Maestro smirked at the foolish pony, snapping his fingers and creating a vortex to another reality behind him. Five minutes. It would be easy. All he had to do was check in on another world, another reality for five minutes, and then he would easily prove his superiority to the pink pony. He mockingly waved farewell at Pinkie as he turned to leave, having a perfect place in mind for him to-
Did Pinkie just say something to Nabu?
Maestro glanced over his shoulder to see Pinkie quickly moving back into place. "What did you just do?" he asked her.
"Nothing," she sang innocently in reply.
She had done something. He could feel it. In the instant he had turned his back on her, she had done something. Set up a trap? Send a message? Scratch an itch? What could she have done? Maestro shook his head and focused once more, realizing this wasn't getting him anywhere. Five minutes, that was all he had to wait for.
But what would happen while he was gone?
That thought rooted the Maestro in place, one hand on the vortex to another world. What would Pinkie do in that five minutes? Try to conjure some new spells and traps? Speak with Nabu and plan on how to best his form when he came back? Say goodbye to her family one last time? What would she do?
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Pinkie asked Maestro.
"Nothing. I am simply making sure that-"
"You're seeing what I'm going to do," Pinkie cut him off. Maestro fully turned to look at the pony, who, even though she wore a helm that completely covered her face, he could tell was smirking at him. "Five minutes? You couldn't even go five seconds."
"Preposterous. Do not think I am going to give you an advantage just so I can prove that I'm better than you," Maestro spat at her.
"That's smart. I might have a spell that takes a while to conjure. Five minutes, for example. Or maybe I just want to say goodbye to my family. After all, it's clear you're so much more powerful than me. Yes, in five minutes there are so many things I could do. So many...possibilities," Pinkie said. "But of course, that doesn't matter to you. After all, you can easily walk away at any time. So go on. I promise that I won't do anything until you get back. Pinkie promise."
For a long, tense moment, Maestro stood on indecision. If he left, he would prove to her that he was not a slave to his desire. That he could allow something to happen without him knowing about it. That he didn't have to see everything. But then Pinkie did something with her hooves behind her back. She was up to something. And he had to know what.
"What is your game?!" Maestro roared. He spun around from the vortex and lunged at the pink pony. "What are you planning?!"
Pinkie had been waiting for this. Time itself wrapped it's chains around the Maestro and ceased his movement, while space folded around him to press him down. Pinkie then twisted her hoof and warped the gravity around Maestro, causing reality itself to seep into the Maestro. Space. Gravity. Time. And Reality. Using the four fundamental building blocks of the universe, Pinkie managed to pin the Maestro down.
"Just like I thought. You talk a lot about choices and seeing what beings will do. And now I see why. Because, for all your power, you can't make a simple choice. You can't just say no." Pinkie then clapped her hooves together and everything began coming down on the Maestro. The universe itself seemed to crush him under its weight and for a moment, his form began to fade. "In a way...I pity you. You can only do what your desire tells you to."
"You...you..."
Pinkie floated over to the Maestro, her eyes meeting his for a long moment. Then, to the disbelief of both Maestro and Nabu, she extended a hoof to him. "So let me help you make that choice. Let me help you break free. Let me help you...to just walk away."
'Pinkie, what are you doing?! Finish him!' Nabu roared.
"I know you can't believe what I'm saying. It seems impossible. But I've discovered recently that with the right friends in your corner, even the impossible becomes possible," Pinkie softly said. "You said you wanted to see different possibilities, right? Things you've never seen before. So let me help you and you'll see something you've never seen before. You'll see what it's like...to have a friend. You'll see...that even you can change."
"You...wish to be friends with me?" Maestro asked in pure disbelief. "I threaten your reality, try to kill you, have killed you in another reality, hell, killed everyone you ever cared for...and you still wish to be my friend? You would show me...mercy? You would offer me friendship?"
"Even for somepony like you," Pinkie said with a smile.
Maestro lowered his head, unaware that Pinkie's restraints on him had been removed. For a long time he floated with his head hung low, saying nothing. Then his body became a blinding white, a white so bright that all of space was illuminated. And when he raised his head to look at Pinkie, both Pinkie and Nabu backed up in shock at what they saw upon his metal face.
Absolute fury.
"HOW DARE YOU!"
Maestro's scream obliterated reality, tearing apart Pinkie and sending her scattered body sailing into the dying cosmos. With the last of her willpower she forced herself back together, but as Pinkie reformed she found herself nearly being shredded once more. It was only by conjuring the strongest barrier that was possible that she was able to buy herself a moment to breathe and glance up at the Maestro.
What she saw terrified both her and Nabu.
The Maestro's body was a pure white, with infinite possibilities blazing within it. His metal face was contorted into what fury would look like in physical form. And behind him the cosmos was shattered in such a way that it made it look like he had wings of shattered realities.
"I tear apart your family. I create a world where Tirek rules over you. Chrysalis kills your friends and forces you to live in the forest. The dead coming to life. A nuclear holocaust of your world. Destruction, death, the rending of everything you ever knew and loved. And yet, here you stand. Trying to befriend me. Just as you have done in every other reality. Every time we've met. Why won't you act DIFFERENTLY?!"
Maestro thrust out his hand at Pinkie and everything Pinkie knew came to an end. It was only by Nabu infusing even more of his power into Pinkie's barrier that the pink pony was able to survive the onslaught of power. But when she looked behind her, all she saw was whiteness. The universe that had been behind her was completely gone.
"I've seen it in other timelines. I've seen you be cruel. I've seen you be broken. But whenever I try it...whenever I try to create that reality, you are the same. You are the super party pony. Why can I not change you?! Why are you so determined to be my friend?!"
Maestro was on Pinkie in a moment. He slammed a fist through her barrier and grabbed her by the helm, planning on ending it once and for all. But Nabu was ready for Maestro going for his helm and in a flash of golden light he blasted the Maestro back. For a moment. And in that moment Maestro already resumed his attack, crashing into Pinkie every idea he had to crush her. She was bombard by the thoughts of her being erased, incinerated, torn apart, cancelled and all other sorts of death. And the overwhelming darkness nearly consumed her.
'I will have ORDER!'
Golden light erupted from the helm and blasted back the Maestro's attacks, and for a moment the nearly white universe was filled with a golden light. 'Maestro! You're desire to witness the infinite timelines has driven you beyond all many of order and chaos. You are not a being of chaos or order. Good or evil. You are an invasive force, seeking to taint the infiniverse to serve your own, sick purpose. You must be purged.'
"Try it, little god!" Maestro roared back. "This Pinkie is like all the others! Which makes this reality pointless! So I'll erase it all! Erase this boring, same reality!"
Maestro hurled his arms to his side as a primal scream erupted from him, sending a wave of white that crumbled all in its path. Every planet, star, galaxy and beyond. Every thought, concept, idea or belief. All it fell before the Maestro's unending power. All except for a single pony in a golden helm.
"Nabu! Together!" Pinkie roared.
'We will end this!'
Chaos and order combined their power, their beliefs, everything they had into a single, all-powerful attack. Pinkie's kindness, her laughter, her love and desire for friends. Nabu's power, his knowledge, his godliness and his eternity. They combined it all into a single, golden attack. An attack that they fired at the Maestro. Maestro screeched as he unleashed his power all at Pinkie and Nabu. And when their powers collided, all that was left of the universe faded away. Leaving only Maestro against the pony in the golden helm. The power to shatter any rule against a being that demanded order.
And order won out.
With a combined roar that was both pony and god, Pinkie and Nabu's power overcame the Maestro's power and restored order to his shattered magic, overwhelming it before annihilating the man of metal in one, all consuming blast. Nabu had to throw up another shield around Pinkie to protect her from their own power. When it finally died down, Pinkie let out a sigh as she lowered the shield and looked around her at the nothingness that surrounded her.
"It's...all gone," Pinkie whispered. "We...we beat him, but at what cost?"
'Are you still so naive?' Nabu asked Pinkie. 'So I shall will it...so shall it be.'
Nabu waved Pinkie's forehooves and the universe returned to it's natural order. The blackness of the cosmos returned, the planets all resumed their rotations around the stars and the way of the universe returned to how it was supposed to be. Order had been restored.
'There we are. Everything as it is supposed to be,' Nabu said to Pinkie. 'But I couldn't help but notice that there was a single planet that survived our battle.'
"Okay, so I might have dipped into your power to shield my world," Pinkie admitted with a giggle.
'Pinkie, I warned you about doing that. If you tried to take on all my power at once it would-'
"I know, but it was only a little. Besides, it all worked out, didn't it?" Pinkie asked. "The universe is saved, order is restored and the Maestro...he's dead."
'You still feel sad for him?'
"...a little. He seemed so...lonely."
'You are too kind.'
"Maybe. But I'd rather be kind than end up as some old fuddy duddy who hangs out in tombs and roars at ponies in a loud voice."
'Who could you possibly be speaking of?'
"Oh, nopony. Just an example," Pinkie replied with a giggle. "Now come on, let's get back to Equestria. I'm sure that my family will want to see what..."
Pinkie had turned her head and found, to her horror, that the Maestro was floating in space across from her. He wore a black cloak, his body was entirely metal, but it was still him. Pinkie narrowed her eyes as magic flowed through her once more as she prepared to fight. But then she noticed a star next to the Maestro move. And then another. And another. Until all of the stars in the universe were moving and shimmering. It was then Nabu and Pinkie realized that those were not stars at all.
They were bodies. For each star there was in the sky, the was a Maestro as well. Pinkie and Nabu looked around to see that they were now completely surrounded by the metal forms of an uncountable number of Maestro's. And all of them radiated the power that the one they fought had.
"Behold, Pinkie. An infinite number of me's. An infinite number of choices. And all have decided to choose...that you will die."
The Maestro's extended their hands and unleashed all of their power into the pink pony. She threw up her arms as she tried to defend herself against the onslaught. And, for a brief moment, it looked like she would succeed. But only for a moment.
Then the attacks crushed her completely. And Pinkie was no more.