//------------------------------//
// Prelude #III; Midnight Titans 
// Story: Magical Intentions, Vol. I 
// by Aureane 
//------------------------------//

		Twilight has completed her organization of "Theories of the Universe," and to this, she lets out a relieved, squealing noise, yawning and stretching about as she levitates her starry pajamas over to slip herself in.  

"That should do it."  The alicorn makes her way out of the library and to her bed, deeming her assistant goodnight.  "Don't stay up too late, Spike!"

"Yeah, yeah."  He gets back to stuffing himself with a bowl of gems as his favorite TV show plays on.  "After this episode," he claims.  "Daring Do's in the middle of her adventure!"

Twilight giggles.  "Alright."

Munch after munch, Spike doesn't notice his own eyelids closing, and just as Daring Do dodges several spike traps inside of an ancient underwater ruin, Spike shoves multiple gems into his mouth in high anticipation.  "You'ff got'th thish, Darwing Do!"

A piece of silver liquid makes its way under the door, aiming about to see what's roaming within the room.  Looking to the spilled bits of gems on the floor, it notices Spike enjoying his bowl of gemstones.  Several sharks are pursuing Daring Do in a high speed swim montage.  "Come on, you can do it..." the small dragon mutters.  

The fluid, by then, has jumped onto a gemstone, sinking into and becoming an immediate clone of it.  Spike picks up another handful, noticing a metallic object before it can change into the exact red color of the gem it had just outlined.  "Huh, that's a new one," Spike squints.  "Must be a different flavor!"  Whatever the case, he pops the bunch of stones into his mouth.

By then, Daring Do has found the treasure, and is holding it in her hoof.  "Yes!"  Spike throws an arm into the air, soon taking notice that some sort of glossy fluid is dripping down his arm, having covered most of his body.  "Woah.  When did I have scales like this?"  He remarks.  He walks up to a mirror and examines his body, and there is a spreading, molecular substance forming onto each and every one of his pores.

Twilight is just about into a deep sleep until Spike barges into her bedroom.  "Twilight!"  He yells out.  "TWILIGHT!"  The alicorn gets up, lifts her night mask, and stares to check what the problem is this time.  "Spike, did you see something scary again?  I thought I told you to stop watching those kind of movies."  

"No!  It's not that!  Check out my cool, new scales."  Spike flexes himself, showing off his new, chrome body.  He turns around, gives himself a spin, and by the time he can look back, he dissolves into a puddle on the floor, and the form shifts upwards into Pinkie, solidifying from the ground up and changing into her usual, pink color.

"Hey, Twilight!" She says with an outgoing smile. 

Twilight blinks, rubbing her eyes, still half asleep.  "Pinkie--  how?  I know you generally break the rules of this planet, but I've never seen you do this before.  Am I dreaming?"  Pinkie nods with a squee.  The princess raises an eyebrow, astonished, soon coming out with a smile.  "This would make for some good research!"  Twilight spawns a notepad and a quill in her hooves, putting on glasses and writing down 'Pinkie the shapeshifter'.  "So, tell me how this all began."

Pinkie bounces up and down excitedly.  "Well, Twilight, I was roaming about wondering my own business, when suddenly, my spine was tingling!  Pinkie sense, right?  And before I knew it, I could do this!  The creature splits itself into two, one form shaping into a pink Spike, and the other into a pink Trixie.  

"Amazing, is it not?"  Trixie says, leaning against the door frame.

"Hey, I'm all pink!"  Spike examines himself.

Twilight can't believe what she has just seen.  She writes, Pinkie can suddenly split herself apart and form an exact clone of anypony else.  How is this possible?  Has Pinkie finally done something that may change Equestrian history?  "Mhm," Twilight says, agreeing with herself, summoning a coffee and taking a sip.

Both dragon and equine merges back into Pinkie Pie.  "'Mhm', what?"  She asks.

"Oh, nothing, I was just wondering if you've done something to reach this condition.  Because if you tell me how, there are so many things that can be done!"  She turns, thinking to herself aloud.  'If we have this, we can have ponies build multiple structures at the same time!  Decorations could be set up within minutes!  Each clone can study something different, and then teach each other!  I could teach everypony at once!'

By then, Pinkie has turned into the normal, blue and platinum Trixie.  Twilight turns around.  "Wow, you can change colors too?!  Pinkie!  You've really done it this time!"  

"Oh, it's no big deal," the aqua mare states.  "I can teach you how to do this, since I've been studying," she puts a hoof up to her lips- "a secret spell."

"Secret... spell?"  Twilight leans in.  "You're behind this, Trixie?  How?"

"Oh, princess," she replies.  "I can teach you everything."  Behind the purple alicorn, a chrome Spike is absorbing itself into her.

"But, how?  You, of all ponies?"  Twilight can't help but snicker.  "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."  The substance is up to her neck.  "I'm sorry, but this is a good one.  Sure, though.  If you insis--"  Silence follows.  By then, Twilight has dissolved into a pool of her own, and the metallic clones move on out to find their share of living beings, with the goal of taking over Ponyville.




 ~ 


All is silent outside as the moon mare guards the night.  Shadows now dance about, cheering within the darkness and bouncing between each and every tree branch they can find.  Equestria's ghastly gorge is such a peaceful place without Celestia's sun, and it's hard to believe that a single, horrifying monster would ever be seen.  Surely, none would imagine such a place: a calm, whistling river down below, grass rustling among the wind, animals sleeping their way throughout the night.  Nothing ever happens here.

But inside the darkest, deepest of places, everything always happens.

The giant, liquid dragoness stares out at the two ponies, both horn and earth alike, taking it upon herself to laugh in a steady, low tone, rumbling the whole foundation of the earth's core once more- amused by the sixteen ponies dashing towards the pair.  

"Fools.... do you even know what you've gotten yourselves into?  The giant substance tilts her head, peering closely at the organic beings in front of her.  "Though, I must commend you.  No life form would ever be brave enough to willingly sacrifice themselves to the nest.  Because of this, I will enjoy adding your carcasses to my," she gives the word a second of thought, leaning forward and grinning... "collection."

"What do we do, Maud?"  Starlight asks, but her grey friend has no words for her this time.  Instead, she ups and stands forth in front of her violet friend, forcing her to let go.  

"I'm only going to ask this once," Maud states.  "Where is the real Pinkie Pie?"  Upon her request, the dragon raises a front leg, signaling for the silver doppelgangers to cease their advance, and they freeze instantly, returning to their default, steel color, some held in midair by halted drops of liquid connectors; it was almost as if the two equines were trapped in a simulation of the sort.

"The real Pinkie Pie, you say?  Hmm, that's a tough one.  There are so many other 'Pinkies' out there in the world.  What would that even matter to you?"

Maud keeps her glare, focused directly on that of the menacing, oozing giant in front of them.

The dragon sighs.  With a sly grin, she says, "My.  What a firm spirit you have.  Well, then... knowing that the two of you will inevitably be mine, allow me to bring her out.  I also don't suppose you'd like to see your... predator, Starlight?"  

Upon this, the unicorn's eyes widen, her irises shaking under the sparkling cave.  "You mean... Tri--"  She pauses, mid sentence.  "Wait.  How do you know my name?"

The silver leader passes unto her a light heartened, earth-quaking snicker, taking the utmost care not to answer.  

Instead, one of the Trixies falls to the floor with a slimy slam, getting up and dusting herself off.  She catwalks up to Starlight in a low crouch formation, slowly purring along her spine and trickling among every single strand of the spell caster's body.  Starlight can feel goosebumps work across her side, wherever the mercury creature slipped about her.  "Oh, Glimmie... how wouldn't I know you?"  Starlight looks about her as the amorphous being leaps off of the ground and runs about her skin.  She passes her shoulder, eventually arriving face-to-face with the violet mage.  "I enjoyed taking away what you held dear..."

"N-no way.  You're not Trixie!"  She yells, looking at her with a dearly concerned expression.

The amorphous aqua pony grins with a deceptive smile.  "Who is Trixie, then?  Is this not what she did to you?  The slime moves her head forward, puckering up her lips.

Starlight looks to the ground, dodging the being's look.  She begins to quiver as she tries to peer away from the creature, covering her own mouth with a hoof.  Upon looking back, she notices that the ooze is no longer on her, but is rather absorbing her into itself.  Immediately, she struggles to break free.  "Maud?  Maud!"  She calls, but the grey equine can only watch.

"What will your 'friend' do, Starlight?  She won't do anything.  She hardly knows you!"  Trixie laughs maniacally, her absorption rate leeching her in faster.  "Give in to somepony you can trust... somepony who is great and powerful..."

"Maud...", Starlight calls.  By then, she's fallen to the floor.  Seeing that there is nothing an earth pony could do, she attempts to cast a spell, charging all of her strength into her horn-- but the slime covers its with a well-placed, dripping hoof as it slops down upon her forehead.  

"Ah ah ah, Starlight.  Leave the magic alone and observe in wonder as we finally become one!"

Despite her interruption, the violet mare does all she can to complete the spell.  She releases it, sweating, and it spreads straight throughout the oozing Trixie, vaporizing her into thin air.  She gets up, shaking herself off and frowning at Maud.  

"Impressive, horned one," the dragon mutters in amusement.  "But your power shall soon be mine."

"We'll see about that," Starlight declares.  Now unhindered by any substances, a blue aura surrounds her horn as she begins to focus her energy, closing her eyes tightly as she musters up all of her strength.

To this, the leader simply rewards herself with a great earthquake of laughter.  "Do you really think that will work on me, Starlight?"  The great being asks, closing her eyes.  "Very well.  Hit me, then."  

Having had about eight seconds to charge up, the violet mage splits the energy into fifteen different beams during her concentration, unleashing a wave of plasma out among the frozen crowd of blue and pink doppelgangers, immediately breaking them down into useless atoms.  Upon this sudden, chain reaction of cellular meltdowns, she channels the chaotic energy into that of a massive otherworldly sword, flicking her head to the right and cleanly slicing the chrome dragon's leg apart.  The silver leader, taken by surprise, lands onto the floor with a large splash of liquid.  However, immediately noticing this, the dragoness draws in animals and ponies spectating from the stands, restoring her leg within that of mere seconds, and soon other liquids from around the cave walls take the places of the exact same creatures who were seated.

Starlight pants, having used a considerable amount of energy, but when she looks up, she sees that the silver being has barely taken a scratch.

"That tickled," the dragon teases.  But then, she leans in, baring her dripping teeth.  "Now it's my turn."

Immediately, the dragon stomps, and this time, hundreds and thousands of Trixies and Pinkies spawn, easily filling half of the abandoned stadium.  She stomps again, and this time there are not only the prior two, but Twilights and Spikes as well.  All of them look exactly like their original, prior selves.

To her horror, Starlight mutters under her breath.  "Spike?  Twilight...?"  She steps back, but Maud stops her with a hoof.

"Starlight."

The mage turns to her friend.  "Y--yes?" She responds, still staring at the ocean of clones in front of them.

"Do you know any enchanting spells?"

"T-Twilight and I studied them quite a bit, but we haven't gotten around to testing them."

"I need you to upgrade my gauntlets."

"Gauntlets... what gauntlets?"

Maud reaches into her pocket and tosses out four horseshoes, aligning them properly, and then shaping her hooves into them.  She turns to Starlight, and the horseshoes extend outwards, folding out into flexible, steel boots that covers her arms and legs.  Starlight ogles in wonder.

"Ooh, so-- the grey one has something, after all," the massive being observes.  "No matter.  Do as you wish with them, we've only need of their bodies," she states, staring with a twisted smile.  Without any hesitations, a massive, colorful rumble works along the stadium as all of the countless numbers of ponies dash forth at once-- from baby dragon- to equine.  Behind the two ponies are even more clones jumping off of the stadium to assist in their capture, plopping onto the ground and quickly reshaping themselves into the friends the two had known and loved.  The mage looks around with the deepest of fear shaking through her veins.

"Starlight!  Do it now!"  Maud yells, and Starlight immediately refocuses on her to comply.  Never before has the violet spell caster ever seen such a worried look in the grey mare's eyes.  Taking note of this, she quickly shakes her head to clear her thoughts, soon forming energy out of thin air as the enormous waves of ponies gangs in on them.  Just before the insanely huge foundation of metallic fluids makes their anticipated landing, Starlight releases the last bit of her energy into Maud's armored hooves, and surely enough, they give in with a spark, but to no effect.  Nothing happens-- and it's already too late.

The whole ocean of doppelgangers lands upon them, and Starlight can immediately feel her whole body being crushed under a countless amount of weight.  With no mercy, her DNA structure is absorbed into the silver strand pool, and she is stored away indefinitely into a deep capsule of metallic torture, locked in complete stasis.

The silver dragon unleashes a loud, wicked laugh, holding much more volume than the combined decibels of any of her other snickers or chuckles held before.  "Oh, this is too good!  Well done, my clones!  It seems we've not only captured an alicorn-- but a skilled mage, as well.  She turns around, celebrating mostly to herself.  "Now, all we'll need to do is clone them, say, millions of times... and Equestria will no longer hold any power against us."  She opens her eyes again and turns back as the other doppelgangers who weren't involved with the oceanic pile shape-shifts into every single living being from Ponyville, Starlight included.  Astounded by this site, the great being orders half of them to return, and they form into a massive throne for her to sit upon.  "Nothing will be able to stop us."  The leader closes her eyes in complete content.

However, something catches her eye.  Somepony is missing within the crowd.  She checks in with all of the memories collected, going about the list.  Pinkie Pie.  Fluttershy.  Applejack.  Rarity.  Rainbow Dash.  Twilight Sparkle.  Starlight.  Every single other pony, within a matter of minutes.  She can't place her nonexistent mind upon this.  As she goes about the list, an exotic, black flame protrudes out from her calm ocean, and a wave of clones washes upon the throne.  Several other flames break their way through the silver sea, soon resting without any other traces of movement.  The dragoness leans forth.  "No.  Impossible!"  She exclaims.

After a few more seconds, all is still-- but then, with an overwhelming amount of force, a spiral flame opens up a rift, straight in the middle of the mountain of liquid.  As the vortex opens up, more and more drops of metallic fluids are torn by the gallons, their several molecules being absorbed straight into the burning wall-- dissipating into the air as all of their chemical makeup ceases to exist.

Seeing this, the massive, oozing dragoness stands up and readies herself, her throne still standing strong.  From five-hundred meters away, she can see that whatever was in that pile of silver fluids was still kicking.  As her clones begin to retreat in fear of their imminent deletion, she can eventually make out the shape of a small creature.  At first, the silhouette is completely black, standing still with total resolve, a frantic, booming aura working about its shape.  At this point, the leader can only spectate in sheer surprise, and the creatures in the stands are frozen under their own, respective shocks.  

After the dark vortex dies down, the remaining energy is absorbed into the black outline.  The energy dissipates into the ground, and what seemed like dark energy is now transmuted into a controlled, red and black wave, leaking its way into the survivor's legs.  As the mixture of sparking electricity and heated flames crackle together around the suspicious silhouette, a familiar, green-eyed mare appears, lighting up the entirety of the cavern.  Frozen, the dragoness looks about her clones as her lip quivers.  "What are you doing?  Get her!"  

From every single angle, an impossible amount of silver clones dashes for Maud-- rushing out from the stands and straight into her.

Maud closes her eyes.  Pinkie, she thinks.  The silver waves are already closing in.

I hope all of my years from the rock farm has paid off.

Losing track of her thoughts, Maud kicks herself into pure, hyper-drive mode, being a Pie Sister after all, readily giving into pure instinct as her eyes change from a green color, into that of a burning and black, empty void.  

As the waves once again jump in to overwhelm her with their sheer numbers, time seems to slow down for the armed equine.  Silver predators just inches away.  The grey mare can sense each and every one of their outlines-- and even though they have the exact colors of whomever they had copied, she only sees the untouched, liquid forms.

"Begone", is all she mutters.  Her gauntlets light up with the fury of thunder and flames alike, accelerating her heart rate and plunging her forth into the crowd.

Time resumes.

Maud flashes between every single wave of ponies and animals before they can touch the ground-- smashing into and rapidly cracking apart each and every bit of mercury visible.  With a violent grapple onto a liquid stallion's hind leg, she whirls the doppelganger around and smashes him into waves of silver until his leg burns off into nonexistence.  She is forced to speed to the ground and kick upwards into the pony's belly-- black flames roaring as it channels a solid bullet of electricity throughout the creature, instantly disintegrating him and any other predators up above.

She charges a front hoof and quickly slams into the ground, sustaining a field of anti-gravity as the whole stadium of silver slows down, nearly freezing in time.  Those who can fly dive right towards Maud, and those who have horns cancel out the working effect upon their nearby allies.  Immediately, the carnal, grey equine splits her work, sprinting in front of a unicorn and allowing it to charge a spell, and then swiftly dodging out of the way as it re-materializes its own winged, silver member into bare matter.  As beams are flying about in the mages' attempts to hit Maud, they stop as they see that they are only hitting those who are caught in the field.

Larger enemies appear: dragons, manticores, and Hexxills roam about to try and end the primal pony.  Maud dashes into that of a manticore, feigning a lack of trajectory, and the beast opens its mouth, ready to receive its next meal-- but she then rolls and jumps onto its head as a winged mare flies straight into its mouth.  With a jump high into the air, Maud partakes in a triple front flip, slamming a hoof into the floor-- and immediately, a massive void opens around the the nearby vicinity with a thundering boom, trapping every single creature of any size within its territory.  Sliding out of the chaotic ball of energy, the grey mare simply claps her hooves together-- and the whole stadium behind her is chunked straight into dark matter, never to be seen again as it soon appears that somepony has taken a chomp out of the surrounding area.

Without hesitation, the grey equine immediately sprints forward with an immense trail of flames behind her, and in two seconds flat, she is face to face with the giant dragon, any and all remaining silver in the way merely torn apart into that of another dimension, a black emptiness still in her eyes. 

"I said, I wasn't going to ask again." Maud declares, threatening the chrome colored being. "Apparently, you misunderstood me the first time."  

"W-- what are you talking about?"  The dragon asks, pretending to be oblivious.

"You don't only owe me Pinkie Pie,"  Maud states with a serious, cold tone.  "You owe me Starlight, her friends, and the rest of the world." 

The silver leader blinks at her, looking as if she is scared, but she only answers with a smile.  Finally, she breaks the silence.  "So, you think those flashy flames of yours can stop me?"

The grey mare doesn't respond.

"Fine.  I suppose I shall receive your answer-- when I have stolen all of your memories and secrets of this world."  To this, the slimy dragon grabs Maud and stands up on its hind legs, transforming into that of a bipedal creature.  It drastically transforms its whole shape, growing into a humongous entity that easily smashes through the caverns, towering over that of the whole ghastly gorge, and reaching straight into the depths of the atmosphere.  It holds a nightmarish appearance: massive horns on the forehead the size of skyscrapers, a huge, prehensile tail on its back end, enough to split the earth-- giant, sharpened blades to work for claws, extended rows of teeth for a fearsome appearance, and an armored, covered spine and chest.  It then solidifies itself, just up to the point where it is immobilized-- keeping to a flexible structure.  The midnight air shines down upon her silver shell.

Starlight's avian that was resting about patiently at ground level soon flies up to Maud, detecting her presence, squawking about as it witnesses the giant, metallic creature color herself into that of a dark green and golden yellow appearance.  "You are a fool to threaten me, Maud," she says, and the whole valley rumbles about as she speaks her few words.  "I will make the end quick for you.  As for your friends... you can have them," she blinks, speaking convincingly, "if they weren't already dead."

"I don't believe that!"  Maud screams back.  She only has two more words to add, as tears startup in her eyes.  "Maud sense," she claims, and to this, her formidable opponent lets out a chuckle.

"We will see if your sense holds," the silver leader looks at the grey pony closely, allowing the tension to remain, "...true."

Without any prior warning, all it takes is a clap of the giant's hands to permanently end Maud-- however, armed with her deadly gauntlets, she punches the midst of the titan's palms with several successive strikes, instantly breaking herself free, and essentially melting that part of her predator's body.  Rolling herself across the mid-line of her left hand, Maud sprints to the edge of her paw and jumps off, landing promptly on top of the flying creature.  Crying out in pain and leaking silver fluid, the giant dragoness swiftly regenerates her wounded hands and sees Maud atop Starlight's tamed animal.  She then growls and opens her jaws, planning to chomp down upon the two lifeforms with her endless waves of chrome teeth.

Just before she can, however, a dark blue sphere appears around Maud and her avian, stopping time for the rest of the world.  A dark blue equine appears from a black portal.  "What is going on out here?"  Luna steps out, fully concerned.  "My sibling cannot rest properly."

Maud simply blinks at her and points a hoof behind her.  The royal princess turns around, swiftly noticing the silver titan.  "Sweet Celestia!"  She exclaims, putting a hoof up to her mouth and blushing, ashamed that she had used her sister's name in vain, suddenly thankful that time is frozen.  Because the metallic creature's properties are not bound to this dimension, even with time stopped, the natural rules of the current planet need not apply to the bipedal dragoness.  She is doing her best to bite down and slice upon the time barrier, cracking it apart bit by bit with every strike from her earth-breaking features.  

"This cannot be!"  Luna yells.  "How can such a thing exist?!"  She turns around to look at Maud, as if the grey pony was to blame for all of this occurring.  

Maud finds silence to be a viable option; the bird squawks at the midnight mare.  

Luna sighs.  "Well, I suppose I've no choice but to help you, then.  I've just recently caught word from my royal guards that all of Ponyville is missing.  And, seeing as I wouldn't want to awaken my sister, we've best deal with this quickly.  So, instead of limiting this time bubble to our own, personal space, I shall move it about the entire area."   To her declaration, she flies next to Starlight's creature, and Maud hops on.  Luna then teleports the avian to someplace safer-- straight to the other side of the ghastly gorge.  It is now paused in time itself.  "Don't worry, your bird will be safe," the princess states.  "Now.  Shall we?"

Maud nods.

With a flick of her horn, the time bubble expands, covering the first half of the gorge.  The titan's tail comes in for a swoop towards the newfound pair as she cries out in all of her rage, but to the alicorn's keen eye, it easily swooshes past them.  "Luna!  My dear, dear alicorn.  You are not the only one with magic now!"  She lets her tail slam into the ground, and the ground shatters, immediately causing rock formations to crumble into the river.  With the combined magic of all of the horned ponies from around the world, the giant creates an inverted ball of energy, shaking through that of a black and white energetic disruption.  After only a matter of moments, the dragon's beam surges towards the alicorn and her rider-- a threatening, physics-breaking riot of sheer intergalactic power.  

Luna's eyes couldn't have possibly gotten any wider, and her irises thin out to nearly that of specks.  None the less, she too focuses on gathering her own energy, and to her discretion, she releases a dark blue blast, taken straight from the moon itself-- matching the size of the silver leader's charge-- though, on her side, no matter how hard she concentrates, her dark blue sustenance begins to give way, just as the world-ending, black and white cosmic fury begins to close in on her end.

"I... can't... hold it... much longer!"  All four of the moon mare's hooves are strained to their maximum muscle capacity, and she is slowly railed back towards the edge of her own bubble.  Upon this, Maud experiments; using her gauntlets, she presses her hooves aside Luna's horn-- and through both of their eyes, the night pony's hyper beam absorbs the thundering flames from her ally's weapon, essentially reconditioning it into that of dark matter, capable of comfortably contesting with that of the dragon's output.

"No...!"  The dragon works out through her mouth, "I will reign supreme!"  She gathers the rest of the mages' energy, essentially dumping out all of their auras and investing it into defeating her challenger.  "I will be the victor, Luna!  The elements of harmony are within me!"  To this, her beam reshapes itself into that of a rainbow power, quickly eating up that of the dark energy.

Having seen the experiment work, there's no time for thinking as Maud jumps onto Luna's beam.  "What are you doing?!  It's not safe!"  The princess cries.  The grey mare ignores her and sprints along her channeled energy, running among her own powered void.  

Seeing this, the titan spawns each of the mane six atop the beam, all in the exact shape and voices of their characteristics.  "We won't let you pass, Maud," the group states.  Maud glances behind her and sees that Luna is pressed backwards into the bubble, struggling to keep up her side of the battle.  Looking down, she notices that the rainbow matter is directly in front of her.  She stares at the mane six with a smile.

"I'll see you on the other side, Pinkie," she states, before jumping into the menacing, colorful beam.

Meanwhile, the night equine believes that it is the end for her, and she is just about to let her opponent win the stressful battle of overall resolve.  I'm sorry, sister, she thinks, closing her eyes as the whole spectrum is about to erase her from the face of the entire universe.  

Inside the conflicting matter, Maud believes she has instantly disintegrated, but upon her discovery, her gauntlets have quickly adapted to that of the cosmos-erasing energy, and, using Luna's final effort as a booster, she begins to push back against the Power of Friendship.  The bipedal dragon's energy barely scrapes the tip of the moon mare's horn as she opens her eyes, seeing a grey mare standing right up against the point among her horn.  Both Luna and titan are astonished to see this miracle taking place.  "How?!"  They both cry out.  

"...Love," Maud says, smiling.

Of course.  Does the Power of Love not outweigh Friendship?  Maud's Love for Pinkie Pie; love for Starlight-- even Trixie; Love for these colors that are left of her dark, grey world?

With direct ease, Luna finds that her grey ally is not the answer to beating the giant, bipedal leader-- and with the last of her strength, she screams out in pain as her beam launches towards the dumbfounded enemy, controlled matter refocused into that of a blood red, burning void, one that can crack not only universes, but that of dimensions.  The titan can see it now; her existence being erased from every single alternate reality that she ever existed in.  "No-- Noooo!"  She cries out as Maud, who now holds the warmest heart of all, slams right into her face, just before the entire being infinitely disintegrates in each and every shifted moment of time.  

Maud turns around, allowing Luna's uncontrollable, final wave to absorb straight into the gauntlets.  Relieved from the release, the nightly mare swiftly gathers a hold of herself, teleporting Maud safely out of the time bubble.  Upon this, she takes the overloaded weapon off of the stone equine and blinks quickly to the edge of the universe, releasing the overwhelming amount of matter into the blackness of the pitch darkness.  Without a sound, or a single explosion, the radiant, otherworldly energy dissipates into space, seemingly harmless to the normal eye.  She then teleports back to unleash the bubble, and it cracks into thin air as the whole world once again resumes, Celestia still retaining her beauty sleep.  

To this-- even for an immortal- Luna collapses the the ground, laying aside Maud Pie.  However, just before falling asleep as the night is at its end, she teleports the two of them to the royal castle.  Together, they are easily welcomed into a deep slumber on the bed, both moon mare and Maud sitting on the moon, celebrating their victory.  


 ~ 


Celestia raises the sun, and it shines brighter than ever before, sparks of energy acting upon the world as she notices that Luna has a... visitor in her resting area?  Oh my.  She can't believe her eyes.  

One of the royal guards who stayed up the whole night, informs the sun princess of much-needed context.

"Princess Celestia," the night guard starts.  "Considering that silver, life-cloning ponies had taken over all of Ponyville, you need not be alarmed.  I believe those two have just saved the world."

The sun mare thanks him for his time and sends him off to his well-deserved quarters, looking back at the grey mare.

"That pony, huh?"  She wonders, smiling contentedly.  Looks like I'll be taking a field trip.


 ~ 


Maud comes back to her everyday conscience, immediately remembering the night before and she rubs her head with a hoof.

"She's waking up!"  A cheerful voice explains.

"Hush, Pinkie!  Let her rest.  The poor dear has probably had a very rough night," a refined voice deducts.		

"Maud is not even 20% cooler.  She's like, 1000% cooler!"  Says a raspy voice.

"U-um... oh dear, is she hurt?"  The quiet one asks.

"Probably.  But I swear, when she wakes up, ah'd like to give her mah sincere thanks,"  says the honest one.

"Ssh.  Give her a few more minutes," requests a royal voice.

Maud's eyes finally open, and she notices that she is in Twilight's castle.  Looking to her left, she sees a whole gathering of ponies, and to her right, even more.

Wondering what's going on, she lifts herself up off of the bed, and, immediately breaking down in tears with a grin, she sees all of her friends.  Applejack.  Rarity.  Rainbow Dash.  Fluttershy.  Twilight Sparkle.  And, most of all, Trixie, Starlight, and her sister, Pinkie Pie.  Princess Celestia is smiling at her.

The room is completely silent, as if they were expecting Maud to say something-- and Maud simply blinks.  But, choosing not to keep the silence this time, she allows her words to travel throughout a whole crowd, if not just for once.

"I'm so glad to see all of you," she begins, "all of you have no idea what I have just gone through.  I'm-- j-just..."

All of the ponies move in to give her a group hug, acknowledging her sentience.  Eventually, they move back and give her space to breath.

An important memory jumps into Maud's mind.  "Wait-- Starlight, the kiss-"

"Don't worry, Maud.  Trix and I are over it.  As it turns out, I overreacted..." She grins uneasily, and then turns to Trixie to give her a kiss on the cheek.  Trixie blushes.

"Glimmie... not in front of the others... as much as they'd like it," she says, causing the two of them to giggle.  "Oh-- Starlight and I have talked.  We've come to a decision; we owe you something."

Maud blinks as the two unicorns walk up to their respective sides of the bed.  With both mares leaning in, the two of them give Maud a combined kiss on either cheek.  Maud's blush quickly shows.  "Th-- thanks," she says.  The crowd responds with their loving cries.

Pinkie jumps on her, hugging her tightly, and then coming face-to-face with her grey sister.  "Maud!  Maud!  You've been out for three days!  Is it true?  We heard from Luna that you used the some sort of new Power to overcome Friendship!"

The grey equine nods.  "That's right.  And, since you've mentioned that, there's actually something I'd like to try... excuse me."

"Okie dokie, Maud!"  Pinkie bounces off of the bed.  Power, huh?  She thinks.  The grey pony gets up and walks over to the tree of harmony's map.

Maud closes her eyes and touches it.  Immediately, it changes from blue, and into that of a red color-- the whole map extends into unknown areas that were once forgotten within Equine history.  

The whole crowd gazes in awe.  

Even Celestia's eyes opens wide at the sight of this.

"Maud, these were areas that my sister and I have... exiled," she explains.  "I can't even begin to wonder why the map is referring to this."

"Perhaps... it's a calling?"  Twilight suggests.

The whole crowd looks at the grey pony, and she turns around, seeing the curiosity on their faces.

"In that case," Maud says.  "Wherever I go, I'd like Starlight and Trixie to go with me."  

The two unicorns look at her in astonishment.  

"No way-- you're serious?"  Starlight asks.

"Mhm."

"Well, as much as you'll be needing the great and power-- she stops her sentence before everypony glares at her, "I mean, I'd be honored to travel with you, Maud.  As much as our early times together have went, I believe we will work together quite nicely.

The grey mare smiles, no longer seeing the same Trixie that she had witnessed several mornings ago.

Without hesitation, the three now stand in front of the map, together-- with the whole crowd behind them, anticipating the trio's next move.


 ~