Rainbow Of Fate

by Lord Drayvon22

Act 4; Birds Of A Feather

Around three hours after the meeting, the ruins of the Everfree Castle

Between the high winds preventing them from flying or teleporting straight to it and the Everfree beasts being more riled up than usual, it’s late afternoon when Twilight and her friends arrive. Upon doing so, they find themselves looking at the ruins of the ruins; most of the formerly standing rubble now reduced to mere dust or pebbles by the powerful winds.

Only her magic and the furious beating of Fluttershy and Luna’s wings is keeping any of them from being sucked up as well. Twilight fires off magic but, somehow, it ends up being caught up in the intense wind and flung harmlessly into the ground. “WHAT?”

“THIS ISN’T NORMAL WIND! IT’S MAGICAL WIND SO IT CAN INTERFERE WITH OUR MAGIC! WE HAVE TO WEAKEN IT!” Despite being immediately next to each other, each of them is forced to yell at the top of thier lungs (or in Luna’s case, use the Canterlot Voice) to be heard over the deafening wind.

Fluttershy meanwhile has been trying to follow any form of pattern in the tornado. At first, it seems completely nonlinear and scatterbrained. However, millennia of Pegasi optical evolution and with vision trained to spot nomads as tiny as hedgehogs from miles in the air allow her to spy something key. “IT SEEMS TO BE BLOWING TO THE RIGHT FOR THREE SECONDS AND THEN T-“ She’s cut off as she gets blasted back and almost off the edge of the precipice by a black energy beam. “FLUTTERSHY!”

“DEFEND! DEFEND! DEFEND!” Luna and Twilight are forced to dive away as a familiar being lands between them. Luna immediately fires a knockout spell but Aurum dodges by taking flight and Twilight narrowly cancels it out. “DEFEND! DEFEND-!”

Aurum ends up getting tackle slammed by Fluttershy and sent launching back into the tornado. "YOU WERE SAYING, FLUTTERSHY?"

"THE WIND SEEMS TO BE BLOWING TO THE RIGHT FOR THREE SECONDS AND THEN TAKES A MOMENT TO SWITCH!"

Luna seems to think for a moment, gaining a small confident smile. “YOU’VE GOT A GOOD EYE! I’LL NEED YOUR HELP THOUGH! FLY IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO ME AND DON’T STOP!” Never let it be said that Fluttershy backs down when her friends need her since she and Luna take to the air and are immediately hit by what feels like a brick wall of almost solid air. Despite the massive force of wind, they manage to just barely strain themselves enough to fly around the tornado; Luna because of her Alicorn biology and Fluttershy because determination, preservation instinct, hope and a little fear can make you accomplish incredible things. The display is almost hypnotic if Twilight weren’t busy trying to stay anchored under the now even greater wind force.

As Luna and Fluttershy manage to complete exactly 241.7 rotations each, by her calculations anyway, the dark energy tornado seems to wither slightly and weaken. As the wind begins following the path of the winged ponies, it very slightly lessens on Twilight; enough for her to be able to focus her magic on something besides survival. For her many flaws, Twilight Sparkle possesses a mind and it takes only a few seconds to come up with a plan.

Just as the storm starts to gain momentum again, finally throwing Luna and Fluttershy to the sides like they’re scraps of paper, Twilight unleashes the most powerful offensive spell she can think of.

See, normal tornadoes obviously emerge from thick thunder clouds so Twilight makes the assumption that the top of the tornado would be where it’s weakness lies. Her magic flies like a hyper-sonic arrow and, since the winds haven’t gained enough strength to inhibit the flow like before, it strikes clear through the upmost spiral of the funnel. For a few tense moments, nothing seems to change until the whole area shakes with enough force to throw Twilight off her hooves. Fortunately, a magical reflex allows her to stop from going over the gigantic crack beside the Castle.

Looking around, she sees the Castle completely levelled, friends winded but unhurt and there’s a certain natural problem now missing. “We did it.”

Indeed, there’s now just an easily 20 hoof wide hole in the ground where the tornado once sat. It’s not the end but having one less concern is relieving until she feels Aurum land from the sky right on top of her. “DEFEND! DEFEND! D-“

Beginning to draw together some conclusions, Twilight immediately teleports him away with an attached tracking spell as a bruised Fluttershy and Luna wander over. “Um, where’d you send him?”

Feeling her tracking spell suddenly disappear, Twilight’s suspicions are confirmed. “The Mirror Pool.”

???

Aurum chuckles. “One clone and one tornado down, five tornadoes and several hundred of me left to go.” Scootaloo tries to strike him from behind with her rock but ends up being blocked and thrown across the room like a rag doll. “Fighting to the end. Admirable.”

Getting up with a grunt, Scootaloo keeps her distance. “I dunno why you’re so confident. No way they’ll let you win.”

“Ah yes; an unending stream of terrified and virtually useless ponies, the five Elementless Element Bearers, the lovesick Alicorn and her doomed to die husband, the heartbroken and vulnerable Celestia and the mentally unstable Moon. I’m just terrified. Really shaking in my hooves.”

“And what is your problem with Princess Luna anyway?”

A low growl emits from the corrupted pony. “A Princess is meant to look after and protect her nation, Moon tried to all but destroy it. Not for any real reason or because she had to, just because she was jealous and petty. The Princess I respected is dead, replaced by a ‘redeemed’ husk of an abomination. As for the rest, Celestia and Cadance have thier own inner demons as well. All past and future Alicorn’s all have the same possibility to turn. The only solution is rebirth and a newborn world needs to be guided.”

“You hate her just because of a bad decision which she’s trying to make up for? That’s pathetic.”

Aurum growls. “She tried to destroy Equestria, something I’d been protecting for decades. Bring about an eternal winter and bring the Windegoes down on our heads; destroying what the eternal winter doesn’t. She even hurt her sister’s soul, especially with what she said. That’s beyond unforgivable and nothing she’ll do will ever make up for it. If I even decide to recreate her for the new world, she’ll be very different. Almost unrecognisable as the same pony.”

How delusional can one guy possibly be? That’s the most pressing thought in Scootaloo’s mind as she gets in his face. “You’re doing the exact same thing. Hello?!”

The dark pony shoves her away. “Foal, I’m trying to save Equestria. She wanted to all but destroy it just so she could satisfy her own ego. She wouldn’t shut up about her dissatisfaction back then and I wish I’d had the power to stamp the life out of her then and there.”

This guy’s pontification and speechifying is beginning to get on Scootaloo’s nerves. “And what if you don’t like the next ‘better’ world? You gonna destroy that one too?”

“If necessary but it’s like the old saying goes. Ponies sometimes will never accept what’s best for them until they’re forced to. Even Celestia needs to change dramatically. Moon’s holding her and Equestria back from true greatness.

Scootaloo laughs in the corrupted pony’s face, growing confidence. “Prove it.”

Aurum seems to smile. “Look at it this way, it’s been over two thousand years since she took the throne and yet Mrs. Perfect Princess has done little besides keep the world intact. The Dragons are still a problem, the Changelings just caused major damage and most of them remain at large, the Windigos are just itching to cause unending destruction. Griffonstone’s a rotting hole, Seaquestria lives in fear from an icy freak and those’re just a few examples.”

For somepony who's been sealed away for a thousand years, he seems oddly knowledgeable. “So what? We can’t do anything about it.”

“Celestia’s weak and useless, strung up by her own feelings. Instead of doing anything to try and mend relations with the Dragons or help Griffonstone or deal permanently with the army that can and has hid in her midst for centuries, she sat on her flank for a thousand years mourning her dead sister. Ponykind and every other creature have stagnated; content in existing segregated from each other whilst living on fear of attacks that've only been worsening over time. If Moon didn’t exist, imagine what she could have done. A utopia that never was because of emotional vulnerability but that I intend to create and guide.”

Seriously, how does this guy know all this? Scootaloo stares at the fascistic silhouette. “You really are that far gone.”

Aurum growls. “I prefer to think of it as an enlightened, more accurate, not clouded perspective. If you saw things the way I did, seen first-hoof how Celestia’s emotional side has held her and the world back, you’d think she was better off being far more ruthless too.” Another chuckle because he just seems to love doing them. “And I have an advantage Moon lacks?”

“The ability to be far more annoying and repetitive than she ever was?”

That gets a chuckle from the being. “No, the ability to draw dark magic straight from Tartarus itself. I’m not limited by light. The only reason Equestria was plunged into night was because her powers work best at night. Mine can work day or night, significantly reducing how long my spell will take to complete.”

After a moment of silence, as if he’s processing the superiority of his own vision, Aurum continues. “When I have my way, it’ll be a utopia. Imagine; Ponies of all types, Dragons, Changelings, Minotaurs, Diamond Dogs, Griffons, Yaks, Parasprites, even Timberwolves. All living together in perfect harmony, there wouldn’t even be a need for the Elements of Harmony to have ever existed.”

“We can work towards all that without destroying everything, y’know?”

Aurum laughs. “Oh, please. Ponies haven’t been assertive enough snd the other species are either too aggressive or too unintelligent to ever consider an alliance. Some… retooling is necessary.

Scootaloo finally seems to relent; realising that she’ll get nowhere with the delusional, cataclysmic, bigoted and slightly fascistic psychopath. “Who were you anyway? You and Princess Celestia-“ And then she remembers what he called Celestia a minute or two ago.

Aurum laughs in such a way that, were it from anypony else in any other context, would be endearing and pleasant. Instead, it comes across as patronising. “Give the filly a medal, she can read the most obvious signs imaginable. I know her better than anypony still alive. Ever since my enlightening, she’s always been ashamed of her husband.” He smiles as he hears the muffled gasp from Scootaloo before going back to work. However, she does take note that he seems to hate being called insane and files that thought away for later.

The Frozen North

If Twilight and her companions are having a bad time, her friend and family aren’t having any better. On top of the horrendous wind speed and risk of being hit by flying debris, the air’s also frigid and snow the size of thier torsos repeatedly pelts them. Only one of Shining Armour's spells is keeping him and Rarity grounded and even then, only barely with the snow just making getting a good grip even harder. As they stand looking at it though, Rarity gets an idea and whispers (well, yells) it into Shining’s ear who looks at her like she’s insane but goes with it anyway.

After communicating the idea to Cadance, Shining Armour casts the most powerful shield spell that he can to cover them on all sides. Following that, Cadance fires some magic consisting of pure, focused love magic towards the tornado which the magic winds fight but Rarity uses her years of sewing experience to guide the magic. Directing it almost as easily as if it were a threading needle, she manages to brute force it through the wind and into the tornado; almost collapsing with exhaustion after the fact because using such an amount of magic at once can drain anypony.

The reason for the shield becomes very apparent as love magic and dark magic don't mix. Explosively so. If not for the shield, they'd have either been pulverised or buried under a mountain of snow. As is, they get a massive, painfully cold rush of air as well as specks of snow from behind but everything subsides after a moment. None of them notice an Aurum clone get picked up by the blast and sent flying far into the distance until he's out of sight.

Shining stares at Rarity as he catches his breath. “How… how did you do that?”

The alabaster Unicorn smiles modestly. “It’s simple, darling. It's something Twilight once taught me since I'm the only other one of our friends who can do magic. Being able to take control of a spell and aiming it has sooooooo many uses."

Appleloosa

How things go down in the little marketing town is slightly different from how they go in the other tornado areas. Namely, Celestia, Pinkie and Applejack as well as a platoon of Guards arrive to find Aurum already in the process of causing terror. Just as he crosses before Caramel’s house though, he gets shot with a cannon, bounced on by Pinkie, tied by a lasso and thrown towards Celestia. “DESTROY! DESTROY!”

As it looks like he’s about to blast Celestia, Applejack manages to twirl him like a lasso in a cowboy movie and throw him into an apple cart. If there’s one thing especially good about Pegasi, it’s that thier aerodynamic bodies make them very light compared to ponies and slightly easier to throw around in such a way. As she rugs on the rope to try something else, she’s met with an every beam to the face. Almost fifteen full years of hard farm-work and being hit by Rainbow Dash have hardened her skin so to speak but it still bloody well hurts to get slammed into a brick house. As she recovers her bearings, Aurum advances with a cruel smirk. “DESTROY! DESTR-”

Aurum gets well acquainted with one of Applejack’s signature bucks, sending him soaring into a house hard enough to leave a permanent imprint. “An’ stay d-“ She gets blasted back into a wall, this time hard enough to wind her. Aurum soon finds himself pushed to the ground by Celestia but manages to force himself up and towards Applejack nonetheless. “DESTROY!”

Just as it looks like Applejack will be knocked out, a familiar pink mass slam tackles Aurum straight into the tornado. "PINKIE!" Just as it looks like she'll leap in after him, the tornado completely vanishes to reveal Pinkie sitting atop an unconscious Aurum. "Wuh? How...?"

The peppy, perky, pink, un-precocious party pony plinks Applejack with a perky smirk. "Simple, you just take the center ring from the tornado and it all fades." She holds up what looks like a large black-grey hula hoop but Applejack looks like she's about to have a stroke.

After the past few days that she's had, Celestia can't help but giggle. Not an appropriate time perhaps but you have to take what you can get. "Well done, it was... unconventional but it works." One of these days, I really need to knight these six. Without need for prompting, the accompanying Guards throw the clone in chains; powerful wing restraints and magic designed to nullify a Pegasus’ natural abilities being overlaid. Not a spell Celestia likes to use for obvious reasons but it very occasionally comes in useful.

As they turn to leave though, the ground lurches hard enough to rock Celestia, send Pinkie Pie head over hooves and force Applejack to use a nearby tree to stay upright. "Now what?" And another lurch manages to knock all three flat on thier faces.

Moments ago, ???

For the first time, Aurum sounds legitimately impressed. “Hmph, seems your friends aren’t as useless as they look.”

Scootaloo looks at her captor cockily. “And now they just have to find us. There’s no way they can’t get here before the tornadoes get through. We've won.”

“All they’ve done is slightly prolong thier own recreation. Observe.”

To the horror of Scootaloo, and very likely everypony watching, the tornadoes rematerialise and continue digging. “WHAT?!”

Scootaloo can only imagine the manic grin Aurum must be hiding. “That’s the thing about dark magic. It’s ever evolving and learning, unable to truly be dissolved or destroyed until the caster is as well. You’ll doubtlessly have heard about the late King Sombra’s dark crystals. With each defeat, it learns and it evolves as would any sentient creature.”

“…Did you seriously just say that dark magic is alive?”

Aurum seems to be smirking as he adopts the same kind of lectureous tone he used earlier with Shining Armour. “All magic is to a certain extent. Not in the same sense that we are, it doesn’t think for itself, but it can learn and adapt as necessary. Dark and light magic are twins, you know. It’s just that dark magic has none of the restrictions or limitations as light magic so it can adapt much more fittingly and drastically.”

It’s at this moment, listening to the ravings of a cataclysmic lunatic with a saviour complex and feeling utterly hopeless what with the unstoppable tornadoes, that Scootaloo comes to a realisation a pony of her age never should. The only way to stop this is to stop him. They might not be able to find and stop him in time. It’s all on me and there’s gotta be something stopping Princess Luna or somepony from finding me. I’ve got to destroy it so that, no matter what he does to me, they’re all safe.

The image of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom cowering as the ground beneath thier hooves breaks apart crosses her mind. Like any self-respecting creature, Scootaloo has an instinctive fear of death but the idea of her frie-no, her sisters by bond being annihilated solidifies her plan in her heart. Whatever happens, I’ve gotta give them all a chance. I’ll act tonight.

Comments

[Lord Drayvon22]

11692879
To respond to both comments;
1. It’s good to see my idea’s working. These long diatribes are leading somewhere beyond pointless bickering and will come to a head later on, during Act 5. All these points come from Chrysalis mostly because anypony else blowing up about this would be kinda out of character. Like, Twilight thinks too highly of Celestia to really acknowledge how she’s blatantly being strung along and the others are in a very similar boat. Chrysalis is supposed to be a little bit right and a little bit wrong because of course she’s going to view it overly maliciously. She hates Celestia but at the same time, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
2. That’ll remain to be seen.
The story’s getting to a head very soon anyway. There’ll be the next chapter and then the showdown but that’s all I’ll say. It’s not over yet, still got 6-10 chapters to go, but this is more or less the pre-climax stage of the story.