“You just won’t stay down will you, Glimmer,” Nightmare Shimmer snarled.
“No, not when my friend needs help,” Starlight replied.
The two opponents were now locked in a heated one on one battle. One that neither of them appeared to have an upper hoof. Shots of magic and fire streaked back and forth and impacted shields.
Misty meanwhile was slowly working to extract her hoofs from the melted carpet. Desperate, not to become a sitting duck to be used to Nightmare Shimmer’s advantage. Elsewhere, the others were slowly stirring from where they’d landed.
Nightmare Shimmer grinned as she stood near the ramp, she’d stopped flying around and was just trading blows. “You never noticed your friend had disappeared did you,” she chortled.
“Oh, we knew she’d gone,” Starlight replied grunting as she took an impact on her shield. “I had an inkling where too, there was just nothing we could do about it.”
“Oh, I’m sure you could have done something,” Nightmare Shimmer replied. “She tried so hard to escape. Completely drained herself.”
“If you’re telling me this,” Starlight panted. “Then she’s still in there. She can fight you from within.”
Nightmare Shimmer laughed as she fired another blast of fiery magic at Starlight. “Don’t you get it?” she chortled. “I am Sunset and she’s me. We are one and the same.”
“No,” Starlight replied confidently. “You’re not.”
“The cutie mark doesn’t lie,” Nightmare Shimmer grinned.
They both fired shots at the same time which collided in the centre with a flash. Before Starlight knew what was happening, she was locked in a power struggle with Nightmare Shimmer. Both pouring effort into their beams of magic and fire as they tried to overpower each other.
Meanwhile, Sunny had extracted herself from the kitchen, looking battered and bruised. She flexed her wings and stretched one of her hind legs whilst Sparky hugged her gratefully.
“It’s okay Sparky,” she soothed. “I had you, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“None of us will,” Misty added as she walked over, having released herself.
“Speak for yourselves,” Pipp groaned. “Think I’ll stay right here.”
“You can’t,” Zipp yawned from the window. “We have to stop her from reaching the crystals.”
“But we couldn’t do anything, she’s too strong for us,” Izzy sighed as she appeared from the storeroom.
“We’ve just got to keep trying,” Hitch explained as he pushed the couch off of himself. “If we don’t then Opaline wins.”
Sunny looked around her battered and bruised friends. Then she looked at the power battle that was happening between Starlight and Nightmare Shimmer. Suddenly, she felt a spark of realisation within her.
She gasped as she saw Zipp, Hitch and Misty were starting to spread out, preparing to fight individually again.
“Stop! Stop everypony,” Sunny gasped. “We need to be together.”
“What? Attack at the same time?” Zipp asked.
“No, we need to stand together,” Sunny clarified. “Stand together in unity.”
Meanwhile, Starlight had her eyes closed and her body was trembling slightly as she grunted with effort. She’d always had lots of magical reserves. However, to her dismay she was starting to feel those reserves were depleting. Suddenly she heard Nightmare Shimmer laughing with glee.
“You know this is fitting,” Nightmare Shimmer giggled. “I can feel it, you’re running lower and lower on magic. Just as Sunset did as she tried to escape that sphere, it’s only a matter of time.”
Starlight grunted again. She could feel the collision of the two blasts getting closer to her. She panted as she realised Nightmare Shimmer had been pacing herself. She mentally berated herself for not playing the longer game as well.
She racked her brain for a way out of the situation she now found herself in. She was determined to not use all her magic completely. However, the epicentre of the two blasts was now so close she wasn’t sure if she’d have time. With a deep breath, she made her decision.
Nightmare Shimmer gasped with surprise as Starlight suddenly jumped backwards. Her beam of magic ended, and Nightmare Shimmer grinned as her fire blast streaked towards her opponent. Starlight’s plan was to create a crystalline shield, like she had when practicing with Twilight. However, she quickly realised the fire blast was already upon her.
Starlight diverted her energies into holding the front section of the shield as the blast of fire hit it. As a result she was still floating in the air from her jump, and she was forced backwards. To make matters worse, the shield hadn’t fully formed behind her either.
As she was flung backwards toward the wall behind her, Starlight opened her eyes. She just saw Sunny and the others gathering together. With a small smile, she impacted the wall.
Sunny and the others gasped as they saw Starlight being blasted into the wall. There was a huge explosion of dust and fire as the wall was obliterated. As the blast of fire receded, a massive hole was left in the side of the Brighthouse.
Nightmare Shimmer grinned as she looked through the hole. “So much for Glimmer,” she laughed. “Who’s next?”
“We are,” Sunny said defiantly.
Nightmare Shimmer turned to see Sunny stood in a semicircle alongside her friends. Their hoofs were all touching as they stared their opponent down.
“Back again?” Nightmare Shimmer laughed. “And you’re making yourselves such a nice compact target standing like that.”
“No, we’re not,” Sunny replied. “We’re standing together because that’s what makes us stronger.”
“HA! What foolish nonsense,” Nightmare Shimmer laughed. “Unlike Twilight and her friends, you don’t have all your elements.”
“Yes, we do. Because we’re friends!” Sunny responded determinedly. “By being united together in friendship we have hope. Hope makes us stronger together, and together we have unity.”
There was a flash from each of Sunny’s friends as their necklaces began to glow brightly. A magical aura suddenly emanating from the entire group.
Then, one by one, a beam shot from each of the charms on each necklace towards Sunny’s neck. Hitch’s first, then Izzy’s, then Zipp’s, then Pipp’s and finally Misty’s.
As the beam from Misty’s collided with the others there was a final flash as the sixth and final necklace appeared around Sunny’s neck. It looked more ornate than the others. With a band of both gold and silver which intertwined in a pattern. The charm in the centre however was the same as the others, a depiction of Sunny’s cutie mark.
Sunny stared determinedly at Nightmare Shimmer who suddenly looked a lot less confident. However, in desperation, she fired a blast of fiery magic at the group. But it was deflected away by the aura that surrounded them.
“You are going to disappear and give us our friend Sunset back,” Sunny demanded.
Sunny’s eyes turned completely white as her horn started to glow. Beams shot from each of her friends again towards Sunny’s horn. Their cutie marks all glowing as they did so, the cutie mark energy intertwining with that from the elements and quickly forming a large rainbow coloured orb at the tip of Sunny’s horn.
Having been mesmerised, Nightmare Shimmer shook her head and suddenly decided to run. However, it was too late, before she could move a rainbow-coloured blast of magical energy erupted from the orb. It streaked towards her, moving faster than anypony had seen something move.
“Nooooo,” Nightmare Shimmer screamed as she was enveloped in the blast.
As the rainbow blast dissipated, it was no longer Nightmare Shimmer that stood before Sunny and her friends. In her place, Sunset Shimmer laid on the floor groaning as her eyes fluttered open.
Sunset blinked, her vision was blurry, but she could make out six ponylike shapes. As her vision cleared, she realised it was Sunny and the others. She couldn’t help smirking as she spotted the necklaces around their necks.
“Y…you found them?” she croaked. “When…”
Sunny and the others all looked at each other with confusion. Then they were all filled with elation as they hurried forwards.
“Sunset,” Sunny grinned. “We did it!”
“We saved you!” Misty exclaimed.
Sunset tried and failed to lift herself from the floor as they arrived. She was suddenly surrounded with a cacophony of voices as she was helped up. She found herself clinging onto whoever was nearest, unable to support herself.
“W…What happened?” Sunset croaked. “I...I can’t remember. W…Where’s Starlight?”
“Oh my hoofness? What happened to her?” Pipp exclaimed.
They all looked towards the hole that had been created in the wall. Then, breathed a sigh of relief as Starlight slowly appeared. “I’m here,” she groaned. “I’m here.”
Zipp and Hitch hurried over to Starlight’s aid. It was clear that she was limping as one of her hind legs dragged behind her.
“Hold on,” Misty said as she started moving debris with her magic.
Righting one of the larger sofas, they soon helped Sunset and Starlight onto it.
“I’m going to feel that in the morning,” Starlight gasped.
“I’m feeling it right now,” Sunset groaned as she laid on her side. “What happened? I don’t remember anything.”
“We saved you Sunset,” Sunny replied. “That’s all that matters right now.”
Sunset groaned again as she held a hoof to her head. “I feel completely drained,” she moaned.
Suddenly, Sparky came running over, a dinted flask and a chipped cup in his hands.
“Drink, energy,” he squeaked.
Hitch chuckled as he took the flask. “Way to go Sparky, I bet finding this in the mess of the kitchen took some doing.”
“Yeah, this is going to take some tidying up,” Zipp commented as she looked around.
Suddenly, they all jumped as Pipp started screaming. They looked over to see she was looking at her phone.
“Pipp, if the screen’s cracked you’ll just need to get a new one,” Sunny sighed.
“It’s not cracked,” Pipp exclaimed, turning to them with wide eyes. “It’s Maretime Bay, it’s under attack! Everypony’s in trouble and we need to help them...”
To be continued in: Marking the Generations – Part Four