• Published 26th Sep 2011
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Elementals of Harmony - FanOfMostEverything



(FiMtG) The only thing standing between Equestria and apocalypse is Ditzy Doo. Yes, really. Stop laughing!

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Weatherfight

For a time, everypony just stood (or, in Dash's case, sat,) and stared at the coming storm. Luna broke out of the reverie first. "Ditzy. Pinkie. To me."

The command was enough to break the proverbial spell. As the planeswalkers attended the princess, the others were free to worry amongst themselves. "So Dash," said Applejack, "Y've bin tanglin' wi' this thing al mornin'. What kin y' tell us?"

The prone pegasus gave an impatient sigh. "What's to tell? It can match me move for move and it's as obsessed as Scootaloo. Aside from that, who knows?"

"Hay, Ah'm jest askin' so we know what t' expect."

"Sorry," grumbled Dash, "I didn't know I was supposed to be taking notes. I've been trying to get away from the thing."

"Why?" Both mares turned to Fluttershy, who flinched a bit at the attention. "If you don't mind me asking, of course..."

The other pegasus looked at her incredulously. "Because it's a living thundercloud with griffin claws and eyes of rainbow fire. Why wouldn't I want to get away from it?"

"Well," noted the gentle pony, "you work with thunderclouds on a regular basis, once of your oldest friends is a griffin, and I've seen you leave trails of rainbow fire, so I guess I don't really see the... problem..." Fluttershy trailed off. "Sorry."

Applejack nodded at this assessment. "She's got a point, Rainbow. What's th' rest o' th' story?"

Dash's gaze was firmly on the ground. "Nothing. It's just weird seeing all of that put together." She fluffed up her wings, a sign of unspoken agitation.

The farmer sighed. Looked like she'd have to resort to Twenty Questions. "So it ain't 'cause it's as good a flier as you?"

"No."

"Because it feels inexplicably yet undeniably wrong?" offered Fluttershy.

"No."

"Because you're scared?"

All three looked to Dinky, her expression sympathetic. Dash bristled at the accusation. "I am not scared!"

Applejack quirked an eyebrow. "Y' sure 'bout that, sugarcube? Y've bin runnin' from it all day."

"That doesn't mean I'm scared!"

"Then what does it mean, Rainbow?" sighed the orange mare.

"It means... it means..." The polychromatic pegasus's eyes darted every which way as she sought an excuse. Finally, she slumped even more than before, stubbornly grousing, "I don't know what it means. But I'm not scared!"

"DAAAASH!" By some trick of acoustics, Scootaloo's call was supplemented with a resonant thunderclap that made it sound like the summons of an angry god. Or worse, an amorous one.

"Okay, okay, I'm scared!" Dash swept a hoof at the tempestuous force calling her name. "But can you blame me? What the hay do I do about something like that?"

"Well," mused Applejack, "y' could ask it t' go away."

"Excuse me?"

The farmer shrugged. "Worked fer Fluttershy's critter."

The blue mare turned to her old classmate. "Seriously?"

"Well, that is, it's just what I heard afterwards..."

Dinky filled in for the awkward pegasus. "Uh huh! I asked it and I said please and poof! No more nice monster worm."

"Caterpillar," the pink-maned pony gently corrected.

"Right, no more nice caterpillar worm."

Dash gave this a moment's thought. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt..."

"Glad y' came t' a decision," called Applejack, "'cause it's darn near here!" Indeed, the elemental was descending upon the ponies, a bank of mundane clouds following in its wake like a king's courtiers.

Luna also noticed its approach. "As we discussed, my little ponies."

Ditzy and Pinkie nodded and gave a synchronized cry of "Right!"

"Hey! Tall, dark, and crackling!"

Pinkie's smile was an optimistic island in a sea of surprise. "Wow, that plan lasted for way longer than I thought it would!"

Everypony ignored her, as did the loyalty elemental. All eyes were on Rainbow Dash, standing tall, proud, and very definitely not going to collapse the moment she unlocked her legs, thank you very much. "Yeah, I'm talking to you!"

"Remember now, Rainbow," hissed Applejack, "y' gotta be polite!"

"Yeah, yeah." The pegasus kept her attention on the puffy entity. "So, um, hi there."

To much astonishment, it waved. "She said 'hi'!" gushed Scootaloo.

Dash gave an awkward chuckle. "Um, yeah. Listen, I appreciate that you want to hang out with me and all, but honestly? You're kinda freaking me out here."

Ditzy turned to Pinkie. "Is she—?"

"I mean, I can't fault you for taste..."

The poofy pony gave a nervous nod. "She is."

"...but could you give me some space? Please?"

As one, the planeswalkers sighed. "We're doomed."

"Why?" asked Luna.

For several seconds, the elemental simply floated there, working with a thought process even simpler than that of its grubby cousin. Still, what it lacked in sophistication, it made up for in speed, and it came to a conclusion in short order. It announced this arrival with a scream.

This scream was not one of the thunderous sounds with which the creature had expressed itself before. It was the shriek of tortured air in the pressure waves just before a sonic boom, the whine of a dynamo on the point of overload, the wail of a lover mourning the loss of a soulmate. Over this cacophony, Pinkie shouted to the moon princess, "That's why!"


Chandra Nalaar, planeswalker, pyromancer prodigy, and natural redhead, opened the door of the monastery. "Can I help you?" She rather doubted she could. The girl – still in the middle of puberty by the look of her – didn't resemble the usual sort of visitor in the least. The sincere smile, the casual stance, the unassuming air, it all spoke of someone who was either unfamiliar with the realities of life or one skilled enough to get away with feigning that ignorance. Going by youth alone, the pyromancer found the prospect of the latter unlikely at best.

"Hi," the girl said brightly. "I was hoping to study here for a while, broaden my horizons a bit."

"Uh huh." Honestly, who said "broaden my horizons" and meant it?

"Say," said the youth, "you wouldn't happen to be Chandra, would you?"

This cracked the cold shoulder routine. "You've heard of me?"

The thin blonde nodded. "I'm a student of a friend of yours. Jace Beleren?"

The abbess had always told Chandra to be polite with visitors. As such, she didn't ignite her fist before sending it into the girl's face.

The newcomer ducked, her reflexes were better than her appearance indicated. She then caught the pyromancer as she tipped over, all her weight put into the wild swing. "What's the big idea!? I just wanted to—"

Chandra shoved her away. "You wanted to spy on us!" She paused. The girl's grey tunic hadn't felt like cloth. More like fur or hair. The redhead sneered. "Damn illusionists." With that, she breathed out a massive gout of flame at the girl.

When the smoke cleared, the youth seemed no worse for the wear, though her expression was of sad disappointment. "I was hoping Jace was wrong about you. I guess you are just some ruffian." With that, she faded to nothingness.

The fire mage did a quick circle, looking for any irregularities that might betray the spy's location. On the roof above her, Ditzy looked on regretfully. "Well," the pegasus muttered to herself, "I tried." At least she was able to see the motion of mana in the other planeswalker as she called forth the flames. It wasn't much to go on, but maybe she could puzzle out something.


"Do you realize what you've done!?" Judging by the blend of fear and frustration on Ditzy's face, she'd have been shouting even if she didn't have to talk over the elemental's keening wail.

Applejack's response was characteristically concise. "Dash's th' one who made it go crazy!"

The accused pegasus looked at her friend in shock. "It was your idea!"

"Y' did'n' have t' do it!"

Ditzy ignored the bickering, her gaze growing more fearful as she turned back to the vociferous cloud. Her lips were moving, but it took several repetitions before one could hear that she was saying "Oh no" at ever-increasing volumes. She began to prance in place, wings flapping at random as her agitation grew.

Finally, Rainbow Dash butted in on the planeswalker's panic attack. "Ditzy!" Once she was sure that she had the grey mare's attention, she shouted "What have I done?" as gently as she could.

"Asking nicely only worked on Fluttershy's grub because it was a kindness elemental. It was literally made of being nice. This thing is made of loyalty. Loyalty to you. You telling it to abandon you is an irreconcilable paradox, and I have no idea what it's going to do when it's finished yelling!"

"Um, Ditzy?"

She turned to Applejack. "What?"

"It is."

The blonde pegasus blinked, grinned sheepishly, and said "Oh" at a more reasonable volume. Then she turned back to the elemental and her eyes widened. "Oh," she repeated, with far less embarrassment and far more fear.

The other ponies followed suit. Dash garnished her "Oh" with a "buck me."

"Don't go givin' her ideas," Applejack said distantly, her wit on automatic while the rest of her, like the others, was doing its best to keep her from wetting herself.

Given what floated before them, it was an understandable struggle. Somewhere in the being before them was Scootaloo, that much was clear. At times, depending on how the coruscating energies were positioned, it was even visible. For the most part, however, the figure appeared as a pegasus made of unnatural lightning, a princess-sized, crimson-coated mass of furious energy. Its very presence made the little ponies' subconsciouses insist that they submit before it made them submit.

In a moment of bowel-clenching, bladder-loosening terror, it landed and walked towards Rainbow Dash, a voltaic sizzle sounding with every step. The Bearer of Loyalty found herself conflicted between a pressing desire to curl into a fetal position and the absolute certainty that breaking eye contact would be the last mistake she would ever make.

The awesome force continued to gaze at her. Dash felt an unbearable blend of fear and shame., like she was facing the combined scorn of her parent, her flight instructor, her friends, and Celestia herself. She didn't feel worthless. She felt like something that wasn't worthy of being spat upon by the worthless. She—

She realized that she was staring at Pinkie Pie. "Whuh...what happened?"

"Hi, Dashie! Finally made your Will save, huh?"


The elemental's cry swept across all of Ponyville. For several seconds, the town winced as a single pony. Some kept going after it had passed.

"What was that horrible noise!?" shrieked the Unpleasable Demon-Pony of One Thousand Demands, more commonly known outside of Diamond Dog communities as Rarity.

Spike silently wished he had external ears, if only so he could cover them. "Don't know," he replied, "but given all the crazy stuff going on today, I bet Ditzy Doo is near whatever made it."

The unicorn sighed. "Well, let us hope that it won't be sounding that cry again any time soon, hmm?" Her not-so-secret admirer nodded, and the duo headed for the direction of the sound.


Trixie approached Books and Branches cautiously. The amount of magic in the air made her horn throb and filled her mouth with the taste of tin. Well, mostly tin. In any case, she was as close to the building as she dared. Judging by the crowd around the place, the energy would do more than give a headache and the sense of sucking on a soup can at closer range. It was either that or what the Cultured and Cosmpolitan Trixie considered unpleasant, Ponyville treated as a novel escape from small-town drudgery.

The unicorn caught herself. She hadn't been referring to herself in the adjective-laden third pony since that sobering glimpse into Ditzy Doo's memory. (Okay, it wasn't long, but it was a start.) Trixie's eyes widened in fear. This was more than a headache. This was some manner of mind-effecting magic, slow-acting this far away, but acting nonetheless. The showmare realized that she may have once again bitten off more than she could chew. She began to invoke Speedy Service's signature spell when a thought played through her mind unbidden:

"I can handle this."

Trixie shook herself. That was the magic talking. Thinking. Whatever. The point was, she very definitely couldn't handle this. At least, not alone.

"Sure I can. I can still tell which thoughts are really mine, can't I?"

Yes, but who knew for how much longer?"

"So use the false confidence constructively. Screen it out."

The performer was understandably confused. The effects of the high magic field were advising her on how to counteract the effects of the high magic field?

"Of course. The magic doesn't care if I go or stay. It's just making me more of a genius than I already am. If I use that genius to protect myself from worse effects, what's the problem?"

Well, when she put it like that...

When it put it like that. Not her. It.

"Better cast that screen before it's too late."

Right. Trixie knew that.

"Uh-huh."

She tuned out the sarcasm of her own voice and turned her focus inward. With a shudder, she could sense, feel, almost see the squiggly, itchy rainbow crawling down her horn and into her brain. Revulsed, the mare shoved it away, weaving a thin but impermeable shroud into the material of her skull.

Unfortunately, Trixie hadn't considered how that shroud would form. It expanded outward from her horn like a bubble. As it grew, it dragged those writhing, maddening energies that had already reached her cortex from one end of her brain to the other.

In most unicorns, as much of the horned population of Ponyville was demonstrating, this would result in a blissful fugue state. Trixie was not like most unicorns. The key difference lay in her special talent, magic. Stage magic, yes, but it stil meant that her system could respond to this much energy in a way other than unresponsive ecstasy.

"Hee. Hee hee. Ha ha ha. Ahahahaha! Ha ha ha!! Ha ha ha ha!!! Hahahahahahahaha haaaa!!!!!"

Instead, it responded with melodramatic ecstasy.

Her multibanged mirth satisfactorily expressed, Trixie charged towards the library, caution forgotten in her exhilaration. "Ho, Sparkle!" she called, "What say you? Dare you come down from your tower and cross horns with The Great and Powerful Trixie? Or will you cower behind your living walls, of wood and flesh alike?"

On the inside, the library at which Trixie was shouting was nigh-unrecognizable. Its living tissues were turgid with arcane power, warping the hollow spaces in ways that made Euclopean geometry throw up its axes and translate away in disgust. Much of the structure was unnavigable by those accustomed to four-dimensional spacetime. Most of the books were similarly incompatible, transformed into arrays of cubes in hyperspatial bindings, words inscribed along the temporal continuity of the tomes' worldlines, or still more esoteric media. When Trixie had concluded her bout of manic laughter, the tree's roots brushed the very edge of the plane.

Beyond a labyrinth worthy of a thousand David Bowies was what a fevered few might still recognize as Twilight's bedroom. There, dreams, shadows, and stranger things chirped and gurgled amongst themselves, making eager, impossible plans. The air itself capered gaily in anticipation. And within the indescribable bed-descended construct at the center of the space, something heard Trixie's summons and shifted.

Outside the eldritch hive, one of the rapt unicorns frowned at the rambunctious newcomer. "Shh. The Mother sleeps."

Trixie sneered at him. "Bah! Foal! The Great and Powerful Trixie cares not if her archrival was deep in her cups in Luna's last reign. A true master of magic should be prepared to defend her reputation day or night, sans preamble!" She turned back to the tree. "Sparkle! Show yourself or be known forever as a coward!"

Her displays had roused more of the entranced ponies. "The Mother sleeps," said several near her.

"In the name of Magic, I conjure you!"

"The Mother grows," said a few dozen.

"In the name of Honor, I conjure you!"

"The time is not right," said almost one hundred.

"In the name of Celestia's luscious flanks, I—" Trixie's third exhortation was interrupted by a massive multicolored aura surrounding her and locking her in place. It was like being clutched in the talon of an enormous griffin.

As the frenzied energies in her mind exhausted themselves, the showpony registered countless angry unicorns staring at her, horns aglow. They spoke as one. "Be silent and wait."


Dash shook her head, trying to work through the crushing trauma to her ego. "What happened?" she repeated.

Pinkie grinned a specific grin that, in a list of smiles even longer than Celestia's, represented joyous celebration of an opportunity to deliver exposition. "Oh, you didn't see it? It was incredible! You and Applejack and Ditzy were all shaking in your hooves and the Scootaloyal thingie was staring you all down when suddenly BAM! Fluttershy hovers right over you and matches it stare for stare! It was a contest of the stare masters the likes of which have never been seen outside of late-night infomercials! Finally, it acted all like it had better things to do, but you could totally tell that it was giving up, and then me and Fluttershy shook Applejack and Ditzy out of their trances, We tried to shake you out of it, but you wouldn't come out no matter how hard we shook, and believe me, I can give one heck of a shaking! Anyway, Fluttershy said she'd seen this kind of thing before and that you'd come to on your own eventually, and that somepony should stay behind to keep an eye on you until you did, so I volunteered and that's what I've been doing since, keeping an eye on you. And now we can go meet back up with the others and save Scootaloo and Twilight and the world!"

Still not fully un-out-snapped, Dash took a moment to parse all of this. Once she got near the end, she gave a worried start. "What's wrong with Twilight?"

"Oh, nothing urgent. At least, I don't think it is. I can't check on her 'cause there's a crowd of unicorns outside the library that's like four ponies deep and Pokey Pierce is right outside the door and I still owe him five bits from a month ago and it's kind of awkward at this point, so—"

"Okay, okay, not urgent, got it." Irritating as it was, Dash had to admit that listening to Pinkie was helping to clear her mental fog, if ony so she could get away from the ebullient baker. "What about Scoots?"

The hyperactive mare gave her an incredulous look. "Um, duh? What did you think the giant scary energy pony that stared you into catatonia was, silly?"

"But... I thought... The stupid thundercloud..."

Pinkie's expression shifted to that blend of sympathy and concern usually deployed for victims of pranks gone awry. "You really didn't know."

"Didn't know what?"

The pink pony bit her lip and began to glance from side to side. "I should get you to Ditzy. She'll be able to explain this better than me."

"Pinkie." Dash took her friend's head in her hooves, forcing eye contact. "Please. Tell me what's happened to her."

The party planner unparalleled hesitated a moment before submitting. "Okay."

The spectrum-maned pegasus offered an uneasy smile. "Not 'okie-dokie-lokie'?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Not this time." She took a deep breath. With the exhalation came the unmistakable whine of air gradually escaping a poorly tied balloon, and in turn a partial deflation of Pinkie's mane. "Here's the story:

"When you asked the loyalty elemental to go away, you presented it with a paradox. If it obeyed you, that would be a betrayal of abandonment. If it stayed with you, that would be a betrayal of disobedience. Something like that isn't built to handle logical dilemmas, which is partly why it was shouting so much.

"The other part was how it resolved the paradox. It decided that it had to change who it was loyal to."

Dread clutched at Dash's heart. "Scoots."

"Exactly. That way, the elemental could remain near you without having to obey you. But then, it decided to ensure that its new mistress wouldn't make it go through another paradox."

"How?"

"It possessed her."

The pegasus felt her blood chill at this revelation. "What does that mean for Scootaloo?"

"She's safe, and she will be when it releases her. Harming its mistress is unthinkable for this thing."

"Then how could it do what it's already done!?"

"That isn't harm. Not according to the elemental. Think about it. It's made her powerful, beautiful, flight-capable, everything she's aspired towards and then some. It has fulfilled her deepest, innermost wish.

"What?"

"To be better than you."

For a moment, Rainbow Dash just stood there, thinking. Finally, she looked to the sky. "Where is she?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Bad idea. Really bad idea. You of all ponies shouldn't try to subdue this thing. It's been tailor-made specifically to outclass you in every possible respect. Besides, you're exhausted."

"Where?"

"Dash, please."

The would-be Wonderbolt gave her friend a look as firm and unbreakable as her resolve. "I do not leave my friends hanging. Ever. Right now, my biggest fan, the filly who's practically devoted her life to celebrating how awesome I am, is in this mess because of my mistake. If you think for even a second that I'm not going to do everything in my power to help her, then you've. Got. Another. Thing. COMING. Understand?"

Pinkie's response was the full reinflation of her mane and grin #11, "Frabjous Day!" "That's exactly what I was hoping you'd say!" With that, the planeswalker slapped a hoof across Dash's flank, a pulse of red magic flowing out of the extremity to reinvigorate the pegasus. "Follow me, Dashie, we've got a monster to stop!"


"Girls!"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle came to a halt, looking for the source of the call.

Two pegasi approached them, clearly concerned. "Have you seen Scootaloo?" asked the mare.

The earth filly shook her head. "We're lookin' for 'er right now, Mrs. Twister. She ain't with you?"

"We haven't seen her since she left home in a snit over some burnt toast," answered the stallion.

Dizzy Twister frowned. "Ollie!"

"I'm as worried as you are, Darling. I'm just trying to channel it into something a bit more constructive than blind panic."

"Our daughter is out Princess-knows-where while these... these monstrosities are rampaging through our town and some addle-pated postal worker is supposed to fix the situation!" The rose-maned mare seemed on the verge of tears. "If now isn't the time to panic, then when?"

"Hey!" Sweetie protested. "There's nothing wrong with Ditzy Doo or her pate!"

"What's a pate?" Apple Bloom whispered to her.

"I think it's your liver."

Ollie Outie nodded his agreement with the young unicorn. "Eyes and sense of direction aside, she's a perfectly capable pony."

The yellow-coated mare narrowed her eyes suspisciously. "And how would you know?"

"I talk to her when she delivers our mail to develop my own opinion of her rather than blindly follow the herd." The pumpkin-colored stallion smirked and gave his platinum-blonde mane a toss. "I've even invited her to drop a sick beat or two at the station. Alas, it seems doubtful that we'll even hear the fresh rhymes of MC Derpalot."

"Um, Mr. Outie? Mrs. Twister?" called Apple Bloom.

"Ah. Right. Hardly the time or place to be the discussing the exploits of KLOP."

The redmaned filly gave what she hoped was a confidence-inspiring grin. "Well, we're gonna look for 'er for ya, an' we'll be sure t' tell 'er yer worried 'bout 'er." With that, the two Crusaders galloped off.

Ollie didn't need to look to know that his wife was about to pursue them. "Don't."

"Ollie, they're just foals!"

"Yes. Foals who have shown more courage than most adult ponies in town, you and I included."

"Because they don't know how frightened they should be!"

"No, they don't know how frightened you think they should be. There's a difference."

Dizzy Twister nickered in frustration. "You're impossible sometimes."

The stallion permitted himself a small smile. More of a smirk, really. "Ditzy Doo isn't the only responsible adult involved. Princess Luna is there as well, as she made abundantly clear. Do you really think she'll allow a few innocent fillies to come to harm?"

His wife slumped a bit, exhausted from anxiety. "I guess you're right..."

Ollie spread his wings. "Still, it would be best not to leave anything to chance."

In an eyeblink, Dizzy was in front of him, her own wings flared to block his path. "Oh no. I'm not leting both of the most important ponies in my life risk theirs."

Her husband nodded in understanding. "Very well then."

She relaxed. "Good."

"You'll just have to stop me en route."

Before she could so much as say "Huh?", he was already in the air.


Ditzy hadn't done much air-to-air combat in her travels. She preferred diplomacy or misdirection to direct conflict. She rather regretted this as she found herself going pezuña a pezuña with the loyalty elemental. Still, reflected her more analytical bits, she was years out of practice in magical dueling, so it was doubtful that she'd do much better in her preferred medium.

The rest of her thoughts were fully involved in panicking and not getting herself or anypony else killed in the dogfight with a pegasus-shaped electrical storm. As another multicolored bolt of lightning arced towards her, her primaries briefly shined with divine light. When the energy struck, it did no harm, instead sounding a note sung by the very voice of law.

Insulted and enraged by the sound, the thing that had been Scootaloo pounced on Ditzy, a forehoof delivering blow after blow. Every strike sounded another clarion note, further infuriating the berserk equinoid.

Neither party was working to stay airborne, so the assault was halted by the grey pegasus hitting the ground back-first. A visible ripple travelled from her spine up into her rear hooves, and she delivered a buck enhanced with the force of the impact.

The pegasine elemental was sent flying, but righted itself in midair. Static crackled around her as she charged another bolt. Ditzy, still on her back, scrambled to right herself, the smell of ozone growing more intense with every second.

Then Rainbow Dash blindsided the thing.

The planeswalker breathed a sigh of relief. She then noticed what appeared to be cotton candy creeping into her peripheral vision. "Hello, Pinkie. Nice timing."

The earth pony beamed. "Thanks! I'm actually really glad to hear you say that, 'cause I knew Rainbow Dash would want to make her entrance at the peak of dramatic tension but I was worried you might not appreciate it as much since you'd have to be in mortal peril pretty much by definition, but you—"

"Pinkie. Possessed thunderfilly. Focus."

The party pony stuck out her tongue and gave a playful blow to her forehead. "Right, sorry." She looked around the plaza, within view of the library. "Where is everypony?"

"Working on Plan B."

"I thought this was Plan B."

Ditzy rolled her eyes. "Plan C, then."

Pinkie contemplated this. "Huh. Well, I guess I'll have to move the hamsters, the marmalade, and the liquimetal to Plan D."

"What will you... never mind." The golden-eyed pegasus looked up. "I better go help Dash."

Without surprise on her side, the weather pony was finding herself easily outmatched. This Super-Scootaloo was faster, more agile, and maybe even a little cooler than she was. (That being said, she was not yet willing to cede superior awesomeness or radicalness.) Every time Dash tried to set up a maneuver, the possessed filly was in her path, her ambient electrical aura sending tingles through the blue pony's muscles. Several rounds of this had made her uncomfortably numb, struggling to keep her flaps steady and coordinated.

A trio of azure orbs swept in between the two. Above and behind the crackling creature, Ditzy gestured to Dash to land. The speedster gave a grateful nod and did so as the probes harried and distracted "Scootaloyal."

As Pinkie ministered to the nearly paralyzed pegasus (by absorbing the charge like a reverse joy buzzer), Ditzy stayed above the aerial combatants. Her mind was working frantically, running through possible strategies, guiding her illusions' evasive action, and keeping half an eye on the one probe she'd left with her backup. As such, she could be forgiven for not noticing the newcomer until he cleared his throat.

"Gah!" All the probes attempted to headbutt the thundermare. She countered with a discharge that tore through them like wet tissue paper. The ill-fated eyes' mistress, meanwhile, was seeing who had surprised her. "Ollie Outie?"

"Ditzy." He turned to the electrical equinoid, surrounded by the fading tatters of the phantasmal orbs. "Fighting for the fate of Equestria, I see."

"Um, yeah." This was awkward on so many levels...

"I don't suppose you've seen Scootaloo today?"

So. Many. Levels. "Uh, this really isn't the time..."

Satisfied that the blue annoyances were dealt with, the hybrid turned towards the noise overhead.

The stallion shrugged. "I should think you could spare the time for a simple yes or no."

"Well, you see—"

There was a flicker of recognition in the raging rapids of Scootaloo's stream of consciousness. "Dad?"

Rainbow Dash chose that moment to perform a combination dive bomb/body slam. "Oh yeah! How'd ya like that!?" She noticed Ollie. "MC Less-Than-Three! 'Sup?"

He was not nearly as pleased. "Aside from you tackling my inexplicably galvanic daughter into the dirt?"

The blue mare's reply was preempted by a blood-tingling, spine-curdling roar the likes of which should never come from a pony's throat. The thunderfilly rose to her hooves, then released a spherical wave of crackling plasma.

Pinkie slammed a hoof into the ground and enclosed herself in a dome of obsidian. The pegasi didn't have that option. Instead, Ditzy grabbed the other ponies and shoved them in front of her.

Wide-eyed, Rainbow cried, "What do you—"

She didn't get to finish before wide, white wings enfolded her. A sense of peace filled the mare. Her thoughts turned to her mother, and the simple comfort of sleeping while nestled into her side. She was distantly aware of a sound like a dropped piece of sheet metal as the plasma harmlessly passed her by.

The wings faded, and with them the inexplicable serenity. From behind, Ditzy asked, "You okay, Rainbow Dash?"

The weather pony just nodded, speechless.

"Ollie Outie?"

"Just peachy," he squeaked, clearly shaken out of his usual cool.

"Tha's good," the blonde slurred before slumping onto the other pegasi.

"We should set her down," said Dash, feeling that somepony should.

"Right."

As they did so, Pinkie's stone carbuncle shivered for a moment, then shattered into dozens of wickedly sharp fragments. They hovered in place around their mistress, who gave a feral grin. "This is how we do it on the rock farm!"

With that, the shard volley streaked towards the hybrid. Acting on impulse, she surrounded herself in a towering pillar of electricity. The barrier dragged the volcanic glass to a halt less than an inch from her face.

"Uh oh." The party pony saw where this was going. She took a deep breath. As the fragments were launched back at her, she opened her mouth wide. Her throat glowed crimson, and from it issued an identical igneous onslaught. The two met in midair, shattering against one another and fading to nothingness.

Pinkie pouted. "Well that didn't work." She turned back a bit, keeping Scootaloyal in her line of sight. "How's Ditzy?"

"She passed out," answered Dash.

"Mana exhaustion," grumbled the pink mare. "She's been pushing herself too hard." She shut her eyes, briefly adjusting her perspective along axes unknown even to most planeswalkers. Nodding to herself, she concluded, "She'll come to in a few minutes."

She opened her eyes, and the difference in the scene registered. "Uh oh."

"What 'uh oh'?" Ollie Outie asked anxiously.

"Where's Scootaloo?"

The pegasi spotted her almost simultaneously. "Directly above us," the stallion observed, "going for a death dive."

Dash shook her head. "Not at those speeds. She's trying for a sonic rainboom!"

Indeed, what had just been a speck barely visible even to pegasus eyes was now the size of a bit and growing. Her impact was assured, and only two things could stop it. One was failing to breach the sound barrier, which didn't seem very likely.

The other was the tornado.

Rapt as the trio had been by their impending doom, none of them had noticed the whirlwind until it had positioned itself between them and the diving filly.

"Well that was convenient," noted Pinkie.

Dash was less pleased. "Does whoever made that thing realize how much paperwork I have to fill out for an unscheduled cyclone?"

The party pony frowned in confusion. "I thought you made Dotted Line do all your paperwork."

"To answer the question," Ollie interjected, "yes, she does, though I rather doubt she cares right now. Still, this does explain what was taking her so long."

"Her?" repeated the blue mare. "Her who?"

As though in reply, Dizzy Twister fluttered into view, landing under the tornado's spout and glowering expectantly. A few seconds later, a disheveled pile of possessed pegasus came crashing out of the funnel, which then dissipated.

"Dear Celestia, I love that mare," gushed her husband.

The would-be Wonderbolt groaned and facehoofed. "Of course. The best vortex engineer in Ponyville. And Scoots' mother. Who else would it be?"

The triple-tornado flanked pony paid no mind to the peanut gallery, focused instead on the crumpled heap of madmare before her. Uncanny maternal instinct recognized her child, and the floodgates opened. "There you are, young filly. Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

Scootaloyal gave no reply, still trying to get rump back under teakettle.

"Really, of all the days to blithely stomp out of the house! You just don't understand what you put me through, you really don't. And just look at you! Honestly, what have you done to yourself?"

Pinkie opened her mouth to answer this, but was stopped by a hoof on her shoulder. "Do you know how to reverse it?" asked Ollie.

The poofy-maned mare paused and frowned. "Well, no."

"Then don't waste your breath. Dizzy's in a tizzy. Best to just weather it until it passes."

The ranting pony's daughter seemed less than inclined to take this advice. Once she'd collected herself, she began twitching and shaking with barely contained energy. The struggle between filial loyalty and destructive boredom was visible as Dizzy's words washed over her like so much white noise. At the breaking point of the thunderfilly's patience, there came a welcome distraction.

"Scootaloooo! Scoot-scootaloooo!"

"Do you really think that's the best way to get her attention?"

Judging by everypony's reaction, it was certainly an effective one. The incongruous appearance of the other Cutie Mark Crusaders had managed to stun even Dizzy Twister into silence. A brief, delicate peace reigned as this new development was processed.

Naturally, Scootaloyal reacted first, streaking towards her friends with such speed that they barely had time for a strangled yelp. To much relief, her pounce was affectionate rather than aggressive, enveloping her friends in a massive hug.

"Huh," mused Apple Bloom. "A friendly monster. Now ain't that a nice change o' pace?"

Distress filled Sweetie Belle's heart, the situation all too familiar. "Just because it's nice doesn't mean it can stay."

The earth filly dismissed this with a wave of her hoof. "Aw, it ain't hurtin' nopony." At that point, the thunderfilly's ambient charge turned her friends' coats and manes into fluffballs. "Ain't. Hurtin'. Nopony." repeated the young Apple, a twitch in one eye likely unrelated to the electricity.

"I'm not through with you, little missy!" Dizzy Twister strode towards the Crusaders like a vengeful goddess. "You can play with your friends after we've finished this discussion."

The fluffy fillies looked at one another. "Mrs. Twister?" noted Apple Bloom.

"'Your friends'?" quoted Sweetie Belle.

Both looked at the increasingly anxious pegasus. "Scootaloo?"

The energized foal didn't think; she just reacted. Beset on all sides by the tyrannies of parental and awesome ponies, she took flight.

Her mother gritted her teeth, her expression promising great vengeance and furious anger. "You aren't getting away that easy, Vivian Louise Twister!" She took off as well.

Dash noticed what the other mare hadn't; Scoots still had passengers. "Pinkie, stay underneath the Crusaders and be ready to catch them!" She followed the developing pattern.

The party pony turned to Ollie Outie. "Coming?"

He shrugged. "Might as well." With that, the chase was fully underway.


Luna looked over the preparations, well pleased. Oh, she could have summoned forth her elite forces, but most of the guards she'd hoofpicked were still in training, and those who weren't still hadn't seen as much action as the Bearers of Harmony. Manticore, dragon, hydra, ...alicorn. She would have made each Bearer a general if she didn't agree with Celestia that each deserved as normal a life as she could manage given the stewardship of an ancient artifact of incredible power. This, decided the princess, was the next best thing. She began her speech. "Fillies and gentlehare, the time of action draws nigh. I have the utmost confidence in each and every one of you, but overconfidence has lost more battles than I hope you ever have to see. As such, we shall review the plan one final time.

"Angel Bunny." The augmented rabbit smirked confidently. "You have volunteered to face the possessed Scootaloo head-on. Your objective is to subdue or exhaust her until she cannot resist the next stage of the plan.

"Fluttershy." The gentle pegasus swallowed, doing nothing against the lump in her throat. "You are to serve as Angel's backup. Should Scootaloo prove too mighty for him to overcome, your Stare shall cow her into submission.

"Applejack." The farmhoof came to a passable attempt at attention. "To your lasso I have bequeathed the blessing of the night. Once the filly is unable to struggle against it, it shall drink in the power of Loyalty with all the insatiability of the void.

"Dinky Doo." The filly was clearly on the verge of bouncing in her excitement. "You have demonstrated a remarkable talent for observation. You shall act as tactician, keeping watch over the skirmish and announcing key shifts in the tide of battle. I will act as the ultimate high ground from which you can do so."

The princess of the night looked over her chosen few proudly. "I am certain that this will be an unmitigated success. Are there any questions?"

"Uh, Ah got one," said Applejack, looking askance at her lasso. "Is that 'blessin' o' th' night' safe fer me t' use?" Her concern was understandable; the rope appeared to be made not of braided hemp but a tangible absence, as though it were a rope-shaped hole in space.

"Entirely," Luna reassured her. "I wove the enchantment specifically to do no harm to pony or rabbit. Only the aberration controlling young Scootaloo will be affected."

"Um..." Fluttershy had folded in on herself. "A-are you really sure I should be involved? It isn't like I can control the Stare. It just comes."

Applejack laid a supportive leg across her friend's shoulders. "Sugarcube, if'n Angel's in trouble, then Ah know whatever got 'im there's gonna have you t' answer to."

"Really?"

"Sure as a caramel apple is sticky."

Luna nodded, satisfied. "Excellent. Let us begin!"

With that, Scootaloyal streaked over their heads. Pinkie Pie followed, sparing them a Clopplered "Hi guys!" Then three more pegasi followed in quick succession.

Fluttershy raised a hoof. "Your Highness, does this change the plan at all?"

The alicorn's reply was preempted by an excited "Hey!" Everypony turned to see an enthusiastically waving Spike atop Rarity.

"Well howdy there, you two," Applejack said warmly. "Where've y'all been?"

"Addressing one of the horrid creatures invading the town," answered the designer. She bit her lip. "Well, not horrid, per se... but that's neither here nor there. Where is Ditzy?"

The farmhoof looked up. "Near as Ah kin tell, she just flew by."

"She didn't." All eyes turned to Dinky. "None of those ponies were Mommy."

The sheer amount of worry in that statement brought Rarity to a firm, abrupt decision. With a smile, she levitated the comissioned necklace, doubled over the chain, and resized it with a thought. "Here, Dinky, dear. You hold onto this until we find your mother." She directed the jewelry over the filly's head.

The young unicorn looked at the jewel and gasped in delight. "Really?"

"Really."

The five-pony chase passed by in the other direction. Pinkie, inexplicably covered in something brown and gooey, offered a "Hi Spike! Hi Rarity!" as she passed.

The fashionista watched her recede towards the horizon. "Well, I'm clearly behind on current events. What have I missed?"

Luna landed in front of the gathered ponies, startling them. Nopony had even noticed her leave. And for how long had Angel been standing on her head? "What are you all still doing here?" the princess asked incredulously. "Onward, my friends! We nearly have the fiend cornered!"


Scootaloo's thoughts at this time are not transcribable in any way that would make sense. At least, not with the English alphabet, and not in a format limited to two dimensions. Given the restrictions of the medium, her cognition could best be described – and even then, not very well – as an operatic remix of the Nyan Cat song performed on an electric guitar, a theramin, and a didgeridoo made from a hollowed-out butternut squash.

That being said, a telepathic panhandler in her stream of consciousness might come across the occasional nugget of coherence. One such chunk cropped up as she again passed by the unconscious Ditzy Doo: This is a pony who was fighting me. She is strong. I owe her nothing. I should strike while she can't defend herself.

With that, the filly dove, aiming for the other end of the plaza. She struck the ground with her forehooves, cracking the ground. She then forced energy into the breach, feeding it back on itself until it was about to explode in her face. Only then did she release it, sending a massive, earth-shattering thunderball at the prone pegasus.

"No!"

Another moment of intelligibility: What? Wait, who is that? Dash! She's in the way! She'll be hurt! She'll be killed! No no no NO!

As she stood in front of a ground-chewing blob of multicolored ball lightning, Rainbow Dash freely admitted that she hadn't thought this through. Still, she would not waver. She would protect her friend. She shut her eyes as she braced herself for the inevitable pain. The light flared painfully against her eyelids then... suddenly dimmed? The blue mare risked a peek, then gasped in astonishment.

The loyalty elemental had copied her equine shield maneuver, defending her as she defended Ditzy. The orb of charge slammed into the living cloud, but went no further. It convulsed briefly, then began to dissipate. As it did, it turned to look at her.

Guilt stabbed through the pegasus's heart. "I'm sorry."

The creature shook its head and patted hers with a disintegrating arm. The streams of flame halted; its eyes were closed. Dash wasn't able to say how, but she knew that the embodiment of her element died with a smile on its face.


"Mommy?"

"Ugh... hello, Muffin." Ditzy shook her head blearily. "This is starting to become a pattern, isn't it?"

Dinky giggled, then proudly thrust out her chest. "Look at what Miss Rarity gave me!"

"Oh my..." The gem was quite impressive, almost as big as the adult pony's eye. It had developed an odd tapered shape, and a peculiar ridged dimple had formed at the point. "It's very nice."

"Isn't it?" Its creator preened as she trotted into view. "At first I thought you weren't giving me much to work with, but I've never seen a jewel quite like it. Certainly never one that kept growing once it was out of the ground. Did you really make it from that bizarre apparatus of Sweetie Belle's?"

Ditzy nodded, then frowned. "Wait, how did you know that?"

Rarity gave a small grin. "You've been out for almost twenty minutes, Darling. We've had plenty of time to bring each other to speed." Indeed, the Bearers and Luna were all gathered nearby, chatting amiably.

The princess noted the planeswalker's recovery. "Ah, Ditzy! Are you feeling well?"

The grey mare shrugged. "Better? Sure. Well? That's a matter of debate." She looked around. "What happened to Ollie Outie?"

Pinkie made her way into the conversation. "Dizzy and he re-evacuated, and they made sure the Crusaders went with them."

"At mah insistence," added Applejack.

Rarity nodded. "And mine. Honestly, that not one of those fillies have gotten a cutie mark for needlessly risking her life is something of a marvel."

Ditzy turned to her daughter. "And why didn't you go with them, young filly?"

Dinky rolled her eyes. "Mommy, I've stopped two out of five monsters today. Can't you trust me to help with the last one?"

Her mother shook her head. "The last one is the most dangerous one. It's literally made of magic. There's no telling what it could do, or even what it will be!" She looked to the library, a pulsating, nauseating melange of color to her eyes. "Or, for that matter, why it hasn't shown up yet."


The Cutie Mark Crusaders were, to a filly, massively disappointed with the unfairness of the situation. Just because they weren't awesome hornless magic ponies or princesses or Harmony Bearers didn't mean that they couldn't help save the world! Dinky was helping, and she was a year younger than they were! Alas, their pleas fell on deaf ears, and Scootaloo's parents insisted that the trio travel ahead of them, ensuring that they couldn't sneak back to the action.

For perhaps the tenth time, Scootaloo groused, "I just can't believe that after all that, I still don't have my cutie mark!"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "It's like Ah keep sayin', do ya really want a cutie mark fer goin' crazy?"

"At least it'd be something."

"Well Ah cain't b'lieve Pinkie Pie knows a spell t' turn solid ground inta chocolate puddin'."

The pegasus filly considered this for a moment. "Actually, now that I know that she can use magic, I'm not really that surprised that she'd know how to do that."

"Hmm. Y' got a point there..."

Sweetie Belle broke a long stretch of silence on her part. "Hey, Scootaloo?"

"Yeah?"

"Your dad works at the radio station, right?"

"Uh huh."

"So why is his cutie mark a heart?"

Ollie smirked. "Because my special talent is irony."

The unicorn frowned. "How does a heart represent irony?"

The smirk grew. "Exactly."

Before anypony could fully ponder this, there came a sound. It was like a thousand dragons crying out in unspeakable agony. It was like the very pillars of heaven straining beneath their load. It was like everything and nothing.

Sweetie Belle seized up, staring at nothing. A hundred voices, none of them her own, sounded through her mouth.

"The time is right. The Mother is ready. Magic comes."


Spark of Fanaticism 2RR
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature you control
Enchanted creature has haste and attacks each turn if able.
Whenever enchanted creature becomes blocked, you may have it deal damage equal to its power divided as you choose among any number of target creatures defending player controls. If you do, the first creature assigns no combat damage this turn.