.hack// Pony Protocol

by Shaq-of-All-Trades

Broken Rainbow, Heartbroken Spike

Twilight stood ready for the match while Vinyl and Spike soaked up attention. She didn't care for it; never had, never would. But she wouldn't den her friends their fun in the sun. They had helped her get here. They deserved it more than anypony else she could think of. The arena dimmed slightly, and Twilight knew that it was nearly time. She bumped Spike and Vinyl, and they all got ready together. The announcer began to speak.

'Welcome once more Ladies and Gentlecolts, to the Demon Palace Arena Title Match! In a surprising twist of events, it seems that this time's challenger is a group from the guild Canard! What a surprise! They managed to defeat Spitfire, so perhaps they stand a chance against the reigning champion... RAINBOW DASH!'

Rainbow Dash teleported in and waved her hoof to the crowd. The dreamlike expression on her face hadn't changed, and the small Fluttershy doll still rested on her shoulder. Twilight couldn't stand the sight of it for some reason. It felt wrong. Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Twilight, and her eyes seemed to focus slightly.

"Twilight," she drawled. "You've gotten a bit stronger. But... it won't matter. It still won't fill the void."

"I don't know what you're talking about Rainbow Dash, but I know you're not well. I think you may be infected by AIDA. I want to help you, but you have to work with me." Twilight tried getting through to Rainbow Dash, piercing that veil that seemed to cover her mind. But nothing she said seemed to have effect. The announcer began the countdown.

'Count with me, players! Three.... Two.... One.... BATTLE!'

Twilight took point, rushing in on Rainbow Dash with her twin daggers. She had determined early on that using raw power wouldn't help much, even if it was one opponent. Twilight still remembered the old days when she and Rainbow Dash fought together. Though her style had changed drastically, her strength had not. She easily fended off the assault, and even managed to fend off Vinyl and Spike's when they joined in. The three attempted to strike at once, but Rainbow Dash disappeared in a burst of flower petals.

"Too weak..." Rainbow Dash muttered, then struck down Vinyl. The crowd whooped, but Twilight and Spike panicked. Spike tried using a skill, but Rainbow Dash countered and struck him down as well. Only Twilight was left standing. "Tell me, Twilight... is this really as far as you've come? Do you really think you can do anything with your little power? Just run off, and leave me be."

Twilight wasn't going to simply leave this be. She'd lost Fluttershy to AIDA, nearly lost Rarity to AIDA, and had almost lost Applejack to herself. She wasn't going to allow any more of her friends to be put in danger, not when she had the power to protect them. Power began to surge around her, inside her. She felt Skeith calling her with the promise of unimaginable ability, but this time, she could feel its intent. It wanted her to unleash it, feed it enough to devastate all in its path. The armor began to from around her, and she called out to Skeith. This time though, she understood just how dangerous he was, and how to keep herself from becoming lost in the blind rage she was before.

"Come on, come on... I'm right here, I'm right here! SKEEEEEEEEEEITH!" The reaper-shaped puppet-like Avatar formed around her, and she could feel it bending to her will. It put in a bit of resistance, but Twilight imposed her will harder. Skeith acknowledged her will, and acquiesced. Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash, and saw a lavender energy armor form around her. She was summoning her own Avatar.

"Come out, come out, my darling pet... Macha~" Rainbow Dash let out a coo, and her Avatar began to form. Twilight watched as it grew and grew. It was almost three times as large as Skeith. Twilight noticed the body was strangely thin, and the entire lower half was a rainbow colored rose. It turned to Twilight, and did the most unexpected thing: it began to sing. Pulses of energy spread around it, and it drifted towards Twilight. She tried to run away, but she had reacted too late. A pulse touched her, and she became enthralled in the music. Rainbow Dash raised her Avatar's arm, and raked Twilight with long claws. She raised her other hand and did the same thing, and repeated this process twice more before punching Twilight away.

Twilight shook her head. That was a dangerous attack, and she was sure it wasn't the only one Rainbow Dash was capable of. She'd have to keep her wits about her if she was going to win. Rarity was being controlled, and wasn't at full strength; AJ hadn't been trying to actually fight her, only teach her the dangers of her Avatar. Rainbow Dash was the first Avatar she had to fight that was truly trying to stop her.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head, then held up her claws. She looked at them, and they began to glow with rainbow energy. She looked to Twilight, and behind the static porcelain-like face, she swore she could see dark intent. She wasn't about to get hit by those claws. She held her scythe and moved forward as Rainbow Dash did the same. Twilight was faster, and ducked under one of the deadly swipes, and slashed upwards. She caught Rainbow in the chest, making her draw back. Immediately, Twilight followed up with three energy blasts. The sudden chain attack caught Rainbow Dash unaware, and she took all three shots. Her head hung limply, stunned. Twilight moved in and unleashed a three-hit combo.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, and for the first time, she displayed anger. Her body grew rigid, and she slashed at the air repeatedly. Each slash sent a disc of energy zooming at Twilight. Though she could disperse a few of them, she was still hit repeatedly. The attacks hurt, and she had to pull herself together afterwards. She was nearly ready to go back on the offensive, when Rainbow Dash tilted upwards. The bottom of her Rose skirt showed, and a large eye opened. This was going to hurt.

Rainbow Dash launched a massive Data Drain at Twilight, and she had to bite her tongue to not scream. Though she was more used to the pain, it was still the worse pain she had ever experienced. She struggled to break free from it. After an eon of pain (which was closer to about ten seconds), she broke from the painful grip. Rainbow Dash was exhausted from the effort. Twilight moved in and sliced at her until she heard the sound of the shield break. She raised her arm, and from point blank range, she fired a Data Drain into Rainbow Dash's core.

"Wake up already!!!"

The data flew into Twilight, and Rainbow Dash's Avatar fell apart into a plume of petals. From the center, Rainbow Dash fell, the Fluttershy doll beside her. She reached out to it. "No... don't leave me again...." Her hoof nearly touched it, when it burst into a mass of black bubbles, and faded away. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, tears falling from her, then she closed her eyes to everything, falling, falling, forever falling....

Twilight released Skeith, and watched as Rainbow Dash collapsed on the ground slowly. With both Avatars gone, Avatar Space dissipated around them like broken glass. She prepared to walk over and check on the cyan pegasi, when the announcer spoke!

'Amazing! The Canard team is victorious! The Emperor, Rainbow Dash simply collapsed after both her and the leader of the Canard team, Twilight Sparkle, used similar skills. The new Emperor is Twilight Sparkle of Canard!'

The crowd went wild, and Spike and Vinyl (who were revived at the end of the match) waved to the crowd. Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash, but she had already been teleported out. Twilight waited to get teleported out herself, and when she did, she was confronted by a furious Scootaloo. "You monster! How could you do that to poor Rainbow Dash? She's the greatest pony ever! She should be the emperor, not somepony like you! You had to have cheated!" Twilight walked away from the infuriated filly, who huffed in anger. She looked around, but could see no signs of Rainbow Dash anywhere. She was about to leave when Vinyl and Spike bombarded her.

"Yo, Twi!" Vinyl was giddy with energy. "They're throwing this massive party to celebrate you being the new Emperor! We can invite anypony we want!" Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Ok, ok, I'll make sure not to miss it. When is it?"

"Right now!" Vinyl and Spike declared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The coronation party took place on Hy Braisil, the Isle of Kings. It was a special area only accessible when an Emperor was being coronated. Twilight mingled some, but was rather uncomfortable. Though the other two Emperors had been too busy to show up, her brother was there going on about how proud he was that his little sister had become an Emperor like he had been, and how he considered her to be is star apprentice. She looked around some more, and saw Celestia whispering in Spike's ear. She started towards them, intent to ask Celestia some questions. Celestia turned to her, and smiled a knowing smile.

"Ah, Twilight. We were just talking about you..." Celestia turned to Spike, who's head was downturned. Twilight focused on Celestia however.

"Where have you been, Princess?" Twilight asked. "Why have you been hiding from everypony? Why are you even in 'The World?' You're still sick. Then there's all the information you've been holding back. Why can't you tell me? Don't you trust me?"

"Oh Twilight, I trust you more than you'll ever know... but I don't think the same can be said about young Spike here. Not anymore at least. You see, I've explained quite a bit to him. I'll let you catch up...." Celestia walked off, her contained leg clanking every time it hit the ground. Twilight watched her fade into the crowd, then looked to Spike.

"Spike, what did she talk to you about?" Twilight kept her tone calm and soothing. She was annoyed at Celestia, but not Spike. She didn't want any bad blood between them.

"She told me, Twilight. She told me everything. She told me what happened to Fluttershy, and why you've been acting crazy, and why you've been having mood swings. She told me about the Epitaph Users too." Spike finally turned his head up and looked at her. In his eyes, she could see pain, so much pain. Tears flowed from his eyes without end. "You hid things from me Twilight; you hid so much from me. I would have helped you willingly, but instead, you just used me! You used me like I was some tool! All the years we've been together, and it meant nothing. You'd rather help a new friend then stay faithful to an old one. I know I'm your assistant; I'm not very interesting or important. But I thought you were different Twi.... Did you ever really see me? Did you ever see the real me? Did you ever see past it all, the title, the scales, into the heart of one who loves you more than anyone else?"

Twilight tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat. Spike's expression turned hard, and he ran away, away from the pain, away from her. Twilight turned to try and catch him, to say something, to make his pain go away, but a crowd formed and blocked her. Smiling faces formed a wall from the sadness that she had caused. Another friend, her closest friend, lost because of her weakness. Twilight's eyes burned, and she unleashed all the sadness that had built within herself. The party didn't last much longer.

Twilight prepared to log off and cry herself to sleep, when she received an urgent message from Zecora. She deleted it. She didn't feel like dealing with them. She tried to log off again, when she received another message, again from Zecora. She deleted it, only to have another, and another, and another appear. Her pain began to turn into anger. It was them who pushed her into this, them who told her about this power. She looked over the message, her rage making it hard for her to read properly. When the words sank in, she galloped as fast as she could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Twilight Sparkle, we have information you will not like,
It pertains to young Spike.
At the Serpent of Lore we shall explain,
For what is occurring, his life may not remain.

-Zecora'

Comments

[CometandAqua]

I really like how this story is coming!! Video Games + MLP = EPIC!!

First!