Chaos Reborn: The Corruption of Harmony

Chapters

Chapter 2: Trollestia Be Trollin’
Chapter 3: Marble Ponies
Chapter 4: Epic Cupcake Time
Chapter 5: What have I done?
Chapter 7: Baked Bads
Chapter 8: Deep in a Plot Hole
Chapter 9: Guess who’s back.....sort of
Chapter 10: The Derp Knight
Chapter 11: Mommy Loves You
Chapter 12: Back in Time
Chapter 13: Here We Go Again
Chapter 14: Wait...Who Died?
Chapter 15: 1800 Words of Filler
Chapter 16: Party's Over
Chapter 17: So What Do We Do Now?
Chapter 18: Free at Last
Chapter 19: The Chapter That’s Almost All Dialogue
Chapter 20: The Beginning of the End
Chapter 21: Time to End This!
Chapter 22: It's Morphin Time!
Chapter 23: A Bond That Cannot Be Undone
Chapter 24: A Challenger Appears
Chapter 25: Will It Ever End?
Chapter 26: The Final Chapter
Chapter 1: What the Buck?
Chapter 6: I Couldn’t Think of a Title. Deal With It!

Chapter 2: Trollestia Be Trollin’

Chapter 2: Trollestia Be Trollin’

As the train from Ponyville pulled up the station in Canterlot, Twilight and her friends could only stand there and stare, slack jawed. The city streets, normally booming with Equestria’s elite, were vacant and littered with debris. Shops were closed, some with boarded windows. Many buildings were damaged as if hit by a meteor or caught in an explosion, while others were simply left in smoldering piles. The structures that still stood were covered in graffiti with strange massages like “To the mooooooooon!” and “Bananas?”

“What happened here? This place looks like there was an attack.” Twilight looked assessed the damage as she and the girls exited the train.
"Oh no!" She gasped as the realization that nopony, had come to meet her and her friends upon their arrival. Not even a guardsman to escort them.
"I hope we’re not too late."

“Wow! This must have been one crazy party!” Pinkie was in awe as she looked around to see what she missed out on.

“Now Sugar Cube, I don't think think this was no party. There’s no way all these up tight, fancy pants ponies would let any of their poofy high society get togethers end up this out of hoof.” Applejack interjected.

“But look around. There’s confetti and bananas everywhere. Ooooh! I bet it was a jungle themed party!” Pinkie Pie zipped away came back swinging on a vine, and wearing a loincloth as the pointed to the litter covering the buildings and streets. Aside from the rubble and broken buildings, most of what covered the city was just as Pinkie said. Confetti and bananas were everywhere, some of it looked to be burnt and many of the bananas were heavily bruised, but it did seem like weird a thing to be covering what otherwise looked like a the site of a disaster.

“That don’t explain why all the buildings are all smashed up.”, pointed out Applejack

Pinkie put her hoof on her chin and thought for a second.
“Maybe they invited Derpy?” She said with a shrug.

“Maybe Discord is back!” Rainbow Dash jumped in, looking around for the master of chaos, half expecting his maniacal laughter to pop in at any moment.

“No, I don’t think so.” Twilight responded. “This doesn’t seem to be his style. Things are too calm. If it were Discord, there would still be active disorder throughout the city.”

“Come now, darling. I’m sure the Princess will be able to tell us what happened here.” Rarity placed a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder before pointing her hoof to the castle.

“Rarity’s right. We don’t have any answers here. Let’s ask Princess Celestia.” Twilight agreed as she and her friends began to trot down the road.

As the mares arrived at the castle, they noticed the lack of security and began to panic. Was they overrun? Twilight ran ahead at top speed into the throne room to see if her mentor was all right. The throne was empty.

There was panic in in the purple unicorn’s voice as she called out
“Princess Celestia! Are you alright?!”

“Of course, Twilight. Why wouldn’t I be?” a voice called out from unknown area of the throne room.

“Princess Celestia? Where are you?” Twilight looked around, puzzled.

“Behind you.” Trollestia leaned in and whispered into the unicorn’s ear, startling the panicked pony and causing her jump.

“Ahh!”, she screamed as she turned around and fell on her plot, doing a double take when she saw the princess.
“What…happened to you?”

Trollestia had done her best to dye her body white, but the job was shoddy at best. There were tufts of pink in a few random places, especially at the base of her wings and around her cutie mark and eyes. Her hair was stiff and obviously damaged from the bleach she used on her coat.
“Oh, this? Haha. I uh…” She tried to come up with an excuse for her appearance while simultaneously trying to hold back laughter over the frightened reaction of Twilight Sparkle.

Just then, rest of the girls finally galloped up behind and caught up. Rarity looked especially horrified, gasping, when caught sight of the princess.
“Oh dear! What happen to you, darling?!” Rarity called out, unable to believe her eyes.
“Your beautiful coat! It’s ruined! This is…the…absolute…worst…thing…EVER! Don’t worry, your majesty, I’ll get you fixed up right away.”
Rarity’s horn lit up as she magically pulled some supplies out of her saddlebag and to tore down the drapes from one of the massive windows in the throne room to fashion a privacy curtain around the Alicorn masquerading as the princess. She quickly stepped in and got to work as the rest of the girls stood outside and waited. The sound of sloshing water and scissors cutting into fur came from inside the makeshift salon. Bits of pink and white hair flew as the curtain shook, but within a few seconds all was still. Rarity dropped the curtain to reveal the spitting image of Princess Celestia with a pristine, beautiful white coat.
“Ta-da!” She announce with pride as she presented her handiwork with flair and showmanship.

Twilight did yet another double take shaking her head in disbelief.
“How did you…?”

“Just between us, Darling, this isn’t my natural hair color. I’ve been dying it since I was a filly” Rarity admitted.

“Right…well back to the matter at hand. What happened here?!” Twilight asked as she turned to the White alicorn for answers.

“Oh this? This is nothing. Um…we had a... um…a party! Yeah that’s it! A big party…with bananas…and then…I dunno…something attacked the castle?” Trollestia put together the thinly veiled fabrication, not used to having to explain the damage from her actions.

“Told you it was a party!” Pinky Pie interrupted, sticking her tongue out at Applejack.

“Not now Pinky.” Twilight hushed her friend and then looked back at the princess. Though her story didn't seem quite right, Celestia had never been dishonest with Twilight in the past, so she had no reason to doubt what she was saying now.
“Is everypony ok? Do you know who did this? Where’s Princess Luna?”

“She’s fine. The princess...er... I mean... my sister is with the rest of the guards. It was quite a day. You could say they’re just a little ‘spaced out’ at the moment ” Trollestia giggled at the hidden pun she’d made.
“But right now I need you to go to the Everfree Forrest and find the pony responsible for this.”

“How will we know when we see him?” Rainbow Dash asked, ready for a fight.

“Oh trust me, you’ll know when you see him. Let’s just say he’s tall and has an unforgettable…face.” Trollestia snickered as she devised a plan for what awaited the girls on the dark reaches of the forest.

“Don’t you worry, Princess. We’ll catch this varmint” Applejack assured her.

“You can count on us.” Twilight said as she took point and headed off with the rest of the girls.

“Just a moment.” Trollestia stopped them “If it’s all the same with you. I’d like the pink one to stay here with me for a while. I need to talk to her about preparing my next…event, and arranging for some baked goods for the guests. I’ll send her to catch up with you and your friends once I’m done with her.”

The girls stopped, a bit confused by the request, but Twilight simply nodded to Pinkie Pie in acknowledgement.

“Sure thing Princess! I’m glad to help, and my Pinkie, silly! You knew that." Pinkie Pie cheerfully said as she separated from the group.

The rest of them walked off to begin their mission. Once the others were finally out of sight, Trollestia turned to the cotton candy maned mare who simply smiled back at her.

“Now what am I going to do with you?” She pondered for a moment.

“I thought I was gonna help you with your next big party.” Pinkie looked up, trying to maintain a smile to hide her discomfort over the unusual vibe she was getting.

“Yeah yeah, we’ll get to that later. I just need to figure out how I’m going to handle you. We can’t have two pink little ponies walking around. Can we?” The Alicorn continued to devise her plan.

“Huh?” Pinkie Pie tilted her head, confused and a little creeped out.
"What do you mean 'two pink-"?"

“Wait, I know!” Trollestia finally blurted out, as she grinned and gazed down at an uncomfortable Pinkie Pie. Her horn began to glow.
“How would you like to go to be a 'Moon Pie'?”

Chapter 3: Marble Ponies

Chapter 3: Marble Ponies

The girls treaded carefully, deep within reaches of the Everfree Forest, a dark and foreboding place filled with all kinds of dangerous animals and plant life. Most ponies knew to steer clear of the forest in general and especially to never go alone, but the five of them were on a mission to find anypony that looked suspicious and bring them back to the princess to answer for the atrocities in Canterlot. Fluttershy cowered and huddled up next to Rainbow Dash for support as they walked.

“Not so close, Fluttershy. You’re gonna me make trip over a hoof.” Rainbow Dash said, trying not to be tipped over by frightened pegasus nuzzling against her.

“Maybe we should ask Zecora if she’s seen anything out of the ordinary.” Twilight suggested to the group

“We don’t even know what this guy looks like, Twi. And even if we figure that out, how do we know he’s even still here?” Applejack questioned.

Twilight thought for a moment, “Well, I’m sure Princess Celesi-"

“HI!” A pink pony popped seemingly out of nowhere, startling the girls.

“Pinkie Pie! You scared us.” Rarity scolded.
“I thought you were with the princess, and what happened to your mane, Darling? I like what you’ve done with it. Though I never thought it possible for anypony to tame those curls of yours.”

Pinkamina’s mane was flat and hung down over one side of her head

“Oh this? Well, you see…” She began to attempt an explanation.

“We don’t have time to talk hair styles right now. Pinkie, I’m glad your back, but we have work to do.” Twilight said redirecting the group back to the task at hoof.

As they walked, Pinkamina gazed leeringly at Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus could feel the eyes on her and turned to Pinkamina.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Rainbow whispered to her, trying to figure out was drawing the pink pony’s attention.

“Oh, it’s nothing Dashie. I just missed you. That’s all.” Pinkamina said with a smile.

“Um... I'm glad to see you too, but we’ve only been separated for a few hours, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash said to her, touched by her friend’s affection, but a bit confused as to why she’d miss her so soon.

“Yeah, I guess it just felt longer to me.” Pinkamina said with a frown.
“You’re my best friend, Dashie. I’m so glad I have another chance to spend some time with you. The last time seemed so short, but we’ll get it right this time. I Pinkie promise.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously.
“Hehe… Th-thank’s Pinkie, but you’re kind of creeping me out.”
She looked ahead to avoid eye contacted as the pink pony continued to stare.

The six of them came up to a tall red watch tower. It was rectangular in shape, and hollow. There was a ladder inside, but the entire thing was obviously abandoned and in need of repair. There were areas where the wood was rotting and the paint was flaking off. Just at the entrance there was a marking scratched into the wood, a circle with an "X" through it. The girls looked at it with curiosity.

“What do ya make of it, Twilight?” Applejack asked, scratching her head.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. I could check the library and she if we could math the symbol, But what purpose could a tower like this possibly have in a thick forest? The top doesn't even breach the tree cover and according to my map, here’s nothing around here to see for miles.” Twilight tried to wrap her head around the purpose of such a structure.
“Either way, it doesn’t look like anypony’s been here quite some time.”

Behind them, the faint rustling of the leaves and the occasional sounds of breaking twigs could be heard. Nopony seemed to notice, as a few thin, black tree trunks in the forest twisted and creeped in, ever so slightly, behind them. They were all too focused on the tower and the strange symbol.

Pinkamina, standing at the back of the group, smiled. Knowing what was coming, she grinned from ear to ear as her eyes opened wide and glanced to one side, anticipating the events to follow.
“Party time.” She whispered.

Rainbow Dash suddenly began to cough violently, collapsing to the ground holding her hoof up to her mouth as she continued on. The girls turned to her in concern.

“Are you alright, Rainbow…” Twilight’s voice began to fail her as she and the rest of her friends looked up and gasped.

Behind the incapacitated Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be having some sort of seizure, there stood an impossibly tall, thin pony, wearing what looked like a black suit. He towered over the group, with legs twice as long as any Alicorn and seemingly flexible, as if they were not legs at all, but some sort of black boneless appendages lifting him up off the ground. Most disturbing of all was his face, or the lack thereof. It was just a white mane-less head with no mouth and no openings for eyes. It looked down at them for a moment, then focused its attention on Rainbow Dash who was still coughing and spasming on the ground.

“Oh no you don’t, you big brute!” Rarity yelled and stood in front of her friend to protect her. Twilight and Applejack took position behind Rainbow Dash preparing for a fight, as Fluttershy fell to the ground cowering in fear and covered her eyes. Pinkamina didn’t move, waiting to see how the events would unfold.

The faceless pony stood there and slowly lifted his head, fixing his stare at Rarity. He tilted his head slightly as a series of black tendrils emerged from his back. One of them reached out and grabbed the white unicorn blocking his path.

“Put me down this instant!” She commanded, trying to struggle free.

As he lifted her high into the air, Twilight’s horn lit up, firing bolts of magical energy at the monster.
"Let her go!"

Not even a flinch. It was as if he didn’t even notice. Looking up at his captured prey, he began to draw the tendril back into his torso and Rarity with it.

“I’ll take care of this, y’all!” Applejack charged full speed at the slender pony. With one of his spare tendrils, he effortlessly swatted her away and into a nearby tree, knocking the orange mare unconscious.

Rarity screamed, now right up against her captor’s body, she could feel the flesh of his back give way and begin to swallow her in whole.

Twilight looked first to Fluttershy, who was still cowering on the ground and then to Pinkamina who simply stood watching.
“Come on, girls! I need your help. I can’t stop him by myself!” She put her hoof forward, preparing to stand her ground, as her horn sparked with magic once again.

The tall equine figure simply looked down at Twilight as he completely engrossed the screaming Rarity into whatever dark abyss lay within him. He looked over at the smiling pink pony for a moment, and then turned his full attention to Twilight.

Suddenly she felt ill. It was as if her entire body was somehow shutting down under the power this thing emanated. Her muscles grew weak and her vision began to blur and go dark. Twilight buckled to the ground, struggling to breathe.

Fluttershy felt the effects too. She began to cough and whimper as she lost what little strength she had.

Fighting to stay cognizant, Twilight looked around, helpless to stop what was happening. Fluttershy was already out cold. She struggled to tilt her head up and see Pinkamina trotting over to her. With the last of her strength, she reached out her hoof to the pink pony and softly called out “Help…”

Pinkamina looked down.
“Don’t worry, silly. This will all seem like a bad dream in the morning.”

Twilight fell limp as her eyes closed.

Pinkamina looked over to the creature who, in turn, stared back at her.
“Well that was fun. You take Rarity to the princess for her going away party. I’ll deal with everypony else.”, she said with a enormous grin.

The slender pony looked down at the unconscious Rainbow Dash.

“Oh her? I have plans for her. But first I need to get everypony else back home and in their beds. They need plenty of rest for the big celebration. You should come too. I think you’ll really like it.”
Pinkamina licked her lips in anticipation.
“I’m bringing my special cupcakes.”

Chapter 4: Epic Cupcake Time

Chapter 4: Epic Cupcake Time

Twilight’s eyes slowly opened. It was blurry, but she could make out an orange silhouette standing over her.

“Hey y’all, she’s wakin’ up!” Applejack called to the others in the room.

Another blur stood over her, this one purple and green, followed by another that was yellow and pink.

“You ok, Twilight?” The purple one asked

“Spike, is that you?” she said as her eyes began to focus.

Standing over her were Applejack, Spike, and Fluttershy. Twilight was back in her bed at the library. Suddenly it all came back to her, and she sprang to life.

“Where’s Rarity?!” She called out frantically, grasping Applejack by the shoulders and pulling herself up.

Applejack looked over at the others. Fluttershy just looked down at the floor and began to cry, as Spike struggled to hold in his tears. She turned back to Twilight and shook her head. “We don’t know what happened to her, Twi. Both me and Fluttershy only woke up a few hours ago, and ain’t none of us knows how we got home. Fluttershy checked Rainbow’s place and I checked Rarity’s. We both ran into each other over at Sugarcube Corner lookin’ for Pinkie Pie. Weren’t nopony home there neither. Finally we got here and Spike let us in. He don’t know how you got back here either. He says you were just here when he woke up.”

Twilight got up out of bed. “Then the first thing we need to do is find our friends.” She looked over to her Spike “Have we gotten any new letters from Princess Celestia while I was out?” Spike shook his head. “Hmmmm…I wonder why she hasn’t tried to check in.” Twilight thought out loud. “Well, never mind that for now. We have to find our friends.”

“But where do we start? We already tried their homes.” Applejack questioned

“We’ll have to go back to the Everfree Forest and check there. If they’re not there, hopefully we’ll at least be able to piece together find some clues that might lead us to them.”

Elsewhere, Rainbow Dash was also coming to. She she opened her eyes slowly, trying to move, but snapped back to consciousness quickly when she found herself to be held down tightly by leather straps, stretching her out flat and spreading all four of her legs apart. The only things not strapped down were her wings, which fluttered frantically through the backless fame of the device, as she tried to pull free from her bonds.

Pinkamina stepped from the darkness into the light which came from a single, dull bulb above the rack that Rainbow was held captive in. On her neck was a necklace with a single white horn.

“You’re finally awake, Dashie. Let’s not get started too fast this time around. You didn’t make it very long last time we did this.” She looked up and down Rainbow’s body.
“This is already a little different from last time. Sorry I don’t have my special dress to show you. I didn’t get to pack before I came, but I’m starting a new one.” She displayed a white horn dangling from string on her neck. “And how fitting is it, that this be the first piece of my new dress? Rarity would simply die, knowing that she got to make the first contribution to the design.”

“W-what are you talking about, Pinkie? Last time?" Dash asked I confusion before crying out in horror as she locked eyes with the horn hanging from Pinkamina’s neck. "Oh my gosh, what have you done with Rarity!?”

“Don’t worry. Mommy’s right here, Darling” Said a voice from the darkness, before stepping forward. Out came a white unicorn with a purple mane. She had cuts all over her face and body. The ones on her face looked as if she'd been attacked by a small animal, but the cuts elsewhere...they seemed to have been inflicted purposefully. On her chest was scar in the shape of a heart. It appeared to have been burned into her with some sort of iron.

“Rarity! Oh no, what happened to you!? And if that’s not your horn, whose is it?” Rainbow Dash asked trying to figure out what was going on and why all of this was happening.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, Rainbow Dash. You should be more worried about what’s going to happen to you.” Lil’ Miss Rarity said, reminding Rainbow Dash of her current predicament.

“Yeah I’d hate to be you right now.” A third voice called out. “What a failure. You don’t deserve the name ‘Rainbow Dash’, you worthless waste of wings.”
The pony stepped out. It was a pegasus, but not just any pegasus. It was another Rainbow Dash! The only noticeable difference between the two was that this Dash’s tail was died jet black and the look of malice in her cold, rose colored eyes.

"Hey! That's not very nice!" The pink pony scolded Dash's double.

"Pfft! What's your point?" The pegasus rolled her eyes.

“I- I don’t understand. What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash cried out as she tried, hysterically, to shake free from the leather straps that held her in place.

“It’s ok Dashie, I won’t kill you too soon this time. I plan to keep you alive and cut you up little by little so we can enjoy every last second together. And don’t worry about anypony interrupting us. With this other Dashie out there, nopony will even know you’re gone unless she gives herself away by being a big meanie pants. We have the whole place to ourselves. Isn’t that exciting? Mr. and Mrs. Cake left all of Sugarcube Corner to me, should something happen to them. Well guess what?!”

Pinkamina picked up a knife and reached over to flip a switch. The entire room lit up and revealing a table at the far end. At its center, sat a large silver plate containing two stuffed heads...those of Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Their eyes had been scooped out and the mouths sewn shut. Rainbow Dash vomited from the shock and disgust of seeing the murdered couple.

“How…How could you, Pinkie?” Rainbows eyes began to fill with tears.

“Don't you see?” Trollestia’s voice chuckled from behind Rainbow Dash, as she stepped forward where the frightened pegasus could see her. “That’s not your friend Pinkie Pie, and I’m not Princess Celestia...at least not the Princess Celestia you know.”

“Then where are Pinkie and the Princess?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

“The princess is fine last I checked, but your pink little friend, that’s another story. Turns out only Alicorns can breathe in space. Who knew?” Trollestia shrugged her shoulders and in an “I dunno LOL” position.

“Pinkamina’s going to take excellent care of you, my dear” Lil' Miss Rarity chimed in.
“Don’t you worry your little head. I’m sure the pain will be exquisite. I’m actually quite jealous.”

Pinkamina turned to the white unicorn and plunged the knife deep into the fleshy area of her plot, causing her to shudder in ecstasy and bite down on her lower lip.

“Yes! That’s Mommy’s sweet spot. Keep that up and I can't promise I'll be able to contain myself.” Miss Rarity winked at Pinkamina.

“Maybe we can have a little ‘private party’ later.” Pinkamina blushed as she pulled out the knife and licked it clean.
“But first, Dashie and I have one final play date. Hopefully, this will take a while. You two meet up with the girls. I’ll catch up after I’m done getting one last taste of the Rainbow.”

Pinkamina and Trollestia smiled down at Rainbow Dash, as the two ponies departed from the basement of Sugarcube Corner to find Twilight and the others, the only sounds the twisted copies of Rarity and Dash could hear behind them were the sound of power tools, laughter, and screams of agony.

Chapter 5: What have I done?

Chapter 5: What have I done?

Twilight and Applejack prepared for their trip back into the Everfree Forest. They packed their bags as Twilight formed a search plan. Magically, she lifted a map out of her saddle bag and laid it out on the table.

“All right. Applejack and I will head here to look for Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said as she marked the location of their last encounter on the map.

“Shouldn’t we wait for morning, Twi? The forest is dark enough during the day time, but we won’t be able to see an inch beyond our noses at night.” Applejack argued.

“No time to spare. They could be hurt. Morning may be too late. I’ll use my horn to light the way” Twilight's horn lit up to demonstrate.
“Fluttershy, you stay here with Spike just in case the others show up. They may need help and you’re the one with the most experience care taking.”

Fluttershy nodded her head in acknowledgement.

Twilight turned to her assistant
“And Spike, I need you to write a letter to Princess Celestia, letting her know what’s happened. Tell her we encountered some sort of monster and we may need the Elements of Harmony. Then I want you to search every book in the library to this symbol” She took a piece of chalk and drew out the strange marking they'd found on the tower.
"It may give us a clue as to what we're dealing with."

“What do we do if that thing shows up again?” Applejack asked, with a worried look on her face.

“I-I don’t know yet, but we have to find our friends. With the six of us are together, we can use the Elements to fight whatever this thing is.” Twilight said with determination and a little uncertainty in her voice.

Applejack nodded her head in acknowledgement “Right! I’m with ya, Sugar Cube.”

“Then let’s go.” Twilight motioned to the door, as they prepared to head out.

Suddenly, the door slammed open. Standing in the doorway was Dash's counterpart holding a seemingly unconscious Rarity.

The girls gasped, alarmed by the sudden turn of events.

“Rainbow Dash! Where have you two been?” Twilight asked in surprise and concern.

“We don’t have time for that right now! Rarity’s hurt.” Rainbow placed Rarity's doppelgänger on the floor.
“I found her like this at the boutique and brought her here to get help.”

“Now wait just a minute, I checked Rarity’s place this mornin’. Nopony was home.” Applejack said, trying to piece together what happened.

“Uh, you must have shown up after I left.” Dash lied, trying to avert suspicion.

“But what took you so long to get here?” Twilight asked.
“Rarity’s obviously in pretty bad shape. With the severity of her wounds, she needs to see Nurse Redheart over at the Ponyville Hospital.”

“I don’t know Twilight! I panicked. We can talk about where I’ve been all day later, but right now we need to do something about Rarity” Dash blurted out, in an attempt to end the series of questions.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then she snapped back to focus as she mentally revised her plan. “Right.” She said with a nod.
“Fluttershy, I need you to take Rarity to the hospital. Spike, you meet up with her after you’ve written the letter to the princess. Rainbow Dash, have you seen Pinkie Pie?”

“Nope” Dash lied
“But I’m sure she’ll turn up sooner or later if we wait here.”

“After seeing what happened to Rarity, we can’t risk waiting. You, Applejack, and I are going back into the Everfree Forrest to look for her.” Twilight demanded.

“Fine” Dash rolled her eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”

Twilight’s group headed out the door to the forest, and Fluttershy exited after, carrying the mutilated Rarity over her back.

Twilight turned to face to everyone.
“One more thing, if we getting separated again, let’s all agree to meet at the hospital where Fluttershy, Spike, and Rarity will be.”

They all nodded once in acknowledgement, and parted ways for their respective tasks.

Back in Pinkamina’s basement, she and Princess Trollestia looked down at the remains of Rainbow Dash. Blood was splashed over various places on their coats and manes.

The princess looked over to the pink pony who was licking some blood off of her hoof.
“So how was it this time? Was it everything you wanted?”

Pinkamina turned to Trollestia confidently and took a breath to answer, but then paused for a moment as she thought about the events that transpired

“No…” Pinkamina’s confident smirk sunk into a frown, as tears began to well up in her eyes.
“It…it still feels like before. It still wasn’t enough time.” She sunk her face in her hooves to hide her tears.
“She's still gone! I-I still miss her so much.”
Pinkamina angrily grabbed a large knife from the tool desk and, in frustration, sunk it deep into Dash's empty socket.
“WHY?! WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS?! WHY...does it always end this way?”, she screamed aloud and looked into the one remaining lifeless, rose colored eye of the mare she considered to be her best friend.
“I was supposed to get it right this time. This was my chance to tell her good bye. To show her how much she meant to me.”
She looked down at what she’d done and began to back away, a look of horror grew over Pinkamina's face as tears flowed down her cheeks, mixing with the blood that had soaked into her fur. She backed up, bumping the table behind her, and then collapsed to the floor sobbing. Pinkamina looked up at the princess, her vision obscured through the sorrow that filled her eyes.
“I don’t think I want to play anymore.” The pink pony whimpered, then hung her head and continued to weep.

“There there, little one.” Trollestia disingenuously tried to console Pinkamina, snorting as she held in a chuckle.
“Don’t be sad. You shouldn't dwell on the negative… she wasn’t your Rainbow Dash anyways, but you had fun playing her, right?”

Pinkamina wiped the tears from her eyes with a hoof, and looked again the body on the rack.

“I gave you this so we...er, I mean, you could have fun.” The princess smirked as she put a wing over blood and tear soaked mare, as she continued insincerely comforting her.
“Dry your eyes. We’ve got some baking to do, a party to plan, and more ponies whose numbers are up. I’ll make you a deal. If you keep the fun going just a little longer, I might let you have round three with the other Dash once she's played her part.”

Pinkmina looked up at the princess and her ears perked up as she imagined how she would handle things differently on her third try.
“I’ll do it…" She dried the remaining moisture from her eyes, excited by Trollestia's new proposal.
"But for a party as big as the one you’re planning, I’m going to need some assistants.”

The Princess's grin grew to a smile once again.
"Of course."
Her eyes widened and her horn glowed as a wisp of magic floated to the darkest corner the the room. Three small pairs of eyes became visible in the shadows, one pair glowing bright red. Pinkamina stood up to accept her new playmates as a trio of familiar, blank flanked fillies stepped into the light.

Chapter 7: Baked Bads

Chapter 7: Baked Bads

“Hurry up, Scootaloo! We got to get those cupcakes out of the oven before they burn.” Pinkamina ordered the little amber pegasus, as she rushed to stir the next batch of cupcake mix and pour it into an empty baking pan.
“We’re low on the special ingredient, so if we mess up this batch, there won’t be enough for everyone at the party.”

"Sure thing, Miss Pinkamina." The little filly rushed over to the oven and pulled out a tray of medium brown cupcakes. There was just a hint of smoke coming off of them.
“Oh no!” Scootaloo exclaimed, looking at the treats she held.

“Don’t worry Scootaloo.” Apple Bloom stepped in to comfort her friend. She was wearing a white, bloodstained apron and a matching surgical mask.
“They always darken up a lil’ when the blood begins to bake. You got em' out just in time. Take them over to Rarity for frosting, while Sweetie Bot prepares the rainbow sprinkles.”

“Right” Scootaloo nodded and rushed the freshly cooked batch to the scarred white unicorn, while Pinkamina threw the next batch in the oven.

“Miss Rarity, the work you’ve done icing these is amazing. You really have an eye for detail” Apple Bloom applauded her.

“Of course, darling. Momma knows best when it comes to making things look fabulous.” She boasted.
“Besides, considering the quality of the ingredients, I felt it was my duty to make these look positively 'Dashing'.”

They both smiled at each other as Apple Bloom walked over to the counter where a few finished batches already sat. Her mouth watered. She looked around, trying to ensure nopony was looking, then picked one up.
“A little taste test won’t hurt.” she thought to herself as she opened up to take a bite.

“And what do you think you’re doing?”
Trollestia snuck up behind Apple Bloom and whispered to her.

The fright almost made the little filly drop the tasty treat.
“I was just…uh” Apple Bloom looked at the cupcake and hid it behind her back.

“Those are for our guest of honor. If I catch you sneaking a bite, the next thing you’ll be eating is a moon rock. Understand?” Trollestia smirked as the terrified filly gulped on fear.

Apple Bloom put her would be snack back on the tray and returned to her work supervising the group.

Trollestia walked to a corner of the room, kicked back in a lawn chair, and munched on a banana while shouting orders.
“Come on, chop chop! We still need to work on the decorations before we can go retrieve the guest of honor.”

It was night now, and along the way as Dash led Twilight and Applejack to Sugarcube Corner, she explained to them who she was and where she came from. She told them of the Rainbow Factory and what went on there. About how she had been approached by Doctor Atmosphere after achieving her first sonic rainboom as a filly, and how she came to work in such a terrible facility. The girls were horrified.

“Now...let me get this straight. Y’all took all the fillies and colts that couldn’t pass their tests, and herded them into some sort of big cider press that crushed them into rainbows?” Applejack struggled to wrap her brain around what was being described to her.

“Basically, yeah, that’s one way to describe it.” Dash confirmed, a little cautious going into too much detail. Years of being sworn to secrecy had her constantly looking over her shoulder.

“That’s awful! I can’t even imagine such a horrible place. It must have been difficult to live with.” Twilight said with sympathy.

“Look, I don’t need your pity, Twilight.”
Factory Dash snapped harshly, stomping her hoof and giving Twilight a stare. Twilight looked back, and Dash could see only compassion in the purple unicorn's face. The short tempered pegasus hung her head in shame.
“Look, I’m sorry. It’s just that after all those years…Showing any kind of weakness back at the factory made you a target. I got my job when the old manager tried to let his daughter go free. We threw them both into the machine. There was only room in Cloudsdale for the best of the best, no exceptions.”

“It’s ok, Rainbow. No one’s gonna hurt you here.” Applejack assured her.

Dash smiled briefly. It was the first time in what seemed like forever, that she’d been able to truly relax, and sharing her story helped alleviate some of the burden she’d been carrying for all those years. Her comfort was short lived however, and her face fell serious once again as Sugarcube Corner became visible in the distance.

Inside the pastry shop, everypony had finished with snacks and moved to putting up the decorations. Trollestia was still sitting in her chair giving orders, only some of which were helpful. She laughed as Rarity fell and landed flat on her back after the princess instructed Sweetie Bot to move the ladder she was standing on.

“Mommy’s ok” Rarity announced as she picked herself up, though no one seemed to care.

Suddenly Trollestia’s horn flickered momentarily, and a spark of amusement washed over her face.
“Looks like we have a party crasher.” She said aloud.

Everypony looked at her to see what she meant.

“My little ponies, why don’t you go outside and meet up with Rainbow Dash and her new friends. We can’t have them spoiling the fun just yet.”

They looked at each other in confusion, then back to the princess as she gave orders.
“Apple Bloom, bring your big sister inside so we can have a little talk with her.”

Apple Bloom stopped for a moment and acknowledged. She took off her apron and mask and headed out the door with Pinkamina and the others.

“And Rarity…”

The white unicorn stopped to see what her orders would be

“You stay here. Show any guests we have a good time. When the girls get back in, tell them I’ll return momentarily. I need to take care of a few loose ends before we start the party proper.”
Without giving the Miss Rarity a chance to reply, Trollestia’s horn gave off a blinding flash, and she was gone.

Outside the shop, Pinkamina met up with Twilight and friends, the three fillies hiding behind her.
“Hey girls! Whatcha doin’ here?” She put on a smile and asked in a playful tone.

Twilight stepped forward in defiance.
“We know you’re not Pinkie Pie.”

“Oh Dashie, what kind of stories have you been telling them?” She locked eyes with the pegasus and asked through gritted teeth.

“This isn’t right Pinkamina, and you know it.” Dash tried to reason with the pink pony.

“Really Dashie? I have someone who might disagree with you.” She motioned for the first of her associates to step forward.

Scootaloo walked up. As soon as Dash saw her, she tensed up and grew pale. The horrors of what she had done came back to her again. It was almost too much to bear.
“Hey sis, Pinkamina wanted me come out here and talk to you.”, Scootaloo approached her, attempting to toy with Rainbow’s emotions.
“We've all worked so hard on this party, and you came to ruin it? Why would you hurt me like that? I thought you loved me.”

The cyan pegasus’s eyes filled with tears.
“Scootie…is that you? But you...in the factory...”
She gulped in disbelief and began to walk towards the filly resembling her little sister.
“Scootaloo, I’m so sorry. I love you so much. Big sister’s sorry. Please forgive me.”
Rainbow pleaded as she stepped toward the filly.

Scootaloo smirked. She knew she had the rainbow maned mare eating out of her hoof.
“I forgive you, Rainbow Dash. Come on, let’s go back to Sugarcube Corner and work on the decorations together.”
She turned and walked back as Rainbow Dash followed her whimpering.

“No, Rainbow! That ain’t Scootaloo!” Applejack called out, but Dash was too far gone dealing with her personal demons to hear anything anypony else had to say.

Apple Bloom stepped out next.
“Hey there, sis! You should come too. I could always use some help fixin’ up the place.”

Applejack was surprised momentarily, but quickly came back to her senses.
“You’re not my sister.”
She said sternly to Apple Bloom.
“You ain’t trickin’ me. I know what you’re up to.”

“Well ain’t that too bad.” The she frowned at Applejack
"I was hoping we wouldn't have to kill you just yet.
Apple Bloom motioned for the last little filly to step forward.
“Sweetie, you mind doing the honors?”

Sweetie Bot’s eyes lit bright red, as she spoke in a heavily modulated voice.
“Acknowledged… Applejack neutralization and acquisition program activated.”
Sweetie Bot’s horn glowed red with energy and the sound of a laser warming up buzzed from her head.

Applejack tried to dodge but a shot fired from the little unicorn’s horn and grazed the left side of her skull. Applejack fell instantly, smoke rising from the charred flesh where the blast made contact. Twilight looked down at her. Blood was beginning to pool around Applejack’s head. The purple unicorn stepped back in fear and screamed.

Applejack’s vision was slightly blurred from the impact, but she could see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bot closing in on her. There was no chance for escape, not in her condition, but maybe Twilight... With the last of her strength, Applejack pulled herself up on her hooves. Blood ran down her side and she winced in pain.

The two fillies stepped back for a moment, unsure of what she was planning to do.

Applejack turned to Twilight Sparkle.
“Get out of here! Go and get help! I’ll hold em’ off as long as I can.”

“But Applejack” Twilight protested.

“Go, Twilight! NOW!”, she yelled, and lunged at the purple unicorn.

Twilight turned and fled, reluctantly leaving her friend behind. Galloping away as fast as her hooves could take her, she looked back to see one more red blast fire off as Applejack fell to the ground.

Pinkamina looked down at orange pony that lay before her. The last shot punctured a small hole through her chest, causing her to bleed out profusely. Applejack looked up defiantly, but was already beginning to enter a state of shock. She tried to say something, but all that came out were choking noises as one of her lungs filled with blood.

Pinkamina smiled at Applejack.
“Girls, get the kitchen ready. It looks like we’re making a last minute apple pie.”
They turned around and headed back inside. Apple Bloom licked her lips in anticipation as Sweetie Bot ejected a net from her horn and dragged the body behind them.

Chapter 8: Deep in a Plot Hole

Chapter 8: Deep in a Plot Hole

Twilight galloped home as fast as she could. Rain poured over her as the night sky grew increasingly darker with every passing moment. The clouds above seemed to form and move on their own, blocking off the stars and moon.
“There has to be a book that can fix all of this.” She urgently spoke out loud to herself as she slammed open the door to the library and began spouting out orders to Spike.
“Spike, we need to find-!”
Twilight gasped as she was greeted with another horrifying sight, the remains of purple baby dragon lying sprawled upon the floor, his heart torn out.
“S-Spike! No…”
It was too much. Twilight vomited involuntarily from both shock and disgust. Lightning struck in the distance and in that instance of illumination, a dark figure appeared behind her.

“Twilight Sparkle?” The pony shrouded in shadows inquired.

Frightened and caught off guard, Twilight leapt into the air and quickly teleported to the other side of the room. Her horn emitted sparks as she took a defensive position and prepared for a fight.

“It’s ok, Twilight. I’m a friend.” A light brown, male earth pony, wearing a collar and red tie stepped into the light. His mane was a spiked back dark mocha, and his cutie mark sported the image of an hour glass.
“Do you remember me, Twilight?” He asked as he cautiously stepped towards her.

“Mr. Whooves?” She said, squinting to get a better look at him.
“W-what are you doing here?”
Twilight stepped back, not entirely trusting that he meant her no harm.

“Actually it’s Doctor Whooves, but that’s not important right now.”
He looked over to dead dragon on the floor and gasped.
"Oh my. Things must be much worse than I anticipated. I was sent by Princess Celestia. She contacted me, and informed me Equestria was in some sort of trouble. I was told to seek out you and your friends.”
He glanced once again at what was left of Spike.
“What…happened here?”

“Where’s the princess now?!” Twilight demanded, trying to feel out the situation.

“Trapped on the moon with Princess Luna, I’m afraid. I don’t have a lot of information as to what’s going on, but it’s obviously not safe for you here. We need to make out way to Canterlot and gather the Elements. I don’t have the ability to open the seal, but as the element of magic, you –”

“It won’t do any good.” Twilight cut him off, bowing her head in defeat.
“I’m the only one left… and we can’t use the Elements of Harmony without the rest of the girls.”

Dr. Whooves in turn lowered his head momentarily in respect for the dead.
“I see…Then it seems the situation is far worse than I predicted. We need to formulate a plan. Perhaps we could check the royal archives and find a solution to this bloody mess.”

It was a long shot, but it what all they had. Twilight nodded, accepting the new plan and they both departed.

“Time is of the essence, I'm afraid. You can explain what’s happened along the way.” Whooves said as the turned to the exit, and prepared to leave, stopping at the door to make sure Twilight was following.

She placed blanket over Spikes, body before catching up to The Doctor. "It started a few days ago with a strange letter from the princess..."

Meanwhile, back at Ponyville Hospital, Fluttershy was unconscious and in critical condition. The gentle pegasus was heavily bandaged from head to hoof. Tubes ran through her mouth and nose as machines fed air into her lungs. The door to her room opened slowly and Nurse Redheart stood at the threshold.
“Fluttershy’s right in here, Your Majesty. Normally we wouldn’t allow visitors after hours, but I’m glad to make an exception for you.”

Trollestia looked in, smiling evilly.
“Thank you, nurse. You have no idea how much help you’ve been. Your assistance deserves a reward. Perhaps, a vacation?”

“Why thank you, princess. You’re too kind…” Nurse Redheart shook her head.
“but I couldn’t. There are too many ponies that need me here.”

“But I insist. I know a place that’s just to die for.” Trollestia’s horn began to glow as she spoke.
“You’ll love it. I promise, once you get there, it’ll send you into orbit.”

With a flash Nurse Redheart was gone, and Trollestia stepped forward into Fluttershy’s room.
“As for you, Fluttershy…” Trollestia smiled down at the helpless pegasus.
“It looks like you’ve got something in your nose. Let me help you with that.”
Using her magic, she slowly removed the tubes out of Fluttershy’s nose and mouth.

The machines attached to her began to beep and sound their alarms, as Fluttershy opened up her eyes and tensed up from the shock to her system. Unable to move her body, all she could do was watch as Trollestia tauntingly waved to Fluttershy and whispered “Bye bye”.

Fluttershy tried desperately to do something…anything, but the best she could muster were a few jerky muscle spasms. She tried to scream, but was unable to even draw breath. The helpless pegasus’s eyes conveyed her desperation as she stared back at Trollestia, unable to move as she slowly suffocated to death. Using the last of her body’s oxygen in the panic, Fluttershy soon went limp, as the heart monitor next to her letting out a long, solid BEEEEEEEP.

Trollestia admired her handy work for a moment and left, closing the door behind her.
“Now that that’s over with, it’s time to prepare for our final party guest.” She said to herself, then teleported away.

Back at Sugarcube Corner, Rarity was waiting at the desk with a bored look on her face. She kept herself busy by slowly cutting across her hind leg with a knife. Suddenly there was a flash of light and the princess appeared before her. Startled, Rarity straightened herself up to attention as she dropped the knife and bowed before the princess.
“Your Highness! Welcome back.”

Trollestia scanned the room.
“Where is everypony?” she asked.

“Um, th-they’re waiting for you in the basement. Pinkamina will be overjoyed to see you’ve returned. She’s been waiting ever so patiently for your decision on what to do about Rainbow Dash.”

“And what of the other two?” Trollestia asked

“W-well Applejack has been dealt with, but I’m afraid Twilight got away.” Miss Rarity nervously explained, half expecting to be banished...or worse.

“It matters little.” The princess trotted past the terrified white unicorn, and descend down the stairs to the basement.
“Come now, we’ll take care of the Element of Magic later. I need everypony in the basement so we can start.”

Trollestia entered the room, Miss Rarity following behind. Applejack’s headless body hung from the ceiling. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were stripping the flesh and separating the components into buckets. Scootaloo drained the blood, as Sweetie Bot, who had turned her arm into some sort of circular blade, cut up the meat. Apple Bloom supervised over the two. She held a strip of flesh in her hoof, shaking it at the two of them and giving them orders before taking a bite. The three fillies stopped in their tracks when they saw the princess, and Apple Bloom hid the morsel of meat behind her back.

Pinkamina, who stood over the hollowed out corpse of her third Rainbow Dash, caught a glance of Trollestia in her peripherals and turned to her with fearful eyes.
“I- I’m sorry. I just couldn’t wait any longer.”
The pink, blood covered pony, tried to explain.

Trollestia replied, uncharacteristically calm and complacent.
“Oh Pinkamina…It’s alright. Just sew her back up. Playtime’s over.”

Pinkamina motioned over to Rarity for help, and they got to work stuffing and sewing up the remains of their former associate.
The princess's horn sparked and she brought forth copies of Applejack and Fluttershy. Applejack’s double looked out of place somehow, but the others couldn’t quite put their finger on it, save for the malicious smile on her face. Fluttershy’s double, however, sat on the ground with a blank look in her eyes, her tongue hanging out like an animal. Around her neck was a collar with a small gold tag engraved with the initials “FS”.

“Ok girls, let’s finish up the final preparations. Pack everything up. We’re moving the party to Canterlot. I need to get everything in order for our guest of honor by tomorrow night.” Trollestia commanded.

Applejack's double got to work packing, while the new Fluttershy walked over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who had begun cleaning up the remains of the original Applejack. She sniffed briefly at Scootaloo’s back end, then hopped up and tried to mount the little pegasus, forcing Scootaloo to the ground under her weight. Scootaloo struggled for a moment, confused at first about what was going on, but quickly realized what was happening as she felt something unmistakably hard and warm press up against her. The little amber pegasus violently struggled to get away, but was outmatch by the weight of Futashy on top of her. The other two little fillies watched and laughed at her misfortune, as Scootaloo clenched her teeth in pain, desperately trying in vain to escape from being violated.

Trollestia saw this too and snickered as she exited the room.

Chapter 9: Guess who’s back.....sort of

Chapter 9: Guess who’s back.....sort of.

Twilight and the Doctor combed over various books and scrolls in the normally sealed “Dark Magic” wing in the Canterlot archives. The entire city was abandoned so they had no trouble gaining access. She searched frantically for anything that could either explain the situation or offer a solution.
“Prophecies of Horsetradamus? No. The Four Ponies of the Apocalypse? No.” Twilight tossed the books aside as she reached for new ones.

“How about the Necroclopicon?” Whooves held up a book bound in leather that eerily resembled a pony’s face.

“No.” Twilight waved for him to take it away.

He gazed down at it for a moment and the book winked at him, causing him to drop it in fright.

“I can’t believe there’s nothing here that explains what’s going on!” Twilight pulled her at her mane in frustration.

“Look, Twilight, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” Whooves assured her.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of movement outside the window.
“What’s this now?” He said peaking outside.
“Twilight, come here.” Whooves whispered to her and motioned for her to join him.
Looking down from the window they could see the Canterlot Sculpture Garden

Trollestia and the girls were below setting up their party decorations around the statue of Discord. The princess sat back and barked orders while everypony else worked. Pinkamina was setting up the snack table with Lil’ Miss Rarity, while the Cutie Mark Crusaders hung up the banners and streamers. Scootaloo looked cautiously over her shoulder as Futashy hovered near by, watching her.

"Hey Applejack" the princess called out to the orange pony who had snuck off under a tree and was shoving an impossible quantity of apples into he mouth.

"It's Jappleack" she called back

"Yeah, whatever. Nobody cares" Trollestia dismissed her remark as she motioned over to a half table next to where Rainbow Dash’s stuffed corpse was hung up like a piñata by a noose.
"Get to work."

"Well fuck you too..." Jappleack muttered under her breath as she walked over, picked up a table leg, and did as was expected of her.

“Look at that.” Twilight whispered and pointed at the statue.
There was a crack coming from the top of its head where dark magic seemed to be escaping and its eyes were overflowing with some mysterious, thick black liquid.

“What in Celestia's name could they be up to?” Whooves stroked his chin and continued to watch.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure that no good will come of it.” Twilight replied.

Trollestia sighed loudly and looked into the sky. The sun instantly eclipsed and dark clouds began circling around the garden. Thunder rumbled but oddly, there was no rain.
“Are you ready girls?” Trollestia called to them as she got up and walked to a pedestal in front of the statue. On top of it sat the box that housed the Elements of Harmony. She lifted the first one out, and the five mares stepped forward.
“Pinkamina, you represent the Element of Madness.”
She said and placed the Element of Laughter around her neck. On contact, it began to change. The pristine golden necklace turned to onyx, and the cutie mark jewel at the center, cracked.
“Rarity, you are the Element of Vanity.”
As she placed the Element of Generosity around her neck, and it too, changed and became corrupted.

Twilight gasped as she watched the ceremony and saw one by one, each of the elements were transformed, all except her element.

Lastly, Trollestia turned to Dash’s strung up body and lifted the Element of Loyalty in front of her.
“And Rainbow Dash…” She paused for a moment, as if looking for something profound to say.
“Eh, there you go.” Trollestia said hastily placing the element on the body, before lifting the last element.
As the ceremony came to a close, Trollestia placed the tiara representing the Element of Magic on top of the Discord statue, then knelt down before it.
“You five girls represent a portion of the Elements of Chaos, originally tied to the draconequus known as Discord. I was born from the magic you see escaping from his stone prison, a construct of his submissions. The seal that Twilight Sparkle and her friends used to defeat Discord was not strong enough to completely seal his power, and I have brought you here today to release said power over all of Equestria. I’ve had a lot of fun with you girls, but in order to bring forth the final element, I’m afraid, I’m going to have to say goodbye.”
Trollestia signaled to the cutie mark crusaders.

They stepped forward as Apple Bloom pulled out a knife, running it over her hoof to test the sharpness

“Girls before I go, one last thing.”
Trollestia smiled weakly as they all looked at her.

Everypony at the ceremony leaned in closer waiting to hear what she had to say.

"Good luck...”

The girls stood confused as to what she meant, but quickly forgot about about what was said as Trollestia allowed Apple Bloom slit open her throat. Blood sprayed over the base of the statue and the alicorn collapsed over the alter, gurgling, and trying to laugh through the blood as she lay there, spilling out till her body was motionless save for the occasional twitch.

The entire area shook, and the ground opened up, creating fissures that glowed with an eerie pink light. The corrupted elements around the necks of each mare shone with a purple and black energy. The girls were magically lifted to face the Element of Magic, except for the corpse of Dash, who was already suspended by a rope. Blood from the sacrificed princess ran up the statue as the black liquid pouring from its eyes began to flow profusely from Discord’s mouth and ears as well. The thick, red gore reached the glowing crack at the top of the head and plugged it.
For a moment, all was calm. Then the tiara upon the statues head began to melt and shift, becoming a black, jagged crown. Multiple bolts of lightning hit the statue all at once, creating a cloud of smoke and throwing debris in all directions. The girls landed hard and they coughed as the haze cleared. They all looked up in awe, as there, in place of the statue, floated the living embodiment of the Element of Dark Magic. A purple unicorn was suspended in a shadowy and pulsating violet energy. She opened her eyes. They were illumined bright white, but as she gained consciousness, the light focused itself into a small dot in the center of each eye, and a sea of black filled in the rest. She floated down on her hooves. The magic around her shifted to her back and formed the shape of bat like wings, which she folded away to her sides.
The newly created copy of Twilight looked down at the Apple Bloom and friends. Scootaloo and Sweetie Bot were staring back, but Apple Bloom was busy, attempting to cut a strip of flesh from the princess’s cheek to sample. She smiled at them, then turned to the body of Rainbow Dash, still hung up and swaying in the breeze.
“Well, this won’t do.” She said, shaking her head.
“Crusaders, can you help me out with something?”

Apple Bloom stopped what she was doing and looked up.

“How can we be of assistance to you, Twilight Sparkle?” Sweetie Bot inquired, awaiting further orders.

“Girls come here for a second. I need something from you.”

Scootaloo stepped forward with enthusiasm.
“Sure Twilight, what do you need?”

“Oh nothing big, girls. I just need…your lives!”
The purple unicorn’s wings sprung open and a bolt of magic shot from her horn, destroying the three little fillies and suspending their life energy. She then funneled that life force to the stuffed corpse of Rainbow Dash.

The other four watched in amazement as the rainbow maned pegasus opened her dull foggy eyes. Immediately, Dash began to panic as she reached for the noose tightened against her throat. Her bones cracked and popped as she flapped her wings and struggled to get free.

“Pinkamina, do you mind?” The purple unicorn motioned to over to the flailing living corpse.

Pinkamina nodded and threw a knife, cutting the rope as it zipped by.

Dash fell to the ground with a thud. She pulled herself up slowly, and looked around. All eyes were on her.
“What’s going on? How am I still-”

“Alive?” Twilight’s copy stepped down.
“You live only because I will it, and you will do as I command without question. All of you will...if you wish to stay that way.” She turned to the face the rest of the girls.
“Or you will be destroyed. Is that understood?”

The rest of them nodded their heads in fear.

“So what do we do now, Twilight?” Pinkamina asked.

“Today is my birthday, and I’m here with my new best 'friends' in the world.”
She looked up to the tower where Twilight and Whooves watched, making eye contact to let them know she was aware of their presence.

“And a few uninvited guests…”

The Doctor ducked down and pulled Twilight way from the window.

“Oh no, she saw us!” He whispered loudly
“We need to get the out of here.”

Twilight motioned in agreement and they both got up to flee the castle.

Down below, the dark unicorn smirked as the other girls looked up to see what caught her eye.

“Want me to go up there and welcome them to the party, Twilight?” Jappleack ripped a leg off off the table she just assembled and tapped it menacingly into her hoof.

“No Jappleack, let’s be sporting and give them a head start before we hunt them down. And don’t call me ‘Twilight’. I am Discordia, the second incarnation of the Tree of Chaos."
She looked at the group, eying them up, assessing their abilities, and making plans for each of them.
“Now then, I’m starving. What do we have to eat?”

Pinkamina’s eyes sparked with excitement.
“Oh oh oh! How about some cupcakes? We made them just for you.”
She said excitedly, pointing to the snack table.

Discordia turned to and looked upon the bounty of food.
“Awe girls, you shouldn’t have. My favorite…rainbow flavor.”
She licked her lips and began to dig in.

The rest of them jumped in soon after and the feeding frenzy began…all except Dash who just stood and cringed as the others ate the baked treats forged from her counterpart.

Chapter 10: The Derp Knight

Chapter 10: The Derp Knight

Twilight and the Doctor ran as fast as they could back to Ponyville.

“What do we do? They’ve corrupted the elements. There’s no way I can stop them now!” Twilight looked to Whooves, hoping that by some miracle, he had a way to fix this.

“I don’t know, Twilight Sparkle, but until we can come up with a plan, let’s go to my clock shop and hide. My assistant and I will take care of you until we can think of something.”

Twilight looked to him in with confusion.
“Your assistant?”

“Yes, I believe you two already know each other, but we’ll discuss that matter when we get there.” Whooves looked forward, galloping ahead and taking the lead.

The Doctor’s shop was a small simple building. Most of the interior was crafted from wood. There were not a lot of fancy colors, mostly just shades of brown. Clocks of all shapes and sizes lined the walls, each calibrated to precisely the same time. The only thing that stood out was strange blue box in the corner of the room by the cash register. It was shaped like an old phone booth, and at the top read the words “POLICE BOX - PUBLIC CALL”

A grey and yellow pegasus stepped out from the back room with a plate full of muffins and set them down on a table nearby, accidentally knocking over several clocks that were sitting on top.
“Oops, my bad.” She said as her eyes crossed and her nose scrunched up.

The front door swung open and Doctor Whooves and Twilight ran in, slamming it behind them. They were panting and exhausted from running.

Twilight turned around and sat down facing the pegasus standing at the table. She called out as she looked in surprise.
“Derpy!?”

“Hi Twilight!” Derpy smiled, eyes still crossed.
“Want a muffin?” She asked as she picked up the plate and presented it to the two.

“Not now Derpy. We have some serious trouble on our hands. I need you to help board up the doors and windows, OK?” The Doctor explained with urgency.
“Where’s Dinky? We need to get her somewhere safe.”

“Um, Twist’s mother called and asked if it was alright if she stayed at their place tonight. It was getting late so I said OK. What’s wrong? Daleks again?”

“No Derpy, I’m afraid it’s something far more sinister.”

“Have the Elements of Harmony been tainted, the princess's sent to the moon, and Discord been reborn as copy of Twilight Sparkle?”

The Doctor’s and Twilight’s jaws both dropped.
“How did you…?!” Twilight began to ask in amazement.

“I dunno. Lucky guess?” Derpy cut her off as she shrugged as her left eye drifted outward.

Doctor Whooves shook his head in disbelief, but gathered his thoughts again quickly.
“Well, anyway, we need to get this place locked down before Twilight’s copy and her minions arrive.”

“Oh! Can I help?” Derpy pleaded excitedly with a smile, holding a hammer.

“Um…on second thought, why don’t you watch out the window and keep an eye out. Twilight and I will construct the barriers.” Whooves nervously took the hammer from his assistant and ushered her to the window.

Twilight used her magic to start pulling apart furniture to use as The Doctor hammered the pieces securely over the door.

Not far away Discordia and the others were just stepping into Ponyville, followed by the storm clouds from Canterlot. The town looked almost empty as most ponies were asleep. It all seemed so peaceful.
Discordia frowned. “My my, it’s so quiet and calm. We’ll have to fix that.” She looked down at her shadow as it began to stretch forward. The legs becoming long and thin. It extended until it cast upon a nearby building. A symbol magically lit up on the wall, a circle with an X through it. The shadow began to materialize, and the monster from the Everfree Forest emerged. He looked down upon his new master and awaited orders.

Discordia threw open her wings as she commanded the creature. “You will go forth and bring the children to me. Their souls will add to my power. Pinkamina will assist you, if anyone tries to stop you, she’ll deal with them. Do you understand?”

The slender pony slowly nodded once.

“Weeeee!” Pinkamina yelled excitedly, jumping on his shoulders as several tendrils emerged and wiggled from his back.

She leaned over to one side of his head and said, giggling,
“This is gonna be so much fun. I love kids! Their tears make the cupcakes sweeter.”

The slender pony turned around without responding to Pinkamina and they both disappeared back into the shadows.

Discordia turned to her remaining cohorts. Jappleack, you stay here and make sure no one escapes. Futashy and undead Dash, you two will take the south gate. No one gets out of Ponyville alive. Am I understood?"

Dash nodded, accepting their orders and lead Futashy to the other end of town

“And Rarity, you will help me find Twilight.”

“How?” she asked, unsure of her orders.

“Your horn, my dear. It detects precious stones. Twilight is with the Time Lord. I need you to find for me the largest deposit of quartz in this town.”

Rarity closed her eyes and focused as her horn illuminated.
“This way.” She said, motioning with her head as she open her eyes.

Miss Rarity took point, and as they both walked down the dark streets of Ponyville, screams of terror and crying, followed by Pinkamina’s laughter echoed from the buildings nearby.

Doctor Whooves, Twilight, and Derpy sat inside the boarded up shop as they heard the horrors happening outside. Twilight wished she could help, but there was nothing they could do. Suddenly there came a knock on the door. They all jumped and huddled together as a small voice called out.

“Momma?” said the voice. It sounded like she had been crying.

“Dinky?!” Derpy yelled as she jumped up and tried to pull the boards from the doors.

“What are you doing?” Twilight whispered loudly, trying to pull the pegasus down and away from the door.

“It’s my muffin! She needs me!” Derpy struggled against Twilight.

“It might be a trick. Besides there’s nothing we can do for her. If we open this door, we’ll all be in danger!”

“Momma please let me in! There’s bad ponies out here. They took Twist and hurt her mommy.” The voice called from outside the door.
“I’m scared, Momma! Please let me in.”

Derpy kicked Twilight and freed herself from the unicorn’s grasp, and in an amazing feat of strength, she ripped the wooden planks from the door and pulled it open. Her heart sank, however, when she saw what waited for her on the other side. At the door was the monster and Pinkamina. Dinky’s head had been separated from her body and the blood soaked pink pony was wearing it as a hoof puppet.

“Thank you, Momma! I love you so much.” Pinkamina said, imitating Dinky’s voice while bobbing the head up and down. She then tapped the pegusus on the nose with it, making a kissing noise.

Derpy couldn’t believe her eyes. She just stood there unable to process the death of her daughter as Pinkamina toyed with her the filly's head like it was some big joke. Her eyes flooded up with tears. She was at a loss for words.

“Girls! I found them!” Pinkamina turned and yelled.

The Doctor and Twilight ran for the back door. Twilight swiftly levitated and cast aside the obstructions that impeded their escape, and threw open the back door. They were stopped by Jappleack, Futashy, and Rainbow Dash who stood in their way.

“Where the fuck you goin’, Twilight.”
Jappleack asked as she menacingly held a broken plank she’d pulled from a fence.

Dash’s cold, dead eyes stared at the Doctor and Twilight.
“We can’t really let you guys escape. I’m sure you understand. If we did, Discordia would have us killed in ten seconds flat.”

“You can’t do this!” Twilight pleaded.

“Fuck you! I can do whatever I want!” Jappleack yelled, swinging the plank towards Twilight’s face, just barely missing her.

Discordia flew in and landed behind Pinkamina and the slender pony as Rarity trotted behind, trying to keep up. The pink pony and her associate turned and moved out of the way, allowing their master to pass.

Discordia walked up to Derpy and commanded,
“Step aside and I promise your death will be painless.”

“You should do what she says, momma.” Pinkamina said, still playing with Dinky’s head.

“No…”
The grey pegasus replied in a cold, flat tone. Tears ran down her face as her expression changed from one of shock to one of anger. She clenched her jaw hard and blood began to run down one side of her mouth.

“I said…MOVE!” Discordia’s horn lit up as she prepared to move Derpy by force.

“I SAID NO!"

Just before the beam magic made contact Derpy, a bright light shone from above, penetrating the clouds and destroying the section of the roof in its path. A force began push Discordia and her minions back slightly, as an enormous bolt of lightning came down, knocking everyone except Twilight and The Doctor a few feet away from the grey pegasus. The lightning formed around her legs, chest, and head, solidifying into black and gold armor similar to the royal guards’, but with boots that reached to her knees, a bladed crest upon her helmet, and at the center of her chest plate, a gem containing her cutie mark. One eye was covered with a patch, while the other stared back at Discordia and Pinkamina with pure seething hatred.

Discordia, who had used her magical wings to shield herself from the blast, folded them back at her side and looked at the newly transformed pegasus.

She smiled at Derpy
“I see…and here I thought the seventh element of harmony was just a myth. This will be interesting.”

Derpy turned to The Doctor and Twilight and yelled
“Get in the Tardis! They're mine.”

Whooves pushed Twilight, who was frozen in awe, into the blue phone booth, as Jappleack, Futashy and Dash rushed to Discordia’s side.

“You know you can’t stop all of us, don’t you?…Element of Love.” Discordia mockingly warned her.

The pegasus locked eyes with Discordia.
“My name is Derpy Hooves. You killed my muffin.”
Small arcs of lightning began to spark around her.
“Celestia as my witness, today I shall see you dead.”

Chapter 11: Mommy Loves You

Chapter 11: Mommy Loves You

Inside the Tardis, there was significantly more space that the outside would physically allow. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screw driver and sealed the door behind them. Twilight was still too frightened and surprised from the events outside to respond to her surroundings. Whooves shook Twilight, trying to bring her back to some level of rationality so he could explain.

“Twilight! Snap out of it, we don’t have time for this!”
The Doctor yelled as he slapped her once in the face with his hoof.

Twilight finally pulled herself together. She held her face as she looked around.

“What…is this place?”
She asked, finally realizing the spatial impossibility of the room they were currently in.

“I guess you’ve figured out by now that I’m not just a simple clock maker. I’m not sure how much time we have, so I’m going to have to give you the quick version. Please sit down and I’ll explain.”

Twilight complied and took a seat as the Doctor began reveal his origins to the confused purple mare.

Outside the Tardis, Derpy and Discordia were at a standoff.

Discordia made the first move, pointing forward with her hoof, as the other five mares attacked all at once. Pinkamina lunged at Derpy with a knife, but the gray pegasus leapt out of the way with just enough time to connect her back hoof with Jappleack’s throat, crushing her trachea in the process. Jappleack fell to the ground holding her neck as she died gasping for air.

Futashy managed to head-butt Derpy in the side, causing her to lose her balance momentarily as Rainbow Dash tried to fly directly at her for a high speed kick to the head. The armored pegasus ducked just enough to have the bladed crest of her helmet to split the undead mare open from chest to flank. Dash crashed into the wall, panicking momentarily as she desperately tried to hold her organs in. Looking down, she remembered her zombified state as nothing but dried blood and cotton came out. She got up to her feet and watched, waiting for another opportunity to attack.

The gray and blond mare was giving it her best as she took on multiple opponents at once. Derpy caught Futashy by the wing, mid-flight, with her mouth while blocking Pinkamina’s knife slash with her hoof. She flung Futashy into the pink pony knocking them both into a wall. Futashy yelped in pain, as Pinkamina pushed her off, sliding the yellow pegasus off of her knife and getting it’s genitals out of her face.

“Ewwww, gross! You’re lucky my mouth wasn’t open!” Pinkamina said as she got back on her hooves

Derpy panted, exhausted from the fight. Dash saw this as the chance to make her move, and began to charge from behind, when suddenly Rarity called out to her
“Stop Rainbow Dash!” The undead pegusus skidded to a halt to see what Rarity had to say.

The scarred white unicorn smiled and looked over to Derpy.
“Mommy’s got this one.”
Rarity’s left eye flooded with a tiny sea of black as her pupil turned bright white. She stood up on two legs and revealed her underside. Blood poured from between her legs, and her abdomen began to split open. From within the cavity peeked out a blood covered Pinkamina doll.

Derpy recoiled, in and disgust and fear.

It crawled half way out, revealing razor sharp claws on each hoof slicing trough it's fabric skin. Its button eyes made contact with the pegusus, as its mouth split open at the stitching, letting out a sickening hiss as it tore free and revealed exposed teeth and a long, thin tongue.

Derpy was appalled by the sight she’d just seen and stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do.

Rarity looked down at the creature escaping from her body.
“Mommy loves you, Opal. Make me proud.”

The doll turned and looked back at her.
“I love you too, Mommy.” It said in unnatural blend of multiple voices of various genders and ages before turning back to its opponent.

This threw the Derpy off guard. She was stunned, as she remembered her own daughter in that moment. Tears filled her eyes once again, and she resumed a fighting stance. Derpy lunged first, hoping to catch the blood soaked doll in the face, but Opal dodged under and around. Derpy’s hoof connected with Rarity’s face instead, but at the same time, Opal has taken the opportunity to bury her claws deep into the gray mare’s spine, severing it in multiple locations. They both fell to the ground, but only Rarity got back up.

Derpy could no longer feel her back legs. She looked up to see Discordia and the slender pony approaching as Rarity stepped aside licking the blood from her busted lip as the monstrous doll retracted back into her waist.

With her front hooves, Derpy tried to pull herself up and fight, but didn’t have the strength.

Discordia looked down at the broken pony.
“Ah ah ah, let me help you with that.” She taunted as she lifted Derpy up off the ground with her magic. Derpy’s back legs dangled below as she struggled with with her front hooves to fight whatever invisible force was causing the choking sensation around her neck.

Pinkamina walked over to Discordia’s side.
“Can I do the honors?” She asked with a grin.
“I want to make this slow and painful. You know, have some fun with her.”

“I was going to give her to our tall friend here,” Discordia said with amusement
“but I supposed you can have this one.”

Pinkamina walked over with a big smile on her face to the suspended pegasus, and showed her the knife.
“Now I’m gonna start down low and I want you to tell me when it begins to hurt.”
She buried the knife into Derpy’s flank, but the pegasus felt nothing.

“Hmmm… Looks like I’m gonna have to cut a little higher.”
Pinkamina said as she slowly dragged the knife up her leg .

“She’s had enough!” Rainbow Dash called out, drawing everypony’s attention.

Pinkamina peeked over to her.
“What was that, Dashie?”

“I said she’s had enough. Look, she’s defeated. We still need to get Twilight. There’s no need to torture her like this!”

Pinkamina looked over to Discordia, awaiting orders on how to proceed.

Discordia looked back at the pink pony, nodded her head.
“Continue.”
She then focused her attention to Dash.
“I need to have a word with our colorful friend.”

Pinkamina proceeded to torture Derpy as the purple unicorn walked over to rainbow maned corpse, whipping open her bat like wings in a display of power. Dash cowered in fear.

“Oh Rainbow Dash, what am I going to do with you?” Discordia frowned in disappointment.
“I’ve been so generous with you, giving you life once more and a second chance to prove yourself. But it seems you’ve gone soft on me.”

“W-What are you talking about? I’m…I’m as tough as ever. Even more so than before! See?”
Dash pointed to the gaping cut on her underside.
“Nothing can stop me.”

“Really now… I think you know what I mean. I can’t let you compromise everything we’ve been working on, just because you decided to start having a heart.”
The purple unicorn turned to Rarity.
“What do you think we should do with her?”

“Well, I can’t say I’ve really liked the extra attention she’s always gotten from my dear Pinkamina. I think having her gone will just bring this team closer as a whole.”
Rarity walked over to her friend who was focused on torturing Derpy.
“What do you think, Pinkamina?” She placed a hoof on Pinkamina’s shoulder. Instinctively, the pink pony turned around and buried the knife into the unicorn’s hoof, causing her to shiver with the most delightful pain.

“Oops. Sorry Rarity. You can’t sneak up on me like that. I'm in the zone.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, darling.”
Rarity pulled out the knife, and gave it back to Pinkamina
“You know how much I love it when you play rough with me…”

Pinkamina blushed.

"...but back to the task at hand. What do you think we should do with Rainbow Dash?”

Pinkamina waved her hoof dismissively.
“Oh, I don’t care. Killing her is no fun anymore. Besides this Rainbow Dash is nothing like my Dashie back home was.”
She turned back to Derpy and sliced open her throat, finishing the pegasus off.
“I’m bored with this."
She said, turning around to face the tall faceless pony.
“Hey Slendy, you wanna go back through town pick off more kids?”

The slender pony did not move or acknowledge Pinkamina in any way.

“Awe, you’re no fun sometimes.” Pinkamina said with a pout.

Rainbow couldn’t take it anymore. She jumped in the air and took flight, trying glide overhead and out the door. The speedy pegasus was almost free when, suddenly, she heard a loud crack, followed by a rip as she fell to the ground just outside of the clock shop. She turned around to find her wing had been torn off by one of the slender pony’s tendrils. He pulled it inside of himself and stepped aside, as Discordia dropped Derpy’s body to the ground and walked up to Dash.

“It seems I no longer require your services Rainbow Dash. You’ve proven that you can’t be trusted. I’m afraid I’ll have to take back my gift.”

“Please…don’t” The de-winged blue mare pleaded.

“You know the rules. You failed, Rainbow Dash, and just like your Cloudsdale, we only have room for winners.”

Discordia’s horn zapped living corpse, absorbing her life force energy. Dash writhed in pain as she could feel the last of her strength being sucked from her body.
“Oh and one last thing, Rainbow Dash...Say hi to Scootaloo for me."

Rainbow Dash’s pale fogged over eyes filled with tears as the last thoughts that went through her mind were the haunting memories of her murdering her own adopted sister. The dying blue pegasus let out one final scream of mental and physical anguish, then fell limp to the ground.

Discordia turned to the two remaining girls, then looked to the Tardis.
“Well, now that that’s over with, how about we go finish off the Element of Magic and her friend, the Time Lord.”

Fearing for their lives Pinkamina and Rarity quickly stepped over the remains of Derpy and got to work trying to pry open the door.

Chapter 12: Back in Time

Chapter 12: Back in Time

Twilight rubbed the sides of her head trying to fight off a migraine from the information she’d gotten.
“So let me get this straight. You’re a time traveling space alien…and this is a living time machine…that you stole? Am I getting this right so far?”

“Yes, that’s pretty much it.” The Doctor nodded his head.

“And you’re big plan for fixing all of this is to just go back in time and stop all this from happening?”

“Yep, that’s it.”

“IF YOU HAD A TIME MACHINE ALL THIS TIME, THEN WHY DID WE EVEN BOTHER GOING TO CANTERLOT IN THE FIRST PLACE?! We could have come here from the beginning and stopped all of this before it happened!” Twilight erupted.

“I’m not really supposed to interfere with the timeline. If we change the wrong things, we could bloody well destroy all of space and time. The only reason I’ve even considered this as a viable plan because honestly, we’re out of options.”

Twilight sighed in defeat.
“I see. I suppose your right. I know, fist hoof, from that one encounter from my future self that messing with time can be dangerous and should be avoided if ever possible. I have one last question.”

“Go on.”

“How do you know Derpy?”

“Well, you see, now that’s an interesting story. When I first arrived here in Equestria…”
He began to explain when, suddenly, he was interrupted by a pounding on the door. Twilight and Whooves both turned and looked at the entrance.

“You both are worthless! You can’t even open a stupid door.”
Discordia voice could be heard chastising her two minions on the other side.
“You two better shape up or you’re going to end up like Rainbow Dash. Am I understood?”

The door began to glow with dark magic.

Whooves looked nervous. “On second thought, I’ll tell you later. We should get going before they get in.”

“Agreed.” Twilight nodded

The doctor pulled some levers and twisted a few nobs on the control panel, causing the Tardis begin to rumble and make strange noises.

From the outside, the box was beginning to dematerialize, traveling to a new point in space and time.

Discordia struggled to pull the door open, but it disappeared before she had a chance to do so. She was furious and turned on Pinkamina and Rarity.
“You two have failed me for the last time!” She shrieked, approaching the two mares.
The glowing whites of her pupils grew, engulfing her eyes as she filled with rage. A magical aura began to glow around her and burst into magical violet flames.

“Wait! I have an idea! I can fix this.” Pinkamina pleaded, holding her hoof out as a gesture to stop while using the other hoof to shield her face.

Discordia halted out of curiosity.
“How?” She asked, regaining her calm.

Pinkamina got up and smiled.
“I gotta go get something. I’ll be right back.” She said, zipping out the door.

Discordia raised an eyebrow and looked over to Rarity, hoping for answers. She just looked back and shrugged her shoulders.

Seconds later, a heavily modified DeLorean crashed through the back wall of the clock shop. The gull wing doors opened as Pinkamina stepped out wearing a denim jacket covered by a red vest.

With her was another pony. He was old with a crazy white hair and wearing a white jumpsuit, goggles resting on his forehead. He turned to her in excitement.
“Great Scott, Pinkie! It worked!”
He beamed with joy as he jumped up in down.
“It worked! It worked!”

Pinkamina grabbed his front hooves and jumped with him to share in the excitement.
“This is great, Doc! But this is your stop.”

“What do you mean, Pinkie? We’re just getting started.”

Pinkamina smiled, pulled out a knife, and buried it in the old pony’s chest repeatedly.

He looked down at his wounds, not believing what just happened.
“Why, Pinkie?”

She stared and smiled as he bled out.
“Nothing personal, Doc. Your time just ran out.”
Pinkamina giggled as he collapsed over the hood of the car. The pink pony then turned to her friends and waved at them in excitement
“Hi! I’m back.”

Discordia and Rarity were both speechless as their jaws dropped.

The white unicorn was the first to speak up.
“What…is that ugly thing?”

“It’s a time machine, silly.”

“No, I mean what is that ghastly thing you’re wearing.”

“I think it looks cool!” Pinkamina pouted, sticking out her tongue.

“Never mind that!” Discordia cut in. “Where did you get this time machine?”

“Well duh! The Future! Where else would I find a time machine?”

“What!? You just left two minutes ago!” Rarity chimed in, sharing her master's disbelief

“I didn’t leave. I’m just standing outside waiting for the future.” Pinkamina waved out the door to herself. “Hi, past me!”

The Pinkamina outside waved back. “Oh! Hi, future me!”

Discordia became even more confused and irritated
“But…that doesn’t make any sense!”

“Look, we really need to catch up with Twilight and stop her before she can stop us from stopping her by stopping us in the past”

Discordia just stood there for a moment with a blank expression on her face.
“…WHAT?”

Pinkamina let out a deep sigh. “Just get in.”
The pink mare pushed the body out of the way to make room, and stopped Rarity as she trotted up with Discordia.
“I’m sorry Rarity, but this thing only has room for two. You’ll have to stay behind with Slendy, but we’ll come back for you when we’re done.”
Pinkamina smiled to her friend as Discordia got into the car.

“Let’s just go.” Discordia said impatiently.

“Okie dokie.” Pinkamina smiled as she closed the doors. She pressed a few buttons on the dash and grabbed the wheel. The flux capacitor lit up and the wheels tucked under the car as it lifted up into the air, crashing through the roof.
“Oops.” She said as the car took off into the sky, disappearing with a fiery trail behind it.

Rarity looked over to the slender pony, and he slowly turned to look back at her.
“So…what do you want to do now?”

He turned his head in the other direction and walked into a shadow on the wall, disappearing from sight.

“Fine! Be that way.” She said dramatically turning her head away to snub him before walking outside.

Pinkamina playfully called out as she saw Rarity pass by.
“Hey, where you going?”

“To the spa. Mommy’s had a rough day.”

“Can I go too?”

“I thought you had to wait there till you got that time machine in the future.”

“Pfft yeah, but that’s all the way in the future. It doesn’t mean I can’t have any fun right now.”
Pinkamina said, as she caught up with the white unicorn.
“Besides, I already killed Lotus and Aloe, so there isn’t much for you at the spa. How about we go back to Sugarcube Corner and finally have that ‘Private Party’ I promised you?”

Rarity smiled as her cheeks flushed a rosy red.
“Oh, Pinkamina, I thought you’d never ask.”

The two ponies leaned on each other, smiling as they walked back to Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkamina proceeded to tie up Rarity in the basement and cut her up for the most beautiful and delicious cupcakes she’d ever made.

Chapter 13: Here We Go Again

Chapter 13: Here We Go Again

Outside of the library tree house, the Tardis re-materialized. The door opened up as Twilight stepped out still in a panic. The Doctor followed calmly behind her.

“When are we, Doctor? Do we have time to stop all of this?”
Twilight asked hoping to warn the princess about the coming events and prevent everything that’s happened.

“About a week before we left. Don’t worry Twilight. We have plenty of time. We’ll get this problem nipped in the flank and be home in time for tea.”
Whooves assured her, smiling and placing a hoof on her shoulder.

Just then, Whooves felt a disturbance in time, and turned around to face it.
“I may have spoken too soon.” He said as his smile faded. “But that’s impossible! I have the only Tardis in this solar system.”

“What is it, Doctor?” She looked out in the distance to see if there was something she was missing.

The Doctor’s squinted to gaze in the distance as he waited for what he expected to be another Tardis to appear, when suddenly, the DeLorean appeared only a few feet in front of them, heading on a collision course for the two ponies. The Doctor’s eyes widened in astonishment, reacting with just enough time to push Twilight out of the way before the car hit him. The time traveling vehicle crashed into the Tardis behind him, destroying it on impact, and pinned him to the tree that housed the library.

Pinkamina stabbed the airbags and smiled as she was met with the sight of the Time Lord struggling to pull himself free. The front end of the car was totaled, but she didn’t care. She admired the extent of the injuries she’d caused, even if they were accidental. He was immobilized from the waist down and there were several cuts covering the stallion’s body from the impact. Most likely, anything under what was poking out above the hood was crushed and useless. He writhed in pain, and blood gushed from his mouth.

Discordia, a little shaken from the crash, looked over to Pinkamina and yelled
“Are you trying to get us killed!? Where did you learn how to steer this thing?!”

“Steer? I wasn’t steering! There’s no way my hooves can hold onto the wheel. Why do you think I crashed into the clock shop earlier?” Pinkamina explained, looking at her hooves.
“Now that I think about it, I probably should have asked you to drive. Since you can magic and all. Oh, well, too late now. But look, I got one of them!”
She excitedly pointed out the broken windshield to the dying Doctor.

Twilight ran up to The Doctor. He was in pretty bad shape and blood began to run down the side of his face and over his left eye. Through the pain Whooves turned to Twilight and with the last of his strength he forced out the words,
“Run…you have…to warn the princess. You’re…Equestria’s only hope.”, then fell limp across the hood.

Twilight shed tears for her fallen friend, openly weeping on the hood of the car as Discordia struggled with her seat belt.

“Pinkamina, get me out of this thing!” She commanded, trying to pull herself free. “We can’t let her escape!”

Upon hearing that, Twilight looked up, seeing the difficulty counterpart was having, and realized that this would be her best if not only opportunity to make her get away. The purple unicorn took off at a full gallop, while Pinkamina attempted to cut Discordia free.

Meanwhile, back at the castle, Princess Celestia’s face filled with worry. She stood up and looked out the window facing Ponyville.

The head of royal guards saw this and asked
“Your Majesty, is everything alright?”

“I’m not sure, Captain. But something in the balance of harmony. I can feel it.”

“Do you think Discord has escaped again, Milady?”

“No I don’t think so. The energy feels similar to his, but I also sense something foreign...a powerful source of dark magic and intense madness…Whatever it is, something is definitely wrong.”
Celestia focused at the Captain with a grave look. “Lead a team guards to the sculpture garden and check on Discord. We need to be sure. And have the Captain of the Lunar Guard send for my sister. I want her here by my side in case we must defend the castle.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” He bowed and rushed away to carry out his new orders.

Celestia summoned a quill and paper, and began to write.
“To my dearest student, Twilight Sparkle...”

The Twilight of the present timeline was trotting home after spending the morning with Applejack, learning about the different kinds of work that goes into maintaining a farm. She was tired and ready for a nice afternoon in her study. Spike sat on her back as she made the walk back.

“Hey Twilight, you gonna be ok?”
The little dragon peeked over to one side of her head, seeing that she was exhausted.

“I’m fine, Spike. I just need a little rest. It’s been a long-...”
She stopped mid-sentence, catching a second wind from the surprise of what she saw ahead. A short ways away, most of the ponies in Ponyville were huddled near her home looking at something and talking amongst themselves. Twilight ran up to see what the commotion was about, but was stopped by a bluish grey unicorn with a white mane and moustache. He was wearing a police officer’s uniform and seemed to be keeping everypony back.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you through here, Miss.” He said, as he stood in the purple unicorn’s way.

“But I live here.” She protested “Who are you, and what’s going on?”

“I’m Officer Buckington of Ponyville P.D., and it it seems some sort of contraption accidentally crashed into the library, badly injuring a citizen...the clock maker.”

“Mr. Whooves? Is he going to be ok?”

“I’m sorry, but no. I’m afraid he didn’t make it.” He looked to the floor and shook his head.

Twilight also bowed her head for a moment. “Is there anything I can do to help, Officer?”

“For now, we just need everypony to give us some space so we can gather evidence.” The old grey unicorn looked out at the crowd. “The department hasn’t seen an accident like this in decades. Do you have somepony you can stay with till investigation this is over, Miss?…I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.” He took out a pen and a notepad.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle and this here is Spike, and don’t worry. I’m sure one of my friends will be willing to let me stay with them until this is all sorted out.”
Twilight’s tone became somber as she took in the information that was given to her. “I didn’t know Mr. Whooves well. Did he have any family?”

“Not many did. He kept to himself mostly. No family that we know of, but testimonies from some of the other ponies say that he had an assistant that lives with him at the clock shop, a Miss Derpy Hooves. Do you know her?”.

“Derpy?! Oh no…” Twilight’s heart sank, trying to imagine how she’d take the news. “Yes, I know her Officer. She’s a pegasus that works part time at the Ponyville Post Office. She’s accident prone and doesn’t have very many friends. This is going to break her heart.”

Officer Buckington shook his head again and sighed. “Look, I’m no good at delivering bad news like this in a subtle manner. Think you could do an old stallion a favor and break it to her delicately for me?”

“I…” Twilight paused unsure of how to handle the situation. “I’ll do my best to comfort her.”

“I really appreciate it, Miss Sparkle. Tell her that if she has any questions, she can contact me at the P.P.D.”

“Ok, Officer. Will do.” Twilight set her dragon companion down. “Spike I need to write a letter to the princess and inform her of what’s happened. When the investigation is finished, just go inside and wait for me to come home. I’ll be back to check up on you as soon as I’m done delivering the bad news to Derpy. Ok?”

“Ok Twilight.” He said with a little worry. “But what if he’s not done when you get back?”

“Then I’m sure Applejack will let us stay with her for a while. I have to go Spike.” As Twilight left, she craned her head around the officer to get a glimpse of the accident. The sight of it made her shudder. It was the worst thing she’d ever seen in her entire life. The blood made her sick to her stomach, almost to the point of vomiting. She looked down at the ground, trying to take her mind off of it. And there she saw it, some sort of pen shaped device with a green light at one end. She picked it up and looked it over.

“Maybe this belonged to Mr. Whooves...I’ll bring it to Derpy so she’ll have something to remember him by. It’s the least I can do” She thought out loud, as she picked up the odd trinket and galloped off to the clock shop.

Chapter 14: Wait...Who Died?

Chapter 14: Wait…Who Died?

Twilight took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the shop.

Almost instantly, Derpy opened the door and excitedly greeted her guest. “Oh hi, Twilight! What are you doing here? Oh! You have to come in! Me and Dinky are making muffins. You have to try some!” The pegasus pulled the reluctant Twilight inside as Dinky stepped out from the back room. There was smoke billowing out from the door and the smoke detector could be heard blaring its alarm.

The little unicorn filly was wearing an apron and covered in flour and muffin mix. “Hi Twilight! Did you come over to share muffins with mama and me?” She asked with a smile and tilt of her head.

“Um…I’m sorry but no. I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Twilight said as she tried to figure about how to tell them gently.

Derpy’s smile turned to worry.
“What’s wrong? Are you allergic to muffins?”

“No Derpy. It’s about Mr. Whooves.”

“Doctor Whooves.” Derpy corrected her.

“Really? Doctor? Then why does he sell clocks?” She asked, momentarily forgetting why she was there. "You know what? It doesn’t matter. You see, I’m here to tell you that...well, the Doctor was in pretty bad accident, and he...he didn’t make it. I’m sorry, Derpy.”

Derpy’s eyes crossed and filled up with tears as her lip began to quiver. “But…I just saw him this morning.” The wall eyed mare began to cry openly. Dinky, almost in tears herself, walked over and embraced her mother, attempting to comfort her.

“I’m so sorry, Derpy. Will you be alright?” Twilight extended a sympathetic hoof, attempting to console her friend as Derpy's crying got progressively louder. She embraced Twilight as she wailed in sorrow.

Just then, the door to the blue booth in the corner of the room opened up. A bit of fog escaped from it as a brown male pony wearing a collar, a tie, and a red fez stepped out.

“What’s the bloody hell is going on out here!?” He looked around at all the smoke. “Derpy! What did I tell you about leaving the oven unattended?”

Twilight stared in amazement and confusion.

Derpy turned to look, and as she caught a glimpse of him, her eyes sparkled and she beamed with joy. “Doctor! You’re ok!” She flew as fast as she could to him, knocking him over as she gave him a big hug.
Dinky followed, running over and nuzzling up against him.

He laughed playfully as he sat up, adjusted his hat, and reached out to dry her eyes. “I’m glad to see you two as well, but why the tears? Is everything ok?”

Twilight stepped forward. “But I saw you at the library! You’re dead!”

“What? Dead? Well obviously there must be some mistake, as you can plainly see. Now there’s a pegasus in Cloudsdale that looks very similar me. Are you sure it wasn’t him?”

“I was almost positive it was you, and so were the police. I saw the body myself. The body was badly mangled, but there were no wings that I could see. Do you have a twin brother or something? ”

The Doctor’s relaxed demeanor instantly changed. “Then something grave must have happened to the time line. I wouldn’t travel to a time and place where I might risk running into myself. Twilight Sparkle, what happened to me?”

“What? Time travel? But only unicorns can perform time travel spells, and even then it would take years of study to be able to sustain more than a few moments in the past. I-I don’t know exactly what happened. You...uh, I mean the other you was hit by some kind of machine. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was pretty bad. It looked like half of him was crushed. Are you telling me you can time travel?”

“I don’t have time to explain it all, but in short, yes, I am part of an alien race with the ability to travel through space and time. You must have come across a later version of myself, and he or perhaps I should say 'I', must have been desperate to risk this kind of damage to the timeline. I need you to take me to my body to retrieve my sonic screwdriver. It should have the information I need”

“Wait, do you mean this thing?” Twilight pulled out the device she’d picked up.

“Yes! Where did you get that?!”

“It was on the ground near the accident. I figured it was yours and picked it up as a memento for Derpy.”

“I see. Well it’s a good thing I came out when I did. With something like this, my dear assistant might inadvertently destroy the entire bloody town.” He took the device and aligned the jeweled end with his own sonic screwdriver, causing it to fire a ray of light. The beams locked and destroyed the device Twilight brought to him.

Whooves looked into green light at the end of the device as the information was transferred to his mind. His expression immediately changed to one of horror. “By Celestia! This is very bad, indeed. We have to go. Now!” He immediately began to run out the door.

“Wait. What’s going on?” Twilight stopped him, tugging his tail with her mouth.

Whooves struggled, pulling away from her. “No time! I’m sure your future self is already headed to warn the Princess. I’ll meet her there. I need you to gather your friends and meet us at the castle. I’ll reveal everything once you arrive.” The Doctor calmed himself for a moment and looked over to his assistant. “Derpy, take Dinky and get her somewhere safe. You both are in grave danger. Get as far away from Ponyville as possible. Do you understand?”

Derpy nodded her head and kneeled down so her daughter could climb on her back. She walked over to the Doctor and gave him a hug.
“Be careful, Doctor. I’ll have muffins waiting for you when you get back.”

“Don’t worry about me. Everything will be fine.” He lied to comfort her. “Now we have to go.”

With the urgency in his tone, Twilight knew her questions would have to wait. They all had things to do. The group spit and went their separate ways.

“So what’s the plan, boss pony?” Pinkamina asked Discordia.
“There’s no way we’ll make it there before Twilight.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Pinkamina...but we’ll have to handle this delicately. Go back to the tree house-”

“-and kill Twilight?” Pinkamina interrupted excitedly.

“No, and warn Twilight that there are two Twilights from the future. Let her know that one of them is evil and tell her to follow you to the castle.”

“How’s that gonna help us?”

“I’ll take care our Twilight and I’ll get her former self to help me and then I’ll kill her as well. All we need is a slight change of approach” Discordia’s horn, wings, and eyes lit up. She focused as her wings faded away and her eyes changed to match those of her counterpart. The black crown upon her head appeared to change back to its original form except for one small difference, the crack in the star shaped gem at the center.

“Oh, I get it!” Pinkamina looked down at her jacket and vest proceeded to discard her cloths. “Guess I don’t need this anymore.”

“Now get moving! I’ll teleport to Canterlot and wait for you outside the castle. That way I can stop our friend from warning the princess before I have a chance to strike.”

“Okie Dokie. I’ll meet you at the castle” Pinkamina said with a salute, and began hopping away.

“Pinkamina, wait! One more thing.”

The pink pony stopped and turned around. “Huh?”

“Leave the knife. I don’t need you causing any trouble until we’re ready to finish off the Elements of Harmony.”

Pinkamina frowned. She pulled out her blade and placed it on the floor. “Awe, you’re no fun.” The pink pony whined, and trotted off much less than enthusiastically.

The evil unicorn watched as Pinkamina walked off for a few yards, making sure she didn’t return for the weapon. Then Discordia faced Canterlot. Her horn glowed and in a flash of purple light, she was gone.

Chapter 15: 1800 Words of Filler

Chapter 15: I Have Altered the Plan. Pray I Do Not Alter It Further

The captain of the Royal Guard returned, walking back into the throne room with four soldiers behind him forming a V formation. He and his men came up to Princess Celestia, who was now accompanied by her sister, and bowed before them. Celestia was holding a letter she’d just finished and whisped it away with her magic, then looked down at the guards and motioned for them to rise.

The captain began his report.
“You’re majesty, we’ve returned from our investigation at the gardens. I’m pleased to report that as of this moment, Discord is still contained within his stone imprisonment, but we did notice some disturbing oddities in the statue that lead me to believe that his current state may only be temporary.”

“What kind of ‘oddities’ have you found?”

“There seems to be some sort of unidentified black fluid beginning to form around the eyes.”
He then turned and pointed to a pegasus guard behind him.
“And Cloud Stomper here, flew up and noticed a small crack on the forehead with a faint purple light escaping from it. How do you suggest us to proceed, Your Highness?”

Celestia thought for a moment.
“Take us to him. I need to see for myself before I can decide how to handle this situation. Perhaps Luna and I can fortify the seal, until we can send for my student and her friends. ”

The captain nodded and turned around. Celestia and Luna followed behind as his men took a square formation around the princesses. Once the they were secured between their royal escorts, they all departed for the sculpture garden.

Pinkamina walked up to the library. The police were still there, but the crowd had died down a bit. She was a little surprised when she saw the police and cautiously reached for her knife, momentarily forgetting that she’d been forced to leave it behind, before catching sight Spike in the distance of Spike and running over to him.

The little dragon saw her and waved, “Hey Pinkie. Crazy day, huh? I like what you’ve done with your hair. Did Rarity help you with it?”

She looked over at the crime scene smiled nervously, before drawing her attention back to Spike.
“Yeah, thanks. Have you seen Twilight? I have to tell her something. It's kind of super duper important.”

“Twilight went over to the clock shop to give Derpy the bad news. She should be back soon. You’re welcome to wait with me in the library once Officer Buckington says it’s ok to go inside.” He pointed to the mustached unicorn examining the crime scene. "I’d really appreciate the company.”

Pinkamina was about to accept his invitation when it occurred to her...she’d only killed the future version of the Doctor. What will happen if Twilight arrives at the shop and finds him alive and well? This was bad…very bad. It could compromise Discordia’s plan, and the thought of whatever horrifying punishment awaited her, should that happen, made Pinkamina cringe. The pink mare began to panic, placing her hooves on Spikes shoulders, shaking him. “What?! How long ago did she leave?”

“Whoah Pinkie, calm down. She left about 20 minutes ago. The shop’s not all that far away. Just wait here. She should be back soon, and you can tell her whatever you need to say.”

“There’s no time! I have to get to her or there will be big trouble!”

Spike stopped her as she tried to rush away. “Hey wait! If you’re going that way anyways, can you give this to Twilight? Celestia sent a note for her to bring you and the rest of the girls to Canterlot.” Spike reached out and handed the paper to Pinkamina.

“What?! The Princess?!” Pinkamina panicked, wondering if future Twilight had gotten to her before Discordia could intercept. “Oh, um…sure thing, Spike. I’ll make sure Twilight gets it.” She took the Celestia’s letter with no intention to deliver it and ran off.

By the time she’d arrived, the clock shop was empty. Pinkamina walked in and frantically called out for the purple unicorn. “Twilight?! You in here?”
There was no response. She walked up to the Tardis and attempted to open the door, but it was locked. Feeling short on time, she proceeded into the back room. The air still smelled faintly of smoke and the kitchen was a mess. Derpy and Dinky didn’t have time to clean up before leaving.
Pinkamina called out again “Twilight! Spike sent me. I need to talk to you. Come out!” Still no response. It was obvious now that no one was home.

Discordia was waiting just outside of Canterlot, and was growing impatient. She concentrated, casting a spell to speak telepathically with her minion and opened a viewing portal to see her. “Pinkamina, have you found Twilight yet?”

Not expecting the sudden sound of Discordia’s voice, the pink pony jumped in the air. She looked around to be sure that no one was in the room with her, then spoke aloud
“Well…no. She wasn’t at the library when I got there.”

“Then find her!” Discordia voice rumbled inside of Pinkamina’s mind, causing her head to ache and her ears to ring.

“That’s what I was doing! But I’m afraid we have a problem. Spike told me that she was headed to the clock shop to tell Derpy about the Doctor’s demise. I rushed over as fast as I could to stop her, but when I arrived, everypony was already gone. I think she made contact with his past self, and no doubt they’ll wonder about the body.”

“I see. This may complicate things.”

“It gets worse. Spike gave me a letter from the Princess requesting Twilight gather up the girls and meet with her at the castle. I got it before Twilight could see it, but if she runs into Spike, he’ll probably tell her. How do you want me to handle it?”.

“The letter matters not. Meet back with me outside of Canterlot. It was always my intention to have Twilight to come here, but I’ll just have to change the plan a bit. I need you to help me take care of future Twilight before they meet. With her out of the way, you and I should be the only ones with information about the future. We’ll deceive them long enough for me to lure Celestia and the Elements of Harmony into a trap and eliminate all of them at the same time.”

“Alrighty. I’m on my way.” Pinkamina was about to turn around and leave when the thought crossed her mind, “ Wait a minute. This is a kitchen”. She walked over a drawer next to the sink and opened it. Her eyes gleamed as she reached in and pulled out a large knife.
“Jackpot.” She said with excitement, staring at her reflection in the blade, and tucked it away in case she needed it later, before leaving out the front door.

Future Twilight was almost to Canterlot when she caught sight or Discordia in the distance. She saw the portal and though she couldn't quite hear what was being said, Twilight recognized the telepathy spell almost instantly. For a moment she thought perhaps it was her past self, but Twilight didn’t know how to cast telepathy, and then her keen eye for detail quickly noticed the cracked gem on Discordia’s tiara. The cautious unicorn ducked behind a large rock, before Discordia had a chance to see her as well.
“What do I do now?” She said to herself, trying to think of a way to sneak by without being seen. The distance was too far for her to teleport, and there was no back way into the city.
“I have to warn the Princess…but how?”
Twilight peeked around the rock to see if her foe was still there.

At that moment, she felt a tap on her shoulder as a male voice whispered from behind.
“You must be future Twilight Sparkle.”

She jerked with fright and spun around, holding her hooves over her mouth to muffle the scream escaped her lips. Her eye widened in disbelief as she saw the source of her fright. “Doctor!? But you were crushed by that machine. How did you-?” She whispered

“I’m the Doctor from this time, Twilight. Your past self came to my home and filled me in on what’s going on.”

“How could I-? I mean how could she fill you in? I haven’t had a chance to warn anyone yet.”

Whooves pulled out his sonic screwdriver.
“Do you remember seeing my future self with a device like this?”

Twilight nodded her head.

“Well this device records historical event should I need to play them back later for reference. Twilight found my future counterpart’s sonic screwdriver and brought it to give to my assistant. I just happened to hear the commotion when she informed Derpy of my untimely end, and stepped out of the Tardis to see what all the noise was about. I must admit, we were all rather confused at first, but when she presented me with another sonic screwdriver, I knew that something terrible must have happened in the future. I synchronized them both and destroyed the one she gave me to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Then I came to find you. Your past self is back in Ponyville gathering your friends. I’ve instructed that they meet us at the castle.”

Twilight accepted his explanation and started getting him up to date on her plan. “We don’t have time to wait for them. I have to warn Princess Celestia. There are less than three days before all of this happens again, but my evil copy is on the other side of this rock. I can’t get past her without her seeing me, and I’m afraid that if I used an invisibility spell, she’ll be able to feel it. I’m not strong enough to fight her magic alone if I get caught.”

Whooves looked down at his sonic screwdriver as an idea came to him.
“I might be able to help with that, Twilight Sparkle. You say she might be able to sense your magic, but this runs on technology. I can create a temporary invisibility field to hide us long enough to get into the city, but we’ll have to hurry. The camouflage field requires a lot of energy and maintaining one big enough to cover both of us for too long could cause a short.”

“It’s the only chance we have. What do I need to do?”

“Just stay close to me and move swiftly. We only have one shot at this.”

The sonic screw driver formed an energy dome around them. From the inside everything outside seemed to ripple as if separated by a wall of water.
“Alright, let’s move.” Whooves instructed, as they sprinted together for the city gates.

Chapter 16: Party's Over

Chapter 16: Party’s Over

Pinkie Pie and Twilight galloped up to Fluttershy’s home. She was out tending to the woodland creatures, as Rainbow Dash napped on a cloud above.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight called out to her.

Fluttershy jumped up, startled, and hovered in the air.

“Oh. Hi, Twilight. You frightened me.” She said, relieved to find the source of her anxiety to just be her friends.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy. I didn’t mean to, but I need to gather the girls. Equestria is in danger and we need the Elements of Harmony. Have you seen Rainbow Dash?”

Dash, hearing her name, opened an eye and glanced over to listen in to what Twilight had to say.

“We checked her house, but when we called up to her, nopony was-”

“Found her!” Pinkie Pie yelled, popping up through the cloud by Rainbow’s feet.

Dash was caught off guard. “What the!?” She jumped up in surprise and lost her balance. “Whoa!” The blue pegasus fell off the side of the cloud, landing next to Twilight with a thud. Her eyes spun and she held her head, trying to recover from the fall. “I’m right here. What’s going on?”

“Equestria is in grave danger. We need to get together and meet up with the Princess immediately and my future self so we can use the Elements of Harmony.” Twilight explained. “Pinkie Pie and I will head to Sweet Apple Acres and find Applejack. I need you and Fluttershy to get Rarity and meet with us outside of the library.”

Dash was still recuperating from the fall and was trying to process what she’d heard. “Wait a minute, did you just say, that we’re meeting up with you from the future?”

“I’ll explain everything at the library, but first we need to get everypony together!”

“Alright.” Rainbow said with a salute. “We’ll meet you at the library.” Dash grabbed Fluttershy by the hoof and flew off pulling her friend with her.

Twilight looked over to Pinkie nervously. “I hope we make it in time.”

Not far away, Pinkamina was galloping down the road, headed for Canterlot. As she started down a hill, she caught a glimpse of Twilight and Pinkie Pie and stopped in her tracks. Twilight’s back was turned to her but Pinkie saw her and tugged on Twilight’s tail, pointing in Pinkamina’s direction. She panicked and looked for a place to hide, but there was nowhere to take cover. Twilight and Pinkie began trotting up to her and she stood up on two legs and held a knife behind her back in case she had to kill them.
When they got to her, Pinkamina’s eyes shifted as she thought of what to say.
“Uh…hi Twilight…and me? I’m sure you have lots of questions.”

Pinkie started jumping up in down in excitement.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Are you me from the future?! Twilight said we’d be meeting with her from the future, but I didn’t know anypony else came back with her. We’re going to have so much FUN!”

“I didn’t know that you came back with me either.” Twilight said, surprised, but happy to see a familiar face. “Did I bring anypony else with me?”

Pinkamina put away her blade resumed a more relaxed demeanor. “Uh, yeah. I’m from the future, and nope, it was just me and you and the Doctor. I was told to find you and warn you that there’s also an evil Twilight from the future. I need you to come with me to meet with my Twilight---”

“---In Canterlot, with the Princess. I know. Whooves told me.”

“What?! How does he know? I killed...I mean I saw the evil Twilight kill him! There’s no way that the past version of him could know what’s going on yet. Who has he been talking to?”

“He was informed in by that little device he carries. I found it near the accident and happened to pick it up. What exactly happened to the future Doctor anyways?”

Pinkamina thought back to her most recent kill and smiled, momentarily savoring the memory before she answered. “Well, um, the evil you hit him with the time machine. He sacrificed himself so you and me could escape. You sent me to find you and bring you to you so you can stop you from destroying both of you and everypony else.”

Twilight was a little confused by the overuse of pronouns but got the gist of the message.
“Ok, we’re on our way to get Applejack. You should come along, and help me explain the situation to the girls.”

Pinkamina shook her head.
“I can’t. I have to get back to future you as fast as I can, or she’ll kill me next!”

Pinkie Pie and Twilight looked at her in confusion.

“Haha, I mean she’ll be really really mad at me because she said it was super duper extra important that I get back to her after I let you know what to do.” Pinkamina lied, shrugging nervously.

Twilight refocused on her task. “Right, we’ll meet with the rest of you at the castle after we’re all together. The two of you and Doctor Whooves can warn The Princess and fill us in when we get there.”

Twilight and Pinkie ran off to Sweet Apple Acres as Pinkamina let out a sigh of relief. That was close call. She took a deep breath started walking back, when what Twilight said to her sunk in. “Oh, buck! Did she say Whooves would be at the castle?! I have to tell Discordia!” Pinkamina galloped off as fast as she could to report to her master before it was too late.

Celestia was inspecting the statue of Discord, and was distressed with what she found.

The Captain picked up that things weren’t right and spoke up. “My Princess, what do you make of it?”

“Well, Discord is still sealed away…but his magic appears to be seeping out. It should be fine until Twilight and her friends-”

“Princess!” a voice called from the distance.

The guards turned and took defensive positions. Luna followed suit, lowering her horn and extending her wings in case she had to charge into battle. They watched as two ponies in the distance were seen running their way.

As they got closer, Celestia saw her star pupil, and sighed in relief. “At ease.” She ordered.

They all backed down as Twilight called out again. “Princess! We need to warn you about---!”

A bolt of energy shot down from above, striking the ground in front of Twilight, stopping her only a few yards away from reaching Celestia.

“Me!” Discordia descended from above. Having discarded her disguise, her eyes shown bright white. Her wings flapped as she landed between Twilight and the Princess. The guards instinctively attacked all at once to eliminate the threat, but Discordia batted them away effortlessly with a single wing.

When she saw this, Luna filled with rage. She fired a blast of energy at the evil unicorn, but it was deflected by a dome of energy that became momentarily visible at the point of impact. Discordia looked over to the Princess of the Night, widening her eyes. A gust of energy threw the alicorn into a nearby statue of Nightmare Moon with enough force to send her crashing through it.

“Luna!” Celestia turned and called to her sister, concerned for her well being.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about her, Princess. You’ll be joining her soon enough.” Discordia said with a smirk as she took flight once again.

“I don’t think so.” Celestia prepared to attack.

The Princess fired up a beam of light. Discordia in turn fired back down at Celestia. The shots met in the middle and struggled against each other. Twilight fired a few shots from behind hoping to catch her evil counterpart off guard, but they bounced off of her like rubber bands. Discordia struggled as she concentrated on funneling more magic into the blast. Celestia widened her stance for stability and increased her magic output to match. Slowly, the alicorn’s energy climbed up the beam, pushing back the dark magic. It looked as if Celestia would win this struggle when, from behind, pounced Pinkamina.

“Surprise!” The pink pony yelled as she buried a knife into Celestia’s flank. The Princess screamed in pain, losing her concentration as Discordia’s beam fired through Celestia’s, ending the power struggle and striking the alicorn down. The force of the blast spread, destroying just about everything in a 50ft radius, leaving a crater in its wake. Oddly the statue of Discord was somehow untouched.

“NOOO!” Twilight screamed in rage. Energy surrounded her entire body, protecting her and lifting her off the ground as she lost control of her magic. Her eyes lit up, matching Discordia’s, and the rage filled unicorn fired off a powerful blast of energy, catching her dark counterpart off guard and knocking her many yards away.
As the smoke cleared, Celestia lay there, wounded and unconscious. Twilight looked down, as tears flowed from her glowing eyes. She glanced over and saw Luna and the Doctor were in no better condition. Twilight let out a piercing scream, as a ball of blinding pink light expanded outward from her, covering everything in the crater. In a flash, everyone was gone, transported away by Twilight’s magic…everyone except Pikamina.

The pink pony was in bad shape. Three of her legs were broken and she hurt everywhere. Pinkamina struggled to breathe, but it was difficult. Several of her ribs had cracked and felt as if they were stabbing her in the lung. She used what strength she had to roll over on her back, exposing a knife buried deep in her stomach. Pinkamina looked up at the sky, fighting to stay alive, but still managed to let out a weak chuckle before coughing up a splash of blood.
Dark clouds formed overhead, blocking out the sun and emitting the low rumble of thunder. She heard hoof steps and tilted her head up to see Discordia approaching. Her master stopped next her and stared. Pinkamina reached up and, through the pain, forced out the words, “Help…me.”

“Of course.” Discordia smiled at her, using her magic to remove the knife from the mare's abdomen. Pinkamina instantly began to bleed out and writhe in suffering. Discordia walked up and whispered in Pinkamina’s ear. “I guess after all you've done for me, you’ve earned a quick death.”

Pinkamina’s looked to her master in desperation. “No...Wait...” She weakly pleaded for her life.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. It sounds like you have something in your throat. Let me clear that out for you.” Discordia lifted the knife and slit open Pinkamina’s neck causing her to choke as bled out even faster.

The dying mare’s vision began to fade, and as the whole world went dark, her fondest memories surfaced in her mind: Pulling pranks with Rainbow Dash. Cheering her on as she flew through the air, doing stunts. The night she and Dashie sat and watched stars...
It was cold and Dash leaned on Pinkamina for warmth. She returned the gesture and nuzzled against her friend, leaning her head on Rainbow’s shoulder as she whispered to her. “I love you, Dashie. You’re my bestest friend in the whole world. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you.”

Rainbow blushed “I love you too, Pinkie. And don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll always be best friends forever, no matter what.”

Her last memory was of that fateful night, where she stood holding the carefully stuffed remains of her closes friend down in the basement of Sugarcube corner, crying as she spoke to it. “We’ll be together again someday, Dashie. I love you so much. I’ll get it right next time. I’ll see you again. I pinkie promise.”
Tears gushed from Pinkamina’s eyes, and as the last of her life faded away, she smiled. At long last, she’d finally be reunited with the one mare she cared about more than anypony in Equestria. She’d finally be with her beloved Dashie.

Chapter 17: So What Do We Do Now?

Chapter 17: So What Do We Do Now?

“Hey y’all! I think she’s waking up.” Applejack’s voice called out.

Twilight slowly forced open her eyes. She was disoriented, and her head was pounding.

“Twilight, my student, you need to get up, but please take it slow. You’ve overexerted yourself.” Celestia’s voice spoke to her.

Upon hearing her mentor, the recent battle surfaced in Twilight’s mind and she sprung up, half prepared to rejoin the fight. The quick movement caused a sudden drop in blood pressure and in a light headed daze, she collapsed over the side of her bed. Rainbow Dash swooped in to break her fall, propping Twilight back up on the bed.

“Careful now, Twilight.” Rarity cautioned her. “Please, take it slow. You’ve had a simply dreadful day.”

Twilight held her head, and tried to regain her composure.
“Wha-…Where are we?”
Her vision finally cleared, revealing that she was back home in the library. All her friends were there, staring at her with looks of concern. Celestia’s flank was wrapped in bandages stained with small traces of blood seeping through. Luna was there too, clearly injured, but not nearly as bad. There were a few scuffs and scratches, but by the looks of it, she’d heal up without any scarring.
The dazed unicorn surveyed the room. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were standing at her bedside with Celestia and Luna at the other end. Downstairs, Pinkie Pie was setting up decorations for a party. There was a large banner above the door reading “Get well soon”.
Twilight was happy to see her friends again, especially after all she’d been through in the future. A tear came to her eye, and she smiled at Applejack, remembering how she’d given her life, allowing Twilight to escape Pinkamina and her assistants, a sacrifice that made all of this possible and gave her the chance to make things right. However, her smile faded once again as she looked around and noticed those absent.
“Where’s the Doctor!?”
Twilight peeked around her friends, hoping to see him down below with Pinkie.

A door down below, leading to another room in the library, opened as the Twilight Sparkle of the current timeline stepped out with Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus’s head hung low as she came out with a pile of bloodied bandages.

Twilight’s past self spoke up. “I’ve done all I could with the healing spells Spike found, but it’s not looking very good. He’s stable for now, but we should really get him to a hospital.”

Future Twilight still wasn’t able to piece everything together. She tried to think back but the last thing she remembered was watching Celestia fall after Discordia and Pinkamina teamed up on her.

“How…did we get here?” She asked, looking to The Princess for answers.

“Well Sugar Cube, we found y’all here when we showed up.” Applejack was the first to explain.

“Yeah, you guys were pretty banged up, but Fluttershy patched you up as best she could.” Rainbow chimed in.

“You had us so worried, dear.” Rarity smiled softly with tears in her eyes.

“I told you they’d be ok if we set up ‘get well soon’ decorations.”, Pinkie Pie popped up behind Rarity, throwing confetti into the air.

The purple unicorn below teleported herself up to the rest of the group. “But they’re not ok, Pinkie. Just about everypony here has sustained serious injuries, and from what I can tell, future Twilight’s mind is likely strained. From the scorch marks on her horn alone, my guess is that she used every ounce of magic she had and then some just to get us out of Canterlot alive.”

“Well if what we’re up against is powerful enough to take on both of the princesses and win, I don’t reckon we can stop ‘em.” Applejack commented, with obvious worry in her voice.

“Pfft! We’ll take them down, no problem. All we need are the Elements of Harmony and they’ll be gone in ten seconds flat.” Rainbow Dash boasted.

“I’m not so sure about that. Her strength was immeasurable. Even when Luna and I were linked to the elements, I doubt we could have stopped this monster.” Celestia cut in, looking down to the bed at Twilight. “We need to know what it is that we’re facing. What happened in the future? And why does this new threat look so much like...you?”

Twilight lowered her head in defeat and began to explain the events to come. The girls gasped as she explained to them how, one by one, each and every one of them were picked off by a copy of Celestia and replaced with horrible counterparts from other dimensions. She recounted how she came to know the Doctor’s true identity and how together, they witnessed the creation of her evil double, born of a combination of the corrupted Elements of Harmony and the magic of Discord. She told them of the massacre of Ponyville, and lastly, she explained how she and Whooves escaped to the past in a last ditch effort to make things right.

The Princess was horrified as she took in the disturbing tale. In all her millennia of life, she’d never encountered an evil like this. All eyes were on Celestia as she strained to formulate a plan. If the Elements of Harmony were used in this creature’s creation, then the Elements alone would not be able to stop her. She and Luna were still weak from their previous encounter, and future Twilight and The Doctor were in no shape to do much of anything.
There was only one option. Celestia didn’t like even considering it, but it was the only chance they had of even hoping to defeat Discordia. She looked to Luna and could tell her sister was thinking the same thing. The dark alicorn nodded to reassure her that this was the only way.

Celestia finally spoke up. “We will have to free Discord and convince him to help us.”

The girls gasped again, shocked that Celestia would even consider turning the master of chaos for help.

Both Twilights protested in unison. “You can’t be serious!”

Past Twilight continued, stomping her hoof down
“Even if we could get back to Canterlot and free him, there’s no way we can possibly trust him! Have you forgotten what he did to Ponyville last time he was free? What’s to stop him from joining forces with Discordia? She is a part of him after all.”

Celestia understood their concerns, but tried to explain. “I know Discord better than anypony ever could. He wasn’t always a villain. You may remember when I told you all that Discord ruled Equestria before Luna and I. Before his reign of chaos, he was like us. He was an alicorn king. A king who, though flawed, had great capacity for good… and he and I were once very close.”

All but Luna simply stared blankly at her in disbelief, trying to imagine such an odd pairing.

“He was always one to cause mischief, but in my youth, it was part of what drew me to him. I was naive and easily swayed by his good looks and charming personality. At first his pranks were harmless. He’d replace the guards’ helmets with buckets or fill the rain clouds with chocolate milk. It was kind of funny, but he didn’t know when to stop. Eventually his pranks became more malicious and his subjects suffered for the sake of his laughs. I confronted him, and tried to guide him to be better. And for a time, he was. But in time he returned to his old ways and I was no longer willing to tolerate his mischief. I was forced to leave him.” Celestia bowed her head in regret. “He didn’t take it well. He lashed out on the citizens of Equestria, hurting them to get back at me. He became obsessed with spreading mayhem in his wake, and then he learned about the Trees…What you know of as the Elements of Harmony was once only half of a larger power called the Trees of Balance. Back then, this power was contained in the form of two intertwining magical trees that maintained an even distribution of Chaos and Harmony in Equestria. Discord, seeking a means to blanket the land in constant chaos, took the dark, thorny portion of the Trees into himself. It gave him unimaginable power, but also drove him mad, changing him into the first Draconequus, a creature who’s very composition defies order and balance. Luna and I were forced to harness the the magic from the remaining tree, and with that power, we formed the Elements of Harmony, to stop him. Together we used them to imprison Discord in stone. The citizens of Equestria were saved, but in Discord's absence, the land was left without leadership. Reluctantly, my sister and I took the throne in order to restore order to the land.” Tears formed in Celestia’s eyes, “Somewhere in there…is the Discord Luna and I once knew. We just need to appeal to him. Get him to understand the situation. He won’t let countless ponies die over a grudge. Discord isn’t like that. He’s not evil, just…bad.”

“But even if he’d be willing to help us, there’s no way to get to him. The statue is all the way in Canterlot and since that evil Twilight took control, the city has been surrounded by a barrier that can only be penetrated by dark magic. I don’t have the power to teleport us inside, and even if I did, you saw what happened to future Twilight. It would be a one way trip. The amount of energy it would take to cover that distance and bypass the force field would damage my horn.” Twilight reasoned.

“Then I shall go.” Luna volunteered. “I have the magic to transport Discord back, and perhaps the lingering energy of the dark power I once wielded will allow me to pass unnoticed.”

"Are you sure about this, Luna?" Celestia asked as if pleaing her to reconsider.

"Sister, there is no other way"

Celestia agreed after a brief moment of silence. ““Then it’s decided. Please be careful. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you again.”

"Of course" She reassured her older sibling. Luna jumped down to the floor of the library and stepped out the door. Before she left, she turned to everypony and assured them. “If fortune shines upon me, I shall return before long.”, then spread her wings and took to the sky.

Back at the castle, bodies of fallen guards littered every room. A single guard, the Captain, was left to face Discordia. Blood was caked in his mane and fur. His body was covered in injuries, most of them severe, and his back legs were rendered useless. With his front hooves, he pulled himself forward, determination in his glaring eye. Discordia sat upon the throne watching with amusement as he struggled in vain to reach her. Just as he made it within a yard of meeting her face to face, his horn flickered. He fought to force out his last words. “I won’t let you- UHG!” The Captain’s pupils constricted and blood gushed from his mouth, as he looked down to find a black tendril protruding from his chest. The tendril retracted and he collapsed, bleeding out onto the floor.

“Good work, my servant.” Discordia smiled to the tall faceless pony standing behind the Captain’s body. “With Canterlot mine, all we need to do now is wait. Celestia double shall be birthed into existence tomorrow and with her at my side, nothing can stand in the way of my plans.”

Chapter 18: Free at Last

Chapter 18: Free at Last

The sky was dark and cloudy as Luna approached the energy field surrounding Canterlot. There were no signs of any guards. Still, she hovered low hoping the gate around the city would provide some cover. The princess traveled around the edge a ways, hoping for a straight shot to the site of their recent battle. Luna lifted herself higher and attempted to peak in and find her bearings. The bubble of dark power blocking entry to the kingdom was dark and murky, like staring through muddy purple water, but in the distance she caught a glimpse of light coming for the head of the Discord statue.

Luna landed nearby, and took a deep breath to prepare herself. “There no other way.” The shadows of nearby trees, rocks, and other objects crept towards the princess of the night, separating from their sources and pooling around her. Luna lifted her head high and closed her eyes as she was engulfed in darkness. Her shape grew and changed, transforming her into Nightmare Moon.
The shadows broke and subsided as she opened her glowing eyes and winced. The dark alicorn gritted her sharp teeth and struggled to fight off the hunger for power and revenge that flooded her mind. She shook it off, trying to focus on the task at hand, and attempted to reason internally with her darker side. If they fail at this task, there will be no kingdom to rule. Everypony will die and her quest for revenge will be stolen from her.

Nightmare Moon lifted her hoof and placed it on the force field. She gave a small push to test her theory and surprisingly she was able to push through with little effort. Her inner darkness prevented Luna from being recognized as a threat. With her concept confirmed, she took to the air and pierced through the barrier, darting as fast she could to her target. The Princess landed next to the statue and scoffed.
“Hardly a task worthy of us.” She surrounded the statue with a magical field, getting it ready for teleportation, but as she turned to face her destination, she was met with black tendril striking her with enough force to fling her to the edge of the crater.
Nightmare Moon, still knocked on her back, looked up and faced her opponent. Approaching her, was a tall and faceless equine creature. Protruding from its back, were a set of tendrils that lifted it up into the air like the legs of a spider.

Recognizing her thin pony like attacker. Smiled arrogantly, spitting a small amount of blood on the ground nearby. “You!… Do you honestly think you can stop me? Stand down or be destroyed.”

Slendermane lowered himself down on his hooves, retracted his tendrils partially, and stood there staring at Nightmare Moon. Confidently, she attempted to walk around him but was stopped by another powerful strike from his tendrils.

The princess of the night stood up once again, enraged. “How…dare you!” Her wings spread open as she positioned herself to attack. “You insignificant, mindless beast! You dare to oppose us? Be gone!” A barrage of energy bolts fired from her horn, striking the slender pony repeatedly, kicking up dust from the force of the impact. Nightmare Moon ceased fire and panted heavily. Using that much magic had taken a lot out of her. Confident in herself, she sneered, “Pitiful.”

But as the dust cleared, there he stood, unaffected and unmoved by the attack.

She gawked in disbelief. “That’s…not possible.”

The creature’s legs extended, lifting him a few feet into the air. The tendrils on his back wiggled and thrashed violently. The slender pony looked down at his opponent, as his face began to tear open, forming a crooked mouth that stretched from ear to ear. Inside were rows of sharp, shark-like teeth that seemed to go on infinitely into the dark abyss inside. It let out an unnatural roar as what looked like blood drooled out of the new opening.

Nightmare Moon was taken by surprise by this terrible transformation and with her confidence shaken, took to the sky to distance herself from the monster. She had a plan. The Princess of the Night flew back to the edge of the barrier surrounding Canterlot and whipped around, hoping to see the foe in pursuit.

The creature followed slowly, its long tendrils once again lifting it high off the ground in a spider like fashion.

She hovered in place but high enough to avoid his reach until he made it to the far end of the energy sphere with her. This was her chance. The dark alicorn dove down as fast as she could, her trajectory towards the stone encased master of chaos. She landed and sneered at her foe before teleporting away with her prize.

The monster turned to pursue, but was not swift enough to prevent her escape. She was gone along with the statue before he had a chance to get back. The slender pony let out a low growl and lowered himself back on his hooves, turning his sights to Ponyville. His tendrils wrapped and folded around each other, forming wings. They flapped, lifting him off the ground, high into the air.
The slender pony flew out of the barrier and hovered over the edge of the kingdom, staring down at town of Ponyville. The monster calmed itself, its mouth closing and sealing back up, once again resuming its faceless white form and took flight to reclaim the object he’d been tasked with protecting.

The girls waited impatiently in the library anticipating Luna’s return. Future Twilight was back on her hooves, but still weak. She stood at the Doctor’s bedside as Fluttershy tended to his injuries. Celestia was sitting above on the upper floor with the other Twilight, looking down at the rest of the ponies. Pinkie Pie blew a party horn trying to loosen up a very tense and irritated Rainbow Dash while Applejack and Rarity kept watch out the windows and doors.

Twilight could tell from Celestia’s composure that she was worried, and tried to make conversation to take the edge off. “I’m sure Luna is fine. She’ll probably be back any minute now.”

Celestia looked down to Twilight and forced a half-hearted smile in order to ease her student, but it didn’t last. She looked back down at the rest of the ponies, watching as they carried on, pausing for a few moments. “It’s not just Luna I’m worried about. It’s all of you. The entire kingdom is in danger, and my subjects have no way to defend themselves. And now our desperation has forced me to awaken Discord to help us. He may not be evil, but I’m sure the cost for his help will be high. Then again, none of that may matter if Luna doesn’t return with the statue.”

Twilight was at a loss for words. Nothing she could say would lessen the gravity of their situation, so she just sunk her head in sadness.

Then, from outside, a flash appeared through the windows catching everypony’s attention.

Applejack , who was peering out the window, looked a bit worried.
“Uh oh. Luna’s back with the statue, y’all!...but she ain’t lookin’ like herself. She’s all done up like Nightmare Moon.”

Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow rushed to the windows and gasped. The door was engulfed in a magical aura, then flung open as Nightmare Moon entered. The girls bowed to greet the Princess of the Night as she came in.

The dark alicorn glared up at Celestia. In that moment, the jealousy and hatred that has sparked the war so long ago filled her heart, but she kept herself in check. The crisis at hand was too great, for the time being. She would have to set those feelings aside.
“I have returned with the statue as tasked, my…" she paused, forcing the last word out her mouth in disgust, "...sister. Shall we awaken him?”

Celestia had a feeling this might happen. Luna had summoned her dark powers to bypass the barrier, but now they had taken hold of her once again. Still, after centuries of battle with Nightmare Moon, she knew that her sister was intelligent enough to understand what was at stake. She would cooperate, at least until it was no longer mutually beneficial for her to do so, and maybe her extra might would help in this fight against their common enemy.
The white alicorn rose, and internally weighed the consequences of the alliances she would have to forge to save the kingdom and how they would affect her subjects once this was all over. Without a word, she glided down and stepped outside to stand by the imprisoned former King of Equestria. Nightmare Moon begrudgingly followed behind her.
Celestia looked to her sister and the statue as doubt crept in. If they turned on her, there would be no way for her to stop them both, but if she didn’t take this risk, none of them could stop Discordia. The princess closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reassuring herself that this was the only way as her horn began to glow. She turned her gaze to take aim at the statue and fired a beam of magic at the glowing crack at Discord's head.

The crack grew and splintered as chucks of stone slowly moved and flexed. The pieces began to flake and fall the more it moved. Then suddenly, Discord broke free casting, debris of his stone encasing in all directions. The other girls quickly surrounded him as he nonchalantly yawned and stretched.
Free at last, Discord looked at everypony and smiled mischievously.

Chapter 19: The Chapter That’s Almost All Dialogue

Chapter 19: The Chapter That’s Almost All Dialogue

Discord smiled in amusement as he spoke.
“Celestia. Well, I must say, this is quite a surprise. I see you even brought me a welcome back party. You really shouldn’t have. But knowing you, you didn’t just let me out to stretch my legs and cut a rug. So the question remains…what made you decide to free me? Could it be that after all these years, you missed me so much that you just couldn't sand another moment without being in my claws?”
Discord slithered over to Celestia and put an arm around her.
“You know, if you wanted to keep me nearby, all you had to do was ask. The whole trapped in stone thing was a bit much. Don’t you think?”

Nightmare Moon spoke first, in no mood for the trickster’s games.
“We have allowed your freedom for one purpose. You will assist us or you will return to your stone imprisonment.”

Discord’s eyes darted to the dark alicorn.
“Luna! Is that you?”
He flew over and gave her a hug
“I almost didn’t recognize you, kiddo. Look at you! All grown up. A little birdie told me you started a little war a while back. How did that go for you? Oh, who am I kidding? Obviously it went well. I mean here you are alive and well. So tell me…how was your little vacation on the moon? Did you pick me up a souvenir?”
Discord manifested a snow globe featuring a sad Luna sitting on the moon and held it in front of the black alicorn’s face.

“Get off me!” Nightmare Moon pushed him away in disgust and anger.

Discord mockingly pretended to be hurt. “Really now? Not even a t-shirt? And I thought you and I were such good buddies.” He crossed his arm and pouted. “Well if you’re not going to share, I want that magic back that you borrowed to fight your sister.” Discord placed a finger on the Nightmare Moon’s head as the excess power was drained from her and transferred into the snow globe, turning the liquid inside an inky black. The act reverted the dark alicorn back to Princess Luna, who collapsed from the sudden sapping of her strength.

“You were behind my Luna’s betrayal all along?” Celestia shouted with both surprise and anger, staking a step toward him as ready to strike.

The draconequus tossed the snow globe up in the air and swallowed it before rolling his eyes at the Princess. “Calm down. It’s wasn’t all my doing. She came to me, seeking the means to oppose you. I sensed the seeds of jealousy within her heart and simply gave her a little nudge by granting her a bit of my power and a slight attitude adjustment to get her in the right mindset.”

“But why?”

“What else did I have to do? I get so little company out in the sculpture garden, and it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to spread some chaos. Besides…I could think of a revenge no sweeter than to turn your own sister against you. After all, you turned her on me.” He laughed tauntingly and shifted his attention to the others. “And girls! It’s always nice to see familiar faces. I’m so glad you came to see me. Hopefully, you’ve all learned to play nice this time. No cheating and turning anypony to stone.”

Celestia had enough. “Discord! There is no time for your games. Will you help us or not?”

“Oh Celestia, I don’t know. I just got in. I haven’t even unpacked my bags, and you’re already trying to put me to work? You know, I’m still a little sore about the incident that ended with me being trapped for thousands of years in that chunk of rock while you and your sister took my throne. Not only that, I had this terrible itch for centuries that I just couldn’t scratch.” He reached with a claw and scratched his back. “I guess the big question is... what’s in it for me?”

“What do you want?”

“Oh my, you really are desperate.” He said with a bit of genuine surprise.“Haha! Then it looks like I’m the one with all the cards.” With a flick of his wrist, a deck of cards appeared in his claw as he proceeded to shuffle and flip them into the air. “What could you possibly have that I’d want, my dear? Now that I’m free, you don’t have the power to stop me, and I see the girls aren’t wearing their elements. Never available when you need them, am I right? You know, with as much stuff that seems to happen around here, you’d think they’d just carry the Elements on them at all times. Also this doesn’t look like Canterlot, so I’m guessing you’ve already lost the castle. Tisk tisk, this isn’t like you at all. Don’t tell me you’re slipping in your old age, Celestia.”

“Discord, I’m afraid the situation is very dire. Just name your terms.”

“Well, I guess I could ask to be king again…”

“No deal!” Rainbow Dash leapt forward and got up in the trickster’s face, the other five mares backing her.

“And how will you stop me, little pegasus? Remember, you’re the ones that need my help, so I suggest you watch your attitude. Now before I was so rudely interrupted, I was saying, I COULD ask to be king again, but honestly, that just seems like so much work. And you know what they say about all work and no play? No, I want something that means a lot more to Equestria and its citizens than some silly crown. I want you, Celestia.”

“Excuse me?” The princess asked, confused as to what his terms might entail.

“It’s all very simple. I’ll help you out with your little crisis, and in exchange, you step down from the throne and promise yourself to me. Together we will travel Equestria spreading chaos, just like old times, except without things like royal duties and the well-being of the ponies getting between us. Luna can go ahead and take your place, starting the reign of the New Lunar Republic while we’re off having fun. Everypony wins. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?”

The girls all looked to Celestia, shaking their heads, waiting with baited breath for her response. The princess weighed the consequences. She didn’t want things to happen this way, but without his help, everypony in Equestria would be in grave danger. It’s for the good of all of her subjects, and Luna has changed for the better since the war. In time she will make a fine ruler. “I agree to your terms.”

“Excellent. Let’s make a few alterations” Discord placed his claw on Celestia, turning her mane and tail dull pink. “There we go, just like old times. Now that’s the Celestia I remember.” He turned to face the girls who gave back scowls and looks of despair. “So what are we up against? Changelings? An army of dragons? Celestia’s mother?”

The door to the library swung open as Spike and Future Twilight helped the injured Doctor Whooves walk out the door. “We’re fighting your heir.” The Doctor grunted through the pain.

“You’re not looking so good, Time lord. Now what’s all this about an heir? Don’t tell me that I’m going to be a Daddy! Oh, I’m so excited! What about you, dear? ” Celestia turned her head away as Discord put his arms around her.

Future Twilight was next to speak. “Not exactly. She’s only the successor to your powers. Both you and the Elements of Harmony were destroyed in her creation.”

Discord’s smile faded. “Destroyed? We’ll that’s certainly bad news. So what do you call this new creature?”

“Discordia”

“Oh, how original.” The draconequus sarcastically rolled his eyes.

“This is serious! In the future, she and her minions are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of ponies, including my friends!”

“Fine, let’s go take care of this so I can get back to having fun. I’m guessing the Elements are still in the castle? I’ll go to the vault and fetch them for you. You girls meet me nearby and once you have them, we can combine our powers to take down this ‘Discordia’. Just remember our deal and make sure you’re careful where you aim those things. I don’t really feel like living in a rock again.” Discord teleported away leaving the girls to travel on foot to Canterlot.
They looked around, unsure if they should trust the orders of their former enemy. All eyes turned to Future Twilight for confirmation.

“You sure about this, Twi?” Applejack asked what everypony else was thinking.

Feeling a bit of doubt, she worked out a plan along similar lines. “You girls go. I’ll teleport the Doctor to Ponyville Hospital and get Luna back on her feet. The princess and I will meet you at the castle. We have to stop Discordia at all costs.”

In the vault, Discord appeared in one of the stained windows. His two dimensional body traveled across the glass until he reached the far end of the room, and proceeded to slide down the wall and onto the floor. The flat glass likeness of the draconequus shattered as he popped up and reached out, opening the doors to the vault to gaze upon the Elements. “Too easy.” He said, as tall equine figure flew in from behind, landing silently as his wings separated into a mass to writhing appendages.

Chapter 20: The Beginning of the End

Chapter 20: The Beginning of the End

Discord giggled menacingly as reached out to grab the Elements, but just before he could touch them, a black tendril, slapped him across his paw. “Ouch!”, he yelled as he nursed it in his claw. Discord turned dramatically, fire appearing behind him as his voice echoed in anger. “WHO DARES STRIKE-!” The draconequus bellowed meeting face to face with his attacker, but when he saw who it was, the fire died as he trailed off. “Oh, it’s just you. Still playing as guardian to the Elements, eh? I figured you would have gone into retirement millennia ago, you know, when I stole the power of chaos from your precious Trees of Balance and became the embodiment of my namesake. Well if you’ll excuse me, I have some magical artifacts to steal right from under your nose…again.” Discord turned his back to the slender pony and went back to snatching the elements. He was thwarted once again by a series of tendrils wrapping around his arms, torso, and neck, lifting him up into the air as they squeezed tightly. “Hey!” Discord wheezed as the grip around his throat tightened. “If you wanted a hug…” The draconequus disappeared, leaving the tendrils to collapse in on themselves. The faceless pony tiled his head in confusion, as Discord popped up right next to him and embraced him. “…all you had to do was ask. Seriously, I don’t know why everypony thinks they have to trap me to get my attention.”

The slender pony lashed out, causing Discord to playfully jump back into the stained glass windows. The creature dove a tendril through the glass, shattering it, but Discord simply appeared in another one. “Missed me!” He laughed, sticking out his tongue and waving his arms. The monster broke that window as well, as Discord continued jumping from window to window, taunting the slender pony as he broke each window the trickster inhabited…“Over here!” “Nice try, but not quite.” “Oh! So close” …until all of them were broken.

The faceless creature looked around, but Discord was nowhere to be seen.

Then a laugh filled the room as the disembodied voice of the draconequus spoke. “Hahahaha. What’s wrong, Slendermane? Having trouble ‘facing’ me? I’m not hard to find if you keep an eye out. Come on, say something and I’ll give you a hint. What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”

The creature’s tendrils whipped violently as its mouth once again began to tear open, exposing endless rows of teeth. It’s head twitched and jerked in all directions, looking for the source of the voices. It lashed out randomly in all directions hoping to catch anything nearby.

Discord reappeared several feet in front of Slendermane, floating and holding a cup of tea and a saucer. He took a sip and continued to taunt. “How about you and I---”

Discord was cut short by a tendril darting through his cup, shattering his cup and forcing it down his throat.

“Gah!” Discord teleported away again and reappeared right next to the monster. “Woah there, friend. You’re going to have to buy dinner first before we start doing that.”

The slender pony jerked his head to face Discord and let out a roar as another black appendage quickly whipped over, making contact with the draconequus’s face, and flinging hard into a stone pillar.

Momentarily, Discord just stood there in shock. The attack had taken him off guard, and the impact had not only been surprisingly painful, but knocked the wind out of him. He held a paw to his face, as blood trickled down his arm, then lifted it away from to assess the damage. What he saw surprised the draconequus even more. It seemed like an eternity since he’d felt pain. That was unexpected enough, but to actually be wounded? Discord was furious. He stared down his tall writhing opponent with fire in his eyes. “So that’s how it’s going to be?” The entire room rumbled as the broken glass on the floor trembled and began collecting in various places on the floor. Each pile built up and melded together, forming glass duplicates of Discord. They surrounded the slender pony, gesturing menacingly as they awaited their orders. “Boys, it looks like we have somepony who likes to play rough. Well, two can play at that game…or twenty. Why don’t you show our friend a little game called ‘fight club’. I don’t think we have to worry about him talking about it. Oh, and as a little bonus, last pony standing gets a prize.”

At the snap of Discord’s claw, the glass copies all dove in at once, piling on top of Sledermane. However, within moments, the mass of glass bodies erupted, as the creature began tearing them apart. Many were crushed by the mighty grip of the slender pony’s larger tendrils, while others were shattered by the lashing of its smaller appendages. It jolted its head in all directions, chomping wildly and shoving the pieces of broken glass into its maw with its spare limbs to ensure total destruction. With every bite the sound of glass crunching on teeth could be heard as blood ran profusely from its mouth. Never slowing, this frenzy went on until the glass Discords was no more. In a berserk rage, the creature jumped around searching the room for its original prey, but the draconequus was nowhere to be seen.

Discord’s disembodied voice returned once again. “I’m starting to think you don’t like me. Well fine, I didn’t really want to hang with you anyways. I have places to go and ponies to see, but I must thank you for being such a generous host. I could have never made away with all the Elements so easily if you hadn’t been so kind as to entertain my toys. I’m sure I’ll see you around. I never forget a face.” An echoing chuckle filled the room. Then all was silent.

Slendermane flung himself around to find that the Elements of Harmony were indeed gone. Sitting in its place was simply blue ribbon and a note reading:
“I.O.U. 1x Elements of Harmony.
Also, here’s your prize. Wear it with pride. You’ve earned it.

XOXO
-Discord ”

The girls were on their way to Canterlot, traveling as fast as they could while still maintaining the integrity of the group, when Discord appeared in front of them. Twilight and the others tried to pull themselves to a halt, but ended up slamming into each other as their hooves skidded in the grass.

“Hello girls.” He said through a snicker, “Look what Uncle Discord brought for you.” He reached behind his back and pulled out the highly decorated box that housed the Elements of Harmony, “Sorry it took so long. It looks like our friend Discordia, has the old guardian of the Trees of Balance at her disposal.”

“Slendermane?!” Celestia gasped.

“The one and only!” He leaned down next to Twilight and covered one side of his mouth as if to tell a secret, but whispered loudly so everypony could hear. “And girls, you might not trust me, but Celestia can back me up on this. Just between us... the guy’s kind of a jerk. Anyways, you girls should go ahead and put those things on because just battling the old guardian, alone, is going to require teamwork, and then we have this Discordia to take care of too. So come on. Chop chop! I want to get this over with so I can take my princess and be on my way." Discord paused, "Speaking of princesses..." He put his paw over his brow and looked out into the distance, his eyes streating out of his head as if to look further, "What is taking Luna and the other Twilight so long to get here? I didn’t drain that much out of her. She should be up and moving by now.”

“My future self, decided to take the Doctor to the hospital. She and Princess Luna will meet up with us when that’s done.” Twilight informed him.

“Oh, how boring. I’ll take care of this.” Discord looked over at a clearing and pointed. With a poof of red smoke, there appeared Future Twilight, Luna, and the severely injured Doctor Whooves.

Twilight hadn’t notice the change in setting because she was still focused on filling out the entry paper work to the hospital. Luna nudged her to let her know that something was going on. The purple unicorn lowered the clip board she’d been holding to find Discord approaching them. “What...What’s going on? Send us back! He needs serious medical attention.” She protested.

“Yeah….we don’t have time for that. I got this.” In a puff of magic, the draconequus now wore a surgical mask and a pair of rubber gloves. “He’s not looking so good. It’s my professional opinion that we’re gonna have to put him down.”

Future Twilight jump in to block his path. “Don’t you dare!”

“Come on, can’t you take a joke? Don’t worry. I’ll fix him up.” Just under Discord, a small square of carpet appeared. He scooted his feet back and forth across it, causing his gloves to glow with a red magical energy. “CLEAR!”, he yelled and he placed his claws on the brown, bandaged stallion and gave him a shock.

The initial jolt was visibly painful, but after the magic died down, Whooves looked at himself in astonishment. “That’s bloody amazing!” He said in pure awe.

“I know. I know. I’m a miracle worker, but just a little FYI, you’re going to get a terrible rash from the treatment in a few days.”

“What?!”

“You’ll be fine. Just drink plenty of sassafras and don’t call me. I’ll bill you later. Ok, so is there anything else you girls need me to do before I take us all to Canterlot, or are we all done here?” He looked around for a moment, but nopony said a word. “Any pony? Perhaps a kitten that needs saving? Maybe a back rub and a hooficure before the fight?

“Well I could use a---” Rartity started.

“---Too late! Better luck next time.” He cut her off before she could take him up on his offer. “If no pony needs anything, let’s do this.”

And in an instant, they were teleported away.

Meanwhile in the castle, Discordia sat atop her throne as her slender minion entered the room. “Did you eliminate the intruder?” She asked

The creature simply lowered his head in shame.

“I see. Now that they have the Elements of Harmony, our enemies are no doubt on their way to make their final attempt at stopping me.”

Slendermane lifted his head to face his master.

“Let them have their Elements. It matters little. I have the same power within me.”

The slender pony tilted his head inquisitively.

“Don’t worry about the alicorn sisters.” Discordia smiled as her eyes lit bright white and her body was engulfed by a dark magical aura. “I have a plan.”

Chapter 21: Time to End This!

Chapter 21: Time to End This!

Discordia sat upon the throne, smiling in wait for what she knew was to come.
Slendermane stared at the large door that sealed off the only entrance.
WHAM! The door shook with the first impact.
WHAM! It shook again, the wooden bar holding it shut arced and began to splinter.
The door was then surrounded by a pink magical energy.
WHAM! The force of the blast blew the doors off the hinges, flinging them forward across the room. The slender pony repelled an incoming door with a tendril as he watched, otherwise unmoving.

Discordia stood up to greet her guests. “I must say, you made quite an entrance, but if you wanted to die so badly, there’s no need to be so dramatic. All you had to do was ask.” But as the cloud of debris cleared, nopony was there. “What?!” She darted her head in anger and confusion, searching for where they might be hiding.

“So you’re the big scary Discordia…” Discord’s voice filled the room. “Funny, I thought you be taller.”

The evil unicorn regained her composure and put on an arrogant smile. “You and your silly games. Why don’t you show yourself? Perhaps, you’re afraid?”

“Afraid? …Of you? Haha. Oh, that’s rich.” Discord’s paw appeared overhead and plucked the crown from the evil unicorn’s head. The rest of him appeared as he stroked his beard and looked it over. “Ok, I get the wings, but what’s with this gaudy crown?”

Upon spotting him, Slendermane immediately lashed out at the Draconequus.

Discord's torso swayed and contorted dodging the attack. “Whoa there! Is that any way to treat company?” He taunted, and disappeared again, taking the crown with him.

“I grow tired of your games, Discord.” The winged unicorn stepped forward and looked around the throne room as she spoke. “Where are Twilight Sparkle and the others? Why don’t you face me?!”

“All in good time, my dear.” The disembodied voice filled the room once more. “But first I’d like to know a little bit more about you. Considering you were birthed from my power, I guess that makes me your daddy. You know, I’m not sure I approve of your boyfriend here. Sure he’s tall, dark, and faceless, but I have issues with his temper.”

Slendermane’s tendrils writhed and whipped as he looked around the room for a target.

“Enough of this! I demand you to show yourself!”

“Fine. Spoil the fun.” Discord reappeared wearing the crown he had taken. “You may have gotten my power, but you most definitely didn’t inherit my charming personality and sense of humor.”

“I’ll only ask you one last time. Where are the others?” Discordia demanded in irritation.

“Behind you!” Twilight yelled as the Doctor dropped the invisibility field generated from his sonic screwdriver.

Before she had a chance to fully turn around, Discordia was met with a beam of energy from both the alicorn princesses, the impact knocking her off her feet as she landed with a THUD.

“Ha! I guess she’s not so tough after all” Rainbow Dash taunted, hovering over her.

Enraged, the unicorn struck the blue pegasus with a blast of dark magic, flinging her across the room into a nearby wall. Dash held her head as she sat up and tried to shake in off.

“Careful, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight warned. “The future version of me says she’s nopony to be taken lightly.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Dash said as she got up and rejoined her friends.

Discordia propped herself up with one of her magical wigs and turned to her minion. “KILL THEM!”, she commanded.

The creature leapt to attack the group but was met face first with an invisible force field conjured by the combined force of the two Twilights. Slendermane thrashed the barrier violently in an attempt to break through. Pinkie Pie walked up to the edge of the invisible wall and began making faces at the monster, giggling as she taunted it.

Discordia spread her wings and took to the air, firing a beam at future Twilight. It landed just in front of the purple mare, missing her, but starling her enough to make her lose concentration on the barrier spell.

With the power of the barrier reduced by half, the raging tall creature smashed through shattering it like glass. His mouth spilt open, readying to attack as he lifted himself up with his spider like tendrils. Pinkie looked up in awe as Slendermane stared down at the pink pony and let out a roar powerful enough to blow back her hair.

She snorted as she tried to hold back a chuckle, but was unable to stop herself from barreling over in laughter. The slender pony tilted his head in confusion and Pinkie proceeded to point and laugh. “You look so silly!” Pinkie giggled. “Oh! I know what you need! Just gimme a second. Stay right here.” The pink pony zipped off and returned with a marker. She pulled off the cap and jumped up on his muzzle as she proceeded to draw on his face for a moment. Then she jumped down and admired her work. “There you go. That’s better.”, she said, holding up a mirror so he could see.

On the slender pony’s blank white face sat a pair of poorly drawn, misaligned eyes. He roared again and whipped the mirror out of Pinkies hoof with a tendril.

“Hey! If you didn’t like it, you could have just said so, you big meanie pants!”

The creature took another swipe at the pink pony, thrusting a tendril at her with enough force to pierce the marble floor as she jumped out of the way. Pinkie, in turn, pulled out a brightly colored cannon seemingly out of nowhere and fired, blasting the Slendermane and a cloud of confetti back several feet.

Present Twilight Sparkle was weakened and slightly stunned by the power she’d lost when the force field spell was broken. As she her vision cleared, she could only scream and try to shield herself with a hoof, as she was met with the sight of Slendermane charging at her after Pinkies attack. He dove into the air to pounce on the weakened unicorn, but just before he was able to sink his teeth into Twilight, he was met with a kick to the side of the head as Luna swooped in to save her sister’s star pupil.

“Make haste Twilight Sparkle and join the others! This monster will not stay down for long.” Luna warned as she flew down to block his path.

The creature looked to his master for support, but found her to be preoccupied trying to land a shot on the constantly teleporting Discord who taunted her with each failed shot. Slendermane pulled himself back up on his tendrils readying for another strike, but was met with a counterattack, this time from both princesses. The light of Celestia’s solar beam burned with great intensity, while the Luna’s shroud of darkness hindered his vision. He trashed his spare tendrils blindly in all directions, hoping to take down one of the two alicorns as he tried to escape the brunt of their assault, while future Twilight took random shots at him to further disorient the monster.

Above, Discord was still dodging attacks but was becoming short of breath. The winged purple unicorn fired a shot at him as he curved his long snake like body parry the blast. He looked down at the ponies below. “Any time girls! I’m not doing this for my health!”

Discordia fired a blast grazing his claw. He winced as he gripped it with his paw. Then she turned and fired at the girls. In panic they scrambled, trying to avoid being hit as she let out a constant barrage of energy balls to keep them scattered.

Discord tried to attack but was met again with injury as the Discordia bucked her back legs as hard as she could into the draconaquus’s face. Discord fell to the ground, and sat up, holding his chin.

She landed nearby and was about to deliver the finishing blow. “Any last words, father?” She grinned as she knocked her predecessor down as stood on his throat.

Discord wheezed as her tried to push the hoof off his neck. “Yeah...what’s that behind you?!” He said as he pointed.

“You must think I’m an idiot if you think I would fall for-” Discordia’s words were cut short as a bright flash of light appeared behind her. The unicorn whipped around to see the mane six gathered together preparing to use the Elements of Harmony against her. “What!” She yelled in disbelief.

“I tried to warn you.” Discord said with a grin before teleporting away.

Chapter 22: It's Morphin Time!

Chapter 22: It’s Morphin’ Time!

As the rainbow colored beam shot towards her, Discordia flung her wings forward to shield herself from the attack. The dark unicorn’s eyes lit up and her entire body began to glow with a purple energy as she exerted a large portion her power into protecting herself from the magical force that bombarded her.
Discord took this opportunity to attack from behind. He fired a beam of green chaos magic directly at the unicorn’s exposed back. Discordia let out a scream of pain as she lost her focus and was engulfed in the center of both blasts. The meeting of the two streams of energy caused a blinding flash which forced everypony to shield their eyes.
As vision restored, Discordia lay in the center of the throne room, her wings destroyed and smoke rising from spots of charred fur. Nearby, Slendermane was brought to his knees as the last of his strength failed him under the princesses’ combined attacks. The creature let out a roar as he finally collapsed over on his side, and lay there, unmoving, other than an occasional twitch.

Future Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “It’s finally over.”

Discordia coughed as she wheezed, forcing a maniacal laugh. The girls stood ready to fight, as the injured unicorn slowly pulled herself up on her hooves. “Hahahaha! You think this is over? (cough) You cannot defeat me. I am Discordia! Chaos reborn!” She limped over to her fallen minion.

Celestia stepped forward. “You and your monster are defeated, Discordia. You cannot win this fight. There is no need for anypony else to die. This is your only chance. Leave now while I still allow it and never return.”

“I still have one last trick up my sleeve. You can’t defeat me. No pony can ever defeat me! I’ll kill all of you.” Discordia’s horn flickered as she struggled to conjure the last of her magic.

Everypony took a fighting stance, preparing for an attack.

As the last of her energy focused into her horn, her legs began to shake and the once bright white pupils of her black eyes dimmed to nothing. Slendermane lifted his head to face his master, as she turned to match his gaze. “You’re all dead…”, Discordia struggled to say as she fired the last remaining bit of magic she had at the slender pony, burning a hole clean through his head.

They all just stared in confusion, as Discordia and Slendermane both fell limp to the floor.

“What in tar-nation was that?” Applejack exclaimed in confusion.

“I don’t know, but they can’t hurt anypony anymore.” Future Twilight said in somber relief.

Not wasting any time, Discord smiled and drifted over to the princess. “Well Celestia, you know our deal. Say your goodbyes. You belong to me now.” He put his arm around the white alicorn and with the opposite arm, placed a digit of his claw under her chin.

“Over our dead bodies!” Present Twilight argued, preparing to protect the princess.

“No, Twilight!” Celestia halted her. “Those were the terms of his assistance.”

“But Princess!” The purple unicorn stopped momentarily to think, then turned to Celestia’s sister for help. “Princess Luna, surely you can do something to stop this.”

“I’m afraid not, Twilight Sparkle. Though he may be a villain, Discord helped us save Equestria this day, and we must honor our bargin.” The princess said, lowering her head in sadness and defeat.

“B-but your majesty?!” Rarity chimed in. “You can’t be serious! There has to be another way.”

“You heard her! I saved the day. And fair is fair. I’ve earned my reward. Isn’t that right, my dear?” Discord stuck his tongue out at the girls and turned to Celestia, nudging her to force a response.

“I’m afraid so, my little ponies.” She said, looking away hide to her tears.

Rarity stepped forward and stomped her hoof. “Hey! She’s not some piece of property you can carry around and show off like a gem! She’s a living creature.” She said in a scolding tone.

“Yeah! Deal or no deal, y’all can’t just take her like some sort of trophy. Equestria needs her! We need her.” Applejack agreed

“Well that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” Discord frowned, tauntingly pretending to show pity.

As they argued, the body of the slender pony started to shift. The solid mass began liquefy and flowed to the fallen Discordia, covering her.

Sensing the impending danger, Pinkie’s entire body started to shake. “Hey girls! My Pinkie Sense is acting up. I think something big’s about to happen.” The pink mare tried to gain their attention but was drowned out by the arguing between Discord, and the other girls.

Fluttershy was the first to notice her friend’s pleas for attention and tried to help. “Um…excuse me. I think Pinky’s trying to tell us something.” She spoke softly, intimidated by the arguing.

The black liquid began to pour into her mouth and nostrils, as the unicorn’s chest expanded and took a breath.

Fluttershy noticed the movement through her peripheral vision and panicked as she caught a glance at Discordia’s bright glowing eyes opening. “Um…I really think you need to see this.” She weakly tried to call attention to what was happening on the ground, but was unheard amongst all the yelling.

As the last of tar-like ooze found its way into Discordia’s body, she began thrash around violently as if going into a seizure.

Terrified, Fluttershy let out a small high pitched shrill.

The Doctor heard the yellow pegasus’s cry and looked to see what was the matter. When he caught sight what was going on, Whooves was frozen in fear. “Um…GIRLS! I hate to interrupt, but I think something’s going on over here! I think we have a bloody problem!” He shouted.

Everypony stopped and looked only to see Discordia writhing on the ground in front of Fluttershy and Doctor Whooves. A tendril burst from each side of the unicorn’s back, piercing the flesh on its way out and standing her upright. Bones cracked as her entire body stretched and grew, matching Celestia in size. Looking down, the still changing creature pulled back a tendril readying to attack the petrified Fluttershy.
The yellow pegasus shrieked in fear, closing her eyes tight and pulling forward a wing in an attempt to shield herself.

“NO!” Future Twilight cried as leapt forward to push her friend out of the way, only to be rewarded for her actions with the feeling of intense pain. Twilight saw a look of horror in Fluttershy’s eyes as a splash of blood sprinkled her face. Whatever happened, it was bad...really bad. It hurt unlike anything she’d felt before, and Twilight could feel a warm liquid pouring down both her sides. The purple unicorn was almost afraid to look but turned anyway to identify the source of her agony. The tendril had pierced straight through her side. Blood tricked from the wound as Discordia smiled, exposing a mouth full of jagged fangs, and lifted her high into the air.

“I told you it wasn’t over!” The monstrous unicorn said as she grinned up at her victim, piercing her counterpart again with the other tendril.

Twilight could hardly speak. The limbs piercing her side had punctured at least one lung, if not both. The pain was unfathomable. She gasped as she looked down at her past self, her friends, and her mentor. Tears ran down her cheek as she forced out her last words.
“I’m…sorry. I- ” She coughed up a large amount of blood. “I couldn’t stop her.” The purple unicorn closed her eyes, knowing her end was near. All she could do now was hope the others were able to stop Discordia without her. Twilight a scream in anguish as her foe tore her in half and flung the remains to opposite sides of the room.

The others gasped, still trying to process what’s they’d just seen. Doctor Whooves, unable to handle the sight and smell of the blood and gore, vomited involuntarily.

Discordia spread her tendrils wide apart. Everypony backed up, unsure if she was preparing another attack. The black wriggling appendages suddenly became rigid, splitting into several long boney offshoots in the back. The gaps between them filled with a thin black membrane, forming a new pair of bat like wings. She flexed them momentarily to test her control and proceeded to flare them open as wide as she could. Discordia laughed with evil delight, looking at with satisfaction at everypony’s faces. They were scared and unsure of what was to come. Even Discord seemed to be struggling with the sickening display he’d just witnessed. The newly formed dark alicorn grinned as she locked eyes with the group. “One down…ten to go.”

Chapter 23: A Bond That Cannot Be Undone

Chapter 23: A Bond That Cannot be Undone

Discordia reveled in delight as she watched chaos ensue after killing the future Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow Dash welled up with anger and without assessing the odds, took to the air and readied an attack.

“Wait, Rainbow Dash!” Celestia attempted to stop her.

But the head strong pegasus ignored the princess's plea, tears flowing from her rose colored eyes as she filled with righteous anger. Dash flew as high as the dimensions of the room would allow and dove as fast as she could. Almost instantaneously she broke into a sonic rainboom. The wake of the blast shattered every window in the throne room, as the rest of the group struggled not to be blown back themselves. “This is for Twilight!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she bolted at the villainous alicorn.
At the moment of impact, it was as if a bomb was set off in the middle of the room. Most of the ponies were flung into the wall about 30 feet behind. Discord and the princesses were able to hold their ground but even they had slid back a little trying to shield themselves from the force of the blast. Everypony coughed and gagged, waving their hooves in an attempt to clear the air.

Applejack squinted trying to gaze into the cloud. A small flicker of purple light lit up in the wall of multicolored smoke as something came flying out like a cannon ball. “Incoming!” The orange mare yelled, ducking for cover as their rainbow haired friend was hurled towards them, slamming with a marble pillar.

Rainbow Dash struggled to breathe. Hitting that pillar had knocked the wind out of her, but she still tried to pull herself back on her hooves to fight. She was only able to stand momentarily before collapsing from exhaustion. Her friends rushed to her aid as the room echoed with Discordia’s laughter.

“Hahahaha! What a feeble attempt. You’ll have to try harder than that if you ever hope to defeat me.” She gloated, as she cleared the cloud with a single flap of her mighty wings. “So who’s next?”

“We are!” Celestia called out as she and Luna stepped forward.

They looked back to Discord who was still sitting there with his arms crossed. Noticing everypony’s stares, he pointed to himself. “Oh, did ‘we’ include me?” He asked before teleporting himself over the princesses. “You got to tell me these things Celestia. I’m not a mind reader.”
He said, joining in formation above them.

“Now that’s more like it.” Discordia smiled. The three of them focused their attacks into a single focal point. Discordia pulled a wing forward to protect herself from the bombardment of magical energies. The purple alicorn gritted her teeth as she held back the attack, tensing up in anger as with each moment she fought against their combined might. “ENOUGH!” She flung her wing open, redirecting the blast back at the trio.

Luna and Discord managed to avoid getting hit, but Celestia wasn’t so lucky. The combined force of their efforts grazed her, shattering the bones her back leg. The princess fell to the ground, unable to stand as the other ponies all rushed to the princess’s aid.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight hurried to her side. “Are you all right?”

“My leg...” Celestia bit her lip to manage the pain. “I think it’s broken.”

“Step back girls. I need to have a look at it.” Whooves stepped in and began scanning the injury with his sonic screwdriver and checking the read out. “Oh dear.”

“Is it bad?” Applejack asked

“I’m afraid so, it looks like we’re dealing with multiple fractures. In this condition, she won’t be able to stand, let alone fight.”

Discordia smiled. Her horn was consumed in darkness, the edges glowing ever so slightly with a dark purple aura, as she shifted attention to her next victim. “My turn.” The first blast was fired at Luna. The princess jumped to avoid the attack spreading open her wings should she need to take flight for evasive maneuvers, but the explosive force of the magic striking the ground below caught her off guard, launching the Princess of the Night into the air.

Discord flew up to catch the disoriented alicorn before she hit the ground.

Not missing the opportunity to attack her distracted foe, Discordia flew forward at break neck speed. Without a moment’s notice, she plunged her horn deep into the draconequus’s abdomen.

Discord let out a howl of pain as he dropped the princess and grabbed his attacker by the horn. On the ground, the girls huddled to help Luna.

“I’m sorry, does that hurt?” She mocked, licking her lips as the blood ran down her horn and dripped over her muzzle. “Let me help you with that.” Discordia then jerked her head in a downward motion, flinging the wounded draconequus into Princess Luna, who was just getting back on her feet, and the rest of the ponies. She landed nearby and walked over to her predecessor. Luna and the others tried to block her path but were effortlessly thrown across the room by a single swipe from her powerful wings.
“Why do you help these ponies, ‘father’? Would you not have more fun by my side, spreading chaos throughout the land? Join me. Help me destroy them, and I will allow you to live.”

Discord propped himself up on his paw, holding his wound with the other arm. His breath was erratic, as he stared defiantly into Discordia’s white eyes. “What you’re spreading…isn’t chaos. All you spread is pain and death.” He winced as his wound shot sensations of agony. “You are nothing like me.”

“But with death comes chaos. The pain of loss breeds panic and despair. What is holding you back? Could it be…her?” Discordia glanced over to Celestia.

“You leave her out of this!” The draconequus commanded through gritted teeth. “Your fight with me is not done yet.”

“Oh I think it is.” Discordia smiled sadistically, placing a hoof over Discord’s claw and pushed down to irritate his injury.

“Nghraaah!” He cried out trying to fight the pain.

“Let’s see how much life means to you without her? Hmm?” Discordia’s horn was once again enveloped in darkness as she turned her head to Celestia. “Bye bye” Discordia fired a massive beam of energy at the incapacitated princess. Celestia could only watch as her doom approached. She turned her head away and closed her eyes, awaiting the end.

“Nooo!” Ignoring the pain, Discord jumped to his feet and ran to save her.

Celestia opened her eyes to see the draconequus standing before her, shielding her from the attack with his back. Discord struggled as the dark alicorn gave it everything she had, but he stood firm looking down at the princess with determination.

“Discord! No…” The pink maned princess looked up at him in surprise.

“I’m sorry, Celestia. It looks like we’ll have to spread chaos together another time.” He smiled weakly at her, trying to downplay the situation. “I release you from our agreement.” He reached forward with his paw, placing it under the princess’s jaw and lifted her head to match is gaze. Celestia’s mane returned to its natural color, but she didn’t notice. Her eyes were locked on him as she wept uncontrollably.
From behind, Discord could feel his body beginning to solidify and turn once again into stone but didn’t try to move. He continued to take it all until the attack ended. His body hardened as the transformation crept forward. With the last of the last of his power, he smiled down at her as the petrification began to move up his neck. “Do not cry for me, Celestia. Chaos comes and goes. It is the nature of chaos to do so. But know this, throughout all time, my love will be with you always. Good bye, my dear.” A single tear rolled down his cheek, turning to stone as the magic fully consumed him.

Tears continued to stream from Celestia as she stared into his lifeless eyes and whispered, “Love you too.”

The tender moment was ended suddenly as the statue of Discord exploded, sending chunks of rock in all directions.

Celestia’s eyes widened in disbelief. “NO!”

Discordia stood across from her smiling viciously, smoke rising from her horn as it cooled down. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I break him? I guess they just don’t build them like they used to.” She redirected her attention to the others. “I’ll let the princess soak in misery a bit longer before I kill her. So who wants to be my next playmate?”

Chapter 24: A Challenger Appears

Chapter 24: A Challenger Appears

Luna stood strong, ready to fight, knowing that she had no chance of winning.

Twilight knew this as well and tried to stop her. “Princess, wait!”

The dark blue alicorn turned and whispered to Twilight with determination. “We will keep her distracted as long as we can. Use the Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight nodded in acknowledgement and huddled up with the rest of the girls to fill them in on the plan.

Luna stepped forward, meeting eyes with Discordia. “We shall not allow you to succeed.”

Discordia smiled back. “Planning to use the elements on me again, eh?”

Luna gasped. “How did you -!?”

“Oh please, princess. We both know that you can’t hope to hold your own against me. I’m not stupid. There’s no need to be so deceptive.”
Discordia challenged the others, spreading her wings wide open. “Here, give it your best shot.”

Dumbstruck, the girls looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

Twilight turned to Luna for guidance. The princess was just as confused, but Twilight realized this might be their only chance. “Alright then. Get ready girls?!” She called out to the group, as they fell into formation. Their elements began to glow, lifting them into the air. Twilight’s eyes lit up bright white as she was pulled up to the center of the group.

“Come on! Let’s see what you can do.”
Discordia taunted with excitement.

In an explosion of light, a rainbow beam shot up to the air, arcing down and bathing Discordia with its purifying energy. The purple alicorn let out a scream, the magic consuming her. It seemed all was won. As the magical energies subsided, the girls landed gently on the ground, drained by the stress of their second usage of the Elements.

But before the smoke had a chance to clear, the sound of Discordia’s laughter echoed from within. Everypony gasped in disbelief, as the villainous alicorn stepped out from the dark cloud of debris. “Did you really think that would work?” She continued to laugh. “It didn’t stop me the last time, what made you think you’d succeed the second time around?...But if it’s any consolation, that hurt a lot more than I expected.” Discordia arrogantly tilted her head to crack her neck, and brushed off debris with her wings. “So, do you have any other bright ideas or should I kill you now and call it a day?”

Everypony backed away in fear.

“What now?” Rarity asked, looking to Twilight for a new strategy.

“I don’t know, Rarity. Anypony else have a plan?”

“W-we could run away.” Fluttershy suggested.

“For what?! She’ll just find us again.” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“What if we-” Pinkie started, but was interrupted by the Doctor.

“I have idea.” He said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

“You got weapon in that fancy stick of yours?” Applejack asked.

“No, but I do have a secret weapon of sorts.”

“Well, where is it!?” Rainbow Dash yelled in frustration.

“You mean, ‘where is she?’” Whooves corrected the confused blue pegasus and turned to Discordia. “If you’ll allow us just a little bit more time, we have one last thing to try.”

Intrigued and curious of what he was planning, Discordia acknowledged his request. “Very well, but make it quick. I grow bored with this game.”

The Doctor pressed a button on the device, causing a static filled holographic screen to appear. “Assistant, do you read me?” The static began to clear and the outline of pony could be seen on the other end.

“Doctor? Whoa! Where are you? And where did this thing come from? Did you guys win?” The screen finally cleared up to reveal a walleyed, grey mare tapping on the screen. “Oh hi, Rainbow Dash!”, she smiled and waved.

“Oh no, not her! That’s your secret weapon?!” Rainbow Dash groaned.

The Doctor glared at the blue pegasus, scolding her for her rude remark before turning back to the screen. “Assistant, we need your help.”

“But what about Dinky!? I can’t just leave her here alone!”

“I’m sending the TARDIS to your location. I’ll have it bring you here and then send Dinky somewhere safe. I’m sorry to put you in this position, but I’m afraid your help is imperative to our chances of survival.”

“But what can I do?”

“You have a power within you that even you aren’t aware of. I saw when I absorbed the memories of my future self. Derpy, you’re our only hope.”

The blond maned pegasus stared blankly at the screen.

“Um...Derpy?” The Doctor asked, unsure if she was paying attention.

She continued to stare, expressionless for a few moments before seemingly coming out of a trance and responding. “Alright Doctor, I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you.” The Doctor said, signing off and looking to the rest of the girls.

“Seriously!? She’s your secret weapon?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in frustration.

Whooves simply gave her a stare, ignoring her comments. “She’ll be here momentarily.”

Discordia scoffed. “A valiant effort, but pointless.”

“We’ll see about that, you monster.” Whooves said with a glare.

“You know, while your future self was hiding away with Twilight, planning your escape to the past, we killed her…slowly. She died calling your name, begging for her Doctor to save the day. Like cowards, you both left her to die.” Discordia taunted, laughing to demoralize the brown stallion.

“Y-you're just trying to get into our heads!” He said, gnashing his teeth in anger.

“Am I? Then why did you arrive in the past without her? Hm?”

The girls all looked at the Doctor, unsure what to think.

“Derpy stayed to fight. It’s what she wanted. You and your abominations murdered her child! She had nothing left to lose.”

A screeching noise interrupted the two of them as the TARDIS materialized a few feet away. The door opened as the grey pegasus stepped out. “Um…I’m here!” She smiled and waved at everyone before turning around and poking her head back in the blue, rectangular booth. “Now you stay here. Mommy and The Doctor will come get you when it’s safe. Ok, Muffin?” She took a step back clearing the doorway. “Ok, stay safe. Bye bye.” She waved as the TARDIS closed its door and screeched once more, disappearing from sight. She turned to the group with a look of confusion on her face. “So what were we doing again?”

The entire group looked at the Doctor in disbelief. Nervously, he pulled on his collar, trying to ignore the stares and groans. “Well, um. I-I didn’t really think this out that far. I need you to get really upset. Think of something that makes you mad.”

“I’ll try.” She said, crossing her eyes as she tried to focus. “Um…we’re…out of muffins...” She thought even harder. “I got yelled at for mixing up the mail again.” She squinted and stuck out her tongue as she tried to visualize. “I…I got nothing.” She said shrugging her shoulders.

“Allow me.” Discordia said as she fired a beam of magic directly at the Doctor.

The girls jumped away, as the brown pony was set ablaze. His screams of pain were quickly choked out, the flames stealing his breath away. He collapsed to the floor, and the fire died out almost instantly, leaving behind a charred, smoking pile of mangled flesh.

“Doctor!” Derpy cried as she galloped to his side.

He coughed, trying to clear his smoke filled lungs, and looked up at his assistant with the one eye that hadn’t been fused shut by the burns. His skin cracked and split as he painfully reached out to his teary eyed assistant. “You…have to save…Equestria.” He wheezed, wiping the moisture from her eyes.

Derpy reached out, and held his blackened hoof, nuzzling it against her cheek. “But what about you?”

“I’m sorry it had to be this way.” Whooves coughed up another small puff of smoke and wheezed for air. “Be strong, my assistant.” His hoof fell limp as he closed his eye and exhaled deeply.

The walleyed pegasus just sat there. Her lip quivered as tears spilled uncontrollably from her eyes.
The Pinkie Pie walked up to the grey pegasus and attempted to console her, placing a hoof on her shoulder in a gesture of support.

Derpy’s brow furrowed as she released the Doctor’s hoof and got up. She turned to Discordia with rage. “H-how could you?”

“Oh, poor little Derpy.” Discordia mockingly pouted her lip as she spoke. “Did I hurt your boyfriend? Well don’t you worry, you’ll all join him soon enough. After all, I’m just getting started. When I’m done here, I’m going to find that little filly of yours and do the same to her.”

“NO! You leave Dinky out of this!”

“Hahaha!...Or what? You couldn’t save her last time either.”

“What are you talking about!?”

“Oh, didn’t he tell you? In my future, your little brat was...how do I put this?... unfortunate enough to have a run in with a few of my associates. I’m afraid, things didn’t go well for her and she kind of…” Discordia chuckled. “…lost her head. I think this time I’ll make it even more horrifying for your little one. Oh, I know! How about I reanimate your corpse and send it to kill her? That way the last thing she sees is the sight of her own mother ripping her apart.”

“You won’t lay a hand on my muffin!” Derpy stomped, as the ground began to quake around them.

The girls looked around in confusion, ducking for cover as a beam of light tore a hole in the ceiling, bathing their accident prone friend in its glow, and releasing the grey pegasus’s Elemental power.

Discordia grinned in delight. “Took you long enough.” The purple alicorn yawned. “Now let’s get this over with. I’m getting bored with you ponies, and I’ve got a full schedule after I’m done here. You know, chaos to spread, ponies to kill. Lots of busy work.”

Chapter 25: Will It Ever End?

Chapter 25: Will It Ever End?

Derpy shot forward, starting the next round of the battle. Discordia, in turn, took to the air, dodging as the pegasus zipped below her. The purple alicorn spun around and smirked hoping to catch the sight of her victim crash into the adjacent wall, but was thrown for a loop when she saw nothing of the sort. In fact, it was as if the grey pegasus had disappeared.
Discordia looked around in surprise, trying to locate the Element of Love.

“Where did she- GRAH!” Discordia released a howl of pain as Derpy shot up from below. Her hoof sunk deep into the alicorn's lower abdomen, forcing her to vomit as she was sent crashing into the ceiling before plummeting back to the ground. Discordia held her gut, coughing as she got back on her feet and looked up in rage. “You…!” She regained her composure. “You’ll pay for that cheap shot…and so will your little one. I’ve decided I won’t kill her right away after all. No, I think I’ll torture her for a few years first. She’ll be begging me to kill her as she endures only the most exquisite suffering.”

Blinded by rage, Derpy dove down for a second attack, but was stopped as Discordia shielded herself with her wings. The furious pegasus pounded on them as hard as she could, trying to break though, but to no avail. It was like pounding on a wall of solid steel. No matter how hard she hit, there was no give, but as she began to wear herself out, the wings began to separate and squirm.
Before Derpy had any time to react, she found herself wrapped in a mass of black tendrils, squeezing the life out of her. She struggled as hard as she could, but they were just too strong. In an act of desperation she let out a muffled cry and bit down on the tendril wrapped over her shoulder. Discordia screamed in pain once again and flung Derpy at the others.

“I got her!” Rainbow Dash yelled to the others as the jumped up in an attempt to catch her friend. Unfortunately for both of them, all that achieved was to send the both of them crashing into the wall behind. The others rushed to their aid.

“Are you all right?” Twilight asked as she pulled Derpy off of Rainbow Dash and back on her feet while Fluttershy and Applejack attended to their blue friend.

“Yeah. I’m ok…” Derpy said while rubbing her hoof over a dent in her helmet. “But I don’t think I’m strong enough to beat her on my own.” She turned back to the others. “You ok Rainbow Dash?”

The rainbow maned pegasus’s eyes were still spinning as Applejack and Fluttershy held her up. “Ughhh…” she groaned, trying to shake it off. “Yeah, I’m fine too. I’m just getting really tired of being thrown into walls.”

“I hope that’s not all you’ve got.” Discordia interrupted, slowly walking towards them, her tendrils writhing and lashing about.

The girls cautiously backed away, fearing what was next to come.

“Game over. Time to die.” The purple alicorn smiled as the girls backed into the wall, her tendrils lurching forward.

Fluttershy shivered in fear, closing her eyes and holding onto Rainbow Dash as the black appendages nearly reached them. The tension was broken as a blast of magic, hit the tendril. Discordia turned her head in irritation to find Luna standing defiantly a few feet away.

“Thou will have to go through me first.” The princess of the night said, holding a defensive position.

Discordia rolled her eyes and sighed. “Very well.” Without even facing the princess, the purple alicorn slammed her with a tendril, knocking Luna over with a single blow.

Luna promptly lifted herself back up. Her legs trembled as she fought to stay on her hooves.

“Will you just stay down already?” Discordia said, turning around and smacking the blue alicorn to the ground once again.

Luna lifted her head and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off as a tendril wrapped around her throat, lifting her into the air.

“What was that, princess?”

Luna grunted and choked, trying to loosen the grip around her neck.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that. It sounded like you were saying ‘I don’t have enough broken bones’. Why princess! I’d be happy to help you out with that.” Discordia flung her tendril into the ground hurling Luna with enough force to crack the marble floors. “Oh, you want more?” She mocked. The purple alicorn continued slamming her beaten opponent repeatedly onto the floor, laughing as blood splattered and feathers flew. She lifted the broken and bruised princess into the air, admiring her work. “I guess we’re done here.” Discordia said, releasing the grip on Luna, leaving her twitching and bleeding in a crater.

“No more…” Derpy said in a flat tone.

The purple alicorn smiled. “‘No more’? Ha ha ha. Oh, there will be more, a lot more. You girls are just my warm up. I plan to do this and much, much worse to all of Equestria. Besides, who’s gonna stop me? You?” She chuckled to herself. “Oh, you’re strong. I’ll give you that, but you can’t stop me on your own.”

“She’s not alone!” Twilight announced as she and the others stood in front of Derpy.

Discordia yawned. “Oh yes, how could I forget Twilight Sparkle and her worthless sidekicks?”, she said sarcastically waving her hoof around to dismiss them. “I no longer find this amusing. No offence to you mares, I think I’ll clean up here and find some new playmates.” Discordia’s tendrils combined back into wings, and she took to the air. Her horn radiated with dark magic. “Say good bye, girls! It’d been a blast!” A cone of energy shot down, consuming the entire group.

Twilight and her friends screamed, anticipating their demise.

“I said NO MORE!” The grey pegasus stomped her hoof, her boot cracking the floor below.
Suddenly a massive dome of golden light stretched out, holding back the blast.

“What’s this?!” Discordia said in surprise, ending her attack.

“I won’t let you do this anymore!” The dome popped, revealing the Elements of Harmony to be unharmed. “You’ve hurt so many ponies already! The princesses! My friends!” A tear rolled down her cheek as she turned to the charred pony lying on the floor. “The Doctor…I won’t let you continue to harm the ones I love.” The cutie mark insignia on her chest plate began to glow, creating six bubbles similar in color to the dome that protected them. “I may not be able to stop you alone…” The bubbles separated and hovered in front of the Elements of each of the girls. “But I am the Element of Love, and the best thing about love…” Each of the bubbles bonded with the Elements. “…is that it can be shared!”
The six mares began to glow with a blinding golden light. Discordia shielded her eyes momentarily. And when the light subsided, the purple alicorn gasped as she beheld each of the Elements of Harmony sporting a unique set of armor.
“And the more love is shared, the stronger it gets.”

Rainbow Dash smiled.
“Payback time”

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow both looked at each other and nodded. The pink pony ran up to Dash and jumped up on her hooves as the blue pegasus launched her into the air. Pinkie’s armor was of a futuristic style, and when she hit the ceiling, her back boots clamped down and held her up there. She held her front hooves together, the metal shifting and locking together to form a large gun barrel. “Time for the party cannon!” The targeting system slid down over Pinkie’s left eye as she locked on and fired a ball of pink energy from her front hooves.

Discordia jumped forward, barely escaping the blast. Her mouth gaped as she looked to see a massive hole in the ground just inches behind her.

Rainbow Dash was next. She wore a bronze helmet, with a matching shield, and shin pads reminiscent or Roman or Greek armor. A rainbow cape attached to her element. The blue pegasus darted forward, stopping just in front of Discordia who was holding her front hooves in front to shield herself. The dark alicorn peeked out to see Rainbow hovering upright in front of her.

“You’re…not going to attack?” Discordia lowered her arms in confusion.

The Rainbow Dash just smirked, lifting her rear leg up and with a single forceful kick, sent the alicorn plummeting into the hole behind.

Discordia fell down into the main hall, landing hard on the red carpeted stairs before rolling to the ground.

Chapter 26: The Final Chapter

Chapter 26: The Final Chapter

Down jumped Rarity who donned an elegant, rust colored Victorian era dress partially covered by a large contraption of cogs and gears strapped to her back that extended to cover her limbs with an outer skeleton of brass and pistons. Upon her head as a small, frilly top hat that she wore tiled to one side and a pair of welding goggles.

“And what are you supposed to be?” Discordia mocked, trying to keep up her cocky appearance.

“I’m glad you asked, Darling.” Rarity said as her horn shot a wisp of magic back, starting the machine. It began to chug and blow smoke as a set of six large sewing needles were magically lifted out of the device, each pre-threaded with thick steel wire. Rarity pulled the carpet out from under Discordia. “I’ll take that.”
She lifted the material over the alicorn, restraining her as a flurry of needles descended upon her, securing Discordia snugly before wrapping her within a cocoon of woven metal.

Up above, the girls looked down into the pit.

“She’s all yours, girls!” Rarity called out as she flung her subdued alicorn back up to the throne room.

Discordia struggled to break free, but to the bindings were too strong and tightly stitched.

Applejack stepped up next. Her armor was most peculiar. She sported a chainmail vest, with steel plated cowboy boots, but still wore her regular old hat. In her mouth she held the handle to what looked like a whip constructed of links of tiny blade strung together. “I don’t reckon it’s a fair fight, what with you all tied up like that.” Applejack flung the blade whip forward cutting open the cocoon.

Once free, Discordia tried to take aerial superiority by flying up to the ceiling.

“Now we’ll have none of that now.” Applejack said as she spun her weapon, the end magically looping together to form a bladed lasso.
The lasso wrapped around the alicorn’s black wings, tearing into them. Discordia let out a cry of pain as the orange mare used her weapon to fling her enemy to the ground right in front of Fluttershy.

The yellow pegasus ducked, afraid of getting hit when the her opponent fell. She peeked up to see Discordia getting up and standing imposingly over her. Fluttershy stood to her feet, wearing a set of iron armor padded with coarse brown fur. On her head was a matching helmet with forward turned horns protruding from each side. She avoided making eye contact as she spoke. “Um, I’m going to attack you now…if that’s ok with you.” Fluttershy said and looked up to Discordia.

Discordia let out a smiled, sensing the fear within the yellow pegasus. “And just what are you going to do?” She stood back out and towered menacingly over Fluttershy.

“Well…” She took a deep breath and release a shout with the might of a dragon. “FUS RO!...yay.” Upon the quiet utterance of the last word, it was as if a wall of raw power hit the purple alicorn head on. The force of the thu’um sent her flying across the room with unheard of force.

Rainbow Dash was almost caught up in the blast as well and held up her shield to lessen the blow. “Careful Fluttershy! You almost got me too!”

“Oh! I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. I didn’t mean to.” Fluttershy squeaked as lip began to quiver, unable to handle the criticism from her friend.

“It’s fine. Look, don’t worry about it. You did a great job.” The blue pegasus flew over and reassuringly put her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder.
“Just watch out next time, ok?”

“Ok…”

Across the room Discordia yet again found herself trying to pull herself to her feet. “How dare you!” She growled, as she looked up to face Twilight Sparkle, who wore a grey hooded robe with a stone chest plate. The markings in the stone glowed with a pink magical light. The purple unicorn just stood there in silence, staring at her evil twin.

Not wanting to face another attack, Discordia deceivingly pleaded “Please, just let me go. I promise…I’ll just go away, and nopony will ever see or hear from me again. Just please... have mercy!”

Twilight stared at her evil counterpart intensely, her horn lit up and her eyes turned bright white as the runes on her chest seemed to glow even brighter. “Mercy?! Would you have shown us mercy?! Did you show mercy to my future self? What about the Doctor, huh?! Did you show him mercy!? You don’t deserve to live!” Twilight eye started to glow even brighter, shifting to a sinister green and releasing a purple smoke from the sides as she filled with rage.

Discordia cowered in fear, awaiting the purple unicorn’s attack. “Please! Just let me go! Besides, we- we’re like sisters, you and I. Right? Just look at me. Look how much we’re alike. You- you don’t want to hurt me.”

Twilight smiled down with amusement at her evil twin cowering at her feet. Discordia needed to pay for her crimes, and she was going to enjoy making her suffer. “Oh, but I do want to hurt you.” Twilight paused for a moment in surprise, and looked up at her friends who looked at her with concern and a bit of fear. She gasped and her magic subsided, her eyes returning to normal. “I- I do want to hurt you, but you and I are nothing alike.” She said as she turned her focus back to Discordia. “Go…Go far away and never show your face in Equestria again.”

Discordia stood up in surprise and watched as her unicorn counterpart walked away and rejoined her friends. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Derpy were pulling Rarity back up from the main hall. Pinkie Pie detached from the ceiling and landed gently on the floor using jet engines integrated to the bottoms of her boots. She giggled as Twilight walked up and spoke with her and Applejack. They all stood together and stared at the alicorn with disgust, as Discordia looked back at Twilight.

“Thank you…” The alicorn bowed her head in humility, as smile crept over her face. “…for gathering everypony in one place so I can finish you all off!” She screamed, darting her head back up. Discordia’s entire body began to glow and pulsate with dark energy, engulfing her in a cloak of pure shadow. “If I can’t win, nopony will!”, she cried out, laughing manically. “I’ve infused every cell in my body with the most volatile of chaos magic. When my power explodes, it won’t just take you out, it will level all of Canterlot! With no royalty to rule them, this land with descend into chaos as my magic manifests new nightmarish creatures in its wake! It’s just a shame none of us will be around to see it.”

“No!” Twilight screamed. “We have to destroy her before she ruins Equestria!” The purple unicorn fired a blast of magic, at Discordia, but it was absorbed into the darkness surrounding her, causing her to pulsate with a dark purple light.

“You’re only making it stronger!” The alicorn laughed.

There was only one thing to do. Twilight looked back at the others. “We need to use the Elements of Harmony!”

“What good’s that gonna do us!? It didn’t stop her the last two times!” Rainbow Dash weighed in.

“Yes, I’m aware of that, but those we didn’t have Derpy those times. The Elements of Harmony weren’t truly complete. I know in my heart that together we can and will succeed. We have to. But just in case I’m wrong, I want you to know that you girls are the best friends a pony could ever ask for, and I love each and every one of you.”

As Twilight said those words, Derpy’s elemental gem lit up, reassuring the rest of them that this time would be different. The girls gathered together as the magic of the Elements of Harmony lifted them up, and stripped all of them except Derpy of their armor. The six of them floated in the air circling around Twilight forming a rotating hexagon. The purple unicorn’s eyes opened wide, shining a brilliant white as an explosion of rainbow colored energy filled the room. From outside, all remaining windows of the castle shattered as streams of rainbow light poured out from every opening before flickering back to nothing.

The girls lay on the floor, weakened as they all struggled to get up to see if it worked.
In the place Discordia previously stood, sat nothing but a pile of ash and cracked and broken black crown.

“Ughhhh…” Twilight groaned, squinting her eyes to get a clear view of their adversary. “Did we save the kingdom?”

“I- I think so, Twi.” Applejack responded.

“Can we go get some muffins?” Derpy moaned, exhausted.

“Bloody good job, girls.” A male voice called to them from across the room.
They looked over in surprise to see Doctor Whooves standing before them, perfectly fine.

“Doctor!” The grey pegasus jumped up right away and tackled him with a hug.

“Haha. It’s good to see you too, Derpy” He said, sharing her embrace.

“But how? Weren’t you burnt crisper than a deep fried apple?” Applejack lifted up her hat and scratched her head in confusion.

“It’s quite a simple explanation, actually.” Whooves said as the rest of the girls waited with baited breath. “The wounds were really only superficial, and you see…Time Lords have the ability to regenerate.”

“Are you serious? That’s it?” Rarity asked in a flat, unimpressed tone.

“Um…yeah pretty much, but if you girls aren’t too badly hurt, I think our next business should be to get the princesses some medical attention.”

They all looked at each other with urgency and sprung to their feet.

Several Weeks Later…
The Castle is in the process of being repaired. Construction ponies scale the walls on scaffolds replacing windows and repairing the structural damage caused by the attack. Celestia sits in the garden outside, a cast around her back leg. She’s delegating orders to ponies with blueprints as the design plans to renovate the castle.

The meeting is cut short as a guard approaches her. “Your majesty.” He says as he bows before her.

“Rise, Captain. What news do you have for me today?”

“Oh. Um, I’m sorry your majesty, I’m still getting used to the title. Well, news of your sister, Princess Luna, has returned from Canterlot Memorial Hospital. She’s doing well and if her recovery is swift, she should be out of traction within four lunar cyles. Speaking of recovery, you shouldn’t be out here either. If you don’t mind me saying, Princess, you look terrible. You need your rest.”

“That’s good to hear. I shall visit my sister later today. Is that all, Captain Shield Stomper?” She asked, ignoring his advice.

“Well no… there is one more thing. The men found another fragment today, buried in the rubble.”
He presented the princess with a stone claw.

Celestia slowly got up on her feet. “Take me to him.”

“But your highness, you really shouldn’t be walking around on that leg.”

“I’ll be fine, Captain. Take me to him.”

Celestia limped into the main hall and up the stairs to her private quarters with help from her new Captain. They stopped in front of a broken statue. The body was long and snake like with mismatching legs.

“Leave us.” She commanded. “I wish to be alone for a while.”

“Of course, my Princess.” Shield Stomper said with a bow as he exited her chambers.

Celestia sat down on her bed, facing the broken stone visage. She attached the claw to the left side of his torso, bonding it with her magic. She sighed, partly out of longing but mostly out of regret. A single tear rolled down her face and she looked up at the headless body.
“I don’t know if you’ll ever awaken or if you can even hear me, my love. But after all you’ve done for me...after all you’ve done for Equestria, I will not rest until you are whole again. This I promise.”

Chapter 1: What the Buck?

Chapter 1: What the Buck?
It’s was another beautiful day in Equestria. Winter Wrap Up had just ended a few weeks prior and spring was in full swing. Birds could be heard chirping their happy little songs as Fluttershy tended to the woodland creatures. Rainbow Dash drifted lazily overhead, napping on a cloud above, enjoying her day off from the weather patrol. In the distance dust kicked up down the road as Pinkie Pie ran up to Fluttershy with a sense of urgency, stopping under Dash's cloud.

“Hey Fluttershy! Twilight sent me to tell everypony that she needs us at the library! It's super duper important. A.J. and Rarity are already on their way! Have you seen Rainbow Dash?!”

The rainbow maned pegasus's ears perked up upon hearing her name, but stayed put until she could determine if what Pinkie Pie had to say was worth disturbing her relaxation.

Fluttershy meekly looked to the floor and mumbled
“Well…um…”

"It's really really important that I find her. Twilight said we all need to be there."

"I...uh..." Fluttershy looked to the sky.

"Oooo! Is the flying around?!"
Pinkie darted her head up hoping to see Dashie practicing some new tricks and stunts but was disappointed to see nothing but blue skies and white clouds.
"Nope. I guess I'll have to go find her."

“Sheesh! I’m right here Pinkie! What’s so important?!” Rainbow called down without even so much as leaning over the side of her cloud.

All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie’s head pops up, startling Rainbow Dash as Pinkie seemingly appears out of nowhere right by her feet.
“Oh there you are, Dashie!” Pinkie giggled for a second.
“Twilight didn’t say why, she just said it was important. And not just regular important, really really important. Come on we gotta go! I got a cake waiting for us there.”

Rainbow Dash, still struggling to comprehend how Pinkie Pie got up there with her, began to ask,
“Uh, Pinkie, when did you learn how to fly?”

Pinkie giggled again.
“Oh I can’t fly, Dashie. You know that, silly."

"Then how did you..." Dash began, but was cut off by Pinie Pie.

"I’m on stilts!”

Rainbow looked over the side of the cloud to see four long stilts coming up to where Pinkie was standing.
“Where did those even…?! I mean, how did you…?! Oh never mind... I don't want to know.”, Rainbow said as she shook her head, simply accepting the absurdity of it all.

“Um…maybe we should start going…I mean, if that's ok with everyone else.” Fluttershy mildly cut in as she looked to the ground to avoiding eye contact.

“You’re right! Let’s see what’s going on.” Rainbow Dash said as she sprung up and flew off towards Twilight’s library.

At the library, Twilight paced back and forth waiting for the last of her friends to arrive. Rainbow had just flown in minutes ago, but Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were still catching up. Twilight looked out the door to see them in the distance galloping as fast as they could.
“Finally! They’re here.”, she said with a sigh of relief.

Pinkie and Fluttershy ran in and joined their friends. Fluttershy was panting and out of breath, unable to match Pinkie's boundless energy.

“So now that everypony’s here, are you gonna tell us what’s going on or what?” Rainbow Dash shouted impatiently.
“What was so important that we all had to hurry over here?”

“I have some very important news girls.” Twilight explained.
“Princess Celestia has requested our presence in Canterlot.”

“Did she say what for?” Applejack interrupted curiously

“Well…I’m not sure exactly, but if it’s from the Princess, it must be important... Thought the letter Spike gave me seemed a bit odd to me, her usual assistant must be on vacation or something.”

The girls looked at the note. The hoofwriting was atrocious. It looked like it had been written by a filly in magic kindergarten who had just learned how to use her horn to write. Most of it was hard to decipher, but what they they could make out said something about needing the six of them there as soon as possible. The oddest thing about the letter was at the bottom, where the Princess’ signature would normally be. In its place, there were only some doodles and a strange smiley face, mouth wide open and rolling its eyes.

“You sure this is from the Princess, Twilight?” Applejack asked, looking at the note with confusion, wondering how something so poorly written could have come from Celestia.

“I’m sure.” Twilight confirmed in an urgent tone.
“I had Spike take a letter and send it directly to the Princess to confirm that this was, indeed, from her and her response suggested that the situation was of the utmost importance.”

She pulled out another letter to show the girls. It was extremely short and simply read,
“Who else would be sending you letters through a dragon? Y U NO HERE YET!?”

Meanwhile in Canterlot, there was some commotion in the castle. The large doors to the Royal Throne Room were barred shut, as something pounded from the outside determinedly tying to get in.

"Again! I want this door taken down yesterday!" A stallion on the other side could be heard yelling as the wooden board locking the door flexed with every slam, cracking as the the barrage of blows continued. At last the door burst open, flying off the hinges and as the dust cleared, Princess Luna stood at the threshold, backed by a dozen royal guards. Her horn still glowing from the magic she used to gain entrance.

“Where is she?!” Luna demanded loudly at the Alicorn sitting atop the royal throne.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sis.” Celestia’s voice called out.

“No! Thou art not our sister. Thou art an impostor, and we shall see you pay for your crimes. Now where is she?” Luna commanded stomping her hoof on the ground.

The guards rushed in and surround the imposter as she sat, smiling and chuckling to herself. She looked very similar to Celestia, but with one major defining difference: her coat, normally a brilliant white, was a light pink.

“What gave me away?” She playfully asked.

“Aside from the fact that our Princess is an entirely different color than you,” a rather buff officer of the royal guard started to answer, "Her Majesty would have never committed the atrocities you have brought upon the citizens of Canterlot. And now, imposter, you are under arrest for the disappearance of Princess Celestia, impersonating a member of the Royal family, and conspiracy to take the throne!”

“Oh, I see.” The pink Celestia lookalike grinned down, obviously not taking any of them seriously. “Well, you caught me. I'm not your princess. But before you do...whatever it is you plan to do, I have a quick question for all of you.”

“And what would that be?” The royal officer said as he signaled to the other guards to close in. He stepped one foot forward in preparation, in case she tried to flee.

The pink Alicorn’s horn began to glow as her grin grew into a playful malevolent smile.
“Do you like Bananas?”

Chapter 6: I Couldn’t Think of a Title. Deal With It!

Chapter 6: I Couldn’t Think of a Title. Deal With It!

“I just don’t understand.” Twilight stomped in frustration.
“How could something that big just disappear?”

The duplicate Dash stood there rolling her eyes as Twilight and Applejack looked around the location where the attack from the tall creature had taken place, but nothing was there. The tower was gone with no signs that it even existed. The ground was untouched and the grass looked as if it had been growing there for years.

“Well Twilight, maybe we’re in the wrong place.” Applejack suggested.

“No, I’ve checked the map three times. This is where it happened.” The purple unicorn said as she paced back and forth trying to figure out what was going on.

“Look guys, I’m sure Pinkamin-…uh, I mean Pinkie Pie is just fine. She’s probably waiting for us back at the library.” Factory Dash motioned back the way they came.
“We should head back and stop wasting our time out here.”

Applejack picked up that something wasn’t quite right with Dash since the incident. It wasn’t like her to even consider abandoning her friends. She narrowed her eyes at the rainbow maned pegasus.
“Hey Rainbow Dash, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what happened to your tail?”

“W-what are you taking about?” Dash said, shifting her eyes. She knew where this was going and immediately started thinking of reasons she could use to maintain her cover.

“Your tail, it’s all black. What happened to it?” Applejack asked accusingly.

“I don’t see how this is importan-” Twilight began to interject

“No Twi, I want to know.” The orange mare hushed her friend and locked her eyes with the supposed Rainbow Dash
“What happened to your tail?”

“Um…I dunno! It’s not like I’m staring at my back side all day. It must have been like that when I woke up.” Dash began to sweat.

“And just where have you been all day? Rarity was in pretty bad shape. I didn’t see nothin’ in her shop that would make me think she was there at all. As banged up as she was, you’d think there would be some blood somewhere.” Applejack pointed out.

Twilight gave an inquisitive look.
“What are you getting at? You’re not suggesting that Rainbow Dash would harm Rarity, are you?”

“I dunno Twilight. I’ve had a weird feeling about her ever since the library. Something’s wrong here, and I aim to get to the bottom of it.” Applejack snorted and took a step towards Dash, locking eyes with her.

The light blue pegasus stepped forward in turn, and got right up in Applejack’s face.
“I told you, I don’t know. So why don’t you back the buck off before somepony gets hurt.” Dash’s wings flared open.

The two stared each other down for a few moments until Applejack finally took a step back.
“Fine, Rainbow Dash. You win this round, but I’m on to you.” She pointed a hoof at her eyes and then back to Dash.

“Fine by me, because I didn't do anything!”, the pegasus replied, and folded up her wings.

“Girls, now is not the time for fighting.” Twilight stepped in, concerned about Applejack and Dash’s behavior.
“Let’s just meet up with Fluttershy and Spike to check up on Rarity. We’ll get the princess to send a search party of Royal Guards to comb the forest in the morning.”

The three of them headed back, Twilight leading the way, while Dash and Applejack followed behind glancing suspiciously at one another.

The three of them arrived a few hours later at Ponyville Hospital and spoke with the receptionist.

“What do you mean she’s not here?!” Twilight slammed her hoof on the desk.

“I’m sorry,” the unicorn sitting on the other end explained.
“No one under the name ‘Rarity’ has been checked in to this hospital.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” Twilight pleaded.
“Could you please check again? Our friend was pretty badly hurt. Fluttershy wouldn’t have taken her anywhere else.”

The receptionist looked over the check-in list once again.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to tell you, but she’s not here.”

Just then, the doors slid opened behind them and Fluttershy limped into the entrance. She was pale with deep cuts resembling claw marks all over her body. One of her wings was badly broken, and it was obvious that she’d lost a lot of blood. Twilight and Applejack rushed to her aid as the unicorn at the desk immediately got up and called for a doctor.

“Who did this to you?!” Twilight asked as she held her friend.
“Was it that monster? Where’s Rarity?!”

Fluttershy coughed up a small amount of blood, looking up at Twilight and Applejack as the nurses entered the room. They forced her friends back so that they could assess the severity of her condition. The yellow pegasus looked over at Dash, who stared back apathetically. Her eyes widened with pure horror as she began to convulse from shock, realizing that the pony standing before her wasn’t her friend, Rainbow Dash. The nurses lifted her up into a gurney. One of them, a gray earth pony, began manually pumping air into her lungs as the others prepared an IV.

“Who did this to you, Fluttershy!?” Twilight’s eyes filled with tears.
"Tell me!"

Fluttershy struggled to whisper, her strength fleeting as she lost consciousness. She looked weakly at her friends and said
“Opal…”, before falling completely limp.

The medical staff continued to stabilize her as they wheeled her away down the hall and into the ICU.

Twilight looked confused.
“Opal? There’s no way that Rarity’s cat could have done that kind of harm.”

“What do we do now, Twi?” Applejack leaned over to Twilight, supporting her.

“I don’t know, Applejack…” She began to cry.
“I just don’t know.”

Dash stepped up to them, unphased by the entire encounter.

Back where she was from, she’d seen hundreds, if not thousands of fillies and colts suffer a much worse fate at her own hooves. Working at the Cloudsdale Rainbow Factory had hardened her heart and filled her with nothing but contempt for life. Every year more pegasi children were brought to the factory after failing their flight exam. There was no room in society for failures like them. Only the best were allowed to represent Cloudsdale, the city in charge of all the weather in Equestria. Friend or not, Fluttershy was weak and therefore deserved to die.

Suddenly, Dash's mind flashed back as she remembered Scootaloo and the events that took place just before she was brought to this world by Trollestia. That little bitch had staged an uprising and nearly escaped the factory, but Dash got her. She strung the little brat up and prepared to feed Scootaloo into the pegasus device.

Then, hauntingly, she recalled one of the last things Scootaloo said to her. It echoed in the mind.
“You have beautiful eyes…”

Factory Dash looked into the glass doors of the hospital and saw her reflection. Cold, hateful eyes stared back at her. Like a flood, the most recent events before her sudden appearance in this Equestria unfolded. Dash grabbed her head screaming as she lost herself in the memory.

She had pulled the lever to start the machine and finish off Scootaloo, the filly who she had once thought of as a little sister, once and for all. Her mouth moved but Dash couldn’t hear the filly’s last words.
She called out to Scootaloo mockingly.
“What was that? Care to speak up before the end?”

Scootaloo’s eyes filled with tears.
“Good bye, Rainbow Dash…I love you.”

Impatiently, Rainbow Dash sped up the machine.

“I really wish I could have learned that sonic rainboom…Maybe another day.” Scootaloo sniffled
“Maybe we’ll meet again. Maybe…you’ll be better.” The machine began twisting Scootaloo as her bones popped and ribs began to break.

Dash was about to shut off the machine and confront the worthless filly, but at that moment, she suddenly felt weak. The light blue pegasus collapsed as her vision faded to black. She heard Scootaloo gargle as blood filled her lungs as the machine tore the little pegasus apart. Next thing she could remember, Dash awoke standing before the princess and Pinkamina.

Rainbow Dash snapped out of her trance and her eyes opened. She got up and looked back into glass door. There were tears flowing down her cheeks.

Twilight walked over to with concern.
“Are you alright?” She asked, placing a hoof on Dash’s shoulder.

Instinctively, Dash bucked wildly and kicked Twilight in the face, knocking her to the ground.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed.

Applejack rushed to assist Twilight.
“What’s wrong with you, Rainbow Dash?!” She looked at the unstable pegasus sternly.
“She was just tryin’ to help.”

"Well I don't need help from you or anypony !" She shouted back

Twilight, still on the ground looked up, the feeling of betrayal could be seen in her eyes.
“I was just worried about you...” With Applejack’s help, she pulled herself up.
“With everything that’s happened, we need to stick together, no matter what. I know things are bad, but you don’t have to go through it alone. We’re here for you. You’re like a sister to us, Rainbow Dash. We love you.”

Dash’s eyes began to swell with tears once more.
“You guys…” She turned her head away to hide her shame.
“I don’t deserve to be your friend, let alone your sister.”

“What are you talking about Rainbow?” Applejack asked softly, trying to understand.
“After all we’ve been through, of course you deserve to be our friend. Everypony makes mistakes, Sugar Cube, but that don’t mean we stop caring about you.”

“Sugarcube…” Dash said quietly as she thought to herself and dried her eyes. She pulled herself together and raised her head to face the girls.
“You’re right, Applejack. We all make mistakes…and it’s time for me to face mine and start making things right. The past can’t be changed, but I have a new start here. I need you two to come with me to Sugarcube Corner. There’s something you need to see.”