//------------------------------// // Battle Of Gods // Story: PONY POV SERIES SEASON 8: FINALE! // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Within the black wind barrier, Nightmare Nhilis stared at Gilda for a long moment, her expression devoid of emotion. "I'm done with you." "Prism Flash!!!" Nightmare Nhilis jerked her head up sharply. "What kind of stupid name for an attack is-" Seven different colored beams of light struck Nightmare Nhilis from seven different directions, shutting her up. The Nightmare recovered her balance, shading her face with a wing and trying to blink the spots from her eyes. She saw a blue unicorn mare with a rainbow colored mane done up in a bun, two loose strands framing her face. Her eyes were dark blue, and her cutie mark was a rainbow escaping a crystal. A silver chain set with a jewel shard hung around her neck. "THE HELL!? WHO ARE YOU!?" shouted Nightmare Nhilis. “I was rather wondering that myself!” said Discord. The unicorn snorted. "You asked me that already, darling." Then she looked at Gilda, sighing softly, and teleported to her. "It's okay, dear,” she told Gilda in a motherly tone. “Everything is going to be alright.” Conjuring a burst of rainbow light, she set about unwinding Nightmare Nhilis’ restraints, dispersing the faux skeletons and melting the ice while carefully cutting and removing the brambles with her magic. “If only light magic and healing magic were the same thing, like in those earth pony video games,” she added, wistfully apologetic. “I could do a better job of fixing you up.” Discord yanked on his eyebrows. “I have so many questions… but I refuse to imitate Pinkie Pie! How did you get in here?" "I was in here when you put up the barrier," said the unicorn nonchalantly, not even looking at him. She manipulated a rainbow arch like a physical ribbon, wound it round and round Gilda to bandage her. "There, that should hold you together until Rarity or one of the others can help you." Gilda opened her eyes slowly, her gaze unfocused. "Dash? ... When did you get a horn?" "Actually, dear, I was born with it,” said the unicorn, her voice warm and welcoming while keeping a slight air of formality. “My name is Prism Rush, but I am very good friends with Rainbow Dash and her friends. They are good ponies." "What are you?” sneered Nightmare Nhilis. “Some relative of Rainbow Dash, conjured up out of nothing for this?" The unicorn looked at the Nightmare disdainfully. "As a matter of fact, young mare, I am unfortunately not related directly by blood to Rainbow Dash. At least not where I'm from. I never got the chance to have foals of my own during my career, in spite of finding a wonderful stallion that I wanted to share my life with, and when I retired after my life's work, the dream community I was part of didn't really have foals... except one." "Oh come on!" Discord said indignantly, waving his arms. "Do you think you’re clever, speaking in riddles, when I invented that game? All of us here know perfectly well what you’re talking about. Well, the griffon doesn't." "Just trying to avoid attracting unwanted animals. Once they start chewing up the newspaper and shedding on the rug, you can do a whole day’s work and it’s like you’ve accomplished nothing at all.” Prism sighed. “Though I suppose that'll be impossible here, so I’d best make the most of the time I have.” Prism Rush struck a pose, facing the Nightmare squarely. “I could scarcely stand to watch any versions of my friends being hurt so, but what you did just now was more than I could bear! This cannot undo my mistakes with my friends, but I shall not see Gilda harmed any further!" Nightmare Nhilis rolled her eyes. "Actually, moron, I was done with her. It's not my fault she insisted on making it worse for herself. She stalled me as long as she could, but it's clear she's used up." "I warn you, young mare,” said Prism coldly, “do not speak of a sapient beings as if they were mere objects to me. I happen to be very cross with such attitudes." "Whatever. After the scrapped griffon princess, I'm done with this nonsense. You hold even less use for me than she did. I'm not interested in beating a dead horse." The unicorn sighed. "As painful as it is for a part of me to admit, as I am now, and as you are now, I could not hope to contend with you." "Then turn around and walk away,” said Nightmare Nhilis sternly. “I'm sure Father will be willing to lower the barrier now." "I said 'as I am now,' darling. I'll simply have to fight as all of me." (Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): How is it possible that you are even here?) 'The same way you are, darlings. Gilda bought Twilight and the others all the time she could. I owe it to her to help.' Prism held the jewel shard aloft, and it began to shine. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," growled Nightmare Nhilis through gritted teeth as she and Discord sensed the power being unsealed, or rather, revealed at last. The unicorn grew in size, taking on the swan-like shape of the Alicorn princesses. Her pupils flashed, becoming a perfect ruby red. Her coat gleamed like the blue sky. Her mane fell out of its bun, and flowed long behind her, shimming like a literal rainbow. A pair of beautiful wings flashed out from her back, glowing with their own silver lining. A full set of golden Roam-Mare barding appeared in a whirlwind and snapped onto her body piece by piece... solid metal hoofshoes shaped like ankle wrappings with a lightning bolt pattern, a peytral with a prism jewel at its center and a circle on of tinier stones on either side, golden wingguards, and a winged golden crown set with no less than seven lightning bolt jewels, each a different color. Blinding light rippled across her flanks, and her cutie mark changed into a single lightning bolt with no clouds, composed of the seven different parts of the rainbow. The Alicorn struck a war pose, and an arch of fireworks exploded behind her, just because. Princess Fidelitas Moksha Equestria… had returned. "Oh you are not just bucking with me, this is stupid," Nightmare Nhilis hissed. "Seriously?" Fidelitas waved a forehoof casually. "I was hoping I could just help Rainbow Dash and that would be enough, without risking the furry undo-button sniffing around, but it looks like I'm out of options." "... So that was you. I knew I felt something else in my world besides the trio dancing around in Rainbow Dash's shadow. I suspected it was something like you." (Interviewers Notes (Noon): Omigosh! Welcome back! I should have known!) 'Nice to see you girls again. You knew I wasn't gonna stay away.' (Interviewers Notes (Dusk): And you knew we wouldn't, dearie. We all have too much invested here to just walk away. But taking physical form is a gamble. The Beast will find you eventually.) ‘Pfft, I’ve got plenty of time! I’ll put Nightmare Nhilis down for the count in ten seconds flat… is what I’d like to say, but I won’t lie, this could be a tough one.' Fidelitas sized the Nightmare up, putting on a more serious expression. 'Hopefully Discord's barrier will confuse it a little, and maybe Nightmare Nhilis will confuse it more. Maybe that's all just wishful thinking, but you know ponies like us. We never could just stand by and do nothing. Not anymore.' (Interviewers Notes (Noon): So how are the foals doing?) 'Veritas loves her oranges, and Midnight enjoys origami. They're definitely their own ponies.' (Interviewer's Notes (Dawn): I don't understand. Your magic could hurt Diamond Tiara, but the spirits of black magic are supposed to make her immune to the magic of ponies who’ve been Nightmares.) 'First, this world's Rainbow Dash never completely transformed, and thank Sane Reality for that. Second, it was another universe's Spirits of Dark Magic that transformed me.' (Interviewer's Notes (Dawn): Ah, okay, that makes sense. I guess?) A hexagon-shaped metal weight big enough to crush Fidelias like a bug materialized inches above her head without any magical trace. Only the gust of displaced air warned Fidel' to teleport above it before it crashed into the ground, causing tremors with its impact. "Hey! I thought you loved to talk! What's the deal?" Her answer came in the conjuring of a balefire megaspell bomb, one that has never been seen by this universe. Fidel', not having time to teleport the bomb somewhere safe, hugged the bomb close to her body, shape shifting into a dragon and clapping her claws tightly around the bomb as it went off. The goddess opened her scorched claws and shifted back to her Alicorn shape. "Okay, now that wasn't funny! Do you have any idea what-" A laser shot out of Nightmare Nhilis' horn, thin as a razor’s edge, splitting the atoms of the air it pierced. It passed through Fidel's shocked face right between the eyes, or rather her after image. Next to where she'd been standing an eye-blink ago, she said, "Oh come on! Don't you want to hear my life story? It's got tragedy, action, friendship, drama, and lots and lots of violence-" Line art of an ornate gate filled in behind Fidelitas, until the double doors became real and physical, red steel with brass bolts, in a twisted black metal frame with ghoulish lanterns hanging from the sides. The doors swung inward, revealing an infinite starless soulless void beyond. A whistling gale of air began to pour into the hole in the world. A low yet terrible sound came from that deep abyss, like the growl of some monstrously huge creature. A ring cluster of seven slitted crimson eyes opened as one, and a monstrous hand like darkness, yet darker, began to reach for the opening of the gate and the tempting Alicorn just beyond it. Without missing a beat, Princess Fidelitas turned around and fired a beam of multicolored magic into the gate. A vast and deep moan was heard, and the hand and eyes(?) fell away from view, followed by a thud inside great enough to flatten kingdoms. The gate sealed itself and vanished. "Now seriously, I think-" Fidelitas teleported out of the way as Nightmare Nhilis tried to skewer her from behind with a black flaming horn. "Now I know you like that move but-" Nightmare Nhilis teleported and tried again. "But seriously, what is your deal?! Capper steal your tongue? Oh right you don't know that phrase!" Four afterimages tried to stab Fidelitas from four different directions, and Fidelitas ducked the fifth, invisible true strike. “You haven’t even asked who I am.” “I don’t really care who you are,” said Nightmare Nhilis, in deadly earnest. “Allow me to explain,” piped up Discord, as the two Alicorns continued to play a deadly game of tag. "As far as my princess is concerned, this is her show. You’re an unwanted guest, and you know how my princess gets about somepony trying to upstage her. “Now, if it was just me, I'd love to hear all the gory details of your backstory, but I doubt my princess is in the mood for an epic six episode flashback. Ironic, really, considering how long it took to set our original plan in motion! You might want to stick with the abridged version." Nightmare Nhilis transformed back into a hulking four-headed hydra. “Better yet, you could shut up and die!” Fidelitas grinned cockily. “Okay, I guess we’re recapping on the run!” The first hydra head began spewing black flames, which Fidelitas blocked with a shield. “So... picture the scene about a year ago, except you win and rule Equestria, and we get to be your crazy brainwashed minions for a thousand years.” She paused to deflect a volley of light-eating shadowstone bullets from the second head, taking care to avoid hitting Gilda. Discord didn’t seem to know whether to be delighted or guilty. “Oh, so my evil plan was a success?” Fidelitas focused several heat beams with a crystal into one, nullifying the freeze ray from the third hydra head, and then she made an umbrella construct for the acid spew from the fourth. “Um, no? Your plan was a disaster! By the time we finally rebelled and beat you, you weren’t even the real enemy. Twilight was! I mean, not our Twilight, a different, way more crazy Twilight. Seriously, stop trying to let out Twilight's inner crazy. It just makes her a crazy control freak. I mean, that’s not even chaotic!" "I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it," muttered Discord. “You’re doing it wrong,” growled Nightmare Nhilis. “Don’t you know you’re supposed to make a fatal mistake because you were showboating too much, so others can learn from your bad example?” The hydra grew a fifth head which immediately opened wide, releasing ghostly red bloodthirsty bloodhounds out of its throat, wailing as they chased after Fidelitas, nipping at her hooves. Fidelitas sliced one wolf in two and narrowly dodged the others’ attacks, which blasted each other instead. "So basically, somewhere, some timeline, you played your sick games with Twilight until you turned her into a Nightmare. A Nightmare that turned me into a Nightmare, and collected more Nightmares like hoofball cards, and turned back time a few hundred thousand times just so she could punish you more, and all of us got to suffer right along with you. Great job.” Discord squinted at her, clearly skeptical. “Funny, you don’t look like a Nightmare to me. You certainly don’t seem like a mare who’s had her spirit broken and ground to dust by a near-eternity of torment. I think I’d feel rather bad about that now, if it was me and not some other me. I feel bad enough already about the ‘not good’ things I actually did do!” Discord sighed. “Sorry, where were we?” “That’s basically the whole story,” said Fidelitas. “Except for the part where meddlers make one loop go all wonky, and me and my Nightmare buds finally lose to ponies who don’t want to be erased. And then somehow Twilight gets purified first and thinks we died, so she goes and heroically sacrifices herself to make a better world. And I wasn't crazy anymore but I still had issues and kind of tried to sacrifice her kids to resurrect her.” Discord stuck a claw in his ear, trying to clean it out with squeaky pipe noises. “Are you sure you’re supposed to be Loyalty?” “What can I say? Loyalty’s complicated.” Fidelitas summoned an expanding barrier to push back all of the attacks at once so she could catch her breath, only to have Nightmare Nhilis herself try to trample her. “I came to my senses before I did something, you know, not good, which it turns out was my ordeal for becoming a Concept, but I still wanted to see the universe she sacrificed herself to create.” “And now that things aren’t going the way you wanted, you’re stepping in to make double-sure my princess doesn’t win?” Discord glanced towards Gilda’s fallen form. “Or is this all about revenge now?” "Eh, did the revenge thing for millions of years already. No thanks." Fidelitas teleported directly underneath the hydra and began pummeling her in the stomach. The hydra tried to crush her with a belly flop, but Fidelitas simply teleported away again. A sphere of hard light surrounded her, and she pinballed between the hydra heads, making them crash into each other. The collapsed hydra burst into shadows, which swarmed together and rose again as Nightmare Nhilis in her Nightmare form. “You don’t belong here any more than the griffon did. Your entire existence is one born of contrary spite, much like this entire worldline. You should thank me for putting you down. Do you even care about anyone outside this barrier?" She swung, teleported halfway through the punch, and slammed her hoof into Fidel's face a millisecond later. Fidelitas pointedly ignored her. "I grew up,” she told Discord, “and realized that trying to bully ponies into doing the right thing didn’t make it right! I've lived with mortal ponies, I've seen their stories, what they've endured, how they've grown, how could I NOT care about them?” Now she did look at Nightmare Nhilis. “Even you!" "Rot." Rust spread from the spot on Fidel’s champron where Nightmare Nhilis had struck her. Fidelitas reversed the spread of the rust with nothing more than a stern glare. "All I did for millions of years was give up. I am done with that!" She tried to punch Nightmare Nhilis back. Nightmare Nhilis emotionlessly slapped Fidel’s hoof away. "Do you have any idea how Alicorn awful it is to have a super power that should be incredibly versatile and effective, except everypony in existence is immune to it? It turns you into a generic flying brick." Fidelitas smirked. "If you’re a one trick pony, learn to work AROUND your weaknesses!" "Giving advice to the enemy?” Nightmare Nhilis launched a frenzy of attacks, kicking, biting, and stabbing with her horn. “You are so stupid!" Nightmare Nhilis was quick, but Fidelitas was faster, able to block every strike and return the favor. "And I thought you didn't care how 'fancy' this fight was!" Nightmare Nhilis simply tanked Fidel’s attacks, appearing to even feel them! “I suppose this is karma for all those villains who found cheap workarounds for the Elements of Harmony." "Not my department, kiddo!” “Hmph.” Nightmare Nhilis buried Fidelitas in the ground with a quick hundred-times gravity spell, but when she reared up to stomp Fidel’s face, Fidelitas hit her with a point blank tornado gust, flinging her skyward and bouncing her off the roof of Discord’s barrier. Fidelitas teleported out of the hole and brushed a few flecks of dirt from her coat. “You're naive. With all you've done? I still carry more sins than you ever could. I'm not watching another pony go down that road." A whole paparazzi press corps’ worth of lights flashed in front of Nightmare Nhilis' eyes, blinding her. "Go down it?” shouted Nightmare Nhilis. “I'm out of the castle, down the road, and over the horizon. Adagio's Death Scream!" In the time it took Nightmare Nhilis to name the attack, Fidelitas teleported to Gilda and spread her wings, raising a vacuum shell. The deadly shockwave of siren magic passed over both of them harmlessly. “Careful! That could have killed her!” "I'm the villain, remember? I called out the attack's name first, what more do you want?" Nightmare Nhilis didn’t bother to explain that she’d had to put a temporary deafness curse on herself, since Adagio, being immortal, hadn't had a reason to make the caster immune to the spell. Nightmare Nhilis began teleporting at random. Her horn burned coldly, and afterimages began to break free from her and solidify, also teleporting randomly. Bolts of decay magic started flying at Fidelitas from every direction at once. Fidelitas found that since she couldn't sense Nightmare Nhilis' presence, she couldn't tell the avatars from the original, except... She teleported and kicked all four hooves into the real Nightmare, sending her sailing back and landing sideways on the barrier. "You forgot to copy Discord. Truth is kid, I don't hate you. I know what it's like for Discord to twist you around into something that's just a funhouse mockery of everything you are." "I was already a mockery." Nightmare Nhilis began to randomly teleport and attack again with her avatars, this time including an illusion of Discord, the magic of the real Discord shielded by Nightmare Nhilis' magic. Fidel's horn glowed, and a prison's worth of chains materialized and wrapped around Nightmare Nhilis' and all of her avatars at once. "Discord manipulated you into becoming a Nightmare... Nightmare Moon, Whisper, Eclipse, nopony did that to them on purpose. You really wanna say that you're more beyond saving?" The chains rusted away. "Guess my power isn't completely negated after all," Nightmare Nhilis and the avatars said together. Discord scratched his head. "Well as Gilda said, funny story, really. Concepts are supposed to have perfect memories, but even I can't remember how much was according to plan." Fidelitas realized in an instant that only one Discord had spoken. It could have been a trick, but Fidelitas couldn’t imagine Nightmare Nhilis making one of her illusions of Discord say that. Fidelitas conjured a strongly fortified bird cage around Gilda, then teleported behind the real Nightmare Nhilis and bear-hugged her, having to actively resist the decay force that she gave off like radiation. “Gotcha!” “Do you?” Nightmare Nhilis slipped out of the hold with an apprentice's 'slipperiness' spell, and she and every one of the avatars turned themselves invisible. “Crap!” Fidelitas froze, reaching out with all her Alicorns senses, and… nothing. Not a trace of magic, not even the faintest gust of wind. “Where are you?” she muttered, sweating a bit, as she peeked into adjacent planes of reality one after another… Something jabbed her in the barrel. Fidelitas yelped and pulled away before the horn could stab too deep, and another avatar jabbed her opposite shoulder. “Ironskin!” she shouted, trying to dodge around unpredictably while healing the wounds as quickly as she could. Then Discord, bless him, started rambling on again. "I know getting to care about her wasn't part of the plan. Happy at the idea of having a family like me definitely wasn't. I'm pretty sure I was just going to use her as a host, or maybe that's evil wishful thinking nostalgia talking." Fidelitas homed in on the sound of Discord’s voice to punch her invisible foe, then blast her magically. The avatars weren’t smart enough to throw themselves in the way and sacrifice themselves for Nightmare Nhilis… having been slapped together on the fly, their programming was rudimentary. "Maybe I wanted her thoroughly and utterly broken so she wouldn't resist... except that doesn't make an ice-cream-lick of sense since my current hosts never gave me trouble before." Too bad Nightmare Nhilis left no mundane presence, or Fidelitas could have filled the area with dragon smoke and aimed for the holes. Fidelitas turned to vapor and flew up above at high speed and back to the ground, then conjured a wall of spinning blades behind her. Nightmare Nhilis' squad of invisible avatars weren't able to stop in time and weren't complex enough to think to teleport. Fidelitas was happy they were invisible. "Pretty sure we were going to combine our magics and tag team the world as a perfect union of Alicorn and Draconequus. Just as soon as I was free and we were no longer bound by the rules of the Heart World, of course..." With Discord not shutting up, Nightmare Nhilis realized the invisibility spell was pointless and dismissed it. Fidelitas promptly dropped a house on her. Nightmare Nhilis kicked the front door open, hurled a set of ruby hoof-slippers away, and blasted them to bits, unamused. An army of rats armed to the teeth came boiling out of the house from behind her. "Infest! Pillage! Spread the plague!" Fidelitas summoned an army of giant cats who made delicious work of the rat army, then returned from wherever it was they came. Discord was leafing through a tiny diary filled with crayon scrawls and musical pop-up figures. "Or was my ultimate scheme to fuse with the Discord of another universe and achieve ultimate power? I suppose it doesn’t matter now. Plans change. I can't even remember which of us came up with the Rumors Curse." Fidelitas tried a spell that Granfalloon had taught her. "Irresistible Dance!" Nightmare Nhilis instantly began to do ballet that would have made her mother boast, but that didn’t stop her from gracefully dancing over to Fidelitas and touching her with a hoof. "Zebra Queen Parabola's Curse of the Mummy." Fidel's body began to dry out, and silk bandages that smelled of spices quickly wrapped her up. Fidelitas removed the curse on sheer reaction. "Attack first, THEN fancy name!" Nightmare Nhilis punched Fidelitas in the face. "Pot calling the kettle black!" "Give Prism Rush a break, her knowledge of fighting came from illusion-shows! Didn't know you knew this many spells." "I don't, but they do." Nightmare Nhilis’ voice echoed again as she conjured up seven horrific runes all at once, surrounding the Alicorn of Loyalty. "Symbol of Pain. Symbol of Sleep. Symbol of Fear! Symbol of Stunning. Symbol of Weakness. Symbol of Death. SyMboL oF iNsanItY!" Fidelitas was pretty sure those hadn't been invented in this worldline. Or maybe they simply hadn't been invented yet. Or maybe they had... she wasn't the Alicorn of Magic. She had just enough time to pull a stone wall out of the ground, with her and the symbols inside and Gilda outside, and then the symbols detonated. The Symbol of Death stopped Fidel's 'heart', before her Element rebooted her life functions. It also managed to unscramble the neurons in her brain mangled by the Symbol of Insanity. The Symbol of Fear left her frantically wondering, 'Is Gilda going to get killed if this fight continues with her trapped in here with us?! Have Twilight and the rest rested enough yet?! Will the Wolf wipe away everything I've done here, make it all for nothing?! Will my friends be punished for my actions?!' The Symbols of Stunning, Sleep, and Weakness left her unable to stand. The Symbol of Pain left her unable to focus. She’d hoped that Pain and Sleep would cancel each other out, but no such luck. Outside the stone wall, Nightmare Nhilis panted. Those runes were meant to be used on groups, not individual targets. It was like dropping a curse on all of Canterlot to petrify four Alicorns. She teleported, hovering above the stone circle, and aimed down. "Firestorm! Disintegrate! Implosion! Big Horn's Giant Fist!" A tornado of flames was barely contained within the stone walls, scorching them pitch black, followed by a green beam meant to break down its target by the component atoms’ bonds, and a resonance that caused the victim to collapse into itself like a dwarf star, finished off by a giant transparent minotaur hand that curled into a fist and slammed down inside the stone wall, surely grinding whatever remained into less than dust. Nightmare Nhilis slowly landed. Discord covered his mouth, eyes big as saucers. The Nightmare slowly breathed in, and slowly breathed out. She looked over at Gilda, who was still blissfully out of it. "Now what to do about you?" Nightmare Nhilis startled as the ground shook and small stones began to float into the air. The world seemed to turn upside-down… she ‘fell’ towards the roof of the barrier and had to conjure a giant spider web to catch herself. Only Gilda and her cage stayed put. Princess Fidelitas zoomed upwards like a ballistic missile. She had to… her muscles were only just now growing back, followed a moment later by her skin, fur, and feathers. Rebuilding her protective barding was actually harder, with the beating it had just taken for her. It wasn’t as tough as before, being a rush job, but it looked just as formidable, and she wasn't about to admit otherwise. Finding an impending Sonic Rainboom staring her in the face, and still disoriented from the gravity inversion, Nightmare Nhilis filled the air with dense acid fog. Fidelitas responded by spinning like a drill bit... +++ Outside Discord's barrier, the heroes had gone through an entire litany of relaxing poses. Eris had also provided soothing jazz music. The heroes’ rest ended when rainbow colors blazed out of the checkerboard-colored barrier like a searchlight, and something forcefully blew the top of the barrier right off. Eris and the heroes were all shocked to see a Rainboom explode out from the destroyed barrier, sending them all skidding or tumbling back. Two combatants somersaulted out of the dissolving barrier in different directions. Each landed on all four hooves, crouched and staring the other down. "How are you still here?" demanded Nightmare Nhilis, not even looking at the ponies. Fidelitas stretched out, popping a few joints. "Don't feel like tellin' ya." (Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): Don't worry, we took care of the Runes. You don't need to worry about some innocent pony getting hurt by them!) 'Thanks,' thought Fidel. ‘Knew I could count on you!’ Twilight and her friends weren't sure how many more shocking sights they could take in one day! Instead of Gilda, now an Alicorn version of Rainbow Dash in gold barding was fighting Nightmare Nhilis! The last remnants of the barrier fell away, revealing a bandaged-up Gilda in a bird cage, looking like she'd taken the beating of her life. Rainbow Dash could have spent all afternoon gaping in awe at herself as a goddess, but now there was no hesitation… she zoomed to the birdcage in a rainbow blur and opened it up, finding it wasn't locked. In fact, the cage vanished the moment she got it open. "Gilda! Can you hear me?! Say something! C’mon, you’ve gotta be okay!" "Dash?” Gilda couldn’t do much more than lay there, groaning pitifully. “You didn't tell me you could turn into a Princess Pony... " "That isn't me!" Applejack felt one mighty headache coming on, just looking at Fidelitas and Rainbow both. "Actually, she is and she ain’t. Ugh..." Celestia scooped up Apple Bloom in her magic as Luna did the same with Rarity, and they all teleported to the griffon's side. The princesses glanced at each other, nodding firmly, and then they began applying what healing magic they'd learned in their thousands of years alive. Apple Bloom examined the rainbow bandages and applied her healing salves, and Rarity absorbed what injuries she could from Gilda, Rarity's Element repairing Rarity's own body at the same time. Luna then magically drew Gilda into a deep slumber. Rarity fretted, seeing that. "Princess, is that wise? She could have a concussion." Princess Luna shook her head. "Tis' not the same as in thine operas, Miss Rarity. Rest for the brain is in fact just what is required for such an injury." Nightmare Nhilis made no move to attack as they were busy treating the griffon. With Gilda in capable hooves, Celestia looked to Fidelitas. "Your help is appreciated, and you have my gratitude, but your efforts can all be simply undone. This isn’t worth the risk." Fidelitas flashed a confident grin. "Don’t sweat it, Celestia. If that happens, at least you’ll be no worse off than you were before." Rainbow Dash had been holding Gilda’s claw, as if she could will her friend back to good health like Rarity had, but now she glanced over excitedly, thinking of her comic books. "So you’re me from the future? When do I become a Wonderbolt?!" Fidelitas winked. "It'll be worth the wait. And seriously, you see me with a horn, and that's what you ask?" "Well…” Dash fidgeted her hooves. “I don’t find out that Celestia was secretly my mom all along, do I?” "What? No!" "Whew! Just checking!" "I think you look pretty, I mean pretty awesome like that, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said. She traced a circle in the dirt with a forehoof, looking down bashfully. “And I’m afraid I wasn’t doing nearly as well being an Alicorn as you are now.” "... Aw, thanks 'Shy," was the polite reply. “But, uh… don’t sell yourself short!” "Ooh, ooh!” squealed Pinkie Pie, going higher with each bounce. “I’d better starting planning Princess Dashie’s 'Welcome to being a princess’ party right away!" "Well, I don't think she's from the future!" said Scootaloo. "I bet she's probably part of some inter-reality super squad sent to help us save the day." "Uh, yeah," said Fidelitas, suddenly shifty-eyed. "That combination of words you just said makes perfect sense, Scootaloo." “Oh my gosh, she spoke to me!” squealed Scootaloo. “She knows my name!! YOU LOOK TOTALLY AWESOME, PRINCESS RAINBOW DASH!" “Ah guess some things are the same no matter what the universe,” mused Applejack. Fidelitas beamed. "Thanks, kid." "Uh, Trixie? Are you okay?" asked Spike, tugging on her armor. "Trixie is not jealous!" "Uh, that’s good to know! Not that I asked." "Oh." "Besides,” said Rarity, “I'd have to redesign my entire wardrobe if I got wings!" "Sis, nopony even asked you," said Sweetie Belle. Rarity blushed. Applejack patted her shoulder. "It ain't nothin' to be ashamed of, Rares." Silently, she added, ‘Ah guess Shy and me ain't gonna be the only Ponyville ponies keepin' Twi company when she starts goin' ta Princess Poker Night.’ Fidelitas actually blushed from all the attention, just a little. "Do me a favor, would you? DON'T make a big deal out of this later, okay? I’m kinda trying to keep a low profile, so let’s not make things more complicated than they need to be, ya know?!" "Yes, don't," said Nightmare Nhilis icily. "Let me spell this out for you. Just like the griffon, you’re only here so I can show off how powerful and evil I am. You're expendable. You're not important." (Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): One would think, Nightmare Nhilis, that you would have learned by now that those words are cursed in this worldline.) Fidel's fur bristled. "I told you kid, don't treat ponies like disposable objects around me." Twilight thought, 'It's a testament to how insane today has been that we're just accepting a reality jumping, time traveling Alicorn Rainbow Dash.' Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash hadn’t moved an inch from Gilda. Red Heart’s healing touch could mend Gilda in an instant, but Twilight couldn’t teleport Gilda all the way to Ponyville without traveling with her. And considering how chaotic the battle had become, Twilight didn’t want to risk leaving the battlefield for even a moment. "Fluttershy, you and Fluttercruel are both going to have to keep an eye on Gilda," Twilight said, knowing Rainbow would trust Fluttershy with the job and focus on the fight. Fluttershy nodded firmly. "You can count on us!" “Funny,” said Nightmare Nhilis. “It’s supposed to be the villain that won’t shut up and let the heroes begin the final battle already. I’ve met outer fiends with a hundred babbling mouths that talk less than you.” She trotted closer, staring down Fidelitas. “In a way, though, I'm actually glad you’re here. You're like me, a meddler, an infection, a leftover of a mistake. This world doesn’t need two Rainbow Dashes. That means… I can actually kill you, and now that we're out in the open, I can fight you at one hundred percent." A dark purple aura of wailing pony faces flared around the Nightmare. Fidel's teeth clenched. "I already told you, ponies aren't replacement parts!" She looked at the Princesses and the assembled heroes. "All of you, stay out of this, please! You have talents OUTSIDE of fighting that’ll leave a mark on the world. You have families waiting for you and families to come. Me? Fighting is all I was good for, for a good long time." "In other words, you’re telling the lowly NPCs that they’d only get in your way,” said Nightmare Nhilis snidely, transferring magical force to her wings and muscles and overclocking her reaction time. “No!” said Princess Fidelitas fiercely. "Those ‘little ponies’ are important, every one of them! They have lives, friends, loved ones… No one should have to go through what I did, to learn how to fight the way we can!” She sighed. “One of my best friends gave up everything so this world could exist. It would be SAD if the ponies here dedicated themselves THAT MUCH to fighting. They have bloody more IMPORTANT things to do with their time!" Eris slow-clapped. "Nice speech,” she drawled, clearly fed up with being ignored, and even more fed up with her focus-tested clothes, which had returned the moment she became a draconequus again. “How long have you been waiting to say that?" "Too long.” To Nightmare Nhilis, she said, “Hey kid, I thought you just wanted to disappear. Sounds like you're actually going to enjoy yourself." Nightmare Nhilis smiled ominously. "I want you gone from meddling in something that isn't even your business." "Trust me, this is very much my business," Fidelitas said darkly. "My little ponies, do as your friend asks,” said Princess Luna. “She knows much that you do not. If you trust in your Rainbow Dash, then trust in her." "Sister, are you sure?" Celestia asked. "As sure as we can be in this matter." Eris tore off the hated black shorts, and snapped her fingers. The pillows and balance boards vanished, replaced with a serious deity-level transparent shield barrier. In a flurry of pops and flashes, her magic teleported all the mortals safely inside, dropping them into comfy ringside seats. Eris’ boombox started playing the hoofball “Charge!” fanfare for good measure. Nightmare Nhilis didn't politely wait for a cry of 'Round 2'. She started forward, trotting faster and faster until she broke into a full gallop. Fidelitas met her head on. = FLOW - HERO: Song of Hope (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods ED) = The impact of two high speed Alicorns created a shockwave that shook the very earth… even inside the protective barrier, the heroes could feel it. The two of them slammed into each other again, and then a third time, neither getting past the other’s defense. Nightmare Nhilis finally managed to kick Fidelitas in the stomach, blasting her skywards. The blue Alicorn twisted about and used the momentum to jump start her flight upwards. The Nightmare followed right behind, leaving a blast zone in the ground from her cold-start launch. Nightmare Nhilis caught up as Fidelitas reached the cloud layer, and they once again exchanged blows. Their fore hooves pounded like battering rams, their rear hooves swung like war hammers against shields. The resulting shockwaves caused the clouds to part, opening up the bright blue sky to the heroes below. Nightmare Nhilis did a reverse hammer blow below Fidel's chin, making her spin back. Fidelitas shot missile style straight at Nightmare Nhilis' head, striking her with her rear hooves together, sending the Nightmare careering across the sky. "I get it now,” shouted Nightmare Nhilis. “The Nightmare Mirror who died banishing Uncle Nythy, that was your Applejack?" Fidelitas streaked after her. "Not exactly, but she was a very close friend of mine!" "Then if I kill you, Rainbow Dash will absorb your magic too, and end this." "NOT PLANNING ON DYING TODAY!" There was no up or down anymore, the fliers fought so relentlessly that gravity didn't make a difference any more. Their strikes lit up the clouds like the mightiest thunderstorm that ever rolled out of the Everfree, spreading panic across Canterlot and clear to Ponyville. (Silver Spoon's Diary: I couldn't help but think, in spite of how she scared me before, just how cool Diamond Tiara looked fighting Princess Rainbow Dash.) Like a pair of swords sending sparks in every direction, the two clashed, broke apart, and clashed again, hitting and running, each trying to score a hard and fast strike through the other's defenses. "Too painful to live, but ya don't wanna die. Sucks being stuck in that limbo doesn’t it?" Fidelitas gave her one in the solar-plexus. "I am so sick of being psychoanalyzed!" Nightmare Nhilis grappled with Fidelitas and kneed her right at the base of her horn. The two separated and maneuvered for advantage again, rainbow and dull silver contrails streaking through the clouds, then closed and jousted with their horns... both managing to score a strike through their chamfron's eye arch. Each kicked the other away, half blind, but both alive and regenerating so fast it would've shocked the Royal Sisters. Without missing a beat, they immediately clashed again. "Regenerating? I thought you wanted to die!" "I won’t be disabled and helpless in their hooves! Need a killing blow." The blue and purple stars tore across the heavens, staying momentary still before moving like lightning, fireworks going off as they crossed paths. The two of them continued to rise. Magical energy took over for their life functions as their lungs found less air to work with. Down below, Scootaloo squinted her eyes, "So fast! Apple Bloom, are you following any of this?" "Nope, totally lost." What Twilight Sparkle could pick up with her magical senses had her gaping in awe, speechless. The two dueling Alicorns barely noticed that they were seeing stars in the middle of the day. Nightmare Nhilis readied 'Death Cycle' and cast it instantly, skipping the incantation. A ring of swords appeared around Fidelitas and skewered her from all directions at once. "Ow! Hey, I thought we were done with the parlor tricks!" "Who said that? Me?" Neither felt like asking how they were speaking in the exosphere. Nightmare Nhilis readied 'Electric Funeral' next, and black magic infused lightning formed a coffin around Fidelitas, shrinking fast. "Bad choice, brat!” boasted Fidel. “If there's two things I can handle, it's lightning and black magic." The lightning, however, traveled down the swords stuck in her, along the blades and into her metal barding, shocking her harder. Nightmare Nhilis conjured a purple pony ghost skull the size of a building, launching it at Fidel. As Fidelitas was still pulling out the black lightning charged swords, the skull chomped down on her, swamping her with intense sheer futility, crushing in from all sides! With her opponent doubly distracted, Nightmare Nhilis cast 'Premature Burial', conjuring layers of earth and stone and using gravity magic to crush them into Princess Fidelitas, until she'd created a miniature moon. Nightmare Nhilis watched, waiting for Fidelitas to blast out of it. The explosion would rain debris on Equestria, forcing the Alicorn to burn through her magic, destroying the meteorites before they landed. Instead Fidelitas simply teleported out, dusting herself off. Her barding had cracks in several places. Nightmare Nhilis scowled. "Princess-Buster!" Discord had the unpleasant feeling of being fed on. "Gee, how long did it take you come up with that one?" Fidelitas asked, not even trying to dodge as the unstable mixing of Nature's Fury coated in layers of darkness and decay enveloped her. Nothing would regenerate from that. “Idiot. Why didn’t she…” Nhilis blinked. “No… a decoy!” "It's called bait and switch, kid!" Nightmare Nhilis readied herself, but instead of attacking Fidelitas zoomed away at high speed over the horizon of the planet. "Since when does a Rainbow Dash run away?" she asked herself. The answer came when Fidelitas slammed into her from behind and kept right on going, zooming away at hyperspeed. Nightmare Nhilis readied herself to skewer Fidelitas the moment another fly-by attack came. Instead a teleport from directly below rammed her in the gut, knocking the wind out of Nhilis. Watching among the distant stars, she saw a rainbow streak flash into existence, zip in a straight line, then pop out of existence only to pop into existence elsewhere, skipping in and out of reality like a stone on a pond. "Oh no." The resulting impact was like a meteor to the face. Again, and again and again. She had no time to move, or even teleport. The hits keep coming right for her head, until she felt like she would black out from the pain. 'That's-' BOOM! '-what-' BOOM! '-she-' BOOM! '-wants!' Her solution was to dump out a splurge of different breeds of dark and black magic all at once with drops of Nature's Fury thrown in, thinking of how absurd and futile this worldline she was a part of was. The black spiral that spewed out may have had the shapes of anguished faces and beasts, or other things within it. There was no big bang, no explosion. It was like time itself blinked. "Pitch Black Pity," said Nightmare Nhilis, panting, after she completed the incomprehensible spell. Her ears were still ringing, her head still throbbing…. Fidelitas righted herself, the cracks on her barding obvious now. Her champron broke apart and the pieces floated away, letting her rainbow mane flow freely behind her. The circular dark markings on her body faded away as her cells rebuilt themselves. Fidelitas took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, more out of habit than from any need for air. She began to slowly walk towards Nightmare Nhilis, as if she were standing on solid ground. = 'Hopes and Dreams Will Save The World' - CONTINUE? = Fidelitas snapped her wings open, then flapped them with enough speed and force to create a pair of Sonic Rainbooms, animated by magic to make up for the lack of air, something few other gods could have pulled off. Caught off guard, Nightmare Nhilis brought up her own wings as a shield, but they were blown open by the force of the attack, knocking her back. The goddess of loyalty and breaking cycles conjured a cloud above the planet and kicked it. The cloud divided and divided again until there were thirty two of them. Another kick released a blast of red lightning from the one closest to her, chaining into the others, and a full thirty-two lightning bolts struck the Nightmare at once. Nightmare Nhilis mustered enough weather manipulation to absorb the storm harmlessly. "Now you’re using lightning against a Alicorn? We’re both part pegasus, idiot." "It was worth a short! Even water rats can drown, you know!" "Mark Of-" "Free Will." The Rune shattered before it could fully form. Nightmare Nhilis teleported, only for Fidelitas to teleport at almost the same time, keeping the same distance and continuing her steady 'trot.' Nightmare Nhilis summoned a flaming sword with runes and a skull hilt. It was struck by a spear of lightning with a throw no mortal could have made, obliterating it and giving Nightmare Nhilis a nasty horn-numbing shock. Princess Fidelitas flapped her wings again. Loose feathers shot at Nightmare Nhilis like darts, bursting into flame and striking the right through the weak points of her barding to lodge in her vulnerable wings. The Nightmare tore the burning feathers out with her mouth, then conjured a giant spider made of shadows that lurched toward her foe. “So it comes down to this? Which of us knows more tricks?” Fidelitas only smirked, and summoned a scythe made of lightning, cleaving the spider in two and dismissing the weapon in a single stroke. She flapped her wings again, firing more feather darts with lightning arcing between them. This time, Nightmare Nhilis was prepared and blasted the feathers before she could get electrocuted again. She retaliated by conjuring a swarm of floating purple spheres, then flinging them at Fidelitas all at once like a hail of bullets. Princess Fidelitas flickered all over the place, continuing her steady trot, but the visible shockwaves of mini-rainbooms showed she wasn't teleporting, she was dodging. Fidelitas created a squad of afterimages, flying in formation behind her. 'Shadow Mirage.' The ghostly images rose and flocked towards Nhillis, each one creating a swarm of lightning construct knives from feathers that regenerated as fast they could shed them. They formed a dense sphere around Nightmare Nhilis, every crackling red blade pointed inward. 'Bullet Time!' 'Black Wave.' A pulse of utter darkness flew out from the Nightmare in every direction, engulfing the feather blades and causing them to reverse course and stab the afterimages instead, dispelling them. 'Round trip!' Only for the red lightning of the constructs to leap together, forming a smaller number of sword constructs that spun towards Nightmare Nhilis. The Nightmare punched, bucked, slashed with a double wing blade spell, blasted with her horn and breathed fire, and still some of the blades struck her chamfron. In that time, Fidelitas had closed the distance between them. 'Eleventh Hour Farewell.' Her busted and cracked golden barding crackled with red lightning. Her entire forehoof stored electricity as she began to vibrate it violently. "Turn to ash!" The beam shot from Nightmare Nhilis' horn, too close for even Fidelitas to dodge. “Crap!” Fidelitas vibrated at hyperspeed, and the attack only vaporized a horn-width hole through her, instead of her whole body. Luckily, her Element was undamaged. With her hoof still blazing with stored power, she began a cold start Sonic Rainboom, twisting her body like a drill, forehoof first rather than her horn. At the same time however… "True Black Dark Magic: Seven Point-" A violet spell circle formed around Nightmare Nhilis, the runes on the edges terrible indeed, some related to the Draconequi, others inversions of the holy runes of the Alicorns. Six dragon heads emerged out of it, each a different color, and they fired beams of impossible colors into a seventh dragon head that added them to its own beam that was not completely in the visible spectrum. Fidelitas shouted “Night Bird’s Song!” at the same moment Nightmare Nhilis called out, “-Alicorn Buster!”’ +++ The ponies yelped and jumped in their seats, shielding their eyes. Even Spike squinted, with eyes that could stare unflinching at lava. “Well, that was something,” observed Eris in the eerie quiet that followed, tossing away a pair of designer shades. "I think they saw that explosion all the way in Appleloosa." She snapped her fingers, and the comfy seats and the barrier disappeared. "I think those have served their purpose. And by definition, so have I. We probably won’t meet again… Eh, who am I kidding? Wherever you see Discord, you’ll see me, so no real loss.” She blew the ponies a kiss. “See ya around!" Eris waved and turned to pure chaos magic, flying at high speed into the sky, to rejoin with Discord. "That was nice of her," Fluttershy said. The others awkwardly pretended they hadn’t heard that, but Fluttershy couldn't help but appreciate that she definitely felt more rested than she had before Gilda and Princess Rainbow Dash had arrived. Eris' yoga poses had really helped. "Get ready, everypony," Twilight said. Nopony asked what for as they resumed their formation, with the princesses flanking them and the Crusaders behind them protecting Silver Spoon. The Flutters stayed next to the unconscious Gilda as Twilight had instructed. Nightmare Nhilis floated down, looking no worse for wear. Hovering in her pale white telekinesis was the unmistakable sight of an Element of Loyalty, though the color was darker than Rainbow Dash’s. Nightmare Nhilis casually inspected the Element, like it was a new trinket Filthy Rich had bought her. "Where is she-?!" Scootaloo demanded. Nightmare Nhilis turned the trinket over in her magic. “I’m sorry, did somepony say something? Or was that just a horsefly buzzing?” Scootaloo looked ready to lunge at the Nightmare all by herself. (Interviewer's Notes: (Pegasus): EVERYPONY WHO'S A GOOD-GUY, LISTEN UP! NOPONY LOSE THEIR HEADS! YOU'RE ALL ABSOLUTELY SURE SHE'S OKAY!) 'There’s no way any Rainbow Dash could lose to Diamond Tiara,' Scootaloo thought. “She only just pretended to lose. It’s all part of her big plan. I’m sure of it!” Fluttershy thought, 'I was really worried there for a second, but I’m sure she must be okay.' 'Good thing she's okay,' Twilight thought. ‘We need to focus, this is no time for reckless moves.’ 'Yep, Pinkie Sense checks out! She’s 100% A-okay!' Sweetie Belle gulped. ‘I know Princess Rainbow Dash survived that somehow, even if I can’t figure out how she could have survived. I guess I shouldn’t think too hard about that.’ 'She's totally okay,’ thought Rainbow Dash. ‘Future Me is way too awesome to never-be-heard-from-again. Wish I could ask her how I pulled off those totally awesome moves taking out Eris' Mega-Mega-Whatever-Zord, though.' In her mindscape, Princess Luna gave the Interviewers a stern glare. ‘The Voice of the Absolute? You’re quite skilled, to be able to get past Twilight’s mental barriers, but please have care.’ (Interviewer's Note (Unicorn): We both know that was to prevent disaster. We're all doing our best to stop Nightmare Nhilis and Discord, and save Diamond Tiara and Dissy.) 'I understand,' came Celestia’s thought. Nightmare Nhilis continued to look at her trophy. "Pst. Don't they know their self sacrifice is never about actually defeating the villain? It's about knocking themselves off so Fate doesn't have to bother with them anymore?" As if waiting for just such a remark, Nightmare Nhilis' champron shattered, along with half her barding. "Huh?" Startled, Nhilis forgot about the Element and it fell to the ground. The Element seemed to phase right into the soil. "Sorry dear,” said Discord casually. “I don't feel like helping you fix it." "Wasn't counting on your help anyway." Nightmare Nhilis tried to recreate the missing parts of her barding, but there was just one problem... her champron continued to have a lightning bolt shaped hole in it. Twilight looked at the temping hole, but quickly remembered what happened the LAST TIME she tried to use the memory spell on a Nightmare. Nightmare Nhilis dismissed the hole with a forced laugh. "Is this some kind of joke? The last, lamest prank of Rainbow Dash? Did she actually think it was worth it? Nothing is worth living for, nothing is worth dying for, nothing is worth anything. Why can't you understand that?!" +++ Apple Bloom And that's when it finally hit me... Ya know how when ya look at a paintin'... sometimes, even when the artist weren't TRYIN', ya can see some of what they were feelin' inside when they made it? It ain't the artist lyin' and tryin' ta hide it...there ain't no lie cause even they thought it was truth. Even if the artist didn’t even know they were sad or happy or lonely deep down, sometimes that works its way into a picture too, and you can tell. The artist weren't hidin' it. They weren't trying to disguise it, they just didn't KNOW they put it in there. Sometimes, what a pony makes of themselves reveals as much as any piece of art. A truth all its own. Ah know, cause with Toola Roola's eyes… Ah can see it plain as day. Like Applejack on Mother's Day, or Mitta about Ruby. Before, figuring out Diamond Tiara was like tryin' to read a contraption, or a statue. But now she's got tells. Maybe it's because of Sweetie being close by, maybe it’s them spirits, or just maybe there's a heart in there somewhere after all. Nightmare Nhilis' ain’t showin' it... but that fight with Princess Rainbow Dash took a whole lot more out of her than she's lettin' on! Ah don't think any of the others have noticed it. Not even Applejack or Sweetie's sister, Ah think! Heh, so Diamond Tiara, have Ah become more like a Nightmare, or have ya become more like a pony? Silver... we can win this... for real! We'll get Diamond Tiara back ta ya! But Ah can't tell the others! Not out loud! Nightmare Nhilis will just get more desperate if she knows we know, but there's more than one way ta talk to yer friends. Ah start tappin' on Scootaloo's leg with mah leg. She's smart and stays quiet. Usin' her wings, she taps it on to Sweetie, who taps it on to Spike. Ah tap it with mah tail to Applejack, and she begins to tap it to Miss Twilight! (Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): When did you learn Horse Code?) Cutie Mark Crusaders Code Breakers, naturally! (Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): Seriously? Is there anything you haven't tried?) You bet! We figured after we got these fancy shields on our cutie marks that maybe we oughta keep on tryin’ even more different things, to figure all the things we can do when we hang out. (Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): How does Applejack know it?) She was in the Filly Scouts, of course she knows it, duh.