Capper and I came face to face with Ritual. Cheshire hung back, using his magic to enhance ours. We were stronger with him and it was great. I felt it in my bones, the energy surging within me that Cheshire filled me with. Capper clapped his kitty claws together and magical energy sparked off them. I hoofed at the ground and fire magic flowed around my hooves. I was ready to burn my brand into Ritual. They would feel my rage.
Ritual had a circle of magic formed around him and he just kept summoning more darklings to defend him. Two of them stepped up in front of him and I slashed out at them, fire magic destroying them. "You have grown quite adept at defeating my darklings." Ritual said, his eyes ablaze in white colored magic. "That's troublesome. I suppose I'll just have to use Moon Magic on you instead."
Up above the clouds parted. There was a huge full moon in the sky and I cocked my head in confusion. The sun had been up only moments before the clouds had come rolling in. Had Ritual of the Moon really taken full control of the artificial Moon like that? That was dangerous magic indeed.
With a yell I rushed forward and my magic burned. It was bright and searing, doubly so by way of Cheshire's magic. "We are the Elements of Harmony, and we will not let anarchy take over Equestria! We will not let you take over Equestria." I sent a blaze out at Ritual and he only laughed. My fire burned him but then he was gone, like a darkling before me.
"Behind you." he tapped on my shoulder and I jumped about, punching out. I missed as he ducked then came back up to kick out at me. I jumped backward, dodging his attack. "We will not allow you to stop us from completing the ritual," he told me. I growled in response.
"Blitz, watch out!" came a yell from Capper. I saw bursts of his magical energy coming toward us. Behind me was a small cliffside and I had to jump sideways to get out of the way of the onslaught. The magic bombarded us, and I just barely avoided the explosions of energy they created when they touched down.
There was magic in the air everywhere and the sounds of battle were loud in my ears. Ponies were yelling, shouting out commands and I saw the Double Diamond City guard moving in down below. They were climbing the mountain, battling darklings and ashling alike that stood in their way. Some had taken control of the lift and were moving up to help us. I could tell it was a hard fought battle.
Orange Juice and Pumpkin Spice were busy dealing with Circle of Ash and two of his ashlings. They were tall, nearly as tall as Circle, about two hooves higher than OJ and Pumpkin, and Pumpkin was slightly taller than OJ! The way they held themselves, I could tell they were probably lieutenants and not just ordinary ashlings.
Ritual clapped his hooves to the ground in front of me, rearing up and yelling, "Pay attention, or your ought to miss all the fun!" he was giddily laughing and I had to run back to avoid his coming attack. The Moon shown ever brighter still and it made me worried. I didn't know what he was planning.
The magic in his hooves shot forward, barrating me and Capper. I held up a hoof, trying to stave it off and I saw Capper holding up both arms in an X formation, but the barrage kept coming and it was pushing me and him back, back, back. I gritted my teeth and tried to press forward against it.
I slowly made my way forward, alongside my tomfriend, and we pressed the advantage. Ritual was making an angry face at us but there was nothing he could do. I kicked up some fire magic and lashed out. It whipped out like a sash and burned my enemy. Capper tossed a few orbs and Ritual was yelling.
There was smoke everywhere, rising from where Ritual had been standing. We turned our attention to Circle of Ash, who was just now coming down on Buck, who had stood in the way of him attacking Orange Juice. If he hadn't, OJ would've been shoved right off the side of the cliff. Buck went crashing down and Circle was laughing.
"You foolish ponies cannot win! I have been at this longer than any of you have been alive. My plan has been in the works for decades!" his laugh tore through us, and we felt it deep in our chests. He was using some sort of spell in an attempt to subdue us.
I wasn't about to sit back and let him do it. I stood as tall as I could, still slightly ducked down, and I yelled against his overbearing strength. He turned around, laughing at me. I kicked up some of my violet red magic, letting it wash over my whole body. I called to Cheshire, "Give me the strength to stand!"
"I pour as much strength into your teacup as I can, dear Blitzy. If it overflows I could kill you." he shrugged and I grunted. If that was the best he could do it was going to have to be good enough.
I pressed forward, feeling like I was fighting a blizzard. My heart clenched and I felt it leap to my throat and sit there. For the effort I was exerting, my heart was beating rather slowly. I think Circle's spell was keeping not just our physical selves subdued but our energies as well. I felt like I was trudging through quicksand that was trying to drag me down.
"I have perfected my magicks, and what have all of you done? Taken some stupid little drug in the hopes of being better than me!" Circle was yelling above the wind. I realized then that Ritual was not defeated. His Moon still poured out its brilliant light high up above.
I finally reached Circle, and using all the magic I had at my disposal I shoved it all forward. A huge beam of magical energy came forth, and I felt my strength returning. I was searing into Circle, and all my rage was being poured into this one attack. I would be surprised if Circle survived it. Okay…I wouldn't be too surprised. I knew just how powerful Circle was. But in this moment, I was more powerful. I stood tall and proud as my magic finally ran out. I stopped using it to make sure I would have some left to fight with.
"Ha ha ha!" Circle's chest was heaving up and down as he laughed boisterously. "You cannot hope to defeat the great Circle of Ash!"
OJ's wings snapped open and his eyes were filled with a blinding light. "Maybe not he, but I can!" There was light on the tip of his horn so bright that it was like staring into the sun. I had to stop looking.
"We've got this!" Buck yelled, standing side by side with Combat Zone. "You and Capper focus on Ritual," Buck nodded toward the pony in question who was just now rising from the smoke.
"That was one heck of a trick!" he giggled. "But it wasn't enough to stop me!" I turned to face him, leaving Buck and Combat to assist OJ. Pumpkin Spice was bouncing beside me and I knew she was coming to help.
"I have more tricks, if you'd like to see them!" Pumpkin stuck her tongue out.
"Do share with the class!" Ritual was jumping up and down.
"Okay! How about some jump rope tricks?" Pumpkin opened a saddle bag and pulled out a jump rope. When she saw us staring at her she said, "What? It's recess! Time to play!" her eyes filled with magical orange light, a shade of an autumn leaf. The jump rope snapped out from her hoof, glowing with the same orange mana. It was a snake, lashing out as she whipped it to and fro. Ritual jumped back to avoid it and Pumpkin just kept on whipping it. "I've practiced lots, have you?"
"What are you doing, stop that at once!" Ritual was hit a few times and the orange magic stayed on his white fur in lines like gashes. But I don't think he was cut. I wasn't sure what Pumpkin Spice was doing.
Then I saw the more and more lines of magic she made the more tied up Ritual got. His hooves were being tightened in a magical grasp and it looked sorta like a ball of yarn. Or a big tangled mess of jump ropes. "I like playing with jump ropes but the worst part is untangling them all!" Pumpkin pouted. Ritual toppled over looking a little worse for wear.
"Fine then! Keep me like this, dude, but I'll get out. For now, battle my fiercest darklings! Alicorn formation!"
The Moon hid behind a few clouds, but before it did so its beams penetrated a few darklings. They screeched and began running around in circles. Then they crashed into each other and stopped. That's when a few synthetics that had been on the battlefield fighting the Double Diamond City guard showed up, having heard the command shouted by Ritual. They seemed to know exactly what to do. I noticed they shone brilliantly with the same Moon magic that Ritual had been using and knew the Moon beams must've hit them too.
I wondered if we had anymore of those converted memory orbs left but before I could even think to ask aloud, the darkling magic washed over the synthetics. They were overtaken and in their place was a rather tall alicorn shaped darkling, Moon magic glowing on the tip of its horn and in its eyes.
"We've got a bit of a problem, now don't we y'all." Capper lifted a finger.
"Anypony got anymore of those memory orb thingies that Nexus made us?" Pumpkin was looking around.
"I've got a few!" OJ called but he was still in the midst of battling Circle.
"I'll try to get them from OJ, you guys fight this thing off!" Pumpkin bounced away against protests from me. But it didn't matter anyway, those memory orbs were probably our best bet.
The alicorn darkling reared up and stomped its hooves, causing the ground to shake. I stumbled, nearly falling over like Ritual. I saw him struggling with his binds, but I didn't think he'd be getting out for awhile yet. We had bigger fish to fry now. I backed up a few paces with Capper and Cheshire and we stared up at the monster before us. "What now?" Cheshire floated forward, swirling on smoke and disappearing from sight before returning just behind us.
"Give us as much power as you can, baby," Capper winked and kissed both he then me. Then it was time to battle.
My apple grenades were the first things I used. I enhanced them with fire magic and tossed them at the darkling. The fire exploded into supernovas of energy and I saw the darkness faltering. Capper was forming his orbs into one gigantic orb before tossing it away at the darkling. It burst into a swirling storm of mana and the darkling reared back. It yelled, its voice booming over the mountain. Somewhere far off I heard an avalanche.
We were doing it, really beating it back, but stopping those synths in the midst of the swirling blackness would be our best bet. There were orbs of light on the tip of the horn that came raining down all around us and it seared my fur. I rolled to avoid a couple more but the magic seemed to try and chase us down. "Pumpkin, we could really use those memory spheres right about now!"
"Coming!" her voice came as a sing song and she bounced into sight. She activated the orbs and tossed them like grenades. The magic did its stuff and I saw the synths faltering. The darkness began swirling into clouds of black smoke and the Moon reappeared in the sky. That's when the darkling was vanquished but in its place Ritual had destroyed the bindings and was stepping forward.
"So I see you guys have found a way to disable our synths. Very well. Face me, dudes!" he screamed and I stepped up to the plate. Literally, there was a baseball plate beneath my hooves. I looked around and realized we had made it to a mini baseball stadium that must've been setup a long time ago.
Up above, Ashe Erza and her team were circling back, coming up the mountain with the Double Diamond City guard. She was being met with resistance by darklings that could fly and ashlings that seemed to have copied Joyride and Heart's technique. She met with an ashling with clashing blades and the clang rang out loud and clear over the battle. She was yelling something I couldn't make out and her sword fell.
Toppling end over end, it came crashing down in front of me, nearly slicing off my head! It pierced the ground, sticking straight up. I saw Double Diamond and Party Favor then, over the edge of the blade, and on the side of the mountain. They were being corralled by ashlings, prisoners of war. There was nothing I could do now.
It made me angry to see them like that, tied up and harnessed. I didn't think anypony deserved treatment like that for any reason. I decided to take my anger out on Ritual. I ripped the weapon out of the ground and used my fire magic to enhance the blade. Then I ran forward, slashing with all my might. Ritual laughed and his magic flared up into the shape of a blade, meeting mine.
Blocking my attack he laughed, "You are untrained, what do you hope to accomplish, silly?"
"I hope to accomplish chopping your damn head off." I snarled through gritted teeth.
"Who's the evil one here?" Ritual pressed forward and I was shoved back.
Lifting my sword, I tried bringing it down on him again but he only blocked me. Then it was my turn to block when he brought his magical sword down on me. I just barely managed to in time. "That was a close one, babe," Capper called, shooting finger guns at me. Bursts of magic left his fingers and I twirled to allow the magic to hit Ritual. He yelled but kept coming for me with his sword. I blocked and parried but to no avail. I was being put on the defensive.
I hated being put on the defensive. I jumped back to avoid another attack and my hooves nearly slid off the side of the cliff. Now I saw that the Double Diamond City guards were on this mountain with us, fighting ashlings and darklings all around. The city was being overtaken and if we didn't stop Circle of Ash and Ritual of the Moon soon, we would lose.
I ran forward, my sword pointed straight at Ritual. I yelled to Capper, "You need to distract him!" Capper didn't hesitate, rushing forward and tossing as much magic as he could. Red magic, green magic, brown magic, orange magic. I had no idea what the colors meant but I was glad for them. Ritual was angry and turned his attention to Capper.
But his attention wasn't lost on me, he still saw my approach. He gingerly stepped aside and when I missed him my sword pierced somepony else…Somepony important…And when the cries of his counterpart shot out, they pierced the battlefield harder than my sword could ever pierce anything.
Party Favor's voice stopped the entire battle and everypony paused in their fight to look at him. "No! How could you!" he growled at me, turning on me. "You…you killed him!" Double Diamond had fallen, and he would've hit the dirt if Party hadn't of caught him.
"You completed the ritual!" Circle stepped forward… "Or at least…half of the ritual."
"I…I didn't mean to!" I gulped and pointed at Ritual of the Moon, "He stepped aside, he dodged my attack!"
Over my hoof was Ritual, standing in complete shock. Then a white magic flared up and the clouds passing over the Moon began to swirl around in a circle. The magic that lit up the field was searing and in a beam connected with the Moon. Ritual was yelling. The white magic was coming off his eyes. "What…what's happening to me?"
Circle's lips curled on end, a perfect smile. "You're becoming what you were meant to become. An alicorn synth, just like this cat, just like Prince Orange Juice."
"But…but it hurts my dude!" cried out Ritual. "Wai-wait! Who…" he stumbled back and the white magic began fading in whisps. "Who are you? Stop this at once!" he lifted a hoof to his head and began to struggle with himself.
"My love?" Circle rushed forward but Orange Juice jumped in the way.
"You're not going anywhere."
"Get out of my way!"
"The Ritual was not the way they thought it was," Ashe landed on the pitch. "Look, he transforms."
OJ stepped to the side as he turned around and we all saw as the white magic lifted off Double Diamond. The body that Party had been carrying was now gone with the wind and the sun was shining once more. "Wha-what? Where did…Double Diamond?" Party had tears streaming down his face.
"Party…I know now what must be done." Double Diamond was staring directly into Party Favor's eyes and Party stepped back, bumping into the ashling that had held him captive.
"No! DD, you can't be serious!" Party looked down at the sword that had killed Double Diamond just minutes before.
Circle spun on his hooves and lifted the sword. "Stand back all! I will not allow you to kill my better half." he pointed the sword at us.
"Oh, so now you defend him?" Ashe laughed. Then she lifted her hoof and yelled, "Requip!" the sword disappeared from Circle's grasp and reappeared in hers. Circle actually looked scared.
"You wouldn't dare!" his bright red eyes were wide.
"I would if it means stopping you."
We all stood staring, wondering how this standoff would end. Then I saw him rushing forward, an old gun from the Castle in his hooves. It was Combat. "Move him aside, now Ashe!" Ashe nodded and jumped forward, using the wings from her armor to propel her into action. She shoved Circle of Ash out of the way as hard as she could and he went sprawling. Double Diamond caught him up.
The weapon of choice in Combat's hooves was an old rifle with a bayonet attached to the end. He plunged it deep into Party's chest and Party stared with wide eyes as he coughed up blood. Combat stared at Circle, who had red magic lifting from him. "This is for all the hardships you put me through. First as my friend then as raiders and then as enemies. This will be an end to all that! I'm Faust damned sick of it all Circle of Ash." he turned his gaze on Party, who had blood drizzling down his muzzle. "I'm sorry it had to end like this."
"No…you did the right…thing…" he choked on blood and slumped, eyes staring wide before the red magic disintegrated his body.
"Nooooo!" Circle was thrashing against the magic but there was absolutely nothing for it. The red lifted away from him, the cloak he wore lifting with it. It was shredded and the particles blew away in the wind.
The sky turned bright blue and the sun blazed down. It was over, finally over. We had one the battle in the most unexpected of ways, by completing the Ritual. "One thing I've seemed to learn of magic," Pumpkin said as she kicked up some energy with her hoof, "Is that once you've started a spell…" the magic she kicked up shot up into the sky, "It must be completed." the magic exploded into powerful fireworks, colorful enough to be seen in the day.
"This was a spell Circle of Ash started a long time ago." Party stepped forward. "I have to apologize, for all this is really my fault."
"It is not!" Ashe patted him on the back and he heaved a breath. "You could not of known of the fruit you would bear when you tried to revive yourself and your love."
"Circle was not your fault," Double Diamond stepped forward.
"So you two are alicorn synths now?"
"We're not quite alicorns, but we do have alicorn magic running through our veins." Party nodded.
"Yeah, I can feel it," Double laughed, "It's like a wave crashing on the beach! I like the way it feels, my dudes."
"We should celebrate!" Ashe called into the breeze of the day.
"I can get down with that!" Party giggled.
"Me too!" Pumpkin jumped up.
"First, we must deal with the ashlings." Buck said and we turned to face the crowd of ponies watching us.
OJ stepped forward, wings spread wide. "I hereby declare that any ashling seen in Broncston or Bittsberg will henceforth be imprisoned for life! You have until days end to leave or me and my friends will stop you!" with that the ashlings dispersed, along with their corrupted synths. "How did I do?" OJ turned to us with a big goofy smile on his face.
I smiled back at him, "I'd say that was a pretty good declaration!"
"Three hurrahs for our victory?" He cocked his head.
"Three hurrahs!" we all yelled, laughing and smiling.
"Hurrah!" we all turned to face the side of the mountain, watching the ashlings disperse from the city.
"Hurrah!" Capper put a hand on my shoulders and an arm around Cheshire's hips. We were all jumping and nuzzling each other, happy that we had won.
"Hurrah!" Double Diamond and Party Favor stepped forward, standing at the cliffs edge and watching over their city.
It was a happy scene, and I knew we were all glad with this turn of events. Peace had been restored to at least two parts of Equestria. We still had a long way to go if we wanted to restore all of Equestria to the way it once was but for now we were happy to revel in our victory.
And what a victory it had been.