Sparks was amazed at how much the world had changed in the three years she stayed near the hive. She thought it couldn’t get any worse, but somehow, it had. The bones of ponies and other strange species lay strewn upon the layers of ash that covered the ground. The air reeked of burning, decayed things and almost seemed void of breathable oxygen. Trees had fossilized, caked in dust and debri that made them look like bony fingers reaching out of the ground. A chill ran through her spine at the scene she was taking in. She didn’t know whether to be glad at the small sign of her body showing life, or terrified. The only sounds hitting her ears, was the sound of the mini Gatling guns tapping against her armor. She looked behind her. 4000 members of the rebellion slowly walked behind her. This was her brigade of fighters, her warriors that would follow her commands without hesitation. She had been training to be a leader since they joined the hive, but she never thought that her time to step up would come so quickly. She took a few calming breaths, then looked up at the darkened sky. Dash was supposed to be stopping by to check on her and the rest of the Apprentices, even though all of the Fallen and the Apprentices were wearing communication headsets. She figured that Dash just wanted to have some face-to-face time with each of them. As if on cue, the Pegasus landed beside her. She looked over at Sparks,
“How are you feeling, kid?”
“I’m okay, I guess. I just wish I had something to distract me right now.”
Dash looked away with a thoughtful look on her face, “You know, when I was just a little filly, I had one dream; to be a Wonderbolt. So I raced, and flew, and raced some more. I didn’t really care if I made friends or not. I just figured I’d make plenty of them when I became a Wonderbolt.” She smiled, “But then, ‘Shy came along.”
“With all due respect, she seems a bit…’shy’. No pun intended. I’m sure you didn’t see yourself being friends with her.”
The Wonderbolt let out a raspy chuckle, “Yeah…I know. I honestly didn’t. She was getting picked on by a couple of our classmates. I stood up to them, and in my race to defend her, I earned my cutie mark.”
Sparks grinned, “That’s pretty cool, Miss Rainbow Dash.” She grinned even harder, “Master Rarity told me you’re the reason that The Fallen got their cutie marks as well.”
Dash’s smile shrunk a little, “I guess…I mean, that’s what Egghead said, but I can’t take all the credit. Those girls are amazing all on their own, and I don’t think that I’m the reason that they’re that way.”
“Well…whether you’re the reason or not, you’re still absolutely awesome, Miss Rainbow Dash.”
Her smile returned full force, “Well thank you, Sparks. You’re pretty cool yourself.” She unfurled her wings, “I’m gonna go check on the others. Make sure they’re doing alright.” She flapped her wings, and hovered beside her for a moment, “Catch you later, kid!!”
There was a small wave of power that surged from her as she shot into the sky. Sparks’ armor rattled against her body, along with the soldiers behind her. She was glad she’d done crazy sparring in this armor.
-Flashback-
“This is the Multi-Kill Mesh Armor, also known as, the MK-MA!” Dash declared. “It’s a breathable form fitting mesh suit that allows interlocking titanium-alloy plates to be attached to it. Each place is also coated with pressurized diamond dust.”
“Perfectly good diamonds WASTED!!” Rarity screamed out. Dash rolled her eyes and carried on,
“Anyway, this shit is impenetrable to anything Spike throws at us.” She scratched the back of her head, “At least…it should be able to…”
“It should?” Twilight repeated. “What if it doesn’t?”
“Then we’ll all probably die.”
“Then what in tarnation is the point ta us wearin’ it?” Applejack questioned angrily.
“Because it’s better than running into a fight with no protection at all.” Dash replied bluntly. “And you seem to forget that I’m the best mechanic in the whole damn militia. On top of that, I have a great team of fellow mechanics that help me out. So, how about you have a little faith in me, shut up, and let me finish?”
Applejack snorted angrily, but said nothing. Dash cleared her throat and continued.
“Now, there’s two things that you have to know about the suit. First off, despite it’s sleek look, it’s actually heavy as fuck. The reason being, is because the amount of pressurized diamond dust that coats the armor. We put a lot on so that there won’t be any weak spots on it.”
“Well how much does it weigh?” Fluttershy asked.
“300 pounds.”
Pinkie was the only one in the group to not cringe. Twilight was the first to speak up,
“Rainbow…that’s a lot of weight, considering the fact it doesn’t even have any weapons mounted to it yet.”
Applejack sized up the suit, “That’s a good amount of weight, even fer me.”
“Annnnd that’s where I come in!!” Pinkie stated excitedly, as she bounced over to the suit. She grabbed the helmet and brought it over to them. She flipped it, so that the others could see the inside of it.
“See that teeny little pin, right there?” Pinkie asked as she pointed at it. “It’s connected to a series of signaling interface inside the helmet. This needle syncs up with your brain and shoots little pulses into it, making it send signals to the adrenal glands in our kidneys, and forcing them to pour adrenaline into the body at a slow but steady flow. It’s enough to let us carry more than it’s average amount of weight, without burning them out before they even get into a fight. The only thing to not like about this thing, is that when you put it on, this needles extends at an incredibly fast rate, lodging itself into your skull!!”
Dee got a pained look on her face, “With all due respect, Miss Pinkie, that sounds very painful, and somepony would feel that every time they put one of the helmets on. And what happens if it misfires and shoots in too far?"
Pinkie tapped her chin thoughtfully, “Maybe I shouldn’t have worded it like that.” She looked at at the helmet in her hooves, “But don't worry, Dashie and I calibrated the needle until, and tested it out on myself first before mass producing them. The perfect calibration has been set, and perfected. Besides, I didn’t want anypony dying because of an overlooked mistake on my part.”
Applejack took a step forward, “An’ yer always on me about takin’ risks! Dammit Pinkie, how could ya go about an' do somethin' like that that an’ not tell me?!”
Pinkie gave her wife an apologetic look, “I’m sorry, Jackie. I should’ve told you what I was doing…” she walked over and put the helmet back in it’s respective spot. “At least…I did my job, and the helmet works perfectly. The only thing you’ll feel when putting the helmet on, is a small prick to the forehead.”
Patch walked up to it to get a closer look at it, “Ah think Master Rainbow Dash an’ Miss Pinkie Pie did a fine job with this armor. Ah’d be mighty proud tah be wearin’ one in battle.”
Dash grinned and patted his back, “You keep this up and you might get the first of it’s future upgrades!!”
'With all due respect…I hope we don’t need upgrades.' Skye spoke out. They all focused on her,
“What makes you say that?” Fluttershy questioned.
'Because hopefully…this will be the last war we’ll ever have to fight in…'
-End Flashback-
“Brigadier General Spark.”
Sparks’ ears perked up as she heard her name being called out. She turned to see an Earth Pony Commander walking beside her.
“Yes? What is it?”
“We’re approaching out first destination, Ma’am. What would you have us do?”
“Deploy Battalions 10-16 here. They’ll become the center flank. I want the 5th Aerial Squadron up ahead, and have it split up into two parts. They’ll need to keep an eye out for Brigadier General Work and Brigadier General Moon’s brigades.”
“Yes ma’am.” The commander turned away and went to pass on the word. Sparks’ earpiece crackled as Fluttershy spoke to her,
“Sparks…you and I are going to go first. Are you ready?”
“Yes, Miss Fluttershy.”
Sparks tilted her head. All of her soldiers that weren’t staying in the area followed her. She continued forward, and looked to her left. She could make out a few silhouettes of ponies flying. For about half an hour, there was nothing. No sounds of war. Nothing but the sounds of their armor clanking and the beating of wings in the air. And then;
There was an explosion of sounds.
“Pinks, you got hordes on your left!!” Rainbow's warning reached all of their head sets.
Sparks flinched as gunfire rang out to her left. She felt a prick right above her horn, and her eyes went wide. She suddenly felt wave after wave of electricity coursing through her veins. She heard the screech of monsters on her right. A Hellion leapt in front of her and fired a pistol with a long barrel. Rounds ricocheted off of her armor as she turned and aimed her Gatling guns on the enemy. She fired rounds that pierced it’s already rotting flesh with ease. She spun around and faced her brigade group,
“BREAK INTO BATTALIONS, AND TAKE OUT THE ENEMY!!!”
The entire brigade group let out a war cry, as they split into massive groups and let loose on the Hellions. She charged into the fray, signal after signal blared into her head piece.
“Dash, there’s a horde of flying Hellions above your squadron!!”
“Ah’ve got hordes on mah flank an’ on mah right!!”
“Fluttershy, I need back up immediately!!!”
Sparks charged on, her mini Gatling guns automatically aiming in on Hellions that came within firing range. The sound of rounds bouncing off of her armor echoed in her ears. A Hellion landed in her field of view. She tackled it to the ground and stomped it’s skull in, before continuing on with her gallop. Voices continued screaming into her earpiece.
“Duuuuuude, there’s so many of these things!!”
“Yer tellin’ me! These vermin are all over the place!”
“MASTER FLUTTERSHY, LOOK OUT!!!”
In the distance, a dark blue mushroom cloud rose from the ground. Sparks skidded to a halt and looked at it. She tapped the button to activate her mouthpiece,
“Miss Fluttershy?!”
There was no reply in the earpiece.
“Somepony, get me a location for her, NOW!!” Twilight commanded. A mare answered her through the headpiece,
“It looks like she’s about 300 yards away from me, First Fallen!!”
“What is your location point, Commander?!”
“93 degrees latitude, and 124 degrees longitude, First Fallen!!”
“I want Bright Spark and Rarity over there, stat!!”
“I’m already heading there, darling!!”
“Yes, Miss Twilight!!”
Sparks turned and galloped in the direction of the cloud as quickly as she could. She saw a rainbow shoot across the blackened sky over her head and heading towards the cloud. She focused magic in to her horn, doing quick teleportation jumps in between her sprints. She came up to the scene of Fluttershy standing tall, soaked in blood and peppered with the ashes of the world. Her fangs were bared and her eyes were tinged crimson. Dee landed beside her mentor, splattered with the lifeblood of her fallen comrades and enemies. Across from them, stood Eternal Slumber. Her ebony eyes were shimmering from the various explosions across the battlefield. She pulled her lips back into a crooked smile, fangs spotted with blood,
“You barely managed to dodge that. No matter, I managed to take out some of your pathetic little pawns. It looks like we’ll be adding more soldiers to serve our mighty God-King.”
Fluttershy snorted, a light blood mist spouting from her nostrils. She took a couple slow steps towards the Alicorn. Eternal raised a brow, wondering what the Pegasus-now-turned-vampony was doing. Before she could blink, Fluttershy was but an inch away from her face. She let out something between a hiss and a shriek. Eternal’s ears folded against her head to block out the sound. Black blood oozed from her ears and nostrils. She fell to her knees from the sound. Fluttershy raised her forelegs up, before bringing them down on Eternal’s skull. Her head slammed into the ground, and her skull caved in under the pressure. Fluttershy removed her hooves from the skull with a soft, squishing sound, and she landed delicately back on the earth. She turned to Dee and Sparks,
“I’m fine here. Go ahead and-”
Her ear twitched, and her wings snapped open. She rocketed into the sky as a beam of black magic smashed the ground where she was just standing. It rippled through the surface, and caused the ground to become unstable. Sparks leapt to the side to avoid it, but the failing stability of the earth was starting to spread faster than she could avoid it. She felt hooves latch onto her as the ground crumbled under her hooves. She looked up to see Dash had grabbed her.
“Thank you, Miss Rainbow Dash!”
“No problem!” she landed somewhere where it was safe, and set the Unicorn down. She landed beside her and looked at the source of the attack. Sparks couldn’t help but get unsettled as she saw the shocked look on the old Wonderbolt’s face.
“No, fucking way!!!” Dash snorted angrily. Fluttershy and Dee landed on each side of them. The butter yellow Vampony also had a look of shock upon her face.
“My my, Eternal. It seems that they’ve gotten stronger. Or perhaps, you’ve gotten weaker.” A deep, throaty voice teased.
Even though Eternal’s skull was repairing itself, the part of her brain that controlled speech had yet to heal. She sputtered and made strange moans and groans in a futile attempt to speak. She slowly rose to her hooves and looked over at the pony speaking to her. Fluttershy arched a brow,
“Well, if it isn’t the Old Tyrant of the Crystal Empire…”
Dash stomped her hooves excitedly, “Oh my Gods, I can’t wait to put your ass back into the dirt! I’m surprised Spike decided to bring you back from the dead in the first place!!”
Sombra smiled, his fangs bared as well, “Because unlike Trixie and Eternal Slumber, I have ALWAYS been a master of the dark arts. That, and I’ve always been evil. Neither one of these silly mares can match me hoof to hoof when it comes to my vileness.”
“I head hurts...Fast than use to be…” Eternal slowly stated. Speech had returned to her mind, but she wasn’t able to put them into completely comprehensible sentences yet. Sombra shook his head and rose a hoof,
“Please, shut up. I’ll take care of them myself.”
His horn started to ooze with violet and lime green magic, and strands of violet magic lined his eyes. His fangs appeared to grow as his smile seemed to turn more dastardly with each passing second. The ground started to tremble beneath their hooves,
“You’re about to learn a lesson, my little fillies!” he cackled out. “You’re going to learn just who the most powerful fighter is!!”
Sparks’ horn whined with powerful magic, begging to be unleashed on this new (to her, at least) enemy that stood before them,
“And you’re going to learn that there’s always somepony that’s going to be stronger than you!! And that’s-”
“MEEEE!!!!!!”
The southern war cry that followed after was surprising to say that least. The group had a collective shocked look on it’s face, before a certain, country loving farm pony slammed into the ground in front of him. She stared into his vile eyes, without a trace of fear in her own.
“IT’S BUCKIN’ SEASON!!”
She spun around and quickly coiled her hind legs up like muscular springs. He fired off a bolt of black magic as quickly as he could. Applejack was undeterred though, and let loose those bucking legs that had made her famous all those years ago. Her hooves hit his chin with a sickening *THWACK!!*, and Dash couldn’t help but stomp her hooves with an energy that matched that of a filly cheerleader.
“Alright, Applejack!!”
Applejack leapt forward, as Sombra stumbled a bit. He shook his head, while Eternal belted out a laugh.
“I’m so glad I healed quickly enough for my mind to process that, because that was FANTASTIC!!” the Alicorn shouted between laughs. Sombra looked up at Applejack with bubbling hate, as he cracked his jaw back into place.
“That was…painful.” The smoky grey Unicorn admitted. He cracked his neck and stared at her, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take my turn.”
His horn instantly flared up again, and he fired off at the group. He blasted Dash, making her slam into her wife.
“Master Fluttershy!! Miss Rainbow Dash!!” Dee bolted over to them. She nuzzled their faces. Dash patted her cheek,
“I’m fine, kid. Just…just give us a sec. Go check on the others…”
Dee jumped up and searched for Sparks and Applejack. The young Unicorn had shielded Applejack with a magic spell.
“Are you okay, Miss Applejack?”
“Ah’m fine.” The Earth Pony replied. “Looks like ya returned the favor of the day we saved yer hide.”
Sparks smiled, “It looks like I did…”
Their friendly conversation was cut short by another blast of hot magic shooting Sparks on the side of her armor. It jarred her bones, and she rattled from the shock of it. Sombra stomped the ground, and dark violet crystals shot out of the earth. One of the crystal pillars managed to rip off one of the plates of Dash’s armor.
“Dammit, dude! You fucked up my armor!!”
Eternal spread her wings, “I think I see the white one in the distance. You said you could handle them, correct?”
“I’ll do a better job than you ever could.”
Eternal rolled her eyes and took to the skies. Sombra’s smile had disappeared,
“Your souls will soon belong to our God-King…”
He stomped a hoof again. Rows upon rows of dark crystals shot out of the dirt. The Pegasus and the two Vamponies swiftly dodged the spires of crystals that were aimed at them, while Applejack and Sparks danced around to avoid the ones aimed for them.
“STOP MOVING AND ACCEPT YOUR FATE!!” Sombra screamed.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Sombra. But, we can’t do that.”
He couldn’t help but flinch as he felt something breathing on the back of his neck. He turned to see Fluttershy was hovering right above him. Magic whirled through his horn, but not quickly enough to avoid being bitten by Fluttershy. She latched down onto his neck, and all movement from him stopped. The others stopped moving and looked on at the scene.
“Why…why did we all stop?” Sparks asked the Earth Pony beside her. Applejack took her hat off,
“Welp…ain’t nothin’ we can do tah stop her now…”
Dee and Dash landed beside her. Dash took a couple steps forward before looking at Dee,
“Are you sure nothing bad is gonna come from this?”
Dee nodded, “Yes, Miss Rainbow Dash. Master Fluttershy has been training very hard to keep her powers in check. This situation will turn out no different than her training.
“WHY CAN’T I MOVE?!?!?!” Sombra shouted in confusion. Dee smirked at him,
“What you’re experiencing right now is known as the 'Shock Bite’. The toxins being secreted from her fangs now will course through your body, paralyzing you and melting your organs at a painfully slow pace. Eventually, your body won’t be able to handle it, and will go into shock.”
“Of course, since yer dead an’ all, that just means that yer gonna be sufferin’ a lot longer than yer supposed ta.” Applejack added. “So…have fun with that!!”
Fluttershy pulled her fangs out, the hook of them pulling a bit of his flesh off. She rubbed her lips with her foreleg and smirked at him,
“Your blood tasted delicious. Now...you can think about my sweet little compliment before you die…again.”
She flitted back over to her friends, leaving him to lock his legs out and topple onto his side. They all high-hoofed each other as Rarity called into their headpieces,
“Does anypony have a status update?”
Applejack pushed her mouthpiece button, “Ah got Dash, ‘Shy, Dee, an’ Sparks right by me. We took care of Sombra.”
“Spike brought back Sombra too?” Rarity questioned.
“Not only that, he brought back my grandmother as well!!” Locust stated in a strained tone. “She’s trying to turn my Changelings against us!!”
All of their head pieces crackled before Pinkie shrieked into them.
“I’m fighting Trixie now, and I need back up!!!”
There was yet another mushroom cloud made of magic not too far off in the distance. Applejack didn’t respond, but simply broke out into a fierce gallop towards the cloud, in hopes of that being where Pinkie was. Dash, Dee, and Fluttershy took to the sky, and headed in that direction. Spark's horn flashed brightly as she sprinted/teleported behind them. It wasn’t long before they had joined Pinkie and Rarity, who were facing off against Trixie and Eternal, who had joined the Unicorn in battle. Patchwork galloped up to the group,
“Ah came as quickly as Ah could!!” he looked over at Trixie and Eternal, “Ah’m assumin’ we’re gonna take ‘em out.”
Rarity took a couple steps forward, “We have to finish them off for good this time…”
Trixie snorted and let a snarky grin plaster itself to her face, “You really think you fools are going to be able to defeat the Great and Powerful Trixie?!”
“They’ve gotten a lot more powerful than when we fought them three years ago….” Eternal warned in a whisper. “The yellow one managed to actually deal a heavy blow on me…”
Trixie arched a brow, “Oh really?” she looked back her smile darkened, “Very well then…it seems like Trixie won’t be able to play around like Trixie did the last time we got to.” She licked her lips, “Even so, Trixie had so much fun getting 'in touch' with Rainbow Dash like Trixie did…”
Dash cringed, while Fluttershy let out a fierce snarl. Rarity and Patch got in front of them,
“Yer gonna have ta deal with Miss Rarity an’ mahself, so just back off!!” Patch demanded.
“We’ll do whatever we please, cyborg.” Eternal stated.
Sparks stepped forward and shook her head, “Oh no you won’t. This has gone on far enough.”
Her eyes started to glow as pawed at the ground. Trixie, smirked and stepped forward to face her challenger. Her eyes glowed white, and her horn got a baby blue hue to it. The magic formed to make it longer, then solidified.
“I don’t think I caught your name the last time we fought. What was it again?”
“I am Bright Spark, Apprentice and one of the Head Commanders of the Rebellion.”
“Good, good…It’s nice to know the name of the mare I’m about to kill.” Her horn crackled to life, “And no, I won’t be giving you any last words…”
Sparks let a small, calm smile work it’s way onto her face, “That's fine...I won’t be needing them anyway.”
Trixie’s smile vanished at the statement, and she charged. Sparks barely dodged it, as she felt Trixie's horn tear off the Gatling gun, and rip some of the armor’s plates with it. Before she could detach the other shoulder plated machine gun, the Alicorn was towering over her, horn lit ablaze with magic. Her eyes lit up with terror in them. Just as Eternal was about to fire off the magic, Pinkie head butted her. She rolled and tumbled in the dirt. Trixie turned and fired off some magic, searing the side of Pinkie’s face, and exposing the muscle.
“Pinkamena!!!” Applejack shouted, as she immediately dashed to her side. Steam rose off from the wound.
“I’ll be fine…” Pinkie stated, her teeth clacking loudly now that they were exposed to the open air. “Just…we need to split up. We don’t all need to be here.”
“No way, we’re not leaving! You’re hurt!” Applejack shouted.
“Pinks is right, AJ.” Dash agreed. “There’s too many of us here, and we’ve still got hordes left and right.”
“Well, I’m staying here.” Rarity stated. “I’m not going to leave my Apprentice. Dash, if it’s okay with you, I think that Patch should stay here as well. We’re going to need all the Unicorn magic we can get.”
Dash nodded, “You heard the lady, Patch.” She looked over at Dee, Fluttershy, and Applejack, “Let’s get out of here. They’ve got this.”
Fluttershy and Dee nodded, shooting off in different directions to help clear out some of the Hellion hordes. Applejack looked back at her wife, before reluctantly galloping off away from the. Patch was already firing his gatling guns and magic at Trixie. She teleported as quickly as she could around the battlefield, but Patch still managed to put a few rounds into her body.
“That’s not fair! You’re not supposed to have your little friends jump into the middle of our fight!!”
Sparks snorted angrily, “You’re one to talk!!” She charged at Trixie, only to feel a hoof crack into the side of her face. In her blurred vision, she saw Eternal towering over her again. She smiled and leaned down a bit,
“I never said that I played fair.”
Sparks cried out as Eternal jammed her horn into her shoulder. She ripped it out, taking some of the Unicorn’s flesh with her, and causing her scream to reach a new pitch. Eternal let out a cackle, but it was quickly cut short as her head was caught in a beam of burning, light blue magic. She flailed in pain and confusion, and was tackled by Rarity, who had also managed to spear her in her side. The white mare looked down at her Apprentice with worry etched onto her face,
“Sparks, are you okay, darling?”
Sparks was in complete shock. She could actually feel her pain. Her body was still was trying to figure out what had happened to it, as the throbbing in her shoulders started to course down through her foreleg.
“It hurts…” Sparks let out a tiny giggle, “I…I can feel it.”
Rarity tilted her head in confusion as Pinkie bounded up to them,
“Lemme see that wound.” Pinkie ordered, as she reached into her thigh pouch and pulled out a tiny vial with light blue liquid in it. The Earth Pony popped the top and let a few drops fall into the gash. It hissed and fizzled angrily. Sparks started to giggle maniacally as she felt the pain in her shoulder get worse, then start to subside.
“I can…feel…that….”
Rarity caressed her cheek, “Darling…are you alright?”
The turquoise Unicorn sprang to her hooves, a new pep in her step,
“I CAN FEEL THAT!!!”
Bits of gravel started to tremble, as the grin on Sparks’ face stretched to proportions that would even put Pinkie’s smile to shame. She let out a burst of giggles, shutting her eyes and clacking her hooves together.
“I’M…ALIVE!!!!!”
When she opened her eyes, lavender magic poured from her right eye. Her left eye glowed with a strange orangish brown hue. Rarity and Pinkie backed away from her.
“Bright Spark…” Rarity uttered out, in hopes of getting some response from the younger mare, though none came. Sparks teleported herself in front of Eternal, causing a pulse of magic to burn the air around where she once stood. Eternal already had no eyelids to open or close, but that didn’t stop her grotesque face from forming a look of surprise. Sparks grinned at her,
“Thank you, for making me feel so alive…”
With that, she fired off a powerful burst of magic. It engulfed the Alicorn, causing her to shriek out in agonizing pain. All of the ponies around them looked on in shock at the ferocity of the mare. Eternal fell to the ground, and Sparks was quickly on top of her, stomping into her midsection until she ground the bones and organs into mush matter and dust. Eternal’s screams turned into gurgled whimpers. Rarity and Pinkie didn’t know what to do. True, Eternal was the enemy, but this…this almost seemed too much. Before the two Fallen could do anything, Trixie had intervened. She tackled Sparks into the dirt, and began to pound away at her face. Sparks didn’t cry out however, but simply giggled as her head was snapped to the left and right. Rarity started to leap forward, but Pinkie outstretched a foreleg in front of her,
“Don’t…” Pinkie gently ordered. “I’ve seen this in my studies with Twilight…she’s having a complete sensory overload from the fact that she is now able to feel pain.”
Rarity looked over at her, “But shouldn’t we intervene?”
“Under normal circumstances, yes. But…this is not one of those cases. Sparks seems to have a raw reserve of magic that has now been unleashed. Remember when Twilight told us how she got her cutie mark, and all of that stuff happened? Well, it looks like the same thing is happening here. She probably can’t control her magic, and we don’t wanna be near her when something happens.” Her body suddenly started to convulse and her tail twitched violently. She immediately started backing up,
“We need to get further back than this…”
Rarity had been friends with the mare long enough to understand to listen to Pinkie. Patch saw the convulsions from where he was standing, and having heard stories about the Pinkie Sense, he knew to get as far back as he could.
“I…can…feel…each…punch!!!” Sparks cackled out between the blows, angering Trixie even more.
“If you can feel them, why do you keep laughing at the Great and Powerful Trixie?!?!”
Sparks didn’t answer her. Instead, she upper hoofed the mare, sending her into the air and making her land on her back. Sparks rose to her hooves, a smile still on her face. She smacked the side of her head. Hard. The helmet shattered into pieces.
“I thought Dash said that the armor is supposed to be impenetrable!” Rarity stated in shock.
“This is what I was talking about…” Pinkie replied. “She’s too strong for us to reach out to…”
Sparks’ horn glowed, and she shed the armor off as well. She looked at Trixie,
“Now…there’s nothing protecting me. Nothing that’s stopping you from hurting me.”
Trixie sat up and rubbed her head. She looked up to see Sparks slowing trotting towards her. She scooted back a little, instincts deep within her warning her about the threat in front of her.
“Nothing is in between us. So come on, oh Great and Powerful Trixie.” Her smile reached to her ears,
“MAKE.ME.FEEL.ALIVE.”
Trixie cried out as Sparks gripped her by her shoulders, “COME ON, TRIXIE!!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! YOU TOO AFRAID TO FIGHT ME ALL OF THE SUDDEN?! LOOKS LIKE I’LL HAVE TO BRING THE 'GREAT AND POWERFUL' OUT OF YOU MYSELF!!!!”
Sparks proceeded to rapidly punch Trixie in the face. She was landing punches faster than the evil in Trixie’s body could heal them. Pinkie, Rarity, and Patch only looked on in horror, as they watched Sparks beat her into unconsciousness. Rarity glanced over at Eternal’s beaten form. She was still sprawled out and on her side. Her midsection was almost flat, ground into practically nothing thanks to Sparks’ hooves. She looked back up at Sparks,
“This is not how I’m going to allow my Apprentice to act.”
She broke into a quick gallop before Pinkie or Patch could stop her. She grabbed Sparks’ shoulder,
“That’s enough, Bright Spark!! We're here to defeat them, not torture them!!”
Sparks turned to look at her mentor, eyes burning angrily with wisps of magic in them, and her lips pulled back to expose teeth in a twisted, yet angry grin. Rarity was taken aback. She had never seen her like this. For a moment...
She was afraid of the younger Unicorn.
Sparks suddenly blinked a few times, and her angry expression turned to one of confusion,
“M-master Rarity?” she looked down at Trixie, who had actually passed out from the pain that had been inflicted on her. She gasped and let go of her, letting her collapse to the ground. She backed up and looked around at Pinkie, Patch, and the destroyed Eternal.
“Did…did I do this??”
Rarity had a somber look on her face, and slowly nodded her head, “I’m afraid so dear…”
Sparks was about to ask what happened, until they saw a violet and crimson streak race across the sky. It slammed into the ground, the dust on the horizon kicking up in a large cloud. Power rippled through the air in waves that managed to reach even Sparks and the others. For a few moments, the world was utterly silent. There was static in the head pieces for a few seconds.
“I want the other Mane Six here immediately.” Twilight ordered in an eerily calm voice. "And Bright Spark as well." Pinkie tapped her mouthpiece button,
“Okay, Twilight, but…where exactly is ‘here’?”
There was a burst of lavender magic that shot into the sky for them to see. It exploded, then fizzled into nothing.
“Got it. Now quick question; why only Bright Spark? What about the other Apprentices?”
“Since the beginning of the attack, Spike’s army has been divided into more manageable groups. Have the other Apprentices spread out and help the other commanders finish them off.”
“Gotcha…” she disengaged the mouthpiece and looked over at the others,
“You all heard her.” Pinkie waved a hoof at Patch, “Go and uh….kill stuff.”
Patch smirked as his horn lit up, “With pleasure, Miss Pinkie.”
With that, he vanished. Pinkie looked over at Rarity and Sparks,
“So, which one of you is going to teleport me over there?”
Sparks scooted up to the pink pony, “It’d be my honor.”
Her horn sparked with magic, as she teleported herself and Pinkie to where they saw Twilight’s signal. They met up with the others. The trio trotted up to them, now noticing the fact that none of the others were actually looking at them. They were all staring at something, jaws slacked and mouths agape.
“What the?...What are you girls looking at?” Pinkie questioned.
Dash grabbed Pinkie’s chin, and turned her to what they were looking at. She joined them, letting her jaw drop as well. Rarity and Sparks followed their gazes. What they saw made their heart bottom out into their guts. Sparks took a couple steps forward, a horrified expression on her face as the eyes of Dark Star bore into her soul.
“What’s the matter…you’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost…” he stated with a deep, growly voice, before letting out a low laugh. Sparks took a look at his thigh, staring at his cutie mark. She had to know. She had to be sure that it was really him. Tears started to build in her eyes when she saw what it was.
An explosion of bluish stars with a few rings of light behind them. She shook her head as if to rid of herself of the image, but it was too late. The cutie mark confirmed who he was. It belonged to only one stallion, and she uttered out the word that she knew him as.
“...Dad??”