Upon receiving Twilight and Ryuk’s imparted memories, the group of four took a while to register everything they’d just been made privy to. Their reactions after the fact weren’t unexpected, with Kirby and the creature now looking at Aza’s puppet with no small amount of trepidation, Palutena holding an expression of slight disgust as she looked downcast, and Pit balling his fist while a deep scowl formed over his features.
“Your fear and hatred is understood,” Celestia said as she approached the newcomers. The four of them turned their collective attention to the alicorn, their discomfort lessening somewhat in response to her naturally calming aura.
Celestia gave them all a serene smile as she gestured to everyone in her group. “We’ve all felt the same since being abducted ourselves. To some extent we still do, even. But we’ve learned to accept the situation and work together to overcome everything Aza puts upon us.” She extended a hoof in greeting to Palutena. “We’d appreciate your willingness to join us in that regard.”
Palutena stared blankly at the proffered hoof for a moment, confused, before realizing the meaning and shook it with her free hand.
“Of course we will,” she replied, returning Celestia’s smile. “Right, Pit?”
Pit pumped his fist and shouted, “Of course we will!”
“Yoo!” Kirby followed, giving a cute little twirl on his feet.
The creature said nothing, it having taken to huddling against the back of the cage, eyes fearfully fixated on Aza’s puppet.
“That’s great to hear,” Twilight said. She turned to Celestia. “So, how much farther to our new base?”
Celestia was about to mull it over when a sudden tremor shook the ground, causing everyone to stumble a bit.
“What was that!?” Pit cried.
“You don’t think it’s Gojira again, do you, princess?” Twilight asked.
Another, more powerful tremor shot through the ground. Celestia used her wings to lift herself off the ground before replying. “I'll check it out. Everyone, stay right here.” She flew up into the sky, giving both herself and Pikachu immunity to every succeeding tremor, each one being stronger than the last.
"Hey, Twilight?" Yugi said.
Twilight turned around. "Yeah?"
"You never did explain how we actually use the Elements, did you?"
Twilight thought about it for a few moments. "No... I guess I didn't."
“How exactly do we use them together?”
Twilight stared blankly for a few moments, before a hesitant frown crossed her muzzle and she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, you need to permit their natural magic to connect with your individual spirit, which is achieved through a series of metaphysical altercations between your brain’s reserves of—”
“Twilight?” Samus interrupted. “Try to make it short and simple, please. As much as you can.”
“I concur,” James said with a nod. “I don't understand all that magic science babble.”
“Agreed,” Ryuk declared. “You lost me at ‘metaphysical’.”
Twilight sighed in exasperation. “Look, it doesn't really matter," she replied. "If it's Gojira, then we can beat him again without using the Elements. If we ever need to use them, I'll be sure to let you all know right away how they work. And I'll make sure to keep my explanation simple and with as few syllables as possible."
She felt a tap on her withers, and turned around to see Pit giving her a confused look.
“Um, what are you talking about?” he asked.
“Oh, don’t you worry,” Twilight said with a smile. “We've been through a lot the past couple days. Whatever happens, we'll be able to keep the whole group safe.”
“Don’t think I can’t help!” Pit replied. He pulled the two halves of his bow apart and made a brief show of slashing the air with them like swords. “I’ve single-handedly defeated more monsters than you can imagine! Nothing can stop me!”
Twilight chuckled at Pit’s enthusiasm. “I don’t doubt it,” she replied, smiling earnestly. “Still, it’d be better if you left this to us.”
Pit was about to retort when Celestia suddenly returned to the group. She landed with a small thud just in time to stumble as yet another tremor shot through the ground.
“Is it Gojira again?” Twilight asked.
Celestia shook her head. “In all honesty, I haven’t the faintest clue what it’s supposed to be.”
“What do you mean?” Samus asked.
“I’ll show you,” Celestia replied.
Everyone watched as Celestia lit up her horn and produced a flat image in the space next to her head. Palutena, Pit, Kirby, and the creature watched with no small amount of fascination at the display, while everyone else focused more on what the image itself showed.
Looking down from a birds’ eye perspective, the image showed a gigantic, white humanoid creature wearing, of all possible things, sailor garb. It had a portly figure which appeared to be constructed out of marshmallows, and a blank, happy expression on its face. The giant was lumbering around next to the Canterhorn, doing nothing of particular ill repute. It seemed to be lost, which was understandable.
“Aw, it’s so cute,” Palutena cooed.
Celestia snorted. “Wait for it⋯”
The image dived towards the odd giant. It stopped in front of its face, which filled up the entire image as a result, and held there. A few moments of silence passed, the projection having no capacity for sound. Suddenly, it turned to the side to see the creature’s right arm balled into a fist and barreling towards it. The image veered away just as it sailed past, giving way to the fast approaching ground, whereupon the group stood by the train tracks.
“As you can see, the creature attacked me,” Celestia said, dispelling the projection. She let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. “I suppose this is yet another challenge, Aza?”
”Part of one, at least,” it replied.
Everyone paused for a moment, then gave the puppet a collective suspicious glare. “What do you mean by that?” Yugi asked.
”Oh, you’ll see soon enough.” Aza snickered as the puppet simultaneously shook ever so slightly. ”For now, though, perhaps you should concentrate on getting rid of Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, hmm?”
Celestia increased the intensity of her glare before rolling her eyes. In her eye’s corner, she briefly noticed Palutena whispering something to Pit.
“So, how should we deal with this threat, princess?" Twilight asked.
Celestia was about to respond when her ears swiveled in response to a sound from her right. She turned that way just in time to see Pit soaring into the air, his white wings glowing blue with divine energy. Palutena’s staff glowed the same color as she watched his point of view through a window not too dissimilar to Celestia’s prior mental projection.
“What are you doing!?” Twilight shouted, alarmed.
“Leave this to us,” Palutena replied, calmly.
“Excuse me, Miss Palutena,” Celestia said, trotting up to the goddess.
Palutena turned to regard the alicorn with a sweet smile, no trepidation whatsoever on her features. Everyone watched with interest as Celestia approached her and cleared her throat before speaking.
“I understand you’re a powerful entity in your own right. I am too, since I control the sun where I come from.” Despite not quite coming up to Palutena’s eye level, Celestia showed no hesitation in leveling a stern glare up at her as she continued. “That aside, power alone won’t see us to safety. If we want to survive, we need to work together as a team.”
“Oh, we’ve got more than just power working with us,” Palutena replied sweetly. “Trust me, we can handle this.” She turned back to the window and waved her staff once left, to which the view did the same and brought Stay Puft into frame.
Celestia sighed, and muttered something incoherent before turning to Aza. “Would it be possible to get back the Changing Chopsticks?” she asked, almost pleadingly.
Twilight cocked her head. “Wait, what are you—”
”If you’re thinking about shrinking Stay Puft, forget it,” Aza replied, interrupting Twilight. ”That'd be way too easy of a solution, now wouldn't it?”
"Actually, I was planning to grow big with the Monster Blood, then shrink myself with the chopsticks afterward."
"My answer is still no. I already saw a most spectacular daikaiju battle earlier; I don't need to see another one so soon."
Celestia sighed again, and a contemplative expression crossed her face; no doubt she was putting the pieces of a plan together in her mind. All was silent for a few moments as everyone waited for Celestia to speak up again. But it was Palutena who eventually broke the silence.
“Aim for the eyes."
Everyone turned to her, confusion etched into each of their faces. “Come again?” James asked.
Palutena blinked, then turned to the group with a bashful expression. “Oh, my apologies! I wasn’t speaking to any of you.” She pointed at the window. “I was just telling Pit where to shoot Stay Puft to drive him away.”
That got everyone’s attention. They quickly gathered around Palutena and gazed through the window. While the second person perspective made everything shaky and hard to make out, it was still clear to everyone that Pit was easily holding his own against Stay Puft.
“Interesting setup you’ve got here,” Twilight noted, giving the window a once-over before returning her attention to the image. The marshmallow giant swung a fist at Pit, only to recoil as a light arrow impacted his eye. Stay Puft staggered back a bit, holding a hand up to his damaged eye, while the image moved slightly up and down and a flash of Pit’s fist pump came into frame. “How’d you know to aim for the eyes, anyway?”
Palutena gave her a sly smile. “Let’s just say wisdom is my specialty,” she answered.
Celestia felt something spark in her brain. What it was, she didn’t know, but getting across to Palutena that teamwork was vital for survival became her number one priority at that moment.
“Samus,” she said, turning to the hunter, “climb on my back.” She crouched down to allow for it. “We need to help Pit.”
Samus nodded. “Sure thing.” She side-stepped around everyone and got up onto Celestia’s back, gripping her withers for support.
“Be careful, princess,” Twilight warned, giving her mentor a look of deep concern.
“I will, Twilight,” Celestia replied with a smile. “Keep an eye on everything down here; we’ll be back soon.”
With that, she took to the sky. Everyone watched her and Samus fly up and over the treeline whereupon they disappeared from sight. Then they turned back to Palutena, who hadn’t reacted whatsoever to Celestia’s action, merely continued to wave her staff and stare intently through the window.
“No objection from you?” James inquired.
Palutena shrugged. “If she’s that insistent on helping, I won’t argue.” She briefly adjusted the red fibula on her hip, then looked into the window and said, “Don’t worry about them, just concentrate on driving back Stay Puft.”
Everyone stared for a bit before an awkward silence descended upon the rest of the group. “Sooo... now what?” Ryuk asked.
Twilight shrugged. “I guess we just wait for—”
Twilight stopped when both her and Pikachu’s ears twitched in response to a soft, almost imperceptible rumbling under their hooves and feet, while the creature bolted upright, and the three of them turned their attention to the mountain.
“Is something wrong, Twilight?” James asked, as he and the rest of the group followed their gaze.
“There’s something else coming this way,” she said, an air of mild concern in her tone. “And it’s coming from the mountain.”
“Pika-chuuu.” Pikachu narrowed his eyes and fell into a battle stance.
Yugi squinted his eyes at the mountain, but didn’t notice a single dot of movement to indicate something was there. “Where exactly is it?" he asked.
Twilight was about to reply that she didn’t know, but was halted when the rumbling became more pronounced, enough so that everyone could feel it. Some of the rocks between the rails even shook a little.
“Wonder what it could be?” Ryuk said, genuinely curious.
“Pika-pikachu,” Pikachu said, letting off some electricity in his cheeks.
“Whatever it is, we’ll see soon enough,” Twilight said. “It’s heading our way.”
A few moments after she said that, a burst of steam shot out of the tunnel, from which a blue train emerged. It moved at a brisk pace down the tracks, chugging soft and steadily. Everyone stared transfixed at the colorful locomotive, specifically, the expression of confusion it wore on its face.
A long moment of awkward silence descended upon the group, during which everyone got a good look at the newcomer. They had a short stumpy dome and funnel, red lining, small blue wheels, and a yellow “1” painted on the side. Certain members of the group recognized them as being a tank engine, due to its lack of a tender, yet got the impression that the engine was very strong in spite of its small build.
Decreasing momentum made the tank engine slow down as it neared the group, eventually coming to a stop just a few yards from them. It stared at the group for a moment, shifting its eyes between each and every one of them, which they found especially creepy, before speaking to them in a youthful voice.
“What the bunker are you all supposed to be?”
No one said a word, merely continued to stare at the sapient train while their brains tried desperately to acclimate to its existence. Even Palutena was distracted from her task of guiding Pit for a moment, only returning her full attention to him after he shouted to her.
“Sorry Pit, I got distracted for a moment.” She spared another glance at the engine and breathed a deep, relaxing sigh. I can already tell this is going to be a harsh trial.
“Is anyone going to answer me anytime soon?” the train asked, sounding annoyed. “I’d like to know where I am and what’s going on sooner rather than later.”
Ryuk stepped up to Twilight and leaned into her ear. “Why aren’t you letting him know?” he whispered.
Twilight turned to him with a bemused expression. “And where am I supposed to use my spell on him?” she inquired. “Last I checked, trains didn’t have brains.”
“Good point,” Ryuk replied, shrugging. “Still, we gotta do something.”
Twilight sighed and nodded. “I know.” She looked up at the train, wilting slightly under the intensity of its glare. “So, uh... what’s your name?” she asked with a sheepish smile.
“I’m Thomas,” he replied.
“Nice to meet you, Thomas,” Twilight replied. The awkwardness of the reality that she was conversing with a train dawned on her, and she shuffled her hooves with enough sheepishness to match her smile. “You... I love your blue paintjob.”
Thomas’ glare relaxed a bit. “Blue is the only proper color for an engine as important as I am,” he said, matter-of-factly.
Ryuk shrugged. “Doesn’t look that cool to me.”
Thomas huffed, and blew steam at him. Ryuk staggered back a bit in response, while everyone else flinched.
“As I was saying,” Thomas said, “I’d like to know where I am, the sooner the better.”
Twilight sighed. “It’s a long story, and I’m not sure how to explain it to you, so can you just wait a little while?” she asked. “I promise we’ll explain everything soon, just not right now.”
Thomas groaned. “Confusion and delay are both such a bother,” he said, sounding depressed.
“Now then—” Twilight turned to Aza’s puppet with a look of fury, “—Aza, how many more people are you planning on abducting right now?”
A snicker sounded. ”Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” Aza replied.
“Cinders and ashes, what was that!?” Thomas asked in alarm, but everyone ignored him.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” James asked.
Everyone stared at the puppet intently, awaiting a response, but Aza remained silent.
Suddenly, realization dawned on Twilight, and her expression changed from furious to horrified. “Are you saying there’s still more people you abducted that we haven’t met yet?” she asked.
”I’m not saying anything.”
A flash of yellow light erupted from Yugi’s Millenium Puzzle, briefly shielding him from everyone’s gaze. The light cleared to reveal the pharaoh scowling in disgust at Aza’s puppet. Everyone froze stiff at the pure, unbridled hatred radiating off of him.
“Your sadistic pursuits are despicable enough without being secretive, Aza, ” he ground out. “Tell us how many there are, right now!”
A palpable silence descended upon the group. They all stared wide-eyed at the pharaoh, jaws agape and minds abuzz at the sudden turn of events. Mostly, however, they were afraid his outburst would cost them dearly.
”Okay then, I’ll tell you, but only my way,” Aza replied, and everyone relaxed. ”Per my estimate, the total combined weight of everyone in Equestria that’s not currently part of the group is about... actually, I’m no mathematician, so I’ll just say ‘a whole lot’.”
Everyone immediately tensed up at Aza’s words. Twilight sputtered incoherent mumblings in between eye twitches. James began turning his head every which way, possibly in search of more approaching newcomers. Everyone else had reactions ranging from rage to frightful curiosity to revulsion.
”And since I know you’re going to ask why,” Aza continued, paying no mind to their reactions, ”I did it because, since you all work so well together by now, I needed to increase the scale of proceeding challenges to accommodate for your collective strength. Think of this one as a scaled-up version of that fetch mission I had you go through at the beginning.”
Everyone who wasn’t a part of the mission in question only had a vague idea of what had happened based on imparted memories, and felt nothing but mild concern toward Aza’s comparison. Twilight, Yugi, the pharaoh, and James, however, looked utterly horrified in response. Not so much over having to seek out and recruit more unknown people to the group, but instead at the thought of being split up again. Memories of what happened the first time surfaced, as well as the second-hand accounts of everything they hadn’t witnessed, and it all served to defuse any sense of bravado the group previously had.
Through the silence which followed Aza’s announcement, Twilight frantically searched her mind for something, anything, she could use to negate any chance of disaster arising from this new development.
Stay calm, Twilight. Stay calm and think this through. We came out of it just fine the first time, and we can definitely do it again even if the scale’s been upped. She looked to Palutena, who had resumed her work at the dimensional window, and Twilight saw the pensive frown on her face, no doubt a remnant of her reaction to Aza’s declaration. But Palutena and her group only just arrived, and even if she and Pit are close-knit they still haven’t ‘melded’ with the rest of us. Even more so for Kirby, and especially so for whatever that thing in the cage is supposed to be.
Twilight suppressed a shudder before continuing her inner monologue. Aza can be goaded if one of its oversights is brought to light, as Celestia has shown. If I can find one myself, with a little planning I might be able to guarantee our safety as we retrieve everyone else that’s been abducted. If I can’t do that, than maybe I can offer to retrieve everyone by myself in exchange for everyone else’s safety... Suddenly, Twilight’s eyes lit up, and her dour expression changed to one of hope. Wait, that’s it!
“Everyone,” she said, earning their collective attention. She turned to Aza’s puppet as a sly smile crossed her muzzle. “I can take care of this new fetch mission all by myself.”
“Wait-what?” James said. “How?”
“You haven’t gone suicidal, right?” Ryuk asked.
Twilight shook her head. “I can come out of it perfectly alive and well,” she declared, cockiness filling her voice. “In fact, I can do it without even needing to do it myself.”
Everyone blanched at that statement, utter confusion visible on all their faces.
“Pika pi pikachu?” Pikachu asked, tilting his head curiously.
”I fail to see how you plan on achieving that,” Aza commented dryly.
“I can, and I will,” Twilight replied, her unusual cockiness still on display. “Faster if you provide me with a teleporter back to that beach.”
Silence reigned briefly as Aza considered her request. Eventually, a green light flashed in front of Twilight, momentarily taking her by surprise.
“Thank you,” she said, and turned to the group. “I’ll be back soon. Keep watch over things while I’m gone.”
And with that, she stepped through the teleporter, disappearing in another green flash. Everyone stayed silent for a while longer, processing all of what just happened, before Pikachu noticed the pharaoh kneeling on the ground, eyes closed and downcast.
Pikachu hopped over to him, earning the pharaoh’s attention, and looked up at him with a friendly smile. “Pika pikachu. Pi pika pika, pi pikachu.”
The pharaoh returned the smile, and softly patted his head, earning him a happy squeal from the electric mouse.
That was unexpected.
I’m sorry, Yugi. My anger finally reached its breaking point and I couldn’t stay silent any longer.
Well, do you want to switch back?
...No, I think it’s time I start contributing to the group again.
I’m glad to hear that. So, what do you think Twilight’s plan is?
I couldn’t even begin to make a guess. We’ll find out soon enough, though...
“Talk about deceptive,” Pit muttered as he approached Stay Puft. The marshmallow giant lumbered around the mountainside, heedless of Pit at first, but the sound of his wings flapping made it turn around to regard the young angel. “No one would think something so adorable could be so deadly, unless there’s more to this thing than just its size.”
“I’m sensing divine energy at work inside of it,” Palutena said, her voice reverberating through Pit’s head. “Whatever this thing really is, it’s safe to assume it can’t be reasoned with, so don’t hold back.”
“Alright!” Pit flew to within fifty meters of Stay Puft, just out of his reach but close enough to shoot the giant. “In the name of Lady Palutena, I will defeat you! Prepare to face the light!”
Stay Puft stared at Pit with his unblinking gaze. A short silence stretched between the two before Stay Puft took a lumbering step forward and swung his arm right at Pit. The angel dodged with ease, then fired off a couple of arrows from his bow. Both shots hit the creature’s chest, impacting with bursts of light but dealing no damage. Stay Puft lunged forward with another jab, and again missed before being pelted by another couple of arrows which dealt no damage.
“Man, who knew marshmallows could be so durable?” Pit said, dodging another swipe. His wing almost got clipped by the creature’s fist. “How am I supposed to drive Stay Puft back if I can’t hurt him?”
“Try aiming for the eyes,” Palutena said, a little bit louder than usual.
“The eyes, huh?” Pit nodded. “Alright.”
Pit positioned himself so he was directly in front of Stay Puft, again just out of his reach. He waited until Stay Puft had raised his head before drawing his bow for another shot. Sticking his tongue out in concentration, Pit took careful aim while Stay Puft prepared to throw another jab at him. Lining his shot with Stay Puft’s left eye, Pit fired before he could throw it. The arrow collided dead center with another burst of light which was accompanied by a howl of agony from Stay Puft as he staggered back and held an arm to his eye.
“Oh yeah, perfect shot!” Pit said gleefully, pumping his fist.
Stay Puft lowered his arm, revealing the extent of damage his eye had suffered. The arrow had blown up a small section near the pupil, with chunks of marshmallow hanging off his eyelids. The hole it left revealed an inky blackness within the creature, interrupted by an occasional flicker of purple light.
At the same time, Pit noticed a more subtle change overcome Stay Puft. His happy, playful expression took on a darker, almost sadistic edge. The benevolence it previously held was a huge juxtaposition to Stay Puft’s hostility, whereas now it felt more in-line with what Pit expected from a villain.
“Don’t think I’m done with you yet!” Pit yelled, and readied another shot.
The flicker of light behind Stay Puft’s eye suddenly grew in frequency as he let out a monstrous, challenging roar.
Pit lined up his shot with the damaged eye and fired. Before the arrow could reach its target, however, Stay Puft covered his damaged eye with a hand. The arrow harmlessly dissipated upon impact.
“Don’t think you can hide from the light!” Pit shouted as he readied another shot. He changed the direction of his shot, aiming for Stay Puft’s other eye, and fired.
The arrow collided with its target much the same as the first, and even dealt a similarly-sized injury. Stay Puft even reacted the same way, letting out another howl of agony and staggering back a bit. Upon recovering, Pit noticed the same purple light flickering from the new injury.
“Like I said, you can’t hide!” he said.
Once again, Stay Puft glared at Pit. This time, Pit almost shuddered from the pure, unbridled malice that radiated from his stare.
“You’ll be roasting in a nice, hot bonfire when I’m done with you!” Pit fired another arrow at Stay Puft’s newest injury. Stay Puft brought up his hand for another successful block.
Pit didn’t let this deter him, and he quickly fired another shot at Stay Puft’s other eye. The giant marshmallow man brought up his other hand to block this one too, and held it there.
“Oh no you don’t!” Pit sectioned his bow and rushed forward. He flew up to Stay Puft’s right hand and slashed away with reckless abandon. The blades did no more to damage Stay Puft’s hands than the arrows, a fact that only became apparent when Stay Puft raised his other hand to smack Pit away, which he only managed to dodge by a hair’s length before retreating back a safe distance from Stay Puft with frantic breaths.
Man that was close! he thought.
Just then, Pit heard wings flapping from behind. While keeping Stay Puft in his peripheral vision, he turned to see Celestia approaching with Samus riding on her back.
“What are you two doing here!?” he called.
Celestia stopped and hovered a few dozen feet from him, and affixed her gaze to Stay Puft. Samus carefully stood upon Celestia’s back and primed her arm cannon.
“We’re here to help!” Celestia replied.
Pit only stared, waiting for her to continue, possibly to say she was joking. When she said nothing, Pit looked to Palutena for clarification.
“Is it really a good idea for them to be up here, Lady Palutena?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about them,” she replied, again louder than usual. “Just concentrate on driving back Stay Puft.”
“Why’re you speaking louder than usual?” Pit questioned.
“Oh, sorry,” Palutena replied, her voice back to its normal volume. “I don’t usually have people with me in person when I speak to you like this, and I thought it might be good to keep everyone down here assured that everything’s under control.”
“Yeah, well, we might have a bit of a problem with that,” Pit replied sheepishly. “Any way I can get Stay Puft to stop blocking all my shots?”
Palutena seemed to pause in consideration for a while before replying. “Stay Puft’s shown himself to be very adept at nullifying divine energy, meaning whatever force it’s harboring is stronger than our own, or at least your light arrows.”
“It’s scary to think there’s something stronger than you,” Pit confessed.
“Given where we are right now, it shouldn’t be a surprise,” Palutena replied, sounding calm as ever. “Regardless, that doesn’t mean we can’t beat it, just that we need a new method.”
“Any ideas what else I can try?” Pit asked.
Silence.
“Lady Palutena? Did you hear me?”
More silence.
“Lady Palutena!”
Finally, Palutena replied in a low voice, “Sorry Pit, I got distracted for a moment.”
“By what?”
Another brief moment of silence followed before Palutena said, “You’ll see when you return.”
Pit hung his head with a depressed sigh. Great, more surprises.
“Getting back to Stay Puft,” Palutena continued, “we need to either find another weak point on his body, or somehow make him remove his hands so we can continue attacking his eyes. If I had to wager a guess on which is more likely to work, it’d be the latter, if only because I’m not sure what kind of anatomy a giant marshmallow man is supposed to have.”
“But you always know everything about our enemies!” Pit said.
“My knowledge is only as great as our world, Pit,” Palutena replied, sounding rather forlorn in her tone. “We’re about as far away from home as we can be right now, up against a monster from another universe entirely, so my knowledge is very limited.”
Pit sighed again, this time in exasperation, before asking, “Any ideas on how I can make him drop his guard?”
Palutena didn’t reply for a long while, but Pit could hear faint whispers as she attempted to discern a viable strategy. The fact that it was taking so long for her to come up with something, when she usually had a strategy at the ready, unnerved Pit. He grew increasingly anxious the longer she went without replying, evidenced by the little beads of sweat trickling down his face. His wings twitched in nervous anticipation, the sudden movements camouflaged among their pattern of flaps, letting loose a few feathers each time.
“Listen, Pit,” Palutena finally said, “I want you to ask Celestia and Samus if there’s anything they can do to help overcome Stay Puft’s guard.”
Pit glanced over to the two of them. They’d been floating quietly in the air since they arrived, switching their gazes between him and Stay Puft periodically, but never saying anything. Looking at them, Pit could see a strong level of both anxiousness and determination in Celestia’s features, while Samus’ helmet kept him from discerning her mood, but he guessed she was feeling the same way.
“Sure thing,” he finally replied, and flew over to the girls.
“How’s the situation?” Samus asked.
Pit made note of how awesome her Power Suit looked before replying. “His eyes are his only weakness, as far as we know, and I managed to deal some pretty big damage to both. But now he keeps blocking all my shots so I can’t deal anymore damage.”
“Oh, I can help with that,” Celestia said as her lips curled into a smirk.
Pit watched as her horn lit with a golden aura, followed by the entirety of Stay Puft’s left arm. Celestia then tried levitating it away from his eye, but the combination of both Stay Puft’s divine nature and his active resistance to her telekinesis made it harder than she anticipated. Her smirk faltered as she poured more magic into her horn, hoping she could overcome Stay Puft’s resistance through sheer strength.
Slowly but surely, Stay Puft’s hand levitated away from his eye, leaving it exposed once more. A few beads of sweat dripped down Celestia’s face as she struggled to maintain her hold on Stay Puft, her head visibly shaking through it all.
Through her mouth’s corner, she whispered, “I don’t know how long I can keep my hold, so please, act quickly.”
Pit and Samus both stared for a moment with no small amount of concern before nodding and turning to face Stay Puft. Pit drew another light arrow while Samus activated her Power Suit’s missile launcher. Both aimed at Stay Puft’s exposed eye and fired simultaneously. The two projectiles sailed right alongside each other and impacted Stay Puft’s eye just a few inches apart. The combined blast from both shots added to the previous injury, creating a hole which occupied almost the entirely of Stay Puft’s left eye. Marshmallow chunks blew out from the impact and sailed through the air to the ground below, and the purple light grew in prominence to the point where it almost seemed to escape the confines of Stay Puft’s eye and venture into the open air.
The wail of agony Stay Puft let loose in response to the massive blow was deafening, and Celestia and Pit were forced to cover their ears, the former losing her telekinetic grip on Stay Puft, while Samus’ helmet was able to nullify the sound.
Stay Puft clutched a hand to his annihilated eye as he staggered around, knocking over a few trees and causing a small landslide as he settled his other hand on the mountain for balance. He stayed like this for a while, unmoving and utterly silent, before standing up and breaking out into a brisk walk away from the trio, heading west toward the setting sun. He never once looked back at them, but they kept their eyes fixed on his retreating form until he slipped below the horizon.
After a few moments of silence, a large smile broke out on Pit’s face and he pumped his fist into the air.
“Victory!” he shouted, and formed a ‘V’ with his fingers.
Celestia, still spent from her enormous magic usage, tiredly said, “Indeed, we are victorious.”
“At least until that freak of nature decides to return,” Samus said.
“Yes, that is true.” Celestia took a deep, calming breath before adding, “And we’ll need to work together again whensoever that time comes.”
Pit nodded. “That was amazing how you just forced his hand away,” he said. “I gotta say, having telekinesis would make slaying monsters much easier.”
“Yes, I suppose it would,” Celestia replied, allowing a small, satisfied smile to cross her muzzle at his praise. “And great shots, both of you.”
“That was the first missile I’ve used during this whole adventure,” Samus noted, looking down at her arm cannon as the missile launcher retracted. “Now I’m down to one hundred and ninety nine.”
Pit’s jaw dropped. “How do you fit so many into that thing?” he asked, incredulous.
Samus turned to him and smiled behind her helmet’s visor. “Probably the best feature about my Power Suit is how retractable every piece is. While there is a limit to how many I can store, space is hardly an issue.”
“Amazing,” Pit gaped.
“We’ll have plenty of time for cultural exchanges later,” Celestia spoke up. “For now, let’s return to the group and inform them of our success.”
With a nod from both Samus and Pit, the three began their descent.
“Lady Palutena, we’re done with Stay Puft… for now,” Pit whispered.
“Good job, Pit,” she replied, relief clear in her tone.
“Good job for all of us.” Pit glanced over at the two females with a small twinkle in his eye. “They’re so awesome!”
Palutena giggled. “Careful that you don’t fall head over heels, Pit,” she said. “We’re not going to be here forever.”
“Yeah yeah, I know.” Pit’s eyebrows knitted as a thought occurred to him. “You said something about there being a ‘surprise’ for us when we got back, right?”
Palutena sighed. “Yes, there is.” The exasperated tone with which she spoke left Pit confused until she added, “Promise me you’ll stay calm and collected upon your return, okay Pit?”
He cocked his head in curiosity. Must be something really strange if she’s worried I’ll lose my mind.
“Sure thing, Lady Palutena.”
“Thanks,” she replied. “Because you’re about to see it…”
The three flew over one last section of forest before sighting the group. Their collective attention immediately went to the blue tank engine sitting on the tracks just beside everyone. Pit, though surprised by the new arrival, didn’t find anything particularly strange about it aside from the odd paint job. Other than that, and the yellow number ‘1’ painted on the side, it looked like just an ordinary train.
Palutena waved to them as the three fell in for a landing. Once they’d all touched the ground, Samus hopped off of Celestia’s back and they looked to everyone else. Pit noticed they all looked a little too distraught, but before he could ask what was wrong James spoke up.
“Miss Palutena says you three drove back the giant marshmallow freak,” he said, giving each of them an appraising look. “And apparently without so much as a scratch.”
“It was quite easy once we used our combined strength on Stay Puft,” Celestia said with a small smile, giving Palutena a sideways glance which the goddess of light ignored. “He will almost certainly be back, however, so we’d best prepare ourselves immediately.”
“Yeah, about that…” Celestia, Samus, and Pit turned to see Ryuk twiddling his thumbs and looking at them with what was probably the closest he could ever have to a legitimate frown. “We kinda have a bigger problem to worry about first.”
“What do you mean?” Samus asked.
“Well, you see—”
Ryuk was cut off by a sudden loud whistle from the train, steam shooting from said component into the air, making everyone flinch and the three latecomers go wide-eyed with alertness.
“I demand to know what’s happening right this instant!” an irate voice shouted.
“W-what was that!?” Pit stammered.
The sounds of pistons pushing and gears turning emanated from the train as it moved backward, allowing the three latecomers to see its face for the first time, eventually stopping a few feet behind them. Their eyes almost bugged out upon seeing the train had an actual, lively face like they all did, and the scowl it shot them would’ve been frightening had the shock of seeing a sapient train not taken ahold of them. Only when James began speaking did they snap back to reality and turn to him, instinctively stepping away from the train out of a mix of both fear and awkwardness.
“Celestia, Samus, Pit,” James said, turning to each of them as he said their names, before gesturing to the train, “this is Thomas, the latest addition to this whole roundup.”
“Really?” Celestia turned back briefly, only to wince upon seeing Thomas’ scowl and turn back. She was about to ask Twilight why she hadn’t used the memory spell on Thomas, only to realize that her student wasn’t among the group, or even anywhere in sight.
“Where’s Twilight?” she asked, doing her best to quell the growing sense of worry in her heart.
Everyone seemed to falter in response, their expressions turning either nervous or angry. Celestia knitted her brows and approached them with a determined stare, Pit and Samus following behind while Thomas slowly chugged forward along the tracks.
“If there’s something you’re not telling us,” she said, her tone one of stern forthrightness, “than tell us, right now.”
After a few moments of hesitation from the group, Ryuk stepped forward and spoke while twiddling his thumbs. “Well, Twilight was okay last we checked. She just went to do… something.”
Celestia frowned. “What sort of something?”
Ryuk rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. It was more than clear to the three that he was nervous about something; even his perpetually smiling face was unable to conceal this from them.
“Thomas isn’t the only newcomer,” he finally said.
Celestia blinked for a moment. “...Can you be a bit more specific?” she asked. “Are you referring to Palutena’s group, Stay Puft, or…?”
“What Ryuk means is, according to Aza, there is an indefinite number of victims currently unaccounted for here in Equestria.” The pharaoh walked up to them, his face calm with the barest hint of irritation in his eyes. “Thomas, Stay Puft, and Palutena’s group are only the beginning.”
“Wait, seriously!?” Pit exclaimed, and turned to Palutena. “Is that true, Lady Palutena?”
Palutena nodded her affirmative.
“Oh great,” Pit groaned. “How are we supposed to round them all up?”
“That’s the interesting part,” James said. “Before she left through a teleporter, Twilight said she could take care of that all by herself.”
Celestia’s eyes bugged out. “She honestly said that?”
Ryuk nodded. “Not just that, but she was talking all high and mighty the whole time she spoke, so she’s pretty confident whatever she has planned will work.” He chuckled softly. “Almost like a certain someone I used to know, now that I think about it.”
Celestia turned to Aza’s puppet, which floated motionless a few dozen feet from everyone next to the tracks, having not moved at all since she returned with Pit and Samus. While Celestia despised Aza for abducting such a great quantity of people, deep down she knew it was bound to happen eventually. When she spoke, in spite of her anger, she did her best to convey the same calm, practiced tone of voice which she often used when speaking to her subjects back home.
“Aza, after what Twilight and I just went through, I need assurance that she’s alright. I’m disappointed in what you’ve done, don’t get me wrong, but right now I only want to know that Twilight is safe and sound. Where is this teleporter she went through, so I can make sure she’s alright?”
Aza gave no response, verbal or otherwise, immediately. Celestia’s mouth twisted slightly into a frown as a small, hardly audible curse against the sentient universe escaped her lips. Everyone else traded glances between her and the puppet as the air became thick with tension. Even Thomas watched the scene with interest, his previous frustration having been temporarily shelved.
Celestia was about to repeat herself when Aza finally replied. ”Uh… yeah, Twilight’s okay. Really, she is.”
Everyone blinked in unison for a moment, surprised by the timidness in Aza’s tone.
Celestia reigned in her surprise and cleared her throat. “Thank you for that,” she said, “but I’d prefer to see her in person.”
”Yeah, wait a little and you’ll get just that,” Aza said, still sounding none too chipper. ”She’s coming back even now.”
“Why do you sound so sad, Aza?” Celestia asked, tilting her head. “This isn’t like you at all.”
The puppet crossed its spheres and hung the top red one down a bit, as if sulking. ”Don’t talk to me.”
Everyone exchanged confused glances at Aza’s uncharacteristic behavior. Then a green light briefly flashed a few yards away from the tracks, and out stepped Twilight, a satisfied smile etched into her features.
“Hi everyone, I’m back,” she said, happily. Then she noticed Celestia and smiled even wider. “Princess! Did you deal with Stay Puft?”
“Indeed we did, Twilight,” Celestia confirmed with a nod. “Where did you go? And what is this plan everyone says you came up with?”
Twilight’s smile turned into a smirk. “Oh, it’d be better if I showed you,” she replied coolly. She stepped back into the teleporter, disappearing in another flash of green light, before reemerging a moment later, seemingly unchanged. “I proudly present, the solution to our problem!”
Another flash of green light, out of which stepped, to everyone’s collective shock, another Twilight. The lavender duplicate was a picture perfect replica of the original, every single detail being an exact match. She even held the same smirk as the first Twilight as she stepped beside her and stared at everyone. The one and only difference between them was that the second Twilight didn’t wear an Element of Magic tiara.
Everyone went completely slack-jawed at the scene before them. Even the creature, who seemed to possess little in the way of sapience, stared at the lavender duo with an expression that one could easily interpret as dumbfounded. Celestia, however, recovered from her stupor first, having realized exactly what Twilight did.
“You used the mirror pool,” she said, just above a whisper.
“That is correct, princess,” the duplicate said, earning a stern glare from the original. “What? I’m not allowed to speak for myself?”
Before anything more could be said, another green flash of light came from the teleporter, and out stepped another Twilight, also a perfect copy of the original minus the Element.
“Hey, uh, me,” she said, looking between the two of them, “can we hurry this up? The rest of us are getting kinda antsy about waiting on that beach.”
“Sure, sure, tell them to come on through,” the original Twilight said. The third Twilight stepped back through the teleporter while the original turned to the second and said, “C’mon, let’s make some room for ourselves.”
The second one nodded, and they moved to the side just as the teleporter began activating in quick succession. Every time it flashed, another Twilight would step out, which would then step aside to allow the next Twilight clear passage through. The original Twilight worked to keep her duplicates neat and organized, forming a line of them along the tracks. When the first line of them reached a certain distance, Twilight began directing them into a new line behind the first, and continued to do this every time each line reached the same distance.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group watched the scene unfold in shocked awe, Twilight’s plan slowly coming to light in their heads. Celestia, especially, found herself amazed by her student’s ingenuity. She always knew Twilight was a smart pony, but even she never thought her student would be capable of conceiving such a simple, yet effective solution to their recent problem. By the time the last Twilight had stepped through the teleporter and into line, Celestia’s shock had melted away and been replaced by a strong feeling of pride at having such a gifted student.
“Okay, listen up!” Twilight said to her duplicates, to which they all gave her their undivided attention. “You all know what the situation is, and you also know what my plan is. But I’m going to repeat myself for everyone else’s sake, and for the fact that I’m not sure whether the Mirror Pool could’ve messed something up and blurred some of your memories.”
Twilight took an authoritative posture before continuing. “Your mission is simple: locate any and all abducted persons you find and bring them back. Use the memory spell on them once found, and if they haven’t got a brain to use it on, then explain the basic situation to them before escorting them back to the group. If they prove to be hostile and/or villainous, use whatever measures necessary to subdue them. Am I understood?”
“Affirmative!” her duplicates all replied in unison.
“Good, now fan out and find everyone!”
Twilight’s duplicates followed her command and took off in random directions, doing their best to keep a respectable distance from one another as they ventured into the thickets of trees on either side of the tracks. It wasn’t long before they’d all disappeared, leaving only the original Twilight with the group.
“Twilight?”
The unicorn turned to see Celestia approaching her, a small smile gracing her muzzle as she walked with her wings folded against her sides.
“Everything’s taken care of now, princess,” Twilight said with utmost confidence.
“Yes, it does seem that way,” Celestia said with a nod. “For now, anyway.”
“How’d you make copies of yourself?” Pit asked as he joined the two mares. “And how can I do that myself?”
“Easy there, Pit,” Palutena said as she too joined them. “The last thing we need is any more surprises caused by cloning mirrors.”
Celestia arched a brow in curiosity. “You’ve had experience with one before?”
“It’s a long story,” Palutena replied, waving a dismissive hand. “And it’s not particularly important.”
“Actually, now that the current crisis is more or less averted,” Twilight said, “I’d love to hear some more about your lives back home.” She turned to everyone else as well. “In fact, why don’t we just talk with each other for now? We’ve been fighting to stay alive for the past few days so much that we haven’t taken much time to just sit down and chat. After all, we all come from different universes, so sky’s the limit for interesting stories about our pasts.”
Everyone took a while to consider this, giving Aza’s puppet a few aside glances. The puppet remained unmoving, and Aza kept quiet the whole time. Twilight interpreted the silence as confirmation that Aza was sulking, which she took some personal pride in.
“It would be nice to just relax and chat,” James finally said, smiling softly.
“Yeah,” Samus agreed. “I’d love a break from all this crap.”
“We might not have gone through as much as you all,” Palutena said, wrapping an arm around Pit’s shoulders, “but nevertheless, Pit and I would love to make casual conversation.”
“Actually…” Pit spoke up, only to be silenced by a stern glare from Palutena. “Oh, alright, we’ll just talk,” he said, pouting.
“Well, seems like everyone’s in agreement here,” Twilight said. It was then that she noticed the pharaoh had come out of the Millenium Puzzle. “Welcome back, pharaoh,” she greeted with a smile.
The pharaoh nodded his head, giving a soft smile in return. “It’s good to be back,” he replied.
Twilight walked up to him and reached up to lay a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Don’t think I have any hard feelings about what happened yesterday,” she said, soothingly. “Really, it’s not worth getting worked up over.”
The pharaoh nodded again. “Thank you, Twilight,” he whispered.
Nodding herself, Twilight set her hoof back down and turned to everyone. “Alright then, let’s head on over to that clearing and chat.”
Everyone was about to head off when a sudden, sharp whistle rang through the air. Turning back, the group saw Thomas looking at them with a deadpan stare. Twilight blinked for a moment, then a blush formed over her cheeks as she realized what he was getting at.
“Err, sorry Thomas,” she said, sheepishly, and walked toward him. “I’ll explain things right now.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Thomas replied with a snooty air to his voice.
The whole group watched as Twilight began explaining the basics of their situation, while throwing in a few details where appropriate and giving examples of the kind of danger Thomas could expect during his stay there. Thomas’ expression went through several phases throughout Twilight’s explanation: first confusion, then horror, followed by disgust, until finally settling on hatred as he turned his gaze to Aza’s puppet.
“Despicable…” he muttered.
“That’s putting it mildly,” Pit said, rolling his eyes.
“Alright.” James clapped his hands. “Now that we’re all up to speed, let’s get a move on, shall we?”
“I can’t go anywhere without rails,” Thomas noted with a frown. “And, if it isn’t too much trouble, I’d rather not be left alone.”
“Leave that to me,” Celestia said. Her horn lit up in a golden aura, as did Thomas. The tank engine let out a yelp as he was lifted off the tracks and brought over to the group, stopping just a few feet from Celestia’s half-smirking face. “There, problem solved.” She turned to everyone. “Now then, let’s get moving.”
With a collective nod from everyone, they all made their way into the forest leading to the clearing. Aza’s puppet, however, took a few moments to follow, and when it did its posture was noticeably droopy.
This… didn’t go as I’d planned.