//------------------------------// // Battle // Story: Nightmares Over Equestria // by Ignimbrite //------------------------------// The alicorns charged each other, shields ready, and clashed in the center of room, throwing lightning, flames, and shadows in every direction. One of them, it was impossible to tell who in the midst of the confusion, bucked another into the next room and pursued, with the remaining alicorn following close behind. The noise of their battle continued to echo throughout the castle, even as they moved farther away. As Twilight struggled to free herself from the restraints, Twilight approached the table with a scalpel.  Before she could get there, Twilight jumped out of the shadows and tackled her, much to Twilight's shock. "Let her go, ya fake!" As the evil Twilight used her magic to get rid of the newcomer, another Twilight ran in and body-checked her, slamming her into the ground.  Another flash of the horn sent that newcomer flying as well.   "Jack.  Pie.  We've got company."   As the the other element bearers stepped out of the shadows, Twilight got cocky. "We all look the same.  How are you supposed to know who to attack?" Pinkie just cackled, "our Twilight has the evil sneer, silly.  You, two don't have one, so you two, we can kill." Twilight and Twilight looked at each other.  Pinkie logic... Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.  They immediately jumped the other Twilight, turning into a ball or wrestling purple ponies. Pinkie was about to swan dive into the fray, when Applejack held her back with a hoof. "Hold it sugercube. Can ya tell which one's which anymore?" "Ummmm..." She pointed at one with her hoof, then switched to a different one, then switched a few more times before giving up. They both watched the three Twilights fight each other, unsure which one to assist. After about a minute, Twilight kicked Twilight and Twilight away from her. All three shouted at once, pointing. "Get them!!!" The other two just stood there. They looked at each other in confusion, then back at the three ponies. "What are you waiting for?" one of them shouted. "Um, sugarcube... We can't tell which one of y'all is which anymore." The Twilight in the middle rolled her eyes, then bucked the one on the left. She immediately punched the other one in the face. Both dropped to the ground. "Well now that that's out of the way, I can finally get back to my experiment." She looked to the other two. "You two sure helped. If you aren't going to do anything here, make yourselves useful and find the others." As the other two left, she approached the Twilight on the table and picked up a scalpel. That was when the Twilight who had gotten punched picked herself up off the floor and approached them. "You should really get with Clumsy on your stage punching. You nearly took my jaw off." "Sorry." The one with the scalpel started cutting the bonds while the other one took off the real Twilight's suppressor ring. "So, what did you think of our impressions of you?  Was I better?" "No, you couldn't have been.  I did it better cause I'm already a girl." "You're a girl who insists on using fur dye for all of your disguises. Shapeshifting beats fur dye any day." "At least my voice sounds like hers. You sound like a talking flying squirrel." "No, I don't!" "Quit arguing; somepony'll hear you." "HEY, WHAT'S GOIN' ON THERE?" Somepony'd heard. Applejack returned to see Twilight being freed by two of the doppelgängers. She lined up a kick in less than a second, aiming to buck her away into the wall. Just before she could, the other ran in and shoved her target out of the way, taking the brunt of the kick instead. Applejack looked in confusion at the odd behavior. She knew changelings were monsters, so why would one do something like that. Then she noticed the first one grabbing a scalpel off the table and pointing it at her. She flicked the knives out of the bracers she was wearing on her front hooves and readied an attack stance. Before she could strike, though, the real Twilight picked her up with her horn and threw her into the wall. They both ran over to the Twilight clone beside the cracked wall on the other side of the room. As they approached, he shifted back into himself and looked up at them. His barrel was bleeding. "Daryl!" "I'll be fine. Seriously." Twilight looked him over, then tore a curtain off the wall with her magic and started wrapping it around his barrel as tightly as she could. She barely had time to process the fact that one of her rescuers was the same creature that had invaded this city not long ago. "No you won't. Not if you don't get this treated." She finished wrapping him up and set him back down. "What happened to you?" "That mare's wearing switchblades on her hooves. She bucked me across the room with both of 'em." He tried to get up, stumbling the whole way, then collapsed back to the floor. He sighed, then looked up to them. "I'll last. You two go before they come back." Twilight looked at him. He was little more than a nymph. He'd probably be in school if he was a regular pony. "GO!" With that, he turned himself into a potted plant on a marble table, looking indistinguishable from the decorations around the rest of the castle. She fumed.  Changeling or not, he was still a foal. Nopony was hurting foals on her watch. She could almost hear a voice in the back of her mind. Do it.  Give into your anger.  Let the hate flow through you. Twilight took another look at the potted plant, then at Applejack's and her own unconscious doppelgängers. Sounds good to me... Rainbow Dash and Applejack were arguing over the best way to find the crystals, only to run across Pinkie Pie and Rarity arguing over the best way to kill Rarity.  The two duos stared at each other a moment.   They stared at each other another moment. They stared at each other for a very awkward moment. Finally, Rarity's voice echoed from the other room. "Is somepony out there?" That snapped all of them out of their trance.  Applejack charged Pinkie while Rarity telekinetically flicked a swarm of knives at Rainbow Dash.   Applejack turned around to buck the imposter like an overripe tree, but only hit empty air.  Somehow, Pinkie was now standing in front of her, and she was  holding a running chainsaw. "I love cartoon logic," she grinned.  "This is gonna be fun." Applejack pulled out her spare lasso.  It looked like she was gonna have to hog tie this one again. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash spun through the air, just barely avoiding the knives.  She flipped over to kick the false Rarity in the face, only for Rarity to sidestep her at the last minute.  Thankfully, Rainbow's stunt practice had prepared her, and she landed on all four hooves.  It was just in time too, as Rarity was winding up for another volley. Just a few feet away, Applejack barely dodged Pinkie's chainsaw, flicking the rope at Pinkie's head.  Pinkie twisted her head under it and swiped with her chainsaw, forcing Applejack to jump over the blade.  They continued their strikes, gauging each other for any opening they could get until finally, Applejack was able to slip her lasso under one of Pinkie's rear hooves.  She jerked her head, pulling Pinkie's hoof out from under her.  In a flash, she wrapped the rope around three of the legs and tied it, rendering the pony immobile. Applejack immediately ran over to where Rarity was strapped to a table.  She pulled the knots, loosening most of them.  Just before she got to the last one, a knife twirled through the air and sliced it, cutting through a lock of Rarity's hair and sticking to the board less than an inch from her ear.  They both looked over to where Rainbow was hovering, having just dodged said knife while winding up for another strike.   The newly freed Rarity shrieked. "You RUFFIANS!" Both fighters paused at the outburst. "You RUINED MY MANE!!!" Fluttershy and Fluttershy stood nose to nose, staring at each other with glares that would have sent Tirek crawling back to his mother. Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon continued fighting the entity, streams of lightning and flame flooding every room through which they crashed.  As the battle continued, neither side gained an edge. "Don't bother anymore."  CRACK  "I am greater than both your nightmare forms."  SMASH  "I taught you to use them."  BOOM   "I am the complete strength of you both at once."  CRASH   "You will only tire yourselves out."  KRA-KOOM  "After all, after the resurrection ritual was complete" -DEFENESTRATION- "I became more than a thousand years younger than you both as well." Unfortunately, they could both tell that she was right.  As long as the battle remained evenly matched, it was little more than a test of endurance, and there was no telling how long they would endure.  They needed something to turn the tide, even a little in their favor. It was at that moment that something burst through the door, wreathed in flame and glowing white.  It vaguely resembled a pony, but where there should have been fur, there was only rippling heat; and where there should have been a mane and tail, dragonfire flowed. "THAT'S IT!"  The thing approached, eyes burning with pure fury.  The three alicorns stopped fighting to watch.  "Ponies in history have tried to overthrow Equestria more times than I would care to count.  Ponies have been fighting my mentor since before I was born, but you," she leveled a hoof at Solaria, "how many ponies died just to bring you back?  How many foals?"   The entity stared straight through the Queen's eyes.   "You.  Are.  DEAD." A burning Twilight charged.