MLP: A Journey's End
Chapter 10 - A Fiery Sunset
Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, although at this point, I should probably be a co-owner
[SB] Come again?
Nothing, nothing... um, yeah, I just own the story... you can put that down now.
The next day
"Star, please tell me you have some idea as to where we're at now."
Stardust sighed, and he replied, "Like I told everyone earlier, Rainbow, I am now… twelve percent sure that we're close to reaching Canterlot, but from here, I don't see any sign of it, so we just have to keep walking."
The winged Pegasus let out a groan, and muttered, "I wish everypony here had wings, and knew how to fly… we'd get there a lot faster if - wait a second!"
She went over to hover by Twilight, with a wide smile, and said, "You could do that one spell when you tried to make us all alicorns!"
However, the alicorn princess frowned, and she shook her head, saying, "I don't think so, Rainbow… I learned my lesson after that, and the last thing we need is a repeat of those events."
"But you don't have to use it on all of us!" replied Rainbow, who gestured her wing towards their friends. "Heck, it doesn't even have to be that spell… just poof some wings onto Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Starlight, and we'll get to Canterlot faster than you can say 'Wonderbolt'!"
"Nothin' doing, Rainbow," said a frowning Applejack, who was disagreeing with her friend. "I'm fine just bein' the way I am, thank you very much… plus, I want to be able to wear my hat."
"Ugh, so you'll have a horn on your head," said the winged pony. "You don't see Rarity or Starlight complaining!"
"Well, um, I actually don't want to be turned into an alicorn either," said Rarity, who had her own unpleasant experience that day she had been given wings. "Let's just leave that to Twilight."
Starlight nodded, in agreement, and Rainbow rolled her eyes, muttering, "Alright, fine, let's all keep going at this pace… we'll definitely reach Canterlot by nightfall."
"Just please relax, Rainbow, okay?" asked Twilight. "We should be almost there… and besides, what else could possibly go-"
"Sunset Shimmer!" yelled Pinkie Pie, taking everyone by surprise, and they all saw that the yellow-colored unicorn was standing several feet away from them.
Twilight smiled at Stardust, and she said, "See, what did I tell you? Sunset looks perfectly fine to me… nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, yeah, alright," replied a chuckling Stardust, who was starting to feel a little relieved now that he saw her. "Hey, Sunset, are you-"
BOOM!
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Sunset had fired an energy blast at Stardust, while everyone else quickly moved out of the way.
That looked exactly like the one Jack used on Ronxor, thought Twilight. But how did it come from her horn?
"Hey! What the heck was that for?" exclaimed Rainbow, glaring at Celestia's former pupil.
"It's my way of saying 'hello', and I'm about to do the same to- oof!"
Sunset was interrupted by the quick return of Stardust, who had taken a page out of Rainbow's book, and knocked himself into her with a powerful headbutt, sending Sunset to fly and tumble a few feet away.
"Now, you owe me one, Rainbow," replied Stardust, smiling at the winged pony, and he turned his attention back to Sunset.
"Okay, what in the [BEEP] was that for? You could've almost, sort-of-but-not-really killed me with that attack!"
Sunset let out a maniacal laugh, and she gave him an evil grin. "That was the point, you numbskull… now, do me a favor, and-"
Whoosh!
She had fired another energy blast at Stardust, but luckily, Twilight had appeared in front of him, and created a powerful force field bubble around them that caused the blast to head up into the sky.
"So, now, I guess you owe me one?" teased Twilight, and Stardust chuckled before giving his response.
"Oh, I bet I could think of something, love."
Then, the alicorn princess looked at her friend, and asked, "What's wrong with you, Sunset? Why are you attacking us like this?"
"Because I can, Twilight," replied Sunset, whose horn was now surrounded by tiny sparks of blue electricity, and Stardust immediately took notice of this.
I knew something was wrong! Omega must have-
"Are you just going to hide behind Twilight this whole time, Jack?" taunted Sunset, with a sinister smile. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the pony versions of Flash and Timber would have already-"
"Oh, you've done [BEEP]-ed up now, Shimmer," growled an annoyed Stardust, and he began to head straight for Sunset while creating another energy blast, much to Starswirl's irritation.
Jack! You're not ready yet to-
ZZZZZZZTTTTT!
"Omega figured you'd try that," said Sunset, who was now attacking Stardust with the blue lightning bolts, and continued to do so as they came from her own.
"Sunset… this… is not… you… aaaaaugghh!"
There were no words to describe the pain that Stardust was feeling right now, and he was quickly thinking of a way to make it stop.
Alright, where else have you seen lightning attacks, Jack? There has to be one that... oh!
The gold-colored pony then tried to redirect the lightning at Sunset the same way that he would fire his energy blasts, and to his surprise, it actually worked!
Ha! That must make me a
BOOM!
Unfortunately, it caused an explosion that sent only Stardust flying away, while Sunset merely stayed in the same spot, waving away the smoke with her hoof.
"What… the… [BEEP]..." growled an annoyed Stardust, whose aching body was twitching in pain.
As for Sunset, she looked at Twilight, and a smile came across her muzzle. "Now, it's your turn, princess!"
Taking a deep breath, Twilight began to prepare herself for a fight, but then, Stardust came racing towards Sunset, now looking very upset.
"You leave her out of this!"
Then, he delivered a spear to Sunset, causing her to fall down to the ground, and as he looked down at his friend, Stardust said, "You're making it real hard to not beat the holy [BEEP] out of you, Shimmer…"
"Such a shame, Stardust," replied Sunset. "Because I'm finding it really easy to beat the holy [BEEP] out of you!"
Before Stardust could say anything else to her, she swiftly grabbed ahold of him, and threw him towards the rest of his friends, causing all of them to fall to the ground.
"Like I said… it's me and you, Twilight."
A non-amused Omega entered the throne room, and said, "Look, Nova, for the last time, I am not-"
"Just simmer down there, Rowan," replied a smiling Elixir, as he sat atop Celestia's throne. "I was able to find someone that I am positively certain you would want to see dead."
Omega raised an eyebrow, and he said, "Who?"
"Let go… of me!"
As the cloaked pony turned around, Elixir began to chuckle, and said, "Great job, Ronxor… and you've certainly been through a lot, haven't you?"
His newest prisoner, who looked like she had gotten roughed up by somepony, frowned at the new ruler of Equestria, and replied, "You won't get away with this…"
"Well, then that's where you are wrong," said Elixir, whose eye-shaped device was starting to activate. "Because I already have… and now, it's time for you to go."
Omega quickly looked at the dark-colored pony, and said, "Nova, what the hell are you-"
"Like I said, my friend," replied Elixir, who was now creating an energy blast that was similar to the one Stardust used on him. "You'll really enjoy seeing this."
Then, before Omega could say anything else, Elixir fired his energy blast at the prisoner, and after the smoke cleared away, they all saw that she was now lying down on the ground.
"Now that is what I call power," said Elixir, while Ronxor began to drag the body away. "So, what did you think of that, Rowan?"
It took a moment for Omega to look at Elixir, and give him a response.
"Wonderful, Nova… and now, I want to kill Stardust Balance even more, should he ever show his face again."
As the gold-colored pony laid on the ground, he muttered, "I am going to [BEEP] that damn masked pony for all the pain that he's causing me."
At the same time, Twilight and Sunset were trying to avoid each other's attacks.
"You are so predictable, Twilight," said the powerful unicorn. "Can't you ever try out something new for once?"
A somewhat exhausted Twilight frowned, and said, "Sunset, this isn't you! Whatever Omega did to you- oof!"
Sunset now had her pinned down to the ground, and she said, "I don't know who you're talking about, Twilight, but I am going to end this once and for all!"
The alicorn princess gulped, and she looked back and forth from Sunset to her friends, trying to think of a quick solution.
What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I… wait… something unexpected… that's it!
Then, before Sunset could fire her attack at Twilight, she used her own magic blast against it, and from where he stood, Stardust watched as an explosion of dust and smoke was created.
"Twilight!" cried the young pony, who hurried over to them as fast as he could, but due to the pain from the lightning strikes, it took him a while to get there.
Once he did, along with everypony else, they found a standing but exhausted Twilight, who was taking several deep breaths, and Stardust could have sworn that her face was a little redder than usual.
As for Sunset, she was lying on the ground, and slowly lifted her head up to look at Stardust.
"S-Star… w-what… h-how did… ugh…"
She's exhausted, said Starswirl, as the gold-colored pony watched his friend become unconcious. But she'll be fine.
Until she wakes up, anyway, replied Stardust. Do you sense any 'I-want-to-kill' vibes inside her?
Not like I did earlier when she was attacking you, said the elderly pony. But I sense a lot of pain inside her… so I am guessing that Elixir must have done something to her.
"So, is she gonna try to kill us or…?" wondered Rainbow Dash, and Stardust shook his head.
"No, I don't think so, but let's take her to the nearest area of water before something worse happens."
Then, while they were doing that, Stardust looked at Twilight, and said, "That was awesome, love… your magic's gotten stronger over the years, hasn't it?"
"Ha-ha, yep, that's true," replied Twilight, although it was a little more high-pitched than usual.
At first, Stardust wondered if something was wrong with her, but after hearing Sunset moan in pain, he decided to worry about that another time.
You'd better be ready once we meet again, Omega, because I am going to [BEEP-BEEP-BEEP] you so badly that you'll wish you had never attacked my friends, and you are going to pay for what you did to Casey!
At the same time, Twilight let out a sigh of relief, but then, Pinkie showed up next to her, and was giving the alicorn a suspicious look.
"What?"
Instead of saying anything, Pinkie simply began to walk to the back of the group, but before Twilight could sigh again, the pink pony reappeared, and they were almost eye-to-eye with each other.
"Pinkie? You okay?" said Stardust, who had noticed his friend suddenly appearing next to him.
"Just peachy, Star... just peachy," replied Pinkie, who slowly walked over to the back as she kept her eyes on Twilight, while the alicorn shrugged at her special somepony.