//------------------------------// // The Magic of Light, Dark, and Friendship // Story: Equestria's Warriors of Light and Dark // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// Last time, the ponies and the boys sought to take back the three Crystal Fangs by infiltrating the Serpentine's underground lair. At first they thought they were successful, but the Serpentine ambushed them. With Pythor returning with the fourth Crystal Fang, they remade the Orochi Sword and using its power fused the five generals into what he now calls himself the Serpent King. Serpent King laughed down at the ponies and the boys who were still in shock, "The five generals have become one." Twilight gasped. "And it's big!" Spike cried. "Feel the power of the Serpentine!" Serpent King called, as he tried to drop his sword on the group who jumped away avoiding the strike. "Now what do we do?" Dustin asked the group. "We need the elements of harmony." Twilight answered. "Problem, first we gotta get past them." Applejack said, while motioning to the Serpentine warriors surrounding them. "Guards!" Serpent King called from above. The Serpentine warriors looked up at their master who continued, "Never mind them, we have bigger prizes to take. First we'll take Ponyville, then Canterlot, and then Equestria!" he announced. The warriors called as they started following their master's lead as he slunk off heading in the direction of Ponyville. "No! If they reach Ponyville before we do nopony will be safe!" Twilight gasped. "What can we do?" Fluttershy asked. "I'll go on ahead and alert everypony in town." Ven volunteered. "Be careful, Ven." Muse warned him. "Always." He answered, before taking off. "How're we going to get to Ponyville before he does?" Rarity motioned to Serpent King. "Don't worry," Dustin answered, as he and Alistair powered up their energies, while Zyphon activated his blasters, "We'll stall him as best as we can." "Let's do it everypony!" Alistair called. "Yeah!" they called as the ponies hurried off with, Dustin, Alistair, and Zyphon flying up to Serpent King darting around him. "You're not setting foot in Ponyville!" Dustin called before realizing, "Wait a minute, snakes don't have feet." "You annoying pests will not stand in my way!" Serpent King called, as he was swatting his sword and staff around them forcing them to fly away from the attacks. "Spirit gun!" Dustin started firing attacks at the snake heads, distorting him a bit. "Shadow gun!" Alistair fired his own attacks at the Serpent King. "Taste my missile barrage!" Zyphon called, as he fired missiles onto the giant snake. In Ponyville, Ven had arrived to explain everything to Mayor Mare who sounded an alarm for every pony to head for shelter. When Twilight and the other ponies arrived in Ponyville, they saw everypony was running for cover from all the Serpentine warriors, "We got to get to the library." Twilight ordered the girls. "Uh Twi, I think that's going to be a problem." Spike said, as they saw all of Ponyville was being overrun with the Serpentine warriors. "How're we going to get past all these snakes?" Pinkie asked. "You go on ahead, Aqua and I will handle them." Terra ordered as he and Aqua stood ready to fight. "Not alone you're not." Muse said, as she and Wild stood at their sides. "Good luck guys." Rainbow said, as the six ponies and dragon raced to the library. "Think we stand a chance against all these snakes?" Aqua asked the others. "I don't know, but we have to try!" Terra called, as he charged and started bucking some Constrictai warriors with Muse bucking some Hypnobrai snakes. Aqua was using her magic to blast at some Venomari soldiers, and Wild was flying around some Fangpyres before tackling them, while avoiding their fangs. Ven flew in and joined the fight tackling some Venomari and Hypnobrai warriors, "Doesn't it feel great that we're actually getting to do our job?" Ven asked the older ponies. "Well we're getting a work out I'll admit it." Terra said, as he bucked a Fangpyre sending it landing down a well. Wild was darting around more of the snakes only to get ambushed by five Venomari warriors, "Wild!" Muse called. "There's too many of them!" he called as he barely shook them off. "I'm coming!" Muse tried to go to help him, but was being overpowered by multiple Constrictai Warriors. "Muse!" her sibs called, as they tried to get past their opponents to help her, but to no avail. Wild watched as Muse was getting the life squeezed out of her by the snakes. Suddenly his eyes started turning firm as a dark aura was surrounding him until they glowed, "LET HER GO!" he shouted as he flew at the snakes surrounding her and started attacking more and more snakes about as fast as Rainbow Dash can move. "What's going on with him?" Aqua gasped. "I didn't know he was able to fly that fast." Ven noted. "He can't." Muse gasped. "You know it's almost like when you attacked those snakes in the cave." Terra spoke to Muse, who was almost confused as if not remembering it. Suddenly the aura surrounding Wildcard vanished, and his flying speed returned to normal, "Oh boy." He said as the Serpentine started piling on him. They continued fighting, until another blast of magic nailed them. Approaching was Shining Armor and Cadence, "Captain! Princess!" Terra gasped. "You guys ok?" Shining Armor asked. "We're fine." Aqua answered. "Where's Twilight?" Cadence looked around. "She and the rest of the girls headed to the library to retrieve their elements f harmony." Muse explained. "What about Dustin and Alistair?" Shining Armor asked. "They're holding back the Serpent King before he reaches Ponyville." Wild answered, as he motioned to the incoming giant snake. "Shining Armor we have to protect Ponyville with our magic. It's our only hope." Cadence proclaimed. "Right." Shining Armor nodded, as the two crossed horns and both started glowing. Their combined magic and love for each other projected a barrier spell around all of Ponyville, keeping the Serpentine Warriors inside, but the Serpent King outside. Outside the barrier, Serpent King saw the barrier and laughed, "You can try to keep me out of Ponyville, but it will be all in vain!" he started striking at the barrier with both his sword and staff. The harder he was striking, the harder it was for both Cadence and Shining Armor to keep the barrier stable. "They can't keep that barrier up for long if he keeps pounding it!" Dustin called to Zyphon and Alistair as the dark warrior responded. "Then let's pound him back!" Alistair covered his fists with dark energy and started upper cutting one of his heads after another confusing them. "Stay out of my business!" Serpent King called, as he swung his snake tail at Alistair knocking him off balance. "Alistair!" Dustin called. "I'm ok!" he answered as he regained altitude. Meanwhile in Ponyville, Twilight and the others had been charging through Ponyville, knocking away any Serpentine trying to ambush them before reaching the library. They ran inside and Twilight retrieved their elements, "Ok everypony, this is our last chance to stop these snake,." So the other ponies put their elements on and stood ready with their princess, "Come on let's save Ponyville." "This is so exciting!" Pinkie cheered. "Pinkie, the fate of Equestria is in our hoofs!" Rainbow lectured her. "I know that's what makes it so exciting." She replied with excitement as the girls sighed. "Let's go!" Twilight ordered, as they hurried back to help the others. Back at the fight, Serpent King despite the attacks Dustin, Alistair, and Zyphon were unleashing upon him was still striking at the barrier. Finally with one powerful strike the barrier broke as Shining Armor and Cadence dropped to their knees in exhaustion, "Captain!" Aqua called. "He broke the barrier." Shining Armor groaned. Serpent King looked down on the town, "Hello Ponyville! Your master has arrived!" he laughed maniacally, as the ponies who hadn't reached shelter yet were screaming in terror while trying to find cover. Alistair frowned about to attack him, until he heard other screams. He looked down seeing Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon about to be attacked by five Hypnobrai snakes. He gasped knowing that while they were bullies, not even they deserved to be attacked by Serpentine. He dove down and blocked a Hypnobrai who tried to hypnotize them. The two fillies were shocked to have seen Alistair save them, "Hey you!" the snake called, as he and the other four were knocked back by the dark warrior who turned to the two fillies. "Get out of here, go!" he called. The fillies taking his advice bolted before meeting up with DT's father who led them to safety. The dark warrior saw more Serpentine soldiers were gathering, "All right boys, I'm gonna slice me up some snakes!" he summoned his shadow buster and started attacking the warriors. As Dustin was helping Zyphon keep Serpent King distracted, he saw Alistair was taking on some of the Serpentine warriors, along with Wild, Muse, and the Elemental Trio protecting the tired Shining Armor and Cadence, "Alistair needs my help, but…" "Go, Master Dustin!" Zyphon ordered. "But, Zyphon." "Alistair's your friend, and he needs you the most right now. I'll be ok." Zyphon assured him. Dustin nodded and flew down to his pal attacking the Serpentine, "You mess with a dark warrior, and you mess with a spirit warrior!" "Nice of you to join me down here." Alistair said in sarcasm. "And what leave you to have all the fun?" Dustin asked, as he summoned his spirit saber and the two started attacking the snakes giving other ponies a chance to take cover. Up above with Serpent King, he was striking all around Ponyville with his sword and his staff, knocking down buildings and everything, "Glorious destruction!" the King declared, "What do you think, Sombra?" he called to the sky, "Who's the king now?!" he laughed maniacally. "Allow me to dethrone you!" Zyphon called, before unleashing more lasers and missiles upon the giant five headed snake. "I'll squash you flat!" Serpent King called as he was swinging his sword around Zyphon scraping his body, sending sparks. "No one messes up my chrome!" Zyphon called, as he blasted the five heads with multiple lasers, trying to blind them. "Enough!" Serpent King shouted, as he swung his sword slicing of Zyphon's left arm that fell to the ground. "Oh dear." Zyphon gasped seeing he lost his arm with sparks shorting out through it. "Farewell!" Serpent King announced as he jabbed the sword through Zyphon's torso sending more sparks flying as he was shorting out while screaming. On the ground, Dustin, the elemental trio, Shining Armor, Cadence, and Alistair saw what happened as Dustin screamed, "ZYPHON, NO!" Suddenly a female robotic voice came from Dustin's watch, "Warning! Warning!" they looked at the watch hearing it speak, "Zyphon power level dropping 95 percent, weapons offline, shut down imminent!" "Shut down?" Dustin gasped, as Zyphon slid off the sword and fell to the ground with a thud. Dustin ran over to his robot to see all the damage his body took during the fight and the large hole in his chest left by Serpent King's sword, "Zyphon!" he cried shaking his robot. Zyphon struggled to lift his head to see his master, "Master Dustin." He spoke with a distorting voice. "It's gonna be ok, Zyphon, just hang in there." Dustin pleaded. "I'm sorry, Master. I have no choice but to shut down." His voice grew deeper, until he went offline and his eyes closed. "No." Dustin trembled seeing his robot shut down. Alistair and the other ponies watched looking horrified, "Zyphon." Muse and Wild gasped. Serpent King looked down at the defeated robot, "I broke him? What a shame. I was hoping I could play with him a little longer!" he let out a mocking laughter unaware of Dustin's spirit energy firing up. Dustin growled as he looked up at the giant snake, "You monster!" he burst from the ground like a rocket and started striking at Serpent King all around, throwing every spirit gun and shotgun attack he could muster up. Even when he was taking hits in return he wasn't backing down. "Dustin, hang on!" Alistair called, as he flew up to join his friend in fighting the snake who took their robot friend from them. The ponies gathered around Zyphon looking horrified, "This can't be." Shining Armor gasped. "Poor guy." Terra added. Muse and Wild looked up at Dustin and Alistair seeing Serpent King was barely affected by their attacks, due to them getting weaker, 'We lost Zyphon, we can't lose them too.' Muse thought in sadness. 'If only we could help them, but what can we do?' Wild thought sadly, until suddenly they felt something brewing up inside each of them. Suddenly a beam shot out from each of them. A bright light shot out of Muse, while a dark beam shot out from Wild. Dustin and Alistair were engulfed by the beams of their respective power or element. Dustin spoke, "Alistair, my power is growing!" "Mine too, but how?" Alistair asked. "I don't know, but let's use it!" Dustin called, as he and Alistair started attacking Serpent King harder than before, actually putting more damage on him. "What is this power level? It can't be natural!" Serpent King shouted, as he struggled to defend himself. "Guys!" Twilight called, as she and her friends arrived on the scene. "What's going on with Muse and Wild?" Applejack asked, seeing they were standing still as if in a trance. "Maybe they're in a staring contest." Pinkie suggested. "I doubt that." Rainbow answered. "Twily!" Shining Armor called, as he and Cadence got to their hooves. "Shining Armor, Cadence, are you two ok?" she asked going to them. "We're fine," Cadence assured her but looked sad, "Although the same can't be said for Zyphon." She motioned to the motionless robot on the ground. "Zyphon!" the girls gasped seeing his near destroyed condition. "Where are Dustin and Alistair?" Fluttershy asked. "Up there." Terra motioned up to Serpent King, who was still getting attacked by the boys. "Whoa, they've never fought like that." Spike gasped. Suddenly they saw Muse and Wild snap out of it, "Girls, you made it!" Wild called. "And you've got the elements." Muse added. "Are you two ok?" Rarity asked. "We think so." Wild replied, while rubbing his head. "You two were glowing light and dark almost like magic." Ven explained. "Magic?" they asked. "We'll worry about that later. Right now we need to stop Serpent King." Twilight said, as she and the others activated their elements and were ready to join the boys. "Hey snake!" Rainbow called out, "How about a helping of this?!" she dashed at the center head knocking it upside, before striking at the head on the far right from its side. Twilight flew up and used her magic to blast at the Serpent King's left arm making him drop his general staff, "We need to get the Orochi Sword out of his hold!" "We got that!" Dustin called as he and Alistair combined their shotgun and shadow shot attacks blasting the sword out of his hold. "NO MY SWORD!" Serpent King called as it landed onto the ground of Ponyville. He tried to reach for it only for Rainbow to swing Applejack into him. "Oh no ya don't!" she used her back hoofs to buck him in the head on the far left, distorting him. So the six ponies and the two boys stood together hovering in mid air before the giant snake, "Your time of terror is over Serpent King. No matter how powerful you get you will never be able to destroy harmony as long as the magic of our friendship is strong." Twilight ordered. "And with the power of light and dark at their side!" Alistair began, as he was powering up to use shadow force. "We will ensure order is restored to Equestria itself!" Dustin called out, while powering up to use spirit force. All six of the ponies eyes glowed as a bright rainbow beam shot from them at the Serpent King. The eyes of the five snake heads widened in shock as the beam started encircling all around the struggling snake as he was lifted off the ground and into the sky with the inhabitants of Ponyville watching, along with Celestia and Luna from the castle balcony. "No! No this wasn't supposed to happen!" Serpent King bellowed as the elements of harmony were subduing him. "You don't get it, Serpent King!" Dustin called. "If there's one thing we've both learned during our stay here, we've learned…" Alistair began as the two shouted out. "FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!" the elements of harmony engulfed the powers powering them up some more as they stood side by side with their spirit and dark energies mixing like a Yin Yang symbol aura surrounded them. They threw their arms back and launched their attacks with everything they had. "SPIRIT FORCE!" "SHADOW FORCE!" The two blasts of energy blasted at Serpent King who screamed in pain from the combined powers of light, darkness, and the elements of harmony that engulfed him, resulting in a explosion knocking everypony back as the power of the elements restored the damage done to Ponyville because of the Serpentine and Serpent King. Even the shockwave knocked all the Serpentine Warriors unconscious. While the fates of both the Serpent King and the good guys have yet to be decided.