As the two armies stood at opposite ends of the fields that surrounded Plasma's castle, there was not a single sound, not even the wind. The sky was alight, and an army of the dead had risen. All that was left was for the sky to fall, and for shadows to begin fighting. What broke the silence was Plasma laughing.
"You truly think that you can stop me," he said. "I am a god. Not even an alicorn could stand against me!"
"You forgot one thing, Plasma," Lone(A) said, unfurling his bird/bat hybrid wings. "There's six alicorns, one of which defeated you when he was just a unicorn." He chuckled. "Plus, we have two more armies helping us," he said as something impacted the ground to the right of the castle.
Plasma looked up, and indeed saw more objects falling down.
The sky was falling.
More and more ODST pods landed, as well as covenant drop pods, on the right. As they landed, the main hatches blew off, and ODSTs, Spartans, and sangheili leaped out of the pods, weapons raised, many of the Spartans and sangheili igniting energy swords. They were a mass of colors, all the way from black to white, to everything in between. Many of the ODST pods had tilted over just as their occupant had gotten out, and were now being used as cover by two or three individuals. The ranged weapons included SMGs, assault rifles, battle rifles, plasma and storm rifles, needlers, needler rifles, and carbines. Once over a thousand pods had landed and the troops inside exiting them, a single pelican flew over them, and ten figures, three wearing some form of ODST armor, jumped out of the back of it, and the pelican made it's way to orbit. The ten figures turned toward the center of the field, and it was then that it could be seen who it was. Those that could be identified by Rainbow and the others were John and Maruco, the others, they had never seen before, though one had a similar armor color to Nightengale's coat. Those three stood at the front of the UNSC and covenant forces that had landed.
Before Plasma could say something, he looked again and saw more trails of fire in the sky, this time going for the left side of the castle.
The first Atlas landed. It was similar to the cerberus model, but the color were now navy blur with accents of red, the color of the alliance. It had landed feet first using it's mass effect drive core, which allowed for safe drop from orbit. A second one landed, and a third, then a fourth, until well over a hundred had impacted and stood ready. Just a few seconds after the last one landed, shuttles began to pour down from the sky, and drop off squads that were made up of every council race, and even a few krogan in there. if one had been looking closely, they would have even noticed a few individuals bearing the insignia of the Spectres. Eventually, gunships began to descend and hover over the citadel and UNSC/covenant forces.
"So, what about now," Nightengale said. "Think you can win now, Plasma!"
"That's Nightengale," Octavia, whose wound had been healed by magic before the teleportation by Lightning and was now standing, holding a slim sword in one of her hooves, said upon hearing his amplified voice. "It can't be. I thought he disappeared."
"Not quite, if I understand everything correctly," Hermit said beside her from a stalker pure form. "Of course, I'm not entirely certain if I understand it, so you'll have to ask him later, assuming you both survive this fight, Octavia"
"Then let's hope we do survive," she said as Lone spoke up from the other side of the field.
"Not even you can defeat four armies, Plasma. Give up."
Plasma's face gained a cruel smile, and he laughed. As he did so, he began to transform. He grew taller, and sprouted a second pair of arms under his original ones, these having a claw like pincer. His armor grew with him, and even began to cover his new arms. The most biggest change, though, for one, were his eyes, which went from one pair to three, the two additional ones both under and above the original, and his scorpion like tail, which grew out of where a human tail bone would end. "You forget, Lone Shadow," he said in a deeper, much more menacing voice, "I have destroyed numerous civilizations before you were born, and have ruled over many worlds!"
"But not four at once," Light said. "Not eve you could do that, husband, and now is the time when three worlds you tried to rule collide against you!"
Under their helmets, though one was next to Plasma and the other was on an overlooking hill, Solar's and Eclipse's eyes widened upon hearing what she said.
"You can not be my mother," Eclipse snarled, pointing a sword at Light. "Lone Shadow, the original Lone Shadow, killed you, and even if you have returned, why do you side with his descendant?"
"Because, Eclipse, my way ward daughter, he is not just Lone Shadow's descendant, but Plasma's. Even so, I never died during that rebellion. I fought alongside the original Lone Shadow, and we eventually wed. I would side with him a million more times, even if it meant we would spend that time in tartarus!"
"The you are a traitor," Eclipse snarled. "And i will personally end you and Solar."
"Are you certain of that?" Solar asked from her side of the field. "You could not best me in singular combat, so what makes you think you could best me and another?"
"Uh, John," Fred asked John through their personal communication on their side of the field, "do they really need to do this whole banter thing?"
"From what I know of other battles like this that I was told about," John replied. "Apparently."
"Great," Kelly said in a sarcastic tone.
"ENOUGH!!" Plasma yelled, stopping the banter. "Today, you all die, and I will rule your pitiful worlds," he said in a snarl. "KILL THEM ALL!!"
"You two handle him," Light said to Lone(a) and (b). "We can handle the Brotherhood."
"You sure, Light," Lone(b) said.
"Yes, now go," she said as she flew towards the assembled army near the castle, her weapons, two swords, out and ready.
Both Lones looked at one another, and the eldest said, "You good?"
"Yeah. Go fight with her, as this may the last time you see her."
Lone(b) nodded, and flew off to fight with his wife, while Lone(a) flew up, and made his way to Plasma.
This was the signal to everyone else that the fight had resumed, and all four armies on the hill made their way to the fifth, small, but much more protected due to Plasma's magic, and engaged.
Eclipse, Twilight, and Coldheart, the second carrying Harvest in her magic and the last carrying Rarity in hers, flew up to meet with Light and Lone(b). In the air going to that spot as well was Nightmare, Shadow, and Solar.
As the armies below clashed, and Lone(A) engaged Plasma, doing some honestly impressive tricks to avoid the giant's attacks They stopped in midair about a hundred feet above the ground.
"It looks like we're evenly matched," Shadow remarked.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you," Rarity said. "Plasma himself gave us magical sheilds that are nearly impossible for you to break," she said as she summoned three ethereal blades shaped like fencing blades.
"And besides, Shadow," Coldheart said, "you aren't even an alicorn. You're a freak."
"That what's that make you, Cadence," a male voice with a slight echo effect said from behind the corrupted mare. "You are our daughter, after all," Stinger said as he stopped the invisibility spell, making himself and Rain visible, both with ethereal blades in their hands. "Half changeling-"
"-Half pegasus," Rain finished.
"You two should be dead."
"We were, Cadence. Like both Lones, but we came back when we found out what happened to you," Stinger said.
"I'm not Cadence anymore," she snarled. "She was erased three months ago!"
"If that is the case," Solar said as she disappeared in a flash of light, only to reappear a second later, her armor now white, the accents pink. "Then why am I still here," Celestia said.
"Because Solar was- is - weak, and she couldn't keep you locked away," Eclipse said. "Like you, Celestia."
"Eclipse, dear, I think that's enough," Rarity said. "Now, I believe it's time we remove them from the face of the planet."
"Agreed," Eclipse said before she and the other enforcers dropped to the ground and flew, or were carried, to one of the four hills that surrounded the castle.
They landed, and Shadow and the others weren't far behind in their landing.
"We don't have to do this, Luna, Cadence," Shadow said as the groups stared at one another from opposite ends of the small hill. "Nor do we want to."
"Then join us," Eclipse said. "That way, you can do what ever you wish, and not worry about the consequences."
"No," Lone(b) said. "If we did that, we'd lose what makes us sapient. We'd become nothing more than animals," he said with a horizontal swipe of his hand, palm down.
"Have it your way," Coldheart said before she and the other enforcers attacked.
When Lone took off to fight Plasma, he expected to be blasted out of the sky to begin with, but Plasma let him come close instead.
"I should have known Harmony would have saved you, Lone Shadow," he said in a surprisingly quiet voice for his size. "You are one of her favorites, I imagine. I can not wait to ask her why when I see her again."
"What do you mean?"
Plasma let out a small laugh. "Simple. Once I fully conquer this universe, as well as the others that have come to your aid, I will spread my control through every universe, and, eventually, the Nexus. Even now, allies and disciples of mine are working towards that goal, and you can not stop them all."
"We can try," Lone said. "That's what you don't get about us, Plasma. The fact that we will fight to keep our way of life it it's worth it to us, even give our lives for it."
"That philosophy can not save your beloved Luna now, Lone. She is gone, imprisoned so deep within her mind, nothing short of my power can free her." He paused.
"Or death."
"You won't hurt, or so help me, I'll rip your kneecaps out and beat you with them," Lone said, pointing his energy sword at Plasma.
Said god threw a punch, which Lone rolled to avoid. "Who said I would want to harm her. She is string and loyal to me."
"Yeah, but how long will that matter," Lone said. "You said the same to Solar, and look at where that got you with her."
"Of course I lied to her, as any would to keep one's loyalty. She was no longer important to my plans, and needed to be disposed of. I have no love for her. It makes one weak!" Plasma said as he then threw a flurry of strikes at Lone, each one missing, though some just barely.
"You can't hit me, Plasma," Lone said after an amazing ten minutes of dodging hits. "I won't let you, not while I still have to save Luna."
Under his helmet Plasma grinned, a plan forming in his mind. "Of course not," he said, "but do you really wish to be with Luna?"
"Nothing you say will make me turn on my friends, Plasma, and turning to you just to be with her, much as I wish to be with her, would be just that: turning my back on her, leaving her to you until you decide she needs to die."
"I did not mean in life," he said as he held a hand up, palm facing towards the sky, an orb of orange enrgy growing above it.. "You are right. I care not for my daughters. They are but tools to me, and tools are easily replaced. Surely Harmony told you of the explosion that caused four Elements to be lost? Well, I am the one to have caused that, destroying those four, and using the energy from the explosion to create my own Elements, two of which have already found their bearers. Everything is a tool, Lone Shadow. You would be wise to remember that." As he spoke, the orb continued to grow in size.
On the ground as the four very different armies pressed together towards the Brotherhood, John was in the lead of the UNSC/covenant army, literally speaking. He raised his assault rifle, and fired the first of what would be the first shots of this fight, killing a Brotherhood aligned human with a shot to the head.
From there, all hell broke lose, as the armies collided. John put his rifle on his back and drew his magnum, as he doubted he would have good maneuvering space to aim his rifle. He shoulder charged another human that was with the Brotherhood, and rolled to keep his momentum and balance, coming up in a kneeling position, and firing off three shots with his magnum, getting three clean headshots.
"Heads up," he heard Maruco shout from behind, and he jumped up and twisted in the air, grabbing an energy sword in his left hand before completing the one-eighty and landing on his feet, activating the energy sword. Maruco and Nighten walked up beside him, each with an energy sword in their left hand, an SMG in Nightengale's right, and a magnum in Maruco's.
"You know, I actually missed large battles like this," Nightengale said.
"You and me both," Maruco said. "Now, time to kick some ass."
"Ooh-rah!" Nightengale said before the three of them charged into the mass of enemies, slicing their swords, cutting the victims in half, and firing off shots of their weapons. As they neared the center of the Brotherhood forces, forced to use knives due to their weapons running out of ammo and their swords out of charge, they ran into Rainbow and the others.
"It's about time you guys got here," she said as she used wingblades to slice off another pony's head. "I thought you guys were supposed to be the best of the best."
"Well, sorry," Nightengale said as he threw his dagger, blade first, at a unicorn, said weapon hitting him in the head and killing him before creating an ethereal blade, "but we were getting some help."
"I'd say this is more then some," Lily said, firing off a burst from her rifle. "Who'd you bring, the entire UNSC!?"
"That, and an entire citadel task force," John said.
"Wait a fuckin' minute," Zaeed said, ripping a blade out of the eye socket of a Brotherhood human. "The citadel! How?"
"Long story," Nightengale said, slicing off the head of a sangheili with his blade. "We'll tell it when we win."
"Yes, can we get to it later, when we aren't fighting for our lives," Sawn said, a carbine in his hands and a shield gauntlet activated.
"Right," Maruco said as he threw a single grenade into a cluster of hostile humans, a S.A.W landing at his feet. "Oh fuck yes," he said as he picked it up and began to unleash bullet hell, laughing as he did so. "EAT THIS YOU FUCKERS!! HAHAHAHAHA!!"
"Trigger happy as always," Ken said before resuming his firing with his DMR.
With the combined efforts of all four armies, the Brotherhood didn't stand a chance, many of it's members even surrendering just to live, even if it meant being punished, and they knew the Equestrian government was most likely going to go through a change like that when this fight was over.
When the acolytes were all either dead or captured, those amassed looked up at Plasma, and saw Lone in front of him, with an orb of energy in the god's hand. ". . . And you would do well to remember it," he said as the orb grew one last time. He then pointed his palm towards where Shadow and the others, including his enforcers, still fought, a tendril of magic seeping into the ground from Plasma's feet and moving towards them. "Now, you will all see what happens when you STAND AGAINST ME!!!" he yelled as he fired the orb at them.
"METAMORPHA!" John yelled in concern, as he had come to realize over the past three months that, as unlikely it was, he did indeed love her, more so then he had cared for Cortana.
"AJ!!" Maruco yelled, but neither could be heard.
Up above, Lone gave a hate filled look at Plasma, though his helmet was on and it couldn't be seen. He then lit his horn, and vanished. . .
. . . only to reappear in between the orb and it's targets. "YOU WON'T HARM ANY ONE, ANY MORE, PLASMA!!" he yelled as he surrounded himself with a lime green shield of magic, even though he knew it was hopeless. As the last act he could manage before he was hit, he revealed the Elements, and used his magic to send them to their respective bearers.
Just as the orb hit and his shield collapsed, Lone said, "I'm sorry, Luna," in a voice barely audible to even himself.
All were transfixed by this, they did not see trails of emerald green mist leave the Elements and head to the one who had brought them to their bearers once again, as well as a small trail of the same shaded bits of what looked like gem stones go to him from his brother.
Not a second later, Lone Shadow, beloved of Luna, leader of lone team, leader of an army of the once dead, and bane of Plasma, was consumed in a field of destructive energy that none could hope to survive.