Disharmony: Gods Among Ponies

by Mr-Astounding

Twilight Sparkle

Back in the Equestria we know and love, Rarity and Starlight found themselves squared off against Suri Polomare and Chrysalis, as does Celestia with a collared Discord, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Braeburn with Flim and Flam, and various other battles occurring across Ponyville.

Celestia, knowing full well that the collar, which seemed to suppress one's free will, meant that, for once, Discord was not responsible for this chaos. “You can forgive me later,” she declared even as she forced him down to the ground, before removing the collar and performing a sleeping spell...just in case. She then noticed a few figures approaching. “Applejack, Little Strongheart, Princess Ember, Luna: I trust that Soarin, Coco Pommel, Rainbow Dash, Babs Seed, and Scootaloo are helping out elsewhere.” She smiled when they nodded in confirmation. “Excellent: we need to wrap this up quickly…”

Luna simply nodded. “Before Blueblood throws something…” She cut herself off as something big landed nearby. “...else at us…”

Celestia simply growled as a medium-sized Tirek roared at them before charging him...only to be thrown aside.

Applejack just sighed. “Ah reckon it shoulda been a combined assault.”

Little Strongheart shrugged. “The Princesses sometimes forget they can't do everything themselves.” She blinked. “Uh, no offense.”

Luna and Ember just gave a unified sigh. “None taken.” A quick nod was then shared between the group before they rejoined the battle.

Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, Bulk Biceps and Flash Sentry, both under the effects of mind control, found themselves facing off alongside various non-reformed Changelings against Cadence, Shining Armor, Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi - the latter two having decided to pay the area a visit at just the wrong time. Likewise, the Diamond Dogs Rover, Fido, and Spot fight against Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Big Mac, and Trixie of their own free will.

Blueblood, having been observing the battle and noticing that her back is turned, fired a spell at Trixie...only for it to be blocked by Gilda and Zecora, causing him to growl. “You two are interrupting the festivities…”

Zecora simply glared. “I detest violence, that much is true, but right now I'm even less fond of you…”

Gilda gave a growl and a nod. “And did you seriously think I'd let you get away with threatening some of the few friends I have?” Her eyes then widened as she noticed something behind her opponent. “Hit the deck!!!”

Blueblood just scoffed. “Yeah: like I'm going to fall for…” ...and that was as far as he got before he was blasted back by a powerful burst of magic.

Gilda simply looked on as Flurry Heart, currently being looked after by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, rubs her nose after her most recent sneeze before giving a cringe. “I tried to warn him…”

Princess Cadence meanwhile found herself directing a smile towards the two former bullies even as she continued to defend herself. “Thanks again for looking after her, by the way.”

Silver Spoon just smirked. “No problem.” Despite being pleased with herself, however, she couldn’t help but frown and turn towards her friend, gesturing to the Alicorn baby as she did. “Remind me: are we protecting her or is she protecting us?”

Diamond Tiara simply shrugged. “Both?”

Shining Armor couldn’t help but give a knowing smile, giving a fleeting glance at his wife as he did. “Welcome to my world.”

Meanwhile, Applebloom couldn’t help but let out a grunt. “How's everypony holding up?”

Trixie, having just finished directing a blast at one of the Diamond Dogs, couldn’t help but scoff. “Trixie, for one, thought we'd have this cleaned up by now.”

Big Mac simply rolled his eyes. “My name's Big McIntosh, not Miracle Worker…”

Sweetie Belle nodded even as she ducked under an incoming attack. “And some of us aren't as experienced in magic or combat as you…”

Sci-Twi couldn’t help but agree even as she continued to defend against one of the rogue Changelings. “You know, this is not how I saw this visit going…”

Sunset simply shrugged. “If it makes you feel any better, this isn't exactly how I thought it'd go either.” Having found an opening, she activated a telepathy spell. “Twilight, you there?”

Meanwhile, just outside of Tartarus, Twilight, having been heading to a secure location, let out a small smile even as she let Sunset's spell go through. “I hear you, Sunset.”

Sunset could almost be seen giving a sigh of relief over the spell. “Good, because we could really use you right now…”

Twilight simply shook her head. “I need to check up on something real quick first. We need to make sure that everypony's accounted for…”

Needless to say, the fact that Sunset had found an opening for this spell didn’t mean that the fighting had stopped, as evidenced by the grunt that Celestia’s previous student let out over the spell. “Whoever you're worried about, they'll keep: we're losing ground fast!”

Twilight gave a reassuring smile even as she reached her destination. “I'll be there soon, Sunset. Tell my counterpart I said ‘Hi.’”

A Tartarus guard, having noticed her approach, couldn’t help but bristle at Twilight’s arrival, but leads her to her destination nonetheless. “We've been keeping a close eye on things here, just like Celestia ordered.” He stopped as Twilight gestures to a certain rock. “What are you...?” ...and that was as far as he got before the Element of Magic activated her horn, moving the rock before tossing a pebble inside the adjacent cave area, revealing the presence of an illusion spell/potential death trap. Needless to say, the guard was pretty spooked. “How'd Sombra do this?”

Twilight shook her head. “Worry about that later: something tells me that the real trap…” She then stopped as she heard something, or rather someone, approaching fast. Fortunately for her, she’d managed to quickly summon a shield spell just seconds before she and the guard were assaulted. “...is behind us.”

Lightning Dust just let out an arrogant chuckle. “You're so clever.” Needless to say, she and Twilight quickly got to tussling even as the guard made a break for it.

Twilight couldn’t help but growl. “You're working for Equestria's destroyers now?”

Lighting Dust just scoffed. “Unlike the Wonderbolts, they actually appreciate my talents. Besides, the pay is surprisingly good…” She smirked. “...and as a bonus, I get to take down a Princess…”

Making the first move, Lightning quickly surged forward to attack. Twilight stood firm, however: although she had an attack pattern similar to Rainbow Dash, the Princess of Friendship knew that Lightning Dust’s attack pattern was a lot more erratic and therefore harder to counter. Harder, but not impossible, as evidenced by how the studious Alicorn threw up a shield that stunned the ex-Wonderbolt trainee, throwing the Pegasus off-balance long enough to deliver a haymaker to the jaw. Lightning soon found herself lying on the ground, angry with herself: though she prided herself on her speed and maneuverability, the trade-off was that unlike her rainbow-colored rival, she’d never made much of an effort to work on her endurance, making her a bit of a glass-canon. Unfortunately, this lapse in judgement left her vulnerable to a hoof stomp to the head - courtesy of Twilight Sparkle - that knocked her out, ending the fight.

As she took a few cleansing breaths, Twilight couldn’t help but shake her head in disappointment: “Sorry, Lightning, but you're paycheck's been canceled.” She then activated a telepathy spell of her own. “Sunset, we've got another problem.” Needless to say, she found herself frowning upon not hearing a response. “Sunset? Sci-Twi? Cadence? Shining Armor? Trixie?” She groaned, but somehow managed to keep her cool as she switched to a different spell.

Meanwhile, after some moderate struggle, Tirek found himself down on the ground, Fluttershy using her "Stare" to make sure that Flim and Flam were right there alongside him.

Scootaloo, meanwhile, couldn’t help but stare at the downed Tirek. “I'll never fully understand what exactly he is…”

Starlight Glimmer couldn’t help but give a hollow chuckle. “A bane of the gods, little one: a bane of the gods.”

Babs Seed, however, couldn’t help but feel perplexed. “Um, what does that make us?”

Before anyone could answer her, Tirek suddenly got back up in anger...only for Celestia to blast him back a ways.

Here, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but give a disgruntled sigh. “The poor suckers who have to clean up the mess…”

Back in Canterlot, Blueblood found himself smiling as the battle seemingly started to draw to a close in his favor. “Now, if there are no more interruptions…” ...and that was as far as his smug declaration got before he was interrupted by Twilight teleporting into the room.

Despite her very visible irritation, however, Twilight couldn’t help but give an impressed whistle. “Took me almost three minutes to get past the spell you cast: not bad…”

Blueblood simply shrugged. “I try.” He then whistled. “Sic em…” he directed at Rover, Fido, and Spot.

Rover couldn’t but chuckled as he and the other Diamond Dogs surrounded the Princess of Friendship. “Waited a long time for this, pony: you're in the doghouse now…”

Hoping to take advantage of their numbers, the Diamond Dogs quickly rushed the purple Princess. Unfortunately, what they had in numbers and physical power was greatly hindered by their intelligence, something which Twilight’s (arcane) knowledge, boosted by her Alicorn biology and extensive study of battle tactics, was easily able to take advantage of. Needless to say, this fight didn’t last very long.

As the Diamond Dogs slumped to the ground, Twilight couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. “Sorry, but leashes aren't my thing.” She then looked over the battlefield, pleased to see that not only was Sunset and her counterpart apparently equally skilled at eliminating mind control, but the others were wrapping up with the real villains. Speaking of which, she soon found herself glaring at Prince Blueblood. “Seems you're all alone now...your highness.”

Prince Blueblood just shrugged, evidently not bothered by the sarcasm that was inserted at the end of Twilight’s statement. “Royalty usually is.”

Twilight couldn’t help but sigh. “When will you learn that true nobility...?”

“Spare me the speech: a novice like you doesn't deserve the heroic monologue…” Blueblood growled as he steadily made his approach.

Twilight just shook her head. “Alright, that's it: time to teach you about something called ‘humility’...”

Though Blueblood seldom entered the battlefield, when he did, he took full advantage of his royal privilege by utilizing arcane knowledge that was exclusive to noble ponies such as himself. Combined with a few dirty/pragmatic tactics he sprinkled in here and there, and he and Twilight were almost evenly matched. Keyword being “almost.” While Blueblood was indeed skilled, as mentioned before, he prefered not to get his hooves dirty. By contrast, Twilight was usually one of the first to step onto the field of battle if it meant protecting the ponies around her. Combined with her equally extensive knowledge of the arcane ways - earned both in and out of the courts of Celestia herself - and while this was indeed a close match, in the end, the Prince was forced to bow before to the Princess.

With the battle over, Twilight took out a horn clamp. “Try this crown on for size, your majesty.” With that, she forced the clamp upon his horn, preventing him from using any more spells before activating a telepathy spell. “Celestia, can you hear me?”

Celestia could almost be seen smiling at the other end of the spell. “I can, and you'll be happy to know that our opponents have been dealt with. Your friends will be helping with the clean up while I ensure Tirek is taken back to Tartarus.”

Twilight just smirked. “Just make sure it's deep in Tartarus.”

As an alarm suddenly went off, Flash Sentry, now free of his mind control, couldn’t help but groan. “What's going on? What's that noise?”

Cadence simply gave a gentle smile as she performed a sleeping spell on the member of the royal guard before replying gently with, “Right now, it's the ‘out of your hooves’ alarm…”

Meanwhile, Twilight, with assistance from Sunset Shimmer, Trixie, and Sci-Twi, managed to cast a long distance scrying spell, before frowning to herself. “I'm picking up some abnormal energy coming from inside Celestia's palace.” As she expanded the image, she couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow as her eyes set upon Sombra sitting next to a strange looking device.

Blueblood, meanwhile, couldn’t help but give an arrogant chuckle. “I can already see the headlines: ‘Elements of Harmony Fail’ or ‘The Dark King Conquers’.”

Shining Armor, suddenly recognizing the device, was needless to say rather outraged regarding this new scenario. “You gave Sombra the Soul-Binder Bomb!?”

Blueblood just scoffed. “It was the only way to make sure that the true meaning of nobility would be restored.” He then gave an arrogant smirk. “Don't worry: I'll be more than willing to help rebuild the place, for a price…” ...and that was as far as he got before being knocked unconscious by Sweetie Belle.

Said filly let out a groan. “Does he ever shut up? Seriously, what did my sister see in him!?” She then blinked upon noticing the stares she was getting, before gaining a sheepish blush. “Sorry.”

Silver Spoon just shrugged. “Eh, it's fine: I'm sure he was done anyways…”

Twilight meanwhile gave a stern nod towards everyone else. “We need to get moving. Meanwhile, everypony who isn’t able to get to the site quickly and/or is still recovering better help with an evacuation, just in case…”

Meanwhile, back in Celestia’s throne room, Sombra continued to work on the Bomb in question. “Blueblood said to be sure to…” He smiled as the device came to life...metaphorically speaking, of course. “Ah: there we go.” His chuckles only increased as Twilight teleported nearby. “Right on cue: I should've guessed that you were more than a match for that reckless pegasus…”

Twilight just gave a glare in response. “I don't know how you escaped, but this time, I'm delivering you to Tartarus myself.” She paused as she noticed the bomb was active.

Sombra meanwhile gave a dark chuckle. “Why so jumpy? I merely took it off stand-by.” He then held up a crystal with a smug grin. “It's this you have to worry about…”

Braeburn, having arrived with some of the others in tow, quickly spotted Twilight and the Crystal Tyrant. “There they are, cousin!”

Applejack, being assisted in the speed department alongside her cousin and Little Strongheart via assistance from Trixie, Sunset, and Sci-Twi, simply nodded. “Just keep him talking, Twilight…” she remarked as everypony else made their approach.

Rarity, currently being carried by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, directed her attention down at the CMC wagon below them. “I don't normally tolerate reckless behavior, but you should be able to take care of things yourself, darlings: GO!!” Scootaloo looked up and nodded, increasing velocity for herself and her wagon’s two passengers, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

Twilight meanwhile couldn’t help but growl in defiance. “You apply pressure to that crystal and roughly 80,000 die…”

Sombra gave an arrogant chuckle. “80,001: I can't be killed by a weapon fueled by darkness, but you...let's say we have one last showdown.”

What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion: as Twilight - and everypony else - made a dash for the crystal, a bright flash of light - signifying something resembling a teleportation spell- went off, taking Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and several others away from the Equestria they knew and loved.

Meanwhile, Sombra, having been accidentally taken alongside Twilight to what appeared to be Canterlot yet felt entirely different somehow, hadn’t quite realized all of this had happened as evidenced by him continuing to try and activate the Soul-Binder Bomb. “What's the matter with this thing?” he growled out as he applied more pressure to the crystal, even crushing it completely, but nothing happened...which in retrospect wasn’t too surprising given that said bomb was nowhere to be seen. Regardless, he couldn’t help but snarl. “This is somehow your fault…”

Twilight rolled her eyes at this, even as she took in their new surroundings. “Canterlot...and yet…” She quickly sidestepped an attempted sneak attack, courtesy of King Sombra before slamming him down into the ground. “Stay down if you know what's good for you…”

Suddenly, a more sinister-looking version of Celestia's royal guards appear, all weapons trained on the pair, demanding that Twilight Sparkle surrender before they're forced to use lethal measures. Needless to say, Sombra was deeply amused by this. “Well, how do you like that?” he said with a chuckle.

Deciding to worry about Sombra later, Twilight simply activated a flash bang spell, allowing herself - and Sombra himself, as fate would have it - enough time to escape.

Later that night, Twilight found herself using a hearing enhancement spell...and was shocked to hear that not only are these new guards dealing out unjust arrests and punishments - to say nothing about how there was a bounty on her head - but the notion of Sombra being active was being brushed off as if it was nothing. She couldn’t help but shudder. “Luna, if you're there, please tell me this is a nightmare…”

To be continued

Comments

[DGJabberwocky]

Where's Spike disappeared off to?

[Comickook]

10190907
Most likely either The Dragon Lands with Ember or Griffonstone with Gabby. I'm basically trusting that the mess came down while Spike was away in one of the two and there was simply no time to let him know (and Twilight would, at least, be relieved that he's safely out of the range of the crystal bomb anyway).

[DGJabberwocky]

10191110
I sincerely hope that he isn't sidelined entirely, I like the guy

[Comickook]

All I can say is really good job on this latest chapter. Again, the action and future chapter set-up is all well done in all the right places. Again, I have to say that I am really enjoying this spin on the first "Injustice" game. And, yeah, Twilight IS doing a good job as the Batman in this story. Pretty much the only two things I don't like so far are that Spike wasn't even mentioned yet (at the very least, I would expect Twilight to say something like being glad Spike is either safely in the Dragon Lands visiting Ember or safely in Griffonstone visiting Gabby [depending on your preference]) and Blueblood's Adaptational Villainy getting over-used (yeah, he's a jerk, but not THAT BIG a jerk). But the fight scenes, not just with Twilight, but the other heroes present are pretty well done. I especially enjoyed Diamond and Silver wondering aloud if they are supposed to be the ones protecting Flurry Heart or the other way around.

Okay, it's pretty easy to figure out that Lightning Dust is in the role of Deathstroke, Tirek is in the role of Doomsday, the Diamond Dogs are sharing the role of Solomon Grundy and Starlight and Rainbow are probably in the roles of Green Arrow and Flash respectively. Beyond that, I'm not going to guess.

At any rate, I will very definitely be looking forward to more of this.

[Comickook]

10191114
Yeah, I like Spike too. But considering the way the actual game went, it's better to have him side-lined completely (though at least mentioned) then to be in just to get his tail kicked a few times at best. You have to admit, THAT would be EVEN WORSE.

[Mr-Astounding]

10191122
I'm glad you're liking my story thus far; yeah, using Blueblood as Lex Luthor was a bit of a cop-out on my part, I admit it, but there weren't a whole lot of other ponies that fit the role quite right, you know? as to the roles everypony will be, please keep in mind that I don't intend for this to be a copy-and-paste of the video game's plot; no spoilers as to how, but some ponies will show up performing roles that weren't even touched upon in the game if for no other reason then said roles could only be achieved within the world of MLP 😉

[SuperSonicHeroes]

That’s a lot of characters all fighting at once. But hard to keep track at times but still fun. Plenty of funny moments too.