The Bridge: A Godzilla-MLP Crossover

by Tarbtano

Chapter 54 Part 3: Eurus

Frostbite Sparkle recoiled backwards and smashed through a half-broken roof, spreading her wings and grasping the walls of the broken school building to stop their fall and lift themselves back up. Glaring at the troublesome enemy, Frostbite Sparkle floated up into the air with Kaizer Aria floating down to meet them with her own wings spread and arms crossed.

“New look for you changed things,” Aria growled as she felt the flow of magic through the air, confirming something she’d suspected when her gleaming gem detected none of the dark magic mist laden with strife flowing into the windigo, despite ample amounts of negativity being in the air.

Any of that potential dark magic fuel however that did get near Zephyrus was quickly being pushed back by the gleaming gemstone embedded in their collar. Subjugated as it was, the Element of Magic had played another penalty upon their thief that Aria was soon to notice.

“You can’t draw power from someone’s wrath anymore,” Aria called out, oddly loudly to Zephyrus’ notice. The windigo didn’t see who was coming up behind them.

Frostbite Sparkle raised a hand before them, telekinesis lifting various chunks of concrete and pavement upwards in levitation. They clenched a fist and instantly shattered the debris into sharpened projectiles.

“Do you think that increases your odds compared to last time?” Frostbite noted whilst taking aim.

“Yes actually,” Aria growled before smirking, “But it confirms someone else who wants a piece of you can tag in without risking boosting you.”

She’d seen them coming and had done a good job keeping Zephyrus distracted whilst getting her own hits in. But for now, Aria presumed this was time for phase two. She grinned and called out over the storm.

“LET ‘EM HAVE IT!”

A spike of noise off to the side earned Frostbite’s notice. It was that split second before a second powerful outcry, with waves of accompanying magic instead of gravitons, surged into Frostbite’s body. Instead of just knocking them down, this righteous indignation-fueled attack started affecting their transformed state. From Aria’s perspective, she could see the red and green mists, positive and negative emotions in tandem, surging into the schoolyard in equal measure. Zephyrus braced and tried to withstand the cone of projected magical sound, which was equal parts an outcry, song, and even perhaps a bit of a wind-like blast similar to a windigo’s magic, but was forced to fly backwards and get out of the line of fire. Several of the icy formations decorating Frostbite Sparkle’s stomach and chest, making the visage of a hungry, fanged maw, had melted or been warped; and her antlers had been cracked.

Zephyrus could taste his own type of magic pushed into the onslaught, the malefic strife and spite changed to justified indignation as it was blended with love.

It was a blasphemy to the irate windigo. Even if it wasn’t as potent as coming out of a Bearer of an Element, it was still Harmony’s magic in the end. And it was coming out of his own creation. Across the courtyard, Adagio Dazzle stood in a similarly powered up state to the Element Bearers; ethereal mermare fins and flippers decorating her winged form even more brilliantly than the one-and-done power surge she had during the stage show. Holding hands with the Gaea Everfree in a manner that did more than imply a few things, the siren drew power from her fellows and used it to project that magic over a long range; practically utilizing herself as a cannon to launch the magic Gaea pushed into her.

Each blast sent Frostbite Sparkle reeling, and each impact of the projected magic reacted with the Element embedded in their chest. The reaction wasn’t as strong as it would have been from the Element Bearers themselves, but it still hurt. And seeing the wretch that had so often tormented her nightmares and life in agony was more than enough.

-You created me.-

Adagio thought and projected with her outcries, sending Zephyrus reeling back end over end after trying to fly free. The windigo glimpsed their daughter’s gaze through the recoiling, spotting those eyes. Those damn rosy eyes he so vividly remembered from his greatest defeat. The roaring scream of outrage by the Western Wind was cut short by another surge of magic projected by Gaea, pushed into Adagio, and launched at them.

Adagio looked back at the subject of her nightmares for decades past, her hand squeezing the subject of some hopes for the future a bit more tightly.

-Created me to torture my mother and enact your plans.-

Zephyrus tried to block the blast by levitating up a slab of broken concrete. Whilst the force of impact from the projection was blunted, cracking the pavement’s surface, the magic it was laden with just kept going right through. This was, unknown as it was to some parties, the blessing of an actual goddess. What was some processed rock going to do against it? The concrete barrier shattered from the impact of the magic, which smashed into the demon. The windigo hadn’t been thinking, too enraged and pained to plan as clearly as he often did.

-You're prideful, arrogant, and you always think your plans are going to work out.-

The pain of knowing and accepting her own failed ploys was palpable, from venturing to Canterlot to trying to go up against the windigos without Twilight's friends. She channeled the adrenaline coursing through her veins into another powerful outcry.

-I did too once, I suppose I really do take after you in a few ways… -

But the pain in her chest was brief, assurance given from the squeezing in her hand. The outburst was again laden with Gloriosa's magic and blasted into Zephyrus. As the windigo tried to brace and withstand the rushing shockwaves shooting into them from Adagio's scream, more magic joined the fray.

-But I’ll never be you, I had some others to help pull me away.-

Vines burst from the ground and snagged onto Frostbite’s legs, holding the windigo affixed to the concrete and unable to rise up. Crystalline projections pelted and shattered against them from one angle, hard light butterflies crashing in from the other side. And as Zephyrus tried to shield themselves with their wings, a cyan blur smashed into them at near full speed. Rainbow Dash was fit but most of her boosted physicality came from her lower body. When Frostbite made to reflexively grab her, it would have been life-threatening had she not brought help.

Carried by Rainbow Dash’s momentum, Applejack grabbed the wretch by one arm after tossing Rainbow into the other. The combined speed and force balanced out the impact, allowing each to grab a limb and dive to the side before shoving Frostbite forward. The dark transformed demoness was launched off their footing violently enough to snap Gaea’s rootwork, sending them hurtling forward.

Directly into the path of their own progeny. Gaea Everfree clasped one hand with Adagio Dazzle’s, whilst holding onto the siren’s necklace between the palms of their other. Fluttershy and Rarity flanked them, Gaea’s presence bolstering their respective Elements and tying the two Bearers to Rainbow Dash and Applejack to do likewise. Zephyrus was directly sandwiched between the trust of Honesty, the binding of Loyalty, the compassion in Generosity, and the love of Kindness. Four young heroes who embodied those aspects and two souls who found a lot of that in each other.

Needless to say, the resulting magic blast channeled out of the duet by Adagio and Gloriosa was the largest the former had ever managed and actually managed to hurt Zephyrus. A lot. It wasn’t direct Element magic per se so she couldn’t directly match a Bearer, but the same essence was present and the effect was self-evident. The combination attack’s shockwaves ripped across Frostbite’s body, shattering icy formations and antlers they’d grown. It was powerful enough that Frostbite’s entire momentum was redirected backwards and they were sent flying backwards into what remained of the gymnasium. Smashing through the wall, the windigo collapsed much of the structure on top of themselves as they screamed in agony.

If the combined Elements and Gaea were seriously putting Frostbite on the back foot before, the added boost of one royally ticked off but mentally stable siren was further tilting the odds. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, amidst a wave of animate roots, crystals, and hard light butterflies, were already closing the distance as several follow up blasts by Adagio kept Zephyrus pinned down.

============

Meanwhile, Aria Blaze didn’t resist the proud grin for her cousin as she let her guard down and put her trust in another. Sunset Shimmer nervously kept a hand on the siren’s necklace as the siren in turn kept a hold of her, keeping one arm around Sunset’s legs and the other around her back for a firm grip. Even having walked through the plan, she couldn’t keep her pulse from pounding between her ears.

“Do we have to use that?” The Element of Empathy didn’t fight the grimace as she glanced at one of many portals Frostbite Sparkle had opened, which was showing a bird’s eye view of the battle at the shoreside between clashing titans.

“Thinking on the fly and it’ll ensure we get the drop on him. It’s safer than flying like in the original plan,” Celestia chimed in as she kept her hands on the portal, having affixed the location, “Now send the signal.”

“He’ll know we’re doing this instead of flying up the old fashioned way?” Sunset Shimmer puzzled, “I’m not afraid, but we’ve only got one shot at this.”

Kaizer Aria tightened her grip on the Element Bearer in a bid to be reassuring, “I’m not the fastest flier, but even if I can’t get us in quick you can bet I’ll get us out quicker if things go south. Let’s just hope your big friend notices.”

“Junior is quite more perceptive than many give him credit for, and for his lack of magical know-how I can assure one thing,” Celestia smiled and nodded to her student, “He knows we know what we’re doing and will act to make sure it works.”

Sunset Shimmer took in a deep breath, held onto Aria more, and let out a slightly exasperated chuckle, “Well then, no arguments from me!”

“I’d cover your ears,” Aria forewarned Sunset Shimmer and put her own hands atop the former unicorn’s for extra measure.

Holding her away from herself to keep her clear, the altered siren let loose a powerful scream laced with graviton torrents and fired it through the portal whose exit was high in the sky. The blast went through, golden beams and the loud shriek rocketing downwards into the ground. Sunset barely felt the moment pass before Aria charged and jumped through the portal whilst carrying her around her middle. Sunset yelped and clung to the siren, feeling the air suddenly go rushing past her face. Aria spread her wings to take to the air again and slow, but not stop their sudden plummet. They had to come in fast for this to work.

==========

In the matters of giants, Battra and Godzilla together had been mostly maintaining the deadlock. Had it been a standard battle, they probably could have individually defeated Boreas even with the windigo’s manic strength and total disregard for harm to X’s body besides keeping him battle ready. Together, it would have been not much of a direct contest. The tricky part was keeping Boreas from taking cheapshots at the schoolyard whilst trying to restrain, but not badly wound him.

That all changed once the portal spat out in airborne Aria Blaze and Sunset Shimmer, the latter having tried to keep her nerve but couldn't resist a reflexive screaming caused by falling dozens of meters through the air. Godzilla's eye caught onto them and he knew the signal for what it was.

This was a little bit improvised, but they accounted for that beforehand. What could never be fully accounted for however, was how the windigo would react.

Boreas' mind tugged him into a specific direction and his red eyes turned to track both what Godzilla had glanced at, as well as something the soul of his host body reacted to. He had perceived it much before, but almost like the south and north end of the magnetic pole, he could detect a presence that the remnants of Monster X's soul was pulled towards. That it was his own flesh and blood as well was another reason to cast his gaze towards it.

Kazier Aria cringed and tightened her grip on Sunset, “Hang on!”

Sunset Shimmer didn’t need to be told twice, clinging to the altered siren as Aria dove forward and weaved around a giant fist reaching out to grab them. Flying directly between enormous fingers covered in frost, she zoomed down Boreas’ arm and flew past his face. Sunset, eyes wide and yelling inarticulately as she kept her arms looped around Aria’s bicep and shoulder; saw her entire vision become clouded in white. The vastness of Boreas’ enormous eyes seemed to swallow up everything and she felt the bitter cold even with her own magic offering a buffer.

Aria Blaze only glared at the gaze stolen from her lover’s.

-I told you. Stealing his body was the second biggest mistake you ever made.-

It was a thought that Boreas could actually hear. The shattered soul of Monster X residing in his and his daughter’s bodies acting as the tether and allowing him to feel it. And he did not respond well to the threat.

Boreas had his full attention on them, forgetting about the kaiju as he snarled and lunged for them once again. Both out of spite and want to destroy for the goddess’s magic he detected in Sunset Shimmer, and for the knowledge that he alone was the best option to tear free that stubborn crystal around his progeny’s neck to bring out her true self as he saw it.

It cost him when the blows came raining down. Aria Blaze and Sunset Shimmer, maintaining their momentum from falling, zoomed aside just as a scaly fist connected with Boreas’ face. Just how much Godzilla had been managing his strength was made abundantly clear when all multi-thousand tons of Monster X’s body was sent flying backwards towards the destroyed pier.

Godzilla’s sucker punch was not alone either. A spinning mass of spines rolled into a ball bounced off the ground behind the dinosaur and spring into the air after the windigo. Anguirus had rejoined the battle and his trademark thunder ball collided with Boreas full force, sending the possessed even further skyward as the ankylosaur chimera landed below.

Violet prism beams and a similarly-hued sonic ray burst free of Battra Lea’s eyes and sang from Irys’ maw as they dove in. The beams crisscrossed Boreas’ body despite his attempts to fire back, hastily fired graviton flares smashing into Lea’s rays. But now, far off the ground and out of danger for the giants’ smaller compatriots; the resulting beam lock and explosion only served the heroes' purposes. Boreas was further blasted skyward by the resulting explosion, flailing and blackened by the burst of energy.

Especially when an irate Irys and Lea zoomed through the explosive cloud of smoke that engulfed Boreas. Former enemies in the first conflict of clashing titans in Equestria flew together, grabbing onto Boreas’ arms and spinning in a rapid descent. The possessed form of Monster X spiraled rapidly, both flyers breaking off and letting the smoking brute go crashing into the half-frozen sea with a tremendous explosion of ice and water.

Anguirus grunted and started towards the ocean, only for a bellow by Godzilla to stop his advance. Four on one, there was no possible way Boreas was getting to the Element Bearers nor stopping any of them. If his chances were bad before they were outright abysmal now. But the plan wasn’t to kill Monster X’s body, and now they had their moment to enact their ploy.

Boreas recovered slower than he wanted to, sinking into the water. Even if the windigo himself was not greatly harmed, he was well aware this body was starting to give out. He could feel it however, some kind of latent power that was missing. As he hid within the mostly broken soul of Praetorian 094, he could detect that this body should have a potential to be much more powerful. Like there was a state it could achieve but he couldn’t. A component was missing.

His mind briefly traveled back to the exact moment he possessed his daughter’s chosen. Just as Zephyrus’ little minion, Wallflower, whom he got to torment later ripped into X’s mind, it was like the soul itself split. Hitting him with the memory stone was supposed to erase a majority of his memories to make him an easier host, a diminished sense of self that couldn’t fight back against possession. This was like the soul itself sectioned off a large portion of itself and ejected it. Part of it had to be in Zephyrus’ necklace for the memories, he knew that, but there was something else missing.

If they had all of the memories and soul between themselves, he or Zephyrus should have been able to find where the sirens and Retainer of the Elements were hiding; but those memories weren’t there.

The brief recollection of his daughter’s altered state and her words returned to his mind. Her black and gold body and that nagging sense of a tether behind her being his progeny… Boreas did not see himself as particularly intelligent, certainly manic and psychotic by a mortal’s standards. But he also wasn’t stupid.

-So, she plans to give that power to the lizard perhaps? A king or kaiser dragon?-

Boreas righted himself in the water despite his battered body. He felt no pain and could ignore this long enough to try and make one last charge. Even the giants would be hesitant to strike their friend down. And if he could get to his daughter for just a moment….

The North Wind sneered and cackled.

-You can’t hide behind others to fight for you any longer. No one can keep you from me!-

The sea churned and began to freeze in place.

A geyser of rapidly frosting water burst out from the ocean. Millions of gallons of seawater turned to ice as Boreas launched himself out of the surf. His body nearly collapsed on impact with the beach, beyond spent and only having a limited amount of vitality holding it together. The North Wind turned to glare at his foes and made ready for his final gambit.

Only to be mildly surprised when Anguirus stepped aside to clear a path, with Irys and Lea following suit. Boreas’ senses of sight and detection were in conflict with each other by what came next, for he saw Godzilla approaching and yet he detected his daughter. The energy wrapped around the kaiju was very much of Equestrian origin despite his alien form, a mixture of both the Goddess’ cursed essence and his progeny’s. And unlike before, Godzilla wasn’t moving, walking, or vocalizing like he normally did for all the limited experience Boreas had against the King of the Monsters. In fact he seemed to be making a point to keep his mouth closed.

This was something new.

-In any other context, this would be beyond gross!-

Sunset Shimmer grimaced as she stood on the surface that was both somewhat spongy and somewhat hardened. Otherwise in near total darkness, with cracks of light visible through a jagged veil she could glimpse the incoming ocean and city below. And yet, through sight beyond eyes, she could see that same landscape clearly as she would if she walked through it. If she was multiple stories tall perhaps.

Her Element of Empathy continued to glow, linking her mind to all she was in contact with. Principally this was Kaizer Aria, whose mind was something unlike any she had seen before now that she was looking deeply. There was a mind of the siren herself, but then there was another presence felt; like a chain of memories and personality she could hold onto in equal measure. Deciding that had to be that other factor of X’s mind, Kaizer Ghidorah; he too was not alone.

Whilst Sunset stood behind Aria, hands clasping either side of the siren’s head, her feet were in contact with the floor below her. The very living floor that twitched and jiggled slightly with thundering footfalls dozens of meters below, in tandem with the twitches and movements of Aria’s legs as if she was walking in a dream.

Godzilla could not defeat Boreas, not in the way they wanted. He could kill Monster X’s body, especially with the ample back-up around, and Boreas might not be able to take on a new host; but that chaotic spirit could be a rogue element in taking down the other windigo.

This was the Element Bearer’s time, he was just giving them an assist to help them help Aria save her love. Just like all of them were helping right now.

Memories of a bygone time and recent past, when Praetorian 094 took up a readied stance back when he was a normal Xilian and when X gave instruction to Aria Blaze, were called forth by Kaizer Ghidorah. Aria Blaze remembered the stance and took it in her mind’s eye, bringing her hands up to bear with fists curled and her left foot forward. The feedback went into Sunset Shimmer, linking up with her thanks to her unique gift, and relayed into the other body she was in contact with. The two heroines safe inside his mouth, Godzilla let Aria and Sunset pilot his body and assume the same stance.

In theory, this could have worked with any of the kaiju; but given Junior most closely matched Monster X’s body form, it was the best bet. The monster king, allowing Aria Blaze to guide and control his movements, assumed her readied stance in full and prepared.

Boreas, needless to say, was more than a little confused as to why he was sensing his daughter standing over 50 meters tall and walking towards him. On top of that, his attempts to use his dark magic-laden wind against Godzilla were suddenly far less effective than before. However much his Northern gales howled, they failed to freeze even part of the saurian's hide.

He was briefly so taken for a loop that he didn't react fully when Godzilla by sight, Sunset by magic, and Aria by consciousness sprinted up to him before leaping up. The rotation of their body resulted in the back of a large fist smashing into the side of the windigo host's face in a backhand. Boreas' kaiju body nearly doubled over as they staggered further from a follow-up tail smash. The exact same move X once used on Godzilla, drawn from the Saurian’s own memories.

And at each point of contact, a tiny flicker of magic conducted out of the gestalt and into the possessed. The full-body aura of magic wrapped around Godzilla’s body, Empathy, working as a link to the dormant consciousness Boreas had been hiding within. Inside Monster X’s mind, as what was left of 094’s consciousness remained chained by ice much like Flash Sentry had by Notus, Boreas was no longer the only voice in the void.

-“Praetorian Guard 094, your mother was a soldier and your father was an engineer. You took your mother’s career path, but you loved to look at the stars with both.”-

It was his daughter’s voice speaking alongside the unknown-to-Boreas Kaizer Ghidorah. Summoning images of a child happily holding his parent’s hands, a uniformed mother with old scars and a coated father both beaming at their son in a glimpse of a time before the Xilians suppressed most of their emotions under an intense taboo. A time before he walked as a giant to try and save his people.

Boreas’ inner projection snarled and tried to mute the voice to continue fighting, puppeteering the body as he had before. He’d sunk his claws into what old self remained of his daughter’s mate, stealing his knowledge and memories, any sense of self; to fight with all of his skills. But he’d also been keen to try and keep that consciousness from fully awakening, allowing him free reign of his body. He remembered what happened to Notus’ two hosts and how an alert consciousness or connections through memory spelled disaster.

If Zephyrus hadn’t arranged for most of X’s more modern memories to be taken away, by one means or another, even just a glancing hit by the song and Elements at the camp by a jury-rigged Bearer pretending to be a siren would have worked. Praetorian 094 didn’t know Twilight Sparkle, and yet she nearly reached him.

Which made it all the more alarming and infuriating when Boreas detected a stirring within the body.

Godzilla’s body landed on his feet and threw out a right cross, connecting with a distracted Boreas’ cheek and making the possessed kaiju stagger. The kaiju king's voice joined the chorus.

-”Your body is not in your control, we need you to fight too!”-

Another memory, literally punched into Boreas’ body and 094’s mind of what should have been a final war. Terra was half on fire and the dragon of the azure flames had come to put a stop to that whilst one of the invading groups deployed their own champion to contest. The recollections perspective of a monster king standing off with an invasion’s vanguard, who regardless of his great power. But, just as it seemed their fight was about to commence with Terra's defender trying to figure out the fastest way to get them out of a still populated area, Godzilla had taken notice of how the invader's ace trembled and flinched before going still. Following the line of sight, he was surprised to see Monster X was looking directly at a tiny form, barely an ant to their enormities by comparison. An older couple, likely too infirm to have been evacuated easily, taking their chances hobbling away from the disaster area.

A few moments of tensity confirmed it that X had seen them and refused to engage yet on account of them. The stand off lasted several long minutes until the civilians were out of harm's way. It was the very first time Junior had ever encountered a foe with such concerns, from Terra or beyond, and he was keen to return the favor with a low bellow. The intent was to convey an offer that should have hopefully been clear even if X couldn't understand him precisely in the way kaiju often immaculately did regardless of origin.

They didn't have to fight and he didn't have to fight for the Xilian ships hovering impatiently above. X looked at the ships he served for a short time before responding.

The slow shake of X's head was disheartening to what the Monster King hoped was a kindred spirit, but he had to accept it. Just as X accepted his offer to stand aside and let the Xilian kaijin walk out of the city center and into the already destroyed downtown. Pacing away from any concerns about what would follow, reluctance was shooed away by the time the first actual blow was thrown.

Knowing what he did now, Terra's champion felt he perhaps glimpsed more of Xilian's champion true self then than most had in centuries.

-”You’re not someone’s weapon; you’re a soldier, an honorable soldier!”-

Another fist was thrown in a follow-up jab; but this time Monster X’s body reflexively ducked aside to block it despite his heavy wounds. At the points of contact, Sunset Shimmer fed all connected minds a brief glimpse at the fragments that lay within the possessed kaijin’s body. A simple sparring lesson, not unlike a Terran martial arts dojo, of a teenage Xilian boy blocking a hit thrown by his sparring partner in the form of a similarly aged girl who’d landed a prior hit.

She smirked at the young, future 094; and Aria Blaze could feel another distant similarity to the future Controller 011.

Another punch, thrown by Aria’s mind but acted upon with Godzilla’s body as directed by Sunset Shimmer, was thrown. The uppercut could have knocked Monster X’s head upwards, but instead the body reflexively ducked sideways to let the blow whiff past their head. Boreas’ will wasn’t in the action nor had control of it, it had instead been instinctive. A reflex buried from what lay within that the windigo had done their best to keep dormant. In the distant memories, a young 094 had not managed to duck when his sparring partner and future wife decked him in the face.

Monster X’s body braced a foot against Godzilla’s chest and kicked him back, clearing some room as the latter giant’s feet went smashing through a beachside warehouse. But even that brief window of contact brought upon sights, sounds, and sensations along a chain of memories. The body was panting and heaving, but not because of how battered and worn down it was. In one of the few times since assuming this form, Boreas was beginning to strain.

Inside the mental realm, the icy chains holding down the consciousness he’d hijacked started to crack.

Boreas scrambled to regain full control, having to divide his attention between keeping 094’s soul dormant and retaliating against the rapidly re-approaching gestalt siren-bearer-kaiju front. A right cross by the attacking team was countered with a reflexive block by Boreas trying to still use stolen skills, only to be assailed by both a hand grabbing onto Monster X’s horns as well as another memory. A relatively calm and placid one free of conflict. The first time he and Sunset had met after she’d brought his teammates to him in the cold of a half-destroyed forest.

Both of them had to have sensed and known the other wasn’t a normal human, even if they didn’t know the full truth. Didn’t matter. The wayward unicorn saw an imposing, scar-faced man elated at the sight of his friends, and the dragon knight was only grateful to the kindly soul who’d helped him be reunited. A casual acquaintanceship and understanding by two beings who had once been so very alone but had come to welcomed company. A fate neither would have come to embrace if they were still upon their old paths subject to their own or another’s ambitions.

Monster X’s eyes briefly turned red, before flashing back to eerie white. The loud exclamation that flew free from their maw was an inarticulate shriek of outrage that only vaguely resembled Boreas screaming “NO” and various profanities. The windigo became physically visible across the body he was possessing, hovering over and upon it like a veil; sharp antlers and dead sockets for eyes upon a pure white body.

The windigo’s maw snapped open as his outrage reached a new peak, his mouth widening so violently it would have wrenched itself off its socket had it been of flesh. A Northern Gale that made all before seem like a breeze in comparison blew through the city, smashing into the gestalt force. Godzilla’s titanic mass staggered backwards slightly, his feet digging trenches into the ground. Dark magic was interfering with his typical regenerative abilities, allowing icicles to form over his hide which Sunset’s magic was working to deflect and melt off.

Still, damaging as it was, it was blunted significantly thanks to the Element of Empathy wrapping around the kaiju’s body. Against the intensifying hurricane gale force, which was increasingly splitting the air in an ungodly shriek as it tried to attack both mind and body, Godzilla’s body and Aria Blaze’s will fought through the northern storm. One step was made against the blast, then another, and another.

And Boreas started to frighten backwards, trying to will himself and his host away from the horrific, wretched thing confronting him. Weathering the storm, the dragon of Odo continued forward as the triad struggled to maintain themselves. All while the portals to a seemingly infinite void that Eurus was risking emerging from got larger and larger.

-”I think maybe the ‘punch at him till muscle memory kicks in’ part of this plan isn’t quite working fast enough!”- Sunset Shimmer griped as she struggled to hang on physically and mentally to both of her compatriots.

-”Hold on Sunset!”- Godzilla growled, not out of anger but at biting back the flood of dark magic trying to infect his body and mind, as he hoped the Element continued to do exactly that, -”What is captive within is waking up. Boreas keeping combat skills will prove his weakness yet. We just need something to jar that mind in there more.”-

-”Right, like with Flash and you,”- Sunset grimaced as another wave of dark magic laden wind and cold shoved into them. Weathering the mental hit, she chanced a smile and shrug after seeing Boreas twitch and shake all over, -”You know, I think we’re actually starting to scare him!”-

-”I’m taking us in close, brace yourselves,”- Aria Blaze said plainly as she glared out of Godzilla’s point of view with determination, willing herself forward and moving with him in stride as Sunset reinforced their link, -”I’m bringing us in for something either really potent or really stupid. Sunset, are you still scared of heights?”-

She asked even whilst their minds were linked and the answer was already known. Didn’t stop Sunset Shimmer from deadpanning.

-”Do I really need you to say why you’re asking that?”-

Aria Blaze’s expression was a myriad visage, one of hardened determination, hatred, and yet also confidence as she chanced a tiny smirk. Her eyes glowed golden dimly under their red.

-”To kill my sire of course.”- The siren’s smirk widened slightly, -”Ready, your majesty?”-

-”I’m technically not a king you know,”- Godzilla reminded as he charged headlong at Boreas again.

Aria Blaze, current danger regardless, still managed to snark, -”Yeah well, I’m not technically a princess.”-

Sunset Shimmer braced and almost felt like closing her eyes, if she didn’t get a quick reminder her actual body already was and she was actually looking out the kaiju’s point of view. The distance to Boreas closed but the distance to the ground didn’t.

-”In hindsight, maybe it’s best that I didn’t become an alicorn…”-

Boreas saw them coming, attempting to intensify his storm with loaned energy from Eurus backing him up. But even as his winds howled, the oncoming mountain refused to crumble. The gestalt offensive barreled into him and launched a fury of attacks. Or at least that's what it looked like at first.

A fist went flying at Monster X's face, but it was done just oh so slightly slower than one would expect for an attack. By all accounts it and the follow-up blows really did look like the gestalt was trying to clobber the windigo, but very careful observation might have allowed one to notice the differences. The body wasn't tightening up quite as much as it normally would, aim was just barely offset to the side, and careful observation of the feet would show they weren't throwing their full weight into the blows with a pivoted foot.

Boreas didn't notice, lacking combative experience or training himself in hand to hand martial arts. But as the blows were all summarily dodged, ducked, or blocked; those contact points engendered sparks to illuminate the sight of one within.

Godzilla's body rotated aside and a swung arm aimed low was caught in a mirrored motion by Monster X's body on reflex. Their forearms banged into one another, before rotating on their elbow and swinging upwards as if to try and strike it backhand at the other's face; only to crash together again.

In synchronization, both kaiju pivoted around and copied the exact same motion on their other side; punctuating the end with a mutual elbow strike that neatly blocked each other across the flat of the forearm.

The motion repeated again and again, increasing in speed. Anguirus furrowed his brow, not quite knowing what exactly he was looking at, but able to recognize some of it from the myriad of information his creators endowed him with. Godzilla's typical fighting style was a strange, unique mixture of animalistic assault and some measure of self-taught, formalized attacking as taught to him by Kong. Aside from maybe a move here or there he picked up from King Caesar, he wasn't known for doing martial arts, let alone a rigid training kata.

And that Monster X's body was perfectly mirroring him, like they were two sparring partners training together, was surreal to see in itself. Just not to the one directing Godzilla through the movements her beloved had taught her, nor feeling her mind breach into a void thanks to Sunset's magic.

Aria Blaze rapidly worked through the block kata X had taught her time and time again. Each point of contact creating flashes of memories pushed into the opposing kaiju. Each go around, the possessed kaiju’s response time got quicker; and the reaction sharper and less conscious. A spar by the lake side, training in the forest, fighting together against Frostbite Sparkle and Enjin; all mixed with glimpses into Praetorian Guard 094’s life before. Boreas felt the incursions breaching his defenses and fought viciously against them; only to leave his focus off the captive mind and soul he’d been hiding behind.

A soul that was beginning to wake up.

==========

To say that Zephyrus was on the back foot would be an understatement. To say that the conflict was still a true battle was an overstatement. He'd had a lot of trouble fighting just several of the Element Bearers by themselves, let alone with Gaea Everfree backing them up. All of them were much less experienced than the Retainer he had battled previously over a decade ago, but quantity had a quality all to itself on top of the Bearers being his single greatest weakness manifest. And there was another issue.

Frostbite Sparkle broke their backwards tumble after being sent flying through a thin wall of ice, dark wings flailing about briefly to recapture their bearings. The cause of their backwards hurdle adjusted her grip on the telephone pole before planting a tip into the ground, pointed up at Zephyrus. She had just used an oversized baseball bat to bash through a shield of telekinetically lifted debris. Zephyrus had been using the rubble as a shield but the haphazard barrier was no match for Applejack’s massively bolstered strength. Zephyrus managed to catch themselves and shoot up into the air with a beat of wings and surge of telekinesis, only to immediately get set upon once again.

This world’s Rainbow Dash was not nearly as used a flight as her counterpart, but speed was speed and she had been quick on the uptake. More sprinting across the ground rather than true flight, she launched herself up the telephone pole Applejack provided as a ramp to send herself rocketing at Zephyrus. If the windigo hadn’t seen the cyan blur coming, they’d have been dumbstruck and dead-on when Dash turned about midair and came hurtling at them with a diving kick. The wide-eyed windigo jerked themselves aside with a wave of magenta telekinesis, having to physically yank themselves out of the way as fast as possible. And even then, the edge of Dash’s tennis shoes painfully ground past their stomach and arm.

A gemstone appeared in the air some dozen meters behind Zephyrus, Rarity clasping her hands before expanding them outwards. The diamond construct glimmered before rapidly multiplying in either direction to form a ring mid-air in a white circumference across the schoolyard. Rainbow Dash’s lack of experience with flying was well compensated for. She’d been taking gymnastics and track for years, and thankfully with some practice superspeed also came with reflexes to match. Twisting about she landed feet-first onto the diamond in front of her, before springing off at equal speed to try and land another hit on the frost demon.

Zephyrus withstood several shocks the element was giving him from being in closer proximity to another Bearer, trying to fly upwards and get away after being sent reeling from Dash colliding with one of their wings. Dash was zipping around the circle of crystals Rarity had projected, spring boarding off one to cross the diameter of the circle in a collision course that either landed blow after blow directly or at least clipped the windigo. And with the speed she was going at, retaliation was almost impossible as was blocking. Ascending upwards however was a path soon barred, a sudden flurry of yellow light flapping about in all directions. The Element of Kindness’s tether to animals had modulated into a more extreme form, and whilst there weren’t many animals around due to the storm, the portals had unwittingly provided a bit of an avenue.

Hordes and hordes of cockatrice, vampire fruit bats, and small bug bears, glowing constructs of light and copied from the Equestrian forest the Bearers had briefly landed in swarmed, clawed, and pecked furiously at the windigo. Though they lacked the distinct abilities of their actual counterparts, they more than did their job at blocking their exit as a furious swarm. More than ample distraction to provide Rainbow Dash to brace herself and come smashing into Zephyrus from behind, elbow first, like an angry pinball. It was only due to an unnatural constitution that Frostbite Sparkle’s ribcage didn’t break on impact from Dash ramming into and tackling her; the Element of Loyalty wrapping her arms around the windigo to try and drag them from the sky.

Zephyrus shrieked whilst igniting their hands with magic, throwing one hand up at the oncoming swarm of hard light animals in a slashing motion. Tendrils of energy, like extended claws, ripped into them and scythed through the horde. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened when the deranged and enraged glare of Zephyrus was fully directed upon her. She let go and dropped away from the windigo, beating her wings and kicking her legs furiously mid-fall in a bid to dodge.

But just like before, the team was nothing but coordinated. Roots and woody tendrils burst out of the concrete in several areas and rapidly snaked into the air, wrapping around Zephyrus’ arm and wrenching it aside to throw off their aim. Gaea Everfree shifted her stance and threw out her other arm, erupting the ground elsewhere with further work to elevate Applejack’s footing.

Though the Element of Honesty lacked the raw speed of her compatriot, her physicality boost did also leave her legs equally enhanced and her leap was quite respectable in its own right especially with Gaea giving her a directional momentum. Applejack caught the tumbling Rainbow Dash in a dive, turning about and sliding her shoulder off a crystal projection courtesy of Rarity that formed a line of gems almost like a slide. The two safely slid to a stop on the ground whilst Gaea’s tendril thrashed with Zephyrus snagged on its vine.

The woody whip swung wide before abruptly snapping towards the ground. Zephyrus saw the broken debris and rubble rapidly approaching, moving to direct a wave of telekinesis at the pavement to stop their fall. Gaea Everfree smirked and changed the direction of the swing at the last second, tossing the windigo sideways and directly into a tight cluster of Rarity’s crystals. Frostbite Sparkle managed to slash at the tendril in a bid to free themself, but the momentum they’d been set upon was too much to conquer even after they’d shredded the plant matter. The demon’s back collided with the crystalline structures hard enough to fracture most of them, dark wings spread wide in a brief moment of being stunned.

With none of the Bearers in the crossfire and Zephyrus caught in place briefly, it was the opening needed. A concussive burst of song magic, like a hugely amplified voice, surged over the windigo like a tsunami. It seemed to echo into their mind and carried a most hated chorus to the demon. Sights and sounds of a loving mother known only in youth, a devoted aunt who raised her, of coming to this world initially thinking it was a curse instead of a blessing, and those that had been met along the way. Acquaintances in her compatriots, friends in the form of a young alicorn, and something closer with two souls in mind that Zephyrus knew well. One of them was holding her hand now. It was a love ballad, and it was toxic to the windigo as it seeped inside their body and threatened to reach out to the dormant mind within.

Adagio felt a small bit of satisfaction at hearing her sire scream out in a way that had tiny slivers of a normal human voice in it. She had no connection to that other Twilight Sparkle, and it would be a gross understatement for anyone to say she didn’t much prefer her counterpart from Equestria. But if there was any difference between herself and ‘Eventide Hymn’, it was that Adagio had been playing to crowds unknown to her for a lot longer. And for magic that was meant to tug at the emotions, that was a valuable skill to have against a windigo.

Hopefully somewhere if there was a hereafter, Auntie Hymnia was smiling at how well her eldest niece remembered her song and approved of who was helping her fuel it.

Music to the ears and hearts of any listening. Utter disgusting agony second only to the Goddess’ magic directly itself to her sire. Zephyrus shrieked, their incorporeal form briefly flickering in an overlay atop Frostbite Sparkle’s body; lashing hooves and claws with gnashing teeth below jagged antlers. His wind howled, but Adagio Dazzle’s song would not be silenced as she poured it on. It kept Zephyrus busy just long enough for the rest of the group to capitalize after collecting themselves.

A hard light menagerie flew by the demon to keep them off balance, more and more crystals snapped into existence above them to block off any escape and herd them downwards. Entangling roots burst from the rubble to grab at Frostbite’s legs and yank her to the ground, just as a cyan blur zoomed up an incline towards them. This time, it was Rainbow Dash doing the lifting as she put everything she had into hefting, sprinting with, and aiming her compatriot. It was less pitching Applejack at the enemy as much as it was holding her up, going as fast as possible, and then stopping with the momentum transferred into the larger young woman.

Applejack went airborne like a spear, tackling into the briefly stunned Frostbite Sparkle. The windigo possessed was quick to try and ignore their other attackers to reorient focus at the superstrong young woman who had latched on to them, but the keyword was try. A glimmering hand loaded with magic was grabbed and pointed aside, Frostbite having been moving just slightly too slow due to all of the distractions and the lingering effects of Adagio’s ongoing song. Given only pleasant vibes and memories by the same music that was frustrating Zephyrus’ control, Jacqueline Suzanne Apple seized her chance, hooking her legs around the frost demon in a hold and grabbing at their neck with her free hand.

Just like before, there was resistance. Through the ice composing a collar of sorts around Frostbite’s neck, she could see the three necklaces frozen within. The Element of Magic, the Memory Stone, and what had to be Sonata’s gemstone ‘Heart’. Applejack could remember some of the details they had been briefed on, that a siren necklace could only be removed by someone with similar magic, like a family member, or if the siren herself willed it to be removed from her neck. She didn’t know the exact nuances of that magic or if Zephyrus was capable of permitting a lessened degree of it; but the resistance wasn’t quite what had been described to her prior.

An easterly gale force spewed out again from the many portals surrounding the school, several of which were directly behind Zephyrus and billowing over them. Eurus knew what was going on and was calling out to their company again. And just the echoes of his screams seemed to shadow everything about Zephyrus, even as it empowered the latter.

The Element of Honesty strained and continued to reach for the necklaces. It was like shoving her hand through very thick clay that didn’t want to give easily. A clawed hand grabbed at Applejack’s cheek, icy talons scraping scalp and jaw as Frostbite Sparkle’s dark eyes seemed to become the same dark void that Eurus was calling out from. The ungodly wailing Zephyrus was loosing at their assailant risked blowing out her ears. Applejack grit her teeth and hung on, fighting the tide as ice started to grow across her face and hair.

Adagio saw Frostbite Sparkle’s wings beat erratically, flapping in a clearly panicked motion as Applejack hung on for dear life. The rest of the Element Bearers filed in to try and help, pelting the demon with crystals and hard light creatures whilst Rainbow Dash worked her speed up to get airborne again and grab onto one of the flapping wings in a bid to help Applejack.

Hands clasped her own and she briefly found herself looking into the eyes of Gaea Everfree. There were some moments that a lot of things that needed to be said got across without a single word. Lingering concerns and fears about what happened to Gigan and not letting that happen again went away, like melted ice. The forest fae did what the cyborg of the stars had done earlier that day to the sea witch. Her fingers curled around Adagio’s Heart and she held it, letting her magic indicated by red mists flow into it.

Gloriosa had remembered something Adagio had taught her during their magic training and Twilight’s instruction. Siren songs always worked best in a chorus. And singing from the heart always worked best.

The love ballad’s melody multiplied several fold and surged over the aerial struggle. Eurus’ influence wasn’t pushed back fully, but it was equalized and negated to even the playing field. And whether by the same benevolence in magic working so well together or by Gaea’s influence on the siren magic, it visibly intensified the effect the Bearer’s magic had.

The ice on her face melted just as the frozen talons cast onto Twilight’s fingers shattered. Applejack squinting against the hurricane force of cold wind in her eyes, pushed forwards just as Rainbow Dash managed to disable the wing with her own momentum. They fell and the barrier around the necklaces pushed against AJ’s hand. But it didn’t stop her. Whether by Zephyrus not having the best mastery of that magic, that boost Adagio just gave, her own physical force just being that powerful, her own Element flickering in tandem with the stolen one situated next to the siren heart; or some combination of all four, she got through.

Her fingers caught hold and wrenched back. A necklace chain snapped just as Frostbite, in a bid of desperation, slashed at the air below them as they fell to open a portal. Applejack kicked off the demon and trustfully held out a hand which was caught by an oncoming Rainbow Dash. The Element of Loyalty broke her friend's fall as their rapid descent was slowed via a series of crystal platforms, extended vines, and many a flying hard light critter grabbing onto them and flying backwards to direct them away from the portal Frostbite fell into.

“AH GOT IT!” Applejack yelled as she held the Memory Stone aloft.

===========

Tumbling through the void, Zephyrus felt weightless and nothingness. He was back, back in the nothingness he had spent millennia within. Was this where he and his kind were created by Grogar? Could a God of Destruction actually create anything? Were they four once the same being and that is why they were so connected? Did Grogar take something from another existence, another life, and split it or re-forge it into what he needed to be his generals?

For however many thousands of years he was old, Zephyrus didn’t know. His first memories were freezing a world cold in a bygone age when Grogar decreed mortals had far exceeded their station. Arrogance demanded retribution. And the spirit of the West Winds did not question why in that ancient time Grogar was working alongside the goddess, why Zephyrus’ scourging of the lands was directed at the foolish mortals who sought to make themselves the world and its gods’ masters; only to be pitted against her and her creations in another age.

He was the most cognizant of the four, but he did not question. Whether that was by his own willpower or something done in the past, he did not care. All of the horrific tragedies and monstrous things ever done to mortals never mattered to him. That was all life was for however much it constituted as life for the windigo.

And yet, the pain, actual pain for one of the few times to such a degree he could recall, starting at his very soul. The Element of Magic burned him. It was killing him; his desperation move had killed him. There was such a temptation to just go slack and let it happen.

The void gradually became less and less vacant and nothing. An overwhelming presence second only to the gods themselves began to surround Zephyrus from all angles. The easterly wind roared and power flowed back through the possessed body.

Distant memories and sights flooded the controlled mind. Of gods and heroes. A blue unicorn with amethyst-colored eyes. The departure of their fellows into a world beyond. Only for a brand-new group to replace who had been lost in the Bearers. A siren with the very same damned eyes. Her cursed mother’s legacy in his hands. And the spite he felt at the nymphs and cyborg who got in his way.

Frostbite’s slackened arm clenched a fist as the flickering Element of Magic dimmed, suppressed by an overwhelming force now that it was separated from its fellow Elements. Ice regrew over it and the stolen siren heart.

A western wind came shrieking out of the portals leading to the void as more and more opened up around the school and across the sky.

Dark wings ripped the air apart as Frostbite Sparkle came rocketing back into the fray. The reassembled heroes were nearly blind sided when Zephyrus came hurtling at them. A quick-aim and firing by Adagio with her Element laden song magic did force her sire to divert path, dodging around the projection of magic in a tight roll, wrapping wings around their body and spinning about. The rapid projectile of dark magic and ice nearly collided with the group had they not ducked aside to dodge or been yanked aside by Gaea Everfree’s vines.

Zephyrus went flying directly into one portal, exiting another in a completely different direction across the school a moment later. Magic surged over their hand as they slashed at the air, creating yet another crash in the broken dimensional barrier. The heroes barely had time to register what was going on before a set of telekinetic talons cut another hole into space directly above them. Applejack gritted her teeth and kicked off the ground as hard as she could with her super strong legs, launching herself several meters backwards just before Zephyrus could collide with them. The windigo cut another hole into space before they nosedived into the pavement, reappearing above the school again and soaring over like an ominous vulture.

“Bust the Stone!” Rainbow Dash called out as she zipped upwards as fast as she could fly, trying to tackle the windigo, only for Zephyrus to pull another disappearing act and the Element of Loyalty had to put the air brakes on as much as possible lest she end up flying directly into wherever that dimensional tear led.

“AH’M TRYING!” Applejack growled as she held the stone in her palm and wound up again, smashing a fist into it as hard as possible like she was catching a punch in her hand. Despite the air audibly splitting from the strength of the impact and her own magic laden therein, the stone only showed cracks along the runic surface instead of fully splitting.

Another dark void opened up behind Applejack and Frostbite came flying out, eyes glowing and talons spread to seize and maul. A slash at the air carried a wave of telekinesis that was intercepted by a crystalline projection. But even though Rarity doubled and then tripled her defense, the windigo’s force was intense enough to shatter the diamonds into a powder. So, the fashion designer just kept piling the gems on, throwing her hands back and forth like she was hurling them herself and screaming like a madwoman. It was a desperation gambit to protect her friend as she got between the dark magic demon and Applejack.

Zephyrus, carving through diamond after diamond, glimpsed a frustrated Applejack throw down the gemstone and start stomping on it. Cracks split the concrete around her in all directions, showing just how hard she was hitting the stubborn rock. Covered in diamond fragments, the windigo shrieked and instead grabbed onto the latest diamond thrown at them; letting the momentum carry them backwards into the portal.

Both they and the diamond fell tumbling out across the schoolyard, the latter hurled at Applejack like a cannonball. Vines and roots split out of the ground to twist and knit together, wrapping around a hunk of rubble and using it like a flail to lift and swing wide. Gaea Everfree controlled the movements of the weaponized tendril with her arms, batting away the diamond with enough force to send it burrowing into what remained of the school clocktower. She attempted to bring the weapon to bear against Zephyrus, but the windigo cut another portal into the air and diverted away in the span of a moment.

“Any luck?!” Gaea called out.

Applejack had resorted to jumping up and down, kicking as hard as she could with both legs to double-stomp on the Memory Stone. The stony façade had chipped and cracked. The sheer force as well as her own magic was clearly having an effect and if given enough time, she probably could’ve shattered it on her own even if some other magical force might’ve had an easier go at it.

“Ah need to hit it harder to split it!” Applejack cried out, growling as she picked up the blasted thing from the small crater she had broken into the ground.

“And we need to keep them off you!” Fluttershy piped whilst trying to redirect some of the hard light creatures to swarm around the schoolyard and catch up to the rapidly dodging Zephyrus, who was either shooting down those that tried to rush them or diving into a portal to come up somewhere else.

Applejack huffed after trying again to crack the Memory Stone open by attempting to work a finger into a fissure she’d broken open, “Ah need something really hard to beat it against an’ maybe a hand or two! This things’ tougher than it looks and keeps busting through the concrete when I hit it against it! Need something heavy an’ something sharp!-”

Fluttershy managed to scream loud enough to shout her out, “LOOK OUT!”

Zephyrus dodged into another portal to escape Fluttershy’s horde of manifest bugbears and came rocketing out of another one. They’d have managed to collide with Applejack had Adagio Dazzle not gotten in the way. The scream that came out of the siren didn’t at all sound human, even if the overtures there in could be considered a type of song.

A wave of magic smashed into Frostbite Sparkle and forced them to halt their advance, staggering backwards and trying to shield with their wings. Fluttershy’s horde pursued downwards to mob at the windigo who’d begun dropping out of the air. Pecking and clawing at the darkened wings, they were able to force the incoming attacker back; but not stop them from exiting through another portal to flank them again. Not a moment later did they reappear, forcing Fluttershy, Adagio, and half the group to split focus on defense against an enemy they could certainly beat in a direct confrontation; but were having a very hard time pinning down.

“Would this work?” Rarity said in haste as she bit her tongue and worked her magic. This was most certainly working on the fly, but she was a designer.

Working her hands like she was snipping off excess with a pair of scissors, she manifested a new diamond. Smaller than the typical, but still initially on par with herself in scale before being cut down. Piece by piece, until what remained was roughly the size of a football. Honed to a sharp point. Applejack caught the piece and affixed the point to the crack in the stone she’d opened up, before wasting no time smashing the stone against the nearest diamond projection Rarity had already summoned. The point bit in, the impact split the air with a snap; and yet the stubborn stone refused to break.

Several more hits followed up shortly after, whilst the rest of the group focused on keeping Zephyrus at bay despite constant flanking maneuvers and portal jumps. Applejack wailed on the crystal with the wedge until the cracks split across the face of the diamond; and one strong blow shattered it into dust.

“Ah’ crabapples…” Applejack muttered with a deadpan expression stenciled across her face, “Rares! I need another one to anvil off of!”

“Won’t work!” Rarity huffed whilst trying to block off a portal Zephyrus was trying to claw out of with another gemstone, “Crystals have a cleave point! You hit it against more and it’ll just break it or break that wedge!”

“Well what’s harder and tougher than a diamond?!”

As if to answer the question, a tremor shot through the ground after a tremendous impact across town. Anguirus was making his way towards the bay where the battle of giants had traveled, trying to be mindful not to step on what hadn’t already been so badly damaged.

“Iiiiii think I got an idea!” Applejack heard Rainbow Dash call out, before tracking her friend’s line of sight backwards, straight to the edge of Anguirus’ spiky shell.

“Aaand just how am I supposed-ta get to that?!” Applejack groaned.

“I can handle that! Lemme just build up some speed!”

Rainbow Dash grinned and bolted over, planting a hand on AJ’s shoulders and vaulting herself up and over her taller friend to grab her around the hips. Her wings started beating harder and harder, her entire frame, and consequently AJ’s too due to RD holding onto her, started to vibrate.

“Aa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-rr-r-r-r-r-r-e-ee-e-e-a-a-a-a-a-all-ll-l-l-l-y h-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-t-t-t-t-e-e-e-e-”

“C-o-o-o-o-v-e-r u-u-u-u-s-s-s-s!” RD yelped out before kicking off the ground like she was in a track sprint. A few bounds were mixed with wing flaps to propel her and Applejack forward at ever increasing speed. They bent around in an arch, spinning and running in a circle as Rainbow Dash approached her top speed.

Applejack was not amused, “-HAAA-A-A-A-A-T-T-T-E-E-E-E T-H-H-H-H-I-I-I-I-S-S-S- I-I-I-I-D-E-E-E-E-A-A-A-A-A-!!!!!”

The group of heroines saw Rainbow Dash speed away, holding onto a yelling Applejack the whole way. Rarity was the first to notice Zephyrus’ eye tracking the Elements of Loyalty and Honesty as they started to gain momentum zooming in a circle around the school, RD having to evidently build up some momentum due to hauling AJ along with herself. Sure enough, the demon opened up one portal to dive in and then lunged out from another, trying to compensate for Rainbow Dash’s speed advantage by warping ahead of her. RD had to tightly grip Applejack to jump and spin aside, dodging a telekinetic slash that cut through the street she’d been standing on. Not focusing on counter attacking, Rainbow hit the ground running again to try and build up momentum. Seeing this, Rarity caught Applejack’s left-behind hat as it swayed through the air heading back to terra firma, and plopped it onto her own head.

“You heard her, come on ladies!” Rarity yelled out as she ran forward with the rest jogging to keep up, save one.

Fluttershy, managing to hover in the air, flew by Rarity, “How are we supposed to catch up to them?”

“We don’t have to! We just need to slow them down!” Generosity said to Kindness whilst pointing at Frostbite Sparkle and the portal they dove into, “They put all these nasty things here, so it’s about time we used them!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Fluttershy winced, “I thought our magic worked best together, wouldn’t that risk splitting us up?”

Adagio Dazzle sprinted along next to them whilst pointing across the school to their other ace in the hole, “Yeah, and Zephyrus isn’t the only one with a finger on the pulse for the portals anymore! We just gotta keep them off your friends so they can bust that stone. We break that, and their control over both X and the other Twilight will be damaged.”

The group barreled towards Celestia with intent and a plan.

========

Zephyrus sneered, emerging out of a portal to again try and strike at the speedster. Their aim had been improving and while they lacked the ability to stop time briefly anymore, the reinvigoration by Eurus had managed to help steel their powers by suppressing the Element of Magic’s rebellion. The windigo had just begun to take aim when movement to their right caught their focus.

The wave of telekinesis they had loosed out was intercepted by a crystalline formation seemingly materializing directly in front of them. The diamond did not survive the blast, but it did cause the detonation to literally go off in Zephyrus’ face. Reverberating shockwaves blew them backwards and they tumbled into the portal they had just emerged from. Briefly changing into an equine form before falling through another portal being spat back out in the human world, they quickly reoriented away from trying to find out what just happened and focus on the rainbow-colored blur still building up momentum and speed.

Only for a successive series of hardlight forms, plant growth, and a blasting torrent of sound to bombard them from every angle. Panic, for whatever they could feel it, surged through Zephyrus’ mind as they cut and gashed into the dimensional barrier more and more. Every time they rushed through one portal to try and flank, a counterattack soon followed. The brats were on the demon within moments and Frostbite Sparkle’s advance was completely halted.

One cut portal into the air for use as a hasty escape route soon gave a reason as to why.

When Zephyrus had cut that portal, the spacial split had previously connected two adjacent patches of Equestrian airspace at a random point in high-altitude, to two opposite ends of the schoolyard. It had been a bid to cover more ground, to try and get at Rainbow and Applejack when the former ran another lap at her ever-increasing pace.

Only when Zephyrus dived back through it, he wasn’t spat back into empty skies, but briefly was sent rushing through a tract of forest. A dumbstruck Moonbeam Glimmer understandably bid a hasty backpedal when what looked like a demonic version of Princess Twilight Sparkle briefly appeared in front of her out from one hole in space before diving into another not far ahead.

Another attempted attack was thwarted when Zephyrus found themselves flying headlong into a waiting Gaea Everfree’s onslaught. A tight roll with their wings and sharpened waves of telekinesis just barely saved them from follow-up attacks after a tendril grabbed them by the leg and smashed them against the side of the gymnasium.

-How was she there?! She wasn’t at the other end of the portal before?!-

It was baffling once when Zephyrus had it happen once. It was doubly so when another excursion resulted in a face full of siren magic upon diving through one portal, only to pop up directly in front of Adagio. Thrice when another attack was thwarted by Fluttershy releasing a horde upon the windigo’s arrival. Then the damned diamonds again.

-What is this?!-

Zephyrus braced after getting knocked back once again. This time when they went fumbling out into Equestria, the portal seemingly slammed shut behind them. The forest, some random place in the old continent, was immaculately quiet. That silence was shattered when the typically collected windigo shrieked in inarticulate rage. Telekinetic waves crushed the ground and tore trees apart into splinters. Their horn cut the air and re-opened a portal back to the schoolyard.

It was just as Zephyrus was emerging from their jaunt that the portal started to close again. It shrank, considerably by the millisecond, and had Zephyrus been just a hair slower it would have either closed on top of them or snapped shut in front of them. At this rate, this was far from coincidence, and he knew it.

-Someone is doing this!-

Spite surged and they manually assumed control of the portal, redirecting its location to the faint traces of magic they could perceive affecting the gateway. Princess Celestia, smirking in her human expression, greeted them in sight before her eyes glimmered with magic. Even lacking the Element of Magic’s crystal, her connection to it all the same was enough for one of the most powerful sorcerers that ever lived. The very same crystal started to glimmer and spark, fighting against Eurus’ curse to try and keep it suppressed, whilst Zephyrus flew towards one of two potential bearers.

In that brief instant, perhaps more than near any time before, fear overpowered the windigo’s spite. The scream they let out almost resembled words as Celestia reached forward towards the oncoming dark bastardization of her faithful student, poised for their neck and the power they held captive. Still barreling at her, it was Zephyrus’ frantic use of magic that changed the portal location this time.

They were spat out in a random point outside of the school grounds, tumbling end over end across the street. Skidding to a stop over the pavement, Zephyrus shook all over with widened eyes. Panting breaths he typically didn’t need were puffed between gritted teeth. The icy talons upon their hands clenched downwards into the asphalt, digging into the road and crushing it into their palms in some bid to anchor themselves. A clenched fist was beaten into the road in a show of frustration.

Telekinesis fractured the pavement all around them up and down the street, snapping a power pole in two and blowing down a wall to an outlet store. Staggering back to their feet with spread wings, Frostbite Sparkle glared at the schoolyard. Several portals they had created, leading to random points in Equestria for which to later spread the storm, reoriented to face them. Brief glimpses of a prancing brilliance in the shape of a unicorn sprang out from another; and a trotting earth pony stepped through another accompanied by viridian forest growth. Seawater billowed out of a forth, and the illuminated silhouette of a marine siren quickly morphed into a young woman as Adagio joined up with Rarity and Gaea in standing between Zephyrus and their prey.

The absence of Fluttershy was noticed and Zephyrus glared in the direction of a bellowing thunder.

Hands still on a portal a long distance away, Princess Celestia smirked after having orchestrated this. Pulling that off with so many portals so quickly was beyond taxing, it was hard to keep standing. But Twilight wasn’t the only quick study. And if they were to have limited magic working here, she’d just have to turn Zephyrus’ own asset against them.

And just in time too. Atop Anguirus' head, having been deposited there by a repurposed portal, Fluttershy had just gotten done explaining the situation to the ankylosaur kaiju. Being an omniglot able to talk to all types of creatures had its applications. The original plan had been to ram the stone against the back of his heel, but extra assurance always helped. And Rainbow Dash was quick on the uptake as soon as she saw Anguirus turn around towards the school.

The Kaiju lowered down and tilted sideways, pointing the hard span of his reinforced shell forwards at ground level. The rainbow hued surge that was RD and AJ sped up higher and higher still, until it finally reached a key point, a climax of speed and magic only one other in modern magic had achieved: Rainbow's other self.

The explosion of multicolored magic burst from the track as the human world's first ever sonic rainboom shocked the land and skies. Rainbow Dash sprinted and flew forward, barreling at Anguirus who had noticed and quickly dug himself further into the ground to brace. It was a good choice too. In another world, another possibility, it took a concentrated blast from all seven Elements to destroy the Memory Stone. Here? The contact of about half the Elements with Applejack holding onto it, Rainbow holding onto Applejack, Rarity’s gem wedged into the stone, and Fluttershy holding onto Anguirus, added magical contribution from Anguirus’ mana charged body, prior damage to the stone with more Elements around; and sheer kinetic force did the job.

Applejack, throwing her full strength into it and going at supersonic speed, smashed the stone upon the flat of Anguirus’ shell. It was a good thing she’d gotten that training on enhancing her physicality and durability, as the Memory Stone all but exploded in her hands when Rarity’s crystal broke through it.

Rainbow Dash abruptly changed direction to avoid crashing into Anguirus, diverting their path into a spare portal in a bid to stretch out their descent and slow themselves down. They wound up popping out as a screaming pegasus and earth pony mare in the very same patch of woods Zephyrus initially tried to ditch them in. A familiar purple alicorn was still present, standing in a rune of glowing indigo magic modified from a spell Lea had taught her.

“HI-TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash yelped as she went zooming by the glade, flying into another portal, only to get spat out into the glade again at another angle via another portal.

“STONE’S BROKE!” she yelped out before repeating the process, slowing herself down marginally each pass, “WHAT’S THE- PLAN- NOW?!”

Upon the next pass through, Princess Twilight managed to spare some magic to grab the two with some telekinesis, swinging them around to gradually match and then slow down their momentum, before depositing them on the ground.

“Phew! Thanks Twi’!” Applejack huffed, still standing on her hindlegs despite being a pony as she reached up for her hat out of muscle memory, only to realize she’d left it behind in their haste and shot a brief glance at a sheepish Rainbow Dash, “So what’s with the magic chalk painting?”

Applejack tapped her hoof on the ground near the rune, careful and perhaps a bit apprehensive about directly stepping on it.

“Zephyrus tried to deny me my magic’s contribution by putting me somewhere else. And while I may not have the Element of Magic’s talisman on me at this very moment, I’m still a bearer and have some of that magic in me already,” Twilight explained with a smirk, “I’m magnifying it and going to put it to use. If that frost demon thinks I’m out and the team is down because I lost a special rock, he’s got another thing coming!”

“OOohoho! I like the way you think! That jerk never had you licked to begin with!” Rainbow Dash sniggered, “So, Egghead, what’s step 2 looking like now?”

Twilight deadpanned briefly and snorted before looking up at the portal which the human form of her mentor stood holding open, “We need to all form up and target a windigo. Soon as a siren has them vulnerable, we blast them by rerouting that portal to one right in front of them. That still do-able… Peachy Keen?”

She looked up to see Princess Celestia roll her eyes but nod nonetheless.

“Great!” Twilight beamed, “So! How’s the fight going?”

“Well, that one inside that big skeleton guy might be the easiest to target if we all gotta be facing or near them,” Applejack said with a gulp and flattening of her ears on instinct.

Twilight perked her brow, “Why’s that?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged with her raised forearms, “Because last we saw her, Sunset was hanging onto his face so the magical-pew-pew would go right at him.”

Both Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight went wide-eyed.

“SHE’S WHAT?!”

=======

Zephyrus saw the magenta-hued surge coming at them and knew what it was. The memories and in many ways sense of self of Twilight Sparkle, the native one whose body he was piloting at the moment. A large chunk of her soul itself in a way, flying at him.

If that joined to his body, Twilight's consciousness he'd been keeping all but brain dead and comatose in the perfect conditions to pilot her frame, would risk waking up. If she awakened and fought back, it could risk a repeat of what happened to Notus. Zephyrus was far stronger at base than the slain Southern Wind, but the Element of Magic had and still was burning him from the inside out. And he'd also seen what siren magic could do to the equation when he absorbed the remnants of his stained brethren.

Boreas' daughter had managed to wrench Notus out of that human he'd been occupying once the latter woke up and fought back. Zephyrus practically experienced it himself when what was left of Notus echoed out to him and Boreas. Whatever it was in that blasted song the sirens knew, when applied to light magic, made them much more vulnerable to the Elements' exposure.

All the protective measures Zephyrus had taken to avoid the one thing that could actually meaningfully hurt him risked being completely upended if Twilight woke up and a siren used the right melody. A direct blast by the Goddess’ magic in the form of the Elements would destroy them no matter what, but outside of a body and soul to hide behind it would be near instant demise instead of damaging.

Zephyrus fled. Frostbite Sparkle slashed a portal into the air behind them and dove into it, closing it upon their exit just as Twilight Sparkle’s memories and self nearly caught up to them. The violet magic sparked and hovered in midair, before re-locking onto their body. Like a homing missile, it continued to chase down the windigo in a bid to rejoin with their rightful body and mind.

Held in place by several kaiju, Boreas couldn’t dodge when what remained of Monster X’s mind surged into them. Aspects of 094’s mind already woken up by Aria, Junior, and Sunset’s efforts, the memories became a force of consciousness instead of the unconscious. Their body sparked and glimmered. Memories, sights, sounds, and feelings fully rejoined themselves together. Praetorian Guard 094’s spirit was revived and Boreas’ control faltered. The windigo-possessed kaiju thrashed and jerked uncontrollably, halting all attempts to effectively fight back.

==============

Watching the battle inside and out from a distance, Rarity spied the forms of Applejack and Rainbow Dash hop out of the portal to Equestria that Princess Celestia was still holding open; with Fluttershy flying over from being previously atop Anguirus. Sensing where they’d be needed and having spotted Zephyrus disappear into a portal, chased by the human Twilight’s memories, they quickly had made their way over towards the former alicorn.

“Gather around, my little humans,” Celestia said with a nod as she double checked the portal to ensure the gateway was still open for Princess Twilight to fire through, “I don’t like the thought of Sunset having to hang on to a kaiju any longer than necessary, even if he has rejoined the battle in our ranks.”

“Alright! Time to light him up ladies!” Applejack chimed with a smirk as she grabbed onto her igniting Element and started to focus.

Several likewise brilliant radiances grew from her compatriots. Each Bearer two halves to a whole, the embodied Element and the physical crystal to help focus and magnify that power. Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Empathy in the case of the distant Sunset; and even if she lacked a talisman, Twilight being back in Equestria and focusing everything she had into the spellwork kept Magic in the equation. Even with Laughter still missing, the power was palpable in the air so long as it stayed together.

Lined up perfectly like arranging a billiards shot, with Twilight biting her tongue slightly as she focused her magic towards her friends and at Monster X far in the distance with Sunset directly behind him.

The magic was almost let loose right before she glimpsed a second violet glimmer indicative of her element, and the view of the portal she intended to fire through abruptly changed to a deep void. Eastern galeforce winds with biting cold started billowing into the forest, flash-freezing foliage and forcing Princess Twilight to throw up a magical shield to keep her grounding.

Something had ruptured the connection between her and the human world’s portal. Someone had changed the destination to Eurus’ realm.

Back in the human world, Frostbite Sparkle smirked as she finished her flyby, having extended their magic to redirect the portal’s location. Zephyrus didn’t know their full plan, but he recognized they had one. One that relied on that portal being where it was supposed to be with the group having gathered there.

They winced as the Element of Magic, so close to its rightful owner, sparked and shocked them; briefly locking up their body. Just in time for a geyser of song magic to smash into them and send the windigo reeling. Vine work soon burst from the ground and seized one of their wings, trying to pin the demon to the pavement. Had Gaea a moment longer before the Eastern Winds came crashing out of the portal behind her, she might have been able to seize and restrain Frostbite long enough for Rainbow Dash or Applejack to finish the job after Adagio shot them out of the sky.

That moment of freedom however was enough for the injured Frostbite to hastily cut another portal into the air and dive through it to safety.

Princess Celestia grabbed back onto the portal, withstanding the horrific gales spilling out of it and trying to reach into her mind once more. The force behind it, the fourth windigo, knew what she was; perhaps even more than Celestia herself knew. They were closing in, rapidly. It was a battle between her magic and their very presence to try and force the portal back to Equestria and away from the damned realm the demon was trying to emerge from. The tear in space oscillated back and forth between a bewildered Twilight Sparkle and the distant lights in the void that amounted to Eurus’ eyes.

“He-He is trying to- emerge!” Celestia cried out as she fought back against the dark magic conducting into her body whilst grasping the portal.

“What can we do?!” Fluttershy yelped, recovering from a fall the wind had knocked her into and coming up beside the former alicorn as Rarity came along on the other side.

Celestia quickly ran through her massive backlog of experience for an answer. Godzilla had once trumpeted her as the greatest magic teacher in all of history, a title she still personally thought belonged to Starswirl.

She winced as ice started to form rapidly across one of her arms. Celestia winced and grit her teeth, concentrating as hard as she could to bear through the pain.

-Damn it, you are not affecting me! This is no time for self doubt!-

Flickers of magic sparked across her form, coalescing in three vacant slots for Elements around her neck. She had resummoned some of her strength and the aspects of heroism that made her worthy of those powers yet remained, but in this human body without time to adapt or the means to bring forth that full potential; she was working with a fraction of her full capacity. And this blast of dark magic was easily magnitudes more powerful than the first she'd fended off before transforming Godzilla.

The Eastern winds howled, warbling almost like laughter. Failure, biting, bitter failure was all that those who bore the impact of those gales could feel; not just Celestia. Eurus was reminding his foe of that, privy to the vacant three spots on her neck for the Elements of Magic, Laughter, and Kindness. An enforced narrative she was no longer worthy of any of them, much less using the other ones again.

The windigo soon got a glare of a gaze cast back at it. Princess Celestia’s grip on the portal was renewed, tightly clutching its edges to not only keep it open but withstand its onslaught. The former solar alicorn gathered herself onto her feet and tightened herself down, sneering as she managed to keep her footing even against the intensifying winds. Flickers of that climactic battle with Nightmare Moon were omnipresent in her mind, Eurus’ glare shifting back and forth in place of her vision with a lunging dark alicorn. The six objects of her dread had been swirling around her then when she had to use the Elements solo, and now the bearers were having to bear the brunt of the worst calamity of evil she'd yet met.

But whilst six elements weren’t here now, she’d had 1,000 years to learn how to improvise.

“BEARERS!” A Royal Canterlot Voice cried out, so loud even Sunset Shimmer heard it, “I NEED THEE!”

And, they, resummoning already returning courage, came. Applejack held onto Celestia’s left arm, helping keep the princess from crumbling to the ground. Rainbow Dash was soon on the other side. Rarity got behind her, pushing against her shoulder whilst bracing against Applejack. Beating her wings against the gale forces, Fluttershy helped keep the winds from yanking Celestia’s head backwards with a hand on it and arm around her middle.

Celestia could feel their magic. Bearing any of them had been a time fargone, but sharing them was slightly older. But if the magic conducted into her was a reminder of anything, especially with the hands of those Bearers offering their support, it was how things had changed. Six normal ponies for two alicorns. It was something she herself had once hoped for when it became clear Nightmare Moon would return. It was why she’d sent Twilight to Ponyville in the first place. Why she’d been relieved that this power was to be shared. And why’d she’d been so happy to see her other student, once former and now again current, take up a mantle of her own and to help train these same heroines.

Bearing all of that alone was scary, even for her. But, there was something magic about bonds like friendship to split a load.

Eurus’ ploy would have no power over her nor them, he would not disrupt the plans.

Princess Celestia’s eyes ignited with white magic as multiple Elements conducted through her body for the first time in over 1,000 years. Eurus was mighty, near impossibly so. But now, he was having a fight. The portal started to shift back and forth, caught in a tug-of-war to go back to Equestria or remain in the void.

=========

Frostbite Sparkle, emerging from another portal across the school grounds, stilled as they sensed what was happening. The portal shift they’d started was already beginning to change back! Whirling around with a shriek that resembled the word ‘NO!’ in as much fear as it sounded of rage, Zephyrus didn’t even have time to attack before another blast of song magic smashed into them and sent windigo’s host body flying through a surviving storefront.

“They got their fight, keep the bastard off them!” Adagio Dazzle, eyes still a radiant hue of borrowed magic, called out over the storm. She and Zephyrus locked eyes in a glare, until the former suddenly changed.

Her eyes went wide, as if in shock briefly, before shifting into a smirk. Gaea likewise seemed lightened at something seen.

Zephyrus paused briefly, not knowing why the change happened. He didn't see what the two seemed to have noticed, because by the time they looked back to follow the siren's and nymph's line of sight, nothing was there. Instead his focus was quickly pulled back by the violet hued glow flying forward from behind the two heroines. The human Twilight Sparkle's memories, much of her sense of self, was rushing forward. Frostbite Sparkle as a whole existed thanks to their absence. If rejoined together, as the memories automatically sought to do now that they'd been freed, Zephyrus’ control would be starkly upset.

So focused was he on the oncoming violet hue that the windigo failed to notice the red flash glimpsed across the corner of their vision until it was almost too late. A blade extended fourth from a flexed wrist, spearing forwards and cutting across Frostbite Sparkle’s cheek. It was telling of the extreme nature of the dark magic corruption that blood did not seep free in large quantities from the slashed cheek, instead freezing over almost instantly to seal the wound shut. Zephyrus had reflexively ducked to the side and avoided some of the initial contact, but not the full impact of someone having carried momentum built up across his fast travel to rejoin the battle, tackling into their back.

The windigo-infested and their assailant tumbled out of the air and crashed into the ground in a tangle. In the heap and tussle, Zephyrus managed to grab the two hands poised for their face by the wrist, just barely keeping the edge of a scythe from their throat. Lacking their original sunglasses, mechanical eyes they last saw effectively dead and entirely robotic, free of emotion, glared back at them.

“YOU AGAIN!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!” Zephyrus shrieked.

"Didn't stick," a fully-repaired Gigan only smirked as those camera-like optics glowed red.

A telekinetic blast blew Gigan off of the windigo with a wave of force, but couldn’t stop his optic blasts from launching free. Zephyrus attempted to dodge by opening up a portal directly underneath himself and falling through it, but the particle beam of energy pursued through the dimensional tear and scattered like a shotgun blast. Zephyrus came flying out from a portal not far away, recoiling back and smoking from the scatter shots exploding against their body.

They glared at their now three-pronged opposition as Gigan was caught and held up by Adagio and Gaea catching him by either arm, but had no time to fight back. A combination of stabbing tendrils, concussive song magic, and a follow-up optic blast chased them through another portal; with Twilight’s displaced memories doggedly in pursuit as well.

The echoes of the kaiju brawl, the confrontation at the portal, and Zephyrus having to frantically dodge alternating salvos of their attacks were all that Adagio, Gigan, and Gaea could hear or focus on for a time. It seemed like a solid minute later that they finally managed to exchange a bit of banter between taking pot shots at the rapidly dodging Zephyrus.

“How are you in one piece again?!” Adagio barked after blasting her sire through the building of what used to be the Arcade with a magic blast.

“So you do care? Long story, let’s kill your sire first-” Gigan snarked, casual in the face of the mayhem around them before perking up, “One moment-“

He vanished in a burst of red light, reappearing behind Zephyrus who promptly screamed inarticulately upon seeing the metallic menace back in front of him. Whatever kind of swearing or cursing he was spouting in an archaic tongue; it and his dodging of Gigan’s lunging slash took his focus off his surroundings for a brief moment and allowed a threat of the vines to grasp onto their leg. Gaea Everfree grinned and clenched a fist, squeezing down on the foot and swinging Frostbite Sparkle off her bearings and into the oncoming ethereal mass composing Twilight’s memories.

They would have made contact had Zephyrus not slashed the air and opened up a portal right in front of them, causing the memories to fly into the portal and exit out another. Still, there was some satisfaction in Gaea getting the chance to smash the windigo into the pavement twice before they got free. Gigan teleported back to his company and smashed a palm to his face.

“Damn it! Thought we had them there! What is that stuff anyways? I saw them running from it whilst closing in and knew it had to be something important.”

“The human Twilight’s memories. The Bearers managed to smash the stone holding hers and X’s stolen parts,” Gaea Everfree chimed in, still commanding ever growing amounts of flora to attack the dodging Zephyrus like she was operating a claw machine.

"Zephyrus could barely handle Aria going all out, let alone us now or the Bearers," Adagio yelled out as she tried to focus on the rapidly warping Zephyrus who seemed to intentionally opening up as many portals as possible to fast-travel around the town, "We have more than enough power to take them out now, but they'd stopped fighting and started just dodging. We're keeping them off the Bearers to do their thing just fine but..."

Adagio paused to release a burst of sound magic at the windigo, only to hit a portal instead and see her attack go flying out down the street instead.

"But?" Gigan raised his eyebrow.

"I really want to see him gone. Optimally without damage to Sonata's necklace or the idiot wearing it," Adagio huffed.

"I can see that, no complaints from me. I can also see there's been some changes with you two," Gigan chuckled after glancing at both of them.

Adagio and Gaea became away they'd been still holding hands this whole time. The siren stayed focused on trying to tag her sire with a magic salvo as the nymph turned red and stammered, “Oh er-yeah we got a lot to talk about later when we get through this! Ehehe... I kinda kissed Adagio earlier.”

Gigan sparked slightly but didn’t frown, casually shooting at the frantic windigo as well, “Oh, it’s okay! I did too- or would it count as her doing it to me given I was half collapsed at the time?”

“Look, I’m a romantic at heart and I’m gonna do it to both of you lovefish after we get through this!” Adagio Dazzle yelled as she lightly bopped both of them on the heads, “But my emotions are really running high at the moment! So, let’s kill this bastard ourselves first, and then I can sort through them all to decide whatever this is between us!”

Gaea and Gigan glanced at each other before the wood nymph and alien cyborg both gave Adagio a thumbs up and grin, “OKAY!”

The sea witch in human form, born of a mermare princess and a frost demon, was really beginning to wonder when it was that her life got so damn weird.

==========

Back at the clash of giants as the kaiju grappled to hold Boreas’ possessed body of X still, another siren finally saw her opening. She had started this revival, and the Bearers had done their part in getting the stone broken if that explosion was anything to go by. But her lover was a fractured soul and there was one last piece to the puzzle. One that glimmered in her golden hues.

-”Ready?!”- Aria Blaze called out mentally to her compatriots, receiving affirmation in turn.

She stopped the now rapid-fire-blocking-sparring exercise and jumped up. Sunset Shimmer tightly grabbed onto the siren in a piggyback, shutting her eyes and holding fast to her cohort just as Aria jumped upwards. Contact broken, Godzilla resumed full control of his body and lunged forward. With no room to dodge, Boreas was grabbed onto even as he now bore the full brunt of an ensuing gale force and scream by Boreas.

Godzilla powered through the dark magic festering over his body as he lurched at his foe. Thankfully the distance was not too far and he was tall enough to clear the deafening, air blast of a scream coming from Boreas’ maw. Junior’s jaws opened and he himself exhaled, more as a gust of air than an outcry. The rush of wind from his lungs was more than sufficient to propel Aria and Sunset through the air and right into Monster X’s face. Boreas’ pale, dead eyes which clouded X’s usual reds, swiveled around and widened at the shape latching onto his brow.

Kaizer Aria and her sire were again face to face, only he was now the one who screamed for their family member to get away. He didn’t get the chance when Godzilla grabbed onto his front, Irys and Battra an arm each, and Anguirus latched onto his legs to bind them. Boreas thrashed and screamed, cursing in dead tongues as Sunset Shimmer’s hand inched closer to his body by the fractions of a millisecond.

Inside the mental realm that was within the possessed kaiju, an otherwise barren expanse of frost and darkness stretching into the horizon with a chained and frozen 094 captive at its core, Boreas’ malefic form felt himself no longer alone. His captive was screaming and yanking at his bonds, breaking several and forcing Boreas to split focus between the fight and rebinding the Xilian soul. They weren’t the only present however, as a voice confirmed that as a burning heat started to melt away the frost in the seemingly blizzard-like hellscape visible all around.

“I told you, Boreas, there were two things you needed to remember. The second biggest mistake you ever made was taking the body of someone I care about….”

Aria Blaze’s voice echoed, a presence but not a sight. Even if he sired her, in this final hour she’d still never call him ‘father’ as to not so much as hint at any tie between them. Boreas’ ghostly form swiveled around to face the invading force.

“The greatest mistake you ever made was making me.”

Boreas sneered but didn’t disagree. While Zephyrus had been the one to suggest the idea of increasing their numbers, Boreas frankly always agreed with the notion the mermare princesses would likely have killed their first ‘attempts’. He should have seen to it himself, with how she was disturbing him. Ignore his new body, the glee he’d gotten tormenting others with her mate’s form, his ego and pride had been wounded, being disturbed like this had canceled out all of that.

He detected her presence within the mindscape, rapidly approaching the chained consciousness of 094, and acted quickly and reflexively. His ghostly visage lunged at the glowing mass of violet appearing in the dark storm. The spectral image resembling a horse tackled the illuminated silhouette resembling a mermare.

"You wretch! You can act bold all you like, but I know you can break just as your mother did!" Boreas hissed, pinning Aria's conscious avatar into the frost to affix her to the frozen wasteland below and make for her crystalline heart, “There is no song to save you here. You will become just like I am.”

A grin split his face despite the outrage, “I’ve been itching to see how much you’ll take after me once you become Borealis!”

Aria was unmoved, only staring back.

"My mother beats you today. You forgot something," the siren smirked whilst gold and black lit up across her avatar and rapidly split off from her consciousness, as a red light started to melt away the frost as it rapidly approached, "I made some friends."

Boreas detected a familiar magic from decades prior. When he fought the first Bearer of the 7th Element, Wisteria, who’d handed him one of his worst defeats alone. Difference was, when Sunset Shimmer's consciousness represented by a fiery unicorn tackled the windigo, she wasn't alone either. Contact with her divine magic burned his malefic form, damaging his very soul or whatever he had that amounted to one.

Boreas was knocked backwards by Sunset's mental avatar smashing into them just in time for the gold and black energy to surge across Aria's form. She spotted the still chained representation of 094's mind, pausing for only the briefest second as she glimpsed an Xilian soldier's face. Until now she'd only seen X's old self only in brief memories of glimpsing a reflection in the periphery of Kaizer Ghidorah's incomplete recollections.

She surged for them just as they jerked their arms against the icy bonds holding them in place. Boreas struggled against Sunset Shimmer's mental avatar, snarling in painful rage as just contact with her consciousness seemed to burn him whilst her Element was active. He saw what his progeny was doing and who she was heading for.

A surge of pure spite and outrage erupted from his maw, perhaps flavored by a degree of shock or fear. Likely it was all facets present. He tried to pry the unicorn off himself, but Sunset was just as tenacious as her forerunner Wysteria. The moment Boreas got free, she was on top of him again, kicking and ramming into him. Aria's avatar changed entirely from violet and teal to a brilliant gold and deep black, only to lose that color as she flew straight into 094 like she left the colors behind.

“NO!” Boreas shrieked, realizing what was about to happen and lunging to stop his daughter’s avatar, only to get bashed into again by the fiery unicorn that represented Sunset Shimmer.

094 called out sharply as the gold and black sparks transferred out of Aria and crisscrossed over to his body. The icy chains and growths holding him down fully began to break and snap, his arms free as his body trembled and crackled. The frozen wastes began to steam and crack, like the very influence Boreas had upon them was rupturing at the seams.

Boreas shrieked in an utterance one couldn’t be sure of being a dead language of demons, or in sheer inarticulate rage. Ironically, if the latter, one could call it a meltdown for the frost demon.

The first attempt at using the Elements on Boreas at Camp Everfree nearly worked, only not succeeding instantly due to how fractured Praetorian 094's spirit was. It couldn't be connected to easily with its mind split into three parts, that within the body, within the necklace, and within Aria. To defeat evil was easy for the Elements, to purge it and work with a good soul required a different touch. But, if another consciousness was put inside the body and rejoined to his splintered portion, and that mind had a close connection to Aria Blaze who was holding onto and linking minds with Sunset Shimmer in the real world…

Attacking Boreas from the outside didn’t work easily. The inside was a different story.

Praetorian 094’s avatar, revitalized in a way not seen before, shattered his bonds. Many a memory flashed across the realm, pushing away the icy storm Boreas had induced to keep the mind in a constant state of misery and defeat to better suppress it. A war cry sounding like three thunderstorms cackled with vengeance and capitalized on the element bearer's success. The three long necks and horned crowns of Kaizer Ghidorah, manifested and towered over the windigo in this mental realm.

Kaizer Ghidorah could absorb souls to a degree, like the late King Ghidorah could. He could attempt that on this demon as he had accidentally absorbed the essence of Controller 011 all those decades ago, but decided against it. That could backfire and could imply some remnant of this horrific thing persisted.

Kaizer Ghidorah didn’t want to devour, only destroy.

Boreas shrieked like a spiteful hurricane, only to be met with an equal outcry of three thunderstorms that fought back to push the demon from his body.

In the outside world, Monster X’s body convulsed and sparked. A brief flicker of Boreas’ true form appeared across it, thrown upwards almost like it was being pushed out from within and fighting to reassert himself.

Glimpsing some of it from the outside, Godzilla couldn’t help but feel no small amount of satisfaction as he held onto Monster X’s body alongside his fellows. He remembered well what he’d done to counteract and fend off an attempt on his life and body by the felled windigo, Notus. These demons sought to use the spite and strife that existed between groups against them, the kaiju as much as if not more so than the Equestrians. Their war had spilled onto this world, in one way or another, and he and his companions were going to fight tooth and claw to rectify that.

Not like they’d be fighting alone either. His eye spotted the glimmering lights building up in the portals behind Monster X’s body as Celestia had finished rerouting several of them.

More and more of the portals that lead to the darker void spewed out torrents of cold-laden wind billowing in an eastern gale. The dark magic of Eurus surged into the region to plunge the temperatures, gnawing at the heroes and trying to invigorate the other windigos. But even as ice formed across all of the kaiju and beat against the magical auras of those blessed by Harmony, it was impossible to stop what had been set in motion.

He was still rusty with magic, but he knew the essence of solar power when he detected it. And those dark portals to Eurus’ realm weren’t staying that way.

Godzilla smirked toothily, weathering the storm for all its blowhard attempts to fell him and the others.

==========

Song magic blasted across Zephyrus and forced them backwards, reversing their momentum entirely and blowing them backwards right into a wall of woody fibers that burst from the ground. With their escape cut off in several directions in one wing snagged in by a vine that would hold them for just a moment, Gaea Everfree flashed the rapid series of red flashes behind her a thumbs up.

Gigan appeared in a burst of red light dozens of meters above the ground, plummeting down to the ground only to warp himself up again. Having built up a high velocity by essentially falling constantly, the cyborg nonetheless caught a glimpse of the signal and acted on it. Whilst it wasn’t perfect compared to him trying the same move against King Ghidorah, requiring Gaea and Adagio to pin the windigo down briefly to compensate for lack of controlled flight, the jerry-rigging was their best bet. Hurling himself out of another warp, just as much falling horizontally as it was a pitch, Gigan burst into existence right in front of the surprised and shrieking Zephyrus. The windigo let loose a telekinetic wave to counter the oncoming cyborg, but it wasn’t enough to stop them with how fast Gigan was going.

The impact carried a physical reverberation that recoiled into both of them when Gigan slammed into Frostbite Sparkle. Had Twilight not a magically boosted constitution, it likely would have shattered bones given even Gigan felt his joints strain. It sent both cyborg and windigo hurtling backwards, blasting through the woody barrier Gaea tried to maintain. As they hurtled through the air in a chaotic spiral, Gigan retracted his blade and attempted to grab at either of the two necklaces still situated around their neck or embedded in the collar.

He glimpsed the Element of Magic flickering as Sonata’s stolen siren heart pulsed with an unnatural, eerie blue light.

The snapping recoil of his hand getting blasted backwards by a siren barrier blew him off Frostbite Sparkle like a batted pinball. Thrown backwards violently, Gigan would have slammed into the concrete side of the school’s surviving tower had a wall of moving air propelled by song magic going the opposite direction not slowed him down. It was enough for several vines to snap upwards. They matched his speed, grabbed on, and carried his momentum in a swooping path that slowed him back down enough to redirect towards the ground; both Adagio and Gaea catching the sparking cyborg by an arm each.

“You okay?!” Gaea Everfree yelped as she helped Gigan back up to his footing.

“Heh,” Gigan, sparking in several spots as he put a palm to his forehead, “Only messed up enough that I’m not grossed out by these anymore.”

He picked at one of the floral tendrils as Adagio lightly bopped him upside the head.

“It wasn’t a bad plan, but that should have worked,” Adagio frowned as she looked up at Frostbite Sparkle, who’d gotten back up after being blown down the street and being forced to retreat into another portal to avoid the dogged pursuit of Twilight’s memories, “You got my necklace back and Applejack got at them earlier too.”

“Best guess? Siren hearts can only be removed by the owner, someone related, or with permission. I got a shot because Zephyrus was holding onto your necklace and you obviously wanted me to get it back,” Gigan groaned, working a kink out of his back from the last stunt, “Something weird going on there, it was like the Element and the Heart were reacting off each other. Maybe it’s got to be a Bearer or Siren to remove it?..."

He paused, privy to how deeply he was verbally brainstorming, "What?! It's my best guess. Damn magic never makes sense to me.”

Gaea and Adagio frowned and glanced at each other as well as took light of where the Bearers were.

“The girls are tied up at the moment,” Adagio muttered, “The Siren Heart might let me through, I am Sonata’s sister.”

“And I got magic similar to a Bearer,” Gaea added on as she tightened a grip on the siren, “If I’m with you…”

“Problem? Kinetic energy hates us all,” Gigan groaned, cracking his wrist and mechanically flexing at his robotic fingers, “I just got fixed up, and I still feel like I almost blew my own arm off trying that stunt going near terminal velocity.”

“Then we’ll have to go slower,” Adagio countered, “Throw us at them with a sudden warp and get us on them!”

“They managed to still tag me despite how fast I was going! It would be like throwing you out of a speeding car, right into another one!” Gigan gasped as his head snapped around towards the siren, “I’m not about to do that if we can figure out something else!”

“Let me do this damnit!” Adagio yelled as she grabbed him by the collar, “I’m not going to let you bust yourself into pieces twice for me!”

“And I’m not letting you get pancaked because of my bad plan!” Gigan called back, a hand clasping hers.

“Hey-ey-ey-ey!” Gaea got between them both, simultaneously pushing them apart slightly whilst getting an arm and several tendrils around each, “I know love makes us all crazy, but I don’t think any of us are crazy about one of us getting hospitalized or worse for the others! So, let’s simmer down and think of another plan.”

“Oh yes,” Zephyrus interjected as they half emerged from another portal not too far away, “Please do.”

Adagio glared at her sire wearing the skin similar to someone who had become her unexpected friend. She knew nothing of this world’s Twilight, but frankly she didn’t mind adding ‘defaming the first alicorn Adagio had come to like’ to the list on the spirit of it to Eventide’s credit alone.

“Running scared of a little girl’s memories now?” The siren snorted as Twilight’s memories re-oriented and started rapidly closing in on Zephyrus, who was keeping an eye on them even whilst maintaining that glare on the group.

“... You know, you’re not the only one to think on the fly, spawn of mine,” Frostbite Sparkle growled as they started back into the portal, “Your reaction to those two runs from hyperbolic to calming… but I think I can show them the real you.”

They disappeared into the portal, closing it behind themselves again.

“That’s ominous,” Gigan grunted, flicking a blade out of one wrist and readying his cables, “I really hate it when these types start getting ideas.”

“He is focused on me,” Adagio frowned, “He thinks he can turn me into what he is, I know it.. Maybe if I separate and draw him in.”

“Uh uh, bad plan!” Gigan snapped, “Not when we don’t know what he’s about to pull!”

Adagio held his other hand and snapped her head around to him, “Well I don’t see us having any other options! We can beat them down easily now after the pummeling the Bearers gave him, but we can’t tag him with him jumping around everywhere!”

“Wait!” Gaea Everfree called out over both of them as she got between her cohorts, “... Where did he go?”

The three stopped to look around themselves, taking light of how Zephyrus hadn’t reappeared. Unconsciously, they shifted to put their backs together and cover all angles and make ready.

“They’re not rushing the Bearers again,” Adagio muttered as she glanced over at their own battle.

“Not interfering with the kaiju,” Gigan said in the same quiet tone as he looked towards the harbor and prayed for that battle’s result.

Gaea Everfree was about to report in her own sight before her companions felt her freeze up suddenly.

“GET BACK!”

She cried out, to the siren and cyborg’s mutual surprise, just as she yanked them both aside in opposite directions just as her footing left terra firma. A portal had opened up directly beneath Gaea Everfree, one leading the Eurus’ dark void she quickly found herself falling into.

================

The mental battle between an incomplete Praetorian 094 or Monster X against the windigo was previously ongoing in a back and forth that favored the former thanks to outside influences. Now? It wasn’t even much of a fight at all. Boreas was powerful, but getting weakened by Sunset’s presence and attacked from all angles by Aria and X’s combined mental assault; he was getting thrashed even whilst trying to hang on.

Memories fully rejoined, a mind reconstituted in full, Boreas felt the surge of consciousness and power blasting into his already damaged form. He was mighty, he was powerful, more so than Notus; but he had his limits. Between the repeated run-ins with Element Bearers hitting him with the only magic he was actually vulnerable to, the mental clash with a daughter who just might surpass him in some ways; and now having to fight the near indomitable will of a kaiju who had every reason to oppose him in every which way; it was simply too much.

The windigo shrieked, violently being shoved out of the roaring body of Monster X. His horrific true form was briefly visible above X’s body, larger in size despite his gaunt appearance. The North Wind clung to the Xilian dragon knight’s body by a single thread, his spectral form overlaying the giant’s hand. In a bid of pure desperation, Boreas half clawed his way back inside Monster X’s body to assume a last gasp of control over a single part.

Monster X’s gigantic hand reached up outside of his own will and closed down on the two heroines hanging onto his face. Only in a brief window of action did Aria Blaze have the time to shove Sunset Shimmer into a small crevice of X’s helmet, the Element of Empathy falling against the kaijin’s eyelid as she was pulled away on a clawed finger. Clinging to the digit, the siren was greeted to the dichotomous sight of her beloved’s face bearing two expressions. On one side of the face, the alarmed and fearful gaze of X; and the other being the twisted grin of her sire. Boreas briefly manifested his visage across half of X’s face, even as he was being pushed further and further against and losing control.

Aria Blaze called out in alarm as she, no longer Kaizer Aria, dangled from the claw with the ground so far below. And closing in fast, the hand around the clawed thumb started to contract inwards as Boreas cried out in glee.

“I JUST THOUGHT TO TRY SOMETHING! IF YOU ARE ANYTHING LIKE ME, YOUR WINDIGO SELF WOULD SURVIVE ME TEARING YOU FREE OF THAT DAMNED NECKLACE!” Boreas grinned manically, “ZEPHYRUS CAN’T HAVE ALL THE IDEAS! THIS BODY WAS THE PROBLEM THE WHOLE TIME! I SHOULD HAVE JUST KILLED YOU LIKE YOUR MOTHER SHOULD HAVE WHEN YOU WERE BORN!”

The cold wind emanating from him carried the sting of Aria’s most painful nightmares. Not of threats met like Enjin or horrors like her sire, but of the misery she caused her own mother by merit of existence. The pessimism would speak of how she was a constant reminder of what this monstrosity put her mother, Hymnia, through. That she as an individual or the type of being she was, should never have existed.

Boreas forced the fist around his daughter to begin to close and Sunset Shimmer screamed out Aria’s name, only to be shouted out by X’s roar. But in the brief moment the alien kaijin’s eyes locked with that of an enemy, an understanding was made. There was a gnash of bloody flesh.

Boreas sneered when the hand refused to close fully, and looked at the source. Godzilla, who’d been trying to restrain X’s body, had lunged forward and chomped down on Monster X’s forearm. He cracked a tooth or two in the process of biting down on the bony armor covering the limb, but his biting pressure was more than sufficient to sink the fangs into the muscle and squeeze with everything he had. The jolt of pain and constriction helped to jar X’s arm, keeping the muscles controlling the hand from fully constricting. In tandem with the yellow glow of gravitons controlled by Monster X willfully shoving against his arm, the fist could not close.

Even if Boreas just barely had enough strength to control but a single limb, nothing said that limb couldn’t be acted upon by the outside to keep them from moving. And soon enough, Boreas didn’t even have control over that single arm. Aria Blaze pulled herself up, having been still dangling from the claw before climbing onto X’s thumb. She at last could face her sire, for the last time.

================

“GLORIOSA!” “GLORIOSA!”

The mutual shouts snapped her eyes back open.

Everything happened so fast and without thought. The void was near beyond description when she’d fallen into it, seemingly infinite and without detail. All save for what wasn’t supposed to be there. Dozens upon dozens, if not thousands of portals. Some showed places familiar in the human realm, others completely foreign.

-”Mako Island…”-

The voice of Adagio Dazzle, dumbstruck as it was terrified, was inside Gaea Everfree’s head, as she focused upon a set of portals showing what looked like an atoll island and coral reefs. Sights that, as impossible as it seemed, looked like they were freezing underwater.

-”I’m sorry!”- Gigan seemed to shout, but not with words, rather in thought.

-”Don’t- I-I have her!”- Adagio Dazzle pleaded back in echoes across Gloriosa’s mind.

Something warm dropped onto her face and Gaea Everfree became aware of how she was dangling in the air, suspended by one of her arms being held upwards. Looking upwards just as a blot of red touched her cheek, she gazed up at the visage above her.

Adagio Dazzle, having jumped into the portal the moment Gloriosa fell into it, was tightly clutching her arm as a tear ran down her face. Her other arm, stuck upwards, was tightly wrapped in cables that had been fired out on impulse without enough time to aim. One hook was dangling off into the void near the siren, the other was partially buried in the forearm it was tightly bound around. Gigan, on the other side with his feet braced against the edges of the portal; was shaking as bursts of magic struck him from behind.

The cyborg almost staggered, the telekinesis hitting with the force of a truck several times more, spurring a gag and gasp. The cyborg crumbled over, having to brace a hand on the edge of the ground to keep from falling over or dropping his line.

-”Hang- on!... Have to.. Pull!”-

They all fought to do so, Zephyrus laying on more strikes. Gigan ran the calculations as best he could. He could try teleporting, but the dark magic laden realm was scrambling almost all of his sensors. He could possibly warp whilst carrying both of them, extremely straining as transporting others could be at the best of times; but there was a good half dozen meters of cable between him and Adagio. Not close enough and with the hook so regretfully lodged in her arm, on top of the dark magic making calculating warps all but impossible… He couldn't save them alone.

-"Try to climb! I'll pull you- ARGH!"-

A mass of rubble was violently thrown into Gigan and crashed into him from behind, half crushing him into the ground under a mound of rubble. Zephyrus was focusing on the one of them that was separated before Twilight’s memories zoomed closer. The windigo leered before slinking back into another portal, one he was careful to close behind himself to buy some extra time before the stubborn magic chased him down again.

They re-emerged in the void from one of the portals, glaring out of Frostbite Sparkle’s eyes as the winds picked up, going West to East.

-”I’m glad you decided to join us here, niece. Your father couldn’t show you your heritage fully in that world…”-

The voice came from all angles at once. Omnipresent and overpowering.

-”Let me show you your father’s history…”-

Eurus’ eyes were upon them, gargantuan beyond measure behind Zephyrus, magnifying the latter's thoughts and voice.

-”I killed two of your mothers…. And you can’t stop us from killing everyone else.”-

Frostbite Sparkle’s wings snapped open as eastern gales roared past them. Horrors from a bygone time assailed everywhere in the void. Zephyrus projecting every foul deed, horrid act, and terrible campaign whilst being bolstered by his counterpart. The horrors and dread of each act especially done upon the life of one of the three, Adagio most of all. The misery fed on the pain felt and turned into an icy cold for all present and beyond.

The freezing gales billowing over them similarly started freezing more and more of the outlets to the portals. Ice began to form across Gaea Everfree’s form and eat away at the cables holding up Adagio. Gigan strained, starting to reel in the cables to try and pull them up, only for his frozen cords to get jammed on the wind-in. And it went without saying the gagging gasps of pain Adagio let out were from the barb stuck in her arm digging in further.

She was mute, but her cry could be felt. Pain that only made the ice grow over them faster.

The pain however, Adagio pushed back against upon feeling Gaea and Gigan both hang on. Her necklace flared with red light as she focused everything she had on it. Her grip on Gaea's hand tightened, as did the other holding and suspended by Gigan's cables. Her arms flexed, either arm trying to reach for her necklace futility for several moments.

-”Gloriosa, take my necklace!”-

It was still surreal for there to be speech without words, and yet they were conveyed all the same. Weathering the storm, Adagio winced through the pains inside and out as Gaea Everfree climbed up to her, grabbing onto Gigan’s cables above the ties around Adagio’s arm. She motioned for them, painful tears flowing from Zephyrus’ storm.

-”No! Ignore that! Get the necklace!”- Adagio cringed, locking eyes with Gloriosa -”I trust you, do it!”-

Removing a siren heart was risky business at the best of times. Removing it in the middle of a dark realm surrounded by the two most powerful windigo in existence would have been suicide in any other situation. But when the necklace tie was yanked back, with no time to work it over Adagio’s hair, it was their only gambit. Gigan the living soul became a machine he’d swore he’d never be today, Gloriosa seized upon a power that used to scare her and made it her own as the next of a legend. And now, Adagio Dazzle, the leader of the sirens, couldn't win this confrontation. So, she’d become someone else too.

Love makes you do crazy things.

Adagio’s eyes snapped shut briefly as ice rapidly formed over her face, as Zephyrus swooped closer. They barreled at their prey as Gaea Everfree tried to shield Adagio with her body and Gigan fought against the rubble collapsed on top of him to try and pull them up now that his cables couldn’t retract.

Zephyrus’ empty eyes were met with an indignation he’d only glimpsed before. Dark eyes surrounded by frost with fangs made of jagged ice shrieked back at them. A hand covered in frostbite and icicles for claws that had burst through Adagio’s clothing tightly gripped Gaea Everfree to her and clutched Gigan’s cables. A second windigo of the western winds, only briefly manifesting earlier, screamed back in defiance at her progenitor.

It was strife, it was spite, it was hatred. It was everything the windigos had. It wasn’t even as powerful as Eurus, not by a wide margin. But it did differ from Zephyrus’ might when the two western gales smashed into one another, one swirling around the trio in a protective barrier. Zephyrus, by history never had or lost, never had anything but strife, spite, and hatred. His daughter knew them because there were the opposites she couldn’t afford to lose.

It was in a way, the biggest declaration she’d never be like him as one could ask for. She wasn’t one of Grogar’s, and his opposite instead lay claim even if it took a long time for her to reach them. Beneficence knew likewise when her power called out to similar. Twilight had reached them.

-”You three, jump!”-

Despite all three of them hearing it, it was somehow perceptible; it was mostly aimed at Gigan. Ice crystals stung at his body however, as he struggled with it. His eyes locked upon his two compatriots and he felt fear in a gut he didn’t have. But, egged on by Adagio’s own courage, he braved it. He tucked himself in and dove through the portal. Free falling, he managed to pull himself closer without yanking on the grapple stuck on Adagio. His arms caught around Adagio, for the windigo grabbed was nothing else but whether it be by sheer will power, time left, or their presence; as Gaea embraced her from the other side.

A great curtain, like enormous jaws of Eurus himself, opened below them, parting into every horizon as if the world itself was splitting into a cavernous maw. Zephyrus was diving after them from above.

A purple ray of magic reached out through an opened portal and grabbed the trio, helping pull them into one of the many opened portals.

-”I GOT YA!”-

Twilight’s voice, one free of Zephyrus’ distortion, beamed as the three were yanked into a portal to Equestria. The very same forgiven kidnapping victim, magical mentor, and honorary siren; smiled knowingly at the three.

“You can take ‘em! Remember what we promised!” Princess Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn, winked at them even as she focused on her own element magic, before tossing them into another dimensional tear back to the schoolyard, the group softly landing on their feet.

The promise that they weren't calling it quits until the windigos had been destroyed, all of them. Twilight wasn't calling it finished or giving up yet, and neither would they.

Gaea Everfree wasted no time getting Adagio’s necklace back on her as she and Gigan helped keep the siren upright. The icy growths around Adagio’s body melted away and she reverted back to her normal state, the subtle limb shifting helping to loosen the hook embedded in her arm free. Gigan cut his jacket sleeve off to staunch any bleeding, with vines coiling around the cloth to apply pressure.

Adagio Dazzle glanced between her compatriots before hugging both tightly in a brief huddle. A ray of rainbows burst into light behind them and the trio saw the product of their works stretch across the sky. With Zephyrus’ focus taken away by trying to change his daughter one last time, the more important plan had succeeded.

“Okay!.. I’m okay… We did our job,” Adagio huffed with a sniffle as she hugged both of her compatriots, nodding along, “They did it….”

Despite all Zephyrus had tried to pull, they, the Bearers, did what they needed to. The siren, privately of course, could actually profess some admiration. Those Elements had a way of finding the right people in the right circumstances. Who could say, maybe had things been different for her and she’d not taken her pod down the path they did after Aunt Hymnia’s death; maybe one of them could have embodied such heroic traits?

Well, they just had to deal with the shells they got… Or rather, cards. She’d spent a lot of time as a talking monkey to pick up on the manners of speech.

Adagio Dazzle saw Twilight Sparkle’s memories still zooming about, still trying to find their host body.

-Well… Enemy of my enemy is a manner of speech I still don’t agree with, but I’ll use it.-

Gaea Everfree and Gigan followed her line of sight and the three silently nodded to each other. Their fight wasn’t over just yet.

But it was soon.

===========

Aria Blaze, hair billowing in the wind, stared down the form of her sire at last writhing in frantic want to escape, at last the one vulnerable and scared. If he could ever feel such. The nightmares she used to have were still palpable, especially the ones telling her she was something that should never have existed. But for the first time in her life, the siren could at last accept something about that life she’d had. She lived because her mother loved her, not because this monstrosity she would never call a father created her. Fears could say otherwise, but that bygone mermare princess’ choice was visible all the same. And frankly, she almost felt silly having not seen it before, as tears ran down her face.

-My mother made her choice. And she chose to have me.-

Aria Blaze watched as the entire momentum of the moment changed. Boreas completely lost control of X’s body due to the internal attack, but even as he was expelled from control he was not permitted to flee. Inside the mind of the Xilian warrior, a fully reconstituted X held onto the windigo by the throat and kept him restrained. No running away this time, not for Aria to flee from her sire then; nor her sire to flee from her now.

-And my mother defeats you today.-

There was no escape for Boreas, not this time. He was anchored onto a mind that was not letting him get away, which was attached to a body that was being held in place at all angles; and surrounded by an increasing array of portals once meant to help it. Said portals all changed their output, displaying the same image over and over again. A smirking woman in golden armor with her hands on the portal, manually changing the output to be where she wanted it. In her midst, the very same heroines Boreas had tried to kill as children, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, had assembled. And behind them was a portal tied to another world, in which a determined alicorn stood in a magical glyph she’d etched into the forest floor.

For the briefest moment, Boreas considered his odds. Crazy as he was, he knew one needed multiple Elements of Harmony together to achieve the best emulation of the goddess’ magic. With the four young women and one alicorn, abomination of creation of the goddess the gestalt no doubt was, that wasn’t a full set. He could still try and survive that, unlikely as it was, if they couldn’t fire off a complete ray like they had at the campground.

Until he was reminded of who was still hanging onto Monster X’s eyelid. Sunset Shimmer gave Aria a thumbs up shortly before Boreas’ entire world was filled with agony at the sound of his daughter’s singing voice.

To anyone else, the ballad was filled with the exact sort of things any reasonable soul would find beautiful. A story through syllables of restored faith in good, that an unfair world can still have fair people in enemies turned friends, the adoration of loving family and on how others can join that family. A thanks to all those around her, and the ultimate triumph of Princess Hymnia’s legacy.

Boreas was wrenched out of Monster X’s body and infected with benevolence, a paradox good existing in pure evil that was like oil mixed with water. It left him totally exposed when the combined Elements of Harmony, potent even with Laughter missing, shot through the portals from all angles and struck every fragment of Boreas’ being. The rainbow of light caused the malefic spirit to burst and after a dramatic outburst of light, Boreas was no more.

Godzilla let go of Monster X’s forearm, grunting apologetically as he and the other kaiju changed from holding him down to offering the Xilian kaijin a hand up. Back on Terra, X had rejected an offer from Junior to be allies. This time, he took his literal hand along with the metaphorical one to help him up. With no Boreas at the controls, there was no ungodly determination and ignorance of pain to keep his body going. And yet, even with his many wounds and injuries, Monster X still managed to stand; bringing his palm up to his face.

Aria Blaze let the tears flow from sheer relief.

She embraced her gigantic partner, only able to wrap an arm around the tip of his cracked, bony helmet as the tears continued to flow.

At long last, part of her nightmare was over. Aria Blaze wiped her eyes and sniffled, regaining some of her determined stance as she looked back into the dark storm.

One down…

“Let’s kill the other ones properly now.”

The last gasps of Boreas’ northern winds billowed across the city, many of them flowing into the portals to Eurus’ realm. The rim of some dimensional tears glimmered with an eerie, dead light, before starting to rise upwards into the sky.

===========

Megalon wasn’t knowing quite what to expect when Warhawk got them closer to the battlefield. Frankly, he’d have fully understood if the human turned the car around the moment he felt the ground shaking and saw the enormous shadow of a kaiju pass overhead, let alone the downright bizarre mess of portals scattered across town. It wouldn’t have been cowardice at all, just self-preservation and protection of everyone he was driving into the fray.

He wasn’t quite knowing what to expect either when his mechanical parts picked up a signal patching over to him from his sibling. Mentally clicking his focus over, his point of view became split between the car interior and his brother’s point of view, almost like a video call.

“Big bro?” Megalon chirped, perking Pinkie and company’s attention.

“Megalon! What happened? Where are you?” Gigan shouted as he started firing at… was that Princess Twilight with wings? Megalon furrowed his brow slightly at that and the…plant lady on the corner of his vision? Why was Ms. Adagio glowing red and sprouting magic fins?

“Sending coords! Can you rapid-transfer data to catch me up?” Megalon muttered as his eyes glimmered.

“Sending now, do likewise!”

Both cyborg’s eye optics blinked in unison, Megalon’s left eye turning red as Gigan’s right eye turned yellow. It looked from the outside like they were talking at a ridiculously fast speed for several long spans. In their perspective, a layout map of town flashed over their vision with blips showing either one’s location; Gigan just outside the school as Megalon was rolling down mainstreet. From everyone else’s perspective, it was like they were talking a mile a minute over a phone that had the speaker on.

Wallflower Blush’s eyes widened slightly when she did manage to catch a few stray words in the mix. “Stone” “Destroyed” “Memories” “Moving” “Twilight” “Memories” “Zephyrus” “Too Fast”

Her eyes cast down and she went quiet.

“Uh, not to interrupt but-” Warhawk called backwards from the driver’s seat, everyone else having crammed into the back.

“-Oh I’m done with the transfer, what’s up?” Megalon chirped.

The green skinned man pointed out the front window, “... is it supposed to be this dark right now?”

No. No it wasn’t. And everyone had started to notice it. Sunset Shimmer, still perched on the now conscious Monster X’s helmet, tightened her lips as she looked upwards. The cold, it somehow got even more so. Unbelievably so. So frigid the only point of comparison she had was actually somewhere that wasn’t even physically there.

Back on the roof of the parking garage, when Notus came bursting out of Flash Sentry in an all-or-nothing gambit to kill Celestia and had pulled everyone inside that realm. This was eerily similar and she could not be sure her eyes were telling her truth or not anymore. She desperately hoped they weren’t when hundreds of the stray portals all started to fly rapidly upwards above the cloud layer.

Back in Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle’s eyes snapped wide in a panic as the portals around her also pulled rank abruptly. Several flew inside each other, dimensional tears compounding onto each other and going back into the human world. The very portal she’d fired through, the one Princess Celestia so carefully re-organized to give her a clear line of sight, started rapidly hurtling into the sky from its perspective. All whilst a curtain of a dark void slowly ebbed over it again.

Knowing the risks but knowing a running clock when she saw one, she ran forward and the young alicorn dived into the portal which spat her into the open air as a young adult woman. The rush of gravity soon blew past her flailing hair and without wings to break her descent. Panic had just begun to set in as she plummeted towards the schoolyard just as several sets of arms grabbed her. Three forms, airborne, carefully matched her speed before slowing their collective fall, Celestia having caught her student by the middle as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash respectively caught her head and legs.

They touched down on terra-firma just in time for the last of the portals to zoom away.

“Princess, what’s happening?!” Twilight shouted, still reeling from the sudden jog of her magic seemingly vanishing and unsteady on her feet.

Princess Celestia raised her wings protectively as if to shield her student and her friends, “It was sudden! The moment Boreas was destroyed, the portals reacted! I could barely keep the one for you open to get you back.”

“The rest just suddenly wigged-out and all started moving away!” Rainbow Dash griped as she saw the sky continue to darken. Above the cloud line, through the gaps in the storm, she could glimpse a gargantuan void that seemed to almost stretch from horizon to horizon.

“This- This makes no sense though!” Twilight exclaimed, eyes darting back and forth as her brain ran at a mile a minute, “Zephyrus was the planner and we figured his plan was to create an even bigger version of the storm he and the others made here years ago and even further back at Hearthswarming. Fire it through the portals and hit multiple places here and Equestria all at once.”

Twilight glimpsed the portal she’d emerged from soaring upwards rapidly to join more of the others, a steady stream cropping up being engendered by Frostbite Sparkle constantly portalling themselves around whilst fighting the others.

“If he pulled it off, even if he was stopped, it could have caused a lot of damage and suffering well by the time we could react and put an end to them,” Twilight pondered worriedly. They had the power to destroy the windigos, both with the Elements here and abroad. If Zephyrus’ plan went off without a hitch, it should still be possible to stop him and the other demons, such as retrieving the Equestrian Elements of Harmony from the Tree if they had to or getting other magical sources like the Crystal Heart or Princess Luna and Cadance; maybe getting outside help like Queen Maui.

Still, even if recoverable, it would be devastating if it went on for some hours; let alone days. It was a beatable plan, but still a plan.

-So why is Zephyrus abandoning it so suddenly?!-

The thought went through her head like she was being electrocuted. The brief glimpse of the void’s sole denizen she saw. The fact that Zephyrus was clearly not doing this, as indicated by the echoes of song magic and Gigan’s energy beam sweeping briefly into the sky showing they were preoccupied.

This wasn’t Zephyrus’ plan, but someone else making do with what they had.

A jerry-rigged plan, but a plan nonetheless. One which had been made up on the fly when Boreas was destroyed. After all, the windigo could always try their initial ploy again if all of the immediate opposition was dead or gone.

And that meant what started to emerge out of the portals was confident they could do just that, as the sky went near pitch black.

All of the kaiju pivoted their heads upwards. Even if the magic of these forces was beyond their worlds, and with as many diverse origins as they all head, each of them could sense what was coming. A primordial warning, like how animals big and small might perceive an incoming hurricane or tsunami. A force of nature that made others often called forces of nature shake.

Godzilla led them in a chorus of outcries as the clouds intensified and thickened under a sudden cold. The winds swirled and churned, forming a brand new storm all to its own with boggling amounts of power. The gestalt portal above the skyline emit its horrid denizen, and they returned to a mortal coil for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years. The portal tore open with a vibrant indigo hue as they came exploding out of it.

Enormous points, like mountain tops in the scale of each, slipped through the storm clouds. Almost like viewing the peaks of a towering range surrounded by mists, but reversed and upside down. Each point jagged, icy, and frostbitten into a sharpened tip. The bedrock beneath, what amounted to skin, was not like the others. Inky black like raw obsidian, or the most heavily chilled of the decayed. And atop their brow was a crown of jagged antlers, like a whole battalion of spears arranged in such a manner that a bygone witness might only recognize the formation as resembling a giant of an elk from a bygone time.

Eurus was not just in the sky, he was the skyline. Empty voids for eyes wept dark fluid which dropped to the ground in enormous droplets the size of whole buildings. The dark splashes instantly froze, leaving behind dark ice pillars that approached the height of some kaiju. The wind shear that accompanied his arrival was similarly extreme. Not curtains and walls of galeforce like the others, but cutting, invisible blades that left trenches in the ground. One east-bound gash rapidly gouged into the earth in the direction of Anguirus, requiring Godzilla to tackle his compatriot out of the way.

A canyon, carved into the ground where the spike-back once stood, slashed through multiple buildings like an enormous blade. What was left of the school’s main hall let out a horrid screech as it was cleaved in two. More and more joined it, some larger and some smaller as land and sea was carved into just by Eurus’ mere presence. The span of the near mind-boggling enormity was made all too clear when the most powerful windigo of all smashed their taloned hand into the ground in a bid to swipe at Battra, forcing her and Irys to get airborne. Monster X, barely able to stand, got Sunset Shimmer and Aria Blaze in his hand and felt like he almost shattered his legs jumping aside to dodge.

The hand alone was twice the guardian moth’s size, the portal Eurus was erupting out of was at least half a kilometer in the sky; and he hadn’t even fully pulled himself out of it yet.

The Bearers were understandably more than a little petrified when the literal mountain of a demon started hauling itself out of the portal. Purple lances of energy from both Irys and Battra Lea streaked through the air and raked over Eurus’ face and brow. The mana laced plasma and sound did register to a degree insofar as carving lines across his icy antlers and crust, but the enormity of a windigo didn’t register the hit beyond budging slightly. Instead, those hollow cavities for eyes remained fully trained upon them. Knowingly, intently glaring without true sight.

He knew exactly where they were and what they were. The wind shear split the ground several dozen meters to the right of them, blasting through the whole town to the edge of city limits in geysers of debris. Princess Celestia was nearly knocked off her feet by just the aftershocks, covering part of her face to shield it from the wind. She could glimpse an identical, parallel trench cut into the ground to the left at an equal distance. It seemed too calculated to be random misses, as the gales of razor wind continued to stream and make it all but impossible to cross.

She noticed the fanged, frostbitten and lipless maw grin in a most demented manner. The gargantuan hand that reached towards them seemed to move in slow motion, even if it was truthfully covered hundreds of meters in a second. Quick enough for the realization that Eurus was quite capable of killing them at a distance, but wished to do so personally.

"MOVE MOVE!” She screamed over the gales as the gigantic hand came down to crush the chosen of the Elements like they were but gnats.

They ran as the shadow bore down, all taking measures to hold onto and keep one another from falling behind. But it was like mice fleeing in an open field from a hawk. No cover, no safety, no outpacing what was following. The sheer terror was causing Element crystals to flicker on and off; and with them, the enchantments that maintained their wings, hooves, and horns.

Thankfully, even mice had friends. A shadow passed over the ground and grabbed onto the enormous hand. Monster X was by no means a small kaiju, even in his reduced size, but all he could manage with his span was to grab onto Eurus’ ring finger and dig his feet into the ground. The Xilian kaiju shrieked on reflex, his body already well beyond taxed to its limits. In truth, he really didn’t have any strength left in him even with parts of his body starting to change to golden hues. Instead, it was something else holding back Eurus’ otherwise heedless advance.

A dim, reddish aura that was the actual cause of the windigo’s flinching was wrapped around the kaiju, making contact anywhere X had grabbed on. Celestia recognized the cause instantly from seeing the Element manifest before her. She’d once thought it some variant on the Element of Magic, but this was an achievement of her other student that was a totally different breed than Twilight taking up one of the solar alicorn’s former Elements.

Sunset Shimmer grit her teeth as she held onto one of Monster X’s horns, having been put there alongside Aria Blaze; whom was similarly holding onto her. It was the Element of Empathy doing the lion’s share of the effort, with the siren copying what she could and helping distribute it across the kaiju’s body. X’s effort was to increase the points of contact to conduct the magic into the windigo.

Sunset Shimmer winced and grimaced, unable to keep her eyes open. The presence she could detect touching Eurus’ mind. Even with Aria and a fully restored X backing her up to avoid being overwhelmed, it was hardly a point of comparison to Boreas. Not more than a hailstone compared to an avalanche.

No manipulation, no twisting of the knife, no inciting of strife. Eurus had never been diminished and didn’t bother with the schemes his compatriots did anymore. There were hardly even words present as one could comprehend them in the mindscape. Just the awareness that something horrific and without present was aware of her and wanted her and all else dead.

She started screaming from the mental strain, blood trickling out of her nose and eye. And yet, she refused to let go.

“Sunset…” The Rainbooms, Twilight, and Celestia weren’t even sure who’d said it. They all had it in their mind at the same time seemingly enough.

Eurus groaned from the contact, before hissing in a rage that slurred into a deafening shriek that could be heard for dozens of kilometers away. Even with the ice covering his hand melting, he pressed forward and crushed downwards. The further contact did incur more damage, something the Bearers on the ground noticed like a spark traveled through them. Monster X’s body buckled and he fell to a knee, digging further into the ground under the increasing pressure.

-”I am sorry, Shimmer. My body has its limits. Transforming would be like my body tearing itself apart to be put back together different…”- Monster X grimly apologized as blood seeped from multiple wounds opening up across his body, -”And I do not think I could survive that last blow…”-

More golden scales started to erupt across his body nonetheless, a single wing bursting out of his back armor. A desperation move that would be his last if finished. Aria recognized the power and her magic surged because of it.

-”Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare die on me now after all of this!”- The siren shrieked as tears ran down her face.

Sunset Shimmer put a hand on her shoulder and nodded to X thankfully.

-”You're not done yet. Just rest. We can’t beat him”- Sunset Shimmer said through their linked minds.

Eurus seemed to chortle a laugh through their fanged maw. Something told the three he ‘heard’ that.

Sunset Shimmer hardened her gaze as she looked off not to the gigantic monstrosity in the sky, but to the landscape with those still standing against it, -”But I know something that can.. If you can trust me.”-

Aria Blaze stifled her frown even as her tears kept flowing. Her eyes locked gazes with the Element of Empathy’s bearer and more thoughts than was articulated were conveyed. Her grip tightened on Monster X’s horn.

The kaiju stopped his own transformation into Kaizer Ghidorah, pausing mid-way through it, and gripped Eurus’ hand tighter. This was a foe beyond him right now, and probably even if he was in top condition. Everything he cared about was in the crossfire and in the line of sight for a monster of monsters. And yet, perhaps because he could emphatically feel the ‘heart’ of the red heroine who’d helped save him, perhaps because he knew the kind of woman his significant other was and how she’d never quit, or probably both, his terror didn’t overpower his mind. He was coherent, conscious, and ready to pitch in his last act.

The fact his gaze caught a multi-hued glimmer in the corner of one eye, and rays of azure from the other was a vindication of hope.

-”Aria, Shimmer.”-

Monster X almost seemed to smirk as he braced his feet on the ground and tensed the last of his muscle strength left.

-”Don’t lose.”-

Eurus howled as they pushed down to crush the kaiju and his cohorts entirely, only for his howl to turn into a shriek of pain as a geyser of rainbow light crashed into its face. The most powerful windigo, potentially the most powerful entity in the service of Grogar, screamed and recoiled from the blast. It caused his push upon X’s body to weaken briefly and the radiating energy from the rainbow seemed to enhance the effect of Sunset Shimmer’s magic. The conducted energy channeled through Monster X’s body shocked the hand just enough to release the talon trying to wrap around X’s back.

Far behind the kaiju, the reassembled Rainbooms and company were letting everything they had fly. They were down the Element of Magic and Laughter, with Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack doing the lion’s share of the contribution; but Sunset and company’s stand had helped to regain a temporarily wavered nerve caused by Eurus’ arrival.

The windigo shrieked and thrashed, withstanding the weakened Element Magic salvo; but clearly registering it alongside the conducted energy from Sunset Shimmer adding onto it. There was enough conviction and willpower behind the onslaught that had they not been any other windigo; weaker and diminished, it just might have done them in.

Still, the equivalent to a haymaker slug to the face was bound to get a reaction. It worked more than enough just as an azure torrent X had been also waiting for smashed into Eurus’ elbow. Unlike the rainbow, this wave didn’t seem to especially damage the demon, but it did cause a reaction. To manifest the way he had and enact physical force in the manner he’d chosen, Eurus had taken on a solid form. And having enough raw, burning plasma to punch through a mountain range smashing into your arm was bound to inflict plenty of concussive force.

It was a testament to just how monstrously tough Eurus was that the Ultima Burst blasted their hand aside whilst they were pelted in the face by the rainbow wave from the Elements. Godzilla, channeling what he could into the concentrated blast, redoubled his efforts with a thrash of his head and lunged; the torrent doubling in span on command. It pushed Eurus’ hand fully off X and allowed the Xilian kaijin to spring away with a tremendous leap.

Two forms flew up after him, braving the storm and winds to catch the kaijin upon his fall. Irys grabbed her teammate’s shoulders as Lea caught his legs, the two diverting and slowing his fall to gently put him down on the beachline. Reaching up to take Sunset and Aria off his head, Monster X held them to his chest as he was put down.

A flash of light lit up across Monster X’s form and dissipated, leaving three figures in the depression caused by placing several thousands of tons of kaijin into the beach. In the Monster X-shaped impression on the ground, the now human X lay on his back. Sunset Shimmer rose to her feet next to him as Aria Blaze still held his hand. She squeezed his palm, both of them scuffed and bloodied and it seemed like it took a monumental effort for him to smile but he did it anyway.

Aria put the back of his palm to her cheek, nodded, and kissed his hand with understanding.

It took her own monumental effort as she joined Sunset in running back to rejoin the others, leaving him behind with a lot of hopeful prayers by all parties involved.

Parallel to them; a massive, spiky antler crashed to the seas and spit up huge pillars of rapidly freezing water. The rainbow onslaught ceased and Eurus emerged from a cloud of smoke. About half his crown had been blown off, his face marred and sparking with crackling energy. And yet, the windigo was not done yet.

A deafening roar shook the city as they proceeded to climb more out of the portal; seemingly endless in how enormous they truly were as their hands scoured the ground and brow scraped the sky. More razor edged wind sliced through the heavens and earth as it started hailing.

Author's Note:

proofed by Faith-Wolff and Lance Omikron

The Winter War Ends 6/15

Comments

[Curtis Wildcat]

The beat of destruction is a melody that the windigos have been playing. It's a killer track... but every song's gotta end.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Well crap...

Final boss has arrived!

[redandready45]

To say that Zephyrus was on the back foot would be an understatement. To say that the conflict was still a true battle was an overstatement. He'd had a lot of trouble fighting just several of the Element Bearers by themselves, let alone with Gaea Everfree backing them up. All of them were much less experienced than the Retainer he had battled previously over a decade ago, but quantity had a quality all to itself on top of the Bearers being his single greatest weakness manifest. And there was another issue.

Alas, Zephyrus, this is what happens when you do nothing but bring spite and hate: you'll eventually unite everyone...to bring down your sorry hide. Good people will stop at nothing to take you down out of righteousness, while the not-so-good people will want to be rid of you because you're a threat to them.

Or they'll just want to make you suffer out of spite.

It feels delicious to see Zephyrus finally put on the back foot.

-You created me.-

Adagio thought and projected with her outcries, sending Zephyrus reeling back end over end after trying to fly free. The windigo glimpsed their daughter’s gaze through the recoiling, spotting those eyes. Those damn rosy eyes he so vividly remembered from his greatest defeat. The roaring scream of outrage by the Western Wind was cut short by another surge of magic projected by Gaea, pushed into Adagio, and launched at them.

Adagio looked back at the subject of her nightmares for decades past, her hand squeezing the subject of some hopes for the future a bit more tightly.

-Created me to torture my mother and enact your plans.-

Zephyrus tried to block the blast by levitating up a slab of broken concrete. Whilst the force of impact from the projection was blunted, cracking the pavement’s surface, the magic it was laden with just kept going right through. This was, unknown as it was to some parties, the blessing of an actual goddess. What was some processed rock going to do against it? The concrete barrier shattered from the impact of the magic, which smashed into the demon. The windigo hadn’t been thinking, too enraged and pained to plan as clearly as he often did.

-You're prideful, arrogant, and you always think your plans are going to work out.-

The pain of knowing and accepting her own failed ploys was palpable, from venturing to Canterlot to trying to go up against the windigos without Twilight's friends. She channeled the adrenaline coursing through her veins into another powerful outcry.

-I did too once, I suppose I really do take after you in a few ways… -

But the pain in her chest was brief, assurance given from the squeezing in her hand. The outburst was again laden with Gloriosa's magic and blasted into Zephyrus. As the windigo tried to brace and withstand the rushing shockwaves shooting into them from Adagio's scream, more magic joined the fray.

-But I’ll never be you, I had some others to help pull me away.-

Honestly, this is one of the best representations of the theme of friendships in the entire story:

Adagio attacking her monstrous sire and casting off his poisonous influence ought to be a moment where she indulges in personal pride.

Instead, she admits that it was the help and kindness of others that allowed her to outgrow Zephyrus' poison. That, more than anything, is a testament to the magic of friendship.

Her fingers caught hold and wrenched back. A necklace chain snapped just as Frostbite, in a bid of desperation, slashed at the air below them as they fell to open a portal. Applejack kicked off the demon and trustfully held out a hand which was caught by an oncoming Rainbow Dash. The Element of Loyalty broke her friend's fall as their rapid descent was slowed via a series of crystal platforms, extended vines, and many a flying hard light critter grabbing onto them and flying backwards to direct them away from the portal Frostbite fell into.

“AH GOT IT!” Applejack yelled as she held the Memory Stone aloft.

When I read this part, this is how I felt.

Spite surged and they manually assumed control of the portal, redirecting its location to the faint traces of magic they could perceive affecting the gateway. Princess Celestia, smirking in her human expression, greeted them in sight before her eyes glimmered with magic. Even lacking the Element of Magic’s crystal, her connection to it all the same was enough for one of the most powerful sorcerers that ever lived. The very same crystal started to glimmer and spark, fighting against Eurus’ curse to try and keep it suppressed, whilst Zephyrus flew towards one of two potential bearers.

In that brief instant, perhaps more than near any time before, fear overpowered the windigo’s spite. The scream they let out almost resembled words as Celestia reached forward towards the oncoming dark bastardization of her faithful student, poised for their neck and the power they held captive. Still barreling at her, it was Zephyrus’ frantic use of magic that changed the portal location this time.

I think this is a mighty and cathartic image: The Princess of the Sun turning her righteous wrath on the being who conned a version of her prized pupil.

“I told you, Boreas, there were two things you needed to remember. The second biggest mistake you ever made was taking the body of someone I care about….”

Aria Blaze’s voice echoed, a presence but not a sight. Even if he sired her, in this final hour she’d still never call him ‘father’ as to not so much as hint at any tie between them. Boreas’ ghostly form swiveled around to face the invading force.

“The greatest mistake you ever made was making me.”

I think this is the nightmare of every abuser: the offspring who they've manipulated and tried to control now are the one who brings about their downfall.

Aria Blaze, hair billowing in the wind, stared down the form of her sire at last writhing in frantic want to escape, at last the one vulnerable and scared. If he could ever feel such. The nightmares she used to have were still palpable, especially the ones telling her she was something that should never have existed. But for the first time in her life, the siren could at last accept something about that life she’d had. She lived because her mother loved her, not because this monstrosity she would never call a father created her. Fears could say otherwise, but that bygone mermare princess’ choice was visible all the same. And frankly, she almost felt silly having not seen it before, as tears ran down her face.

-My mother made her choice. And she chose to have me.-

Aria Blaze watched as the entire momentum of the moment changed. Boreas completely lost control of X’s body due to the internal attack, but even as he was expelled from control he was not permitted to flee. Inside the mind of the Xilian warrior, a fully reconstituted X held onto the windigo by the throat and kept him restrained. No running away this time, not for Aria to flee from her sire then; nor her sire to flee from her now.

-And my mother defeats you today.-

That's a very powerful moment: Aria has beaten her tormentor, not simply through force, but by rejecting the hatred he tried to instill in her and embracing the parent who showed her love.

As was said earlier in the story:

“And she won?” Gloriosa whispered while feeling a blanket drawn over her.

Her mother chuckled, “And she won. The demons were defeated because while love is harder, it’s always stronger…”

Aria rejecting hatred is the best way to ensure that Boreas and his legacy can be allowed to crumble to dust like it deserves.

Eurus was not just in the sky, he was the skyline. Empty voids for eyes wept dark fluid which dropped to the ground in enormous droplets the size of whole buildings. The dark splashes instantly froze, leaving behind dark ice pillars that approached the height of some kaiju. The wind shear that accompanied his arrival was similarly extreme. Not curtains and walls of galeforce like the others, but cutting, invisible blades that left trenches in the ground. One east-bound gash rapidly gouged into the earth in the direction of Anguirus, requiring Godzilla to tackle his compatriot out of the way.

You've managed to create a terrifying final FINAL boss in the form of Eurus: not merely evil or monstrous, but almost like a force of nature itself, capable of batting away man's works like they were tissue paper.

The good news is the humans have ponies and mega lizards on their side to take down this beast.

While I agree the narrative is a bit drawn out at times, like making the destruction of the Memory Stone much more difficult than it should've been, the energy, drama, character development, action, and the occasional bit of bathos means that I am too exhilarated and entertained to notice the flaws.

Anywho, I can't wait for the long-overdue finale!

[Temnizziv]

First impressions of Part 3.

The Boreas fight was solid from start to finish, and the emotional resolution with Aria at the end was my favorite part of the chapter. The last scene with Eurus' emergence & the accompanying Faith art goes hard, and I loved it.

With that said, I'm gonna be completely honest. The entirety of the Zephyrus battle was an absolute slog to read through, and I was mentally exhausted by the end of his scenes. The man has no business staying in the fight as long as he is, and you're bringing back my trauma of Bringer Of Death's Cell Arc.

Overall, this part was a mixed bag for me.

[Jmunoz13]

Yes!! What a chapter and the finale this Thursday!!!

[CrystalMaster76]

...why is this 15K word chapter 26K words long.
Yeah...this one was rough, and it really didn't need to be.
I can sum up most of my issues under two points. The first is the already commented on bad habit of way over explaining emotions and repeating information that we already know, there's a lot of that in this chapter. Especially with the Sirens. The second is the formatting. "Constantly" jumping back and forth between the two Windigo fights utterly kills the pacing for both of them, made worse the cuts often happening right as a fight was picking up steam.
Constantly is in air quotes because the aforementioned word bloat made each chunk feel larger then it really was.
Boreus utterly failed to justify sticking around as long as he did. His personality largely vanished in these last few chapters and his fighting style as a kaiju is boring. At least the heroes get to employ some rather creative solutions so this was easily the better part of the chapter. But in the end I felt no satisfaction with his demise, just relief that it was finally over.
Zephyrus though, man this section was a slog. The fight was boring, him being able to outrun Twilight's returning memories is pure unfiltered bullshit (I'm so sick of Zephyrus getting by on plot armor) he should have died from the Element of Magic a long time ago. The fact that the chapter keeps drawing attention to that element only makes that worse. This "fight" really and truly felt like padding.
Gigan rejoining the fight also made things worse. Zephyrus getting an opening because the trio were too bust arguing was groan enducing, and I don't know where the hell Gloriosa suddenly being involved with him and Adagio came from, but I don't buy it for even a second. Even if everyone must play a part in the finale...Gigan already got his moment several chapters ago when he fought Zephyrus, this just feels cheap in comparison.

Sighs The ending is suitably epic once we finally get there. With Euros having a rather intimidating first action.
I'll also say that, as bad as I think the action finale has been fumbled, the actual core emotions and character impact of the arc are largely unaffected so it can walk away fairly clean if those stick the landing next time.

[Dragon-from-down-under]

OH MY GOD- ZILLA, Eurus ma boy, somebody been eating their fill of destruction and misery

[diverseinterests47]

It's.....hard to believe we're gonna be done with this arc in a few days.

[Late_Night]

fucking hell, finally this arc is at the finale
there was a point in time where i thought i wouldn't see the end of this story before the end of either Tarb's or my own lifespan
maybe that's finally changing

[The Voice in the Water]

Damn.

[Supersonic]

Top Gear style recap 54 Part 3 (from Goji's POV):

Tonight, Rainbow Dash lives up to her name, the Northern Wind finally fizzles out, and Chicken Little is proven right.

[Booster Spice]

That was a heck of a smack down, and Zephyrus is still there to mess up the supposedly basic Boss Grind even longer and messier.

Its just a pty that Celestia lost all those portals. I honestly thought she was redirecting them into the sun, to give Eurus a literal faceful of Cubic kilometers of ultra pressurised pure solar plasma. Trillions of times the power output of Monster X etc.

Or what King Ghidora is supposed to be able to fire repeatadly when not even at full capability.

The sort of power where if you get the portal wrong, vapourise the planet you were stood on.

This is the big problem of all boss fights, you cant get the hostages out of the way so have to do all the prolonged fiddly work around them.

[mjadino8823]

Karma finally caught up to you, boreal. Our heroes might be bruised and battered, but euros is going to learn that it's the size of their fighting spirits that will matter in this upcoming fight.

[Moongaze14]

Took me a while to find the time to put my thoughts but here they are. This chapter was an epic one with the action jumping between the fight with Boreas and the fight with Zephyrus, especially since Eurus is on the background powering his brethren. Adagio confronting Zephyrus was amazing as she is able to land some blows to her sire and her words kinda reminded me of Raven’s confrontation with Trigon on Teen Titans. Gigan and Gloriosa supplementing Adagio’s power was great, as their emotions are damaging to the Windigo and on top of that Twilight’s plan and the returning memories of Sci Twi, forces Zephyrus to be on the lower end of the stick and engage in Xanatos Speed Chess just to avoid getting destroyed. It certainly helps that Twilight is coordinating attacks on the Zephyrus via portal manipulations to help the EG girls fight and Celestia is keeping Eurus at bay.

The fight with Boreas was magnificent as it implements an idea that is both awesome and hilarious way of using Sunset’s empathy power…mainly getting her and Aria inside Junior’s body and manipulating his body like a VR fighting game to make Junior use Aria’s martial arts. It was nice to see Junior empathize with X and it was cathartic that the hand to hand fight was a way to bring her lover’s memories back, thus allowing her to safely exorcise and destroy Boreas.. Overall, the chapter was cathartic and it ends with quite the cliffhanger.

We get to meet Eurus in both appearance and personality and he is both the most evil of the siblings and the most powerful as well. As the art of Faith proves, Eurus is a Kaiju in all but name with a ghastly appearance and a gigantic body that makes the other Kaiju look tiny in comparison. His power is shown as he can withstand Junior’s best blows, setting the stage for the final chapter of the Winter War. Amazing job, Tarb. Can’t wait for the final part

[InkPlot20]

That thing in the image... Idk if it's who I think it is... but it spooked me...

[Ri2]

EEND! EEEEEEEEEND!!!

[Vman-0]

11610097
Just gotta wait one more day

[Seraphem]

Alllllright lets get on with the continued kicking of annoying gas bags in their currently physical and thus kickable tender spaces!

Subjugated as it was, the Element of Magic had played another penalty upon their thief that Aria was soon to notice.

Okay two things, one, yet again, I do like how this has been going with the costs of trying to hijack that power. But 2... that wording "That Aria was soon to notice"? Not only is the basic sentence structure very weak and extremely passive voice, which takes down the hype and energy of a scene, and given this whole super large chapter is running on pure HELL YEAH LET'S KICK THEIR ASSES not a great thing to do barring an intentional breather to let the audience collect their jaw and get ready for more, but..... 'soon to notice' this.. we just saw her figuring this out.

“You can’t draw power from someone’s wrath anymore,”

"Meaning I do not have to hold back in letting out some not exactly repressed rage!"

he’d seen them coming and had done a good job keeping Zephyrus distracted whilst getting her own hits in.

Again, won't point all these out but, just to cover bases early, we just saw this and don't really need t explained in detail.

Several of the icy formations decorating Frostbite Sparkle’s stomach and chest, making the visage of a hungry, fanged maw, had melted or been warped; and her antlers had been cracked.

And now I am just picturing the melting ending up in this doopey looking face and.... yeah, it's a nice mental image.

cracking the pavement’s surface, the magic it was laden with just kept going right through.

So concrete is not a good way to stop magic.... quick! Zeph needs to raid a vending machine and make himself some aluminum can armor! Mostly so I can laugh at him looking ridiculous to no effect since as much as I am certain there is some version of Equestria in the Cosmere (come on, being an Avatar of Whimsy actually explains Pinkie Pie) this ain't it. That said...... I would be all for a certain sentient sword showing up to finish off the gas-holes in a very painful and very permanent way.... Then again there are very, very, very few situations where Nightblood showing up wouldn't make me happy.

from venturing to Canterlot to trying to go up against the windigos without Twilight's friends.

Okay story.... this is a new one, a spot where it actually feelslike you left out more detail starting it 'from' implies there is going to be a 'to' in there. Really was more expecting it to start from the whole annoying Beardy McNotmyproblemanymore and getting dumbed in his junk drawer, to what was actually noted.

-But I’ll never be you, I had some others to help pull me away.-

And back in Equestria, Twilight looks up from trying to get that damn rocket to attach to the WindigoBlaster 8000 at the right angle and grins at the tingle of someone accepting the truth of the Magic of Friendship. Then losses her spot, targets the wrong component with Ultrahand, and shakes lose half her work instead of just that damn rocket that will never go on right.

whilst holding onto the siren’s necklace between the palms of their other.

Huh? As in.... holding the necklace? Look, I get taking it off is this deep show of trust on Adagios part but... maybe right now is not the right time to be turning off that things security system and potentially putting it where Zephy could nab it.

redirected backwards and they were sent flying backwards

Do I even need to say it?

“Junior is quite more perceptive than many give him credit for,

Dude knows how important maxing out that Perception roll is!

“He knows we know what we’re doing and will act to make sure it works.”

I mean, he's got a lot of practice just letting Lea handle anything magical and trusting her to deal with it without having to get it explained.

slow, but not stop their sudden plummet. They had to come in fast for this to work.

Tricky to get that dive bomb to stop and open up the paraglider RIIIIIGHT before impact, but damn is it fun of you do it..... granted more likely you find out if you still have any faeries in your inventory.

The tricky part was keeping Boreas from taking cheapshots at the schoolyard whilst trying to restrain, but not badly wound him.

I mean, if it was THAT easy it wouldn't really be fun would it? And yeah Boreas is pretty much just a punching bag right now.... but it makes sense fo rhim to still be in the fight, and him being a punching bag is still fun to watch. Really it's just killing time till Angy and Irys get back in the fight.

Godzilla's eye caught onto them and he knew the signal for what it was.

Not many plans include "Bacon Horse-Person screaming as they fall through the air" as their go signal..... but more really should.

eyes wide and yelling inarticulately

Over near the portal, Momlestia shakes her head, wondering how Sunset learned to curse so fluently in both Yakish and Draconic.

zoomed aside just as a scaly fist connected with Boreas’ face. Just how much Godzilla had been managing his strength was made abundantly clear when all multi-thousand tons of Monster X’s body was sent flying backwards towards the destroyed pier.

Story, you might over elaborate on the point, but damn do you also know how to make me smile.

A spinning mass of spines rolled

Heeeeeeere's Angy!

The possessed form of Monster X spiraled rapidly,

So with the spinning, all I could think of was Boreas getting literally drilled into the ground.

Like there was a state it could achieve but he couldn’t. A component was missing.

You know....would have been kind of interesting if kaiser was still locked up in there, and Boreas set it free, only for Kaiser to simply mentally rip Boreas to shreds and feed on him for power as he transformed. Not make much sense and add yet more complications to something already over complicated.... but fun to see Boreas g out like that.

-So, she plans to give that power to the lizard perhaps? A king or kaiser dragon?

Wait.... no.... no...story... are you.... no way.....

-In any other context, this would be beyond gross!-

No... no way...... Okay, so, to bad the Memory Stone is pretty much toast by the end of this, cuase I bet this will be one memory Sunset would LOVE to get rid of...... <Insert requisite Cosmere quip about just using a Coppermind>

through sight beyond eyes

............. Thunder, thunder, Thunderpones HOOOOOOOO!

This was the Element Bearer’s time, he was just giving them an assist

I know it could never work but, given the location.... Get the mental image of him busting out a Nuclear Breath, only for the Elements to redirect it around them and add on Rainbow Friendship Magic to the blast.

The feedback went into Sunset Shimmer, linking up with her thanks to her unique gift, and relayed into the other body she was in contact with.

Wait wait wait... are they pulling a Ratatouille!? So..depending on where you fall on that debate, this could mean Junior is now a Mecha..... nice!

Godzilla let Aria and Sunset pilot his body

Okay, this is awesomlarious!

Another memory, literally punched into Boreas’ body

Okay I do love this imagery. I've heard of beating some sense into them, but this is a whole other level.

the dragon of the azure flames

Okay that is a badass way to describe the Big Guy!

-”You’re not someone’s weapon; you’re a soldier, an honorable soldier!”-

Oh hell yeah! Also, loved that little bit about the Final War in this version just.. so good!

interfering with his typical regenerative abilities, allowing icicles to form over his hide

But, would regeneration even stop that? it's not really harming him so, how would regeneration block something wholly physical like that?

I’m bringing us in for something either really potent or really stupid.

Maxim 43: If it's stupid and it works, it's still stupid and you're lucky.

-”I’m technically not a king you know,”-

And Cadance isn't an Empress, as much as Xen keeps saying otherwise. The issues is the name of The Crystal Empire, looked at structure wise, it is not an empire, it's a principality of Equestria. Meaning Cadance's title is right, the Empire's name is wrong. Also shut up and accept the title because no one is going to agree you aren't!

In synchronization, both kaiju pivoted around and copied the exact same motion

Hey a secret buddy handshake!

And there was another issue.

You have a REALLY pissed off kid looking to unleash some family trauma on your butt.

Twisting about she landed feet-first onto the diamond in front of her, before springing off at equal speed to try and land another hit on the frost demon.

Okay this just turned into a really awesome sounding 3D Sonic boss!

“AH GOT IT!” Applejack yelled as she held the Memory Stone aloft.

Now just break the damn thing before something else goes wrong!

Could a God of Destruction actually create anything?

Well.... Ruin explicitly could create things so long as he knew that these would be tools that would help him cause greater amounts of ruin and destruction in the long term. So possibly.

the stone only showed cracks along the runic surface instead of fully splitting.

Do we have any Nicrobursters handy to give her a boost?

Applejack had resorted to jumping up and down,

Okay forget that.... Irys! Get over here! We need you to take this thing up to sub-orbit, and then power dive into the ground!

“Well what’s harder and tougher than a diamond?!”

When dealing with ability to with stand crushing forces? Quite a lot actually, Diamonds are only hard in the way the refers to being cut or scratched.

“Iiiiii think I got an idea!”

On "How tight should I be puckering" this is above Twilight having an idea..... but still below Pinkie Pie. But given what the idea is likely to be, yeah sounds good!

briefly appeared in front of her out from one hole in space before diving into another not far ahead.

Hey Celestia.... how good is your aim? Could you send him into a manure cart?

Even lacking the Element of Magic’s crystal, her connection to it all the same was enough for one of the most powerful sorcerers that ever lived.

Again... why? it's Celestia..... why is it only because of the Elements being near she can do this?

And if they were to have limited magic working here

Again with that many open portals to Equestria, shouldn't the amount of magic not really be an issue?

and sheer kinetic force did the job.

"Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space!"

“STONE’S BROKE!” she yelped out before repeating the process, slowing herself down marginally each pass, “WHAT’S THE- PLAN- NOW?!”

Okay I love this image!
And Twilight, you can still use autobuild to help make this faster if you get clever enough!

“I’m magnifying it and going to put it to use. If that frost demon thinks I’m out and the team is down because I lost a special rock, he’s got another thing coming!”

Yeah, because as noted many times....... the Elements are not the be all end all of what you can do. I mean, that is kind of the case when it comes to the EQG ones but still...... I get that only the Elements can actualy hurt him but even without that, Twilight would still have so many ways to use magic to mess up what he's trying. That said...... charging up a Spirit Bomb... also useful.

“SHE’S WHAT?!”

Took my reaction. Bacon Horse is just having ALL the fun! And yeah..... the big one is very much an easier target to get an OFC strike on then the annoying little portal user.

Okay halfway through Part 2 to follow and yeah, same as last time, bit over doing the exposition and descriptions, but still really fun fight!

[SuperSaiyanGodzilla]

Well Boreas is finally dead, now all that's left are are Zephyrus and Eurus, but Holy Shit this mother fucker is huge even by Kaiju standards so he definitely has that final boss energy going on.

[Seraphem]

And part 2 lets finish this chapter and find out just how much we can make a Windigo suffer before putting it out of our misery!

Okay but first..... more over explaining recap.... and I really want to find a way to work a 'long winded' pun into this suddenly..... But yeah, we've covered this.

“Gather around, my little humans,”

Not really the same ring to it....

“Alright! Time to light him up ladies!” Applejack chimed with a smirk

Huh, that feels like more of a Pinkie comment

Twilight biting her tongue slightly as she focused her magic towards her friends and at Monster X far in the distance with Sunset directly behind him.

Now would be a good time to tap into any latent or lingering issues with Shimmy Shims and the whole crown stealing, being a cliched bully thing. Help make sure you get that aim right.

One that relied on that portal being where it was supposed to be with the group having gathered there.

Are you just really low on Zoanite Twilight? Of not, seriously just get the build done, then pop through the portal and use autobuild to make a new one instantly.

“He-He is trying to- emerge!

I mean.... hasn't he been trying that since the start?

Godzilla had once trumpeted her as the greatest magic teacher in all of history, a title she still personally thought belonged to Starswirl.

Given what we know of Starswirl..... I'm with Godzilla!

but in this human body without time to adapt or the means to bring forth that full potential; she was working with a fraction of her full capacity

Again, this, this being why she's struggling I like, the constant hammering home the former element bearer thing, not so much. (Then again, I seem to be in the minority that can't grasp how this idea in larger fandom of ever being 'unworthy' came around when it seemed pretty clear to me Return of Harmony was saying her link to the Elements was only severed because the Mane 6 took over.) And I guess it makes sense not to hop over to Equestria, since it risks the Ice Witch shutting the portal you are using to get back.

she’d had 1,000 years to learn how to improvise.

See, I fully go with the idea that both Princess will wreck your day if you play 'fuck around and find out' with them. But while Luna tends to be very direct in how she does it, Celestia... gets creative about it. Also new guy? Be glad this isn't the Puppyverse Celestia, she has a long... looooooong list of creative ways to make even immortal beings suffer. (Fun series, it goes with Alicorns, and other such being of other races, are flat out immortal gods of the "Their physical form can be damaged or destroyed, but they will just reform after a few minutes" type, and her and Chyssi have spent thousands of years trying to find newer and more creative ways to 'kill' each other.)

But, there was something magic about bonds like friendship to split a load.

extreme nature of the dark magic corruption that blood did not seep free in large quantities from the slashed cheek, instead freezing over almost instantly to seal the wound shut.

Eh, don't really call that corruption, seen other ice magic users do that as well. That said... who dis!?

momentum built up across his fast travel to rejoin the battle, tackling into their back.

oh..... ohhhhhhhhhh! Someone isn't sitting around wasting the cool full regen his boss gave him by staying out of the fight! Though you know... thinking about it... isn't it supposed to be the dad trying to kill the new boyfriend, not the other way around?

“YOU AGAIN!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!”

Rule number 1 of death. Unless you see a dead body, don't assume they are dead. Rule 2 even if you do see a dead body, there's still a chance they either aren't dead, or won't stay that way.... but it's less then if you just assume they couldn't have survived that.

Long story, let’s kill your sire first-

Awwww Gigan has a romantic streak!

Shut up in this context that is totally romantic.... hell beats out like 80% of the massively toxic and unhealthy drek that Wheel of Time thought was romantic

reappearing behind Zephyrus who promptly screamed inarticulately upon seeing the metallic menace back in front of him.

I get we have a lot of generally fuckery of space-time right now but even so.... that don't seem right.

“Damn it! Thought we had them there! What is that stuff anyways? I saw them running from it whilst closing in and knew it had to be something important.”

Speaking of, he's also smarter then about 90% of the character in Wheel of Time just by virtue of being able to see something like this and figure out "Bad guy is running from this, should probably get it to hit them" and acting on it.... rather then spend about about three books first acting like a right prick about how you aren't going to let anyone else tell you what to do first.

(Look, I made the people reading my Wheel of Time and Cosmere read throughs have to parse a bunch of pony references they didn't get, I need to spread the love here!) [Though I am very serious, Avatar of Whimsy actually would explain Pinkie Pie]

Optimally without damage to Sonata's necklace or the idiot wearing it,

Sub-Optimally but still fully accepted, without damage the necklace, and no permanent damage to the idiot.

"I can see that, no complaints from me. I can also see there's been some changes with you two," Gigan chuckled after glancing at both of them.

You see Gigan, I know you stopped your internet search at 'tentacles' so you also missed out on this thing called 'a threesome'...

Okay,I can see the ground work for this and it's not WHOLLY out of nowhere....but I do feel like that's mostly just because my bar for "Romantic relationship coming right the hell out of nowhere" got adjusted a lot lower down then it used to be after Wheel of Time. Seriously there were only like, two relationships in that whole massive series that weren't totally out of nowhere and/or if not outright toxic, and least full of red flags.

"I can see that, no complaints from me. I can also see there's been some changes with you two," Gigan chuckled after glancing at both of them.

That said, not seeing how this really means some huge change as, there is the entirely practical reason of letting the two share their magic easier to better take down the Frozen reject.

I kinda kissed Adagio earlier.”

Gigan sparked slightly but didn’t frown, casually shooting at the frantic windigo as well, “Oh, it’s okay! I did too-

That should not be as funny as it is.....

The sea witch in human form, born of a mermare princess and a frost demon, was really beginning to wonder when it was that her life got so damn weird.

Generally for most beings in this multiverse, it involves first becoming aware of the existence of The Pink One or her proxies.

The rush of wind from his lungs was more than sufficient to propel Aria and Sunset through the air and right into Monster X’s face. Boreas’ pale, dead eyes which clouded X’s usual reds, swiveled around and widened at the shape latching onto his brow.

"What the hells did you just spit on me!?"

“The greatest mistake you ever made was making me.”

I mean... I get what she's going for but.. at the same time... not many people would go the 'call yourself a mistake' route of insulting someone else.

the siren smirked whilst gold and black lit up across her avatar and rapidly split off from her consciousness, as a red light started to melt away the frost as it rapidly approached, "I made some friends."

And with great Friendship, comes great access to weaponized skittles magic! Taste the painbow you literal motherfucker!

The three long necks and horned crowns of Kaizer Ghidorah, manifested and towered over the windigo in this mental realm.

In which Luffy now get's an answer to the first question he'd likely ask about a Windigo should he meet one, as if it's at all possible, Boreas is now voiding whatever passes for his bowels.

He could attempt that on this demon as he had accidentally absorbed the essence of Controller 011 all those decades ago, but decided against it.

Yeah.... at the very least that would give him one hell of a bad case of indigestion.

The windigo let loose a telekinetic wave to counter the oncoming cyborg, but it wasn’t enough to stop them with how fast Gigan was going.

Yeah kick his ass with physics! F=MA FTW Baby!

given even Gigan felt his joints strain

Meanwhile Bagan is facepalming and going "I just fixed that you reckless idiot!"

"What?! It's my best guess. Damn magic never makes sense to me.”

Which... actually helps him figure this stuff out since he just goes for the simplest, least complicated explanation and it tends to work.

I just got fixed up, and I still feel like I almost blew my own arm off trying that stunt going near terminal velocity.”

"And I'm not fixing it again for at least a week!"

but I don’t think any of us are crazy about one of us getting hospitalized or worse for the others!

"We all know that none of us are going to wear the sexy nurses outfit to make the recuperation fun."

A portal had opened up directly beneath Gaea Everfree, one leading the Eurus’ dark void she quickly found herself falling into.

Well....... fuck.

Monster X’s gigantic hand reached up outside of his own will and closed down on the two heroines hanging onto his face.

Just... Fucking... DIE! Already! Always gotta go and try to do one last bit of utter spitefulness.

Godzilla, who’d been trying to restrain X’s body, had lunged forward and chomped down on Monster X’s forearm.

Nom!

One hook was dangling off into the void near the siren, the other was partially buried in the forearm it was tightly bound around.

Owwwww...but at the same time, not really a problem given the circumstances.

-”I killed two of your mothers…. And you can’t stop us from killing everyone else.”-

They've been doing a good job of that so far.... and you are pretty cocky for some asshole that's spent the last chapter running like a bitch from some sparkles!

Zephyrus’ empty eyes were met with an indignation he’d only glimpsed before. Dark eyes surrounded by frost with fangs made of jagged ice shrieked back at them.

So, the issue of creating a being of pure rage and hatred..... is making sure all of that isn't directed fully at you.

Beneficence knew likewise when her power called out to similar.

Okay, yes yes been over this but, this whole section is just, really bad on the overexplainng killing what could have been an amazing scene. Taking so much time just trying to elaborate on the point in multiple ways, rather then just let the actions speak for themselves really hurt the flow of this being as epic as it should have been.

for the windigo grabbed was nothing else but whether it be by sheer will power, time left, or their presence;

huh? I'm used to parsing the gibberish my phones auto complete/correct spits out when I go too fast and... I still have no idea what this is saying.

before tossing them into another dimensional tear back to the schoolyard,

YEET!

-Well… Enemy of my enemy is a manner of speech I still don’t agree with, but I’ll use it.-

Ahem!....
Maxim 29: The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.

in which a determined alicorn stood in a magical glyph she’d etched into the forest floor.

After all the Ultrahand jokes, I can't not picture the glyph being made out of Zonai contraptions. And maybe an awkwardly flailing and very confused Korok or two.

The rainbow of light caused the malefic spirit to burst and after a dramatic outburst of light, Boreas was no more.

Good riddance.... if overly elaborate on stuff that really didn't need focus and light on actually enjoying his ass tasting the rainbow.

With no Boreas at the controls, there was no ungodly determination and ignorance of pain to keep his body going.

Okay, now where do you find Kaiju sized aspirin?

“Let’s kill the other ones properly now.”

Megalon wasn’t knowing

Wazzing the knowing of the thing? Okay, when did Megs pickup Spook's street slang?

She desperately hoped they weren’t when hundreds of the stray portals all started to fly rapidly upwards above the cloud layer.

Nope...... it's time for the Final Boss of this arc to make his entrance!

The rush of gravity soon blew past her flailing hair and without wings to break her descent.

"I regret everthiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!"

we figured his plan was to create an even bigger version of the storm he and the others made here years ago and even further back at Hearthswarming. Fire it through the portals and hit multiple places here and Equestria all at once.”

Wait that's what you thought? Ohhh boy.. I mean yeah, hit Equestria with a lot of bad mojo sure but, all the portals opening to not Equestra with something very big, and very angry inside that was powering up the other Windigos and knowing there was a fourth one sealed away didn't maybe help you catch on there might be another step in there?

A jerry-rigged plan, but a plan nonetheless. One which had been made up on the fly when Boreas was destroyed.

Wait...... she was right? I mean.... how was "pull the other cold fart through a portal" not the first part of the plan to begin with? I just figured it was taking time to get the portals large enough and coordinated enough for that to happen.

Godzilla led them in a chorus of outcries as the clouds intensified and thickened under a sudden cold.

What is Kaijuese for "Ohhhhhhh fuck!"

Also...that art.......... damn that looks hideously awesome! Awesome job Faith!

Monster X, barely able to stand, got Sunset Shimmer and Aria Blaze in his hand and felt like he almost shattered his legs jumping aside to dodge.

Okay.... X...... you just GTFO!

A dim, reddish aura that was the actual cause of the windigo’s flinching was wrapped around the kaiju, making contact anywhere X had grabbed on.

Alright girls! Everyone grab onto a Kaiju and get ready for a ride!

Twilight... stay the hells away from the flyers, you are too good at falling off/out of things.

No manipulation, no twisting of the knife, no inciting of strife. Eurus had never been diminished and didn’t bother with the schemes his compatriots did anymore.

Which after so long of dealing with that.... yeah good to have a giant punching bag that just needs to be hit... a lot.

Transforming would be like my body tearing itself apart to be put back together different…”- Monster X grimly apologized as blood seeped from multiple wounds opening up across his body, -”And I do not think I could survive that last blow…”-

Well there goes that option.... as epic as a Ghidorah on our side would be.

They were down the Element of Magic and Laughter,

Seriously Pinkie Pie... why now of all times try to pretend you can't just warp reality to be where you want to be!

And having enough raw, burning plasma to punch through a mountain range smashing into your arm was bound to inflict plenty of concussive force.

Eeeeeee.... Now if they could just work out how to infuse that attack with some OFC energy....

A deafening roar shook the city as they proceeded to climb more out of the portal; seemingly endless in how enormous they truly were as their hands scoured the ground and brow scraped the sky. More razor edged wind sliced through the heavens and earth as it started hailing.

Ohhhhh fun time! So ummmm...what would happen if say..that portal snapped closed while he was still halfway through?

Either way, great escalation of things and set up for the climax!

[CalvinZilla]

This is a very good chapter! The entire Zephyrus fight was well-written and I loved seeing how well Adagio, Gigan, and Gaea fought together. Even harnessing the power of the windigo to hurt him! Zephyrus having to constantly outrun Sci-Twi's soul is an interesting gimmick, and the prelude with the EG Elements fighting him was pretty cool too. Gotta say, though, the Boreas fight was not quite as impressive due to it taking way too long to accomplish what it did. Even so, Eurus is a great final boss. Can't wait to read the ending!

[Evowizard25]

So there is a lot I've been thinking about after reading this chapter. I'll start with the positives. Overall, the character interactions are still good. I do love Aria in this chapter and her relation with X really set the heart out for this one. It is fun seeing Zeph punted around for once. As well, Eurus's arrival and build up at the end was greatly done. Love the general atmosphere and the writing around it.

However, I have to be honest. For the negatives, well..... I felt both Boreas and Zeph should have died in this chapter. Much earlier with half the length. Boreas and Zeph's battles should have also been reversed. I think Boreas should have been punted around while Zeph put up a bit more of a fight (bonus points for Gloriosa being the only one to stand up effectively at first) before their memories came back. Zephyrus's battle felt, as it went on, like an extended Looney Tune's skit. While it's fun to see everyone hit him... I felt there were several spots where he should have gone down but didn't because... Well I guess Eurus had to be released. {Him getting tackled by Applejack with Gloriosa right there or his portal fight with Celestia, for examples.}

Honestly, it probably would have worked better to kill Boreas at the start and have Zephyrus then struggle after the memories come back and more people come to tackle him. (Then again, he was facing enough opponents. Not everyone has to get a hit in.)

As is, until the ending, it felt like I was it was dragging itself along to the finish line because you want everyone to be in it. Which is a good point but at the same time, a number of the heroes have had good moments in this arc, including when some of them have already helped kill a windigo already.

And while the last segment with Eurus was epic, I felt like it sorta wasn't earned. Zeph didn't feel like he earned living long enough to release him, at least in the way that he did. While it is good to get all the windigoes out and about here to finish them off, I also feel like having them fail and saving Eurus for a future battle (possibly as a pawn for Grogar to chuck out) could have also worked. As well, the old 'windigoes get stronger when one dies' aspect doesn't seem to really come into play.

Lastly, about the geode. I personally thought it was a fine idea for him to use the element of magic on himself and get a power up. That was fine, but the power up didn't seem to have any effect this chapter and his 'I am dying' isn't really shown. We are told it is killing him but there aren't any clues to it. (His attacks getting weaker, him looking more 'human' and less monster', etc.) I think you should have stuck to your guns about it just being a power up.

As is, while it's not bad overall, the characters are still really good, I feel like the Windigoes really felt like they had some plot armor strapped on in this chapter. I don't want to sound too negative. It's still a fantastic story. I just felt like I should be honest about my criticisms.

[Evowizard25]

Also unintentionally, this chapter sparked FGO flashbacks. XD

A giant eye/monster from another dimension shows up at the very end of an arc that can power through the cast after we beat/get in a strong position against the antagonists. It's so weird how similar it is and you haven't even played the game.

[FallenAngel2012]

Ahahahahahha Take that Boreas! Ya piece of Shit!!! Yay another one bites the dust! All that’s left is Zeph and….the real final boss oh god.
But yeah, glad things are starting to wrap. Everyone getting their time to shine was great. Honestly getting X back was the best part here. Hope he has a safe recovery.