The two demons continued to clash blades as the others watched. No magic was casted among the two, although the battle was going nowhere with just their weapons. They ceased there attacks and just looked at each other. Sticks spoke up and said, "Not bad. You've obviously gotten some practice before this. Unfortunately, that won't matter soon." Sticks began laughing maniacally. Deathshead gripped his axe and said, "Watch your words. They could get you killed." Sticks cracked his neck. "Let's see about that, then," he replied. The two began fighting again.
Twilight and the rest of the mane six gathered around a circle to discuss what to do about the situation. "Alright, girls. We need to decide what to do, fast. Any suggestions," Twilight asked. Applejack spoke her idea. "We should decide whether to side or oppose Deathshead. We pick a side and give our reasoning. Majority rules," she suggested. Everyone agreed. Twilight started. "I say we oppose him because of what he can do. He may be helping us now, but he could turn on us at any moment. Plus, he's a shady person, and I don't trust shady people," she explained. Rarity spoke up. "I agree with Twilight. The last time he was here, he choked me! He could have potentially hurt you guys as well," Rarity explained and walked over to Twilight. Rainbow Dash spoke up. "Yeah. He hurt my friends, and I can't accept that. I've seen too many ponies' lives ruined by friendships, and I don't want that to happen to us! So I must oppose," Rainbow Dash said as she walked over towards Twilight and Rarity.
Fluttershy spoke up. "C'mon, guys! We need to help him! I know he may have wronged some of us, but we need to be able to forgive him if we want to win this fight," Fluttershy said as she went on the opposite side of Twilight, Rarity, and Dash. Applejack added to the statement. "I hate to admit it, but without Deathshead, we're hopeless. I'm with Fluttershy," Applejack said as she went by Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie looked at everyone with a sad look, and without saying a word, went by Applejack and Fluttershy. "Fine, if you guys won't do anything about it, we will," Twilight said angrily.
Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash went towards the fight while the others stayed behind. Meanwhile, Deathshead and Sticks were still battling, not breaking a sweat. Finally, Sticks said, "It's getting rather boring just fighting in this palace. Let's open up the battlefield a bit." Sticks then began forming a dark green ball of energy on his hand. He raised it high up in the air and clenched his fist. The green ball then flashed and the roof and walls of the palace were destroyed. This revealed a crimson and black sky with an extreme amount of lightning. The moon shined high up in the sky, glowing more than usual. In the distance, tornados of fire spun out of control.
"This is more like it. But the fun's just begun," said Sticks. "I will end you," said Deathshead. "I would like to see you try," replied Sticks. His sword lit on fire with large, green flames. Deaths head's axe lit fire as well, but these ones were orange. With a large amount of force, both demons clashed there blades against each other. A large shockwave blasted throughout Ponyville and lit the ground and trees on fire. The entire village was turned into an inferno and beyond. Sticks just laughed. Deathshead lunged forward and punched Sticks with a fire-engulfed fist. Sticks flew into Princess Celestia's chair and completely shattered it. Sticks got up and wound up his right arm. "You dare defy a god," Sticks said angrily. Deathshead scoffed. "God? You're nothing but a disgusting, damned soul on this earth. A fucking pig in a herd of sheep. You're dead to me," Deathshead angrily said. Sticks was furious. "I'll show you what happens when you backtalk me," Sticks said.
His sword began glowing white. It split into two pieces and shape-shifted into dual wield sickles. As Sticks went for Deathshead, he suddenly had the wind knocked out of him and he kneeled down. He looked up to see Rainbow Dash staring at him with an angry look. Sticks looked at his hands. There was purple light glowing around them. He began floating. Twilight and Rarity were restraining him with their magic. Sticks just laughed and said, "This is the best your magic could do? Let me show you real magic!" Sticks ripped out of the magic like it was nothing. Then he stuck his hand out and shocked all 3 of them with green lightning. The 3 ponies screamed in horrific agony. After about 10 seconds of shocking them, a faintly glowing green orb formed in his right hand. Streams of the ponies' life began to be sucked into the orb. The ponies were crying from the pain at this point. Deathshead saw this and charged at Sticks, but Sticks was faster than him. With his other hand, he used the other to form another green orb from the life siphoned from the ponies and fired a never-ending barrage of bolts at Deathshead. Deathshead couldn't react in time and was pelted with the constant fire from Sticks. Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash began groaning as there life continued to drain away.
Sully came to help. He ran towards Sticks and fired a couple of shots into Sticks. Sticks stopped firing at Deathshead, but was still draining the life of Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack. Sticks formed a large green orb in his hand and fired it at Sully. Halfway, it turned into a blade and pierced Sully's left shoulder. Sully flew back and screamed in pain. He pulled it out and his blood dripped onto the floor. Sully pulled out a knife while covering up the wound with his other hand. He lunged at Sticks and managed to cut his arm. Sticks punched Sully in return. He stopped draining the ponies' life. He formed a black ball that turned into a skull. He was going to launch it at Sully, but was stopped by a flaming blade through his chest. Sticks turned around and faced Deathshead, all while pulling out the blade like it was nothing.
Sticks was furious. "You're all bark and no bite. Now fight me like a man," Sticks yelled. Deathshead grinned. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get," Deathshead replied. His axe began to glow white. It was growing in length and the blade was changing shape. His axe turned into a black and red scythe. The grip was all black, but the grip was red. In the middle of the scythe was a skull holding a red orb in its mouth. 3 curved blades came out the back of the scythe, pointing upwards. The blade itself was 1 ½ feet. The very edge of the blade was red, but the rest of it was black. Sticks picked up his sickles and laughed. "Finally! Something interesting happening," he replied. The two demons lunged at each other.
Their blades clashed against each other. For every strength one had, the other had one to counteract it. While Sticks had the advantage of speed, for his sickles were small and fast, Deathshead had the advantage of power, for his scythe was large and not too slow. The two got some hits on each other, but otherwise, they were at a stalemate. Eventually, magic was beginning to be used. Deathshead would fire a couple fireballs at Sticks, and Sticks would do the same.
Twilight and the others recovered from their injuries. Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie ran towards the others. "Are you alright," Fluttershy asked. "Yeah, we should be fine," said Twilight. Spike was able to find them. "Guys! Sully is badly hurt! We need to help him, now," Spike explained. "Wait a minute! Where have you been this entire time, Spike," Rarity asked. "I've been busy helping ponies out from the rubble," Spike said as he pointed to the large pile of rubble around the castle. "Well, that makes sense. But we better look at Sully," Applejack said as the Mane 6 ran towards Sully.
Spike looked off in the distance. He saw gigantic explosions booming overhead. Ponyville was engulfed in flames. The palace was almost completely destroyed. The sky was still a blood red color with a bright moon floating above. Chaos sat in every direction, no matter where he looked. Something ticked in him. He didn't know what it was, however. He walked over to Sully to help him.
Black City
"Why has the sky changed color," asked Maxis. "I wish I knew," replied Norman. The people were in a panic, and the scientists were trying to figure out how to fix the problem. They were trying to figure out the problem for the last hour. Finally, one of the scientists said, "Sir! There's large spike in combustion levels coming from the northwest! Origin point is a city known as Ponyville." Maxis and Norman looked at each other. "Ponyville… That's where Deathshead got kicked out off, right," Maxis asked. "Sure is," Norman replied. Maxis thought for a minute. Then he looked at Norman with a very serious face.
"Norman, gather all the top scientists in Black City. We're taking a little road trip to Ponyville."