Atlas Strongest Tournament

by Bico

Game of Death: Way of the Dragon

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 9: GAME OF DEATH
ACT II: WAY OF THE DRAGON

Bright bullets of white-hot flame tore through the air. Razorwing snarled and laughed at the incoming barrage, spreading his arms wide as if inviting the fiery projectiles in for a friendly hug. Ran Biao's attack collided with his chest, and with a startled yelp of pain he staggered back, only prevented from falling onto his back by his powerful tail propping him up. Black holes in his under-scales smoked painfully, and his skin beneath was peeled and bleeding. With an incredulous scoff, he stared down at himself, poking his wounds experimentally. "Wha... how?"

Ran Biao was hovering in the air, steam curling from her nostrils as she took in the scene with a satisfied smirk. "Surprised? Even dragon can be harmed by another dragon's fire if hot enough."

Razorwing clenched his fists and his eyes bore into Ran with a covetous glare. "You won't stop me. You think just because I succumbed to greed-growth that I have forgotten my training?"

Garble, meanwhile, was slowly backing away from the confrontation between the two. He halted when his heel hit something solid. Frowning, he lifted his foot higher to step over the obstruction, but he found that he was once again stymied. His brows creased in confusion and he slowly turned to see just what was giving him so much trouble. Floating in midair was a stallion with violet scales and a blond mane in a queue who held a single hoof against his heel. "H-hey, you little pony. Get outta my..."

"Stupid drake," Lao Wu said, twisting Garble's foot and bringing him to the ground. "I will let Ran Biao fight my old student." He glanced over to his great great granddaughter with a grimace. "She deserve this. I will take care of rest of you."

Garble roared from his prone position. "Don't think you can beat me, little pony. You have scales, but you're no dragon!" He swiped at Lao Wu, but his hand was easily caught and he found himself being tossed through the air by the much smaller dragon-pony.

Lao Wu crossed his legs and looked back at Garble with a bored expression. "I can keep going all day, but I think I am bored with you, already. I will make you dead, now."

Meanwhile, Twilight had gathered the other fighters who had made it inside with her. Pinkie and Fluttershy stood to her right while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were to her right. Scales and Wavedancer positioned themselves behind her, but looked ready to pounce at the slightest threat. The drunken master, Berry Punch, was also there, leaning heavily on a teal unicorn mare from the preliminaries whose name escaped Twilight for the moment.

"We're in for some major trouble," Twilight said as she observed the battle. "Razorwing seems to be handling Ran Biao well, but Garble is no match for Lao Wu." She paced back and forth amidst her friends, her face scrunched in thought. "Lao Wu is by far the most powerful pony captured by the changelings," she said. "If he gets a chance, he'll easily decimate our numbers before we can take him down."

"Wouldn't he decimate our numbers just by taking Garble out?" Wavedancer piped in. "I mean, there's only ten of us in here to begin with... if you don't count that other dragon..."

Twilight frowned. "I don't. And, yes, technically you're correct, but I was speaking in the colloquial sense." She shook her head.

"Oh, we can't let poor Garble get hurt fighting Mr. Wu," Fluttershy said, wringing her hooves, her eyes pleading. "I know he's a bit coarse and insensitive, but he's not a bad dragon."

Twilight's face was a mask of skepticism as she stared at Fluttershy. "Well... I'll withhold my opinion on that matter, but I can't help but agree that it's for the best if Garble were able to at least hold off Master Wu." She sat on her haunches and stroked her chin thoughtfully, frowning as her mind began to work furiously. "If he were a match for Lao Wu, both of the changelings on this level would be too preoccupied to keep us from reaching the next."

"Yeah, but he's clearly not a match," Scales replied with her hands on her hips. "In fact, I'm not sure any one of us is a match, with the possible exception of yourself."

Twilight blushed with a sheepish smile. "Well, thanks. I might be able to beat him with my magic, but I can assure you it wouldn't be easy. Besides, I'll need to be there when we reach the changeling queen and her daughter." Her expression grew serious. "However, I think I know how to help Garble, and thus help ourselves."

"How're y'all gonna do that?" Apple Bloom asked, wide-eyed.

Twilight smirked and flared her wings. "Just watch me. Meanwhile, I'll need Berry Punch and... uh... you, there, to go find the way to the next level."

Lyra saluted Twilight. "You got it, T—" Her face fell as Twilight was already making her way toward Garble and Lao Wu's position. With a frown and a swipe to the ground, she began dragging her new search partner behind her.

Lao Wu was in the process of swinging the battered body of Garble around his head by the tail, occasionally slamming him into a large tree or into the ground to hear the satisfying snap of bones. He flung Garble one last time, intending to break him for good upon the rock, but when the impact came, there was no sickening crack, but a light wumpf and a shower of feathers as he found his foe now lying on a massive pile of cushions rather than stones.

"Garble!" Twilight called as she flew down to the pillow hill, landing lightly. "I've come to help you, but I need your permission to do it."

"What?" Garble groaned softly, but with a typical draconic irateness. "Why do I need a little pony to help me? I'm a dragon!"

"The kid makes a point," Lao Wu said, smiling enigmatically as his interest piqued. "What can you do?"

Twilight shot Master Wu a dirty look, but stood firmly by Garble's massive head. "I learned how to do what you and your princess have been doing a long time ago, you know. Except I've had time to perfect the spell. I think I can give Garble enough skill and power with my spell to beat the skill and power you stole."

Lao Wu's grin broadened with genuine delight, and landed in a nearby tree branch. "Well, that is intriguing. Setting up the magical mimicry of a changeling princess with that of a pony princess. Truly something worth seeing."

Lao Wu, a voice in his head growled. Lao Wu, what are you doing? Don't just stand there letting your enemy get a power boost. Kill them!

With all due respect, my queen, don't interrupt this, Lao Wu responded in his mind. When you get as old and powerful as I am, it isn't often an opportunity for a true challenge comes along.

You're neither old nor powerful! Chrysalis' voice boomed in his mind. You're not really Lao Wu, if you've forgotten. You're my larva.

Despite the queen's protests, Twilight went unmolested as she spoke to Garble. "Please, let me help you. I can make you stronger, faster... better than before."

"I..." Garble groaned as pain shot up his side. "I don't need help from a pony."

Twilight touched hoof to his snout. "I'm just... going to bring out the best in you that I can, alright? You'll be able to beat Lao Wu all on your own. Then you'll be strong enough to get the biggest hoard any dragon's ever dreamed. Wouldn't you like that?"

Garble's eyes glazed over for a moment as he considered the possibility of a hoard of treasure about the same height as the tower in which they were currently trapped. "Okay."

"Oh," Twilight said. "I... I didn't think that's all it would take, but... alright, let's do this."

---

Twilight was very familiar with this place. She stood among the stars, surrounded by images arranged together like the frames of a film, but she knew she wasn't really here. This place didn't exactly exist, but was more a representation in her mind's eye. In the frames she could see different points of Garble's life passing before her. In the midst of the swirling memories was Garble, himself.

"What is this place?" Garble asked, swinging his head around in amazement as his eyes widened to the size of dragon-sized dinner plates. "I... I remember all this."

"This is a special place," Twilight said. "It's where your life will change." Her horn began to glow, and a new set of frames appeared, this time with a young drake with green scales and yellow spines performing dance like fighting maneuvers, sparring, spinning razorblades on sticks, and attempting to fit himself into a carriage a fourth his size. "Razorwing is a dragon like you, so his experiences training with Master Wu will provide you with a reasonable base." Her horn sparked and the images of the younger Razorwing began to be replaced with Garble as a baby dragon. She began to weave the newly created memories into the ones that already existed.

Garble groaned and grabbed his head. "Hurts... but... I remember. I... I know how to fight for real!"

Twilight beamed and flared her wings. "Well, it's a start. It's just too bad that I can't take all of Lao Wu's skill directly from him since the real thing isn't here. Instead, I'll just have to supplement it." Her horn began to glow again, and more images bloomed from her horn. Rainbow Dash practicing flying with Amber Spark, Applejack working the farm and getting into brawls with her family, and Rarity tirelessly working with her needles, striving for total perfection. "Of course, you're not going to be much good to us if you're all power." She gritted her teeth and metaphysical sweat began to pour from her brow. Images of Fluttershy being carried to the ground by butterflies, Pinkie admiring the Sonic Rainboom as it arched across the sky for the first time, and Twilight spending hours studying flowed into the mindscape.

"I'm not a pony!" Garble insisted. "And I don't hang around ponies!"

Twilight looked back at Garble with disappointment evident on her face and sighed. "I understand, Garble. Don't worry. The memories will edit themselves with ponies... er... dragons you knew in your real life who could fit the circumstances. Besides, since they're not your real memories, they'll end up fading into the background like those from foalhood. You won't be able to remember anything in detail from them, but you'll still have the skills and attitudes you would if you did."

Garble whimpered. "I... I feel... funny."

"I'm sorry, Garble," Twilight said. She frowned and averted her gaze. "You will feel a bit odd after this. You... won't be the same dragon you were. Not really. There's still one last set of skills and personality traits I think you'll need, though." Another set of reels flowed from her, and she grunted with the effort, her muscles straining. A reel of Twilight tucking a baby Spike into bed shifted to become a strange green dragoness with conical purple horns tucking Garble into a bed of gems.

"C-Crackle?" Garble said, his brows knitting in confusion as he stared at the image. "B-but, she never tucked me in. She was just..." He hissed in pain as the memory joined his real ones.

A scene of Spike at the gala with Twilight and their friends became Garble with Crackle and their friends at a grand party at the volcanic site of the Dragon Migration. They all gathered together at the end and comforted each other on a fairly dismal time, but Garble insisted that it was the best night ever because all of his friends were together. The memory integrated itself into his mind, and he shed a fond tear.

The last set of reels proved a difficult undertaking, however. They were filled with Rarity, from Spike's first meeting with her to his offering of his Fire Ruby to her, to getting a smooch on the cheek. Garble raged as it attempted to fit itself into his mind. "No, no, no! No ponies!"

"I feel like I should be a bit insulted," Twilight said with a sour pout. "But I'm having trouble finding many dragonesses in your memories at all much less ones that might fill Rarity's horseshoes. Not very popular with the ladies, were we? Well, I have to find something..." She groaned in pain as she tried to force her magic into the scenes, forcing them to find anything that might work. With a pop, Rarity's image disappeared and turned into that of a pretty young dragoness with blue scales and an elegant set of golden spines, who wore a Fire Ruby necklace as she was clutched in an unnaturally grown Garble's tail. "No way," Twilight said under her breath. "Well... she won't like it, but I guess since it's for Spike..."

Garble howled as the scenes were finally accepted, and he gasped. "P-P-Princess... S-Scales? What have I done... what have I let myself become?"

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "What? Oh, no, this isn't what I intended. Spike's guilt over going greedy is exactly what we don't need."

A primal howl erupted from Garble, and the mindscape began to crack along its very seams. The reels shattered into dust and Twilight found herself being blown away even as the stars, themselves, seemed to be breaking apart.

---

Twilight's bright aura surrounded Garble, concealing him from view even as his loud roar echoed through the artificial environment. Twilight, herself, was pale and shaking with effort, but her burning glare bespoke her determination. With a final push, she completed her spell, and the magenta magic collapsed on Garble.

"Too, too dramatic," Lao Wu commented as he leaned against the trunk of a tree and yawned. "I wait to be impressed."

The smoke began to clear, revealing Garble's orange headfins, a spiked red tail, yellow belly scales, and glaring purple eyes. The dragon that emerged from the smoke, however, no longer towered over the others, but was no taller than Celestia on his hind legs. His snout was smaller and his eyes were larger, though his thick, black eyebrows were about the same size.

Lao Wu stood up straight, a leer splitting his muzzle. "I was skeptical you could produce a spell powerful enough to affect dragon in real way, despite obvious... breeding." He walked slowly toward Garble, who was still standing dazed, staring at his claws incredulously. "You've undone his growth of Darkness, but this only give him enough smarts to realize how bad he is outmatched. You have taken his strength, the only thing that might have saved her."

"'Him'," Twilight corrected.

"Don't correct!" Lao Wu snapped, pointing a hoof at her. "Spinese has no gender pronouns, it is difficult to remember."

"Aren't you a changeling?" Twilight asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Don't you actually know Equestrian?"

"Equestrian no es la primera lengua de los changelings,"(1) Lao Wu countered, raising his snout indignantly.

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth with a gasp. "Oh, of course. You're from south of the border; I should have realized..."

"In any case," Lao Wu said with a snort as he flared his wings. "I think you have failed. There is no way this little whelp will challenge me. Perhaps, now that you are weakened from your exertion, I should come after you." He reared up on his hind legs and charged Twilight, steam billowing from his nostrils.

Garble seized Master Wu's tail as he passed him, though he didn't take his eyes from his body. "Hold on," he said. "I think I'd like to see what this new body can do. If Twilight's theory is sound, I should be able to..."

"How dare!" Lao Wu raged, turning and striking at him like a viper. His attack was abruptly interrupted with a red-scaled wrist to the jaw. He paused in shock for a moment, but quickly countered with a lightning strike from his tail. Grabbing the attacking limb a scale's length before it hit his chest, Garble pulled and uppercut the middle of Lao's tail. Wu flipped through the air, but spread his wings to bring himself to a halt.

"Death from above!" was the cry that caused everypony to pause and look up as the massive and blackened Razorwing plummeted from the clouds and landed squarely upon Lao Wu, and they both crashed into the ground, sending a plume of dirt into the air. The pony responsible descended from the clouds triumphantly, a satisfied expression on her face.

Garble eyed Ran Biao as she landed on the cold-cocked Razorwing. "You... pony in a dragon's scales. I wanted to fight that guy."

Ran snorted. "Would be happy to oblige you now that I am done with this one," she said, kicking Razorwing dismissively.

Lyra and Berry crashed out of the bushes, heading straight toward Twilight. "We found it," Lyra said. "The way up. It's in a cave."

Twilight turned toward the two scouts and smiled. "That's great. But... I think I'd feel a bit bad leaving Garble here alone."

"Princess pony," Garble interjected, turning his head slightly to regard her with a sidelong glance. "Don't worry about me. I understand what's at stake." For the smallest moment, his eyes locked onto Scales, causing her to shift uncomfortably at the sudden attention, before he turned back to Ran Biao and clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking as he did.

Twilight nodded, trusting that the strength with which she had imbued him would keep Garble safe. She turned to the rest of the group, her face determined. "Alright, everypony. Let's move out!" She followed Lyra and Berry as they led the group back toward their discovery at a full gallop.

Ran Biao snarled at Garble, her muscles tensing to chase after the retreating ponies. She was stymied, however, when Garble leaped into her path. "Pony in a dragon's scales: your opponent... is me!"

---

---

Twilight stumbled as an explosion rocked the ground beneath her hooves. She looked back and saw a plume of flame and smoke rising into the air. Grimacing, she slowed her pace to a hesitant trot.

"Don't slow down, now," Wavedancer insisted as she slithered to Twilight's side. "We need to keep moving if we're going to get to Spike before who-knows-what happens to him."

Scales jogged along the other side of Twilight and gave her a toothy smirk. "Yeah, that big-eyebrow weirdo actually looked pretty impressive after you got through with him. Though I'm honestly more impressed that you were able to turn him into a noble dragon."

"I'm not entirely sure how I did it," Twilight admitted, her pace picking up. "I just gave him experiences that made Spike into the friendly, good dragon he is."

"It can't be that simple," Wavedancer said.

Scales nodded. "That's right. Even if a dragon who's begun 'greed growth' is rehabilitated, no dragon and nopony has ever been able to reverse the growth. The best that's been achieved is that the growth is stopped, and the dragon has its growth stunted at whatever size it had achieved." She gave Twilight a scrutinizing stare. "To reverse the growth that much along with clearing the addled mind of a common dragon takes incredible power. Power far beyond that of even the highest level unicorn, I'd say."

Twilight remained thoughtfully silent while they caught up with Berry and Lyra, who had slowed to a canter as they approached a cave. She and the rest of the group followed suit. Have I really become that powerful? I know any of the alicorns on Olympus, and even the Titans exiled here could have accomplished that kind of feat, but I'm not like them. Am I? She blew air out of her nostrils nervously as she looked up to see that teal unicorn whose name still escaped her gesturing to the cave while speaking rapidly. "Huh?"

"She said," Berry interjected irately. "That the stairs up are through this cave. Kinda weird since it goes up and there's nothing but air right above the cave outside, but... meh, magic."

"It's actually pretty easy to explain, Berry," Twilight offered.

Berry held up a hoof and rolled her eyes. "Oh, no you don't. Whenever ponies start talking about explanations for magic, it just makes me want a stiff drink. Let's just go."

Twilight nodded and began to trot into the cave. "Alright, everypony, follow me!"

Lyra pouted as she followed Twilight into the cave and up the stairs. "She didn't even hear me..."

Berry rolled her eyes as she fell in beside Lyra.

---

"... And that's how the Badlands were made," Princess Aurelia concluded, smacking the detailed map of the aforementioned area with her wooden pointer. She proudly stood before a presentation plastered with charts, diagrams, and even magic formulae. Spike, meanwhile, was doing his best to shake the glaze from his eyes.

Don't pass out, don't pass out... Spike chanted to himself. "Wow, that... that moved me about as deeply as a lecture from Twilight."

Aurelia pursed her lips. "Well, while I don't necessarily appreciate being compared to some pony princess, I will assume that, given your close relationship with this particular pony as well as her noted intellectual achievements, this was meant as a compliment, and shall take it as such." She puffed out her chest pridefully. "I'll bet you've been adequately seduced to the dark side by now, haven't you?"

"Uhh..." Spike fidgeted uncomfortably in his cocoon. "Yeah, I'm getting there."

With an exasperated sigh, Aurelia sat down on her haunches and hung her head. "This isn't getting me anywhere. I'm not cut out for the 'hearts and minds' stuff."

Spike made to scratch his head, but was quickly reminded that his arm was firmly bound to his side. That was going to get aggravating fast, he knew. "Well, you know, it's a bit hard to make friends when the pony... or... changeling... won't show you her face. Kind of feels like there's a wall up between us, you know?"

"Oh, you don't want to see that," Aurelia said, turning away with a blush. "I... I'm honestly quite hideous in my natural form. All us larvae are. Even in our adult forms most ponies get a little green when they see us."

"I understand," Spike said with a nod, his face falling slightly. "Ponies don't generally find dragons very attractive, either. Kind of get turned off by the scales and the claws, I think." He looked back up and beamed toothily. "I think I make up for it with my sparkling personality, of course, but my point is that if I went around with a mask on all the time, ponies would find it even harder to relate to me, I think. Besides, you might be surprised by who likes you for... well... you."

Aurelia's laughter was hollow, and she shuffled her front hooves on the ground as she looked away from Spike. "Th-that's nice of you to say, but... aw, hay, who even cares?" She frowned and fixed Spike with a baleful glare. "I shouldn't be hemming and hawing like some schoolfilly. I'm the princess of all changelings, and you're at my mercy!" A green and black aura began to surround her as a vicious grin spread across her face. "Finally, the moment has arrived. Look in terror upon my true form!" She exploded with magical energy, fully subsumed by the transformative energies.

Spike's jaw dropped as the magic dissipated and he found himself truly seeing Aurelia for the first time. "Oh... sweet Celestia's sunny stifle."

---

---

Fluttershy lingered at the back of the group of ponies making their way up the winding staircase. She glanced furtively back behind her, brows creasing as she gave a quiet whimper. A wall of pink filled her vision when she turned her eyes front, and she screamed in terror.

"Hey, Flutters, you look like you've seen a ghost," Pinkie said excitedly, a broad smile across her face. "Except you're not giggling, which is what you should be doing if you're scared. Remember your auntie Pinkie Pie's advice..."

A faint scowl tugged at Fluttershy's mouth, but after a moment she merely sighed. "I know, Pinkie. I'm just worried about that poor dragon. Even though he was a bit rough around the edges, I think he was really nice deep down."

"Yeah," Pinkie admitted with a shrug. "But it was way deep down if what Rainbow Dash told me about him was right, and that was before he finished growing. Don't worry, though, because Twilight is the best at magic, so I'm sure he'll win. Hopefully, it'll bring out all that niceness you were talking about, too."

Fluttershy winced as she thought of the ongoing fight that was now far below them. "If you say so. I'm still not sure what I'm doing here, though. I... I can't fight. I'm just going to be a burden to you all in this situation."

Draping her foreleg over Fluttershy's withers, Pinkie gave her a boisterous laugh. "Don't be a silly filly, Fluttershy! We need you here. You're, like, the most important pony in the whole group."

Fluttershy snorted and hung her head as she continued to trot reluctantly up the stairs after their friends and allies. "I don't know what you mean..."

"You don't?" Pinkie cocked her head, an expression of genuine confusion dawning on her face. "I gotta say, I can't think of any other pony here that I'd want to have my back if I met a changeling in a dark alley."

"Pinkie..." Fluttershy murmured. "That... that's suspect."

Sunlight washed over the two ponies before Pinkie could respond, and they had to squint their eyes as they made their way into the bright day. They and the rest of the group all gasped in wonder as they looked around and saw that they had emerged into a grassy flatland surrounded on all sides by sheer cliffs. Above them was a clear, blue sky with the sun shining at its high noon position.

"Interesting," Twilight said, keeping her voice and face neutral even though her splayed wings betrayed her excitement. "I suspected as much in the last level we were in, but it seems this tower is composed of multiple layers of time and relative dimensions in space."

"Meaning?" Scales asked irately.

Lyra laughed and clopped Scales on the back. "She means the levels are bigger on the inside, of course!"

Twilight paused and gave Lyra a an inquisitive look. "How... do you even know that?"

Lyra beamed brightly as she began to speak at a rapid pace. "Oh, well, I may have heard a few things here and there, mostly from my roommate, but she actually heard it from that pony who's always running all the time, but don't ask her about it since the whole biological meta-crisis thing made her all..." She paused, her face frozen in a slightly manic grin. "W-wait," she whispered breathily. "A-a-are you talking to me?" Her left eye twitched.

Twilight raised a brow. "Uh... okay, that didn't answer my question, though I guess that's to be expected if Mr. Turner is involved."

Berry waved a hoof in front of Lyra's eyes, who remained unresponsive. "Yeah, Your Highness, and it looks like you broke her, too."

"Sounds like her relationship issues are still a little... Rocky?" Pinkie said as she held up three stacked stones with a party hat and smirked, raising a single, roguish eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Berry asked with a flat expression.

"Yup," Pinkie responded with an enthusiastic laugh. "Hey, you know what this calls for?"

"A throwdown."

Pinkie contemplated this suggestion for a moment before responding. "I was thinking more of a 'hoe'down, but I guess this is the right genre..."

"P-P-Pinkie?" Fluttershy muttered, pointing a shaking hoof toward something in the distance. "Th-th-the pony who just suggested that... m-m-maybe you ought to look..."

"Still, I don't know if that's really Lyra's thing. She's more of a musical kind of mare, and she also sits funny sometimes. I think she's double-jointed, which is pretty fun at parties."

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted as she stared up at the top of one of the cliffs. She pointed a hoof, bringing Pinkie's attention to two mares standing over them, menacing sneers upon their muzzles. "We've got trouble."

"Dashie!" Pinkie exclaimed, hopping up and down for joy. "And AJ! Oh, I knew you two couldn't be taken down by those nasty-wasty changelings so easy."

Rainbow and Applejack gave each other a knowing look and chuckled. Rainbow took flight, soaring over the group's heads before circling in for a landing in front of them. Applejack simply slid down the cliff face, breaking into a full gallop as she hit the bottom and joining Rainbow just as she touched down in her patented showpony pose.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow said with a sly wink. She tossed her mane casually and crossed her legs, with Applejack mirroring her. "Of course I couldn't be taken down by anypony. Say, I don't see Master Spark in your little rescue mission."

"Yeah, she's a little busy right now," Pinkie said. "What with training Scootaloo in some super awesome technique that will totally blow these changelings away. I mean, I doubt we'll even need her at this point, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

"Pinkie!" Twilight hissed, grabbing her around the shoulders and pulling her to the rear of the small herd. She turned on Rainbow and Applejack. "You two must be the changelings we're supposed to fight."

"I'll be," Applejack said easily as she tipped her hat up. "Y'all are as smart as you look."

"I'm not going to let you get away with this," Twilight insisted, stomping the ground with her hoof. "I'll take you both on my—"

A multicolored blur collided with Twilight, pushing her back into the rock wall behind them. Rainbow's double stood over her with a hoof to Twilight's throat, grinning menacingly. "What? Yourself? You're powerful, Twilight, but I don't think you can take on two Elements of Harmony that easy."

"You might be right," Twilight conceded, her ears flopping down. She snarled, a fire blazing to life in her eyes. "But you're not an Element of Harmony!" Her horn pulsed, and a burst of magic struck the Rainbow clone, turning her into a potted fern instantly.

A flash of burning green light nearly blinded Twilight as soon as her spell had completed, revealing a laughing Rainbow Dash. "You are so lame, Twilight. What were you trying to do?"

"I'm!" Twilight exclaimed as she transformed the changeling Rainbow into an orange with feathery blue wings. "Trying!" Another spell changed her into a thin-haired, bipedal ape with blue skin and multicolored hair upon her head. "To save!" Now a rock. "My friends!" Finally, Twilight finished her off as a blue custard with tie-dyed caramel coating the top.

"Ooh!" Pinkie squealed, leaping for the colorful dessert. "Rainbow Flan!" She bit down, but found herself with a mouthful of pony flank.

Rainbow bucked Pinkie in the chest, sending her rolling across the ground. With a snort she wiped her cutie mark clean of saliva. "I had a feeling you wanted a piece of my flank," she said with a snort and a wry grin. "But I didn't think that was literal."

Pinkie spat out some blue fur. "I told you that was just a dream, Dashie. Um... I mean, Not-Dashie."

Ignoring the interjection, Rainbow gave Twilight a haughty sneer. "Looks like your transformation magic doesn't work so great on a changeling, does it?"

Blowing from her nostrils, Twilight lit her horn once again, lowering her head offensively. "That's not the only trick I have in my saddle bag."

Pinkie giggled, popping in between the two mares. "Hey, I've got a lot of tricks in my saddle bags, too." She pulled out a deck of cards. "Here, pick one."

Rainbow knocked the cards out of Pinkie's hoof. "That's ridi... wait, you don't have any saddle bags." Her muzzle wrinkled with confusion. "You... you are so random."

"Hey, Twilight," Pinkie said, looking back at her friend with a smile. "Maybe you should keep moving. Spike needs you, after all. I'll stay and play with Not-Dashie for a while." She turned to Berry and gasped as her right eye twitched and her mane poofed into an afro. "That means it's dangerous to go alone." She held out her hooves, cradling her stack of stones and party hat in them. "Take this."

"Seriously?" Berry said, her tone a little more irate than before. Even so, she took the proffered items and, after a brief stare-down, tossed them into her saddlebags. "I am seriously starting to regret my life choices."

"Pinkie, I'm out of your league," Rainbow interjected with a smirk, her wings flaring threateningly. She glanced toward Twilight and her form blurred as she blasted toward her at full speed. She was brought up short as Pinkie's face filled her vision. "Wh-what?"

Pinkie grinned before driving her hoof into Rainbow's gut, causing her to collapse to her knees in pain. "You're right, Not-Dashie. I guess I'll have to give myself a handicap so it's fair. Twilight!" She turned and caught her friend's gaze, her face reassuringly calm. "The stairway to the next level is on the other side of the valley in a cave like this one." She pointed a hoof at a tiny speck of darkness at the base of the cliff opposite the entrance. "I can see it from here. You all go."

Reluctantly, Twilight nodded. "I trust you, Pinkie."

"Really?" Scales interjected. "'Cause I've got good eyesight and I didn't spot that cave."

"I may eat a lot of sugar, but I eats me spinach," Pinkie said with a cackle as she placed a corncob pipe in her mouth and squinted one eye.

Twilight and the rest of the group began to gallop in the direction of the stairway to the next level while Pinkie harried Rainbow's attempts to follow. A thundering of hooves behind them, however, alerted them to the fact that there was still one other pony who was as yet uncontained.

"Yee-haw!" Applejack's copy cheered as she produced a rope from the depths of her tail hair. "Move along little dogies!"

Fluttershy, who was running frantically at the rear of the herd and losing ground fast, screamed in terror as she saw the changeling Applejack begin to flank her. Her scream went unnoticed by the others, however, as it came out with all the volume of a whisper.

"Looks like I found myself the weakest link!" Applejack crowed as she tossed her rope, encircling Fluttershy's neck. She tugged, and Fluttershy hit the ground with a cry.

At this point, Twilight had reached the cavern entrance, with the rest of the group close on her hooves. When she heard Fluttershy's squeak, however, she immediately turned to face the false Applejack. "Fluttershy, no!" She unhesitatingly bounded away from the cave, her magic building quickly.

"Wheee!" came Pinkie's squeal of delight a split second before she and Rainbow Dash crashed in front of Twilight, causing her to rear up in surprise, her wings splayed. "Oh, hi Twilight. What's the matter? Why aren't you leaving?" Pinkie asked from her position flat on her back with Rainbow pinning her shoulders down.

Twilight turned back to look at Fluttershy, who was being trussed up by Applejack. "Wh-why? Pinkie, Fluttershy's in trouble."

Pinkie Pie laughed as she dodged a few attempts at a punch to her face by the Rainbow copy. "Oh, Twilight, that's silly. Fluttershy can take care of herself."

"What?" Twilight shouted, but then reined herself in and began to speak more calmly. "Pinkie, I know that Fluttershy can grow a backbone every now and again, but that's not exactly reliable, and she's still no athlete like Applejack."

"Well, that's just—" Pinkie was interrupted when Not-Dashie managed to land a powerful hook on her face. She looked confused for a moment, but then a boxing glove on a spring came out of her puffy hair and hit Not-Dashie right between the eyes, knocking her off Pinkie and onto the ground. Pinkie sat up and removed the glove, shaking several bricks out of it before tossing it aside. "Anyway... I know everypony in Ponyville, Twilight," she explained, looking up at her friend serenely. "And I know my best friends most of all; sometimes better than they know themselves. Trust me, Twilight, when I say that Applejack can't beat Fluttershy, I know it."

"B-but," Twilight stammered. "That's not Applejack."

Pinkie shrugged and got to her hooves. "If you dress up like a chicken long enough, sometimes you start laying a few eggs."

Twilight shook her head as if trying to clear her ears of the offensive word salad they had just ingested. "Wait. What?"

"I'm not done yet!" Rainbow declared as she leaped on Pinkie's back and initiated a choke hold.

"Oops, sorry Twilight," Pinkie said as she staggered away. "I'm a little busy right now, so I'll get back to you la-ack!"

At that point, Applejack had nearly finished tying Fluttershy up, and she sneered at her prey. "Well, li'l filly, looks like I'll be goin' after the rest o' your friends, now. Once we get them, an' especially that little Twilight, we're gonna drain them so dry they'll be like autumn leaves blowin' in the wind."

Fluttershy went rigid at those words. "M-m-my f-f-f-friends?" she stammered meekly. "N-no..." Her face contorted into one of righteous fury, and her voice became steel. "No!"

Applejack's eyes widened as she heard the sudden change in tone, and her grip on the rope slackened. "Aw, shoot."

With a series of twirls, Fluttershy began to swiftly unravel her bonds. Before anypony could react, she was free, and in another moment had Applejack wrapped up. Fluttershy pulled the fake Applejack close so that they were snout-to-snout. "You listen, and you listen good, Ms. Applefake! You..." she tugged the rope again, spinning her captive around and grabbing her forelegs. "Do not!" She pulled the forelegs back and drove her back hoof into Applejack's back. Her reward was a satisfying crunch. "Hurt!" She immediately threw Applejack to the ground on her stomach and straddled her. "My friends!" A flurry of yellow hooves began to rain down on the changeling Applejack.

Twilight did her best to gather her jaw from the floor and put it back in place. "O-okay, I guess Pinkie was right." She smiled. "I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, but I think we've got to go." She turned back to the herd that was even now milling about the cave entrance, waiting on her to return. "Alright, everypony, everything's taken care of here. Let's get going." As she galloped toward the entrance, she turned her head back and called, "Fluttershy, try to catch up with us quickly."

Upon reaching the cave, Twilight stepped inside and moved to watch Fluttershy and ensure that she reached them safely even as the others went on ahead. A rainbow streak, however, came from her left and collided above the entrance with a crack as loud as thunder. Rainbow fell to the ground before Twilight, and the stone overhead started to do the same.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Pinkie asked, still frozen in her baseball pitcher end-stance. "Get up those stairs before that cave collapses around you. Fluttershy and I can take care of ourselves in here."

Twilight backed away as the rocks continued to fall. She could easily teleport herself back into the level and then attempt to teleport them all back inside the stairwell, but from the way the cracks in the ceiling were spreading, she couldn't be sure that such a try wouldn't end with one or more of them being fused to some fallen rock. If only she had studied intangibility spells a little more, she thought, she wouldn't have a problem. Pinkie was right, she had to keep going without them. Once more, she had to trust Pinkie on this. "Alright. Just stay safe!" She turned and fled up the stairs as the entirety of the cave collapsed behind her.

Pinkie giggled as she watched the cavern entrance seal itself up. "'Safe'? I don't think there's anything 'safe' about this. At least these two won't be able to follow our friends."

Fluttershy finished her ministrations on Applejack, who was moaning pitifully. "A-alright. I'm glad about that, at least. Applejack won't be down for long, though."

"I..." Applejack groaned. "I can't move a muscle. I just feel so relaxed..."

"Wow," Pinkie said, crossing her legs and giving Fluttershy a smarmy grin. "Remind me to invite you over next time Pound and Pumpkin have the other Cutie Mark Crusaders over for a slumber party."

To be continued...

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1 Equestrian no es la primera lengua de los changelings: Equestrian is not the first language of the changelings.

Author's Note:

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Comments

[Bico]

3104681

Well, the opening scene really didn't introduce any new characters. The only one who wasn't mentioned in Rolling in Beaches before is Princess Arke (though I mentioned her in the comments), and the Princess of Ponyville is... well, she's an established character in more ways than one, let's just say that.

As for the early modern English... yeah, there were some grammar errors, even though I tried referencing some stuff when I wrote it. The capitalization is, as you might have guessed, intentional, and meant to convey their and others' roles as deities in this setting. Obviously, both Luna and Aurora/Celestia end up dropping the presumption even if they are still gods among ponies for the most part.

Thanks for the comments, though. I imagine Rainbow Dash's hair must be similarly poisonous, or perhaps just evolved as a mimic, like the California Mountain King Snake.

[Yami Vizzini]

Always suspected Fluttershy had the potential to put those moves from "Lesson Zero" to a more offensive use....