//------------------------------// // Battle // Story: Meltdown // by Fabulosity Personified //------------------------------// “Oh my gosh, is that Dashie? And Rarity? And AJ? And…” “Yes Pinkie, it’s us, now will ya please move, ya sittin’ on ma tail.” Pinkie shifted her weight to one side and giggled, “Sorry AJ.” Rainbow blew out a breath; if it were possible to scowl with a voice, she managed it. “Well you seem cheerful for someone who’s been locked in a pitch black dungeon, with no hope of escape, Pinkie.” “Who said there was no hope of escape? Have you silly billys even tried?” “Well, no darling, but if we can’t see, what possible hope do we have?” “Umm…” Everyone turned to where Fluttershy’s voice was coming from. “Rarity, umm, yeah. Don’t you have a horn? You’re a Unicorn.” Rarity was nonplussed. “What’s your point dear?” “Well, umm, it’s just that… when you do magic, your horn glows.” There was a stunned silence. One beat passed. Then two. Still the silence continued. “Umm… sorry.” Rainbow shook of the shock quickest.. “Fluttershy, why the buck didn’t you think of this earlier, for the love of Celestia.” “Well… in my defence, I would have thought that it was obvious?” “She’s got a point guys. I mean, I’m no pony, but even I know that Unicorn’s horns glow when they use magic.” “Well if you’re so clever, why don’t you breathe fire and light this place up that way? Oh wait, because you can’t.” “Rainbow! Don’t you dare talk to Spikey Wikey that way!” The room quickly descended into chaos as the ponies argued. Spike was yelling, Rarity was growling in Dash’s direction, Fluttershy was crying, and Applejack was threatening to lasso everypony. Pinkie sat, grinding her forehead with a hoof. This was why she threw so many parties; it was far easier to get along on the back of a party-high. Even the best of friends could end up bickering if they weren’t careful. Pinkie was painfully aware of why they were really fighting. Without Twilight there to hold them together as the cool voice of logic, they were just a fragmented group. After all, in the beginning, had they even really liked each other? It had been Twilight that had brought them together and bonded them into a cohesive force that had overcome the likes of Nightmare Moon, and without her they were beginning to fall apart again. They were still arguing and it was getting on Pinkie’s nerves. “WILL YOU ALL PLEASE BE QUIET!” With a roar, her party cannon fired into the air, showering everypony in confetti. Silence fell. “That’s better. Now, Rarity, if you don’t mind, would you please light this room up so I can see who I’m talking too.” A soft-purple glow radiated from her right as Rarity acquiesced to her request, and their prison was revealed for the first time. It wasn’t much to look at. A simple box in shape, made of concrete, with cracks in through which shadow seemed to spill like black vapour. Pinkie surveyed her friends and snorted with laughter. "You all look ridiculous!" It was true; their manes were messy and they were covered in tiny pieces of confetti and streamers from the cannon. Soon they were all laughing, and just like that the tension was diffused. Pinkie suddenly snapped to attention. “Right. Everypony listen to me.” All heads turned to face the pink pony, who seemed to have taken charge. The others let her, although Rainbow wasn’t necessarily happy about it. When she was sure she had their attention, Pinkie continued. “We are all friends. Remember the lesson that Twilight taught us; we’re connected by the magic that is friendship. If there is even a little part of her left, then we can find it and we can save it.” Pinkie moved towards Rarity and lay a hoof on her shoulder. “When we were sat here, in the dark, it was the light of a friend that showed us the way. Twilight has been in darkness for so long and we ignored it. Well not any more. We’re going to get Twilight back and make her smile again.” “Uh, sugarcube, how exactly do you plan on us getting out of here?” Pinkie giggled. “That big old meany in Twilight’s body underestimates me. She thinks I’m some airhead, who’s only good for partying!” Rainbow muttered something indecipherable, which may have been in tentative agreement with Twilight. Pinkie continued. “But she clearly doesn’t know me as well as our Twilight. After all, look at this cell.” The other ponies looked around, bemused. “Pinkie Pie, dear, what exactly are we looking for? This place is impossible to get out of.” Pinkie grinned wickedly, a playful twinkle in her eye. “For you maybe, but I have another talent besides partying. We need to break out and if I’m not mistaken, this cell has four walls…” *** Ponies were running, terrified, as bolts of purple lightning rained down upon Ponyville. Thatched roofs across the town had caught alight, market stalls were overturned, and Mittens had hidden up her tree again. Twilight hovered above it all, floating on a cloud of corporeal shadow, laughing. The screams were getting on her nerves though. “Look, I know I went for the classic ‘crush, kill, destroy’ model, but is that really so terrible?” she called down. More screams. She supposed she’d have to get used to it, being a monstrous shadowy dictator and all. No pony had ever said life was easy. Twilight hummed along to some of Octavia’s latest compositions as she toured above the burning town. The library was still intact though. All those books inside; she might have been a monster, but she wasn’t that evil. She paused. Well, maybe a few of those Stephenie Neigher books could burn. They did steal her name after all, and it was bad form to be associated with that kind of rubbish as an evil pony overlord. Meanwhile, the real Twilight, buried deep inside cackling villain, was crying. Everything that was happening was her fault. She’d been stressed and depressed, and instead of asking for help she’d bottled everything up, taken it out on her friends, and now she was flying over Ponyville, raining down lightning bolts. “And the worst part for you,” Twilight said to the fragment, “Is that there’s nobody who can stop me… err, you… err… whatever this deal is.” “Oh silly Twilight, I think you might be a teensy-tiny bit mistaken.” Twilight swivelled, mouth agape, to see 5 ponies (and Spike) running towards her, very much not in a shadowy prison of despair. “What in the deus ex machina!?” She descended, until she was hovering just a few feet off the ground. “How the buck did you escape?” Pinkie bounced forward, a look of triumph on her face. “Isn’t it obvious Twilight?” She turned away and addressed thin air. “I’m sure all of our intelligent readers have worked it out. I did make clear enough, didn’t I?” “Uh, Pinkie, darling, who are you talking to? Because now really isn’t the time.” “Woops, sorry Rarity.” Twilight ground her teeth. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve escaped. You’re no match for me anyway. I mean, come on, I imprisoned you once already. I wasn’t in the best of moods then, to be fair, but I’m feeling happier now; so I’ll just kill you this time. It’ll be far simpler than creating a magical prison symbolic of my inner turmoil in any case.” She smiled evilly, though it looked more like a grimace. “And I think I’ll start by picking on someone much smaller and weaker than me. It’s the super-villain way.” Her horn glowed and a bolt of energy sped its way towards Spike. With a yell of fear and anger, Rarity reacted, leaping into its path and meeting it with her own magic. Light purple met dark purple, as the two ponies struggled. Twilight was clearly the stronger though; even without counting her elevated power levels Twilight was trained in a number of disciplines, including combat magic. Rarity, on the other hand, made dresses. She was quickly overwhelmed, Twilight’s magic smashing into her body and sending her flying backwards, where she lay, winded and unable to fight. “Rarity!” Spike ran to her side, both alarmed and moved by her sacrifice. “That works too,” Twilight panted, “Two down.” “And no more. Um, if you don’t mind that is?” Fluttershy, a look of steely resolve on her face, stepped forward to confront the Unicorn. “You hurt my friends, I’ll… ummm… be your end?” “That was the best you could do? Seriously, is your middle name ‘pathetic’?” A very un-Fluttershy growl rose in her throat, and she advanced, eyes wide, Stare activated, extreme concentration rendering her unable to reply. Twilight snorted. “Really? You caught me unprepared last time, but I garnered sufficient data to work out the best way to make your Stare impotent.” Twilight closed her eyes and with contact broken she shoved her hoof into Fluttershy’s face, knocking her to the ground, startled. With a yelp of surprise and fear at having her power broken so easily, Fluttershy took the safest course of action; simulated rigor mortis. “Now why has nobody else thought of doing that? Any other challengers? Come on Applejack, Rainbow, fancy teaming up to try and take me down? I dare you.” With a swift glance at one another, the two friends leapt forward in unison, hooves first. Twilight smiled and with a flash she was gone. With a sickening crash Dash and Applejack collided and tumbled to the floor in a heap together. Twilight reappeared a few feet away and rolled her eyes. “Celestia, you’re stupid. Still, Applejack on top of Rainbow Dash; the shippers will be happy.” Pinkie gasped and pointed a hoof at Twilight, dismayed. “That’s my bit! I’m the one who’s supposed to break the immersion of reality!” “So I’m evil, big surprise Pinkie. You won’t have to worry about it for much longer anyway.” Pinkie smiled. It was surprisingly nonchalant for a pony on the verge of defeat. “Oh, I don’t think so Twi. You see, we didn’t come straight here after we escaped. We might not be as clever as you, but we’re not that stupid; we planned this. We’ve set a trap and you’ve sprung it.” “What are you talking about?” “Well, look at where you are Twilight. Surrounded.” Twilight looked around and indeed saw that she was at the centre of her former friends; Applejack and Rainbow behind her, Fluttershy on one side, Rarity on the other and Pinkie in front. “Surrounding me with unconscious ponies? That was your plan.” “Oh Twilight, darling, you think we’ve been beaten?” Twilight’s head whipped round to see Rarity getting shakily to her feet. “Yeah Twi, did ya think me and Rainbow were actually that stupid? Well, Rainbow might be.” “Hey!” “And, umm, I wouldn’t be silly enough to try The Stare again after you’d already beaten me once.” Twilight’s head swivelled from side to side to see ponies on every one. “So what?! I’ve beaten you twice, I can do it again!” Pinkie giggled. “Silly billy Twilight, I think you’re brain's gone a bit loco. You might even say you’re loco in-” “Pinkie, dear, focus.” “Sorry Rarity. Their attacks were a distraction, Twilight, so that I could get ready.” Twilight frowned. “Ready? Ready for what?” “For my big speech of course!” Pinkie cleared her throat. “We’ve let you down, we know we have. All this destruction is your responsibility of course, but you’re here because of your loneliness and isolation getting the better of you and we shouldn’t have ever let that happen. We should have paid more attention to you and done something with you, to let you know you weren’t alone. Hay, I haven’t even thrown a party in at least a week! But did you ever think of coming to talk to us, to ask us for help? No, because you’re smarty smart pants Twilight, who thinks she should be able to be fine on her own. I mean, you did it for years before you met us. But things change, Twilight. I’m talking to what’s left of you, inside that evil shell. You aren’t alone. There is always hope. And now…” Pinkie drew herself up and raised a hoof skyward. “…with the sappy stuff over, it’s time to kick your butt!” Twilight snorted with disgust. “Well, unless your plan was to make me vomit with that saccharine speech, I don’t see how.” “Don’t you remember the old fairy tales? In the books, there was always a picture of the Elements of Harmony. Magic, surrounded by Honestly, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness and Laughter. Magic was the spark made by friendship. Magic was made possible by the other elements. It was a failsafe, to stop Magic becoming corrupted by the unlimited power of friendship. Only together could the Elements thrive.” Twilight bared her teeth, suddenly aware that her plans for world domination were coming crashing down around her. Pinkie continued. “We gave you your strength, and we can take it away too!” There was a bang, and a blinding flash as pure white light erupted around the group. Twilight desperately tried to teleport away, but found herself bound within the circle by the walls of light. It was too bright for her. The shadows swirling around her receded, frightened and chased by the light. There was another bang, and five jets of light, one from each pony, shot forward, slamming into Twilight and pinning her to the ground. The beams, one red, one orange, one green, one blue and one purple, converged upon the Unicorn. Shadows fell off, sloughed away by the energy contained by the Elements. Then, with yet another boom, light exploded in all directions, spreading in a wave across Equestria, bending trees over with its force, like a hurricane. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the light faded and dissipated. The five ponies at the epicentre felt the power leave their bodies and floated slowly to the ground. There they came face to face with Twilight Sparkle. She looked smaller, weaker, without the magic coursing through her, or the shadows clinging to her frame. Lying prone on the scorched grass, she looked up at her friends. “I…” Then she burst into tears.