Equestria Legends Online

by Shadowflame

July 9th (Passion to Pull Through)

Sombra’s scythe rammed into Dylan’s staff as he tried to block the oncoming blow, but the force behind it sent the earth pony skidding back on his hind legs. Already, the levitating scythe was upon him again, and Dylan only had enough time to jump out of the way before the weapon crashed into the cavern’s floor with a deafening explosion of rocks and crystals.

Dylan regained his hoofing as he landed, grimacing as he watched Sombra easily pluck his weapon out of the ground, ready to attack again.

King Sombra smirked devilishly at him, “You are quick for an earth pony, I’ll acknowledge that. But do not think your agility will save you for long. I’m just biding my time!” The tyrant king roared as his scythe spun like a boomerang through the air, right towards Dylan.

Dylan met the spinning scythe with his staff again, only for his weapon to get caught beneath the blade of the scythe. He felt his staff jerk upwards as Sombra’s weapon tried to pry it from his grasp. Not willing to let go of his only line of defense, Dylan held on tightly, only for the magical force holding the scythe to pull him up off of the floor and launch him across the room, smashing him into one of the cave’s walls.

Unlike any other place in the game, the wall was decimated into rubble and rocks when Dylan crashed against it, causing him to cry out in pain as he felt himself become buried by loose rocks and sharp crystals.

King Sombra merely chuckled under his breath, “You are facing against my magic, the greatest of them all! Do you truly expect to best me when you have none of your own?”

Dylan glared up at Sombra as he tried to pull himself back up to his hooves, staff at the ready. But there was a something in the colt’s expression, and both fighters in the cave knew it. It was fear, masked by a tiny bit of anger. Dylan knew he wouldn’t last long at this rate, and the frightening feeling Sombra seemed to exude was not helping his case further. He wasn’t going to win… unless he had some help.

His eyes wandered off towards the door that Sombra had sealed with his crystals, hoping for the off chance that someone like Sky or Shadow would come bursting through to help him. But his slipped gaze was suddenly brought back to the tyrant as Dylan felt himself be violently pulled off the ground in the evil king’s magic.

Sombra threw Dylan across the room like a ragdoll, only for the colt to hit the floor in front of the tyrant king’s position. Sombra wore a sadistic grin plastered to his face, the sight of which chilled Dylan to the bone. Hearing his gruesome chuckle afterwards felt like ice to Dylan’s innards.

“Don’t go calling for any help, insolent pup. Your friends wouldn’t be able to help you now, even if they wanted to.”

Dylan pulled himself up with his staff, before standing up in a fighting stance again. He gritted his teeth, narrowing his eyes, “What did you do to them?”

King Sombra laughed wickedly, “I left them to play with a little ‘gift’ I received from Lord Discord.” His cruel laughter grew louder, “Honestly, what better gift could I receive? And all would come if I followed through with his plan for you puny humans.”

Dylan’s eyes narrowed, even though he could feel his hooves trembling, “What are you talking about? What plan?!”

Sombra merely smirked, readying his scythe again, “It’s a trifle, really. Just a pact I formed with the Lord of Chaos. If I guarded this remaining Element of Harmony and killed off the rest of the bearers, Discord would leave me to rule the Crystal Empire as I please. He’s giving me my kingdom to rule forever, and he even added a dragon into the deal.”

Dylan’s eyes widened as he remembered, “A dragon?...” He inhaled sharply, “Oh, no-“

Sombra laughed at his expression of shocked realization, “Now you see, your friends are most likely dragon feed by now. If you’re so worried about those fools, then why don’t you join them?”

Sombra’s scythe swung in a mad flurry towards Dylan, black metal glinting against the light of the cave that seemed to flash in and out of existence from its tremendous speed. Dylan couldn’t do anything but block or avoid, duck and weave, as the scythe swung at him again and again as fast as lightning. Dylan put every ounce of his focus into avoiding the floating weapon, not even taking his eyes off the seemingly endless number of volleys Sombra flung towards him.

But out of the corner of his eye, in the midst of the rapid attacks, Dylan spotted King Sombra, who simply stood in the middle of the cave, not even bothering to get closer to the colt he was supposedly fighting. Dylan’s focus faltered for only a moment as his eyes widened in realization. Most other monsters would instantly bear down on him in a situation where he was preoccupied, with the intention of overwhelming him until he finally died. But Sombra was…

He’s… He’s only toying with me! Dylan realized to himself, making him scowl in anger at the thought, He’s not even trying to- GAH!

Unfortunately, the moment his focus faltered, Sombra’s black scythe came crashing down on Dylan. The poor colt let out a scream as the blade stabbed through his back, leaving a bright red scar of code down the wound it created.

Dylan doubled over onto his forehooves as his body was racked with unbearable pain. Tears broke out of the corners of his eyes from the immense pain, making him subconsciously realize that Sombra’s weapon must’ve been a hacked item. From what he knew, that meant that scythe was dealing out as much pain to him as it would have if it were in the real world. The pain he was feeling now was equivalent to that of a real scythe cutting into him in the real world, all without the blood.

Gasping for breath, Dylan tried to stand up again, only for the butt of Sombra’s weapon to knock into his side, sending the colt sprawling sideways against the cave’s wall, his staff falling out of his hooves’ grasps as it clattered against the stone ground.

Sombra laughed at the colt’s pain, finding Dylan’s curled-up form looking so weak and frail to him, and after only a single blow at that, “I don’t know what Lord Discord ever saw in you, thinking that you would be the next element bearer. His ridiculous rules state that you are the only one who could possibly defeat me, but I cannot even guess how you could. Whatever the case, though, I shall make your end long…” He chuckled darkly to himself, “and painful.”

With one stroke of his weapon, Dylan wasn’t hit by the scythe’s blade, but by a column of black crystals as they suddenly burst out of the floor beneath him.

Dylan gasped as the wind was knocked out of him and he was sent flying to another corner of the cavern. In midair, Dylan tried to regain his balance and land back on his hooves, despite the massive amounts of pain shooting through his back. But Dylan’s shaking legs didn’t help, and he landed in a stumbled crouch.

Dylan winced in pain as he tried to look for his staff, only to find it on the ground behind where Sombra stood. The colt silently cursed to himself as he realized he’d have to get past Sombra to get the staff back. He hated not having a weapon, and the pain in his back wasn’t going to help in this situation.

King Sombra sneered down at the colt, “Face thine own reality, Dyl0nkour. You are nothing but a boy playing the hero. All the while, the rest of your little group does the real fighting. You are simply a hindrance to them. Even if I kill you, I’d be cutting a weak link in your little group.” He smiled coldly, “I believe I might even be doing them a favor then.”

“Shut up!” Dylan cried out, eyes wet with his own tears, though he was unsure himself if they were leftover from that wound in his back or from the sting he felt at Sombra’s words. He charged the dark king, one hoof raised for a wild punch.

But King Sombra simply stepped to the side, letting Dylan’s punch fly past his head, before the unicorn buck-kicked the earth pony with a single hind leg. Dylan was sent sprawling onto the ground again, without a single bit of success from his try at offensive.

Sombra merely laughed, making Dylan shudder at the sound of it as the colt weakly staggered back up to his hooves, “What a pitiful display. And here I thought I was facing one of the strongest humans in this world. If you are this easy to defeat, then I might as well just finish you now, so that I may seal the rest of your friends’ demises. In comparison to them at least, killing you will be like scraping an insect out from under my hooves.

“Give up, little whelp. You are weak and beaten, and there is no possible way for you to retaliate against my power.”

Dyan glared daggers at Sombra, but he couldn’t keep the tears from streaming out of his eyes. The tyrant king’s words stung as if he had fallen on top of a hornet’s nest, and the fact that Dylan hadn’t been able to land a single hit on Sombra just reinforced the king’s taunts.

Sombra’s words echoed through his head, like some bad dream, making Dylan pause in fright, I… I really am… the weakest… aren’t I? But as soon as the thought came, Dylan tried to shake it out of his head, NO! I’m not weak! Sombra’s just trying to get into my head! It won’t work! I’ll fight it, I’ll fight him… I’ll... save… the others… I… I-I’ll…

But no matter what he tried, Sombra’s words still ate and tore at his mind, a parasite the king had planted in his skull. The downward spiral of it all, the fact he couldn’t do a single thing as he was beaten to a pulp, felt like an enormous weight across his own shoulders. The colt found himself in spiral of depression that was like a leech to his strength. It was all Dylan could do to stay up on his hooves, even though he wanted so badly to just drop to the ground and break under the ominous pressure.

King Sombra laughed devilishly at Dylan’s internal struggle, as if he could see it all play out on the colt’s face, “Yes, give up now, and I’ll spare you at least a portion of the pain I’ve reserved for you.” His chortle felt like cold ice against Dylan’s ears, fear welling up in his chest at how useless he suddenly felt, “But don’t worry, once I’ve finally put you out of your misery, I shall do the same for your friends.”

Dylan’s eyes widened as he labored his neck muscles to look up at the dark king, who only laughed sickly at his expression, “From what I recall, isn’t one of them your brother?”

Sombra sneered to himself, “Ah, yes, the ‘infamous’ Midnight5ky, wielder of demonic power and manipulator of darkness.” He grinned sadistically, “It shall be interesting to fight another dark magic user like myself. But the darkness is my domain, and even with your brother’s power, that mere wannabe of the shadows has no hope of stopping me.”

Dylan ground his teeth together, growling at the tyrant, “You’re wrong!”

“Silence, foolish knave!” Sombra snapped, before backhanding the colt with the side of his scythe. Dylan was sent sprawling again, but this time he couldn’t find the strength to stand up again. His legs refused to listen to him as he tried so desperately to stay in the fight.

Sombra roared at the little colt, “You have only seen a mere fraction of my full power, yet you have been subdued.” His manic grin returned just as quickly as it had left, “I think when I have defeated your brother, I shall make his end much more painful than yours.”

He licked his chops, relishing the thought, “Oh, yes… How delicious it is to see the strong and mighty break underneath the essence of fear. For proud warriors like Sky and others like him to crumble,” He barked out laughing, echoes of his sick laughter dancing through the cavern, “Oh, their screams shall be music to my ears! Their cries for mercy will be the herald of my new reign here in the empire!”

But Sombra paused in thought, “… But perhaps, I should wait to kill you, shouldn’t I? After all, what better way to break the fighting spirit of your brother than to kill his little sibling right in front of him and let him hear your tortured screams!”

Dylan’s jaw clenched in hatred, “There’s no way Sky would ever break under you! If you kill me, that’ll only give him more cause to avenge me more. You don’t know my brother like I do!”

After a moment of quiet pause, a sneer slid to Sombra’s face, “If you know your brother so well, then where is he now?”

“He’s on his way here right now!” Dylan fiercely countered, “He’d never let a dragon get in his way. He’s already beaten a dragon before, and everyone out there will do it again!”

Dylan was promptly silenced as Sombra’s scythe suddenly swung down over the colt, crashing into the ground mere inches away from his neck. Dylan could only flinch at how close the impact had been, given how he had little to no control of his legs. Sombra’s hold on his weapon was still as strong as ever, but the dark king left it sticking out of the ground to give a very distinct message, one that instantly sent tremors up Dylan’s spine.

Sombra glowered at Dylan, before the king walked up to the colt, putting a sneering face up close and inches away from the downed earth pony’s, “Yes, that is true. I don’t doubt your friends’ abilities to miraculously survive my trap for them. But I’m afraid they will come to your aid far too late to save you.”

Dylan’s face only winced, trying to find any kind of fight left in him. Sombra was only inches away from him, yet he didn’t have even the strength to lift a leg, much less smack the grin off of the tyrant’s face. The colt cursed to himself, wondering how his endurance had failed him…

…but at the same time, another part of his mind started to wonder why he was still trying to stand up again…

His eyes shifted towards the black scythe embedded in the ground, dangerously close to his neck. The message it gave was clear enough; that Sombra could kill him at any time he wanted to.

The truth of the matter was right in front of him. If he did anything, he was going to die…

… I… I-I don’t want… I d-don’t want to die…

“Yes, yes…” Sombra’s mouth twisted into a sick grin, as if the tyrant could taste the fear Dylan felt, “Why fight me when death is so near? What reason should you stand up again, other than to seal your doom?”

Dylan felt his breathing grow ragged, but he wasn’t sure whether or not it was from his own surprise at Sombra’s words, which hinted that he somehow knew exactly what was going through the colt’s mind.

… Why…?

Why do I still want to fight…?

I’m… I can’t fight anymore… I… I’m going to die…aren’t I?

Dylan felt his eyes slowly fall shut, as if his will to even watch his end had vanished. He cringed as he felt tears flow out of his eyelids, no matter how tightly he tried to shut them. He didn’t care anymore that his life was ending. He didn’t care that he had failed. He didn’t even care that he knew he should be caring about these things.

He… he was giving up. The fight had already ended, even before it started.

But… only one question drifted through Dylan’s mind…

Why? Why was he about to die? Why was he here in the first place?

A memory surfaced to his mind. It was one of a large, white house, the base structure made of brick while the rest of it was dominantly made of wood. In front of it stood a group of people… a family. One blond teenage guy stood out in the middle of them, one wearing sunglasses and full black clothing… that was his brother, Sky. Dylan remembered his home and his family back in the real world.

I… I wanted to return home… Sky and I wanted to go home our family…

Another memory came, one of Manehatten. The residential area of the city was bustling about, but Dylan stuck with five other players in particular… They were his team… Team Calvary… Violet Runner… Soul Cards… Neon Fire… But the other two team member’s faces were blotted out from his memory, as he hadn’t seen their faces since they died in action, weeks before the Manehatten boss battle… Their cries as they met death were like a broken record to him, constantly sounding out again and again whenever he thought of it.

I wanted… to fight for my friends…

Dylan’s mind wandered until he found himself back in the changeling hive. The sight he saw in his memory was one that had been thoroughly burned into his mind. He saw Cross, eyes ablaze in hatred and fury as he unleashed his pained anger upon Chrysalis. The tears in his eyes, the pain he felt from seeing Cloud die right in front of him… the sight still haunted Dylan, even if he hadn’t seen the death himself… the consequence of Cloud’s death was too unbearable itself.

I wanted to stop the pain… to stop the mourning…

As if he were watching a slideshow, scene after scene flashed through his mind. He saw the faces of his friends… his allies… the ones who he had seen die in combat… and the ones who had been left to mourn for them…

He had seen it too often… The sight of a player curled on the ground over the very spot where their friends had been reduced to nothing but broken code. Their sobs and wails rang through his ears whenever he thought of it… They were cries of mourning, for their friends who had passed on from this virtual world… their friends who had passed on from the real world…

I wanted… to s-save them. I wanted to stop the death…

The last memory flashed through Dylan like lightning, striking his soul like the crack of a whip. He saw… his group. All of them… Sky… Soul and Violet… Shadow… Swift and Comet… Neon… Lexus… Cross, Eclipse, and Siren… all of them were together, smiling and laughing as they traveled through the forest. That was one of the rare moments when everything felt as it should be… as it was meant to be: a game.

But… Dylan felt a tinge of anger swell inside of him, This isn’t a game anymore… it never was.

I hate it when everyone else still treats it like one, Sombra’s cruel sneer flashed through his mind, Especially him… I… I hate him. I hate Discord. I HATE THIS WORLD!

Even though Dylan knew he was the weakest in the team in terms of strength, that never stopped him from doing his part. During regular combats, he did his best… in boss battles, he did his part…

…But what was he fighting for?

The instant Dylan remembered those moments, he knew the answer.

He knew why he was fighting King Sombra. He knew why he fought the Haters. He knew why he was going to defeat Discord.

Dylan opened his eyes, though they no longer had any hint of anger or fear, only cold remorse and determination.

Sombra fell silent at the look in the colt’s eyes, mildly surprised at how quickly they seemed to have shifted away from the fear he had put in them.

Dylan winced as he planted his hooves onto the ground, looking the tyrant king dead in the eyes, without a single flicker of doubt or fear in them. He winced as he moved his legs, but he ignored the pain. He slowly stood up, muttering under his breath, but loudly enough for Sombra to hear it, “I might be outmatched…

He was back up on all fours, shaking at the strain on himself, “… I might be outnumbered…”

He glowered at the dark king, “But I’ll never stay down… because if I do, then more people will die…”

Dylan slowly began to walk towards Sombra, both of them completely emotionless, but only one of them had a burning fire in their eyes. “… I’ve seen enough people die, and I want it to end… I want to end Discord, but in order to defeat him…

“… I have to go through you!”

In a sudden burst of strength, Dylan leapt off of the ground, face distorted in fury as he lunged towards Sombra with unmatched speed. Before the tyrant could react, the colt drove his hoof into the side of Sombra’s face, the target of the blow gasping suddenly as the impact knock him stumbling sideways.

By the time Sombra regained his composure, his furious eyes fell on Dylan, who had already retrieved his fallen staff and was rushing the dark king again. Sombra swung his scythe to keep Dylan at bay, but the colt simply jumped over the blade, missing it by inches, before swinging his staff into the side of the unicorn’s head with a deafening crack.

Sombra was knocked backwards again, but he brought his scythe up just in time to meet another blow from Dylan, stopping it in midair.

The tyrant glowered at Dylan in fury, “How are you still standing?! How do you still fight?! My fear was supposed to cripple you!”

At his words, Dylan silently noted that he no longer felt the pain in his back. His legs were no longer shaking, and he had full use of them again. He would have thought he was back to his prime fighting condition, but he felt something new inside of himself. He felt incredibly warm, as if there were a fire burning in his chest.

Dylan put the feeling aside, using his natural strength to push Sombra’s raised scythe down slowly, out of his way, “I will never quit on my friends or my family. I won’t let them die, and I will return to them in one piece!” Sombra had to step back as Dylan’s relentless strength began to push him back, but the colt didn’t stop, “That is my drive! This is my fight!”

Dylan brought his staff up and back down across Sombra’s neck, causing the tyrant to gasp as the blow even punched through his armor. Sombra was sent sliding to the ground, but Dylan still stood strong.

Sombra glowered at the colt as he got back up on his hooves, gritting his teeth as he met Dylan’s blazing eyes again.

“I almost gave up because of you, but I will never stand down.” Dylan pointed his staff at the tyrant in defiance, “That, Sombra, is my passion to push through, and I won’t disappoint my friends again!”

The group ran from the dragon as fast as they could down the single crystalline path through the vast, endless darkness. The pale white beast was nipping at their heels, desperate to taste even the slightest hint of their crystal bodies.

Again and again, what spells or long range attacks they could throw at it did little to nothing.

Shadow shot another fireball behind him, aiming right for the dragon’s eyes. But the dragon merely brushed it off as if it were nothing. Sharky and Cinn fired ice spells towards its wings in hopes to freeze its mode of transportation, but what ice would form was instantly shattered at the dragon’s relentless wing beats, all in a mad frenzy to gobble them all up.

“Damn it all to hell!” Soul shouted, “Doesn’t this thing know when to let up?”

“Nope, I guess not!” Violet replied, catching a backwards glance at the dragon as it matched their speed, if not a tiny bit faster than the ponies it chased. Violet shuddered slightly, “You know, if something similar hadn’t happened to us before, I would find this downright terrifying!”

“We cannot keep up at this rate much longer!” Comet reported, “I would give us five minutes at most before the dragon overtakes at least one of us!”

Not if I can help it. Sky thought to himself, mainly due to the lack of a mouth to speak with in his cloud form. Despite the inability to speak in his current wispy form, there were some perks.

Sky suddenly stopped in his flight path, at the same time condensing his body of smoke into the denser shape of a pitch black, ominous sword. Once a sharp, deadly shape, Sky flew himself right into the berserk dragon’s path, point up towards the giant beast.

The dragon’s massive midflight momentum sent it charging through Sky’s sword point, causing the black sword to plunge deep into its skull. The reptilian beast roared in agony, making it fumble and come to a stop on the tiny path through the darkness, which seemed barely able to hold the dragon’s massive size.

Sky mentally grinned as his efforts to buy the others more time had worked. He quickly pulled himself out of the dragon’s skull, just in time before a claw came blindly swinging to knock him off of it. Sky retaliated by swinging himself at the offending claw, resulting in only a slight scratch against the dragon’s scales. There was a big difference between stabbing a dragon with your own strength and having it plow into a sword’s point with all of its weight.

But Sky was about to take advantage of the single cut he had made, prepping himself to strike again… until-

AGGH! Sky was sent for a loop as he felt a searing pain in what felt to be his mind. It was sharp, and painful enough to make the unicorn have to drop down onto the walkway behind the dragon, the pain causing him to lose focus and revert out of his cloud form.

His head was still ringing when he landed on four hooves again, but it was nothing more than just an echo of the original pain he had felt before. Gah, what was that? There’s no way this dragon could attack someone’s mind!

But then he remembered, causing his eyes to go wide. Oh, no…

His wits suddenly came rushing back to him, just in time to see the dragon’s tail cut through the air down from above him. Before he knew it, there was a flash of red in front of him, before somebody grabbed him and another flash of red brought him out of the attack’s range.

Sky looked to find Cross grabbing onto his shoulder, though the unicorn looked slightly enervated, having just teleported twice in a row to save Sky’s hide, “Ugh, wow. I haven’t had to do a pop-in-pop-out like that before.” He shook his head, “I should work on teleporting when we get out of here.”

Sky simply nodded before glancing back at the dragon, which stood a couple dozen yards away. It hadn’t taken long before the rest of the group and turned around and rushed the dragon all at once. From the looks of things, they seemed to have just needed something to break the dragon’s wild rush like Sky had.

But while the others fought off the dragon, two other group members pulled off to the side to check on Sky: Siren, and in her grasp as she flew around the dragon that was blocking the walkway, Cinn. Although, the latter was mostly following along in case the dragon decided to turn around attack the fewer numbers of ponies behind it.

Siren dropped Cinn off on the ground, before lighting down by Sky, “Oh my- are you alright, Sky?”

Sky nodded, “Yeah, thanks to Cross.”

Cross gave him a smug look as he drew his hammer and buckler before joining Cinn, who held his katana out at the dragon with its back turned.

Cinn gave a backwards glance towards Sky, grumbling a bit, “Hey, what gives, demon-boy? You just froze up for no apparent reason. I don’t think I need to tell you that’s a bad idea in a situation like this.”

As much as Sky didn’t care for Cinn talking to him like that, he had a valid reason why, “I had to stop, because my DDS went off.”

“Your what?” Cinn deadpanned.

“Danger Detection Spell.” Sky explained, “It’s a spell that warns the user when a certain object or person is in danger. You see, months ago, I placed one on Dylan, after I had learned about some Haters having access to weapons that could cause ‘real-life pain’ to anyone. I set the spell to only react when Dylan gets hurt by any weapons like that.”

“Wait, hold on…” Siren’s thoughts followed Sky’s words, “So if that spell went off, and Dylan’s stuck behind the door in the entrance cavern…” She gasped, “That means Dylan’s in trouble?!”

Sky grimaced but nodded, before drawing his swords, “We need to get to him fast. I’m not letting a dragon stand between me and my little brother.”

As if on que, the dragon pounded a massive fist into the walkway, causing it to tremble at the sheer force in the monster. The four players standing behind the scaly giant winced in hopes that none of their team had been hit by the massive strike.

Cinn shouted back to Sky, “Get going then!”

“What?” Sky looked at him incredulously.

Cinn narrowed his eyes as he glanced back over his shoulder at the dark blue unicorn, “You want to save your little brother, right? Trust me, I know the feeling.” He jabbed his free hoof at Sky, “I failed to save my little brother when he was in danger, and now he’s dead. Even if I don’t like you much, there’s no way I’d let some baka like you make the same mistake I made.”

Sky nodded in understanding, though he didn't like the prospect of leaving his team to deal with a problem, “Fine. You guys better have this dragon killed before I get back.”

Cross interjected, “I’m coming too. The door to the entrance is probably still sealed shut, so you’ll need my teleportation to get through.”

“Good thinking.” Sky nodded in affirmation.

He suddenly felt a pulling at his arm. He turned to see Siren, who shined with a look of approval, “Save Dylan if you can.”

He smiled at her, “Don’t worry, I will-”

But Sky was promptly cut short as Siren planted her lips against his in a loving kiss. It only lasted a second or two, but Sky felt his chest warm at her touch. Siren pulled away, staring at him with intense eyes, “That means you have to come back alive, too.”

Sky nodded, smiling warmly, “Got it.” He turned to Cross, “Let’s move!”

Siren and Cinn waved the two unicorns goodbye before readying their weapons to attack the dragon before them. Sky and Cross took off in the opposite direction, on their way towards the door that had led them into this whole mess.

From the start of their duel, Sombra had proven himself vastly superior over Dylan, to the extent of almost beating the little colt to a pulp. But at Dylan’s overcoming Sombra’s passive magic, which would drag any and all players in range down through the pits of despair the longer the fight drew out, the little colt was starting to show why exactly he was one of the strongest players in the game.

Dylan’s staff came down with a crack against Sombra’s leveled scythe, before recoiling his weapon and bringing the staff down hard against the dark king’s crown. Sombra scuttled back in pain, as well as annoyance. Without his magic weighing Dylan down, the little colt was jumping around the cavern like a monkey in a forest, very quick and very susceptible to getting on people’s nerves.

Dylan rushed towards Sombra again, staff ready to strike, but he didn’t get far as Sombra retaliated with magic alone. A single burst of black energy sent the earth pony skidding across the ground and towards the center of the cavern.

”Enough of this!” Sombra roared, his horn swirling with pulsing, evil magic, rearing up on his hind legs, before driving his fore hooves into the stone below him.

As soon as he did, the entire cavern began to violently quake, causing Dylan to stumble and lose his footing. Sombra’s eyes shone with blood red malice, before he cackled, “Let’s see how well you fare when the ground beneath you is taken out from under your hooves!”

Suddenly the ground underneath Dylan began to crack and split, making the colt’s eyes go wide in realization. However, before he could jump to safety, the whole floor of the cavern, save for where Sombra stood, crumbled and fell. Dylan was sent plummeting down into the depths of a giant chasm, strewn among the falling chunks and boulders of what remained of the cavern above.

The ground beneath Sky’s and Cross’ hooves shook violently, as if an earthquake were threatening to break the walkway they ran on. Despite the shaking, they didn’t dare stop.

“What in Celestia’s mane was that?” Cross asked.

Sky replied with, “Either it was that dragon, or whatever Dylan is fighting right now is one pain in the butt.”

Thankfully, that was when the door at the end of the walkway came into sight. Sky glanced towards Cross, “Ready to teleport?”

Cross’ horn lit with red aura in response, the bright red growing in contrast against his blue fur as they neared the door, “I got this. Just hold onto your lunch.”

The moment before they ran into the barrier, Sky’s vision flashed red as they suddenly appeared on the other side of it…

… only to find themselves suddenly falling amidst giant pillars of rock as they passed through the nonexistent floor of the now decimated cavern.

“What the buck!?” Cross screamed, flailing his legs as he tried to catch himself on anything.

Sky, being more accustomed to flight, didn’t panic right away. But as he looked up at the shrinking light of the cavern above, his eyes narrowed at what he saw.

There at the edge of the chasm’s gaping maw, looking down at them with an evil look of satisfaction, stood King Sombra himself.

In an instant, Sky realized why just Dylan was separated from the group. Just like Cross had been singled out, so had Dylan, because both of them were the important ones for each boss battle. That meant Dylan was the next Element of Harmony, and Sombra had tried to kill him early… but where was Dylan?

“Sky, down there!” Sky glanced towards Cross, who had regained his bearings enough to point out something below them.

Sky followed Cross’ hoof until his eyes caught what it was. Falling down beneath hundreds of pillars of rocks was Dylan, flailing with staff in hoof as he tried to stop his fall on anything.

Sky’s eyes widened, before shouting to Cross, “I have to fly down and catch him!”

Cross nodded, “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine on my own.” His horn lit brightly before he teleported once again, onto a convenient ledge jutting out from the wall of the chasm, well out of the way of danger.

Sky ignited his magic, shifting into his cloud form, and flew down to Dylan. He flew past all of the tumbling rocks and debris quickly and easily, to reach his little brother.

From his ledge, Cross watched Sky go, all the while he was beginning to see spots in his vision. His legs gave out from under him, but thankfully he didn’t fall from the safety of his ledge. He moaned to himself, “Ugh, too… much… teleporting…” before passing out for the remainder of the fight.

Dylan, despite the fact he was falling to his doom, instantly recognized the dark cloud of smoke that was hurling down towards him, “SKY?!”

If Sky could have replied, he would have. But right now he needed to save his little brother’s flank. He kept his position just above Dylan’s so he could carry out his plan to get them back up.

Sky fell back away from Dylan’s path of descent, before rocketing down towards him again, the extra speed bringing more momentum for Sky to use as he suddenly shifted back into his pony form.

“Dylan!” Sky called, reaching out a hoof.

As soon as Sky got close, Dylan reached out his own, before Sky caught it with his outstretched hoof. As soon as they made contact, Sky’s extra momentum sent the duo spinning through midair.

Sky smirked as he held onto his brother until the right moment, “Time to parkour!”

Dylan blinked once, glancing up at the falling rubble above them, before grinning as he realized what his brother had in mind.

Sky pulled Dylan’s arm tightly, making them spin even faster, before the elder brother finally let go at the right time. The perpetual motion from it sent Dylan skywards, up towards the giant rocks falling down towards him. The earth pony grinned as his hooves made contact with the closest rock, before he pushed himself up off of it. He jumped from rock to rock, leaping upwards through the air, sometimes vaulting over rubble with his staff. All the while, his parkour leaps sent him higher and higher, up towards the lip of the chasm where Sombra stood.

But to Dylan’s annoyance and Sombra’s smug satisfaction, the rocks Dylan were using to ascend were all but too low for him to jump from and reach the tyrant. But nonetheless, Dylan leaped for the ledge where Sombra stood.

Just at the height of his futile jump, Sky came racing up from the depths of the chasm in his cloud form, before reforming right where Dylan needed him to be, between him and Sombra.

“Sky!” Dylan shouted.

Sky nodded, “Again!”

Sky and Dylan grabbed hooves, before Sky once again spun and launched his little brother up, aiming right for the flabbergasted tyrant standing above.

Before Sombra could even react, Dylan swung his staff like a baseball bat, smacking Sombra across the head with a strike so powerful that it could’ve taken a normal person’s head clean off their shoulders. The tyrant was instantly thrown off of his hooves, before he found himself careening into the chasm he had created, all the while his victim landed on the very ledge he had been standing on before. The irony of position reversal was thick enough to cut through wood in a single swipe.

Sombra hissed in anger before his own body began to dissolve, until he was nothing but a shadow of his physical form, a smoke monster wearing the tyrant’s face. The dark king’s intangible form suddenly flew back up towards Dylan with a malice that could’ve halted any criminal in their tracks.

Dylan recovered in time to see Sombra speeding back up towards him, and he readied his staff to defend himself with.

But the tyrant never reached the colt as another cloud of smoke barreled into Sombra’s form, causing him to stop as both airborne beings writhed and wrestled against each other’s control of the airspace.

Leave him alone! Sky roared in agitation.

To the unicorn’s surprise, Sombra seemed to have heard his silent cry, as Sky then heard the tyrant’s voice in his own mind, You dare think you can stop me?! You are a fool to fight against me in this form, for I shall consume your body and take your power for my own!

If he had a mouth, Sky would have smirked, Not if I can help it!

With his cloudy form gasping onto Sombra’s in thin tendrils, Sky launched himself downwards, towards the pile of jagged rocks that had piled up at the bottom of the chasm. Sombra tried to pull away, but found he couldn’t free himself from the demon unicorn’s grasp.

Sky raced down towards the jagged rocks, before suddenly reforming his normal body. To Sombra’s shock, his own body reformed as well, leaving him falling to the depths, with Sky still having a firm grip on him with his own hooves.

Sky looked back at Sombra with very satisfied grin, “Let’s see how durable you really are, King Sombrero.” With a heave, Sky threw the unicorn down below him, before reforming into his cloud form before he could be skewered by the rocks below.

Sombra, on the other hoof, wasn’t as lucky. The tyrant let out a horrific scream of pain when he landed, as several jagged rocks stabbed into his body, three in particular stabbing up and out of his body in a foreleg, his midsection, and a hind leg. All three protrusions shimmered with red code around where they broke through the skin, and as Sombra tried to pull himself up and off of the rocks, the wounds would only widen and cause him more pain.

High above on the ledge where Dylan stood, he gazed down at the scene Sky had left of Sombra. Dylan partially wondered how a hit like that hadn’t killed Sombra, but then he remembered that only the receiver of the next element could kill the boss.

“I need to finish this.” Dylan muttered, but he was unsure how he was going to finish Sombra from this distance… until his eyes rested upon Sombra’s scythe, which lay on the ground next to him, partially hanging over the massive chasm.

Without a second thought, Dylan hefted the massive weapon up, before turning his sights towards Sombra at the bottom of the chasm. He lifted the scythe high into the air with a single hoof as he directed his aim.

His eyes narrowed, growling to himself, “This is for me and my friends.” He took a deep breath, before tensing up, ”TITAN ARM!”

The ability activated, sending a brute rush of strength through the arm holding the scythe, and with one swift downward motion, Dylan sent the weapon sailing down the chasm like a spinning razor blade, aiming straight for its target with unmatched speed and power.

By the time Sombra saw his weapon coming, it was too late. The scythe met its mark hard and true as it cleaved the tyrant’s head off of the rest of his body. Sombra’s decapitated head let out a single scream, before every part of him burst into blue code, leaving a single scythe poking out of the ground by its blade as blue lights danced about it until they dispersed from the dark chasm.

The deed was done, and instantly a window popped up in front of Dylan,

Congratulations!
You Have Defeated King Sombra!

Dylan blinked for a moment as the full battle from before finally registered in his mind. But no sooner did a wide grin split across his face, and he hoof pumped to the air in victory, “AWWW, YYYEEEEEAAAH! I DID IT!”

Another window appeared before him:

You’ve gained a last hit bonus:
-Mythril Staff

Dylan tapped the item’s name, and it appeared in his open hoof. It was a long staff made of dense, dark purple gemstone, encrusted with gold all along the shaft. Dylan put away his other staff to further inspect the new weapon.

Meanwhile, Sky flew up and landed on the perch of the ledge, reforming into his unicorn form. He smirked at his little brother, “Nice going, Dylan.”

Dylan grinned, “Yeah, that was awesome!” He and Sky gave each other a quick bro-hoof to seal the awesomeness.

Suddenly, out of the top of the cavern, a blinding light appeared, causing Dylan and Sky to shield their eyes with a hoof. The duo watched as the light descended downwards before coming at a stop in front of Dylan. Knowing already what it was, Dylan reached out a hoof and took what was making the light, only for the light to fade as his hoof took it.

But what he saw in his hoof was not what Dylan expected. It was an object about the size of his head, made of bright, blue gemstone. It was entirely crystal, even though its shape was quite odd; It was shaped like a heart.

Dylan’s eyes widened, “The Crystal Heart?!” He stared at the crystal relic in hoof, before quickly glancing about at what remained of the cavern, “But where’s the next element?”

Sky frowned for a moment, before taking another glance at the Crystal Heart, “Hm… I have a feeling the Crystal Heart might be the key to finding it.” He turned to Dylan, “Let’s grab everyone and head back to the empire. We might as well return the Heart to its rightful place and see if that does anything.”

“Right.”

To say that whole last battle was a doozy would be an understatement. First we had that run in with Carbon Copy, and then that choice between two doors, as well as seeing a creature we would have rather not seen, before getting locked out of the real boss room, having a gem-hungry dragon trying to gobble down our crystal hides, all the while Dylan fought Sombra off by himself until Sky reached him and together the two took him down and retrieved the Crystal Heart.

*Deep gasp as le me tries to catch his breath* Whew, that’s a mouthful, but at least that’s over and done with.

Now all of us had only one task left to do, return the Crystal Heart to its rightful place in the heart of the empire.

We all stood beneath the Crystal Palace, surrounding the center-point of the whole city. The whole group wasn’t crystalized anymore, ever since we exited the Ruby Falls. Looking around, I could see that everyone’s expressions ranged from exuberant that King Sombra had been defeated, to simply satisfied, despite not having been able to get a crack at the tyrant themselves.

Dylan stood out in the group as he held the crystal heart in his grasp, a wide grin on his face, which could have been from getting a new weapon from the fight, retrieving the Crystal Heart, or having defeated a boss almost all on his own, though my guess was leaning towards the latter of the three.

Stepping out towards the center of our circle, Sharky gestured for Dylan to come forward with the Heart, pointing to the exact center-point, “Alright, Dylan. Just put the heart there, and it will do the rest.”

Dylan nodded, trotting forwards to the spot. He held the Crystal Heart out to the air, and to his surprise, the relic levitated in midair, right where it needed to be.

With the Heart back in place, it began spinning rapidly, all the while two pillars, one from above and one from below, jutted out from the palace and ground respectively, acting as a sort of anchor for the relic. Faster and faster, the heart spun, becoming a blur or crystalline color.

“Hey, look!” Neon pointed a hoof out towards the rest of the city, “The crystal ponies are doing something!”

We all looked to see the inhabitants of the empire all had turned to face towards the direction of the palace, or more specifically, the Crystal Heart. In an almost robotic fashion, all of them slowly began to dip their heads down towards the ground, their crystal appearances glowing slightly. The streets of the empire followed suit, adding to the collective glow, until the energy given by the crystal ponies reached the Crystal Heart, where it all funneled into the crystal relic.

The Heart glowed brightly as it spun, almost to the point of blinding all who looked at it, until finally the energy from the Crystal Heart shot skywards through the Crystal Palace like a lightning rod until it pierced the sky.

The explosion of energy in the sky was dumbfounding, as a rainbow aurora burst through the air, lighting the entire sky with a dazzling color. The energy only spread outward like a shockwave, rippling through the empire and even beyond that. I had to blink a bit as the blinding light traveled through our group, but when I opened them again, I found that we were all crystalized again, though now without the prospect of getting eaten by a dragon.

That wasn’t a surprise though, but there was something else happening that caught the whole of our attention. Looking back out of the Empire, where the edge of the blizzard surrounding the empire stood, billowing relentlessly, we all watched in awe as the explosion of color forced its way through the storm, instantly dissipating it from existence. The snowy ground melted to reveal lush, green grass covering the natural hills of earth.

Swift was the first to give a cheer at that, “YES, oh, dear god, yes! We won’t have to trudge through that storm on the way home!”

But the cheering was cut short as one last thing happened. Suddenly, a blinding light appeared over our heads, before slowly descending towards the ground, stopping just in front of Dylan.

I smirked, “Is that what I think it is?”

“It better be.” Sky tersely replied, “Or I think I might just punch somebody in the face.”

Ignoring us, Dylan reached a hoof out and took the source of the light, and the bright light faded. It revealed a golden necklace, with a green jewel in its center, shaped like a figure doing a backflip in midair, just like Dylan’s cutie mark.

I blinked in surprise, Wait, the other elements we got all had white, plain jewels in their centers… Dylan’s is different, so does that mean…?

My question was answered as Dylan tapped the new element with a hoof, bringing up its ID:

Element of Passion (Active)
Type: Item

While everyone proceeded to congratulate Dylan on getting the new element, I was left a little surprised, It’s active already?! I gave a brief glance towards Dylan, Just what did he do during that fight against Sombra that would’ve made him eligible for the element to activate?

I was wrenched from my thoughts as somebody clapped a hoof on my shoulder. I turned to see Lexus smirking at me, “Well, that makes your job a bit easier, doesn’t it?”

I raised an eyebrow, “Huh?”

He rolled his eyes nonchalantly, “Oh, you know, the one where you’re going around to the other group members and trying to activate their elements!” Unfortunately, Lexus ended that last part a bit loudly, catching everyone else’s attention.

Wait, how did Lexus know about that? I glanced towards Sky, hoping for an answer. Unfortunately, Sky just gave a wide-eyed look at me, not sure how to react that Lexus had let the cat out of the bag.

The others glanced towards me, and in turn Lexus, with looks of confusion on their faces.

“What was that about activating the elements?” Violet asked.

Soul gave a scrutinizing look, “I didn’t know the elements could be activated up to now.” He frowned, “Though in hindsight, I guess it would make sense, what with my element having a ‘inactive’ tag on it.”

I chuckled sheepishly, “Um… hehe, about that…”

Neon stepped forwards, a look of curiosity on her face, though not a bit accusatory in the slightest, “Shadow? What’s Lexus talking about?”

I paused for a moment, glancing towards Sky, who didn’t appear like he felt like explaining. Sighing in annoyance, I turned back to the rest of the group, and proceeded to explain EVERYTHING.

I explained about how the elements of harmony needed to be active in order for us to use them against Discord, and how we weren’t all completely eligible to use them yet. I explained the personality files, and how the elements would activate under certain conditions of the player’s personality or actions. I finished by telling how I’d gone around to a few group members and trying to activate theirs, explaining how it was all under Jupiter’s orders to keep quiet about all of it.

By the time I was finished, the majority of them were wide eyed as they finally understood.

“So that’s why you confronted me about my loyalty…” Soul muttered, “I knew that couldn’t have been just ‘out-of-the-blue’ from you.”

Violet tapped his chin with a hoof, “Then that means, that talk you had with me down in the glacier…

Eclipse added in, “And that talk you had with me on the street…”

Cross interjected, “And that time you brought me back to my old self at the lake…”

“That was all to activate our elements?!”

I winced slightly, wondering if they were angry at me in some way for lying to them, “Um, yeah. But do remember that Jupiter wanted me and Sky to keep the whole thing secret, so the activation process might go faster.” I smiled sheepishly, “I do feel sorry for lying to you all, though. But,” I cast a bemused look towards Lexus, “You didn’t have go and tell everybody right now! You could have waited 'till I had finished the job for everyone.”

Lexus just laughed, more joking than condescending, “Well, what kind of Element of Honesty would I be if I knew about a lie and didn’t let it out?”

At that moment, a text box suddenly appeared in front of Lexus, cutting his laughter short. It read:

Achievement Get: Honesty
(Activate the Element of Honesty)

I blinked in surprise, before snorting in disbelief, “You’re kidding me, right? Exposing the secret job Jupiter gave me activated your element?”

Lexus just laughed, clapping a hoof on my shoulder again, “Hey, think of it as me making your job even easier.” He pulled up his Player Inventory and began leafing through it until he found the desired item. He tapped the icon, and the Element of Honesty appeared around his neck. The golden necklace hadn’t changed, save for the gem in the middle, which had turned a bright orange, shaped like a wing.

Lexus whistled in glee, “Well, what do you know about that?”

Neon joined in, putting her face in closer to see the necklace, “Ooh, it looks great on you, Lex!”

“Wait a second.” Violet interjected, “If Shadow helped activate our elements too…” He trailed off in thought as he brought up his inventory, before procuring his element as well.

It appeared around his neck, looking just like the others, save for the gemstone that now took the shape of a yellow mechanic gear. Violet looked down at it with a wide grin, “Well, yellow on yellow isn’t exactly preferable, but it still looks awesome!”

The rest of the element bearers soon caught on, and they began pulling out their elements too. Sky and I even pulled ours out just to join in, while Dylan clasped his around his neck too. Soon everyone could see the 9 current Elements of Harmony on their respective owners.

We had all seen Dylan’s, Lexus’, and Violet’s elements of Passion, Honesty, and Spirit, respectively. But as for everyone else’s, Soul’s Element of Loyalty sat shone proudly as a red playing card, Siren’s Element of Kindness was a bright pink rose, Cross’ Element of Laughter struck home as a light blue ‘X’, and Sky’s Element of Willpower, he wore coolly as a navy blue Pentagram.

But that left Eclipse’s Element of Generosity and my Element of Courage, which still remained inactive, nothing more than golden necklaces boasting large, white, circular gems, completely devoid of life.

Eclipse, a bit downtrodden by the fact his element hadn’t activated yet, frowned a bit in disappointment, “Wait, Shadow! You did talk to me before, so why isn’t my element active yet?”

I sighed as I looked at the alabaster unicorn, “I’m sorry, Eclipse, but despite the fact that I talked to you, it doesn’t look like the game has recognized you as truly generous yet.” I gave a bit of a reassuring smile, “But hey, at least you know now that you should look for any chance to convince the game otherwise.”

He didn’t look satisfied, but Eclipse at least accepted the advice with a nod.

“But wait, what about you, Shadow?” Sharky asked, “Didn’t Jupiter say how you’d get your element activated?”

I shook my head, feeling a bit glum that I hadn’t gotten around to activating mine… even if I knew how, that is. “No, he didn’t. He wasn’t sure how I’d be able to activate the others, but he said I’d need to figure out how to activate mine on my own.”

The former admin hummed a bit as he scratched his chin, “Hm… so we have seven active elements, as well as two inactive ones.” He chuckled a bit, “Nine down, one more to go.”

My eyes perked up as the reality of our situation finally caught up to me, “Whoa, wait.” I felt a grin crack my face open, “Can you believe it, guys? We only have one more Element left to find!”

Sky grinned, “Hm, never thought I’d see the day. Go figure.”

“I bet it’s going to be the Element of Swag!” Swift proclaimed.

Everyone rolled their eyes and groaned at him, Cross replying, “Sorry, buddy, but we already know what the next element is going to be.”

Sharky nodded, “Yes, the Element of Magic.”

“Wow…” Siren breathed at the thought, “We’re down to the last one.”

“But don’t forget,” Soul reminded everyone, “We have to fight freakin’ Nightmare Moon to get it.”

Dylan pumped a hoof boldly against his chest, “Phht, please, did you see how I took on Sombra by myself? Nightmare Moon won’t stand a chance against me, or all of us for that matter.”

Violet playfully elbowed the earth pony in the chest, “Hey, what have I said about getting cocky? Or should I remind you of a certain side quest we did back in Manehatten?”

While Violet and Dylan disputed, with the other two members of Team Calvary snickering under their breaths, Cinn figured it was his turn to speak, “Well, if we’ve got only one element left to get, then what are we standing around here for? Let’s head back!”

“Already on it.” Swift saluted, before zooming through the air at top speed, “Westfalia! Finally, I get to fly you again!”

Comet laughed at the pegasus’ antics, rather loudly, “Oh, what my affectionate partner would do for his airship…” She took to the air as well, turning back to the whole of the group, “You all better start walking, so Swift and I can pick you up halfway in Westfalia. That will be the quickest way home.”

“Ah, now this is the way to travel.” Neon sighed, looking over the bow of Westfalia as the wind gently tousled her mane.

Lexus was, of course, by her side, smiling at her, “Yep, I know. It’s too bad that you can’t fly on your own, because it’s a blast!”

Neon gave him a quick nuzzle, “I know.” As she did, her eyes caught onto the Element of Honesty Lexus wore still wore around his neck. She giggled a bit, “You’re still wearing it?”

Lexus glanced down, realizing she was talking about his element, before nodding, “Yeah. I think I might even keep wearing it all the time.”

Neon quirked an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t it draw more attention to you?”

Shrugging, Lexus chuckled a bit, “Maybe, but I don’t see why not. I mean, most of the Haters are locked up, and just about everyone already knows I’m the Element of Honesty from the newspapers.” He paused for a moment, “I guess I just want to wear it now because it seems a bit more official, what with it becoming activated.”

Neon smiled, giving the pegasus a quick peck on the cheek, “Fair enough.” She glanced back towards the deck of Westfallia, where most of the group could be seen lounging about. But to her mild surprise, what other element bearers she could see at the moment were still wearing their elements as well, even Shadow and Eclipse, despite their elements not being active yet.

Neon nudged her boyfriend, before nodding her head back towards the deck, “It looks like the others have the same idea too.”

Lexus just smirked, “Probably for the same reasons as me.” He turned his head back forwards, his eyes catching something, “Hey, there’s the unicorn mountains!”

He pointed a hoof out towards what he saw, a mountain range of pure green mountains. Almost everyone in the game knew these mountains, mostly because the city of Canterlot resided against one of the mountain slopes.

Lexus smiled, “Just need to round one more mountain and we’re finally home!”

But as Westfalia grew closer, Lexus couldn’t help but feel that something was off about the mountains. Inspecting the view closer, his enhanced sight helped him see something quite unnerving: Smoke rising up from behind the mountains, right where Canterlot should’ve been.

Where’s that smoke coming from? Lexus felt a pang of uneasiness, and a little fear, snap inside his chest. That couldn’t be coming from the city, could it?

He turned to Neon with a worried expression, “Something isn’t right here. There’s smoke coming up from the mountains!”

Neon’s smile vanished at his demeanor, “What do you mean?” She turned, before catching sight of the smoke ascending from above Canterlot’s location. Her eyes widened, “What’s going on?”

Lexus’ expression turned grim, “I’m going to scout it out. Warn the others, ‘cause I don’t think we’re getting the warm welcome home we were hoping for.”

Neon nodded and ran off, shouting to the rest of the group. Meanwhile, Lexus took off to the skies, flying as fast as possible for the peak Canterlot sat behind.

All the while his wings pumped to send him through the air, Lexus tried to figure out any possible reason for this odd sight, What’s going on? Did somepony set the forest on fire? No wait, nobody could do that. Game physics wouldn’t allow that… what is going on then?

As soon as Lexus passed over the peaks of the mountains, his eyes widened as the explanation for what was going on came in full force. Down below, he saw Canterlot, but the whole city was in chaos. Fires were coming up everywhere around the city. Screams and roars filled the air, along with the definite ring of metal clashing against metal, swords against swords.

Only stopping for a moment to take the whole scene in, Lexus turned around and flew back towards Westfalia as fast as he could, I’ve got to tell the others…

… Canterlot is under attack!