Side story of the Pony POV Series. The title says everything you need to know really: It's The Sirens verses Nightmare versions of the Mane Six in the 'Discord Wins' timeline, while our heroes watch, who wins? TAKE YOUR BETS! Written by Godzillawolf.
This takes place narratively after the entire pony pov series, IE, Pony Pov Series episode 435 (actual final chapter, "I wish you all to fair well my friends.") as there are spoilers for the entire series in here. So please read this last.
This was commissioned by me years ago to Godzillawolf, who has only now gotten around to completing it. I felt the story might have needed more polish, but after all the blood, sweat and tears he put into working it, he just waned it DONE, and I can very much appreciate that.
The story will run about 3 parts give or take.
The title says it all really about what this IS about! It's SIRENS, verses NIGHTMARES, who is gonna win? No matter who wins, we lose.
I hope you enjoy this final run through the pony pov series.
Commission: Pony POV Series Dark World Gaiden: Sirens vs Nightmares By Kendell2 Commissioned by Alexwarlorn
"Hmmm? What's this?" Minty, formally known as Princess Ashima, the Alicorn of accepting and moving on from your past, had been cleaning up after Discord’s epic reading of all four hundred and thirty-five chapters of the Pony POV Series Interviews. The first edition of the book had been given to her for safe keeping, after all. She was surprised, however, when a manuscript fell out of the pages.
Lifting it up with her sparkling green magic (of course!), Minty began to read from the foreward. “This' from Twilight's, I mean Princess Amicitia of the Dark World and Epilogue Timeline.” Minty giggled at this. “Kinda ironic, isn’t it? Calling it the epilogue when that’s really when it all began? This timey-wimey stuff sure gives me a headache sometimes! Where was I?…” She began to read again. “This looks like from when she was working to give a happy ending for all the timelines corrupted by her former persona, Nightmare Eclipse, Nightmare Purgatory, Nightmare Paradox, oh whatever... but it mentions stuff from chapter four-hundred and thirty-five of the interviews!” She blinked. “Ooh! I guess this goes at the end, then!”
Minty glanced around. The throne room was empty, for the moment, so she sat down in Princess Thalia’s throne, knowing Pinks wouldn’t mind, and began to read...
-
“Finally...” muttered a figure, standing before the statue on the high school campus as the side rippled with orange magic. This universe didn't have much magic, but it turned out a few Equestrian artifacts had ended up here over the centuries...and you became very desperate when something you'd fixated on all your life had become beyond your ability to reach. Combine that with technology she had to sneak here in the middle of the night and it was finally time.
It'd been how long now? How long since those stupid princesses and their friends had punted them over here? Adagio lost track sometimes. When you were as old as she and her sisters were, it could be hard to remember how many years had passed without the memory of a god. Normally she wouldn't care, but in lulls between major meals, time seemed to pass so slow.
It used to be so easy to stir a town up to violence. Shout 'witch' here, spread a few lies there. Those idiots in Salem never realized that they let three witches walk right by while killing how many innocent people? A part of Adagio, a sizable, bitter part, enjoyed seeing hateful mortals rip each other apart like that lynch mob had tried to do to her sisters and the Rockin' Beats all those years ago.
But that didn't change the fact that until the next great upheaval, the Sirens, once one of the mightiest threats Equus had ever seen, were lurking around in a diner on the outskirts of a small town causing petty arguments just to sate their hunger.
“This is the worst...” Aria grumbled. “Why are these humans getting so much harder to get at each other's throats these days?”
“Don't worry, they'll find something else to rip each others' throats out sooner or later...” Adagio muttered. Thankfully, Earth's inventing the internet made WiFi hotspots easy fast food (one little song and half the people using them started flame wars) and it was getting to the point the entertainment industry had gone global. That was giving her some wonderful ideas.
“Can they do it any faster? I'm so bored...” muttered Sonata, like an overactive child.
Adagio gave a grumble...before all three's heads collectively snapped in one direction like sharks that had suddenly smelled blood in the water. Blood from a blue whale that'd been sliced wide open from mouth to fluke. The trio shared a look and each got a grin before dashing out the door as fast as their legs could carry them.
Running at top speed, the trio soon realized the source was quite some ways away, clear on the other side of town...but the fact there was enough negative energy erupting up to energize them from all this way made it was too tempting to care. As they ran, it became clear the deluge of energy was keeping their stamina running full. No, not full. Overflowing.
Adagio cackled as their jewels ignited a burning crimson and the trio glowed along with them. Floating into the air, the trio rocketed off towards their prey while gaining speed with every passing second as they got closer and closer.
= Dagon Rises – Dagon (2001) =
Sunset Shimmer hit the button one more time, another surge of energy flying into the crack she'd opened in the dimensional barrier to finally tear it completely asunder. Slowly walking over, she touched her hand to the statue's surface and phased through it with a soft glow.
The girl gave a prideful smirk. “Time to finally get back what's mine!”
“Funny. We were thinking the exact same thing.”
Sunset spun around...right as a yellow hand grabbed her by throat and lifted her off the ground like she was a toy.
Adagio Dazzle gave an elated laugh. “Thank you so much for opening the door for us. We'll dedicate a nice song to you.”
The girl struggled in the Siren's grip, kicking and trying to get free to no avail. “I've waited too long for this! You're not taking this from me!”
The girl's blood ran cold as Adagio looked her in the eyes. The siren's eyes ignited bright crimson and as she smirked her teeth sharpened into shark-like fangs. “Not as long as we have.”
“W-What are you?!”
“A shark who's been waiting far too long to get back in the ocean.”
Sunset found herself thrown with one arm like she weighed nothing, rolling across the ground to a stop dozens of feet away against a building wall as trio ignored her to focus on the portal.
“I don't think I've ever tasted this much negative energy in my life! Equestria must be an all you can eat buffet!” Aria exclaimed with a laugh.
“Time to go home!” Sonata chimed in with a childish laugh...that was offset by the malicious, toothy smirk she sported doing it.
Sunset Shimmer had to cover her eyes as crimson energy sparked between the trio's glowing red jewels before exploding and wrapping around them as they lifted into the air.
Within the burst of red light, equine ears formed on their heads, hair growing down until it resembled pony tails. A shell of energy over them cracked and finally exploded off as the red glow faded. Floating above Sunset, the trio now flew on fin-like wings that Adagio seemed utterly elated just to look at.
“We could just stand here and make this world adore us now!” Aria cackled with delight.
Adagio gave a predatory grin. “Then just imagine how powerful we'll be on the other side!”
Sunset growled. This was her moment! She wasn't about to let them steal it from her! Not after the years she'd been planning, waiting, and denied! She was noticed a spare piece of pipe from her construction project and rushed Adagio with it from behind. Right as she swung it at the yellow skinned girl's skull, however, Adagio spun around and caught it. The pipe bent and crushed as the hand tightened around it.
“You really want to get to Equestria bad, don't you?” the alpha Siren asked with a smirk. “Fine then, you'll get to go.”
With that, the trio began to sing wordless vocals that Sunset felt reach into her mind like tendrils. She struggled, trying to pull away from these...from these...beautiful creatures with the most wonderful voices she'd ever heard in her entire life. Why was she trying to pull away? Why would she ever want to turn away? She could feel her negativity being sucked out of her like a sponge, the euphoria was transcendent. All her anger, spite, revenge, all eaten up. When their wonderful voices ceased, and she crashed back down to Earth, she felt strangely empty but she knew these three were so much greater than she could hope to be, and that was perfectly fine. As long as she could hear their singing, she could scrub their toilets and couldn't be happier. What were her hopes and dreams in comparison to theirs perfection?
“Follow us,” Adagio said with a smile.
“Yes, your highness,” Sunset said adoringly, following them through the portal like an obedient dog.
A trio of crimson comets burst forth from a warded vault (though warded to only block Discord from peering in, not if a certain unicorn returned home one day, as per Celestia's direct orders to Cadence) buried under what had once been Old Avalon and took to the sky.
Soon enough, red eyes gazed down from above the cotton candy clouds, swimming round the world and taking in the sights while feeding on the ocean of negativity. Sunset pulled along by Sonata as an afterthought.
Adagio noted with ironic joy that now the other three tribes, as they were, had joined their own.
Rebellions struggling hopelessly against an unstoppable god tyrant. Creatures dying as regularly as the rain fell, and sometimes because of what was falling. Then rising from the dead as zombies to consume their loved ones. Ponies struggling just to acquire the barest semblance of a living only for the currency to change in a nanoinstant and make all their hard work pointless. A immortal serial killer demi-goddess and cannibal with her mother trapped in her mind regularly claiming victims. Crops at the mercy of seasons and times of day that changed without reason or warning. Whether you spent the day as yourself, turned into something unrecognizable without a moment's warning, or remain the same in body but be twisted in mind was anyone's guest.
The deer on the moon were like children in a fish bowl. Any deer that dared so much as set a hoof outside the frontier of their goddess' protection were as likely to pull their hoof back in as an accordion, a feral cobra, a grenade, or a plushie version of itself. Tiamat and Bahamut guarding their horde that was their hoard with brutal sternness, no dragon daring to leave their gods' sight least Discord take advantage of that brief moment. The Bloodstone Scepter keeping dragons safe from Discord's mental corruption, but bound to the Dragon Lord's will.
Aria snorted as they flew over one of the oceans, which were currently jello. "Gonna take a while before we can take a good dive in the ocean again."
And of course, all of it with that lunatic Discord at the helm.
The world was Hell for everyone and everything in it...but to the Sirens, it was paradise. A mouth watering buffet of negativity.
If there was one positive, it was seeing their tribe resurrected, but there was naturally a catch.
“Yay! Our species is back!” Sonata cheered with a chuckle.
“Yeah, but we have Discord to thank for that,” Aria snarled.
“Who does he think he is?! Wiping our race out, then remaking them?!” Adagio asked with a growl. “And turn them into his own personal pet fish tank!”
“...Better than what he did before,” Sonata pointed out.
“Ya know, if we kill Discord, these ponies might not even need our song to adore us,” Aria said with a chuckle. “And then we've got our own race back and ready for us to rule.”
“Good call, Aria,” Adagio replied, her rage turning into an opportunistic smirk. “And at this point, who's going to resist? Blissful admiration is practically heaven to these ponies.”
Sunset, sitting on Sonata's back, nodded obediently.
Right as the group descended on Ponyville with their siren song, the ponies flocking to worship and adore them...the trio once more snapped towards what was once Canterlot as the largest singular point of negativity by far made itself known.
Things were not going well with Twilight Sparkle. After a thousand years in this nightmare, she'd managed to break free of Discord's spell thanks to a certain adorable little filly. Next had come freeing her friends from his control, setting the trap, and Discord was trapped in stone. They'd limited the wave of the rainbow after Discord told them in his last moments before being petrified his spells being undone might send the Sea Ponies crashing onto the cold unforgiving ground in an attempt to convince them not to, so the rest of the world would need to wait a little bit while she figured out a way around that. Twilight admitted she didn't trust Discord, but given this was Discord, they couldn't take any chances. The world was free (even if at the moment only they were aware of it)...but then came the voice. That Nameless Passenger that'd been along their journey the entire time. Telling her to undo it all. Undo this timeline. Send everything back so Discord never won. Punish him for everything he'd done. Twilight had been tempted. Oh so tempted. But in the end, she'd said no...the voice hadn't liked that.
And now here she was, Twilight herself but bigger, meaner, and crazier, trying to kill her friends and make her turn back time. The group had fought as hard as they could, but between the witch and her Gallery of Nightmares, it quickly became obvious they couldn't win. So here they were, in the top floor of the Chaos Castle with the roof blown off, looking up at the Nightmare.
“Come on, myself! Grow up and do what must be done!” Nightmare Eclipse offered, sounding disturbingly like Twilight herself when she encouraged her friends as she held out the scroll with the spell emblazoned on it. “This world is beyond saving, we'll make one better than new! A golden world where everypony is happy!”
What choice did she have at this point? They'd tried everything and nothing could so much as scratch her. If not for the healing, failsafe, and memory spells, they'd have been done in so many times over by now...Well, they'd tried everything except one thing.
“No! I can't do that! The Sea Ponies, the Apple Pies, the Hippogriffs are worth saving! I won't erase them! Everycreature, formation!” Twilight called, Magic igniting.
Rainbow Dash ignited Loyalty, Rarity Honesty, Apple Pie Laughter, Spike Generosity, Applejack Kindness. Fluttershy meanwhile kept her daughter back to protect her from the harmony and Pinkie Pie prepared to run interference.
Eclipse rolled her eyes, the other five Nightmares snaking their way out of her. “Fine...looks like we'll have to teach you this lesson again, myself...” she stated like a parent chastising a child, the Nightmares summoning forth six gems larger than a grown stallion which began to charge up power of their own.
The two charged...until without warning fireworks shot high into the sky on the horizon and exploded, causing the two groups' heads to snap aside to look. The charging energy dissipated and the Nightmares retreated into Eclipse as their suped up gems vanished and a beautiful, haunting song echoed across the landscape. None of them noticing three sets of crimson eyes watching from above the clouds.
= Surgam Identidem – Madoka Magica =
“Those were Cream Pie's fireworks, Ah'd recognize 'em anywhere, Halflight!” Apple Pie called, looking confused.
Looking out from the Castle, a parade of ponies marched forwards towards it, all chanting and cheering. They recognized the Apple Pies among them...and every last creature between Ponyville and here. All marching with blue, yellow, and purple banners raised high or posters like one would see at a rock concert.
“What's going on?” Rainbow Dash asked, not minding a break in the fighting to recover, given how many times she'd gotten fried and needed to regenerate.
Twilight carefully took time to cast some healing spells on Spike, who'd been wounded rather badly. “I don't know! They can't be here to help us! No pony outside this castle knows we even rebelled in the first place!”
She looked over at Discord's statue, noting that it was still there. Eclipse said she wanted Discord to watch what she was going to do to his daughter, which was one reason Fluttershy in particular had had more near deaths in this fight than the rest of them combined.
“Dazzlings! Defeat the witch!” chanted the masses, as one united front as they arrived at the edge, all assembling like a crowd at a concert. Their cheers were more like rock fans than prayers for some savior, but at the same time there was an almost worship-like quality to it. “Defeat her and be our queens!”
That raised more alarm bells in Twilight's mind. “Witch...how could they know about Eclipse already?”
“Dazzlings?” Rarity asked, sharing a confused look with the rest of the group.
“Pa?! What are you and everypony else doin' here?!” Apple Pie called.
Rainbow looked down to find the crows constantly chasing Derpy had stopped and joined the crowd...along with Derpy herself and she was pretty sure Dinky...somehow. It was hard to tell when she was a muffin. They seemed happy...given the misery they'd endured, she couldn't blame them.
Eclipse raised an eyebrow in annoyance. “What are all the NPCs doing here?”
Suddenly, a shockwave of red sonic energy blew away the cotton candy clouds for miles, making the group on the castle roof have to brace themselves as the parting clouds opened to reveal three figures hovering high above...Twilight realized that they could've been here the entire time and they wouldn't have even known it.
Slowly descending, the trio came into view, seeming to intentionally do so in the way that made them look the most majestic. Three massive creatures looking like nightmarish perversions of Sea Ponies, mouths full of razor-sharp teeth. As they descended, the crowd's cheering intensified, as if heralding the return of Megan herself.
“Well, you've put on quite the opening act,” Adagio said with a chuckle. “But we'll have to stop you there, it's time for-”
Eclipse instantly blasted the trio of sea witches with a massive cascade of hellfire. “We don't have time for NPCs who are too full of themselves. Now back to business, enough of this nonsense my-”
Suddenly, a yellow streak flew out of the smoke and slammed into Eclipse full speed, sending both crashing through the floor and into the wall of the next floor hard enough to shake the entire palace, Eclipse's scroll being sent flying from the collision.
Adagio smirked as she pinned Nightmare Eclipse against the chaos infused stone, the powerful Nightmare noting to her frustration pushing her off was easier said than done. The siren's eyes glowed red as a green miasma only she could see flowed like a leaking dam from Nightmare Eclipse into her jewel. Twilight swore she saw Adagio's muscles bulge slightly, as if she'd just done a month's workout in a few moments.
The alpha Siren chuckled. “Funny you should say that, I was just about to say your time had run out altogether.”
Eclipse blasted her off several dozen meters back, only for a red sonic blast in return to send the Nightmare crashing through the wall and slamming against one of the nearby mountains in the range near Ponyville.
The two world threatening abominations stared one another down for a few moments, Eclipse rising and flying up to be on eye level with Adagio.
= The Dark Lords – Death Battle =
“Looks like this world has one too many apex predators, and I have no intention of leaving,” Adagio said with a smirk as energy rippled over her body. She laughed manically with pure euphoria as she realized what she could do now. The sea monster contorted and changed, transforming into what on some level resembled the extinct Flutter Ponies, but with obviously fin-like wings. Roughly the size of Princess Cadence with similar proportions. Her sisters gasped, smiled, then followed suit. All three laughed like what they saw was winning in and of itself. While Adagio was focused on Nightmare Eclipse, her sisters took the opportunity to admire themselves in mirrors their thralls supplied.
“Oh, it's cute you think NPCs like you have any chance against me,” Eclipse replied with her Twilight-like cheerfulness, though notable frustration worming in as her horn ignited with power.
Red musical sound waves met a torrent of arcane energy, slamming into one another above the Castle Castle and fighting back and forth for several moments before exploding in a blast of energy that forced Twilight to shield her group from the shockwave. Adagio flew through the smoke and punched Nightmare Eclipse in the jaw with enough force to send a tooth flying despite being considerably smaller in her beautiful form, forcing her to retaliate in kind and earn a bloody lip to get some distance. Both regenerated so fast it was soon impossible to tell either had been hurt to begin with. Nightmare Eclipse quickly let loose a lightning spell that'd have left an elder dragon a twitching wreck on the ground. It only stunned Adagio for a few moments before she sang a note that caused electricity to arc through her body and into her wings before hitting Nightmare Eclipse with the same level of power and similar effect.
“...Uh, Twilight, who should we be cheerin' for?” Applejack asked, eyes wide at the clash going on.
“Those...those are the Sirens...” Twilight muttered in disbelief as Adagio flew forwards, morphing her lower body into that of the sea monster. The Siren used her long tail to wrap around Nightmare Eclipse's midsection before flying down and flipping forwards, piledriving the Nightmare headfirst into the ground around the castle.
“The what?!” Rainbow Dash questioned, watching Eclipse erupt in flames to force Adagio to release her before blasting the Siren back into the ground.
“Three creatures who tried to use their magic to divide and conquer Equestria in ancient times...they...they shouldn't be able to be here! They were banished to another dimension!”
Nightmare Eclipse flew at Adagio and charged up a freezing beam to turn her into an ice sculpture. The Siren's maw filled with red sonic energy and let loose a beam of red musical power in retaliation. The two's arcane attacks once more clashed before Adagio brought a leg up and kicked Nightmare Eclipse in the jaw. Her head knocked upwards, the heroes had to dodge the beam that froze a large section of the castle solid.
“Ah'm sorry, we'll find a way tah fix it,” Apple Pie told the shuddering, sapient structure as she gently pet the floor.
“So we've got two super monsters duking it out now?! What are we gonna do?!” Applejack asked.
Twilight wracked her brain. This shouldn't be remotely possible. Maybe...maybe they should get involved. But on who's side?
*You couldn't beat Nightmare Eclipse, what if the Sirens are every bit as strong?*
Twilight looked around and noted Nightmare Eclipse was quite preoccupied as Adagio sent her flying back and slamming through a nearby mountain in the neighboring chain with a magically generated wind. If they just jumped into this battle, there was no telling what they might get caught in the middle of.
*You're Twilight, what are you best at?*
“Girls, let's fall back and regroup, we're gonna need a plan,” Twilight replied, leading the group down the stairs into the castle, which thankfully was at least neutral to them at this point.
Aria snickered as Adagio was blasted back by Nightmare Eclipse, not at all concerned. She looked down, seeing the heroes retreat. Giving a smirk, the purple Siren looked over to one of their minions and sang a single wordless note.
Sunset Shimmer turned from the cheering crowd, rage and hate filling her as her eyes flashed green. Twilight. That pony the Princess had replaced her with. How could she have forgotten her?! Without another word, Sunset raced into the Chaos Castle.
“Can't have those so called heroes messing up our plan, can we?” Aria asked with a smirk.
Nightmare Eclipse had stopped looking amused, now looking more like Adagio was a persistently difficult math problem to solve. “What are you?! Another freak like that Nameless idiot?!”
Adagio chuckled. “Like you're one to talk about being a freak.” The alpha Siren flew forwards and slammed into Eclipse, focusing. Watching the fight from afar had been quite informative. They'd never realized certain things about the Elements before. Like that the individual notes of the song might have their own power. Her eyes briefly glowed a dark twisted pink as the world threatening villainesses touched. Darkness tried to creep up her leg and infest her mind...only for it to get sucked into her jewel and devoured. “Twilight Tragedy.”
The Nightmare's flames burst higher as the two grappled. “I was never Twilight Tragedy! That was that scum Discord's doing!” she roared, letting loose a massive blast of hellfire point blank in Adagio's face...unable to see the massive surge of green energy slinking into all three sisters' jewels.
However, focused on Adagio, the Most Vengeful Friend didn't notice the sonic vibrations going through the air to the rest of the trio until Sonata pounced on one wing like a shark ambushing a seal and Aria on the other, both letting lose a gigantic torrent of lightning into her. As Eclipse gave a cry of pain, Adagio flew forwards, face still rapidly regenerating, and grabbed the Nightmare by the head.
“I'm also not an idiot.” The alpha Siren let loose a massive point blank musical sonic wave directly into Nightmare Eclipse's face.
Eclipse's head felt like it was going to split open, the sonic blast ripping away skin and rupturing her eardrums. This continued until an eye, bloodshot from ruptured vessels, snapped open to reveal the tiny hands of a clock. “Time stop.”
The world came to a screeching halt, time itself freezing.
“You will wander forever.”
Suddenly, they were back with Aria and Sonata's ambush about to be launched, only this time the ethereal form of a massive demonic dragon emerged and swiped both beta Sirens away. This allowed Eclipse to send Adagio sailing through several mountains with an energy beam that'd have vaporized an entire row of buildings.
“You okay, Twilight?” Nightmare Banneret asked, giving a concerned look.
The Most Vengeful Friend's eye twitched slightly. “Yes, thank you, Spike...I can't believe I'll need help to deal with a bunch of rogue recordings who don't even have me with them.”
The Sirens flew back up and regrouped, finding the other five Nightmares now flanking Eclipse. Despite having been hit with the massive beam, Adagio was healing so rapidly that within seconds it was impossible to tell she'd even been hurt in the first place.
Adagio merely smirked. “We might be outnumbered...”
The trio of Sirens sang a long, wordless note as a line of red energy connected them before exploding skywards and forming into massive ethereal versions of their sea monster forms so large Banneret was on eye level with one. The Sirens smirked, their projections floating down next to them, acting more like remote avatars than mere projections.
“But you're out of your depth,” Aria finished, eyes glowing red as she gave a chuckle while her avatar spoke in tandem.
Eclipse gave a proud smirk. “You're the ones with no idea who you're dealing with now that I have my friends with me. Also, I have this: Failsafe Spell!”
The canceling spell washed over the Sirens and their Avatars...but when it faded, nothing had changed.
“You have a pretty light, so what?” Sonata asked.
Eclipse's smile faded ever so slightly.
With that the three Sirens and three avatars flew forwards to meet the six Nightmares, the brainwashed masses merely continuing to cheer their mistresses on.
“So, what's the plan? Ambush all of them with the Elements?” Rainbow Dash asked as they skidded to a stop deeper into the castle.
Fluttershy had to pause and talk down Fluttercruel in her own head, though thankfully having the witch who'd tormented her father to focus on put the Demi-Draconequus somewhat on the same page as they were. “Fluttercruel wants us to do that.” Fluttershy's face turned green. “And other...things.”
Twilight took a deep breath. “Nightmare Eclipse has her own set of Elements...we need something to turn the tide or we're going to just end up at a stalemate at best.”
*Is there any other back up left to find?*
The mare's eyes widened. “But we do have some help we can call in...” she said, turning on a dime and leading the group down another hallway.
A few moments later, following a scanning spell, Sunset Shimmer rushed into the hallway. Despite the chaotic nature of this place and the maddening main entrance, the Siren's spell kept her mind tunnel focused on the object of her rage, and so it remained as she continued her pursuit.
= The Dark Lords – Death Battle =
Adagio's avatar flew full speed at Nightmare Whisper, the Kindest of Lies taking in a deep breath. “Hush now, quiet now-”
The avatar might as well not even heard her as it merely smirked and continued, opening its massive maw to try and bite her head off.
Whisper's eyes widened and she was able to surround herself in a barrier right before the jaws could slam shut. She struggled to hold it back, the barrier cracking. “Why didn't it work?!” She gasped as red energy erupted from the construct's throat and sent her sailing back and digging a trench in the checkerboard ground.
Eclipse cringed mid attack on Adagio, bruises matching the ones Whisper got from the impact appearing.
The real alpha Siren smirked. “Looks like your friends are more of a hindrance than a help.” With the same sonic sonar they'd used while trapped in the Windigo's ice, she reached out to her sisters.
“I can always rely on my friends,” the Nightmare replied simply before summoning massive fireballs and launching them at Adagio, the Siren dashing between them and letting them explode in the distance, leveling several city blocks worth of land before letting loose a red sonic beam of her own that blew the top off a mountain behind Eclipse when she dodged it. Adagio flew forwards and punched Eclipse again across the side of her face covered by the mask, another flash of twisted pink magic in her eyes.
Aria's massive avatar grappled with Banneret, the two biting and snarling at one another. Meanwhile the true Aria dodged a manifested armada of party cannons that unloaded at her.
“Come on, Starsong! Put yourself back together and be with me me me again!” Granfalloon chanted with her same impossibly happy tone as always. The Endless Laughter let loose a surge of energy balloons that washed over Aria, leaving her dressed like a clown.
But instead of smiling, she snarled as Granfalloon's magic was sucked into her jewel, glowing with a twisted dark blue light and blowing the costume off like a strong man breaking out of chains. Aria growled when she noticed the make up still on her, her muscles charging with magic as she flew at Granfalloon, tackling the Nightmare into the ground hard enough to leave a crater despite being much physically smaller in this form.
“You want me to laugh, you clown faced freak?!” Aria roared, landing a barrage of blows into Granfalloon's face until the clown-like Nightmare's nose was bloody. Adagio noticed the same happen to Eclipse and took advantage to give her another high voltage shock. “Then let me hurt you some more! That will make me laugh!”
Granfalloon manifested a giant boxing glove and launched it, hitting Aria right in the stomach and sending her sailing high into the sky were she was bombarded by a multitude of party cannons.
Sonata's avatar flew at Mirror, the Nightmare unfurling her wings to reveal the many emerald eyes...but doing nothing to slow it and forcing her to dodge and blast the beast back.
“Dang it! The big ones don't have a mind in 'em!” Applejack's Nightmare realized...then noticed something seemed to be filling the avatars up, making them grow more and more solid with each passing moment. She didn't have time to act on that realization, given the avatar nigh instantly attempted to let her have it with a sonic beam.
The Nightmare of Honesty's gaze fell on the real Sonata. Something was off. While this form was a fake, when Adagio transformed partly into that sea monster earlier, it didn't feel real either. These three were hiding something. She didn't like this one bit.
“You girls are lame! Just give up!” Nightmare Manacle called, flying at the real Sonata.
“Aww, why do I have to fight the one who's like Aria? I wanted to fight the funny one!” Sonata called, meeting her charge. Manacle let loose her chains, trying to quickly bind her, but Sonata's eyes glowed with a dark, twisted red different than her normal crimson. The blue siren sang one long note that washed over the chains, causing them to turn the same red color before winding around to face their original mistress like snakes. “Nice toys! Mind if I play with them too?!”
Manacle's eyes widened as her own chains turned and flew right back at her, forcing her to quickly vaporize them to defend herself. “What gives?!”
“I think I made them betray you, cool huh?”
Mirror's eyes widened as she looked at the jewel Sonata wore while dodging a snap of the avatar's jaws. “Their jewels are like the Elements of Chaos!”
Or rather, close enough that at this point she could only see the vaguest of differences. And the differences were becoming less and less apparent with each passing moment. It was like trying to tell the difference between a high quality lab-grown diamond and a real one.
Nightmare Mirror flew down, slamming into the ground and sending crystal spikes erupting at the avatar Sonata, crashing into the ground on its back.
Sonata paused for a moment, a hoof going to her head. It felt like something in her brain was stitching itself back together...and then an idea clicked in her mind that'd been just out of reach for a very long time. “Hey, Aria! Adagio! I just had an idea!”
Aria rolled her eyes as she recovered from Granfalloon's attack and dodged a rain of anvils. “Great, let me guess, something involving tacos?”
“No! Well, yes, but also this!” Sonata said, opening her mouth. A red glow formed in the back of her throat as she sung an odd, high pitched song. Manacle's eyes widened and she just barely dodged as a paper-thin, red beam of sound erupted from the Siren's jaws and sliced a deep cut across her back (and Eclipse's by extension) before slicing through a forest in the distance. A moment later, half the forest's trees slid in half and fell to the ground. “Remember the movie I made you girls watch about the giant turtle fighting the big vampire bat?” she asked before getting hit with a massive beam of lightning charged magic and making a tench in the ground with her face.
Aria stared for a moment before giving a bloodthirsty smirk. The purple Siren's avatar opened its mouth, mimicking her sister and letting loose a sonic cutter of its own, slashing Banneret's shoulder wide open midgrapple.
Eclipse grabbed her shoulder as it was likewise cut open while she was attempting to crush Adagio with a gravity spell. Her focus broken, she allowed the yellow Siren, who'd already been forcing her way out of it as it was, to fly free. Continuing forward, Adagio let loose a sonic cutter of her own, directly across Eclipse's eye that the clock hands had appeared in. Moments later, the mask below it slid off and fall to the ground, revealing burn scar beneath.
“Twilight!” Nightmare Whisper yelled, sending an army of puppets against the Adagio avatar, but the distraction allowing it to put a hole straight through one of her wings with its own sonic cutter.
“Well well,” Adagio said with a smirk, looking at the exposed scar. She'd never met the mare who's Cutie Mark the scar was shaped in, but still looked upon it with recognition. “Looks like somepony did leave their mark on you after all, didn't they?”
Despite Eclipse's eye being clinched shut with blood pouring down her face, the clock hands still appeared. “Time stop. You will wander forever.”
In a flash, they were back right before Aria had began pummeling Granfalloon. This time instead of trying her wave of joy, the Endless Laughter flew up and summoned massive gattling gun version of her normal Party Cannon. “Come on on on! Play nice Starsong! Ha ha ha!” In a massive barrage, the purple Siren was sent slamming into the ground. Bannerette dodged a bite and blew Aria's avatar backwards with a massive blast of fire.
Nightmare Mirror flew back to dodge a charge, then spread her mirrored wings, catching the follow up sonic beam in one and blasting the avatar back by sending it out the other.
Nightmare Manacle kept flying forwards rather than attempt her chains, going into a Sonic Darkboom and sending Sonata plowing back into both her own avatar and sister.
Nightmare Whisper quickly used her vines to hold Adagio's avatar in place, allowing Nightmare Eclipse to dodge Adagio's sonic beam and summon a gigantic circle of mirrors. The Nightmare sent one of her feathers through one of them, catching Adagio in a maelstrom of razor-sharp feathers that erupted from every mirror at once and shredded into her before Nightmare Eclipse herself blasted the alpha Siren with a massive beam that plowed her and her avatar down on top of her sisters.
“Twilight, fighting them with us tethered to you might be a bad idea, it really is holding you back,” Nightmare Banneret observed as the Nightmares regrouped.
“Don't be silly, Spike, we've got this,” said Nightmare Eclipse confidently...before the Sirens simply got right back up, Adagio giving a smirk as they nigh instantly regenerated all the damage the six of them had managed to deal in seconds. Eclipse was loath to admit it, but the trio were healing at a rate that made the normal Elements of Chaos look like snails.
The trio of Sirens and their avatars inhaled and let loose six massive sonic blasts that slammed Eclipse into a mountain as she pulled her friends back inside her. They continued the long, wordless note for several moments, shattering the entire mountain and launching Nightmare Eclipse straight through it and into a nearby field where the rubble crashed down on top of her.
After several moments, Eclipse erupted from the debris in a cascade of hellfire, giving a frustrated growl. This was quickly becoming every bit the nuisance as that timeline she'd gotten her scar from. Well she'd made sure an Alicorn Trixie and 'Shining Armor' never existed again. “Fine. Go find bodies.”
Five shadows separated from the lead Nightmare and snaked along the ground into the distance.
Adagio and her sisters flew over, glaring down at Nightmare Eclipse with glowing red eyes and toothy grins. “Still think we're just 'NPCs?'”
“Yeah! We're the bosses!” Sonata called with a chuckle.
Aria cracked her forelegs with a toothy smirk. “More like your final boss.”
Nightmare Eclipse gave an amused chuckle. “Cute, you really think you can win. Since when do I ever fail?”
“How about now?” Adagio replied, the three Sirens and their avatars gathering energy into their mouths for an all out strike.
Until a shadow fell over them. As the turned, Manacle's chains and Whisper's puppet strings grabbed them from all angles. While they nigh instantly began breaking free, before they could the towering Banneret launched a deluge of dragon fire down on them, blasting them into the ground where Mirror turned them into pincushions with crystal spikes.
“Sorry about this, Starsong! But you wouldn't play nice nice nice!” Flying up, Granfalloon formed an anvil the size of a small asteroid and slammed it right down on them with an impact that made a massive crater.
Eclipse motioned for her friends to pull back and charged up magic. It was fortunate the battle had ended up this far from the castle, as she unleashed a magic spell that leveled a several mile radius on impact and left nothing but scorched earth and a mushroom cloud in its wake while those viewing from a distance had to shield themselves from the light, heat, and wind.
Eclipse hovered above the smoke and looked down, seeing the three red crystals laying in the ashes. She fired a beam upwards and brought down a city killer asteroid directly on top of the gems without batting an eye. “There, that should do it. Now let's go find mysel-”
The six suddenly heard a haunting, wordless vocal coming from the rubble.
Eclipse's mane and tail suddenly erupted like a volcano. “Are you kidding me?” she asked, her eye twitching like mad.
The three gems exploded out of the rubble and ash, floating into the sky without so much as a scratch.
“Finally all here in the flesh? Then I guess we'll drop our facade too,” Adagio's voice echoed like a mare who'd just scored a checkmate.
= Welcome to the Show – Equestria Girls Rainbow Rocks (Music Video Version) =
The three's voices continued to sing wordless vocals...as green miasma surged from all over the entire world, the six Nightmares included, gathering directly above the trio in such massive quantities that it made Eclipse's horn hurt and became visible to even the Nightmares.
Granfalloon's face turned green and she doubled over holding her stomach. The Nightmare of Joy felt like she'd eaten every last one of the baked bads from back in the day. In every single time loop.
“That's not good...” muttered Nightmare Banneret, his eyes widening.
The entire Nightmare Gallery let loose on the singularity of negative energy with everything they could manage, but the green energy formed into a tornado being sucked into the jewels and deflected their strikes.
The cotton candy clouds blew away and in their place was what seemed like a category six hurricane at sea suddenly forming out of nowhere, lightning slamming down on the already devastated stretch of land. The red jewels pulsed like beating hearts, doubling in size as an ornate golden mounting formed from red energy. Nightmare Mirror's eyes widened as she realized the magic was the same as when they'd changed form before. Only this time it was like that magic being dispelled and pulled away.
“Welcome to the show. We're gonna let you know, We're back in town. And we're gonna go all out!”
The six Nightmares were sent flying back by a massive shockwave of red sonic energy that put some cracks in Mirror's wings. It continued outwards, not stopping until the circular wave hit itself on the other side of the world. Every last thinking creature without the protection of the Elements or similar power turned at once towards the source, eyes not just flickering but now glowing green and beginning to worship the Sirens' names.
The Hippogriffs, Virgacorns, and Earth Ponies all felt...odd. While compelled to feel hate: for the first time in most of their lives, they felt a purpose that wouldn't be taken away at the drop of a hat. Thus, they all cheered as one.
“Feel the wave of sound, As it crashes down! You can't turn away, Cause now we're here to stay!”
The red energy formed into new bodies for the three, at first resembling their true Siren forms before becoming more shapely and beautiful with hind legs in addition to the fish-like tail in the same manner their bodies changed between their two previous forms.
“We will be adored, You'll tell us that you want us! Thank you so much for, Making us so much more!”
A line of red energy extended from each of their foreheads, taking the shape of a unicorn horn.
“Soon you'll need us, You will heed us! Just try to stop us now!”
Muscles bulged, looking more like an athletic Earth Pony rather than a lithe Flutter Pony.
“Watch our power soar, You ready for a war? Now we've broken through! Here we come to finish you!”
All three's wings grew far more massive until they rivaled and resembled twisted versions of Whisper's butterfly wings without losing their fin-like structure. Folding forwards, the wings then suddenly opened, shattering the chrysalis of red light off them in a radiant flash.
“Welcome to the show, Now you'd better know, We're back in town...”
The trio floated, illuminated by raining lightning. Their bodies now elegant and beautiful despite the scales and razor-sharp teeth hidden behind lips. If one didn't know any better, they'd say they were almost Alicorns. They were equal in size to one...maybe a bit bigger.
“That's not fair, only the good guys are supposed to get new transformations...” Pinkie Pie's still sickened Nightmare muttered.
“Wait, you think you're the good guys?” Aria asked before laughing. “Really?”
“Yeah, you're called Nightmares! Duh!” Sonata mocked.
"We're Nightmares for the Bad Guys! Like the Noir Fear from the comics!" Manacle argued.
Eclipse didn't wait as she rose from the ground, her eye gaining the clock hands. Maybe if they destroyed their gems before they started transforming. “Time stop...”
Adagio's jewel glowed with a twisted magenta aura and she snapped her own opposite eye open. Eclipse gave a gasp of shock as she saw the same small clock hands in the Siren's eye.
“Your time is running out.”
Time stopped, but the Sirens didn't, merely chuckling as hovered higher.
“Y-You will wander forever!”
“Let time come untethered, You will wander forever!”
The two clocks each tried to rewind, but fought against one another until both recoiled back, time resuming as normal.
“H-How?” Eclipse asked, for once in the several hundred million years they'd done this her friends noting a twinge of panic in her voice.
“You're not the only Element of Magic here,” Adagio said with a chuckle, tapping her jewel. “Though you are the ugliest.”
“That can't be real, can it?!” asked Nightmare Manacle in disbelief.
Nightmare Mirror's eyes widened. “They're more real than they've been the entire fight! They were hidin' this the entire time!”
What none of them saw was the green energy now flowing from all six Nightmares, whereas before it'd only been coming from Eclipse herself.
Nightmare Granfalloon shuddered, the sickening feeling resuming. “T-Twilight...the world...it feels like it's...it's fighting itself.”
Eclipse used a quick observation spell...and found indeed, all over the world creatures were arguing and fighting with one another...or cheering the Dazzlings' names at the top of their lungs. She noticed in the distance the windows of the Chaos Castle glowing green and its towers and stones rearranging themselves to spell out the Dazzlings' names. “Kill them. Now. As quickly as we can.”
Adagio gave a low chuckle, the trio once more summoning their avatars. Only this time, the massive constructs were only vaguely transparent and looked like the three's new forms, only much larger. So much so Banneret found himself having to look up. “Well, none of us are holding back anymore, so ladies and gentlecolts, enough with the opening act! Here comes the main event!”
The assembled masses back surrounding the castle continued to watch from a distance, only held back from getting close by the Sirens themselves. After all, why would they put the fans they were looking forwards to have worship them in a position to die? At Adagio's statement, they began cheering once more, louder than ever.
“Sirens vs. Nightmares! Place your bets!” Aria announced with a bloodthirsty smirk.
Applejack pushed Apple Pie out of the way, her friends watching in horror as the sonic blast blew a hole through her chest, shattering her Element to bits.
“Auntie AJ!”
Adagio spun around, knocking away Rarity's golems before spinning around with a smirk. The fashionista barely had time for her eyes to widen before a sonic scream slammed into her, shattering her Element to pieces.
“YOU KILLED HER! YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!” roared Spike, pounding Adagio's face over and over in a complete feral rage...before Adagio opened her mouth and let loose a Sonic Cutter straight through his head.
“Oh look, Discord, I finally caught your little devil,” Eclipse said with a smirk, holding Fluttershy/Fluttercruel in her telekinesis before driving a flaming chain straight through her Element.
“Don't worry, kids, mama's coming,” Pinkie Pie muttered, laying in a crying Apple Pie's hooves, Element finally shattering after getting caught in the way when Manacle had Sonic Darkboomed Sonata.
“DOUBLE SONIC ENDBOOM!” screamed Ender Dash, tears streaming down her face as she came slamming down in a berserker fury from near orbit on the 12 combatants and leveling half a mile with the shockwave alone and leaving a sky high rainbow mushroom cloud...her own Element shattering to bits from the impact.
Twilight could only watch in horror as the fighters rose from the flames, more or less unharmed.
Twilight sobbed, looking up at the battle of gods unfolding as the Sirens reached their ultimate evolution. In her hooves, she cradled Apple Pie's battered and broken body. The filly didn't have a pulse. Around her lay her friends, broken and lifeless. Elements of Chaos shattered. The only reason she was alive was because Eclipse had intentionally saved her.
They'd tried to interfere in a war between giants...and gotten trampled like ants before two battling elephants. And now, the elephants had just gotten bigger, while she felt even smaller.
It wasn't fair...they'd won! She'd had her friends back! They'd beaten Discord! They'd had their happy ending! And now the world would end in a fight between warring giants!
It wasn't fair!
Dark hands began rising around her. Nightmare Eclipse was right. This world was beyond saving.
She'd make it fair! She'd wipe those stupid fish from existence and make the world right!
“Uh, Twilight, it sounds like that fight out there's getting pretty intense,” Rainbow Dash muttered as they dashed through the Castle...which unnervingly had suddenly stopped doing anything at all except decide to redecorate. The pictures and statues had began slowly changing to match those creepy fish monsters. Only they weren't creepy anymore: they were so beautiful Rarity at her prettiest looked plain in comparison.
“Is the castle gonna be okay?” Apple Pie asked, feeling concern for the entity she'd helped convince to be neutral.
“Don't worry, once we save the day, it'll be fine,” Applejack reassured, though wasn't sure if it was a lie herself or not.
“Think we'll get lucky and those nine will just kill each other?” asked Rarity bluntly, galloping along besides Twilight.
“If Eclipse hasn't beaten them yet, that means they're even more dangerous than I could have imagined, we're going to need help,” Twilight muttered, trying to keep her head in this situation. The group finally came to a sliding stop into the room she was looking for. “And we found it.”
The group looked up at the two statues towering above them, one gold, the other silver. They'd have saved them earlier, but they'd expected defeating Discord would've freed them anyway and their trap relied on him knowing nothing about their escape from his control. Unfortunately, there had still been the matter of preventing the floating ocean of sea ponies from dying.
Twilight was silent for a moment, noting there was no third statue. A few tears ran down her face she remembered centuries ago when she'd helped kill one of the people she loved more than anything. The lavender unicorn shook her head to clear it: she'd have time to mourn later, there wasn't time for it now. - Princess Minty shook her head. Millions of times, Evil Twilight had made sure not only that every new world path ended with Dissy's defeat, but also that every Twilight became more interested in hurting the meanies back than helping the ponies the meanies hurt so they wouldn't argue when they got mixed together, sometimes ... sometimes not even having to do it directly... Bad Dissy had hurt Twilight so much... it made Evil Twilight's job easy... - “The Princesses should have at least some idea how to stop them, and having two ancient senior Alicorns on our side can't hurt,” Twilight muttered, then gasped, noticing the Castle's changes creeping up their statues and changing them slowly to match the Sirens. “We have to hurry!” She quickly prepared a spell...before suddenly being sent flying across the room by orange energy blast.
= Evolution – Kamen Rider Build =
“What?!” Rainbow Dash asked, spinning around and having to dodge another blast.
“There you are!” Sunset Shimmer screamed, eyes glowing green.
Rarity quickly checked on Twilight. “Who's that?!”
“I don't know,” the lavender unicorn asked, regenerating a third degree burn on her side. As she looked up, she noticed Spike preparing to attack the new arrival to protect her.
*Notice anything strange?*
Twilight looked closely, seeing the sickly green glow in Sunset's eyes and remembered the Sirens' control over the crowd. “Spike! No! The Sirens are controlling her!” she yelled, prompting the mighty dragon to stop mid-attack before he could harm her.
“Well then what are we going to do?!” asked Rainbow Dash, dodging another blast. “Sit here and let her shoot at us forever?!”
“...Keep her busy, I'm going to try something.”
“You think you can steal everything that belongs to me and get away with it?!” asked Sunset, firing at Twilight again and again with beams that pierced holes in the walls until Rainbow flew over and gave her a quick kick in the face.
“What is even your problem?!” The pegasus quickly had to avoid a fiery blast of energy. “Twilight's never even met you!” A second beam hit her in the wing and blew it off, sending her crashing to the ground.
“Celestia replaced me with her! She's nothing but a thief!” the mare roared, right before Apple Pie and Pinkie jumped up and waved before dodging her attacks in a way only Pies could. Pinkie soon realized, however, how powerful her attacks were and had to push Apple Pie out of the way, having a beam go through her head.
“Aunt Pinkie, yah alright?!” Apple Pie asked.
“Yeah, just got to regenerate my fillyhood memories.”
Applejack threw her lasso, grabbing one of Sunset's legs as she reared up while Rarity summoned the golems that still chose to follow her to hold the other. The Unicorn quickly used a heat spell, bursting into flames and burning away her restraints before spinning and sending both flying through walls with a powerful series of concussive spells that would've killed a normal pony instantly.
“Come out here and face me like a mare!” Sunset roared, teleporting to avoid a grab from Spike and smashing one of the Siren statues over his head. Giving a roar, she formed an orange barrier surrounding herself that rained down searing hot energy beams.
Rainbow Dash, wing regenerated, had to dive in the way and lose the other one to shield the very mortal Apple Pie. “Dang it!”
Fluttershy eeped, flying down and grabbing them both to get them out of the way of another attack. “...No, dear, you can't skin her alive,” she said to the voice only she could hear. “But could you give me a shield?” she asked, then gave a disappointed look. “Well that's no reason to be rude. If you want to stop Nightmare Eclipse for doing this to your father, then I'm going to need a shield.”
She let Fluttercruel take control for a few moments, the Demi-Draconequus slicing her leg open and forming the blood into a demonic looking shield before retreating back inside.
“Thank you, it's wonderful,” the Element of Kindness praised, trying to be supportive before using the shield to block another attack.
The group tried to charge, only for Sunset to rapidly grow a massive plant, grabbing and whipping them around the room (Spike included) before throwing them to the ground. Fluttershy used herself as a shield to break Apple Pie's fall. And regenerate her wings.
“Darling, this mare's almost as strong as you,” Rarity muttered, Twilight having to intercept several beams despite whatever she was planning as Rarity needed to make a shield of rocks that were quickly melted into magma.
“No! Stronger!” Sunset snarled as she kept firing without restraint. “You're just a half-flank replacement!”
Rainbow Dash groaned, getting back up. “...Okay, looks like it's time for the big guns,” she said, flying up to prevent Apple Pie from being caught in the crossfire and making herself a target that Sunset instantly took advantage of by taking aim.
“Hey! Over here!” Twilight yelled, causing Sunset to snarl and redirect her aim at her. Twilight ended up having to regenerate a lung.
Rainbow Dash gave a roar, erupting in an explosion of rainbow colored lightning. Ender Dash erupted out of the sphere, flash stepping through Sunset's beams and forcing her to quickly dodge a high speed strike. Sunset quickly let loose a massive rain of energy bolts that Dash had to evade while trying to catch her. “Dang it, haven't memorized your teleportation style...well, I've got something for that,” the super powered Pegasus called before spreading feathers out all around her. “Winglet-Chain Lightning!”
Sunset had to stop her next teleport when the arching rainbow colored lightning formed an interwoven web. True, Rainbow had to hold back monumentally to keep the voltage within 'knock out but not kill' range, but it stopped Sunset just long enough.
Twilight quickly teleported in as the lightning faded, putting a horn to Sunset's forehead and casting the Memory Spell. She may not know this mare, but she saw no reason to think it wouldn't break this mind control as it had Discord's.
“I'm so proud of you my Little Sun.”
Twilight gave a gasp, tears starting down her cheeks.
Sunset, eyes no longer green, snarled all the same and blew Twilight across the room where the unicorn skidded to a stop at the feet of Celestia's statue. Tears ran down the unicorn's face and she started blasting more and more intensely. “GIVE ME THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC! IT'S MINE!”
“She...She's right. Or half right,” Twilight muttered as Spike blocked the attacks (and herself and the Princesses' from Sunset's line of sight) but notably cringed back from them before Ender Dash was able to use her Lightning Scythe to deflect them while Fluttershy kept Apple Pie behind her rapidly melting shield.
Rarity blinked as she checked on her. “What, darling?”
“She was Celestia's student before me! She...she was practically Celestia's...” Twilight snapped over and looked at Celestia's transforming statue.
Sunset growled, charging up a massive spell and blasting Spike, freezing his arm solid as he gave a scream. “Hiding behind your friends?!”
Before she could fire again, the enraged unicorn felt something wrap around her from behind. She prepared to fire...until two massive white wings with bits of gold still flaking off wrapped around her and she realized she wasn't being grappled, but instead being hugged. While at first they resembled fins, they quickly transformed back to white feathers.
“My Little Sun...I'm so sorry.”
“C-Celestia?” Sunset stuttered, turning back to find Celestia was the one hugging her...with tears running down her face.
“I didn't replace you...I lost you. I've wanted to see you again for over a thousand years,” the Princess of the Day muttered, Sunset stunned to see her so...sad. Heartbroken. “I wish it wasn't like this, in this place. But here we are...please calm down. I just want my Little Sun back.”
= Aizen's Theme – Bleach =
Nightmare Eclipse charged at Adagio, the two's beams slamming into one another as they got as close as the clashing energy would allow until it exploded. Both sailed through the smoke, a blade of energy forming over Eclipse's horn met by a blade shaped version of the Sirens' sonic cutter around Adagio's. The two slashed and cut at one another at blindingly fast speeds, Eclipse ducking a slash and the mere shockwave leveling a forest in an instant. Adagio flying over her counter strike struck a lake and sent its contents flying into the air and raining down around them.
“Time stop!” both yelled at once, clocks in their eyes. Despite Eclipse's attempts to overpower Adagio's time manipulation, all it resulted in was time freezing but none of the combatants freezing with it. Despite feeling the backlash of the spells clashing, they powered through and kept trying to overpower one another, only succeeding in locking time's gears. The two continued slashing at once another as each tried to make their time reversal go into effect, now surrounded by frozen water droplets hanging in the air around them. The clash continued until finally coming into a blade lock and pushing against one another.
“Me and my friends have suffered and sacrificed too much to lose to you! That's why we'll win, like heroes always do!” Eclipse snarled, though Adagio smelled her facade slipping like blood dripping into the water.
“Ha! You think that gives you some moral high ground on us?” Adagio asked, the two spinning around and delivering another rapid fire exchange of slashes...with the Siren growing a few inches larger during its duration. “Our world ended too! Our sisters died horrible deaths! You're not the only one who suffered!” The two blades locked as they once more looked the other in the eyes, Adagio smirking. “You're not the only one who the world took everything away from and who wants to take it back! You're just the only one who tries to pretend this is about anything else!”
The two threw one another off and flew around each other as they prepared their next blow. “Don't dare compare me to you!” Eclipse snarled, charging and letting loose a beam that separated into a sky filling number of individual blasts before converging on Adagio.
The lead Siren chuckled, lightning arching through her body before spreading her wings with a chaotic note and letting loose splitting lightning from each fin tip of her wings. The lightning filled the skies, slamming into the oncoming beams in a blinding explosion that blew away the time suspended water in a massive sphere for a mile in all directions.
“Alright, then how about I compare you to Discord instead?” Adagio asked with twisted pink energy in her eyes as the smoke cleared, prompting the two to charge again and continue their heaven shaking clash.
Sonata and Manacle raced through the rocky environment, the shockwaves reshaping the landscape as the two exchanged beams and lightning bolts faster than the eye could see. Shattered stone pillars' pieces suspending in mid-air thanks to the frozen time.
“How are you keeping up with me?!” Manacle asked in disbelief before ducking under a beam and charging forwards. The Nightmare of Loyalty managed to drive her horn through Sonata's chest...before the Siren disappeared in a flash of baleful orange energy.
Before she could recover, the real Sonata pounced on her from below like a great white pouncing on a seal before letting loose a sky igniting burst of lightning that sent the Nightmare flying back smoldering. “I wasn't!”
Manacle snarled and sent Sonata slamming through the ground with a massive beam until she hit the magma far below. To her annoyance, the Siren merely erupted right back out, seeming to not care she was presently on fire or was leaving magma droplets suspended in the temporally frozen air. This prompted Manacle to let loose her wing feathers and let them fill the sky, crackling with lightning. Before she could call the attack, Sonata let loose a twisted red sound wave that forced her to fly back as the Siren once more hijacked her move.
“Cool! What do you call these thingies?!” Sonata asked as she turned the feathers back at the Nightmare.
Manacle growled, spreading her wings and filling the sky with another group of feathers. “Winglet Chain Lightning!”
The two sides both let loose massive torrents of lightning that collided and arched off, scorching the surrounding area. The Nightmare of Loyalty failed to notice that Sonata increased a few inches in size during the clash.
“Can you please just stop stop stop, Starsong?!” Granfalloon asked, teleporting around Aria, disappearing every moment that she was just out of her line of sight and landing a series of rapid fire punches and kicks from every angle.
Aria snarled, finally catching her leg and glowing with a baleful blue light. “How about you stop stop stop breathing?!” she asked, before spinning and slamming Granfalloon over head into the ground. She repeated this several times before spinning around and throwing her. However, as Granfalloon was hurled, the Nightmare let loose ribbons that grabbed Aria. Pulling her along for the ride, Granfalloon spun like cartoonish tornado and slammed her face first into the ground through several rocks from Manacle and Sonata's fight floating frozen in time.
“Aww, that's not fun fun fun!” Granfalloon called, a jack in the box on each hoof that launched a giant boxing glove when she threw a blow.
Aria simply struck back the old fashioned way, their blows sending shockwaves from the impact until Aria finally let loose a massive sonic blast. Granfalloon in turn met it with huge party horn and blew into it, the two sonic attacks pushing back and forth as the purple siren slowly increased in height.
Whisper ducked as Adagio's avatar swung a massive hoof at her, nearly leveling a rocky outcropping nearby and surrounding them in time frozen hunks of rock. The massive avatar let loose a mountain crushing sonic blast, forcing Fluttershy's Nightmare to meet it with her sweet lullaby as intensely as she could manage. As the two canceled one another out, the avatar Siren's horn glowed and several sonic cutters were unleashed, cutting Whisper multiple times and sending her reeling. Tears started down Whisper's face that formed into massive glass butterflies and flew forwards and sliced away at the avatar.
“I'm don't like fighting, but I'll do it for my friends!” Whisper called, using her magic to create a massive pink and yellow dragon that began grappling with the avatar...though the avatar kept growing slowly all the while.
Nightmare Mirror growled, catching one of Sonata's avater's beams with her wing and sending it right back at it, sending it reeling but having to cringe from the effort. “These gals aren't playin'...”
Her allies were too lost in their madness to really tell, but something was obvious to Mirror at this point. These three had been watching their fight with Twilight and her friends. They knew what their powers were. Was it any surprise that Mirror and Whisper, who's powers relied on effecting someone's heart and mind, had ended up being attacked by the avatars who had neither? These girls weren't attacking the big fish in overconfidence: they'd come to this fight with a plan.
Something that showed when Sonata's avatar retaliated with a sonic blast that her wings couldn't reflect and sent her flying backwards. Applejack's Nightmare caught herself on a time suspended boulder thrown into the air by the clash and flew straight down into the ground, sending massive spires of crystal as tall as mountains at the avatar. Sonata's shade retaliated with a sonic note, shattering the crystals as fast as Mirror could make them, the air quickly filling with floating crystal shards. Mirror's eyes widened as she noticed the avatar slightly increase in size as they fought.
Meanwhile, Banneret and Aria's avatar took to fighting each other like something out of a Dracozilla movie, slamming each other through mountains and anything else unfortunate enough to get in the way. The area around them looking like a floating archipelago of islands due to all the time suspended rubble left behind. The massive Nightdrake ducked under a lunge from the avatar and grabbed her tail, wrenching upwards before swinging down and slamming it face first into the ground. Repeating this twice, he swung around and threw it, only for the avatar to swing around and swim right back at him. Slamming into his stomach with a headbutt, the impact drove him backwards through several peaks. As they came to a stop with the avatar on top and charging an attack, Banneret unleashed a torrent of fire breath as powerful as a volcano erupting. The blast sent the avatar plowing back, but to his frustration prevented itself from falling before forcing back and stalemating his breath with its own sonic ray. As the two attacks fought back and force, Banneret noted he was having to look up a little higher to keep in eye contact.
Adagio and Eclipse flew forwards, both landing a massive blow to the other's face that stunned them long enough for their time spells to fade. From the outside world's perspective, the area had gone from somewhat damaged to a completely destroyed war zone in an instant, the combatants having to dodge the now plummeting debris their clash had caused while time had stopped.
“Normally our sister would handle this, but as you can see, she is rather busy,” the now free and transformed back to normal Luna said, watching as her sister sat off to the side talking to Sunset. The young mare looked...broken. No surprise, given she'd just learned she'd run away for a few years only to come back and find one thousand years had passed and the one she thought hated her had been waiting all that time with open arms. “So what has happened? A dimensional disturbance occurred and interfered with our astral projection. Obviously you've managed to save yourself from Discord.”
“And defeated him,” Twilight replied. She noticed Fluttershy having to restrain Fluttercruel in her head. “But then it gets complicated. First things first: do you remember the Sirens?”
Luna's eyes widened and her expression did little to make Twilight feel any better about the situation. “...Why do you ask?” she questioned...then noticed the depictions of the Sirens and realized the transformation magic that'd transformed them hadn't been Discord's. She swiftly put a silencing spell bubble around the entire group faster than Twilight could blink.
= Aizen's Theme – Bleach =
The area a few miles from the castle was unrecognizable as itself by this point, having been reduced to little more than a blasted, scorched crater. Blown so deep a few Lava Demons poked their way out of the earth before wisely retreating back down.
Nightmare Eclipse and Adagio continued trading spells and magical attacks with intense ferocity. Looking over as the moon remained frozen in the sky with Discord stone and Luna preoccupied, the Nightmare smirked, firing one magical portal behind Adagio at the ground in the center of the battlefield before firing another at Luna's celestial body.
“What was that supposed to do?” Adagio asked.
“Wait for it...” Eclipse said with a smirk...before the portal opened exactly 1.4 seconds later and became a vacuum she promptly blasted her enemy towards. “Have fun freezing in space!” she said as Adagio began to be pulled in. The other Nightmares all got the same idea and quickly threw their own enemies towards the portal.
Adagio, however, smirked and created a magical lasso with her horn and grabbed Eclipse around the throat with it. “Why should we be the only ones to get a nice space vacation?” she asked, her sisters and their avatars doing the same to the other five and the group being pulled through the vortex with it closing behind them.
A group of deer blinked, looking at the portal from a safe distance as it sat beyond the terraformed section protected by their ruler. “We should probably tell Mother Deer about this...” one said...before the 12 entities were violently shot out of the vortex and sent tumbling through space, prompting them to run for the hills.
“We're in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!” Sonata chuckled. “In lunar orbit, about 238,900 miles away to be exact.”
Her sisters merely stared at her in shock for a moment.
“I think the smartypants side of my brain grew back, but I like this personality better than old stick in the mud me,” Sonata said with her typical air-headed chuckle that now sounded far more devious.
The battle quickly picked back up, the change in venue doing little but allow both sides to throw meteors at one another or smash each other through them and unleash attacks on a scale that may have caused the end of the world if done down on Equus.
However, slowly things began to take a decidedly different turn.
Adagio and Eclipse's beams clashed once more...but this time Adagio's overwhelmed the Most Vengeful Friend's and sent her plowing through several meteors.
“What?!” Eclipse asked before Adagio flew at her and nearly sliced her in half with a sonic cutter.
Adagio's avatar and Whisper's dragon puppet continued fighting...until the shade grabbed her dragon by the head and crushed its skull before headbutting her and sending her sailing back.
Nightmare Manacle delivered a miniature Sonic Darkboom punch to Sonata...who once more turned into orange energy. It was then the Nightmare heard a chorus of chuckles around her and looked around to find herself surrounded by several hundred illusionary copies of Sonata. The Siren began to blast her, swimming and teleporting around among the copies, never letting her find the real her.
“You're too slow!” Sonata's voice mocked before one more blast to the back.
Nightmare Mirror landed on a meteor and turned it into a crystal spiked sphere before bucking it at Aria's avatar. The massive projection merely plowed straight through the oncoming crystal like it wasn't even there and pinned both of her wings to another meteor behind her. Inhaling, it let loose a massive sonic note (the new Alicorn aspect creating air for it to resonate through)...set to the resonance frequency of her wings. Mirror screamed out in agony as she was blown through the space rock, her wings shattering to shards and her barely able to keep one attached with a little filly looking back worriedly inside.
Banneret smashed an asteroid over Aria's avatar's head and prepared to unleash a torrent of divinely powered flames...before the shade launched its head up and let loose its sonic cutter. The Nightdrake grasped his throat, fire leaking out between his claws as blood droplets leaked into space, unable to even roar in pain.
“We can't lose! We're the good good good guys! You should join us, Starsong!” Nightmare Granfalloon cackled madly, forming a giant cupcake around her opponent. Aria merely exploded out of it and slammed into her with enough force to crack a few ribs.
“Don't you get it yet?” asked Aria with a chuckle before punching her in the throat several times until the Endless Laughter was left coughing up blood.
“Yeah! It's like in Pokemon!” Sonata called, slamming into Manacle from behind and doing a good job of nearly wrenching her wing off.
“Don't you mean Ponymon?!” Manacle asked, trying to dislodge her.
“No...what's Ponymon?” the blue Siren asked before dislocating the wing with a sickening sound. “Now let's make both sides match!” she chimed before latching onto the other one.
“In other words...” Aria said, throwing Granfalloon upwards before speeding behind her, “rock beats scissors...” The purple siren let loose an earsplitting sonic note and sent the Endless Laughter sailing backwards at the same time her avatar did the same to Banneret and Sonata and her avatar did the same to their respective opponents, leaving them all with blood pouring from their ears. “Siren beats Nightmare!”
Adagio and her avatar chuckled, following up by spinning Eclipse and Whisper around and sending them crashing in their friends. More green energy flowing into them, the trio and their avatars. They suddenly doubled in size, their Avatars now dwarfing Banneret and the trio dwarfing the other five. For a moment, Eclipse let herself think their size would be a weakness, maybe they'd be slow...right before the trio came sailing forwards with not an ounce of speed lost and cloaked in a crimson aura that soon turned into a baleful rainbow. Despite barriers put in their way, the Sirens plowed through all of them and right into the Nightmare Gallery with enough force several felt their spines fracture.
Back down on Equus, the brainwashed crowd all looked up, seeing six shooting stars plummeting from space and crashing in the ground not far away with an earthshaking impact.
Nightmare Eclipse groaned, forcing herself to her hooves in the resulting crater, battered and bleeding with her armor cracked, dented and broken. Her friends were in little better shape, Banneret having to take time and regenerate his throat before vomiting up some blood caught in it. “This can't be happening...”
Nightmare Mirror carefully checked on a specific shard of her shattered wing as the group regenerated as best they could. “It can and it is. Haven't figured it out yet, but the purple one wasn't lying: Nightmares can't beat them.”
“Then we'll have to stop fighting like Nightmares,” the lead Nightmare replied, looking up as the trio of Sirens descended from space, their front legs crossed smugly. She narrowed her eyes. “Formation.”
Adagio raised an eyebrow as the Six floated up, summoning their giant Elements. Her sisters began to summon their avatars...but the lead Siren smirked and held up her hoof. “Wait a second. That's the same song but one note is different...”
"Loyal even into the gates of Tartarus!"
"A never-ending laugh on meanie-pants everywhere!"
"Kinder to end the pain than continued suffering."
"Face the truth you never had a chance."
"I give my soul itself to you all."
The six boulder-sized elements shone brighter than the sun and came together. Like a wave motion gun firing, the ocean of rainbow light was unleashed and crashed upwards on the sirens like a tidal wave...
Except it didn't sweep through them. Instead it stopped in its tracks like it'd hit a dam.
Eclipse's eyes widened as their rainbow flickered and began destabilizing. The color slowly drained out of it until it was black and white before it crumbled like shattering glass. “W-What?”
“Don't worry, they'll probably just overload and explode,” Nightmare Manacle said hopefully...before a massive growing shadow fell over them.
Towering over them, the Sirens hovered laughing, now each the size their avatars had previously been, twice that of Banneret.
“No fair! That's cheating!” Granfalloon said, only not showing terror due to her inability to show any emotion but joy.
“HOW?!” Eclipse snarled in disbelief.
“Well with these, it wouldn't have worked anyway,” Adagio said with a chuckle as she tapped her jewel, “but you see, I noticed your Elements had a different...rhythm than Celestia and Luna's. Six of the same instruments, just played a lot louder and clumsier. But it was the seventh that caught my attention.” The alpha Siren leaned down, eye bigger than Eclipse at this point. “I don't know what it was, but whatever they had, you don't have it. So you had to fill the void with something else. Something darker and more extreme. Unfortunately for you, you filled it with something as negative as you six are. I always wondered if we twisted Celestia and Luna enough to taint the Elements into their negative side we could feed on them, but you six already did! And it was delicious!”
Adagio pulled back a hoof and swung it, slamming into the six and sending them sailing miles away and crashing harshly into the ground.
“We can't win this,” Nightmare Mirror muttered as they forced themselves up. “It all makes sense now! Adagio said it herself: those three eat the dark crud we've twisted ourselves into! We're a livin' buffet to them! The longer we fight them, the stronger they get!”
“Maybe we should head back home and convince Twilight to use the time spell?!” Whisper exclaimed.
“...That might be the only chance we got,” the Cruelest of Truths said, looking to Eclipse.
Eclipse stared at the oncoming Sirens with loathing and hatred approaching what she had for Discord in intensity.
“Twilight!” Whisper exclaimed, shuddering as they kept coming like Great Whites preparing to chomp down on a bleeding seal.
“Fine! Back to the Stable!”
When the Sirens arrived, they found only six corpses on the ground that obviously weren't the Nightmares they'd been fighting before.
Where Nightmare Eclipse had been now laid the obviously mangled body of a filly with a Poison Apple Cutie Mark. Apple Pie hadn't been happy with that. Eclipse hadn't even known or cared, it'd just been a nicely preserved corpse Fluttercruel had in her freezer to butcher later.
Nightdrake Banneret had left behind a blue hippogriff named Skystrike, a general who'd died recently trying to make a difference for his family. He gave his all for everyone he loved.
Nightmare Granfalloon had left behind a yellow Virgacorn named Charlotte, a baker Angry Pie had beaten to death that morning before being rescued. The Endless Laughter had viewed it as giving back what her 'meanie-pants' other self had taken.
Nightmare Mirror had left the body of an blue Earth Pony named Half-Note, descendant of Noteworthy. She'd died when her husband's body rose from the grave and killed her.
Nightmare Manacle had departed Half-Note's husband's body Sonnet, a red Earth Pony. This way what Discord had separated and perverted could on some level be loyal to his wife in death.
Nightmare Whisper's body had belonged to Caring Heart, the descendant of Red Heart, and a motherly nurse who had sacrificed herself for her son by holding off one of the many chaos abominations Discord had made. She'd made sure to put her family somewhere safe and under her blissful spell before leaving.
Back in their lair beyond time, Nightmare Eclipse gasped, the group still feeling the phantom pain from their injuries. Quite understandably, she looked absolutely livid. In all the loops, the only enemy she'd never been able to defeat had been Tirek, and their fights had all ended in ties. For the first time since this began, she'd truly lost. “I can't believe we had to run from them!”
“It was either that or we'd keep feedin' 'em,” Mirror stated truthfully.
The lead Nightmare took a moment to steady herself then headed over to the transparent glass sphere she used to observe. “I'll just contact Twilight and then...”
She growled as the Sirens came into view, looking down at the corpses they'd used to manifest...before Sonata slowly rose her head, sniffing like a shark for blood. The blue Siren turned and looked right at Eclipse, followed by Adagio and finally Aria. Not in the direction Eclipse was observing from, exactly at her. All three smirked.
“Found you.”
Eclipse's eyes widened.
Inhaling, the three Sirens let loose the mightiest sonic note possible, the sphere seeming to crack from the inside. Eclipse backed away before they continued the long note, cracks spreading until the sphere exploded into shards of glass.
“They found us?!” Manacle asked, putting herself between Eclipse and them as she pulled shards of glass out of herself. “How?! Even the Concepts can't find us!”
A hole in space and time itself floated where the sphere had once been before two massive yellow hooves grabbed its sides and pulled it open.
“Did you really think with as much of your energy as we've been eating we wouldn't be able to smell it the moment you opened the connection?” Adagio mocked as she emerged from the portal, her sisters following suit. “We're not finished with you yet.”
She looked down, seeing a small draconequus hybrid charging her with a Concept Killing Blade. One song later and the little one was under her spell.
“Flutternice!” screamed Whisper, but stopped as her own daughter held her deadly weapon at her, eyes glowing green.
Aria scoffed, looking around at the stone walls and branching tunnels surrounding them. “This is your lair? Eh, roomy, but the decor leaves a lot to be desired.”
“You know, I bet they'd be really mad if something were to happen to this place,” Sonata replied innocently...before her smirk showed her thoughts were anything but.
= Who Will Know? - Shin Godzilla =
The trio opened their mouths and let loose three beams of sonic energy, forcing the Nightmares to hit the deck as they tore through the chamber, leaving lines of crimson energy before walls exploded in shrapnel and the entire place began to ignite with crimson flames.
Looking through the shattered walls and doors, Adagio let loose a beam through Whisper's yarn Everkind Forest, burning and blasting it to bits.
Aria spun around, sending her beam ripping apart Mirror's recreation of Sweet Apple Acres and reducing all the hard work she'd spent millennia growing by hoof to blazing ruin while Sonata laid waste to Granfalloon's domain, sapient plushies of her lost friends from the Third Age running around in panic and terror as they were destroyed. Banneret's soon followed, the Nightmare shedding tears as he watched his mountains of gifts for when Rarity finally joined them someday went up in smoke.
“No no no!” Granfalloon screamed, only not crying due to her inability to as she cradled the burning plushie of Minty. She looked up as the Gallery's personal game console was melted to slag. No, the millions of years worth of memories they'd made playing them together that were saved on it, lost forever. “This...this isn't funny! Stop it, Starsong! Please!”
“Who the buck is Starsong?” Sonata asked, burning a doll of the pony in question without even realizing it.
Aria turned and saw Manacle's replica Ponyville. “Look, more adoring fans.” One shockwave of music and the entire town was cheering for the Sirens.
“LEAVE THEM ALONE!” Manacle screamed, trying to charge all three by herself until Mirror held her back.
“That's exactly what they want!” Mirror yelled, catching on instantly. “They're trying to get us mad enough to feed 'em more!”
“Well it's working! Now let me go!” the Nightmare of Loyalty roared, green energy pouring off of her into the Sirens.
Adagio swung her head up, her beam slicing through Eclipse's personal tower and bringing it down in blazing rubble.
Eclipse stood, watching her and her friends' home for the last several hundred million years collapsing and burning around them.
*Is this what Twilight felt like every time we did it to her?*
The lead Nightmare ignored the voice in the back of her head and noticed the void between worlds outside the window. “...Back to the universe! Now!”
“What?! But Ponyville!” Nightmare Manacle screamed, tears in her eyes.
“We'll get you new NPCs next loop!”
"I won't go!"
"YES, YOU WILL!"
Manacle felt a pounding in her brain, and reluctantly nodded.
“Flutternice!” Whisper screamed, having to be held back as well by Nightdrake Banneret.
“I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but we can't stay for her,” Eclipse said sadly. “Come on! Now!” Eclipse roared, grabbing her friends and jumping back through the portal.
Princess Ashima, Minty, stained manuscript with her tears. "Starsong Melody... were you really born from such awful ponies put together?" Princess Minty shivered, remembering the pony who had sacrificed herself to save Pinks from being erased by Anarchy. Minty steeled herself and continued reading.
The six Nightmares crashed down back in the universe only a little ways from where they'd left, really here for the first time since each of them had been taken.
“Now what?!” Banneret asked, still having to restrain Whisper.
“Seal the portal and cut the tether! It'll take forever to make a new one but let's see them cause us trouble again floating in the void between universes!” Eclipse ordered, giving Twilight's 'I just solved a problem' smirk.
“What?! B-But Flutternice!” Whisper exclaimed, frantically trying to get away from the Nightdrake and go save her daughter.
“I can't just leave them all there!” Manacle replied, then held her head like something in it was chaining her mind.
“Don't get sentimental! They're just NPCs! We can get you nine more where each of those came from!” Eclipse ordered, as if asking them to leave a doll collection in a burning building. “...And we'll get you a new Flutternice, Fluttershy,” she said, like a parent consoling a child over a lost pet.
“...Yes, Twilight...” Nightmare Manacle's face looked grimly resolute but tears continued pouring down her face. 'I'm sorry, Scootaloos...'
“If one of us goes, yah just gettin' a replacement too?” Nightmare Mirror asked with a small glare Nightmare Eclipse seemed not to notice.
Nightmare Eclipse gave a laugh. “Don't be silly, girls, you're all unique. There's only one of you.”
The six Nightmares combined their magic, firing into the portal and forcing it closed. Inch by inch it sealed until it was only a few milometers in diameter.
“Enjoy the void between worlds!” Eclipse cackled in elation. They'd done it! They'd gotten the last laugh on those monsters!
Right before a loud sonic note blew the portal wide open and knocked all the Nightmares flat on their backs.
= Aizen's Theme - Bleach =
“Nice try, but did you really think we'd fall for that?” Adagio chuckled, the Sirens floating down from the rift in the sky, back lit by the burning home of the Nightmares.
Eclipse snarled in absolute furry, the six Nightmares firing everything they could think of at the trio. Energy beams, fire breath, glass butterflies, chains, lightning, crystal spikes, everything...only for a long sonic note to sound. Their eyes went side as a massive pillar of black ice the size of a skyscraper sailed through their attacks and slammed in Eclipse dead center but still wide enough to catch the other five as well, plowing them backwards and crashing through the landscape. By the time it finally shattered, the six were left in a deep trench and partially buried in the rubble.
Eclipse groaned, trying to get back to her hooves, finding one of her legs bent completely wrong and pinned under a piece of the ice, her friends in much the same condition. “T-Time stop...You will wander forever.”
“We're on top, Time come to a stop. Let time come untethered, You will wander forever.”
Eclipse's eyes widened, the Nightmares went back just in time for the ice to hit with the exact same result.
Adagio merely chuckled as Nightmare Eclipse emerged from the rubble with nothing changed. “This has been fun, but I do think it's time we ended this. Girls, I'm feeling nostalgia, so set wings to Utter Flutter.”
Nightmare Eclipse snarled, mane and tail erupting several hundred meters into the air. “That's it!”
“She's gonna rage quit!” Manacle yelled, the group taking cover as the lead Nightmare charged up a massive sphere of energy so huge it'd shatter the world if it landed.
Summoning their Avatars, who were now so large it made Banneret look tiny, the Siren trio and their shades spread their wings and flapped them. Glittering magical scales caught in the wind and buffeting the Nightmares like a hurricane. Eclipse's eyes went wide as her sphere of dark magic fizzled out against the Flutter Pony magic. Singing one long note and adding sonic waves to the onslaught, the six were finally sent flying, sailing and crashing with six thuds back on the roof of the Castle.
Nightmare Eclipse growled as the Sirens drew closer and teleported to the other side of the planet, charging up the same spell again to try and unleash it...only for Adagio to teleport right in front of her.
“I could track you to place beyond existence, what made you think you could get away?” the alpha Siren said, opening her mouth and singing one long note as she formed a massive energy sphere identical to Eclipse's over her horn, only much faster and larger. As the alpha Nightmare let loose her attack, Adagio fired hers as well. The two collided...and Eclipse's eyes widened as her's was effortlessly swallowed up. The sphere detonated in her face, leveling a large portion of the hemisphere.
“We're on top, Time come to a stop. Let time come untethered, You will wander forever.”
Eclipse found herself a few seconds earlier, this time Adagio merely fired a titanic energy beam that punched straight through her attack and atomized her.
“We're on top, Time come to a stop. Let time come untethered, You will wander forever.”
This time...Adagio simply sped forwards, punching her in the gut so hard it instantly made her vomit up blood and dissipate her attack.
“You're not the game master anymore,” Adagio hissed in her ear. Singing another unique song, she created a portal and grabbed Eclipse by the horn in her teeth. She spun with such force she ripped Nightmare Eclipe's horn off in the process of hurling her through and sending her crashing back to the roof.
= Live and Die – Xai =
As the group struggled to get up and Nightmare Eclipse's horn started regenerating, Mirror looked to her wing, seeing a frightened filly staring back at her. After a moment, she finally broke it, ripping out a specific shard. “Go warn Twilight. She's our only hope left...if nothing else she can protect yah,..Ah can't anymore. That's the hard truth Ah'm facin' right now.” With that and tears running down her face, Mirror threw the shard into a stairwell. It bounced downwards and at the bottom a little filly tumbled out of it with an 'Oof!' Looking back up with concern and worry, she slowly turned and galloped off.
As the group finally got to their hooves and claws, shards of black ice flew in and impaled each of their wings and limbs, nailing them a castle wall it raised just for its new mistresses. The ice proceeded to freeze over their limbs and much of their bodies, holding them far more securely.
“Game, set, match to the Sirens,” Aria said with a chuckle. The still watching crowd, and the entire world at this point, cheered like their team had just won the Super Bowl.
“You...you won't win!” Nightmare Eclipse roared defiantly as she tried to free herself. Despite literally being on fire, she couldn't break free. It was almost like the ice was feeding off her to sustain itself and remain rock solid.
“Win? Oh, little Tragedy, we've already won,” Adagio said before the three sirens lowered their jaws and opened them.
The Nightmares each screamed in agony as a stream of energy colored like a darkened version of their own Element of Harmony streamed out of their chest and into the gullet of the Sirens. Slowly, their bodies began to shrink as the Sirens began to grow.
As the group discussed the situation with her mentor...Sunset merely sat still and silent. She'd spent every waking moment since she left planning a grand return where she'd claim what was rightfully hers...and instead she'd ended up that idiot mad scientist or archaeologist at the beginning of a horror movie that accidentally unseals the monster or opens the real bad guy's tomb and can only watch what they released approach helplessly to finish them. She wanted to think there was some way she could've beat the Sirens and save the day...but they'd shown just how far out of her league they were within minutes of introducing themselves.
And worse? It wouldn't have mattered if the Sirens had never shown up. It would've been Discord if it weren't them. If not him, then the Nightmares. She'd left for a few years, and come back to find a world of gods and monsters waiting for her. It was abundantly clear that even if she had returned as a villain, Twilight had a millennium of experience on her now and she'd probably not have lasted very long had they actually been fighting her to kill.
But absolute worst of all? All her scheming, all her planning, everything...was for nothing anyway. Celestia had hugged her and wanted her back on sight. She'd never thrown her away or replaced her. In fact, from the look of things, she'd have spent the last thousand years as Discord's lacky instead of Twilight if Celestia hadn't reacted naturally to her actions.
After years of feeling like the world revolved around her...Sunset realized she was just...insignificant. The world hadn't cared she'd been on the other side of the mirror planning. It hadn't revolved around her, it'd moved on without her and not looked back. And she had no one to blame but herself.
“This isn't good...” Celestia muttered. “I sent the mirror to Cadence when it became clear Discord couldn't be stopped just before he turned me to gold. I had no idea it might serve as a way for the Sirens to return, let alone that was the world they were banished to. They are among the most dangerous enemies we ever faced, and if they are allowed to feed on enough energy there's next to no limit how strong they can become. The only way we managed to beat them is throwing them into an alternate dimension where there wouldn't be enough magic to sustain them. Clearly that's failed.”
“So the Elements can't beat them?!” Rainbow Dash asked in shock.
“No, not without something else. We had to disrupt their false Elements with Shady's Element of Hope last time,” Luna replied. “One of the Elements of Chaos.”
“We have the other six, will that work?” Rarity asked, grasping for straws.
“That's helpful, but it'd need to be Hope specifically, as that's the one they're missing, and as powerful as they are, that might not even be enough,” Celestia replied, thinking.
“So...anypony have any ideas to fix this mess then?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy let Fluttercruel out for a moment (though held her back) to raise her hoof.
“Any ideas that don't involve freeing Discord?”
The demi-draconequus pouted and lowered her hoof before retreating back into Fluttershy's mind.
“Having the complete Rainbow of Darkness might be enough, but with as powerful as they've become, even that might not do the trick,” Celestia suggested.
“Halflight!”
Apple Pie blinked, turning as she heard her own nickname called for Twilight from nearby...right as her mirror image skidded to a stop directly in front of her. “...Are yah a Changeling?”
“No...Yah must be meh...” the other Apple Pie muttered, eyes wide. “Ah'm AJ-Ah mean Nightmare Mirror's Apple Pie! The Sirens beat 'em!”
“...So is that good news or bad news?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Bad...it means now nothing's stopping those three from taking over the world and they're stronger than ever,” Twilight muttered, seeing their Apple Pie trying to touch her alternate self and stopping her. “Don't touch her! She's you from another timeline, there's no telling what might happen!”
“P-Please...Ah...Ah know this is kinda sound backwards...” the other Apple Pie said, Twilight feeling her heart break just looking at her. The laughing, joyful filly she knew...wasn't in those eyes anymore. Well, part of her was...but she'd stopped being innocent a long time ago. Thinking of what Nightmare Eclipse had said she'd done, it didn't take her long to figure out why. “Please save 'em.”
“What?! Why?! They were just trying to kill us and erase the world!” Rainbow exclaimed in disbelief.
“Ah know...believe meh Ah know...Ah've been in Mirror's wings all this time...Mirror wouldn't say it, but Nightmare Eclipse was the one tah have 'em all turned into Nightmares,” the filly, one of the last of her timeline, said, tears welling up in her eyes. “Ah hate her! Ah hate her for turnin' AJ into that! She erased mah family and everypony else from mah world! She ate mah Halflight! B-But, please...Eclipse made the others into monsters...Please save AJ...”
Something felt alien and wrong hearing the words 'hate' out of Apple Pie's mouth. From the mouth of one of the most forgiving fillies the group had ever met.
“...She didn't brainwash you into thinking the Nightmares are right?” Twilight asked in disbelief.
“Mirror knows what they're doin' is wrong...she's told meh a million times Ah should hate her for what she's doin'. She wants meh tah hate all six of 'em. All she's ever taught meh is not tah lie. When Eclipse made the Golden World, AJ said she was draggin' 'em all tah Tartarus herself and leavin' meh tah enjoy it...Please...save her...”
Twilight could read between the lines. She didn't just mean to save her from the Sirens.
“...She's telling the truth,” Rarity confirmed.
“Nightmares are such of their own choice...but they are also insane by nature,” Luna explained, showing sympathy. “While their evil is far greater than ours was, we'd be a hypocrite to not think them worth saving.”
Their Apple Pie slowly walked over to her alternate self, but heeded Twilight's advice and didn't touch her. “...We can try, can't we girls?”
Her alternate self looked dumbfounded...and sad. Like she was looking at a missing part of herself staring into her own eyes. Pinkie Pie, not held back by time warping insanity, didn't hesitate to give Mirror's Apple Pie a hug.
“...You said these Nightmares still have Elements of Harmony, correct?” asked Celestia, looking over but not leaving Sunset's side.
Twilight nodded. “Yes, they do.”
“But they didn't work! The Sirens just ate 'em up because of what they did tah make 'em work!” other Apple Pie exclaimed.
“Our Mother would never lend her power to them,” Luna replied. “They must have filled in the missing piece with their extremism and raw dark magic. Things the Sirens can readily consume.”
“...I may have a plan that will give us a chance of defeating the Sirens,” Celestia replied thoughtfully. “But we will need those six to do it.”
“You're asking us to team up?! With those six Nightmares?!” asked Rainbow Dash in disbelief.
“That seems kind of crazy, even by my standards,” Pinkie Pie admitted.
Celestia gave a shrewd look. “I never said we'd be teaming with Nightmares...”
The Sirens finally closed theirs mouths as the energy bled dry, now so massive that the Nightmares could fit in the bottom of their hooves.
Eclipse and her Nightmares groaned, falling to the ground as they shrank down to the size of normal ponies, or a normal, though emaciated, adult dragon in Banneret's case. Armor and barding that no longer remotely fit sliding off.
“I feel like a Slurpee after I finished it...” Granfalloon muttered, laying on the floor.
Eclipse glared up at the Sirens. “I hate you!”
“You hate us because you lost,” Aria replied with a chuckle.
“But how did we lose? We're the good guys?” Manacle muttered, too weak to stand.
“Well girls, time to finish this show. We've got a world waiting to adore us,” Adagio said with a smirk.
“Yeah, remember our old island villa? Hope some of that is still standing,” Aria remarked. “Eh, we've got subjects to rebuild it now.”
Sonata nodded. “And I can play dress up with our new subjects! Oh, Adagio! Can I have Mexicolt as the place for my personal palace!” she called before looking down at the exposed chamber...and noticing the scroll Eclipse had lost in the initial confrontation, laying next to Discord's statue. Floating it up in her telekinesis, she examined it and slowly smirked. “Adagio! Look what I found! It was that spell she was trying to get Twilight to cast!”
Eclipse's eyes widened. “No...”
Adagio flew over, looking at it. “The spell that'd let her change the past?”
“Yeah!”
Aria smirked. “So if we figure this spell out, we could change history?”
The alpha Siren gave a smirk. “Not just change it! She's been ruling the timeline however she wanted!”
“...So we could get Tempo and Oratorio back?” Sonata asked, showing a spark of hope.
Adagio was silent for a moment, as was Aria. “We can have whatever we want. We can make a timeline where everything we ever wanted is reality.”
“Give it back! That's mine!” Nightmare Eclipse roared, eyes wide in abject horror, running at them only to get lightly shoved on her back by a massive hoof.
“Not anymore,” the alpha Siren replied, looking down at her. “You kept telling Twilight how you wanted to make a Golden World? Well guess what? We're going to make one. For us.”
“NO!” Eclipse roared, trying to fire a beam only to cringe as her horn sputtered out.
“You had your chance, now you'll just have to sit back and relax as we take back what the world took away from us, tenfold.”
“So what are we gonna do with these six?” asked Aria.
Sonata picked up Banneret and pet his head like he was a pet iguana. “Aww, they're kinda cute when they're this tiny.”
“Hey! I'm not cute!” the Nightdrake growled, snapping at her hoof before being plopped back down. “Twilight, what are we gonna do?”
“Given what she said happens to the rest of the world, we'll leave 'em here and let them join every creature they've erased in the big nothing. I'm sure they'll get a nice warm welcome there,” Adagio replied before the group examined the spell and began figuring it out.
Eclipse...just stared, face full of absolute fury and anger. Several hundred million years of this. All the work she'd done. For her friends. For her family. For everypony! To live in a world where every single person was safe from the wolves and vultures! Where the wicked were punished and kindness and mercy weren't wasted on the evil! And now...these three were just going to steal all of it? It wasn't fair! She'd...she'd make it fair!
…
She'd make it fair!
…
How...how could she make it fair?
As the Sirens turned back to the spell, suddenly a massive explosion of light went off, blinding everycreature. When it finally faded, the Nightmare Gallary were gone.
“ We don't need to.” Adagio turned to the castle. “Search yourself for them, if you find them? Kill them.”
The castle nodded its towers and began searching inwards.
“Oh! Can we take some of our adoring fans with us to the next timeline?! They were doing it!” Sonata asked with a smirk.
“Why not? It will keep us nice and fed while we design our perfect world,” Adagio said with a chuckle as the three floated into the air. She looked over and saw Sky Ocean, causing her to smile. “And we're definitely taking our kind with us. No way we're overlooking that.”
“Why don't we just take ;em all? Nothing's stopping us. There's an entire pocket dimension right up there, all leveled and ready for us to rebuild however we want to!” Aria replied with a chuckle as she pointed over her shoulder at the rift in the sky. “Yeah, we tore it up a little, but there's still plenty of room and we're stronger than those six now, if they can make it bigger, so can we. Anything they could do, we can do better.”
“Good idea...”
= The Sirens Call - Magpiepony =
“Listen to our song Don't turn away. Our magic is so strong. You will obey. Led astray.
No pony can resist the charm of a Siren's call. Our melody will capture and enthrall. Forever and ever... There's no escape... Forever and ever... Now or ever! Forever and ever...
Heed our Siren's Song! We feed from hate! There's nowhere to run! No pony can repel us!”
Their enchanted thralls all marched towards them in droves, the Sea Ponies all gathering at the edge of the water just to get a look at them.
“Soon you'll sing along! It is your fate! Divide and conquer all time! And we will rule all!
Our time's come at last... All bow down.”
All at once, all over the world, and now spreading even to the moon as Mother Deer fought against it as hard as she possibly could (and was slowly failing), their thralls all bowed together.
“Soon we'll reign supreme, You will fall... To our scheme!
No pony can stand up to our combined power! Every last creature to us will fall! Forever and ever... You will fall! Forever and ever...
Heed our Siren Song! We feed from hate! There's nowhere to run! No pony can repel us!
Soon you'll sing along! It is your fate! Divide and conquer all time! And we will rule all!”
All across the world, every creature began to march towards Equestria to present themselves to their new rulers however they could manage.
“You can try to hide! But nothing can spare you, From our enchantment! Now we will rise to our glory! Our destiny awaits!
Heed our Siren Song! We feed from hate! There's nowhere to run! No pony can repel us!
Soon you'll sing along! It is your fate! Divide and conquer all time! And we will rule all!
We will rule all! We will rule all! We will rule all! Forever and ever... Forever and ever...”
The trio laughed as their new subjects marched to them and they began studying the scroll diligently in preparation to remake the timeline in their own image.
While the Chaos Castle was looking for them, the group had been smart enough to get out while the getting was good and instead teleported several miles away the moment they had grabbed their new passengers.
Celestia, Luna, and Sunset suddenly held their heads as their eyes flickered green with the Sirens' song.
“Free Will!” Rainbow yelled, letting Granfalloon go and touching all three and freeing them quickly.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash...it's worse than we feared,” Luna replied, looking back to the now titanic forms of the Sirens looming in the distance. “They're growing strong enough that even divines are no longer safe. It's possible even Tiamat and Bahamut are either under their power now or on their way to battle them to protect their children... We honestly cannot be certain which outcome is worse.”
“You...you saved us?” Banneret muttered as Spike slowly lowered them down.
“The kid wanted us too,” Spike replied simply. “Well, at least we know touching ourselves from another timeline won't make the universe implode...” He'd had to risk it by virtue of being the only one who could carry Banneret.
The group looked upon their evil alternate selves for a moment. They didn't have time to ask many questions they hadn't already asked while fighting them, but the fact they were themselves was naturally unnerving in and of itself. Not simply themselves from alternate universes, versions of them from this universe from timelines that no longer existed. No longer existed because they'd destroyed them. It was enough to make their skin crawl.
“AJ!” yelled the other Apple Pie, hugging Mirror.
“...Apple Pie, we weren't worth it. Yah shouldn't have saved us,” AJ's Nightmare said sternly.
“You're wrong...Ah don't care how much yah think it, you're still mah AJ and Ah still love yah!” the alternate Apple Pie yelled. She slowly looked over at Nightmare Eclipse. Only the fact they needed her right now held her back. Nightmare Mirror looked as disturbed as anyone when she saw the filly trembling with rage as she looked at the one who'd caused her so much pain, barely holding herself back.
“Twilight, thank goodness! Look, you need to reset the timeline! Now!” Nightmare Eclipse begged, grabbing Twilight by the shoulders. Not demanded. Not ordered. Begged. For the first time she'd seen her, Twilight saw pure terror and desperation in her evil future self's eyes. “The Sirens have the spell! They're going to rewrite the timeline to make the world the way they want it to be!”
Twilight gasped, the group staring in shock.
“Come on! There isn't time!” the Nightmare ordered. “Can't you see? You're so busy playing a glorified video game you're going to let it kill everypony!”
*Would she be any better?*
Twilight paused, thinking about it. The Sirens were going to reset the timeline and turn it into whatever they wanted...but...
“...No.”
Eclipse growled. “Stop being so attached to the NPCs! This is more important!”
Suddenly, a swift kick sent Eclipse flying into the nearby cliff side.
“A-Apple Pie?” asked Twilight, eyes wide...only to find her Apple Pie next to her.
Mirror's, on the other hand, had tears running down her face and was practically snarling. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP, YOU MONSTER! THEY WEREN'T NPCS! THEY WERE MAH FRIENDS! THEY WERE MAH FAMILY! AND YAH WORSE THAN KILLED 'EM!” the little filly screamed, millions of years of bottled up rage and anger overflowing and finally erupting.
Nightmare Eclipse...seemed almost impressed. Like a part of her suddenly saw Apple Pie as a 'potential person'. "What are you waiting for? Kick me again, and again, and again, and AGAIN until the kicking is all I can think of, all I can remember!"
Hot air snorting out her nose, the filly, one of the last of her world, prepared to do exactly that to her world's murderer...until Nightmare Mirror held her back. “Let meh go! She deserves it! She deserves all of it!” she screamed.
"THIS ISN'T ABOUT HER!” Mirror screamed, suddenly...looking sad, guilty as she pulled the filly around to look her in the eye. “She deserves a lot worse! It's about you! Ah'm not letting you turn yourself into another her! Not because 'she's the bad guy', because... Ah'm not watching somepony Ah love be turned into somepony who cares more about revenge then helpin' others AGAIN!"
Her Apple Pie looked up at her wide eyed, before suddenly staring at her own hind leg she'd kicked the lead Nightmare with, horrified at the realization of what she might have done. What she wanted to do. She slowly hugged her auntie and buried her face in her shoulder, not wanting to even look Eclipse in the eye.
“I'm disappointed, she almost became one of us there,” Eclipse said, sounding more annoyed than anything.
“Yah got meh. Yah got all of us, and Ah've seen yah kill her more times than Ah can count...you're not getting' her that way,” Mirror said, giving Eclipse a death glare that made the alpha Nightmare pause. “...Ah can't lie. Ah'm the one who filled her little head with this much hate. Just another link in mah chain of sins.”
Before the conversation could continue, Twilight cleared her throat and looked Eclipse in the eye. “As I was saying...you're going to keep resetting the timeline over and over again if we put you back in control just so you can keep torturing Discord...but if they take control, that means they reset the timeline once. To make an awful world, yes, but how is that any different than what you're going to do?” the lavender unicorn asked, glaring at her evil future self.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, had to have Rainbow Dash help her restrain her body as Fluttercruel wanted to pounce on the Nightmare with intent to kill.
“I'm going to make a Golden World! A perfect world! A world where everypony is happy!” Nightmare Eclipse replied, sounding like Twilight did when somepony simply didn't understand what she was saying.
“...When?”
“When Discord's been punished enough!”
“And when will Discord be punished enough?” Twilight asked. She looked to Mirror. “You can't lie, so how long have you been doing this?”
“Several hundred million years,” Mirror answered without a moment's hesitation.
The lavender unicorn looked at Eclipse. “So, when will he be punished enough?”
The Most Vengeful Friend snarled. “...Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?! What do you mean why not?!” asked Eclipse in disbelief. “You've lived through his Hell! You've lived through everything I've lived through!”
“Yes, yes I did...but not enough to think he deserves to suffer another several hundred million years. And certainly not enough to make everycreature suffer with him!” Twilight looked over the group of Nightmares. “Whether we beat them or they reset the timeline, no more.”
"EVERYPONY IS NOT SUFFERING WITH HIM! They're just mindless puppets! Memories! And as long as there's enough left of the monster that he can feel pain and put two thoughts together, HE. HAS. NOT. SUFFERED. ENOUGH!" Eclipse roared at the top of her lungs, her voice becoming a countless chorus, sounding like a feral beast for a few moments.
As her voice echoed, everypony, Nightmare, and Drake could only stare at her, the clearing becoming silent.
“If you want to defeat the Sirens, listen to me,” Celestia finally said, still not having left Sunset's side. but taking advantage of the sudden silence. Sunset herself just stared at Eclipse, listening to her nigh bottomless hatred...and shivering.
Eclipse spun around and stared in blind shock. “Teacher?”
The Princess of the Day looked at Nightmare Eclipse, eyes saddened at what this version of her student had become. If nothing else, it made Eclipse shudder a bit. There was so much that Celestia wanted to say...part of her wanted to cry. Her older brother Morning Star, Discord, her sister, and her first student, had all fallen in one way or another. Now here she stood, looking into the mad eyes of Twilight as a Nightmare. True, she came from a previous timeline and her Twilight hadn't become her...but at one point, this had been her Twilight. Celestia remained outwardly composed and continued.
“Nightmare Eclipse,” Celestia said, the Nightmare and everypony else noticing that she used her Nightmare name for more reasons than just to tell her and Twilight apart. Inside Nightmare Eclipse, a little filly quivered before her mentor.
”I'm ashamed for you...but we need you. Twilight and her friends have the Elements of Chaos. At the dawn of your species, they were created to work united with their sister, the Elements of Harmony. While yes, they do have both full sets, it would be far too dangerous for them to use both of them at the same time, like mixing matter and anti-matter in their hearts, and even if it did work it'd be far weaker than twelve separate bearers...but if you use your Elements of Harmony alongside their Elements of Chaos, together, their power will be united and magnified exponentially. Enough it might be able to defeat the Sirens.”
“In case you didn't notice, our Elements got eaten by those fish,” Nightmare Manacle muttered, not having moved from looking at the portal ripped in the sky. 'Please be alright, Scootaloo. All of you.'
“While you're corrupted they can eat it because Celestia's Mother will never support what you're doing.” Twilight gave Eclipse a look that made it clear what their plan was. Twilight admitted, part of her imagined that Fauna Luster agreed with her on which of the two groups was the lesser of two evils.
Nightmare Eclipse stared for a moment. “No...You can't be serious!”
“If you're all purified, then your Elements will be positive aligned again. That means they'll work against the Sirens and we can combine our sets to defeat them,” Twilight explained.
“I'm not giving up everything I've spent millions of years working for!”
“You don't have a choice,” Luna replied, marching over. “It's our only option with how powerful they've become at this point. It's even possible now that they have your spell and have gotten so powerful that resetting time may no longer stop them. We admit, it is a long shot. If we had the complete versions of both sets then we'd have a far better chance.”
“Complete versions?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking over with a raised eyebrow.
“Both sets are missing a piece. The Element of Hope for Chaos and the Element of Trust for Harmony,” the Princess of the Moon explained. “...Is Discord still alive?”
“He should be, he's petrified back at the castle and the Sirens don't care about him,” Twilight replied.
“I would've finished the job if you hadn't protected his demon spawn,” Eclipse muttered, glaring at Fluttershy, or rather who was inside her.
Fluttercruel's colors took over and it was clear it took all of Fluttershy's will to keep her from trying to summon a sword and stab Eclipse to death.
The Nightmare rolled her eyes. “Your father didn't give a flying feather about the first few hundred thousand of you... I have no idea why he's gotten so sentimental about these versions of you.”
“Then I may be able to acquire the Element of Hope if he'll cooperate in his dreams,” Luna replied, ignoring the alpha Nightmare and thinking. “After all, Shady used it to disrupt the Sirens after his defeat, so it still exists. Discord must have tracked down its essence somewhere in the last several hundred million years. It has...personal meaning to him. Considering what Eclipse did to him, he might agree to help. I'm stronger than him in the Dream Realm, so it can't hurt.”
Twilight patted her Apple Pie on the back. “Well, we've got an obvious Bearer right here if you can get it.”
“Yah think so, Halflight?” Apple Pie asked, staring up at her with her usual smile.
“I know so. You restored hope to me, there's no pony who could be more worthy.”
“Good, But that still raises the issue of the Element of Trust, which is a larger problem,” Luna explained. “Discord destroyed it, reduced it to atoms and scattered them to the winds. We tried for a thousand years to restore it and couldn't. Barring a miracle, I fear it's beyond us and using a lopsided mixture of Chaos and Harmony may be dangerous.”
“...Did yah say Element of Trust?” asked Mirror's Apple Pie. “...AJ, didn't Eclipse swallow that Shining Armor fella who had the Element of Trust a few timelines ago?”
The Most Vengeful Friend snarled, scar visible for all to see from her destroyed helmet. “I told everypony not to speak of that timeline ever again!”
Mirror's eyes widened. “She...she did.”
“Miss Eclipse, please,” the alternate Apple Pie looked Eclipse in the eye. No, not Nightmare Eclipse. Deep down inside of her where she knew her Twilight was chained up somewhere. She had to. Accepting she couldn't just go berserk and beat her face in was one thing, letting go of several hundred million years worth of hatred wasn't easy to do. “Halflight, if you swallowed him up, can't you throw him back up?”
“No way! I'm not letting him out!” Eclipse yelled in disbelief. “This is insane! You've all gone insane! Listen to yourselves! You're talking about working with bucking Discord and letting a mary sue who pretended to be Twilight's brother and brainwashed Cadence into thinking he was her high school crush out!”
“Wait what?!” asked Rainbow Dash, eyes widening.
“...If he was that bad, how then he did become the Element of Trust?” asked Celestia. “The Elements wouldn't work for him unless he was truly worthy of it.” She then looked to Mirror. “Who was this Shining Armor?”
“...Nameless, Pandora's son. But in that worldline...he turned out different. He grew a soul. Yeah, he inserted himself into their lives, but in the end he went down giving all he had trying to save Twilight, that's why Eclipse had to swallow him,” Nightmare Mirror explained.
Eclipse snarled at her friend for contradicting her.
“Yah wanted the Cruelest of Truths, you got it.”
“Why is everypony going crazy?!”
“Eclipse, stop and listen you yourself,” Twilight replied, getting in Eclipse's face now that the Nightmare had been drained to the point she could barely move let alone fight. She wanted to know who this Shining Armor was...but there wasn't time. They had to act quick or the world would be erased. But needless to say, she would have so many questions for later. “There's a chance to save the world right in front of us, and you're too caught up on hating Discord to care!”
“I'm too focused on what's important to care about crazy ideas!”
Twilight sighed. “I was hoping we could talk you down...but Nightmares are insane...girls...formation.”
The two groups took their places, Mirror gently pushing her Apple Pie to safety. Both groups floated into the air, but this time there were no boulder sized Elements of Harmony to summon. Just six plain, ordinary Elements clashing. This time Apple Pie decided to let Pinkie Pie handle Element duty this time while Fluttershy chose to stand aside and calm Fluttercruel down, making the layout this time Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike.
“Sister, go talk to Discord,” Celestia advised, shielding Sunset with her wing.
Luna nodded and vanished into mist.
With a small rainbow shockwave, the Rainbow of Light erupted and struck itself from another timeline, fighting back and forth, both trying to consume the other.
“I don't get it, shouldn't ours be stronger?!” Manacle asked.
“It's because those blasted Sirens weakened us!” Eclipse replied. “But we'll still win!”
Twilight grit her teeth, their Rainbow pushing back but it reaching a stalemate. “Keep going, everypony!”
Sunset kept her eyes on Nightmare Eclipse...noting how the magic of her light and Twilight's differed. Something in her shuddered when she realized how...familiar Eclipse's magic felt. How similar to her this mass murdering monster with trillions of victims felt to her. It wasn't just the sheer fury and rage that filled her...it was something else. Something deeper.
The terrifying version of herself that was reflected in the world mirror flashed long ago through her mind. She'd seen it as an Alicorn, but...
“...Celestia...is Nightmare Eclipse what you were afraid I'd become?” the yellow unicorn asked, looking pale.
“...Yes, something like that. You can feel it, can't you?” Celestia asked, knowing directly interfering in the clash would likely accomplish nothing. “Her Element of Magic has been twisted into something dark and evil. She'd never admit it, but her friendship become Domination long ago. She's forced her will on this timeline and everycreature in it, even her own friends, for several hundred million years. If that's not Domination, then what is?”
“...This is all my fault...I opened the portal, I let the Sirens in...” Sunset stuttered, tears welling up in her eyes. “Eclipse...she was everything I wanted to be...”
“And now?” was Celestia's simple question. Sunset's paling face answered for her mouth.
The two sides kept fighting back and forth, neither gaining a decisive edge. “Stop this foolishness, myself! We're running out of time!” Eclipse yelled.
Twilight could see the Sirens in the distance, studying the spell...and preparing a large group of slaves to be sent through the portal. She was right, there wasn't much time. She needed something to disrupt Eclipse's focus and their Rainbow. Something to make them falter and give them the chance to overcome them. But what?
The two rainbows kept fighting and fighting, neither side gaining a decisive edge...until they noticed a flash of red light cover the world.
Ponies vanished, ferried away through a rift in the sky, leaving the heroes and Nightmares on an empty world, silent world.
Celestia reached out to hold onto Sunset as Entropy came to claim them...only to find her gone. “SUNSET!” she screamed, tears starting in her eyes as she realized her filly was gone. She'd lost her again.
The Sirens circled the rift so fast they generated a crimson tornado, singing a song.
“Time reverse thyself. Let our power shine! Make the clock reverse! Bring back what once was mine!”
The groups gasped, seeing the world begin to fade into light.
“No! No!” Nightmare Eclipse screamed, seeing her friends fade from existence one by one. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” she screamed, finding the shades of Oblivion grabbing onto her as she faded onto their realm, having long awaited her.
Twilight and company merely resolutely accepted their fate with grim resolve, hoof in hoof, as they vanished into Oblivion as well.
“Let Ages revert! Rewrite fate's design! Save what has been lost! Bring back what once was mine! What once was mine...” the Sirens completed, flying into the rift as the world with vanished into light.
“Welcome to the show! You're all ready we know! The time is now You can cast off your doubt Cause it's time to start out!” sang the five Sirens, floating above their palace. Each having the horn, wings, and Earth Pony might of an Alicorn. The green eyed crowd cheering all over the world in constant praise...
As the cameras rolled and took the show beyond Equus to an empire reaching the stars, all bowing down to worship their names. Well, in most places their banner covered. Some entire planets were kept in states of constant negativity and conflict as a sacrifice to keep their beloved monarchs well fed. As it'd turned out, actually ruling an Empire was more complicated than conquering it, and they couldn't let their needs interfere with the infrastructure needed to keep them living in a life of perpetual luxury. The Second Age had ended, but the Third Age would be known as the Age of the Sirens, the time scroll long ago burned once their golden reality came to be so none could take it away from them as they had taken it from Nightmare Eclipse.
It'd taken the Concepts incarnating in mass with species in deep space just to hold them back and contain them at this point. The Sirens didn't really care anymore, they had enough of an Empire to adore and sustain them until the end of time. They merely kept the conflicts going to have an extra source of food.
In the front row, their faithful students sat and cheered. Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer's power had been obvious, and thus the Sirens had seen them as the perfect ones to be the first of their sire race. The Sirens as Adagio, Sonata, and Aria had been when the Second Age ended. Or rather, how it'd ended in a time that no longer was.
Their army of Scootaloos, now their 'angels,' held up the cameras and signs necessary for any performance. Practically their stage crew. Flutternice sat in Sonata's room, with a leash like a glorified dog, well taken care of and in bliss, but a pet none the less.
Melody and the Rocking Beats had lived out their days as the pampered pets of the Sirens. Adagio had commissioned a personal statue of Melody to remember her by. As for Melody's descendants, they were now the Sirens' devoted acolytes, following their word like law, with or without brainwashing. Some had even been chosen to join the ranks of 'lesser Sirens.' They had quite the school now.
As for their subjects ferried away, they now spent their time as the personal keepers of the Sirens' own 'divine' realm that was once the Stable. Building it grander and grander with each day to be their personal retreat. Sonata was always surprised to see the new additions when they visited their own little, personal world.
*N-No. No! I won't allow it! Nightmare Eclipse's defeat will not come at the cost of another horrible timeline! This vision will not come to pass! Time to give this story a real happy ending!*
{Yes yes yes.}
*Razzaroo?*
{This timeline's at least. Need a miracle?}
*Always.*
*You're as much Twilight Sparkle as she is, what would remain in your heart no matter how twisted you were?*
What would be the one part of her that might still exist in this twisted corrupted version of her? Twilight looked over Eclipse and her friends as the Rainbows continued to fight back and forth...That's it!
“Eclipse...no, Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight yelled. “You really are friends with the others?”
“Of course I am!” Eclipse yelled back with a proud smile.
“Well then, here's the thing: if the Sirens win, your friends get erased along with this world, right?!”
The lead Nightmare's eyes widened with a gasp.
“The only way you keep your grudge on Discord is if I reset the timeline, but that's not happening no matter what you do!” Twilight turned her head and looked directly into Mirror's shattered but still existent wings. “We'll all cease to exist if the Sirens win, but after everything you've done? We're willing to be erased to stop you! Right?”
One by one her friends did the same thing and nodded, resolute despite gazing into the wings of the Cruelest of Truths.
“Your grudge dies today one way or another! Either by being purified or by being erased! And don't say your dream of a Golden World dies too! Because I have one too! But it's a Golden World we build in the present! So that leaves you with one question: would you rather hold onto your grudge on Discord and take it with your friends to Oblivion, or spend eternity with your friends making up for all you've done?!” Twilight asked.
Nightmare Eclipse gasped. She prepared to speak a retort...at which point Mirror's Apple Pie ran in and did a jump, intentionally grabbing Mirror's wing and swinging it in front of Eclipse's face.
“No! Ah'm done hidin' and watchin' yah do this tah yourself, AJ!” the filly screamed, holding the wing in place.
“Yah Pinkie Promised not tah stop meh!”
“Ah'm not! Ah'm stopping Eclipse!”
“...Got meh there.”
“You're not a hero. You're murderer.”
“You would've have made the Golden World millions of years ago if it really mattered to you.”
“You've killed your friends so many times you've lost count.”
“If you loved them, you'd have never lobotomized Rainbow Dash to make her be your friend.”
“If you really cared about your friends, you'd have never destroyed their happy endings.”
Robbed of self-deception in the face of pure, objective, cruel truth, Eclipse could only answer Twilight's question with the honest answer.
A tear ran from her face and the world vanished in Rainbow Light.
“Got it,” said Sonata with a smirk as the sisters circled the portal.
“Good, then let's sing a song and teleport all of our good little adoring fans to their new home,” Adagio said with a smile.
The trio sped up, practically forming a tornado as they sang a single, long note. The portal ripped open wider, the wind blowing in erasing the flames and leaving a damaged and wrecked, but still huge pocket dimension waiting. Flutternice and their personal Ponyville waiting in that intact portion of the domain to accept their fellow subjects. All over the world, ponies began to glow red, flickering as they prepared to teleport.
However, when the flickering reach its apex, a light came on the horizon.
“Stop it right there!”
The trio blinked, turning and seeing who dared to interrupt them.
While some had to remain on Spike's back, the group hovered in front of the Sirens. One half composed of five Alicorns the size of the just purified Princess Luna and a Dragon God a little bigger than Spike...with an ethereal white unicorn with a blue mane and tail, his Cutie Mark a shield with the same star as Twilight floating beside them.
The group all looked as the stallion the Alicorn version of Twilight had split off from herself, who mainly set there, looking depressed and unresponsive. He'd failed the true purpose Pandora had created him for. He failed to give Cadence a happy ending in the end. The one time he'd not been able to change a story, it had to be a tragedy. Even when he was really trying to be a true hero.
The purified form of Mirror walked over, holding up one wing. A kindly looking eye opened on its underside, staring the stallion in the eye.
'It doesn't matter what you were, you were a loyal, trustworthy coltfriend and brother until the very end. You're not that Nameless thing, you're you. And you're more real than he ever was. You did all you could've done.'
The purified Eclipse walked over, prompting a gasp when Shining looked him in the eye. “You didn't fail. I failed you, BBBFF. Now we both have a chance to set things right.”
= Beverly / Be The One (English Ver.) =
“Well...I finally get to save the world,” Shining Armor said with a small smile. “For real this time.”
On Spike's back, Apple Pie, the one from the present timeline, sat, with a new Element of Chaos around her neck.
Luna slowly opened the door...and walked in to find herself at Paradise Estate long ago. Walking forwards, she looked around, noting all their friends from back then were themselves, acting just as they did it life.
She continued walking until she finally saw two little Alicorns and a baby Draconequus playing. “Dreaming of simpler times? We thought Dissy was long dead, Discord.”
The baby draconequus sighed and grew back up to the Spirit of Chaos she knew...no, not the one she knew.
Discord gave a sad sigh. “What can I say? Several hundred million years in a torture device of a time loop changes a Draconequus...Though with Eclipse defeated, I can finally say something I've wanted to for a long time, not that she'd ever let me.”
“And that would be?”
“...I'm sorry.”
Luna's eyes widened and she stared at him for a moment. “Y-You're sorry?”
“I realized awhile ago what a fool I was, Lulu. Believe me, if I had a choice I'd have just apologized to you and Celly as soon as I got out of the statue. Tried that once, Eclipse overwrote it with me turning you to gold and silver statues,” the Draconequus explained. “At least those Sirens have no interest in tormenting me and my family for eternity. Then again when your other option is 'the ninth circle of dad' anything looks appealing.”
The Princess of the Night still gave him an air of suspicion...but dared to hope. “Then in that case, you should have no resistance to granting my request for aid stopping them?”
“Your wish is my command.” Discord was suddenly in a genie's attire, complete with lamp his body trailed into.
“We need the Element of Hope.”
“Oh...And what makes you think I'd know where to get it?”
“It was your mother's, and I refuse to believe if mortals managed to resurrect Trust all this time, somepony wouldn't have found Hope as well. And if they had, you would memorize where it was, if not make a point of it to find it and claim it,” Luna replied.
Discord gave a pleased smirk. “Clever girl. Yes, a few times it did resurface and I did exactly that...I just have one thing I ask in return.”
“If I help with this, you'll really let me see my dad in the dream world?” Fluttercruel asked, getting a nod.
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Twilight replied.
“Then let's kick their flanks.”
“Come for another beatdown?” Aria asked, cracking her forelegs.
“No, we came to put you down!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Time to give this story a happy ending!”
The former Nightmare Eclipse looked at Adagio. “You were right when you said the difference between us was you didn't pretend this wasn't all about trying to get back what the world took away...but we're alike in another way,” she said. “And I can see it now: we were both stuck in the past and unable to let go! You could've just let the world adore you for beating me and saving it! But you can't just move on! Just like I couldn't let go of Discord! Worse than that, this isn't even about getting our worlds back anymore! It's about enjoying what we're doing! We've become addicted to taking our everything on others! You don't have to destroy the world! You couldn't just enjoy your victory and let everypony have a better world while adoring you for the good thing you did, could you?!”
Adagio snarled. “Of course I don't want to let go of the past! I lost everything! You expect me to just throw away the chance to make the world pay me back with interest?! What kind of idiot do you take me for?!”
“...An idiot that threw away a world worth having now,” was the simple, knowing reply.
“Girls! Formation!” both Twilights called.
Adagio sniffed, noticing the 'song' of the Nightmares now being back to its normal configuration. “When are you going to learn? Girls! Let's play our song!”
= Final Boss Battle (Last Hit) – Kirby Star Allies OST =
Red energy linked between the three and exploded upwards, their avatars manifesting and now so massive that they blotted out the sun with their bodies.
One group glowing with bright colors the other with dark ones filled with starts, fourteen lights united and for the first time since the dawn of Ponykind, the twin rainbows erupted skywards in all their glory, piercing the clouds. They seemed to dance with one another like long separated siblings finally reunited.
The Sirens sang their song, their massive avatars each firing a duel colored beam from their mouth that collided into a massive tidal wave of twisted rainbow magic at the heroes. Atomizing the very air between the groups.
= Sonic Colors Music – Final Boss – Part 2 =
{Time to call down a miracle.}
High above, each of the heroes rainbows formed into a massive sphere of energy. From the bright twin emerged a pair of massive wings while from the dark came tentacles.
Descending from the sky came two gigantic beings made of energy. One was a massive Alicorn, body of blue crystalline energy and mane and tail of rainbows, while the other was a nightmarish horror. Even seeming to intentionally hide enough of its nature to not drive all insane, the latter was terrifying beyond reason...but balanced out by its light counterpart that canceled its presence out. The two glared down at the Sirens for a moment before throwing their heads forwards. From the light's horn came a massive ocean of radiant rainbow light while the dark beast opened the jaws of Hell itself and let loose a dark rainbow filled with stars.
The two oceans mixed into a swirling, twelve colored rainbow and collided with the Sirens' own beam. The fact they resisted at all was a testament to how massively powerful the trio had become, but their beam soon shattered, the deluge of power slamming into their avatars.
“No! How?!” Adagio asked, eyes widening as her avatar filled with cracks, her sisters' doing the same. She then snarled, eye snapping open with clock hands forming in it.
“We'll come out on top!”
The former Eclipse's eyes went wide and she quickly did the same.
“Time stop!”
The two clock hands slammed into each other once more, time coming to a screeching halt as the two groups and their attacks were the only things present. Twilight's alternate self cringed, sweating in seconds as the clock in her eyes began to rapidly crack faster than the Siren's Avatars.
Twilight looked over with a gasp and focused, looking at both Adagio and her other self before closing her eye and snapping it open with the same hands.
“Let time come untethered, You will wander forever!” Adagio and her sisters sang, clock beginning to tick backwards.
“We will wander...” the two Twilight grunted, straining as their clocks tried to move forwards but were losing ground, time beginning to slowly tick backwards...until one by one, their respective groups put a hoof on their backs, rainbow energy flowing in and slowing the rewind down, but not stopping it.
Celestia, being carried along by the hero's time spell, gasped. If nothing was done, the Sirens would simply turn back the clock and defeat them before they had a chance. “They need more Elements of Magic...” 'Luna, stay in your domain. If something goes wrong, you're the only hope we have left.'
'You can count on us, sister,' her sister's voice said in her mind.
Taking a deep breath, Celestia hoped she was still worthy enough for this. She looked to Sunset. “Come on!” she yelled, grabbing her and flying up next to her lavender student's side. Watching for a moment, focusing on every bond and friendship she'd ever had in her life until her own eye was filled with a blazing clock of its own. Celestia gave a shocked look for a moment, then the most peaceful smile she'd given in awhile. “...I guess I'm still worthy after all.”
The two spells finally stalemated, ceasing the backwards creep but the cracks continued to spread too quickly. The Dayarch quickly looked to her adopted daughter. “Sunset! Try to help! We can't do it alone!”
“Me?! But...but...” Sunset stuttered, eyes wide. This was all her fault, what if she just made it worse?
“You're my Little Sun and an Element of Magic!” the Dayarch yelled, straining against the spell but giving a smile. “I've always believed in you! You can do this! You were worthy once, you can learn your lesson and be worthy again!”
Sunset gasped...then tears started in her eyes. She slowly turned, looking at the ones using the spell for a few moments. To her own surprise, a clock of her own formed in her eye and she pushed back with all her might. The cracks finally ceased and reversed, repairing themselves.
The two Twilights gave small smile and glared back at the Sirens.
“No longer!”
The two groups remained locked in the stalemate, resulting in everything being frozen in time...except the groups and their attacks, allowing the Twin Rainbows to continue tearing into the avatars without the heroes' spell losing ground.
Finally, the avatars shattered, the combined beam slamming down at the trio like a meteor. Adagio quickly grabbed her sisters and teleported out of the way...only for the Twin Rainbows to instantly speed up and change directions at them. Sonata quickly pulled several of their thralls up with telekinesis as a shield...but the Twin Rainbows passed harmlessly through them, leaving them free of their control, and kept coming. Aria summoned a boulder and split it in half, trying to slam the heroes themselves between them, only for the boulder to dissolve in seconds. The Sirens finally resorted to inhaling and letting loose their strongest sonic attack possible at the two, but to no avail as the Twin Rainbows finally slammed into them full force.
Within seconds their gems filled with cracks and shattered to bits. Their magic broken, the world's time was restored and began moving forwards. Their eyes widened in terror as their bodies began to turn to stone from the light rainbow...and swiftly be torn apart by the dark rainbow to atoms.
Sonata...genuinely looked like she was going to cry. “...I guess we aren't going to see our sisters again after all...”
Adagio looked on her sisters, seeing the same happen to them as herself...and flashing back to two dying sea ponies millennia ago. “No! Not again! This can't happen again! We were going to have everything!”
Looking up at Rarity, the Siren saw the image of a familiar pink mare...looking at her with sad eyes. “Melody?”
The mare slowly put a hoof on Rarity's shoulder, Rarity joining her sad look for a moment, before Melody vanish.
Adagio felt something about the waterfall of energy change, but regardless turned to stone, energy erupting from her and her sisters' eyes and mouths. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
In a final explosion of light, the trio detonated, their stone components blown to ashes swirling around in the rainbow.
The dark abomination gave a shrug while its light counterpart merely gave a nod and both vanished back into the rainbows which summoned them forth. The twin rainbows formed into a dome, washing over the world and purging both Discord's taint and the Sirens' spell...
However, Sky Ocean, in some way or another, didn't fall, merely glowing softly with the two rainbows' light. The Chaos Castle's windows blinked, fully repaired by otherwise still itself.
“We did it,” Twilight muttered as Spike touched down, letting the group off. The two Twilights, Celestia, and Sunset practically collapsed panting for a few moments, the effort of casting and mainting such a powerful spell for so long being enormous. Twilight finally rose to her hooves as she caught her breath...only to hear crying on top of the crowd regaining their senses and, remembering everything they'd experienced, cheering for their saviors. Walking over to where the Sirens had been floating, her eyes went wide. “What?!”
The group gathered around to find...three infant, sea pony-like Alicorns sitting in a pile of ashes, crying as babies tended to do.
“Why are they so tiny?” their Apple Pie asked with a giggle.
“I don't know what came over me, darling but...looking at them, I just felt sad...” Rarity admitted. “Like whatever made them this way was a tragedy that needed corrected...and given we had the power of creation itself, this seemed right.”
“I was thinking the same thing...they said they were like us, ponies who had their world taken...if we're getting a second chance, I guess it was only right to give it to them too,” Nightmare Whisper...or rather, Princess Gaia said sadly.
“Mama!”
“Flutternice!” Gaia yelled, flying up to the rift in the sky and hugging her daughter. She'd probably have a lot of issues and mistreatment to fix, but that was for another day.
“Ponyville!” Manacle, or rather Fidelitas, flew up through the portal after her to check on her friends.
“...Am I the only one really, really confused by what the Tartarus they're talking about?” Rainbow Dash questioned. Everypony from this timeline collectively nodded.
Fluttershy looked up at her Nightmare self, at least some of what'd been done to Flutternice obvious from both the name, who'd raised her, and how she acted. The young Demi-Draconequus was acting like a very small child...but twitching. Like there was a constant fight just beneath the surface. Or like she was in self imposed bonds she just couldn't break free from. Her expression looked...forced. Unnatural. Even Fluttercruel could tell that poor girl was anything but mentally stable. Fluttershy had accepted that Fluttercruel, while she shouldn't be allowed to run wild like a roaring beast as she had for a thousand years, had Cruelty as part of her very being. If you suppressed that completely and utterly...
'Mom, you're not going to do that to me, are you?' Fluttercruel asked in her head.
'No, honey. There will be changes, yes...but you're still you,' the cream colored Pegasus replied. True, Fluttercruel needed to change, but that was the keyword. Change. Not be forced to become something she wasn't on any level.
“So...the old Sirens are gone?” Applejack asked, looking down at the still crying babies.
“They've been reset,” said Celestia, keeping a wing over Sunset's back. She did a quick scan. “Blank slates...a second chance for their souls. Reincarnations for lack of a better word...” she said, giving a bittersweet smile as she remembered her desperation to save them the first time. In the end, she'd gotten her wish in a way, hadn't she?
“So...who's going to care for them?” Twilight asked, before Pinkie picked them up and rocked them with a hum until they stopped crying.
“I've raised so many kids to be meanies like I was...let me raise some big meanies over again to be good,” the Bearer of Laughter and Courage said, giggling as little Sonata booped her nose.
“Making up for everything...looks like a good time for that, doesn't it darling?” Rarity asked, looking to Rainbow Dash who gave a nod.
Twilight nodded...then realized something pertaining to that and slowly turned to see her other self hugging Shining Armor's shade with tears in her eyes. The same shade that before they'd split them apart she'd acted like was an abomination. “Huh?”
The Alicorn broke the hug...only for a shade of Twilight herself to remain hugging him before the two vanished into spheres of light and flew away into the distance. “Shining needed to be tethered to the other six somehow...so his Twilight was in the driver's seat alongside my friends' Twilights to link them.”
= Balloons – MandoPony =
The other Twilight took a deep breath and so many lavender lights Twilight couldn't count them all erupted from her body, sailing through the sky and into the still open rift one by one. As she watched, Twilight saw her own image manifest so many different times, in so many different ways. So many different worlds. All streaming off to the Ponyville within that rift.
“N-Nightmare E-Eclipse?” Twilight asked, looking to her alternate self...to find her having shrunk down to match her size rather than post purification Luna's.
“Not anymore...or rather, she's in here. But...she didn't want to let go, the rest had to make her,” said the mare before her. “The rest of us Twilight's forming me that is. Those that just left were the Twilights who have somecreature who's still existing somehow. Well, most of them...Eclipse Prime is still in here, and I'm still going to atone for it all, but she'll never hurt anypony ever again...I'm so sorry for what happened to you, Twilight.”
Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “I forgive you. I'm just glad this nightmare is over.”
The two shared a smile.
“So...what really did happen with Shining? The only one of...whatever it is he was I know is that thing that Discord turned into his back up minions,” Twilight replied. She'd wondered what had happened to them...until Pinkie Pie had mentioned they'd gotten on Angry Pie's bad side and were among the few people she'd killed who's deserved to die.
“It's like AJ said. In that timeline Discord simply hollowed the nameless, soulless horror he used to be out and left the shell to rot. its empty presence gravitated to Cadence and her subconscious mind filled it with something else, turning it into the white knight she needed......except unlike before, where the persona was only a mask it wore to achieve its goals, this time the persona became real. He grew a soul of his own and became a person...a person who fought tooth and nail to the very end trying to save his sister, Cadence, and their friends,” Eclipse, or rather Amicitia, said gave a sad sigh. “As Nightmare Eclipse, I couldn't see that. I only saw an interloper into my story. Looking back on it, it was beautiful. A horror that before could only care about stealing stories for itself, now content to die if it kept the stories of others continuing. He deserved the Element of Trust...and he deserved to live. Something I hope the real gods watching over this world will grant him. He deserves his happy ending.”
Twilight slowly nodded. She admitted, when she'd heard the base story, she'd been somewhat unnerved...but when her other self put it that way, it really did sound beautiful. “I agree. We can pray he does, right?”
The two shared a brief prayer for Shining's soul together.
Nearby, Apple Pie approached her alternate self and Nightmare Mirror, now Veritas. “This is kinda weird now that Ah have time tah think about it, isn't it?”
Veritas' Apple Pie gave a chuckle. “Yeah...yah...yah still miss her too, don't yah?”
The paradoxical filly didn't take long to realize who this situation would bring to mind. “Yeah...she was mah twin. Ah'll always miss her. But we Apple Pies keep truckin'.”
As the two versions of the same filly talked, Applejack slowly approached Veritas. “So...how do yah feel about dishonest old meh now?”
The former Nightmare gave a sigh. “Ah still hate lies. But part of bein' a Nightmare is yer blind tah the other side of it...Yah might be a liar, but yah've been a better AJ than Ah've been for millions of years...Thanks for keepin' mah Apple Pie safe.”
The Element of Fantasy nodded without question. “We're family, even across time and space. That's one truth Ah'll always be happy tah tell.”
Leaving Pinkie Pie to her three new daughters, Rarity meanwhile walked over and looked up at Banneret, now Avaritius. “...For what it's worth? While I love my Spike, I am happy for you to be cured.”
“Thanks...And I know. I had a Rarity that loved me and I threw her away,” the Ryujin admitted sadly, thinking back. “My Rarity. When she wouldn't become a Nightmare and come with us, I...I just let Eclipse erase her...I was being so selfish.”
“Yes, you were,” Rarity said, being Element of Honesty now for a reason. “But now you've got a chance to set things right. Even if that ship has sailed, you can at least make the future brighter as she'd wish you to, correct?”
Avaritius blinked...then gave a small smile. “Yeah...thanks.”
“You know, thinking about it, Pinkie,” said Granfalloon, or rather now Thalia. “The Sirens...they were a lot like me.”
“...Wanted the world they lost back so hard they became big meanies to try and get it?” Pinkie asked, pulling a bottle out of nowhere to feed Adagio from. Thalia merely nodded. “Yeah, I know. That's how I always felt too. Guess if I'd never felt that way, you couldn't exist...but I couldn't just give up my friends I have now like that.”
“...I wish I hadn't given up mine to follow Nightmare Eclipse,” the Alicorn of Joy replied...while tears ran down her face. She caught one on her hoof and looked at it. “Huh...it's been so long since I...since I...”
Setting the Sirens down in a crib she pulled out of nowhere, Pinkie hugged herself. “It's okay to cry sometimes...I learned that when Twilight helped me stitch my mind back up the right way.” The party pony didn't budge as her own Alicorn finally let herself feel sorrow for the first time in an eternity and cried on her shoulder.
Spike looked at Avaritius, wondering if he should go talk...but in the end decided to his alternate self needed Rarity's help more right now. The dragon instead contented himself with watching Derpy, now freed from her curse along with her daughters, gleefully hug them both for the first time in a thousand years. The huge dragon then blinked as a blue police box phased into view and a familiar, but very different stallion greeted them. Saying something about 'dealing with the Valeyard,' the family departed without another word...then returned back a few seconds later talking of some adventure they'd had. “...Is the Valeyard gone?”
“Yep!” Derpy replied simply. “Took bus awhile!”
“That's all I needed to know.”
Rainbow Dash...saw no reason to interfere with her other self. She didn't particularly care what her alternate self had in mind up there in the freaky rift in the universe. Instead she was busy apologizing to the gathered crowd, honestly and sincerely, for what she'd done as Traitor Dash.
This gathering lasted for some time before Amicitia suddenly looked up at a portal, sensing a distortion. The main Twilight followed her gaze. Flying before the portal was an Alicorn the group had never seen before, one in beautiful armor that made Twilight feel like she was looking at Justice itself.
She didn't look angry, merely giving a small smile, but Twilight got the feeling she was here for a reason.
“Speaking of atonement, I'd best go get on with it.”
“Who is that?” Twilight asked.
“Celestia and Luna's sister, Justitia. The Concept of Justice. Something we've avoided for far too long now. Come on everypony...we've got a lot we need to do,” Amicitia said, turning and walking.
Twilight gave a nod...then couldn't help wondering what her alternate self had meant by 'most of' the Twilights with someone who still existed' leaving.
As the former Eclipse walked by Veritas, who was talking with Applejack and the Apple Pies, Amicitia put a hoof on her paradoxical filly's shoulder. “Come on, let's go home,” she said with a warm friendliness and look that made filly and orange Alicorn both look up with eyes wide.
“H-Halflight?”
Amicitia merely nodded, leading the two along (the present Apple Pie waving goodbye to her other self) as they picked up Thalia and Avaritius. To the former she said some joke the present Twilight didn't get but Thalia certainly did...and asked Avaritius to take a letter.
“So...I guess that's it, huh?” asked Fidelitas, coming to greet her friends at the portal, looking at Justitia...who Celestia and Luna had both flown up and hugged like a long lost sister.
The former Eclipse put a hoof on the Rainbow Alicorn's shoulder. “We'll face it together, Rain.”
Fidelitas' eyes widened. “T-Twilight?”
The two's eyes welled up with tears before they hugged. A hug to Gaia and what could only be their Fluttercruel followed.
As the new Alicorn flew back through the portal to join them, the redeemed Nightmares gave a wave, Twilight, and her friends who cared returning it before the the fabric of reality healed itself and vanished.
Twilight didn't wonder which Twilights were still in there forming her Alicorn's consciousness anymore.
“Twilight!”
“Mom?! Dad?!” Twilight asked, turning and accepting a hug tackle from her restored parents while Apple Pie rushed to her freed father and family.
The world slowly remembering what normalcy was.
“Don't worry, Fluttercruel, we're going to put your father's statue somewhere safe,” Fluttershy said as soon as possible, flying into the upper chambers of the castle. Things forward were going to be...hard. Fluttercruel was a murderer. She'd killed a lot of ponies...she wasn't good. Lots of ponies wanted her to face justice, having helped save the world or not. Fluttershy believed she could change for the better and due to her background deserved a chance to try. Others didn't quite agree, but it was acknowledged doing anything only with her would prove difficult and all agreed out of the Six of them, Fluttershy was the most undeserving to suffer. For now, the Princesses had declared Fluttercruel was guilty, but with mitigating circumstances. For now, Fluttershy wasn't just her mother, she was her jailer. They would see how the mother's attempts to reform her would go, and then they would decide if more serious measures would be required. And make sure to get whatever psychologist help was possible in the present situation.
For the time being, however, Fluttershy opened the last door to the chamber they'd left Discord's statue in...and gasped at what awaited her.
Discord groaned, holding his head surrounded by broken stone and having a huge band aid on his stomach. “What the...”
“Daddy!” Fluttercruel yelled, taking control and hugging her father. “What happened?!”
“That's what I'd like to know...” the draconequus muttered, looking down to find a note. Picking it up, he began to read as the mouths that took the place of O's attempted to eat his fingers.
'Dear Son;
Seeing Celly And Her Little Long Lost Daughter Reunite Made Me Decide To Give You A Little Reward For Good Behavior. I Did Confiscate A Few Toys I Should Have Never Given You To Begin With. Enjoy Your Time With Your Daughter, And Try To Be A Good Boy.
Havoc.
Discord tried to make a familiar red sphere of destruction form in his hand, but nothing came. “Probably should've never had those to begin with...”
“You're going to take over again now, right dad?” asked Fluttercruel before Fluttershy started retraining her again. True, Luna had told them what she's seen, but she was still a little wary.
“...Fluttercruel, Odyne...dear. I'm afraid we're going to need to have a very, very, very long talk.”
“Sunset?”
The mare turned to look at the Princess of the Day as she entered the room a few days later. One of the towers Celestia had sat aside for her in the palace during her stay. “Y-Yes?”
Sunset expected a lot of things next. Her mentor finally letting her have it for unsealing the Sirens and nearly resulting in them becoming the overlords of the timeline now that the crisis was over. Yes, she'd helped stop them...but that was just one good decision in a long, long series of bad ones.
“Sunset, would you like to come back and be my student again?” Celestia asked with complete sincerity.
The yellow unicorn's eyes widened and she was stunned silent for a few moments. “W-What?!”
“Twilight is no longer my direct student. And even if she was, nothing says I can only have one. I would like you to return and be my student once again, my Little Sun. If you so wish.”
“B-But I...I let the Sirens back into Equestria! They nearly hijacked the timeline and erased everypony from existence!”
Celestia sat down and put a wing over the yellow unicorn's back. “We all make mistakes, some cataclysmic, others minor. But it's not making mistakes that makes the difference: it's how we learn from those mistakes and react that matters. And I believe in you that you can learn and grow from the ones you've made. You already helped fix the one you made, you just couldn't do it alone. And learning that is part of learning from your older mistakes as well.”
Sunset was silent for a few moments, tears starting to flow freely. All this time, all these years of bitterness and anger...and all she'd have had to do to get back her place at Celestia's side would've been to come back and ask.
“I...I made a lot of mistakes in the other world...I need to fix them first, but then...I think I'd like that.”
Celestia hugged her and after a few moments, Sunset returned it and broke down crying.
“I...I missed you...”
“And I missed you too, my Little Sun.”
Sunset blinked, noticing tears running down her face. “Why are you crying?”
“They're happy tears...I lost you...I lost Discord, Luna, and even that alternate Twilight...” Celestia said, giving a smile despite the tears in her eyes. “But now you're all found...I'm so glad to have you back.”
It even gave the Concept of the Sun hope that maybe, just maybe, her lost older brother may one day be saved. This all proved nothing was impossible.
For now, the two merely sat there, hugging as mother and daughter.
“So, everypony ready?” Amicitia asked, she and her friends floating over Manacle's fake Ponyville.
“Ready!” called the rest of the group.
“Let's finally make the Golden World. For real this time.”
With an army of Twilight Sparkles and Scootaloos as angels, the group descended...and began building a universe behind the once fake domain for all those they'd torn from their own timelines as part of their community service.
Justitia watched as their 'parole officer' as Thalia started a group working musical number. Some might say they'd gotten off easy. Only having to turn their little domain into its own self sustained universe, and maybe they were right. But wiping them from existence or killing them would do nothing, making them have to do something constructive would. This was justice And they would do it as friends.
It was a few months later. The Era of Chaos was finally over, and the Princesses had returned. To celebrate the transition of power being completed, the group sat in the Sky Ocean, watching a show. Nothing big or important, just some random show where the Sea Ponies were singing an ancient song passed down from the Second Age.
“Let's find... Let's find... Let's find the magic...”
Fluttershy/Fluttercruel sitting next to a strange hippogriff with a tornado Cutie Mark. The restored, but still somewhat crazy, Golden Tiara and Diamond Tiara sitting next to the latter.
Rainbow Dash had a little hippogriff of her own beside her who asked millions of question.
Pinkie Pie surrounded by three giggling Sea Pony Alicorns who seemed to instinctively sing along with the Sea Ponies whenever music came up, almost like they knew this specific song by heart. Pinkie Pie had taken to teaching them to feed on hate in a way that promoted joy. Being Pinkie, it seemed to be working.
Applejack with the Apple Pies surrounding her...and wearing an oddly 'Rarity' dress.
Rarity ironically being the plain one, but sitting in Spike's claw.
Sunset up in Celestia and Luna's personal theater box next to her mentor. She'd been on the other side of the Mirror for most of the time, fixing her mistakes, but Celestia had invited her back.
And Twilight seated next to her parents and Apple Pie.
Not quite normal...but still wonderful.
“Oh, Twilight? A little surprise?” asked Twilight Velvet.
“Yes, mom?” the lavender unicorn asked, smiling.
“You're going to be a big sister. Twins.”
Twilight gasped in surprise...before smiling as she briefly saw the spirits of what looked like her and a white stallion with a blue mane and tail behind her mother. “That's great, mom! Can't wait to meet them!”
Like she said: not quite back to normal. But in some ways better.
The End.
Minty, Princess Ashima, closed the book with a smile.
"Gee... it was fun and nice to get back to stuff. It was big and epic just like when Rainbow Dash, I mean Dark World Fidelitas' battle against Dark World Starlight Glimmer when it turned out Nightmare Eclipse had in-doctor-nated Glimmer 'just in case.' And... it's happy to see that Starlight Melody... I mean, the sirens... kinda got a happy ending... A fresh start, a clean slate... like us." Minty Age of Dreams incarnation had been born from the fusion of the souls of a close family, much like Starsong. "Another reason I think about her I guess."
Minty shook her head with a smile. "But you can't just keep going over the same stuff forever and ever. Ya gotta go forward, put yer hooves in front another. Otherwise ponies will just get bored, and that's no fun... Twilight, Amicitia, she fixed up lots of worlds... it was important to her, and to those worlds, but it would get boring for everyone else to just read her fixing them all over and over." The Alicorn of Reconciliation with the Past took the book of four hundred and thirty-five chapters of the primary ony POV Series Interviews, placing the manuscript at the end, and slowly closed it. "I should go and say hi to Pinks. It's beautiful full moon outside, perfect for a winter night sleigh ride. All that pretty fallen snow, like a blank page waiting to be filled. Even if it's not green." Minty laughed. She glanced at the book again and the manuscript within. "Starsong, you're free," Minty looked through the window at the diamonds at night, "and so am I."
~Always More Stories To Be Told, but now may this storyteller rest.
