Friendship Never Fails

by cyberpeajay

Chapter 7: The Showdown

(In this chapter, the Ponytact versions and regular characters speak amongst each other. To indicate if a Ponytact is talking their name will start with E. (name here). E. is abbreviated for Evil. The regular characters have no name change indication.)

"It's about time you brought me that water!" E. Twilight was yelling. "I was almost thirsty!" She opened her eyes and saw that it was regular Twilight and friends standing at the open doors. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped a bit. "YOU!" She shouted and jumped off the royal throne onto a red prestige carpet. "You were all supposed to be trapped in that temple forever!"

"A magical barrier can't keep us locked in!" Rainbow yelled back at E. Twilight.

"You made it Twilight! I knew there was something fishy going on when she spoke of clones of yourselves!" Princess Celestia pointed at E. Twilight with a hoof. However both princesses were trapped in a small rectangular pinkish barrier. The regular six immediately identified it as the same magical barrier that blocked them in the temple. But this was a magical box with the princesses enclosed from all sides, bottom and top. Even their magic wasn't strong enough to break it apart.

"It seems to be strong enough to contain your precious princesses in though."
E. Rainbow Dash spoke.

"If you blocked them inside a temple, why were you sending our guards to search for them?" Celestia asked.

E. Twilight spun around to face the princess and straightened out her crown before she spoke. "Because you can't be too careful." She raised her voice a bit now so all the guard ponies in the room could hear her. "But these dumb guards couldn't do a simple task of spotting a large group of ponies that look like us!" She glared at the remaining guard ponies in the room who cowered a bit.

"We let you off the hook last time, willing to let you rot in the temple. But now we will finish you ourselves." E. Rarity stated.

"What were you doing in the temple anyways Twilight?" Celestia asked.

"You mean to tell me a student is keeping royal secrets from her royal mentor?!" E. Twilight smiled more as she said it, then all the Ponytact's broke into a laugh.

Twilight's ears drooped a bit again when Celestia gave a disapproving shake.

They all stopped laughing immediately and E. Twilight straightened her crown again. "I guess your time is up now." She said to the original six. "You spent so much energy just to get here. All of that for nothing, it's a shame really." She then quickly turned her head to look at the guard ponies in the room. There were five of them, two unicorns and three pegasi. "Leave the room. We wish to take care of these ponies by ourselves, personally."

The five guards ran out of the room. All that remained now were fourteen ponies. Six original, six Ponytact's and two princesses. The door slammed shut and locked quickly. There was now no way out of the room. It was a well lit room so lighting was no problem. There were two giant pillars in the room, very tall windows, marble flooring with a red carpet rolled out through the middle and a giant chandelier hanging from the tall ceiling. The princesses were trapped in the magical box on one side of the room out of the way. It was completely silent in there, with every one of them looking at one another. It felt like a wild west standoff.

"Funny thing about causing chaos and destruction." E. Twilight said. Just then she shot a purple laser right out of her horn in front of Twilight causing a burn mark to appear on the floor! "The more we cause, the stronger we become!" She then charged at the originals shooting more lasers right at them this time.

The original six all screamed and ran in separate directions. Rainbow flew up in the air but was caught but her evil self. E. Rainbow smirked but Rainbow quickly got out of her grasp and bucked her right in the gut and continued to fly to the other side of the room. E. Rainbow growled and chased her around.

E. Twilight was still shooting but Twilight was hiding behind one of the pillars. "Come on! Come on!!!" Twilight was desperately trying to use her magic but nothing was happening. Not even a spark was coming from her horn. "COME ON!" She shouted closing her eyes tightly trying to get her horn to work. She eventually opened her eyes and stopped trying after tiring herself out. Nothing was working.

"I know you're there Twilight Sparkle!" E. Twilight yelled and ran around the pillar.

Pinkie bounced over to E. Pinkie really fast and got nose to nose with her. "How can you eat all those vegetables and healthy stuff like that?! My name is Pinkie PIE!" E. Pinkie just grinned and threw a baby carrot at her face. They both got distracted when Rainbow flew past them with incredible speed. They both screamed when E. Rainbow was headed in the same direction. She also screamed and the three of them were tumbling on the floor when E. Rainbow crashed into them.

"Sorry Pinkie!" Rainbow called out.

"It's alright." Both Pinkie's said at the same time. Realizing this they immediately stood back up and roared at each other.

"Oh my, you wanted to save Equestria but yet you stopped for a bath?" E. Rarity said to Rarity. Rarity just huffed at her counterpart. "That's a shame!" Her horn lit really bright and fell over laughing.

"What's so funny ruffian?!" Rarity asked but turned around to find her mane laying on the floor. She screamed a high pitch and looked at her reflection in the marble floor. She patted the top of her head where only a short amount of hair stood out. The other Rarity was still rolling on the floor laughing. "HOW DARE YOU!" She yelled out and tackled E. Rarity where they began to tussle.

Twilight was running around the room screaming while dodging E. Twilight's laser shots. She was right behind her with an angry look chasing down Twilight.

"Stand still so I can get you!" E. Twilight Commanded.

"AHHH!" Was all Twilight could say as she ran past the princesses cage. Celestia wanted to help, but she couldn't.

"Howdy partner." E. Applejack gave Applejack a nod of her hat then wasting no time spun around and landed a powerful buck on Applejack, causing her to fly backwards into the wall, leaving a crack where she hit. Applejack got up a bit woozy but seemed fine and retaliated by running full force and head-butted her clone. E. Applejack turned around and landed another powerful kick right on to Applejack's head, causing her to wobble a bit and fall over.

Fluttershy was standing there trying to figure out if she should help her friends. Just then E. Fluttershy flew up to her and looked at the ground while pawing it. They nervously exchanged looks but it was E. Fluttershy who broke the silence.

"I um... Don't want to hurt you." She said.

"I don't like fighting either. It's senseless." Fluttershy said.

"Uh, about me not wanted to hurt you." E. Fluttershy said.

Fluttershy looked up at her clone. "Yeah?"

E. Fluttershy put a sinister grin on her face and lowered her eyebrows. "I lied." She then flew up in the air and straight down towards Fluttershy's back. She screamed and hopped backwards, making E. Fluttershy collide head first into the marble ground.

"Oh my, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked shaking her evil self.

E. Fluttershy popped her face off the floor and grabbed Fluttershy's foreleg she was shaking her with. "I'm fine, but you won't be!" She stood up and grabbed Fluttershy's foreleg with her two front ones and swung her around, letting her go causing her to slam into one of the pillars.

Fluttershy hit it forcefully and fell to the ground in a heap crying. Pinkie ran away from her evil self to attend to Fluttershy. "Hey what happened?!" Pinkie asked but Fluttershy just put her head into her forelegs and cried. Pinkie put a hoof on her and looked up at E. Fluttershy with fire in her eyes.

E. Fluttershy just walked up them. She pouted her lips out and opened her wings. "Awww, poor Fluttershy's sad? Does she want another ride?"

Pinkie stepped between them and blocked her. "No more!"

E. Fluttershy didn't even hesitate to grab Pinkie by her font hooves and fly her up near the ceiling. Pinkie screamed, "AHH! Put me down put me down!"

"You got it!" E. Fluttershy said and dropped Pinkie from nearly the ceiling.

Pinkie screamed and almost hit the floor when she didn't feel a rough impact. She turned her head to see that Rainbow Dash caught her as she was still flying away from her evil self. Rainbow looked at Pinkie and smiled. She motioned her head backwards and Pinkie knew exactly what she was thinking. Pinkie nodded and with a thrust, Rainbow tossed Pinkie behind her in the air. Pinkie landed right on E. Rainbow, causing them both to crash into the floor, but caused E. Rainbow to feel the most of the impact on that.

Twilight was hiding behind the throne still trying to get her magic working but still nothing was happening. Twilight was starting to think that her magical energy was gone permanently from overworking it a few days ago. E. Twilight was taking shots at the throne which was now smoking and had a few holes blown through it. Twilight dove out of the way from one of the lasers. The laser went right through the throne causing it to basically explode into pieces.

Rarity noticed the situation Twilight was in and got off her evil self and ran towards E. Twilight.

"Get back here!" E. Rarity called out but Rarity ignored her.

She Bolted towards E. Twilight and rammed her head straight into her target. The impact caused E. Twilight to fall over onto the floor. She got up and glared directly at Rarity with a rage filled face. "You're going to wish you never did that Ms. Rarity."

Rarity was grabbed in a full nelson by E. Rarity so she couldn't move. "Say goodbye!" E. Twilight aimed her horn at Rarity. Rarity closed her eyes but nothing happened. She looked down at the floor and saw E. Twilight laying there getting up again. Rarity looked to her left and noticed Twilight standing there.

"If I can't use my horn for magic, I can make some use out of it!" Twilight yelled. She turned 180 degrees and bucked E. Twilight with all her might.

Rarity was released when E. Rarity went to tend to her leader. Rarity used her magic and envelope E. Rarity with a light blue glow.

"Put me down this instant!" She yelled at her.

"Why, of course!" Rarity said and dropped her right on top of E. Twilight. E. Fluttershy was now heading full speed towards Rarity to tackle her but out of no where a yellow blur tackled E. Fluttershy.

"NO MORE!" Fluttershy yelled in the face of E. Fluttershy, causing her mane to fly backwards. She grabbed E. Fluttershy's mane by her teeth and swung her around really fast until they were a tornado of pink and yellow. Fluttershy let go with a scream which sent E. Fluttershy flying right through a wall causing a huge hole. "HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?!" She yelled and flew in the hole to the room beside after her evil self. After a few seconds another hole was blown through the wall, with E. Fluttershy flying back into the Royal Room landing on her back. Fluttershy landed gently in front of E. Fluttershy. "No more." She softly said.

The rest that were standing stood there with their mouths agape. Even Princess Celestia and Luna were surprised by Fluttershy's rage and strength.

Applejack hobbled back up onto her feet then put her front hooves up. Her eyes were crossed and she had birds flying around her head. "Put 'em up... uhhh, partner!" She struggled to say. E. Applejack smirked and gave another powerful buck, but missed this time. Applejack quickly dodged and laughed. "Ya think I can go down that quickly missy?" Applejack turned around gave a buck of her own, sending E. Applejack to land on top of E. Twilight and E. Rarity.

E. Pinkie came running towards Twilight but she slipped and fell on her back from the baby carrot she threw.

"ENOUGH!" E. Twilight screamed loudly and got up forcefully, causing the two ponies on her to plop back onto the floor. The six original friends stood together in front of the cage the princesses were trapped in. E. Twilight closed her eyes and a big beam of pink light was growing from her horn. E. Twilight's eyes shone in pure white and a huge laser shot exploded out of her horn straight towards them. Twilight and her friends screamed and dove out of the way, singeing the tips of their tails. The huge energy beam made direct contact with the magical cage, making it crack and fall apart, freeing the princesses.

"Girls!" Celestia called out. The six were laying on their stomachs from diving out of the way but turned their heads to look at Celestia. They got up and ran over. Celestia pulled a book out from under the platform where the throne sat.

While E. Twilight was getting her bearings still from using a huge amount of magical energy, Celestia opened the book and gave each of them their elemental necklace with her magic. She then levitated the tiara onto Twilight's head. "I saw them stash it there." Celestia said with a smirk. "Now show them just how magical harmony and friendship is."

Twilight gulped. She knew her magic was gone. How could the element of magic, not be magical? They all lined up together, their evil counterparts staggering to do the same. All the Ponytact's widened their eyes except for E. Twilight when they saw the Elements of Harmony were now in possession of the original six.

All but Twilight started having their element glow. They levitated into the air with a white light surrounding them. Luna hid behind the platform. She remembered that. Twilight couldn't muster any magic to do her part. She still sat there on the ground trying her best. They needed all six elements to work in order for them to complete the objective they set out to do.

Celestia took a step back and lifted a hoof in the air. "What's going on Twilight?"

Twilight just dropped her head in shame and a tear fell out of her eye.

"How pathetic. The element of magic can't even be magical!" E. Twilight yelled at her and laughed.

The other five had worried looks on their faces looking down at Twilight. Their elements stopped working causing them to fall to the floor in a thud.

"Perhaps the magic of friendship isn't so strong after all huh Twilight Sparkle?" E. Twilight called out to her. "Enough of this, let's light this candle!" E. Twilight said, then made a bright ball of energy grow larger and larger on her forehead.

'Perhaps the magic of friendship isn't so strong after all huh Twilight Sparkle? Perhaps the magic of friendship isn't so strong... Perhaps the magic of friendship... Magic of Friendship... Magic of Friendship... Magic of Friendship...' Twilight's pupils dilated when those words echoed in her head. 'Magic of Friendship' Twilight smiled and quietly whispered,

'Friendship is Magic'

E. Twilight shot the huge energy beam right at the original six, but it didn't connect with them... Twilight was creating a force field with her magic! The force field grew in diameter, slowly reaching E. Twilight. E. Twilight stopped shooting her energy beam when she realized things weren't going to plan. The other five elements flew up into the air with their necklaces glowing a bright white. The force field died off and Twilight's eyes glowed pure white. She flew straight up in the air, joining the other elements. The ground rumbled and the whole castle was shaking.

"Retreat!" E. Twilight yelled to her fellow Ponytact's, but they had no where to go. A bright white flash enveloped the group of the original six floating in the air. It was blinding to look at, so both princesses shielded their eyes. Suddenly the light exploded throughout the room causing all the windows to shatter into pieces with a fierce shock wave that lifted floor tiles into the air, made the chandelier shatter and caused the columns to crack apart. Just then, a huge rainbow came flying out of the center of the group and spiraled around the Ponytact's.

They all screamed and tried to run, but the rainbow circling them all kept them locked in position. From their hooves on up they were solidifying into stone. The rainbow never stopped until the Ponytact's were completely solid. They were frozen in a screaming pose, but E. Twilight was stuck in an angry pose. Her whole body and neck was stone by now. "We'll be back! Some pony is bound to find us again, just like you did! We'll be back!!!" She screamed until her entire head was frozen.

The rainbow disappeared and the bright white light illuminating them did as well. All six of them dropped to the floor gently, before voluntarily collapsing to the floor. They were all breathing heavily and had their eyes closed. Luna came out from hiding and Celestia walked over to the six of them. Eventually they got up and smiled to each other. They didn't say anything to each other, they just walked over to the Elements of Disharmony and eyed them. They were all standing there, completely frozen, basically looking like they did the first time Twilight and her friends discovered them, except they looked just like themselves.

The big door fell off its hinges and landed with a loud bang as it hit the floor. Spike was standing there in a pose of him knocking on the door that just fell over. He slowly walked in the room and noticed it was basically destroyed, like a bomb went off. "Uhhh, did I miss anything?" Is all he said.