Sunny gasped in shock as she and the others arrived in Maretime Bay. Ponies were running everywhere as they tried to escape the purple vines. These were sprouting from the ground all over the town.
Toots cried in dismay as a vine slapped his flank. The others watched helplessly as his cutie mark flashed and appeared within an orb at the end of the vine. Almost immediately, Toots groaned and collapsed to the ground, his eyes turning grey.
Sunny blinked and shook her head. “Come on everypony,” she cried. “We need to help!”
“B...But our cutie marks!” Pipp cried worriedly.
“It will be fine,” Misty replied as she turned around. “We just have to be careful.”
However, Misty cried in surprise as she felt something tap her flank. She whirled around to find a vine right behind her. Worriedly, she checked her flank to find her cutie mark was still there, before breathing a sigh of relief.
“The elements must be protecting us,” Zipp exclaimed. “Come on, let’s get these things.”
Feeling more confident, they all ran forward and started to attack the vines. Stomping at them with hoofs or blasting at them with magic.
“We need to find out where they are coming from,” Sunny instructed.
Hitch cried with surprise as a vine suddenly swiped at him. Impacting him in the side, he was flung through the air.
As he hit the ground he tumbled along the floor and into an alleyway. He tried to get up but his head was spinning so much he had to sit back down.
“You decided to turn up then?” a familiar voice said.
Hitch turned to see Phyllis was cowering in a corner, her cutie mark already missing.
“Har, Har,” Hitch groaned. “Unfortunately, we were dealing with another problem. Seems this was a coordinated attack on the town.”
“It’s not just here,” Phyllis replied gravely.
Meanwhile, Sunny was at the front and blasting away at vines as she fought her way forward. Ahead, she could see Glory, Seashell and Peach Fizz who were being protected by Sprout and Peach Stone. As Sunny got closer, she could see that Peach Fizz was laid on the ground, unconscious. Seashell meanwhile still had her cutie mark, but Glory did not.
Sprout and Peach Stone were doing their best, but it was clear the vines were being drawn towards Seashell specifically. For each one they bucked away, another seemingly appeared.
Sunny jumped and flew forward, firing a blast of magic from her horn she destroyed multiple vines easily. She landed the other side of the fillies as Sprout and Peach Stone formed a defensive triangle with her.
“Show off,” Sprout groaned as he bucked another vine away.
“You’re doing fine,” Sunny responded as she blasted another. “Where did these things come from?”
“The tree,” Seashell replied. “They’ve taken Glory’s and Peach Fizz’s cutie marks already.”
“But not yours,” Peach Stone responded.
“We won’t let them either,” Sprout added.
“Wow, look at you Sprout,” Sunny gasped. “Taking the Guard life to heart I see.”
Sprout said nothing in response, he just continued battering back vines as they came near.
“Peach Fizz won’t wake up,” Glory moaned as she nursed a damaged wing. “A vine got her, and she just passed out.”
Sunny blasted another group of vines away before looking down at Peach Fizz. Sure enough, her cutie mark was missing.
“Ugh, we need to get everypony to safely somehow,” Sunny groaned. “To Zephyr Heights or Bridlewood maybe.”
“There will be no help from either of them,” Hitch shouted as he arrived and skidded to a stand.
He gasped and whirled around to deliver a well-aimed buck over Seashell’s head at a vine.
“Vines are attacking both of them too,” he explained. “All of Equestria is under attack!”
“No!” Sunny exclaimed. “It’s too much. We can barely do anything for Maretime Bay. How are we supposed to protect Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights at the same time?”
“We could split up,” Hitch suggested.
“No, we need to be together,” Sunny replied. “Our friendship is strongest when we all stand together united. We can’t do that if we split up.”
“Then rely on your other friends,” a voice said from above them.
Sunny and the others looked up with surprise as Spike Junior glided over them. He landed nearby and proceeded to blast fire at a group of vines which made them wither away.
“Spike,” Sunny gasped. “Thank you.”
“What are friends for?” Spike Junior chuckled. “Blaize is on her way to Zephyr Heights whilst Tumble is going to Bridlewood. We’d have been here sooner, but the same thing was happening back home. Once we’d cleared the vines out I realised we were all better equipped to handle it.”
Sunny looked up to see more and more dragons were arriving. She couldn’t believe it as they started landing and blasting vines with their fire.
“Thank you,” Sunny gasped again. “Thank you so much for coming and helping.”
“Think nothing of it, Princess Sunny,” Spike Junior smiled as he leapt forward. “We’ll beat this together.”
“I…I’m not a princess,” Sunny gasped before frowning and blasting another vine that had sprung up beside her.
Elsewhere, Opaline smiled as she watched the cutie marks within the sphere swirl around and around. “That’s it,” she grinned. “That’s it, just a few more then I should have enough.”
She blinked as she spotted a familiar cutie mark float by before she finally recognised it.
“Oh, my dear Peach Fizz,” she cooed. “Oh well, you served me so well. I wish I’d done that to Misty sooner. She’d have become my herald then.”
Opaline looked to the door of the castle and sighed. “Speaking of it would seem my dear Nightmare hasn’t returned either.”
She looked back at the sphere and watched as another cutie mark appeared in the pool below it. It swirled around within the pool, circulating where the sphere intersected the water. Finally, it was absorbed into the sphere where it joined the others. Frowning, Opaline noted no more cutie marks were appearing.
“Seems I must have them all,” she noted. “Or I need to give it the personal touch to mop up the last. No matter, this should surely be enough to finally destroy that fool Twilight’s barrier spell.”
Opaline spread her wings widely, purple fire erupting from her feathers as she did so. Grinning, her horn flared as she shot a beam of energy at the sphere. Immediately, the cutie marks stopped rotating within the sphere and began being drawn to Opaline’s beam. She cried with joy as she could feel the additional power absorbing into herself.
“Yes! Yes!” she cried. “More! I want more!”
Her hoofs left the ground as she continued to absorb the raw cutie mark energy. Laughing maniacally, she cried with joy as the last of the power was emptied from the sphere. Surrounded by a light purple aura, Opaline grinned as she gave a powerful flap of her wings which shot her skywards.
The ceiling and roof of the castle gave no resistance as Opaline smashed through them. Then, above the castle walls, she cackled as she felt the crackling energy of Twilight’s barrier spell. However, whilst previously it felt like it would deliver a shock of high intensity. In her powered-up state, it was nothing more than a tingle.
“Take this Twilight Sparkle,” Opaline roared.
Her horn flared as she rotated her head, a blast of fiery magic shot forth and impacted the barrier. As with every other time, Twilight’s cutie mark appeared in the barrier’s energy. However, the blast was far too powerful for it to withstand.
With an ear-splitting crack, the barrier shattered. The image of Twilight’s cutie mark fading away.
Opaline laughed and laughed as she hovered in the air for a moment. Purple fire was still emitting from her wings with each flap.
Barely able to contain herself, Opaline flew forward. All too soon, she was beyond the limits of the castle’s walls. “You lose, Twilight Sparkle,” Opaline shouted. “Get ready Sunny Starscout, Misty Brightdawn, Starlight Glimmer, I’m coming for you and your friends!”
With that, Opaline spotted the prisbeam which she could just see on the horizon from her elevated position. With a grin, she flapped her wings and flew off towards it at immense speed.