//------------------------------// // Two Sides of a Spell (Different View of Reality) // Story: The League of Sweetie Belles // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “...Rarity, are you going to choose a name?” Rarity looked at Cinder from the communicator. “I’m not sure, dear. So far the only Rarities I’ve met have already changed their names. I haven’t had the need to. And, no offense to your pursuits, I don’t think the adventuring life is meant for me.” Cinder nodded slowly. “I was just wondering what yours would be if you took it.” Rarity shrugged. “Haven’t really thought about it.” Cinder tapped her hoof to her chin, nodding slowly. She decided the topic had run its course, changing it up. “We still don’t know who tried to hijack the tablet, unfortunately. Apparently it’s causing a lot of panic in the League.” “Panic?” “Well, somepony tried something sneaky. Almost definitely a Sweetie. It’s taxing their trust of each other.” She furrowed her brow. “I’m not sure what to make of it, really.” “You’re innocent, you don’t need to make anything of it.” Cinder nodded. “Well, yeah, still. The logical part of me says one of the ponies I was with had to be the one to do it, but I just know none of them did it.” She groaned. “It really isn’t my problem, but it’s bothering me.” “You have such a big heart, Cinder. Something to be proud of.” “Yeah, if only it didn’t twist my stomach into knots all the time. I swear, that heart of mine is sadistic.” She created a fireball in her hoof and chuckled. “Your heart is not sadistic. It is simply too big for you.” “Heh. Ye-” “PRIORITY MISSION FROM THE LEAGUE!” Swip declared in a tone more robotic than usual. “ASSEMBLE THE CREW.” “That sounds important,” Rarity observed. “Sure does. Gotta go, bye, love you!” She hung up and trotted to the bridge, filing in with all the other Sweeties. “Looks like we’re getting some orders,” Blink said, trotting up alongside Cinder. “Something fun!” “Oh, really?” “Yeah! I bet there’s gonna be a mission, something outside of ‘make contact’ and stuff.” The conversation didn’t have time to continue, for the bridge’s main screen lit up to display the face of Nausicaa. She smiled - though every Sweetie could tell that smile was tense. “Hello Captain.” Suzie nodded. “Nausicaa.” “Let’s get to business: I’ve got a mission for you.” An image showed up at the bottom right of the screen, just below her face. It showed a blurry image of a brown object with glowing red lines on it - vaguely spherical with a few points on top, like a rock carved in the shape of fire. “This is a spell container from an unknown - presumably ancient - multiversal society. One of our expedition teams found it on one of their routine exploration missions, and would have returned it to the Research Division had they not run into one of Tzeentch’s teams, who obviously wanted the artifact for themselves. In the end our team was successful in driving Tzeentch’s team away - but the artifact was lost in a dimensional tear, and the team in question was in no position to engage in the journey to an unknown universe due to injuries.” “So we’ve got to go find it?” Suzie asked. Nausicaa nodded in confirmation. “You are the closest team with the resources and a good enough track record. You are to go to the unknown coordinates - all we know is that it’s a pony world with slightly offset magic - find the spell artifact, and retrieve it.” “Do we know what the spell does?” “There was evidence of reality altering properties. The exact nature of the properties are unknown.” Suzie nodded. “Understood. We’ll prepare a task force and go at the earliest opportunity.” Nausicaa nodded. “Good luck.” The feed cut. “Wow, a mission!” Cinder perked up. “This is going to be great!” Suzie smiled sadly. “...I’m not coming, am I?” “This isn’t a normal mission,” Suzie said. “When we have a specific goal I build the team based on who is best suited for the task. We don’t need an amazingly friendly and helpful unicorn - we need people who’ll work as fast as possible. It’d be bad if a local pony got hold of a reality altering artifact.” “Oh.” Cinder shook her head, smiling. “I understand. Besides, I can’t go on every mission, right?” “Right.” Suzie stood up. “Burgerbelle, Celia, think you can do joint leadership?” “Caaaaan do!” Burgerbelle declared with an exaggerated salute while Celia just nodded. “Good. Blink, go just in case you need to erase the thing from existence. Nira, sensing.” She pressed her hands together. “I’ll echo Nausicaa’s sentiment: good luck.” “We’ll be in and out before you know it!” Blink declared. ~~~ “I’ve got a mission for you,” Celestia said, her mane of smooth flame flowing gently in the nonexistent wind. Her features were smooth, her aura motherly, but that did little to quell the authority with which she spoke. “Whatever it is, we live to serve,” Rainbow Dash said, holding up one of her golden-armored wings in a salute. “The Elements will not let you down.” “Yeah! What she said!” Pinkie added, grinning. She held up her hoof and made some comical ‘pew pew’ noises with her mouth. Applejack raised an eyebrow - though it was a little hard to make this out, given the purple suit she wore. It made her look like a superhero, though the oversized hat challenged this interpretation. “Shouldn’t we ask what the mission is first?” Fluttershy, a completely normal yellow pegasus, shrugged. “It doesn’t particularly matter, does it?” Rarity sighed, adjusting her crystal-studded necklace. “I suppose not, though I will have to make arrangements to cancel my next show…” Celestia smiled at them all warmly. “I do apologize for that, Rarity, I was looking forward to hearing you perform. I’ll see what I can do to arrange you another venue.” “I am honored, your highness.” “Think we can get to the mission?” Applejack asked bluntly. “Applejack!” Rainbow scolded. “She is the princess!” “It is quite all right, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said. “Applejack is correct - the timing of a concert is hardly a pressing enough matter to interfere with an important mission.” She lifted her head up, gaining a more regal appearance. “Luna and I have detected an immense magic surge to the North in the depths of the Everfree.” Pinkie poked her head out from behind Fluttershy, making the pegasus jump up in surprise. “Strong magic in the Everfree is totally normal, nothing to worry about! ...Except you’re telling us about it, so, wait, that doesn't add up…” “Normally, magic in the Everfree is not a concern,” Celestia admitted. “However, this is… different. For one, it appears to have come from another world.” “Oh, the Other’s magic?” Rarity asked. “I don’t suppose we have another Sunset?” “Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie bounced up and down. “What if their Discord dropped by for a visit!?” Applejack froze. “...I don’t like the sounds of that.” “If it were Discord we would not be in any danger,” Celestia asserted. “We’d just be… annoyed. Unfortunately, Luna and I are aware of what his magic feels like. This was not it - and we are now fairly certain the magic isn’t from the Other Side either. The signature is unlike anything we’ve ever sensed.” “A third world?” Pinkie gasped. “Amazing!” “You’re too easy to impress,” Fluttershy muttered under her breath, unheard. “So, what, you want us to go check it out?” Applejack asked. Celestia nodded. “Precisely. I need a small team of ponies with diverse abilities that can brave the Everfree and retrieve a possibly dangerous magical artifact from another world - or even engage in combat, if necessary. You are uniquely suited for the job, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you.” “No,” Fluttershy asserted. “We’ll find whatever it is and get right back!” Rainbow announced. Applejack spoke up with a concerned expression. “Princess, are you sure we have the means to sense this artifact? Rarity…” she chose not to finish the thought. Celestia nodded. “I am aware. Rarity, I don’t mean to doubt your abilities, but your element is not well suited for magic sensing.” “I understand,” Rarity said with a slow nod - though she shot a glare at Applejack. “I have procured a magic sensor,” Celestia said, pulling a disc-shaped crystal out and giving it to Rainbow Dash. “Normally it wouldn’t be very helpful, but the otherworldly presence is the largest magic in the area aside from Luna and myself. It should take you right to it.” “What are we waiting for?” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down. “Let’s go! Mission start!” There were a mixture of groans and chuckles from the other ponies in the room. ~~~ Celia, Burgerbelle, Blink, and Nira jumped out of the portal into a deep, dark forest that was all-too-familiar to most of their eyes. Nira growled. “Local equivalent of the Everfree…” “Ooh, that means we’re probably going to get lost!” Blink laughed. “I haven’t got to beat up a manticore in a while…” Burgerbelle reached into a nearby bush and produced a very confused manticore. “As you wish.” Blink laughed, doing a spin-kick to hit the Manticore - only for Burgerbelle to toss the creature back and replace it with a substitution dummy. The resounding CHINK when Blink’s hoof hit the concrete-stuffed plush let every Sweetie know precisely how painful it was. Being a ghost, Blink wasn’t exactly harmed by the encounter. This did not mean she couldn’t feel pain. “SASSAFRASSINGMMMM!” she screamed, stamping her pained hoof on the ground. This did nothing to ease the pain, much to her annoyance. Burgerbelle put on a pair of sunglasses and smirked while the words GET REKT appeared in front of her. Celia rolled her eyes - but she was grinning just as much as Burgerbelle was. “You do know Nausicaa will give us an earful if we screw this up with our antics, right?” Nira asked. “YESSSSSSSS!” Blink hissed. “I’m just the one IN PAIN!” Burgerbelle pulled out a spyglass. “Aye, mateys, we best be lookin’ for the booty quickly, or my name isn’t cap’n bluebeard.” Celia performed a cursory check to confirm that, yes, Burgerbelle did currently have a blue beard on her face. “What direction say ye, captain?” “Aye say ye be the one with the treasure map! Aye suspect we’re on the trail of a teapot, myself, but that’s more yer department now.” Celia rolled her eyes, lighting her forehead crystal and projecting a ‘map’ from it. The map in question consisted of four dots - representing them - and an arrow pointing south; the direction of an ‘unknown magic anomaly’.” Blink’s hoof had finally stopped hurting enough that she didn’t feel like screaming at it. She examined her leg’s reality bracelet, just to make sure it was completely undamaged. With a deep breath, she set off in the direction the arrow indicated, Nira filing in alongside her. “...I thought we were in charge,” Burgerbelle said, lowering the spyglass. “It does appear that they’ve gotten their own ideas on how to run things,” Celia admitted. Burgerbelle shrugged, tossing the telescope away behind her. If the sound it made when it landed was anything to go by, it hit a cat - but it wasn't like Burgerbelle’s sounds were a trustworthy indicator of reality. They moved through the forest, occasionally running into a dark creature or creepy tree that thought they would be easy pickings. It never took long for the attackers to either be dispatched or sent running. “We’ve been walking a while,” Nira obaserved. “Lost, told you,” Blink muttered. Celia rolled her eyes. “We’ve moved in a straight line and I have sensed no obfuscatory spells or space distortion.” “What if we’re in an endless plane universe?” “That would explain why Swip’s portal wasn’t that accurately placed.” “I can sense the motions of the Stars,” Nira said. “There’s more that just a forest here, I can guarantee that.” “What else is there?” Burgerbelle asked with the comical grin of someone who knew there was no answer. Nira rolled her eyes, not about to admit to ignorance. “I can also sense the artifact’s magic getting stronger. We are nearing it, if nothing else.” “Gotta go fast,” Burgerbelle said, a golden ring in her hand. She ran forward at an absurd speed - tripping over a loose root less than a second later. “...Ouchies.” “What are you?” Burgerbelle realized she had fallen in front of somepony. The Flat easily recognized the unicorn as a Starlight Glimmer, given the curled mane and pinkish coat. However, this Starlight did not have the standard pony physiology. Her body was more angled, her snout more pronounced, and her ears more layered. She had a metallic device in one of her ears and was wearing a sort of medical vest. Burgerbelle stood up, smirking. “Burgerbelle, League of Sweetie Belles!” “I mean what, not who,” Starlight said, tilting her head side to side. “You’re flat.” “Yep! I’m a Flat!” Starlight blinked. “...Right. Well, I-” It was at this point the other Sweeties arrived - startling Starlight slightly. She examined the three ponies with an initial curiosity that gave way to unease. “Ah… what are you all doing in the Everfree forest?” “Out for a walk,” Burgerbelle said, tipping back and forth on her toes. “This is Celia, Nira, and Blink.” “...Starlight,” Starlight said, examining them all slowly. “You’re all fascinating specimens… And yet you all look eerily similar…” “Oh, that would be because we are part of the League of Sweetie Belles.” Celia stepped forward. “Charmed to meet you. Normally we would be all about chatting and making friends in this new place, but we unfortunately have a mission we need to complete today.” “Mission?” Starlight asked, cocking her head. “Quite.” She was about to explain what they were doing, but then remembered they were talking to a Starlight. These particular mares didn’t exactly have the best track record with being trustworthy. “I’m afraid we must be getting back to that, this forest isn’t going to walk through itself.” “Oh.” Starlight’s eyes shifted from relief to disappointment in quick succession. “Will I see you around?” “Probably,” Burgerbelle said with a shrug. “We’ll answer all your questions then! But right now… WE GOTTA GO FAST TWO: THE REFASTENING!” She dashed off, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake. When the dust cleared they could see she had tripped over another root not two yards away. “I’m okay!” she called, dusting herself off. “We will find that teapot or my name isn’t Knack!” The other Sweeties laughed and jumped after her, paying little attention to the Starlight they were leaving behind. When Celia glanced back to check if they were being followed, she was surprised to find that the mare had completely vanished. She made a mental note to watch out for Starlight, but otherwise returned to focusing on the Forest around them. One encounter with a cragadile later and Starlight already seemed like a distant memory. ~~~ A manticore leapt out of the forest and tried to bite Pinkie in half. Pinkie, with a giggle, jumped around behind him. Quicky, she activated a small device on her hoof that created a portal on the ground, hooked to a similarly sized portal a few meters above it. The Manticore fell in, popping out the higher portal and falling in again… and again… and again… “You enjoy that way too much,” Rainbow observed. “Physics,” Pinkie giggled, tapping her hooves together excitedly. She threw a coin into the air, planning to have it spin forever with the manticore - but Applejack swiped it out of the air and pocketed it, leaving Pinkie disappointed. “Aww…” Applejack took a moment to examine the endlessly falling manticore. “Well if we get it out of there now, it’s just gonna make a mess…” “Don’t look at me,” Fluttershy said. “I’m not getting vertigo today.” Rarity sighed. “Pinkie, can you be a dear and place one of your portals high up there?” Pinkie nodded, quickly shooting the higher portal even higher, prompting the manticore to be in open sky for the first time in a good while. Rarity touched a gemstone with her magic, waiting for the manticore to approach the ground. She never got the chance to do anything since the manticore was smart enough to open up its wings and fly away from the dangerous ponies. For effect, Rainbow thrust her wings forward, sending a series of golden boomerang-like weapons from her wings. A few of them clipped the manticore, causing it to falter and crash into a distant tree. She smirked, catching the projectiles back on her wings effortlessly. “I’ve still got it.” “Yeah, you’re great Dashie!” Pinkie grinned. “And so insecure she needed to attack a fleeing animal,” Applejack muttered. “Excuse me?!” Rainbow snorted. “It was pretty excessive,” Rarity admitted. “You’re one to talk, prissy.” “Hey, hey, can’t we just all be friends here?” Pinkie said, inserting herself between them. “We’re on a mission for the Princess!” “You’re the one sent that manticore into the endless dive,” Rainbow grunted. “...Well yeah, but…” “You’re all too hypocritical to accuse each other like that,” Fluttershy said, already walking ahead of them. “Says the mare who lies with her very life,” Applejack muttered. Fluttershy smirked ever-so-slightly, stroking a nearby tree with her hoof. “At least I’m consistent.” Applejack paused. “Eh, fair enough. Can we all at least agree none of us have got it quite right?” Pinkie and Rarity nodded in agreement while Rainbow let out some sort of grumbling noise. Fluttershy made no response, continuing her walk deeper into the Everfree. Rarity shuddered. “I swear, that mare gets creepier every day…” “Sometimes we need creepy,” Rainbow said with a determined face. “She’s not creepy to anypony else…” “She is if she wants to be.” The conversation trailed off as they continued their trek through the forest. Fluttershy, being in front, came across the unusual sight first. “Girls!” she called, waving them up with her wing. “You need to see this.” A few moments of galloping later, the five of them entered a small clearing filled with dead monster plants. This in and of itself wasn’t that unusual - the monstrous plants of the Everfree were often torn apart by the predators within. The unusual part were the bars of ice crossing in and out of the clearing, skewering several trees and creeping over numerous plant ‘corpses’. “My Celestia…” Rarity said, eyes wide. “What happened here?” Rainbow touched the ice with her hoof. She recoiled with a hiss. “This is way too cold. This is somepony’s magic.” “...It might not be somepony,” Applejack said, narrowing her eyes. Rainbow pulled up the scanner Celestia had given them. “Doesn’t look like it’s what we’re looking for.” “It could be a side effect,” Pinkie said, grinning. “Excess magic from the source!” “Maybe…” Rainbow Dash said, furrowing her brow. Fluttershy lightly traced the swerving ice with the tip of her wing, sending a deep chill through her wing with the lightest touch. “Hmm…” “We should have brought that Twilight of ours,” Rarity commented. “Or Sunset, perhaps. Their elements are more all-purpose than mine, they may have known what to make of this.” Pinkie shrugged. “Well, they’re not here, and I can’t exactly portal us back! So… I guess we’re stuck with what we have!” “As always,” Fluttershy said, barely audible. Suddenly, Rainbow pulled back and shook her head. “We’re getting distracted. We’ve got to move. This way.” The others nodded, trotting after her. Soon the ice was far behind them. ~~~ Starlight lowered her spyglass from her eye, a mischievous grin on her face. Oh this was just too good. Not only were there a bunch of interdimensional explorers in the forest, the Elements were here as well. And they were heading for the same spot. No doubt after the same thing. Quickly, she reached into one of her vest’s many pockets and pulled out a small mint-like candy. She popped it in her mouth and chewed, chuckling to herself as she felt its power course through her body. With a shimmer of magic, her own falling star cutie mark vanished, slowly replaced by three pristine snowflakes; a mark with the element of ice. She lit her horn and created an ice bridge beneath her hooves, allowing her to slide through the Everfree Forest, traveling in a line directly between the Elements and the Sweeties. Neither of the groups were moving as fast as she was and she knew this forest like the back of her hoof. She would arrive long before they did. Whatever they were looking for, it was hers. And then, if she was lucky, she might get a few… bonuses from them. The Sweeties seemed to lack cutie marks for the most part. Blink was a blank-flank filly, Celia wasn’t even a unicorn, and Starlight wasn’t even sure where to begin with Burgerbelle. The only normal one was Nira - proudly displaying a three-colored shield cutie mark, though the details of the emblem had been obscured by scratches. Starlight couldn’t even begin to guess what sort of strange element the mark represented, and that just made her curious. The Elements she already knew, how could she not? She wasn’t a complete hermit, she would venture into the civilized world and get information. Pinkie Pie’s talent was all but useless to her, while Rarity’s would be an immense boon if she could get hold of a decent supply of crystals. Rainbow’s speed might be redundant, but it never hurt to have backups. The only ones she weren’t sure about were Fluttershy and ‘the Mysterious Mare-do-Well’. She was pretty sure the masked ‘hero’ was compensating for a mundane talent, but Fluttershy… That mare just tickled Starlight’s curiosity. She clearly offered something to the group - but what? Something for later… After she figured out what they were looking for. Fortunately for her, she arrived moments later. There was a crater smaller than her head in the middle of a clearing. There was no smoke, not even any significant debris - just an unnatural hole in the ground occupied by something Starlight wasn’t sure how to process. It looked somewhat like a flame, except carved out of brown rock. There was a soft red glow coming from the thing, seeping out through cracks in the artifact’s exterior. She realized with a growing smile that they weren't cracks - they were symbols. The biggest of which vaguely resembled an ‘H’. ~~~ There are moments in life where everyone present gets a sinking feeling in their stomach, the realization that things have just gotten very, very complicated. This happened when four Sweeties and five Elements walked into opposite sides of a small clearing with a crater in the middle of it. A crater that housed a decidedly alien looking magical artifact. Burgerbelle dropped her pop-tart cat and Applejack stopped flipping her coin in the air over and over. “Back off!” Rainbow shouted, flaring her armored wings. “This is property of the Crown!” “The item in question was lost in your world by one of our expeditions,” Celia countered. “We are here to retrieve it.” Rarity furrowed her brow. “The level of magic is too strong t- my Celestia…” She had just taken in Celia’s appearance. “You’re me! And the rest of you… I…” “We are the League of Sweetie Belles,” Burgerbelle said with a salute. “And we’d like to be friends, but we’re going to have to take that first. You’re right, it is too strong. Too dangerous.” “We’ll be the judges of that,” Rainbow spat. “Let’s not be hasty,” Celia said, holding up a hoof. “I’m sure we can come to an agreement. Allow us to contact our superiors - we could even send a message to your Celestia - a-” “And let you call for backup?” Applejack asked, incredulously. “We wouldn’t!” Burgerbelle insisted, waving her hands back and forth. “We can’t exactly trust you,” Rarity added, still a little shaken by the Sweeties mere existence. “How about you accompany us back to the castle?” “We know nothing about your world, it could be a trap,” Nira pointed out. “Well then, it appears we’re at an impasse,” Rainbow commented, lowering her head. “It would still be unfortunate if we fought…” Celia commented. “What if we work together to understand what it i-” “Sneaky pony!” Pinkie shouted with no warning, shooting a portal into the ground in front of the crater, just as Blink stepped into it. Blink let out a yell of surprise, dropping her aura of ‘unimportance’ as she fell in, falling out of a tree-portal behind the Elements. Fluttershy let out an ‘eep’ and ducked behind a nearby tree. The music began the moment chaos erupted between the two sides. As hooves clashed, the Sweeties expected the lyrics of a heartsong to break out. But none came - there were no words, only intense action coupled beautifully with the intense beats of the backing melody. It was the way of this world. A way of telling everyone the time for words was at an end. The first blood came from Rainbow Dash’s wing-blade cutting a gash across Nira’s side. Rainbow whipped around, planning another pass on Nira’s other side, but the sight of Nira’s wound horrified her into stopping short. The blood coming out wasn’t normal - it flowed out of her, coalescing into an immense claw of crimson darkness. It slashed at Rainbow Dash, blocked only by Applejack’s quick activation of a shield device. Nira laughed at the momentary defense. She lit her horn, tapping into alien magic. A ring of crimson red runes appeared around her body, giving the blood-claw a shimmering quality. The tips of the appendage lashed out, piercing the shield as easily as paper now. Rainbow grunted - this mare clearly wasn’t from this world, and unlike Twilight she evidentially hadn’t been transformed into one of the local ponies upon arrival. They couldn’t treat her like a normal unicorn mage, not by a long shot. Applejack and Rainbow leaped to the sides, barely dodging a series of magical blades Nira pulled from the aether. They retaliated with a grappling hook from Applejack and a flurry of boomerang-blades from Rainbow. All Nira had to do was raise a magical shield to deflect the physical assault. She continued her assault, finding the mares’ attempts to defeat her adorable. Elsewhere Burgerbelle was on Pinkie - as was protocol with the League of Sweetie Belles. Fighting insane Pinkies was unfortunately a regular part of the job, and Burgerbelle was uniquely suited to deal with them. The scientists called Burgerbelle’s abilities ‘referential-ka-based-esoteries’. She just called them shitty memes. She folded herself back like a piece of paper to dodge Pinkie’s jump. Before the pink pony could do much of anything, Burgerbelle hefted a Twicane like a golf club and hit Pinkie, throwing her into her own portal like a golf ball. Burgerbelle scratched a ‘hole in one’ on a score pad while Pinkie laughed. Unfortunately, unlike a lot of Pinkies, this one could apparently still move just fine while undergoing a fit of laughter. She opened a portal under Burgerbelle and swiftly kicked her in the stomach, throwing her like a ninja star into a nearby tree. Burgerbelle popped out comically, catching another hoof from Pinkie with a catcher’s mitt laced with a whoopie cushion. Her face became that of a duck - and she pecked Pinkie. To her credit, Pinkie didn’t flinch before opening a portal beneath and above them. They were soon falling endlessly, catching more than enough speed to explode on impact with the ground. Burgerbelle folded herself into a paper airplane and drifted out easily. What she failed to realize was that this left her open to attack. Pinkie was smart enough to adjust the angle of one of her portals to launch her like a bullet into the paper airplane, catching the folded Burgerbelle in her mouth. Burgerbelle unfolded, dripping wet from an absurd amount of Pinkie’s saliva. The two of them crashed into the ground, kicking up a lot of dust. When the dust cleared, Burgerbelle was holding an Aperture Science™ Portal Device. She smirked, firing into the ground. No portal formed. Because there were no active portal surfaces around. Burgerbelle shrugged, tossing the gun to the ground. At least this Pinkie didn’t appear to have much in the way of Pinkie Powers, so that gave her the advantage. And then Pinkie appeared behind her with a party cannon. Burgerbelle sighed as the flood of confetti engulfed her and embedded her in a tree. The tree fell over into a river, hitting a dam, alerting the dark-magic infused beavers they had an intruder. With a whimper, a Burgerbelle with swirls instead of eyes waved a miniscule white flag. Burgerbelle was down. FIRST. That wasn't good. Celia realized she should probably stop sizing Rarity up and act. The crystal in her forehead began to glow as she summoned two glowing objects - a rod longer than she was and a disc-shaped saw blade. The two objects affixed together, forming Celia’s top. She hopped on it, the spikes on the bottom whirring menacingly. Rarity grabbed one of her outfit’s crystals, prepared for any encounter. Celia moved forward - but darted quickly to the side to intercept a madly portaling Pinkie. With a cry of surprise, Pinkie found herself pushed back into a portal by the bottom of a top. Rarity fired her crystal anyway, using her magic to increase its size until it was larger than Celia was. Celia’s response to this was to fire a laser with her own magic, shattering the crystal into hundreds of unimportant pieces. She leaped into the air - pulling her top behind her, somehow hefting the massive object like it were a hammer. How was it both a smashing implement and a vehicle!? Rarity had to use all her magic just to create defensive crystal walls in front of her, each one smashed to pieces by the razor-top. She was acting purely on the defensive. Wait… She reached out with her magic, touching the crystal in Celia’s head. The top-wielding pony let out a desperate, wailing scream - accompanied by her entire body starting to ‘glitch’ with drastic, unnatural noises. Rarity pulled back, horrified. She didn’t want to kill the mare - clearly none of them were acutally fighting with intent to kill, or even maim. Celia shot her a smile and nodded in sad gratitude. She opened her mouth to say something, but... Pinkie! She jumped out of a portal and charged Celia. Celia whirled the top round, deflecting Pinkie - but this left her open to Rarity. Rarity smirked, firing a crystal bullet off. Unfortunately, Celia could work with this. She used the rest of her magic to fire a laser at Rarity - not at the incoming crystal, but at Rarity herself, knocking the mare to the ground. Celia had designed the spell to be as painless and comfortable as possible, focusing on sleep rather than force. It was a gift, of sorts, however inadequate it repaid Rarity’s earlier action. She was lucky Rarity wasn’t physically strong enough to resist it - the other Elements would have been. Celia took the hit of the crystal dead on. It sent her flying, forcing the top to dissipate into loose magic sparks. She, however, wasn’t down. She whirled around to meet Pinkie with a burst of magic. Elsewhere, Nira was evening the odds further. Applejack was still relatively unharmed - her gadgets never seemed to run out of variety - but Rainbow was having issues. Her armor had been bent and dented in many places, making her usual agile movements difficult. Nira’s darkness finally landed a square hit on Rainbow’s wing, bending the metal casing with a resounding CLANG. The pegasus lost control of her flight and spiraled into the ground. Down - but definitely not out yet. Nira decided this partial job wouldn’t do. She surrounded Rainbow Dash with a tendril of shadow, squeezing. Soon, the pegasus would pass out, and that would be that. It was easy enough to keep Applejack away with a few simple shields - for the moment, at least. It was not easy to keep Blink from invisible-punching Nira in the face. The ghost came from nowhere and tossed Nira to the side, easily freeing Rainbow, though the mare was in no condition to keep fighting. Nira tried to find Blink - but couldn’t. That mare could become invisible at the drop of a hat, and it’d take far too much magical effort to actually find her. But something had to be controlling her… somewhere. Where’s their Fluttershy? Rainbow and Rarity were down. Applejack was still on Nira, and Pinkie was on Celia. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. Blink punched Nira across the face again - this time adding to the punch a little bit of Void, the power of nonexistence momentarially scrambling Nira’s mind. Already, the dark mage was sick of the invisible foe - not to mention the smoke bombs Applejack had started laying around. So Blink let out a magic-infused scream, making every pony in the clearing wince in pain and cover their ears. Nira ignored the slight magic response she got from near the artifact - there wasn't a pony there, she knew it. There was a pony behind a nearby tree, however. She teleported to the tree, uprooting it with a dark tentacle. Behind it was a cowering, shivering Fluttershy. Nira didn’t buy the act for a second. She moved to bring the tree down… ...and then Fluttershy Stared into her eyes. Nira dropped the tree, a look of horror crossing her face. The pegasus was invading her mind. No, this wasn’t going to happen. She had lived too much of her life under the control of the darkness, she’d defeated it! She wasn’t about to be enslaved to some stupid buttery pegasus! She would stand fast! With a howl of rage that sent cracks through the earth, she fell to the Element’s influences. Fluttershy sneered malevolently. Nira, under her control, raised walls of dark energy around the pegasus. Nira’s expression twitched for a moment before turning into a sneer that matched Fluttershy’s. It was Fluttershy in there. Celia dropped her encounter with Pinkie instantly - Nira was by far the strongest of their party, and if she was under enemy control… At least Blink was no longer under enemy control, charging in line with Celia. Nira made the both of them invisible while Celia reformed the Top. Applejack was frantically trying to find where the Sweeties were. Pinkie, however, didn’t have to. Did she know because of some sort of Pinkie Sense, or did she just deduce it? Not even she was really sure, not that she knew to ask the question in the first place. She prepared to open a portal… ...but her portal device was gone. She stared at her bare hoof in disbelief. Wait… It was affixed to her hoof. It shouldn’t have been able to come off without some pain. Was it just… invisible? She closed her eyes and tried to activate the portal - finding that, yes, she did still have it. That little sneaky filly had quite the set of tricks up her sleeve… But Pinkie was smarter than that. With a giggle, she jumped out of the portal where she knew they were. Unfortunately they had been expecting this and Celia hit her with an invisible top, knocking her to the side once again. The two Sweeties continued their charge on Nira, who was blindly shooting darkness in their general direction. Blink focused more and more on their stealth. Nira may have had good magic senses, but the more Blink focused, the harder it was for the two of them to be seen. It was a little difficult to keep this level of focus while running, dodging, and fighting, but she was managing. Celia was the one focusing on taking Nira down. She was banking on the fact that Fluttershy couldn't read Nira’s mind - if she did, she would know exactly what was coming and would be able to stop it. Her bet paid off. She was able to get right up to Nira’s face and cast a very particular spell - known in less-than-respectable circles as the Trauma Spell, it forced one’s mind to fold back on the suffering it had experienced in the past. For most people and ponies, it would just make them wince in pain. Nira let out a howl, her entire body locking up from the torments of the past. She unceremoniously passed out, the darkness vanishing from the clearing, leaving Fluttershy undefended. Her confident smile vanished. She nervously smiled and gulped. Celia glared at her as Blink dropped the invisibility. Applejack saw her opportunity, reaching for her net launcher. To her shock, it was missing. She wasn't going to be able to do anything. It was at this moment Starlight decided to reveal herself - firing an intense beam of magic energy right into Fluttershy’s face, knocking her down. Applejack and Pinkie called out while Blink and Celia suddenly got a look of panic. They all turned to Starlight. She was standing right next to the artifact, a delicate hoof stroking the device, prompting it to flash ever-so-slightly. Starlight chuckled. They watched as her pale eye cutie mark was replaced with the familiar falling star. With a kick, she tossed the artifact into the air, grabbing it with her horn. A series of crisscrossing red lines shot out of it, cutting through the edges of reality. Space folded around the wires, making the clearing appear to everyone as a kaleidoscope. Celia, Blink, Pinkie, and Applejack exchanged glances. They all nodded to each other. It wasn’t hard to see there was now a greater enemy before them. Applejack moved first, throwing a hoof held lasso through the magic wires, aiming for one of Starlight’s hooves. Another Starlight jumped out from a wire, catching the lasso from the side before it could reach the center Starlight. The new unicorn nodded to the original, who understood instantly. She jumped through a red wire to become the new Starlight. It was a reality altering spell, after all; specifically attuned to space and time. She hadn’t had that much time to practice with it before they had arrived, but it was more than enough to understand that simple fact. With a cackle, she jumped into the wires - splitting herself in three. Each one popped a different candy in their mouths, gaining a different cutie mark: dumbbells, three snowflakes, and a sound wave. Applejack tried to charge her, but she suddenly found herself in another area of the clearing, confused beyond belief. The snowflake Starlight jumped out and thrust a frigid wave over her. Applejack reared, managing to grab the top of the wave with her hooves and thrust herself over, planting a back hoof firmly on Starlight’s head. She noticed with some satisfaction that one of the other Starlights had a lump on her head. They were all still the same mare. Defeat one, defeat them all… Then the sound-Starlight jumped out and bleated a shrill noise in her ears, tossing her to the side like a ragdoll. Blink tried to rush to her aid, but she ended up lost, right next to Pinkie for some reason. Pinkie nodded to her with a smile and made a few gestures, suggesting a plan. Blink decided she didn’t have any better ideas at the moment, so she turned herself invisible and charged in the direction Pinkie had indicated. She shifted through the folds in space several times, always keeping her gaze straight ahead. It worked - she ended up right behind the sound-Starlight, who was currently distracted by a portal-spamming Pinkie. Blink pulled her hoof back and embedded it in the back of Starlight’s head, knocking her down and out. Pinkie and Blink bumped hooves - but then they realized with some confusion that this Starlight didn’t have an artifact with her. She was significantly more bruised than all the others… Blink realized this must have been part of some plan - the furthest-future Starlight had known she was about to go down, so she’d dumped the artifact off so tha- The dumbbell Starlight kicked Blink with enough force to snap a pony’s spine and ribcage along virtually every contact point. Being a ghost, she didn’t have any bones to break, but it hurt like nothing else. That concrete dummy earlier had been peanuts compared to this. She collapsed not from injury, but overwhelming agony. It just so happened that dumbbell-Starlight had two of the artifacts in her hooves. She tapped into them with her magic and easily made Pinkie miss a portal, sending her flying straight into a tree. Which left Celia. To her credit, the large mare was moving gracefully through the mess of red wires, managing to put up a good fight on all fronts. But her lasting this long could not be used as a measure of actual quality since time was looping all around the encounter. She saw the dumbbell-Starlight lifting up the sound-Starlight and giving her the extra artifact. Celia had decided she’d had enough - with an uncharacteristic rage in her eyes she jumped on her top and cut straight for the Starlights. The ice-Starlight’s attempts at defense were destroyed by the rapidly rotating spikes. The dumbbell-Starlight, however, would have been a problem, had Celia not been prepared for an absurd attack. She used the force from the super-strength punch to launch into the air and bring the top down. Not on a Starlight. On one of the artifacts. It shattered into several pieces, letting out a burst of deep-crimson light, destroying the top easily. The wires of space-time distortion vanished in an instant, leaving only one Starlight. One with her normal cutie mark. Celia let out a breath of relief, turning to face the unicorn. Starlight corked an annoyed eyebrow. Celia was tired - exhausted. Her unusual body may not have shown it, but she was at the limits of her energy output. If she could just… Starlight smirked, activating an injector within her coat. A mathematical symbol appeared on her flank, allowing her to analyze the situation. All it would take was a careful attack aimed right at that crystal on Celia’s head… With a calculated strut, she walked forward. Celia couldn't generate the full top - opting for summoning the rod alone, wielding it like a quarterstaff. The horn and staff clashed. Applejack, meanwhile, was watching the fight closely, one eye open. She just needed an opportunity. With Starlight distracted… She analyzed her options. There wasn’t much around her, most of her gadgets had been busted or used up already. The coin was nearby, but that was useless, as were her bent boomerangs, and unless the smoke bombs… But then she saw it. Part of the shattered artifact - the largest part - had fallen right next to her. The symbol made her eyes open wide in shock. It was similar to an H. Almost exactly like the one on her Mare-do-Well costume. Carefully, she reached out for it, feeling as if it was calling her. Which, for all she knew, it was. Normally she’d be cautious, but at this point she knew letting this mare have her way with them would probably be nightmarish. She had to get all those cutie marks from somewhere, after all… She touched the artifact. It flashed a deep crimson - and flowed into her costume, focusing its energy on the identical ‘H’ glyph at the base of her neck. The symbol glowed green instead of red. Applejack had no idea what that meant. She felt compelled to look up at Starlight, and saw that her back was completely turned. She was reared up on her hind hooves, pummeling Celia to the ground. The mare’s crystal took a hit, promoting her to scream in agony - but she held the quarterstaff firm. Applejack saw two courses of action. She could charge Starlight directly from the back, or try to sideswipe her so Celia would get a chance. But she didn’t know which one. She glanced at the coin. It had landed heads. Eh, as good of a decision maker as any… She charged, attacking Starlight directly - a hoof planted firmly on her back. The unicorn yelled in surprise, turning and skewering Applejack in the neck with her horn… <<<<<< It had landed tails. Eh, as good of a decision maker as any… Applejack leaped to the side and then toward Starlight. The unicorn saw her coming, realizing with annoyance that with the calculation cutie mark active her normal magic wasn’t available to her. She had to back up - allowing Celia to smack her horn. The glyph on Applejack’s outfit shifted back to the artifact’s normal red before dissipating. Applejack felt a sort of connection rise within her, that she had tried both options… and the other one hadn’t ended up so well. She blinked in surprise. That was new. Starlight stood up - and took one look at Applejack’s outfit. She scowled - the artifact was in her control now, whatever was left of it. Given her state, it was probably a bad idea to stick around and try to knock out the rest of them, especially now that ponies were apparently recovering from being knocked out. So she ran. Applejack decided to try something. She grabbed the coin and flipped it. Heads. She charged after Starlight, waving for Celia to come along. Starlight, her mark having returned to her default, yelled out in rage and shot a laser out. She was done playing nice - hitting Celia’s gemstone head on. It shattered. <<<<<<<< Tails. Celia moved to chase Starlight, but Applejack held up a hoof and shook her head. She tapped the glyph on her outfit - that would not go well. They would need to recover and regroup before trying that. Celia thought about this for a moment - but nodded in understanding. Then she let out an exhausted breath and sat down, clearly so out of it standing was difficult. Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder and nodded with a warm smile. Somehow they all knew the conflict was over. Applejack had the remnants of the artifact now. It belonged with her. The rest of the shards would be for the Sweeties. In essence, a split. Applejack took a hoof off Celia and went to tend to her friends. A few seconds later, Celia struggled to do the same. ~~~ “Well I have good news and bad news,” Seren said. Most of Suzie’s crew and the Elements were standing in the fiery-maned Celestia’s throne room. “Do tell,” Celestia asked, calmly sipping from a teacup. “YOU WERE THE TEAPOT ALL ALONG!” Burgerbelle shouted. Seren ignored her. “The good news: your universe can handle the temporary splitting Appl- er, Mare-do-Well can do now.” Seren folded up her scanner. “No reality falling apart at the seams here.” “And the bad?” “Nausicaa is going to be so angry we just let you guys have it,” Seren said with a chuckle. “It’s not like it’s the full artifact,” Celia commented - the scratches on her crystal having been repaired, though the main crack remained as untouched as always. “I’m sure you’ll make good use of your new power, Mare-do-Well.” “Thanks,” Applejack said with a curt nod. “Also, Nira, how are you doing?” Nira rubbed her head. “I purged the experience from my head, like usual. So aside from a headache I’m fine.” “Glad to hear it. I do hate it when that has to be done.” Nira glared at Fluttershy. “We all know who to blame.” Fluttershy cowered, shaking nervously. “Oh would you drop that already?” “Drop w-what?” Nira bristled. Then she teleported away, clearly wanting nothing more to do with the pegasus. “I do apologize for your rough welcome,” Celestia said, lowering her teacup. “It’s hardly a good first impression, I’m afraid.” “It’s fine,” Suzie said, hands on her hips. “We gave just as bad of an impression ourselves. I can’t imagine seeing Nira cut loose is… pleasant.” “Heavens, no,” Rarity said, shuddering. “All that blood and darkness… It didn’t even follow the rules of magic!” “Which are…?” Cinder asked. “Ponies can only do magic relating to their element, represented by their cutie mark. I’m crystals. General magic marks are… rare.” “That’s not normal, that’s for sure,” Blink said with a laugh. “Can’t wait until you girls realize that most of the multiverse operates differently.” “...Great,” Rainbow muttered, rubbing her head. “More otherworldly insanity to deal with…” “You do have a lot of insanity here,” Blink admitted. “That Starlight was ridiculous.” “I have put out a call for her arrest,” Celestia decreed. “There is a handsome reward, so it should not take long for her to realize she can’t hide.” “Unless she figures out dimensional stuff,” Pinkie offered. “...Could she do that?” Applejack asked “Maybe,” Pinkie admitted. “I think I was pretty close to figuring out how the artifact-spell thingy was working. She had more time alone with it.” “She’ll be on our watch-list as well,” Celia said. “One of us will catch her.” “I certainly hope so,” Celestia said with a nod. “Regardless, it’s about time we open official relations. We already split the artifact in two - we should probably learn a bit more about our official governments before talking further.” Cinder beamed, stepping forward - finally, a chance to do something. “Your majesty, we are the League of Sweetie Belles, and we represent Merodi Universalis…”