//------------------------------// // Ch. 3: The Star // Story: Generation 4: P-1 Grand Prix // by TundraStanza //------------------------------// Chapter 3: The Star --- The Fourth Wall Might As Well Beg For Mercy Now The Sugar Rushed Pin Cushion of Laughter PINKIE PIE! --- "You're so silly. Hee hee. I'm not a pin cushion. I'm a pony! Tee-hee." --- "Wheeeeeee!" Pinkie Pie's joyride into the "T.V." was abruptly halted by a large razzleberry pie. The filling splashed in every direction. Not that she was bothered by the splash, because she licked the gooey mess off her face and let out a belch of one satisfied customer. She looked with delight and wonder at her surroundings. It was a room almost completely covered in pies, confectionery, and candies as far as a pony's eyes could see. She wasn't sure where to start sampling first. Although once she decided to just take a bite out of everything, a loud and echoing voice interrupted her speedy train of thought. "Fillies and gentlecolts!" it declared, "It's about time for the P-1 Grand Prix Tournament to begin. We shall be thy host Princess Luna of the Night! We shall give thee the play-by-play of the action. No relationships will get in the way of this event. All ponies participating will get to release all of their hidden grudges and pent up anger until only one is standing tall. The last filly standing shall have the bragging rights to be best pony!" "Hiya, Princess Luna!" waved Pinkie Pie enthusiastically at the non-existent ceiling. "I've found the Sugar Rushed Pin Cushion!" exclaimed a new voice. "Twilight, look!" chirped Pinkie, "I found a blackberry, pumpkin cake! The rarest cake to ever be known." "Sorry, but I don't have time for that," stated Twilight, "As the 3000-IQ Killjoy Librarian, it is my job to end your fun here and now." "Oooo! Are you role-playing?" chattered Pinkie, "Here let me try! I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Cadance is fine. Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake." "You will be studied!" insisted an out-of-character Twilight, though Pinkie was too preoccupied to notice. "Aw, c'mon, Twily!" said Pinkie while channeling a bit of Shining Armor's personality. "You wouldn't hurt your big brother." "Enough with the chit-chat!" ordered another voice from above and around. "Start fighting or you'll be stuck here forever." "Hi, Princess Celestia's evil twin!" waved Pinkie with her everlasting enthusiasm. "What?" the image of the sailor-suited Celestia looked taken aback before resuming her sneer. "Heh, well knowing my identity won't save you here. In this world, you must let your hooves do the talking. Ref! Start the match!" Round 1 Fight! "Match?" asked Pinkie Pie tilting her head. "Oh! Are we playing concentration? I want to go first! Say, Twilight, do you have a deck of cards?" Twilight, however, was done talking. Instead of answering Pinkie's innocent question, she started charging up a lot of magical energy at her horn's tip. After a couple seconds, she released a massive, magical bolt that shot forward with light-speed velocity. The pie's remains quickly turned into black ashes that crumpled into a pile inside the pan. "You really shouldn't cook blackberries at that temperature. They taste icky without all that sweet juice to go with it." The sudden advice of Pinkie Pie made Twilight jump on the spot. She turned around to see that Pinkie was unharmed. A quick set of confused faces made up her expression before she settled on a look of frustration. "Thou must watch out for the 'fake outs', Twilight Sparkle," commented Luna. "So, do you have that deck of cards?" inquired Pinkie Pie with a smile. Twilight responded by using her levitation to throw several of the miscellaneous sweets behind her at the opponent. Pinkie didn't even flinch as she jumped up into the air into the sugar assault. From the side view, it looked like her mouth was munching a path as if she were a pony-shaped Pac-man. As she got past the last sweet, she was on a collision course with Twilight. The unicorn lit up her horn and quickly teleported off to the side as Pinkie Pie bounced along the floor. "Hey, I found some taffy!" cheered Pinkie as she lifted the sticky substance up like one would a rubber band, "Want a piece?" Oddly enough, the sticky substance immediately fired out of Pinkie's possession and quickly splatted all over Twilight. She was stuck to the floor, taffy was all in her mane, and it was blocking her magic somehow. She let out a ragged scream just as a bell rang three times. "Well, that takes care of that," declared Luna. "Time to move on." Strangely, the taffy was completely gone and Twilight had calmed down. "Ugh," she groaned, "Pinkie? What's going on?" "That was some amazing role-playing, Twilight!" chirped Pinkie Pie, "I never knew you could be an actor that tries to assault me with sugar!" "What?" inquired Twilight with an eyebrow raised, "What on earth are you talking about? And what was that you meant about me being a killjoy?" "Ohhhh, now I get it!" realized Pinkie. "We were hearing illusions made by the fake Celestia in order to convince us to fight, but I would never fight. I mean really, why would we want to hurt each other? It's just as crazy as kidnapping Princess Luna and expecting her to willingly announce the-" "No more spoilers!" shouted the image of Celestia in uniform. "Get your flank to the next arena! Only the winner may advance. Please keep this in mind because I won't repeat myself!" Poor Twilight couldn't follow Pinkie Pie's rapid speech or the meaning of the Princess's phrase just then. "Huh? But I... what?" she quietly muttered as she held her head in confusion. "Don't worry, Twilight," insisted Pinkie Pie taking a slightly more serious tone. "I'll go rescue Princess Luna from the fake Princess Celestia and then everything will be a-okay!" On that note, Pinkie Pie joyfully bounced away. "Could some pony please tell me what the hay is going on here?" cried Twilight to no one left in the room. --- A new challenger has appeared! The Silent But Deadly Stare Master FLUTTERSHY! Pinkie Pie hummed a tuneless melody as she continued bouncing along. The new environment she found herself in was a flower-covered meadow. The various colors and shapes were so pretty that Pinkie Pie decided to jump into a pile of them and roll around like a happy little child. She almost didn't notice the presence of another pony. "Only when I dare," fumed the newcomer, "do I unleash The Stare!" "Hi, Fluttershy!" waved Pinkie Pie after standing up. "I guess I need to bring you back to your senses now. Get ready for a game of ultimate tag!" Round 2 Fight! "Tag, you're it!" giggled Pinkie Pie tapping Fluttershy before bouncing around haphazardly. Fluttershy attempted to perform several flying tackles. Each time she got close, however, Pinkie Pie managed to bend her flexible joints out of reach. This resulted in Fluttershy landing in a pile of flowers that somehow scattered in uniform splashing directions. Meanwhile, Fluttershy looked like she was starting to let loose her rage and a fiery aura started surrounding her. "Uh-oh! An Awakening!" stated Luna. "The win won't be that easy." "You make me lose," huffed Fluttershy, "I blow my fuse!" "Woah!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she was suddenly caught in a vice grip. How Fluttershy managed to vice grip another pony with just her hooves, she'll never know. She started twisting Pinkie Pie in ways that ponies aren't supposed to bend. Audible snaps could be heard from what could be assumed were bones. "I'll finish you!" yelled Fluttershy preparing to snap the pink one's neck. "Hey, Fluttershy! I see you found my fire cracker dummy." This seemed to break Fluttershy's fierce look as she turned to look at the smiling Pinkie Pie behind her. When she looked back at what she was holding, she saw a very life-like bean bag substance. From somewhere within the stuffed figure, she could hear some faint sizzling noises. Pretty soon, several explosions resounded from the dummy. Fluttershy got caught in the smokey blast and was flung into another pile of flowers a few yards away. Three bells rang to signal the end of the match. "An unsurprising finish," scoffed Luna. After the result, the environment and its current residents were returned to relatively normal conditions. Though, the pain was still fresh in Fluttershy's memory. "Ouch," she whispered. "Here, let me help you up," offered Pinkie Pie with a hoof. Fluttershy slowly accepted before standing up. "Pinkie Pie?" inquired Fluttershy. "Why were you making fun of me earlier? I don't like being called a killer." "No, no, no," responded Pinkie. "That was what the illusion of me that you were seeing said to you in order to convince you to fight like how the illusion of you made you act like you did when you took that bad advice from the monster Iron Will. The illusions wouldn't go away until one of us won that fight." "Um, okay," muttered Fluttershy not quite up to speed, "I guess." "See you later, Fluttershy!" smiled Pinkie as she prepared to bounce off. "Wait," motioned Fluttershy softly. "Are you sure you can handle this all by yourself?" "Don't worry your pretty, little head," insisted the pink pony with a wink. "Your Auntie Pinkie Pie's got it all taken care of." On that note, she continued on her merrily bouncy way. "But I'm a year older than you," mumbled Fluttershy. --- Next up... Unleashing The Power Of A Thousand Suns PRINCESS CELESTIA! Pinkie Pie was having the time of her life. So much bouncing, so many sweets, and so many pretty lights just made it all like one of her dreams came true. Even this new clearing in the middle of an imitation Everfree Forest couldn't bring her good mood down. She was even more happy to see Princess Celestia standing in the clearing. Pinkie was just so happy to see all of her friends in this funny world. "Hi, Princess!" she greeted. "Ready to come back your senses?" "The only thing I must sense is how to properly incinerate you," declared Celestia flaring her wings in an attempt to look ferocious. "I'll take that as a yes," giggled Pinkie. Round 3 Fight! Celestia wasted no time sending forth a few golden beams of magic. To her dismay, Pinkie giddily bounced over each and every blast. The princess attempted a more direct casting by grabbing the pink pony in a levitation hold. Even some pony as random as Pinkie Pie was unable to escape that kind of power. Within the golden aura, Pinkie hung upside down in Celestia's sight. "Here comes the divine Tia with power to spare!" announced Luna. With her magic occupied by holding Pinkie Pie in place, Celestia had to resort to her other abilities to deal the real damage. She levitated Pinkie underneath her hooves and gave her a few painful stomps. She then flapped her wings and flew up into the open, sunny sky. She released her magical hold briefly in order to gather her focus on pure sunlight energy. "This is turning into a very one-sided battle!" noticed Luna. However, before the daylight princess could do anything else, some honking horns and creaking gears interrupted her. Pinkie Pie was riding a wacky, pedal-powered flying apparatus. Celestia was so befuddled by the Pinkie's appearance that her spell faltered and faded. The shock only lasted a couple seconds and Pinkie hadn't utilized her advantage of surprise. After shaking her head in brief disbelief, Celestia used her magical beam to fry the propeller of Pinkie's machine. "Is this the end?" wondered Luna. Pinkie and her contraption started falling. For whatever reason, Celestia decided to fly after her. Though, she headed toward the ground at a much more controlled pace. A cloud of dust indicated Pinkie's impact with the ground. Several parts scattered away from the point while Pinkie was bounced onto her back before toppling over to lay on her stomach. She may have survived, but she still felt aches as she stood up. Celestia landed in front of her and shook the ground upon landing. "Are they finally getting serious?" asked Luna. "Woah," said Pinkie in awe. "I feel a warm rumbling in my tumbling." An unusual red fiery aura surrounded her. Celestia stood defensively, bracing herself for an attack. What she didn't expect was Pinkie Pie pulling out a yellow suitcase and opening it. Celestia momentarily dropped her guard as a bunch of full balloons blew out of the suitcase. That mistake would cost her greatly. In the next moment, balloons started beating up on her from every direction. The last balloon collided from under Celestia's chin and knocked her onto her back. "What a comeback!" exclaimed Luna as a bell rang three times. "You... certainly are resourceful," coughed Celestia. "Are you going to be all right?" asked Pinkie Pie while smiling. "I'll be fine," insisted Celestia. "Though, I have to wonder why you kept calling me a troll." There was a static-filled noise as a screen-shaped image appeared next to the two ponies. "It wasn't what she was saying," said Luna's voice. "There's a fake Celestia that's conjured up illusions to make every pony fight each other." "What?" gasped Celestia. "I knew it!" affirmed Pinkie Pie. "She's holding me captive in the Announcement Room and... oh no! She's back!" Luna's voice was halted and the translucent image faded. "Luna!" cried Celestia. "Don't worry, Princess!" said Pinkie placing a hoof to her own chest. "I'll go check on her." Celestia slowly nodded, "I'm counting on you." --- Who do we have here? Everything about this one is a complete mystery! ???? With the situation more serious, Pinkie Pie galloped into the Announcement Room. She stopped to stand right next to Princess Luna. "I'm here, Princess!" she declared. "Oh! Ringleader Pinkie Pie," gasped Luna. "Congratulations on making it this far!" declared the differently dressed 'Celestia'. "You really are the best of the best!" "Hello, Nightmare Moon," scowled Pinkie while narrowing her eyes. "Would you mind not calling me that?" pleaded Luna. "Not you. Her!" said Pinkie pointing a hoof to the fake Celestia. "So you already knew," chuckled the fake Celestia. "Heh heh heh." A dark purple smoke swirled around her obscuring her from view. Then, the smoke cleared to reveal exactly what Pinkie's suspicion had been. It was Nightmare Moon in her full dark form and midnight blue armor. The cloudy mane completed her look. "It can't be," breathed Luna, "But I was freed from your darkness." "You're right," smirked Nightmare Moon, "I'm not you anymore. I've become my own entity." "Why did you set up this crazy program?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Why do you think?" retorted Nightmare Moon, "To trap you and your weak friends. By forcing you to compete against each other, the Elements of Harmony would be unable to stop me." "Stop this madness!" demanded Luna. "Stop?" laughed Nightmare Moon. "I've just begun. Soon all shall give me their respect or perish!" Lightning flashed as purple smoke whirled around the armored alicorn. She didn't even need to flap her wings as she hung in midair. The lights on the control panel started flashing sporadically due to the electrical discharges. Unholy winds blew throughout the complex. "Not if I have anything to say about it!" Pinkie Pie denounced. "Then face me, Element of Laughter! Prepare yourself for your last fight!" Final Round Fight! --- Good will -- Optimism -- Harmony -- Renewal of forces