Chaos Reborn: The Corruption of Harmony

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.