//------------------------------// // The Rogue in Our Town // Story: The Return of King Sombra // by Dragon-Master-31 //------------------------------// “(Chuckle) From what I’m hearing, it seems that you are all so eager to get started on your next mission. If that is indeed the case, then go. Go to Starlight Glimmer’s old village! Terrorize and destroy it! Do whatever you want, but remember, we need hostages. Oh, and one last thing, Twilight Sparkle is mine. Anyone that kills her, will suffer for the rest of eternity, do I make myself clear?” Sombra asked, looking at each of the Rogue with serious eyes. “Yes, King Sombra!” The Rogue answered. “(Chuckle) Then go! Begone now! Complete your mission!” Sombra ordered as one by one, each member of the Rogue teleported away from the castle. “Well, what are you waiting for, Professor? Go with them.” Sombra said, looking at Professor Screw who was still standing next to him. “Of course, your majesty. I will make sure that your orders are followed.” Professor Screw said as he used the book that he had placed into his saddlebag to teleport out of the castle. When Professor Screw teleported away from the castle, he quickly found himself in some rocky hills that was a good distance away from Starlight Glimmer’s old village. After taking in his surroundings, Professor Screw turned around and saw the Rogue standing nearby, watching the village from behind some rocks. “You know, I am sure that there is no reason for us to be so cautious. We are a good distance away from the village.” Professor Screw said as he walked over to the Rogue. “Besides, it would appear that the evening will be arriving very soon.” Professor Screw said as he looked towards the sun. “Yeah sure, whatever but get a load of this! It looks like a party is going on!” Lightning Dust said as she pointed towards the village. Professor Screw rolled his eyes a bit as he got himself into a position where he could see the village. It was apparent that there was indeed a party going on, due to the number of colorful banners, bright balloons, numerous presents, and tasty treats. Judging by the writing on one of the banners in the village, it seemed that this party was being thrown for somepony by the name of Sugar Belle. Professor Screw had no idea who that was, but he didn’t really care. He was here to do his master’s work, not to celebrate some party. “Yes, it is lovely. However, may I remind you that we are here on a mission.” Professor Screw said. “Why are you even here, you old hag?” Lightning Dust asked. “Yeah, I don’t remember you being part of the Rogue. Heck, I don’t even remember your name.” Flim said, laughing a bit. “It’s Professor Screw Loose for your information.” Professor Screw said. “Professor Screw Loose!? HA! What a ridiculous name!” Flam said as he laughed. “Yeah! That’s such a dumbass name!” Lightning Dust said as she laughed along with Flim and Flam. “Hush all of you! As much as I would like to make fun of the Professor, I think it is best we come up with a plan for our attack.” Discorded Whooves said as the mechanical arms lowered him to the ground. “Iron Will says we attack now!” Iron Will said as he started to run towards the village, but he was stopped when one of the mechanical arms grabbed ahold of his leg and caused him to fall face first onto the ground. “OW! What was that for!?” Iron Will asked as he glared back at Discorded Whooves. “You really are more brawns than brain, aren’t you, Iron Will?” Discorded Whooves asked as he used the arm still holding Iron Will’s leg to drag him back to the group. “We need to be smart about this. We will wait until nightfall and take them by surprise.” Discorded Whooves said as he let go of Iron Will’s leg. “But they’re not even expecting us! We could literally attack them right now and we’d still be taking them by surprise.” Lightning Dust said. “I’m sorry, do you have a better idea?” Discorded Whooves asked, turning to face Lightning Dust. “Yeah! We attack now! Are you stupid or something!?” Lightning Dust yelled. Discorded Whooves didn’t say anything as he just stared at Lightning Dust. Everyone else realized what Lightning Dust had just done and they backed away very slowly until they were a safe distance away from the Doctor. Then, before anyone could do anything else, one of the mechanical arms reached out and grabbed ahold of Lightning Dust, holding her in a way so that her wings and legs were practically useless. “Ow! Hey! Let me go, you freak!” Lightning Dust yelled as she tried to fight her way out of the arm’s grip. While Lightning Dust kept trying to break free, the arm that held her started to bring her closer to Discorded Whooves until she was right in front of him. Discorded Whooves grinned as he then turned Lightning Dust slightly at an angle so she could see that one of the other arms had opened its claws up to reveal a long blade come out of its palm. The arm’s blade came closer to Lightning Dust, causing her to wince as she was terrified that she was going to have her eyes poked out or something. “Listen to me carefully, Lightning Dust. I’m in charge here, not you. Do try to remember that, will you?” Discorded Whooves said as he then used the blade to make a small scratch on Lightning Dust’s cheek. Lightning Dust winced in pain as she felt the sharp spike cut her cheek. Then Discorded Whooves then brought Lightning Dust closer to him and then he licked the blood that dripped out of her cut. As he did this, Lightning Dust smacked her head against the Doctor’s. This only made him smile. “(Chuckle) Now, are you going to listen from now on?” Discorded Whooves asked with a smug look on his face. “Fuck you!” Lightning Dust yelled as she glared at him. “(Chuckle) That sounds like fun, but we have things to do first.” Discorded Whooves said as he released Lightning Dust. “Now, as I was saying earlier, we will attack at night, catch the ponies off guard, and destroy the village.” “So what? Are we just going to wait here until nighttime?” Flim asked. “With absolutely nothing to do?” Flam added. “That is exactly what we are going to do.” Discorded Whooves said as he motioned for everyone to come closer. “I’ve already thought of the strategy we will use to take down this village. Here’s the plan…” A few hours later… Night had fallen over Starlight Glimmer’s old village. Well, that’s what it used be called anyway. These days, if you asked the residents of this little village what the village name was, you would get different answers depending on the pony you asked. Some ponies would tell you that the village was now called, ‘Our Town’. Others would tell you that the village was called, ‘The Town with No Name’, and others would say it was still referred to as Starlight’s Village. Whatever the name the town went by didn’t really matter as there was something special going on that day. Today was none other than Sugar Belle’s birthday and the residents of the town were throwing her a birthday party. The whole thing had been planned by Sugar Belle’s best friends, Double Diamond, Party Favor, and Night Glider. The party was a pleasant surprise as Sugar Belle was not expecting it at all, especially since her birthday was a week ago. Sometime in the late afternoon, she had returned to town after a lovely visit to Ponyville, where she had been spending some quality time with her very special somepony, Big Macintosh. It was when she had returned that she was surprised by a big birthday party. Party Favor explained that even though her birthday had already passed, he still wanted to throw her a party when she came back. This of course made Sugar Belle very happy as she was glad to have such wonderful friends. The town was still having a wonderful time with the party as they sang, danced, laughed, and enjoyed tasty treats. Sugar Belle was helping herself to a delicious cupcake when she felt somepony tap her on the shoulder. Sugar Belle turned around to see her three best friends. “Hey, Sugar Belle! Are you having fun?” Party Favor asked with a smile. “(Giggle) I’m having a wonderful time, Party Favor.” Sugar Belle said with a cheerful smile. “But you all really didn’t have to go this far for me.” “Are you kidding!? Of course, we did! Doing nice things for each other is what friends do.” Night Glider said. “We were more than happy to do this for you, Sugar Belle. It would have made more sense to have done this on your actual birthday, but hey, this worked out perfectly!” Double Diamond said with a laugh. “I guess you’re right. I was pretty busy in Ponyville.” Sugar Belle said. “Heh, busy with what? Visiting Ponyville? Or spending time with that special stallion of yours?” Night Glider asked as she playfully nudged Sugar Belle. “Wh-What? O-Oh, well…” Sugar Belle said as she giggled, her face turning red as a tomato. “Alright, come on. Leave her alone, Night Glider.” Double Diamond said as he playfully shoved her. “Hey, I never said I was against it or anything. Just a little bit of friendly teasing, that’s all.” Night Glider said as she jokingly put her hooves up in a defensive manner. “On that topic though, I’m happy for you. I haven’t talked to him much, granted because it seems like he hardly ever talks, but he’s good for you. He seems like a nice guy.” “Oh, he is, Night Glider. He’s a wonderful stallion. He’s just so sweet and loving.” Sugar Belle said as images of Big Macintosh started popping up in her head. “(Chuckle) I guess he is.” Double Diamond said as he turned to face the house where Starlight Glimmer used to live in. “It’s been a while since that whole thing with Starlight happened.” “Yeah, it really has been. I wish she could come visit us more often.” Party Favor said. “Well, she does have other things to attend to in Ponyville. But she definitely has never forgotten about us.” Sugar Belle said. “Do you think she still feels guilty over what she did? I mean, she knows we forgave her and all, but that doesn’t mean all the guilt is gone.” Night Glider said. “Maybe she does… I really hope not though.” Double Diamond said. “(Gasp) I know, what if next time she visits, we throw her a big welcome back party!?” Party Favor asked. “(Chuckle) You’ve been hanging around with Pinkie Pie too much.” Double Diamond said with a laugh. “I think a party would be wonderful. It would certainly help cheer Starlight up and remind her that she’ll always be our friend.” Sugar Belle said. “That sounds like a plan to me!” Night Glider said as they all nodded in agreement. As the four friends continued to happily converse with each other, they heard what sounded like a firework being shot off into the air. The four friends turned around and saw that everypony was pointing up towards the sky. They watched as a bright red beam shot up into the sky and then exploded, creating what looked like a firework display. “Wow! This is amazing!” Double Diamond said as he cheered with the rest of the ponies. “Party Favor, you really didn’t have to bring fireworks for my party.” Sugar Belle said. “Uh, well you see… I… didn’t.” Party Favor said, causing his friends to look at him with confused looks on their faces. “Huh? What do you mean?” Sugar Belle asked. “Hold on, if you’re not the one responsible for this show, then who is?” Night Glider asked. “Hey, look! It seems like the fireworks are coming from the front end of the town. Let’s go find out what’s causing all of this.” Double Diamond said. With that the friends nodded in agreement as they began walking to the front of the town. It was then that they saw what the cause of the fireworks was. At the entrance of the town, the friends saw a cloaked pony, with a hood over their head, most likely a unicorn since the beams that were being shot into the sky were coming from this pony. As the friends walked closer to the cloaked pony, Double Diamond spoke up. “Um, hey, excuse me!” Double Diamond said, causing the cloaked pony to stop shooting beams into the sky. “Yes?” the cloaked pony asked. “We were just wondering, are you here celebrating Sugar Belle’s birthday with us, too? Is that what the fireworks were for?” Party Favor asked. “No.” the cloaked pony replied. “Look, bud, your firework show was cool and all, but what’s the mysterious get-up? And also, who are you?” Night Glider asked. The cloaked pony only chuckled in response as he then used his magic to make his cloak disappear completely. Everypony was now able to see that the mysterious pony was indeed a unicorn. This unicorn had dark maroon colored fur, with a mane and tail that was as grey as stone. He had a ruffled up and messy mane, like that of a mad scientist. His cutie mark appeared to be a beaker with a black skull on it and his eyes were a jade green, filled with malice. It was Professor Screw. “(Chuckle) Greetings! I wish to deliver a message to everypony! I come in peace, I mean you no harm, and you will all die.” Professor Screw said with a smile. Hearing this, everypony in town was suddenly filled with mixed feelings of confusion, denial, and protective anger. “What did you just say!?” Double Diamond asked, taking a threatening step forward. “You better not be threatening us! Because if you are, you’re going to get hurt!” Night Glider yelled as she smacked her hooves together. “Yeah! Leave now! You’re not welcome here!” Party Favor yelled. “I think you should leave, mister. This is a peaceful town, and we don’t need any trouble.” Sugar Belle said. “(Chuckle) You may not need any trouble, but you will get trouble anyway. Now!” Professor Screw yelled as suddenly five figures appeared in front of him. The ponies were all shocked when they saw the five figures appear, especially when they saw Discorded Whooves with those four mechanical arms. Professor Screw then blasted a huge beam of magic into the air, as if he was shooting off one more firework. However, when the beam exploded, a huge magical bubble started to form around the entire village and a little bit of the surrounding area. Professor Screw had used a special spell to make sure that no pony would get in the village, and no pony would get out. Having a very bad feeling that things were about to get extremely ugly, Double Diamond turned around quickly to face the rest of the town. “Get the children to safety, now!” Double Diamond yelled as they all heard somepony chuckle. “(Chuckle) It’ too late for that. ATTACK!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he and the rest of the Rogue began their assault on the town. Discorded Whooves was lifted up into the air by the bottom two mechanical arms, which then allowed him to run towards the ponies. Night Glider was about to fly towards the Doctor to try and attack him, but she was suddenly hit hard when Lightning Dust flew in and slammed into her, pushing her away from the action. Flim and Flam rushed in and started to fire beams of magic all over the place, causing everypony to scatter and make it very hard for any sort of teamwork to happen. Party Favor was hit in the chest by one of the Flim Flam Brother’s magic beams and he was sent crashing through a window. Iron Will ran ahead and jumped in the air, preparing to smash Sugar Belle into the ground with his gauntlets. Sugar Belle quickly moved out of the way and ran away from the angry minotaur. Meanwhile, Double Diamond was busy trying to fend off and avoid being grabbed by Discorded Whooves’s mechanical arms. Discorded Whooves got more and more frustrated every time Double Diamond would dodge his attacks. Discorded Whooves then tried to grab the earth pony from both sides, but Double Diamond just jumped over the two arms and even did a backflip as he landed safely back on the ground. “(Snarl) You’re an earth pony! How are you so agile!? RAHH!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he tried once again to grab Double Diamond. “Lots of skiing, that’s how. You should really try it out sometime.” Double Diamond replied with a grin as he avoided another strike. “Ha! Alright then, let’s see how you like this!” Discorded Whooves yelled as the top right arm opened up its claw. Double Diamond was taken aback when he saw the whole claw of the arm suddenly become encased in electricity. The arm then slammed itself down onto the ground in front of Double Diamond, electrifying the small patch of land he had been standing on. Double Diamond had luckily managed to jump above the arm before the ground could electrocute him. However, Double Diamond had become so focused on dodging the claw and avoiding the electrified ground beneath him, that he forgot about Discorded Whooves. While Double Diamond was still in midair, the left arm reached out and grabbed ahold of him, keeping him above ground. “Gotcha! Rah!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he pressed the electrified claw into Double Diamond’s side, delivering a painful shock to his body. Double Diamond cried out in pain as he felt waves of electricity shoot through his whole body. He tried with all his might to break free of the arms’ grip, but the claws were clamped tightly around his torso. Discorded Whooves laughed maniacally as he continued to electrocute the earth pony. He would have completely electrocuted him to death, if he hadn’t been hit in the head by a small stone. Growling out of anger, Discorded Whooves stopped electrocuting Double Diamond and turned around to see who had hit him. Another earth pony by the name of Feather Bangs stood there, holding another stone in one hoof, and Double Diamond’s skis in the other. “Put him down you monster!” Feather Bangs yelled as he threw the other stone at Discorded Whooves, hitting him in the cheek. “Double Diamond, catch!” Feather Bangs yelled as he tossed Double Diamond’s skis to him. Double Diamond reached out with his front legs and was able to catch both of his skis. With Discorded Whooves still temporarily stunned from getting hit in the face by a rock, Double Diamond took his chance and smacked Discorded Whooves in the back of the head with his skis. This caused the Doctor to drop Double Diamond as he yelled in pain. “Thanks, Feather Bangs! Now help me fight this freak!” Double Diamond said as he tossed one of his skis to the other pony. “No problem, DD!” Feather Bangs said as they both held up their skis, ready to fight. “RRAAAGHH!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he was lifted slightly higher into the air by the bottom two arms, with the top two opening and closing in a threatening manner. While Double Diamond and Feather Bangs did their best to keep Discorded Whooves distracted from the rest of the village, the Flim Flam brothers were having a wonderful time as they were just firing beams of magic everywhere. Ponies scrambled all over the place as they tried to duck for cover and avoid getting hit. Flim then spotted a family of unicorns run into one of the houses. Flim smiled as he blasted multiple beams of magic at the house, eventually causing the house to explode, killing the family of unicorns. Flam was tackled by an earth pony stallion, but he was able to shove him off with his magic. Flam then grabbed ahold of the stallion with his magic and slammed him so hard onto the ground, the pony’s neck was snapped, killing him almost instantly. “Look out, brother! Incoming from above!” Flim suddenly shouted as he pointed up towards the sky. Flam looked up and spotted about four pegasi flying towards them. Thinking fast, the two brothers used their magic to create a small shield bubble around them, causing the pegasi that hit the shield to fly back and fall to the ground in pain. The two brothers grinned at each other as they started blasting the pegasi, preventing them from getting back up in the air. Two of the four pegasi were suddenly lifted up in the air by magic and then Flim and Flam slammed both of them into each other, the impact stunned them, and they were both killed when they were slammed into the ground, which broke their necks. The two remaining pegasi managed to get airborne as they tried to fly away to recover, but they were stopped by the Flim Flam brother’s magic. The brothers pulled the two pegasi down towards the ground, killing one of them on impact. The last Pegasus managed to survive however, and she flew straight towards Flim, hitting him in the face and knocking him over. “No, brother! How dare you!” Flam yelled as he charged towards the Pegasus, while firing magic at her. The Pegasus tried to fly away again but she was caught by Flim’s magic. Flim grinned at her as he then slammed her down towards his brother. Flam then jumped up and thanks to the efforts of his brother, he was able to stab the Pegasus with his horn. The Pegasus screamed in pain as she felt the horn stab her in the chest. Before she could do anything, Flam finished her off when he blasted magic into her, killing her while also getting her off of his horn. “Whoops, didn’t mean to do that.” Flam said as he wiped the blood off his horn to prevent it from dripping onto his face. “Forget it! We must follow our orders!” Flim yelled as he spotted a pair of earth ponies charging towards them. “O-Of course, brother! YAH!” Flam yelled as the two brothers ran towards the oncoming earth ponies. Meanwhile, Night Glider and Lightning Dust were still chasing each other in the air, flying all around the village as each tried to get an opening. As Night Glider was chasing after Lightning Dust, the rogue Pegasus suddenly did a fast backwards loop, allowing her to be right above Night Glider. Lightning Dust then slammed into Night Glider, causing her to smash through the roof of one of the few buildings in the village. Night Glider landed hard on a small table and before she could get back up, Lightning Dust began punching her in the face while she remained in the air. However, because Lightning Dust was so focused on her punches, she was given a painful surprise when Night Glider managed to kick her in the stomach. Night Glider tackled Lightning Dust out of the air as the two crashed through the window and onto the streets of the village. The two pegasi had rolled on the ground when they landed and Lightning Dust was able to recover quicker than Night Glider as she quickly jumped on top of her, pinning her down. Right as Lightning Dust was about to hit Night Glider again, she was suddenly struck in the back of the head by a beam of magic by Party Favor, knocking her helmet off. “Get off of her!” Party Favor yelled as he fired another beam of magic, shooting Lightning Dust off of his friend. As Lightning Dust was hit by Party Favor’s magic, Night Glider managed to get up and she landed a strong flying kick into Lightning Dust’s stomach, causing her to crash through another window of the same house they had just fought in. “Thanks for the assist, Party Favor.” Night Glider said, nodding to her friend. “It’s no problem. Now, come on! We have to stop the other bad guys before anypony else gets hurt!” Party Favor yelled, gesturing towards the rest of the Rogue that was still attacking the village. “Got it! You go help Double Diamond and Feather Bangs! I’m gonna look for-GAH!” Night Glider yelled as she was suddenly hit in the back by a beam of magic. Party Favor turned to see Flim and Flam, who were grinning at him before they started to fire beams of magic at him. Party Favor ran away, dodging every single magic beam that was fired off. As he ran, Party Favor spotted a small cart he could take cover behind. Party Favor quickly ducked behind the cart and then started to fire magic right back at the brothers. Meanwhile, Sugar Belle was still running away from the angry Iron Will. She had no idea why he was seemingly only targeting her, but all she knew was that she needed to avoid his powerful attacks. Sugar Belle jumped through an open window and ducked behind the small couch that was in the room. Not even ten seconds later, Iron Will smashed through the wall of the house and roared down at her. Sugar Belle screamed as she desperately looked around the room for anything she could use as a weapon. She then spotted a small wooden stool on the other side of the couch. Iron Will then lunged forward as he tried to punch Sugar Belle into the ground. Sugar Belle managed to jump out of the way, and she quickly picked up the stool and threw it at Iron Will’s face, causing him to fall back in pain. Sugar Belle took her opportunity to run out of the building, but before she could get even a few feet away, Iron Will burst through the other wall, making the rest of the house crumble down. “No pony runs from Iron Will!” Iron Will yelled as he picked up a huge plank of wood and was about to bring it down on Sugar Belle, but he was stopped when a Pegasus flew into him, kicking him in the face. “Sugar Belle, go! Get the children, protect them! They’re in that house! Go!” the Pegasus yelled as he pointed towards the house across from them. “Pegasus stopped Iron Will from getting revenge! Iron Will shall crush you now!” Iron Will yelled as he swung at the Pegasus. Sugar Belle quickly ran in the direction of the building where the children were hiding in. As she was halfway there, she stopped suddenly when Lightning Dust flew up right in front of her. Sugar Belle stepped back a bit as the Pegasus looked down at her with a grin. “And just where do you think you’re going!?” Lightning Dust asked as she took a swing at Sugar Belle. Sugar Belle somehow managed to avoid getting hit in the face, but she knew speed was not one of her special talents. After narrowly avoiding a couple more punches, Sugar Belle’s luck ran out as Lightning Dust was finally able to land a blow to her chest. As Sugar Belle stumbled back a little from the punch, Lightning Dust did a backflip, allowing her to kick the unicorn in the chin and knocking her to the ground. Sugar Belle winced in pain as she rubbed her chin, which thankfully wasn’t broken, but was seriously hurting. “Ha! You’re no match for somepony as fast as me!” Lightning Dust said as she laughed. Sugar Belle wanted to run away, but she managed to get a peek past Lightning Dust, and she made eye contact with a young earth pony filly, who was looking out the window of the house with a worried look on her face. Seeing this poor filly so terrified woke something up inside of Sugar Belle. The sudden urge to protect those fillies and colts inside of that building was now stronger than ever. Perhaps it was motherly instinct; whatever it was, Sugar Belle was determined not to let anything bad happen to those children. “Get out of my way!” Sugar Belle yelled as she caught Lightning Dust off guard by grabbing ahold of her back legs and tackling her to the ground. “Ow! What the!?” Lightning Dust yelled as Sugar Belle scooped up some dust in her hooves and dumped it onto Lightning Dust’s face. “GAAAAH!!” Lightning Dust screamed as the dust got into her eyes. Lightning Dust was able to shove Sugar Belle off of her as she tried desperately to rub the dust out of her eye. As soon as she did and was able to see again, the first thing she saw was Sugar Belle standing in front of her with her back leg in a bucking position. Then, with all the strength she could muster, Sugar Belle kicked Lightning Dust so hard that she flew back and crashed into a stack of boxes, breaking a couple of them in the process. With Lightning Dust down, Sugar Belle ran to the building and burst through the door. “Everypony, come with me! I’ll take you somewhere you can hide!” Sugar Belle said as she began to lead the children out of the building. However, before Sugar Belle and the children could even step a few feet from the building, Lightning Dust was already back up and stood in front of them. “I don’t think so, birthday pony!” Lightning Dust said as she blocked their path. “I told you to get out of my way!” Sugar Belle yelled as she tried to tackle Lightning Dust to the floor again, but the Pegasus flew out of range. “That won’t work on me twice! YAH!” Lightning Dust yelled as she flew down, aiming for the children. Sugar Belle turned around fast and was horrified as she knew she would not be fast enough to protect the children from Lightning Dust’s attack. Thankfully, before Lightning Dust could reach the children, she was suddenly tackled out of the air by Night Glider, who had arrived just in time. “UGH! You again!? OW!” Lightning Dust yelled as Night Glider kicked her in the face. “Go! Get the children to safety! I’ll hold her off!” Night Glider yelled as she continued to keep Lightning Dust busy. Sugar Belle nodded to her friend and quickly motioned for the children to follow her. The children followed Sugar Belle as they ran through the street, doing their best to avoid the amount of destruction and chaos that was happening. Thankfully, they managed to reach their destination as Sugar Belle kicked down a door to one of the buildings. The children ran inside and as soon as the door was shut, Sugar Belle ran over to the back end of the room and found the small handle on the floor. Sugar Belle pulled open the small trap door and ushered the children down the small flight of stairs which led to one of the safety bunkers that every building had. Once all the children were accounted for, Sugar Belle walked back up the stairs and looked down at the children. “All of you stay in here. Don’t come out unless one of us lets you out.” Sugar Belle said as she then shut the trap door, placing a small rug over it so that no pony would easily see the handle. Once Sugar Belle was ready, she turned around and ran out of the door. She looked around at the destruction and quickly headed off to help anypony that needed immediate assistance. “Bring it on, pesky Pegasus!” Iron Will shouted as he tried to smack the Pegasus that was attacking him out of the air. The Pegasus that had saved Sugar Belle earlier was still doing his best to keep the minotaur distracted. The Pegasus was not making it easy as he was very fast and able to dodge all of Iron Will’s attacks with relative ease. Iron Will got more frustrated every time he was hit. Eventually, the Pegasus started to get tired as he kept fighting Iron Will. Seeing this, Iron Will waited for just the right moment and then he managed to grab the Pegasus by the leg and slammed him into the ground. The Pegasus yelled in pain as he hit the ground, but before he could try to get back up, Iron Will let out a roar as he raised his arms in the air and slammed them down onto the Pegasus, crushing him and killing him. Iron Will let out another roar as he proclaimed his victory, but he was cut short when he was hit in the chest by a beam of magic. Iron Will looked over to see who had hit him, only to find a group of about three unicorns, glaring at him. “Unicorns want some too!? Iron Will shall give you some!” Iron Will shouted as he charged at the unicorns. As Iron Will ran towards the unicorns, one of them used her magic to keep Iron Will’s legs from moving, which caused him to fall onto his face. The other two unicorns began blasting their magic at Iron Will as he managed to stand back up. The unicorn that had tripped Iron Will before tried to do so again, but Iron Will lunged forward and managed to crash into the unicorn, knocking the other two back. Iron Will grabbed the unicorn and despite her efforts to break out using her magic, she was killed when Iron Will slammed her face first into the ground. The two remaining unicorns looked on in horror as they saw Iron Will kill the other unicorn. Iron Will turned to look at them and he snarled at them. The two unicorns looked at each other and nodded as they stood their ground, ready to fight Iron Will. Iron Will let out another roar as he charged towards the unicorns. The two unicorns started to fire magic at Iron Will, but it barely did anything as the minotaur continued to run towards them. The unicorns also began to run towards Iron Will and at the last second, they both slid underneath him, avoiding his attack. Once they had passed him, the unicorns used their magic to hold Iron Will’s hands in place. Iron Will roared as he struggled to fight against the magic being used against him. The two unicorns decided that they would just do their best to keep Iron Will still for as long as they could. This plan was quickly fumbled however when one of the unicorns was shot in the back by Flim, who had spotted the commotion while he was fighting. With one of his hands now free, Iron Will smashed his fist through the house next to him, picking up a piece of rubble and throwing it at the other unicorn. Iron Will ran towards the unicorns and managed to pick them both up. With one more roar, Iron Will slammed the two unicorns into the ground, killing them. With those two down, Iron Will ran into the street to join in with the rest of the fight. Meanwhile, Double Diamond and Feather Bangs were still keeping Discorded Whooves busy. One of the mechanical arms tried to grab ahold of Double Diamond, but he was able to smack it away with the ski he had. Feather Bangs smacked away another arm that tried to grab him and then he grabbed ahold of the arm and tried to pull the Doctor down. This didn’t work however as one of the lower arms that kept Discorded Whooves suspended in the air, grabbed ahold of Feather Bangs, and tossed him to the side. The Doctor then focused all of his attention on Double Diamond, who was now temporarily on his own. Discorded Whooves kept only the bottom right arm on the ground to keep him raised in the air, while the other three arms were going to be used for combat. “Let’s see if you can handle this!” Discorded Whooves yelled as all three of the arms reached out for Double Diamond. Double Diamond reacted quickly as he dodged and avoided all three of the arms before smacking them away with his ski. Discorded Whooves growled as he sent the bottom left arm out to try and grab Double Diamond’s legs. Double Diamond jumped over the arm and managed to kick away another arm that tried to grab him. However, he was unable to avoid the third arm, which grabbed ahold of him. This caused Double Diamond to drop his ski as he was brought closer to the Doctor, all while struggling to break free. Discorded Whooves then allowed both bottom arms to stay on the ground, while still keeping the lower right arm up and facing behind him. “You fought very well. However, it seems your time has passed!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he raised up the upper left arm and electrified it. “Time for some good old fashioned electroshock therapy!” Discorded Whooves said as he brought the electrified claw closer to Double Diamond. However, before Discorded Whooves could electrocute Double Diamond again, they both heard the sound of somepony yelling from behind them. Feather Bangs had gotten back up and was now jumping in the air, ready to hit the Doctor on the back of the head with his ski. Double Diamond looked at the Doctor and smiled, however his smile quickly faded away when he saw the Doctor grin back at him. “Feather Bangs! Look out!” Double Diamond yelled, but it was too late. Discorded Whooves had anticipated something like that would happen, so he purposely kept one of the lower arms raised up and face behind him. That way, the mechanical arm would see if somepony was trying to get the jump on the Doctor. The lower right arm reached out and grabbed ahold of Feather Bangs. Discorded Whooves then threw Double Diamond into the side of a building, now turning his attention towards Feather Bangs. “(Chuckle) Clever move, however, I saw it coming from a mile away.” Discorded Whooves said as he raised the upper right arm up. Feather Bangs was horrified when he saw a huge spike pop out from the palm of the arm’s right claw. He tried with all his might to break free from the arm’s grip, but it was no use. Discorded Whooves chuckled one last time before he sent the arm to impale Feather Bangs in the chest. Feather Bangs closed his eyes, ready to be killed, however, he felt nothing. He opened his eyes and gasped as he saw the spike was only inches from his body. This confused the Doctor as he tried to get the arm to kill Feather Bangs, but the arm wouldn’t budge. Frustrated, Discorded Whooves looked at the arms and yelled at them. “Grr! What are you doing!? Kill him!” Discorded Whooves yelled as the arms began to open and close their claws repeatedly. “Innocent!? We’ve had this discussion before! This is necessary! Now, KILL HIM!” Discorded Whooves yelled as the arms finally shot forward and stabbed Feather Bangs in the chest, piercing his heart. “FEATHER BANGS!” Double Diamond yelled as he watched his friend get stabbed in the chest. As soon as the blade pierced Feather Bangs’s heart, he coughed up blood and looked down at his chest where he had been stabbed. Feather Bangs then looked up at the Doctor with a look of confusion and horror. Discorded Whooves chuckled as he grabbed ahold of Feather Bangs’s head with the upper left arm and twisted his neck around, killing him instantly. With Feather Bangs now dead, Discorded Whooves threw the body at Double Diamond, who managed to dodge it. “Now, it’s your turn.” Discorded Whooves said as he raised the upper two arms in the air. While Discorded Whooves went after Double Diamond, Night Glider and Lightning Dust were still fighting in the air. Night Glider did her best to counter every attack the Lightning Dust used against her. Lightning Dust eventually managed to land a punch to Night Glider’s gut and then kicked her back. Night Glider recovered quickly as she landed two punches to Lightning Dust’s face. With Lightning Dust stunned from the face punches, Night Glider proceeded to kick her multiple times in the chest and then smacked her in the side of the head with a good punch. Lightning Dust managed to block another punch as she landed a sucker punch to Night Glider’s jaw. Lightning Dust then grabbed Night Glider, holding her arms and legs in place so she couldn’t struggle. Before Lightning Dust could do anything else, she was tackled by the last Pegasus of the town. This caused Night Glider to be freed from Lightning Dust’s grip as now there were two Pegasi against one. Lightning Dust was then hit in the back by the other Pegasus, which caused her to fly forward and right in the way of Night Glider’s punch to her chest. The other Pegasus flew up behind Lightning Dust and held her arms behind her back. This allowed Night Glider to fly up to her and started punching her in the face over and over again. Eventually, Lightning Dust was able to free herself when she used the back of her head to smack the Pegasus in the face. This caused him to lose his grip on her and Lightning Dust kicked Night Glider in the face, sending her back a bit. Lightning Dust then flew around behind the Pegasus and grabbed him by the side of his head. As Night Glider managed to regain herself, she could only watch in horror as Lightning Dust snapped the Pegasus’s neck, killing him and allowing his body to fall to the ground. Night Glider screamed in anger as she flew straight towards Lightning Dust. Lightning Dust was tackled out of the air and as the two Pegasi fell to the ground, they continued to beat each other until they both landed on the roof of a building. Night Glider got up quickly grabbed Lightning Dust’s leg, pulling her closer. Lightning Dust responded by kicking Night Glider in the face with her other leg. This caused Night Glider to cry out in pain as she let go of Lightning Dust, only to be headbutted hard by Lightning Dust. Night Glider managed to headbutt Lightning Dust back as she kicked her in the chest before punching her in the face. The two Pegasi continued to fight each other on the roof of the building until Lightning Dust flew up and tried to tackle Night Glider. Night Glider reacted quickly as she jumped up and right as Lightning Dust was underneath her, she smacked Lightning Dust right on the head with her hoof, causing her to hit her face on the roof of the building. With Lightning Dust hurt pretty badly, Night Glider flipped Lightning Dust over and placed her hoof against Lightning Dust’s throat. “WHY!? Why are you all doing this!? What did we ever do to any of you!?” Night Glider screamed as she eased up on the amount of pressure, she had been applying to Lightning Dust’s neck. “(Cough) We have our orders… (Cough) That’s why.” Lightning Dust gasped as she felt Night Glider’s hoof press harder against her throat. Night Glider growled at this answer and was about to crush Lightning Dust’s throat, but she was stopped when a beam of magic hit her in the face. The beam had been fired by Flam, who had seen the whole thing from the streets. With Night Glider stunned, Lightning Dust flew over to her and grabbed her by the sides of her head. With a yell, Lightning Dust started to bash the back of Night Glider’s head onto the roof. This worked for a bit until Night Glider kicked Lightning Dust off of her. Night Glider flew over to Lightning Dust and started to punch her in the face as hard as she could. After a few good punches, Night Glider was finally able to overpower her opponent as she landed a strong roundhouse kick to Lightning Dust’s face, causing the Pegasus to fly off of the roof and land hard on the ground below. Night Glider knew that this would only keep Lightning Dust down for a little, but she would take this time to help out the rest of her friends. Meanwhile, Discorded Whooves and Double Diamond were still fighting. Double Diamond had managed to retrieve one of his skis and used it to fend off against the mechanical arms. One of the arms tried to take the ski away, but Double Diamond jumped out of the way and jumped over the second arm that tried to grab him. Once he landed back on the ground, Double Diamond ran towards the Doctor and slid right underneath him. The arms tried to grab him, but they ended up smacking into each other and they even got tangled up. “NO!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he tried to get the upper two arms to untangle themselves. Double Diamond smiled as he knew this was his chance. He ran towards the Doctor and jumped up in the air before he landed on the back of the Doctor and started to smack him in the back of the head with his ski. One of the lower arms tried to grab Double Diamond, but he had jumped off of the Doctor and the arm ended up grabbing the Doctor by mistake. Double Diamond took this opportunity to charge towards the last arm that was keeping the Doctor in the air. With one good swing with his ski, the arm lost its balance and caused the Doctor to fall to the ground. Double Diamond was about to beat the Doctor down, but the arms had finally managed to untangle themselves and one of them electrified itself before slamming onto the ground in front of Double Diamond. With the ground electrified, Double Diamond started getting electrocuted, dropping his ski as he could not move a muscle. Discorded Whooves laughed at this as he raised himself up and then used the spike on one of the arms to stab Double Diamond’s back leg. “GAH!” Double Diamond yelled as he felt the long spike pierce his flesh. Once the electrocution had stopped, Double Diamond fell to the floor. His back leg was so badly hurt that he couldn’t stand on it anymore. As Double Diamond tried desperately to crawl away, he was grabbed by one of the arms and brought up into the air, facing the Doctor. “(Chuckle) I’m impressed. You almost had me there. But I’ll always come out on top, my friend.” Discorded Whooves said as he looked at Double Diamond. “(Grunt) Why are you doing this to us? Why kill all of these innocent ponies? We never did anything to you! We’ve never even met you!” Double Diamond yelled as he tried to break free. “(Chuckle) It’s all part of the plan. We have our reasons. Reasons that none of you need to-GAH! WHAT THE!?” Discorded Whooves yelled as he was hit in the back of the head by Night Glider. “Night Glider, no! He’s too dangerous!” Double Diamond cried. “I’m not letting you die, Double Diamond! Let him go you maniac!” Night Glider yelled as she slammed into the Doctor. As Night Glider started to fight Discorded Whooves, the Doctor proceeded to throw Double Diamond into the side of a building, which broke Double Diamond’s leg. With both of his back legs now being severely injured, Double Diamond could only watch in terror as Night Glider bravely fought the Doctor. Night Glider acted quickly as she started punching Discorded Whooves in the face multiple times before she flew out of the way as one of the arms tried to grab her from below. The upper arms tried to reach her, but she was too high up and out of range. Discorded Whooves looked up at Night Glider and beckoned for her to come down and fight him. Night Glider responded by diving down towards the Doctor and narrowly avoided getting slashed by one of the claws. Night Glider was able to land an uppercut on the Doctor and she used her legs to kick him in the stomach, while also using the kick to launch her away from him. The arms then swiped and clawed at Night Glider while she kicked them away. Discorded Whooves then electrified the upper two arms, forcing Night Glider to change her strategy. Since she could no longer defend herself from the arms without hurting herself, Night Glider decided to try and evade them as much as possible, while also trying to get close to Discorded Whooves. The arms reached out and tried to grab Night Glider, but she flew under them and straight past the Doctor, before turning around and heading towards him. Discorded Whooves only laughed as one of the lower arms suddenly reached out and smacked Night Glider back. Discorded Whooves turned around to face the Pegasus as he deactivated the electricity on his arms. Night Glider flew up and tried to double back around to tackle the Doctor from behind. This didn’t work as the arms lifted Discorded Whooves higher into the air, allowing him to avoid Night Glider’s attack. Discorded Whooves then picked up two boxes with his upper arms and tossed them at Night Glider, who dodged every single one. Night Glider managed to get close and kick the Doctor in the face before punching him in the chest. Discorded Whooves headbutted Night Glider, stunning her as one of the arms smacked her higher in the air, before grabbing her and throwing her back down to the ground. When Night Glider hit the floor, her wings were suddenly grabbed by each of the upper arms as they lifted her up. With her wings held in place, Night Glider could only struggle helplessly as Discorded Whooves grinned at her. “You’re quite the reckless Pegasus. It’s time to be grounded, RAH!” Discorded Whooves yelled as the arms tore Night Glider’s wings off. Night Glider screamed in pain as she felt her wings get ripped off of her body. Without her wings, Night Glider started to fall towards the ground, but she was caught by one of the arms. Discorded Whooves laughed at Night Glider before he threw her into Double Diamond, causing the two to slam into a wall and knocking Night Glider unconscious. “Night Glider!” Double Diamond cried as he held Night Glider in his arms. “Y-You bastard!” “Stay where you are! Or else I will kill everypony else in this village!” Discorded Whooves yelled as he turned to go and finish off whatever was left of the village. “Celestia… please… help us…” Double Diamond said as he succumbed to his injuries and passed out next to Night Glider. During Discorded Whooves’s battle against Double Diamond and Night Glider, the rest of the Rogue had almost taken down the rest of the village’s population. Eventually, the only ponies that were still fighting was Party Favor, Sugar Belle, an earth pony stallion, and two more unicorns. The five remaining fighters were now battling against Discorded Whooves, Lightning Dust, Iron Will, and the Flim Flam brothers. Despite their best efforts, the five remaining fighters knew that they wouldn’t last much longer against the Rogue. Two of the remaining unicorns were having a magic duel with Flim and Flam, each side ducking behind boxes and other debris to try and protect themselves. For a while, no pony was getting hit by magic as they either missed or would hit something else. Party Favor had seen this and was about to run over to help the two unicorns, but he was cut off when Lightning Dust flew up in front of him with a small piece of wood in her hooves. “Oh no you don’t!” Lightning Dust said as she threw the wood at Party Favor. Party Favor quickly jumped out of the way, avoiding the wood that Lightning Dust had thrown at him. Party Favor then fired a beam of magic towards the Pegasus, but she dodged it and began to taunt him. “Ha, ha! Whoop! Missed me! Nope! Missed me again! Epic fail! Ha!” Lightning Dust yelled as she continued to dodge every single beam of magic that Party Favor fired at her. While Lightning Dust was keeping Party Favor busy, Iron Will charged towards Sugar Belle and the earth pony stallion, intending to crush them with his gauntlets. However, before Iron Will could reach them, the earth pony was suddenly grabbed by Discorded Whooves and thrown to the side, with the Doctor crawling after him. This left Sugar Belle alone with the dangerous minotaur. Sugar Belle ran towards one of the buildings and smashed through the window. Iron Will smashed through the wall seconds later, but he was hit in the face by a plate. Iron Will yelled out in pain as he rubbed his face, trying to feel for any glass on his face. Since the building they were both currently in was Sugar Belle’s bakery, she had a lot of ammo at her disposal. Sugar Belle wasted no time as she picked up two apple pies and threw them at Iron Will’s face. With his face covered with pie residue, Sugar Belle picked up another plate. “RRAAGGH! How dare you throw pies at Iron Will! OW!!” Iron Will yelled as he was hit in the face by another plate. “How dare I? How dare I!? How dare you attack our village!” Sugar Belle yelled as she grabbed a cloth from the countertop and threw it over Iron Will’s head, causing it to get tangled up by his horns. “AH! Get it off! Get it off!” Iron Will yelled as he tried to tear the cloth off of his face. “Here, let me, HELP YOU!” Sugar Belle yelled as she picked up a small stool with her magic, and threw it at Iron Will’s head, causing him to fall onto his back. As Iron Will fell onto the floor, with the cloth still stuck on his head, Sugar Belle quickly ran back to her counter and grabbed a small display tray with her magic. Sugar Belle then started to bash Iron Will in the head over and over with the tray, making sure that he would really feel every single hit. Meanwhile, Discorded Whooves was chasing down the earth pony stallion. The pony was pretty fast as he ran away from the Doctor, avoiding each of the mechanical arms. Eventually, Discorded Whooves got tired of chasing the stallion, so he used all four of his arms to launch himself into the air like a jumping spider. The stallion stopped and turned around, confused as to where the Doctor could have gone. His inner thoughts were quickly responded to when Discorded Whooves landed right behind him and used his upper right arm to pin the pony down to the ground. The stallion did his best to break free and push the arm off of his back, but his efforts were shattered when Discorded Whooves used a large spike on his upper left arm to stab the stallion in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Discorded Whooves laughed at his little victory as he picked up the body of the earth pony and examined it. After tossing the body to the side, Discorded Whooves turned his attention to where Iron Will and Sugar Belle were having their little brawl inside the bakery. Discorded Whooves was rather curious to see how this simple unicorn would fare against the angry minotaur, so he decided to go and watch the fight from outside the building. Meanwhile, Sugar Belle continued to hit Iron Will over the head with her display tray. That was until the tray had accidentally torn the cloth off of Iron Will’s horns. Iron Will shoved Sugar Belle away from him as he stood up and used whatever was left of the cloth to clean his face. “GRRR! Bakery Pony humiliated Iron Will! Now Iron Will crush you!” Iron Will roared as he charged towards Sugar Belle. Sugar Belle thought fast as she quickly grabbed a wooden spoon with her mouth and then dove underneath Iron Will. Sugar Belle was lucky to have avoided getting crushed, however she was devastated when she watched Iron Will smash right into the display case that Big Macintosh had fixed up and improved for her a while back, destroying it. Enraged by this, Sugar Belle chucked the spoon at Iron Will, hitting him in the face as he turned to face her. Iron Will shook the pain away quickly as he ran towards Sugar Belle, who leaped out of the building just in time. Iron Will followed quickly as he raised his fist in the air and brought it down towards Sugar Belle. Thankfully Iron Will had overshot his aim and barely missed his target, seemingly causing his gauntlet to be jammed into the ground. Sugar Belle took this opportunity to run up to Iron Will and started punching him in the face. Iron Will grinned as he suddenly pulled his fist out of the ground with relative ease before grabbing Sugar Belle. “Got you!” Iron Will yelled as he clamped his fingers tightly around Sugar Belle’s body. “NO! Let me go!” Sugar Belle yelled as she tried to break free from Iron Will’s grip. “Now Iron Will shall crush you!” Iron Will yelled as he started to squeeze Sugar Belle with the intent of crushing her to death. Sugar Belle was immediately hit with the feeling of her body being squeezed like the way a large snake would constrict its prey. She knew it was only a matter of time before she was crushed to death and there was nothing she could do. She wasn’t strong enough in terms of physical strength or magical strength to escape from the deadly grip of this monstrous minotaur. Sugar Belle’s head was suddenly filled with images of her whole life and her most precious memories. She knew the end was near and she closed her eyes, ready to accept death. However, before death could take her, Sugar Belle heard a voice. “Iron Will! Let her go!” Discorded Whooves ordered as the arms carried him closer to the minotaur. “What!? Why!?” Iron Will asked, just barely loosening his grip around Sugar Belle. “This unicorn has just shown me that she is tough enough to take on a whole minotaur. Therefore, she will be one of our hostages.” Discorded Whooves said. “But, but-.” Iron Will said before he was quickly brushed off. “Take her to the other two and guard them, will you? Thank you.” Discorded Whooves said, pointing to where Double Diamond and Night Glider were still laying before he walked off to finish off the rest of the survivors. “You are lucky that Doctor spared you! Iron Will was not going to.” Iron Will said as he glared into Sugar Belle’s eyes. Sugar Belle said nothing as she looked on in horror as Discorded Whooves made his way to the others. The two remaining unicorns were still blasting at the Flim Flam brothers, who made no effort to come out in the open. Eventually, one of the unicorns decided to draw the brothers out by running out into the open. As the unicorn did this however, she was quickly snatched up by one of the mechanical arms of the Doctor. The unicorn tried to fire her magic at the Doctor, but he had angled her in a position so that no matter how much she shot off her magic, she would never hit him. The other unicorn jumped out from his cover as he started to shoot his magic at the Doctor. However, none of the beams of magic hit him as the arms blocked every single beam. While Discorded Whooves was keeping the two unicorns busy, the Flim Flam brothers saw an opportunity to finish the unicorns off. “Quick brother! Shoot the unicorn in the Doctor’s arm!” Flim yelled as he pointed to the unicorn trapped in the arm’s grip. “Taking the shot!” Flam responded as he fired his most powerful beam of magic at the unicorn’s face. When the unicorn was hit in the face by Flam’s magic, she nearly went unconscious due to the sheer power from the attack. However, before she could do anything else, the spike that was in the claw of the arm that held the unicorn suddenly shot out and impaled the unicorn through the stomach. The unicorn cried out as she felt the spike pierce her stomach and then her head was grabbed by a second arm. With a loud grunt, Discorded Whooves ripped the unicorn’s head off. While this was happening, the last unicorn was still hopelessly trying to shoot the Doctor with magic, he was suddenly being shot repeatedly by Flim and Flam, who saw that he was out in the open. After being hit multiple times by the brothers’ magic, the unicorn fell to the ground in pain. Discorded Whooves quickly took care of him as he tossed the headless body of the other unicorn off of his arm and used the spike from that same arm to stab the unicorn through the side of his head, killing him instantly. Meanwhile, Party Favor was still battling against Lightning Dust, completely unaware that he was the last pony still fighting the Rogue off. While the two ponies continued to fight each other, Lightning Dust managed to catch sight of Discorded Whooves, slowly making his way over to them. Lightning Dust grinned as she knew he was going for a surprise attack, so she kept on fighting like nothing else was going on. Party Favor kept on blasting magic at the Pegasus, but she kept dodging every single one. Eventually Lightning Dust allowed herself to get shot as she fell to the ground, pretending to be seriously injured. “You won’t be hurting anypony else anymore.” Party Favor said as he looked down at Lightning Dust. “(Chuckle) I guess you’re right. After all, we’re already done here. GET HIM!” Lightning Dust yelled. “Huh? Woah!” Party Favor yelled as he was suddenly grabbed by one of the mechanical arms. When Party Favor was snatched up by one of the arms, he tried to break free, but the arm’s grip was too strong. Discorded Whooves chuckled as he brought Party Favor closer to him, prepared to taunt him. However, before any kind of taunts or insults could be said, Party Favor landed a direct hit of magic to Discorded Whooves’s face. The Doctor yelled in pain as he dropped Party Favor to the ground. Seeing the unicorn break free, Lightning Dust flew over to him and tackled him to the ground. Lightning Dust started punching Party Favor multiple times, but he was able to break out of the assault when he blasted Lightning Dust in the face with magic, throwing her off of him. Party Favor then pinned her down to the ground as he prepared to fire one more beam of magic into her face. However, before Party Favor could use his magic, he was grabbed by the top of his head by one of the mechanical arms. With Party Favor locked into the grip of one of arms’ claws, Discorded Whooves began to squeeze, intending to crush the unicorn’s head in. As more and more pressure was applied to his head, Party Favor tried using his magic to push the claw off of his head. The pain that was starting to surge through Party Favor’s body was intense and he started to yell in desperation, trying with all of his might to break free, all while Discorded Whooves stared down at him with a grin. A few agonizing moments later, the claw around Party Favor’s head and horn tightened as hard as it could and then there was a mini explosion that sent Discorded Whooves stumbling back a bit and Party Favor fell to the floor. As Party Favor recovered from the blast, he stood up and felt immense pain in his head, specifically around his horn. Instinctively Party Favor started to feel his horn and the moment he did, he realized something terrible. His horn had been destroyed by the explosion. Now, only helpless sparks came out of Party Favor’s horn, or whatever was left of it. Discorded Whooves chuckled as he walked over to Party Favor and picked him up with one of the arms. Once he had brought the hornless unicorn closer to him, he smiled in a psychotic way. “(Chuckle) You know, I intended to kill you. But seeing that you are now a unicorn without a horn, I think I will keep you alive. That way, you will suffer for the rest of your miserable life. Come, your friends are waiting for you.” Discorded Whooves said as he carried a defeated Party Favor to where Double Diamond, Night Glider, and Sugar Belle were being watched over by Iron Will. When Discorded Whooves reached the remaining ponies of the village, he tossed Party Favor on the ground in front of them. Party Favor hit the floor hard as he slid up next to his friends. “(Chuckle) The whole gang is back together again.” Discorded Whooves said as he stared down at the surviving ponies. “You monsters!” Double Diamond yelled as he tried to stand. “You’ll pay for what you have done here! GAH!” Double Diamond yelled as he was sent shot in the side by Flim’s magic. “Oh, shut up, will you? You’ve already lost.” Flim said with a laugh. “We may have lost, but you’ll all be sorry when Twilight and her friends hear about this! Especially Starlight!” Night Glider yelled as she winced in pain. “Yeah! Just you all wait until they show up!” Sugar Belle yelled. “Trust me, that’s exactly what we want.” Lightning Dust said as she kicked dust into Sugar Belle’s face. “That was the whole point of this attack after all. You see, the plan was to attack this village, leave a couple ponies alive to use as hostages, and then use the hostages to lure Twilight and her friends here.” Flam explained. “It doesn’t matter what your plan was! We’ll never trick Twilight and the others to walk into your trap!” Double Diamond yelled. “(Chuckle) Oh, really?” Discorded Whooves asked as he brought one of the mechanical arms close to the ponies and made it open and shut in a threatening matter. “We will see about that. Why don’t you all tell me, are there any more survivors?” “What do you think!? You’ve killed all of us! The whole town is dead! There are no more survivors!” Night Glider yelled. “She’s lying. I saw that pony lead a group of fillies and colts into that building over there.” Lightning Dust said as she first pointed to Sugar Belle and then to the building where Sugar Belle had kept the children hidden. “Oh? Is that true?” Discorded Whooves asked in a sadistic way. “NO! You would never hurt those fillies and colts! You wouldn’t!” Sugar Belle cried. “(Evil Chuckle) I would.” Discorded Whooves replied as he grinned at the ponies. “Unless you do exactly what we say.” “Okay, fine! We’ll do whatever you want! Just don’t hurt the children!” Double Diamond yelled. “(Evil Chuckle) Very good. Now, just to make sure our message is clear.” Discorded Whooves said as he suddenly stabbed Party Favor in the chest with the spike on his right arm. “NO!” Everypony cried as Party Favor was suddenly stabbed. “I’ve changed my mind about you. I think we can mange with three surviving members.” Discorded Whooves said as he pulled the spike out of Party Favor’s chest. “Party Favor, no!” Sugar Belle cried as she held him in her hooves. “Come on, buddy! Stay with us!” Double Diamond said as he tried to tend to Party Favor’s wound. “(Cough) It’s… no use… I’m not gonna make it…” Party Favor said as he coughed up blood. “You can’t die! Come on, stay strong!” Night Glider pleaded as she held onto Party Favor’s hoof. “I’m… so glad… to have met you guys… I’m so happy that we… were… friends…” Party Favor said as he gave his best friends one last smile before finally succumbing to his wounds and died. As Party Favor died in the arms of his best friends, everypony started to cry as they just held onto his body. The death of Party Favor, as well as the destruction of the town finally broke all of them. All of the anger and hatred that the ponies had for the Rogue was gone; replaced by sadness and helplessness. They had all failed to protect their home from these monsters. While the three remaining friends just cried in each other’s hooves, the Rogue turned their attention to Professor Screw, who was walking over to them. “The attack is finished, yes?” Professor Screw asked as he looked at the Rogue. “What does it look like? Of course, it is finished.” Discorded Whooves said as he gestured to the rest of the village. “Very good. In that case, we will wait here until morning. When the time is right, I will cast a spell and you will deliver your message to the ponies of Ponyville.” Professor Screw said. “(Chuckle) Oh those ponies are going to be in for a surprise.” Discorded Whooves said as he and the rest of Rogue all laughed together, each member excited for the next day when they would finally get to face off against the Mane Six. Ponyville, The Next Morning… Twilight was pacing back and forth once again as she was now waiting for the arrival of the Royal Sisters as well as Princess Cadance. Starlight watched as Twilight sat down and started to breathe heavily. “Oh, I really hope the princesses get here soon.” Twilight said as Starlight walked up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Twilight. They’ll be here soon.” Starlight said, reassuring her friend. “Thanks, Starlight. I’ve just been a bit on edge since yesterday, you know.” Twilight said as she calmed down a little. “I understand. So, what exactly are you going to talk about with the princesses?” Starlight asked. “Well, of course I’m going to tell them everything we saw in Appleloosa after it was attacked. But I’m also going to tell them about the ones responsible for the attack. It just doesn’t add up that they would be the ones to do something so horrible.” Twilight said. “I can see what you mean. I may not have known them for long, but I can agree that no pony just does something evil for no reason. Even I had my reasons for doing those horrible things that I did before you reformed me.” Starlight said. “Maybe the other princesses can help me find out what is-.” Twilight said before Spike poked his head into the room. “Twilight, they’re here.” Spike said, catching the alicorn’s attention. “Oh good, come on, let’s go.” Twilight said as they all went to greet the princesses. At the entrance to Twilight’s castle, stood Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance. Celestia and Luna had arrived in their royal carriages and Cadance had taken the train from the Crystal Empire to Ponyville. Twilight quickly opened up her doors with her magic and gestured for the princesses to come inside. “I’m so glad you all came.” Twilight said. “Of course, we did, Twilight.” Cadance said as she gave a smile to her sister-in-law. “I wish we could be seeing each other under friendly circumstances, but we have something very important to discuss.” “That is right, Cadance.” Celestia said as she then turned to the royal guards who had come with her and Luna. “Guards, wait here until our meeting is finished. Make sure we are not disturbed.” “Yes, Princess Celestia.” the four royal Canterlot guards said as they took their posts around the entrance to Twilight’s castle. “The same order goes for you two.” Cadance said to the two royal guards who had accompanied her. “Yes, Princess Cadance.” the two royal Crystal Empire guards said as they joined up with the Canterlot guards. “I believe the room with the Cutie Map will be a good place to have our discussion.” Celestia said, turning back to Twilight. “Oh, y-yes, of course! Right this way.” Twilight said as she led the princesses to the Cutie Map room. As Celestia and Cadance entered the Cutie Map room, Luna turned back to face Starlight and Spike. “We suggest that you remain out here. This is a matter between us princesses. We hope no offense is taken.” Luna said. “Don’t worry, Princess Luna. We understand.” Starlight said. “Yeah, no offense taken. We’ll wait here.” Spike added with a thumbs up. Luna gave Starlight and Spike a nod and a smile as she walked into the room, using her magic to shut the door behind her. Twilight was sitting on her throne that had her cutie mark, Celestia sat across from her, and Cadance sat on the right side of the table. Luna took her spot across from Cadance. Once all the princesses were seated, Celestia spoke up. “Now, Twilight, if you are ready, we would like to hear exactly what happened in Appleloosa.” Celestia said, looking at Twilight with a comforting yet serious look. “We understand if this is difficult to talk about, but it is very important that we know everything about this tragic event.” Luna added, giving Twilight the same look that her sister had given her. “There’s no need to rush, Twilight. Take your time if you have to, this is a safe place.” Cadance said, giving her a comforting smile. Twilight nodded as she took a couple seconds to compose herself before taking a deep breath and then began to tell the princesses everything. She told them about the destruction of Appleloosa; the buildings and homes that were completely destroyed and practically beyond repair. She told them about the bodies. The bodies of many poor innocent townsponies who had been killed in the attack. The state that Twilight described some of the bodies was horrific. Ponies that had their heads cut off or smashed in by falling debris, legs being chopped off or crushed, stomachs being opened up with intestines and guts spilled out. It was far worse than the princesses could ever imagine. Eventually, Cadance had to stop Twilight from going any further as she could tell Twilight was on the verge of either vomiting or suffering from a panic attack. While Cadance did her best to calm her sister-in-law down, Celestia and Luna looked at each other with very concerned looks. Once Twilight had calmed down, she then started to tell them about the villains responsible for these heinous acts. When Twilight mentioned who had attacked Appleloosa, the princesses were taken by surprise. “So, you’re saying it was Doctor Whooves, Lightning Dust, Iron Will, and the Flim Flam brothers that attacked Appleloosa, Twilight?” Celestia asked, wondering if she had heard her correctly. “Yes, Princess. At least according to what Braeburn and Capper told us.” Twilight replied. “And this Doctor Whooves was acting as the leader of the attack?” Luna asked. “That’s right.” Twilight said with a nod. “Hold on, you mean the same Doctor Whooves that is in love with Derpy Hooves?” Cadance asked. “Yes. Wait, how do you know that?” Twilight asked. “I’m the Princess of Love, Twilight. During the few times I have seen or spoken to Doctor Whooves, I could feel the love he had for Derpy. But that’s not important right now. I’m not sure about the others, but it’s hard for me to believe that Doctor Whooves would do something like this.” Cadance said. “That’s what I thought too. It just doesn’t add up. I can honestly say the same for the others that took part in the attack.” Twilight said. “It is a rather drastic change in activity for these troublemakers. To go from being a simple nuisance to committing acts of murder is very concerning.” Luna said. “It’s been eating away at me ever since I got back from Appleloosa. It got me thinking, what if there’s more to this whole story? I’m not one hundred percent sure about it yet, but I have a feeling that somepony else is behind all of this.” Twilight said. “It is possible, yes. Even if these troublemakers aren’t being mind-controlled, ponies can still be manipulated to do horrible things. Tirek and Cozy Glow are locked up in Tartarus, however there is one villain who is still out there.” Celestia said. “Queen Chrysalis.” Twilight said, catching onto what Celestia was implying. “It would make the most sense. Chrysalis would want to get her revenge for losing her hive and her whole army.” Cadance said. “True, but no pony has seen or heard from Chrysalis since she lost her hive. Where would we even begin to look?” Twilight asked. “We are not sure, but when we return to Canterlot, we will send scouts to search Equestria to try and find Chrysalis.” Luna said. “I’ll have Shining send some scouts as well. Equestria is massive and it will take some time, but sooner or later, Chrysalis will be found.” Cadance said. “Of course, we will also make sure to search for these troublemakers that attacked Appleloosa. We can only hope that they don’t cause any more harm to Equestria before we find them.” Celestia said. “Until things get better, I’ve arranged for the survivors of Appleloosa to stay in Ponyville. There’s plenty of rooms at the hotel and some ponies have even offered to let some of the survivors move in with them in guestrooms free of charge.” Twilight said. “That is very good, Twilight. I am very proud to hear that you are doing your best to help these ponies during this time of panic. You really have come a long way since-.” Celestia said before the doors opened, revealing one of the guard ponies. “Forgive me for the intrusion, your highnesses. But there are a group of ponies outside that need to speak with Princess Twilight Sparkle.” The guard said, bowing to the princesses. “O-Oh, well can you please tell them that I’m kind of in the middle of an important meeting?” Twilight asked. “They say it’s an emergency. I’m not sure what it is, but something is happening in the skies above Ponyville’s Town Hall.” The guard said. “What!?” Twilight cried, her wings suddenly flaring. “Guard, let the ponies in and then go gather up the other guards and make sure everypony is safe.” Celestia ordered as she stood from her seat. “Yes, your highness.” the guard said as he bowed and quickly left the room. No sooner did the guard leave the room than the sound of Rainbow Dash’s voice could be heard getting closer and louder. “Twilight!” Rainbow Dash cried as she flew into the room, quickly followed by the rest of her friends. “You gotta come see this!” “What’s going on, everypony? What’s happening?” Twilight asked. “We don’t know for sure, but while you were having your meeting, something strange just started happening in the sky.” Applejack said. “Yeah! At first, we thought it was just a simple mistake made on the Weather Team’s part or something. But then there was a lot of lightning and stuff showing up in the sky! It kind of looks like the work of twittermites but this is so much worse!” Pinkie Pie cried. “Everypony is already gathered around the town hall, we’re terribly worried that something really bad is about to happen.” Rarity said. “Twilight, we will continue this discussion later. For now, it is best if we investigate this matter.” Celestia said. “Y-Yes! Of course! Come on, let’s go!” Twilight said as she and everypony else quickly left the castle and headed for town hall. As everypony made their way to the town hall, Twilight saw what was causing so much panic. Right above the building, there were five orbs of lightning floating around in a circle, each one connected by strings of electricity. Sparks were bursting out from each orb, though thankfully no damage was being done to Ponyville. It seemed like the whole town was there as they stared up at the massive lightning orbs in the sky. Mayor Mare spotted Twilight and the rest of her friends approaching and quickly rushed over to them. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here!” Mayor Mare said. “We have no idea what is happening, but it certainly does not look good.” “Don’t worry Mayor Mare. We’ll figure out what is happening.” Twilight said as she turned to Celestia. “Princess, do you know what that is?” “I can’t say that I do, Twilight. But one thing for sure, we cannot allow this phenomenon to stay here.” Celestia said. “Why don’t we all use our magic on those orbs? Maybe all of our powers together can put a stop to this.” Cadance suggested. “That could work. Very good idea, Cadance.” Luna said as she turned to everypony else. “Citizens! Stand back! Your Princesses of Equestria shall try and get rid of this problem that is plaguing Ponyville!” Luna shouted, using the Royal Canterlot Voice as everypony else stepped back. The four princesses all gave each other a confirming nod as they stood together and faced the five orbs in the sky. One by one, each of the alicorns charged up their horns with magic and once they were ready, fired four beams of magic towards the orbs. As the princesses’ magic hit each of the orbs, there was a brief moment where the magic and the orbs seemed to be mixing together in a strange way before small waves of energy burst from the orbs. Whatever this energy was, it cancelled out the magic of the princesses. “Wh-What!? What happened!?” Twilight cried, shocked that her magic, along with the other princesses’ magic had been cancelled out. “Whatever those orbs are, it seems that our magic is ineffective against them.” Luna said as she rubbed at her horn. “No matter, we will simply try again. Stand together!” Celestia said. “Wait! Something is happening to the orbs! Look!” Cadance said as she pointed to the orbs. Initially the five orbs had been floating in a circular motion, with small bursts of electricity shooting out from each one. Now, the speed at which the orbs were circling each other was getting faster and faster. Along with the increased speed of the orbs, it was also clear that the orbs were now getting closer and closer to each other. The closer the orbs got, the more powerful the bursts of electricity would become. Greatly concerned that the orbs would cause an explosion once they collided with each other, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance used their magic to create a large shield over the citizens of Ponyville. When the orbs finally did collide with each other, they merged together, creating an even bigger orb. The orb started spinning around at an extremely high speed and more bursts of electricity started shooting out. The sound of electricity being charged up could be heard as it seemed an explosion was now imminent. The charging noise grew louder and louder. As soon as it seemed like the orb was about to explode, it did, however it wasn’t an explosion of lightning or anything dangerous. Instead, when the orb exploded, only a huge burst of light was emitted. Once the light had faded away, there was a huge image in the sky. It was like the way a projector would display an image on a school board. As the image started to become more visible, everypony could now see that the projection of a pony was being displayed in the sky. For the first couple of moments, no pony could tell who this pony in the sky was. But when the sight of four long mechanical arms could be seen, everypony realized who this was. “Oh my! Is that…?” Mayor Mare asked as she looked up at the pony in the sky. “Don’t tell me that’s…” Applejack said as she took a step back. “D-Doctor… Whooves?” Twilight asked as she was filled with surprise as Doctor Whooves looked down at the citizens of Ponyville and smiled, as if he could clearly see them. “(Chuckle) Hello, Ponyville… miss me? GAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHA!” Discorded Whooves asked as he laughed at the ponies, all while everypony else had horrified looks on their faces.