//------------------------------// // Pinkie Pie 4th Wall Break VarietyShow Special Prt3 // Story: Pinkie Pie's Fourth-Wall Breaking Variety Show // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Elsewhere in the battlefield, a strange portal opened, dumping a pony that looked identical to Twilight, save for a strange white staff she carried on her back, and a yellow unicorn with a similar staff. The yellow unicorn turned to the other and asked, "Where are we, Twilight?" "I'm not sure, Fate..." "Twilight" responded, scanning the battlefield. "It looks like we've arrived in some kind of alternate universe... I think I see other versions of myself and our friends battling something over there..." "...Should we help them, sis?" Fate asked. "Judging by our surroundings, they could probably use our help... Let's activate our Devices." This Twilight suddenly shouted, "RAISING HEART!" Her staff spoke in a feminine, slightly robotic tone. "STANDBY, READY!" "BARDICHE!" Fate shouted. "GET SET!" 'Bardiche' spoke in a more masculine tone. "SET UP!" the two shouted in unison. Their staffs suddenly let out a chime as they both said, "DRIVE IGNITION!" Suddenly, Twilight was lifted up into the air by swirling pink light, as chunks of strange metals formed a C-shaped central ring around Raising Heart, as well as the staff's shaft. A white wedge of a wing connected to the nape of the staff's neck, segments of the surface sinking into place. Meanwhile, a deep purple body suit formed around Twilight's skin from the neck down. The suit was followed by segments of stiff white 'cloth,' kind of resembling a dress, but more like body armor. Gleaming golden boots formed around each of Twilight's legs as a short white skirt with a pink and white star pattern formed around her hips. Fate, meanwhile, was surrounded by a sphere of golden lightning as Bardiche assembled itself, with a curved, black blade glinting as the shaft extended with a clacking sound. Fate caught the Device as as a crimson body suit with a black 'cloth' similar to that of Twilight's formed around her body. A high-necked black cloak with a golden lining unfurled about her neck, with a crescent-moon shaped brooch replacing the simple bar that held it closed. A set of bright silver boots with golden, triangular buckles formed around her legs as her completed outfit gleamed against the lightning barrier. As these transformations finished, the barriers disappeared. "CORONA FORM READY," Raising Heart announced. "BARRIER JACKET 'RADIANT FORM' COMPLETE!" "SELENE FORM, GET SET!" Bardiche intoned. "BARRIER JACKET 'STRIKE FORM' COMPLETE!" "All right, Fate, let's do this!" Twilight proclaimed as she flew off. "You got it, sis!" Fate replied as she flew in another direction. - Pinkie Pie, witnessing this from the studio, grinned. "Ooh, another crossover universe! I think this one's based off a show called 'Nanoha...' Though I'd better tell Pandora and the other Shadows that this is probably the most alternate universe characters this show can handle..." - The Blank Wolf Pup stalked across the studio floor, growling as he paced. "I... hate... crossovers!" His claws gouged furrows in the floor, gashes which had always been there since the last time the studio was remodeled, now. Dawn looked all sad and started to go comfort him, but Noon barred her way with a hoof, then silently shook her head. "Poor pup," crooned Pandora, popping over and ruffling the fur on his head. The Pup glared, but she actually seemed sincere. "Your existence was simpler when you didn't care." With a wave of her paw, an image of the former Blank Wolf appeared... twice as large as the Pup, a terrifying four-legged mass of shadows with cold eyes and no expression. "Why do you taunt me, Lady Pandora?" The Pup looked evenly at the image, bright golden eyes searching for... something. "Yes! Yes it was. It wasn't... isn't my job to care! I have a duty. I should go erase those interlopers right now!" "Things are looking bad out there. The ponies might need all the help they can get," said Pandora. "That isn't my concern." "And the heroes from the other worlds would be gone. Poof! Never existed. What happens to their home worlds then?" The Pup growled through clenched fangs. "For that reason alone I am patient, but not forever." A gasp from Dusk drew everyone's attention to a monitor screen. Ghostly ponies were steaming out of a dark rift in a hillside. "As if we didn't have enough problems. Another door between worlds has opened. Judging by what I'm sensing, it leads to the lightless world." "Whaat?" cried Pinkie. "All those scary unfun zombie ponies who never existed are escaping?" The Blank Wolf Pup bounded over to the monitors for a closer look. "Those don't belong in this world, or any world! Most mortal ponies won't even see them until their lights are being stolen." He blinked. "Applejack is in danger!" He sprang into the shadows, vanishing in an instant. Half-Light Dawn tilted her head. "But, everypony else is in danger too, right? Wait, he did just say..." Noon and Dusk fell over. - An aging red sun shined in the sky. The world began to cool. +++ "There," said Queen Procina's evil she had purified and let go of when she had reformed, "I used my magic cape and magic mirror to turn all those escaping villains into pretty glass statues. I even used my magic to undo the other petrifications that boorish rock dog did. Glass is far more beautiful than stone.Though I wish you'd let me turn YOU into a beautiful glass figure. You'd be so beautiful." "I'm a spirit, so there's nothing to turn into glass." Angel of Death Starlight said as she began the task of shipping the (now much less troublesome until they were restored in Tartarus) villains back to Tartarus where they belonged. Including a couple of weeping Alicorns who now simply turned into glass statues when they weren't looked at instead of annoying snack eaters. Starlight let them keep the dresses, Rarity was right, it did make them look nicer. "Oh well. You must admit most of them do look better as glass." "I'm not allowed to give comment. I have to bring you along now back too you know." "Yes yes, but at least I got one new one for the collection." She said patting a glass Slender Mare, the packaging tape 'To Tartarus!' strapped on. And Starlight felt the arrival of the newest crossovers. The Angel of Death knew dread. 'NO! Not MORE OF THEM! OH NO! OH NO! This is a disaster! There might not BE a way to stop Morning Star now!!!!!' +++ A monorail train suddenly tore through Ponyville, the ponies seeing a conductor inside trying to perfectly eat a stack of rice without having the flag in the center fall off. "ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!" Shouted a starfish version of Grogar with a mustache. Then a filly in a secret agent uniform began attacking random goblins. "BLUE! BLUE! BLUE! I'LL MAKE THE ENTIRE WORLD BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!BLUE!" Sang song Cloudkicker, except now she was completely blue, had a strange symbol on her, was going around on two legs, had clouds for wings, and was wearing bits of goth clothing. And she was zapping everything blue. She was even turning every song into the blues. "Somepony help!" Alula shouted. "Me and big sister hide in the library, and Kicker found a strange big word for 'BLUE' that flew into her and turned her into a monster! Somepony help her!" "BLUEBLUEBLUE!" +++ "Hey, Twilight?" Fate asked her Twilight, who was taking on some ponies that appeared to be made out of clay. "Hmm?" "Why do we never go into our stronger forms unless we're getting our flanks kicked? We could take out our opponents a lot faster if we just fully powered up immediately." 'Twilight' blasted another clay pony in a rather... uncomfortable area (which somehow still really hurt it despite being made out of clay). "Apparently, there's some kind of rule that we're not supposed to escalate a fight unless we absolutely HAVE to." She paused as she backhooved the last clay pony. "I don't get it either." +++ Pinkie Pie said, "It seems Shining Armor's army of imaginary heroes and Lilly's ghost-buster machine took care of most of the remaining baddies . . . except for the witches, and that name on the end I couldn't read. Oh well. Starts with Ti-, right, be sure to look for a Tim The Enchanter." Then she dropped the list, every part of her body twitching at once. "Oh no! I was wrong!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in horror! "ABOUT A LOT!" +++ "Yeeessss, yesss! More! More!" Morning Star cheered. "BRING MORE! FREEE MEEEE!" "Wait . . . so all these heroes from outside the rope of reality coming in to help are actually MAKING YOU return?" Somnambula asked as his spirit continued to fill her illusion, and the crystal shard that would let her claim his power for herself, and witches would again rule the land like they once did. "My spirit can not escape Tartarus by itself, even with the witch using her illusions turned real to provide with a vessel. But I have ways. "Celly thought that Havoc freed me during the Alicorn Draconequus war to fight on the side of the Draconequus . . . but she was ignorant of the true cause. Celly always was naive. . . . The answer is that my parents were always too soft hearted to do their jobs. When I was sealed away in Tartarus, a fail safe was installed that if reality became in danger of collapsing or otherwise being rendered -completely- uninhabitable by sapient life, my jeweled prison cell would weaken, and the more reality would become imperfect, the more my prison in Tartarus would. My family concluded that if reality was about to implode, that it would be in my best interests to repair reality rather have it cease to exist. . . . Which is a valid point, how can I have a perfect universe if there is no universe?" "That . . . actually makes sense." "Thanks to these events being on the border line between actual and quantum, the more actions these crossovers take, the more of a splash they make, the closer I am to being free!" 'And the closer witches come to ruling the universe.' Somnambula thought. +++ Being two parts of the same soul, the two Crunch the rock dogs glowed, and grew back into one being. The good being stronger than the evil, the dog growled at Draggle, the witch abandoned her post, and ran away as the good Crunch chased after her, just as well, if she had stood her ground she'd have just been turned to stone anyway. Draggle also accidentally stepped on Katrina who had been inching closer to the cauldron hoping to consuming the vile brew to restore herself. Crunch as an after thought also created a few living stone monsters and ordered them to use themselves as a wall between the ponies and the Hydia empowered Smooze. After all, rock ALREADY didn't feel about anything, they were immune to the depressing power of the Smooze. +++ "I can't believe we had to go back for Silver Spoon's glasses." Cruelty in Flutter-dragon said. "Well the Flories did knock them when trying to eat me." "Girl you need to carry a second set with you." AJ said. "Sorry." +++ "OUR QUEEN WE SHALL HELP YOU!" Shouted five changeling who happened to be white with green eyes and light violet crests like their queen. "Wait! WHAT?!" Somnambula said as the changelings began to attack her, but she created an illusion of some bug spray that was now real to pester them off. In the meantime however, they had carried away their Queen and her friends from the witch. "My queen we are here for you!" The TFed changeling queen Sweetie Belle shook her head and looked, "My subjects! You hatched!" "DAMMIT! NOT ANOTHER STUPID ILLUSION!" Screeched the TFed griffin Scootaloo. "I'll burn her to ashes and EAT HER!" The fire breathing TFed timber wolf Applebloom. Twilight looked in shock at the changelings. Her 'big sister' Shining Armor smacked away a bit of Smooze with the 'Hammer of Light' given by Pandora. A thought crossed Twilight's mind. "Maybe the Flutterponies aren't quite so extinct after all." +++ Given that Rari-dragon on the inside was still the Little Filly Rarigreed, her power as a dragon began to greatly overwhelm Reeka's. "Hey!" Flutterdragon shouted as she landed. "Are you one who turned me into a dragon? You scale pattern looks familiar." "HUH?! Oh yeah! That was me!" "Well thanks!" She breathed fire on her. "OWOWOWOWO!" +++ ".enougH" A little wolf pup, not stopped by ANY barrier more than once, walked inside the shop, and then walked out. Lilly wondered when Coffee Swirl had learned that type of magic. Did it have to do with spirits? Most ponies didn't believe in spirits. But at least she now had a whole bunch of evil spirits, monsters, and bad guys all sucked up into . . .what was this called again? Oh right, Ghost-Be-Caught-9000, apparently they belonged to some ponies in Manehatten and Coffee Swirl had ordered one for protection. She'd found a second one inside the store. She now had sucked all the evil escapees from Tartarus into nice small, little containers for Cerberus to carry back to Tartarus (after the ponies finished untying him after a lot of ponies mistook the gate keeper of Tartarus for another monster, and profusely apologized). Cerberus was happy for the help as he began carting the trapped baddies back to their prisons. "Shining . . .shine on . . . shine your light with all your might." Lily sang to herself, wishing she could remember where she had heard the song before. ++++ Zecora limped out from behind a tree, a broken leg and a large bump on her head from where the witches had knocked her out. She was going to have to have that looked at. "Everything had gone quite confusing, but I know that is my cauldron you are using." The zebra witch doctor limped up to her stolen pot, seeing the witch's brew mixed within it. "With everything going around the bend, I'd say it's time for this nonsense to end." She looked at the ingredients assembled and began to work, summoning up something to undo all this chaos. Meanwhile Cadence held her adopted foal Half-Light Midnight up high, the baby pony's horn glowing. "Alright dear! You're on!" She said remembering what the pink pony with black wings had said. The baby unicorn giggled as she drew upon her power to help Candy. +++ Then, a massive vortex opened up in the sky, and pulled all of the crossover elements into it, and back to their own reality clusters. And with each conflicting crossover piece that was drawn into it, Morning Star's prison did strengthen. Pandora, realizing sadly that it was for the better good, recalled the characters from Shining Armor's O&O campaign and the characters from Legend of Cadence, since their coming through the golden door was likely weakening reality more than it would have . . .and looks of kids were now complaining where the characters in their favorite video games had gone. She could stick to running the cameras in the studio catching everything. There was no point to a point if it was so cluttered with crossovers that nopony could make heads or tails of it. This story was esoteric enough she decided. "And given just how many heroes Equestria already has, and how many ponies there are who can becomes heroes already with just a chance. . . .bringing in crossovers might not have been my best idea." "So we best withdraw as well." Said the GOOD Queen Crysalis along with the formerly evil reflections Sweetie Belle and the GOOD version of Kabuto. The few surviving villains and monsters of Tartarus thought they had been spared . . . then realized there were still plenty of ponies around from THIS universe determined to defend their home and DIDN'T NEED a who bunch of ponies from another universe to do it all for them. ++++ "I was SO close!" Morning Star snarled as he began to fade back to Tartarus, "I was sooooo CLOOOOOOOOOOSE!" 'And we were so close to feeding on his magic for ourselves!' Hydia hissed to herself! +++ Coffee Swirl wasn't in any fancy super-hero armor. He was himself, hold an antique sword. 'Alright Patch,' thought Starlight, the angel of death, 'You're on!' "Hi." said a voice in Coffee Swirl's head, "My name is Patch, and I've been your snarky voice inside your head this entire evening. Channeled through the sword of the brave knight Squire. WhooOOOOooo, I'm a ghost! Boo!" "Tis I as well! Squire the Noble Knight! My blade is again needed, and I shall aid all who wield it in the fight for justice!" Said a young stallion's voice with a pre-banishment accent. "And, I'm Logan, I didn't make it much into the history books. BUt I'm a friend of Starlight's." Coffee Swirl looked confused, "But how did I get this sword?" Rainbow Dash currently a griffin said, "I drop that sword at your hooves when that creepy pegasus with that stupid wing extensions, began talking to yourself when you picked it up, then you used it to slice that ghost in two and send 'er back to Tartarus!" "You . . . you gave this sword?" Coffee swirl asked. "Sure," the currently griffin Rainbow Dash said, "That's the whole reason I went to Canterlot. Apparently Twilight said we'd need this sword to help even the odds for some reason and it was in the Canterlot Museum of Ancient History on a rack with a bunch of other swords. I didn't get it, but she said she didn't have time to explain. I didn't get it, so here I am! Twilight said you knew 'spirit rituals' and the sword might be more than a sword for you. AND that sword can cut through DRAGON SCALES! Isn't that cool?" Rainbow Dash was blasted from the side, and landed, mumbling about every mess up she had ever done, and thinking of if the Wonderbolt would ever accept such an IMPERFECT creature like her into their ranks, and all those tests she flunked in grade school. No! She had to muddle through! And be loyal to her friends! "I may be only an Shadow of an Avatar of an Aspect of myself, but that's still enough for me to regain my power and resume correcting the MISTAKES of my family." It was Morning Star . . . or rather, a lesser version of him, it reminded everypony who saw like the form Luna had had when she had been purified by the Elements, almost colt-like, smaller, weaker. "Don't bet on it." Coffee Swirl said, holding Squire's Sword. "I'm not even going to ask you to surrender, hurry up so I can beat you up!" "You're kidding, you're kidding right? One little pegasus with a haunted sword against Perfection itself?" Coffee Swirl took out a thermos and downed the most concentrated, most intense brew of coffee he had ever made. Then he raised the sword at the fallen Alicorn. "Come on!" "Oh please! You're a faceless, nameless, meaningless, plotless-, insignificant little-" Morning Star looked down to realize Squire's Sword was now stuck in his side. "Go back to hell." Coffee Swirl said. Morning Star gasped and leapt back, bleeding, not regenerating. "How . . . HOW DARE YOU!" "Shut up and fight." - (Flow) Hero DBZ Battle Of Gods - Pegasus and Alicorn fragment flew into the sky in battle, armed with only a sword channeling the souls of ponies without powers or even remembered by history, but had changed the world all the same. The souls protected Coffee Swirl from Morning Star's telekinesis, like the blade deflected his shots. Pandora laughed and clapped. "The alicorn whose greatest sin was pride being fought by the pegasus whose is the most UN-extraordinary pony in Ponyville! Ha ha! This humble pegasus is gonna give the smack down to that hubris filled Alicorn! THAT you gotta admit, is a fun story! You think Coffee Swirl would have realized that! Ha!" Sadly, the ponies didn't have time to enjoy the epic battle above them, they were busy dealing with a indestructable Hydia empowered Smooze IN FRONT OF them. - Hydia snarled as her daughter once more failed her. "Draggle you idiot! Couldn't you at least be an idiot in a way that causes mass destruction?!" The Hydia empowered Smooze proved it still had physical strength by forcing back the rock monsters that Crunch had created, though they did provide a bit of a distraction. But not as much as they would have for someone with only one pair of eyes, Dash narrowly avoiding finding out the hard way when a tendril of Smooze emerged from the beast's back. Hydia channeled her magic through the monster and fired several spells from the Smooze's eyes at the heroes forcing them to dodge. Applejack looked to Crunch as he cornered Draggle. "Hey big fella! I need tah talk to the witch a minute...can yah just stick tight and make sure she don't run?" The big rock dog nodded...then blinked. "...Applejack?" "Uh...yeah, but Ah think the one yah knew was my multiple times great grandma," Applejack stated, the farmer approaching Draggle. "Look, Ah just want tah talk. Not beat yah up or send yah back tah Tartarus, okay?" the Farmer asked calmly. - Shining twirled her Light Hammer, glaring up at the Smooze-Hydia. "Alright. We've dealt with dragons, monsters, and all kinds of freaks. Now all that's left is these witches." She still managed to make that sound badass in spite of currently being a mare. "And the fragment of Morning Star," Twilight added, horn and eyes glowing white. Shining gave her sister a glare, but any snarky comment she may have had planned was cut off when Hydia moved to attack, slamming a "fist" of Smooze towards the ground as she tried to both crush AND dissolve the siblings with the evil ooze. Twilight teleported out of the way with ease, as Shining bolted to the side...but the impact of the Smooze-fist shook the ground so badly they almost fell on their faces. "YOU LITTLE PONIES DON'T HAVE A CHANCE, EVEN WITH MORNING STAR'S SUMMONS STOPPED!" Hydia thundered, lashing out with tendrils of Smooze that flailed like living whips. Ponies dodged them, leaped over them, blasted them with magic...but they only saved themselves by inches. And more tendrils grew from the stubs of destroyed ones. "NOTHING CAN STOP THE SMOOZE!" Twilight wanted to comment on how boasts of invincibility usually preceded a downfall, but she was too busy dodging for her life. We can't just keep avoiding her...we need some way to go on the offensive! Maybe that cauldron could be useful…? Vaporizing a slew of tendrils with a burst of magic, her mind--the few parts of it NOT focused on the battle, anyway--went into overdrive as she tried to piece together a plan. ==== "OW! Owieee! Fire! Fire! Fire! Too hot!!!!" Reeka flailed, a shrieking dragon-shaped torch running in a circle like a headless chicken. Flutter-dragon and Rari-dragon paused their battle for a moment to watch their stricken foe. "Should we...help her?" Rari-dragon asked. Fluttercruel shook her head. "Nah, she has this coming--aw; c'mon Mom! She's from Tartarus! She deserves this for all she's done to ponies just TODAY, never mind what she did while she was alive! Besides, she's turned into a dragon, she can handle a little fire--I know ponies are supposed to be merciful, but even if I do help her, we'll just end up sending her back to Tartarus anyway..." "HEELLLLLLLLLP! Pleeeease!! It burns! Ouch!!! Put it out, please!!! I'll do anything! I don't wanna fight anymoooorrrrrre!" Reeka wailed, rolling around as she tried to put out the persistent flames. Rari-dragon cringed in unironic sympathy; even with her perception scrambled by greed, she was still a pony. "You see, 'cruel?" Flutter-dragon cooed in Fluttershy's voice. We can't just let her suffer...no, I'm not being 'too forgiving'. I don't think there IS such a thing." With a few quick wing-beats, she extinguished the flames on Reeka. The transformed witch collapsed to the ground, panting. "Thanks....still a dumb pony; uh, dragon though...ow!" Flutter-dragon just smiled. "You've had enough. Now, how about you get rid of that spell and go back to normal?" Fluttercruel's voice dropped in, "But if you try any cheap-shots--one spell when we're not looking, I'll--oh, c'mon, Mom! I'm not threatening her, just giving her a warning--" "PSYCHE!" Reeka cackled, headbutting Flutter-dragon hard enough to send her flying. As the butter-yellow drake crashed back down to earth, Rari-dragon resumed the fight. Pony forgiveness or not, faking giving up was just low. With a roar, the white dragoness charged back into the fray. Meanwhile, Flutter-dragon picked herself off the ground, rubbing her aching head. "Okay, that's it. When she changes back to normal, I am SO sitting on that witch. ...Thanks for letting me this once, Mom." ==== Katrina's evil tiptoed away from Applejack and the scared stiff Draggle as Crunch gave a smug ruff. That's for stepping on me, you bix lummox, Katrina mentally spat. For a wonder, she hadn't been pancaked and sent back to Tartarus. She'd somehow gotten tangled up in the witch's sandal and had to hold onto the straps for dear life as Crunch pursued her. Having enough, Katrina produced a bobby pin and pricked Draggle on the foot. Katrina had been sent flying, but for once the universe was kind to the catwoman sorceress: she landed safely in soft grass, NOT in a spider's web, patch of thorns or Venus Flytrap as she half-expected to happen. She looked back at the witch behind her and smirked, careful to not catch Crunch's attention and masking her scent for good measure. "She's a fellow witch, but blast it, that was satisfying. Never liked those three; sadist mother and idiot daughters. So close to getting back to normal, too..." With a matyred sigh, Katrina made her way back to town. Might as well try once more to restore herself, right? There was NO way she was going back to Tartarus at this size! No. Bloody. Way. ...Assuming she didn't run into the monstrous CMC again, that is. "But after today...I'd almost say being those brats' lunch was a mercy," she grumbled. "The things I do for some witchweed..." - "GIRLS! You're a sight for sore eyes!" Silver Spoon hugged them . . . best as she could seeing as much BIGGER they were than her, if anything, they had been GROWING LARGER since coming in contact with the poison joke with the ambient magic of Tartarus flowing around. "Silver Spoon! You recognize us?" Sweetie Belle asked. "You're my friends, of course I do. I actually got Applejack to snap you out of that witch's illusions but . . . it looks like Sweetie Belle's . . . minions beat us to it." Sweetie Belle looked at the five changelings with her coloring that before been goblins, politely waiting for her to give them royal commands. "Would you like us to capture ponies and convert them into changelings our queen?" "Sorry, Rarity said no." "Would you like us to capture and convert her then?" "She said no dessert for six month if I did stuff like that." "Oh. We are sorry our queen." They politely bowed. "Can you get them to do your homework?" Scootaloo asked. "Probably." Sweetie Belle said. "So, uh, what's the set-up?" Applebloom asked. "Well," Silver Spoon said, "Rarity and Fluttershy are dragons right now, fighting a witch whose also a dragon right now. Spike got zapped by Twilight and got accidentally turned back into a baby dragon, and I think got knocked out by the witches. I almost got eaten by giant plant monsters but Applejack saved me, then me, Big Mac and Fluttershy saved Applejack. And we had to go back for my glasses. That guy from the coffee shop I think is using an ancient magic sword to fight a big brother of Celestia's whose like super evil. Shining Armor's a girl now and has a magic white hammer. Discord has a sister whose helping us fight the bad guys. There where a whole bunch of heroes from everywhere, but it got so confusing the universe was gonna explode, so Princess Cadence had a baby Unicorn open a big gateway to send them home. Oh, and those witches, HURT ZECORA, as I think you'd want to know Applebloom, and she used her caldron, that they stole form her, and used it to send all the confusing ones home, and is now next the caldron that's hers anyway. The big rock dog monster is on our side now and cornered another witch AJ is walking with. Lilly is busting ghosts I think. There's a big rip in the same time continuum that now letting out shadows who never were or something, I have no idea why I just said that. That witch who trapped you still has Celestia and is feeding on her and that's why the sun's red I think. Oh, and the little ugly head witch entered the Smooze and is it's now Super Smooze or something." Studio "Pandora! Stop using Silver Spoon as an exposition character!" Pinkie Pie said. Pandora chuckled and inched away from the Dungeon master Screen, "Heheh, sorry." Edge of Everfree Sweetie pointed at one of her minions, "You got get Spike and bring 'em back here." She pointed at another one. "You got help Zecora." And she looked at the rest. "You three go help my big sister fight that witch dragon or whatever!" "Yes my queen!" They instantly buzzed offed to do as their queen commanded them. "Oh and Rainbow Dash is a griffin right now for some reason." Silver Spoon finished. "A griffin . . . THAT'S SO COOL!" The currently griffened Scootaloo declared. - While everypony else was working on plans or strategies or potential ideas to turn the fight in their favor, Coffee Swirl was just trying to stay alive. Yes, the sword possessed by three different spirits protected him from Morning Star simply holding him still and snapping him like a twig. Yes, he could deflect blasts and dodge much faster thanks to chugging that dangerously strong coffee earlier. And yes, Morning Star was at a fraction of his true power right now. The problem was, even a fraction of a god's power was still enough to outclass both Sparkle siblings put together. He swung the blade, slicing a destructive blast in half before it could disintegrate him, then clashed with a blade of solid energy the fallen alicorn had summoned. "You can not hope to best Perfection, mortal!" "That's nice, now shut up." It took all his strength, but Swirl managed to shove Morning Star away. Unlike Shining Armor, he wasn't one for banter. Especially when he wasn't winning. Both of them knew Swirl was out matched, and Morning Star's smug grin was getting on his nerves, but there wasn't much he could- '-might be more than a sword for you.' Gryphon Dash's words floated about in his mind, causing him to glance at Squire's weapon. Conjuring a protection circle was one thing, but using a spell on the fly (literally in this case) was usually reserved for unicorns. But that hadn't stopped Applejack in that one world... why should it stop him? Swirl gulped, preparing himself. "If this doesn't work, I'm dead anyway. Hope you're not too rusty, Squire." 'My skills remain polished, good sir, by why do you ask?' "Because I'm about to piss Mortis off so much right now." He flew back to give himself some room to work, and concentrated on the blade. "And see just how much I learned from those books." Morning Star, sick of drawing the fight out until the insignificant background pony gave up, flew forward to lop off his head. However, his magical blade was met with the ghostly image of the very sword Swirl held, wielded by an equally ghostly earth pony. "Ye shan't end this fight so easily!" Squire shouted, pushing Morning Star back, then floating his spirit form beside Coffee Swirl. "I will gladly fight by your side, Sir Swirl." The pegasus panted from what the spell had taken out of him, but managed a smile at the ghost. "Thanks, but I can only keep one of you out for a few minutes at a time, so let's not waste it." "Agreed." - "Ugh...sis, why do I have to clean up the Shadows?" Anarchy asked, grabbing two Shadows and sending them back to Oblivion. "Because I'm busy with helping put the escapees from Tartarus back!" Pandora called. "Now I have the feeling I'm forgetting something...uh oh...I need to go talk to Mother Deer real quick." Shining put up a shield around the group to deflect a smash from Hydia-Smooze...then noticed a Shadow flying through the ground and nearly grab her. He gasped. "Wait..." The Shadow before him was in the shape of a vaguely-deer like THING. While it no longer had it's unearthly white glow, there was no mistaking it. "I thought I sent you to oblivion!" "YOU DID," the Shadow stated, pouncing on him several times. It's voice sounded more like a machine reciting something than anger or any living thing. "Shining!" "Stay back, Twilight!" Shining yelled. "Focus on Hydia!" As the Shadow leapt at Shining again, but was shot back by a red energy beam. "Huh?" Pandora appeared and tossed Shining a familiar hoofcanon with a lion motif. The currently female unicorn gasped. "This is...but..." "It is but it isn't," Pandora explained. "It is because it was the same weapon, but isn't because Dima's an Equestrian Guard in the proper timeline, so he never got it and Mother Deer still had it after I gave it to her as a gift. Enjoy! And also, this is just Nameless' echo, so it doesn't have any of his powers. Also, disclaimer, any Shadows destroyed in this are not destroyed in the main timeline, so Shadows Who Make, go nuts." Pandora gave the shadow of existence a sad look before teleporting away. Shining ducked another swipe from his 'arch enemy's' echo, slashing off a limb as he turned the gun into its sword mode. "YOU STOLE MY PERFECTION!" the Shadow yelled, leaping at Shining who trust the sword through it's chest, impaling it. Shadow matter bled from it's mouth. "I couldn't steal what was never yours in the first place! You sick bucker!" yelled Shining, spinning around and pulling out the sword, decapitating the shadow. Shadowy tendrils emerged from the hole, but Shining switched the weapon to gun mode and stuck it in the hole, frying the shadow's insides before switching back to sword mode and bisecting it down the middle. The shadow faded away to nothingness and Shining returned to the fray just in time to severe a Smooze tendril before it could hit Twilight. "What just happened?!" "Just my normal weird life." He switched to gun mode and shot several lasers at the monster...but missed every shot. In fact one of the shots missed so badly it hit Morning Star in the side despite him being ABOVE them. Hydia and the Smooze blinked. "...How did you even miss THAT badly?!" "...It's a curse..." - "Hold it, pony!" Draggle raised one hand, and something glittered like a venomous green flame in it. "One more step and I'll show you that one spell Mom, I mean Hydia, never thought I learned!" "No," Applejack said. "Ya won't." She began walking closer, slowly, making her peaceful intentions clear. "I said hold it!" Draggle shook her fist threateningly. "I'll do it, I mean it!" Some of the green fire in her hand spilled and struck her bare foot. It sizzled and hissed like a piece of fat flung into a red-hot griddle. She howled and jumped. "Ow ow ow!" Applejack hurried forward, concern in her eyes. Draggle yelped, "I said stay away!" Draggle wished her voice didn't tremble so. There was something about this pony, about her eyes, like she knew everything about her. Applejack stopped. Draggle tried not to sigh in relief. "Why are y'all doing this when ya don't want tah?" "Huh?" Draggle looked at the silly beast, but made sure to avoid locking gazes with her. She wondered if she ought to back away, she'd seen how fast this one could move. "What do you mean, why? Hydia told me to, she said it was a way out of Tartarus, I mean!" She gulped. "Because that devil horse told us this was a way out if we helped him get his sister," pony and witch looked skyward to see a swollen crimson sun, flickers of darkness shooting across its surface, "and because my sis and mom, I mean Hydia, and I, are witches! We do evil things, it's what witches do!" "Okay," Applejack said. She started to move closer. Draggle raised the hand holding the green flame threateningly, and AJ held her ground. "So yer a witch. Why do ya gotta do evil tah ponies an' other folks that never did ya any harm? Ah know a zebra, Zecora, some ponies still call her the Witch o' the Everfree. She helps ponies that ask her polite-like, she even comes ta have dinner with mah family every now an' then." Draggle lowered her hand, slightly. Applejack pressed on with, "Ah see it in your eyes. Ya don't like doin' this. Ya hate livin' like this. Don't ya want ta live some better way, so ya don't have ta spend all your time hidin' and sneakin' and being hated by everypony?" Draggle hesitated. In her mind's eye she saw it all. The years of botched evildoing in Mount Gloom, the Smooze, the deal with Bumble and one more failure, and finally the destruction of Mount Gloom when her angry mother tried casting that one conjuration that summoned the angry mismatched monster that called itself Destruction... Everything seemed kind of hazy after that until they found themselves in Tartarus for what seemed like ages. The devil horse. Promise of freedom and new life in exchange for aiding HIS escape. Hydia and Somnambula planning to control Morning Star and make him THEIR slave. Being set free with all the other inmates (where had Tirek gotten off to, anyhow? Oh well). And then having to mug an angry zebra for her cauldron, getting swatted around by mom -- again -- and pounded on by angry ponies. Which reminded her.... "Why should I believe you?" Draggle muttered. "Ponies once promised to help me get away from Hydia and Reeka, and then they tricked me. Why should I believe you, this time?" "Because Ah'm honesty," Applejack simply said. "An' Ah don't lie 'bout things like this." She stood her ground and said, "An' if that ain't enough for ya, Draggle, than y'all might as well blast me here an' now." Draggle stared at her in shock. Then her hand lashed out and the green fire flew right at Applejack. The palomino neither flinched nor even closed her eyes. She stood right there, only wincing a little as the green flame cut her cheek. Draggle dropped to her knees. She's failed at everything, again. She didn't care if this pony kicked her head off, or the world froze, or Smooze-Hydia stepped on her. She just didn't want to feel -- like this, any more. "Ya don't have tah." Applejack leaned forward and nuzzled her cheek, gently. Draggle held on to her neck and got back up as Applejack said, "Listen tah me. Ya help us out, an' stop doin' bad things for yore sis and mom, an I swear ta yah as an Element Bearer and an Apple, Ah''ll do everything I can tah help ya." "P-promise?" Draggle asked weakly. "Promise." - "Well, here goes nothing," said Applejack. "Eeeyup," said Big Mac, with grim determination. Applejack crept behind what little cover she could find, right up to the edge of the magical duel before she jumped out of hiding. "Hey, ugly!" Hydia turned her head sharply, but when their eyes met, it was Applejack who recoiled, freezing up. "Who are you calling ugly, farm girl?" The witch grinned cruelly. "Maybe you'd rather be a cow! ... What the!?" Applejack shuddered and backed away, wondering why she hadn't been blasted. "She's evil an' she knows it... Not an ounce of shame! How can people live like that?" A sudden chill got her attention finally... faint shadows were swirling around the battlefield, including three of them bearing down on Big Mac! "Get out of there! Run!" Her brother looked around in confusion. "From what?" "Just trust me and run!" She galloped right into their path, scuffing her hooves on the ground. "She sees us. She knows us," said one of the pony shapes, in a hollow sounding voice. "What... what in tarnation are you?" breathed Applejack, drawing away before they could touch her. "We're nopony." "We don't remember who we are, but you do." "She has the Truth. She can tell us!" "Tell us! Give it to us, or we'll take it!" "Ah don't understand... Ah want to help, but Ah don't know what you want!" She tried staring them down, but the Truth failed her again... there wasn't any true or not true before her, just Nothing. And then the Blank Wolf Pup appeared from nowhere with fury in his eyes, and she'd never been so glad to see him. "Go back!" he snarled, obliterating all three of the shades with one sweeping slash of his paw. He turned to her, hesitant, guarded all of a sudden. "You are well? Untouched? ... Good." Applejack panted, wondering how many new grey hairs she'd gotten today already. "Was there any way Ah could have helped them?" The Wolf shook his head. "Not those. They no longer exist. They would have taken every memory you have to remember being alive for a few moments, but they can't hold on to anything." He growled faintly. "More are coming." He spun, ready to strike. "Wait!" shouted Applejack. These shades, she *knew*... Rarity? Cherilee?! Her brother!?? She had to look frantically over her shoulder and see Big Mac... the real Big Mac, standing over there across the field alive and whole, before she stopped panicking. "What's going on? What are you ghosts trying to pull!?" " . . . " The ghostly Cheerilee looked down sadly, "I'm not from your Cheerilee . . . I'm from the Cheerilee of the heart world . . . do you remember when Applebloom and the others used love poison on myself and Big Mac?" - "Yah, I remember," Applejack said. Her eyes went wide. "Wait, do y'all mean that -- you an' Big Mac were so changed ya were other ponies when that happened? An', an' when mah little sis and her friends broke the spell ya went ta..." She shuddered. Cheerilee nodded sadly. "Ee-yup," Big Mac said just as sadly. They nuzzled each other. Beyond them, a strange ghostly version of Fluttershy that looked half bat tried to eat an apple. Her jaws went through it with no effect. She hissed and looked at it sadly. "Okay, but Rarity, how did y'all get here?" The ghostly Rarity looked away. Applejack went to touch her. Ghost-Rarity frantically motioned her away. "Dont! I, I think it would hurt you somehow if we touched." She looked Applejack in the eyes, her gaze filled with infinite sadness, as she said, "I used a magic artifact in the Heart World. It let me do whatever I wanted, create whatever I wanted, but it got out of hoof... Spike broke the spell, and I ended up in the Land of Shades, beyond the last dusty door in the forgotten basement of Creation." She looked away, at her draconic self of this world where she fought Toad-Dragon Reeka; the witch currently fleeing again as she realized that be she pony or dragon, Rarity remembered everything about her martial arts training. She sailed out of sight with a shriek as, with a wild roar for a kiai, Draco-Rarity flew what looked like half a mile to deliver a flying drop kick to her back. "What," Applejack swallowed, "What can I do ta help ya?" "Nothing," Ghost-Rarity said sadly. "What we are now, we will be forever and for whatever reaches beyond even that. But please, Applejack, let us help you..." A scream broke out overhead. Three ghosts and one live pony looked skywards to see three odd flying creatures, like birds with dog heads, carrying a skinny, scrawny human woman with a large bow tied in wild red hair away overhead. They flew in the direction of Hydia and Somnambula. She kicked wildly and yelled for: "APPLEJACK! HEEEELLLP!" "Oh dear!" Ghost-Cheerilee said. "That's poor Draggle! We talked a few times when we got a vacation to Tartarus, nice girl once you got her away from her mother and sister..." "Yeah, an' Ah promised ta help her!" Applejack galloped after the flying Raptorians, calling as she did, "Hold on, Draggle! Ah'm a' comin'!" - Applejack produced a lasso and used it to grab one of the monkey headed things that had grabbed Draggle by the neck, pulling it sharply. The end result was the monkey getting launched into a tree and Applejack doing a diving save to catch Draggle. Crunch, who had been chasing after the creatures, leapt into the air and grabbed the other two, turning them to stone. Applejack swore she heard them say 'not again'. Draggle looked at Applejack in disbelief. "You...you actually helped me?" "Yeah, Ah promised tah, didn't Ah?" "Yeah...it's just..." "Ah know..." said AJ, a part of her feeling like it knew why Draggle felt this way other than just being told. "Draggle...Ah have one question...why WERE yah in Tartarus anyway?" Draggle looked down sadly. "...I thought going there would finally make Hydia proud of me...After all, how much more evil can you get?" "...Did it?" Draggle shook her head. "No...it didn't...She said me and Reeka were just riding her coattails...It was weird...Havoc never did anything to me and Reeka but made Hydia stay in what was pretty much 'Heaven'...at least for a good person. For someone like her, it was Tartarus...but he didn't do anything to me and Reeka but make us stay around Hydia..." Applejack sighed. "...Sounds like yer ma was literally your Tarartus...So even literally goin' tah Hell and back weren't enough fer her?" "...No..." "...Look, Ah don't believe in 'bad is good and good is bad' like Hydia, but a ma who's that down right rotten tah her kids don't deserve tah be called a ma..." Draggle hated to admit it, but she gave a sigh. "...You're right...Reeka's never been a good sister either..." "...Fluttercruel, that's Fluttershy's daughter...by Discord (not consensual) feels about the same about her pa...Blood don't mean everythin' and when an APPLE tells you that, yah know yer family is bucked up...uh...no offense..." "None taken...She doesn't have Flume..." "Pardon?" Draggle looked over to her mother's fight with the heroes, which was still definitely in her favor. "She couldn't find any Flume while we were preparing for this." "What does that mean?" "If the Smooze doesn't have ALL it's ingredients ESPECIALLY the Flume, it's not COMPLETELY unstoppable...last time me and Reeka were too scared of the Flume to gather any and the Rainbow of Light made it...stop until it got Flume. I...think those Element thingies don't need the Rainbow to go back into it, so you'll be better off than Megan was." "Ah gotcha...so that should mean the Elements will stop her in her tracks but...she ain't gonna hold still while we blast her if she knows that..." Draggle sighed. "I'd help but...I'm a failure...I always have been..." "A failure at dark magic you may be, but perhaps light magics will better suit thee?" Draggle jumped, looking up at Zecora who'd appeared out of nowhere and panicking, backing up. "I'm sorry! I didn't want to mug you! Honest! I'm sorry!" "I admit, I am not happy, but for an apology meant true I can be sappy." Zecora reached behind her back and produced a spell book, handing it to the female witch. "This book is quite old, but contains a bit of light magic so I'm told. To a unicorn it is nothing but a silly mares tale, but to a witch true it's magic may not fail. A unique spark of magic is what it needs, the kind that lay in the blood you bleed." Draggle opened the spell book slowly and looked through it. "...Applejack...can you buy me a little time?" "Sure...need tah get Rarity back and Fluttershy back tah use the Elements...Draggle, are you sure yah want tah do this?" Draggle nodded slowly. "Never been sure of much...but I am of this...I want to be me...not Hydia and not Reeka." "Alright...Zecora...where did yah get..." "I travel to many places both near and far, I have a collection of many things that are quite bizarre. This one I discovered in a strange little mushroom forest not too far away, where relatives of Angel bunny still do stay." Applejack nodded slowly. "Alright...well, Ah need tah get goin'...good luck Draggle..." "Thanks...Good luck Applejack..." "Miss Zecora, I am here to serve you by our Queen Sweetie Belle's command." A white changeling landed and bowed. Meanwhile Spike was brought back another of Sweetie's five minions to the CMC plus Silver Spoon, still knocked out by Draggle. Meanwhile, three white changelings flew to Rari-Dragon and Spoke, "Duchess Rarity, your sister sends us to serve you in battle." And Timber wolf Applebloom bark, "Sweetie, Chrysalis taught ya dark magic right? You got anythin' to help?" - The Blank Wolf Pup darted across the battlefield, picking off fleeing shades before they got too far from the rift. Erased ponies, stray memories, defeated marey sues... all had to be accounted for. A ghostly purple unicorn stepped brazenly into his path, horn glowing. "We meet again!" The Pup braced himself, but the fireball spell that once would have blown a house into flaming timber... merely ruffled his fur a bit. "Twilight Ember," he recalled, mildly annoyed. "Darn it!" cried the dimension-hopping psychopath. "I was so close!" "No, really, you weren't." "All the knowledge of every world could have been mine!" she shouted, going on with her rant anyway. The Pup sighed. "Well, they say, 'No harm no foul.'" Twilight Ember looked suddenly hopeful. "That doesn't apply to you. I'm sorry, it was a poor attempt at humor." He sent the shade screaming back to the lightless world before she could tire his ears further. She didn't have far to go, the Pup realized. He'd reached the rift itself. As he approached, another draconequus appeared in a flash of fire. "Hey, Blank Wolf! ... You look different." He blinked. "Lord Anarchy? You are here as well?" The Spirit of Freedom grinned sharply. "Is that a personality I see in there? Got a little free will going? I like it! Yeah, it's a huge pain, but dad wants that thing closed ASAP, so stop mooning over your special somepony and help me out here." "What? You... you misunderstand, Lord Anarchy. She is not..." Anarchy laughed. "What, you think *I* mind? Go for it! Be all that you can be." In a flash, he was saluting the Pup, wearing a bizarre mishmash of an army uniform and a tie-dyed hippie outfit, complete with a giant peace-sign necklace. "Say, if you need a little pony to wolf enchantment on the side..." The wolf face-pawed. "No. Thank you." "Hey, I'm just teasing. Okay, you keep the shades off my back while I seal this thing. Well, come on! Ni no PONI isn't going to play itself." - In the shadows of some trees ear the battle between Smooze-Hydia, Somnambula, and the heroes, a twisted and insectlike form hissed in fury. "Oh, come on!" Ex-Queen Chrysalis hissed as she looked at her reflection in piece of broken glass. She saw slit pupil eyes, a dark carapace now studded with spikes making her look even uglier, and that motheaten mane and tail. "I turned into my TRUE form before I died! How can I look like this again?" Green fire consumed her and she smiled -- before she shrieked to see herself now looking like a mangy, gaunt, broken-bodied version of Cadence. "No, no, NO!" She shifted again and again, changing into other ponies she'd seen. She became a mad-eyed, blood-soaked Pinkie Pie; a horribly scarred Rarity, covered in burns from dragonfire; and a pale as death, covered in disease-induced sores Fluttershy. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!? Why can't I take beautiful forms any more?" Chrysalis looked at the ponies and snarled. "They did this to me, Maua -- somehow! And if those witches are going to hurt them, then they're on my side." Wings buzzing, she flew to were Somambula stood, stopping just long enough to smile down at the withering Celestia. "You're dying a long and miserable death?" Chrysalis sneered and spat on her. "Good! I just wish it hurt more, Celestia!" She looked up and saw Somnambula watching her warily. "What are you?" The witch said, "One of Morning Star's pet monsters?" "Pet?!?" Chrysalis snarled into her face. She hovered over Somnambula, snapping, "I am Queen Chrysalis, witch! I nearly conquered Equestria..." "Who hasn't in this universe?" The witch jeered back. "And aren't you the one I heard the other prisoners talking about, the bug pony that got beaten by love, of all things?" She cackled. "I thought killing by overfeeding only worked with goldfish!" Chrysalis fought down a desire to bite out her throat and said, "And then the ponies killed me with treachery, before I could set my Changelings over the miserable beasts and make dear little Sweetie Belle," she felt odd inside when she said that, a strange sort of pain, "into my heir as the next Changeling Queen. And now," she shapeshifted back into her crippled Cadence form, "now they've done THIS to me! I can't shapeshift properly any more, I HATE those ponies!" She dropped back down on the ground. "I want revenge on them, let me help you with this." "You can't shapeshift any more because you're damned to Tartarus, dearie," Somnambula mocked. "You can only become horrible things." She pointed at the fight where Smooze-Hydia battled two unicorn mares, that Twilight wretch and a blue-maned white one that looked oddly familiar. "So if you want to help, go and be horrible to those two until I figure out how to drain his power," she jerked her thumb at young Morning Star where he battled Coffee Swirl, "for us." Chrysalis snarled at her before she flew off at the two ponies. Twilight ducked away from one massive tendril. "Shiny, watch out! I think we've got a chance now that most of the Tartarus escapees are gone --" She whinnied in pain as Chrysalis slammed into her, cutting a shallow wound along her side with her jagged hacksaw of a horn. Twilight stared at her in shock. "You!" "Hi, Twilight," Chrysalis smiled down at her. "Miss me?" - Before Chrysalis could menace Twilight any further, Shining caught her in a shield bubble. The former changeling queen thrashed, but Shining squeezed the bubble tight, not giving her an inch of room to move. "This magic... you!? Hah... Hahaha! What joke is this?" Shining glared, reshaping her hammer into a giant croquet mallet. "I think we've said everything that needs to be said already, so... buzz off!" Then she whacked the shield ball clear across the field. Sweetie Belle saw it go bouncing past and forgot all about the spell she was helping Zecora prepare. "Chrysy!!" She lifted off the ground and flew after it. Applebloom the timber-wolf did a double-take. "Hey, wait up!" She and Scootalo took off after her. Twilight smirked. "So, how long have you been saving that one?" Shining hung her head. "I thought of it *after* the battle." -- The shield bubble dissolved when it got out of Shining's range, leaving Chrysalis to tumble to a stop, then struggle to stand, madder than ever. "We won't be mocked or put off. Will we, Maua? I'll never stop until..." Her eyes grew wide. "Sweetie..." "Let me handle this," Sweetie Belle urged her friends, before she crossed the last few yards. She stared, taking in the young white Changeling queen, and her gryphon and timber wolf friends. "What is this fad? Has the world gone mad? That nag, Cadence, she stole my shapeshifting power and gave it to everyone! Is that it?" Sweetie looked a little sheepish. "Poison joke, actually..." "Oh, Sweetie..." She came closer, but didn't quite dare touch her, not knowing what harm it could do. "You were supposed to become a glorious alicorn, not a hideous bug like I was." "Don't say that! Changelings are beautiful! I wanted to stay like this... but Rarity says I have to change back." Chrysalis stumbled, not quite believing her ears. "No one could possibly call me beautiful now, thanks to your *friends*. But you... you actually want... Well, then, so what if your sister tells you no? If you want it, you should seize it!" "But... she said, no desserts for *six months*..." The damned queen began to laugh, almost hysterical. "Desserts? Desserts?! You fool... raise a whole army of servants! Have them bring you all the desserts you desire! *You* have the power now." Sweetie Belle stamped her hoof. "No! What good is all the power in Equestria if I lose my family and my friends?" Chrysalis recoiled, shaking. Slowly, her expression changed. Her features shifted in flickers of green fire, becoming those of a wounded and weary zebra. "Now I see," she spoke, her mane obscuring her eyes. "Sweetie Belle, you were too good for me. Fate has had her say, but one last card I have to play." She laid a hoof on Sweetie Belle's shoulder. "I give you all my love." - Somnambula frowned. First she was only able to summon a fragment of Morning Star, that while powerful in its own right, wasn't powerful enough for her. Then, after she had managed to recruit Chrysalis, that filly-turned-changeling managed to quickly put an end to that. "Oh well. I might not be able to win this anymore, but I can at least make sure their victory comes at a heavy cost," she thought. She then turned to Celestia, who was now a shadow of her former glory. "Even if I can't get what I want anymore, I can still drain you of all of your life force, Princess." Just then, however, a voice yelled, "I SAY THEE NAY!!!" as a dark blue beam of magic struck her jewel, causing her to lose all of the youth that she had stolen as she suddenly found herself face to face with a very angry Princess Luna. And back with the two changeling queens. Chrysalis could feel her own love flow into Sweetie Belle, if she could not convince her to follow her, then they would still be together. Sweetie needed to feel pure power to understand her true destiny. Suddenly the love stopped flowing. "Wha… What? I didn’t do anything!" the fallen Changeling Queen could not believe it. Was Fate mocking her once more? It felt just like… "Maua? Do you stop me from feeding myself to her? But why?" In pure confusion her body shifted into a wounded version of Cocoon’s young form. Sweetie Belle took the chance to rush forward. From her brief time as a Changeling she understood what Chrysalis wanted to do. "I do not want to devour your love… I want to share my love with you… I want both of us together." The Changeling Queen staggered back in confusion. --- Meanwhile Morning Star looked at the injuries on his body that refused to heal as now two ponies were fighting against him, one that was already dead. Signing he teleported away from Swirl and Squire much to their frustration, they were running out of time. Somnambula suddenly found herself face to face with the fallen Alicorn. Luna quickly rushed to the side of her sister. Celestia was in a horrible condition but Morning Star only had his eyes on Somnambula. "I do certainly approve of your work. You do work hard and the youth you took from others was hard earned. Many have fallen to you. But why are you LOUDLY TALKING ABOUT TAKING MY POWERS??? I am disappointed. You can not betray Betrayal itself, you can not deceive Deception itself, we are already one." The witch panicked as the Alicorn let his blade created from solid energy hover before himself playfully. "I… I can explain! I…" "You just had to ask my dear." The Alicorn said politely and suddenly plunged the sword into his own body. Somnambula and Luna could only stare in shock as the body disintegrated. Yet the sword remained behind. Suddenly the witch knelt over in pain. "I can feel it! Yes, give me more! Give me everything you have!!!" she said feeling something flow into herself. Her body began to restore itself to its prime, her youth was fully hers again. It was the happiest moment of her entire life. The power was absolutely overwhelming, it enveloped her in a bright embrace. As the light vanished Morning Star had taken her place, now slightly older and his wounds healed thanks to the evil he had absorbed. "Thou ... our fallen brother has returned." Luna stood between him and her sister. The discarded sword on the ground suddenly was flung forward by telekinesis when suddenly two ponies moved behind the Alicorn of the Moon. Both Swirl and Squire together were barely able to deflect the energy sword, preventing it from impaling the Princess from behind. - Swirl grunted, hefting the antique blade up again and choosing not to comment on how out of date Luna's speaking was. "You really don't know how to take a hint and just die, do you?" "Be silent, mortal! You address a-" "A pompous, full of himself wind-bag who will never learn his lesson." And, for his interruption, Swirl was blasted back by a more powerful version of the despair blast Morning Star had hit Gryphon Dash with. His coat dulled in color for a moment and Squire's translucent form (only linked to the world for it's short time by Swirl's will-powered spell) flickered dangerously. But the hues returned to normal and Squire remained on the mortal coil for a short time longer as the pegasus stood back up. "Yeah, hate to break it to ya, but trying to make a pony that already loathes himself feel bad about all his mistakes is a wasted effort, 'Perfection'." -