The first thing that registered to Twilight upon waking was the cacophony of various noises going off all around her. Subdued at first, they grew louder and more blaring as she came out of the realm of unconsciousness. Bangs and explosions and people yelling enough to rattle her eardrums, making her fold her ears back while scrunching her face in irritation.
“Oh good, you’ve come to,” came her own voice.
Confusion briefly took hold of Twilight before memories surfaced. The Mirror Pool clones, the creatures, her shield, everyone fighting…
Her shield!
Twilight’s eyes snapped open and she sprung to her hooves. Immediately, she recoiled at the scene before her.
The clearing had been transformed into an all out battleground. Everything was a flurry of motion as everyone from the group — as well as many new faces — fought horn and hoof against the horde of monsters, using attacks ranging from simple to devastating, some comprehensible and some she couldn’t grasp the true form of at a glance. To her immense relief, the only carcasses she saw littering the ground were those of the creatures. But the sheer number of them, and all the blood and gore that was spilt as a result, made her cringe a little. Further compounding her discomfort was the heavy scent of death that hung in the air, assaulting her nostrils and making her eyes water slightly.
Her Mirror Pool clones had formed a protective circle around her, wither to wither with guarded stances. Every now and then a creature would come charging at them, only to be zapped into oblivion by a clone’s magic beam. One of them spared a glance back to Twilight.
“Are you okay?” she asked, before returning her gaze forward.
Twilight felt a wave of nausea wash over her, causing her to momentarily lose her balance. Shaking it off, she addressed her doppelganger. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just a little woozy.” She cast her gaze over each of her clones, noting that none of them seemed to be experiencing fatigue like she was. “How about you all?”
“We’re all feeling okay,” another clone spoke up.
“Good,” Twilight replied with a nod. Whatever the cause for her fatigue, confusing as it was, it was fortunate that it didn’t affect her clones. Maybe because they were made of pure magic without any organic physiology? She cast the thought aside and turned her attention to the battle, which was starting to wind down as the last remaining creatures were being picked off.
Looking around, Twilight was surprised at the small number of new faces which had joined. She’d expected newcomers numbering in the triple digits from the way Aza had spoken before. Although, the possibility that there were still more people that went unnoticed by her clones was very much real. Her panic was very brief, however, quickly replaced by a trusting suspicion that Aza would give a hint to that being the truth if it was. It would just be up to her to recognize it.
She continued mulling to herself while idly watching everyone wipe out the horde. She had to admit, it was a little surprising how easily the newcomers were able to harmonize and cooperate with the group in fighting back. Some of them looked a little bit on the gruff side, strictly judging from their appearances. But thinking it over — as strong as the power of friendship was — she had to concede that the will to survive in the face of lethal adversity was even stronger. She could only be grateful that all of her and her friends’ enemies weren’t heartless, instinct-driven predators.
Eventually, the last creature met its demise, its shriek of agony cutting off to leave the clearing in total silence. Several moments passed while everyone caught their breath and relaxed their aching muscles, while Twilight’s clones relaxed their guarded stances and turned to face her, grim expressions splitting their muzzles. They didn’t need to be told what was about to happen to them.
“Thank you all for your help,” Twilight announced as she started charging magic into her horn. “And it’s the least I can do to refer to you all as ‘you’ rather than ‘me’.”
“It was my pleasure,” came their collective reply.
Twilight lowered her head, and from her horn a beam of lavender light shot forth, hitting a clone square in the chest and exploding it into a wisp of pure lavender magic which then shot off through the air back towards the Mirror Pool. She swept her head from side to side, cleanly disintegrating all her clones and sending them to their place of birth. She stood stock still for a few moments afterward, her brain a scrambled mess of emotions and thoughts. She sat down while rubbing her temples with her hooves, trying to relieve some lasting ache. Her ears swiveled in response to some approaching footsteps, but she didn’t bother turning to see who it was. Finally, her headache dissipated, and she let out an exasperated, but no less relieved sigh.
“Are you feeling okay?” came the pharaoh’s voice, accompanied by a hand gently clasping her withers.
Twilight sighed again and turned to face him. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… a little disappointed I passed out, is all. At least everyone managed well without me.”
“What happened to make you pass out?” he asked.
Twilight placed a hoof under her chin in thought. As far as she knew, she had enough magical stamina that she should’ve been able to maintain the shield for far longer than she did. The only thing she knew that could cause such a sudden onslaught of magical fatigue would be a change in the volume of ambient magic in the surrounding atmosphere. It was such a rare occurrence back home, and only under incredibly slim circumstances that she dismissed the thought of it happening now by pure chance.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “But whatever it is, I think Aza’s to blame, albeit unintentionally. It must’ve pulled in something that’s taking away from the volume of magic in the air of Equestria. Something big.”
The pharaoh touched a hand to the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. “I'm feeling something strange with the Millenium Puzzle. What do you suppose it means?”
Twilight shook her head. “I have no idea.” She noticed in her peripheral vision everyone else was making their way over to Thomas. “C’mon,” she said. “Let’s go meet all the new faces.”
The pharaoh nodded, and they joined the rest of the nearly doubled group as they clustered in front of Thomas. To Twilight’s concern, everyone migrated into one of two groups on either side of the track. On the left was everyone who’d already been part of the group, while all the new faces gathered on the right side. She and the pharaoh stood directly across from Thomas on the tracks.
The silence that stretched between everyone was palpable. Looking at everyone, Twilight saw expressions ranging from fear to sheepishness to uncertainty across their faces. Not that that was a surprise. Having such a large crowd join the existing group was bound to cause some diffusion of responsibility between both parties. But before she could speak up herself, a gruff-looking man with a chainsaw attached to his arm and wearing tattered clothes did so.
“So, now what?”
Everyone turned their attention to him. A younger girl with brown hair and blue clothes spoke next. “Well, now would be a good time to introduce ourselves. After that, we need to organize ourselves into a cohesive force if we’re going to survive this predicament.”
Palutena nodded. “That’s a good idea. And with such a huge increase of people, it might be a good idea to have a designated leader from now on; someone with good tactical skills.” She was about to continue speaking, but Pit interrupted her.
“You’d be perfect, Lady Palutena!” he said in his characteristically cheerful tone. “You’re the one who put together that plan for taking down those shriekers, after all!”
Palutena blushed. “Well, sure, but–”
“Hold up a minute!” a red-suited man said, stepping forward and drawing everyone’s attention. He removed a gun from its holster and gave it a playful twirl around his finger. Twilight cringed, afraid it might accidentally go off; a sentiment shared by many others in the group, judging from their expressions. “Now, I appreciate a well thought out game of chess as much as the next guy, but there’s no need s’long as you’ve got an immortal badass merc with perfect aim.” He threw the gun up into the air, and with an almost flirtatious flourish perfectly twisted his hip so it landed back into its holster on the way down. “Just point me toward the foe and I’ll point my guns directly between their eyes. Whether or not they get a bullet depends on my ammo count. But that’s why I’ve got these babies!” He pulled out his twin katanas and struck a few over-exaggerated poses before sheathing them again.
“Did you already forget what happened literally just a few minutes ago?” another young girl with brown hair and black robes asked, annoyance clear in her tone. “If it hadn’t been for Charlotte and me, you’d have been eaten alive, Deadpool.” The first girl nodded her agreement.
The man, Deadpool, was about to reply when James spoke up next. “No matter how much of an expert marksman you are, there’s plenty of things that bullets can’t take down. And that’s me speaking from experience.”
Deadpool let out an exaggerated huff of annoyance. “Well, way to be ungrateful. Here I was willing to do all the work by myself because I’m such a nice person, always looking out for innocent lives, and then you all have to rain on my hero parade.”
“Yeah, no offense kid,” an older-looking, gray-haired man in fine attire said, “but I’m not putting my life into the hands of someone wearing clothing that stupid. Not that I would need to, anyway.”
“Hey, there’s a practical reason why I wear all red,” Deadpool said, a hint of rising anger in his tone. “It’s so bad guys don’t see me bleed. And you say my clothes are stupid!? Have you looked in a mirror lately? Unless your idea of a hot date is pummeling suckers into the ground, you’re never gonna get a girl with stained clothes.”
“I didn’t choose to wear this before getting pulled here!”
“Neither did I! But at least my outfit is appropriate for the situation, so I guess I’m more practical all-around.”
“More like crazy.”
Deadpool’s eyebrows dropped and he gripped one of his swords. Everyone’s expressions changed from indignance to shock at the action, while the older man just snorted with derision.
Twilight watched the entire exchange with a knot growing in the pit of her stomach. She was afraid this might happen once the fight was over, and if more people kept being added, that would only make it increasingly harder to keep the group harmonious with itself. And the last thing that would benefit their continued survival was infighting.
“Okay guys,” she said stepping forward. “Let’s all just calm down and–”
“I’m with Garp on this one,” the tattered-clothed man interrupted her. “In fact, we’re better off without a leader. We didn’t need one to put together that plan just now to take out all those monsters. Besides, we’d just end up throwing the idea out the window sooner or later.”
“I’m telling you!” Pit said. “Lady Palutena is the best for the job.”
Palutena put a hand on his shoulder. “Pit, please...”
“Clearly we’re not getting anywhere like this,” the black-robed girl said. “So let’s just vote on who the leader should be to make it fair.”
“A sound idea in theory,” James said, “except there’s a clear divide between you newcomers and us, I suppose we could say, veterans. That wouldn’t exactly be fair.”
“Well, we need to figure something out,” the blue-clothed girl, Charlotte, said, exasperation clear in her voice.
“Everyone, can we take things one step at a time–”
”If a leader is needed, I will gladly take up the position!” the giant floating hand boomed with gravitas. ”I may not look it, but my wisdom is vast and creativity infinite, not to mention my incredible power. We have no need to fear with me in charge.”
The tattered-clothed man snorted. “Like hell I’m gonna listen to what a giant talking hand has to say.” Twilight noticed the subtle flick of his eyes down towards his chainsaw arm. “Then again, I’d say that about anyone and everyone at this point.”
“So are you saying you want to lead this group?” Samus asked beneath her visor.
He snorted again. “I’d only end up getting you all killed.”
An indignant expression crossed the black-robed girl’s face. “And do you have any reason to oppose leadership other than being stubborn and close-minded?”
The man turned to regard her with a cold, hard stare full of apathy. “I’m being realistic, miss. And believe me, I need a healthy dose of that in my life after all the shit I’ve been through.”
Deadpool put his hands on his hips. “And how much shit would that be? And from what animal or animals? An elephant? A whale? Something big because you look like you’ve crawled through a whole lot of it and wrestled in it and–”
Everyone flinched when the man pulled out his shotgun and aimed it squarely at Deadpool’s face, making the red-suited man stop talking. “Enough.”
Deadpool just laughed and slapped his knee. “Go ahead and shoot, big boy. It ain’t gonna kill me.”
“It’d be worth it to blow off your head to get a few minutes reprieve from your shit.”
“You mean my absolute gem of a mouth?”
“Like topaz.”
“Topaz!? You little–”
“Wait!”
Twilight had her mouth open and ready to plead once more for everyone to stop bickering. She closed it, and joined everyone else in tracking their eyes toward the latest speaker: a youngish-looking boy with yellow skin and no chin. He wore a mask of determination, his facial features twisted into a picture-perfect example of clarity and confidence. Twilight’s heart skipped a beat as she realized everyone had stopped bickering, their full attention on the boy. She smiled, hopeful that he’d be able to talk some sense into them.
Seconds passed without the boy saying anything, while everyone continued staring expectantly at him. His features didn’t change even a little, his entire body rigid like a statue, frozen in its heroic stature. Twilight’s smile, at first bright and hopeful, fell a little more with each second of the boy’s bout of silence. Her ears flicked in response to some shuffling sounds from the group– no doubt their patience was beginning to wear thin.
Finally, the boy’s features tightened up a little and he raised his finger in the air. Twilight’s heart skipped another beat thinking he was about to say something profound, only for her enthusiasm to instantly deflate when his stare suddenly turned deadpanned.
“Wait, wait… yep, I lost it,” he said.
The resulting silence was almost deafening. For a moment, Twilight entertained the thought that everyone would be too dumbstruck by the boy’s odd behavior to continue bickering. Her hopes were quickly dashed, however, when Deadpool drew a deep, exasperated sigh.
“Kid, you’ve got problems.”
The robed girl narrowed her eyes. “Look who’s talking.”
“Oh, trying to out smartmouth me, are you little miss?” Deadpool retorted.
“I’m only speaking the truth.”
The tuxedo-wearing man, Garp, stepped forward. “I vote we bail on the leader plan. All in favor?” When no one raised their hands, he snorted. “Then I’ll volunteer to be the leader. All opposed?” Instantly, Deadpool shot a hand up into the air. “All in favor?” Various expressions of uncertainty crossed most everyone’s face, but no one raised a hand. “Seriously?”
“Who would want a leader dressed up like you are?” Deadpool snarked.
“You don’t have a leg to stand on.”
“Not that I need any, which is why I’m the perfect choice.”
“All that means is you’d need constant saving.”
“Never say I–”
Twilight’s heart sank as she watched the group devolve into bickering, shouting venomous insults at each other which all blended together, polluting the air with toxic noise. What little solace she felt came from the fact that a few members were silent, looking at the situation with expressions that showed how equally disheartened to the situation they were as she was, most of them part of the pre-existing group with only a few outliers, like the light purple-haired girl wearing a short dress and an armored breastplate.
Twilight turned to the pharaoh; his expression was more frustrated than upset. “What do we do?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what we can do other than use our magic to force them to listen.” He turned to her, and his expression turned greatly hesitant. “I’m sure we’d rather not resort to that.”
Twilight nodded. “Right.” She turned back to the squabbling group. Thinking about it some, she decided she was grateful things weren’t turning violent. “But I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how else we can harmonize such a massive group like this.”
“Me neither.”
Twilight’s attention was then drawn to one of the new members of the group; a young, blonde-haired human boy with strange clothing and holding an equally strange-looking red sword in his hand. He had been leaning against Thomas throughout the group’s previous exchange, but now he was kneeling down on the grass. Looking closely, Twilight saw him breathing heavily, his face red as a tomato.
With a flash, she teleported herself next to the boy, an unusual bout of post-teleportation nausea washing over her coming out of it. Shaking herself free of it, she leaned over to meet the boy’s eyes. “Hey, are you okay?” she asked.
The boy breathed a few more times before lifting his head to meet her gaze, forcing a half smile. “I’ve been better,” he answered in a soft, tired voice.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked as her ears swiveled in response to footsteps approaching from behind— likely the pharaoh coming to join her.
The boy heaved a great sigh before talking, pausing to catch his breath between words. “You’re the original Twilight Sparkle, aren’t you? Your clone told me about what’s happening, why I’m here. From what I understand, this world operates under a completely different set of physics than the one I come from. In my world, a substance called ether is the building block of life. A lack of ether in the surrounding environment causes me ether deficiency, which is why I’m so weak.”
“Are you at risk of dying?” the pharaoh asked from behind Twilight, a question she herself agreed with. Her eyes went wide with horror over the boy’s well-being, but she relaxed when he shook his head.
“I thought so too at first, but I haven’t been getting any worse since that battle just now first started. It means there must be a source of ether somewhere in this world that’s sustaining me.”
It took a few seconds, but realization hit Twilight like a train. Her own magical fatigue had to have been caused by the addition of something big draining away magic from Equestria. That something could very easily have been the boy’s home, which would also explain why he wasn’t dying.
The pharaoh knelt down next to her, looking with concern down at the boy. “What’s your name?” he asked.
The boy smiled. “Shulk. Pleased to meet you.”
“Well, Shulk, I guessing we only need to get you to the source of this ‘ether’ in order to make you better, correct?”
Shulk nodded. “Aza said it’d only bring us there after the battle was won, but it hasn’t yet.”
“I think I know why,” Twilight said. She turned around and stared at the still bickering horde behind them. She had no doubt about it— Aza was too busy enjoying the group’s disharmony to keep its promise. To that end, she needed to get them to cut it out. “Pharaoh, I think we have no choice but to resort to magic to get them to stop.”
She didn’t bother waiting for an answer. Her horn lit in her lavender aura as she specifically extended her magic to the people who were arguing. Their bodies were enveloped with her magic, and she exerted her telekinetic control over each of them simultaneously. Their bickering cries were abruptly cut short as she forced all their limbs to snap to their sides and their bodies to rise a couple of feet in the air. The looks of confusion mixed with terror plastered across their faces had little effect on her. Maybe because she hadn’t really gotten to know them yet, or maybe because she’d finally grown too fed up with everything that’d happened since Aza’s game started that she no longer cared about her self-image. The looks of shock everyone else was giving her managed to strike a little truer. She weathered their silent criticism and stepped up to the group, turning everyone in her magic grip around so they could face her.
With a deep, exasperated sigh, she began talking. “I’m going to be upfront and say all this bickering needs to stop. For everyone’s sake.” She turned to regard everyone with a hard stare that she hoped would communicate the severity of her words. “I, as well as everybody else who’d already been here, managed to survive as long as we did without needing a designated leader. Now, clearly with more people, that’s less likely to work, but bickering like bratty foals isn’t going to solve the issue. Instead, we’re going to act like responsible people and discuss the issue with civility, but only after we’ve made Shulk better. Am I clear?” She regarded them all with another hard stare.
No one verbalized any kind of response, but half of the people in her grip gave slow nods of acceptance. That was good enough for her, so she gently set them all down on the ground and cut off her telekinesis. Their faces held sheepish expressions for a few long moments after the fact, no doubt feeling uncomfortable after having been marehandled by a complete alien being. Knowing this, Twilight patiently waited for the silence to stop and for everyone to start making up.
Finally, Charlotte broke the silence with a simple, “She’s right.”
Everyone else nodded their agreement, although Deadpool’s was clearly more than a little begrudging.
“I also agree with Garp,” Palutena said, stepping forward. “We don’t need to worry about who’s going to lead this group for the time being. We wouldn’t know who’s best to be leader until we’ve all gotten to know each other better.” She smiled at everyone. “Does that sit well with everyone?”
Another round of nods from everyone.
”Well, that was certainly diffused sooner than I had hoped,” Aza said, its puppet materializing in the air above everyone’s heads.
“You!” Garp shouted with unrestrained rage clear in his tone. “Send us all back home right now!”
Aza’s puppet turned down towards him. “Or what?”
Garp responded simply by cracking his knuckles, to which Aza just laughed sardonically. ”I hate to break it to you, but that’s just my puppet. I’m an intangible entity, one that doesn’t feel pain on any level. You’d just be wasting your time.”
“I’m willing to try anyway,” Garp replied in a low growl.
”Bring it on, old man.”
“Enough!” Twilight cried, drawing everyone’s attention. She turned her gaze to Aza’s puppet. “Aza, you promised to bring us all to Shulk’s home after the battle was over. So do so, please.”
“Yes, please,” she heard Shulk say behind her, voice still tired, yet polite.
”Fine then. Everybody ready?”
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Ash asked in a dry tone. “It’s not like we have anything left to wrap up here because a certain something dragged us from our homes with nothing but the clothes on our backs and whatever we happened to be carrying.”
”... Fair enough.”
The world around everyone began changing. The trees and train tracks faded away, while the grass beneath them widened to cover a larger area and the distant mountains of the Canterhorn vanished from view, while the beautiful blue sky dipped down to eye level and wrapping around everyone’s view.
A gentle breeze immediately brushed against Twilight’s face, blowing through her mane and sending a pleasant chill down her spine. Her pleasure only lasted a few seconds before a sudden wave of dizziness washed over her, making her sway on her hooves a bit before she managed to right herself.
The volume of magic in the air had dropped considerably as a result of the transition from Equestria to Shulk’s home. She’d been fully expecting it, but still found herself underprepared for the drop of magic in the surrounding atmosphere. What that could mean in regards to her ability to fight down the line, she couldn’t say. Almost instinctively, her hoof went up to touch the Element of Magic perched upon her head. She could draw upon its power if she needed to, but…
“Wow, where are we?”
Twilight was brought out of her musings by the question. Bringing her hoof back down, she began to fully take in the new scenery around her.
The group was situated in a grassy field, with sections of wooden fencing lining the edge directly in front of her. The blue sky beyond at first indicated the ground beneath the group was on an incline, only for Twilight to quickly realize that she was standing even level, which meant they were really, really high up. Turning her head around revealed a small plateau with a tunnel entrance carved into its rocky side. Stretching high above in the distance were tall cliffs covered atop with foliage.
The rest of the group finished getting their bearings before everyone crowded together around Thomas, who was looking particularly dismayed. Likely the result of losing his rails, Twilight figured. To her relief, Shulk was already looking much better than he’d been before, given how much more energetic he seemed to be, as well as the bright, determined smile he wore.
“Looks like you’re feeling much better now,” she vocalized her observation to Shulk.
Shulk nodded and rolled his free arm. “Yeah, now I can help out.”
“So, this is your home?” Palutena asked.
Shulk nodded again. “It actually rests on an ancient, dead titan called the Kyoshin.” He gestured with his sword towards the cave entrance. “Going through that cave will take you to Colony 9, my hometown, which rests at the Kyoshin's heel. This–” he gestured around them, “–is the kneecap.”
Upon processing that information, Twilight’s eyes widened, as did most everyone else’s in the group. “Wait, so you’re saying you actually live on another living being?” Pit asked, voice filled with awe.
“Well, only its corpse, but yeah...” Shulk rubbed his head a little, his expression turning a little sheepish. “I guess none of you can relate, then?”
“That is super weird and almost capable of an innuendo,” Deadpool said.
“It certainly sounds like your world has an interesting history to it,” Charlotte said, and Hermione nodded her agreement.
“And what about that– sword, is it?” James asked.
Shulk held his sword in both hands, tilting it sideways so everyone could look at it clearly. “This is the Monado,” he started, before a deep, contemplative look crossed his face. It was a look that Twilight recognized from second-hoof accounts of her friends. Whenever she was trying to solve a puzzle, or put together a plan, she’d been told her face would turn exactly like Shulk’s currently was. This ‘Monado’ must’ve been quite a mystery to him, one he was very determined to solve. “There’s a legend that says it was once wielded by the Kyoshin itself in opposition to another ancient titan called the Kishin.” He turned around and gestured toward the expanse of sky beyond the field. “Normally, you’d be able to see the Kishin from here through the atmosphere, but it seems it wasn’t brought here. Both it and the Kyoshin fought and eventually died, which was how our worlds came to be.” He once more looked down at the Monado contemplatively. “There’s a race of creatures called Kishinhei, born from the Kishin, that have been attacking my home for as long as can be remembered. This sword is the only thing that can effectively fight them, and I’ve devoted myself to wiping them all out for what they’ve done to me and my loved ones.” He gripped the Monado tightly, his knuckles turning white while his face became a pained grimace.
Twilight caught the hidden meaning in the subtle action; Shulk wanted revenge. Aside from everything he’d just recounted about his world, which was certainly fascinating and made her want to learn more, Twilight could see a sense of hurt in Shulk’s eyes that she’d only been privy to a few times in her life. It was the look of someone who’d suffered a terrible tragedy and was letting the resulting anguish dictate their actions. Twilight knew that was unhealthy, but far be it from her to pretend she understood the full extent of Shulk's pain. The most she could do was lend a sympathetic ear… and potentially be a good friend.
Which shouldn’t be too hard; everything she’d learned about his home was utterly fascinating, and in no alternate universe would Twilight leave her curiosity out to starve.
“Well,” Palutena spoke up, “your world sounds very interesting, Shulk.”
Shulk smiled. “Thanks.” He looked around at everyone. “So, I guess now’s where we all introduce ourselves?”
Twilight nodded. “Right.” She set her launches down on the grass, relishing in its cool touch, and beckoning everyone to do the same. “I’m sure we’re all very excited to learn all about each other's worlds, aren’t we?”
There were various responses of half-murmured agreements or grunts of neutrality, and everyone formed a neat circle on the ground. The introductions started, and as they went on, a growing sense of relief and hope coursed through Twilight. The group was coming together in harmony, which was good for their ability to fight effectively. And the bigger the group, the stronger they’d all be in dealing with whatever threats Aza threw at them.
A gentle breeze blew across the plains, its existence only possible thanks to the passage of time which allowed the climate of Kyoshin to flourish and change. It blew from some cliffs near the northwestern edge of the thigh, sailing across the landscape, whistling through a deep valley of rock, eventually making its way towards a steel bridge stretching across a lake with tall, flattened rock formations jutting from the water, themselves connected by a series of smaller, less sturdy rope bridges. The wind swept across the ground, only to find itself blocked by a massive wall before it could meet the lakeside, forcing the cool air to accumulate against the large, scaly object.
Its eyes snapped open.
Scaly arms — short, muscular, and charcoal black — slammed the ground, kicking up a spray of dirt and rocks. A grunt of exertion escaped from the creature’s mouth as it hoisted itself up. It dug its legs into the ground, finding good purchase in the sturdy soil around it. Slowly, but surely, it lifted itself off the ground and upright, using its spiked tail for added balance. It took a moment to reorient itself before taking stock of its surroundings.
The daikaiju, despite its immense size, was surprised to find itself dwarfed by the canyon walls on either side of the lush fields it stood upon. It had seen mountains before, but the confined space of the valley made it feel small in comparison. It was an unfamiliar feeling, one that the daikaiju did not like.
A flash of remembrance struck. It recalled finding itself in unfamiliar territory, without any sign of life, before it found itself facing off against one of the little humans which had somehow grown to match its own size. It had been grabbed by the tail, then swung around repeatedly before being flung through the air and everything went dark.
The daikaiju took another look at its surroundings, noticing an unnaturally made bridge in front of it. A look behind revealed nothing of interest, so it decided to venture forward to see what it would find. Above all else, it wanted to fight the titanic human again, to prove itself as the greatest force to ever exist.
It took a single step onto the bridge. Immediately, it heard faint, crunching sounds on the edge of its hearing. Quickly it drew back its foot, watching as the bridge’s framework snapped, making the entire thing slide a few meters down out of place. The daikaiju took no notice of the destruction it caused, instead searching for another path to the other side of the lake. It spied a path to its right, leading down to some lush, green fields. It took off in that direction, each lumbering step shaking the earth and causing loose rocks to fall from the surrounding cliffs.
Nothing would stop it. It would always reign supreme.
All of her worries had evaporated, and a wide, satisfied smile split Twilight’s muzzle as she looked over the clearing from beside Thomas. The blue engine had dozed off again, mumbling gibberish that she could only assume correlated with his job back home. Soft scrubbing sounds emanated from his cab, along with faint whisperings of ‘’This is disgusting’” and “I’m sorry, Thomas.”
The introductions had finished; everyone knew who everyone else was. Now, the group was spread over the field, socializing with each other in small groups. Hermione, Charlotte, Palutena and Pit were showing off and studying their differing magics. Deadpool seemed to be having a conversation with Pikachu and Kirby, although Twilight could only speculate how involved the latter two actually were. Samus was showing off various functions of her suit to Master Hand, while Ash and Garp watched with mixed fascination and glee in their eyes. Ed was staring at the creature still trapped in Palutena’s cage, wide-eyed with reverence and, to Twilight’s slight disgust, some drool hanging down his mouth. The pharaoh, Ryuk, and James were trying to console a visibly shaken Florina; given what she’d apparently done back during the battle with the shriekers, with how timid and shy the girl was, it was only natural for her to be so spooked— Twilight had to smile at how much Florina reminded her of Fluttershy, thinking that they’d probably make fast friends if they ever met.
It was what she liked to see— people befriending each other, learning about one another and, in this case, coming together as a cohesive force capable of toppling the greatest of foes. Whatever Aza had planned next for them, no doubt it would be bigger and more challenging than anything thus far, so they would need to become bigger and stronger to match.
“Alright, I’m done,” Shulk’s voice came from behind her.
Twilight turned to see Shulk stepping out of Thomas’ cab, his Monado in one hand and a soot-stained cloth in the other, the latter newly-coated orange with Shulk’s barf. He chucked the cloth back into Thomas’ cab and joined Twilight in staring out at everyone. They stayed like that for a few minutes, before Shulk spoke up.
“Hey, Twilight, can I ask you something?”
She turned to him with a smile. “Sure, Shulk, what is it?”
Shulk’s eyes tracked up to the Element of Magic resting on her head. “You said that thing grants you increased power, even when it’s not combined with the rest of these ‘Elements of Harmony’. But you haven’t used it the whole time you’ve been here even once? And why would Aza let you all keep them if they’re that powerful?”
Twilight’s smile fell a little and she turned her gaze downward. When it had been her turn to introduce herself to all the newcomers, she’d told them all about the Elements of Harmony, how powerful they were, and everything about why and how some of them were wearing these alternate versions. She’d told the newcomers that they either hadn’t needed the Elements so far or couldn’t have used them, but Shulk had seemingly seen through her half-truth. With how similarly logically-minded he was to her, she realized she shouldn’t have expected anything less.
With a sigh, she replied. “It’s a little complicated. To put it simply, I heard something from someone that’s made me uneasy about using them.”
A short silence followed while Twilight ruminated to herself. Everything had been going so well for the group for so long, that she’d actually managed to forget the Elements were readily available to them for half the time. Even seeing them wrapped around people’s necks, she could forget they were there with how well they’d faded from her subconscious.
But, she realized, that couldn’t last forever. If the conflicts Aza generated for the group kept escalating like they’d been for a while, at some point they’d likely need the full power of the Elements in order to safely overcome it. What that might entail for her and the rest of the bearers, she couldn’t even begin to guess.
“And you don’t really know how they work?” Shulk asked, pulling Twilight from her thoughts. “You never really sat down and tried to study the Elements in a scientific manner?”
Twilight returned her gaze to him. “Most of the time the Elements are with Princess Celestia. Recently back home, she did put them under my care, but even if it’d ever crossed my mind to figure out how exactly they work, I haven’t really had the time to do so.”
Shulk sat down on the grass, holding the Monado out in front of him and once again gazing contemplatively at it. “I’ve dedicated my life to studying this thing, hoping to uncover its secrets. I’ve had it safely secure in my lab for over a year, trying to figure out all the secrets it holds.” He trailed off, and an amused smile crossed his face. “It’s funny, though– since I set out for revenge against the Kishinhei, I’ve actually learned more about the Monado than I ever managed to uncover studying it through more traditional means.”
Twilight cracked a smile to match Shulk’s own. “I guess field experience is the best method, after all.”
Shulk laughed. “Yeah, maybe.”
Twilight put a hoof to her mouth to stifle a giggle, before she gave the Monado a studious gaze. “So, you can see visions of the future with that thing?”
Shulk nodded. “Yeah, but I never had any on Equestrian soil. Now that we’re on Kyoshin, I might start having them again.” He absentmindedly ran his fingers along the sword’s length, lost in his thoughts. “I still don’t know why I have them, but I hope I figure it out someday.” He smiled and turned to Twilight. “In the meantime, I’ll use them to help protect everyone in the group, just like I do with my friends back home.”
“Glad to hear that,” Twilight said with a nod. “And you can count on everyone else to do their part as well.”
“Glad to hear that,” Shulk mimicked. “But I take it you’re still hesitant about using the Elements?”
Once again, Twilight’s eyes tracked up to the tiara resting on her head, her features turning uncertain. “I… I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe.”
“I understand why you don’t want to,” Shulk continued. “Truthfully, I’m just curious to see it in action. From the descriptions you gave, I’d love to study it for myself.”
Twilight smirked. “Aside from the rainbow, all it does is engulf everything in a blinding white light. I don’t know what you plan to study in that.”
Shulk laughed. “I’d find something, don’t worry.”
The two fell into silence after that, continuing to watch everyone intermingle. After a while, Twilight stopped paying attention and retreated into her innermost thoughts, where she contemplated her stance regarding using the Elements.
Thinking it over some, she started to wonder if maybe she was being unjustly paranoid. The source of her anxiety was but a single quote written by an alternate version of herself, and an incredibly vague one at that. The Elements were powerful beyond measure, capable of returning harmony to a chaos-ridden world, or purging the inner darkness from a tortured soul. What else they could do was an unknown to her, but her alternate universe counterpart seemed to believe that the Elements themselves were a threat, not the people that could wield them. That implied the Elements had some degree of sapience to them, but nothing she knew about them indicated as such. Of course, that could all change if she actually did take the time to study them in greater detail.
Twilight was brought out of her musings by Shulk tapping on her withers. Turning to look up at him, she followed his gaze across the field to Palutena’s cage which still held the green aquatic creature. The cage was violently rocking from side to side, and Twilight could hear strange, clearly agonized cries emanating from it. Ed’s expression of awe had changed to panic, and he’d put a fair bit more distance between himself and the cage. Looking around at the group, she saw that everyone else had noticed.
“Ed! What’s happening to the creature!?” Twilight called. “Is it hurt!?”
Ed didn’t respond, seeming not to hear her as he continued staring wide-eyed with panic at the creature, his legs even trembling.
With an exasperated sigh, Twilight galloped over to the cage. She heard Shulk following right behind her, and everyone else in the group, minus Thomas, rushed over as well. Twilight made it to the cage first, and what she saw inside almost made her trip over her own hooves onto the ground.
The creature, once only as tall as an average adult human and could easily fit in Palutena’s cage, was now pressed firmly against the bars, portions of scaly flesh squeezing between the bars. Its body had grown almost triple in size, and now it was struggling to breathe if the low, rasping noises coming from its mouth were anything to go by.
A chorus of footsteps heralded the rest of the group’s arrival, and Twilight heard a few shocked gasps from behind her. Turning around, she quickly spotted Palutena in the crowd.
“You need to release it, quickly!” she shouted.
Palutena only mirrored everyone else in the group, staring at the creature with a mixed expression of shock and horror.
“Palutena!”
She snapped from her trance with a shake of her head. “Uh, right, of course!”
Palutena’s staff appeared in midair in a shimmering light display and she grabbed it. With a simple wave, the cage dissolved in a show of brilliant, golden energy, and the creature collapsed onto the ground.
Indeed, Twilight realized, the creature had grown significantly since she’d last paid attention to it. Its body was now roughly four meters tall, based on her estimates from its current crouching position. Its low rasping sounds were replaced with a sound she could only assume signified relief, judging by how low and subdued it was, combined with its now soft, regular breathing. For only a brief moment, she wondered how it’d grown so massive, but the sight of a familiar, upturned tin can on the ground next to it told her exactly what had happened.
“It ate all the Monster Blood,” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Wait, you mean that stuff you said turns anyone who eats some giant?” Charlotte asked.
“I can’t believe we forgot about that stuff,” Samus said.
“But why isn’t this thing much bigger?” James asked. “When I used it, I grew titan-sized in no time at all.”
“Maybe this thing’s biology isn’t adapting to it as fast,” Shulk suggested.
Deadpool stepped through the crowd and stalked towards the creature. “I don’t know why you’re all so worried. Bigger don’t mean better, after all.” He strode up to within a few feet of the creature and reached a hand out to stroke its face. “Hey now, Willy, let’s be friends, alright? We’ll get along really well, you and I. Just because you’re bigger now doesn’t mean you–”
Deadpool was cut off by the creature’s hand reaching out and wrapping around his neck, eliciting a choked gasp from the mercenary. Everyone watched, horrified, as the creature then proceeded to slam Deadpool repeatedly onto the ground, screams of anger from the creature mixing with the gory sounds of Deadpool’s internal organs and bones being crushed and squashed like a sack of potatoes. After what had to be at least three dozen slams, the creature finally seemed to calm down, lifting Deadpool’s mangled body up to his eye level.
“Okay, I should’ve seen that coming,” the mercenary wheezed out.
The creature then dropped Deadpool onto the ground, before sweeping its gaze across the petrified crowd. Its eyes locked past Twilight, and, despite the lack of a clearly defined facial expression, she felt waves of unrestrained rage rolling off of it. Turning around, she understood why; the slightly furrowed look of Palutena’s face indicated she also knew exactly what was on the creature’s mind.
Pit rushed in front of Palutena. In a flash, he split his bow into its two-bladed halves, taking a battle stance and glaring defiantly up at the creature. “We can take this thing down, no problem!”
“Agreed,” Charlotte said, holding up her spellbook.
Garp cracked his knuckles. “No way I’m gonna let this thing get the better of me.”
Soon, everyone was primed for combat, quickly forming a phalanx in front of the creature, who only continued glaring icy daggers at Palutena. The air was thick with tension as both sides stood stock still, waiting for their opposition to make the first move.
All that tension was instantly diffused when the ground shook, causing several people, including the creature, to lose their balance and fall onto the ground. Twilight stood her ground at first, only for a second tremor to send her toppling over. Tremor after tremor shot through the ground, eventually toppling everyone who managed to stay upright at first, and effectively preventing them from getting back up as the tremors steadily grew in strength.
“What the hell is happening!?” she heard Ash call.
As if in response to his question, a giant white hand appeared over the edge of the cliff facing into the endless blue sky. It came down and gripped the edge, before a second hand appeared and followed suit. Everyone’s attention quickly shifted from the creature to the new arrival, just in time to see a very familiar head decked in sailor garb with a hole in its face peek over the edge.
“It’s Stay Puft!” Twilight called.
“Wait, that’s the thing you all were going on about!?” Garp asked, his face twisting into an expression of doubt. “It doesn’t look so bad.”
“It’s no big deal!” Pit said as the gargantuan marshmallow man hoisted itself up and over the edge. He brought his blades in front of him, reforming his combat stance. “We took it out before, and we can do it again!”
“Hold on, Pit!” Palutena said, clasping a hand onto the angel’s shoulder. “We don’t have as much space to fight it here as before. It’d be too dangerous to fight here where someone could get thrown over the edge of the cliff.”
“She’s right,” the pharaoh said as Stay Puft stood up on one leg. “We’re better off regrouping somewhere safe before we decide whether we need to worry about Stay Puft.”
“Hold on,” Ash spoke up, turning towards Master Hand. “You’re a demigod, aren’t you? Why don’t you tear through that thing with your power?”
Master Hand’s body seemed to deflate a little in response, before he said, ”I… would rather run away.”
“Uh, guys,” Samus said, panic starting to grip her voice. “We’d better get a move on. Right now.”
Everyone’s attention instinctively shifted back to Stay Puft. The mammoth marshmallow stood at its full height, looking down on the group with unbridled rage burning clear in its single remaining good eye. More specifically, it looked down at Pit and Samus, no doubt wanting vengeance on the two for their combined parts in the previous fight against it. Neither looked particularly daunted by Stay Puft’s cold, murderous gaze, however, remaining cool and stoic as they, along with everyone else, waited for Stay Puft to make a move.
An ear-piercing wail broke through the clearing. Everyone, including Stay Puft, turned to see the creature charging towards the titan with surprising speed. Once it was within a few yards of Stay Puft, it leapt through the air with its arm outstretched, aiming at Stay Puft’s thigh.
It struck true, its webbed hand sinking into the marshmallow texture of Stay Puft’s body without a sound. Stay Puft remained unflinching, however, the attack seemingly doing nothing to faze or injure it whatsoever. The creature seemed to realize this, as it tried to pull out its arm, only for the sticky texture of Stay Puft’s marshmallow body to refuse to let go.
“Okay, now’s our chance; we need to get out of here,” Twilight said, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. In her eye’s corner, she saw Stay Puft rip the creature from its leg and proceed to examine it with casual curiosity, all while it struggled to break free. It couldn’t last, she knew. “Shulk,” she continued, turning to him, “is there anywhere we can go that’s safe?”
Shulk closed his eyes for a moment, deep in thought. “Well, we’d be safest if we retreated into Tephra Cave.” He nodded his head toward the cave entrance in the nearby rock face. “But, even if we can move Thomas, there’s no way we could fit him through there. We could make a break for Gaur Plains, but we’d be at risk of being followed, and we’d still potentially be unable to bring along Thomas.”
Everyone turned to the blue tank engine who, despite everything that had transpired in the past few minutes, was still peacefully sleeping with a wide smile on his face.
”Let me help you with that.”
Thomas quickly vanished before everyone’s eyes, before Aza’s puppet appeared in his place.
”The deed is done,” it said simply.
Stay Puft stopped its examination of the creature and dropped it to the ground. The creature didn’t have any time to react or get up before Stay Puft kicked it forward, sending it careening into the rock face with a sickening crunch, paralyzing it for a moment before it limply fell over onto the ground.
“Yeah, we’d better get out of here,” James said, urgency rising in his voice.
Pikachu nodded. “Pika-pi!”
“Eh, this is getting kinda boring anyway,” Ryuk said.
As one, the group bolted for the entrance to Tephra Cave, with Twilight and Shulk in the lead.
“Wait!” Twilight suddenly called while coming to a sudden halt.
Everyone stopped and turned their attention to her. “W-What is it?” Florina asked.
Twilight stayed silent for a long moment, the gears of contemplation turning in her brain. When she came out of her thoughts, she turned to Shulk. “You said this ‘Gaur Plains’ is up ahead over the rock face?”
Shulk nodded. “Yeah, but why do you ask?”
Twilight turned to address the rest of the crowd. “That’s where Thomas is, I’m positive.”
“Wait, what makes you so sure?” Hermione asked.
“Yeah, we’d be ten times safer in that cave!” Ash said.
Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but another tremor shook the ground beneath them. Turning around, the group saw Stay Puft once again looking down on them with a predatory gaze unmarred by its mangled marshmallow eye socket.
“No time to explain!” Twilight cried, and lit her horn.
In a flash, the entire group disappeared off the field, quickly reappearing about five feet above the plateau behind them. Everyone but Master Hand and Ryuk fell hard onto the ground, minor cries of agony coming from everyone who landed on a body joint or more. Quickly everyone got up and composed themselves.
“What the hell was that for!?” Garp yelled.
Twilight shook her head. “Sorry. Sorry. I didn’t mean to teleport us into midair. The ‘ether’ of Kyoshin must be messing up my magic.”
“Why did you even do it in the first place!?” Ash asked.
“Call it a hunch,” she replied simply.
Before anyone could press her further, Stay Puft took notice of the group’s new position and took a giant, lumbering step forward, quaking the ground and very nearly toppling everyone over again.
“We don’t have time for this!” the pharaoh shouted. “Everyone, run!”
The group was all too happy to oblige. As one, they bolted away from Stay Puft. Cutting through the plateau was a dirt path leading into a great canyon. They followed the path, managing to turn a bend into the canyon just as Stay Puft stepped up onto the plateau.