The group of ponies had gathered together whatever small items they had brought with them before heading for home. They then made their way across the field that would take them back to the forest where Willowbrook stood. Along the way, they came across the spot where they had left a sleeping Anguirus and Godzilla. When they got there, they found both of their giant friends were still sleeping and so decided to leave them be. They knew the two kaiju would be able to find their way back home whether the ponies were with them or not.
Even without the two kaiju accompanying them, pretty much everypony was having a good time. They were talking, laughing, and carrying on like friends do. Occasionally someone would do or say something to further amuse the others and add to the good time. Despite all the fun they had, though, everyone was still very serious about getting back on track and focusing on fighting the minotaurs again. But for the time being, that was in the back of the ponies' minds and thus they kept on having a good time despite being very tired.
They were still happily carrying on when they moved passed the edge of the forest and deeper into the tree infested terrain. As the group walked along, it seemed like they would have no trouble at all. That is, until Firefly slowed her steps and a troubled expression crossed her face.
"Wait," Firefly said as she looked around.
The other ponies looked to her in confusion and concern.
"What is it, Firefly?" Fluttershy asked.
"Something's wrong," Firefly answered.
That was when, all of a sudden, not one, but three minotaurs came jumping down from one of the lower hanging branches of a giant old growth. Two of them held the ends of a net made completely out of steel chain while the one in the middle held a large battle axe. All three crashed down on Firefly, slamming her into the ground before wrapping the heavy chain over her body. The two minotaurs holding the net had draped themselves over the fallen Firefly. The third with the axe stood above them, howling and laughing like a maniac as he held his axe above his head.
This all happened in a blink of an eye and only a blink later did something else happen that kept the other ponies from reacting properly. Four minotaurs sprung up out of the ground on either side of the ring of ponies. One ran up and swung a wooden club across TJ's face, instantly knocking him to the ground. Another came up and swung his fists across Pinkie Pie's face before eventually taking her down with an uppercut. A third minotaur got behind Rainbow Dash and took her down with a German suplex while the fourth swung a blackjack into Applejack's stomach and then down on her head.
Fluttershy and Muse both screamed out before a puff of smoke suddenly appeared in front of the scene. Those still standing looked to see Khaos Fury and Dark Lightning both standing with three minotaurs at their sides. The two evil unicorns had wicked smiles on their faces.
"Oh, look, Dark Lightning, some old friends of ours!" Khaos Fury exclaimed.
"What do you say, we play with them, Khaos?!" Dark Lightning yelled.
"Sure thing!" Khaos Fury said. "Here's my favorite game!"
They fired blasts of their attack magic at anypony still standing. Fluttershy and Muse went down instantly whereas it took more to knock Twilight Sparkle off her hooves. Rarity actually managed to stay standing and even teleported out of harm's way. The twin unicorns and their minotaur aids looked around for wherever the white pony may reappear. When she finally did show up again, it was actually in the only place they didn't look... right behind them.
"Surprise!" Rarity called out as she fired off several large bursts of attack magic from her horn.
Two of the minotaurs fell instantly while the third stood long enough to raise his spartan-like shield to protect himself. Khaos Fury and Dark Lightning didn't fall, but they were clearly having a tough time fighting against the pain of the blasts and staying on their hooves. What was also clear, though, was that Rarity had no intentions of making it easier for them.
"You will all pay for hurting my friends!" Rarity screamed.
She ceased fire and ran at her opponents before jumping into and corkscrewing through the air. As she spun, the resourceful unicorn kicked her back hooves across the evil ponies' faces. This instantly took them off their feet, leaving Rarity to land safely on the ground and face the still standing minotaur with the shield. The first thing Rarity took notice of was that this was the biggest minotaur she had seen yet. He was much taller and more muscular than the others.
He wore dirty brown pants and had chains wrapped around him that were held together by a ring in the middle of his chest. He had heavy metal gauntlets on his wrists and had brown eyes that almost seemed to glow with hatred. He looked very beastly, like he had every intention to rip something or someone apart. In terms of regular ground forces, this minotaur may have been the most imposing sight yet. This did not deter Rarity, who, despite her immense fear, refused to back down.
Instead, she fired several shots of her attack magic at the bull.
"You don't scare me!" Rarity lied.
The minotaur raised his shield to protect himself and even charged forth at his foe. When he felt he was close enough, this minotaur swung his shield at Rarity like he was throwing a right hook. The swift unicorn managed to jump back and avoid the blow, as well a second, more backhand-like shield strike. This seemed to anger the minotaur to the point where he charged forth, his shield held out in front of him. Before Rarity even knew what was happening, she felt the shield slam into her body and lift her off the ground.
Rarity screamed out in pain and terror as she flew over the minotaur's head before crashing into the ground behind him. The hurting unicorn groaned as she rocked back and forth on the ground for a moment. She stopped as soon as she spotted four hooves standing in front of her. Rarity's eyes looked up to see Khaos Fury glaring down at her in anger and hatred.
"You just made a big mistake, little hero," Khaos Fury said.
"Now we'll have to teach you a lesson!" another voice exclaimed.
Rarity looked to see that the voice belonged to Dark Lightning, who was standing close behind her.
"Prepare to die!" Khaos Fury let out just as she and her brother shot large beams of attack magic down upon Rarity.
The helpless unicorn screamed out in absolute agony as she felt the beams burning into her very being. Both unicorn twins had sadistic smiles on their faces as they gazed gleefully at their fallen opponent's pain. Their good time was interrupted, however, when several large blasts of attack magic struck them, instantly forcing them to cease fire. When the two looked in the direction the blasts came from, they spotted an enraged Twilight Sparkle flying at them. Twilight Sparkle landed next to Rarity and swung her aura covered horn at Khaos Fury and Dark Lightning both.
After sparks flew from where the ponies' were struck, Twilight bucked her back hooves into Dark Lightning's face, knocking him away. The violet alicorn then swung her horn up at Khaos Fury's chest before blasting her away with her horn's attack magic. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight spotted the large minotaur with the shield running at her as he growled like an animal. Twilight swung her still glowing horn up and across the minotaur's shield, instantly cutting it in half. The minotaur held the pieces of his shield and gazed at them in shock for only a moment before tossing them aside.
"Surelious, break her in half!" Khaos Fury demanded as she tried to get up.
"Just try it, chump!" Twilight Sparkle retorted.
Before the giant bull could step forward, though, a small stream of attack magic not fired by Twilight hit Surelious right in the chest. The shocked alicorn looked to see that Muse had gotten back to her hooves, as had Fluttershy. It was clear Muse was the one that had shot the giant minotaur known as Surelious. Twilight Sparkle nodded approvingly as Rarity got up to her hooves.
"Rarity, are you alright?!" Twilight Sparkle asked in concern.
"Not as alright as I want to be," Rarity said. "But I can't worry about that now! Right now we just need to show these ruffians not to mess with us or our friends!"
"Darn right!" Twilight Sparkle agreed.
The two nodded to each other and then went on the attack. Rarity began bucking her back hooves into Surelious' body while Twilight and Khaos exchanged swings of their glowing horns. Dark Lightning ran up and tried to catch Twilight by surprise with a blast of his attack magic. The violet alicorn managed to catch sight of it and fly out of the way, though. When Twilight Sparkle landed again, she swung her horn violently at both Khaos Fury and Dark Lightning, who dodged out of the way before running at their foe.
"You'll regret the day you ever set foot on this island, alicorn!" Dark Lightning hissed.
"You'll regret the moment you met me even more!" Khaos Fury screamed.
"Too late," Twilight Sparkle said. "I already regret meeting two ponies with as black and ugly souls as you two!"
"Oh, you're breaking our hearts!" Dark Lightning mocked.
"I can't break what you two never had!" Twilight Sparkle said.
"Quit trying to hurt us with words and stand still so we can hurt you with pain!" Khaos Fury demanded as the fight went on.
At the same time this was happening, the minotaur who wielded the large wooden club was swinging it down at the fallen TJ.
"You might as well stop struggling, pony!" the minotaur demanded. "Give up and make it easy on yourself! Paradise awaits you on the other side. Besides, I'm too much for you to handle anyways."
The minotaur prepared a final swing of his club. TJ, however, managed to roll safely to the side and even get back on his hooves, albeit part way. TJ then bucked his back hooves into the minotaur's side, making him scream out in pain. The tan furred stallion quickly followed up by kicking his back hooves up into the minotaur's face. The blow was so hard that it caused the bull to drop his weapon.
"You'd better be sure about that!" TJ said defiantly.
He then saw the fallen weapon moved swiftly, grabbing the club's handle in his mouth. The stallion swung the thick, wooden club across the minotaur's face, instantly knocking him to the ground. TJ looked at him for only a moment before turning to the rest of the fight going on around him. One of the many horrible sights he saw was Pinkie Pie down on the ground and getting punched on. TJ gritted his teeth around the club's handle as he ran to assist his fallen friend.
He was halted rather quickly, though, when he saw Pinkie raise her tail to one of the minotaur's incoming fists. This was because as soon as his fist hit that pony's big fluffy tail, a loud 'clang' sound echoed through the air as the minotaur pulled back his fist and howled in pain. The minotaur only held and rubbed his throbbing hand for a moment before Pinkie Pie swung her tail across his face. A 'clang' sound similar to the first rang through the air as the minotaur was knocked out cold to the ground. As Pinkie Pie got up, she spotted TJ looking at her in confusion, to which she responded by pulling a large anvil out of her tail.
This only seemed to make TJ more confused. Pinkie Pie saw this in his facial features and merely shrugged in reply. In doing this, she unknowingly let go of the anvil, accidentally making it drop on the fallen minotaur's chest. The sound of the collision made TJ and Pinkie Pie both jump before they looked to see what happened. Upon seeing the anvil resting on the aching minotaur's chest, the two Earth ponies looked to each other before eventually shrugging it off.
TJ and Pinkie Pie then ran off to assist their friends with the rest of the fight. They quickly spotted Firefly still wrapped in the chain net and still held down by the two minotaurs. The third minotaur was still standing above them as he held his battle axe. TJ and Pinkie Pie ran at top speed when it looked like he was about ready to finally use it. When they were close enough, TJ swung his club into the axe carrying minotaur's side.
This instantly caused the angry beast to turn and snarl at the two Earth ponies. He swung his axe out wildly, completely missing his intended targets. Pinkie Pie scooped up some dirt in her hoof and tried tossing it into the minotaur's eyes, but she didn't even come close. TJ swung his club again, but the minotaur used his axe to block the blow. This allowed Pinkie Pie a chance to come in and buck her back hooves into the minotaur's side.
While this did cause the minotaur pain, he did not fall. Instead, he swung his axe around wildly, not seeming to care who he hit as long as he hit someone. As dumb as this tactic sounded, it did cause TJ and Pinkie Pie both to cautiously back away in alarm.
"Die, you stupid equines!" the large minotaur shouted crazily.
The Earth ponies looked to each other with questioning expressions.
"I don't suppose you have an idea, do you, Pinkie?" TJ asked, his voice muffled by the piece of wood in his mouth.
"Give me a moment, I'll think of something, TJ," Pinkie Pie said. She had to duck down right away to avoid another swing of the axe. "Whoa! Okay, maybe I'll need another moment and a half!"
Meanwhile, the minotaur who had taken Applejack down with his blackjack kept swinging it at her. Sometimes he would hit the flailing Earth pony and other times he would miss. It was clear to see by the possessed look he had the whole time that the minotaur was intent on bashing Applejack to a pulp.
"Hold still, you little pest!" the minotaur demanded.
Help for the downed pony ended up coming from a surprising source, though. Fluttershy had suddenly jumped on the minotaur's back and tried wrapping her hooves around his neck as tight as she could. It took Applejack a moment to realize she was no longer being assaulted and stop flailing around. When she finally did, she was absolutely shocked to see Fluttershy on the minotaur's back, trying to choke him out.
"Flu... Fluttershy?" Applejack gasped out.
The Earth pony was horrified at this sight she saw, because she could tell Fluttershy was clearly out of her comfort zone and even worse, out of her skill set. The minotaur looked more annoyed than anything else, having only tried to shake Fluttershy off for a second or two. He stood there for a few seconds more before he reached up, grabbed Fluttershy by a front hoof, and swung her down next to Applejack. Fluttershy screamed before slamming to the ground, the breath being knocked out of her instantly. She groaned in agony as tears fell from her eyes.
Her sobbing was halted, however, when she looked to see Applejack's head laying next to her back hooves. She then noticed her own head was next to Applejack's back hooves.
"Howdy, Fluttershy," Applejack groaned out weakly and painfully.
"Howdy, Applejack," Fluttershy let out in a similar manner.
"How's it going?" Applejack managed to say.
"Oh... it's fine... I guess," Fluttershy said. "I just thought I'd drop in."
Their attention was taken by the war cry of the minotaur above them.
"I shall truly enjoy tearing you both to pieces!" the angry bull exclaimed.
He raised his blackjack into the air, making Fluttershy scream as she looked away. Suddenly, a stream of attack magic was blasted right into the minotaur's chest. Muse had been standing by and was watching this all happen. At first she was panicked and didn't know what to do. But the sight of her friends in peril eventually forced her to get control of herself and made her think clearer about how she could help.
That was what led to her shooting her magic at the ragging bull. Sparks flew from where the minotaur was hit as he screamed out and grabbed at the burning wound. Applejack glared intensely before kicking her back hooves into the minotaur's kneecaps. Pain shot through the bull's legs, making him tense up as he tried to fight back against it. This allowed Applejack the chance to kick her back hooves into the minotaur's tender area between his legs.
Instantly, the hurting minotaur hunched over as he dropped his blackjack and cried out in agony. This left him open to Applejack kicking her back hooves up into the his face, causing him more pain. Then Fluttershy did something that was just as surprising as what she'd done before. She grabbed the blackjack in her mouth. then flew up to swing it across the minotaur's face. Applejack was so stunned, she almost missed the blackjack when Fluttershy tossed it to her.
She snapped out of it, though, and managed to grab the blackjack in her mouth. Applejack then jumped up and swung the blackjack down so hard on the minotaur's head that it actually broke the weapon in two. Applejack spat out what was left of the blackjack as Fluttershy landed next to her. They stood and stared as the minotaur teetered back and forth before finally falling down on his back. Fluttershy and Applejack looked to each other with concern.
"Are you alright, Fluttershy?" Applejack asked.
"I'll be fine," Fluttershy. "That scared me more than it hurt me. But what scared me most was what happened to you, Applejack."
"Ah, don't worry about me," Applejack said. "I've actually been through worse. I'm just glad to see you're okay."
"And I'm glad you're... not as hurt as I thought you were," Fluttershy said.
Upon seeing that each other was okay, the two smiled in satisfaction and embraced. They then turned to Muse, who was smiling just as much as they were. They both nodded approvingly to the alicorn.
"Way to go, Muse!" Applejack said gratefully.
"You did great," Fluttershy said. "Thanks for your help."
Muse responded with a small, slightly playful salute as she said, "Happy to help."
Applejack gave a tip of her hat before she, Fluttershy, and Muse turned to the rest of the fight going on around them. Among that fight was the struggle going on with Rainbow Dash and a minotaur armed with two pairs of brass knuckles on his fists. The minotaur had taken the light blue pegasus mare down before and was preparing to charge at her like an angry bull and finish her off. While he had every intention of trampling all over Rainbow Dash, little did he know that the resourceful pegasus was conscious enough to realize this. She was just waiting for the right time when he was close enough for her to make her move.
The minotaur scraped his hoof against the ground and let out a snort before finally running forth as he let out a bull call. Rainbow Dash's gaze followed the minotaur's entire run as she kept herself laid out across the ground. She waited for the right moment, not even flinching until the minotaur was right up on her. That was when Rainbow Dash kicked her back hooves up into the minotaur's chest and miraculously managed to send him through the air. The minotaur screamed out as he sailed forward and then found himself crashing back first into the ground with a loud, painful thud.
Though Rainbow Dash had pulled off a great counter, she wasn't able to get back up right away. She was still aching from the suplex and the punches she'd taken from the minotaur before. The pain nearly kept her from even attempting to get back up again. Rainbow Dash, however, was no quitter and refused to start then and there. She forced herself to roll onto her stomach and push her way back up onto her hooves, albeit very slowly.
While Rainbow Dash didn't know exactly how long it took her to get up, it felt way too long to her. When she was standing again, Rainbow Dash spotted the minotaur she was fighting trying to get back up on his own hooves. The sight of this particular bull warrior caused an angry snarl to slowly cross Rainbow Dash's face. She growled through gritted teeth as she flew up to the minotaur that angered and hurt her so. When she was close enough, Rainbow Dash wrapped her fore legs around the minotaur's waist like she was going to German suplex him as he had done to her.
Instead, though, Rainbow Dash pulled off an even more impressive feat, both in strength and flying ability. She flapped her wings extremely hard, lifting her up into the air as she carried the minotaur with her, never letting go. That is, until she reached forty feet straight up into the air. After that, she looped backwards, releasing her waist lock on the minotaur as she did so. The minotaur screamed as loud as he ever had as the ground came up to him faster than he could've imagined.
As soon as the bull hit the ground, a loud crashing sound rang out through the air. Rainbow Dash hovered in place and inspected the body of the minotaur she had just dropped. He laid face down in the dirt and just barely lifted an arm up before it dropped back to the ground. After a few more seconds, Rainbow Dash turned away as she inspected the rest of the battlefield. Now that her grudge was handled, Rainbow Dash wanted to devote the rest of her time to aiding her friends.
Rainbow Dash saw that Twilight Sparkle was holding her own against Khaos Fury and Dark Lightning pretty okay and that Rarity was doing the same with Surelious. She then spotted Applejack, TJ, and Pinkie Pie all trying to get a move in against the minotaur with the axe. He was holding them back, however, by swinging the dangerous weapon at them like a lumberjack from Tartarus. Rainbow Dash also noticed that the axe wielding minotaur was standing in front of the two that were still holding Firefly down and wrapped in a chain net. For some reason Rainbow Dash could not yet understand, this sight infuriated her more than she'd ever been in her life.
She knew that this was the part of the fight she was needed to be in the most. Her burning rage was telling her so, though she didn't completely understand why. As Rainbow Dash flew down to strike, another pony made her move as well. Standing a safe distance behind the minotaur with the axe, Muse shot a stream of her attack magic just as the minotaur raised said axe. Instantly, the tiny beam burned through the bladed section of the axe, separating it from the rest.
The minotaur saw his axe drop to the ground before pulling the steaming handle down to his eyes, gazing at it with child-like sadness. As the minotaur cried in sorrow, Rainbow Dash flew in and used her mouth to grab an end of the chain net that held Firefly hostage. She continued to fly forward, pulling the end of the net in her jaw's grip as fast and as hard as she could. Amazingly, Rainbow Dash managed to both pull the net off her mother and then pull it over the minotaurs that had held her down and the one that used to have an axe. Rainbow Dash pulled the net for a moment before releasing the end of it from her mouth.
After witnessing Rainbow Dash's impressive feat, TJ, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie ran forth. All three Earth ponies pounced on the minotaurs who struggled within the confines of the metal net. TJ swung his wooden club down upon the netted bulls while Pinkie Pie and Applejack pounded their front hooves down on them. They all made extensive use of the natural strength they had as Earth ponies to knockout those particular minotaurs. It was only after TJ swung his club down so hard that he broke it that the trio of netted minotaurs stopped struggling, having been knocked unconscious.
Rainbow Dash looked beyond this scene to see Firefly on her back knees, apparently in some kind of shock. Rainbow Dash flew over as fast as she could before gently landing to her mother's side to examine her. From up close, it was clearer to see that Firefly had a sort of blank, somewhat dazed expression.
"Hey, Firefly, are you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked. Firefly didn't answer, instead continuing to gaze seemingly into open space. "Firefly, did you hear me? Are you alright? Firefly?!"
Rainbow Dash couldn't get an answer, not even when she shook her lightly. The light blue pegasus was about to start panicking. But then she caught herself, calmed down, took a deep breath, and looked to her biological mother with a face of genuine concern and care.
"Mom?" Rainbow Dash asked calmly. It was as if a light was turned on inside Firefly. Upon hearing her daughter's voice say that, she lightly jolted as her eyes began to look less shocked and more emotional as she stared at her offspring. "Mom?"
"Rainbow Dash?" Firefly asked in a shaky voice.
"Are you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I... I am now," Firefly managed to say.
Before Rainbow Dash knew what was happening, Firefly flew off at swift speed, making the blue pegasus nearly jump out of her skin. She looked to see that Firefly was flying around and beating down several minotaurs that had been knocked down before and were trying to get back up again. Rainbow Dash's eyes were the only ones that could keep up with Firefly's amazing velocity and follow her as she plowed through the minotaurs. It appeared they were just too stubborn to stay down, because even after Firefly smacked them back down, they'd get up again. Thus Firefly flew around for a second round of beatings for those minotaurs, which they did not get back up from right away.
When Firefly was finally finished flying around and beating on the minotaurs around, she stopped right next to a stunned Rainbow Dash.
"Whoa!" Rainbow Dash said, her expression saying the same. "You took those guys out... just like I would've."
"But of course," Firefly said with a confident smile.
It wasn't long before a similar smile crossed Rainbow Dash's face and the two pegasi nodded to each other. Their smiles were soon replaced by stares of intense determination as they looked around for the next fight. Also looking for her next part in the fight was Muse, who looked around with swift eyes. She scanned the area until her eyes settled on the sight of Twilight Sparkle fighting against the combined forces of Khaos Fury and Dark Lightning. It looked to Muse like things weren't going so good for Twilight against the evil unicorn duo.
The violet alicorn was struggling more to keep up with the two, being unable to even try and take a shot in at them anymore. She was mostly just trying to dodge and block their attacks as best she could. Muse knew that being fresh off her training she was still no match for Khaos and Dark, but she still felt like she had to do something. She figured out what that something was when she spotted the two minotaurs Rarity had blasted down before getting back up again. Muse knew if they aided the evil unicorns in their fight with Twilight Sparkle in the condition she was in that the alicorn princess wouldn't stand a chance.
Muse decided what she had to do as she watched the minotaurs turn their gazes to the battle between Twilight and the unicorn. Before they could move in to assist their unicorn leaders, though, Muse fired a stream of her magic. The tiny beam hit one of the minotaur's directly in the chest, causing a small burst of sparks to ignite. The minotaur screamed loudly as he flew backwards and crashed into the ground. The second minotaur looked to his fellow soldier and then fearfully turned to Muse just as she fired a second shot.
This beam actually hit the minotaur in the face, causing sparks to fly as the screaming minotaur fell to the ground. Muse then looked upward as she fired a third beam, this one cutting through a particularly long, thick tree branch. It fell down right on top of the minotaurs, knocking them out seemingly for good this time. Despite what she had done, Muse was still concerned for Twilight Sparkle. Though her situation had not worsened, it had not improved either.
Muse decided not to wait for it to go either way, despite her better judgement. Muse waited as patiently as possible to pick her spot when she would move against one or both unicorns. She actually ended up even surprising herself when she fired a small beam of her attack magic. The tiny stream hit and burned Khaos Fury directly on the back of her flank, causing her to scream out as she jump forward and onto her back. Twilight Sparkle didn't have time to see what happened, for she was still fighting off Dark Lightning's vicious blows.
The other ponies, however, got a big laugh out of what they saw, their howls of amusement getting Muse to look over at them. She saw her brother among several mares of the Mane Six busting a gut while also giving Muse props.
"I guess you could say I really burn her up," Muse quipped as she smiled.
Taking her eyes off the evil unicorn ended up being a huge mistake for Muse. When she turned back, Khaos Fury was standing on her hooves again and it was not a pretty sight. Her whole body shook like it a river of adrenaline was running through her as she snarled angrily, her face looking like something out of a nightmare. At that moment, that's what it felt like to Muse, for she was very afraid. Her friends standing off to the side were equally afraid, more so for Muse than they were for themselves.
"Why, you little brat!" Khaos growled out through nearly clenched teeth. "I hope that laugh you got was worth it... Because now you're gonna cry in agony from I'm going to do to you."
"Get out of there, Muse!" TJ shouted.
It was too late, for Khaos Fury let forth a giant blast of magic from her horn that flew directly at Muse. The helpless alicorn let out a scream of terror right before the bulb of energy collided with her body. The resulting burst of explosive power sent Muse flying up into the air before she crashed back down again.
"You dirt bag!" TJ screamed in anger as he and Applejack ran at Khaos Fury.
Khaos Fury saw the two Earth ponies coming, but merely smirked before firing off two shots from her horn. The first bolt of magic hit TJ dead on, knocking him off his hooves, whereas Applejack jumped over the blast meant for her. The jump took her face-to-face with Khaos Fury, who Applejack started jabbing at with her front hooves. The unicorn easily dodged the punches thrown at her and even ducked and rolled to avoid when Applejack tried to use her back legs to buck her. When Khaos Fury rolled up to her hooves, she was once again face-to-face with Applejack, who she fired a blast of magic at.
The single bolt of magic hit Applejack dead on, causing sparks to fly from where she was hit as the Earth pony screamed out in pain. Khaos Fury then rushed forth and swung her glowing horn down across Applejack's body. More sparks flew as Applejack fell to the ground. Before Khaos Fury could do anything else, Pinkie Pie's screams filled the air. The gray unicorn looked to see the pink pony herself jumping through the air directly at her.
Khaos Fury easily dodged to the side and even extended the aura of magic surrounding her horn before swinging it at Pinkie Pie. The helpless Earth pony mare cried out as the burning aura struck her and she crashed into the ground. Khaos Fury cackled as she looked around at all the bodies she was leaving draped across the forest floor. The mare's wicked laughter was picked up by the ears of the alicorn princess, Twilight Sparkle. She was caught in the middle of a struggle with Dark Lightning where their glowing horns were being pressed together.
The two had been pushing against each other to try and force the other back. But Twilight was now more concerned about what was happening elsewhere. She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw the results of her friends going against Khaos Fury. The sight was so shocking and heart wrenching that it almost broke Twilight's concentration on her struggle with Dark Lightning. Luckily, she was able to turn her attention back before he could gain an advantage.
But now her mind was practically forcing itself to think about of her friends and the situation they were in. Desperately, Twilight Sparkle tried to think of how she could get out of her predicament so she could go help her friends. She revealed her solution when the violet pony shut her eyes and the glow of her horn's aura increased to blinding proportions. While it got the attention of those still standing nearby, it burned Dark Lightning's eyes to the point where he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Without even thinking, the unicorn stallion pulled away and reached his front hooves to his hurting eyes.
This gave Twilight Sparkle the opening to stab her horn into Dark Lightning's chest. Sparks flew as Dark Lightning screamed in agony before he was knocked off his hooves by multiple blasts of magic from Twilight Sparkle.
"How could you let her get you like that, you idiot?!" Khaos Fury screamed in frustration.
Before anyone could do anything else, Twilight Sparkle disappeared from sight. Khaos Fury looked around like a jaguar looking for prey as she tensed up and waited for Twilight to reappear. What she wasn't expecting was a hail of magic blasts to come down on her from above. With Khaos Fury reeling from the blasts she took, Twilight Sparkle ceased fire and flew down at top speed. She shifted her body and kicked her back hooves into Khaos' face, sending her stumbling right into a judo toss from TJ.
"Hey!" Dark Lightning shouted when she saw what happened to his sister, his eye sight having just started to return to him.
Before he could do anything, however, Firefly and Rainbow Dash flew up and each grabbed a front leg before lifting Dark into the air. When they felt they got high enough, the two pegasi spun backwards, releasing Dark Lightning and letting him crash into the ground below. While Dark Lightning laid in pain, Rainbow Dash got so caught up in the moment that she accepted a high hoof extended to her by her mom without even thinking.
"Looks like we finally got the advantage," TJ said.
"Maybe, but we can't let up!" Twilight Sparkle replied.
TJ turned his eyes to his sister, who was still laying on the ground with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie by her side, tending to her.
"Muse," TJ let out in despair.
"Don't worry about her, she's with Fluttershy and Pinkie," Twilight Sparkle said. "They both know what they're doing. They can take care of Muse. We need you doing something else right now."
That was when the screams of Rarity rang through the air. TJ and Twilight looked to see what was happening to her. This whole time everypony was off fighting someone else, Rarity had been doing her absolute best to hold off the giant Surelious. Unfortunately, nothing she had done slowed the minotaur down. The few magic attacks she managed to pull off he either dodged or shrugged off.
None of Rarity's physical melee really seemed to do anything to slow him down either, whether he dodged an attack or it hit him. All the wasted work Rarity put into her assault had taken its toll on her, for she was now exhausted and wasn't moving nearly as fast as before. It had gotten to the point where Surelious nearly hit her with one of his own mighty blows. After dodging a particularly wide punch, Rarity tried to buck her back hooves into Surelious' chest. Unfortunately, Surelious not only blocked her attack, but also grabbed a hold of Rarity's back legs, hence her screaming.
"I see what you mean, Twilight" TJ said.
The two then heard Khaos Fury moaning and looked to see her pushing herself up.
"I'll take Khaos, you help Rarity with the big ox!" Twilight Sparkle barked.
The two ponies took off to handle their given objectives. TJ was surprised, though, when a pink blur rushed passed him at a speed he didn't think was possible for a ground pony.
"Hold on, Rarity, I'm coming!" Pinkie Pie screamed out.
Upon hearing her, Surelious looked to the pink pony and snorted with contempt before shoving Rarity away by her back legs. The force of the shove sent Rarity rolling forward and across the dirt. The mighty bull then turned his sights on the incoming Pinkie Pie, who's angry snarl didn't worry him in the least. In fact, when Pinkie was close enough, Surelious, with barely any effort at all, grabbed her, spun her around, and tossed her through the air.
"Pinkie!" TJ cried in despair. Surelious looked to the incoming stallion. "You're gonna pay for that, chump!"
Surelious quickly lifted his hoof up and kicked it directly in TJ's face, instantly knocking him off his hooves. Before Surelious could follow up, he felt something hit his side that caused a familiar pain. He looked to see a barely able to stand Rarity had been the one to shoot a bolt from her horn that struck the vicious bull. The angry Surelious slowly and methodically approached the injured unicorn undeterred, despite her shooting multiple blasts of her attack magic at him. When Rarity felt Surelious got too close, she tried to swing her right front hoof at him.
He easily caught the hoof in his hand, though, and even twisted it to the side, causing Rarity to let out a moan of pain. She desperately tried punching her left hoof into Surelious' stomach and even jumped up to swing it into his face a few times. None of this had any effect on the minotaur, who merely smiled before wrapping his free hand around Rarity's throat. Rarity never felt more vulnerable than she did as that moment as Surelious displayed his immense strength and lifted her off the ground. He tightened his grip around Rarity's throat, causing her to choke and gag even more as he held her above his head.
He gazed up at her for a moment, titling his head to one side before slowly tilting it to the other. Slowly a cruel smile crossed the minotaur's face before thrusting Rarity backwards, slamming her back first into the side of a tree. He released his hold on Rarity's throat and let her fall to the ground before his attention was turned elsewhere. He spotted TJ trying to get up and slowly made his way over to the reeling stallion. Along the way, he spotted Pinkie Pie getting up out of the corner of his eye and slammed his fist up into her stomach.
The pink furred mare collapsed to the ground, gagging and holding her hooves at her stomach all the while. Surelious, meanwhile, got to TJ just as he had steadied himself on his hooves. Before the Earth pony knew what was happening, Surelious scooped TJ up in his arms and then slammed him back down across his knee. Surelious stood up straight, turned away from TJ, and kicked a hoof down into Pinkie Pie's face just as she was starting to stir.
"Pinkie Pie, no!"
Surelious looked to see Fluttershy standing within arms reach, still holding a fallen Muse at her side. Apparently at some point, the fight had moved closer to the two mares. For Fluttershy it was far too close, for several of her closest friends laid sprawled out around her. Even worse was that Surelious was looking down at her like a lion looks at a piece of meat. He reached his left hand out, wrapped it around Fluttershy's throat, and then tossed her through the air.
Before the fragile pegasus could even think about using her wings, she crashed into the ground. She ended up landing right next to Rainbow Dash just as she bucked her front hooves into the face of a minotaur, dropping him to the ground. The rainbow maned mare had gotten together with Applejack and Firefly to fight off Dark Lightning and any minotaurs that tried getting up to rejoin the fight. But the sight of Fluttershy and the state she was in instantly took Rainbow Dash's attention away.
"Oh, my gosh, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash cried as she knelt down next to her friend. She gently got a hoof under Fluttershy's head and just as gently cradled it up off the ground. "What did they do to you, Flutters?"
Fluttershy groaned in pain as she looked up to Rainbow Dash, who was rubbing the back of her left front hoof softly over the side of Fluttershy's face. Fluttershy shakily lifted a hoof and pointed it in the direction she had been thrown from.
"They need help," Fluttershy said in a pained voice.
Rainbow Dash looked to see the wrecking ball known as Surelious standing over the fallen forms of her friends. She wanted to scowl in anger, but that was overtaken by a look of horror at what had happened to some of the ponies Rainbow Dash cared about most. Rainbow Dash looked away both so she wouldn't see her friends in the state they were and to warn Applejack and Firefly.
"That big dude's taken down our friends!" Rainbow Dash yelled urgently. "They need our help, now!"
Firefly and Applejack turned and immediately saw what Rainbow Dash was referring to.
"You two go help them out!" Applejack barked. "I'll keep the rest of these guys busy!"
"Are you sure?!" Firefly asked.
"With the state these yaboos are in, I can handle them easily!" Applejack barked in reply.
"You'd better be more sure about that, ya country bumpkin!" Dark Lightning said before he fired a shot of his magic from his horn.
With what seemed like no effort at all, Applejack jumped over the beam, letting it zip passed her.
"Go now!" Applejack demanded before she ran off to face Dark Lightning and the minotaurs at his sides.
Firefly thought hard for a good moment before finally deciding to do as Applejack ordered.
"Rainbow Dash, let's go!" Firefly ordered as she looked to her daughter.
"Right!" Rainbow Dash said just as she finished helping Fluttershy sit up. She then looked to Fluttershy as she asked, "You gonna be okay, Flutters?"
"Don't worry about me," Fluttershy said. "I'll be fine. For right now, help them."
Fluttershy pointed in the direction their friends' prone bodies laid, which, unfortunately, was also where Surelious still was. A determined glare crossed Rainbow Dash's face before she nodded to Fluttershy. She then looked to Firefly and nodded her head in the direction of Surelious. With that, the two pegasi flew at the hulking minotaur as fast as they could. Along the way, Rainbow Dash grabbed a thick tree branch that had snapped off its foundation and fell to the ground.
Surelious was looking around and trying to decide which fallen pony he would resume hurting. That was when he spotted the pegasi coming at him out of the corner of his eye. The bull took his stance and tensed up his body to prepare for his two new opponents. Rainbow Dash ended up getting to him first and swung her branch at Surelious' head. Surelious quickly brought up his left arm and blocked the blow before letting out a bull snort.
Rainbow Dash began swinging both sides of the branch at Surelious at a rapid pace. Shockingly, the bull was able to keep up with Rainbow Dash and block every blow to his head with the gauntlets on his arms. When she went for the body, Surelious tensed himself up even more to block out the pain he felt, keeping his hands up all the while. After an uncountable number of branch swings from Rainbow Dash, Surelious decided he had enough and grabbed the tree branch in his mighty hands. Rainbow Dash tried to pull her makeshift weapon away, but instead she ended up getting lifted off the ground when Surelious raised the branch above his head.
The two combatants were now face-to-face. Rainbow Dash looked on with both shock and even fear on her face. Surelious, however, smiled just as evilly as the times before.
"Nice try," Surelious rasped out in a vicious sounding whisper.
Surelious then slammed his head into Rainbow Dash's, the resulting pain forcing her to let go of the branch, thus making her fall to the ground. The bull then slammed the tree branch down across his knee, instantly splitting it in two. The raging minotaur tossed the pieces aside and gazed down at the fallen Rainbow Dash with sadistic joy. He didn't have a chance to satisfy any sick fantasies he may have had, for Firefly flew in back hooves first, kicking her right hoof into Surelious' chest. The pink coated pegasus quickly spun around, kicking her back left hoof across Surelious' face.
Firefly followed up with several rapid fire punches aimed at Surelious' face and lower torso. Surelious blocked every single blow thrown at him before wrapping his hands around Firefly's throat and lifting her up into the air. Before Firefly could try to get herself free or even gasp for breath, Surelious slammed her back first against a tree before letting her drop to the ground. Surelious didn't get to follow up before feeling something smack into the side of his leg. Surelious looked down to see Rainbow Dash had tried unsuccessfully to sweep kick his legs out from under him.
When her sweep didn't work, Rainbow Dash looked up in horror, only to see that Surelious was looking down at her like a predator. She quickly twirled back up to her hooves, only to find Surelious' hand waiting to grab her throat. Surelious then quickly lifted Rainbow Dash up over his head in a military press. Right afterwards, he threw Rainbow Dash against the side of the same tree he had thrown Rarity and Firefly against previously. Surelious practically roared out as he brought up his fists and flexed his muscles.
He looked to see Firefly flying very clumsily in the air, trying desperately to get up and mount an offense. Firefly ended up having to go on the defense instead, however, when Surelious swung his fist outward. Firefly managed to duck under the wild backhand swing, but when she tried charging at Surelious, she didn't see his fist coming back at her. Because of this, Surelious landed a devastating blow on Firefly's face so strong, it caused her to spin through the air in a three-sixty. Firefly crashed into the ground with a loud thud before Surelious let out a loud battle cry while he stood over her fallen, motionless form.
Surelious was cut off, however, when a particularly painful blast of attack magic hit him in his shoulder. Before the bulky bull could respond, several more shots of magic hit him all over his body. The pain caused by all these blasts nearly dropped Surelious to a knee, though he managed not to fall. When the firing ceased, Surelious looked to see who had been the one shooting at him. What he saw instead was Khaos Fury's unconscious form flying at him through the air.
The beaten unicorn fell before Surelious' hooves. He looked down at Khaos Fury for only a moment before looking to see Twilight Sparkle walking towards him. Despite being a pony, the look on the alicorn princess's face would probably strike fear in most others. Surelious just stared back with a look of defiance and fury. Twilight Sparkle stopped twelve yards away from Surelious and stood tall as she glared on.
"Your boss couldn't cut it with me," Twilight Sparkle said. She lowered herself into a battle stance as her glare intensified. "You think you can? You think you got what it takes, big boy?"
The two potential opponents held their ground, glaring intensely at each other all the while. Surelious even let out a bull snort, his anger having reached a boiling point. How dare this pony challenge him, especially after seeing the havoc he had already caused? Did she think she was actually a match for him? This thought upset Surelious even further to the point where he was determined to prove otherwise.
That moment never came, for as Twilight and Surelious prepared to do battle, a massive, howling roar filled the air. It was so loud that everyone thought their eardrums were about to burst. It wasn't made any easier when a second, similar roar broke through the air. Several more roars were let out as the ground began to shake repeatedly. The delay between shakes was too long to be an earthquake, though.
But everyone there didn't need that fact to know the rumbling was almost certainly the footsteps of the beast that made those howling roars. The cracking and snapping of tree branches among other sounds soon filled the air. The silhouette of a giant monster was clear for everyone to see. Even before the kaiju came into view, everyone could tell it was the spiky shelled quadruped called Anguirus. The sight of the giant animal was a welcomed one to Twilight and all her friends, but one that instilled shock, alarm, and even fear in their rivals.
Khaos Fury had just regained consciousness and was barely starting to push herself back onto her hooves. At first she was frustrated that Surelious didn't offer her any assistance, but found out why when Anguirus roared out yet again. She instantly spun around to see the imposing kaiju everyone else had been staring at. She nearly fell back to the ground from moving too fast while in pain and also having just reawakened to see the sight of the giant monster that opposed her side.
"I thought the scouts were suppose to alert us when those things woke up," Khaos Fury said in a shaky voice.
"That doesn't matter anymore," Surelious said. "What does matter is that thing is here now! We must pull back! We have to order a retreat!"
"No!" Khaos Fury said "We worked too hard to get to this moment! We nearly had them! If Isarem finds out I planned a strike without his approval that failed-"
Khaos Fury was interrupted by another of Anguirus' mighty roars that blocked out nearly all other sound. Everyone, even some of the ponies on Anguirus' side flinched at the unexpected burst of volume. Some of the minotaurs even fell off the hooves and slipped to the ground.
"You didn't tell me Isarem didn't know about this maneuver!" Surelious let out in anger.
"Well he doesn't!" Khaos Fury said.
"That means we can't call our own kaiju to aid us, doesn't it?!" Surelious demanded.
"No!" Khaos Fury screeched at who was suppose to be her ally. "No we can't call them!"
"You fool!" Surelious shouted. "That means we have no choice but to retreat!"
The argument was cut off when a second monstrous call that rang through the air. It was even more intimidating than Anguirus' roar had been, with a deep, growling bellow to it. Yet at the same time, it almost sounded like the ringing of an extra loud church bell echoing in the air. Everyone knew right away who this roar belonged to, which brought even bigger smiles to the pony side and instilled more fear in the minotaur side.
"Great, now the big one's coming!" Khaos Fury shouted.
"So what's it gonna be, Khaos?" Twilight Sparkle asked in a smug tone with a smirk to match. "We were already kicking your butts before. You gonna give up and run away?... Or are ya thirsty for more?"
Khaos Fury growled in aggravation as she scowled at Twilight Sparkle with deep hatred. It was quickly replaced by a look of fear when a second bellowing roar rang through the air, this one sounding even closer.
"You guys better hurry up and decide," TJ said as he slumped next to Twilight. "More accurately, you better scram... Godzilla's on his way right now."
"And I'm sure he's not gonna be happy when he sees what you did to his friends," Muse said confidently as she limped to her brother's side. "Anguirus is upset enough as it is."
Khaos Fury and several of her cohorts looked up at the four legged monster that towered over them. For a moment it almost felt like he towered over all of creation. Anguirus' angered expression and imposing appearance installed more fear in the squad of evil beings with each passing second they saw him. It wasn't made any better when he ceased his stationary stance and slowly, almost methodically began moving closer to those so much smaller than himself. Any minotaur who had not already regrouped with the rest of their squad now moved twice as fast as they had been moving before to rejoin the others.
It wasn't easy since all who had been involved in the ambush were now suffering from immensely painful injuries. Some could barely even limp over to the rest of their comrades while others required being straight up dragged by any who volunteered, which wasn't many. The pony side had also suffered with nearly all of them being greatly injured in one way or another. It was still better for them, though since they all had friends willing to help get them to the safety of the group, plus they had Anguirus watching over them. The ponies even tried to situate themselves right under Anguirus for better protection.
Khaos Fury and her team watched in anger as Anguirus stopped and looked to the ponies directly below him. It was almost as if he were assuring them they were safe. Not only did it disgust Khaos Fury, but it made her anger boil even greater, not helped by the smug look she got from some of the good ponies. But suddenly, Khaos Fury's angry face melted into a small smile as she looked up directly at Anguirus.
"Congrats to ya, you treacherous armadillo," Khaos Fury said. "You finally came in handy for something besides being a punching bag for our monsters."
Most of the others on Khaos Fury's team managed to let out mocking chuckles, though they were very weak. The gray furred unicorn mare turned her gaze to Twilight and her group.
"See you around... princess," Khaos Fury said, nearly spitting out her last word.
"This isn't the end of this!" Dark Lightning exclaimed.
That was when the footsteps everyone had heard were as close as could be. This was also when Godzilla's imposing form broke through the forest terrain and made its way closer to everyone. Just as Godzilla turned to where his glaring eyes could clearly see what was happening, the team led by Khaos Fury and Dark Lightning disappeared in a puff of smoke. Godzilla waited until the smoke dissipated before he raised his head above even the tallest of trees to let out a massive roar of anger. He then set his sights on all of his pony friends who stood on the ground beneath Anguirus' head.
Once their enemies were gone, everypony looked to one another. They had all seen most of what had happened to each other during the fight. While the ponies may have all dealt serious damage to Khaos, Dark, and their minotaurs, it was clear their side had suffered in the conflict as well. Some ponies even seemed like their were close to losing consciousness. The others did their best to make sure that didn't happen and looked over their friends' injuries when they weren't being looked over themselves.
Godzilla and Anguirus both looked on like the ponies were their children and they were a pair of worried parents or guardians of some kind. Among the ponies trying to care for each other, Rainbow Dash had found herself checking over Firefly. Just as soon as she and Applejack were done checking on each other, the blue coated pegasus trotted over to her mother.
"You okay... Mom?" Rainbow Dash asked in a voice that was shaky both from pain and emotional hesitance.
Firefly groaned in near agony as she tried to force her eyes to open and clear up completely. When her vision did finally stabilize, the first thing she saw was Rainbow Dash's concerned face. This made the pink pony's eyes tremble with emotion as she touched a hoof to her daughter's cheek.
"I will be, thanks to you... my little Dashie," Firefly said with a small smile.
Rainbow Dash slowly brought a hoof of her own to touch the one Firefly had on the side of her face. For a moment it seemed like she would even lean her head deeper into her mom's hoof. But, like a light going off, Rainbow Dash's facial expression changed as she gently lowered her mom's hoof from her face. Though it disappointed Firefly deeply, her face also conveyed a sense of understanding. In the end, she was just happy Rainbow Dash and her had gotten that far.
Elsewhere, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity had just finished checking up on each other. They then moved over to Twilight Sparkle, TJ, Muse, and Fluttershy, who were all trying to check on each other.
"So... did we win?" Muse asked in a shaky voice.
"I think so," TJ said.
"Then why doesn't it feel like it?" Fluttershy asked.
"Because this was a massive wake up call," Twilight Sparkle said. As everypony turned their gaze to Twilight Sparkle, she looked around to them. "Thank you all for doing the best you could to protect yourselves and each other. But I need to know, are you all doing okay? Are you hurt very badly?"
"We all feel like pounded hay, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said. "But I can tell we're all gonna be able to get pass this and be our old selves again, no problem."
"Good, then we need to get back to Willowbrook as fast as we can," Twilight Sparkle said. "I hope you all enjoyed our little day off, because it was our last. We were just hit with a major reality check. Playtime's over and we need to get back on track to putting a stop to these minotaurs once and for all."
So after having so much fun and taking so much time to handle other affairs, the Mane Six and the ponies of Willowbrook were reminded the hard way that the minotaur forces are still very much a threat. It was only because of Anguirus and Godzilla showing up that they made it out as good as they did. But what if this isn't always the case? The enemy has monsters of their own? Will the ponies' kaiju be enough to stop them? Will Godzilla and Anguirus always be there to help their pony friends no matter what? Will it even matter. Found out in the next thrilling chapter of "The Curse of Pony Tale Island"!
Please remember to leave a review after reading. I'm The Guy Who Likes To Write Stuff, signing off.