My Little Pony - Friendship is magic : New adventures

by Poggy

Zant, Sixth Herald of Nothingness

Fifteen minutes and dozens of destroyed plants later, they finally arrived at their destination.

"I was right all along…" Twilight was not congratulating herself ; she was extremely worried.

They looked at the chiasm with stairs carved within, and the cavern below, facing it.

"The source’s there", Discord affirmed, pointing at the opening in the opposite cliff. "But you’re not surprised, aren’t you ?" He said to Twilight.

"No, I fear I’m not, indeed. This is bad. Really bad".

"What’s inside ?" Midna interrogated.

"Just the most important magical artefact of Equestria", Discord replied. "My opposite, something I failed to seal a long time ago…"

"The Tree of Harmony is the source of the Twilight…" Twilight murmured.

As they were descending the stairs, Twilight elaborated her thoughts for the others :

"The Tree of Harmony as the source of the Twilight makes perfect sense ; it’s grounded, meaning that its effects can't affect the sky. That’s also why there are so many plants in the forest ; we’re lucky the Everfree hasn’t taken over Equestria… yet. At least, what better source of Twilight than the most powerful magical object in Equestria ? And I don’t know how the Elements of Harmony on it are interacting with that foreign magic…"

They entered the cavern and the Tree of Harmony quickly appeared in their field of view in spite of the surrounding darkness. The ponies let out a horrified gasp ; this was not the Tree of Harmony they knew anymore : while its shape was still roughly the same, its crystalline structure was replaced by an obsidian-like material from where sprouted numerous spikes ; it was also covered with the glowing reddish lines of the Twilight. Fleshy grey tendrils supporting orange bulbs of fluid had replaced the gracefully hanging garland. The Elements of Harmony were nowhere to be found.

"This… this is an… an abomination…" A shocked Luna stammered.

"Stand back !" Link suddenly warned.

"What ?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"See these appendages on the trunk ?"

They examined the tree ; it was almost unnoticeable in the darkness and on the black surface, but some roots, growing from behind the tree, were penetrating it.

"They’re haustoria !" Twilight exclaimed.

"What the hay…" Applejack began, but her friend cut her off.

"A haustorium is a part of a fungus, it forms the mycelium in that case, but in botanic, it’s also the vital element shared by all parasitic plants !"

"Wait… Do you mean…" Rainbow Dash thought aloud.

"Yes ! The Tree of Harmony is parasitized !" Twilight confirmed.

"And I have an idea by what… These roots are familiar… too familiar. Watch out…" Link whispered as he cautiously approached the Tree of Harmony.

When the group approached within five meters of the vegetal, a shadow moved behind it : they all jumped back ; the head of a monstrous carnivorous plant appeared above the Tree of Harmony.

"I was right, this is Diababa ! Or rather, its seedling !" Link exclaimed.

"We encountered its parent when the Twilight took over Hyrule", Midna explained. "If it’s a seedling, it must definitely have the same weakness !"

"Which is ?" Rainbow Dash asked.

The gigantic black plant bellowed at its opponents, opening its three jaws and spitting a purple, noxious semi-liquid gas at them ; it retracted its massive neck and fired a ball of goo that everyone managed to dodge.

"There’s no eye in its mouth !" Midna pointed out. "We must destroy it another way !"

"Watch out !" Link yelled before the plant slammed its head into its own poison, spilling it everywhere and covering itself.

"Make the head fall !" Midna advised.

The ponies fired their magic, making the monster recoil ; Link’s arrow, packed with a bomb, exploded in its face : the vegetal fell down, but not before materializing moving vines that Discord snapped out of existence.

"It’s dead ?" Applejack interrogated.

"Just knocked out. It will not last", Link replied.

As the plant began to recover, a green fireball exploded right in its open mouth : the mortally wounded monster screamed, spilling poison everywhere as it trashed around in agony. It soon stopped however, and simply dried out before crumbling into black dust. The tendrils surrounding the Tree of Harmony vanished, but the tree itself stayed corrupted.

"What !? How is this possible !?" Twilight exclaimed.

Sensing a presence, Anita swiftly turned around.

"We have a problem", she said as she pointed the exit of the cave with her index : it was sealed with a magical barrier : its moving reddish maze-like pattern was preventing any exit.

"Why… Why do we have to meet again ?" A voice suddenly echoed in the cavern.

They turned around again : on the Tree of Harmony, perched atop one of its branches and caressing one of the bulbs of orange fluid, was a man.

"Zant !" Midna exclaimed, horrified.

The man, a Twili just like her, was taller than everyone. His pale-blue face was surrounded by a balaclava in its entirety, only showing a few red hair above his forehead on which a Twilight symbol was engraved. He was wearing a long, plain black cloak not dissimilar to Midna’s one, with long sleeves hiding its hands ; his feet were also covered by the garment. His orange eyes and yellow irises with no pupils looked at Link with condescendence.

"Even here, in this insufferable world of light and colors that I made mine. It may seem that history is repeating itself, but do not think I am the same as before".

"You are still visibly crawling at the feet of another so-called “god”, throwing your liberty and free-will away but keeping your foolishness, so I would not say you have changed ; in other words, you are still undoubtedly pathetic", Link replied sarcastically.

Zant suddenly appeared behind him in a screeching noise, ready to cut him in half with a scimitar : his right hand hit the hylian shield however, and Link deflected the blow. Anita kicked Zant in the head from behind, but he disappeared as soon as the foot made contact ; he reappeared in the Tree of Harmony in a seated position.

"Surrendering before the inconceivable might of the Master is not an option", Zant said. "I may admit that I was foolish to bow before Ganondorf…"

He disappeared again, this time teleporting right in front of Rainbow Dash, a blade in each hand that he waived simultaneously downwards : he barely missed the pegasus who quickly jumped backwards ; Rainbow Dash hovered out of reach, and Zant teleported and sat back on the tree again.

"…but now, I have found a Master far beyond him, a Master far above all the gods. I now…"

Zelda blocked his blades with her rapier as he materialized in front of her, before he regained his makeshift seat.

"…serve Nothingness. What a glorious being, spreading Its…"

He almost cut Discord in half, had the Master of Chaos not separated his body in the nick of time.

"…incomprehensibility before my very eyes ! O, what a…"

It was Peach’s turn to dodge the scimitars ; her kick hit the air as Zant dematerialized.

"…blessing ! All my life, until now, spent writhing in…"

Mario easily jumped away from the blades.

"…mediocrity and resentment… I, for once…"

He teleported to dodge the magic beams of the alicorns and unicorns before targeting Scootaloo, only for Anita’s kick to stop his arm mid-air ; he disappeared as Twilight quickly erected a shield around Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ; the latter took control of the protection.

"…see everything ! The Master showed me…"

His strike nearly beheaded Celestia, and the defensive magic beam missed him.

"…my future ! What shall happen ! No more…"

Daisy failed to entrap him in vines as he tried to impale her.

"…pathetic wish granting ! My servitude is…"

Luigi swiftly dodged the twin blades with a backflip.

"…freedom ! I can now…"

Starlight’s magic shield blocked the swords millimeters from her face.

"…do as I please ! I am…"

Applejack ducked under the scimitars.

"…Zant, Sixth Herald of Nothingness !"

He appeared in front of the Tree of Harmony, hovering in mid-air. The scimitars disappeared from his hands, which began to glow with a dark, purple aura under the sleeves of his clothes. In a split second, he launched a volley of magic bolts : everyone managed to dodge or deflect them, and Zant prepared for another round.

"Servitude is freedom ? What nonsense is this !?" Midna exclaimed before throwing a spear-like weapon of blue energy in Zant’s direction.

The Twili caught the harpoon and used it to destroy the fireballs bouncing towards him ; the diversion allowed Link to jump above his head ; the Master Sword shattered the spear and deeply cut into Zant’s right shoulder ; the Hylian jumped back to avoid a strike of scimitar.

As the man was recovering from the pain, Celestia’s beam of light injured and blinded him while Mario and Luigi’s fireballs burned him ; he recoiled and put a knee on the ground. As Link was going to finish him off, the Master Sword ricocheted off a pink crystal in the shape of a butterfly.

Zant stood up, surrounded by the Elements of Harmony.

"These artefacts are not as useless as they appear to be…" He whispered in a mocking tone.

"The Elements of Harmony !" Twilight exclaimed. "That’s why destroying that parasite wasn’t effective in dispelling the Twilight ! You stole the Elements from the Tree of Harmony to weaken it and made that plant feed on it to weaken it further, allowing you to transform it in that monstrosity that keeps on creating Twilight !"

"That is right. Once you will be wiped out, I will destroy them ; with this, your land shall stay in Twilight for eternity ; as for now however, they offer a valuable protection", Zant replied before looking at Midna.

"I may not know how you came here without a gate, but I sure do know you will die here and now ! This world shall serve as your tombstone !"

He attacked again at a far faster pace, teleporting everywhere, throwing bolts of magic and wildly flailing his scimitars in random directions : with every strike, it was harder to dodge the blades and the bolts ; coupled with Zant’s instantaneous teleportation powers that were requiring all of their concentration, the group began to weaken under the constant speed of light assaults. The former usurper king tried to slice Anita in two, however, she blocked the scimitar with her hands and kicked her opponent away, keeping the weapon for herself. She quickly assaulted him and they engaged in a duel : while Zant was advantaged with his powers – he was teleporting for nearly every attack – and the Elements of Harmony, Anita was keeping up with her sharp senses and acute reactivity, making the duel evenly matched ; no one interfered for fear of putting Anita in danger with friendly fire.

As everyone was helplessly watching Anita fight, Rainbow Dash split up from the group to lean against the wall of the cavern, hovering silently ; she carefully observed Zant’s moves and put her rear hooves against the rock : she flattened as hard as she could against it, her legs crushed by the pressure she was inflicting on them. She continued to decrypt and try to anticipate Zant’s attacks and the movement of the Elements of Harmony “I wouldn’t call that an opening, but I got no choice ! Anita can’t dodge forever !”. Her trained eye managed to distinctly catch the whole process of Zant’s teleportation and the future position of the Elements hovering next to him, and she suddenly saw the scene in slow-motion “Now !”. Her hooves left an imprint in the stone when she pushed on her legs to bounce off the wall : her spring-like detent propelled her so fast she appeared as a rainbow-colored bolt : Zant materialized before her eyes ; he hardly saw a shimmering to his right as two blue hooves pulverized his ribs and arm : Rainbow Dash perfectly sensed the bones shattering in a sickening crush, disgusting her. The Twili’s feet left the ground and he flew across the cave like a disembodied puppet before painfully hitting the opposite wall, spilling the Elements of Harmony everywhere and breaking his left arm : Twilight immediately seized the precious magical crystals. Zant’s broken arm and hand let go of the remaining scimitar which fell on the ground ; Discord snapped his paws and stole the weapon for himself. Zant, albeit almost knocked-out by the attack, teleported next to the Tree of Harmony once again, panting, with each breath made laborious by the broken ribs, his now useless arms dangling helplessly.

"Huh… Ow… You are… more powerful than you seem to be, beasts", he told the ponies.

"Give up Zant. You cannot win anymore", Zelda affirmed.

"I… certainly not expected you to be able to… best me. Though… this is not… the end… I shall…" Zant replied, smiling despite the pain, before being cut off.

The Twilight smothering Equestria suddenly faltered : the black squares vanished, as the orange sky ; the Tree of Harmony shook off the dark magic that was encapsulating it : the black casing began to crack before promptly shattering along the bulbs of fluid, further harming Zant in the process. As he was standing up, Applejack’s rope caught him around his broken body and the orange pony tried to pull him towards her ; the grievously injured Twili disappeared for good however as Light finally reclaimed Equestria.

"You were just… just awesome !" Scootaloo praised everyone, but particularly Rainbow Dash and Anita once Discord teleported everyone back into the Castle of Friendship.

"You still had doubts about that ?" Her “sister” replied. "But without Anita, I couldn’t have done a thing. And huh… I don’t wanna do it again… ever… it’s… it’s just… just so… gross… sensing the bones… Ugh !" She shook her head to dismiss the thought under the worried eyes of her friends.

"I was going to lose over time, and I prevented anyone, except you, from attacking. You’re the one who deserves the praise. You’re the fastest person I ever met ; I’ll never race again you", Anita joked to light up the mood.

"Zant was definitely more powerful today than he was in the past", Link pointed out. "We are lucky that all of us are strong fighters. I am still stunned by your physical performance, I definitely would not like to have you as an enemy", he added to Anita ; she rubbed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly.

"Hey, didn’t that guy said he was the sixth something… ?" Sweetie Belle suddenly recalled.

"Sixth Herald of Nothingness. Given this title is underlying an order of superiority and given Zant’s power, I think the hardships we will certainly encounter in the times to come will be increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to overcome", Zelda theorized.

"You mean there’s gonna be foes so far stronger than that guy we won’t be able to kick their butt ?" Daisy asked.

"Yes", the princess of Hyrule answered. "But I fear I cannot be sure about this theory".

Luna and Celestia excused themselves before going to accomplish their duty : once it rose up, the sun warmed the land that was minutes ago ensnared in the cold clutches of the Twilight ; everyone exposed their face to the sunrays, happy and relieved to be able to sense them once more.

The Polygons and the monsters were gone and the lost souls were no more : they had once again become flesh and blood ponies or animals, unaware of what had happened as they were slowly waking up from their deep slumber ; Pinkie Pie immediately asked Discord to teleport her to Sugarcube Corner where she checked on the Cake family and Gummy : they were all fine, although Gummy seemed to have been awake since hours ago, as he had moved next to the window, just like if he had watched Twilight, Starlight, Pinkie Pie and Midna going to Rarity’s house, even though, being a lost soul, he could not have seen them. She barely saluted the tiny, toothless alligator before crawling into her bed and promptly falling asleep ; her pet smiled. Everyone, save for Celestia, did the same as Pinkie Pie : a few hours of sleep were welcomed after that eventful night.

Author's Note:

Zant is fun to write ; that's why we'll see him again sooner or later
By the way, I think that a flying, faster than sound pony crashing on your ribs would make a LOT more damage than some broken bones, but don't forget that Zant is quite flexible in LOZ : Twilight Princess :D