Nightmare Moon vs. OC

by TundraStanza

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Nightmare Moon, Changelings, Original Character, Random, Adventure
Length: 22060

Theoretically, a singularity can form from an infinitely dense point in space and time. Three universes that were never meant to meet are about to collide. How will these protagonists work together when they must fight the same enemy?

It has been approximately a year since Dill Anne Shear took on the form and powers of Nightmare Moon. During that time, she has used those powers to seek out fragments of the Nightmare that fed on the hatred and negative feelings of other ponies. She took on those energies into herself and has been helping calm the darkness into tranquility. But as good as she has been in this life, something managed to escape from her new home world... something that would prove too unwieldy for her alone.
---
For several years, Shirayuki has shared a body with Tundra. While they are the same pony, events of the past separated their minds. To combat enemies whose powers went beyond magic, they and their friends gained new soul-based weapons and powers. But in destroying Discord, they might have unleashed an even greater foe.
---
Returning to his daily routines proved difficult for Changeling Drone #51. His stay in that other world opened his eyes to how to feel the very emotions that his kind feeds on. Old instincts drove him to work emotionlessly, yet his recent experience told him to take care in everything he does. Discovering a traitor in his hive was the last thing he wanted to worry about.
---
Three dangerous entities that were thought to have been destroyed ended up at each other's backs. This happenstance created a monster, grinding parallel universes into each other. Now it looks like the hope of all of the worlds rests in the hooves of a Nightmare pony, a split-personality alicorn, and a changeling. Anyone else worried?
---
The Moon Shall Rise From Hell's Ashes, Nothing Probably Goes On Forever Too, and Extraterrestrial #51 were all written by yours truly. MLP: FiM is property of Hasbro, DHX Media, and currently the Discovery Family network. Additional inspiration was drawn from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. This is a non-profit, fan-written work of fiction.
Rated "T" for "Teen".

Published 2015-06-18 01:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-06-13 17:00:17 UTC

Ch. 1: Another Twilight? Exposition!

---{Dilan Shier}

"Just be sure you don't betray Celestia or Luna's trust," warned Princess Twilight, "Otherwise, I'll be the first you answer to."

She's still the most intimidating princess I've ever met, I thought with a gulp. "Duly noted."

"Nachos for the road?" asked her assistant Spike.

"Oh, thank you." I accepted the food box in my mane's grasp before trotting out the door to the castle's long hallway.

Do any of you have problems you'd like to voice regarding her terms? I casually asked the other presences in my mind.

All of them held their peace. The only sound was that of my anklets clinking against the crystal floor.

Neither do I. I nodded silently. I should probably head back to the train station as soon as possible.

I took care to close the front door behind me. The afternoon sun made the castle glow in brilliance. I took in a deep breath. In doing so, I got a large whiff of the contents in my to-go box. I could feel my mouth watering.

Well, maybe I could just nibble on one of these before I-

A sudden burst of swirling light flashed in front of me. I admittedly yelped and the box scattered all over the ground along with its contents. But I was more concerned with the unease I was feeling from the strange energies being emitted by the light show. I covered my eyes with one wing while peaking through the small opening between the tips of my feathers.

As soon as it had started, the swirl of light shrunk down to almost nothing. A mere floating point was all that remained. But before that, it deposited something... or rather someone, from its center. Aside from the weird belt with metal rod attachments, shorter height and lack of wings, she looked rather familiar.

"Princess Twilight, is that you?" I asked.

In response, she looked up and gasped. She shuffled backwards on her hooves.

"It can't be," she said in a loud whisper. She then raised her voice in saying, "Nightmare Moon!" Her eyes were wide. "But how? You already turned back into Shirayuki and merged with Tundra!"

Now, I knew I didn't have much room to talk seeing as I had lived in Equestria for a much shorter time than her. But, a few terms of hers went right over my head in regards to their significance. To her exclamation, I raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? Shear of what and thunder of who?" I asked.

She seemed to squint and look at me with more scrutiny. "And your colors are slightly off too. Wait! This must be one of David's failed creatures left behind."

David? I was even more confused. Last I checked, I was the only one for a hundred miles to have a human name. And what does she mean by 'failed creatures'?

The wingless princess surprised me even further by leaping to stand on her hind legs. She held out her left hoof high in front of her while holding her right hoof next to her face. A strange whirring noise accompanied the sudden appearance of an archer's bow composed entirely of bluish-white light.

I stood there with my mouth agape. Where did she learn to use magic of the hornless variety, and in weapon form no less?

"Licht Regen!"

I was seeing several arrows of the bow's light appear out of nowhere and approaching fast. I had no time to think. I tapped into Reflect Sun's teachings and concentrated a large portion of magic to my horn. I was rewarded with a full body-covering sphere of orange magic. The hail of arrows created a barrage of clanging noises. I felt myself sliding back a few inches from the onslaught.

After what felt like forever, the fracas started to slow down until there was no more banging. There was a lot of smoke for some reason. As it began to clear, I chanced a peek at Twilight Sparkle who was currently holding her bow so that it faced downward.

"Princess Twilight, please hold your fire!" I hollered to her. "Didn't we just have a conversation about you giving me the benefit of the doubt? If it puts your mind at ease, you can join my ride back to Canterlot and see for yourself that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are both unharmed."

Her moment of intent-to-kill determination seemed to fade. She blinked a few times. She looked around herself in wonder, like a kid who had stepped into a mall for the first time. I somehow caught a few words in her befuddled ramblings.

"What happened to this town? Where did this castle come from? Wait, Princess? Why does she keep calling me Princess? What...?"

The front door slammed open and I saw... Princess Twilight, very much the same way I had seen her inside.

"All right, who has been throwing stones at my...?" Her question seemed to die on her lips as she took in the immediate sights. "Wait, Dill Anne Shear, who is that?" She pointed at... herself... who was standing several feet away... and staring wide-eyed back at her.

"I don't know what's going on," I slowly and nervously admitted.

"And why do you have your shield up?" she asked.

"You just attacked me." I shook my head and pointed at the wingless Princess Twilight. "I mean, she just attacked me with the largest hail of arrows spell I've ever seen."

"That's impossible," said the winged Princess Twilight. "There's no such thing as a 'hail of arrows' spell. Hold on." She teleported over in front of her wingless self. "Is this... me? But, I'm me too, and I already used the time-traveling spell. So, this shouldn't be possible."

"N-Not scientifically... possible," stammered wingless Princess Twilight. Her bow of light vanished.

Out of physical danger for the moment, I lowered my shield. However, I was certain that my brain was going to explode from all this confusion.

"How can there be two of you?" I asked while banging my hoof against my helmet.

At that moment, winged Princess Twilight placed a hoof against her chest. She took in a deep breath. She then proceeded to exhale while extending that leg out in front of herself. Where did she learn to compose herself like that?

"Would you like to come inside and have some tea?" she asked.

"Huh?" The wingless Princess Twilight tilted her head. "How is tea going to solve anything?"

"Once we calm down a bit, we'll be better able to make some sense of our current situation," explained winged Princess Twilight. She turned her head and smiled gently at me. "Don't you think so?" Despite her mouth, her eyes were not happy while looking at me.

I gulped. "I-I agree completely."

I felt like my bladder was going to burst. Normally, I wouldn't have been drinking so much tea, but it seemed like the only logical thing to do in the presence of the princess of fear, and now there were two of her. The rate at which the winged Princess Twilight poured another cup for me to keep me quiet simply multiplied.

Now, Spike was serving the wingless Princess Twilight some cookies. I closed my eyes in sadness as my stomach growled. I really wished I hadn't dropped my nachos earlier. Now my organs' respective problems were accentuated by each other.

The winged Princess Twilight set her cup down gently and cleared her throat. "That's better now. As we've got a new guest, I think it's only appropriate that we get properly introduced." She turned her head to me. "Dill Anne, how about you start us off?"

Somehow, I succeeded in not audibly groaning. "Of course, your highness."

"Wait a minute," interjected the wingless Twilight. "Does that mean you aren't Nightmare Moon?"

"It's a long story," I said while scratching my neck. "Hope you weren't planning on going anywhere for a while."

So, there I sat. I recounted my full predicament for the second time that day. My hind legs kept shaking due to restroom urges, yet I managed to get through the recollection of waking up in the old castle ruins, encountering the princesses, reclaiming the loose fragments of Nightmare along with some of their powers, and my current occupation. My stomach only growled four times throughout my story.

"Did you want some cookies, Dill Anne?" asked Spike.

I swore that the winged Princess Twilight was shooting me a death glare. She'd probably claim she was smiling professionally, but I had seen that look one too many times already. She was practically daring me to show some sign of the evil that was still within me, as petty as mooching off her assistant's kindness might have proven anything.

"N-No thanks," I stammered, "I'm good."

Spike shrugged and tossed three of the sweet circles into his own mouth.

The wingless Twilight looked like she was deep in thought. "So, yours was slightly different than Tundra's."

"Huh?" I looked over at her in wonder.

"What?" added Spike.

She looked up. "It's just that I know a pony that also used to be a human that ended up bonding with the Nightmare spirit into a new pony. But, she didn't die before waking up in Equestria. In fact, it turned out that she was actually another pony all along whose soul had been split in half for many years."

"Okay," said the winged Princess Twilight, "Before we start inquiring about the ponies you know, how about you tell us about yourself?"

"Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle, but you already knew that." We all shared a chuckle before she continued. "I am a Quincy, a being capable of conjuring spiritual particles into a weapon capable of fighting what normal magic cannot. As far as I was able to gather from my research, the only other pony on historical record of being a Quincy was Clover the Clever."

"Wasn't Quincy the sixth U.S. President?" I thought out loud.

Spike and the wingless Twilight tilted their heads in confusion. The winged Princess Twilight frowned slightly as she stared.

"Sorry, please continue," I insisted while shaking my hooves in front of me slightly.

"Anyway, the bow is my specific weapon." The wingless Twilight pointed at herself. "My friends actually discovered their weapons in the form of swords called Zanpaktou. Well, that's all except for Pinkie Pie. I'm still not sure what her six energies are supposed to be."

"Pardon me, but 'Zanpaktou' doesn't really sound... Equestrian," I commented after a pause.

"You're right," agreed the winged princess surprisingly. "I've never even heard of the terms Quincy and Zanpaktou until now." She perked up. "Wait a minute. What did you mean by 'fighting what normal magic cannot'?"

"We've had a large number of skeletal creatures called Hollows threatening our home once in a while," said the wingless Twilight. She shrugged one shoulder casually. "They don't respond to any defensive spells that I can cast. So far, my arrows and the special powers of my friends are the only things that have been effective in removing them. The Hollows were all created by an invasive individual called David, so they don't exactly have lives left that we can save without endangering the rest of Equestria."

"That sounds rough." I crossed my front legs and frown. "To think you need that much firepower just to clean up the undead. To think of how you'd live, permanently trapped inside a zombie apocalypse..." I shook my head. "And here I thought my life was rough."

"It's getting better, though," insisted the wingless Twilight. "After David was dealt with, the frequency of the attacks has been steadily decreasing. As long as my friends and I stick together, we can make our way back to peace and harmony."

"Well said." The winged Princess Twilight nodded sagely. "I suppose it's my turn."

"And here I am now, Twilight Sparkle: Princess of Friendship," concluded the winged princess. "As the name implies, the effectiveness of my position is dependent on the rest of my friends at the same table."

"Wow..." The wingless Twilight sat there in awe, before looking up solemnly. "Sorry to hear about your library, though."

Princess Twilight sighed. "It does still pain me to know that it's gone."

"So many precious books destroyed just like that... How many memories have lost their physical attachment to the physical realm? I can't even bear such a thought." The wingless Twilight shook her head.

While I couldn't directly relate to their understanding, I still sympathized with their feelings.

"Uh, aren't we forgetting the elephant in the room?" asked Spike. "How did this Twilight get into our world?"

"I don't know, Spike," answered Princess Twilight. "A certain somepony refused to answer me earlier."

I held up my hooves in defense. "I didn't do anything. What I saw was a rush of swirling light that deposited her right in front of the castle." I turned to look at her other self. "Do you remember what happened just before you showed up?"

The wingless Twilight held her head and closed her eyes. "Hmm... recently, I noticed a disturbing number of missing ponies in my hometown. When I sent a letter to Princess Celestia to inform her of the anomaly, she replied that ponies in Canterlot were also disappearing. Then, when my friends and I gathered to discuss what could be done, I noticed the light that was threatening to take Rainbow Dash away. But... after I tried magically anchoring her to the realm of physical existence, I don't know what happened.

"If this really is a new world, then I might be able to track my world's Rainbow Dash through spiritual sense. Give me a second." She stood up and slowly turned her head from one side to the other. Suddenly, she jerked in a specific direction and her eyes opened wide. "That way! About a hundred miles!"

Um, a few feet in that direction would bash your head against the wall, I thought as a sweat drop hung onto my pore.

Princess Twilight gasped. "That distance and direction would put her at Canterlot!" She quickly stood up. "Come on. Let's go find your friend."

All of us galloped out the castle's main entrance. We weren't going to miss the next train. But before we got anywhere, wingless Twilight slid in place. It was so sudden that Princess Twilight and I slammed into her and tripped over another individual into a huge pile. It was... uncomfortable to say the least.

Spike shook his head before squirming out. He looked up and down. "Wait, weren't there only two of you, Twilight?"

I rolled out of the pile before standing on all fours. I looked back at Princess Twilight on top of wingless Twilight... and she was on top of another wingless Twilight. The difference was that this one was missing the metal belt.

I held my hoof against my helmet. "Okay, this is just getting weird."

---{Tundra Stanza}
In another Canterlot...

How long has it been since I returned to my home world of Equestria? Was it three years? Maybe it's been as many as five. Either way, a lot has happened.

About a month after my friends and I defeated the overpowered entity that called himself 'David', Luna decided to officially make some of us a branch of the royal defense. She called it the Soul Defense Unit, named because our weapons could handle enemies invading from the astral plain as well as the physical. Our job was to keep on the lookout for leftover Hollows from David's experiments that hadn't quite bitten the dust yet, and maintain peace among any of the innocent souls that these Hollows threatened.

Sometime over the next two months, my Zanpaktou's spirit Sode no Shirayuki and my mind partner Shirayuki had merged into a single spirit. No one was sure why, but after some speculation, Luna and I surmised that it was due to the overuse of my bankai: The final release of a Zanpaktou's powers. In my particular case, using bankai temporarily fused all three of our minds into a single warrior's thoughts. It could have just as easily had side effects in a number of other combinations.

But Sode no Shirayuki hadn't been altered any further after she first came to be the only other presence I could hear within my soul space. We've tried my bankai a couple of times since then, but the end results never changed her existence again. It was kind of a shame. I liked sharing my pinch of insanity with another mind. The only difference now with this fused Shirayuki was that she never left the physical plane of existence once I was done with the sword. We had to construct a makeshift pony belt and katana sheath just to carry her.

Still, I was keeping up my training in combat. Luna saw to that... literally. As a fellow ice-Zanpaktou-wielder, her rigorous routines were the best way to toughen up and pick up some new tactics. After a few months, I no longer had to say the full incantations to produce my kido spells at a decent power. Though, situations in which I could say the words allowed for an extra boost in overall output.

It was during the session when I was getting the hang of shooting "Arc Lightning" and "Blue Crashing Fire" simultaneously that we received an interruption. Normally, that wouldn't surprise me. Monsters of various degrees attacked a nearby city or town almost once every few weeks. However, this was no monster attack. It was simply Twilight Sparkle appearing out of thin air.

"Princess Luna! Tundra!" she cried out. "You've got to come quickly. Fluttershy's gone missing!"

All of us who had acquired new powers had a sort of sixth sense that allowed us to feel the spiritual energy "reiatsu" from other living beings. That is what has allowed us to locate each other and pinpoint enemy locations. However, even as Twilight, Luna, and I flew closer to Ponyville (Well, Luna and I flew. Twilight was galloping through the sky with her Hirenkyaku. Twilight growing wings? That'd be a day.), none of us could sense Fluttershy even faintly.

This was a bit troubling. Even dying ponies emit some amount of reiatsu. There weren't any instances that we've encountered reiatsu levels that were completely gone. Had Fluttershy disappeared from the face of Equestria? If so, to where had she been taken?

"I don't like this," said Luna with a grim expression. "This is reminding me too much of Discord's power."

"But it can't be Discord," I insisted. "Even though we had been drained of our colors, we still saw that other pony's sword slay him clear as his mishmash of night and day."

"And even chaos is not exempt from the laws of death," finished Luna in affirmation. "That makes the foreboding feeling I have right now all the more disturbing."

I looked around her. "You've been awfully quiet, Twilight. A ruby for your thoughts?"

"It just doesn't seem to fit the usual pattern of attack," said Twilight, staring at Fluttershy's cottage. "What kind of enemy would go out of their way to mask Fluttershy's reiatsu and then not bother to follow through with the rest of the representatives of the Elements of Harmony?"

"Discord and David have been removed from the picture." Luna started crossing off names from her list of possibilities. "The changelings have faced large losses as well. Only two factions remain that would be bold enough to strike when our guard is at its lowest point."

Twilight gasped and turned around. "You're not seriously proposing that the Dragon Dominion or the Gryphon Kingdom would take such elaborate measures, are you?"

"There's always room for the unknown," admitted Luna, "but we need to know for sure if these are near impossibilities or certain impossibilities." She turned her head. "Tundra, you should work your way to the dragon's ambassadors. See if you can uncover any plans. I will have a chat with the gryphons in their neutral territory."

"What should I be doing, Princess?" asked Twilight.

"Stay on your guard and keep your friends close," advised Luna. "Somepony else might disappear and maybe you'll get a lead on who is responsible."

"Alright, I can do that." Twilight nodded in determination.

"And break!" I exclaimed as we galloped as quickly as our legs could take us. It was actually a lot faster than one might think, considering that Luna and I could perform the "Flash Step" and Twilight had the "Flying Screen Step" techniques to travel faster than sound.

Though, after a few minutes of travelling East in that manner, I was suddenly blinded by a white light.

At a private house near the edge of Whitetail Woods...

"And that's pretty much all that happened before I landed here," I concluded as I looked at my newest acquaintance.

"Huh, well that's... a lot to take in."

"So," I prompted by lifting up my hoof, "what's your story?"

---{#51}

I sighed. I didn't like telling stories that much. They seemed so tedious. Besides, there was no guarantee that she was going to remember all of the important details. Oh well, them's the brakes. It was part of a fair exchange for her explanation of her situation. It was my turn.

I am the Fifty-First Drone of Her Majesty Chrysalis. The majority of my life was spent within her hive in the northern wastelands. Those of us who pleased her rose to the top twenty-five ranks. My particular standing was apparently mediocre. Back then, I didn't care. I was satisfied to have a position and clear-cut instructions on a daily basis.

At least, they were straightforward until one particular day. Her Majesty declared that it was time for the changelings to invade Canterlot. She sent a wave of her pain through all of her underlings that her favored daughter Princess Cinders had been attacked by a merciless band of unicorns. Queen Chrysalis demanded vengeance and ordered us to be ready to suck Equestria dry of all the love that the ponies could spare.

Her pain echoing in our minds was enough to drive any thoughts of questioning her out. We would make our way to Canterlot, destroy its defenses, and make the treacherous Celestia pay for her ponies' crime. That was my queen's motive. It was all I knew to follow.

It was the first large-scale mission I had ever witnessed in complete and utter failure. Everyling that could be spared had been exposed in spite of our stealthy tactics. There were too many friendly fires when we decided to copy the forms of the six VIPs. All sense of battle tactics had been thrown out the hole in the wall. Then, we were all pushed back by an overwhelming force even though we had clearly broken through it to invade in the first place.

It took several days to even remotely recover. We had lost many of our numbers. I seem to recall all of the drones in the Five Hundreds to be reported as deceased. The only complete squad among the living was the series One-to-Ninety-Nine. But we had no time to recover. For the master of chaos decided that he wanted to play another game and drag us into it.

On a planet with similarities to Equus, and yet not quite the same...

I awoke with a most terrible realization. I couldn't control my own body's motions at all. It just sporadically moved in ways against how I wanted it to move. My head was filled with thoughts that were not familiar to the sounds of my hive. They all belonged to a lone individual.

After he stumbled around with my limbs in ways more embarrassing than a newborn foal, I finally managed to gather who and what this individual was. He was a human whose mind had been forced into my body while his body temporarily didn't exist. Discord had apparently been busy in this human-filled world before I was strung along for the ride. He was forcing other ponies and people into a similar situation as this boy and I. We were going to be trapped like this for a couple of weeks, which wouldn't have been so terribly bad... if Discord hadn't fiddled with the length of an Earth's week to reflect the normal time span of a full year. I didn't understand it. Then again, what was there to understand when a manipulator of disharmony was involved?

Letting the human figure out my power was frustrating since I had been blocked from stepping in control for the most part. My magic was not a true pony's. It was only meant to burn or melt objects. So, he was understandably scared when he melted the knob on his bedroom door into a fine mess.

A while later, we found out that his mother had become one of the mind victims trapped in a pony's body. Together, we made our way to a large city in which the Bearers of Harmony were supposed to gather for one last confrontation with Discord. It was also possible that we'd find a "cure" for our condition. Though they did manage to put Discord in his place, the resulting "fix" did not remove certain scars. I had lost a fang due to the chaos magic. Additionally, my eye's default look was permanently that of a pony's eye white with a blue iris.

The compound Bearers of the Elements stood behind to allow passage of the newly separated ponies and other creatures to head back to their own home world. For the first time in my life, I felt a twinge of sadness within myself. I was actually going to miss the human that had unintentionally spent so long in my body's driver seat. Still, I had my own kind to support, and we both understood that. There were no regrets upon my departure.

Returning to the hive...

After spending so much time in that other world, my queen had probably taken on as much empathy as I had, if not more. She decided that perhaps draining love without consent probably was not going to give her the revenge that she wanted. While she was still going to be wary of any unicorns, plans were made to re-attempt peace agreements with the foreign nations, including Equestria.

Not everyling agreed with Her Majesty's change of heart. Every so often, I'd hear a faint ping of stray thoughts that indicated that the time for anarchy was fast approaching. But every time I tried to pinpoint the source of these specific thoughts, the one responsible cut off from the hivemind. This was unsettling.

Without some form of leadership to sustain our people, the co-dependent changelings would have nothing to receive the necessary love energy to stay alive. If Queen Chrysalis were to be removed from the picture, there would be no-ling left that could feasibly handle her responsibilities to the hive. I didn't have time to search for these internal traitors. My job was to stay on the lookout for external predators and to help lead lost wanderers away from our land.

Eventually, Her Majesty did find a candidate suitable of the nickname "traitor". The Forty-Third drone liked to hear herself talk a lot before we could sentence her to a decommissioning. But upon her sentence, something happened that none of us anticipated. A surge of dark magic danced around various changelings of the jury, including myself.

A house near Whitetail Woods...

"Next thing I knew, I was waking up in this place when I caught sight of you," I said while briefly pointing a hoof at her. I then scratched my neck awkwardly. "Sorry about the hissing earlier. I was... kind of scared of your presence."

"I guess I am kind of terrifying," she admitted. "I think you're the first one that ever brought it up directly."

"Embarrassment always has an off-putting spice to it," I commented offhandedly.

"Wow, you can taste other emotions besides love?" Her eyes got big and her mouth grinned in excitement.

"Yeah, though I've taken to eating solid foods rather than straight up love." I waved a hoof dismissively. "I'd say your ability to see the souls of other beings sounds a lot more useful."

"Speaking of which..." She looked up and slowly turned her head to the right. "I think I can sense my world's Twilight... that way!" She pointed her long sword toward the town. Though, she immediately tucked it away in a belt at her side. "Hop on, Fifty-one! It'll be faster if I do the flying."

"I can believe that," I said as I flew over and took hold of her backside.

"Shunpo!" she shouted.

"Shun-what?" I asked before the rush of wind suddenly made it impossible for me to form words.

Author's Note

Well, it's a sequel... of sorts. I'm not going to guarantee that it's going to live up to the previous quality, but I'm willing to at least give it a whirl.

Ch. 2: Dueling Rainbow All the Way Across the Sky

---{Third-Person Perspective}
A patch of sky several yards away from Canterlot...

"What the...? Who the hay are you supposed to be?"

"That's my line! You're the one that looks like a changeling copying me!"

"Nuh-uh! I'm the one and only Rainbow Dash!"

"No way! I'm Rainbow Dash, you faker!"

"Oh, you wanna prove that then?"

"Bring it on!"

"Let's see what you've got!"

*Shing!*

"Whoa, what...? What is that thing?"

"Heh, I knew you were a fake. Only the real Rainbow Dash would recognize Zangetsu."

"But I don't use big knives in a fight. How the hay is this fair?!"

"Too late to back out now! Hyaaaaaah!"

"Tch! Well, I'm not going to lose to a cheater. Yaaaaaaah!"

*Pang!*

...

*Ba-thump* *Ba-thump* *Ba-thump*

...

---{Dilan Shier}
About ten feet outside of Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle...

"Wait, wait, wait..." I slowly shook my hoof in front of myself in a manner one would push down on a stack of papers. "Let me just try and wrap my head around this. You're Twilight Sparkle from yet another world in which you've just recently patched up the hole between your Equestria and an Earth that watches you like a children's cartoon?"

"That's right." The wingless, beltless Twilight nodded with a small smile of approval.

I held an anklet against my helmet and sighed. I closed my eyes and tried to find the center of my mental focus. I vaguely heard Princess Twilight and the first wingless Twilight voice their fascination and the desire to know more about intricacies. I slammed my hoof down and groaned out loud.

"Does anyone want to come from the Matrix or the Inception next?" I raised my head, crying out to absolutely nothing. "Please give me a heads up now so that I can prepare to take all of this new information in a neat and orderly fashion!"

A rush of wind brought a couple of new dark beings to my right. The first looked kind of like the other Nightmare ponies I had met before, but her purple mane looked relatively normal. The second being rolled off of her back and was breathing really heavily.

"Well, I'm not exactly from a machine or a dream," said the mare. "What I am from, however, could be a nightmare to those with fears of skeletons."

"Tundra!" The Twilight with a belt ran over to her. "You're here too?"

"That's Tundra?" wondered Princess Twilight with a surprised look on her face. "She almost looks like another Nightmare pony."

"No, no, don't mind me," panted the neglected changeling. He almost looked like he was dramatically dying. "I'm just... an accessory."

"Wait, I know you," commented the wingless, beltless Twilight as she trotted in front of him. "You're that changeling that came to see us when you were fused with the son of a woman who was fused with that spirit channeler pony."

I squinted at her in bafflement. "What the flip?"

"Yes, hello, Twilight Sparkle," greeted the changeling between breaths. "Didn't think I'd need to see you again so soon."

"Don't worry about it, Fifty-one," she replied while shaking her hoof dismissively.

"Wait, am I the only one freaked out that there's a changeling talking with Twilight like they're best friends?" wondered Spike.

"I'm a little busy letting my brain melt from all of the madness," I answered the concerned dragon. "Ask me again later."

The wingless Twilight with a belt suddenly snapped to attention. "I completely forgot about Rainbow Dash! We were rushing out toward Canterlot because that's where I was sensing her reiatsu."

The dark alicorn that wasn't me also had her eyes open. "Now that you mention it, I sense her that way too."

"Let's go!" exclaimed the Quincy Twilight. Both she and the pony she had called Tundra vanished in what sounded like two rushes of wind.

The Twilight without wings or belt stared at that spot all wide-eyed. "Changing location without a teleporation spell? That's amazing!"

The changeling dry heaved. "It's amazing in theory. In practice, it's more like nauseating."

"So... Fifty-one was it?" asked Princess Twilight, trotting over to them. "Is that like an agent's numerical code?"

"Well, that is my designation number under Her Majesty Chrysalis," said Fifty-one for clarification.

"Twilight! He works for the changeling queen!" Spike ran up and grabbed Princess Twilight's back leg. "You've got to do something!"

"Spike, calm down," insisted the beltless Twilight. "The changelings are good now... well, at least they aren't going out of their way to invade cities now." She glanced back at the changeling. "Right?"

Fifty-one nodded. "On my honor, we have no more plans to attack pony civilization in that large-scale brutality."

Spike gulped. "Well... if you say so, Twilight."

At that point, my mind started to resume normal functions beyond keeping my body alive. I shook my head in hopes of removing any metaphorical cobwebs taking up space. Unfortunately, there were also spider guts covering the less dusty parts. Where the heck did that metaphor come from and what did I mean by it? I didn't know anymore.

"By the way, who are you?" asked beltless Twilight as she trotted in front of me. "You kind of look like Nightmare Moon, but... your armor isn't all the same color." She squinted as she stared straight at me. "And... you have heterochromia iridum."

Heterochromia... Oh! I jerked my head in realization. Different eye colors.

"Right, I can explain that. Though, I kind of wish everyone that I'm going to have to tell this story to would show up altogether so that I didn't have to repeat it several times over. It's a rather long story."

"Oh, well in that case... how about I just get the short version?" Suddenly, this Twilight had her hoof on my head. Her horn immediately glowed in a white aura.

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed.

The air suddenly tasted like... rose petals. Images of the recent past flashed on the outskirts of my vision. Tail Demon, Nightmare Spectrum, the Pony of Shadows, Mistress Vine, N. A''ight-mare, and Reflect Sun were some of the highlights. A crystal pillar, a hoof-ful of lightning, the Shadow Sprint, and the orange shield flickered in memory as well. It finished off with a bright light between a stained-glass floor depicting Princess Luna and I swimming around each other from head to tail. Before I knew it, I was back outside Princess Twilight's castle standing in front of beltless Twilight.

"Ha ha ha!" she chuckled. "The Aristocrats! I get it."

"D...Did you just read my mind?" My eyes were wide in horror.

"Yep, yep!" She was practically wagging her tail in glee.

"Wha...? A mind-reading spell?" Princess Twilight teleported to the position where her face was leaning right into her other self. "Where did you find something like that? I've been looking for that spell for years!"

"Well, it makes sense that you didn't find one if you spent all your life in Equestria," said beltless Twilight, still smiling. "I had to make it up from my mind's ether in the other world."

While the intimidating princess and her other self went deep into magic-babble, I softly walked over to the forgotten boys of the group.

"Am I the only one scared of the ethical ramifications of the fact that there is a Twilight Sparkle who can read minds?" I inquired.

"Meh, that doesn't sound worse than anything else she's practiced with me before," said Spike with a shrug.

"My whole life was filled with beings who could see and hear my thoughts," commented Fifty-one. "One more isn't going to set me on edge."

"So it is just me," I whimpered and lowered my head so that I was looking at the grass. "... great."

---{Tundra Stanza}
Approaching Canterlot...

Twilight and I appeared within several yards of the outside of Canterlot. I could sense Rainbow Dash's reiatsu quite clearly now. She was close... really close. Twilight rushed off to the left half of the city. I took to searching around the right. There were some prim and proper ponies wandering about, but none of them looked like Dash. I tried flying around the rooftops and looked every which way I could possibly think to look.

Where is she? I thought.

I sense that her spirit is close, added Sode no Shirayuki, but there is something blocking out her exact location.

I know, I agreed. That's the problem.

In a rush of my Shunpo and and Twilight's Hirenkyaku, we reconvened near the Canterlot Archives.

"Any luck?" I asked.

"No." Twilight shook her head. "I don't understand it. She has to be around here somewhere."

"Yeah." I crossed my front legs. "It feels like she should be right on top of us."

A sudden wave of black and red energy went right between us. I felt my mane stand on end as I saw Twilight's do the same. The familiar attack crashed into the library, sending some of the towering structure to the ground. Ponies that were nearby screamed and galloped away. Twilight and I turned our heads, worried that we were right about who had initiated that attack.

"R-Rainbow Dash?" stammered Twilight.

It looked like Rainbow Dash. That was certainly her roy-g-biv mane style. I even recognized the sword Zangetsu in her possession. What I didn't understand was why she had her Bankai outfit on. What in the world was she fighting that was worth risking Canterlot's lives? To top it off, why did her eyes look like they were glowing in an eerie red manner?

"I finally found you, faker!" Dash yelled. That was definitely her scratchy voice.

"Dash, what's going on?" I asked while turning in the air to fully face her. "Why are you in Bankai form? Why are you using so much reiatsu?"

"Most of all, why did you attack the library?" shrieked Twilight. "What did those innocent books ever do to you?"

A sweat drop formed behind my ear. That's really where your priorities are right now, Twilight?

Rainbow lifted her black katana and pointed it at us. "Listen here, you copycat! There's only room in this world for one Rainbow Dash, and that one is me!"

Her eyes glowed even brighter. The air practically ignited all around her. Twilight and I held up a hoof each to brace against the forceful gust coming from Dash. It was her spiritual pressure, and yet it seemed to be something else too. Something was not right with the way she was acting. Her words didn't make sense either.

"Where is all of that power coming from?" shouted Twilight.

I didn't have an answer. I was just as baffled as she was. Just as I was trying to think, Rainbow lifted Zangetsu up and more red and black energy pooled at its tip.

"Getsuga..."

Crap! I whipped my front legs out. Danku!

"Tensho!"

Rainbow lowered her sword. Immediately, another wave advanced on our position. But, it looked bigger than her attack from before. My "Splitting Void" barriers held in front of Twilight and myself, but I still felt a lot of force as the energy danced around my giant, transparent rectangles and cut through one of the fancy rooftops behind us. How was she this strong? As soon as the attack had passed, I quickly flew over to Twilight's side.

"Twilight, find Celestia and tell her to put up a defensive spell around Canterlot," I urgently requested.

"What? But regular magic doesn't work so well against soul-based attacks!" she exclaimed.

"I know that," I said with a nod. "But it's better than nothing right now. Besides, if we want to calm down Rainbow from whatever this is, it's going to require somepony that can deliver just as much as she can give... and I know Canterlot can't survive two ponies flinging around Bankai attacks."

She bit her lip and closed her eyes. "Good luck." On that note, she vanished.

I released my Danku and looked directly at Dash again. She was snarling fiercely. The red eyes didn't help make the sight any less intimidating. But as calmly as I could, I reached to the side and pulled out my own weapon and partner. I saw the beginnings of a golden shield originating from the castle. The time was now. I willed my reiatsu to build up all throughout my body.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki! Bankai!"

---{???}

I was neither Tundra nor Shirayuki. I was simply the pony that would fight their enemies. In the instant of them pooling their energies together, I was given awareness again. My body was clothed in white robes while I held a folding fan in either of my front hooves. This was their Bankai: Kazekage Sode no Shirayuki, the "Wind Shadow Sleeve of White Snow".

In addition to their reiatsu, I was given their memories. I didn't need to ask the current situation. I already knew what I had to do. It was simply a matter of accomplishing that goal.

Rainbow Dash raced in with a multitude of flash steps, racing around faster than any normal pony could track. But I saw and I reacted in kind to each of her direct swings of her sword. My fans are not exactly normal themselves. They withstood her strikes and I even pushed her back several times. This exchange went on for what I estimated to be three seconds. During that time, I countered thirty-five strikes from Rainbow Dash's sword.

She flew up and raised her sword. "Getsuga..."

I held my fans behind me. "Fifth Dance..."

"Tensho!" Her energy wave rushed down.

"White Typhoon!" I conjured a freezing tornado about as tall as four of me.

The attacks of our souls met. Her "Moon-Fang Heaven Slicer" was whirled around inside my attack. But her strength was persistent. My tornado ended up spitting out small portions of her energy wave in sporadic directions. I swung my open fans and cut through some of the incoming blasts, though I believe one of them cut somewhere on my shoulder. However, Rainbow also received a bleeding gash atop her face. Only one of her red eyes was staring at me now. I would finish this battle.

"Fourth Dance: White Blizzard!"

I spun around and my spirit rewarded me with an extremely cold gale composed of ice and air. Rainbow's wings were faltering in these conditions. She had to close her eyes against my attack. She spun out of control and fell straight into the ground. This was good timing, as I could feel the fusion of minds slipping from my grasp on consciousness.

---{Tundra Stanza}

I caught a glimpse of my robe turning to shreds before it vanished. I held onto my sword again as I hovered down. I sighed from the fatigue. The Bankai was called the "Final Release" because it was meant to finish the job with an overwhelming exhaustion of spiritual pressure, not be sustained for an extended period of time.

I carefully trotted over to the fallen Dash. She wasn't dead. I could still sense her reiatsu. It was currently lower than a warrior with fury, but it was definitely still there. The abnormal sinister energy had faded completely. I was relieved and sheathed my Zanpaktou. Rainbow's sword, meanwhile, had reverted back to its normal form of a butcher's knife before leaving the physical plain of existence. Her Bankai outfit disappeared as well.

She groaned and opened her eye that wasn't covered in blood. Thankfully, it was back to being her normal magenta iris in the middle of a white eye.

"Wh...What's going on?" She rolled a bit and noticed me. "Tundra?"

"Any chance you could tell me why you were on a rampage just a minute ago?" I asked her directly.

She rolled onto her back and looked straight up. "I... I don't know. I was just... so angry. I could only see... an enemy to vanquish." She sighed before looking at me again. "I really made a doofus of myself, huh?"

"Don't worry about it," I insisted with a dismissive wave of my hoof. "You seem to have snapped out of it." I lowered my head and lifted her onto my back. "How about we get ourselves patched up, R.D?"

She let out a forced chuckle. "Sure thing, T.S."

---{#51}
Inside the Castle of Friendship...

"So you see," continued Twilight Sparkle, "it's simply a matter of temporarily adjusting the neurologically typical functions of the caster's cerebellum to that of the subject's and the ability to comprehend their cognitive recollections becomes easy as pie."

"But what prevents the aforementioned neurons from those of the subject from creating a resonance cascade and permanently causing a disruption to the central nervous system of the caster if the length of memory being photocopied extends over a larger time period?" asked the winged Twilight Sparkle.

"Ah, see that's where the new postulates come in..."

The excitement flowing from the Twilight Sparkles was very tempting. But I knew that if I tried to feed on that, I would only be taking in empty calories. I would either need to find a loving couple or some actual food within a day or two. Until then, I was content to walk the halls of this open and comforting castle with cool and relaxing floors.

"So, uh... Fifty-seven was it?" asked the young dragon walking next to me.

"It's actually Fifty-one," I replied calmly and with a small smile. That seemed to help make him more comfortable talking to me.

"Okay, Five-one. Got it!" He tapped his head with both of his hands. "Anyway, is there some reason you're keeping one of your eyes like a pony's instead of changing it back to a changeling's?"

I sighed. "As of right now, it uses up some of my energy to change my eye. Some unexplainable side-effect took place when Discord trapped me in that world called Earth." I kept trotting. "All of the creatures had slight adjustments to their physical appearance, be it the cutie marks of ponies on one side of their bodies, or a new mind born from the collective consciousness of two beings fused together." I lifted a hoof and moved it up and down while pointing it at the right side of my face. "In my case, I lost a fang and my eye was switched out for this one."

"That... doesn't make any sense at all." Spike scratched the part of his spine on the top of his head.

I shrugged my wings and they buzzed slightly. "It's Discord. What sense is there to make?"

"Touché," he said while crossing his arms and still walking.

The Nightmare pony quickly trotted up to my other side. "Long shot, but... you didn't happen to see news of somebody being found dead in a car crash that happened to share my name, did you?"

I turned at her scent of wonder. "I vaguely recall hearing about one or two vehicle collisions, but the names of the victims escape me."

"Oh, okay." She scratched her neck as she trotted along. "Sorry, that probably wasn't the best question to ask."

"No offense taken, Ms. Shear," I said while gently smiling.

She let out an audible exhale. "When I was brought back to life, I knew that there had to be more than one world. But man... I had no idea just how many there were."

"Tell me about it." I chuckled. "I knew fully well that Twilight Sparkle was capable of great feats, but I didn't realize there would be a universe in which she was princess material. Yet here we are, walking through her castle and everything."

Dill Anne Shear's wings tensed up a bit. I was smelling... fear coming off of her for some reason. Perhaps the tension of being in close proximity to a changeling hadn't quite settled yet.

"You can rest assured that I mean you no harm," I said, trying to ease her.

"Huh?" She glanced at me. Confusion briefly wavered through her other emotion. "Oh, no. It isn't you. It's... um..." She leaned her neck down and whispered into my ear. "Princess Twilight has a really scary aura when she looks at me. I don't want to get on her bad side."

I tilted my head at that. Scared of Twilight Sparkle? Really? Shouldn't that be the other way around? Last I checked, Nightmare Moon's power was greater than hers without her friends to back her up. I turned and stared at this world's Twilight Sparkle. Does a pair of wings and an extra two inches in height really make her that much stronger?

As I pondered that thought, I saw the winged Twilight Sparkle turn her gaze to meet mine. There wasn't any readable expression directly on her face besides curiosity. However, something else was being said with the emotion that I could smell. It was uncomfortably similar to an overdose of salt. I don't mean a pinch or two to help flavor a plate of food. This emotion that the princess was sending smelled saltier than a cup of the ocean.

Suspicion and distrusting fury. I involuntarily gulped.

It is probably wise to stay on her good side, I decided.

Ch. 3: Starlight, Star Bright

---{Third-Person Perspective}
Somewhere in the depths of a cave system near the edge of Equestria...

"Curse that Princess and her nonsensical ways! My nameless town was thriving just fine before those ponies had to come and ruin everything."

"I know what you mean."

"What? Who's there? Show yourself!"

"I too have been stripped of control that I deserved due to Sparkle and her disgusting friendships. I even know where they live."

"Oh really? Tell me where this place is and I'll go destroy her kingdom at its source!"

"No, no, no. Have you never made a business transaction before? It requires an equal exchange."

"Er... well... I kind of left all of my bits at the house that I've been evicted from."

"My dear little pony, I am not asking for something as fleeting as money. What I'm asking for... is merely a safe residence in your mind, body, and soul."

"Hold on a second! How is that an equal exchange? It sounds like I'm signing up for a cult for a mere location I could figure out by finding a railroad and following it to the next town for a map."

"Is the taking of one's identity to grant them a slice of true harmony not a part of a cult?"

...

"I will not dignify that with a response."

"We are not so different after all, little pony. You seek to stand at a level in which all of your peers stand one level beneath your hooves. I seek subjects that recognize my power on a similar level as, if not higher than, their own. So, what's it going to be?"

...

"You'll let me enact the actual revenge once we get there. That is my condition. Take it or leave it."

"Sounds like a deal to me."

*Whoosh*

"Oh my harmony, this power... it's more than I ever thought I could have."

*Gleam!*

"Hm hm hm... heh heh heh... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

...

---{Dilan Shier}
Inside Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle...

After getting my internal fluids scared out of me by Princess Twilight yet again, I was about ready to head back to the spare room in Canterlot. There were only so many heart attacks one could ever take. I had probably gotten enough to last for both of my lifetimes. But my focus on today's scares and hypothetical cardiac arrest was interrupted by Princess Twilight gasping and looking at her flank.

Her cutie mark was glowing and letting off a shimmering noise. Did she have a cell phone that I didn't know about? But instead of reaching into a pocket that probably didn't exist, she galloped the rest of the length of the hall.

"Hey, wait! I wasn't done yet!" hollered wingless Twilight as she galloped after her.

Following suit, the boys and I gave chase and galloped (or ran in Spike's case). Princess Twilight slammed her front hooves down on a round table in the throne room. Before I could make a medieval comparison, a light in the form of her cutie mark floated up above the table and eventually hovered right next to a standing holographic picture of this castle. More specifically, this "map" depicted her mark floating above the houses in Ponyville.

Spike gasped and ran up next to her. "It's here? Right in our own backyard?"

"No doubt about it," she said affirmatively.

"Slow down one second," said wingless Twilight as she put a hoof against her head before pointing at the map in front of her. "What's here?"

"A problem in which the magic of friendship is required in one form or another," explained Princess Twilight. "This is one of my responsibilities as the Princess of Friendship. The Tree of Harmony granted us the strength necessary to defeat Tirek and get everypony's cutie marks back. The least my friends and I can do is follow its guidelines in return."

"Any idea what the problem is?" asked Fifty-one.

A split-second headache forced my hoof to pad my forehead at that moment. "I think I've got a slight idea. I sense a fragment of the Nightmare close by."

"Why would it only call Twilight and none of the others?" wondered Spike. "I've seen it call only a select few before, but any pony infected by the Nightmare needs at least two or more to deal with."

Princess Twilight gave me her look. "Maybe it figures I have everypony I need with me right this moment."

I stood my ground despite my trepidation. "N-N-No need to tell me twice. I'm going with you."

"I shall accompany you for observation," said Fifty-one. "I'm rather curious to see things play out differently in this universe."

Princess Twilight nodded her approval before turning to look at Spike. "Would you and the other Twilight stay here and hold the fort please?"

"Ye-..." his response got caught in his throat. He lifted his claw, frowned, lowered his claw to scratch his chin, and finally shook his head. "I can't do that to you, Twilight, not this time."

"What?"

"What?" The Twilights blurted out in stereo.

"The way you described events that took place in that strange town of equal marks, I could have helped out if I had just gone with you instead of staying behind." He crossed his arms. "Now that the problem is right in my hometown, I'd never forgive myself if I didn't at least go with you for moral support."

The wingless Twilight looked moved to tears and stepped forth. "I may not understand exactly what's going on, but Ponyville is my home too. I can't just sit behind in a princess's castle while a look-alike town with innocent lives is in danger."

There was an awkward pause. For a while, Princess Twilight just stood there not saying anything. It was as if her mouth had stopped working. At least, that was the case until she smiled sincerely.

"All right," she said with a nod. "But keep your guard up. We have no idea what this new Nightmare pony is capable of."

"Got it!"

"Got it!" said Spike and wingless Twilight together.

"Understood," agreed Fifty-one.

"Dill Anne!" demanded Princess Twilight. "Lead us to that threat!"

"Y-You got it, Your Majesty." I galloped through that castle with everyone following me.

One of the streets of Ponyville...

Houses rushed by as I galloped. There were some ponies running to the left and right as well. More than a few of them were screaming. Though, judging by the way they were looking, something other than my Nightmare Moon visage was doing the terrifying. That was when I saw the burst of magic.

It rushed by like a laser and caught one of the screaming ponies in her tracks. Her voice went silent for a bit before sounding like a wild animal getting their leg torn off by a bear trap. The next thing I knew, her cherry-shaped cutie mark was flying clean off and being sucked back in by the same magic laser that hit her. I watched it fly all the way back to a much shadier pony.

There was no mistaking that eerie and ethereal hairstyle. This was the Nightmare-possessed pony. Several small pictures floated around her, including the cherry mark. Were all of them also cutie marks that she had stolen? I'd already seen enough of this madness when Tirek barged around the world. I needed to extract her fragment of the Nightmare as soon as possible.

But, there was something else going on, too. When I looked back at the pony that had just become an adult blank-flank, a gray equals sign grew in her cutie mark's place. She tried to get up and gallop away, but the equals sign briefly grew darker. She ended up trotting at a leisurely place, though the expression on her face was anything but that of leisure. What kind of sick joke was this?

"All shall become equal under my reign!" The Nightmare pony cackled.

"Not if we can help it!" declared Princess Twilight, flying up next to me.

"Well, well, well," hummed the Nightmare, "here I was just thinking of how I'd have to draw you out, yet you came right to me, Princess Twilight Sparkle. This time I will take your cutie mark away for good!"

Well, Princess Twilight didn't take too kindly to that. She immediately launched a bolt of magenta magic at the enemy's position. Less than a second later, the Nightmare returned fire with a beam of light turquoise. She was quickly pushing the princess's magic back.

"No... way," grunted Princess Twilight. "She's... even stronger than before... urgh..."

My tail decided to whip the ground in front of me with enough force to make cracks in the dirt. A large pillar of dark crystal grew up. I turned and gave the pillar a buck and it toppled over. But just as it looked ready to crush the Nightmare pony, a giant blue barrier suddenly sprang forth from her and redirected the pillar around her. I tried flying in quickly to follow up with a lightning punch. But, my right hoof collided with that same blue barrier and sent me sliding on my back.

As I grunted and painfully stood back up, I saw a second magenta beam shoot forth. It started pushing to the point where the length of the colliding beams of each color were about the same. The beltless Twilight had joined this power skirmish. Another beam came to their aid, this time green in color. Within seconds, the two Twilights and Fifty-one were gaining the upper hand in this duel. Eventually, all of their magic blasts made it to the Nightmare pony and something exploded in green and purple.

"My turn!" I rushed in, ready to let Tail Demon feed on the excess of hatred.

But there was a slight problem. The smoke cleared to reveal an empty spot on the street. Where could she have gone? My eyes raced around. I tried to sense the Nightmare fragment, but it seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. I couldn't identify the actual source.

"Watch the shadows!" exclaimed Fifty-one.

As soon as I turned my head to look and ask what he meant, a searing pain went through my lower body. I grunted and tried to yell out against the painful tugging, but all I could manage were uncomfortable grunts. I heard a Twilight stereo having the same problem while the changeling grit his fangs. I caught one glimpse of three blue beams pulling marks toward a shadow in between us before I fell to the side, worn out from the pain.

"Starlight..." croaked Princess Twilight. "Why are you... doing this?"

"Oh, Starlight?" mocked the voice of the Nightmare pony. "There's no Starlight where we stand. I... am Star Bright, the true equalizer of Equestria!" She rose out of the shadows, laughing maniacally, and eyes glowing red all the way.

---{Tundra Stanza}
Canterlot Castle Infirmary...

Half of Rainbow Dash's face was covered in bandaging. A large section of my shoulder met the same fate and I was told not to move that side's wing too much. But at this point, it was almost laughable. I had completely lost track of how many times I've needed to be in a hospital bed for whatever reason.

"How many more injuries do you think it'll take before I can officially join the Wonderbolts?" asked Dash.

"I don't know," I admitted. "But if you get hurt too often, they might consider it a pre-existing condition and not want to risk it."

She stared at me. I stared at her. Her lips smirked. I let out a snort. By that point, we were both repeatedly slapping our hooves against the beds at how ridiculous we were being.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

We halted our thumping simultaneously. I turned my head and saw Celestia trotting into the room with Twilight stepping in soon after. I had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to talk about.

"I was told that somepony that went by Tundra would be able to explain why Twilight Sparkle so urgently requested one of my city-wide defensive spells," said Celestia. "After that, I have other questions that need addressing."

Professional and to the point, just like our Celestia, admired Sode no Shirayuki.

"Yeah, um..." My wing on the unbandaged shoulder idly scratched against me. "Would you like a seat somewhere? This could take a while to explain."

"That's quite alright," she insisted. "I'm used to listening while standing."

I sighed. "Well, it basically starts with the world that we came from."

Several minutes later...

"... and that's why I figured a little protection against our Bankai would be better than nothing."

Celestia hummed. "So from what you gather, whatever force that pulled Rainbow Dash into our world created a sinister rage that exaggerated her desire to fight?"

"Uh, yeah..." I scratched my neck with a hoof. "I guess it does sound kind of ridiculous when I say it out loud."

"Oh, no. Don't misunderstand me." She shook her head and smiled gently. "I don't doubt everything that you said. It will just, as you said, take a while to gather it all and understand the entire picture of what is happening." She closed her eyes. "Worlds converging... I'm afraid I have just as little experience in this particular phenomenon as you do." She opened her eyes and looked around at the room's other three occupants. "Still, if there's anything I can do to help you during your stay, please feel free to ask."

"You got it, Princess!" Rainbow saluted, a little too hard against her face bandage. "Ow!"

"For now, I'll be over at the Canterlot Archives to oversee repairs," Celestia declared. "Excuse me." With that, she trotted out.

---{#51}
The streets of Ponyville...

I panted before I shook myself down. Whatever that "Star Bright" had hit me with had not been comfortable in the slightest. Quite frankly, that level of hatred and vengeance was suffocating to my sense of smell. I hissed with anger. This enemy wanted equality? Well, how would she like a pain of equal magnitude to what she had inflicted upon us all?

She was distracted in a fit of her own hysterical laughter. My wings buzzed, gaining me several feet of altitude. I carefully aimed myself down at her before surrounding my frontward strike in green flames. The impact I had with her face was almost satisfying. So was her recoiling expression as she slid back a foot or two. She looked at me with those red eyes.

"How are you still using your talent?" she asked with a scent of frustration. "That spell should have stripped you of your cutie mark just like it did with the princess!"

I chuckled humorlessly. "I guess you've never combatted a changeling before. We don't have any cutie marks in the first place." I spat to the side. "But if it's any consolation... that hurt like Tartarus." I turned my head back. "Spike, would you care to back me up?" I offered a hoof.

"Do you even have to ask?" The dragon smirked and grabbed on with his claw.

His determination whetted my appetite. With a short spin, I gave him a toss toward Star Bright. She put up a light blue force field, but the dragon's blazing orange fire breath soon put it out. To add injury to insult, he made a quick pass against her face with his right claw. I soon followed with a burning blast from my horn. She yelped in what sounded like pain.

However, I was a little troubled at her lack of worry. That's when I felt myself get lifted off my hooves and flipped over and around. Spike yelped as a blue aura held him in a similar state as I. He screamed as we were levitated and tossed against a house across the street. We were dropped to the ground, but we managed to shake off the small amount of bruising pain from that quick flight.

I tried firing another green blast, but Star Bright was quick to counter with her beam spell. It was a repeat of the beam struggle earlier. But alone, I wasn't strong enough to push her back. Just as it looked like I was about to get knocked against the wall again, her spell abruptly cut off and she repeatedly yelped out. Spike had somehow used my attack as a diversion to get in close and... amusingly... bite her on the rear. No matter which way she turned and how hard she bucked, she couldn't get him off.

There was sufficient energy for me to deliver one more full-force strike. I took off the ground with wings buzzing. I surrounded my front with green fire and rushed downward. Star Bright finally managed to shake Spike enough that he tumbled away. But at that point, I was already slamming into her face.

The impact sent her toppling onto her back. I backflipped away and landed on the ground on all fours. I was half-expecting her to get back up, seeing as how the scent of her wrath hadn't faded. What I had not expected was to see Dill Anne Shear casually trotting up to her. I also was not prepared for the foreign emotion being emitted. Something wasn't right with this picture.

"Who are you?" I hissed.

'Shear' glanced in my direction with red irises against her white eyes. She grunted in a tone very different from her own. Her red tail whipped around and grabbed Star Bright by the neck. I was about to ask what she was doing until I noticed a strange scent in the air. It almost smelled like Star Bright's hatred was... being devoured. This emotional scent didn't make any sense to me.

But that wasn't the only change in the atmosphere. Physically, it looked like Star Bright's body was shrinking by the second. Her black hide was giving way to a puce color. I think I even saw the slits in her eyes shrinking to little dots. She soon collapsed unconscious against the ground.

Once that happened, the cutie marks that had been circling around seemed to crack out of their shells and fly around like tiny missiles. Some of the ponies that hadn't quite gotten away yet were struck by these marks. What happened next was almost a reverse-explosion as their colors returned to full brightness. Two identical star marks floated over to the Twilights. They also recovered their colors and their emotions smelled like happiness and relief.

"An ally," muttered a deep voice from Shear's throat just as her crescent moon mark collided with her flank.

Ch. 4: Regroup and Recover

---{Dilan Shier}
A street in Ponyville...

When I opened my eyes, it felt like I had been filled with espresso. Whatever had been drained in that conflict was back inside of me at full strength. One of my other entities had completed the task then. For some reason, I got the distinct feeling that I was being watched. When I turned my head to look, I caught a rather unhappy glare from our changeling friend. At least, that seemed to be the case until he closed his mouth with only his left fang poking out.

"Explain that other presence," said Fifty-one, "the one that I sensed the desire to feed on hatred."

"Er, well..." I hummed in uncertainty. "How much did you see?"

"I heard it speak with a different voice despite that it was using your face." He approached with slow hoof steps.

"Yeah... um..." I sighed, deciding that there wasn't much left to hide at this point. "When I get drained or enter a near-death experience, one of the other fragments that I've absorbed can temporarily assume control of my body until I regain consciousness. One of those minds is the demon that lives in my tail."

"Can your tail possess your head whenever it wants?" The skin above his eye furrowed.

"Only when he's the closest to the surface," I said, wishing there was a less vague way to explain it all. "Other times it usually starts with the fragment of Rainbow Dash's Nightmare form: Spectrum."

He closed his eyes and sniffed the air a couple of times. "Your emotions seem genuine enough." He gave a nod and opened his eyes. "I'll trust you."

"Thanks." I smiled.

At that point, Spike and the Twilights walked over as well. I heard a groan to the side. The pony Twilight had called "Starlight" was apparently sleeping off the pain.

"Think she'll be alright now?" I asked while rolling my hoof over.

"I thought she was going to be fine after the last time we saw her," commented Princess Twilight. "Yet somehow, a bit of the Nightmare managed to nab her darker feelings. There's a chance that her hatred of other cutie marks hasn't completely dissipated."

"You mean she'll still try to take some ponies' cutie marks away when she wakes up?" asked a worried, wingless Twilight.

Starlight's chest rose and fell with a breath. While she slept, Fifty-one trotted over and stood just above to the side. He held his head back and made a weird cross between a hacking sound and a gargling noise. Next thing I knew, he had spat out a blob of green, gooey stuff all over Starlight's horn. The reactions from the rest of our group held differing degrees of disgust.

"Dude, that is gross!" remarked Spike, holding up an arm in a defensive posture.

"Yes, it is," acknowledged Fifty-one, "but at least now there is an inhibitor against her magic until we know for sure that she won't use that mark theft spell."

"But... I burned something like that off of Princess Cadance's hooves just fine."

"But... I burned something like that off of Princess Cadance's hooves just fine," said the Twilights in stereo.

"Pony spells only work from the outside of that goop," explained the changeling, "not inside."

"Ohhhh." Princess Twilight nodded.

"So that's why Princess Celestia couldn't get out of that hanging goop cocoon," said the wingless Twilight thoughtfully.

"That's an oddly specific property, don't you think?" I looked at him with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

Fifty-one shrugged. "We were initially trained to capture victims. We usually don't have to worry about ponies breaking in and stealing anything due to our home being so far out of the way."

Princess Twilight's eyes went wide. "How...How many ponies?"

"None as of last month," assured the wingless Twilight. "Although, that's just in our world. I don't know about the changelings in this universe."

"Neither do I," said Fifty-one. "I've yet to sense any members of the Hive anywhere near here." He hummed and smiled gently. "Maybe I could introduce this universe's Hive to alternate forms of nourishment that they can handle."

"One step at a time," interrupted Spike. "Shouldn't we check on the third Twilight? She and that Tundra pony left for Canterlot quite a while ago and they haven't come back yet."

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Princess Twilight. "In all the excitement, I completely forgot about them." She looked around at the rest of us. "Everyone stay close! Dill Anne, carry Starlight with you."

Spike quickly ran over and hopped onto Princess Twilight's shoulders. I leaned over and used my mane's grip to lift Starlight onto my back. She was pretty heavy for a little pony. I was kind of surprised, considering the fact that I once held onto two bat-ponies with just my tail before. But that's a whole other story. For this one, I was busy watching Princess Twilight's magenta spell whisk us all away.

---{Tundra Stanza}
Several minutes later in the Canterlot throne room...

We gathered here soon after the ponies from this world and that one other world teleported in. I was pretty impressed that a Twilight from any universe could use her spell to carry that many ponies in a single trip. I guessed that was a side effect of gaining the powers of a princess. I asked her about it. Soon, everyone that was in that room was exchanging tales of what they'd been through and how certain variations came to be.

While the world with a brand new castle and the world that was forcibly shunted into Earth were both interesting, that didn't really answer the bigger questions. Why were we all getting pulled into this one? What was that strange force that had inflicted red-eyed madness in my world's Rainbow Dash and this Starlight pony? Why couldn't we detect the energies' locations normally?

Twilight Sparkle Cubed took it upon themselves to pace and theorize out loud. Well, the two floor-bound Twilights did. The one with wings seemed to be flying up, down, in zigzags, and even into one of the walls as all of her talked it out. I didn't quite catch all of the terms that were probably important. No matter which universe she came from, Twilight Sparkle insisted on using magi-science babble that few students of her field could possibly understand. Still, I kind of understood the little 'Eureka' moment they had near the end.

"That... might be it!" exclaimed our Twilight while swinging a quivered Seele Schneider.

"I don't know why I didn't think of it before," said the Earth-verse Twilight.

"A simultaneous destruction of differing enemies..." Princess Twilight fluttered down a little.

"The precision would be ludicrous to pull off," admitted Earth-verse Twilight.

"But after removing the other impossible alternatives, that must be the answer," said our Twilight with a nod.

"You're a genius!"

"You're a genius!"

"You're a genius!" They all cheered with each other.

"Uh, mind sharing with the rest of the class what you're so excited about?" wondered Rainbow with a skeptical eye and her hooves crossed. It was amazing how fast she recovered. Well, one eye was still blocked from sight by gauze. But still, she was flying at her usual height above the floor.

"Preferably in English," I commented.

"Or Equestrian," added Dill Anne while shrugging her wings. "I could go either way at this point."

"Wait a minute," said our Twilight. "That was in Equestrian. How could you not understand what was so obvious?"

Earth-verse Twilight patted our Twilight's shoulder. "It's okay, me. Just because she hasn't had the same educational system, that doesn't make her dumb. She's simply rude."

Princess Twilight clapped one hoof against the other exactly once and audibly. "I've got it." She flew across the throne room's length with several cards, starting exactly from in front of this world's Celestia's seat. Princess Twilight was back within seconds. "Okay, take a slow, casual flight through the room."

"Is that really an effective method of information presentation?" wondered Earth-verse Twilight.

"No, no, no, shush!" insisted Princess Twilight before smiling at Rainbow.

"Fine." Dash rolled her eyes before following that Twilight's instruction.

Fifty-one tilted his head. "What exactly will this accomplish?"

"You'll see," answered Princess Twilight mischievously.

I didn't really see anything unusual about the way Rainbow Dash was flying. Unlike the time she broke her wing, she could still fly as easily as if both of her eyes were open. Pretty soon, she came flying back looking no better or worse for the small trip.

"So tell me, Rainbow," requested Princess Twilight. "What do you remember about that flight?"

"There wasn't much to remember," said Dash with a shrug. "I mean, the triangular correlation of the supposedly wiped out remains of our world's Discord, the Earth-verse's Forty-three, and a fragment of the Nightmare in this world may have created a super entity that pretty much created a singularity. But, I don't know what that has to..." Her visible eye slowly opened wider. "... do... with... this."

"Ha ha!" Princess Twilight reared up and moved her front limbs up and down in glee. "I knew there was some similarity with you and our Rainbow Dash. Both of you memorize information best through multitasking."

"And even translation into plain speak," muttered Dill Anne in wonder. "Color me impressed."

"How did...? But that... Huh?" All I could do was open my jaw in bafflement.

"You were able to figure that out just by scattering some flashcards around and telling her to fly over them?" Fifty-one held a skeptical frown.

"Let's just say that our Rainbow Dash needed to find her own studying method to pass the Wonderbolt Reserves' history test," said Princess Twilight with a cheerful wink.

"Oh... right... I still need to retake that one," admitted Dash sheepishly. "Think you could try that method to help me study for my history test?"

I shook my head to recover from the stupor. "We're getting off topic."

Dill Anne nodded. "So the cause of these random portals dragging ponies into this universe and the sinister energies composed of pure rage is a fusion of the Katana-verse's Discord, a Nightmare fragment from this world, and a rogue changeling from the Earth-verse?"

"Simply put, yes," said Quincy Twilight with a nod.

"But that leaves one last question." Earth-verse Twilight tapped her chin. "Where is this entity currently located?"

---{#51}

"Normally something that full of rage would stand out to my sense of smell," I said while crossing my front hooves.

"During that round I had with Dash earlier, my ability to sense reiatsu was being interfered by... something," mentioned Tundra.

"And that portion of the Nightmare must be pretty well-hidden if I can't pinpoint it," added Dill Anne.

"Maybe all of you just need a good night's sleep."

A mixed scent of frustration and jealousy wafted into my nose. I slowly turned to look at the source of the extra voice. It appeared our little hitchhiker hadn't been as deeply asleep as we had thought. Her deadpanned eyes and snarling mouth did nothing to hide the emotions that I could already smell.

"Starlight?" Princess Twilight blinked. "How long have you been listening?"

"Ever since we arrived here," answered Starlight Glimmer. "But there wasn't much point in announcing it." Something popped underneath my layer of goop on her horn without so much as disturbing it.

"What kind of suggestion was that anyway?" Rainbow flew right up in her face. "Are you going to be the kind of jerk that attacks ponies in their sleep?"

"Not at all," said Starlight dismissively. "Sleep is an important part of everypony's physical health. It's a trait that all of us share. Besides, what kind of disruption could I possibly cause to a sleeping pony in my condition?"

"You still have hooves," pointed out Rainbow. "Maybe you're planning on kicking us all night to drive us into insomnia."

"Two problems with your theory, Ms. Dash." Starlight lifted her hoof. "One, expending my stamina to kick somepony all night would deprive me of the same amount of rest... and two, I'm physically no stronger than anypony else. Both of these points together would make such a plan a waste of my time."

"Touché." Rainbow flew back a few inches, crossed her hooves, and closed her eye. "But that doesn't mean we have to listen to you."

"Of course not," agreed Starlight. "You're always free to ignore friendly advice."

"Since when are you our friend?" Rainbow perked her eye back open.

"Well, I don't know about you," Spike piped up "but I think many of us are weary from the stuff we've faced today."

Rainbow immediately turned around. "Wait, you're actually agreeing with the jerk that attacked two of the Twilights?"

Spike crossed his arms. "What I can see are some injured friends and some that have been depleting their energy reserves. If we're going to face another big bad, we ought to do so with all the strength we can muster, not in the state of a drained battery."

"I... that... ugh..." Rainbow sighed and let her hooves dangle. "You're right. Thanks, Spike."

I could smell a hint of happiness emitting from Spike as he nodded. "Anytime, Rainbow."

"All right, everypony!" announced Princess Twilight. "Go rest up. Me, myself, and I are going to try putting together a spell matrix that our three most sensitive group members can use to track down the fused entity."

"I never thought I'd ever hear those pronouns used together so selflessly," commented Quincy Twilight.

The Twilight I was familiar with giggled.

"What's this abut a spell matrix?" wondered Dill Anne.

"Since the combined entity has three parts," explained Earth-verse Twilight, "none of us will be able to track it down alone."

"But if Dill Anne Shear, Tundra Stanza, and Fifty-one can all use their awareness powers in tandem over the same point, we stand a chance of locating it," added Quincy Twilight.

"The perfect plan?" Tundra smirked.

"Well, not quite, but it is a good starting point," insisted Princess Twilight.

"True enough," I said with a shrug.

Ch. 5: Center of Gravity

---{???}

All of these worlds will be liberated from order.

My vengeful essence will drive them to destroy each other.

Then, and only then, will they all understand that I am the answer to the universe.

Haaaaaaa...

---{Dilan Shier}
Somewhere in the dark...

I wandered through my dreamscape. The usual faces were around. Spectrum was flying around fast enough to bat ten punching bags at once. Posh was meditating with her solid, yellow eyes open. Mistress Vine and N. A''ightmare were reading blank books. Reflect Sun was floating a few tiny flames around her horn, though I couldn't immediately tell if it was for leisure or concentration. I didn't bother looking for Tail Demon. He seemed to only talk to me when he was interested in eating hatred in the waking world.

I was slightly more interested in the new face that was staring at a tiny galaxy. She was shoving a few star-shaped lights around. They were lining up into two straight lines, one on top of the other. I made my steps intentionally louder so that she wouldn't be surprised by my approach, yet she didn't seem to care. She simply sent the imaginary stars on their way.

"Star Bright, I presume?" I lifted my hoof and rolled it over to try and catch her attention.

"You know, it's kind of strange reuniting with oneself." The Nightmare unicorn didn't even turn her head. "I can't believe that some human is what drew all of these parts of me together, and yet here you are wanting to understand me a little better."

"Is that okay?" I tilted my head to look at her from the side. From this angle, her slit blue irises were all that stood out.

"That's up to you, Dilan." She finally turned her head and gaze toward me directly. "After all, it is your will that guides this body." She turned the rest of her body and trotted over. "However, that doesn't mean I can't contribute something of worth."

She stretched her neck slightly and tapped her horn against my own. As I looked up, it looked like a bit of blue lightning surged out. But, it didn't feel like it was burning. If anything, it felt more like my head had been caught in a large gust of wind. She stepped back, and I opened my eyes wide.

Star Bright sagely nodded once. "Before you wake up, let me give you a few pointers about basic levitation."

Five hours later...

"That's the idea anyway," said Star Bright with a shrug of her shoulder. "Nerual only knows if you can repeat those actions for real."

"I'm just glad it's this power I'm getting from you." I smiled wryly. "I was kind of worried that you'd be showing me how to do tattoo removal."

"Nah." She waved a hoof dismissively. "I've got to keep something to myself for the extremely rare occasion that your adrenaline actually calls upon me to bat for cleanup."

"Anything I can do for you?" I asked.

This provoked an awkward moment of silence as she stared at me, deadpanned.

"Don't get us all killed against this upcoming danger."

I chuckled once. "You got it."

One hour after the sunrise, in the Canterlot throne room...

"How can anypony eat that many rose petal pancakes in one sitting?" asked Fifty-one as we walked along.

"Seriously, they aren't that good." Tundra shook her head during our trot.

I let out a satisfied burp before patting my lips. "What can I say? Princess Luna's tastes kind of rubbed off on me."

"Is that all that rubbed off on you?" asked a familiar voice.

"Speak of the devil." I scrunched my lips into a half-smile.

Princess Luna trotted along one side of the room. She was about as happy to see me as she usually was... which is to say she was mildly peeved with my presence. She and Princess Celestia stood at opposite windows of the room. Princess Twilight and her non-princess doppelgangers were concentrating at the center with a swirl of magic between the three of them.

Rainbow flew in with a hoof against her chin. She looped around this way and that. All the while, she wouldn't take her eyes off of the magic spiral. She even waved a hoof through the swirl, with no visible effect.

"What is this?" she asked out loud.

"This is the portal basin," answered Princess Twilight. "It's only possible to make it without a physical mirror when at least three unicorns are all focused on it at once."

"And since there are three of me," added Twilight with the belt, "it's much easier for all of us to think about the same exact thing."

"But this alone won't lead us to the fusion entity," warned Earth-verse Twilight. "That's where you guys come in. Fifty-one, Tundra, and Dill Anne will all have to stand close to this portal basin and see if you can identify where this monster is. Then, we can open this portal with more precision so that we can all go through, find the source of the destruction, and deal with it."

"I still have my doubts as to whether this will work," commented Princess Luna.

"I have faith in Twilight," assured Princess Celestia, "all of her."

"Hold on." Fifty-one held up a hoof. "You said 'we' can all go through. If all of the Twilights go through the portal, how can we be certain that the door won't shut behind us trapping us in that universe?"

"That is where Luna and I will step in," said Princess Celestia, taking a couple steps forward. "Once the portal is opened, we can maintain the magical field necessary to allow everypony through and do our best to stop anything dangerous that tries to come here."

"Sweet!" Tundra pumped up a fist... er, hoof. "What are we waiting for? Let's get to tracking!"

Fifty-one nodded and stepped forward. Tundra and I trotted around in between the Twilights in the spaces left by their circle. I was doing my utmost to not get distracted by Princess Twilight's scary glare. Instead, I gazed into the spiral, looking for hints of the Nightmare's essence. Tundra held up a hoof and some ghostly ribbons faded in and out of existence. Fifty-one had his face held close to the center and was taking deep breaths.

These had to be the slowest minutes that I ever experienced. There had to be several empty straws that I was scanning my eyes through. None of them held much if any coating of the Nightmare. By the lack of cheering, I surmised that my other-worldly partners were having about the same amount of luck in terms of sensing any unusual rage and spirit. But, I had to keep looking. How many ponies were getting pulled out of their homes and into the wrong worlds while time was slipping us by?

Just when I was about to give up, a twinkling of red suddenly jolted out of the magic swirl. For the briefest of moments, it felt like the air around me was boiling hot. But, I saw it... right at the middle of the spiral. I couldn't mistake that feeling for anything else. My lips curled and revealed my snarling fangs.

"Anger!"

"Such evil reiatsu!"

"Nightmare!"

Apparently Fifty-one, Tundra, and I all sensed our respective target simultaneously. The two of them looked a little... different then they usually did. But, as quickly as I thought I saw a flash of red brush their eyes, the feeling of the Nightmare's presence had been minimized to a slight irritation.

I quickly glanced to the left and right. The three Twilights had eyes that were glowing brightly in white. The spiral extended outward into a tall dome, made of nothing but magic and light.

"Now!" the Twilights cried in unison.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna quickly concentrated their respective magic auras at the top of the dome. As soon as the streams were joined, Princess Twilight and the other two quickly stepped back. The three magenta auras shut off. The two unicorns panted as sweat dripped down the sides of their faces. Princess Twilight let out a long, low breath before looking up.

"Great work, everypony," she complimented. "We're almost there."

The tall, yet thin dome looked kind of like someone had widened the bottleneck section of an hourglass. There were magic lines rippling along the height of the thing. When I looked hard enough, I could faintly sense the Nightmare inside. So, this was a portal, huh?

Quincy Twilight finally caught her breath. "I don't think I need to tell anyone here how dangerous what we're up against could be."

"Anything fused with one world's Discord can't be good news," agreed Fifty-one.

"I've got your back, Twilight," said Spike while patting his chest.

"Let's get in there, smack that thing around, and get everypony home within a ten-second shot." Rainbow Dash smirked as she flapped in place.

I swear I could hear Spectrum chuckling in the back of my mind. "Make sure to keep your guard up. Urgent as this matter may be, we won't do anyone any good by throwing ourselves against the wall without a reason to do so."

"Dill Anne's right," agreed Earth-verse Twilight. "Whatever is in that world, err on the side of caution."

"Caution is my middle name," said Tundra with a chuckle.

"Really?" Quincy Twilight tilted her head. "I always had you figured as a 'Melodic Frost'."

"Tick-tock, fillies and gentlecolts," interrupted Princess Luna while still shooting her magic.

"Good luck, my little ponies," said Princess Celestia more gracefully than her sister.

All of us gave our final nods of understanding. Spike hopped onto Princess Twilight's back. She flapped her wings and flew into the portal first. Rainbow Dash, Quincy Twilight, and Tundra rushed in after them. Earth-verse Twilight galloped in soon after that.

"Ladies first," insisted Fifty-one while holding up a hoof.

I closed my eyes and chuckled. Though, I quickly opened my eyes before galloping through the portal myself. That's when I found myself standing in... some place that I couldn't quite comprehend.

---{Tundra Stanza}
?????

This place felt... very wrong. To even understand what was uncomfortable about standing on a floating island in this expansive world would require words that I just did not have. I wasn't even sure I was breathing, yet I was pretty sure that I hadn't fainted due to a lack of oxygen. I tried looking around, but I could not fathom what exactly I was looking at.

The only thing that felt right here was the familiar reiatsu of the friends I had made in that alternate Equestria. I could see and sense that they were standing right beside me. But that was doing nothing to put my mind at ease.

"What is this place?" asked Spike atop the Twilight with wings.

"A better question is, 'What isn't this place?' "

The reiatsu of Discord mixed with something else was rather potent right then. It was right on top of us when I saw... that thing. Its presence made even less sense than the world that it inhabited. I couldn't really tell where it started and where it ended. All I knew was that the entity... was.

"And you even have an even number of competitors. This will be perfect."

A giant appendage reached out from it. All of us leapt out of the way as best as we could. I already had my hooves out, ready to counterattack. In the blink of an eye, I had launched a twin-plume of crashing blue flames. They collided with the appendage and left what looked like a black stain against its skin... scales... surface.

"Ah, good. A volunteer for the first round."

I tilted my head. "Wait, what?"

Before I knew what was happening, a flash of green light blinded me. When I could safely open my eyes again, I was standing on another large island. Yet for some reason, the Twilight with wings was standing in front of me. Though to be fair, she looked just as confused as I was as she looked around wildly.

"Wha-What's going on?" she asked.

A brightly lit up board appeared in thin air. It kind of resembled a stone tablet, not the standard flat-screen computer tablet but the really old rocky tablets like the ones on which the Ten Commandments were written on. It had several words scratched onto it as follows.

Tundra Stanza vs. Princess Twilight Sparkle

Quincy Twilight vs. Changeling Drone #51

Spike vs. Earth-verse Twilight

Nightmare Moon vs. Soul Reaper Rainbow Dash

"What the heck is this supposed to be?!" I shouted in demand.

"You will fight each other for my amusement. Then, you will send your reigning champion against me for one final death. That is the will of the center of the universe."

"You cannot be serious!" exclaimed Princess Twilight to the contrary.

"I am not going to fight my friends on your terms." I crossed my front legs in a huff. "Fighting under duress once yesterday was one time too many."

"Oh, but I think you will."

There was a sound of an echoing snap. A rush of hot pain surged through my ears. I held my head in both of my hooves, but it wouldn't stop. Everything that I could see suddenly gained a huge splash of red. My teeth were gnashing against the pain. The little hairs on my hide were all standing. I couldn't force my brow into anything other than a furrowed expression.

"You seek to destroy me, don't you? Give in to your hatred... your anger... your fears."

I... I couldn't... think straight. My... my desires to... save... being pushed... thoughts... lost in a haze... no friends here... enemy to be destroyed... my... enemy... My enemy was right in front of me!

"You will kill or you will die."

Kill it... Kill it... Kill it... Kill it...

"Fight!"

I couldn't take it anymore!

"Ban...kai!"

---{Kazekage Sode no Shirayuki}

Everything was in flux. Red marked danger. I had to remove the danger. I launched my fourth dance blizzard without even considering where it would go. The danger flew out of the way. The danger fired something against me. I quickly sped out of the way. I flew over the danger and slashed it with my fan.

The danger screamed. The scream was a distorted mess of some abomination. The danger grabbed ahold of me in some unholy grasp. The danger sent me headfirst into the ground. The danger disappeared and reappeared again. It fired a blast of souls, crying out for their pain to be ended. I could feel much pain from this attack.

I focused my six petals of light to ensnare the danger. Without another moment to spare, I gathered my strength into my fans' edges.

"Sixth Dance: White Guillotine!"

I launched my fans as quickly as they could possibly spin. The danger was sliced in half. My fans flew back into my grasp. I breathed heavily and shallowly while sitting there on the ground. The pain was receding. I could see other colors besides red again.

My eyes widened in horror as I saw Princess Twilight's body parts being scattered into this world's dark abyss.

Winner: Tundra Stanza!

---{#51}

The anger that I could smell was abhorrent in origin. It was all stemming from the fusion entity. When it forced two ponies to fight just then, it had somehow stained their very minds with that hatred. It was suffocating to witness all of that spreading over the platform, even if it looked like it was miles away. As quickly as it had started, the unnatural anger vanished.

Only one of the two ponies was returned on the platform that floated back toward the rest of us. Tundra was visibly shaking. She smelled scared... really scared. There wasn't a trace of the bravado I had sensed on her before we jumped into the portal. What in the world happened over there?

"Where's Twilight?" asked Spike with great concern.

Tundra was hyperventilating. Sadness was mixing in with the scent of her being afraid. That wasn't a good sign. I sighed in a realization. That giant board from before may not have been just for show. Whatever it was, there was something about it that compelled those that stood on that platform to follow its rules.

"She won't be able to return to us, Spike," I said while trotting forward. "Not until we can put this mad-ling down for good."

"W...W...Won't... be able... to...?" Spike's emotions were a jumble of confusion and fear among a few other things.

"We don't have any time to waste." I kept my face and my tone as neutral as possible. "Quincy!"

"Y-Yeah?" Quincy Twilight stammered. Her bewilderment betrayed the fact that she was unprepared.

"This creature has more power than we are capable of fighting off in our current state," I explained. "We'll have to play out its little game until it lets one of us confront it."

She gulped. "Is there... really no other choice?"

A flash of green light blocked out vision of anything else. I blinked, and the two of us were standing on opposite sides of a platform. The entity had shoved our turn to be right now.

"Does this answer your question?" I asked rhetorically.

Ch. 6: Forty-Three, Discord, Nightmare, Hike!

---{#51}

Several light arrows bombarded my position. Though, they weren't difficult to dodge. An angry opponent was fairly easy to read. Apparently, something in the fusion entity thought it would be funny if it only infected my opponent.

I really don't like the circumstance right now, I thought.

It was probably Forty-three. She really had it out for me and I couldn't understand why.

Dodge left, blast a little and shoot one of the small metal bars off her belt, and... the Quincy is right behind me now. Super.

I mean sure, I was kind of responsible for sniffing out the traitor and bringing her in for Queen Chrysalis to deal with. But, the few cases that I had actually managed to find were all dead now. They didn't really have anything left to complain about or gain from putting me down.

Okay, seriously. Stop getting peppered in the legs by stray arrows. The holes in your legs are there for efficiency purposes. They aren't your liberty sign to make more. You have wings, Fifty-one. Fly!

I sighed at my lack of reaction at the deaths of fellow members of the Hive. I really needed to get another coaching conversation from Spirit Redeemer once this whole situation was over. My empathy wasn't a sickness to be cured. It was meant to balance the numb side of my natural personality.

And one smack, two smacks, three smacks... uppercut!

Oh, look at that. Quincy Twilight's rage was fading, as well as the scent of any emotional capacity. Darn.

Winner: Changeling Drone #51!

I closed my eyes and let out a soft hiss. I wasn't even aware of the platform's motion until it slammed into our entrance island. I couldn't look at my allies right now. So, I simply walked to one side of the first island and sat in silence.

"Next!"

"No, don't!" pleaded Spike. I feared that the scent of his sadness would push me over the edge if it had any more potency. "She's the only one left! I... can't lose Twilight like this."

"Spike..." said the remaining Twilight. In spite of not knowing this dragon personally, her sadness carried a similar weight to his own. Their combined feelings felt like solid weights against my insides. It was all I could do to stay in place without collapsing.

"Not a problem. We'll just overturn that pesky hesitation."

A snap echoed through the space. Spike held his hands against his head and grunted. The scent of rage pooled in from the fused entity into him. He almost looked like he was... growing. Every physical part of him was getting extra length. The somewhat larger dragon opened his glowing red eyes.

"Oh... shoots," muttered Rainbow Dash.

"In fact, why stop there?"

Another snap passed and Twilight yelped. Some red magic was literally pulling her apart. In what sounded like bubbles popping, the separated parts vanished from sight. I couldn't even sense her emotion anymore. I opened my mouth in shock.

The dragon took this event worse than I did. He raised his maw high and roared. I was smelling potent and pungent rage. I couldn't tell where his draconic rage ended and the unnatural entity's rage began.

"Oh that's just fan-tipping-flastic!" shouted Dill Anne Shear sarcastically.

"I should have known a Discord monster wouldn't follow any rules," Rainbow remarked.

"Rules? The only rule set above me is to face the champion. I can't help it if my competitors are poor sports in the meantime."

"You know darn well that you instigated that!" shouted Tundra.

"We need a new plan of attack," I advised.

"Let's try this new plan that I like to call 'Attack'!" shouted Rainbow as both she and Tundra drew forth their swords.

"Bankai!"

"Bankai!"

Their fury burned my senses as something else visibly burned the air around them. It looked like they had clothed themselves in robes, while the weapons they were carrying completely changed shapes. With the sound of rushing wind in stereo, the 'Soul Reapers' vanished out of sight. Pretty soon, they were rushing around this way and that in the vast space around the fusion entity. Within seconds, they were launching a barrage of ice and energy.

"I guess it's swordfight time," commented Dill Anne.

She held on her hoof what looked like a card. But in a flash of light, it was quickly replaced by a long, fencing sword. I could smell she was nervous yet simultaneously determined. Taking the hint, I kicked out a small item from the underside of my leg. With a few twists of my head, I had a crooked dagger in between my teeth. Spirit Redeemer had called it the "Unobtainium Dagger" that she had used to put the soul of her late father to rest. She told me that she dared not use it again because she preferred the path of no violence. She thought I might be able to make better use of it and told me to hold onto it.

Let's go. I nodded at Dill Anne, knowing she couldn't hear my thoughts.

Her scent of determination didn't falter. We flapped our respective wings and sped forth to join our allies' assault. A sort of smoked, lion's paw reached out and snagged Tundra in mid-flight. I acted on impulse and focused my destruction beam against the fusion entity's wrist. I then flew in close and dug my dagger into the same spot. Tundra managed to fly out of the opening paw, however, her robe was in tatters.

Meanwhile, Dill Anne had used the entity's moment of flinching to swing her thin sword at several different points of the face in rapid succession. It almost looked like there were sparks flying off the tip of her sword as she swung it extremely quickly.

"Parry Breaker: Hundred-Year Judgement!" she cried just as the last of her strikes made contact. The fusion entity grabbed its face with both distorted limbs and let out a beastly cacophony of yowling.

"Yah!" Rainbow yelped.

I looked toward her when I smelled surprise and panic. That was from Rainbow anyway. But the dragon that was now standing on top of her was still fuming with the sinister rage. Before anypony or anyling could react, Spike chomped down his maw and... swallowed Rainbow whole. Horror eclipsed anything else that I could smell coming from Dill Anne as we all watched Rainbow get eaten. But, there was something else.

"RD!" exclaimed Tundra as she tried to fly in. But there was an intense rage coming from inside the dragon's throat.

"Wait!" I held a hoof in front of her. My ears perked up at the sound of some muffled yellings. Though, when the attack wave burst through Spike's neck, I heard something much more coherent.

"... Tenshou!"

Injured in a central nervous hub, Spike slapped his limbs around at randomly everything, including the edge of the island where there was no arena to stand on. I smelled panic, and the dragon was biting hard onto the wing of the pegasus trying to escape. It had barely been two seconds before they fell completely beyond sight and smell.

"Shall we move onto the semi-finals?"

I couldn't believe this. None of this entity's injuries were even visible anymore. What kind of regeneration did it have?

"First match: Me vs. You!"

Before I knew it, the misshapen paws were squeezing all around me. Spirit's dagger was choked from my mouth as I tried to breathe. But its unyielding rage clogging my senses was making the simple task difficult.

"I've been waiting a long time for this, Fifty-first! I'm stronger than you now!"

---{Kazekage Sode no Shirayuki}

"Eat this!" I yelled as I held up my hooves. I doubled my output into a twin plume of crashing blue flames. Off to the side, I saw Dill Anne releasing a burst of lightning from her hoof in a punching motion. The abomination flinched against our attacks.

"Begone!"

A large tail suddenly whipped out of nowhere and knocked some of the wind out of me. I went for a tumble along the floating island. I slowly stood back up, using my fold-up fans to hold me up. I breathed loudly heavily as I looked around. My Bankai form's robes were stripped down to a tattered white rag and there was a slight ringing in my ears.

Dill Anne was holding herself up on all fours, but just barely. Her reiatsu had been reduced quite a bit through this battle. I wasn't sure how much any of us had left to give. Somewhere between us, a single knife rested.

Wait... I gasped.

I looked up at the entity's squeezing paws. The changeling's spiritual pressure was fading fast.

"Fifty-one!" I shouted.

He coughed. "If this were a video game, I'd be saying something sappy like, 'I'm always with you.' But... I'll just settle for... give 'em hell."

His reiatsu vanished completely, as did his physical body. Son of a gun! This thing was destroying everyone! We had to take it down. But there was only one way I was going to be able to release a full-powered strike with my diminishing strength.

"Dill Anne, how would you feel about providing a distraction for at least a minute?" I asked.

She held quiet for a moment.

...

"Make it thirty seconds." She slapped her tail against the ground and a tall crystal pillar grew.

I clasped my hooves against each other as I readied the incantation. "Mask of flesh and blood, universe soar. The one crowned with man's name..."

She sank into her tower's shadow. I could still sense her reiatsu. But, I couldn't distract myself right then.

"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel with light, divide this into six."

She performed her Parry Breaker motion into her tower, sending a bunch of dark crystal shards to shower against the entity.

"Carve a twin lotus into the wall of blue flame and await the blazing fires to reach the distant heavens."

The yellow and blue energies gathered and spun around between my hooves. The entity's paw smacked Dill Anne to the side again. Her sword disappeared and was replaced by a card. Now was the time!

"Bakudo #61: Rikujokoro!" The yellow light sprang out and formed six giant lights resembling flower petals. They slammed against the entity's mid-section. The entity growled.

"Hado #73: Soren Sokatsui!" The blue twin fires burned even brighter and quicker than my first try with them. The full force collided with the abomination, causing it to roar in its demonic screech.

---{Tundra Stanza}

My robes faded away. My Zanpaktou returned to its white katana form. I was breathing fairly hard right then.

"You know, I should really thank you."

My whole body suddenly contorted and slid into the air. I opened my eyes wide because I wasn't doing this. My reiatsu was too drained for me to fight against the pull, not for lack of trying.

"Darn it," I muttered between grunts. "That was... my strongest blast."

"To be fair, you did kill me... well, one-third of me anyway."

The pulling force turned my head around and I got a look at the entity. It was somewhat smaller, and the colors were a bit more distinct than the indescribable abomination that it had started out as. I could even see eyeballs.

"I no longer have to follow the whims of that annoying changeling Forty-three. Her fixation on Fifty-one was very distracting. Though, I'm curious... do you want to know what he felt like in his last moments?"

I could feel my ribs getting crushed by whatever power the incomplete entity commanded. My eyelids were forced shut. There was little choice I had but to moan against the intense pain.

"Ah ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha- Wha?!"

Something collided with me and I suddenly felt no pressure except the wind passing me by. I cracked my eyes open to see the head of some pony. I wasn't sure what was going on until she set me down on some part of the island.

"D...Dill Anne?" I croaked.

"I'm afraid she's out for the moment," said a different voice while the Nightmare pony's head shook. "Stay over here near the portal for now and try not to move."

"Wait, who... are... you?" The last breath of mine I heard softened at the same time that I could see no more.

---{Nightmare Spectrum}

As Tundra fell asleep from the fatigue, I set her down. There wasn't time to reminisce about who I was, where I came from, and how I was controlling Dill Anne's body. I had a fragment of the Nightmare to retrieve, and it was sitting cozy against the inside of another world's Discord. I punched my hooves together with a little spark. Then, I became a blur.

I raced around the negatively energized draconequus. I took twists, turns, and loops wherever I could. All the while, I punched lightning into any spot I considered vulnerable and open. The electricity surged all around him. I hoped it was going through him, too.

What happened next, I'm not sure how it happened. There was a loud snap. Suddenly, all of my legs were trapped inside a giant potato. Nearby, I spotted a light bulb that had wires that plugged into this very potato. A switch was pulled and I felt like I was getting electrified in reverse. I wish I could make up stuff like that, but such was only possible in Discord's imagination and practice.

The potato vanished, and I had been drained like a battery for a temporary light bulb. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer as I fell. All I could think was a sarcastic remark telling Posh not to screw this up.

---{Pony of Shadows}

...

The wings opened wide in this vast space of darkness.

...

I drew some strength of these extra shadows into small, deadly stars.

...

Nightmare Chaos did not like getting stabbed with my improvised shuriken.

...

Its retort was to summon a giant pair of snapping fingers.

...

I was flung back to the island.

...

I begged that somepony besides the red demon would take my place.

---{Star Bright}

Well, I honestly didn't think I'd actually be doing this. I was joking when I said that I'd control this body some day. Yet here I was. Though, I was grateful for the previous actors. They managed to take down even the mighty Discord a few pegs. He was too busy pulling shadow stars out of his eyes to notice me casting a personal favorite spell of mine.

He himself did not have a cutie mark. I was more interested in the talent of the Nightmare fragment that was our objective. He grunted in rejection, but my spell pulled ever harder. I heard a slightly more feminine wail as the crescent mark came to me and the rest of the Nightmare fragment followed it. Flowing it down to let the demon's tail absorb it felt as easy as breathing.

"Thank you for your patronage," I said with a bow of my head.

The draconequus' eyes went blank. With a few cracks here and there, he shattered like glass. Without the fused powers of the other two universes, a draconequus that had previously been killed could not hold himself among the living. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The area around me started to rumble.

---{Dilan Shier}

Nice work, kid, I thought with a small smile.

The ground shaking wasn't the only crazy thing happening. Bodies started coming back and reconfiguring themselves in the proper places. Soon, I could see the sleeping forms of Princess Twilight, her Quincy double, their Earth-verse triplet, the Soul Reaper Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Fifty-one.

Some bits of the island were falling apart at the edges. We needed to get out of here before this space collapsed entirely. I took a deep breath, grunted, and applied my levitation training from Star Bright. One by one, I floated all of them through the portal. I jumped through just in time for the center of the island to fall apart.

Canterlot Castle, Throne Room...

I landed on the red carpet, with a bit of a slippery entrance. I looked around, expecting to be somewhere in the middle of a pony pile. However, I could only see Spike, Princess Twilight, and Princess Celestia and Luna. The last two in that list were still holding that dome open. Princess Twilight managed to grunt and stand up.

"That was... a bit more life-shattering than I would have liked," she commented.

"Ugh..." Spike rubbed his head before taking a quick look around. "Hey! Where'd everypony else go?"

"What the...?" I was busy looking at the portal dome. I was seeing a couple different images at the top and bottom. It kind of looked like the belted Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Tundra were in the top image, shaking their heads and looking around. In the lower image, Fifty-one and the other wingless Twilight were getting asked by a guard if they were okay.

"Does this mean that the worlds are properly separating again?" asked Princess Twilight.

Finally, all of the ponies and changeling in the image turned to look our way. Each of them smiled and waved. I couldn't help but do the same to them. I guess Princess Twilight and Spike couldn't help it either as they waved, too. After about a few more seconds of that, the images faded. The dome collapsed, and the other two alicorns in the room sat on their respective haunches while panting.

I sighed and fell onto my back.

"Splendid work, Dilan," complimented Princess Celestia after recovering her breath.

Princess Luna tilted her head. "Why did you fall?"

I closed my eyes. "I don't know."

Ch. 7: Simply After

---{#51}
In the Equestria parallel to the Earth-verse...

I was visiting my friend's house for an extended vacation. Queen Chrysalis had insisted that I needed a little rest. Apparently, my recent stress was giving the Hive's mind a headache. I didn't mind too terribly much. After all, Spirit Redeemer made for good company. So, I was a bit surprised when another drone approached the house soon after my arrival.

"My Liege." He held up a scroll and presented it to me.

"Ninety-nine." I shook my head. "I consider you a changeling of the same caliber as I. Refrain from addressing me as a superior."

"Well, you know," he said with a shrug. "Old habits die hard."

"Mm-hm." I was busy scanning the scroll for its contents.

It seemed that Twilight Sparkle's connection with the magic of her other selves allowed small windows in which she could communicate with them. Additionally, it allowed conversations with those that were standing nearby any of the three of her. She was rather excited by the idea of keeping tabs on all of the possible divergences between our world and the others. I had been invited to the Golden Oaks Library to see if I could make due on my word to discuss with the alternate universe Hives to see what could be done about the rise of empathy among changelings.

I suppose I might as well humor her, I thought. It's not like they'll actually listen to reason when sneaking and pillaging have been the standard and easy ways for so long. I hurried on over anyway.

---{Tundra Stanza}
Katana-verse Equus...

"Are you sure you're okay, Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow for the fifth time that day. "You did go missing longer than the rest of us."

"I'm fine, Rainbow Dash, really," insisted Fluttershy. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I am." She sank in her chair. "Am I not supposed to be okay?"

"Ease up a little," I said while looking at Dash. "We're here for a friendly checkup, not a prisoner interrogation."

Dash sighed and took a step back. "I'm just trying to figure out what exactly happened back there."

"I don't really know what happened." Fluttershy shook her head. "Wabisuke was apologizing for some reason. Next thing I know, I'm getting trapped by a bright light that dropped me off in a weird blanket of white and black halves."

"Darn it." Dash kicked the wood floor. "It's the same story with everypony we ask... those that disappeared anyway. Nopony remembers anything after the funky teleports."

"At least you managed to help us deal with the problem directly." I tried showing her an encouraging smile. "Doesn't that feel good?"

Dash blew a bit of mane out of her eyes. "Fat lot of help I was. All I managed to do was sacrifice myself along with an enraged dragon."

"But if you hadn't done that, the rest of us wouldn't have had the opening we needed to strike the Discorded creature." I lightly punched her shoulder. "You're awesome, RD."

She rubbed that spot with a hoof and chuckled. "Thanks, TS. I needed that."

---{Dilan Shier}
Alternate Equus Prime...

The next day was a bit unnerving. I could swear that Princess Luna and Princess Twilight were asking every question that they could to somehow trip me up. The inquiries were starting to all sound so similar that I just had to lay my head against the table and tune them out. Was I not the cause of that Nightmare attack? How did I possibly know which of my extra minds to apply to that enemy otherwise? On and on, I didn't know those answers but that wasn't good enough for their curiosities and accusations.

"Could you excuse me for a while?" asked Princess Celestia gently as she stood up. "I need some air." Her hoof steps echoed through the room. "Oh, Dilan, why don't you come with me?"

I lifted my head and blinked a couple of times. Had I heard her right? I looked over to where she was standing. She had a sort of expectant expression, though it was difficult for me to tell without looking at her for a few seconds. Hastily, I nodded and stood up as well. I welcomed the excuse to move away from my symbiotic half as well as the more intimidating princess.

Princess Celestia led me through the garden area. Eventually, she stopped just at the edge of a large pool. She leaned her head over and looked at the water.

"Look closely," she requested. "What do you see?"

I leaned over to look as well. What I saw was my reflection, or at least what it currently was. Nightmare Moon's basic facial structure was decked up with Posh's dark mane, Reflect Sun's eye, and Star Bright's blue-dipped horn. The smoky red tail danced around to remind me of Tail Demon's presence. I lifted my hoof and saw Spectrum's anklet. My whole appearance was simultaneously comical and terrifying.

"I see what I've become," I finally answer. "It's an amalgamation of everything I'd pour into the kitchen sink."

"Is that so?"

I turned back to look at her. Why would she ask what I saw if she didn't want that kind of answer?

"Because I see a cannonball."

I blinked without comprehension. "Wait, what?"

She suddenly leaped into the air with a short holler. She grabbed her back legs with her front legs. Her wings folded up, and she broke the surface of the water with all of herself at once. I couldn't close my mouth at the surprise, even after some water splashed against me.

One second later, she was facing upward and her mane was sparkling against the transparent liquid. She looked like a swimming model straight out of a camera commercial. She smiled as she lifted a hoof and patted the water a little.

"Come on in! Refresh yourself!"

I shook my head out of my stupor. "A-A-Alright." Before I could object, my legs were already making the jump. On instinct, my wings opened up and carried me past Celestia's position. The sudden realization of what I was doing caused my wings to snap shut. My consequence was to immediately submerge.

I scrambled my legs to get my head above surface. I could hear myself breathing excessively loudly. I had no previous idea how strange and yet... welcome feeling of getting my hide this wet and cold. A bit of dog-paddling later, I was shivering next to Celestia.

"Oh you are just adorable, Dilan." She grabbed me under her left wing and pulled me in. Her wet hide rubbed against mine. ... I needed an adult. Wait, I was an adult!

"Hey!" shouted a familiar voice. "You don't get to hog the pool without me!"

Luna splashed both of us with her entry dive. But all that succeeded in doing was eliciting a laugh from Celestia and a chuckle from me.

"Well, when you roam, do what the roamers do," muttered Princess Twilight as she practically slammed her stomach against the water's surface.

I sucked in a breath and shrunk my lips to a long "oo". That belly flop had to have been painful.

---{???}

"You want to be in an equal society? Very well then. We shall give you the exact same punishment as anypony else that commits felonious thievery."

She humorlessly snorted at the warning she had received. News reached her that the universes had been properly separated. However, the changeling's goop was still blocking her magic. She didn't like that, but any attempts to remove it by hoof were met with the substance reacting like a solid barrier. So she settled for rolling over on the dungeon slab that was meant as a prisoner's bed.

"Package for you, Glimmer."

She turned over slightly, not really showing any interest. After a while, she sighed and stood up from the oh-so-comfy rock. The package in question had already been opened and checked by the guards, probably to prevent tools of escape from being delivered remotely. Still, she wondered what it could even be and who would send anything to her of all ponies. She flipped open on side of the box to reveal a folded up letter.

Dear Starlight,

I had just one of these left. Enjoy!

Your old friend,
Sugar Belle

She shook the box and out popped the remaining content. It was a rather unappetizing stub that just barely resembled a muffin. She recognized it as her old town's most common cuisine. She placed a hoof against her face.

"Feather me."

Author's Note

Can you see why I don't write sequels?

S7LC: Daybreaker Breaks In (may contain spoilers)

---{Dilan Shier}

I was just getting used to the swing of things. But then I heard someone's evil cackling through the walls. I decided I had to go find out what was going on. Otherwise, Luna would probably blame me for it... again. I sensed a Nightmare's fragment behind the large door. I burst through, and immediately regretted it.

My whole world turned into a ring of fire before my vision blacked out.

---{Reflect Sun}

I stood up on my hooves and applied a subtle heat shield spell around this body. Why didn't this fool check for heat on the latch before barging through? I shook my head. What was done was done. I could probably deal with this new Nightmare fragment no problem, seeing as how I was the strongest one in our current collection of personalities.

I walked through the fire without flinching. On either side of the hall, it looked like flowers were hanging above the windows. But they were currently burning to ashes. Curiously, the passing dust smelled like lavenders. That's when I came face to face with the Nightmare I was looking for. Yet... I was perplexed. Their energy felt somewhat like my own, and yet not at all.

"And just what are you supposed to be?" asked the other being.

Had one of the fragments really been brash enough to try to take over Celestia even after I had previously failed? But why would it do that? And why did it look nothing like I did?

"I believe you stole my question." I resumed my default expression. "Nightmare Sol and Corona Blaze called. They want their original character back."

"BWA ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed this Nightmare of Celestia look-alike. "Fool! I'm no mere Nightmare. I'm what Celestia can be without holding her power back. I am... Daybreaker!"

Fires burst out of the floor on either side of the hall. I rolled my eyes at the display.

"I don't have time for this nonsense." I stomped my left foot forward, cracking a tile.

---BEGIN!---

I drew energy from her magical fires into my own magic. I sent it forth at her, but she flew out of the way. My spell scorched the throne she was sitting on and turned it into a pile of dust. The alleged Daybreaker flung red and orange spell beams my way. I teleported upward, yanked a burning flower pot from its overhead hanger, and threw it at her head.

The pot broke upon impact. She yelped and turned her head, looking rather upset. Another double-strength spell was launched from her horn, and I flew downward. The spell was getting closer and larger as I took a right-angle turn to fly the length of the hallway's floor. I took a U-turn and flew right at her while putting up my shield spell.

Daybreaker tried to push me back with her spell, but I was getting ever closer to her position. Our spells were clashing for control of the ever-shrinking distance between us.

"The day will rule forever!" Her eyes glared in dark orange.

"A scorched nation is no kingdom at all!" I gazed ahead.

At the last second, I threw in some levitation to force my shield to accelerate. I slammed into Daybreaker, causing her beam to overcharge and explode in her face. She went hurtling down and bounced off the floor backward. I flew down after her and whipped my gaseous tail at her neck.

Her eyes snapped open and she breathed fire at my tail. Without my heat shield in place, I yelled out in pain. She bit my freaking tail and flipped me over her head to crash against the floor. She then had the gall to stand up, trot over, and laugh at me. I slammed a hoof against the floor, causing the equivalent of an earthquake.

It was just a split-second of her being caught off guard, but I used it anyway to teleport behind her. I summoned a golden axe of solar energy and smashed it against her back. She fell face-first against the floor. I jumped onto her, with each of my hooves on top of one of her own. I clanged my horn against hers and held a null spell as my internal magic glowed, starting from my chest.

"Gotcha!"

*BOOM!*

...

I was later told that most of the windows had been completely shattered by my Supernova explosion. Back in the moment, I was simply glad that Daybreaker was burned and not moving. I sent the tail demon in to finish the job, making this all nothing more than a bad dream. Afterward, I felt the urge to pull out the Pinnacle Epee and swipe an S-shaped pattern in front of myself.

---Reflect Sun wins!---

Author's Note

What do you get when you cross TMSRFHA with Injustice and "Royal Problem"?
This little mess.