Luke broke into a sprint to close the distance between himself and the Manticore. The beast leaped into the air, assisted by a beat from its bat wings. Luke prepared to either dodge or parry the attack, but the Cockatrice wrapped its tail around his leg, pulling it to throw him off balance. Luke glanced up to see the Manticore dive bombing with his claws poised to rend his flesh.
"Kyaaahhh!"
Rainbow Dash used her superior speed to propel herself at the beast with a flying kick, successfully deflecting the attack.
"AJ! Bring him around!" Rainbow called out.
"Already on it." The earth pony replied between gritted teeth.
Applejack twirled her lasso around one final time before letting it loose towards the Manticore. The rope landed true around the beast's leg. With a quick movement, Applejack tied the other end around an abandoned tea cart, giving it a strong buck once the rope was secure. Unable to fight the momentum, the Manticore was pulled along the ground, growling with fury and pain.
"Get ready for my Gale Punch!" Rainbow taunted as she squared herself up for the incoming mass of fur.
Luke turned to Rainbow as the Cockatrice was removed from him by a solid blast from Twilight's horn. "Don't forget about Arietta!"
"Pfft! What's that little girl gonna do now that we've got her buddies on the ropes?" She chuckled to herself.
Rainbow failed to notice the Fonic Glyph glowing beneath Arietta.
"O twisted door, open wide! Negative Gate!" Arietta cried.
A dark sphere of shadow energy appeared exactly where Rainbow was, pelting her with the fluctuations of the malevolent force.
"Ow!"
With her focus lost, the Manticore found the opportunity to right itself, cutting the rope and swiping Rainbow Dash with its tail.
"Gyaaahh!" She screamed.
"Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelled, flying at bullet speed to catch her friend.
Fluttershy successfully caught her fellow pegasus, and began to treat her. "It looks like you only got grazed by the claws, and that spell battered you a bit, but you look okay." She said as she began quickly bandaging any wounds and massaging her sore muscles.
"Nothing's hurting more than my pride right now..." She muttered in distaste.
Luke was now blocking a bite from the Cockatrice's beak with his blade, looking for an opportunity to throw it off.
Rarity began chanting a magic spell, a tactic only used by unicorns to use advanced spells. "O dazzling light! Refraction Blast!"
Three small gems of light shot forward and impacted the Cockatrice, knocking him away so Luke could counter. The Rem fonons left by Rarity's attack were perfect for Luke to use for another FOF change.
"Piercing Flash!" He shouted.
Luke swung his sword around in a circle, gathering up the Rem fonons into his blade.
"Light Blast!" He shouted as he stabbed the sword diagonally up to the Cockatrice, releasing a blast of light fonons.
The Cockatrice cawed in pain as it flew backwards from the blast. Meanwhile, Twilight and Applejack were contending with the enraged Manticore. Applejack was sweating bullets as she barely managed to dodge swipe after swipe of the razor sharp claws.
"Whoa! And to- Ah! Think that just a few days ago mah biggest worry was breaking mah apple buckin' record." She complained as she looked for her opening.
Twilight began charging her magic, adding an incantation to give it the power she needed.
"Spread thy alluring snare and deliver my enemies unto me! Tractor Beam!"
A large beam of energy appeared around the Manticore, pulling it upwards and damaging it. As he began to fall back to the ground, Pinkie Pie leaped into the fray to help her friends. She pulled out a large toy hammer from her tail, as impossible as it seemed.
"Pow Hammer Smash!" She cried with glee as she smashed the Manticore over the head, causing it to surprisingly become dazed from the impact.
Arietta was furious with Pinkie's action. "Feel the hammer of light! Limited!"
A small beam of light energy fell from above Pinkie Pie, about to impact her dead on the head.
"Barrier!" Twilight shouted as she created a hardened mana shield above her friend.
The blast shattered the quickly made shield, but protected the occupant.
"Thanks, Twilight!" Pinkie cheerfully thanked.
The two beasts now began to team up by converging on Luke. The replica thought quickly as the beasts closed in.
"Rainbow! I need water fonons!" He shouted.
The prismatic mare tilted her head in bewilderment. "Water fonons?"
She then remembered when she first met Luke.
"How else is it supposed to rain?"
"An excess of water fonons in the atmosphere."
Rainbow darted into the sky, quickly grabbing a rain cloud before any Changelings could spot her. She brought it above Luke and began dumping out the contents.
"Chill!" Luke shouted.
He drew a circle in the ground around him with his blade as the beasts began to pounce. As he thrust his sword into the ground, large spikes of ice sprang up to defend him.
"Guardian Frost!"
The two monsters were knocked back from the burst of the ice shattering. As they both impacted a wall, they slumped to the ground unconscious.
"Don't think you've won just yet!" Arietta cursed.
A massive image of a galaxy appeared on the ground beneath the group. Luke gasped and braced himself for what would follow.
"Fall! Big Bang!" Arietta shouted.
The center of the galaxy erupted in a massive explosion of light, hurting Luke and his companions from the blast.
Luke fell to his knees and panted for breath.
"Damn... Didn't expect her to use that..."
"What... What kind of power was that...?" Twilight asked through pained grunts.
Arietta began to charge up another spell while her foes were helpless. "Now I'll end you-!"
Arietta suddenly found herself pinned to the ground by a mass of pink and yellow fur.
"No more! No more fighting!" Fluttershy said through labored breaths.
Arietta was shocked that this pony had managed to pin her after one of her Mystic Artes. She turned to her monster allies.
"Please! If you can get up, help me!" She called.
The Cockatrice and Manticore slowly managed to rise to their feet and began to creep over to Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy! Get out of there!" Rainbow shouted.
Fluttershy calmly looked to the monsters. "No!" She shouted in a disciplinary manner.
Both monsters flinched and looked to each other in confusion, unsure of whose command to follow.
"You can speak to my friends too?" Arietta asked in confusion.
"Well, yes. It's my special talent." Fluttershy answered.
Arietta shook away her doubts. "I don't care if we have that talent in common! I'll destroy them for killing my mommy! Van told me about how they killed her in cold blood!"
*Smack!*
Arietta recoiled in shock as she felt her left cheek stinging in pain. Fluttershy was now beginning to cry, her tears landing on Arietta's face.
"You're not the only one who's lost their mommy..."
"What?" Arietta asked in surprise.
"My mom died when I was just a little filly. She was always so loving and made me feel confident... But then she died, and I lost the confidence I had."
"I..." Arietta tried to retort, but found her words had no merit.
"Everypony in school teased me and called me names, and I could only sit there and cry."
"Fluttershy..." Rainbow began, memories of such events returning to her.
"I just wanted it all to go away. I wanted all of those mean colts and fillies to just disappear, but I realized it wouldn't be right to hate them."
Arietta found herself chocked up. She couldn't find the will to simply use an arte to kill this pony who stood in her way.
"Is it really right to kill them just because of what I was told? I... My mommy..."
Arietta sighed as she wiped away her own tears.
"I'll withdraw for now, but when next we meet.... I won't hold back."
Arietta climbed on the back of the Manticore, riding her monstrous ally away from the battlefield with the Cockatrice following closely behind.
Luke and the others began to rise to their feet. Luke reached into his bag and pulled out a bottled medicine.
"Everyone have a sip. This Specific should help get you back up to strength." He instructed after taking a sip of the liquid.
Everypony took their share and began moaning with relief as their sore muscles and wounds healed, even if not completely.
Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy with sadness in her eyes. "Fluttershy... Are you going to be okay?"
Fluttershy wiped a final tear away. "I'll be fine, Rainbow. I just felt so bad for Arietta, having such a similar circumstance and all."
"Just who was that Gloomietta, anyway?" Pinkie asked.
"She's even calling Arietta that nickname... I have to be sure she and Anise never meet." Luke thought to himself.
"She used to be a Fon Master Guardian, one of Fon Master Ion's personal guard. When the original Ion died, she was relieved of her duty so she would never know that the new Ion was a replica. She really cared for the original Ion, so they knew if she found out, she may have killed herself."
"How sad..." Twilight said, barely in a whisper.
"Is it true that y'all... Y'know...?" Applejack hesitantly asked.
"When she was young, she used to live on the island of Hod. When it was destroyed, she survived, but she was orphaned. The Liger Queen found her and raised her as one of her own, which is how she learned to communicate with monsters. Tear, Jade and I were forced to kill the Liger Queen in order to help protect Engeve and the Cheagles, because if we didn't, her eggs would have hatched and her young would have wiped out the humans to feed."
"So that's why." Applejack nodded. "Y'all did the right thing, but Ah doubt Arietta will see that."
"Maybe... But this isn't really Arietta. This replica is a new person, so she'll have a different outlook on things."
Luke cleared his throat finally. "Anyway, we need to keep moving. We don't have much time to waste."
"Right! Let's go save Canterlot!" Twilight shouted confidently.