Such a statement is true in all cases except one - there truly must be a fish that is larger than all the others or at least tied with another fish. Now, it's hard to prove without a doubt that a fish really is the biggest seeing how there are trillions of the things worldwide. No one could ever compare them all since new fish are constantly born and old ones die constantly.

In reality, the saying has little to do with fish. It has to do with power, telling all never to take it for granted. There will always be one higher than you - or, at the very least, it's highly likely there is, and the guy slightly smaller than you might have friends. The point is, if power is to be kept, it must be guarded.

This leads to many leaders doing despicable things all for the sake of retaining power. Oh, sure, they may be good for the people, they may seek out new ideas and plans, and they may even be popular. but that matters not. All of them have had to protect their holdings somehow. Corruption is not a matter of 'if' or 'when;' it is a guarantee of success.

It was midday, and the magic chariot was flying at a brisk pace across the plains. There were few towns left standing in this section of Equestria, the war having claimed most. There was little evidence of troop movement or drones, however - and Minuette knew why. The Equestrian Military had abandoned the small outposts and towns early in favor of the strongholds, abandoning the towns to the Concretes. The Concretes were completely sure there was nothing else out here to burn, so they weren't even patrolling this area. How many ponies had they killed? Ten thousand? More? Whatever it was, it was going to be bigger than she thought - those little towns sure added up after a while.

Minuette lifted her head to look at the Concretion itself. From this far it didn't look ominous, evil, or even powerful. It was an unassuming gray splotch in the distance. Minuette growled at the Concretion. "They're going to pay for this."

Fluttershy said nothing, merely drooping slightly. Twilight looked at her with concern.

They rode on in silence for a little while, the magic thrusters making a soft humming noise. Minuette started imagining ways she was going to punish those Concretes...

Minuette huffed. "That just means I can bash their damn skulls in without giving a shit."

"Not a pony either," Twilight snapped. "The best possible Concrete, the best they could produce. Emotionless."

"So now my 'do not kill' list has increased to one from zip," Minuette said. "Your point?"

"Brutality and violence aren't right," Fluttershy said. "It's something we're against."

"Against using on other ponies," Twilight said. "They aren't ponies, Minuette. They refuse to talk. They kill us because they hate what we are. They live in a society for no reason beyond defeating the rest of the world. They don't care about each other..." She started to tremble.

"No," Twilight said. "I've met more than a few Concretes though. Prisoners. Spies. They're incapable of changing. I've... I've worked out the hatred of magic and cruelty out of them forcefully, and they just become husks devoted to progress. Take that progression desire away, and they don't see a point to anything at all. They'll starve to death if you don't force feed them. There's no good in them whatsoever."

Twilight shot a glare at Fluttershy. "Why, yes, Fluttershy, I do know. I've tried. You've been there when I've tried. It's been edited out of them. I know! They aren't ponies anymore!"

Fluttershy sighed. Twilight shook her head. "No, Flutters... Not again. I'm not doing this again." She twisted her head sideways and closed her eyes. "I need some quiet."

"Yes. She turned her magic off. She's also blocked her hearing." Fluttershy shook her head. "She really did try harder than anypony to find some shred of harmony left in the Concretes. She had to give up, the search was destroying her. I've personally never stopped believing there was something in there, but she just can't let herself have those thoughts. I've gotten fairly decent at not thinking about it in her presence, but I'm not perfect. I should have never said anything."

"I believe that if we don't consider the possibility, we are taking too much of a risk."

Fluttershy glared at Minuette, making her shrink back in fear. "Somepony has to be. everypony sets the bar too low, claiming this is just how things are, just how things should be. even if they agree it's wrong, they do nothing to change it. I have to hold us to a standard, I need a standard to exist."

Fluttershy turned away, gazing towards the Concretion, troubled. Minuette turned the other direction. She may have been convinced the piggers weren't absolute trash, but the Concretes? They were just evil.

Minuette shoved the thought out of her mind, instead deciding to think of Twilight. She was clearly unstable - was it because she was mad? Crazy? Stressed? Overworked? Because they were going to the place responsible for her brother's death? Was it because she had to hear the minds of all? Was it the Concretes?

Minuette looked at Twilight sitting there, tuning them out, and thought for the first time that maybe her princess might not be the best pony for the job.

"Incoming!" Fluttershy yelled, slapping Twilight alongside the head with her wing, snapping the alicorn out of it. Minuette leaped up, horn ablaze, staring intently at the Concretion. What she saw coming directly for them wasn't a standard drone - it was a good seventy times larger, almost as large as Twilight's castle. The craft was composed of a few dozen smaller units, each the shape of a normal drone, but each a good four times larger, and each with pink glowing energy rather than blue. The conglomerate drone was closing in fast.

Twilight clicked her head, turning her magic back on. She channeled her power, her eyes transforming into intense globes of light, light that would be blinding had she not been wearing her goggles. Her mane and tail spread out, flowing with the winds of magic all around her, sparkling with the colors and stars of twilight. The thrust spells on the chariot went into overdirve, pumping out three times as much energy as before. Minuette was knocked over, falling to the seat of the chariot, while Fluttershy had difficulty standing.

"We're about to find out what a few dozen combat drones can do," Fluttershy said. "Minuette, can you teleport the chariot?"

"Not now Twilight!" Fluttershy chided. "Minuette, you'll need to teleport us whenever we're about to get hit. Twilight, give her a magic boost and switch to the offensive on my mark!"

"We're not in charge here Minuette, she is! Listen to her!" Twilight shouted, her voice reverberating with alien frequencies. Minuette shut up and listened.

Fluttershy nodded, raising a hoof, squinting at the incoming ship. She spread her wings, feeling the gusts of wind pass through them, analyzing everything she could take into account. Then she took in a sharp breath. "MARK!"

The chariot entered a steep upward climb, heading right for the sun above them. Minuette felt her horn surge with gifted magic, sparking with a strange mixture of blue and purple energies. She quickly prepared a maneuvering teleport, ready for whenever it was needed.

As it turned out, it was needed right then. Several dozen missiles shot out of the ship, beelining right for them. Minuette teleported behind the missiles, maneuvering the chariot closer to the Concrete ship. Twilight capitalized on the opportunity, unleashing an attack. With a powerful flex of her wings, she left the chariot temporarily to vaporize the center of the conglomeration with a simple thought. No lasers, no explosions, just the center of the ship turning to purple dust in a minute, the sparks reflecting in the princess's lenses. She landed back on the chariot with a graceful swoop.

"We're not done yet!" Fluttershy shouted. With the center gone, the two separated parts flew on their own. They released any broken bits from their bodies, flying as two shiny ships. They fired a volley of lasers that Minuette was unable to teleport away from - forcing Twilight to raise a shield. "I can't attack and defend at the same time easily, Minuette!"

"Working on it!" Minuette readied another teleport, using her telekinesis at the same time to catch a volley of bullets, lowering the strain on Twilight's shield. Minuette had never been able to manage this many spells at once before - it felt great to have this boost!

"Don't get cocky!" Twilight yelled, vaporizing half of one of the remaining crafts. Minuette teleported through another volley of missiles, only for a laser to meet them. The left siding of the chariot burnt off. The conglomeration was evidentially adjusting its strategy to compensate for the teleportation.

"Damnit!" Minuette yelled, pulling on their chariot with her telekinesis, moving them out of the way of a volley of bullets.

Minuette didn't question it again. She lit her horn and teleported the chariot closer to the smaller ship. She felt a bullet cut into her flank, and saw blood fly out of one of Fluttershy's wings. Minuette managed to stay standing, growling through the pain, trying to protect them with her telekinesis. Fluttershy wasn't made of as stern of stuff - determined though she was, her form wasn't that of a warrior. She crumpled to the ground when the second bullet hit her leg. The chariot was now riddled with holes and wasn't looking like it'd hold together much longer.

Twilight grabbed the smaller ship part and threw it into the larger part. The two sections exploded upon contact, sending shrapnel flying in all directions. The shockwave threw the amazingly still intact chariot away. Twilight righted the chariot with her magic, pointing it back at the Crystal Empire. She didn't need to ask if everypony was okay - with her magic, she healed Fluttershy and Minuette right up. Then she reverted to her default pony form, chest heaving. She lifted her goggles and looked at them with shaky eyes. "We're alive."

"Enough of those combat drones could blast through anything Celestia or Luna had to offer," Fluttershy said, gulping.

Twilight nodded, checking to make sure the chariot was still stable enough to carry them. "I know. I know. I'm sorry Fluttershy, it's just..."

"You don't need to say anything," Fluttershy responded. "It's fine. It will always be fine. We shouldn't expect to agree on everything."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes it is..." They flew away, to the north, leaving the Concretion behind.

They didn't notice something crawl out of the conglomeration's wreckage. It was in the shape of a large pony, metallic, and pink. It glared at the chariot flying into the distance, as if its continued existence was a personal affront.

"Would you just shut up!?" Farundael spat in Pinkie's face. "All you do is talk, talk, talk, talk! You're so Celestia-damned annoying! How about you stop trying to do my job!?"

"We didn't need a new tour guide! I was all that we needed! I had a good thing going here before you showed up! And then you had the gall to tell me how to do what I do! Like you were the perfect little pink puff that everypony adored!"

"Oh, was that all?" Farundael gestured violently at the decorations all over the cavern. "You sure you weren't all 'Hey, look at what I can do! Look at how good I am! Look at me! I'm Pinkie Pie, look at me! I'm an accas and yet I can still do all these things!' Look at you! You are a damned ditzy bitch who doesn't know that moderation exists!"

"Oh I don't think so!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "I don't think you realize something! She's done great! The tourists love her! The food is better than it's ever been before! And she's not bucking absent half the time!"

"She's just a damn attention whore who doesn't know when to shut up and leave things alone!"

"Celestia's twat, you're an idiot! you're getting paid more because of her! This place actually makes a sizeable profit now! You should be thanking her!"

"Thanking her? Her? Are you insane? How can't you see it!? She's nothing but a damned little girl who doesn't get that her idiocy isn't cute!"

"Okay, punching you now. Where you want it? Face? Horn? Crotch? Flank? Choose your punishment!"

"Stop it!" Pinkie wailed, tears dripping down her face. "Stop it now! We're supposed to be friends here! We are a team! Farun! What can I do!?"

Rainbow Dash punched Farundael in the snout, launching her into the tour stand and breaking it.

"Do you not know when to STOP!?" Farundael screeched, shoving Pinkie's help away. "Bucking stop! Stop being the hero! Stop doing everything! Things were damn fine before you showed up, why'd you have to change it!?"

"A question I'd like the answer to myself," a new voice said - one that was not yelling. The voice was actually rather softly spoken, but everyone heard it as if it had been spoken in their own ears despite the noise of the falls. They all turned to see Quartzite walking in with... Amplify. Quartzite was signing with her wings, pointing at her ear repeatedly.

Rainbow Dash was frozen to the spot with fear, and Farundael backed away several steps.

Pinkie, on the other hand, wiped away her tears and put on a smile. "Hello Amplify, I've heard so much about you!"

Amplify seemed to consider this for a moment. "Sure. I've never been down here in all my years."

"Yes, I am! Don't worry, I'll be fine, just keep doing your job." She bounced down the tunnel. "This way Amplify!" She cleared her throat. "Welcome toooooo Neighagra Caverns! An amazing treasure hidden right behind the Falls! There's an amazing history to these caves, but we all know no one's interested in that, so let's just look at this cool rock!"

Pinkie rolled her eyes as if to say 'nice try'. "Rock farm accident. Was dropped when I was young in one of the fields while the earths were rotating the rocks!"

"I grew up in Cartwheel! It would have been bad regardless! It was recently purged..." She shook her head. "But enough about me, what about you?!" She knew he wasn't buying the story, but it wasn't like she was going to be honest or just let him lead the conversation.

"I thought you were here to take me through the Caverns? Not to ask me questions."

"Ah, well, really, there's nothing cool until we reach the end of this tunnel, and that'll take a liiiiiittle bit. So! Where are you from!?"

"Presumably about as horrid as Cartwheel. There's a reason nopony goes south."

"I suppose that is true. However, I sense something more, beyond your 'question answer'. You've met another zebra, haven't you?"

Amplify frowned. That evidentially wasn't the answer he wanted. Pinkie grinned, throwing her hooves wide. "Welcome to the Endless Cavern!"

"No idea," she said, lowering her voice since the Falls were no longer deafening.

"Yeah! Now we have to go over there!" She pointed across the rickety bridge. "It's time to play with our lives!"

Pinkie shrugged. "Eh, no fooling you is there? There's another bridge down here. I've decorated it in streamers!" she bounced into the air and landed on her hind legs in the exact middle of the good bridge. "Come along!"

"Turns out, when you crack your horn, magic manifests in other ways! Like... you! I hear you have magic! That voice thing you do has to be part of it."

"Ooooh! Cool! I can pull things out of my mane and bounce around like crazy! What can you do?"

"Shadows and sound," he said, "the black stripe of the jungle, the connection to the fundamental energy of our race."

"Oooh! Vague and mysterious! I like it!" She bounced into the luminescent cavern, changing the subject. "Look at all these crystals!"

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" She leaped towards the ceiling and pulled down a disco ball. "Dance room! Woohoo!"

"Well, the crystals reflect light, and I thought that'd be great for dancing if I rigged up some mirrors!"

"I mean with your words. You're careful. Very careful. You hide behind a facsimile of happiness and randomness. It's hard to read through that."

Pinkie giggled. "Amplify, you don't know me at all! This is how I am, like, allll the time!"

"Oh? How so? It's fun! it makes ponies smile! It's a lot better than what you get by screaming, and ponies appreciate the fun!" She stuck her tongue out in a silly way. "Maybe you just need a laugh to dent that tough exterior of yours! Come on! Give a real smile!"

He twitched. "Again. Again! That's all the proof I need. Nopony would ever offer me the olive branch. Ever." He raised a hoof and charged her. She pulled a frying pan out of her mane, slapping his shadowy hoof aside.

She giggled. "Well, guess the gig's up. Let's do this stripey! Let's dance in the disco light!"

Pinkie dodged another punch, appearing on top of his head. "Eh, I'm silly, fun, and happy! Ponies usually like the happy."

"What about your friend who was screaming at you?" Amplify questioned, slamming his front hooves into the ground, sending a wave of shadowy energy at her. As she leaped over it, she swore she saw leaves forming in the darkness before it shriveled up and died.

"Farun's just had some bad times, that's all, she'll come around." Pinkie did a pirouette around Amplify's next set of blows. She produced a pie and threw it right into his face.

Amplify grit his teeth, ramming a hoof into a nearby crystal. He tore it off, the sharp implement refracting in the disco light. Shadows snaked around it, a veil of constant growth and decay. "She was right. You are an attention whore. You see things and can't just leave them be."

He swung after her with the crystal, shadows and light dancing all around. She bounced and wormed her way through all of it, bowing as she did so. "You think I'm going to listen to you? Heehee! that's funny. Trying to distract me? Well, it wooooon't work! Because I know ponies like laughter. Because I know the birthday of every pony in Ponyville! Because everyone smiles when I come along! Maybe I do call a biiiiit too much attention to myself, but I make ponies lives better. And I'm never going to stop."

Amplify stared at her, a bit dumbfounded. She smiled in return. "I could throw you a party if you wanted."

Amplify broke. "Why do you all offer me peace!?" He swung after her again, cracking the cavern walls when he missed. "I am your enemy! Act like it!"

"I did that once," Pinkie said, her expression deadly serious for a split second. "It was horrible. I never want to go back there."

Amplify wasn't talking anymore - he raised his front hooves above himself, creating a black sphere that sucked all loose objects inside - except Pinkie, who just stood there like nothing was happening. She smirked. "I'm going to treat you like an angry foal who's been very, very bad today." A peppy, disco-esque beat began to flood the room and Pinkie pumped her legs to the beat. "Disco battle time!"

Disco battle!
Move to the beat!
Bring on the heat!
Punch with a dozen gloves!
Or pump out a hundred doves!

Pinkie jumped around and around Amplify, boxing him across the room and assaulting him with stuffed doves.

Disco battle!
Amplify, move!
It's time to groove!
Left hoof, right hoof, what fun!
Try and hit me in the tum!

I will do no such thing!
I care not for what you bring!
Your influence is dangerous -
To kill you would be pious!

"That's the spirit!" Pinkie grinned. She leaped into the air, performing a complex sequence of dance moves before yanking on Amplify's tail.

Disco battle!
Spin your 'ponent!
Just to win it!"
Show them your groovy moves!
With the shakes in your hooooooooves~

Amplify growled, driving Pinkie into the ground with a shadowy claw from nowhere.

Your cheeriness
Disgusting
Your innocence
Moronic
Your powers
Blasphemous
Your ideals...

Perhaps the song isn't so bad
It's possible I shouldn't be so mad
I feel something like never before
Like my essence is off the floor

Let me tell you why you must die today
Not because you insist the world is yours to play
But for a reason deep to myself
A hatred of your kind high on my shelf!

He moved with the music, grinning psychotically. Pinkie tried to dodge his next blow, but it skimmed her across the face, drawing blood. She screamed. The music took on a dark, distorted tone. The colors dimmed, and the world fell dark.

The truth is...
...all ponies die.
The truth is...
...you all live a lie.
The truth is...
...you forget your place.
The truth is...
...I manipulate race.

Pinkie felt the shadows swirl and knot around her, driving her into the crystal-studded ground. She felt the sharp points of the crystals pierce the skin on her back - she screamed.

One down, one to go.
Sad you won't get to see my show.

Amplify laughed harder than he had in a long while. "You aren't as powerful as you believe..." He sneered at her as the music faded away. Pinkie coughed up blood. "Had you been different, you might have been useful. But you were naive. Never help your enemies. Never offer them peace. It never goes well."

Amplify groaned, turning to the entrance of the cavern to see Applejack. "I can kill you here too, traitor."

He whirled around - but was too slow. A blue magic aura slapped him across the face. The Inspector appeared, spitting on the floor. "You're a sadly misled individual, Amplify."

"You're really going to make your stand here!?" Amplify laughed, summoning the shadows to him. The Inspector's horn went black, and her magic aura dropped to nothing. Applejack visibly shook from the dark presence, taking an involuntary step back. "The only reason she lasted this long is because I couldn't neutralize her magic, whatever it is. You two are normal."

A dozen or so Inspectors appeared using teleports. Amplify seemed ready to fight for a moment - but then a smile came to his face. "Oh look, she's not moving anymore..." He poked the limp form of Pinkie, getting no response or heartbeat. "Looks like I won't be needed here after all... I'm afraid this battle has to be postponed to a time more opportune for me." He surrounded himself in shadow, and was gone.

The Inspector and Applejack took maybe one second to process this before running to Pinkie's body. "Pinkie! Pinkie!" The Inspector yelled, trying to mend the wounds - her magic woefully inadequate. She couldn't restart the heart... "Oh... I'm so sorry we weren't here sooner..."

Applejack and the Inspector stared down in disbelief - hadn't she been dead a second ago? Rainbow Dash wheeled in at that moment, a strange look of horror and amusement on her face.

"Oh no," Pinkie said, "My ribs are broken, my stomach's pierced, and I'm pretty sure my left lung is collapsed." She coughed up some more blood. "But I'm really good at playing dead! Had you all good, didn't I?"

"It's okay. I'll be fine Dashie. You got the help to save me! And, well, Amplify thinks I'm dead now, so that's good! But you all need to go protect Rarity."

"We've sent some ponies to help her. You don't need to be worried," the Inspector said.

Pinkie grinned - then had another coughing fit. "Okay, I really need a doctor. I'm not kidding, I really am bleeding out here."

Broken Mirror

by GMBlackjack

XII - Icthus