“TWILIGHT SPARKLE! SNAP OUT OF IT!!”
Twilight felt a sudden burst of pain on her cheek—someone smacked her!
“Wha…?” Twilight asked, blinking a few times. All she could see was a green blur.
“Get up!” Starswirl’s ancient voice commanded. “Listen to me! Get! UP!”
Twilight blinked another couple of times and sat up straight. As soon as her eyes regained their focus, she yelped and scrambled backwards—Darkstar’s pale green attack was inches from her face.
“D-Darkstar…” Twilight gasped, hyperventilating. “P-Pinkie… No… N-no…”
“Twilight, you’re in shock,” Starswirl explained. “Can you hear me?”
“He killed them,” Twilight shuddered, looking around at the motionless bodies. “He k-killed them all…”
Starswirl sighed heavily. “Darkstar took us completely by surprise,” he explained, placing a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “But we’re safe for the moment, take a deep breath…”
“S-safe?” Twilight yelped, her head darting back towards Darkstar—he was frozen in place, and so was his attack that was aimed at her.
“Quite a few things happened at once,” Starswirl explained; Twilight looked up at him in confusion. “First things first, are you okay? You really had me worried for a moment there...”
“…Sh…Shining Armor…” Twilight replied weakly, her voice quivering. “…D-Darkstar… he…”
“Twilight, breathe,” Starswirl ordered, clenching her shoulder. “You can’t give up now. You've practically lost the will to live... BREATHE!”
Already feeling lightheaded, Twilight inhaled deeply, waited for a couple of seconds, and exhaled. She closed her eyes and continued to focus on her breathing, trying not to think about the horrible things she had just witnessed.
“That’s it, nice and slow,” Starswirl continued. “Just keep breathing, alright? I need to check on Tre’zan...”
“T-Tre’zan?!” Twilight’s eyes shot open and she turned around. Several yards behind them, Tre’zan lay on his side, badly wounded—a black crossbow bolt was embedded in his shoulder, and his chest had a deep indentation it from where Terra had struck him.
Twilight turned back around and quickly scanned her surroundings again—the only things moving were Starswirl, Tre’zan, and herself. Everyone else—Darkstar, the alicorns, and all of his victims—seemed to be completely frozen in time.
“Tre’zan saved us,” Starswirl explained, floating over towards the injured colt. “Keep breathing!”
Twilight hadn’t realized she had stopped—she resumed her careful breathing process before she became lightheaded again. “What…” she took another deep breath. “…What happened…?”
“You worry about your breathing, I’ll explain what I know,” Starswirl replied. His hat glowed with a faint blue aura, and Tre’zan’s head glowed with a similar one.
Unable to speak in between her breaths, Twilight simply nodded at him.
“I’m sure you’ve gathered that Tre’zan trapped us in a time dilation field,” Starswirl explained. Twilight nodded briefly, so he continued. “I don’t know exactly how much time has passed on the outside, but I know that it didn’t take long for Darkstar to escape.”
“He killed them all,” Twilight mumbled fearfully. “Th-they’re dead…”
“But we aren’t,” Starswirl reminded her. “And that means there’s still hope.”
Twilight stared at him, her heart racing. “Hope?!” she asked, her shocked composure finally cracking under the stress of the situation. “HOPE?! THEY’RE DEAD!”
“Please, breathe…” Starswirl replied quietly. Tears began flowing freely from Twilight’s eyes—she took another deep breath before speaking again.
“W-what d’you mean?” Twilight asked, sniffling. “…How did Darkstar escape…?”
“The time dilation field cut the Elements’ connection to him,” Starswirl continued. “He escaped from the moon, and somehow broke into the field to attack us. The only reason we are alive is because Tre’zan saved us.”
“…W-why did he… save us…?” Twilight asked between labored breaths. “I thought he…”
“I…” Starswirl started—he paused and took a deep breath. “…I broke my own rule. When I saw Darkstar kill Rainbow, I knew we wouldn’t be able to stop him on our own. He would have killed us all, and all of Equestria as well. He wouldn't stop until he's destroyed all life on the planet...”
“Your own… rule?”
“I used Trajo’s telepathic communication method on Tre’zan while he was weak,” Starswirl explained darkly. “…I convinced him to help us…”
“C-couldn’t you have done that sooner?” Twilight cried, closing her eyes and looking away from Dash and Fluttershy’s motionless bodies. Feeling lightheaded again, she returned to her heavy breathing.
“It wasn’t exactly easy,” Starswirl continued. “I had to tell him a lot of things to convince him to save us. And then I had to tell him how… He doesn’t know much about his own power, you know.”
“S-save us,” Twilight shuddered, hopelessly burying her face in her hooves. “Just us…”
“There might be something we can do,” Starswirl told her, floating to her side and placing a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s a long shot, but it’s worth a try…”
“Go back in time?” Twilight asked sarcastically, her voice cracking. “And break your precious causality?!”
“Time-spells won’t even work inside this field. There’s too much warping of time and space to create any sort of bridge. However, we don’t need time spells...”
“…What?”
“Tre’zan doesn’t use ordinary magic to do what he does,” Starswirl continued curiously. “In all honesty, I don’t have the slightest clue how he does what he does, but I have an idea of what he’s capable of…”
“He can go back in time?”
“Not just him,” Starswirl mused, stroking his beard curiously. “You see, by isolating us from the regular flow of regular time in this dilation field, he’s presented us with a… unique set of options that would normally be impossible.”
Twilight’s heart began racing again. “Where is this going?” she asked, wiping her tears away and staring at the wizard. “What kind of options are you talking about?”
“Breathing normally again, I see,” Starswirl observed, his voice starting to regain enthusiasm. “Now that I’ve got your attention, let me explain what I’ve deduced. I’ve run a couple of tests, and it seems that at least two days have passed outside of this field…”
“Two whole days?!” Twilight gasped.
Starswirl nodded at her. “All things considered, it could have been much worse. Still, in that time, Darkstar freed himself and came after us. I’m still not entirely sure how he did it, but he destabilized the time field so he could enter, and start killing us…”
“But we’re still in the time field,” Twilight observed, looking at the darkness that surrounded them.
“Precisely! If Darkstar had collapsed it entirely instead of just destabilizing it, we would not be having this conversation,” Starswirl finished.
“What did destabilizing the field accomplish?” Twilight asked curiously. “The field doesn’t look unstable…”
Starswirl chuckled. “Well, the most likely theory makes a lot of sense, actually. Darkstar probably thought the dilation field was some kind of shield—it looks like one on the outside, so he probably tried to break it with a brute-force magical attack! The excess energy would have shifted the field’s dilation factor!”
“So we’re not moving extremely slow anymore?”
“The opposite!” Starswirl exclaimed. His hat glowed briefly, and he lifted a chunk of rock from the ground, tossing it over his shoulder. It sailed through the air, but suddenly halted when it reached the darkness at the edge of the field.
Twilight gasped. “We’re moving faster than time outside of the field?!”
“Yes! And that’s how he got in! If the time within the field is moving slower than outside, you’ll get stuck on your way in... But if it’s moving faster, you’ll get pulled in like quicksand!”
Twilight turned to stare at Darkstar, whose motionless gaze was still fixed upon the spot where she had been lying a few minutes ago.
“That still doesn’t explain why we can move freely, but they’re all frozen,” Twilight told Starswirl, turning away from the necromancer’s terrifying face.
“Ah, that’s where Tre’zan saved us,” Starswirl explained, floating over towards the injured colt. “When I convinced him to help, I also taught him how to have complete control over the flow of time within the dilation field.”
“You… taught him how?” Twilight raised an eyebrow at Tre’zan.
Starswirl sighed heavily. “Remember when I said that Trajo’s communication method grants me unrestricted access to a weakened consciousness? I learned everything about him in an instant.. Combined with my knowledge of time spells, I was able to write the knowledge into his mind…”
“That’s amazing!” Twilight replied excitedly. “Think of all the th-“
“No,” Starswirl interrupted her firmly. “There is nothing good about what I did. It was a disgrace to free will, and all that we stand for… Nopony should ever be subjected to alteration of their consciousness…”
“…It changes who they are,” Twilight sighed. “…And he didn’t really consent, either…”
“It’s a small consolation that I may have saved the lives of our team,” Starswirl continued, nodding at her. “I may have single-hoofedly saved every living thing in Equestria, but I still have to live with the fact that I meddled with Tre’zan’s mind…”
“He’ll forgive you,” Twilight said supportively. She looked to her right for a moment, gazing at Cadance—several tears were suspended in midair between her face and Armor’s motionless body. “…Can Tre’zan also release the others?”
“He’s badly wounded,” Starswirl replied, turning back towards the colt. “He’s stable, but keeping the field partially frozen and partially flowing is taxing him greatly... Releasing us nearly killed him. But now that we’re here, I have a plan.”
“…Plan?”
“Tre’zan can reverse time within the field,” Starswirl replied slowly. “He can force everything that’s currently frozen into a closed timelike curve, essentially rewinding every event that has happened within it!”
Twilight looked at him in disbelief, wiping her face with her forearm. “…Seriously?”
“I’m not even going to begin to describe the physics behind it, but it’s possible,” Starswirl continued, his voice sounding more and more hopeful. “He doesnt have anywhere near enough power to do it himself, though… That’s why we had to unfreeze you…" He paused sadly for a moment.
"If there were any other way, I’d have helped him myself, so you wouldn’t have to remember seeing your friends die… It was a horrible thing to witness.”
Twilight stood up straight, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “If we can save them, I can deal with it,” she declared, trembling with a mixture of excitement and uncertainty. “…I’ve had bad dreams before!”
Despite the mask concealing Starswirl’s face, Twilight could tell that he was smiling.
“You can use the Element of Magic to channel magical energy into somepony else,” Starswirl explained, having fully regained his cheerful enthusiasm. “With the Element’s energy powering him, Tre’zan can reverse time for everything that’s frozen, all the way back to when Darkstar first entered.”
“A second chance,” Twilight grinned. She thought about it for a moment, her smile fading. “…But Darkstar entered the field really fast... and he killed everypony as soon as he got in… Can’t we rewind it a little farther, and give ourselves some more time?”
“Since Darkstar is a part of what he’s rewinding, he can’t rewind any farther than when Darkstar first entered—he doesn’t have control over time outside the field, so Darkstar’s entry marks the limit of his power. Trying to rewind any further will likely collapse the field...”
“That’s not good,” Twilight sighed. “He attacked us very fast…”
“We’ll just have to be faster,” Starswirl replied determinedly. “I’ll blast’em in the throat as soon as Tre’zan is finished—he’ll never know what hit him!”
“Alright then, let’s do it!” Twilight cheered, powering up the Element of Magic. “Is he ready?”
Starswirl’s horn glowed brightly as he telepathically communicated with Tre’zan. “Ready as he’ll ever be!” the wizard exclaimed. “Just direct your magic straight into his horn! He’ll be expecting it!”
Twilight nodded, closing her eyes and powering the Element of Magic. She slowly ejected a bright stream of purple energy from her horn—it flowed towards Tre’zan’s horn, connecting with it and causing it to pulsate brightly.
“Twilight Sparkle, is it?” a young colt’s voice suddenly echoed in her head. It was Tre’zan—though his voice no longer had its strange warping echo. He sounded like a regular young unicorn.
“Uh, yeah,” Twilight thought, hoping he would hear the reply. “…You’re Tre’zan?”
“I guess. Discord called me that because it was written on a street sign next to where he found me... Pretty creative, isn’t he?”
“How are we talking?” Twilight asked curiously, looking into Tre’zan’s blindfolded eyes.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to just hop into your head like that…” Tre’zan replied guiltily. “Starswirl taught me how to communicate like this, and the power link we have is making it pretty easy.”
“…What do you mean?” Twilight looked at him worriedly. “…You’re reading my mind?!”
“Well… Not really. You’re much stronger than me, so I can’t really read anything except for what you let me. I'm sorry… I was just curious.”
Twilight sighed in relief. “If you wanted to know more about me, you could have just asked.”
“I didn’t know there were other good ponies in the world…” Tre’zan silently looked at the ground while Twilight continued to transfer power to him. “Discord was the only one who could talk to me, and he only ever told me about the bad guys that tried to hurt him…”
“Were you the one who made the time dilation field around Tartarus, thousands of years ago?”
“…It was just a few days ago for me…”
Twilight shuddered—he seemed so oblivious to the passage of time.
“Discord told me that I had to freeze myself or I could do something bad,” Tre’zan continued, lifting his head and gazing off into empty space. “He wasn’t lying about that. My powers go all over the place when I’m not using them. It’s safer for everypony if I just stay locked away…”
“There’s got to be something else you can do,” Twilight thought sadly. “Being locked in time for thousands of years is no way for anypony to live. Everypony deserves the chance to have friends…”
Tre’zan sighed audibly. “Friends… Discord was my only friend, and he was just deceiving me the whole time… I don’t even know what friendship really is.”
“I used to wonder what friendship could be,” Twilight replied, smiling softly at him. “Just a couple years ago, I didn’t know what it really was either… And then I met five amazing ponies…”
Twilight’s horn suddenly tripled in brightness—her eyes shone pure white, and her Element glowed just as brightly. Tre’zan yelped in surprise, feeling the energy from Twilight’s connection amplify greatly.
“Whoa…” Tre’zan said quietly. The white scars on his body began to glow brightly, and he stood up straight. “…Where’d you get all that energy from?”
“Friendship is magic,” Twilight replied warmly, walking forward and embracing Tre’zan while continuing to feed him energy. “My Element is literally powered by it... I realized that when I defeated Haakon earlier—all of my friends cheering me on gave me so much power!”
“…Who is Haakon?” Tre’zan replied curiously. “…Never mind, tell me some other time, if I survive this. I don’t think I can hold any more energy… Hopefully I won’t explode before I’m done rewinding things.”
“Wait!” Twilight replied quickly, releasing him and slowing her stream of magic so she could ask one more question. “Just how did Starswirl convince you to help us? He never said...”
“Heh, he didn’t,” Tre’zan laughed audibly, his voice echoing along with his telepathy. “Pinkie Pie did.”
“Pinkie?! What?! B-but Darkstar killed her!”
“I asked Starswirl why I should bother helping you,” Tre’zan continued. “He didn’t even say anything, he just telepathically shared all of his memories of Pinkie Pie, right before Darkstar killed her… It… It changed my mind. She was really nice, and really funny. There’s no way she deserved that. You guys are alright by me.”
“You’re alright, too,” Twilight smiled at him. Though he couldn’t see her, he smiled back.
“If I don’t survive this, well, good luck with everything...”
“Thank you, Tre’zan…”
“...Here goes!”
From behind the blindfold, Tre’zan’s eyes suddenly exploded with light—they incinerated the blindfold with a flash of white fire. He levitated off of the ground, suspended by a blazing white aura.
Twilight released the link between their horns, and Tre’zan swelled with power. The dome-shaped dilation field surrounding them suddenly illuminated with a bright white glow.
“Hold still!” Starswirl instructed Twilight—she nodded and stood as still as she could. Tre’zan conjured small white shields around Starswirl, Twilight, and then himself.
“Oh my gosh!” Twilight gasped, looking at Darkstar in shock. “It’s working!”
The bolt of green energy extending from Darkstar’s horn disappeared, and he started floating backwards from where he had been. Pinkie’s body started sitting back up, and with a flash of green light, the attack that Darkstar had killed her with flowed back into his horn.
“I… I don’t believe it,” Twilight breathed. “It’s really working!”
“Amazing, isn’t it?!” Starswirl replied.
Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were all rewound back to life as the time field continued to reverse itself. Terra, Luna, and Celestia were each released from their life-sapping bind to Darkstar.
Twilight blinked in disbelief, watching the events replay themselves rapidly. She realized just how little time had passed—Darkstar had defeated the entire team in just over two minutes.
“We’re almost there!” Starswirl shouted, his voice carrying the same warped echo that Tre’zan’s did—it sounded as though it were echoing in both directions of time. “Twilight, as soon as it stops, tell your brother to raise his shield!”
“Right!” Twilight’s eyes widened—she heard her own voice echo the word before she even spoke it. She turned to look at Shining Armor—his motionless body suddenly jerked off of the ground, flying back into a standing position while Darkstar’s shockwave retracted itself into his body.
Everyone, with the exception of Twilight, Starswirl, and Tre'zan, returned to the positions in which they had been standing before Darkstar attacked.
The necromancer flew towards the ceiling of the glowing dilation field, and Tre’zan’s aura suddenly burned out—the shimmering white dome around them pulsated for a moment before disintegrating entirely.
Time resumed flowing—Darkstar began to descend from above once again.
Before Darkstar could reach the cavern floor and unleash his deadly shockwave, Starswirl fired a precisely-aimed bolt of purple energy at his chest, blasting him backwards and slamming him against a tall cave formation at the opposite end of the clearing.
“It’s over, I said!” Starswirl laughed triumphantly, quickly following up his attack with a flurry of arcane bolts. With each strike, he forced the necromancer deeper and deeper into the brown column.
“SHINING ARMOR!” Twilight screamed to her confused brother. “PUT YOUR RING ON! RAISE THE SHIELD!”
Armor’s eyes darted from his sister to the shadowy mass that Starswirl was furiously attacking. He, along with the rest of the Elite, was utterly clueless as to what was going on.
“Wh-who is that?!” Armor stuttered. "Is that...?"
Twilight telekinetically reached into Armor’s saddlebag, withdrew the small jade ring from it, and jammed it onto his horn. "HURRY!" she screamed."IT'S DARKSTAR!"
Armor's eyes widened—he cast his spell, encasing the Equestrian Elite in a deep violet shield.
“Darkstar?!” Celestia repeated frantically. “How?!” She jerked her head towards Starswirl and watched as he continued to hold the necromancer at bay with his fast-paced attacks.
“The time field cut him off from the Elements!” Twilight shuddered, her entire body trembling with a volatile mixture of relief, excitement, and fear—she felt like she was ready to cry. “W-we have to stop him again!”
“D-Darkstar?!” Rainbow Dash yelped, landing by Twilight’s side. “How'd he get-“
Overwhelmed by emotion, Twilight interrupted her with a sudden embrace. “I can't believe it,” she gushed, releasing Dash and looking at her friends. “You're all okay!”
As the Elite stared at Twilight in confusion, she turned towards Darkstar. "L-let's take him down! Hurry!"
“...What was she talkin’ about?” Applejack asked curiously, watching Twilight gallop out of the shield and join Starswirl in his attack. "Why wouldn't we be okay? An' where'd that Tre'zan fella go?"
“I’m not sure,” Rarity replied. “But if that’s Darkstar... Come!”
Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie all galloped through the shield and towards Twilight and Starswirl, followed moments later by a fearful Fluttershy.
“IT’S NOT OVER!” Darkstar bellowed as they approached, exploding with a forceful shockwave and shattering the column he had been jammed into. The blast knocked Starswirl and the Elements backwards, but Armor’s shield kept the rest of the Elite safe from its deadly magic.
“IT’S NEVER OVER!”
“Luna, with me!” Celestia commanded. “Everypony else, stay in this shield!” Luna followed her closely as she exited the shield, and to everyone’s surprise, so did Terra.
“Mother, wait!” Cadance called out, taking flight and blocking her exit. “It's him! Stay with me!"
“He will not escape this time!” Terra declared angrily, gently forcing Cadance aside. “Remain here! I will tear the miserable fool to pieces!”
Cadance watched in horror as Terra galloped through the shield and jumped into the battle, viciously impaling Darkstar with a stalagmite from the cavern floor.
“…Mother…” Cadance gulped. “…Please be careful…”
“Go with her,” a blunt voice muttered from behind the young princess.
“…What?!” Cadance asked, whirling around and staring at Ragehoof. “What are you t-“
“The wizard didn't tell you not to fight,” Ragehoof interrupted. “He told you to stay by her side... GO!”
“But how did you…” Cadance stared at him for a few seconds before turning back towards her mother. “…Never mind! You’re right!”
“…He was sitting next to Starswirl and I during the entire rainstorm,” Aeon thought, eyeing Ragehoof as Cadance jumped into the fight. “…I didn't think he paid any attention!”
“KILL HIM!” Ragehoof bellowed, galloping to the edge of the shield and stomping his hooves against the ground. “BURN'EM UP!”
Soarin’ swooped to his side and cheered along with him. Spitfire, Aeon, and Ashton joined as well, and even Ironmane started shouting supportively. Armor was busy focusing on the shield, but he curled his bared teeth into a grin, smiling proudly at Twilight as she fought.
Despite the cheering of the Elite, the battle with Darkstar was a complete stalemate. After escaping Starswirl's suppressive barrage, the necromancer had flown into the air with great speed, carried by a pale green aura of magic—that same aura seemed to act as a shield, absorbing the few attacks that managed to strike him.
Starswirl, Luna, and Celestia pursued him, and Twilight continued firing at him from below. The battle quickly degraded into a firefight of magical projectiles—jets of blue, indigo, green, purple, and golden light streaked through the air, brilliantly illuminating the cavern.
Terra fired small chunks of rock at Darkstar with so much force that each piece nearly broke the sound barrier as it whizzed past the agile necromancer. Unable to strike him directly, Terra began shattering the stones as she launched them, hailing his shield with fragmented buckshot.
Amidst the storm of magical projectiles and speeding chunks of rock, Dash was left with no opening to attack Darkstar. “Darn it!” she complained, landing next to Applejack.
“Ah know what'cha mean,” Applejack agreed. "Best we stay here, sugar cube, we'd just be gettin' in the way..."
Darkstar started assaulting Luna furiously, but his whirlwind of green lightning bounced off of the princess and arced over to Rarity—as the energy surged into her body, her eyes suddenly exploded with white light, and her skin transformed into brilliant amethyst crystal, grounding the necromancer's attack entirely.
“…Any ideas?!” Dash asked Applejack impatiently. "This back-and-forth isn't really working..."
“RIP HIS HEAD OFF!” Ragehoof bellowed. Though his voice was muffled by Armor's shield, he shouted so loudly that the two mares were able to hear him from across the clearing.
“Uh… Ain’t that a bit extreme?” Applejack asked, looking over her shoulder and raising an eyebrow at Ragehoof as he shouted several other barbaric recommendations.
“I dunno, after what this guy’s done…” Dash shrugged. “I'm considering it.”
Abandoning all restraint, Twilight drew heavily upon the Element of Magic and fired a variant of the infernum spell at Darkstar—a brilliant cone-shaped jet of fire shot from her horn and grazed Darkstar's ear. Though his jet-black ear was instantly incinerated, it began to grow back, surrounded by a pale-green aura.
"That's not possible!" Twilight thought, frantically jumping out of the way as Darkstar hurled a series of bolts at her in retaliation. She dodged the first three, but the fourth shocked her before arcing to Rarity.
Focusing with single-minded fury on Darkstar, Terra was suddenly distracted by a bright cyan jet of magic directed at the necromancer. Her heart dropping, she whirled around to see that Cadance had joined the offensive.
Terra abandoned her assault and swooped over to Cadance, pausing to lift an enormous wall of stone from the ground between her daughter and Darkstar. “Return to the shield!” she demanded. “I will NOT risk losing you!”
“And I won’t risk losing YOU!” Cadance replied firmly. “Let’s fight him together!”
Terra stuttered, feeling a wave of both fear and pride rushing through her. "B-but you... he... s-Swirly said-"
"He said to stay with you!" Cadance told her. "I survived his magic last time you fought him! I'll survive it this time!"
Terra stared at Cadance for a moment, feeling a lump in her throat. Distracted by a sudden crack appearing in the wall she had lifted between them and Darkstar, she suddenly felt a renewed burst of fury overwhelm her.
"...Together!" Terra declared, blasting the stone wall apart and sending the fragments towards Darkstar.
"Together!" Cadance echoed, charging the stone fragments with crackling cyan magic—when they struck the necromancer, they penetrated his shield and embedded into his skin, knocking him backwards and electrocuting him.
With Rarity efficiently grounding Darkstar's attacks, the healers of the team had little to do but watch.
“Thifs's epic, in'nt it?” Pinkie asked Fluttershy, ejecting bits of chewed food as she spoke. "Want shome popcorn?"
“…H-how can you think of food right now, Pinkie?” Fluttershy stuttered nervously, eyeing Rarity carefully and preparing to heal her at a moment's notice.
“Like this!” Pinkie giggled, closing her eyes and lowering her head, picturing an overflowing tub of popcorn in her mind. Fluttershy rolled her eyes and watched carefully as Darkstar began wildly attacking Celestia.
“There’s gotta be a way to beat this guy!” Spitfire commented, pounding her hoof against the shield.
Ragehoof stopped cheering for a moment and turned towards Ironmane. “Can you hit him in the head with your crossbow from here?” he asked. "Maybe a well-placed headshot…?”
“What’s a hunk’a metal gonna do that the Element of Magic can’t?” Ironmane grunted dismissively, keeping his eyes on the battle. “…This is their fight, kid. Deal with it.”
“Bah!” Ragehoof huffed, pacing impatiently at the edge of the shield.
“Twilight!” Celestia called over her shoulder. “This is accomplishing nothing! We'll try to hold him still—hit him with a harmonic wave!”
Twilight nodded quickly, galloping towards her friends. “Elements of Harmony!” she ordered. “Let’s do it!”
Fluttershy galloped away from Pinkie, accidentally bumping into her bucket of popcorn. “Aw, but I wasn’t finished!” she protested sadly, dropping the tub and galloping along with Fluttershy while Applejack, Dash, and the crystal-covered Rarity formed up with Twilight.
“NOT THIS TIME!” Darkstar bellowed, firing a bolt of magic at the clearing below him. It turned an inky black, and started gaining a smoky texture.
“DO NOT LET HIM ESCAPE!” Luna boomed, firing several attacks at him wildly. Darkstar cackled, diving into the shadow below him. Starswirl fired a series of bolts as well, but his target was gone.
Twilight looked up at Luna. “Princess, can you get us in there?!” she asked quickly. "You were able to go in before!"
“…I shall-“
“I’ll get him out!” Starswirl interrupted, diving towards the ground—his yellow eyes flashed orange briefly as he fired a sea-green jet of magic at the cavern floor, creating an inky portal of his own.
Instead of diving through the portal, Starswirl teleported through it, reappearing in the swirling Elysium—right across from the fleeing Darkstar.
"Surprise!" the wizard laughed, charging his forelegs with glowing arcane energy.
Darkstar fired an attack at Starswirl, but he teleported out of the way, rematerializing behind him and coiling his charged foreleg around his neck.
"...NO!" Darkstar gagged, as Starswirl choked him. "NOT...FAIR... YOU...PROMISED!!"
"Hah!" Starswirl laughed. "I promised Elcian I would never give him the tele-nelson!"
Darkstar flailed his legs wildly, and began raging incoherent syllables.
"You aren't Elcian any longer..." Starswirl said, no longer chuckling. "...My little brother died a long time ago."
RRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Starswirl jabbed Darkstar in the ribs several times with his other charged foreleg, and started zooming through the swirling Elysium, pulling the necromancer along by his neck.
Another well of inky energy suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the clearing—right in front of Armor’s shield.
"There!" Twilight yelled, galloping across the clearing. "Hurry!"
The cheering Elite in the shield backed away slowly as an explosion of blue magic ejected from the newly-formed portal—Darkstar and Starswirl came flying through it, furiously punching at each other as they vaulted through the air in free-fall.
Starswirl threw the necromancer into a thick stalagmite at the edge of the clearing. As Darkstar crashed into it, the wizard's hat began to glow vividly, and bolts of purple lightning began to engulf his body. He exploded with arcane energy and launched a series of chains at the necromancer’s twitching legs.
“FIRE!” Starswirl shouted to Twilight—she and her friends had already powered up their Elements.
“NO,” Darkstar yelled frantically, staring at the bolts of rainbow-colored magic that were forking between the six mares. “NOOO!”
The Elements fired a massive harmonic wave at him, but he broke free of Starwirl's arcane chains and lifted his forelegs, blocking the stream of rainbow-colored magic with his two front hooves.
“DISTRACT HIM!” Starswirl yelled to the Elite. “WE HAVE TO STOP HIM FROM BLOCKING IT! FIRE EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT! NOW!!”
Celestia summoned every ounce of her power and fired a steady stream of golden magic at Darkstar—Luna did the same, firing an indigo stream. Still powered by his arcane infusion ability, Starswirl hurled a whirlwind of brilliant violet bolts at the necromancer.
Their magical attacks blasted the stalagmite behind Darkstar to pieces and grazed his body from the sides, drawing his attention away from the onslaught of the Elements. Terra created a fissure in the cave floor and drew a stream of molten lava from deep within the earth, blasting the necromancer's shield with it.
An encasement of stone began to spread from Darkstar's front hooves towards his forearms, but he started screaming wildly, and he shattered the creeping stone.
YOU... WILL... NOT... STOP... DEATH...
...I HAVE CROSSED THE ELYSIAN PLAINS... AND I HAVE RETURNED!
I H A V E T A S T E D T H E W A T E R S . . .
. . . O F T H E S H I N I N G S H O R E S B E Y O N D!
Y O U . . . A R E . . . N O T H I N G!
Darkstar’s eyes illuminated bright red, and a shield of dark green energy appeared around him, blocking all attacks except the harmonic wave. His voice sounded deeper and more demonic than ever.
I H A V E H A R N E S S E D . . .
T H E P U R E E S S E N C E . . .
. . . O F O B L I V I O N ! !
The entire cavern suddenly rumbled, and a bright light shone from a newly-formed hole in its distant ceiling.
A small figure descended through the hole, increasing in size as it got closer and closer—its bright orange eyes glowed through the darkness, furiously fixed upon Darkstar.
Spreading his jet-black wings and slowing his fall, the Blood Prince Haakon forcefully slammed into the ground across from Darkstar, his hands glowing brightly.
“You DARE threaten the goddess and her champions?!” Haakon bellowed. “YOU WILL DIE!”
“Haakon?!” Celestia screamed, her mouth dropping open in awe.
The Blood Prince slammed his palms together and fired a wide beam of orange energy at Darkstar's shield.
“Seriously?” Spitfire gasped, dumbfounded. “He’s helping us now?!”
“Aw, yeah!” Soarin’ cheered, pressing his face against the edge of Armor's shield and pounding it. “Everyone hates this Darkstar guy!”
Struggling against the overwhelming onslaught of magical energy and molten lava, Darkstar started screaming wildly, sending powerful vibrations through the air with his voice.
“...Well, everypony else is doing it,” a barely audible voice sighed from Celestia’s left. Her eyes darted towards the speaker and widened—it was Discord. He wasn’t a projection—he was physically there!
“Might as well hop on the bandwagon,” Discord yawned, rolling his eyes. “If I don’t, well, he’s going to kill everypony in the world… That’s no fun.”
Discord’s eagle-clawed hand met with his lion’s hand, and he fired a powerful blast of white magic at Darkstar.
“That’s seven on one!” Aeon shouted, barely audible. “How is he possibly holding up?”
“There’s no way he can fight it much longer,” Ironmane replied. “Just listen to that screaming!”
Darkstar was starting to hover backwards, forced away by the onslaught of powerful attacks hailing onto his shield. He continued screaming hysterically, and the volume of his screams began to increase greatly.
The screaming became so loud that it started hurting everyone’s ears, distracting them from their attacks.
“Make it stop!” Ashton wailed, covering his ears with his hooves and shutting his eyes.
The high-pitched screaming continued to increase in volume at an alarming rate—it no longer sounded like Darkstar’s voice—it sounded like hundreds of shrill, hysterical voices were all screaming at once.
Terra was the first to abandon her attack—something about the screaming was sending chills down her spine. The flow of molten lava ceased, and the fissure in the ground stopped glowing. She collapsed to the ground, covering her ears in agony.
Luna succumbed next, followed shortly by Celestia. Twilight started feeling a warm liquid run down her neck, and it was becoming impossible to concentrate—her eardrums felt like they were exploding.
The Elements of Harmony, unable to focus any longer, began falling to the ground and writhing in pain. The harmonic wave disintegrated, and Darkstar's pale shield tripled in size.
“BE SILENT!” Haakon bellowed defiantly, ignoring the stream of glowing blood that was running from his ears. His voice was drowned out entirely by Darkstar’s screaming.
Moments later, the Blood Prince fell to the ground, kneeling and shielding his ears in vain. With a stream of black blood running down the side of his oddly shaped face as well, Discord collapsed next.
Shining Armor crumpled over in pain, and his deep violet shield started fluctuating.
Starswirl fell last—the arcane energy around him burned out, and he fell helplessly to the ground.
Seeing that his opponents were incapacitated, Darkstar lowered his shield and started floating forwards, his eyes traveling across those that lay around him. Still screaming, he fired a pale sapping beam at Celestia, starting to drain her power.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH...
Darkstar finally stopped screaming, leaving the ears of his enemies pounding uncontrollably. He started talking in his regular demonic voice once again, barely audible to his excruciated victims.
“...As you can see, I do not stand alone... HUNDREDS STAND WITH ME!”
Darkstar fired power-sapping attacks at Luna, Celestia, Starswirl and Terra—his power increased with each one.
“SO MUCH POWER!” Darkstar cackled, turning towards Haakon and Discord. “AND YOU BROUGHT ME EVEN MORE! MORE! MORE!!”
He started sapping power from Haakon and Discord, shifting his maddening gaze to Twilight and her friends, who were still struggling against the ringing in their ears..
“AND YOU…” Darkstar roared. “YOU WILL TASTE DEATH SOON... BUT YOU HAVE POWER… MUCH MORE POWER… MORE! MORE! MORE!!”
Twilight gasped weakly as a stream of draining magic struck her chest. She could feel all of her energy leaving her body—Darkstar was pulling it from her and her friends like a vacuum.
“Too… much… I… can’t…” Rarity stuttered in agony—her crystallized skin was keeping her and her friends from succumbing to the deadly magic, but it was starting to crack under all the pressure.
“SO MUCH STRENGTH!” Darkstar screamed. “AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST MORTALS!”
Something caught Darkstar’s eye—Cadance had galloped to her mother’s side, and was trying to stop him from sapping her.
“MORE!” Darkstar laughed, firing a sapping beam at the young princess. “MORE, MORE! MORE!”
Cadance closed her eyes in horror as the beam struck her.
Nothing happened—the green energy dissipated.
“Cade… Cadance! NO!” Armor yelled weakly, desperately holding his shield together from where he lay.
“I’m…” Cadance gasped in disbelief, blinking and staring at her chest. "I'm okay..." It wasn’t her magenta armor that had dissipated Darkstar’s attack—it had passed through and hit her directly, though it seemed to do nothing.
“More?” Darkstar asked, his eyes widening. "M-more?" He fired another sapping beam at Cadance, but once again, nothing happened. It sailed through her armor and disintegrated as soon as it reached her body.
“More? MORE? MORE?!”
“…No more,” Cadance declared bravely, looking up at him.
“NOPONY SAYS NO TO ME!” Darkstar screamed hysterically, firing a supercharged bolt of necromantic energy at Cadance. It engulfed her body in green flames and charred her bright armor, but she felt nothing. The flames quickly burned out, as though they had been smothered by lack of oxygen.
“...I just did.”
“I AM A GOD!” Darkstar roared, frantically firing bolt after bolt at her.
She was completely unaffected.
I A M D E A T H! N O T H I N G T R A N C E N D S D E A T H!!
“Nothing?” Cadance asked curiously, spreading her wings and slowly taking flight towards the necromancer.
“THIS… IS… NOT… POSSIBLE!” Darkstar screamed—he started firing bolts of necromantic energy in every direction, causing the entire cavern to rumble.
“…That power…” Cadance said calmly, hovering across from him. “…That power isn’t yours, is it…?”
Her horn started to glow brightly—a bolt of cyan energy launched from it, striking Darkstar in his horn.
Darkstar screamed angrily as the twelve beams of sapping energy connected to his victims suddenly disappeared. His levitation spell failed, and he started falling towards the ground, slamming into the center of the cavern’s clearing with a crunch.
With the pale light of his necromantic energy gone, the only two sources of light remaining were Armor’s weakened shield and Cadance’s eyes, which were softly glowing white.
“I think you were wrong about that,” Cadance continued quietly, flying back down to the ground and landing in front of the fallen Darkstar. “I think something does transcend death…”
“NOTHING!” Darkstar spat furiously, opening his mouth and starting to scream. Everyone started covering their ears in agony, but Cadance walked up to him and shoved her plated hoof into his mouth, gagging him and preventing him from making noise.
“Those voices that screamed with you… You're forcing them to scream…”
Darkstar made a furious attempt to yell at Cadance, but only muffled noises came out. He flailed his legs hopelessly and kicked at her plated armor, only hurting himself in the process.
“You won't make them scream anymore," Cadance declared. "Let them go.”
Cadance pulled her hoof out of Darkstar’s mouth and allowed him to breathe for a moment.
“. . . M I N E !” Darkstar roared, firing a bolt of energy directly at Cadance’s face. It sunk into her nose and disappeared, accomplishing nothing.
“Then I’ll have to free them myself,” she declared, lifting her left foreleg into the air.
Cadance slammed her hoof onto Darkstar’s horn, breaking it in half.
A thin stream of smoky, pale green energy immediately flowed out of his broken horn. It formed into an enormous cloud over everyone's head, and bits of it slowly coalesced into pony-shaped figures.
Hundreds of translucent ghosts emerged from the cloud; their soft green glow illuminated much of the cavern.
“...Freedom,” Cadance said—she spoke the word in chillingly perfect synchronization with the hundreds of spirits above, all of which stared emotionlessly at Darkstar.
“NO!" the necromancer shuddered angrily. "I AM A GOD! YOU WILL NOT-“
Cadance again shoved her hoof in Darkstar’s mouth, muffling his cries. She looked at the spirits above her curiously—their eyes shifted towards her, and their faces began smile softly.
“Im…impossible…” Celestia breathed—she recognized the faces of some of the ghosts, from hundreds of years ago.
“…Bridlemore…” Starswirl said quietly, from her left. "She freed them from the Elysium..."
Among the hundreds of ghosts, a regal voice echoed distantly.
“...Mi-Amore Cadenza…”
Cadance jerked her head towards its source—she had never heard the voice before, but it sounded uncannily familiar. Dozens of the pale spirits parted, forming a clear path between Cadance and a finely-dressed ghost of a unicorn stallion.
“…F-father?” Cadance shuddered. The spirit nodded his head, floating towards her through the crowd.
“D-Dartmoor!” Terra cried out weakly, struggling to stand up. Cadance turned to her mother and surrounded her with an aura of cyan magic, lifting her and gently carrying her to her side.
“Terra…” Dartmoor Hoofington said softly, his eyes traveling from her back towards his daughter. “Mi-Amore Cadenza… I am so proud of you. Both of you. Your actions have saved us from a fate worse than death...”
“Cadance is fine,” she laughed, her voice quivering. Molten tears began leaking from the corners of her glowing eyes, illuminating her cheeks.
“Cadance…” Dartmoor repeated warmly, smiling. “…It has a ring to it…”
“…I-is it really you?” Terra cried, extending a hoof to touch his face—it passed through him as though nothing was there.
“It is I,” Dartmoor replied, smiling at her for a moment. He began speaking again, and the hundreds of other spirits quietly spoke in perfect synchronization with him. “...For hundreds of years, the necromancer chained our spirits to his own in the Elysian Field… You have freed us from his grasp.”
“You’ve b-been stuck between worlds this whole time?!” Terra shuddered.
Dartmoor nodded. “Though you have released us from his caltrop in the Elysium, the chains that bind us have not yet broken… Soon, we will use them to pull him with us, when we leave…”
“That’s… that’s possible?” Luna stuttered in disbelief, turning towards Starswirl. He shrugged and shook his head, baffled to speechlessness by what he was witnessing.
“…B-but you can’t come back?” Terra sobbed. Cadance turned and embraced her tightly.
Dartmoor shook his head sadly. “There is only one place we can go now,” he continued. “And we will take him with us, body and soul. He will never return.”
“I love you, father,” Cadance replied softly, releasing Terra and turning to him.
“I love you too, Cadance,” Dartmoor said, floating over to his daughter and running his hoof through her mane. Though he seemed to have no physical presence, Cadance could feel her hair shifting.
“Thank you,” Dartmoor smiled to her. He turned towards the rest of the Equestrian Elite, and spoke in tandem with the other spirits yet again. “Thank you all...”
“A-anytime, partner,” Ashton gulped nervously, gazing at the spirit of a velociraptor above him.
It grinned at him mischievously and started floating towards Darkstar—the green figures began merging together around the struggling necromancer, engulfing him with a sphere of pale energy.
Cadance stepped back, pulling Terra along with her. Dartmoor remained for a moment while the other spirits melded into the bright green mass, muffling Darkstar as he screamed hysterically.
“...Terra,” Dartmoor said quietly, turning towards her. “Please, be at peace… We are all at peace, now.”
“I-I couldn’t s-save you,” Terra cried, tears flying from her cheeks. “I’m s-sorry!”
“Time heals all wounds,” Dartmoor said, placing his translucent hoof on her plated shoulder. “…But only you can choose to stop re-opening them…”
Terra’s eyes widened in shock. Warmth suddenly spread from her shoulder and throughout her body—the deep brown scars across her cutie mark faded away, leaving the bright globe upon it unscathed for the first time in hundreds of years.
“I love you,” Terra sniffled weakly, taking a deep breath and gazing at Dartmoor. “...I love you…”
“I love you too,” Dartmoor replied, removing his hoof from her shoulder and starting to float towards Darkstar. “Farewell, friends. Until we meet again…”
“Bye-bye!” Pinkie suddenly cheered, having recovered enough to sit up and wave at Dartmoor. “Come visit sometime! Don’t be a stranger!”
Inspired by their pink teammate, the rest of the Elite started waving and cheering farewells to Dartmoor as well; he waved one last time before melding into the verdant sphere around Darkstar. It exploded with energy, and began to rise off of the cavern floor.
Darkstar screamed wildly, and his voice sounded truly fearful for the first time.
NOOOOOOOO!
N O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O!!
The spirits carried him higher and higher, and he burst into a brilliant rainbow-colored fire. His body was completely incinerated by it, and his smoky green spirit faded away as he was carried into the bright light shining from the roof of the cavern. His screams subsided, and only a faint rumbling remained.
“…That really just happened,” Ironmane whispered, as Armor lowered his shield. “We spoke to the dead…”
Amidst the sighs of relief and cheers of victory, the Elite suddenly fell silent.
The rumbling sound throughout the cavern continued to intensify.
“…Uh, shouldn’t the earthquakes be stoppin’ right ‘bout now?!” Ashton asked worriedly, as a boulder crashed into the ground next to him.
“N-no!” Terra chortled, lifting her head to the ceiling—the cavern trembled with greatly increasing intensity. “…Darkstar’s desperate attacks have destabilized the entire cavern!”
“What!?” Twilight screamed, seeing chunks of rock began to fall from the ceiling.
“Sister...” Luna gasped, standing up weakly. "...Can you stop it?!"
“…I am too weak!” Terra replied desperately, her horn glowing for a moment before fading.
“C’mon, let’s bail outta here!” Dash said quickly, trying to take flight—her weakened body gave out after several yards, and she crashed back into the clearing, rolling to her left to avoid a falling rock.
“Most of us are too weak to fly out!” Aeon shouted, struggling to help Celestia to her hooves. “What do we do?!”
“...Starswirl!” Celestia called out frantically.
“Hold on, let me think...” Starswirl replied quickly, racking his brain. “…Mm, nope, I’ve got nothing!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Rarity squealed, absorbing the impact as Soarin’ was struck in the head by a falling rock. “…We’ve come all this way just to be buried alive?!”
“I still have strength to spare!” Cadance called out to Starswirl. “…But I don’t know how to teleport!”
“Can you levitate us?” Starswirl replied hurriedly. Cadance closed her eyes, projecting a cyan colored aura and trying to lift the team.
“…I’m sorry!” Cadance cried out, unable to lift them. “It’s too much to lift!”
“Bugger,” Starswirl chuckled nervously. “…Oh well, at least we’ve saved Equestria!”
Twilight looked around in panic as the ceiling of the cavern started collapsing onto them.