Friendship is Magic

Friendship, a force for good, is valued above all else.  Many would go to extreme lengths for their friends, even going so far as to offer up their own lives.  Or their very souls.

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Comfortably perched on a high branch, Pinkie glanced at her opponent from the corner of her eye.  “Descentie, why don’t we give up this game?”

Descent chuckled. “I couldn’t agree more, you little, pink-haired monster.  I’m more than ready to finish you off.”

Pinkie clicked her tongue. “I don’t think so.  I really don’t think you want to hurt me.”

“Oh?  Shows how much you know.  I’ve been trying to kill you this entire time.”  Descent folded his wings and dove at Pinkie, who deftly dodged, just as she had countless times before.

“I can’t help but disagree.  You’ve done nothing to hurt me.  All you’ve done is try and tackle me, which I always avoid, try and trap me with those dark spear-thingies of yours, burn me up when I know you know I can use water, and heat up the entire field.  You’re playing to my strengths.  Not that I don’t appreciate that.  I ate way too much cake for breakfast today so you’re helping me burn those calories, keeping me slim and trim.  I didn’t know you cared so much.”

Descent hovered and crossed his arms. “Are you saying I’m not trying my hardest?”

“No, no no no.  I’m saying you don’t really want to do this.  You don’t really want to hurt me, or anybody for that matter.  I don’t know why you joined sides with Luna.  Maybe it’s because of your sister, however all I know is that it’s clear that you don’t agree with doing this.”

Realizing what she was saying, he found himself approaching closer to her. “I’m afraid you’re wrong, Pinkie Pie,” he said in a barely audible voice, “I am not a good person.  I’m not friendly, I’m not loving, and I’m not happy.”

“I’m only happy with good people and you, Descent, are a good person.” Pinkie started giggling a little. “That’s why I like being with you.”

“And besides, who wants to spend all of their time fighting?” she asked, her voice taking on her normal timbre, “Now me, I’m not for fighting all of the time.  Life’s too short to spend it in combat.  Personally, I’d rather party and have fun.”

Any further conversation between the two was silenced as the sound of a heavy impact sounded from a distance.

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It all happened so fast.  I could barely keep track of the attacks.  With Pinkie distracted with Descent and me holding off Nightingale, Rarity was completely defenseless.  I could hear bones breaking, punctuated by her cries of pain, with each blow.  Finally, Haze delivered a final, fatal attack.  The powerful kick sent Rarity into a solid oak with a shattering impact.

“Rarity!  No!”

She slumped over onto the ground and did not move.  Her armor had dissolved and I couldn’t see Generosity glowing.  Blood trickled from her mouth, her nose, her everything, and she didn’t look to be breathing.

Oh, God.  Rarity, my friend, was dead.

What was I going to tell her parents?  Her sister?  My sister?  Fluttershy?  I had led us into a foolish battle against all odds for some twit who had tried to kill me not twelve hours before and what had that gotten us?  Now, Rarity was dead and it was all my fault.

Haze stood to his full height, Generosity glowing in the palm of his hand.  “So this is the power of the Bearers of Harmony?  How disappointing.  Little more than girls playing at war, really.”  His dark eyes locked onto me.  “Now, end this game and surrender, or you will suffer far worse than this weak woman.”  He threatened.

I sensed a shift in Pinkie’s aura which drew my attention to her. It wasn’t like how Rainbow’s aura had been with her natural blue being smothered by the darker green.  Pinkie’s had shifted entirely from the girl’s natural bright pink having changed entirely to a dark crimson.  There was a subtle physical difference about her.  Her normally bouncy, curly hair had straightened and darkened from bubblegum-pink to almost rouge.  She seemed in a trance as she watched the scene, slowly raising one arm and gathering her power.

Alarm bells in my head went off.  Something was very wrong here.  Haze seemed to notice as water began to seep up from the soil and gather beneath him.

“Impalement!”  Pinkie roared.

The water erupted upwards into jagged peaks of solid ice.  Had he not leaped away in time, Haze would have been skewered by them.

Pinkie leaped from her branch and vanished.  A moment later, she reappeared and drew back a fist that was rapidly covering itself in ice.  Now a more powerful weapon, she swung her fist.

Haze brought an arm up, barely blocking it in time.

I stood in utter confusion.  Never before had Pinkie acted this aggressively.  She wasn’t trying new powers, wasn’t dodging any attacks, and wasn’t cracking jokes.  It was like she was an entirely different person.  She didn’t even smile.

She was terrifying.

Haze hurried to put distance between him and the now homicidal Pinkie, but Pinkie kept up with him, phasing in and out of view as she darted about, finally appearing behind Haze.  The giant spun with surprising grace and seized her by the throat.

“You’ll have to get up earlier than that if you want to get the drop on me, girl.” He rumbled, tightening his fist and squeezing the life out of her.

I was not about to lose another friend.  I charged for the pair, intent on breaking them up.  An arm appeared in my vision and connected with my head, throwing me to the ground.

“Where do you think you’re going?”  Nightingale taunted.  “Haze is going to take care of your friend and I’m going to take care of you.  You Bearers have bitten off more than you can chew.”

I leaped to my feet and tried to push past her a second time, but, again, I was blocked.  I didn’t have time for this.  Pinkie might already be beyond help.  I swung at her.  An attack which she dodged.  I followed up with a high kick, intending to take her out quickly and easily, only to catch a knee to the stomach.

A cry from Haze caused us to return our attention to the pair.  Pinkie had vanished and her form was held by a sculpture of water.  That, too, evaporated after a moment.  Almost immediately after, a massive puppet, shaped like a pony and constructed of water, appeared and wrapped an appendage around Haze’s still-extended arm.

The real Pinkie had mounted her spires of ice and glared down at the massive man, laughing darkly.

My blood ran cold at the sight of her.  While I could write the straightened hair down to the fact that she was drenched in water, but that wouldn’t account for the general strangeness about her.  She looked demented with her narrowed eyes and manic grin.

She leveled a finger at Haze. “Your skin looks like chocolate.  I like chocolate.”

“That last attack with the water clone was surprising, Bearer.  It’s not often that people surprise me.”  He complimented.

Pinkie’s grin grew wider, making my blood run cold at the sight of it.  “I really like chocolate.  I like to break it up into little bite-sized bits.  I think I’ll break you up.”

Without warning, the watery restraint around Haze’s arm began to contract, twisting as it tightened.  Inside, I could see Haze’s arm began to rotate.

“Pinkie, what are you doing?”  I cried.

From the other side of the field, I could hear the pop as Haze’s arm broke.  Bile churned in my stomach and I fought the urge to vomit. However, in spite of this, Haze expression never changed.

Pinkie cackled gleefully. “Not even a grimace.  Well done, chocolate man. Looks like I’ll just have to be a bit rougher with you.”

A second watery appendage appeared beneath Haze and began to wrap around his legs, climbing and tightening until it was clear up to his torso.

Nightingale made to rush to Haze’s aid, but a water clone appeared behind her.  It wrapped a watery arm around her shoulders as its hand warped and flattened, becoming a blade, which it held to her throat.

“Where do you think you’re going, bitch?”  The clone hissed in Pinkie’s voice, distorted by the water. “Patience. First, I’m going to finish with him,  then, I’ll come for you.”

Nightingale’s already pale complexion lost several shades at the water clone’s threat.  She stood perfectly still, with the fluid blade held to her throat, and watched as the real Pinkie continued to tear apart Haze.

“You hurt Rarity.” Pinkie snapped, her smile growing a bit darker, “That was a serious no-no.  For that, you die!”

The water began to twist and tighten, constricting Haze.  I could hear bones and joints cracking and popping as she crushed him with her power.  He withstood it for a while and I watched in horror as his body finally gave in and he coughed blood.

Pinkie let out a sadistic laugh at this sight. “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

What was happening to my friend?  She had never acted like this before and it sickened and frightened me to think of what she had become.  What she was now capable of?  Was this it?  Would Pinkie truly kill this man without a second thought?  What kind of leader was I if I let her go through with this?

“Pinkie, that’s enough!  Stop it!  Stop it now!”  I screamed.

I must have broken through because the fluctuations I had been sensing in her aura had ceased.  Her hair somehow sproinged back into it’s naturally curly nature as she blinked and let out a confused “Huh?”

Haze saw his opportunity and used the last of his strength to lift one swollen arm.  There was a flicker before he and a nearby tree switched positions.  He was free of Pinkie’s water constrictions while the tree was smashed to splinters within.

Haze lay within the dirt crater, gasping and groaning as his body healed.  Shattered bone reconnected and became whole.  Organs that had been crushed and ruptured sealed once more.  Blood rushed back into veins and arteries, which sealed to keep the life fluid within.  The heal was costly, but Haze would live to fight another day.

And fight, he did.

He immediately took to the sky and charged Pinkie, who barely had time to throw up another of her pony-shaped water defenses.  Haze crashed through it without slowing and delivered a savage blow to Pinkie’s stomach.

Time seemed to slow as I watched blood and vomit spew from Pinkie’s mouth.  She folded around the offending appendage as terror and confusion dawned in her eyes.  Haze’s ham-sized fist seemed to disappear completely within her.

His other hand reached out and seized one of Pinkie’s legs as he lifted her higher and higher.  Finally, he threw her down, slamming her into the dirt with a sickening thud that echoed across the field.

Slowly, Pinkie’s armor faded and vanished.

I bolted across the field, charging for my fallen friend, who wasn’t moving.  Haze stopped me, grabbing me by the throat, lifting me up and slamming me into the ground.  The impact drove the breath from my lungs and I lay in the grass, gasping around the lump in my throat.  We had failed.  The task Celeste had given me was lost and Luna had one.

Nightingale had stepped up to Haze.  “Are you okay?”

“She did a fair bit of damage.  Such an enigmatic girl, for a few moments there, she had a different aura.  Not like Celestia’s or Luna’s, but different entirely.  It was like a succubus or something.”

“Your injuries?”  Nightingale pressed.

“Don’t worry about me.  I used regeneration to repair the bones and organs she crushed.  I’ll be fine.”

“Regeneration takes a lot out of you.  Can you still fight?”

Haze chuckled.  “I don’t even need half of my available strength to defeat these children.  Like I said, don’t worry.”

“I don’t understand.  If you could replace yourself at any time, why did you let her inflict as much damage as she did?”

Haze shook his head. “My life is irrelevant.  The only thing that concerns me is victory for Luna.  If Pinkie had killed me, her jewel would have left her.  There’s nothing more prohibited by Harmony than wanton murder, but I knew that Twilight would stop her before she went too far.  This break in concentration gave me the opportunity to attack and eliminate Pinkie.  Either way, Luna wins.

“Though one thing had me worried.  At no point did Pinkie’s connection with Laughter weaken, despite the evil she was displaying.”  He turned his attention to the unconscious girl at his feet.  “What secrets are you hiding, Pinkie Pie?”

Descent stepped up and seized the giant by the shoulder.  “What the hell were you doing?  You didn’t need to beat her half to death!”

Haze scoffed. “What’s your problem?  Did you really believe what she said?  Listen, Pinkie is characterized by her need for laughter and her yearning for a good joke.  Truth means little to her if she can have a good chuckle at your expense.  What do you think she would have done?  Thrown you a party later and gotten to know you better?”  He snorted. “Stupid boy…”

Descent was taken aback by Haze’s words and stared at him balefully.

“Descent, what’s gotten into you?”  Nightingale asked.

Startled, he turned his attention to her. “S-sorry.  I-I was just...for a moment, I was wondering if what we were doing is right?”

Nightingale’s gaze took a hard edge. “Listen to me, nitwit.  Don’t forget what’s happened.  Don’t forget the accident that occurred.  You were blinded and I was paralyzed.  We needed help, but nobody would answer our call.  She did.  She gave us back what we lost and we vowed to do what she required of us without question.  Whether good or bad. Never forget that, Descent.”

“Yeah...you’re right.  I’m sorry.”

She gave his shoulder a companionable pat. “It’s okay.  C’mon, let’s finish this.”

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Rainbow stood in the field where Fluttershy had left her, clutching the lightning bolt pendant that she had been given all those years ago.  “Soarin.  What do I do?”

She was perched on the edge of the last obstacle, staring out over the town when Soarin joined her.

“What’s on your mind?”  He asked.

She shrugged. “I’m a little confused. You said that you were happy that I had made the right decision by staying with Fluttershy.  Does that mean you never wanted me to with the tournament?”

“Not at all.  If you had won and decided to join the Elite, I would have been just as happy.  Every path you choose in life is the right one, provided that it’s the one that makes you happy.  The important part is that youchoose them and that nobody, not even me, chooses for you.  So don’t forget to choose whatever makes your heart happy, Little Pegasus.”

“Choose with the heart… Choose whatever makes me happy.”  Rainbow muttered to herself.  “Fluttershy makes me happy.”  She turned and sprinted in the direction Fluttershy had gone in.  “I’m so stupid.  How could I have doubted Fluttershy?  What kind of a friend am I for not trusting her?  She must really love me to come to me like she had.  Hold on, friend.  I’m coming, just hold on.”

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Haze reached down and gripped a fistful of my blouse, pulling me to my feet.

Nightingale chuckled darkly as she and Descent joined him. “Tell me, Twilight, after we’re done beating you into the ground, how do you want the corpses of you and your friends displayed?”

Terrified, I stared at the three.  This was it.  There was no way we could win, no way to retreat.  I could throw up a spell and use the distraction to fall back and rendezvous with Fluttershy, but I would leave my friends at the mercy of these three monsters.  If I stayed, then I would meet the same fate.

I could still see them in their current broken states. Rarity was covered with so much blood and dirt that if she were to have seen herself, she would’ve shrieked in disgust. Pinkie looked strangely at peace, as though she were in a deep sleep. I didn’t notice their how their breathing was, but something told me if I couldn’t get them some help soon, they wouldn’t make it.

I felt the first tear as it slipped from my eye.  “Pinkie.  Rarity.  I’m so sorry.  I’ve failed.”