That Which Darkness Sends

Chapters

Chapter 1 - The Failed Experament
Chapter 2 - The Story
Chapter 3 - Not Her Fight
Chapter 4 - The Night That Never Ends
Chapter 5 - Reign of Night
Chapter 6 - Study Time
Chapter 7 - An Endgame
Chapter 8 - Prismatic
Chapter 9 - Sneak and Slither
Chapter 10 - Beast
Chapter 12 - A Pink Illogic
Chapters 13/14 - Multiple Redundancies
Chapter 15 - One Last Chance
Chapter 16 - The Endgame
Chapter 11 - You are a Terrible Person

Chapter 1 - The Failed Experament

"The core is reaching critical!" the white unicorn yelled at his counterpart. He rapidly typed on his keyboard, bits whizzing by like streaks of light on his monitor. Sparks flew out of the large dome shaped machine, lighting up the dark concrete room.

"I fear we may not be able to stop it!" the blue unicorn replied. "We've waited too long to stabilize it!" She tightened a screw with her wrench, but it rebelliously shot out of its place.

The white pony ran over to the machine. "If it continues like this, it could destroy the known universe! There's only one way we can stop it! We have to activate it!"

"We can't do that! Even a fraction of a miscalculation and the temporal disruptions will-"

"-they'll tear the fabric of the universe apart. I know that, but we at least have to try!" He grabbed his own wrench and pulled open a panel, exposing the glowing green orb acting as a core.

The whole room was shaking, and the machine was making an unhealthy whirring noise. The white pony focused on the core and shifted it into place with his magic. The opening was filled with bright green light from the core. The blue pony slammed her hoof down on a large red button and the whole room flashed brightly as they fell unconscious.

* * *

Spike the dragon ran down the castle hallway. "Twilight!" he yelled, stopping at the last room. He clutched the scroll and pushed his way inside.

Twilight Sparkle was asleep. The purple alicorn princess had been dreaming about studying with Celestia, just like old times.

"Twilight, you need to see this!"

"Mmh," Twilight said as she buried her face into her pillow. She risked a peek out the window of her castle. "Spike, it's almost midnight. What could possibly be going on?"

"The princesses sent a letter!" The little dragon waved his arms frantically.

This got Twilight's attention. She sat up in bed and yawned. "What's it say?"

The out-of-breath baby dragon unrolled the scroll and started to read. "'Twilight, something is wrong in your kingdom. I sense a large amount of dark magic. It may soon overtake you. It might be left over from Tirek's battle. I am sure you know what to do.' Signed Princess Celestia of Equestria."

They were interrupted by a bright flash of light outside the window. Twilight ran over and looked out at Ponyville. A great white dome was growing up from the ground, enveloping everything in its path. Spike burped up another letter from Celestia. He read the single, terrifying word on the scroll:

"'Hide.'"

The floor started to disintegrate as Twilight grabbed Spike and huddled next to the bed. The world faded away in a flash of white.

* * *

Twilight, oddly enough, did not feel dead. She felt normal, laying down just like she normally would. She opened her eyes, and sure enough, she was not dead. She was laying on a green field of grass, and there appeared to be a creek running down in front of her. Next to her, she saw an odd-looking lavender filly who looked just as puzzled as Twilight.

"Excuse me," Twilight asked. "Do you know where I am?"

"Beats me," the filly said. "I just appeared here. No clue where I am." The filly tried to stand up on her hind legs, before abruptly falling over. "What the what?! I'm a filly!"

Twilight laughed as she put two and two together. "Spike? Is that you?"

"Twilight? Twilight! What happened?"

"I have no clue, Spike. The last thing I remember was that there was dark magic destroying the town or something." Twilight eyed Spike again. "Do you need any help standing or walking? Your body doesn't look like the average pony's."

Spike attempted to stand on all fours, and had a bit of success. "You shouldn't be the one talking. You look like your mom."

Twilight stood up and looked herself over. She did indeed look somewhat like her mother; pink fur instead of white, but she had her white and purple mane.

"I'll fly up and check out where we are," said Twilight. She leaped into the air, spreading her wings... and promptly face planted into the ground.

"Contrary to what you may believe," Spike giggled. "Your mother was in fact not an alicorn."

"Shush and help me up."

Spike started to trot over to Twilight, but a sudden gust wind picked up that almost sent him (her?) falling over backwards. Giant dragon-type beings flew down from the cloudy sky.

"Everypony, quick! Come on!" Terrified ponies hurried to a large garishly pink castle, which must have served as a home to everypony.

"What's going on?" somepony yelled through the storm.

"It's the Stratadons!" somepony else screamed.

Stratadons? Twilight wondered. She and Spike hid in the river until the whole mess ended. They saw the 'Stratadon' snatch up a blue earthpony, but she escaped just in time. However, a white unicorn and a familiar pink earthpony were not so lucky.

Twilight recognized someone riding one of the Stratadons as Scorpan, brother of Tirek. "You are all doomed! Soon everypony will belong to Tirek, master of Midnight Castle!" He and the Stratadons flew away.

Spike and Twilight got out of the ditch just in time to see the contrail of a pink and blue pegasus fly away into the dark sky.

"Wow." Twilight was too out of breath to say anything else after the whole event. Tirek is here, and she had no idea as to what was going on.

"I know, right?" Spike agreed. "Why couldn't I get a body like that?"

* * *

The two unicorns viewed the scene from over a nearby hill. They had seen the whole thing.

"The disruption had some... unexpected results," the blue pony observed.

"I agree," conceded the white one. "I think it would be best if we reveal ourselves now."

The blue unicorn raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure it would not be too soon? Laughter was captured, after all. They may not be stable enough for a larger impact."

The white pony sighed. "They need all the help they can get. We need to tell them what's happened sooner or later. I would prefer sooner."

"Yes," the blue one said after some consideration. "I see your point. I suggest we head down right now."

Chapter 2 - The Story

Magic.

Why can't I use magic? Twilight was being bugged by this issue while she was walking to the castle. Maybe one of them can help. She suddenly stopped.

Spike ran into her, apparently somewhat annoyed. "Gee, Twilight. Warn me next time you do that-"

"Quiet Spike. I hear something." She listened intensely to somepony over another hill.

"I worry about Dash. What if she can't make it or is captured by a Stratadon?" one scared voice said.

"Hush, Fluttershy. I have utmost faith in Rainbow."

Rainbow? Fluttershy? Rarity? What are they doing here? Question after question filled Twilight's mind. "Fluttershy? Rarity?" Twilight called.

When Twilight had them in her field of vision, she saw three ponies. But they weren't here friends. Twilight backed up when they came rushing toward her.

"Twilight? Is that really you?" an Applejack-looking pony said.

"Of course it is," stated a blue earthpony with a pink mane. "She is almost a complete copy of her mother."

"I know right?" Spike giggled.

Twilight facehoofed. "Oh, shush Spike."

The shy teal pegasus stepped forward. "Oh, Spike!" She stopped, tilted her head, and frowned. "How did you become a filly?"

"Long story, Fluttershy."

Twilight just continued to look confused. "How does everypony know who everypony else is?"

"It's quite simple, darling," the blue earthpony said. "I'm Rarity, Fluttershy is the teal pegasus, and Applejack is... well... Applejack."

"So where are Pinkie and Rainbow?" Twilight still looked confused.

"Oh! Rainbow Dash went off somewhere to get help. I hope she's okay," Fluttershy worried.

"And Pinkie Pie was taken by one ah those 'Stratadon' thingies." Applejack turned to Rarity. "By the way, how'd ya know it was called a Stratadon?"

Rarity froze for a second. "I don't actually know. It just seemed like the right thing to say."

"I think I can answer that," called a voice coming toward them. Two unicorns trotted briskly as the white one with the blue and cyan mane continued talking. "My name is Typer Code and this," Typer motioned to the blue pony with the black and orange mane, "is my associate, Tesla Sparkle-"

"Sparkle?" Twilight interrupted. "Are you related to Twilight Velvet or Night Light?"

"Somewhat directly, but I'll tell you some other chapter." Tesla continued. "Anyway, we're scientists. For the past couple of weeks, we have been researching history, and what better way to view history than by a time machine, right?" She chuckled nervously.

"But time magic is only limited to only about a week in the past, and we aren't from any time period I know of." Twilight tapped her hoof against her chin in thought.

"Or so we thought," Typer explained. "We used almost no magic at all. I have a skill that harnesses a pure science essence. Combined with Tirek's magic that was leaked when he was defeated, our machine went haywire, sending the most plentiful energy supply, namely us eight, and sent us back in time much farther than we hoped for. Girls, welcome to two weeks before time! Well, at the current dating system. When we left, Tirek was defeated on 26/4/4, correct?" (The twenty-sixth week of the fourth year of the fourth age.)

"Hmm." Twilight put the last few pieces in place. "The absorption of Tirek's magic must have sent us back to the first time he came. But where's Celestia? Can't she battle Tirek?"

Tesla sighed. "Twilight, there are several thing she hasn't told you. Some things have been kept secret for the good of everypony. One of them was that four ages ago, a pegasus named Firefly brought a human named Megan to Ponyland. Megan obtained the Rainbow of Light and defeated Tirek's Rainbow of Darkness. If what we've seen is true, you six have been placed in the bodies of six very important ponies from this time. Rainbow Dash is probably in Firefly's body. If that's true, we need to be very careful, because we need to follow history exactly, otherwise the whole universe will collapse."

"So... we just have to wait for Rainbow to come back with... a human? Is that right?"

"Right. Meanwhile, let us tell you a few things about this place."

* * *

I need to fly faster! Curse this stupid body.

The pink blur of Firefly's body soared past the clouds. Rainbow Dash's mind, however, was hardly moving at the same speed. She could not figure out what was going on. All she knew was that she needed to get help. This meant she wasn't watching where she was going.

A well snuck up in front of her and pounced. Rainbow Dash fell to the bottom screaming.

"-whatever it is, it sure is heavy," a voice said as Rainbow was lifted by the bucket.

When she reached the top, she was as confused as the being that stood before her. It looks like some sort of monkey. I might have to ask Twilight later. Hopefully it's intelligent. "Hello."

"Talking pony..." the thing said, apparently shocked.

"I can fly, too! At least I could before my wings got soaked." Rainbow shook, most of the water getting on the other thing. "Sorry."

"W- who are you?" the thing stuttered.

"My name's Firefly." Firefly? What just happened? "What's your name?"

"Megan, a- and that's my pony TJ."

Rainbow looked behind Megan to a pony in a stable. Obviously not intelligent. She began walking around. How to get out of here...

"Hey!" Megan called. "Firefly, where are you going? Slow down!"

Rainbow stopped at the edge of a cliff. "Yep, yep, yep, looks high enough."

"High enough for what?"

This is insane. "Hop on!" Silence. "Uh, you- you do know how to ride, I hope?" Yep. Completely insane.

"'Course I know how to ride!"

Drat. "Great!" Megan got on Rainbow and she started running again.

"Hey, where are we going?" Megan almost fell over.

Don't know. "To help my friends, they need you!"

"Me? What can I do?"

Also don't know. "You're strong."

"No I'm not!"

"You can fight!"

"No I can't!"

Celestia, I hope this works. "And, you can fly!"

"I said I could ride, not fly!"

"My friends are just gonna love you!" Especially Twilight. Heh heh heh. Rainbow leapt of the cliff and struggled to maintain balance.

"No they won't!" Megan screamed.

"Pony feathers!" Rainbow Dash cracked a grin, thinking of a way to see if she was capable of saving Ponyland or whatever it's called. Maybe with a song I can warm up to her, and then I can find out what she is. She cleared her throat as a tune started playing in the background.

"They'll be dancing on air when they meet you..."

* * *

The cell door slammed shut in Pinkie Pie's face. Scorpan locked the door and trudged to another room.

Moondancer quietly whispered to Pinkie, "What's happening, Cotton Candy? Why are we locked inside of a giant dark castle surrounded by a most in the middle of the night?"

"Quiet, Moony," Pinkie interrupted, reaching her head through the bars as far as she could. "I'm trying to hear." Listening very carefully, she could just make out a duo of voices.

"We have captured two of the little ponies, Master." That voice was undoubtedly Scorpan's.

"Two ponies, you say?" came a more sinister voice that was somewhat familiar. "Only two?"

"Yes, Mas-ter." Scorpan's voice was loaded with mockery.

The second voice became furious. "But I need four ponies for my chariot, not two, not three, four!"

A third, younger voice entered the scene. "Yeah, yeah, but he tried to get 'em, Master, I mean honest, he really and truly tried, I-"

"SILENCE!" boomed the Master. "You will prepare another raid, Scorpan. Now!"

"As you wish, Master."

"That is precisely what I wish."

Pinkie Pie heard two of the voices leave the room, and in the silence she heard a faint heartbeat pulsing darkly.

"What'd they say, Cotton?" Moondancer asked.

"It's terrible, Moon." Pinkie shook her head. "Scorpan's master wants four ponies to pull his chariot."

"How would that work? We aren't pegasi."

"I don't know. I'll keep listening."

Chapter 3 - Not Her Fight

"...so all of you have to use you bodies' names. Got it?" Typer got finished explaining some rules about time travel when he was interrupted by Rarity.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity exclaimed. "Girls, I see Rainbow up there in the clouds! And she seems to be carrying something."

"Bowtie, I just got finished explaining not to say our names," Typer scolded.

Everypony else got the hint and continued to shout "Firefly, Firefly!" and whatnot.

Rainbow Dash landed and Megan dismounted. "This is Megan, everypony," she said. "She's here to help us!"

The cheered again. Megan and Rainbow walked over to Twilight's group. While Applejack and Rarity were asking what Megan was, Twilight just stood speechless.

"She... she's a human," Twilight said. The ponies turned confusedly to Twilight. "The magic mirror incident with Sunset Shimmer about a year ago. The other end of the portal led to her world."

"So you mean that-" Rarity was cut off by thunder and dark clouds. "Oh, no, not again. Run, everypony, run!"

Stratadons flew down from the sky, maneuvering to capture anyone within reach. Megan, unfortunately, was. One of the large dragon creatures nabbed Megan by the arms.

"Somepony do something!" a unicorn yelled.

"The Double Inside-Out Loop!" Fluttershy shouted.

Rainbow Dash took off for the Stratadon holding Megan. "It's the only way!"

Before we continue, I must explain something. The Double Inside-Out Loop was an aerial maneuver created by Firefly as one of those insane stunts that pegasi always blindly strive for. Back then it might have seemed very complex, but it's really not. Rainbow knew what it was instinctively, or maybe it was the fact that she was in Firefly's body. Now let us continue this exciting adventure.

Rainbow didn't even break a sweat as she performed... well... the Double Inside-Out Loop. The Stratadon became irate at the flying pest and dropped Megan. Scorpan saw the whole thing and caught Megan, setting her on the grass safely.

"Leave this land," he boomed. "This battle is not yours!" The hoard started to fly away, the storm following like a dark mist.

Megan jumped up and screamed. "What are you doing, you... you... you beast! You're a monster, do you hear me? A monster!"

Rainbow, exhausted from Firefly's lesser-fit body, landed next to Megan. "See? Whew! You are strong!"

"Am not," Megan pouted. "He just got me mad, that's all. Now come on. We'll save our friends, somehow."

Everypony... err, everyone slowly trudged back to the Dream Castle, lost in the sentimental moment. Tesla, not being one for sentimentality, suddenly noticed two were gone from their group of nine. Spinning around, she saw Twilight quietly sobbing to herself by the creek she first appeared by.

"Twilight, is something wrong?" she asked walking toward her.

Twilight barely even moved. "They took Spike. The beasts, they took him and some other mare. Even in his filly form, he's still too young to do anything."

"C'mon, Twilight. Hopefully this place has a library. Maybe we can find someone to help us, even send us home. Would you like that?"

Twilight stood up and wiped a tear away with a hoof. "Yeah, I think I would." She gave a small smile. "A little research always helps anyway."

The two caught up with the group, now of eight, unaware of what was happening at the Midnight Castle.

* * *

The four captured ponies begged for the Master of Midnight Castle shrouded in darkness to let them go.

"SILENCE!" He ordered. The ponies were instantly quiet. "That's better. Guards remove the small one." Spike was dragged a little ways away.

"You won't hurt Ember?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"She's too small to pull my Chariot of Midnight, as you should have known, Scorpan. But you three will do for now..." The figure stepped into the light.

Pinkie gasped in horror, for the Master of Midnight Castle was none other than Tirek, master of dark magic and all around not a really nice guy. The black centaur just last week tried to steal all the magic from all four races of ponies. Well, to Pinkie it was last week. To everypony else, it was four ages in the future.

Tirek stood up, revealing a pulsating black bag around his neck. "Behold, the power of darkness!" He opened the bag, and a dark wind poured out and engulfed the three ponies. Instantly, Pinkie Pie was filled with uncontrollable rage as she was transformed into a monstrous dragon-esque creature, more ferocious than a Stratadon.

Pinkie felt hatred. Hatred toward her friends who betrayed her. They let her get captured. The only one she trusted was Tirek. He was the only one who could help her. No, she didn't want help. She owed everything to him, and she would not let him down. She would follow him to the ends of the world if she had to.

"What's happened to my friends?" Spike cried.

"They belong to me now." Tirek turned to Scorpan. "And Scorpan, if by midnight I do not have a fourth pony, a head will roll." He pointed at a purple baby dragon being held by a guard. "His!"

Spike and... well, Spike were taken by the guards to another cell, waiting for midnight to come.

* * *

The group of eight set off through the forest. Twilight had studied for a couple hours, and she had found all she needed.

"The Moochick has magical powers. He'll help us!" Twilight exclaimed as they crossed over a simple rope bridge.

Rarity nodded. "He lives in the Mushromp over there." She had been the one to read where the Moochick lived.

Applejack noticed a large wooden slat missing, showing her the deep chasm below. "This bridge doesn't feel very safe..."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Come on. It's safe."

Applejack kept over the gap, just barely grasping onto the other side. Unfortunately, hooves weren't good for holding, and she fell backwards into the rushing water below.

"I'll save her!" Megan jumped blindly into the depths. Both of them disappeared.

"Applejack! Megan!" Twilight rushed over to where they were. "They... they're gone. How are we supposed to defeat Tirek now?"

"Wait." Typer stopped. "What's that noise? It sounds like... No! Singing!"

"You're right," Fluttershy said. "I hear it too. I'm surprised that the Magic of Music existed this far back."

"But it's coming from below us," Twilight observed.

"D'oh!" Typer facehoofed. "It's the seaponies. I forgot about them. They live around here."

"You mean those carnivorous beasts are here too?" Twilight gasped. "They eat your flesh while you're drowning, those finned monsters. It's a good thing we cast them out of Equestria. But I guess Applejack and Megan really are gone..."

"N- no, Twilight." Tesla put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "The seaponies only became wild sometime later in history. They're just another race of pony in this time."

They heard a splash far downstream. Rainbow Dash was the first to see them.

"It's Megan and Applejack!" she called.

Twilight was very relieved. "They're alright!"

"The Seaponies saved us!" Megan exclaimed.

Applejack nodded. "It was great!"

"If you need us again," a seapony shouted. "Just call!" She tossed a shell at Megan. The other seaponies began 'shoo-be-dooing' again as they dove back to the deep.

Megan caught it and waved to them. "Thanks, seaponies!"

Most of the group continued on like nothing happened. Twilight still stood awestruck.

"Was I the only one that just saw vicious, carnivorous fish/pony hybrids sing and dance?"

Tesla chuckled. "I'll lend you some first-age history books when we get home. Now come on. We have a Moochick to find."

Chapter 4 - The Night That Never Ends

"You're sure this is the right way?" Megan nervously asked. The path they had been taking led them into the darker, much scarier part of the forest, then abruptly disappeared.

"Sure I'm sure," Rarity nervously answered.

The group of ponies plus Megan stopped in front of a wall of mushrooms. They gasped as the wall pulled away, revealing a peaceful mushroom-themed lawn.

"Oh, it's so beautiful!" Twilight exclaimed. "Mr. Moochiiick..."

A dwarf-like person like Megan ran up to them. "Come on, come on, come on, no time to waste!" He hurried them closer to his house. "Unless you want to stumble around in the dark for all eternity."

"Dark?" Megan asked.

The Moochick nodded. "Yes, Tirek's going to force your friends to bring in The Night That Never Ends!"

"How can he be stopped?"

"Somebody's got to sneak into his castle and swipe his Rainbow of Darkness." The Moochick seemed to be searching for something. "That's what gives him his power, y' know. Ah, here it is, here it-" He pulled a bunch of flowers out of his hat. "No... no, that's... that's not it."

"Whatcha lookin' for, Mr. Moochick?" Twilight inquired.

"The only thing that can beat him - a Rainbow of Light!"

"Do ya have one?" Applejack asked.

"I've got a little peace of one somewhere," the Moochick explained while still searching. "Somewhere... I just forget where it is... but I'll find it, yes yes. It's gotta be around here somewhere! Somewhere there's a little piece of rainbow-"

"NOPE," Typer interrupted. "I don't do singing. At all. Besides, I think we can all guess where it is. It's in your pocket."

The Moochick reached into his pocket and pulled out a heart-shaped locket. "Yes, here it is! Say, unicorn, how did you know it was in there?"

"Your rabbit in red overalls keeps pointing. You should really give him more credit," Typer explained. Habbit the rabbit leapt for joy that someone finally understood him.

"In any case, here's the rainbow." The Moochick handed the locket to Megan. "The Rainbow of Light!"

"But... it's so small!" Rarity noticed.

"Well, it's better than nothing," the Moochick said optimistically.

"But of course it is!" Megan announced. "And thank you for all you've done-"

"No time for thanks, no time for thanks, no TIME for thanks! You've gotta stop Tirek before midnight!" He noticed the absence of a watch. "You've only got, uh... you've got... uh oh..."

"Goodbye, Mr. Moochick!" Megan waved. "And thanks again!" The ponies set off again for Midnight Castle.

"Hey, you haven't seen my watch, have ya?" the Moochick called. "I know it was here yesterday..."

But about one second after the ponies left, Fluttershy stopped. Something kept nagging her. She turned around and headed back to the Moochick.

"There's no time!" he shouted. "Hurry! You have to go!"

"Mister Moochick sir? Your bunny here," she started. "I'm far away from home, and well, you see he kinda reminds me of my bunny, Angel."

For some reason at that moment, Habbit started to jump around frantically, waving his arms.

"Hush, Habbit. I'm trying to listen to Medley," the Moochick scolded.

"They're almost the same; irrational, impatient, and self-absorbent."

Habbit continued to hop around, pulling on Fluttershy's hoof.

"And I just thought-"

Habbit facepawed, fed up with this. He found an area of dirt that was suitable for his needs, and wrote a word: 'Angel'.

"-how similar they were and... Hey, what is he doing?" Fluttershy stopped, finally paying attention to Habbit, specifically what he wrote. "What does that mean..." Her eyes lit up when she realized what it meant. She grabbed Habbit in her forelegs, almost crying. "Angel! Angel! Oh, how I've missed you so!"

The Moochick stared, befuddled by what he was seeing. "Dear pony, is there any reason why you are cuddling my assistant?"

Fluttershy wiped a tear away with a hoof. "It's a long story, one I don't exactly get. If it's okay with you, can I borrow your rabbit for a while?"

"I don't see why not, just have him back in time... Time! You don't have much time! Go, go!" He hurried her away.

"Thank you again Mr. Moochick, and sorry if we caused any trouble!"

"No time for being sorry!"

"Oh. Sorry."

Angel facepawed.

* * *

When Fluttershy crested the rocky hill, the other ponies (plus Megan) were hunkered down, staring in awe at the black fortress that lay before them.

"Midnight Castle," Rainbow Dash summed up what everyone was thinking. She stood and walked forward, still looking up, so she wasn't looking where she was going.

"Wow, Those impassable river chasms really do seem to sneak up on you, don't they, Firefly?" Typer snickered. Rainbow glared at him while hanging from the cliff. "Yeah, you're right. That was bad. Oh, I know, I got a better one! 'What is up with you and falling off cliffs today?'"

Rainbow stopped glaring for just a second. "Really?"

"Yeah, you see what I did?"

"Yeah."

"I use a quote."

"Uh huh."

"From you."

"I see."

"From your first adventure."

"Shut up."

"Okay."

"How're we gonna cross that?" Applejack asked.

"I have an idea!" Megan exclaimed. She held the signal shell she had recently received. "The seaponies!" She chucked the shell into the swirling deep. What happened next startled them. Nothing.

"Where are they?" Twilight said nervously.

"They said they'd help..." Applejack murmured.

Suddenly, a group of the aquatic ponies burst through the surface. Everyone was very relieved.

"We've got gotta get inside that castle!" Rainbow told them.

"No problem!" one of the seaponies assured.

"We know a way!" another revealed.

"Hop aboard!" A seapony motioned to a giant shell floating on the rough water. Several other seaponies had vines in their mouths that were connected to the shell.

The next thing they knew, the little ponies were being pulled across the chasm.

A seapony pointed to a statue near the main door. "See that gargoyle up there? Pull its nose!"

Rainbow Dash flew up to the aforementioned statute in question and tapped it lightly on the head. The large door in front of Megan and the other ponies opened not-too-quietly. They stepped into the entryway. Little did they know that someone heard them and was watching from above.

Chapter 5 - Reign of Night

In the meantime, Scorpan was lamely making excuses to Tirek. Tirek wasn't buying it.

"We tried, Master, but-"

"Then try again," Tirek deadpanned. "If by midnight my chariot does not roll, the head of your little friend will!" He turned to the guard next to him. "Well?" The guard told Tirek exactly what he wanted to hear. "Ah, excellent. But as for you, Scorpan, you-" By the time Tirek turned back to where he was standing, Scorpan was gone.

Scorpan heard Tirek's call from down the hall as he ran. He knew that he would listen no more. He was filled with such fury, by the time he was at the jail, he ripped the cell door off its hinges. Ember-Spike hid behind Dragon-Spike.

"It's okay, Ember," Dragon-Spike comforted. "He's my friend."

"We're getting out of here right now," Scorpan explained. He busted another door down. "Come on. It's almost midnight!"

* * *

"This place is like a maze," Megan stated as the group wandered the halls.

"How are we ever found to find that Rainbow of Darkness?" Rarity wondered.

"We've just gotta keep looking!" Twilight encouraged.

The next room they entered was awfully large, and had a giant chair in the middle.

"This must be Tirek's throne!" Rarity realized.

Rainbow Dash noticed something odd. "Hey, where's Applejack?"

Twilight gasped as guards covered the exits out of the room. Tirek appeared on his throne, laughing evilly.

"So, you seek the Rainbow of Darkness?" More evil laughter. "It is mine, and so is your friend!"

Guards pulled away to reveal a chained-up Applejack. Before anyone could reach her, Tirek unleashed the power of the Rainbow of Darkness on her. She transformed into one of the dragon creatures like the other captured ponies had. Suddenly, Scorpan broke through another set of doors, Ember-spike and Dragon-Spike trailing behind him.

"Run, ponies!" Scorpan called as he started beating up guards left and right. He grabbed Megan and made a run for it. They ended up on an outside part of the castle when the castle started shaking. "Get back inside!" Scorpan yelled.

A section of wall exploded, and Tirek rode through on his chariot pulled by the four captured ponies. He started chanting as he pulled out his Rainbow. "The Rainbow of Darkness, that darkness sends, now begin The Night That Never Ends!"

Just as he started to open the bag, Scorpan flew up and attempted to take it, but he just fell back down. "All is lost," he moaned.

"No it isn't!" Megan jumped on Rainbow Dash again. She took flight.

"Hold on. I'm going for the double-loop again!" she yelled. As Rainbow performed the maneuver, Megan knocked the bag out of Tirek's hand and down to where the other ponies were. Rarity jumped up and caught it in her mouth. The guards surrounded her, but she tossed it to Twilight.

Twilight ran as fast as she could as far as she could, but she quickly ran out of room. Guards surrounded her, and she tried to fire up her horn. No matter what spell she tried, nothing worked. Oh, how I wish I had magic, she thought. She lowered her head, accepting defeat. I wish, I wish, I wish. The guards slashed their spears where Twilight was standing.

Twilight opened her eyes, and she found she had somehow teleported to another section of the castle. She looked up and saw Rainbow Dash and Megan, and threw the Rainbow of Darkness to them.

"Take it to the Dream Castle!" Megan shouted.

"Stop her!" Tirek commanded. A Stratadon seemingly appeared out of nowhere and knocked the Rainbow out of Megan's hand. "The game is over, little ponies. The power is MINE!"

"We have a power of our own, Tirek!" Megan pulled the Rainbow of Light off her neck. She opened it and the tiny piece of rainbow flew out of the locket. "Take THIS!" But... it just hovered in the air. "It's... not doing anything..."

"Behold the power of darkness!" Tirek's bag opened and the Rainbow of Darkness consumed the Rainbow of Light.

"It's gone!" Megan exclaimed.

"We're finished!" Twilight cried.

"Don't worry," Typer reassured. "It's all going according to script."

Typer expected the Rainbow of Darkness to arc and for the Rainbow of Light to overpower it. But fate could not handle all of the dark magic, both from past and present. The Rainbow of Darkness rose to the moon, starting to block out all light.

"Okay... Now is the time to panic!" Typer screamed.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked. "We always overcome darkness."

"You don't understand, Twilight!" Tesla explained. "That was supposed to be it right there; light overcoming darkness! But it didn't work!"

A look of pure terror overcame Twilight. "But that means that the universe will end in a paradox! We can't let that happen! Girls, Harmony Formation!"

Twilight and what was left of her friends gathered around, just like they always did when battling evil. Their eyes glowed white and they rose into the air, an aura of magic surrounding them. The wind picked up, and thunder started to rumble.

"What is happening?" Tirek cried.

Twilight began the endgame friendship speech. "You see Tirek, your Rainbow of Darkness will not work. For a rainbow, no matter how dark, always has more than one ray. You need a magic, Tirek. The magic of harmony and frie-" Twilight was cut off by the ground, which she and all of her friends abruptly fell to.

Tirek laughed evilly. "I don't need your friendship, little ponies. The Rainbow of Darkness is enough to end life as you know it."

"I- I don't understand," Twilight stuttered. "It should have worked."

"I guess we really are finished," Tesla said.

The Rainbow of Darkness, whose dark anti-light covered the whole sky, lowered to the ground, engulfing all that it touched.

Tirek raised his arms to the sky. "The Rainbow of Darkness, against the Rainbow of Light, now begins the reign of the Never-Ending Night!"

In a flash of non-light, the whole world blacked out, and the ponies faded into unconsciousness.

Chapter 6 - Study Time

Talk about déjà vu.

"Spike, are you in there?" Twilight asked.

The filly sat there, agape. When she did speak, it was something Twilight thought she would never hear.

"Twilight... did we just die... for a third time?"

Twilight hung her head. "I don't know, Spike. Let's head to the Dream Castle."

They didn't get very far before they heard a familiar cry: "It's the Stratadons!" The two ponies once again his in the river as they saw the Stratadons come down and snatch up a unicorn.

It's happening just as it did before, Twilight figured out. The Stratadons once again flew away, the dark clouds pulled back, and the pink body of Firefly once again took to the sky.

The two crested the hill and saw the others already grouped. Twilight was relieved that Pinkie Pie was there too. She walked up to Typer, who seemed to be going out of his mind.

When he calmed down, he started to explain another working of the universe. "Too much dark magic overwhelmed the balance and we got sent here again. Like last time, we seemed to have retained our memories."

"So what you're saying is that every time the Rainbows are unleashed," Fluttershy asked, "we get sent back here?"

"Theoretically, if the RoD wins, then we get sent back," Tesla said. "If the RoL wins, light restores the balance and we go back to the future." She paused. "Theoretically."

"Great," Twilight said negatively. "So life is a big waiting game. Any ideas of how to beat Tirek?"

The group was interrupted by a loud landing by Rainbow Dash. Megan dismounted and stared in awe at her surroundings, just like last time. Rainbow, however, was apparently very annoyed at something.

"All progress with Megan restarts every time we come back, and if I have to sing that stupid song one more time, I'm gonna-"

Once again, thunder came out of nowhere and Stratadons came in for another attack. Everypony protected Megan and Twilight this time, so they didn't get carried off. Another random pony did though. The Stratadons left and everything was safe once more.

"So," Typer asked. "Want to do it the same way we did it last time?"

* * *

The group decided to try defeating Tirek exactly as Typer's 'historical documents' (illegal black market books) said to do. They got all the way to the Mushromp before discovering the first hiccup.

"-unless you want to stumble around in the dark for all eternity," the Moochick was saying.

A crack of thunder echoed throughout the land. A dark shape was rocketing toward the moon.

"That's him!" the Moochick exclaimed. "Tirek is going to bring about The Night That Never Ends! Quickly, come inside!" The Moochick ran inside his house, motioning for the others to follow.

The door slammed shut just as the thick fog from the Darkness covered the house. The Moochick reached into his pocket and pulled out the Light's locket. He pressed it to the door, and a wave of light washed over the house.

"We should be safe from the Night for now. If no one opens this door or any windows, we could last here forever."

"What if we run out of food?" Applejack asked.

"There is an entire farming area downstairs, as well as enough rooms for each of you," the Moochick explained. "I have been preparing for this for a long time."

"Sweet! I did not read about this!" Typer exclaimed. "See Twilight? I told you there would be a time where we could study this world."

"No, you didn't," Twilight deadpanned.

"Yes I did. I said that, like, three seconds ago."

* * *

After the first couple of day periods, everyone got into a pretty good routine. Each being would do their own chores, eat breakfast, then do what they wanted for ten hours before eating dinner and going to bed. Since there was no 'day' or 'night' anymore, they just went by twenty-four hour long 'day' periods.

Megan had been filled in on what was happening. The time machine, the body switching, all of it, and she had taken it pretty well.

"WHAT?" she yelled. "You took me away from my home, just to keep me in a cramped house for the rest of my life?"

"Relax," Typer said. "If one of us opens any way to the outside, we all go back in time to before this all happened, an you would have no memory of this. We are just here this time to practice magic and study. You can help too. Just find a spellbook and somehow learn how to use magic." Megan grumbled and grabbed a random book off the shelf of the nearby bookcase. "That's better, isn't it? Okay, Twilight. Are you sure you can't use magic?"

"No." Twilight shook her head. "The closest I got was short-ranged teleportation, and I'm not even sure how I did that."

A cheery voice spoke up from nearby. "Ooh, this book says that Twilight could teleport by saying 'I wish' three times."

"Pinkie, how did you... You know what? I don't want to know. So, I wish 'I wish', right? I wish, I wish, I wish."

* * *

001.EVR - 10:37

Begin recording

Twilight taps the lens. "What is it? Is it on?"

"It's a camera, but it records video." Typer walks within view. "I'm thinking of calling it a 'video camera'. I'm also working on a computational device to view the videos better."

"What will you call it?"

"A 'computer'."

"Oh. So, does this camera work?"

"Yeah. You press this button to start and stop recording. This light tells if it's on."

"The light is on, so the camera is on, right?" Twilight stands in the center of the room. "Okay. This is teleportation test one. I wish, I wish, I wish."

A flash of light, and Twilight disappears from the field of vision.

"OH GOD TWILIGHT YOU'RE IN THE WALL!!!"

End recording

* * *

036.EVR - 13:04

Begin recording

Twilight once again stands in front of the camera. "Teleportation test 4. I wish, I wish, I wish."

A flash can be seen, but then the view goes dark.

"Good job, Twilight," Typer commended. "That was your first successful teleport."

"Yay! I went from the middle of the room to..." Twilight pauses. "Isn't this where the camera is supposed to be?"

One hoofstep can be heard, then Twilight falls to the ground with an 'oof'. Lens cracks.

"Typer... I think I found it..."

End recording

* * *

089.EVR - 12:14

Begin recording

Twilight is conversing with Megan. Typer tells both of them to get ready. He and Megan walk back to the far wall.

"Teleportation test number eighty-nine," Twilight says. "I wish, I wish, I wish."

Twilight vanishes and reappears next to Megan, rotated at an angle so that Twilight's right foreleg is close to Megan's right arm. Maybe a bit too close.

Megan shakes her arm, and Twilight's leg follows the same motion. "Err... Twilight? I think your foreleg is in my arm."

"I... I think you may be right," Twilight responds. "I'll pull left if you go right."

"Agreed."

The two girls pull, and, after a couple of seconds, their arms separate. After silently screaming in pain, they hold up their forelimbs to the camera. Megan's arm has a patch of fur a couple of inches wide with the same hue of Twilight's. Twilight's foreleg has bare skin the same size in the same place.

Typer suggests that they should probably stop recording.

End recording

* * *

154.EVR - 22:39

Begin recording

Twilight has frazzled mane. The other eight ponies and Megan are standing far away, against the wall.

Applejack yawns. "Why'd we need to be here, Twilight? It's awfully late..."

Twilight ignores Applejack. "Test 154! Girls, Harmony Formation!"

"Uh... What?" Fluttershy asks.

"Twilight thinks she can amplify her magic if all the Elements are involved," Tesla states. "The rest of us are going to stand back, because after that one time we didn't, yeah."

The five ponies reluctantly gather around Twilight. Twilight says the magic words, and the Elements' eyes glow. The Harmony Rainbow is summoned, effectively obliterating the entire house in a multicolored explosion. The Darkness crushes them to oblivion.

End recording

Chapter 7 - An Endgame

"Aww, I blew up the house, didn't I, Spike?"

"Yes, you did. But it was really cool though!"

The same thing happened just like last time. Another Stratadon attack, Rainbow goes to get Megan, and the ponies wait for them. Unfortunately, something was already wrong on Earth.

* * *

Rainbow Dash flew through the air, wondering how the thick cloud layer was a portal between worlds. But it didn't matter, as she saw the right clouds that sent her to Earth. She tucked into a ball, preparing to land in the well like the other two times. This time, however, she glanced down and saw Megan already running toward her. This was really strange, because the other times, Megan always ran to her after she crashed into the well. Rainbow would have spent more time thinking about this, except the well snuck up on her again - but this time, she collided with the wall.

"Rainbow Dash!" Megan cried. "Are you okay?"

Rainbow just sat there, dazed from the 50 mile-per-hour collision. "Hello. I can fly too! Sorry. Firefly!" She shook her head. "Oh, hi Megan. I hit my head and... Megan! You remember me!"

"Yeah, I guess I do. Is that what it feels like to die? Because suddenly coming to my senses standing up on earth after spending four months in Ponyland is very startling, and I just wondered if I died."

"Almost. You just got sent back to the time that we always start at. Now quickly hop on! Twilight might know why you remember!"

* * *

"I don't know why she remembers," Twilight confessed.

"Ooh, ooh! I think I know," Pinkie Pie said with her hoof in the air. "Your smarty smartyness look burned the memories into her forever or she can use magic and she can teleport or the Element powers backlashed and she's just like us or Discord is here and-"

Twilight held up a hoof. "Wait. Say that again."

"Discord is here."

"No, before that."

"She has magic."

"After that."

"Discord is here."

Twilight facehoofed. "In between those two."

"The Elements' powers backlashed and caused Megan to keep her memories."

"Of course! It makes sense now! The Harmony Rainbow must have linked to Megan, who was already connected to the Light Rainbow, and she now is just like us! Do you know what this means?"

"I can live forever?" Megan guessed.

"Yes, but it also means that Harmony works! I think I have an idea."

* * *

The group, now dubbed the 'Lights' (Pinkie's idea for some reason because Light versus Dark yes get on with it) gathered together. Twilight was confident that the whole group together now could defeat Tirek using Harmony.

"-always has more than one ray. You need a magic, Tirek. The magic of harmony and friendship!" The giant glowing rainbow laser of death arced over Twilight toward the Rainbow of Darkness. The shockwave from the meeting of Light and Dark could be heard from back at the Dream Castle.

The dust cleared away, revealing a cackling Tirek. "I don't need your friendship, little ponies. The Rainbow of Darkness is enough to end life as you know it. The Rainbow of Darkness, against the Rainbow of Light, now begins the reign of the Never-Ending Night!"

* * *

Twilight, oddly enough, did not feel dead. She felt normal, laying down just like she normally would. She opened her eyes, and sure enough, she was not dead and dangit I really need a new opener each time this happens.

I really thought that would work, Twilight thought. "Come on, Spike. Let's hide in the creek again."

They waited for the Stratadons to come. They waited... and waited... and waited. Finally, Applejack came and brought Twilight to the rest of the Lights. Typer and Tesla once again looked like they were on the edge of insanity.

"No... That was only the third time! It's too early to be happening! Oh noohnoohno. Why is it happening so early?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I assume the Stratadons not coming isn't supposed to happen?"

Typer continued to pace in circles. Tesla tried to snap him out of it, with no success. She explained his nervousness for him. "Just having multiple loops should change the outcome just a little bit, but it is too soon for it to happen. Something must have happened last time to cause this."

"Megan got her memories," stated Applejack.

"Rainbow Dash hit her head really hard," Fluttershy stuttered, still concerned.

"Insert idea here," Pinkie offered.

"We lost to Tirek... again," Rarity flatly said.

"You know how we shot Megan with the Rainbow, and then did that to Tirek?" Twilight figured. "I think the same thing happened to her also happened to him, maybe to Spike and Scorpan too."

"Great," Rainbow summed up. "We, eight immortal ponies from the future, one immortal ex-dragon, and an immortal human, are up against an immortal centaur with an army of dragon beasts."

A loud thud was heard as the last being they expected to see landed. Scorpan set Spike on the ground. "Don't forget about us."

Twilight felt relieved. "Thank you, Scorpan. We need all the help we can get."

* * *

The Lights with its new members set out again to get the Rainbow of Light, but something was amiss. It struck Typer like a hammer to a bell. He pulled Tesla back behind everyone else, and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and replied. Typer trotted ahead again, and Tesla motioned to Twilight that they needed to talk. Twilight and Tesla slowed to a stop. The rest of the group kept going, oblivious to the fact that two of its members were gone.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, I'm worried about you," Tesla said. "You aren't afraid of anything that has happened. You don't even seem the slightest bit pessimistic. What's more, you seem way too cheery, just taking everything in stride."

Twilight cast a frightful glance at the group and did a quick calculation of their distance. Satisfied, her foreleg shot up to Tesla's neck faster than Rainbow Dash could fly and pinned her against a tree.

"The last time I experienced time travel like this," she began, ignoring Tesla's squirms, "I so dearly hoped it would be the last time. I lived for years, alone in isolation. I thought I couldn't handle it again." Tesla caught the tiniest glimpse of a crazed grin coming from the pink unicorn. "But look where I am now. I still can't process it yet, that it happened again. I would never wish it on my worst enemy, yet it happened to my best friends. I cannot - no, will not - ever keep my friends from going insane like I did."

Twilight's hoof recoiled, letting Tesla drop to the ground, gasping for life-giving oxygen. Twilight turned and sulked back to the Lights

* * *

When she rejoined the rest of the Lights, Twilight explained the goings on, as well as explaining what they could do now.

"First, you tried to use the Rainbow of Light," said Scorpan as he tried to understand. "Then you tried to use the Rainbow of Harmony not one, but two times." He shook his head. "The future is filled with idiots. Have you ever tried to use more than one power?"

The Lights exchanged nervous glances. It was apparent what must be done. They once again for the fourth time arrived at the Mushromp. The Moochick was less than happy to see them.

"Scorpan! Ponies, do you know what he has done? Why is he following you?"

Megan tried to comfort him. "Don't worry, Mr. Moochick. He is going to help us defeat Tirek with the the Rainbow of Light."

The familiar crack of thunder by the Rainbow of Darkness was heard as the moon was blotted out in an instant.

"No! See, that's what happens when you bring Tirek's assistant here! There is no hope for you now. I must go." The Moochick vanished into thin air, leaving behind a familiar heart shaped locket. Megan picked it up, but she was frightened by a sinister voice behind her.

"Go ahead, it won't help," Tirek cackled. The dark fog came until it hit the Mushromp. At the edge, it stopped advancing. "I have decided that killing you isn't good enough. You will be forced to live through torture, until you break. Then you will be my slaves."

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow Dash rebelled. "How will you make us do that?"

The fog slowly started to envelop the Mushromp. Tirek laughed, casting the endgame spell. "The Rainbow of Darkness, without Light or Harmony, will make you will spend the rest of your days serving me!"

Chapter 8 - Prismatic

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Rainbow Dash sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

"Hi Rainbow," Megan said, trying to sound casual. "Have any idea of where we are?"

Rainbow gave her a death glare, still trying to arouse from whatever spell Tirek cast. "No. I could fly up and check if you want." She leapt up, only to fly into a ceiling. "Gah! What was that?" she asked.

"It appeared to be a ceiling."

"Well no duh. Alright, I'll try to find an opening in this shield thing."

"You will do no such thing," a new voice boomed around them. Tirek landed on the ground with a loud thud from wherever his chariot was above. "Human, you have repeatedly come to my realm and caused trouble with these ponies. For your payment, you will watch each of them succumb to Darkness!"

Megan was about to take a brave step forward, but she was immobilized by an invisible wall directly in front of her. She felt around herself, and every way she turned, a new wall appeared. She was trapped.

Megan pounded on the box franticly, trying to break free. Tirek let out a sinister laugh. "There is no possible escape for you, human. Now look as the first of your friends is destroyed, overcome by the power of Darkness!" The moon in the sky turned as black as the space around it. Several dark beams struck the ground.

One of them hit Rainbow Dash, surrounding her in a column of magic. Megan continued to struggle for what felt like hours to no avail. When the anti-light finally subsided, Rainbow was splayed out along the ground. What was worse was that she was much smaller, as if all of her energy left her, leaving just Firefly's body.

Tirek once again laughed and vanished into thin air. The box dissipated and Megan ran over to Rainbow Dash, frightful of what the dark magic had done. She shook her. No response. She called her name. No response. Maybe... maybe she was dead. No, Megan checked her pulse, and she was still breathing. The human picked the small pony up and frantically searched for a way to bring her back. All of the dark beams had gone out. That is, all but one.

Megan raced as fast as she could through the trees toward the last beam of darkness. The closer she got, the more Rainbow Dash became conscious. About halfway there, Rainbow stirred and moaned.

"It's okay, Rainbow. We're almost there," Megan reassured.

Hearing Megan's voice, Rainbow's eyes snapped open and her pupils became slits. She broke away from her with an elegance she never had before. She flew up above the trees and stopped, glaring daggers at Megan.

"You have been a pain in my side for far too long! In fact, all of you have! I don't need any of you!" Rainbow spanned her wings and adored them lovingly, acting as if she expected something to happen. Much to Megan's chagrin, the tips of her wings started to turn a scaly black. The feathers lost their pink color, becoming a thin flap of skin like a bat's wings. She was turning into a kind of dragon creature!

"Tirek showed me the truth!" Rainbow shouted. "He can give me all I've wanted, and I just want to be with him." The transformation continued to move through her wings, slowly reaching toward her body. Not only did it change her structure, but her whole body was growing in size. If you listened closely, you could heard an evil cackle that sounded like Tirek's.

Megan took all of this as a bad sign and tried to convince Rainbow to stop this madness. If she couldn't, Rainbow's mind and Firefly's body would both be lost, and the universe would effectively collapse.

"Rainbow, you must listen to me!" Megan shouted. "You can't do this! This is madness!"

"Madness?" Rainbow chuckled. "No, this is something I've always wanted, and you can't take that away." She motioned to her wings, which were completely changed, as well as most of her lower body, which have grown scales.

Tirek appeared from seemingly nowhere and stood beside Rainbow, whose head was all that was left. "Human, it is useless. This pony is under my control. She has completely come into the Darkness." An with that, Rainbow's head was enveloped by the transformation magic.

"No! Rainbow Dash!" Megan cried.

"Rainbow Dash doesn't live here anymore," she said. "I am Prism, the right hoof of Tirek, Master of Midnight."

"No, you are Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in the world! Rainbow... what would your friends think?"

"My... my friends?" Rainbow looked somewhere between on the verge of tears and being utterly confused.

"NO! You don't need them!" Tirek urged.

"I... don't... need..." Rainbow's eyelids fell slightly.

"Yes, Rainbow! Your friends! Remember all the great times you had! Remember Discord and Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon!"

Rainbow's eyes snapped opened as the realization his her like a load of bricks. "My friends... I'm abandoning them..."

"You have no need for them. Remember, you have everything you want here." Tirek waved his hand and cast a spell that shrouded Rainbow's head in a cloud of darkness.

The cloud cleared away, revealing that nothing had changed, except that Rainbow's eyes how glowed a vibrant red. "No, Tirek, I will not abandon my friends! *I am Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty!*"

The sky exploded In a ginormous prismatic death blast of every color imaginable.

The light cleared, and there lay Rainbow Dash. Not Firefly, not Prism, but Rainbow Dash, the reckless blue pegasus.

She groggily sat up. and rubbed her head with a forehoof. "Ow, Megan, I have worst headache like you wouldn't believe."

Soon after Megan got over her panic attack at the sight of this new pony, she and Rainbow Dash regained their bearings and found their way to the negative moonbeam that was still active.

"What do we do now?" Rainbow asked.

"I have a feeling we just walk in," Megan replied.

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs.

Chapter 9 - Sneak and Slither

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Rarity sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

"Hi, Rarity," Megan said with a feeling of deja vu for some reason. "What just happened?"

"Oh, my head," Rarity groaned. "I just knew for a second there we would be goners."

"Oh, but you will." The familiar voice of Tirek echoed around them. "I don't know how you have done it, human, but you have managed to break my spell of Darkness. I will see to it that it does not happen again." The moon was blotted out by the night of the sky. Nine beams of antilight struck the ground. Rarity was on the receiving end of one of the beams.

Megan somehow knew that trying to move at this point was fruitless, so she didn't try. She just stared, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Remember, human. I will be watching." Tirek vanished, as did eight of the moonbeams.

Megan tiptoed forward. She almost remembered something about a pony becoming smaller. But her memories were somewhat off, as when the non-light faded, the body she saw that was Bowtie's had turned into a much sleeker form. Much to Megan's chargin, Rarity's mind was in a much worse state. As Megan approached, an eye opened.

Before either of them could blink, Rarity had moved into the trees. The movement was not like galloping, Megan saw, but more like slithering. Hearin a rustle of leaves behind her, Megan whipped around and saw a pair of glowing emerald eyes. The eyes closed and reappeared somewhere off to Megan's left, leaving only a whisper of disturbed branches in its wake.

The eyes closed again, and Megan spun around, this time finding Rarity crouched on all fours, inching toward her. The blue of Bowtie's fur was being replaced with hideous reptilian scales as black as night. Her mane and tail had become finlike like a dragon's, except much, much uglier. Rarity pounced, moving more like a shadow than anything solid.

She swiftly went through Megan's pockets, always moving on to the next before she could react. Finding nothing, Rarity looked upward at Megan's neck and saw a beautiful heart-shaped locket. She lunged for it and retreated with it in her mouth. Tirek came in from nowhere, pleased with Rarity's results. He bent down and took the locket from her mouth.

"The Rainbow of Light. Such exquisite beauty." He held it up by the chain for Megan to see. "I have heard stories about this. It's a shame it didn't work on me. I've often wondered what it feels like to get hit with it. Oh, well. I can't exactly have this lying around, now can I?" He started to crush the locket with is hand.

In the heat of the moment, Megan bent down and chucked a rock at Tirek's hand. The rock sailed under his hand, but caught the necklace with such force that the Rainbow of Light was wrenched out of Tirek's hand. It flew over a few trees and disappeared from view. While Tirek was distracted, Megan rushed past him toward where the stone and locket landed.

"You scrawny little imp!" Tirek yelled. Rarity looked up at him, waiting for a command. He nodded. An evil grin grew on her face, and she chased after Megan.

Megan knew she was being followed by a being faster than her, yet continued to run. She could hear the almost invisible black hoofsteps pounding on the ground, getting louder by the second. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something shiny at the bottom of a lake. Just as she was nearing the edge of the water, she was tackled by the dark Rarity.

The two thrashed around in the water. Each tried to get away from the other and to the Rainbow of Light. Rarity was the first to attempt to grasp the necklace. She reached out with her hoof, hoping to catch the chain with a scale. Megan pressed a hand on her chest and pushed her away.

Megan got a finger hooked on the chain and broke the surface of the water for fresh air. Rarity rose and delivered a buck to her gut. Megan keeled over and let the locket slip out of her hand and somehow on to Rarity's neck. Her orange shirt was now shredded in several places.

Satisfied, Rarity turned around and swam to Tirek, who was standing at the water's edge. She looked back one last time to see Megan almost absolutely defeated.

"Rarity..." she moaned weakly.

Rarity frowned at her shirt, which had a gaping hole in the front. She looked down at the locket, seeing a piece of orange fabric caught on it. She took it in her mouth and approached Megan.

"What are you doing?" Tirek shouted. "Come back!"

But Rarity couldn't hear him. She was too busy thinking of the only thing she knew how to do. She thought of how she could sew the patches back together, what she could use to work, and what would look good with it.

She held the cloth with one hoof against Megan. Megan didn't object. She was too tired. With her teeth, Rarity pulled out a slim scale from her unoccupied foreleg that was closest to a needle. She worked efficiently, stitching the fabrics together in a matter of seconds.

She took a few strokes, back admiring her work. It was missing something though. Ahh, of course! She took the golden necklace and put it over Megan's head.

"Thank you," Megan weakly said.

"It's fine, my dear," Rarity said. Her voice was raspy and rough. She frowned. She gasped when she looked down into the water's reflection and saw the beast that was herself. The realization and memories slowly came back to her.

"No! What have you done?" Tirek yelled.

"Her shirt..." Rarity started. "I couldn't have left it alone like that..." She looked down into the reflection again and filled with seething anger. "Have some respect, you ungrateful ruffian! Not only did you turn me into a monster, but you twisted my mind against my will!"

Tirek realized he was fighting a losing battle. "Now, now, let's not be hasty..."

Rarity's eyes glowed a deep purple, fueled by her rage. "I will be hasty as much as I want! I will not stand by while others lose what they have! *For I am Rarity, Element of Generosity!*"

The sky went from black to violet as the detonation of an amazing light explosion came from Rarity.

The light cleared, and there lay Rarity, the ivory white unicorn.

Megan had that strange sense of deja vu again, but ignored it. As the two were walking to the moonbeam, Megan recapped the events that had just transpired.

"Really, I did all that?" Rarity asked. "Huh, it sounded much less sinister when I did it. In any case, here we are at the darkness beam. I think it could use more light."

Megan chuckled. "I think we can both agree on that. If I remember correctly, we just walk in."

"Remember? Whatever do you mean?"

"I... I'm not sure. Maybe some questions will be answered when we enter it."

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs.

Chapter 10 - Beast

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Fluttershy sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

"Owowowowow my head hurts," Megan complained.

"Megan, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, hobbling over to her.

She pressed her fingers to her temples. Memories flooded her mind. The weird thing was that they were her memories, but they also weren't her's. There were flashes of a blue pegasus and a white unicorn, both in a situation that started out like this.

Tirek once again appeared before her. "Human, once again you have foiled my attempt at giving you pain. Now I will let one of your friends do it for me."

The moon went dark, and Megan was paralyzed by fear. Fluttershy backed away slowly, just far enough away so Megan didn't get hit with a moonbeam. The darkness struck Fluttershy, but Megan just sat there, curled up into a ball, both because of the mental pain and the fact that Tirek was just downright scary at the moment.

The darkness subsided, and so did the confusion of Megan's mind. By the time she stood up, Tirek was already gone, presumably watching from a distance. She looked over to where Fluttershy was, only to see a bundle of yellow fur that barely resembled a pony. But Megan knew that Tirek had something up his proverbial sleeve, that Fluttershy couldn't just be dead. No, Tirek would make her try to hurt her.

Megan remembered how Rainbow Dash shrunk in size when she was hit with the Darkness, and how Rarity became slimmer in the same way. Just like those two, Fluttershy had a physical characteristic altered, but what Rainbow and Rarity lost, Fluttershy received.

The yellow mass rose to its (hooves?). It looked like a blob on four short stumps. For some reason, it also looked awfully cute. This trait was lost after the blob on top started to grow and shake. The skin inflated like a balloon until it was pulled taut. Something inside was struggling to get out. Muscles bulged at the seams A split appeared at the top.

Suddenly, the skin was torn to shreds. A huge, black, scaly beast ripped out of its outer casing and kept growing. Elongated claws pierced through the end of its appendages. Dagger-like teeth filled its mouth. Think of a reptilian Ursa Minor.

The monster increased in size until it was as tall as the trees. It bellowed a thunderous roar. Megan knew that this thing used to be Fluttershy, according to what Tirek had done before.

Megan tried to step backward as quietly as she could while Fluttershy was occupied, but a branch on the ground had other plans. The resulting *snap* sounded as loud as a cannon blast. Fluttershy's head whipped around and focused on Megan. She growled at her, approaching like a predator stalking its prey.

Megan turned tail and ran like she was going to die, which she was. Fluttershy pounced and landed on top of her. The human found herself being thrown up, up, and away by Fluttershy. It was a nice view, all the pretty stars and trees.

Then she noticed there were seven other clearings surrounding the moonbeam. In each one, she saw a different version of herself and a mutant created by Tirek. She then realized that her past experiences with Rainbow and Rarity, as well as the ones she would presumably have to fight in the near future, are all happening right now at the same time!

Then Megan noticed the ground. Normally, the ground is nothing to scream about. It had bushes and grass, all things normal for ground (except for Fluttershy, of course). The thing about it was that it was coming toward her very rapidly, so she screamed.

As Megan was falling, Fluttershy swatted at her, not unlike a tennis ball and racquet. She punched through the leaves a couple of trees, narrowly missing fatal branches. The leaves cushioned her fall a tad bit, but it was still enough to break her left arm. She would have howled in pain, but her voice was already sore from the screaming.

Megan's ears picked up the thunder of Fluttershy pounding on the ground. She desperately searched around wherever her head could turn for something useful. Nothing immediately could be spotted from her position, but then she saw something. Under a nearby piece of shrubbery was a rabbit in red overalls. He stared questioningly at her.

"Psst! Rabbit!" Megan tried to get his attention. "You, uh, Habbit! No, that's not it... Uh, oh! Angel! You're Angel, Fluttershy's bunny!" He rolled his eyes, yet nodded. "Listen! Tirek has turned Fluttershy into a monster, and I seem to have fallen and I can't get up!"

Angel snuck out from under his bush. In the not-too-distant distance, they both heard Fluttershy growling and rampaging through the forest. Angel actually started hopping toward Megan instead of away in fright. He promptly stood on her chest. Before she could question it, the tree nearest to her tumbled over and almost fell on her.

Fluttershy barely slowed before she was almost directly on top of Megan. She raised a clawed hoof, ready to finish her off when she locked eyes with Angel. Angel stood taller, and the sight of him slightly disoriented Fluttershy. She stopped and blinked, then shook her head and held her hoof high again.

Angel pointed to Megan's arm, and Fluttershy's expression softened again. She reached down with a foreleg and felt along her arm with a scaly claw. Megan started whimpering again, so Fluttershy knew where the fracture was. She gave a look of fear and disgust, as if she could sense something else was wrong.

Fluttershy's claw sunk down into Megan's arm, but Megan made no noise, even with the pain. The claw found it's way down until it hit something out of place. It was not bone or anything else normally found in the human body.

Fluttershy carefully dug out the object. It was smooth and round, and felt somewhat familiar for some reason. She examined it closely, then recoiled at the sight of one of her own scales.

She realized she had hurt her friend, something she swore she would never do. Processes ran through her head, trying to find why she would ever do this. All of her results led back to Tirek.

"Tirek!" she shouted. Her voice slowly transformed from the rough, beastly voice to her normal, silky smooth voice.

"I was beaten by a bunny," Tirek complained after he appeared. "Never have I been defeated by such a dumb animal."

This comment threw Fluttershy's fragile mind into a blind rage. "You had better take that back, you... you... meanie!"

"Hmm... How about not?" Tirek blipped out of sight and blipped back in right next to Megan. He picked her up. In the other hand he took her broken arm and bent it backwards at the elbow. Megan screamed in agony. "I will cause you pain, human, before this ends. And the pony can do nothing about it." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fluttershy lunging for him. He snapped his fingers, and her body shrunk back down to just a pony with scales.

"Do you think you can just hurt anyone without me interfering?" Fluttershy said when she picked her face up off the ground. "I couldn't believe it when I hurt a friend, so why would I stand by when someone else hurt her?" Her eyes flashed to a bright pink hue. "I have to help ponies, Tirek! *For I am Fluttershy, Element of Kindness!*"

The sky erupted into an adorable pink glow, blinding everyone's eyes.

When the glow faded, Megan was sitting on the ground, clutching her arm. Without a second thought, Fluttershy rushed over with a couple of sticks and some strengthened blades of grass and fashioned a splint.

"Oh, thank you, Flutters," Megan said. "That helps a bit. So is this what you look like in your world?"

Fluttershy looked over herself. She was her normal butter-furred self (as opposed to her host's teal fur), and all evidence of Tirek's magic was gone.

"Yeah, I guess it is," she replied. She helped Megan to her feet. A tear almost dripped from her eye. "Listen, Megan, I'm sorry for everything I did. I never realized I could be such a monster."

"It's fine," Megan reassured. "Everyone else has done the same thing so far."

Fluttershy had a curious look on her face. "Everyone else?"

"Yes, Rainbow Dash and Rarity have already experienced something like this. After they used their, um, 'Elements', we headed into the moonbeam over there. I think we should go there now."

Without any other word, Megan and Fluttershy soon arrived at the antilight. Megan motioned that they should go in.

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs.

Chapter 12 - A Pink Illogic

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Pinkie Pie sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

Pinkie was the first to speak, as usual. "Hey there, Meggy! What's your plan this time?"

"What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh."

"Human, be silent," Tirek said. "I actually really want to see how this one plays out."

"What?" Pinkie and Megan chorused.

"This." The moon stopped shedding its light on the three. The moonbeams struck the ground once again. Pinkie did not mind being hit.

"Hey, that tickles!"

"'Tickles'? You are supposed to be writhing in agony."

"Nope!"

"That's what I meant, human."

"Ah, I see now," Megan nodded.

The antilight dimmed, and the Darkness's grasp didn't take long to turn Pinkie's heart.

"Ooh, I'm all sparkly now!" Pinkie's scales covered her whole body and were very reflective... and they were pink.

"Riiight, well I'm going to go sit over there and watch."

Pinkie somehow stood next to Tirek's head (Megan saw that she was indeed standing on the ground and the ground was flat, but the ground was also up near Tirek's head. Megan looked away to heal her eyes.). She held out a very large bucket of popcorn with one hoof.

"Silly, you can't watch anything without popcorn!"

"Uhh... Thanks? I guess?"

Pinkie stood in front of Megan (though she couldn't see how so fast).

"Run."

Megan had seen enough strangeness for one loop. So she ran. What she had seen in the mare's eyes was no longer joy. It was pure evil. Megan thought that she must be kidding herself, that no one could change like that so fast. She looked back and saw a growling, snarling pink mass. Nope, not just me.

Megan reached the edge of the clearing and hid behind a tree to catch her breath. After a couple of seconds, she no longer heard any noise behind her. She peeked around the tree and saw only Tirek a ways away with his popcorn. He seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much. Pinkie just has that effect, she guessed.

She turned back and was met with a bright, pink face, no body to be seen. The face opened its maw and bit down on the entirety of Megan's face. Megan screamed and recoiled, but not before she received scars from the crazy mare's sharp teeth.

Struggling even to run, Megan hightailed her way back to the other side of the clearing. Thunder and lightning cracked from a stormy darkness that followed her, pushing her to the other side. As soon as she reached the other side, an invisible barrier blocked her path behind the trees. The storm kept advancing, and Megan was now trapped.

The storm engulfed her. She felt no pain, no lightning striking her. When she opened her eyes, she found herself floating in a neon space, with other neon shapes floating around her. A ways away, she saw a deadly death. What did it look like? No one knows. The death caught her and killed her.

Next, she was in a very dark room. In one hand, she held a flashlight. In the other was an electronic tablet. A tight-fitting hat was on her head. She took it off and shined the light on it. It said "security guard" on the front. She placed the hat back on her head. Waving the flashlight around the room, she realized that this place was oddly but vaguely familiar. But she had never seen it before.

The room looked somewhat like an office, with two dark vents large enough for someone to crawl through and a doorway with no door that led down a long hallway. Megan heard some shuffling to her left. She turned on the left vent light and was startled by an animatronic-looking Pinkie Pie head staring at her with a maniacal smile. It didn't move, though.

Once again, Megan heard a noise to her right. While holding the left vent light on, she pressed the button for the right vent light. Another, similar head appeared, also not moving. A pony-shaped figure could be seen down the hall. Megan somehow got the flashlight in her mouth and pointed toward the darkness. It was an entire robotic Pinkie Pie. It had its head tilted slightly to the right and its terrifying wide-mouthed grin spread from ear to ear. But it did not move.

Megan had a slight case of a major heart attack. When she recovered, the three figures were moving toward her. She quickly shined the lights in their faces and they stopped. But from the corner of her ear, she thought she could hear a song.

"All around the mulberry bush, the pony chased the human

"The pony thought it was all in good fun, until..."

The singing paused, which made Megan even more nervo-

POP!!!

The real, corrupted Pinkie Pie flashed in front of Megan and shook her shoulders. The floor underneath her opened up and she fell through. All she could see as she fell was Pinkie's sharp-toothed smile.

After a while of falling, Megan found screaming somewhat boring, so she stopped. This pit was quite long and dark, and she started to find something else to do. That's when she saw the large truck also falling above her. The side said "Al's Anvils".

That's also when Megan looked down and saw the ground coming up toward her. She made a face. The impact of the ground, combined with the impact of the truck killed Megan.

She woke up in a cold sweat. She was back in the clearing, with the large ring of trees surrounding her. The corrupted Pinkie was laughing hysterically on the ground. Tirek, who had the popcorn bucket stuck on his head, looked like he had fallen asleep long ago.

"Uhh... what just happened?" Megan asked.

"You should've... seen your... face!" Pinkie said in between gasps.

Tirek jolted, waking from his nap. "Wazat? Oh, right. let me just follow this magic script here... No stop laughing, pony. Bwahahah..."

Pinkie's eyes turned cyan as she got really angry. "No, I have to laugh, Tirek! *For I am Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter!*"

Gahhhh big blue party explosion woooooooo!

"No, seriously, what in the everything of everythingness just happened?"

Tirek was gone, and Pinkie bounced up and down. She still looked like her normal self.

"Oh, boy, Megan! That was so much fun! Let's do it again!"

Megan sat down and rubbed her forehead. "Let's just go to the moonbeam, please." Later, they reached the beam.

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs.

Chapters 13/14 - Multiple Redundancies

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Typer sat, rubbing his head with a forehoof.

Megan faceplanted on the ground. "Ohhh, my head..." she moaned, most likely from her last loop.

"Yeah, my head smarts too-" Typer started to say, but stopped. "Hold, on..." He tilted his head, but then seemed very alarmed. "Megan, what did you do?"

"What? Nothing, really. I've just been looping around this single point in time, each time with one pony. Tirek turns them against what they stand for or something. Hey, what's wrong?"

"WHAT'S WRONG? Firstly, you have been breaking some of the most basic laws of time! Namely, do not change time!

"Secondly, Tesla's not here."

"Yeah, so? She hasn't gone yet. It's been everyone but you, Tesla, and Twilight."

"You don't understand, it's our destiny to stay together, which is also why I can feel something is wrong. But that brings me to number three. Why am I here?"

"What do you mean?" Megan and Typer were both standing by now, and Tirek hadn't shown up yet.

"Remember from when we were at the Moochick's, Twilight said that she and her friends had a powerful magic? Well, Tesla and I weren't part of that group. We didn't even know who Twilight was until last year when she became a princess and was all over the newspapers. While it would make sense that Tirek would use them, I don't understand why he would use us."

"Because you are all ponies that came with her, and you seemed different, so I gave you a position anyway." Tirek was standing before them, arms crossed disapprovingly. "While I just hate to interrupt this lovely story, I have a schedule to keep."

The white sphere in the sky seemed to vanish as the nine moonbeams were sent from above. As Tirek planned, one hit Typer. About ten seconds later, the beam started to flicker, then went out completely long before the others did.

"Why didn't it work? It was supposed to work!"

"Well maybe it's because I don't have an element like the others?" Typer suggested. "Or maybe it's because I've blocked off all access to my brain with magic safeguards after an accident involving two calculators and a stray pencil when I was a foal?"

"Do we even want to know?"

"No." Typer's horn flared for a moment. "Now try it."

The antilight un-lit up again, and Typer was engulfed once more. But again, when the spell ended, Typer still looked liked himself.

"Well, that was nice," he said. Tirek just stared at him with his hand on his chin in an observation pose. "Riiight, well, I'm going to go find Tesla. Megan? You coming with me?" He looked over to Megan, who had her hands shoved in her pockets. She also had her mouth open, as if she were saying something. He then realized that neither of them had moved.

On a hunch, Typer walked up to Megan. No reaction. He waved his hoof in front of her face. Still no reaction. One more test. He pressed his hoof against her arm. He expected nothing to happen, probably he wouldn't be able to move it at all, or even maybe he could change its position but it would be frozen in space.

What actually happened was that when he touched her arm, Megan became unfrozen.

"-kept muttering about time so maybe oh hello what happened here?" She was obviously having a conversation with Tirek before they became frozen. It was startling to be watching one thing to suddenly be seeing something else.

"You were frozen until I touched you. I'm guessing anything within a certain radius of the Darkness blast became still in space." He removed his hoof from her arm. "I think you're fine now. So shall we go and hey look you're not moving anymore." He replaced his hoof and her body became active again.

"So am I good now? I think it's about time we get moving," she said.

"Wait... say that again," Typer said without lifting his hoof.

"I want to get going?"

"No, you said it's about time... time, that's it! You become frozen when I'm not in physical contact with you! Maybe when I let go, you move in real time!"

"You mean that we're going faster than light?"

"Yes! But nothing is supposed to go faster than light, or all sense of time is lost!"

"I think we already experienced that at the Moochick's house."

"Hmm, good point. Since we probably don't want to be touching for the next long while, take this." He closed his eyes and lit up his horn. An aura of his magic appeared around his neck, and in a few moments, a familiar heart-shaped locket hung there. "I figured I might need it, so I slipped it off your neck while neither of you were looking. Sorry."

"Ah, no, it's fine." Megan took the locket. "Yeah, I probably would have done the same thing. The magic in the Rainbow of Light may be infused with whatever Dark magic you have in you. Or something. Let's see if this works." She placed the chain around her own neck.

Typer withdrew his hoof from her arm. "Okay, so far so good. You aren't frozen yet. Hold of, let me make sure that it's self-sustainable." Typer started walking backward. That meant he wasn't watching where he was going.

"I don't feel any different..." Megan looked herself over, making sure nothing was out of place. Then she looked up. "Wait WAIT TYPER WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING!"

It was too late. Typer bumped into something solid. He gave a small "eep!" as he was quickly nabbed up by a large hand.

"Odd, it appears as if the Darkness hasn't taken over you," Tirek said. "I do believe I am somewhat disturbed. This hasn't happened before. Not in the Stratadons, not in my guards..."

"Wait, what?" Megan asked, alarmed and putting some pieces together.

Tirek ignored her. "I mean, you could probably count the pink pony as not completely affected, for whom's loop I am sorry, by the way, but that was somewhat understandable. But I guess it matters little, because I have just realized that there is no way for you to beat me this time."

"Oh? How so?" Typer inquired.

"You have no Element, and I have seen that when the other ponies tried to fight me as a group with Harmony, you and that other mare stood back and didn't attempt to help. I believe that you have no way to defeat me."

"Uhh... Megan? He's right." If he could have, Typer would have turned pale.

* * *

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Tesla sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

"TYPER!" Megan shouted.

Tesla jerked her head up instinctively. "What? Where is he? Does he need help? What happened? I can take 'em!"

Megan closed her eyes and tried to focus on her memories. "I don't remember. Tirek took him after he got shot with the Darkness and time stopped or something... The last thing I remember is that Tirek said that we had no way to defeat him." The realization of the danger struck her and she snapped to attention. "Tesla, he could be dead! We have to go save him!"

Tesla gasped. "No! He can't be dead! But how can we save him? I'm not willing to go back in time and risk creating a paradox inside a paradox."

"Most likely, he's turning at this moment. If Tirek is going by time, I'm willing to bet that the clearings are arranged around the center moonbeam clockwise, so we should face the beam turn left." Megan turned to face the antilight. Then she remembered something that was vital to what they were doing.

"Uhh... what 'moonbeams'?" Tesla asked. "All I see is forest."

"Ah, that's right. Tirek hasn't come yet."

"Wat."

"No, I'm right here."

"Oh," Megan stated simply. "What happened to Typer?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

"Why not?"

"It hasn't happened yet."

"Oh, I agree with Tesla: Wat."

"Like I said, I don't know. It thought you won."

"I thought you won."

"Well, I didn't." Tirek looked bored. "Gah, this is too much talking. I'm starting now."

The moon left the sky, leaving a dark blackness. The nine beams descended from that location. Tesla looked startled when she was hit. Megan was smart enough to discreetly toss the Rainbow of Light in with her.

The antilight faded, and the first thing Megan did was grab the necklace hanging awkwardly from Tesla's horn. Tirek must've caught on to what Megan was doing, and he rushed toward them, but in the panic, Tesla just cast the first spell that came to her mind.

The antilight faded again. Tesla looked fine, but she was grimacing and had her eyes closed like she was preparing to do some grueling task. Megan was in the same pose.

"Hmm, it didn't work again," Tirek pondered. "I must be losing my touch." He made no move to apprehend the human and unicorn. He looked over to them. "Ahh, pony, what are you doing? Your horn is glowing."

Tesla opened an eye and saw what was happening, which was nothing. Suddenly, her head started to throb with pain. That could mean only one thing. Typer was in trouble. The throbbing beated faster and faster. She didn't know what that meant.

It must have something to do with that spell, she thought. Then she started to view the spell matrix in her mind. She didn't recognize some of the elements of the construction. But in what context she saw, she could figure out what the spell did. Or should she say spells? She grinned as she cast one.

".gniwolg si nroh ruoY ?gniod uoy era tahw ,ynop ,hhA .hcuot ym gnisol eb tsem I .niaga krow t'ndid ti ,mmH" The immense river of time flowed backward. The moonbeam flickered back on over Tesla - wait, that would be, "the moonbeam flickered un-back off". She, who was unaffected along with Megan, cast the counter-spell, then cast another spell that she hoped would give them enough time to figure things out.

The windy rushing sensation Tesla got from the waves Darkness slowed to a stop. When all was still, she stepped out of the beam, forcing the magic particles out of her path, creating a pony-shaped hole. She giggled.

"How slow are we going here?" Megan asked.

"Faster than most magic, which means that we're also going faster than light!" Tesla poked the frozen pillar of Darkness and drew a smiley face. She got thrown into a giggling fit again. "Nothing is supposed to go faster than light, or all sense of time is lost!"

"I think we already experienced that at the Moochick's house..." Megan mumbled to herself. Wow, they really must be for each other. "Say, Tesla, how badly does your head hurt?"

"Hmm? Not at all... Oh, right. Typer."

"Could you speed up time just a bit until the moonbeam recedes?"

"Sure." The antilight faded away. Soon after, time grinded to a halt again. "Is this good?"

"Yeah. Does your head hurt now?"

"No. Should I try going back and forth a couple of times?" The two spent the next couple of "minutes" trying to figure out why Tesla couldn't feel Typer in trouble. Megan thought back to what she did with Typer.

"Let's see... He felt that time was messed up somehow, I told him why, he yelled at me to not do it ever again, then he told me that he knew time was wrong because he thought you were in trouble..."

"Yeah, but I'm not."

"I know, but that was before Tirek showed up. Can you get us back to the time when we woke up?"

"Sure, but because that was before I got this power, there would be a split and there would be another set of us."

"I don't think I care any more." Time reversed yet again, and it froze when they were back to the start.

"So what did you want to do this time?" Tesla asked.

Megan bent down to pick something up. "Close your eyes."

"What? Wh- OW MY FACE! YOU THREW A ROCK AT MY FACE!"

"Does your head hurt now?"

"Well, duh!" Tesla whined. Megan rolled her eyes. "Wait... I do feel something now. Yes, I feel that Typer is in fear."

"Good. Now go forward to the end of the moonbeam. That is when and where Typer is and I was."

* * *

"Uhh... Megan? He's right," Typer said. Megan was back to his loop, right where she was before, with Tirek nearly crushing Typer in his massive grip. She looked up to see which direction the center moonbeam was, then to the clockwise direction. Right behind Tirek.

"I don't know, Typer," Megan grinned. "There's more than one way to defeat someone." A loud cry came from where she expected, from behind Tirek.

Another Megan was hurtled over his head and at his hand by a yellow-tinted glow surrounding her. She was somehow able to land on his wrist and still be able to throw rocks at his eyes. The combined effect made Tirek release his grip on the white pony, and after Megan tumbled off and down the great height, all connections to the time magic were gone. The second Megan was carefully caught by Tesla's yellow-hued telekinetic magic. Typer fell on his face.

"Wow," said Megan 1. "I haven't actually seen myself in a loop before."

"Yeah," said Megan 2. "Me neither. Wait. Actually I did. Right now. And a while ago. At the same time. I am from the past, present, and future. Whatever you do, it gets written in my memories. Right now, I can remember myself talking from your viewpoint, but nothing after that until it happens."

"Woah."

"Yep."

"Time is awesome that way," Typer said, picking himself up off the ground. "So, what do we do next? I assume both Tireks are frozen?"

"Normally, the pony I'm with and I go into that moonbeam over there," Megan 1 explained as she pointed.

"But that's after that pony beats Tirek with her Element and their mutation or whatever disappears," Megan 2 told them.

"So we're not done yet?" asked Tesla.

"Not by a long shot," said a voice from behind them. Tirek was moving at the same speed in time as them. "Seems that another one of me has somehow figured out the spell cast on Typer and has cast it on me."

Another Tirek stepped up next to him. "You're welcome. Now there are two of us to beat."

"Well, we're in big trouble," Tesla whispered so that the Tireks couldn't hear her. "I want to try something drastic. When I say 'now', Megans, you get as close to us as you can. Typer, cast a slowing time spell."

"Hey!" Typer complained. "I thought I usually call the shots! Wait, what do you mean 'slowing time spell'?"

"What? Can't you control the flow of time like I can?"

"No. If it is seriously because of my mind protection, I'm not happy. Though I guess it's better than ponies randomly dying everywhere." The Megans were about to ask what exactly Typer meant, but they were rudely interrupted by Tirek 2.

"What are you planning?" he said. "We'll just have to win this ourselves, Tirek. Come on." Both Tireks rushed forward. It was a mistake.

Tesla yelled "Now!" and she and Typer cast the first spell that came to their minds. The Tireks began to gradually slow down, but did not stop. It was like they were running in slow motion. They stopped and looked at each other, then started conversing at trying to figure out how to go at the same speed as them.

"How will we win this?" Megan 1 asked. "Do you have some sort of super special spell that we can use?"

Typer shook his head. "Sadly, no. Magic versus magic doesn't end well. Like fighting fire with fire. Everything burns down, and you only have a bigger fire. No, we have to rely only on only the hard facts of this world. We need to fight magic with science."

Typer motioned for Megan 1 to follow him. Megan 2 stayed with Tesla.

"Quickly," Tesla implored Megan. "What do you have in your pockets?" She pulled out a small piece of candy. "Good enough, I guess." She took the candy in her telekinetic hold. The candy started to condense into a smaller form, leaving small white grains of something and hairs of something else.

"What are you doing?" Megan asked.

"Do you see that picture on my flank?"

"The bottle thing with the green liquid?"

"Yes. That means that my special talent is potion making, but I also work with chemicals in general. I'm extracting the sugar from your candy to use in a potion. There also appears to be some rabbit hair, which I can also use." She concentrated on the ingredients, and more joined them, and a more intense glow came from it. Tesla started muttering to herself. "A stem of weed from Tartarus, the sugar of a child's candy, a hair from the most arrogant rabbit, the dust of the deepest electricity conducting ore, and the brightest glowing stone of night." A flash of light, and by her face floated an orb of shimmering liquid.

"Uhh... cool, a potion. What's it going to do? Give me Speed and Jump Boost?" Megan scoffed. She cupped her hands and the precious drops poured into her hands.

Tesla raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You might be surprised. Give it a try."

The effect was astounding. Megan actually felt like she was hit in the face with a brick (she already knew what it felt like). She covered her face and staggered backward. When she looked up again, she could see more, like someone turned on widescreen in real life.

"Now try walking." Tesla said coyly. Megan obeyed. After one step, she tripped over herself and fell about ten feet forward. "See what I mean?"

"Wow," Megan exclaimed. "Is that how brewing always works?"

Tesla shrugged. "Most of the time. Other times you just have to get creative."

"Okay. So the rabbit hair..." Megan questioned. Tesla nodded. After another landing on the face, Megan discovered that she could jump almost two meters straight up in the air.

"Okay, seriously, stop goofing off," one of the Tireks said. "I'm really starting to get annoyed."

Tesla looked over Typer and Megan 1, who gave the 'okay' sign with her fingers. Megan 2 gave a thumbs-up.

* * *

While Megan 2 stayed with Tesla, Megan 1 followed Typer.

"How much do you know about simple mechanisms?" he asked.

"If they’re simple, then probably enough," Megan 1 said.

"Good. That arranged assortment of lines and ovals to me means that everything in the universe can be make with a straight line or a curve."

"Really? To me it looks like numbers, and in that 8 row, 8 column pattern, it looks like bina-"

"No no no stop! No one needs to know about that! For now let's just say that it's how the universe is made."

"Fine, okay. What are we suppose to be doing, anyway?"

Typer looked oddly relieved at the change of topic. "Right. I'm hoping Tesla can provide some flash bombs or something. I want to turn some of these trees into catapults. Or something. Maybe bend them down and put some ammo at the end."

"But all of these trees are way too thick to bend at all. I should know, I've been thrown into them enough times."

"Ax." Typer's horn flashed, and a magic blade of bright blue light swiped up the trunk of the nearest tree. Branches fell like boulders off a cliff. When the blade reached the top, it came down through the center of the trunk, splitting it in half. The sections of wood became engulfed in a cyan glow. Rising and pointing straight up, the branches dropped into the dirt. "See? Ax. Magic is so much fun sometimes."

"Huwhaha?" Megan became unable to form intelligible thoughts. "Riiight. I think that we can kinda win this one."

"Okay, seriously, stop goofing off," one of the Tireks said. "I'm really starting to get annoyed."

Megan 2 gave Megan 1 a thumbs-up. She returned it with an 'okay' sign.

As if an invisible someone had yelled "Go!", the battle commenced. Megan 2 took to a strategy of running up the sides of trees and leaping from the tops of them onto the Tireks' heads, landing a few blows in the eyes and such. Megan 1 was loading Typer's makeshift weapons with sticks and stones, while Typer fired them at the Tireks. Tesla was making flashing smoke bombs with leaves and fine explosive powder, also hurtling them with her magic at the Tireks' faces.

Sometime into the fight, Megan 2 was knocked to the ground for the nth time. So far, the Tireks were only standing right-side-to-right-side in the center of the ring of forest and were surrounded on three sides by the attackers, but were otherwise unharmed, batting away the attacks with ease.

"This isn't working!" Megan 2 yelled to the others.

"I know!" Tesla replied, who had given up on blinding the Tireks and had just been tossing Typer's rock back to him. "This is crazy! We need another tactic! We're getting desperate!"

Megan 1 stopped putting rocks on the tops of the bent pieces of wood and jumped on top of the one Typer was currently holding down. Typer was almost startled enough to let go of the large branch, but he kept his stance.

"What are you doing?" he yelled.

"Something drastic," she replied calmly. "I need rope."

"What?"

"Can you make rope right now?"

Typer looked reluctant to answer. "Well, I guess it's possible to braid and re-braid long wood fibers together, but-"

"Do it."

Typer's horn lit up, and the blade Megan saw before appeared again. Swiftly yet carefully, most of the surrounding branches floated up and were sliced into threads. When enough were made, Typer pulled several taut and wound them together, starting from the top down. When about a meter was finished a second later, Megan grasped an end and kicked Typer's hooves so that the branch she was standing on became unbent, sending her arcing past one Tirek's chest. Typer had a hard time keeping up, but he kept winding new rope into one, continuous strand.

Megan 2 saw her counterpart fly from her position on the ground. She facepalmed herself, seeing that at her height, Megan 1 would not survive the descent without help. Megan 2 started sprinting along the perimeter as fast as she could. When she reached a high enough speed, she got closer to the trees until she began running sideways on the trunks of the trees. Her own height climbed as she started to rise up the sides, still running around the interior of the circle.

Her timing had to be perfect. The point on which she jumped from was on the rope's side of the Tireks, and about 80° from where Typer was in the circle. It didn't take much, but her feet left the trunks as she aimed for the woven strands of fiber. She was able to successfully grasp the rope, which was yanked from Typer's magical grasp. The center section was pulled tight to a very surprised Tirek's body, acting like a pivot point. Megan 2's end swung around both Tireks clockwise as Megan 1 was saved from her fall and was pulled back slightly and swung counterclockwise. The Megans were tying the Tireks' arms to their sides and the Tireks together.

Typer and Tesla saw what the Megans were doing and looked at each other, waiting for a signal. Typer made another strand of rope and tied it to a small rock. He used the last remaining makeshift catapult and launched the rock toward Tesla through the Tireks' legs. She walked behind a tree, spun around, and bucked the rock back at an angle so that the rope went around the tree, yet the rock was sent back to the other side of the clearing. Typer ran a bit away and bucked the rock back in a similar fashion. The two unicorns ping-ponged back and forth until they had went around the circle and were back to their starting positions. They had created a half web/half star shape with the rope.

The Megans had slowed their swinging speed, and Megan 2 had taken hold of Megan 1 and jumped down to the ground. The Tireks were strapped together, their arms were tied to their sides, and in any direction they stepped in, they would trip and fall. Tesla used the last bit of sugar for one more potion of swiftness. She hurled the compound at their legs. Not only did it make them both have their hooves slide out from under them, but the force they hit the web with was so great, the areas of the rope that were around the trees snapped, forcing the rest of it to recoil and wrap around the Tireks' legs. They fell to the ground on their sides, dazed.

Typer trotted up next to their heads. "See, Tirek?" The next line he whispered in their ears. "Magic can't win over the unchangeable laws of the universe. Science."

An awesome eruption of bright green light, brighter than any other endgame spell Megan had witnessed in the past five loops, violently exploded outward from Typer and Tesla.

The light faded. The two humans and two ponies were sitting in the clearing. Neither Tirek was to be found.

Tesla suddenly gasped. "Oh, Typer! Do you feel that?"

Typer sat still for a moment. He felt nothing but the cool summer breeze, rustling the leaves. "Nothing but the wind."

"Exactly! The wind! We're moving at normal speed again!"

Typer rolled his eyes, but with a smile. Only she would be excited about wind. Typer turned to the Megans. "As you girls may know, we have to keep time the same events that should've happened, otherwise there would be a paradox." His horn flashed, and a stapled set of papers appeared. "I have one copy of the original, historical transcript. Keep it safe. This is what you must tell the ponies after we have left." Both Megans agreed, and Megan 2 folded the papers and placed them in her pocket.

The four beings chatted about things like time and Megan's experiences on the way to the center moonbeam. Tesla memorized her story for later publication when they got back to their own age. Typer asked what the Megans thought about the next loop. Both Megans said that they were somewhat frightened, because it was Tirek's last chance to win, and he was getting desperate. But it was time. They were at the moonbeam. They walked into the beam, but not before Typer could have sworn he saw a pair of yellow eyes with oddly-sized, red pupils.

Two humans and two ponies stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw six other human/pony pairs.

Chapter 15 - One Last Chance

Megan was alone.

Not just by herself. That was being alone. No, she was alone. She felt as if the world was void of any other souls.

The clearing she was in wasn't clear. The air was almost pitch black. The sky was the color of Tirek's dark, cold heart. There was absence of stars, the moon, and any source of light. Her eyes would not adjust to the dimness. She could only see that there was not a clearing at all. In fact, the trees were much closer together than normal.

Megan was alone.

She woke up laying on her back. She sat up and was instantly filled with terror, as if she was in a horror movie or game. She hadn't seen one before, but she expected this was what it was like. Nothing moved. Nothing made a noise.

She brought her knees to her chin and curled into a ball. Her mind was in a sensory overload, but it knew one thing: fear. A frightened tear escaped her eye. She was sobbing silently.

"Meeegaaan..." The voice was a ghastly whisper, but in the stillness it was as loud as a cannon shot. Megan looked up from her near-fetal position. Nothing moved. Nothing made a noise.

"Hello?" she called. She wondered if it was wise to give away where she was, but she needed anyone, anything to prove existence. "Hello!" she said louder. Nothing replied. "Please, where are you?" More tears fell without any drip. "Help me," she added with a sob.

She placed her head on her knees again and wrapped her arms around her legs. She laid on her side and cried for what seemed like infinity.

"Meeegaaan..." The voice was more ghostly that anything Megan had ever heard before. The echos in the darkness were like spirits in a graveyard.

"Please! I know you're there!" Megan cried. She heard nothing for hours. "I know..." she whispered.

"Meeegaaan..." Megan could feel the chilling breath in her ear, the warm exhalation on her neck.

"Please... Just help me..." Megan whispered to the voice standing over her.

"Megan, look at me," the voice said. It was no longer frightening. It was no longer a whisper. It was kind, and friendly, and reassuring.

Megan opened her eyes, if only a crack. A lavender hoof reached down and lifted her chin. Megan looked up, and saw the warm smile of a purple pony with a horn and wings. This must be Twilight, the Princess of Friendship. The corners of Megan's mouth raised slightly.

Twilight slowly waved her foreleg once past Megan's face. As she did, she vanished from all sight. Megan once again became frightened. She reached out and grasped nothing but air.

"NO!" she cried. "Twilight! Come back!" She broke down and started to sob once again. "I need you..."

An evil, female cackle echoed through the forest. Megan was less frightened, but was beginning to feel upset in a different way.

"Megan," said the same, pleasant voice. Megan stood up and saw Twilight, standing between two trees with that same, pleasant smile.

Megan rushed toward her, relieved, and wrapped her arms around her neck. But the lavender alicorn turned into less than vapor. Megan, still running, fell over the immovable roots that were connected to the trees. She landed in a puddle of mud and became angry. As she picked herself up off the ground, another of the same laugh rang in her ears. She was filled with rage.

"Megan, over here," the voice called from behind her. Megan turned around to see Twilight, still with her smile, but the smile was one of mockery.

Fuming, Megan grabbed a stick that was leaning against a tree and lunged. She thought about how the stick looked awfully like a baseball bat, and swung at the purple head. Twilight vanished, and Megan slipped and landed on her back.

"You can't hit, can you, Megan?" Twilight taunted from somewhere behind

Megan stood, shouted a fearsome cry, and pounced at the alicorn's head. That Twilight too disappeared. The next call came from directly behind Megan, so she spun around and barely saw the illusion blink from existence after striking the space with the bat. By now, she was furious.

Another Twilight taunted her. Megan slowly walked up to her, raised her bat above her head, and swung down so hard that she left a gaping hole in the dirt. This time, not only did this Twilight disappear, but she split into two Twilights on each side of where Megan had swung. Megan tried to connect the bat to their heads, but they split into four Twilights. No matter what she did, the Twilights kept multiplying over and over.

Megan's heart burned with fury. Fed up with it all, she screamed and hurled the bat at a tree. The resounding CRACK! silenced all. The Twilights were gone. No more taunting, no more swinging. Satisfied, Megan began to walk to pick up her bat. As she did so, she heard a whimper from behind her.

I swear, if this is another Twilight... Megan thought. She turned to see another curled up lavender alicorn, its eyes pleading with Megan. Megan raised her bat for hopefully the final time.

"No!" Twilight cried. "Please! I'm the real Twilight! The others were fakes! You have to bel-" She was silenced by the bat actually meeting her head.

Good riddance, Megan thought as she saw the fractured skull dripping blood. She dropped the bat and started to walk away.

"Oh, Megan?" the voice said again. Megan turned around, but was met with a strike to the head with her own bat. The Twilight she had just killed was standing and held the bat in her telekinesis. When she tried to swing again, the bat was caught by Megan, ripped from her grasp, and pounded her. Over and over, Megan used the bat like a sledgehammer, beating the body to a bloody pulp.

One more whimper was heard from behind Megan. She spun on her heel, gave a battle cry, and ran at the sound. She didn't see the lavender alicorn with the vibrant, violet mane. She saw the pink unicorn with the plain, white mane. It didn't matter. It was still Twilight. Once again, Megan held her stick high and brought it down on the side of Twilight's face. Twilight was thrown to the trunk of a tree. Megan readied herself for another strike.

"Please!" Twilight pleaded as best as she could from her injured position. "I'm real! I'm the real Twilight!"

"OH YEAH?" Megan screamed violently. "WHAT MAKES YOU SO SURE THAT YOU'RE TWILIGHT? PROVE IT! PROVE THAT YOU'RE TWILIGHT!"

Slowly, Twilight raised her right foreleg. She turned it over. On the back was a half-decimeter-wide, perfectly round patch of healing skin, the fur on it just starting to grow. Megan stared at it with suspicion, then turned over her own arm, revealing her own, same-sized patch of pink fur, just beginning to fall out. The pony and human compared the oddities. They were a perfect match. Megan's fur was the exact shade of Twilight's coat, and Twilight's exposed skin was the exact shade of Megan's skin.

Instantly, Megan's demeanor changed. "The teleportation experiment..." she mumbled, her thoughts traveling back to one of Twilight's less successful test runs that didn't exactly work with all skin types. She looked up at the unicorn with wide eyes. "Twilight! It really is you!" Twilight found herself nearly being tackled into a hug. "I needed someone, anyone! And you came!"

"Uhh... came? Where did I come to? This looks like a completely normal yet completely round clearing in a forest. Is that odd where you come from, on your Earth?"

Megan withdrew herself and stood up with a quizzical expression on her face. "What do you mean? It is pitch black right now. It's only by miracle that I can see you."

Now it was Twilight's turn to look confused. "I can see you perfectly well. There are some stars out, but the moon was covered by..." She paused, putting some pieces together in her mind. She facehoofed. "Tirek's Dark magic. Of course. When I woke up, I saw Tirek casting a spell on you. There was a beam of Darkness, probably coming from the Rainbow of Darkness, emitting from the moon. You were encased by the column. He must have been trying to turn your heart, something at which he succeeded for a time."

"Sorry for trying to kill you, by the way."

"It's fine. I would've done the same thing. Anyway, When Tirek finished his spell, you were laying on the ground, curled up in a frightened ball. Then you got up, grabbed a large stick, and tried to kill me. I've seen dark magic turn ponies into monsters, even experienced it at times, but with Tirek's special brand of Dark magic, I could only guess what you must have been going through."

"Oh, is that all?"

"Yeah, pretty much. You can figure out the rest."

An awkward pause followed.

"Uhh, Twilight?" Megan asked. "Can you please do something about this?" She waved her hand around in the air, motioning to the "forest" that Twilight couldn't see.

"Oh. Right." Twilight's horn lit up. Instantly, the bright stars in the sky came into view, and the dark trees retracted to their normal, circular pattern.

"Oh, thank you, Twilight. I don't believe I could stay in there much longer."

"It's no problem. Light always overcomes the dark."

"The problem with that, though," Tirek said as he appeared, "is that the darkness seeps into the cracks where the light doesn't shine." He walked toward the two startled and frightened beings. His fist slammed to Twilight's side. She was thrown through the air at a tree. Though she was nearly impaled, she was still instantly knocked out.

Megan tried to run from the monstrous centaur, but the breath was ripped from her lungs, causing her to fall to the ground. A dark mist swirled around her throat, slowly expanding to the rest of her body. She tried to struggle to free herself from the Dark magic, but it was useless. The magic was too powerful. As she fell, she saw Tirek with his arm outstretched, the hand on it in a magic choke hold. He was going to kill her.

A lavender blast came from where Twilight had been knocked out. There she stood, a violet glow on her horn, a purple light from her eyes, a furious look on her face. Her stance said that she was prepared for a battle.

Tirek rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Honestly, why won't you ponies just die?" For a split second, he lowered his concentration.

Twilight took that chance. She shot another beam of magic, forcing Tirek to lose his grip on Megan. Megan gasped for life-giving oxygen. Tirek would not give up just yet, though. He tried to cast his own Dark magic on Twilight, but to no avail. Instead, Twilight began to rise into the air slowly.

"Tirek, stop this madness," Twilight commanded. "Turn away from the darkness and come into the light."

"No. That's stupid. Why do you think I would?"

"Because you leave me with no choice. Tirek, in the past, you have killed us all several times. Afterward, you have turned the hearts of all five of my friends and two other ponies, while forcing Megan to watch. Now you have turned her heart, too. But you have seen what the light does against the dark. Light magic has turned all hearts back from the darkness. All but yours. And it must be outcast from here, so it does not contaminate anything else."

"And what makes you think you can stop me?" Tirek inquired.

"You have caused harm to not just any ponies, but my friends. I say this to you not just as Princess Sparkle of Friendship, but as *Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic!*"

Lavender light, as fierce as it was beautiful, radiated from Twilight. This was truly the epicenter for all light magic.

The light died away, leaving Twilight sitting in the center of the clearing, with Tirek nowhere to be seen. Sure enough, Twilight had been turned into the lavender alicorn she used to be.

Megan stood up and reached for her hitting stick. With the rage she had while under the influence of the Darkness at the sight of the purple beast, she ran over to Twilight with the bat raised.

Twilight tried to back away from the seemingly crazy girl, but to no avail, as she only tripped and fell back down. "Gah! Real me, real me!"

Megan grinned, then lowered the stick. "I know, just messing with you."

"Well, please don't." Twilight gazed around for a bit, then finally noticed her body. She fluttered her wings gratefully. "Ah, it's good to be back."

"So you can fly, too? How is that?"

"It's one of the better things that has happened to me. Alicorn abilities are also more powerful than most other ponies, which means I can do this." Megan found herself being levitated on to Twilight's back, whom then blasted from the ground and reached the moonbeam in 9.9 seconds flat. Megan tumbled off her, wide-eyed and dizzy.

"Please never do that again," Megan said. When she eventually scrambled to her feet, she realized where they were. "We are right next to the moonbeam. I didn't even have to tell you where to go."

"Well, it's obvious that it's Dark magic, probably the next place Tirek will be. Am I right?"

"Yeah, the other ponies and I always just walked in."

"And you didn't die? How do you know you just don't get killed over and over, only getting revived every time?"

"Well, for starters, Tirek is always upset. That, and I always see seven other selves for a split second."

"That makes sense. So, this is the final battle. Are you ready?"

"Not in the slightest. Let's go."

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs for the final time.

Chapter 16 - The Endgame

The eight Megans along the rim of the center clearing in the beam suddenly screamed with pain. The Dark magic felt like it was doing terrible things to them. Slowly, each one started to disintegrate from the head downward. It hurt like nothing she had experienced before. Each atom was separated from one another and vaporized instantly.

Tirek appeared in the center of the moonbeam. "YES! Finally I have defeated you, you filthy human! I have won!"

Tirek observed the ponies' reactions. He knew something was very wrong. Everypony had their eyes closed and were smiling. Not grinning, but smiling, as if in some pure bliss. Then they opened their eyes, revealing light; pure, bright light. The anti-light faltered momentarily, showing what was on Tirek's mind. He realized that they might be able to win somehow in a way that he could not figure. With that thought, light flooded the clearing as the column of Darkness dissipated. There, in front of Tirek, was a singular, whole Megan.

"I hate you," Tirek commented. "But seriously, how are you still alive?"

The ponies, still in their trance, slowly made their way around Tirek to behind Megan. It was time.

"Tirek, I believe that your Rainbow of Darkness receives its power from the suffering of others, correct?" Megan asked.

"Yes..."

"That's why I am still standing. The joy from these ponies utterly destroy yours. I have never seen or even heard of anything so harmonic as these equines."

"I get that, but why?"

"Even if they had still been here but had not met me, I don't think I would be here, standing before you. These ponies have shown me the power that supplies the Rainbow of Light. It's the opposite of what fuels your Rainbow. Friendship and harmony with others."

"Oh, please tell me you're kidding."

"Tirek, I have gotten to know a bit about these ponies during the four months you had us cooped up together with the Moochick. In their world, their entire principle is based on friendship. I became friends with each one, albeit some more than others. Afterward, you tried to find ways to hurt me though your turning their hearts. That was a mistake to make.

"The first pony I ever met of their kind was Rainbow Dash." Though no one could notice, Rainbow Dash's glowing eyes started to become rose-hued. "That meant something to me. I tried to do my best to become friends with her first. Every loop that got reset, she would come for me on Earth and take me here. We got to know one another quickly. When she wanted to abandon her friends for you, I couldn't take it. I cared about her, and I would make sure she would never give up on her friends.

"Rarity always supplied for us in our little times of need when we were with the Moochick, whether it was putting in extra hours in the underground farmland or mending clothing." Rarity's eyes also became a deep purple." One of the first things I noticed was that she did not like dirty jobs, but she did them anyway. That must take some serious willpower. Then when you had an effect on her, she became greedy, always after whatever was the most valuable, which in this case was the Rainbow of Light. But then when she caused me harm and saw me in need, she did not hesitate to help and supply.

"Fluttershy, in my eyes, was always the most loving." Fluttershy's eyes turned pink. "More than one time, though, I did see that she would be the first to run away from a fight. But what she lacked in spine, she made up for in heart. Every time she found an animal of some kind, anything from an insect to a mouse, she helped it with whatever issues it had, some things the Darkness had caused. She always had an aura of calmness around her. Then you turned her into a monster. A raging, uncaring, pain-causing monster of night. Had it not been for Angel, I would have been torn to shreds. Fluttershy had enough of herself left to recognize the bunny she had raised herself. She was that caring.

"Applejack, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln all have something in common: they can not tell a lie." Applejack's eyes glowed orange. "I mean, of course they all had leadership capabilities, but they didn't lie. Whenever Applejack did something wrong, which was rarely, I might add, she always confessed, no matter what the price to pay for what she had done. I must admit, however, that this made Truth or Dare much more fun, but that's beside the point. When you made her a bully, she was so good at lying that I started to believe her. But when she almost turned me suicidal, I thought about what she said about if it was really worth it, living with almost false hopes of getting back to Earth, and I thought back to the times at the Mushromp. I immediately recognized this false Applejack. She would not say anything if it were not true.

"Pinkie Pie is in her own category of odd." Pinkie's eyes became blue. "I must admit that when I first met her, she scared me. Not in the 'Oh, hey, you startled me,' kind of way, but the 'I think she might be a serial killer, everyone run,' kind of way. She always bounced around using random references that some of which even I got, which is normally rare, considering I spend most of my time in the stables. When her heart was shrouded by Darkness... I honestly saw little change. It was pretty much exactly what I imagined it to be. But in the end, when she burst out laughing, I knew that if you didn't have your... popcorn... induced... drowsiness, you would be startled by someone having such pure fun at such a dark time. I realised that no matter how insane someone might be, Pinkie always has time for fun and/or just being completely random.

"I'm sure that Typer and Tesla must be bounded by some unknown power, but is isn't exactly magic." Typer's and Tesla's eyes became lighter and darker hues of green, respectively. "When I tried to get to know them, they were hidden and stayed away from everyone else. They were a mystery to me. When we got them to try and be included, they appeared much smarter than anyone could guess, had they not known them. Typer is a math whiz, and can visualize machines that we may never know about. Tesla knows chemicals and elements better than anyone else, brewing potions in a snap. But they didn't have any connection to the other ponies. They weren't Elements of Harmony, the most abundant source of magic around. When you could not fully corrupt their hearts, and we used their skills to fight you, I realized something. We can have all of this wonderful magic, but a lone unicorn can't win. To prove that, not only did we become one team, but we did not rely on magic to help.

"Twilight, however, is known far and wide in her world for her magical capabilities." Twilight's eyes became lavender. "She outsmarts everyone here in pure knowledge. She told me the tale of Nightmare Moon. Like the old formula, Twilight had a very high IQ, but a low EQ. But when she banded with the other ponies and used the Elements of Harmony, she realized what it was like to have true friends. I was lost in the bottomless pit of dark souls, wishing that if there was a way out, any way out, I would take it. Twilight is the source for most light magic, coming from her friends. She helped me out of the Darkness with a sign that only two friends could share. A mark of time spent together. Her light magic broke the Dark magic spell, freeing me from the terror of you. It was the first time I have been affected by the Dark magic directly, hopefully the last, but it was also the first time I have seen someone not controlled by the Darkness break the spell, which was really hard to do, but she broke faster than any of her friends ever could. She is the Princess of Friendship in her world, but she also has more power than you ever will."

Every pony's eyes were glowing, making them look like a Hearth's Warming display. Tirek finally noticed them and took a step back in caution. As a reaction, they shined brighter.

"Your Rainbow of Darkness is based on the suffering and unhappiness of others. Our Rainbow of Light is for joy and friendship. There is only one person unhappy here." Spectra of light shot from the ponies into the sky and combined to create the brightest Rainbow the world would see until four ages later. "That person, Tirek, is you."

The bright beam came down right in front of Tirek. A white portal to the deepest void appeared and began to vacuum in all that was near it. The ponies and Megan were magically anchored to the ground. Trees bent. Leaves detached from their branches. Sticks were sucked in. Tirek was skidding, trying to keep his balance, but had no success. He was thrown on his back, and his lower half was pulled into the void. But he grasped the ground with one hand, keeping him from being whisked away. Once again, however, the last being they expected to see landed, holding both Spikes. He set them down, knowing that the void was not meant for them.

"Scorpan!" Tirek screamed, the authority from his voice rapidly disappearing. "I command you to help me!"

"You know, I believe there was something I told you when you captured me from my homeland and infected me with Darkness." Scorpan leaned down. "You should have made friends when you had the chance." He stomped on Tirek's hand, sending him into the portal, screaming.

Then, the light from the portal brightened greatly. It expanded, covering all that was in it.

Including the ponies.

Chapter 11 - You are a Terrible Person

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Applejack sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

Megan rose to her feet and waved frantically at her. "Applejack! You've got to get out of here! Tirek will be here any second!"

Applejack seemed a bit startled at first, seeing the human rushing toward her, but she got the hint and started to run into the forest, only to run head-first into a wall similar to the ceiling Rainbow Dash flew into. Determined not to be deterred by this, she spun around and landed a buck on the wall, which only sent her tumbling forward into Megan.

"That was actually a pretty useless escape attempt," Tirek remarked. "What did you hope to gain by that?" Megan crossed her arms and glared. Applejack just glared, though with a hint confusion of what was going on and if she could cross her forelegs like that. "Welp, let's not waste any more time with idle chit-chat."

The moon blinked out like a light bulb turning off (even though Megan was the only one who knew what a light bulb was). Megan took a few strides away from Applejack. The nine moonbeams touched down in their respective clearings. As she predicted, one of the beams struck Applejack. She got into a ready position, like a sprinter at the starting line of a race.

In the moment the antilight stopped, Megan had already bounded toward Applejack, oddly ready to conquer whatever lay before her. She reached out to grab her mane, but found only air. Applejack tucked and rolled away. However, Megan did find something to grab. It was the trunk of a tree, and she grabbed it with her face.

Applejack recovered from her roll with the skill of a professional acrobatics champion. She pivoted on her left forehoof to face Megan. A devilish grin spread across her face. Scales folded backward through her skin and covered her fur.

"Ah'm gonna enjoy this," she said in a tone that suggested that her mind was not completely right.

Applejack lunged toward Megan and leaped at her head. At the last moment, Megan ducked and scurried under her. Applejack had expected something like this and rebounded off of the tree bark with a half-twist flip and barely lost any speed.

I can climb up a tree, Megan thought as she ran to the other side of the clearing. She has those hooves of hers still, and those scales don't look spaced out enough to snag anything, so I bet she can't climb.

Once she reached the other side, she hauled herself up to the closest branch. It was just in time to, as Applejack nearly ran into the tree soon after. The branch Megan was on was a longish one, but it was thick and sturdy. Applejack peered up at Megan, who was crouched on the end, ready to jump if anything went wrong.

"Yer such a scaredy cat," Applejack taunted. "Why don't you come down? I promise I won't hurt you." Megan shook her head. "No? Well that's too bad."

Applejack looked back to the base of the tree and turned around. She positioned her hind hooves so they were pressing lightly against the trunk, close to the roots. A mighty CRACK! sounded from the tree as the earthpony bucked it.

The wood had a deep gouge going into it more than halfway through. The tree, now severely angered by the shaking and being unable to stand with its top heavy leaves, decided to lean precariously toward Applejack. The roots were little help keeping the tree grounded, and the trunk snapped and fell. Megan jumped off and fell on her face a safe distance away (which she thought the universe was throwing at her as a recurring theme).

Applejack, however, was unlucky enough to be right next to it and wasn't fast enough to get away. The tree landed squarely on top of her. Megan cautiously approached the toppled foliage.

"Applejack?" she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Megan!" Applejack shouted. "Come quickly, Ah'm hurt!"

Megan instantly started to pull away sticks without a second thought. As she was bending back a particularly large mess of leaves, she was met with buck to the chest (at which point she thought the universe just didn't have any imagination at all). Her back hit another tree, and she felt more like a baseball that anything else.

Megan sat up as best as she could. She looked across the grass to see a bloody-faced Applejack. There was a large gash going down the side of her face. The scales on the edges around the wound looked like they replicated themselves and folded back over to cover the exposure until nothing could be seen. She cricked her head left and right, a loud pop coming from the joints.

"You can't beat me," she said. "The magic is too powerful."

Megan leapt to her feet. "I doubt that. I've done it before and I can do it again."

Applejack grinned and disappeared from view. As she did this, every tree and rock vanished too. Megan also knew that her other selves and ponies were there too, but Applejack must have known about that from Tirek, so they were gone too.

"And th' funny thing 'bout magic," Applejack continued from somewhere, "is that it spreads. In mah case, it's illusions. Which means Ah can do this."

The trees returned at full force. The clearing in which Megan was standing seemed gone. She was surrounded by thick leaves and branches. As far as she could tell, they were tangible, too. She heard hoofsteps coming her way, so she pulled herself up into a tree.

"Oh, Meeegaaan," Applejack cooed. "Where aaare yooou?" Megan stayed completely silent. "Well fine. If that's the way you wanna play, I'll just have to find you." Applejack passed under where Megan was hiding. "I know where you hide. All that time you spent with us at the Moochick's dirty place, and you wouldn't shut up! Ah might have forgiven you because of that cake you bake, but you used the same recipe over and over again and it always tasted like manure!"

Megan jumped off of her branch and hit the ground running. Applejack heard the thud and turned around, but Megan had already taken another path through the maze.

"Yer so loud when you walk! You can't cook, you can't run, you can't do anything! Ah bet you can't even tie yer own shoelaces. Yer parents must hate you and think yer a disgrace." Applejack heard a sniff and the drip of a tear hitting the ground. She grinned, as her plan had the right effect. "Ah'll also bet that you don't have any friends back in yer world. You spend too much time in yer stable, caring for yer dumb pony TJ because you know that you will never have anyone else to love."

Megan stumbled over an exposed root and fell face-first to the ground. She sat up to run, but Applejack was already standing over her. This was too much for her, and she covered her eyes and started sobbing.

"You crybaby. You know yer life is terrible, and I can end it right now."

"Why do you do this to me?" Megan cried. "You insult me, make me turn against myself, and offer to kill me? I would almost do it. Why would you say these things and spread these... these lies?"

Applejack halted. "L... lies? Ah never lie..." she said, completely baffled. She blanked out for a moment, replaying events in her mind. "Ah lied... Why would I say those things..." Memories snapped her back to the world. She didn't bother to hide her fury. "Tirek! Where are you?"

A voice sounded from the centaur, now leaning on a tree. "I'm right here. I haven't moved the whole time."

Applejack ignored that last statement. "You made me trick one of mah friends until she almost wanted to die? What is wrong with you? Ah can't just do that! It's just downright wrong!" Her eyes glowed with a furious orange. "Ah cannot lie to anyone, Tirek! *For Ah am Applejack, Element of Honesty!*"

The stars seemed faint as a bright, warm orange light emitted from Applejack.

Megan had the sense to shield her eyes as best as she could this time. When it was over, she sat up and smiled.

"That was one of my better loops. You played your part well."

"Wat."

"What you said. It was less that creative, but I was still able to try and make it look real. Don't worry, I wasn't hurt."

"You just acted like you were crying? Ah thought it was real..." Applejack exclaimed.

"Well, the pain helped. Anyway, we have to go to that remaining moonbeam over there. Something tells me I'm almost done. Oh, hey, you don't look any different at all."

Applejack didn't even know where to start questioning what Megan said, so the two walked in silence until they reached the moonbeam.

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs.