//------------------------------//
// Well, Hello There: Part 2 
// Story: Harmony's Parallel 
// by Xutiepops 
//------------------------------//

As much as Elements of Harmony wanted to get the first blow, their immediate move was to grab Magic and duck out of the way. Laughter and Honesty grabbed the mare as fast as light and ran. All three were thrown to the ground as the electrified magic was shot at the wall. 
Honesty stared at the hole in the wall, magenta electricity resonating around it. She looked to the source of the explosion and saw a wicked grin. She thought of the state of the princesses, and how devastating the blow was. And she was furious. 
She jumped up to her hooves and dashed towards the alicorn. She seemed just a step away when she was tackled by somepony else. Her side stung as she looked up and saw her pink friend, except it wasn't her friend. The second she saw straight hair, her hoof slammed into the mares face. 
Pinkamena laid on her back, her hoof holding her cheek. She looked to see Honesty jumping to her hooves. Her eyes widened and she pushed her hind leg out, tripping the earth pony. The pony looked back at her and growled, holding her hat on her head. 
Pinkamena giggled nervously, "Uh... Hiya?" Honesty pounced on her with a punch, sitting on her stomach as she delivered punch after punch. Pinkamena quickly put Honesty in the same situation, but she had much weaker hits. She always liked knifes better. 
Just as that happened, Loyalty dashed at Fluttershy, expecting her to be an easy foe. Her wings hurt, but she didn't care. She needed to keep as many of the changelings busy as possible. 
Rainbow noticed her own descent on Fluttershy and decided to interfere. She dashed towards the mare, colliding with her and tossing the two a ways away from Fluttershy. Of course, Fluttershy didn't care about the heroic act. 
Rainbow pushed Loyalty into the wall, hoping to hear a snap!, she didn't. She raised her hoof to hit the mare with a power ridden grin on her face. Loyalty kicked Rainbow off of her, sending the mare flying a bit away. 
"So I'm strong here too, huh?" Rainbow asked herself, she couldn't wait to fight further. Loyalty, however, didn't feel like talking. She flew at the pegasus, her hoof colliding with her side. 
Once Rainbow Dash recovered, she grinned wider and put her hooves up. "Oh, you're on!" She flew at the mare, throwing her at the wall again. Then she lunged at the mare with her hind leg, using the mares body as a surface to bounce off of the wall. 
A magenta orb exploded next to Loyalty, she followed the blast back to Twilight staring up at her. Her horn charged with a magenta as she smirked, Loyalty flew out of the way, bumping into Rainbow Dash. 
The pegasi fought at a closer range, going back and forth with punches and kicks, never really flying away for defense. The only difference in the two was that Rainbow wore her Shadowbolts uniform. 
Twilight tried to follow the fight, her horn still glowing magenta. "Dammit," she muttered and looked over to Pinkamena and Honesty. She wanted to zap Honesty, saying as the mare was just hitting Pinkamena's hooves as she hid her face. 
But just as she had her aim locked on Honesty, Pinkamena threw her over, sitting on her waist to deal weak punches. Twilight tried to follow that fight, but couldn't either, so she just hit the wall or the floor or clipped either of her targets. 
As Twilight's head was being led around by the two fights, Kindness, Laughter, and Spike sat next to Magic. The three followed the fight, hoping their friends were safe. They were too engrossed in the fight to see that Magic had sat up, groaning. 
Her hazy vision locked on Rarity. She was more confused than anything. The mare just stood there, admiring herself in the gold necklace she wore. She quickly recognized that as the mare who shot at her. She growled as she sent her own magenta orb flying at the mare. 
She expected to hit the mare straight on, but her magic hit the wall. She became petrified as she saw the mare's savoir walking towards them with his teeth bared. She put a shield up around her and her friends, wondering if even her magic could defend against his claws. 
Spike guessed it wouldn't, he was terrified, but he told himself he was brave. He walked out in front of the shield and spread his arms, staring up at the horrendous version of him. 
"Beat it, pony-lover," the Dragon Lord growled at him, not too keen on tearing through a small dragon. Spike stood there, shaking in his scales. He mustered up all the courage he had and blew fire on the dragons leg. It was barley anything. 
He smiled nervously as he stared up at the tall creature. "Uh..." he said, fumbling with his claws under the dragons horrific stare. He knew if he didn't move that he'd be burnt to a crisp. So, he ran. 
Just as he zoomed away, a huge green fire hit a magenta shield. The Dragon Lord smirked down at the scared looks. He looked to his younger self to see that Spike ran towards the door, hoping and not hoping the dragon wasn't following him.
"So not cool... So not cool!" He yelled as he ran, racing past Honesty's tumble with Pinkamena. He dodged Rainbow Dash as Loyalty threw her to the ground. Then he managed to jump over a magenta beam, hoping Magic just missed the huge dragon. He assumed that wasn't very likely. 
As he pushed open the doors, he looked back to see if the monster was following him. Sure enough, all he saw was sharpened teeth flying at him. He screamed and ran through the doors, shutting them back. 
He wasn't even a third down the hallway when the door was bashed down. He looked back and regretted it the second he did. The dragon was much closer than before, he ran faster than he had ever ran. 
He turned corners, terrified out of his mind, hoping it was all just a nightmare. But when he could feel the swoosh! of air from the monsters claw, he knew he wasn't dreaming. 
Rarity and Generosity seemingly had the same ideas. Without the Dragon Lord to protect her, Rarity was defenseless. She constantly tried to shoot whoever she could with her magic, but failed miserably. The one shot she hit was at Loyalty who came rushing at her. 
Rainbow had, once again, collided with the mare after she was shot by Rarity. Loyalty backed up and rubbed her eyes, as if someone took a picture of her with the flash on. Then, she was thrown away from her target. Rarity screamed and put a bubble around herself. 
Once she realized it was safe, she relaxed and took the bubble down. The bubble swiftly came back up as Pinkamena was lunged at her. Pinkamena was bruised head to toe, her face looked awful with a black eye. But her condition didn't put her out of commission, she went lunging back at Honesty as the mare was running towards Twilight. 
Generosity tried to hit somepony, and it worked some of the time, but she never had enough damage to her attack. It did put whoever it hit out of commission for a second so their opponent could get a hit in. 
She eventually aimed at Twilight, as the mare stood stationary in the middle of the room. But her shot collided with Applejack, and she saw a new target. 
Applejack was scared, she had no idea how to handle the situation. She guessed she could use her time to occupy someone else's. Once she saw Generosity pitifully aiming at people, she decided to be a moving target. 
She'd duck, lunge to the side, jump, and just run around. She was more than satisfied with her results as there was always a light blue orb right at her tail and a light blue beam that followed her. 
Rainbow's hooves collided with Loyalty just as much as Loyalty's collided with her. The two were messes, covered in bruises and aches, but they kept fighting. Of course, Rainbow was fighting for the idea to be a better her, and Loyalty was fighting for her friends. 
As they had their foreheads together, seeing who could knock the other away, one of Rarity's blue orbs hit Loyalty, knocking her a bit away. She shook her head and looked up to see Rainbows grin flying at her. 
Rainbow head-butted herself, throwing the mare downwards from their high up positioning. Just as she made sense of things again, Rainbow's hooves jabbed into her stomach. 
She was thrown to the ground, staring up at herself the whole way down. She hit the floor, hearing cracks from the it. As she saw herself gloating, taking her fall as a victory, it became personal. 
She bared her teeth and she sat up, her wings stung and ached as she flew up to Rainbow. Tears from the pain sprung to her eyes and she slammed herself into the roof. Parts of the roof fell away around them as they stared at each other. 
Loyalty was more surprised than shocked when she heard Rainbow cough, the rest of her body falling from the roof. Loyalty jammed her hooves into Rainbow's chest to keep her there. 
Loyalty spoke as she elbowed the mare. "You're... never... gonna... win," she spat. She flew away from her, letting her fall to the floor. Rainbow fell, the floor hurting stomach and face just as much as the roof hurt her wings and back. 
She watched Loyalty, hoping the mare would come down and kick and punch her further. But she didn't. All she saw was a disgusted look and she watched the pegasus fly out of the room. She was more than curious, so she flew out after her. 
Once she caught up to her, they had different forms of attack. Loyalty would hit and fly further away while Rainbow would hit and pin the mare there until Loyalty could find a way out. They were both thrown into walls, punched and kicked at more and more. Both were far beyond healthy functioning, but they kept going. 
Once Fluttershy saw Rainbow zoom out of the room, she saw her chance. She smirked and flew out after her. But once the doors were shut, she smirked. If Twilight's so 'high and mighty', then she can surley handle a simple and pathetic ambush on her own! Fluttershy thought to herself. She rolled her eyes, besides, I'm so useless, right?
While the commotion happened, Magic stood up and started defending herself, Honesty, and Generosity from being shot at by Twilight. Twilight did the same thing for her colleagues, focusing more on protecting Pinkamena than Rarity and Applejack. Of course, she was yelled at but she couldn't care less. 
Laughter and Kindness watched from the sidelines. They were horrified by all the magic being used, they were worried for their friends, but they had no idea how to help. They had their part of the plan to fulfill, and they needed Flash to go along with it. 
The two stared down at the orange pegasus. He looked safe enough, even if he wasn't awake. They looked back to the fight, ready to jump in whenever to protect their friends. 
They watched as magenta magic was shot at a magenta shield. The only way they could tell which Twilight was which was the ponies she was protecting. They took notice of Rarity's weaker attempts at aim, but the stronger magic. They also noticed the black beauty tight around her with gold clanking with every movement. 
They saw the stronger light blue aim at something, and end up hitting the wall or the floor, or a shield and evaporate. They could almost feel the air get denser with all the magic that evaporated within it. 
They saw Generosity's weaker blue with a better aim. The mare wasn't the best, but when she hit, she was spot on. Her stuns often hit Applejack and Twilight, Pinkamena being under Twilight's magical supervision. Every time she stunned Twilight, her magic wavered, taking down all shields. Magic always thought she could get a hit in, but magenta just hit magenta. 
They were more than confident in Honesty's abilities. The mare seemed to get a lot of hits in before Pinkamena could even throw a weak one. Pinkamena was constantly underneath Honesty, her face was so swollen they didn't think she could see. Her fur was bent and stiff, her straight hair was poofy and knotted up. 
While Honesty had a few scratches and bruises on her face, she constantly hit the mare, only for her hooves to put cracks in a magenta body shield around her. She hit over and over again, hating the very pony underneath her. She was furious, and put all she had into every punch, even if it did nothing. Pinkamena was beyond movement, even breathing hurt for her. 
Laughter and Kindness couldn't stand to stare at the state she was in, even if she was the enemy. Laughter felt like she took every punch and Kindness just felt so bad for her. 
So the two mainly followed Applejack when it came to the enemy team. As of how much she moved around, she was barley hurt, and all that was shooting at her was Generosity's stun ray. They couldn't help but notice the Flim and Flam shirt. 
They guessed a changeling could've gotten a dress, or some gold jewelry, but they never guessed a changeling could have something that didn't exist. They thought the same thing once they saw Rainbow Dash. 
They were, once again, too engrossed in the fight to notice that Flash had woken up. He rubbed his head as he sat up, hissing through his teeth at the pain he felt all over. 
He crept his eyes open and became a witness to everything. His eyes locked on the two purple alicorns. They shot at each other, only for their magic to evaporate due to hitting a magenta shield. 
They were identical, they both had determined looks, and one didn't have stronger magic than the other. He had no idea how anyone could tell them apart. But he looked to one of them in particular, being sure in his heart that whoever he was looking at was the mare he liked. 
He watched her like a hawk, taking notice of every feature of hers all over again. He told himself it wasn't the time to admire her, but he was hypnotized by her. Her violet eyes seemed like they roared with magic, it looked electrical. 
Her magic constantly activated, but nothing offensive was shot out. He assumed she was taking care of their friends. He smiled at her, noticing her swift movements and how everything followed when she was shot at. Her mane, her tail, even her feathers and fur followed. 
She was gorgeous, which was how he knew it was his Twilight. Just because the other one looked bland to him. The mare was shot at and he jumped up to help her, only to see a magenta beam tore apart the windows. He saw the chariot out broken windows. His body straightened, realizing the plan. 
The alicorn he was staring at wasn't his Twilight. It was a changeling. He was frozen with guilt and regret. But he wasn't frozen for long once Laughter bounced up in front of him. "Uh, you okay, Flashy?" She asked with a tilt of her head. 
He looked to the ground and shook his head. He walked past her, "Fine, hurry up." Laughter and Kindness exchanged worried glances as they flew and bounced respectively after him. He tried to ignore it, tried putting the princesses at the front of his mind, but it couldn't. He got a permanent chill down his spine. 
As they escorted the princesses off of their thrones and to the chariot, they didn't expect to be spotted through all the commotion. But Applejack saw them lift the princesses off the thrones. Her mouth wanted to shout, but she shut it up. Due to her attention being taken, she was zapped by Generosity, a simple stun. 
"Pay attention!" Twilight yelled at her, glancing back at her as she shot a magic beam on the other side of the room. Applejack nodded and watched as the three ponies took the princesses, taking them away from Twilight's reign. 
Before they escorted Princess Celestia, the alicorn stared at her, her wicked look of hate seemed to lighten a bit as she nodded. Applejack shook her head and jumped over another one of Generosity's stuns. 
She smiled to herself. Guess the lack of action can mean I'm sorry too, huh?, she thought to herself. 
The fight continued for a few more minutes. Blues hit nothing, magenta, or stunned ponies, while magenta always hit magenta or the surroundings. Twilight was so focused on Magic that she started to just focus on protecting Pinkamena, leaving the other two to fend for themselves. The rate of blue stuns hitting ponies went up. 
She kept trying to pin Magic, just to get her to focus on herself. But Magic did nothing but protect her friends. And she didn't stop, not even when she realized she was being targeted. Twilight didn't necessarily care when magenta suddenly hit a white mare. 
Not even the scream, or the slam processed through her mind as one of her allies. Her violet eyes followed Magic's every move. She didn't let the mare out of her sight. 
And the one time she looked back at Rarity, she noticed the unicorn took to grudges quite quickly. Light blue charged and shot out at Magic. Twilight looked to Magic and saw the mare caring about Honesty too much to notice her own safety. 
Twilight didn't think about anything. She saw what Rarity's magic had done before, and she became so... scared? She didn't think, she simply lunged in front of the mare. And for once, strong light blue hit something. Twilight screamed in pain and all time seemed to stop. 
All eyes were on her, everypony just stopped. Generosity and Honesty stared for their friend. But once they realized she was okay, they were shocked by the sight. Pinkamena's hoof reached out towards Twilight. "Twily...?"
Twilight's body convulsed, electric strings of magenta around her. She looked up at Magic, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Her eyes shook as electricity burned inside the violet. 
Magic looked horrified, worried, and most of all, confused. But her eyes seemed to mirror Twilight's with the electric strings. Their eyes stayed locked for what seemed like forever when suddenly, the soft violet of Magic's eyes were taken from Twilight. 
Her heart stung, as if something stabbed through it. Her head whipped to Magic, seeing the mare being led away by the orange guard she knocked away earlier. She was so happy to see Magic still staring at her, she felt like something was there, like she wasn't alone. 
But Magic's head soon turned away as she flew out the window with Flash. The electricity stopped, everything stopped for Twilight. It felt like the world just ended. She didn't even look around to see Generosity and Honesty run away. The two ran for the doors, slamming through them. 
Rarity was too cowardly to go after them, Applejack feigned cowardice, and Pinkamena was in no condition to go after them. So they were just left to leave. 
Twilight's pain didn't stop, even if her world just fell apart, reality built it back up. She looked to the throne, her eyes widened with fear and anger as she stood to her hooves. "What..." she murmured with her head hung. She picked her head up to reveal her fury. "The hell!?" 
Everypony in the room took notice to the empty thrones. There was no reaction, there was no sound for a minute or two. The newest sound was the doors slamming open, Rainbow Dash flew in with The Dragon Lord at her side. Both were just as shocked at the reveal of the missing princesses. Fluttershy snuck in after them, not really caring. 	
As Twilight just stared at the thrones, she didn't see Rarity out of the corner of her eye. "Why'd you protect her?" Rarity yelled furiously. "We would've had her!" Twilight whirled to her, angered confusion covering her face. 
Rarity raised her hoof to hit Twilight, but before she could swing, claws wrapped around her hoof. She looked back to the Dragon Lord. "Whoa, what happened?" He asked. Rarity swung towards him. 
"I'll tell you what happened!" She yelled at him. Her hoof pointed to Twilight, "She protected that Magic wielder from a shot that would've knocked her out! We could've gotten all of them! We could've won!"
Rainbow Dash flew in front of Twilight. "Is she telling the truth? Did you really defend the enemy?" She got her answer once Twilight looked away without a word. 
"What the hell is wrong with you?" The Dragon Lord yelled at her. "What happened to being the evil one, huh?" 
Fluttershy smirked at the sight, Twilight getting belittled for her stupid mistake. She couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. She loved the sight of it. 
"Whatever," Twilight finally answered. "It would've have changed that they took the princesses. They would've grabbed her body anyway." She never looked at them, she just stared at the ground. 
"But the other two bimbos wouldn't have been protected anymore!" Rarity yelled at her. "We could've kept one of them as a hostage!" Rarity looked to Rainbow and the Dragon Lord. "Where are the two idiots you went after?"
Rainbow Dash answered first, "She flew off, out the window. I thought it was better idea to come back instead of go after her." After her answer, she guessed it was fine as Rarity didn't push. Rarity looked to the Dragon Lord. 
"Lost him," he said cautiously. Rarity's eye twitched in her frustration. 
"What do you mean 'lost him'?" She asked furiously, she shook her head. "Why'd you even go after him? He wasn't a threat whatsoever!"
Applejack felt awful as the whole ordeal transpired. She could've stopped it, but she didn't, cause she thought she was doing the good thing. But wouldn't it have been good for everyone here to fess up?
"I had too! Otherwise you'd yell at me anyway!" He yelled at Rarity, already annoyed at her trying to be leader in Twilight's place. 
"I would not!" She yelled back. She didn't even feel scared off him. She knew he'd do whatever she wanted, so why would she be scared? 
"If I didn't go after that stupid alicorn for even trying to hit you, you'd yell at me! And if I didn't go after him you'd call me a baby for not tearing the thing to shreds!" He yelled at her, his teeth seemed to get sharper in everyone else's eyes, but Rarity only saw a pathetic dragon. 
"Would not of!" She yelled.
"Yeah you would've!"
"Don't act like you know me! We've been acquaintances for a few days!" She yelled back, her heart hurting with every word. Even she regretted it the second she said it. And she had even more reason when his claws wrapped around her throat and pulled her up off of the ground.
Her hooves clawed at his arms as he growled at her. "That's all I was to you? A fucking acquaintance?" He asked with a hurt smile. "And I thought I fucking mattered to the bitch that cared about nothing. But I was wrong." 
"Hey dude! Let go of her," Rainbow flew at him. 
He threw her to the ground, Rainbow Dash and Applejack running at her side as she coughed. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. He just stared daggers at her. "You're just a self-centered bitch." He said as he started out of the room. 
Once the doors slammed shut, she jumped, startled. Rarity's hooves hit her eyes. Her shoulders shook as she cried, "Why am I so stupid and formal?" 
Fluttershy was more than amused at the scene. Rainbow looked at her and was more than disgusted. "What's wrong with you? He could've hurt her!" 
Fluttershy smirked. "I thought we each figured out what we represent from evil. Besides, you can't trust big, scary things with claws and teeth not to attack." Rainbow didn't even see how pretty she was anymore, she just saw something ugly. She looked back to comforting Rarity as Fluttershy left the room. 
Twilight just stared at the ground, jumping at every sound. She could hear voices, but she couldn't hear what they said, all she heard was static. She saw two pink hooves in front of her and looked up happily at Pinkamena, like she was the only mare in the world. "Pinkie!" She smiled. 
"Pinkamena," she corrected. Twilight's shoulders fell, still seeing the happy, clear face. Even when in reality, it was bruised and swollen. "I trusted you Twily-.... Twilight."
Twilight shook her head with a stupid smile on her face. "W-what do you mean?"
"I trusted that you were evil in enough departments that'd make up for all of us!" Pinkamena shouted. The mare was furious, but her expression was so disfigured by her face. "I took... I-I took all of this for you and it was all a loss!"
Twilight went to speak, but Pinkamena shook her head as tears fell down her face. "And I thought you liked me! Like, like-liked me...." 
Twilight shook her head again. "I do, Pinkie--!"
"It's Pinkamena, Twilight!" She yelled. "And no, no you don't. Cause you seemed too in love with yourself to even protect me!" Tears mixed with the blood stained on her fur, turning every one pink as it fell. 
"I don't ... understand," Twilight said.
Pinkamena's cold stare wasn't loss underneath all her swollen skin, and all it did was terrify and hurt Twilight more. "You're the smart one," Pinkamena said as she started towards the door. "Figure it out." 
Twilight sat there, too overwhelmed with emotion to even express any. "Looks like we both screwed up," Rarity said, making Twilight stare at her as tears fell down her face. "Huh?" Rarity smiled as she collapsed in a sob again. 
"Everything fell apart," Twilight muttered to herself, watching her tears join together on the ground as they fell. "And it's all my fault."