//------------------------------// // Harmony VS Disharmony // Story: Shattered Mirror // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// With a powerful blast of magic, Twilight shattered Starlight's shield into what resembled little pieces of glass. Starlight quickly retaliated and blasted her backwards into the hallway from where she'd came. Twilight recovered and blasted part of the roof with a spell making it nearly come down on Starlight. "So, this is who Nightmare chose over me? A no talent hack?" Twilight cackled, with a blank look in her eyes alerting Starlight that something was off. On a hunch, she took a quick look at the other five ponies Twilight had come along with. They too had a blank look in their eyes. "Twilight, listen to yourself! What happened to you? Celestia told me about you, about your jealousy issues but this isn't just jealousy it's outright insanity!" Starlight pleaded before creating another magic shield to block some incoming purple colored fireballs of magical origin. Each one was soundly deflected off the shield and Twilight growled. "Is that all you can do? Hide behind shields?" She snorted. "Pathetic." Twilight then head butted the shield shattering it and charged up a spell which she used on Starlight and it blasted her right out the front doorway of the Castle. "There is no Twilight, there is only MIDNIGHT SPARKLE!" Twilight yelled in rage, and Starlight facehoofed as she shook her head. "Great, she gave herself a name..." Starlight mumbled. Discord VS Pinkie Meanwhile, a certain spirit of chaos went up against a certain pink Earth Pony. But it was not in a battle of spells or physical prowess. Oh no, it was a battle that could only be waged by these two. You see, Discord was intent on making Pinkie smile at least once, for Celestia's brainwashing had turned the smiling pink pony into a very depressed pink pony. "Oh come on, you got to admit that last one was a giggle!" Discord whined as he held up a puppet of Nightmare Moon. "Laugh for me, please!" Pinkie's expression and demeanor never changed. She was still depressed as ever. "Laughter, what's the point of laughter?" She murmured. "It never helps anyone." Discord looked understandably offended. "N-never helped anyone? Au contraire mon Pinkie Pie! Well, I'll have you know that laughter does the exact opposite! It made me into who I am today!" He exclaimed with a proud smile, as multicolored fireworks somehow went off behind him. "An idiot?" Pinkie deadpanned, and Discord's face fell before a devious grin came to his face. It actually resembled that of the Grinch's to be honest. "Well... I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice." Discord began with a dramatic flair in his voice. If the main universe's Twilight or Celestia even heard this tone in his voice they would be understandably nervous and battening down the hatches and making sure everything was nailed down. "It's time... To debut the ultimate form of chaos, the grandest jest! The best prank I ever pulled, the greatest form of amusement! Ladies and germs, I give you... THIS!" Discord crowed before he pulled out something from a area which I dare not describe. Pinkie blinked and tilted her head at what she saw. That something Discord pulled out was a banana peel which the chaos being squarely put in front of him before walking towards and tripping up on it. The end result was Discord falling flat on his face. Despite him groaning in pain, his plan succeeded and Pinkie showed the barest trace of a smile before she fell over laughing with tears in her eyes as she rolled around on the ground. "...Glad you think my pain is so funny." Discord deadpanned. "For the record, that wasn't how things were supposed to go." Pinkie blinked before she stopped laughing and tilted her head in confusion. "...It wasn't?" Iron Will VS Applejack In another part of the Castle, Iron Will and Applejack waged a battle of strength with each tossing or bucking rubble towards the other. One part of a broken pillar nearly hit Iron Will in the head had he not punched it into many pieces before he ripped up part of the floor and threw it towards Applejack. She reacted fast, and with a powerful kick of her two hind legs she kicked it back towards him and knocked Iron Will to the floor. "Urgh... That was a kick. You sure you haven't been working out or something?" Iron Will wondered aloud, and Applejack chuckled. "Nah, Ah naturally have this here strength. Earth Pony and all." She said before something or rather somepony seemed to over take her form and then she spoke but not with her own voice. "Look at you, a minotaur helping others and motivating them?" Celestia's voice laughed, as it spoke through Applejack's mouth. This made Iron Will furious, you simply didn't violate somepony like that. "Let her go, she's not part of this." The minotaur snarled and "Applejack" simply laughed. "Oh, I'll let her go... After you admit the truth. You know the one I'm talking about. About how you wanted to be as different as possible from all the rest of your kind." "I... I..." Iron Will stammered. "I don't know what you mean!" Applejack's body rolled it's eyes and Celestia's voice chuckled. "Oh, don't give me that. You know exactly what I mean. Long ago, your species were conquerors feared by all. But you... You're different. Why is that?" It was then Iron Will finally admitted his reasons for being the way he was and he admitted them proudly. "Because... I want to be different, change everypony's perception of the minotaur race. Make us be seen as more then monsters." Little did he know it, but as he said this his eyes glowed as his Element affirmed itself to it's new bearer. Celestia laughed and released her hold on Applejack but not before leaving this message. "Only time will tell..." Applejack groaned in pain and rubbed her head. "Ugh, can anypony get the number of that there chariot which hit mah?" She murmured, and Iron Will looked a bit sheepish. "Uh, that may have been me." He admitted with a blush. Sombra VS Rainbow At the Castle's observatory Rainbow and Sombra did battle. Sombra was beyond terrified, but he didn't let that stop him as he knew what was at stake. In his mind, a mental version of Chrysalis urged him on as he fired spell after spell intent on bringing the brainwashed Pegasus down to Earth so to speak. "Look at you, you're just too slow to stop me!" Rainbow laughed in a cocky tone. Even being brainwashed hadn't changed some of her base personality. "Maybe, but I know something you don't. You see, I know quite a bit about animals or to be more accurate their wings and I know how much they can be used before their muscles get tired..." Just as Sombra had predicted, right then Rainbow's wings began to feel very sore and she began to lose her speed just in time for Sombra to knock her out with a magic blast. Chrysalis VS Fluttershy Once again, our next battle wasn't one of sheer physical power but this time it was one of words. As the twosome flew around in the sky above, they talked. Well, when I say talked Dark Fluttershy just spat out insults while Chrysalis took them in one by one as they came. They didn't affect her as thanks to Iron Will's help she had plenty of confidence in herself. "Creepy bug!" Fluttershy shouted, and Chrysalis scoffed. "Is that the best you can do? I've heard worse." She drawled while rolling her eyes. "Fluttershy, we grew up together and we took classes at the same flight school!" "Yes, we did!" Fluttershy snapped. "You could have protected me, if you had the guts!" "I knew how bad things were for you, but this isn't the way!" Chrysalis yelled, as she choked back a sob at what had happened to her childhood friend. "Think about it!" Chrysalis said. "Think about what you've become... I'm sorry, but you're no better then those bullies who tormented us!" It was then Chrysalis's words finally reached the butter colored pegasus and the memories each and every painful one came flooding back. The insults, and the rhyme of "Fluttercry, can't fly!" that the bullies sang. Fluttershy tried to hold back the tears but the dam broke and she flew into Chrysalis's forearms who embraced her in a comforting hug while whispering "It's okay, I'm here..." Lovely VS Rarity "Drama queen!" Lovely snapped. "Hair lover!" Rarity retorted. For the past few moments, they'd been exchanging insults. Eventually, their insults gave way to something else as they suddenly started kicking and punching other in a huge dust cloud. Discord watched with a eyebrow raised as he turned to the camera only he and Pinkie could see. "Well... That was disappointing. I was expecting something more from you Bricklayer!" He scoffed. Outside the Castle, with Starlight and Twilight... (Round 2) KA-WHOOM! ZAP! KER-POW! Spells flew right and left, creating a shower of color as the twosome fought each other, with neither side intent on letting the other defeat them. "Don't you get it yet? You can't defeat me!" Twilight yelled, as she grabbed a tree with her magic and hurled it towards Starlight who created a saw of hardlight and split the tree in two right down the middle. "Oh? I'm doing pretty well so far." Starlight deadpanned. "I've got friends now, and that's something you'll never understand." Twilight scoffed. "Friendship? With those misfits?" She said as she rolled her eyes. Starlight nodded proudly. "Yes, and that's the greatest magic of all isn't it? You see, I have a theory on what happened to you. You never experienced friendship for yourself and there was no one but Nightmare to stop you when you went over the edge. If you had friends, you might have turned out very different." Starlight said, shaking her head in pity. She really did feel sorry for the unicorn she fought who unlike the others had accepted Celestia's power willingly. "SHUT UP!" Twilight roared, and fired off a spell but her energy was weak and it barely made it a few feet not even getting close to it's intended target. "Yeah, I thought so." Starlight smirked. "You're out of power. It's over." Then Celestia's voice cut through the air. "Oh, it's far from over. You see, while all you lot fought intent on settling your differences with each other I was preparing myself. And now I am ready." Then, high in the sky above appeared Celestia herself as her multicolored mane whipped in the howling winds that came out of nowhere. Everypony watched in horror as the mad Princess of the Sun cackled. "SHHHHHHEEE'SSSS BACK!" Celestia singsonged, before like a rocket she was gone and heading straight towards the direction of Canterlot and her sister... Nightmare Moon. Starlight swallowed as Twilight suddenly looked incredibly guilty. What had she helped unleash and what was the cost? "Oh boy." Starlight whispered. "May Nightmare save us."