"Ahh... much better!" Adagio smiled as she looked at the ruined ships and how quickly the storm had cleared up. "I was never a fan of rain, to be perfectly honest..."

"Yeah," said Sonata, "It's good on occasion, but definitely not here..."

"Now that the clouds are clear, the Lyrican Fleets should be moving in any second now..." Sunset said with confidence as her wings flapped slowly.

"I guess we win again." Twilight said, sheathing her blade.

Everyone murmured and spoke to each other now that the chaos had died down in the skies. Patting each other and talking of strategies to deal with the rest of the Malefics in the area, they failed to notice Annihilation fly out of the top of the ship.

"So... You're the women of the trinity who sent these worlds on a roller-coaster ride of fate?" he said, his voice loud enough to reach their ears.

"Who's there?!" Adagio drew her sword and took up a battle stance. "Show yourself!"

In answer to Adagio's demand, Annihilation descended from the sky and put himself in front of the destroyed flagship. Wielding his two warhammers with a glimmer of rage in his eyes, he was ready for a battle to the death.

"A hand-picked group of childish ladies, dreaming about the worlds accepting the Magic of Friendship, want to topple the combined weight of the entire Malefic species?!" he said jokingly, "Haha! What a riot," he swung his hammers, generating a powerful static link between the two. "Your death awaits at the hands of the almighty Annihilation; Third of the Six Signs of the End!"

Third Sign of the End

ANNIHILATION

"You ladies have gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble with your oppression of our kind," Annihilation continued, "Because of your constant attempts to repulse our species, you are tipping the balance closer and closer towards the wrong side," he smirked, "But then again, considering the atrocities The Dazzlings committed, I'd say that comes as no surprise..."

Rainbow Dash huffed, tightening her grip on her weapon before being silenced by Adagio's arm.

"Don't try to provoke him, Rainbow Dash," Adagio warned her, "You don't know what this one is capable of..."

"What are you planning on doing with The Shadowbolts?!" Twilight demanded, her fists tightening up the more she thought about it.

"The Shadowbolts? You mean those maggots from Earth?" Annihilation laughed mockingly, then calmed down after a while. "It's interesting how evolution works, girls. In time, even the smallest speck can become a powerful tool of destruction in the right hands..."

"Enough, Annihilation!" Aria shouted, "You lay so much as a finger on them and so help me—"

"You'll rip me limb from limb and then feed me the pieces one by one?" Annihilation said, predicting Aria's insult and causing her to hold her tongue. "I think not..."

"I'm sure that we don't need to remind you that we have to issue you warnings," Sunset Shimmer flew forward and looked Annihilation in the eyes. "Under the bi-laws of Lyrican and Equestrian law, we demand that you cease and desist your actions against Equestria; otherwise, we'll have to use force."

"Ha! You don't even know the meaning of the word!" Annihilation retorted, "But why just taunt you, when I can SHOW YOU?"

"Bring it..." Adagio was ready for combat.

Annihilation spun his hammers around faster and faster, creating a stronger current of electricity between them. The more charge he built up, the bigger his grin became as he saw The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings ready to counter whatever attack he would make.

Suddenly, Annihilation fired his blast at the remains of the Maelstrom fleet, creating a massive web of lightning that linked the ships together before they all deconstructed into massive slabs of ruined metal and machinery. Looking back at his opponents, he gripped the handles normally and held them in a stationary position.

"Uh, why did you just destroy your own fleet?" Applejack tilted her head to Annihilation's actions. "Ain't that a key part in trying to take over Equestria?"

"Yes. Yes it is, Applejack," Annihilation responded, but didn't have any emotion in his voice at all. "Unfortunately, it served me no purpose as a ship graveyard," he then took in a massive torrent of Malefic Energy, ready to create his Titan of the End. "But... I think it'll truly help me as armour!"

"What's happening?" Cadence asked.

"Brace yourselves, princesses..." Adagio's brows lowered as she watched the transformation begin. "He's becoming a Titan of the End!"

In a powerful burst of darkness, Annihilation absorbed the wrecks of the ships that he had destroyed. The new beast that emerged from the blast was revealed to be a bipedal monster with a deformed face and colossal black spiky wings. The ships had turned into armour pieces for each limb of the beast, as well as a powerful chest plate, back plate, helmet, and wing pieces, fully protecting it from major damage. The generators that were creating the storm were now poking out of the titan's back, generating an even stronger storm than the one before it. Finally, the massive ship that Annihilation had once been commandeering was now two colossal warhammers that acted precisely like the ones he was using before. With a thunderous roar, Annihilation's transformation was now complete.

Third Titan of the End

ANNIHILATION (Titan Form)

"THIS IS WHERE THE DAZZLINGS DIE, AND THE MALEFICS RESTORE ORDER TO THESE FRACTURED WORLDS!" Annihilation's titan shouted at the top of its lungs, blowing the entire group into the storm and throwing them around like ragdolls in a washing machine. Seeing his prey helpless, the colossal Malefic slammed the hammer against their backs as they were spun, knocking them back into the centre of the storm. "WHERE THE OTHERS FAIL, ANNIHILATION, THE STORM BRINGER, SUCCEEDS!"

Adagio saw that he was preparing for an overhead strike, and acted by spreading her wings and teleporting the group in response. She and her allies all reappeared behind Annihilation and readied themselves for a decisive battle that would either drive the Malefics out of Ponyville and Canterlot, or be the death of the protectors of the trinity.

"Team, this Malefic isn't listening to reason, just like all the rest..." Adagio rallied The Rainbooms, the princesses, and the reserves for combat. "You know what must be done..."

"On it," Twilight fist-pumped. "We slay it into the ground!"

"Now, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, I understand that killing isn't your thing, "Adagio her attention towards the three alicorns. "But with the Malefics, there is no reformation; there is no locking them up; and there is absolutely no mercy with these unholy spawns of the darkness!"

"What Adagio is trying to say is that these monsters are evil for the sake of evil," Sonata explained the general gist of the situation. "Malefics are created from the darkness within the hearts of every life-form, and can vary depending on how much evil has built up within the victims they assault. Because of this, they feel no sorrow, remorse, or fear of murdering humans, ponies, and Lyricans..."

"It seems unorthodox to use our powers to destroy these creatures..." Luna examined the giant that was ready to fight. "But if what you say is true, Dazzlings, then what must be done will be done..."

"Alright then," Adagio returned her gaze to Annihilation. "Team! Take him down!"

"ON IT!" everyone shouted in response with their weapons of choice at the ready.

Annihilation begun the fight by swinging his hammer around casually, creating little balls of lightning that homed in on and rushed towards the females at fast speeds. He simply watched as The Dazzlings knocked the orbs away, causing them to explode a short while afterwards. Most of the blasts were far away from him, and the ones that did collide were merely absorbed by the massive armour that he was wearing.

Adagio charged in and tried to puncture his armour to strike a weak point, but every blow she made merely bounced off of the armour and made herself vulnerable to a counter-attack.

Taking Adagio's inability to shatter the armour he was wearing, Annihilation threw out his arms and created a powerful electrical pulse that shocked her with a powerful surge that would have incapacitated a regular human or pony. He merely watched the Lyrican leader shake violently as the electricity coursed through her body and came out of her arms and legs. Eventually, he smashed her away with his left hammer, then teleported to strike her with the other one as she careened towards his new position. This went on and on for five strikes, before he prepared for the fatal blow.

Twilight, seeing that Adagio was going to die if not aided quickly, took it upon herself to strike back against the Malefic. She waited until Annihilation brought down his hammers from the sky, then fired a powerful concentration of magic at the titan's face to blind it. This in turn, caused it to just barely miss Adagio by the hairs on her head.

Annihilation recovered from Twilight's spell, but did not see Rainbow Dash kick him in the eye. The sudden attack he took caused him to stumble back and leave himself open for The Dazzlings to turn the tables.

Aria and Sonata helped Adagio recover from the lightning that had struck her, and saw that Twilight and her friends were all attacking Annihilation together. Striking mainly at his face, they were all giving him no time to recover. The Dazzlings all nodded, flew towards the chaos, and readied another summon to defeat the Titan of the End.

"Linzrekai Dingralyranko!" The Dazzlings combined red streams to forge a beast from Dystopia.

The monster that was created from the Furen Energy was a bipedal warrior with squid-like appendages growing out of it. Heavily armed with eyes that had the colours of The Dazzlings, and with more red energy being charged up, it was ready to face down Annihilation and make the fight even.

"Alright, Cthulhu! Dinner's served!" Sonata shouted as the beast from Dystopia moved in.

Twilight and The Rainbooms saw Cthulhu approach, and pulled back so that they weren't in the way of its' attack. They watched and cheered as the tentacles all struck against the Malefic's armour, knocking it back away.

Cthulhu and the giant armoured beast exchanged blows with each other for a long time before Adagio, Sunset, Twilight, and the princesses all contributed their power to defeating the Malefic. It soon turned into a laser light show within a fist fight as Annihilation's armoured eventually begin to show small dents and cracks.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Annihilation spun its hammers around, making circles. Then, all of a sudden, it vanished into the stratosphere, away from the sight of the heroines. A few seconds later, a blue twinkle appeared in the sky, which quickly turned into the titan speeding down towards Cthulhu like a meteor. "DIE, MAGGOTS!" the hammers came down, creating a cataclysmic explosion of black lightning that vaporized the Dystopian entirely.

As Adagio struggled against the powerful aftershocks from the explosion, she saw that the attack had exhausted Annihilation, and left a lot of cracks in the titan's back plate. There was a gap big enough for the whole group to fly in so that they could deal with the Malefic inside.

Leading the way, The Dazzlings took everyone inside the exhausted titan, through lots of internal organs and dark energy to eventually reach the core and find the real Annihilation.

Finally, they arrived, but saw an entirely different core from the ones that Pandemonium and Chaos had resided in. This one seemed more like a hall with banners draped down from the walls; each one bearing the Malefic insignia of a pair of claws and talons bursting from a black mass with gleaming red eyes. There were also other weapons located in the room, but they were all hung up on racks. Finally, there was a throne with Annihilation wired into it via black veins. He slowly stood up and faced down Adagio Dazzle head on.

"You know, Adagio, I admire your steeled resolve in facing down our entire species like that," he said, spinning his hammers around as he stepped down from his throne. "But you should know that darkness cannot be stopped. It will merely be slowed, but never entirely vanquished. Not by you, not by your friends, not even by every pure of heart life form in each of the worlds in the trinity..."

"I'm fully aware of that," Adagio responded. "But I also know that your way of enforcing the balance of light and darkness is simply barbaric, and must be stopped at all costs."

"You are a fool, preventing the darkness from spreading, Adagio Dazzle. And you too, Rainbooms of Equestria," Annihilation went on. "The Blasters did a good deed by stripping you of the darkness," he smirked, "Without it, you will simply slip deeper and deeper into the light, until it becomes your own self-destruction..."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight tipped her hand and raised a brow, unaware on what Annihilation was trying to explain.

"The longer you go without your darknesses, the stronger and stronger your light becomes," Annihilation continued, "And the more light you embrace, the bigger your shadows get," he was right next to Twilight by this point. "If you cannot return Midnight to your chains, you will simply become the light itself, nullifying the barrier that keeps the darkness from consuming you entirely," he looked at the rest of the group. "Same goes for your little friends here. If they can't take down the Malefics The Blasters stole from their bodies, it won't be long before our kind bulldoze you all with ease..."

"That's enough!" Twilight slit Annihilation's throat, causing him to stumble backwards and leak black act as if he were dying. She shot a quick grin, but lost it when the liquid simply flowed back into his neck and sealed the wound afterwards.

"Fight it all you want, but it will be true, soon enough..." Annihilation charged in and struck Twilight on the head with his hammers, then turned towards Adagio Dazzle. He lunged forward and had his weapon collide with her swords. "You wish to let greed destroy you?" he said as he tried pushing her back. "So be it..."

The whole room rumbled as the Titan of the End finally got back up, held out its hammers to the side, and created a powerful column of lightning at his position in the sky; creating a web that linked the two kingdoms together and simply increased in voltage.

"Try fighting back all you want, Dazzlings..." Annihilation leaped back and fought against the whole group as best as he could, but found himself severely outmatched. Despite his odds, he simply smiled, as if he was accepting defeat. "But eventually, your beliefs will destroy you; one way or another..." with one last struggle, he repeatedly banged his hammers against the ground, creating bolts of lightning that struck every one of his opponents over and over again.

The girls all took the damage before Celestia, Luna, and Cadence unleashed the full force of their powers against Annihilation. Rays of gold, dark blue, and cerulean smashed against the humanoid, knocking him against the throne and welding him to it so that The Dazzlings could finish it off.

"Thanks for the heads up, princesses!" Sunset shot them a smile before she, The Rainbooms, and The Dazzlings dealt a long combo that slashed off Annihilation's arms and legs before decapitating his head.

"Derlramrakan, Kinglospringreks!" The Dazzlings said, cutting the head of the Malefic in half before the energy shot out of the body.

On the outside, a massive winged serpent with sharp fangs was created from the red energy, whilst Obedium, the Euphorian Deity of Obedience, was created from the blue. Obedium's many tentacles restrained the Titan of the End and caused it to let go of the weapons it was carrying.

The serpent saw the Euphorian Deity prevent its meal from escaping. Nodding, it charged in and viciously bit off the arms before ripping the body to pieces. It allowed The Dazzlings, Rainbooms, reserves and princesses to escape from the head before it was swallowed whole. It then let out a roar, stopping the storm entirely.

When the wind died down to a gentle breeze, Adagio watched as the hammers faded away into nothingness with the death of the Third Sign of the End.

"Now that's one way of getting hammered..." Pinkie Pie joked as the Malefics all fled from the area in panic. "Well, I guess we've earned ourselves some more R&R. Right, Dagi?"

"Wait a second..." Adagio felt something in the air; something she had never felt before. "I can still feel the presence of darkness within the area..."

"Where, exactly?" Sunset asked, "Are there more Malefics who want to continue the fight, even without a leader?"

"No..." Aria could feel it as well. She put a hand on her chin and stroked it. "I can feel a sort of displacement in the sky. As if a hole in the fabric of reality just got ripped open..."

It took a while for Adagio to figure out the cause of the strange sensation in the air, until she finally looked up and saw a black star growing in mass, heading directly for the kingdoms. She gasped loudly as the star broke the atmosphere; it was ready to destroy everything in its' path.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, seeing the star for herself.

"FULL RETREAT!" Adagio screamed, getting everyone to dash away from the star.

It was only there for a split second, but Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk could all see that the star was actually a giant arrow made of Malefic Energy. It had a sharp tip and spikes poking out of the back of it.

All of a sudden, the arrow collided with Equestria, creating a devastating explosion that only grew in size by the second. It quickly engulfed both Ponyville and Canterlot, leaving absolutely no trace of life behind as the winds through the heroines into the distance faster than they could fly away from it.

Twilight, Sunset, and Celestia let out screams as they were helplessly launched away from the disaster that had befallen their kingdoms. It wasn't long before their friends added their cries of terror. They barely had any time to find out who had launched the arrow; let alone where it had come from in the first place.

Author's Notes:

Prepare yourselves in the next chapter, because things are about to get real...