The pillar of light continued to shine forth, its power resonating with every living thing that lived and breathed on this world. The three Princesses knew of this light, having once before stood in its radiant presence, but for others, they were trying to grasp the magnitude of this awesome power. When the pillar finally disappeared, what was left in its wake was surprising to see. Twilight was donned in royal regalia, but it was platinum white, with bracers and greaves that only came up to cover half her forelegs and hind legs. A gleaming chest plate that was emblazoned with the symbol of Life, and a tiara that wrapped around the base of her horn and around her head. The ring that was gifted to her by the Life Entity shined upon her horn, making it glow with a combination of magic and white light.
Rainbow Dash stirred from her momentary state of unconsciousness, her eyes opening wide at the sight of her marefriend. “Twilight…? What the…What the heck happened?!”
“Short version, we have chance of winning now.”
Through Chrysalis’ eyes Parallax looked upon the new wielder of the white light of Life, utterly flabbergasted at the sight. “A WHITE LANTERN?!! THIS ISN’T POSSIBLE!!!”
“Would you calm down Parallax?! So what if Twilight Sparkle got a silly ring, it’s nothing compared your power,” said Chrysalis.
“You have no idea how powerful that light is! It is the origin, the beginning of all life in the universe! It is the very light from which I and the other Entities were born from!”
At hearing this, Chrysalis, and even Nightmare, felt a pit form in their stomachs at the revelation.
“Although…We may have a chance. The mare doesss not know how to wield that light, and it isss only a ring, not the Life Entity himself. If we attack, we may be able to wrench that ring from her!”
Without even giving it a second thought, the hosts of the Negative Entities were thrust into battle, all three of them flying towards Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus took a fighting stance, fully prepared to protect her love a second time, but Twilight extended a wing that made Rainbow look at Twilight in confusion.
“This is my fight, as a Princess of Equestria, and a wielder of Life’s light! No more innocent lives will die today!”
LIFE…
Suddenly, a giant wall of white light shot up in front of Rainbow and Twilight. Spike let loose his plasma dragon fire, Chrysalis unleashed a powerful yellow light blast from her horn, and Nightmare Butcher spewed a torrent of acidic blood. The three attacks struck the wall of light, but the wall showed no signs of strain, in fact, the three attacks weren’t doing any damage to the wall at all. The wall then fell down and three symbols of Life appeared in its stead. The three symbols fired powerful beams of white light at all three of the possessed hosts, smashing against them with great force.
The three were sent flying in different directions, smashing into one building after another, even into the mountain itself. With this lapse in the battle, the four hosts of the Positive Entities flew towards Twilight, gathering in a circle around her and Rainbow.
“Twi…What in Equestria is this?!” asked Applejack.
“Something we needed,” answered Twilight.
Cadance eyed Twilight, scanning her regalia uniform and smirking the whole time. “Huh, you pull off that platinum white armor look little Ladybug. Quite heroic.”
“And attractive, speaking objectively.”
Twilight blushed from the compliment Cadance gave her, as well as the awkward one that Predator said as well. It was uncanny for Twilight, whereas before she could only hear the Entities voices, she could now see them. They were like shadows hovering nearby their hosts; this was a sight only those harboring an Entity and wielding the white light could see. Her attention turned to Proselyte, who seemed to be in deep thought at the moment.
“Proselyte, what’s wrong?” asked Twilight.
“This bodes well for us, in fact, this is exactly what we need,” said Proselyte.
“Do you have something in mind brother?” asked Adara.
“Indeed, Fluttershy and I will exorcise them from their hosts.”
“What?!” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Hold on, I saw you try and do that with Spike back in Ponyville, it didn’t go so well,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, but now that we have the white light of Life, Fluttershy and I can channel that power, and use it to remove Ophidian and the others by overpowering their essence, and allowing the original life force of the host to take control again.”
“This could work.”
“It will work!”
“Then what’re we waiting for, let’s do it!” Scootaloo shouted.
The possessed hosts awoke from their earlier bashing and started to regain their senses. The five wielders of the Positive Lights quickly entered fighting stances, ready to enact their plan. Twilight’s eyes locked onto Spike, Fluttershy followed her gaze and knew exactly who was first on their list.
“Everypony, keep Chrysalis and Nightmare busy, Fluttershy and I will release Spike first.
“GOT IT!”
“GOT IT!”
Scootaloo moved like a bullet, zipping around Spike and creating blue construct chains in her wake. She quickly wrapped the chains around his limbs, even encircling his torso, and his muzzle as well, preventing him from venting more of his Avarice fueled dragon fire. Applejack assisted by creating pegs that secured the chains to the ground, the combined powers of Will and Hope empowered each other, helping to secure Spike where he was.
“He’s all yours Twi, Shy!”
“Now get that thing out of him, we’ll deal with the others!”
Fluttershy was the first to appear before Spike, the giant dragon thrashed back and forth, trying to get himself free from the binding chains, but Avarice had no effect on Hope, and the bolstering power of Will only made the chains that much stronger. Twilight flew beside Fluttershy, she watched as the pegasus mare drew upon the power of Proselyte, at that moment the symbol of Life appeared over Fluttershy’s head, her eyes turning white as snow. The tips of her eight tentacles glowed white and quickly launched them at Spike.
All eight struck right at his chest, piercing the barrier between the physical and spiritual realms. Ripple like distortions appeared around the tentacles entry, showing that this did not pierce flesh but were instead diving into his soul. Fluttershy felt the familiar presence of Ophidian and quickly latched onto the Tempter. The Entity of Avarice fought hard to stay in his host, like a stubborn leech. Spike’s aura flared up, Ophidian’s desperation to stay ignited his greed instincts, making him fight back even harder to keep what was his.
“He’s…strong…I don’t know…if we can extract him!” Fluttershy grunted.
Twilight looked upon the beast that was once her ward and surrogate little brother and child at the same time. It pained her to see this once happy, gentle, and often times overzealous drake roar and thrash about savagely to hang onto a power that corrupts all who wield it. Twilight loved Spike, she wished she had said it to him more now, but she did, he was family, and just like with Rainbow Dash, she wouldn’t lose another.
Love…Life…
Twilight’s body blazed with a powerful white aura, her horn now glowing with the violet light of Love. She let this light guide her, trusting in her feelings to bring about a positive outcome. Twilight floated till she was hovering in front of Spike’s face. Spike glared at her with burning orange eyes as he tried to free his mouth to either burn her or eat her alive. Twilight continued to float closer to him, despite all the angry growls and bloodthirsty look in his eyes.
“Spike…I love you, we all love you! Just let go of Ophidian, his power isn’t want you need. Greed is not all that you are Spike…”
Within the dragon’s eyes the symbol of Love appeared, like before, his thrashing ceased as the light filled the emptiness within his heart. Ophidian was aware of the presence of the light of Love, and tried his best to get Spike back to his side.
“NO SPIKE! LOVE IS FALSE; IT IS WEAK AND EASILY DESTROYED! AVARICE LASTS, SO LONG AS THERE ARE THINGS IN THIS WORLD TO WANT, YOU WILL NEVER HAVE NOTHING, YOU’LL HAVE IT ALL! THE WORLD CAN BE YOURS SPIKE!”
“Don’t listen to him Spike; you have to make the choice!”
The warring voices were making Spike’s head throb with pain, he wanted this violet light to fill the emptiness within him, but at the same time the hunger of the orange light was so alluring, promising more and more. It wasn’t until his mind flashed back to the faces of Rarity, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo; they pleaded, and fought to bring him back to his senses, despite his avid want of everything.
Hope…
Suddenly, Twilight’s horn glowed with the blue light of Hope, the two emotion driven lights combined with that of that of the white light of Life. At that moment, Ophidian’s head started to get dragged out from Spike’s chest, the serpent hissed and roared at the two ponies who were wrenching him free of his prized host. More and more of Ophidian’s body was pulled out of Spike. Fluttershy poured everything she had into this last tug, her tentacles surging with Compassion and Life’s light all at once. The combined powers made Ophidian writhe in pain, making him lose his concentration and grip on his host, his body flung out completely, now being held aloft by the eight tentacles of Fluttershy and Proselyte.
Spike’s body reverted almost immediately. His armor falling apart like fragile glass, his feral appearance tapering back to that of his more fully-grown form, and his angry vermillion coloring went back to his original purple and green scales. Soon even that was changing, his body was becoming smaller and smaller with each passing second, the blue and green construct chains loosened and eventually turned into particles of light. In a matter of seconds Spike was back to his original form, lying splayed on the ground in exhaustion from his ordeal.
Twilight looked up angrily at the Entity of Avarice, who still thrashed in Fluttershy’s grip. Twilight used the power of Hope, Love, and Life, combining the three lights into a sphere and then hurling it at Ophidian. When the sphere struck, it did not explode, but merely enveloped Ophidian, trapping him within. Fluttershy retracted her tentacles, smiling happily that they were able to save Spike.
“Now let’s deal with the others!”
Scootaloo and Cadance were double teaming Nightmare Butcher, Love and Hope battling fiercely against Rage.
Nightmare Butcher raised her deadly ax and brought it down on the pegasus filly. But Scootaloo countered by summoning a blue construct sword, which oddly enough resembled the one she used to defeat her personal nightmare. Scootaloo smiled at the irony of this, which only made Nightmare growl from the smug look on her face.
“I killed that filly, and I’ll you too! Entity or no, I will tear your wings off and your head soon after!” Nightmare roared.
“Not happening! I’m not scared of you, if anything, you’re scared of me!” Scootaloo retorted.
“I FEAR NOTHING!!!”
Nightmare and Scootaloo clashed with their blades, shockwaves and sparks of red and blue light went off in the sky in rapid succession. The came down for an overhead blow, but Scootaloo swiftly dodged that attack with an aerial pirouette. She then rushed forward and slashed with her sword, catching Nightmare in one of the exposed areas of her armor, making the black alicorn hiss and growl with pain from the opposing light. The pegasus filly darted around Nightmare Butcher, slashing at her armor and exposed areas with great speed and swiftness that it was almost dizzying.
Finally, Nightmare had had enough. She swung her ax, aiming with the flat of it, and caught Scootaloo upside her head as she was passing by. The sudden impact made pain jolt through Scootaloo’s head, making her lose the sword and nearly rendered her unconscious, but that was all the time Nightmare needed. The red armored alicorn used her telekinetic power to focus her grip on Scootaloo’s throat, applying pressure as to almost crush her neck, but thankfully the protective aura kept that from happening, but the added Rage light wasn’t going to make that last for long.
“GET AWAY FROM MY NIECE YOU WITCH!!!”
Nightmare suddenly felt a powerfully hard punch strike the right side of her face, sending her shooting right for the street down below. Scootaloo, now able to take in air, saw that it was Cadance who had come to her rescue. The pink alicorn mare then fanned out her wings and pointed them in Nightmare’s direction. The crystalline wings then fired a barrage of star sapphire shards, each one imbued with the violet light of Love. The shards whistled as they cut through the air and struck the landing spot where Nightmare was, making multiple explosions go off one after the other.
Cadance ceased her attack for a moment and looked in Scootaloo’s direction. “Are you okay Scootaloo?”
“Y-Yeah, I am. Did…Did you just call me your ‘niece’?”
“Of course I did, you’re a part of my little Ladybug’s family. So that means you and I are aunt and niece now, and you can always count on me to help you out. That goes for you too Adara,” Cadance added with a warm and loving smile.
Scootaloo’s cheeks turned red from hearing that, she almost cried, realizing just how much these ponies who took her in really cared about her. From within, she could feel Adara’s reassurance and comfort.
“YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT YOU MISERABLE WHORSE!!!” Nightmare yelled.
The pegasus filly’s eyes narrowed in anger. She then positioned herself in front of Cadance and spread her four large wings. At the center of each one a glowing sphere of blue light formed, Scootaloo then gave a mighty flap of her wings and the four orbs combined, transforming into a tornado of blue light that roared towards Nightmare Butcher. The dark alicorn had no time to dodge as the twister of light struck her and blasted her up the mountainside.
“DON’T YOU DARE CALL MY AUNT THAT – EVER!!!”
“She’s so cute when she’s being defending your honor.”
“Down Predator.”
“I agree she is.”
Applejack and Chrysalis were locked in a battle of opposites, Will and Fear clashing with such ferocity that it lit up the sky. Beams of green light would collide with beams of yellow light, constructs of frightful creatures would do battle with constructs of heroic figures.
Applejack swung her mace construct at Chrysalis, but the equine insectoid quickly brought up her shield. The impact made Chrysalis wince in pain, thinking that her forearm was going to snap. But she recovered quickly and struck back with a claw construct that was five times the size of her own hand. Applejack saw this and raised her right hoof, concentrating the light of Willpower and forming it into a large drill.
The drill spun rapidly as AJ launched herself at the claw. The tip of the drill struck the flat of the opposing construct’s palm, and after a few short seconds of resistance, the drill pierced the hand, shattering the construct to pieces. Chrysalis decided to match her, creating a more jagged drill to AJ’s smoother one. Cocking back her left arm, Chrysalis thrust forward at the same time as Applejack. The two drills struck with a thunderous boom and screeched as the two opposing forces pushed against each other.
“You can’t win this; Fear is the enemy of Will! It weakens and shatters it! Your fears are as plain to me as the sun is in the sky! I see it all, your fear of losing your precious farm, your family slipping into poverty and living on the streets, the shame of not being able to live up and be the mare you think you should be! And…hello, what is this?”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!” AJ’s drill grew ten times larger, dwarfing Chrysalis’ drill. The earth pony mare willed her aura to roar like an inferno, propelling her and the drill, forcing Chrysalis back with every passing second. “Yeah, Ah got fears; there ain’t a pony alive who isn’t afraid of somethin’! But that doesn’t mean Ah let my fears rule and control me!” Chrysalis’ drill shattered apart, and at the same time AJ’s did as well. “You went from a race that fed on love to one that feeds off fear, what’s wrong with you?! How could ya do this to yer own kind?!”
Chrysalis summoned another drill and so did Applejack, the two mares clashed in the air as their weapons spun out and smashed into each other, but AJ’s didn’t shatter like Chrysalis’. With almost every impact, the Changeling Queen’s constructs were breaking apart. “Usin’ the power of Fear to get what ya want is the coward’s way out, Chrysalis! Even now Ah can see, ya’ll are scared, ‘cause you know, you know yer gonna lose this fight!”
“WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME?!!” Chrysalis’ constructs glowed brighter and shattered Applejack’s, prompting her to create another to counterattack. “I did what I had to, for my race, for all my changelings! We can no longer hide in the shadows and be doomed to die a miserable death in some hole in the ground! I wouldn’t allow that, I am the Queen; my duty is to my subjects! That means I will do whatever is necessary to ensure their survival! Even if that means becoming a monster, even if that means I must terrorize every living thing on this planet and syphon their fear until they are withered husks then SO BE IT!!!”
Chrysalis’ body blazed with the yellow light of Fear, throwing Applejack back a few feet. She stopped herself and gazed upon what was happening to the Changeling Queen. Her body expanded, the six hooves changing to pointed tips like an insect, her arms elongated and her claws sharpened. Chrysalis’ neck stretched till it was fifty feet long, and her eyes became pools of yellow energy, even her sharp teeth became more menacing than before, in essence, Chrysalis became a true monster of fear.
“Kckt, now Chrysalis, you have become a true being worthy of my power! Let Fear drive you to heights of power and ability that you never knew were possible!”
“Parallax, you twisted son of a – Does your madness know no end!” Ion shouted.
“‘Madness’ he says, this is not madness! This is enlightenment!”
“No, this is fear, pure and simple,” said Fluttershy.
Before Chrysalis could react, Fluttershy had teleported herself behind the Changeling Queen and took hold of her. Five of the tentacles wrapped around Chrysalis, keeping her held still while the remaining two readied themselves to remove the fear parasite known as Parallax.
“You will not take this power away from me! I need it to save them, to protect my changelings!”
“No…you’re harming them Chrissy.”
A familiar voice echoed in Chrysalis head, snapping her to attention, before her stood her long since passed older sister, Lilianna, her body made of indigo light.
Compassion…
“What…What do you mean I’m harming them?!” asked Chrysalis.
Love…
Another version of Lilianna appeared, this time her body was constructed of violet-pink light. “You’ve turned your back on everything that we once were. Love was the one thing that still linked us to what were before we became this…But now…now you rely on fear and our people cannot bear this poison.”
Chrysalis shook her head back and forth vehemently. “What would you have me do?! I’m not like you! I never was! I had to become a leader once you died! I had to, or else our race would’ve perished then and there! I did this to save them!”
Willpower…
A third Lilianna appeared, made of green light and leveling a stern gaze at the Changeling Queen. “No, you took the easy way out, and there is always a better way. You chose fear over love, and it is slowly turning you and rest of our race into the monsters the world believes us to be! Instead of mustering the courage to stand and fight, or even to find peace, you damned our race to be forever seen as true monsters!”
Chrysalis began to feel shame; the fury that was building inside her was slowly being replaced with sadness and regret. Needless to say, this was making Parallax’s hold on the Queen that much weaker.
“I don’t know what to do anymore…You were always the one I looked to for strength and comfort…I miss you big sister…I miss you so much that it hurts…” Chrysalis’ eyes returned to their normal state, but now she was weeping, unable to hide how vulnerable she felt and how scared she was.
Hope…
The fourth Lilianna, made of blue light, floated gently towards Chrysalis and pressed her forehead to her own, their horns crossing as they did. “Chrissy, I’m always beside you, even if you can’t see me. It’s okay to feel scared sometimes, but you aren’t alone…you kept hope alive, believing in my words. It’s not too late for you, or our race.”
“NO! NONONONONONONONO!!!!”
“It’s time to end the war between Fear and Compassion,” said Fluttershy.
“NOK!”
The tentacles zoomed into Chrysalis, latching onto Parallax and pulling him out from the depths of her soul. Chrysalis felt the painful extract, which confused Fluttershy and Twilight sense it didn’t seem to hurt Spike, make him angry, but they sensed no pain. When Parallax was fully exorcised, the Changeling Queen’s body began to crack, fissures ran all along her body, spider webbing like a window about to shatter. At that moment, her body broke apart, the remains falling away like a shed carapace, revealing the original form of Queen Chrysalis.
Twilight caught the unconscious Queen within a bubble made of white light, floating her down to the ground. Afterwards, she changed the bubble into a cage, imprisoning the villainess until the battle was over. She then looked to Parallax and fired a sphere made of the five positive lights, trapping Parallax like she did Ophidian.
Nightmare Butcher was panting and sweating, her mouth dripping with blood as the droplets hit the ground, sizzling from the acidity. She looked to her left, and Cadance was there, crystal claws bared and ready for the attack. To her right was Scootaloo, floating in the air as her four luminescent wings flapped lightly, and a blue sword construct held between her hooves. Nightmare was too lost in her rage and anger to notice the sounds of battle and destruction had lessened considerably in past few minutes. Just then, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight appeared between Cadance and Scootaloo, five against one, the odds were officially not in her favor.
“And then there was one,” spoke Predator.
“This war ends – NOW!” Applejack shouted.
Nightmare Butcher growled furiously at the five assembled wielders of light. “I don’t care, I will kill you all! I don’t need those two, I began my fight alone, and I’ll end it the same way! With the Butcher’s power I am invincible!”
“Strange that we haven’t heard a word from him during this entire ordeal,” said Proselyte.
“Truly, I would expect him to start saying something to the degree of us being weaker than him, or how unskilled we are in combat.” Adara commented.
“Not like him to be this quiet, period.”
After hearing the discussion amongst the Entities, Twilight decided to find out exactly why. Using the white light, she connected to the Entity of Rage that dwelled within Nightmare. She sensed something wrong with the red bull, he was struggling, his mind caught in a haze of some sort. But she also sensed that the Butcher was healing, slowly due to his rampant need for battle, but healing all the same.
Could it be that he hasn’t been in control since the beginning? That he’s been running on pure instinct, thought Twilight.
The alicorn mare strode away from the group as her horn lit with the light from the ring. Nightmare readied her ax and was prepared to strike down Twilight Sparkle once and for all.
“Butcher, Entity of Rage, now… AWAKEN!”
A dual beam of white and red fired from Twilight’s horn and struck Nightmare in the chest, but the attack did not explode nor did it cause her any physical damage. She frantically looked over her chest plate, not seeing a dent or a hole where the beam had pierced.
“What was that supposed to be, huh Sparkle?!”
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!!!!!”
The familiar roar of the Butcher echoed in and through Nightmare’s very soul. Soon the shadow of the Entity of Rage came into view for all to see, the crimson beast snorted and shook his head back forth as if clearing something from his mind. The beast looked around, his eyes falling upon the shadows of the Positive Entities, and then to their hosts.
“Heh-ha, so you all finally decided to challenge me! Good, I’ve been itching for a fight and –!” Butcher stopped when his tunnel vision finally expanded, allowing him to take in the sight of the ruined city of Canterlot. “Where the hell am I? This isn’t Stalliongrad, or that frozen wasteland! How did I get here?!”
Twilight looked upon the Butcher with confusion. “You mean…You haven’t been aware of anything that has happened in these past few days?”
Butcher snorted irritatingly. “No, I do not! That’s why I’m asking! And will one of you tell me why I’m talking to a pony wearing a White Lantern getup?!”
The Positive Entities, the two contained Negative Entities, and the hosts couldn’t believe what they were hearing. The Butcher had not been aware of anything that has been happening since he was trapped in the glacier, now that the Positives thought it over Nightmare had too good control over the Entity of Rage’s powers. Butcher was not known to be fully cooperative with his hosts, either taking them over completely or the host himself or exerting their dominant will over Butcher to take control.
“BUTCHER!” Nightmare called.
The Entity of Rage slowly turned to the dark alicorn mare, noticing that she was wearing his colors, and was glowing with Rage energy, his Rage energy.
“And who the hell are you?!”
“I am Nightmare Moon, the one who freed you from the glacier! I need your power Butcher, fight with me and we can be rid of these fools once and for all!” Nightmare then glared at her enemies. “They would have you imprisoned and destroyed; they don’t know you like I do! Together, we will rule Equus with an iron hoof and banner of blood!”
The Butcher let out a dejected snort, his eyes scanned over her form, judging, criticizing, scrutinizing every inch of her, but it wasn’t just the outside, he peered deeper into his host, and looked directly at the core of this dark creature.
“No…!”
Nightmare’s eyes went wide with shock. “W-What do you mean ‘no’?!”
“You have no real strength, all you are is just a an empty shell, a shadow destined to fade into nothingness! I do not fight for one who isn’t even a real existence!”
“No…No you will obey me! I am your host! And I demand –!”
Suddenly a red flash of light blinded everyone in sight, the light gathered till it became a large, powerful crimson bull, the Entity of Rage. The giant beast was now outside of Nightmare, standing before everyone in his true form. Butcher then turned to Nightmare Moon behind him, looking down at the pathetic sight she had become. The alicorn mare was no longer in full armor, the fearsome look she once had was gone completely. Nightmare Moon was bare, her black coat the only clothing upon her. Her starry, ethereal mane had lost its luster, changing into stringy hair.
“No one commands the Butcher, and I will not be the one to hold you up, worthless shadow!”
Butcher inhaled deeply and released his blood-fire breath at Nightmare Moon, engulfing the dark alicorn and utterly destroying her, not even a scream was heard as the ground bubbled and sizzled, turning into molten sludge. Butcher grunted, not at all sorry to end Nightmare Moon’s life, or what little would be left without Luna at her core. The Butcher then turned to the group of his fellow Entities and one White Lantern. Twilight boldly stepped forward, staring the red beast in the eyes.
“Now what, Butcher? What will you do now?” asked Twilight.
Butcher looked to Twilight and then to the four united hosts behind her. His eyes traveled further up to Parallax and Ophidian, who were thrashing about in their spheres. The Entity of Rage scanned the area as well, at the devastation that was caused by a fight he wasn’t even conscious for. He contemplated restarting the fight, seeing as how he didn’t get the chance to truly enjoy the fight, but when his eyes landed on the group of ponies in the distance, more specifically, to the two filly foals who were cowering under the protective older mares, he paused. Butcher snorted once more and looked directly at Twilight.
“Nothing, nothing happens. It’s over.”
“Butcher you traitor! Fight them; it’s what you’re good at!” Parallax yelled.
“You brainlesss brute get in there and tear them apart! Our plan –!”
Butcher stared up angrily at his fellow Negative Entities. “Your plan, not mine! Battle is not just charging and fighting till you collapse! It’s also knowing when to pick your fights, you idiots!” Butcher once again looked down to Twilight. “To the victor the spoils. Do it.”
Twilight, cautiously, summoned her sphere of five lights and hurled it at Butcher, capturing the Entity of Rage. It was over, it was finally over…
(Several Hours Later)
The cleanup of Canterlot was long and arduous, but thankfully using the power of the Emotional Spectrum helped in making the reconstruction and clean up go ten times faster. Scootaloo and Adara, as well as Fluttershy and Proselyte, used their lights to heal those who had been caught in the middle of their War of Light. Applejack and Ion, and Twilight used the their power to clean up debris, as well as fix buildings and streets that were torn up and damaged. Predator and Cadance used their power to find those had been lost during the fighting, and propping up places that seemed like they would buckle with their crystals.
After the battle, Cadance and Predator faced Chrysalis. They had found her writhing in pain on the within the cage Twilight had created, coughing up a yellow substance. Predator recognized this as the fear essence of Parallax. Without the Entity of Fear to filter the raw fear into sustainable energy, Chrysalis naturally love attuned body was rejecting the power she had gathered, acting as a poison that was eating her away from the inside out. Chrysalis looked up to the two mares with pleading eyes.
“M-M-My changelings…They’re going to die…Please…I beg of you…save them!”
Both mares knew that without Chrysalis, the other changelings would’ve reverted back to their original forms, and with that, they would be in the same state as Chrysalis, probably worse since she was stronger than them. A part of Cadance, a dark part, was content with letting the entire changeling race expire this day. But, in her heart, she knew this was not the way. The pink alicorn mare looked to her apprentice; Predator seemed to be of a like mind as her eyes appeared to silently ask to help her.
“Let’s go.”
“Thank you…”
“I do this because I made a promise to one who didn’t lose hope, and it is for her sake that I do this, not yours Chrysalis.”
The three of them teleported themselves back to the Crystal Empire, Cadance and Predator knew that while they were battling in Canterlot and Ponyville, that the invasion was still going on back in the Empire. Luckily, the damage appeared to be minimal to a degree. The Adamant Guard were in the middle of rounding up the sick changelings. Shining Armor was among them; beside him was the nurse drone, Murmur, who had a frightfully worried look upon her face as she went from one changeling to the next.
It didn’t take long for the ponies to notice their presence, especially when they were helping Chrysalis along. Murmur was the first to rush to them, stopping a couple of feet before the three.
“Queen Chrysalis are you alright?!” asked Murmur.
Chrysalis smiled upon hearing Murmur’s voice, but she turned her head in shame once she saw the broken horn of the nurse changeling, knowing that it was her who drove Murmur to do this to herself.
“I am unworthy of that title…and even more unworthy of your concern…”
“Then make it right Chrysalis,” said Predator. Her tone was not harsh, it was helpful, encouraging even.
“Only you can save them, Entity of Love…You can heal them by using your light –” Chrysalis coughed up more of the yellow substance, causing the Changeling Queen to take in raspy, strained gasps of air. “Hurry, please!”
Predator looked to her fellow love wielder, “Cadance, let me do this.”
The pink alicorn mare nodded, sensing the sincerity in Predator’s words. The Entity of Love maneuvered herself so that she was now standing in front of Chrysalis, looking the Queen right in the eyes.
“Chrysalis, I can provide the power your race needs to live, but it has to be you who channels it to them. This change was brought about by you, and so, it must be the Queen who makes it right. Can you do this, will you do this?”
Chrysalis looked deep into Predator’s eyes; she thought she would see the same fearsome raptor-like beast that threatened to kill her all those months ago. But now, her eyes were different, that same intensity was there, but it was put aside, allowing Chrysalis to see the sincere love that was there, whatever uniting with Cadance did for Predator, it showed, in her voice, her eyes, and her nature. The Changeling Queen looked to Murmur, who was waiting and hoping that she would make the right choice. With a heavy sigh, Chrysalis gave a determined nod.
“Good…”
With a gentle swiftness, Predator placed her lips upon Chrysalis’, kissing the Changeling Queen. Cadance, Shining Armor, some of the Crystal Ponies, and even Murmur, stared at the spectacle before them. Many had blushing faces and others looked away out of sheer awkwardness. Chrysalis’ eyes had almost bulged out of her skull at the sudden, yet soft, kiss of the pony disguised Entity of Love. There was no disgust or revulsion in Predator’s face, her eyes were closed and her horn glowing. Chrysalis now started to feel it, the warm sensation of the violet light of Love, so familiar, so gentle and contrarily strong. The Queen found herself melt into the kiss, closing her eyes as if drifting to sleep.
Suddenly Chrysalis’ horn glowed, sparked with the violet light of Love. The energy built up to a critical mass, surging through the insectoid’s body, heating her up from the inside out. The ground beneath them suddenly began to glow just as a violet colored streak of light shot from them and snaked its way to the Crystal Heart. The Crystal Heart absorbed the violet light, magnifying its power and firing it through the crystal structure of the palace. The result was an aurora of violet light, spreading out over the Crystal Empire.
For a moment, Cadance feared that the light might cause some ponies’ more amorous sides to come out. But when she attuned herself to the magical light, Cadance felt only the caring power that the violet light of Love had, caressing everything under its light with warmth and nurturing care. Many of the Crystal Ponies looked up into this light, feeling a sort of kinship with it. The changelings that were slowly dying a painful death suddenly felt fine.
A yellow vapor rose from their bodies and began to disintegrate as soon as it was exposed to the light. Many changelings let this light flow through them, basking in it, letting it rejuvenate and purify them. The changelings all moved to the source of this power, they felt that it was their Queen, but it was so drastically different from anything she had ever done before that they just had to see it with their own eyes. And no sooner did they gather to the Crystal Palace were their suspicions confirmed.
During this, Murmur looked on, blushing, but happy at seeing the healthy appearance of all her brothers and sisters. Just then, Murmur felt a strange tingling sensation coming from her broken horn. Murmur crossed her eyes to look at the broken stub and gasped when she saw that it was glowing. After a few seconds, the glow grew out, taking the shape of her missing appendage. When the light faded away, Murmur gasped upon seeing that her horn had been completely regrown, she lightly touched it, afraid that it was some sort of illusion, but when she did it was solid.
When the Changeling Queen and Entity of Love ended their kiss, so too did the light that radiated through the sky end. The skies were now their usual clear blue, and the Crystal Heart stopped spinning and floated normally between the two pillars that held it in place. Predator opened her eyes at the same time that Chrysalis did, the dark pink unicorn gave the Changeling Queen a coy smile.
“You’re not bad at kissing Chrysalis.”
Chrysalis averted her gaze, using her mane to hide her obviously blushing face. “I-I-I just got caught up in the moment! You have potent love energy after all and I feed on it, so I…indulged!” After getting over the comment, Chrysalis took a moment to look over the multitudes of changelings that were still alive, all of which looked healthier and stronger than she had ever seen them. With a smiling face, she turned to the Entity of Love. “Thank you, Predator.”
“My Queen…Look…your wings!” Murmur gasped.
“What –?”
It was now Chrysalis’ turn to gasp. When she extended her clear wings she saw that they weren’t their usual jagged and torn appearance, instead, they were large and whole. They were more akin to butterfly wings, with intricate designs, swirls and dips. The light of day made them shimmer and sparkle as if they were drizzled with morning dew, allowing them to create a prism effect, letting a rainbow-like light shine within them. But now that Chrysalis noticed this change, she looked upon herself to see if there were any others, and there were two small changes. The jagged and hole ridden forelegs of the Queen were filled, and smoothed out, and her horn was long and pointed, it actually resembled Cadance’s and Predator’s horns.
Cadance and Shining Armor couldn’t believe what they were seeing, even Predator was surprised. Chrysalis rose to her hooves, continuously inspecting her body for any more changes that she should be aware of.
“Um, Chrysalis is this some sort of transformation thing you’re doing?” asked Cadance.
“I swear I didn’t do this! I can’t have these wings…even with my powers, and the boost we just received, there’s no way I could recreate that pattern…not these wings…”
“Love will save us…” Lily is this what you meant…? Did you somehow know that this would happen…?
(The Next Day)
Now that the majority of the heavy lifting and reconstruction was done, it was only a matter of touching up a few things here and there. But there was one matter that needed to be addressed. The Positive Entities, the Element Bearers, and the Princesses all stood in the throne room of Canterlot Palace, the orbs containing the three Negative Entities floated within the room. Parallax glared at them vengefully, Ophidian looked like he wanted to devour one of them, and Butcher merely made irritated grunting noises here and there, wanting his confinement to end.
“So, time to address the elephant in the room,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Dashie, they’re not elephants, they’re Entities,” said Pinkie.
Rainbow Dash face hoofed herself and groaned, which only made Scootaloo and Adara giggle.
“No, darling, it was a figure of speech,” said Rarity.
“Oh I know, I just like seeing Dashie face hoof herself.” Rainbow Dash unconsciously face hoofed again. “Just like that!”
“Ahem, my little ponies,” said Celestia in an even tone, “We must get back to the matter at hoof.”
“Indeed,” said Luna, glaring at the three, Butcher in particular, “What exactly do we do with them?”
“Well it’s not like you can kill us! We’re beings of light, nothing can kill us!” Parallax shouted.
Ion sighed, “He, unfortunately, has a point. We cannot die, at least by any conventional means this world or otherwise. We could always send them back to where the Life Entity sent them.”
Ophidian laughed mockingly, “Good luck with that! Without knowing the exact place, you run the risssk of sending us to a dimension filled with innocent bystanders! You’d be condemning them to our powersss!”
“Again, another good point, we have no way of knowing where the Life Entity sent them, and we could potentially harm unsuspecting dwellers of whatever dimension we send them to,” said Proselyte.
“All around, it sounds like they got us stumped,” commented Applejack.
“Can’t we just leave those dreadful beasts where they are? Faust knows I have no problem with leaving those creatures where they are,” said Rarity, her gaze falling on Ophidian, to which the vermillion serpent hissed and stuck out his forked tongue. “Yes, I do believe that to be the best course of action.”
“Rarity, I know they’ve done horrible things, but it’s never right to imprison somepony without a chance to redeem themselves.” Fluttershy winced upon remembering who was in attendance with them. “Sorry Princess Celestia.”
“None taken, I assure. But the point is made.”
Several hours were spent from that point on discussing many different ways and possible solutions they could implement in keeping the Negative Entities under control, banish them from their world, or just out right locking them away in the deepest darkest hole they could imagine or create. It seemed as if a decision wasn’t going to be found, today, but they knew that those orbs may not hold them forever and the longer they stayed in there, the longer they had to make another plan.
Twilight was starting to get frustrated, wishing that the Life Entity had done something to keep those three from coming to Equestria and causing all this undue mayhem and destruction. But how else were they to keep them from doing this all over again. Twilight’s eyes drifted to the ponies around her, particularly to Discord and Luna.
One who was the legendary terror of all ponies, and the other was one who ruled over the world and kept it in a state of pure chaos. But through the magic of friendship, they were both transformed. Luna was freed of Nightmare Moon and allowed to find a place back in a world that had left her behind. Discord, once a brilliant unicorn many millennia ago, discarded all notions of friendship. And yet, when he met Fluttershy, the one and only friend he had made after his transformation, he changed his ways to keep that friendship. Truly, were these three that much different?
Yes, they were born from their light and became the very embodiment of it. How can one change that which defines their very existence? Then again, the Butcher was said to be a monster that rampaged, killing and destroying everything in its path. And yet, he fought Windigos, subsequently saving Stalliongrad and its residents, he even separated himself from Nightmare Moon and…destroyed her. He could’ve kept fighting after that, but he freely surrendered…
Just then, Twilight’s ring flashed for a moment.
Could that work…?
“Everypony,” said Twilight, gaining the attention of all, “I think I may have a solution, maybe.”
After much arguing, some placating, apologizing, and discussion, Twilight was able to convince the others of her plan, and to the reluctance of a one or two, it was time to set it into motion. Twilight strode up to the three spheres, the three Negative Entities each looked at her, one curious, but the other two glared daggers at her.
“We have come to a decision regarding your fates.”
“Oh pray tell, kckt, just what horrible fate awaits us?” asked Parallax in a mocking tone.
“You three are to be confined to mortal forms and have your powers restricted. From there, well, we’ll see.”
Ophidian and Parallax stared at the young alicorn mare, as if waiting for the punch line of joke, but they quickly realized that she wasn’t at all joking.
“You can’t do that! You don’t have the power to do that!” Ophidian yelled.
Twilight shook her head. “Wrong, I do have that power! When you three entered our world, you manipulated the Life Web of our world, allowing you to walk amongst us in mortal form. It’s different from the others, they were inserted into it the Life Web, and made a part of this world. You three however, used that alteration to allow you take on mortal forms, but not be bound to our world. That changes today.”
Ophidian and Parallax now redoubled their efforts to break free of their confinement, the last thing they wanted was to be stuck in a mortal body, especially if they’re powers were going to be sealed away. Butcher growled at the two cowardly Entities.
“You damn cowards! Take this like men!”
“DO WE LOOK HUMAN TO YOU?!!”
“QUIT BABBLING AND HURRY!!!”
Twilight concentrated, focusing her magic and the power of the white ring together. The others kept a good distance away, giving Twilight all the room she needed to work. The power of the white light of Life began to shine brightly, illuminating the throne room. Suddenly, the backdrop of the world fell away, leaving only vast and intricately woven lines of white light. They shot every which way, some were connected, and others shot off into the distance. There was a sense of familiarity with these lines of white light, as if they knew they were always there, even before they were born, ingrained into the deepest, parts of their subconscious.
“Behold, the Life Web of our world. These lines represent a life, how they intersect and cross with one another, one life touching the other, and from that new life is created, their journey continuing through till the end. And this,” Twilight waved her hoof, bringing up a particular cluster, from which all the lines originated, “is the Centre of our Life Web.”
Twilight then concentrated on the Centre, within the this cluster they saw the four positive lights of the Emotional Spectrum. One blue, green, indigo, and violet string of light appeared, connecting right to each of the Positive Entities’ chests.
“This is where you three will be connected. Now, Ophidian…” Twilight pointed her horn at the sphere containing the serpent. He thrashed and writhed as a long orange thread shot out from him and coiled before Twilight. “You’re avarice knows no bounds, and you care not for others, only your own satisfaction. So…your powers, your true form, will be sealed until the day comes when you feel genuine and honest Compassion for somepony other than yourself and to their needs before your own.”
Twilight tapped the thread of orange light, when she did the symbol of Compassion appeared over it. Next was Parallax, Twilight repeated the process with the parasitic creature and brought his yellow thread before her sight.
“Parallax, you bring fear to all you meet. You revel in the terror you bring to another and in so doing bring harm to other living beings. Until you can inspire Hope, fight to bring about a positive outcome and believe in something greater than yourself, your powers too will be sealed.”
The symbol of Hope appeared over the thread and now Twilight moved on to the last of the Negatives. Butcher snorted as their gazes met.
“Butcher, born of murder and rage, until you feel Love, and not the love of battle, but love for somepony and others in your life, so too will you share in this fate.”
And finally the symbol of Love appeared over Butcher’s red thread. Twilight then cast all three threads to the Centre Cluster near the other four. The white light of Life, as well as Hope, Compassion, and Love, shot along each of the selected three threads and struck the three Negative Entities, the power was too great, they could already feel their bodies begin to change and revert.
“Now…Parallax, Entity of Fear, Ophidian, Entity of Avarice, and Butcher, Entity of Rage, of Equus…LIVE!”
With those spoken words the spheres shattered apart, the large forms of the three Negative Entities began to shrink down and change shape. When the light faded Parallax was in his changeling body, Ophidian was once again a teenage dragon, and Butcher a minotaur. The room returned to normal, with Twilight’s horn and ring no longer glowing. The others gathered to the purple alicorn, staring at the transformed states of the three Entities.
“Welcome to Equestria.”
When all was said and done, the heroes all decided to relax and unwind, with the exception of Ion and Proselyte, opting to keep an eye on the three while they were imprisoned down in the dungeons. The others, however, decided to take advantage of Celestia’s and Luna’s invitation to join them in the Royal Spa of the castle.
Within the steamy room, the mares soaked their bodies in the warm waters of the bath, their tired and achy muscles loosening as they all let out content and relaxed sighs.
“This feels fantastic~” Rarity sighed in bliss.
Cadance slumped up against the edge of the large bath, resting her head as the rest of her body was submerged, closing her eyes in relaxation. “I never realized how sore I was until now, but this helps a lot…” The pink alicorn then heard some sloshing of water near her, she opened one eye and saw Predator’s head sticking out of the water, her tail swishing back and forth and giving her a grin. “What are you doing?” she asked knowingly.
“Well, I just thought I’d help you with all that tension~” Predator purred.
“Predato this is hardly the place or time to ask me that.” Cadance noticed the Entity of Love pout and grinned. “But you can sit by me if you want.”
Predator’s ears perked up and she quickly made her way to Cadance, nuzzling the crook of her neck as she purred, some of her more animalistic instincts coming out in this moment. Twilight just stared at with a twitching eye at the spectacle.
“Um…So…Cadance, I thought you explained to Predator about ‘personal space’, especially yours?”
Cadance opened both eyes and looked at Twilight. “I guess you can say I understand her more after our unification, and she me.”
“And…Shining Armor’s okay with this?”
Predator giggled, “Oh, more than okay, trust me.”
Twilight couldn’t help but shudder.
“Predator, we’re here to unwind, please don’t make others feel uncomfortable,” said Adara.
“Yes Adara,” groaned Predator.
Adara’s eyes traveled to the ring that still adorned Twilight’s horn, she stared intensely at the object, her mind trying to make sense of something. Twilight noticed the look Adara had on her face and, concerned, asked. “Is there something wrong Adara?”
The Entity of Hope considered if answering was a good thing. But she knew that this was an issue that was going to need to be discussed at some point, best do it while everybody was relaxed.
“It’s just…the Life Entity giving a power ring is…somewhat unusual.”
“Why’s that? Twilight Sparkle has proven that she cares for life and is willing to protect it as the Life Entity said to her,” said Luna.
“Well, not that particularly, it’s the conditions that bother me.” Adara noticed that there was some confusion amongst the mares. “You know of our universe, of the warriors who wield our light. These warriors, ‘Lanterns’, would receive rings based upon certain criteria. For my light, only those who can inspire great hope can have the privilege of wielding my light.”
“The same for me, only those who have great love in their hearts can wear a ring of the violet light.”
Adara nodded. “But, for the white light of Life, there is rarely an emotional criteria to be met, but there is one that must be met before all others.”
“And that is?” asked Celestia.
“There was an event, a long time ago in our universe, where darkness threatened to destroy everything that lived. That darkness tried to destroy the Life Entity but a brave band of warriors fought back. One of them merged himself with the Life Entity and was able to use the light to create rings similar to Twilights. But only these chosen warriors could do it, because they all had one thing in common. They all had died at one point in their life.”
Silence reigned in the bath, the only sound that could be heard was that of the water dripping into the bath, and the flow of water coming from the waterfall faucet. Shaking herself from the stunned silence, Applejack spoke up.
“Uh, Adara, sugarcube, what do ya’ll mean ‘they all had died at one point in their life’?” asked Applejack with dread.
“Well, not died per say, but died and were somehow brought back to life, resurrected if you will. It shows that the wielder is willing to overcome death itself and continue to hold onto life. And then that’s where the qualities that make up the other half come from.”
Rainbow Dash brought her hooves up out of the water and made a motion as if she was stopping an incoming pony. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out! You’re saying the only way to become a ‘White Lantern’ is to have died and come back to life like a zombie?!”
Adara and Predator shuddered upon hearing that word, bringing back a lot of unpleasant memories related to that word. “No, not a zombie! She means having come back to life, resurrection, rebirth, coming back to life. The only other way for one to become a White Lantern is to master the seven lights and unite them within themselves. To this date, there has only been two, one being who has become a White Lantern via the first way, and the second White Lantern by mastering the lights.”
Everypony in the room had confused looks, now too wondering how and why the Life Entity would give a ring to Twilight when she hadn’t met any of the criteria. But for some reason, Celestia had a worried look in her eyes, and Luna was glancing at her knowingly.
“Well, as far as I know, I haven’t mastered any of the seven lights. I didn’t even know about them till a year ago,” said Twilight.
“And we know you haven’t died. Believe me, I’d remember that if it happened,” said Fluttershy with twinge of sadness in her voice, prompting Rarity to float over and comfort the mare.
“Oh, oh, what about that time when Twilight became an alicorn?! Remember, we were watching Twilight as she wrote down in that old book thingy, and then when she put the period on the paper our Elements glowed and shot her with a super bright magic beam! Then there was a flash and she was gone and we all thought we had vaporized her, but it turned out she was somewhere else and came back an alicorn!” Pinkie recalled.
“Well…yes there was that time. But I wasn’t ‘vaporized’, I was sent to the Celestial Plain.”
“AHEM!” Everypony looked to Luna who had cleared her throat loudly. The Princess of the Night was staring at her big sister with a scolding look, Celestia’s expression was something similar to when a child did something bad and lied, and was pressured to tell the truth. “Well, sister?”
Twilight felt a bit uneasy at the tension between the two alicorn mares. “What…What’s wrong?”
With an audible gulp, Celestia turned to look directly at Twilight. “Um…Twilight, there’s something I need to tell you.”