Rearranged

by Touch the Sky

Breaking Out Of Evil

"At last." grinned Pinkie. "The Elements of Harmony are no more, and we shall have our revenge. Let us see how Celestia stands against the might that is the Dark Princess, Rarity, and the Elements of Chaos!"
Pinkie opened her mouth and the black smoke swirled out, spiralling over to Rarity and disappearing into her mouth. Pinkie's body faded to grey.
As one, we turned towards Ponyville. Applejack and Pinkie flew overhead as Rarity led us back to Ponyville.

I never looked back. I had not the body or control to do so. But if I had, I would have seen a very worried-looking Discord snap his claws and vanish in a flash of light.

As my body continued walking, I was quite content to sit and watch. I was feeling a horrible, depressing gloom which pulled down on my senses and thoughts. Even as we entered Ponyville, I was totally ignorant of the familiar town.
The mayor walked over to Rarity and said something- I had little clue what, since I simply wasn't listening- but Rarity just laughed coldly and shoved the mayor aside sharply with one shoed hoof. Disinterestedly, I noted that the shoes Rarity was wearing were now a black, tarnished metal, as was her fire-ruby necklace. The gem itself was pale blue.

The mayor looked affronted and confused, glaring after us, but I didn't care; she was a foolish mare anyway. We kept walking until we were in the centre of town, and then Rarity stopped abruptly. A dragon was scrutinising her; I realised it was Spike. He came over.
"Hey, Rarity, girls. What's up? Why are you so... grey?"
Rarity totally ignored him- or I thought she did. The dark forces in her mind suddenly seemed to decide he was a threat, and Rarity wordlessly blasted him with a spell. Spike flew backwards and slammed into a wall, sinking unconscious to the ground

The crowd of ponies who had been watching us in curiosity scattered, screaming. Rarity turned to us with an awful grin and said viciously, "Get them."
Applejack launched herself upwards instantly, following a crowd of fleeing pegasi at high speed. She tore through them like a tornado, and through the haze of my gloom I heard the snaps as several wings broke and their owners plummeted to earth.
But that was all I saw, as my body lurched away in pursuit of three young fillies who I suddenly realised were the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The awful realisation that my body wanted to hurt the sweet little fillies, maybe even kill them, hit me hard and I snapped back to my senses. I fought, fought the gloom, fought for control, but I was shoved back down effortlessly, my screams smothered by the darkness. I screamed silently as my body pounced for the flagging Crusader, Sweetie Belle. I struck forcefully out at the darkness in a last-ditch attempt to get it out of my head, and for a fleeting second I regained control. My leap fell short and I staggered, allowing Sweetie to pull away, before the darkness ripped control back from me and began to pursue the white unicorn filly again.

But now the haze of gloom had almost fully lifted, and I wrestled ferociously for control even as the darkness attempted to push me back down. But all of a sudden, I saw Fluttershy shoot past me and knock Sweetie's legs from beneath her; Applebloom and Scootaloo heard Sweetie's cry and skidded to a halt, beginning to run towards their fallen friend, but they were too far away, too slow to save Sweetie now. Even as I struggled desperately against the shadows in my head Fluttershy reared up over Sweetie, preparing to plunge her hooves down on the filly's small form.

Scootaloo, Applebloom and I screamed in unison; but as Fluttershy's hooves arced down there was a flash; when it faded there was a high-pitched squeak as Fluttershy's hooves pounded down on... a rubber chicken.
Fluttershy stared around in confusion, but then spotted the other two fillies and ran at them. Even as she turned her back to kick them, there was another flash and her back hooves sunk into a pair giant marshmallows.

Fluttershy looked totally baffled, pulling her hooves free of the soft, sticky pink and white sweets, but then Discord appeared, the three fillies floating like balloons above his head. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom looked just as confused as Fluttershy, but Scootaloo was looking overjoyed, buzzing her little wings, apparently under the impression that she was flying.

Fluttershy stared at Discord in angry disbelief, but before she could speak a regal tone sounded from behind us. Applejack looked down from where she was still breaking wings, Rainbow and Rarity's spells fizzed out of life, and Pinkie glanced around from where she was threatening some grounded pegasi with a plank of wood.

"Stop this at once." came the voice; and there in the centre of town stood Celestia, Luna at her side. Discord flashed over to join them, the Cutie Mark Crusaders still bobbing over his head. Luna stepped forward, looking beseechingly at Rarity.
"Rarity, I know you're still in there, and the rest of you too. I'm telling you, whatever you're feeling right now, I'm begging you, fight it. Drive this darkness out of your heads right now."

Rarity and the rest of the Elements of Chaos stared at her for a full minute. Then Rarity started to laugh; all of them did. Except me.
"Oh Luna, you haven't changed a bit. You were so foolish to give up the power we gave you. But you missed your chance. We have Rarity now, and the Elements." Then, speaking up, Rarity cried, "Hear me,all of ponykind: the era of Harmony is done. The reign of Celestia is ended. We shall be your new rulers. With the Elements of Chaos at our disposal, none can stand against us. Such foolish illusions as friendship and love will cease to be. Only fear and misery shall remain." Then, Pinkie added menacingly,
"Doesn't that sound fun?"

There was silence. Then Celestia said sternly, "Rarity, this is not you. Fight it. You too, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Twilight. You can beat this."
Rarity scoffed. "How many times do we need to tell you, you old has-been? Rarity and the Elements are lost to you. Even now, the ponies you have come to know sink deeper and deeper out of your reach. Soon we shall absorb their pitiful souls and take hold of these bodies permanently." But even as she said this, Rarity glanced at me; the shadow knew I was not beaten. I had stopped fighting to listen, but as I felt the gloom begin to settle on me again I once more began to rage against the sea of darkness as it threatened to pull me under.

Again I regained control, this time for a few more seconds. Quickly I blurted, "It's me! I'm still fight-" before I was shoved aside again.
But now Luna turned to me. "Yes, Twilight." she urged. Keep fighting. Drive out the darkness. Do not let it consume you."
I took heart and kept fighting. The darkness fought with a new desperation against me, but I burst free again and cried, "I'm still fighting! Rarity, you have to-" before I was swallowed up yet again.
Luna continued my cry. "Fight it, Rarity! Fight the darkness!" Soon it became a chant, with all of the ponies creeping out of hiding places to pound their hooves and chant, "Fight it, Rarity! Fight the darkness!" over and over. I surfaced for ten seconds or so, and took up the chant with them.

Rarity's eyes flicked around at all of them, her head turning abruptly to face each new voice, her dark grey curls bouncing with each movement. Applejack and Rainbow were looking confused now. I hoped it was because the strong ponies imprisoned inside their head were fighting for freedom. But Pinkie and Fluttershy's eyes stayed cold and stony, their eyes like chips of flint. Pinkie, having been held by the shadow longest, would be weakest, while Fluttershy wasn't really a good fighter; she was good at intimidating other beings, but not so much use in hoof-to-hoof battle.

Rainbow broke free first, only for a second, and she only had time to gloat, "Aw, yeah! I'm-" before she was forced back down. Moments later, Applejack got free, shouted, "Horseapples to dark-" and then vanished once more. The chant intensified, giving me new heart to fight, and after several more escapes, each longer than the last, I finally forced the darkness out of my head. I broke out and, with a hiss, a puff of black smoky cloud hissed out of my mouth and zoomed over into Rarity's. I looked down at my hooves to see purple colour creeping back up them, and smiled.

Luna galloped over gleefully and nuzzled me in congratulations, and then, with a mutual look of determination, we turned back to the other Elements.

Luna and I shouted the chant to the sky- "Fight it, Rarity! Fight the darkness!" and marched around the Elements, encouraging them to fight. By now, Fluttershy was beginning to look edgy, and I guessed that the real Fluttershy must have attacked the darkness. Now only Pinkie and Rarity stood impassively. I wondered why they didn't move to stop us, but they seemed zoned out, and I wasn't going to protest that they weren't attacking us.

Rainbow and Applejack continued to surface regularly, and soon they were nearing the point where I had got totally free. Fluttershy eventually broke out for a few seconds, and only made frightened whimpering sounds before she was dragged back down.

But still, Rarity and Pinkie were impassive. Even after Rainbow and Applejack got rid of their darkness, and the smoky shadow had gone back to Rarity, the alicorn and pegasus stayed motionless, eyes fixed straight ahead, twisted sneers on their faces.
Eventually, an hour after the princesses had arrived, Fluttershy threw off the encroaching darkness and regained her colours. The chant died away into silence, and the four of us- Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy and I- stood watching Rarity and Pinkie for any movement of emotion. But there was nothing.

Applejack waved an orange hoof in front of Rarity's nose. There was no reaction. Applejack turned away. "Huh. So what'll we do now?"
Discord, who had been snoozing on a cotton-candy cloud, zapped awake. "Oh, Applejack, let me fix that." He lifted her wings away and took Rainbow's horn. He duplicated the wings before colouring one pair cyan and the other yellow. He turned the horn purple and affixed each body part on to the correct pony. Rainbow immediately took her wings for a test flight.
While she was zooming around above us, I looked quizzically at Discord and asked how he knew what we were really supposed to be.

Discord rolled his eyes-literally, removing them from their sockets and rolling them along the ground- and then said, "I'm the lord of Chaos, Twilight. If I didn't know when things had been mixed up, I would be awful at my job."
Before I could reply, Applejack gave a cry. I turned around to see that both Rarity and Pinkie had unfrozen.

Rarity looked over at me and the others. "Oh, so you four got free."
"Yes." I said fiercely. "So you don't have the Elements any more. And soon, Pinkie and Rarity will get free too, and then we'll have defeated you again."

Rarity and Pinkie both started to laugh. ""Oh, foolish ponies. You won't get Rarity or Pinkie back now. At soon as you got free, Twilight, we began to absorb the souls of the two least resisting Elements. That absorption is now complete; and your friends are lost forever." Rarity- if you could call her that- spread her wings. "We have full control of these bodies now, and with the princess of Sorcery at our disposal, we have no need for the Elements of Chaos. Now, Equestria shall fall into our control, and you, Twilight Sparkle, shall be the first to be sacrificed to aid our reign."

Author's Note:

The next one is the finale. I promise to make it as long and epic as possible.

Thanks to all of you who have stayed with this story this long!

Comments

[Nolongerposting]

You lied! You said that this one was going to be the last chapter! Not that I'm complaining really. As always great chapter and I can't wait for the next one!

[Touch the Sky]

2685546 Did I? Sorry.

Last chapter will take a while, so you'll just have to wait and see...

I'm going to be sad when this story is over; I've enjoyed writing it.

[Nolongerposting]

2689066
There always is mixed feeling when you complete a piece. First you're like because you finished a story and then you're like because you loved writing this story and you're sad that it has to come to an end and then you're like because you don't know what to write next. Or at least those are the stages I got through. I finished a story yesterday and I'm glad that I got it done but now I have no clue what to write. Should I write a prequel to it (I have the basic ideas for it) or should I pick up one of the old pieces of writings that I threw into a pile and just found?

[Touch the Sky]

2689766 I have a Scootaloo story still going but I'm enjoying this one more.

I thought about writing the dark version of this story like I mentioned in the author's note of chapter 6, but I'm not sure.