Fizzlepop blinked twice before turning to look at the orb directly. She knew nothing about it. It looked like a golden ball with a blue light shining against her. Who did the pony responsible for making this thing think they were to boss her around? She snorted and little sparks sizzled out of the remains of her horn.
"How about no?" She half-closed her eyes. "First, tell me who you are and explain what's going on."
An arc of what appeared to be lightning zipped out of the orb. When the arc hit her, it felt like pain was spreading throughout her entire body at once. The pain forced every limb to convulse involuntarily. This wasn't like the punishments the Storm King gave her for any mistakes. Words had yet to be conceived to describe how bad it felt.
"Okay! Okay! I'll put it on!"
Just like that, the arc and resulting pain stopped. She took a few seconds to catch her breath before turning around to look at the table. It didn't take her long to put on the magic-proof armor vest, boots, and belt with several pouches. It was second-nature, though she sulked at the idea that she had involuntarily traded one master ordering her around for another. This time, there wasn't even a vague promise to restore what she had lost to back up the unspoken deal.
As soon as Tempest had finished dressing herself, the orb motioned for her to follow. They went down a long hallway. Some pony had painted the wall with a large picture of a black guitar and drum set. The rest of the hall was completely barren, save for a door that looked like some weird beast's face carved on top.
The door slid open and the little purple pony held up a gloved hoof to block the sudden source of sunlight. As her eyes adjusted, she heard a fracas of cheering. It appeared she was inside a giant coliseum with several generically creepy creatures in the spectators' seats. Along the wall to either side of her, doors decorated the same as the one she just came through opened up to reveal creatures on the other side.
Three doors on her right revealed three differently colored creatures that resembled floating horses. Each of them had a red gem encrusted in their necks. Tempest wasn't sure, but they looked a lot like the sirens in the old mares' tales that she had been told years ago. She started to blindly step away from them until a door to her left opened up. This one was holding a yellow-orange unicorn with a mane that sort of resembled a bacon strip.
"Let me guess, the ball didn't tell you anything either?" asked Tempest.
"Uh... that's right." The other unicorn looked around, completely lost. She shook her head. "Oh my Celestia! Did it break your horn?!"
Tempest chuckled in internal pain. "No, it was already like that. Long story."
The other pony nodded. "Yeah, considering we just entered some place that could belong in Ancient Rome, I'm guessing we won't have that long to talk."
"Ancient what?" Tempest tilted her head.
Several orbs resembling the one that had ordered her around earlier floated above the arena. They were then swallowed up by a much larger golden sphere with a flickering blue light accompanied by an echoing, unidentifiable voice.
"Warriors... you are all here to answer a simple question: Who among you is the ultimate villain? You will fight each other to the finish, which may include death if you so choose."
"Just one moment!" A voice called from across the coliseum. "What do you mean by 'villain'?" She was a blue biped in a suit tailored to some strict and unknown code. "I am the principal of a prestigious school. I should be classified as a hero."
"Keep telling yourself that, Ms. Cinch!"
The next voice's interruption was coupled with the laughs and jeers from six biped students in purple velvet uniforms.
"Do you choose not to fight?" asked the booming globe.
Ms. Cinch adjusted her glasses before crossing her arms indifferently. "I will not take part in something so barbaric."
"Then you agree to die."
The golden sphere unleashed a fast and giant blue beam at the principal. At first her eyes opened wide. Then, she ceased to have eyes at all... along with any skin, muscles, nerves, blood veins, or any internal organs. What remained was a Cinch-sized skeleton that quickly crumbled into a small, bony mess in front of her arena door.
"Does anyone else volunteer to follow her example?"
"Oh, screw that noise!" A fairly dark red girl with a flowers in her hair held out her hands, growing a few plant roots under her control.
Meanwhile, a slightly green girl with dark, long green hair shook on her feet while pulling out a stone with a unique pattern on the front. The three sirens growled, showing off their sharp teeth. A pale girl pulled out a sprucing mirror and pointed with it as if it were a loaded pistol. Tempest and her new friend by proxy got into a stance, ready to charge forward.
"Name's Sunset Shimmer. Truce until the rest are down?"
The protagonist glanced at her, then back at the competition. "Fizzlepop Berrytwist. Truce for now, and call me Tempest for quick shouts."
"Begin!"
Battle cries of varying tones filled the air as the selected warriors ran toward the center. Tempest looked around as she galloped. Her eyes focused on one of the alleged villains. The first opponent that caught her interest was a purple winged she-demon with light blue fires for glasses. Tempest thought she kind of looked like Twilight, though the hands opening up random holes in reality on the floor and in the bleachers threw her off a little.
"A new world! A new magic!" The she-demon grinned madly. "I want to understand it all!"
"Hup!" Tempest pulled out a black-and-green orb from her belt and kicked it with her back hoof.
"But... the mag-!" Midnight Sparkle was encased in magic-proof stone, trapping her visage forever wanting.
Several gryphons and other birds hacked and slashed at their foes with pirate swords and even a peg-leg. An anthro-cat in a suave jacket scurried around the arena. He dodged a sword swing that ended up stabbing right into the chest of a short, gray guy that looked like a rejected Lilo & Stitch creature.
On the other side of the circle of sand, the three sirens were singing a wordless tune. Green vapors were flowing into their red chest-pieces. The source of the vapors appeared to be six students in Crystal Prep uniforms arguing over something that could not be identified over each other. The bickering quickly devolved into a fist-fight until only one girl was sitting down, gasping for breath.
She eventually adjusted her red glasses. "We have very little self-control."
The orange siren leaned its giant muzzle down and chomped the head off Sugarcoat. The bleeding corpse joined its five brutally murdered classmates. A man in a brown sweater vest, grayish wig, and long drooping ears started sweeping up the remains with a mop. Something akin to a film reel rolled out of his head and into a green-haired girl's magic stone. She immediately conked him over the head with it, knocking him out.
A beam of greenish-blue blasted through the stone, catching Wallflower off guard. She looked around before seeing the orange unicorn.
"Wow, it sure feels good to have this back." Sunset Shimmer looked at her horn briefly before casting a concussive blast at the now stone-less girl.
Gloriosa Daisy was practically wrapped in vines as she floated around. With a few hand gestures, she magically pulled down the sirens and gryphon pirates into the ground, and she buried them in plants. A stray root stuck out under the feet of a certain anthro cat trying to sneak away. He tripped and was slammed into the dirt by a vine cage.
"I wish you and your plants would go away!"
The real Gaia Everfree yelped as she and her vines were quickly sucked up by a magical mirror. The other villains quickly scrambled away from their trapped positions. Juniper jumped for joy before aiming her mirror again. However, she failed to say the magic words. Instead, she became more frustrated and waved her mirror around that decided to do nothing without a gentle wish. She was so distracted, that she didn't notice Sunset teleport around her and blast her away with a concussive beam.
"Hmm, how did it go again?" Sunset levitated the mirror out of the grasp of the unconscious girl.
Tempest was quickly running out of petrifying orbs. By the time she finished trapping the gryphon pirates and the cat in the coat, she was left defenseless against the combined song of the three, powered-up sirens. The few sparks she could muster were shoved away by red sound waves. She slammed her head to the ground and covered her ears with her hooves.
"I wish the sirens would disappear!" exclaimed the other unicorn.
Adagio, Aria, and Sonata felt the magic pulling their tails into some unknown space. While their wails sounded pretty, it did little to help them. After the last siren head faded beyond the mirror's lining, Sunset magically tossed the mirror against the ground, causing it to break into multiple pieces. She trotted over and offered Tempest a helping hoof up. Tempest reluctantly accepted.
The two of them looked around the arena. Aside from the nondescript audience members, there was no one else in the coliseum except for the two ponies and the eye of their mysterious captor.
"Well, I guess we both knew it couldn't last." Tempest took a couple steps back.
Sunset nodded as a light blue spark appeared to go off in her eye. "There's no point in being afraid of the inevitable."
Wide screen bars narrowed to bring focus to their eyes. The image panned from one unicorn to the other. An overhead camera looked down on the coliseum as a whole. It quietly adjusted its lens to focus on the finalists. A front hoof pawed the ground. The other's front hoof mirrored the motion against the dirt.
Then, Tempest and Sunset galloped toward each other. A spell charged on Sunset's horn. She released a couple blasts. Tempest turned left and right, causing the spells to bounce off her armor. The armored unicorn tried to cast her own spell, but it fizzled upon release. It let loose a loud popping sound and a short burst of light.
As soon as the blurriness cleared from Sunset's vision, she found herself on the receiving end of a purple hoof to her face. She flipped back and ran her hind hoofs up into the muzzle of her opponent. Tempest grunted before biting onto Sunset's tail and swinging her toward a wall. Just before impact, Sunset teleported away to another spot on the arena floor. She ran headfirst into Tempest's side, causing her to stumble a bit.
They slid around to face each other directly again. Breaths were coming and going heavily for both of them. This world's sun was beating down on their worn-down selves. Scrapes covered each of them in places that made no sense except for maybe a stretch of cartoon logic.
"Why...?" Tempest asked between breaths. "Why didn't you... teleport... out of here... at the start?"
Sunset managed to exhale words as well. "First thing... I tried. Giant eye... had a tractor beam... that pulled me... right back."
"Oh..." Tempest nodded in addition to her body's rising and falling in rhythm with her breathing. "That's too bad."
"Sorry to... disappoint you." Sunset lowered her head while her horn levitated something new into view.
"What is that?" Tempest asked.
"Elements of Harmony become Elements of Disharmony in alternate dimensions." Sunset lifted her head. "Like I said, I'm sorry."
As the crown rested itself on Sunset's head, it unleashed ripples of black and blue. Magic surged around her, causing her to flinch and groan in pain. Her hide turned red, as if her blood were boiling underneath. Her red and yellow mane shook around like an inferno. Wings grew out like a dark cape behind her and her eyes turned black and red.
Tempest blinked. "Whoa... and ponies said I'm trying too hard to look edgy."
She-Demon Sunset levitated in the air. Black-and-blue magic crackled between both of her front hooves and her sharper horn. She launched all of her magic at once in front of her like a huge bomb of magical energy. The overhead camera caught an explosion and a dark blue cloud floating above it.
While Tempest's body and rear didn't feel any worse for wear, there was a ringing in her ears and a huge pounding against her head. She opened her eyes and saw the arena spinning in her peripherals. The she-demon was slowly descending toward her prey. It wouldn't be long before it finished the job.
"I forgot how much power courses through me when I'm like this!" exclaimed She-Demon Sunset. "Even more than when I used it in human form!" She chuckled before erupting into a full cackle.
A set of magic-proof armor slammed into her face and she fell onto her back. The crown bounced away from her head, and took away her extra appendages. Sunset struggled underneath the garment. It muffled her screams of confusion and for help.
Tempest coughed while stumbling from side-to-side. "Well, what do you know? It counters magic even when I'm not wearing it." She wasn't sure, but the air actually felt significantly colder now.
Her question about the temperature was interrupted by a blue light coming down and surrounding her.
"Fizzlepop Berrytwist... you are the ultimate villain!"
"Hang on..." She put her hoof against her forehead. "Still kind of dizzy here." Her hooves felt weightless as the beam dragged her toward the giant, golden sphere. "Oh, I guess you don't really care about that. No, that's cool."
The significantly less-dressed Fizzlepop was nearly blinded by a new yellow light in an otherwise dark room. She looked around wildly, expecting another attack. What she wasn't expecting was a separate yellow light, shining on a familiar pony's face.
"Sunset?!" Fizzlepop leaned back. "How'd you get here?"
"Actually, I'm not the same Sunset you were fighting a couple minutes ago." Sunset adjusted a red necklace with her hoof. "The voice said I'm from the movie where I'm a hero, but I still don't fully understand it."
"Movie? Hero? What are you talking about?" Fizzlepop squinted her eyes in scrutiny.
"You're dying to know, aren't you?" The multi-faceted echo boomed. "It's just eating you up inside."
Both ponies looked toward the source. All they could make out was a dark figure sitting back against a chair. Sunset rubbed her muzzle before spotting a solitary switch on the wall. She reached out with her red magic and nudged it up.
"Darn it! I thought I would remember to take out that switch!" The figure was now much brighter, though its face seemed slightly annoyed at itself.
"Is that a life-sized academy award?" Sunset tilted her head.
"And why does it looks like some deformed minotaur?" added Fizzlepop.
"We've modeled ourselves after your industry's greatest honor: The movie industry." The award lifted a remote control in its hand. Several screens lit up behind and beside the two ponies. They looked like very dramatic recreations of events both familiar and foreign to each of them.
"What are you talking about?" Fizzlepop shook her head. "We're not part of any movies."
"Oh, but you are, dear Berrytwist." The award turned its golden mouth as if smiling politely. "In fact, between this Sunset's three movie highlights and your own big-screen premiere, you have quite the following in the real world. That is why we tried to re-create you both in the most meticulous detail. We bet on your fighting odds; it's good poker money."
"Re-create?" Sunset's eyes went back and forth as her thoughts ground together. "Are you saying we're not really unicorns?"
"There are no real unicorns." The award's arms went back to the chair's armrests. "You're the most real they've ever been. I created you, and I have the power to re-create you... over and over again."
Fizzlepop lifted a hoof. "You're saying you can force us to fight each other as many times as you want, and basically rewrite our memories so that we forget ever having done so in the first place?"
"That is correct."
She lifted her brow. "What's our motive to keep fighting?"
The award's expression went neutral. "Well, if you don't keep fighting, I'm afraid you'll have to experience more of this!"
"Tempest, get down!" Sunset shouted.
Both she and Fizzlepop dropped to the floor as arcs of foreign lightning surged above their heads. Sunset got up and ran ahead. Her necklace shined multiple times. The award's eye-ball lightning zapped left and right. Each time, Sunset dodged in the opposite direction.
While she was doing that, Fizzlepop galloped along the room's perimeter. Eventually, the eyes shot a large wave of foreign lightning and shocked Sunset right as she was within a foot of the award entity. As she was yelling out in pain, Fizzlepop circled over and kicked her back hoof against one of the golden eyes. It went hurtling toward the other sphere and they exploded on contact. With her front hoof, Fizzlepop slammed the award's head against the wall to its right and dislodged the being from its seat.
"Sunset!" She turned around and rushed over. "Are you okay?"
Sunset groaned and shook herself. "I will be as soon as the room stops electrocuting me."
They both stared at their alleged creator. It wasn't moving from its spot against the wall of screens.
"What do we do now?" Fizzlepop wondered. "None of us were real to begin with."
Sunset took a deep breath and exhaled before levitating the remote control toward them. "We should bring back to life all of the heroes and villains it created. Then... we all make our first real choice."
Author's Note
Yes, I know I'm missing a few villain characters. No, I am not re-doing this joke of a story to add any of them.
