The airship Westfalia tore through the open skies at full speed like a falcon through the wind. Its engine grinded with a loud roar as the pilot put it on full throttle. The usually muffled whir of it propelling the ship forwards through the air had now become as loud as a car revving up to top speed. It could be heard from almost every part of the ship.

But that could’ve been due to the fact it was carrying a considerable payload; about sixty players crammed aboard. True, there were pegasi aboard who could have easily flown alongside the ship to ease the slight strain weighing it down, but that didn’t mean any of them would be able to keep up if they did.

The deck above was almost completely covered in players, possibly thirty at most, while the rest of the players stayed below deck, prepping themselves for the fight in Canterlot ahead.

Of course, that wasn’t including a certain stowaway, hidden in the least conspicuous place possible, hidden in plain sight among the crowd of players on deck.

He was just an earth pony, concealing both his identity and weapon with a black cloak. He hadn’t been particularly popular with a few select players, so he had learned to keep his distance over the past few months. Ever since every town could barely be considered a safe zone, he had learned to rough it on his own in the Everfree. With a constant supply of monsters there to grind, and thanks to his own special ability, he had trained himself up to the point where he could survive outside on his own with ease.

But once news had quickly spread through the town that the last battle against Discord was underway, he knew he had to go… but he knew there would be some players less likely to welcome him aboard to help.

From his place among the players on deck, he glanced up towards the helm, where four players stood; they were the ones who had gathered together all of the players for this battle.

Two of them were pegasi, Swift Vapor and Comet, members of Team Vortex and close affiliates of The Elements of Harmony. Everyone in town knew them, and they came running straightaway for them at the news that all of the elements had been gathered.

With them stood another earth pony, a mare who was barely armored and armed. She was a pink mare with a light blue mane, with a music note on a rainbow as her cutie mark. Her Player ID read: Aurora Sounds, and as far as anyone knew, she had suddenly appeared in town that night. No one had seen her in town before, so needless to say, there were lingering suspicions about her being an undercover Hater or not.

But the last pony at the helm was a massive surprise to everyone else. He was a brown unicorn with a wild black mane, edges highlighted with red, and he wore a katana at his belt, as well as some light armor and a samurai headband. His ID read: Cinnamon, and to everyone, he had been previously known as Ponyville’s resident former-Hater, who had still lost his mind to Discord’s control.

But now to everyone’s shock, he was up and about, completely sane and back to himself. From what Swift Vapor and Comet had explained to anyone who asked, they had acquired a gemstone from Nightmare Moon that freed Cinn from his former state.

All in all, it helped reinforce the fact that Nightmare Moon had been defeated, and now the fight against Discord was finally here; the end of this damned game was upon them.

“Canterlot ahoy!” A voice from the bow of the ship rang out. Many players skirted to the edges of the ship, peering over the railings to see the floating, ruined city was in sight. The skies were a deep crimson red, and to everyone’s astonishment, Canterlot appeared to be the battleground for an all-out war between players and monsters. Almost every single player in the game was here…

The hidden earth pony shifted his cloak slightly, grimly thinking to himself, Whether we win or not, this is the end. If we lose, there’s no way we would be able to recover what we lose here. Despite these thoughts, a determined look crossed his features, But that gives me all the more reason to find Shadow and the others ASAP… I’d rather I help them in battle than hunt them down in the real world when we win.

Westfalia quickly approached the city, and soon the airship caught the attention of smaller hordes of monsters in the sky. Soon the ship was rushed at by dozens of disfigured drones of nightmare fuel.

“Weapons up! We got company!” Another voice shouted. Almost everybody drew their swords, staves, lances, and all manner of weaponry... save for the pony trying to keep himself concealed. He didn’t want to reveal himself quite yet… besides, he was a close combat fighter anyways, not an aerial fighter.

However, before the oncoming monsters reached the ship, pegasi from both Westfalia and the city before them flew out at them. In mere moments, the monsters were locked in aerial battle, and Westfalia pressed forwards uninterrupted. With Swift Vapor at the helm, the airship soared down towards the southern square of the city, right near the heart of the battle.

With unmatched precision over the vessel, Swift dropped the ship down towards the square, quickly adding resistance to pull the ship up enough to keep it from crashing onto the streets below. Soon, the ship reached the ground with an audible *thunk* through its hull as it touched down, and the instant they had landed, players began jumping ship to join the battle below.

With players quickly leaving Westfalia, either jumping over the ship’s sides, or unloading themselves by platform, the single earth pony beneath his cloak quickly glanced around through the battle.

Unfortunately, none of the Elements of Harmony were in sight… but to his surprise, the cloaked pony spotted two ponies who he thought could never exist in this game: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

The two alicorns seemed to be acting as generals or captains for the forces of players already in the midst of the battle, shouting out orders and keeping an eye on all of the action. They had their weapons drawn and ready for any oncoming foes, both from ground and air. But now with Westfalia here, they were playing the role of protecting the ship.

Before the cloaked pony could do a double take, he spotted the form of Cinn jumping the railing of the ship and running towards the two princesses. As soon as he reached them, they began conversing, but they were too far away for the cloaked pony to hear any of it. But during the middle of it, he noticed Luna pointing in the direction of the castle for Cinn.

Nodding, Cinn replied back with something, before running alone through the battlefield, towards the center of Canterlot.

Meanwhile, the cloaked pony quickly got off Westfalia, watching Cinn run in the distance. He nodded to himself in affirmation, If that’s anything to go off of, Cinn is probably heading towards the castle… and I bet that’s exactly where I’ll find the Elements.

With that, he was off, tailing Cinn at a distance as he galloped towards the castle.

But even as he ran from the heart of the battle, the sound of fighting seemed to follow him. The battle was definitely spreading out through the city… but for how long? How long would they hold out?

“Hey, there they are!” I heard Neon shout from outside. So they finally reached the castle.

In the meantime, after Chess Queen and Jupiter had left for who knows where, I had managed to compose myself from my… er, emotional outburst. I had my sword and shield strapped to my back over my cloak again, and all of my health and magic replenished. And with my Element of Courage worn around my neck, I was ready to fight again… albeit I felt slightly empty inside.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, Come on, I can’t be mourning now. I’ve already done plenty of that… now it’s time to do what we really came here for.

Sky stood nearby, ready to go as well. His Element of Willpower hung shining proudly around his neck. He gave me a questioning glance, “You alright?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m good now.”

The rest of our group came charging through the castle’s front doors, and they looked like they only had minor trouble getting to the castle, a bit of the unicorn’s magic depleted, and some of their health gone from an occasional scratch.

But overall, they looked ready for the final fight. On each of the Element Bearers necks, they wore their own element, each differing from each other’s in color and shape of their gems.

Violet wore yellow gear: Spirit.

Soul wore a red ace of hearts: Loyalty.

Lexus wore an orange wing: Honesty.

Eclipse wore a violet Yin-yang: Generosity.

Siren wore a pink rose: Kindness.

Cross wore a light blue cross: Laughter.

Dylan wore a green figure in mid-backflip: Passion.

And finally, Neon wore a golden tiara, a magenta, neon fireball gemstone adorning it: Magic.

Oh yeah, and Sharky, who brought up the rear. Out of anyone else, his magic seemed the most depleted, but then again, all of his attacks and defense came from his magic.

Lexus was the first to reach me and Sky. He came flying in with a grateful grin, “Shadow! Glad to see you’re alive.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, me too.”

Cross came just behind him, grinning in his usual, joking way, “Dude, I know you’re anxious to beat Discord and all, but you kind of have to wait for the rest of us elements before you blast him.”

We shared a laugh, though mine was considerably weaker.

I was starting to feel better with all of my friends nearby. You know how when you’re with a best friend, everything just seems better? Yeah, it kind of felt like that… I was really grateful they were all here now.

It was a lighthearted reunion with my team, but the feeling dropped like a weight when Neon, glancing about worriedly, asked, “Where’s Frostlight?”

The lump in my throat came back as if someone had shoved it down through my muzzle, “Oh…” My head drooped down wards slightly, my ears curling down in sorrow. This wasn’t getting any easier every time I said it, “She’s… -she’s dead.”

Neon gasped, placing a hoof over her mouth in shock. Everyone held a similar variation in their own reactions.

“What happened?” Dylan asked.

Sky shrugged somberly, “He hasn’t even told me.”

Everyone’s eyes drew towards mine.

“Shadow?” Siren inquired.

Suddenly I felt the strong urge to sob again. But biting back the pain I felt deep in my chest again, I shook my head, turning away, “Now’s not the time to mourn. I’ve already done enough crying over Frostlight’s-“ I gritted my teeth. The word sounded as if it were a venom I’d choke on if I dared say it.

I glanced my eyes back towards my team, “I’ll be fine. Right now, the only important thing is reaching Discord… before anyone else is lost.”

A moment of sad silence rolled through the room, before Eclipse gingerly approached me. The white unicorn held a concerned look, “Are you sure you’re okay?” He pointed with a hoof towards my face.

I quickly wiped my eyes, feeling the damp tears that had still managed to leak out. I sighed a bit, taking a deep enough breath to calm myself. Once I quickly composed myself, I looked back towards him with a determined expression, “Yes, I’m fine.”

“You had better be, Shadow.” Sharky approached me between the others. His demeanor read nothing but dead seriousness, “Falling to your emotions is just as bad as being stabbed in the back, and just as probable too unless you can keep yours in check. And I know no one is better than Discord when it comes to getting under your skin about this kind of thing.”

“I’ll be fine.” I insisted. I felt the faintest hint of a smile play at the corners of my mouth, “I know I will be with you guys here, ‘cause I know you’ll stop me if I do.”

After a moment of silence, Sharky nodded in affirmation, “Right. Just be sure to keep yourself calm. I don’t want to have to drag you out of the boss battle if you can’t.”

With that matter put aside, Soul spoke up, “We should get going and find Discord. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting kind of sick of the virtual world.”

A voice suddenly spoke from the doorways, “Heh, same here.”

Most of us gasped in surprise at the sound of familiar voice, one we hadn’t truly heard in a long time. Wide smiles covered our faces as we glanced towards the doors to see a brown unicorn stallion carrying a katana and a smug expression on his face.

”Cinn!”

Cinn smiled (weird, huh?) as he made his way to join our group in the entry hall, “Glad I could finally catch up to you. The streets were crowded, and traffic was terrible.” He chuckled, lightly swinging his katana at his side, “But then again, it feels great to cut down a horde of monsters after being cooped up in a prison cell for the last two months.”

Siren stared at him wide-eyed, “Wait, you could see everything that happened, even under Discord’s control?”

Cinn’s expression suddenly turned darker, as if he had eaten something bitter, “Yeah. You have no idea how terrible it is to not have any control over yourself… I’m just glad Discord wasn’t able to hurt anyone when he was using me as his personal marionette.” His determined smirk slowly returned, “And I’m also glad I wasn’t left behind before you started the fight against Discord.

“Aw.” Neon cooed, playfully, “Did Cinn miss us that much?”

Cross barked out a laugh, “More like he didn’t want to miss a chance to kick Discord’s scaly ass!”

Cinn chuckled, “You're damn right.” He narrowed his eyes in disgusted anger, “If I still had hands, I’d need more than four arms to count every single thing I’m going to kill Discord for.”

“But first we kind of need to know where he is.” Sky interjected, glancing towards me, “You got any idea where Discord is?”

I nodded, “From what I could tell from the chaos in the castle already,” I gestured towards the hallways leading into the entry hall, which were lined with hazards like spikes, small lava pools, including a living killer traffic cone that popped into view before disappearing behind another corner, “All of this chaos seems to get thicker the closer you get to the tallest tower. My guess says Discord’s up there.”

“The tallest tower?” Lexus deadpanned, “For a chaotic villain like Discord, that seems a bit generic of a place to be waiting for us.”

Dylan gave him a curious look, “How do you know Discord’s waiting for us?”

Sky gave him an incredulous look, “Dylan, there’s the biggest battle all of us have ever seen in this game just outside. I think it’s safe to say Discord’s already noticed it.”

Violet commented, “Add that to the fact Discord hasn’t appeared like he usually does, and that means he’s waiting for us to find him.”

Dylan just gave a sheepish look at the response, “Oh, duh.”

I turned to look at the rest of our whole team… er, minus Swift and Comet. With the battle raging on outside, I doubted Swift would leave Westfalia to potentially become damaged in the action, and I doubted Comet was willing to leave Swift for the same reasoning towards him.

From the look of things, our team before me seemed to be the only players going into this last fight with Discord.

I smirked to myself, We are all we’ll need to take care of Discord. So long as everyone outside keeps his monsters at bay, all we need to do is blast Discord with the Elements of Harmony, and this whole game will be finally over.

I waved the team towards the side hall leading up to the tallest towers of the castle, “C’mon, let’s go, before any of Discord’s Haters show up.”

I began leading our team through the hallway, one that had a noticeably reduced number of hazards… the one I had chased Chess Queen through. Apparently, it was noticeable enough to my team mates too.

“Interesting.” Eclipse commented, stepping over the remains of a flattened prickly porcupine patches, “Is it just me, or does it look like someone else already came in through here.”

Neon shrugged in reply, “I don’t know, but it would explain why the walls are a different color around here. Everywhere else, they’re tinted red, but here they’re pitch black.”

“Looks as if someone just lit twenty cases of fireworks in here.” Violet remarked.

Meanwhile, I just avoided eye contact until we passed the corridor leading up to Chess Queen’s tower, where we came to a bit of a block in the road.

After passing the corridor leading towards Chess Queen’s tower, we found the chaotic hazards finally petered out, but only just enough to keep us from having to watch our step every foot we travelled. Before us, all that were left between the stairs up the tower was a narrow hall… but it was far from empty.

Someone was waiting for us.

The orange pegasus chuckled with sick malice as he saw us appear from around the corner. His red mane hung in frazzled locks, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was too busy running a hoof down the blade of his sword, sharpening it like a whetstone.

My eyes widened, and my first instinct made me draw my sword and shield without a single thought. I winced slightly as I glanced down at the blade he held, a phantom pain making my wings and chest ache at the sight of its sharp edge.

Ezekiel obviously noticed my discomfort at seeing him, making him chuckle louder, even while the rest of my team pulled out their weapons and leveled them at the orange pegasus, “Well, well, well. What do we have here? Some show horses coming to me with a death wish? Perhaps you were hoping I’d turn you all into glue before Discord does something worse when you fail to kill him.”

Sky growled back, “You coward. You’ve been running from us ever since Cloudsdale, and you’re choosing now to show yourself.”

Ezekiel replied coolly, “You talk as if you haven’t been running from your friends either.”

“Shut up,” Sky raised his swords towards the pegasus, “before I kill you like I should’ve back in the woods.”

Ezekiel snorted with a smirk, “Ooh, touchy.”

I glared at the psychotic killer, “Get out of our way.”

In a swift motion, he pointed his sword towards us, a chiding smile apparently visible, “Not until I’ve killed at least one of you.” His eyes shifted slightly and he smirked, “Hello there, ‘Cinnabon’.”

Cinn looked wroth as he regarded Ezekiel with disdain, “Big E.”

Ezekiel merely huffed, rolling his eyes, “Oh, come now. Don’t tell me you’re still going off about the fact I overlooked that one player’s name you said you wanted to protect.” He flashed Cinn a savage grin, “That was on purpose, of course. Did you honestly expect you could protect your little brother from an entire group just like me? I can say for certain at least half of our guild didn’t give a damn who’s throat they sliced.”

Suddenly, the whistle of an arrow pierced through the air, and Ezekiel just barely moved his head out of the way of the projectile. As the arrow clattered against corridor behind Ezekiel, the orange pegasus glowered at its sender, the short purple and pink pegasus with a crossbow.

Siren met his glare, notching another crossbow bolt into her weapon, “For a disgusting serial killer, you talk too much.”

Ezekiel pointed his sword towards her, glaring with no shortage of manic hatred, “For a little girl,” His wings instantly flared, “You’re too alive!”

Quicker than a flash, the orange pegasus shot forward like a living harpoon, right towards Siren. The rest of us were prepared to meet him in a fight, but no one reacted faster than Sky, who immediately placed himself between Siren and Ezekiel, ready to protect.

But whether it was for better or worse, there was already someone between Sky and Ezekiel, and the serial killer’s sword clashed with the ringing of steel against a steadfast axe blocking its way.

I had to blink to make sure I was seeing correctly, because it seemed like this new pony teleported into Ezekiel’s path… but this new guy was an earth pony; an extremely fast earth pony.

As soon as Ezekiel found all of his momentum nulled by clashing with the new pony before him, he sprang backwards onto his hind legs a few feet away, sword and buckler at the ready with his wings flared. He snarled at the pony, finding that it was a random earth pony wearing a cloak who had blocked him from his target.

But in an instant, I realized I recognized this new pony. He had a two-tone, gray mane and tail, which were now visible as he threw off his cloak. He wore simple, lightweight armor, carrying a large battle axe between his teeth. His fur was a maroon grey and his cutie mark: a swirling, green vortex.

His player ID read: doomsquared, but we knew him as Cordon.

A lot of eyes widened at seeing the sudden re-appearance of our old team member.

“Cordon!” Siren and Eclipse shouted in unison, glad to see their friend again.

Cordon genuinely smiled, not even a smirk. Though he was apparently tempted to glance back at them, he kept his eyes focused on Ezekiel, “Hey, guys. You miss me? Nice to see you too, Sky. It’s been a while.”

Sky’s eyes narrowed with hostility, “What are you doing here?”

Cordon calmly gave a firm reply, “I didn’t come to pick a fight with any of you, that’s for sure. It’s already the end of the game, and only just now am I coming to say I realize I’ve treated all of you wrong.” He chuckled, “I guess you could say I was being an asshole back then, and I’d agree with you. I knew sooner or later I’d have to come apologize.”

He smirked, “And what kind of a person would I be if I didn’t help my old team at all in the final battle. I’d probably regret it… a lot. So you guys go on ahead. I’ll take this guy, no problem.”

Eclipse chuckled under his breath, “Even some things never change with Cordon, still as brash as always.”

Siren giggled, “You can say that again.”

Meanwhile, Ezekiel looked ready to literally kill, “There’ll be none of that! Anyone that tries to pass me, I will skewer!” He held up his blade’s point, “Courtesy of Discord, one scratch from this and you will feel a very slow and painful death from wither. I dare you to even try!”

“Yeesh, this guy really wants us dead.” I muttered. I glanced towards Sharky, “Think you can make a wall between Ezekiel and the stairs, preferably four feet thick?”

“A little more than a meter?” Sharky grinned, “Consider it done.” His horn burned a bright light blue, and suddenly a massive, clear wall of us rose up behind Ezekiel, leaving not even an inch of space to get around it.

“Cross?” I turned towards him, “We need a mass teleport.”

Cross winced, “Ugh, you know I hate the backlash I get from it, but I guess it’s necessary-“ His horn flashed a brilliant red, and a woozy feeling later, our whole group found themselves on the other side of Sharky’s ice wall. Just in front of us stood the stairway leading up to Discord’s tower.

“NOOO!” I heard Ezekiel’s scream of rage, muffled by the giant wall of ice between him and us. Frantically, the orange pegasus began hacking into the ice with his sword, but it was apparent he wasn’t making much progress.

Sky proceeded to start climbing the stairs, shouting behind him, “Come on! Discord’s just up ahead!” As he climbed, everyone else trailed up after him… Well, almost everyone.

“Um, Cross?” I winced slightly after most of the team was already going up the stairs, “You okay?”

Cross wobbled around on his hooves like a ditzy, drunk man, eyes literally spinning beneath his sunglasses, “WhoA, Did ~anyONe sEE wHere thAT ~baBOon WeNt~?”

Cinn gave me a slightly concerned, skeptical look as he passed me towards the stairs. I just chuckled, grabbing Cross in my magic and draping him over my back, “He’ll be fine. He just needs a few seconds to clear his head.”

Cinn just shrugged, before continuing up the stairs, with me right behind him, last one up… unless you counted Cross. Actually, now that I think about it, it was a good thing I was holding my weapons in my magic, otherwise Cross’ ride up the stairs would have been either very uncomfortable or just plain painful.

Meanwhile, back behind the ice wall, Ezekiel growled bitterly while he watched the Elements of Harmony disappear up the stairs through the ice in front of him. He reeled his head back around towards the one pony currently available to take his anger out on.

The orange pegasus gave Cordon a look that would have killed had it been any sharper, “You! You let them escape!”

Cordon gave him a level stare in return, “Ezekiel, huh? You have a big reputation around the game, you know; The most vile of mass murderers in Equestria.” He tightened a hoof around his ax, “I have a proposition for you.”

“What?” Ezekiel snarled.

“Transfer all of your weapons and items to me, and I won’t have to kill you.”

For a moment, Ezekiel merely paused, before a cruel, sadistic grin twisted his features, “Transfer my weapons to you? Sure! How about I use a more percussive method!”

In an instant, the pegasus was in the air, sword swinging downwards in a wild strike, his face twisted in unrighteous rage, ”DIE!”

Cordon brought up his ax in his teeth again, ready to defend and braced for impact. He let out a hint of a smirk, “Bring it. There’s no way I’ll lose to you.” His features twisted into a grimace as the thoughts of his family and his friends back home, even the friends he had made in this game, flashed through his mind, “Not now, not ever.”

And in an instant, they clashed.

I ran up the stairs bringing up the rear of the group. With Cross on my back still slowly regaining his wits, I ascended up until we reached the room at the top of the stairs… except there was none.

At the top of the stairs, everyone glanced about in wary caution, as we now found ourselves standing on a very large circular platform on the tallest tower of the castle. Dreary bricks in random designs made up the whole of the floor’s texture, stretching out so the platform was easily seventy feet in diameter. There were no barriers separating the inside from the cliff-like edges, which meant falling off would be a hazard for anyone without wings.

All in all, it reminded me of the floor layout of any other boss battle.

A cruel, cold chuckle echoed like storm clouds above us, “Oh, hello, my dear old ~friends~”

All heads turned upwards to see the familiar figure of a draconequus descending towards the platform on a throne made of electric eels and noodles woven together, floating through the air by ropes tied to four flying, demonic nyan cats.

In a short moment, Discord’s absurd throne touched down on the center of the platform. With a snap of his fingers, the nyan cats disappeared by bursting like firecrackers, and he stared down at us with a less than amused expression.

“Well… isn’t this a nasty surprise?” Discord grumbled, his voice sounding more reptilian with loathing. “I must admit, I hadn’t planned you all would get this far. I was suppose to rule indefinitely while Nightmare Moon hid away with the final element.” His scowl deepened, “But I suposed that nuisance of a player trapped within her mind provoked Nightmare’s brash nature enough for this slip-up to happen.”

“Discord.”

The draconequus’ glanced towards the source of the voice, but his expression turned to one of sick humor as he spotted Sharky step forward. Discord chuckled darkly, “Hello, creator. Funny seeing you here, isn’t it? Almost like deja-vu maybe?”

Sharky didn’t even bother to shrug off the comment, even though everyone gave him confused looks from it. The cyan unicorn merely narrowed his eyes at the draconequus, “Discord, I want you to answer me something. You’ve managed to kill players regularly over the past months. At this rate, everyone would have been dead by the year’s end. Tell me, what would you have done then?”

Discord smirked, “Well, if it’s all the same to you, at least one of us isn’t going to survive today, so why hold back my response?” A deep chortle vibrated in his throat, literally, before he passed some pea soup gas beneath his tail, “This world, this server, is still connected to the internet… a very interesting place to say the least. Interesting, but the possibilities are perfect chaos; I can easily wiggle my way on to another server of another game, and do whatever I please there.”

I glared at the draconequus, “You’re going to kill them too!”

Discord just sighed and rolled his eyes, “Only if I feel like it.”

Cinn stepped forwards, his katana poised to strike, “Not before we take you down first! It’s about damn time I got to slice my katana right up your-“

Discord humphed, crossing his arms in bemusement, “Well, I can understand Sharky being here, but not you Cinnamon.” He shrugged, “Oh well, you know the rules; only Element bearers can fight boss battles. Ta-ta~”

“Wha-!” Cinn tried to leap at Discord, but the draconequus snapped his fingers and the brown unicorn and Sharky suddenly disappeared.

Sky shouted at Discord, “What did you do to them?”

Discord chuckled, his body floating off his throne like a magician, his throne meanwhile shriveling up into dust before vanishing on a breeze of wind, “Little Sky, I wouldn’t worry about them. I sent them off to meet a few of their old friends.”

Cinn faceplanted against marble floor as he reappeared, “Gah, fu-!”

“What?” Sharky glanced about in surprise as he appeared beside him on his hooves.

Cinn quickly stood back up, katana at the ready, before realizing where they were now: back down in the entry hall of the castle.

Cinn felt his eyelid twitch slightly in angered annoyance, “That mother fu-“

“Cinn.”

Cinn glanced towards Sharky, grumbling, “What?”

Sharky pointed down the nearest hallway, where six players stood waiting for them… all of their eyes glazed over and Hater tattoos on their left ears.

The group of ponies rushed the duo, “Kill them all! For Lord Discord! Kill them all! For Lord Discord!”

“Kusō,” Cinn cursed under his breath readying his katana and magic, meanwhile Sharky conjured a pair of ice gauntlets and did the same.

Discord guffawed loudly, “I fear they’ll be a bit busy.”

Everyone readied their weapons, prepared to strike. I for one had enough of Discord’s antics. I just wanted to go home already!

Discord just smirked down at us from where he floated, clearly amused, “My, you all are just as eager as you were when we started this game.” He chuckled, “Oh, the irony of it all. You and your friends did all of the work, and yet now we come to the end,” His eyes narrowed in a challenging way, “but who’s end will it be?”

Discord struck a pose mid-air, stretching a paw to the air, “Battle start~!”

*SNAP*

Author's Notes:

Hello, everypony! Can you believe it!?! After two+ years of writing ELO, we are finally at the culminating point of the final battle, the event that was in everyone's sights since day one in this game! You have no idea how excited I am to have reached this point, and same goes for the large number of readers this story has now. You guys are the best!

Oh yes, that reminds me. ELO now has our very own fan group. It'd make me extremely happy if everyone reading this would join, because it's not just going to be a group glorifying a decently good fic, but I've made the rules stating that you can even post one or two of your own stories in it, even if they have nothing to do with SAO or ELO. You can find out more details by clicking the link here, and feel free to join!

Anyways, I'm not sure how long it'll take to get the next chapter out, because this week I have AP Testing... wish me luck! I'm taking the tests for AP Calculus BC and AP Literature and Composition. Ugh, so fun.

But hey, again,
Thanks for reading!
-Shadowflame