Cacophony screeched with a noise like a thousand dragons scraping their claws across a thousand blackboards. Thunder was fairly certain that the only thing that kept their heads from exploding was Rarity's spell taking the edge off of the sound. Cracks raced up the wall behind the platform they stood on and, with a shower of rock, it fell.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy instinctively took to the air when they felt the floor give way, only to clutch their heads in agony as they left the range of Rarity's magic. Blinking away tears of pain, Rainbow bolted downward to catch up to her falling friends with Fluttershy only a wingbeat behind. Each pegasus caught a friend under each foreleg and, though they could not properly fly while carrying so much weight, they were able to safely glide down to another ledge.
"Twilight," Thunder called, trying to ignore the hammering in his chest that warned him how close he had just come to dying, "the disruption spell! Make it as strong as you can!"
Twilight nodded and her horn began to glow. When Thunder felt the telltale warmth of her magic enveloping him he opened his mouth and roared. The moment he began shouting he knew that this would not end well for his voice. The sound emerging from him was louder than any pony should be able to create, almost as loud as when it was enhanced by the enormous amps he was used to using for concerts. He felt his throat being stripped raw, but did not relent.
Cacophony stopped and began to tremble as the sound hit it. It did not break apart as the echoes had, but the spell did seem to be hurting it.
"Rainbow! Now!" Applejack shouted.
Rainbow, who had been staring at the display, blinked. "Oh, right!" She took the opportunity while Cacophony was distracted to try again. She was once again hit by the wave of sound that Cacophony used to defend itself, but it was much weaker. Rather than knocking her away it merely made it difficult to continue forward, as though she were flying into a strong wind. Her powerful wings forced her through the resistance and she stretched forward, trying once again to latch the Element of Laughter onto Cacophony's oversized forleg. As she neared it the limb lashed out, seeming to warp and extend even as it moved so that she couldn't anticipate the movement. It struck her squarely, sending her crashing into the far wall.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity wailed.
Applejack ran forward and pulled a rope from under her hat. Hastily fashioning a lasso, she threw it and caught the falling pegasus. "Gotcha!" she said around the rope in her mouth. She pulled the limp Rainbow Dash safely back to the platform. Rainbow groaned and tried to sit up, but her battered body would not obey her.
"The Element!" Rarity pointed with a hoof. Rainbow Dash, stunned by the attack and the impact with the wall, had dropped the Element of Laughter. The necklace was now falling toward the far-away floor of the enormous room.
"Fluttershy," Rainbow croaked out, "catch it!"
Fluttershy, who was hovering anxiously over her injured friend, bit her lip with tears in her eyes at the thought of leaving Rainbow.
"I'll be fine," Rainbow shouted, "just go!"
Fluttershy nodded reluctantly and dove after Pinkie's element. Rainbow pushed herself back up to her hooves, ignoring the flaring pain in her side. She had a broken rib for sure, maybe worse, but this wasn't the time to worry about it. At least her wings seemed uninjured. She forced her face to remain smooth and confident, not showing her pain.
As Rainbow stood, Thunder sank to his knees and his voice gave out. His head was spinning from lack of oxygen and flecks of blood from his torn throat spattered the ground as he coughed. He took a deep breath and forced himself to continue shouting, but it was a much weaker sound than before.
Cacophony, no longer taking the the full brunt of Twilight and Thunder's disruption spell, continued drifting across the room toward them. It struck forward with a foreleg which stretched impossibly far, reaching across the huge distance between them. The ponies jumped out of the way, but Cacophony's "hoof" struck the platform squarely, tearing it away. Once again they found themselves falling.
Twilight abandoned the now-ineffective disruption spell, instead using her magic to gather the others together and teleport them downward. Rather than aiming for another platform she took them straight to the floor of the enormous room where they would not be so vulnerable. Fluttershy swooped down to rejoin them, the Element of Laughter clutched between her forelegs.
Another wave of sound came from Cacophony, striking the group like a physical blow. Rarity's spell flared as she forced more power into it, but even so the ponies were slammed into the metal floor. Rainbow was unable to hold back a cry of pain as her damaged body took even more abuse.
Twilight, who had discerned the mechanics behind Rarity's spell, fed her own power into it. It was fairly simple magic, effectively creating a buffer in the air that blocked out sound—it actually appeared to be related to Shining Armor's defensive spells. With both unicorns focusing on defending the group, the noise and pressure died away enough that the ponies could stand.
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted, "I have an idea! Use that disruption spell thingy on me."
"What are you planning?" Twilight asked. With Thunder gasping for air and coughing up blood he was effectively out of the fight, and she didn't think any of the others' voices would be able to withstand the stress of the full-power disruption spell.
"Remember what we talked about before?" Rainbow asked. "I'm gonna hit that thing with a Rainboom."
"I told you how dangerous that could be!" Twilight said. "Besides which, you're hurt. Can you even do a Sonic Rainboom with those injuries?"
"What choice do we have?" Rainbow asked. She flinched as Cacophony redoubled its efforts, but the combined magic of Twilight and Rarity held its attacks at bay for now. "I'll be fine."
Before Twilight could come to a decision Cacophony dropped to the ground in front of them. Up close it became clear exactly how big it really was. Thunder, the largest of them, was barely up to its knee. Cacophony seemed to ripple, its flesh flowing like water disturbed by a stone, and it separated before their eyes. Where there had been one Cacophony the size of a hydra there were now six, each roughly the size of a manticore.
"Uh-oh," Applejack muttered.
"That shouldn't be possible!" Twilight exclaimed. "How could it possibly have enough magic to maintain six amalgamation spells?"
"Questions later," Thunder rasped, his voice a pale shadow of itself, "fighting now." He planted himself in front of the group, prepared to defend the ponies who actually had the power to defeat this monster.
The six Cacophonies rushed forward and Thunder stepped in to meet them. He ducked under the first one's swing and retaliated with a kick. Unlike fighting the echoes, he felt a satisfying impact as his hoof sank into the monster's shifting flesh. He still wasn't certain that he'd hurt it, but at least it seemed that the true Cacophony could be fought physically. His satisfaction did not last beyond that first moment.
Thunder screamed and fell twitching to the ground as a blast of sound struck him. It was so high-pitched as to be almost beyond hearing, but it pierced his skull like a white-hot spike. Something warm and wet trickled from his ears.
One of the Cacophonies raised a hoof to finish the job, but was staggered by a purple beam of energy. It screamed in rage with a noise that suddenly seemed strangely distant to Thunder, though the pressure behind it was every bit as strong. Applejack caught one of the six monsters with her lasso and planted her hooves, trying to restrain it, but Cacophony's immense strength tossed her aside with ease. She, too, screamed in agony and fell as she left the protective bubble of Twilight and Rarity's spell.
"Alright, mister, that is enough!" Fluttershy shouted. An almost physical pressure came from her in waves as she turned her Stare upon Cacophony. "Now you stop hurting my friends!"
Cacphony trembled and froze under her Stare, but she found it difficult to pin down all six of them at once. She had to constantly shift her focus between them, keeping any one of the six from drawing too close to the group. All six of them slowly crept forward.
"Twilight," Rainbow screamed at her friend, "I need that spell, now!" At this rate Cacophony would soon close the distance, and they were helpless against it.
Twilight bit her lip uncertainly. She wasn't certain that Rainbow could even pull off a Rainboom in her condition, and even if she could she wasn't sure what it might do to the rest of them when empowered by Twilight's disruption spell. Still, she was right. If they didn't do something, Cacophony was going to defeat them all.
"Okay." Despite her misgivings, Twilight redirected some of her energy from the protective spell and channeled it into Rainbow's body. Maintaining two spells at once was difficult, but nothing Twilight couldn't handle.
"Aww yeah," Rainbow grinned as she felt the power flowing through her. Plugging her ears with her forehooves, she rocketed into the air up to the top of the room. It was so tall that it took her nearly thirty seconds to reach the peak at her top speed, but the good news was that she would have plenty of room for a Rainboom. She angled herself downward and flew for all she was worth. Her confident grin faltered as the pain in her side grew from a sharp ache to a small fire, like an hot coal embedded beneath her ribs. Her eyes watered with the pain, but she forced herself to keep flying. Her friends were counting on her, and no way was she going to leave them hanging.
Rainbow began to shout as she plummeted. It was not a battle cry nor a cry of fear, but a scream of pain. Her injuries were being badly exacerbated by the strain she was putting on her body, but she did not relent. She felt the telltale resistance as a cone of air formed around her; she was approaching Rainboom speed.
One of the Cacophonies finally drew close enough to strike and knocked Fluttershy aside with a swipe of one foreleg. The pegasus flew through the air and crumpled to the ground.
A note of fury entered Rainbow's yell. She was now roughly halfway between the ceiling and floor of the gigantic room. She pushed through the agony, her determination redoubled by seeing one of her oldest friends thrown aside like a ragdoll.
The Cacophonies, freed from Fluttershy's Stare, moved forward unimpeded and surrounded the group. Those still standing backed away, trying to keep distance between themselves and the monsters. Fluttershy, Applejack, and Thunder Growl lay motionless on the ground.
Rainbow, mere feet above the six Cacophonies, finally broke through the resistance. The room filled with an ear-shattering sonic boom and a blinding purple-tinted rainbow light as she rocketed forward to supersonic speeds. She angled herself upward to avoid crashing into the walls as her speed suddenly doubled and she shot into the sky, trailed by a brilliant rainbow.
The Cacophonies shrieked and fell to the ground, their flesh rippling wildly. Random bits of ponies appeared and disappeared almost too quickly to be seen, but Twilight caught a glimpse of a familiar curly pink mane emerging from the farthest one. It was gone in an instant, but it was enough.
Twilight snatched up the Element of Laughter with her magic and hurled it toward the telltale flash of pink. Cacophony, stunned by Rainbow Dash's magically empowered Rainboom, did not defend itself as the Element latched around its throat. It may have been Twilight's imagination, but she thought she saw the balloon-shaped jewel twinkle as it fastened, as though the Element were happy to be reunited with its bearer even under these circumstances.
Rainbow landed next to her again. Though she tried to put on a brave front, she was nearly doubled over with the pain in her side.
"Good job, Rainbow," Twilight said, "just hang in there a little longer. Rarity, go check on Applejack. I'll get Fluttershy. This is our only chance."
The two unicorns galloped to their fallen friends, desperate to awaken them before Cacophony recovered from the Rainboom. Fluttershy, who was simply dazed from the hit, groaned and opened her eyes the moment Twilight called her name. Applejack was in worse shape.
"Applejack!" Rarity called to her fallen friend. "Applejack, please, you must get up." She belatedly noticed the red liquid seeping from Applejack's ears and gasped, holding a hoof to her mouth. Realizing that the farmpony could not hear her, Rarity reached down and gently shook her friend.
Applejack stirred slightly.
"Applejack!" Rarity cried desperately, shaking her harder. One of the Cacophonies was beginning to stand up.
"Uhhnn... Rarity?" Applejack said. Her voice was louder than usual and she was slurring her words slightly. "You sayin' somethin'? Why's it so quiet in here?"
Rarity gave up on speaking and simply pointed.
Applejack turned her head and her eyes widened as she saw the six monsters getting back to their hooves. "Woah, nelly!" she shouted. Her earth pony strength proved itself as she forced herself to rise. With everypony up and ready, the five of them gathered together and prepared for the final attack.
Twilight's eyes glowed white with power as she drew on the Element of Magic. Please work, please work... she prayed silently as she focused all of her will into the Element and, through it, into her friends. The other Elements began glowing in turn, their bearers floating into the air upon their magic. Dimly through the magical haze, Twilight saw the Element of Laughter begin to glow as well.
A distinct flash of pink emerged from the swirling colors of the most distant Cacophony. A pink hoof and foreleg extended from its chest, and a pink muzzle became visible through Cacophony's own oversized one. Finally, Pinkie Pie emerged fully from her living prison, the Element of Laughter clasped firmly about her neck and a rapturous smile upon her face.
Thunder groaned and lifted his head. The room was strangely quiet. Why wasn't he being nearly deafened by the noise of combat and Cacophony's sound magic?
Wait. He held a hoof up to his ear. Deafened? The sticky, warm wetness of blood confirmed his fears. He was already deaf.
It was a problem for later. For now, he had to see this through.
He rose on shaking legs and looked around desperately. He spotted the six monsters, who were currently under attack by a very familiar barrage of rainbow magic. The six ponies—six? How did they get Pinkie Pie back?—floated in the air, channeling the power of their Elements, but something was wrong.
The magic was not reaching Cacophony. Though Thunder could not hear, a certain pressure in the air and a deep bass rumbling through the floor told him that Cacophony was still using its magic. Apparently it was somehow defending itself from the Elements.
It couldn't be. The Elements of Harmony were supposed to be the strongest artifacts in Equestria. If they couldn't destroy this monster, then Equestria was doomed to never know music again.
The light of the Elements was simply not strong enough to destroy this darkness.
Light. It came to Thunder in a flash. The Elements of Harmony used light-based magic, which Cacophony was countering with his sound-based magic. The monster had proven time and again that it was immune to any conventional form of attack, but there was a way.
Not giving himself time to think, not taking the chance that he might second-guess himself, Thunder galloped forward and threw himself into the stream of energy. Power roared into him, a thousand times stronger than Twilight's magic. A blinding white light obliterated everything that he could see, everything that he could feel or think or be. There was nothing but the power. No longer aware of what he was doing, no longer aware of himself or that he even had a self, Thunder opened his mouth and screamed.
Thunder groaned. His head was spinning and his body felt like lead. "What happened last night?"
He could hear himself speak. That was surprising for some reason. Why was that surprising? Something about not being able to hear. Something about his musical career, his entire life, being over because he couldn't hear.
"Thunder?"
That voice was familiar. What was that voice? For some reason it made him think of purple. Purple. Smart. Magic. Element? Element of Magic? Why was that phrase sticking in his mind?
Thunder shook his head slightly, hoping to rearrange his jumbled thoughts, but he only succeeded in making the pain in his head spike. His stomach felt alright, which was a small blessing at least. Usually when he felt like this it came with intense nausea.
"Thunder!" The voice pierced through his hazy musings.
"Twilight?" Yes, that was the mare's name. Twilight Sparkle, the nerdy purple librarian. She liked to lecture, as he recalled, and dear alicorns above did she look ready to give a lecture now.
"Thunder Growl, what were you thinking?" she burst out. "That was the most reckless, poorly thought out... bucking stupid thing that I've ever seen anypony do!"
Ah, yes. Now it was all coming back. He liked to do stupid things, and she liked to lecture him for doing them.
"You're welcome," Thunder grumbled. His voice seemed to have returned along with his hearing. Had the Elements done that?
"You had absolutely no idea what the Elements of Harmony would do to you," Twilight continued. "They might have killed you!"
Thunder shook his head. "Didn't matter."
"What do you mean? How could it not matter?"
"I didn't know what would happen if I jumped in," Thunder said, "but I knew what would happen if I didn't. It had to be sound magic or it wasn't going to work."
"Still, that was such a dangerous thing to do—"
Thunder cut her off. "It didn't matter because, for once in my stupid, selfish life, I cared about something more than I cared about myself. If having the Elements blast me to pieces was what it took to get rid of Cacophony, then I was okay with that." He looked down at himself. "I'm kinda glad they didn't, though."
"Alright, Twi, give the stallion some air." Applejack shooed her friend away. "How ya feelin', sugar cube?" she asked Thunder.
"I feel..." Thunder took stock of himself, "pretty good, actually." The headache and dizziness were fading and strength was returning to his limbs. What he had at first mistaken for a brutal hangover had been nothing but simple exhaustion. He stood up, and then the true import of what had just happened struck him. "We did it, didn't we?"
Applejack smiled and nodded. "We sure did. Cacophony's history."
A smile broke out on Thunder's face. He felt strange, jittery, overflowing with nervous energy, as if he were simply too happy to contain it all. His legs trembled and his heart pounded in his chest. He felt like he was on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Buck yeah!" Thunder reared back and roared for all he was worth. He found himself prancing like a foal. "Buck yes, buck yes, BUCK YES, we did it!" he laughed. He glanced to the side and found himself being joined by very familiar pink mare.
"Pinkie Pie!" he shouted gleefully and caught her up in a bone-crushing hug. He could have sworn her head deflated slightly as he released her. He watched her prance away with a smile, but seeing her reminded him of something else. "What about everypony that Cacophony captured? What happened to them?"
Applejack was trying, and failing, to hide her mirth at Thunder's exuberance. "Just look around ya."
Thunder became aware that there were more ponies present—a lot more—than just the seven of them. The room was filled with scores, maybe even hundreds of ponies talking, hugging, laughing, and singing.
"You've been out for a while," Applejack explained. "That was part o' why Twilight was so worried."
"Oh, is that what she was?" Thunder chuckled. It had looked more like she was furious.
Singing. That was something Thunder hadn't heard in far too long, save for one unfortunate incident. In fact, one of those singing voices sounded very familiar.
"Berry!" Thunder called across the room.
Berry came trotting over, an enormous—and sober—smile on her face as she sang her heart out for joy. Thunder pulled her into a hug and she rested her head happily against his shoulder. It was wonderful to see her again, though there were three ponies in particular that he wanted to see even more.
"Thunder?"
Thunder froze at the familiar voice. Hardly daring to hope, he turned to face the speaker. A red unicorn stood next to his brother, and beside them was a mint-green pegasus mare. All three looked at Thunder with huge smiles on their faces. Thunder trembled slightly as he stared back at his bandmates.
"Dude, are you crying?" Bass Groove teased him.
"No," Thunder sniffled. "What do you think I am, some kind of," his voice hitched, "bucking little," he hiccuped, "schoolfilly?" Tears of joy streamed down the sides of his face.
All three of them stepped forward to embrace Thunder. Together the four friends shared a very long, and very wet, hug.