The Universe

by SkyFlare

Chapter 8 - Conflict

Conflict

“No…” I gasped, tripping backwards and landing on my back.

I was in shock, we were so close. We almost had a way to fight him, but now the stones had lost their powers.

Twilight let out a shriek and ran to inform the others. When she finally returned to the room, she was being followed by a group of terrified ponies. They all ran to the princess’s side, in hopes of being able to help her to her hooves. Star ran to me, shaking in fear.

“Does this mean that we can’t win?” Star cried weakly.

“No, because I have a secret. There is one star left.” I answered, putting on a fake smile.

“What?” Star gasped.

“Yeah, but don’t tell anypony. You are that star.” I explained.

“But…”

“No buts. We need this speck of hope. I’m going to give you the stones for safe keeping.” I spoke through tears.

I had little hope, but all of that hope was centered around one thing in particular. I needed to give Star hope. We needed to win this fight, even without any stars in the sky; we still had ours on the ground. She had fallen from the sky, with one of the Universe Stones, there had to be a reason. I knew that she was special, she just didn’t know it.

“There’s no point in waiting for him to wipe us all out of existence.” Blade stated walking over to me and Star. “What do you say we go and bring the fight to him, one last time? Worst case scenario we buy the world a few extra minutes.”

“I like that plan.” I smirked. I turned to the group of ponies that were surrounding the princess, “Blade has brought up a good point. He said that we should take the fight to the Void. He said, ‘worst case scenario we buy the world a few extra minutes.’ A lot can be done in a few minutes.”

They responded with silence, until Rainbow Dash spoke up. “I’m with you! I learned how to do a Sonic Rainboom in only a few seconds. Just think of what can be done in a few minutes, if it only takes a few seconds to rewrite the laws of physics.”

“I once wrote a spell in a few minutes.” Twilight added.

“I taught Apple Bloom how to make cupcakes in twenty four seconds.” Pinkie chirped.

“Let’s add one more thing ta that list…” Applejack joined in.

“Beat a god…” Rarity continued.

“In ten seconds flat!” Rainbow shouted.

“He’s just a big meanie!” Fluttershy shouted, in her usual whisper.

“It’s settled then, let’s teach him what can be done in a few minutes.” I smirked.

“Oh, I’m ready for my lesson.” laughed a dark voice above us.

“Okay.” I looked up at the Void, who seemed to be in quite the good mood.

Blade and I made the first move, charging up at him. Rainbow Dash quickly joined us, making it a three way attack. We all moved to hit him from different sides, but he smacked us away. Rainbow didn’t take this lightly though; no, she stopped her descent and quickly realigned herself to perform a Sonic Rainboom to hit the Void. He acted just as quickly though, making a shield of magical energy to protect himself and redirecting the cyan pegasus back to the ground.

Twilight and Rarity gathered their magic and made an attempt to bind the alicorn in place, but he broke free before the chains formed completely. Celestia and Luna sent out beams of magic straight at the villain, but he didn’t so much as react when they hit him.

He let out a small laugh, “Is that the best you ponies can manage? I shouldn’t even waste my time with you; I should just destroy this worthless world now.”

“But then what would you watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon, not us, that’s for sure.” I responded. “I think that we can prove to you our worth, especially when we finally beat you.”

I wasn’t about to waste any time coming up with a plan; the world needed us to fight for it. If there was anypony in the world that could beat this monster, than they were the ones by my side. They had all saved the world before, Blade and I were the only ones who hadn’t, but that wasn’t about to stop us. Blade was already charging up another magical attack and I was preparing a full on charge at the Void. Eventually one of our attacks would get through; eventually, the Void would tire out; eventually, we would win.

I took a deep breath in as I made impact with the Void’s shield, which sent me rebounding into the wall behind me. Blade’s attack was also reflected, but he managed to avoid the explosion. I was unable to move, one of my wings was broken and I couldn’t find the strength to climb back onto my hooves for another charge. The exhaustion and the pain were finally getting to me.

“What’s going on?” Twilight gasped from afar. “The Elements of Harmony are activating!”

I looked over to them, and she was right. The Elements were responding to something and were lighting up like fireflies. The rainbow connected them all to Twilight, who, unwillingly, sent a beam in Star’s direction. The beam, however, did not hit her, but instead hit the saddlebag that she was wearing. The Elements were reacting to the Universe Stones.

A bright light extended from the bags, engulfing Star entirely. At first, I was unable to make out what was emerging from the lower part of the orb of light, but I soon realized that it was a hoof. Not the Blue hoof of Star in her disguise, but the black hoof of her natural colors. It wasn’t the thick leg of a filly, no, but it wasn’t the leg of a normal mare, this was the leg of a full grown alicorn. She was growing to the full size in a matter of seconds, the bracelet that made her disguise had slid off from the shrinking of her hoof’s circumference.

“That is enough.” her voice said quietly. “You hurt my sister and her friends more than enough today.”

“And who are you to make such demands, only seconds ago, you were a filly. Those stones from that fool did not aid the fallen queen, and they shall not aid the foalish filly.” the Void mocked.

“And do you think that they changed me into this? Do you think that the stones that were comprised of pure universal power would change a unicorn into an alicorn to fight you? If you do, then you are sadly mistaken my friend, they only returned to me the power that was once mine.” Star explained.

“But that would mean that…” I gasped.

“I am the Universe from the story, yes. My memories and my powers were stored within the stones; all that I required was access to all seven of them.”

“But we only found six.” Twilight replied, looking up to the alicorn who stood just as tall, if not taller than Celestia.

Star no longer had a mane that consisted of hair, now it was the same flowing celestial form that Celestia and Luna had. It was still white and had black specks scattered in spiraling shapes. It was like looking at a negative of the night sky.

“The seventh Universe Stone was, itself, broken into six pieces. The Elements of Harmony gain their power from a magic more ancient than the universe that you all live in.” the Universe smiled warmly before turning her head to face the Void. “Now, my old friend, what do you say, can we take this battle elsewhere and leave these innocent ponies out of the conflict?”

“You can’t be!” the Void shouted, apparently oblivious to what had just been suggested. “I killed you, not even you can come back from the dead!”

“True, but a hibernation is not out of the question. I slept whilst lying in wait for you to make your move. I was hoping that you would listen to reason and come by my side, but from what I can see of you, that dream is highly unlikely.” the Universe explained.

“You are correct; I will never stand by your side, not after you betrayed me. I also will not waste my time with keeping our fight away from this pathetic world; I was planning to destroy it anyway. Collateral damage, this could very well save me the effort of destroying it after I kill you again.” the Void said confidently.

“I…” I started, “I believe in you Star!”

“And that hope is all that I need.” the Universe replied calmly, looking down at me.

The alicorn spread her wings, blocking the Void from sight before slowly lifting herself into the air with a single gentle flap. On either side of her rose a celestial body, to her left, the moon, and to her right, the sun. They both glowed with a brightness that I’d never seen before; they were stronger than ever. The Universe had revived the sun and was slowly bringing the other stars in the sky to life. The stars were showing brilliantly in the blue sky, the galaxies to which they belonged, plainly visible. The Universe had brought everything back and was making it all stronger.

“Are you ready?” she asked firmly.

The Void spread his wings quickly, unlike the majestic way that the Universe had done only seconds earlier. With a heavy flap, causing a sound as loud as thunder, he lifted himself from the ground below. He glared at the alicorn opposite of him with eyes filled with hate. That and jealousy were the only two emotions he had displayed so far, and he was not about to go around changing that.

“I’ve been waiting so long to put you in your place. Submit!”

The Void launched the first attack, enveloping himself in a black aura and charging at the Universe. The Universe retaliated by crafting herself a shield of magic to block the attack, allowing a recoil to spring through the Void’s massive body. The Void fell backwards in a spiral, managing to catch himself before he hit the ground and get himself upright.

“What do you say that we solve this the old way?” he suggested, flying back up to the level that the Universe was hovering at.

“I agree, there will be less collateral damage if we were to fight that way.” the Universe answered.

“I was suggesting it because I know that it will be the easiest way for me to kill you.” the Void smirked back.

They each began channeling their individual magical auras to their sides. A solid white blade began to take shape beside the Universe. On the other side, she was crafting the same shield that she used to stop the Void’s first attack again. The Void was making his own preparations however; he was forging a magical war axe or either side of himself. Magic armor began to form around the alicorns’ bodies. The Universe’s was white with a gold trim, while the Void’s was solid black.

“Are you ready to begin?” the Universe asked, maintaining a polite manner, even while facing somepony who had his mindset on killing her.

The Void didn’t answer this question vocally as he had the previous time, instead, he took it as an implication that she was ready and decided to make the first strike. I struck downward with one of the axes, but the Universe intercepted with her shield. While she was holding up his first attack, he took the opportunity to strike again, this time with his other weapon. The Universe made a quick counter, parrying his strike away with the sword. The Void used this moment as a chance to apply more pressure down on the shield, and it had obviously caught the Universe off guard, as she was giving way.

The Universe stumbled backwards, regaining her composition by using her wings. She performed a flip as she turned herself back upright. Immediately, she launched her own attack, a sharp and sudden stab at the Void’s chest. He smacked down her attack using both of his axes, leaving himself wide open for an attack by her shield. The shield slammed into his face, forcing him back and allowing the Universe to raise her blade and, once again, take a stab at his chest. He barely managed to smack it away with one of his hooves, resulting in a deep cut on his lower leg.

“You’ll pay for that!” he shouted angrily.

The Void made another attempt at hitting the Universe, but she simply moved to the side with a single, graceful flap of her wings. She was handling this fight pretty easily. The Universe crashed her shield against the Void’s face, causing him to plummet to the earth below. The ground shook as he fell into it.

“Please, I do not wish to hurt you. Stop this senseless violence.” the Universe pled.

“I will not stop, not when I have an ace up my sleeve.” the Void laughed back.

He took a hold of Twilight and me with his magic and held us between himself and the Universe. Now the two alicorns had entered a stalemate. On one hoof, the Universe wouldn’t attack for fear of hurting us; on the other hoof, the Void was too injured to continue getting beaten like he was. The weapons that the Universe held faded into nothing, leaving both of the alicorns weaponless, as the Void’s had fallen to the ground and faded when he grabbed us.

“Release them.” the Universe said firmly, leaving the threat part to the mind of its recipient.

“Submit.” as the Void said this he tightened his magical grip on the two of us.

The unicorn beside me let out a sharp yelp of pain; I managed to hold in my pain, aside from the expression that I knew that I had. I closed my eyes tightly, instinctively, as many ponies do when in pain or when anticipating it.

“Don’t worry about me, stop him.” I grunted as the grip tightened even more.

“I won’t risk hurting you.” the universe responded.

“I don’t care!” I shouted.

We were close enough to the alicorn who was holding us that I managed to buck him in the jaw without too much effort. Twilight let out a sigh of relief as his grip slackened on her and tightened on me. According to my plan, but I’d need to keep it up if I was going to get him to drop her completely. I bucked again, narrowly missing him, but still angering him enough to distract him from Twilight. He dropped her completely and she slammed into the ground on her side.

“Twi…” I groaned between breaths, “run.”

Twilight climbed back to her hooves and looked to the others before joining the group of ponies who were readying themselves to faceoff with the Void.

“I would be appreciative if you were to abandon that power that you have regained. If you do it quickly, I might just let the mare live.” the Void smiled darkly.

“Don’t you even consider it, Star!” I shouted as his grip slackened slightly. The moment that he was aware that I could speak however, he crushed me inside of his magic.

“Please, just let her go.” the Universe’s voice softened dramatically.

“Give up, and I will.”

“Don’t…” I coughed out.

“Alright.” the power began to flow from the Universe back into the stones and the Elements of Harmony.

The Void tightened his grip on me intensely, cutting off my air. I began to choke, unable to even let out a cry due to lack of oxygen. His word was worth what I thought it was; nothing. He had outright lied to Star, manipulating her with her emotions to win the fight.

“You said you’d let her go!” cried out the alicorn filly.

“I will, as soon as she is dead, she’s been getting on my nerves since I found her.” the Void laughed.

Everything began to fade; I was unable to make out the faces before me at this point. Even their speech was becoming a blur. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe, but I could fight. I began to struggle while in the Void’s grasp, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to escape his grip because it was magic and not physical, but moving closer to him was an option. I squirmed toward him without him noticing, he was too distracted by staring down Star as the two of them spoke to notice me. I could faintly hear both of their voices and I could see the large black blur that was the Void.

Once within range, I began rapidly kicking him in the face, landing at least one solid hit in his eye. He yelled before throwing me into a wall, but the impact was nothing, at least I could breathe again. I began frantically gasping for air as the alicorn approached me. I was lightheaded and therefore was unable to make out most of what was going on, but it looked like Princess Celestia stepped in between the two of us.

“No, I didn’t think about it like that…” the Void said. I had regained my ability to comprehend language midway into the conversation.

“So does that make a difference in your decision?” Celestia asked calmly.

“No, it doesn’t, I’m still going to kill all of you, starting with her.” the Void stated with a disturbing calmness.

“I don’t have time in my day planner to die, do you mind rescheduling to next week?” I gasped as I climbed back to my hooves.

“Yes, I mind, now hold still and let me stomp your throat in.” the Void growled.

I tried to move out of the path of his hoof, but tripped and fell back into the dirt. I couldn’t even get my wings to unfold, no matter how much effort I put into it. I felt a sharp pain shoot through both of my hooves on my right side, where they had been slammed into the wall. I hadn’t noticed earlier due to all of my attention going to breathing, but the pain was beginning to become excruciating.

“Stop!” I heard Twilight shout from the distance.

The lavender unicorn had put a shield between the Void and me, saving my life. The shield began to crack, but right as it was about to break, a blue magical aura pulled my away. Rarity smiled at me and nodded, accepting my thanks, even if I couldn’t quite say it yet.

The six mares began to use the Elements of Harmony again, this time, on a severely weakened enemy. Last time they failed, but he hadn’t faced two consecutive battles, nor had he come so close to losing. The rainbow shot out, enveloping the black alicorn stallion, before fading away. As it faded, it revealed a black cloud that faded only seconds after the rainbow. It was finally over, the Void had fallen.

I climbed to my hooves, restored by the healing power of the Elements of Harmony. I looked around the area and saw that Blade was walking toward me. Following right behind him was a small filly, however something was different, something that I hadn’t noticed before, something that made me doubt that I wasn’t dreaming. Star had no wings anymore; she was a normal unicorn filly. There was no magical disguise changing her appearance, she had actually lost her wings.

“Are you alright?” Blade asked as he reached a hoof out to help me.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I answered him, and then I turned to face Star. “What happened to your wings?”

“When I gave up the power, the wings went with it. Didn’t you see?” Star asked, tilting her head to the side inquisitively.

“Not really, when you can’t breathe, it gets a little hard to see or hear anything properly.” I laughed back.

“Oh.” Star smiled. There was only a split second before she tackled me to the ground with a hug. “I’m glad that you’re alright Sky.”