Generation 4: P-1 Grand Prix

by TundraStanza

Ch. 2: The High Priestess

Chapter 2: The High Priestess
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Her Kindness Knows No Bounds

The Silent But Deadly Stare Master

FLUTTERSHY!

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"D...deadly? I'm not... a killer."
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The lights blinded her at first. It took about half a minute before she could open her eyes and blink without squinting. Fluttershy looked around in confusion and fear. How did she end up in the middle of the Everfree Forest? This didn't even look like a familiar clearing. Although, the orange sky was definitely not part of the Forest, at least not that she knew of. It didn't even fit with that weird falling experience when Pinkie Pie turned that "T.V." on. How could a box perform a teleportation spell that only unicorns should have been able to do?

"R-Rarity? R-ainbow Dash?" whimpered Fluttershy, "Where are you?"

"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" spoke a fairly loud voice.

"Eep!" squealed Fluttershy attempting to hide in her own mane, "W-wait a minute... I... I know that voice."

"The P-1 Grand Prix Tournament is about to begin," continued the announcer, "We shall be thy host, Princess Luna of the Night! We shall provide, how you say, the play-by-play of the matches to come. Every pony participating can release all of that hidden aggression and fury against their fellow common ponies. The last filly standing wins!"

"A-aggression?" shivered Fluttershy peaking out of her mane, "Princess Luna, w-what are you talking about?"

"So this is the Deadly Stare Master," said another voice. To this, Fluttershy looked directly in front of her to see another familiar face.

"Princess Celestia?"

"And she's not so 'silent' after all," continued Celestia, "I, the Unintentional Troll shall fix that without hesitation!"

W-what's gotten into her? thought Fluttershy, She's acting really weird.

"Defend yourself, Master of the Stare!" called Celestia.

"P-please," she pleaded under her breath even quieter than she normally spoke, "Let this all be just a horrible dream."

Round 1

Fight!

"Just let it be a dream. Just let it be a dream. Just let it be a dream," cried Fluttershy to herself as Celestia ran closer. Just as Celestia prepared to make this her quickest conflict in history, Fluttershy looked into her eyes with the most adorable puppy pout ever. Celestia found herself stuck in place. Her heart felt constricted and heavy. She backed up a couple paces on her hind hooves.

"It looks like Fluttershy is trying to wrap this up right now with her special Heart Attack!" announced Luna's loud, echoing voice.

"Heart attack?" whispered Fluttershy, "Oh no!" She flapped her wings and fluttered closer to Celestia. "P-Princess, are you okay?" she asked in worry.

This seemed to be a wake-up call to Celestia. She shook her head and put her front hooves down. She then focused a blinding illumination spell from her horn. Fluttershy barely avoided going blind by looking away from the center of the light source. It also helped that she had a wing open to block some of the light.

"Oh, please forgive me for what I'm about to do," moaned Fluttershy. She fluttered over and used one hoof to give Celestia's horn a twang. Instantly, the illumination spell dissipated. Celestia reached up a hoof to rub away the pain. Hoping not to get banished and then locked in some dungeon outside of Equestria, Fluttershy reluctantly applied the first step to her bear massaging technique on Celestia's backside. (For those of you unaware, that's a karate kick to the spine.)

"And big sister is down and out!" declared Luna as some unseen bell rang three times in succession.

"Oof, nice ax-kick," commented Celestia as she slowly stood up and winced.

"Oh, my goodness!" gasped Fluttershy. "Princess, are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," insisted Celestia.

"But why did you act so weird and attack me?" asked Fluttershy fearful and confused.

"I... I don't know," replied Celestia not entirely sure of herself. Before they could continue their conversation, a screen-shaped projection appeared next to the two ponies.

"That was a nice win, Element of Kindness!" congratulated a figure that looked and sounded a lot like Princess Celestia. "You're well on your way to becoming best P-1 champion. By the way, only the winner may move on. Keep that in mind as you proceed." The image soon faded completely.

"Huh?" asked Fluttershy, "Princess? But... you're right here. Aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," replied Celestia a little confused herself. "Whoever that impostor is must have something to do with this new world that we're in. It seems many others are trapped in this... "Grand Prix" tournament."

"Ah!" realized Fluttershy, "Every pony else was sucked into the T.V. too! They could be in danger! We have to find them, Princess."

"I'm afraid I can't go with you," Celestia shook her head sadly, "Based on the rules of this world, only the winner of each round can move on. If I'm not mistaken, you are the winner of this round."

"B-but," stammered Fluttershy, "I'm not as powerful or as experienced in battle as you, Princess."

"It has nothing to do with power or experience," smiled Celestia. "Fluttershy, you have the courage to face your fears even when they stack themselves against you. Your friends will always be fighting alongside you, as will I."

Fluttershy let the weight of those words sink in before finally settling on saying, "Th-thank you, Princess."

"Now, go on," insisted Celestia.

"Right!" Fluttershy gave a hoof salute and flew out of the scene.

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On to the next round...

The Loyal Mare That Gave Up Her Womanhood

RAINBOW DASH!

Fluttershy entered what looked like a giant coliseum in the shape of Cloudsdale's stadium. The difference here, however, was that there was a large patch of clouds that made up a floor for the whole place. Ponies wouldn't fall several miles from exhaustion here. Still, that didn't ease her nerves when she saw what she was up against.

"Hoo-ah!" whooped Rainbow Dash, "Time to prove that I can play with the big colts too!"

"R-Rainbow, please come to your senses!" reasoned Fluttershy, "Th-that is... if you want to... I mean you don't have to..."

Round 2

Fight!

Rainbow Dash wasted no time flying in close and creating a dust cloud. The sound of several smacks and kicks could be heard but not easily seen. The dust eventually cleared to reveal Fluttershy with a few scrapes and Rainbow Dash hovering a few feet above. Fluttershy shivered in a fetal position as Dash starting circling around the air.

"It's about to get windy!" announced Luna.

She wasn't kidding. Soon, a familiar Rainblow Dry tornado had ensnared the shy pony and was flinging her around. Fluttershy did her best to readjust herself and started flying parallel to the tornado's motion. She started using the wind's speed to boost her own. In a matter of a few seconds, Fluttershy was right on top of Rainbow Dash. She reached out both hooves and knocked her away, leaving the small tornado to dissipate.

"Denied!" declared Luna.

Fluttershy hung on tightly and drove Rainbow into the cloud floor. Three bells agreed that Fluttershy won. She flew a few inches away from her opponent to allow personal space.

"Another victory! What a finish!" exclaimed Luna.

"Ugh," grunted Dash rubbing a sore spot, "I knew you were stronger than you let on, but... ow."

"Rainbow Dash, are you going to be okay?" asked Fluttershy. Dash stretched her wings and shook herself a bit.

"Heh, do you have to ask?" she responded rhetorically, "This is nothing."

Fluttershy sighed in relief, "I'm glad that you're back to normal. I need to get going, though. I think the rest of our friends are in similar trouble."

"All right! Good luck!" called Rainbow as Fluttershy flew out of the coliseum.

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Who do we have here?

No Pony Touches Her Precious Sweetie Belle

RARITY!

This new room looked rather dark and blue. The walls were lined with intricate patterns of blue lace. Various sofas and chairs in similar lacing were arranged in haphazard locations inside the room. Lying on one of the sofas was her friend Rarity. Upon seeing Fluttershy enter, she immediately stood up and used her magic to fling the sofa behind herself.

"I hope your Stare gets a good look at my beautiful body, fit for a dragon king," cooed Rarity.

"Oh... my..." shrunk Fluttershy on her spot. That's a bit more... forward than I usually hear from her.

"Wait!" exhaled Rarity as she pointed a hoof, "You! You've been eyeing my innocent little Sweetie Belle, haven't you?"

"What?" choked Fluttershy, "I don't... know what you mean-"

"Why didn't I see it before?" Rarity shouted rhetorically, "That offer to foal sit the girls that one evening. It was just your excuse to use your stare on her in such an intimate way!"

"Rarity, no!" cried Fluttershy waving her hooves in a defensive shake. "Oh dear, she's not listening."

I sure hope I don't have to fight her for too long, she thought.

Round 3

Fight!

Immediately on the offensive, Rarity used her magic to conjure up several gems from underground (even though that's technically impossible to do with a lacy, carpeted floor). Fluttershy let out a short squeal of terror as she tried her best to fly around the variously colored sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. The onslaught wasn't over, however. Within moments of her getting closer to Rarity, the unicorn conjured a roll of fabric and gave her a whack upside the head.

"The drama queen has applied the rug burn!" shouted Luna.

Fluttershy's vision filled with stars momentarily. She managed to shake her head along with the dizziness but Rarity was already on top of her. Rarity used a flip-kick variant of martial arts that she somehow learned without any pony's knowledge. Needless to say, Fluttershy wasn't doing so well. The poor thing landed back-first onto one of the sofa's in the room. In that moment, however, Fluttershy experienced a feeling that wasn't so painful so much as it was unusual.

"An Awakening!" exclaimed Luna, "Now it gets serious!"

A red fire started outlining her fur, feathers, and even her eyes. Her eyes in particular opened without her usual fear and panic. Instead, a look of peeved off determination burned within.

"Kick me once, shame on you," murmured Fluttershy before raising her voice, "Kick me twice, you're black and blue!"

The fiery Pegasus let loose a yell like a wild animal as she started galloping forward. Rarity attempted another gem barrage from below, but the aura surrounding Fluttershy seemed to disintegrate the jewels on contact. Fluttershy screamed angrily while jumping onto Rarity. A dust cloud obscured any visual that an outsider could witness, though it was obvious that most of the dust was red and several kicks could be heard.

Red dust cleared. Fires settled down. Three bells rang.

"What a surprising finish!" shouted Luna.

Whatever major injuries that either ponies had sustained seemed to vanish as soon as the end was announced. Fluttershy removed her hooves from Rarity who was lying on the floor. She looked at Rarity in complete shock. She started to worry about what she had just done.

"Well, that was certainly ruffian behavior," sighed Rarity as she slowly stood up.

"Rarity, I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Fluttershy at whisper volume, "Are you all right?"

"Think nothing of it, darling," insisted Rarity using her tail to brush off some of the less obvious dust, "I'm probably just as guilty for not being able to stave off the urge to fight."

"W-well as long as you're okay..." said Fluttershy looking away sheepishly.

A strange, static sound hummed through the air before a screen-shaped image appeared in thin air. The figure within the image looked like the announcer.

"Hello?" pondered a voice from the image, "Can any pony hear me?"

"Princess Luna!" exclaimed Fluttershy and Rarity simultaneously.

"Please! If you're there, some assistance would be most appreciated," continued Luna, "There's an impostor posing as Celestia who set up this whole stadium event. She's somehow stolen my voice to announce the matches and- Oh no! She's back!" The image immediately blinked out of sight.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" worried Fluttershy while flying away. "I must hurry!"

"Fluttershy, be careful!" called Rarity.

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Onto the next match...

Everything about this one is a complete mystery!

????

The interior of this next room was filled with various screens, buttons, and switches. All of which were flashing in various colors. Yellow lights filled the room and allowed Fluttershy to see exactly who was inside. She could see the fake Celestia staring menacingly at Luna. Hurriedly she flew in beside Luna.

"Princess!" she quietly exclaimed, "Are you okay?"

"Dear Fluttershy!" responded Luna, "Be on your guard."

"A splendid performance," commented the other alicorn in the room, "You really are the best of the best."

Fluttershy turned to the Celestia look-alike and demanded, "Just who are you? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

"Heh heh heh," chuckled 'Celestia' slowly as dark indigo smoke engulfed her. Barely a second passed before a new pony was revealed and the smoke became an outlining aura. Luna and Fluttershy each gasped at the sight.

"Are you surprised?" asked Nightmare Moon rhetorically. "I guess you should be."

"That's impossible," breathed Luna. "I was freed from your dark powers."

"Correct," smiled Nightmare Moon. "I'm no longer you. I'm myself now. Free of your weakness."

"W-why did you do all of this?" asked Fluttershy attempting a brave face in spite of the dark presence in front of her.

"Isn't it obvious?" chuckled the black alicorn in blue armor, "I've successfully trapped the wielders of Harmony and Equestria's princesses inside this new world. Here, you can either choose to serve me or be destroyed. What will you choose, Element of Kindness?"

Although the wind was picking up, Fluttershy held her ground. She slowly trotted closer so that she could look Nightmare Moon in the dragon eyes. Yes, she was scared. No, she did not know for sure what she would do. But, she did know what she was going to try.

"I have a better idea," she stated as calmly as possible, "I'm going to stop you here and now and save every pony from your madness."

"Very well!" shouted Nightmare Moon. "Destruction it is!" Lightning flashed to represent her fury.

Final Round

Fight!

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Common sense – Intuition – Serenity -- Relationships