//------------------------------//
// Intermission 4 
// Story: Disharmony: Gods Among Ponies 
// by Mr-Astounding 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 11.5

Meanwhile, back at the Castle of Friendship, Princess Twilight and Sci-Twi watched in horror as the scrying stones continued to show the live feed of Celestia and her troops bring about Canterlot and Ponyville's destruction. Many of their friends tried to help, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of troops and the raw power of the Empire’s heavy hitters. Finally, Sci-Twi had had enough. “This is going nowhere: we need to…”

“Once I’ve made the final adjustments to the Crystal Mirror, you’re all going home.” Lunar Twilight declared.

Princess Twilight, however, simply shook her head. “You know, as much as I want to go home, in no small part because fighting a corrupted version of the pony I admire the most is my worst nightmare come to life, it wouldn't feel right abandoning all of you at such a dire time.”

“I couldn’t do it either,” Sci-Twi said with a nod, “and besides, you know as much as we do that without help, you’ll die, and the rest of the Republic with you.”

Twilight however just shook her head, moved away from the Crystal Mirror to hold a photo that was taken of her and her friends before the tragedy of Canterlot struck. “Then maybe that’s my fate: to die alone like the failure I am.”

“Twilight Sparkle doesn’t know the meaning of failure.” Princess Twilight declared in defiance, before quickly moving over to the Mirror to try and pull her old instructor over.

Needless to say, however, Lunar Twilight wasn’t too thrilled by the prospect, as evidenced by how she quickly shoved her counterpart away from the Mirror. “Celestia ruined my life: what makes you think I’d be okay with you bringing another over?!”

“If you’ve really been watching us this whole time, you’d know that our Celestia isn’t your Solar Empress,” Sci-Twi remarked as she got into a fighting stance.

“Shut up! I won’t let you throw your lives away too,” Twilight cried out in despair. “This is my world! My fight!”

“You made it ours when you brought us here,” Princess Twilight declared as she too got into a fighting stance.

If one were to ask the Princess of Friendship what had frightened her the most about this journey later, it wouldn’t have been the prospect of Celestia becoming a tyrant in another reality, the idea her friends fighting amongst one another and/or themselves, or even the knowledge that so many ponies she knew were dead in this world. No, it would’ve been this fight. She’d always known she was a rather emotional mare, but seeing her mirror image lash out in anger and despair chilled her to the bone, for it stood as proof that not even the Princess of Friendship herself had come out of this war completely untouched by Sombra’s past crimes. Luckily for her, she didn’t have to work to calm “herself” down alone: seeing herself act out like this reminded Sci-Twi of stories her own friends had told about her time as Midnight Sparkle, and thus wanted to help her counterpart the way Sunset and company had helped her.

That wasn’t to say the fight was easily won. The leader of the Lunar Republic had five years of experience over her two counterparts, as well as the home field advantage, given that this wasn’t the first time she had fought inside the deteriorating castle. With all that said, while this technically wasn’t her castle, Princess Twilight still knew enough about it to trip up her Lunar counterpart, and while Sci-Twi was not accustomed to fighting in an equine body, that didn’t make her completely defenseless and was proving to be just as quick on the draw of learning how to use new magic as her two pony counterparts. A quick barrage of magic blasts later, and Twilight Sparkle was forced to admit defeat to her two counterparts.

Princess Twilight just sighed as she and Sci-Twi looked upon their fallen counterpart. “If we’re done here, we’ve got some work to do.”

The Lunar Republic’s leader just shook her head in reply. “It won’t work. You bring her over and we’re all doomed.”

“I know you don’t really mean that,” Sci-Twi said with a smile. “You’re just gotten so used to the darkness that you’re afraid to hope again.”

Princess Twilight nodded. “Even still, you brought us here because you had faith. Faith that we’d uphold the values you’ve given everything to defend. So trust us. Trust yourself. And let’s end this.”

For what seemed like an eternity, Twilight just sat there, wondering what she should do, before her eyes settled on the photo from earlier. The ponies in that photo: none of them would have been pleased to hear that she was just willing to give up when she was nearly at the finish line, as it were. As she got up, ready and willing for one last mission, however, the Lunar Republic’s leader couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow. “...you have no idea how to use it, do you?”

“I could’ve figured it out, though I was hoping you wouldn’t notice,” Twilight admitted as she and her two counterparts approached the Crystal Mirror. Twilight rolled her eyes in response but got to work regardless. Within a matter of moments, the Element of Magic across three worlds had successfully brought over the one pony who could challenge the Solar Empress: Princess Celestia herself.

To be continued