//------------------------------// // Pretty Little Liars: Act 3 // Story: The Cassandra Crossovers // by CassandraMyOCisBestpony //------------------------------// Ravenswood, the stage for the final battle with King Sombra, was a creepy town full of creepy people. As the group made their way through the streets, they observed that the ponies were the only saturated colors for miles - by stark coincidence everyone had worn their dullest clothes on that particular day. Everything was depressing and dark, the sky was in a constant state of overcast, and all the trees bare, with their brown leaves scattered on the ground. All in all, it was not dissimilar to the Crystal Empire under King Sombra's reign. Clearly, his reach had extended to this town, and if Cassandra didn't do something quick, the consequences would be dire. The group had assembled their friends and family to join them - they would need all the help they could get. "Excuse me" said Emily to a man watering the grass, "have you seen a dark grey stallion with a demonic looking horn?" The man ignored her. "Hey, listen, this is important! Could you please stop watering the grass for a second and answer me?" "The grass is real thirsty" he replied enigmatically. "Pardner, yer gonna drown th' grass if ya don't stop soon." "The water bill's paid up until the end of the month, so I figure I can keep watering until then...unless of course, the end of the world comes." "Right," said Cassandra, "I don't think we're going to get anything out of this one, so let's keep moving. That big black tower in the distance might be a good place to start." "But we have no concrete evidence of any malfeasance." pointed out Spencer. "Spencer, where there's smoke, there's fire" said Cassandra, "the one benefit to operating above the law is that you can break into someone's house and look through their things without a search warrant." The church bell rang, and all the townspeople emerged from the houses and stores and congregated at the graveyard. They all stared blankly at a statue of King Sombra. "Now you see Spencer, that, is more smoke than free sample day at the hookah store." "Point taken, I will entrust you." "Good girl. Now remeber, smoking is bad for your health. Also, be careful, because it won't be long before Sombra realizes we're here." At that very moment, the ground began to crack and black tendrils creeped up towards the party. "RUN!" cried Cassandra, "to the castle!!!" They took off running, with Cassandra bringing up the rear, slashing at the vines with her specially-made katana that could slice dark energy. "Aaugh, they've got me!" cried Caleb, as one of the tentacles grabbed him and dragged him underground. "CALEB!!!!" screamed Hannah, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she ran towards the blackened ground where Caleb had been, but Cassandra stopped her. "No, Hannah! There's nothing you can do for him, we must keep going." She put a hoof on Hannah's shoulder, "He's in a better place." "H-he's d-dead?" "Dead? Celestia, no, is that what you thought? The 'better place' is a better show. Now come on, move!" They entered the castle and were greeted by an army of shadow soldiers. "What now, we don't know how to fight!" whined Aria. "You're joking right?" said Cassandra, "everypony here can hold their own in a fight, even freakin' Fluttershy. So, do any of the humans know how to fight?" Everyone raised their hands except the Main 4 girls. "Right then. You four girls go home, everyone else, let's rock n' roll." So under Cassandra's leadership, they easily overpowered the shadow soldiers, with a wide array of weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Sadly, they suffered one casualty when Applejack saw something shiny on the ground, and took her eyes away from the fight, allowing a shadow soldier to get the jump on her. But there was no time to mourn, they had to keep moving. They made their way up the spiral staircase and finally reached the throne room. "Alright everypony, beyond this door is Sombra himself. He is a very dangerous pony, and it's not safe for everyone to in with us, the Element Bearers. So, while the rest of you stay out here and hold our ground, us ponies and the three most badass & worthy people will go confront Sombra himself. The three of you know who you are, step forward." Jason, who was brooding in the background, stepped forward, and brooded extra hard to show Cassandra he meant business. "Ha ha ha ha, good one Jason!" chuckled Cassandra. "Oh wait, you're serious? Let me laugh even harder." she didn't actually laugh because it wasn't funny so much as sad. "Goodness no, Jason - granted maybe if this was Twilight, but I was referring to the three people with demonstrable abilities. By the way, you failed the test of humility by stepping forward." "Well? Who are they?" demanded Rainbow Dash, because she had no appreciation for the literary technique of building suspense. "The first one is Emily's dad - he's a soldier and he's tolerant of bisexuals, which is something the rest of you could learn to be." Everyone nodded and gave thanks that they were imparted some of Cassandra's wisdom, "The second is Hannah's grandma. Like me, she is gifted with the power of immunity to BS and catty trickery. That kind of stuff is what causes our four leading ladies to spend entire seasons spinning their wheels." The four girls looked ashamed. "So I'm guessing that your third person isn't one of us four?" said Hannah. "See I knew you inherited some of your grandma's sharpness." praised Cassandra, "The third is Aria's friend, and if you ask me missed opportunity, Holden. Jason, remember what I said about demonstrable skills? This one fought off a hooded assailant one time." "So did I" pointed out Hannah, "I used an improvised pepper spray device" "That's my girl!" said Hannah's grandma. "Fine, if you can pass one test, I'll let you come with us." "Crap, it's not on The Great Gatsby, is it? I was supposed to read that for English, but Aria got the four of us excused by giving Mr. Fitz a blo-" "Enough" said Cassandra. "Emily's dad, would you be so kind as to lend me your pistol?" "Sure, Cassandra." "Now Hannah" said Cassandra, "without putting your finger on the trigger, show me which end of this gun you point at the bad guys." Hannah took the gun and thought for a minute, and then finally made her choice. "Ok, you're not coming with us" said Cassandra, "and I believe I said without putting your finger on the trigger." "Well, wouldn't be the first time I let my friends down. Thank you for trusting me with this dangerous instrument, Cassandra." "Actually," said Cassandra, a dark look coming over her face, "I had a moment of weakness, I didn't trust you. I kept the safety on." "It's all right, we forgive you" said Fluttershy "Yeah, every character has flaws, even you, hard as it is to believe" said Rarity "I could never give you enough practice kissing to make up for everything you've done" said Rainbow Dash "but when we get home, I'm damn sure gonna try!" "Our town won't be the same when you're gone." said Aria. "You cured my bulimia." said Hannah. They all came together for a group hug. "Thanks you guys" said Cassandra, wiping tears from her eyes, "I needed to hear that you all trusted me to lead the charge. Now let's go!" The three humans and six ponies burst through the door to the throne room. They were greeted by a platoon of elite shadow soldiers. "Fan out! We take out these guys, and I can get to King Sombra!" The shadow soldiers charged, but Cassandra and her team were ready. Cassandra zoomed in front of their left flank, cutting the air and toppling them over. Holden began roundhouse kicking the shadow soldiers to death. Hannah's grandma came upon a crate full of bottles, and she used her vodka-identifying skills to determine that they were in fact vodka. She quickly found a lighter and some rags. "MOLOTV!" she yelled, throwing a flaming bottle into the shadow soldiers' formation, causing them to duck for cover. Emily's dad whipped out his semiautomatic and went all Rambo on them. "Good job!" hold them back!" said Cassandra. "Now for the main event, Sombra, show yourself!" "Cryyyystal" Cassandra flew at him with a flying kick, which hit because she had the special ability to hit shadows. Sombra fell backwards and snarled. "Cryyystal!" He used a shadow spell, but Cassandra conjured up the power of friendship, which easily deflected his attack. He tried to use his creeping crystal attack to corrupt Cassandra, but she was too pure, and was immune. He clumsily swung at her, but she dodged and grabbed his hoof. She used her expertise on Krav Maga to subdue him. "Don't you see? The power of friendship always wins! Now, all I need is a husband and wife in a stable relationship to strike the final blow!" "Yeah, good luck findin' that on this show" said Hannah's grandma. "Point taken. I didn't want to have to do this, but...." She plunged her hoof into King Sombra's chest and ripped out his still-beating black heart. She crafted a crystal heart from SOmbra's stash of crystal and jammed it into his chest cavity." "CRYYYYYYSTAL!" he he screamed as the good magic left a burning sensation inside of him. When is subsided, he tried to conjure up a death spell, but found that his powers were gone. "You have been drained of all evil magic." explained Cassandra. "Your powers will return in time, but you are to use them ONLY for good! I will let you live, but the moment I hear about you doing any evil, I don't care if it's littering, taking two free samples at the market, or having illicit thoughts about a mare, I will end you. Do I make myself clear?" "Crystal." he replied meekly. When they emerged from the throne room, everyone cheered for Cassandra and her heroics. With King Sombra's stash of precious crystals, Ravenswood was able to fund a ton of public works projects to make their town less creepy. People smiled and behaved normally, even the ravens were friendlier. From the rubble of King Sombra's castle, a statue was built of their savior Cassandra. The mayor of Ravenswood said, "I declare that from now on, our periodic staring sessions shall be in front of the Cassandra statue." "Mayor, remember what we talked about? Being less creepy?" "Oh right of course, your knowledge is very valuable and will be greatly missed, Cassandra." "Don't miss me too much, or people will become jealous." Dear Princess Celestia, Hannah: Cassandra taught me a very valuable turn of phrase, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." I was in a fire once, and knowing that smoke indicated the presence of fire helped me to get out quicker. I've been reading up on it, and that cabin had several fire code violations, like a lack of smoke detectors, and an insufficient number of egress points. I will carry a fire extinguisher with me at all times, so that... Aria: I think I'd better take it from here. What my friend means to say is that sometimes it's very easy to overlook things that are right in front of your face, like a person acting really mysteriously. We will try to be more observant, and not ignore our suspicions. We will also try to stop doing reckless things that give blackmail material to people that with us harm. Spencer: A non exhaustive manifesto of such behaviors includes failing to secure our domiciles, broadcasting our endeavors on social media outlets, withholding of verisimilitude, and pursuing retribution. Emily: And I'm thankful for Cassandra teaching everyone that it's ok to be bisexual. Hopefully they will continue to be more tolerant - after all, in shows like these, everyone's bisexual, they just don't know it yet. ~Your faithful students, The Pretty Little Liars