• Published 11th Jun 2013
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Lavender Unicorn Syndrome - Sharaloth



A lavender unicorn has a terrible day when every lavender unicorn starts turning into copies of her best friend, the lavender unicorn!

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Part 6: Round one: Dash Vs Gilda; Pinkie Vs Sombra

The lavender unicorn was not one to pass up an opportunity. The world of fashion was always fast moving, and any pony that failed to jump on the newest trend was doomed to be playing catch up forever after. So, shocked at the turn of events as she was, she was still the first to leap up and shout “Get her!” then follow it up with a charge at the Changeling.

Chrysalis, however, was a little slower to shift mental gears, and thus completely unprepared for the oncoming tackle. “What? No!” was all she managed to get out before the lavender unicorn bowled into the Changeling Queen, knocking them both backwards out the door and into the street.

In the street, Gilda, the Flim-Flam brothers, Trixie and sock-Sombra passively watched their nominal leader roll past them in a tangle of black and lavender limbs. Gilda turned to the salespony brothers with a haughty smirk. “Pay up,” she said.

“You’re jumping the gun, my dear,” Flim abjured, holding up a forestalling hoof. He and his brother did not look well, sweating and panting, their faces screwed up in pain. Yet he gamely tried to keep up a jovial tone as he spoke. “Her plan isn’t dead yet.”

“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash cried from inside the library, and then four and a half lavender ponies piled out, stopping in shock as they saw the forces arrayed against them. “What are you guys doing here?” Dash asked.

Trixie’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the lavender unicorns arrayed before her. “Twilight? Wait, Twilight? Who? Why?”

Gilda snorted back a laugh. “There goes Dark Magic girl. Good enough for you two?” The brothers grumbled and each tossed a small bag of bits to the griffon, who caught them easily. “Never bet on stupid or against crazy, boys.”

Momentarily forgotten, Chrysalis and the lavender unicorn struggled against each other, rolling in the dirt and grass. The lavender unicorn had surprise and ferocity on her side, but Chrysalis was no stranger to combat and quickly used her greater size and strength to her advantage, twisting and throwing the attacking unicorn away from her. The Changeling Queen rolled to her hooves and shook the dirt off her carapace. “Enough! You dare lay your hooves on me? I should…” she trailed off as she looked around to discover herself standing in the midst of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, all of whom were giving her disturbingly eager looks. With a very unqueenly squeak she scampered over to where her own forces were doing precisely nothing to help her. “Okay, so, where were we?”

“Chrysalis!” Twilight Sparkle called out, her wings flaring in her excitement.

“Ah, yes,” Chrysalis purred, finding herself on solid footing again. “Good. The hero speech. A little earlier than expected, but that’s fine.”

“We are so glad to see you!” Twilight continued.

Chrysalis blinked. “You what?”

“What the hay is wrong with Spike?” Trixie asked, staring aghast at the mostly-not-a-dragon.

“He seems fine to me,” sock-Sombra provided. “Hold me higher, I want to look down on these peons!”

“Now hold still, this shouldn’t hurt, um, much,” Twilight was saying, her horn lighting up.

A beam of magenta light burst from Equestria’s newest princess, blasting towards Chrysalis, who dodged to the side. “Attacking already? I misjudged you, Twilight.”

Twilight, for her part, was rubbing at her head, a pained expression creasing her face. “Rarity,” she whined. “Did you have to aim for the horn?”

“Work through it, darling,” the lavender unicorn replied, taking her place next to her friends. “A return to stylish curls is in sight! I’m not going to let a little headache stop me now!”

“It’s my headache, Rarity,” Twilight sighed, but composed herself quickly. “Alright girls, looks like we’ve got, uh, hmm,” she regarded their opposition. “Okay, I know who you all are, but why are you all together? And, Trixie, why are you holding up that sock?”

“I am Sombra, King of the Crystal Empire! And I will feast on your misery!” sock-Sombra replied.

The lavender ponies drew back from the snarling sock, save Pinkie, who grinned a manic, sparkling-eyed smile that looked particularly deranged when plastered on Twilight’s features. “I want one,” she whispered.

“Wait, are you guys all Twilight clones, or is there some other stupidity going on here?” Gilda asked.

“Hey, Gilda,” Rainbow Dash said, waving to the griffon. “Nah, we’re all us.”

“Dash?” Gilda shook her head in disbelief, the motion dropping feathers in a snowy flurry. She squinted at Dash, shading her eyes. “You look ridiculous. How did this happen?”

“Magic virus,” Dash nonchalantly replied. “Why are you hanging out with these dweebs? I thought ponies weren’t your scene.”

“Getting paid,” Gilda replied with equal indifference.

“All of you shut up!” Chrysalis snarled. “I don’t care what they look like, these are your targets! Get to it!”

“Stick together, girls!” Twilight said stepping forward, her head held high and defiant. “I don’t know what you want, Chrysalis, but you’re not going to get it!”

“There!” Chrysalis crowed. “Finally you start acting like you’re supposed to!”

“But if you could please put your evil plans on hold for just ten minutes, I really need to get a scan of your biology and how it reacts to an invasive transmutation spell.” Pinkie poked Twilight in the side. “And we’ll throw a party for you afterwards, if you want.” Pinkie nodded in happy agreement.

Chrysalis sighed, squeezing her eyes tightly shut and muttering to herself for a moment before shooting a burning green glare at Twilight. “No,” she said.

Twilight shrugged, looking towards her friends. “Well, I tried.”

“You did your best, sugarcube,” Applejack said, smiling and pawing expectantly at the ground. “But I guess she’s just spoilin’ for a fight.”

“Yeah, too bad you didn’t bring your army this time, Chrysalis!” Dash said, setting herself in a runner’s crouch. “Just taking care of these losers is too easy.”

“Oh, Dash,” Gilda said with a wan grin, flexing her claws. “You know that it’s on now, right?”

“Which one of you is Pinkie Pie?” sock-Sombra asked.

“Oh! Me! That’s me! I’m Pinkie!” Pinkie called, hopping into the air with one hoof raised. Trixie’s hoof whipped forward, flinging sock-Sombra off of her. The sock-puppet tyrant flew through the air, spinning end over end before sliding perfectly onto Pinkie’s upraised hoof. Pinkie brought the hoof down, staring at the black sock that was already showing blotches of lavender coloring. Then her hoof twisted around of its own accord, turning Sombra’s googly-eyed face to hers. She brought her other hoof up just in time to block him as he lunged towards her face, plastic fangs snapping. “Gah!” was all that Pinkie managed to get out as she fell backwards.

“Pinkie!” Twilight called out in alarm.

As this was going on, Chrysalis was studying each of the ponies in turn. “Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and that one’s Rarity. Good. Where’s Fluttershy? No, it doesn’t matter. This will do.” Her crooked horn flared bright green, and whirlpools of flame leapt up under the hooves of nearly every pony, griffon or dragon present.

“She’s teleporting us!” Twilight cried even as she sank into the fire. The others couldn’t even call out before the magic enveloped them. In a moment the street was empty save for Chrysalis and the lavender unicorn.

Chrysalis let her magic fade, her horn steaming from the power she had channeled through it. She was not going to be at her strongest magically for quite some time, but that didn’t matter. She knew she had all the strength she would need to defeat one pampered dressmaker. She grinned at the lavender unicorn, being sure to show her fangs. “Now,” she purred. “Let the game begin.”

***

Rainbow Dash looked around in surprise. A river rushed by only a few feet from where she sat, and gray stone rose up high on either side of it. She recognized this place. She was in Ghastly Gorge. A groan warned her that she was not alone, and she spun to see Gilda leaning against the wall of the gorge, breathing heavily and dropping feathers with every shudder of her wings..

“You okay?” Dash asked, natural concern for her old friend overriding her suspicion at the circumstances.

“Yeah, I’m totally fine,” Gilda lied. “But I’m starting to think I didn’t make a large enough bet.”

“What’s going on, Gilda?” Dash asked, walking up to the griffon and pushing her.

Gilda fell to a sitting position without a fight, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. “You tell me. I feel like someone’s trying to jackhammer my skull off every time I open my eyes. Did Chrysalis mess up her teleport or something?”

Dash sighed. “Yeah, not so much. You’ve got the Twilight virus pretty bad.”

“Seriously?” Gilda scoffed. “I’m not even a pony. I thought we couldn’t catch each other’s viruses.”

“I don’t think that matters this time,” Dash said. “It just does what it does.”

“Ugh. Lame,” Gilda sighed. “I was supposed to challenge you to a race, you know.”

“Really? I thought you were gonna try to kill me or something.”

“Right, like I’d ever agree to something like that,” Gilda said, but paused, a different type of pain crossing her features. “You really think I’d do something that low?”

Dash shrugged. “Not really. But Chrysalis has some kind of mind-control stuff. I figured maybe she used it on you.”

Gilda slumped. “I’ve seen it,” she said. “I don’t think she got me with it, but with that crap who ever knows, right?”

“Yeah,” Dash agreed, sitting down next to Gilda. “So that was her plan? Just get you to race me?”

Gilda nodded. “That was my part of it. I don’t know what she wanted from everyone else. She was spouting a bunch of stuff about ‘elements of disharmony’ but I wasn’t buying any of it, and neither was anyone else. Including her.”

“Well, you know I’m always up for a race,” Dash said. “But, uh…”

“Yeah, I get it,” Gilda said. “Not like I’m in any shape to do anything either. How long’s this going to take anyway?”

“It took me a day and a half,” Dash replied. “But Twilight said it was getting faster. If you’re going as fast as Spike is, you’ll probably be a Twilight copy in an hour.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s exactly what I wanted,” Gilda sighed. “Fine. I guess you’re gonna run to your lame-o little pony friends now. They probably need all the help they can get.”

“What’s your problem, anyway?” Dash asked, standing and glaring at the griffon. “You keep treating my friends like dirt. Why? What did they ever do to you?”

“Aside from those party pranks?” Gilda asked, then continued before Dash could say anything. “That I know Pinkie set up just to get me? She might have got you playing along with it, but it was her plan through and through, and don’t try to deny it.”

“Yeah, well, you were pretty mean to her first,” Dash said, kicking at a loose stone.

Gilda didn’t even bother to deny it. “She deserved it.”

“How can you say that? You don’t even know her! You didn’t even try!”

“I don’t have to, I could tell that she’s as uncool as it gets,” Gilda said.

“My friends have saved the entire world!” Dash shouted. “More than once! We’ve saved Equestria and the Crystal Empire and I don’t even know, maybe other places too! Of course they’re cool. They’re heroes, Gilda!”

“They’re pathetic,” she said. “And they made you pathetic.”

“How can you say that?” Dash repeated, shaking her head in frustration.

“Because it’s true,” Gilda replied. “You used to be awesome, Dash. Back at Junior Speedster’s you were everything. You flew higher than anyone and looked down on everyone else. You were going places, you were going to be someone, and only the best got to be your friends. Only the ones who could keep up with you. Now? She’s a sugared-up child in a mare’s body! And your other friends? The pegasus afraid of heights? The farmer who’s never going to leave her orchard? The dress-maker? Come on!”

“You missed the princess.”

“Yeah, she’s the worst of them all,” Gilda snarled. “Celestia’s favourite, the little bookworm princess who’s had everything handed to her on a silver platter. The one who gets set above everyone else just because that’s where people put her, not because she deserves it, and not because she worked her way there!”

“You have no idea who she is,” Dash said coldly.

“But I know who you are,” Gilda said, leaning back against the wall, the heat leaving her voice. “And I knew who you were. You were cool, Dash, but they’ve dragged you down. Your friends aren’t keeping to your pace anymore, you’re keeping to theirs. You’re not flying anymore, Dash, not like you were. That’s what lame is. You were cool, Dash, but you’re not anymore.”

“I am cool!” Dash roared. “I’m awesome! I’m the most awesome there is! I’m Rainbow Dash!”

“Funny,” Gilda said, cracking her eyelids open to reveal the newly-purple eyes beneath. “You look like Twilight Sparkle.”

To that, Dash had no reply.

***

Pinkie Pie found herself in the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner. This wasn’t unusual; she often found herself in the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, especially if she was working that day, and also a surprising number of times when she wasn’t working at all. She was just a kitchen sort of pony. Finding herself was just the first part of the problem, though. The other part of the problem was the thread-based evil king who was occupying her right foreleg with his nefarious attempt to bite her to death. Or probably just pinch her a lot, since those fangs didn’t look very sharp at all.

“I was just wondering,” she began, rolling onto her stomach and using her left hoof to force her possessed right to the ground. “How did you survive that happiness explosion with the Crystal Heart? It looked pretty big.”

“Hatred cannot be destroyed!”

“Oh! So you’re a spirit of hatred? Like Discord is the spirit of chaos?”

“No,” sock-Sombra said. “I just hate all of you too much to die.”

“Well, that’s a different thing entirely,” Pinkie said. “I guess you were kind of undead-like to begin with, since you were a shadow-pony and all.” She tapped her free hoof on her chin as she thought about it. This, of course, left Sombra free to attack.

He jerked up, slamming his face into her nose. She squeaked and rolled over, once more struggling against her own limb. “I will paint the walls with your blood!” sock-Sombra snarled. “And force your family to labour in the quarries!”


“They probably wouldn’t notice the difference!” Pinkie said. “And blood makes terrible paint!”

They rolled across the kitchen. Sombra repeatedly slammed his face into Pinkie’s and she would respond by punching him with her left hoof. They slammed up against a counter, rattling the dishes stacked atop it. They grabbed at loose plates simultaneously, bringing them down on each other with a crash that shattered both against their respective horns.

“Ow!” Pinkie cried, reeling back. “Wow, these things are way more sensitive than I thought they’d be!”

“What? You didn’t know that?” sock-Sombra asked. “What kind of unicorn are you?”

“Not a unicorn,” Pinkie replied. “I’m an earth pony!” Sombra’s wiggling eyes stared at her incredulously. “Weren’t you listening back there? Magic virus? Everypony is Twilight? Does any of that ring a bell?”

“I wasn’t paying attention,” Sombra admitted. “I didn’t think any of it mattered. You all look the same to me anyway.”

“Yes,” Pinkie said. “Because of a magic virus. Wait, you knew my name but didn’t know I’m an earth pony?”

“The Changeling didn’t mention it,” Sombra said. “Or if she did, I wasn’t paying attention then, either.”

“Wow, and my friends think I’m a scatterbrain,” Pinkie said.

“It doesn’t matter!” Sombra snarled. “All that matters is that you aided in my defeat, and I shall have my revenge!”

“I didn’t really help,” Pinkie said. “I was more just kind of there, being moral support.”

“That still counts!” he cried, launching into another flurry of attacks.

“Yay!” Pinkie crowed between punches. “I helped!”

They rolled along the counter, exchanging blows with every opportunity. Sombra reached for a wooden knife block, but she knocked it away, sending sharp cutlery scattering all over the room. Drawers and cupboards were pulled open, their contents spilled to the floor as the combatants used everything that came to hoof to batter each other. Pinkie hit him with a rolling pin; he socked her in the gut with a colander. She frayed his threads with an eggbeater and he shaved her hoof with a cheesegrater. Each weapon was discarded almost as soon as it was used, and broken plates and fallen utensils made the floor treacherous.

They came to the ovens. She slammed him down on a stove element, turning on the gas. Flames leapt up and he roared in pain before pulling off the stove and reversing their position. Pinkie scrambled to shut the gas off, and managed to stop the fire before her mane was more than singed.

“Have a cupcake!” Sombra growled as he slammed her face with a muffin tray.

“Don’t be silly,” she replied, pulling the oven open with her back hoof and forcing Sombra into the opening. “You’ve got to bake them first!” With a vicious kick she slammed the oven door closed on sock-Sombra’s face. She pulled the oven open. “Oops! Not done yet!” She sing-songed, then slammed the oven closed again. She repeated this a half-dozen more times for good measure.

He waited until she had pulled the door open before snapping out, punching her in the nose again. She jerked back, but he caught her mane with his fangs and pulled forward. Pinkie flipped completely head over hooves, falling on her rear in front of the oven.

He grabbed a pan from atop the oven and brought it down on Pinkie’s head. She wobbled in place, eyes askew and tongue hanging out while little birdies flew around in her sight. He whacked her again, then a third time for good measure, and she slumped to the ground, out cold. He dropped the pan, heaving to get air into his non-existent lungs.

Sombra looked around, his now-purple googly-eyes wobbling with every little motion. Then he spotted a heavy knife on the floor. “Aah, yesss,” he gloated, reaching out for it only to be stopped by the length of Pinkie’s leg. Undaunted he dug his fangs into the floor and pulled, dragging Pinkie’s still form with him as he inched closer to the edged weapon. Closer and closer he came, chuckling to himself at the thought of his victory. Then, just as he neared his goal, Pinkie moved.

She twisted, her head coming up and revealing that she had grabbed a wide, two-tined fork from the utensils that had been scattered across the floor by their fight. With a yell Pinkie slammed the fork down, embedding it in the floor and catching sock-Sombra’s horn between the tines. He snarled, thrashing about, but was unable to free himself. “Oh yeah,” Pinkie gasped out. “That’s right! Who’s laughing now, huh?” She pulled out the electric breadknife they used for particularly tough pumpernickel, the blades whirring to life. “Who’s laughing now? Ahahahahaa!”

“Pinkie!”

Pinkie stopped in the middle of bringing the knife down on her leg. She smiled up at the Cake family as they stood in the doorway. “Hi!” she chirped.

“What are you doing?” Mrs. Cake asked, aghast at the devastated scene that was their bakery.

“Fighting King Sombra,” Pinkie replied, revving the knife for emphasis.

“Are you about to cut your own hoof off, young lady?” Mr. Cake asked, giving her a stern look.

“Ye–nooo,” Pinkie replied, quickly hiding the knife behind her. “Of course not.”

“Why are you destroying our kitchen?” Mrs. Cake asked, still surveying the damage.

“It wasn’t me, it was King Sombra!” Pinkie said, nodding towards the trapped sock-tyrant.

“Pinkie,” Mr. Cake said with the air of someone who has had to experience ridiculous things far too often. “That’s a sock.”

“No, he’s an undead shadow-pony-unicorn bent on world domination!” Pinkie protested. Sock-Sombra declined to do anything. “Okay, here.” She pulled the fork out of the floor, freeing Sombra to do his wicked will. “Now, watch, he’ll try to kill me any second now.” They waited, watching the lavender sock for any sign of movement. “Any second.” The tyrant stubbornly refused to murder her. “Okay, that’s just rude mister,” Pinkie admonished the sock. Sombra smugly remained silent.

“Pinkie,” Mrs. Cake sighed. “Just clean it up, please.”

“Will do!” Pinkie said, pulling her hoof out of the sock and saluting her employer. She looked at her free hoof, wiggling it and grinning. She grabbed a broom and was soon sweeping up broken plates and loose cutlery while the Cakes withdrew to their bedroom to have a long talk about ‘Pinkie-proofing’, whatever that was.

“Menial,” sock-Sombra growled from his place on the floor. “Sweeping up suits you. I shall ensure that your bones are made into brooms.” Pinkie giggled at that. Sombra bunched up some of his fabric to mimic frowning eyebrows. “You laugh? My victory is all but complete. Now your employers think you are insane! You are soon to be destitute and homeless!”

Pinkie let out a full-throated laugh. “Oh, silly, if you think that this will make them think I’m crazy, boy do you have another thing coming!” She leaned down to him, grinning. “Also, I know something you don’t know.”

“What? Even if you will not be thrown out like the trash that you are, I have still cost you, and I will not stop until I have destroyed you and all of your friends! What could you possibly know that would make you laugh?”

“I know that if you could move on your own, you would have by now,” Pinkie replied, giggling again. “And I know what the twins do to socks they find lying around.” She looked towards the door. Sombra’s eyes wiggled until they were looking in the same direction, and he saw the pair of foals standing there, staring at him with drooling interest. “Pound? Pumpkin?” Pinkie said, grinning evilly at the helpless dictator. “He’s all yours.”

The giggles of happy children easily drowned out the enraged cries.

Author's Note:

To be continued...