Vakama looked at the survivors of the battle, with something akin to disappointment on his face. Beside him, Twilight was busy mouthing something under her breath, and it took a moment for Nokama to realise that she was counting.
Finally, Vakama addressed the group.
“Brothers. Sister. Ponies of Equestria. You have fought well. Not as well as I would have liked…” He trailed off, before Twilight stepped forward.
“You have managed to kill Four thousand and two of our forces, at the cost of three thousand nine hundred and thirty nine of your own.” She informed.
“Pathetic.” Vakama muttered, before speaking louder. “But the Makuta was clear on this point. You are to live, if you all accept his offer. Join him, and lead his army across the land. The elements of harmony are already useless, as are your precious Toa powers. If the Shadow Ponies attack Equestria, their numbers will grow, until even your precious alliance will not stop them. Live or die. It’s up to you.”
Gently pushing past Nokama, Matau moved forward, walking towards Vakama, and stopping ten meters away from him.
“Do you really think we’ll join you?” He asked incredulously. “Don’t you remember the last time this happened brother?”
“I do.” Vakama nodded. “I remember being too weak to stick to my convictions.”
“Your convictions?!” Onewa shouted. “Your duty is to save the Matoran, not to enslave them! The Makuta is the one we need to save them from, not give them to!”
“Oh how little you know.” Vakama said sadly. “The Makuta is the only way to truly save the Matoran. They are divided, the districts, all have rivalry with each other. When problems strike, they don’t always work together. Isn’t this what harmony is really about? Working together at all times? The Makuta will be a leader to all the Matoran, and all the creatures of this world. Tell me, is that not better?”
“No.” Nokama insisted, walking up beside her brothers. “Being forced to submit is not harmony, its slavery.”
“We are all slaves to something.” Twilight mused. “The pair of us to the Makuta, you to your convictions. Slavery is a part of life.”
“Run back to your friend.” Onewa growled. “We’re no…”
Vakama suddenly cut him off, yelling at Onewa.
“He is not our friend!” Don’t ever say that!”
Onewa was momentarily stunned by the sheer ferocity of his brother.
“He is our master.” Twilight growled from behind Vakama. “Never, our friend.”
“If you hate him so much, then help us beat him.” Nuju begged.
“I can’t.” Vakama admitted, and for a moment, the Toa saw a chink appear in Vakama’s armour, before it disappeared again.
“He owns us.” Twilight agreed.
“Let us help you.” Whenua insisted, standing next to his brothers and sister.
“Vakama. Please.” Matau said, his voice hollow, as he put a hand out towards his brother. For a moment, Vakama looked as if he was going to take it, and that he wanted to take it, before his face steeled again.
“Am I to take it, that you will not be accepting my master’s offer?” Vakama growled, losing himself to whatever the Makuta had done to him again.
“Never.” Matau said simply, stepping back with the other Toa, until they were with the survivors. This would be the last fight if something didn’t happen now.
“Whenua.” Nokama whispered. “When they attack, you and I will get to the rock across the door. Make us an exit.”
“Will do.” Whenua whispered back.
“Then I am sorry for this.” Vakama said, and he did actually sound genuinely sad.
“Kill them.” Twilight said, her own voice completely devoid of emotion.
Instantly, the Shadow ponies surged forward, pushing past Vakama and Twilight to get at the survivors.
“Whenua!” Nokama yelled, sprinting away from the advancing ponies towards the door.
“Way ahead of you sister.” He grunted, reaching the door first, his mask glowing as he looked over the stone. “It’s going to take time.”
“Just do it. I will protect you.” Nokama said, readying her weapons.
As she said that, Whenua readied his earthshock drills, before attacking the walls with vigour.
Behind him, the Toa and the remaining members of the Lunar Guard had already formed a circle of defence around the stirring form of Luna. Weapons had been retrieved from the fallen, and they were as ready as they would ever be.
And it still wasn’t as good as it should have been. The Shadow Ponies crashed into the remaining ponies. Teeth flashed through the dim light, and were caught by Lunar steel, before hooves lashed out and impacted with armour plates.
“Don’t hold back!” Castelian roared, smashing his head into a Shadow pony’s chest, before stabbing a sword through its open mouth, dragging it out before it could get stuck.
“Argggh!” A pony screamed, as a Shadow Pony sunk its teeth into his neck.
With an amazing feat of strength, the Shadow Pony hauled its head back, and bodily tossed the unfortunate guard into the seething sea of Shadow Ponies. Even over the sounds of battle, the Toa could still hear his screams. They were not over quickly.
“Enough!!” Twilight suddenly yelled, appearing in the middle of the group and emitting a massive pulse of magic outwards, scattering the group.
The Shadow Ponies began to advance on the individual ponies, but Twilight stopped them.
“They. Are. Mine!” She growled.
Slowly, she walked towards a pair of Lunar Guardsponies as they struggled to get to their hooves. As they saw her getting closer, the first one roared, and charged towards her, sword brandished in the mare’s mouth.
She never even got close.
When she was a few steps away, Twilights horn flared, and the pony was enveloped in the magical field. She struggled in vain, but it was like trying to beat back the tide with a cocktail stick.
As quickly as the attack had begun, it was over. The magical field expanded outwards, the ponies limbs still anchored within it. With a scream, the pony was ripped apart, the blood being suspended by the field for a split second, before she released the field, and the blood came crashing down, washing over her, and covering her in the pony’s life fluid.
“Who’s next?” She growled, even as the others gawked at her in fear and disbelief.
It seemed that after this, the Shadow Ponies could no longer rein in their own bloodlust, and surged forward again, washing over the guard that Twilight had been about to kill, and tearing into him.
“No!” She screamed, and her magic flared again, this time however, it was not aimed at the Lunar Guardsponies, or even the Toa, but at the Shadow Ponies themselves. She began lifting groups of them off the ground, hurling them across the room, or tearing them apart. The remaining Lunar Guard and the Toa had not time to watch the macabre spectacle, as the Shadow Ponies attacked again.
“Nokama?!” Nuju shouted, pushing the pony away, before shooting a blast of ice outwards. Predictably though, Twilights horn flared, and the ice simply disappeared, like it had every time the Toa had tried to use their elemental powers. Yet another thing that Vakama had sold them out on, willingly or not.
“Whenua’s almost through!” She yelled back, pushing back another pony, before jumping and catching another pony with her foot.
“One minute!” He screamed.
As he said that, he managed to create a tiny hole, and a blinding beam of light streamed through. Momentarily blinded, Whenua placed his eye up to the newly created hole when the light faded slightly, curious as to where the light had come from, considering the fact that they were deep underground.
His eyes went wide as he saw what was on the other side.
“Get down!” He screamed, diving away from the door and covering his head.
A moment later, the rock exploded towards them, shredding Shadow Ponies, and peppering Nokama and Whenua with small fragments as they lay on the floor, beneath the worst of it.
As the dust settled, Whenua looked up, and saw a massive bipedal creature standing in the doorway.
A moment later, the creature roared.
“Skrall is here! Make peace with your false Gods, for you shall be meeting them soon!”
Behind the creature, a roar could easily be heard, and the creature sprinted forwards, jumping over the last bits of rubble.
“Minotaur’s!” Castelian cheered, pushing a pony that was trying to rip his throat out away.
The Minotaur, who had identified himself as Skrall, charged past Nokama and Whenua, who were just getting to their feet, brandishing a massive axe, and garbed from head to toe in dark steel armour. Behind him were more Minotaur’s, slightly smaller than Skrall, but still towering over the Toa, and brandishing various crude, wicked weapons.
The Minotaur’s smashed into the Shadow Ponies, simply crushing the first few ranks with their mass, before beginning to hack at the lines of creatures, cleaving heads from bodies in a single sweep.
Quickly, the stream of Minotaur’s thinned out, and other creatures climbed through the hole. First, came large creatures, that looked like big ponies, and instantly, a pair of horses split off from the group and moved over to one of the Lunar Guard on the floor, setting to work on his injuries.
Next, came a sight that made Nokama’s heart leap.
“Celestia!” She shouted, moving over to the Solar Princess.
“Nokama. Where is my sister?” She asked urgently.
“The Moonlight Wardens are protecting her. She’s in a bad way though.” Whenua grunted, getting to his feet.
“Badly? How?” She asked.
“She’s alive. Right now we need to win this battle.” Whenua growled, before he turned, and ran back over to his brothers, who, bolstered by the appearance of reinforcements had pushed back into the ranks of Shadow Ponies.
Nodding in agreement, Celestia ran after Nokama and Whenua, joining the other Toa on the right flank. Following their princess, the newly arrived Equestrian army, led by the Royal Guard, clashed with the Shadow Ponies, pushing deep into their lines, while the Minotaur’s and Saddle Arabians pushed down the left side. That left the remaining army to push down the middle, spearheaded by scores of Griffons.
Slowly but surely, the alliance forces began to advance across the room. Any injured were instantly pulled backwards, and brought towards the hole in the door, and presumably taken back to the surface. Celestia just caught sight of her sister being borne aloft by the remaining twelve members of her guard, before she tore her eyes away from them, and focused on the battle.
“Vakama!” Matau yelled, catching sight of his brother, who turned from the Griffon he was in the middle of attacking, just in time to see Matau diving towards him, spear tackling him to the ground.
Recovering quickly, Vakama rolled with the blow, kicking out at Matau, and using the new momentum to slide across the floor, before spinning and springing to his feet.
Quickly, the other Toa surrounded Matau, as Vakama called Twilight to his side, the mare’s armour being dented and covered in blood, but her manic grin still fixed on her face.
“Twilight?” Celestia gasped, tears flooding into her eyes at the sight of the blood stained pony she knew as her student.
“Celestia.” Twilight growled. “Why do you have to ruin everything?!”
“You are not yourself Twi…” She began, before Vakama roared, and charged forward. Instantly, Twilight was focusing all her attention on the Toa, protecting him from blows, and teleporting him to allow him to get in more blows of his own.
“We need Twilight out of the way.” Grunted Matau, as his strike connected with thin air, as Vakama disappeared yet again.
“Leave it to me.” Celestia said softly, before her own horn lit up, surrounding herself and Twilight in a golden glow, before they both disappeared, reappearing in an empty space right at the end of the room, far away from the battle.
“Trying to get me alone Celestia?” Twilight growled, slowly circling the Alicorn princess.
“Twilight. I know you are in there. Fight it, please.” Celestia begged.
“To much talk.” Twilight growled, before launching a beam of purple magic towards Celestia.
Celestia spread her wings and took to the air, as she avoided the blast, before shooting a golden beam of pure energy at Twilight. Twilight did not waste a second, bringing up her magic as she erected a purple barrier around herself. Despite the advantages that Twilight had gained from whatever the Makuta had done to her, Celestia’s raw power began to crack Twilight’s barrier, which had turned a blazing white as Celestia’s solar beam strengthened.
The purple bubble shattered, and thanks to her reflexes, Twilight narrowly dodged the beam as it smashed the floor beneath her. Celestia had begun to aim for her next attack, but as she expected, Twilight vanished in a flash of magic. Celestia looked around, doing her best to locate the monster that had replaced her student as her wings kept her aloft. Or, at least, until she felt a piercing pain in one of them.
Twilight had expected that Celestia would easily break her shield. After observing the hottest spot on her barrier, she evaded the attack and teleported behind an obstacle, hiding herself from her view as she charged and aimed her own magical attack. Striking Celestia’s wings, Twilight seized the opportunity as she fell and charged another attack, calculating the princesses falling trajectory to determine where to fire.
Celestia flapped her wings in an attempt to slow down her fall, but another beam of magic struck her in the back before she regained balance, the force of impact sending the princess flying like a bullet until she crashed into the ground, as ice formed around her, pinning her to the floor.
Twilight allowed herself a smile as she looked at the fallen princess, before regretting the lapse in concentration, as mere moments later, a massive boulder, shining in brilliant gold, smashed her into the ground.
Celestia’s mane burst into flames, and the ice around her melted into a puddle at her hooves. She slowly walked towards her student, keeping her pinned to the ground with the boulder.
“Twilight. You will stop this now!” She screamed, attempting to get through to her student once more.
Instead of answering, Twilight lit her horn and disappeared in a flash, the stone crushing her now crashing down into the empty space that she vacated. Celestia turned, predicting that Twilight would teleport behind her, but this knowledge proved useless as a purple beam of magic hit her straight in the chest, sending her crashing against the very same rock she had used just moments before to pin Twilight to the floor.
Celestia opened her eyes, leaning against the stone with Twilight standing in front of her on trembling hooves. Celestia could see anger in her eyes, but it was not the Twilight that she had known, this was a monster, and Celestia had to fight her as a monster, not as her student. Twilight growled as her horn flared into life again.
Celestia lit her own horn to create a barrier around herself, but the moment before she could cast the spell, she was jerked closer to Twilight by a purple aura. The moment the barrier finally went up, she had trapped herself with her opponent.
Twilight did not give her mentor any moment to breathe. She turned around and kicked her mentor with her two hind-legs, sending her flying into her own barrier.
Twilight was about to kick her mentor into the wall again, but Celestia quickly redirected her magic from the barrier and caused her luminescent mane to burst into flames the moment Twilight’s hooves where about to make contact with it, forcing Twilight to jump away with a few burn-marks on her hooves, mixing with the others scars that covered her body. As the temperature around Celestia rose, Twilight focused her magic onto the stone behind Celestia and trapped her under it instead of attacking her directly, once again disrupting her mentor’s concentration.
With a scream, Celestia pushed her magic outwards, destroying the rock and showering the area with tiny pebbles.
Momentarily stunned, Twilight was unable to respond when Celestia’s telekinetic grab took hold of her and she was thrown at sonic speeds towards the nearest wall.
Twilight impacted with the wall with a loud crack, smashing a small crater into it, and sticking there. When she tried to pull herself out, a golden aura surrounded her, and slammed her back into the wall.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia roared, bearing down on her. “You will listen to me! You are stronger than this creature, and you can break through! You must, or you cannot be saved.”
For a moment, Twilight struggled in vain against the magic that was holding her in the wall, before falling limp. Softly, she started speaking, each word punctuated by untold amounts of pain.
“Pr...princess.” She said, barely above a whisper.
“I’m here Twilight.” Celestia said, tears filling her eyes as she recognised her actual student, not the monster that inhabited her body.
“kill…me. Please.” She whispered, coughing up blood as she spoke.
“Never.” Celestia growled, her horn lighting up. “Keep fighting Twilight. You are stronger than it is, and we need you. Your friends need you. Vakama needs you, but you must be strong. Weaken the creature, and I can help you beat it back.
“I…can’t.” She whispered.
“Damn it Twilight!” Celestia sobbed. “We need you. Your element is the only thing that can purge Vakama!”
“Can’t…fight it. To…strong.” Twilight insisted. “But…”
“Yes?!” Celestia asked, getting closer to Twilight to hear what she had to say.
“Can…transfer…element. Let somepony…else…use it.” She said weakly.
“That’s not possible!” Celestia said quickly, but racking her brains for a reason why she knew that.
“Not…impossible. Just…hard.” Twilight said. “Please…quickly. It’s fighting…me.”
“Give me the element then.” Celestia said quickly.
“Can’t. No…past bearer. Of any element.” Twilight groaned. “Any unicorn. But…can’t be you…or Luna.”
Processing this new information, Celestia horn glowed lighter, and she opened a mental link with the only pony who she could think of.
“Shining Armour. Get to the rear of the battle now. And bring the elements.”
“What? I can’t get there right now.” He mentally shot back. “And I am not bringing the element bearers into this fight.”
“Your sister’s life depends on it.” Celestia said simply.
The result was instantaneous, and a flash of blue light lit up the room. A split second later, a second flash erupted from the far end of the room, and Shining Armour appeared, flanked by the five elements of harmony.
Instantly, Shining Armour began to run towards his sister, but was held back by Celestia.
“Careful. She is fighting something, don’t get to close.” Celestia warned.
“That’s my baby sister!” Shining roared.
“Right now she is half your baby sister and half a unicorn who rivals me in power.” Celestia snapped back. “Only the elements of harmony can break the spell, and she holds one of them.”
“Then what are you going to do?!” Shining screeched.
“I can’t do anything, but Twilight says she can.” Celestia explained, before turning and speaking directly to Twilight. “Here’s the Unicorn Twilight. Be careful. Please.”
Twilight glanced up, and her one eye that didn’t look dead fixed on her brother, before she grabbed him in her magic. Fluttershy squeaked as Shining was lifted into the air, and tried to pull him down, but Celestia held her down, releasing Twilight, and praying that she was strong enough to do this.
Taking a deep breath, Twilight felt deep into her body and there at the centre, she could feel a warmth. A warmth that reminded her of finishing a good book or making a magical discovery or getting that A* on a test. A warmth reminiscent of Princess Celestia.
Drawing it out, the Element of Magic shone before her eyes, a perfect copy of her own tiara, except in brilliant white rather than gold and purple. With a parting kiss on the pseudo-gem, she floated it down to lie on her brother’s chest, making sure to magically chain the two together, before pushing the magic into her brother.
Shining Armour screamed in pain as the magic coursed through his body, and for a moment, Celestia thought that the monster had broken through, and sabotaged whatever Twilight had been trying to do, and she picked the creature up again, pushing it back against the wall. It didn’t even groan, seemingly focusing solely on breathing. Her anger was curbed however, when a bright light surrounded Shining Armour, and he fell to the floor.
He slowly pushed himself up, getting shakily to his hooves, and holding his head, feeling whatever was now atop it, before pulling it off and holding it in his hooves, staring at it dumbly.
It was a crown, not a tiara like the element of harmony had been when Twilight wore it, but a full blown crown. The only thing that marked it as the element of magic was the gem on top of it, which was still a perfect replica of Twilights Cutie Mark.
“What?” He asked dumbly.
“She did it.” Celestia whispered, as shocked as Shining Armour, before coming to her senses, and shouting suddenly. “Quickly! Use the elements to get help Twilight!”
“I don’t know how!” Shining Armour screamed. “It’s still got her mark on it, not mine!”
“That’s because you haven’t managed to activate it yet.” Celestia said softly. “Girls. Help him.”
"Just reach inside yourself Sugarcube," said Applejack.
"It feels warm like... like... a cute cuddly kitty in your hooves on a winter's night," offered Fluttershy.
"It's calming and soothing and lets you focus on anything you desire," added Rarity. "We know you can do it dear."
Shining Armour scrunched up his face in concentration, and everypony felt that something was happening before they saw anything. There was a pressure in the room pushing them against backwards, and Rarity’s stomach was lurching like when she was falling from Cloudsdale except now it felt like she was moving sideways. It wasn't the seamless summoning that the others performed had performed when they had found their elements, but with a sudden pop and flash of light the crown suddenly jumped out of his hooves, floating just in front of his face. Gazing at the magenta gem, he touched it with his horn.
Everypony's eyes widened as a single crack appeared where his horn had touched the gem. Once more the sound of breaking glass filled the room, which despite the battle clearly still raging at the other end, was now completely silent. Quickly, the cracks expanded and within three seconds the entire gem was covered with fractures. Then the pieces began falling towards the ground, but before they had even hit the stone floor they had disintegrated into fine powder to be blown away in a non-existent breeze, breaking down further, until nothing remain. All the while, a light blue glow pulsed from under the purple gem making it difficult to see clearly. The only pony who could look directly at the Element of Magic was Shining Armour and he wore a gentle smile on her face. By the time everypony else could see again, the purple gem had been replaced by one that matched Shining Armour's cutie mark perfectly.
With a renewed vigour, Shining Armour snatched the crown out of the air, and pulled it onto his head. Instinctively, he knew what he had to do, as he moved backwards, the girls moving up on his sides.
Quickly, the elements they all wore shone brightly, and the six were lifted into the air, before the elements pulsed once, and shot a beam of pure, white light, at the gem atop the crown of magic that Shining Armour now wore.
A split second later, the crown itself pulsed, and the Rainbow which the others had seen twice before, but was still new to Shining Armour, erupted from the crown, and plunged towards Twilight.
Instantly, Celestias magic ceased, as the power of the elements battered it away as if it was a leaf in the way of a hurricane.
Twilight collapsed to the floor, unable to support herself, as the Rainbow washed over her. Slowly, starting at her tail, a white light enveloped her body, and lifting her off the ground. By the time it had encompassed her body, she was hovering a foot higher than anypony else, even Celestia, her forehooves outstretched.
Suddenly, the glow disappeared, and Twilight fell towards the ground, only to be caught by Celestias magic, and laid on the ground gently. Quickly, the others gathered around the mare, clustering to check on her.
She was back. Her fur had returned to its original purple hue, and the armour had completely disappeared. Unfortunately, while the scars from her transformation had disappeared, the ones that she had received in the battle were still very much in existence, and Celestia felt a pang of guilt as she looked at those that she herself had caused, especially the burn marks.
Stooping low, Celestia gently lifted Twilight onto her back, before standing up and looking at the others.
“Help the Toa. Purify Vakama. Win the battle. Report to me when that is done. Do not advance any further.” She order, before turning, her horn glowing. Before it reached its peak however, she turned back and spoke directly to Shining Armour. “Protect the other elements, once their job is done, get them out.”
With that, her horn flared, and Celestia disappeared, transporting herself and Twilight to the hole in the door, before taking off at a gallop up the stairs, leaving the dying sounds of the end of the battle behind her, as she transported the blood covered form of student to the surface.