Generation 4: P-1 Grand Prix

by TundraStanza

Ch. 5: The Empress

Chapter 5: The Empress
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"Sister complex? I beg your pardon?"
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That had been quite an unpleasant breeze for Rarity when she had been sucked into the strange new device placed in the library. What had it been called again, a "television"? Though right now, correct names of objects were the least of her worries. She hurriedly used her brush to fix up her coiffure to the best of her ability. It wasn't until at least ten strokes later that she took the time to look at her surroundings. It looked as though she were inside a Canterlot lounging room filled with variously laced sofas and floors.

This place feels so real for something that's only supposed to be a projected image-

A screen-shaped image popped up and interrupted her train of thought.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" announced the slightly blurred image. "Welcome to the opening of the P-1 Grand Prix Tournament! We shall be thy host, Princess Luna of the Night giving every pony the, how-you-say, play-by-play of the action. Every pony here shall get their chance to release their hidden aggression and petty grudges. The last challenger standing shall receive the crown and undoubted confirmation that they are indeed the best pony!"

"I beg your pardon, Princess. A... fighting tournament?" inquired Rarity. "Surely you can't be serious."

"Come on! Come on! Quit talking!" interrupted an impatient voice. Rarity turned to see Rainbow Dash flapping her wings and hovering just a few feet away.

"Rainbow Dash, whatever is the matter, darling?" inquired the ever-polite unicorn.

"The only way I can prove that I'm a true colt is to defeat a mare like you, so let's go!" responded Dash while waving her hooves around in punching motions.

"Fighting is such a barbaric practice," complained Rarity before sighing. "Oh, very well. If it will end your strange behavior, I suppose I must."

"Here comes the mare that gave up her feminine side!" announced Luna.

"Yaaaah!" roared Dash as she beat her chest. Then, she quickly flew down and around. With each pass, she kicked Rarity too quickly to be seen or countered. Rarity could only see streams of seven colors. She could only feel a flurry of smacks. Her attempts to reason with the Pegasus were having little to no effect.

"Oof! Rainbow Dash that simply -- Ow! -- will not do. You -- Ai! -- are acting rather aggressive -- Eep! -- even for you."

"Kiss my tick!" retorted Dash not letting up her assault.

She'd better not have just meant what I think she meant! thought Rarity who was starting to get a little mad. It was only a little mad. It was improper for a lady such as herself to 'flip her lid' and get very upset. Still, the annoying slaps were not helping her maintain her dignity. The final straw was when she felt her speedy friend kick her in the flank.

"Oh, it is on," whispered Rarity.

Concentrating her magic on the surrounding furniture, her light blue aura lifted several cushions into the air. They hovered a bit before circling around and gaining speed. The cushions, one after the other, were then strategically guided in a series of straight lines. Before Rainbow Dash could figure out what was going on, she was soon on the receiving end of several cushion collisions. Though at their velocity, they might as well have been bricks. Stars swam in Rainbow's vision before she fell to the floor on her back.

Three bells nearly drowned out Princess Luna saying, "Oh my stars! They lost!"

"For Pete's sake, Rarity," groaned Rainbow Dash slowly sitting up. "Get a hold of yourself."

"Well, that's what you get when you smack a lady's bottom," countered Rarity.

"You sound normal anyway," acknowledged Rainbow. "But why were you in such a hissy-fit about Sweetie Belle?"

"Sweetie Belle?" asked Rarity tilting her head slightly. "I never said anything about her."

"Wait, what?" muttered Rainbow scratching her head in confusion. "You were sounding pretty protective of her just a second ago."

"What about you?" inquired Rarity. "What were all those not-so-subtle hints that you wanted to be a colt?"

"Time out!" halted Rainbow raising one hoof over the other in a 'T' shape. "Nothing we're saying matches up."

"That's enough!" interrupted a third voice. The two ponies looked to the side where a screen-shaped image had appeared. There was some pony in the middle that looked like Celestia, but she wasn't in her normal attire. It almost looked like she was wearing a ship captain's hat.

"Hurry up and move on to the next match," ordered Celestia. "By the way, only the pony who wins can move on. Remember that as you proceed." A flicker of light removed the image and Celestia's voice.

"So wait..." contemplated Rainbow Dash aloud. "Is this 'tournament' making us think we're saying stuff to each other when we're actually saying something else?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, darling," shrugged Rarity, "I suppose if we want answers to our questions, we'll have to keep moving forward."

"Aw, horse apples," grumbled Rainbow, "I just realized that I lost. I hate losing."

"Really, Rainbow Dash?" sighed Rarity. "You shouldn't be such a sore loser. Now wait here. I'll be back once this is over."

"Not like there's anything else I can do," pointed out Rainbow as Rarity trotted to the arena's exit.

---
Moving right along...

After going through a hallway of a very short length, Rarity found the entrance to a rather messy room filled with sweets. Pies, pastries, cookies, and candy were haphazardly arranged as the room's walls, shelves, and even some of the floor. There were also a few taffy wrappers flying around like birds which kind of unnerved Rarity. She was kind of glad to see that Pinkie Pie was also in this place, that is until she heard what she said.

"Hi, complex queen!" chortled Pinkie. "How's your dragon boyfriend doing?"

"Wha-? Where is this coming from?" asked Rarity baffled.

"Maybe Captain Celestia has Sweetie Belle captive," pondered Pinkie. "But then again if that's the case, then she's probably already sent her to the moon."

"She wouldn't," denied Rarity.

"Oh well," smiled Pinkie with a giggle. "At least you can't have a sister complex without a sister."

Something was clearly wrong with this picture and it wasn't the poorly arranged confectionery. Sure, Pinkie Pie sometimes had the tendency to annoy others without realizing it. But... this was beyond simply talking without knowing when to stop. Here, she sounded like she was deliberately trying to tick Rarity off. So that was how it was then. This place was messing with Pinkie Pie's common sense like it had with Rainbow Dash's. Then the only way to bring her back... was to beat her.

Rarity sighed, "I suppose that we must fight now."

"Oooo! I've always wanted to fight a queen!" laughed Pinkie.

"Here she is!" announced Luna, "The ringleader of the frightened children!"

As soon as a bell had rung, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were standing right within a hoof's reach of each other. Both of them stood on their hind legs, a less common combat strategy for a pony. Pinkie Pie reached out with her front hooves to deliver a few punches. Rarity blocked the punches with her own front hooves. She then tried to return the favor. However, her punches weren't gaining any more ground than Pinkie's were. It almost looked like they were reenacting something from a Neighponese anime fight scene.

"Neither side is giving a centimeter," observed Luna.

This continued for some time before Pinkie Pie suddenly turned around. She swapped balance to her front legs and bucked out with her hind hooves. Rarity was sent reeling for a moment before she fell to a steady quadruped stance. She looked forward in annoyance but quickly switched her expression to shocked. The barrel of the Pinkie Pie's party cannon was open towards Rarity. Even from several feet away, that thing could hurt.

Rarity braced herself while trying to force her inner lady to stand her ground in defiance of the weapon. Pinkie smiled as she pounded the trigger of the cannon. Rarity didn't wait to see what party-based projectile was headed her way. She instinctively charged her magic to telekinetically grab whatever it was. Keeping the contents' momentum, Rarity spun around taking the party supplies in a much larger circle around her. She then released her hold as the projectile started heading back in the cannon's direction.

Comically, the party projectile stuffed itself back into the cannon. Throwing caution to the wind, Pinkie Pie pressed the trigger again. Unfortunately, the improperly stashed party projectile clogged the path for the new party projectile. The result was an exploding cannon and a pink pony flying into the wall of gumdrops and candy corn. She fell face down onto the part of the floor made of molasses cookies. Her fall preceded three bells ringing.

"It appears the provocateur of Nightmare Night screams could not win this one," said Luna's voice smugly.

Rarity ran over to where Pinkie Pie was laying before asking, "Pinkie, are you all right?"

Pinkie Pie peeled herself off the floor before gasping, "Wow! I've never seen my party cannon totally explode before. I mean I've seen it make explosions of confetti, but I've never seen it explode itself before. That was fan-blows-up-inside-of-itself-tasitc! Can we do that again?"

"You're all right, darling," sighed Rarity in relief before assuming a serious tone. "Do you know if Sweetie Belle is around?"

"Sweetie Belle's in here too?" asked Pinkie.

So it's just like with Rainbow Dash, thought Rarity. She really doesn't remember what she said before.

"Hey, that's cool!" continued Pinkie. "We can all put together a 'We-found-a-whole-new-world-inside-the-T.V.' party!"

"That might have to wait, darling," interrupted Rarity. "We need to make sure every pony else is all right. The best way to do that is to get to the end of this tournament and find out who's responsible for this whole thing."

"Okay," responded Pinkie, "but if the party's being put on hold, then it will need to have twice as much fun to make up for the delay."

"Deal," nodded Rarity as she galloped on through the exit.

---
Here comes the next challenger!

Rarity couldn't believe what was happening. She was literally walking on clouds. But that didn't make sense. Twilight's cloud-walking spell had long since worn off. Plus, she had never actually used the spell on Rarity. Still, that little oddity didn't stop her from looking around at the next arena's construction. It looked like a completely white structure in the style of a coliseum she vaguely remembered learning about from elementary school. As she got closer to the center, she suddenly halted at the sight of the princess in her usual royal attire.

"A non-Pegasus walking on clouds?" asked Celestia aloud. "That's against the rules... or at least it is now."

"Princess, what is going on?" asked Rarity, "and what happened to that captain's hat that you were wearing earlier?"

"Meaningless questions will only add to your dungeon sentence in the place that I banish you to," commented Celestia with a small grin.

"As Cele-er, you as my witness," vowed Rarity, "I shall bring you back to your senses!"

Celestia wasted no time at all in firing a golden, yellow beam of magic at her opponent. Rarity attempted to fire a similar beam of light blue magic. Although the beams seemed to stop when they collided with each other, Celestia's magic was creeping along advantageously. Rarity was, unfortunately, not that skilled at magic much less desensitized fighting magic. She had to jump to the side before Celestia's beam fully blasted her position.

From there, it was a sport of "dodge that blast" with Rarity playing against the home team. Each cloud that Rarity left was soon singed by Celestia's magic. How water clouds could burn, she'd never know. Of course, it didn't make it any easier to think of a strategy while Rarity was literally leaping for her life. If she could just get close enough without getting zapped, then maybe she had a slight chance of overpowering the princess in hoof-to-hoof combat.

Having made her decision, Rarity started jumping in patterns that led her slowly closer to where Celestia was standing. Every cloud that Rarity jumped from was engulfed in fire from Celestia's magic. Once Rarity was within a few feet of Celestia, she took one more high jump.

"Kyah!" yelled Rarity as her kick connected with Celestia's side. The princess stumbled a bit in shock, but was basically unharmed.

"Battery and assault?" asked Celestia rhetorically. "That's punishable with brute force."

Rarity found herself trapped in a golden aura surrounding her entire body. Celestia lifted the girl up and over herself onto the cloud floor behind her. She then repeated the motion in reverse and threw Rarity to the cloud in front of her. This set of slams went on for a few seconds. Despite these being clouds, Rarity was starting to feel many bruises from the impact force. She was finding it harder to breathe properly. She didn't even feel the moment that Celestia dropped her and the magic let go of her.

"Now, what shall I do for your final sentence?" wondered Celestia aloud.

This... has gone... too far, thought Rarity as her vision suddenly gained a shade of red.

"Will this turn the match around?" asked Luna for the audience.

A burning sensation forced Rarity to stand up. Her blood was boiling. The air around her felt like it was sweltering. She lowered her eyebrows. She thought she had been mad before. But no, that was nothing compared to the emotion she had now.

"I'll rip you to pieces!" she shouted as she found a reserve of magic energy that she never knew she had.

In a cacophony of impossibility, several different-colored gems started flying straight up through the cloud floor. Most of the gems barraged Celestia with their speed. Some broke on impact, while others started impaling her underside. Needless to say, the princess was in a world of hurt.

However, Rarity was far from done. Flashing the crackling energy from her horn, she manifested a bow and arrow made entirely of light blue magic. Despite her anger, she was able to aim her arrow precisely at the target. She made the magic bow string imitate a pulling back motion before the arrow was launched straight forward. The arrow exploded on impact sending Celestia crashing onto her side.

The bells tolled as Luna announced, "What a surprising comeback!"

Rarity's burning anger immediately subsided. She barely remembered what she just did. It was like a vivid dream. She shook her head from her thoughts when she recalled that the princess was laying down. Then, she galloped over to Celestia's position. The gems and bruises from before had somehow vanished.

"Princess!" she called, "are you all right?"

"I will be," assured Celestia as she slowly stood up.

"I... I'm sorry," Rarity told her, "I don't know what came over me."

"Don't be," smiled Celestia. "I think it was the illusion that caused you to defend Sweetie Belle and Spike so adamantly."

"Do I want to know what you heard me saying?" worried Rarity. "Because the illusion of you was laying down some pretty harsh judgments."

Celestia chuckled, "How about we agree to never speak of this again?"

"Agreed," nodded Rarity.

A screen-shaped image appeared to halt the conversing ponies.

"Can any pony hear me?" asked Luna.

Her tone, thought Rarity, It doesn't sound like the announcer.

"Are you the real Princess Luna?" inquired Rarity.

"Oh thank goodness," breathed Luna. "Listen, Rarity, there's a fake Celestia in this world that set up the whole tournament. She stole my voice and has been forcing the fights to- Oh, Tartarus! She's back again!" The image became filled with black and white snow before flickering out entirely.

"Sister, wait!" yelled Celestia before sighing. "Rarity, I know this is asking very much, but..."

"Say no more," said Rarity. "It will be my pleasure to find Princess Luna and find a way home for every pony."

"Thank you, Rarity," smiled Celestia as she watched Rarity gallop off through the next invisible barrier.

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Next up...

This next room was filled with rather strange gems embedded in large metal boxes. The gems were constantly changing colors as if there where lights underneath them. There were also several screens that flickered between crystal clear images and fogged up snow. Still, that wasn't where Rarity paid her attention to detail.

"Princess!" she hollered. "It's good to see you're unharmed."

"Rarity!" Luna responded. "We've got a bigger problem than my physical health at the moment."

"Congratulations on making it this far!" chirped a third voice. "You truly are the best pony of all!"

Rarity got a good look at this new speaker. At first glance, one would assume that it was Princess Celestia. But the captain's cap and the evil glint in her eyes told a much different tale. This was the entity responsible for putting her and her friends through so much violence.

"Enough games," spat Rarity. "We all know you're not Celestia. Why don't you just give up the act?"

"Humph," snorted 'Celestia'.

"No?" added Rarity. "Fine. That's only part of the reason I'm here anyway. I just have one other question. Do you have Sweetie Belle?"

So the drama queen does have a heart," smirked 'Celestia'. "Well, look no further because Sweetie Belle is... right here!"

'Celestia' lifted a hoof and shoved a much smaller pony into view. Rarity looked into a pair of sap green eyes.

"Sis," whispered Sweetie Belle.

"Sweetie Belle!" exclaimed Rarity. "Are you all right? Wait..."

In looking at Sweetie Belle, Rarity hadn't notice the fake Celestia vanishing into thin air. She walked a little closer to her little sister to further inquire when she was loudly interrupted.

"Rarity! Get back!" cried Luna. "That is not your sister!"

Instinctively, Rarity jumped back a few steps with a yelp. She watched as 'Sweetie Belle' faded away and 'Celestia' took her place.

"Drat! I almost had you," grumbled 'Celestia'.

"Enough!" demanded Rarity. "Who. Are. You?"

"Fine, if you want to know so badly," scoffed 'Celestia' as a swirl of purple smoke whipped around her. Half a second later, Rarity was looking at a familiar black and purple entity.

"Nightmare Moon?" blurted Rarity.

"You remembered me this time," cooed Nightmare Moon. "I'm so flattered."

"Th-that is impossible!" exclaimed Luna.

"It would be if we were one in the same," commented Nightmare Moon. "But I'm not you. Not anymore. Now I have the Elements of Harmony and the princesses of Equestria at my mercy."

She started levitating on her own unholy wind as she declared, "Soon, all shall bow to me or face eternal despair!"

"No!" retorted Luna.

"Stand down, weakling!" ordered Nightmare Moon while flashing her eyes briefly in white. A transparent barrier formed itself in the Announcement Room. Luna was trapped outside of the barrier while Rarity was trapped inside.

"So Element of Generosity," spoke Nightmare Moon, "are you ready to concede?"

"I should say not," negated Rarity. "I've come too far to give myself up now! My friends are counting on me. I'm going to give it my all!"

"Very well then," said Nightmare Moon. "Prepare for destruction!"

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Material prosperity -- Desire -- Beauty -- Physical attraction