• Published 26th Nov 2015
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Twilight VS Anime - Lupine Infernis



In a sudden wave of chaos magic, Discord transforms Equestria, and it is up to Twilight to set things ri- hey, where's she going?

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Chapter 4: The Chapter Between The Third and Fifth Chapter

1055 AD, April 19th

Previously on Twilight VS Anime…

“Nope. Not my fault. Totally exempt from blame,” Lightning Dust turned her nose up in the air as she hovered above Twilight and her friends while repeatedly upturning buckets of chum on them. “Nothing I could do.”

“Imma beat yo ass!” Rainbow Dash shook the pulverized flesh from her mane and shot into the air, hooves lashing out at blinding speed. “Ass Beat Hyper Combo!”

“Ow, my ass!” Lightning Dust frantically flew away, forehooves rubbing her reddened rump as she pushed her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. “Whatever – I’m gonna turn into a dragon made of lightning and crush that puss.”

Rainbow Dash cocked her head in confusion. “Uh… wha-?”

Lightning Dust transformed into a dragon. “Rawr!”



Episode 5

Celestiaを一度セックスを通してそれを疲れることで村を破壊から竜を停止しました
Seresutia o ichido sekkusu o tōshite sore o tsukareru koto de mura o hakai kara ryū o teishi shimashita – Even More Dramatic Battle on Canterlot Mountain!!



“Hooooowww?!”

Lightning Dust ignored Twilight’s despairing cry and inhaled deeply, her summoned form inflating and sending out random spikes of jagged lightning. “Not feeling so tough now, are ya, Dashie old pal?! Why don’t you turn into a dragon?”

“…” Rainbow Dash made several unsuccessful attempts to manually close her mouth before finally achieving the desired outcome. She laughed nervously and waved it off, scoffing, “Pshaw! So you morphed into a… totally cool dragon made of lightning. Not that cool. And so what if you did? I’m still gonna kick your ass!”

“Breath of Ire!”

Lightning Dust split open her massive jaws and unleased a blinding beam of yellow lightning that completely swallowed Rainbow Dash from sight and continued downwards to strike the side of the mountain.

The shockwave of the attack was enough to send Twilight and the others falling flat on their rears; they crouched together and Twilight put up a magical barrier over their heads to deflect falling rocks.

“Waaaaaah!” Soarin cried from below as he clung to Spitfire. The two Wonderbolts swayed violently from the force and the branch creaked pitifully as the roots started losing their grip in the rocks. “Why do I go along with these things?!”

“Because there is nothing else in Equestria that deserves our time and efforts!” Spitfire shouted back.



Meanwhile, in Manehatten…



“Mmkay, this is actually pretty suck-y…”

Suri Polomare hid beneath the round table outside a café with her beleaguered assistant, Coco Pommel. Both mares watched – one with irritated indifference and one with bewilderment – as ponies ran to and fro, screaming and hollering curses.

The ground shook as their pursuers… well, pursued them.

Neither mare knew exactly what they were; they resembled ponies, but were ridiculously scaled up in size. The smallest one they had seen was the size of a small house while the largest one could easily peer over some of the tallest buildings. They were also quite deformed-looking, whether it was due to bugged-out eyes, impossibly wide mouths, or masses that weren’t quite proportionate or symmetrical.

Whatever they were, they chased after ponies relentlessly, and when they caught one…

“Aiieeeee!”

Suri and Coco winced at the shrill sound as a mare was snatched up off the street by a two-storey high giant. Its horn was curled and cracked, but its magic was strong, and it telekinetically levitated the mare to float in front of its split-cheek smile.

“Noooo!” The mare shrieked in dismay as primitive but determined magic plucked at the satchel hanging at her side. The flap opened and several cards bearing illustrations and brief descriptions of fantastic and strange creatures floated out. “No, those are limited edition! It took me two hours to get all of them and I had to walk two blocks for the last one! Please – I’m so lazy!”

The giant was deaf to her heart-breaking cries and stowed the cards away in its mouth before gently placing the sobbing mare back on the streets. It turned and lumbered away, driven by an insatiable urge to collect.

Suri blankly stared at the ruined mare who curled up on the street, decided it was uncomfortable, and moved over to crawl beneath another café table. Her tears started up a moment later and Suri rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, whatever. Coco, I’m hungry – go get me a bagel and some coffee.”

A second later, she was surprised when a bagel and a cup of coffee were placed in front of her. There was even a napkin!

“Huh, that was fast,” Suri picked up the sweet-smelling bagel and took a whiff, grinning dreamily. “Why can’t you be that fast all the time?”

“… B-because it wasn’t me.”

“… What?”

Suri felt something cold and slimy drape across her shoulder, and after a moment of dread-filled hesitation, looked over.

Coco had moved to hide beneath a different table and stared with wide, apologetic eyes as a pony-sized squid blinked a huge eye at Suri and shifted more of its tentacles so they wrapped around the shivering mare.

How it was standing upright on boneless limbs and without water to support its body… Suri had no idea.

“Oh Faust…” Suri whimpered as a tentacle brushed her chest. “Please don’t tell me this is going where I think it’s going…”

The squid winked. “You know it, baby.”

“C-Coco, help!”

Coco stared at them…

… then slowly smiled as she lifted a camera and readied her hoof against the button.

“Th-this is like one of m-my mangas.”



Back to our ‘heroes’…



Lightning Dust’s powerful attack came to an end, the sound of lightning echoing in the far distance. She pulled her head back, rapidly-shifting fangs showing in a sadistic smile as she watched a smoking and charred Rainbow Dash hover in place. Her eyes were wide and blank and tendrils of electricity danced across her body.

“You were saying?”

“… Gack!” Rainbow Dash coughed up a tiny puff of grey smoke and spun in place several times to get rid of the soot and ash, her grey-tinted fur returning to its cyan colour once more. “Woof. Okay, yeah, whatever – that was pretty strong. But it doesn’t matter how strong you are or how badass you may look… I will fight you with my last breath because my friends are counting on me! And with my friends backing me up… there’s nothing I can’t do!”

“Lick your elbow.”

“… Nani?” Rainbow Dash pulled up her right foreleg, bent her hoof towards her face, and craned her neck forwards. “Ngh! Grr! Maybe if I stick my tongue out then… Wait, do I even have elbows?”

WHAP

“Motherfuuuuuuu"

Lightning Dust cackled evilly as Rainbow Dash sailed far away from the mountain. She whipped her tail back behind her and stretched out her massive wings. Spires of lightning shot out from the tips of her wings and into the boiling mass of dark clouds above them; she didn’t so much as fly to Rainbow Dash so much as the very clouds carried her there, they stretched and covered more sky to do so, blanketing the land in darkness.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called in alarm. She dissipated her arcane barrier and spread her wings.

“Uh-uh, sugarcube!” Applejack snapped her teeth around the alicorn’s tail and yanked her back. Once Twilight’s rump was firmly seated on the dirt, she spat out the hair and said, “Ah know ya’ll are worried, but if’n any of ya go flyin’ out there, ah’m pretty sure tha’ storm’s gonna give yer hides a nasty tan.”

“But do you see that nonsensical construct?” Twilight protested and pointed out to the horizon. Lightning Dust was impossible to miss; she glowed so brightly it was like a second sun. “You’ve all gone up against very unusual odds, but this seems a tad too far.”

“Ya’ll jes’ gotta have faith in tha’ girl,” Applejack replied. She placed a comforting hoof on her friend’s shoulder and smiled warmly. “Seriously, how many times have we gone up against near-impossible odds an’ gave those odds a lickin’?”

“To be fair, most of those times were resolved by a ‘deus ex machina’.”

“Ah have no idea what that means,” Applejack informed her cheerily. “But whatever fancy words ya’ll can throw out don’t change th’ fact tha’ so long as we believe in each other… we can do anythin’!”

As the rest of the girls gathered around and lent their support, Twilight felt her worries ease and warmth flare in her chest.

Lightning Dust’s new form seemed unstoppable, especially from a scientific point of view… but maybe… she just needed to stop applying logic and science.

Just for this adventure.

A long-shot, but one worth trying.

‘After all…’ Twilight thought as she turned her attention back to the distant battle. ‘Trying anything at least once is exactly what science is about!’

It inspired her to finally take the step and try that ‘atom-splitting’ experiment in her basement.



“Fly, Dash, fly! Hah hah hah!”

Rainbow Dash did just that.

Sweat poured down her face as she pushed herself to the limit, not because she was awesome and had to show off, but because she actually needed to if she wanted to avoid a lightning bolt to the ass or a swipe of a massive paw.

‘The hell, egghead?! You told me lightning didn’t have mass or… whatever!’

“Breath of Ire!"

Thank Faust that they were obligated to cry out the names of their special attacks before actually doing them otherwise it would be way harder to dodge all of this.

She barrel-rolled several times to get out of the blast radius and grimaced when she looked down and saw the stream of yellow lightning blaze a scorched path into the earth.

‘Jeez, there’s gonna be about… seventeen farmers calling for blood after this.’

"Implosion of Despair!"

Lightning Dust wrapped her massive body in her wings and suddenly disappeared in a huge burst of sparks and yellow light.

Rainbow Dash screeched to a halt and turned in place, frowning. “Uh…? Hello? Where’d ya go? If you leave, does that mean I win?”

In answer, a tiny light particle appeared in front of her.

She stared at it.

It let off a spark and a low droning note filled the air; it made her teeth vibrate unpleasantly.

“Uh-oh,” Rainbow Dash blanched and turned again, wings flapping furiously as she summoned a cone of wind around her body. “Super-brave Flee of Terror!”

The whipping winds gave her the immediate push she needed to bravely fly away as the particle swelled to an enormous sphere of lightning that threatened to swallow anything in its path. Even with her legendary speed, the hairs on her tail were singed as the sphere got too close, and when Lightning Dust emerged from the attack, it produced a wave of kinetic force that hammered against her eardrums.

Rainbow Dash came out of her vortex with no sense of direction and spiralled towards the earth.

Lightning Dust watched her foe fall with a dark feeling of accomplishment and roared with laughter, bolts streaming from her empty eye sockets. “Ha ha ha! You suck, I rule – the universe has spoken! Mwa ha ha ha ha!!”

The laughter echoed in Rainbow Dash’s head even as she crashed into a hill, face-first, and tunnelled straight through soil to burst out the other side.

Several times she bounced against the land before she finally skidded to a complete stop, her battered body aching terribly and her ears still ringing from the shockwave.

“Ugh… No… I can’t lose…” Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and rolled over onto her back. “Gotta… beat her…” She tried to sit up, but instead fell back again. “Gotta… win…”

There was no sunlight, but she felt the enormous shadow over her all the same, and lifted her gaze skywards. Her pupils shrunk.

“Shit.”

“Breath of Ire!”



Twilight gasped, as did the others, when Lightning Dust blasted their prone friend with a vicious attack. “Rainbow Dash!”

“Hey, that’s takin’ it too far, ya varmint!” Applejack shouted with a shake of her hoof.

They couldn’t see their friend anymore; she had been swallowed by the beam of lightning and the building-sized clouds of dust that billowed up from Lightning Dust’s attack stripping away layer after layer of soil.

Lightning Dust eventually ran out of breath, but she just took a deep inhale, shouted the name of her attack, and pummelled Rainbow Dash with the beam again, sadistic enjoyment written clearly across her draconic face.

“I can’t watch!” Fluttershy whimpered and hid her face in Pinkie’s shoulder, who held the shivering mare comfortingly.



Meanwhile, in Canterlot…



“Discord… this seems a little much.”

Celestia looked away from the eyepiece of her telescope and turned to the floating draconequus that was leisurely scoffing down half-green, half-purple grapes. He paid no heed to the battle raging off in the distance, so great that it could be seen even from Celestia’s balcony without the apparatus.

“Lightning Dust is taking this too personally,” Luna agreed with a disapproving glare as she melted out of her sister’s shadow. “We should intervene.”

“Oh, pish-posh!” Discord waved off the sisters’ concerns, eyeing the last grape on the stem. “It’s not as if anypony’s actually going to be killed in all this,” Opening his mouth wide, he placed the grape, stem and all, into his maw and snapped his teeth together. A second mouth grew on his long neck. “Besides, that little daredevil’s taken far worse punishment when she does her regular exercises.”

Overlooked by the trio, Star Secret quietly emerged out onto the balcony and operated the telescope herself.

A wicked grin took up her face as she watched Lightning Dust mercilessly electrocute her opponent.

“Really, there’s no need for such concern and worry,” Discord’s second mouth winked out of existence as he pulled out the stem from his primary maw. Inexplicably, it had regrown every grape he had plucked from it. “Just sit back and enjoy the flashy fighting and over-the-top antics that has become such a staple in anime culture. Why, even Star Secret’s getting into it!”

Star Secret chuckled menacingly as her lips stretched into a deranged grin. “Yes! Die screaming! Ah hah hah hah!”

“Well, it is nice to see her having fun,” Celestia said with a nod. “Normally, she’s so stoic. I think this will do wonders to bring out the fun-loving side I know is in there.”

“Suffer in despair, you bastion of saccharine waste!”

Luna nodded as well with a cheerful smile. “I think that as well!”



And back to our heroes…



Rainbow Dash was in a world of pain.

It was like taking a shower, but instead of water, it was lightning, and instead of a pleasant warmth that relaxed her muscles, it was a burning sensation that covered the entirety of her body. She tried to curse it out, but got a mouthful of electricity.

Whitens the teeth and clears out any bacteria and scraps, but it was about as nice as chewing on ice cubes with exposed roots.

‘Argh, this sucks!’

There was no way her regular attacks would work against Lightning Dust in this new form, but there was something she had in her arsenal – a pretty damn good trump card.

The problem was… she needed space to actually deploy it and to not be constantly bombarded.

‘Faust, why didn’t I just make it so it instantly happened by thinking it? Oh… right…’

It was less awesome that way.

Welp, no use complaining about it now; deal with the cards you have, right?

“Hrrk! Grrr!”

Rainbow Dash pushed back against the flow of electricity with sheer determination, but could barely move an inch before she was pressed back against the dirt. She flailed her legs about for a grip, but the dirt that wasn’t covered by her body was beginning to turn glassy and smooth, so that sucked.

‘Come on, you big, dumb, cool dragon bitch! You got all that hot air, but I know you’re gonna run out soon enough! Just gotta... hold… on… until…’

The relief when the stream of lightning cut out was immeasurable and she just had to take a second to inhale gratefully before spitting up clouds of smoke.

“Gyahahahah!!” Lightning Dust cackled above her, the constant shifting and spitting of her body causing spots to appear in Rainbow Dash’s vision. “Still you go on?! Gotta admit that you’ve got guts, RD, but no amount of bravado is gonna save you from me! Won’t be too long before you’re begging for it to stop!”

“Blah-ack!-blah blah!” Rainbow Dash shouted back at the top of her lungs. “This is nothing! I’ve been in rainstorms that sting worse than this!”

That was a lie and she could almost see Applejack shaking her head in admonishment.

Lightning Dust scoffed at her opponent’s words and the dark clouds above lit up from an errant bolt arcing from one spot to the other. “We’ll see what your tune is after a few more minutes! Breath of Ire!”

Rainbow Dash smirked as her vision was swamped by a searing yellow light.

This blast was even more powerful than the last and Lightning Dust felt malicious joy upon imagining Rainbow Dash breaking down into sobs, begging for her to stop, and being forced to admit how much better and more attractive Lightning Dust was, and how she should have been the one still in the Wonderbolt ranks.

Just a few more moments and that would surely be the end of it.

This little ‘adventure’ would come to an end, all because of her!

“Wow, you’re really going at it, huh?”

Lightning Dust stopped exhaling and laughed with a nod. “You know it. You watch – I bet she’ll be crying once the dust clears.”

“That’d be something to see.”

“Heh heh – yeah.”

“… Huh, I don’t see her.”

“What?” Lightning Dust bristled in anger and confusion when the building-sized clouds of dust cleared from the ground and instead of a mewling pegasus down on her knees, there was a small tunnel drilled into a patch of dirt that had yet to be reduced to glass. “Tunnelled through the earth? Graagh! Smart but she won’t escape me.”

“I don’t think she’s trying to escape.”

Lightning Dust snorted and turned her massive head to the side. “Well, what would she be trying to…?”

Rainbow Dash stretched and flexed her muscles with a cocksure grin. Her spine gave a pop as she pointed her hooves up and a sheen of rainbow wavered across her like light through a prism.

“Eeyup.”

“… Breath of-”

Rainbow Dash inflated her lungs with air and let it all out in a massive battle cry. The tremendous sound whipped up an expanding cyclone around her body that was powerful enough to interrupt Lightning Dust’s attack and send her recoiling a few dozen yards.



“But…” Twilight shook her head. “But lightning doesn’t have mass. There’s… there’s no… Applejack, there’s no mass.”

“Ah know, sugarcube.”

“There’s no- Hey, why are you shaking your head?”



“Grr!” Lightning Dust managed to right herself and hissed in frustration. “You little punk!”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t hear her over her own awesomeness and the roar of wind as a whipping tornado embraced her with a funnel as thick as Lightning Dust’s torso. Her residual power seeped into the weather anomaly and rays of rainbow light cut through the strong air currents. They were incredibly bright, but Lightning Dust had no eyes to be debilitated.

“So she’s powering up as well, huh?” Lightning Dust snorted and sent out a shower of sparks from both nostrils. “Hmph – not that it really matters; she’ll never be as strong as I am,” She snickered cruelly and bared crackling fangs in a large grin. “I’ll let her charge up so she’s all the more defeated when I whoop her ass just as hard.”

The tornado suddenly dispersed as a massive form burst forth from its centre.

A dark grey wolf that was easily as large and long as Lightning Dust landed on thin air, and snarled menacingly with teeth made of tornadoes and a coat made of several hurricanes seamlessly mixing together around a sphere of perfect calmness located in the centre of its half-translucent body. Twin almond-shaped orbs of rainbow light were suspended in its head, and they shone so brightly it could be seen for miles.

The massive wolf gave a deep chuckle. “Alright then…”

Rainbow Dash, Shadow of Harmony

The fury of a storm sealed within a young mare’s heart finally unleashed

“Let’s do this.”

Lightning Dust snarled and brought her claws together. “Orbs of Malice!”

Five orbs of spitting electricity formed between her claws and zipped forwards.

Rainbow Dash batted them into the clouds with her cyclonic tail like they were baseballs and charged, her house-sized paws slapping against the air as if it were solid dirt and carrying her towards her opponent with the speed of a raging typhoon. She collided with Lightning Dust’s underbelly head-first, and then reared up on her hindlegs to swipe at her face while she was stunned.

The blow sent Lightning Dust flipping backwards, the length of her tail scraping the ground below and sending up enormous sprays of dirt and clouds of dust. Rainbow Dash pounced after her with the intention of putting her whirling teeth to work, but Lightning Dust suddenly regained her balance, and twirled in place so her tail caught Rainbow Dash in the temple.

Rainbow Dash yelped, and tumbled off to the side, narrowly managing to flip back on her feet and remain aloft so she wouldn’t cause any more environmental damage.

Seriously, once the farmers stopped gawking at the sight of two elemental behemoths clashing in the sky, they were gonna be pissed.

“Rending Monsoon!”

The winds on Rainbow Dash’s paws intensified as she loped forwards, reared up, and slammed her weight down.

Lightning Dust flapped her wings and quickly jerked backwards, guffawing as Rainbow Dash’s paws missed and struck empty air. “Ha ha ha haaaarrggghh!”

A powerful updraft exploded from Rainbow Dash’s paws and sent Lightning Dust higher into the sky, flailing and roaring all the way. The Element of Loyalty followed, her paws slapping against thin air yet again so she could sprint upwards at a perfect vertical angle.

“Wind… Sword!”

A sword as wide and long as one of Ponyville’s streets formed between Rainbow Dash’s jaws; she shifted the blade into a diagonal position and swung to the side as she ran past Lightning Dust.

Her strike was true, and her opponent roared in pain as a clean slice appeared in her side. She clutched at it with her talons, panting heavily and bleeding golden sparks.

“W-Wind Sword? What kind of…?”

“Hey, give me a break,” Rainbow Dash inhaled and the sword was absorbed back into her body. “I didn’t have time to make up cool names for each of this form’s attacks.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you suck.”

“How does that make any sense?”

“Because you’re literally a walking tornado. Ergo, you suck.”

“I suck up all the awesome in the world, you mean!”

“You’re about to suck up my fist with your face! Crazy Crusher!”



“This is, uh…” Twilight faltered as her otherwise expansive vocabulary decided to take a momentary reprieve. “This is-” A wave of concussive force made her flinch as Lightning Dust landed a powerful blow in the distance. Rainbow Dash flew back several hundred yards, flipped and slowed her momentum by dragging her claws against air again – somehow producing sparks – and lunging back at her foe. Twilight shook her head. “I think I need a more exotic word to describe what’s happening.”

“Awesome-tacular-licious?!” Pinkie suggested.

“Avant-garde?” Rarity offered.

“Ostentatious-like?” Applejack put in.

“Unusual?!” Spitfire yelled up.

“Dangerous?!” Soarin squeaked.

“… Nice?” Fluttershy whispered.

“Hmm… I think I’ll go with Applejack’s suggestion. Rarity, yours is a close second, though.”

“Alas, we can’t win all the time.”



The clouds rumbled ominously as the two behemoths took their battle higher and higher, bolts of lightning and blasts of gale-force winds being thrown out every which way as they struggled for supremacy.

Rainbow Dash was more agile and could launch surprising attacks from any angle with her ability to literally ‘climb’ air, but Lightning Dust was physically stronger and her lightning attacks could reach miles in terms of distance.

But even so…

“You won’t win!” Lightning Dust roared with another exhale of lightning that just about skimmed Rainbow Dash’s side. She paid for her failed attack by a flash of teeth tearing out a chunk in her side. Despite the pain and loss of mass, Lightning Dust persisted with a determined clench of her teeth. “I won’t lose again this time! You won’t take this victory away from me! Orbs of Malice!”

“Do you even hear yourself?!” Rainbow Dash pounced forwards, took the orbs head-on, ignored the gaping hole in her chest, and smashed her paws down in front of her opponent. “Rending Monsoon!” As Lightning Dust was blasted backwards, Rainbow Dash pounced again with a booming howl that echoed for miles across. “Get the hell over it!”

Lightning Dust let out a cry of pain and frustration as Rainbow Dash landed on her chest. She tried to teleport, but Rainbow Dash closed her jaws around Lightning Dust’s long neck and gave a mighty heave, throwing the dragon up into the sky.

“It’s all about you, isn’t it?! Sundowner Drive!” Vertically running up again, Rainbow Dash leapt and rapidly turned in clockwise spins like a giant drill. She flashed past her foe, drawing another wound in the process, and abruptly stopped in the air so she could tilt her body to face her foe again. “Always about how you got shafted, about how you deserved this and that! Sundowner Drive!”

Lightning Dust wheezed pitifully as Rainbow Dash struck her in the belly with the weight and force of an ancient mountain. She saw stars and spots as the world flashed by and tensed up, preparing for the unforgiving sting of her back hitting the ground.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t so merciful.

“Anypony who talks like that seriously needs some lessons in friendship! Rending Monsoon!”

An updraft halted their descent when they were only a few dozen metres from hitting a small hill and launched them both back up. Lightning Dust was so disoriented she couldn’t tell right from left, much less react as Rainbow Dash reared up on her hind legs once their acceleration slowed and they floated around at the apex of their ascent.

“And the first lesson is…” Rainbow Dash’s iridescent eyes shone brighter and brighter, cutting through the darkness of the storm. “Don’t underestimate the power of friendship…”

Lightning Dust balked as the foreign sensation of fear crept into her heart when she saw the miasma of rainbow light surrounding her opponent’s eyes. “Ah, fff-”

“Because friendship is badass! Final Blow: Bane of Tartarus!



Elsewhere…



“Ah can’t believe it… Ah jes’ can’t believe it…”

“We couldn’t have known, Apple Bloom. Please don’t beat yourself up.”

“Was… Was it mah fault?”

Apple Bloom held her head between her forehooves and stared down at the table’s surface. Her sundae was beginning to melt, but it was long forgotten; Apple Bloom had ordered it habitually, and had no desire to taste it.

“No, no!” Sweetie Belle shook her head and, with her good foreleg, patted her friend’s shoulder sympathetically. “Scootaloo… she’s the one that made her decision to betray us. This is nobody’s fault but her own.”

“She hurt ya, Sweetie…”

“I-”

“How can ah fergive mahself for lettin’ tha’ happen?” Apple Bloom clenched her eyes shut in despair and slapped her hoof down on the table. “Stupid!”

“Hey! Careful – you almost spilled my sundae.”

“Ah’m tryin’ ta be dramatic-like over here,” Apple Bloom said, her disposition almost immediately switching to annoyed as she looked across the table. “An’ anyway, traitors can’t talk here! This is the base of the Hyper Omega Extended Uncut Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and dug at her sundae with a small plastic spoon. “You know, part of the reason I defected was because I got super-tired of saying all of that. At least with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, it’s less of a mouthful.”

“Ya’ll are jes’ lazy.”

“I dunno…” Sweetie Belle pulled her ‘crippled’ foreleg out of its sling to scratch her chin thoughtfully. “She’s got a point, I think.”

“Their name is th’ ‘Flaunt Force’!” Apple Bloom threw her forelegs into the air. “Their motto is literally ‘Better than you times infinity plus one’!”

“But that’s their motto…” Scootaloo pointed out. “All we need to actually shout when we attack is… is…”

Scootaloo trailed off and tilted her head in awe at something behind Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Curious, the two fillies followed their close and traitorous friend’s gaze, and then reacted similarly.

“Is tha’… a Sonic Rainboom?”

Numerous rings of rainbow light cascaded across the sky like the ripples of a pond. They were already beginning to dissipate by the time they reached out over Ponyville, so the source of the rainbow rings must have been farther off.

“Aw, so cool!” Scootaloo grinned happily and her ting wings buzzed in excitement. “I bet that’s Rainbow Dash laying down the smack on some bad guys.”

Sweetie Belle hummed in agreement and re-crippled her leg while Apple Bloom continued staring up at the fading rings, frowning. “Hey, Miss Cheerilee said tha’ light travels faster than sound an’ stuff.”

Scootaloo nodded, a little confused by the unexpected fact. “Yeah, so?”

“When do ya think th’ sound will hit us?”

Scootaloo’s reply was drowned out by a blast of wind that blew out a few windows and choked the streets with thick dust.



Back to where things are ostentatious…



Naturally, there were lingering effects after witnessing such a spectacular explosion of friendship-powered magic. The five mares watching from the mountain path were rendered blind for a few moments; they blinked and groaned and wiped at their eyes until the expanse of nothingness faded.

Spitfire and Soarin, too, had to wipe their eyes, and…

That wasn’t a smart move.

Anyway, once the five mares could see again, the first thing they saw was Rainbow Dash, back to her old equine body, hovering towards them. Lightning Dust was slung across her back, fully equine and groaning like she had a hangover.

“Dashie, you won!” Pinkie squeed and zipped over to her pegasus friend once she landed. “I knew you could do it!”

“Was there ever any doubt?” Rainbow Dash grinned cockily and weathered her friend’s iron-grip hug. “Rainbow Dash always gets the job done and always looks badass doing i… Ghk… A-actually, c-could you loosen your grip a bit?”

“Oh dear, when Lightning Dust just kept attacking you when you were on the ground…” Fluttershy whimpered in distress. “It was so horrible.”

“I guess anything’s fair when it comes to fighting,” Rainbow Dash lowered her front half and tilted so Lightning Dust slid off her back and onto the ground. “Hey, come on – you took harder hits in Wonderbolt training. No need to cry about a little burst of rainbow power.”

“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight said with a warning tone. Truthfully, she was just as vexed at Lightning Dust as anypony else, but she wouldn’t be the princess of friendship if she didn’t extend common courtesy to somepony that was obviously in pain, even if they were rude and… well, ‘villainous’. “Here…” Offering a gentle smile, Twilight held out her forehoof. “Let me help y-”

Whap

“Don’t. Touch. Me,” Lightning Dust glared daggers as Twilight nursed her stinging hoof. “I don’t need your help. I don’t need anypony’s help,” As if to prove her point, Lightning Dust stood despite the aches in her bones, and summoned her personal cloud. She climbed onto it, all the while muttering, “I don’t need to stay here and listen to you assholes rub your victory in my face.”

“Now hold on there – we ain’t goin’ ta-”

“Shut it, farm girl. I lost. You won. That’s all there is to it. So go past or whatever.”

Rainbow Dash frowned deeply and shook her head. “Lightning Dust…”

“Go to hell.”

The fuming mare was practically frothing as she turned into lightning and stowed away into the cloud. The vessel rose up into the air and disappeared around the side of the mountain. In turn, the clouds that had rumbled in so angrily started to disperse, and there was an all-round sigh of relief as sunlight touched the land once more.

“Well… tha’ was awkward.” Applejack said while rubbing the back of her neck.

“Such a deplorable attitude,” Rarity huffed with a flick of her mane. The swords at her sides came out and criss-crossed together so she could see her reflection in their blades; she was half-sure there were still pieces of rubble in her hair. “‘Humble in victory and gracious in defeat’ she was most certainly not.”

“I dunno about that,” Rainbow Dash laughed. “I think a tiny bit of bragging is allowed. By the by… how awesome was I?”

“The awesome-est!!” Pinkie cheered with a random burst of confetti. “For your birthday, I’m gonna make a cake in the shape of a wolf, but don’t tell anybody because it’s a surprise. Ack! No, it isn’t! I just told you what it is! Oh no, now I’ll have to bash you all over the heads so you forget what I told you all.”

“Heh, good one, Pinks.”

“… Yeeaah… ‘good one’, me.”

“…” Twilight frowned as she lowered her hoof. It didn’t sting so badly; it was mostly the shock that really made her recoil. After casting one last look in the direction Lightning Dust’s cloud trailed off in, she reached out to tap Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Rainbow, are you alright?”

“Eh? Yeah, no sweat, Egghead. You know me – tough as nails.”

“I don’t just mean physically.”

“… Ah… I mean… it sucks, right?” Rainbow Dash sighed, equal parts upset and frustrated. “I was sorta hoping that she’d calm down a little after getting beaten, but… I guess making friends by beating them up isn’t as simple as it is in anime, huh?”

“I guess not,” Twilight chuckled. “Well, it’s sad that Lightning Dust still acted that way, but you still did well. I’m proud of you… even if your fight was the most blatant in disregarding the laws of physics.”

“So it was the best fight then?”

“It was… something.”

Rainbow Dash grinned cheekily and reached up to ruffle Twilight’s mane before floating up in the air to avoid the indignant flail of her friend’s hooves. “Heh heh – come on, Chosen Killjoy! Next stop: Canterlot!”

Twilight blushed and playfully stuck her tongue out as she and the rest of her friends continued along the mountain path.

One more foe defeated.

One more step closer to the Lord of Chaos.



Meanwhile…



“What did I tell you?” Discord shrugged as Celestia and Luna moved away from the balcony’s stone parapet. “She could handle it.”

Celestia nodded hesitantly. “You’re right, but it’s a shame Lightning Dust could not accept their friendship.”

“There is too much anger in her heart,” Luna agreed. “Perhaps when she has had time to reflect, then the outcome will be more favourable, but we can only hope.”

“Oh, don’t go bringing the mood down, you two,” Discord tapped his claw against a thermometer he had pulled out of his ear. It measured ‘mood’ instead of temperature and right now it was dangerously low. “The Chosen Killjoy and her companions will shortly be in Canterlot, so we had better start preparing.”

“Yes, you’re right. Come, sister – let’s see if we can’t fit your abacus into my blender.”

Luna nodded cheerfully and it wasn’t until Celestia and Discord were nearly out the door did her brain fully register what her sister had said. “Wh…?! No! Do not lay a single thread of magic on my abacus lest you be prepared to suffer the darkest and most heinous of fates!”

“I just want to see if it’ll blend.”

“How about we see if you will blend?”

Luna melted into her own shadow and slithered after them, leaving their overlooked fourth member to remain out on the balcony.

Star Secret looked out over the city of Canterlot and inhaled deeply, her visage wavering like a rippling pond, and if anypony else were there, they might have – for the briefest of instants – seen a set of sharp fangs and draconic eyes burning with malice and sadistic glee.

‘Well, if the entire world has gone stupid… I might as well get as much enjoyment out of it as I can. I look forward to meeting you… Chosen Killjoy.’

… Wow, even thinking it sounded lame.

Author's Note:

Note 1: A common trope amongst griffon anime is the repeated reference to 'storms inside hearts'. This can refer to an individual who is stubborn and proud, but also an individual that is unfettered and willing to do anything to achieve their goals. Because most protagonists and antagonists in anime are headstrong and confident in what their purpose is, this trope sees a lot of play, and is quickly becoming a dead horse despite its status as a popular saying.

Nowadays, griffons use the phrase, 'their heart is brewing' - a play on the phrase 'a storm is brewing' - when talking about someone who is upset and could possibly lash out.

Note 2: Rainbow Dash's lupine form is inspired by the Abhorrent Beast, a boss from Bloodborne, which uses wind and lightning in conjunction with its physical attacks.

Originally, Rainbow Dash was going to be a tiger, but I scrapped that idea early on for various reasons.