"Cheerilee, you're not getting turned into glass," Flutterlight said with a sigh. "And neither is any other pony."
She looked at her friends, at Red Gala/Big Mac, and finally at Forbidden Fruit.
She didn't want to make this choice. She had had nightmares of releasing DISCORD at least once.
This was going to end badly, no matter what she did.
But no way in Tartarus was she going to deprive Applejack and her family of their big brother.
She stepped out in front of Forbidden Fruit, and snorted as she thought of the Shadows who'd done all of this. One in particular. One day, she promised herself, one day I'll get the answers I deserve from one of them at least.
If it's alright with them, I mean. Wait, GAH!
She shook herself and began to speak.
"In exchange for giving Red Gala Belle and Big Macintosh Apple both a life and existence of their own..."
"But of course we both have lives of our own, dear," Red Gala said, wondering why she felt a sudden chill. The other ponies nearby gasped at Twilight's words, all save the dark mare whose eyes lit up like torches. "Is every pony in this town crazy? Ouch!" She lifted her leg where she'd set it against some splinters and swiped away a small patch of her coat. Blood trickled from beneath it. She held it out towards Rarity. "Little sister, dear, do you have a bandage with you?"
Rarity gasped at the sight and the realization of how far Big Mac had faded into the suit.
Red Gala gasped at a realization. Why by Celestia's horn did I ask if the ponies in this town were crazy? That doesn't make sense at all! This is my home town! I grew up here with Rarity! I wish I had seen more of Sweetie Belle when she was growing up, that was my fault. But . . . WHY DID I SAY THAT?!
Red Gala's mane then changed, it ceased to be red colored version of Rarity's curls, and became wavery.
Except for her bright blue eyes and white coat, there was nothing to really tell she had ever been simply a stallion wearing a Rarity costume. Never again, as far as reality was nearly done being concerned, she never had been a stallion in a suit before.
"And in exchange for freeing me and the Flutters from the suits before we're lost as well..."
"No, Purple!" Fluttercruel yelled, "I, I"m sure Mom and me will find out own way out!... Somehow!"
'Twi, I," Applejack hesitated, wondering what if anything she should say. Condemn her brother her to nonexistence, and maybe her family to destruction? She shivered at new memories, of her living in Manehattan, of Applebloom coming to stay after Granny Smith -- the work had been too much, and their orchard, their home -- NO!
"I, Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic..."
"Twilight, thou knowest not -- URRGHH!" Luna choked as something hatefully familiar began rising in her. With no Applejack in Ponyville, the Elements had not been complete that night two years ago, which meant in turn? Luna caught her reflection in a piece of broken glass, purple eyeshadow, dragon's eyes, and fangs bared in a grin of triumph as the skies of the Final Night began to darken outside. Luna clenched her teeth against the word that fought to escape from between them: "FREE!"
Luna felt her heart twisting, her dark side, forged of hate, revenge, spite, jealous, anger, emotion so repressed until they took on a life of their own, until they became an absolute truth when she finally couldn't ignore them.
No! There should have been other bearers ready to take up Applejack's mantle, even if Big Mac was gone too, and he was intended to succeed his sister if she proved unable, there are supposed to other ponies who could serve as Honesty if push came to shove! Just as Miss Cheerilee could have taken up the mantle of Kindness if Fluttershy's cowardice had gotten the better of her that night. That why part of why Celly sponsored this Ponyville being founded in the first place! What had gone wrong!?
"Do hereby free Forbidden Fruit from her bonds!"
"Oh, thank you, THANK YOU!" Forbidden Fruit laughed as her form seemed to ooze outwards from the pony-shape it had been so long bound in. She seemed to look out as Pinkie Pie did when dealing with the Shadows directly, a wind whipping her mane as she called, "And thank YOU, you wonderful, selfish, short-sighted, stupid Shadow! Oh, I am going to have SUCH fun when you end up in my claws one day!"
Red Gala felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Like something completely and utterly awful was about to happen. And she couldn't shake the feeling of being incredibly guilty over what utterly awful thing was coming. "Rarity I'm sorry." She whispered not sure what she was sorry for.
The amulet around her neck cracked, rainbow colored light bursting out before it shattered. The sealed deity's eyes turned orange were white should be, her pupils becoming purple and resembling those of a Draconequus.
"Now, sp your condition doesn't wreck everything before I can finish transforming..." she said, putting a hoof to Red Gala's head, who'd feel like someone had put a door stop in her soul. "That should hold off the fusion completing itself for a few minutes...now, please excuse me while I change into something more comfortable..."
The unicorn floated into the air as a tornado of purple energy circled around her. Rarity shuddered, as if her Element of Generosity was in the presence of its polar opposite.
Rainbow Dash felt a strange urge to run off and demand her be made a Wonderbolt RIGHT NOW. Fluttercruel felt an urge to hunt down Photo Finish and DEMAND she be made a model. Rarity wanted all of Ponyville to shape up and stop acting like country sods and instead like a worthy neighbor of Canterlot. While their Elements protected them from anything more than a feeling, every being in the room felt their desires grow a little bit stronger.
The Queen Of Love and The Princess of Harmony's horns glowed, both protecting everypony present from the corruptive influence of the demon. Cadence making sure Shining Armor was safety within the protection of her magic. The QUeen of Love doing the same for her loyal subject.
Cheerilee felt like telling ALL OF HER STUDENTS to shape up already, to tell all of Ponyville's parents how THEY SHOULD BE raising their foals, to claim Big Mac for herself the way only a mare can the moment she became himself again. Cadence's magic washed over her, giving her a sense of sanity again.
Pinkie looked out the window to see the clouds above the studio darken like a storm was brewing. "Uh oh..."
Rainbow colored chains circled around Forbidden Fruit and shattered, resulting in the pony form beginning to crack before exploding outward in shards, revealing a purple miasma that gradually took the shape of a Draconequus before solidifying into a solid shape.
Her head resembled a more dragon shaped version of the one she had as a pony, the same color. She had the paw of a cougar, the claw of a dragon, the leg of a horse, a falcon talon for her other leg. She has one swan wing and one raven wing. Her main body is a deep purple color. A snake's tail curled around her legs. Her mane was in a long pony tail hanging off her back.
Her horns were antelope horn and an ibex, both curved back. Her form was far more shapely and, by Draconequus standards, incredibly beautiful. Even the ponies in the room couldn't deny she looked extremely attractive and tempting despite the monstrous appearance.
Miles away. Trixie heard an overwhelming booming voice in her head, she recognized it as the voice she had heard in her nightmares.
COME TO ME TRIXIE! REINCARNATION OF MAGIC STAR! WE ARE DESTINE TO BE ONE! Trixie held her head in agony.
"Mortals! Give into your inner beast! Let it loose! Let it roam free wild and free! Society says let it rot away behind bars in the zoo, but I say let it loose upon the world were it belongs! I am the temptation of power! I am lust! I am power's corrupting influence! I am the selfish black heart we all have! I am the devil on your shoulder that tells the angel to be still! I am the force that draws ponies to the Alicorn Amulet, the One Ring, and all the rest! I am the Hyde inside of every Jekyll! I am ISPITA LILITH SET! TEMPTATION UNBOUND!" the Draconequus announced as she emerged from her transformation and landed before Red Gala, who was still being kept stable by the spell she'd placed on her, preventing the fusion from progressing any further.
"First things first..." she said, snapping her fingers and causing the costumes on Fluttershy and Twilight to vanish into thin air, reverting them to normal. She then grabbed the trunk and threw it through a dimensional portal. "The easy part out of the way, time to do some surgery. This will sting a LITTLE bit, but you'll BOTH thank me when you have a tomorrow."
Even with the fusion temporarily stopped, Applejack found herself trembling, slumping to the ground. If she didn't come back from Manehatten...
She didn't awaken the Element of Honesty. Never saw the Blank Wolf, much less made friends with him. Never lived that other life and BECAME a wolf. "No!!" She had to escape, had to erase this fate, erase all of it... Someone seized her with strong hooves. She felt herself carefully hauled upright again, nose to nose with... "Snow Bound?"
"Sister," said the Blank Wolf's pony form. "No, Applejack. You must stay. HERE. Hold on tight to your existence AS A PONY and let her finish, or everything will come undone."
It was hard, it HURT... but the pain woke an Apple's stubbornness in her. "Yer right... Ah belong here. Ah belong... HERE."
The dark draconequus was hovering over them, watching curiously. "I see, now. If I had known I was doing you ponies such a favor... Still, a deal's a deal." Lady Babylon smiled, tapping her chin with dragon claws. "And tempting ponies who are freezing in the dark with a warm fire or a few grains is more Strife's work than mine. Shall we begin?" She snapped her fingers.
~Deep Within The Soul~
"So this be it eh mates?" Asked Steamer adjusting his sailor hat.
"Ah Reckion it does." Tex replied.
"Never thought our race would end this way." 4-Speed said.
"We aren't really going, we're becoming, better than being nothin'." Tex said.
"This is still a voyage we won't be returning from." Said Steamer.
"What . . . what is this place?" Red Gala asked, confused at the odd landscape. A crumbling pink villa. A decaying apple ochard. A run of ground steam ship. A race car that was without wheels. An abandoned ranch. An an appe orchard with no apples on the trees. And a Canterlot style steets and buildings slowly building over it by blue ponies with poison joke or a theater mask as their cutie marks.
"Inside the soul mi'lady, we're about to become one . . . And so was he with us." Steamer said point at a red stallion Red Gala recognized as Big Mac. Except . . . he was faded . . . like a ghost . . . less than a ghost . . barely an outline.
"But now that evil spirit is free, in exchange for you and he can exist as yer own ponies . . . and we'll be goin' with ya . . . so we can be somethin' again . . . never though it would be a mare, but ya be what ya be right?" Steamer said in his sailor accent.
"What . . .WHAT IS GOING ON!? Everything been so confusing since I entered the studio! And why did Rarity's friend need to make a deal with an evil spirit?"
" . . . To save you and Big Mac . . . you didn't need to be sacrificed to save the world." 4-Speed said.
"Those uses we were before?" Steamer said, "They didn't have a clue. Big Mac is more important than he ever imagined. More than some cheap perfect brothers who 'taught their little sister everything they knew' . . . what a cliche . . . but we were desperate, just to for ANY CHANCE to live again."
"Big Mac? What do they mean?" Red Gala asked.
" . . . He can't speak .. . because there's not enough of him left to speak . . . it's all gone to you." 4-Speed pointed.
Red Gala noticed the stream of light going from Big Mac to her . . . himself fading as it continued.
"No . . . I . . . I don't want to KILL ANYPONY!"
"Oh worse than killin' mi'lady, he's gonna go poof. And that'll make a lot of ponies lives harder . . . but it ain't fair ta ye to go down with the ship, the girls they knew this . . . so why good old Twilight made the deal she did. Heh. First Twilight's wish magic couldda fixed this up I bet." Steamer boasted.
"TELL WHAT"S GOING ON!!!"
4-Speed sighed. " . . . Red Gala Belle . . . you were never supposed to exist."
"That's stupid! My parents wanted me!"
" . . . Not what he meant mi'lady." Steamer said.
And she was told the truth.
"I . . . I was an ACCIDENT?!" Red Gala cried.
"Ya shouldn't have told'er that." Tex said.
"Sorry, being in the radiance of a light of existence . . . I think it's makin' me feel again." Steamer said.
"Why . . . why tell me such a horrible thing?" She cried.
4-Speed said. "Because you should get a say in this. Because Big Mac can't speak right now . . . Except ya know . . . he wouldn't want to KILL somepony to save himself, anymore than you would . . . you have HIS HEART after all. That evil spirit? She's gonna cause harm like ya won't believe." 4-Speed said, "We bunk mated with some of her victims who made a final deal to never be born."
~Outside the Soul~
Red Gala said, "I refuse."
"WHAT?!" The evil spirit boomed.
"I'm practicing my right to refuse surgery. You were all calling this surgery of the soul right? Well, I have the legal right as a citizen of Equestria, since I'm conscious and, I believe so at least, of legal age, that means I can formally refuse a procedure, even if it's one to save my life. I refuse. You said you could pull a heart out of a pony no problem? I bet the Princesses can too, that means that they can rip Big Mac's heart out of me instead."
" . . . YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!"
"And it means your contract is invalid."
"She is technically within her legal right Ispita." Luna gasped.
Rarity blinked away tears. SHe couldn't resist the memories of this big sister. Who had flaws, and virtues the same as anypony.
"THE DEAL'S ALREADY MADE! SHE CAN'T BACK OUT!! Now do you mind, I'm about to double this mare!"
And so she solemnly sweared- Pinkie Pie thought.
The door opened, Pinkie Pie zoomed to see Coffee Swirl, taking the coffee in his hooves and downing it in one gulp.
"THANKS! Something even stronger than the coffee you drank to charge yourself up before fighting Morning Star? Thanks! And you're gonna need that sword to keep off Miss Temptation over there! You don't really have any overwhelming wants, so her magic can't really effect you direcrtly."
"THAT WAS FOR RED GALA AND BIG MAC YOU STUPID IDIOT!" Coffee Swirl snarled. "The power of my magic copy should have safely separated them!"
"Sorry. I don't think it would have QUITE worked like that since their inner light would have still been one piece! I'm gonna need that coffee in my tummy more TO HELP Red Gala and Big Mac!"
Pinkie breaking more laws of physics than normal, grabbed a portable camera from the supply closet. "THE SHOW MUST GO ON!"
Then she grabbed a hold of Red Gala. "Do you want to die? And do you want Big Mac to die instead?"
"NO AND NO! But a lady wouldn't stab somepony else in the back just to save herself!"
"GOOD ANSWER!" She looked around at her beloved 40th Wall studio. "And I get the feeling I'm gonna have to completely rebuild the studio after this is over." Pinkie Pie sighed. "BE BACK SOON GUYS! KEEP HER BUSY WHILE I'M GONE! Rarity, I'm borrowing your big sister!"
"YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Ispita snarled.
"OH yes WE ARE!"
"Twilight, can you create an anti-teleport ward on the all of Ponyville and most of everfree?"
"EVEN I'M NOT THAT POWERFUL! AND NOT WITHOUT SO MCUH TIME THAT-" Coffee Swirl without a word opened Twilight's throat and poured a spare cup of the extra-special mix down her throat.
Twilight shuddered, looking ready to explode, but the anti-teleport field appeared.
Pinkie Pie took hold of Red Gala and zoomed at Pinkie Pie speed out the door.
"Too bad for you the inside of this studio exists outside of Ponyville due to its nature." Ispita growled. She napped her fingers.
Instantly appear were ponies, all with glowing orange eyes.
The Flim Flam brothers. A Diamond Tiara. A SCOOTALOO. TWO Rainbow Dashes (both with bloody hooves). An Applejack and an Applebloom. A Trixie. THREE Pinkamenas. The residents of Sunnytown as normal ponies. Three mutant Flutterponies with fins instead of dragonfly wings who were familiar to Luna only.
"BRING THEM BACK HERE!"
"Yes Mistress." Her horde obeyed and charged after Pinkie and Red Gala.
Shining Armor brought up a force field to block them but Ispita PUNCHED through it. Her paw stinging after.
"WHAT THE BUCKING TARTARUS?!" Applejack screamed.
"I've been to many world lines . . . you'd be surprised how desperate some ponies can get."
Rainbow Dash asked, "If you have versions of us as your slaves, why did you need US?"
Lady Babylon chuckled, "Oh, they're just warm ups and ponies who I decided to give an alternate deal to when they STILL wouldn't release me. Or ones who betrayed their Elements so far they could no longer free me."
Pinkie Pie looked back at the horde following her. "Luckily I don't think she's ever heard of 'conservation of ninjutsu' before!" Pinkie Pie said looking at her portable camera still holding onto a screaming Red Gala as she super sped through Ponyville, still in flux between different timelines, and to where she hoped to find the solution to all of this.
Ispita meanwhile, summoned an imitation of the One Ring, and on her other limb an ORNAGE LANTERN ring, the flash stone, a soul eating sword that moved on its own, and that looked like an Alicorn Amulet!
"And you say she isn't a Mary Sue?" AJ asked Snow Bound.
"She may be a goddess. Those objects however ARE a contamination! EN GARD INVASIVE GODDESS!" Snow Bound became the blank wolf.
"Don't mistake me for a Invert little doggie, you can't bite me and expect me to go poof!"
"let'S seE abouT youR toyS theN!" The wolf pup snarled.
In a flash, AJ was the Opaque Wolf.
The GOOD Queen Chrysalis, Cadence, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle, and Shining Armor,all fired at once at the goddess, while the rest charged ready for battle.
"Here we go." Coffee Swirl rolled his eyes and drew the haunted sword.
Ironically, the first one to get through . . . was Cheerilee?
"WHAT THE TARTARUS ARE YOU DOING?! YOU WANT THIS MORE THAN ANY OF THEM!"
"Because this made me realize . . . BIG MAC WOULD NEVER WANT TO BE SAVED IF IT WAS THROUGH HELPING A MONSTER LIKE YOU!!!!!" Cheerilee screamed and she head butted the goddess.
Back with the portalable camera, and the horde of ponies who had sold their souls to Forbidden Fruit, Pinkie Pie had taken Red Gala into the Everfree. Going through some nasty briar patches.
"OW! OW! OW! Pinkie Pie! Where in the hay are we going?!"
"THE ONE PLACE THAT CAN SET THIS RIGHT WITHOUT US LOSING ANYPONY!"
"I believe you'll find it that way." Pointed a pegasus with a clock work wing.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Thanks for foolish little ponies, I've been tied up in knots, and my children aren't quite enough to fix everything. I'll need to have a word with them about letting things get so bad mama needs to step in. And I need to finish that chat with sister Luna too it seems."
"So my idea doesn't count as cheating?"
"I had accepted this possibility the moment it was suggested as a world line . . . but sadly Twilight Sparkle had to accepted or reject Temptations offer first since I took a vow not to provide third options in such situations. Oh, and just to hedge bets."
She touched her feathered wings to Red Gala. Who gasped as a realization hit her.
"Beauty . . . can be truth . . . truth can be beauty . . . " In the vault, the Element of Honesty shined again, and Luna stopped having visions of her Nightmare Moon self ruling over a world of endless night.
"Just in case a sacrifice is needed to stop Temptation after all, you won't have to worry about missing an Element of Harmony." She said to the newest Element of Honesty. Applejack feeling the same odd presence that Twilight did when Trixie first awoke as an Element of Magic.
"Thanks weird pegasus lady with clockwork wing!"
"I suggest you get back to running, the horde of Ispita's contract slaves is right behind you."
"OH! RIGHT!"
"HII-YAAA! Sorry about that Applejack, I know you wouldn't have done whatever it is you agreed to if you had a choice." Rarity said after she delivered a flying kick to the head of the contract slave Applejack.
The contract slave Applebloom for a moment showed dismay of her sister getting hurt. Her Applejack had sold her Applejack's soul to Ispita to cure Applebloom of the Blank Curse after Applebloom had come back to the farm an undead pony after all. How could you say that wasn't love?
"RARITY?!"
"You . . . "She puffed. "Are a hard pony to catch, thankfully the nice mare with the clockwork wing offered me a lift. I'm just going to buy you some time. You have a plan yes? I can tell this isn't your old nonsense . . . that isn't who you are anymore."
"I think the readers get that." Pinkie Pie grinned. "But Rarity, there's no possible way-"
"I AM GENEROSITY IN THE GUISE OF A PONY! I AM FIGHTING FOR MY SISTER! I WILL HOLD THE LINE!" Rarity shouted. "I SHALL NOT LOSE TO SLAVES OF TEMPTATION!"
"Sis! Don't do this!" Red Gala begged. " . . . I'm not real."
"You! When did you . . . you're real now. Go Pinkie!"
"Gotcha!"
"RARITY!!!!"
Pinkie Pie spotted it. What she had been looking for this whole time. The hole leading to the Mirror Pond. The one way to separate Red Gala and Big Mac, and both being given a light of existence of their own. . .
Just like those many clones had had their own lights of existence, had souls, before Heart World Twilight deleted them to ferreted the real her out.
Pinkie Pie allowed herself a moment of pity for the innocent clones Pinkies in the heart world. Then she jump down the hole to where somewhere the Mirror Pond lay waiting, Red Gala still calling for her little sister.
'If Red Gala and Big Mac safely become two existences on their own, then big ugly Girl-Type Discord-But-Not-Discord won't be able to fulfill her end of the deal and she'll have to seal herself back up!'
-
Ispita and Cadence both fired magical beams at the same time. The two blasts collided and canceled one another out like matter touching anti-matter.
"What? That was...strange..." Cadence admitted.
"Little Temperance Tarot, don't you know?" the Draconequus asked. "Temperance is self restraint, we are the two forces that battle in the hearts of every mortal..."
Ispita slipped on her One Ring copy and vanished from sight. A few seconds later, she found Ispita's snake tail wrapped around her neck like a boa constrictor. "But unfortunately for you, I've had three thousand years to stockpile evil artifacts that only I can use safely."
She threw Cadence hard to the ground and then attempted to turn the Alicorn to glass with a spell from the magic cloak.
Shining blocked it with a shield spell, though the shield ended up with a lair of glass on it. Cadence stood back up. "That's fine, I have Shining Armor."
Ispita then had to use her Orange Lantern Ring to shield herself from a twin blast from both ponies.
~IN EVERFREE~
Rarity leapt back from a sonic scream from the three sirens who seemed strangely familiar to her.
"You know, if Ispita hadn't resurrected us weakened, we'd ALREADY have won," said Aria Blaze.
"Yeah, but wouldn't she be stupid to trust us to obey her at full power?" Sonata asked in her normal ditzy fashion.
Adagio faceclawed. "Unfortunately, the old witch isn't stupid."
The trio prepared to try and blow the mare away again, but another sound wave fired and canceled the attack out. "What?!"
"Hello, Adagio, long time no see."
Rarity blinked, turning to find herself facing Melody, now with two wings that looked strangely like Cadence's on her back. With her was her old band the Rockin' Beats. "What?"
"Reality is being bent in so many knots, Mortis said we could come help you, Rare. Like I would've let even him stop me from helping my descendant," Melody said with a smile. "Ready to have a good old Battle of the Bands, Adagio?!" she asked her old rival. "Unless you feel like repenting and coming back with me to Heaven. I'm an Angel of Music so I can give that offer!"
"Never! I LIKE being this way," the Siren replied, but gave a shark like smirk. "But I can't say I don't like the idea of us having one last battle," she said, but gave a snarl at her old friends that were on the Beats' side. "I thought you hated her."
"...We've had a long time to reconcile," Sweet Notes replied. "Please! If you valued our friendship at all, don't do this!"
Adagio snarled in rage. "No. If you're with her, you're against us. Simple as this. Now let's battle!"
"Welcome to the show
We're here to let you know
Our time is now
Your time is running out,"
"Sorry Adagio, but this isn't our show any more, and we can't let you run rampant," said Melody. "A one, a two, a one, two, three!"
"Sweet music...ooh, sweet music
That's what I hear then you appear
Sweet music...ooh, sweet music
Life is in tune when you are near…"
Rarity felt a second wind as her family's ancestral song collided with the Siren's magic music, and did a spinning jump kick to the head of a Rainbow Factory Rainbow Dash.
However, the two good forces didn't notice one Pinkamena who wore a top hat and a black cape slip away and pursue Pinkie and Red Gala.
~AT FORTH WALL STUDIO~
Steel clanged on steel as Coffee Swirl blocked a strike from Ispita's floating sword. While possessed by several spirits, the sword itself did not have a soul to steal, so Squire, Patch and Logan were safe, provided they stayed in the sword.
"I am getting more and more sick of being the plaything of a bunch of incompetent deities."
"YOU DARE BLASPHEME US WHILE WE ARE HERE!?" Luna had reverted to the Royal Canterlot Voice again, deflecting a blast that vaporized part of the floor.
"I BLASPHEME ALL OF YOU! NOW SHUT UP AND FIGHT, PRINCESS CAPSLOCK!"
Ispita laughed out loud to Coffee Swirl's statement. "Oh I AM SOOO MAKING THAT MY RING-TONE! That was hilarious! I've heard some blind self-righteous smack talk before! But that takes the cake! Bwahahahaha! Ow! My sides!" She fought with her lower limbs as she laughed so hard she hugged her stomach.
Doc Kabuto just stared at what Coffee Swirl had said. "That . . . is the hideously RACIST statement I've ever heard!"
"WHAT?!" Coffee Swirl.
Love Queen Chrysalis said, "Concepts aren't an elected office, nor are they some super-powered upper class, nor are they an inherited monarchy. They are living pillars doomed to hold up the weight of creation for all existence. You call the wind and tides incompetent in your foolishness."
Applejack slapped him. "Ah may not like Ma Fate, but incompetent is the LAST THING SHE IS!"
Cadence slapped him. "Auntie Luna has worked hard to win back Equestria's acceptance, and worked even harder to become a better pony, don't you dare call her in competent!"
Twilight Sparkle slapped him. "I AM SICK OF SELFISH EGOTISTICAL NOBLES CALLING TEACHER INCOMPETENT! And I'm ashamed for you to hear YOU say that! She's worked harder and longer than any pony alive!"
Shining Armor slapped him. "MY WIFE IS NOT INCOMPETENT! YOU HAVE NO BUCKING IDEA HOW MANY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS SHE WENT THROUGH! Just to make sure changelings who had nothing to do with the invasion weren't persecuted and were allowed to peacefully become citizens of Equestria and to get their zebra slaves the independence, self-determination, and freedom of choice they needed to make their own decisions! YOU FLANK HOLE!!!!"
Fluttershy slapped him. Well, more like a light tap.
"Angry at me for blaspheming against YOU Princess Gaia?" He sneered.
"No. That was for Fluttercruel, she is half-Draconequus after all. You were insulting her too. And I don't like ponies who insult my daughter, especially with how far she's come from . . . from the horrible way she was before . . . to the good friend she is now. And you WILL apologize young stallion!"
She shifted to Fluttercruel who then slapped him again. "Sorry Swirl, but that one WAS for mom! I knew she screwed up, and screwed up badly. AND I KNOW SHE HURT YOU! SHE KNOWS SHE HURT YOU! But she's been making it up every inch of the way with ponies who GENUINELY have been benefiting from her gifts! Not just her forcing them on others! Sorry, but you ARE being a jerk-flank."
Maud Pie slapped him. "For you, Goddess of Nothing?"
"I have no idea what you mean. I was slapping you for Pinkie Pie. The cat tribe worship her as a goddess from what I've heard, and my little sister is NOT incompetent! She's a clown, but that's her special talent! AND I'M PROUD OF HER!"
"OKay! Okay! I get it! I was being a racist flankhole! I get it! I bucking apologize! There was nothing common sense or bad ass about what I said! Now can we get back to fighting?!"
"Actually we were. Your flank-holish statement, was so over blown, and so ridiculously racist, and self-centered, that it was beginning to feed the goddess of Temptation over there. So we had to get back humble, dutiful, zen-like, one-with-himself, knows-who-he-is, Coffee Swirl back first." Pinkie Pie explained.
"Oh. Okay. I get it. I was being a jerk. And insulting a lot of decent forces. I apologize for real. Now let's get back to it!"
Maud Pie added, "And thank you by the way. For finally choosing to do something."
"Ditto." Fluttercruel said and kissed him on the cheek.
Coffee Swirl blushed. "FOR MY GODDESS FLUTTERCRUEL!" He shouted. His soul sword suddenly glowed bright white, and shattered the sword eater sword to pieces with one swing.
"HEY! You break it you buy it!" Ispita snarled.
"Buck you." Coffee Swirl said, none but the subject disagreed with him.
The Opaque Wolf snarled at Ispita's new rings. "Ah thought we done took away your toys."
The draconequus waved her cougar paw lazily, directing the floating sword while hardly seeming to pay attention to it. "Hello? Full fledged Concept here? Oh, little wolf, what's it like to have so much power, and still be completely out of your league?"
"Shut up! Snow Bound, you get her left flank. Ah'll... Where'd ya go?" AJ narrowed her eyes at that witch. "What did you do with him?"
She laughed. "Temptation is a trial that all creatures..."
"... must face alone, in their heart of hearts," she told the Blank Wolf, on a high mountaintop, in whipping and gusting snow.
The Wolf growled deeply, glancing left and right, but there were sheer cliffs on every side.
"Now... what do YOU want?"
He planted his forepaws firmly. "I am the Blank Wolf. I want nothing..."
Ispita stuck a forked tongue out, making gagging motions. "Ooh, I am the big scary Blank Wolf," she deadpanned. "I'm a thing with a purpose. Blah, blah, blah! We both know you've grown beyond that, pup." She stroked her chin. "Applejack! That's what you want." She wrapped around the Wolf, crooning in mock sympathy. "Your only friend."
"In this life," snapped the Blank Wolf, taking a swipe at her, but his paw passed through purple smoke, which quickly reformed.
"You are immortal," said Ispita smugly. "And if she has her way, she won't be. She'll die, and you'll be all alone again."
"And you can 'fix' that?" said the Wolf guardedly.
"Of course!"
The Blank Wolf held his tail low and folded his ears, claws driving right into the stone beneath the snow. "And my wishes, my pain... should deprive her of her choice... why?!"
She blinked, seeming taken aback. "Why, because it's what you want. Does there have to be another reason?"
The Wolf tossed his mane and HOWLED. Snow banks tumbled, and the very stones and even the air itself shattered, cracking open. He glared back at her over his shoulder. "You waste your breath, tempting me." He sprang through a crack in the air, escaping.
The two wolves nuzzled. Then,
"THAT'S HORSEAPPLES!" Applejack said. "TEMPTATION IS THE ONE THING SOMEPONY WHO HAS FRIENDS NEVER HAS TO FACE ALONE!!!" The Opaque Wolf, given expressed permission to harm rogue concepts, like Discord, Morning Star, AND Ispita, clawed Temptation's face . . .
"MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!"
"Let's make both sides match!"
"AGH!"
~IN EVERFREE~
"It's down here Red Gala! Now remember the chant I told you! You have to say it word for word or nothing will happen."
"Will this work?" Red Gala asked.
"It has to." Pinkie Pie said. 'The one-who-makes of this world approved of the world line where Octavia's innocent clone made by Rarity's black magic in the heart world was resurrected when Ocatvia chose to use the mirror pond. That means there's a precedent for this! Which means it WILL work!'
"She can't say the chant if her throat is sliced open."
Red Gala and Pinkie Pie stopped. Between them as a large glowing pond, was a Pinkamena with glowing orange eyes, wearing a top hat and cape. Except she managed to make it not look cliche.
"I am Miss Pie, though the role I am known for more is Edward Hyde. I'm not like the others. I WILLINGLY serves Ispita! She's everything I am!"
"YOU CAN'T KILL HER!" Pinkie Pie pointed out, "IF you do, Forbidden's contract can't be fulfilled and she'll be sealed up again anyway!"
"True. But I think with a sliced open throat, she can't say the chant, and I know enough about medicine to keep her alive long enough for Miss Ispita to perform the ritual."
"So all I need to do is keep you busy long enough for Red Gala to sing the chant, use the pond, and Forbidden's mean party is ruined."
"You forget. This was all Big Mac's fault to begin with. He chose to put on that costume instead of get over his fear of women. It's his own fault."
"And I'll help him." Red Gala said, "Because that's the right thing to do. His sister and my sister are dear friends after all."
"No Pinkie Pie has ever proven stronger than Edward Hyde!"
"Well I'm gonna be the first then!"
"Famous last words!"
"Don't count on it! Remember the words Red Gala!" Pinkie Pie fired a party canon right at Edward Hyde.
-
BACK IN THE STUDIO:
Ispita howled, her voice broken teeth scraping over slate, as the Blank Wolf sank its fangs into her clawed hand with the Orange Ring on it. On the other side the Opaque Wolf drove its fangs through her hand with the One Ring on it.
Both cursed artifacts vanished along with the claws they'd been on.
"You mangy mutts!" Ispita flung both wolves away. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to get both of those?" She backed away from them and the ponies, snarling. She reformed her hands as the, or A, Alicorn Amulet came to her throat, shining like a dark star and the air hissing around it...
Just in time for Rainbow Dash to Sonic Rainboom her right in the face. Ispita smashed into the wall and peeled off from it, little blue pegasi circling her head before she reinflated herself. She reeled as the pegasus drove home several dozen hoof shots to her scarred face and jaw.
"Forget it, lady!" Dash said as she gave her a few more punches. "I'm sick of villains hurting ponies I care about! We're not turning you loose just so Red Gala and Big Mac can come back, we're gonna save them in spite of you!"
Ispita growled and grabbed.
"Dash, look out!" Fluttershy was just a moment too slow as Ispita twisted the wing joint between her claws. Dash dropped with a yell, her wing flopping.
"My wing..." Dash hissed against her pain, and recoiled as a golden pegasus grinned at her.
"Wanna fly again, better than ever?" She asked in Ispita's voice. "Want your little orange horsefly to fly as well as you, to be your REAL daughter, for her rotten abandoning family to never return? I can do it all for..." Her voice broke off when Fluttercruel gave her a kick that snapped her jaws shut and sent teeth flying. Ispita waved one claw and repaired them.
"I'll fly again," Dash said with a snort, rising on shaky legs. "An' I'll teach Scoot ta be the best flyer ever! And even if her parents come back," her breath caught, "I'll always be there for her."
"Always." Twilight, Cadence, Love Queen Chrysalis, and Luna's horns both glowed, the goddesses' and Twilight's combined magic repairing the damage to Rainbow Dash's wing.
Maud Pie looked at the video monitors in the corner of the room . . . one of them still picking up the feed from Pinkie Pie's portable camera. She'd seen Rarity choose to take on the horde of Forbidden Fruit contract slaves herself.
"You. The blue pegasus."
"My name is Rainbow Dash!"
"Rainbow Dash . . . get help and go help Rarity . . . she's stalling the slaves all by herself. She needs help."
"When did Rarity run off?!" Twilight exclaimed, realizing what a truly chaotic mess this had all become. She couldn't even tell who was doing what where anymore! It was all madness! There were simply too many ponies involved in all of this!
As another of the wall had a giant hole blown in it as Shining Armor deflected an attack by the Flash Stone aimed at Twilight with his shield.
"No offense Rainbow Dash, but we think thou shall be of greater use there!"
"You're saying I can't handle this nag?!"
"Rarity is fighting TWO of thou!"
"Okay . . . good point. . . . Please everypony be safe. Uh, which way did she go?"
"Trust me. You won't miss it. Just head from here to Everfree." Maud said looking at the monitor feed seeing Pinkie Pie fighting Miss Pie and Red Gala trying to get around them.
RD nodded, then was suddenly trapped in a bondage gear that seemed tailored made for her body, she felt her self determination slipping as her struggles in it became less.
Love Queen Chrysalis blasted it to nothing, and RD resumed her flight.
Ispita snarled at the love queen, "You make me sick! You had so much potential and you threw it all away for BLECH! Love and compassion!"
"No, I threw away NOTHING and REACHED my potential. If was the wicked me that squandered it!"
"No, she came VERY CLOSE to getting what she wanted, if not for meddling idiots she'd have gotten it. You've done nothing of true worth here. Be gone!" Ispita clapped her hands, and a giant magic mirror appeared above both Love Queen Chrysalis and Doc Kabuto, falling on them both, leaving no trace behind. And the mirror vanished. "Back to your own world and stay there you pests!!!"
Then she drew a fancy looking set of knives, threw several at Shining Armor when his shield locked, then at the same moment, one threw at Cadence, she dodged it, mostly, but it did cut along her side, drawing blood.
The weapon flew back into temptation's hooves.
"CADENCE! YOU ARE DONE!" Shining Armor formed a box around the goddess and closed it around to crush her into nothing. She punched at it shattering it.
She sneered at the Flutters.
"What a failure of a Draconequus! You couldn't fight without your mother protecting you if you tried!"
"WHAT YOU SAY YOU NAG! Cruel! No! She's baiting-"
Then she stabbed Fluttercruel with the same blade as Cruelty charged.
"-you."
Stone spread from the stabbing, slowly petrifying the pegasus, leaving her helpless.
"Cadence can't help what she is, and you can't help what you are. Cadence's blood turns you to stone by mere reaction alone! As a lesser draconequus, you don't have the spiritual power to resist."
Meanwhile, while the odd mare Melody and her musicians were keeping the three evil flutterponies busy. But she still had the Flim Flam unicorns.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica: Hangyaku no Monogatari / Rebellion OST - Absolute Configuration
TWO bloody Rainbow Dashes. Trixie. Two straight maned Pinkie Pies. The seven earth ponies of Sunnytown. Applejack and Applebloom. And Diamond Tiara. And Scootaloo.
She screamed to herself in her head as she fought, and pummeled the now living and mortal Sunnytown ponies. These are not my friends, these are not my friends, these are not my friends, these are not my friends-
Rarity felt her two rear legs caught in Flim and Flam's telekenesis. Then her mane was turned into a HIDEOUS green mess by Trixie, shocking her stunned. Then she was rammed by the two bloody Rainbow Dashes at the same time into a tree. Then Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Diamond Tiara used each other as jumping stones and hit her in the stomach, making her gasp. Seeing Bloom, Scootaloo, and Tiara (who she hadn't seen in a year) attacking her was even more shocking. Then the Pinkamena came at her with bloody weapons, their mistake as Rarity's magic threw them out of their hooves as far away as possible, making them look awkward and confused, apparently that had never happened to them before.
Then the orange eyed Applejack kicked her in the jaw.
"Sorry 'bout this Rare, but Ah gotta obey mah mistress, Ah've gotta contract."
"Break it!"
"Can't. Sorry."
That was when Fleetfoot, Gilda, and Rainbow Dash came crashing in.
"But those are-" Fleet Foot's eyes widened.
"No time to explain just go for it!" RD shouted.
Fleet Foot pin balled around the enemy, knocking out the Sunny Town ponies.
Gilda's claws grabbed onto the heads of the two Pinkamena and slammed into the ground making an impact crater. "Wish this was a time when I'd have been able to enjoy that."
"KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!" RD said zig-zagging around orange eyed Trixie before zoomed under her and knocking the magician on her back.
"WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS CRAZY PARTY?!" Rainbow Dash then screamed at the top of her lungs seeing Melody and her band keeping the sirens busy.
"TOTAL MADNESS!" Green maned Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs too.
"Sorry 'bout this Scoots! Don't know how that witch suckered you, but gotta do this!" RD said shook at Scootaloo, catching her off guard and fling her into the air before catching her and then doing a double chop to her neck, knocking her out.
"I said about the same thing, when I killed my Scootaloo." Said one of the bloody Rainbow Dashes, looking sick and distant.
"WHAT? HOW COULD YOU!"
"She failed her flight examine, DUH!" Said the other bloody Rainbow, this one grinning sadistically.
"It's the pegasus way." Said the first Bloody Rainbow. "Those who don't pass are turned into Rainbows, simply as that. The first bloody Rainbow Shivered.
"Why give somepony a second chance to fail?" Shrugged the second one. "All go the Rainbow Factory and are put into the pegasus device."
"W-W-WHAT!? THAT THING ISN'T REAL! IT'S JUST A BOOGY-MARE STORY!"
"I wish I lived in your reality." Said the First Bloody Rainbow.
"Oh grow up!" Said the second bloody Rainbow, "We mentored her, we trained her, AND SHE STILL FAILED US! Failures deserve what they get!"
"If she'd ever meant ANYTHING to you, you'd have saved her. The fact you killed her just proves you never did."
"SHUT UP!" Second Bloody Raninbow snapped.
"Abandoning her for one failure?! You call yourself the Element of loyalty?!"
"I'M LOYAL TO THE PEGASUS RACE AND CLOUDSDALE!"
"By being a monster and making it place of shame?!"
"She was never going to accomplish anything in her life!"
"My Scootaloo CAN FLY LOSER! And she's done a LOT to help Equestria! . . . Maybe you're the one who failed her?"
"I SAID SHUT UP!!!" The second Bloody Rainbow hissed blindly attacking.
The first bloody Rainbow followed. "I'm sorry. My contract says I have to obey. I have to murder you. Just like . . . I have to murder foals . . . "
"YOU HAD A CHOICE!!! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER BECAUSE YOU WERE ORDERED TO!"
"I had to obey! It's my duty!"
"WHERE'S YOUR LOYALTY TO HER?!"
"The greater loyalty is Cloudsdale!"
"I'm MANAGER OF THE WEATHER FACTORY! I'VE SENT PLENTY OF FOALS TO THEIR DEATHS! WHAT'S ONE MORE?!" Second Bloody Rainbow said. "I can't play favorites. That would be lower than low."
"It's needed, for the greater good of Cloudsdale, and the pegasus race." Said the first bloody Rainbow. "Those foals would have only lived a life of suffering, and never adding anything to the world and would still have to be fed, and so maybe starve others. It . . it would be cruel not to.
"WHAT'S LOWER THAN LOW! Is IF YOU BELIEVE THAT HORSEAPPLES! PONIES AREN'T STOCK! AND YOU NEVER GAVE THE A CHANCE TO SEE WHAT THEY'D ADD TO THE WORLD OR NOT! YOU DECIDED IF THEY LIVED OR DIED BASED ON WHAT YOU WANTED! Killing somepony because they might suffer?! Because they might just be a drain on things?! THAT IS HORRIBLE!!!"
"THEY SAID THEY'D TURN FLUTTERSHY AND DERPY INTO SPECTRA!" The first bloody Rainbow screamed, her agony finally break through the power of Ispita's contract as she fell, covering her ears. "DAD! I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT! SCOOTALOO!"
"What a cry baby." The second bloody Rainbow Dash said before RD Sonic Rainboomed her at point blank range, deep within her, Rainbow Dash found she didn't care if this killed this monstrous version of her or not. The shock wave knocking EVERYPONY PRESENT off her wings and hooves.
Gilda was caught by the Flim Flams was slowly being plucked by their magic until Fleet Foot zoomed behind them and knocked their heads together. "Fastest of the Wonderbolts boys!"
"Diamond Tiara! Please! Appleboom! She can't hold you if you aren't part of her bargain! Just break the contract!" Rarity begged defending herself from foals.
"Ah can touch mah family without killin' em . . . Ah'm sorry." Applebloom said.
Diamond Tiara only grimaced. Like she didn't dare say anything.
"It was your mother wasn't it?" Rarity looked right at her.
"Be quite!" Now shouted the orange eyed Diamond Tiara.
Maud Pie back in the studio said, not really knocking how she knew what she was saying, it felt like the memories of a stranger. "If Red Gala and Big Mac become separate existences with their own lives . . . then not only will Temptation's contract be invalid, she'll have had no reason to have come here at all, this whole battle will be erased. And she'll have never been unsealed. Time should reset or thing be rewritten so the damage this entire battle is causing to reality won't have happened." Maud Pie said as she stepped out of the way of the ceiling nearly falling on her and the ceiling piece punched straight through the floor. "All red Gala needs to do is use the pond."
"ENOUGH!" Everypony froze as Ispita rose. her eyes frozen pits. "I am a freaking GODDESS, and I will NOT be ponyhandled like this!" She waved one claw and a roughly worked cauldron of black iron appeared beside her. From it, half-rotted deathly-looking pegasi oozed forth, arrayed in armor, their eyes hard as flint as they focused on the ponies. "Get them, Cauldron-Born!"
The undead pony warriors silently charged the ponies before them. Meanwhile Ispita lifted up the Alicorn Amulet and snarled words in a language unused since before Equestria's world was more than boiling gas in a primordial solar system.
Unseen by her, Twilight Sparkle worked a quick and silent spell of her own, her horn shimmering purple.
Trixie appeared before Ispita with a flash and stared at her in shock. "What is this place? And who are you, and what is..." Her voice trailed off as she saw the Alicorn Amulet.
"Take this, Trixie Mid-summernight," Ispita purred out, holding the Amulet towards her. ""Take the power that tempts you so. You know you want it."
Slowly, Trixie's horn began to glow purple and the Amulet drifted from Ispita's claws.
###
BACK AT THE MIRROR POOL:
Pinkie dodged, ducked, bobbed, and weaved... as Hyde looked on in confusion from the other side of the chamber. Ten feet beside her cake dripped slowly from the cavern wall where the party cannon had missed her entirely. Finally she couldn't take it any more and yelled:
"Just what are you doing?"
"Oh, this?" Pinkie stretched one last time. "Just keeping you busy." She pointed at Red Gala, approaching the Mirror Pool. Hyde whinnied and charged her, only to go sprawling as Pinkie stuck a hoof right in front of her. Pinkie dove on Hyde and both ponies vanished in a dustball. It ended when Pinkie leaped back from it, with the confused and furious Hyde bound by their own cape.
"Rule number one," Pinkie said in a voice oddly like Photo Finish's. "No capes!" She looked over at Red Gala, who looked down at her own reflection in the pool.
"And into her own reflection she stared," Red Gala said, feeling something in the Mirror Pool tugging at her.
"Say the words!" Behind Pinkie, more of Ispita's slaves charged in, with a rather battered Rarity still fighting furiously. From outside and past them could be heard the sounds of a battle of bands, the sirens versus Melody.
"Yearning for one whose reflection she shared." Red Gala said. She felt a tugging, like her body was wet clay and about to be yanked in half.
The once-undead Sunny Towners shrieked and charged. "NO! Don't let her do it! Don't make us those things again!"
Red Gala ignored them and focused solely on the words. "And solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared!" She walked into the Pool, through it.
Felt nothing but wet as she exited.
Wet and wretched.
It didn't work. Big Mac is... gone.
Somepony spoke beside her.
"Eeee-nope."
"NO!!!!!!!" Ispita screamed at the studio.
Shining Armor felt it. The same feeling he got when the wolf erased Nameless. The world was restructuring. But this time to make room for a new pony. Like it had with him.
-
"Did you forget Concepts are immune to paradoxes? Whether this battle never happened or not I'll still be-" Ispita started...
The shattered remains of Ispita's amulet floated up and circled her. The spirit of another Draconequus emerged from it. He had the arm of a grizzly bear, his other a Coyote, one leg that of a deer, the other of a grey wolf. He had a skunk tail and elk antlers, while his wings were those of a bat and a raven.
"Ispita Ispita! The years have not been kind!" the other Draconequus said in a playful voice.
"PAKAK! YOU ROTTEN SPIRIT!" Ispita yelled in rage.
"You're right paradoxes don't effect Concepts, but my curse included a 'reactivate if she shoots herself in the paw' clause, cause I'm Karma you know and you've got so much bad juju, and you didn't complete your end of the deal. So back in the can you go!"
"NO!" Ispita yelled as the other Draconequus flew through her, leaving the now completed pendent back where it once had been. Rainbow colored chains snaked outwards and covered her, reverting her back to purple smoke then forcing her back into her unicorn body. "NOT AGAIN!"
"Sorry, sister-in-law, Karma's a word my Shadow refuses to type!" The spirit looked to the assembled ponies. "Oh...Hi, I'm the guy who shoved her in there in the first place," he stated with a bow. "World's rewriting itself and reception stinks when you're sealed in a locket! Don't have time for the normal big dramatic speech. Maybe I'll have a guest appearance in the future!" he said, disappearing back into the necklace.
Twilight blinked, looking to Luna. "Uh..."
"That was Pakak, the God of Mischief and Karma who sealed Ispita in pony form," Luna explained. "He is not our concern at the moment."
-
" . . . This, isn't over little ponies, you face the impossible every day, and one day, you will need my services, and you will free me, and I look forward to that day."
"I have a question," Maud Pie said to Forbidden Fruit.
"WHAT you waste of sub-atomic particles?!" Forbidden Fruit said, a thousand exploding suns insufficient to express her fury.
Maud Pie grabbed a hold of her. Then whispered in her ear. "What do you suppose is going to happen if you get caught, unprotected, in a reality reconstitution wave?" Said the being in the room who had first hoof experience.
Forbidden Fruit's fury burn rage turned to frozen fear. She pulled and tugged at Maud Pie's iron grip. She shaped her telekenesis like a crow bar to try and wedge herself free, but Maud wouldn't budge. She kicked and blasted, but the mare was even tougher than she looked. Her horn glowed but remembered Twilight still had that anti-teleportation field up.
"Please . . . " Forbidden Fruit said, more like begged, "I may not be me anymore after!"
"I know what you mean." Maud Pie said, NOT letting go.
Applejack was looking at the monitor, seeing a mare and a stallion next to the mirror pond from the view of Pinkie Pie's portable camera. "Big brother." She said, she had never been so happy to see him.
-
Forbidden Fruit started laughing. Applejack frowned, annoyed at being reminded of her, when she'd rather be bounding through the shadows to go hug his brother this instant. "Ah think she's finally cracked," she growled.
"Ignore her," urged the Blank Wolf. "You should be a pony, now. You don't want to be left out of events when the world changes."
"Oh, right!" She shifted right there, saw Cadence's knowing smile and Luna's brief nod, while Twilight and Shining Armor seemed only briefly confused. Applejack gave the Blank Wolf a curious look. "Say, what if you..."
Did the Blank Wolf actually look flustered? "I..." He shook himself. "Fool pup. Inserting Red Gala will be chaos enough without risking adding Snow Bound as well."
Forbidden Fruit started laughing again, and struggled against Maud Pie, who seemed to have a grip of iron. "We never got around to discussing what you want, Applejack," she hissed. "You could have had your life back. All of your wolf friends restored to you!"
AJ stamped a hoof. "Restored as your slaves, probably! Besides, Ma... Ah mean, Rota Fortuna is gonnna fix all this right up."
"Oh. Oh, that is too much. You think that Fate will just give you what you want? More ambitious ponies than you have tried!"
AJ's face fell a bit.
"Do you think she regrets what she did to you? Do you think she'll say she's sorry?! We aren't capable of it." The bound temptress blinked, shivered. "Oh. This is going to sting a bit..." Outside, the contract slaves were fading away, along with the damage done to the forest. Gaping holes in the studio walls started to mend themselves.
The Blank Wolf moved close by Applejack's side. "I trust Mother. She will deal fairly with you."
Applejack took a deep breath. "Ah guess that's good enough for me."
Pakak's aspect emerged from Ispita's necklace. "I just realized something," the spirit said, tapping his chin. "There's an aspect of me in this necklace. Reality rewrites won't effect the REAL me, but what will happen to the aspect?"
Ispita's eyes went wide. "PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF LAUREN FAUST GET THIS THING OFF ME! I DON'T WANT FUSED WITH THIS JOKER!"
Pakak gave an 'ain't I a stinker' laugh. "Well, either that or the aspect of me will become something else. But most likely that's exactly what will happen, Ispita! Not to mention Rainbow of Lights' magic that SEALED you in the first place. Two good forces, one evil, that should REALLY influence the drawing, don't you think?"
"I'm a concept of another world! If you let this happen, my world loses a pillar of reality!"
"No," Luna said, trotting over. "This is, as Pinkie Pie puts it 'non canon'. Your fate here has no effect on the world line from whence you came. You will become a part of this world whether you like it or not."
"Face it, Ispita Karma finally bit you!" Pakak's aspect stated, biting Ispita as a literal metaphor. "And better? I'm an aspect of KARMA, which means who WE become will be DELIGHTFULLY IRONIC given your actions! My guess? You'll become a GOOD influence on one of the ponies you've spent the last...oh, almost two chapters I think tormenting! Maybe a brother for Rainbow Dash like she wanted? A friend for Spike? Princess Skyla?"
"NO!" Cadence yelled at the last one. "I've already got two demi-god/goddess babies! I'm NOT taking another right now!"
Pakak sighed. "Fine, would have been so karmic for her to be the child of her opposite concept."
"NO! ANYTHING BUT A POSITIVE INFLUENCE! MAKE ME THE LOWEST CRIMINAL! A PETTY THIEF! A NUISANCE! ANYTHING BUT A GOOD INFLUENCE!" Ispita yelled, looking sick just thinking about it. "I AM THE QUEEN OF BAD INFLUENCES!"
"Karma is as Karma does," the Aspect of Karma replied, hugging Ispita to make SURE they fused when the change happened. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm also Mischief, so you'll still be a joker!"
Pakak also looked to Coffee Swirl and his haunted sword. "Hey Patch! Love your work! I've never seen one hero give more evil overlords karmic deaths in my life!"
"...Please tell me this will be over soon..." Ispita said, struggling to free herself so she could cover her ears. It was clear she and Pakak didn't get along.
"She really going to become any of those? Or is that other freaky Draconequus just razzing her?" AJ asked the Blank Wolf.
"There is not exactly a lot of information on what will happen. Concept come into existence in a different way in her world. The rules are different. And there haven't been exactly many instance. I think only two in this world line. . . . And one happened before I was created, when the World of Dreams had to be unmade. There is simply no way to tell. She is a complete being. The aspect is not. And while the magic of the rainbow of light did seal her, it is not the rainbow of light ITSELF that her pendant. It's possible she might just become a seller of enchanted objects whose fate of those who buy them are more poetic and ironic than sadistic and manipulative. She'll become a simply unicorn filly, though whose filly, it can't be said before it happens. Maybe she'll become a baby dragon. There is no way to tell. That is Mother Fate's domain."
"Please! Don't do this! I promise never to bother your world line again! Cross My Heart! Hope To Fly! Stick a Cupcake in my eye! Just let me go!" Ispita begged.
"No." Maud Pie said simply.
"I'll terminate my contracts with my slaves!"
"That'll happen anyway."
"PLEA-EASE-EASE-EASE!" Ispita whimpered. She looked ready to cry. "I don't want to die!"
"Now we both know how those ponies of the age of dreams felt, don't we?" Not-Maud-Pie said.
The petrification the Flutters vanished.
Before Trixie vanished, along with the Alicorn Amulet, Twilight gave her a hug. "Nice seeing you again Trixie."
Trixie had her eyes closed as she hugged Twilight back. If she looked at the amulet, she didn't think she could resist putting it around her neck.
With the super-telescopic lens that only Pinkie Pie could have, RD, Gilda, and Fleet foot looked around as the contract slaves, Flim Flam, Trixie, the Rainbow Dashes, the fillies, and Applejack all faded away.
The sirens cursed as the same thing happened to them, pulled back into their own world lines.
Melody and her rock band just took a polite bow as they vanished. "Looks like our fight is still undecided Adagio . . . too bad. And hope you ponies enjoyed the last anniversary concert of the Rockin' Beats."
RD and Gilda and Fleet Foot high hoofed each other. Not knowing this fight where RD fought along side of her idols and her reunited friend were about to have never happened. At least she wouldn't have to remember the suffering of seeing the two Rainbow Factory Rainbow Dashes.
Inside the mirror pond cave, with her portable camera, Pinkie Pie watched as Hyde, and the Sunny Town ponies all faded away as well.
She focused on Red Gala and Big Mac. "We are SO NOT missing this before reality resets."
"Resets?" Red Gala asked. Big turned his head.
"Sure! Big Mac's existence was being remade into YOUR existence. But now that you've been made two separate existences, reality needs to rework itself to account for BOTH of you! Don't worry, as the center of the change, you'll both likely remember this world line. So go ahead you two, INTERACT! Say stuff!"
"I'm right here TOO you know!" Rarity snorted. "So I'm not even going to remember that Red Gala wasn't always here?"
"She'll have always been here. So of course you won't remember her not being here. How can you remember something that wasn't?" Pinkie Pie said sagely. Pinkie Pie whispered to herself, "Of course, Sweetie might remember, hard to say."
Pinkie Pie pushed Rarity towards the three, next to the mirror pond. "Now you three have a nice heart-to-heart while the world gets remade!"
Pinkie Pie picked up the portable camera and zoomed in.
-
Coffee Swirl, for his part, merely hoofed over a cup of exceedingly bitter coffee to the Flutters.
"I know neither of you will remember it, but I really am sorry." He sighed. "Just one more thing to never mention for me."
"You!" Ispita shouted at the barista. "I can-"
"Not interested."
"You don't even know what I was going to offer!"
He glanced at the bound draconequus. "Name one thing that you can offer me that I can't get on my own."
Ispita's eyes darted around frantically as she tried to think of an answer, tried to get any sort of sense of what the pegasus would want more than anything. But nothing was coming to her.
"That's what I thought."
-
Then for no apparent reason the what if machine turned itself on. It showed Humdrum leaping off a falling construction site. There was no sign of his teammates to rescue him. Instead grabbed his cape and used it as a parachute to land safely.
"Rule number one, no capes. Rule number two, forget rule number one!"