//------------------------------// // Chapter 45 // Story: Ponystuck // by confoundtheseponies //------------------------------// Far above us, the distant sounds of battle can be heard echoing through the infinite expanse of the hotel. Swearing under my breath, I equip my missile launcher and blast a hole in the ceiling above us, leaping up through it and sprinting forwards. The time has long since passed where I have given a damn about the integrity of the building. Since things began to kick off, the structure has suffered explosions, partial wall collapses, entire wall collapses, floors caving in, raging fires, a goddamn nuclear explosion devastating an entire face of the cube, and a horde of realtors banging incessantly on the front door. If one little hole in the floor is going to finish it off then I will gladly take responsibility for putting this train wreck of a hotel out of its misery. I apologise if I'm coming across as rather exasperated. "We have to hurry!" I cry back to Diamond, who is beginning to lag behind with a decidedly unconcerned look on her face. "If you say so," she says, entirely unconcerned by the dire turn events have taken. For someone who isn't taking any sides she seems rather unfazed by Discord's success. It is lucky, at least, that they are now staying in the same place. It will be easy to find them. It is rather unlucky; however, that the place they are staying at was rather far away from where Diamond and I had been at the time. It will be rather difficult to find them alive. "... I don't understand you," I say, charging down a corridor and making a sudden left turn into the next room. "Since Diamond and Silver turned into you, you just... seem a little defeatist? I guess?" Opening a cupboard and falling through it into a large corridor several miles above, I quickly glance around me and opt to take the direction which has the most things on fire. Behind me, Diamond is finally beginning to hurry, if only to keep up with my increasingly desperate movement. "What do you expect? I'm the Sylph of Hope and Doom, you know." I glance back at Diamond, but her face remains rather unconcerned. "When you combine two opposing aspects like that, one of two things can happen. Either they give you complete control over both halves of a dichotomy, or the two opposites cancel each other out. And I'm a passive 'healing' class, if you want to put it into a fixed category." She sighs. "I can't give someone Hope without cursing them with Doom. What does 'restoring Doom' even mean? How would that ever be useful?" "So, to summarise, you're feeling insecure," I say, bounding up a flight of stairs and ignoring Diamond's protests. "Maybe you need to spend a bit more time thinking about what it is you really want. It's tricky, really, because dual aspects is a thing that never happens. I mean, really, it just doesn't happen. All I'm going to say, is someone who can restore Hope in the face of absolute Doom is pretty powerful." "You say that, but you have even less of an idea what it means, don't you?" I look back at her and wink. "I know everything," I say confidently. "And I advise you to think about what it is you can do." "I did my thinking," Diamond says bitterly. "Ten billion trillion eons of it." "Or all of half a second," I say. "Who's to say how long it really took you to ascend? If I were you I would take a few moments longer to think about whom you are and why you're here." Diamond falls silent for a few minutes, while we rush down damaged corridors and leap over collapsed staircases. "All I wanted was for everyone to be happy," she says quietly. "That's all I've ever wanted." "Well then," I say confidently, "helping me save everyone is probably a good place to start." *** "Well, this is no good," Discord said, knocking away Ember's hammer with his umbrella and immediately sending a fireball chasing after him, only for it to be blown apart by a gust of wind. "You're working together again. How boring," he said, as Rainbow charged towards him at several times the speed of sound. "Oh?" Leaping towards her, he stabbed his weapon forwards only for Rainbow to leap to the side, a huge gust of wind forcing the umbrella to turn inside out and fly away. "..." "That's what you get for using such a stupid weapon," Rainbow said, twisting in mid-air and charging towards Discord again with a huge blast of air, which slammed into him and sent him painfully crashing into the ground. "Bloody ponies," Discord said bitterly, as he suddenly leapt towards Rainbow, equipping a longsword and stabbing her before she could react. But in an instant, Applejack was there, knocking Discord back with her scythe as she did her Lifey thing. "Oh come on, that's just boring if you're going to heal up every time I scratch you." He glanced around. "And you! Stop killing my knights!" "Oh, sorry," Ember said, as he crushed the space containing the nearest knight into the space of a marble. "My hand slipped." The battle was rather drawn out, and the knights were putting up a fight, but it was clear that before long it would be back to just Discord. "Well, if that's how it's going to be," Discord muttered, stretching his arms in preparation, "I think I'll have to put a stop to all this co-ordinated fighting you're doing." "And how are you going to do that when you can barely keep us away?" Twilight asked, dashing towards him with her sword at the ready. "Fool." Snapping his fingers, the ground beneath Twilight liquefied, hardening around her legs as she fell into it, sticking her in place. "I think you've all forgotten exactly where you are." With another snap, the light all around them suddenly disappeared and they found themselves in total darkness. "This is my world that you're fighting in. My own little reality marble, if you will. I control everything in here." "Everyone, just stay calm!" Twilight shouted. There was no reply. "... Guys?" A snapping noise echoed around her, and the lights suddenly came back on. She was back in the room they had originally been fighting in, before Discord had taken them to the battlefield. And she was alone. *** "H... Hello?" Fluttershy called out of the window into the darkness, but no one replied. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't certain whether to be worried or relieved about this. She was sitting, alone, in a small watchtower, which was empty except for a small wooden table... She knew it was a tower because, far below her, she could faintly see almost pitch-black waves lapping at a dark shore. Thick clouds covered the sky above, and not even the faintest breeze was blowing. "... Everyone? Rarity?" Although she was calling for them, Fluttershy realised she was whispering for fear of attracting unwanted attention. There could be anything waiting out in the shadows, after all. "No, stop it," she said to herself, shaking her head and huddling into the corner of the room. "Don't scare yourself. You're fine. You're a God now, right? What kind of God is afraid of the dark?" The tower creaked, and Fluttershy let out a high pitched shriek before leaping under the table. "I guess that answers that..." She was so afraid that it was a full minute before she opened her eyes and realised that a message had popped up in front of her. [insanityPrelude began narrating to reticentButterfly] IP: Fluttershy, it's OK! None of that is real, really! IP: It's all an illusion. Just like how the Battlefield was an illusion. IP: I mean, it's still a rather solid illusion but that's not the point! IP: I need you to find a way out of there. You're the only one who can see the way. Especially since Celestia isn't in any shape to be doing her Spacey thing after what she just did. IP: I need to help Twilight in the meantime, so please find your way out! IP: You can do it. :) [insanityPrelude stopped narrating to reticentButterfly] "That's easy for you to say..." Fluttershy said quietly. But she supposed there wasn't much point in hiding and waiting for the end. Especially if the others needed her help. "I can do this!" Fluttershy said, a little louder than before, rising to her hooves triumphantly. She had to try. She could do this. That was when the zombie ponies started trying to force their way into the tower. *** "Tch, scare tactics," Rainbow said dismissively as she blew the giant spider out of the way and kicked the door open, allowing her and Rarity to rush out of the mansion they had found themselves in and out into the blindingly bright sun. "Honestly, what good does splitting us up like this do if he can't actually create anything strong enough to hurt us?" "That's easy for you to say," Rarity said, still feeling rather ill after the gauntlet of excessively proportioned insects they had fought through. "What about Fluttershy?" "She'll be fine. She can work up the courage," Rainbow said with certainty. "In the meantime we've got to try and find the way out of here." "I thought that Fluttershy was going to find us and bring us out," Rarity said. "Is that really all the confidence you have in her?" "I said she could work up the courage," Rainbow said as she and Rarity took to the sky. "I didn't say when." "Aren't you being rather hard on her?" Rarity asked, as they scoured what had turned out to be a rather dull planet. Most of the landscape consisted of sand, and the parts that didn't consisted of animal bones. "She had to cope with both you and I dying, you know." "To be honest, Rarity, when I think about me dying, I'm the one I feel the most sorry for, you know." Rarity gave her a look, and Rainbow sighed. "... yeah. I know." With renewed determination, she sped up and darted forwards. "Right. We're going to find our way out of here and help Fluttershy!" "What happened to her being fine?" "She will be," Rainbow assured her. "Because we're going to find her and make damn sure she is." *** "Not that Ah'd rather be alone," Applejack said, "but Ah do wonder why you and Ah always seem to get put together in this kind of situation." Summer looked around the thick, dark forest, and shrugged. "Really? I hadn't noticed." Reading over Pinkie's message one more time, she closed her laptop. "In any case, from what Pinkie said, there isn't a whole lot we can do. We could try to find the exit, but that sounds like it'll be a lot of work. And it'd all be for nothing if Fluttershy finds us first." "What do you suggest we do instead?" Applejack asked. Summer thought for a moment. "So. Discord's thrown us all into these little pocket universes in order to stop us fighting together. Presumably so he can pick us all off one by one or something, I don't know. Which is probably why it's night time, right?" She looked at Applejack for confirmation, but the Knight just shook her head. She didn't have a clue what Summer was talking about. "Like, it's night time, so we can't see as well. So there's less detail that needs to render, or whatever the magical equivalent is. It's night time here and probably in most of the other bubbles, so that there's less detail for Discord to create." "Can you get to the point?" "I suggest we spread out as much as possible," Summer said. "If we cover enough ground then he'll have to invest more effort into generating the illusion, which means he won't have as much energy to fight us with." "Are you sure something like that'd work?" Applejack asked incredulously. "Yeah, this'll work," Summer said. "I mean, it's just like videogames, really." Not waiting for Applejack's confused question about what exactly that meant, Summer leapt into the sky and flew at full pelt in a random direction, with a startled Applejack barely behind her. "No, AJ, you need to go in a different direction so we cover more ground.” She paused. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. Plus, I'd rather not be alone, so... yeah, this still works." With that, she promptly crashed headfirst into an invisible wall, plummeting to the ground and being caught by Applejack moments before crashing into a pile of rocks. "Summer!" Applejack cried, resting the Heir onto the ground and healing her. Sitting up and rubbing her head, Summer poked experimentally at the air in front of her, finding an invisible force knocking her hand back. "Are you fucking kidding me," Summer sighed, and shouted up at the sky. "Now, that's just lazy game design! At least put a fucking FENCE at the boundary or something!" "Ah really have no idea what's going on," Applejack admitted, "but Ah guess your idea ain't working." Summer was going to reply, but suddenly jumped up with a serious expression, her rifle already raised up at the group of knights cautiously advancing on them. "Oh, would you look at that," Applejack sighed, equipping her scythe. "Company." *** "What did you do?" Twilight shouted, charging at Discord with her quill slashing wildly in front of her. Unconcerned, Discord hopped into the air, cartwheeling over her head and firing magic bullets at her as he fell to the ground. Forming a weak shield, Twilight absorbed the bullets, before charging again. "Honestly, Twilight, you're fighting terribly right now," Discord said in a bored voice, snapping his fingers and causing the floor beneath Twilight to erupt upwards in a spear of wood and metal. Twilight barely managed to escape into the past, reappearing a moment later on the other side of the spear and continued her charge. "OK, that was pretty good. But what would you do if I was to, I don't know..." With another snap of his fingers, chains shot out from the ceiling of the room and wrapped themselves around Twilight's legs. "And then..." rushing forwards, Discord equipped a steel mace littered with spines and sharpened edges. “Well, Twilight? What do you do in this situation?" Reaching Twilight, he swung down with the mace. An instant later, the mace buried itself into the floor as Twilight swung away on one of the chains, the others instantly advanced a million years and decayed into dust. Severing the last chain and dropping to the ground, Twilight span around to face Discord. "Oh, very good. I didn't expect you to be able to do any Timey things for a while, but I suppose you've got better stamina than I gave you credit for." "Answer the question, Discord," Twilight said coldly. "What did you do with my friends?" "Well, that's the question, isn't it?" Discord said, as he and Twilight both began walking slowly towards the centre of the room. "What if I said I'd killed them? What if I told you that I'd transported them all into the exact same place and instantly killed all of them?" Twilight froze. "Would you give up, Twilight? Would you drop to your knees and beg me to bring them back?" An instant later, he was surrounded by Twilight's time clones, all charging towards him with their quills at the ready. His eyes immediately drawn to the most badly injured of clones, Discord drew his sword and parried its attack while filling the entire room with an inferno of pure energy, tearing at the other clones and forcing them into the past. Twilight collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air and wincing in pain at her burns. "No, I didn't really expect you to." He shrugged. "I haven't killed them, for what it's worth." "Fuck... you..." Twilight gasped, crying out in pain as she rolled backwards and out of the way of a swing from Discord's mace, which obliterated much of the floor. "Where are they?" "Let me make one thing clear, Twilight," Discord said quietly. "I'm going to kill you and all of your friends. But I'm not going to use any cheap tricks to do it. I'm going to do it slowly and methodically. Think of it as a compliment. I'm acknowledging your abilities. I'm repaying all the headaches you've given me thus far. Most of those were, to be fair, Mild's fault, but he's not here right now." The question of where, exactly, Mild was keeping himself these days drifted across the room, but fortunately was ignored. "I've trapped your friends inside several little pocket universes. Little worlds. I've even thrown some enemies in for good measure, so they can have a proper little adventure while they're at it. It's just like Sburb all over again." He smiled thinly. "Do you see?" "You're picking us off one by one?" Twilight sighed. "That's pretty pathetic, to be honest. I was expecting something a bit more impressive, coming from you." Discord recoiled, clutching at his heart with his claw. "Oh, that hurt, Twilight. That really hurt, right in the feels." He groaned dramatically. "Well, I'd better call off that idea. I can't believe I just got burned by Twilight Sparkle, that's embarrassing. Still, a bad idea is a bad idea; let's just have a full-blown battle royale." Resuming his serious expression, he snapped his fingers and the air around Twilight ignited in a colossal fireball. "Or not. Please, Twilight, don't insult my intelligence. I have a tendency to remove limbs when you do that." *** "This isn't good," Destiny remarked, as she and Ember finished off the remaining knights. "It isn't? I love it," Ember said, leaning on his hammer while he caught his breath. "Some proper fighting, like I was hoping for." "Yes, that's great for you," Destiny said, drawing her katana out of the last knight and knocking the body to the ground. "And I admit I did enjoy that. But what about Fluttershy and the others? If they're fighting a lot of these knights as well, then..." "Yeah, I know," Ember shrugged. "But I doubt he's sent this many after the others." "What makes you think that?" Destiny asked, as the doors to the empty hall where they had been fighting were thrown open and a fresh wave of twenty more knights poured in. "I get the feeling most of them are being sent to us," Ember said. "For whatever reason." "I hope you're right," Destiny noted. "Anyone besides us wouldn't have much hope." As it happened, Ember was entirely right, which was very disconcerting. *** "Say, Swirl," Comet said thoughtfully, as he and Star Swirl meandered past the endless forest of bookshelves. "Where did you learn to cast a fail-safe spell?" "Why do you ask?" Star Swirl asked, absently picking a book off of a nearby shelf and glancing at the title, before throwing it away with a bemused expression. "It's hardly an unknown spell." "I've never seen it used like that," Comet said. "I can see why you're-" he paused. "Never mind. I was just impressed, I guess. So was Twilight." "Was she?" Star Swirl shook his head. "She's an odd girl, isn't she? To be honest, she worries me at times. It's too much power for one pony, if you ask me." He thought for a moment. "Not that it matters. You're all too powerful for my liking. It's all I can do to keep up." "You're doing an excellent job in that regard," Comet said. "For the record, Twilight is carrying the most powerful weapon in the universe... in any universe, and if we want to get through this we have to let her use it." "And what's that?" Star Swirl asked curiously. Comet gave him a look. "If I said 'friendship' you wouldn't believe me," he said gravely. "But that wouldn't be too far off..." Turning away, he continued down the infinite corridor in search of a way out. *** "Bored now," Celestia stated. "I want to go home. Or be fed scones." Luna stopped and looked back at her. The two ponies had been wandering the ruined remains of what appeared to be Prospit for some time, and had grown no closer to figuring out how to get out of the illusion that - according to Pinkie Pie - they were now trapped in. "I don't have any scones," Luna said with a sigh. "Come on, you're being ridiculous." "No," Celestia said, kicking a loose stone indignantly. "I'm not being ridiculous. This game is being ridiculous. What the hell is happening? Why are we going through this bullshit when we're so close to ending this? Why..." her rant fell short as she ran out of steam, collapsing to the ground. "Why are we even fighting Golden?" Luna's face fell. So that was the problem. "It's OK," Luna said. "There's got to be something we can do to help Golden. But nothing's going to get done while he's trying to kill us, is it? First things first we need to get out of here, and then we can stop him. And then, we can try to undo this mess." Celestia looked up at her sister, who seemed so much wiser and more dignified than her. She was the older sister, damn it, she was supposed to be the wise one. "... of course, you're right." Celestia got to her feet. "Sorry. I just slipped for a moment there." Luna put a hoof on her sister's shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said. "Now, let's go." *** Fluttershy knew where she needed to go. It was obvious once she had actually tried to figure it out. The flimsy seal placed over the pocket dimension was easily allowing space from outside to flood in, almost drowning her senses once she had figured out how to perceive it. That didn't solve her main problem, however, which was that there was now a horde of zombie ponies between her and the way out. And if there was one thing she really couldn't stand, it was zombies. And dragons. And really mean ponies. And urbanisation. And the commercialisation of an ancient religion. But mostly zombies. "OK Fluttershy, you can do this," she told herself, altogether unconvincingly. It was fortunate, at least, that the walls of the tower were putting up a good defence against the zombie horde, allowing her to gather up the courage in her own time. Not that it was any closer to happening. "Remember, they're more scared of you than you are of them." Behind the doors, the zombies growled louder than ever. "... I think." She was almost certain that only applied to spiders, not zombies, but was trying not to think about it. She felt the lance in her hooves. She had used it to stab straight through the armour of carapaced underlings, but now it seemed incredibly weak and flimsy. "You think you can beat us with something like this!?" Twilight's voice suddenly filled the tower, echoing from all directions around Fluttershy, who whirled around in confusion. "You think this is going to work?" *** "Why yes, yes I do," Discord said happily, dodging around Twilight's attacks and lunging forwards to slash at her legs with his sword. "I think it's going to work wonderfully. Now, I'm at least wise enough to admit there is something in that whole 'bonds of friendship' nonsense you all seem to have an unhealthy obsession with. You're friends. You don't want to let each other down. That makes you annoyingly stubborn when it comes to finishing you off." He sighed dramatically. "But I wonder; how strong are those bonds, really? How attached are you to Comet, or any of his little friends? You've only just met, and hardly under the best of circumstances. And what about your own circle of friends? They've been dead for a long time, you know. Can you really just go back to being friends like you always were? Are you the same pony they knew? After all, ponies have been dying all over the place these days, but... not you. You've survived, against the odds. You've had to change in order to do so." He grinned menacingly. "You're not the pony you used to be, Twilight, whether you like it or not." "Maybe not," Twilight replied levelly. "Maybe I'm not. But don't be so naive to think that scare tactics like this will make us forget who our friends are. We're stronger than you, Discord, and you know we are." The Heir considered this for a moment, before shrugging. "Perhaps. If we want to, say, compare your total damage per second against mine. Perhaps if we all just lined up and through everything we had at each other, maybe you would win. But that's a rather shallow interpretation of 'strong', don't you think?" Snapping his fingers, he disappeared, appearifying behind Twilight half a second later and kicking her across the room. "Really, if I'm 'stronger' than you then that just means I can defeat you, doesn't it? Otherwise what would it even mean to have power?" He disappeared again, re-appearing behind Twilight once more. This time, Twilight's future self appeared next to him, sword at the ready, only for Discord to suddenly turn around and stab into her. "Tch, predictable as ever." "Damn it..." Twilight gasped as she collapsed to the floor into a growing puddle of blood. "You... think you've won?" "Yes, I do," Discord said. "I think I'm going to kill you. And then I think I'll pop one of my reality marbles and let out some more of your friends. And then I'll kill them. Because, Twilight Sparkle, I think there's one thing you and your friends need to realise. Something you've forgotten, I think." Cackling, he crouched to the ground and leaned towards Twilight, who could do nothing but stare back at him with dread. "I am more powerful than you. And I always, always will be. Now, I think this charade has gone on for long en-" instantly he transportalised to the other side of the room as a piano crashed down onto where he had been sitting moments before, barely missing Twilight. *** With a crashing noise, the sounds echoing around her faded away into nothing, leaving Fluttershy alone in a tower about to be overrun by zombie ponies. She closed her eyes, attempting to drown out the sound of - Silence fell. Well, that was a lot faster than Fluttershy was expecting. Gingerly, she opened her eyes. Still, there was silence. She stared at the door to the tower. The window showed nothing but the dark, misty hills in the distance. Slowly, silently, she took a few tiny steps towards it. Nothing happened. A few more steps went similarly unnoticed. Fluttershy was now little more than a metre away from the door. Somehow, the silence was scaring her more than the horde of zombies. Well, maybe not quite that much. The silence shattered in an instant as the door flung open. Fluttershy opened her mouth to scream, leaping back into the tower, only to find her mouth covered as the creature that had entered the tower rushed towards her and muffled her scream with its hoof. Fluttershy's eyes slammed shut and she quivered in fear as she fell to the ground, the intruder standing over her. Several minutes passed. Cautiously, Fluttershy opened one eye. The other eye followed suit. "A... Acapella?" she asked in a whisper, as the madly grinning green winged unicorn helped her to her feet. "Wh-what are you-" she cut off as a hoof rose to her mouth once again. "Shh!" Acapella whispered urgently, glancing behind her. "We can't make much noise or the other zombies will come to investigate. They're pretty weak, but there's hundreds of thousands of them. Let's just sneak out while we can. Pinkie tells me you know where we're going?" Fluttershy nodded, pointing at the distant hills. "OK. Let's fly." *** Turning, Discord's face darkens as he sees me and Diamond enter the room. Twilight stares at me in a confused kind of way, but this is no time for reunions. I look at Diamond. "Just like we discussed, OK?" I say. Diamond hesitates for a moment, before nodding. "Good. Now..." I step forwards, equipping the most powerful weapon I can use. For a moment, even Discord's eyes widen in fear as he takes in the majesty of the weapon I have had to go to such extreme lengths to gain possession of. Forged by the smiths of Pipplemop for the Lord of the Wozzinjay Fiefdom. To gaze upon its many glorious colours is to know beauty unknowable. It is the weapon I wield at the end of my days, to signal to the heavens that one pimp-as-fuck warrior of justice will soon be coming its way. "What the hell is that?" Diamond asks incredulously. I look at her, somewhat disappointed with this reaction. "Shh." In the instant I look away, Discord begins rushing towards me. Leaping to the side, I swing the warhammer in my hooves towards him, barely connecting. Discord is promptly knocked away, slamming into the opposite wall and crashing to the floor. "This, Diamond, is the most powerful warhammer ever made. Please do not let your uninitiated assumptions tarnish its unholy aura of pure awesome." "... sorry." Diamond sighs. Turning my attention back to Discord, I charge forwards as he painfully picks himself back up. "You just focus on your job, and let me concentrate on mine," I say, swinging the warhammer as Discord leaps to his feet and ducks beneath it. I leap into the Void as he swings upwards with his sword, and then return to the room just above him, crushing the warhammer into his shoulder. This time the hit connects solidly, and Discord collapses to the ground instantly. I will be very surprised if he can move that arm for a while. Not waiting for him to retaliate, I leap away from him and ready the warhammer for another swing. I know that, despite how well this fight is going, Discord will defeat me. And, as Diamond passes the ammunition to Twilight, I continue my desperate fight against Discord, and Fluttershy and Acapella journey across the reality marbles, the gears of fate begin to shift. The Infinite Hotel creaks, as it slowly drifts through paradox space. Unthinkably huge portions of its structure are missing, endless stretches of carnage and devastation worm their way through the endless corridors, and the entire structure threatens to destabilise. The Paradox Gates which contain it are now useless, their underlying mechanisms torn to shreds by the ceaseless destruction of Discord and his knights. The same knights who are now hunting almost the entire pantheon of the Paradox Loop through the pocket universes created by Discord. There can be only one end to this hotel - and, with it, our story - as its internal pressure begins to fail and its density slowly but surely approaches the inevitable narrative event horizon which no power in paradox space can hope to avert. *** "What is it?" Acapella asked with concern, as Fluttershy suddenly paused and raised a hoof to her head. "Are you OK?" She glanced around the forest, checking for any sign of movement. They had followed the crack in the marble to a new universe, but had been unable to find any sign of the others. "I..." Fluttershy was shaking. "I feel like paradox space is... failing?" Her eyes widened. "So... so much power..." "Come on," Acapella said firmly, nudging Fluttershy. "I don't know what's happening, but it can only mean we have to hurry up and find the others, right?" Fluttershy paused, and then nodded. "Right, off we go. We just need to-" Grabbing Fluttershy's shoulder and shoving her onto the floor, Acapella leaped over her and equipped her cane, dodging past the knight which was rushing towards her and stabbing into its back. "Damn it, I was hoping we'd find one of the others first." Fluttershy had now gotten to her feet, equipping her lance and taking to the air. "They can't be far away," Fluttershy said, nimbly dodging as the knight flew up after her. "But I don't think three of us would be able to beat even just this one." She squeaked in surprise as the knight's wings were torn apart as a rifle shot echoed around them. In an instant, Applejack flew out of the trees and sliced through one of its wings with her scythe as Summer followed from close behind, shooting the knight several more times as it fell to the ground. "How about four of us?" Applejack asked, while the knight below them howled loudly. "Heh, then again, it won't be just one knight for much longer." "Are you guys the only ones in this universe?" Acapella asked. "If you are then we may as well head on out to the next one." Summer nodded. "Yeah, we are. So, where's the way out?" Fluttershy paused, closing her eyes. "This way," she said eventually, taking off in a seemingly random direction. "It's getting harder to find a way through the cracks, for some reason." *** "Pinkie, you really ought to realise what your job is," Discord says, stabbing me in the leg with his umbrella. "You're not a fighter. You've done an excellent job, but your own natural ability is the only thing keeping you alive. A Bard is a powerful, dangerous class, but it isn't made for this." Swearing under my breath, I leap to the side to avoid another swing of the umbrella and get back on my hooves. He's right, but I'm not about to admit it. "What's your point?" I say, leaping into the air and swinging my warhammer down towards Discord. He easily dodges, so I teleport into the air and continue swinging downwards, just about grazing Discord as he jumps away. "I'm not about to slow down." "Ha!" Falling through a hole in the floor, turning in mid-air and jumping back into the room, Discord equipped his machine gun and opened fire, as I barely managed to dodge out of the way in time. "In that case, shall I get a little serious? Even a legendary weapon won't be enough for you to defeat me." He turns to keep me in his sight as I run to the side, but just a little too slowly - I slip around him, Voiding over him as he jumps to get away from me, before smashing the warhammer into his face. "Won't it?" I ask as he is sent careering into the wall with a sickening crunch. *** Suddenly, the entire universe seemed to shake. Bookshelves trembled, and hundreds of tomes were sent cascading on top of Comet and Star Swirl as they ran through the endless library. It was clear that something was wrong. "Damn it," Comet said angrily, taking an unexpected left and almost losing Star Swirl. "There's got to be some way out of - FUCK, STOP!" He halted, throwing out a hoof to hold back Star Swirl, as the two ponies came to the edge of what appeared to be an infinite chasm. As Comet looked closer, however, he realised that above and beneath the level where they had been running there were more levels similarly filled with bookshelves. A thin staircase worked its way around the edge of this chasm, allowing access to the other levels. "... damn it... this isn't good." "We have to keep moving," Star Swirl said, "I get the feeling this place could collapse at any moment." "It could, and you're right," Comet said quietly. "But that's not the most immediate concern." He gestured to the other side of the chasm, where a group of knights were amassing, staring right at them. "First things first, we've got company." He prepared to leap forwards into the chasm when a voice called out. "Wait!" Turning, Comet blinked as Summer and the others ran towards them from out of the thin mist which was beginning to form. "Summer? You're-" Comet began. "Yeah, we're all fine," Summer interrupted, equipping her rifle and setting it up on the edge of the chasm, aimed across at the knights. "We need to get out of here now. Fluttershy can barely see a way out of this universe. Discord's getting weaker, and he can't maintain the reality." She gestured behind her. "Hence the fog. Less to render." "Isn't that a good thing?" Star Swirl asked. "If Discord can't maintain this universe we'll be able to escape. Right?" "Not necessarily," Celestia said, while Acapella and Luna took their positions and prepared to fight. "Paradox space is in turmoil right now. Creating pocket universes on this scale is pretty much the worst thing to do. When this universe collapses, there's no telling where we'll end up." "So, how are we going to find a way out?" Ember asked. Celestia pointed at Fluttershy, who was sitting in the middle of their group with her eyes closed. "She's searching for a gap, a weakness in the lining of this universe. When she finds it she can apply pressure to it, opening up a wound in local space that we can exit through. It's a bit harder than forcing our way between bubbles, though." Celestia looked over the group. "Until then, our job is to stop anything from distracting her. And by anything, I mean those guys." As one, the ponies looked out over the chasm, where the knights were preparing to leap towards them. "Well," Rainbow Dash said, equipping a lance and leaping out into the centre of the chasm. "It'd be boring if it was too easy, right?" *** "Here," Diamond Edge says, pushing the bottle I gave her into Twilight's hooves. "Pinkie said you'd know what to do with this." Twilight looks at the bottle. "Ink of Squid Pro Quo? Well, yeah, I think I know what to do with this, but..." she sighs. "I don't know how it's supposed to help. Isn't there something I can do to help the others?" Diamond thinks about it. "Not really... they're fighting their own battle right now." She looks over at me and my fight with Discord, as we charge at each other again and again, moving in unison and in perfect opposition. "Maybe you should be fighting yours." "And... what about you?" Twilight asks. Diamond looks at her in surprise. "I have a universe to save," she says simply, closing her eyes and concentrating. Twilight watches her for a few seconds, before running towards Discord and I. *** FRAYMOTIF [LIGHT && LIFE] FRIENDZONE FIANCHETTO A billion shots echoed from every corner of the universe, hitting the knights from more directions than they could perceive, let alone dodge. While Applejack and Summer Dawn dashed through the swarm of overpowered Dersite soldiers, shooting and slashing at everything that moved in an inferno of lucky shots and critical hits, Rainbow Dash soared above them, enveloping the aerial battlefield in blades of wind that tore apart anything which touched them. One by one, the knights were knocked out of the air and into the defensive wall of wind, exploding in a shower of meaningless grist. As the Knight and Heir's fraymotif drew to a close, Rainbow released the barrier, allowing her friends to exit as she and Rarity drew in to pick off the survivors. "Rainbow, duck!" Luna shouted, shooting an arrow straight at the Rogue. With a fraction of a second to spare, Rainbow shot sideways as the arrow flew past her and into a knight that had dropped down from above. "Damn it, they're everywhere," Destiny said, as more knights dropped from a higher level next to where she and Ember were guarding Fluttershy. Ember rushed forwards, using his hammer to knock a bookshelf towards the knights. As they were knocked backwards he leapt above them, swinging his hammer down and crushing them into the ground. "Comet, if we don't make it-" "Then the whole of reality is fucked, most likely," Comet said. "It's just Twilight and Pinkie Pie against Discord, until we get out. I don't want to sell those two short, but it doesn't look good." "Even so," Celestia commented, warping space around two knights and chuckling grimly as their swords stabbed into each other. "We can't keep going. Our powers have a reduced effect on this universe. The mist is getting thicker, as well." "What we need to bear in mind," Summer said, returning to Fluttershy to catch her breath while continuing to hold back the knights. "What we need to bear in mind is that even if we escape, we'll still have to deal with Discord." "Yes, thank you Summer," Comet said. "Don't worry about that. There is a plan, funnily enough. Our main concern at the moment is getting out of this universe before it collapses." With that, Fluttershy's eyes opened wide. "Someone's helping me!" Fluttershy cried, getting to her feet as she began to do a Spacey thing. "Someone from outside is helping me find the way out... it's just..." "Just what?" Ember asked, using his own Spacey thing to knock away the knights as Fluttershy flew out into the chasm. "Fluttershy?" The others followed, forming a shield around the Seer. Without warning, Fluttershy grabbed Ember's hoof. "I need your strength," Fluttershy said calmly. "I know the way through this universe, but I need you to knock a whole big enough for all of us. Can you do that?" Ember grinned widely. "I'll see what I can do." *** "Piss off," Discord yells, dashing backwards to avoid Twilight's sword and viciously kicking her away. "This is between me and the pink one." Twilight gasps in pain, disappearing into time only to reappear moments later behind Discord, stabbing forwards. In the next instant, her quillsword explodes into a thousand fragments as Discord surrounds himself with magic. Before Twilight can react, he has spun around and punched her in the face. As she reels back, he equips his axe and leaps forwards. "Twilight!" I cry, jumping towards Discord, warhammer swinging towards him. "Get the fuck away from Twi-" I am cut off as Discord swiftly raises his hand and throws his axe backwards, as it cuts into my neck and I am thrown onto the ground, landing with a crunch as my back crashes into the rubble. Fuck, that hurt. I am vaguely aware of Twilight screaming, as the shape of Discord slowly approaches. It is getting difficult to see, or hear, or to even distinguish those two senses from one another. This... I close my eyes, listening to the feet tapping on what is left of the wooden floor. They are all I can perceive. The footsteps of my end drawing ever closer. *** With a sudden burst of light, a colossal gap appeared in the centre of the chasm. Brilliant white and shimmering with the colours of two universes, it hovered and span in place in the very centre of the pocket universe, glowing with a familiar and friendly colour. For a moment, everypony paused and stared, awestruck, into the portal. "Everyone! We have to get through now!" Fluttershy yelled, just as the knights came to the conclusion that they had to make sure that didn't happen. The brilliant light was suddenly cut off behind a cloak of darkness as the knights surrounded the portal, preventing them from getting to it. Rainbow and Comet looked at each other. They grinned. "Rainbow?" Comet asked, laughing gleefully. "Shall we?" "Oh yes," Rainbow said happily. "I think we shall." A blast of air shook the chasm, as Rainbow's body became a whirling maelstrom of air. "Take it away." Comet nodded to the air around him, heading to the front of the group as the others readied themselves behind him. "Now, you've made a few critical mistakes," Comet said, addressing the knights in front of him. "First of all, you've chosen now, when we're most desperate, to get serious. And as I'm sure your master knows all too well by now, when we're desperate we can do anything. Secondly, you've chosen a poor tactical position, all things considered. Not only can we all fly, but we've got control over the air you're flying in." As if to prove his point, a strong wind began blowing, a mini-tornado forming in the centre of the chasm. The bookcases nearer the edge of the chasm were sucked into it, books flying in all directions around the portal. "But perhaps most seriously of all, you haven't realised where we are." Comet grinned, as he quietly extended his magic around the swarm of books. "You see, I can see why you would make that mistake, but this isn't a library. No... as far as I'm concerned, this place..." he laughed, his bookkind abstrata groaning under the weight of a hundred thousand new additions. "... is an armoury." And with that, he and the others charged forwards, and unleashed a catastrophic whirlwind of unabridged hell. *** "Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie..." Discord says, his footsteps finally ending as he reaches me. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?" He kneels down and brushes my face with his claw. "But its OK now, you can stop. You don't have to keep going. This story is already over. Why not rest? Why... not..." his voice is becoming muffled, Twilight's distant cries long since faded into the endless darkness into which I can feel myself slipping. There's no more. Nothing else. I... everyone... I'm... *** "Now hold on just one cotton-pickin' minute!" Applejack roars, kicking Discord away from me as she rushes forwards. "That was for being obnoxious!" Dodging his dazed attempt to stop her advance, she leaps through the air and kicks him again in the head. "That was for trapping me in another universe!" Still shaking, I get to my feet with Fluttershy's assistance. She smiles at me, her face full of relief. Looking down, I can see a dried puddle of blood, and that is the only sign that I was ever injured. Applejack really is something else, I think to myself, as I watch her jumping backwards over Discord and slashing at his back with her scythe. "AND THAT!" she yells, as Discord collapses to the ground. "Was for even thinking that you, or anyone else, has the right to hurt my friends!" Triumphantly, she returns to my side, along with everyone else. Looking around, I see Diamond Edge has joined us as well. "Heh... so you made it out..." Discord says, picking himself up and standing opposite the Paradox Loop's pantheon of fourteen, and Star Swirl. "... I guess... I just can't win, can I? No matter what I do... you bloody ponies..." "G..." Diamond Edge begins, stepping forwards towards Discord. "Golden. Please. Let's stop this." The others watch her with surprise, but say nothing. Discord's face darkens. "I... I don't want things to end like this. I don't want any of us to die." Discord sighs. "Nothing is going to save me now," he says bitterly, and for an instant it is Golden Shine standing opposite us. "I thought that if I came here, if I took control of destiny itself, then I could find a way to undo what happened to me. What... what I did to myself." He laughs, loud and hollow. "Not even that could save me! I don't have anything left except this!" For a moment I think he is going to cry, but instead he simply roars in frustration. "And you! Twilight Sparkle!" he glares at Twilight, who is holding two items. The two items which combine to form the most powerful weapon in paradox space. "What the hell are you going to do with those? Are you going to kill me? Finally, are you going to put an end to this? Well!?" Twilight sighs deeply. "Dis..." she pauses. "... Golden. I don't want to kill you. Not if I can help it." "But that's just it, Twilight," Discord says, stepping towards our group with a hint of menace. "You can't help it. What else can you possibly do? Negotiate? Don't tell me that was your master plan - diplomacy? You think that you can resolve this with words now? Don't make me laugh, just tell me which one of you is going to kill me." He leaps forwards, equipping an axe in both hands, only to be instantly teleported upside down, backwards, and partially inside the ceiling. In the next instant, Luna has removed his swords and is aiming an arrow straight at him. Meanwhile, Twilight combines her two items. Dipping her quill into the bottle of ink that Diamond provided her, she draws the fully loaded weapon from its sheath and takes the sheet of parchment I offer her. "You are obviously not acquainted with my brand of diplomacy," Twilight says, stepping up towards Discord, whose eyes are just now beginning to show fear. FRAYMOTIF [???] SEPULCHRITUDE *** As the storms fade, the slow but inevitable demise of the Infinite Hotel draws ever closer. The structure heaves and groans, infinitely long corridors collapsing in on themselves as eternity itself begins to run short. In the room where our final battle was held, we look around ourselves with concern as the walls themselves begin to shake and start to give way. "Twilight?" I ask uncertainly, glancing around at the rapidly decaying stronghold. "We need to get out of here. This isn't over yet." Twilight nods, glancing over at Diamond, who is holding onto Discord. "Diamond, can you bring him?" Twilight asks. Diamond nods, lifting Discord with her magic. "Good. OK, everyone, listen up. This place is collapsing, and with it the entire Paradox Loop. It doesn't matter where we run, nowhere is safe now." "So what are we supposed to do about it?" Rarity asks. Twilight nods, and begins running out of the room, with the rest of us following close behind her. "We need to keep the Paradox Loop in place, Rarity. Don't forget that the universe we came from is part of it. It's only in danger because the hotel is collapsing," Twilight shouts behind her as we run past explosions and fires. Time jumps will do us no good now - as the hotel nears destruction, its geometry returns to a more realistic structure as the technology breaks down. We have no choice but to make it by ourselves. "We need to get to the centre of the hotel, or as close to the centre as we can. Fluttershy, Pinkie, I'm leaving that to you." "Of course," I say, grabbing Fluttershy by the hoof and sprinting to the front of the group. "We can do that, right, Fluttershy?" She stares into my eyes, her face full of fear. I grin madly at her. "There's nothing we can't do, right?" After a moment of hesitation, Fluttershy grins back at me. "Right." With a determined expression, she closes her eyes, lending me her powers as I guide our party through the hotel. Her powers are impressive - in an instant I can see every inch of the hotel in my mind’s eye, coupled with my own knowledge of its twists and turns. We charge through corridors and hallways, soar down staircases and under archways, travelling through colossal stretches of Void and navigating safe paths through the encroaching flames as we slowly but surely draw closer to our goal: the centre of the Infinite Hotel, the centre of the entire Paradox Loop. *** Bursting into the final corridor, we pause briefly. The last stretch of our journey is already a blazing inferno, and it is clear that it will collapse any moment - much like the rest of the hotel. Pausing for a few seconds, I look around at my friends. We have come so close, and overcome so much. We have fought as legends, and at the very least we will not give in here. "Is everypony ready?" I ask, even as the walls of reality themselves start to break down around us. Out of the corner of my eye, I can even see Discord looking at us with a mixture of annoyance and awe. He has been disconcertingly mute since Twilight dealt with him, but I suppose it is to be expected. He has nothing more to say now. "Of course we are," Applejack says confidently. The others nod in agreement. I look down the one remaining corridor. "Well then. Let's do this." I grin. And with that, we turn as one and charge towards our destination. The flames are unbearable, lashing out at us as we run through them. Rainbow's Windy thing attempts to fight them back, but to no avail, as they continue to leap forwards, burning into us and blinding our vision with smoke. But there is no time to make sure that everyone is keeping up. The only thing any of us can do is continue running. And so we run, we run through the fire and flames, through the smoke and the desperation, while the hotel begins to be unmade all around us. And then, finally, gloriously, we exit the corridor and into the grand hall at the centre of the infinite hotel. As we spill out into the hall, I search wildly for Fluttershy. Seeing her, I rush over to her. "Fluttershy! Quick, your frog!" She looks at me in confusion. "The frog you made, the Genesis frog, we need it!" Realisation dawning, she quickly fetches the frog out of her sylladex and hands it to me. "Blimey he's a big one, isn't he? Still, I guess he needs to be... Applejack! Twilight! Celestia! Oh, and Diamond! Get over here!" There is no time to be polite, as this last safe room is moments from destruction. As they rush over to me, I release the frog, allowing it to hover oddly in front of us. "Applejack, this frog cannot die. You have to make sure this frog survives. Twilight, Celestia, I need you to use your powers just one last time. We need Skaia, here. We need to create a new universe at the centre of the Paradox Loop to restabilise the formation." "But our sessions are scratched!" Twilight protests. "There isn't any-" "There's Comet's," I say bluntly. "Bring it here. Now." Twilight and Celestia exchange glances, and then nod. "Good. And now, Diamond," I turn to look into her eyes. "Hope in the face of Doom, right? I don't care how you do it. But this needs to succeed. It has to." She stares back at me. "... I'll try." She says quietly. I nod. "Then, try." With that, I step back, a sense of relief washing over me as a familiar, friendly glow fills the hall. The hotel buckles as it is crushed from both the inside and the outside, as Skaia's familiar form forces its way into the great hall and the walls are forced apart, exposing Skaia's outer edges to the unending chaotic storms of the dying Paradox Loop. "Applejack!" I cry, as the entire hotel finally gives up, fracturing into pieces which are sent scattering into the infinite void, cascading away from Skaia. *** In the heart of that planet, in the very core of the Battlefield, a frog found its home. Growing, evolving, and nurturing an entire universe of potential within it. And suddenly, without much of a warning, it began to swell outwards at a colossal pace, the flames of creation burning fiercely within it as the Battlefield cracked and fractured outwards, revealing the true size and majesty of the amphibian overlord contained within. Skaia itself grew, water filling its atmosphere before enormous lilies bloomed on its surface; a hauntingly beautiful cosmic pond in the centre of an empty void. The Genesis frog had awoken, and the ponies who gazed upon it fondly regarded their creation with a sense of finality. Maybe now, it was over. Maybe now, after all this time, they had achieved their goal. One by one, they drifted towards the pond and found their way to a lily pad, where they sat for a while and talked. And laughed, and cried, and (perhaps most importantly) slept. Pinkie Pie, in particular, slept long and deservedly, so - for now, at least - I will take over as a narrator. "Is it really over?" Ember asked in disbelief, looking down at the frog-shaped universe beneath him. "I never thought I'd be glad to see another frog." "Yes," Fluttershy said happily. "I think it is over, now." "About time, if you ask me," Celestia said, yawning a little as she woke up. "... so, what now?" "Now?" Discord stood up, turning away from the others. "Now you get to go down to that frog, escape the Paradox Loop and live out your happy little lives. Well done." He sighed. "And I am going to go... that way," he pointed an arm in a seemingly arbitrary direction. "And see where that takes me." "Golden, you-" Diamond began, pausing when Discord turned and stared at her. "Have a good life," he said quietly. "No, really, I don't care anymore. But don't call me Golden. No one can call me that." With that, he took off from the lily pad, and into the void. A few minutes passed. "Well, that's not quite true," Luna said as she watched Discord disappear. "There is one pony who can still call him that. Maybe he's gone to find her." She smiled sadly. "It's rather beautiful, in a way, don't you think?" "Is it?" Star Swirl asked. Luna punched him. "What was that for?" Luna looked away. "... idiot," she muttered. And so the ponies continued to talk, and eventually they were rested and recovered. And then, at last, one by one they made their way down into the pond beneath them, and journeyed into the next universe. Yes. Maybe, now, their suffering was over, and they had finally managed to save everything they held dear. Maybe, despite everything, they had reached the conclusion to their tale. Maybe, just maybe, this was the end. ***END OF ACT 4***