PONYVERSE

by TopWanted

History Repeats

History Repeats

---<^^>---

Mare Do-Well and Applejack prepared for a fight, but the Pinkie before them simply threw up her arms. “I give up.”

“Huh?” AJ looked confused.

“What do you mean ‘you give up’,” Mare Do-Well asked. “You’re the bad guy. We fight. That’s how it goes.”

The other Pinkie laughed unenthusiastically. “What storybook have you been reading? Nothing is ever that simple.” To their surprise she removed her slate gray helmet and let her wet mane fall over her eyes. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to take that stupid thing off.”

Mare Do-Well shared a look with AJ and they both lowered their guard. “Why do you give up?” she asked.

The other Pinkie shrugged. “Because I’m smart enough to know that more can be accomplished without fighting. That and it’s two-on-one. You’d kick my flank.”

“Then… would you tell us where our friends are?” Mare Do-Well asked.

“One is in the dungeon, the other is in the lab. So is that mare your looking for.”

“Suntrix.”

“That’s the one.”

Applejack ran to the gates and began trying to pry them open. Mare Do-Well stayed behind and still looked skeptically at the other Pinkie. “What’s the real reason for this?”

She looked at her and brushed back the hair from her face. In the rain Mare Do-Well could see that the eye obscured by her helmet and lens was bright red. Bloodshot and tortured from repeated use of whatever that helmet was meant for. She gave Mare Do-Well a wistfully sad look and a pained smile. “I’m just… so tired.”

From up ahead came a large blast of energy that sent Applejack flying back. Mare Do-Well turned and caught her friend before she hit the cobblestones. Hovering before them at the gates was a very pissed off Twilight Sparkle. Her horn and body glowing with yellow energy. “Did they come through here!?” she shouted before noticing the other Pinkie. “Pinkie? What are you doing? Get your helmet back on and attack!”

The other Pinkie walked forward wearily to object but a shockwave cracked across the air and sent them all to their knees. “What in Faust’s name was that?” Twilight cried. Her words died in her mouth as she looked up in the sky. “Oh, Celestia, no.”

Mare Do-Well and the other two were the next to turn. At first it only appeared to be what she expected to see. A one on one duel in the sky between a glowing blue form and a glowing red one. But something else was headed straight for that melee. And it showed no signs of stopping. “Is that…”

“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted, flying off in her direction. Mare Do-Well spied a rainbow blur in the clouds change course and go towards the fight as well.

“Damn it, Dash,” she muttered. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

The other Pinkie hadn’t gotten up from the shockwave and stared up into the rainy sky with wide eyes.

---

Celestia conjured another fireball and hurled it at Luna. The rain did nothing to stifle the heat from the fire and her magic shield sizzled at the impact. After it exploded she was blinded for a second but that was all her sister needed. Celestia charged with a scream and shattered her shield, delivering a bone crushing right hook to Luna’s cheek. She recoiled in the air and felt the leather mechanisms of her wings beginning to seize up. She tasted blood and she could not fight in this weather for as long as she surmised. The end was coming soon.

“You don’t look so good, Lulu!” Celestia shouted, the ferocity of her words accentuated by literal fire from her mouth. “Me? I’ve never been better! You thought this storm would dampen me? You’re a fool! You’ve always been a fool! It was your arrogance and pride that sent this world into chaos!”

“You can’t rule like a tyrant!” Luna shouted back at her.

“Who told you that?”

Luna set herself in the air, a thin blue filament of magic layering around her. “You did.”

Celestia’s body also began to radiate red. “Then I was a fool as well.”

They both reared back and prepared to charge once more. Both ready for whatever consequence.

“STOP!!!” The shout wasn’t loud but was emphasized by the crack of lightning that struck near the two. A yellow Pegasus in a red and white dress flew between them, holding up her hooves in desperate protest. “Stop fighting!”

Luna faltered for a moment. “Little one, get back. This is no place for you.”

“Yes! Get out, Fluttershy!” Celestia screamed. “I’ve waited for this long enough!”

Fluttershy was clearly trembling in the rain, yet still she stayed strong. “I… I know how much you must hate each other. But killing each other won’t help.”

“You are young,” Celestia said through gritted teeth, trying to hide her anger. “You will know the value of vengeance one day. But right now MOVE ASIDE!!”

Fluttershy looked to her princess and shook her head slowly. “No.”

“What?”

Fluttershy steadily flew over to Luna and hovered in front of her. Luna whispered worriedly into her ear. “What are you doing?”

“I-I’ve taken too long to help. I was so afraid of what might happen to me or my friends that I never even noticed when we stopped becoming that.” She looked to Celestia. “I don’t want to learn about vengeance. What I want is what I had. We were happy. You were happy. Don’t you want that too?”

Celestia’s head hung in the air, her aura now severely diminished. Even the rain had seemed to affect her mane now, trails of red spilling over and obscuring her eyes. “Fluttershy.” The Pegasus straightened up. Celestia lifted her head slightly to reveal a piercing red eye. “You have five seconds to leave.”

Luna tried to push Fluttershy out of the way but the mare would not budge. “Tia stop this!”

“Five.”

“She’s just a child!”

“Four.”

Fluttershy now gripped Luna by the sides and planted herself in front of her. Her arms were trembling.

“Three.”

Luna tried to erect a magical barrier around the two of them but once again all she could manage was a thin layer around her own body. “Fluttershy, run! This is not your fight!”

“Two.”

Fluttershy turned her head to Luna and gave her a trembling smile. “Maybe… it should have been.”

“One.”

===E8DB

It was the longest few seconds of Rainbow’s life. She was pumping her wings as fast as she could go in this storm towards the two fighting shapes. From up behind her a yellow glowing figure zoomed up alongside but she had no time to worry about it. She could see them clearly now. Luna and Celestia standing off and Fluttershy standing in front of Luna. Suddenly there was a lightning strike that lit up the sky like day. No, that wasn’t right. It was horizontal and didn’t come from the sky. It came from Celestia and it seemed to go right through both Luna and Fluttershy. Rainbow stopped. All the sound around her seemed to disappear. Then they fell.

The yellow figure yelled something and flew up to Celestia but Rainbow followed the other two. Finally, her wings kicked in again and she flew full force downward, following them as they were on a collision course with the castle.

---<^^>---

Mare Do-Well and Applejack watched the whole thing unfold. Celestia’s beam seemed to cut through both of them simultaneously. Off in the distance she could almost see the two figures falling. A stifled cry brought her back to reality. She looked down to the other Pinkie once more. The mare was still looking blankly into the sky but this time her shoulders were trembling as she made heaving sounds like sobs.

Applejack patted Mare Do-Well on the shoulder. “Come on. We gotta get inside and find the others before that monster takes us out too.” She said this flatly but her face betrayed her anguish at the sight.

“Right.” They both ran to the gates, Applejack going in first. However, Mare Do-Well stayed behind for a moment. She looked back at the pink mare in the rain. She still was heaving like she was crying.

~`(\/)’~

It didn’t take Rarity very long to find the lab once more. Just like Fluttershy said, she retraced her steps and she was back in a matter of minutes. The first thing she had to do now that she was back though was free Suntrix. The mare was still unconscious, tied to large circular object on the wall.

“Oh, not even you deserve this,” she said to herself.

Or maybe she does, the voice replied.

Rarity took a deep breath to calm down. The voice was there, yes, but she didn’t have to listen to it. “Don’t worry,” she said to Suntrix, “I’ll get you down in a moment.”

Just then, the outer wall exploded inward. Rarity screamed as she covered her eyes from the debris. When she finally opened them again ash and dust wafted around in a thick cloud. She wearily stepped through the wreckage until she came to a large dark form in the cloud. With a cough she waved her hooves around to dispel the dust. When it finally cleared she screamed a little and jumped back. It was Luna, burnt and looking barely taped together, but still it was her. “What is she-”

The words died in her mouth as another form came into view. Cradled in Luna’s arms, almost protectively, was a yellow mare in a burnt red and white dress. The black cape around her previously was vaporized and her mane was singed short. Her eyes were closed and her mouth open as if in sleep, but Rarity recognized the face immediately.

Rarity let her mouth fall open and she fell to her knees. The rain and wind outside pushed in and beat against her back but she couldn’t feel it. A scrap of white fabric flapped over to her and she caught it on the ground. Her hoof dug into the dust, dirtying the white cloth as wet drops fell on it from above. “Again…” she whispered in a pained voice. “It’s all happening again.” She bit her lip and looked back at the pony cradled in Luna’s hooves. “Fluttershy…”

“Mm, wha-?” Luna groggily rose and looked around. She felt a pain in her chest and winced as she looked at her arms. “No,” she too whispered and pulled the form close to her. “I… I couldn’t save you.”

“I couldn’t save you,” Rarity whispered.

“I couldn’t save you,” both their voices chorused in unison as an ethereal dark blue magic poured from them.

Celestia and Twilight floated down from the clouds just outside the lab. Twilight gasped as she saw where Fluttershy had been but kept her mouth shut. Celestia smiled triumphantly over Luna. “Look at you. Pathetic. I almost respect your other persona now. Nightmare Moon might have been evil, but at least she was a challenge.”

Luna stood up unevenly, her back to Celestia. “You speak of evil, and yet you don’t even accept the sins you yourself have committed.”

A flash of panic seized Celestia’s face then she glared again. “She was in the way!”

“Is that what you’ll say when you spread your armies to all those other worlds?!” Luna spun and shouted at her, dark blue magic pouring from her body and flowing off to the side. Only Twilight seemed to notice this.

“Uh, princess?” she asked hesitantly.

Celestia didn’t listen. “Fluttershy knew what she was putting herself on the line for. She died-”

“Because of choices you made! You cannot pass the blame this time, sister!”

Two blurs of red and pink zipped into the room. The other Applejack removed her cowl and stared at the scene. She saw the crumpled form next to Luna and fell to her knees. “Sweet Faust, no.” Pinkie had to turn away from the sight, her hoof to her mouth.

“Applejack,” Celestia demanded. “Good, you’re here. Clear the room and place them all in the holding cells.”

The other Applejack looked up at Celestia wide eyed and furious. “Don’t you have any clue what you’ve done?! Don’t you feel any remorse?!”

Celestia’s expression did not change but Twilight next to her hid her face shamefully. She noticed more blue magic beginning to seep from Applejack and pool in the corner of the room. “Princess, we might need to-”

“Do not speak that way to me, peasant!” Celestia shouted angrily.

Other Applejack stood up straight and glared at her. “So that’s how it is.” More magic seeped from her.

From behind Celestia, a rainbow blur screamed and tried to throw a punch at her. Rainbow missed and stopped in the air before the princess. “You murderer!”

Celestia’s eyes flared at her. “Welp! I will-”

“Murderer.” Mare Do-Well and Applejack had finally made their way to the lab and surveyed the scene. Following behind were more ponies, ones they’d met from the dungeons on their way out. Even the guards of the dungeons were there. They murmured words of discontent, confusion and despair. One removed his helmet and let his sweaty mane fall over his eyes. “Sh-She was nice to me.” Another followed. “She always had something kind to say.”

Even the prisoners all bowed their heads in grief. “She visited us.” “She talked to me.” “She even brought her animals to play with us.”

Flutterbat stepped from the crowd and toward Fluttershy. Her face was set with an indiscernible expression and she lowered her head and closed her eyes.

Soon every eye was on Celestia. The princess’ anger froze for a moment, replaced by something else. Something hard to place. Fear? Then the anger returned. “No. No! I did what had to be done! What had to be done to keep this world safe from ponies like… ponies like…”

Luna stood tall, but beside her sister’s tenacity everything about her was broken. She could not fight anymore. No pony here could stand to fight against Celestia. Even if she did nothing she still won. She was a god, and they all knew it. They would all learn it. “Enough!” she shouted in a voice that made the storm silent. Everypony stopped and listened. Save one.

“Yes, Celestia,” a cruel silky voice trailed from the corner of the room. Mare Do-Well and Applejack reeled and shivered at the sight.

“Oh no,” Mare Do-Well whispered.

The voice laughed and stepped from the mass of blue magic that had gathered around it. Where once stood Rarity now stood the imposing figure of Nightmare Moon in all her alicorn terror. “Enough is enough. Perhaps it’s high time we show this world just how much better you are than me?”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Abomina-”

She didn’t have time to finish as the darkness around Moon swallowed her and made her reappear in front of Celestia. Nightmare unleashed a blast of dark energy into her chest, the armor cracking underneath the pressure as it sent her hurdling into the air. “This is what you wanted, oh princess!” she laughed. “You wish to destroy me? Then let’s give these ponies a show! Light up the sky!”

Celestia righted herself in the air and came screaming back at Nightmare. The clash the two made was the biggest shockwave yet, flattening all the ponies in the lab and even toppling a tower on the castle. Twilight was knocked out of the sky and crashed in through a window. She landed in a heap in a large library with books stacked to the sky. Every time one of the alicorns outside attacked the books on the shelf would rattle and some fall. Before her, sitting in a comfortable chair was another Twilight enjoying a book. “I take it from the noise and the impromptu entrance that they’re here?” she asked.

Other Twilight scrambled to her feet. She glared at her reserved looking double. “Do something!”

Twilight shut her book and looked out the broken window. “I’m not going to do anything. They are.”

Comments

[raven618]

I know this wasn't intentional, but you got my hopes up when the scene started to resemble Pokémon: The First Movie (Mewtwo Strikes Back).