One day earlier…
Starscream had just woken up, odd given the fact that he was used as a makeshift club against something as hard as Grimlock, he didn’t think that he’d even wake up after that. Running a quick diagnostics check over his systems. The initial scans didn’t look to promising.
“Sixty percent damage to my left arm… severely dented chasse…fractured wings…” he growled to himself, “The only thing that barely sustained damage was my face… Thank the maker.”
Starscream was about to complain to himself even more if it weren’t for the sudden rustling amongst the trees nearby. Reading his Null Ray the cowardly Decepticon aimed it toward the sound prepared to pull the trigger at whatever appeared. It was soon made clear to Starscream what exactly it was that terrified him so, a rabbit, a small white rabbit. The tiny creature hopped out of the brush, causing him to stumble back onto his rear end. The rabbit didn’t really take notice of him; it even hopped onto Starscream’s chest as he attempted to rise to his feet.
“Such an inferior creature…” Starscream said trying to bat the bunny off of him, “If I had the mind I would blast you into dust! But that would be a waste of energon…”
The rabbit then looked to Starscream’s direction; fear filled its face before it burst back into the bushes, leaving Starscream to gloat. “That’s right you insect!” he yelled, “Cower in fear at the might of STARSCREAM!”
“Star… scream…” a deep voice suddenly said from behind him, causing his hydraulics to run cold. Slowly turning his head to the direction of the voice he saw what the bunny had actually fled from, the large reptilian head of the mighty Grimlock.
“EIAGH!” Starscream cried falling back onto his caboose, “Don’t hurt me! I’m wounded There’s no sport in-“
Starscream paused his begging after he noticed that he wasn’t being chewed up after the first few words of his plea. Taking a good hard look at the Autobot before him, Grimlock was still in Dino mode, but his optics where flickering on and off. Nervously he extended his hand towards the titan’s jaws, trembling more and more violently as he inched closer, until finally he made contact. Grimlock flinched at the sudden contact, causing Starscream to sprint behind the nearest tree, but when he saw that Grimlock didn’t pursue him. He jumped out from behind the tree in triumph.
“It seems the mighty Grimlock is now at the mercy of the great and powerful Starscream!” he said confidently placing his hands on his hips, “Even Megatron can’t best this foe, when they hear of how easily I dispose of you every Decepticon will quickly bend a knee to me instead!”
Starscream readied his one good Null Ray and aimed his shot square between Grimlock’s eyes, grinning like a loon the moment his weapon became fully charged.
“It would be highly illogical for you to take such action.” Yet another voice said from behind Starscream, making him jump yet again and miss his shot in the process.
“Shockwave!” Starscream yelled, “You interrupted my moment of victory! I was just about to end this pathetic warrior’s spark, but you interrupted!”
Starscream readied to fire again, only to have his weapon pushed away by Shockwave. He was about to protest again, but the scientist ignored him, pulling out his sonic driver and inspecting the downed beast.
“Step aside Shockwave!” Starscream yelled frustrated, training his sights on him. “Or I shall dispose of you too!”
“That would be very painful…” Shockwave said ignoring his warning.
“Indeed, now-“
“For you…” he finished turning around to face Starscream, pushing his Null Ray into his own chest.
Starscream backed off, knowing that he was no match for Shockwave in one on one. Shockwave may have been a scientist, but through his research he found way to amplify his own skills, even to the point of matching and possibly surpassing Megatron’s. There was only one recorded instance where Shockwave had lost, and that was to the beast that lay before them.
“Very well Shockwave…” Starscream said, “But only because you are more useful to me alive.”
“Your reasoning is sound.” Shockwave replied, turning his attention back to Grimlock, “However I cannot say the same for you.”
Starscream was about to respond with a shot to Shockwave’s back, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. “Why are you examining him?” he asked, “We could easily destroy him here and now!”
“That is impossible…” Shockwave said, logging several notes into his holopad.
“How so?”
“Grimlock in this form is to the best of my knowledge indestructible.” Shockwave answered scanning him for any damage, “He can even endure a dark energon explosion at ground zero with no damage. I believe that he may even be able to survive the destruction of a planet without as much as a scratch.”
“What makes you so sure?” Starscream asked crossing his arms.
“Because I created him.” Shockwave replied coldly, “It took me mega cycles to perfect his design. I made him the ultimate killing machine.”
“There has to be a weakness.” Starscream said looking Grimlock over, “A failsafe…”
“There is…” Shockwave answered, “Grimlock cannot maintain this form, at most it can last for twenty earth hours… and even then his robotic form is only slightly more vulnerable. It would be highly illogical for us to stay here and wait for that time to come, because it would be reasonable to believe he would awaken by then.”
“If you say so…” Starscream said, “But shouldn’t we search for the combaticons? They are more than likely strewn across this new planet.”
“I find your logic acceptable.” Shockwave answered, “We will be able to acquire the Titan Sphere faster if we had a larger group.”
“We’re on the planet that hides the Sphere?”
“Indeed…” Shockwave said pulling up a hologram from his wrist, “It is located several megamiles away from here, but we must gather the combaticons first, there is no need to risk or sparks in combat if we can have an asset like Bruticus.”
With that the two Decepticons left Grimlock to his own devices. Now Grimlock was contemplating what he was going to do about the development before him. He was barely hidden amongst the edge of a town that had little horses doing what normally did. The only time Grimlock had even seen horses was when he was at the Ark and Ironhide was watching some human T.V. ‘The Cowboys’ was what it was called. Grimlock liked the big human that was in it, he seemed very tough.
“Maybe because these horses act like people they are people…” Grimlock said to himself, “Because they are people they should know me Autobot… so if me ask directions for finding Shockwave they help.”
Normally Grimlock didn’t ask for help, especially from the puny squishy things, but this was Shockwave he was after and he was willing to do whatever it took to destroy Shockwave. He strained his optics looking for a little horse that he believed could tell him which way Shockwave went. His attention finally came to a particular horse, mainly because it was the closest to him, a horse that had a pink coat, a blonde mane and a lily placed nicely behind her ear.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lily Blossom was happily making her way across Ponyville, certificate placed firmly in her pearly whites. She had been going therapy for the past several months to rid herself of her Pantophobia (fear of everything) and today the doctor had finally said that she was cured of her ailment. Now that all of that was out of the way she could finally go back to work with her sisters at the flower shop.
“Hey Lilly!” Roseluck said happily waving to her baby sister, “I just heard the news! Congratulations!”
“Thanks Rosy!” Lily replied blushing, “It was really hard, but Dr. Psych was very patient with me, and now I’m officially fear free!”
“That’s amazing!” Daisy said embracing her sister for the first time in months, “How did you go about getting rid of all of your fears?”
“It was really easy actually.” Lily replied passively waving her hoof, “We just started with the most ridiculous fear of all!”
“Your fear of giant metal monsters from another planet?” Roseluck giggled, followed shortly by Daisy.
“Actually yes.” Lily said to their surprise, Roseluck had only been kidding; she had no idea that Lily was actually afraid of something so far out there. “Dr. Psych and I talked about that for days, until I finally realized how ridiculous that sounded, and the rest was a snap… relatively speaking that is… hey… what are you two looking at?”
Roseluck and Daisy’s eyes were small dots, their jaws agape in awe. They didn’t even acknowledge the fact that their sister was talking to them.
“Hello?” Lily said waving her hooves at them, “Equestria to Roseluck and Daisy! What is with you two right now?”
In an instant the two darted off into town, leaving Lily to cough up their dust. She was about to yell a few choice words at the two of them for ruining her certificate, but was stopped by the sudden appearance of a looming shadow, one that looked like no cloud she had ever seen. Nervously, she looked behind herself to see the origins of her new found shade, what she saw made all those months of progress with Dr. Psych go flying out the window.
A giant metal monster from another world towered over her, the sun gleaming off its metal chasse, showing only dimly glowing red lights and a distinct blue visor. She was frozen in fear as the beast stared right back at her. ‘Don’t move,’ she thought to herself, ‘it can’t see you if you don’t move…’ Unfortunately for her, it could see her, but before she realized it and ran off after her sisters she was encompassed by its giant metallic hand. Her screams were muffled until it unclenched its fist. She froze again, only this time she was face to face with the monster.
‘What do I do?’ she thought, panicking silently, ‘give it something? What should I give it? ... … … No not that, mother said wait for marriage and besides how could it-‘
“Hello puny fleshling…” the monster said snapping her out of her thoughts, “Me Grimlock, you know where-“
“IT CAN TALK!” Lilly screeched, causing the monster to drop her. “THE HORROR! THE HORROR!”
Lilly then darted off into town, leaving her ever so precious certificate at the feet of the monster.
“NO!” Grimlock yelled starting to chase after the little horse, “Me just want directions!”
In his haste to catch up with the little horse, Grimlock had accidently ran over a few carts and toppled a house or two. That revealed even more of the little horses, who in turn followed suit with the pink one he was chasing. Now instead of one screaming horse there were dozens of them, the constant blasting of his auditory sensors only frustrated him even further.
“Quiet!” He roared, “Grimlock only want Directions!”
He sent his hand into the crowd of panicked little horses and pulled one up to his face. “You know where Shockwave?”
“Put me down!” he pleaded, “I’ll get you a very good deal on a sofa… a BIG sofa!”
“Me Grimlock no want sofa…” Grimlock said casually flicking the little horse onto a nearby roof, “Me want Shockwave!”
“You wanna shockwave huh?” Grimlock heard from behind him. “Well how ‘bout THIS!”
CLINK!
The sudden impact that came across Grimlock’s face caught him off guard, even to the point where he fell down, collapsing a building or two in the process.
The ponies paused for a moment looking to the now fallen titan and then to their champion, who was doing several of her trademarked moves as a victory dance. They all cheered her name. “RAINBOW DASH! RAINBOW DASH!”
“Now, now…” she giggled, “there’s no need to praise Me.” the crowd fell silent, eyes still glued to Rainbow, a few seconds passed, leading her to let out a frustrated sigh, “but that doesn’t mean you should stop.”
The crowd began to cheer once more, Rainbow backing in the glory of her latest victory, but what she and everypony else didn’t know was that Rainbow had just done one of the most foolish things any living being could do in the known universe.
Grimlock roared in primal rage as he shot up to his feet, the once blue visor now a blood red. “ME ONLY WANT DIRECTIONS! NOW YOU MAKE GRIMLOCK MAD!”
Grimlock’s sword suddenly formed itself into his hand, fury pulsing through his very being. The crowd began to panic again, but Rainbow just brushed it off.
“So you’re tougher than ya look…” she said with a grin, it’d been a while since she’s had a challenge, “Let’s see how you stand up to THIS ONE!”
Rainbow coiled herself as best she could before unleashing all her pent-up force and then sprang towards Grimlock, sending a multicolored shockwave across the sky. The crowd cheered in awe at the sight. Knowing that now the monster would soon meet an untimely end at the hooves of the fastest thing in Equestria. Grimlock however stayed completely still, his sensors tracking his foe’s every move until finally, it was time to strike.
TUNK!
The sound of Rainbow Dash colliding with Grimlock’s energon shield sent chills down their spine, even more so than the few that watched the pegasus soaring through the sky to Celestia knew where. The crowd was silent eyes all on the titan that had easily defeated on of their greatest champions. Grimlock just stared back optics still glowing red for the insult that was handed to him. He roared once again, sending the little ponies into panic mode yet again, only this time he didn’t care, this time he was going to get answers… his way.
He tried to be nice, well as nice as he could be, but all the puny horses did was run and cower behind their little houses and that rainbow one kicked him, which was a step too far. Now he had a new plan, smash everything until one of them finally told him where Shockwave was. He liked this plan much better; he didn’t have to talk to anyone, his sword was always the better communicator anyway.
He began to drive his blade into the houses next to him, forcing the little horses inside back into the streets, but he made sure that he didn’t kill any of them. Grimlock could care little if he actually did kill one or two, but that wasn’t the point, it was the principle. Even though Shockwave turned him into a nearly mindless killing machine he was and forever will be an honor bound warrior at his spark. Millennia of fighting in the pits of Kolkular and later Iacon taught him that there is no honor in killing a weaker opponent and from what he could see the horses were even weaker than the humans of earth.
“WHERE SHOCKWAVE?!” Grimlock roared swinging his bade into the building in the center of the town, slashing through it like nothing was in its way. “Tell Grimlock or-“
He was cut off by the sudden feeling of being pelted from the behind. Grimlock turned around to see another horse, this one actually brave enough to not run away. He thought he could possibly catch this one and ‘convince’ it to tell him the whereabouts of Shockwave, but when another barrage of apples belted his face his initial thoughts disappeared, replaced by unmatched furry once again.
“Keep’em commin’ Big Macintosh!” Applejack shouted at the stallion behind her, “We need ta keep on hittin’ it ‘til it falls over!”
“Eeyup!” The large red stallion said throwing another barrel of apples to his sister.
Applejack drove her hooves into the barrel and pulled out several apples. Throwing them into the air she bucked them into the monsters direction once again. After seeing how easily it handled Rainbow Dash in a hoof to hoof conflict she thought she stood a better chance with a ranged approach, but even if that didn’t work it would at least distract it long enough so that Ponyville could be evacuated. Apple after apple hit its mark, but all it seemed to do was make the beast angrier, her shots became more frantic, less precise until finally she was standing in the shadow of the colossus.
Her eyes and mouth wide open in both awe and fear she watched it raise its mighty leg into the air before sending it towards her direction. If not for the quick actions of her big brother she may have been turned into applesauce. Neither had a clue that he was aiming solely for the barrel, but that really didn’t matter to them.
“We need to get Twi…” Applejack said staring at the monster that was now making a crater of where her apple barrels once stood.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac replied in agreement, the two then made a mad dash to the library, leaving the town to the mercy of a seemingly unstoppable monster.
“Grimlock growing impatient…” he growled, looking back to the destruction he had caused, “Why they not tell me where Shockwave yet?”
At that moment he was pelted once again from behind, but this time it was something much harder than apples. Grimlock turned around to see what he thought was a walking version of a human marshmallow, but its fancy mane and tail told him that it was just another little horse, just as brave as the two he had previously put in their place. At least some fight, he thought to himself, but in the end they were no match for him. Grimlock slowly made his way to his new foe, dragging his sword along the earth, making a distinct trail.
The little horse held fast, unlike so many others, but what was that odd glow coming from her forehead? Grimlock found out soon enough when a boulder nearly the size of his head collided head on with him, sending him to the ground for the second time today.
“Take THAT you ruffian!” Rarity said triumphantly, “I normally condone violence, but if you try to hurt anypony else… I’LL RIP YOU TO SHREDS LIKE I DID THAT GIANT CRAB!”
Grimlock began to stagger back to his feet until he was hit from behind by the rock yet again. The little horse had spunk, but spunk wasn’t going to stop Grimlock alone. The rock however may do the trick, Grimlock had a hard head but if the little horse applied the right amount of force it may be lights out for him, the thought of losing to a weak fleshling that looked like a marshmallow infuriated him to boiling point once again.
“Look out… HERE COMES TOM!” Rarity roared in a very unladylike fashion as she sent what she believed to be the final blow of the confrontation.
“Me Grimlock no like Tom!” Grimlock yelled, catching the boulder bare handedly.
Rarity watch in horror as the rock was crushed into dust and thrown into the air, which was followed shortly by a random cottage. Awestruck, Rarity watched the home fly over her head and land right on a certain fashion boutique. The following dust cloud covered her head to hoof in mud and other unpleasurable things, but perhaps worst of all, her mane was ruined.
“M-m-my…” she whimpered before hearing and feeling the thunderous steps of the titan behind her. She turned around, now only inches away from form the red visor of the beast. “WAHAH!” She shrieked darting out of sight, leaving the now even more enraged monster to himself.
“WHY THESE LITTLE HORSES NOT TELL GRIMLOCK ANYTHING!” He roared, “They just look at Grimlock and run away, but me only want directions! Not so much to ask! Grimlock ask where Shockwave, horses tell Grimlock, Grimlock KILL Shockwave, then Grimlock go home! That easy!”
Grimlock paused his rant the moment he noticed yet another little horse out of the corner of his eye. Another one with wings, but it wasn’t the same one that kicked him; this one was yellow with a pink mane and tail. Grimlock readied himself again for some kind of futile attempt to stop him, but the moment he stepped towards the little horse it fell over on its side, making a goat noise as it did so. Grimlock paused for a second, confused at what he had just witnessed.
“That just sad…” he said to himself turning around to see yet another little horse in front of him, but this one was regular, minus the pink body and puffy mane and tail. Grimlock sighed, his anger leaving him because of the constantly anticlimactic fights that he was recently in. he expected this one to be no different, raising his sword once again in hope of scaring the horse away he sent it towards her, but what happened next baffled him.
“HI!” it said happily, with the sword stopping only inches in front of her face.
“Wha…?” Grimlock tried to continue but the pink horse cut him off.
“I’m Pinkie Pie! Are you new to town? Oh I love new ponies! I can’t wait to be your friend! Let me get my welcome wagon! I’m sure you’ll… hey where ya goin’?”
Grimlock had seen enough, he was just going to leave and find a horse that would actually help him. He didn’t even take two steps until he felt something tap the side of his head. Grimlock turned to his shoulder to see the ‘Pinkie Pie’ looking at him questioningly.
“I asked you where you were going…” she said bouncing up and down, “Are you going somewhere fun? OH can I come! I really like having fun! Wouldn’t that be great? We could have fun toget-“
“Grimlock not want to have fun…” He said wiping the little horse off his shoulder, “Grimlock trying to find Shockwave.”
“Oh can I help?” Pinkie asked from his other shoulder, “I’m really good at finding things! Like this one time on a train… Somepony had taken some bites out of the Cake’s Marzipan Mango Maroon Madness or as I like to call it the MMMM… turns out that-“
“Grimlock no have time for this!” he yelled pinching the nape of Pinkie’s neck and tossing her to one of the few buildings still standing in the town. “Now Grimlock-“
“Do it again!” Pinkie exclaimed bouncing up and down in front of him, “Do it again! Do it again! Do it-“
“ENOUGH!” Grimlock roared raising his sword in anger once again, “Grimlock just want to be left alone!”
The blade came crashing into the ground; sending shockwaves across the town and making some of the still standing houses finally give way. Grimlock looked to the crater, there was no body that was good, at least she took the hint the fourth time. Then he felt something bouncing on his back.
“Wow… you’re really, really, really, really, REALLY strong Grimlock…” Pinkie said ogling the crater in front of them, “I bet you could carry everypony in Ponyville in one arm!”
“LEAVE GRIMLOCK ALONE!” He roared again reaching for her, only to see her standing in front of him an instant later.
“Aw come on sower steel.” She said happily, “I know just what’ll make you smile…” She then pulled a cannon five times her size out of nowhere, “My SUPER party cannon!”
Before Grimlock could retaliate he was blasted with confetti, streamers and all other assortment of party favors and gags. If it were physically possible every piece of paper on his head would have caught flame at that instant. He tried to be nice, he tried his way, he all but leveled the town, he even tried leaving, but all of that just continued to push all of the wrong buttons. His body began to pulse red, all there needed to be was one single, very small thing to happen and he would be completely lost in rage.
Grimlock was suddenly been lifted into the air by an unseen foe, mainly because of the confetti in his eyes. He was frozen in a rage trance, his body waiting for that enviable moment.
SLAM!
Grimlock hit the ground hard enough to leave a crater in his exact shape into the ground. the panicked ponies suddenly stopped at the sight of Equestria’s newest royal member, the student of Princess Celestia herself, Twilight Sparkle.
“Ya did it Twi!” Applejack said lightly punching her on the shoulder, “Ya stopped that thing!”
“I hope I did…” Twilight said, “After what you told me I thought that it would be unstoppable.”
“It certainly made a mess of the town…” Rarity said, doing her best to reform her mane, “It’ll take weeks of hard work to rebuild.”
“I’ll write a letter to Princess Celestia right away.” Twilight replied nodding, “I’m sure she could send some workers to help us… SPIKE!”
“I’m just glad nopony was hurt…” Fluttershy said stumbling to Twilight and the others, “That would’ve been awful.”
“But unfortunately for it we were there to stop it!” Rainbow Dash said confidently, skidding to a halt. “What can I say, we’re awesome!”
“Where have you even been Rainbow?” Twilight asked, “I’d think you’d be the first to try and stop it.”
“I did!” Rainbow replied quickly, but she didn’t want the others know that she was beaten so quickly by the now incapacitated monster. “But I had to feed Tank, so I left for a few minutes.”
Twilight raised her eyebrow at the noticeably sweating Rainbow Dash, but then shook her head, “Alright then… where’s Pinkie?”
“Here I am!” Pinkie said bursting out of the rubble grabbing Applejack’s hoof, scaring the hat clean off of her head.
“What in tarnation?!” she exclaimed, “Pinkie, whadya do that for?”
“I was playing Graboids!” Pinkie replied playfully, shoving herself back into the hole, “You never know when we’ll strike!”
“Pinkie… you are SO random…” Rainbow said with a smile before turning to walk off, but the moment she took a step the very ground beneath her started shaking.
“An earthquake?” Applejack asked, looking around.
“That couldn’t be it; we’re miles from the nearest fault line…” Twilight said looking to around the town…”
“Stampede?” Rainbow suggested, “Because of all the times to have one… now would be-“
A deep metallic sound echoed from the carter the monster just made, followed closely by a heavy foreboding growl. The six walked closer to the crater. Their curiosity, excluding Fluttershy, getting the better of them. Both sounds became louder and far more violent with each passing second until suddenly it all stopped.
“Well…” Twilight said turning back to the her friends, “Looks like it was just-“
The earth erupted in flame and earth around the crater, sending all the ponies into the air. When they landed they cast their gaze to the monster, only now it was something completely different, it was something far more primal and even more terrifying. They all were frozen stiff, praying to Celestia that it didn’t see them among the rubble, but then it stared directly at all of them. The silence was torture for the ponies, they wanted to know if they were either safe or doomed, when a primal roar accompanied by flame rang out in their direction, Rarity was the first to react.
“EVERYPONY RUN!” she exclaimed darting into the ruins, her friends quickly following suit. Except for Fluttershy, she had to be flown away by Rainbow Dash because she was paralyzed by fear.
“Is it followin’ us?” Applejack asked looking behind her, to see several housed burst into dust behind them.
“Is that a good enough answer for you?!” Rainbow yelled back speeding past her cohorts.
“I didn’t need yer sarcasm RD!” Applejack snapped back.
“Enough!” Twilight yelled behind herself, “we need to get to the library!”
“How is a book going to save us?!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“It won’t but the elements will!” Twilight said as her horn began to glow, in a flash the girls were in the middle of the library, standing before their best and last hope, “Alright…” Twilight said looking over the case, “Laughter, kindness, loyalty, honesty, generosity and finally… magic.” Twilight then turned to her friends, crown and necklaces in hoof. “Put these on, we need to-“
“Twilight?!” Spike said descending the steps, “What’s going on out there? First there’s screaming, then AJ and Big Mac run in here… now you’re passing out the elements! You’ve got to-“
“Not now Spike.” Twilight said harshly, “We’ve got to save Equestria from… what’s that smell?”
The six ponies and dragon looked around to see that the library was quickly being filled with smoke. Applejack ran to the window to see a sight that terrified her.
“It’s trying ta burn the whole place down!” She screamed quickly latching her necklace on, “Get us outta here Twi!”
“I’m working on it!” Twilight said franticly trying to put Fluttershy’s element on her still frozen body. “Got it!”
“Good, NOW please!” Rainbow yelled.
“Wait Twilight don’t!” Spike said, but it was too late Twilight had already teleported herself and her friends away, leaving spike in the smoking tree.
Seconds later the six were in the center of the town, all of them coughing from the smoke intake. Twilight looked around seeing if everypony was accounted for. She sighed in relief, six ponies, but horror soon came to her face, they were down one baby dragon.
“I left Spike!” Twilight cried tuning around to see her precious library fully engulfed in flames. Her horn began to glow again “I’m going to get him!”
“No!” Rainbow said wrapping her hooves around Twilight.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me…” Twilight said, “I LEFT SPIKE! I’M GETTING HIM OUT!”
“Twilight, if ya do that then you’ll risk all of Equestria…” Applejack said taking off her hat, “But we can stop this thing right here… right now…”
Twilight looked to her friends and then back to the Library which was now turning into ash. Gritting her teeth she did her best to fight back her tears as she faced the other elements once more. “Let’s stop that thing…” she growled, “For Spike…”
The six mares nodded in agreement and newfound vigor. At first they were only going to try to stop it, but now it was personal. That monster had terrified everypony, destroyed the entire town and now it had taken their friend. There was no way that this thing was walking away from them.
“Where is it?” Applejack asked, looking to the rubble, “That thing is nearly as big as a dragon… maybe even bigger… how could it-“
A primal roar blasted them off their feet from behind them, the beast in all its monstrous power and rage, had once again made itself known. Slamming its foot down into the ground he barely missed Fluttershy and Rarity. Snapping its jaws he managed to give Rainbow Dash a much needed mane cut. With the swing of its tail it nearly sent Pinkie and Applejack across the continent.
While her friends did their best to avoid its attacks Twilight was like stone, focusing her magic into one of the most powerful spells she knew. Her eyes turned into an eerie green with smoke seeping out of their sides. “This is for Spike!” she roared as she sent the bolt of dark magic squarely into its stomach. The gratifying sound of an explosion came to her ears, but when she opened her eyes she saw that her spell had done nothing to the monster. In fact if it did anything it only drew attention to herself.
The beast roared and opened its jaws to encompass the young princess, but quick thinking allowed her to teleport out of the way, granting it only the taste of rocks and dirt. That didn’t deter it from trying it again, and again, and again until finally Twilight came up with an idea.
“Applejack!” she yelled, during another attempt to turn her into lunch. “What’s the tallest building still standing?”
“Sugar Cube Corner I’d recon!” She replied barely avoiding the swipe of the monster’s tail. “Why?!”
“We’re going to stop it there!” Twilight replied, teleporting to Applejack. “Girls come on!”
Twilight lead her friends down the street, the monster following close behind. It may have been a long shot, but it was the only shot they had. Every other option was off the table, that thing had killed Spike, and they were more than willing to return the favor. The six stopped right in front of Sugar Cube Corner and turned around, scowls on all of their faces. The monster was close behind, mouth agape, ready to swallow anything unfortunate enough to be in the path of its jaws.
“Wait for it…” Twilight said softly, “Wait for it…”
Tense moments passed, the beast was still baring down on them more than willing to silence them if they didn’t move. Twilight continued to stare, the look on her face reminiscent of a mother who had just lost her foal.
“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“NOW!” Twilight roared as her eyes began to shine like beacons.
In that moment each individual Element of Harmony activated. Sending their individual powers at the monster, but it kept coming, not even flinching at the sudden bursts of power that hit it. Twilight then ascended into the sky, eyes glowing even brighter and then in a moment all of the elements were focused through her crown, creating the most powerful thing known to ponydom. The rainbow rocketed out of the gem atop Twilight’s tiara headed straight for the monster until finally.
BOOM!
The rainbow’s full destructive power met with the beast head on, causing it to roar it what they believed was pain. Seconds later the rainbow had completely enveloped it, leaving a satisfying sight to the six ponies as their power was syphoned off one by one, finishing with Twilight.
“We did it girls…” she said with a smile, “We saved Equestria…”
“Aw Yeah!” Rainbow said flying into the air, “We just-“
Her celebration was cut short when she looked to where only a pile of ash or a stone statue should’ve been standing. Instead it was the beast, completely unaffected by the elements power. It slammed its foot into the ground and roared yet again, sending shivers through the earth and the ponies as well. The monster continued on his path to the six like nothing had happened, sending all of them into panic once again.
“N-now what?” Fluttershy whimpered. “W-we hit it with the elements… and it’s not even scratched…”
“I’d love an idea or two right now Twilight…” Applejack said leaning into the alicorn, “Cause if we can’t stop it right here… nopony in Equestria will be safe…”
Twilight racked her brain for a solution, this was supposed to be her trump card, her end game, her ace in the hole… her failsafe and it failed, miserably. She looked to the monster defeated, ready to face whatever end it had planned for her. but then another thought ran through her mind.
“Get ready to do it again…” she said.
“What?” her peers asked.
“If we can’t stop it… we might be able to contain it.” Twilight explained, “Girls, get behind Sugar Cube Corner.”
“It’s wortha shot…” Applejack said running behind the building with her peers. “What’s the plan!?”
“Fire the elements into half of Sugar Cube Corner, hopefully making a hole deep enough so it can’t get out,” Twilight explained, “When it bursts through the front of the building it won’t be able to catch itself and fall into the hole.”
“We can’t destroy Sugar Cube Corner!” Pinkie exclaimed, “It’s like, the most super-duper important place in Equestria!”
“It’s Sugar Cube Corner OR Equestria Pinkie!” Rainbow shot back pointing the devastation, “Sugar Cube Corner can be rebuilt, but lives can’t be given back!”
Pinkie looked around then to Sugar Cube Corner and shook her head sorrowfully. Stimulating Twilight to repeat the process that was done not one minute ago, again her eyes began to glow syphoning all the combined energy from the other elements into her own, but this time they didn’t fire it at the monster, they shot it to the back half of Sugar Cube corner. The buildings frame melted into nothing as the rainbow dug deeper and deeper into the earth until finally Twilight was satisfied with the depth of the hole.
The moment they had finished, the façade of the building burst into flame before exploding by the force of the still charging monster. Just as Twilight predicted, it couldn’t stop in time and fell into the pit, roaring angrily until the heard the thundering sound of metal colliding with earth. The six ran to the pit, hoping against hope that they actually may have defeated it once and for all, but when the saw dim red lights flickering and a primal roar come from the bowls of the pit they knew that it was still alive.
“Well… at least it can’t get out…” Rarity said looking into the pit, “Right?”
She was answered with a thundering rumble that started at the pit’s core, the monster was trying to escape, but was unable to reach the ledges of the pit.
“I think that answers your question.” Rainbow said confidently, “We did it girls! We beat the monster!”
All of them began to cheer, prompting all the ponies in hiding to reappear and join in the celebration. Only one wasn’t celebrating, she made her way back to the now smoldering pile that was once her library, her home. Twilight stopped right in front of the still standing sign a tear forming in her eyes as she gazed on the sight.
“Spike…” she whimpered to herself, brushing away the tear that managed to find its way out of her eye, “I’m so sorry Spike…”
“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, “Are… you ok?”
“I just lost my baby brother…” Twilight said, “What do YOU think?”
“He didn’t go in vain…” Fluttershy said trying to reassure her. “We stopped that thing from hurting anypony else.”
“But I didn’t save him!” Twilight yelled, not bothering to hide the fact she was crying anymore, “What would you do if you lost YOUR brother?!”
“I… I don’t know…” Fluttershy said hanging her head low. “I’m… I’m sorry…”
Twilight was about to go on another tangent about how she and Spike had been through the toughest moments in their lives together when a small rustling came from the ash. The two ponies turned to the pile, not believing what they were seeing. Spike alive and well, covered head to talon in black ash.
“Whoa…” he said exhaling a puff of smoke, “That was-“
“SPIKE!” Twilight exclaimed, wrapping the young dragon up in her forelegs, “I thought I’d lost you!”
Spike struggled to breathe in the alicorn’s embrace, but after a few very long seconds she finally managed to loosen her grip around him enough to break free. Gasping for a breathe he placed his claw on her chest to stop the next unwanted hug. Twilight was nearly in tears watching the small dragon brush himself off, happy to see that he was alive, but then a question popped into her mind.
“Spike…” she asked, “How ARE you still alive?”
“I’m a dragon.” Spike answered, brushing the last bit of ash off himself. “I’m kinda fireproof.”
“Oh yeah…” Twilight said smiling awkwardly, “But I’m glad that you’re alright, along with everypony else.”
“I’m glad you’re ok too.” Spike said looking around to see nothing but carnage, “But what happened out here? Did a rouge pack of Dragons fly through town or something?”
“No Spike…” Twilight said, looking to where Sugar Cube corner once stood, “All of this was done by one thing.”
“ONE thing did all of this?” Spike asked in disbelief, “That’s… that’s impossible…”
“It was…” Twilight said grimly, walking towards the crater that everypony was surrounding, “Then it showed up.”
Spike looked to the pit with confusion at first but when he heard a metallic roar and felt the ground tremble he knew what Twilight was talking about. He peeked his head over the pit’s edge; it was pitch black, minus the eerie red glow from whatever was at the bottom. He quickly stepped away looking back to Twilight in fear.
“Wha-what are we gonna do about it?” he asked, looking for answers.
“We’re going to do this…” Twilight said summoning parchment, ink and a quill and floating it over to Spike. “I’m sure Princess Celestia would want to hear about this…”