//------------------------------// // Fault // Story: Starlight Glimmer Regrets Her Mistakes // by MagicS //------------------------------// They had been in nothing but total darkness for a moment, falling without a sense of direction. When that stopped, Starlight had ended up on some sort of rocky ground, her vision blurry. She stood up and looked around to see a rather chaotic scene. She was standing on a large flat rock floating through the air, with many similar little boulders, platforms, and “planets” floating around her as well. The sky, if it could even be called that, was a mix of colors that was impossible to tell how far or close away it was. It all stretched down to the ground as well, becoming a spherical void that seemed to stretch in every direction. More random objects like clocks, trees, houses, strange animals, and clouds also floated by in the madness. “Where are we?” Starlight glanced behind her to see Glimmer and Moonlight standing up as well and looking around in confusion. “We’re in the realm of chaos,” Starlight said. “This is Discord’s home.” “Was Discord’s home, you mean.” Starlight, Glimmer, and Moonlight looked up to see Harlequin Rainbow levitating above them with a smug grin on his face. “And now the time for games is over,” he said. “You should know how godlike my power is, especially here, and there’s absolutely nothing you three can do. You’re not the Elements. I only wanted to destroy Starlight right now but three for the price of one does sound like an even better deal admittedly.” “Big talk for someone who couldn’t even beat me at Scrabble! You don’t deserve to have Discord’s home or his chaos magic!” Starlight yelled. “Yeah, you should be the one afraid of us!” Moonlight yelled. “Um, y-yeah,” Glimmer gulped. Harlequin Rainbow scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Please. It’s an entirely different situation now. I’m going to show you exactly how doomed you are.” He snapped his fingers and his Draconequus body morphed back into an earth pony body and he dropped down to a large rock, standing at the edge of it and grinning at them. “Come on, I’ll fight you like this at first, give you an even hoofing. You’ll see that you can’t do anything. It’s hopeless.” “If it’s finally come down to a fight then that’s what you’re going to get,” Starlight glared to him and looked at her alternates. “Come on girls!” “Uhh...” Moonlight hesitated, the reality of the situation setting in. “I know what I said but… are we really going to fight? I don’t really know how to fight—or know half as much magic as the two of you do.” “And I can’t even use my magic right now. What are we going to do?” Glimmer asked Starlight. “We have to do something,” Starlight persisted. “Listen to him, look at what he’s done, we’re the only ones who can stop him. For our friends, our worlds, all worlds everywhere, it’s up to us. I never wanted things to come down to a fight at all if it could be avoided, and I wish Twilight was here too, but she’s not. Whether we like it or not we have to do this.” Moonlight sighed and looked up at where Harlequin Rainbow was. “I guess this is just another aspect of saving the world...” Starlight grinned. “You’ve got that right.” “I’ll… I’ll do whatever I can too. I’m not sure how much help I’ll be but I still have a lot to make up for,” Glimmer said. “Okay,” Starlight nodded and lit up her horn. “Get ready, girls.” Her horn flashed and she teleported the three of them right up onto the same floating rock as Harlequin Rainbow. Immediately she fired a blast of magic at his face as well, but Harlequin Rainbow had seen it coming from a mile away and his whole body seemed to crumple inward while he jumped to the side—dodging it easily. He may have been staying in the “form” of an earth pony but it seemed like he had no problem messing around with that form and doing things no normal creature could. Moonlight, not having much fighting experience just like she said, didn’t attempt to use magic and instead tried to tackle him to the ground. He liquefied his own body and turned into a puddle, oozing over the ground beneath her as she flew past him and landed with a thud on the rock. “You’ll have to do better than that~” the puddle spoke as he reformed and grinned at them. Starlight fired more lasers at him but he either danced out of the way or simply had a hole open up in his body so the lasers passed right through anyways. While he was focusing on her though, Moonlight had run up behind him and tried to replicate Starlight—focusing her magic as well as she could into a pure beam and firing it off at the back of his head. Before it hit, a horn sprouted from his head and lit up red—a barrier appearing around his entire body that shielded him easily from her attack. “Tch!” Moonlight clicked her tongue in frustration. “Come on, I’m not even trying,” Harlequin Rainbow laughed and dropped the shield. Glimmer picked up a small rock and threw it at him. He just swatted it out of the air with a hoof and rolled his eyes. “Really?” “I-I don’t like violence,” Glimmer said. “You were halfway to being psychotic before you met her,” Harlequin Rainbow pointed at Starlight. “And that’s exactly why...” While they were talking, Moonlight ran up behind him and took a swipe at his head but he ducked underneath it. She didn’t just give up there though, the angry unicorn kept throwing more punches at him even as he easily dodged and stepped around her. She couldn’t land anything and Harlequin Rainbow laughed the whole time. “Ahahahaha! Come on, come on!” He taunted. Starlight used her magic to create a wall of crystal behind him that he bumped into, keeping him from moving away. Moonlight now had a straight shot at his face and she took it—but his head just popped off and she ended up punching the wall of crystals instead. As she recoiled in pain, he put his head back on and kicked her away. Moonlight fired a reckless blast of magic at him as she fell away but a portal merely opened up in front of him that it disappeared into. And then came out of a second portal above Starlight. The beam of magic came crashing down, almost hitting her directly if she hadn’t noticed it in the nick of time and jumped away, but still getting hit by debris and the force of the blast. Both she and Moonlight were already feeling the pain and strain a little bit. “Glimmer, we need you to help out more!” Moonlight said to her as she went to stand by Starlight’s side. “I-I know, but I...” Glimmer hesitated. “Are you going to just stand there and talk?” Harlequin Rainbow interrupted. “If that’s the case, I think I’ll go on offense starting now.” He ran at them with a smile while Starlight braced herself and lit up her horn. “All three of us, together!” Starlight shouted. Glimmer bit her lip but nodded and joined Starlight and Moonlight. Harlequin Rainbow wasn’t using any magic just yet as he came at them, it seemed he was going to fight with his hooves. Starlight encased herself in a magical aura and stepped forward to meet him first so Moonlight and Glimmer would be okay and could potentially attack him while they traded blows. His hoof went sailing past her head as Starlight dodged it and threw a punch towards his head as well. For now he wasn’t treating his body like liquid, he was dodging and moving more normally, probably having fun playing with her. They traded several blows, neither of them actually landing a solid hit, with Starlight bolstered and protected by her magical aura. She wasn’t a hoof fighter like this so the best she could really do was use her magic to upgrade herself. Moonlight and Glimmer were incapable of even that so it was likely they were just going to have to try brawling or the most basic sort of tackles. Speaking of, after a punch from Starlight had been jumped back from, Moonlight came at Harlequin Rainbow’s side and tried punching him. He spun on his hooves and twisted around her, then jumped to dodge the buck from her legs in return. Glimmer came at him from behind but she was slow, her attempted punch at his back legs was avoided and he kicked her in the stomach to knock her away. Right then Starlight jumped at him, trying to land on him just as much as punch him, but he stepped to the side and punched her in the face—sending her right towards Glimmer and causing the other mare to have to grab her and keep her from falling to the ground. That would’ve hurt a lot more without her magical aura. Moonlight attempted another attack on her own, wildly throwing out punches as she glared furiously at the Harlequin but his head bobbed and weaved between them all before he kicked her aside. “Ahahahahaha, so pointless, so pointless! I’m not even using my chaos magic right now and you can’t do anything! How hopeless this is for you!” Harlequin Rainbow laughed as he bounced away from them so all three were in front of him. Starlight, Glimmer, and Moonlight picked themselves up and ran at him but his horn spark red and he unleashed a wave of magic at them. It ran at high speed across the surface of the floating rock they were on, crashing into the three mares and knocking them to the ground. “Ngh!” Starlight grunted as she hit the ground but immediately found herself lifted up, caught in a red aura of magic. Harlequin Rainbow grinned sadistically at her. “Is this really the best you can do?” A turquoise beam of magic came right at his head so he blocked it with a shield—Starlight falling back to the ground. He looked over at Moonlight, her horn smoking. “Don’t touch her! I’m not letting you hurt either of my friends!” Moonlight shouted. “Pathetic,” Harlequin Rainbow scoffed and kicked Starlight backwards, knocking her into Glimmer and throwing them both to nearly the edge of the floating rock. “You?!” Moonlight roared and fired more beams of magic at Harlequin Rainbow, she was wild and uncontrolled but she had the same raw power as Starlight. Unfortunately every beam was easily blocked by his own shields or swallowed up by portals that fired them into the abyss. But right now Moonlight just wanted to occupy him so Starlight and Glimmer could recover—she fired a powerful beam at his hooves to blow up a chunk of the rock he was standing on and obscuring him in a cloud of dust. Glimmer and Starlight picked themselves up, Glimmer helping Starlight up a little bit. “Are you alright?” Glimmer asked. “For now...” Starlight panted and brushed some dirt of her coat. “Glimmer, if you can’t fight directly just stay back and try to support us, okay?” “B-But, I-” Glimmer hesitated. “I want to help but… m-my magic… I-I can’t...” “It’s okay, Moonlight and I can take him down, we’ll do this,” Starlight said, but Glimmer could see that she was mostly trying to convince herself of that. Starlight trotted out to join Moonlight, leaving Glimmer behind to watch them. Harlequin Rainbow rose from the cloud of dust, his horn glowing red, levitating himself but still more or less using only “normal” magic. “I guess it’s time for a magic fight? This is going to be even more hopeless for you.” “Moonlight, give me a second,” Starlight said and lit her horn up, a magical aura appearing around Moonlight’s body. “What are you doing?” Moonlight asked. “You can fly now. Come on, we’re taking him down,” Starlight said and floated up in the air with her own magic. Moonlight blinked, looking at the magic around her and simply listened to her instincts, flying up after Starlight. “Cool.” The two unicorns hovered in air, glowing from the effect of Starlight’s magic. Harlequin Rainbow renewed his offense as soon as they reached the same level as him, firing a pair of magical beams at them. Both unicorns flew around the red beams and fired lasers of their own at him, a spherical barrier popping up to protect him, the lasers simply running themselves out on it. Once the lasers were done he dropped his barrier and created several large hands of magic and sent them flying at the two unicorns. Some hands balled into fists, others stayed open and attempted to slap or grab Starlight and Moonlight. Moonlight started flying around trying to avoid them while Starlight just blasted them to pieces. Moonlight then saw one of the various floating objects in the void—a washing machine—and grasped it with her magic, throwing it at Harlequin Rainbow. He simply scoffed and lowered another floating island in front of him, the washing machine slamming into it and breaking it apart, debris now flying everywhere in the chaotic realm. For a moment all the debris blocked Moonlight’s vision of him—so she didn’t notice when he teleported behind her and blasted her with a beam of magic at Starlight. Moonlight cried out in pain as she went flying through the air but Starlight was able to catch her with a soft pillow of magic. Moonlight rubbed her slightly burnt and bruised back before glaring at the obnoxious Harlequin. He smiled and waved back at the two of them while dozens of portals suddenly started to open up all across the realm of chaos. “Uhhh...” Moonlight grimaced as she looked around. “Probably not good,” Starlight said. Harlequin Rainbow’s horn lit up and numerous missiles of red magic shot out from it, all of them going into the portals and coming out of new ones. It created a swarm of magic in the air, red bullets shooting all across the realm. It wasn’t completely random but there was so much going on that it was still impossible for Starlight and Moonlight to keep track of them all. They had to contend with dozens of missiles coming at them from every direction, sometimes multiple at once. Starlight was good with her own barriers, but sometimes she had to move Moonlight because the other mare wasn’t as quick or adept with her own magic. Frustrated, Starlight drew Moonlight closed to her and created a simple sphere around the both of them, weathering the storm of magic until it had mostly stopped. Only a few remaining bullets of magic shot through the realm until they disappeared off into the void. “What a boring solution, you couldn’t have tried to keep dodging and shielding them individually?” Harlequin Rainbow huffed. Starlight then teleported behind him and tried to smash him with a large hammer of magic but he blocked it with an instantaneous shield over his head. A whip of red magic then curled around her body and threw her into the air just in time for him to move the shield to block the beam of magic from Moonlight aimed at his body. “This is starting to get boring,” he said and his red aura engulfed one of the large floating islands in the vicinity and pushed it towards Starlight and Moonlight. It was too large for it to move fast but it was massive enough to make it difficult to avoid. Starlight had to fly over to Moonlight and grab her, quickly teleporting them on top of the island as it crashed into an upside-down tree that was floating by. There was a half-house half-windmill on top of the island. Starlight frowned at it and got an idea. Harlequin Rainbow looked up as he heard a heavy breaking noise come from the top of the thrown island and saw a half-house half-windmill falling towards him. “Huh,” he tilted his head and fired an explosive beam of magic at it. The entire building was blasted apart—to reveal Starlight and Moonlight flying towards him, having hidden behind it. The two pressed their horns together and fired a single combined beam of powerful magic at him, more powerful than any spell they had used so far. It was the kind of magic that the average pony could only ever dream of. The turquoise magic had a powerful shine to it, spiraling towards Harlequin Rainbow. The new Lord of Chaos grinned as a vortex appeared over his head and the beam of magic was sucked in. It didn’t matter how powerful it was. It was gone. Starlight and Moonlight’s jaws dropped while Harlequin Rainbow’s horn sparked and a blast of red lightning shot at them. Starlight put up a shield but the lightning crashed right through it and electrocuted the two mares. Shocking and lighting them up painfully. “AHHHGGHHH!” Starlight and Moonlight screamed. “Starlight! Moonlight!” Glimmer shouted from below. The electrocution stopped as Harlequin Rainbow canceled his magic and let the two unicorns fall back down through the air. They landed with a pained thud right on the floating rock they had started on—right in front of Glimmer. Both of them were still conscious, but in no condition to get up and fight anymore. Glimmer ran over to check on them, their coats and manes were burnt slightly but at least they were breathing. “Guess that’s it.” Glimmer looked up, seeing Harlequin Rainbow floating in the air above their rock—back in his Draconequus body. Starlight stirred as well and silently glared at him. “Pathetic. But it’s not like there was any hope for you. I’m basically invincible and immortal right now with my control over all chaos. Fighting was never going to work out for you. And even if you had beaten me, which is impossible, I’ve already made sure you’ll never have a happy ending. Now it’s just time to erase your bothersome existence,” he lifted a hand and got ready to snap his fingers, but paused. “Wait—I remembered something else.” His eyes shifted over to Glimmer and he smirked. “Since you’re here too, I might as well tell you something very amusing.” Glimmer gulped in fear, confused, and trembling, as Starlight and Moonlight tried to stand up but found their bodies still failing them. “Miss Former Empress. Miss pathetic Glimmer. The one who even here and now when everything is all on the line couldn’t do anything. What a waste of space, what a useless friend. Even now you couldn’t contribute anything helpful,” he snickered and glanced at Starlight. “You remember how I told you I owed you for everything? That was only half-true. In reality… I never would’ve even been born if it wasn’t for her.” “W-What? What are you talking about?” Glimmer asked. “Ahahahaha! Shouldn’t you know? All the chaos you caused in your very own world—nullifying your Discord and the Tree of Harmony, brainwashing all of Equestria, everything you did that had absolutely nothing to do with Starlight’s interference? You think you can do that and not have it have any consequences? Hah! But most of all, was this-” Harlequin Rainbow snapped his fingers and a book appeared in his hand. A very familiar book. “My manifesto...” Glimmer whispered. “Yes, your updated manifesto that Starlight over there tried to take with her back home. Oops! It fell through a rift in space and time and ended up elsewhere in Starlight’s world, where it was used most heinously. Something that never should’ve existed, in this world or any other. That was the final spark I needed to come into existence. Even with what Starlight did, it never would’ve happened without you. And it wasn’t even Starlight’s fault that she went to your world in the first place. Your actions were what brought her there!” Harlequin Rainbow started laughing loudly. “Starlight’s been the one charged with going around and fixing the space-time continuum, but truly it’s not even on her! All of this, reality almost ending, me taking Discord’s powers, me about to destroy Starlight and all of her wretched friends, all of it is YOUR FAULT!” He sadistically grinned down at her while Glimmer stared ahead, Starlight and Moonlight both looking at her as well. Glimmer finally looked up at him. “So what?” Harlequin Rainbow’s face fell. “Huh?” “So what if it’s my fault? I already know I’m responsible for horrible things. I’ve never denied or avoided that,” Glimmer frowned at him. “You seem to be mistaken about me. If this is all my fault—I’m not going to freak out or curl up and cry about it. I’ve never been the type to just give up and quit when I think something is wrong. I’ve always wanted to change it myself. Even when struggling with self-pity… I never wanted to stop helping the world around me. And right now… the world needs help… my friends need help!” She reached up and pulled her shawl off, throwing it away into the wind and then tore off her necklace, holding it up in front of her eyes. Harlequin Rainbow glared intensely at her, angry that his taunts and words meant to break her had the opposite effect. Now she was full of resolve, hope, and strength, “I don’t know if I’ve earned this. I don’t know if I can be trusted with the power. But what I do know is that you need to be stopped!” Glimmer yelled and smashed the necklace on the ground. Her Cutie Mark zoomed free of the shattered glass—shooting back to her flank. Color washed over her body and mane, magical power rippled off of her, and a bright light came forth.