Despite all her anger, despite all her pain, Twilight still had a job to do. While fighting back her tears Twilight along with Celestia and Luna made their way through the castle to look for Ash.
"Where did you see Thunder turn Ash into stone?" Twilight asked Orion.
"In the throne room, near the balcony."
"Then we must hurry," Luna replied "Our friends won't be able to hold Shadow Reaper for to long. With as much magic that he holds it will only be a matter of time before he overpowers them."
Outside the castle Discord and Screwball was rotating through many sorts of chaotic spells in order to obtain Shadow Reaper. Discord opened up a portal below Shadow's feet and attempted to knock him down it, but now that Shadow Reaper currently had alicorn wings he quickly floated out of it before the portal closed. Next Screwball made it rain hot sauce over Shadow to try to burn his skin. Though the sauce didn't burn his skin it did distract him long enough for Discord to fire a arrow into the air with a miniature version of him self, landing it on Shadows left front leg and allowing the mini Discord to run up his shoulders and onto his muzzle.
"Discord sends his regards." Mini Discord said before taking out a golf club and whacking it across Shadow's muzzle. Shadow yelped in pain allowing the Wonder Bolts to fly in and attack. Spit Fire attacked first landing a kick across Shadow's face, Soarin attacked next, delivering a punch to Shadow's right side. Thorax led the Changelings into mimicking the Wonderbolts and joined into the attack. Together, the Wonderbolts and Changelings attacked Shadow like a angry hornets nest, flying all around him and delivering blow after blow after blow.
With Shadow distracted Screwball and Discord worked on tying a rope made out of licorice around Shadow's legs, aiming to trip him.
"Wait," Discord replied, temporarily halting Screwball. "We forgot something." Discord then conjured up a bed of mousetraps for Shadow to fall on. "Much better." Discord and Screwball then continued on wrapping the rope around Shadow, causing him to topple over and land right on the mousetraps. Shadow screamed in pain as Screwball and Discord laughed and patted each other's back.
Their laughter stopped however when Shadow Reaper's entire body lit on fire, a ring of fire surrounding him, he got back up and roared at the direction of Twilight's army.
"So dad, you have any more ideas?" Screwball asked as she tried to swallow her fear at the sight of Shadow Reaper's current state.
"Nope," Discord Gulped.
Shadow conjured up a giant fireball and was about to throw it when suddenly he got hit by a powerful blast that sent the fireball up in the air and away from the battlefield. Every pony looked to the sky and saw Rainbow Dash flying high in the sky. Turning around towards Shadow's direction, she flew straight down, tears still streaming down her face as she conjured up a Sonic Rainboom to blast Shadow with.
"FOR THUNDER SOAR!"
Back inside the castle the three princesses and Orion reached Ash. Casting the spell Twilight turned Ash back from stone and helped him to his hooves.
"Thanks Twilight, you didn't have to save me you know."
"Of course I do, I will always save my friends from danger."
"You consider me a friend?"
"Your a changed pony, Screwball believes in you, so do I. Now let's go stop Shadow Reaper."
"He has all my magic. I'm afraid I won't be much use."
"Then don't use magic, stay by us. We will protect you."
"I hate to point out the obvious." Orion spoke up "But we still have a Orb of Anarchy to destroy."
"Shadow Reaper is attacking my friends," Twilight pointed out "I can't just leave them their on their own."
"They all are willing to die for Equestria but if we don't destroy that Orb there won't be a Equestria!"
"Equestria needs ME! I'm their princess! You go find the Orb and destroy it, but I HAVE to join my friends in battle. Equestria's survival depends on me."
"I am coming with you," Celestia told Twilight.
"Me too," Luna replied
"These past few days, I have done nothing but hurt Equestria," Ash responded with a bow "Now I have a chance to help it. I will gladly fight by your side your majesty."
Smiling Twilight turned and flew off with the three Princesses. Ash, not being to fly due to losing his magic, headed towards the exit.
"Find the Orb," Twilight ordered Orion. "Shut it down or destroy it, then join us in battle!" Orion nodded and searched for the orb as the three princesses flew towards Shadow. The three princesses all charged their horns and together fired a blast that hit Shadow in the back of the mane. Turning around he growled at the princesses before shooting fireballs at them.
"You just don't know when you are beaten do you?"
"As long as we're still breathing, we are never beaten," Celestia responded.
"That can be arranged," Shadow then fired another fireball at the Princesses causing them to fly towards the ground. Twilight nearly crash landed as she hit the ground. Discord was the one to offer his hand and help Twilight to her hooves.
"Discord can you make a duplicate of yourself?"
"What type of question is that?" Suddenly nine other Discords appeared in front of Twilight. All nine duplicates were wearing military attire and saluted the Princess.
"At your service your majesty." They all said in unison
"I need your duplicates to look for Grogar's bell. As long as he has all that magic in him there is no guarantee we will be able to stop him. That bell is the only way to ensure his defeat."
"You heard the princess," Discord ordered "Move out!" The duplicates saluted and marched away.
Twilight then turned back towards the direction of Shadow Reaper and charged. Cadance and Flurry Heart joined the three Princesses leading the battle, firing their horns they all surrounded Shadow Reaper, taking him from all sides. Ember ordered the dragons to fire, and together they all shot a huge wall of fire at Shadow. Once the fire cleared Rainbow Dash had the Pegasus ponies and Wonderbolts attack. They all flew up and punched him time and time again, refusing to let up for nothing.
"Every Pony!" Twilight ordered as she continued to fire at Shadow, "do your part, do not let up!"
The unicorns joined the Alicorns in firing at Shadow, soon their was a bright light covering the entire sky from the light coming off from the horns. Granny Smith and the Apples shot boulders and rocks in Shadow's direction and the Yaks, Earth Ponies and Griffons all attacked in the way they could.
Shadow Reaper did everything in his power to contain the attack. He created a shield to block out the attacks from the sky but the shield couldn't stop Applejack and Big Mac coming in close with some kicks to his side.
"You just will not stop will you?" Shadow growled.
"No," Shadow heard a familiar voice say from behind. Turning around Ash ran up to Shadow Reaper and kicked him hard across the face. "Because unlike you, they actually care for this kingdom, and will do everything in their power to protect it."
"Give it up Shadow Reaper," Twilight ordered as Shadow laid on the ground "Yes your magic may be the most powerful in all of Equestria. But when we all work together, not even a pony like you has enough magic to overcome us."
"No," Shadow Reaper growled as he slowly got back on his feet. Shaking off his temporary shock. "No, I AM powerful enough!" Suddenly Shadow shot his horn into the ground causing a giant boom that shot every pony backwards several feet.
"I AM THE MOST POWERFUL PONY IN NOT JUST EQUESTRIA BUT THE ENTIRE WORLD! I WILL DESTROY ALL OF YOU!"
The Princesses had to put up a force field to block the giant blast that fired at the direction of Twilight and her allies. Every pony watched in horror as the alicorns struggled to keep their force field up as Shadow's Reapers magic got more and more powerful.
"This is it," Trixie cried "This is how the great and powerful Trixie ends!"
"Where is your duplicates and the bell?" Twilight screamed out to Discord as she struggled to keep the force field up.
"I don't know!"
Inside the castle the duplicates was searching every corner of the castle. Several was shrinking in order to look under furniture while others teleported to the chandeliers in order to look above.
"Where is it?" One duplicate replied "Where is it?"
One of them was in the library scattering books everywhere when he finally saw it, stashed behind a book on cursed artifacts was the bell.
The Princesses couldn't hold the force field much longer, Shadow's magic was just to powerful, eventually the force field gave in and all the ponies and their allies got sent backwards. Shadow Reaper laughed as he watched as Twilight and all her friends laid on the ground, exhausted. Standing over Twilight he gave out a taunting laugh.
"Even with the help of all your friends and allies, you still aren't powerful enough. I am the most powerful pony in all of Equestria. Dark magic is the most powerful force in the world. And with all the dark magic I have in my hooves, I can not only take over Equestria, but all the kingdoms. Every Pony, every creature can be my slaves."
"Your wrong," Twilight said softly as she forced herself to her hooves. Standing up, she showed zero fear as she confronted Shadow Reaper. "Dark magic, it's not the most powerful magic in Equestria. There is one that you can never possess, and it's the magic that has made Equestria the powerful kingdom that it is today."
Twilight's friends lifted their heads, knowing where Twilight was going, getting to their hooves they joined Twilight by her side. Followed by the princesses, then all their other friends and allies. Twilight took Rarity's hoof on her right and Raindow Dash's on her left. One by one every pony joined hoofs and suddenly every pony, yak, griffon and dragon all suddenly floated in the air, their eyes turned white as a bright white force field surrounded them.
"It's the magic that is inside us all, the magic that makes every pony, yak, griffon, and dragon who they are. It's the magic that causes us to be honest, generous, kind, laugh, and loyal. It's the magic that we feel when we are surrounded by our family, and the ones that we love. It's the one magic you can't take from any pony Shadow Reaper, and it's the magic that will cause your downfall."
Shadow Reaper was confused as he saw all the ponies floating in the sky surrounded by a magic force field. He was equally confused to see Ash among them, holding hooves with Screwball and Celestia after he had stolen all his magic. In a heave of desperation he shot several more fireballs at the force field but despite even his most powerful attacks the force field would not budge.
"No?" Shadow Reaper gasped "How can this be? What sort of magic are you using to be able to do this?"
"THE MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP!" Suddenly a giant blast of white magic blinded Shadow Reaper. He screamed as the magic hit him with a force he had never felt before.
"NOOOO!" Shadow Reaper screamed, as he felt as he magic quickly overpowered him and sent him crashing into a boulder, where he remained pinned until the magic finally drained. Once the blast finally ended he collapsed, exhausted, beaten, defeated. He looked up when he saw one of the Discord duplicates holding the bell in his hands.
"No, don't you dare?" The Discord duplicate didn't listen as he drained all of his magic including the magic that Shadow stole before handing the bell over to Twilight and disappearing, becoming only one Discord again. Twilight then approached Ash and gave him back his magic. Ash flew into the air overjoyed as he felt his magic returned to him.
"You think, just because you have defeated me that you have won?" Shadow Reaper coughed before he let out a weak chuckle. "The Orb or Anarchy, it will go off regardless of your attempts to disarm it."
"What did you do?" Celestia growled
"There was a spell I put on, that even if the machine was shut down, even if you removed it from the machine it will still go off. By my calculations you only have about five minutes before all of Equestria is destroyed. Equestria is doomed, and even in death. I still win."
Shadow Reaper then let out a wicked laugh, wailing in his assumed victory. Furious Discord opened a portal to another dimension and kicked him in it before closing it up.
"Which dimension did you send send him to?" Screwball asked.
"The worst one imaginable."
"You don't mean?"
"Oh yeah."
Shadow Reaper landed on a hard grassy patch surrounded by nothing but trees and a large variety of plants. Getting up Shadow Reaper looked at his surrounding and started laughing.
"Ha, you fools, all you have done is ensure my survival. Enjoy your soon to be wasteland of a world. I will just take over this one instead."
Shadow Reaper suddenly snapped his head behind him when he heard the sound of what he swore was bones being crushed, followed by the sound of smacking and the tearing of flesh. Shadow walked through a bush and suddenly froze in fear to see what looked like Twilight and her friends. Only these version of the mane six was nothing he had ever seen before. This version was decked out in tribal paint. Twilight wore what looked like a shrunken skull tied to her main. Fluttershy had her main braided and in pony tails, tied together with bones. Pinkie pie carried a long spear with her, and it was freshly coated in blood. Rainbow Dash sported a mohawk. Applejack had a full size skull that she wore over her head like a helmet, and Rarity wore the skin of another pony around her like a coat, as well as bone earrings and a bone necklace. It wasn't their looks that terrified him the most though, it was what they were doing. They were in a circle and eating the carcass of another pony.
"Holy Celestia?" Shadow Reaper gasped "This is a dimension of cannibals."
Shadow Reaper instantly regretted speaking out loud cause suddenly the cannibalistic six's heads all popped up and turned towards his direction. With a gasp Shadow Reaper turned and ran as the cannibalistic six left the half eaten carcass to pursue him. Shadow Reaper didn't get the chance to run far before he was blasted by this dimension's Twilight, fell to the ground wounded and suddenly held down by Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Looking upwards, all Shadow Reaper could do was scream as Pinkie Pie lunged at him, letting out a hungry growl as she chomped down on him. Shadow Reapers screams were heard all around the forest followed by the sounds of chomping and growling.
In the main world Twilight and her friends ran as fast as they could back into the castle were Orion was desperately trying to figure out how to deactivate the Orb.
"It's no use." Orion replied it will not shut off, it's going to blow."
"I know," Twilight replied "Shadow Reaper ensured it would go off as insurance in case we were victorious."
"What are we going to do?" Trixie asked
"Some Pony could fly it towards the sky and away from the blast range of Equestria." Spitfire thought out loud. It would be a suicide mission though."
"Sadly a suicide mission might be all we got." Fluttershy replied "I just feel bad for the pony who is forced to do it though."
"I'll do it," Celestia volunteered. "My days of ruling Equestria are behind me, this would be a great final act."
"No way sister," Luna replied "After everything you have done for Equestria if any pony is to sacrifice themselves for Equestria's sake it's me."
"I am the current princess of Equestria," Twilight responded "It is my sole duty to protect and give my life if need be for the kingdom."
"No way your way to important to Equestria," Ash replied "After everything I have done, I have to be the one, it's my fault all of this happened anyway."
"None of you are going to do it." Suddenly Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Ash found themselves unable to move. Orion put them under a freeze spell as he took the orb and walked up to them.
"Orion, what are you doing?" Twilight asked
"Everything I have done since Ash took over Equestria has been acts been acts foolishness and selfishness. I was stupid in my plannings and all I did was make things worst on every pony. Let me have at least this. Let me repay my mistakes by saving all of you."
"But you can't even fly Orion," Twilight pointed out. "Your not a Pegasus."
"Starlight, can you cast a spell that will allow me to fly without wings?"
"I can, but are you sure you want to do this?"
"We don't have time to argue, the orb will go off in just a couple of minutes."
Starlight didn't want to do this, she didn't want to be the pony responsible for sending Orion to his death. But she had no time to argue, sighing she cast the spell and Orion started floating in the air.
Turning to Twilight one last time Orion said one last thing to her. "I hope by doing this act, you will be able to forgive me for everything I have done."
"I already had Orion," Twilight cried, tears streaming down her face.
With those last words Orion took off, the Orb wrapped tightly in his hooves. He flew high, and fast, past Cloudsdale, past the clouds he flew as high as he could. The electricity coming from the orb was electrocuting him but he refused to let that stop him from continuing to go as high as he could possibly fly. Then with a final scream the orb exploding in a giant ball of electricity.
The spell used on Twilight, Ash, and the sisters was undone and that was all Twilight needed to know as she saw the ball of electricity above her in the sky. Orion was gone. Sobbing she buried her head in Celestia's shoulders. Celestia wrapped her hoof around her heir and comforted her.
"Shh." Celestia whispered as she tried to comfort her heartbroken heir. Looking up at the sky, and still seeing the smoke coming from it, she couldn't help but let a tear fall from her eyes as well.
"That was the bravest thing I have ever seen a pony do."
Twilight suddenly stopped her crying once she heard the crying of Rainbow Dash coming from down the hall. Running towards her location she saw her knelt down at Thunder's body. Discord had a stethoscope in his ears and was checking for a heartbeat. Taking them off he sadly shook his head. He was gone. Every pony lowered their head in morning for their friend and alley
"Rainbow," Twilight replied, now she was going to be the one that would try to comfort a friend. "I am so sorry."
"You have to do something Twilight," Rainbow Dash pleaded. "Thunder doesn't deserve to go out like this. Please, you have to find a way to bring him back."
"I don't know if I can? I have never once cast a resurrection spell, I don't even know if there is one."
"Please?" Rainbow Dash pleaded. "I can't live without Thunder."
Twilight sighed before turning to her friends. "Meet me in the library. If there is a spell that can bring Thunder back we will find it." Twilight then turned to Rainbow Dash again. "I promise we will do everything in our power to bring him back."
Next chapter is it. Not counting the deleted scenes we only have one chapter left then this story will be over. I can't believe we are here. This has been a long but fun journey and I am thankful that all of you joined me on it. This has actually been one of my favorite stories I have written in a long time and I hope you have enjoyed it just as much as I have writing it.
A special thanks to Ctran03931 for giving me the idea to have Orion sacrifice himself. The votes were pretty one sided in favor of Orion and Twilight not getting together but Ctran03931 suggested the great idea of Orion redeeming himself by sacrificing himself for Equestria, and honestly I think it made the climatic ending better. My original plan was for Ash to be the one that took the orb and sacrificed himself as a act of truly showing he was a changed pony. But with Orion being the pony sacrificing himself instead it gives Ash the chance to truly start over with a new happy life instead of going out in a bittersweet yet heroic way. While I still like the idea of Ash being the one that sacrificed himself I think Orion being the one that did it actually is better and saves a bittersweet ending for several of our characters mainly Screwball. So thanks again Ctran.
That's all for now. Please don't go anywhere because next week, we finish everything. So keep your eyes out for that and I will see you all for the finale. Take care.