Disharmony: Gods Among Ponies

by Mr-Astounding

Intermission 2

Chapter 4.5

Back in the Equestria we all know and love, Sweetie Belle had woken up from her coma...and even if she hadn’t, she’d certainly be awake now, given the news she’d just heard. “You found my sister?!”

Celestia couldn’t help but give a light smirk in reply. “And Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and everypony else.”

“Technically, Ember’s a Dragon, but hey, good news is good news.” Little Strongheart said with a grin.

Starlight nodded. “From what we can tell, they were somehow pulled into another dimension, not completely unlike the one with Canterlot High. Similar, but different at the same time.”

Here, Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but frown slightly. “You mean that they're enjoying one of my parties without me?”

Sunset did her best to snort in amusement. “Technically, if we’re right, you are there: it's just not the ‘you’ they're used to, not really.”.

Pinkie could gasp, gaining a large grin shortly afterwards. “Quick: how can we get there? I want to give myself a hug!!”

Silver Spoon looked to the Crusaders, concern written all over her face. “Could either of our worlds handle two Pinkie Pies?”

“Considering what my sister told me about the Mirror Pool...I have no idea,” Applebloom admitted.

Luna simply smiled. “We understand your curiosities and your concerns, young ones. Having heard some of the stories of our human counterparts, my sister and I have often had similar thoughts. Still, as we don’t know what lies within this other world, it might be safer to simply pull them back here.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. “Indeed: we don't want to accidentally send an away team into some unseen danger.”

“Still raises the same problem, though.” Braeburn declared. “How do we do it?”

“Way ahead of you on that front,” Sunburst declared. “Sunset?”

Celestia’s former student nodded as she levitated a mirror that she was intimately familiar with. “Sunburst, Starlight, and I are going to attempt to synchronize the Crystal Mirror with the energy we found in Celestia’s castle and reverse the polarity. Pull everypony back at once.”

Celestia just gave the young unicorn a proud smile before nodding to everypony else in the room. “We've got some work to do…”

Meanwhile, back with the Lunar Republic, Prince Blueblood looked on with pride as he gazed upon the rising moon, a sigh escaping him even as he heard somepony approach from behind him. “Beautiful, isn't it?”

Lunar Lightning Dust simply chuckled even as she sat beside “Canterlot’s Most Eligible Bachelor.” “The moon or it's light shining off your 20 karat smile?”

Lunar Blueblood just shook his head in amusement, even as he mentally grumbled about how it was actually 30 karats. “Joke all you want, but you have to admit that their skills are improving…”

Lightning Dust nodded as she briefly looked towards the setting sun. “I'll say. We won’t know the full extent of their abilities with absolute certainty until Celestia’s taken down for good, but that’s for the best, really. The less the Empress knows about the unicorns being trained in raising the sun and moon, the more likely they’ll be to get the chance to actually do it once we’ve won this war.”

Prince Blueblood smirked by way of reply. “You're really that surprised? They did it before Celestia and Luna’s rise to power, so there’s nothing saying that they can’t do it now. Besides, Starlight Glimmer and Trixie themselves selected those ponies. Trust the student of the Element of Magic and her student to find exceptional talent.” He shared a quick chuckle with the ex-Wonderbolt trainee before facing his companion “Speaking of exceptional talent, I'm pleased to hear that you’re ready to rejoin the team full time.”

Lighting just shrugged. “Yeah, well, I owe the Empire some payback for the torture session. Besides, you know the only reason I tried the solo act for a while was because I needed to throw Celestia off the scent of Sweetie Belle and Storm Chaser. Those two have been through enough pain as is. Figure now is as good a time as any to try my hoof at being a team player again. It’s what Rainbow would’ve wanted, you know?”

Here, Blueblood quirked an eyebrow. “You know, I've actually been meaning to ask you about that for some time now. As I recall, a little over five years ago, you outright hated the late Element of Loyalty. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that you were the type of pony who would be one of the first to jump on the Solar Empire’s bandwagon. Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad that you’re helping us, but all these years and I still haven’t quite figured out why.”

Lightning Dust just sighed, taking off her handkerchief and gazing at the rainbow-colored fibers. “I never hated her: I realize that now. If anything, I was jealous of how easy being Wonderbolt material was for her. We both had the same dream, but she was perfect for the job. I knew that even back then.” She looked towards Blueblood, her face full of regret. “Did you know that I had a friend sew a few of her hairs that survived her last mission into this handkerchief? I figured if I kept a piece of her close by, I’d have an easier time remembering.”

“Remembering what?”

Lightning Dust simply gained a steely expression even as she placed the handkerchief back around her neck. “That I owe her, and the Lunar Republic, a debt that I can never repay. That I was supposed to be the one who died that night four years ago.”

To be continued

Comments

[DGJabberwocky]

Out of sheer curiosity, How did Rainbow and Spike die?

[Comickook]

10196671
I'm not sure about Spike, but I'm pretty sure Rainbow died in an accident that was indirectly caused by Celestia (given how Green Arrow died in an accident caused by Superman [it was pretty early in his Start of Darkness] in the comics set in the Injustice universe). Spike probably died in an accident too, but I'm not sure if the accident was caused by Celestia or Pharnyx.

[DGJabberwocky]

10196762
That was my guess for Rainbow, was unsure about Spike

[Mr-Astounding]

10196762 10196790
I've got plans to reveal exactly how Rainbow died in the Disharmony-verse, but as to Spike, remember back in Rarity's chapter that if they had waited even a few days to send Twilight's number one assistant out to the Dragon Lands for diplomatic reasons that he might well have been right inside the city when the attack happened? And how in Ember's chapter it was implied that they all wished the diplomatic relations had been set up even a few days earlier? Just let that all sink in for a little while...

[Comickook]

REALLY good job on the characterizations, exchanges and future chapter set-up in this interlude chapter. I particularly liked Main Pinkie's desire to go over and give her counterpart a hug and the wondering by the others if that universe could handle TWO Pinkie Pies as well as the discussion between the Disharmony-verse Blueblood and Lightning Dust (particularly Blueblood's discussion of the unicorns getting ready to take back control of the sun and moon after Celestia is taken care of and Lightning Dust's reflection of her universe's Rainbow Dash and her reason for trying to solo it for a while.

For possible future dialogue ideas:




Main Rainbow: Spike stood up for you. Starlight taught you a better way. Neither of them would want you to do this.

Disharmony-verse Pharnyx: I'm not Thorax.

Disharmony-verse Twilight: This is Pharnyx, Chrysalis's most loyal soldier and Thorax's sorely misguided brother.

Disharmony-verse Pharnyx: It was my brother that was sorely misguided. He would have made the Changelings too soft to properly defend themselves with what Spike and Starlight taught him. Celestia and Chrysalis know the best way.

Disharmony-verse Twilight: You lost all my compassion when you killed Spike. Thorax was YOUR brother, but Spike was MINE.


********

Main Sunset: Well, Starlight, Sunburst and I have mostly finished with our efforts to create another portal. The downside is, that the required energy output is immense and will require both me AND Starlight to stay here to provide the power.

Main Pinkie: Maybe *I* can help. I've been told I have more energy than almost anybody else alive, with the exception of Cheese Sandwich. Time to put that to the test. Just strap me to a treadmill and make with the magic and calculations.


**********

Disharmony-verse Blueblood: (to Main Sombra after defeating the latter) While I definitely think my aunt went completely too far on MOST things, I WILL VERY grudgingly admit that she had the right idea with YOUR counterpart.

*********

Main Celestia: (immediately after her Disharmony-verse counterpart makes the comment about how they plan to hold her) I can answer THAT, courtesy of a spell Luna, Cadance and I once used to temporarily transfer our combined power to our universe's Twilight. I can use that spell again - only this time to transfer YOUR power to your universe's Twilight - permanently. At the very least, you will be left too weak to EASILY escape.

*********

Disharmony-verse Twilight (to Main Celestia): Bit for your thoughts?

Main Celestia: Yes. Though I am pleased with the hard-earned victory against my counterpart and her forces, I am still left worried. I already knew I wasn't perfect even before this, but this version of me was pretty much all my biggest flaws amplified. Still, I have to wonder, if I was ever pushed too far, I might have gone that far astray too.

Disharmony-verse Twilight: In other words, you're hoping you don't go bad too, but fearing that you might under the right - or should I say wrong - circumstances? I know what you mean. I've come close to crossing more lines than I'm comfortable with admitting myself. And with the power I had even BEFORE you transferred your counterpart's power to me, those types of slips can be disastrous. It IS an extremely thin line we have to walk. But for what it's worth?

Main Celestia: Yes?

Disharmony-verse Twilight: If you ever DO lose control, I'll come to help my counterpart and her friends stop you.

Main Celestia: I wouldn't have it any other way.

**************

And, again, I got overeager and apologize for that.

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

[Comickook]

10196833
Gotcha. Now I get it. And now I regret at least one of my possible dialogue ideas in my most recent review.

[Mr-Astounding]

10196847 10196849
saw the dialogue in question, and actually, I think I can still work that in somehow; have it that officially he died in Canterlot, but that wasn't what really happened, you know? no spoilers as to how I'll go about doing it, though 😉

[Comickook]

10196907
More than fair enough.

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Well that ending was surprising. Lightning was supposed to die instead of Rainbow? I still wonder what happened.

Silver Spoon looked to the Crusaders, concern written all over her face. “Could either of our worlds handle two Pinkie Pies?”

Definitely no, but Pinkie wanting to meet an alternate version of herself just to hug herself is perfectly in character for her.

[mitchboy]

Here Lies Rainbow Dash.

2010-2017

[Mr-Astounding]

10307823
well, Disharmony-Rainbow Dash; our Rainbow is still alive and kicking 😉