Equestria Wars Episode XVII: Revenge of the Alliance

by sonicdash123

Chapter 1: The Pony of Shadows

Charming Thunder arrives at the Canterlot history museum. He entered and looked around for the shield of his ancestor, but found a stallion who worked at the museum. He approached the stallion and asked, "Excuse me?"

"Oh, your highness," the stallion greeted with a bow to Charming Thunder's presence. "What brings you here?"

"I'm looking for the shield of my ancestor; Solar Comet. Is it displayed here?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. If you would follow me." The stallion led Charming Thunder to a room where there was a display case with the shield. Charming Thunder was amazed when he got his first glance of the shield.

"I would like to have this shield."

"Of course, your highness. May I ask why you need it?" The stallion then took out the keys to the display case and carefully took out the shield.

"This is the artifact to bring him back from limbo." When Charming Thunder received the shield, it felt heavy at first so he decided to use his magic to carry it. "Thank you."

"It was my pleasure, your highness." Charming Thunder walked out of the museum with the shield levitated and placed it in his new personal TIE Fighter.

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Back at Ponhenge, Twilight, Starlight, and Sunburst make the last necessary preparations to cast Star Swirl's spell. The rest of Twilight's friends returned with the artifacts that were placed in a hexagonal pattern on the rock formations of Ponhenge. "Now all that's left is the shield of Solar Comet," Twilight said.

"You mean this?" Charming Thunder said as he levitated the shield and placed it on the formation.

"Good work, everyone. Let's do this!" Twilight, Starlight, and Sunburst then use their magic to cast Star Swirl's spell, and the magic between the six talismans successfully releases the Pillars of Old Equestria from limbo. Solar Comet landed and his shield flew up in the air. When it came down, he was quick enough to catch it with his arm. The others regained consciousness as Solar Comet looked around.

"What has happened?" Solar Comet said.

"It worked! We brought you back!"

"To where?"

"You and the others have been trapped in limbo for over a thousand years, but I figured out how to get you ho--"

Solar gasped when a voice yelled, "What?! No, no, no, no! You must undo what you've done!" It was Starswirl who arrived to the scene.

"What? Why? I mean, I don't think I can."

"You cannot bring us back!" Solar said.

"But I did. I brought all the Pillars back."

"You cannot bring only the Pillars back!" Starswirl said until lightning began to strike and everyone gasped. As dark clouds gather in the sky, a black, amorphous creature comes into being, taking the form of a large horned pony with wings of smoke. Twilight's spell has brought back not only the Pillars of Old Equestria but also the evil Pony of Shadows as he laughed evilly.

"Your pitiful attempt to imprison me has failed, Star Swirl!" the Pony of Shadows said. "Although I expected you to be with them."

"You must return us to limbo," Solar said. "It's the only way to stop him."

"I only figured out how to bring you back."

"Working on it!" Sunburst said. "No table of contents!"

"Allow me to assist," the Pony of Shadows said as he then uses his powers the magic columns of Ponhenge andStar Swirl the Bearded's journal so the Pillars of Old Equestria can't imprison him in limbo again. "There! Without the power of Ponhenge, your banishing spell is useless!"

"You have studied my writings," Starswirl said. "Surely you have some other plan."

"No," Twilight said. "I just wanted to save you. I didn't think--"

"Don't fret," the Pony of Shadows said. "When I extinguish the light and hope of this miserable world, you won't remember any of this."

"No!" Twilight fends off the Pony of Shadows with her magic.

"This one is almost as... strong as you, Star Swirl. But even in my weakened state, she cannot stop the might of shadows!" The Pony of Shadows fired magic again and Twilight fired as well. Starlight helped her fend of the dark pony.

"Lucky for her, she's not alone!" Starlight said as she fired her magic. The Pony of Shadows screamed as the clash was won by the two.

"Know this, fiend!" Solar said. "We will not rest until we find a way to return you to limbo!"

"Never!" the Pony of Shadows growled. "Your days of glory are through, Solar. Now my dark power will reign, and you seven will bow to me!" Weakened from his thousand-year imprisonment, he escapes to regain his power.

"Um...where'd he go?" Rainbow asked.

"That is a riddle we must unravel," Somnambula said. "And quickly."

"How long have we been gone?" Mage Meadowbrook asked.

"Over a thousand years," Fluttershy said.

"Then Starswirl's spell worked--before it was meddled with by that alicorn mare," Solar said as he pointed at Twilight. Twilight covered her face with her wings and stepped away. Charming Thunder walked towards Twilight and comforted her. He then glared at Solar. "The realm has been at peace for a millennia!"

"Well, we did have to save everypony from Nightmare Moon and Discord and Chrysalis and King Sombra and Lord Tirek, and there was that one time when Starlight traveled through time and almost destroyed life as we know it!" Pinkie said. "But that's all in the past."

"If you are truly this accomplished, we will stop the Pony of Shadows twice as fast together," Flash Magnus said.

"We shall see," Starswirl said. "It is an easy thing to say you have saved the world. It is quite another to do it."

"Oh, we've saved the world, Beardo," Rainbow said. "And we can do it again."

"Be that as it may, the problem of locating the Pony of Shadows remains, and this land is vast."

"It sounds like you need a map," Rarity said. "Luckily, we have just the thing."

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It has been a few hours since the Pillars of Old Equestria came to Twilight's castle. Charming Thunder paced around in his throne room. The doors opened and Danny entered the room. Charming Thunder turned to see him enter and walked up to him. "Brother, what brings you here?"

"I sensed something going on at Ponhenge," Danny explained. "What's going on?"

"The Pillars have returned from limbo along with the Pony of Shadows and we plan to stop him. Starswirl and the others are making a plan right now."

"The Pony of Shadows has returned? My suspicions were correct then. Who knows what the Pony of Shadows has planned due to his returned. How are the Pillars?"

"They are fine. Even my ancestor; Solar Comet."

"You're ancestor is a member of the Pillars? That is amazing."

Twilight then entered the room and said, "We have to use the Elements of Harmony to banish the Pony of Shadows."

"If it is the only way, then so be it," Charming Thunder said as he placed his element around his neck. "Have you found him?"

"Yes. He is hiding at the Hollow Shades."

"Good. Then we leave at once. Danny you can come with in case anything goes wrong."

"Right," Danny said as he followed Twilight and Charming Thunder out of the throne room.

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Arriving at the Hollow Shades, the Pillars and the others walk to the abandoned village to investigate its state. "I don't remember reading anything that said the Hollow Shades was like this," Sunburst said.

"The Pony of Shadows must have twisted it to his purposes," Mistmane said. Evil chuckling echoed in the village as Charming Thunder and Danny stopped to look for the source.

"Prepare yourselves," Starswirl said. "He is here. Stygian! Show yourself and face us!" Laughter was heard as the ground began to shake and the floor collapsed dragging the group underground into a well. Sunburst looked around a little amazed.

"I definitely would've remembered reading about this," Sunburst said. The group turned to see the Pony of Shadows and Starswirl puts up a magic barrier with his magic. Charming Thunder and Danny activated their lightsabers and got into their battle poses.

"Welcome to the Well of Shade!" the Pony of Shadows said. "When you turned your backs on me, I discovered this place. The darkness spoke to me of a power beyond any I could imagine, and I listened. The shadow and I became one. Soon, all of the realm will be the same. Then all ponies will feel the despair I did when you cast me out!"

"We did what we had to do," Starswirl said. "You tried to steal our powers for yourself."

"No! It was you who were selfish! And now you will pay!" The Pony of Shadows then looked at Charming Thunder and laughed. "There's that fiery spit of hope. You have the spirit of a true Crystal Knight!"

"You leave my brother out of this!" Danny said. The shield broke as Danny charged at him with a strike ready, but the Pony of Shadows used his magic to throw him towards a pillar leaving him unconscious.

"And because of that, you all must die." The pony of Shadows then used his magic to restrain the Pillars and the element bearers leaving Charming Thunder standing. "Young alicorn, son of darkness, heir apparent to your father; Sombra. Whether there was conflict I sense darkness in you. Whether it was weakness, strength. Destroy your friends and the Pillars and fulfill your destiny." Charming Thunder looked at his lightsaber then turned to the others. "Starting with this one." The Pony of Shadows used his magic to move Twilight over in front of him. Charming Thunder closed his eyes for a moment then looked at his wife.

"If it's the only way to save myself, then I know what I have to do," Charming Thunder said as he winked at Twilight.

Twilight then pretended to be afraid and said, "Charming, please don't do this! I love you!" The Pony of Shadows only laughed at the beg for mercy.

"You think you can turn him?" the Pony of Shadows asked. "Pathetic child. Love cannot save him. I cannot be beaten. I have seen his mind since my return. I have seen his every intentions."

"No!" Starlight shouted as she struggled to break free.

"Yes. I see him charging his horn readying himself to strike true." Charming Thunder secretly used his magic to lift up one of Danny's lightsabers while the Pony of Shadows was distracted. "And now foolish child, he uses his magic and kills his true enemies!" Now was Charming Thunder's chance. He activated the levitated lightsaber and chopped off one of the Pony of Shadows' hooves causing his magic around Twilight and the others to break free. The Pony of Shadows then collapsed to the ground as his hoof turned to shadow and formed smaller versions of himself. Charming Thunder saw Danny getting up from his unconsciousness and rushed on over to give him his lightsaber.

"Open the portal!" Charming Thunder shouted as Danny and him stood back to back as the copies of the Pony of Shadows charged at them from both sides. They then began to cut them down to size as more keep on coming. Starswirl opened the portal to limbo as the Pony of Shadows gets sucked in. He held on as the ponies cast their spell to push him in.

"No!" the Pony of Shadows said; struggling. "You will not trap me again!" Before Twilight can complete the spell, she sees a pony sticking out of the Pony of Shadows' body.

"There's...a pony in there!" Twilight said before she flew inside the Pony of Shadows' body. Solar threw his shield at the remaining shadow ponies and Charming Thunder and Danny deactivated their lightsabers. He wanted to fly in there to save Twilight, but was stopped by Danny as he flew in front of him blocking his path. Twilight's voice was then heard. "Are you... Stygian?"

"I was, once," Stygian's voice said. "Until my friends betrayed me."

"But Star Swirl says you betrayed them. You wanted their magic..."

"No! I wanted their respect. I brought them together. I planned strategy, and I read all I could about the beasts we faced. But I didn't have magic or strength, so nopony ever noticed me. I went to Ponhenge to make my own copies of the artifacts. With them, I thought I could be a Pillar, too, and stand by their side in battle. I never wanted to steal their power. But instead of sharing and letting me help, my friends threw me out." Stygian's voice then started to get deeper and deeper. "So I became stronger than any of them! The darkness welcomed me when no pony would, and I will do what I must to protect it!"

"This is all a misunderstanding! If the Pillars knew how you felt, I'm sure they wouldn't have turned their backs on you. The shadow isn't who you really are. Let me help you be Stygian again."

"Even if my friends did still care, what makes you think you have the power to help me?"

"Because it's what she does," Starlight's voice said. Charming Thunder smiled as the conversation continued. "I wasn't so different from you, and Twilight helped me change. If there's one pony in Equestria that can save a friendship, it's her."

"I... I want to believe you. But the darkness will not be stopped!" Twilight and Starlight come out of the Pony of Shadows' body and Twilight used her magic to make a rope to get Stygian out.

"Fight the darkness, Stygian!" Twilight shouted. "You don't need it anymore! Revenge isn't what you want! Friendship is!" She struggled to pull Stygian out.

"Twilight!" Starlight shouted as she used her magic to help Twilight free Stygian.

"The shadow won't let go of him. He wants to stop, but he can't do it alone."

"Then we must help him!" Starswirl said as he used his magic to help. Charming Thunder got into position next to Solar as the others work together to free Stygian from the darkness, and the darkness is banished to limbo by using the Elements of Harmony. A magic explosion was made later on. Charming Thunder along with Danny and the others got out of the Well of Shade.

"Yeah!" Rainbow shouted. "Oh, it felt so good to do that again!"

"Friendship power rush!" Pinkie cheered.

"The Elements!" Rarity said. "They didn't disappear!"

"Maybe because we used them for healing magic instead of banishing?" Fluttershy asked.

"Look!" Applejack said as the others see Starswirl helping Stygian up from the well.

"Long ago, you needed our help, Stygian," Starswirl said. "But instead of listening, we turned our backs on you. Pride clouded my judgment. I owe you an apology. Thank you for helping us see the errors of our ways, Twilight. It seems I never accounted for the Magic of Friendship."

"Thank you, Swirlstar," Twilight said before correcting herself. "Uh, Starswirl!" Twilight and her friend's cutie marks began to glow.

Starlight cleared her throat and said, "So, apparently a conversation can save Equestria?" Starswirl chuckled.

"Something tells me I will be making a lot of apologies today," Starswirl said.

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At the Canterlot castle throne room, Starswirl and the others talked to the princesses about what happened. "I simply cannot believe how tall you've gotten!" Solar said; surprised.

"Well, it has been over a thousand years," Celestia said.

"I'm not certain Canterlot is where I belong this time now that the Pillars are back," Starswirl said. "The realm has grown, and I believe I'll have a look around before I settle in any one place."

"And I long to see what has become of my home," Mage Meadowbrook said.

"I believe we all do," Mistmane added.

"Then I hope you will return to Canterlot on occasion and share the wisdom of your great experience with the next generation of ponies," Celestia said.

"We would be honored," Starswirl said. "But if it is wisdom you seek, look no further than your own pupil. She showed me that the power of friendship is a magical force indeed. And that in turning away from others, you hurt yourself as well." Twilight's friends and the Pillars come together for a group hug leaving Charming Thunder, Starlight, Twilight, and Danny to watch.

"It's funny," Twilight said.

"What?" Charming Thunder asked.

"I thought meeting my idol would give me all the answers I ever wanted. But instead, I forgot what I already knew. Good thing I had a student of my own to remind me." Starlight smiled at the thought as Charming Thunder wrapped a hoof around Twilight.

Comments

[Atlantis Productions]

So, is Solar Comet meant to look like Captain America? Because he does. More importantly, his entire existence is pointless. He only exists to make Charming even more important.

I hope you will take my advice and actual make Charming into a mentor. All he needs is an apprentice to get frustrated over.

Or, how about this: If you can give me six traits that Charming has (three bad and three good), I'll stop trying to get you to improve your character. Sound like a deal? Oh, and those traits can't directly relate to his abilities or other characters.