Her world had ended...that was the only possible explanation for what she saw, the only thing that would make sense of the scene unfolding below. Twilight stood, overlooking the cliff edge as her companions formed behind her. She watched as Daybreak had turned to see her almost the moment she had appeared...then her world had shattered. She watched as Sombra had wrapped his hooves around Daybreaks chest and impaled them both, then appeared in front of him like nothing had happened. She had wanted to look away, but watched on helplessly as Sombra had brought his blade down into Daybreaks back, shoving both into the dirt. Daybreaks aura had evaporated as he dropped, and Twilight desperately waited for him to rise...but he did not. He stayed face down in the dirt, his necklace sprawled out in front of him as the king merely chuckled and walked past him, his cape dragging over Daybreaks body. The kings eyes locked onto hers, and she found the ability to move once more. She screamed in fury, her wings flared outwards to match her anger, then she ran and dove over the cliff, rocketing herself towards Sombra!

Trixie and the rest of her friends who had also witnessed the scene unfold, suddenly remembered that they too could move and began to act. Aecious was the first one to notice the Crystal Heart resting neatly on the ground, for he too, was unable to look at the scene playing out down below, he managed to hide the small tears that formed in his eyes as he reached out and grasped up the Heart in his hooves.

"Don't even think about running off with that!"

Shining Star seemed to materialize next to him the moment he touched it. Aecious gave him a glare, after making sure his face was free of water

"Really?....Honestly...I mean come on, do you really think I'd come all the way out here just to steal this?"

"No...I think you're the shadiest one here and I don't know what you really want, so I'm just covering all the bases of general distrust"

Rolling his eyes, Aecious nudged Trixie and motioned at the heart in his hooves

"This is what he really wants, regardless of what happens, we must make sure he does not get his hooves on the heart."

It seemed only fitting that the moment the words left Aecious' lips, a small horde of changelings decided to rain down next to them and make a grab for the crystal.

"Fan-bucking-tastic" Shining Star whined as he gave the first one who approached, a swift buck to the face "Changelings...it had to be changelings"

"Deal with it!" Aecious replied, sweep kicking a pair of the drones off their hooves.

The small horde that seemed to invade their cliff side grew slightly, as more of the insectoids rained around them. Aecious grabbed one around the neck, then swiftly lifted and threw him into an oncoming pair successfully knocking them back. Three more quickly approached him from the right and he narrowly avoided being bitten by their sharp fangs as they lunged out for him. He summersaulted away, then caught himself in the air with his wings, and propelled himself back at them. Not seeing the quick switch from retreat to attack coming, they were caught off guard as Aecious smashed his skull into the closest drones ribs, then sent him crashing into the other two.

Several more approached and surrounded him on all sides and began trying to smack him around inside their circle. The first one to reach out for him was the most unlucky. He grabbed the drone by the hoof and swung him like a baseball bat into the next closest. Fighting the endless drone horde, all while keeping the Crystal Heart within his grasp was becoming extremely difficult, as he kept having to switch the hoof carrying it so he could defend himself.

As he swapped the heart to his right hoof and slammed a drone attempting to bite him, into the dirt, one came at him from his right flank. He didn't have the time to change hooves as another came for his front, he grabbed the first one by the neck with his free hoof, then used it to push himself back at the flanker. Although the drone hadn't expected it, he reacted too well for Aecious to out maneuver him, and ended up tackling the pegasus to the ground and attempting to swipe and bite at his neck. Aecious moved and ducked his neck out of the reach of its jaws, while trying to swipe its own clawed hooves away from his face. The next snap of jaws came too close and he reacted by shoving the Heart into its mouth, forcing it to stay open. He saw several others quickly approaching his position, he knew he could not beat them back effectively while pinned under this drone, but he saw no easy way out without sacrificing a limb to be bitten and poisoned. He had learned from past experience changeling fangs had a numbing poison in them meant to help subdue foes.

As he struggled under the weight of his current problem, Aecious saw the new on comers suddenly swept away by a huge blast of wind. Then, just as suddenly, a random rope appeared and snaked its way around his current attacker, then pulled it off him. He was quickly on his hooves as the drone was hog tied ad tossed away. He quickly caught Trixie's eyes as she stood a few feet away and winked at him

"Your welcome"

He grimaced...great...now he owed her.

Her gloating caused her to nearly be struck by another attacker, but Aecious flying-kicked it away with the help of his wings, at the last moment. He quickly turned and gave her the smuggest look he could muster

"Your welcome"

She fumed and took it out on their next attackers, who quickly found them selves hanging upside down in the air as Aecious smacked them around one by one.

Hearing a quick yelp, Aecious and Trixie turned, then ran to assist Shining Star who was bravely, but stupidly, wrestling off and fighting with, a good ten to fifteen drones at once.

.....

Twilight's fury towards Sombra became unbottled like a hurricane from Tartarus as she flew towards him. Her hell-fire stare bore straight into Sombra's eyes, so much so, that he could see the hatred boiling before she ever reached him. She smashed into the ground approximately ten feet from the king, sending out a wave of jet black, fiery aura. She stood from her small crater, her eyes blazing with black flames curling against the edges of her eye lashes. All the pain in her body from Sombra's curse was replaced by a bottomless feeling of hatred and a desire to destroy the King!

Daring Do and Rainbow Dash, who had recently moved out of there cover to assist in fighting the changelings, watched as Twilight advanced on Sombra, a crazed, homicidal rage etched across her face. Rainbow could never imagine somepony like Twilight wearing such a look, the only comparison she could make was back to when she had thought she missed a deadline for the Princess that never existed in the first place. This however was a whole new level for the purple mare, and were they not currently surrounded by changelings, Rainbow would have run to assist her friend without hesitation.

Sombra felt no fear build inside him as the alicorns power rolled off her and touched his senses. He felt the weight of her might sweep over him, it felt like lead had been placed upon his back, making it difficult to stand straight and tall. Yet despite these feelings and the power he could sense from her, he was still unafraid. Her power was pure rage, and it was uncontrolled, she would not be much of a threat in such a state. Add to that, he could tell that hers was a much less power than Daybreak's had been previously. Although Daybreak hadn't tried using the king's own power against him until the very end, so this could still be a potentially interesting fight, but he was unconcerned, as he still knew the end result would not change regardless.

"Sombra!"

The purple alicorns voice was filled with venom, the king found it amusing, but nevertheless could feel the power behind it.

"I'm going to send you to Tartarus!" her rage sent droplets of magic literally dripping off her horn and scalding the ground beneath her hooves.

"Oh really? I find that hard to be-"

Crash!

Before his sentence was even finished, Sombra felt himself smashed into the ground, crushed under the weight of what felt like a small mountain, but he knew it was only a magically increased boulder....nevertheless it hurt like hell! The king reappeared as a shadow and took solid form, but other than that, he was given no chance to retaliate. The moment he was solid, the ground opened up beneath him, seemingly to fall to his death, but before he could, it smashed against him instead. He was pinned into the ground with only his head sticking above the dirt as the weight of the planet was smashed against him from both sides, holding him firmly in place. His head now spinning in pain as stars danced in his vision, Sombra noticed the outline of Twilight slowly walking towards him.

It wasn't that he was worried for his safety, he was King Sombra after all...but that look in the alicorns eyes, the black flames seemed to fit her better than anypony else, and that maniacal stare she looked at him with, he could swear it was a smile...it certainly made him uncomfortable...if nothing else, he feared her crazed smile more than anything. The mare in question slowly strutted her way towards him, her walk did not suit her body, it was too...content...too calm for such a mare as her, especially given the circumstances. She made it all the way to Sombra's buried form and lowered her head to his. She stared deep into his cold, flaming eyes and he stared right back, but found it difficult not to look away. Her gaze was piercing him like his own crystals would her, and then...she smiled at him. It wasn't a normal smile, it was a broken smile. One that said "I'm bucking crazy now, find me somepony to dismember please". Unfortunately for Sombra, he was the only pony around to be the object of her torment. She winked at him

"I'm going to enjoy this"

There was an almost sultry look in her gaze, not seductive or sex craving, but a kind of weird enjoyment that he did not find comforting at all. Sombra watched as she raised her horn and the black flames rushed to surround it in their veil of dark power. Once it was bursting from the tip with power, she aimed it down at him. Her horn was almost touching the tip of his nose, so close that he went cross eyed trying to focus on it. At that range...her spell would most defiantly destroy even him. The moment she fired he warped away, appearing behind her for a surprise attack. Twilight seemed to have anticipated him because a black force field had already erupted around her, forcing him to back off and wait for her next attack.

The King didn't have to wait long, mere seconds after turning back around to face him, Twilight charged him again. This time though, he was ready. He waited until she was directly upon him, her horns dark blaze mere feet from his face...then he let loose a roar, exploding an energy wave outwards from within his horn! The shockwave propelled Twilight away and shook the ground under their hooves! Twilight quickly struggled to her hooves, but it seemed Sombra was not finished yet, he continued to release energy pulses from within his horn, the force and power growing with each blast. Soon the whole canyon was beginning to shake under the force of his magic! Twilight shook her head, clearing the stars from her eyes from being knocked back yet again by his pulses. She was forced up against the rock face by his waves and was unable to get much distance from it without being knocked right back. She heard a crackling sound and looked above her. The cliffs were beginning to become unstable from all the magic pulses ripping through them. A large boulder broke from its prison and rocketed towards Twilight!

The princess let out a yelp of fear and dove out of range just in time. The boulder shattered into pieces as it struck the grassy, yet surprisingly hard, ground below. Her rage forgotten, she was now more focused on not being crushed by falling debris from this lunatic king...But it seemed like many of her friends were not as aware of the danger as she was.

.....

Aecious felt the ground beneath him give way, he flapped his wings madly and dove for safe ground, grasping a stable piece of cliff side and pulling himself up just in time. The Crystal Heart rolled out of his grasp in his dive and he could now see it sitting a mere few feet away. Finishing his pull onto the cliff he made for the heart with all his speed. A random drone had the misfortune of beating him to it and was instantly soccer kicked back off the cliff. Two more crashed down in front of Aecious inches from the heart, but to his relief they did not rise up, seemingly unconscious from the fall. Aecious quickly shot a glance upward and saw Shining Star grasp two more of the changelings around their necks and summersault throw them back to the ground. Their crash was painful to watch, even for Aecious...intentional or not, he was pretty sure they were dead, although considering the thrower, he doubted it had been intentional. Scooping up the Heart in his hooves he turned to see a large swarm attacking Trixie. She blasted them back with a wave of magic, mocking them as she did so...but her exhaustion was becoming apparent. She was hunching over after each spell, her hat was lopsided and barely still on her head, and her accuracy was slipping dramatically. Had that last attack not been a wave, he was pretty sure it would have missed her targets. She seemed aware of it too, perhaps that was why she was using such attacks.

Aecious galloped to assist the mare, but was intercepted by large squad of his own. Meanwhile, more drones came after Trixie, she avoided their attacks as much as she could, but found it near impossible to strike back. Finally one landed a blow on her face, sending her hat spinning away and knocking her to the ground, dazed. The dog pile was instantaneous, every drone near dove on top of Trixie and attempted to beat on or bite her!

Aecious saw this and yelled for her, but was unable to reach her as his own problem refused to leave him be. He quickly smashed his hoof into the closest drones face and decided to ignore the rest. He spread his wings and took off for Trixie, his hood flying off at his sudden burst of speed. He immediately could tell the other drones were after him, but he didn't care as long as he could smash through and free Trixie. He felt the image of Daybreak being impaled flash across his mind, suddenly his wings surged with strength and he felt the distance between him and the drones ahead close extremely fast.

Before Aecious could smash through the pile of drones on top of Trixie, a large explosion formed and spread from within the mass of insect bodies. Every drone, and Aecious was sent rocketing backwards, many smashed into the rock faces and did not get back up. Aecious was lucky and only skidded against the ground until he could right himself. He brought up his head and saw Trixie standing where the pile had previously been, red magic dominating her eyes and horn, the Alicorn Amulet blazing across her chest!

"What! She brought that with her?!" Aecious was in shock that Trixie would take such a risk bringing something like that near Sombra

With a newly rejuvenated vigor, Trixie snatched up the nearest drones in a red bubble of magic and began to toss them one after the other over the side of the cliff. With little to no effort, she turned, and sent several rays of magic at the nearest drones. With her aim restored to its fullest, her beams met their mark and left many of the changelings as a random assortment of plants. The many drones that had previously surrounded Aecious now turned their attention towards the larger threat at hoof. They sped towards the blue mare, but faired no better than their previous comrades, many of them ending up as small pieces of fruit.

Aecious marveled at Trixie's newfound might, he had never seen the Alicorn Amulet in action before, and now that he saw just how powerful it could truly make a unicorn, he almost regretted telling Trixie of its whereabouts. Although at the current moment it seemed to be saving their flanks, so he didn't mind so much.

Trixie defeated the rest of the drones in a matter of minutes, giving Aecious and Shining Star a moment to relax. Their moment was, unfortunately, cut short as the cliff side they were standing on began to start crumbling away again. Another wave of magic tore through the ground beneath their hooves. Aecious was forced to take to the air as the ground below him gave way and fell to the canyon below...right towards where Rainbow Dash and Daring Do were fighting!

.....

A flash of rainbow flew by her mane as Daring Do turned to see several changeling drones that had previously been behind her, hit the ground with loud thumps. Rainbow Dash darted back and forth between the ranks of the changelings, swatting them around like they were play things. Daring Do actually had to struggle to beat her mare to any of the drones, she found it oddly hot to watch her special somepony beat the snot out of an army of insect-like creatures. It was just one of those things you can't help but be turned on by, no matter how odd it really was.

Daring grabbed the closest drone by the legs and tossed him into the swarm that Rainbow was headed for, successfully knocking them apart before she ever reached them.

"Sttttttrike!" Daring pumped her hoof into the air as Rainbow landed next to her.

She turned to high hoof her mare, but stopped in her tracks as she caught wind of her expression. There wasn't a hint of happiness in it, but there was plenty of anger. Daring could see Rainbow's eyes darting around, presumably to find another drones to beat into the dirt. She hadn't even begun to consider how Rainbow might have been feeling right then, she did feel guilty about it now. They had just jumped right into the fray the moment Twilight had shown up, Daring had never gotten a chance to say anything to Rainbow about Daybreak. Not that she would know what to say in the first place, she was used to watching allies fall, it came with her job. Other than Rainbow Dash, Daring could watch just about anypony fall without it changing her.

Rainbow Dash was much different though, she hadn't lived her life around death and destruction...ok maybe destruction, but not death. Daring could only imagine how she must be feeling inside right now, she couldn't say any words that would fix it, but perhaps she should try...

Daring reached her hoof out for Rainbow's shoulder "Rainbow Dash.."

Rainbow turned and brushed her hoof away before it landed "There's more coming, let's go"

Simple, blunt, to the point, direct...straight up. No matter how she phrased it to herself it had been an emotionless remark to her that was only meant to inform, not damage. Yet somehow Daring found her body unwilling or unable to move as Rainbow Dash flew towards the oncoming swarm ahead, her eyes remained glued in a wide ark of shock. Even as she watched her special somepony collide with the swarm and begin demolishing them, she could not find the will to move. Rainbow Dash was a mare of emotion, she put feeling into everything she did, into every breath she took and every task she set her mind to. For her to say something so void of feeling, caused Daring to feel sick in her stomach. Rainbow Dash was in agonizing pain, she could feel it, she knew it was true. She knew because...that was just how she had sounded...the very first time...

"NO!" She stomped her hoof into the dirt and flared her nostrils.

"She will not become like me!"

She screamed and propelled herself forward into the swarm of fighting changelings ahead. She crashed into several of the drones on her way in, but she didn't care, she wanted them all gone now! She swung, kicked, bit, and head butted every drones she came across until her and Rainbow had cleared the whole area of conscious changelings. Daring's eyes immediately found Rainbows mane, she had her back to her. Without a second thought, Daring Do dove forward and tackled Rainbow Dash onto her back. She instantly began to struggle and buck outwards, thinking a drone had gotten hold of her. It was only when she took the time to look into Daring's face that she realized she was fighting her marefriend and began to get up, but found a pair of hooves planted firmly against her chest not allowing her to rise.

"Let me up Daring"

"Not until you hear me out Rainbow"

"I said let me up Daring!"

"NO DASHIE!"

Her rise in pitch caused her voice to crack, giving the impression that she was crying, which was not far from the truth. Daring felt like crying, seeing Rainbow Dash like this. Rainbow had frozen the moment Daring had yelled, she looked into Daring's eyes and found them staring back into hers.

"Rainbow Dash..."

The flood gates of her eyes opened without warning, she burst into tears right there under Daring Do's hooves. Daring was frantic

"What did I do...all I said was her name"

She felt Rainbow's hoofs wrap around her body and pull her into a warm embrace, Daring did not resist. She let Rainbow cry into her fur and empty out her sadness onto her.

"So much emotion...in everything she does"

The thought was almost enough to make her smile, but she withheld it for Rainbow's sake.

Rainbow held Daring tightly, neither of them noticing the wave until it knocked them on their flanks. The magical wave swept straight through them, and the cliff above. Daring looked up and saw the incoming debris in time, she pushed Rainbow and dove out of the way of certain death. Both mares made it to their hooves seconds later, only to be surrounded by a small changeling horde that seemed to decide defeating them was more important than the falling mountain. Daring flared her wings, but Rainbow dashed past her and took into the air, the fire returning to her tear stained eyes, she drew off several of the drones after her. She flew straight up into the falling debris, dodging the boulders with ease while the drones below her were smashed or slammed back towards the ground.

Daring battled with the remained drones, there was still more than enough to cause her some concern, but she had faced worse odds several times before. She dove under the legs of he nearest drones and kicked him skyward, then grabbed the second closest and pushed him to the ground in a leg lock. She held his face against the dirt, daring any of the others to come forward. The first one that did had his ally pushed into his face, then had Daring's hoof connect with it from behind as she sent them both flying. Another went for her legs and she stomped his face into the dirt and turned in time for another to make a sweep for her muzzle. She reacted and swiped her hat off her head and slammed it down over the drones mouth, then punched him in the jaw while repeatedly kicking his partner back into the dirt!

Rainbow Dash swooped through the falling sediments with ease, mostly out maneuvering the drones and causing them to crash into the boulders rather than fight them all head on. Suddenly a drone shot up from underneath her and made a grab for her mid rim, she grasped it by the muzzle and sunk her knee into its mouth, then sent back down to the earth. She looked down and watched it crash into a drone in front of Daring, causing her a brief look of satisfaction, but her look quickly vanished as she yelled something incoherent while pointing behind Rainbow. She turned and found a huge boulder inches from her face, but before she could scream or react a purple beam struck its side and exploded. The boulder was reduced to dust that flew everywhere, blinding Rainbow in its cloud.

She frantically rubbed her eyes in pain attempting to clear the dust from them. Then she heard a brief snap followed by blinding pain! Suddenly her left wing stopped working and she began to plummet quickly towards the earth

"Damn! A larger piece of rock must have hit my wing...I think it might be broken!"

She struggled to remain in the air with just one working wing, but nature would not have it as several more large boulder found there way to her. They all struck her and shot her straight back towards the ground! Daring screamed Rainbows name as she fell and ran to catch her, but her brief moment of distraction left her unguarded, and every changeling around her took their chance to abuse it. With one large leap, every drone piled on top of Daring Do and began sinking their teeth into any piece of flesh they could find. She tried to scream in pain, but her whole body was already going numb. She could only watch in horror through the drones as Rainbow Dash and the rest of the debris landed on top of them. Daring watched it hit, but felt nothing...then her world went numb along with her....

Author's Notes:

Yes the chapter updates are back!
Aren't you thrilled?!
I didn't think so...but you get them anyways :3
Once again, coming in on the home stretch here...how will it end I wonder :3
Maybe not quite how you predict
Have fun guessing till you read the next chapters