Very different beneath the surface

by Slick Dash

The older brothers stood tall

Empress Celestia threw her head back in triumph, screaming her pleasure at the now terrified faces of the ponies before her. “Nawww, I’m sorry! Did you think you had a chance before?” She cackled, looking straight into Twilights dark purple eyes, searching for the signs of misery and defeat. “Well, I’m sorry to put an end to your sorry little fantasies! But today has grown tiresome for me, so now I will end this little feud and be done with it!”

The gems on her chest began to shine brightly, their light casting an eerie glow and shadow over the empress’s face as her light began to rival that of the sun that shone above them in the sky. With the rumbling sounds of thunder clouds began to rush and form overhead. As the sun’s light began to dim from under the massing clouds, flashes of lightening forked over the sky.

Fluttershy was terrified, she had been terrified from the moment the fighting had begun, she hated violence and the sight of so much pain had made her quake in fear, for her friends and for her own life. But now, with the huge display of demon like power from the empress, the yellow Pegasus gave a squeal and turned to run. The group were only able to notice her escape as they heard her hooves shrinking further away.

“Fluttershy!” cried Twilight and Dashie in unison, both astonished at her flight from the confrontation.
“Hmmm. I could have sworn I’d already killed you!” the empress sighed over the rumble of thunder. Her horn began to glow, with the colour of each gem in her breastplate. The cloud of magical energy looked similar to both rulers’ manes. But even with its wonderful array of colours its intent made it seem darker than any evil magic could ever do.

Fluttershy only got a few feet away before she felt her hooves come away from the soft ground. She glanced down in time to see her legs surrounded in the empress’s shroud of magic as it pulled her back towards the waiting monster. Remembering what had happened to her other self in this situation, she abandoned her usual quiet demeanour and let out an earth shattering scream. Her limbs flailed helplessly and her wings tried to pull herself higher into the air, but all of it did nothing as she slowly floated back towards the group. “NO! NO PLEASE! SOMEPONY PLEASE HELP! HELP ME! HELP MEEEE!” Her scream broke into terrified sobs as her eyes exploded with tears of terror.

Both Rainbow and Dashie prepped their wings, ready to sail off and save their friend. They wouldn’t let the quiet mare suffer the same fate as Flutt. As both of their hooves left the ground, a blur of pure white fur shot past them towards the suspended mare. For a moment they thought it was the empress, denying them their victory of saving their friend, but as Twilight glanced back she saw the empress stood there. She looked furious now.

She took a determined step forward as she watched the other alicorn rush to her subject’s side. The princess scooped the Pegasus out of the air and held her tightly to her chest. Severing the magic stream that was holding the young mare as she did so, with her softly glowing horn. “NO!” Screamed the empress. Stamping to the ground angrily. “If your subjects wish to fight, let them fight! If they wish to flee, let me deal with them accordingly! A ruler let’s her subjects do as they please, and damn to the consequences!”

Twilight stood before the empress, her eyes filled with anger at her attempt to hurt her timid yellow friend. She widened her stance, and her horn began to glow bright. The empress sensed the newfound magic, and immediately her snarl was replaced by a sarcastic smirk. “So, you wish to fight? Finally a pony with guts.” Her eyes glinted. “Let’s see what they look like!” Her horn began to glow, but before any spell could be cast yet another interruption brought a halt to the empress’s blood lust.

Discord had slid in-between the two with his back to the empress, and his face towards Twilight. “Don’t be stupid!” He hissed to the magenta pony.
“I-I don’t understand.” Murmured the unicorn as her horn began to dim. “Didn’t you want us to fight?” for a second the chimera stuck his tongue out and made a noise like “Duuuuhhhh” then quickly grew serious.

“Yes you need to fight! But you can’t just go rushing in there! If she could be beat by brute force alone, I’d have never sent the girls here in the first place!” Pink, Dashie, and the other girls came behind the magenta pony listening to the chimera. Celestia came also, carrying a terrified shivering Fluttershy. “I sent them here because here, we have a new set of elements that she doesn’t have, she isn’t using hers the way they were meant. Without creating harmony, their power is wasted! We have two powerful magic casters instead of one and we have our own Celestia to fight beside us.” He glanced up at the alicorn, “That is if you’re willing to be near me again without throwing up or anything of that sort.” The princess cleared her throat and placed Fluttershy next to Pinkie who took hold of her quaking and fearful friend.

“Our issues are for another time Disc.” The local ponies all glanced at the princess, they’d never heard her say his name in that way before.
“Oh, how I look forward to hearing you calling me that when this world’s body breaks out!” The chimera chuckled. With her being the only one who understood his words, the chimera gave Pinkie a small wink to which she gave a small smile in response. “So, we have a pretty equal force to her if we... wait a second... Where’s Twilight?” He looked around, searching for his version of the magenta unicorn.

“She went to help fight off the dragon with Spike.” Rarity said coldly. Applejack looked at her, her lower lip was jutting out and her stare was resolute. She was obviously worried for her other half, last they had all seen of him, the dragon had zipped off fighting an enemy he was very likely to lose to. But the platinum unicorn was fighting not to let her worry get the better of her.

“I’M STILL HERE!” came a shrill scream from behind the Draconequus. The empress looked furious at the ignorance she was being shown, she was a force to be reckoned with! She was the most powerful being in all the universes, she would not be ignored like this! “Scheming and dreams won’t save you! So why don’t you bow at my hooves right now and save me the trouble of gutting you all!” her hysterical tone was beginning to creep back into her voice, far more audible over the quickly dying sounds of the battle beyond.

Fluttershy and Twilight glanced behind to check on the fighting. The once enormous forces of both the rulers where now barely more than a baker’s dozen. Most of the surviving fighters had black fur, and sported the silver armour of the empress. While most of the body’s that were strewn across the floor were the white and gold stallions of the princess’s guard. Twilight couldn’t see either her brother or Applejacks, all she could hope was that they were of the few surviving fighters who were holding back that wall of the last few invaders!

“Yes, yes, we know your there Celestia, we’ll be with you shortly. No point killing us without giving us a chance to fight!” Discord waved a hand drolly, sounding bored with her temper. The empress was taken aback by the lack of fear in his voice, so they had a plan? This should be most entertaining! Both the pink ponies couldn’t help but smother a laugh at his attitude. If it weren’t for the scar, you wouldn’t be able to tell one from the other! “Right, I was hoping we could rely on Twilight’s power as well, it’s the strongest here.” His gaze fell to the local purple unicorn. “No offense.” He disclaimed absentmindedly.

Discord turned to Dashie, “Well, someone’s gotten braver since I last saw them.” Dashie gave a curt nod, though even as she was trying to look impressive, she couldn’t help a little blush from reddening her cheeks at the praise. “Feel like getting a bit braver?” Disc asked mysteriously. The Pegasus leant in closer to listen. “I need to get up in the air and find Twilight, if you can’t see her, start looking for the dragon he”-
“T’aint no need for that!” cried AJ as she caught a glimpse of three figures making their way through the dust cloud that now surrounded most of the town square.

The group all turned and watched for the figure to come into their sight properly, even the empress stared, but whereas the groups face’s broke into joy at the sight of very slim and slender figure walking towards them supported by what seemed like two smaller ponies, her face blanched in realisation that what she had felt was true. Draig was gone!

“Well,” chortled the draconequus. “That’s lucky!” slowly, the dust parted and gave way to the purple and green dragon. He looked rough, he was battered bruised, and many of his scales had been brutally pulled out, but he was at least alive. Twilight took a step towards the approached trio.
“Spike!”
“Spike!” cried another voice to her left. She glanced and saw Rarity, leaning on her forehooves itching to run to him. Now the only surviving party member who knew what the unicorn had done to the dragon; Rainbow gave a small smile in spite of their situation. That reaction. It proved beyond a doubt that Rarity still loved him.

The wonderful atmosphere that broke out at the sight of the surviving dragon and his two unicorn allies was quickly quelled, as the empress let out a shriek of hatred at the victorious dragon and sent a single bolt of fiery energy streaming towards the killer of her greatest weapon. The hope and joy that was so abundant a second ago, shattered into horror as the group stared at the bolt travelling towards the three.

Twilight reached out with her hoof. “NO!” Spike saw the projectile, and without thought for himself, grabbed the two unicorns at his sides under their forelegs. With one final heave, using his final reserves of energy, he flung the two out of the way and into safety. He clenched his eyes shut as the heat of the bolt began to hit him as it approached. He threw his arms up in front of his face in a vain attempt of self defence.

The bolt scorched the ground at the dragon’s feet; it was only a second away. Then a force, small but fast, hit the dragon in the side, and sent him tumbling to the side. He felt the bolt pass; it singed the balls of his feet and scorched the tip of his tail, as he and his unknown saviour tumbled out of danger. The two rolled continuously for a few seconds before finally they came to a halt with Spike landing on his back and grunting in pain from his aching body.

The pained dragon looked up, to be met by a mass of dark purple curls. Slowly the figure rose it’s head, with a shaky smile she whispered the words that were just what the miserable dragon needed to hear. “I’m not losing you again Spikey!” said a panting and overjoyed Rarity, as she beamed down at her beloved boyfriend from atop his chest. The dragon burst into a beaming smile, and grabbed the unicorn tight to himself. Her fur felt amazing against his battered and bruised body. So soft, so warm, so familiar!

In his state of self-doubt and hatred, he needed something to calm his racing mind and heart. The embrace of the beautiful mare of his dreams did just that. The two didn’t lay there for long, as the empress sent another blast towards them, her rage in the loss of her dragon obvious in her forgetting the other, larger –more threatening group- and complete focus on the dragon. The two stood quickly and dodged the speedy bolt, which struck an nearby building, it caught alight quickly, and the screams of a mother and child could be heard from within.

Twi and Vinyl sprouted from the bushes they had been flung into, they moved to help the inhabitants of the house but were too late. Derpy shot out of the window, carrying her baby Ditzy in her forelegs as she rushed away in fear, the two of them crying hard. Luckily the gray Pegasus wasn’t burnt; she had gotten out well before the fire had spread across the house!

Without halt, knowing the owner of the house was safe, the four of them quickly rejoined the group. The empress screamed, releasing a barrage of bolts towards them, the four easily dodged the furious alicorn’s insane and sporadic shots as they made it to their friends. Before another bolt could be flung. The Princess quickly encased them in her golden bubble of protection, allowing the four to quickly catch their breath. From within the bubble they could hear the enraged witch’s blasts slamming against the exterior of the shield.

The contacts sounded like jelly wobbling, Pinkie thought. Her stomach began to rumble at the thought of the delicious treat, so she quickly gave it a punishing tap before focusing on the chimera who had begun to speak quickly, knowing the shield couldn’t last long against the increased power of the empress. Already, the princess’s face was strained with holding the shield against such powerful attacks.

“Ok, we need to do this now! Everyone, get into your doubles.” When everypony looked at him confused he gave a sigh and shouted. “DID I STUTTER?!” immediately the ponies did as they were told. Fluttershy stood in the middle of the rushing groups, looking lost and frightened.
“B-but...but I... but she...” she felt a consoling hoof on her shoulder, she turned to see Dashie, smiling encouragingly at her while stood beside Dash who gave her the same warm smile peering behind her twins shoulder.

“We’ve got you!” The two cyan ponies said in unison to their yellow friend. Fluttershy smiled and nodded happily, ready to help as best she could! The two pink ponies stood together, both their manes looking practically identical making it almost impossible to discern one from the other. The Applejacks stood beside each other, both stern and serious as they stood ready to fight. AJ glanced up at the Stetson on her copy’s head.
“Hmm.” She said thoughtfully,
“Whut?” Applejack asked curiously.
“Just thinkin’.” the mare said thoughtfully. “Maybe I should get one o’ those! It does suite me!” She laughed, as did Applejack. The mare reached up, took off the hat and plopped it onto her double’s instead.
“Take it, I got plen’y!” AJ beamed, looking up crossed eyed at the hat now nestled snugly on her head.

The Twilight twins stood at the front of the group closest to discord. Both were nervous, and gave identical furtive looks towards the other and then back to the empress. Who still ceaselessly assaulted their protection with spell after spell. Finally, with no copy to stand by, Rarity took a hold of Spikes hand in her hoof. Now she had him back, she was never letting him go again! Disc stood tall, looking at the group of unlikely friends. “Well, I guess this is the best we’ve got.” He turned to the princess. “Are you ready dear Celestia?” He gave a flirtive wink to the alicorn that Pink noticed, but let slide...for now.

The princess was too busy with her spell to pay attention to the chimera’s silly jokes, so she ignored them. “Right then!” The chimera cried, wheeling around the face the empress. “This is our one chance, we go at her with the element’s and all the magic we’ve got, hold back and it’s all over got it?” He glanced over his shoulder at the group, they all gave shaky nods, knowing what was about to come. “A distraction’s on it’s way, when she stops firing, Celestia will lower the barrier, and then you all let loose with all the...” The chimera rolled his eyes, incredulous he had to say the word. “Friendship, you’ve got!”

“A distraction?” questioned Applejack. Even as she spoke she noticed the sudden quiet. No more spell’s were striking the barrier.
“What? What is it?!” asked Twilight. The draconequus smiled and looked at the local orange pony and the magenta unicorns.
“Well I suppose you could say, your brother’s are pretty good with their hooves.” He tilted his head behind them. The two mares spun around, their jaws dropped with relief and excitement.

There, standing flank to flank and staring straight back at the incredulous empress Celestia. Two stallions stood tall. The final black furred guard began to keel over before the two, revealing their full bodies. One was a unicorn, his face was bruised and cut up, but no real damage seemed to have taken place. His armour was chinked in several places where he had received a strong hoof to the chest or side. The leather straps they hung on looked tattered, one threatened to snap completely off.

The other proud figure was an earth pony. His bright red fur was clumped with perspiration, the occasional scrape crossed his flesh, but he looked generally unharmed. His mouth still held his usual stem of wheat; nothing would ever part him from it by the looks of it. his nostrils were wide as they shot steaming spews of breath out as he recovered from the fight of his life.

Together, the older brothers stood ready. Knowing what they had to do. Discord had told Armour through his mind. And with the single yell, the chimera pointed. “NOW!” He screamed. So, without falter, Big Macintosh and Shining Armour charged towards the shocked empress.

Comments

[Slick Dash]

Sorry for how long it took, wanted to keep as much pasion in it as each chapter has had throughout, so needed to wait until i had a huge chunk of time where I could just sit and wright none stop! Hope you're enjoying it still. And hope you're looking forward to seeing alternate Celestia get whats comming to her next chapter!

[Fulgor Ignis]

HOT DAMN!! GO PRINCESS!!! Oh I so wanna see the 'Empress' suffer...

[CSpud]

Empress is about to get fuuuuuucked