Power Ponies 3: Perilous

by Epicdiscord214

How a Hero Turns into a Villain

"And you're certain?" Princess Luna asked.

"Positive." Blue Comet said holding up a mechanical claw to the three princess before him. Right beside him, the royal guards rested the big bomb in the middle of the throne room. "Timberwolf told me he could still move his body parts even if he's separated from them, which means he's still alive. And if he's alive, then the others must be too."

"That's a good point." Princess Celestia said. "Thank you, Blue Comet."

"So what now, Celestia?" Princess Cadence asked.

"We know that this bomb didn't destroy the Power Ponies or the Mighty Machines, so it must have sent them somewhere. If we can somehow figure out what Twilight did to the bomb that made it do all that, then maybe we can follow them or bring them back."

"How do we do that?" Blue Comet asked. "I couldn't find her reformation spell."

"But there is another spell that we can use." Princess Celestia said. "It is called the Magic Memory."

"Are you sure we can do that?" Princess Luna asked. "It has certain rules."

"What do you mean?" Cadence asked. "What's the Magic Memory?"

"It was developed before you became a princess, Cadence." Celestia said. "With a magical circle drawn around what conducted a spell and the powerful merge of the magic of three unicorns, we can be able to take another look at the magic that banished our heroes and maybe follow them."

"And it can find the heroes?" Cadence asked.

"Hopefully." Luna said. "Drawing the circle will be easy."

"And as for the unicorns we need," Celestia continued, "Leave that to me. I know exactly who we need."

---

Throughout the travel through the sewers, the Power Ponies and the Mighty Machines didn't see the three figures in front of them because they had worn cloaks.

"Oh," Hum Drum sighed nervously. "I hope Radiance is okay."

"Don't worry, Hum Drum." the Masked Matterhorn said. "We'll get her back, along with Terry and Joe... somehow."

"Can you believe that's them?" one of the saviors whispered to the others.

"I know." another said. "I thought Bell Weather was joking."

"Maybe our prayers are answered." the last one whispered.

"Excuse me." the Masked Matterhorn said. "Who are you and where are you taking us?"

Suddenly, the tunnel reached its end and there was a large, subterranean camp across the large area. There were tents and courses spread out.

"Does this answer your second question?" one of the saviors said starting to remove her hood.

"Wait a minute." Zapp said getting nervous. "I know that voice!"

Just then, the three saviors revealed themselves. One had tentacle-like tendrils sprouting from her mane, another was a blue unicorn with a magician attire, and the last one was a gryphon.

"THE SISTERHOOD OF EVIL!" the heroes cried out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." the Mane-iac said. "Slow your rolls, crazy trolls."

"They're not trolls." the blue unicorn stated.

"I know." the pony with the super-hair said. "I'm just trying to rhyme."

"The Sinister Sorceress?" the Masked Matterhorn gasped. "I thought you went straight."

"Up for another round in another world, Gryphon Galore?" Zapp asked. "Well, I'd be happy to..."

"No!" the gryphon said. "I'm not Gryphon Galore; I'm Gryphon Goodness. This is the Serene Sorceress and the Hair-oine."

"Uh... what?" the Shadow Blot asked. "I'm confused."

"Ooh, Serene!" the Hair-oine said excitedly. "Can we do the song? Come on, pleeeeeeeaaaaaaase?"

"Fine." the Serene Sorceress groaned. "But just to shut you up."

"Yay!" the Hair-oine cheered.

The three girls grouped up together and started singing a cheerful tune that made the heroes nervous.

"We are the Sisterhood of Justice

Where we're trying to restore the bliss

We can promise this much

We'll provide the justice touch

As we coooooouuuuuuuld"

"Drop a coin in the fountain and make a wish" Gryphon Goodness sang,

"And it will be granted by the Sisterhood of Justice

True, the world's a bit black"

"But we will bring back" the Serene Sorceress sang.

"The neighborhooooooooooood" both sang.

"Back in the day, we were sinister" the Hair-oine sang,

"Never missing a chance to commit crime"

"'Sinister'? That was my name" the Serene Sorceress sang.

"Serene, this really isn't the time" the Hair-oine sang.

"But now, we treat everyone like sisters" Gryphon Goodness sang.

"So we dedicate" all three sang

"Our very fate

To bringing back the sunshiiiiiiiiiiiine

We are the Sisterhood of Justice

And you'll never see heroes quite like this"

"No longer a super villain" Gryphon Galore sang.

"And soon, we'll all be chillin'" the Hair-oine sang,

"For goooooooooood"

"It's such a thrill" Gryphon Galore sang.

"To be fighting evil" the Hair-oine sang.

"We do what we will" the Serene Sorceress sang.

"'CAUSE WE'RE THE SISTERHOOD OOOOOOOOOF JUSTICE" they all sang,

"PROTEEEEEEECT AAAAAAAND SEEEEEEEEEEEEEERVE"

"Oh, my goodness." a familiar voice called out. The Sisterhood turned around and saw Bell Weather standing there. "I think I liked you guys better when you were evil."

"Bell Weather?" the Masked Matterhorn asked. "What's going on here?"

"Well, I did what you said. I came back here and sent for help. Turned out, help came in the form of the Sisterhood of Justice."

"So this really is some kind of parallel dimension." the Shadow Blot said. "So what, the Sisterhood tried to fight against the Peril Ponies?"

"Yes and no." the Serene Sorceress said. "You see, we weren't always the Sisterhood of Justice. Like in your world, we used to be the Sisterhood of Evil and the Peril Ponies were the Power Ponies."

"What?" Hum Drum asked.

"I don't get the whole story either." Bell Weather said. "If the Negahorn used to be a hero like Matterhorn here, why didn't I recognize her as a look-alike?"

"That's something you need to take up with Blunder." Gryphon Goodness said. "When he heard you were here, he specifically requested for you to be brought to him for an explanation. Follow us."

As the Sisterhood started walking through the camp, the heroes and Bell Weather followed. Zapp leaned in to Bell Weather and whispered.

"Who's Blunder?"

"He's one of the founders of the resistance." Bell Weather replied. "He gives some advice from time to time, but he usually leaves leadership to me."

"I thought you were a scout." the Masked Matterhorn said.

"I didn't tell you everything." Bell Weather said. "I couldn't risk you being spies for the Negahorn, so I left some confidential stuff out. As far as we know, the Negahorn has no idea who's the face of the resistance. But since Blunder seems to trust you, I guess I do too."

"We're here." the Hair-oine said splitting open the tent opening with her green tendrils. "Open sesame."

The Power Ponies and the Mighty Machines stepped in and gazed at the pair of green, reptilian eyes from the shadows. The figure walked out revealing a small baby dragon with purple scales. He wore a costume similar to Hum Drum's but with a darker theme.

"WHOA!" Hum Drum gasped as he hardened his body with a diamond exterior. "Back off!"

"Easy!" the purple dragon in a dark costume said. "Easy! I'm not gonna hurt you. By the way, how do you have superpowers?"

"We'll ask the questions here, buster!" Filli-Second said. "Starting with, who are you?"

"I'm Blunder. You know, the good Spike?"

"That's not right." Hum Drum said. "I'm the good Spike, and everyone who looks like us here turned out to be evil, so how are you not trying to destroy us?!"

Blunder sighed. "Okay. I can see why you might think that. First off, tell me more about your world."

"We're not evil, for starters." Mistress Marevelous said.

"I can see that." Blunder said. "But what I mean is, your accomplishments. I need to know what you've all done in your lives. Not everything, per se, but all the major stuff. I want all cards on the table."

The Masked Matterhorn wasn't sure, but when she turned back and saw how calm Bell Weather and the Sisterhood of Justice were, she decided it was worth a try to trust the dragon before her. She walked up in front of her friends and revealed their past accomplishments to Blunder. She told him about how the Power Ponies were first joined together, their fight against Anar D, Queen Scynder, Discordant Convergence, and Arcanus, their adventures alongside the Mane 6 and Avatar Korra, and their journey to Tambelon. The Shadow Blot then walked up and talked about the Mighty Machines' adventures, even working alongside the Power Ponies. He didn't tell everyone about his crush for Celestia, though. When both parties were done, Blunder reached into a bowl behind him and pulled out a large gemstone he took a bite from.

"I see." Blunder said. "That explains a lot."

"Your turn." the Masked Matterhorn said. "What's with all the differences in this world, but why are some stuff the same?"

"I'll tell you." Blunder said. "It appears that there are some things we shared and some things we didn't. For example, we don't have Discordant Convergence, Anar D, or Arcanus, and we certainly never fought a giant ram that wanted to destroy friendship.

"Like you, Twilight, my partner and I started fighting crime as the Masked Matterhorn and Hum Drum. One day, the Mane-iac started to wreak havoc over Maretropolis, and Princess Celestia sent us to stop them. Along the way, we met our versions of Zapp, Filli-Second, Radiance, Mistress Marevelous, and Saddle Rager, and together we beat the Mane-iac and formed the Power Ponies. Over time, we stopped many crimes and stopped many villains, but soon enough, the Masked Matterhorn of my world became an alicorn. She thought that since she was a princess, crime would stop since they wouldn't want to go against royalty, but she was wrong.

"Over time, Twilight grew impatient and angry over not being able to end crime and went to Princess Celestia. She thought she could give her some more power to stop crime, but Celestia informed her that even if she could perform miracles, it wouldn't stop all evil in the world. Twilight told her she would live with that, but as it turned out, it was a lie. Over the next few weeks, she's been getting more ruthless and violent. We tried to host an intervention, but she wouldn't listen. But the worst was yet to come.

"Suddenly, the Masked Matterhorn got an anonymous letter. It was just signed 'the Benefactor'. According to the letter, he was impressed with the Masked Matterhorn's performance and offered her an end to her struggle against crime. She was interested, but I didn't trust the sound of that. I told her not to go and meet him, but she flew off anyway. The Power Ponies and I looked for her all over Equestria. A few weeks later, she came back, but she changed. She managed to convince the other ponies to join her in an evil alliance and take control of all things evil in Equestria."

"And you didn't stop her?" the Masked Matterhorn asked.

"I tried speaking my mind about it, but she wouldn't listen. None of them would. The Negahorn then gave us supervillain costumes and names, and we charged ahead to take over Equestria. The other princesses tried to stop them, but with the Negahorn's newfound power, they didn't stand a chance. The Peril Ponies captured them along with anyone who stood on their way, even their own families. As soon as I realized enough was enough, I took my chance and ran away. I started this resistance and gathered up as many heroes as I could, but it's not enough."

"What about the Golden Apple?" the Shadow Blot asked. "Where did she get that?"

"The Benefactor, if I had to guess." Blunder replied. "When she came back from her visit to him, she had the Golden Apple with her and used it to magnify her magic. In fact, when she took over Equestria, she used it for a memory spell. With it, no one even remembers who she used to be and the fact that the Peril Ponies used to be heroes... except for those who really knew them. Some of us know them so well, the memory spell didn't have any effect on us. The only problem is, there aren't many of those left these days."

Zapp turned her head to the supposed-to-be villains who claim they were heroes. "And what, you girls suddenly had a change of heart?"

"Sort of." Gryphon Goodness answered.

"See, a while ago, we saw how the whole evil thing goes when our Twilight took over Equestria." the Serene Sorceress said. "It as too much even for the three of us combined."

"Turns out evil can go too far." the Hair-oine added. "So we took a page from their book and switched sides. Now... We are the Sisterhood of Justice and..."

"Hey, no reprise!" the Serene Sorceress said. "Once was enough!"

"Power Ponies, Mighty Machines," Blunder said, "I am fully aware that nothing here makes a lot of sense. Frankly, there are some details that confuses me. I don't know what the Peril Ponies did with the princesses, I don't know who the Benefactor is, and I don't know how far the Negahorn will go. But perhaps fate has brought you to our world for a reason."

"I know where you're going with this, but I don't know if we can help." the Shadow Blot said.

"Yeah, we tried to fight them earlier," Devastator said, "And all that happened was three of our friends getting captured."

"I know you're scared." Blunder said. "I understand. Every day, the Peril Ponies get more powerful. Some of our best ponies are beginning to lose hope. But that never stopped you before. If you and we band together and stand up to the Negahorn, then we may have a chance to stop her and save our Equestria. And then, I promise, we will find a way to bring you back to yours. You in?"

The Ponies and Machines looked at each other and paused for a minute.

"I... I'm not sure." Mistress Marevelous said. "I've never had to fight myself before."

"I don't like it either." Dusk said. "But then again, we don't have a lot of options."

"Dusk's right." the Shadow Blot agreed. "I guess we're in."

"Us too." the Masked Matterhorn agreed. "But first things first, we need to save Radiance, Timberwolf, and Masque."

"All right." Blunder said. "Bell Weather, take them to the rest of the resistance. We're getting their friends out."

"Aaaaaaand BREAK!" Filli-Second proclaimed.

---

"Welcome." Princess Celestia said letting three unicorns into a big, crystal room. In the middle of the room, the big, broken bomb was resting catching their attention. Princess Luna was following the circle on a piece of paper and wrote it around the bomb. Princess Celestia continued talking to the unicorns. "I brought you here on a mission of great importance: the Power Ponies and Mighty Machines are missing and this offline bomb is our only clue. We're about to cast a spell, and we chose you three because you're the most loyal unicorns to our missing heroes."

Princess Celestia stopped pacing in front of the first unicorn, who was orange with red streaks in her mane. "Sunset Shimmer, before you retired from being the Mysterious Mare Do-Well, you ensured that the Power Ponies would form and save my sister from the Asteroth's corrupt influence."

Princess Celestia then turned to the unicorn in the middle. She was wearing worn-out clothes and her red-and-purple mane looked like she just got out of bed. Princess Celestia looked through the unicorn's glasses into her eyes and continued. "Moondancer, you've known Twilight Sparkle since you two were fillies, and you helped her learn what it means to be a friend."

Lastly, she turned to the final unicorn, who was a male pony with an orange coat like Sunset's and glasses like Moondancer's. He had on a blue robe. "Sunburst, you allowed Twilight to take refuge in your library for the past week and gave her what she needed."

"Yeah, I've idolized superheroes when I was a boy." Sunburst commented.

"Sister, it is complete." Luna called out.

"Excellent." Celestia said surrounding the circle with the unicorns. "Now, I want the three of you to concentrate your magic onto the ring surrounding the explosive. With your combined magic, you should be able to cast Magic Memory."

"Should?" Moondancer asked. "What happens if it fails?"

"We're not sure." Luna answered. "This spell has only been used once, and that was before either of us were given the title of princess. Speaking of which, sister, where is Cadence? Shouldn't she be here to help find her sister-in-law?"

"She's not feeling well, so she returned home." Celestia replied. "Not surprising, considering how uneasy this would make anyone." She turned back to the unicorns. "Now then, will you help us?"

"Yes." Sunset Shimmer answered.

"You can count on me." Moondancer replied.

"Absolutely." Sunburst said.

"All right." Celestia said. "Now, concentrate your magic on the ring."

Following those orders, the three unicorns closed their eyes and pointed their horns. A light escaped from each of their horns in the form of their colors and hit the circle surrounding the bomb. When the entire circle was lit, the two princesses were elated, but when it started to dim, their expressions changed to their opposite. The light escaped the circle and back into the unicorns' horns. Everyone was confused.

"What happened?" Moondancer asked. "That shouldn't happen, should it?"

"No." Celestia replied confusingly as she looked at the spell on the page. "I don't get it. This is not at all what Star-Swirl the Bearded told me what would happen."

"Perhaps I messed up a character or..." Luna thought.

"Excuse me." Sunburst said. "May I see that spell?" The princesses didn't say anything, but they presented it to Sunburst, who looked over it. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Oh, I see."

"What?" Sunset Shimmer asked. "What is it?"

"Apologies, princesses, but it appears you misinterpreted the spell." Sunburst said. "You're short one unicorn."

"What?" Luna asked. "How? We have three unicorns like the spell suggested."

"According to this," Sunburst said looking at the page, "Magic Memory must be casted by three unicorns, who unite their powerful magic into the circle. But you don't just need three unicorns, you need three powerful unicorns. As a former student of your highness, Sunset Shimmer has a talent. As an avid reader, Moondancer should be a prodigy. The problem... is me. My magic is mediocre at best. No matter how hard I study, I can't do complicated spells, let alone this ancient one."

"So, we really are short one unicorn." Celestia said. "So we can't possibly find our friends."

"Not necessarily true there." Sunburst continued. "I may not have impressive magic, but I know a unicorn who does."

"Really?" Luna asked full of hope.

"Oh, yeah." Sunburst said. "She casts spells as well as I can read them, maybe even better. I've known her since I was a kid. We've been out of touch for a while, but I'm sure that if she hears that the superheroes are in trouble, she'll help save them."

"Excellent." Celestia cheered. "What's her name?"

At first, everyone was excited, but they turned back to near-hopelessness when they heard the name. To Sunburst, the name didn't mean anything, but to everyone else, they knew this rescue mission would get a lot more complicated once they heard it.

"Starlight Glimmer."

Author's Note:

Well, this spell should be harder than you'd think. For more information, simply read the first story of the Creation Saga, Power Ponies Origins.

The song featured here is a parody of "The Happy Little Land of Hoboken" from the Penguins of Madagascar TV show.

Comments

[Hairy Konquerer]

Good chapter. Nice explanation.