All veils had been lifted. King Sombra had revealed his resurrection to five of the most important ponies in all of Equestria. The rest of the world was sure to follow after. Whether they found out from the five mares or the evil tyrant was still to be determined, as was the number of ponies who left the castle alive that day. That was obvious to the horror stricken ponies who stared up at the back from the dead unicorn stallion. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all couldn't believe what was happening at that moment. They were all there on the day he had died.

They had seen it as well when Princess Cadence unleashed the power of the Crystal Heart to kill the evil king. Yet here he was alive and well; looking as powerful and evil as ever. Seeing King Sombra in full evil glory made the five mare remember that though they hadn't spent a whole lot of time around him during their first encounter, the impression he left was a rather strong one. He had only just revealed himself and the same thing was already happening again at that moment in that throne room. King Sombra saw the horrified looks on the mares' faces that his mere presence brought and reveled with delight.

"Hello, my little ponies," said King Sombra in a wickedly dark tone.

The very sound of his voice sent shivers down the mares' spines. This made King Sombra's sadistic grin even bigger.

"Sweet Celestia," Rarity managed to say in a terrified voice that was barely more than a whisper.

It was loud enough for King Sombra to hear, though. He sharply turned his gaze upon her as his face conveyed a stern expression.

"Not quite," said King Sombra. His expression quickly returned to the evil smile from before. "I'm glad to see you all again."

"I wish we could say the feeling was mutual," said Rainbow Dash.

She tried to make her voice sound tough, but it only came out in a trembling, fearful tone. King Sombra sensed the fear in the blue pegasus's voice, but was nonetheless irritated that she had the will to talk back to him. To vent his aggravation, King Sombra let out a loud, menacing noise that almost sounded like the roar of a rabid animal. At the same time, a giant bolt of lightning flew down from the swirling clouds above. Rainbow Dash and her friends all screamed out as the lightning crashed into King Sombra's horn. The black hearted unicorn cackled with a big grin on his face as he took enjoyment in the Mane Five's fear. He then used his magic to separate the single bolt into several smaller bolts that flew out over the mares' heads.

All five ponies screamed again as they ducked down and put their front hooves over their heads to cover up and avoid the incoming lightning. They all heard the sounds of the electric currents coursing right above them. They saw the light from it as well when they all finally opened their eyes. Then they actually saw it for themselves once they found it within them to look up at the electric waves. It was almost as terrifying a sight as King Sombra himself, almost being the key word. A short while later, King Sombra ceased shooting off lightning from his horn, the bolt from the sky that hit his horn having also disappeared. Twilight Sparkle and the others slowly rose to their hooves as they looked around for any trace of the lightning.

"As you can clearly see, child, you're in no position to try and speak to me with defiance," said King Sombra before laughing with sick delight.

His eyes suddenly lit up brighter than ever, being bright red instead of lime green like before. Like everything else King Sombra had done thus far, this sent a cold shiver down the spines of the Mane Five. King Sombra was having a blast making the ponies before him tremble with fear.

"B-b-b-b-b-b-But y-y-y-you're suppose to be-"

"Dead?!" King Sombra bellowed out, interrupting Twilight Sparkle.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Pinkie Pie whispered in fear.

King Sombra chuckled in amusement as lightning flashed across the cloud covered sky.

"Well, little ones, the fact is... you're right. I should be dead right now. And for a time, I was dead. When that..." King Sombra's confident smile slowly melted into an angry and spiteful glare. "...alicorn princess showed the Crystal Heart to that crowd of crystal ponies and their... love... and hope activated its power... I did indeed die. And where did I go? The same place everypony with a heart as black as mine goes. I was banished to the deepest, darkest part of Tartarus without any hope of ever seeing the light of day again. ...Dear, old Dad never did like playing with his least favorite son."

"Then... how are you here?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

King Sombra's gaze fixated on the violet pony. He stared at her for a moment or two before the evil smile returned to his face.

"Ah, I see you have become an alicorn, Miss... Twilight Sparkle? Yes, that's it. So, the stories were true," said King Sombra.

"Stories?" Twilight cautiously inquired.

"Yes. Stories I heard about a fourth alicorn princess being born in Equestria. Well, not so much born, as you were created. Some what similar to how Princess Cadence became an alicorn. Quite frankly, I am surprised I only saw it now after spending the last three days watching you in between the attacks."

"Attacks?" asked Applejack in terror.

"Watching us?" asked Rarity.

"That's right, Ms. 'Fashion is my thing, darling'," King Sombra said with a laugh. "In between carrying out my plans for full conquest of Equestria, I decided to look in on all you. I took many a trip into Ponyville, waiting to spot any of you; to pick you out in the crowd while I was in disguise. Once I found you, I followed each of you home. I just wanted to get a feel for who you all are since, well, you're more than likely to become a thorn in my side in this bitter struggle.

"I've gotta say, from what I saw of you, I'm not impressed. No, quite the opposite in fact. I am very, very disappointed. With the exception of one or two notable activities from the blue one, you are little more than ordinary, everyday ponies. Sure, one of you may be an alicorn princess, but yet you still carry yourself around like a common street pony. I must say, I'm beginning to doubt Celestia's decision to transform and crown you. You have the deity-like power of an alicorn, and yet you are barely treated and hardly act like little more than common folk. You sicken me... all of you! Compared to my greatness, all the feats I have accomplished, you are nothing! You are absolutely no match for me and my fully restored, amazing power!

"...Well, while you certainly won't be fun opponents, at least getting through you and closer to world domination will be fairly easy. I can also rest easy knowing none of you peasants were directly responsible for stopping me that day after the Crystal Empire returned to Equestria. The alicorn of your group already tried back when she was a unicorn... and she failed!"

King Sombra cackled as evilly as he could. Twilight Sparkle and the others all looked on in dread, feeling as little and weak as King Sombra had said they all were. This dark creature had displayed so much power thus far, even in his presence alone. Anypony who could escape from Tartarus was surely a pony of great power who was not to be trifled with. Seeing the despair on the ponies' faces satisfied King Sombra's evil appetite very greatly. But suddenly, a defiant glare came over Twilight Sparkle's face as she looked back up at King Sombra. He stared back with a slightly surprised, but mostly deadpanned face.

"You're right, Sombra, I did fail," Twilight Sparkle admitted. King Sombra raised an eyebrow, but kept the rest of his face the same for the most part. "I tried to be the pony that would stop you, but I couldn't. None of the ponies you see here may not have tried to stop you directly either... but they still tried indirectly! And while we may not have been able to stop you, at least three of our friends were able to!"

At that moment, confident and defiant smirks came over the faces of the other four ponies. They saw Twilight Sparkle stand up to King Sombra and even felt her defiance radiating off of her. Somehow, it seemed like it was absorbing into them, as they felt inspired by Twilight's courage.

"Yeah, ya bag of hot air!" exclaimed Applejack. "We may not have been able to stop you, but we have powerful friends who will always be able to do it if we can't!"

"No matter what may happen to us, there will always be ponies who believe enough in good triumphing over evil that they will try to stop you!" exclaimed Rarity.

King Sombra glared at the five mares who now stood brave and bold. He quickly caught himself and tried to return his facial expression to what it was before. He would never admit it to himself or let these ponies know, but their ability to stay brave in his presence angered him beyond all belief. In fact, he was down right furious that they were able to regain their bravery despite his menace. Still, he let out a deep breath and proceeded in his calmest manner possible.

"Ah, yes. You're... friends. The... ponies who believe that good triumphs over evil. The previously mentioned... Princess Cadence... and that husband of hers. And of course, who can forget, Alicorn Twilight's pet... baby dragon!"

Those last two words King Sombra said came out in a growling, obviously angry voice.

"That's right, Sombra! Drink it in and cry, chump! You got your flank kicked with the help of a baby dragon!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

King Sombra gritted his teeth together and glared as he growled in frustration. His growls got louder and louder until finally he gave into his anger and lifted his head up as he let out the loudest scream he ever screamed. Several bolts of lightning flew out of King Sombra's horn and across the room as an extension of his venting rage. The five mares ducked down when the bolts began flying all around them. They stayed huddled for a moment before standing up, having realized the bolts weren't hitting anywhere near them. They ducked back down again when, all of a sudden, gigantic flames of black fire shot up in front of King Sombra on the pedestal he stood on along with the thrones.

As the flames died down and eventually faded away, Twilight Sparkle and the others noticed the red glow in Sombra's eyes as he flashed his over the top angry face.

"Who would've believed that I, Sombra, son of Tartarus' high ruler and once ruler of a whole empire of his own could be defeated by a not born, but created alicorn and a child?! An infant?! A baby! It's impossible and yet I found myself in the shackles of my father's prison and tossed in the depths like yesterday's trash! It's completely unbelievable!"

King Sombra let out a loud roar of frustration as he continued to shoot electricity through the air. Flames would occasionally shoot up out of the ground in front of him. Twilight Sparkle and the others looked on, being uncertain of how to feel. Their faces conveyed the same disbelief and fear they felt when Sombra first appeared. However, it was not as strong as before. They wouldn't allow their emotions to be controlled like that by another pony again; even one like King Sombra. After a long moment of venting his rage, the dark overlord allowed the electricity in his horn to die down until it was only wavering up and down his horn. King Sombra inhaled and exhaled deep breaths that came out sounding like animal growls.

"No matter," King Sombra managed to say after calming down enough to talk again. Though a deep anger was still visible in his sinister eyes. "Your friends may have killed me once, but as you can see they failed to stop me in the long run. I know you all wanted to believe that would the end of it. Heck, the crystal ponies wanted to believe it even more than you. I'll bet nopony wanted to believe it more than Princess Cadence herself. Or her husband and the other princesses for that matter. But it's true, my little ponies. Cadence and... that baby dragon, like you, Twilight Sparkle, have failed. I took the best shot the forces of good had to throw at me and yet here I am, powerful again, back from the dead."

"H-How is that? We saw you die," said Pinkie Pie in a semi-shaky voice.

"Yeah, we asked you before and you avoided the question," said Applejack. "Now, I'm gonna ask again. How are you here?! How did you get here from Tartarus of all places?! How did you come back?!"

Applejack's voice was not as loud and demanding as it probably would be when making demands to somepony that wasn't an evil overlord like Sombra. The black hearted unicorn replied, first with a snort of contempt. Then he allowed the smile on his, now calm face to grow a little bigger as he looked down on the Mane Five. While the fact that they were starting to stand up to him aggravated Sombra so, he still wanted to keep up appearances as much as he could.

"Alright, you want to know?" asked King Sombra before chuckling in amusement. "I'll tell you. Like I said before, when I arrived in Tartarus, my so-called father wasn't particularly happy to see me. Not that I was surprised, he's practically disowned me by this point. Even becoming ruler of my own kingdom wasn't enough for him. He always despised, even the very thought of me, so I wasn't surprised when he practically spat on me upon arrival in his realm. Then he locked me in the deepest, darkest cell he had in that stinking death prison.

"But you know something else that isn't so surprising? He may rule over Tartarus, if you could call his being there actually ruling, but that doesn't mean he is without his enemies among the realm. Quite the opposite; there are a good chunk of souls in that prison that hate their warden's guts. They aren't few and in between either. Oh no, they were many and united. While I may not have had my powers, or even my physical body anymore, it turned out that I didn't need them; in that case at least. I didn't seek out my father's enemies while I was stuck in the cell that my father hoof picked special for me. No, they actually sought me out.

"Security in Tartarus had been shaky at best since the whole Cerberus running free in Equestria fiasco. Even more than a year later, my father was unable to completely undo the damage that event had caused in Tartarus. The inmates were basically running the asylum. Some of those inmates came to me with an offer to free me from Tartarus' bowels just so they could stick it to my father. They knew he hated me, so they figured it would be a real blow to release a son he's hated for centuries. They laid out the plan, which was rather elaborate and promising I must say. Having so much faith in this plan and wanting to continue my reign of terror, I naturally said yes.

"Not too long later a huge riot erupted throughout Tartarus. My father focused all his strength, all his forces on trying to contain the rioting inmates and get things under control. He was so focused on getting that riot under control that it never occurred to him that the real spot to look out for was the spot that was the quietest and calmest spot in the whole stinking place. The spot that usually stayed like that no matter what. The spot he put me in. The spot that most inmates had forgotten existed until he put me in it. After that day, I'm convinced that sometimes he even forgets it's there."

King Sombra took that moment in time to pause and look off in thought, while still looking sinister at the same time. What he thought about made him chuckle with amusement for all to hear.

"You know, my father's been warden of Tartarus for centuries, even before I was born. Sometimes it seems to me like it's getting to him. ...Maybe he should hand over warden duties to somepony new who can handle it."

"You mean like you?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

King Sombra could tell by the way the alicorn was glaring and her tone of voice that she was completely against the idea and wasn't asking him seriously. While he wanted to scold her for interrupting and talking back to him, Sombra ultimately chose to ignore Twilight and go on with his story.

"Anyway, to make a long story short..."

"Too late," Pinkie Pie interrupted.

King Sombra replied with a glare and growl as his eyes lit up, making Pinkie Pie let out a Fluttershy-like squeak.

"I escaped from my cell and the whole of Tartarus during the riot," King Sombra finished.

There was a small moment of silence where the Mane Five tried to take in all that King Sombra had said. Meanwhile the tyrant himself simply stood on his pedestal and tried to make himself look menacing. The next words that were spoken, came from the defiantly glaring alicorn, Twilight Sparkle.

"Nice story, Sombra, but there's just one problem with it."

Twilight Sparkles continued defiance drew further anger from the black hearted unicorn.

"And what might that be, young Princess?" asked King Sombra.

"A soul may be able to escape Tartarus, but it won't come out looking the same. You wouldn't be coming out looking as you do now. Heck, your misty, smokey form would be an improvement over how you'd look coming out of Tartarus in your afterlife state. Plus a spirit wouldn't last very long without their Earthly form. They would start to fade away until not even their spirit existed. So, I'm thinking either you're putting on a show right now and you don't have long until you fade or you're leaving out a part of your story."

King Sombra responded with a small smile of fake admiration.

"How right you are, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Ordinarily I wouldn't have a prayer in Tartarus or Valhalla standing on Earthly soil right now. Under other circumstances I'd be doomed to a fate worse than death. However, certain secrets that exist even in the land of the dead allow me to move past such terrible possibilities. Secrets known only by a select few. A list that even excludes the Royal Sister's in some cases."

"What do you mean? What secrets?" asked Rarity.

"Ah, such inquisitive minds. I admire that thirst for knowledge which the princess here has a much more particular interest in. Because I find your curiosity amusing, I shall satisfy it by explaining one of the secrets of my father's realm. Like I said before the entirety of Tartarus' secrets are only known to a few. Not surprising that one of those few would be the son of Death himself, right? I took advantage of my knowledge and used one of those secrets to get my body back."

"But how?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

"There's a small door in that same nearly abandoned part of Tartarus where my cell was located. If one who belongs to the afterlife steps through that door and stands in its enchanted room for a minute and a half, it's magic will fully restore their Earthly form."

Everypony gaped at King Sombra in complete disbelief. How could such a thing exists or was possible? they all thought to themselves. King Sombra took notice of the negative emotions he inspired in them. It warmed his evil, icy heart very much, which he allowed to show through his gleeful smile.

"Y-y-y-y-You can't be serious!" said Twilight Sparkle.

"Oh, I'm afraid so, Princess," said King Sombra. "What you see before you is the real deal. I am very much safe from any flaws that may have come with being dead. I am truly and completely alive!"

He then cackled as evilly as he could as lightning struck from the cloudy sky above. Twilight and the others couldn't stop themselves from shuddering despite not wanting to show any form of weakness to the evil one.

"I can't believe this is happening," said Rarity.

"Oh, I'm afraid it is very real, my dear, said King Sombra. "The secrets of the afterlife are so wondrous; so fascinating. They're even better when you discover them for the first time. Kind of like the one I discovered on my way out of my father's realm."

Everypony looked at King Sombra in confusion.

"Yes, it seems there are a few secrets my dear, old father wanted to hide, even from me," said King Sombra. "I'd tell you what that secret was, but I got a feeling you ponies already know what that secret is."

Twilight Sparkle and the others thought about what the dark tyrant said. It only took six seconds for the first of them to figure out what he meant, shortly followed by the rest of them. They had suspected this from the very beginning, but now they had just heard it right out of the horse's mouth, so to say.

"It was you!" They all shouted at the same time.

King Sombra laughed in amusement while the mares looked at him in horror.

"You're behind everything!" exclaimed Rarity.

"All the pain!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

"All the suffering!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

"You're the one behind all the bad goings on of the past few days!" exclaimed Applejack.

"You're the one that freed the kaiju!" Twilight Sparkle shouted out the loudest.

"Yes!" King Sombra exclaimed proudly. "I unleashed those great giants of destruction upon Equestria and let them feel the pain of their lives being ruined right before they end, just like mine did!"

"You're also the one responsible for the strange weather we've been having, aren't you?" Rarity accused.

"Correct again, my little pony," said King Sombra. "I admit that was just childish play on my part. I just wanted to mess with you all. It actually worked out better than I expected. You all thought the kaiju were somehow responsible. How hilarious."

"You consider causing typhoons and lightning storms harmless child's play?" asked Applejack in disgust.

"I never said it was harmless, did I?" asked King Sombra. "Children never realize it, but their play affects someone negatively more often than not. In this case, I'm a step ahead of them and couldn't care less, so long as I get what I want."

"You... You monster," said Twilight Sparkle. "...You're... no better than those monsters you cursed Equestria with."

"How could you?" asked Rarity.

King Sombra looked at the white furred unicorn like the answer was obvious.

"Well, angel pony, after I had gotten my Earthly form back, I knew I was still not completely off the hook yet. I needed one more thing. As you know by now, all magical beings on the dark side require vast amounts of dark magic for our powers to work. You're all probably also aware that a majority of the magical force is balanced by the emotional state of the citizens all throughout Equestria. There used to be a healthy balance between the sides. There was just as much dark magic as there was good magic."

The black unicorn stallion took this moment in time to pause as he stared down contemptibly at the mares around him. "But of course you changed all that, the lot of you. Ever since the day the five of you and that other little friend of yours came into possession of the Elements of Harmony, the balance of power has tipped tremendously. There was so little dark magic to come by when I first return to Equestria and even less now. Thank you for that by the way."

"Happy to oblige," said Applejack as she glared at Sombra.

"We'd do anything to please our adoring public," said Rarity.

"That's right, ya black hearted freak!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

King Sombra shook his head before smiling in amusement.

"You ponies are trying to be so brave right now by talking disrespectfully to me," said King Sombra. "However, though you may no longer show your fear on your faces or in your body language, it is still inside you. I can see it in your eyes and I can feel it in your hearts and in your very souls. That fear is still crawling underneath your skin. I know it is; you're all scared. And you wanna know something? You should be, because now that I have revealed myself to the world, I will be coming at Equestria, full force!

"And oh, what force it will be, for I am at full power once again thanks to the darkness spread by the kaiju attacks. Because they spread so much of it across the land, I have even grown powerful enough to control the kaiju themselves! I can command them to do anything be it with a spoken word or mental command and they will do it! How ironic, the actions of the giant monsters is what gave me the power to take them under my control. Now, they, like all of you, are in my power... under my command. The rest of Equestria may not know it, but they will soon enough. ...Too bad none of you will be around to see when they find out."

The Mane Five were taken aback by King Sombra's last few words.

"What are you saying, Sombra?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

"Oh, come on, why else do you think I would lure you here?!" exclaimed King Sombra. "Why I put on this whole weather show?! I knew you'd be the first ones to find it! I knew you'd be the ones who'd want to investigate it first! I knew it would be you! It's always you! ...I figured it out. I'm sure most villains that have come across you know by this point that it'll always be you. Whenever some major event happens in Equestria, you'll always be there to play a part in it.

"But no more. Not after today. I have lured you all here today so that I can see to it personally that you won't interfere any further in my plans or the plans of any other evil hearted soul. I am going to destroy every single last one of you do gooder ponies! Then when I'm done here with you, I shall track down everypony you care about and helped with my previous defeats and destroy them! I will start with your little dragon friend!"

"Oh, gosh!" Rarity let out in a shaky voice.

"I will corner him in that little library of yours and when he screams, I'll split his skull! Then I shall track down Princess Cadence and Prince Shinning Armor and do the same. Then I shall destroy the Royal Sisters afterwards and so on, leaving a trail of destruction courtesy of my army of kaiju!"

It looked as though flames were coming out of Sombra's eyes as he scowled at them. Everypony found themselves unable to keep from backing up a few steps away from the tyrant.

"You ponies will all feel the full extent of my wrath!" King Sombra shouted out. "A small part of me hopes one or two of you will escape by the skin of your hide and spread the word of my glorious return. However, I will not hold back at all! Despite the slightly conflicted feelings I may have, I will do everything within my power to see that you don't make it out of here alive! My only regret is that I won't be able to kill all of you harmony ponies at once! For some reason all, but one of you decided to come here! Why, I wonder? Where is the last pretty, pretty pony?!"

While everypony was looking on in horror, one among them came to a tremendous realization. That one was none other than Twilight Sparkle, the princess herself. It was that realization that took away every last bit of fear that had been within Twilight Sparkle's spirit. Now she was able to stand tall with absolute confidence. This new confidence gave her the courage to walk up the first few steps that lead up to King Sombra without so much as a single flinch. The others gasped when they saw Twilight walk up those few steps towards the pedestal that Sombra and the thrones stood upon. King Sombra noticed the now fearless alicorn approaching him. It irritated him greatly.

"Fluttershy is on her way right now, Sombra. Be for warned, though, her arrival could mean your third demise," said Twilight Sparkle.

King Sombra growled in anger at the alicorn's words as he scowled at her.

"What do you mean, alicorn?" asked the furious tyrant.

"You may now have control of the evil kaiju that have terrorize our lands. But in case you haven't noticed, there aren't as many in your ranks as there had been a few days ago," said Twilight Sparkle as a smirk came across her face.

At that moment the others remembered what Twilight was talking about. It installed within them the same courage to stand up brave and bold as it had in their alicorn friend. With the same smirks on their faces as Twilight's, the other four mares came up behind her in full support.

"Yeah, you're missing a few eggs from the coop there, Sombra," said Applejack.

"Did you ever stop to wonder why you don't have all your jewels in the chest?" asked Rarity.

"We'll give you a hint," said Pinkie Pie. "It's because of a guest we invited to the party."

"That's right, Sombra!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "We got our own kaiju card in the deck!"

"Whether you know it or not, there are good kaiju out there, Sombra," said Twilight Sparkle. "One of them helped put the evil kaiju in their prison in the first place thousands of years ago. Now another one has come to our aid to get rid of the evil kaiju for good! And I'll tell you right now, the power he's shown thus far is unlike anything any of use has ever seen before. That includes the other kaiju that you currently have running rampant through this land! It is with this power that he will defeat you and all your evil forces!"

"That's right, bub!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "That's Godzilla you're messing with now, dude, and he's on his way here with Fluttershy to give you the thrashing of your life!"

King Sombra's eyes seemed to light up despite the apparent bad news.

"Ah, so the beast is coming like I had hoped," said King Sombra. "Excellent."

At that moment, the Mane Five looked on in disbelief. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Was it actually possible that King Sombra was happy about such a powerful threat to his plans coming towards him? It was a strange question that could have an even stranger answer.

"What did you say?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Come again?" said Applejack.

"You want Godzilla to come?" asked Rarity.

"Correct again, young filly," said King Sombra. "Yes, I created this big, old show in hopes you would bring along with you this... Godzilla creature of yours. Then one of my creatures of darkness would be called forth deal with him... permanently. I was already quite aware of this creature's presence in this world before you revealed your alliance with him. I had suspicions when I lost track of Screech, but then they were confirmed in Manehattan. I was there that day when your Godzilla beast defeated Gabara and Kumonga. True, at first I was angered, but I slowly calmed myself when I realized that this beast poses... no real threat."

The Mane Five looked up at King Sombra with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

"No threat?!" Rarity blurted out.

"How could you think Godzilla wasn't a threat?!" asked Rainbow Dash in amazement.

"Especially after he took out four kaiju in the span of two days?!" Twilight Sparkle inquired further.

"Because, though it may seem impressive to all of you that this beast with a pure heart defeated four of my own kaiju, it is not so for I," said King Sombra. "Because I know, having connected myself into the very souls of the kaiju, that among the litter, those four were the runts. Those that are left are far superior in strength and power . That is why I am still confident that I shall prevail against both you and your goody good lizard. Plus, after all that fighting he's done, he must be suffering some sort of fatigue by now. I don''t care how powerful he is, no creature can go through all the fighting Godzilla has thus far and what I still plan to put him through without feeling the effects in some form.

"I plan to exploit this by throwing one of my most powerful kaiju at Godzilla when he arrives! I would love to have you all watch as he dies, but that won't be possible I'm afraid. You see, while my monster will be busy obliterating yours, I'll be in here dealing with you! Then all of Equestria will bow to the might that is King Sombra!"

Right after the dark unicorn had shouted his name out loud, a familiar roar rang through the air. The sound of the Alpha Predator's call completely deafened all other sounds, even the swirling clouds, the rumbling thunder, and the lightning above. King Sombra looked out towards the hole in the roof, surprise plastered on his face. The Mane Five were also surprised as they looked up and listened to the roar ring out through the air. Just as the mighty roar began to fade, the Mane Five looked back towards King Sombra with big smirks on their faces. Sombra saw this and glared in frustration that they would dare look at him like that.

"What's a king... to a god?" asked Twilight Sparkle, her voice oozing with confidence and even cockiness.

King Sombra felt like he was about to explode in anger. At that moment he very much wanted to. Nothing would've pleased him more than to just go at Twilight Sparkle with every bit of his power. He did not do this, though, instead he forced himself to stay calm and keep to his plan.

"A god, eh? You think this kaiju of yours a malevolent being?" asked King Sombra with contempt. "Well, if kaiju are the equivalent of gods on Earth, then you seem to be at a disadvantage, for I have many under my command. So, by your own reasoning of kaiju being gods, I guess you could call me the king of the gods."

"King of the gods?" asked Rainbow Dash. "As if! You know, you stand up there talking about your power and the power of your kaiju, but I have seen Godzilla in action and I've seen a few of the kaiju you still have in action. And, brother, trust me, you and your kaiju are house pets compared to Godzilla! He's gonna take you and your kittens down for good and we'll be there to help him do it!"

"Oh, really?" asked King Sombra. "Well, we're just gonna have to see about that, now, won't we, big mouth?"

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as she growled at King Sombra. He ignored the blue pony and lifted his head towards the hole where the roof should be and activated his horn's magic. A beam of lime green light shot up out of his horn and towards the air. After it reached a certain point, the beam expanded to half the length of a football field. Then as the beam faded away, in its place was a big, green colored projection of what was happen outside in front of the castle. Twilight Sparkle and the others gasped out when they saw what it was.

"Fluttershy," said Twilight Sparkle and Rarity at the same time.

Indeed, it was Fluttershy up on that magic image projector. She was flying towards the castle before landing right in front of the bridge. Following closely behind her was none other than Godzilla himself. The image then changed to a close up of Fluttershy. Judging by the look on her face, Fluttershy seemed uncertain about going into the castle. She looked up, first at the castle, then at the clouds above it. The image changed to a front view of Fluttershy, revealing Godzilla's foot coming up right behind her. The yellow pegasus heard the giant kaiju behind her and turned around as she looked up at him.

Godzilla tilted his head to the side as he looked down at his little pony friend in concern, for he had noticed the upset look on her face. Fluttershy looked away from Godzilla and turned her gaze to the ground, retaining the upset expression on her face. Godzilla let out a questioning growl to ask if she was okay. Fluttershy lifted her head up only a little bit, moving her eyes up the rest of the way to look up at Godzilla. She saw the concerned look on his face and instantly lowered her head back down. Godzilla responded by letting out a low moaning roar to Fluttershy trying to say it would be alright and that he would look after her. The yellow pegasus looked back up at Godzilla and saw he now had a supportive look on his face.

Seeing his undying loyalty and support for her inspired Fluttershy to smile and even got some courage out of her. She knew whatever was in that castle, she had to be by her friends to face it and with Godzilla there, it would be much easier. Godzilla noticed the change in Fluttershy's mood and happily held out his hand towards her. Fluttershy's smile got bigger and brighter as she flew up and landed in Godzilla's palm. Both of them looked to each other with friendly expressions before turning their full attention towards the castle. Fluttershy looked from the castle to the dark clouds in the sky. Even Godzilla himself had to take a quick glance at the strange sight.

Recently he had seen many strange things he never thought he'd see, so this wasn't a major experience for Godzilla like it probably was for Fluttershy. It did still grab his attention though. Godzilla could tell right away it was a bad omen. He saw it just by the look of the strange clouds above. This was some evil force's calling card, its challenge. Godzilla also sensed his other pony friends nearby with that evil being. A determined glare came across the Alpha Predator's face. If this creature of darkness wanted to harm his friends, it would have to go through him first. Yes, these clouds were a show of power, a test of strength, a challenge to any other powerful being. If it meant protecting his friends, Godzilla would take that challenge head on. At that moment that Fluttershy turned to Godzilla.

"Maybe you should call out again," Fluttershy suggested. "You know, just to let our friends know we're here before I go in after them. That way they will be expecting me when I come. Or maybe they'll even come out here."

Godzilla nodded his head in agreement before raising it toward the sky. Fluttershy placed her hooves over her ears just as Godzilla let out one of his ever so mighty, three mile roars. The Mane Five and King Sombra heard the kaiju's call coming from outside the castle. Despite him being on the other side of the gorge, it almost sounded like he was right next to the castle. Everyone of the mares in the throne room wanted to fly out and meet both Fluttershy and Godzilla. They wanted to tell them about King Sombra and how he was behind the kaiju and what he planned to do. However, they stayed in place, fearing it might trigger a trap or some kind of assault from Sombra.

It was not fear for them, but for their friends more than anything else. It turned out, however that it didn't matter what they did. King Sombra was gonna do something to Godzilla and Fluttershy anyways. The black hearted unicorn proved it when his horn began to glow its lime green aura. The Mane Five saw what was happening and gasped out in horror. They moved up the stairs towards the thrones, but saw on the magically projected image above what Sombra's magic was doing. Somehow, beyond any of the ponies' understanding, even Twilight Sparkle's, Sombra was able to use his magic to teleport both Fluttershy and the giant Godzilla away from where they were.

None of the ponies could believe what they had just seen. Twilight Sparkle was shocked most of all. It usually took such a physical toll for her to perform that spell on herself or other ponies depending on the group's size. Here was King Sombra able to teleport a creature as big as Godzilla, with Fluttershy in tow and act like it was nothing. Twilight looked back towards Sombra and from the looks of him, he didn't seem to show any signs of fatigue. He was just standing there smiling. If he was feeling any residual effect, he was doing a great job of hiding it.

"What have you done to them?!" Rarity screeched out in rage.

"What did you do to our friends?!" Rainbow Dash screamed out.

"Where are they?!" Pinkie Pie demanded.

"You will soon see," said King Sombra as he lifted his head towards the image projected above the throne room.

Twilight and the others looked up to the projection in concern and saw the image change. Instead of being at the top of the gorge on the side opposite the castle, the image now showed the bottom of that very same ravine. Great walls of stone stood on each side, the ground being nothing but earth. It appeared that this area of the chasm was farther away from the castle due to the cliffs being much further apart from each other. Also, the gorge seemed to be even deeper in this area. It was so big that it managed to hold both Godzilla and Fluttershy when they appeared there via teleportation and still had room for them to move around. The Mane Five gasped as they watched Godzilla and Fluttershy try to shake off the fatigue from being teleported.

Once they had regained their equilibrium, both Godzilla and Fluttershy looked around in confusion. They then turned to each other in hopes one would have the answer they were seeking. Both quickly saw that they were as confused as the other and resumed looking around at their new environment. A few moments later, Godzilla and Fluttershy looked up above. They both realized where they were right away, Fluttershy even figuring out how they got there.

"Godzilla, we were teleported down here," said Fluttershy with a slight hint of alarm.

"Oh, no, Fluttershy, you poor dear," said Rarity as she and her friends looked at the image in distress.

"It gets even worse," said King Sombra. "Watch this."

The emotionally shaken mares looked up at the evil stallion. Their faces were twisted in a mixture of all kinds of emotions, all of which were negative. King Sombra's face was a demented smile as both his horn and his eyes began glowing lime green. The Mane Five were about to make a move to attack Sombra, being unable to hold themselves back any longer. However, they were frozen in their tracks when they felt the ground below them start to shake and rumble. It started off slowly, but gained momentum very fast. As the earthquake went on, the Mane Five looked to the projected image above and saw that the earthquake was worse where Godzilla and Fluttershy were.

Fluttershy flew up to the lower chest of Godzilla as she looked around in terror at what was going on around her. Godzilla looked on too, while also making sure to keep his upper body above Fluttershy and his arms outstretched so he could protect her from any falling debris. It was at that moment, however, that his sixth sense kicked in and informed him that another kind of danger was close by. He sensed it too late though, for at that moment the ground around him seemed to burst apart, sending waves of dirt into the air. Fluttershy screamed as Godzilla let out a roar of surprise.

"Fluttershy!" the Mane Five screamed together.

Fluttershy grabbed onto Godzilla as tight as she could. He lifted his right arm up to carefully cradle the helpless pony. After looking down to check on Fluttershy, Godzilla looked at the area around him. Through her shuddering, Fluttershy managed to open her eyes and look out from the safety of Godzilla's embrace at what was going on. As the dusty dirt began to fade out of the air, both of them saw that something had popped out of the ground around them. That something actually turned out to be four somethings, all of which gathered closely around Godzilla in a circle.

Once the dust in the air was completely gone, Godzilla and Fluttershy saw exactly what had them surrounded. It was four giant, insect like monsters, all of which had drills in place of their forearms and hands. They shared many more similarities as well. More than that, they looked exactly the same as each other in every way. Height, body shape, body colors, all of it was the same. Their movements were also the same. Every movement one made was completely in sync with the others. This included when they threw their drill hands up in the air and then pulled them back down as they raised their heads and roared out loudly.

"MEGALON!" Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack yelled at the same time, having instantly recognized the kaiju.

"Yes!" King Sombra shouted at the top of his lungs.

At that moment, the image of Godzilla and Fluttershy surrounded by the four Megalons faded away until the hole in the roof was visible again, displaying the cloudy sky above. The Mane Five screamed out in protest at the disappearance of the magically projected image of their friends. They turned to King Sombra and saw that the look of sadistic joy on his face had intensified since last they looked upon him. The looks on the faces of the Mane Five, however, were of worry and furious anger. They all glared at Sombra, who smiled back at them.

"How do you have four Megalons?!" Twilight Sparkle frantically asked. "The legend said there was only one of each kaiju! How did you manage to get three more?! Did you create them?! That's impossible! Even you're not that powerful! How did you get four of them?!"

Sombra simply smirked down at Twilight and the others.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," the tyrant answered.

"You know what? It doesn't matter!" shouted Twilight Sparkle. "What does matter is what you're gonna do next! That's call off those kaiju and get our friends out of that pit!"

"Yeah! Or else we'll make you!" added Rainbow Dash as she slammed her front hooves together.

The rest of the mares posed themselves and wore battle ready looks on their faces. King Sombra simply laughed at the ponies that were currently threatening him.

"That's cute, but you seem to have forgotten something," said King Sombra. "I didn't bring you here to bombard me with empty threats. Again, I brought you all here for the express purpose of destroying you all, your beast friend included. That way, nothing will stand in my way of conquering Equestria and the rest of the world shortly after."

Well, I believe there's something you don't realize yourself, Sombra," said Rarity.

The dark king looked down at the white furred mare with annoyance.

"And just what is that, peasant?" asked King Sombra.

"While you may have your own plans, we're not just gonna stand back and let you carry them out," said Twilight Sparkle.

"That especially includes taking us and our friends out!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"We will fight you and all your evil forces to the bitter end with all we've got and all we are," said Twilight Sparkle.

"Even if we go down today, there's several other ponies ready to rise up against you and take our places," said Applejack.

"So, it doesn't matter what you try to do," said Twilight Sparkle.

"There's no way we're letting you win!" Pinkie Pie screeched out.

"Now, if you're still bent on destroying us," Twilight Sparkle began.

"Bring it!" the rest of the Mane Five finished in unison.

Everyone of them stood determined and ready for a fight. However, this just seemed to get one of the louder laughs out of King Sombra. While the Mane Five were all confused, they only let some of it slip into the looks on their faces. Otherwise they kept the same expressions as they watched King Sombra have his laughing fit.

"No, no, no, I'm afraid there was a miscommunication somewhere," said King Sombra.

"What are you talking about?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

"I'm not going to finish you off myself," King Sombra explained. "I never soil my hooves if I don't have to. Especially if it involves dealing with ponies as puny and worthless as the lot of you."

"Watch it, partner," said Applejack with a certain darkness to her voice.

"We don't take kindly to such words from scum bags like you," said Pinkie Pie in a southern accent to match Applejack's.

"Like I was saying," growled King Sombra. "While a part of me would like to take care of you ponies personally, it is simply below me. Besides that, what would my pals I brought back from Tartarus have to do if I handled you myself?"

The Mane Five looked up at King Sombra in alarmed confusion. The black unicorn noticed this and let a sick smirk cross his face.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" asked King Sombra mockingly. "When I came up from my father's prison of a kingdom, I brought a few friends with me. In fact I brought them along for the sole purpose of handling you pains in the flank. So, it's about time you meet them! Come on out, boys!"

King Sombra busted out in an evil laugh at the same time the horror stricken mares noticed shadows creeping out of the darkest edges of the throne room. They slid across the floor and all came towards the Mane Five at incredible speed. It wasn't long before the shadows had the frightened mares surrounded. Once they had, the shadows did something that was truly shocking. They began to grow and rise up off the bottom of the floor. They did not stop rising until they were at the same height as the ponies of the Mane Five. The mares watched in disbelief as the blobs of darkness took shapes similar to the ponies themselves.

But they weren't like any ponies the Mane Five had seen before. The only thing similar to others they had seen before were the recognizable traits of Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, but that was all. They were all colored black with glowing red eyes. Their fur coats were messy as can be, with several strands and patches of fur sticking out all over. Their ears seemed like their had pieces torn or ripped off of them. Their manes and tails flowed behind them and appeared to resemble the shadows they themselves had just looked like before. The last horrifying feature to them was their hideous, grotesque faces. They truly conveyed the appearance of what a demonic being is. All those faces were currently staring at the surrounded Mane Five as King Sombra was still laughing all the while.

"My word, what are these dreadful things?" asked a frightened Rarity.

"Twilight, what are they?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"They're shadow ponies," Twilight Sparkle answered. "They're basically what King Sombra would've looked like if he hadn't of gotten his Earthbound form back."

"And Sombra managed to bring them up with him despite the fact that they can't last long up here?" asked Applejack.

"I don't think he really cares what happen to them so long as they do what he needs them to do," said Rainbow Dash.

At that moment, King Sombra stopped laughing long enough to speak.

"From this moment forth, the world as you know it shall cease to exist. Welcome to my nightmare!" King Sombra resumed laughing as his body melted into a smokey, shadowy form and drifted off into the sky. "Bye, bye, fillies!" his voice echoed out with one last laugh.

Then he was finally gone. Shortly after the clouds finally faded from the sky. The Mane Five were now left alone to face a group of thirty shadow ponies bent on ending them. For a moment the attention of the group of mares was taken off of the shadow ponies around them and on the pedestal where King Sombra had once stood. Now all that was there were the empty thrones that once seated Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. However, Sombra had such a powerful presence when he was there that in a strange way, it almost felt like he was still there somehow.

"He's gone," Rarity said after the fact had sunken in to her and the others.

The Mane Five's attention was soon recaptured when the demonic shadow ponies let out viscous, animal like growls as they began to close in on them.

"Yeah, but they're not," said Pinkie Pie in a shaky voice.

The Mane Five stood nervously with their backs to each other as they kept their eyes on the undead creatures surrounding them and getting closer. The seemingly permanent snarls on the shadow ponies' faces seemed to be staring into the mares' souls as they crept towards them. All the while, the Mane Five looked around and seemed like they were beginning to panic as they try to think of what to do.

"We should run," said Twilight Sparkle.

"We should hide," said Pinkie Pie.

"We should kick their flanks," said Rainbow Dash.

Though she tried to make herself sound confident in her words, it was obvious Rainbow Dash had doubts of whether she and her friends could back them up. However, the others seemed like they were taking what Rainbow Dash had said to heart. They looked to each other, some of them with eyebrows raised. Using the years they spent as friends, each one of them was able to read what the others were all thinking. What they saw was that they all were thinking the exact same thing. All that was left now was to act on their joint decision.

"Look out!" shouted Twilight Sparkle as she pointed a hoof upwards and she and her friends looked up.

For some unexplainable reason, the shadow ponies all followed the Mane Five's gaze and looked up as well. Naturally, this ended up being a mistake, as Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity rushed forward and attacked the shadow ponies nearest to them. They struck with all kinds of punches and kicks as they let out battle cries before pulling back into a group once more. As the shadow ponies that were attacked got back up to their hooves, they looked on with the rest of their kind in disbelief at what had just happened. Their shocked expressions turned into their regular snarls as they growled and charged forward.

However, before they could even try to do any harm to the Mane Five, Twilight Sparkle used her magic to teleport herself and all her friends out of harm's way. The shadow ponies all stopped dead in their tracks and stared dumbfounded at where the Mane Five used to be. It took the shadow ponies by surprise even more when the Mane Five reappeared behind them on different sides of their group and rushed them. While Twilight and Pinkie Pie merely rammed into the shadow ponies in front of them, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity attacked with multiple martial arts kicks.

The shadow ponies that were struck by the Mane Five fell into several of their dark brothers and sent them dropping to the ground. Everyone of the shadow ponies looked at the Mane Five in shock. They couldn't believe they had just got made a fool of by the same ponies that had just been cowering to them a moment ago. The evil ponies shook it off and stood ready to posed themselves before they ran at the Mane Five, growling all the way.

"Let's take these freaks!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Spread out!" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle.

The ponies did as Twilight said and ran off in different directions, several shadow ponies chasing after them in the process. The Mane Five checked around them to make sure the shadow ponies had been spread out thin enough. Then they each turned to face their dark foes and the battle was on. Among the individual fights that made up the battle, Twilight Sparkle stood combat ready against a shadow pony unicorn. The demonic soul growled as he ran at Twilight. She responded by running at him as well. Before they could collide or the unicorn could attack, Twilight Sparkle jumped over his head, giving her wings a small flap to assist her.

The shadow unicorn followed the alicorn with his eyes, staring on in disbelief at what he was witnessing. He had never seen a pony do something like that in either his life or his afterlife. The shadow pony was still stunned with amazement when Twilight Sparkle landed behind him. She quickly spun around to face her opponent. The unicorn was still turning around when he was hit with a blast of attack magic shot from Twilight Sparkle's horn. The blast sent the shadow pony flying several feet away before crashing into the ground. Before she could continue her assault, Twilight heard the growl of a shadow pony coming from her left. She looked and barely had time to teleport as a shadow pegasus flew by where she had stood before.

Twilight Sparkle reappeared in the same spot and looked on as the pony flew away. Then a second pegasus came flying at her, this time from the right. She only had a moment of time to roll out of the way. Twilight didn't want to rely solely on teleporting due to the physical toll it took on her to use it. Twilight regained her focus and looked around to see if she could spot one or both of the pegasi that had attacked her. She spotted them flying high above the room. They spotted Twilight Sparkle as well and flew at her from different directions, but with the same intent to attack the alicorn princess.

Twilight Sparkle positioned and readied herself to receive her attackers. According to her calculations, they were due to close in on her at the exact same time. She was counting on it very greatly for her plan to work. She stood and waited patiently despite the adrenaline running through her body and making her feel antsy. Twilight managed to control herself long enough to put her plan into action. Once both pegasi were only a few feet from her, Twilight used her magic to teleport once again, thus the two shadow ponies ended up crashing into each other. Twilight Sparkle reappeared a few feet away from where her two adversaries laid and turned to admire the results of her plan.

Her hesitation ended up costing her when a shadow Earth pony came up and rammed into Twilight's side, knocking her across the floor. Twilight Sparkle skidded across the ground for a few seconds before coming to a complete stop. She grunted and groaned as she tried to push herself up. It took her a second to fight back the pain. Twilight soon discovered she only had a second when she saw the Earth pony running towards her. He stood up on his hind legs and then tried to stomp his front hooves down on Twilight Sparkle. Luckily she rolled out of the way to avoid them. Then, as she began to stand back up, Twilight Sparkle used her horn to launch an attack beam at the shadow pony. She continued to use her magic by levitating the evil pony up to her and then kicking him away.

Twilight Sparkle was blind sided by an orb of black attack magic striking her in the side. She screamed in pain and dropped to her knees. Then Twilight Sparkle looked to see a shadow unicorn stomping up to her. She forced herself to her hooves and ran up to meet this shadow unicorn head on. He sped up his approach to her and soon they were clashing face to face and horn to horn. With their horns interlocked in a magic duel, the two gritted and growled as their auras got bigger and brighter. The struggle of magic was not a long one, though, for Twilight was able to easily get the upperhoof and blast the shadow unicorn away.

The next attack hit Twilight Sparkle from behind, that attack being a beam of attack magic from the first shadow unicorn she had been fighting. Twilight Sparkle dropped to her knees, but instantly forced herself back up. Then she turned to that shadow unicorn, who's horn was still glowing in its black aura. The two combatants glared at each other before firing attack beams. The two collided and a struggle took place for about two seconds before Twilight's beam overpowered the shadow unicorn's and blasted him away. Twilight Sparkle didn't have time to do anything else, for she heard the growls of the pegasi shadow ponies as they were flying towards her to attack yet again.

However, they were blindsided when Rainbow Dash came flying in from the side, smacking the two shadow ponies in the face as she flew past them. Then she grabbed the last one she hit and swung him around before releasing him. This sent him slamming into the shadow Earth pony Twilight had also been fighting. Rainbow Dash continued her assist by picking a rather large boulder off the ground as she flew by and then she tossed it to Twilight. The violet alicorn caught the object with her levitation magic and spun it around her. The boulder ended up smacking into the two shadow unicorns she had been fighting in the process.

After releasing the boulder from her magic, Twilight Sparkle shot a big beam of magic out of her horn and into the air. The beam then separated into five smaller beams, which shot down into the five shadow ponies Twilight had been fighting. Twilight Sparkle looked around at her fallen foes on the ground around her. Then she looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was flying high in the air and smiling down at her.

"Thanks for the help, Rainbow!" Twilight Sparkle called as she waved.

Rainbow Dash only replied with a wink. It was all she had time to do because shortly after, Rainbow Dash spotted three shadow pegasi flying towards her. They all snarled and howled as they flew in formation at their intended target. At first, Rainbow Dash had an alarmed look on her face, but her usual confident smile quickly came back on her face before she dropped back and flipped around. She ended up kicking her back hooves up into the head pony's chin as she back flipped. The shadow pegasus was sent flying back and colliding with his fellow shadow pegasi. They almost seemed like they were gonna fall, but eventually the two side ponies were able to get their flying back on track and help their leader do the same.

Once they all got a hold of themselves, they looked to Rainbow Dash in anger. She only replied by sticking her tongue out at them and blowing raspberries as she held her front hooves to the sides of her head. Then Rainbow Dash let out a loud, "Woo-hoo!" before turning her back to the shadow ponies and flying down towards the ground. The shadow ponies all howled in anger as they flew after Rainbow Dash. The chase was short, but it practically took Rainbow Dash and the shadow pegasi all over the throne room. They went up, down, and around all over the place, even past other fights that were occurring around the room. While the shadow pegasi were infuriated by this, Rainbow Dash was having the time of her life. The blue pegasus turned her back to the ground as she put her front hooves behind her head and smiled at the shadow ponies that were chasing her.

" I know you think you're bad to the bone fliers, but if I really wanted to, I'd have the three of you knocked out of the air by now," Rainbow Dash gloated. The shadow ponies just growled in reply, which made Rainbow Dash look at them with annoyance. "What? You don't believe me? Okay, I'll prove it to ya!"

A split second later Rainbow Dash disappeared from sight. At least it seemed that way. The shadow ponies' eyes widened in surprise as they screeched to a halt. Then the confused shadow ponies began looking around for their opponent. Not too long later, the three were bombarded by a barrage of assaults that were too fast for any eyes to see. All of these aerial punches, kick, and the like were being delivered by none other than Rainbow Dash herself. She flew at tremendous speeds that were beyond most ponies' imagination. Her punches and kicks got harder each time she threw one. After thirty seconds, Rainbow Dash ceased her attack and just flew in front of her foes.

She waved as the three beaten and battered ponies fell to the ground below, making a loud crashing sound upon impact. Rainbow Dash looked down at her beaten foes as they groaned in agony.

"You know, you shadow ponies may look scary, but you sure as heck can't back it up with how lousy your fighting skills are," said Rainbow Dash. "Plus you don't seem that bright either."

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt herself being pulled down to the ground by a force she couldn't see. Rainbow Dash screamed as she crashed down into the stone floor below. Despite her pain, Rainbow Dash got up and looked herself over for injury. That's when she noticed the black aura around her. She looked to see a shadow unicorn who's horn was glowing. The pony smiled wickedly at Rainbow Dash, who just glared back.

"Oh, yeah?" said Rainbow Dash. "You think you're so bad, huh? Well, why don't you try fighting me without your levitation magic. That is... unless of course you're a chicken."

The unicorn eyes widened with rage while Rainbow Dash just smirked back at him. The shadow pony gritted his teeth and growled before finally agreeing and releasing Rainbow Dash from his levitation spell. The blue pony wasted no time in flying at the shadow unicorn. He merely smiled at her before teleporting away. Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop before letting out an annoyed growl and looking around for her foe. I probably should've said without using magic period, Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she kept looking for the shadow unicorn.

She spotted the shadow unicorn as he reappeared with a big smirk on his face. Rainbow Dash snarled as she flew at the shadow unicorn as fast as she could. Rainbow Dash was only a few inches away from the shadow unicorn before he teleported out of her reach again. Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop and stomped in frustration before she began looking around for the unicorn yet again. She spotted the smirking creature several feet away from her. Rainbow Dash flew to try and catch the unicorn before he could teleport yet again. She failed, though and he teleported yet again. Rainbow Dash growled as she rolled her eyes in irritation.

Instead of looking around rapidly or flying around at great speeds, Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she thought of a new strategy. It seemed crazy to her the moment she thought of it, but none of her usual tactics were working, so she decided to give it a shot. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and slowly started to count back from ten.

"Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

At that moment Rainbow Dash punched her right front hoof outward. At the exact same time, the shadow unicorn appeared in that same spot. He was just in time to get his mouth full of Rainbow Dash's hoof, knocking him out with that one blow. Rainbow Dash watched as the shadow pony crumbled to the floor. She stared for a few seconds before looking straight ahead.

"What do you know?" said Rainbow Dash. "Sometimes waiting and listening does pay off. Well, I guess I owe Twilight five bits."

Suddenly, a shadow Earth pony came up behind Rainbow Dash and wrapped her up in a sleeper hold. The blue pegasus mare tried desperately to get free of the submission hold, but the Earth pony wouldn't let it happen. His strength was too much for her to overcome. In the end she didn't have to, though. A chunk of stone surrounded by a blue aura came crashing down on the shadow pony's head. It instantly got him to release his hold and slump to the floor. Rainbow Dash looked and saw a smiling Rarity standing nearby using her magic to levitate several boulders.

"Thanks for the help, Rarity. I didn't see that guy coming."

"I'm sure if you did, you could've handled him on your own, darling. But I'm happy to help all the same."

"Thanks again, Rare."

"My pleasure, Rainbow Dash."

With that, Rarity went off to fight her own shadow ponies. Rainbow Dash saw both the unicorn and the Earth pony she was fighting start to get up. She quickly ran up to them and punched them both across the face two times before giving them uppercuts to the lower jaw. Then Rainbow Dash swung her leg around for a back kick across the two ponies' faces before ducking down and using her leg to sweep theirs out from under them. Rainbow Dash took a moment and listened as the shadow ponies groan in agony.

"You mess with the best, you get beaten like the rest," said Rainbow Dash as she smiled confidently.

Meanwhile, Rarity had spotted two shadow unicorns and wasted no time in bombarding them with her floating stones. Each stone hit their target head on, causing the evil ones great agony. The two unicorns reeled from the pain they felt while Rarity quickly ran up to them. She let out a martial arts cry as she jumped up in the air and sailed in between the unicorns. She kicked her back hooves across their faces, sending them collapsing to the ground. Rarity landed and then looked behind her at the fallen unicorns she just took down.

"Serves you right," said Rarity. "You shouldn't have made bad choices in life. That's why you're shadow ponies that are getting your tails handed to you by good little fillies like us."

At that moment, a shadow pegasus came flying down at Rarity, back hooves first, kicking them across Rarity's face. The poor, white mare let out a scream as she tumbled to the floor. Rarity was slow to get back to her hooves, for the kick she took was quite devastating. However, the physical pain was nothing compared to the pain Rarity felt inside as she saw her reflection in a piece of broken glass on the floor.

"Is... Is that a black eye?!" Rarity screeched out. She looked to the pegasus flying around her with pure rage, while he smiled in amusement. "IT... IS... ON!"

The shadow pegasus's face turned to a look of determination as he flew in to attack Rarity yet again. Unfortunately for him, when he got to close, Rarity grabbed a hold of his front right leg as he flew by and swung him down into the ground with a judo throw. Then she stomped on his face a few times before picking him up with a levitation spell. Rarity used that spell to swing the shadow pegasus around before tossing him into one of the throne room's support beams. The shadow pegasus just laid there with circles spinning around his head and a goofy look on his face.

"Humph," Rarity let out as she turned away from the fallen shadow pony in a snotty manner.

Then she heard the growls of more shadow ponies and looked to see two Earth ponies running up to her. Rarity posed herself as the two came up and started taking swings at her. But Rarity moved at surprisingly swift speeds and avoided every blow they threw at her. She ducked and dodged several swings and even brought up her front hooves to block some of the attacks. No matter what the two shadow Earth ponies tried to do, they could not land an hit on Rarity; she would not let them. After several moments of dodging and blocking her foes' attacks, Rarity managed to slip away from the two shadow ponies by back flipping away from them. Then she used her magic to teleport away.

After seeing her disappear, the two Earth ponies frantically looked around for the unicorn mare. They didn't have long to look because Rarity soon reappeared in a magical puff of smoke. When she did, she was rolling over the back of one of the shadow ponies. As she landed, she kicked the other one in the face, knocking him away. Then Rarity ducked down and rammed her elbow into the chest of the shadow pony who's back she had rolled across. After that, she swung her hoof up into his face before standing up and roundhouse kicking him in the head, knocking him down. Rarity looked to the shadow Earth pony and spun over to him as she ducked down and slammed her elbow into his chest.

Then Rarity reached up and wrapped her right front leg around the shadow pony's neck and used her body strength and well learned technique to flip him over her shoulder. Thus, the shadow pony was sent crashing to the ground. Rarity then used her levitation magic to left the shadow pony up and toss him into the other one. They were both sent crashing into one of the support beams of the throne room. Neither of them got back up. They were both down for the count. Rarity looked them over for a moment before turning away in a snotty manner with a smile on her face.

"Humph! Never, ever mess with a fashion designer!" said Rarity before slowly walking away to look for the next shadow ponies to face.

Meanwhile, Applejack was taking no prisoners. She was going all out in her fight against the shadow ponies. Applejack spotted a shadow unicorn trying to sneak up on Twilight Sparkle and quickly stopped him by using her back legs to kick a huge boulder at him. It made contact and knocked the shadow pony down instantly. Applejack smiled with confidence and pride as she stared at her fallen foe. It faded slightly when she saw the shadow unicorn getting up and growling in anger.

"Twilight, load me up!" Applejack called out.

Twilight Sparkle looked over to the orange Earth pony and nodded before activating her levitation magic. She used it to supply Applejack with several rocks. The orange pony looked to Twilight Sparkle with a big grin on her face as she tipped her hat.

"Much obliged," said Applejack.

Then she turned her back to the shadow unicorn and she began kicking rocks at him. The first one hit the shadow pony in the side of the head, while the second hit him in his front legs, taking them out from underneath him. After a third rock smacked into the side of his head, the shadow unicorn was knocked out cold. Applejack didn't have a second to spare when a shadow pegasus came flying in to attack her. Applejack managed to sidestep the pegasus and catch him in her grasp to drag him down to the ground. The both of them quickly got back to their feet and stared each other down before making their next move.

Applejack leaped at the pegasus, but he managed to jump to the side before getting airborne once again. Applejack was ready for him this time, pulling out her lasso and spinning it around in the air before swinging it. The rope ended up catching the shadow pegasus around his lower neck and shoulder area. Before the shadow pony even knew what was going on, Applejack pulled her lasso down with all her strength, taking the pegasus with it. He ended up crashing into the floor and laid there for a few seconds before struggling to get back up on his hooves. He shook his head to get the cobwebs out before looking around him. He looked just in time to get his face kicked in by Applejack, courtesy of Buck McGillicutty and Kicks McGee.

After the shadow pony collapsed, Applejack looked off to the left when she heard a chorus of shadow pony growls coming from that direction. She saw three Earth ponies coming at her with battle hardened facial expressions. They quickly surrounded Applejack on all sides and stared her down. They slowly started circling her. Applejack positioned herself in a battle stance as she looked from one shadow pony to the next, waiting for the first one to strike. They all ended up running at her at the same time. However, they were not fast enough to catch her, for she was easily able to dodge out of their reach.

She kept her speedy motion as she turned to each of the three shadow ponies and back kicked all three of them in the face. Then Applejack got in between the three and back kicked each of them in the side, back legs, and then the face again. The enormous amount of strength Applejack had in her back legs did not fail her, for after taking all those back kicks, all three shadow Earth ponies were completely knocked out. Applejack looked around at her fallen opponents and proceeded to celebrate.

"Yee-haw!" Applejack whooped as she took her hat off and waved it around. "How's that for a rodeo sized clean up?!"

She didn't get an answer because out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie came flying out through the air and crashing into her. The two Earth ponies fell to the ground with a loud boom. Applejack was dazed for a moment, but managed to get a hold of herself and checked on Pinkie. She gasped when she saw her pink friend beaten, battered, and bruised. She looked like she had just been through a war.

"Pinkie Pie..." Applejack managed to say through a shaky voice.

Pinkie Pie moaned as she reached a hoof up to the side of Applejack's face. She quickly grabbed Pinkie's hoof in her own. The rest of the Mane Five came running up to their two Earth pony friends to check on them. They looked on in dread and horror at the state Pinkie Pie was in.

"No," Rarity managed to utter.

"Pinkie Pie," Twilight Sparkle managed to whimper.

"Is she...?" Rainbow Dash couldn't finish her sentence.

"I ain't sure exactly how good she is doing," said Applejack. " ...But I think she's gonna be fine in the long run."

All of the mares lifted their heads up when they heard and soon saw several shadow ponies coming at them. Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash took battle stances around Applejack and Pinkie Pie who were on the ground.

"Protect Pinkie at all cost!" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle.

The other mares didn't need to be told twice. They waited until the shadow ponies were only within a yard or two of them. Then they leaped at the shadow ponies and began to attack in a desperate attempt to protect their friend. The fight would only get harder from here on out.

---

OK, first of all, yes I made several references to several good and bad movies in this chapter. I don't regret it at all, because I love all those movies, which I also don't regret. What I do regret is how long it took me to fucking finish this chapter, which I am SOOOOOOOOO SORRY ABOUT! Seriously, I'm sorry it took so long to finish this chapter. I wasn't kidding about being busy around this time of year. I don't regret it, though since I had a very good Christmas. I hope you all did, too and I hope those of you who don't celebrate Christmas enjoyed you holidays as well.

I guess all I can say now is, please, please, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW after reading this and be sure to let me know of any mistakes I missed during proofreading. Seriously, you'd be surprised how many I missed and had to come back to during proofreading this particular chapter. Like, I'd reach a certain point and stop. Later when I try to get back to that point, I noticed several errors I had missed on the way down. So, yeah basically I'm like the worst proofreader ever, so please let me know any mistakes you see so I can correct them.

Having posted this on December 31st, 2014, I'd like to wish all who are reading this a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you live up to all your resolutions. I know I'll try to live up to mine. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off for the final time of 2014.