//------------------------------// // Ch. 5: Center of Gravity // Story: Nightmare Moon vs. OC // by TundraStanza //------------------------------// ---{???} All of these worlds will be liberated from order. My vengeful essence will drive them to destroy each other. Then, and only then, will they all understand that I am the answer to the universe. Haaaaaaa... ---{Dilan Shier} Somewhere in the dark... I wandered through my dreamscape. The usual faces were around. Spectrum was flying around fast enough to bat ten punching bags at once. Posh was meditating with her solid, yellow eyes open. Mistress Vine and N. A''ightmare were reading blank books. Reflect Sun was floating a few tiny flames around her horn, though I couldn't immediately tell if it was for leisure or concentration. I didn't bother looking for Tail Demon. He seemed to only talk to me when he was interested in eating hatred in the waking world. I was slightly more interested in the new face that was staring at a tiny galaxy. She was shoving a few star-shaped lights around. They were lining up into two straight lines, one on top of the other. I made my steps intentionally louder so that she wouldn't be surprised by my approach, yet she didn't seem to care. She simply sent the imaginary stars on their way. "Star Bright, I presume?" I lifted my hoof and rolled it over to try and catch her attention. "You know, it's kind of strange reuniting with oneself." The Nightmare unicorn didn't even turn her head. "I can't believe that some human is what drew all of these parts of me together, and yet here you are wanting to understand me a little better." "Is that okay?" I tilted my head to look at her from the side. From this angle, her slit blue irises were all that stood out. "That's up to you, Dilan." She finally turned her head and gaze toward me directly. "After all, it is your will that guides this body." She turned the rest of her body and trotted over. "However, that doesn't mean I can't contribute something of worth." She stretched her neck slightly and tapped her horn against my own. As I looked up, it looked like a bit of blue lightning surged out. But, it didn't feel like it was burning. If anything, it felt more like my head had been caught in a large gust of wind. She stepped back, and I opened my eyes wide. Star Bright sagely nodded once. "Before you wake up, let me give you a few pointers about basic levitation." --- Five hours later... "That's the idea anyway," said Star Bright with a shrug of her shoulder. "Nerual only knows if you can repeat those actions for real." "I'm just glad it's this power I'm getting from you." I smiled wryly. "I was kind of worried that you'd be showing me how to do tattoo removal." "Nah." She waved a hoof dismissively. "I've got to keep something to myself for the extremely rare occasion that your adrenaline actually calls upon me to bat for cleanup." "Anything I can do for you?" I asked. This provoked an awkward moment of silence as she stared at me, deadpanned. "Don't get us all killed against this upcoming danger." I chuckled once. "You got it." --- One hour after the sunrise, in the Canterlot throne room... "How can anypony eat that many rose petal pancakes in one sitting?" asked Fifty-one as we walked along. "Seriously, they aren't that good." Tundra shook her head during our trot. I let out a satisfied burp before patting my lips. "What can I say? Princess Luna's tastes kind of rubbed off on me." "Is that all that rubbed off on you?" asked a familiar voice. "Speak of the devil." I scrunched my lips into a half-smile. Princess Luna trotted along one side of the room. She was about as happy to see me as she usually was... which is to say she was mildly peeved with my presence. She and Princess Celestia stood at opposite windows of the room. Princess Twilight and her non-princess doppelgangers were concentrating at the center with a swirl of magic between the three of them. Rainbow flew in with a hoof against her chin. She looped around this way and that. All the while, she wouldn't take her eyes off of the magic spiral. She even waved a hoof through the swirl, with no visible effect. "What is this?" she asked out loud. "This is the portal basin," answered Princess Twilight. "It's only possible to make it without a physical mirror when at least three unicorns are all focused on it at once." "And since there are three of me," added Twilight with the belt, "it's much easier for all of us to think about the same exact thing." "But this alone won't lead us to the fusion entity," warned Earth-verse Twilight. "That's where you guys come in. Fifty-one, Tundra, and Dill Anne will all have to stand close to this portal basin and see if you can identify where this monster is. Then, we can open this portal with more precision so that we can all go through, find the source of the destruction, and deal with it." "I still have my doubts as to whether this will work," commented Princess Luna. "I have faith in Twilight," assured Princess Celestia, "all of her." "Hold on." Fifty-one held up a hoof. "You said 'we' can all go through. If all of the Twilights go through the portal, how can we be certain that the door won't shut behind us trapping us in that universe?" "That is where Luna and I will step in," said Princess Celestia, taking a couple steps forward. "Once the portal is opened, we can maintain the magical field necessary to allow everypony through and do our best to stop anything dangerous that tries to come here." "Sweet!" Tundra pumped up a fist... er, hoof. "What are we waiting for? Let's get to tracking!" Fifty-one nodded and stepped forward. Tundra and I trotted around in between the Twilights in the spaces left by their circle. I was doing my utmost to not get distracted by Princess Twilight's scary glare. Instead, I gazed into the spiral, looking for hints of the Nightmare's essence. Tundra held up a hoof and some ghostly ribbons faded in and out of existence. Fifty-one had his face held close to the center and was taking deep breaths. These had to be the slowest minutes that I ever experienced. There had to be several empty straws that I was scanning my eyes through. None of them held much if any coating of the Nightmare. By the lack of cheering, I surmised that my other-worldly partners were having about the same amount of luck in terms of sensing any unusual rage and spirit. But, I had to keep looking. How many ponies were getting pulled out of their homes and into the wrong worlds while time was slipping us by? Just when I was about to give up, a twinkling of red suddenly jolted out of the magic swirl. For the briefest of moments, it felt like the air around me was boiling hot. But, I saw it... right at the middle of the spiral. I couldn't mistake that feeling for anything else. My lips curled and revealed my snarling fangs. "Anger!" "Such evil reiatsu!" "Nightmare!" Apparently Fifty-one, Tundra, and I all sensed our respective target simultaneously. The two of them looked a little... different then they usually did. But, as quickly as I thought I saw a flash of red brush their eyes, the feeling of the Nightmare's presence had been minimized to a slight irritation. I quickly glanced to the left and right. The three Twilights had eyes that were glowing brightly in white. The spiral extended outward into a tall dome, made of nothing but magic and light. "Now!" the Twilights cried in unison. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna quickly concentrated their respective magic auras at the top of the dome. As soon as the streams were joined, Princess Twilight and the other two quickly stepped back. The three magenta auras shut off. The two unicorns panted as sweat dripped down the sides of their faces. Princess Twilight let out a long, low breath before looking up. "Great work, everypony," she complimented. "We're almost there." The tall, yet thin dome looked kind of like someone had widened the bottleneck section of an hourglass. There were magic lines rippling along the height of the thing. When I looked hard enough, I could faintly sense the Nightmare inside. So, this was a portal, huh? Quincy Twilight finally caught her breath. "I don't think I need to tell anyone here how dangerous what we're up against could be." "Anything fused with one world's Discord can't be good news," agreed Fifty-one. "I've got your back, Twilight," said Spike while patting his chest. "Let's get in there, smack that thing around, and get everypony home within a ten-second shot." Rainbow Dash smirked as she flapped in place. I swear I could hear Spectrum chuckling in the back of my mind. "Make sure to keep your guard up. Urgent as this matter may be, we won't do anyone any good by throwing ourselves against the wall without a reason to do so." "Dill Anne's right," agreed Earth-verse Twilight. "Whatever is in that world, err on the side of caution." "Caution is my middle name," said Tundra with a chuckle. "Really?" Quincy Twilight tilted her head. "I always had you figured as a 'Melodic Frost'." "Tick-tock, fillies and gentlecolts," interrupted Princess Luna while still shooting her magic. "Good luck, my little ponies," said Princess Celestia more gracefully than her sister. All of us gave our final nods of understanding. Spike hopped onto Princess Twilight's back. She flapped her wings and flew into the portal first. Rainbow Dash, Quincy Twilight, and Tundra rushed in after them. Earth-verse Twilight galloped in soon after that. "Ladies first," insisted Fifty-one while holding up a hoof. I closed my eyes and chuckled. Though, I quickly opened my eyes before galloping through the portal myself. That's when I found myself standing in... some place that I couldn't quite comprehend. ---{Tundra Stanza} ????? This place felt... very wrong. To even understand what was uncomfortable about standing on a floating island in this expansive world would require words that I just did not have. I wasn't even sure I was breathing, yet I was pretty sure that I hadn't fainted due to a lack of oxygen. I tried looking around, but I could not fathom what exactly I was looking at. The only thing that felt right here was the familiar reiatsu of the friends I had made in that alternate Equestria. I could see and sense that they were standing right beside me. But that was doing nothing to put my mind at ease. "What is this place?" asked Spike atop the Twilight with wings. "A better question is, 'What isn't this place?' " The reiatsu of Discord mixed with something else was rather potent right then. It was right on top of us when I saw... that thing. Its presence made even less sense than the world that it inhabited. I couldn't really tell where it started and where it ended. All I knew was that the entity... was. "And you even have an even number of competitors. This will be perfect." A giant appendage reached out from it. All of us leapt out of the way as best as we could. I already had my hooves out, ready to counterattack. In the blink of an eye, I had launched a twin-plume of crashing blue flames. They collided with the appendage and left what looked like a black stain against its skin... scales... surface. "Ah, good. A volunteer for the first round." I tilted my head. "Wait, what?" Before I knew what was happening, a flash of green light blinded me. When I could safely open my eyes again, I was standing on another large island. Yet for some reason, the Twilight with wings was standing in front of me. Though to be fair, she looked just as confused as I was as she looked around wildly. "Wha-What's going on?" she asked. A brightly lit up board appeared in thin air. It kind of resembled a stone tablet, not the standard flat-screen computer tablet but the really old rocky tablets like the ones on which the Ten Commandments were written on. It had several words scratched onto it as follows. Tundra Stanza vs. Princess Twilight Sparkle Quincy Twilight vs. Changeling Drone #51 Spike vs. Earth-verse Twilight Nightmare Moon vs. Soul Reaper Rainbow Dash "What the heck is this supposed to be?!" I shouted in demand. "You will fight each other for my amusement. Then, you will send your reigning champion against me for one final death. That is the will of the center of the universe." "You cannot be serious!" exclaimed Princess Twilight to the contrary. "I am not going to fight my friends on your terms." I crossed my front legs in a huff. "Fighting under duress once yesterday was one time too many." "Oh, but I think you will." There was a sound of an echoing snap. A rush of hot pain surged through my ears. I held my head in both of my hooves, but it wouldn't stop. Everything that I could see suddenly gained a huge splash of red. My teeth were gnashing against the pain. The little hairs on my hide were all standing. I couldn't force my brow into anything other than a furrowed expression. "You seek to destroy me, don't you? Give in to your hatred... your anger... your fears." I... I couldn't... think straight. My... my desires to... save... being pushed... thoughts... lost in a haze... no friends here... enemy to be destroyed... my... enemy... My enemy was right in front of me! "You will kill or you will die." Kill it... Kill it... Kill it... Kill it... "Fight!" I couldn't take it anymore! "Ban...kai!" ---{Kazekage Sode no Shirayuki} Everything was in flux. Red marked danger. I had to remove the danger. I launched my fourth dance blizzard without even considering where it would go. The danger flew out of the way. The danger fired something against me. I quickly sped out of the way. I flew over the danger and slashed it with my fan. The danger screamed. The scream was a distorted mess of some abomination. The danger grabbed ahold of me in some unholy grasp. The danger sent me headfirst into the ground. The danger disappeared and reappeared again. It fired a blast of souls, crying out for their pain to be ended. I could feel much pain from this attack. I focused my six petals of light to ensnare the danger. Without another moment to spare, I gathered my strength into my fans' edges. "Sixth Dance: White Guillotine!" I launched my fans as quickly as they could possibly spin. The danger was sliced in half. My fans flew back into my grasp. I breathed heavily and shallowly while sitting there on the ground. The pain was receding. I could see other colors besides red again. My eyes widened in horror as I saw Princess Twilight's body parts being scattered into this world's dark abyss. Winner: Tundra Stanza! ---{#51} The anger that I could smell was abhorrent in origin. It was all stemming from the fusion entity. When it forced two ponies to fight just then, it had somehow stained their very minds with that hatred. It was suffocating to witness all of that spreading over the platform, even if it looked like it was miles away. As quickly as it had started, the unnatural anger vanished. Only one of the two ponies was returned on the platform that floated back toward the rest of us. Tundra was visibly shaking. She smelled scared... really scared. There wasn't a trace of the bravado I had sensed on her before we jumped into the portal. What in the world happened over there? "Where's Twilight?" asked Spike with great concern. Tundra was hyperventilating. Sadness was mixing in with the scent of her being afraid. That wasn't a good sign. I sighed in a realization. That giant board from before may not have been just for show. Whatever it was, there was something about it that compelled those that stood on that platform to follow its rules. "She won't be able to return to us, Spike," I said while trotting forward. "Not until we can put this mad-ling down for good." "W...W...Won't... be able... to...?" Spike's emotions were a jumble of confusion and fear among a few other things. "We don't have any time to waste." I kept my face and my tone as neutral as possible. "Quincy!" "Y-Yeah?" Quincy Twilight stammered. Her bewilderment betrayed the fact that she was unprepared. "This creature has more power than we are capable of fighting off in our current state," I explained. "We'll have to play out its little game until it lets one of us confront it." She gulped. "Is there... really no other choice?" A flash of green light blocked out vision of anything else. I blinked, and the two of us were standing on opposite sides of a platform. The entity had shoved our turn to be right now. "Does this answer your question?" I asked rhetorically. ---