Shattered Mirrors

by Dashi Lover

Book1: Rise of the Anti-Derp Ch3

Twilight Sparkle sighed in relief when she found the small house, which was far beyond Ponyville, completely unharmed. Though the sound of ‘battle’ could still be heard in the distance and it was getting closer by the second. She tried to open the door and when she found it was locked, simply burst it down, walking inside, “RAINBOW DASH!!! THE TOWN IS UNDER ATT… UGH!!!” there was a sudden pain in the back of her skull and she was knocked to the floor.
“HAHA!!! Take that you.. Purple.. Unicorn..”
Twilight turned around to see Rainbow Dash, holding a rather large frying pan and wearing an equally large sheepish smile. “What the buck was that for?” Twilight touched the back of her head and found she was bleeding.
“Heh… Sorry?”
“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy flew down the stairs, carrying a crying Prism Flare. She gave the child to Dash and quickly tended to Twilight. Once she’d put a bandage around Twilight’s head she turned towards Dash; an angry look on her face, “You’re supposed to be protecting us from intruders, not beating our friends across the back of their heads.”
“Well… Twi’ did intrude.” Dash defended her self, pointing at the broken down door, only to receive the ‘stare’ from Fluttershy; something Twilight figured was something Dash got a lot. “So what’s going on anyway? One moment it’s all peace and quiet; the next there’s explosions and screaming and smoke on the horizon.“
Twilight slumped a little, “I honestly don’t know, it looks like an invasion, one that doesn’t seem to care about the Laws of Warfare. There –are- no soldiers in Ponyville, but they’re killing everyone.”
The blood rushed out of Dash’s face, “Well… We have to inform Canterlot, they can send the Defense Force to…”
“By the time they got the message it would be too late. And I can’t find Spike anywhere, I just hope he’s alright.”
“So what do we do?”
“We need to find the others, together we can… we can…” Twilight slumped even further, “Think Twilight think!” Hundreds of lives depended on her making a plan; this was not the time for the gears in her mind to grind to a halt. There was the Elements of Harmony. Would that even work against a foe likes this? She wasn’t sure but it was the all she had.

---

Rainbow Dash used her expert stealth ability to jump from roof-top to roof-top undetected, while humming the 009: Golden Eye theme. She looked down to see a lone enemy walking down an alleyway, she smiled and slunk down low, ready to ambush her prey. When he was right where she wanted him, she jumped down, striking him across the side of the head, his now lifeless body striking the wall. She wasn’t sure if she’d just killed someone, but she really didn’t care, they all deserved to die anyway, and she just wanted his gun. Peeking around a corner she saw 2 potential targets. She jumped out of hiding, pointed the black rifle at her prey and pulled the trigger… Nothing happened. She looked down at the rifle and saw an LED display pop up reading ‘Warning: Safety Catch is Active’ “… BUCK!!!”
A cacophony of noise like a thousand whips were being cracked right next to her ear could be heard; she ducked her head down, and ran down the alleyway. Her instinct was to take flight but she knew she would just be gunned down the moment she did.
As she ran, she saw puffs of dirt rise from the ground; it wouldn’t be long before she was hit. Another pony blocked her off, she skidded to a halt and covered her eyes; this was it. She heard gunfire but felt no pain. A little confused she opened her eyes, realizing who it was.
Applejack walked up to her friend, she was clad in golden armor, complete with Stetson Cowboy hat, a brown rifle in her hands. “Why didn’t ya’ just shoot ‘em?” she asked Dash quizzically then saw what it said on the display “Oh.”

---

Twilight crept along, they had to be around here somewhere. She turned a corner to see a familiar face. “Pinkie, I don’t think I’ve ever been gladder to see…” Twilight realized Pinkie Pie had about a dozen of those armor ponies shooting at her, and yet she just continued to hop along as if nothing was wrong. “Pinkie… Are you dodging bullets?”
“Extreme dodge ball” said the pink pony, stopping next to Twilight, who was hiding behind cover, but still jumping up and down, “Should try it, it’s really fun.”
“Pinkie, this isn’t a game! Those ponies have been killing ponies!” Twilight knew Pinkie Pie was vague, but she didn’t realize she could ever be THIS vague.
Pinkie’s face changed from ignorant bliss to shock and dismay when she finally put two and two together. She turned toward the shooting ponies, then back at Twilight, “What… You mean… But… I thought… Why?” Pinkie’s hair slowly began to droop as she bounced up and down, until it was perfectly flat to the side of her head. The ponies stopped shooting, and began to take steps back. The pink pony turned towards them. There was a few seconds of complete silence. Then she charged. The shooting continued, accompanied by panicked yelling.
Twilight shut her eyes and pressed her hooves to her ears, wanting to block out the sounds of breaking limbs and crushed skulls. Soon the shooting and the shouting ceased. But Twilight didn’t move from where she was. Pinkie walked to her, and seeing her friend in distress she tried to place a comforting hoof on her shoulder. Twilight slunk away from Pinkie Pie, looking into her friend’s eyes with terror, “Your… Your hooves… They’re covered in… Blood.”
Pinkie Pie looked down at her hooves, then back at Twilight, “I’m so sorry you had to hear that,” she said in an uncharacteristically calm voice. She approached the cowering unicorn and embraced her in a hug, “everything’s gonna be ok, Pinkie Pie’s here.”

---

Now that Rainbow Dash’s weapon was actually operational, the two ponies proved to be a rather dangerous threat to the invaders. Dash would look from the roof-tops for any threats and, more importantly, survivors, while AJ would use her military experience to gun down the enemy and rescue civilians. There was one pony they missed however.
“HEEYA!” a white unicorn rounded a corner and kicked Applejack across the face, knocking her to the ground, “Oh… Beg your pardon Applejack.” Rarity got back on all 4 hooves and helped AJ up. “It’s just that you look like one of those barbarians with that armor on.”
“Yeah… You really do AJ.” Rainbow Dash said, fluttering down next to Rarity.
“Well beg’ ya’ll pardon, but when ah’ was told the town was under attack, I wasn’ exactly expectin’ the enemy to be clad in Celestial Guard uniforms.”
“Wait… You mean these invaders belong to Celestia? Why…”
“Well not exactly… There amour is a little different, so ah’m guassin’ that’s just fluke. Don’ worry, I can tell the difference, so we won’t have shot any of the good guys ‘cause I’m the one doing all the shootin’. Which brings us to the point o’ why RD here didn’t see Rarity?!” Applejack gave Rainbow Dash an accusing look.
Dash rolled her eyes, “So what? You got kicked in the face, big deal.”
“It could ‘a’ been a bullet to the brain!”
“Enough! Both of you!” Dash and AJ turned to Rarity, “are we gonna fight between ourselves, or actually find a way to get rid of these… these…”
“Pear Eaters?”
“Ass-Holes?”
While Dash’s language wasn’t exactly appreciated by Applejack or Rarity, it was the best label they had.

---

The group met up at the designated waypoint, while Rainbow Dash flew off to retrieve Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie had returned to her happy go lucky self, her hair as poofy as ever despite the caked on blood. She made a promise to Twilight that she would only kill when she had no other choice, which only happened twice. Luckily both times were after she acquired her knife from Sugar Cube Corner (At least what was left of the cake shop) which allowed her to cleanly cut down her enemies with disturbing precision and grace.
Once they were all gathered, they began walking towards the eye of the storm, an air-ship fired of a round that, through pure coincidence, exploded behind them in a great fire-ball, which Dash thought would have made them look REALLY cool from the right angle.
Bubble Feet, who still had her arms spread out like some sort of holy messenger, looked down at the 6 ponies before her; a smile tweaked at the edges of her mouth. “You see the destruction around you. This will be the fate of all who fail to submit to the one true goddess.”
Twilight smiled back at the grey pegasus, “For all the machines and soldiers your ‘goddess’ wields, there is one thing that she does not have. And that one thing will defeat you. That one thing is… The Elements of Harmony!” The six ponies begun to glow with a powerful aura. These auras begun to form physical objects around their necks; and for Twilight, upon her head. As the elements of harmony manifested themselves, the spirits of harmony felt themselves being filled with an unimaginable amount of power. When enough power had welled up within the group, it was fired; a multicolored ark crashing down upon the grey pegasus. The grey pegasus covered her eyes, protecting them from the searing light, but was otherwise unaffected. Tears welled up in Twilight’s glowing eyes. She’d failed, the elements weren’t enough. The others saw this, and among them, they begun to pray; to cry out for aid in a hopeless cause.
… Something heard.

---

Beyond the sun and the moon, beyond the stars, beyond the 4th barrier and further still, in a world of infinite shades of color and gradients; 8 hundred thousand voices cried out in anger and frustration. This wave of force drove itself forward, unrelentingly. Driven by a single emotion, an emotion so volatile, so powerful, so unstoppable, that anything that stood in its way would simply be crushed into non existence. Love.

---

The Spirits of Harmony and the grey pegasus looked up to see a dark red beam of destructive energy pierce the heavens, heading strait for the pegasus and joining the elements of harmony in it’s unrelenting assault.
The pegasus cried out in pain. The white surface behind her began to crack and crumble, falling in on itself until it was a vortex, sucking in everything it had previously spewed forth.
The pegasus continued to scream, slowly disintegrating until there was nothing left at all. Armored ponies were thrown across the sky into the hungry mouth of the vortex. The air-ships began to move backwards, completely losing control. Even as their masts and their engines snapped off, they did not submit to gravity as they were still pulled into the vortex.

“What’s going on?”
The partially sentient Rainbow Dash turned when she heard a familiar voice, her eyes widened when she saw the small filly, “Prism Flare, what are you doing here? We told you to stay home where it’s safe.”
Prism Flare turned to look at the black vertex, then back at her mother, “I followed you guys here… I didn’t want to be alone, I didn’t think it would be this bad…” Prism Flare felt herself being pulled over. Her feet lost grip with the ground and she fell, her eyes wide with fear, “What… What’s happening?” Prism Flare felt herself being dragged across the ground. She pawed at the ground fruitlessly.
Dash realized what was happening and quickly grabbed her daughter moments after the filly was swept off her feat totally. She hugged the filly as tightly as she could. Beating her wings desperately against the force of the vortex, “No matter what happens, I’m not letting you go!” Despite Rainbow Dash’s best efforts, the filly merely disintegrated in her arms.

---

When it was all over, the prismatic light, and the elements dissipated, intangible but ever present and ready for when they were needed again. Even the dark red beam from the sky slowly died down. The soldiers and the airships were nowhere to be seen.

Among the ruble of the destroyed library, a baby dragon stirred. Knocking rubble off himself, he looked around. There was no more library to speak of, and half the town was up in flames, the other half had simply collapsed in on itself. He grumbled and shook his head. “I think I’m gonna take a holiday… On the other side of Equestria!” he said cynically as he passed a grey pegasus lying on the ground, “Hi Derpy… Wait… DERPY?!?!”
The grey pegasus stirred, rubbing her eyes and opening them. One eye switching between Spike and the other ponies, the other watching the wrecked town. “Oh wow… What happened…? I didn’t deliver a mail bomb again did I?”
Twilight tilted her head, a little confused, “So is this OUR Derpy Hooves, or ‘Open a portal to hell, take over the world’ Derpy Hooves.”
The grey pegasus stood up, one of her eyes suddenly swiveled down to a golden necklace around her neck, inset with a dark red gem in the shape of a muffin. “OOH MUFFIN!!! NOM!!!” Derpy instantly grabbed the gem and put it in her mouth, then made a face and spat it out.
“Our Derpy,” everyone said in unison.
“Who ever made that muffin shouldn’t be allowed to make muffins anymore.”

Twilight giggled, then suddenly turned her attention to Derpy’s necklace, “Wait… Is that… What I think it is?”
Everyone looked at the necklace, “Well how ‘bout that ‘ay? Another Element of Harmony.”
Rarity walked up to Derpy to take a closer look, “No… It’s similar but the engravings are different. Our elements have swirls on them, this one has swords and is very angular.”
“In any case, do ya’ think that beam thingy tha’ helped us out was that element there?”
“I believe so,” said Twilight confidently, “When it arrived… I felt a strange… warm feeling well up inside me… Like everything would turn out ok. No matter what.”
“That’s the feeling of being in love my dear.” Rarity turned to look at Twilight, “We all felt it.”
Twilight sighed happily, “So the Element of Love helped us win.”
“That thing took away my daughter.” Everyone turned towards Dash in surprise, they were all so caught up in their victory that nobody noticed the pegasus hovering in the air, tears running down her face, her arms crossed tightly as if she was holding onto a beloved possession that was not there. “Prism Flare was sucked into the vortex…”
Fluttershy took a step back, shaking her head, “No... NO!!! Don’t lie Rainbow Dash! Why would you lie about something like that?” Fluttershy ran, tears streaming down her face, running back home, hoping against all hope that Prism would be waiting for her.

---

The town was a hive of activity, though it was not joyous or fast work. The buildings were repaired, the fires were put out, and separated families were reunited. Outside the town, graves were being dug, and many bodies carefully placed within. Ponies would walk along the rows of open graves to identify their loved ones, before a Sun or Moon marker was placed and the grave filled.

Two pegasi stood on the side. There was no body to find, so only a Lunar Marker was placed.

Prism Flare
February 24th 2012
~
February 24th 2012
Snatched from this world as quickly as she was brought into it.
May she be in our hearts forever, no matter where she may be now.

---

A small filly coughed and spluttered in the thick air. As she slowly opened her eyes, she found herself lying on her back. The sky was a dark brown color. Was that what night time looked like? She’d never seen the night before, it wasn’t as pretty as she’d been told to believe. She noticed the colossal picture towering over her, a tapestry covering the side of an entire building. The picture was of an angry looking pony looking down on her, painted in red, blue and creamy white. Underneath the picture was a single word, written in bold capital letters, “Obey”

Comments

[Dashi Lover]

778236 Thanks ^^ Glad you enjoyed.

Unfortunately, FiMFiction doesn't have an "Action" category (Perhaps I will try to suggest it), but Dark seemed to be the next best thing for it. (I mean come on, the mother of all Grimdark fics is the main villain )

Next chapter might take a while, I need to think about where I want to take this story. With the current direction, I might not even be able to properly introduce the main villains, the whole reason I started this series, until book 3, at least without shoe-horning them in

[Dashi Lover]

779499 I never said grimdark. Read my earlier comment.

782518 Anti-Derp was a parody on Anti-Christ. Book1 was originally going to be it's own story about the Derpy incident, but I decided to incorporate it into my main series as a prequel. I actually felt good about the pacing of this one. I didn't want the badies to run rampant for too long, I mean look what they've done over the course of -one- chapter. And don't worry, "Evil" Derpy will be making another appearance within the next 3 chapters, along with several other key characters who haven't so far. Hnnnhnnn hnnnnnnn

[Dashi Lover]

783325 If I may ask, can you send me a PM or something, or at least give me a list of all these grimdark fics (At least the popular ones anyway, such as the aforementioned Cheerilee's Garden)? I mean stories like Cupcakes and Rainbow Factory were heavy inspiration for the story (And I will be the first to admit that this is kind of a love letter to all those great stories), and it would be nice to be able to have a wider knowledge base on the grimdark fandom.

Yeah, it is a little content heavy. And I really have opened up an explosive can of worms with this one. So many paths I could take it, but I guess that's a good thing in a way given that I'm planning on making it a prolonged series.

Since this was the prequel, it will slow down after this. Book 2 could potentially even be 4 chapters.

I'm glad you're enjoying it, I enjoyed writing it, and being a tribute to my favorite part of the fandom means I hope I'm doing it justice.