Chapter 26 – Ultimate Showdown

In the vast, open fields outside of Canterlot, two stallions come face-to-face in a decisive battle for the fate of Equestria and the entire world itself. Hovering menacingly in the air is the demonic overlord that is responsible for the dark tyranny of the seized country, Arrogon the Destroyer. And on the ground facing his ultimate adversary fearlessly is Equestria’s newest champion and probably its last hope against the monstrous tyrant, Ford Mustang.

Both of them are former apprentices of Hindel the All-Seeing Dragon. Both of them possess their own variation of Draconian Magic. Yet in a way, they’re a complete opposite towards each other. Like water and fire. Light and darkness. Good and evil. Two sides on the same coin.

With their piercing eyes firmly locked on to one and another, they silently wait for one of them to make the first move. In the midst of their face-off, nothing else was distracting them, whether it was the howling wind that’s rolling by them or the low, grumbling roar of the dark gray clouds above these two contenders. At last, the stage is set, the players are ready, and the final act of this epic tale is about to begin!

Through sheer instincts, the two glaring stallions charge simultaneously for each other as their fore hooves prepare to deliver the first punches in their ultimate conflict. At close proximity, their charge-up hooves come into contact, and their corresponding strikes create an explosive shockwave that echoes across the vast battleground! Yet despite the tremendous amount of force they have just created, the two bitter rivals held their stances firmly as their collided hooves are stuck to each other.

Eventually, they parted ways momentarily as they promptly follow it up with several quick strikes afterwards. From blocking each other’s attacks, the absorbed blows travel through their bodies as they give them ripple-like vibrations. Even by parrying them, their aura-infused moves are still powerful enough to send subtle shivers into their spines.

With their brute strengths on par, Arrogon switches it up by unleashing his demonic fire breath. After nimbly dodging that one, Ford counteracts that by breathing out his own display of draconic fire. In the midst of their aerial dogfight, fiery streams of dark blue and golden yellow light up the dark sky as the winged ponies encircle one and another. To finish off their blazing dance of death, both Ford and Arrogon take very deep breaths before each of them expels an immense blast of fire at the same time!

The collision of their flaming attacks creates a much mightier explosion compared to their initial punches! Because of the result of their recent actions, the latest shockwave is powerful enough to push the clashing titans back away from each other at such a great distance!

From that breakup, Ford takes a bit of a breather for himself as his eyes are still locked on to Arrogon’s. It is quite a strange feeling for him to experience. Despite how much the odds are against him, Ford is quite calm in all of this. Maybe it’s because of all the challenges he has gone through in the past: the Timberwolves, the petrifying Basilisk, Hindel’s final test, the mighty Infernal Dragon King, and most recently, a darker variation of Rainbow Dash. In a way, all these significant events in his life were meant for this moment; the moment upon which he can help defeat Arrogon, once and for all!

But Ford’s moment of silent tranquility is interrupted by muffled hackling of his over-confident opponent. “Oh Ford… don’t tell me you had enough with me already.” Arrogon chuckles so smugly. “I’m just getting warmed up!”

And to show that he isn’t all talk, the Destroyer radiates an incredible amount of blazing blue aura around his body. The foul stench of that malevolent energy is so strong that Ford can practically taste it.

I have to be careful with this guy. he calmly muses over this. With a practically immortal body, he can probably recover from any attack I throw at him. I have to play it smart for the time being until the girls arrive with their Elements of Harmony. But I can’t outlast him for too long if I want to reserve as much of my energy as possible. Hmm… what should I do from here?

After his brief display of unimaginable power, the boastful, dark Earth Pony asks smugly, “So, ready for another round?”

In response, Ford silently stares at the arrogant creature without answering his question. Then all of a sudden, the blue Pegasus breaks into a small smile as Arrogon is slightly confused by Mustang’s cool display of self-assurance. But before the perplexed tyrant can question that, Ford is gone in a flash and disappears into the dark clouds behind.

After the speechless Arrogon blinks his blue, flaming eyes a couple of times, he spontaneously laughs out loud before he calms himself down and amusingly calls the Pegasus out, “Ford… you disappoint me. You’ve shown such bravado in the first few minutes, but now you’re turning tail at the mere glimpse of my true powers. How disgraceful. Well, don’t think you’ll get away that easily! One time you have already escaped from my wrath, and that’s one time too many!”

With a mighty flap of his demonic, fiery wings, Arrogon pursues his fleeing target and enters the clouds’ thick density. After entering the stormy clouds blindly, Arrogon slows down his speed and slowly shifts his vigilant eyes to survey his hazy surroundings.

“Come out, come out wherever you are~!” he provokes the missing Pegasus in a sickening, singsong voice.

As the menacing stallion continues his steady pursuit, he doesn’t notice on how the gloomy clouds surrounding him are moving closer to him, nor did he pay any attention to how the clouds become darker than usual. Suddenly, he freezes in place after he hears a rumbling sound echoing from the clouds encircling him. Not sure on what Ford’s next move is going to be, Arrogon prepares himself for anything that’s to come. However, he is completely caught by surprise as a lightning bolt shoots right at him!

After the random lightning nearly hits him, Arrogon screeches in alarm, “What the--?!”

Once the first bolt was cast, a couple more are shot from the dark at different directions at the startled pony. As the two thunderbolts approach him at lightning speed, Arrogon hastily leans away before they cross paths with each other. As he continues to struggle in the cloudy entrapment, the number of lightning bolts increases overtime. Until finally, Arrogon had no way to dodge them all and is thoroughly zapped in the crossfire!

Meanwhile, as the Arrogon howls in pain from the countless lightning bolts, Ford Mustang carries on with his clever trap as he rapidly punches the condensed thunderclouds that are concealed around his paralyzed adversary. Thanks to his experience as a yearlong weather pony, Ford has enough knowledge on how to create and arrange various clouds for the required weather forecast, including thunderclouds. Because of that and his Pegasus anatomy, he managed to come up with this ingenious entrapment.

Unfortunately for Ford, the trap is short-lived as Arrogon lets out a booming roar, which obliterates the electrified clouds entrapping him. From this enraging outburst, Ford is knocked back by the roar’s power as he rapidly flips backwards while tumbling towards the ground. But right before he touches the soil, he pulls off a quick recovery and performs a perfect landing.

Slowly, the glaring Arrogon makes his smooth descent before landing some distance away from the stern Pegasus. As they continue their latest stare down, Ford can see a few trails of smoke sizzling from the burnt markings on Arrogon’s black coat. Eventually, the smoke fades away and there isn’t a visible scratch on him.

“Quite an impressive trick you’ve pulled off there.” Arrogon calmly praises Ford’s effort to the latter’s surprise. “But it’s quite obvious to both of us that your tricks won’t save you for long. You can’t measure up to my own powers, so you have to resort to other pitiful means to fight your battles, such as using the elements of nature against me. However… compared to them, you’ll see that I am a true force to be reckoned with!”

At once, Arrogon unhinges his razor-edged jaws, points his head towards the sky, and bellows out hundreds of blue energy missiles! Once they reached a great altitude, the missiles begin to curve and rain down towards the astonished Mustang. After he snaps out of it, Ford speedily makes a break for it, and avoids the incoming projectiles. But it didn’t stop there as the energy missiles are now homing in on Ford’s trail. Taking the latest game of hide-and-seek to the sky, the heat-seeking missiles continue their relentless hunt for the agile Pegasus. No matter how many twists and turns he pulls off to outmaneuver them, he can’t shake them off nor can he cause them to collide and explode with each other.

In the midst of the high-speed chase, Ford looks down and frowns at the sight on the laid-back Arrogon as he leisurely snickers over the Pegasus’s fruitless efforts. Seeing how his acrobatics aren’t doing anything to outsmart the projectiles, Mustang decides to pull off a classic trick in the book and swiftly turns around to charge right at Arrogon with the tyrant’s missiles following in hot pursuit.

At first, Arrogon is surprised to see Ford coming right at him in a blazing burst of speed, but then he dismisses it with an all-knowing chuckling to himself. Oh please! You seriously think that you can fool me with that pathetic, millennium-old trick on me? I know that from the moment you get close enough towards me, you’ll simply turn away and try to divert those missiles right at me! Too bad for you, I can control them with such ease that they won’t fall for such a simple trick as that!

Smugly, Arrogon stands still in place as he is confident that Ford’s latest tactic would blow up in his face. Even when the unyielding Mustang inches closer towards him, Arrogon’s coolness hasn’t deteriorate one bit as their game of chicken plays out from here. But just as the pony reaches in Arrogon’s close proximity range where the dark lord predicted his opponent’s diversion, Ford unexpectedly folds his wings and dives right through Arrogon’s tall legs! While he narrowly swoops all the way through that gap, Arrogon is immensely surprised by this unorthodox ruse as he impulsively turns around to look at the death-defying stallion! But from that distraction, the demonic stallion forgets about his numerous missiles that are coming right at him!

Because of that distraction, Arrogon didn’t give himself enough time to redirect the route of his incoming projectiles before they start to explode right in front of his face! As the Destroyer is being bombarded by his own volley of energy missiles, Ford expands his wings again to put on the air brakes. With a swift twist of his body, Mustang faces Arrogon from behind and roars out an explosive blast of golden fire! With Ford’s sneak attack included, the stricken Arrogon is caught in a pinch between the multitude of fiery explosions!

After all of Arrogon’s missiles have combusted, the shadowy king is engulfed in a very thick dust cloud, thanks to the countless explosions. While the smoke settles in, Ford takes another breather to relax his muscles and gather his conserving energy. Eventually, the dust clears away as it reveals a slightly shaken oppressor before he slowly turns around and fiercely glares at the noble pony with intense, blazing eyes. From the look on Arrogon’s face, Ford can tell that the dark Earth Pony is no longer amused by all of this as he displays a grim, serious expression towards his foe.

“You worthless foal!” Arrogon snaps at him. “Are you that cocky into believing that you can defeat me with just mere tricks like that?! Huh?!”

Ford didn’t say anything at first, but then, he breaks into a small smirk as he replies wittily, “I just didn’t want to dirty my precious, little hooves against such lowlife filth, that’s all.”

A bit surprised by that ironic statement, Arrogon growls back at the slightly grinning pony, “Joke all you want, clown! It only goes to show you that your little ruses won’t do you any good if you can’t even lay a single hoof on me! Now make a move--!”

BAM!

But Arrogon got what he wished for once he is suddenly punched in the muzzle by Ford’s left fore hoof! Taking a few steps back from that sudden blow, Arrogon muffles his groaning as he holds his sore muzzle with his fore hooves. Once his nose recovers, he removes his hooves and he glares with increasingly piercing eyes at Ford, who is holding his punching stance firmly with a very stern expression.

After retracting his foreleg, Ford asks his opponent coldly, “There. Satisfied?”

“Mark my words, Ford.” Arrogon threatens him with extreme bitterness. “By the end of this, you will rue the day from ever having to face me!”

With that said, Arrogon goes on the offensive and charges forward with killer instinct. In their latest confrontation, Ford puts up a strong defense in response as he blocks and dodges Arrogon’s increasingly hostile attacks. Then, the Earth Pony unleashes one mighty blow, which is countered the Pegasus’s own hoof-punch. Next, Arrogon throws his other hoof at Ford, and he counters that one as well. With their fore hooves pressed against each other’s, they are engaging in a tug-of-war struggle as the grunting ponies are locked in another test of strength. The strength in their fore hooves counterbalance with one and another and their hind legs dig deeply within the earth. In this latest contest of ultimate power, the scale slowly shifts back and forth between the two fierce rivals.

But that is abruptly ended when Arrogon swiftly delivers an iron headbutt to Ford’s forehead, and it causes the young stallion to collapse onto the floor. With the briefly stunned Mustang on the ground, Arrogon takes the opportunity to secure the Pegasus’s forelegs by firmly stomping onto top of them, which earned the pleased tyrant a yelp of pain from his pinned adversary.

“Got you!” Arrogon says with glee.

In the midst of the submission hold, Ford groans and attempts to break free, but his forelegs are unable to move thanks to Arrogon’s heavy hooves. At long last, Arrogon has him right where he wants him: at his feet and at his mercy!

“Enjoy that breath of fresh air, Mustang… because it will be your last once I’ve extinguished your very life!”

After saying that, Arrogon arches his head back as his monstrous jaws unhinge and perhaps his blue fireball just like the time they first met. But this time, Arrogon will see to it that Ford is disintegrated right before his eyes with his point blank shot.

As the dark overlord preps for his ultimate fireball, Ford is lost in his own thoughts by that one word Arrogon said earlier: “breath.” That word keeps repeating in his head for some reason. Then, the Pegasus recalls all of his training from his master, Hindel. On how breathing plays an important role in Draconian Magic. No breathing means more Draconian Magic. The shocking realization strikes the wide-eyed Mustang like lightning and he hastily prepares his counterattack.

Spotting Arrogon’s exposed neck, Ford takes a quick breath and spews out a very small variation of his dragon’s roar. And before Arrogon can unleash his fireball, the bullet made of compressed air makes a direct hit to his throat with deadly accuracy! Due to the precision of Ford’s piercing attack, Arrogon gags greatly as his fire spell breaks apart in an instant! As the off-guard tyrant coughs on his own demonic fire, he involuntarily steps back, which inadvertently frees Ford’s forelegs from their heavy restraint.

Not wanting to waste any more time on this rare opportunity, Ford goes on the offensive by retracting his strong hind legs and springs them into action by firing off a powerful kick right in Arrogon’s muzzle! Because of that, Arrogon rockets away from Ford before crash-landing in a great distance away from him. As the dark pony pitifully moans in muffled pain, he steadily gets himself up as he gingerly holds his poor, damaged nose.

So far, so good. Mustang cocks a small, contented smile as he sees Arrogon’s current, weakened state. Now, only one thing left to do!

In a starting position before he makes his grand gallop, Ford charges himself with as much Draconian Magic as he can gather for just a few seconds. But more importantly, he puts a majority of his powers into his hind legs as they will serve as the ultimate finisher to his 3-step assault. Once he is ready, he sprints into action and promptly bolts right for the anchored Arrogon. In the midst of his rapid dash, Ford’s galloping body glows a streaking aura of golden light. And as soon as he gets close enough to the dazed Destroyer, Ford stops himself with one solid fore hoof to swiftly spin himself around. Then, he stops his rapid spin with the other fore hoof. And finally, he finishes it off with an all-powerful buck to Arrogon’s side!

CRACK!

“GRAAAHH!!”

Thanks to the amplification of Ford’s draconian powers and the applied forces from his high-speed charge and quick spin, the devastating side kick is enough to fracture Arrogon’s ribs from the inside and sends his deeply injured body tumbling uncontrollably hundreds of feet away from the contented Pegasus! He could hardly believe it. His last-minute strategy actually worked. He managed to temporarily disable the three vital attributes to Arrogon’s powers. His ruptured trachea can only produced wheezy coughs from his injured throat. His broken nose has sealed off his alternative means of breathing. And every times he tries to gather any amount of energy through inhaling, he is greeted with indescribable amounts of pain as his broken ribs would stab his inflating lungs. Arrogon the Destroyer may be the most powerful creature in Equestria, but all of his godly powers won’t do him any good if his respiration has been cut off. And now, he is as powerless as the very ponies he looked down upon for so long; maybe even more so than the ones he would consider as inferior creatures.

Helplessly, all Arrogon can do is curse at the pony who did this to him while he continuously winces in pain, “I’m going… to kill you… Ford.”

With Arrogon down for the count, Ford has a critical decision to make. He originally wanted to hold off Arrogon for as long as he can until Rainbow Dash and her friends arrive with the Elements of Harmony. But with the powerless Arrogon unable to get up at the moment, Ford has a chance to finish off the Destroyer once and all, and save everyone else the trouble.

With his mind made up, Ford hastily powers up and rushes in to annihilate Arrogon from the face of Equestria. In the midst of his flight, Ford glances at the Destroyer’s stern expression as he is slightly confusion on why the dark demigod is so calm despite facing his imminent demise. Pushing his perplexity aside, Mustang refocuses on the task at hoof as he sought to deliver the final blow.

But suddenly, a mob of Shadow Minions block Ford’s path as it slows his pace at an increasing rate. Distracted by this random encounter, the surprised pony swiftly looks up and sees dozens of hackling Gremlins raining down on him. Upon their landing, the pesky, little imps topple on top of the immensely startled Pegasus as they cause him to tumble backwards. With the pony caught off by complete surprise, hundreds of shadowy hands reach out and pull him away from their dark master.

“N-n-no… NO! ARROGON! YOU COWARD!” Ford yells at him with colossal fury as he is dragged away by the smug pony’s Shadow Minions. Arrogon couldn’t care less about Ford’s screeching outburst. Despite his ill condition, he is fortunate enough summon every last creature at his disposal. Sure, it would cease his takeover from most of Equestria’s cities and towns momentarily, but if it will take ever last one of his Minions to hold Ford long enough before he can make a full recovery, then so be it.

Meanwhile, the aggravating Mustang is being suffocated him by the Shadow Minions’ massive mash pit. Furiously, he breaks free and flies high in the air. However, he is being swarmed by numerous Furies as they peck and scratch at his fur. Annoyed by this, Ford lets out a wide-ranged dragon’s roar as it scatters the pesky flyers away from him. Hurriedly, he tries to scope out Arrogon, but is constantly distracted from his search as he frantically dodges all of the fiery projectiles from the Djinns and Furies. Along with that, he has to agilely evade the grim Wraith’s swift sickle slashes. Having enough of this, Ford swoops down at ground level while he plows right through any Shadow Minion that gets in his way. But out of nowhere, two ginormous hands slam on top of Ford and the Golem begins the compress him. Just when Mustang begins to break free from the monster’s grasp, five more Golems join in the fray and add their pressurized weight into the pulverization. In the middle of the crushing process, Ford radiates an intense, golden heat which glows right through the giants’ enormous hands. And eventually, his body’s raging aura explodes and frees him from the Golems, while also obliterating them.

After performing that enormous explosion, Ford takes a heavy breather as that last attack took a lot of energy. In the middle of his panting, he sees the Shadow Minions re-gathering their forces and surrounding him. Despite being slightly weary from his aggressive barrage earlier, Mustang readies himself for what’s to come. All at once, the emotionless creatures jump forward and attempt to attack without mercy.

But just before Ford Mustang can make a move, he is startled to see the leaping monsters freezing in mid-air as they slam into something hard yet invisible to their soulless, ruby eyes. Apparently, Ford is being protected by a magenta, see-through dome. As the magical force field is still activate, a blur of red and gold flies around in circles as its high-speed wake creates continous streaks of fire. Eventually, the blazing trails expands into a fiery tornado, and in the center of it, Ford marvels from within at the magnificent firestorm as it either tosses the Shadow Minions aside or incinerates them!

With the surrounding forces dispersed, the protective bubble disappears as Ford gets a good glimpse at his saviors responsible for their signature techniques: Spitfire and Shining Armor!

“Hey, Mustang! Looks like you could use a hoof around here!” Spitfire greets him with a grin.

“Thanks, Spitfire!” he smiles at both of them. But when he glances at Shining Armor, his smile drops as he expresses confusion on the Unicorn’s arrival. “Wait, Shining Armor? What are you doing here? I thought you were with Twilight!”

“Twily said that she and her friends will be alright by themselves, so she insisted that I free everypony else in Canterlot. Then, all of a sudden, those shadowy creatures start leaving the city for no reason. So we followed them here and saw that you have bitten off more than you can chew!”

“Princess Cadance and her troops stand ready in an outskirt nearby.” Spitfire adds. “And once we saw Shining’s signal, we were more than happy to join in the skirmish!”

Their reunion is cut short when the countless Shadow Minions gather around and surround the three ponies. Their terrifying encirclement almost resembles a giant, jiggling blob of darkness that’s dotted with red, glowing eyes as they gaze at the three Equestrian heroes.

“You should probably sit this one out, Ford.” Spitfire kids as she is back-to-back with her comrades. “And let us professionals show you how it’s done!”

“And not perform my civil duty for the community? Heh, not a chance!” he chuckles in response.

“Eh, suit yourself. WONDERBOLTS GO!”

And upon command, the rest of the Wonderbolts, including Soarin and Fleetfoot, make a grand entrance in the sky as they lead the rest of Ponyville’s top-notched Pegasi. From this additional, aerial support, they attack and break up the other flyers of Arrogon’s army. From the sideline, Earth Ponies and Unicorns form a mighty stampede as they charge head-on into the battlefield. The armor-clad ponies were armed to the teeth as those without magic were wielding various weapons, including swords, spears, and bows. In the midst of the chaos, rolling dust clouds the battleground as magical sparks are flying across the arena with battle cries and the clashing weapons filling in the air.

Despite how skillful a majority of their forces were, the ponies are still outmatched by the Shadow Minions as their numbers are a hundred times greater than Equestria’s. But the odds have shifted as thousands of changelings cover the sky and buzz their way into the ongoing battle like a swarm of angry bees.

“FOR THE ROYALTY!!” Trapjaw screeches to his fellow brethren.

And with that said from their leading commander, the menacing changelings dive down and join the fray. While they lack skills and refinement compared to the ponies, they make up for that in greater numbers and ferociousness. An example of their ferocity is when hundreds of changelings cling onto one of the Golems and manage to take it down while they rip it to shreds. Some of changelings cunningly take up disguises of their enemies as they draw confusion to the mindless Shadow Minions. From this distraction, the ponies and changelings can take the opportunity and ambush them by surprise.

As the battle wages on, Ford is assisting the Pegasi as they fight off the flying Shadow Minions in the air. Suddenly, they hear bird-like screeches in the far distance as Ford and the others turn to the source. Upon sight, Mustang smiles to himself broadly after verifying the new arrivals: Gilda and her army of griffon warriors!

Breaking off their formation, the armored griffons disperse and take on any Shadow Minion like predators setting their sights on their next meals. While most of them are armed to the teeth with their razor-sharp weapons, they are not afraid to get their claws dirty as their talons can easily rip through the constructs’ artificial shells. With their extraordinary endurance, the griffons can muster through any fight they can get their claws on.

Once she gets a chance, Gilda approaches Ford in mid-flight while she shows off her newly acquired, purple breastplate armor with gold trimmings. “Gilda! You made it!” he welcomes her with a big hug.

“Like I was going let you have all the fun to yourself, Ford!” she responds with a grin as she fist-bumps with his hoof. “By the way, where’s Rainbow Dash? Did you guys free her yet?”

“She’s fine, Gilda. She and her friends are inside the castle and are fetching the Elements of Harmony as we speak.”

“Whew! I’m glad to hear that, Mustang.” she says with relief. Then, she faces the other way around and waves off to him with a cocky smile, “Anyway, I better get back up there! I can’t let those slackers outshine me in my moment of glory!”

“Whatever you say, Gilda!” he chuckles mildly before they depart ways.

Seeing how most of the sky has been covered, Ford decides to return back on the ground and resume the fight from there. With new reinforcements, the odds have slightly shifted in his favor. Even with the Shadow Minions’ numbers reaching hundreds of thousands, his allies have a lot more to offer compared to the mindless drones out there.

Out of nowhere, Ford hears a strange, rumbling noise as his hooves feel a soft, rhythmic shake on the ground. That throbbing sound begins to sound like familiar, awe-inspiring music to his ears. And that mesmerizing beat has a certain Unicorn DJ written all over it. To confirm this, he hovers above the conflict to get a better glimpse of the source. Over a hill, a six-wheeled vehicle steadily rolls in place as Ford gasps with awe at the reveal of Vinyl’s secret project.

The steampunk tank consists of shiny, gray metal plates and is highlighted with bright, blue neon lights, especially its rims. At the driver’s seat is Octavia, who is wearing her pink bowtie, a pair of goggles over her eyes, and thick headphones with a microphone attached to it. Right behind the cellist is a massive turret with a very odd armament attached to it: a massive loudspeaker system with four subwoofers. The bass speakers pulsate every time it lets out a booming beat to its rocking battle music. And seating at the helm of this one-of-a-kind weapon is the devious disc jockey herself, Vinyl Scratch, who is wearing her trademark, purple shades and her own set of headphones similar to her marefriend’s.

“Make way, everypony!” Vinyl announces with a grin to the crowd through her mike. “DJ-PON-3 has entered the stage and is ready to rock!”

From her controls, Vinyl can see everything in front of her through the screen. From her monitor, she can see a colossal Golem smashing its way. With careful aim, she aligns the crosshairs at the Golem’s head and prepares to initial her weapon. The loudspeaker system separates its subwoofers, the top two shifting up and the bottom two splitting left and right, and it reveals a massive blue speaker with four smaller subwoofers surrounding it. After a brief charge-up, the transformed loudspeaker fires a bright, blue beam of intense waves of sound!

WUB!WUB!WUB!WUB!WUB!WUB!WUB!

From that short burst of intensified energy, the sound blast vaporizes the head of the unsuspected Golem, and the massive creature topples over while its headless body gradually fades away!

Next, Vinyl eyes the sky and sees the countless swarms of Shadow Minions giving some trouble with the Pegasi and griffons. Suddenly, a crazy idea pops into her mind, and the DJ grins widely before she directs a megaphone toward the crowded sky.

“Hey, hotshots! Round those creeps up so I can take them out in one shot!”

Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot catch wind of that shout-out, and the lead Wonderbolt direct the other two and anyone else near her, “You heard the young mare! Let’s show those amateurs who rule the skies up here!”

After a nod to their commander, Soarin and Fleetfoot split off with some of the flyers following them. Eventually, the Pegasi and griffons form a circle around hundreds of Shadow Minions. Once everything is in place, the flyers rapidly flap their mighty wings as they create strong, gusting winds. With their synchronizing fanning, the opposing flyers are pushed into the center of the ring, and they are tightly squeezed at the centerpoint. With the compressed creatures unable to move as the flyers continue their intense routine, Vinyl directs his special cannon upwards and fires a second blast right at the clustered Shadow Minions!

WUB!WUB!WUB!WUB!WUB!WUB!WUB!

In one fell swoop, the amassed Minions are disintegrated by the booming blast of Vinyl’s custom-made tank. After the creatures’ disintegration, the Pegasi and griffons that help assisted in this ploy cheer and holler at their accomplishment as Vinyl grins with proud.

But then, Octavia calls out to her through their special headsets, “Vinyl, we’ve got enemies from all sides!”

Hearing her marefriend’s warning, Vinyl takes a moment to look away from the screen and sees how dire the situation is. Surrounding the Equestrian tank are a dozen of Gremlins, Djinns, and Wraiths as they slowly approach the vehicle. Despite how menacing the looming threat is, Vinyl isn’t too worried as she has another surprise just in case if that might happen.

“Not a problem, Tavi! Just hit that blue button right next to you, and we’ll drop the bass on them!”

Looking around her driver’s seat, Octavia sees a shiny blue button right next to the stick shift. Immediately, she presses it, and throughout the six-wheeled tank, side speakers pop up from all sides as they all face the approaching Shadow Minions. And all at once, the surround sound system blasts a tremendous, widespread wave, and the thick sound barrier damages the dark creatures while also pushing them at a great distance away from the two musicians.

“Ah, yeah! Totally awesome!” Vinyl glees ecstatically before she coos to her latest invention while gently patting it. “Oh, I can’t wait to turn this baby into my very own party mobile once all this is over!”

Octavia groans as she rests a fore hoof on her head while shaking it with displeasure. “Oh Celestia, help us all if it ever comes to that.”

Back in the centerpoint of the ongoing battle, Ford Mustang returns back on the ground while he is met up by Spitfire as she lands right next to him.

“I’ve got to say…” she comments with a smile. “…despite the overwhelming odds, we’re holding ourselves pretty well!”

“Yeah, it looks like we might make this out alive after--!”

But then, he stops abruptly as he realizes that he forgot something really important to do. He once had Arrogon right where he wanted, but with the interventions of Arrogon's mindless Minions and his allies, he unfortunately lost track of him, and he isn’t sure on how fully recovered his enemy is at this point. Frantically, the blue Pegasus searches around, but he can barely see anything through the immensely dusty battleground.

“Wait… where’s Arro--?”

Suddenly, Ford freezes in place as he shockingly stares at what’s behind Spitfire. A pair of menacing, blue eyes pierce through the rolling dust cloud as they lock on with Ford’s. Along with the eyes and flaring mane, another source of blue fire makes an appearance as it takes a shape of a gaping mouth like a snake ready to swallow its prey whole. Realizing on who the shadowy Arrogon is targeting at, Ford hastily springs forward as he frantically cries out to his unsuspected friend.

“SPITFIRE! LOOK OUT!”

But before the fiery-haired Wonderbolt can turn around and see what’s behind her, the scheming scoundrel fires a mighty fireball from his maw as Ford jumps in the way and shields Spitfire with his body!

BOOM!

From that scorching attack, the explosion launches both Ford and Spitfire far away from Arrogon. Eventually, the two Pegasi plow right into the ground as the stallion takes most of the impact from that crash-landing. With Spitfire taking far less injury than Mustang, she is the one who gets up first as she quickly recovers from her daze. With her head cleared, she examines Ford and gasps in horror at what he has gained from his valiant effort: a nasty burnt mark right on his back and between his wings.

He tries to get up, but the black, scorching wound causes him so much pain, that it makes him lose his balance and focus as he tumbles back on the ground while hissing from his injury. Carefully, Spitfire lays Mustang’s head on top of her lap as she gently strokes his hair while hoping that help with arrive soon. Shortly after that, her prayers have been answered as her husband, Soarin, dives down and assesses the situation.

“Honey! Are you okay?!” Soarin frets with worry.

“I’m fine, sweetie.” she assures her spouse tenderly before turning her attention back to her pain-ridden protector. “But Ford… he’s hurt!”

“Auggh… my back!” Mustang points it out in a groan.

Frantically, Spitfire issues a command to the Wonderbolt stallion. “Soarin, go find a medic! Now!”

“On it!” he salutes to his wife before he flies away and begins his search.

“Spitfire… get out of here!” Ford insists greatly despite his anguish. “It’s too dangerous!”

“Shh… Don’t worry, Ford.” she cooingly dismisses him as she reassumes her gentle patting on Mustang’s hair. “I’m not going to leave you. I’m staying right here until help arrives. Everything is going to be alright.”

“No, Spitfire! It’s not safe here! He’s coming this way! He’s--!”

But he didn’t get a chance to finish that sentence once again as he gazes with wide eyes at the figure of shadow and fire drawing towards them. Once he finishes his steady march, Arrogon looms over the two Pegasi as he scoffs at Ford’s current condition.

“I must admit, Ford. You held on your own very well, but when it comes to protecting your friends, you’re just as helpless as they are!”

After she gently removes Ford from her lap, she sternly steps in front of the wounded Pegasus and growls at her enemy, “You stay away from him!”

“Spitfire… don’t!” Ford pleads in the midst of his agony.

“Stand aside, or else your fate will be the same as his.” Arrogon warns her in a firm manner.

Without a second thought, she answers sharply, “Never!”

“FINE.”

With his blazing eyes flickering with anger and annoyance, Arrogon prepares to launch another fireball as he plans to finish off both Ford Mustang and Spitfire at point-blank range. But then, his charge-up is interrupted by a screeching voice behind him.

“Hey, ugly! Over here!”

Instinctively, he turns his head around to face the intervener. But before he could get a good glimpse of the interrupter, his flaring eyes are met with a swift swipe of razor-sharp talons!

"ARRGH!! MY EYES!!”

After his deafening screeching, Arrogon impulsively closes his eyes, which has three glowing, blue scars stretching across them, as he kneels on the dirt while he continues to holler in unimaginable pain. The bold creature responsible for the tyrant’s disgrace happens to be Gilda, who after slashing Arrogon’s face has her left claw without warning set ablaze. Distraught by her own recoil of pain, Gilda tumbles onto the ground and she slides right next to the stunned Pegasi. Once the minor fire on her claw was put out, she looks back and takes great amusement over Arrogon’s pitiful state.

“That’s one for the griffons!” she smirks with pride over Arrogon’s humiliation.

Breaking out of his astonishment, Ford says to his griffon friend concernedly, “Gilda! Your claw!”

After examining her burnt claw, she shrugs it off with a smile while ignoring the sizzling pain, “Hey, don’t worry about it! It’s just a scratch, that’s all!”

“Gilda… I… don’t know what to say…”

With a wink, she grins at him, “I told you that someone has to watch your back, didn’t I?”

“Thank you.”

After Ford’s warm gratitude, the three heroes are then diverted by Arrogon’s constant screeching as he hisses in pain and overwhelming fury.

“When my eyes get better, I’m going to find that griffon who did this to me! And when I do… I’LL BOIL HER EYES FROM THE INSIDE OUT!!”

Taking the hint that Arrogon wasn’t exaggerating with his latest threat, Gilda starts to shake with fear on that grim possibility, and she tightly clamps her beak shut while Ford leans in and whispers to her, “Gilda… run.”

Just when Gilda considers on taking that advice and high-tailing it out of here, the blind, demonic Earth Pony freezes without prior notice as he hears something slamming right into the earth. Ford and company gasp with awe as they witness their adversary being imprisoned within a large, hollow cube. Next, another cube is magically created out of thin air as it perfectly fits in the top opening of first 3-D shape, thus sealing the distressed Arrogon like a disgusting bug in a jar. The two cubes are both artificial made out of sparkling, magenta magic, except the second one is completely solid compared to the first.

With the trap in place, the smaller cube drops and smashes Arrogon so hard until it creates a shallow imprint due to its own immeasurable weight! Repetitively, the makeshift compressor keeps slamming the pony in the ground as the impression digs in deeper than the last. Finally, improvised machine press comes to a stop with the dense cube resting on top of Arrogon’s unresponsive body. After starring at the trap’s handiwork speechlessly, the two Pegasi and lone griffon gaze at the pony responsible for the clever setup as the white Unicorn with deep blue hair walks towards them while keeping his blue eyes firmly locked on to his own magical device.

“That was for laying a hoof on my sister!” Shining Armor spats out while his glowing horn is still active.

“Nice one, Captain!” Spitfire congratulates him.

Shortly after that, Soarin enters the scene as he carefully carries a well-known caretaker of Ponyville, Nurse Redheart. Once the Wonderbolt lands her gently, Redheart gallops toward the injured warriors before she unloads her combat medic saddlebag.

“No, attend Gilda first.” Ford mildly rejects the nurse’s help as he points a fore hoof to his griffon friend. “I’m fine on my own.”

“Ford, don’t be absurd!” Spitfire scolds at him for his supposed stubbornness. “There is no way you can fight with that nasty wound on… your…!”

But her assertiveness starts to die down as she gapes with wondrous eyes on Ford’s display of his Draconian Magic. After a couple of steady breaths, a warm, golden light glows over his scorched back as tiny, thin tendrils of his magic weave in and out of his deeply burnt wound. With his unique, cross-stitching magic at work, the blackened fur is replaced with its original light blue coloring and any trace of his injury fades away.

After staring blankly at Ford’s regeneration for several seconds, Spitfire blinks a few times before commenting it with an awkward, chuckling grin. “Or you know… you could do that instead.”

Once Ford is nearly completed with his self-healing process, Redheart refocuses her attention to Gilda as the mare examines the griffon’s injured talons. With her quick analysis completed, the Earth Pony cleans the claw with a cloth and some alcoholic ointment. Afterwards, she wraps it up securely with a long piece of bandage.

With his recovery completed, Ford gets himself up and gives his limbs and wings a nice stretch for each of them. Abruptly, he ceases his stretch as he senses extremely high levels of energy coming from Shining Armor’s entrapment. For some reason, this wasn’t a complete surprise to him; Arrogon is not down for the count just yet.

“Everypony, something’s wrong here!” the captain alerts his allies as he strains himself from trying to hold the indomitable tyrant down. “He’s… somehow resisting it and breaking free!”

Progressively, Arrogon begins to rise from his coffin as he carries the immeasurable, cubic weight on his back. What’s more is that Shining’s magical constructs, which are entrapping the enraging monster, starts to literally crack under pressure.

Regarding with his friends’ safety, Ford firmly issues an order to them, “Guys, you need to get out of here! NOW!”

“No way, I can still fight!” Gilda refuses boldly. “I can take this creep with one claw behind my back!”

“LISTEN TO ME!” he snaps at her which nearly shakes the startled griffon up. “Arrogon isn’t like those creatures out there! His powers aren’t like anything you have ever faced before! If you so much as give him a chance, he can take control of your body with just a mere glance at you and won’t show any mercy once you are in his grasp! And trust me, I know what he is capable of from experience! Right now, I’m the only one who can stand up to him, but if any of you get in the way, he will take full advantage of it! So please… for my sake… don’t interfere.”

As Gilda silently takes into great account on Ford’s warning, Shining Armor’s magic is nearly at its breaking point while Arrogon finishes his rising and furiously glares at his offenders. Again, the struggling Unicorn alerts his comrades, “Guys… I can’t… hold him off… much longer!”

Taking heed on Ford’s advice, Spitfire complies with the strict stallion, “Whatever you say, Mustang.”

With Spitfire giving a nod to her pony compatriots, Soarin and his wife prepare to transport their griffon ally as the Nurse Redheart says to Gilda, “Come on. Let’s get you heal. Princess Cadance has prepared a medical sanctuary for all of us.”

The Wonderbolts begin to help Gilda up, but before they can leave, she stops them with a raised claw as she looks back at Mustang’s immovable, watchful stance.

“Ford!” she sharply gets his attention which didn’t cause much reaction from his end. “You better make it out of this alive, because I am not going to be the bearer of bad news once I finally get to see Dash again!”

Without turning his head back, Mustang displays a small smile as he expresses his soft gratitude, “Thanks, Gilda.”

Satisfied, the grinning griffon allows Spitfire to escort her to Cadance’s sanctuary while Soarin follows along while carrying Nurse Redheart once again in his forelegs. After that, Shining gallops away from the scene while his barely containable magic is still active.

“Good luck, Ford.” Shining says while he passes by him as he received a short nod in return.

With everyone else gone, Ford can concentrate with resuming his fight with his fated enemy, Arrogon. And using his own dragon’s roar, the Destroyer shatters what’s left of the Unicorn’s magic before he steps out of the squared hole and faces his stern opponent once again with a menacing stare-off.

“Tell me, where is that griffon friend of yours?” Arrogon asks with such unusual niceness that gave a bad taste to his mouth. “If you cooperate with me, I promise to make your death as quick and painless as possible.”

“They’re not your concern right now! This is just between you and me!”

“Why do you bother wasting your time on such weaklings? They cannot comprehend on the kind of power we possess! They will only just get in the way and hold you back from achieving your true potential! If you did that, you might stand a chance against me!”

“You’re wrong, Arrogon! My friends are my strength! It’s what drives me to where I am today!” And Ford finishes it off by pointing a firm fore hoof right at his adversary. “And it’s them who will be your downfall!”

In response, Arrogon chuckles with great amusement as he grimly assures Ford, “In that case, I’ll just have to break that pathetic bond of yours and see just how strong your friendship really is towards them! One link at a time!”

“…You know what? We’re taking this fight somewhere else.”

“Ha! Considering how feeble your powers are compared to my own, you don’t have the right to make such a request--!”

But he never got a chance to finish that ridiculing statement as Ford Mustang shoves his foreleg right into Arrogon’s muzzle before they take their liftoff! At tremendous speed, the two fly across the ongoing battle beneath them as the taken-by-surprised Arrogon is being driven away against his own will by Ford’s unexpected might. Once the two are in a clear distance away from the main conflict, Ford swiftly flings Arrogon before he crashes into a tall cliff side of a mountain nearby.

As the dark lord grudgingly gets himself up from the ground, Ford lands firmly right next to him as he coldly verifies it to his opponent, “I wasn’t asking for your approval.”

After a slow wipe across his dark muzzle, Arrogon glares at Ford with complete displeasure before he remarks in response, “Fine. We’ll continue this without any distractions. But don’t think that this will help your friends escape from their imminent demise! Look and see it for yourself!”

A bit hesitant at first, Ford turns around and gasps with wide-eyed shock. From the cliff lookout, he could see the entire battle his allies have to go through. Even with the combined forces of ponies, changelings, and griffons, their numbers don’t even come close to the Shadow Minions’. And with such a countless army to deal with, the alliance start to grow tired as they carry on with their decisive struggle.

Soon enough, the allies start to take damage, and most of them have to be escorted into Cadance’s medical sanctuary right outside of the main battleground, which is being protected by the Alicorn Princess’s special force field. From there, a collaboration of medics would do their best to heal the wounded, whether it will allow them to fight once again or to save them from their grave injuries.

As Ford continues to helplessly watch his overwhelmed allies, Arrogon gleefully proves his point by delivering a stinging statement to his preoccupied adversary, “You see? My vast army covers the land while your allies are just mere specks in my expanding sea of darkness! Now, with their precious champion out of the way, they’ve only just lined themselves up for the slaughter! Your actions didn’t save them! You’ve only hasten them to their inevitable doom!”

From this grim realization, Ford cringes from the constant cries of his allies from every time they are inflicted with pain. He sees Pegasi and griffons dropping from the sky, exhausted Unicorns reaching their limits of their magical capabilities, and Earth Ponies and changeling steadily losing their stamina. Mustang couldn’t help himself but dread on the fatal outcome for his friends out there. Arrogon, on the other hand, simply sits back and enjoys the psychological torture he has plunged Ford into.

Suddenly, a thunderous roar abruptly snaps Ford out of his shock as he and Arrogon look into the cloudy sky where that call came from. Dumbfounded by that booming noise, Arrogon inquires, “What… was that?”

From recognizing that roar, Ford slowly breaks into an all-knowing grin reminiscent to Hindel's as he answers simply, “Cavalry.”

Like the famed, mythological Valkyries from Ford’s homeworld, Wagner the Inferno Dragon King descend from the heavens as he leads his band of one-hundred strong dragons to fulfill an oath that he made to Hindel and Ford Mustang. Upon seeing these legendary beasts making their arrival, the allied forces smile brightly for the dragons to come to their aid like this.

As Wagner leads the charge, he lets out a mighty battle cry, “FOR HINDEL!!”

Following suit, the dragons shout out their own booming roars as they spread out like wildfire. Half of them assist the rest of the flyers in the sky, while the other half aid those on the ground. As the most aggressive species out of the entire allied forces, the dragons are employed with many weapons at their disposal such as their teeth, claws, tails, heads, and most notably, their fire-breathing. Despite their immense firepower, some of them are quite masterful into controlling their flames. For individual targets, they can simply spew out arrows of fire at them. And of course, their massive sizes dwarf everyone else; they even rival that with the Golems.

Due to their overwhelming sizes and power, the dragons were strictly ordered by Wagner and Ford to not have anyone of their smaller allies to be caught in the crossfire. Even when they kept that careful notion in check, the dragons dominate the battlefield as they swiftly reduce the Shadow Minions by the thousands for each passing minute.

Back on the cliff side, Ford and Arrogon stare speechlessly at the sudden turn of the tide as the black sea of Shadow Minions are being purged by the dragons' colorful display of fire. The cries of agony are gradually deafened with the sound of morally inspired battle cries from Ford’s allies as their hope has been renewed, thanks to Wagner’s reinforcement.

Unable to resist, Ford turns to the flabbergasted Arrogon with a witty grin as he rubs it in his face, “Well well well… Looks like the odds have shifted into my favor, won’t you agree?”

After shifting his expression into complete displeasure, Arrogon intensely glares at the proud Pegasus before suddenly disappearing in a flash of blue fire. Startled by this vanishing act, Ford gasps with utter confusion as he wonders where his opponent has gone off to. But then, he gets his answer the hard way when Arrogon reappears right in front of his face and punches Ford with a strong left hook!

From falling off the cliff’s edge after that unforeseen strike, the Pegasus makes a rapid recovery with the spread of wings before softly landing to safety. Once he pulls through, Ford is shocked to see the collected Arrogon reappearing from that brief flash as he leisurely walks towards the light blue pony. Not sure on how the tyrant did that, Ford impulsively bounds forward in order to return the favor from that hit back there. As the heroic stallion is within striking distance, Arrogon lets out a scornful chuckling before disappearing once again. This time, he teleports right behind Mustang and grabs him by the tail. After a quick swing, Arrogon quickly vanishes before he resurfaces right in front of flung pony before bucking him in the face. But that didn’t stop there as Arrogon punches and kicks Ford around like a deadly game of tennis until the mischievous villain greatly shoves Mustang into the soil. With an irritating groan, Ford rises from his fall as his arrogant adversary demonstrates his mastery of teleportation by rematerializing at a rapid pace all across the field. Arrogon is teleport so much that it looks like that there is more than one of them surrounding the slightly agitated Ford.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHA! How can you fight me at this rate when you can’t even touch me?!” Arrogon makes fun of the disgruntled hero while continuing with his deceptive tactic.

Seeing how the Destroyer is only distracting him, Ford ignores the mockery as he closes his eyes and falls under a self-induced trance to employ a way to counteract this act of misdirection. From what Hindel has taught since the beginning of their training in the Everfree Forest, he clears his mind and concentrates on only following the Arrogon’s dark energy signature. Through his mind’s eye, the still Pegasus can see the true spectral form of his enemy’s teleportation. Every time he teleports away, he creates a thin trail towards its next destination before stopping just for a fraction of a second before reassuming his form through a micro-explosion and making his reappearance. From this intense concentration, time seems to slow down gradually as Ford gets a better grasp of Arrogon’s pattern. All the Pegasus needs to do is wait for the right moment before he can break his foe’s strategy.

Eventually, Arrogon is done toying with his prey and goes directly for the kill from behind. Once Arrogon’s teleportation trail comes to a stop right where Ford wants him, the noble pony promptly twists around and strongly punches Arrogon in the chest just as soon as he finishes his latest materialization!

Considering it as a mere stroke of luck, Arrogon teleports once again, but Ford manages to catch up with him rather quickly and greets him with a firm kick to the face. Refusing to believe that his teleportation can be outmatched by Ford’s speed, he repeats his desperate tactic once again. But this time, the composed Mustang is right behind the reappearing Arrogon before the Pegasus delivers another strong blow to the back of his neck, which causes the infuriating tyrant to slide across the cold, hard dirt.

Enraged as ever, Arrogon quickly breathes out a heavy stream of fire, which causes Ford to decisively step away from the blue fire’s impact. However, Arrogon’s intention starts to unravel as the sizzling flames encircle around the startled Mustang and traps him within the tall pillar of fire.

As the Pegasus stands still in the blazing, blue inferno, Arrogon hovers to the very top of his tower and greets his enemy from down below, “You know, I never did tell you on how Hindel died while you were away. Well you will found out soon enough once I finish you off the same way I finished off your master! When you see Hindel, give him my regards for me!”

Ford isn’t sure on what exactly caused his master’s demise, but he figures that Arrogon’s next attack will be something big and explosive from remembering that towering inferno he witnessed before after completing his final trial. From that recollection, the stallion decides to use the elder dragon’s secret technique to absorb the barrier’s raging fire; the same way in which he vanquished the fire to complete the ultimate test of his Draconian Magic.

But something is terrible wrong as the blue fire draws toward Ford. Most of the fire he has sampled before is soothingly warm, but the demonic flames he is trying to absorb tastes extremely awful and its harsh flavor burns his palate, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering that he is trying to eat fire.

After spewing out that heinous blaze from his mouth, Ford take a moment to looks up and sees Arrogon preparing with his crackling fire bomb. Time is running out, and Ford needs to figure out a way to escape his confinement before he is blown to smithereens. Fortunately enough, he quickly comes with an alternative as he absorbs the blue fire once again. Only this time, instead of inhaling it, he causes the infernal blaze to wrap around him and creates his own means of protection. Just as soon as Ford has ready his very own fire shield, Arrogon is also set with his deadly fire spell before casting it down towards the center of the twister. As the spiraling sphere of doom makes it unavoidable descent, the fortified Pegasus makes haste and dives right out of his imprisonment.

BA-BOOM!

The explosion from that spell causes the roaring inferno to grow even bigger than ever as the pillar touches the dark sky once again. With disastrous twister still active, Arrogon laughs maniacally at the display of his awesome power as he is certain that Ford Mustang is finally no more.

“Yes! Burn! Burn! BURRRRN!!”

In the middle of the villain’s moment of triumphant, his megalomaniacal laughter is disturbed by a simple tap on his shoulder. With a sharp turn of his head, Arrogon looks behind and is shocked to see the persistent return of Ford Mustang, alive and unharmed. And before the overlord could break out of his shock, the smirking Pegasus lets out a very unique roar that left dark stallion dumbfounded by its indistinct language.

“FUS RO DAH!”

Despite how foreign the words sounded, the Ford’s “Unrelenting Force” did the job and throws the staggered Destroyer backwards until he is swept away by his own hellfire!

After witnessing Arrogon being caught inside his own firestorm, Ford makes a graceful landing before chuckling to himself with a sly smile. “Damn, I’ve wanted to do that for so long!”

But Ford’s self-satisfaction didn’t last for long once the towering inferno disperses as an Arrogon floats in mid-air. Once the scorching twister is gone, Arrogon slowly makes his landing as he impassively eyes on the steadfast Mustang. His black body is covered with lots of smoke after being thrown into the fire, but his own flames hardly did any critical damage to him.

Once Arrogon comes to a gentle landing, he asks Ford in a soft yet aggravating tone, “Ford… what did you do just now?” In response, all Arrogon gets in return is nothing but dead silence from the stoic pony. Infuriated by this unresponsiveness, the impatient tyrant asks again, “I’m asking you on what did you do just now! Why are you still alive?!”

“Don’t know…” Ford finally replies before displaying a mocking grin, “…but it looks like your ‘godlike’ power isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.”

Ticked off as usual, Arrogon retorts in an outburst, “You ignorant fool! My power is far beyond anything you could ever achieve, even before my grand return! I’ve spent countless years practicing and mastering my own Draconian Magic! What could you have possibly accomplished in just a few short weeks compared to me?!”

After his deadpan face blinks his eyes a few times, Ford remarks with a chuckling grin, “…Wow! If you spent that long to master your powers, then I guess you must be a really slow learner. But hey, that’s okay. No one’s judging you.”

Arrogon becomes dumbfounded for a brief moment before his body trembles with immense, anger-infused aura, and then, he lets out an infuriating war cry as he blindly charges for the impassive Pegasus. Of course, Ford merely steps aside from that angry, demonic bull before he counters with a golden beam of fire as it strikes his opponent right on the back.

While Arrogon sharply turns his head around while he is still on the ground, Ford slowly marches towards him as he scoffs at the Destroyer in a firm tone, “You know, when I heard that you were bad student, I merely assumed that you just had mental problems, but now I can see that there is more to it than just a bad attitude!”

After panting out his growing frustration heavily, Arrogon bellows out a widespread of blue fire, but once the flames are gone, Ford is nowhere in sight. With his patience running thin, Arrogon then notices the defiant pony right behind, so he breathes out a thin stream of fire with a sharp turn of his body. But to the villain’s aggravation, Ford circles around his tense challenger as he purposefully toys his opponent around. As Arrogon continues to pointlessly breathe out his fire, Ford can only hope that this will allow the completely unfocused Destroyer to waste his vast, magical energy. That way, it may weaken Arrogon if he keeps dispersing his own powers like that.

When the dark pony pulls off a fast punch, Ford easily bats the fore hoof away before he sturdily slaps Arrogon in the face while he carries on with his lecture, “You’re Impatient!”

SLAP!

“Inattentive!”

SLAP!

“Undisciplined!”

SLAP!

“Stubborn!”

SLAP!

After the multitude of harsh slaps to the face, Ford swings his foreleg down like a hammer and slams the staggered Arrogon right into the ground. With the Destroyer lying in the dirt, Ford finishes his scolding, “And above all else, you’re so full of unnecessary anger, that it has blindsided you from every decision and move you’ve made! Face it, Arrogon… YOU’VE LOST!”

The battle halts momentarily as Ford silently watches over Arrogon, who is still resting on the cracked floor. Eventually, the impassive overlord gets himself up as he speaks up in a very low tone, “I’ve spent hundreds of years plotting for my transcendence. To finally achieve the absolute power that I truly deserve for so long.”

After he stands up, Arrogon gradually lifts his head up with his soulless, infuriating eyes staring deeply at Ford. The fearsome look from Arrogon’s piercing eyes nearly shakes Mustang to the core with a gaze that is more petrifying than the Basilisk’s or Wagner’s. As the tyrant’s body shakes with an immense, fiery aura, he finishes off his grim monologue in a loud, demonic voice, “And no one is going to take that away from me… ESPECIALLY SOME DAMN BLANK FLANK LIKE YOU!!”

Following up from that menacing outburst, Arrogon’s aura of dark blue energy blows away like a hurricane as it almost sweeps Ford off his hooves. From that harsh wind brushing against his face, Ford squints on impulse. But after reopening them, his wide eyes go into complete shock as the charging Arrogon approaches right in front of his face.

Without restraint, Arrogon delivers a powerful punch at Ford’s jaw, and the Pegasus fall back hard. The overwhelming anger that Arrogon has been building up since his second confrontation with Ford is channeling his ruthless strength. But it didn’t stop there as the immensely enraged tyrant continues his demonic barrage through rapid strikes. Due the overwhelming power of those hits, Ford can barely make an evasive recovery in-between them, and Arrogon spins around and bucks the poor stallion right in the chest.

From that solid kick, Ford wheezes and coughs extremely before he can feebly gets up on his four hooves. But after he stands up, he nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees a ginormous sphere of blue fire coming right at him. However, what is more perplexing about this roaring attack is that this gigantic fireball has the eyes and extremely jagged teeth just like Arrogon’s!

Quickly, Ford breathes out his golden fire to create a defensive shield for the incoming inferno. At once, the Jack-O-Lantern’s raging, blue fire consumes the pony and greatly drives him back. Thankfully, Ford’s fire shield prevents him from being burnt alive. But as a tradeoff, he has to deal with the severe impact the spell’s incredible force. Once the blue flames disperse, the Pegasus keeps flying backwards until gravity takes hold and causes him to repeatedly tumble until he finally comes to a slow, agonizing stop.

While there are no burnt markings on Ford, his aching body is covered with scraps and minor bruises. From having to endure Arrogon’s latest assault, it was almost like being rammed by an oncoming train at full speed. If it wasn’t for Hindel’s training, he might have been broken beyond repair or dead for that matter. As the unrelenting Mustang feebly tries to get up from his latest scuffle, his battered face is firmly planted back in the ground when Arrogon heavily stomps him on the back of the head.

With a heavy, armored hoof still holding Ford down, Arrogon leans in closely to the pony’s right ear as he hisses to him in a deeply aggravating voice, “You know, I just realized something. Killing you just won’t be enough for me anymore. You're willing enough to sacrifice yourself for others, aren’t you? Yes, if I kill you right away, then you will be martyr, and afterwards, I’ll never get rid of those pesky rebels off of my back! So here’s what I’m going to do… once I beat you within an inch of your life, I’m going to find that marefriend of yours and bring her here before you. And the first thing I’m going to do to commemorate this little reunion is pluck out each and every single feather from her!”

Underneath his fore hoof, Arrogon can feel Ford flinching. Whether it is through fear of Rainbow Dash or through anger at his oppressor, Arrogon took deep satisfaction on how utterly powerless his pinned opponent is right now, so he carries on with sick pleasure, “Next, I’m going to rip her wings out of their sockets just for good measure! And after that, well… I’ll just improvise and see what comes to mind. But I can assure you… it will be slow and extremely painful! And you’re going to watch every single, agonizing moment she has to go through… all because of you! By the time her filthy carcass is reduced to a pile of ash, you’ll have no one to blame but your own damn self!”

For every grim threat Arrogon makes towards the pony’s marefriend, the immobile Mustang cringes repetitively under the tyrant’s fore hoof, so the Destroyer brings it to a close in a truly sadistic tone, “So I hope you are prepared for what I have in stored for you, because Rainbow Dash and I… we’re going to have one hell of a time!”

After the Arrogon finishes his dark promise, Ford Mustang continues to shake violently. But the Pegasus isn’t the only thing that is trembling. The ground underneath the two contenders quake spontaneously as Ford’s body glows brightly in a golden aura of energy. Just as a precaution, the struggling Arrogon puts a lot more strength into his stomping hoof. However, Ford’s increasing aura resists with a greater amount of force than the shadow pony would have expected. As the wild, fiery energy progressively pushes Arrogon off, immensely infuriated Ford stand ups from his submission. Until at last, he lets out all of his unbridled rage through a powerful dragon’s roar as his golden aura expands into an enormous typhoon!

Ford’s mighty cyclone of Draconian Magic tosses Arrogon aside before his body plows into the earth! Once he recovers, the Destroyer is flabbergasted at what’s before him. Ford Mustang is constantly radiating a tremendous amount of blazing energy as he coldly stares down at Arrogon with a severely livid expression on his face.

“I’m going to say this once and only once, Arrogon…

YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LAY A SINGLE HOOF ON HER FOR AS LONG AS I STILL LIVE!!”

And in a flash, Ford charges forward at lightning-fast speed before he uppercuts the startled Arrogon right underneath the jaw! The sky-rocketing punch sends the dark stallion flying at hundreds of feet in the air, but Ford isn’t done yet as he promptly takes off to carry on with his relentless assault on his greatest enemy! As soon as he reaches him, Mustang unleashes another punch to Arrogon, which keeps on send him higher than ever! Through the dense, dark clouds, the unstoppable stallion continues to fling the unresponsive tyrant higher with each powerful punch he throws at him! Each amplified strike from the Pegasus is like a thunderbolt as its golden light penetrates through the stormy clouds!

Surprisingly, they managed to break through the accursed, gloomy sky as the two rivals are greeted by the sun. For Ford, he welcomes the sun’s warming embrace after its absence for so long, but for Arrogon’s case, he hisses in extreme discomfort as he tightly shuts his flaming eyes away from the blinding, celestial light. Suddenly, the glaring light is block, and Arrogon begins to open his eyes up. But then, he freezes in midair as the silhouetted form of Ford Mustang rushes in a steep, rapid descent and sharply shoves his fore hooves into Arrogon’s back!

In the middle of their descent, the speed of their fall has increased dramatically! Far more so than what gravity would have allowed! Like a meteor entering the world’s atmosphere, an intense heat shield is formed around the two with Arrogon at the front taking the majority of the scorching friction!

“Let go, you wretched pony!” Arrogon hollers in anger as he desperately tries to break away from Ford’s iron grasp. “Let go of me right now!”

But Arrogon’s outcry would go unheard as Ford carries on sternly! Soon, the well-known vapor cone starts to oppose Ford’s velocity! However, that resistance is completely ignored as Mustang continues to push right through it! No matter how much friction he is dealing with, he has an important motive to pull off this seemly impossible feat, and it because of that drive which causes the stretched-out vapor cone to crack progressively!

And then… it finally happens!

KA-BOOM!!

For the first time since Rainbow Dash’s victory in the Best Young Flyer Competition, a new Sonic Rainboom emerges as its explosive shockwave stretches in countless miles from its origin point! Sharing its owner’s colors, the ever-expanding ring consists of various shades of blues and bright, gold streaks blended in-between! The allied forces nearly stopped whatever they were doing in the middle of their fighting as they silently awe at the spectacular display of this legendary phenomenon!

Meanwhile, with the nothing holding Ford back anymore, his Sonic Rainboom reaches supersonic speeds as he sends Arrogon on an inevitable crash course to the earth! The Destroyer is helpless to fight off such a powerful, unforeseen maneuver as he constantly screeches in agony and rage while having to endure the acceleration’s tremendous amount of force! Once Mustang is close enough to Equestria’s surface, he makes a drastically sharp turn away just as soon as he lets Arrogon go before the villain makes a deep impact unto the ground itself! From that crash landing, the aftermath causes a colossal explosion as it exuberates with the same bright colors as Ford’s blue and gold wake!

As for Ford, he tries to come to a nicer landing than Arrogon’s, but he isn’t used to such overpowering speed as his marefriend. Instinctively, all four of his hooves screech harshly as they dig into the unplanned runway while his wings spread out to help slow himself down. But his desperation didn’t help him that much as he trips and rapidly tumbles across the unpaved ground. After his harsh stumble, he finally comes to a halt.

With him lying on the ground, his body is covered with a lot more bruises and scraps, mainly from the imperfect landing he just performed earlier. His breathing rate is awfully heavy as he urgently gasps for as much air as possible. His first Sonic Rainboom took nearly everything he had to finally pull it off. His tense muscles are extremely sore after pushing his Pegasus body beyond its limits, and he has nearly exhausted all of his Draconian Magic to make it all count in the end.

As Ford makes a steady recovery while continuing his heavy breathing, he feebly walks toward the massive crater his last assault has made. After reaching the edge of that crater, he shockingly stares with wide, disbelief eyes at what’s at the center of that enormous hole: there lies Arrogon the Destroyer, face-downed, unconscious, and nearly scathed throughout his entire, demonic body. And what’s most notable about this is that Arrogon’s ominous armor is thoroughly shattered and scattered across the crash site. The only piece of craftsmanship that is completely intact is his accursed, tri-colored amulet.

Staring down at the seemingly lifeless Arrogon, Ford chuckles softly in the midst of his panting as he is certain that there is no way the fallen, broken tyrant can ever recover from an attack like that. However, the pony’s hopes over his victory start to die down as he sees Arrogon’s hooves twitching violently. Dreading on Arrogon’s resurrection, Ford greatly steps back from the crater as he attempts to regenerate his own strength and magic, so that he can prepare for the worst.

Sooner or later, Arrogon crawls out of his grave as his ruthlessly merciless gaze is locked on to Ford's. Once he makes it out of the huge crater, the ravaged Arrogon stands in place while he pants loudly in disgruntlement and pain. No longer is he standing so tall and full of his usual smugness; his posture is more hunched and his legs wouldn’t stop shaking from the aftermath of that Sonic Rainboom. His one-of-a-kind armor is destroyed and has exposed his bare body for the whole world to see, including his dark, blank flank he has concealed for so long. And from the looks of it, his fiery mane and tail is even wilder than ever.

Through his gritted, jagged teeth, he grumbles in a low, ferocious voice, “Ford… how dare you…

HOW DARE YOU CONTINUE TO DEFY ME!!”

Despite how deafening Arrogon’s immature outburst is, it didn’t faze Ford much, but that didn’t stop the pissed-off tyrant from expressing his absolute hatred over the silently stoic Mustang.

“You think you have what it takes to defeat me?! Just what the hell makes you so special in the first place?! Huh?! Because you shared the same master as I did?! Or the fact that neither one of us are defined by pointless Cutie Marks?! Well that’s where our similarities draw the line, Ford! While you desperately cling on to your mortal fragility and your pathetic friends, I cased aside those weaknesses long ago to achieve something that ponies would even dare to dream of!

You know, I really thought that I killed you after the first time we met! If you didn’t even bother to come back to challenge me once again, I never would have known and you could have just lived out the rest of your days in seclusion without me even noticing! And yet, despite that rare opportunity, you foolishly turned that down and sought to come back none of the less!

What I don’t understand is this: why bother to return at all?! You must have a clear understand over the vast difference in our powers, right?! No matter what you throw at me, I will always come back as strong as ever while your restricted strength will diminish over time! You just can’t be this stupid over such an obvious fact that can spell certain death when it’s right in front of you! So why do it anyway?! Why take that risk and throw your life over something where you didn’t have a chance to begin with?!”

As the demanding Arrogon edgily waits for a proper response, Ford takes a moment to think back on how to respond that question. It’s not he doesn’t have an answer for that; in fact, he has a lot of answers to choose from: for Hindel, for the good of the world, for his friends, and more importantly, for Rainbow Dash. Instead of deciding which reason to go for, Ford just breaks into a very shrew smile before he gives his straightforward answer to his impatient adversary.

“It’s simple really… because I can.”

…

“…GRRRRAAAAAAHHH!!”

Unable to comprehend such a simple yet mindboggling answer, Arrogon flies off into a mindless rampage as he charges for the stoic Mustang with absolute bloodlust in his eyes. Worn out from his first Sonic Rainboom, Ford is unable to evade as swiftly as before, so he can’t move away from the berserker’s oncoming charge. But in spite of how weak he has become, he is still able to stand his ground firmly.

Just as Ford prepares for what’s to come out of the charging monster, something miraculous appears before the stallion’s turquoise eyes! In a bright streak of six colors of a rainbow, a well-known Pegasus appears out of nowhere and delivers a long-overdue, righteous kick right into Arrogon’s gaping jaws! The flying kick was so blindingly fast, that the dark overlord certainly didn’t see it coming as he topples at a great distance away from the two Pegasi!

“Next time, keep your filthy hooves to yourself and away from my stallion!” she hollers at Arrogon, who is down for the count once again.

Ford gapes and stares at the awe-inspiring Pegasus mare hovering right in front of him. The proud mare responsible for that last-minute interference is the one and only Rainbow Dash, coming in for the rescue!

Author's Notes:

Ford Mustang vs. Arrogon the Destroyer - The Final Battle (1/2)

Regarding with Vinyl's entrance, I wish I can find a good soundtrack to go with that, but I can't think of anything fitting at the time. If you guys have suggestions regarding with something like that, let me know and I'll give it a listen. And if I like it, I'll input your name in here as a way to thank you.