//------------------------------// // Diamond Tiara's?! Journal of the unexplained 9 // Story: Pinkie Pie's Fourth-Wall Breaking Variety Show // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Kendell2 "Ugh..." Diamond Tiara muttered, getting up. They were now on the edge of town. "Why is Sweetie Belle an Alicorn?!" "She's not," Discord replied. "But she looks like one!" "Yes, she LOOKS like one." "..." Diamond Tiara's eyes widened. "She's...She's one of the Nightmares?!" "Bingo," Discord replied, the sound of a game show prize buzzer ringing.  "But if she's..." "Yeah, seems so." Diamond slowly trotted over to a nearby tree and beat her head against it, then trotted over. "Why is it they're only the bad guy now that I'm the GOOD GUY?!"  "I'm guessing Irony, which I admit is a lot less funny when you're on the wrong end of it," Discord replied, shrugging. "Being good is a drag, ain't it?" a voice asked.  "Huh?" Diamond asked, looking around. "Uh oh..." Discord said, looking surprised. "Down hear! In the conveniently placed puddle!" Diamond Tiara looked down, seeing a conveniently placed puddle and finding Ispita's unicorn self staring back at her. "Who are you?!" "Oh, just my wife in an alternate universe," Discord replied, facepawing. "Name's Ispita, or was it Lady Babylon? She's just as evil as I used to be." "Oh I wouldn't say evil, I'm just...morally challenged," replied the Fallen Draconequus nonchalantly.  "I thought you were a good guy in our universe after you got hit by that reality restructuring wave," Discord replied, annoyed. Ispita's face became one of fury. "I'm the original, not that lousy knockoff! Why do you think I'm DOING this?! I can't stand there's a version of me out there that's BLECH! A good influence!" Diamond Tiara blinked. "Petty much?" "Oh like you BOTH weren't." "...Guilty as charged...so what? You're helping the Crusaders take over for SPITE?" "No, I'm helping the Crusaders take over because of WRATH, toots," Ispita replied, emerging from the puddle and causing Diamond to backpeddle with a cry.  Discord formed a red sphere of energy in his paws and threw it at Ispita, who smirked, eyes turning orange with purple irises that looked very much like his.  Her horn glowed and a cursed seal formed in front of her, sending the sphere sailing into the sky where it would explode in space. "What?! I'm stronger than you are!" Discord retorted. "Come now, Dissy, did you really think I'd appear directly in front of you if I wasn't prepared for you?" Ispita asked, giving a chuckle, pointing to the pendant that meant Discord's powers couldn't effect her directly. "Besides, four Nightmares walking around. Everypony giving into the desire to spend their day wallowing in childish impulses! You know what that means!" Discord blinked. "Oh...right...You're the Spirit of Temptation." "Exactly! You can't hurt me with your power, and with this power up, I'm strong enough to deal with Destruction's!" Ispita replied, smirking, the shadow of her true form rising up behind her, cackling. "And I've got four clients who are too insane to know better than to hand me what I ask for! Wonderful, ain't it?" Ispita then blinked as she was blasted by a beam of solar energy. Discord and Diamond looked up to see 'Sunny Days' trot up. "Oh...hi Celly! I can explain!" Discord exclaimed.  "Wait, Celestia?" Diamond asked. "You're Sunny Days?! I'm so confused." Celestia glared with a sigh. "That WAS a secret I was trying to maintain given I'm currently on the other side of the universe, which is a long way to go even for a Mortal World bound deity...Considering you tried to blast Ispita instead of join her, I'm assuming something's changed." "I swear on The Anti-Mother of All Things I'm no longer evil!" Discord replied. "And that I had absolutely nothing to do with this." "He's right, P-Princess Celestia..." Celestia looked down at Diamond Tiara, who was staring up at her.  "I freed Discord, and he could have hurt me but didn't...he's been free for weeks and hadn't done a thing..." Celestia blinked...Discord jaw dropped. "...We talk about this later, Discord." "I'm good with later." Suddenly, two giant hooves emerged from the fire and smoke where Ispita had been standing and grabbed the three, Ispita emerging gigantic with Witch Weed Potion on her lips. "Good? Blech! Gag me! You two know you can't be good, being good is so much work and neither of you has the stomach for it.  Ispita turned to purple smoke and flew the trio further away, into Everfree and throwing them aside before returning to her sealed form. "Come on, Diamond, Dissy. Do you really want to be goodie goods when you can have a piece of the pie?" she asked, chuckling. "Come on, think of the beautiful chaos we could cause joining forces with four little impressionable Nightmares? And Diamond...You could be a QUEEN. Think on that." "Don't listen to her!" Celestia replied, firing a solar beam at Ispita, who countered with Witch Weed induced bolts of lightning from her eyes.  "It'd be so easy, wouldn't it?" Ispita asked. "Your choice: the long hard way of a hero, or the easy way of a conqueror..." Diamond blinked as Ispita spun around, the trio now in a black void and Ispita holding an electric guitar she was somehow holding with her hooves. "She's going to sing?" "To be fair the only reason I didn't is my voice actor has admitted he's not good at it," Discord admitted. [=All Dogs Go To Heaven the Series - Take The Easy Way Out=] "Take the easy, easy way, easy way. Take the easy, easy way out. Take the easy, easy way, easy way. Why not take the easy way out?" Ispita sung, her horn glowed and she teleported behind Diamond Tiara. "Hey, Little D., I can plainly see, Being good rubs your fur the wrong way. Don't miss out on the cream of the crop, Don't you miss just having it your way?" Ispita sung, Diamond finding herself on a throne with a golden scepter in her hoof and a crown on her head.  "Isn't that the kind of life you've been pining for? Don't be a pony scout! Take the easy, easy way, easy way. Why not take the easy way out?" "All hail Queen Diamond Tiara!" called a crowd of ponies that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Diamond looked rather tempted. Ispita teleported behind Discord and they found themselves in his chaotic world.  "Be the good seed? Its a pain indeed. It's a rule that infrequently fails. So just say "nope" to the hopeless dope Who says to silence chaos' bells!" the fallen Draconequus sung, Discord looking around the random chaos he so enjoyed, being handed a fourth dimensional ice cream cone. "You poor souls, it's your lucky day. I'll remind you what it's about, How to take the easy, easy way, easy way. Take the easy, easy way out. Take the easy, easy way, easy way. Why not take the easy way O-U--" Ispita sang, a hoof on both their shoulders as adoring ponies and chaos tempted them. "STOP!" The three turned to see Sunny Days, who fired a light beam at Ispita, blindsiding her and knocking her away with little damage.  "Did those things bring you happiness, Or was that self deception? Was it worth losing a friend?" Celestia/Sunny Days sung. Discord's mind traveled back to Paradise Estate, Diamond remembered Silver. "Friends? How's about world domination!" Ispita interfered, slamming into 'Sunny Day' flank first and launching her aside, then using a beam to turn her into a red and white wolf pup. "Remember the old sense of humor, Dissy?" Ispita asked, a bit seductively.  "It's not just about how you two feel You make some happy being good souls," Sunny Days sung, getting back to her ho-paws. Discord felt his blood run cold realize the look on her face was directed at HIM. "Those you love's joy should be worth the price Of having a heart instead of a black hole." Discord and Diamond looked to each other. Discord SWORE he saw Shady manifest and put a hoof on his shoulder. Diamond remembered a picnic with her parents and Silver Spoon. "Yeah right!" Sunny Days, in her current state, had to run when Ispita snarled and chased after her in the form of a demonic purple whippet wearing a black leather jacket. "Come to the big pay day that awaits you. Soon you are certain to shout.
Take the easy, easy way, easy way.
Why not take the easy way out?" Ispita sung, teleporting back as her normal self and putting the two once more as ruler over a kingdom of chaos and princess with servants catering to her every whim. "This dance is one you know how to prance,
Stick to what you know, don't take a big chance," Ispita sung, an image of the two as heroic knights running off into battle playing...then the two being burned to ashes by a dragon and their graves being set up. "Get my drift?" "Remember Paradise Estate, Dissy?" Celestia asked, sorrow clear in her voice. "Past is in the past," Ispita replied. "Look towards the future you two!" she tempted the duo, showing said future of them ruling Equestria with the Nightmare CMC+1...now with Silver Spoon at Diamond's side. "Isn't that the kind of life you've been pining for?
It's yours without a doubt!
If you take the easy, easy way, easy way.
Take the easy, easy way out.
Take the easy, easy way, easy way.
Why not take the easy way?
Take the easy, easy way, easy way.
Why not take the easy way O-U-T, OUT!" Ispita's number finished with them back in Everfree Forest.  "So, what do you say, Dissy? Diamond? Do we have deal?" she asked, holding out her hoof, which was presently on fire. "Don't worry, the fire is just for theatrical reasons. It's not hot. Well, no hotter than I am! Haha!" Discord and Diamond looked to one another. "...I ruled the world for a thousand years...it was fun...I guess..." "And I was a bully for about a year or two...it was kinda fun." Sunny Days tried to interject...but found she could now only howl and whimper, Ispita giving a devilish smirk.  "...But..." "But?" Ispita asked. Discord chuckled. "Me turning BACK to being bad? As if! That'd be PREDICTABLE!" Diamond gave one of her own. "And daddy's taught me business! I'm never supposed to take a deal without a competent lawyer looking at the contract!" "So no deal!" both said. Ispita snarled in rage. "You two-OW!" Celestia tackled her and bit and clawed her before being knocked off, Discord reverting her to normal. "Discord! You...you chose right this time..." Discord gave a chuckle. "If I made the same choice EVERY time, then I wouldn't be chaos, would I?" Ispita growled. "Fine! No more Mrs. Nice Demon! I tried offering you the easy way out, but if you won't take it..." [=Okami- Battle of the Spider Queen=] Ispita's body turned into purple smoke. Discord noticed her essence depart and realized she'd left an Avatar.  The smoke formed into eight huge legs, each slamming down one at a time, each looking like backwards hooves with long kimono sleeves on them. A hideous massive spider with what looked like a closed flower forming it's abdomen rose up.  A eyeless face with spider-like mandibles around the muzzle looked up, an unkept stringy mane dangling down around her head. "We'll just do this the HARD WAY! It's a simple solution really, MURDER!" Discord tried to snap his fingers and dispose of the avatar in and instant, but of course that wouldn't work. "...And she took us to Everfree...OF COURSE she'd take us to the one place my powers won't effect the environment!...And I just realized, she can actually kill me because she's technically part of my family by marriage!" "What is she?!" Diamond Tiara asked, looking at the horrifying beast in horror. Discord took out a manual and flopped through it. "According to this, this Avatar is called the Jorogumo Queen, which is a type of monster from Neighponese mythology with similarities to a Succubus...also called the Prostitute Spider...wow...that's VERY fitting for her when you think about it..."

"What's a prostitute?" Diamond asked, cocking her head. "Never ask that question again, you're better off not knowing," Sunny Day replied as the massive spider-like abomination roared at them in preparation for a fight. Alex Warlorn Discord said, "Don't worry! I'm sure even if we get stuck, the Elements' pets will band together and save every pony!" - 'The entire world, the land, the stars, the sun, all cutie marks, the universe in all it's complexity and simplicity, is AWESOME!' Thought Gummy and he and the other pets of the Elements of Harmony dutifully swayed their heads left and right to Nightmare Cantata's singing. As completely enthralled as the ponies, dragon, and zebra and donkeys and mule. - Discord tossed away the little looking-mirror he'd been using. "Never mind." "Why did you think they'd be immune?" Diamond Tiara asked. "I mean, if it was shown they weren't as bright as ponies, and Sweetie Belle's singing only effected intelligent beings... but given how her singing has no taste barrier (or is Octavia not effected?) or apparently has no species barrier given Spike was affected... and I HAVE seen how smart they can be...it would be REALLY contrived and forced if they weren't affected. And what are you doing with that lampshade?" "Nothing." "DIE!" "Oh right! Her!" MtangaLion Sunny Days sprang in front of them and projected a golden dome. The monstrous spider's hooves smashed against it, testing the barrier. "Get to cover, little one. This isn't safe for you." Diamond Tiara drew a deep breath... courage was still a strange thing to her. "No, I want to fight! Uncle, may I?" Discord was digging through invisible pockets for anything that might help, and the accumulated junk made a pile bigger than he was.. "Oh, by all means. No need for subtlety, dear. Show us what you're made of!" Diamond chuckled nervously. "Here goes. This still creeps me out a bit..." The earth pony filly closed her eyes tight, then snapped open bright yellow eyes with red pupils. Changes rippled down her body, turning her into something like a hybrid of a pony and an earth dragon. Her hooves reshaped themselves into clawed paws, fangs grew in her equine muzzle, and a longer tail sprouted with spines and a sharp fin. Sunny's shield nearly faltered, she was so surprised. "You made her a yokai?" Discord shrugged. "*Provisional* junior grade. She's still alive, after all." Diamond Tiara pawed at the ground and charged through the shield, headbutting a giant leg with amplified earth pony strength. The spider swayed, but immediately regained its balance and stabbed at her with one leg after another. Diamond grinned wildly. "Twitchy tail means... attack from the left!" She rolled right, dodging a strike. "Ear flip, roll forward!" The spider missed again, roaring. "That's no light commitment to make," said Sunny. "You're *responsible* for her well being, potentially for the rest of her life and beyond. That's..." "So unlike me?" asked Discord. A miniature thunderstorm formed above his head and poured rain down, while he looked all soaked and dejected beneath it. "I wronged her terribly, with plans to do far worse, and once I was reformed I felt, well... awful about it. So sue me." He banged a gavel on thin air, then tossed it away over his shoulder. "Right! Duck! Jump!" called Diamond Tiara. Both ears twitched as she somersaulted. "You're open!!" She bucked the spider-thing in the jaw, and it staggered, flailing. One leg flew directly at her. Diamond shrieked in fright, bracing herself... Only for Discord to teleport over, tossing her to safety and taking the hit himself. The draconequus grew twenty feet tall, snorting, and "put up his dukes." "What say you, chap? Shall we have a go at it, then? Duke Wellinghoof rules?" He pulled out an ACME extendable boxing glove and pointed it at the spider beast, pointblank. "Or not!" He pulled the trigger, knocking the beast flying through the air. Kendell2 Ispita's avatar snarled, getting back up, webs forming around her maul before she fired, managing to surprise Discord and wrap him up. She then charged purple energy into her claws, jumped and knocked her attackers away with a shockwave. "Darn it! So this is what it's like to actually be VULNERABLE!" Discord muttered, holding his head. "Benefit of having a pendant that neutralizes your powers," the spider beast mocked, then summoned a shadowy form of what looked like Ispita's true form, which seemed to collect energy into an orb. "She must have a weak point," Sunny Days replied. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TO THE RESCUE!" "What?!" Diamond Tiara asked, expecting Nightmares to come to Ispita's aid...only for a teenaged, orange and purple dragon to come flying out of the forest and body slam Ispita full force, sending her flying into a tree. "What?!" the spider beast echoed, getting back to her feet. A white and purple Siren swam out of the forest and sang one long note, sending visible mana infused soundwaves to buffet the spider beast and drive her back. A yellow buffalo charged out of the woods and slammed into her, head first. Before she could counter, the buffalo turned into a yellow Earth Dragoness and lifted her, throwing her across the clearing. The dragon then turned back into Applebloom. "Are yah...okay..." The Yokai, redeemed Draconequus, and avatar of the sun goddess blinked, staring at the shapeshifting Earth Pony, teenaged dragon, and Siren, who blinked back. "Sweetie?! Why aren't you a Nightmare?!" Diamond Tiara asked in confusion. "What?! When did I...oh...oh...We respawned didn't we?" Sweetie Belle asked. Celestia's eyes went wide. "Oh no...if you're here, that means this is worse than I thought! The spell isn't broken, it was twisted!" "What spell?!" Diamond asked. "I'm so confused!" "Hey, where's Button?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking around. "DIE ALL OF YOU!" the spider beast roared, rising back up and forming the energy ball... "Hey I remember this boss!" yelled a glow in the dark version of Button Mash, swinging from a vine and wrapping it around one of the hooks on the flower making up the spider's rear. "Oh, there he is...he was a sea pony because he wanted to be with me but he couldn't go anywhere like that so I told him he should pick something else and he thought glowing in the dark would be fun," Sweetie Belle explained. "Tie vines to the hooks to expose her weak point!" Button Mash yelled, swinging to dodge a swipe from one of the eight arms of the beast. "What...how...when...ugh..." Diamond Tiara muttered, fainting again. "I have no idea what's going on...and I LOVE IT!" Discord exclaimed. MtangaLion "What... what just happened?" said Shining Armor groggily. Cadence shook her head, trying to get her memories back in order. She'd sensed an ancient and powerful changeling beacon, and teleported herself, Shining, and Hercules Beetle straight to the source to investigate. They'd found the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting into trouble (what else?) with powers they could barely control or understand. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had decided that they liked being a siren and a dragon better than they liked being ponies, and their magic had been growing unchecked. Apple Bloom had been on the cusp of turning herself into a filly Alicorn. Thank goodness Button Mash had decided to be the voice of reason. She'd been in the middle of counseling Apple Bloom, when the sun had risen... and... that couldn't be right, could it? Kifuko and Midnight teleporting to them out of nowhere and casting a enormous magic-surge fueled spell? But the fillies were here, adorably playing patty-cake, and the entire statue garden had moved and seemed to be hovering in the air, surrounded by some kind of barrier spell. Shining, Hercules, and Cicada were watching the fillies play, mesmerized by their sheer cuteness, but somepony else *wasn't* here. "What happened to the Crusaders?" said Cadence, staggering to her hooves. "Where did they go?" Hercules waved a hoof distractedly. "They left to go fight the Belladonna with Discord and those other ponies, my Queen. So cute..." "A feast of pure, innocent joy!" buzzed Cicada. "I could watch this all day," murmured Shining. Cadence blocked Shining's line of sight and gave him a quick kiss. "*You* should have built up a tolerance by now, Shiny. I'm going to find out what's going on here!" But when she tried to fly through the barrier, it pushed her back, sending her tumbling through the air before she righted herself. "Believe me," rumbled Snow Bound, "it is better if you stay inside." The huge white wolf had appeared next to Shining between one blink and the next. Shining nearly jumped out of his hide. "Gah, why!? I mean, why can't she get through, not why are you here scaring me half to death again? Actually, the second one too..." Blanky yapped at Kifuko, who giggled and threw her little hooves wide. "Doggy!" Midnight started tying a purple ribbon on Blanky's tail. Snow Bound stared, then shook his head. "It will take some time to explain fully, but time is badly twisted, and Ponyville has been taken over by Nightmares. You cannot go out, because gods cannot enter the world in two places at once." "I'll go, then!" declared Shining Armor. He trotted to the barrier and bonked his muzzle on it, yelping. Curious, Hercules trotted over to the barrier and stuck a hoof through, waving it around with no trouble at all. "Does somebody want to explain this?" yelled Shining, holding his nose. Snow Bound growled thoughtfully. "No. I would get in trouble with your sister." "Now you listen here," shouted Shining. He stopped. "Ugh... how can I rant at you properly with you looming over me like that?" He marched over to the closest statue and slapped it with a hoof. Hercules Beetle blinked. "Is that wise?" He blinked again. "Interesting..." As an adult male griffon, Shining Armor was plenty big enough to stand toe to talons with the Blank Wolf and stare him right in the eyes. He grinned and spread his wings to look even more intimidating. "Now listen here, you..." Cadence flew over, ooohing. "Oh, Shiiiny... As long as we're stuck here, why don't you touch the rest of the statues?" She grinned naughtily, nuzzling fur and feathers. "We could use this." Shining blushed, scratching his crest with a claw. "You know I can't say no to that face, Cady." Alex Warlorn In Cloudsdale meanwhile, there were a lot more unicorns and earth ponies... thanks to a set of mechanical wings that could be harmlessly added or removed with no pain or mess, and responded to the user's own nervous system. It came with the same enchantment that enabled users of the gossamer wing spell to fly with experience. This was naturally a boom to Cloudsdale's economy... there were some pegasi who felt the blurring of the lines of the tribes would leave to pegasi losing their nitch in the weather system... but after listening to Nightmare Cantata's singing, they decided instead that everything was awesome, and it was better to all live in harmony. Also, the Wolderbolt tickets had overwhelmingly sold out. The wonderbolts found themselves almost being worshipped by their fans. And Rainbow Dash meanwhile was given full Wonderbolt status, why should she have to go through the academy, and go through the written and physical test like everypony else? She was RAINBOW DASH, and that was reason enough. Everypony in Cloudsdale was grinning. The ratio of foals to adults seemed to be rising... but nopony noticed with the new machine made out of electricity and clouds taking care of their mundane needs. And the electricity through Cloudsdale was used to create a GIANT MMO style game system, that could be accessed practical anywhere. Allow foals to engage in games of laser-tag without restrictions within the city, and fight virtual monsters right in the middle of town... nopony could get hurt of course, it was just a game after all. Alex Warlorn "Okay...are the Apple Bloom and the others I saw fakes... or are these clones and some pony got their species wrong?" Diamond Tiara asked herself staring at the CMC... Scootaloo swiftly wrapped up Diamond's tail with her own and pulled her back from Temptation's venomous bite. "Explain later! Hide Diamond!" The dragon said. "NO!" Diamond Tiara hissed. "Hey..." Sweetie Belle said...."Diamond Tiara... you look different somehow." The siren said rather ironically. MtangaLion Oh, no! thought Diamond Tiara. Meeting other ponies again was going to be awkward enough as it was... especially those four ponies... and she hadn't thought to change back or use the disguising spell. They could see what she was! "I... I can explain!" stammered Diamond the dragon-pony chaos beast, rather like a rich snobby pony caught enjoying common apple fritters. "Diamond, watch out!" shouted Button. Diamond sensed the clawed hoof stabbing down towards her an instant later. No time to think... she simply reacted, instantly and improbably swapping places with a nearby boulder in a poof of smoke. "Well, that tears it," she said, sighing. Diamond waited for them to mock her hybrid form... which she was actually starting to like, darn it... "Neato," said Scootaloo. "Did she find..." She paused to dodge another swipe, then flew over and strafed Temptation's avatar, trying to blind it with a blast of flame. "The statue garden too?" "Ah don't know!" howled Apple Bloom, currently a wolf for extra dodging speed. "Ah never tried turning into things *in between* the things in the statues. Anypony got a lasso?" Button grinned. "What adventuring party inventory don't have a rope and a ten-hoof pole?" He pulled the rope out of some pocket nowhere. Diamond gawked, jealous of how easily the Crusaders fought as a unit, even chatting in the middle of the fight without missing a step. "I thought this was supposed to be *my* adventure!" she whined. "I was going to save everypony. I'm the one with the special talent for telling other ponies what to do!" Incredibly, the four Crusaders stopped what they were doing long enough to gather in front of her, leaving Temptation's avatar hogtied and struggling. Glow in the dark colt with a floating computer game console. Dragoness. Siren. And... Apple Bloom, so many different spirits and forms, all in the one earth pony filly looking at her now. "So what do *you* think we should do?" "You... you guys..." Diamond found herself wanting laugh and cry all at once, wanted to slap the Crusaders and hug them both... as the snotty, whiny attitude drained right out of her. She knew the Sweetie Belle was doing that, but that was fine... she *wanted* it gone, she wanted to be better than... the pony she used to be. "Let Button Mash call the battle, just like you've been doing," said Diamond Tiara a bit sheepishly. "He's the best at that." Button Mash's floating screen lit up with "Diamond Tiara has joined the party." The colt's eyes promptly bugged out. "Holy... your stats... You're a WHAT?!" He shook his head. "Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, tie that monster up tighter and expose that weak point!" "Gotcha!" said Apple Bloom, smoothly flying towards the Belladonna as a pegasus, then turning into an earth dragon for extra strength. "Hold that tight, right there!" "On it!" roared Scootaloo. Button Mash pointed a hoof. "Diamond, start charging a Chaos Bomb." Diamond blinked. "But, that won't work! Direct chaos attacks are being suppressed." Button chuckled. "It'll work... when you do a Combo Attack with dark magic. Sweetie?" Sweetie Belle had a suspicious look. "Chaos? Why do you have..." The siren shook herself. "We'll talk about that later. Let's try it!" Diamond gulped, looking at Sweetie... and felt that odd resonance again... not hurting her like being close to the Nightmare Sweetie, but... supporting her? Willing to give her a chance? "O... okay!" Diamond lifted her foreclaws and opened her fanged mouth wide, as if she was going to breath fire herself. A gold and red and plaid sphere of light formed, growing larger as she poured her magic into it. Sweetie Belle starting singing and chanting strange words, and inky darkness swirled in, merging with the sphere. "Wait for it..." said Button. "Now, fire!" Diamond spat the burning sphere at the Belladonna, and it smacked into the exposed weak point, dead on! "No!!" roared Temptation's voice, as jets of light started to pour out of the crumbling avatar. "I won't be mocked by a bunch of foals! I won't! This isn't..." As one, the Crusaders and Diamond Tiara turned away and struck cool poses, not watching the titanic explosion. Alex Warlorn 'So Sweetie Belle, and the others are all likely Nightmares... and the Elements of Harmony are all totally into the utopia they're selling... ' Diamond Tiara thought. "HELLO. I AM A DE-STRESSER ROBOT. WOULD YOU LIKE A MASSAGE? I AM DETECTING STRESS AND ZEROED IN ON YOUR LOCATION." Said a floating mechanical pony without a lower body. "I ALSO HAVE SMOOTH JAZZ MUSIC TO PLAY, CAN PROVIDE SOME HERBAL TEA, OR BURN SOME INCENSE FOR YOU. I ALSO COME WITH TETRIS." "Uh... are we sure this new society they're building is a bad thing?" One of the foals said. MtangaLion There was a shimmering in the air near the Crusaders. Expanding cylinders of light formed, reaching clear to the clouds, and when they vanished, Button Mash's Nightmare stood right in front of them. "I wonder what you're supposed to be." Another floating game console appeared beside him. "Time travel? Alternate universe? Just a glitch in the game? Not that it really matters, but it's still a pretty cool plot twist." The little Nightmare had a shiny bronze coat, with a colt-sized horn and wings, and red slit-pupiled eyes. He wore cool but impractical "techno-fantasy" barding, with a bigger and fancier propeller beanie than the one Button Mash had lost. His color-shifting mane blew in its own dramatic breeze. "Hi! I'm Nightmare Pixel." A startled Scootaloo-dragon lifted a foreclaw to swat at him. "No!" yelped their Button Mash. "No, don't... He's level 99." Scootaloo froze. Nightmare Pixel chuckled. "Thanks! I'm pretty proud of that, you know... I was only level 10 when the plot forced me to change classes. I bet I could face-tank all of you and knock you out with auto-attacks. Well, not Discord... yet! But why would I attack you? I want to help you! I'm going to tell everyone how they can get stronger, just like I did." Sweetie Belle found herself shaking and floating lower, leaning against her own Button Mash for support. "W- Why?" "Because, that's the best part of having unlimited game playing time," said Nightmare Pixel matter-of-factly. "If there's a perk or a powerup, I want it. If there's a beneficial stat, it must go higher!" He waggled a hoof at them. "Why are you so *weak*? That's what you should be asking yourself, Sweetie. Ponies who cruise along through the story mode when they could be level-grinding have no right to be jealous." "Every hour you're not immersed in the game," Pixel continued, "you're just going to fall farther behind. You should have seen how Twilight Sparkle's eyes lit up when I gave her my book." He reached into his own inventory and dropped four strategy guides at their hooves" - Nightmare Pixel's Ultimate Powerleveling Guide! - the front cover read. - Take everything that's not nailed down! Find all the secret loot and bonus bosses! Learn to glitch like a pro! - "And when I told her that Gilda was already level 20 and Trixie was 25... Good luck getting her out of *that* study-frenzy." Apple Bloom turned into her earth-pony self, looking Nightmare Pixel right in the eyes. "You said the game forced ya to change your 'class.' Is this *really* what ya want?" Pixel grinned. "Of course it is! Well, that and breaking my own level cap. Ninety-nine is just so small... don't you think?" Button Mash sighed, shaking his head, pain in his eyes... or was it pity? "Pixel... did you forget? There's more to games than just stats and fighting!" Pixel froze, twitching like an out-of-sync monitor, but whatever he would have said was interrupted by a great commotion from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Hundreds... no, thousands of flying robots were swarming into the air, transforming and combining into a vast floating metal sphere. "Hold that thought, okay? Instrumentum is probably wanting to disassemble Equus to build her Applecron, and I have to go tell her no. Again." The Nightmare colt teleported away. Diamond Tiara groaned. "Oh, maybe their new society isn't so bad! Yeah, right!!" Button Mash shook himself out of his daze, seeming to remember something. "So, about you being a yokai..." Diamond gulped. Ardashir "MUST! STUDY! HARDER!" Twilight's eyes were glazed over as she pored through Button, er, Nightmare Pixel's book. Other books lay beside her, teleported in from the secret archives beneath Canterlot Castle. Dread tomes of neigh-cromancy and black magic. "Uh, Twilight?" Spike called over from the door, which was as close as he dared to get to Twilight right now. "Are you sure you should be teleporting triple-restricted grimoires from the royal library like that?" He flinched back as Twilight gave him a crazed smile. "But SPIKE! I'm only level 18!" "Umm," Spike scratched his chin. "Is this another 'Oubliettes and Ogres' thing?" He cringed back as Twilight's gaze somehow grew even more intense. "NO! But I will NOT be weaker than, than Gilda, for pity''s sake!" She turned back and opened the latest book, one with a title in some pre-equine language. Spike recoiled as something with tentacles and gibbering many-fanged mouths began oozing its way out. Twilight snorted and magically snatched up a baseball bat emblazoned with a six-pointed star. "Oh no you don't, Mister!" She began beating the whimpering monster with the bat. "Back back back! Down down down! RIGHT NOW!" It slithered out of sight back into the book. Twilight began reading the spells. "'How to Summon Forth the Primal Fire at the Heart of the Cosmos' -- this spell sounds good!" She cackled and kept reading. Spike just headed down into the basement to triple-check the steel-walled shelter he'd had installed after the last magic-induced catastrophe. Something told him that he'd need it. Kendell2 (WITH SOME MAJOR EDITS BY ME.) "So...that's why..." Diamond finished, looking down. "I...I freed Discord just to get my mom back...he's good now, but...that doesn't change..." Applebloom, to her surprise, hugged her. "It's alright...Ah mean it was bad...but Ah miss mah folks and Ah barely even got tah know em..." "And I miss my parents when they're away...which can be a lot..." Sweetie said, hugging her...fish scales felt weird, but not as bad as one would expect. Scootaloo didn't say anything, she just joined in. "And I don't know what I'd do if something happened to mom..." Button added.  "..." Diamond didn't respond. "...S-So...all...all I needed to do this whole time...was just tell you and you'd have UNDERSTOOD me?" "Pretty much..." Applebloom replied. "...Uncle..." "Don't worry, I'll do it for you," said Discord, trotting over to a tree and slamming his head into it with a cartoony sound effect. "...Thanks...I guess...wait..." said Diamond, giving a gasp. "Wait! Mothers! Button, you're afraid of your mom, right?!" Button blinked. "Uh...well...not afraid of her..." "You don't like it when she's mad with you, right?" "No way!" "He normally cries," Sweetie admitted. "Then I've got an idea to deal with Pixel!...Ugh...but if only we had a way to...level up somepony..." said Diamond, getting annoyed. "Higher than a Nightmare..." Sunny Days then gave a look of understanding. "I think I know just the thing, to the Fourth Wall Studio, quickly!" "Huh? Who are you?" Apple Bloom asked. "I've been here the whole time!" "You didn't say anything or do anything." Siren Sweetie said. "I was standing back!" "Are you one of those things Blanky eats?" "NO! I'M NOT!" "Whose Blanky?" Diamond asked. "Never mind... " "HEEEYYYYY! You're that trashy tabloid reporter!" Sweetie Siren then said recognizing her picture from a Canterlot news paper Rarity had brought home. "Oh yes, she is a tabloid reporter, completely and utterly." Discord said with a completely straight face. --- The group looked through the studio, having last seen use during the party.  "What are we lookin' for?" asked Applebloom, Button using the fact he now glowed in the dark to light the place up without needing to turn it on and possibly draw attention. She then blinked. "Uh, Button Mash, why are sparkles comin' off yah?" Button blinked, looking at himself. "...I dunno..." he said, unaware it was actually star dust and his form was templated from Star Hopper. Or that meant he was an Earth Pony/Alien hybrid at the moment. Sunny Days knew all of this, but felt sharing it wasn't the best idea at the moment.  "Something left here from the Tartarus invasion...AH!" Sunny Days exclaimed, producing an old spell book. "Zecora gave this to Draggle, and there's just the spell we need in it!"  "Good, now let's get Button's mom," said Diamond Tiara with a smirk...then blinked. "That sounded much less weird in my head." --- Maternity was in the same situation as most of Equestria: caught up so much in video games she didn't even notice her son come into the room...or that two of her son's friends were a dragon and a siren. "Mom!" Button called. "Yes Button?" she sung...not even looking at him. "Mom! We need your help to save the world from an evil version of me!" Button explained. "That's nice, dear. We can play multiplayer." "...But...but it's not a video game." "Uh huh...ah! Level 30!" Button whimpered. "Mom...always listens to me..."  Diamond blinked, noticing the colt sniffle...then start crying rather loudly. She bit her tongue before she could call him a cry baby. "And THIS is why Mr. Pixel's plan is going to wreck Equestria..." Discord, miniturized and hiding in her mane, poked out. "You know, I'm almost jealous I didn't think of this when I was evil, it's quite clever...Man, I WAS evil..." However...Maternity blinked, turning to see her son crying. "Button?" Maternity turned the game off with some difficulty, blinking like she'd been freed from a spell. She trotted over to him. "Button, sweetie, what's wrong?" "There's...there's a nasty evil version of me who's a Nightmare like Princess Luna was and...and he's making everypony like...like I was before Sweetie Belle was my friend! But worse!" Sweetie Belle gasped in shock.  Maternity would normally think her son was just being imaginative or stuck too much in his games again...but of course, she'd just ignored her son without even looking at him. She picked him up in her forelegs and hugged him. "It's okay, Button, I'll help you stop that nasty version of you..." "You...you will?" Button sniffled. "Of course, sweetie...Button, why are you glowing?"  She then looked up to see the Siren and Dragon and had the natural reaction. *One incredibly awkward and panicked explanation later* "...Mom, you'll still love me if I'm stuck glowing forever, won't you?" Button asked with puppy eyes. "...Of course, Button, you're my son...so...what do you need me to do?" the mother asked. "Simple: do what any parent does to a misbehaving kid," Discord explained. Then grumbled, "Whether they like it or not. I feel like I'm gargling acid using this spell, and I'm pretty sure my insides are turning to stone using it... " He produced the spell book. "This will only be temporary, Mrs. Maternity, but it's the only way to put you in a position where Nightmare Pixel will be vulnerable to you..." Discord cleared his throat. "'Potential hidden is potential waiting to be accessed. Allow the Fool to lend potential repressed.'" A portal formed from her magic, an ethereal Alicorn emerging from it. He was green in color, his barding making him resemble a jester. He then flew into Maternity. 'Hey, potential sister. I'm going to lend you some future potential, okay?'  Maternity gasped, feeling something. '...If it will help me protect my son, do it.' 'Alright, here we go!' White tendrils wrapped around Maternity, cocooning her. As per Nightmare Pixel's introduced ideas, a level appeared over her head, and skyrocketed until it hit Infinity. The energy exploded outward, revealing Maternity now an Alicorn, with flowing pink energy for a mane and tail.  "I'm...I'm an Alicorn?" sang the mare. 'You have the POTENTIAL of being one. Cool huh? Make you want to get here someday?' '...Maybe, but right now, I just want to help.' "The spell invokes the God of Potential," Sunny Days explained. "And invites him to temporarily unlock potential. It's main purpose is to show ponies who doubt what they can become what they have inside them. Draggle used it during the Tartarus escape to temporarily transform Trixie into her Alicorn self. But in this case, we felt we needed a mother Alicorn to discipline a misbehaving little Nightmare." As if on cue, Nightmare Pixel materialized in the room. "Hey! What are you doing in my..." The young Nightmare's eyes suddenly went wide and his irises shrunk to slitted pinpricks.  "M-mom?!" Maternity marched over and glared down at Pixel in a way only a mother was capable of. "Young colt, we need to have a talk about this world domination scheme of yours this instant!" MtangaLion Nightmare Pixel summoned his game window and tried to scan Maternity. The floating window flashed all sorts of error codes before the screen shattered, virtual smoke escaping. "That's... not possible." The colt's knees shook. "How can you be so strong?" Maternity smiled briefly. "Mothers have a way of being what they need to be, when their sons need them." The stern glare returned in full force. "What in Celestia's name do you think you've been doing, young colt?" Pixel seemed to shrink in on himself. "It... it wasn't my fault! My friends were doing it, so I did it too! They made me become this!" Sweetie Belle floated closer to Scootaloo and her always-simmering greed. It was hard, feeling the storm of emotions in Button Mash and then Nightmare Pixel, and not taking any for herself. Maternity shook her head. "I don't see those friends of yours here now. Why didn't you stop?" And now Pixel was the one starting to cry. "Because... because... I hated it! Even after I had a few friends, I hated this stupid world! I made a better world. A world with rules that make sense... where kids don't get made fun of for doing what they like!" Diamond Tiara winced. "No more having to leave a world that ponies can imagine any way they want, to come back to a dumb, boring 'real' world," bawled Pixel. "I made the world... fair!" A tremor shook the room. Maternity stepped up and hugged her son tight, enfolding him with her wings. "M... mom?!" Maternity's horn began to glow. She cast a spell to shroud them from view, then teleported the entire group... into the Ponyville schoolhouse. "Oh, Button... do you think really the world is better like this?" Alula had just put her hoof through a game monitor. "Dinky, you idiot! You stood in the fire and wiped the raid again!" "Yeah, stop being bad!" shouted Rumble, never looking away from his own game screen. None of them did. "G-Kick, IMHO," said Tootsie. "She'd just roll on my best-in-slot loot anyway." "No, please!" cried Dinky. "Don't kick me from the group! I'll do better!" Maternity teleported them again, to a field outside Ponyville. "What about this?" Gilda the griffon was surrounded by clones of Discord, but she was leaping and swooping with unearthly agility, defeating each one with a single jab of her claws. "Sheesh, this is boring. What dweeb even came up with this crap?" Then a gong sounded as she hit level 34. "Forget all that lame stuff I just said. Oh squawk, the POWER!" Trixie floated into view, effortlessly levitating in her own magic field. "Grats! Those Discords are getting too weak for you, aren't they? According to the guide, you should move on to Mega-Discords now." She turned her nose up snootily. "Of course, the Most Great and Ultimately Powerful Trixie just switched from Mega-Discords to Ultra-Discords." The real Discord stuck his head out of Sunny's mane this time, because nopony had expected it. "I think... Why, yes, I'm actually a little offended now!" Gilda grinned. "You shut it, or I'll find out how many experience points *you're* worth." Trixie laughed. "You wish to duel Trixie? Trixie could defeat you with a mere one percent of her power!" Maternity teleported them a third time. "Or THIS?" The Golden Oaks library was swarming with giant slime-dripping tentacles. They'd completely overrun the basement hideaway, and one of them was lifting Spike in the air, squeezing him tighter. "Twilight... help me! Please, I'm scared!" Twilight floated in a magical VR rig nearby, oblivious. "Deal with it yourself, Spike. I'm doing something important right now." Maternity looked Nightmare Pixel right in the eyes. "Is this the world you wanted?" Pixel sniffled. "N... No." A black crystal materialized over Pixel's heart, like a triangle divided into four smaller triangles. As they watched, it flipped right-side-up and exploded with golden light. A pixelated cocoon engulfed the Nightmare. "What... hey!" Powerful magic lifted Button Mash right off his hooves and sucked him into the cocoon too... Kendell2 The group...waited as Button stood there in a cocoon. "So...uh...what's happening?" asked Diamond Tiara. "Well, to put it in gamer lingo," said Discord. "Congratulations! Your Button Mash has evolved into an Alicorn!...On fortunately, we can't really get a good look at that because most of that is happening in his soul..." "So...we just sit here shooting the breeze until he decides to come out of that cocoon?" Applebloom asked. "More or less..." Discord admitted. "Look, I'd give you a better look, but he's an ALICORN! This magic isn't my thing!" "What will happen to OUR button Mash?" Sweetie Belle asked worriedly. "Don't worry, part of the process is most likely his two incarnations coming to an agreement so they can merge properly," Sunny Days explained. "...They are..." Maternity replied. "Huh? How do you know?" Diamond asked. "I'm his mother," she said simply. "...Button...Your Button...is convincing Nightmare Button that growing up isn't so bad...if they get to be like their father." Sunny Days trotted over to the cocooned pony. "Little pony...never forget one thing: a wise pony once said: " When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” There is truth in this, I leave that to you to figure out." Sunny Days trotted back and said nothing more. Maternity then chuckled. "Now good little Button is telling Nightmare Button...that he should've made more games that made ponies want to be friends instead of just compete with each other...That's my Button Mash..." A few moments more and the cocoon exploded, comically enough, a 'Congratulations! Your Button Mash evolved into...Prince Isthmia! Button...hadn't changed much. He was still a small colt, though he seemed a little bit taller. He had a fittingly sized horn on his head and wings on his back. He still had a material mane and tail, though he ALSO had a slight glow as he did before, except now it seemed a bit more pixel-like. He had the older Button's beanie instead of the Nightmare's more fancy one. The little Alicorn blinked. "...Why isn't my mane all energy?" "You're still young, little one," said Sunny Days, with a smile. "Oh...I'm okay with that," Button replied. "I'm fine growing up now, but I'm not in a rush to get through being a foal." Maternity nuzzled him. "That's a good boy..." "...I can still make video games, right?" Button asked. "Kid, I think you're the GOD of Gaming," Discord remarked. "Like, LITERALLY. Po-Ni-Oh has nothin' on you." "Coool..." the tiny Alicorn said. "...think this is how that future we saw where everypony ascends to being Alicorns starts?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously. "I wouldn't doubt it..." Scootaloo remarked. "Wait, what?!" Diamond asked. "We went to the future and everypony was an Alicorn," said Sweetie Belle. "Well, ALMOST everypony." "...Was I an Alicorn?" Diamond asked. "Silver Spoon was, so probably," said Sweetie Belle. "You know she'd never become immortal if you couldn't." Diamond Tiara gave a small smile. "That...sounds like her." Then Button gasped. "Wait!" He focused and green, pixelated magic formed around his horn. "There! I turned off Nightmare Me's spell that was making video games super addictive and put everything else back to normal I changed!" "Well that's one down..." Diamond Tiara said. "Three to go..." MtangaLion Suddenly, Button Mash gasped. "Oh no, Spike! We just left him hanging! We've got to..." Spike himself leaned out of the kitchen, wearing a tiny apron. "Who wants pancakes?" He pointed a claw at Button. "Dude. Your mom is awesome! She told a tentacle beast from the beyond to go to bed without supper and think about what it had done." Diamond Tiara gawked, looking between Spike and Maternity, who winked at her. "But... when did she... she was with us the whole time!" Button beamed, getting a little teary-eyed. "Of course she's awesome. She's my mom." Then Sweetie Belle gasped, louder than Button had. "Button... I mean, Prince Isthmia! I mean... oh my goodness!" Scootaloo pointed a claw, heavy tail swishing in excitement. "You have..." Button looked around, then left and right, trotting in a little circle. "What? What is it?" Apple Bloom jumped in place, prancing. "You've got yer *cutie* mark!" Button looked over his shoulder, twisting to see. His new mark was a white cross outlined in black, with a gray circle in the center and gray triangle-arrows pointing outwards. "Neat! It looks like the direction buttons on my first GameColt." He blinked, then smirked. "Wait... I'm an Alicorn now, and this is what you get all excited about?" Sweetie chuckled, floating down to nuzzle him. "Hi, maybe we haven't met. We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders." Apple Bloom shuffled her hooves a bit, looking down. "Ah guess Ah'm the last. Ah thought Ah was so close, so many times on this crazy adventure." She shook herself, forcing a smile. "Don't let me rain on *your* special day, Button. The filly stretched in place, turning into a griffon fledgling. "Cutie marks? Hah, who needs those?" Button gave her a hug. "You'll get there, maybe sooner than you think." Scootaloo blinked. "Wait, that's right! When we cure the rest of the Nightmares, are we *all* going to be Alicorns?" The little Alicorn seemed hesitant. "I wouldn't take anything for granted, but..." Discord shrugged, exchanging glances with Sunny. "Probably?" Sunny smiled knowingly, saying nothing. Sweetie Belle gave Button a serious look. "I think I know what the answer's going to be already, but I have to ask. Since you are an Alicorn... a real one, not just potential or an avatar... Is there any chance you can just..." "Use your super awesome Alicorn magic and zap everything all better?" finished Scootaloo. Button sighed. "You know how in games, whenever a villain is defeated and joins the heroes, he winds up a lot weaker? Well..." He shook his head. "You girls know I'd fix everything now if I could, right? This *isn't* just a game. But like mom said, I'm young... and even if I was level infinity and smacked those Nightmares down with my infinity plus one sword, what then?" Button looked each of them in turn. "Should I obliterate them? Banish them to the moon? Pack them off to Tartarus? Those Nightmares are *you girls* in the future. They're kind of like Blexel and Pesxik... we have to heal their broken hearts, or the time fold will end and you three will disappear and just be another day in *their* pasts..." He was starting to cry a little. "And I don't know if I can fight them all alone..." Diamond Tiara didn't quite hug Button, but she did turn back into an earth pony so she could give him a reassuring pat on the back without getting turned to stone. "You wouldn't be alone..." She bit back idiot, blank-flank, and stupid, and settled on "... silly." The other fillies were all staring at her. "Hey, I'm trying, okay! This is hard..." They grinned and dogpiled her with more hugs. "Wait, who are Blexel and Pesxik?" asked Griffon Bloom. "Your future, the Nightmares' past," said Button Mash. "Don't ask." Maternity smiled. "My sweet little colt... I'm glad I got to see you like this, with these eyes." She hesitated. "Button... Isthmia, will you help me earn this for myself, when I'm mortal again and the world is all better?" Button grinned from ear to ear. "Of course, mom! You can be our first recruit... to the *Alicorn* Crusaders." "Thank you so much... Oh, and see Twilight before you go, dear! While she was looting the Canterlot vaults, she also took the Elements of Harmony." Maternity seemed to relax then, slowly letting go, becoming just a normal pony again as she fell into a deep sleep... Button levitated her to a couch, then picked up a blanket in his magic, covered her, and tucked her in. Alex Warlorn Diamond Tiara shook her head. "Not that I'm complaining, okay, maybe I am, but shouldn't Spike and every pony else be reacting a bit more to Scootaloo being a dragon, Sweetie being a floating fish pony, and whatever Apple Bloom happens to be, and Button Mash being a little Alicorn?!" Ardashir Spike shrugged. "I can't speak for anypony else, but personally? Given the kind of stuff I've seen over the past few years, not much fazes me any more." At that moment -- something, that looked like a cloud of burning light, slipped in through the door by burning a hole through it. The CMC, Button, and Diamond all jumped as it slithered up behind Spike and emitted a sound like scratchy radio static. "Huh?" Spike turned. "Oh, hi, S'ssss'sss." He belched fire and a small scroll of some sort of metal appeared. It floated into the fiery cloud. "Princess Celestia told me to give you that, it's her study list for you for the next few millennia until you become a star. She also said to ask you to say 'Happy Birthday' to everyone else in your nebula." The plasma cloud sizzled in what seemed like happiness and shot off into the sky. Spike just looked at the stunned pony, alicorn, dragonness, sea pony, and Apple Bloom. "See what I mean?" Spike shrugged. "Sapient adolescent star visits to get their lesson plan from Celestia, no biggie." "Ooo-kay," Diamond Tiara said. "Let's move right along, shall we?" Alex Warlorn Discord popped out of Diamond Tiara's hair. "That so?" "AAAAAHHH! DISCORD!" Spike pointed, screamed, then fainted. Discord cheered, "Yes! Still break weirdness meter!" Alex Warlorn "So.." Diamond Tiara said. "We simply find the corrupted you one by one, we get them see what they're doing is wrong, you fuse with them, and you all become gods . . . Or Sweetie Belle's nightmare self finds out... I don't think she's going to be too happy about us fixing Button Mash first." "If she even notices." Apple Bloom said. "You've never been in love have you?" Sweetie said. MtangaLion Inside Applecron, the giant metal sphere hovering over Ponyville like a second moon, Nightmare Cantana screamed a C above C above high C. Glass shattered. Robots spun round and round, shooting sparks and falling over. Nightmare Instrumentum watched, expressionless. "Cut that out." Her country accent had a metallic echo now, not quite in sync with her actual voice. She wore a bipedal suit of powered armor, with lots of gleaming chrome and huge shoulderpads, and a big apple logo on the chestplate made of steel and bolts. "Breakin' mah equipment ain't gonna help matters." The white-coated, grey-maned Nightmare panted, black magic crackling around her horn. "They... took... my... coltfriend!" Cantata stamped a hoof, caving in the metal floor. "I'll destroy them! I'll get Pixel back again! I'll sing their REQUIEM!!" "Do you want Rainbow Dash to help?" asked Nightmare Velocitas earnestly. She looked a lot like the old Scootaloo, with stunted wings and just a tiny horn, and she wore a great big amulet engraved with "Rainbow Dash - #1 Fan." She buzzed over to Cantata, flying well despite the wings. "There's nothing that Rainbow Dash can't do!" "Let me roboticize you," said Instrumentum, ignoring Velocitas. "Robots are stronger than flesh. Robots aren't swayed by foolish appeals to emotion, like Pixel was. Robots don't feel the pain yer feeling now." Cantana scowled. "Robots don't care if they save their coltfriends or not!" "At least take a few hundred combat drones with you. It's not likely that you can defeat them by yerself." Cantana laughed musically. "Oh, I won't be alone..." She spread her wings and flew out an access port, already warming up her throat to deliver the mother of all Heart Songs... Alex Warlorn "Ya hear that rattlin', somepony needs a paddlin'." Twilight sang, magically lifting a paddle in the library. "Ya hear that rattlin', somepony needs a paddlin'." Applejack repeated the line, picking up a paddle too at Sweet Apple Acres.