The Elements of Harmony and the Savior of Worlds

by RK_Striker_JK_5


Chapter Thirty-Five

Shadowbolts ran through the Everfree, compelled by Tirac to hunt and kill. Several of them gathered around Catrina, standing in an open area near where Mei Long had dropped her and Rep off. She held up a paw and blew on her claws. "You know, I'd tell you to leave an poor old lady alone, but you're little more than empty constructs, blind extensions of Tirac's will."
        
The Shadowbolts paced around her, snarling. A unicorn suddenly fired a bolt of magic at her, but she simply raised a paw and deflected it right back. “Hush, I'm talking!” she said, baring sharpened teeth. “Now, where was I? Ah, yes. I nearly had a hairball when old Spykoran told me Megan had returned. I never really got a chance to thank her for helping Rep and I. I was working up my courage, but this, I would almost thank Tirac for this!"
        
Catrina's yellow eyes narrowed as two more unicorns fired at her. "Ah, ah, ah!” she chided, deflecting their magic as effortlessly as before. “I may have lost a life or two, but I haven't lived this long without making sure my claws are sharp. I don't always land on my feet these days."
        
She tapped her staff against the dirt and bolts of lightning suddenly shot from the top, shooting out and wrapping around those surrounding her. The Shadowbolts jerked and danced as the lightning crawled along their limbs, dropping dead.
        
Catrina regarded their twitching and smoking bodies. "But with the tricks I've learned? I don't even have to jump anymore."
        
Rep suddenly charged through a gap in the trees, his form that of a bull. He trampled over a pair of earth ponies before tossing another unicorn into a tree. He snorted and pawed the ground. “You okay, Catrina?” he asked.
        
Catrina chuckled and waved her old friend off. “I'm fine, thank you.” Her expression darkened as she spotted movement in the bushes. “But while we have quality, Tirac has quantity. This will be a long fight indeed.”
        
Rep shrank down, changing back into his normal long-beaked humanoid form. He smacked his hands together. “Oh, lemme at them! Those Shadowbolts won't stand a chance!”
         
Catrina patted her oldest friend on the shoulder. “We must still be careful, though.” She pointed her staff at a copse of trees and shot a bolt of lightning at it, shattering several trunks and incinerating leaves. “Reveal yourself!”
        
The blob of Bushwoolies rolled from behind the burning wood. “Hey, oh no! It's Catrina! This is bad. No, it's not bad. Catrina's better, right? Right, she's better and she's on our side. She said she was sorry, right? Right!” It rolled up to Catrina and Rep. “You're better, right?”
        
Catrina bowed her head to the blob. “I try to be, Bushwoolies. No more witch weed for me.”
        
Rep looked the Bushwoolies over, noting dark-red stains on their armor, swords and shields. He let out a slow whistle and shook his head. “Man, living with the Princess Ponies sure toughened you up!”
        
Catrina's ears twitched. “More Shadowbolts are coming,” she said, her claws digging grooves in her staff. She tapped it on the ground as the shadows began moving. “I forgot that quantity has a quality all its own.” She looked to the others. “Ready?”
        
Rep transformed, this time into a rhino. The Bushwoolies rolled forward, crushing a wayward Shadowbolt in their wake. Catrina bared her fangs as the top of her staff glowed once more. “Ready.”


Megan inched her way down a spiral staircase, one Peacemaker holstered and the other gripped by two sweaty hands. “'Come to Ponyville,' they said. 'We'll laugh, play a few games,' they said.” She leaned against the stone wall and rolled her eyes. “I am getting way too old for this shit.”
        
Whinnying from below and the clip-clop of hooves from both directions brought her back into focus. She kept moving down the stairs, pausing as the sounds of hooves on stone grew louder. She raised her pistol, held her breath and waited for three Shadowbolts to emerge from around the bend in the stairwell.
        
Megan aimed and fired, shooting the Shadowbolt twice and kicking it in the muzzle. The Shadowbolt's body tumbled back, striking the other two and sending all three rolling down the stairs. The unmistakable sounds of breaking bones could be heard as they fell, landing in a lifeless heap farther down. Megan picked up her pace, sprinting down two steps at a time, staying ahead of the ones above her. She stopped at a landing and ran off down a hallway, four Shadowbolts behind her. She spotted an open door at the end of the hallway and sprinted for it, entering the room and slamming the door shut right behind her.
        
Megan spotted a thick beam of wood next to the door, then a pair of metal holders on the door itself. She knelt down and grabbed the beam. Her eyes crossed slightly and she grunted as she picked it up and awkwardly waved it about. Finally, she managed to place it against the door and lower it into the holders. She dropped to one knee, panting from more than just exhaustion.
        
The door suddenly shook, splinters and dirt falling from it. Megan glanced at it as it continued to shake on its hinges. She slowly stood up and looked around, quickly spotting a broken-down dresser against a wall. Megan walked over to it, testing her strength against its weight before pulling out the drawers. She began shuffling it over to the door, even as a board buckled and exploded from Shadowbolt kicks.
        
Megan pulled out her pistol and shot through the hole in the door, hitting one of the Shadowbolts. She then finished moving the dresser in front of the door and replaced the drawers. The dresser rocked slightly, but held firm in front of the door. For a moment Megan rested before doing a more thorough examination of the room she was trapped in. A large window with tattered drapes was opposite her and the door, and a suit of human-style armor with a sword and shield leaned up against the left wall. Megan walked over to the window. She leaned out, looking down and counting the windows between where she was and the ground below. “I'm on the third floor,” she said, rubbing her chin. She stepped back and looked around the room, her eyes quickly falling on the drapes.
        
Within a few minutes the drapes were down and Megan was twisting them up, tying them together. By now there were several chunks kicked or blasted out of the door. She paid it little mind as she dragged a heavy table over and tied one end of the drapes to a leg. She tugged on it before tossing the rest out the window, letting it fall until the end swung a few feet above the ground.
        
Megan reloaded her pistols and grabbed the shield, strapping it to her shoulder. She sucked in a breath. “They proved this worked on television,” she said to herself, checking her fingerless gloves before grabbing the rope. She checked to make sure there were no nearby pegasi before finally stepping out of the window. She clutched the drapes until her knuckles turned white as she slowly, slowly climbed down the side of the tower, easing her way down.
        
As she inched her way down the tower's side, the barricaded door finally burst open and the dresser fell over, breaking apart. Four Shadowbolts rushed in, two getting stuck in the door frame before extricating themselves. They fanned out, checking out each nook and cranny of the room before one of them wandered over to the window. The drape's shifting caught its attention. It stood up and looked out the window, spotting Megan as she continued shimmying down near a large stained-glass window. It pointed and whinnied, gaining the other's attention.
        
The Shadowbolt's noises gained Megan's attention as well. She looked up and groaned. “Oh, dammit!” She sped her descent as much as she dared, but the rope suddenly bounced and shook as the Shadowbolts above tugged on it. Megan hugged the rope and twisted her body around just as she slammed into the tower's stone walls beside the window, letting the shield take the brunt of the impact.
        
After the jostling died down, Megan quickly twisted the drapes around her left arm and wrapped her legs around it before pulling out a pistol. She raised it high and squinted. Next time I remember a flashlight, she thought before snapping off a quick shot. She let out a cry of triumph as one of the Shadowbolts slumped against the windowsill, staring down with blank eyes. She unwrapped her legs, bent them in and kicked off the wall. She brought her Peacemaker down and fired two shots at the window, shattering most of the glass.
        
Megan let out a wild shout as she curled up and twisted around so the shield entered the window first. She let go of the drapes and tumbled to the floor, rolling across the stone floor and glass. She came to a rest near the door, curled into the fetal position and laying on the shield. She looked up at the ceiling, blinking. After a minute she rolled to a sitting position and shook her head. “I am taking a long vacation after this,” she said as she got to her feet. She looked around, quickly spotting the door and heading for it, almost mechanically.
        
Megan walked down a short hallway to a stairwell, looking around and wondering where the Shadowbolts were. She crept downstairs once more, stopping at the edge of the first floor's ceiling and looking down into the rather wide-open room. Her eyes narrowed as she saw nobody there. She held a Peacemaker up, inching her way across the room and jumping at any sound or movement in the shadow. After ten minutes, she reached the door. “Way too easy, but I'll take it,” she said, shrugging.
        
She stepped out of the tower and froze as Shadowbolts converged from the ground and sky, surrounding her. Megan looked from side to side before finally pulling out her other Peacemaker and pulling back on the hammer. “You may capture me again, but I'll be damned if I make it easy for you!” she shouted before firing.


        
Twilight's breath hitched in her burning lungs as she and the others galloped full-tilt through the Everfree. Celestia and Mike led the way. Mike hunkered down close to Celestia's crest and fired his rifle at anything that moved, blowing apart Shadowbolts. Celestia's horn shot thin beams of light that sliced through the air and anything that approached. Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony trailed close behind, Fluttershy in the middle and her head down. Applejack and Rarity flanked her while Rainbow Dash flew above. Luna and Pinkie brought up the rear, making sure no Shadowbolts attacked from behind.
        
A pair of earth ponies charged in from the side, but Applejack slowed down, kicking one in the muzzle, and lassoing the other, sending it swinging into a tree. “Herd's sake! I know I'm not one to talk about stubbornness, but you think they'd get the hint?!”
        
Shadows streamed from Luna, enveloping more Shadowbolts. When the shadows retreated, the Shadowbolts were gone. “They have no mind or will other than what their creator gives them, Applejack. And the entirety of their being is focused on killing.”
        
Fluttershy's breath hitched in her throat. “Oh, h-how awful of him to do that!” Her eyes narrowed. “That big, horrible meanie!”
        
Rainbow Dash hovered low over her oldest friend. “Okay, she's angry,” she said, chuckling. She suddenly flew up as a pair of Shadowbolts swooped in from opposite directions, colliding and knocking each other senseless. “As Sensei Iron Butterfly said, 'turn your enemy's strengths into their weaknesses'.”
        
Rarity looked around. “Is it my imagination, or is the forest even darker than last time we were in it?”
        
Pinkie Pie bounced up alongside her. “Well, last time we also had the problem of Eternal Night, but unlike when we had a grumpy Princess Luna, this time we've got the Lord of Darkness Tirac himself!”
        
Twilight's head shot up. “Princess, Princess, Steven Magnet's river is coming up.”
        
Celestia's head bobbed up and down as she galloped. “I know, Twilight.” Her front hooves slammed into the ground, chains of lightning shooting from them and racing ahead. As they approached Steven's river, the chains hit the water's edge and crawled underwater. A large rock bridge suddenly emerged, parting the river and allowing everyone to cross.
        
Twilight looked back at the bridge as it fell back into the river. “Okay, nice.” They continued on, the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters coming into view. A shimmery force field covered it, but no Shadowbolts could be seen. Suddenly, Twilight gasped. “Princess, we're coming to-”
        
Celestia's wings flapped and a high wind kicked up. Everyone galloping was lifted up and carried across the chasm right before the castle. They all touched down, not even missing a step as they landed.
        
“-a gap.” Twilight blinked as she continued on. “And we're over it. Okay, then!”
        
Luna sped ahead and flanked Celestia. “Showoff,” she said, winking.
        
The group slowed down as they approached the force field covering the castle. Mike sat up in the saddle and looked around. “Okay, two questions spring to mind.”
        
Pinkie Pie raised a foreleg and waved it in the air. “Ooh, ooh! Are the questions, 'should Fancy Pants seek reelection?' and 'can a cake ever be made that's too delicious to eat?'”
        
Applejack blinked. “I think Mike's wonderin' where the Shadowbolts are and where Tirac's keeping Megan.” She looked up to him. “Right?”
        
Mike nodded vaguely in Applejack's direction. “Yeah. I mean it was a fight getting here, but now we're here and where is everyone? Where are the Shadowbolts or those big star bears?” He waved a hand in the air. “This force field can't be it!” He looked over the expansive castle ruins. “And anyone have any idea where Megan might be? This place is a lot bigger than I thought!”
        
Luna held a hoof to her chin in contemplation. “Tirac launched his attacks after we visited the old tower that was Queen Majesty's throne room And it was where I was freed from his influence by the Elements of Harmony.”
        
Celestia nodded. “That throne was designed specifically by Majesty to channel her spells and increase their power. It'd be the best spot in the castle for Tirac to try and take over Megan's body. As for the Ursa Majors?” Celestia half-closed her eyes and her horn glowed softly. “Ah, Spykoran and Rosedust have arrived. That would explain what happened to them.”
        
A sudden sharp crack echoed through the air. Fluttershy hopped into the air, legs kicking and wings flapping. “What was that?!” she cried out.
        
Mike's head turned in the direction of the sound and he straightened up in his saddle. “I'd say that was a bullet,” he said, his expression brightening. “In fact, I'd say that was a bullet fired by Megan!”
        
Luna's ears twitched. “This way!” She turned and galloped off, even as more shots were fired.
        
Within minutes they had circled around the perimeter of the shield to the back of the castle. They slowed down as they approached the tower, various chunks of masonry surrounding it and Shadowbolts, both alive and dead clustered near a pair of columns.
        
Applejack blinked. “What in tarnation happened to them?” she asked, motioning to the dead.
        
Megan suddenly popped from behind one of the columns, pistol in hand. She fired at the Shadowbolts, striking a pegasus and sending it plummeting to the ground. Two more earth ponies stumbled back, blood pouring from their chests. Megan let out a gasp and raised an arm. “Mike!” she shouted, waving at him.
        
Mike let out a slow whistle. “I'd say Megan happened to them, Applejack.” He waved at her. “Megan, we're here to help you in your escape and finish off Tirac!”
        
Megan fired off two more shots. “That's great, honey. How are Danielle and Michelle?”
        
“We got them to safety!” Applejack shouted. “They're all right!”
        
Celestia knelt down and glanced over her shoulder. “Mike, please dismount. Luna, could you please give me a hoof in opening up a hole?”
        
Mike nodded and slid off of the saddle. Luna stepped up to Celestia's side and both alicorns unfurled their wings. Their horns blazed and electricity crackled over their armor. They plunged their horns into the yellowish barrier and a hole slowly opened up, although strands of magic still shot across it.
        
The ground suddenly thumped, sending everyone but Celestia and Luna jumping into the air. “What the hay was that?!” Fluttershy asked, her wings folding over her head.
        
Celestia growled as sweat beaded on her forehead. “The last Ursa Major is approaching!” She suddenly gasped. “And Shadowbolts are also approaching from this side of the barrier. Twilight, can you teleport Megan out of there?”
        
Twilight's brow furrowed. Her horn lit up, but quickly died. “No... I can't!” she said, panting. “Even with the hole there's far too much interference. I'd end up scrambling her molecules like an omelet!”
        
Megan fired one more shot, then the pistol's hammer clicked. “Twilight, you and the other Elements get over here!” she shouted, pulling out her other pistol. “You need to stop Tirac!”
        
Mike's eyes widened. “What about you?!”
        
Megan glanced up and locked eyes with her husband. “I'll be fine! This is kind of like old times for me, anyway.”
        
Mike's eyes darted about. He walked up to Twilight and knelt down beside her. “Give this to her,” he said, holding out Megan's rifle.
        
Twilight nodded and gently floated it out of his grip. “Thanks, Mike.” She trotted up to the hole and, with a bit of hesitation, crossed through. “Come on, girls!” she said, waving a foreleg at them.
        
Fluttershy closed her eyes and ran forward through the hole, followed by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. As soon as they were across Celestia and Luna pulled back, letting the hole close. They all formed up around Twilight, who looked to Megan. Her horn glowed and the rifle vanished, reappearing next to Megan's head.
        
Megan gasped in surprise, but quickly grabbed the rifle. She looked at the designs carved into it. “What the hell?” She shrugged, stood up and fired, blasting several groups of Shadowbolts into ash. She lowered it, eyes wide and mouth agape. “What did Celestia do?”
        
Twilight swallowed. “Well, you see-”
        
“This is awesome!” Megan said, grinning. She strode from the column, continually firing at the Shadowbolts and quickly wiping them out. She leaned to her right as the Elements galloped over. “Mike, Celestia, Luna, what about you?”
        
The ground shook and several trees were suddenly flattened by an enormous paw. At the same time, over two-dozen Shadowbolts emerged, surrounding the alicorns and Mike.
        
Mike straightened up and unsheathed his sword. “We'll be okay, honey.” He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. “Now you go and show that bastard he picked the wrong person to mess with. Again.”
        
Megan returned the smile and blew him a kiss. “I love you,” she said. “Celestia, Luna, be careful.”
        
Mike nodded. “I love you, too,” he said while Celestia and Luna replied with a simple “We will, Megan” as they kept their eyes on the Ursa. Mike turned and held his gleaming weapon up high. “All right, who's first?”
        
Megan spun about and looked up at the tower she had just escaped from. She sucked in a breath before running to the entrance, Twilight and the others following inside.
        
Mike held his sword up and bolts of magic ran up and down its length, shooting out and striking the ground in front of the Shadowbolts. “This thing's got some kick to it,” he said. “Thanks, Celestia.”
        
The Ursa roared and the Shadowbolts growled, digging their hooves into the ground. Luna's eyes narrowed. “I suppose Princess Sparkle's recharge of your magic was only partial, and inside the Everfree it wouldn't matter anyway due its disruptive effects on magic?”
        
Celestia nodded. “Got it in one, sister.”
        
Luna suddenly grinned, baring her teeth. “Excellent! I always did love a challenge!” And with that, she and Celestia flew into the air at the Ursa, firing magic from their horns.  Mike ran at the Shadowbolts, sword swinging. And the battle was joined.