MLDC: Firestorm Crisis

by Michael_Ravencroft

Entry 42: The Final Flame

Deathstorm floated above the Atlantic Ocean, with the giant Ring of Death slowly clicking into place as the mechanisms attached and reattached to different segments. One by one the runes on this ring would begin to glow, some were dim to start, but after a while they were glowing brighter, an indication of the power it was drawing in.

That other Deathstorm…she was different from me. Where did you go? From what world did you hail from? The theory of the Multiverse, something that has been played around with for years and yet, now, I’ve seen proof of it. A whole new world for me to explore – no – worlds!

Dusk Shine’s ears picked up a distinct whistling sound. The Embodiment of Death looked about until the sound got louder and was more able to determine its exact location. He turned his eyes towards the sky and watched as a dozen plus missiles were heading towards him. A deadpan expression befell his face.

“Really? Missiles?”

Dozens of explosions went off around Deathstorm as one missile after another rained down on his location. In the distance, Destroyer class battleships were approaching, each one bearing the flag of a different nation.

Fighter jets swarmed the skies, all of which began their attack on the ring, raining rockets and missiles on the construct to bring it down. All this while the Destroyers began unleashing their ordinance on the ring and on Deathstorm’s location, showering it in bullets, cannon fire, and all manner of high powered projectiles.

After about a minute or two of constant barraging, the ships ceased fire, allowing the smoke cloud to clear to see just how much damage they were able to inflict, or at the very least see if they killed Deathstorm. Needless to say, the outcome wasn’t what they had hoped.

Deathstorm was still floating in the same spot as when the barrage began, looking quite unimpressed by the efforts of the world’s military.

“Really, I’m a flaming, undead looking, superhuman, who created a giant death machine that’s floating in the middle of the ocean, and you honestly thought some bullets and missiles would stop me?”

As if to answer him, further in the distance, Deathstorm spotted several missile launches that went straight up into the sky. These missiles continued to go higher and higher into the sky, practically scraping at the atmosphere. After a few moments the missiles aimed themselves downward, towards the Ring of Death.

Deathstorm cupped his chin and nodded. “Hmm, well, now you’re going to the nuclear option. At least you’re actually trying now.”

The Embodiment of Death flew towards the center of his construct and stared up into the sky, watching as twenty nuclear missiles were coming down straight for him and his machine. With a wicked grin, Deathstorm flew up towards the nukes. Just a few mere miles from the actual mark, the sky erupted as nuclear explosions went off. The shockwaves from twenty nukes going off made the waters rough, throwing up waves and pushing the battleships back, some even capsized.

Luckily some of the fighter jets managed to blaze away to a safe distance and maintained a holding pattern outside the blast radius. As the nuclear energies of the nukes began to warp the sky and its colors, something else occurred. That very energy began to recede, the waters began to calm and the shockwaves ended.

All the energy of the nukes was being drawn to a single point, and condensed into an orb of pure nuclear power held within Deathstorm’s hand. The crews of the battleships couldn’t believe their eyes, the most powerful weapons on the planet, megatons worth of destructive force, and it all was reduced to nothing, no, not nothing, it was being condensed into an orb no bigger than a baseball.

Once the energies of the nukes had been absorbed, Deathstorm augmented it. Infusing it with his own dark atomic and magical power. Atomic rings formed around the orb, and, in an instant, the orb shot up and broke apart into several smaller versions of itself. The smaller orbs of light looked like snow was trapped in midair, floating suspended by Deathstorm’s power.

With a flick of the wrist, the small orbs shot off in all directions. The first one hit the side of a ship, and detonated with devastating power, eating away at the ship. More of the specks fell upon the ships, eating away at the hulls until they looked like Swiss cheese.

Deathstorm looked in the distance, sensing the submarines that were hidden underwater and ready to fire another round of nukes. Deathstorm raised his hands towards some of the scrap metals of the ships, atomic rings formed as he began the transmutation process, recreating them into torpedoes and infusing them with his own dark atomic power.

Dusk Shine then launched the torpedoes into the water, watching as they sought out their individual targets, and then, explosions went off in the distance, big, black and blue fiery explosions that sent columns of flames rushing into the air.

“Well at least that was entertaining, for the moment.” Deathstorm turned his gaze onto the horizon, even from this distance he could sense her. “Come big sister, come and do battle with me! Let us see which of us is truly the superior creation, and as a farewell to this world, I will anoint this Ring of Death with your blood!”

CANTERLOT CITY…

Sunset and Twilight had felt so restless the other day after Deathstorm’s announcement that they didn’t even think they could sleep, but somehow they managed to knock out. Both girls slept in Twilight’s bed, curled up next to each other as they softly breathed in and out, the presence of the other granting them peace in their slumber.

From the door, Shining Armor watched them, the dawn was coming, and he knew that it was time for them to chow down and move out. But part of him refused to go in and wake them, after all that had gone on, and what was to come, this moment of peaceful sleep was probably the one good thing this day would bring.

“Hesitant, Mr. Armor?”

Shining turned to see Professor Neigh walking up behind him, the soldier shrugged and returned his gaze to his adopted sister and her lover. “It’s just…how did things end up like this? How did the world get so crazy?”

The Professor chuckled. “My boy, the world, the universe, has always been crazy, we just try to make as much sense of it as we can, and leave the rest to the orderly disorder of the universe.”

Shining Armor smirked. “Not very scientific of you, Professor.”

“After spending time as a fused entity, and witnessed what we have, I’d be a fool to remain blind to such things,” replied Professor Neigh.

The old man placed his hand on Shining’s shoulder, knowing what the young man was feeling due to their Firestorm connection with Nu.

“We’ll protect them as best we can, we’ll fight alongside them to the bitter end, at the very least, my boy, they deserve a future together. So too, do you.”

“Thanks, but a soldier’s life is fighting to protect his homeland and family. Cadance thinks I’m dead so we’ll just have to leave it at that for now,” said Shining Armor.

Professor Neigh let out a hearty chuckle. “My boy, if there’s one regret I have in life, it’s not asking Marigold to our Senior Prom back in my day. Things may have turned out quite differently.”

Suddenly, an alarm went off in Twilight’s room, an annoying buzzer that Twilight instinctively hit to quiet it. But soon another one went off across the room, and the second was even more annoying than the first. Twilight and Sunset groaned as they listened and couldn’t take it anymore. At that moment, both girls raised their hands in perfect sync and released a bolt of magical energy in the direction of the buzzer. The twin bolts’ aim was true as both struck the annoying buzzer across the room with amazing precision.

Shining Armor and Professor Neigh watched this with both intrigue and a twinge of intimidation from the fact that they had done that all while still drowsy and semi-awake. Both men slowly crept away, deciding to let the girls awake of their own accord.

When the door closed, Twilight was the first to stir from her slumber. She rose up into a seated position and stretched her limbs, Twilight looked down to a still sleeping Sunset. Smiling, Twilight leaned down and kissed her girlfriend upon the cheek, serving as the catalyst to finally bring Sunset out of her deep slumber and looking up at Twilight.

“Morning,” said Sunset.

“Good morning,” replied Twilight.

“Guess it’s that time, huh?”

“Yes.”

Sunset rose up from the bed in the same seated position as Twilight. The genius girl leaned to her left, resting her head against Sunset’s shoulder. Sunset slowly took hold of Twilight’s hand and gave it a light squeeze, to which Twilight reciprocated.

“Then let’s go and win.”

The girls, along with Professor Neigh and Shining Armor, had discussed eating a meal and leaving via the backyard to head off to fight Deathstorm. Celestia and Luna had stayed overnight, not wanting to leave Sunset alone, so it was a nice big family meal.

Once the time came to leave, they had an unexpected visit. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, who was carefully cradling Spike the whole time, came over. The girls had figured that Sunset and Twilight would be heading off to fight Deathstorm, and were planning on being here to see them off.

The group entered the backyard, with lots of hugs, words of luck, prayers, and promises of victory were spoken amongst everyone. Night Light and Velvet hugged their two children fiercely, fear was building that they would never see them again, but they had to hope that they would be victorious and return to them.

Sunset looked behind the crowd, with Ms. Velvet and Celestia following her gaze. At the entrance to the backyard stood the three Sirens, all three were still weak, helping the other to get even as far as they did. The rest of the girls glanced in that direction and nodded.

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie walked over to the Sirens. The three former hippocampi were wary of their presence, not sure if they were about to be yelled at, assaulted, or something.

However, none of that happened, instead, Rainbow helped Aria to walk to towards the crowd, along with Rarity helping Adagio, and Pinkie Pie helping Sonata. The Sirens were confused at this, they had threatened the lives of these girls, fought them, and even made promises to make them into playthings, and yet…they were being helped.

“Why…? After everything we’ve done, after everything we were going to do?” Adagio asked.

“Darling, that doesn’t matter now. One way or the other we’re all in this together,” said Rarity.

“But…we were going to hurt you guys, everyone in the city,” said Sonata.

“Yeah, you three were going total supervillain, but after what that meanie, Dusk, did…no one really deserves that. So smile, everything’s fine,” said Pinkie Pie.

Aria scoffed and then sighed. “You people are nuts, we were your enemies! Even without magic, we’re still dangerous!”

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that. But, it’s not like we don’t know that, and this ain’t pity. Helping someone’s just our thing,” said Rainbow Dash.

With the Sirens now joined with the other’s, they regarded the two girls. Despite everything that they had done, Sunset knew where it stemmed from, and so too did Twilight. Adagio did everything for her loves, and they in turn did everything for her. Their lives back in Equestria were full of hardship, and with their power they lashed out at the world. They were then sent to a world they did not know, in bodies that were alien to them. They had to adept and learn, anything to survive this unknown world, living for centuries before finally coming to find a way to make everything better for themselves, but to only have it all torn away. Now they couldn’t even return home, for there was no telling what would happen if they did in their current state.

“Sunset Shimmer…Twilight Sparkle…” Adagio spoke. “I…I can’t apologize for my actions, I did it for us…and…”

In a rather shocking move, Sunset reached out and hugged Adagio close to her. The alpha Siren feebly tried to push against her, but Sunset only held her tighter, until, the dam broke in Adagio. Centuries worth of grief and sadness came crashing down and she cried into the former unicorn’s chest. The strength in Adagio’s legs gave as she slowly fell to the ground with Sunset keeping hold of her as they did.

Aria and Sonata tried to choke back their own sobs, but found that they couldn’t. They collapsed to the ground and crying beside their alpha. Twilight lowered herself to the ground as well, and took both Sonata’s and Aria’s hands into her own and showed them a kind smile. The two Siren’s proceeded to cry into the other’s chest as well, releasing all their pent up emotions about, well everything.

After a couple of minutes, the crying stopped and Adagio was able to look Sunset and Twilight in the eyes. “I’ve said this already, but don’t you dare lose.”

Sunset and Twilight rose up and nodded to them.

Celestia and Luna came up behind the Sirens and helped them to their feet. “We’ll look after them, you four go and save the world,” said Luna.

Professor Neigh, Shining Armor, Sunset Shimmer, and Twilight Sparkle all walked a few paces away from their friends and family. The four looked to each other, and nodded. This was the final battle.

“FIRESTORM!!!”

“FIRESTORM!!!”

“FIRESTORM!!!”

Red and blue flames engulfed Shining Armor and Professor Neigh, pink flames wrapped around Twilight, and golden-yellow flames around Sunset. When the flame sphere’s vanished, what stood before them were three Firestorms, flames blazing as the dawn sun rose behind them.

“You girls ready?” Nu asked.

“Ready,” said Twilight.

“It’ll take too long to get there flying, so we’ll just drop in on him. Twilight, Nu, link hands with me,” said Sunset.

Nu and Twilight did as instructed, holding Sunset’s hand and then each other’s, forming a triangle. Sunset linked her magical energies to that of Nu and Twilight, their flames grew brighter as the dirt around them rose up from the distortion in gravity and energy. Aquamarine, rosy-violet, and blue light swirled about the trio, until, in the blink of an eye, they vanished.

Deathstorm continued to float in midair, watching the ocean reflect the light of the sun, it was such a serene view that it almost made Deathstorm sad he was going to end the world, almost. Just then, the Embodiment of Death sensed a buildup of magical energy and turned in the direction it was coming from.

A bright flash of tri-colored light erupted a few yards away from him, and to his delight, they had arrived.

Nu, Twilight, and Sunset released their hands, now floating over the ocean. Their eyes all focused on their target, floating slowly towards them with little care.

“I’m happy you’ve finally arrived, big sister. This wasn’t going to be much of a departure if I didn’t see you first,” said Deathstorm.

“Dusk…what are you doing?! I’m sorry for what the Organization did to you, but it can be stopped, if you give me some time I can change this!” Twilight pleaded.

Deathstorm released a hearty, if not insane, chuckle at his big sister’s offer. “Oh Twilight, you don’t have to worry about that. Thanks to this transformation, I have become one with the power of Death itself. As for the Organization? Well, they’re no longer a problem, for anyone. I killed them all! Every! Single! Person!”

At this, Nu, Sunset, and Twilight’s eyes widened with shock.

“I’ve been busy in the last day and half, even took out one of the Big Three! However……One of them was not from this world. She disappeared into something similar to the ring, another Deathstorm from another world!”

Sunset’s heart nearly stopped at hearing that, there was another Deathstorm, and she disappeared into a portal. There was someone else in this world from a different world that wasn’t Equestria. The Multiverse theory was still viable, parallel worlds sure, but one that had another Deathstorm, were there were other Firestorm Protocols? Sunset took another look at the giant metal ring, it was hard to make out, but it was starting to make sense exactly what it was for.

“This isn’t just a doomsday device, is it, Dusk Shine?! It’s a portal, a gateway!” Sunset declared.

Deathstorm clapped his hands. “Bravo Ms. Shimmer, you truly are bright mind, like my sister. Yes, it will consume all energy on this planet, enough to allow me to venture beyond this world and to a whole new one!”

“And exactly what do you plan on doing in this ‘new world’?! Are you just going to destroy that one too?!” Nu asked.

“Heh, on a new world I can be anything! I can be the hero, I can be the villain, or maybe I’ll just grow bored and play the role of a humble high school student? The possibilities, like the universe, are infinite! Especially with the power I have! Screw this world, it’s done nothing for me, and now I will leave only nothingness in my wake as I depart! I will continue this with each world, when I’ve had my fill and grown bored I will end it, and move onto the next one, until I find a perfect world, one without end!”

“We won’t let you do that!” Sunset shouted as she ignited her hands with golden flames.

Twilight’s hands sparked with lightning and gravity energy.

Nu drew out his fire sword, taking a stance and readying himself for the attack.

Deathstorm chuckled and raised his hand to the sky. “Well then…allow me to set the stage.” With a flick of the rest, atomic rings formed. The sky began to darken as black storm clouds covered everything for miles, the sea below began to churn, undulating as the wind picked up. “Now big sister, entertain me will you!!!”

Lightning flashed across the sky and all four charged.

Deathstorm released a hellfire torrent of black flames that roared towards the three incoming Firestorms. All three diverged and went in three separate directions, allowing the black fire torrent to strike the ocean waters and hiss violently, sending a cloud of intense steam to shoot upwards. Deathstorm ceased the attack and began tracking his opponents.

Twilight came up from the right, collecting her magical energy, she loosed a magic bolt straight for Dusk Shine. The energy sphere barely made it halfway before Deathstorm fired a beam of dark energy that detonated the orb before it reached him, however, Twilight wasn’t finished. Loosing several more magic bolts from her hands until the portion of the sky she was in was littered with them.

Deathstorm smirked at the action, pointing his right index finger in the direction of the incoming attack. Portals of darkness opened around Deathstorm, and from them shot several dark beams that sailed to meet the bolts head on.

Just as expected, the bolts exploded upon contact, however, Twilight had another surprise. With a wave of her hand, she launched her hidden second attack. Having bent the light around them, and revealing several lightning spears that were hidden in the background of the initial volley.

Deathstorm reacted quickly, raising a shield just in time to block all the incoming attacks. The spears, however, did not explode on impact, but instead pierced the shell shield that Deathstorm created. Inside the sphere, Deathstorm saw several of the points of the spears inside the barrier wall and was about to destroy them.

But at the last second, a snap was heard, all the spears that had imbedded themselves in the shell exploded at once, cracking the shield and throwing Dusk Shine back a few yards. The Embodiment of Death corrected himself, and growled in frustration at such a cheap trick.

The time to stew over the trick was not had as Nu appeared behind him, brandishing his flaming sword and bringing it down for an overhead strike. Deathstorm noticed the attack, and spun around to meet the attack with a half constructed sword weapon. The two weapons clashed, grinding against each other as sparks and shockwaves of power erupted from their struggle.

“The Firestorm that makes believe he’s a living thing, do you really think you’ll be allowed to live a life after you defeat me?!” Deathstorm taunted.

“If you’re still here there won’t be a point in discussing this is there?! ‘Cause the world and everyone on it will be dead!” Nu shot back.

“Not if you come with me! Who says you can’t join me in my journey for a new world?!”

Nu contemplated that for moment before shaking his head. “Nah, I’d rather stick with this world! There are a lot of cute girls I’ve yet to meet here!”

Deathstorm growled as he pushed back against him. But then, in an unexpected move, Nu somehow jumped out of his body, and repositioned himself, forming two Desert Eagle type pistols into both of his hands. Deathstorm looked up from the construct he was holding back, and the other Nu who had two hard-light pistols in his hands.

Nu began firing one shot after the other in rapid succession, the impact of each blast hit Deathstorm with the force of a megaton explosion, sending him flying backwards and coughing up black ichor with each shot. Nu continued his shooting, with amazing precision, not missing even once. Nu channeled his energy, making atomic rings form around his two pistols, he then brought them together and formed a long cannon barrel. The barrel charged up and fired a beam of pure azure light that roared across the sky and right for Deathstorm.

Dusk Shine regained control, and threw out both of his hands, slamming them against the beam as a shockwave of power erupted from all sides. Deathstorm grunted as he tried to push back against the beam, building up power in preparation for a counterattack.

But further up, Sunset was preparing herself. A halo of red and yellow light formed behind her as she drew in both her atomic energy and magic energy into her hands. A sphere of power formed before her, and at the front it was a crest emblazoned in the form of a horse head with a horn, and one wing on the left and right side.

Sunset Shimmer then launched the sphere of light, the light sailed towards Deathstorm, but halfway, the sphere broke out, and transformed into the upper half of an alicorn, which neighed fiercely, pointing its horn in Deathtorm’s direction.

Deathstorm noticed too late as Nu’s beam stopped, and the fiery alicorn came down and struck him dead center in the chest with its horn, taking him all the way until both slammed against the wide surface of the Ring of Death and exploded. Nu redirected his beam attack and had it strike the same spot.

Twilight waved her hands about, concentrating on the area Deathstorm fell. Rings formed, laced with intricate patterns, five in total. At the top was a ball of light, with a wave of Twilight’s hand, that ball of light crashed down through all five rings, becoming bigger and bigger until it made contact. A large explosion of pink fire, and strangely enough, rosy-violet stars, erupted all over, making the Ring of Death tilt ever so slightly.

Nu, and Sunset headed down to the ring, with Twilight already ahead of them. All three landed on the surface of the gigantic structure. The mechanisms within the ring could be heard as one gear interlocked with the other, pistons going off, and energy humming through the structure. All three Firestorms slowly approached the smoldering area where Deathstorm was, their senses on full alert as they got closer.

“Any chance it’s that easy?” Nu asked.

“Considering our string of luck? Not even,” said Sunset.

“Could be one of those rare times?” Twilight suggested.

The smoke and flames from where Deathstorm had impacted was blown away by an intense wave of power and pressure, making the three Firestorms dig their heels into the metal surface to keep themselves from being thrown off completely. Deathstorm rose up from the small crater, he then waved his hand over the damage and repaired it almost instantly.

“Well that was brutal, did you plan that or did you just come up with that last second?” Deathstorm asked.

“Why, can’t believe we’re that good?” Nu asked.

“Amusing. But so is this!”

Atomic rings formed on Deathstorm’s hands as he slammed them to the surface of the ring. Three constructs formed from metal and lightning. The first construct had a reinforced gauntlet left arm, the second had a large shield, and the last had a bow, with the bowstring made of blue energy.

“Meet Eins, Zwei, and Drei, my friends. Now, let’s play!”

Eins took off with great speed, aiming directly for Sunset Shimmer. Sunset brought up her arms into guard position just in time for Eins to strike, forcing Sunset back as she skidded across the surface. Eins did not let up as he pursued her, Sunset lowered her guard and entered into an attack stance, Sunset jetted off towards Eins and lashed out with her right fist. Eins did the same, both fists connecting at the same time and creating as shockwave that resonated in every direction.

Meanwhile, Drei drew back and began unleashing arrows in rapid fire succession. Twilight raised a shield and prepared to fire, however, Zwei came in and bashed through her barrier with his shield. Zwei arched his back, allowing for the arrows of Drei to fly over him and strike Twilight repeatedly, exploding on impact. Twilight was thrown from her original position, tumbling across the surface until she was able to correct herself.

Nu was about to intercept, but Deathstorm intervened, coming down on Nu with a black flame empowered chop. Nu blocked the blow with his right forearm, grunting from the slight pain he felt from the hit, and trying to keep his footing. His flame cape flapped in the crosswinds as he generated his own counter force, trying to push back against Deathstorm.

“Oh my puppets will keep them busy, it’s just you and me, or should I say, me and you two?!”

“Spare me you Nightmare Night reject!”

Nu jumped into the air, forcing Deathstorm back. The azure Firestorm did a swift teleport away from Deathstorm and reappeared behind him, from there, Nu delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to Deathstorm’s left side, sending him flying in the opposite direction. Nu gave chase and reformed his construct pistols, firing one round after the other.

Deathstorm formed a his pistols and began firing back, each energy bullet either striking the opposite and blowing up in midair, or whizzing by their targets only to explode around them. Deathstorm changed direction and sailed to meet Nu head on.

Both Firestorms met in the middle and began their attack. Nu fired his left pistol, but Deathstorm weaved around the shot and got in close for a point black shot, but Nu fired his left pistol, making the one Deathstorm was holding point upwards as he fired the round high into the sky. Both broke away and began attacking again, a strange combination of kicking, shooting, elbow strikes, and backhand strikes were thrown as one round after the other was loosed in a strange new form of gun martial art.

Sunset was exchanging blows with Eins, the construct proving to be just as fast and as strong as her. Sunset threw a right hook, but Eins blocked it and moved in for an uppercut. The blow caught Sunset in the jaw, sending her stumbling back a few steps. Eins took this advantage and quickly got low to the ground and swept Sunset’s legs from under her. Using the momentum, Eins, brought both legs around, and as soon as she was low, Eins donkey kicked her in the chest, sending Sunset flying across the ring and going over the edge. Eins got his footing back and pursued her, jumping off the edge and diving for her.

The crimson Firestorm coughed up light ichor, regaining enough of her senses to watch Eins approach her. The construct repositioned himself, pointing his feet straight below as he came down like a pile driver right in the same spot he had kicked Sunset. The added speed and momentum carried the both of them all way down, slamming into the ocean waters below with a huge splash.

Sunset had unfortunately coughed, allowing water to enter her mouth. She tried to ascend but Eins was not having it, he broke off from Sunset and propelled himself through the water with unnatural speed. Eins came around Sunset’s left and struck her in the face, making her open her mouth to allow more water in. The construct then unleashed a rapid fire flurry of punches at the Firestorm girl, striking her from every direction before finishing with an empowered double chop to her collarbone, breaking a few bones and making Sunset’s arms go limp.

Eins thrusted both hands forward, wrapping it’s metal grip around her throat and making Sunset’s white eyes widen with fear. The construct continued to choke her airway as she continued to drag her down to the depths of the ocean, the flames of her hair were dimming with each passing second, the white glow of hers becoming more dull at the same time.

NO!

Suddenly, Sunset’s eyes burned bright as a fire built inside her mouth. Eins was completely unprepared when Sunset bellowed out a stream of atomic fire from her mouth, the flames struck his face and made the construct recoil off her. Sunset took this opportunity to form a sphere around herself, creating an air bubble. Sunset coughed for a few moments as she sucked in wind to help herself recover.

“Yeah, note to self, never do firebreath again!” Sunset’s burning eyes locked onto Eins and narrowed in fury. “My turn!”

Sunset focused her magical and atomic powers, willing the ocean waters around her to obey her commands. The waters churned into three orbs, and from those orbs formed three hippocampi made of densely packed water molecules. The construct creatures roared out as they began their attack, dashing through the waters with incredible speed. The first construct kicked Eins in the head with its hooves, the second came up from behind and tail whipped Eins, sending him flying through the waters. The third construct came up in the path and bit down on Eins’ torso, thrashing it about in its jaws before tossing it upwards.

Sunset’s hands had atomic rings around them as she concentrated her plasma energy into forming a trident. The crimson Firestorm then propelled herself upwards and thrust the trident right into Eins’ midsection, but Sunset didn’t stop as she continued going higher and higher. After what felt like several minutes, both Sunset and Eins breached the surface, Sunset then hurled the trident into the sky and fired a twin atomic energy blast at Eins. The beams truck the puppet and exploded on impact.

However, it was far from over as Eins broke out from the smoke cloud and went after Sunset. The crimson Firestorm took her stance, as if standing on a solid surface, and cocked back her right fist. Flames danced around her as magical energy was laced into her fist, Sunset glared up at her incoming foe, ready to attack. Eins saw her preparation and decided it would not come to pass, charging all the energy in its body to its center energy core, Eins fired a beam of dark energy towards Sunset.

The crimson Firestorm let out a battle cry as her feet glowed with aquamarine light. Sunset crouched low and jumped, propelled by her magic and Firestorm power, right before the beam hit, Sunset raised her right fist into the air for an uppercut, meeting the blast head on with her fist. The dueling energies clashed in midair as Sunset drove her fist straight into the blast, parting the beam as she continued to sail upwards. Eins didn’t have time to stop the beam attack before Sunset drove her fist, and the rest of herself right through the construct’s gut.

Behind Sunset, a trail of her magical energy, and atomic fire plasma came shooting up behind her, washing over the remains of Eins and incinerating them. Sunset looked behind herself, smiling at her victory.

Twilight was currently trying to get the better of Zwei and Drei, but it was almost impossible. Zwei’s shield was like the almighty Aegis, all defending and unbreakable, and Drei was deadly accurate with its arrows. Both of them together were proving to be the ultimate tag team. But then again, Twilight already had experience dealing with a tag team like this. Twilight placed her hands together, and assumed a defensive stance, awaiting the attack of the two puppets.

Drei notched a light arrow and fired it straight for Twilight. Just then, Twilight’s hands glowed with rosy-violet light, and with a fluid motion she sidestepped the arrow. Drei was confused, but no less launched another arrow, Twilight again dodged the arrow, turning her head ever so slightly, showing no wasted energy in her movements. Zwei decided to engage in order to knock her off balance, but when Zwei swung its shield, Twilight bent backwards, allowing the shield miss her entirely.

Twilight quickly recovered and re-entered her stance. Zwei used the momentum of his last swing to come around with another swing, at the last moment before Zwei’s shield made contact, Twilight covered her body in a layer of light. Once the shield made contact, all momentum ceased then and there, the layered barrier Twilight had created rippled like water for a moment, but then that power was forwarded to her hands. Twilight pushed against Zwei and struck the puppet in the middle of the chest, the power surged from her hands and blasted through the other side of Zwei.

Drei tilted its head in confusion at what it just witnessed, but the puppet didn’t have time to fully comprehend Twilight’s method as she went to work, transmuting something.

The purple Firestorm called down the lightning from the sky. A bolt shot down right on Twilight’s position, with her left hand she forged the lightning into a bow, and with that same energy, she created an arrow. Twilight drew back and fired the arrow which whizzed towards Drei, but flew right by its head. Drei wasted little time and fired three arrows simultaneously, all three sailed until they were upon Twilight, but at the last second, the arrow she shot broke out and Twilight herself appeared from behind it. Having used the arrow as a fixed point to teleport herself behind Drei.

The puppet realized too late what she had done, and by the time it did, Twilight lodged multiple arrows into its chest. Twilight took the lightning bow, and infused her magical energy into it, and fired it as a beam of pure lightning and magical energy that roared across the ring, blasting the puppet into nothingness.

“Now then, Deathstorm.”

Nu and Deathstorm had long broken their dual gun fight and were now trading blows, striking with thunderous resonation that the very air trembled from each blow. Deathstorm charged up his right fist with black flames and delivered a powerful haymaker to Nu’s face. The azure Firestorm planted his feet and gritted his teeth, rearing back and headbutting Deathstorm, full force, in the face. The Embodiment of Death recoiled from the blow, making him stumble a few moments.

Deathstorm caught himself and growled, jetting forward and unleashing a point blank atomic energy blast right to Nu’s chest, sending him skidding across the surface of the ring. The dark energy of the beam took a toll on Nu’s body, allowing Deathstorm to prepare and fire a second blast. Before the second beam hit, Twilight appeared before Nu and summoned a barrier that protected them both.

From the sky, Sunset came down with a flaming plasma sword. Deathstorm jumped back, allowing the blade to strike where he once was, he then dashed forward, spun around once to build up momentum, and back fist Sunset away from him. As she sailed away, Twilight flew overhead, Sunset tossed her the plasma sword, to which she caught and formed a second rosy-violet light sword into her left hand.

Twilight twirled in midair, swinging her dual swords like a buzzsaw of death. Deathstorm brandished a dark claymore-like plasma sword and met her blades head on. The rosy-violet blade met with the dark blade, causing sparks of darkness and rosy light to fly off from the point of contact.

Deathstorm slapped her left sword away and came in for a thrust, but Twilight managed to parry the incoming blow with her right sword, and coming down with another slash from her left sword. Deathstorm released a force wave to propel himself backwards and away from the attack, but Twilight was not done. She chased after him, both swords clashing as they continued their sword duel while on the move.

A fierce battle cry echoed out as Deathstorm caught sight of a golden fireball heading for him. The fireball broke apart and revealed Sunset, wielding another plasma sword, but the blade was in the pattern of a flamberge. The crimson Firestorm slashed horizontally, Deathstorm formed a short sword in his left hand and blocked the attack before it managed to hit. The recoil made Sunset bounce back, but she quickly recovered and engaged Deathstorm again.

From the right, Nu appeared, brandishing a red, fiery katana. Nu managed to slash Deathstorm across the back, leaving a red glowing gash. Deathstorm growled and spun in place, forcing the other three Firestorms to back away from him. Deathstorm’s eyes and flame hair blazed with greater intensity, from his back, Deathstorm sprouted four more arms, each one wielding a dark plasma sword.

With a renewed vigor, Deathstorm jumped right back into the the fight. A flurry of sword slashes were unleashed as Nu, Twilight, and Sunset parried and blocked as many as they could, even trying to help the other to open Deathstorm up for a direct attack. However, the six-armed Firestorm was making it impossible to attack him directly or find a gap in his defense.

“I just thought of a wonderful parting gift from me to you, big sister,” said Dusk Shine.

Twilight came down with a double blade strike, only to be blocked by two of the six arms of Deathstorm.

“Shall I give you despair?”

Two flashes of black light rushed upwards on Twilight’s arms, Twilight’s eye sent wide as the flashes severed both her arms. Light ichor gushed from the wounded areas, making Twilight scream out in pain. Sunset saw this and rushed towards Deathstorm, her eyes blazing with fury at what he had done. However, Deathstorm anticipated this, repositioning one of his sword blades and making it jet out like a spear. The black blade struck Sunset square in the chest, making her cough up light ichor. The blade retracted and released Sunset, but Deathstorm quickly teleported behind Sunset and grabbed her by the head, applying pressure to it despite the burning of her flame hair.

Deathstorm drew back one of its left arms and thrust the blade, precisely into the vertebrae that controlled her legs, making them go limp. Deathstorm tossed Sunset towards the unarmed Twilight. Nu saw all this, his flame cape raged like an inferno as his eyes blazed bright white.

“YOU BASTARD! I’M GONNA -!”

Just then, Deathstorm held up an index finger. “So sorry, but I’m afraid time’s up.”

Suddenly, the last gear of the Ring of Death fell into place, and every single rune mark glowed at once. A great, thundering rumble shook the air, Nu looked back and saw as Sunset crawled her way towards Twilight who had passed out momentarily from losing so much of her light ichor, but it appeared as though her body was already reconstructing her arms, and Sunset’s body was starting to heal as well.

“What do you mean?! It can’t be done already!”

“I never said noon Canterlot City time, did I? Noon is relative to location, and where we are, noon is now.”

Nu could sense it, energy was being drawn from all over, heat, electrical, and magical, what there was of it, was being pulled out from all sources. The center of the ring began to glow, taking in that very energy and transforming it. The center began to ripple like water, with various images showing each time it settled. One image showed a land of ponies, the second showed a living tree, a demon, and a sorceress fighting something, another ripple showed a streak of lightning zipping across a city street, and one last ripple showed a ship of some sort.

The air was starting to grow cold, making the four Firestorms the only source of heat in the area. “The absorption will start here, all the marine life will be sucked dry, and then it will radiate outwards, until everything on this planet has been drained of its energy.”

Nu could tell that that was happening, down below, he could sense the fishes and other aquatic creatures dying the longer this continued. Not only that, but the waters around the Ring of Death began to freeze, becoming solid ice.

‘At this rate, the draining will spread and hit the mainland, but even so, if this isn’t stopped, it’ll cause irreversible damage to the world’s climate and ecosystems,’ said Professor Neigh.

‘Well what can we do?!’ Shining Armor asked.

“Nothing…” The Professor and Shining Armor both went silent at hearing Nu say that. The azure Firestorm then released his flaming sword and glared at the portal. “You two can’t do anything, but I can!”

Nu ignited and shot towards the center of the portal, causing Sunset, Twilight, and even Deathstorm to look on in confusion as to what he was doing. Nu positioned himself right above the portal opening, seeing dozens of other images flashing in the rippled time space distortion. The azure Firestorm concentrated, focusing his power on the Matrix within himself.

‘Nu what are you doing?!’ Shining Armor shouted.

“I’m going to overload, the combined atomic and magical energies within me will be strong enough to disrupt the Ring’s absorbing power, maybe long enough for the girls to counter.”

Shining Armor and Professor Neigh went silent for a moment before nodding to themselves in agreement.

‘Well…we had good run, Professor. I’ll see ya on the other side.’

‘Verily, as I you.’

“Sorry guys, but you’re sitting this one out.”Suddenly, two orbs of fire jettisoned themselves from Nu’s body, at the center of the orbs were Professor Neigh and Shining Armor. “Twilight lost her brother and first father once, I’m not about to take that away. I was just created, but you two have lived and have families waiting for you.”

“NU, NO WAIT!” Shining Armor pleaded.

“THERE’S ANOTHER WAY, WE NEED BUT JUST A MOMENT!” Professor Neigh shouted.

“Sorry, but this is how it’s going to be.”

With a wave of his hand, Nu made the two orbs fire off across the sky, traveling to the safe place he had designated beforehand.

Deathstorm growled, seeing what Nu was about to do and fired a beam of pure dark energy at Nu. But the distortion at the center of the portal caused the beam to skew off and away from Nu, hitting a chunk of ice below. Deathstorm continued to fire again and again, but the beams would just continue to stray, finally having enough, Deathstorm charged for the center. But, the moment he did, a wave of time space energy rushed upwards, pushing the Embodiment of Death away. Nu only smirked, knowing that Deathstorm could do nothing to stop this from happening.

Sunset managed to make her way to Twilight, the feeling was slowly returning to her legs as her Firestorm powers worked to repair the damage. Sunset managed to cradle Twilight’s head as she sat next to her, watching as the ghostly light of her atomic energy worked to regrow her severed arms.

Twilight finally stirred, her eyes blinking as the image of Sunset came into view. “S-Sunset?”

“Just hold a minute, you’re still healing,” said Sunset.

“W-What about Deathstorm? Where’s Nu?!”

“Twilight, Sunset.” Both girls turned to Nu, who was now glowing with a bright intensity as a red orb glowed at the center of his chest. “Shining Armor and Professor Neigh were sent back to your house, they’ll be safe.”

“‘Be safe’…? What are you saying…?”

“He’s going to overload, and stop the Ring from taking any more energy from the world,” said Sunset.

“No…but, Nu you’ll – you have stop!” Twilight pleaded.

Nu shook his head. “No, this is the way it has to be. I kinda always knew what my real purpose was, I just wanted to live a little, but thanks to being with you guys, and having those two inside me, I feel like I know all I need to know that this world is worth protecting, and that you all are worth this.”

The crimson cape evaporated from Nu as the flames of his dual power erupted, sending out a shockwave that nearly threw the three occupants off the edge. The freezing effect was growing larger by the second, and Nu knew that it was time.

“I’ll always be a part of you guys, remember that!” Nu shouted with a smile and a wink.

With a loud cry, Nu’s core shined as bright as the sun. A column of blue and red fire shot up from the center of the ring, heading into the sky and down to the ocean below. The ring’s rune lights began to dim quickly, and the ocean below was quickly warming up, melting the ice and returning life to the animals that dwelled below.

The column of dual colored fire began to thin out, until nothing but a small orb of crimson light was left. Deathstorm couldn’t believe this, but despite Nu’s sacrifice, it did not deter him.

“All that, and he couldn’t even destroy my Ring, he merely just bought you all some time, nothing more, the fool!” Deathstorm proclaimed.

“You’re wrong!”

Twilight’s arms had fully regenerated, and with them she helped Sunset to her still weak legs, both girls staring down the enemy of all life on Earth.

“He gave his life, to give us a fighting chance!” Sunset shouted.

Deathstorm laughed, manically, at the two. “‘Gave his life’? That thing was barely even alive, just a construct believing itself to be free. It had no life, it was nothing! Just like you and me, big sister! We are nothing, and it were relegated to becoming disposable tools when all was said and done!”

“You’re right…I believed that, but no more! I’m more than that!” Twilight countered.

“Same for me, I was filled with hatred and pride, so much so that I failed to see what was right in front of me! So yeah, I’m more than that too!” Sunset added.

“WE ARE MORE!”

Suddenly, the crimson Matrix flew to Sunset and Twilight and floated before them. The Matrix split in half and shot to both girls’ Firestorm insignia’s. A rush of power flowed into them like never before, their flames burned brighter and with a luster that they had never before possessed. Sunset looked to Twilight, and Twilight to Sunset. It was time.

I am ready.

Both girls held the other’s hand and raised them to the sky, shouting in one unified voice to the heavens above.

“FIRESTORM!!!”

A column of gold, red, purple, pink, and blue flames rose into the sky, along with the magical auras of aquamarine and rosy-violet. Sunset’s and Twilight’s bodies merged, becoming one being. Purple gauntlets formed on both of her forearms, and purple metal boots. A white mail-mesh suit formed over her bright yellow plasma body, on the suit blazed Sunset’s sun cutie mark on the left side of the chest, and across from it, were three six-pointed stars, Twilight’s mark. Red, circuit-like lines formed on the suit, as if facilitating the flow of power.

A golden tiara adorned her head, with the glowing crystal horn at the center that changed colors like an aurora. Her hair was made of rainbow flames that bellowed and undulated with sparkling energy. Upon her back were wings of pure white light, with each flap a feather made of light would be loosed and gently fall before changing into particles of light.

When the column broke, and revealed this new being, the clouds in the sky were blasted away, allowing the full rays of the shining sun to fall upon the ocean, giving this new Firestorm an angelic brilliance.

“So…you’ve become that demon again, you must be that desperate to defeat me!” Deathstorm taunted.

“No, I am not Hel, I have transcended beyond the being I once was and have been reborn anew!” The winged Firestorm unfurled her wings to the fullest, releasing a wave of power that buffeted Deathstorm. “Born from Harmony and Love, I am she who banishes the darkness and brings light to all! I am the true self, I – We – are Nova.”

Comments

[Sonic Rainboom Dash]

was listening to this during Nu's sacrifice.

[Mythic_Robyn]

Nu!
'Drops down onto knees and looks to the heavens'
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
...
Nova seems cool

BD out

[Turtle_The_Animus]

Wow. That's the only word I can think of to describe this. Just...... wow.

[ShadowLDrago]

In the distance, Destroyer class battleships were approaching, each one bearing the flag of a different nation.

Sadly, this isn't going to make a difference.

“Really, I’m a flaming, undead looking, superhuman, who created a giant death machine that’s floating in the middle of the ocean, and you honestly thought some bullets and missiles would stop me?”

They can only do so much, to be fair.

All the energy of the nukes was being drawn to a single point, and condensed into an orb of pure nuclear power held within Deathstorm’s hand.

Oh that's bad.

“After spending time as a fused entity, and witnessed what we have, I’d be a fool to remain blind to such things,” replied Professor Neigh.

He's right.

The twin bolts’ aim was true as both struck the annoying buzzer across the room with amazing precision.

Bullseye.

with the other’s,

Others.

“Oh my puppets will keep them busy, it’s just you and me, or should I say, me and you two?!”

You're not that clever, Deathstorm.

point black

Point blank.

beams truck the puppet

Struck.

Having used the arrow as a fixed point to teleport herself behind Drei.

Clever.

“Shall I give you despair?”

You're not Sephiroth.

“I’m going to overload, the combined atomic and magical energies within me will be strong enough to disrupt the Ring’s absorbing power, maybe long enough for the girls to counter.”

Uh, Nu, you realize this could potentially end very poorly if this fails, right?

Suddenly, the crimson Matrix flew to Sunset and Twilight and floated before them. The Matrix split in half and shot to both girls’ Firestorm insignia’s. A rush of power flowed into them like never before, their flames burned brighter and with a luster that they had never before possessed. Sunset looked to Twilight, and Twilight to Sunset. It was time.

Fu-sion-HA!

A column of gold, red, purple, pink, and blue flames rose into the sky, along with the magical auras of aquamarine and rosy-violet. Sunset’s and Twilight’s bodies merged, becoming one being. Purple gauntlets formed on both of her forearms, and purple metal boots. A white mail-mesh suit formed over her bright yellow plasma body, on the suit blazed Sunset’s sun cutie mark on the left side of the chest, and across from it, were three six-pointed stars, Twilight’s mark. Red, circuit-like lines formed on the suit, as if facilitating the flow of power.
A golden tiara adorned her head, with the glowing crystal horn at the center that changed colors like an aurora. Her hair was made of rainbow flames that bellowed and undulated with sparkling energy. Upon her back were wings of pure white light, with each flap a feather made of light would be loosed and gently fall before changing into particles of light.

Cool!