"Freaking A it is cold out here!" Orion rubbed his paws together, letting his breath battle the frigid temperatures. Eleven miles outside the Crystal Empire, with three hundred Dogs and fifty Timberwolves. "Heh… Who would of thought?"

A form shot to him from the haze of the snowfall. A lone timberwolf with a bag strapped across his back.

The massive wooden creature stopped in front of Orion and dropped a small round ball bearing into the Dog's paws. The Timberwolf straightened himself and spoke quickly, yet gruffly.

"Message from the master. Urgent."

Orion nodded with haste. "Thanks Dipstick."

"I told you to quit calling me that."

"But it fits you so well! After the incident with the honey-"

"Shut. Up. And would you just listen to the Tartarus-damned message?"

Orion grumbled again and tapped the top of the smooth contraption. Immediately, a projection of Sevilin himself appeared atop it. Dipstick and Orion were startled, to say the least, but listened intently.

"Orion," Sevilin nodded toward the Dog. "Dipstick," he motioned to the other guest. Dipstick grumbled discontentedly.

"Yes, sir?" Orion was quite eager, but at the same time very tired of the harsh conditions. Any order would be preferable to sitting out here for another few hours. Anything! Anything at all.

Sevilin appeared to be walking through a cave of some sort, his expression stony and grim. He stopped his movement and looked right at Orion, his eyes never blinking.

"I'm going to need you to hold out for a few more hours. We'll be assisted by Equestria's troops and the Princesses. I'll be out of comms for a good hour or so, but don't worry about it. Chrysalis and the changelings will not be able to assist us, so stealth is out of the question. Hunker down and heat up some soup, you look terrible."

Then the transmission was cut, as well as Orion's hopes for action. As much as Orion respected the man, he found the perfect words to express himself.

"MOTHER. FUCKER!"

And he beaned Dipstick in the head with the device, knocking the poor wolf out cold.

Luna and Celestia spent the rest of their time digging up the past. Armors, weapons, and various crowns lay neatly on shelves and racks. Relics from races long since faded sat preserved in the enchantments of the hideaway.

Luna trotted to a grand set of oak wood doors, flinging them open with her powerful magic. She felt light on her hooves, absolutely giddy. It had been centuries since a good fight. She counted out the moon period from her timeline completely.

"Nopony but Skippy anyways…"

Inside the room were jagged blades, spiked shields, and sleek armor crafted by the finest blacksmiths around Terran. She clapped her hooves, prancing about the room like a colt in a candy store.

Celestia, meanwhile, gazed upon her armors with some disgust.

"I actually wore that?" She stared at a gemstone-encrusted set of golden armor inlaid with ivory trim. She nearly wretched at the copious amount of gems fixated on it.

Moving on to her weapons, she felt that they looked… "…boring…"

Several sets of the standard sword and shield, with nothing else. All in gold…

"Gold isn't even my favorite color!" It was hot pink. Pink as hell.

That gave her an idea.

Luna trotted out of her War-Drobe, as she called it, a satisfied smile upon her face. She wore black spiked armor with a hint of purple along the helm and hoof-guards. A blade ran up the length of her horn, encasing its front with steel.

Using her magic, she brandished her weapon of choice: a double-edged great sword with amethysts encrusted in its hilt. Icy blue smoke poured off of the blade, pooling around her hooves momentarily before dissipating into nothingness. A tower shield floated out behind her next, looking like an enormous rectangle of spiny death.

Grinning evilly, she set the faceplate of her helm down over her muzzle and lit her eyes with a white aura, making her look extremely intimidating.

She heard a squeal of glee, and turned her armored head towards Celestia's War-Drobe. A flash of golden light, and the most hideous thing that Luna had ever laid eyes upon cast itself upon her.

"Sister, thou art actually considering placing that… thing upon thy body? Art thou mad?"

She was so shocked she slipped back into a habit she killed long ago. Yeah, that's how bad Celestia's choice attire was. I apologize personally for making you picture this.

Pink. Think of everything you can think of as being painted a hot pink.

Got it? Good.

Now add more pink and make it glow. Glow brilliantly. Now set it all on a pony princess with a flowing rainbow mane and give her a spear and shield combination.

This armor was so pink, I can't even describe what it looked like because I lost my sight and all I could taste was pink. Luna looked away from the catastrophic case of color. The armor alone would most likely kill Sombra from the sheer sight of it.

Giggling madly, Celestia levitated her weapons into the obnoxious field of pink and trotted out of the room. "Let us go sister, we shouldn't keep the troops waiting."

Luna followed behind, at a reasonably safe distance twenty meters or so away. "I disagree sister." She took a long, hard and painful stare at the pink monstrosity that had swallowed her sister. "Mayhap it is best to keep them waiting… er, indefinitely…"

Celestia turned to her sister, her face obscured by the horrific aura of rosy power. "Why is that, Lulu?"

Luna groaned, as she knew it was only a matter of time before her childhood nickname would be used in this fic. "Sister, look at thyself! Thou looketh ridiculous!"

Inside that mass of pink came a hurt gasp. "I look ridiculous? You sound ridiculous! You've slipped into your archaic nonsense again!"

Luna took a step back. "Nonsense?! I'll show you nonsense you wing-ed salmon!"

She reared on her hind hooves and let lightning crackle around her body, super-heating the air around her. Celestia in turn lowered her stance and the pink glow increased. Rushing forward, they abandoned their weapons to use their pure unadulterated power.

Fluttershy paced around nervously, her face a mixture of worry and horror. She murmured "oh dear," several times. Rarity shuffled her hooves frantically, checking her mane every so often and observing the clock on the wall.

Rainbow Dash performed loops and turns in the air, impatiently waiting for the order to kick some ass. Applejack sat calmly on the bench outside the war room with her friends, taking a nap with her hat pulled over her snout.

Pinkie Pie struggled to keep morale up, bouncing around and spouting off something about strawberries and somepony named 'Ichigo'.

"…and then he turned all white and stuff and he grew these sharp pointy horns, and next thing you know he was blasting mister Meanie-Bat Pants with lasers!"

Twilight stomped her hoof in frustration. "Pinkie! This is no time for another one of your crazy stories! We need a contingency plan!" She blushed furiously. "Not that I think the Princesses will lose! It's just best to be sure."

Applejack pushed her hat up drowsily. "Calm yer nickers Twi. Ah'm sure that yer brother is holdin' off that Sombra feller. Shining ain't no pushover."

Twilight began pacing opposite of Fluttershy. "But he's fighting a powerful enemy who, according to the Princesses and Sevilin, wasn't a pushover either! From what I'm hearing, he can trap souls and bodies in Limbo! Limbo, Applejack! Shining can't do that!"

"Well then he's well and truly fucked."

Twilight whirled around to see Silk Shot and Noble Force coming around the corner. She immediately scowled, her mane beginning to smoke.

"And what are you two doing here?"

Noble Force raised an eyebrow, and Shot raised his hooves. "Hold your fire there, She-Ra. We've been put on the front lines. Since we're so experienced with Sanctuary weaponry, we get to lead the charge." He smiled smugly, pointing a victorious hoof into the air.

Noble Force slapped his face with a hoof.

"We're going to die. Soldiers on the front lines always die, you moron. It's a Luna-damned punishment."

Shot's smile dropped, along with his hoof. Then he grinned again, turning to his partner in crime. "At least we've still got the weapons!"

Force allowed himself a cocky smirk. "Told you that mattresses were the safest places in Equestria."

Shot replied, "That's because nopony will ever get into your bed."

The Elements watched while the two wrestled and tossed each other around, screaming insults. Looking at the two, they saw that their coats had changed.

Silk had a deep purple coat with a vibrant blue mane, making him look like he had been barraged with plums and blueberries. His eyes were sky-blue, complementing his hair quite nicely.

Noble Force, in turn, was a bland light brown with dirty blonde streaks in his mane. His tail mimicked his mane except for the bright golden bolt that arced through it. His eyes were by far the most attractive many of the mares had seen, electric blue and seemingly buzzing with life.

The mares, pleased with what they saw, moved on to the stallions' hindquarters. Force's Cutie Mark was a strange symbol indeed, a triangle with a blade jutting through its center from behind and appearing from over the other side.

Silk Shot had a single arrow attached to a long line of silk. The silk led to a spool, where the white thread was wrapped.

Oh, and the girls thought that their asses were pretty nice, too. Just thought I should mention that.

Like the changeling hive mind, they had all already decreed Silk Shot the 'cute one' and Noble Force the 'handsome one'.

Then the six of them glanced between each other suspiciously, averted their gazes to the wrestling stallions, and then withdrew their attention again to various parts of the room. They were all practically glowing.

Sevilin approached the massive metalloid wall hidden deep inside the cave. Taking slow steps forward, her breathed lightly. Looking up at the wall, he placed his hand upon it and whispered, "Alexandriae, secreta senis dicere divos…"

The door hummed rhythmically, before eliciting a sharp squeal. A thundering, feminine voice greeted him.

"Welcome, Sevilin. The knowledge of Library Alexandria is open to you."

Sevilin nodded once and stepped inside, the doors closing with a colossal crack.

Shining Armor trotted back onto the balcony overlooking the haven of the Crystal Empire. Looking out at the horizon, he saw the massive cloud of black sentience. With his keen eyesight, Armor saw a face materialize, grinning darkly at him.

Then many more anguished expressions appeared alongside the central face, before twisting into angry and vicious monstrosities. They snapped and howled like savage dogs, shadowy spittle dripping into the snow.

And just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished, and the shadow monster smiled again.

Shining Armor looked out at the scene with a deep frown.

"Fangs. Why is it always have to be fangs?"

A guard trotted towards where the Princesses had entered, checking the surrounding area cautiously. They had been inside for quite a while now.

Pushing the door open, he began traveling down the stairs, hearing a faint yelling. Moving faster, he skipped several stairs as he wound around and around the stone pillar.

He clearly heard screaming now, and his panicked pace sped up exponentially. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he was rendered speechless by the scene before him.

"Wretched harlot!"

"Skank!"

"Bedroom trifler!"

"Hoofjob handler!"

"Musk dumping ground!"

"Cum dumpster!"

"Tis the same thing!"

"Is not!"

"Tis too!"

"Is not!"

"Tis too!"

"Is too!"

"Tis not!"

"Ha!"

"Curse you!"

The two princesses slapped each other in a silly flailing competition. Their hooves blurred by insanely fast, yet the blows simply bounced harmlessly off the other.

The guard, shocked at first, resumed his usual stoic expression. With great trepidation, the stallion cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of the two cat-fighting mares.

They spun to him quickly, and then blushed. At least I think Celestia blushed… I mean… Ugh… Pink.

Luna cleared her throat. "All is well here, soldier. Please, we ask thou to return to thy post immediately."

The guard closed his eyes and bowed, trotting away calmly. A small trail of blood ran out each of his nostrils.

"That was totally hot."

Sevilin's footsteps, now devoid of the thundering metallic boots, echoed softly against the walls of the long-abandoned but never forgotten machine.

"Library Alexandria. Oh, how I've missed you…" Sevilin walked through a massive hall lacking any fancy furnishings or the like. It was plain, bland, and dark. The walls rose up on either side to reach all the way up into the darkness of the ceiling. Slowly, the ancient machine sprung alive, addressing systems out loud to its keeper.

"Systems optimal. Running at eighty five percent efficiency. Radar systems: online. Communications: offline. Distress beacons: offline. Propulsion systems: offline. Weapons systems: disabled. Defense systems: disabled. Offensive systems: disabled. Fabrication systems: on standby. Knowledge banks: under lockdown. Lift lock?"

The machine around Sevilin hummed momentarily before he shook his head. "No. Access Armory."

A new, deeper voice like the weapons system in Jacobs' suit took over. The all-over light feel of the Library shifted to a more oppressive, totalitarian aura.

"State identification."

"Sevilin Jacobs of the Emancipator. Rank Thirteen Conquistador serving with his Grand Emperor's Imperial Fleet."

"State Emperor lineage."

"Emperor Nero LIII. Descended from Emperor Augustine XV, and those before him."

The machine hummed. "Fleet identification."

Sevilin grit his teeth. "Gloria Romae."

"State ships allotted to fleet."

"Seven Jupiter-class Annihilators. Fourteen Mars-class Reapers. One hundred and twelve Venus-class civilian ships."

The machine hummed its final note, before asking, "State fleet escort."

Sevilin grimaced. "Sevilin Jacobs, Marcy Keeting, Henry DeShurio, Lars Panhale, Kendra Hunt."

"Access granted. Sevilin Jacobs, welcome to Library Alexandria. How may I serve the Spear of the Emperor?"

Sevilin walked up a wide flight of stairs, which now began to light under his feet, as if revering his presence. He stopped in front of a massive amount of racks, holding many gargantuan white cases to their rails.

"Prepare the Sanctifier Armor."

"Yes sir."

The entire complex came alive, a living, breathing organism made of steel and other materials one could only begin to imagine. Fission cores fired, mile-long pistons pumped hydraulic fluid through the marvel. Smaller machines weld and built the armor for the high-ranking loner of the Grand Roman Imperial Legion.

Sevilin watched as sparks flew and screeches of metal on metal filled the air, the heat rising and falling as the huge tempering systems sealed the welds. The chatter continued while Sevilin continued deeper into the labyrinth, planning and preparing for the battle ahead.

A battle that would no doubt affect Sanctuary and Equestria as a whole.

Lightning Dust flew around the training area impatiently, darting her eyes from manticore to manticore. Snorting quickly, she shot up through a skylight and perceived Sanctuary from above.

The entire town was in a flurry of activity, gathering supplies, weapons, and any willing troops. Manticores allowed themselves to be suited in their armor, and changelings assisted in gathering utilities.

The pegasus mare huffed when she saw the changelings, and immediately raced back inside. Taking a deep breath, she bellowed at the varied races inside.

"ALRIGHT CHUMPS, HERE'S THE DEAL: WE'RE GONNA BE PROVIDING AERIAL SUPPORT FOR SEVILIN AND THE EQUESTRIAN ROYAL GUARD. IT'S ONE OF THEM AGAINST ALL OF US, SO THIS SHOULD BE A PIECE OF CAKE, GOT ME?"

"Yes, ma'am," they shouted back, continuing their work.

A changeling flew to Dust. "Should we prepare the parasprites as well?"

"We're attacking ONE TARGET! ARE WE TRYING TO STARVE HIM TO DEATH? NO!" She flew right into the changeling's frightened face. "WE'RE GOING TO BE SERVING HIS ASS ON A SILVER PLATTER FOR SEVILIN!"

The changeling nodded quickly and chittered away, telling the hive mind to stop laughing.

Dust nodded once at the activity going on, and went for the barracks to retrieve her own plating.

Inside, she thought to herself as she slipped inside the mail.

On the night that she got her letter from the Wonderbolt Academy flat out denying her from entering, Dust tore through the sky. With the tears in her eyes, she didn't have a clue as to what her direction or altitude was.

She flew and flew until she became tired, and landed somewhere deeply wooded. Curling into a turquoise ball, she wept amidst the silence of the forest. With no ponies around, she felt safer. She had always felt better when there was nopony to compare to.

Hugging herself, she fell asleep to the soft cooing of the woodland creatures.

Lightning awoke to a wet sniff. Groggily turning her head, she swept the yellow mane away from her eyes and stared right into the maw of a black bear. Scared stiff, she watched the hulking monstrosity rear onto its hind legs and bellow loudly.

She shivered in place while it glared down at her. She had no idea what she had done to anger it, but it hardly mattered now. It stepped forward and roared again, before diving toward her with its claws outstretched.

Almost immediately a dark form dashed in front of the beast, holding the bear's claws back with its own paws. The bear roared at the newcomer and pushed it away. Falling on its end, Dust saw that it had a brown mane and striking hazel eyes.

"Hey," it said before engaging the bear once again, a hatchet drawn in its right grasper. The blade dug into the bear's thick coat, and it roared all the louder. Taking a swipe at him with its left paw, the man ducked underneath and drew a dagger, which he embedded in the bear's neck.

Scarlet life juice splattered the bear's neck and withers, and the hatchet was released from its place in the bear's shoulder. Rolling underneath the bear with his knife, the human jabbed up into its gut, spraying more blood on himself.

The bear roared once again, and the man rolled out from underneath before the bear could fall atop him. Straightening his leather vest, the tall man examined the bear.

"Yeah. I think I could get a coat from this. Maybe a nice balaclava." He glanced at Dust. "What do you think?"

Dust was speechless. A black bear was a challenge for most ponies, but she had just watched this thing practically roll around it and kill it. She nodded dumbly.

The human sat there watching her. "You need some food? A place to stay?"

She looked at her hooves and blinked several times. As ridiculous as it sounded, he had seriously just asked that after killing a bear in front of her. There was still some blood on him! But-

"Somebody to talk to, maybe?" The human's eyes were met with her own, and she nodded slightly. The man walked over and sat down next to her, taking off the blood-stained vest. He cleaned the rest off with a towel and leaned against the tree.

"Okay, spill. Let it all out."

And she did. She told him about the hours and days and weeks spent practicing, the scolding she got from her parents for following such a silly dream, the day she thought it would come true. The day everything was denied.

She cried out into this man's chest, she didn't even know what it was but she didn't care. He was somebody to talk to, not somebody who would jeer at her or downplay her feelings. He hugged her tightly while she bawled, and she never wanted him to let go.

The fact that he wasn't a pony somehow made her feel better, like this wasn't ever going to get out to the public. It made her feel safe and isolated, but at the same time in a group.

That feeling would continue when this man named Sevilin would show her Sanctuary. A small settlement, sure, but he had big plans. Huge plans. To unite all of the ousted of Equestria in one place.

And once united he would prove that the ponies were wrong. That the Dogs were smart and inventive, the manticores great companions, Timberwolves misunderstood, parasprites manageable, and Changelings not to be feared and loathed.

Here was where Lightning Dust learned and grew. For a year and a half she trained under Changeling and Timberwolf alike, while Sanctuary grew bigger and its technology better.

She felt that she was surrounded by real family, real friends...

Lightning Dust breathed in the sky's clean scent as she returned to the present.

This was home.

"Sanctifier Armor completed. Deploy pole arm?"

"Negative," Sevilin grunted mechanically.

"Affirmative. Armor has been transported to Deployment Bay. Awaiting further orders."

The machine's booming voice hummed lowly, and Sevilin walked briskly to the Deployment Bay. Inside the domed area was nothing but a single pedestal and a large white case upon it. A single light was cast upon it, and Sevilin stood directly in front of the casing.

"Begin arming Sevilin Jacobs."

"Command ordered: Begin arming Sevilin Jacobs. Order confirmed?"

"Confirmed."

"Aye aye, sir."

The case split apart and instantly Sevilin was wrapped in a red synthetic glue, coating his skin and opened eyes and seeping through his pores. Nanometer-long wires ran into his pores and attached to his nerves, letting him move freely and easily.

He opened his mouth and the process repeated to coat his taste buds and teeth. His nostrils filled with the same goop and led up to his brain before solidifying, giving the suit a method of maintaining connection with his thoughts and physical status..

The entire suit finished its solidification, and Sevilin shivered once.

"Applying Sanctifier Armor to Rank Thirteen Conquistador Sevilin Jacobs of the Emancipator. May your spear pierce the very souls of your enemies and drive their hearts and minds to destruction."

White plates that shone in the industrial flood lights rushed forward on hydraulics and wires, fitting themselves to Sevilin's skin-tight suit in a hurry.

Amid the hisses of steam and squeals of metal, Sevilin chose his armaments for the clash. Dozens upon hundreds of combinations scrolled amidst his field of vision, his trained eyes selecting them as they flew by.

"Weapon set selected: four Ambit Repeater carbines, two Ares rocket pods, one Artemis Reticulum. Include pole arm?"

Sevilin's brows furrowed on frustration. "Negative, I repeat, negative! No pole arm required!"

"My apologies, sir. I will omit the pole arm."

Sevilin grunted in acknowledgement while the machine put the finishing touches on the suit, fully syncing it to his cerebellum's rotary controls and retinal areas on the lobes.

"Sync complete. Ready to launch. Coordinates?"

A small map appeared in Sevilin's vision alongside a heartbeat scan, ammo supply, longitude and latitude, altimeter, speedometer, armor density gauge, and pressure gauge.

"The Frozen North, sixty degrees east. Launch."

"…Affirmative. Launching."

A plate covered Sevilin's vision, then his suit rumbled violently before calming. The faceplate fell away and revealed the large white clouds, with Sanctuary far behind him.

"Launch undetected. Marking as first launch date in history since arrival on alien planet. Last launch recorded: two-hundred and fifty thousand years, eleven months, twenty-nine days, four hours and twenty-six seconds ago. Saving to database for future reports."

Sevilin frowned and thought to himself as he was carried up through the clouds and past the cities of Equestria. "I came here only several years before… How is it that the Library arrived here hundreds of thousands of years before me? The event horizon can't seriously be capable of altering the flow of time, can it?"

As his thought process ended, he saw that he was now directly over his set position. "Release."

The gray plates around the suit did so, and it revealed a bright white hulking suit, larger than the last, hurtling down into the snow. Sevilin flipped forward and his feet landed in the soft white powder, sending the snow exploding in different directions.

Sevilin saw Orion huddled near a dying fire, icicles hanging from his snout and eyelashes.

"S- s- s- s- Sir? I- I- Is that y- y- y- you?"

An angular helm with a single visor running vertical along its blade-like head nodded solemnly. The shoulders of this new armor were much more pronounced and sharper, and the entire suit seemed to simply radiate weight. Four long barrels extended from his gauntlets, steam flowing off the tips from the heat they brought.

Two cylindrical containers on his back spun with a blue glow, and then settled down. Raising his hands in the air, Sevilin examined the sharpened points of his digits.

Reaching to his thigh, he pulled out a massive blade of silver, with a compressed stone harder than forged steel as the hilt.

Sevilin watched the blade as points of data scrolled across.

Sanctifier's Blade awarded to Lars Panhale following the eightieth battle of Hrik'lo'shuk on the planet Jiruyk of the Vedanthor. Forged from Plentium Silver, an ore found only on the outer reaches of the Horse Head Nebula; the Sanctifier's Blade is truly a prime example of an award befitting a hero such as Panhale. The hilt is crafted of the same meteorite the Plentium Silver was found in. Using the entire meteor, a rock one kilometer across, the stone and minerals were compressed into an extremely dense material that then underwent gravitational alteration within its atomic structure, giving the blade lightness of weight. Thanks to this atomic-level technology, the hilt weighs a mere ton.

Sevilin remembered how Lars would place the blade atop enemies and laugh while they struggled to free themselves. It was always humorous.

Now the human looked out upon the massive purple dome and the black cloud surrounding it, and curled his plated fist.

"Prepare for battle."

With a salute and a "Yes sir!" Orion was off to alert Sanctuary's finest. Orion could barely hold back his growing excitement.

Princess Luna and Princess Celestia stood side by side at the head of the long iron table. Celestia's armor remained pink, but nowhere near the retina-burning level as before.

The Elements of Harmony sat to the right of the table, and Equestria's tacticians and generals on the left side. Celestia placed her hooves upon the table.

"Mares and stallions. Those of you who have been called here today are no doubt frightened and confused by the concept of war…"

Luna stepped in. "But worry not, my little ponies. War may be horrific, if sometimes pointless…"

"But ultimately, it is, at times, wholly necessary. This is one of those times."

The Elements of Harmony cringed, then a jungle-green stallion on the other side, dressed in full combat armor, leapt atop the table. In a gruff voice he shouted to his comrades.

"You hear that, ponies? WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO SOMETHING!"

High-hooves were held by all of the mares and stallions on the left side of the table, many of them already scrambling out of the doors and drawing up battle strategies. Many of them had Sevilin's plans and were working off of them to strategize correctly.

"GET THE PEGASI IN THE AIR AND EVERYPONY ELSE IN THE CARRIAGES!" The green earth pony stallion paused, looking in a direction to his right, down a hallway. "YES, THE BIG CARRIAGES, YOU FAUST-DAMNED FLANKHOLE! MOVE IT, NOW!"

Luna and Celestia watched the debacle in the hallway, the two of them still stunned by their little ponies' reactions. Outside they were practically trampling one another in order to fulfill their training.

"I suppose we should brief thee as well…"

"Lulu, you're doing it again."

"GRAH!"

Celestia folded her hooves upon the table. "Now, you six, the Elements of Harmony. You are all to be stationed at the very rear of the combined forces of Sanctuary and Equestria, is that understood?"

The girls nervously glanced between each other, then nodded. Luna recovered from slamming her head into the table, and joined her sister.

"You six are not to fight. All of you will be there in case things go wrong. If somehow King Sombra is able to defeat us, you are to activate the Elements of Harmony and seal him away."

The Elements of Harmony bowed and accepted their mission, sneaking around the clamor of the military in the hall.

Celestia turned to her sister.

"It is time."

"Yes, Tia, it is." Luna flipped her faceplate down, her eyes blazing with white flames.

Lightning Dust converged with the Equestrian forces whilst traveling with Sanctuary's reinforcements. With another five-hundred dogs, seventy Timberwolves, fifteen manticores, and four-hundred other assembled races, they were hard to miss.

She saluted to a mildly surprised pegasus stallion of the same age, who bowed his head slightly and continued pulling a colossal carriage with nine other pegasi.

Lightning Dust looked behind her to see that the manticores were pulling their weight, and the griffins were keeping alongside the occasional pegasus to ensure they had no trouble with the flight.

They would be at the Crystal Kingdom within the hour, especially traveling at this speed.

She saw the Princesses flying on their own, trailed by the Elements of Harmony on a carriage hooked to a few guards.

Dust shouted above the winds, "Prepare for touchdown in twenty minutes!"

She received no response, but she knew she was heard.

As Lieutenant Lightning Dust, she was made to be heard.

Sevilin watched as the plethora of carts, carriages, and bodies landed upon the soft snow. Hooves, paws, talons, and the like all felt the cold material upon them.

Sevilin witnessed his dream beginning to come to fruition, and smiled beneath the mask. He saw Luna and Celestia, Celestia dressed in a most strange arrangement, trot over to meet him.

The two of them now looked up higher than before they met him, their horns reaching his chin. He opened his right palm and spoke.

"Hello. Are you all prepared?"

The Princesses nodded in confirmation, and Sevilin turned towards his force, now fully assembled. The mass of them faced the purple dome, which now had several large cracks splintering its surface.

"SOLDIERS," he bellowed in his strange accent. "THOU HATH COMETH MOST FAR! THOU HATH ASSISTED IN MINE ENDEAVORS, NO MATTER WHICH PATH THEY MAY HATH TAKEN US. BUT ALAS, NOW, ON OCCASION MOST URGENT, HATH WE ALL DECIDED TO ASSIST THOSE WHO HATH BOTH CAST US OUT AND GAVE US MEANS TO LIVE."

Sanctuary's soldiers roared in response, holding their various weapons in the air. The sound carried across the frozen tundra, and Sombra's form rose up above the dome.

"WE SHALT SHOW THEM THAT THOU ART NOT MINDLESS!" Sevilin pointed to a Timberwolf.

"THOU ART NOT BRUTISH!" He directed his white finger at an Alloy Dog Praetorian.

"THOU ART NOT KILLERS! BUT TODAY IS NOT THE TIME WE SHALT SHOW THEM! TODAY WE ART MINDLESS, BRUTISH, AND INDEED KILLERS! WE MINDLESSLY DEFEND OUR BRETHREN AND SISTERS BORN IN BATTLE, WE BRUTISHLY ATTACK OUR ENEMY WITH VICIOUS FORCE! AND WE KILL ALL DOUBTS AS TO OUR DEFEAT!"

The Equestrian forces readied their weapons with Sanctuary's as the two armies stared down the city, which was now only a quarter-mile away. Sombra noticed the noble amassment of soldiers, and the cloud was now spinning terrifically.

"AND WHOM SHALT STAND WITH ME?"

Sanctuary roared, and Equestria, caught up in the energy, roared with them.

"AND WHOM WILL FIGHT BESIDE ME?"

The ground shook from the shout.

"AND WHOM SHALT DIE WITH ME?"

The dome behind him shattered, purple shards of magical glass raining upon the now-defenseless city. The shadow rushed inside, swirling with great force.

Crystals as black as night erupted from the dirt and began to shift. Soon enough, crystalline figures resembling ponies crawled from the earth, green and purple energy replacing eyes. Some horned and winged ponies crawled from the earth as well, the dark magical energy enveloping their horns and wings.

Weapons sprouted from the ground as shards and chunks, and the collective army, now of a considerable size, roared in the opposing armies' stead with a demonic scream.

"THEN I'LL TAKE THE LOT OF YOU WITH ME," Sevilin bellowed back. He leapt forward, and with the Princesses at his sides, he lead a full-on assault for the Crystal Empire.

Shining Armor saw his shield simply shatter. It was over. The Crystal Empire was done. He collapsed into Cadence's fore hooves and began to fade out of consciousness. Then he heard the most horrifying noise he had ever born witness to.

Sounding like a screech of steel on steel mixed with the bombastic explosion of depth charge, the roar of the Crystal Guardians, now corrupted with Sombra's magic, shattered windows throughout the city.

A second, far more comforting sound met Shining Armor's ear, however. The sound of nearly two-thousand troops collided with the Crystal Empire's corrupted warriors.

Feeling relieved, Armor passed out in the arms of his concerned wife.

Sevilin stomped a Crystal into the ground, splintering it like a dry twig. Another leapt at him with a sharpened, jagged piece of the same material, and received a volley of compressed blasts of heat from his gauntlets, splitting it into pieces.

Sevilin whirled his arm around and caught a unicorn Crystal charging its horn for an offensive attack, shattering its head as if it were glass.

Looking about, he saw that his current predicament would not allow him to operate at full capacity, and so he grabbed one Crystal and carried it with him whilst cracking it in half, attracting more Crystals to pursue him.

Luna swung her sword sword, her dia-

Sorry, I got carried away there. Luna swung her sword, hacking apart the Crystals with surgeon-like precision. One clambered onto her back, where she easily smacked it off with a wing, swung it around with a hoof, and jammed the blade of the sword in its sternum.

The Crystal froze, then shattered. She blocked another attack with her magic and enveloped the beast, squeezing it so tightly with her magic that it splintered inside and broke apart anti-climatically.

She then lopped the forelegs off another and stomped its head into oblivion before cleaving another in two.

Celestia smacked a Crystal away from a Dog and impaled the crystalline monster on her spear. She then whirled it around and shattered a second Crystal with its clone, killing them both.

The Dog departed and leapt back into the action, engaging in battle with a Crystal.

Celestia hit a Crystal in the head with her spear, and then finished it with a bone-dusting blow from her shield.

Another three made to attack her, only to get vaporized by a white blast.

Celestia broke her focus to see Private Silk Shot riding on a manticore, the human's stolen weapon in his grip.

Force tackled a Crystal from the sky, sending the two of them rocketing through a window onto a bed. The bed rattled and creaked while Force beat the shards out of it with the hilt of the Sanctuary blade.

"Sorry, but I like to be on top," he said as he delivered the final blow, obliterating its skull. He got off the bed, and in the corner of his vision saw an olive mare with frightened eyes.

"Ma'am," he tipped his helmet courteously and looked back out the empty window, only to be checked into the shower by a piece of carriage.

Huge Crystal gargoyles soared through the air, tearing apart the vulnerable wooden structures of the carriages carrying the Equestrians and Sanctuary soldiers alike.

Silk Shot leapt off his recently destroyed carriage, watching as the Crystal monster flung the wood aside and into a building, some debris flying through the window.

Turning his attention back to the Crystal in front of him, the thing's maw split and cracked, eliciting a sharp, angry roar. Something beneath him rumbled, and another loud roar matched the Crystal's.

"Aw, crap…"

He was on top of a manticore that about to be locked in combat with a gargoyle. He was pretty fucked.  

The Elements stood behind at a reasonable distance nearly a mile away. Twilight watched through some binoculars, but could barely stand the sight. Applejack watched on in concern, and Rainbow in slight anger.

"How could they not put us in to fight? We saved Equestria twice! Twice!"

Twilight quietly handed Rainbow Dash the binoculars, and she took them.

"What's the big deal, we're winning…"

A massive creature that looked to be made up of dark amethysts chomped down on a pegasus and tore him in two, his fore legs futilely kicking until he was thrown away.

A teal blur tipped with yellow socked the monster in the face, causing its purple and green eyes to glow and a roar to explode out of its mouth.

A beam of energy hit it, and another blur hit, this time pink. The gargoyle was caught in Princess Celestia's magic, and torn in half itself.

Princess Celestia then darted back down to fight once again.

"Okay… That's pretty intense, I'll admit."

Sevilin threw another Crystal into a pillar and blasted it into pieces easily. So far only a few had actually placed scratches in his armor.

He began leading as many of them as he could toward the palace, where both the Prince and Princess were thought to be. Running at full speed, he barreled down the Crystals with the grace of a freight train.

He lifted his arms and powerful waves of molten death spewed from them, shredding the Crystals into nothingness. One clamped his leg, and he simply lifted his foot and dropped it atop the thing.

"Hmpfh."

He ground the crystals beneath him.

He turned to the huge double doors of the palace and saw the congregation awaiting him. He snorted in jest.

"A welcoming party? How thoughtful…"

He hunched over like a linebacker, his shoulder plates lowered, and the two spinning cylindrical tubes whirred to life.

"Target locked. Fire?"

Sevilin grinned inside his helmet.

"Affirmative."

Crystals inside the palace all looked toward where the huge white troll had last been reported. Lowering their horns, pole arms, swords, and heads; they prepared for combat.

At first there was nothing, then…

THUDA-BABOOOOOM

The earth shook from the explosion, and a huge blue light encased the center of town. A massive plume of dust interrupted the fight on the battlefield, and everyone shut their eyes, granting many Crystals the opportunity to strike.

The Elements watched from afar, curious as to what was going on. They heard it before it hit them, so they braced for the cloud of debris.

By the time they opened their eyes, everyone was back to trying to kill each other.

The remains of the entire front wall of the palace lay about Sevilin's feet as he strolled inside amidst the shattered bodies of the Crystals. Smoke and dust swirled about, and he took off running into the palace.

Instead of taking the stairs, he opted to simply leap through the floors, searching them with thermal-equipped vision for the Royals.

"Where the hell…"

Sevilin was hit by a colossal force, sending him into the floor and down the next few stories. He crashed into the ground floor amidst beams of stone and faceted beams. The visor of his helm shifted from a soft blue to a menacing orange.

Turning his head skyward, he witnessed a rush of darkness interrupt his vision with a flurry of ethereal blows.

Thrashing his arms around, Sevilin tore through the foggy foe and watched Sombra reform across the main hall. Sombra's fangs glinted in the rays of sunlight, the snow drifting from the sky and onto the tip of his horn.

With an animalistic roar, he formed a hulking body outfitted with huge, slashing talons and a powerful, shadowy tail. He panted heavily, spitting out his words along with thick black tar.

"I know not what you are, troll… But know that the Crystal Empire, and all of its treasures, are mine!" His tail lashed out behind him, striking a pillar and sending the dusted column swirling about.

Sevilin held his thick metal arms apart, the barrels on his wrist-mounted carbines hissing with heat. The pods on his back raised into firing position yet again, and under his visor Sevilin's brows pulled down into a deep scowl.

The two of them stared each other down from across the hall, Sevilin's armor humming serenely and Sombra's mane bubbling like liquid asphalt.

RRROOOOAAAAAARRRRR!!!

The two rushed forward, Sombra with the advantage of speed, and they began tearing into each other with fang and claw. Sevilin mashed the King's face into the floor, the guns firing point-blank into his face, sending chunks of solid darkness and bluish stone about.

Reacting on instinct, Sombra bucked Sevilin into the air, then reeled his tail back, swinging it into the human's metallic hide like a baseball bat. With a sound like a gong, Sevilin was sent through the thick walls of the castle and into the city proper.

Righting himself mid-air, Sevilin splayed his arms out for balance. Sombra erupted through the dust and Sevilin lowered his chest and his shoulder plates shifted, the rocket pods firing on Sombra.

The twin streaks of azure energy struck Sombra head-on, blasting his physical form into swirling motes of ash and dark energy. Growling, he reformed as a huge horned stallion, and charged Sevilin again, his ethereal form goring the human without doing any real damage.

Sombra stood on his hind legs, which faded occasionally, and body-slammed Sevilin on the stone, sending spiderwebs of cracks through the ground. Sevilin could barely believe he was being handled in such a way.

"He just lifted the Sanctifier…"

Sevilin thrust his fists into Sombra's swirling chest and blasted away, the heat and light wounding the twisted stallion.

King Sombra's form flickered, then retreated while Sevilin's armor repaired itself. Looking up, Sevilin had no bead on the dark King, the smoke and dust plumes making it impossible to find him.

Drawing his blade, Sevilin stalked off to find his foe.

"Ach!" Shot was thrown from side to side atop the manticore, his teeth clenched tightly. All he could taste was some kind of shampoo in the manticore's mane that was currently held in his teeth.

The weapon from Sanctuary that a Praetorian guard had informed him of being a 'Titus', was clutched tightly to his chest. Opening his eyes, he saw the gargoyle swoop down toward the manticore's neck.

Panicking, Shot levitated the weapon and aimed it directly at the gargoyle. Before he could pull the trigger, the manticore flipped and locked claws with the Crystal.

The two spun round and round, and Shot held on for dear life.

The earth and sky bled together in a kaleidoscope of chaotic color. He felt himself grow ill and used both hooves to hold his wide-open mouth.

He realized his mistake while he tumbled back down towards the ground. Looking about, he saw his only salvation, the manticore.

A manticore with a gargoyle on its back was likely not a smooth ride, however, and Silk Shot, gathering all of his calm, focused. He brought the weapon to his muzzle, using his magic to realign himself to be falling perfectly upside-down.

He knew that he didn't have time to reload before he hit the ground.

"Make it count, dammit!"

Breathing in, he watched the duo speed beneath and ahead of him. They shot closer and closer, and finally he exhaled.

Pulling the trigger, a spear of white light crackled out, lancing the gargoyle in the chest and blasting it apart. Shot righted himself and landed atop the manticore, who growled contentedly when the stallion pet the beast's mane.  

Looking down on the battlefield, Shot pulled the slide back and ejected the shell. "TO BATTLE, STEED!"

The manticore flipped upside down above a fountain, dumping the stallion into the frigid waters.

"Mutiny! Mutiny," he screamed from the waters.

Force whipped a Crystal off its feet and plunged the exotic blade into its throat, cracking sounds and signs spreading. It split into pieces.

Looking up, he saw that they were making no progress. The Crystals just kept coming, and-

His line of thought was broken when he saw a teal mare in brass combat armor hit the ground, holding her shoulder. The Crystal above her raised a shattered limb, sharpened to a point.

Gripping his blade with his mouth, Force's wings unfurled and then closed, sending him forward like a ballistic missile.

He sliced forward, releasing the stored kinetic energy of a prolonged battle. The green crescent of pure force slammed into the Crystal and decimated it, turning its splintered body into deadly shrapnel.

The shrapnel tore into its brethren and killed several of them, leaving them as screeching piles of dark energy and amethysts. The teal mare looked up at Force, who looked at the enemy with grand determination.

"Are you well, soldier?"

Lightning stood up and nodded. "Yessir."

"Then get killing! Go!"

She pulled down her goggles and grimaced, turning to fly into a Crystal and send it into a wall. She darted right back and began pummeling the creature with a furious barrage of hoof-blows.

The Crystal, cracked and showing signs of strain, simply came apart.

"Now that's a tough mare…"

Noble Force shook his head and noticed an approaching Crystal. Slicing up, he cleaved it clean in two halves.

Luna rolled onto her back, kicking the massive Crystal in the gut. She then righted herself and whipped her left wing behind her, snapping the living statue into a home.

With her lumbering sword, she beheaded three Crystals and blasted another apart with a concentrated beam of magic. She bumped into somepony else, and saw the little Dog Orion.

Growling, he aimed a small silver device at a Crystal and pulled a mechanism on it. A flash of white light and the Crystal was disassembled into shards.

Orion leapt upon another Crystal and jammed the device behind its head. Before the beast could chomp on an Equestrian soldier, Orion turned the monster's head into splinters.

Performing a backflip through the air, he threw a small handful of pellets, which exploded on contact with the Crystals.

At first, nothing happened, then the Crystals began to grow tumorous growths of orange rock about their joints and limbs. Whatever Crystal was coated in it began to experience the same rapid foreign growth, and before long they couldn't move.

Other soldiers dispatched them, and turned once again to fight their own battles.

Luna heard a loud scream and turned around. A Crystal had opened its geode maw and clamped down on a griffin's throat, tearing bloody chunks out of his neck and shoulder. Luna was swift to act, bringing the blade through the Crystal's head.

While the griffin struggled to splutter his thanks, he rose slowly and shakily. Luna stared at the battered griffin wide-eyed.

"Be still! Why doth thou still fight?" Her panicked question seemed to sting the griffin.

"Equestria… in danger… Sanctuary… in… danger… family." He frowned deeply and clutched his blade, the blood on his right shoulder and neck dripping down into his claws.

Luna grimaced. Taking a bottle from under her armor, she tossed it to the griffin. He popped it open and drank it, his wounds healing instantly. Luna nodded, as did he.

The two of them rushed off into battle once again.

Sombra wrestled with Sevilin once again, with the human gaining ground at every push. In a bout of anger, Sombra fired off a titanic wave of dark magic, destroying the fountain in the center of town.

Sevilin, dazed from the blast, shook himself and got back up. The water rushed by him and sloshed against his boots. Lifting his sword once again, he powered forward. Sombra summoned an axe, huge and viciously spiked, and bellowed his rage.

The two weapons clashed, but ultimately Sevilin's physical weapon outweighed Sombra's ethereal one. The momentum behind the swing shattered Sombra's axe and sent Sombra into the ground.

The dark King picked himself up several yards away, and conjured his magic in a swirling ball of black, green, and purple. Giving a colossal roar of infuriation, he fired.

Sevilin's chest lowered and fired both pods, the menacing light arcing forward like holy lightning.

The foes' blasts collided and a dark azure orb of light wavered a second. Then the two opposing forces swirled together and condensed. The ground around the bead of light cracked, and the oxygen around it vaporized in the blink of an eye.

Exploding like a solar flare, the town center went up in a pillar-shaped explosion of emerald, violet, and blue.

The Elements saw the pillar of destructive force even from their distance, and gaped while it rose into the swirling clouds. Blue light shone briefly in the sky, and then subsided. Another wave of dust, this one far more powerful, whipped at them violently.

If that was what Sombra was capable of…

Everyone on the battlefield was thrown to the ground from the sheer seismic force of the blast, hit only seconds later by the wave of released kinetic energy. The shockwave shattered windows and several buildings crumbled.

"The Crystal Ponies!" Celestia struggled to make a connection with Cadence, finding that she could not. Concerned she tried yet again.

Her focus was interrupted by a prismatic showcase of purple-tinted light. A mammoth of a Crystal stood over her, seemingly super-charged by the resulting blast.

Its maw cracked open, small discarded shards landing this way and that, and it screeched into her shocked face.

She moved to stab it with her blade, but a quick lance of white blew out its chest. The Crystal staggered, but did not go down. It looked up and screeched again, and received another crack to its face. Staggering once, twice, three times it struggled to gain back its footing.

A final spear of light took its head clean off and its severed dome lay in front of Celestia. A gray stallion soaked to the bone trotted over, and two sky-blue eyes stared at their Princess.

A huge smile, full of teeth, made itself known under the soot. A tooth was missing from the set, and his expression was quite off-kilter.

"Boom. Headshot," he whispered, then he cackled and reared up. Galloping off with the Titus in his magical grip, he straddled a Crystal and beat it to pieces with his hooves. Laughing madly and high on adrenaline, he continued to fight off the homegrown menace.

"Hahaha! Homegrown! It's funny cuz they grew out of the ground," he tittered inside his own head.

I don't even know how- You know what? Fuck it. Back to the battle.

Noble Force met with Silk, who was coated from head to hoof in soot. "Is he missing a tooth?"

Shot spun around suddenly and flicked a switch on the weapon, smiling devilishly. A shot from the weapon hit the dirt under a Crystal of exploded, sending shards through the air.

Grasping the shards with his magic, Shot fired them into the Crystals' heads with frightening accuracy. He hummed along as he did so, smiling widely.

"♫Thread by thread," he sang melodically, now using the Titus as a club, smashing Crystal heads left and right. Force shrugged and tossed a Crystal to Shot, who smacked it with the Titus to send it flying through the air.

"Home run!" The Crystal hit a group of others corroded with Orion's mixture, crumbling to purple dust. "GRAND SLAM! OOOOOOOOOOO!" Shot ran in circles on his hind legs, sliding upon them to end up under a gigantic Crystal.

The Crystal's back exploded upwards, wisps of white smoke pouring out of the wound. Shot came back up through the hole.

"AND THE RUNNER IS HOME! SAFE!"

Force looked upon the scene confusedly. Sighing heavily, he brought his blade down upon yet another Crystal. This was getting tedious.

Sevilin picked himself up from the chunks of masonry and dirt. His suit began repairing itself.

"Running on forty percent of maximum power. Severe damage taken to chest casing and upper extremities. Exercise caution until repair is completed. Estimated time until completion: four minutes. Standby."

The voice of his suit left him, and the whirring sound of millions of nanomites could be heard inside his suit, patching up or downright replacing anything damaged by the explosion.

Sombra was once again nowhere to be seen. "No body, no proof," Sevilin thought to himself as he searched the ruins of the town's center. The water that had once been flowing past him was gone, evaporated in the intense heat of the blast.

Sevilin continued to watch his surroundings, the faint sounds of battle coming from far behind him. "Three minutes remaining," the voice interrupted.

Sevilin stood fully, letting the nanomites repair everything correctly. Panhale's sword was nowhere to be found, and this troubled Sevilin greatly. The dins of magical blasts and weapons colliding with glass echoed around him, the buildings that stood numbered greatly and carried the sounds like mirrors carried light.

The once-beautiful city was now scarred by the battles, but fortunately the Crystal Ponies were clever enough to seek underground shelter. As for the two VIPs that Princesses Celestia and Luna had made clear were to be recovered, Jacobs was unsure.

He knew for a fact that they were inside the palace, but if the Crystals were also inside, he wasn't so sure of the VIPs' safety. However, he had managed to lead most of the Crystals out via brute force and flashy weaponry.

"One minute remaining."

Sevilin took a deep breath, Lars' armor wasn't suited for Sevilin's fighting style. Usually, Panhale would tank the damage, blast away, and Sevilin would be off tearing through heavy opposition. This suit was severely limited in offensive capabilities, but its regenerative systems were legendary.

"Twenty seconds."

Sevilin's body tensed up, eyes still scanning the area around him.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

A shadow hovered over Jacobs, and he looked above him. He never got the chance to dodge the massive amassment of rubble. Grunting, he was crushed beneath, his suit's limit pushed to the edge in order to preserve his skeletal structure from the overwhelming pressure being exerted upon his body.

Sombra kept up the field of dark magic, pushing Sevilin and the masonry into the ground. Sevilin watched in a panic while his systems slowly shut down, one by one.

"NO-"

SCREEEEEECH-KACHUNK

Sevilin's desperate scream was quashed along with his suit.

Sombra let out a bellowing laugh, his body solidifying while his concentration dropped and a dull blow glow flowed beneath his hooves.

Celestia threw another Crystal into the ground, incinerating it and several of its brethren. She swooped in to attack again, only to see the Crystal go stock still, and crumble.

Rune lines along the cracked and battered earth struggled to connect, pulses coming from the center of the city weakly made their way to the edges of the township.

Luna landed next to her sister while the Crystals crumbled back into the ground, the earth swallowing them up like a hungry monster.

Noble Force and Silk Shot, back to back, warily watched their enemy retreat. They lowered their weapons as hey watched faint blue waves pass beneath their hooves.

Princess Celestia looked toward the center of town.

"The Heart! They have the Crystal Heart! TO THE TOWN CENTER, NOW!"

The reduced and weary army rushed after the Princesses, who soared through the air.

Sombra looked behind him while his body became tangible. "What?"

Looking beneath his hooves, he saw what looked like ripples of water splashing against him gently. "No. It can't be!"

Behind him, Cadence had her horn near a slowly spinning heart-shaped gem that shone a brilliant blue. Snarling, Sombra made to move his hooves, but remained rooted to the ground.

"No matter," he growled. The stallion's horn began to splutter and bubble, the dark magic contained within building. Cadence looked up slowly, opening her eyes but keeping her horn to the Crystal Heart.

"If I move, he can become ethereal," she reminded herself.

Sombra watched Celestia and Luna soar over the horizon, accompanied by a sizable force. He roared.

"HOW ARE YOU ALL STILL ALIVE?"

Cadence smirked. "Because they're ready and willing to fight the good fight. They have more conviction, more love, more power than you will ever have."

Sombra chuckled. "Power? Power! AHAHA! I'LL SHOW YOU POWER!"

His horn crackled with red lightning and a massive bubble of dark, murderous energy swirled over his head. Malice filled his eyes, and he managed to completely swivel his head around to face Cadence.

Princess Luna shot forward. "NO!"

"Goodbye Princess Mi Amore, may you rot in Tartarus!"

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!"

A white fist erupted from the debris beneath Sombra, crashing into the stallion's skull with a raging vengeance. A female voice echoed from within Sevilin's heavily damaged helm.

"Artemis Reticulum activated. Target locked."

Sevilin's body shot out of the ground like an earth-bound white torpedo. His arm continued to push upwards, the full force of his suit's remaining power reserves behind the blow.

"Firing."

A net of green energy enveloped Sombra and his sphere of demonic energy. "Net integrity one hundred percent. Chance of target escape: zero percent. Chance of raw energy release: zero percent."

Sombra's eyes widened while Sevilin's fist retreated. Sevilin's exposed left eye locked with Sombra's and the evil stallion's horn gave off a bright white light.

Cracks spread down his horn as the King struggled to contain and diffuse the magic.

Sevilin's suit froze, finally drained of its power. The bubble shrunk down to the size of a marble, blinked once, and exploded.

The green net spread around Sombra hummed while the scarlet blast was contained. Sombra was annihilated instantaneously, his solid body unable to withstand such concentrated magic.

Everypony shut their eyes while the orb above Sevilin hummed quietly, the wave of thunderous sound contained within the Reticulum.

Within seconds, it died down, a swirling ball of gray smoke being the only evidence showing any signs of the blast. The green net flicked from existence, and Sevilin remained stock-still, frozen in his uppercut. His body appeared only from the waist up, and his right arm hung to the side, badly crushed and split.

A cough brought everypony out of their trances.

"Drinks on me?" Shot called out.

Cheers resounded throughout the city. Next Chapter: Chapter 10- The Wounded Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes