11.0 Kendell2
Nightmare Mirror looked out towards the cosmos. "...Ah ain't sure anymore...Ah wonder if deep down that was just my Nightmare hypocrisy talking."
"You ADMIT that?" Amicitia questioned.
"Ah'm the Nightmare of Truth, sugar cube, yah think Ah DON'T know Ah'm a monster?" Mirror asked. "...Besides...Ah think an ALICORN of Cruel Truth is better than the NIGHTMARE of it."
Amicitia blinked, cocking her head. "What do you mean?"
"...If most Veritas favor the Kind Truth, why can't I favor the Cruel Truth and do THAT side of the job more?" Mirror asked. "...Let's face facts...the truth is, even as the Nightmare of Truth...Ah still managed tah deceive mahself. There ain't nothin' a Nightmare of the Cruel Truth can't do that an ALICORN of Cruel Truth can't do better...Let's face facts, Ah CAN'T show anypony the Kind Truth or COMPREHEND a lie being good...seeing my brother like that. ONLY a Kind Truth could save him from this pain, NOT the Cruel Truth...and Ah just barely managed tah do it...it made me realize how half baked a Nightmare really is."
Amicitia nodded. "...I think that makes sense."
---
Fluttershy approached the group. "The monsters had to fall back," she said. "Pitcher Plant's group set up camp, but they're still on their way."
Zecora stayed at a distance, not wanting to throw things into mayhem.
"Then we need to plan for this..." said Celestia. "We can't rush into it, it's too important."
Even with Sweetie Belle on Equestria's side and half of the country liberated, giving them an equal army to Pitcher Plant's, rushing into this could be a horrid mistake.
"Shy?"
Fluttershy gasped in shock. She turned to see three familiar ponies. "Score? Hoops? Dumbbell?!"
"We got rescued from Sweetie Belle's place," said Score.
The four hugged, Fluttershy crying.
---
"Are you sure about this, your majesty?" asked Hercules, standing nearby.
Katydid, Kabuto's priced pupil, stood over the Queen strapped to an operating table. She was still a Zebra, but she was the only being with the knowledge of Kabuto's bio-alchemy to pull this off. "Yeah, are you sure? I could give you extra legs instead! Oh! Or a second mouth inside your mouth!" she said, looking like the suggestions were bereft of any malicious intent. And that made it that much scarier.
Pitcher Plant nodded. "Yes...I'm not letting Sweetie Belle beat me."
"...You do realize I'm not fighting Sweetie Belle, your majesty," Hercules said, with absolute determination. "I will protect you from anypony except her...and I won't protect her from you either."
"I know," said the little queen as Katydid got to work. "...Mother was never afraid of becoming a monster, so why should I?"
11.1 Alex Warlorn
As the operation began, it occurred to Pitcher Plant. That was the first time in her entire life that she'd called Queen Chrysalis mother.
Nightmare Mirror meanwhile, wondered if she really had been hanging out with geeky Twilight and nerdy Twilight too long... She might have just actually lied to her... maybe... She wasn't sure... She had an odd feeling, that a Nightmare Mirror needed to exist for something... something ... well, important to those it happened to, something that an Alicorn couldn't do without dirtying themselves. Maybe she was just justifying herself to herself. But she did know her world where ponies had to adapt to the truth rather than the other way around, was something she'd never give up. Even as a Nightmare, she felt zero regret for her world without lies.
11.2 MtangaLion
Back in the camp outside the Retreat, Gilda was cleaning and adjusting her crossbow when King Griswold found her again. He cleared his throat. "I assume you've heard."
"Yeah." Gilda glanced his way. "The other changeling boss didn't go for Sweetie crowning herself, so we've gotta fight again." She still wore the Element of Loyalty... it seemed too chancy, taking it off. How else would she know which of the changelings were on their side now?
"That offer is still open, if you wish to fight for Griffonstone," said the king cautiously. He pointed a claw towards the griffon army camp in the distance. "You're a griffon of rare character, to hold an artifact like that one. You could be a captain, perhaps even a general..."
Gilda actually hesitated, before she shook her head. "That's really something, your majesty... but I'll have to pass."
Griswold sighed heavily. "I see. You fight for Equestria, then."
Gilda stopped working on her bow entirely, then put it down. "You know, funny thing about this 'artifact.'" She waved her talons idly. "At first, I thought it was totally going to be a giant pain in my flank. I mean, a whole bunch of changelings are coming to kill us, we have to fight them back... that shouldn't be real complicated. But here I've been thinking about all these *questions*. Why am I fighting? What am I fighting for? Blah de blah... and then I figured, maybe it's not as hard as I thought..."
Gilda looked across the field. Daring Do and Sunset Shimmer were having an rather animated argument over there, outside another tent. One moment, shouting in each others faces, with Cloudkicker trying to get in between them. The next, all laughing and joking like ponies who'd known each other all their lives.
Gilda grinned. "I fight for *my friends*. If they happen to be ponies... so what?" She slung the crossbow across her back and flew over to join them, leaving an amused King Griswold behind.
Rainbow Dash had planned to get a quick nap in before any fighting, but even on an ultra-comfy cloud mattress, sleep was eluding her.
"Rainbow Dash," said a voice with a noble, slightly snobbish accent. Winghoof was standing there in his Ranger cloak, grinning smugly. "Word around the camp is, you're *fast*."
"You..." Rainbow jabbed a feather at the other pegasus, grinning right back. "We are *so* having a race later, when I'm not busy saving Equestria and stuff! I'm gonna tell everypony how I left you *in my dust*."
Winghoof chuckled. "The day some upstart young mare can outfly me... I shall be overjoyed to have a proper rival." He struck a pose. "We have an appointment, Dash! Don't go getting yourself killed in the battle." And off he flew.
"Oh, yeah!?" retorted Dash. "Well, you be sure and survive too! Jerk!" She laughed and rolled out of bed... no no time for sleep now.
11.3 Alex Warlorn
Griffin scouts were sent out... they met a single, completely rank and file changeling... he glowed green and hit between the griffins like a pin ball, the griffins scouts fell to the ground. The changeling stopped glowing. As did Pitch Plant's horn...
-
"The operation is a succeed." Said Kabuto's apprentice.
"That's the test of the first part. Now we'll test the second part." Said Pitcher Plant.
-
Locust meanwhile, of the changeling swarm, while he wouldn't meddle in the sacred rite of choosing who the next queen of the swarm would be, he and a few others had chosen already they WOULD avenge their queen, not because of what she would have wanted, but because avenging their beloved queen was what THEY wanted!
Pitcher Plant only agreed because their target was an Alicorn, and therefore a very dangerous threat, she had killed the previous queen after all.
"FOR QUEEN CHRYSALIS!" Locust screamed at the top of his lungs, his agents following as they came out of nowhere. Many where dropped by crossbows and spears and unicorn horn blasts... all of them turned hollow and shattered at the moment of death... the changelings around them powered up for every number of theirs that fell... until the last couple grabbed Zecora... and blew themselves up.
-
"The next part of the operation worked as well it seems... I can transfer the love from other changelings at the moment of their death to the rest of the swarm, no love is ever wasted. And I can transfer love to other changelings as well, letting those who fight stay at their max. We're invincible. As soon as I kill Sweetie Belle tomorrow morning and become Queen, Equestria will remain in changeling hooves forever."
-
"She'll live... but I'm afraid if a fight breaks out... Princess Zecora's going to be in no shape to fight... and we'll need to guard her constantly to make sure any other changelings don't finish the job using Sweetie Belle's duel with Pitcher Plant as a distraction." Said Cadence, the newborn Alicorn having thankfully... miraculous, barely survived the assassination attempt.
Kendell2
Sweetie Belle snarled in rage. "She...she killed her own people just to get to Zecora?!" she yelled. "Even I didn't think of doing that!"
Scootaloo and Applebloom looked to each other. They trotted over to Sweetie Belle. "We've been getting extra love from our family, like mom said," said Scootaloo. "Take some of it so you can fight Pitcher Plant."
"Girls..." Sweetie said. "Are you sure? That was given to YOU..."
"You're our friend," said Applebloom. "And we want to share it with YOU too."
"...Thanks girls..." Sweetie Belle said.
"Aww..." said Pinkie Pie...then the process of feeding Sweetie their love happened. "Eew..."
---
As the two armies met, the two queens faced down. "Hello...'sister,'" said Pitcher Plant, snarling.
"Don't call me sister after what you did," said Sweetie Belle.
Hercules merely stepped up and set down between the two sides, watching both queens.
"Oh, angry I nearly killed Chrysalis' murderer?" the Changeling Princess replied.
"No, I'm angry because you killed your own men to do it!" the filly ruler yelled back. "Chryssy would be ashamed of you!"
"No, she'd have done the same," Princess Pitcher Plant replied.
"I know that!" Sweetie Belle replied...a bit of sad tone to her voice. "She'd be ashamed because you were SLOPPY! Chryssy wouldn't be caught DEAD admitting she didn't care about her men and wrecking her reputation!"
Pitcher Plant's face contorted in a snarl. "Locust WANTED to do it. I just agreed with it to get rid of an Alicorn."
"Did you try to talk him out of it? Or even put on a show of how tragic it was he sacrificed himself?" Sweetie Belle questioned. "No, you just let him kill himself and didn't even try to save face. That about right?"
Suddenly, one of her men jumped out of hiding and tried to attack Sweetie Belle. After all, the battle hadn't started yet so it was permitted to weaken her...
Instead, the Changeling was punched so hard that he went flying back clear over the Changeling line with a cracked shell.
"HERCULES?!" Pitcher Plant yelled. "I thought you said you wouldn't help her!"
Hercules lowered his hoof. "I'm not. I am not on EITHER of your side."
Hercules magic shuddered and shattered to a colorless aura. "Until this battle is done, I'm neutral...but anyling..."
He turned back to the other side. "Or anypony."
He turned back to Pitcher Plant. "Who tries to attack one of the Princesses from now until the battle is done will have to fight me first. Anyone who tries to distract either of them by attacking someone on their side is the same. Are we clear?"
None of the Changelings dared make another move.
Hercules slowly trotted back over to his original position and set down.
"Fine then...let's begin," Pitcher Plant said, horn glowing. A large circle around them burst into flames and formed a wall to keep anyone out.
"Show off," Sweetie muttered.
"Queen Chrysalis was an actress, why shouldn't I be?" asked the dark Princess.
=Star Wars - Duel of Fates=
Sweetie Belle opened up with a beam, Pitcher Plant countering in kind.
The two flew up and exchanged blasts, dodging or colliding them, the fire wall rising or lowering with them.
The two both formed energy blades around their horns and charged, clashing at rapid pace.
"Chrysalis trained you well," Pitcher Plant remarked.
Sweetie Belle remembered what Chrysalis had taught her. "Well, I WAS her favorite after all."
Pitcher Plant snarled and made an angry swing, but Sweetie dodged it and bucked her back. The two hovered, Pitcher Plant's horn glowing even after she wasn't casting any spells.
The two charged and began throwing punches and bucks at one another, countering and blocking at speeds only trained fighters could do. After all, like Tartarus Chrysalis would have her heirs be unable to defend themselves.
The two flew back, both giving a dark magic chant and firing beams of darkness that collided in an explosion. Pitcher Plant flew through it, but Sweetie Belle saw it coming and charged back, horns colliding with a spark before they blew each other back.
The battle continued at this stalemate for some time until they both landed, circling each other.
Sweetie Belle was panting, but Pitcher Plant wasn't. 'Why isn't she getting tired?'
Sweetie Belle's eyes looked around...and realized something. The horns of the other Changelings in her hive were glowing along with hers. Her eyes widened. "You're drawing power from the hive!"
Pitcher Plant laughed. "Yes, I am. A modification of Katydid's. She's not as good as Kabuto, but she's a fine doctor. So long as one Changeling in my hive has love, mine will never deplete! And should one of them die, it auto transfers to me."
She wisely chose to keep the rest of that modification secret. After all, she'd need it to overwhelm the rebels when this was done.
"That's cheating!" said Daring Do.
"No, it's not," said Digger Wasp. "If Sweetie Belle willed it, we could all give her our love. It's perfectly within the rules."
Daring Do snarled. "Think! Sweetie Belle! There's gotta be something!"
Sweetie Belle blocked a viscous attack from Pitcher Plant that still left a small wound in her exoskeleton. 'Think! You can't out muscle her, so what can you do?!'
The young Changeling Queen's eyes looked to Pitcher Plant's horn.
"That's pretty clever...but if I remember, Chryssy hated the idea of being modified. Wonder what she'd think of you now," Sweetie Belle taunted.
She had to dodge a viscous stab, then got rammed in the stomach and knocked back. "She'd probably be disgusted with you now."
"Stop acting like you know her!" Pitcher Plant roared, firing several beams, forcing Sweetie Belle back. She dodged a trust, causing Pitcher Plant's horn to collide with the ground.
Sweetie took some hits from the angry Princess, and some wounds...Her eyes fell on Scootaloo and Applebloom. She remembered everything she'd seen from them.
She quickly grabbed a rock in her telekinesis and put it between her and Pitcher Plant's horn at the last second, resulting in the young Princess lodging her horn in it.
As her enemy fell back to remove the rock, Sweetie Belle flapped her wings rapidly to speed up her run, taking Pitcher Plant off guard. She rammed her in the chest, knocking her backwards. She spun around and slammed her rear hooves into the rock impaled on Pitcher Plant's horn with perfect Apple Bucking form from the side.
Pitcher Plant screamed in pain as her horn fractured. The rest of the hive gave a gasp of shock, their own horns ceasing their glow.
"Good job, Sweetie Belle!" cheered Applebloom.
Rarity flinched. It made her shudder to see her little sister...fighting so fiercely...fighting so well...She couldn't be mad at the filly...especially now...but she didn't like it. But while she hated it...a part of her was glad Chrysalis couldn't taint her little sister anymore.
Sweetie Belle smirked and, while Pitcher Plant was stunned by the pain, fired a point blank blast of dark magic into her chest and sent her flying backwards.
"Give up, your horn's broken," Sweetie Belle said, marching forwards.
Pitcher Plant just started laughing, getting back to her hooves. "So you've figured out I need my horn for that trick...you think that's...the only trick I had put into me?"
=Steven Universe - Malachite's theme Extended=
Pitcher Plant's body began to crackle with fire. "I didn't think I'd need to use this...but Katydid insisted..."
Pitcher Plant floated into the air and her body exploded in green flames. Sweetie Belle backed up as the pillar extended outwards. Four gigantic insectoid legs slammed down, each ending with a pincer. Then came two arms with mantis-like scythes instead of hands, which the forming colossus used to force herself up.
As the flames dissipated, an abomination with four legged lower body resembling an insect lifted up, the top portion resembled a massive, monstrous changeling queen with Praying Mantis limbs for her arms, mane hanging off her back.
Pitcher Plant slammed back down, as if surprised by her new weight. Four insectoid eyes opened on her head.
"I admit, I didn't WANT to do this...but it feels good. Katydid said that keeping a bit of my original form would look more regal, I tend to agree," Pitcher Plant said, laughing evilly as she rose up to her full height, towering over Sweetie Belle. "Besides, what's the point of killing somepony if all they see is the monster?...Chrysalis DID believe that playing dirty, playing brutal, being pragmatic, ANYTHING to become stronger was worth it in the end, didn't she?"
Rarity looked to Digger Wasp. "And THAT'S legal too?"
Digger Wasp simply nodded.
=The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Ganondorf=
Sweetie Belle leapt back as the mammoth beast slashed at her, barely evading the mantis like arms.
Sweetie fired back with a blast of dark magic, but it barely scorched Pitcher Plant's armored hide.
The mammoth beast reared back and one of her four legs reached out and tried to slam shut around Sweetie Belle, but the young queen dodged it by a hair (literally, it got a few hairs from her mane.
Vents on the side of Pitcher Plant's neck sucked in air and she finally lunged forwards, unleashing a burst of green fire from her maul. Sweetie BARELY put up a barrier in time.
When the flames faded, Sweetie finally got a cry of pain out of the mammoth insectoid by blasting one of her eyes with a beam.
'Think! How did Chryssy say she beat Cocoon when she did this?' Sweetie Belle asked in her head.
Sweetie Belle was batted into the ground by one of the scythes (thankfully the blunt end). She barely got up in time to dodge a swing from the other.
The young Changeling Queen flew up and zipped between her attacker's strikes until she managed to land on one of her knees and blasted her in another eye.
Pitcher Plant roared in fury and swung a scythe down, Sweetie dodging at the last second...
Pitcher Plant's blade merely bounced off her carapace.
"What?!" Sweetie asked, before getting grabbed by one of the pincers the Goliath had for legs.
"Kabuto learns from his mistakes, and his successor learned from him," Pitcher Plant said, the Changeling-like head allowing her to smile sinister. She slammed Sweetie Belle to the ground several times and threw her up.
The mutated Royal Changeling let loose a flurry of slashes and cuts. Sweetie managed to dodge, but only just enough to avoid a deep wound, ending up covered in gashes and cuts.
Pitcher Plant threw her scythes to the side...and revealed she'd been charging up her fire breath.
Sweetie managed to put up a barrier...but it broke. While sparing her the brunt of the blast, Sweetie Belle still was badly burned and crashed to the ground.
Pitcher Plant towered over her. "Nothing personal, Sweetie...no, that's a lie...This is PERSONAL. You stole my crown! My throne! You stole CHRYSALIS FROM ME!"
The behemoth snarled in rage. "I worked for this. I was raised from BIRTH to be this! And then you come along and suddenly you're the new princess! You stole EVERYTHING."
Sunset Shimmer watched...and felt her blood run cold. She felt a kindred sense of familiarity...and hated it.
Pitcher Plant reared back. "So after I kill you, I'm going to make sure every last thing you care about dies!"
Sweetie Belle looked up. 'What can I do?...I could use that spell...but I don't have time to charge it...and even if I did, I don't have enough power left to survive it...'
Rarity watched in horror. She knew she couldn't attack or Sweetie Belle will lose...and they'd lose...
Shuddered. 'No...not again...there must be SOMETHING I can do...some way I can avoid...avoid losing her again...'
Rarity watched Pitcher Plant begin charging her fire breath.
'If only there was some way to give...'
Rarity gasped in shock. "That's it."
She looked to Hercules. "I'm allowed to give Sweetie Belle my love so long as I don't hurt Pitcher Plant, right?"
Hercules looked surprised...then nodded. "Yes, that is in the rules."
Rarity didn't pause another moment and, putting what magic she could into guarding her own body, leapt straight through the wall of flames.
"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity yelled, landing next to her sister...her mane burnt much shorter and some fur blackened.
"Rarity?!" Sweetie Belle asked. "Get out of here!"
Rarity pulled Sweetie Belle close and hugged her, horn to horn. "No...you need your sister's love...so big sister will give it.
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened.
Everything slowed down to a crawl. The crackling of the flames. The charging of her towering foe's fire. The gasps of the crowd.
Everything seemed to constrict down to her and her sister.
...Sweetie Belle slowly hugged her big sister, horn to horn. Their energy mixing.
Pitcher Plant let loose her fire breath, engulfing the two.
"RARITY!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash yelled.
Pitcher Plant gave an unhinged laugh. "All hail, the new Changeling Queen! Queen Pitcher Plant!"
Silence reigned the battle field for several moments as the fire and smoke crackled...and then a powerful light burst forth.
"What?!" Pitcher Plant yelled, the light intensifying to the point she had to take a step back. "What is that light?!"
=Sailor Moon- The Power of Love=
Sweetie Belle and Rarity stood in a bubble of pink energy that seemed to BE their bond.
And Sweetie Belle had changed. While she still had the insectoid eyes...she was no longer a black armored insect, but a white furred almost fairy-like pony. Her horn no longer jagged and fierce, but smooth and cute. Her wings no longer dragonfly wings but butterfly ones instead.
"Impossible..." the Goliath mutant roared. She swung a scythe at them, but it merely bounced off.
Rarity's horn wasn't glowing, Sweetie Belle's was.
"Nothing is impossible when you have ponies that love you, Pitcher Plant..." Rarity said, looking up at the behemoth. "And...you lost the only one that you cared for, didn't you?...I'm sorry...but this needs to end."
Pitcher Plant's visage became one of pure rage. "DON'T PITY ME!" she pounded away at the barrier like a hammer. "HATE ME! SPIT ON ME! DO ANYTHING BUT PITY ME! MOTHER WOULD NEVER ACCEPT PITY FROM ANYONE!"
Pitcher Plant spread two gigantic, sail sized wings from her back. She flew up into the air and dark magic began gathering around her. "Blow away in the dust, Sweetie Belle!"
Hercules gasped. "EVERYLING! EVERYPONY! RUN!" he yelled. "PRINCESS! IF YOU FIRE THAT AT THE GROUND LIKE THAT YOU COULD BLOW THE AREA TO ATOMS!"
"I DON'T CARE!" Pitcher Plant roared. She began a dark magic chant.
Hercules cursed in the Changeling's native language. 'You really are Chrysalis' daughter...'
Sweetie Belle and Pitcher Plant wouldn't have had Chrysalis' favor if neither hadn't been like her in some ways.
Luna gasped. "That spell...HE'S RIGHT! EVERYPONY RUN!"
As everypony tried to get to safety...Sweetie Belle and Rarity looked to each other and nodded.
"By the bond the two of us share.
But the anger in my heart for the ones who harm my loved ones," Sweetie began to chant, the shield condensing in her horn and both light and dark magic gathering around it. Rarity didn't move, giving her sister all the love needed.
---
"Mother?" Maud Pie asked.
"Yes, dear?" her mother asked, the Pie family fortifying the rock farm. Isolated as it was, it hadn't yet been struck, but they knew it could be.
"...The idea love and nothing have anything in common...most ponies wouldn't think of it..." the stoic pony said, then looked off into the distance. Unknown to her mother, directly where the final battle of the Changeling War would take place. "But love COMES from nothing...it can even appear in a void...Funny, huh?"
Her mother blinked. But nodded. "Nice poetry, dear."
"Yeah...poetry..."
----
"-By you who both sits upon and are the Throne of Naught, With my hate that freezes, my anger that burns, my desire that grasps!-" chanted Pitcher Plant, dark magic continuing to build.
"By you two who are the Beginning and End.
With my anger love that burns," Sweetie Belle chanted, her spell growing more and more. Rarity was her brace, letting Sweetie brace herself and not doing anything more than giving her love to her sister.
"-Together we shine the light of destruction equally upon them, and wipe away the fools that stand in our way! Entropía vocem!" completed Pitcher Plant, a thin guiding line of dark magic firing from her horn at her enemy.
"-May love from nothing and love from each other vanquish this evil from my sight!" finished Sweetie. "Requiem in Caritate:
Inanis Et Vita Unitur!"
Green flood of destruction erupted from Pitcher Plant's horn, so massive that it would likely destroy everything in her line of light if it made land fall, and then some.
From Sweetie's horn...erupted a flood of bright pink flames and dark pink shadow, the two swirling around each other in a double helix.
The two beams collided with such force that the shock wave blew the cloud cover away for miles, leaving nothing but the sky above. Even as far away as they moved back too, BOTH sides of the army were blasted off their hooves by the shockwave. Rarity had to struggle to stay acting as her sister's brace with all her physical and telekinetic strength.
The Princesses present slammed their hooves down as a brace, Hercules held his ground as well.
The two blasts collided, going back and forth.
The ground around the area CRUMBLED except fore where Sweetie Belle stood, which seemed to be more thanks to the spell Sweetie Belle was use.
"IS THIS NORMAL FOR A CHANGELING QUEEN DUEL?!" Daring Do screamed over the noise and wind of the two immense attacks colliding.
"Pitcher Plant...I'm sorry you hate me so much! Maybe we could've been friends!" Sweetie yelled, keeping all her focus on her attack.
"We could NEVER be friends!" roared Pitcher Plant, doing likewise.
"...I'm sorry...sister..."
Rarity hugged Sweetie Belle.
Finally, Pitcher Plant's attack began to lose ground.
"What?!" Pitcher Plant asked. "Where is all this power coming from?!"
"...Love shared is stronger than love taken," muttered Rarity, looking up at her. "...You would gladly take power from your people, and give it to further your goals...but you'd never SHARE it, would you?...I'm sorry...because I know you had no one to tell you how..."
Finally, Pitcher Plant's attack gave out and Sweetie Belle's beam tore through.
'How?' Pitcher Plant asked as the attack approached her, unable to move from her own attack's back lash. 'What was it...that I was missing? What does Sweetie Belle have that I don't?'
The pink fire of Sweetie Belle's attack took the shape of a beautiful Alicorn mare while the dark pink shadow assumed the shape of a black, draconequus-like figure, holding claws for a moment, before slamming into Pitcher Plant.
"What was I missing?! I did everything you told me to do!" Pitcher Plant roared, the beam carrying her high into the air. "MOTHER, WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!"
Pitcher Plant let out a long, echoing screaming as Sweetie Belle's attack exploded in a massive blast of pink fire and dark pink shadow, visible from the ground far below and the shockwaves forcing everyone that wasn't a Princess or General Hercules further back.
Sweetie Belle staggered...her horn looking burnt...her sister supported her. "...Good job...Sweetie Belle."
"...Thanks...sister..."
With a thud, Pitcher Plant's battered, badly burnt form crashed to the ground in front of them, causing them to jump. The elder Princess was back to her normal form. Her horn had either broken off completely or MELTED off. "Mother...what did I...do wrong?"
Pitcher Plant's eyes filled with tears. "Why...why couldn't I beat her?...I'm sorry...mother..."
With that, the older Princess moved no more and the fires dissipated.
Sweetie Belle could barely stand...but she could stand and Pitcher Plant could not...
The battle was over.
Alex Warlorn
Locust looked around... it was a black dry lifeless ground underneath a dry lifeless sky, he'd blown himself up... he knew he had... "W-Where am I?"
"Come now Locust I know you weren't that stupid."
"YOUR MAJESTY!" Locust fell in reverence. "I thought you were dead!"
"I am dead idiot! What do you think you are?"
"W-what?! But then where are-"
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Wasn't that part obvious? We're in Tartarus." The rest of Locust's suicide bombers fluttered to join Chrysalis' side. "Now come along. We have a lot to do."
"... Do my queen?"
"I made a vow that if I failed to become a goddess and arrived in Tartarus, (I knew from the beginning that was where I was going), that I would not be just another prisoner here... We're taking over. I have an infinite plane of reality to conquer with an enemy that is all knowing and all powerful..." Chrysalis got a manic grin. "Should be a challenge. And we only have all eternity to become the new eternal tormentor of the damn, now hurry along."
"Y-yes my queen!"
-
"Even DEAD she goes along with that insanely impossible plan?" Amicitia asked bewildered.
"HO HO HO! I see something fun!"
"GO AWAY Nyarlathotrot!" Amicitia said.
"How can I? When I see an obvious continuity bug that leads to such tragic ends. But that's what happens when you have so many ponies with their hooves in the cutie jar isn't it?"
Dues Ex Machina blinked. "WHAT continuity bugs?! The griffins-"
"Were either/or, never declared... but there was something else declared, and now it's time to reap."
-
Digger Wasp looked at himself, and saw green flames appear on his body, which began to crack and fall apart like a figure made of charcoal. "Princess Sweetie Belle has won. She is Queen."
"W-What's happening to you?!"
"Don't you remember? Queen Chrysalis took all the love of her inner circle and used it to destroy Tirek... it killed us... but Her Majesty brought us back to 'life' as undead with a version of the curse of Sunnytown... it was designed to last until the new queen of the changeling was chosen between her two daughters so the swarm would have stability until the heir was decided."
"W-what?!" Daring Do looked around. Hercules was also falling apart. And she didn't know it, but Kabuto was dying, all alone, no one to stay good bye to, and no one to comfort him as he perished. Like many of his experiments. "AND YOU'RE ALL OKAY WITH THIS?"
Digger Wasp knelt. Jewelry Wasp hugged him. "All for the swarm."
Hercules Beetle knelt down as well. "Tell my family I love them. All for the swarm."
Their empty shells hit the ground with a clatter.
Alex Warlorn
Chrysalis looked down at Kabuto with a grin. "Hello Worthless!"
MtangaLion
Nyarlathotrot cackled. "And now for the finishing touch. Oh, you're going to love this one..."
"I never thought I'd meet a real live Flutter Pony," mused Daring Do. "I've only seen them in ancient carvings."
In the blackened circle, Rarity groaned and stumbled. Suddenly, Sweetie Belle was the one needing to support her sister. "Rarity? Sis, what's the matter?" The new Queen of the Changelings gasped. "Oh no, I took too much! I'll give you some love back..."
Rarity coughed weakly, and smiled. Her eyes were going gray. "You needed it... to save us all. It's okay..."
Coloratura blinked at a sudden flood of purple light. "Daring, your necklace... it's glowing!"
"Huh?" Daring Do cupped the Element of Generosity in her hoof. "What did I do?"
Coloratura pointed urgently. "Not you, Rarity! Go to her. Hurry!"
"R- right!" Daring Do flung herself into the air... she'd rarely flown so fast, even in the trickiest most trap-filled old ruin. When she grabbed Rarity's limp hoof and pressed it to her choker, the purple light flooded into the other mare, lifting her into the air...
And Rarity sucked in a huge, deep breath, healthy and whole again. Sweetie Belle cried out and hugged her sister tight. Rarity's beautiful mane was still a complete loss, but her color had returned, and her Element of Generosity was identical to Daring Do's, save only for the purple diamond where Daring's had a compass rose.
"My goodness, these things are contagious!" said Rara, nudging her Element of Laughter and smiling warmly.
Applejack chuckled. "In a good way."
Amicitia gave Nyarlathotrot a smug grin. "You were saying?"
The Crawling Chaos fumed at her. "One day... Oh yes, one day..."
Kendell2
Princess Sweetie Belle, still tired, stepped forwards to Princess Celestia and the other Princesses (including a still wounded Zecora).
Both signed a document and turned to the gathered ponies and Changelings. "With the signing of this peace treaty," Sweetie Belle began. "We changelings surrender, and swear to cease hostilities with Equestria and help repair the damage we've caused."
"And Equestria promises to aid the Changelings in establishing a peaceful co-existence using the new information that ponies and Changelings CAN co-exist peacefully," Celestia replied.
There was a LOT more to the treaty than that, but that was the gist of it. Luna had also included, among the Changeling's other recompense, that every nightmare a pony had due to their actions would be one they'd share.
"The war is over!" Celestia exclaimed, cheers roaring.
---
Hercules watched from the Spirit World, Digger Wasp next to him. Hercules had wings that seemed to be made of steel, almost resembling shields. Each had a tower emblem on them. Digger Wasp had black wings and carried a scythe.
"Think it will work out?" Digger Wasp asked, having taken the role as an Angel of Death to atone for his sins in life. He knew now he had many.
Hercules nodded. "...The sad thing is...they could have from the very beginning...come, we have work to do."
---
Back at the Changeling Hive, a casket containing Chrysalis' favorite possessions (and what little bit of the dust that she left behind upon death) was lowered into a tomb reserved for past queens. The names of nearly all of them forgotten but Cocoon.
The entire hive was present.
Chrysalis's evil was not to be denied, nor the good she'd done forgotten. She would be remembered as she was.
---
"Kifuko?"
Chrysalis gasped, standing over the broken body of another sinner. She turned...and saw someponies she never thought she'd see again. "...Maua? Mother? Father?"
The three Zebra stood before the Queen in the depths of Hell itself.
"That much is true, my friend...we have much to talk about and need to begin," Maua replied to the stunned Queen.
---
Several weeks later, in a slowly being rebuilt Canterlot, Zecora and Sweetie Belle stood, the Princesses handing Zecora her new crown, fitted to the Zebra's styling. Sweetie Belle was handed Chrysalis' crown (the only thing that remained of her) by the hive elders.
The CMC stood by Sweetie Belle's side with Rarity while the Bearers and most of her rebel base stood by Zecora's side.
The two turned to the crowd, half changelings, half ponies. The two sides were still naturally still in the process of accepting each other, but it was making progress. Ponies HAD created love banks after all.
But the crowd cheered regardless.
The Princess and the Changeling Queen pulled a rope, causing a curtain to fall away, revealing a stained glass window. At the top, Chrysalis and Zecora's battle was presented on one side, on the other was Sweetie Belle's final battle with Pitcher Plant.
On the bottom were the two holding hooves in peace.
It would take a long time to repair Equestria. For the Changelings to become part of society. But it would happen.
Peace had returned.
---
Daring Do chuckled, finishing the last page of a new book. "...To think...of all my books...this is the first one I can SAY is an autobiography..."
She finished the manuscript and laid it down. It'd been difficult to write the Changelings nonbias, but she was confident she'd succeeded.
The front 'cover' showing her, the other bearers, and the Changelings hanging in the background, Chrysalis front and center.
'Daring Do and the Elements of Harmony' was the title.
Alex Warlorn
Alternate future Starlight Glimmer... didn't know how long she could go on like this. She'd gotten herself help when things went south at Equestria's wedding... until then she'd been RELISHING the new timeline she'd created.
She honestly had nowhere to go, and nowhere to return to, she wasn't supposed to exist. And sometimes, he heard a wolf cry in the night. Or maybe that was just nightmares.
She was surprised when soon after the treaty was sighed, Hoops, Dumb-Bell, and Fluttershy. All arrived at the door to the modest room she was staying at with this timeline's version of her (who was out shopping).
"I can't believe we didn't recognize you before!" Fluttershy said excitedly. "I so want to apologize!"
"Hu-what?" Starlight stammered.
"You got us to turn our lives already." Hoops said.
"You got us to see how wrong it was for how we treated Fluttershy." Added Dumb-Bell.
"We'd have never become friends without you!" Fluttershy said. Fluttershy stood proud. "And I remember everything you taught us too! No pony should be greater, lesser, or separate from the rest of the herd! There should be no ability or talent that any pony can lord over any other. That's part of why Hoops and Dumb-Belle taught me to be a great flyer! ... You know, it's too bad the changelings have a queen who sets herself above the rest of the swarm, or need to feed off of ponies... otherwise I think they'd have made a great template for a truly equalized Equestria, don't you think teacher?" Fluttershy had never seen 'Pane Glimmer' with a fake cutie mark, had never been disillusioned by finding the equal sign was fake, she'd only seen Glimmer's natural cutie mark. And if an older and wiser Fluttershy had been tempted at first, a young and impressionable Fluttershy had soaked up everything 'Pane Glimmer' had taught her like a dry sponge, and had passed it on to her friends. "So I just want to say, thank you teacher, for bringing me together with my friends, and for helping me see the way that others wouldn't have be bullies or be bullied and... and... " Fluttershy's eyes filled with tears and hugged her. "I'M JUST SO HAPPY YOU'RE SAFE!"
Kendell2
Pane looked down. "...Dear...we have much to speak about...but I believe you just gave my life a little more meaning...thank you."
---
Amicita took a deep breath. "One remains...the darkest timeline..."
The Starlight Glimmer acting as Fate's angel shuddered, holding her stomach. "It makes me sick just being here..."
"...That's tah be expected," Mirror said. "This here? This is somethin' horrible."
The final timeline...was the result of time being torn and twisted in knots.
While all of them had been the result of an event that was completely impossible to happen, this one was different.
The first five timelines had been bad ends to events that had happened.
The sixth timeline was improbable. Unlikely. but still within reason. The Flim Flam Brothers taking over Equestria through industrial might was a one in several million chance.
The seventh timeline...was impossible. Cause and effect and their companion probability? They were bent and twisted to the point Rota Fortuna and Chance would likely feel sick even stepping into the spirit world of this timeline.
This was a timeline only a few more time paradoxes away from becoming a tumor on creation as the Lost Age had become.
"The hardest part," Amicitia said. "Is trying to MAKE SENSE of this to know HOW to save this..."
Even in this space outside of time...the World Line looked...ill...
Amicitia looked back to see WHAT caused it...and her blood ran cold.
One moment it looked like Tirek. The next the Shadow Queen. The next the Sirens. Then Ahuizotl. Then Nightmare Inferno. Then the ponies making war on one another. Then an Alicorn Amulet empowered Nightmare Trixie. The Flim Flam Brothers industrialization causing robot apocalypse. Celestia going Nightmare...
"...Even time itself doesn't know what's the cause..." Amicitia said in horror.
"...Somethin' worse than that, sugar cube..." Nightmare Mirror spread her wings and used the truth.
=Persona 4 - The Genesis=
What was revealed resembled an Alicorn. 'Resembled' in the sense that Ponythulhu resembled a Squid.
It looked similar to a Shadow of Existence, but where as they were empty space where a pony SHOULD be...this looked like the Shadow of billions of things overlapping in such a way to form a vaguely alicorn-like shape.
Even by divine terms, 'abomination' was the only fitting word for it.
"...Time itself is tryin' tah create a cause just tah prevent the timeline from collapsin'...and what it created ain't pretty...The Could-Have-Been to Nightmare Legion's Never Was....instead of billions of Shadows meshed together, Billions of 'coulda-beens' meshed together."
The...THING looked up to them. It let out a roar that seemed to both be a billion things at once but simultaneously each separated. "DESTROY...DESTROY!"
Twilight blinked. "That voice...Nameless?" It wasn't the Shadow of Chernobull's Princess voice or Ceracorn voice...but it's TRUE voice.
"Pandora's kid?" Deus asked. "He's the villain that broke the world?"
Mirror blinked. "Nameless didn't HAVE a gender! And...Ah...Ah can't tell..."
Twilight looked to her. "What do you mean?"
"...Ah mean...either that thing USED tah be Pandora's kid and this timey whimey horseapples mutated it inta...THAT because it's nature fit what it needed the best...or it's just one of the billion 'coulda beens' makin' it up and happened tah make up the voice box...or maybe it's just somethin' so CLOSE to Nameless in nature that they're almost identical!" Mirror replied, disturbed. "...Ah ain't sure which is scarier..."
Amicitia looked back as the THING. "...A question that is difficult to answer...Conundrum...Nightmare Conundrum, The Cataclysm Without Cause..."
The beast slowly approached them, each step seeming to spread darkness along the timeline like cancer. "DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!"
Conundrum spread out multiple tentacles, each ending in a claw. One morphed into a shadow-like version of Lord Tirek, firing a beam from his horns at them, forcing them to dodge.
"Is that the only word you know?!" Deus asked.
"It's the ONLY thing it knows!" Twilight replied. "Reality needed a cause for Equestria's destruction, that's WHY it exists!"
"...If we erase it, this timeline has no cause," Mirror said in shock. "...If we let it stay around, it'll continue tah spread until the timeline rips itself apart. Either way, the timeline will crumble all on it's own...And that's one Cruel Truth Ah AIN'T happy Ah'm tellin!"
"...If we kill it?" Amicitia asked, dodging a manifestation of Celestia's Nightmare firing a beam of solar plasma..
"...Then the timeline gets locked in place, just like if yah kill Nameless..." Mirror replied. "History will just remember a great cataclysm that happened, then vanished without a trace..."
"...But I won't be able to alter the past because it's lock in to keep THIS thing contained..." Amicitia replied. "...Think we can handle making changes AND fighting this thing at the same time?"
"Sugarcube, Ah'm afraid we HAVE to," Mirror replied. "Either that or we LET this timeline be erased and take that THING with it."
"...We promised we wouldn't, so we won't...no matter how hard it will be."
"DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY...EVERYTHING..."
Alex Warlorn
Nythy appeared nearby, in the form of a morbidly obese unicorn mare. She sang. "Oh I can not wait! For badness' sake! Oh hail! Oh Amicitia, for you to FAIL!"
"You think I can't win?" Amicitia asked definitely.
"I KNOW you won't win! This timeline is most definitely my favorite of all of them. Any villain or fallen hero could be the cause, which means any solution you create will be tainted. Which means, I win no matter what."
"I won't give up!"
"Oh and I so look to seeing you struggle!" Giggled the fat unicorn mare.
Kendell2
"DESTROY!" Conundrum roared, one of it's tentacles morphing into the shade of Nightmare Inferno and sending a wave of fire at the three deities facing I, which actually cracked the shield Amicitia put up to block it.
"Can't you break it with a nasty truth?" Deus asked, blasting Conundrum with a beam...only for it to create a shadow Nightmare Mirror to deflect the beam back and grazed her.
"Ah can't!" Mirror replied. "The thing don't have a mind tah COMPREHEND any truths! It's like expecting a rock tah care it can't move!"
"That's the one advantage that we have," Amicitia replied. "Conundrum is powerful, but it's nothing but a rabid animal!"
"DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!" shouted the cosmic horror, forming a tentacle into a the form of the Alicorn Amulet wielding Nightmare Trixie.
The shade magically generated a mountain overhead and dropped it at them.
Amicitia countered with an immense beam of magic to blow a hole through to to protect them.
"So how in the world do we find somepony who AIN'T in that thing?" Mirror asked.
A shade of Queen Tiamat appeared above them through the hole and all three had to form a shield to block an onslaught of fireballs from the destroyer.
"...Couldn't we just make a big arc and put a bunch of ponies and animals in it and have it be at sea when this happens?" Deus asked.
"...Wait...Deus, you're a genius!"
"I am?"
"There's one being capable of restarting life in Equus from scratch and who'd preserve what life she knows in light of an impending doomsday," Amicitia said. "Princess Gaia."
"Fluttershy's Alicorn?" Mirror thought.
The group had to shield themselves from a megaspell equal to a nuclear attack, the mountain being vaporized.
Conundrum had a tentacle in the form of an entire squad of unicorns.
"Well we better hurry up..." Mirror said. "This thing might be stupid, but it's not HARMLESS."
"DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!"
MtangaLion
"Hurry up to where, exactly?" shouted Amicitia, as they dodged and weaved through beams of destructive magic. "We don't know if Fluttershy managed to create a sanctuary like that at all, or if she even exists in this world!"
Deus ex Machine smiled suddenly. "So long as there's hope... if the miracle that this world needs is out there somewhere... I'll find it!" She fired a brilliant beam that opened a portal right in their path, and Amicitia and Mirror flew into it before they could even gasp in surprise.
Far away through the endless dust and ash, between a ruined village and the burned out stumps of a once great forest, a magical dome enclosed a wide circle of lush green grass, with a humble cottage in the center.
Amicitia, Deus, and Nightmare Mirror floated down to earth, easily passing through the barrier and landing in front of a yellow and pink-maned Alicorn, who had just opened a storybook.
"Once upon a time," she read, "in the magical land of Equestria/Aquastria/Griffonia/Tartarus, a young unicorn/Diamond Dog/dragon discovered the legend of the Royal Pony Brothers/Nightmare Library/star ponies from another world, made new friends, and went on a fantastic adventure..."
Princess Gaia sighed and shook her head. No crown, no jewelry... just simple barding that seemed to be made of wood, decorated with climbing ivy. "It's no use." Then she glanced up and gasped. "Oh! You startled me, Twilight. And... Twilight? And..." Her eyes brimmed with tears. "Oh, Applejack, I'm so sorry..."
Nightmare Mirror scowled. "There'll be time for sorry later, sugarcube."
"If there's any time at all," said a young thestral who looked like a darker twin of Gaia, with a familiar wings and helping hoof cutie mark.
Amicitia blinked. "Fluttercruel?"
Fluttercruel smirked, rolling her eyes. "Who else? Great, more gods. At least you didn't get eaten by the Big Nasty yet."
Princess Gaia closed the book. "There has to be some way to put things back in order so I can get the foals to safety, but without the Concept of Fate, I have no idea how where to begin."
Fluttercruel shouted, "That's your cue to stop moping and come up with some good ideas, Blanky!"
"Do you think I have not tried?" growled a deep, bestial voice. The air flickered, and a huge white wolf lay before them, with a smooth shard of crystal cupped between his forepaws. "Mother gave me this fragment of her self before the abomination took her, but she had no time to instruct me as to what to do with it."
The Blank Wolf of this broken world eyed Amicitia, recognizing her, but he barely seemed to have the energy to do more than snarl a bit. "Tell us, O Meddler, what hope is there for us now?"
Kendell2
Amicitia looked to the group, then back to the spirit world...then gave a gasp of realization. "...Fluttershy...can you begin restoring nature to this world if we stop that creature?"
Fluttershy blinked. "Um...yes...I can...why?"
"Start doing it...now, I think I have an idea how to destroy that creature. Blanky, I need your help," said Amicitia, causing the Wolf to give a confused yip. "This timeline is close to splitting off on it's own, but that's worthless if that abomination is still around."
She then looked to Fluttercruel. "Cruel, I need you to do something...I'd do it, but I'm a foreign Goddess.
---
Gaia, on Twilight's orders, teleported far from Ponyville's former location to begin the restoration process. Something about 'future me can't see it'.
---
Back in the spirit world, Angel Starlight Glimmer was glad to see her back up returning, her having been trying to do her absolute best to keep the beat preoccupied...her wings were damaged and it'd not been easy.
"Pin it down!" Amicitia ordered.
"DESTROY!" Conundrum screamed, summoning Nightmare Inferno and firing a blast of fire, forcing the group to dodge. "DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!"
Amicitia blasted it back, but it countered with the Flim Flam Brothers driving a mini mecha that fired a beam backwards, forcing her to put up a shield.
Mirror formed two mirrors around a beam from Nightmare Trixie wearing the Alicorn Amulet, reflecting them back and forth to bombard the beast until it used herself to deflect the beam at her.
Deus summoned a cannon from nowhere to blast it, but it blasted her back with Queen Tiamat's shade.
Blanky charged and slashed into it...only for it to HEAL ITSELF with a shade of Rota Fortuna.
"Come on...come on..." Amicitia muttered, as if waiting for something.
Celestia's Nightmare formed and charged up a solar beam.
"THERE!" Amicitia yelled, teleporting forwards and driving her horn directly into the skull of the Nightmare. "COME BACK TO ME!"
---
Amicitia blinked, finding herself floating in a black void with the wailing of shadows around her. There, in the center of it all, was Celestia's Nightmare held in black chains.
"Teacher?"
"Who are you to call me teacher?" Nightmare Solar Flare replied. "Another threat to my little ponies to kill?"
Amicitia felt like crying seeing Celestia this way...it hurt her to see her twisted into this. "...No..."
"Liar!" The insane Nightmare replied, charging a beam. "If my own sister is a threat then so are you!"
"...I'm not a threat because...because there aren't any little ponies left..."
Nightmare Solar Flare gasped. "W-What?"
Amicitia cautiously approached. "...I'm afraid while trying to protect them...you became part of the thing that destroyed them all."
The Nightmare's face contorted in rage. "LIAR! I'd never do such a thing!"
"...Not on purpose...but that's how it always is, isn't it?" Amicitia asked...slowly shifting to the form of Nightmare Eclipse, causing the creature to gasp. "I used to be a Nightmare too...I thought I was going to save everypony and give them their golden ending...but I was the one keeping them from it..." The Alicorn of magic reverted back to her original form. "...And I know you, Celestia...you're better than this..."
"How do you know me?!" the Nightmare asked, shaken.
"...Because..." Amicitia transformed into Twilight Sparkle. "I knew you in another world..." she then turned into Minty. "I knew you in a lost age..."
Celestia's Nightmare gasped. "M-Minty?" she asked, the image of Star Catcher briefly flashing.
"...I knew you when you were born a child into this world..." Minty turned into Twilight the First. "...Celestia isn't a tyrant, she doesn't shoot first ask questions later. She saves ponies. She protects them. She nurtures them...She isn't part of the abomination that caused so much destruction, that's merely the role you were cast in...Celestia is anything but this and you need to remember!"
Amicitia teleported forwards, touching horn to horn to the Nightmare and using the memory spell.
---
Nightmare Conundrum roared in agony, it's form distorting as the tentacle forming Celestia's Nightmare DISSOLVED and Amicitia backed off.
"What the buck did yah do?!" Nightmare Mirror asked, the creature's alien existence making her truth powers not know WHAT was the truth of the beast.
"Fluttershy and Fluttercruel remember this thing consuming the Gods," Amicitia explained as the creature's form distorted more and more. She looked to Nythy with a smirk. "That means even if we can't save the ones it's killed, even if it's only SUBJECTIVELY the truth...we CAN save the ones history says it ABSORBED and history can still ACCEPT THAT!"
"What?!" the fat mare asked.
The unearthly abomination roared as one of the shadows composing it flickered in and out, beginning to TEAR AWAY from it as the beast flashed with energy.
Finally, the shadow tore itself free and fell to the ground, taking solid form. Celestia gasped awake with tears in her eyes.
"NO! MINE! MINE!" the eldritch horror screamed like a rabid beast, making a leap to devour her.
Amicitia blasted the beat back and helped her up. "Celestia?"
"I...I'm sorry...I never meant to...I'm so sorry...my little ponies, what have I done?" she asked.
"...I know how you feel, Celestia...but what point is realizing something wrong if you COULD fix it and don't?" Twilight's Alicorn asked.
Celestia looked back as Nightmare Moon's shade was used to blast Deus back. "...Luna..." the Princess looked thoughtful. "...You're right..."
Mirror looked to Twilight...then to the creature as it formed Nightmare Mirror to deflect a beam. "...Worth a shot..."
Mirror teleported and touched horns to the shadow of herself. "Time tah wake up!"
---
Mirror's eyes opened in a black void of wailing voices...a mirror image of herself sitting before her, tied in chains.
"...Couldn't take the cruel truth of the world, huh?" Mirror asked Shadow Mirror.
"...Nope..."
"...But yah didn't sign up tah destroy the world, did yah? Just lies from it..." Mirror trotted over and set down next to her other self. "...Yah know...this world don't need a Mirror anymore...it's gonna need a teacher...Somepony who TEACHES the new ponies that are gonna live how not tah lie...that's one thing a Mirror can't do...We're Miss Force, not Miss Patient Lessons to a repopulating species..."
Shadow Mirror looked down.
"...Don't think that should be you, do yah?" Mirror asked, looking out into the void of shadows. "...Yah think what yah helped this thing do tah Big Mac and Granny Smith...the fact they're dead...means yah can't ever be good fer nothin' again...that yer better off a monster than a pony, huh?"
"...Eeyup..."
"...You and Ah both know that ain't the truth, Sugar Cube. There are a million cruel truths in this world, but that ain't one."
Mirror cringed, FORCING her wings to channel the kind truth as she spread them.
---
The Nightmare abomination roared in agony as it's Nightmare Mirror shade dissolved.
Mirror flew back as once more the creature flashed with light and one of the Shadows forced herself off of the beat's form and took the form of a Veritas.
Mirror teleported her way and hugged her.
"Ah...Ah'm sorry...Ah didn't mean tah..."
"...Yer right, yah didn't...but yah did...and yah owe it tah all of 'em tah make up fer it, don't yah?" Mirror asked.
"...Yer right..."
Nightmare Conundrum roared in absolute fury. "NO! MINE! MINE! STOLEN!" it screamed, like a feral beast airing it's most basic impulses.
The creature's form exploded, blocking out a large portion of the spirit realm star space in overlapping shadows of countless creatures that formed a sphere, all rotating around like a maelstrom around a corrupted, hideous core in the very eye of the storm. Eyes of countless types opened all over it, tentacles ending in claws like it had before extended out in mass.
At the top, a massive draconic head formed from the shadows formed out and roared. Emerging from the top of the head was half of a hideous six winged Cervacorn/six winged alicorn princess (it seemed to fluctuate between them at random) made of shadows.
"DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!"
The creature unleashed an entire army's worth of power on it's enemies, forcing them to dodge, tank the hits, or block, forcing them all back.
Nythy laughed. "Do you honestly think you have a chance in uncle to save all of those lost in that abomination? Some of them aren't even LOST! Do you really think Tirek, Sombra, Lavan, the Sirens, and countless other wicked ones in there are going to LISTEN?""
Twilight shook her head. "No...but we can save as many as we can, right everypony?!"
"Right!"
"DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!DESTROY!"
The creature let loose with an onslaught of siren screams, Nightmare beams, blasts from Tirek, and so on on it's attackers.
MtangaLion (with one addition by me)
= SAVE The World - Undertale =
Lush green vegetation had already began to spread, sprouting up like wildfire all across the Ashlands.
The Blank Wolf's golden eyes shone, seeing Celestia and Veritas freed from the madness. "I understand! I can sense Mother through this crystal. I will be the one to rescue her!" He dove in, slipping between moments, through shattered and fragmented frames of reference, and finally emerged into a seething darkness foul enough to make even his hide crawl. The crystal followed him, casting a strange and dim light.
The Wolf had braced himself to confront a Nightmare, but Rota Fortuna herself was here. The gray Alicorn was wrapped cruelly tight in shadowy tentacles.
Mother smiled. "Come here, Snow." The name she called him... it was familiar, and not. "I'm glad you're here, even if there's nothing you can do. You were expecting Destiny, perhaps? Or Divergence?" She shook her head fractionally, struggling against her bonds. "No, a broken tool would not serve."
"I will get you out," rumbled the Blank Wolf, lifting his paw.
"Do not!" Mother warned him. "These tentacles go straight to the beast's heart. To erase them is to erase the beast and everything else with it." She sighed slowly. "Did I not say that you can do nothing? There is only one fate now. All choices lead to the same outcome. Nightmare Conundrum devours this worldline and everything in it, past, present, and future."
The Blank Wolf growled, then snarled, bristling with anger. "Mother... It goes against my very being, but I will not accept that. I will change that fate!"
The crystal shard began to glow at those words, and then it dissolved, leaving three floating fragments behind. The Wolf's eyes grew wide. "The fusion gems?!"
One gem flew into his paw, and another to Rota's hoof. "The choice is made," she spoke, pressing the gems together...
Nightmare Conundrum let loose a scream that shook the world... it roiled, captured monsters and concepts all trying to claw their way out and getting sucked right back in. "MINE!!!MINE!MINE!MINE!DESTROYYYY!"
A giant female Dire Wolf flickered into being, with gleaming white fur and two flesh and blood Alicorn wings on her back. Her old mechanical wing floated before her. It folded and whirred, metal feathers interlocking to form an elaborate collar, which clicked into place around her neck. "I am Tabula Rasa, the Fate which is not yet written! Bear witness!" A heavy tome appeared in a fountain of sparks, and a golden quill pen began to write in neat, precise strokes. "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria..."