“Apples! Get yer fresh apples, picked only this mornin’ right here!”

“Best asparagus in all of Ponyville!”

“Today only, grab a bouquet of flowers for your special somepony for only three bits!”

Twilight Sparkle frowned as she walked through the ever-noisy Ponyville marketplace, checking her grocery list to see what she needed next. It was hard to focus with all the shouting and the chatter around her, but there was nothing that she could do about it. That’s just how life in Ponyville was, and being with her friends everyday more than made up for it.

“Twilight!” Twilight turned around to face Spike, who was rushing towards her holding a scroll in his hand. “Twilight! Message… from Celestia… Read…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she used her magic to take the scroll from the panting baby dragon. She unrolled it and was about to give it a read, but the shadow covering her made the task difficult. “Wait,” she said to herself, “Shadow?”

“What’s that?” a nearby voice asked.

“It’s not night yet,” another voice said. “Why is it getting dark?”

Twilight turned her head skyward to see what was going on. She gasped as she saw the black clouds covering the sky, accompanied by a menacing laughter in the air that sent chills down Twilight’s spine. Because she knew exactly who it belonged to. “B-But how? …” Remembering the scroll in her magic, Twilight quickly turned her attention back to it and read over the few lines that were scrawled on it.

“W-What’s it say?” Spike asked, though the only answer he received was Twilight hastily levitating him onto her back.

“I’ll explain later,” she said as she began to gallop through the streets of Ponyville. “First, we need to find the other girls! I’m going to round them up at the park. Can you bring the Elements of Harmony from the library?”

“The Elements?” Spike asked with a worried tone in his voice. When Twilight nodded, he saluted and said: “You can count on me!” With that, he jumped off of Twilight’s back as they reached a junction, and the two ran their separate ways through Ponyville.

Spike tapped his feet against the ground and looked around the park nervously as he waited for Twilight to show up. Every time he thought he saw something, he would let his excitement grow and ready himself to hand over the Elements. But each time, it would always turn out to be a different pony, or a squirrel, or maybe even just a lead blowing in the wind.

“The sky’s gotten darker,” Spike noted to himself as he turned his attention to a nearby lamppost, which, despite the time of day, was lit up. “Twilight… where are you? …”

“Spike!” Spike jumped and quickly scanned across the park. “Over here!”

“Twilight!” Spike ran forward to meet up with Twilight as she raced towards him, her five best friends following closely behind her. “You’re here! Thank Celestia!” Spike noticed the grim look on Twilight’s face at the mention of Celestia’s name, and gave her an odd look. “Twilight?”

“Spike… the Princess is…” Twilight closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and exhaled. “… Everyone, Princess Celestia has alerted me to a threat moving towards Ponyville.” Her friends all stopped and leaned in closer, remaining silent as they waited for Twilight to elaborate. “You all remember King Sombra, right?”

Rarity shuddered at the memories of the dark King. “Unfortunately. But what about him?”

“You’re not saying…” Rainbow Dash began. Twilight simply nodded. “No way! We saw him bite the dust! How can he be-”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “But Princess Celestia was injured on her way here, so she’s counting on us to deal with him.”

Everyone around Twilight gasped. “She was injured?!” Applejack asked.

“Is she okay?!” Pinkie Pie asked.

Rainbow Dash, her teeth baring as she felt her blood boil, grabbed the scroll from Twilight and quickly read over it. “… What’s this last part say? About the Elements?”

Twilight shrugged. “She must have written it in a hurry. That last section is completely illegible, but I can only assume she’s telling us to wield the Elements to stop King Sombra.”

“Like I would let you.” A bolt of lightning struck in the distance and the group froze in place as they heard the familiar, chilling voice of King Sombra enter their ears. Turning slowly, they all saw the menacing stallion floating before them on a dark cloud of smoke… a blue mare struggling against smoky restraints, her mouth covered by a black aura. “Twilight Sparkle… You look different than in King Sombra’s memories. You have wings…”

“King Sombra!” Twilight crouched down and gave the stallion a menacing glare. As she did, Spike quickly made a start handing out the Elements to their respective owners.

“The Elements of Harmony,” Sombra noted. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle… Are you willing to use them, if it means hurting this innocent mare?” Sombra used his magic to move Trixie in front of his own body. “She’s only a mere mortal. Do you think she would survive a direct hit from such a powerful force?”

Twilight gritted her teeth together as a cold sweat ran down her body. “Trixie…”

“You coward!” Rainbow Dash shouted, shooting up into the air and charging towards Sombra. However, a black blast of magic to her wing forced it to close, and she was soon sent sailing back down to the ground.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy screamed as she rushed to catch her friend. To her and everyone else’s relief, she managed to catch Rainbow Dash before she hit the hard floor.

“Now then,” Sombra began, “If you don’t want me to harm this pony, I expect you’ll behave yourselves?” He received no answer save for the solid glares of the ponies and the baby dragon beneath him. “Good. Next, I want you to hand over the Elements of Harmony.”

“What?!” Twilight shouted. “I-I can’t-”

“No?” Sombra asked. “Oh well then. I guess this mare’s life is forfeit then.”

Trixie’s eyes widened, and her struggling increased as she felt the strange weapon that Sombra carried press against the back of her head.

“Okay!” Twilight shouted. “Okay! I get it…”

“Twilight!” Applejack shouted. “Ya can’t be serious!”

“But we have to!” Pinkie Pie said. “If we don’t, Trixie will…”

Rarity looked between her friends, her face more pale than usual and a sick feeling in her stomach. “W-What do we do?” she asked, turning her attention to Twilight. “Twilight?”

“Don’t give him anything!” a voice called out overhead, gaining everyone’s attention in the area. Including Sombra’s, which left an opening for a shadowy figure to appear beside Trixie in a flash of light. Before Sombra could turn back to see who it was, another flash of light whisked both the new arrival and Trixie away. “Now! Hit him with the Elements!”

Twilight knew this voice from somewhere, and gasped when she saw who it belonged to. “S-Sunset Shimmer!”

Sunset turned to Twilight with a sharp glare. “Why are you hesitating?! He’s lost his hostage! Hit him now!”

It took a moment, but after Twilight regained her composure, she turned her attention back towards Sombra. “Okay girls, let’s do it, while his guard is down!”

Sombra watched the bodies of the six mares light up, and felt the vibrations of powerful magic filling the air. A grin formed on his face as his horn lit up. ‘Guess I’m using my ace in the hole then…’

“Darn it,” Sunset said as she watched the six ponies channelling the power of the Elements of Harmony together. “… I guess this time, I’ll let her have the glory.”

“Don’t!” Trixie shouted suddenly, startling Sunset Shimmer.

“W-What-”

“Twilie, no!” Sunset Shimmer turned around to see two identical stallions running towards her, both of which she recognised as Shining Armor. As they drew closer, she could see streaks of red and small pieces of wood and rock sticking out of their coats. “Don’t do it! He’s going to-”

Twilight opened her eyes, and everyone around had to shield their eyes as a rainbow shot forth from the six, and made its way closer and closer to the cackling Sombra.