Chapter 23

“Ghosts of the Past”

    For the first time since the battle began, silence reigned.

    At the center of it all stood the shared form of Eclipse and Ultrapony, the latter of which had pushed to the forefront and was weeping uncontrollably over the figure lying on the ground at his hooves, her life’s blood seeping from her body and painting the flowers and grass beneath her. Spectrum’s breath fluttered in her chest, terribly weak and dangerously shallow, as she clung to life in spite of the thin and deep chest wound made by Eclipse’ horn.

    Surrounding the pair was a lose circle of ponies of a variety of abilities and descriptions, all of whom had stood to battle the horror that was Eclipse and the invasion which he heralded. Their faces betrayed the shock their hearts held, and many of their heads bowed slightly, as if a sudden weight had been placed between their ears.

    An uncounted number of dead and dying ponies that had sacrificed themselves in this battle circled even them, bearing silent witness to events as they unfolded. Princess Celestia sat in repose just beyond them, surrounded by a small group of disparate faces, some of whom should be nowhere near a battlefield.

    Even the hoard of dragons hovering overhead fell silent as they watched down with wide, stupid eyes. Their gryphon riders sat on hastily crafted saddles and waited, each accompanied by a retinue of armored gryphons with dangerous looking weapons. Few stood out amongst the group, including the massive gold dragon that King Goldtalon claimed as his own, and the comparatively tiny white dragon that “Godkiller” sat upon and watched with oddly blank eyes.

    The moment was broken only by the hurried movements of the pair of medics as they rushed to the fallen mare. Their hooves flew as they attempted to staunch the wound, forcing even Eclipse/Ultrapony back a step so as not to crowd them. The large cyclopean turquoise eye embedded within the dark smoke surrounding Ultrapony’s ghostly form watched their desperation with growing delight.    

    Only the approach of another after several long minutes stopped the medic’s frantic work, their heads dipping in failure. The Princess of the Night’s horn glowed as she leaned her head down, touching it to the fallen mare’s brow. Silvery light spread over Spectrum’s body, wrapping her gently like an ethereal blanket before dissipating. “That is all I can do,” Luna said softly, her voice tender, “she is stable for the time being, but thy daughter shall not last long.”

    “Please! There must be something you can do!” Ultrapony pleaded, even as the shadowy presence surrounding him laughed.

    Luna turned away, unable to meet his anguished gaze. “I’m sorry, Sunset Sparkle,” she whispered, “but she is beyond even my abilities.”

    “You can’t let my little girl die….”

    “She can, and she will!” Eclipse cried triumphantly, unable to hold back his glee any longer. “Your little girl is dying, and you helped me do it! I couldn’t have planned this better if I tried… Oh such sweet anguish! You will make for one final feast before I devour your essence entirely. No more lurking for you, oh no. No more chance to screw with my plans. No convincing me to spare another pony or gryphon, and all your hiding and pretending you were already dead. Now you really will be!”

    “Isn’t there anything we can do?” Flourish started, looking almost desperately back and forth among the others present, but no one would meet her eyes.

    “We can’t jus’… leave her like that!” Crosswind stated angrily.

    “You can, and you will,” Eclipse taunted.

    Clockwork growled, “Shut up.”

    “She’s dead!” Eclipse continued heedlessly. “She has ceased to be! She is a former pegasus, an ex-pegasus!”

    “SHUT UP!” the armoured mare all but screamed, and reared back to fire. Only a gentle touch on her foreleg stopped her, and she lowered herself to lean into the weak hug from Galaxi, who took the helmet off the short-tempered mare.

    Filigree limped past her friends with solemn purpose, ignoring their questioning gazes. Her claws trembled as she gently began to adjust the pegasus’ body, rolling her onto her back while being careful not to damage her wings. Filigree folded the mare’s forehooves over her chest, intentionally covering the horrible wound. The medical ponies seemed about to object, but were stopped with a single glance from the Princess and took several steps back to allow the gryphoness to work.

    “You don’t have to…” Ultrapony began softly.

    “This is not your tradition, I know” Filigree answered, her voice husky with barely contained emotion, “but Rainbow Star is perhaps my closest friend, and she should see the sky in her final moments, so that her spirit might soar when… when her body fails.” The gryphoness continued her work, carefully picking out the grass and mud that had gotten tangled in her coat and smoothed out Spectrum’s feathers carefully.

    “She can’t die…” Ultrapony sniffled, “there has to be a way!”

    “You can’t save her!” Eclipse cackled, the smoke of his body wrapping tauntingly about the grieving father, clinging closer as his hope began to fade. “No pony can….”

    “I wouldn’t say that,” a new voice cut in, “there is always a solution. The question should be, what are you willing to give for it?”

    “Anything,” Ultrapony whispered, “I would give up anything to save her.”

    “Then,” Discord noted, spreading a hand to the injured pony, “you are looking the wrong direction. You look to the Princesses, or even myself, to save her. Your eyes should be cast inward, Sunset Sparkle. The solution lies in your hooves, and no one else’s.”

    “But I have nothing left to --” the ghostly pony started, and then his eyes went wide. Discord just smiled, tapped the side of his nose, and turned away. Ultrapony’s mouth hung agape as realization spread across his face.

     “What could you possibly have to offer anyway? You don’t even own this body anymore, you gave it to me!” Eclipse taunted.

    “But you stole more than I gave,” came the soft answer, “and I can give that. You took most of me, but you did not take everything, and I still have that to give.”

    A pulse of magic erupted from his breast, and time stood still.

    “Where…?”

    Sunset Sparkle, also known as Ultrapony, felt… whole. He hadn’t felt like that in a very long time, like he was his own pony once again. And yet, it couldn’t be real, could it? He looked around, but saw nothing but empty and open sky, the ground hidden under a layer of white fluffy clouds. The desire to fly overwhelmed him, but flap as hard as he could, his body just wouldn’t lift off. Disappointment crashed through him, and he dejectedly stopped trying…

    “Give anything, eh?” a voice asked from behind, startling the stallion badly. He whipped about to face the source of the voice, and found himself staring into a large standing mirror with a delicate golden frame which he was certain wasn’t there a moment ago. As expected, his reflection in the mirror stared back at him. He turned his head slowly, examining himself for just a moment, taking an odd bit of pride in smoothing back his multi-colored mane. But a movement within the mirror distracted him. With a frown, he looked to the background of the reflection, then to the clouds around him, then back to the reflection. His reflection stood amidst a crumbling and decaying castle, with loose stones tumbling from the wall and falling soundlessly to the cracked marble floor. Somehow, impossibly, it was the darkest of nights in the reflection, and even more impossibly, Sunset Sparkle knew exactly where that was: The Castle of the Sister Princesses, deep in the Everfree Forest. He had to check his surroundings a second time just to make sure he still was among the clouds before looking back to the mirror.

    “What’s the matter, see something you don’t like?” his reflection asked, causing Ultrapony to skitter back several feet. His reflection stayed still, watching him with an unreadable expression that bordered on amusement.

    “Who… who are you?” Ultrapony asked hesitantly.

    “I’m you, in a manner of speaking,” the reflection grinned lopsidedly.

    “…In a manner of speaking,” he echoed slowly.

    The reflection chuckled, “Yup, super powers and all. It’s like I stepped right out of a comic book, isn’t it?”

    “I don’t recall my comic doing very well,” Ultrapony noted softly, rubbing his chin with a hoof.

    “That’s because you’re too strong,” the reflection answered with a smile, “it makes for bad stories when your hero is stronger than any villain, except the one every pony cared about.”

    “The Nightmare,” Ultrapony identified softly, dipping his head. “I messed that one up pretty badly…”

    “That you did.”

    “And I lost… Wait, the orb! You must be the orb!” Sunset Sparkle cried, realizing suddenly who he must be speaking with.

    “My, you’re a quick one…” the reflection teased. Ultrapony stuck his tongue out at him, childish move sure, but it felt right in that moment. Unfortunately, the reflection didn’t respond in kind, his expression growing dark. “…and you delivered me right to the Nightmare, to Eclipse.” A shadow of the evil Alicorn reared up over his reflection within the mirror, making Ultrapony start and check over his shoulder, if only to make sure the shadow hadn’t followed him here.

    Still, the sudden change of tone left him cold, the fierce anger almost palpable from the reflected image of himself. “Y-yeah, that was not… exactly part of my plan,” he stammered weakly.

    “No, you had a poorly conceived plan to try and control the power of a being who once conquered a Princess,” the reflection of himself stated sharply. “What the bloody hell were you thinking?!”

    “I thought….  I…” Ultrapony stammered, trying to defend his actions.

    “Are you really going to try and defend yourself? Are you really going to say it wasn’t a damned fool thing to do?”

    “I… I wish I could,” he finally admitted, lowering his head. “I just wanted to be the big hero! Not part of a team, not even the leader of the team, just me! I just… I just…”

    “You just what?” the mirror pony demanded in a gentler tone when he drifted off.

    “I… I don’t know anymore,” Ultrapony admitted. “When Mom was alive, I always wanted to make her proud of me. She never even knew me as a special before she died and Aunt Twilight started taking care of me. Aunt Twilight always told me how proud Mom would have been of me when I joined the Agency, but Mom was always about bigger and better. She never settled for just doing something well, she had to do it better than any pony else.”

    The reflection looked at him with the wide eyes of a young colt. His ragged multicolored mane fell partially into his eyes, even as those bright amber eyes shone clearly. Small stubby wings flitted impatiently along the sleek white coat of his small body, short trimmed tail flicking with barely restrained energy. Surrounding him were the trappings of a colt’s room, littered with toys and poorly sorted and put away clothing. Bright colors dominated the walls, faded slightly with time. Ultrapony blinked, looking down at the reflection of his younger self, a perfect image of himself when he was just a blank-flanked colt. Even his voice carried that squeaky tone he had when he was younger, before it deepened and strengthened, when he asked, “So you inherited some of her perfectionist streak.”

    Ultrapony gave a weak smile. “Yeah, I suppose I did. She spent her life dreaming of and trying to become one of the Wonderbolts, and she damn near made it! But then the whole ‘Special’ thing stole that dream away from her. They didn’t want any ‘special’ fliers, only those who were ‘normal’. She spent her whole life trying to prove to them she was worthy, and then they turned on her for a bad gust of fate. I don’t think she ever truly recovered from that.”

    The reflected pony asked curiously, “But she was a hero, yes? One of “The Six”?”

    “But she didn’t have a life to return to when she was off duty,” he answered softly. “The others, they had a normal life. Aunt Applejack had her farm until almost the end, and even then still had her family. Aunt Pinkie always had the Cakes and the bakery. Aunt Rarity always had her fashion and designing dreams, not to mention how close her family was, especially her little sister. Aunt Fluttershy always had the animals, and Aunt Twilight still had her books and her magic. But Mom… she got the shaft! The Wonderbolts wouldn’t take her because she was a Special, and because she had to come and go on the Princess’ orders she couldn’t fill in with the weather team, so she only had… well, me.”

    “Except when the Princesses needed her,” the reflection stated softly, “the Princesses came first.”

    “They always came first!” Ultrapony shouted at the mirror, surprising even himself by the anger there. “They always came first…”

    “But what does any of that have to do with the decision you made?”

    “Nothing. Everything. Dammit, I don’t know,” Ultrapony admitted, “it’s just… it’s just… “

    “What about your father?” the reflection prompted.

    Ultrapony snorted, “What father? You mean the empty chair at the table that was filled half the time with Gilda, Aunt AJ, or Aunt Twilight? Mom never admitted it, but I figured it out, piecing it together from the occasional slip from Aunt Pinkie or Gilda, and listening to how all of them spoke when they thought I wasn’t listening. When the rejection from the Wonderbolts came, Mom went and got herself good and drunk to try and forget them, to drown her dream I guess. I guess she forgot a few other things too, because, surprise, she was pregnant! I was an accident. An accident she loved, but an accident none the less. She never even knew who the father was…”

    “Unlike what happened with your own daughter,” the reflection stated pointedly, and Ultrapony winced. The reflection changed again when he looked at it again, and he saw a younger version of his adult self. Full of pride, full of arrogance, and surrounded by the trappings of his decadence. An expensive home, decorated with his newfound wealth and littered with self promotion, items purely designed to reflect and boost his ego. Did he really have so many photographs of himself? He sighed, and tried hard not to meet the eyes of the almost tiny filly with the rainbow mane standing in the background, a filly who looked at him with adoring eyes despite it all.

    “Fair point,” he sighed, “I wasn’t much of a father, was I? I was running around for… for the Princesses, just like my mother had done. I knew the mare who was her mother, at least, but she wasn’t interested in raising a foal. I mostly saw Star as nothing but a burden myself. Thank the Goddesses for Aunt Sparkle, or Star would’ve have been alone so much.” He glanced at the reflection, but unlike what happened so often in his memory, no aging lavender unicorn arrived to escort the filly away. Her piercing gaze remained, which seemed to bore right through him, not accusingly, but adoringly. Somehow, that was worse.

    “Why?”

    Ultrapony blinked at the question and looked at the pony in the mirror. “What was that?”

    “I asked why,” the mirrored pony said, “why did you work for the Princesses? Why would you become the very thing you hated as a child? Why would you actually make it worse for your daughter? What happened to you wasn’t that bad…”

    “Not that Gilda was a very good a babysitter,” he joked wanly, but the smile vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. “I worked for the Princesses because all specials worked for the Agency.”

    “That’s an excuse,” the reflection stated pointedly. “You know as well as I do that the unregistered colonies would have happily welcomed a celebrity like you, and having a child you wished to remove from the fighting would have been seen as a reasonable excuse for leaving the Ponylands. And let’s not forget that the Princesses themselves. They would have happily given you additional time off to raise your daughter, as they had done for many other agents who had children. I wager Princess Luna and the Agency would have milked it for all it was worth too, make you even more famous… somehow.”

    “How… how do you know that?”

    “It’s been a boring year,” the reflected pony shrugged, “and I wanted to know who had picked me up. Let’s be honest here; you really didn’t do anything worthwhile with all that power you possessed. Instead you spent all your time chasing your own self indulgences.”

    Ultrapony smiled sadly. “Yeah, I wasn’t the best pony, was I? I don’t know why I didn’t take time off to be with Star, I think I was just… so absorbed with being this larger than life super pony. I was the first special to truly step out of the shadow my mother and her friends cast, and the only special the public truly accepted after the Fillydelphia Massacre. In one day every pony forgets about all the good my mother and her friends did and turned against us, all because of a hoof full of power hungry idiots with powers and no morals, and yet I was able to overcome it all and get the public to accept me. I think… I think I let it go to my head. I was convinced somehow that I deserved it all. I wonder if that’s what Mom felt sometimes. Maybe that’s why she needed her friends; she needed some pony there to ground her.”

    “Maybe you needed friends to ground you too,” his reflection stated, growing a few years older. The background shifted to a scene that Ultrapony would have rather forgotten, that meeting room where he was first introduced to the team the Princess was assembling. He could see all the individuals she collected there at the table: Thunderhooves, the proud and powerful bison with the gentle voice; Ironjaw, back when he still possessed his steel coat and unshakable grin; Galaxi, her creepy blind eyes staring at everything and nothing all at once; Clockwork Key, the diminutive mare that immediately inspired so much anger in him; and Trixie, the snarky unicorn whom he initially took a shine to. Princess Luna stood at the head of the table, and Princess Celestia hovered like a ghost near the exit. It was within hours of Aunt Twilight’s death, he could still see the damp stains on Clockwork and Celestia’s faces…

    “I… I still don’t know exactly what happened,” he admitted softly. “I just lost control, and then that upstart little...!”

    “She still stokes your anger?” the pony in the mirror asked, surprised.

    “Yes, she does,” he seethed. “The Sonic Rainboom was my mother’s move, and I inherited the secret from her. How dare that little… little… shit steal it?! And with a machine yet! Worse, it was the same foal that sent Aunt Twilight to her death!”

    “She lost her brother in that attack…”

    “I know that!” Ultrapony bellowed, shaking the sides of the mirror in his anger. Then his furor seemed to just dissipate, and the winged pony drooped, staring at his own hooves. “I know that,” he repeated after a moment, “and her brother was celebrated as some sort of damned hero. And for what? I know what he did… he committed suicide in the face of overwhelming odds, and took my aunt with him. That’s not heroic, that’s a coward’s death.”

    “Did you ever think it might have been merciful?” the reflection asked carefully. “The Princess related the details to you. There was an unknown gem found on the battlefield and their resident expert in magic, Twilight Sparkle, was called in to examine it when preliminary scans were inconclusive. It turned out to be a trap and began draining her mind, and would have left her a mindless husk had it completed its job. To stop this, the gem was shattered by Clockwork’s brother, an effort that killed her and severely wounded him. He used an emergency self destruct on his armour moments later.”

    “You don’t have to tell me the story, I remember,” Ultrapony growled, making his reflection recoil. “I know what the Princess told me, and I still think she’s lying to cover some pony’s mistake. Given that Clockwork Key was the coordinator of that mission, the blame rests squarely in her hooves.”

    “So you haven’t forgiven her,” the reflection said softly, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

    “I… No, I don’t think I’ve been able to move past that. I’m not sure I ever will…”

    “And yet, you wronged her in the past,” the reflection pointed out.

    “Yeah… yeah I did,” he admitted softly. “I really didn’t think I was in the wrong that first time, but… but I did hit her. It wasn’t… I wasn’t trying to hurt her! That was an accident…”

    “But you did do it,” his reflection persisted, “and then you did it again. Twice.”

    “I… I…” Sunset Sparkle stammered, momentarily trying to defend himself, and then just seemed to fold in on himself, “I did. She infuriated me so much from the word go, and then that fight…” He didn’t have to say anything as the view in the reflection changed to that of a hospital, his reflection wrapped in some haphazard bandages and his coat smudged with burns and scorch marks.

    “You made her famous, in a way,” the reflection stated with a sardonic smile, “the only pony to ever put you into the hospital.”

    “And she later earned one of the Elements of Harmony…” he whispered softly, his voice trembling, “my mother’s element, the Element of Loyalty. That little… rrrgg.”

    The view in the mirror came full circle, once more placed in that darkened castle, with a perfect image of how he once looked prior to his encounter with The Nightmare, before they merged to become Eclipse. “And so, we come back to where we started, haven’t we? Was that it? The sole reason for all this torturous reasoning was to show up a mare who earned the legacy you felt entitled to? Your primary motivation to go against the very will of Princess Celestia, and you went to find a forbidden power and attempt to overcome an ancient evil, was a single mare and the legacy you felt she stole from you?”

    Ultrapony’s ears splayed, heat washing over him as his very reasons were laid out in such a plain terms. Several times he tried to argue, his mouth opening to refute the claims, but he closed it silently each time as shame draped over him like a heavy woolen blanket. It was minutes before he finally answered, “…Yes.”

    His reflection looked surprised by that answer. “Yes?”

    Ultrapony nodded, staring down at his own hooves. “I never thought about it like that but… yes. I need to be honest with myself; it’s not likely I’ll live too much longer anyway, not once Eclipse realizes I’m weakening. I’m angry, and I’ve spent most of my life angry. I’m angry at Eclipse, The Nightmare, for outsmarting me. I’m angry at Clockwork Key and what she took from me, even if I am the only one who expected those things. I’m angry that Aunt Twilight was taken from me. I’m angry at the war and the damnable Princesses… and I’m angry because they kept taking my mother away from me. I’m just… I think I’m sick of being angry at everything.”

    “You’re not angry at your daughter,” the reflection responded, and the stallion’s gaze snapped up to the mirror. He had the ghostly appearance Ultrapony only managed when he forced his way to the surface of Eclipse, his daughter lying at the hooves of his reflection. Other ponies stood around in a circle, each handling their grief or anger in their own way.

    “She was innocent,” he answered softly, “she still is. You have no idea how proud I was when I heard she earned Aunt Fluttershy’s element, and was installed as leader of that group. And now… now it’s my fault that she’s… dying.”

    “And you are prepared to give everything, to sacrifice everything, to save her?”

    “Yes,” Ultrapony whispered, his eyes locked on the image of his daughter in the mirror. “I have to help, I have to protect her. She’s my little girl, and she’s vastly more important than her failure of a father ever was…” He reached out a hoof to touch the mirror, to stroke lightly where his daughter rested. To his surprise, his hoof passed through the surface, as if it were made of water. The images in the mirror rippled and he yanked his hoof back. Carefully he touched the surface of the mirror again, watching the ripples stretch away from his hoof.

    “Go ahead,” his reflection gently prompted.

    Ultrapony swallowed nervously and nodded, leaning forward to press against the cool surface of the mirror. He closed his eyes, drifting through it with a slight shiver from the cold.

    “Sunset?” a voice from the past called, and his eyes snapped open. Everything looked… bigger, but familiar. He’d seen this scene just moments ago in the reflection, but now… He swallowed nervously as he looked at the toys, HIS toys, scattered about the room. He was never very good at picking them up. He looked down at himself, his small hooves and undeveloped wings, and the short trimmed multicolored tail and the mane that constantly fell into his face. He spun about in a circle, furtively looking at his now blank flank before facing the source of the voice as she all but rushed into the room. “Sunset? Are you… there you are!”

    Words failed him as the cyan blue pegasus with the rainbow mane swooped down at him and lifted him into the air over his bed. She spun him around just like she used to do, their noses rubbing with affection. He should feel joy, but horror instead rushed over him. He knew this day, this was the day that…

    “C’mon Dash, we gotta hustle!” an accented voice called from down below. Aunt Applejack. He couldn’t help it, he burst into tears….

    “Oh, now stop that,” his mother gently admonished, “you know how it is, the Princess needs us. Don’t worry; I’ll be back before you know it, squirt.”

    “Don’t… don’t go…” he whimpered and tried to hold her there with legs that felt far too short to wrap about her, so overwhelmed with emotion that he couldn’t get the words out. He HAD to tell her!

    “You know I have to, kiddo,” she answered smoothly and set him down on the bed. “Don’t worry, Tank will be here to keep you company until Gilda can get her tail over here. Should only be an hour, you can watch Tank all by yourself for that long, can’t you? You’re a big boy, right?”

    “Dash, we can’t wait no longer!” Applejack called up from below, and his mother made a face she quickly hid. She rubbed noses with him once more.

    “Be good for Gilda!” she called, and with a flick of her wings, she tore down the stairs.

    “C’mon, Twilight’s already got th’ portal ready!” the apple-bucking pony said when his mother joined her.

    “Yeah yeah, like you didn’t say goodbye to Apple Bloom…” his mother retorted, but the rest was lost when the door slammed shut. He fell apart in that moment, bawling as he simply stared at the old door to his room. He almost didn’t notice when Tank bumped into him from the side, the anachronism that was Dash’s pet, who ironically outlived his owner. He was a tortoise of large proportions and generally slow wit, but earnest emotions and a strapped on magically powered propeller that allowed him to keep up with his owner, even if he wasn’t the most precise of flyers. Tank died of old age when his daughter was still young. It was one of the few times he was there in her childhood, though he really can’t claim it wasn’t a selfish act. It was a farewell to that final living part of his mother’s life.

    He reached out and hugged the hovering tortoise tightly to his chest, his tears refusing to stop. He knew this day, and he knew what happened next. This was the day his mother never came back from. This was the day Rainbow Dash died…

    “Why…” he demanded through the tears, his voice cracking, “why would you make me relive that?”

    “Because your mother made the same decision then that you are making now,” the reflection answered. In the full length mirror, exactly where he remembered it as a child, stood his adult self, battered and bruised and looking very much the worse for wear. He stood amidst an endless horizon filled with soft fluffy white clouds, which from this perspective looked oddly soothing, and final. “The only difference is that she made the commitment from the day you were born. It didn’t take looking at you dying at her hooves to bring her to that threshold.”

    Words failed him once more, as the reflected pony looked at him with a gentle understanding. With a final hug to the tough tortoise, he let Tank go, who hovered off and promptly bumped into a wall before reaching his favorite perch to sun himself in the window. Sunset Sparkle then turned to face the door once more, and with a slow breath said the one thing he never said before. “Goodbye, Mom.” He turned slowly and walked to the mirror, and walked through its shimmering surface once again.

    “I’m sorry, for what it’s worth,” his reflection told him. Ultrapony turned bloodshot eyes back to him, who now stood as a current reflection of who, and where, he was. The only difference was that in the reflection, the eternal expanse of clouds was in the night, while it was still day for him.

    “I think… I think I understand,” Sunset Sparkle said, rubbing his nose and sniffling lightly. “It was hard to see that again, but I think I understand what the purpose was, at least beyond just showing me all my flaws and failures.”

    “And what purpose is that?” his reflection asked, looking mildly surprised.

    “You don’t really know all that much about me, even after looking through my memories, so you’re trying to see what sort of pony I am,” Ultrapony said softly. “At the end of the day, you’re not me; you’re just a magic orb that has become part of me that is somehow infused with a soul of your own. You’ve existed within me since I found you, and Eclipse recognized what you are. I hate how stupid he makes me feel, but I can’t say I didn’t make a lot of boneheaded choices too. But that’s just it, you didn’t know what I was thinking, just what I did and said. And I had a lot in my past that needed explaining…”

    “You are flawed,” the reflection answered simply, “just as we are. Every pony is flawed, to a different extent, but the capacity to overcome those flaws and become something greater is the important part of who and what we seek. You would essentially be only the second pony to house me for any length of time, and your predecessor failed this regard. He corrupted me, took the power I gave him not to overcome his flaws, but to reinforce them. And then he corrupted the others as well, killing their bearers and taking their orbs for himself. He became a magic so dark and foul that the world nearly didn’t survive his attempt to enslave it.”

    “I somehow suspect you’re not speaking about Sombra,” the stallion noted thoughtfully, “but that’s the only name I know who did massive pony enslavements.”

    “My former bearer’s name has been wiped from the history books,” the reflection answered softly, “that was his first act when he took all six of the elements for himself and successfully corrupted them. He eliminated all memory, written and otherwise, of his true name. Only that name which the world feared remained, and the Elements of Harmony erased that name in punishment when he was defeated and cast into Tartarus. He is truly ‘he who shall not be named’, because every name he may have possessed was erased from existence.”

    “With that sort of history, I’d want to be careful too,” Ultrapony started, then froze for a moment. A sudden inspiration sparked through him and he turned suddenly, his eyes boring in on his reflection, inspecting it carefully. It was there, even if he wasn’t sure what it meant, but he acted. He stepped towards the mirror once again, his eyes locked upon his reflection. For the first time, he saw fear flit over the features of his counterpart.

    “W-what are you doing?!” he demanded, but Sunset Sparkle didn’t listen. Instead he reached around the mirror, his hooves grasping the entire thing. The grip was awkward, but when he was sure he had it in hoof, he pulled the mirror to him. It looked like a hug, in an odd and awkward way, but the fact that his reflection seemed to panic, literally turning tail and running away from the pony he had just spent this long conversing with, told the stallion he was succeeding. His power might have been gone, but Ultrapony squeezed, closing his eyes as he forced himself not to see, not to feel, the mirror but…

    “H-how did you know?” a small voice finally asked, and Ultrapony opened his eyes. The mirror was gone, and in his hooves rested the small form of a colt. It looked like him at a young age, but worse for wear. Emaciated and battered, with a smudged coat and poorly cared for wings and mane.

    “The mirror was never there, was it?” Sunset Sparkle asked, and gathered the small form into a close embrace. “It was just you placing a barrier between us. Just as I did for every pony in my life, you kept me at leg’s reach to ensure you couldn’t be hurt. I had a flash of… inspiration I guess, that I needed to reach past that. The last bearer abused the gifts you gave, by your own admission, and that would make any pony leery.”

    The colt version of himself sniffled and gave a weak nod, “We were barely created when we found our first bearers. We were naïve, trusting, and powerful… not good traits to have. I didn’t see what was happening until it was too late… the near conquering of Equestria, and the enslavement of the world, all because of me. All because I trusted some pony too much.” The colt covered his face and sniffled, his face burning with shame.

    “Thus you are as flawed as we ponies are,” the stallion repeated from before. “I think I understand.”

    “No, you don’t,” the colt said softly, “because you just want to use me too.”

    “But…”

    “You want me to save your daughter, you want to use my power for what is essentially a selfish reason,” the colt accused, stabbing his chest with a stubby hoof. He pushed and wriggled free of Ultrapony’s hug, standing on his own hooves and staring daggers at the stallion.

    “Saving my daughter wouldn’t be selfish. It’s not for me --” Ultrapony started.

    “Ponyfeathers,” the young version of himself spat, “it’s because you feel guilty for hurting her! I… I know that feeling. I remember everything ‘he’ made me do so clearly….”

    “Guilt isn’t the only reason,” Ultrapony said softly, “I’d be lying if I denied guilt was part of it, but she deserves the chance to live. Look at all the good she has done! She’s part of the elements of Harmony, leads the team that beat the Nightmare once in the past, and has protected many other ponies. She still has more good to do…”

    “You’re just trying to convince me to do something for you,” the colt replied stubbornly, sitting down and folding his forelegs across his chest.

    “Fine, forget about my daughter!” Ultrapony finally cried, startling the poor colt as he lowered his head. “Just don’t let her sacrifice be in vain. She sacrificed herself to try and free me, so I am not going to let her just bleed for nothing. Eclipse is a threat, he threatens every pony in Equestria, and potentially The Nightmare could become every bit the threat the pony who corrupted you was, possibly even greater. Once I’m gone, no pony will be able to stop him from getting his hooves on you. We have to stop him. My own stupidity got us to this point, and this is my… this is our one chance to fix it. With or without you, I will give every last breath to fight him.”

    “You were going to die anyway,” the colt pointed out, “that’s hardly a sacrifice.”

    “Then I guess I have nothing left to give,” he answered and sighed, “Eclipse took everything else from me, far more than I was willing to give. He took my body, my existence, and even you, from me. That only leaves one final thing in my possession: my very soul. If that’s what it will take to convince you, then… then I offer you that, dents and all.”

    The colt gasped in surprise, eyes wide, “Your soul? Are you sure?”

    ”Yes,” he answered firmly.

    The colt seemed to chew the inside of his lip for a moment before finally nodding. “Okay. It’s time then…”

    Sunset Sparkle blinked. “It’s time? Time for what?”

    “It’s time to wake my brothers.”

    A single pulse of light exploded outward from Eclipse.

    The ponies on the field gasped, several backing up a single pace as the wave of energy passed harmlessly past them, the only real affect an annoying electric buzz it left in its wake. Celestia, however, understood when she saw it approach her position, and turned her head to look squarely at the small group of civilian ponies who had sheltered with her. She didn’t want to miss this.

    “Showtime,” Discord all but whispered to her, and the elder Princess couldn’t help but smile.

    The ponies she gazed at seemed confused by the sudden attention, even as Honey pulled the more inquisitive Indigo back from the edge of the expanding wave. Some of them closed their eyes as the wave of energy passed harmlessly over them, then seemed to dissipate to nothing. They looked among each other curiously, uncertain what just happened, when a shout from the small filly drew their attention.

    “Mommy! The bags are glowing!” Indigo cried excitedly, pointing her wrapped hoof at the saddlebags the maids had brought up. The dark packs glowed from an internal light, mutedly illuminating the material and pouring from the closed flaps like an overflowing bucket.

    “Professor…” Quagga breathed softly.

    “I see it,” Relic answered. The sandy unicorn edged hesitantly towards the glowing bags, fascinated and afraid all at once. He glanced back briefly to his partner, before stretching a trembling hoof out towards the bags.

    The bags all but exploded open, sending the unicorn back on his flank with a yelp, and the quartet of orbs launched themselves into the air and swirled over the small group. They hovered there for a moment, then reoriented so that they spiraled over Celestia before each rocketed off in turn towards Eclipse.

    “The other elements,” Eclipse breathed, “I should have never doubted you Sunset Sparkle. You brought them to me…” The smoke tried to coalesce even closer to the ghostly stallion, but found himself unable to resume control.

    “Not to you…” Ultrapony said, his voice taking an oddly ethereal tone, “to their new bearers.”

    “What…? WHAT?!” Eclipse screamed, and his misty form roiled about the stoic figure, “I will crush you then and take them for myself! The corrupted weight of the Elements of Justice will… wait…”

    “You know the rules,” Kaos put in with a smirk.

    “The sixth will appear only when the five have been joined…” Relic whispered, unable to help but break away from the group, walking towards the scene in fascination, “My Goddess, Quagga, we might actually be able to witness the elements in action first hand!”

    Eclipse shrieked, “No! They are MINE!!”

    “The Elements will decide that, won’t they?” Luna stated, a thin smile touching her lips. No sooner had she spoken than one of them spiraled upwards, a fierce blue glow emanating from it. “Wit is to be the first, it would seem. Discord, who are your bearers? It only serves to reason that your success be seen to its conclusion.”

    “Kaos has been briefed,” the mismatched figure answered with a smile, “I think I’ll just watch from the outside this time.”

    “Kaos then,” the Princess said, and the zebra swallowed nervously and adjusted his tie, “you and your team have come to the aid of your Princesses in our time of need, and stood against the Nightmare even to this moment. Much as I challenged Twilight Sparkle when the Nightmare possessed me, I challenge you to overcome this final test.”

    Kaos flushed slightly with the significance of the reference, and dipped his head. He took a single step forward and spoke in an even voice as clearly as possible, “Elements of Justice, I have done my utmost to prepare these stallions for your needs and, with assistance, chosen those who would be the most suitable candidates for your host.

    “I call upon you, Crosswind, to stand and receive,” Kaos intoned, ignoring the wind that seemed to spiral about him. “You have been the one who lightened our mood with your words and deeds, choosing to be the ‘clown’ of our team. Always ready with a keen mind and an acerbic tongue, I hearby name you the Element of Wit!”

    To every pony’s surprise, the crystal orb seemed to all but vibrate for a moment, then shattered as unidentified laughter burst from it. The glowing blue streaked across the night sky to the pegasus, surrounding him in a halo of crystal shards. “I can honestly say I was not expecting that…” Crosswind noted with a smirk.

    Another orb spun upwards from its position, and a pulse of orange filled it with light. “Mercy,” Luna identified softly in the same moment that Eclipse shrieked again, momentarily deafening the ponies present. The orb bobbled slightly in the air, but steadied when Kaos began to speak.

    “I call upon you, Professor Bunsen Burner, to stand and receive.”

    “Me?” Burner asked, confused. He shifted a step away from where he and Alto had stood near Discord and Celestia, standing only a foot or so to Relic’s side. “There muzt be zome mistake…”

    “No mistake, Professor,” Kaos added with a smile. “You have learned mercy for those who would stand against you. You spent over a year hunting the one known as Clockwork Key, and yet when you had the opportunity to claim your final victory, a move that would have forever erased her from the face of Equestria, you spared her life. You refused to act, and actively worked with her for the defense of this land. None is so worthy of this title as you.”

    The orb above Eclipse shattered with something that sounded like a sob, and the glowing orange crystals rushed to the professor, surrounding him in a ring of crystal shards. Burner looked uncomfortable by the event, even as Relic peered closely at the turning ring, his curiosity overwhelming his concerns as he tried to poke at the crystals… only to find his hoof rebuffed.

    A third orb leapt into the air above Eclipse, even as the mist tried to envelop it. “MINE!” the shadowy stallion cried, but screamed out in pain a moment later as a red light poured from the crystal and burned away the smoke that would hide it.

    “Discipline,” Luna identified softly.

    “I call upon you, Junkyard, to stand and receive,” Kaos intoned, and was not surprised when the diamond dog stood up straight, his black nose quivering quizzically. Crosswind ducked down to hover by his friend, nudging him conspiratorially as best he could around the ring of crystal fragments surrounding him. “Junkyard, you have stood firm even in our darkest hour. You lost your very arm in this fight, and yet you wordlessly replaced it with my assistance so that you might rejoin the battle. You stood against Filigree, and on your honor offered her protection to have her injuries seen to. You have been the steadfast rock of our group, and the single most disciplined among us. You have personified this element from the first moment I met you.”

    The orb shattered silently, spiraling in air before diving at the large canine, surrounding him in a halo of crystal shards. Junkyard and Crosswind found themselves nudged slightly away from each other by the rings circling them, as if the crystals did not wish to intermix.

    The final orb seemed almost reluctant as it climbed into position over the alicorn. Eclipse roared at it, trying to force the body to reach up for it, and yet it remained unmoving.

    “Courage,” Kaos noted before Luna could, as it was the only one left. He turned to try and spot the one he had planned for this role, only to feel his heart sink as Alto ducked back and away from him. “Oh no…” he whispered softly. With a dry mouth he looked to Discord frantically, panic broiling just beneath the surface. Unfortunately, the draconequus didn’t seem to have an answer for him. “Ah... I… uh…” he stammered.

    The magic faltered. All of them could feel it, and see it, as the crystals fluctuated and seemed to slow in their spinning. Small fragments began to drop out of the glowing halos, and the color seemed to dull as Eclipse began to laugh. “Yes, YES! It failed… the elements will be MINE!!!”

    “Kaos?” Luna asked softly, frowning.

    “I… I’m sorry, Princess,” Kaos finally admitted, “I thought we were ready but…”

    “No! We don’t have a second chance!” Ultrapony cried, then began to cough and choke, the mist that was Eclipse growing tendrils of smoke that sank into the ghostly flesh of his neck.

    “You’re damn right you won’t have a second chance,” Eclipse hissed, as the glow seemed to fade from the crystals, falling to the ground as so much lifeless crystal, only the final orb still hovering above him, “because I won’t give you one!”

    “Professor Relic,” Celestia said, her voice cutting across the battlefield like a blade, “You are the Element of Courage.”

    The sandy unicorn froze, and then slowly turned to face the Princess. “Me?” he squeaked.

    “You,” she answered with a tender smile. “You led your friend Quagga on a mission that stood directly against my stated will. You found these Elements of Justice, thinking it would lead you to your death if I or any of my guard caught you. Even when I knew the truth, you stood and insisted that you bore all the responsibility in order to protect your friend and your workers. You, who risked the wrath of the Regent of the Sun herself, are the very picture of courage.”

    “Professor Relic,” Kaos called, his voice gaining strength, “I call upon you to stand and receive.”

    Unlike the others before it, the orb did not shatter, but instead reduced itself to a spear of light that arrowed directly into the unicorn’s breast. For a moment, Relic recoiled with a startled cry, but he saw no blood, nor felt any pain. A sudden burst of light surrounded him, and the other crystals likewise confirmed the completion of the selections. The fallen crystal halos leapt suddenly to life again, lancing inward into each of the chosen stallions. Burner saw an additional effect, as the orange glow of his new element charged the air around him, reforming his shattered power armour in full repair.

    “And finally,” Kaos answered with a smile to Eclipse, “with these five elements, I summon the final element, the Element of Magic!”

    Light exploded from each of the new bearers, lancing outwards towards Kaos, enveloping him in a blinding light, engulfing him him entirely. The zebra closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the power wash over and gather within him, almost painfully growing in his chest.

    “No, NO, NO!!” Eclipse shrieked, and for the first time stopped trying to take hold of the body he shared with Ultrapony, and actively attempted to pull free. He knew what came next, he’d felt the blow twice in the past! Unfortunately, he found those tendrils he’d bored into Sunset Sparkle in that last attempt to take over refused to pull free. “Let me go!!”

    “No,” Ultrapony whispered in a dangerously soft voice, “You and I are going to stand right here, and we will perish together.”

    “Damn you, Sunset Sparkle, release me!!” he shrieked, the monster’s eyes suddenly drawn to the zebra, who finally had reached the limit and threw his head back. A beam of pure white leapt from his mouth, like a scream made physical, which lanced upwards through the clouds and forced even the gryphons back. It was in that moment, Eclipse’ eyes met those of Goldtalon.

    “Help me!” Eclipse shrieked, reaching a smoky hoof up towards the gryphon king. To his dismay, the royal gryphon simply smiled darkly and shook his head. Fear turned to fury as the misty form roiled and yanked against the body that held him captive. “BETRAYER!!” he screamed so loudly it could be heard for miles around.

    Goldtalon only smiled wider as the energy crashed into his accuser, enveloping Eclipse and his host alike in blinding white energy that poured into the ground with a scream of power. The gryphon’s plan had worked perfectly. Eclipse was so powerful the ponies had to use the elements against him. This would leave the bearers easily identified targets and substantially weakened from the effort. He held his claw up in preparation to start the attack, pausing only briefly when he saw the ghostly pegasus standing where Eclipse had once been.

    “Did it work?” the stallion known as Ultrapony asked, carefully looking out over the field. The mares he knew watched with various expressions, ranging from awe to confusion, even as the new element bearers struggled to recover from where they lay on the ground. Even Junkyard had been knocked flat by the expenditure of energy. Ultrapony gave a small, grim, smile as he looked down, the element he had carried rested at his hooves.

    Any answer to his query was lost when the world exploded.

    Lavender flickered to life and shielded them from the first impact, even as the ghostly pegasus threw himself unnecessarily to the ground. A second attack ripped right through the protection and sent the psychic mare to the ground, exhaustion preventing her from standing again. Her blind eyes could only watch the next fireball approached them…

    Luna, however, stood firm. Silvery light interposed itself and shielded the group from the next wave of fire that was launched at them, and the Lunar Regent frowned. For the entire battle, the gryphons and dragons had remained silent, and now the reason for such was becoming apparent.

    “Fall back,” she ordered over the headset, “gather thyselves at mine sister and defend that position. The fight is not yet over!” Yet, even as she spoke those words, she knew it was a losing fight. While these creatures were but pale shadows of the majesty a true dragon embodied, not to mention the sheer power they possessed, they were powerful enough. This battle would be her last, for these dragons would eventually overwhelm her and her sister, and that discounted the army of gryphons and any specials that might have been included in the mix.

    Clockwork shook her head, standing over the prone form of Galaxi. “We have too many unable to fight still on the field. The guys are still recovering, and we’re down to two, three if you count Filigree or Galaxi.”

    “I got Spectrum over to Celestia,” Flourish called. “Come on, get G over here, and we can focus on the guys.”

    “Filigree, attend to your teammates and defend mine sister,” Luna ordered, shifting her shield aside to lance out with short blades made of moonlight, sinking them into one of the dragons and tearing something vital. It was hardly the sort of precision fighting she had once grown accustomed to, this was a messy affair that churned her stomach.

    “Like hell I’m backing down,” came her answer, and Luna smiled grimly. She should have known that Filigree would force herself to fight; it was the only way she could let the rage and fury and hate at what happened to Spectrum out. But her might would not be enough, given her injuries. Not that any of them had much of a choice right now. The Princess only momentarily saw the gryphoness blindside one of the dragons, literally tearing it out of the air and diving bloodily into it with her serrated wings. Luna was almost thankful when another dragon interposed itself between them, thus sparing her further visions of what Filigree was capable of at her worst.

    Luna fought a slow retreat as more dragons attempted to overwhelm her, and gryphons snuck in their own spears between the gaps. Her shield got more workout than her blades as she struggled to force back the constant press of draconic bodies. She could hear the metallic sound of Clockwork’s plasma ejectors working overtime, peppering the battlefield. It was interspersed with a sound she was not yet used to, but familiar with, as Professor Burner entered the fight and added the quick series of popping sounds that announced his bright and deadly lasers entering the mix. Flourish and Zilch struggled to pick off the stragglers attempting to circle behind them even as Junkyard utilized the ground itself to supplement her shield from behind, using crystals from the mines far below the palace to strengthen it against the incoming fire and fury. Crosswind simply made it tough for any dragons attempting to get above them, but was finding it difficult from a combination of exhaustion and how large the creatures he was trying to force away. At least Alto was rested, and used his sonic scream liberally to drive the dragons back, but he kept running out of breath.

    “We are being overwhelmed,” Kaos called over the din, and Luna was unsure if he even bothered with the headset or not, given the tight knot they were being forced into. “I would suggest a retreat, if you have one.”

    “My apologies, but We doth lack a contingency that accounts for dragons,” Luna answered with a grim smile.

    “We have the vault,” one of the few guards still present, Captain Light, corrected, “we can use one of the teleporters to convey the Princesses there.”

    “And the rest?” Celestia asked, her soft voice somehow cutting through the noise.

    “The survival of the Princesses is our primary mission,” the unicorn stated firmly, “all else is secondary.”

    “I win,” Luna chirped and turned to lance moonlight into a particularly ugly dragon that was gnawing on her shield.

    “How did you…?” Celestia stammered angrily, looking between her sister and the captain of the guard. Finally she settled on the guard pony. “We are not abandoning any pony!”

    “Princess, with all due respect, you don’t have a choice,” the unicorn captain stated flatly, “your magic is occupied just keeping you alive, and you are otherwise helpless. Any one of these dragons could get a lucky shot and end your life at any moment; you must be evacuated!”

    “Before you get too deep into this argument,” Discord cut in, “perhaps maybe I can handle this little invasion problem for you.”

    “Please do, Discord,” Luna stated, “because I know what the Captain plans to do, and I know my Sister would have his rank for it. I’d rather not lose a good pony for doing the right thing.”

    “You do realize I include you in that, Princess Luna, yes?” the Captain asked with a raised eyebrow.

    “Of course, We simply do not think you capable. We may be tired, but we are not lying helpless on the field of battle,” Luna retorted with a smirk, moonlight slicing through the air to drive a pair of surly dragons back.

    “You better do it now,” Galaxi inserted weakly to Discord, “otherwise they’ll be at it for a while.”

    Discord smiled at Galaxi and stepped forward to the edge of the shielded area, a small area of safety amidst the maelstrom around them. Dragons swirled in the air over their head, like vultures waiting for an opening. Hoards of Gryphons filled the field ahead of him, and he grimaced as he saw they were making a point to apply their spears to those guard who fell and littered the field. Most of them may have been dead already, but at least a few cried for mercy upon deaf ears and met their end. For the first time since all this started, Discord felt something akin to anger. It had been so long since he’d been able to feel true fury, split apart as he had been, and here these… A guttural growl collected in the back of his throat, then slid away as a wicked grin crossed his face. He didn’t know what would happen, but now that he had his power back he could truly unleash, allow the chaos to reign and send these foals running. He raised his hand, and it felt like the entire world trembled with anticipation. Gryphons stared, recognizing who he was in that moment, fear touching their eyes, and even the dragons stopped to watch the mismatched figure and his dark gaze. And then, the anticipation was over…

    …Discord snapped his fingers.

    That familiar surge of magic flew through him, so welcoming and chaotic and insane all at once. He was sure he laughed, though given the way his allies cringed, it probably wasn’t exactly confidence inspiring. It didn’t matter, it felt good! When the bubbling laughter had passed, he finally looked out to see what his power had wrought.

    The grass at his feet was now blanketed in pansies. Discord frowned and examined his fingers for a moment, even going so far as to pull the hand off at the wrist and stare into it before replacing it. He snapped his fingers again, the surge of magic flew free and… one dragon sneezed, blowing a spinneret off the wall of the palace. Discord growled and reexamined his fingers as dragons and gryphons alike seemed to lost interest in his display. Magic yanked him back away from the edge as fire enveloped the spot he once occupied, bumping him against Luna as she used her shield to stave off the flames.

    Discord’s eyes went wide, realizing something, and then he physically slumped, eyes half lidded. “You did something to my power, didn’t you?” he demanded of the Princess flatly.

    “After what thou did to Lady Fluttershy, we felt perfectly warranted in our actions,” Luna answered sharply. “Draining off thy power was the least we could have done, we had considered far worse.”

    Discord sighed dramatically, “So much for my big scene,” he grumbled and tossed the script over his shoulder and into a nearby fire.

    “Then I have to commandeer Flourish and Zilch to transport the Princesses to safety,” Captain Light said sharply.

    “I have a better idea,” Discord noted with a smile, “Zilch? I believe it’s time for Plan Z.”

    Goldtalon frowned.

    The king was perched above all upon his dragon, content to let his gryphons take the fight to the Princesses and their allies. The dragons had been performing admirably, but his plan to eliminate the bearers had not gone off as smoothly as he hoped. The Princesses were damnably quick to respond to the shifting situation, and now had all but retreated to a small area they filled with shields and stonework, with the ponies shooting with whatever they had to keep his forces from overwhelming them. While the surprise appearance of Discord had proven fruitless, it bothered him that he had been freed and was assisting the ponies. Things could potentially get out of claw…

    “Godkiller,” he ordered, “get down there. Tear those shields down and nullify every pony standing. Make this their final stand.” The inversely colored gryphoness nodded sharply, and with a touch, guided the relatively tiny white dragon down towards the battle. The small dragon was chosen for its speed and agility, which allowed it to weave in and out between the larger dragons as it neared the shield. Godkiller’s dragon touched down and lowered its head upon her instruction, and the gryphon’s eyes began to glow. For a brief moment, Goldtalon wished he could be down there, if only to see the look of horror that must be washing over the “Princesses” faces right about now.

    The edge of the magic-nullifying zone the gryphoness projected touched the Princess’ shield, and he leaned forward to watch. This was the ultimate test of his pet project, the gryphoness who could nullify even the powers of a Goddess, and couldn’t help but grin when Godkiller’s power melted away the shield where it touched. Dragons surged forward, one of which stuffed its head into the growing opening and exhaled, fire streaming into the shielded area and turning it into a furnace. And yet, in the same moment the dragon exhaled, a white flash filled the shielded area, as well as seemingly random spots upon the field below.

    Goldtalon’s smile froze, his triumph curdling as it transformed into cold fury. He didn’t know how, but he was certain the ponies had escaped. He only barely heard his generals tell him this very information, ignoring them as he focused his eyes on the scene below. Not one pony alive rested on the field below, and he knew it. His generals were talking again, but he ignored them, carefully pushing down his anger and rage and the desire to snap their necks for this failure. His generals finally fell silent as he continued to look upon the field below. The dragons hunted for any ponies left still alive, of which they found none. A number of them took to roasting those deceased ponies that still littered the muddy ground with their fire and eating the remains. The king watched as ponies were consumed, and knew what his next step should be…

    “My liege?” one of his generals finally prompted, growing rightfully concerned about their king’s continued silence.

    “Raze the city,” he commanded finally, “let it sink beneath a sea of fire. Show the world that the Princesses have been deposed, and Equestria is no more. The Princesses may have escaped us, for now, but they are no longer of any concern. The pony empire has fallen to the gryphons, and we have reclaimed our rightful lands. Let the age of the gryphon begin!”

    The order was disseminated quickly among the ranks. Torches were acquired by the rank and file, and the dragons soared over the streets. Architecture that had stood for millennia, beautiful and delicate, was bathed in fire. Ugly squat buildings borne of technology and erected speedily to compensate for the rapid growth of the city were set ablaze. Homes and businesses, gardens and streets, and even the palace itself… all of it swallowed in the devouring flames and reduced to ashes.

    …and Canterlot burned.