PONYVERSE

by TopWanted

Battle for Ponyville

Battle for Ponyville

<___|=o

“Ah still think you should rest another day or two. The altar’s not that far but the Everfree is pretty dangerous even durin’ the day.”

Applejack shrugged off her counterpart’s worries as she fixed her hakama and tied her Stetson around her neck. “Ah should meet up with mah friends anyway. We need to figure out what to do from here.”

They stood in the kitchen by the door. It was still pretty early in the morning since they arrived and she didn’t have as much sleep as she’d have liked, but talking to herself made her feel better than she ever imagined. The other Applejack sighed but relented. “Fine, but at least let me walk you there. You were up all night. Don’t want you droppin’ from exhaustion when you just got feelin’ better.” Applejack smiled and agreed.

She opened the screen door and they both walked out. The other Applejack stayed behind to lock the door but when she turned around Applejack hadn’t moved. “Somethin’ wrong?” Applejack stood stock still, her hooves digging into the wooden patio. Coming up the road was another pony, this one in a robe similar to Applejack’s. She had her head down but her tied back mane was immediately recognizable. “Is that Rainbow?” Applejack put a hoof to stop her from coming closer. “What’s-”

“Go meet the others. Tell them Ah’m in trouble.” The other Applejack looked at her in confusion but nodded and ran away from the house. The mare strolling down the road didn’t even pay her any attention as she ran past her.

“It is you, isn’t it, Rainbow?” Applejack asked the mare as she approached. She stopped about twenty paces away and lifted her eyes to regard her.

“You knew this day would come.”

Applejack frowned at her. “Are you serious? How the hell did you even get here?” Rainbow didn’t respond. “It was him, wasn’t it? Mr. 4. Ah can’t believe that snake would go this far.”

“You have no idea,” Rainbow muttered. “But none of that matters now.” She pulled a length of chain with a weight attached to the end out of her robe and wrapped it around her hoof. “I’m here to bring you home.”

Applejack took a step forward and Rainbow set her feet for attack. Applejack noticed and took a step back again. “This is foolish. Mah friends will be here any second and even you can’t take us all on.”

Rainbow smirked. “Who said I came alone?”

~`(\/)’~

Rarity was flung back as a headbutt from Applejack sent her flying into a mirror.

All of a sudden Applejack, her Applejack, had burst in through the door of the boutique and started shooting. Rarity was so taken by surprise that she caught a few of the cross bolts in her shoulder. The other Rarity looked between them, a look of extreme hostility on Applejack and a baffled expression on Rarity. “What is going on?!”

Rarity waved her hoof at her. “Just go! I’ll handle this!” The other Rarity nodded meekly and ran through the busted door.

“That’s fine,” Applejack growled. “The only one Ah’m here for is you.” She fired another bolt and this time Rarity dodged, teleporting out of the way. She reappeared on the stairs.

“What are you doing here, Applejack?”

“What am Ah doin’ here? What are you doin’ here?!” she shouted. “Other worlds? More for you to conquer? Not on mah watch!” She bent her knees and jumped high in the air, flipping several times then straightening out to deliver a drop kick at her. Rarity teleported again and Applejack’s attack landed on the staircase, pulverizing it to mulch.

What are you doing? Fight her! The voice screamed inside her but she refused to listen. “I’m not fighting my friend. Not again.” Then you’ll just lose like last time.

“Ah’m nowhere near finished, Rarity.” Applejack straightened herself and cracked her neck as she prepared to lunge at her.

She needed to take this fight somewhere else. Somewhere they couldn’t hurt any bystanders. Applejack launched her body at her, hooves outstretched. Rarity let her come and at the last minute shut her eyes, her horn glowing and both of them disappearing in a bright light.

Another bright light and they reappeared. She didn’t have time to dodge her friend’s attack so AJ managed to smash into her, punching her in the jaw. Any magical protection she had was smashed to pieces and she went flying into a crumbling stone wall. When her vision finally came back she looked at her surroundings in horror. “No. Not here. Anywhere but here.”

Applejack looked around in dismay too. “The Castle of the Two Sisters? You think bringin’ me here is gonna distract me?” She visibly shook with rage. “Ah’ve had enough of you playin’ around!” She slammed her hooves into the ground, cracking the stone beneath, and sliding them back. She was ready to charge. “This ends now!”

===E8DB

Rainbow looked outside the window only to see a vast shadow engulf the sky around the house. Both Dashes opened the door and walked out to inspect the phenomenon. “There weren’t clouds scheduled today,” the other Rainbow muttered.

A figure streaked from the surrounding shadow straight at them. “Get back!” Rainbow pushed her counterpart out of the way and the figure slammed into her grabbing around her waist and carrying her high into the sky. She let go when they left the cloud layer and sent her sailing up until she caught herself in the air. “Hey, what’s the big deal?”

Her eyes widened in shock as an all too familiar figure with a flowing pink mane flew across from her. She wore her Shadowbolts uniform still but her mask was gone, as well as the medals on her chest. “Long time, no see, friend,” she hissed.

“Flutter-” Before she could get the words out, Fluttershy zipped at her with almost Fili-Second levels of speed. She hit her full force in the chest and knocked the wind out of her, sending her flying into a jutting cloud bank.

“Oh, that felt good,” Fluttershy smiled satisfactorily. A miasma of dark energy crawled around her hooves and up her body forming around her eyes and making them glow red. “I think I want to do it again.”

/^(*vv*)^\

Animals ran and scurried for cover as massive columns of sharp crystals shot up from the ground around Fluttershy’s cottage. “Come out, come out, little bat!” came a voice from outside. Flutterbat waved for Fluttershy to exit the back while she went through the front door to investigate. Out front stood a mare in gleaming reddish silver armor. Each time she slammed her hooves into the ground more spires of crystal would emerge. But that wasn’t what surprised Flutterbat the most. The armor they wore was immediately recognizable.

“Papa’s armor,” she muttered in disbelief.

The mare noticed her and stopped playing around, lifting her helmet and revealing her face. Flutterbat recognized her from when she had to save her bat friend. The white succubus with the strange plant powers. A doppelganger of Rarity.

She grinned viciously. “Like it? You should. It was yours wasn’t it?”

She didn’t even care to question how the mare had got here. Flutterbat felt her blood begin to boil as she saw the mare in her papa’s armor. She dug her hooves into the dirt and felt her hair stand on end. “TAKE. THAT. OFF.”

The succubus narrowed her eyes at her. “And if I don’t?”

Any remaining animals began to finally realize the danger they were in as Flutterbat roared into the sky. Her screech was so powerful it made some of the trees break and even pushed the armored mare a few meters back, her hooves dragging in the dirt. When she finally finished, the mare still stood tall facing her. A new look of annoyance on her face, as she shook her head to get the ringing out. She threw the helmet to the side. “That hurt.”

Flutterbat launched herself at the mare who slid her hooves on the ground before her in a semicircle, a wall of thorny plants sprouting from the area she’d touched. Flutterbat tore through them, feeling the sting of the thorns as they tore into her flesh but skidded to a halt when she didn’t see her opponent on the other side. “Yoohoo!” She looked back and a gauntleted hoof jumped out from behind the wall of thorns and clocked her in the face sending her flying. The mare stepped back out from the wall and sneered at her. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do that.”

/|/|PP/|/|

Pinkie Pie couldn’t believe her eyes. There she was, Twilight, the Masked Matterhorn, standing before her. They stood outside the Sugarcube Corner café early in the morning, the other Pinkie by her side. “Is it really you?” she said teary eyed.

Twilight kept her head low looking too guilty to respond. “Pinkie, I-”

Pinkie didn’t let her finish as she ran into a hug. She held her tight and Matterhorn eventually reciprocated. “Aw!” the other Pinkie cooed and poked her head between them. “This is your friend, right? Another Twilight? I like that costume. Ooh! Could you show me a trick you can do?”

Twilight took a hesitant step back from the two and looked between them. There was still something off about this. “Twilight, how did you even get here?”

“I…” she looked at the other Pinkie. “Pinkie, could you please tell her to leave.” The other Pinkie was taken aback but laughed it off.

“O-Okay, I get it. Just want to have a nice friendly reunion together. Don’t need a third wheel for that.” She backed away as she talked until she walked back inside the café. She shut the door but they could still see her eyes poking out over the window’s edge.

Pinkie turned back to Twilight. “How did you survive? We saw you get swallowed by the inferno! You turned into a dragon!” She waved her arms for emphasis. Twilight still looked uncomfortable, unable to keep her eyes on Pinkie. “How are you here?”

Twilight bit her lip. “Before anything happens, Pinkie, I just want you to know I’m sorry. While I can still say it.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “Oh Faust, what have I done?”

Pinkie frowned at her. “Twilight?” She tried to reach out for her but noticed she couldn’t move. She looked down and saw a large chunk of ice covering her feet and growing. She turned and saw that the door to the café had been sealed with ice as well. “What’s going on?”

Twilight sat and rubbed her hair manically. “I… I had no choice, Pinkie. I was broken! You don’t know what that’s like. To have your mind and personality stripped away from you. Aklopolips broke me in more ways than one, but it was my punishment for how I treated you. This is my only option now.”

“What are you talking about?” A large explosion sounded somewhere not far off. They both turned to see a large plume of smoke and the sound of screaming.

“I’m so sorry, Pinkie. I just need you to stay here for a few minutes. It’ll all be over in a few minutes.”

---<^^>---

Mare Do-Well was already awake when she heard the explosion. Twilight had fallen asleep an hour or two ago but she couldn’t, instead trying to use some of the stuff around the library to replace her lost belt and gear. They weren’t her finest work but they were something.

She looked up from the desk she’d been working at and looked out the window, spotting the smoke. Twilight muttered as she awoke from her chair. “What was that?”

Mare Do-Well scooped up what she’d been working on and ran downstairs. She opened the front door and spotted the source of the smoke a block away. A tall building, probably the town hall. She heard screams in the distance too. “Damn it, I need to grab the others.”

“Um, hey,” Twilight muttered from behind her. Mare Do-Well turned to face her and froze. She was pointing at a message in red paint across the door of the library. ‘Will the real Mare Do-Well please stand up?’ “What is that?”

Mare Do-Well felt her blood boil. She looked to the source of the explosion and the spreading smoke. She was there, she was sure of it. “I have to go! Find the others and tell them to start evacuating the town!” She ran off toward the fire leaving Twilight behind.

“Wait!” She knew she couldn’t catch up to her as she saw her jump to the roof of a building and run out of sight. Spike walked up beside her, a sleepy look on his face.

“What’s all the noise? And did you know there’s a mare in your bed?”

@#$%^&*&^%$#@

Mr. 4 walked unsteadily into the forest. Nopony was around to stop him. He had dealt with those others, he didn’t need to worry about them anymore. What worried him more right now was the immense nausea he felt over going to face Ditzy.

“I can handle it,” he muttered. He swayed a little more, grabbing a tree to steady himself. “I said I can handle it.” His eyes darted every which way in the forest as if everything around him was talking to him. “I’m not soft. I can deal with her. You just keep your end of the bargain.” Whispers from everywhere. “I can hold together until it’s over. You just make sure to give me a new body.” As he walked, a small trail of blue hair was left in his wake.

He reached the edge of the shielded area like before, only this time he grit his teeth and pushed his way in. The magic shattered beneath his touch and he stumbled into the clearing, his unkempt look surprising Ditzy as he approached. He tried to look at her but his vision was beginning to swim.

“Noteworthy?” she asked with concern. “You look even worse than before.”

“Why do you care?” he muttered.

“I care because I’m your friend,” she stated with a resolute face. “No matter what you say to me, that won’t change. Not when I know you’re in pain.”

He let out a laugh that was more like a feeble breath. “I wouldn’t be if you’d just let me go home.”

“You’re confused. It’s doing things to your mind. You need to let me help-”

“NO!” his shout was laced with another voice, this one deep and sharp like the sound of breaking glass. “I’m done working with ponies. It’s been hell enough just working with… with…” He struggled to finish his sentence but fell forward on his face.

“Noteworthy!” She rushed forward and knelt beside him, rolling him over. “Are you alright?”

His glasses fell away, revealing one giant malignant yellow eye. She gasped and tried to pull back but his hooves shot out toward her, grabbing her mane and pulling her close enough that their noses almost touched. Two voices rang out from his body. “I want to go home!” I wANt To BE FrEE!

Comments

[Equestria Girls Fan 94]

So far, so AWESOME!

[Mal Masque]

... I'm gonna need to get more popcorn for this...

[The_Laundry]

No! Bad Pinkster! Bad! No Slim Shady reference! No!