For the Sake of Progress

by Lucaro

Chapter 10: Showdown

The ground shook, and there was a tremendous upheaval, the walls of the plant bursting open. Twilight could see a monstrous silhouette stirring within. She heard laughing, and looked up. Sombra was standing on the roof of the plant near the dark energy vortex. “You have come far, Twilight,” he said, chuckling. “But can you kill your own friends?”

The creature in the plant stepped into the light, and turned out to be three crystallized ponies. Fluttershy screamed and began to cry, and Twilight stared in horror. “Rainbow Dash!”

Crystallized Rainbow Dash stepped forward, and behind her followed Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Applejack cried out in grief, seeing her friends’ state.

King Sombra laughed, seeing their anguished faces. “I wish I could enjoy seeing you three tear your loved ones apart, but I have an invasion to coordinate. My crystal constructs will move on Manehattan, Canterlot, Detrot, and all shall bow before me!”

Sombra laughed again, and with a flourish of his cape, he disappeared in a plume of black smoke. Crystallized Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie shambled forward, and they all backed up. One of the police stallions shuddered. “We have to destroy this building, but…” they looked at the three crystallized mares. “We have to get past them.”

Applejack sighed. “Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie are our friends. We’ll distract them,” she looked down, sniffing, “and if need be, we’ll put them down.” She pointed at the three stallions. “You guys go in there and bring that plant down. Like Twi said, if we destroy that vortex up there, hopefully everything will return to normal. Hopefully.”

The three police ponies rushed ahead, while the crystallized guardians were set on engaging their former friends. Fluttershy stepped forward, facing Pinkie Pie. “Umm…Pinkie, can you hear me?”

The pink crystallized pony smiled. “I’m so glad I have all my friends here. My worst fear was that I would die alone as a crystal pony, but now…” Pinkie smiled sadly.

Applejack stamped her hoof. “You three are going to get through this! I promise.”

Crystallized Rainbow Dash coughed, spraying contaminated blood on the ground. “Oh, Applejack. I wish I could have confessed my feelings for you while I was healthy.”

Applejack blushed. “I had no idea you felt that way about me. I don’t know what to say.”

There was a dark pulse from the dark vortex, and it grew larger, Sombra’s range of influence increasing. Crystallized Rarity sobbed. “Please, you have to kill us. You have to save Equestria.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “I’m so sorry,” she rushed forward with incredible speed, striking Applejack and sending her tumbling away. Applejack hit the ground with a snap, and slowly stood again, pain in her eyes. “I love you,” Rainbow Dash sobbed.

Applejack stood back up, her legs trembling. Twilight looked at her friends, and then at the three advancing crystal ponies. “Applejack,” she whispered. “You take Rainbow Dash.” Twilight looked at Fluttershy. “You take Rarity.” Twilight looked ahead. “And I’ll take Pinkie Pie.”

They all nodded and engaged their assigned friend. Twilight approached Pinkie Pie, and the pink party mare smiled at her sadly. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, Twilight. I can’t control myself. But I do hope that you can…” Pinkie swallowed. “Finish it quickly.”

Twilight snorted. “You’re not going to die, Pinkie!”

She smiled, tears in her eyes. “I’m so scared. Pinkie promise?”

“Pinkie Promise.” Twilight raised her hoof.

Pinkie Pie squeaked, a sound resembling a cross between a giggle and a sob. She sent a volley of crystal shards at her, and Twilight leapt up, easily dodging the projectiles. Her horn started to glow, preparing to return fire…but she couldn’t. A memory flashed in her mind. It was the day she had first come to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie had been the first to meet her….

Twilight screamed, being knocked away by a barrage of crystals. She hit the ground hard, and her world spun. She lay in the dirt, and saw that Rainbow had pinned Applejack down and was punching her over and over again, hot tears falling from Rainbow’s eyes. She looked to the other side and saw that Rarity had put Fluttershy in a headlock, the yellow pegasus whimpering in pain. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t kill their friends.

Pinkie Pie appeared above her, and nuzzled Twilight softly, the crystal protrusions scraping her skin. Twilight couldn’t move. This was it. Pinkie Pie raised her crystalline hoof, preparing to stomp on her. Her hoof came down with all her earth pony strength, and there was the sound of her ribs cracking. Twilight screamed in pain, and Pinkie Pie was sobbing as she raised her hoof again. Again, her hoof came down. There was more crunching, and scarlet stained her vision. Pinkie’s hoof appeared over her head. This would be the final blow, the one that would crush her skull and send her into oblivion.

She heard the whistling of her hoof coming down, and there was a flash of light. There was the sound of glass breaking, and crystal fragments rained down on Twilight. She opened her eyes, and saw Pinkie Pie standing above her, the crystals disappeared. Pinkie collapsed, and so did Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Twilight struggled to get up and looked over Pinkie and the others. There was no sign of infection.

Twilight steadied herself and turned around. Celestia and Luna stood there, and behind her stood an army of the ponies they had cleansed. “Well done, my faithful student. But now it is time to face the source of the poison.”

Twilight grinned. Rainbow Dash groaned, lying on top of injured Applejack. “Heh,” she smiled, looking down at the mare she loved. “Is this heaven?”

“No, it isn’t,” Sombra barked. He pointed his hoof at Celestia and Luna. “I will not allow you two to ruin all my hard work!” He laughed. “You are too late! I have gathered enough power to….” The ground shook violently, and the dark vortex of energy grew larger and larger. Massive screens appeared, depicting the streets of Canterlot and many other cities. The Crystal Monoliths had arrived, and she could hear the panicked screams of ponies running for their lives. She could see the Monoliths bearing down on the buildings, destroying them with a single stomp or a sweep of their arms.

Celestia and Luna flew up to stop him, but the vortex knocked them down. They sent a golden beam of energy at the vortex, and it slowly penetrated the mass of energy, trying to reach for the dark heart of power where Sombra stood. The black stallion grunted, and counteracted with his own beam. A malignant beam of violet and black met the golden beam, forcing it back at Celestia and Luna. Twilight added her own beam to the sisters, and all the unicorns in Ponyville joined in, all their beams augmenting the princesses’ power. But Sombra was too powerful, and the beam descended down back at them. Twilight grunted. If that beam crashed down, they would all die.

Sombra laughed. “Time to die!”

The beam was almost upon them, and Celestia screamed. Twilight intensified her beam as much as she could, but she noticed something happening on the roof. She could see the silhouettes of three ponies appear on the roof from the staircase. She could barely make them out from behind the vortex of dark energy.

Sombra continued to laugh, the beam almost touching Celestia’s horn. Then, the three ponies came into focus. The police ponies!

The three stallions snuck up behind Sombra and gave a hard whack with their nightsticks. Sombra cried out in pain, and his beam subsided completely. The golden beam of power, the accumulation of everypony’s power, came surging through the dark vortex and right into the heart of its power. Sombra screamed, the energy tearing him apart. “NOOOOOO!”

There was an explosion, and the entire plant came tumbling down. The large smoke stacks collapsed, falling into each other. Twilight shielded her eyes as dust and debris came rushing down in a pulse. They stared at the ruins of the concrete building, and the rubble shifted. They all gasped. Three different colored hooves rose from the dust, and clawed their way to the surface. Everyone cheered, and Celestia shot a beam of light into the sky. The entire sky grew overcast, but the clouds were all slightly glowing with energy. Golden drops of light began to fall down in the raindrops, clearing the contaminant.

The screens depicting Equestria’s greatest cities grew calm again, and the Monoliths collapsed as the golden rain came down. Twilight looked behind her, seeing the river bank in the distance. The blood red water returned to its normal color.

The three police ponies were each carrying something in their hooves as they rose up, and Applejack screamed as they dumped a yellow and red pile down on the floor. “Applebloom!”

The police stallions had rescued four or five other foals. They were completely crystallized, but as the magical rain poured over them, the crystals began to break apart and disintegrate. Applebloom opened her eyes, looking up at her sister. “Applejack?” she whispered softly.

“Oh, Applebloom!” the two sisters embraced.

Soon, other worried parents rushed over to claim their foals. Everyone was cheering, except for Luna. The moon goddess stormed up to the ruins, while everypony was celebrating their triumph over evil. Luna used her magic to move aside some rocks, and dragged out a battered Sombra. Everypony was watching her drag Sombra towards them. Celestia moved to help her sister, but Luna hissed. “He’s mine!”

Luna dug her hoof into a large gash on Sombra’s belly, and he howled in pain as blood welled up. “I’ll make sure he is adequately punished for what he’s done.” She disappeared then, taking the wounded Sombra with her.

Twilight grinned, and Pinkie Pie put her hoof round her shoulder. Fluttershy joined them, and soon they were all together, hugging and laughing. After they drew apart, Rainbow Dash looked shyly at Applejack. “Hey, do you want to have dinner sometime?”
Applejack smiled. “Sure thing, sugarcube.”

Twilight laughed, and soon they were all laughing. The effects of the magical rain swept through the land, cleansing the contamination. Now that Sombra’s power was broken, everypony was able to break free of their crystal possession.

Fluttershy returned to her home to find her animals healed, Twilight returned to her library after being showered with praise from Celestia, Applejack returned to her farm with her little sister healthy again, Pinkie Pie returned to the bakery, Rarity to her salon. Everything was fine then, but even though they had recovered, there were still a few that were still suffering.

After a few years of mourning, Mrs. Rich inherited the family business, married again, and now has three healthy foals. The ponies that had been shattered during the invasion were put back together again, and with a lot of effort, recovered completely. The environmental damage was repaired over time by the Canterlot Hazmat Team, the hospital was rebuilt, and it is said that Sombra’s cries of anguish can still be heard in the dead of night.

THE END

Comments

[Screw]

When I see a lot of comments being deleted without any reason as to why, I get wary about reading a fiction. From fear of my time being wasted, I always look out for some critiques. With those deleted comments, I get wary that because the author might just delete constructive critiques just because they only want positive ones. And when I can't find any, the story's description is the only thing that either attracts me or just isn't good enough to catch much attention.

[Lucaro]

4445441

It's alright, we were talking about how to fix a part in the story. I had to get rid of all the spoilers

[Screw]

The story moves to fast. It doesn't have enough information that would affect the reader on the emotional scale. That AppleDash shipping at the end. Not everybody on this site likes them.

If you do plan on making a shipping like that, I recommend that you flash out a bit more about their possible relationship. Otherwise that part of the story would seem like it throws the reader's emotion out of the window, thus breaking the fiction's immersion.

I highly recommend on writing a separate one-shot story about a relationship if you decide on making future shipping/romance. It'll teach you what not to do and how it's supposed to be handled.

[Krysnha]

Nice storie, you have me in suspence, and the ending was amaizing thanks for the hard work