//------------------------------// // Cutie Mark Crusaders' Journal of the unexplained 17 // Story: Pinkie Pie's Fourth-Wall Breaking Variety Show // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// MtangaLion Scootaloo scouted the way ahead through the mansion more carefully after that, alert for any more threats between them and the World Mirror Maze. "Thanks a lot for taking care of that robot, you two," said Apple Bloom. "We really could have been in a tight spot." Button Mash seemed puzzled by this. "What do you mean? You're an Alicorn now! There's nothing around here that you can't handle, right?" Apple Bloom blushed. "Um, yeah, about that..." Button waved up his game console. "In fact, I've been meaning to find out just how awesome your stats are now!" Several blinking bars appeared, then slid most of the way to the far left with disappointing descending tones. "Wha-what?!" Bloom coughed. "Seeing as how Ah've been reborn in my own world and time, continuing from the point where Ah was just an earth pony filly..." Button gawked at the stats with increasing disbelief. "Only twice as strong as an earth pony stallion? Spell power at magic kindergarten level? Flying skills at zero?!" The colt sat down heavily, looking like he might burst into tears with another nudge. "That isn't fair! They nerfed you to the ground!" Bloom patted Button soothingly. "Ah'll grow into it!" Sweetie Belle blinked, then grinned slyly. "Hey, now. That's my job." She trotted up to Button's other side and nuzzled him. Apple Pie oooohed. "Yep, we're in another universe alright," muttered Diamond Tiara. Scootaloo returned to them, gliding through the confined corridors with a grace that made it look easy. "It's just up ahead. Funny, I remember it being closer the first time." At this point, the deep pony Apple Bloom bowed to them, and began speaking in that brain-melting language again. "We'd like to help you fight Lilith, but she would only turn us against you with her dark magic." Deep pony Sweetie Belle clenched a squelching thing-she-had-instead-of-a-hoof. "She must not pervert our holy cookie recipes! Guide us, and we shall return to our own world." Apple Bloom realized something, and started looking all around. "Where did Flim and Flam get off to?" Alex Warlorn "Hopefully it's not one of their schemes again." Scootaloo said, even if the brothers now said they'd reformed. "And hopefully the mirror leading there is still there." Scootaloo pointed the way to the mirror room... and there were mirror scattered all about. The CMC couldn't help themselves and took a look in them as they passed. In the first mirror, they saw Spike, huge and in his Spikezilla form and with wings. He sat on a massive throne holding a ruby scepter. Drabbed around his left arm was a large lilth blue dragoness. Wrapped around his right arm was a white dragoness with blue eyes and purple ridges, she was incredibly beautiful. On her rear was Rarity's cutie mark. Wrapped around the left leg was a light brown dragoness with a gray/blue belly and pink hair with a stack of comics nearby. And wrapped around the right leg was a cream colored dragonness with red wings and fins, with a moon cutie mark on her shoulders. They all looked lovingly and devoted to Spike, all four wearing harem jewelry. They caressed and nuzzled him without end. Button Mash said, "I think I'm too young for this game." Sweetie Belle said, "Well, that's one way for them to be together." Scootaloo blinked, "Spike... doesn't look like a Nightmare in that... and why do I feel the urge to obey anything he says? Ugh! Maybe I was spending too long in dragon form!" Dark World Diamond Tiara remarked, "So Spike is Dragon Lord there? Oh! Dragon Lord is basically the supreme ruler of Dragons of a territory or domain, they only answer to Tiamat, but the means to pick the successor falls on the dragon lord, they also had a term limits." "Anything about turning ponies into dragons?" Sweetie asked. "Been there, done that," Apple Pie said. "Happened a surprising lot in my world." Apple Bloom said, "Feels a bit demeaning to ponies." "Why is he using that teenage red dragon as a foot rest?" Sweetie asked. "I don't think I wanna know." Scootaloo said. "We have to remember to share cookies with the dragon kingdom when we get back." Squished the Deep Pony Button Mash in a language that would drive most ponies mad. Apple Bloom cringed. "Rainbow Dash is already shares the cookies at Cloudsdale by now." Added the Deep Scootaloo. "And Rarity is sharing them in Canterlot." The Deep Sweetie Belle spoke with what could have been a smile in some fever dream of a mad pony high on witch weed. "And Applejack's already sent them to every apple family farm she could." Finished the Deep Apple Bloom. "The glory of Ponythulu shall be shared with all." When the four dragonesses in the mirror began asking which one of them would bear Spike's clutch of eggs first, they girls wisely moved on. Though the Deep CMC+1 didn't see what the problem was. - The next was also a throne room. Except this was drab, and unexpressive, if not for the diamonds and pink bows draped all around against the lifeless gray walls. The throne itself looked like it was made out of gray blocks. Sitting on the throne was a dark pink and black Diamond Tiara, the colors of her cutie mark inverted with wings and a horn. Her barding was gray and studded with diamonds. She still wore her tiara. She sat crossway around the throne, reading a business pony magazine well above age level. Alula and Tootsie (whom none of the girls knew all that well), stood on either side of the great doors to the throne room, the pegasus and unicorn fillies covered in gray barding also with studded diamonds. Silver Spoon also sat in barding, besides the throne, polishing her glasses. Without waring, the doors were blown off her hinges, knocking Alula and Tootsie away. In came the Cutie Mark Crusaders, along with most of the mane six, done up in custom guard armor to emphasize their individual traits. "Nightmare Tiara!" Shouted Apple Bloom. "Yer gonna pay for making our harvest go bad!" "And making Rarity late for her meeting in Manehatten!" "And that Fire snail infestation in Fillidephia!" Scootaloo added. "Not to mention that break out of hoof-in-mouth in Yakyakistan!" Rainbow Dash swore. "And making all the cars crash at the Applewood Derby!" Applejack snorted. Before the dust had even settled, the Nightmare Diamond Tiara was on her rear hoof, cackling like a mad mare. "YOU FOOL! YOU COULDN'T POSSIBLE STOP MY EVIL PLANS NOW! I'M INVINCIBLE YOU IDIOTS! I wouldn't HAVE TO do bad things to you if you weren't a flightless chicken, a country bumpkin, and a done deaf dictionary, blame yourselves!" That was all the heroes needed to hear as they charged... Diamond Tiara blasted them, but they always dodged in the nick of time, they blocked her punches, they knocked her to the ground when she tried to fly up. Silver Spoon was pretty much just knocked aside without a second thought. Then Rainbow Dash hit her with a Sonic Rainboom at point blank range! The evil villain let out a scream as they melted into black sludge. "I'm melting! I'm melting! What a wooooordl!" The heroes didn't really look sorry, and simply left without a word except one of rather dark satisfaction. But after they left... Alula and Tootsie began welding the doors back on... and Silver Spoon knelt besides the puddle. "They're gone." The black sludge instantly reformed into the Nightmare Diamond Tiara, who with a flash of her horn, restored the entire room to how it was before. "Why do you keep doing this?" Silver Spoon asked. "Why do you keep asking? As long as they have somepony to blame for everything random and unfair that happens to them, they don't have to see that bad things happen to good ponies, and good things happen to bad ponies. They want to believe they live in an inherently just world where nothing ever happens to them that they don't reserve, or at least, they can't pin on happening to that one bad guy who exists solely so they have something to focus all their anger on. This way, they have live happy lives, and no one realizes that no one was to blame for those things happening. There's nothing worse than having nopony to blame, nopony to hate for something awful happening. After all, you can't get angry at a flood, so blame the 'evil greedy land deliver' who sold the houses there to begin with. I serve a purpose." "After all, wars have stopped, everypony takes their revenge on me, there's no spit or arguments. 'It's her fault' and thus, nopony gets angry or upset with each other." "Yes My Princess." Silver Spoon loyally bowed. As did Alula and Tootsie. The four native foals were as pale as sheets (an exceptional result giving they all had fur and Sweetie was already marshmallow colored). The four deep ponies' expressions were unreadable, and if they had been readable, they'd have driven the pony mad already. "She'd be happy if somethulu gave her a box of cookies." Burbled out Deep Sweetie Belle. Apple Pie hugged her Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara, looked... not well. In fact, she found a priceless vase nearby and lost her lunch. "That's a REAL nightmare!" Diamond Tiara said. "Not that different from what Diamond Tiara did before." Deep Scootaloo said. "What?!" Scootaloo said, even if she felt dizzy just LOOKING at the deep horror that used to be an alternate version of her. "She was always there to be the bad guy, for us to rally against, rather than us facing some vague, unsure, abstract problem, we had somepony we could personalize to it, and take on. ... No offense." "None taken," Diamond Tiara gasped out. As they heroes moved on, Alicorn Apple Bloom had to ask. "What were ya sayin' before about cookies?" "Oh! After we got back from Everfree," Said what used to be Sweetie Belle. "We baked some cookies, and left them for our big sisters as presents... Rarity loved them so much, she didn't really notice she was growing tentacles out of her back or had an extra set of eyes on her forehead as she kept munching on them, and by the time she noticed, she decided the cookies were worth it. She also baked some, and began giving them away for customers and their dresses. And Applejack after tasting the cookies held a bake sale (adding Apples of course), and Rainbow Dash after she finished her, baked some and gave them to the Wonderbolts... the glory of Ponythulu knows no end!" All ponies present shuddered in disgust. "The only annoying part is Pinkie Pie refused to have any." Button Mash said. "Even after mom and my brother got to enjoy some and gave some to dad. They got the Cakes to have some and they began selling them in their shop. Then Pinkie Pie dressed up like a priest or something and began shouting, 'The Power of CAKE will save you! The Power of Cake compels you!' or something like that and kept feeding the baby Cakes cake." "Uh... anypony else heard an angry wolf's howl?" Asked Apple Pie. "I heard it too," Said Diamond Tiara. The Deep Pony CMC+1 nodded as well. "I didn't hear anything." Scootaloo said. "Me neither." Button Mash said. 'No compromises this time!' Sweetie shuddered as the words echoed in her head unbidden. "You guys should all REALLY get back to your own worlds and fast." +++ "Trixie Lulamoon! Have we met before? You look wonderful! Er, rather 'possessed by an ancient spirit of a witch' wonderful, but still wonderful." Flam said. "Out of my way. I must recover the Alicorn Amulet, it calls to me, and I call to it. We shall we one, and we shall be consumed by Lilith, and the ponies will be become again the dumb beasts they were meant to be, and witches will again rule the world," Trixie said with glowing red eyes and a monotone. "Uh... can't we compromise here?" Flim asked. "No," Trixie responded flatly and blasting the pair, taking out a wall behind them. MtangaLion Sprawled on the crystal floor, Flim and Flam glanced at each other, then nodded bravely. "Now!" shouted Flam. They sprang to their hooves, Flim readying a spell while Flam reached in his overcoat pocket for the moonstone. "Stop," said Trixie indifferently, and her aura, blood red instead of her usual pink, crystallized around them, holding the brothers still as statues. "Allow me, the Useful and Properly Obedient Trixie, to make an astounding prediction for you, her penultimate captive audience. You were going to the gallery wing, for this." She drew a winged amulet set with a red stone out from under her cloak, and both Flim and Flam felt their hearts skip a beat. "This powerless fake," continued Trixie, letting it fall to the floor. "The true Alicorn Amulet is this way, inside the distorted space that extends beyond the mansion. The Mistress was... moderately impressed. It takes a high caliber of portal to permit the passage of beings of great power and artifacts containing that power... but your mad archmage achieved it." Trixie paced towards them, step by step. "I further predict that you're hoping my Mistress will leave you be at this point, regarding you as unimportant, incapable of impeding her plans, beneath her to deal with." Then she lifted Flim and Flam higher and rattled them like a pair of salt and pepper shakers. Gadgets and spell components showered from their pockets... along with Flummox's first and second journals. Trixie levitated Journal One and flipped it open to a bookmark, revealing a two-page drawing of the Alicorn Amulet and margins full of scrawled notes and dire warnings. "But it seems you know just enough to be dangerous." She pulled the third journal from her cloak, adding it to the pile, and then she burned it to ash with a single spark of hellfire, journals and all. "You... won't get away with this!" bellowed Flim. His horn flared brilliantly... but the spell fizzled, seeming to do nothing whatsoever. Trixie just stared. Even Flam looked embarrassed. "Go entertain your uncle," said Trixie finally, slapping straitjackets and magic inhibitors on them before teleporting them away. Inside the Maze, Apple Bloom was squinting at one of the closed doors. "Ah can see it! Inside there is Wolf World, then take a right into Talking Brains in Jars world, left to Yak World, straight ahead to Zombie Pony World, then go right one more time and yer in... Cookie World." She scratched her mane awkwardly. "Yeah, let's call it that! Do ya need me to write that down?" - (In another universe) "And now, Twilight Sparkle, with the power of the Alicorn Amulet the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie will --" Twilight turned around to reveal fins, tentacles, and eyes on eyestalks. Twilight burbled, "Yes, Trixie?" "Will get the buck out of here!" - Deep pony Apple Bloom waved her tentacles and clacked a claw in farewell. "No... we remember." The door had only just shut and sealed behind them when Apple Bloom suddenly gasped louder than that time somepony told Pinkie Pie they didn't like sugar. The other fillies and colt crowded around her. "Are you okay?" asked Sweetie Belle. Bloom shook her head. "None of us are okay. Flim just used a spell to send me the last couple minutes of his memory, and... we're in a heap of trouble." - MtangaLion Apple Bloom was starting to feel like Miss Twilight Sparkle having one of her silly panic attacks. She started wondering if her mane would fritz up too, and what the correlation was between messier manes and higher levels of anxiety before she shook herself out of it. Alicorns ought to be better at staying calm and collected, right? She took a deep breath. "The Alicorn Amulet is in the Maze somewhere! Never mind what that is exactly, it's a thing Lilith needs to get ultimate power, and it's here on account of Flummox collected the darn thing, and we've gotta get it first!" Scootaloo launched herself into the air, ready for action! "Let's go get it!" She looked all around at the twisted space of the Mirror Maze. "Um, but where is it exactly?" "That's the problem!" exploded Apple Bloom, flapping her own wings uselessly. "Ah can see through any of the doors with my Empirical Truth, but there's a bajillion of them! Ah should be gathering data and making theories and a search pattern, and there ain't time, cause Trixie can sense where it is, and she's already a-coming... and did Ah mention yet that Lilith mind-whammied her and Trixie can't help but do everything Lilith wants?" Bloom trotted round and round in circles, getting in a bigger tizzy. "A detection spell! That's what Ah need!" She squinted and focused, and her horn glowed fitfully orange, throwing a few sparks. Sweetie raised a hoof. "Does this amulet radiate Dark magic? I know how to sense that!" The unicorn filly lit her horn much more calmly. "Umbra adclaro..." The pale green glow of her horn darkened, and her eyes turned red with those faint purple streams. "Oh my gosh.... I can't sense what's behind the doors, but I d-definitely feel Trixie getting closer." Her hooves started to shake, and she quickly released the spell. Apple Pie grinned. "You ponies are stressing over this way too much. Ah say we just pick some way and go there!" Diamond Tiara smirked. "Actually, you'd be surprised how often that works for her." "No worries," said Button Mash, trying to play it cool. "I've got this." He thumped thin air with a hoof, calling up his console. "We'll just check the quest tracker and..." The letters on the screen read "Crusaders' Last Stand" - Stage 3/6: Find the Alicorn Amulet!" That was it, no radar with a glowing dot to follow, or any explanation of where to go. "Oh, come on!" Scootaloo landed and dug in her saddlebag. "Maybe it's a good thing I saved these." She pulled out the sunglasses from the carnival, put them on, and gasped. The others crowded closer. "Are ya seeing anything?" asked Apple Bloom hopefully. Scootaloo looked around. "Actually... yes! There's something, some kinda energy in the air flowing from where we came from to..." Apple Pie's tail twitched. "That way!" she shouted, cheerfully pointing a hoof in a random direction. Scootaloo sputtered. "Er... yeah, that way." They trotted ahead to the next confusing swirl of portals and passages. "Over there!" shouted Apple Pie, pointing again before Scootaloo could. Sweetie coughed. "I guess... it's nice to have confirmation we're on the right track?" Scootaloo looked kinda jealous, and then she laughed it off and gave Apple Pie a big hug. "Let's do this!" Kendell2 As the group walked along the path, Scootaloo looked to Diamond Tiara. "So, Elements of Chaos?" Diamond Tiara nodded. "Yeah, I think Mother Deer said it was 'the twin sibling' of the Elements of Harmony. We actually had to find the Alicorn Amulet and purify it to reforge a set of them." "What?!" Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Button Mash asked in shock. The future filly gave a sheepish look. "It's a long story, but apparently Trixie's ancestor made it and it ended up corrupted, so we had to go on this big adventure to purify it...You know The Legend of Cadence Majora's Mask?" "Oh! I know!" Button said happily. "Well it was kind of like that, only replace the Mask with the Alicorn Amulet..." Diamond Tiara replied. "Oh..." Button replied, looking a little pale at THAT realization. "So...if Apple Pie has a power with her Element, do you?" Sweetie Belle asked...then noticed she'd stepped on a trigger The wall opened and a timber wolf emerged, running at them, fangs bared. The Element of Cruelty looked to the wolf. "Your breath stinks!" she shouted at it, her Element glowing. The Timber Wolf then yelped loudly when it heard her words, reacting like it'd been CUT (the flash of pink light across it making that seem more apparent). It promptly turned and ran way yelping with it's tail between it's legs. Diamond then looked back to the Crusaders, a little sheepishly. "...I can do that..." Mtangalion The passageway was getting colder... their breath fogged, and colors seemed too bright, rippling like twinkling stars. The glimpses they caught of other worlds in the mirrors grew stranger and stranger too. There was one where all ponies were intelligent machines, except for Sweetie Bot, who was secretly a flesh and blood pony in a robot suit. Another had witches and cramped torchlit buildings beneath a stormy overcast sky, with a tall iron tower in the distance. The fillies and colt gave that mirror a wide berth. "What was that wolf even doing in here?" wondered Scootaloo aloud. Button Mash blinked. "It didn't seem that strange to me." "More importantly," mused Sweetie Belle, "how are we going to fix the Alicorn Amulet? We don't exactly have a lot of time for an epic quest." Button Mash nodded reluctantly. "And we don't have a time loop to keep repeating the same three days over until we get it right, either." Diamond frowned. "I didn't mean it was literally like that game, but..." Scootaloo trotted faster, getting ahead of them. "Hey now, let's not give up before we even get there!" She turned... and stopped in her tracks. Just ahead, the passage ended in one final foggy mirror. "I guess... this is the place." Apple Pie trotted up to the mirror, alert for twitches, tingles, and paradoxes, but eventually she turned back to them, hoof-shrugging. "I got nothing." Apple Bloom approached too, stopping just shy of tapping the mirror with her horn. "This world... it feels so alien! All weird and wrong, like the deep ponies, only... good instead of bad?" The little Alicorn shook her head. "Ah'm sorry, Ah should be more specific, but Ah just don't know the words. Ah need to see it myself." Before she could lose her nerve, Apple Bloom took a deep breath and plunged on ahead, into the mirror. Reality twisted itself up like taffy and spat her out someplace else, and suddenly she was getting bombarded with so many strange sights, it was all she could do to stand upright, shocked, trying to take it all in. There wasn't a maze or a mansion in this world, or anything like one. She stood in a sunny, lightly forested clearing full of wooden stalls, kind of like Ponyville's market square, but the beings milling around purposefully weren't ponies at all. They looked kind of like big stretched out ponies from the neck down, and colorful humans with horns on their heads above that. The word "centaur" went through her head. A few other creatures wandered past as she gawked. Shorter creatures with wild beards. Tall, slim ones with fair skin and pointy ears. Two earth ponies walked past, pulling some centaur lady's cart, but they had the flat and lifeless eyes of dumb beasts. The world mirror was a ghostly image behind Apple Bloom, hanging unsupported in the air, and just in front of her stood a crystalline pedestal that looked like one of Flummox's inventions, and fastened to it... the Alicorn Amulet. It could be nothing else... so why was the gemstone slate grey instead of red? The others emerged from the mirror, stumbling in unfamiliar centaur bodies... just like Apple Bloom herself was a centaur, she just now realized. Immediately, a huge white wolf like Blanky or Snow Bound coalesced out of nothing, howling and making straight for Sweetie Belle! The female wolf stopped right in her tracks when she saw Apple Bloom... the Wolf bowed, but she didn't seem pleased by any of this at all. Lastly, an elderly centaur gentleman noticed them. He smiled and trotted right on over, stepping around the Wolf without seeming to notice her at all. "Ah, young ones! Welcome to the festival! Welcome, princess!" He gave a courtly bow to Apple Bloom. "Have you come to hear the tale of King Tirek the Brave?" Apple Bloom exchanged puzzled glances with the others. "Um... sure! Ah mean, that would be lovely, good sir." The centaur beamed at them, taking up a lute and strumming it with his *hands*. "Long, long ago, near this very spot, a strange meteor fell from the sky... a box laden with doom! The box held magic, but not like any magic we know today, magic made to harm, not help! The box promised Prince Tirek anything he wished... power, glory, vengeance on those who wronged him. Tirek was sorely tempted, but then he called upon his ally and companion, Mother Moon! She told Tirek the truth, and Tirek was able to cleanse this valley and banish the fell box back into the void from whence it came! His reign would begin a peace that would last for generations..." The old centaur was so caught up in his story, he didn't pay attention to Apple Bloom backing up, and giving her friends a very, very serious look. "Don't go anywhere, any of you... don't leave mah sight, and don't even TRY ta do any Dark magic. Ah can't keep ya safe from that Wolf if ya do!" Alex Warlorn Part of Sweetie Belle wondered how the world where ponies were living machines had come about. - "Sweetie dear, if any pony finds out you've been infected by the Old Gods' curse of Flesh they might think you could turn into one of their tentacled zombies at any time, you must keep it hidden!" Rarity whispered and nuzzled her sister. - Or. - "Thanks to the Elements of Harmony, the Old Gods' Curse of Flesh has at last been cured," Princess Celestia told her subjects. She left out that Sweetie Belle to distract the old gods, had been the one pony NOT cured of the Old Gods' curse. Sweetie shook her head in confusion. MtangaLion "What are these for?" asked Apple Pie, tugging on the halter top that covered her human-ish torso. Heh, everybody got one but Button!" Button Mash looked down at his bare chest, and the fancy gold bracers on his wrists. "I think it's cause I'm a colt." Apple Pie giggled, turning in circles and bending her upper body to try to see her tail better. "Centaurs sure are funny!" Diamond Tiara groaned. "I hope you have a plan for what we're going to do with that thing, now that we're here!" She pointed a forehoof at the Alicorn Amulet, nearly falling over in the process. Apple Bloom shuffled over closer to her. "Ah don't think that's how centaurs point at things." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Who cares? It's not like we're going to stay here. Look, I'll just grab it and fly far away from the portal, where Trixie will never... What?" "Uh, Scootaloo?" said Sweetie Belle. "None of us have wings." "Not again! Fine, I'll become a dragon and..." "We need ta stay together!" Apple Bloom reminded them. "Then we'll grab it and *gallop* away from the portal. Is that alright?" Scootaloo grasped the amulet with her hands... and couldn't budge it, not an inch. She tried again, eyebrows shooting up, but her fingers kept sliding right off. The old centaur seemed amused by that, even if their talk before had greatly confused him. "Yonder necklace has been in that spot for years upon years! It caused a great stir back in the day, but no centaur really minds it, now." Apple Bloom gave it a good hard stare. "It's frozen in time. Of course..." Diamond nudged Button, making him blush a bit. "Well? Aren't you going to use your game thing again and tell us what we do next?" Button Mash took a deep breath. "I'm starting to think... the game console isn't really going to tell me anything I can't figure out myself. Real life isn't supposed to be a game." The game window appeared all by itself, and a message scrolled up with a ding... "Button Mash gained +1 WIS." He chuckled, and waved it away without even looking at the quest tracker. "So let's destroy it," suggested Sweetie Belle. "I know I shouldn't use my magic, but we have a Blank Wolf right here who can erase it for us!" Apple Bloom sucked in a breath, seeing in her mind the final battle of Dream Valley seven-thousand years ago, and all the times that the Alicorn Amulet had changed the fates of Trixie's ancestors throughout history. "No! Just... no." The Blank Wolf actually nosed the little goddess' hand and wagged her tail, grateful that someone *understood*. MtangaLion Apple Bloom studied the pedestal-thing intently. It was something called a World Anchor, she realized... Journal Three, page 37. Thank goodness she and Applejack had sat down together and flipped through all the pages! And on the next few pages after that... yes! "Sweetie Belle!" she cried. Her friend jumped. "M-me?" Apple Bloom nodded. "Ah know Flummox's time locking spells! They're way too advanced for me ta cast, but if you could do a memory charm..." Too late. The half-real, half-not portal rippled, and the centaur version of Trixie Midsummernight Lulamoon strode into this world. Her short horns were glowing the same eerie red as her eyes, and suddenly everything was happening so fast... The Blank Wolf smelled the Lilith's magic on Trixie and snarled, livid! Apple Bloom saw one of Trixie's sisters wearing the Alicorn Amulet and battling Queen Chrysalis over the wreckage that used to be Canterlot. "No!" she shouted. "Ya can't take her either!" Scootaloo flicked her wrists, somehow summoning blades of razor sharp gusting wind into her hands, but she froze, unable to even think of using them on a pony, in any form. Sweetie froze as well, not wanting to risk using her magic. Button Mash heroically jumped in front of her, grabbing a pixel sword out of his console. The sword bounced right off Trixie's crimson barrier, as did a blizzard of... small white spheres? Launched at Trixie from Apple Pie's ping-pong paddle?! Diamond Tiara glared at Trixie and hissed "Pain!" That one actually staggered Trixie, but not enough... a crackling red sphere formed, floating over Trixie's horns, and flew... not at any of them, but at the Anchor, exploding against it with a sickening crunch. Then the glow in Trixie's eyes faded away. Her equine legs folded beneath her, and she collapsed onto the grass. "What was that?" fretted Sweetie, wringing her hands. "What did she do?" The crystal surface of the World Anchor had a deep crack in it, and more cracks were slowly spreading. The old centaur gentleman had understandably drawn back from them, shocked. The marketplace crowd seemed shaken... some centaur had probably gone to fetch whatever kind of guards they had already. Trixie groaned. "Mistress' magic... doesn't work here? Trixie is free?" The blue, silver-maned centaur started to shiver. "Trixie is so, so sorry! She couldn't..." Apple Pie hugged her, shushing her soothingly. Apple Bloom sat own her hindquarters down heavily, watching whole chunks of crystal fracturing off and crumbling to dust. "The World Anchor is fallin' apart. This whole branch of the Maze is gonna come loose from this world and toss us back into our own." Trixie hugged herself. "Trixie was better off the way the chaos monster left her. Lilith will have her, and the Alicorn Amulet... and the time of ponies will *end*. Trixie has doomed us all." Apple Bloom frowned, determined. "No. Our big adventure ain't gonna end like that! Ah won't let it!" Kendell2 Diamond Tiara suddenly grabbed Trixie by the shoulders. "DON'T EVER SAY THAT!" "W-What?" the azure unicorn asked. "Because you were NEVER better off as Discord left you! I KNOW how he left you because MY Discord BRAGGED about it..." the Element of Empathy/Cruelty replied. "I KNOW how it feels to make a big, world threatening mistake. I made one a long time ago in MY world...but acting like this won't solve anything. MAKE UP FOR IT! Help STOP that witch! That's the only thing you CAN do!" Diamond Tiara Element glowed and Trixie felt...healed...calmer...Like the filly's words were a needle stitching up a wound rather than the sword that cuts it. "T-Thank you..." Trixie stuttered. "You're welcome..." Diamond Tiara said, then took a deep breath. She looked to the Amulet. "...'Only one with the blood of Magic Star can vanquish the evil'." The others blinked, looking to her. "What?" Apple Pie nodded. "That's what Miss Cobweb said when we went to purify OURS! She said just like how it only WANTS somepony from that blood line, it can only be purified by one. She was, and she went inside it and beat the evil in it." Neither of the three fillies, nor Trixie, acknowledged that was Trixie's alterego from the wedding. "If that darkness is what's keeping Lilith stuck here, purifying the Amulet will put her down for good, right?" Scootaloo asked. "So...only Trixie...only I can stop that witch?" Trixie Midsummer asked, looking blindsided. "Not Twilight? Not Celestia? Not Luna?" Diamond Tiara nodded. "If Cobweb was right." "...Applebloom, can you keep the World Anchor together?" Trixie asked, after a long pause. "Ah can try, why?" asked Applebloom. "...Trixie can do something no pony else can...she feels like she should..." Trixie explained. She then trotted over to the Amulet as Applebloom got to work on the Anchor to try and keep it together. "How does Trixie do this?!" Trixie asked, looking at the amulet. She FELT it pulling at her...begging her to use it. To everypony's shock, the Amulet sparkled with red magic and TORE through it's confinement and into her hands. Diamond looked to her. "Put your horn to the Gem, and quote...what was it?" Apple Pie chuckled. "'Porta animae ante me,' Ah think." "How did YOU remember that?" The young centaur laughed. "Comics like usin' whatever fancy language that is!" "Let me come with you!" Sweetie Belle shouted, rushing over. "I know Dark Magic better...even if you have to defeat it, Miss Trixie, I can help!" Trixie nodded, trembling as she hear it's whispers. 'Trixie has friends, she doesn't need this thing, Trixie has friends, she doesn't need this thing...' she repeated over and over in her head. "Alright then..." she muttered, taking a deep breath as Applebloom tried her best to keep the anchor from crumbling. She put one of her small horns to it. " Porta animae ante me!" Sweetie Belle repeated this action. A portal opened and both entered it, vanishing into the amulet. "...So...what do we do while they're in there?" Button Mash asked. Suddenly, a group of shadowy monsters emerged from the World Anchor.  "...Looks like Lilith can do THAT..." Scootaloo commented, her, Button, Apple Pie, and Diamond preparing to fight while Applebloom tried to keep the portal from falling apart. --- Sweetie Belle blinked, finding another camera appearing with a note reading 'Can't leave this part out! Love Princess Thalia!' "Where are we?" Sweetie Belle and Trixie looked around, finding themselves in what looked like a swirling mass of darkness and shadow. Sweetie Belle's horn HURT from how much there was.  The magic took the shape of Paradise Estate, but desolate. Then the valley where Dark Magic had come to Equus. Then a Witch's coven. And so on and on on. "...Welcome...my niece..." = Persona 4 - The Genesis = The two watched as the darkness IMPLODED into a single point, then exploded outwards like a big bang.  When it cleared, the shifting background remained the same, but now clearer and more solid. Like a dreamscape instead of a shadow. Before them...stood a yellow Earth Pony with a green mane, a pink and green magic wand with a pink ribbon as her Cutie Mark. Except she was covered with shadow, her eyes glowing red...then she morphed into Lord Tirek. Then into Lilith. Then into countless other ponies, all of which Trixie felt were somehow related to her. All with the same shadowy aura and red glowing eyes. "W-Who are you?" Trixie asked, taking a step back. The entity looked confused. "I don't have one. Only 'the Alicorn Amulet'...The Elements of Chaos...the Shadow of the Witch Queen...Shadow of Chaos? Umbra Chaos?...Yes, that will work...call me Umbra Chaos, the Spirit of the Alicorn Amulet, my niece." "Why do you call me that?!" Trixie asked, feeling unnerved. "Magic Star made me. You are of her blood," the entity replied, shifting into Magic Star's form. "I am your birthright..." "Leave her alone!" Sweetie Belle yelled. "Be silent interloper!" Umbra Chaos roared, throwing a hoof out and forcing Sweetie Belle to shield herself from a wave of shadows. Even the half hearted attack nearly broke it and knocked her back. "I was speaking to my niece." MtangaLion Meanwhile, back in the mansion, Lilith had left the ritual chamber and gone down to the entrance of the World Mirror Maze, in anticipation of claiming her prize... which left Flim, Flam, and Flummox alone to plot their daring escape! "Look," said Flim. "If you'd just..." "Nope," said Flummox. "We don't have..." "Nuh-uh!" "Would you pl-" "You gotta share!" sang Uncle Flummox at the top of his lungs. "You gotta care!" Flim gritted his teeth. "I'm trying..." "Buck off." "Would you shut up for just one..." "You shut up!" "No, you..." "You..." Flam shouted in exasperation, shutting up the both of them. He would have facehoofed too, if they hadn't all been in straitjackets. "You're impossible!" "I'm impossible?!" shouted Flummox. "I asked for one thing as a condition of you boys returning to my home, just one simple thing, and so far I've seen neither hide nor hair of it!" The elderly stallion turned his head aside with a disdainful snort and whinny. Flim and Flam exchanged guilty looks, then nodded to each other. "We're *sorry*!" And finally, Flummox was left staring at them, speechless. "If you must hear it aloud," said Flim, "though it's surely not news to anypony here..." "We've been terrible, awful ponies," said Flam. Flim hung his head. "And lousy, no-good, rotten nephews to you, uncle. I mean, you taught us so much, such amazing things..." "And what did we ever do with it?" said Flam, sighing. "We were scams, cons, cheats, the worst ne'er do wells who ne'er did well..." "And then crazy Nightstallion you sent us to that other world, and we saw what a difference we could have made..." "Helping ponies, instead of always chasing that next thrill, proving how much smarter we were than anypony else..." Flim smirked suddenly. "We dug that hole for ourselves, and by golly, we dug our way out too!" Flam grinned boldly. "Starting with finishing our degrees!" "And then we invented our own way home. As of now, the Flim Flam brothers are turning over a new leaf!" "Technically, as of a couple days ago." "Yes, yes... the point is, we mean to fully make amends." "And make this world a *better* place." "Cliched, I know, but we saw it done, and we can do it again!" "Cross our hearts, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eyes!" The brothers twitched their hooves, since they couldn't do the gestures. Flummox stared at them, shocked, his old eyes growing misty. "You boys... you almost make me believe... there really is something true and trustworthy left in this world..." A strange light begin to shine on them from out in the antechamber... and a *blue* metal hoofband bobbed mystically into the room, floating over to Flummox. He gawked, giggling a bit. "Oh. Oh my. I never got that one to react to anything before. It's so pretty..." (Flummox of Equestria) hummed a flat voice in all of their heads. (You have the courage to embrace Hope.) Flim burst out laughing. "Oh, swell. Any chance we could unfreeze the red one? What kind of lame power is hope?" The hoofband startled them by slotting itself firmly onto Flummox's left foreleg. (Mental corruption detected. Cleansing.) Blue light exploded, blasting the straitjacket to rags and the inhibitor ring to dust and fragments. Beneath, Flummox's old-fashioned brown overcoat had turned dark blue, with luminous blue stitches and edging. A sigil floated over his chest, just like the glowing brand on the hoofband. "I stand corrected!" stammered Flim. Flam grinned hopefully. "So, you can kick Lilith's ugly flank with that magic whatchamawhosit, right?" Flummox lifted an eyebrow, then smiled in a grandfatherly way. "Not by myself, no." His horn glowed neon blue, and a strange mix of unicorn magic and alien power removed Flim and Flam's restraints. Flam gasped, remembering. "Twilight! She and her friends are waiting outside!" Flim nodded fervently. "They have the Elements of Harmony!" Flummox tisked. "I can sense them from here. There's much you don't know about those relics, nephews. Once, I would have refused to have anything to do with them. Now..." He had a curious expression. "I want to have a little faith. If you'll vouch for the bearers, then by all means, let us invite them in quickly!" Kendell2 [= Persona 4 - The Genesis=] "Niece, please, claim me..." Umbra Chaos tempted. "You can feel it, can't you? The power. All this power could be yours. You could do anything you want. You could finally be stronger than HER." Trixie could feel it. She could feel everything. The power. The primal, roaring power of the Rainbow of Darkness itself. The immense dark magic of the Mother of All Witches. It was tempted. BEYOND tempting.  "...But if Trixie takes you, Lilith wins," Trixie found it in herself to counter. Umbra Chaos laughed. "We'll CRUSH that insect, my niece. You know in your heart that's true." The showmare wasn't sure if that was true, but the evil entity made it sound convincing. She looked around the heart of the Alicorn of Amulet, feeling it's immense power. Feeling the strength. Six black stars flickered in the sky, each having a tint of darker versions one of the Elements of Harmony. "Come to me, my niece. Come and become master of all things," tempted the abomination, offering it's hoof. "Listen to your auntie..." Sweetie Belle tried to say something but had to block another torrent of shadow.  Trixie slowly reached out her hoof to Umbra Chaos, who turned into a shadow of the azure unicorn...then pulled back. "...But it won't really be Trixie, will it?" The entity narrowed its eyes, shifting into Magic Star. "Of course you will. Come with me, Trixie." Trixie shook her head. "No, she won't! It will be YOU! I can feel it! The Element in my heart can feel it!" she said, putting a hoof to her chest, a soft purple glow pulsing. "That look on your face...it's not compassion...it's the same look that that THING with Trixie's mother's face had! The face of somepony wearing a mask!...You've been corrupting my bloodline for eons. Tempting and turning them into something evil...The Alicorn Amulet is my birthright, but you? You're just another PARASITE! And the One and Only Trixie has been the victim of ENOUGH of those for one lifetime!" Umbra Chaos was blasted backwards by a beam of magic from the unicorn. "Way to go Trixie!" Sweetie Belle yelled, rushing to her side. Trixie smiled to the filly, then looked back to Umbra Chaos. "Trixie is going to destroy you, THEN the Alicorn Amulet will be worthy of HER, not the other way around!" Umbra Chaos' face contorted in pure rage. "A parasite am I?" The world SHUDDERED, red lightning crackling through it.  "Just another monster to slay? That is how you see me, my niece? Very well," the entity said, the lightning striking it and crackling about it's form "...SO BE IT!" Umbra Chaos' fur turned black as midnight. IT grew, red lightning crackling about it, until it's proportions grew to the size of a Nightmare. It's mane and tail became energy, resembling the corrupted Rainbow of Darkness itself. It's Cutie Mark was the Alicorn Amulet itself.  Looking up at Trixie with glowing red eyes, horn crackling with red lightning. "Then a monster I will be!" MtangaLion The shadowy monsters took form, coalescing into three fearsome foes, darkly chuckling at the heroes before them. "Pixel Shader 2.0," gloated the Nightcolt, equipping himself with a cybernetic visor and a laser cannon nearly as big as he was. "Here to nerf you into oblivion!" A towering black dragon stamped the earth in front of Scootaloo with wagon-sized paws, snorting shadowflame. "Why did you clip your own wings, little sister? You could have all this and *more*." A Nightfilly fixed her dead stare on Diamond. "Who do you think you're fooling? Do you really think somepony like you deserves to have friends? A hero? Don't make me laugh. Just break already!" Apple Pie turned every which way looking for her own double. "Aw, no evil twin for me? But I wanted to make friends with her, and share cookies, and play lazer tag, and..." Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "They aren't what they appear ta be! Ah can see 'em. They're shadow sirens, turnin' into whatever winds you up the most so they can feed!" Pixel Shader leered at her. "Spoilers!" He charged up the cannon and fired a massive plasma ball. Apple Bloom gasped, throwing her hands up, but Button Mash darted in front of her, deflecting the blast with a giant shield emblazoned with *her* gear and apple cutie mark. "Don't worry about them, Apple Bloom. We'll protect you." Scootaloo had her sunglasses on... they'd magically changed to fit her centaur face... and she was smiling grimly at her own double. "You just fix that Anchor! You can do it... we believe in you!" Apple Bloom felt a tingle down both of her spines. Faith. Faith that the lights would come on when you flipped the switch. Faith that the market would have food to buy that you didn't need to farm for yourself. Faith that tomorrow could be better than today... "Okay!" Apple Bloom turned to the World Anchor with renewed focus and confidence. "If a regular pony built this, then Ah can fix it!" She hesitated. "But Flummox ain't just anypony... he's an Archmage! Ah don't have the magic..." She shook her head quickly. "None of that, Bloom. Focus on what ya *can* do." Through the big crack in the front panel, she could see crystals... lots and lots of crystals all arranged just so and wired together, with three different kinds of magic zapping every which way. Magic was shorting across the broken and cracked crystals, doing more damage to the machine. Apple Bloom blinked. "Why, it's just a Starswirl Spell Engine! Heck, Ah fixed one of those when Ah was an earth pony." Another crystal disintegrated. "Stop that! Hold together, *please*. Ah need time to fix ya!" Unexpectedly, powerful magic flowed, but it was earth magic, surging up from the ground through her four hooves, and flowing from her hands into the machine, projecting calm and stability. "Ah don't suppose anypony has a whole mess of crystals and some more wire..." A blur in the air became Apple Pie, dropping a whole basket-load of large gemstones at her hooves. "The market has a jewelry seller four stalls thataway," she explained, winking. "I told her it was a princess emergency!" And Diamond Tiara was standing on a crate, addressing the six armed and armored centaurs who'd just arrived. "Okay, listen up! That magic box over there is trying to leak evil monsters and bad magic into this world, just like in the legend of King Tirek! We have to protect Princess Praegressus while she fixes it! You two, support Button Mash on the left, you two keep the shadow on the right grounded..." MtangaLion The transformed Umbra Chaos smiled cruelly. "Why don't I start with.... her?" Shadows surged up from the sooty, broken ground, hurling Trixie back as they poured into Sweetie Belle. An otherworldly flame lit in the filly's eyes... livid green with red pupils, bright purple smoke streaming from the corners. "Trixie!" she cried out, lifting a hoof towards her while she thrashed in midair. "No... too much..." "Let her go!" shouted Trixie, slicing at the black fog with her own magic, trying to close a shield around Sweetie Belle and pull her back... but red lighting cracked along the connection, knocking Trixie back. "Such a shame, that I couldn't have a bright little filly like her for a niece," said Umbra Chaos smugly. "She's already so well versed in my arts." She saw Trixie's jaw hanging open and pounced. "What, you didn't know? She'll make a splendid minion for you, Trixie, once you've accepted the truth of things." Umbra glanced towards Sweetie again. "Behold, girl. See what you've been denying yourself." The black fog parted, revealing an adult mare with same green and red and purple eyes, and her pink and purple curls turned black and silver. Her spiral horn was long and sharp, and feathered wings of translucent shadow sprouted from her back. A tall mirror with a tarnished bronze frame rose from the fog, making sure that Sweetie Belle could see herself too. Umbra Chaos advanced towards Sweetie, step by step. "Well? Does my gift please you?" The mare opened her mouth and seemed to struggle, before the voice of Sweetie Belle the filly emerged, shaky but unchanged. "No. No, I don't like it at all! This isn't right." Umbra seemed taken aback, but recovered quickly, laughing and running a hoof along Sweetie's chin. "Not right? It's perfectly right! I am Dark Magic, as old as ponykind itself! What could you know about it that I could not?" Sweetie shuddered, drawing back, and then in the mirror, she began to imagine that she was seeing a third pony reflected in the glass... A gray, purple-maned mare wearing a blue frock, her expression calm and unreadable. The strangely familiar mare's lips began to move in utter silence. Sweetie Belle gasped, her ears pricking up. "I know enough to know... darkness isn't the same thing as evil!" The illusion of the adult mare shattered, leaving Sweetie looking just as she always had. Her horn glowed black, and a shield of calm, soothing darkness grew around her, throwing Umbra back and pushing the roiling reds and greens and purples away. "Trixie," she spoke in a flat tone. Trixie jumped, not sure whether she should be more frightened of Sweetie or Umbra in that moment. "Y-yes?" Sweetie smiled, faintly. "Thank you. For letting me borrow a little of this power. You truly are the rightful guardian of it." "Shut up!" snapped Umbra Chaos. "You will be silent!" She fired a blast of utter black and crackling red, and it vanished into Sweetie's shield, completely nullified. Sweetie paced right up to Trixie, looking her in the eyes. "You need to master your Fear. And embrace your cleverness. Your trickery, your unpredictability. Your Chaos. Then you will see the light in the darkness." And then the filly fainted at Trixie's hooves. Umbra Chaos gnashed her teeth, then roared, lighting her black horn and spreading her wings to conjure up a massive hailstorm. "Enough! You will accept my offer now, or..." A fireball crashed into Umbra from behind, exploding spectacularly. The Trixie and Sweetie before her wavered and vanished, afterimages of a cloaked teleport. "Or what?" said Trixie's voice, seeming to echo from three different places in the fog. "What are you so afraid of all of a sudden, hmmm?!" Kendell2 "Perhaps it's because Sweetie Belle had you pegged?" Trixie's voice said, still from multiple directions. "She figured out your weakness." Umbra Chaos sent a torrent of blackness at one of the voices, but hit nothing. "...Trixie must thank you, she wouldn't have figured out what Sweetie said if you hand't made her afraid...for HER." "Silence! You know nothing!" "Fear...Trixie has her fears, but in that moment, Trixie feared losing a FRIEND. At the Wedding she feared it...and it DROVE her." Umbra Chaos turned to fire at another voice, only to be blasted with a fireball from the other direction. "...Deceit? That is Trixie's favorite...but there's more to that than lying, isn't it? Making them believe in the web you weave! Oh yes, Trixie KNOWS THAT...Like tricking the Changelings into believing their gambit had be successful and Trixie was gone at the Wedding. Or telling a fantastic tale...In fact, she's using it right now, isn't she?" Umbra Chaos cringed, a dark orange light flashing inside her chest. She countered with a beam fired in each of the three directions. However, the next attack came from ABOVE. Trixie smirked in the darkness, seeing she had indeed hit the nail on the head. "Anger? Oh YES, Trixie knows ANGER...but Trixie has found anger burns out too easily to be a CONSTANT booster...It helps you face your fears, but it's just ONE thing. There are many ways to be brave." Umbra Chaos roared as a dark blue light shown. She sent out a SHOCKWAVE of shadow in all directions, but Trixie merely put up a barrier around her and Sweetie...one made of soothing darkness.  "Cruelty? If that's the Element in that other Diamond's heart...why did her showing Trixie kindness make it trigger?...Cruelty is only half of Empathy, isn't it? After all, how do you be cruel to somepony without knowing what will hurt them? Trixie is well versed in that." Umbra Chaos roared out, a dark pink light glowing inside it. --- Diamond Tiara, still fighting alongside the others, gasped, her Element shining brighter and brighter. "I feel like my Element just a battier hooked up to it!" She then punched the Shadow Siren she was fighting with enough force to launch them across the clearing. --- "SHUT UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU ARE BUT A CHILD COMPARED TO ME! YOU ARE SPEAKING OF A PERVERSION OF DARKNESS!" Umbra Chaos yelled, assaulting Trixie's shield with red lightning, forcing her back. "Perversion? You are one to talk...Now...let's see. Greed? Well, if Trixie had to guess the positive bent on that...Desire. Trixie desires MANY things, but that doesn't make her EVIL does it? She desires FRIENDSHIP now, and that is far from evil!" Umbra Chaos roared in pain as a dark violet glow appeared in its chest.  The embodiment of the Amulet's evil roared in fury and fired a beam at Trixie, who retaliated with a beam of her own, composed of the same soothing darkness, the two clashing. "Treachery? That is an odd one. Tricking the enemy into thinking you've joined them is more Deceit...Opposite of being bound by loyalty is free from restraint..." "Free Will," Sweetie Belle managed to squeak out. "Oh...Okay, Trixie was close! But she can see why that'd be the corrupted version: betraying one's friends can be a choice...as you WANTED Trixie to make, didn't you? Alicorn Amulet?" A dark red spear in the entity's chest glowed. Again the two's beams clashed... "Well, let's recap: Fantasy, Courage, Empathy, Desire, and Free Will, with Fear standing in for something from the sound of it...That leaves the most important Element of all...MAGIC!" Trixie said, a glowing magenta outline of her Cutie Mark appearing...then fluctuating between bright magenta and a dark magenta. "Huh, guess the two sets aren't so different, are they?" From the shadows formed Magic Star, a unicorn Trixie did not recognize...and Healthspike the First, all composed of the soothing, beautiful darkness. Each put their limb on Trixie's back, bracing her. The embodiment of the Alicorn Amulet roared in pain as the lights in her chest glowed brightly and erupted out of her, going to Trixie, circling in front of her around her own beam. Umbra Chaos' eyes widened in fear. "No! Trixie! D-Don't! You'll never beat Twilight Sparkle without me! You'll always be stuck in her shadow! You NEED me!" Trixie smirked. "Incorrect: YOU need TRIXIE! Trixie is her own mare!" she exclaimed, the six Elements circling firing converging beams into her own, turning it into a dark colored rainbow with the beauty of the night sky imbued within it. "FAREWELL!" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Umbra Chaos as the beam collided with it, the sheer force blowing the entity off of its hooves. As the blast tore into it, the entity's appearance degraded into a mass of pure darkness, being incinerated by the light until nothing remained. Trixie put a hoof on Sweetie Belle's back, looking up as the Rainbow continued upwards and exploded outwards, blasting away the darkness to reveal a beautiful night sky with six, dark colored stars about. "...Trixie did it....She did something Twilight CAN'T!...This feels good..." + As the others fought off the Shadow Sirens...the Alicorn Amulet suddenly lifted into the air, glowing with a bright light. The dark colors seemed to BURN off to reveal golden metal, the red of the jewel burning away to reveal a swirling rainbow colored gem.  The group watched as the darkness rose into the sky, taking the form of a wailing witch's spirit before it exploded into nothingness. The glow continued, forming into a familiar Azure Unicorn, the Amulet around her neck and the unconscious Sweetie Belle on her back.  "Sorry Trixie is late!" the mare announced...then promptly blasted the Shadow Sirens with a beam of dark rainbow colored magic, turning them into centaur...children and one baby dragon? "EEK! We're MORTAL!" yelled the dark Scootaloo. Pixel Shader 2.0 gasped...then felt his chest. "I...I don't really mind...I can FEEL THINGS!" The former night filly gasped. "We're complete!"  Button Mash ran over to Sweetie Belle in a panic. "Sweetie Belle?! Are you okay?!" "Ugh...yeah...just have a headache...and I'm really tired..." the little filly replied, receiving a nuzzle. "Trixie always loved Pinocchio's ending," Trixie said with a smirk. "Apple Bloom, how are you doing?" "Done!" Apple Bloom said, finishing the patch work fairly quickly now that her distractions were gone.. "That was close...Wait, Lilith...Ah think she's still there!" + Llilith growled, sensing the barriers coming thanks to the brothers and their uncle. "This is becoming annoying..." "And about to become twice as annoying! Which is Trixie's forte," Trixie announced, as the group emerged from the mirror, Trixie's cape around her, concealing her chest. "...So, you broke free from my control. What does it matter?" Lilith asked. "It does not matter how many times I fall, my darkness in the Amulet will always allow me to return!" "No, it won't," Trixie replied, giving a smirk. "Trixie got rid of it." The witch queen's eye twitched. "What?" Trixie threw her cape open, revealing the purified Alicorn Amulet. "Trixie purified the Alicorn Amulet, so your darkness is GONE!" "Truth is, you're MORTAL now!" Apple Bloom pointed out. "Yah go down now, yer FINISHED!" "Yeah, looks like you're out of continues!" Button Mash pointed out with a smirk. The Mother of All Witches, for a brief moment, showed genuine terror...which then gave way to an unearthly howl of rage, her darkness swirling around her, causing all the lights in the room to explode and a dark storm to begin to form overhead. Mtangalion Button Mash reached for his game console with a hand he didn't have any more, then blushed and used a forehoof. His eyes grew wide, reflecting the light of the pixelated letters. "If Trixie just destroyed most of Lilith's power... shouldn't her stats be a lot lower?!" --- LILITH - THE SHADOW QUEEN --- Lilith laughed coldly, spreading her arms to feel the dark winds blasting the sleeves of her black gown. "Fool beasts, I shall not fall here. This is an opportunity that I never thought to possess! The Rainbow of Darkness is my prison no longer. I shall claim it for my very own, and rule an empire of darkness even greater than Tirek's!" "But, I thought Tirek was a good guy," said Scootaloo hesitantly. Apple Bloom understood the truth of Tirek then, the Tirek of their own world, and felt such sorrow that she couldn't bear to correct Scootaloo, not right then. "You won't be ruling any dark empires if we have anything to say about it!" said Twilight Sparkle boldly. The Crusaders cheered and reared up on their hind legs. All of them were here, galloping into the Mirror Maze foyer... which seemed much larger than it should have been with Lilith's dark power distorting it. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Big Mac, and Cheese Sandwich, all wearing their Elements, with Pinkie Pie and Applejack close behind, then Flim and Flam and... was that Flummox? What the hay was he wearing? Twilight grinned. "Formation, girls! Sorry... boys too!" Big Mac hesitated, almost seeming to be hiding behind the mares. "The truth is, Ah just don't know if Ah'm strong enough for this. An evil witch ain't something Ah can beat with hard work and a pencil and a plow... But Ah promise, Ah'll sure as heck give it all Ah've got." Veritas smiled, putting a warm hoof on his back. "A good, honest answer. Nopony could ask any more than that, big brother." Cheese Sandwich pronked excitedly, not having any trouble at all lighting up his Element. "Thalia, Thalia, Thalia!" The pink Alicorn posed and spun a top hat on her horn before flipping it onto her head. "It's SHOWTIME!" Lilith scoffed at them all, raising a pale hand high, fingers spread. "Evil doers and foul spirits of every world, hear my call! I hold the key! I command you, obey me!" ALL of the World Mirror Maze doors that they could see flew open at once, dark smoke pouring out... "What are we supposed to do?" fretted Flim, gnawing on his own hat. "All of our gadgets got destroyed!" "Well, doing something has to be better than doing nothing!" grumbled Flummox. His blue aura seemed even brighter here, shining in Lilith's darkness. Flam gasped. "You're right! If Lilith wins..." Flim nodded. "Everything was for nothing!" "We can't let that happen!" The brothers lit their horns, summoning all their magic... and the bright green glow was strangely reflected in the blue metal of Flummox's hoofband. (Will detected) Apple Bloom did the numbers in her head, frowning more and more. "All of this... it ain't gonna be enough. We have to help too!" "But what can we do?" asked a still-exhausted Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo fluttered her wings. "Are you gonna use your Alicorn magic to boost the Elements?" Apple Bloom grinned. "Ah've got a better idea than that. You know how in stories, the heroes go on this huge journey, and after all the magic swords and spells and ancient prophecies and stuff, they find out that the strongest power of all was their friendship? Well, heck, we've already done that! Ah don't what kinda power we Crusaders could come up with together, but Ah'm sure it would be amazing!" She looked at each of them in turn. "Who wants to help me test mah theory?" Alex Warlorn Rainbow Dash shouted, "What are we waiting for?! Just atomize the big bad witch, or turn her into a ugly mark on Princess Luna's moon, or into a big ugly statue! Whatever the Elements chose to do this time!"