Canterlot, courtyard.
Morgaine yelled in rage as she fired bolt after bolt of her magical energies at the orange filly that had attacked her. But her efforts were in vain as Scootaloo managed to weave in and out between the shots, flying so fast that Morgaine could barely see her. Scootaloo spun high in the air before descending back down upon Morgaine. The antirang flashed in her teeth and as she whizzed by the sorceress, she brought the blade against her side. Morgaine shrieked in pain as the rang cut into her and temporarily nullified her magical properties. Scootaloo then flew over to the tired Batman, who was still trying to get back to his feet.
"Are you alright?" she asked in concern, trying to help Batman back to his feet. After seeing what she just did, Batman was better than okay.
"So, you finally found what motivates you to fly," he weakly said, giving her a smile.
"Yeah, saving your flank," she retorted, returning the smile. The moment was ruined when Morgaine stood back up, dark magic pulsating between her golden gauntlets. Batman snarled and turned to face his adversary. Scootaloo gave an equally impressive snarl and assumed her fighting pose.
"I have had enough of your interference, Batman!" Morgaine roared in rage, firing bolts of darkness at the pair. "You and your little robin will both die!"
"Hey. I'm not a bird," Scootaloo protested before being dragged out of the incoming attacks path by Batman. He placed her under his arm and bolted behind a section of wall that had fallen into the street. As Morgaine proceeded to bombard the chunk of rubble, Batman went over his plan with Scootaloo.
"How fast can you fly?" he asked her, ducking down when a blast got dangerously close.
"Faster than you can react," she replied with a smile. Batman looked around the debris to analyze the situation, before quickly pulling his head back in. Looking back to the eager young filly, an idea formed in his head.
"I need you to fly high and keep Morgaine distracted. Think you can handle it?" She gave him a large grin and a salute before she rocketed herself into the skies. Morgaine watched the purple and orange blur carefully, trying to figure out where she would attack next. While she was preoccupied with Scootaloo, Batman put his plan into action. Quickly running out from behind cover, he located the three chunks of debris that Morgaine would be most likely to toss at him if she resorted to that trick. After applying three separate charges of explosive gel to the debris, he calibrated the sonic batarang to cause an intense high pitched noise that only he and Morgaine would hear. He hoped that his cowl would protect him from the brunt of it.
"Come on Mor-lame, is that the best you can do?" Scootaloo laughed, still dodging all of Morgaine's attempts to hit her. She was preparing another assault when a regular batarang smacked her in the head. With a growl, she turned towards the Batman.
"Scootaloo, stand down. I'll take it from here," he ordered. Scootaloo nodded and flew over to where Celestia was resting and started to help the princess anyway she could. Batman and Morgaine stood in the center of the courtyard, each preparing their own individual assault.
"I am not one to make deals with my opponents, Batman. But I thought that I'd ask you anyway. How about we cease this battle and I will help you get back to Earth. Give me ruler ship over the ponies and you will be home before nightfall," Morgaine tempted. Batman replied by spitting into the ground.
"You can have this and any other world over my dead body," he replied, clenching his fists. Morgaine let out a small sigh.
"If that is what it will take." She raised both hand over her head, summoning a massive blizzard. The blizzard descended upon Batman, who wrapped his torn cape over his face in order to retain some visibility. While he was in the snow storm, Morgaine began to fire destruction spells wildly into the storm, hoping to get Batman with a lucky shot. She fired blast after blast until she concluded that even Batman couldn't have survived the onslaught. She tossed her hand to the side, commanding the snow storm to part. When it did, Morgaine was stunned to find that Batman was no longer in the cloud. She looked around wildly, trying to find the bat.
"Looking for me?" Morgaine spun around into a vicious right hand that nearly knocked her mask off. Staggering back from the blow, she teleported her twenty feet away from the Dark Knight and glared at him in a fury. Before she could move, the orange streak returned and kicked her in the head. Roaring in pain, Morgaine held her face and fell back, sending some of her minions to distract the bat. Scootaloo flew into one of the bigger stallions, kicking him square in the jaw. The force of her kick plus the speed she was flying at resulted in teeth flying everywhere and the stallion collapsing in a heap. She glanced over at Batman and smiled when she saw that he had already dispatched of his foes. The two turned their attentions back to Morgaine, who had lifted two chunks of rubble over her head.
"I've had enough! Now you fall!" she screamed in rage. Batman pulled out the explosive gel.
"After you," he replied, detonating the gel. Morgaine shrieked as the rubble she was lifting exploded and rained sharp stones down upon her. She covered herself in a force field and managed to avoid most of the debris. Batman whipped out the sonic batarang and prepared to continue with the assault, until an explosion drew all the combatants’ attention. In the tallest tower, a massive explosion had blown out all the stained glass windows and had shaken the entire structure.
"That was the Hall of the Elements," Celestia whispered in fear, concerned for Twilight and the others wellbeing. Morgaine began to let out a laugh as she figured out what was happening.
"It seems that my apprentice is superior to yours, Celestia. Trixie is more than a match for your petty Elements," Morgaine taunted. Hearing that Trixie had probably defeated Twilight and the other put him into red alert. He knew that they'd need his help, but he needed to focus on the battle with Morgaine. He couldn't be in two places at once. Or could he? Tossing the sonic batarang at Morgaine’s feet, he turned to Scootaloo as the sound wave forced Morgaine to cover her ears. Batman winced as the sound wave assaulted his ears, but there were more pressing matters.
"Scootaloo, listen to me closely. I need you to fly to the Hall of the Elements and assist Twilight. Understood?" Scootaloo opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of the sonic batarang being destroyed. Batman quickly picked her up and tossed her into the air.
"No time to argue, NOW GO!" he roared after her before turning his attention to Morgaine. Scootaloo flapped her wings hard and took off towards the tower. Batman watched her go out of the corner of his eye, making sure she wasn't intercepted. Morgaine finally got the ringing out of her ears and turned to Batman, glaring at him with pure venom.
"Enough of these distractions and tricks, Batman. It ends now," she hissed. Batman shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine with me." Batman rushed towards Morgaine as she fired spears of darkness at him.
=======-----=======
Hall of the Elements.
Applejack cried out in pain as she was slammed into the floor. Lying nearby were the other Elements of Harmony, also having been defeated. Having dispatched of her, Trixie turned her attention back to the only mare still standing; Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was breathing hard, multiple cuts and bruises forming all over her body, but she refused to go down.
"Why don't you just give up? It must be easier than the beating you're receiving," Trixie asked her. RD spat onto the ground.
"I won't go down until I've beaten you!" she cried, rushing Trixie. The azure mare vanished in a flash of light, appearing behind the dumbstruck mare.
"Is that a fact?" Rainbow screamed as Trixie blasted her in the back with a burst of fire. RD collapsed to the floor in pain, before trying to push herself back to your hooves. Trixie watched the display in mild amusement.
"I will give you credit. You are tenacious," she said with a smile. Rainbow Dash responded with a snarl.
"It...will...take...a lot more than that to keep me down," Rainbow panted, trying to remain vertical. Magic slowly encompassed Trixie's horn as she raised an eyebrow at the mare's stubbornness.
"Really? I wonder how much more it will take then," she said with a wicked smile. RD tried to move forward, but staggered and fell. As she tried to get up, Trixie walked over and stood right above her. Rainbow Dash could only watch as Trixie's horn glowed with power, aimed straight at her.
WHAM!
An orange blur slammed into Trixie's side, bowling the azure mare over. As Trixie tried to regain her sense, the orange blur slammed into her again and again. Rainbow Dash could only watch in wonder as the orange blur proceeded to beat Trixie senseless. Letting out a scream of frustration, Trixie teleported herself away from where the orange blur was and cast a barrier around herself so that she could recover. Only once Trixie was inside her barrier did the blur come to a stop in front of RD. When she saw who had saved her, Rainbow's jaw hit the floor.
"Rainbow dash, are you alright?!" Scootaloo cried out in concern, looking at all the injuries RD had received. Rainbow looked down at her beaten self and gave Scootaloo a shame faced smile.
"Y-yeah kid, I'm fine." Rainbow told her, trying to sound confident. Her confidence crumbled as she collapsed while trying to stand. Scootaloo gasped and tried to help her idol back up, but the blue pegasus was too tired to move. As Scootaloo helped the beaten pegasus, Trixie had finally finished healing herself and glared at the orange pegasus. She snarled and fired a blast of magic at the filly. Scootaloo's ear twitched and she spun around, slicing the spell in half with the antirang. Both Trixie and Rainbow Dash had the same look of disbelief on their faces. Scootaloo smiled at RD.
"Don't worry, I got this. You rest," she said, before turning back to Trixie. Trixie snarled and approached the filly. Both stopped about ten feet from each other. Scootaloo was the first to speak.
"Trixie, huh? I remember you. Aren't you the pony who bragged that they defeated an Ursa Major?" she asked. Trixie frown at the thought of that memory.
"Yes, I was. But I am no longer that same weakling that was expelled from your village. I am now almighty." To prove her point, she summoned lightning inside the hall and sent black bolts flying in all directions. She looked back at the filly, expecting her to be terrified. Instead Scootaloo looked confused.
"Expelled? I don't remember you being expelled from Ponyville?" Trixie rolled her eyes at the foal’s stupidity.
"No, I was not verbally expelled, but I got the message well enough," Trixie grumbled, giving a glare towards the beaten Twilight, who was trying in vain to summon some of her magic.
"So why are you doing this?" Scootaloo asked in confusion. "I mean, yeah you were a jerk, but you didn't seem like the kind of pony that would try to take over the world."
"Why? WHY!? Because thanks to that purple mare you see lying beaten in the corner, I lost everything I cared about! My own family kicked me out of my home, calling me a disgrace!" Trixie screamed enraged. But much to her surprise, Scootaloo gave her a look of understanding and compassion.
"I get it now," Scootaloo whispered in realization, not at all intimidated by Trixie or her power. As the other beaten ponies watched, Scootaloo walked up to Trixie and did the unthinkable. She gave her a hug. Trixie looked down at the filly in confusion.
"What are you doing?" she asked. Scootaloo didn't release her hug, but she did look up at Trixie's face.
"We're similar,” Scootaloo whispered. Trixie let out a laugh and pushed Scootaloo away from her.
"Similar? We have nothing in common," Trixie spat. Scootaloo shook her head.
"Yes we do. I know how you feel," Scootaloo said with sympathy. Trixie tried to argue, but couldn't find the words. She just stared at Scootaloo with a confused expression.
"We both lost everything we cared about. I lost my parents in an accident and you lost yours when they threw you out," Scootaloo began, looking at the floor. "Without them to give us love and support, we tried to get that same love and support from other ponies. I became a daredevil trouble maker, whereas you became a stage performer. But even if hundreds of ponies loved and adored you, it was never enough, was it?" Trixie slowly shook her head in agreement, looking dumbfounded at this filly that seemed to be able to gaze into her very soul. Scootaloo took a deep breath and continued speaking.
"But that all changed a few months ago. We both met somepo- someone that saw us for who we really are and not the mask we wear in public. For me, I found a warrior of the night who had experienced the same pain I had and who showed me how to not ignore the pain, but instead how to cope with it. He gave me a friend that saw beneath the mask and instead of being terrified at what he saw, he offered a hand to me when I needed it," Scootaloo said with tears in her eyes, remembering all that Batman had done for her. She looked back into Trixie's eyes.
"That's the real reason you're with Morgaine, isn't it? She saw you for who you really were and still took you under her wing, still appreciated you for just being you. She was the closest thing you've had to a real parent that loved you, isn't she?" at this point, Trixie was crying as well. Scootaloo's words rang true every time and each one of them stabbed her in the heart like a knife. But Scootaloo wasn't done yet.
"That's why you went along with Morgaine's plan to take Equestria. Not because you want to, but because you want some pony to acknowledge you for who you are. You wanted to be praised so desperately that you were willing to destroy a nation in order to get it...I know how you feel. You're not evil Trixe, you just want to be accepted." Trixie had completely broken down at this point, not even trying to fight the tears any more. Scootaloo gave her another sympathetic look before finishing.
"But it's not worth killing thousands of ponies just so you can be acknowledged. I know how badly you want Morgaine to approve of you, but is it really worth risking all those lives?" Trixie slowly shook her head, knowing that Scootaloo was right. The other six had recovered enough to walk, but no pony said anything, none of them daring to break this heartbreaking conversation.
"I-I just wanted some pony to love me for who I was," Trixie sobbed out in a whisper, feeling the tears roll down her face. Scootaloo wrapped her hooves around Trixie and this time, Trixie returned the hug. The two sat there hugging for a moment, until the sounds of battle brought them back into reality. The six looked out the window where the fight was still going on. Trixie glanced at them with her tear stained eyes and looked as if she was making the toughest decision of her life. After a moment, she looked away from the ponies.
"Take the Elements. Go. I will not stop you," she whispered, choking back the sobs. Twilight and the others walked past her, each glancing past her as they passed. The six picked up their respective Element and ran towards the exit. Scootaloo stopped in the doorway and turned back to Trixie.
"Thank you," she whispered, before turning and rushing after the Elements. Trixie just sat in the center of the destroyed room, sobbing quietly to herself.