Mystery Dungeon: Equestrial Plains

by TheDeku

Master of the Guild

"G-Guildmaster Wigglytuff!?" Blitzle couldn't believe his eyes. "How did you-"

"I followed through on my promise, of course." Wigglytuff had gotten his usual big smile and jolly personality back. "It wouldn't do well for me to break them. Who would listen to an untrustworthy Guildmaster, let alone an untrustworthy friend."

'Discord' was aghast. "You... I actually felt that one. That one hurt. How did you harm me?"

Wigglytuff glared. "You attack my Guild, attack my friends, generally be a big bad meanie and you get surprised when I fight you? That's just dumb. Still, you can stop this. Don't fight us and we can settle this peacefully" Wigglytuff jumped out of the way of a large ice cube. He gave a guilty smile. "Welp, it was worth a shot. Wigglytuff Guild, ATTACK!" On Wigglytuff's yell, the Guild charged, followed soon after by the non-Guild Pokemon.

'Discord' laughed. "Really? Round three? I've beaten you before, and only one of you actually harmed me. What do you think you can do to stop me?" He threw Discord at them. Wigglytuff stopped and caught Discord, letting the other Pokemon through as Discord re-oriented himself.

Discord looked down at Wigglytuff with surprise. "You're more filled with Harmony Magic than any single pony I've ever seen. Not even Celestia or Twilight has this much raw Harmony in them."

Wigglytuff shrugged. "I do what I do because there are those who can't or need help. I try to make sure the whole Guild is happy and friendly. And I love exploring and finding new things. Does that explain it?"

Discord nodded. "It should. Add to that the fact that you Pokemon are affected by the magical energies of Equestria and you have a recipe for a lot of Harmony Magic."

Wigglytuff nodded. "Good." Wigglytuff ran over to the fight and slammed into 'Discord', turning him gray and into cubes for a second. "Tag! You're it!"

"Grr... Enough!" 'Discord' tossed Wigglytuff off him and floated up into the air. "I have had enough of your foolishness, you pathetic beings. You have no more help coming!"

"They don't? Sorry, I didn't know." 'Discord' turned to see Tornadus looking at him with a bemused expression. "I leave for a few hours to go get windmills running again using slightly higher than normal wind speeds and you end up with an issue on your hands. But if I'm not welcome into the party, I'll just go." Tornadus turned and started to leave, but turned around at the last second. "Oh, yeah, big serpent dragon thing, can I ask you a question?"

'Discord' sighed. "What is it?"

"How could you be so brainless as to think that there is no one else coming?" 'Discord' failed to reply on the grounds of being slammed back to the ground by Wigglytuff, who had been telekinetically put above him. Once again, being hit by Wigglytuff had caused temporary gray-scaling and blockiness by the impact spot. "Because really, I would think that you would expect more interruptions."

Rainbow flew over to it. "Tornadus? How'd you know to come?"

Tornadus thought. "I heard a call for aid. Catchy tune, by the way. I figured I'd answer the call. What's with the pair of lizards?"

"The one over by my friends is Discord, spirit of disharmony, I think. The other one tried to pretend to be Discord, but isn't. We... really aren't sure what it is."

Tornadus considered. "So the one being attacked needs to be attacked more?"

Rainbow nodded. "I mean, it is evil unless I'm mistaken. And I'm not. Don't expect to do much more than annoy it, though."

Tornadus grinned. "That's what I do best." Tornadus kicked up a tornado under itself and flew right towards the fight.

Twilight shook her head. "This doesn't make sense. The false Discord has already proven to not fall into Discord's pattern of randomness and getting distracted, and yet it got distracted here anyways. What's going on?"

"The answer is simple, really." Twilight jumped as the ground under her turned into Discord's face. "It's as obvious as the main issue with using certain kinds of polymorphic spell, especially for an extended period of time. By assuming my form for such a long time, the behavior of the entity being imitated began to influence this being's behavior to the point of slowly creating a mixture between personalities. By using what amounts to my Chaos Magic, the rate at which the Polymorphic Behavorial Mixing Effect happens is increased exponentially. Even if it just was putting up an illusion of me as the form to attack you with, the effect would still occur but at a slower rate. Basic magical theory, Twilight. It's been on the curriculum for every foal since before I was first imprisoned in stone."

Twilight nodded. "Well, yes, but Starswirl the Bearded disproved it when he used a polymorphic spell to turn into Princess Celestia for a month, and both Starswirl and Princess Celestia agreed that he acted perfectly normal - well, for him - the whole time."

Discord laughed. "The two of them were very similar. So similar, in fact, that his behavior wouldn't show a quantifiable change for far longer than a month."

"So you're saying that this thing is starting to become like you?" Pinkie asked, not having been paying attention.

Twilight ignored her. "Wait, how long has it been out?"

Discord thought. "A few hours. It's been in my head for much longer, however, so it had already absorbed much of my personality. It also was pretending to completely be me, so that likely had an effect greater than it would if it was merely looking like me."

Pinkie raised her voice again. "If it is you or like you, wouldn't the Elements be effective on it?"

Discord nodded. "That is a thought. I could go get them from Canterlot."

Twilight shook her head. "It said it put them in another dimension so we couldn't take them and use them against it."

Discord's face went into a frown. "I could try to find them, but it may take a while. Wish me luck!" Before anything else could be said, Discord ate his tail and pulled himself into another dimension.

"I'm getting a headache just thinking about what he just did." Twilight rubbed her nose. "Alright girls, we need to make sure the fake Discord doesn't realize that Discord is off retrieving the Elements of Harmony."

"Because that's going to be easy." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "What do you want us to do, poke it? In case you forgot, we can't do anything to it without the Elements."

Twilight sighed. "We can at least try to help the Pokemon."

The ground underneath the ponies began to move. They all backed away as a small purple hand pushed up out of the ground, followed by the rest of Sableye. She looked around, covering her eyes from the light. "Sableye? Darling, where did you come from?"

"I went digging. I smelled a gem, and look what I found!" Sableye showed off a large yellow sphere with red and purple stripes in it. "It's tasty, but it isn't edible. I already tried."

"That is a gorgeous gem. The red and yellow bring out your eyes and highlight the jewel on your chest." Rarity fawned over the orb briefly, until Twilight cleared her throat pointedly. "Erm, yes. You came at a rather inconvinient time. You see, we seem to be under attack from a fake Discord and Wigglytuff seems to be the only one able to harm it."

Sableye nodded and turned towards the fight. "Wait! Wait a second!" Mew appeared between the ponies and Sableye. "The Elements are-"

"-missing, yeah, we know. Also, that isn't Discord, not really." Twilight smiled at Mew. "Have anything we haven't already figured out or are you going to help us figure out how to stop that thing?"

"Actually, both. That false Discord is... an old friend of mine, we'll say. As a creature of chaos and destruction - well, mostly corruption now - it has a weakness to order, unity, and creation. And harmony, but that's just specialized unity with some order mixed in." Mew nodded towards Sableye. "And that... is an item of unity. It is called Sablenite. It will allow you to Mega Evolve."

"Umm, I could be mistaken..." Fluttershy began, shrinking under Mew's look. "But- But isn't Sableye unable to evolve? She told me herself."

"You are absolutely correct!" Mew flew around Fluttershy's head. "Except this isn't evolution, this is Mega Evolution. It requires three things: One, a Pokemon holding their appropriate Mega Stone, if possible. Second, a Key Stone." Mew clapped its hands together and produces a small, rainbow-striped orb with a strange design. "C, and most importantly, there must be someone who has a powerful bond with the Pokemon in question. Anyone fit that description?"

All present pointed at Rarity. "I suppose I fit that description. Although, do you suppose you could make that into a necklace? It really would be far easier to carry." Mew tossed the Key Stone into the air and when it had returned, it was embedded in a pendant that was attached to a piece of purple ribbon.

"Here." Mew put it around Rarity's neck. "Activate the Sablenite whenever you're ready. I'm going to join the fight." Mew teleported before Rarity could ask how to activate it.

Genesect was blasting the ground with Ice Beam to make a frozen pillar as it avoided 'Discord''s attacks. 'Discord', seeing the pattern, slammed it's hand down to crush Genesect when it's hand stopped. There was something stopping its hand, and it wasn't Genesect. 'Discord' closed its hand around whatever it was, when the resistance disappeared and it fell forward. "What? WHAT?"

"Miss me?" 'Discord' turned to find a Hitmonlee's feet kicking it in the face. Hitmonlee landed, turned into Hitmonchan and unleashing Sky Uppercut. "Shoryuken!"

"Mew..." 'Discord''s eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

Mew changed back into itself. "Stopping you. I thought we got rid of you during our last battle."

'Discord' laughed. "Didn't you get the memo? You can't get rid of chaos, and you can't destroy destruction."

"That was then, this is now." Mew turned into a Muk, and 'Discord''s next volley passed right through it. "And not only are you a creature of corruption now, I don't think you stand a chance anymore. I may not create much anymore, but I doubt you can do much to me."

"You really think that, do you? I have no doubt in my ability to fight you and all these minor pests." 'Discord' smiled evilly until a change in the atmosphere halted it. "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. I think." Mew shrugged. "Not important." Mew fired off a Hyper Beam spread which was disintegrated by 'Discord', who prepared to slam Mew with its tail when it was poked in the back of the head. More accurately, he was hit by Dark Pulse.

"Hello there," Darkrai said as he floated in front of 'Discord'. "Personally, I would have thought you'd have prevented anyone from knowing what you're doing. That's what I would have done if I was you."

'Discord' growled. "I did. So how do you just keep coming!?"

Darkrai gave a dark laugh. "Dunno. How come I heard a song requesting help? I don't know either, but what matters is that it was broadcast to everyone who can fight." It dodged down and handed Lopunny a scroll. "Give this to Twilight." She obliged, and Darkrai went back up to Deoxys.

"Foe is strong. High stats all around. Ideas?" Deoxys asked, tilting its head.

"Run distractions. Keep it occupied. Find a weakness and exploit it." Darkrai nodded. "If all else fails, hit it hard, hit it fast, and do not let it hit you."

Deoxys flew around 'Discord' in Speed Forme, sending attacks while keeping a distance away. Darkrai began doing the same. Mew flew down to the Pokemon below. "Just hitting it won't do much. Hit it as a team, and it will do more. Team attacks are on and we'll keep it busy, so you have time to prepare. Have fun!" Mew teleported back into the fight.

Twilight looked at the letter. "A wormhole spell? But where would I... oh, connect with Luna to make the wormhole without having to use precise locations." Twilight began charging magic before beginning to open the wormhole.

'Discord' heard this and looked at her. "Hmm, no you don't." It knocked Deoxys back and flew around Darkrai and Mew to stop the spell. With a roar of anger, Mew turned into Machamp, grabbed its tail, and pulled.

"Not. An. Inch." Mew growled, holding 'Discord' back as the wormhole grew.

"You don't have a choice." 'Discord' removed its tail, which dissolved quickly. It lunged for Twilight, but was blocked by Wigglytuff. 'Discord' immediately stopped and went around as best it could, avoiding the other attacks heading towards it.

"There! All set." Twilight nodded to Gardevoir, who was setting up a barrier around her. "I've connected with Luna's end of the wormhole, so any second now we're going to know why she asked me to set it up."

"Or perhaps you won't!" 'Discord' snarled, shattering the shield and throwing Gardevoir aside. "You will not live long enough to find out!" He raised a wall in front of Twilight and pushed it over so it would fall on her.

It didn't fall very far before stopping. There was a loud noise from behind it before it broke into pieces and 'Discord' was grabbed and shoved into the ground. Holding it there was a massive white creature. On it were black markings and large yellow pieces that seemed to be a head and joints. Moss grew on its shoulders and feet. It had 6 large gemstone-like spots of red, blue, and silver, along with seven black dots on what could be considered face. It raised its other fist, holding there for a second, and slamming down onto 'Discord'.

Ponyta ran away from the titan to avoid becoming collateral damage. She heard Darkrai chuckling and turned to it. "What's so funny?"

"Do you remember why I left Canterlot after Deoxys appeared?"

"Yeah. You had mentioned you thought other legendary Pokemon had arrived or would arrive and went to find a cave or something for them." Ponyta shook her head. "I thought that was just a bad excuse."

Darkrai nodded. "I was being honest. This is who I was referring to. I could feel its power immediately. This is quite possibly the smartest legendary, and definitely one of the most physically strong. This is Regigigas, the King of the Golems." As if on cue, the train returned, however the conductor wasn't the one driving, nor was he anywhere close. Regice exited the train and approached quickly, and charged towards 'Discord' firing Ice Beam.

"I am pleased have the capability to meet some of the creatures that inhabit this world." A deep voice said. It had a strange echoing to it, as if it came from inside a hollow Regigigas. "Unfortunately, these circumstances are less than ideal for greetings. Therefore, I would rather become acquainted after this threat has become incapacitated so as to remove a violent interruption from the equation." Ponyta gave an incredulous look to Darkrai.

"Ah, yes, he speaks like that. Standard for comparison: Victini, due to being trapped under a lighthouse for a long time, wanted to catch up on games and fun things. Regigigas, due to being supposedly sealed for far longer than that, decided to learn everything. The only Pokemon who knows more than him is Uxie, who is the Knowledge Pokemon. Not even Mew can answer questions faster and more accurately than Regigigas." Darkrai shook its head. "That doesn't mean you can understand him. It doesn't quite grasp that not everyone can understand big words as easily as it can."

Rarity fumbled with the Key Stone, shoving it in Sableye's face, up to the Sablenite, holding it over her head. "Oh come on! Now is when Sableye wants to fight! Why won't this work?"

"Have ya tried pressin' it?" Applejack asked. "Kinda looks like a button to me." Rarity raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she pressed it. To her surprise, it and the Sablenite began to glow, before a sphere encased Sableye. In seconds, the sphere shattered leaving Sableye behind. Her eyes had turned red, her teeth grew and became yellow, her ears grew and she got a new spike on the top of her head. Her back had more gems, and the ruby in her chest came out and grew to a very large size. Sableye yelled in triumph before grabbing her gem and running over to the fight.

'Discord' managed to escape the Crush Grip of Regigigas and had knocked Regice into Wigglytuff when Sableye ran over. "Oh look, a Sableye with a large gem. Where did you come from? Oh wait, I don't care!" it said, but it very quickly began to care when a Shadow Ball hit... and hurt. It shot a fireball, but was blocked by Mew's barrier.

"Don't think you've won yet!" Mew fired off attacks of every kind, changing shape to fit the attack better or to dodge more effectively, sometimes becoming an amalgamation of multiple Pokemon. Victini joined in, mixing up impossible dodges with pinpoint accurate attacks. Keldeo ran over to Blitzle.

"Remember those attacks I got mad at you and Ponyta about using?" It yelled above the fight's noise.

"Fusion Bolt, Fusion Flare, and Bolt Strike?" Blitzle was surprised. He had figured Keldeo would ignore those attacks. He had certainly forgotten until Keldeo asked.

"The Fusion attacks, but Bolt Strike and its counterpart Blue Flare as well."

Blitzle nodded. "I remember them. Why?"

Keldeo grimaced. "Use them. We need more power, and Legendaries don't just give away signature moves. Remember, use the Fusion move of the other type after either attack to increase power." Blitzle nodded and ran over to Ponyta.

"You heard that, right?" Blitzle asked.

Ponyta smirked. "Keldeo practically shouted it. Let's go." Ponyta charged up fire, but only released Flamethrower. Blitzle charged forward, but only ended up with a Wild Charge and was knocked away easily.

"What are we doing wrong?" Blitzle stomped the ground in anger.

Ponyta thought, before gasping. "Last time we used them, against the Ursa, Reshiram spoke to me. You said Zekrom spoke to you. We were asked about the truth. Maybe that's what we need."

Blitzle shook his head. "I was asked about ideals."

"Truth versus ideals? How would we call upon those?"

"I don't know about you, but I need to want something to become better. What I want - what I need - is the power to stop this creature."

Summon my power.

Blitzle grinned. "It worked!"

"Maybe I need to tell the truth?" Ponyta poked the ground. "I'm not as strong as I could be." She paused. "I am a member of the Guild?"

Blitzle shook his head again. "Those are facts, not truths. I don't know the difference, but tell a truth that isn't a fact."

Ponyta thought hard, but not very long before coming up with her answer. "You were my first friend. Sure, everyone in Treasure Town was really nice, but they were too busy to really be a friend to me. When you saved me on the beach, I thought you were just going to go leave like every other Pokemon. But you stayed to help me get back in case the Krabby attacked again and we actually had fun together. When we joined the Guild, they became friends too, but you're still my best friend." Ponyta was crying as she spoke. "Whenever I screwed up I thought you were going to go find a new partner and leave me behind, But even when I did something so bad Wigglytuff had to step in and I got in trouble, you stuck with me through everything and took the punishments with me. The reason I always act like I'm the one in charge is so you don't have to do that as well... because that's the least I can do to try and help. You've always been the better fighter and the quicker thinker, and I've... always been so worried that you'd decide I'm bringing you down and abandon me."

The truth is more emotional than the facts. The truth can be difficult to accept. You have shared a harsh truth. I chose well. Summon my power, Trailblazer.

Blitzle poked Ponyta. "Hey, you in there?"

She nodded. "It worked."

"Just so you know, you screwed up again." Blitzle chuckled. "I would never abandon you. So, best friend, want to go beat up that thing?" Ponyta merely flashed him a grin before flaming up. Blitzle sparked up and sped towards 'Discord'.

Unfortunately, 'Discord' didn't just notice, but countered with a funnel that caught Fusion Flare before striking Blitzle with it, interrupting Fusion Bolt. "I grow weary of this farce. Perhaps I should just let the ones who know you best finish you off."

"What manner of creature could be offered as helpful to your side of this conflict?" Regigigas questioned. "All data suggests that you have a crippling deficiency of allies that could stand up to the level of power that our team - I daresay it could be referred to as an army - and you yourself are having a hard time with the few who can hit you when you retreat to the skies."

'Discord' laughed. "Fair, but I haven't said who your new opponents are yet." As he talked, a shadowy portal formed on the ground under it. Everything was magically shoved away from it as gray versions of each of them appeared. At the same time, 'Discord' rapidly turned gray. "You're going to fight them. Knock yourselves out... literally." The shadowy versions went straight for their counterparts.

Shadow Blitzle obviously forgot his own ability, as he kept trying to shock the original. "Really?" Blitzle went in with Flame Charge, and Shadow Blitzle followed suit and began chasing him.

The Ponytas just traded attacks from a distance for a while, until Ponyta decided "I've had enough of this," and charged Blue Flare - but Shadow Blitzle slammed into her, allowing Shadow Ponyta to attack with Flamethrower.

"Talk about copies. They even work together as dysfunctional as us." Blitzle shocked Shadow Ponyta. "I'll fight you if you'll fight me."

"Done." Ponyta dodged a Wild Charge and hit with Ember. "I can follow fire better than I can follow you, so you just lost." Ponyta began shooting flames at Shadow Blitzle as he ran, and eventually caught him with Blue Flare. She glanced over at Blitzle, who was dodging the flames easily before slamming into Shadow Ponyta with Wild Charge. After being beaten, the shadow copies turned into a dark mist, which dissolved.

"Looks like they have our abilities and skills." Blitzle said. "What they don't have is our skill. Sure they can do everything, but we have the experience. Either that or we're just that good at fighting each other."

The two Sableyes used the large gems to block the Shadow Balls and other attacks their selves used. Sableye eventually just grabbed her gem and jumped onto Shadow Sableye and crushed her under the weight of both massive gems. "What's wrong, can't handle the pressure?"

Team Charm fought similar to the Trailblazers by fighting each other's copies. Gardevoir fought Shadow Medicham, Medicham fought Shadow Lopunny, and Lopunny fought Shadow Gardevoir. Almost immediately, the Shadow team managed to switch so they had the advantage. "Fine. Let's go." Lopunny grumbled about having lost the advantage due to having to take on Shadow Medicham. She wasn't fighting, instead just dodging. She knew her team would re-take the advantage, so until then she just avoided attacks. She glanced to the left, where Medicham was fighting Shadow Gardevoir. Medicham fought aggressively, not wanting to give her foe a chance to use a Psychic or Fairy attack. She jumped a Moonblast and came down hard with High Jump Kick before flipping back to avoid a counter attack. On Lopunny's right Gardevoir had stopped caring and just used psychic power to catch Shadow Lopunny and threw her at Sableye. Shadow Lopunny attacked Sableye, but immediately found that she wasn't doing anything to the Dark-Ghost Pokemon. Sableye chased her around with her giant gem. Gardevoir then blasted Shadow Medicham with Moonblast, giving Lopunny an opening to hit with Bounce. Gardevoir hit her shadow with Shadow Ball, and Medicham finished her off with Thunder Punch and Fire Punch.

"Chaw haw haw! What's wrong, can't stand the smell?" Skuntank laughed as Zubat and Tornadus kept the Noxious Gas Combo in a funnel around Shadow Team Skull and Shadow Tornadus. As the four turned into dark mist, Skuntank laughed again. "Thanks for using Hurricane to damage them more."

Tornadus nodded. "Noxious Gas Combo... I need to keep that in mind."

Keldeo, meanwhile, crossed swords with Shadow Keldeo, while Victini once again fought Shadow Victini, who asked "Remember me?" before fighting. Regice and Shadow Regice dueled purely with Ice Beam, and Regigigas wrestled Shadow Regigigas and destroyed much of the land around them. Jirachi and Shadow Jirachi would have fought, except Jirachi had already taken care of it and went to help Deoxys in its battle. Darkrai and its shadow were in the air, fighting with attacks of all kinds.

"You're the Pitch Black Pokemon, a being of nightmares. Who could ever enjoy a nightmare's company?" At each lull, Shadow Darkrai was making every attempt at getting under Darkrai's skin. "It would hurt less to just be cruel or destroy everything."

"I concur. It was easier. But we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy. I chose right, and therefore I hold my power back so as to become accepted." Darkrai made a mental note to look up where that quote was from. Cresselia had told it those words, but prefaced them by mentioning a wise man once said that. "On you, however, I hold nothing back."

"Then why am I not scared?"

Darkrai paused, then nodded. "Alright then. You wish to see the full power you claim to wield? Very well." Darkrai reached up to its neck and pulled off its necklace of Lunar Wings. "I shall fulfill your request to fight the master of nightmares!" Darkrai then faded.

It reformed behind Shadow Darkrai. Before the shadow could react, Darkrai had fused into its shadow's mind. "What- Get out of there!"

"No. You wished to see what I could do, and I agreed to show you. I am noble, but let it never be said I am nice. Now, shall we see what you are afraid of?" Shadow Darkrai began shaking in midair. It put its hands on the side of its head, as if to prevent it from splitting. Seconds later, it inflated and popped like a balloon, leaving Darkrai in its place, arms outstreatched to its sides, claws pointed back. "This is my full power. Nightmares aren't nice, are they?"

Wigglytuff quickly was surrounded by the shadows of himself, Chatot, Bidoof, and Diglett. He dodged a Peck and threw Shadow Wigglytuff into Shadow Chatot before jumping over Shadow Bidoof and using Slam to take out Shadow Diglett. He then used Double-Edge to take out Shadow Bidoof and Shadow Chatot before running right at himself and using Hyper Voice, which was immediately followed by Pound. "Done." Wigglytuff smiled at the looks of awe on Bidoof and Diglett's faces.

Shadow growled at the Shadow Girafarig. "Focus on Ally's fake! She can heal them!"

Silver grinned. "Sounds good! Feint Attack!"

"Velvet, do NOT fight your copy." Shadow used Spark and slammed into the Shadow Vulpix. "Your fire might strengthen her." Velvet nodded, using Fire Spin to keep the Shadow Shinx and Shadow Skitty from causing trouble. "Ally, I know you prefer healing to fighting but I could use a Psybeam over here."

"Alright." A Psybeam cut through a powerful Flamethrower and hit the offending Shadow Vulpix, confusing her.

"Thanks. Thunder Fang!" Shadow's powerful jaws broke the Shadow Vulpix, disintegrating her. He turned to see a Shadow Skitty leaping at him. "BACK OFF!" He roared and she got knocked back mid-leap. Using Spark, he slammed into her, knocking her back into the Fire Spin, where she burned.

Silver stuck her tongue out at Shadow. "One left! Let's take you out." Velvet collapsed the Fire Spin in on itself, causing it to function like a furnace and super-heating the insides and Shadow Shinx. "Great job Velvet!"

A small distance away, Team Sneaky dealt with their doppelgangers. "Here's one for you: a Kecleon walked through a crowded room. He didn't realize he was surrounded by foes who could beat him regardless of typing." Shade kicked Shadow Kecleon's feet out from under him, knocking him up before Shade fired off Water Pulse, knocking him up higher before leaping up and using Smack Down to flatten him. Shade glanced at Ninj, who seemed to be slicing at air with X-Scissor. Shortly, a Shadow Zoroark faded into view before dissolving away.

"I work with a Zoroark, experienced with all sorts of flawless illusion. I can see through an illusion with that many errors. Yo Mist, any issues?" Twelve Zoroarks fell upon a Shadow Frogadier, and one sliced him repeatedly until it dissolved.

"Idiot." Mist sighed. "I use that trick or a variation as my go-to. It really isn't that hard to understand." Stripe walked over.

"I'm surprised Ancient Power was that accurate, but I caught him before he could get up to speed." Stripe laughed. "Seemed pretty surprised about it." Stripe was pulled out of the way as Shadow Absol was sent flying past with a cut down his face, disapatting into the dark mist before dissolving.

Mew's clone was - reasonably, ironically, and hilariously - a Shadow Mewtwo. Who proceeded to have to wait 10 seconds in order to do anything as Mew put a bubble around itself as it laughed. "Are you quite finished yet?"

"Hahaha! Yeah, almost. Heh... oh, that's funny." Mew wiped its eye and popped the bubble. "Quick question, are you a Shadow Pokemon? Not in coloration, I mean, but as in actions. Is the so-called 'door to your heart' closed?"

Shadow Mewtwo stopped preparing to attack. "What? Why could you possibly care?"

Mew shrugged. "I'm curious. If you're all Shadow Pokemon as well as shadow copies, that would be too perfect. Chaos copies? No, corrupted clones. The alliteration is perfect."

"I suppose we are what would result of turning you all into Shadow Pokemon." Shadow Mewtwo nodded. "But then why am I not a clone of you?"

"You are. You are the Shadow Pokemon version of my actual clone, Mewtwo. The reason you aren't as savage, and why you kindly waited for me to finish laughing before starting the fight, is because it... doesn't exactly have all that far to go to become a Shadow Pokemon. In fact, when it first was cloned from me, it was far worse than any Shadow Pokemon. At least Shadow Pokemon listen to the one in charge of them... most of the time. Mewtwo killed all of the scientists who created it. If it weren't for... I digress. Due to many meetings, battles, and temporary companions, Mewtwo began to realize that its philosophy of those with power are in charge had been wrong. it began to find a new philosophy. Currently, it has decided to be a very kind Pokemon, helping other Pokemon while using its powers to help or defend. You, however, are all about the fighting, and I'm going to hazard a guess that you like one-on-one battles. I'll even suppose close and mid-range fighting while using projectiles to control the foe's movements and prevent them from approaching?"

"That does sound the most exhilarating. How could you possibly know this?" Shadow Mewtwo flew over to Mew.

"Because I know myself, I know Mewtwo, and I know you aren't evil, despite being created to be an evil clone of me. You see, I'm too good to have an evil side, and a clone of my dark side would be a great fighter, but wouldn't find my look good for being scary and would be honorable, for a bad guy. They would look like Mewtwo, but have a similar sense of kindness to it and myself." Mew smiled. "So as a Shadow Pokemon, you're horrible. You can't be overly violent for no reason whatsoever. But as a Pokemon's Shadow, you show their vicious side, what they are underneath everything. If you shadowed Mewtwo, you would be a Shadow Pokemon due to how much anger and hatred it still has. You shadowed me, however, so you're just that: a shadow."

Shadow Mewtwo looked down at itself. "Then... what am I to do?"

Mew giggled. "Back on my usual planet, there's a new kind of battling that's picking up steam. A tournament is being set up, with entries being sent in for assessment of competitors. Can't let someone who can't fight correctly join the tourney, but I think it might be exactly your kind of style."

Shadow Mewtwo looked at Mew with a very mild look of gratitude. "That sounds nice."

Twilight backed away as some shadow figures approached her and her friends. She looked in disbelief as the shadows got closer and she recognized them as her and her friends. There was even a Shadow Spike. "Okay... Not quite what I expected."

"Relax!" Pinkie bounced next to her. "We can see which is real this time, and now we have an equal number of ponies as they do." Shadow Applejack was blasted with magic from above. Looking up, they saw a changeling.

"I've already dealt with my copy. I'll try to provide aerial support." Voice Box dropped under Shadow Dash as she tried to ram Voice. "No promises with speedy over here, though."

"I'll deal with her." Rainbow flew after her duplicate, doing a somersault in midair to pick up speed before slamming into her at full speed.

Twilight pulled up a barrier to block her duplicate's magic. "All right, how did Darkrai fight me before? It used speed and control, as well as dodging my magic and responding with its own attacks." Twilight created one-way shields to limit her copy's magic, and fired through them to hit her foe. Applejack was just pounding at her clone as Rainbow slammed her shadow into the ground, while the Pinkies played a game of cards.

"Ha! Go fish!" Pinkie shouted triumphantly as her copy sighed and dissolved. Pinkie giggled as Rarity and Voice took out the false Rarity, and Fluttershy got a hug from her shadow.

"There, there. It will be okay. I'm sure things will end fine. Trust me." Shadow Fluttershy patted Fluttershy on the back.

"But how can you be sure?" Fluttershy looked over and saw Spike running over to Twilight, complaining about how his fire hurts.

"Because, dear Fluttershy, I took over the role of you from a willing participant." Fluttershy gasped as Shadow Fluttershy turned into a pony-sized Discord. "She was more than willing to let me handle the role of her, as she didn't really want to fight. Oh, and I needed a way to come back without raising too much suspicion."

"Then, you have the Elements?" Fluttershy squealed in joy when he pulled out the box. "I was kind of worried that you would be lying to us again, but you really were helping us."

Discord nodded. "Yes, well I learned how nice it feels to have someone who thought of me as a friend, as well as how much it hurt to have my body going around doing something quite different than I would. I suppose all I needed was to see things from the victim's perspective." Fluttershy grabbed the box and started to run to her friends. "Oh, Fluttershy? Hit the faker real good for me, okay?" She nodded before rejoining her friends, not seeing him teleport away to Canterlot.

Twilight let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "All right girls, its time to put this fake Discord away for good." The Elements of Harmony began charging as all the Pokemon got behind the ponies while Mew introducing Darkrai to Shadow Mewtwo and Victini.

"I will not let that happen!" Shadow Discord snarled as it fired a dark laser at the beam the Elements fired at it. The two collided, fracturing both in several directions. Part of the Harmony Beam vaporized part of Shadow Mewtwo's tail, while a splinter of Shadow Discord's laser cut through its left shoulder, leaving it screaming in pain. Various parts of both beams hit the ground, forcing them all closer together. Shadow Discord laughed. "Goodbye, all of you." It fired another black beam at the group, breaking through the barriers Mew put up. Twilight closed eyes and waited for the attack to hit.

When she looked up, she saw that it laser was being blocked by a new barrier, one made out of glowing hexagons. A being then teleported in behind the shield, facing both the laser and the shield. It looked vaguely like an Earth Pony, but only due to having no horn or wings. It had a completely different build, was floating, mostly white, a few feet taller than Princess Celestia, and had a yellow ring around its midsection. It raised its head, and the barrier folded out towards the beam, sending it back at Shadow Discord. Once the laser stopped, the large pony floated higher until it was eye level with Shadow Discord. "You." Shadow Discord yelled.

"Me. Got a problem with that?" The pony nodded towards his opponent. "Did you really think I would have missed you doing this? I knew the whole time. I put all the pieces in place to stop you, but you sent much more of your power here than I thought. That is when I knew I couldn't depend on them to finish you off. Mew has a lot of power. I have far more." Mew flew up to the pony, psychically bringing Shadow Mewtwo along.

"Arceus, do something. I promised it a life but I can't fix this. There was too much corruptive power in the blast for my limited reality control." Mew hugged Arceus as yellow crystals grew out of Shadow Mewtwo's shoulder, and its tail grew back and emitted a yellow glow.

"That is all I can do for those injuries. And now I will deal with you." Arceus turned back to Shadow Discord only to be consumed by a massive laser that corrupted to air around it into nothingness.

Author's Note:

Am I having too much fun with this story? Maybe. Please feel free to talk to the characters or my interpretations of such on the ask blog. We are heading towards the end, but one question remains: Who or what is Shadow Discord? Arceus knows and will reveal all... next time. As always, have a good one.
-Deku

I seem to have Final Fantasy 7 on my mind... I WONDER WHY?

Comments

[KyleeTheShinyStealer]

Great new chapter! I just realized something though... You don't have a proper cover art. Would you like me to solve that problem for you?

[TheDeku]

6723803 That would be absolutely excellent! I'm not a good drawer and I just can't use the pictures online to make anything good.

[KyleeTheShinyStealer]

6725556
Great! Can I get a list of the characters? I'll put the main ones up front and the rest in the background.

[KyleeTheShinyStealer]

6725556
I got the rough draft done at this link
http://silverwolfftw.deviantart.com/art/Rough-Draft-Equestrial-Plains-Cover-Art-578331759?ga_submit_new=10%253A1450275707

It's gonna have more characters and stuff in the final. This is the rough draft, so it's not the best looking. But it's something, right? Give me any suggestions for changes you'd like.

[TheDeku]

6738169 Add Sableye and Velvet. Maybe Keldeo and Victini as well.
If it isn't too difficult, I had what could be a nice look: On one edge, have part of Deoxys's arm, as if it was standing just outside the picture. On the other side, in the same way, have one of Discord's appendages. This may give it a strange duality nature that could be interesting. But it might not. Again, thanks for doing this. It means a lot to me.

I looked over some of your other art. Some pieces look a little rougher than other pieces (as all art does), but they look really good.