“GREATSWORD!” Battleaxe cried, tying to free his brother. “You need to get outta this!”
Greatsword struggled in Destruction’s spell, but it seemed that even his power was able to free himself. “NO!” He yelled thrashing violently.
“He’s Got Fluttershy, Greatsword!” Twilight cried, hastily pointing to Destruction.
“I’m on it!” Rainbow shouted, charging with screaming speed towards the titan.
Destruction evaded the charging pony and back slashed her back to the ground. “You are weak…” Destruction bellowed. “No amount of magic, speed or hope can save you.” He cast his gaze to the terrified mare in his grasp. “But you shall not bear witness,” tightened his grip around her, “for the sheer pleasure of it, I want them to watch YOU die!”
“NO!” Fluttershy cried. It was that cry that became the catalyst for Greatsword’s freedom. He shot through his bindings, wings unvealied and eyes glowing like a blue sun. it only to a few seconds for him to regain his bearings and locate Fluttershy and the hand closing in on her.
“NO!” he roared flying towards Destruction. He tried to slash Greatsword out of the sky, but he easily avoided the attack and continued his flight, straight at Destruction.
“You took away my friends!” he yelled slamming himself into Destruction’s face. “You took away my parents!” he shouted running into Destruction’s stomach. “You took away EVERYTHING I love!” he flew high into sky, glaring at the monster that had made his life pure hell. His entire body began to glow a royal blue, brighter than any star before finally speeding towards him one last time. “BUT YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME!” BOOM! The sky exploded, unleashing a royal blue aura around him.
“A sonic RAINBOOM!” Pinkie ogled, her jaw hitting the ground.
“Oh… My… Gosh…” Rainbow said in disbelief. “I’m… I’m not the only one…”
Greatsword continued on his path, the aura following him the whole way down. SLING! Destruction roared in agony as the arm that held Fluttershy was cut through like a hot blade cut through butter. The severed limb came careening towards the group, all but Twilight ran from the the falling carnage, frozen in complete awe.
“Twilight!” Battleaxe roared rushing to her, his eyes starting to let off a golden glow. He embraced her just as the massive arm fell on them both with a thunderous crash.
“Battleaxe!” Warhammer yelled running to the limb. He grabbed the overwhelming pile of flesh and threw it into the air, expecting to see the two crushed under the weight if it, but to his surprise he saw Battleaxe, in a glowing golden form and Twilight still clinging to one another. “Brother!” Warhammer said making his way to them, “you’re-” he went to pat him on the back but his hoof just went right through him.
“Battleaxe…” Twilight said in disbelief. “How… how are you DOING that?”
“I don’t know…” Battleaxe said looking to his armor then back to her. “I just saw you there and… and well…” he looked at Warhammer’s hoof going through them. “You see what’s happening…”
“The ability to phase through solid objects…” Warhammer said impressed. “It seems that all of us have a special ability attributing to our element.”
“Well that’s good to know…” Battleaxe said with a grin. “Come on little bro, I have an idea.”
Fluttershy was thrown from the severed limb of Destruction, but on her way out she struck one of his claws, knocking her out. Unable to fly, she continued her descent to the ground in a deadly manor, but fortunately, Greatsword was able to reach her.
“I got you…” he said softly to his unconscious cargo, “and I’m never letting go again…” he landed in front of the awestruck group and gently placed her on the ground, “See to it that she stays alive…” he said turning away while Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes. “I’m not done with him yet…”
“Greatsword…” Event said in veneration. “Have… you… seen yourself…”
“What are you talking about?” Greatsword asked.
“Your SKIN darling…” Rarity said. “Your skin is like a diamond!”
Greatsword looked to his hooves and to his amazement, Rarity was right. Somehow his body had taken a new seemingly unbreakable form. He looked to the group and then towards Destruction. Greatsword turned back to Fluttershy, who was looking at him in awe and nodded at her with a smile.
“I might die today…” he said, taking flight, much to the dismay of Fluttershy, “but I will NOT give up… I will fight on, for the sake of what I love; I will fight until my last breath…”
“You are so quick to throw your life away, Greatsword!” Destruction said charging an attack. “Suicide and sacrifice Greatsword there is NO difference!” he fired his attack only to look in shock as Greatsword flew through it unaffected.
“There IS a difference, Destruction!” Greatsword yelled. “The one who sacrifices wants to come home to the ones he loves, but is willing to pay the ultimate price to keep what they love safe at all costs!” he continued his charge, “and that is a cost I am MORE than willing to pay!”
Destruction lifted his remaining claws, preparing to strike, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a massive rock heading right for him. He quickly turned and shattered the rock into dust. “I am no fool Warhammer!” he roared, “There is nothing that-“
“Hey There!” Battleaxe shouted flying through the falling debris. “Bet you didn’t expect this!”
Battleaxe fired a powerful spell straight into Destruction’s stomach, causing him to lurch in pain before Battleaxe phased into him, casting spell after spell inside. Using Battleaxe as a destraction Greatsword slammed into his back, causing him to dig deeper and deeper into his flesh, until finally he flew threw his body completely, Battleaxe riding on his back carrying a piece of him like a banner. Destruction roared in blind furry as his crest began to charge once again, blacking everything as far as the eye could see.
“ENOUGH!” he roared slamming his fist into the ground, causing an immense crater to form. “I will NOT fall again! YOU all shall perish by MY hand!” Destruction grabbed Greatsword and threw him into the crater.
“NOW!” Twilight shouted standing among the others.
The Elements of Harmony floated into the air along with Spike, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence. Event Horizon flew ahead of them and threw his amplifier into the air and at the right moment, Twilight opened her eyes revealing a bright white glow. A rainbow of epic scale shot from the elements, Spike unleashed his flame, Luna and Cadence fired their most powerful spells and Derpy unleashed the full might of her muffin launcher. Their abilities all combined at the same time through the amplifier unleashing the power of everything on Destruction. Destruction writhed in agony, but it wasn’t enough to stop him.
“Greatsword!” Battleaxe yelled. “NOW’S the time! While they have him distracted!”
“Let’s finish THIS!” Greatsword roared, flying towards Destruction carrying both his brothers.
“YOU CANNOT LAST FOREVER PONIES!” Destruction roared. “I AM ETERNAL! I WILL NEVER FALL!”
“Is this all we can muster?!” Event said frantically looking to the others. “We NEED more power!”
“We’re giving it all we got!” Long shot yelled firing another bolt at Destruction, “we can’t give anymore!”
“Then perhaps reinforcements!” Battleaxe yelled to them, Greatsword flew into the magical aura the others were enveloped in. “Sorry about the tardiness,” Battleaxe said, “Big bro decided to sleep in.”
“Less talking, more ass kicking!” Long Shot yelled firing again.
The three floated there with the others, then their eyes began to glow with their respective aura. With a warrior’s roar they unleashed all their power upon Destruction, but this time Event Horizon’s magic amplifier was there, instantaneously doubling the power of their attack. Destruction screeched in raw agony falling to the ground and with a loud thundering crash he landed, spraying black filth across what was left of Canterlot.
The group stopped floating and descended back to the ground. All of them rushed to where Destruction had fallen, hoping to see the fallen behemoth dead in a pool of his own blood, but to their surprise Destruction was still alive. He shot up once more and rose his last remaining claw into the air to strike them.
“NEVER…” Destruction muttered between bloody teeth. “NEVER… DIE!”
Destruction slashed at the group one last time, his claw heading directly for Event Horizon, but without second thought Greatsword flew into him, sending up flying away from the attack. However his bravery would cost him, he wasn’t fast enough to avoid being smashed under Destruction’s claw.
“NO!” the group cried all together, reaching out for Greatsword.
Destruction then fell back into his hole, claw still over Greatsword. Battleaxe ran over to Destruction and glared into his eyes, which only made him laugh. “You cannot kill…” he said smiling, “Only delay… I-“
“Shut up…” Battleaxe growled shoving his hoof directly into Destruction’s eye; the beast let out a shrieking cry and began to disintegrate before their eyes. The moment Destruction disappeared completely they all ran to where Greatsword lay motionless again, just as he had hours before. Battleaxe rushed to his brother’s side, lifting him from the ground and holding him gently in his forelegs.
“Bro… come on bro don’t do this to me again…” there was no response from Greatsword, Battleaxe buried his head into his brother’s chest and let out a single tear, “You did it again…” he whispered softly.“ You son of a bitch… You did it to me again…”
At that moment Greatsword’s chest rose slowly, he turned to look at his teary eyed brother still holding him and smiled, “Battleaxe…” he said to get his attention. “Battleaxe…”
“Yeah bro?” Battleaxe replied excitedly, “What do you need?”
“Could you please let me go?” he asked. “It’s a little hard to breathe…”
“Oh… uh, sorry bro…” Battleaxe said releasing him. “Guess I got a little carried away…”
“Understandable…” Greatsword said smiling.
“Greatsword, Battleaxe,” Warhammer said to gather their attention. “Do you know what today is?”
“I was never good a keeping dates, little bro,” Battleaxe said, rubbing his chin. “What’s today?”
“Six years…” Greatsword answered, rising slowly with the help of Battleaxe. “Six years to the day we woke up in the badlands in that old tent…”
“Indeed…” Warhammer responded taking his place next to his blood. “We have all lost and gained friends, we have learned from the past, we have all found love in the present…” he grabbed Luna and drew her in close, “and now we have a future to look ahead to, I don’t know what it will have in store.” He placed his hoof on her belly, “but I am more than ready to see what it has for us…”
“My creation is safe once more,” an echoing voice called over them, “but not just by honor, but harmony and love as well.”
“Who was that?” Twilight asked looking around, trying to find the origin of the voice to no avail.
“It can’t be…” Greatsword said in disbelief. “Can it?”
“It is, Greatsword…” the voice echoed yet again as a blinding light appeared before the group. “I, Omnipotent have returned.”
The group of ponies looked in awe to the titanic alicorn that stood before them, only Greatsword was unphased by seeing him there, but he was concerned about one small detail.
“Omnipotent, when I was with you, you said that you could not travel between planes…” he said looking up to Omnipotent. “You said that you couldn’t come here even if you wanted to.”
“To answer your question, I still can’t…” Omnipotent replied. “But with the death of Destruction, a tear was created between our existences, allowing all of us to make a brief return.”
“All of us?” Greatsword asked. “What do you mean by ‘all of us’?”
“Your friends and family, Greatsword,” Omnipotent responded, smiling stepping aside to reveal a large group of ponies behind him.
“And they are not the only ones still here with us…” Aurora said making her way to a pile of rubble; she used her magic to remove the rock and dirt to reveal two ponies lying next to one another.
“Is… is it over…” Shining Armor said rubbing his head. “The last thing I remember was-“
“Shining Armor!” Twilight and Princess Cadence exclaimed rushing him and wrapping him up in their forelegs. “You’re alive!”
“Only because of Thunderlane…” Shining Armor said somberly. “He flew into the castle doors to close them, giving me a chance to use my protection spell to save myself and…” he looked down to the pile of rubble he climbed out of, a large beaten and bloodied white figure rose from the pile still barely able to stand.
“SISTER!” Princess Luna shouted, almost tackling Princess Celestia, the two fell over one another and the moment they finally stopped Princess Celestia winced in pain. “I’m sorry Celestia…” Princess Luna said ashamedly. “I didn’t mean to-“
“It’s alright, Luna,” Princess Celestia said standing slowly. “I would have done the same.” The two embraced again but this time far softer.
The two massive alicorns made their way to the royal sisters and smiled down to both of them, “It has been long since we have seen you like this…” Omnipotent said, a small tear running down his face. “We have missed you so much…”
Without warning the two rushed Omnipotent, knocking him off his feet, but he didn’t care. He rose up with his daughters in hoof and bringing Aurora into the embrace as well. “Over six thousand years…” Aurora said watery eyed. “It feels like yesterday that I last held you both…” she kissed her daughters “now I never want to let go…”
Rainbow walked over to Event, expecting him to say something about how awesome his invention was when out of the corner of her eye she saw what she couldn’t believe. “Comet?!” she exclaimed. “Is… is that YOU?!”
“Hey Dashie…” Comet said smiling.
Rainbow sprinted straight to her brother, tears rolling down her face almost as fast as she was running. The two met in an embrace that Rainbow never got to give him. “I missed you so MUCH!” she said between joyful tears, “I missed you so much…”
“I did too…” Comet said softly rubbing her back, “I missed you too.”
Among all the joyous reunions the three stood watching loved ones and smiling. Then Greatsword noticed three particular ponies standing off to the side, he motioned his brothers to follow him and after a few moments they stood before their parents and General Ballista.
“MY BOYS!” Forge cried wrapping all three of them in her embrace, after the initial confusion Greatsword quietly explained who she and the other earth pony was and after that Battleaxe and Warhammer returned the embrace tenfold. After a few moments Greatsword excused himself form the family reunion and made his way over to the only pony who was still alone.
“Hey there Shy, we actually did it…” he stopped right in front of her, “We beat him…”
“I-I guess we did…” she replied sheepishly, brushing her mane behind her ear.
“You know Shy,” Greatsword said taking another step towards her. “Only one thing ran through my mind when I was fighting Destruction… do you know what that was?”
“I-I don’t know…” Fluttershy answered. “Please don’t be mad that I don’t know…”
“Oh, I think you know what I was thinking…” Greatsword said placing his hoof under her chin, the two stared deeply into one another’s eyes. “We both were thinking the same thing…” he drew her closer and closer, but then an older stallion’s voice interrupted them both.
“So THIS is that pony you were talking about,” Armor Smith said looking the two up and down. “You better keep a hold of this one son, she looks like a keeper.”
“Thank you father…” Greatsword said placing his hoof over his face while Fluttershy hid her blushing behind her mane. “I will do my best…”
“You better,” Armor Smith said smiling. “Because I want as many grand foals as possible.”
“FATHER!” Greatsword exclaimed his face turning a bright red, Fluttershy fainted briefly at the very thought.
Armor Smith began to laugh uncontrollably as he made his way back to Forge and the others. Greatsword helped Fluttershy back up and dusted her off a bit.
“Sorry about that…” Greatsword said, still rather embarrassed. “I didn’t know that he would-“
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Fluttershy said, “I really don’t mind that idea…” she drew closer to Greatsword, but before they could do what they’ve been trying to do they were interrupted by another.
“I hope I’m not interrupting…” Record Keeper said, looking at the two.
“You’re not…” Greatsword responded turning to face her. “What do you need?”
“Greatsword, would you mind going somewhere else for a moment?” Record Keeper asked walking next to Fluttershy. “Just some girl talk…”
“Um… alright…” He said walking off, “I’ll be back in a few…” Greatsword walked off into the crowd once he was out of sight Record Keeper looked to Fluttershy and smiled.
“He loves you a lot you know.” She said, fighting a tear. “He loves you more than anything.”
“Oh… I-uh… I guess you’re right…” Fluttershy said awkwardly.
“And I know you love him too,” Record Keeper added, looking back to Fluttershy. “All I ever wanted was to see him happy, and in the few seconds I’ve seen him with you, I’ve never seen him happier…”
“Uh… thank you…” Fluttershy said lowering her voice to a whisper. “I guess.”
“Just say you’ll keep him happy,” Record Keeper said as a tear flowed down her face. “And love him like you won’t ever see him again every day, I know I should have…”
“I-I promise…” Fluttershy said, showing assertiveness in her voice. “I promise that he will be happy.”
“Thank you…” Record Keeper said placing her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
“Are we really back?” Camo asked looking around.
“I’d say we are…” Flare Flash said with a smile. “You here that Cannon Fodder?” he said turning to the scrawny unicorn behind them. “We’re back…”
“Oh… I don’t know guys…” Cannon Fodder said nervously placing his hooves on the ground. “I-I’ve got a BAD feeling about this…”
“Can’t you just enjoy the moment for once?” Flash asked, rolling his eyes. “I mean come on, we’re not gonna be back forever.”
“He’s right, Cannon…” Camo added. “We’ve got a chance to actually say goodbye now.”
“Ponies, to me!” Omnipotent called out over the ruins, they all ran to him wondering what he was about to say. When all finally came to him he let out a deep sigh.
“For us, the storm has passed, the battle is over…” he looked to everypony in the small group, “but let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark, and did not return.” He looked to the sk., “Their decision required courage beyond measure, sacrifice and unshakable conviction that their fight… our fight, was worth It.” he cast his gaze back to the group and the shattered land, “as we start to rebuild, this hill side will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen…” he paused thinking about all who had died. “They ennobled us and they shall not be forgotten…” the others nodded and went to gather what they needed to rebuild.
Greatsword approached Omnipotent after his speech and stood next to him as he stared into his creation. “I remember how this all started, how I made everypony forget…” he looked to Greatsword, and extended his hoof. “But you have my thanks, for stopping him once and for all…”
“It’s hard to believe he’s dead…” Greatsword said shaking his hoof.
“Where it so easy…” Omnipotent replied looking to the now rising sun. The two went off with the others preparing to rebuild the land and the lives that they had lost.