Powers and Ideals

All thirteen, the bearers plus one dragon alongside the Six Heroes, were running towards the northern part of Ponyville hoping to avert disaster quickly. As they hasten their steps, the screams of innocent ponies pierced their ears. Ahead, many of the ponies were running away from the creatures that spawned within the Everfree Forest. To the bearers’ surprise, the creatures running amok were those of the constellations, “What in tarnation?! When did ‘ey decided t’ start terrorizin’ Ponyville!?”

“I have no idea! But we better get the ponies out of the way!” All of Twilight’s friends nodded and separated themselves to get area that needed help the most. Twilight picked up Spike with her magic ad set him on her back. Before she left, she stopped and looked at the six that were following, “Think you can handle them all?”

All six looked at what they were facing. Though shaken at first, they unsheathed their weapons, their intent blazing within their eyes, “Creatures spawned from the heavens I presume?” Twilight nodded despite every inch of her body to move now. A smile formed on all six seeing her worry, “Do not worry, we can handle as long as we can! Now go Twilight!” She let a smile as she ran with Spike on her back to the nearest area needing assistance.

Vargas turned his attention to the star-spawns that were coming forth from the entrance of the Everfree Forest. A voice cut his thoughts and to his surprise, it was the thunder hero, “You think we can really beat them Vargas? Even after what you said?”

He turned around to see his friend smiling despite the circumstances. A knowing chuckle escaped the fire hero, “To an extent, yes. You Eze? I thought your blood was pumping for some action…”

The thunder hero could only raise sword to his shoulder giving the smirk everyone knew as one of his boastful smirks, “Pffft, yeah! Of course my blood is pumping! I’m excited for this! Are you!?” Vargas just shrugged seeing that they distracted themselves long enough. He looked to his other allies who all nodded as they bore their weapons in their hands. A smile emerged as he turned around seeing the star-spawns surging forth. He took one last look at his allies who were tense. He closed his eyes, as a small breath escape from Vargas. The grip on his sword tightened as he opens his eyes, a fire blazing strongly within them. He, alongside his fellow compatriots, charged forward to meet the attack.

Meanwhile with the bearers, they were still gathering many of the townsponies away from the monsters emerging from the forest. During their search for any more ponies, a thunderous sound pierced the very sky. All six were wondering where the sound was coming when Rainbow pointed it out, “There! Right at the entrance to the Everfree, I just saw some lightning come crashing down!”

The other five turn and sure enough the sounds were coming from that direction. Thunder was not the only thing they noticed as a plume of fire erupted from where the battle was being held alongside an ice pillar and what seems to be a spike made from the earth. They heard the cyan mare groaning, “Aw, I’m missing out on the action there!”

The cyan mare earned a stern look from the apple farmer. Applejack thought her friend was thinking about the action than being concerned about the ponies they’re helping. She tossed the thought aside almost berating herself for even thinking about that. A smile did crept on her, “Ya know Rainbow, Ah want t’ join in the action as well, Ah think all o’ us want t’ as well. But ya know that our concerns are towards the ponies here, right?”

The cyan mare gave a knowing smile as she turned towards the apple farmer, “You always know when to say the right things huh Applejack?”

She closed her eyes and shrugged with a smile, “Ah try mah best…”

Twilight and Pinkie came forward with Pinkie having a smile acknowledging the two of them. Twilgiht cleared gathering the three bearers’ attention, “Well, you’ll definitely be able to join in the action soon… I think we almost got everypony out of harm’s way… All we have to do is wait for Fluttershy and Rarity to…” Just as she said that, they heard the scream of both Fluttershy and Rarity. All four glanced at each other and hastily ran towards the direction of the scream.

The sounds of panicking ponies reached the ears of the Six Heroes as they were fighting off against the star-spawns. Atro was the first to react to the scream, “Someone is in trouble!”

He looked to his fellow allies who were fighting off the many creatures from the heavens. Despite their strength, they were having difficulty trying to best them. Vargas was busy dealing with a Scorpio. He dodged each one of its pincer strikes as his sword was blazing with fire, “Go Atro! We can hold them off for now! Save the ponies!”

Atro was hesitant at first to listen to his friend’s command. A second voice cut him out of his thoughts as well as a sound of crashing thunder, “Come on Atro! No time to be thinking about this, just go now!” Eze barely dodged the incoming attack from a Canis Minor as he backstepped away from the beast. Atro nodded as he teleported away from the battle.

Eze was annoyed of the Canis Minors that surrounded him, “This is so not fair!” He jumped up as they charged at him. Gathering electricity into his sword, a grin formed on his face as they were all clustered together, “Thunder Retribution!” He descended on them as his sword collided with the ground. Thunder began to roar around him as a stream of electricity surged from the sword Batootha. The electricity coursed through the pack around and in front of him. It was not enough to kill but it sent them retreating from the thunder hero. A smug smile formed upon the swordsman's face seeing the pack retreat, "Yeah! Eat that you pieces of..." All went deafly silent as a howl pierced their ears. A bigger version of the Canis appeared before the five heroes. All could clearly tell that this was the mother and leader of the pack. Her gaze locked upon Eze who was cursing himself, "Aw son of a..." The thunder hero didn't get the chance to finish the sentence as he sidestepped quickly from the pouncing mother.

An ice pillar emerged below the Canis Major hitting the leader and sending her flying away from Eze. The mother recovered quickly and managed to land on all four feet. She turned her attention to Selena as she was scowling at her with her fangs bared. Her ancestral sword, Lexida, was touching the ground as ice covered the earth below her. Her eyes glimmered like the stars as she stared at the pack. Eze recognized the look in her eyes and a smile formed upon his face, "Think you can handle them Selena?"

The ice continued to grow almost reaching towards the pack as if it were sentient. The ice hero's eyes still shimmered as she pulled out her sword from the earth, "I know I can Eze, but I do not wish harm upon them..."

The thunder hero noticed that Selena's grip on her sword tightened, a clear sign of nervousness. This made Eze slightly worried for the swordswoman's safety, "Are you sure about this? I'd be willing to lend a hand if you like..."

Despite Selena being nervous, she couldn't help but let a smile form seeing that Eze was surprisingly smart at noticing and was thankful for his concern, "And they say you were an idiot swordsman... Thank you kindly Eze, but I can handle this."

The idiot swordsman himself couldn't help but let a chuckle escape despite the precarious situation they were in, "Hey, I'm still am an idiot swordsman! I just let myself be smart if I need to be..." He raised his sword to his shoulder. seeing no point in continuing the conversation he left a few words before he departed to assist the other three, "Good luck on the fight, I'm just a bit surprised that the mother didn't pounce on you yet during our conversation..."

Though Eze did bring up a good point, Selena knew why the leader and mother did not pounce yet. She was waiting for her opponent to make the first move. As Eze left to assist the three in their coming battles, the ice hero was left facing with the Canis Major and her young ones behind her. Their eyes never left each other's gaze as they stood immobile as the sounds of battle raged on around them. The mother was scowling yet stood her ground keenly eyeing her adversary.

Selena did the same as well mimicking the pack leader's movements and keeping eye contact on her. A voice alongside powerful and searing heat was felt from behind her, "Infinity Nova!" A pillar of fire as well as tiny explosions surged behind her. A piercing screech was heard as the Scorpio Vargas was facing felt the full force of the attack. The heat was unbearable for the beast as it decided to retreat into the Everfree Forest.

The pack leader saw the Scorpio retreating and realizing quickly who she might be facing, decided to return back to the Everfree Forest as well. The mother begun to turn to the entrance to the forest but not before looking at the ice hero's eyes. Both stared each other for what like eternity with each other. Their eye contact was broken by the mother as she let a howl escape as she left with her children back home. A smile slowly formed upon Selena's face seeing the pack return back to its rightful home. She looked at the direction of where Atro supposedly went. She was worried about who was under harm as well but there were still more of the star spawns to deal with before she could assist the light hero, "Please make it Atro... You're the fastest one of us to make it there." She turned back to help the other heroes in need of assistance.

Meanwhile with the bearers, all four were hastily trying to reach where the screams of their two friends came from. Quickly as their hooves (minus Rainbow who was flying ahead of them to find the two) can take them, they were almost to the area when ponies heading where they were going towards were running away. Though that was enough of a signal that something was wrong, Rainbow pointed something out that made their worries rise, "We got trouble! I'm looking at some big snakes here! And... One of them got's Flutters and Rares!"

Just hearing their names being the ones in trouble was enough to send the four into action. They had almost forgotten who they were going against until a sudden wake-up call from Twilight alerted them, "A Serpens!" Five of the Serpens stood in there way as they blocked and hissed at their supposed new prey. A sixth one coiled around the unconscious bodies of Fluttershy and Rarity. They were breathing heavily if the fast rising and lowering of the chest meant anything.

While it eased them a bit that they were still alive, their anger was not abated by them so easily especially Rainbow, "I oughta put you in Tartarus for hurting them!" Without much thought, she went and charge at the Serpens. All five went and lunged towards the charging pegasus with their mouths open. Rainbow let a smirk form as she evaded each of their incoming bites with relative ease. The other three joined in with Rainbow's assault despite knowing that this was a rather bold and stupid idea.

Four of the Serpens recoiled back from their collision. They opened their eyes looking at the four and with a hiss, charged at each one of them as their central focus. The fifth one retreated and sided with the sixth that coiled around the other two as a defensive action.

Applejack jumped high, avoiding the jaws of the snake-like constellation. She landed on the mouth and managed to clamp it shut before trying to deliver a hard buck to the eyes. The Serpens closed its eyes in time as the buck hits its armor-like eyelids preventing damage to the eyes. The apple farmer tried to back away quickly before the mouth begun to open, but was too late as by the time the beast opened its mouth, she was sent flying. She was suspended in the air as she looked down to see the jaws open, "Might need some rescuing...!" She was flailing her forelegs as she descended towards the mouth of the Serpens. Before the mouth closed around her though, she was whisked away by the cyan mare as the mouth closed. She looked to see Rainbow carrying her, "Thanks fer the save there Rainbow..."

"No problem Applejack!" She looked behind her for a split second and warned her hanging friend quickly, "Incoming!" The apple farmer took that warning as she held onto Rainbow's hooves tightly. The snake-like constellations lunged towards them at blinding speeds with their mouths opened. She barely dodged the first one of the Serpens charging at them. Rainbow saw the second one lunging towards them just as the first one recovered and lunged towards them again. She knew that she would not be able to dodge both of them easily while holding onto Applejack. In the end, she tried with all her strength to dodge the two Serpens. She looked towards the sky and saw a possible plan, "Applejack, I'm going to do something a bi hasty to get them off our tails!"

"Well whatever ya have in mind, just do it! Ah'd rather not be food here!" Having gained the reluctant approval of the apple farmer, the cyan mare soared as high as possible to avoid them. Both took a single glance below them to see the two Serpens lunging towards them slowly losing speed in their ascension. By the time, Rainbow makes a sudden stop much to Applejack's annoyance, the two Serpens has slowed down enough for them to descend back onto the ground. The cyan mare couldn't help but let a small smirk form, "Hah, I knew that they couldn't reach up this high!"

Just as she said that, a Serpens hissed from above their heads. Both looked up to see the jaws of the beast descending upon them, "Ya just had t' jinx it didn't ya Rainbow!?" A simple sorry escaped from Rainbow's mouth as both descended away from the beast. Despite the idiocy of descending from the beast that's falling with them, the cyan mare knew that she wouldn't be able to dodge it quickly enough if she were to move to the side so the next best thing was to pick up some speed in the descent and avoid the jaws.

Despite that idea, the Serpens was inching closer to the two mares and Rainbow knew that making a hard right would not do any good at her current speed. Both knew that if they don’t do something, they’re going to end becoming chow for a big snake. Just as they were running out of ideas, a pink blur past them and directly hit the head of the beast. The impact from the hit was enough to somehow send it flying back into the Everfree Forest.

Both turned around to see Pinkie wearing what seem to be… wizard clothes with a gray beard? In any case, after said punch and the sounds of a crash reverberating to her ears, she donned her serious look, “YOU! SHALL! NOT! EAT!” Despite the initial shock from the two mares, Pinkie looked at them wearing her signature smile once again, “Oh that was so much cosplaying that guy! Who should I try next?”

Both Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other trying to process what just happened. They just chuckled in the end knowing their pink friend’s antics, “Thanks Pinkie! ‘Preciate what ya did!”

She did a simple salute to them, “No problem-o!” She was looking below them and found the next Serpens still lingering. She raised her forelegs high up into the air, “Geronimo!” and dived down towards the beast spectacularly leaving behind just a dust pony of herself where she originally was. Both mares blinked twice from the silliness that is Pinkie Pie. They stayed afloat for a few moments glancing at each other a few times even after knowing that there were more things to focus on. They decided to let this pass for now and descended to rejoin the fray.

As the two were descending, Twilight was dealing with the second of the now four Serpens chasing after her.  As much of a powerful magic user she was, she can’t cast spells if she was not concentrating on the spells itself instead of being chased around. This putted a damper on Twilight, “I hate not being able to concentrate here!”

Which surprisingly, was corrected by Pinkie who crashed upon the beast chasing Twilight, “You can do it silly, you just don’t like being lunch to these guys…” This rung true to the purple mare who was about to facehoof then and there. She let a little chuckle escape despite the precarious situation. A hissing sound broke her out of her laugh as she turned to see another Serpens sneaking up behind Pinkie. Without much thought, she gathered magic into her horn and fired a small beam towards the beast just as Pinkie ducked. The party pony moved out of the way as the beast shrugged off the attack.

It looked at Twilight with anger and set its sights on her. Twilight prepared to cast another spell but waited for the right moment to teleport. As the beast lunged itself with its jaws open, time felt like it slowed down as Twilight readied herself. As seconds felt like minutes, the mouth of the Serpens was closer to the librarian almost seemingly ready to clamp down on her. Just as it did, a purple flash illuminated in front of its eyes. The bright light was enough to blind it temporarily.

The beast was seething with rage as it tried to regain its sight. Unbeknownst to it, Twilight teleported above it and begun to concentrate her magic to her horn. She landed behind the Serpens as it was looking around for its prey. As she was about to fire another beam at the beast, a hissing sound broke her concentration. She turned around to see the same Serpens that Pinkie tackled down regaining its consciousness now looking at her. Twilight was no doubt getting tired from these being so resilient but it was to be expected as such. A whistling sound was made from above her. She took a quick glance to see Rainbow waving and performing a motion the purple mare knew as one of the Sonic Rainboom.

She immediately understood what she the cyan mare was planning to do. As risky as it was (especially considering the collateral damage that will be done), the damage from nearby an explosion would do enough to the star beasts. She looked front and back to see them looking at her with a craving for pony food. The idea was rather unpleasant in Twilight’s thoughts. She had to time her teleport just right. She looked up again to see Rainbow ascending to get the right amount of velocity for a Sonic Rainboom or rather a Sonic Rainbomb.

Gathering magic into her horn, she kept an eye on both of the Serpens as they slithered around her, watching her and waiting for the moment to strike. As a few precious seconds have passed and Twilight was getting a bi antsy, the beast made their move and lunged towards the bearer of Magic. Just as their jaws closed in around her, a purple flash illuminated, signifying her teleporting away. To her surprise, just as she was around them, they recovered from that blunder quickly and were beginning to lunge at her again. A whistling sound emerged as she looked up to see Rainbow having already reached the right amount of velocity. She was screaming out loudly hoping to gather the beast’s attention. They looked up to see her coming but were too late as she collided with the ground and the result was a rainbow-colored explosion.

The buildings surprisingly survived the explosion (save for them having some scorch marks). Rainbow popped out of the explosion with no sign of injury yet was breathing heavily. As the smoke cleared, the beasts were on the ground twitching a bit from the pain. So far if Twilight was keeping count correctly, that was three down, now only three remained. Rainbow puffed out her chest while repeating pounding on it as if she were a jungle mare, “Yeah! Eat that suckers!”

Before she got the chance to give Rainbow a reality check, a hissing sound emitted forth. She turned to see one of the Serpens targeting Rainbow. Driven by instinct, she pushed the pegasus only to now become lunch for the snake constellation. The cyan mare’s eyes widened from the realization that Twilight was going to be food. She stopped herself midair and was charging at the beast but its jaws already surrounded Twilight as it begins to clamp down upon her.

Twilight panicked and tried to teleport out of the jaws but her thoughts were not thinking of a location clearly. She could only see darkness as the beast begun to close its mouth upon her. Just as a part of her life flashed before her eyes, two words were chanted loudly, “Thousand Nemesis!” Instead of darkness that surrounded her, a blinding light replaced it. She covered her eyes in response to the attack. Just as the light dimmed down to normal levels, she took a peek only to see one of the people she met in the library, “Are you alright Twilight?”

He saved her at the last minute that she was about to be food. She couldn’t help but hug him in response to his question, “That was… terrifying…”

Whatever appendage these beings have that replaced their hooves was felt on top of her head. She looked to see Atro comforting her, “Do not worry about it now, the beast is slain for now…” She looked to see the Serpens unconscious with a lot of wounds.

This shocked her to find that this person managed to best it in combat while simply chanting just two words. Rainbow was clearly both shocked and in awe of what just happened, “What… what just happened!? One minute I just saw a light and then this happened!” She waved a hoof at the now down Serpens.

Atro stood up and looked at the last two that surrounded both Fluttershy and Rarity. His eyes narrowed as the grip on his sword tightened, “I would be happy to tell you about it Rainbow, but let us focus on the task at hand…” It was enough of a reality check to remind her that two of the bearers were still in danger. She looked at the two who were now on the defensive eyeing the three of them.

Applejack and Pinkie had arrived later but both saw the light, “What in tarnation was that light?!” Pinkie directly pointed at the light hero who was sternly looking at the two Serpens left. Normally the apple farmer would continue to ask more questions, but circumstances suggests otherwise. All five were looking at the last two of the beasts.

Atro wasted no time on waiting and teleported. There was not a single sound as he teleported leaving the four mares a bit surprised. Immediately, he was next to the two mares as he grabbed them. The four saw immediately what he was doing and although wanted to assist him, waited it out knowing that entering now would hinder him. The two Serpens noticed him and tried to take a bite out of him. The light hero teleported again with no warning and was out of the grip of the two. He was next to the four as he laid down both Rarity and Fluttershy.

All four gathered around them seeing them a bit injured but breathing heavily. They all looked at the two who were about to charge at them, however, two words were chanted again this time from another source, “Blizzard Pain!” Ice pillars surrounded them and before long exploded leaving an air of cold around them and seemingly freezing them in place. Selena emerged from behind the Serpens as she jumped off of them. She looked at the four with a knowing smile, “You all got distracted by your friends, Atro was about to make a move but I thought I would take over for him.” She looked at the two mares saved but almost reacted in instinct seeing what was troubling them, “Atro, those two are poisoned, they need an antidote now!”

All four were looking at the ice hero in a state of panic yet Atro remained calm despite the situation, “I was well aware when I first grabbed them, is Lance coming? I know that he can cure the poison that is circulating through their bodies.”

Selena shook her head, “No, there are many more of these beasts from the forest; we are holding them off as best as we can… I rushed here just in case per Vargas’s request.” The ice hero’s ears perked as the sound of breaking ice reached her ears. She turned around to see the two Serpens breaking out of their icy prison, “Of course ice can’t hold them for long…” She looked at one of the down Serpens, “Atro, think you can teleport that back to its natural habitat?” The light hero nodded. His hand was on the Serpens and as he teleported bought it with him. She looked at the four, concerned for the two down and suffering from the effects of poison, “Bring your two friends and head to the entrance of the forest, you can meet them there holding back the surge of those beasts.” They looked at her like she was being crazy at first. As the sounds of breaking ice lingered on, Selena was beginning to get impatient, “Go! Do not think about it, save your friends before it’s too late!” This was out of her nature, but she was not allowing Rarity and Fluttershy to face a slow death.

She turned around to see the two about to break out of their prison. She readied herself to meet their attack but instead of that, Atro teleported behind them, his hands touching their backs and teleported with them back to their habitat. Selena could only watch it before letting a small laugh escape, “Atro, sometimes even when you’re calm, you do things I would never expect.”

The light hero was at her side again. A small smile was on his face, “I could not help it, it is much easier to do that than fight them.” Before the ice hero got the chance to ask, Atro answered her question quickly, “And no I cannot teleport all of them at once, it is draining of me to do so which is why I always walk instead of teleporting constantly now.”

Selena let out a sigh from the answer. It would have been too easy otherwise if they were to try something like that, “How long do you think until this whole thing is over?”

Atro was silent. He was not so certain on how much time they had left to deal with this predicament or how long will this last. All he could answer for the ice hero was mostly on a what-if scenario, “I do not know Selena how long this will last, but… let us continue and see.”

It was enough of an answer for Selena as she looked towards the direction of the main battle. With everyone at least in safety, they can focus on the battle at hand, “Well, let’s not dwell on this for any longer then it is necessary.” Both ran towards the main point of the battle to face their adversaries.

As more of the constellation beasts surged forward from the Everfree Forest, the four were beginning to think that there was no end to this onslaught. Yet even for Vargas and Eze, they still challenged each other regardless of the situation, “How many did you beat down Vargas!? I got twenty and counting!”

The fire hero could only snicker hearing his friend’s number, “You are way behind Eze! I got thirty and ascending!” He looked ahead and managed to defeat another that stood in his way adding to his total count, “Thirty one now!” Both continued to fight out the numbers in the hopes of besting each other.

Lance and Magress who were fending off their own could only chuckle seeing them challenge each other like they were brothers in arms, “You know, I never thought to see them act like this towards each other even in this kind of mess…”

Magress blocked an attack with his shield as he lowered his lance, “It would not be right if they didn’t competed against each other. You know them as well as I do that they will test their limits anytime, in any place unless they decide to be serious.”

“And this doesn’t warrant them being serious how?” He saw the dark hero bashing a beast with his shield. All he did was shrug before concentrating back at the enemy. The nature hero dodged a slash from what appears to be a Canis Major. He delivered a hard blow to its back with his lance; it was only strong enough to cripple it temporarily. Checking his surroundings, he noticed the ponies they met were running towards the contingent of battle.

This bewildered Lance as to why they were coming this despite there being many solutions. He was caught unaware of Atro teleporting next to him. He slightly jumped from his sudden appearance, before regaining his composure, “Atro! Don’t do that to me! I hate having to be spooked like that …” He looked at the light hero and saw nothing but concern. This suddenly turned Lance’s expression from annoyance to match Atro’s own concern, “Atro, what’s wrong? I don’t like that look of yours you have…” The nature hero suddenly moved the light hero out of the way to take out a beast that was about to attack him from behind.

While Atro was thankful for that, his concern did not disappear, “Thank you but that is not why I teleported here, two of the ponies those four are carrying have been poisoned…” That was enough to send Lance running towards them in a hurry. With a mile, he turned to see the dark hero having trouble dealing with some enemies, “Need assistance Magress?” The dark hero nodded as he shoved many of the enemies out of the way.

The nature hero was running towards the six alongside Selena who was behind them. The ice hero didn’t need to bother why he was running towards them as she gave a knowing smile at Lance before running back into the battle. He returned the smile back before focusing on the task at hand, “I heard that two of them are poisoned, let me handle from here…”

Rainbow and Applejack lowered their sick friends down for the nature hero. Lance stepped forward looking at the condition of the poison. The poison was only made to cripple them but their heavy breathing suggested that the poison was getting close to their hearts. Wasting no time, he proceeded to begin purging the poison from their bodies. He waved his lance over them, the hand that was gripping Drevas and the lance itself shimmering. As the leaves from the lance touched their bodies, it seemingly disappeared into the thin air.

A few seconds have passed and yet nothing happened. The four were about to ask if he managed to purge the poison away, but a simple sentence alongside some groans from one of them managed to answer that question, “Oh… w-what happened? I remember leading some ponies with Fluttershy away from the star-spawns and then, I blacked out…” Out of nowhere, the four ponies were hugging Rarity. While it was nice, it was also confusing as to why the sudden hugging, “Girls, why the sudden hugging?”

Fluttershy got up second as she was rubbing her head. She saw the four of them huggin Rarity and was questioning it as well, “Why are all of you hugging Rarity?” They heard her voice and then Pinkie decided to pull the both of them in a group hug.

They were still baffled but let it pass for now as they hugged back. Their answer came forth from the nature hero, “They’re being a bit clingy because the two of you were poisoned by snakes…” The both of them shuddered now remembering how they ended up in that position. Lance could only smile as he put his hands on their heads, “Hey no worries, the poison‘s gone, you don’t have to worry about--” Before he could say anymore, a pillar of flame erupted from the scene of the battle. Lance let out a sigh seeing that there was not enough time to chat, “It anymore… guess we can never chat even during a battle.”

They all chuckled from the nature hero’s response. He stood up and with his lance in hand, was about to leave for the battlefield when he looked back the six mares, “You know… if you girls are willing to lend us a few hooves, you can do so… but I’m not stopping you from not joining in.” He let a knowing smile form before he now left for the battlefield.

Lance’s words managed to ring themselves to the six but most especially Fluttershy. It took them some time to acknowledge what he just said before Twilight decided to speak for them all, “I say we go and help them out… we may not be best at combat like those six are…” She heard a sound of a throat itself clearing. She looked to see both Applejack and Rainbow doing it. Twilight looked at them with a knowing smile that painted a different picture with those two, “Sorry girls but even they exceed you, no offense”

They looked at each other for a few seconds before shrugging, “Can’t say Ah can argue with ya there, Ah might even say that Ah’m a bit jealous o’ them an’ their skills…”

Rainbow couldn’t help but laugh a bit from that, “You? Jealous, now that’ll be the day…” Her laughter slowly died down as she was watching the battle. She had to reluctant agree with Twilight that she was way beneath their skill level in combat. She let out a sigh much to her stubbornness, “I hate to say it but I am way behind them in fights… I mean, they’ve fought a war back in their home world that lasted for who knows how long!”

“And we haven’t at all…” They all looked to Fluttershy who spoke out for them. This was rather surprising of her to say something let alone something related to what she doesn’t do. She shrunk when all eyes were on her, “Um… if that’s okay with you all?”

They all looked at each other for some time and returned back to her with a smile, “No darling, it’s a good thing you said that and you’re right… we haven’t been in a single war I can recall.”

Pinkie saw where the conversation was going and filled in the rest of the gap for them, “But that shouldn’t stop us right? I mean I know that we can’t compare ourselves with them in a fight but we can hold on our own right?” They all nodded to her question. She formed her signature smile as she pointed towards the battle, “So what are we waiting for? Like Twi said, we may not be good as them but we sure can fight back hard!”

They all nodded to her words. Even Fluttershy, who is not much of a fighter, could not argue with her logic much though she had to say something though, “Um, I may not be able to fight but I can support from afar, does that count?”

Pinkie hugged the timid pegasus tightly from her response, “Yepperoni, and who says that we all have to learn how to do what they do? All of us can contribute to the battles at hoof!”

Twilight was letting a smile form seeing he party pony doing her case of cheering up, “Pinkie sometimes, I wonder if you’re a mad genius or not right now…” The party pony could only laugh with a smile hearing her response. She hugged all of them before letting go and somehow managed to get herself dressed as a knight of sorts and then proceeded to stuff herself in her cannon and fire right at the enemy. That was enough of a cue as they all followed Pinkie’s example and joined in the fight.

Selena had already frozen some of the beast when a pink blur passed her. She was caught off guard to see Pinkie in knight’s armor charging at the enemy in blinding speed. If she were to participate with the six of them then… She turned around to see the other five wanting to join in the fight. A small smile formed seeing them coming forth to assist, “Looks like we have some friends helping us…”

All five were dealing with problems but took a glance at to see the six coming forward. Vargas smiled seeing as he pushed the Leo off of him, “They have a lot of courage to be helping us, let us assist them in the forefront then!”

Eze smiled as he kicked away a tiny Scorpio away, “I call dibs on Rainbow Dash!” He jumped away from a tail swipe from a Scorpio and hopped on the back of the beast. He raised his sword and lowered it on the shell. It pierced through the shell and hit sensitive tissue. The Scorpio screeched loudly as it raised its pincers high before collapsing. Eze jumped off and took a good look at the star spawn one more time to boast, “Greatest idiot swordsman here! Don’t mess with me when I’m being an idiot!”

Despite it being the silliest boast ever, Rainbow couldn’t but help laugh at that, “I am loving this guy so much right now! I’m calling him!” She flew to his general direction to assist him out. As Eze dodged a pincer strike from a Scorpio, the cyan mare charged at the beast and pushed it back by a few feet. Both looked at each other once and smirked as they focused on the Scorpio in front of them.

Fluttershy was looking around trying to find someone who she could help but before she could, she was facing a big Aries. She dodged its big hooves as she stumbled out of its way. The ram blew steam out of its nose before beginning to charge towards her direction. She flew up immediately to avoid it. Much to her surprise, it was not aiming for her but the nature hero, “Mr. Lance! Watch out!”

Lance looked at the direction of the warning to see the Aries stampeding towards him. He burrowed Drevas onto the ground and as the ram got closer, created an earth pillar below him to ascend. The Aries hit the wall hard and caused its foundation to crumble. The nature hero jumped away from the star spawn next to Fluttershy, “Thank you for the warning Fluttershy.”

She sheepishly looked away while letting out an embarrassing laugh, “Um… you welcome…” Lance could only look at her confusion as to question her reaction. Nonetheless, he patted her on the back as his way of saying thanks. She lowered her face to her hooves in instinct from the touch. She looked ahead to see the ram charging again, “Look out!” She managed to push him out of the way while dodging the ram’s charge. Having had enough of the beast prompted Fluttershy to be stern and look at the beast right in the eyes, “No, bad Aries!”

Lance picked himself up to see the timid pegasus sternly looking at the ram while talking it down. He just stood there watching the ram getting lower and lower to her eye level before leaving away in apparent fear. He was scratching his head wondering what just happened only to see the pegasus return back to her timid self, “Oh my… did I do that?”

Lance could only smile seeing Fluttershy being like that, “Yes you did that and very much surprised me there.” He grabbed onto her hoof which made the timid pegasus somehow blush, “Sorry if this is intruding, but come on, we still have more to deal with.” She nodded as she followed him to take care of other star spawns.

Applejack managed to evade many of the constellation beasts that were coming towards her. While she may not be that great of a fighter comparing to them, she can be fast on her hooves. Just as she dodged the next beasts stampeding towards her, a Leo was in front of her as it roared. She jumped back as it begun to pounce. The beast was smart though and attacked her with one of his claws. It hit directly and sent her flying to the ground. She was coughing in fits from the strike hitting her on the chest hard. She looked to see the beast pouncing yet again. Just as it was on top of her, she felt something on her body and instantly, she was behind the beast. She looked to see Atro carrying her, “Be careful, you cannot hope to dodge constantly with these creatures, they are smarter than usual."

Applejack could only let one cough escape as her way of saying sorry, “Yer right, Ah tend t’ forget who Ah deal with at times…” She let a little chuckle escape from her. Atro lowered her down and surprisingly managed to heal her to normal condition, “How did ya…?”

“Questions later Applejack, I’ll answer them later but let us focus on the task at hand…” was all she said to her. It was enough of an answer as she looked at the Leo that had already begun to pounce on the both of them. Both sidestepped out of the way. Applejack delivered a solid buck to its chest but it was not enough to leave lasting harm. Atro on the other hand, managed to leave a fatal injury by cutting through its chest. It was not a deep wound but it was enough to harm the beast and prevent it from pouncing again. Applejack shuddered a bit from seeing that. Atro saw the reaction and tried to reassure her as best as possible, “It is alright, it is incapacitated.”

The apple farmer knew that the light hero was trying to cheer her up and she was glad for that, but it was not helping in the slightest, “Ah ‘preciate what yer doin’ an’ all but… Ah hate t’ be blunt… but it’s not helpin’ me right now…”

They looked at the Leo who was breathing heavily, “Sorry there Applejack… I tend to forget that for all the fights I’ve been through, I sometimes forget when a person hasn’t fought before or in this case, when a whole country haven’t been in a single war…”

The apple farmer moved Atro out of the way as one of the star spawns targeted him, “Sorry ‘bout that, one o’ them was comin’ fer ya…” The light hero smiled in returned for the save as he stood up while Applejack was speaking, “An’ don’t worry ‘bout us, we can handle ourselves just fine! We’re just not use t’ seein’ well…” Atro nodded in understanding. The bearer of honesty let out a sigh seeing the light hero being ever so calm despite the situation they were in, “Ah hate t’ say it but all o’ ya make me jealous if only a tiny bit… okay maybe a big bit of me is jealous…”

Atro looked at her in confusion as to how she could be jealous of them. Before he could get the chance to ask though, he reacted as he moved Applejack out of the way of an Aries that was charging, “My way of returning your kindness…”  This time the apple farmer let a smile form as she picked herself up. They looked around the battlefield one more time and decided to finish their conversation later as they focused on continuing to hold off as many as possible.

Selena froze an enemy mid-charge just as she avoided another coming towards her. Despite the enemies clearly feeling an icy chill when fighting against her, they were not fazed by the cold aura that emitted from around the ice hero. The odds were stacked against her as more kept on surging, “I am not enjoying this right now…”

She readied herself as more of them were charging towards her direction. Just as she was ready to slash her incoming opponents, something whooshed past her head and hit two of them on their face. Closer examination revealed them to be diamonds? She turned around to see Rarity throwing crystals of all kinds at their adversaries, “Take that you ruffian!” She pulls out yet another crystal and tosses it at the star spawns.

Selena smiled seeing the fashionista fighting back with crystals of all things. Her smile faded when one of the constellation beasts, specifically a Leo, was behind Rarity, readying to strike. In a blink of an eye, the ice hero created an ice pillar behind the bearer of generosity blocking the incoming blow from his paw. Rarity staggered a bit from the sound of ice breaking behind her. The broken pieces of ice landed on her back sending a little bit of a chill on her spine. Selena moved with haste as the star spawn withdrew and was readying an overhead attack. The fashionista sidestepped out of the way as the attack came, fully breaking the ice pillar.

Selena was next to Rarity as she attacked the beast with what the fashionista could only describe as graceful dancing. Distracted by the movements of the ice hero, another star spawn was sneaking up behind her. Selena turned to see the beast slowly approaching Rarity. She was too busy dealing with the Leo to get to her on time. As the star spawn was within range of attack, it raised its claw and striked but not on the bearer of generosity but a shield. Rarity turned to see the dark hero blocking the said attack in time, “You must pay attention more often! You do not want this to happen to you constantly…”

Pinkie emerged behind the star spawn with balloons tied on it. Much to Magress’s surprise, the balloons were numerous enough to carry the star spawn away from the battle. The beast was flailing its arms wildly as it was being lifted and towards the Everfree Forest. The peppy voice of the party pony broke him out of his shock, “Bye! Have a great trip back to the Everfree!”

The dark hero was trying to understand what he just witnessed. He looked towards Rarity wondering if she has an answer for what occurred. She only shook her head, “Don’t try darling, Twilight tried to analyze and understand her antics a long time ago and she turned into a flaming pony once…” Despite Magress being more confused about it, he decided to not press the issue.

A voice broke them out of their conversation, “I don’t wish to be rude you two but I could use a little help here please…” Both turned to see Selena struggling with dealing the Leo constellation. Rarity could only pause in embarrassment for a bit before she rejoined her in the battle. Magress turned towards the area where the most conflict was being held. Alongside Pinkie who was on his shoulder yelling random lines while pointing, they both charged to meet the assault.

Vargas was with Twilight as they were dealing with star spawns at the entrance. Despite the bearer of magic’s lack of training in physical combat compared to the fire hero, she made it up in magical prowess something Vargas lacked for now. Two words were chanted from the fire hero as he charged at the surging numbers with his sword, Dandelga, wrapped in flames, “Infinity Burst!” He delivered an upward slash that first created a stream of fire below them while more fire was gathering at the center of the crowd. As the gathering fire managed to complete itself, multiple explosions burst from the gathering flames enveloping the whole crowd.

Twilight could only watch the technique unfold in front of her as it manages to dispatch multiple enemies at once. Vargas landed from his slash just as the move finished itself. He turned around to see the creatures down for the moment from the attack. A smile begun to form as he was keeping track of his count of defeated enemies, “Eze, I have gotten fifty here now! How many do you have!?” The purple mare was questioning why those two were having a contest of who has the most defeats despite the precarious situation.

Just as Vargas asked that question and Twilight was thinking about it, two words were chanted from the thunder hero just as Rainbow moved out of the way, “Thunder Retribution!” He jumped forward and delivered an overhead attack as thunder crashed down upon his enemies before a surge of electricity erupted from his sword delivering a deadly jolt to the enemies in front of him. As the creatures fell, he looked to his rival with a smirk, “I have gotten fifty-one here! I’m ahead of you by one enemy!”

Vargas could only chuckle seeing his friend’s enthusiasm, “Don’t push your luck my friend! I’m still going strong here!” He charged at the next set of enemies that were coming forth from the entrance.

With most of the enemies focused so much on Eze and Vargas, both Rainbow and Twilight had the chance to chat out a bit mostly about their contest as Twilight wishes the conversation to be about, “I don’t get it… I’m trying to understand why they would have a competition of sorts at this time when the situation is serious but I just don’t get it...”

The cyan mare could only partly agree just as she bucked away one of the creatures, “Well, I can see about it, I don’t think even me and Applejack would go this far… But honestly, I like that they compete even when at this and… I think I might understand why they’re doing this…”

Twilight teleported out of the way of a charging Aries as she zapped it with her magic, “How, I mean for Celestia’s sake, they are having a contest over who has the most enemies defeated! I just don’t understand the logic of that at all!”

Rainbow could chuckle as she sidestepped out of the way of a Canis Minor, “That’s because you take things too seriously Twi! Remember when you tried to understand the Pinkie Sense; I thought you learned a good lesson from that?” The purple mare could only grumble a bit as she dodged another Aries, “Yeah I thought so, anyway…” She dodged stayed afloat as one of the star spawns were trying to get her, “The six of them here? They’re seasoned warriors Twi; they probably dealt with this ever since their entire life! Remember, their whole world was in a state of war!”

Twilight teleported away from the star spawns as she created a magic field around her, “Even if that were to be the case, why go do this contest when the situation is serious?”

Rainbow could only sigh seeing the stubbornness of Twilight. She could almost rival Applejack’s if she continued to pursue the answer to the question asked. She can’t help herself though, she’d probably asked about this too were it not for her able to understand it fairly quickly, “Twi, we probably take this as a serious threat, that I can’t deny. They on the other hoof don’t have too…” The purple mare was looking at her in bewilderment as if trying to process what she just said. She took that as a signal to continue chatting, “Do I have to repeat it again? Twilight…” She dodged each one of the beast pounces as she punctuated each word for emphasis with a wave of her hooves, “THEY… ARE… SEASONED… WARRIORS!”

As she finished punctuating it, the six heroes chanted simultaneously and performed their techniques on a vast number of their adversaries wiping out the number temporarily. While during their display of power, Rainbow continued to talk, “The only reason they aren’t taking this seriously is because this is nothing compared to what they had to deal back in their home world! We never dealt with this kind of threat before, but they have, probably numerous times! With all of this happening to this hundreds or heck, maybe thousands of times, they could probably challenge each other to push their limits or just for some good old fashion fun even if we haven’t faced this before!”

Twilight dispelled her barrier as she zapped a few of the flying star spawns that were about to descend upon Rainbow, “But we have faced dangerous threats before Rainbow! Nightmare Moon, Discord, they were all dangerous threats themselves! How could all this--” She waved a hoof around the field that was hosting many battles, “Be normal for them?”

The cyan mare couldn’t help but facehoof now, “For Luna’s sake Twilight, you have got to be more stubborn than Applejack herself! Look, as much as I want to try to drill this into your thoughts, you are taking this way too seriously…”

“I am not!” said Twilight in a tone that sounded almost close to a threat. She zapped a nearby star spawn in a fit of anger trying to dispel her thoughts of the contest at hoof.

Rainbow let out a sigh, “Technically, ya kinda are--” A roar cut off the rest of the sentence she was about to say. All the constellations beast who heard that whimpered a bit a bit before retreating back into the Everfree Forest in fear. This made Rainbow both scared and baffled by their reaction, “Um… why did they retreat when they heard that roar Twilight?” She looked at the purple mare who was visibly shaking, “Twi, are you alright?” She was in front of her face as she shook her out of the trance, “Hey, snap out of it egghead!”

All the current fighters on the battlefield looked at Twilight and Rainbow Dash trying to understand why this all of a sudden. Just as they were about to walk towards them, Lance momentarily stopped when something stopped him from moving, “Wait… something’s wrong with the earth…”

Five of the ponies were looking at in bewilderment, but his friends on the other hand knew this as a bad sign as they held onto their weapons tighter. Applejack couldn’t help but ask a bit of both fear and trying to understand, “What are ya talkin’ bout? Ah can’t feel the earth--” Just as she said that, the earth begun to vibrate in a specific pattern like someone or something big was making heavy footsteps. The apple farmer’s tone was one mixed of fear and worry, “Trembling below me…?”

They all looked to Twilight who was looking paler than usual. This was troubling with her friends’ case as they knew this as a bad sign, “Twilight darling? What’s… got you so… silent?” Just as she asked that question another roar emerged from hidden in the Everfree Forest. Twilight turned towards the source as did everybody else in anticipation of what was coming forth. The six ponies were shaking a bit wondering what was coming out of the forest.

The Six Heroes awaited their challenge as the held their weapons forward with conviction. Twilight wanted to stop them, but she was frozen in fear from just the roar. The earth was beginning to vibrate in a rapid pace as if something was running towards them as another roar was heard. The vibrations of the earth stopped when that roar came to be. The heroes were tense as they were wondering what will emerge from the forest. The bearers were beginning to back away a bit slowly as each second ticked away.

As time continued to march on, silence was all that remained as the vibrations of the earth and the roars ended. The six ponies thought that it just returned back to its natural habitat and lowered their guard temporarily. The six humans though stayed cautious knowing that this was just a bait to throw them off kilter. Just then, two eyes glowed in the shadows of the forest as it stared at the twelve of them. This threw off the six ponies while the humans were a bit unnerved but still stood their ground. A guttural growl was heard as the eyes closed themselves. The vibrations emerged once again as the beast revealed itself to them. All twelve looked up as the behemoth of a monster stood above them as it let out one more roar, “It’s an Ursa Major!”

The six bearers ran away from the beast as fast as they can. All of them clearly remembered the Ursa Minor before but to actually see an adult up close and personal scared them out of their wits. Even Applejack couldn’t help but bring it up, “That there’s an Ursa Major!? That thing’s bigger than a haystack on a joyride!”

Despite Rarity wanting to protest on the apple farmer’s choice of words, she was stopped immediately as she turned to see the sic humans as they stood their ground, “Girls, those six are standing still…”  

All five turned around to see the fashionista’s words ringing true. That kind of action made Twilight panic, “What are you six doing!? Run before it’s too late!”

Her pleas were heard by the six humans yet ignored it as they looked at their adversary. Eze was the first to speak up as the beast stared them down, “That… is one big papa bear I’m looking at…” They all looked at him in confusion as to what he said. He just smiled as he pointed at it with his sword, “What? I can’t joke even if we aren’t in front of the Ursa?”

They all looked at each other thinking about what he said before a resounding roar broke their train of thought. They looked to see the star spawn standing on its own hind legs with a fire that burned of unbridled anger within its eyes, “Scatter!” Vargas commanded and they obeyed as they avoided the strike.

All of them managed to recover from the incoming attack and charged towards the Ursa Major. The six bearers were looking at them in both fear and worry. Even Rainbow Dash, who would normally charge into the fray, was sitting still, looking on with all of them.

Atro jumped up and teleported right on the back of the beast.  As it was distracted by his friends trying to charge at it, he raised Urias high into the air and delivered a strike. The sword was only able to cut an inch deep into the Ursa Major but it was enough for the star spawn to react and try to squish the light hero. He jumped and teleported as it lay on its back. He landed on the field letting out a sigh from the close call there.

As the beast tried to right itself up, Selena created an ice floor below the creature hoping to make it slip back into a vulnerable position. The creature caught onto the trick and using its claws, dug into the ground preventing it from slipping. The ice hero had anticipated this and created an ice spike below the belly of the beast hoping for it to pierce it. Despite its bulky size, the creature was rather agile as it narrowly dodged the protruding ice. Some blood (at least they think its blood) was drawn but it was not enough to slow it down. The beast sets its sights on Selena as it roared and raised one of its legs to attack her. The ice hero jumped over the strike and continued to run hoping to avoid another.

Eze jumped and ascended up high as he called down thunder upon the beast. It was only able to deliver a small jolt to it. It looked to see the thunder hero suspended in the air. A roar was made as it charged at it. With no time to evade the attack in time, Eze braced himself as the Ursa Major delivered a powerful headbutt. It sent him flying as he crashed upon the hill. An imprint was left on the hill as the swordsman struggled to get up, “Goddamn it that hurts…”

The Ursa Major saw an opportunity as it charged towards the down Eze. His body was not responding to his commands as he struggled to move out. Just as the beast was nearing him, a wall of earth blocked its way as it rammed into it. Eze looked to see Lance conjuring the wall and checking up on him, “You’re paralyzed Eze… I’m not so sure on how but I can purge it away… I just need time…”

Eze could only chuckle seeing the predicament he was put in, “Go figures… tell the others about this so you can concentrate?” He saw the nature hero smiling as he asked that question. The thunder hero chuckled again seeing that smile of his as a yes.

Vargas evaded an attack from the beast as he cloaked his sword in flames. He jumped and delivered a powerful strike at the abdomen of the Ursa Major sending searing pain to the star spawn. It roared as it swiped the fire hero away with one attack. Magress caught Vargas as he was about to crash onto the trees. A small cough escaped from the swordsman as he tried to stand up, “Thank you for the save there Magress…”

The armored knight nodded as he looked towards the beast in question, “Like old times when we fought against bigger foes like this creature eh?” Vargas could only lightly laugh as they both charged towards the Ursa Major.

The six ponies watching were beginning to be amazed at the dexterity of the humans as they continued to continue the fight against a foe they haven’t faced before. They wanted to join in the fight but would only hinder them if they tried. While they were watching the battle, Fluttershy heard a simple yet cute growl. She looked around wondering where the sound was coming from. She heard the sound again this time from a certain direction. She looked at the five who were enthralled by the battle before them. She decided to look for the sound by herself as they were too distracted. Following where the sound was coming from, she used her sense of hearing to be sure if she was heading in the right direction. The sounds got a bit louder as she scrambled to locate the sound. By the time she found, she saw something she did not have in mind, “Oh my…”

The five ponies were beginning to get worried once they noticed that they were beginning to tire themselves out. They were about to stop watching and join in the fight when a voice stopped them from charging, “Wait! I found a way to stop the fight!”

All five turned around to see Fluttershy running towards them “Fluttershy? What were you doing back there?” They were about to ask more when they caught sight of something behind the timid pegasus. The cyan mare was caught off guard the most as she said just one word, “Woah…”

During the battle, the humans were holding off against the Ursa Major well but even they fall under the weariness of fatigue. With each second continuing the fight, they were getting more tired with each heavy breath they take. Even with the knowledge that if they continued to fight, they would end up falling unconscious from the fatigue, they continued to keep the battle going. The Ursa Major on the other hand was no less tired and was still moving with speed and strength.

They all continued to move to try to let it focus on one of them. As time begun to tick away from them, their bodies were beginning to fail on them from the sheer amount of effort in keeping the fight on them. As they all were heavily trying to get one last breath before falling into unconsciousness, a voice broke them of their reverie, “Wait! Don’t hurt them!” They all looked to see Fluttershy leading the six as they were galloping towards them. Behind them was a smaller sized bear of their opponent.

They all continued to move to try to let it focus on one of them. As time begun to tick away from them, their bodies were beginning to fail on them from the sheer amount of effort in keeping the fight on them. As they all were heavily trying to get one last breath before falling into unconsciousness, a voice broke them of their reverie, “Wait! Don’t hurt them!” They all looked to see Fluttershy leading the five as they were galloping towards them. Behind them was a smaller sized bear of their opponent.

All six instantly realized what they were looking at as their adversary stopped and looked at the smaller one. Both looked at each other’s eyes for a while before walking towards each other and giving each other a hug. All twelve of them made a long and loud aw as they saw the supposed father hugging his son. Both let a smile as they returned back to the Everfree Forest. Selena smiled as she saw them return back, “Nothing is better than seeing a separated family reunited together again…”

Eze let a chuckle escape, “You said it Selena, now if you’ll excuse me… I need… a nap.” He collapsed on the ground as his eyes closed and he was snoring loudly. The five humans and six ponies looked at each other then towards the thunder hero before they shared in each other’s laughter. The five humans cringed a bit in pain as they were clutching whatever body part was hurting the most. All the ponies were by their side. They let a smile form as they collapsed on them.

The six ponies looked at each other with a smile as they carried them back to the hospital. Many of the ponies they managed to evacuate to safety were returning back. Many cheered a bit that they managed to hold off the threat but some fell silent as they saw the six humans injured but breathing. They came to their sides as they carried them towards the hospital. All six went back to their homes and decided to rest for the day. They had questions needed to be answered but they knew that it can wait on another day.