//------------------------------//
// Power(up) Ponies 
// Story: Mortal Kombat: Equestria 
// by Green Akers 
//------------------------------//

	After a late night of plotting her upcoming invasion of Equestria, Chrysalis had planned to sleep in the next morning, and spend the rest of the day lounging around watching Outlander reruns. Instead, however, she found herself being roused by Fran at the ungodly hour of 6:30 AM. "You had better have a good reason for this," Chrysalis snapped at the secretary.

"Kahn needs you in his office right away!" Fran insisted. "He said it was a matter of inter-dimensional importance, one that could shape the future of the world for centuries to come."

"Sure it is." Chrysalis rolled her eyes, but complied with Fran's request and followed her to Kahn's chambers, where they found the Outworld emperor poring over a pile of documents on his desk.

"It's about time you got here," Kahn said to his secretary. "What, did you go to Chrysalis's room by way of Albuquerque?"

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," Fran replied. "I got there as fast as I could."

"She was probably too busy contemplating the seriousness of your request," Chrysalis remarked sarcastically. "Out with it, Kahn. What matter was so important that you deemed it a higher priority than my beauty sleep?"

"This." Kahn pulled out two pictures of ornate palaces and held them out towards Chrysalis. "Tell me, in your Earth-dwelling experience, what would make a better capitol building for my new empire: Buckingham Palace, or the Taj Mahal?"

"Really?" Chrysalis stared disapprovingly at Kahn for a good five seconds. "I don't know," she finally said. "The Taj Mahal may not be big enough to hold your ego, but perhaps the monsoon season would wash the slime out of your head and allow your brain to breathe."

"India does have a rather extreme climate, doesn't it?" Kahn noted. "Very well. Merry old England it is!" He tossed the castle pictures into a garbage can next to his desk. "Now, for the next order of business..."

Kahn clasped his hands together and leaned across his desk towards Chrysalis. "Normally, Shang Tsung and I serve as the final arbiters of this tournament," he explained. "However, as you are well aware, Shang is a bit tied up in New York as a guest of the UN these days, and while his dimwitted nephew has been covering his soul-collecting duties, I fear that Shing Tsung's fighting ability is no better than his fashion sense."

"A safe assumption," Chrysalis agreed, "but who cares? Watching him get crushed would be the highlight of this whole endeavor."

"Yes, but I do not want to listen to those pithy Fox executives complain about a lack of action like they did in the Twilight Sparkle fight," Kahn replied. "Therefore, I would like to slot someone else in that post-final slot, or rather, somebug."

Chrysalis suddenly dove across Kahn's desk, knocking the emperor to the floor. Before Kahn could react, Chrysalis was standing on his chest with her face inches from his. "Do not call me that!" she roared, raising her hoof threateningly. "Or perhaps you'd like to see which one of us squashes more easily!"

"My my, it seems that someone did not have their coffee this morning." Kahn pushed Chrysalis off of him in one effortless motion, then climbed back to his feet. "Still, that attack was quite impressive, madam. Certainly impressive enough to smite whoever emerges from tonight's finale."

"Personally, I think I've done enough of your dirty work," Chrysalis muttered. "I will be moving my brood back to the Equestrian border after tonight's battle, and I will have my hooves full coordinating the move. Trust me—if you think herding cats is hard, try herding changelings."

"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Kahn pressed. "Princess Celestia will be there. We received her RSVP this morning."

"And I should care why?"

"Think of it this way," Kahn said. "You get a chance to finish the tournament that seals your takeover of Equestria, potentially knocking out the final pony in the process, and our pompous princess friend can do nothing but watch her empire go up in flames in front of the entire world! You can even swipe the crown right off her head, and we can hold a little coronation ceremony after the battle while Equestria's ex-ruler is led away in chains!" He threw an arm around Chrysalis. "After everything she's done to you and your brood, could there possibly be a more delicious ending to the changeling saga?"

Chrysalis closed her eyes and let the scene play out in her mind for a moment. "No," she agreed, "there isn't."

"Splendid! So you'll do it?"

"I'll think about it." Chrysalis turned and headed for the door. "I prefer to make decisions on more than three hours of sleep."

Kahn chuckled as Chrysalis exited the room. "Take Shing's name out of the tournament bracket, and tell him his life has been spared," he told Fran. "We have found a suitable replacement."

"But didn't Miss Chrysalis say—" Fran began to say.

"Oh, she'll do it," Kahn assured his secretary. "Trust me—after everything that fool Celestia has put her through, she can do nothing else."



Rainbow Dash found her own rest disturbed by a loud knocking at the slightly-less-revolting hour of eight o'clock, but she wasn't any happier about it than Chrysalis. "Keep it down, will you?" she shouted in the direction of the hut door. "Some ponies are trying to sleep around here!"

"Miss Dash?" a voice called from outside the hut. "Emperor Kahn sent us to make sure you would be awake for this morning's weigh-in at the castle."

"Weigh-in?" Rainbow's mind flashed back to the five pieces of apple upside-down cake she had eaten at the after-fight party, and she bounced out of bed and raced outside to where a group of Kahn's generic staff ninjas were waiting. "What do you mean, weigh-in?" she demanded. "Nopony told me was gonna be a weigh-in! Since when do we have weigh-ins around here?"

"Cool your jets," one of the ninjas said. "It's not really a weigh-in. Kahn just likes to bring the final fighters together to exchange pleasantries—and maybe a few jabs—for the TV cameras."

"Well, I still wish somepony would have said something about this yesterday," Rainbow grumbled. "So when is this stupid weigh-in thing?"

"Oh, in about fifteen minutes," another ninja replied.

"What?! But I've got, like, a million other things to do before then!" Rainbow passed on a formal farewell in favor of a mad dash across the island to the cafeteria, where she threw three bowls of oats and two mugs of cider down her gullet in under three minutes. From there, she rushed up into the clouds for a morning workout: fifty crunches, one hundred wing pushups, and ten quick laps around the peak of the island's mountain. "That'll have to do," she grumbled as she flew towards the castle.

Rainbow was greeted at the castle's front gates by a mass of screaming fans and photographers, all there to catch a glimpse of their planet's last hope. She couldn't help but grin at all the adulation being thrown her way. "Thank you! Thank you!" she said to the throngs below. "You're too kind!"

"Miss Dash!" another one of Kahn's ninjas called out from a second-story window. "Do not use the main entrance! Come through here!"

Dash did as she was told, but not without trepidation. "What's wrong with the front door?" she asked.

The ninja reached over and plucked a feather from Rainbow's wing, then casually tossed it out of the window. The air suddenly filled with cries of "OMG! It's a real Rainbow Dash feather!" and the scene outside descended into chaos as the masses fought for possession of the feather.

"See?" the ninja said. "They would have plucked you like a chicken."

Rainbow looked down at the crowd with a confused look. "Humans are weird," she finally concluded.

The ninja led Rainbow to a large conference room containing a long table, two microphones, and about one hundred members of the mainstream media. "Wait here for a moment," the ninja said. "We have to introduce Emperor Kahn first."

As the ninja spoke, Fran emerged from behind a curtain at the other side of the room. "Ladies and gentlemen, and ponies of all ages," she shouted, "please welcome the leader of Outworld and the master of ceremonies for this tournament, Emperor Shao Kahn!"

The assembled media crowded at the front of the room as Kahn appeared from behind the curtain. "Kahn! Emperor Kahn!" they all screamed, raising their hands in the hope that Kahn would answer their questions.

Kahn didn't even bother to hide his smile. "Please, no questions!" he said, waving the journalists off. "After all, this event is all about our final two combatants!" He waved to a group of ninjas in the back corner. "Bring on the scale!"

The crowd parted just long enough for the ninjas to carry in an oversized bathroom scale and place it next to the table. "Now," Kahn continued, "My administration has a strict 'ladies first' policy, so we will begin with the self-proclaimed fastest flyer in the universe, Miss DayGlo Trash! ...Oh dear, I mean Miss Rainbow Dash." He flashed an evil grin towards the pegasus. "I'm terribly sorry."

"Sure you are." Rainbow rolled her eyes and flew over to the scale, and struck a confident pose upon landing. "I hope your wimpy little cameras can handle this much awesomeness!" she said to the photographers. "Don't worry if they aren't, though. You'll all get another photo op after I win this fight and introduce 'Cowed Fawn' here to my little friends." She raised her front hooves to hammer to point home.

Kahn examined the scale needle as it rattled into a steady position. "An even ninety-eight pounds, eh?" he chuckled as Rainbow hopped off the scale. "How unfortunate. I suppose I'll let you reporters finish that phrase." He pointed back to where Rainbow had entered the room. "Challenging our arrogant aerialist in tonight's battle is an Edenian lad with some very impressive lineage, and a man ruthless enough to destroy his own brother in last night's semifinal bout. Scribes of the universe, I give you...Taven!"

A tall, chiseled figure with a well-trimmed chin curtain beard and a black, gold-trimmed martial arts uniform stepped into the room and strode up to the table. "Meh," Rainbow said as she looked the man up and down. "He doesn't look so tough."

Kahn stuck out his hand as Taven reached the table. "Congratulations on getting off the schneid and finally beating Daegon!" he said. "Like I always say, the twenty-sixth time's the charm."

Taven glared at Kahn, and walked past him without returning his handshake offer. "Where is the scale? Let us get this over with."

Kahn shrugged, but continued smiling. "Fine. Be that way."

Taven walked up to the scale, then raised his right foot and slammed it down, splitting the scale right down the middle and rendering it unusable. "Consider this a sneak preview of what I will do to your skull," he said, although it was unclear if he was talking to Shao Kahn or Rainbow Dash.

Kahn laughed off Taven's threat. "You know, I don't believe I've introduced you two properly. Is there anything you'd like to say to each other before our Q&A session?"

Rainbow glared at Taven. "I hope you've made funeral arrangements, pal," she said, "because I'm sending to you to the great beyond, or wherever that dork Shing keeps all the souls he gets. Nothing and nopony is standing between me and saving my friends!"

"Hmph," Taven snorted. "Another bloodthirsty abomination that Kahn has dug up to perform in his twisted circus." He turned to the assembled media. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves," he declared. "You glorify a tournament that will one day bring Armageddon to our world, and you lionize the sick fiends who partake in it. It is disgusting, and the sooner I bring this madness to an end, the better."

"Well gosh, tell us how you really feel!" Kahn laughed. "Now then, let's open the floor for questions..."

A man at the front of the room stood up. "Taven, this tournament has been going on for centuries," he said. "How do you plan to stop it?"

"I can bench press Mt. Kilimanjaro, I throw more fireballs than Randy Johnson, and I've got an office in the Elder Gods corporate building," Taven replied. "I think I can find a way."

A woman on the opposite side of the room raised her hand. "Rainbow," she said, "Taven's credentials are very impressive. How would you assess your own chances for victory?"

"Hey, my credentials are pretty good too!" Rainbow Dash insisted. "I'm the fastest flyer in the whole entire history of Equestria! I'm the only pony to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom! I've helped smite some of the baddest baddies ever to do bad!" She glared at Taven for a moment. "Heck, I can probably grow a better beard than this guy," she added. "Seriously, dude, stop kidding yourself and buy a razor."

"Your friends have all been defeated," another reporter pointed out. "Can you really win this tournament by yourself?"

"I won't have to!" Rainbow declared. She stood up onto her back hooves and placed a front hoof over her heart. "We're all together in here, even when we're apart." The sappy statement drew an eye roll from Taven.

A bespectacled reporter with a coffee-stained polo raised his hand. "Taven, TMZ is reporting that you recently spoke with Vince McMahon about joining the WWE. Can you confirm this?"

"I can, yes," Taven replied. "I'm trying to end that operation too. However, that case is less about fending off Armageddon and more in the name of good taste. Seriously, did you see the last Royal Rumble battle? I could've beaten every one of those amateurs in under a minute."

A pony wearing a fedora and carrying a notepad stepped forward. "Miss Dash, Ann Coulter recently called your success, and I quote, 'a liberal conspiracy to promote a anti-gun, anti-family, and anti-business agenda.' Would you care to respond to this?"

Rainbow arched an eyebrow at the question. "Who's Ann Coulter? She sounds dumb."

Kahn yawned as the questions kept coming, and decided to add a little more spice to the matchup. "As many of you know," he said, "the collective destiny of all the losers in this tournament is in the hands—or hooves—of the supreme winner. My question for you, Miss Dash: What would you do with them?"

"Do with them?" Rainbow was a bit taken aback by the revelation. "Well...I'd bring my friends back, of course, but I'd make Applejack give me the first barrel of cider every year as payment. You can keep those other dopes."

"I see." Shao Kahn looked back towards Taven. "And what say you, Taven? Do you share the pony's plan of mercy?"

"As far as I am concerned, you and your gladiators are a blight upon the universe," Taven stated matter-of-factly. "Your souls are all beyond salvation, and I will destroy every last one."

"What?!" Rainbow's jaw dropped, and she went nose-to-nose with Taven. "What do you mean, destroy them?" she demanded. "You can't destroy them! We're the ones trying to save the world!"

"It matters not," Taven replied coldly. "This tournament will destroy the universe if left unchecked, and those who participate in the fighting are part of the problem, regardless of their intentions. As far as I am concerned, your ilk is no better than the scum that Kahn employs."

"But you're participating in this stupid thing too!" Rainbow pointed out.

"Do not try to hide behind details!" Taven raged. "I will defeat both you and Shao Kahn, and when I do, I shall put an end to the tournament and those who compete in it."

Steam began shooting out of Rainbow Dash's ears. "Oh yeah?" she snarled. "Well, think again, you mulch-munching meathead!"

"I will not lose to a pitiful, potty-mouthed pegasus!" Taven shot back.

"Ground-bound goon!"

"Insolent insect!"

"Brother-beating homewrecker!"

"Book-loving braggart!"

"Half-god poser!"

"Wonderbolt wannabe!"

"Enough!" Shao Kahn pushed his way in between the squabbling fighters to separate them, although the smile on his face suggested that he found the war of words quite enjoyable. "That's all for Q&A, folks, so you'd all better tune in tonight to see who gets the last word!"

"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed. "You'd better show up to the fight tonight so you can take your lumps like a real mare!"

"I will be there," Taven promised, "but when the battle is over, it will be you who is absent."

Rainbow stared daggers at Taven for another second, then made a beeline for the nearest window and headed for the clouds. Taven had struck a nerve with his comments, and though she remained confident in her abilities, she also wanted to squash him extra-flat in the battle, which meant she was going to have to kick her training into overdrive.



The evening's battle drew a crowd of several thousand fans to the island, overwhelming Kahn's staff and forcing him to take drastic measures in response: Place an emergency takeout order of five hundred pizzas, designate a hundred suitably-large palm trees as makeshift bathrooms, and press several hundred of Chrysalis's minions into service for crowd control duty. Normally such a crowd would have also overflowed the battle ring at the summit of Kahn's mountain, but since many of the new arrivals were pegasi, Kahn's crew solved the problem by having the ponies bring in twenty large stratus clouds and arrange them in a circle around the mountain.

Rainbow Dash, for her part, was too focused to even notice the extra excitement, and threw down her most intense training session since arriving on the island. She tripled her pushup and lap counts from that morning, then went through her entire Wonderbolt routine at double speed, throwing in a spectacular Sonic Rainboom at the end for good measure. She arrived at the cloud-ringed coliseum prepped and ready to rumble, and the large crowd neither moved nor unnerved her. "Alright, I'm here!" she shouted at the battle announcer. "Let's get this party started already!"

The tuxedoed announcer shrugged. "We have to wait for the signal from the broadcast booth."

Rainbow slammed her hoof on her head, and looked over to where Joe Buck and Hulk Hogan were addressing the camera. "Tonight's battle presents quite a conundrum for those still trying to decide who to support," Joe said, "as both combatants are running on the anti-Kahn platform and would not support an Outworld merger."

"The choice is clear for me, brother!" Hulk declared as he donned a rainbow-haired wig. "A vote for Taven means a vote for the end of Mortal Kombat, and that would be totally tragic! I'm backing Kano Smash, the real horse in this race, and accepting no imitations!"

"I'd expect nothing less from you," Joe quipped. "Now, as—"

"What's that?" Suddenly, Rainbow Dash swooped in between the broadcasters and grabbed Hulk's mic. "The battle's about to start?" she said in a mock surprised tone. "Gosh, I guess we'd better shut our pieholes and get to the action!" She threw down the mic with authority, then sped back over to the announcer. "You're on!"

The announcer nodded and cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, fillies and gentlecolts, and creatures of all sizes all around the world," he began, "welcome to the concluding battle of the Mortal Kombat pyramid! We've got a good one in store for you tonight, so let's get ready to RUM-BULLLLLLLLLLL—"

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Rainbow darted over and swiped the microphone from the announcer. "I'm Rainbow Dash, he's an idiot"—she pointed to Taven, who had just stepped into the ring—"and we're both ready to fight!"

"I concur," Taven said. "Let us end this absurd spectacle and get down to business."

His thunder stolen, the announcer could only sigh and shake his head. "Fine then. FIGHT!"

Rainbow Dash moved to leap into the air, but Taven was in her face before she could even blink, and he unloaded a trio of punches that sent the pegasus tumbling back into the crowd. "What the hay?" Rainbow sputtered as she jumped back to her hooves. "How did you do that? I've never seen anypony move that fast!"

"Then perhaps you would like to see it again!" In a flash Taven was beside Rainbow once again, connecting with another flurry of punches and finishing with an uppercut that sent Rainbow spiraling into the air.

"Taven opens with a pair of devastating combos!" Joe narrated. "How will Rainbow Dash respond?"

Rainbow quickly righted herself in the air and shook the stars from her eyes. "Alright," she told herself, "it's time to bring the battle to this dope for a change!" She did a quick U-turn and made a beeline for Taven, intent on implanting her hoof in his nose. "Here I come!"

Taven shook his head. "You are as predictable as that fool Kahn, and slower to boot." He waited until the absolute last second before twisting himself away from the attack, and Rainbow ended up hitting nothing but air.

"Hey!" Rainbow objected as she turned to make another pass. "What are you, too chicken to take a bit of your own medicine?"

"This is incredible!" Hulk gushed as Taven smoothly dodged Rainbow's second attack. "I haven't seen moves like that since that Neo guy made the quarterfinals a few years back!"

Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth in frustration. "Okay, Mr. Scaredy-Pony, let's see you dodge this," she said. She flew high into the air, roared past the cloud seating, made a big turn around the blimp providing Fox's aerial coverage, and started diving back down towards the battlefield. The pegasi in the clouds cheered at the sight of a cone of air swirling around Rainbow, as they knew full well what was coming next.

Taven yawned as Rainbow began making her descent. "It seems I must show this mare that aggression without control brings nothing but misfortune," he muttered.

As Rainbow Dash plummeted from the sky, the air cone around her grew bigger and bigger, but her speed seem to plateau for a few seconds. Suddenly, about two hundred feet from the ground, the cone exploded with a loud bang, and a sky was filled with color as a Sonic Rainboom shot across the sky. The explosion immediately kicked Rainbow's speed up to Mach 3, and before Taven could react to the sudden acceleration, Rainbow smashed her front hooves into his stomach, sending him sprawling to the ground. "And Rainbow counters with a spectacular bull—pardon, pony rush—that knocks Taven for a loop!" Joe shouted.

"Ha! Take that, Mr. Tough Guy!" Rainbow laughed as she zoomed back into the air and prepared another attack.

Taven picked himself up off the ground and glared silently at the gloating pegasus. "Taven's in a bind now," Joe declared. "He doesn't know if Rainbow will come at him with her Bugs Bunny changeup or unleash her four-seam fastball."

"It does not matter," Taven snapped at the announcer. "To extend your plebeian baseball reference, the key to victory is simply to make good, solid contact." With that, Taven stepped out of the battle ring, pushed his way through the crowd, and took up a position about sixty feet outside the ring.

Rainbow Dash made another loop high in the air, and came barreling down towards Taven a second time, building up another head of steam as she flew. She dialed back her speed a few notches this time in anticipation of Taven's dodge, but Taven instead waited patiently for her to arrive, so she hit the afterburners and aimed for another body blow.

Taven waited until Rainbow drew near, but instead of moving, he whispered a few words under her breath and suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Rainbow's eyes popped wide open as she passed through the smoke and saw what was waiting behind it: A large, sturdy-looking rock sticking up out of the ground.

POW! Rainbow faceplanted hard into the stone, hung in the air quivering like an arrow in a target for a few seconds, and then slid down to the ground. "Ooh!" Joe said with a wince. "That's got to hurt."

Taven soon reappeared about ten feet from the scene of the accident, and smiled as he gazed down at the wreckage. "Perhaps a broken jaw will teach you not to speak too soon," he remarked.

Rainbow managed to raise herself back onto her hooves, and turned to face Taven, although her eyes were pointing in two different directions. "Calling in backup, huh?" she said as she rose up onto her back hooves and assumed a boxer's stance. "Bring it on! I'll whup all five of you."

Taven smirked. "You look a bit confused, madam. Allow me to help you see the light." A ball of flame appeared in his right hand, and he reared back and flung it at the pegasus with all his might.

"YAH!" The sight of five fireballs being flung at her brought Rainbow to her senses pretty quick, and she leaped into the air just before the fireball hit, escaping with only a few singed tail hairs. "Didn't Smokey the Bear ever tell you not to play with fire?" she shouted down at Taven.

"I assure you that I am not playing!" Taven summoned his magic once more, took aim at Rainbow Dash, and began pumping fireballs into the air, their flames leaving behind streaks of light like tracer bullets.

"Whoa! Hey! Yikes!" Rainbow shouted as she tried to avoid the fiery barrage. Luckily, in addition to being the fastest flyer in Equestria, she was one of the most agile, and Taven's scattershot fireballs didn't even graze her. "Hah! Try again, dorkface!" she said with a laugh.

"You live your life too fast," Taven observed. "Maybe you should stop and smell the roses for a while." He uttered a few words and spread his arms wide, and a gray aura spilled forth from his hands and started spreading in all directions, freezing everything it touched.

"And Taven summons his Time—" was all Joe could say before he was stuck in place.

Rainbow was similarly caught off guard by the attack, and she ended up trapped high in the sky with her mouth hung open in surprise. Taven chuckled at her awkward expression, then brought his hands together and summoned the biggest fireball he could muster, which wound up being about three feet in diameter. He shot the fireball toward Rainbow, watched as it made it way towards the stuck pegasus, then snapped his fingers to dispel the gray aura and restart time just before impact.

The fireball struck paydirt and exploded with a loud bang, sending Rainbow Dash sailing across the night sky like a flaming comet. "And Taven connects with a devastating blow!" Joe shouted. "Is this the end of Rainbow Dash?"

As the crowd oohed and aahed at Rainbow's flight, one of Kahn's generic ninjas pulled out a pair of binoculars and traced her trajectory. "She's headed for the fighter huts!" he announced.

With that, Taven, the crowd, and the television crew packed up and headed down the mountain to watch the final act of the battle unfold.



"Uhh...my head..." Rainbow Dash groaned as she lay in the pony-sized hole her landing had created. Every part of her body ached, but an image of her fellow Elements of Harmony flashed before her eyes, and she managed to will herself back onto her hooves. "Where...where am I?"

A quick survey of her surroundings revealed that she was in an unoccupied fighter hut, albeit one with a new skylight courtesy of her entrance. She jumped up to fly back through the hole and see what was going on outside, but a sharp pain in her wings vetoed this plan almost immediately, and she landed dejectedly back on the ground. "Great. Just freaking great," she said. "I'm grounded, and that idiot'll be here any minute to finish me off. What am I gonna do?"

In response, a voice in Rainbow's head began screaming: Make a plan! Take advantage of your surroundings, and use the element of surprise to swing the battle back in your favor!

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Rainbow slammed a hoof on her forehead. "First Fluttershy, then Applejack, and now Twilight is in my head?"

What's wrong with that? the voice demanded. Besides, would your rather play 'Dodge the Fireball' without wings?

"Fine, fine," Rainbow grumbled. "But I swear, if Rarity starts talking to me, I'm gonna hurt somepony."

Considering you haven't managed to hurt a certain somepony up to this point, a second voice that sounded a lot like Rarity pointed out, perhaps talking to me would be an improvement. For now, darling, I agree with Twilight. See if you can put together an ensemble that is both dazzling and flame-resistant.

Rainbow sighed, and started walking through the hut to see what she had at her disposal. While the hut didn't have a whole lot to offer, a large pile of orange boxes sitting in a corner caught Rainbow's attention. "What have we got here?" she asked as she pulled one of the boxes off the pile for a closer look.

The box itself was unlabeled outside of a large, unhelpful question mark on the side, and there didn't seem to be any easy way to open it, so Rainbow took a deep breath, raised her hoof, and slammed it down on the box. The box did not break, but instead turned a reddish-brown color, and a furry body suit with pointed ears and a long tail popped out.

"Is this...a cat suit?" Rainbow grimaced at the garment. "Yeah, sure, this'll be helpful."

The other boxes produced similar results, and soon Rainbow found herself surrounded by a bunch of bizarre items and costumes. "Cat suits, raccoon suits, frog suits, penguin suits, hammers, boomerangs, propeller hats...seriously, what kind of kinky weirdo was living here?" she wondered. "Plus feathers, acorns, cherries, flowers, enough shrooms to make Cheech and Chong jealous, and...a giant shoe???" Rainbow kicked the shoe across the hut. "What am I supposed to do with this junk?" she wailed. "I'm doomed!"

"Pony!" Taven's voice suddenly echoed from outside the hut. "Show yourself, or I shall be forced to destroy every hut on this island!"

Rainbow gulped, and turned to the last box that she had yet to open. "Here goes nothing..."



Taven stood at the very edge of the fighter hut area, surrounded by screaming fans, scrambling Fox production associates, and a few groveling generic ninjas. "We beg you, Taven, do not destroy the huts!" the ninjas pleaded. "It took us four months to build all this!"

"When I end this tournament, there will be no need for these shoddy dwellings," Taven stated coldly. "Now then...this is your last chance, pony! You have until the count of three to surrender! ...One! ...Two!"

Suddenly, one of the nearby huts exploded in a ball of light and dust, sending anyone who wasn't named Taven scrambling for cover. "What kind of pitiful attack is that?" Taven sputtered in between coughs. "My great-grandmother has been dead for centuries, and even she could hit better than...that?"

A gasp went up from the crowd as they saw what now stood in the hut's place: A gigantic, pixelated Rainbow Dash, with legs the size of redwood trunks and a head that blotted out the full moon overhead.



"Aw yeah!" Rainbow said as she stared down at herself. "Now this is what I'm talking about!"

"How in the... What sort of trickery is this?" Taven demanded.

"Oh, it's just a little something I like to call star power!" Rainbow flexed a front hoof for the cameras. "Now, about that fight we were having..."

"Foolish pony!" Taven cursed. "Size does not matter in Mortal Kombat!" He reared back and fired a few fireballs at Rainbow, but they bounced harmlessly off of her.

"I beg to differ, shrimp!" Rainbow cantered over and swatted Taven with her hoof, sending the half-god fifty feet through the air and into a grove of nearby palm trees.

An angry Taven bounced back to his feet and cast his Time Stop spell, freezing the world in place once more. He charged at Rainbow, then leaped and threw a mighty punch that struck her in the eye. "Eeyow!" he screamed as he crash-landed on the ground and stared at his now-swollen-and-throbbing hand. "Impossible!" he shouted. "Is she made of titanium or something?"

Taven continued his attack, raining down a hail of punches, kicks, and fireballs on Rainbow's legs, face, and body. The attacks were so ineffective, however, that even after the time spell wore off, Rainbow simply stood around for a minute and watched Taven wear himself out. "You're such a failure," she laughed.

Finally, Taven's stamina gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground. "This...This cannot be happening!" he panted. "I cannot lose to a infernal creature like you!"

"Why not? Everypony else does." Rainbow pinched Taven between her front hooves, tossed him into the air, then jumped up and spiked him into the ground like a volleyball. "Game, set, match!" she declared.

The battle announcer emerged from the crowd and looked down at Taven, who lay motionless on the ground with mini Rainbow Dashes circling his head. "That's it!" he shouted. "The winner, and tournament champion, is Rainbow Dash!"

A loud cheer went up from the crowd, but before Rainbow had time to bask in it, it switched over to a chant: "FIN-ISH HIM! FIN-ISH HIM! FIN-ISH HIM!"

An evil grin spread across Rainbow's face. "Don't mind if I do!" she said as she scooped up Taven. "After all, my mom always said to put trash in its proper place!"



Back at Kahn's castle, Chrysalis had finished packing for her trip back to Equestria, and was now in one of the castle towers giving her final invasion orders to her changeling generals. "You two attack from the south with Alpha and Delta squadrons," she directed. "You two take Charlie company across griffon airspace and come in from the east. I'll be bringing the Lambda, Sigma, and Omega divisions down from the Crystal Empire, and we shall all meet on the steps of Canterlot Castle! That cuckoo Celestia won't know what—"

Chrysalis was rudely interrupted by the sudden violent removal of the roof above her. "What is this?" she grumbled. "If this is another one of Kahn's games, I swear I will—"

"My queen!" one of the changelings shouted. "Take cover!"

"Good grief!" Chrysalis dove out of the way as a giant Rainbow Dash appeared overhead.

"Boom Shakalaka!" Rainbow shouted as she threw down a vicious tomahawk jam and slammed Taven through the opening created by the missing tower roof. "And the crowd goes—" Rainbow stopped as she locked eyes with the changeling queen. "Hey! It's Chrysalis!"

"Uh oh..." Chrysalis stammered as Rainbow glared angrily at her. "Company, retreat!"

"Hold it right there!" Rainbow demanded as Chrysalis and her associates scrambled for the door. Rainbow raised a hoof to block their escape, but just before she could, her star power suddenly expired, and she shrunk back to her normal size. "Grrr..." Rainbow growled as Chrysalis made a run for it.

Rainbow turned and raced back down to the crowd below. "Queen Chrysalis isn't with the UN!" she shouted. "She's still in there with that loser Kahn!" She gestured to the pegasi hovering in the air around her. "If you've got wings, follow me! If you don't, head for the front gates and storm the castle!"

Rainbow flew off with her makeshift crew, leaving the rest of the crowd to process her command. "I'm confused," one person finally admitted. "Who's Queen Chrysalis again?"

"I don't really want to mess with Kahn's staff," another person said. "They were so nice when we asked for directions to the battle."

"I heard they're serving pizza in the cafeteria tonight," a third person offered.

With that, the crowd made its way down to the dining hall, completely ignoring Rainbow's request.



As Rainbow went back to the castle tower with a army of pegasi, Chrysalis quickly scurried back to Shao Kahn's office. "Kahn? I''m afraid we have a situation here!"

"You think I don't know that?" Kahn pointed angrily at the TV he was watching, which now featured a high-definition picture of Chrysalis's face courtesy of Fox's blimp. "Thanks to you, that blasted fool Shining Armor and his UN lackeys will be on our doorstep by sunrise!"

"So what do we do?"

"You mean besides stuffing you in a box and leaving you as an early Christmas gift for the authorities?" Kahn shook his head and stood up from his seat. "Luckily for you, I wasn't planning on holding the final battles here anyway. Come with me, now!"

Kahn turned and pounded on one of the bricks in his office wall, which opened a secret passage behind his desk. He and Chrysalis darted down the passage and into a large room, which contained a large stone ring inscribed with strange symbols. "You have a stargate?" Chrysalis asked.

"I installed it last year," Kahn revealed. "I got tired of conjuring a portal to Outworld every time I had a staff meeting." He quickly dialed up the gate, then pulled out a cell phone and dialed that as the gate powered up. "Fran!" he shouted into the phone. "Initiate our code red disaster procedure, then go find that fool Shing and meet us back at Outworld HQ. He knows how to get there." He gestured towards Chrysalis as a wormhole opened up inside the gate. "After you, madam."

By the time Rainbow Dash and her pegasi squadron reached the chamber, all that was left of Shao Kahn and Chrysalis was a large stone circle that nopony knew how to operate, and a short note lying on the floor:



Dear Miss Dash,

Congratulations on your tournament victory! But I'm afraid your ponies are in another castle.

If you'd like to lodge a complaint with the management, come see me at my Outworld offices...if you dare. I'm sure a smart pony like you can find your way here.

SK



"Why that no-good rotten apple!" Rainbow cursed as she kicked the stargate. "Send a message to Equestria, and see if we can get some magic to open this thing back up! Those losers aren't getting out of this without a fight!"