//------------------------------// // Chapter20 // Story: The Royal Apples: Into the Land of Neverwere // by Radical Gopher //------------------------------// The first thing that pierced the silent white was a soft babble.  Big Mac was confused.  It wasn’t the kind of sound that only ten ponies would make.  No, this was the sound of a crowd... a very, very large crowd.  Perhaps a hundred or more ponies, all very confused and disoriented.  Moments later, the blinding white resolved itself into dozens and dozens of shapes.  The stallion looked around and found himself surrounded by a score or more of ponies, griffons, minataurs and others, all wearing the same confused look on their faces. One pony in particular drew his attention.  There, still tied to a wooden frame was the battered and bruised figure of his sister, Applejack.  Unlike the others, she was unconscious.  Reaching across with his magic, Big Mac gently unbound her and drew her to him.  On close examination, he could see the injuries, though serious, were not life threatening.  He placed her on the ground in a cushion of magic, then turned his attention back to the crowd.  The prince noticed that the two display cabinets Chrysalis, or more correctly Eris, had brought with her were shattered, presumably by the explosive release of so many ponies who had been trapped there.  Many of the ponies, and others, were slowly getting to their hooves.  They filled what was left of the throne room and spread outward into the glade in front of the castle, cast there by the silent explosion that had released them.  One figure, a white alicorn with a pastel rainbow mane seemed to be getting a better handle on things than the others.   She seemed to flow to her hooves and spread her wings, lifting her head so she could better see around her.  Her eyes caught those of Big Mac and she shook her head in disbelief.  “Who are YOU?” “No time ta explain,” he said.  “Just think o’ me as a friend.  We gotta get all these ponies sorted out before......”  A scream of rage cut through his response.  “YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS... ALL OF YOU,” Eris screamed.  “Uh oh,” muttered Rainbow.  “I think we ticked her off.” Celestia looked towards Eris.  “Twilight?  Twilight Sparkle?  What...?”        A huge thundercloud magically formed not more than about twenty feet above them.  It darkened, swirling angrily in a counter-clockwise direction as it expanded.  Bolts of red and black lightning began dancing around the chamber.  One of them struck a pale green unicorn with a white and green mane and tail.  She vanished in a shower of reddish sparks.  Big Mac didn’t know her very well, but thought her name might have been Lyra.  Seeing this, a number of ponies began to panic.  Screams filled the air as they galloped wildly around seeing some kind of shelter or escape. “Yer Highness!” the stallion yelled over the constant crash of thunder.  “Focus... We haf ta turn this storm back on itself before anypony else gets hurt.” “Why would Twilight...?” “SHE AIN’T TWILIGHT!!!” Big Mac roared.  “SHE’S ERIS..., AND SHE’S ABOUT TA USE EQUESTRIA TA MAKE HERSELF A GODDESS!” Grim understanding and determination abruptly filled Celestia’s eyes, replacing the confusion that had been there moments before.  “Not on my watch, she doesn’t!”  A beam of golden light burst forth from her horn, striking the cloud above.  She looked over at Big Mac.  “This storm’s powerful...  I could use your help.” “What do Ah do?” “Add your magical energy to mine.” The alicorn prince nodded and a bright green light joined with Celestia’s golden nimbus.  The cloud ceased growing.  “Now what?” “I’m not sure.  There’s a lot of raw, chaos magic here.  It’s hard to overcome,” the sun goddess replied. Big Mac noticed a brown pony who wasn’t running.  He had an hourglass on his flank and was waving his forelegs back and forth, trying to get their attention.  He yelled something that was hard to hear over the storm. “T Y  EVE SING T E POLA ITY OF T E NEUT ON FLOW!" Prince Macintosh looked over at Celestia who had also seen the pony.  “Did ya get that?”  Celestia nodded.  “I believe so.  On three.... One... Two... THREE!”  The streams of their energy crossed, entwined and expanded outward to engulf the entire cloud.  There was a flash, then green and gold sparks burst apart like fireworks and the cloud vanished. The electricity in the air dissipated quickly, as did some of the panic.  “You two are determined to ruin everything, aren’t you?” growled Eris, snapping her fingers once more.  The very ground beneath their hooves turned to rubber.  Any pony who was walking or jogging before now found themselves bouncing uncontrollably with each step.  Several of them fell, thrown off balance by the uncertain terrain.  As they hit the ground, it was like their bounce had been increased exponentially.  Each rebound threw them a little higher, then higher again into the air.  A couple of the pegasi tried to counter the rubberized ground by flying, or at least trying to.  Their efforts were negated when their wings vanished in a puff of smoke. The draconequus laughed with a brutal callousness.  “You know, I think they’re starting to like this.  Just look at them all, jumping for joy.” One of the minotaurs reached down and grabbed a chunk of building stone, hurling it at Eris.  “If you’re gonna mess with the best, get ready to take a long, unplanned rest!” he yelled.  “Really?  Didn’t anypony teach you not to telegraph your blows?” The chimera said, snapping her fingers.  She teleported about two feet back from where she had been standing.  When she reappeared, Eris was wearing a telegrapher’s outfit.  As the stone sailed past, she whipped out a label, licked it, and slapped it on the side of the stone.  From Big Mac’s point of view, it looked like it read RETURN TO SENDER.  The stone abruptly whipped around Eris and flew straight back at the minotaur.  It struck him in the torso, sending him tumbling to one side.   “That’s what I’d call getting caught between the rock and a hard case,” laughed the draconequus.  She snapped her tail and the rubberized ground turned into a two foot deep morass of pistachio pudding.  Ponies who had been bouncing everywhere suddenly splatted into the creamy mess.  Most found themselves covered from head to hoof in the pale green goo.  Celestia leapt high into the air and fired an intense bolt of pure sunlight at Eris, hoping to at least draw the creature’s attention to her so her subjects might have a chance to escape.  The draconequus once more snapped her taloned fingers.  A hand mirror, about the size and shape of a tennis racket materialized in the air before her.  She grabbed it in her magic and used it to swat Celestia’s spell back at her.  Sensing an opportunity, the princess also created a mirror floating in front of her.  She caught the spell with a smooth backhand stroke and sent it back at Eris.  The chimera responded by returning the bolt with an overhand swing.  She snapped her fingers and a thick net and marked tennis court materialized.  As Celestia had hoped, the impromptu game drew the draconequus’ attention away from the rest of the ponies.  Most of the ponies took advantage of Eris’ preoccupation and made a dash for the glade outside the castle.  They quickly discovered the rope bridge across the chasm was still down, so the rush to escape quickly ebbed.  One pegasi tried to fly across the gap, but remembered too late that his wings were missing.  Fortunately a griffon managed to snag him before he vanished into the fog filling the chasm.  Gilda gave the idiot pony a good chewing out when they landed back in the glade. The “game” between Celestia and Eris became more intense as the bolt of energy began flying faster and faster.  “We’ve got to do something!” Rarity said.  “The princess can’t keep this up forever.”  Even as she spoke, a second bolt of energy joined the first.  Again, a mirrored tennis racket appeared as Eris grew another arm to handle it.  Celestia created and levitated a second mirror paddle.  Then came three... and four... then five, six and seven in quick succession.  There were so many bolts of energy flying that it was hard to follow who was serving and who was returning.  The draconequus was handling seven rackets by then, one in each of her six hands and another in her prehensile tail.  Eris was laughing manically, thoroughly enjoying the chaos being unleashed. Wrinkling her muzzle, Celestia joined all seven of the paddles he was levitating by the handle, creating one, overlarge propeller of paddles which she spun.  The bolts of energy struck her propeller, sending each back at Eris on a precise trajectory.  “No Fair!” the draconequus squawked loudly.  An instant later a large, mirrored parabolic dish appeared before her, catching each bolt and sending them back at Celestia like a chain of balls.  The back and forth continued for about ten more seconds, then the energy spheres began spinning on their own, forming into a vortex between the two “contestants.”  Gathering themselves into a single spinning sphere, the energy began to rise above them.   “LOOK OUT!” somepony yelled. The ball of light abruptly burst.  Something however shunted most of the energy upward, away from the combatants, though it still succeeded in knocking everyone off their hooves except for Celestia and Eris.  “THIS I DO NOT BELIEVE.  THE FATE OF EQUESTRIA ITSELF HANGS IN THE BALANCE AND THEE DECIDES TO SETTLE THE ISSUE OVER A GAME?!”  Everypony save the princess and the draconequus turned at the sound of the voice.  There, hovering before them was another alicorn princess, though this one’s fur was black as midnight and a pair of bat wings had replaced the normal pegasi ones Celestia wore.  Mist roiled off her body like steam and both her star-filled mane and tail danced in the non-existent breeze.  “LUNA!” Big Mac called, drawing her attention to him. “LUNA?  NEIGH, I AM NOT THAT WEAK, WILLED, SPOILED FILLY.  I AM THE NIGHT, I AM THE STARS AND THE MOON.  I AM NIGHTMARE MOON!”  Her eyes alighted on the alicorn prince, then widened in surprise.  “DOTH MINE EYES DECEIVE ME?  ART THOU TRULY A PRINCE OF THE HOOF, THE HORN AND THE WING?” “Uh... Eeeyup?” “HAZAH!  THEN THOU SHALL JOIN ME IN CELEBRATION ONCE I HAVE DEALT WITH THE USUPER AND PUT MY SISTER BACK IN HER PLACE!”  Big Mac was more than a little unnerved, having loved the gentle Luna and now seeing her alter-ego in the fur.  “Sister... Focus!” cried Celestia.  “First we must deal with Eris... Then we can ‘discuss’ our own issues.” Nightmare Moon threw a silvery sphere around the draconequus, trapping her.  “THERE SHALL BE NO DISCUSSION!  THOU SHALL SUBMIT TO MY WILL, OR ONCE MORE SUFFER BANISHMENT TO THE SUN!” “You know, it’s never a good idea to divide you attention in a fight,” smirked Eris.  She snapped her clawed fingers.  The silver orb surrounding her shattered like a mirror, sending shards of solid light expanding in every direction.  Big Mac, Celestia, and Nightmare all threw up shields to protect themselves.  The other ponies ducked down behind a pile of debris as the jagged pieces of light passed over them.  The draconequus reached out with her own power seizing the shimmering protective spheres in magically constructed hands.  “I guess it’s time I got a grip on things here.  Or maybe...”  The hands began tossing the balls of energy around, juggling them back and forth, occasionally bouncing them off the floor.  “...I should juggle things up a bit.”  Laughing furiously, Eris did not see the small vial of blue powder as it arched through the air and smashed at her hooves.  The draconequus was instantly enveloped in a blue cloud.  Her magic hands disappeared as she begin sneezing, allowing the three alicorns to drop to the ground safely beyond the cloud.  “NO...ACHOO!  FAIR USING MY OWN...KA-CHOOO!  POISON JOKE...AAAHHHCHCHOOO!  AGAINST ME!”  KA-CHOOO...”  The serpent twisted around on herself as she fired off volleys of sneezes.  Unfortunately, each sneeze seemed to have an effect on the local environment as trees melted, lava pits opened and cotton candy clouds deluged everyone with chocolate milk.  One pony was turned into a humpbacked whale that almost crushed other ponies around her while a second was changed into a potted plant, whose last cognitive thought was “Oh no... Not Again!” Another stray bolt of magic ricocheted off the wall several times before hitting Spike.  The teen dragon roared with surprise as he suddenly transformed into purple, pegasi colt with a green mane and tail.  The second vial he’d been holding slipped from his newly formed hoof, hit the ground and shattered.  Within seconds a pale green ivy plant shot out of the ground.  It wrapped its vines around Spike and his friends before spreading out, attaching itself to a nearby wall and climbing it, ponies bound tightly within.  “I can’t move,” Rainbow Dash announced.  “What the hay is this thing?” “Some kind of clinging vine, Ay’d guess,” observed Babs as she tried twisting her way free of it. “Explosivus Pyrocanthinium,” replied Spike.  “I was hoping to ensnare Eris with it.” “Explosivus...?  Youse don’t mean this stuff’s gonna blow up, do ya?” “No,” said Trixie.  Explosivus only refers to its rate of growth.  I once used some to keep an audience from walking out on my show.” “A captive audience?” Rarity exclaimed.  “Isn’t that a bit unprofessional?” “What can I say,” the stage magician replied.  “Young and stupid.” “So how do we get untangled?” asked Rainbow. “Maybe we could chew our way out?” offered Pinkie Pie.  She grabbed a mouthful of vine and began gnawing vigorously.  She quickly spat it back out.  “Blech!  This stuff tastes horrible.  Anyone have a cupcake?  I need to get this taste out of my mouth.” “I should have warned you,” said Fluttershy.  “Only little lambs eat ivy.” Rarity looked over at Trixie.  “How did you finally get your audience unwrapped?” “I didn’t,” replied the show pony grinning sheepishly.  “That’s one reason I took my act on the road.” “Maybe Spike can use his dragon breath to burn us free?” suggested Pinkie.  The newly transformed stallion managed to turn his head enough to look at the party pony, one eyebrow cocked sardonically.  “Even if I still could, there are at least a dozen reasons why that wouldn’t be a good idea.” The castle shook again as Eris gave one last triumphant sneeze.  The floor beneath Celestia and Luna collapsed, dropping them both into the lower levels of the castle.  Dropping their shields, they both sprang into the air, only to be seized by two separate coils of black, thorny vines.  Seeing this, Big Mac focused his magic into a tight beam of energy and severed the vines below their coils, freeing the princesses.  He then turned towards the other ponies.  His magic once more severed the ivy from its roots, causing it to instantly crumble and drop Spike and the others to the floor.  The stallion turned just in time to be flattened by a bolt of energy coming from Eris.  Dazed, he saw the draconequus teleport so she was standing just above him. Eris glared at Big Mac.  “This is all your fault, interloper.  This world was mine until you stuck your muzzle into it and inspired this quest.”  Dark chaos magic flared between her paws, expanding into a sphere that began drawing the air itself into it.  “I have had enough of your interference.  I don’t know exactly how you arrived on this world, but you are leaving it...NOW!”   She raised the sphere high above her head intending to bring it down onto the alicorn prince.  Stunned as he was, all he could think of doing was rolling out of her way and leaping to his hooves.  It wasn’t enough.  The sphere’s energy enveloped him and he began to feel a sharp burning sensation that drove down to the very core of his being.  For a brief instant, he felt as if he was dissolving... And then, it all suddenly stopped.  The sphere vanished like a popped balloon, leaving Eris with an expression of absolute confusion on her face.  “What...?  Who...?”  She tried to summon her power to herself, but there was only the slightest sputtering crackle as she snapped her fingers.  “My power... What’s happened to my power?” “I’m afraid I am what happened, my dear,” came a voice from behind her.  She whirled and looked, as did every other pony within sight.  There stood a tall, lithe, serpentine chimera.  His mismatched parts emphasized the very chaos he represented.  He casually levitated a small whisk brush across his shoulders dusting off several small pieces of granite.  “As much as I appreciate and enjoy all the chaos you’ve created, I think it’s high time we had a little chat,” he grinned wickedly.