The End to every story

by Thestoryteller

Chapter eleven ...and the End

Back in Canterlot

Discord snapped his fingers and about thirteen locks were nailed into the large double door that led to the throne room.

"There we go." Discord placed his arms on his hips, wearing a smile of satisfaction. "Pip, the checklist if you would."

Pipsqueak, who was dressed in a sweater vest and sat behind an old typewriter, read off of a piece of paper. "We've bolted down the windows, placed locks on all of the doors, sprayed super glue all over the stained glass, double checked each and every guard to ensure that none were spies, and created a triple layered shield around Canterlot."

"By we, he means you." Button corrected.

"Well what can I say? I am capable of doing pretty much anything with the snap of my fingers." Discord breathed on his claw, rubbed it against his chest, and looked at his reflection in his claw.

"Tell us the truth Discord. Did you pull us away because you wanted our help, or did you do it because you knew that we would've just gotten in the way of things?" Rumble crossed his hooves.

"That all depends. Do you want the answer you want to hear, or the truth?" Discord asked.

"Don't try turning the tables on us Discord." Button shot. "We want the honest to goodness truth."

"Fine. The truth is I did keep you all here because I knew you'd only get in the way." Discord admitted. "Happy?"

"Not really." Pip rubbed his forearm awkwardly.

"I can't believe you Discord, we're more than capable of helping our friends out." Rumble protested.

"Oh really?" Discord started to count fingers, "If I remember correctly, Applebloom is the Element of Will, Scootaloo is the element of Hope, Sweetie Bell is the Element of Love, and Dinkie is the Prophet. What about you guys huh? What can you do?"

Rumbled frowned, Button's eyes fell to the floor, and Pip's head dropped. Discord sighed, "Look...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out like that. I'm just really agitated at a certain someone right now."

"Who?" Rumble asked.

Before Discord could say his entire body shook like a noodle. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh what? What's wrong?" Button started to sound panicked.

Discord flew to the door where a peep hole grew on it. Discord looked through the lens and his suspicions were confirmed.

On the other side of the door, walking down the hallway, was Libidine.

"Crap." Discord groaned. "Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap."

"For Pete's sake, what's wrong?!" Rumble asked.

"We've got company." Discord answered, pacing frantically back and forth.

"Who is it?" Pip looked through the peep hole.

"Don't look into her eyes!" Discord grabbed Pip and pulled him away from the door. He then grabbed Rumble and Button. Holding them all in his lion paw, he snapped his fingers and the entire room was turned upside down.

Gravity took effect and Discord, along with everyone else, fell onto the ceiling.

"Discord, what are you-"

Discord slammed his eagle claw over Button's mouth, "Shut up or you'll kill us all." He hissed.

There was a moment of silence before the knob on to the double door began to jiggle. The locks Discord had placed on the door began to unlock themselves by Libidine's magic. Once the final lock had come undone, the double doors swung open and Libidine entered. She stood in the middle of the room and began to inspect it.

Her horn glowed and a piece of chalk appeared. She levitated the chalk to the ground, and in a swift motion, the chalk swung three hundred and sixty degrees around Libidine with a radius of thirty four point five. With a perfect circle around her Libidine began to draw smaller shapes inside the circle.

"What's she doing?" Pip kept his voice low.

"It appears." Discord squinted. "She is...drawing...oh my stars."

"What? What is it?" Rumble asked.

"She using Symbolic magic." Discord answered.

"There's a magic where all you need to do is draw and something magical will happen?" Button asked.

"It's a lot more complicated than that, but to put it simply that is exactly what it is." Discord said. "Let me explain, the universe is like a flat sheet of paper, and in between the sheet are forms of code that runs the universe. This code is comprised of a series of shapes that maintain everything. It was discovered that some shapes could be drawn and in doing so something...strange would happen."

"If this Symbolic magic is related to the universe, how come we've never heard of it?" Pip asked.

"Not all of the symbols were discovered, there were only a few. Not to mention that those who've spent their lives studying it ended up with nothing to show for it. So with hardly any leads the practice was abandoned." Discord explained.

Button watched Libidine move to the left side of the circle and began drawing. "You seem to know a lot about symbols. Can you decipher what the symbols she's drawing mean?"

"I can try, it's been a while so don't get your hopes too high." Discord said, looking at the new symbol drawn on the left.

The symbol was the shape a small circle with plus in the middle of it. In the middle of the plus was a square with four lines jutting out from the center. From the four corners of the square were lies that stretched to the edge of the circle.

"Hmmm...I feel like I've seen that symbol somewhere before." Discord muttered. "Okay...that symbol looks like it means...guardian...of...Void."

"Guardian of Void?" Rumble repeated. "The heck does that mean?"

"Hold on, she's drawing another symbol." Discord said.

Libidine walked to the top of the circle and drew a triangle pointing up, then drew a triangle pointing down over the one she just drew. She then drew a plus inside the polygon.

"Okay...that one says...Creator of Worlds." Discord pointed to the six pointed star. "Hang on a minute, I've seen these symbols somewhere before."

Once finished Libidine moved to the right of the circle and drew the next symbol. She started with a triangle, then she drew another triangle where its tip touched the left corner of the first, then she drew another one where its tip touched the right corner of the first. In the middle was an upside down triangle, and in the middle she drew a smaller triangle pointing up with a dot in its center. In the middle of all three sides of the upside down triangle, lines stretched to the corners of the other three.

"That's the symbol of the Life bringer." Discord pointed out.

Libidine moved to the bottom of the circle where she drew a plus. She then drew a line for each tip of the plus that moved horizontally. The symbol looked like a swastika until Libidine drew a rectangle on each of the horizontal lines. Where she drew a line in the rectangle, cutting it in half.

"And that's the symbol of the Destroyer." Discord said.

Libidine stepped out of the circle and levitated the chalk to the top, just beneath the six pointed star. There she drew a triangle with its point down. Then she drew another triangle, pointing up, just above the symbol of the Destroyer. The piece of chalk then drew a straight line between both triangles, and drew a straight line connecting the two left corners and drew another straight line connecting the two right corners.

On the left side of the two triangles she drew a six with the hole filled up. In the blob she drew an upside down triangle with three lines inside that all met in the center. On the right side of the two triangles she drew a nine with its filled up. In the blob, she drew a triangle pointing up with three lines meeting in its center.

With her work done, Libidine stepped back to admire her handy work.

"Oh that's bad." Discord bit down on his talons.

"Don't leave us in suspense. What does that drawing mean?" Rumble said in an irritated tone.

"If I'm correct, that symbol is a summoning symbol. And it's going to summon something bad, I can feel it." Discord said.

"What's it going to summon?" Button asked worried.

"That's what's truly terrifying." Discord faced Button. "I don't know."

---

Back in the Griffon Empire. Gideon sat at his desk, the thin and tall box lied in front of him. After imprisoning the two who had the box in their possession, Gideon was unsure what to next. He didn't know whether to present the box to his father.

Or keep it hidden.

Gideon shook his head, 'What am I thinking?' He mentally shouted. 'What reason could I possibly have in hiding this from him?'

A knock came from his chamber doors.

"Come in." Gideon hid the box.

The door opened and Eagle Eyes entered.

Gideon sighed in relief, "It's only you."

"Your message sounded urgent." Eagle Eyes said worried. "Is something wrong?"

Gideon pulled the box out and sat it on top of his desk. "What I'm about to show you must stay between you and me. I couldn't think of anyone I trust more than you, can you promise me that you'll keep this a secret?"

Eagle Eyes locked the door behind her. "I promise."

Gideon took a deep breath before unlocking the two latches that kept the box closed. He lifted the box's lid up and showed Eagle Eyes what the box had inside.

The inside of the box was lined with red cushions that were sewn into the sides and bottom of the box. In the center of the bottom part lied an oddly shaped sword. It looked a katana but on the blunt side of it was a black rod. On the guard of the hilt was a symbol of an upside down star. While not visibly seen, an evil aura could be felt emanating from the blade.

"Do you know what this is?" Gideon asked, pointing to the sword.

"It looks familiar...almost like I've seen it somewhere before." Eagle Eyes rubbed her chin, trying to remember where she had seen the blade before.

"This blade is known as the Sword of Sin. One of the Seven blades forged by the Great Seven. This here is the Blade of Sin, a powerful blade capable of absorbing the sins from whoever it strikes." Gideon explained. "It was once placed in a griffon temple long ago for protection until it was stolen. Now it lies before you."

Eagle Eyes shook her head, "Where did you find this?"

"Two griffon imposters had it on them. They bumped into me and I had the guards arrest them, they're currently sitting in the dungeon." Gideon answered.

"Why are you showing me this?" Eagle Eyes asked.

"This weapon is very powerful. Which is why I can't decide whether to show father this..." Gideon's voice lowered, "Or hide it from him."

"Why...why would you think something like that?" Eagle Eyes asked.

"I don't know." Gideon answered frustrated. "Part of me is screaming not to give it to him. But I know that he would know what to do with this." Gideon closed the box and placed it under his wing. "Forget this, I'm showing this to him."

Gideon stormed out of his room and walked down the halls, Eagle Eyes following.

"Are you sure about this?" Eagle Eyes asked as they began to approach the door to the throne room.

"Absolutely." Gideon answered, pushing the door open violently the two entered the throne room.

"Father!" Gideon's shout echoed through the empty room.

"Gideon." Eagle Eyes voice sounded shocked and soft.

Gideon turned to Eagle Eyes and his widened upon seeing what she saw.

Before him, bleeding on the floor, was Leone. A sword sticking out of his chest.

"Brother!" Gideon dropped the box and rushed to Leone's side. He carefully lifted his head up and placed his other claw of his heart, which was luckily still beating.

"Gid...eon." Leone gasped.

"Don't speak...you're gonna be fine, we're gonna find help and-"

Leone cut Gideon off by grabbing his collar and pulling him closer. "Listen to me...Father...has gone...mad..." he wheezed.

"What are you saying?" Gideon asked.

"He has...captured...the Element of Honesty...Applejack...a mare with an orange coat...blonde mane...and green eyes..." Leone coughed. "You must...stop him...he will...destroy the Empire...please brother......stop him....." Leone's grip started to loosen. "Only you......can.......stop....."

"Leone! Leone stay with me!" Gideon shouted as Leone's eyes began to close. "You can't die! Brother please!" Tears began to form in Gideon's eyes.

Leone's eyes closed and his arm fell limp.

"Brotheeeeerrrrr!" Gideon's shout echoed throughout the empty throne room.

---

*KABOOOOOOOOM!!!*

A large ball of fire erupted from the ground, spewing hot chunks of rock. Infernum created fireball after fireball, launching each one towards his opponents with a smile on his face.

"Come on now. Are you gonna fight, or scurry away like cowardly rats?" Infernum asked, chucking another fireball.

Flash quickly rolled left, just in time to dodge the fireball. "You're calling us cowards? Says the guy who won't even give his opponents a chance."

"Nice try Element of Shadow. But your tricks won't work on me." Infernum conjured up another fireball in his hooves. "I know exactly what will happen if I let my guard down."

Infernum reared back his hoof and threw the ball of fire towards Flash. But before it could reach him, Flurry teleported in front of him and entrapped the ball of fire in a yellow aura. She spun around, spinning the fireball with her, and launched it right back towards Infernum. Infernum didn't flinch or move as the ball exploded right on his face.

"Cute." He spoke, the fireball's smoke fading from around his face, revealing no damage whatsoever. "Real cute Hybrid. But you fail to understand." His eyes glowed orange and yellow as bubbles of fire came from the ground beneath him. "I created Tartarus! I am the god of Hell itself! You think a half-breed such as yourself is capable of defeating me? Ha!" Infernum's horn glowed orange. "Let me show you exactly what I'm capable of!"

Infernum unleashed a beam of fire from his horn towards Flurry Heart. But before it could strike a pink shield formed in front of her, blocking the beam. Infernum, still firing the beam, turned towards Shining Armor. "Foolish pony, what makes you think you can stop me?" Infernum asked, his beam doubling in size. But despite how much energy he poured into his magic, the shield refused to break.

"What? How?!" Infernum demanded.

"Fun fact... 'God of Hell'." Shining Armor grinned. "Energy can't be created or destroyed. But it can be absorbed and shot right back!"

Infernum whipped his head back to Shining Armor's shield, from which a pink beam shot out of its center towards Infernum. Infernum took a small step to the right, easily avoiding the beam.

"What?" Infernum looked to Shining Armor. "Did you honestly think I would just stand there and take it?"

"To be honest...kinda, yeah." Shining admitted.

"That cocky attitude of yours is going to get you killed." Infernum's horn glowed.

"Hey!"

A lightning ball collided with Infernum's left cheek. Pushing his face a couple of inches to the left. Infernum slowly turned to Flash, "If this is all you're capable of Element of Shadow, then perhaps you aren't as much of a threat as I thought you'd be."

"Stop calling me Element of Shadow." Flash growled. "My name is Flash Sentry."

"What nonsense." Infernum back hoofed Flash, sending him flying. "When one becomes an Element of Chaos they lose the right to call themselves by their birth name. Everything that they were once connected to becomes null and void."

"You know I could give you a hoof if you wanted-" Dark Side offered.

"Shove it!" Flash yelled, leaping towards Infernum. He punched him in the chest, then kicked him in the sides, and finally punched him in the face.

Flash's body was engulfed in red magic, preventing him from moving. His wings were unfolded and then bent backwards, creating a painful crunch. "GRRRRAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!" Flash roared in pain.

"Do you have any idea how annoying your punches are?" Infernum asked, twisting Flash's wings harder. "Seriously, they don't hurt, they're just annoying."

"Let him go!" Flurry shouted, firing a yellow bolt of magic at Infernum.

"As you wish." Infernum said, levitating Flash in front of the yellow bolt.

As the bolt began to close in, a pink shield appeared in front of Flash, absorbing the bolt. Flash broke free and dashed away from Infernum. Infernum stood before his three opponents, Flash, Flurry, and Shining. Flash's wings began to mend themselves as he created a lightning pike in his hoof. Flurry's horn glowed yellow, creating three yellow aura swords beside her. Shining Armor did the same, but his swords were pink instead.

"What in the name of me is taking you so long Libidine?" Infernum asked under his breath.

---

Speaking of Libidine, the Demon of Lust stood in the middle of the circle she had drawn.

"I swear, if this doesn't work and I end up making myself look like an idiot, I'm gonna hurt you Infernum." Libidine said to no one.

She stood on her hind legs and began to speak. "redistuo." She spoke, and the small circle symbol on her left began to glow. "efil." She spoke, and the Triangle shaped symbol on her right began to start glowing. "tcetihcra." The six pointed star symbol above her began to glow. "noitcurtsed." The swastika beneath her began to glow. "gninnigeb." The symbol to her right began to glow. "dne." The symbol to her left began to glow.

"Dne eht htrof gnirb dna dlrow siht ot nruter. Etaf fo tnemele htrof emoc." She spoke, her eyes completely grey.

The entire circle began to glow, violently shaking the entire castle.

---

Where all of the pillars that contained the Elements of Harmony stood, an orange beam shot from each of the black spheres. Each of the beams curved and all soared towards one direction. At the pillar where First Base was being kept, an orange beam shot upright from the sphere. The six other beams joined the one shooting upright.

There was a loud crack as a giant orange vertical crack split through the open air in the sky and became visible for all to see.

---

"Oh that is really bad." Discord said, looking out the window he got a clear view of the large crack in the sky.

"Discord, what is that thing?" Button asked.

"It's a rip in space and time." Discord answered, not moving his eyes, "and she's somehow doing it." Discord pointed to Libidine, who continued to chant.

"How do we stop her?" Pip asked.

"Well...the simple thing to do is shut her up." Discord answered.

Rumbled readied himself and leaped upwards from the ceiling. His wings opened and he flew down straight towards Libidine.

"Shut up!" Rumble shouted, his hoof punching Libidine right on the forehead.

Libidine's head was bent down, motionless. Slowly her head rose back up to meet Rumble's. "Well done." She spoke, her voice now ghastly. "Now shut him up."

Libidine's horn glowed and both Pip and Button fell down from the ceiling. Discord however didn't fall. But rather he glided down and hovered in front of Libidine, his eyes completely grey.

"Oh crap." Button winced, stepping back slightly in fear.

"Discord, be a dear and kill these three for me." Libidine ordered the mind controlled draconequus.

Discord said nothing, instead he raised his claw above him. With his magic he summoned a giant hammer from which his eagle claw grasped.

"Run!" Rumble shouted, the three stallions running out of the room while Discord chased them with a giant hammer.

Once Discord, Rumble, Pip, and Button had left the room Libidine resumed her spell.

---

"It's about time." Terraca grunted at the stone pillar from which an orange beam shot from it.

While Thorn was fighting off one of the stone ponies, he demanded, "What are you doing to her?!"

"Who? Me?" Terraca asked, motioning to himself. "I'm not doing anything but fighting you guys."

Celestia teleported in front of Terraca, a yellow aura glaive weapon beside her. In a swift act she brought the blade down towards Terraca. Terraca, seeing the obvious attack, created a piece of rock to jut out of the mountain and shield him from the blade.

"If you aren't the one doing this. Then who is?" Celestia demanded, pulling the glaive out of the rock.

"Hmmmm...well if everything went according to plan then I suppose the one behind this is Libidine." Terraca answered.

Thorn pushed back the stone pony and made a dash towards the pillar. He drew his sword and jumped towards the sphere. Terraca teleported himself in the air between the sphere and Thorn. When Thorn was close enough Terraca smacked him down towards the ground. Before Thorn crashed into the ground a group of vines caught him and gently sat him down.

"Is this really all you've got?" Terraca asked. "I mean sure, I can understand the Deer and pony, but you Celestia," Terraca pointed, "you've gone soft. It wasn't long ago that you used to strike fear into the mortals."

"How ironic." Thorn chuckled. "You say that ponies are afraid of you. But the mere sight of Derpy terrifies you."

"What!" Terraca shouted, appalled. "I am not afraid of some Pegasus who doesn't even have eye coordination."

Once Terraca had said that Derpy latched onto his neck, her body on top of his.

"Hey! Get off!" Terraca reached backwards, trying to grab Derpy.

It was then that Derpy stuck out her tongue and pressed it against the back of Terraca's neck. She then moved upward, her tongue sliding against his neck. Derpy licked all the way till she got to the back of his head, where she drew back her tongue. She swished salvia around in her mouth, trying to describe its taste.

"You taste like dirt." Derpy smiled.

Terraca became pale. His right eye twitched while the rest of his body remain frozen. He used his magic to pry Derpy from his back and dropped her. "Excuse me, I need to douse my body in bleach."

Terraca then became angry. A face of pure anger and rage spread across his face. "I've had enough of this! I'm going to do what I should've done in the first place!" His horn glowed green, he fired a green beam at Celestia.

The beam collided with Celestia, and from where the beam had struck her body began to turn to stone. Soon her entire body had become stone.

"Princess!" Derpy shouted as she too was struck by the green beam and turned to stone.

"Derpy!" Thorn shouted before glaring at Terraca. "You'll pay for that!"

"Oh?" Terraca raised an eyebrow, tilting his head. "And just what will you do?"

Terraca's stone pony's converged towards Thorn. Thorn's eyes glowed green, causing vines to erupt from the ground. The vines wrapped around the stone pony's and crushed them into dust.

"Well would you look at that." Terraca smiled. "Maybe you aren't as helpless as I thought." Terraca's eyes glowed a darker shade of green than Thorn's. "Come at me Deer! Hit me with everything you've got!"

---

Back in the open fields, the giant dragon Spike and the large centaur Tirek were at a standstill. Both locked heads with the other, pushing back with all their might. While the two both had an advantage in size, Tirek had magic whereas Spike had fire. As the two clashed, the land had begun to reveal the battles effects. Burnt grass and trees along with trees broken or split in half.

Tirek didn't think that a dragon would prove so difficult to battle. Sure he knew that Dragon's didn't have any real magic, and he wasn't completely at full strength, but he should've been done fighting the drake by now.

'So why am I still here?!' Tirek mentally yelled. 'A dragon isn't that strong, the only advantage they have is their size and fire. I have magic, how am I losing!'

Spike rammed his fist into Tirek's gut. Tirek stumbled backwards, clutching the place he had been struck. In anger, he sent a bolt of magic at Spike. Spike retaliated by spewing a fireball at the bolt, the two collided and cancelled each other out.

"This is getting old real fast, dragon." Tirek growled.

"No kidding." Spike grinned. "What say you and I put an end to this right now?"

Before Tirek could respond a sharp pain ran through his head. He clutched his head,

'Tirek!" Libidine's voice echoed in his head. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Eating gumdrops and ice cream while using Discord as a racket for tennis." Tirek said sarcastically. "What does it look like I'm doing?!"

"You fool." Libidine's voice sounded disappointed. "While you've been fighting this dragon, two others have breached your shield and are about to destroy the Lacrama."

"What?!" Tirek shouted. Spike closing the distance between him and Tirek, locking arms with the other.

"On that note, why did you leave your post in the first place?!" Libidine demanded.

"I was getting bored so I wandered off a bit." Tirek explained.

"Look...just get back to the Lacrama, and stop those two from destroying it. Do I make myself clear?"

"...Crystal." Tirek growled flatly.

Once the pain had left, Tirek shifted his body downwards. This caused Spike, who was pushing all of his weight forward, to fall. Tirek then grabbed Spike by the waist and heaved him above his head. He then moved his right arm to Spike's neck and with a mighty heave.

He chucked him.

While in midair Tirek fired a beam of magic at Spike. The beam hit dead on to his chest. Spike was then pushed back by the beam and plowed through the ground until the beam faded and he came to a stop.

Spike's entire body shook as he tried to stand up. His actions were halted however when Tirek leaped from where he stood and landed full force onto Spike's back. Spike roared in pain as his back bones made discomforting cracking noises.

"Now look what you've done you worthless lizard!" Tirek hissed, grinding his hooves into Spike's back, causing more sounds of bones cracking. "Do you have any idea how much trouble I'm in because of you?! Because you wasted my time!"

Tirek grabbed Spike by the back of the neck and lifted him from under his hooves. Turning him around Tirek's glowing yellow pupils glared at Spike, "Do you?!"

Spike's response was spitting in Tirek's face. A blob of spit hit Tirek's left cheek and began to slowly slide down. Tirek's rage was instantly doubled. He punched Spike in the gut multiple times, then punched him in the face, and in the chest. Spike coughed up blood, and with a smile on his face he said,

"Thank you good sir, may I have another?" Spike asked.

Tirek growled, rearing back his right arm he balled his hand into a fist. With rage in his heart, Tirek swung his fist at Spike.

"Tirek!"

Libidine's voice saved Spike a bloody face as it caused Tirek's punch to stop, with only a few inches away from Spike.

"What?!" Tirek shouted with annoyance.

"The Lacrama you fool!"

Tirek turned behind him. There, off in the distance, was an orange beam that fired towards the giant orange crack. Tirek then turned back to Spike. "You're lucky I've got better things to do." Tirek growled, releasing Spike's neck from his grip he dropped like a doll.

Tirek turned away from Spike and headed off towards the orange beam.

Spike gazed half awake up at the sky. "Silver." He croaked. "You better free Rarity....otherwise...if Tirek doesn't kill you...then I will."

Spike chuckled, closing his eyes.

---

Back at the Changeling castle, two Changeling guards wearing a dark blue type of armor that covered their body and a helmet with a pair of pincher's on where their muzzle stuck out. The two stood guard at the entrance to the castle. Behind them, from the top of the castle, an orange beam shot out from it and arched its way towards the giant crack in the sky.

The Changeling guard on the left looked to his fellow guard on the right. "So you're not the least bit suspicious?" The left guard asked.

"Nope." The right guard responded.

"Come on. I mean, there's a giant laser beam shooting out of the top of the castle and you're not the least bit curious as to why?" The left guard asked.

"Nope." The right guard responded.

"For real?"

"Yup."

"Whatever, you talk just like big Ma-"

"Hey who's that?"

The right guard and the left looked up in front of them to see two objects flying towards them. Once the objects began to come into view the guards saw that the two objects were changelings. The two flying Changelings landed in front of the two guards. The first flying Changeling was Thorax the second was a female looking Changeling with a dark blue looking mane.

"Thorax?" The left guard tilted his head. "Is that you?"

Thorax rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Y-yeah, that's my name. Don't wear it out."

"Who's this?" The right guard asked to the female looking Changeling.

"Oh her. She's a drone who wandered far away from the hive. I've come to bring her back." Thorax explained.

"Thorax you've been gone for three years." The left guard said flatly.

"She was really far away." Thorax motioned.

The two guards shared a look before turning back to Thorax.

"Well...alright then. You may pass." The left guard said, both him and the right guard stepping aside.

Thorax and the female Changeling passed the guards and entered the castle. Once they were out of sight the female Changeling used her magic to teleport both Cadence and Cheese into the castle.

"Good work Starlight." Cheese grinned at the female Changeling. "Now that we're in, we need to find out where Pinkie's being kept."

"She's in the top of the tower. I don't know what Chrysalis is planning, but it can't be good." Starlight said.

"Then there's no time to waste, onward comrades." Cheese said heroically.

---

Soarin flew through the sky, passing by multiple series of clouds. He growled at himself for telling Scootaloo to go on ahead of him. Now he had no idea where she was and was completely lost.

'Maybe if I fly a bit lower I'll be able to get a better look.' Soarin suggested to himself, flying lower than he already was.

Soarin flew below the cloud layer. When the ground came in sight he extended his wings and pulled up. The ground below him was a forest of trees save for a somewhat large hill upon which a pillar could be seen with a black sphere on top from which an arched orange beam shot out from it.

"That's gotta be it." Soarin said, doubling his speed.

But before he could even get halfway something hard collided with his back. With his wings no longer in stability he was sent into a free fall. Soarin tried to stabilize himself but his wings wouldn't respond. All he could do was aim for a clearing in the forest and hope that he wouldn't die.

The first rule about crash landing, according to the Wonderbolt's, is to never crash head first. You need to alway crash on your legs. If you were to crash on your head you have a chance of cracking your skull open like an egg or snapping your neck. Whereas crashing on your legs will only break your bones. Sure it'll hurt like hell but you'll be alive.

Soarin, despite his wings being decommissioned, was able to crash on his legs. And as expected, his legs broke.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Soarin hollered in pain, not from his broken bones, but from the yellow static that was mending his bones and snapping them back into place. He looked behind him to see a black burn mark had been made right between his wings. Seeing this, static began to dance over the mark causing it to slowly fade away.

"Well what do you know?" A voice in front of Soarin hissed.

Soarin looked in front of him to see a familiar looking pony, except he now had metallic wings, along with metallic feathers, and had red eyes with black slits for pupils and the white part of his eyes were black. It took Soarin a couple of seconds before he put the pieces together.

"Speed Wave?" He asked, squinting at the Pegasus. "Is that you?"

"No, not anymore unfortunately." Speed Wave said sadly, staring at his new wings. "You know, I kinda felt bad when I received this new power. But after seeing that you have a power of your own." Speed Wave closed the gap between him and Soarin and punched him right in the chest. "Just makes this sweeter!"

Soarin didn't stagger. Instead he created a lightning ball and forced it against Speed Wave's face.

*Bang*

The lightning ball created a loud bang upon contact with Speed Wave's cheek. Speed Wave grinned, creating a crimson ball of magic in his hoof which he used to punch Soarin in the face. Soarin was sent flying backwards, crashing through two trees and rolling against the ground before coming to a stop.

"Soooo...just out of curiosity, when are you gonna stop messing around and use my power?" The Element of Sky asked inside Soarin's mind.

"If your talking about letting you take control you can forget about it." Soarin grunted.

"He's going to kill you if you keep this up. Come on, at least take some of my power."

"I won't let you take control of me." Soarin said.

"I didn't say I was gonna take control of you, I only said I wanted to give you some of my power so that way you don't die."

"Well...some extra firepower would be nice." Soarin admitted.

His body began to glow as yellow static began to dance across his body. "All you had to do was ask."

---

The griffon dungeons was anything but pleasant. The stench of rotting flesh and buzzing flies filled the entire room. The dungeons was just a large room with no windows and a metal bar wall with a metal bar door on it. When Ranger and Applebloom were thrown into the dungeons they were greeted with cannibal Griffons ready to eat them. However though they weren't aware that Applebloom was the Element of Will.

With her magic Applebloom made an example out of the cannibals. Anyone who saw the fate that befell the cannibals got a good idea of what might happen if they were to cross Applebloom.

"That wasn't necessary." Ranger scolded Applebloom.

"Yeah, well I'm in a pretty pissed off mood." Applebloom retorted.

"What you did to those griffons isn't something a pissed off pony would do." Ranger said.

"Well excuse me, last time I checked those Griffons planned on eating us. I should be hearing a thank you not a lecture." Applebloom huffed.

The door leading to the dungeons was burst open, capturing everyone's attention. In the doorway stood Gideon, the black thin box under his wing.

"The one named Ranger, step forward at once!" Gideon ordered. Ranger and Applebloom shared a look before Ranger sat up and approached the doorway. "You're Ranger?"

Ranger nodded.

Gideon grabbed the box from under his wing and laid it on the ground. He unlocked the two latches and opened the lid, he then turned the box around, allowing Ranger to get a good look at the weapon inside.

"Do you know what this is?" Gideon asked.

After close examination, Ranger shook his head.

"Do you know why Discord would write this?" Gideon asked, showing Ranger a sticky note.

On it Discord had wrote, 'Don't let Ranger touch this.

From Discord'

Curious, Ranger bent down and grabbed the sword's hilt. In doing so a burning sensation shot through his body. "Ow!" Ranger cried out, removing his hoof from the hilt and shaking it.

"Where is the other one?" Gideon asked.

"You mean Applebloom?" Ranger asked, still shaking his hoof. "She's hiding."

"Tell her I mean you both no harm, I just want answer's." Gideon explained.

"What do you want to know?"

"Why are you here? What is your purpose for being here with this?"

"We're here to rescue a friend." Ranger answered confidently.

"Why should I believe you?" Gideon asked.

"Because this friend taught me that you should always be honest. That no matter how bad things might get it's better to tell the truth than to lie." Ranger explained.

"Describe this friend of yours to me." Gideon ordered.

"She's a mare with orange fur...blonde mane, with a ponytail...she has green eyes and freckles. She also wears a cowgirl hat, and her name is Applejack."

---

"First Base is close, I can feel it." Dinkie said, walking faster and deeper through the tunnel.

Luna's horn glowed brighter as Dinkie started to get father away. "You're very lucky." Luna smiled. "I wish I could sense if my Student was close like you can for your lover."

Dinkie started to slow down until she came to a complete stop. "Princess." Dinkie turned to face Luna. "Do you love Nightwing?"

Luna's face burned bright red, "Wha- I never...I mean I did...er I didn't..." Luna took a deep breath and composed herself. "No...Nightwing is my student, I his teacher. There is no room for romantic emotions in the kind of relationship we share."

"I'm not talking about the relationship between student and teacher." Dinkie said. "I'm asking if you ever had any feelings towards Nightwing?"

Luna's expression saddened, her eyes fell to the floor. "...there was a time...when I did love him-"

"Eeeeeeeeee!" Dinkie jumped up and down with glee. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

"Calm yourself Dinkie, you didn't let me finish." Luna spoke up. "You see...while I did love him...he would never return the feelings I have for him." Luna said sadly.

"What?" Dinkie stopped bouncing. "Why?"

Luna looked away from Dinkie, it was unbearable to look her in the eyes, "Dinkie...you know that I was Nightmare Moon right?"

"Of course, the one who would give ponies nightmares. What does that-"

"You're not wrong." Luna sighed. "Nightmare Moon was the pony of nightmares...but what you didn't know, is about the Order, Sentinel's, and the Shadow Knights."

"I read about the Shadow Knights in a book once." Dinkie said.

"Then it didn't tell you everything. What happened one thousand years ago is all my fault. You see...the Order was a large group that believed that all creatures who were deemed evil should be wiped off the face of the earth. These creatures were dragons, demons, and Batponies. The Sentinel's were defenders of Equestria, they were troops who bathed in pools of Nyx which gave them strange magical powers. Then there were the Shadow Knights, Vampire Batponies with the power to wield magic in the form of a Crystal."

"What does this have to do with you and Nightwing?" Dinkie asked.

"Everything." Luna answered. "There was a battle that took place between the vast majority of the Order, the Sentinels, and the Shadow Knights...and in the midst of the battle...I...Nightmare Moon came in...and killed them all." Luna said, pain practically visible in her voice. "Because of my actions...the Vampire Batponies retreated to the Moon...the Order began to purge whatever remains of batponies who lived on the earth, and the Sentinels were no more...and when I was banished to the Moon...I killed all of them...all of the Batponies and Vampire batponies...I killed them all..." Luna croaked, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You're the reason why Nightwing is the last Shadow Knight in Equestria." Dinkie said in awe.

Luna slowly nodded.

"I'm so sorry Princess. I shouldn't have pushed you."

"No...no it's alright." Luna sniffled. "What I did long ago is something that cannot be undone...I've been bottling this up for to long now. It feels good telling some one about this." Luna said embracing Dinkie in a hug.

"Princess-"

"Don't speak, you'll ruin the moment." Luna said softly.

"Princess, look."

Luna was so captivated by her story she failed to notice that she had turned off her magic. The tunnel should've been pitch black, yet somehow it was very well illuminated. Dinkie pointed to the end of the tunnel where an orange light could be seen.

Both approached the end of the tunnel and entered a large open cave. Or rather, it was now an opening due to the pillar with the black sphere on top of it firing a large orange beam which destroyed the top of cave. Behind the pillar was the large orange crack in the sky.

"First Base!" Dinkie shouted seeing First Base she started running towards the pillar.

"Dinkie wait!"

Luna was to late to stop Dinkie as the Umbrum blocked her path. Before Dinkie could react the Umbrum smacked her away. While in midair Luna caught Dinkie with her magic and gently sat her by her side. Luna looked to the Umbrum and demanded, "You there, what has become of my student Nightwing?"

The Umbrum reared back its head and cackled. "Oh Luna, you hurt my feelings. Surely you recognize who I am?"

Luna's eyes widened I horror. "No...it can't be."

"Oh but it can." The Umbrum took a step forward. "You see...after I had a little discussion with Libidine she made me realize something."

"And what would that be?" Luna asked, positive she wouldn't like the answer.

The Umbrum smiled. "Why I didn't kill you." The Umbrum said. "I mean I still can't figure it out. You gave me the chance to end your life, but I didn't take it. I'm still puzzled by it to this day. But now," blue magic began to emanate from his entire body, "now I know that it was a mistake letting you live." The Umbrum raised its right paw and a blue aura sword with its blade aimed at Luna appeared. "One that I will rectify."

---

Descend was bored.

And annoyed.

Mostly just annoyed.

The moment that he had put Applejack into the black sphere, and the orange beam shot from it, it caught the attention of everyone. And I mean everyone. Every griffon stormed towards the castle gates and demanded that Descend explain what was going on. Luckily, there were still some guards who were still loyal to Descend. He ordered these guards to push back the angry mob and to prevent them from breaching the castle.

And to use extreme force if things went south.

Descend stood in a large circular spacious room with the stone pillar that had a black sphere on top of it in the middle. The orange beam that shot from the Lacrama shot through a hole drilled in the ceiling. There was nothing else in the room but a large golden double door that matched the color of the walls. Descend brought a chair into the room and sat it so that he was facing the double door.

Descend rested his elbow on the chair's armrest and held his head somewhat up with his claw. He had laid a sheathed claymore sword next to the chair, thinking that it might provide some kind of entertainment.

Descend thought about calling off the guards that held back the angry mob. Maybe it would be fun to cut down some of the pissants. Then again, if Descend did that he'd be putting the pillar in danger, and Infernum would give him an earful if he did that.

So Descend did the smart thing and stood guard at the pillar. Staring blankly at the golden double doors in front of him. Hoping that something interesting would happen.

*BOOOOM!*

A loud shockwave literally blew the doors off of its hinges. Descend was unfazed as the two doors crashed next to him. The one responsible for the doors destruction entered the room.

"That door would have been used to feed sixteen families." Descend stated at the three who stood at the door. "Now that you've damaged it, it's worth only fifty thousand bits."

Descend was able to get a good look at his intruders. On the left was Applebloom, on the right was Ranger, and in the middle of the two was Gideon with an odd looking weapon sheathed on his back.

Gideon looked up at the black sphere and said, "Is that her?"

Ranger and Applebloom looked at the black sphere. "Yep, that's her." Applebloom answered, looking back to Descend she created a green aura battle axe.

Gideon lifted his arm in front of Applebloom. Applebloom looked at Gideon with a confused look. "I have a few questions to ask him. Please wait."

Applebloom was hesitant but she complied with Gideon's request and the battle axe evaporated. Gideon walked forward and spoke. "Father."

"To think my own flesh and blood would betray me like this." Descend frowned. "You have no idea how disappointed I am with you."

"I don't care about your approval. I just want to know one thing, and you better be truthful with me." Gideon's claws began to curl and scrape against the floor as Gideon asked his question. "Did you kill Leone?"

Descend raised an eyebrow. "You're asking me if I killed my own son?"

"Answer the question." Gideon's said with suppressed anger.

Descend thought of the outcomes of his two choices. On one end he could give Gideon the answer he wanted to here. Tell him that it was the mare who killed Leone, and that she was in the black sphere as punishment. In doing so he could use Gideon as a pawn and turn him against the two ponies. It'd be amusing watching the three fight.

But on the other.

Descend started to chuckle, his chuckle turned into a laugh, and his laugh turned into a cackle as he slowly clapped his talons. "You're right. You're absolutely right Gideon. It was me, I did it. I killed Leone! I drove a sword through his chest in the perfect position to give him enough time to bleed to death. I never would have thought that you'd see him before he passed."

Gideon's eyes widened in horror. "You killed him." He said with disbelief.

"Are you deaf or something?" Descend asked, getting up from his chair. "I killed him, and once I have no use for her," Descend pointed at Applejack, "I'll kill her too."

Applebloom gritted her teeth when she heard that.

"How could you?" Gideon asked, still in disbelief. "You killed him...your own son...your own flesh and blood."

"Well you're half right, boy." Descend gripped the hilt of his claymore. "He was flesh and blood. Nothing more, nothing less. All he was, was an assortment of bones, flesh, and blood run by a piece of meat between his skull. I gave him life. So it's only fair that I be the one to take it away from him."

Gideon was filled with rage as he drew the sword shaped like a katana. He flared his wings and leaped at Descend, rearing back his sword he swung at Descend. Descend retaliated by drawing his sword and using it to block Gideon's attack. Descend then grabbed Gideon by the chest, heaved him over his head, and threw him.

It was now Applebloom's turn to act. She leaped at Descend, creating two green aura battle axes. Before Applebloom could come in contact with Descend he slid to the right, dodging Applebloom's attack. Applebloom, instead of crashing into Descend, crashed into Gideon. Luckily she dispersed her two axes before she crashed.

"Is this seriously all you have to offer?" Descend sounded disappointed. He pointed at Ranger, "you there."

Ranger looked to his left then right before pointing to himself.

"Yes you." Descend said. "Please tell me you have something better to offer me than these two."

Ranger rubbed the back of his head. "Well...I mean I could beat you with just one punch."

Descend gave Ranger a flat look. "You're kidding right?" Descend sighed, "Fine, if you think you can deal some damage then go ahead. Hit me with your best shot."

Ranger shrugged and approached Descend. Once he was up close Ranger and Descend's eyes were locked on one another. Ranger lifted up his right foreleg and tapped Descend on the forehead.

Causing him to be thrown to the other side of the room in a split second.

A loud shockwave echoed off the walls as Descend's body was embedded into the gold wall. Ranger, unfazed, brought down his hoof and said,

"One punch."

---

"Soaaaaaaariiiiiiiiin." Speed Wave taunted. "Come out to plaaaaaay. We promise not to hurt you. We just only want to drown you in your blood and watch you squirm."

Soarin, who was hiding in a tree observing Speed Wave from above, thought himself more smart than a coward seeing as Speed Wave wanted to drown him in his own blood. He didn't what had happened to him but something traumatic must've happened to make him like this, and Soarin was praying that he wouldn't have to face it.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The sudden question from the Element of Sky nearly scared Soarin half to death. If he hadn't covered his mouth Speed Wave would've most certainly found him.

'You almost gave away my position!' Soarin hissed at the voice in his head.

"Good," the Element of Sky said. "Maybe then you'd stop hiding and fight that guy."

'He's threatening to drown me in my own blood.' Soarin sounded like he was whining.

"Oh Stallion up. He's nothing more than a dog with all bark and no bite. The power he has is nothing compared to what you have."

'Really?'

"I mean, don't get me wrong that guy is a total psychopath. But you can take him."

"You know what, you're right. I shouldn't be hiding from someone like him. If anything, I should be teaching him a lesson for wasting my time. You know what? The next time I see him, I'm giving him a piece of my mind." Soarin spoke out-loud accidentally.

"Very poor choice of words, Clipper."

Soarin's instincts kicked in, his body involuntarily jumped down from the tree just in time to miss Speed Wave's attack. Speed Wave had created a crimson crescent shaped magic bolt. The bolt had sliced through the tops of many trees, causing the tops to creak and fall to the ground. Soarin saw this and shouted,

'Don't worry Soarin, he doesn't have nearly as much power as you do Soarin, he's all bark and no bite Soarin.' Soarin mocked the Element of Sky.

"Yeah, I might've miscalculated this guy's power. But don't worry, you still have the power to take him down. All you need to do is let me-"

"No way." Soarin said out-loud. "The day I let you take control again is the day Tartarus freezes over."

"Again..."The Element of Sky mentally face hoofed. Soarin must've thought that he was Thunderstorm. "You dolt. You're thinking of Thunderstorm. I'm the Element of Sky."

"Is there a difference?" Soarin questioned.

"There's not enough time to explain, just fight...whatever that guy's name is."

Speed Wave jumped down from the tree and faced Soarin with an evil smile. "Hello Clipper. I'll be taking that 'piece of mind' you're so graciously offering."

"It's called a figure of speech Speed." Soarin said.

"Please don't call me Speed Wave anymore, I've surpassed it. Call me by my new name, Kain."

"...what kind of name is Kain?" Soarin tilted his head.

"The kind that's gonna drown you like a dog." Speed Wave created a ball of crimson magic in his hoof. "Now be a good little Pegasus and stand still." Speed Wave chucked the ball at Soarin.

"Wait! Don't dodge it, catch it."

"You want me to what?!" Soarin shouted, the ball of magic closing in.

Soarin didn't know what made him trust the Element of Sky, but he did as he was asked and didn't dodge the ball of magic. While the ball was still flying towards him, Soarin pictured it as a baseball. A harmless, sound breaking, baseball. And all he had to do was catch it. After all it was just a ball of magic.

Soarin stood on his hind legs and caught the ball of magic between his forehooves. Surprisingly, it actually felt like a baseball. A harmless baseball that couldn't possibly hurt anyone.

"Now quick, channel some of your magic into the ball and throw it back at him." The Element of Sky ordered.

"Got it." Soarin replied.

Nothing happened.

"What are you doing?!" the Element of Sky demanded.

"Um...I honestly don't know." Soarin sheepishly chuckled.

"What do you mean you don't know! It's the simplest thing ever, just channel some of your magic into the ball and throw it back at Kain!"

"Well, excuse me Element of Sky. In case you didn't know I'm kinda new to this whole magic thing!" Soarin shouted.

Speed Wave looked to his left and his right then back at Soarin, "um...are you talking to me?" He asked quizzically.

"Look, you're a Lightning Caster right? That means you know how to create lightning right?"

"Yeah." Soarin replied.

"Who are you talking to?" Speed Wave asked.

"Then all you need to is create a lightning ball and I'll take care of the rest."

"Now you're speaking my language." Soarin said, creating a small ball of lightning in both of his hooves. The two small lightning balls entered the magic ball causing the ball to slowly turn yellow.

Speed Wave gritted his teeth, he was fed up with Soarin's idiocy. He created another ball of crimson magic in his hooves and threw it at Soarin.

Soarin tossed the yellow ball of magic into his left hoof and caught the crimson ball of magic in his right. The ball turned yellow upon contact with Soarin and flattened itself into a yellow magic spike. Soarin threw the spike and it struck the ground were Speed Wave once stood. The spike stuck out of ground before it dispersed.

"Is that all you can do?" Speed Wave asked.

Soarin's response was closing the distance between him and Speed in a split second. He took the other yellow ball of magic and forced it against Speed Wave's chest. Speed Wave took the full force of the modified lightning ball. Speed Wave was hurled backwards, crashing through tree after tree, before rolling on the ground and coming to a stop. Speed Wave groaned as he stood back up, his body slowly mending itself back together.

Soarin flew towards Speed and landed in front of him. "Tell me something Speed Wave, or Kain, or whatever you call yourself." Soarin said. "Why are you doing this?"

Speed Wave froze, his head slowly lifted to meet Soarin's. "You're joking right?" He asked, slightly chuckling. "You've got to be joking. You really don't know, do you? All of this...everything I've worked for...everything I've done...it's all because you took her away from me."

"Her?" Soarin tilted his head. "Who's her?"

"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" Speed Wave covered his eyes, failing to conceal his rage. "You don't even know her name!"

"Just tell me who you're talking about." Soarin demanded.

"I'm talking about my ex-fillyfriend, Cloud Kicker!" Speed Wave yelled.

"Cloud Kicker?" The name sounded familiar to Soarin, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it. That is eyes widened in realization and he remembered. "You mean the stalker?!"

---

Allow me to explain something before continuing the story.

Before Soarin had disappeared, there was a certain fan of his who was obsessed with Soarin. The first time Soarin had met Cloud Kicker was after a Wonderbolt's show. Soarin was greeting some of the audience and signing autographs. It was then that Cloud Kicker approached him and asked him the most bizarre question.

"Will you marry me?" her tone was filled with excitement and hope. Soarin didn't know exactly how to respond to the sudden question. In his alarmed state he responded,

"Um...maybe." Soarin had said hesitantly.

Cloud Kicker had responded with jumping into the air, doing three loops, and landed doing the splits. It might not have been a yes, but it wasn't a no. Cloud Kicker then bounced away with delight.

As the day progressed Soarin didn't think much of Cloud Kicker. That is until she showed up at the training course with water and a dry towel. Which, after Soarin was done using, she put in a airtight plastic bag. Then she appeared again, this time in the cafeteria with a tray full of assortments of Soarin's favorite foods. Soarin didn't want to seem rude, so he sat next to her. Soarin munched down the food happily. But what creeped him out was when Cloud Kicker offered to spoon feed him.

Almost a week had passed and Cloud Kicker's appearance became somewhat of an ordinary thing, and Soarin didn't seem to mind all that much. After all, all she was doing was giving Soarin a helping hoof. Well you'd be wrong if you thought that's all she was doing.

What Soarin wasn't aware of was when he wasn't looking she'd take pictures of him. And the pictures would be from the craziest of places. The list consists of, the barracks, the workout room, the training grounds, the cafeteria, the locker room, the stallion showering room, the pie shop Soarin loved to visit, and of course, pictures of Soarin in his house sleeping.

Soarin didn't suspect Cloud Kicker for a full blown stalker. That is until Fleetfoot discovered something. Fleetfoot didn't suspect Cloud for being a stalker either. The thing that ticked her off was the fact that a fan had permission from Freaking Spitfire to be around Soarin. She thought of Cloud Kicker as a parasite who was only trying to cozy up to the Wonderbolt's third in command in hopes of having an advantage in becoming a Wonderbolt. She couldn't rely on Spitfire to handle Cloud so she decided to handle the Mamet herself.

She followed Cloud Kicker home and demanded to see her. Since Cloud Kicker and Speed Wave were a couple they shared a house together. Speed Wave greeted Fleetfoot and let her in. Speed Wave explained that Cloud Kicker was in her room. Fleetfoot didn't knock, instead she kicked the doors open and entered the horror that was Cloud Kicker's room.

Pictures of Soarin were stapled all over her walls and the ceiling. A pile of sweaty towels laid in the far corner of her room. On her pillows were pictures of Soarin's face stapled on top of them. Above the bed, stapled to the wall, was a large poster of a poorly photoshopped Soarin and Cloud Kicker standing at a wedding alter, with the words "SOON" written in glitter.

It was this moment, of course, that Speed Wave declared vengeance on Soarin.

Cloud Kicker was reported to the authorities. Since her crime wasn't considered hardcore she wasn't sent to prison. However, all the photos and objects she had taken from Soarin were confiscated and a restraining order was given to her.

And that's the story of Cloud Kicker the Stalker and Soarin the Wonderbolt.

---

"You actually dated that psycho?!" Soarin said shocked.

"She was sane before she met you." Speed Wave retorted. "Do you have any idea what it was like? Sleeping next to the mare you love only to find out their thinking of another stallion the entire time?!"

"Kinda." Soarin mumbled under his breath.

"I learned that day that there's no such thing as true love. The only thing mares see in a stallion is what they've got, and if they something better they replace you like a piece of wadded up trash." Speed Wave growled, "So I swore that I would become better than you and take everything from you like you took everything from me." A wicked smile spread across Speed's face, "and once I've proven that I'm superior than you I'll get her back. But I won't stop there, once I'm done with you Rainbow Dash won't even give you the time of day. Because she'll be to busy being with me."

Soarin would've snapped Speed Wave's neck right there for talking about Rainbow Dash like she was some cheap mare, and he would've too, if he hadn't remembered that this was Rainbow Dash they were talking about.

"You're wrong." Soarin said.

"Am I?" Speed Wave asked. "Think about it. Why stick with something when you know that you can have something better? Why would Rainbow Dash pick you, a slow slob who eats way too much pie and lacks depth perception. When she could have me, a strong, dependable, and handsome stallion?"

"Because that's not who Rainbow Dash is." Soarin answered.

"Oh please. That's how every mare works. They don't want the weak, they only want the strong, and Rainbow Dash is no different than any other mare-"

Something inside Soarin snapped. He didn't know what it was or where it came from but it made him tackle Speed Wave. The two rolled down a hill and into a sunken area with a lake. Speed Wave pushed Soarin off of him and threw him the edge of the lake. Before Soarin could get back up Speed Wave leaped onto him and pinned him to the ground.

"Don't worry, I'll keep Rainbow Dash plenty of company while you're gone." Speed Wave grinned, lifting his head and right hoof up a crimson ball of magic appeared in his hoof. But before he could bring it down his eyes widened in fear. He leaped backwards off of Soarin. "What kind of cheap trick was that Clipper?!" Speed Wave hissed.

Soarin didn't know what Speed was talking about, he didn't do anything. It had been something he must've saw. But the only thing that Speed could've seen was the lake. Or perhaps something in the lake. Soarin approached the edge, looked into the water, and saw nothing. There was nothing there but his reflection.

'Wait.' Something in Soarin's mind clicked. 'Don't tell me.'

"I won't fall for the same trick twice, Clipper!" Speed Wave roared, charging at Soarin.

When Speed Wave was in range Soarin grabbed Speed and held him in a locked position where he could see the lake. There Speed saw his reflection, and he avoided looking at it.

"I already told you that I wasn't gonna fall for your cheap tricks Soarin." Speed hissed.

"You must be dumber than I am if you don't know what a reflection is." Soarin said.

Speed Wave froze, his eyes slowly looked down to his reflection. What should've been the reflection of a stallion with black fur, a short spiked back white mane, and who had light blue eyes, was instead a reflection of a monster that had the body and mane of a pony, but had metallic wings with metallic feathers, and the back of his eyes which should've been white was now black with a red pupil with a black slit. Speed Wave stared at the reflection with eyes filled with horror.

"What...what is this?" Speed Wave stammered.

"This is you. This is what you've become because you dedicated your life to vengeance." Soarin explained.

"Look at me...I'll never get Cloud Kicker back now." Speed Wave sobbed.

"Did you ever stop and think to actually talk to her?" Soarin asked. "Did you ever sit down and have a discussion with her about what she did and why she did it?"

".....Not really." Speed Wave admitted.

Soarin sighed. "Well there's your problem. You spent so long trying to gain her affection back that you didn't even know how to do it in the first place." Soarin said, releasing Speed.

Speed Wave stumbled back and fell on his rump, staring blankly at his metallic wings. "...what have I done." He croaked, tears forming in his eyes. "I lost everything...all because I didn't have a talk with my fillyfriend...it's so idiotic...but the damage is done, and there's nothing I can do to reverse it."

"That's not entirely true." Soarin said, extending his hoof at Speed. "You still have a chance to make things right. You can come with me, and after we save Rainbow Dash you and I can go have a talk with Cloud Kicker. Sound good?"

Speed Wave stared at Soarin's hoof then back to his face. "Why are you doing this? I tried to take everything from you...I tried to destroy you...why are you offering me your help?"

Soarin smiled. "Because that's what mares actually see in a stallion. A kind and forgiving soul who will help anyone in need. Even if they tried to destroy you."

Speed Wave went back to staring at Soarin's extended hoof. He began to think back to all the times he tried to ruin Soarin's life. All the pranks, all the threats, all the letters, everything.

And yet...despite everything he had done to him...here he was...a helping hoof extended towards the one who tried to destroy him. Speed Wave didn't know what to think or what to do. Instead all he did was say two words,

"I'm sorry."

Author's Note:

Eybdoog