//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Two Worlds 
// Story: Super Smash Bros: Harmony Rising 
// by Lance Skyes 
//------------------------------//

	High above the clouds in a world unknown, the angelic hero Pit was flying at top speed, being closely pursued by a particularly angry-looking Charizard. Despite Pit's best attempts to get the Pokemon off his heels using his Palutena Bow, the Charizard was avoiding the arrows and keeping no less than five feet away from the angel.
“I can't get rid of him, Lady Palutena!” Pit called to the Goddess of Light.
”I've got you flying as fast as I can, Pit,” Palutena replied telepathically. ”There's something very strange about this Charizard, indeed. Particularly how it's attacking you unprovoked.”
“Now you tell me,” Pit replied as he turned around and tried to fire another volley of arrows at the Charizard, all of which were simply burned by the Pokemon's Flamethrower attack. “Any ideas would be really helpful right about now!”
”I'm afraid there isn't much I can do on my end,” Palutena replied. ”And to make matters worse...”
“Don't tell me,” Pit said. “PLEASE don't tell me that the Power of Flight is about to run out!”
”I'm sorry, Pit,” Palutena said as she began sending her angel flying towards land. ”He might be manageable in a land battle.”
“I'm not so sure,” Pit replied as he turned around, only to find that the Charizard had caught up with him in their descent. Before Pit had a chance to react, the Charizard lashed out with its claws and delivered a powerful blow to Pit, disrupting the Power of Flight and sending the angel crashing towards the ground below. “AHHHHHH! LADY PALUTENA, HELP!”
”I'm sorry, Pit, but I can't do anything,” Palutena replied in a panicked tone. ”Uh... oh! I might be able to save you... sort of.”
“What do you mean by 'sort of'?” Pit asked.
”I mean you'll live... with some intervention later,” Palutena replied. ”POWER OF TROPHY!”
“WHAT?” Pit shouted. But before he could say anything else, his whole body was suddenly engulfed in a bright light before he crashed into the ground. When the dust cleared from the crater, however, rather than Pit in his normal form, he was standing on a gold-colored circular stand while in a battle-ready pose... and he was on his side.
The Charizard, on the other hand, had a more survivable landing, quickly adjusting itself so that it descended on both its feet. It then walked over to the Pit trophy and picked him up. A smile then crept across the Charizard's face as it flew back into the air and away from the crash site, Pit held securely in its grasp.
”Don't worry, Pit,” Palutena said, even though she knew the telepathic message wouldn't go through while Pit was a trophy. ”I'm going to find a way to save you.”
”Oh you will, huh?” a mysterious but evidentally evil voice asked on the same telepathic channel. ”I've never heard anything so touching. You two seem so close, and that makes me wonder, how come you two never kissed while you still had the opportunity?”
”Overlord V!” Palutena angrily shouted. ”Are you the one who sent Charizard after Pit? What are you going to do to him? AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK ABOUT MY PERSONAL LIFE?”
”My my, you're hasty as ever, o Goddess of Light,” Overlord V taunted. ”Sorry, but I only answer one question per day. It'll cost you an additional fee if you want the other questions answered in case you're curious. Yes, by the way, I am the one who sent Charizard after Pit. A remarkable Pokemon, that is. Seeing its raw power sends shivers down my spine, and its aerial prowess despite its bulk is truly something to behold. What a shame it's not as popular as Pikachu, though.”
”I don't know what you plan on doing with all the heroes you've been rounding up, V,” Palutena said, ”But mark my words, I won't let you get away with it!”
”Oh really?” V replied. ”Tell me, what do you plan to do now that even your precious Pit is out of commission? Come down and fight me and my forces on your own? Or would you rather rally all the remaining heroes to fight me? That second plan would make collecting them all much easier.”
”For your information, I happen to have a perfect backup plan that I'm simply not going to tell you about!” Palutena replied. Overlord V simply laughed at this.
”Oh boy, I'm downright terrified,” V said sarcastically. ”When you can put some truth behind that statement, give me a call. In the meantime, I have a certain Star Warrior to grab. Toodeloo.”
Palutena growled in anger. V was right, she was just about out of options. Pit was not only the captain of her royal guard, but literally the only competent fighter she had. She could probably call in a favor or two to get some more fighters on her side, but not all of her “favors” would be of very much help since Overlord V probably had them in his collection already.
”There has to be a glimmer of hope somewhere...” Palutena said to herself. ”Somewhere...”

Ponyville, a small town in the land of Equestria. (Well where did you think this story would wind up? Gallifrey?) In this town was the Castle of Friendship, where Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends resided. At the moment, however, almost all of Twilight's friends were out and about. Only the Princess herself and her friend Rainbow Dash were in the castle that day.
“Please tell me you brought me here for a good reason, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash groaned as she followed Twilight into the castle's library. “I was going to meet Spitfire for lunch in Canterlot today.”
“Oh calm down, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “I promise you'll be out of here and on your way to Canterlot in no time. That is, if you cooperate.”
“Fine, I'll cooperate,” Rainbow Dash said as the two stopped so Twilight could look through a bookshelf in front of her. “What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to help me test something,” Twilight replied as she tapped one of the books in front of her, causing that book to glow a faint blue before the whole bookshelf split down the middle and the two pieces moved apart to reveal a single book standing on a pedestal.
“What is that?” Rainbow Dash asked, interested by the design on the cover of the book, which was a circle with a “t” shape on it, the intersection point of which was just slightly to the left of and below the center of the circle.
“It's called 'The Egghead's Guide to Fighting,'” Twilight replied as she grabbed the book in her magic and brought it close to her, allowing the bookshelf to return to normal. “I've been working on it for weeks at Princess Celestia's request.”
“So... what does it do?” Rainbow Dash asked, trying not to laugh at how fitting the title of the book was for Twilight.
“It harnesses the holder's natural combative abilities and increases them tenfold, allowing even the most incompetent fighters stand a chance in a battle,” Twilight replied. “Princess Celestia thought it would be a good idea if we had a couple of these for in case the castle is attacked. This one's just a prototype.”
“And you need me to...?” Rainbow Dash started.
“I need you to fight me so that I can test the book properly,” Twilight replied.
“Wait, what?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I'm not going to fight you, Twilight. No offense, but I'm pretty sure I'd mop the floor with you.”
“That's exactly why I made this,” Twilight replied. “So that ponies with inadequate fighting abilities could stand a chance against ponies like you who can fight.”
“But what about that battle you had some time back with Tirek?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I wouldn't call that performance 'inadequate.'”
“That's because I was bursting at the seams with alicorn magic,” Twilight replied. “This book might not let me fight at quite that level, but I can still-”
Twilight was interrupted by a loud explosion that shook the library. Both ponies turned around to see that something had blasted a giant hole in the wall. When the dust from the explosion cleared, on the other side of the hole stood two very strange creatures. One of them was taller than both ponies by at least two feet, and was wearing mostly black. Black hair, black sandals, a black raiment... he even had wings, and those were black as well! The other creature was much shorter, hardly half the size of a pony. He was a small dark blue ball with short arms and legs, wielding a yellow serrated sword, and wearing a mask that covered the entire front part of his body, as well as a cape.
“What is the meaning of this!?” Twilight shouted to the two creatures.
“Are you Princess Twilight Sparkle?” the tall one asked. “If so, then you have your answer.”
“What do you want with Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying forward and putting herself between Twilight and the two creatures, assuming a protective stance.
“It's not of your concern, little pony,” the short creature replied with a heavy Mexicoltan accent. He then drew his cape around in front of him and vanished. Twilight tried to cast a scanning spell to determine where the creature had gone, but her attempt was meaningless as he suddenly reappeared right in front of her and behind Rainbow Dash. Twilight tried to defend, but the creature moved faster and struck her powerfully with his sword, knocking the princess several feet backwards.
“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she turned around to see her friend go flying. The pegasus didn't think twice before giving the creature that attacked Twilight a powerful kick that sent him into a bookshelf. Rainbow then flew over to Twilight's side and helped her up. “Are you ok?”
“I'm fine,” Twilight replied. “That sword looks sharp, but it can't cut. It makes up for that in sheer force, however, so if he moves in to strike you with it, watch out.”
“Don't forget about me!” the tall creature said as he pulled out a purple and silver bow, armed it with a purple-colored arrow that radiated darkness, and aimed it at Twilight. He then fired the arrow at an incredible speed, catching Twilight off guard and hitting her square in the chest, knocking her back further.
“STOP THIS!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew froward towards the tall creature at top speed and gave him a powerful punch that knocked him off his feet and onto his back. However, the creature got back to his feet quickly and broke his bow into two blades, one in each hand.
“You don't know who you're messing with, pony,” the creature said as he pointed one of the blades at Rainbow Dash. “Do yourself and Princess Twilight a favor, and stay out of our way.”
“If you're going to try to hurt Twilight, I'm going to stay in your way,” Rainbow Dash replied with a serious expression. She then assumed a combat-ready pose.
“Not very smart of you,” the creature said. “But if that's what you want, then game on!” He then charged forward, striking Rainbow Dash twice with both blades in quick succession and knocking the pegasus off balance long enough for the creature to deliver a powerful kick to her chest that sent her to the ground.
Meanwhile, Twilight was just then getting up from the arrow she took to the chest. It didn't cause any significant injury, but the arrow was still made of dark magic, which was enough to damage Twilight considerably. As the princess got back to her hooves, however, she was met with the short creature standing in front of her, only this time he was holding a gold-colored disc.
“Why are you doing this?” Twilight asked.
“You'll find out soon enough,” the creature replied before he raised the disc into the air before bringing it down and striking Twilight with it.. However, instead of dealing any damage, the disc hit her with a powerful but unidentifiable magic that caused Twilight's body to suddenly become engulfed in a brilliant light. When the light faded, however, rather than normal Twilight, she had been turned into what could only be described as a life-size statue. She was stuck in a slightly adorable pose and standing on the very disc that hit her.
“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she looked on in horror. She then turned back to the tall creature behind her. “What have you done to her?”
“Your friend is fine,” the creature replied, putting his bow away as the smaller creature picked the Twilight statue up and walked over to join his companion. “However, that's more than what we can say about you if you try to interfere with us. Oh, and how rude of us to forget to introduce ourselves. The name's Dark Pit.”
“And I am Meta Knight,” the small creature said. “Not that it will matter. You're not likely to see us again.”
“You're not going anywhere with Twilight, you monsters!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she charged forward to attack the two. However, she was stopped by Dark Pit suddenly pulling out two small floating shields and thrusting them forward, where they suddenly emitted two larger energy-based shields that Rainbow crashed into head-first and was flung backwards by. Dark Pit then recalled the Guardian Orbitars.
“Don't follow us if you know what's good for you,” Dark Pit said as his wings suddenly grew slightly and began glowing. At the same time, Meta Knight's cape transformed into a pair of bat wings. Both strangers then turned around and took off into the air with Twilight in tow.
“This can't be happening...” Rainbow Dash said as she watched the two fly off with her friend, who was likely trapped in limbo at the moment. “No, I won't let this happen!” Rainbow Dash then got up and took off after the two. “I'M COMING FOR YOU, TWILIGHT!”