "I'm sorry 3XF but it looks like Aquamarine was right about me after all," before complete static and blackness.
3XF couldn't contain her scream of sorrow as the tears flowed down her face. Even as she felt 1XF ripping her from the chair and pushing her out of the room before any security could come while 2XF quickly wiped the traced of their visit off the computer, she couldn't help but cry and scream as Sombra's last words kept replaying through her mind.
A knock at the door suddenly caused 3XF to wake up from that recurring dream as she sat up with a cold sweat saying simple, "Come in," as she already knew who it was.
1XF and 2XF slowly entered and sat down next to their friend as she 1XF said, "You were doing that 'sleeping' thing again weren't you?"
"So what if I was," said 3XF staring blankly at the floor in front of her, making an effort to avoid eye contact.
"You had the dream again," said 1XF.
"Just like every time... at least I get to see him again," said 3XF.
"Would he want you seeing him like that though?" asked 2XF.
3XF turned towards her, but quickly turned away saying, "What is this about?"
"It's about the fact that you've been in your quarters 'dreaming' ever since you quit the lab," said 1XF.
"And so what, we're free to do whatever we want with our time now, 2XF quit the lab too," said 3XF
"Yeah but, I did it to focus on my other art, you..." said 2XF before trailing off.
The group sat for a moment in silence before the pad by the bed suddenly lit up with a message as 3XF quickly picked it up to try and get away from all this. Once she opened it though, her eyes widened in disbelief as she read and re-read the message unsure if it was real before going as far as to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't still dreaming.
"What the heck did you do that for?!" asked 2XF and was greeted by 3XF tossing the pad to her as she got out of bed with a start grabbing equipment off her desk.
1XF leaned over as together she and 2XF read,
"Dear 3XF, I don't have a lot of time to explain but Sombra's alive and he needs you the same way I'm sure you still need him. I have a plan to get you here but we're tight on time so I need you to get to the nearest Warp Pad and the second you see Equis pop up in the destination list hit it... please he's hurting bad and only you can help, signed a friendly Spinel" followed by a destination code for Equis confirming that this wasn't a sick joke.
2XF and 1XF looked to each other before nodding as they ran over to 3XF saying, "We're coming with you!"
3XF looked to them as 2XF said, "You need someone more logical to keep tabs on you anyway."
"And besides I would be remise if I didn't help our greatest scientific achievement when he was in trouble anyway," said 1XF.
3XF beamed as she grabbed a few things and headed for the door as the door followed, excited to see that smile for the first time in 8000 years.