Black as Sin

by BearstarSeraph

Chapter 19: Divided Loyalty Part 3

Chapter 19: Divided Loyalty Part 3

The injured specter did not waste any time and launched himself at the self-proclaimed prince. The prince caught the fist easily then they impacted knees. They pushed apart and the prince transformed as well and went on the counter offensive.

It became apparent to everyone why Captain Spearchucker had lost his mind. The two were barely visible at first, and it took Luna leaving sun shadows on everyone’s retinas before they could be seen at all.

They twisted and moved in ways everything they knew of bipeds said they could not.

“Are you sure they are solid?” Cadence asked. “They move more like water.”

“Yes… they are both bone and flesh. This… this is what Captain Spearchucker saw that drove Vegeta to show him that memory to prove himself.”

“If this power spreads, our pegasi will be completely overwhelmed,” Celestia said.

“We won’t have a choice,” Luna looked at her. “Remember he said this is how war is waged in other parts of the universe.”

“Why does it have to be pegasi?” Pinkie asked. “I can fly now.”

Luna looked at Pinkie, then back at Celestia. “True, sister. We can augment the air force with flying earth ponies and unicorns.”

“You do that,” Discord crossed his arms, “I’ll make sure to buy extra winter coats when the wendigos show back up.”

“Look out!” Twilight screamed, spreading her wings in alarm and lighting her horn.

She teleported the group backwards as injured Vegeta slammed into where they had been standing. He flipped out of the way before the prince dug his right heel to where the other’s stomach was moments before.

Injured Vegeta threw the first ki blast of the battle to gain distance. Prince Vegeta tanked the shot and head-butted injured Vegeta, then grabbed his arm and threw him over his shoulder slamming him into the ground. Prince Vegeta went to stomp on him again but then suddenly jumped back. He grabbed a long slice on his lower arm.

“Did you just try to cut my arm off?!”

Injured Vegeta flipped onto his feet with his back to them. He turned around and revealed a glow extended from his hand.

“Ki can be shaped to act like solid objects,” Celestia muttered.

Injured Vegeta released his blade and flexed his fingers.

“You’re not winning this fight,” he said. “I’m not letting you out.”

“Why? I’m the real you and you know it.”

“No. You’re not. You’re just the child’s fantasy that kept me alive. A mirage that never was and could never be. I am reality.”

“And here I thought you were going to say something about Kakarot having to kill me?”

“Kakarot would rather slay all the gods of heaven and hell before ending our lives. And you know it.” Vegeta spit blood from his mouth, “Damn it… Elder Kai gave me the clear… why is this happening now…”

“Pinkie, do you know who that could be?” Celesta asked.

“He’s one of the gods Vegeta has met,” she said. “One of the top two highest so far.”

“And how does a dark mage know gods?” Cadence asked.

“Someone named Kakarot. Vegeta says he’s an infuriatingly annoying goodie two shoes, but he can talk anyone into anything, even the gods.”

“The same gods he would also kill in a heartbeat? Figures.” She looked at Luna, “How do we fix this?”

“We can’t do anything right now,” Luna said, failing to hide her panic, “Not unless he destabilizes again, or they come into agreement on their own, we could finish things then.”

The battle started again, this time with ki flying.

“So we’re just stuck watching this light show?!” she shouted.

Celestia looked at Discord.

“Don’t look at me. What I could do under normal circumstances would arguably be worse than a simple split. And I’m injured.” He looked back at the fight. “Luna’s right. He needs to fight this out. And it looks like it’s been a long time coming.”

“What do you mean?” Cadence asked.

“Remember what the soccer head child specter said that destroyed the adult? ‘You’ve never actually chosen... a coward that hides behind a million graves and a billion asteroids.’” Discord pointed, “If one of them is the Prince of All Saiyans, then the logical opposite for the other one is—”

“Earth,” Celestia interrupted. “The personification of his life on Earth.”

“So which one are we rooting for?” Cadence asked dryly.

Luna opened her mouth to speak.

“Vegeta said he is fundamentally an asshole. He’s just learned new, more imaginative ways to be a dick since—”

“Pinkie!?” Twilight gasped.

“What? I’ve always known those words. I just don’t use them.”

“Since when?!”

“My dad and one of my sisters. Especially my sister. I think her special talent is being peeved.”

Twilight gasped in horror.

“I don’t think such a vocabulary lesson is appropriate right now,” Cadence glared in her face.

“Ok,” Pinkie rolled her eyes, “he learned new ways since—”

Cadence wrapped her magic around her mouth, closing it. “Now is not the time for this.”

Pinkie waved her arms around frustrated.

“Pinkie,” Celestia said gently, “I know you want to finish your thought. But the point has been made. So there is no need for you to continue.”

Pinkie looked annoyed, but nodded.

“Cadence.”

Cadence let go of Pinkie’s mouth as she was ordered.

Pinkie then walked around the back of the group and poked Discord. He looked and she waved her hoof for him to come down. She whispered in his ear.

“I see. Let’s hold onto that for now. It might be useful later.”

Pinkie nodded and went back to standing near Twilight.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at Discord as he stood.

~~***~~

The brutal fight continued. The injured one not holding back, but the prince was not caught off guard again. He predicted another stab attempt and parried the newly formed blade with a barrier before another head butt. But the injured one grabbed his arm, got behind him and piledrove him into the ground. He flipped away as the prince got up.

Twilight was on the ground, occasionally peeking through her hooves. “This is horrible…”

“They seem equally matched,” Cadence said. “Most of their blows are being parried or blocked. But they are the same person, so they know how each other fights intimately.”

“You’re wrong, Cadence,” Celestia said. “There is a difference. It's subtle, but growing.”

The prince pulled himself out of the ground. He rubbed his neck grimacing.

The other one was crouched and ready to attack.

And breathing hard, sweat and blood dripping down his face.

The prince rubbed his shoulder, grinning menacingly. “Well, well. Look at you, the pitiful sacrificial hero. Which one are you? The one who sacrificed himself to take down Majin Buu? Or the one who nearly got his soul erased from existence when the battle moved to the afterlife and you just couldn’t sit still in hell? Our soul was given form in the clothes we died in, so it’s hard to tell. Either way, you’re a sucker.”

“Souls can be destroyed?!” Twilight screamed.

“Don’t be silly Twilight,” Cadence scolded, “Souls are eternal...”

Celestia smacked Discord with her wing.

This went unnoticed by the younger ponies.

“Don’t believe a word he says,” Cadence finished.

“You came into this beaten half dead already,” the prince continued and he popped his neck and shoulders. “While I’m fresh as a daisy.”

The prince raised his hand like he was flicking his nonexistent cape back over his shoulders. He began walking over haughtily. “You surprise me; out of all the choices, you materialized like this. What? You subconsciously still killing time for Kakarot to save your ass from your own mistakes? There’s no hope or redemption this time. At least you could have worn that ridiculous shirt she gave us on that first day. Make this slightly more amusing.”

“Coming from the one who wore the same clothes for 30 years.” He smirked, “At least I do something interesting. You’re just a rip off of that fire nation meme the Doc likes.”

The prince tilted his head smiling, “Oh… you want to play games? Yeah. I remember those two dragging me off to watch that stupid show because they were too dumb to realize that their stupid planet was stupid precontact.”

He raised his hands to either side at shoulder height, and shocked the ponies as actual fire appeared.

“You want to have fun? Let’s have FUN.”

The prince held his hands to the side and was enveloped by flames. First red, then blue, then black. Dark flames began wrapping around him like a ribbon crawling up his legs as the black in the swirling flames began to materialize some sort of dark colored cape or maybe a robe fluttering wildly in the blazing torrent.

Cadence did not scream this time. Did not recoil. She instantly lit her horn.

“Cadence don’t!” Luna shouted.

But it was too late.

Cadence fired her magic and the beam pierced the prince’s chest.

Blood burst from the injured Vegeta’s chest in an identical wound as the prince fell to the ground.

“Vegeta!” Pinkie ran over to injured Vegeta as he fell to his knees and rolled on his side.

“Pinkie! Wait!” Twilight ran after her.

“What…”

Luna clocked Cadence in the head with her hoof. “Two minds, One Soul! Stars, he could be bleeding in real life!”

Luna raced over. Celestia on her heels.

“But…”

“Cadence,” Discord reprimanded. “What we are witnessing is the equivalent of a pony trying to make a difficult choice. They can hurt each other, BUT they are unified to everyone on the outside.”

Twilight was casting the strongest healing spell she knew. Her magic suddenly mixed with the black mist leaking from the wound and a mirage appeared.

Startled, Twilight tried to stop the spell.

It did not work.

Twilight shouted as she struggled to lift her head. Her hooves slid across the ground unable to gain traction as more and more magic was sucked from her horn.

A biped like Vegeta with bright orange clothes appeared and placed his hand on the wound. The mirage began to rapidly cycle through multiple people. The next two looked identical to the first in the face, then two after wore the same orange clothes as the first. Then a tall individual of the same kind as Dende briefly appeared before a few women and girls made their turns.

The magic finally cut off when the mirage flashed a swirl of pink as Luna and Celestia arrived.

“What happened?” Celestia asked. “You were struggling.”

“I couldn’t cut off the spell!” she shouted. “It was like my magic was being sucked out of me!”

Injured Vegeta rolled on his back and put his hand on where the wound once was.

“What was that…” he muttered. “Why did all my friends just flash in front of me…”

He lifted his clean hand to look at it, “…and none of them can heal…” His eyes widened, “Wait a moment.” He began to feel all over his body. “I’m completely healed. My clothes are fine too.”

“Wait…” he stopped and leaned his head back on the ground. “That wasn’t good Buu at the end… I don’t know anyone else who’s bright pink… do I?”

He rolled over gripping his head. “Why does it hurt to think?”

“Hey! You!”

The no longer injured Vegeta rolled over on his stomach.

The prince was standing, his hand over his chest.

“That’s a different armor,” Twilight said as Cadence and Discord arrived.

“Vegeta must have suffered a similar injury in the past,” Luna said, “And partially reformed.”

“What the fuck do you think you are doing?!”

“That wasn’t me!” he said standing.

“For the love of Saiyara, there is no one here but us!” The prince went super saiyan and spread his arms wide to gather energy.

“The moon goddess…” the formerly injured Vegeta muttered. His eyes widened. “Luna!”

“FINAL FLASH!”

Formerly injured Vegeta transformed and raised his hands.

Cadence lit her horn, but Discord tackled her to the ground, keeping his claw tight on her horn.

Twilight was preparing a teleport, but gasped seeing Discord, interrupting her magic.

Luna raised a shield. But it flickered out. She fell to her knees as her magic was visibly being sucked out of her into the ground.

Black veins suddenly climbed Vegeta’s legs.

His defiant scream mixed with a whinny the last moment before the blinding light collided.

~~***~~

The flash faded, and the ponies were surprised by what was in front of them.

The previously injured Vegeta’s shirt was completely shredded, not from the blast, but by the huge set of black wings erupting from his back.

The feathers were singed and his skin was pinked and steam came from his flesh. Then the energy shield fell and he dropped his arms.

“What the fuck do you think you are now?” the prince said in disbelief, “A fallen angel? And people say I have an ego.”

The now winged Vegeta dropped to his knees and folded his outstretched wings.

“I know you’re here somewhere. I know you won’t leave, but I need you to run. If he gets half a clue he won’t hesitate. And we both know what will happen then.”

Winged Vegeta jumped in the air and attacked the prince. He kept his wings folded and relied on ki to fly.

The pony rulers got a quick lesson on the liability of having wings in a fight as they became the main grapple point.

Bones broke and feathers ripped out before the prince returned the piledrive. He held him down with a foot on his back, grabbed each wing in turn…

And twisted and ripped them from his body.

Everyone grimaced with various degrees of panic. Even Discord briefly let go of Cadence’s horn to hug himself and shivered.

The prince tossed the two wings into a pile.

“Honestly, I don’t know why you would think that would be anything but a handicap,” the prince said, cracking his knuckles. Then he grabbed his hair and pulled him up. The prince made his fist, except his first and middle finger knuckles stuck out.

He began hitting his spine. Over and over again.

Wingless Vegeta screamed. After a few hits, he raised his hand towards the wings.

“What are you doing now? Your pathe—”

The prince’s eyes widened as the wings turned to dust and raced towards them. It impacted the outstretched hand and his white gloves and boots turned dark blue.

He jumped back as blue energy whipped around the crater.

Injured Vegeta stood and his clothes healed, all turning the same shade as his gloves.

“What the hell was that?!”

Injured Vegeta pushed his fists together, revealing a blue force field just above the cloth.

He chuckled darkly, “Well… It’s a good thing we don’t remember the same things, do we?”

He launched forward and punched him in the face.

“Fuck!” he shouted as he came to a stop. He gripped his face as the black mist reformed into his bones, teeth, and flesh. “What the hell did you do?!”

Injured Vegeta crutched down. “Winning!” he shouted as he sprang towards him.

While the prince was finally on the back foot, Luna sat on her butt panting.

“Oh, goodness!” Cadence said with Discord still wrapped around her. “He’s sucking your magic!”

“Sister?”

“We art fine, Celestia.” Luna assured her, “Vegeta has tapped into the surrounding magic. The drain is minor.” She looked back at the fight. “and we now knoweth for sure where our stallion lies between the two.”

“Ugh…” Twilight sat down. “I don’t feel good either.”

Magic Vegeta began laughing hysterically. He began throwing disks of light at the prince. He dodged easily.

Then they started chasing him.

“What the fuck! Krillin can’t do that!”

He went from looking behind him to in front.

Injured Vegeta was in front of him with two fingers on his forehead.

It did not look like Instant Transmission.

“Special Beam Cannon!”

The prince was clipped in his side. He gripped the smoking wound; the pain almost made him lose track of the disks. He spun between two, then ducked only to see the third shredded by the beam. He then was thrown to the ground by being hit with the other’s joined hands to his head.

The prince pulled his head out of the crater. “How the fuck are you doi—!”

He blanched seeing all of the energy gathered into the Masenko.

“The magic of friendship,” injured Vegeta said giddily. “is surprisingly DEADLY!”

“That’s not how it works!” Twilight screamed as Vegeta fired.

“I believe that is how it works for him, my dear Twilight,” Discord said.

“Are you ever going to get off of me?!” Cadence glared at him.

“Not unless I can take your horn with me,” Discord said, gripping her horn tighter. “You were here to observe. And ALL you have done is make everything worse!”

“I made everything worse?! It was Princess L—”

“ENOUGH!” Celestia spread her wings and erupted in golden flames. “Discord is right. You have caused nothing but hurt. Be SILENT! And stay out of the way. Discord, do not release her until we are out.”

“Aye aye, Captain Obvious.”

Celestia sighed at the sarcasm and she returned to normal.

~~***~~

The fight continued, and the prince was taking longer to reform his injuries after every hit.

Luna went over and sat next to Twilight, who was visibly struggling. She put her wing over her.

“Thou art doing well,” Luna comforted her. “Thy magic has turned the tide. Hold on a little longer.”

“It’s not that…” she said, wiping her eyes. “I can’t believe friendship can be used as a weapon.”

“Thou haft defeated many a foe with the elements, Twilight.”

“I know, but it’s not— It’s not… Well, THAT!” she pointed at the battle.

“Aye, tis brutal. But the prince is starting to haft difficulty keeping shape. Ours Vegeta’s new ability to copy the ki spells of his friends he clearly did not know before has given hope.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Pinkie asked. “Earth pony magic would increase his strength, right?”

“Tis true,” Luna scratched her chin, “Alright.” She put her hooves in front of her side by side, “Place your hooves touching mine and we shall assist.”

Pinkie copied the position touching the tips of their hooves. There was a small, brief spark of light before the magic began to flow.

Discord was the first to notice an almost instant change in the fight. The prince kept trying to make space in their general direction while magical Vegeta was trying to herd him away.

“Hey…” Discord briefly looked at Luna and Pinkie before looking back at the fight. “Hey. Hey! Stop whatever you’re doing. Somethings up!”

The prince charged up a large blast.

Then spun around and launched it right at them.

Magical Vegeta instinctively jumped after it and got in between. He was sent tumbling, but regained his footing and slid to a stop in front of the group on his feet and one hand.

“So there is someone else here helping you,” the prince said hovering above. “And if you’re protecting them…”

He grinned menacingly. “They can be KILLED.”

“Scatter! Just do it! Scatter!” Magical Vegeta shouted before he jumped in the air.

“No! We’re stronger together!” Cadence shouted.

“No! Do it!” Discord shouted. “So we know he found us! Was it all of us or one of us?!” He then ran off carrying a screaming Cadence.

“Stay in eyesight!” Celestia shouted as she galloped off.

The group ran.

The prince immediately turned his head and flew off.

After Pinkie Pie.

Injured Vegeta got in between the two and ran beside her. “I don’t know who you are, but try and hide your ki.”

“You haven’t taught me that yet.”

“Wait… I have an apprentice?” he said, shocked.

“Did you hear me for the first time?!” Pinkie bounced with joy.

“Oh, a woman’s voice,” the prince said. “Are you cheating on Bulma?”

Injured Vegeta slid to a stop and charged at him. “I’d never cheat on my wife.”

After a brief fight, the prince again took the opportunity to toss a ki blast in her direction.

Pinkie slid to a stop and faced down the blast.

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted.

Pinkie’s back hooves began to glow a golden yellow mixed with threads of pink and blue.

She bucked the blast back at them.

Almost four times its original size.

The two Vegetas screamed “Fuck!” and separated as the huge blast went between them.

The two looked at the blast racing away, then back at where it came from.

Injured Vegeta smiled and raised his hands, “And that’s my apprentice!”

“You don’t even remember her name…” the prince growled and resumed the fight.

“Prince Vegeta!” Pinkie shouted. “You need to pull yourself together so you can wake up from your coma!”

“Coma?!”

The prince took advantage of the distraction to return the head shot, sending him into the ground.

“Coma?! What coma?!” the prince shouted. “Where’s Dende?! The Sensu?!”

“I don’t know a Mr. Sensu! But you’re not on Earth now! You’re on Equus!”

“Where’s—”

The sentence was ended by an uppercut.

“Now who’s waiting on Kakarot,” injured Vegeta smirked.

The prince wiped his mouth. “You,” he growled. “You fucking idiot! Did you agree to go on one of his stupid divine requests and almost get yourself killed?!”

Luna teleported next to Pinkie. “I don’t know how you’re doing this, but tell him we can’t wake him up while his mind is fractured like this.”

She nodded. “Princess Luna says we can’t wake you up until you pull yourself together! It’s too dangerous!”

“Then, let’s end this,” the prince chuckled. “I want to see how good this so-called apprentice is before I move on.”

Injured Vegeta floated in between them, “Move on to what?”

“Last I checked I got a bitch on a backwater nowhere,” he gave a sadistic smile. “She’s far too vain to have let herself go. I’m sure she’ll be happy I show up instead of you.”

Injured Vegeta snarled in rage. “What makes you think Bulma would be happy to see you in my body?!”

“I’m the one she fell in love with and knocked her up. Hell, if Bulma hadn’t jumped me, her mother was more than ready to.” He chuckled, “She even said so with her husband right next to her!”

“Yeah. Yeah… we all know where Bulma got her horny bitchiness from. Stop acting like a big man. It was an alcohol fueled revenge fuck that you were perfectly happy walking away from.”

The prince started to shout, “A revenge fuck?! She was courting me for months! And I deemed her worthy! Humiliating Yamcha was just icing on the cake! Don’t insult her like that!”

Injured Vegeta shouted back, “It’s been 17 years! I am her husband! She is MY WIFE! She’s not some rich girl looking for a cheap thrill anymore!”

“Cheap thrill?! You call her work as a warrior a cheap thrill?! She even managed to kill some of Frieza’s soldiers!”

The prince lunged at him, surprising him, sending both into the ground.

The two ponies saw no sanity in his eyes as they rolled on the ground. The prince just wanted blood. Even a hand melting his face and a punch going completely through his torso out the other side did not stop him strangling the other’s neck.

“Do not insult her like that! You do not deserve her as your queen!”

Injured Vegeta finally kicked him off.

“As if she’d ever abandon Earth, even for you!” he shouted, jumping in the air after him.

The prince reformed quicker than he ever had before, and the fight entered a new level of savagery.

~~***~~

Farther away, Celestia saw that Twilight had collapsed. She galloped over. “Twilight? Twilight?”

“I’m sorry Princess Celestia,” she started to cry. “I can’t… I can’t…” she kept repeating as her eyes grayed out.

With the fight, Injured Vegeta raised his hand.

But the destructo disk fizzled away.

He tried a couple more times before putting his fingers to his forehead. But he couldn’t focus his energy.

“Well. Well… Looks like whatever miracle your apprentice caused just ran out.”

Injured Vegeta lit his ki blade and charged. The prince did not dodge and the blade went right through him again. This time he grabbed the other’s arm and reformed, trapping him as he gave his counterpart headbutt after headbutt with an insane grin on his face.

Injured Vegeta’s boots turned white as he supercharged his arm and ripped it out the side.

The smoke reformed almost instantly and the prince threw a punch.

Injured Vegeta crossed his arms to protect his face, only for the fist to mist and reform hitting his face as if he never blocked at all.

He crashed into the ground.

Injured Vegeta spit then wiped his mouth. “What are you, the damn liquid terminator?!”

The prince held his arms out to either side and puffed out his chest. A ripple started at one finger tip and the line of mist moved through his body until his opposite fingers reformed.

He formed his fists. “I think I’ve gotten the hang of this now.”

The group came back together around the exhausted Twilight.

“Doesn’t this count as destabilized?” Cadence shouted looking at Luna. She was still struggling against Discord wrapped around her like an anaconda.

“No. He’s still solid, but he’s found a way to destabilize part of himself as a weapon,” Luna said as they watched the prince completely destroy any attempt at a defense.

Twilight lifted her head “His clothes have changed again,” she pointed. “Isn’t that the good armor?”

“It is the one that always went to the left, yes,” Celestia said. “So, the current split has nothing to do with the original.”

“What are they screaming at each other?” Twilight asked. “I can’t tell the difference…”

“Whatever is going on, they are both fired u— and they are now biting each other,” Discord’s ears drooped.

“Did he just rip the other’s ear off?!” Cadence shouted.

“That hand is now missing a finger…” Luna muttered.

The two separated before charging at each other again.

“SHE BELONGS TO ME!” they both shouted at the same time right before their fists impacted each other’s faces.

“‘She belongs to me,’” Celestia looked at Luna, “What do they mean?”

Injured Vegeta slid across the ground on his feet and hands, his right hand now missing its pinkie and the top two sections of the ring finger.

“Stop being delusional! I exist because it was the only decision that could be made! What were you going to do, huh? Kill everyone and chain her to the bed?!”

The prince launched another huge blast. “Don’t compare me to Father!”

Injured Vegeta flipped then ran out of the way as the blast flowed at his heels. He jumped in the air.

The massive blast stopped and the prince began a scatter shot.

Injured Vegeta weaved through them only for the prince to get behind him and wrap his left arm around his neck.

“Vegeta!” Twilight shouted while everyone gasped.

“You don’t think you’re the only one who knows that trick, do you?” the prince whispered in his ear as he turned off the blade.

He plunged to the ground.

The prince landed and walked over. “You’re still moving? You would be dead right now if someone else did that to us. Just pass out already.” He bent down, “Like this apprentice said, we can’t wake up until you do.”

Injured Vegeta began to mist as he curled up with his back to the ponies. His boots turned white again and any sparkle he had vanished from view. Then a strip of blue light appeared across his back.

The prince stood up suddenly and kicked him as hard as he could, sending him tumbling.

As he rolled, injured Vegeta held his brightly blazing blue hands over his chest the best he could as the strip of light on his back became shorter and shorter until it disappeared as he came to a stop on his stomach.

Injured Vegeta shakily got to his feet through brute force of will power as he coughed and vomited blood staining the bottom of his face and his front completely red.

Knees pressed together and feet wide apart, he slowly stood upright as the bright glow still enveloped the hand on his chest. The glow soon disappeared and he took a loud deep breath like he was coming up from underwater before he coughed more blood. His mist solidified and he stood straight and tall.

The prince clapped. “Congratulations,” he said sarcastically, “Judging by your white gloves and boots you just used up whatever that was to save your life.” Then he chuckled. “Is that why you finally decided to put armor on?”

“Oh, great. Now we can’t even tell them apart!” Cadence shouted.

“We can’t tell them apart…” Celestia pointed, “Luna! They are coming together!”

“Almost,” Luna said. “They are almost where we can intervene. Their minds are almost touching because of this disagreement, despite its brutality.”

“And what are they even trying to kill each other over?” Cadence demanded. “If this level of obsession and possession-fueled savagery is just,” she glared up at Discord, “a simple difficult decision,” she looked back at the fight, “then how is he going to react when he wakes up? If this is only half and half, what will it be at 100%? What if the combination is actually multiplicative?!”

“Really Princess Cadence?” Pinkie said. “Out of everyone, you don’t know what this is about?”

“More specifically, who?” Discord smiled.

Celestia sighed. “Out with it, Discord…”

Discord raised his paw. “Ok, Pinkie on three.” He dropped his digits, “Three. Two. One…”

Pinkie gave a small hop and said “Bulma!” while Discord said “His wife!” at the same time.

“This is not love!” Cadence shouted angrily. “This is the exact opposite of love! This is toxic, twisted and evil!”

“Maybe not by our standards,” Pinkie said, “But this is love to him. When he had nothing else, not even his pride, he made her his center. She is his element.”

Luna’s wings puffed up. “The ring!”

She lit her horn and his ring appeared.

“Now is this thee ring or a copy?” Discord asked.

“Only Vegeta can pull real objects in and out of the dreamscape,” she said, holding the ring in her magic. “This will have to do.”

“So how do we use it?” Celestia asked excitedly.

“Not completely sure…” Luna said looking at the ring, “But Vegeta gave it to us in his last conscious act before he kicked us out of Pinkie’s healing plane. And he unconsciously aligned himself when I tied the ring to his left hoof mimicking his constantly wearing it on his paw. But it’s not a magical object either like when the quill mage intervened by drawing an element of laughter to add to Pinkie’s death smoke.”

Luna looked at Discord, “Thoughts?”

“Pump it full of magic and see what happens?” he shrugged.

Cadence's lack of amusement was all over her face. “Well let’s just go full sheets to the wind and fill it full of chaos magic then.”

“Hmm…” Discord scratched his chin with his free hand, “Cast chaos magic on the ring without an end goal in mind thus allowing Vegeta’s subconscious to do whatever it does with my powers…”

“Sounds like a plan!” Pinkie bounced.

“WHAT?!” Cadence shouted, starting to struggle again. “I was being sarcastic!”

“All the more reason to try it,” Discord said. “Since Cadence thinks it’s a horrible idea.”

“Luna?” Celestia asked, her smile revealing her opinion.

“Here, Discord,” Luna floated it over to him.

Discord took the ring in his magic and began pouring his magic into it.

First a line of light circled the ring, then a large amount of string appeared and slopped off of it onto the ground. Then a glowing red design of curls and dots appeared across the ring. It glowed brighter and brighter the more magic he poured into it.

Discord started to grimace and flinch in pain. “Luna, could use a little help. Blast it with dream magic.”

Luna formed a huge ball of magic and blasted the ring.

The writhing mix of blue and gray magic caused the ring’s design to switch to its actual inscription. Then the magic suddenly cut off from its source and the ring in its ball of magic floated away from them.

The magic then absorbed completely and the ring shown a bright white.

“VEGETA! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!” a screeching female voice came from the ring.

The two Vegeta’s who were about to collide again froze and stiffened midair, as if they had been struck by lightning, all-consuming terror written on both of their faces.

The shining ring produced an image around itself.

Another biped in a white dress with gloves, full of ruffles, lace, flowers and…

“That’s enough gems to fund Equestria for a year,” Celestia said, jaw on the floor by the pure mass of diamonds.

“And that tis not including her hair ornaments and veil…” Luna added.

“VEGETA!” The woman lifted her hem revealing her clear high heels and marched over. “GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW! DID YOU FORGET OUR WEDDING IS TODAY?! STOP MESSING AROUND AND GET CHANGED!”

The two dropped from the sky and stood petrified with fear next to each other with thick black smoke billowing off of them.

“Stop looking at me like a fucking idiot and hurry! We can’t blame the delay on Trunks needing a diaper change for long you know! You should have been at the altar almost 20 minutes ago now!” She wound up and threw the bouquet.

A line of black smoke raced forward and grabbed the flowers. A hand appeared and a white light raced through the cloud revealing a Vegeta in white clothes as the specters behind him fully dissipated.

“I’m sorry, Bulma,” this Vegeta said, his voice full of emotion.

“Princess Luna!”

“Not yet, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” Luna said. “While shaped he is far from solid. See the blurring as he moves and the echo in his voice? He is a flipbook of a thousand specters at once.” She turned her head and glared at her, “Or would you rather we fail again by intervening too soon?” Luna looked back at the two, “We will wait and see how far he can do so on his own.”

Bulma’s specter marched over and ripped the flowers from his hand.

“Get to the altar, NOW!” she bellowed before stomping off.

A white light suddenly blasted from her forcing everyone to close their eyes. When they opened them, they found themselves in a huge field filled with people and decorations. There was a professional camera crew and two projector screens set to the side of the rows.

“How many beings are here?” Celestia looked around. “six, seven thousand?”

“LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THIS CAKE!”

They turned around and saw they were next to a multistory building with what looked like a floor to ceiling movable glass wall folded up at either end giving unfettered access to a huge dining hall.

And the three-story cake.

“I bet you can’t even eat all of this, Princess Celestia!” Pinkie shouted.

“This has nothing to do with food,” Cadence said, “even with all these beings to feed. This is pure EGO.”

“Green is not a good color on you, Cadence,” Discord chuckled.

“I’m not jealous!” she insisted. “This is gaudy!”

“The specter is here,” Luna said, turning back to the field.

Vegeta ran up the side and hopped up on the raised platform to some giggling of the guests. Which stopped the moment Vegeta looked at them.

He scanned the audience and an uneasy silence gripped the venue.

“That is one scary face,” Discord said, putting his free paw to his chin. “Even though it’s clear as day how terrified he is from the boiling clouds, the hair on the back of my neck is going up.”

Luna giggled, “He looks like a little puffed up kitten trying to be scary. He’s adorable.”

“Only because we can see his emotions,” Twilight shivered. “If we didn’t, he’d look like a demon.”

“A man who hides his insecurities behind false bravado and cruelty,” Cadence said. “How small…”

Before Celestia could scold her, loud music started.

It became increasingly uncomfortable for Celestia, Luna and Discord as the wedding went on after seeing the memories of how Vegeta came to be here.

“I can’t believe how identical everything is between our worlds,” Twilight muttered. “This doesn’t make sense… even for a coincidence…”

Even Cadence said nothing.

~~***~~

The wedding continued, and the only levity in an otherwise sterile perfection was the very young foal with a pillow; his latest offensive in his battle against boredom currently had him on his back smacking his face with the pillow.

“Ring Bearer, the rings,” the officiant said.

The child chucked the pillow at his head, knocking off his glasses. Then the kid left the stage and sat in the lap of the mare with yellow hair they recognized as the bride’s mother from previous memories.

The officiant picked up his glasses, then grabbed the pillow. He struggled with the knot as it continued to refuse to surrender the rings.

“Who tied this,” he muttered, but it was still picked up on the microphone.

A wave of smiles passed through the guests.

“I did,” Vegeta said.

The man then handed him the pillow and Vegeta undid the knot. The officiant took the rings and tossed the pillow behind him.

Then to everyone’s surprise, the officiant handed Bulma’s ring to her first, even hers.

“Vegeta wanted you to go first,” the man whispered, “Your family’s priest, pastor and myself all agreed and assisted with the coming variations.”

Put on the spot, Bulma took the ring in one hand and Vegeta’s in the other.

Discord chuckled. “Vegeta is now whiter than you, Celestia.”

“Wow!” Pinkie bounced, “Bulma can do the Fluttershy Stare! No wonder everyone is afraid of her!”

“This surprise change must have some sort of cultural significance that Bulma would not have agreed to,” Celestia said, “if the fear and regret on his face is anything to go by.”

“He’s… trembling,” Twilight said.

“I, Bulma Briefs, take you, Vegeta, as my lawfully wedded husband. To have and to hold from this day forward; for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health. Forsaking all others. To love, honor and cherish, until death do we part.”

She gripped his hand tightly and forced the ring on his dancing finger.

“By this ring, we are wed,” she finished.

“By this ring, they are wed,” the crowd suddenly spoke in unison.

Vegeta then held out his palm to take the next ring. The officiant gripped his hand “You can do this,” he smiled, “take a deep breath. She’ll be madder if you faint.”

Vegeta nodded and the man put the ring in his hand.

“I…” he mouthed the word prince, “Vegeta, take you, Bulma, as my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward; for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health. Forsaking all others. To love, honor and obey…”

There was an audible gasp from the crowd.

“… until my last moment.” He then took a deep breath, “Where you go, I will go. Where you rest, I will rest. Your people will be my people, your God my…” Vegeta’s voice died in his throat. “Our descendants!” he blurted out after an awkward pause. “Where you die, I will die,” he continued. “Where you are buried, will be my marker. I swear this before Earth’s king, guardian and…” there was a small pause, “heaven above.”

He took her hand and prepared to put the ring on when a specter suddenly broke off and began walking backwards.

“Why would our defender abandon his love?” Luna asked, seeing the familiar torn clothes and golden flames.

“Look at his forehead!” Twilight shouted.

Everyone noticed the twin mountain mark.

“I can’t… I broke everything…” he mumbled as he stepped backwards. Then he leaned back straight as a board. “I don’t deserve…”

Instead of falling on his back, the specter fell through the ground into a rapidly widening black hole.

More specters rapidly pulled away from the main mass, like watching a slinky descending a stair.

The groom Vegeta paused putting the ring on her finger and turned around.

“Oh you son of a—!” he shouted as the last specter behind him fell and he was dragged off of his feet.

The ring flew in the air. Groom Vegeta reached for it but was pulled away.

“No!” he shouted as he disappeared into the ground.

The scene dissolved and spun around violently. It coalesced on the ground above the hole, turning into an ivory medallion with an engraving.

The group ran over as the medallion finished forming, sealing the hole with a loud thud.

Pinkie scratched the side of her head. “Well, now what?”