A television set gets sent to the main characters. Pinkie Pie gets curious. Now every pony has to battle for their lives. Based loosely on the concept of Persona 4 Arena.
The technology in Equestria has always been advancing in a stagnated pace. So it's no wonder that when a gift from a mystery sender holds something that the tag calls a "T.V.", Twilight Sparkle and her friends are skeptical about its purpose and use. Of course, Pinkie Pie gets curious and just has to press the button labeled "ON". Suddenly, a wind that pulls stronger than anything the fastest Pegasi could conjure acts like a vacuum through the glass screen. Things get weirder from there. Scenery that resembles places in Equestria mark the lands and some of the ponies start acting weird. One of them will have to solve the mystery of this world. But can they face the one, true culprit?
---
Living for over a thousand years, one would think that the Princesses were more experienced and wouldn't allow anything to forcibly apprehend them. But past experience has proven that even two or three millennia may not be enough to prevent catastrophes. Where is this place in which they have woken up? Who brought them here and why?
---
Well, it happened. My mind decided to combine a videogame with the main cast in a way that I didn't think was possible. Each chapter represents a possible path of events. In theory, you could take any one of them plus the last chapter and just get the story from that. But that would be a short lived experience. If you can bear with my randomness and cringe-worthy sense of humor, please enjoy. Cover image by =Keyblade My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro and Studio B. Persona 4 Arena belongs to Atlus and Arc System Works. Anything else I've forgotten belongs to their respective owners.
--- "What in tarnation does Xeno-pho-whatever mean?" ---
Applejack looked around quite puzzled at her surroundings. Well, any pony would be a bit freaked out getting sucked into some new device called a "tee-vee". But how in sweet thunderation did she get from the center of the library to this weird yellow-skied, apple tree lined, patch of wooden floor in the middle of nowhere? Still, certain things made her focus her mind away from freaking out and fainting from the overwhelming newness of her new environment. For example, none of her friends were around even though she was sure that they had all been pulled in together.
"Twi? Apple Bloom?" she called into the open air, "Where is every pony?"
As if those were the magic words, spotlights shining from above without a light source shone on the ground in front of Applejack. Though, there wasn't anything particularly interesting to look at in the light.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" declared a loud voice from everywhere, "The P-1 Grand Prix Tournament is about to begin. We shall be thy host, Princess Luna of the Night. We shall give thee, how you modern ponies say, the play-by-play of the action. Here, the citizens can let out their pent up frustrations and release their rage against their fellow common ponies. The last filly standing wins!"
"Wah?" coughed Applejack as she looked up, "Princess Luna?"
"So the Xenophobic Farm Hoof is within study range!" chuckled a familiar voice. Applejack returned her gaze to in front of her. Surprisingly she wasn't blinded as one of the spotlights shone on her. What was more interesting was who was doing the taunting. To say Applejack was dumbfounded would be lying since she actually had several questions about what she was seeing.
"Twi?" she said in a very confused tone, "What's going on?"
"I must get more confrontational to get more conclusive results!" declared Twilight tapping her chest with a hoof.
"Twilight, you're talking nonsense!" Applejack tried to reason.
"The specimen has raised her hooves in an en garde stance!" gasped Twilight in awe, "I accept the challenge!"
"Guh!" exhaled Applejack, "Nothing I say is gettin' through to her. I guess I have no choice."
Round 1
Fight!
Twilight took the initiative and fired a slow volley of magenta, bolts of magic. Luckily, Applejack was already familiar with this attack and knew when to dodge each blast. Running up close and personal, she let loose a flurry of hoof kicks and tail smacks.
"That looks like it hurts," groaned Luna mockingly.
After that combination, Twilight put up a magic shield bubble to try an hold off her opponent. Applejack jumped back a few paces and pulled out her trusty lasso. After whirling it around a few times for show, she tossed the loop toward Twilight. Amusingly, it fit snugly around the magic bubble. Giving a rough yank on her end of the rope, Applejack managed to lift the bubble with Twilight in it and swung it around herself like a yo-yo.
"We may feel inclined to hurl," said announcer Luna.
A few more round-the-worlds, and Applejack sent Twilight flying right into one of the apple trees. The bubble popped and Twilight fell to the floor on her back. A few apples from the tree fell onto her, following the rhythm of the kiddie song "shave and a mane-cut, two bits." A loud bell dinged itself three times out of sight.
"How unfortunate!" declared Luna, "They lost!"
Twilight rubbed her head trying to alleviate the pain. She managed to raise herself into a sitting position and looked at Applejack with an eyebrow raised.
"Applejack?" she asked before coughing once, "What happened?"
"Twilight!" exclaimed Applejack, "Oh heavens to Betsy, are you alright?"
"I think so," Twilight grunted as she slowly moved to stand up, "Last thing I remember was Pinkie Pie pressing the button marked 'on' and then... here."
Applejack nodded in confirmation. But as they were getting reunited, the two ponies were interrupted by a giant screen-shaped image floating just above their heads. In this magical projection appeared to be a pony with a familiar, transcendent mane. But the apparel seemed to suggest "airship captain" rather than "princess".
"Congratulations, Element of Honesty," chuckled 'Celestia', "You're on your way to becoming the best of the best! Please keep in mind that only the winner may advance to the next round." On that note, the image flickered out of existence.
"The Princess?" wondered Applejack, "Is she behind this?"
"I don't know, AJ," answered Twilight shaking her head, "But it sounds like I'm stuck here until some pony wins this... P-1 Grand Prix tournament. I'm guessing the 'P' stands for pony."
"That makes sense," affirmed Applejack, "Wait... does that mean that the others are also being forced to fight?"
"Most likely," figured Twilight, "and in order to get every pony out of this mess, someone's going to have to win this whole thing."
"Then you should go," insisted Applejack, "Your magic is the best chance we've got against unknown forces."
"No, Applejack," negated Twilight with a shake of her head, "You beat me here. That's a sign that my magic won't be enough to take on this new challenge. Besides, whoever it was said that only the winner can move on."
"I... I don't know if I can," thought Applejack out loud, "Not without you."
"I believe in you Applejack," smiled Twilight, "My spirit as well as the spirit of our friends will assuredly fight alongside you."
Applejack sighed, "Alright. I'll do my best." She looked up and lowered her eyebrows in determination, "No, I'll do better than my best. I'll give it 110%, win this thing and save every pony!"
"Good luck, AJ!" called Twilight as Applejack ran through the conveniently marked 'exit' doorway.
--- A new challenger has appeared!
The Sugar Rushed Pin Cushion Of Laughter
PINKIE PIE!
As soon as Applejack made it to the end of the hallway, the 'doorway' shut itself and disappeared. Now she found herself inside a fairly vibrantly decorated room. The room was filled with scattered cookies, cakes, and candies of all shapes and sizes. Yet, they all lacked the smell sweets would normally have. Bouncing on one of the pies like a trampoline was the energetic pink earth pony herself.
"Ooo! It's the Xenophobic Farm Hoof!" chirped Pinkie Pie, "I'd bet I can make her smile with a couple one-two hoof bumps!"
She's loopier than usual, thought Applejack, I hope I can snap her out of it.
Round 2
Fight!
If there was one thing Applejack knew about Pinkie Pie, it was that a pony could only expect the unexpected. So it didn't surprise her at all when the pastry chef trainee pulled out multiple cakes and threw them at her. Applejack bobbed and weaved as best as she could around the cakes. The frosting from the tenth one scraped against her side and sent her sliding back a couple feet.
"It looks as though the Element of Laughter is starting strong!" commented announcer Luna.
From a convenient inventory space, Applejack brought out a pile of apples. She started putting Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee to work at bucking the apples in Pinkie Pie's direction. Pinkie Pie let out a 'woah' while twisting her body left and right. A few times, she actually opened her mouth wide enough to catch and eat the apples. Though immediately after Applejack's assault stopped, Pinkie grabbed her stomach in pain like something had hit it the wrong way.
"Some pony's going to feel that in the morning," declared Luna.
In that moment, Applejack took the opportunity to gallop towards Pinkie Pie with all her running might. Just as she stepped in front of the still aching Pinkie Pie, she turned around and smacked Pinkie Pie in the face with her tail. Pinkie went face-first into one of the taffy wrappers. The wrapper was empty, though, so she felt the full force of the floor. An invisible bell rang three times.
"What a stunning victory!" praised Luna.
"Ow, Applejack," moaned Pinkie Pie, "You didn't have to whack me like you meant it."
"I'm sorry, Pinkie," apologized the sincere earth pony, "but there wasn't anything else I could rightly do."
"Oh, that's all right!" chirped Pinkie going right back into her happy mode, "I was just imitating Teddie's line." Applejack only tilted her head in confusion.
"Anyway," she said shaking her head from the confusion, "I gotta get going. I'm sure the rest of our friends need some sorting out too." She ran off.
"Okay, bye Applejack!" waved Pinkie Pie enthusiastically.
--- Well, who do we have here?
The Unintentional Troll Of Equestria
PRINCESS CELESTIA!
Applejack galloped into the next arena area. It looked like an open grassy meadow of sorts surrounded on all sides by unnatural trees like those of the Everfree Forest. She briefly considered trying to just run right on through until a blinding vertical light blocked her path. When the light cleared, she could see a tall and regal form.
"Princess!" addressed Applejack, "If you know what's good for you, you'll stop this crazy tournament right now!"
"Brash and forward, dear Applejack," chuckled Celestia, "I'm afraid actions will speak louder than your words here."
Oh, pony feathers, thought Applejack, I'm in over my head. Fighting the Princess?! She shook her head and remembered her exchange of words with Twilight. No, I can't and won't give up now. I gotta win, for all of them!
Round 3
Fight!
Hoping that a straightforward charge would overcome any form of trickery, Applejack immediately galloped headstrong toward Celestia. Too bad for her, Celestia charged up a circle of magical lights with her horn. Each of the lights alternated blasting magical energy at the charging pony. These were a bit broader and slower than Twilight's magical bolts. That didn't stop the third, fourth, and fifth blasts from nicking Applejack's sides and causing some nerves to feel like they were on fire. The sixth blast sent Applejack careening into the other treeline of the clearing.
"And big sis gets in the first hit!" announced Luna.
In all the blasting, Applejack's stetson hat had fallen to the grass a few feet in front of her fallen form. Celestia had started walking toward her opponent. In her focused mindset, she didn't notice as one of her hoofs stepped on the hat nearly flattening it. Applejack's eyes dilated when she saw this happen.
--- "Here, AJ. It's yours now." ---
"Big Mac," she whispered. She could feel tears forming in her eyes from the memory. Suddenly, her vision became clouded in red as she scowled her face in anger.
"Woah! An awakening!" shouted Luna, "Could this turn things around for the villager?"
Immediately, Applejack was back on her hooves and charging strong. Something was fueling her power and it felt a whole lot stronger than any adrenaline rush. She didn't know what was going on. At the time, she didn't even care. No pony messed with her family in any way and got away with it.
The sudden charge caught Celestia off guard. Applejack's collision knocked her off balance and her hooves slid around on the grassy field. This was soon halted by a barrage of lasso tosses by Applejack. Where she got so many ropes, no one will ever know. In any case, Celestia's horn and wings were currently handicapped by the new bindings. Applejack pulled out a large helping of apples and piled them up for her two favorite hooves to get to work.
She had never kicked so quickly before. It was like how ponies of an ancient war had fired machine guns or something like that. Celestia took the brunt of each and every one of the fruit projectiles. AJ then picked up her hat and threw it forward. It smacked Celestia in the face as she fell back in a shocked position. Three invisible bells rang one after the other.
"Better luck next time!" commented Luna's voice.
The red aura surrounding Applejack faded as she trotted over. She patted her hat a couple times to fix its shape before putting it back on. After the fight had been rung as over, her ammo had somehow vanished from Celestia's fallen form. Applejack offered a hoof to help the Princess up. To this, she happily accepted.
"Sorry, your highness," chuckled Applejack nervously, "I guess I don't know my own strength."
"I must admit I wasn't expecting that," agreed Celestia, "Still, that proves there is much potential hidden within you, Applejack."
"Aw, shucks," Applejack blushed. A sound like static suddenly filled the air as a screen-shaped projection appeared next to the two ponies.
"Hello?" inquired Luna's voice, "Is any pony there? Please answer."
"Princess?" pondered Applejack.
"Luna?" asked a shocked Celestia.
"Please help if you can," pleaded Luna, "There's a fake Celestia around here and she used my voice to host this Grand Prix that's really a fighting trap. Uh-oh! She's ba-!" The voice crackled back to static as the image faded.
"My sister is in trouble!" worried Celestia, "And there's nothing I can do for her in this strange world!"
"Don't worry, Princess," insisted Applejack patting her chest once, "I'll go save her and every pony else too. I'll even clear your good name of that impostor."
"You have my thanks, Applejack," bowed Celestia. Applejack nodded and galloped off.
--- On to the next round...
Everything about this one is a complete mystery!
????
The newest room that Applejack had entered looked like a really high-tech and fancy board. It was filled with buttons, switches, and screens that flashed at irregular intervals. Currently, two ponies were in the room having a heated argument.
"As Princess of Equestria," tried Luna, "I order you to release us as well as our subjects from captivity!"
"You're in no position to make demands," countered 'Celestia' smugly.
"Princess!" shouted Applejack as she ran up next to Luna.
"Fair Applejack!" exclaimed Luna, "It is good to see a benevolent face rather than a malevolent one."
"Alright, you," said Applejack turning to 'Celestia', "I know you ain't the real Princess Celestia. Why don't you show us your true self?"
"Heh heh heh," chuckled 'Celestia' as a cloud of indigo smoke engulfed her completely. It swirled around a bit before becoming sort of translucent and the new entity appeared.
"No," whispered Luna, "It can't be."
"Hello, Luna," cooed the black alicorn in midnight blue armor, "Did you miss me?"
"Th-that's impossible," insisted Luna shaking a bit. "You can't exist if you're me."
"Oh, but I'm not you anymore," chuckled Nightmare Moon, "Those Elements of Harmony stripped all of my dark powers from your very soul."
"Hold on," interrupted Applejack while looking at Luna. "Didn't you turn into Nightmare Moon that one time during Nightmare Night?"
"A simple transformation into a familiar form is nothing," spoke Nightmare Moon, "An optical illusion does not automatically mean that you still have all my powers. Well, not anymore. I've forced every pony into a place where they can destroy each other and experience true fear of the familiar just as I once knew fear of the ponies that I simply wanted to love me."
"Stop this madness!" cried Luna.
Nightmare moon cackled loudly and maniacally, "Stop? This is only the beginning 'your highness'! Soon, all shall either love me or despair!" Lightning and tornado-like purple clouds surged and burned around Nightmare Moon. It blew the other two ponies back a few feet. Applejack managed to stop her sliding by slamming her hooves hard into the floor and standing her ground.
"I've got a better idea," Applejack stated flatly before raising her voice above the gale winds, "I'm going to defeat you and get us all out of this crazy place!"
"Good luck on your foolish endeavor!" mocked Nightmare Moon floating a few inches above the floor.
The lights blinded her at first. It took about half a minute before she could open her eyes and blink without squinting. Fluttershy looked around in confusion and fear. How did she end up in the middle of the Everfree Forest? This didn't even look like a familiar clearing. Although, the orange sky was definitely not part of the Forest, at least not that she knew of. It didn't even fit with that weird falling experience when Pinkie Pie turned that "T.V." on. How could a box perform a teleportation spell that only unicorns should have been able to do?
"R-Rarity? R-ainbow Dash?" whimpered Fluttershy, "Where are you?"
"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" spoke a fairly loud voice.
"Eep!" squealed Fluttershy attempting to hide in her own mane, "W-wait a minute... I... I know that voice."
"The P-1 Grand Prix Tournament is about to begin," continued the announcer, "We shall be thy host, Princess Luna of the Night! We shall provide, how you say, the play-by-play of the matches to come. Every pony participating can release all of that hidden aggression and fury against their fellow common ponies. The last filly standing wins!"
"A-aggression?" shivered Fluttershy peaking out of her mane, "Princess Luna, w-what are you talking about?"
"So this is the Deadly Stare Master," said another voice. To this, Fluttershy looked directly in front of her to see another familiar face.
"Princess Celestia?"
"And she's not so 'silent' after all," continued Celestia, "I, the Unintentional Troll shall fix that without hesitation!"
W-what's gotten into her? thought Fluttershy, She's acting really weird.
"Defend yourself, Master of the Stare!" called Celestia.
"P-please," she pleaded under her breath even quieter than she normally spoke, "Let this all be just a horrible dream."
Round 1
Fight!
"Just let it be a dream. Just let it be a dream. Just let it be a dream," cried Fluttershy to herself as Celestia ran closer. Just as Celestia prepared to make this her quickest conflict in history, Fluttershy looked into her eyes with the most adorable puppy pout ever. Celestia found herself stuck in place. Her heart felt constricted and heavy. She backed up a couple paces on her hind hooves.
"It looks like Fluttershy is trying to wrap this up right now with her special Heart Attack!" announced Luna's loud, echoing voice.
"Heart attack?" whispered Fluttershy, "Oh no!" She flapped her wings and fluttered closer to Celestia. "P-Princess, are you okay?" she asked in worry.
This seemed to be a wake-up call to Celestia. She shook her head and put her front hooves down. She then focused a blinding illumination spell from her horn. Fluttershy barely avoided going blind by looking away from the center of the light source. It also helped that she had a wing open to block some of the light.
"Oh, please forgive me for what I'm about to do," moaned Fluttershy. She fluttered over and used one hoof to give Celestia's horn a twang. Instantly, the illumination spell dissipated. Celestia reached up a hoof to rub away the pain. Hoping not to get banished and then locked in some dungeon outside of Equestria, Fluttershy reluctantly applied the first step to her bear massaging technique on Celestia's backside. (For those of you unaware, that's a karate kick to the spine.)
"And big sister is down and out!" declared Luna as some unseen bell rang three times in succession.
"Oof, nice ax-kick," commented Celestia as she slowly stood up and winced.
"Oh, my goodness!" gasped Fluttershy. "Princess, are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," insisted Celestia.
"But why did you act so weird and attack me?" asked Fluttershy fearful and confused.
"I... I don't know," replied Celestia not entirely sure of herself. Before they could continue their conversation, a screen-shaped projection appeared next to the two ponies.
"That was a nice win, Element of Kindness!" congratulated a figure that looked and sounded a lot like Princess Celestia. "You're well on your way to becoming best P-1 champion. By the way, only the winner may move on. Keep that in mind as you proceed." The image soon faded completely.
"Huh?" asked Fluttershy, "Princess? But... you're right here. Aren't you?"
"Yes, I am," replied Celestia a little confused herself. "Whoever that impostor is must have something to do with this new world that we're in. It seems many others are trapped in this... "Grand Prix" tournament."
"Ah!" realized Fluttershy, "Every pony else was sucked into the T.V. too! They could be in danger! We have to find them, Princess."
"I'm afraid I can't go with you," Celestia shook her head sadly, "Based on the rules of this world, only the winner of each round can move on. If I'm not mistaken, you are the winner of this round."
"B-but," stammered Fluttershy, "I'm not as powerful or as experienced in battle as you, Princess."
"It has nothing to do with power or experience," smiled Celestia. "Fluttershy, you have the courage to face your fears even when they stack themselves against you. Your friends will always be fighting alongside you, as will I."
Fluttershy let the weight of those words sink in before finally settling on saying, "Th-thank you, Princess."
"Now, go on," insisted Celestia.
"Right!" Fluttershy gave a hoof salute and flew out of the scene.
--- On to the next round...
The Loyal Mare That Gave Up Her Womanhood
RAINBOW DASH!
Fluttershy entered what looked like a giant coliseum in the shape of Cloudsdale's stadium. The difference here, however, was that there was a large patch of clouds that made up a floor for the whole place. Ponies wouldn't fall several miles from exhaustion here. Still, that didn't ease her nerves when she saw what she was up against.
"Hoo-ah!" whooped Rainbow Dash, "Time to prove that I can play with the big colts too!"
"R-Rainbow, please come to your senses!" reasoned Fluttershy, "Th-that is... if you want to... I mean you don't have to..."
Round 2
Fight!
Rainbow Dash wasted no time flying in close and creating a dust cloud. The sound of several smacks and kicks could be heard but not easily seen. The dust eventually cleared to reveal Fluttershy with a few scrapes and Rainbow Dash hovering a few feet above. Fluttershy shivered in a fetal position as Dash starting circling around the air.
"It's about to get windy!" announced Luna.
She wasn't kidding. Soon, a familiar Rainblow Dry tornado had ensnared the shy pony and was flinging her around. Fluttershy did her best to readjust herself and started flying parallel to the tornado's motion. She started using the wind's speed to boost her own. In a matter of a few seconds, Fluttershy was right on top of Rainbow Dash. She reached out both hooves and knocked her away, leaving the small tornado to dissipate.
"Denied!" declared Luna.
Fluttershy hung on tightly and drove Rainbow into the cloud floor. Three bells agreed that Fluttershy won. She flew a few inches away from her opponent to allow personal space.
"Another victory! What a finish!" exclaimed Luna.
"Ugh," grunted Dash rubbing a sore spot, "I knew you were stronger than you let on, but... ow."
"Rainbow Dash, are you going to be okay?" asked Fluttershy. Dash stretched her wings and shook herself a bit.
"Heh, do you have to ask?" she responded rhetorically, "This is nothing."
Fluttershy sighed in relief, "I'm glad that you're back to normal. I need to get going, though. I think the rest of our friends are in similar trouble."
"All right! Good luck!" called Rainbow as Fluttershy flew out of the coliseum.
--- Who do we have here?
No Pony Touches Her Precious Sweetie Belle
RARITY!
This new room looked rather dark and blue. The walls were lined with intricate patterns of blue lace. Various sofas and chairs in similar lacing were arranged in haphazard locations inside the room. Lying on one of the sofas was her friend Rarity. Upon seeing Fluttershy enter, she immediately stood up and used her magic to fling the sofa behind herself.
"I hope your Stare gets a good look at my beautiful body, fit for a dragon king," cooed Rarity.
"Oh... my..." shrunk Fluttershy on her spot. That's a bit more... forward than I usually hear from her.
"Wait!" exhaled Rarity as she pointed a hoof, "You! You've been eyeing my innocent little Sweetie Belle, haven't you?"
"What?" choked Fluttershy, "I don't... know what you mean-"
"Why didn't I see it before?" Rarity shouted rhetorically, "That offer to foal sit the girls that one evening. It was just your excuse to use your stare on her in such an intimate way!"
"Rarity, no!" cried Fluttershy waving her hooves in a defensive shake. "Oh dear, she's not listening."
I sure hope I don't have to fight her for too long, she thought.
Round 3
Fight!
Immediately on the offensive, Rarity used her magic to conjure up several gems from underground (even though that's technically impossible to do with a lacy, carpeted floor). Fluttershy let out a short squeal of terror as she tried her best to fly around the variously colored sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. The onslaught wasn't over, however. Within moments of her getting closer to Rarity, the unicorn conjured a roll of fabric and gave her a whack upside the head.
"The drama queen has applied the rug burn!" shouted Luna.
Fluttershy's vision filled with stars momentarily. She managed to shake her head along with the dizziness but Rarity was already on top of her. Rarity used a flip-kick variant of martial arts that she somehow learned without any pony's knowledge. Needless to say, Fluttershy wasn't doing so well. The poor thing landed back-first onto one of the sofa's in the room. In that moment, however, Fluttershy experienced a feeling that wasn't so painful so much as it was unusual.
"An Awakening!" exclaimed Luna, "Now it gets serious!"
A red fire started outlining her fur, feathers, and even her eyes. Her eyes in particular opened without her usual fear and panic. Instead, a look of peeved off determination burned within.
"Kick me once, shame on you," murmured Fluttershy before raising her voice, "Kick me twice, you're black and blue!"
The fiery Pegasus let loose a yell like a wild animal as she started galloping forward. Rarity attempted another gem barrage from below, but the aura surrounding Fluttershy seemed to disintegrate the jewels on contact. Fluttershy screamed angrily while jumping onto Rarity. A dust cloud obscured any visual that an outsider could witness, though it was obvious that most of the dust was red and several kicks could be heard.
Red dust cleared. Fires settled down. Three bells rang.
"What a surprising finish!" shouted Luna.
Whatever major injuries that either ponies had sustained seemed to vanish as soon as the end was announced. Fluttershy removed her hooves from Rarity who was lying on the floor. She looked at Rarity in complete shock. She started to worry about what she had just done.
"Well, that was certainly ruffian behavior," sighed Rarity as she slowly stood up.
"Rarity, I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Fluttershy at whisper volume, "Are you all right?"
"Think nothing of it, darling," insisted Rarity using her tail to brush off some of the less obvious dust, "I'm probably just as guilty for not being able to stave off the urge to fight."
"W-well as long as you're okay..." said Fluttershy looking away sheepishly.
A strange, static sound hummed through the air before a screen-shaped image appeared in thin air. The figure within the image looked like the announcer.
"Hello?" pondered a voice from the image, "Can any pony hear me?"
"Princess Luna!" exclaimed Fluttershy and Rarity simultaneously.
"Please! If you're there, some assistance would be most appreciated," continued Luna, "There's an impostor posing as Celestia who set up this whole stadium event. She's somehow stolen my voice to announce the matches and- Oh no! She's back!" The image immediately blinked out of sight.
"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" worried Fluttershy while flying away. "I must hurry!"
"Fluttershy, be careful!" called Rarity.
-- Onto the next match...
Everything about this one is a complete mystery!
????
The interior of this next room was filled with various screens, buttons, and switches. All of which were flashing in various colors. Yellow lights filled the room and allowed Fluttershy to see exactly who was inside. She could see the fake Celestia staring menacingly at Luna. Hurriedly she flew in beside Luna.
"Princess!" she quietly exclaimed, "Are you okay?"
"Dear Fluttershy!" responded Luna, "Be on your guard."
"A splendid performance," commented the other alicorn in the room, "You really are the best of the best."
Fluttershy turned to the Celestia look-alike and demanded, "Just who are you? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."
"Heh heh heh," chuckled 'Celestia' slowly as dark indigo smoke engulfed her. Barely a second passed before a new pony was revealed and the smoke became an outlining aura. Luna and Fluttershy each gasped at the sight.
"Are you surprised?" asked Nightmare Moon rhetorically. "I guess you should be."
"That's impossible," breathed Luna. "I was freed from your dark powers."
"Correct," smiled Nightmare Moon. "I'm no longer you. I'm myself now. Free of your weakness."
"W-why did you do all of this?" asked Fluttershy attempting a brave face in spite of the dark presence in front of her.
"Isn't it obvious?" chuckled the black alicorn in blue armor, "I've successfully trapped the wielders of Harmony and Equestria's princesses inside this new world. Here, you can either choose to serve me or be destroyed. What will you choose, Element of Kindness?"
Although the wind was picking up, Fluttershy held her ground. She slowly trotted closer so that she could look Nightmare Moon in the dragon eyes. Yes, she was scared. No, she did not know for sure what she would do. But, she did know what she was going to try.
"I have a better idea," she stated as calmly as possible, "I'm going to stop you here and now and save every pony from your madness."
"Very well!" shouted Nightmare Moon. "Destruction it is!" Lightning flashed to represent her fury.
Final Round
Fight!
--- Common sense – Intuition – Serenity -- Relationships
--- "You're so silly. Hee hee. I'm not a pin cushion. I'm a pony! Tee-hee." ---
"Wheeeeeee!"
Pinkie Pie's joyride into the "T.V." was abruptly halted by a large razzleberry pie. The filling splashed in every direction. Not that she was bothered by the splash, because she licked the gooey mess off her face and let out a belch of one satisfied customer. She looked with delight and wonder at her surroundings. It was a room almost completely covered in pies, confectionery, and candies as far as a pony's eyes could see. She wasn't sure where to start sampling first. Although once she decided to just take a bite out of everything, a loud and echoing voice interrupted her speedy train of thought.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" it declared, "It's about time for the P-1 Grand Prix Tournament to begin. We shall be thy host Princess Luna of the Night! We shall give thee the play-by-play of the action. No relationships will get in the way of this event. All ponies participating will get to release all of their hidden grudges and pent up anger until only one is standing tall. The last filly standing shall have the bragging rights to be best pony!"
"Hiya, Princess Luna!" waved Pinkie Pie enthusiastically at the non-existent ceiling.
"I've found the Sugar Rushed Pin Cushion!" exclaimed a new voice.
"Twilight, look!" chirped Pinkie, "I found a blackberry, pumpkin cake! The rarest cake to ever be known."
"Sorry, but I don't have time for that," stated Twilight, "As the 3000-IQ Killjoy Librarian, it is my job to end your fun here and now."
"Oooo! Are you role-playing?" chattered Pinkie, "Here let me try! I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Cadance is fine. Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake."
"You will be studied!" insisted an out-of-character Twilight, though Pinkie was too preoccupied to notice.
"Aw, c'mon, Twily!" said Pinkie while channeling a bit of Shining Armor's personality. "You wouldn't hurt your big brother."
"Enough with the chit-chat!" ordered another voice from above and around. "Start fighting or you'll be stuck here forever."
"Hi, Princess Celestia's evil twin!" waved Pinkie with her everlasting enthusiasm.
"What?" the image of the sailor-suited Celestia looked taken aback before resuming her sneer. "Heh, well knowing my identity won't save you here. In this world, you must let your hooves do the talking. Ref! Start the match!"
Round 1
Fight!
"Match?" asked Pinkie Pie tilting her head. "Oh! Are we playing concentration? I want to go first! Say, Twilight, do you have a deck of cards?"
Twilight, however, was done talking. Instead of answering Pinkie's innocent question, she started charging up a lot of magical energy at her horn's tip. After a couple seconds, she released a massive, magical bolt that shot forward with light-speed velocity. The pie's remains quickly turned into black ashes that crumpled into a pile inside the pan.
"You really shouldn't cook blackberries at that temperature. They taste icky without all that sweet juice to go with it."
The sudden advice of Pinkie Pie made Twilight jump on the spot. She turned around to see that Pinkie was unharmed. A quick set of confused faces made up her expression before she settled on a look of frustration.
"Thou must watch out for the 'fake outs', Twilight Sparkle," commented Luna.
"So, do you have that deck of cards?" inquired Pinkie Pie with a smile. Twilight responded by using her levitation to throw several of the miscellaneous sweets behind her at the opponent. Pinkie didn't even flinch as she jumped up into the air into the sugar assault. From the side view, it looked like her mouth was munching a path as if she were a pony-shaped Pac-man. As she got past the last sweet, she was on a collision course with Twilight. The unicorn lit up her horn and quickly teleported off to the side as Pinkie Pie bounced along the floor.
"Hey, I found some taffy!" cheered Pinkie as she lifted the sticky substance up like one would a rubber band, "Want a piece?" Oddly enough, the sticky substance immediately fired out of Pinkie's possession and quickly splatted all over Twilight. She was stuck to the floor, taffy was all in her mane, and it was blocking her magic somehow. She let out a ragged scream just as a bell rang three times.
"Well, that takes care of that," declared Luna. "Time to move on."
Strangely, the taffy was completely gone and Twilight had calmed down.
"Ugh," she groaned, "Pinkie? What's going on?"
"That was some amazing role-playing, Twilight!" chirped Pinkie Pie, "I never knew you could be an actor that tries to assault me with sugar!"
"What?" inquired Twilight with an eyebrow raised, "What on earth are you talking about? And what was that you meant about me being a killjoy?"
"Ohhhh, now I get it!" realized Pinkie. "We were hearing illusions made by the fake Celestia in order to convince us to fight, but I would never fight. I mean really, why would we want to hurt each other? It's just as crazy as kidnapping Princess Luna and expecting her to willingly announce the-"
"No more spoilers!" shouted the image of Celestia in uniform. "Get your flank to the next arena! Only the winner may advance. Please keep this in mind because I won't repeat myself!"
Poor Twilight couldn't follow Pinkie Pie's rapid speech or the meaning of the Princess's phrase just then.
"Huh? But I... what?" she quietly muttered as she held her head in confusion.
"Don't worry, Twilight," insisted Pinkie Pie taking a slightly more serious tone. "I'll go rescue Princess Luna from the fake Princess Celestia and then everything will be a-okay!" On that note, Pinkie Pie joyfully bounced away.
"Could some pony please tell me what the hay is going on here?" cried Twilight to no one left in the room.
--- A new challenger has appeared!
The Silent But Deadly Stare Master
FLUTTERSHY!
Pinkie Pie hummed a tuneless melody as she continued bouncing along. The new environment she found herself in was a flower-covered meadow. The various colors and shapes were so pretty that Pinkie Pie decided to jump into a pile of them and roll around like a happy little child. She almost didn't notice the presence of another pony.
"Only when I dare," fumed the newcomer, "do I unleash The Stare!"
"Hi, Fluttershy!" waved Pinkie Pie after standing up. "I guess I need to bring you back to your senses now. Get ready for a game of ultimate tag!"
Round 2
Fight!
"Tag, you're it!" giggled Pinkie Pie tapping Fluttershy before bouncing around haphazardly. Fluttershy attempted to perform several flying tackles. Each time she got close, however, Pinkie Pie managed to bend her flexible joints out of reach. This resulted in Fluttershy landing in a pile of flowers that somehow scattered in uniform splashing directions. Meanwhile, Fluttershy looked like she was starting to let loose her rage and a fiery aura started surrounding her.
"Uh-oh! An Awakening!" stated Luna. "The win won't be that easy."
"You make me lose," huffed Fluttershy, "I blow my fuse!"
"Woah!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she was suddenly caught in a vice grip. How Fluttershy managed to vice grip another pony with just her hooves, she'll never know. She started twisting Pinkie Pie in ways that ponies aren't supposed to bend. Audible snaps could be heard from what could be assumed were bones.
"I'll finish you!" yelled Fluttershy preparing to snap the pink one's neck.
"Hey, Fluttershy! I see you found my fire cracker dummy."
This seemed to break Fluttershy's fierce look as she turned to look at the smiling Pinkie Pie behind her. When she looked back at what she was holding, she saw a very life-like bean bag substance. From somewhere within the stuffed figure, she could hear some faint sizzling noises. Pretty soon, several explosions resounded from the dummy. Fluttershy got caught in the smokey blast and was flung into another pile of flowers a few yards away. Three bells rang to signal the end of the match.
"An unsurprising finish," scoffed Luna.
After the result, the environment and its current residents were returned to relatively normal conditions. Though, the pain was still fresh in Fluttershy's memory.
"Ouch," she whispered.
"Here, let me help you up," offered Pinkie Pie with a hoof. Fluttershy slowly accepted before standing up.
"Pinkie Pie?" inquired Fluttershy. "Why were you making fun of me earlier? I don't like being called a killer."
"No, no, no," responded Pinkie. "That was what the illusion of me that you were seeing said to you in order to convince you to fight like how the illusion of you made you act like you did when you took that bad advice from the monster Iron Will. The illusions wouldn't go away until one of us won that fight."
"Um, okay," muttered Fluttershy not quite up to speed, "I guess."
"See you later, Fluttershy!" smiled Pinkie as she prepared to bounce off.
"Wait," motioned Fluttershy softly. "Are you sure you can handle this all by yourself?"
"Don't worry your pretty, little head," insisted the pink pony with a wink. "Your Auntie Pinkie Pie's got it all taken care of." On that note, she continued on her merrily bouncy way.
"But I'm a year older than you," mumbled Fluttershy.
--- Next up...
Unleashing The Power Of A Thousand Suns
PRINCESS CELESTIA!
Pinkie Pie was having the time of her life. So much bouncing, so many sweets, and so many pretty lights just made it all like one of her dreams came true. Even this new clearing in the middle of an imitation Everfree Forest couldn't bring her good mood down. She was even more happy to see Princess Celestia standing in the clearing. Pinkie was just so happy to see all of her friends in this funny world.
"Hi, Princess!" she greeted. "Ready to come back your senses?"
"The only thing I must sense is how to properly incinerate you," declared Celestia flaring her wings in an attempt to look ferocious.
"I'll take that as a yes," giggled Pinkie.
Round 3
Fight!
Celestia wasted no time sending forth a few golden beams of magic. To her dismay, Pinkie giddily bounced over each and every blast. The princess attempted a more direct casting by grabbing the pink pony in a levitation hold. Even some pony as random as Pinkie Pie was unable to escape that kind of power. Within the golden aura, Pinkie hung upside down in Celestia's sight.
"Here comes the divine Tia with power to spare!" announced Luna.
With her magic occupied by holding Pinkie Pie in place, Celestia had to resort to her other abilities to deal the real damage. She levitated Pinkie underneath her hooves and gave her a few painful stomps. She then flapped her wings and flew up into the open, sunny sky. She released her magical hold briefly in order to gather her focus on pure sunlight energy.
"This is turning into a very one-sided battle!" noticed Luna.
However, before the daylight princess could do anything else, some honking horns and creaking gears interrupted her. Pinkie Pie was riding a wacky, pedal-powered flying apparatus. Celestia was so befuddled by the Pinkie's appearance that her spell faltered and faded. The shock only lasted a couple seconds and Pinkie hadn't utilized her advantage of surprise. After shaking her head in brief disbelief, Celestia used her magical beam to fry the propeller of Pinkie's machine.
"Is this the end?" wondered Luna.
Pinkie and her contraption started falling. For whatever reason, Celestia decided to fly after her. Though, she headed toward the ground at a much more controlled pace. A cloud of dust indicated Pinkie's impact with the ground. Several parts scattered away from the point while Pinkie was bounced onto her back before toppling over to lay on her stomach. She may have survived, but she still felt aches as she stood up. Celestia landed in front of her and shook the ground upon landing.
"Are they finally getting serious?" asked Luna.
"Woah," said Pinkie in awe. "I feel a warm rumbling in my tumbling."
An unusual red fiery aura surrounded her. Celestia stood defensively, bracing herself for an attack. What she didn't expect was Pinkie Pie pulling out a yellow suitcase and opening it. Celestia momentarily dropped her guard as a bunch of full balloons blew out of the suitcase. That mistake would cost her greatly. In the next moment, balloons started beating up on her from every direction. The last balloon collided from under Celestia's chin and knocked her onto her back.
"What a comeback!" exclaimed Luna as a bell rang three times.
"You... certainly are resourceful," coughed Celestia.
"Are you going to be all right?" asked Pinkie Pie while smiling.
"I'll be fine," insisted Celestia. "Though, I have to wonder why you kept calling me a troll."
There was a static-filled noise as a screen-shaped image appeared next to the two ponies.
"It wasn't what she was saying," said Luna's voice. "There's a fake Celestia that's conjured up illusions to make every pony fight each other."
"What?" gasped Celestia.
"I knew it!" affirmed Pinkie Pie.
"She's holding me captive in the Announcement Room and... oh no! She's back!" Luna's voice was halted and the translucent image faded.
"Luna!" cried Celestia.
"Don't worry, Princess!" said Pinkie placing a hoof to her own chest. "I'll go check on her."
Celestia slowly nodded, "I'm counting on you."
--- Who do we have here?
Everything about this one is a complete mystery!
????
With the situation more serious, Pinkie Pie galloped into the Announcement Room. She stopped to stand right next to Princess Luna.
"I'm here, Princess!" she declared.
"Oh! Ringleader Pinkie Pie," gasped Luna.
"Congratulations on making it this far!" declared the differently dressed 'Celestia'. "You really are the best of the best!"
"Hello, Nightmare Moon," scowled Pinkie while narrowing her eyes.
"Would you mind not calling me that?" pleaded Luna.
"Not you. Her!" said Pinkie pointing a hoof to the fake Celestia.
"So you already knew," chuckled the fake Celestia. "Heh heh heh."
A dark purple smoke swirled around her obscuring her from view. Then, the smoke cleared to reveal exactly what Pinkie's suspicion had been. It was Nightmare Moon in her full dark form and midnight blue armor. The cloudy mane completed her look.
"It can't be," breathed Luna, "But I was freed from your darkness."
"You're right," smirked Nightmare Moon, "I'm not you anymore. I've become my own entity."
"Why did you set up this crazy program?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Why do you think?" retorted Nightmare Moon, "To trap you and your weak friends. By forcing you to compete against each other, the Elements of Harmony would be unable to stop me."
"Stop this madness!" demanded Luna.
"Stop?" laughed Nightmare Moon. "I've just begun. Soon all shall give me their respect or perish!"
Lightning flashed as purple smoke whirled around the armored alicorn. She didn't even need to flap her wings as she hung in midair. The lights on the control panel started flashing sporadically due to the electrical discharges. Unholy winds blew throughout the complex.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Pinkie Pie denounced.
"Then face me, Element of Laughter! Prepare yourself for your last fight!"
Final Round
Fight!
--- Good will -- Optimism -- Harmony -- Renewal of forces
Faster Than A Speeding Bullet and Missile Combined
The Loyal Mare Who Gave Up Her Womanhood
RAINBOW DASH!
--- "What the hay do you mean 'gave up her womanhood'?" ---
" 'I want to press the 'ON" button,' she said," grumbled the cyan Pegasus. " 'What's the worst that could happen?' she said. Augh, Pinkie Pie. Why are you so random?"
That device that started with a 'T' used some freaky magic to suck up every pony like a vacuum as soon as Pinkie Pie had touched that button. Now Rainbow Dash was in some copy of the cloud stadium in Cloudsdale. Except the construction was all wrong. Cloudsdale didn't need a cloud floor since all the Pegasi could easily fly to a nearby stand if necessary. Then again, this provided a nice resting place while she could try to figure out what was going on. Before she could begin to understand, however, an echoing voice interrupted her look around the place.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" announced a rather familiar loud voice, "Now that all of the contestants have arrived, the P-1 Grand Prix Tournament may now commence! We shall be thy host Princess Luna of the Night. We shall relay, how-you-say, the play-by-play of the action. Ties of friendship will not save the challengers here. Every pony shall have the chance to release their pent up aggression and bottled grudges. The last filly standing shall win the tournament and the rights to the title of best pony!"
"A... tournament?" questioned Rainbow Dash with an eyebrow raised. "What are you talking about, Princess?"
"I'm not talking about anything," said another voice as its source fluttered into the coliseum. "I'm going to show you the punishment of a thousand suns!"
"Princess Celestia?" gasped Dash in shock. "Wait, punishment? For what?"
"Why the most immoral crime of all," answered Celestia. "Pretending to be something you're not: a colt."
"What do you mean?" snapped Dash now furrowing her brow in annoyance.
"Talking was never your style," sighed Celestia. "Let's just deal with this the old-fashioned way."
Round 1
Fight!
"The old-fashioned wa-OAH!?" yelped Rainbow as she narrowly flew out of the way of Celestia's horn.
"Hold. Still. And. Take. It. Like. The. Colt. You. Think. You. Are," grunted Celestia leaning in and out while attempting to jab Rainbow with her tip. Rainbow, however, was simply trying to avoid getting stabbed.
"Rainbow Dash is completely on the defensive!" hollered Luna.
"Okay! You've clearly gone crazy!" shouted Rainbow as she quickly flew upward and out of the way.
"You can't escape me that easily, 'Mister'!" called Celestia as she flew after her.
I don't know what's going on, but I can't just fly away forever, thought Rainbow Dash, I don't even know where I am.
She sighed, "I guess I'll have to..."
Dash made up her mind and started flying downward, picking up speed as she did so. Pockets of air starting gathering in a cone around her as her speed increased. Meanwhile, Celestia was gathering speed on the way up. Though, her acceleration was much less than Rainbow Dash's. Light was starting to join the bending mach cone surrounding Dash. Just as it looked as though Dash was going to receive the most painful impalement ever, she curved her flight path slightly to avoid the horn.
Time seemed to slow down momentarily as the two ponies flew right next to each other. The wind was muffled slightly by this perception. Wings were barely flapping. As quickly as they had entered this timeless moment, they exited it. A familiar explosion of light and sound flashed in Rainbow Dash's ultimate trick: the Sonic Rainboom.
While Dash's speed instantly doubled, Celestia was thrown off her upward trajectory and was sent spiraling out of control. Even her massive wingspan couldn't correct her flight path after flying right next to the boom. The fumbling princess landed right smack into a stadium wall. Half a second passed before she fell to the cloud floor. After slowing down considerably, Dash landed more gracefully a few feet away. She was surprised to hear three bells ring.
"How unfortunate," commented Luna. "Better luck next time!"
"Now, what the hay was that all about, Princess?" asked Rainbow Dash understandably miffed.
"Oh, good," said Celestia lifting her head. "You're back to speaking normally."
"I'm back to normal?" echoed Rainbow. "You were the one accusing me of acting like a colt, remember?"
"Hold on," muttered Celestia. "What we're saying doesn't add up at all."
"Huh?" interjected Rainbow while tilting her head slightly.
"Were we perhaps seeing illusions of each other?" wondered Celestia.
"Illusions? I don't get it," remarked Rainbow.
"That's enough chit-chat!" interrupted another voice via a screen-shaped image. "Hurry up and move on to the next match! By the way, keep in mind that only the winner may proceed."
"What the?" asked Dash. "You didn't tell me you had a twin, Princess."
"I don't," pointed out Celestia. "That doppelganger... who is she?"
"We won't find out just standing around," quipped Dash. "C'mon! Let's go!"
"Right!" agreed Celestia standing up. The two started to fly out of the arena. When they reached the edge, however, Celestia felt physically repelled. An unusual shock was sent through her body. But it wasn't as severe as an electrocution.
"What's wrong?" inquired Dash.
"There's... some kind of barrier preventing my leave," observed Celestia. "Perhaps this is how that impostor is ensuring her rule that 'only the winner may proceed'."
"Hmph," grunted Dash. "Fine, I'll just go on ahead."
"Be on your guard, Rainbow Dash," advised Celestia.
"Heh, I'll be fine," justified Dash. "If I can beat a princess in battle, then what chance does that faker have?"
"Fair enough," chuckled Celestia as she watched Rainbow Dash fly ahead.
--- Get ready!
The Xenophobic Farm Hoof Of Honesty
APPLEJACK!
After crossing some weird nonexistent plane of separation, Rainbow Dash found herself flying over a grassy field. Random apple trees were positioned all over the place. Dash noticed what looked like Applejack and flew over to see her. When the earth pony turned and saw Dash, however, her expression was not what was expected.
"An outsider?" shivered Applejack. "I gotta drive her off the farm!"
"Has every pony lost it?" Rainbow asked rhetorically.
Round 2
Fight!
The two ponies were almost immediately in each other's personal space. They kicked up a huge dust cloud that covered up most of their punches and kicks. A few seconds later, Dash flapped out of the fray while Applejack slid backward a few feet. There were a few obvious scrapes along their sides, but nothing very major. In fact, Applejack didn't even hesitate to pull out her trusty lasso before tossing the loop at her opponent.
Rainbow Dash was ensnared by the rope just behind her wings. She could still flutter, but against AJ's earth pony strength, she wasn't flying anywhere.
"Oh, you want to do this the hard way?" snorted Dash. "We'll do this the hard way!"
She briefly gave in to Applejack's pull to increase her own speed. Using that momentum, she flew around and literally started flying circles around her. Winds began to follow Dash's circular motion and her speed. Within a few seconds, a tornado had formed within the arena and lifted Applejack off her hooves. In letting out a yell of shock, AJ accidentally released her grip on the rope. This allowed Dash to fly more freely and exit her own tornado.
From a distance above, Dash began a quick, diagonal descent. Without her circular flight pattern, the tornado was beginning to dissipate. This in turn made Applejack easier to see allowing Rainbow Dash to collide with her with spot-on accuracy. Applejack's face was dragged across the ground as both ponies slid to a stop. The only thing that confirmed that this fight was over was the sound of three consecutive bells.
"Another win!" announced Luna, "Congratulations!"
The more pronounced injuries on either of the ponies instantly faded after the announcement. Rainbow Dash helped her friend stand back up.
"You all right, AJ?" asked Dash.
"I will be," confirmed Applejack. "Thanks."
"So, uh," hesitated Dash, "did you by any chance hear me say stuff that was... you know... uncool?"
"As a matter o' fact, I did," nodded Applejack. "But if I reckon rightly, I know you didn't really mean any of it."
Dash sighed in relief, "Thanks. Listen, I don't want to leave you here but..."
"I know. I know," dismissed Applejack. "Just watch yourself, ya hear? This is a strange place."
"Heh," smirked Dash, "don't have to tell me twice." The Pegasus flew off through the next barrier.
--- Who do we have here?
The 3000-IQ Killjoy Librarian Of Magic
TWILIGHT SPARKLE!
Without any explanation, Rainbow Dash found herself fluttering inside a room that looked similar to the library's interior. But this was clearly not Ponyville's library. For starters, the bookshelves were all blue. The books that lined the shelves were alternating black and white with no visible titles. To top it off, various hourglasses and statuettes floated through the air in random directions. The only thing relatively normal was the appearance of Twilight Sparkle. But that image of normalcy was quickly demolished.
"I am surrounded by idiots!" yelled the unicorn as she started charging up energy in her horn.
"Not you too," groaned Rainbow Dash at the realization that yet another of her friends had completely lost it.
Round 3
Fight!
The starting bell had barely rung before Rainbow was zipping around dodging blasts of magenta magic. Oddly enough, the blasts did little to no damage to the book shelves around her. Instead, the books just seemed to follow their own agenda and flapped their pages like birds in seemingly random directions. Rainbow didn't have time to wonder which part of freaky town she had entered. After all, there was still the matter of her friend trying to shoot her down with magic.
"She just can't get an opening!" declared Luna's voice.
It was at this point that Rainbow saw a most welcoming yet simultaneously out-of-place sight. A perfectly gray rain cloud was just floating there. She didn't waste any time flying over despite the constant fire of magic that Twilight was wasting in one sitting. Thinking that perhaps a good shower would wake up her friend, Rainbow jumped repeatedly on the the cloud as quickly as possible. The result, however, was not quite what she was looking for.
"Looks like thou shouldst not have done that," remarked Luna.
In a sense of weightlessness, Dash was immediately caught on the wrong end of a levitation spell. Twilight shook herself dry which in turn swung Dash around. Against her efforts to fly out of it, the spell flung the Pegasus into a few bookshelves and the floor. Dash felt like there was something burning every single muscle in her body at this time. She breathed heavily as she watched Twilight charge up magical energy.
"No," whispered Dash, "Twilight... don't."
"Is the end near?" asked Luna rhetorically.
As a much larger magical blast erupted from Twilight's horn, Dash felt the burning sensation even more. However, it was no longer hindering her. In fact, it almost felt like the burning was... giving her an rush. This wasn't just a sugar rush from one of Pinkie Pie's treats. This was... well, she didn't know what to call it. But in that instant, her old sense of confidence returned to her.
"That's it! All bets are off!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
A single flap of her wings felt so overwhelmingly powerful. It was more than a feeling, though. A huge, swirling gust of wind formed itself after a few beats from her wings. It looked kind of like a giant, sideways tornado. Whatever it was, it was holding off -- no pushing back -- the magical surge that Twilight had just unleashed. Barely two seconds had passed before the unicorn was blown away by the gale force winds. Twilight found herself conked into the shelf behind her before falling flat against the floor.
The rushing feeling left Dash as the end bells rang.
"What a turnaround!" exclaimed Luna.
"Twilight!" hollered Rainbow Dash as she flew across the room. "Are you all right?"
Twilight grunted slightly before moving to stand, "Y-yeah, I'm all right. But wow, I had no idea you had that kind of power."
"Me either," admitted Dash, "I just found out about it."
"This world has strange rules attached it it," mulled Twilight, "like how it forced you to keep telling me to back off from Applejack."
"Yeah, and how it forced you to call me an idiot," added Dash. Both of them shared a lighthearted laugh at that.
"Wait... what about Applejack?" inquired Dash.
"Um, well," paused Twilight trying to think of the best way to explain it. "Do you... like her, like her?"
Now, Rainbow may have been slow on understanding egghead terms, but she recognized an innuendo when she heard it. At this her eyes dilated briefly before she waved her hooves defensively.
"Oh, no, no, no," she insisted, "I don't like her that way."
"So that was the illusion talking," sighed Twilight in relief.
Adding urgency to awkwardness, a screen-shaped image appeared next to the two ponies in the room as Luna's face flickered within it.
"Hello? Can any pony hear me?" she asked.
"Princess?" responded Rainbow and Twilight simultaneously.
"I don't have much time," worried Luna. "I've been kept here in the Announcement Room by a fake Celestia and... oh Tartarus." The princess's image was immediately snuffed out as was the projection.
"I'd better get going!" declared Rainbow.
"Be prepared for anything," advised Twilight.
"Heh, tell me something I don't know," chuckled Rainbow as she flew through the next invisible barrier.
--- We have a new challenger!
Everything about this one is a complete mystery!
????
Various panels and switches flickered in lights of red, white, and yellow. Small screens flickered with static occasionally. A few clicks and whirs were drowned out by the sound of Rainbow Dash's swift flying. She immediately applied air resistance when she saw the princesses in the room. A listener could have sworn that they heard a carriage's breaks screech against the ground as she forced herself to a halt.
"How's it hanging, Princess Luna?" chirped Rainbow.
"Lady Rainbow Dash!" gasped Luna.
"A splendid job making it to the top," promoted 'Celestia', "You must be so proud."
"Cut the act, faker," scoffed Rainbow, "I know you're not the real princess."
"Heh... heh... heh," slowly chuckled the impostor as a swirling purple mist surrounded her form. When the mist finally parted, a coal black alicorn wearing midnight blue armor was all that was left.
"It can't be," whispered Luna.
"What? Did you think I was truly gone forever?" asked Nightmare Moon rhetorically.
"Nightmare Moon," growled Rainbow.
"Oh good," mocked Nightmare Moon, "the foal remembers my name. How cute."
"What're you up to?" demanded Rainbow.
"Oh, I've already accomplished what I'm up to," smirked Nightmare Moon. "The Elements of Harmony have nearly wiped each other out in combat. Even Celestia was forced to submit. Now all that remains is the brash and impulsive so-called Loyalty."
The dark mare's mist started swimming around the air wildly as her hooves levitated off the floor.
"All shall bow to me or face eternal despair!" she cackled.
"Over my dead body!" retorted Rainbow Dash putting up her hooves as if she were a kick boxer.
"If you insist," breathed Nightmare Moon.
"Rainbow Dash!" exclaimed Luna.
"Don't worry, Princess," urged Rainbow. "This faker won't know what hit her."
The Sister-Complex and Dragon-Flirting Queen of Generosity
RARITY!
--- "Sister complex? I beg your pardon?" ---
That had been quite an unpleasant breeze for Rarity when she had been sucked into the strange new device placed in the library. What had it been called again, a "television"? Though right now, correct names of objects were the least of her worries. She hurriedly used her brush to fix up her coiffure to the best of her ability. It wasn't until at least ten strokes later that she took the time to look at her surroundings. It looked as though she were inside a Canterlot lounging room filled with variously laced sofas and floors.
This place feels so real for something that's only supposed to be a projected image-
A screen-shaped image popped up and interrupted her train of thought.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" announced the slightly blurred image. "Welcome to the opening of the P-1 Grand Prix Tournament! We shall be thy host, Princess Luna of the Night giving every pony the, how-you-say, play-by-play of the action. Every pony here shall get their chance to release their hidden aggression and petty grudges. The last challenger standing shall receive the crown and undoubted confirmation that they are indeed the best pony!"
"I beg your pardon, Princess. A... fighting tournament?" inquired Rarity. "Surely you can't be serious."
"Come on! Come on! Quit talking!" interrupted an impatient voice. Rarity turned to see Rainbow Dash flapping her wings and hovering just a few feet away.
"Rainbow Dash, whatever is the matter, darling?" inquired the ever-polite unicorn.
"The only way I can prove that I'm a true colt is to defeat a mare like you, so let's go!" responded Dash while waving her hooves around in punching motions.
"Fighting is such a barbaric practice," complained Rarity before sighing. "Oh, very well. If it will end your strange behavior, I suppose I must."
Round 1
Fight!
"Here comes the mare that gave up her feminine side!" announced Luna.
"Yaaaah!" roared Dash as she beat her chest. Then, she quickly flew down and around. With each pass, she kicked Rarity too quickly to be seen or countered. Rarity could only see streams of seven colors. She could only feel a flurry of smacks. Her attempts to reason with the Pegasus were having little to no effect.
"Oof! Rainbow Dash that simply -- Ow! -- will not do. You -- Ai! -- are acting rather aggressive -- Eep! -- even for you."
"Kiss my tick!" retorted Dash not letting up her assault.
She'd better not have just meant what I think she meant! thought Rarity who was starting to get a little mad. It was only a little mad. It was improper for a lady such as herself to 'flip her lid' and get very upset. Still, the annoying slaps were not helping her maintain her dignity. The final straw was when she felt her speedy friend kick her in the flank.
"Oh, it is on," whispered Rarity.
Concentrating her magic on the surrounding furniture, her light blue aura lifted several cushions into the air. They hovered a bit before circling around and gaining speed. The cushions, one after the other, were then strategically guided in a series of straight lines. Before Rainbow Dash could figure out what was going on, she was soon on the receiving end of several cushion collisions. Though at their velocity, they might as well have been bricks. Stars swam in Rainbow's vision before she fell to the floor on her back.
Three bells nearly drowned out Princess Luna saying, "Oh my stars! They lost!"
"For Pete's sake, Rarity," groaned Rainbow Dash slowly sitting up. "Get a hold of yourself."
"Well, that's what you get when you smack a lady's bottom," countered Rarity.
"You sound normal anyway," acknowledged Rainbow. "But why were you in such a hissy-fit about Sweetie Belle?"
"Sweetie Belle?" asked Rarity tilting her head slightly. "I never said anything about her."
"Wait, what?" muttered Rainbow scratching her head in confusion. "You were sounding pretty protective of her just a second ago."
"What about you?" inquired Rarity. "What were all those not-so-subtle hints that you wanted to be a colt?"
"Time out!" halted Rainbow raising one hoof over the other in a 'T' shape. "Nothing we're saying matches up."
"That's enough!" interrupted a third voice. The two ponies looked to the side where a screen-shaped image had appeared. There was some pony in the middle that looked like Celestia, but she wasn't in her normal attire. It almost looked like she was wearing a ship captain's hat.
"Hurry up and move on to the next match," ordered Celestia. "By the way, only the pony who wins can move on. Remember that as you proceed." A flicker of light removed the image and Celestia's voice.
"So wait..." contemplated Rainbow Dash aloud. "Is this 'tournament' making us think we're saying stuff to each other when we're actually saying something else?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, darling," shrugged Rarity, "I suppose if we want answers to our questions, we'll have to keep moving forward."
"Aw, horse apples," grumbled Rainbow, "I just realized that I lost. I hate losing."
"Really, Rainbow Dash?" sighed Rarity. "You shouldn't be such a sore loser. Now wait here. I'll be back once this is over."
"Not like there's anything else I can do," pointed out Rainbow as Rarity trotted to the arena's exit.
--- Moving right along...
The Sugar Rushed Pin Cushion Of Laughter
PINKIE PIE!
After going through a hallway of a very short length, Rarity found the entrance to a rather messy room filled with sweets. Pies, pastries, cookies, and candy were haphazardly arranged as the room's walls, shelves, and even some of the floor. There were also a few taffy wrappers flying around like birds which kind of unnerved Rarity. She was kind of glad to see that Pinkie Pie was also in this place, that is until she heard what she said.
"Hi, complex queen!" chortled Pinkie. "How's your dragon boyfriend doing?"
"Wha-? Where is this coming from?" asked Rarity baffled.
"Maybe Captain Celestia has Sweetie Belle captive," pondered Pinkie. "But then again if that's the case, then she's probably already sent her to the moon."
"She wouldn't," denied Rarity.
"Oh well," smiled Pinkie with a giggle. "At least you can't have a sister complex without a sister."
Something was clearly wrong with this picture and it wasn't the poorly arranged confectionery. Sure, Pinkie Pie sometimes had the tendency to annoy others without realizing it. But... this was beyond simply talking without knowing when to stop. Here, she sounded like she was deliberately trying to tick Rarity off. So that was how it was then. This place was messing with Pinkie Pie's common sense like it had with Rainbow Dash's. Then the only way to bring her back... was to beat her.
Rarity sighed, "I suppose that we must fight now."
"Oooo! I've always wanted to fight a queen!" laughed Pinkie.
Round 2
Fight!
"Here she is!" announced Luna, "The ringleader of the frightened children!"
As soon as a bell had rung, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were standing right within a hoof's reach of each other. Both of them stood on their hind legs, a less common combat strategy for a pony. Pinkie Pie reached out with her front hooves to deliver a few punches. Rarity blocked the punches with her own front hooves. She then tried to return the favor. However, her punches weren't gaining any more ground than Pinkie's were. It almost looked like they were reenacting something from a Neighponese anime fight scene.
"Neither side is giving a centimeter," observed Luna.
This continued for some time before Pinkie Pie suddenly turned around. She swapped balance to her front legs and bucked out with her hind hooves. Rarity was sent reeling for a moment before she fell to a steady quadruped stance. She looked forward in annoyance but quickly switched her expression to shocked. The barrel of the Pinkie Pie's party cannon was open towards Rarity. Even from several feet away, that thing could hurt.
Rarity braced herself while trying to force her inner lady to stand her ground in defiance of the weapon. Pinkie smiled as she pounded the trigger of the cannon. Rarity didn't wait to see what party-based projectile was headed her way. She instinctively charged her magic to telekinetically grab whatever it was. Keeping the contents' momentum, Rarity spun around taking the party supplies in a much larger circle around her. She then released her hold as the projectile started heading back in the cannon's direction.
Comically, the party projectile stuffed itself back into the cannon. Throwing caution to the wind, Pinkie Pie pressed the trigger again. Unfortunately, the improperly stashed party projectile clogged the path for the new party projectile. The result was an exploding cannon and a pink pony flying into the wall of gumdrops and candy corn. She fell face down onto the part of the floor made of molasses cookies. Her fall preceded three bells ringing.
"It appears the provocateur of Nightmare Night screams could not win this one," said Luna's voice smugly.
Rarity ran over to where Pinkie Pie was laying before asking, "Pinkie, are you all right?"
Pinkie Pie peeled herself off the floor before gasping, "Wow! I've never seen my party cannon totally explode before. I mean I've seen it make explosions of confetti, but I've never seen it explode itself before. That was fan-blows-up-inside-of-itself-tasitc! Can we do that again?"
"You're all right, darling," sighed Rarity in relief before assuming a serious tone. "Do you know if Sweetie Belle is around?"
"Sweetie Belle's in here too?" asked Pinkie.
So it's just like with Rainbow Dash, thought Rarity. She really doesn't remember what she said before.
"Hey, that's cool!" continued Pinkie. "We can all put together a 'We-found-a-whole-new-world-inside-the-T.V.' party!"
"That might have to wait, darling," interrupted Rarity. "We need to make sure every pony else is all right. The best way to do that is to get to the end of this tournament and find out who's responsible for this whole thing."
"Okay," responded Pinkie, "but if the party's being put on hold, then it will need to have twice as much fun to make up for the delay."
"Deal," nodded Rarity as she galloped on through the exit.
--- Here comes the next challenger!
The Unintentional Troll Of Equestria
PRINCESS CELESTIA!
Rarity couldn't believe what was happening. She was literally walking on clouds. But that didn't make sense. Twilight's cloud-walking spell had long since worn off. Plus, she had never actually used the spell on Rarity. Still, that little oddity didn't stop her from looking around at the next arena's construction. It looked like a completely white structure in the style of a coliseum she vaguely remembered learning about from elementary school. As she got closer to the center, she suddenly halted at the sight of the princess in her usual royal attire.
"A non-Pegasus walking on clouds?" asked Celestia aloud. "That's against the rules... or at least it is now."
"Princess, what is going on?" asked Rarity, "and what happened to that captain's hat that you were wearing earlier?"
"Meaningless questions will only add to your dungeon sentence in the place that I banish you to," commented Celestia with a small grin.
"As Cele-er, you as my witness," vowed Rarity, "I shall bring you back to your senses!"
Round 3
Fight!
Celestia wasted no time at all in firing a golden, yellow beam of magic at her opponent. Rarity attempted to fire a similar beam of light blue magic. Although the beams seemed to stop when they collided with each other, Celestia's magic was creeping along advantageously. Rarity was, unfortunately, not that skilled at magic much less desensitized fighting magic. She had to jump to the side before Celestia's beam fully blasted her position.
From there, it was a sport of "dodge that blast" with Rarity playing against the home team. Each cloud that Rarity left was soon singed by Celestia's magic. How water clouds could burn, she'd never know. Of course, it didn't make it any easier to think of a strategy while Rarity was literally leaping for her life. If she could just get close enough without getting zapped, then maybe she had a slight chance of overpowering the princess in hoof-to-hoof combat.
Having made her decision, Rarity started jumping in patterns that led her slowly closer to where Celestia was standing. Every cloud that Rarity jumped from was engulfed in fire from Celestia's magic. Once Rarity was within a few feet of Celestia, she took one more high jump.
"Kyah!" yelled Rarity as her kick connected with Celestia's side. The princess stumbled a bit in shock, but was basically unharmed.
"Battery and assault?" asked Celestia rhetorically. "That's punishable with brute force."
Rarity found herself trapped in a golden aura surrounding her entire body. Celestia lifted the girl up and over herself onto the cloud floor behind her. She then repeated the motion in reverse and threw Rarity to the cloud in front of her. This set of slams went on for a few seconds. Despite these being clouds, Rarity was starting to feel many bruises from the impact force. She was finding it harder to breathe properly. She didn't even feel the moment that Celestia dropped her and the magic let go of her.
"Now, what shall I do for your final sentence?" wondered Celestia aloud.
This... has gone... too far, thought Rarity as her vision suddenly gained a shade of red.
"Will this turn the match around?" asked Luna for the audience.
A burning sensation forced Rarity to stand up. Her blood was boiling. The air around her felt like it was sweltering. She lowered her eyebrows. She thought she had been mad before. But no, that was nothing compared to the emotion she had now.
"I'll rip you to pieces!" she shouted as she found a reserve of magic energy that she never knew she had.
In a cacophony of impossibility, several different-colored gems started flying straight up through the cloud floor. Most of the gems barraged Celestia with their speed. Some broke on impact, while others started impaling her underside. Needless to say, the princess was in a world of hurt.
However, Rarity was far from done. Flashing the crackling energy from her horn, she manifested a bow and arrow made entirely of light blue magic. Despite her anger, she was able to aim her arrow precisely at the target. She made the magic bow string imitate a pulling back motion before the arrow was launched straight forward. The arrow exploded on impact sending Celestia crashing onto her side.
The bells tolled as Luna announced, "What a surprising comeback!"
Rarity's burning anger immediately subsided. She barely remembered what she just did. It was like a vivid dream. She shook her head from her thoughts when she recalled that the princess was laying down. Then, she galloped over to Celestia's position. The gems and bruises from before had somehow vanished.
"Princess!" she called, "are you all right?"
"I will be," assured Celestia as she slowly stood up.
"I... I'm sorry," Rarity told her, "I don't know what came over me."
"Don't be," smiled Celestia. "I think it was the illusion that caused you to defend Sweetie Belle and Spike so adamantly."
"Do I want to know what you heard me saying?" worried Rarity. "Because the illusion of you was laying down some pretty harsh judgments."
Celestia chuckled, "How about we agree to never speak of this again?"
"Agreed," nodded Rarity.
A screen-shaped image appeared to halt the conversing ponies.
"Can any pony hear me?" asked Luna.
Her tone, thought Rarity, It doesn't sound like the announcer.
"Are you the real Princess Luna?" inquired Rarity.
"Oh thank goodness," breathed Luna. "Listen, Rarity, there's a fake Celestia in this world that set up the whole tournament. She stole my voice and has been forcing the fights to- Oh, Tartarus! She's back again!" The image became filled with black and white snow before flickering out entirely.
"Sister, wait!" yelled Celestia before sighing. "Rarity, I know this is asking very much, but..."
"Say no more," said Rarity. "It will be my pleasure to find Princess Luna and find a way home for every pony."
"Thank you, Rarity," smiled Celestia as she watched Rarity gallop off through the next invisible barrier.
--- Next up...
Everything about this one is a complete mystery!
????
This next room was filled with rather strange gems embedded in large metal boxes. The gems were constantly changing colors as if there where lights underneath them. There were also several screens that flickered between crystal clear images and fogged up snow. Still, that wasn't where Rarity paid her attention to detail.
"Princess!" she hollered. "It's good to see you're unharmed."
"Rarity!" Luna responded. "We've got a bigger problem than my physical health at the moment."
"Congratulations on making it this far!" chirped a third voice. "You truly are the best pony of all!"
Rarity got a good look at this new speaker. At first glance, one would assume that it was Princess Celestia. But the captain's cap and the evil glint in her eyes told a much different tale. This was the entity responsible for putting her and her friends through so much violence.
"Enough games," spat Rarity. "We all know you're not Celestia. Why don't you just give up the act?"
"Humph," snorted 'Celestia'.
"No?" added Rarity. "Fine. That's only part of the reason I'm here anyway. I just have one other question. Do you have Sweetie Belle?"
So the drama queen does have a heart," smirked 'Celestia'. "Well, look no further because Sweetie Belle is... right here!"
'Celestia' lifted a hoof and shoved a much smaller pony into view. Rarity looked into a pair of sap green eyes.
"Sis," whispered Sweetie Belle.
"Sweetie Belle!" exclaimed Rarity. "Are you all right? Wait..."
In looking at Sweetie Belle, Rarity hadn't notice the fake Celestia vanishing into thin air. She walked a little closer to her little sister to further inquire when she was loudly interrupted.
"Rarity! Get back!" cried Luna. "That is not your sister!"
Instinctively, Rarity jumped back a few steps with a yelp. She watched as 'Sweetie Belle' faded away and 'Celestia' took her place.
"Drat! I almost had you," grumbled 'Celestia'.
"Enough!" demanded Rarity. "Who. Are. You?"
"Fine, if you want to know so badly," scoffed 'Celestia' as a swirl of purple smoke whipped around her. Half a second later, Rarity was looking at a familiar black and purple entity.
"Nightmare Moon?" blurted Rarity.
"You remembered me this time," cooed Nightmare Moon. "I'm so flattered."
"Th-that is impossible!" exclaimed Luna.
"It would be if we were one in the same," commented Nightmare Moon. "But I'm not you. Not anymore. Now I have the Elements of Harmony and the princesses of Equestria at my mercy."
She started levitating on her own unholy wind as she declared, "Soon, all shall bow to me or face eternal despair!"
"No!" retorted Luna.
"Stand down, weakling!" ordered Nightmare Moon while flashing her eyes briefly in white. A transparent barrier formed itself in the Announcement Room. Luna was trapped outside of the barrier while Rarity was trapped inside.
"So Element of Generosity," spoke Nightmare Moon, "are you ready to concede?"
"I should say not," negated Rarity. "I've come too far to give myself up now! My friends are counting on me. I'm going to give it my all!"
"Very well then," said Nightmare Moon. "Prepare for destruction!"
Final Round
Fight!
--- Material prosperity -- Desire -- Beauty -- Physical attraction
--- "Killjoy?! Why you-! Who came up with this demeaning descriptor?" ---
She shook her head after that long rush through a wind tunnel. At least it felt like a wind tunnel. Her hair had gotten all flipped out of shape from the ride. But how could a box having a rudimentary electronic interior have been able to absorb Twilight Sparkle and all of her friends in the room? It couldn't just be because Pinkie had been the one to turn it on. The package had come from a mystery sender. She was somehow inside this place filled with an orange sky and scattered apple trees along the ground.
"This is not scientifically possible," muttered Twilight. "How am I inside the 'T.V.'?"
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" declared a loud voice, "We are ready to begin the P-1 Grand Prix Tournament. Here every pony shall receive the opportunity to release their pent up anger and frustration with each other. No hoof-holding will save them here. We shall be thy host Princess Luna of the Night. We shall bring thee, how you say, the play-by-play of all the action. The last filly standing shall claim the champion's seat and title of The Best Pony!"
"Princess, what's going on?" asked Twilight. "Why are you doing this?"
"The time has come, most faithful one," commented a new approaching voice. Her presence matched her regal tone.
"Princess Celestia!" exclaimed Twilight. "The time has come? For what?"
"Show me the results of your studies of friendship," ordered Celestia, "and defeat my unintentional tyranny."
"What? Princess, you're not making sense," said Twilight taking a step toward her mentor.
"Destroy me or the heat of my sun will destroy you!" shouted the princess.
Twilight choked on her own breath, "Th-that makes even less sense!"
I guess I'll have to spar with her until I can get a more concrete answer, she thought to herself.
Round 1
Fight!
As soon as the starting bell rang, Celestia's horn was already glowing gold. Some of the apples from the scattered trees were ensnared by her magic and were lifted from their branches. Still not completely sure of what she was about to do, Twilight decided to imitate her mentor's motions. Her own horn glowed as magenta magic took some of the remaining apples from the trees. An apple in the golden hold was tossed in Twilight's direction as an apple in the magenta hold moved to block. Both of the apples splattered into mush before falling to the ground.
From there, it became a bit of a sport of apple chess. Both Twilight and Celestia focused hard. They looked for openings while moving other apples to defend their weak spots. Eventually, neither pony had any apple ammo left. Celestia decided to use this moment to aim her horn to release a magical beam. Reluctantly, Twilight countered by firing her own beam of magic. The beams collided and started a push of war. Neither side had any pressing advantage, though it was apparent that using so much magic at once was tiring both of them out.
"Neither one of them is giving an inch!" observed Luna.
The strain was starting to make Twilight sweat profusely. She had to stop this fighting soon, but how? Then, it came to her. She started galloping forward while still maintaining her beam at full blast. Celestia noticed this and decided to gallop during her shooting as well. While the relative position of the colliding magic wasn't changing, the teacher and student were closing the distance between them. When the ponies were within three feet of each other, all of that magical energy just exploded.
"Waugh!" yelped Twilight as she was launched backward. Celestia shared a similar fate by also falling back, though her gasp of shock was much less audible.
Twilight shook her whole body after standing up. She took a look around, but Celestia had disappeared. Except, she wasn't on the ground anymore. No, the princess had decided to fly up to some slightly warmer sun rays. She then looked down at Twilight and started to fly at a diagonal. Twilight didn't have enough magic for a shield to protect against that kind of speed. What she did have would have to rely on precision and punctuality. Celestia was flying closer and closer as Twilight stood with her tail in front of one of the apple trees.
As soon as Celestia was within relatively one-pony's distance, Twilight focused her remaining energy to her horn. In a flash of white-tinged magenta light, Twilight vanished. Celestia flew face-first into the tree that Twilight had been standing in front of just a second ago. Even a princess could feel pain from a fast impact with wood. Twilight reappeared in another burst of pale magenta magic behind Celestia as three invisible bells rang one after the other.
"Victory goes to Twilight Sparkle!" declared Luna.
"Princess!" exclaimed Twilight, "Are you all right?"
"Ugh... I'm fine, Twilight," Celestia groaned slightly as she stood up and turned to look at Twilight.
"It sounds like you're talking normally again," exhaled Twilight in relief.
"Oh, I see," nodded Celestia. "From my perspective, it was you that was acting uncharacteristically."
"Simply amazing!" commented a third voice. A screen-shaped light projection appeared with some pony that looked like Celestia inside the image.
"You're well on your way to reaching the top," the Celestia in the image continued. "By the way, only the winner may leave the arena. Be sure to remember that as you continue." The image faded leaving behind two rather confused ponies.
"Princess, who was that?" asked Twilight.
"I don't know," Celestia shook her head, "Obviously that was not me."
"A fake Princess," thought Twilight aloud. "Is that who's behind the T.V. sucking every pony inside? And what about this weird 'P-1 Grand Prix' tournament that was mentioned before? What's that all about?"
"Perhaps the truth will reveal itself as you move on," offered Celestia.
"Are you sure you'll be all right staying here?" inquired Twilight.
"Don't worry, my faithful student," smiled Celestia gently. "I feel as though all of the magic I used in that conflict has somehow returned to me."
"Now that you mention it," paused Twilight, "I noticed that feeling as well. But magic takes time to restore itself."
"This world is very strange," agreed Celestia, "but I know you can solve its mystery."
"Thank you, Princess," nodded Twilight, "I won't let you down!"
She then galloped out of sight.
--- Who do we have here?
Her Wings Provide The Perfect Source Of Clean Energy
SCOOTALOO!
A door creaked open as Twilight galloped into the room. The first thing she noticed was the circle made of students' desks. Upon seeing the desks, she looked around the room's perimeter. Scattered books and misguided sheets of paper were all over the place. A chalkboard behind a much neater desk was a big giveaway to the kind of place she was now in.
"The schoolhouse," muttered Twilight. "No, wait... I haven't actually left the interior of the T.V. Just how big is this other world?"
"Prepare to be stomped flat, egghead!" yelped a young voice.
From out of nowhere, Twilight saw a familiar filly ride in on her blue scooter. The young Pegasus stopped her buzzing wings and her motion as soon as she was inside the desk circle.
"Scootaloo?" asked Twilight. "Don't tell me you want to fight as well."
"You bet I do!" grunted Scootaloo. "You're the source of words that I don't know the meaning of. As soon as I beat you, I'll no longer be bound to the name 'dodo'."
"That's hardly rational," frowned Twilight. "In fact, I think your current reasoning may very well be the result of a ludicrous, psychological hallucination."
"Ergh!" growled Scootaloo. "Stop reading words out of Sweetie Belle and just fight me already!"
No good, thought Twilight, I'm not getting through to her. I suppose I'll have to duel her delusional disorientation.
Round 2
Fight!
"Here cometh the child Scootaloo from parts unknown!" announced Luna's voice.
The aforementioned Pegasus filly started flapping her wings again to mobilize her scooter. Before Twilight had a chance to react, Scootaloo was already up in her face. The littler pony performed an ollie jump before spinning her vehicle in a 1080. This in turn smacked Twilight a few times as she was knocked backward.
"She's certainly piling on the pressure," noted Luna.
Twilight groaned a little before quickly getting back up. She looked around the room and then got an idea. Focusing magenta magic to her horn, she started levitating some of the various books all over the room. She was glad that something felt familiar in this twisted world. Sparing no time, she started throwing the books from strategic points in their flying dome around Scootaloo. A few of these hardbacks smacked Scootaloo hard before she let out a growl of frustration. A stray book knocked her off her scooter and somehow simultaneously sent her helmet sailing.
The little girl wasn't done yet, however. As the next volley of books headed her way, she put her natural dancing spin to work. The twirl was enough to knock back all of the remaining projectiles. As she came to a stop, she smirked at her accomplishment... only to be knocked off her hoof by Twilight who had galloped over while Scootaloo was distracted and delivered a back kick. Scootaloo was sent flying into the chalkboard before sliding down to the floor just behind the desk.
Three bells signified the end of the match as Luna's voice declared, "It appears as though she has just been schooled."
Scootaloo groaned as she used a hoof to lift herself into view standing behind the desk, "Why did you have to be so mean, Twilight?"
"Sorry, Scootaloo," apologized Twilight, "but you were saying things that were really out of place for you."
"What?" Scootaloo tilted her head. "But I was just telling you that I wasn't a chicken."
"So it was just like with Celestia," realized Twilight. "Neither one of us could hear what the other one was actually saying."
"Wait," paused Scootaloo suddenly realizing as well. "That sounds like the idea that Sweetie Belle was thinking."
"Sweetie Belle's here too?" asked Twilight in surprise.
"Yeah," nodded Scootaloo, "but some weird barrier left her in the last arena that I was in."
"Then this tournament's rules apply to every pony involved," muttered Twilight. "I need to hurry and get to the bottom of this. Will you be all right waiting here, Scootaloo?"
"Heh," scoffed Scootaloo. "Do you even have to ask?"
"I'll take that as a yes," smiled Twilight before she galloped off through the next doorway.
--- Onto the next match!
She Graces Villages With Her Presence
PRINCESS LUNA!
Entering the next arena, Twilight was still a bit surprised at the nonsensical connection between the classroom she was just in and the forest clearing that now surrounded her. She also found it strange that the daylight of this world had quickly darkened to resemble the colors of an evening sky. Still, that didn't surprise her nearly as much as who she saw approaching from the other end of the clearing.
"Our skin was crawling from watching these battles that we could not stand by any longer!" bellowed the opponent. "Therefore, we arose to one, single conclusion. By putting our own life on the line in the heat of a fight, the fun shall surely be doubled!"
"Princess Luna?" gasped Twilight.
Wait, she thought, What is that peculiar black aura that's surrounding her? Something's not right here.
"Prepare thyself for defeat, Starswirl the Bearded!" challenged 'Luna'.
I guess she's not giving me a choice, thought Twilight in resignation, I'll have to focus on fighting her first.
Round 3
Fight!
Some of the black aura that Twilight noticed from before reconfigured into a swarm of bats. These bats flew around and started surrounding Twilight. Some of them simply screeched in annoyance. Others whacked Twilight with their wings. Still others went so far as to leave tiny bite marks. To these pricks, Twilight let out a yelp in pain. She quickly formed a bubble shield around herself and knocked the majority of the bats away.
After the swarm was averted, Twilight started focusing blasts of magical energy in 'Luna's' direction. To these, 'Luna' countered with her own bolts of magic that resembled lightning in appearance and sound. Hoping to copy the success of her earlier victories, Twilight charged in for a galloping approach. But unlike the other princess, 'Luna' just stood there smiling as she waited for her opponent to come closer.
As soon as Twilight was within a hoof's distance, the black aura seemed to merge with 'Luna's' mane and twisted around into wide whips. Utilizing these whips with slapping sound effects, 'Luna' smacked the advancing Twilight in the face, neck, and back. She followed up by wrapping one of the whips around Twilight's mid section and lifting her way up. This rise was immediately followed by a spinning throw into the grass below.
Twilight was in pain from being bitten by bats and whipped by what was possibly darkness itself. It was starting to look hopeless for her. She started to worry that blood was rushing to the wrong place of her body as her vision was suddenly engulfed by a crimson light.
'Luna', however, was seeing a slightly different picture. She watched in curiosity at the red energy that resembled torch fire flowing from Twilight's own essence.
In an instant, Twilight's fear turned into something else entirely: eyebrow-squinching rage.
"YAAAAAAAAAAH!" she yelled as a surge of power coursed through her. The red magic filled her eyes and her horn with fluctuating energy. The aura transformed into an orb of energy with Twilight as its center. 'Luna' could only lift her front hooves and open her mouth in horror as the wall of energy hit her and basically blew up the entire forest clearing.
The surge and energy faded as Twilight sat down to catch her breath. A bell rang three times as 'Luna' stood and looked happily at the pony who had bested her.
"Thy challenge isn't over yet," she chuckled. "Farewell." The black aura that she wielded swirled around her before she just vanished completely.
"Wait!" called Twilight lifting a hoof in her direction, but 'Luna' had already left.
"But, she didn't win," thought Twilight out loud. "How did she leave this area?"
It was at this point that a light-projected image in the shape of the T.V. screen appeared and flickered in Twilight's vision.
"Is any pony there?" asked the moving picture of Luna. "Please respond!"
"Princess!" gasped Twilight. "Is that really you?"
"Oh, thank goodness," sighed Luna. "I've managed to talk with you, Twilight Sparkle. Listen, there is an impostor that has taken on the guise of my sister..."
"Yeah, I saw her for a moment a couple matches back," confirmed Twilight.
"Then, do you also know that she has also taken my voice and form to masquerade as a tournament announcer?"
"Was that the Luna that I was just fighting with?" pondered Twilight.
"That would be a very likely case," agreed Luna. "Twilight Sparkle, I implore you to hurry to the Announcement Room. That's where the impostor Celestia has somehow trapped me in."
"Where's that?" asked Twilight.
"It's at the end of all the arenas- Oh, no! She's back!" finished Luna as her image faded from view.
"I'm on my way, Princess!" stated Twilight as she charged forward through the unknown.
--- We've been waiting.
Everything about this one is a complete mystery!
????
An organized display of switches, lights, and buttons marked the room that Twilight entered. Some flickering screens marked the devices as well. Galloping to the center of what seemed to be the 'Announcement Room', Twilight was glad to find herself standing next to...
"Princess Luna!" she hollered.
"Twilight Sparkle?" wondered Luna. "That was a swift arrival."
"Congratulations," said a third voice. From the other end of the room, a pony that looked like Celestia walked in with a captain's hat instead of a crown.
"You've come so far," she continued. "You truly are the best of the best, my faithful student."
"You can stop this charade," responded Twilight. "I know you're not really the princess. Who are you?"
"Heh heh heh," chuckled 'Celestia' as a cloud of dark purple smoke swirled around her. As the smoke revealed the user's true form, Luna let out a gasp.
"Nightmare Moon!" exclaimed Twilight in a confused shock.
"How are you faring?" asked Nightmare Moon.
"That's impossible," whispered Luna. "How can you exist?"
"Humph," snorted Nightmare Moon. "You were separated from my dark powers. I'm no longer you."
"You're the one behind all of this?" asked Twilight incredulously.
"Isn't it perfect?" smiled Nightmare Moon. "The rulers of Equestria and their beloved Elements of Harmony are trapped in this world. Soon, all of pony kind shall be my slaves... or my examples of insubordination."
"You're insane," growled Twilight. "I won't let you get away with this!"
"In that case," chuckled Nightmare Moon as her wild starry mane whipped around in a giant whirlwind. "I'll gladly destroy you where you stand, Element of Magic."
Final Round
Fight!
--- Action -- Practicality -- Precision -- Being Objective
The connection that Celestia usually felt with her sun was disturbingly absent as she opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was an unusually strong magical gravitation on her entire body. She had blacked out and then... she didn't know what happened after that. Taking a moment to right herself up on her feet, she found herself in the middle of a giant room. Its walls were lined with tall bookshelves filled to the brim with tomes. What was strange about this was the number of books that were haphazardly flying around like bird's wings.
"What in the heavens...?" trailed off Celestia before a square-shaped image of light appeared above her head.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" announced the image. "Welcome to the P-1 Grand Prix Tournament! Now that all of the contestants have arrived, we can begin. We shall be thy host Princess Luna of the Night. We shall bring thee (how do you say it?) the play-by-play of the action. Each match will pit the contestants against each other as they let loose their pent up anger and frustration. The last filly standing at the end of the tournament shall claim bragging rights as best pony!"
"Luna?" inquired a confused Celestia. "This isn't funny."
"I...I'm sure I have a lesson to turn in around here somewhere," spoke another voice.
Celestia turned away from the image that had moved higher up and out of the way. In front of her stood a face that always brought Celestia joy to see. Though, there was something a bit unusual about the face here and now. For one thing, Twilight Sparkle wasn't looking at anything in particular. In fact, her darting eyes seemed quite distracted by finding some imaginary object.
"Twilight, is everything okay?" asked Celestia with her standard procedure.
"That's what I need to do!" shouted Twilight suddenly. "I'll make a problem that I have to solve and can learn something from so that I can turn it in. Sound good, Princess?"
Celestia blinked. "Perhaps you should calm down a bit before jumping into action..."
"Action, that's it!" exclaimed Twilight. "I'll start attacking the princess. Then, when she's finished banishing me to the place that she banished me to, I'll write my letter of friendship that will then be sent to the moon where she can read it every night. It's the perfect plan!"
Again, Celestia blinked. "Twilight, you're acting very strangely and your words don't make sense. This is very unlike you."
"I'll show you, Princess!" blathered Twilight. "I'll show you everything by forcing you to physically restrain me!"
"She's ignoring everything I say to her," Celestia muttered, "and she's very insistent on a violent punishment. What is going on?"
Round 1
Fight!
Before Celestia could mull over the absurdity of the situation, Twilight had started charging up her magic. A magenta layer of light surrounded several of the flying books and forced them to Twilight's will.
"The sparks are already flying!" hollered Luna.
The hardback covers flew under the influence of magical force. Had this been a longtime enemy's attack, Celestia would have already placed the necessary defensive spells. She had not expected to be attacked by her student of all ponies. Because of her pause out of bewilderment, she felt the impact of each and every one of the books against her body. The last one caused her to trip and tumble backwards.
Has she lost herself? thought Celestia, Perhaps the time has come again for the fail-safe.
Standing back up on all fours, Celestia attempted to gather energy to cast the counterspell. But whatever she was about to cast suddenly fizzled out on the spot.
What? Celestia opened her eyes wide. It's not working. Has... something cut off my magic?
Meanwhile, Twilight had switched tactics from book tossing to casting a barrage of magic missiles. Experimentally, Celestia tried to alter her magical focus. She was rewarded with a barrage of golden magic missiles that countered Twilight's blast for blast. One even managed to crash through and stun Twilight who let out a yelp upon impact.
No, it's not my magic that's being blocked, realized Celestia. It's just that one spell. What is going on?
During Celestia's brief pondering, Twilight had recovered and shook her head. Twilight then started flashing her horn again in a somewhat brighter light. In a flash, she disappeared from her position entirely. Another popping sound announced Twilight's reappearance elsewhere in the room. Celestia managed to use her own magic to yank one of the books off the shelves just in time to block another magenta bolt coming from behind. As the eerily blank pages floated to the ground, she heard Twilight teleport again. Celestia moved another book to block a blast from above herself.
The pattern of teleportation and blasting book shields continued for a while longer. But after a few times later, Celestia decided to actually fly out of the blast's way. She then used her magic to surround the tip of her horn with a blinding light. Twilight reappeared and was about to cast another bolt but then looked at where Celestia was now. The light felt like it was burning her eyes and Twilight lifted both of her hooves to try and rub the pain out. Unfortunately, she was standing on the edge of a bookshelf when she got blinded. Twilight ended up losing her balance and falling to the floor below. The impact shook some more books off the shelf and they formed a makeshift pile over her. Her groan of pain could be heard just as three bells decided to ring.
"Whoever said words cannot hurt clearly never went to a library before," said Luna jokingly.
Celestia raced over to the book pile and started lifting some of them away. A tired looking Twilight Sparkle emerged from the less crowded pile and rubbed her head.
"Are you okay, Twilight?" asked Celestia.
"Ugh, I think so," groaned Twilight. "I guess I never expected you to actually threaten me."
"Threaten you?" Celestia tilted her head. "But I heard you desperately asking me for some form of reprimand."
"Huh?" Now it was Twilight's turn to tilt her head. "You told me that I was supposed to defeat your unintentional tyranny, whatever that means."
"Hmm," Celestia looked down in thought. "Was our hearing of each other being blocked by some form of illusion?"
"I... suppose that's possible," considered Twilight, "That would explain why your choice of words didn't sound like anything you would say."
So she was hearing me say weird phrases as I heard her say equally obscure words, thought Celestia.
A rectangular light suddenly appeared next to the two ponies and flickered an image of some pony within it. Celestia was caught off guard that the pony was... herself.
"That's enough. Hurry onto the next stage of the tournament! By the way only the winner can advance from the arena while the loser is forced to stay. Keep that in mind because I won't repeat myself!"
The voice that the pony used even sounded like her. Except there were two things wrong with the lookalike. She lacked the gentleness that Celestia usually used when she talked. Additionally, the pony had a hat that looked more like it belonged on an airship captain than a princess. Before Celestia could observe for any other discrepancies, the image flickered and the rectangle disappeared.
"Only the winner can advance?" echoed Twilight. "Wait... if this is some kind of tournament... then that means we aren't the only ones in here! My friends got sucked into the T.V. too! They're trapped in this world!"
"Easy, my faithful student," shushed Celestia, "Remember to breathe."
Her faithful student used the moment to take in a deep breath and release it. "Sorry."
"Knowing your friends, I'm sure they're doing fine," smiled Celestia. "I'm going to go ahead and check things out. You should stay here and rest."
"All right, Princess. I will," agreed Twilight with a bow. Celestia nodded before trotting off to the east side of the library.
--- On a roll!
The No-Nonsense Dictionary That Is Definitely Not A Robot
SWEETIE BELLE!
Celestia passed through what felt like a strangely dry fluid. After trotting through a short and plain corridor, she found herself entering a completely different area than the library. It resembled a stage for modern-day performers. A giant red curtain was closed and there were amplifiers at either end of the stage.
"Communicate. Enumerate. Elucidate. Exaggerate."
Upon hearing the monotonic voice, the princess looked around before finally resting her eyes on the little filly standing in front of a microphone.
"Indicate. Explicate. Bloviate. Overstate."
Further visual examination allowed Celestia to recognize that filly as the little sister of Rarity. What was her name again? Sweetie Belle! That was it.
"Hyperventilate."
Though, why the young one was saying such random words, Celestia had no clue. At that moment, Sweetie Belle turned around. She opened her eyes wide upon seeing the princess.
"Gasp," she stated with just a hint of emotion. "Troll detected in the metaphysical dungeon. Initiating combat mode." She then proceeded to crouch in a way that a cat would before pouncing.
These must be the illusion's words, thought Celestia while maintaining her composure. I'd rather not fight her, but it's the only way that seems to work right now.
Round 2
Fight!
Sweetie Belle leaped from her position without a second's pause. Her front hooves wrapped around Celestia's neck.
That feels kind of nice, smiled Celestia slightly.
"Set phasers to 'hug'," droned Sweetie Belle as her grip suddenly became uncomfortably tighter. Celestia could feel the air being forced from her windpipe. She opened her mouth and gasped, but it wasn't helping. This little pony was actually trying to suffocate her.
Well, no more, thought the princess.
She closed her mouth and opened her eyes shining in a bright, white glare. An orb of magical energy started forming around her center. This orb began to spread out and surround her entire body until it resembled a growing dome. The dome began to shove against Sweetie Belle. Her grip loosened as she was sent flying to the side. Sweetie let out a small grunt as she impacted with the floor. As quickly as Celestia's magical shield had formed, it vanished.
"I guess Celestia's not a very huggy pony," giggled announcer Luna.
Shaking her head, Sweetie Belle picked herself up and stared determinedly at her opponent. Calling on some unholy inner voice, she screamed at top of her lungs. The high-pitch vibrations were actually visible. Some of the stage started to rip apart from the sound waves alone. For her part, Celestia was actually sliding a bit along the wood. She had to close one eye to dilute her growing headache. Still, she managed to stand strong against the gale screech.
Celestia took a deep breath before doing something that she had not been required to do for centuries.
"Be silent, my little pony!" she ordered in the Royal Canterlot tone.
The screaming from before stopped as Sweetie Belle was flung through the air yet again. The microphone stand she was using prior to the fight actually fell on top of her as she lay on the floor. Three bells rang after that.
"I always knew she was full of hot air," smirked Luna.
Quickly, Celestia galloped over to Sweetie Belle's side. With a gentle nudge, she levitated the metal bar off of her subject's body.
"Are you alright, Sweetie Belle?" the princess asked.
"Ow... yeah," groaned Sweetie Belle. "I think so. That was kind of cool. I didn't know that you could do that loud voice trick that Princess Luna did."
"Yes, well, I don't really like calling attention to that," smiled Celestia sheepishly.
"Um, Princess?" squeaked the filly. "What did you mean before when you said you'd destroy all robots?"
"Huh?" wondered Celestia before realizing her epiphany in her previous combat. "Oh, that. From what I understand, this so-called tournament world is causing every pony to hear things that aren't really being said. It's only after some pony wins a match that we can hear what's really being said."
"Ohhhh," realized Sweetie Belle. "That explains why you weren't making any sense before."
"I have to get going, little one," told Celestia. "Will you be alright waiting here?"
"Good," nodded Celestia as she proceeded to exit the stage. "I'll find you later."
--- Let's keep it moving!
Everything about this one is a complete mystery!
????
The area that she found herself in both surprised Celestia and gave her unease. The corroding stone walls replicated the looks of her original castle that now lied in the Everfree. Strange, black flames danced along the edges of the walls and the floor. What pony would have gone out of their way to create something like this? Celestia's pondering was interrupted by a puff of purple smoke engulfing a small area in front of her. As soon as it appeared, it revealed a mirror image of herself.
"What is the meaning of this?" asked Celestia defensively.
"How does it feel, Celestia?" chuckled the smokey doppelganger. "I mean, knowing that your subjects are now tainted and disloyal?"
"I asked you a question first!" stated Celestia with authority. "Who are you and what are you planning with this tournament?"
"Heh," snickered the doppelganger. "If you beat me, maybe I'll let slip a few hints."
"I see," sighed Celestia. "You're basically saying that the only way to get the truth from you is by fighting. Very well. If you insist." Both Celestias took fierce stances.
Round 3
Fight!
"Hey, Tia! Don't beat yourself up too badly, okay?" laughed the announcer Luna.
Ignoring the voice that couldn't be her sister, Celestia stood firm. She eyed her impostor carefully, never flinching. To this, the doppelganger smirked a little before creating a spark from her horn. A burst of lightning started making its way toward the original.
With a slight golden glow from her own horn, Celestia created a small version of her shield. The shield that resembled a dinner plate was more than large enough to deflect the electric discharge heading her way. The resulting flashes briefly made the entire room glow in golden, white light.
Barely a second later, the doppelganger took flight with a powerful flap of her wings. She flew up in a single loop-de-loop motion before setting her sights down at a diagonal path. She was quickly gathering speed.
Seeing this, Celestia quickly hopped back. The doppelganger just barely missed as her hooves dug into the concrete and created a large impression of cracks.
"Come on, Celestia!" taunted the copy, "You can't win if you just defend and run away!"
"Patience is its own reward," stated the princess flatly and calmly. Not-Celestia let out a grunt of discontent.
"Typical," she spat. "You're cowardly and weak. You don't have the power that it takes to be the Princess."
"And just what do you mean by that?" inquired Celestia with an eyebrow raised.
Sparks started racing all over the doppelganger's body. Her eyes glowed with the fury of a vengeful apparition.
"Let me show you what true power is!" she shouted as her magic concentrated into a wide, scattered arc of electricity.
Celestia held her ground with determination despite her mane waving in the new vibrations of the air. Her golden aura surrounded herself before becoming a shield just large enough to surround herself. The sporadic lightning strike couldn't touch her. In fact, it merely danced around and struck the floor in various spots. She didn't notice the slightly red aura that flashed in front of her eyes briefly.
"An Awakening!" gasped Luna. "Has this confrontation reached its conclusion prematurely?"
With her shield still up and strong, Celestia started trotting forward. Her trot sped up into a gallop. Her gallop became a sprint. Still quite angry, the doppelganger kept trying her thunderstorm attack. But it was for naught. Upon getting just in front of her opponent, Celestia made a quick turn and lifted her hind hooves. She delivered a kick that completely threw her impostor out of concentration.
Not-Celestia collapsed on the ground underneath one of the windows. Three bells rang all around the room. Celestia closed her eyes.
"Just because I have power doesn't mean I should constantly use it," she stated gently.
"You'll never get your sister back with that kind of pacifism," groaned the doppelganger.
The princess snapped her eyes open when she heard that. Quickly, she turned around and glared.
"Where is Luna?" she asked with a bit of force.
"Heh heh heh," chuckled the doppelganger as her body was suddenly swept away in smoke. The smoke cloud fled the arena.
"Wait!" called Celestia as she galloped after the cloud.
--- Next up...
Everything about this one is a complete mystery!
????
"Get back here!" ordered Celestia as she continued to pursue the dark cloud.
However, the dark smoke had other plans and passed underneath a yellow door. Using her magic grip, Celestia turned the handle before yanking it open. She hurried on through without a moment's hesitation. Random lighted buttons and switches flashed all over the large room she had entered. She nearly ran smack into the other occupant.
"Tia?" asked Luna aloud.
"Lulu!" exclaimed Celestia. The princess sisters embraced with their necks and wings for a moment's reprieve.
"Oh, isn't that sweet?" chuckled another voice on the other side of the room.
Celestia and Luna's eyes snapped open as they quickly glanced over to the voice. Its shape was that of Celestia, but there were fairly noticeable differences. The copy wore a sailor's cap in place of a tiara, had an eerie golden glow in its eyes, and a purple, fire-like aura that practically licked the air around it.
"Who are you and why did you take such measures to capture us?" inquired Luna none too politely.
"I have a fairly clear idea," mentioned Celestia.
This enemy was capable of powerfully magical feats, used lightning as its main attack, and practically wrapped itself in darkness. There was only one pony Celestia knew that matched those traits.
"Show yourself," demanded the elder princess, "Nightmare Moon!"
"Humph!" snorted the dark figure as its cloud aura twisted around, obscuring it from view. After a second, the suspected dark alicorn with blue armor reappeared in the fake Celestia's place.
"That's... impossible," breathed Luna in bewilderment.
"Not as impossible as you might think, dear inferior half," retorted Nightmare Moon.
"What do you hope to accomplish with your plan?" asked Celestia firmly. "I sincerely doubt this other world has anything to do with eternal night."
"Yes," agreed Nightmare with a small smile. "I've long since given up such an impossible dream. Now, all I want is to hold all the power I can. I'm already more than halfway done."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Luna while narrowing her eyes.
"I've already trapped Equestria's Elements of Harmony bearers and its princesses right here, where I want them," laughed Nightmare Moon as her dark, cloudy mane spun around wildly.
Luna looked ready to tear her darker half a new one, but Celestia held up a hoof to hold her off.
"Leave this to me, little sister," whispered Celestia.
"You may have succeeded in forcing my subjects to fight each other," she stated louder in Nightmare's direction, "but their hearts shall always fight on the same side in spirit."
Celestia's mane seemed to wave at twice its usual speed.
"And now, with their support, I shall take you on once more, Nightmare Moon!"
--- "We art prepared. Bring it on, ye monstrosity!" ---
Live and let die!
The One Villain To Rule Them All
The Dark Side Of Anger And Moonshine
NIGHTMARE MOON!
The pony that came to Luna's rescue soon fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.
"No!" Luna yelled and practically ground her teeth in frustration.
She had enough of this. This was her demon and she would not allow it to hurt her friend. Taking precautionary measures and levitating the injured quarry out of reach of the makeshift arena, Luna stood and faced Nightmare Moon with an authoritative passion.
"And now just one obstacle remains," said Nightmare Moon.
Round 1
Fight!
Both fighters started off by releasing their respective lightning spells. Electricity danced in the space between the enemies. They held out their attacks unflinchingly for several seconds. Luna was the first to break off and applied a slightly different charge of magic. The night air seemed to focus into a concentrated beam.
The apparition of nightmares quickly switched to her gaseous form to duck underneath most of the attack. She then floated over and proceeded to use her darkness mane to slap Luna upside the head. Luna was sent careening before she spread her wings to straighten herself out. She flew down charging toward Nightmare.
Oddly enough, some of Luna's physical hoof kicks seemed to be causing visible pain to the shadow pony. However, Nightmare Moon wasn't going down that easily. She started blocking and parrying Luna's strikes while throwing in a few of her own. Scrapes and bruises were becoming more visible on both of the ponies.
Without warning, Nightmare Moon's eyes and horn glowed in white. A burst of lightning just exploded out of her entire being. Luna tried to use her own magic to block, but the damage had already been too close. Sparks raced around her body as she was sent sprawling to the floor.
"Face it, you foal," boasted Nightmare Moon. "You're nothing without me!"
The princess struggled to get up. When she did, it was apparent that she was wobbly and could stumble easily if she wasn't careful. Her breaths were getting heavier as she started sweating near open wounds.
"It's the... other way... around," she managed to utter between pants.
"What are you babbling about?" wondered Nightmare.
"You're an empty shell with an even emptier goal," Luna stated slightly louder than before. "Without my desires to back you up, you're nothing but my shadow."
"Ha!" Nightmare scoffed. "Poetic words won't change the fact that you're losing."
"Maybe not," admitted Luna, "but I know now that what you said before was wrong. You said you weren't me anymore. I think the opposite is true."
It was then that Nightmare Moon noticed an unusual red aura surrounding Luna.
"What the?" Nightmare stared with eyes wide.
"You are me... and I am you!" Luna declared as the red aura around her swished around as a cloud of smoke.
Nightmare held up a wing and a hoof to block out the blinding red light. When she could see again, the pony in front of her had changed appearance completely. It was like looking at a red-tinted reflection of herself. But, it wasn't quite like that. Because this time, her reflection felt like it had stronger magic than hers. For the first time since the tournament began, Nightmare actually had fear in her eyes.
In her red Nightmare form, Luna's mane started stretching forward in several waves. Nightmare Moon tried to fly out of the way, but two of the waves wrapped around her stomach area while a third wrapped around her neck. They were starting to pull her in.
"No... no," she whispered as she was drawn closer to her foe.
Finally, her own dark mane was consumed by the red one.
"NOOOO!" her yell echoed as she faded completely.
Luna's red aura dispersed and she reverted to her default form. Though now, she appeared much more like her sister in regards to her height and flowing mane.
"I guess that's that," sighed Luna from fatigue.
But, that was not that.
---
"I am Omega! I created this world to satisfy ponykind's desire to sink into apathy. None shall ever have to suffer sadness and anger if they let it all out in a battle to the death."
A giant symbol in dark, red light appeared on the floor in front of Luna. It resembled the head of a monstrous beast. The pits of Tartarus themselves couldn't hold back a creature of such emptiness and decay. The overall size of the hellhound as it rose out of the floor could rival that of one of the heads of Cerberus. Luna braced herself for anything.
Unearthly appendages started growing from the sides of the monster. As if wax were melting and then hardening again, scythe-like arms grew from nowhere. These arms lashed forth for the princess's head.
Instinctively, Luna set up three shield barriers made from her white magic. The scythes collided with these shields, filling them with cracks. With a gasp, Luna flew back and away as the shields were ground into non-existent powder. She landed safely, but then fell on one knee.
I'm drained, she realized in thought, I expended all I had left against the Nightmare.
"Princess Luna!" shouted a cacophony of voices.
She lifted her head in surprise to see seven lights fly into the announcement room arena. These lights took the form of cards. Each card had a unique design drawn on its face. One card in particular held what appeared to be a pony holding a cane with an unusual golden trinket for its top.
"You can do it, Princess!" the card seemed to say.
Still a bit confused but not completely frozen in shock, Luna channeled a little bit of her magic to the card. Upon contact with the magical energy, the card spun around to face the beast. A flurry of lasso ropes just popped out of the card's center and constricted Omega. This seemed to infuriate the hellhound more than anything.
"Okay," another card whispered.
This one held a picture of a pony in a hooded, light blue cloak. Curious, Luna sent a small spark to this card as well. It turned its face toward Omega and called forth a shadow in the shape of a Pegasus pony. The pony-shaped figure delivered a flurry of kicks to the various sides of the monster before seeming to dissipate.
"Sometimes it's really fun to be scared!" exclaimed the third card.
On the face of the card was what appeared to be a pony with her hooves spread out wide for a hug while a giant star shone above her. Automatically, Luna focused her magic to this card. Turning to face the tied up beast, the card released a mess of balloons, confetti, candy, and streamers. Omega actually roared as if he were burning from contact with the party supplies.
"Alright, Princess!" cheered yet another card.
In the image of this card stood a proud pony in an open carriage. In front its wheels sat two manticores guarding their master. Luna was no longer channeling magic into the cards. This card just sort of yanked a bit of Luna's reserves into itself. With its new power, the card turned around and faced Omega. It released a rainbow-colored blast that spread out in all directions once it was right beside the creature. Omega started crouching in pain, straining against the lassos holding him in place.
"It. Is. On!" insisted the next card.
The card depicted a white pony lying comfortably on a red sofa while looking outward. She was dressed in some of the finest robes. Luna could feel more of her strength pour out, even though she was sure she had been empty a few minutes before. The fifth card spun around to face the hellhound. A barrage of several different gems attacked the monster where it stood. The ropes were showing signs of tearing.
"Just wait, Princess," said one of the remaining cards.
On its face was a pony dressed in a simple cape and holding a staff high above her head. Barely pausing, Luna sent forth one more burst of magic so that the card could do its work. The card flipped over to face Omega, releasing a giant bubble of magenta magic. Although Omega broke free from the ropes, his extending claws could not pierce this new shield so easily.
"We were meant to rule together, little sister," said the last card softly.
This card held the image of a tall pony wearing a trailing red cape. A sun shone above her in the background. Seventh time being the charm, Luna gave another portion of her growing magical energy to the card. It quickly flipped its face toward the hellhound and unleashed a beam of golden light that made the beast roar in pain.
The seven cards came back to float in front of Luna's face. They started spinning around in place before seeming to fly into each other. This last image was not of one pony in glory. Rather, it depicted the face of the Mare in the Moon, looking down on the land in sorrow as if regretful.
Luna took a step forward and let her horn move just within reach of this new card. She closed her eyes and nodded once. Upon contact, the card burst into blue flames and surrounded Luna in a similarly colored glow.
"Ponykind does not desire death, Omega!" she hollered over the inferno. "It desires a brighter future."
A set of purple plate armor now adorned her chest, head, and hooves. She opened her eyes in determination. Omega tried to charge in with his giant limbs, desperately trying to kill his prey. But, it was too late.
"As for you," Luna continued even as her eyes and horn sparked with energy, "good night."
A controlled wave of lightning surged out and ensnared the hellhound before his body seemed to crack and shatter completely. Soon, Luna's armor followed suit as well as the entirety of the world she was in. Everything collapsed and faded into the light.
---
After what felt like less than an hour, Luna opened her eyes. Though, her sight was immediately bombarded with multiple pieces of colors.
"Yay! She's awake!" cheered Pinkie Pie before buzzing a party blower.
"Pinkie Pie?" wondered Luna as she started to look around her environment.
Somehow, she had woken up in that small library in Ponyville. Every pony else was there as well: Twilight Sparkle, Fair Applejack, Lady Rainbow Dash, Miss Rarity, Fluttershy, the young Pinkie Pie, and...
"Tia?" Luna scrambled to her hooves before rushing to her sister's side, "What happened in there?"
"I think you might have just saved us all," smiled Celestia.
"Me?" Luna blushed as she suddenly realized that all eyes were on her. "I mean, but of course! It is the sworn duty of a Princess to protect her subjects."
"Wow, she got real soldier-like in a hurry," muttered Rainbow Dash. To that, Pinkie Pie let loose a few giggles.
"Aw, relax, Princess," insisted Applejack before turning to the rest of her friends. "What do you say, every pony? Shall we teach her how to have fun again?"
A collective stream of approvals and agreements was her response.
"Hoo!" hooted Owloysius. The noise diverted every pony's attention over to the otherwise unattended television set.
"What's this button do?" asked Spike aloud as he pressed "on".
"Not again!" cried out the ponies as a familiar vacuum sensation spread across the room.
--- Fantasy -- Psychological Conflict -- Imagination -- Illusion
Persona 4 Arena and respective references are credited to Atlus and Arc System Works. This story is written for entertainment purposes only and is not for profit.
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The FIMFiction staff
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For working, running, maintaining, and moderating a wonderful website where we can all read and write fanon stories about our favorite ponies to our hearts' content.
The people at Atlus
That made such a heart-touching game that offered some insight to social life and the links that are forged.
And to you, the readers
Who help give back to the writing community through your views and your comments whether they're positive or negative.
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Now, just for kicks and giggles... Ideas I probably won't do but I do think would be interesting:
I'll Grant You Love My Shining Armor
The Unconquerable Rhythm Pink
PRINCESS MI AMORE CADENZA!
--- "Princess Cadance is fine." ---
Has A Big Ego And An Even Bigger Mouth
The Magician's Counterfeit
TRIXIE!
--- "The Great and Powerful Trixie is no faker!" ---
What Is A Piano? A Miserable Pile Of Secrets!
The Bright Eyes Of A Ditzy Doo Day
DERPY HOOVES!
--- "I said I was sorry about dropping that piano." ---
