Princesses of Equestria

Chapter 24: The Monster Bash

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Discord watched Intellectus fly to his doom. They watched the monstrosity he faced. Her scale made an ant of him.

But not of the spells he cast.

An onslaught of wards and chains materialized in Armonia's path. Though not as massive or as durable as Intellectus's domed barrier, they compensated for quality with quantity. For each force field Armonia shattered, five more pushed her back. For every chain link she snapped, ten more tangled her limbs.

"Gah! Rotten rutabaga roots!" she snarled in frustration, her devastating charge reduced to a tedious crawl. "Curse you, Intellectus. Get out of my way!"

Twilight calculated Armonia's revised airspeed relative to their current position, and felt a flash of hope. Intellectus was good as his word. Thanks to his stalling, Armonia would reach them in minutes, instead of seconds. He'd given them time to escape from her. He'd even blocked Armonia's line of sight, using waves of opaque barriers to prevent her getting a clean shot at them.

But he couldn't block her army.

"Take them, my phoblins!"

Occupying Armonia required all of Intellectus's attention. Too small and agile to be waylaid by his bulky obstructions, fear elementals rained from the sky.

"Arrividerci! " Discord fled, everypony else hot on his heels.

"Nowhere to run!" Phoblins plunged through the clouds.

"No hope of escape!" Many had been directly overhead when the ward fell.

"No place to hide!" They descended in scores, circled like vultures, swooped, and blocked the path ahead.

"NO PLACE TO HIDE!" There wasn't.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way," said Rainbow Dash, donning her shades for battle. Everypony formed a tight circle, each covering an angle, each readying a different weapon.

For Applejack, earth-shod hooves, one clutching a bagful of her last zap apples. For Rarity, ribbons of ice, and a formidably stocked makeup kit. For Spike, a lance in one hand, a shield in the other, and a mouth filled with dragonfire.

For Fluttershy, a protective net of fresh stems. For Pinkie, a breeze that danced to her giggles. For Discord, two upraised hands, fingers poised to snap. And for Twilight Sparkle, electricity. Lots of electricity.

"Hey, it could be worse," she offered, covering Rainbow's six, picking targets. "Remember the Queen Chrysalis's changelings?"

"Make you scream!" screeched a hundred slavering horrors. Phobomantic spittle turned a hundred patches of grass to stone.

"Yeah," replied Rainbow, dodging a poisonous fleck. "Those were the days." Sarcasm oozed from her every syllable, even as she prepared to fight, even as her friends did the same, even as the phoblins surged forward-

"Ooone! Two! A one-two-three-four!" Pinkie's sapphire magic formed a spotlight around her. The phoblins stalled. There wasn't any fear in her. To the astonishment of every pony and phoblin present, Pinkamena Diane Pie burst into joyous verse.

"I was a-trottin' in the park late one night, when my eyes beheld a freaky sight."

"Uh oh. Pinkie's singing." Discord winced. "Better surrender while you still can," he called to the phoblins, bracing himself for what was to come.

"And suddenly to my surprise ..."

The phoblins closest to Pinkie made to lunge for her. Twilight didn't let them.