Perspective: Canny Clockwork

It seems like merely a second after your opponent spoke of "perfection", he was right back on the offensive, with rage evident in the hard blows swinging towards you and your Stand. Despite how little Copia has emoted in the brief time you've shared hostilities with him, his blank face belies shaking hooves as his aggression is put on full-display once more. You start with your usual defense of phasing through his blows until you can finally dip in and strike back, but as his Stand misses a big punch and seemingly grants you a chance to strike back, your own mistake immediately becomes apparent. You unphase back into the word as his physical hooves suddenly throws dirt up towards your face, into your eyes. "Bloody-!" You blurt out, only to be interrupted by a hard strike to the center of your muzzle, propelling you across the ground. You swear you can hear a snap, but whether that's your nose breaking or the cracking of twigs across the battlefield is unclear as your mind swims.

You blink away dirt and pain, only to see Hunter's Moon's hoof careening towards your face. Gasping, you bob your head away from the blow as an explosion of soil kicks up from the force, and you scramble onto your feet. You're vaguely aware of the taste of blood, and how much harder it is to inhale; your nose is definitely broken. "I told you," he speaks calmly. "You are not the first." He steps towards you, slowly, deliberately, and you step back a little. The force of his blows is a lot stronger than you think you can take; more strikes like the one that snapped your sniffer out of alignment, and your spine might snap next.

Out of options in terms of a straight fight, you surround your hat's remote, tossed carelessly as the fight resumed, in your magic once more and hit the button. The screeching clank of machinery sounds across the grounds, and one of your gears falls listlessly out of the barrel, but that seems to be enough as the new noise cause his gaze to flick back and to his left. You phase underground in his moment of weakness, and bolt towards Ponyville, ever closer, even as you can hear his huff and the stampede of his gallop close behind. You can only hope Star and the others are holding their own.

Perspective Shift: Shooting Star
You had no idea going into this situation that Fluttershy could apparently stare down a Cockatrice, but you can see one running head between lizard-legs for a second before you're menaced by more of these strange minuscule terrors. The sharp teeth are bad enough for these multicolored menaces, but the flying barbs are more than enough to tell the nature-loving side of you that these are angry Pukwudgies. A pink one, in particular, screeches at you angrily as New Divide punches away it's barbs, before you use it's small stature against it and flick it away with your wrist. "I'm kind of insulted!" You jinx. "Like, these are what Emeritus considers dangerous critt-OW!" You yell as, suddenly, a sharp-toothed Vampire Jackalope jumps square onto your face and jabs it's teeth into your cheek.

As that happens, the shadowy halls of The Pit seem to grow dimmer as the more dangerous creatures burrow out of the dark. You hurl the creature away from your face just as a boulder suddenly shoots up and smashes the bunny into the wall in a fine, red paste. A bit of the blood splashes onto Fluttershy's face, and she lets off a disgusted shriek, attracting the others to her eyeline after they dispose of the other Pukwudgies, With a deep roar, a stone-flinging Slingtail rumbles towards you, horned-crest first, on it's four powerful feet. You stand ready, only for Ziggy to wave his hand, allowing Space Oddity to lift the creature into the air. Dangling without gravity or reason, it croons before it's tail burrows up into the chamber, shaving away a sizeable stone before hocking it towards Zecora. Breathing in deeply, her hoof glows orange before crashing into the boulder, shattering it to grey shards. "So, who wants to deal with the big bloke?" Ziggy asks, crooking his finger up to hit it against the ceiling it so clearly enjoyed using against you.

You touch your hoof to your cheek, and it comes away with blood shining against your fur. New Divide fully manifests behind you, and you use it to fold the beast itself, hopefully saving it for later. You sigh. "Hopefully, it's a straight shot," you murmur, as Zecora lights another torch with her Hamon behind you. In the brighter light of the fresh torch, you can see that you damn well jinxed it again, and you know deep in your heart that you should stop saying these things aloud. In the light, you can see an army of beasts. More Pukwudgies, more Jackalopes, more Cockatrices, all guarding a conspicuous door in The Pit and all staring daggers at you between bouts of rage-filled chittering or shrieking.

"You need to stop speaking," Lupina critiques behind you.

You sighs and roll your head around to loosen your neck. "I know, I know," you criticize yourself with. "I just hope Canny's gotten to Ponyville right now." You and New Divide step into a pose, ready to fight.

Powerwolf roars back behind you, seemingly delighting in the unknowing animals' lack of fear to the unknown. "I haven't known her for long," Fluttershy speaks, as she wipes away some of the Jackalope's blood with her hoof. "But she's strong."

You can only hope she's right. For now, the animals finally seem to smell the crimson essence in the air. With one last shriek from a blue Pukwudgie like a horn calling them to war, the smaller critters charge towards you, ready for a fight.

Perspective Shift: Canny Clockwork

Your back impacts the tree, knocking the wind out of you in a violent gasp as you crumple to the ground in a heap of blood and pain. Your vision spins in doubles as you look over the crater-filled wasteland that is the outer-Everfree. You're so close to freedom, but Copia's caught up to you every step of the way. The phasing, the distraction, hiding underground. He's cottoned onto it all, and delivered blow after savage blow to your wounded body. You know, for a fact, that your nose is broken, your right hindleg is dislocated (if not worse), and you have more bruises and bleeding cuts than a bare-hoof boxer ever would back home. As much as you desperately don't want to die, the pain makes you second-guess yourself. Your green coat is matted with your own life-blood and your magic isn't doing your body any favors.

And you've barely hit him once. Just like before. Other than a lucky strike to his jaw, and the swelling near his cheek to prove it, he is as pristine as when he left the black church of Grogar. You slowly try to rise back up to your hooves, despite your bum leg's attempts to send you careening back down. Your knee is wobbling, but you just support your flank against the tree as your heavy breaths echo in your ears along with your heartbeat. "You fight well," he praises with no true intonation. Like reading a boring book, or your obituary, in the same voice you'd speak while paying taxes. "For a heathen with no true...concept of what she's fighting against."

You try to speak, but only huff out a weak gasp before you feel your mouth filling with something thick. You spit it out onto the dirt; blood and saliva, mixed like water and dye.

"Don't worry," he cooes as though speaking to a child. "I know your suffering cannot continue forever." He tilts his head again, examining you. "Lie still and I shall finally grant you release. It will not be in The Pit. But Papa will understand." And then, for the first time today, his voice gains a noticeable emotion. Reverence. "Papa will understand, he will know the trouble you put me through. And he will forgive me for allowing your soul escape."

He runs towards you, and in one more show of defiance, you phase out just in time for avoid his antler, which stick into the tree, as a burst of adrenaline hits you and you dash away. But as soon as he is out of your green, ghostly body, you bend your knee and the pain sends you down again, corporeal. You try to raise your head again, but Hunter's Moon's hoof stops you, resting against your cheek.

"Speak, child," he requests, once more deadpan and detached. "Tell me the last will you leave upon this wretched world." He leans in close to look you in your blurry eye, and you do the one thing you can think to do now. You gargle up, and spit blood directly into his face, catching him in an eye. He blinks with only surprise behind his eyes, and uses a hoof to knock away the excess. "...Respect." He finally says, as Hunter's Moon raises it's hoof to finish you off. In that moment, your mind flashed back through your life. Your parents, the strong and brave Topspeed Wagon and the caring and creative Reo Steamwork, smiling down at you back home in what feels like a lifetime ago. Your home and lab opening in Canterlot, your former pride and joy before Discord broke it apart. Shooting Star, his warmth. His kindness. You think to yourself how fitting it is, the last thing your heart should feel before it stops being joy at someone who wasn't scared off with your attitude.

You close your eyes, and a tear leaves your eye. You can hear a snap...

And then Copia roaring in pain, his voice deep and growling like that of a demon of Tartarus beckoning the gates open. You open your eyes to see him and Hunter's Moon flung back in a rainbow blur, careening across the ground before skidding to a stop at the edge of one of the open craters. The blur stops, and your eyes widen as you recognize the blue pegasus, even if her anger is something new to you. Rainbow Dash just saved your life.

You'd kiss her if you could even feel your lips, your heart soars with such gratitude. She's not alone, though. Behind her, in a metal body and a racing helmet, floats Rainbow in the Dark, shaking with afterimages and nervous energy. Behind you, you can hear a certain chatterbox before you see her. "Oh, wow!" Pinkie Pie yelps. "I-It's so much worse than I thought!"

You manage one word. "Noticed," you gargle out.

"Not to worry, Clocky!" Pinkie chirps. But her tone of voice is far more level and less energetic than normal. "Nurse Pinkie's gonna get you feeling right as s-summer rain in no time!" Behind her, you can see Copia, visibly dazed, stand up to see Rainbow. She yells something at him, you can't quite hear it over Pinkie's front of chattering nonsense. "Why are summer rains so unpredictable, though? Summer rains, you can never predict them! But I predict you'll feel as good as one when-"

"Pinkie!" Applejack chastises behind you. "Ah think she gets it. Come on, me and you'll help Rainbow and the others can get her back home!"

Others? Just as quickly as you're saved, you feel yourself lifted into the air, albeit as carefully as possible. "Just hold still, okay Canny?" Twilight's calm voice requests of you, even though there is a clear edge of fear there, deep down. "And do not fall asleep! That could be fatal, hear me? Stay awake, you're right near Ponyville!"

"We should have noticed this was happening sooner!" Rarity worriedly cries. "C-Come now, dear! Twilight, let's hurry, please! You three, find Fluttershy and the others! That is so much blood!"

"Deer's got them!" You croak out, before a coughing fit takes your diaphragm. There's silence, and then you shakily point a hoof in the general direction of the camp. Any hope at keeping themselves calm falls flat as they realize the extent of their newest missing person's case. "W-Whole...cult...tribe...fuck."

"Do not fall asleep," Twilight manages, somehow even more nervously, and with no further words, you're carted off, as you watch Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie face down Copia.

Perspective Shift: Rainbow Dash

Normally, a swift punch to a bad guy's face would be the most satisfying part of your day! A bit of wham-bam-thank you ma'am was enough to make anyone cower under you and your awesome power. Though others would have called it an awesome ego instead. But there was nothing awesome about this. Fluttershy had gone missing all day, taking others with her into the Everfree and never coming out. Shooting Star, Canny Clockwork, and that Diamond Dog hanging around the place with a frown and a story to tell. You had taken so long to notice because you thought she could handle it, that Fluttershy, the strong Fluttershy you truly knew, could at least brave nature itself alright. If you had any idea what was really going on, you would've gone sooner.

Just as this reindeer was about to murder Canny, you had used the minimal, but evidently still lightning-quick, speed-boost of Rainbow in the Dark to cold-cock him across the jaw, and now you stared down at him like a bit of bovine manure on your hoof. A brown coat, black and white facepaint, and a right eye radiating with some magical energy. And a horror novel villain for a Stand, it was just too obvious something bigger than a ghastly horror awaited one of your best friends.

You can hear Pinkie Pie speak to Canny, keeping her awake. You knew better than to assume she was tone-deaf; she was scared out of her wits, giggling at this nasty, blood-covered ghosty was probably the only thing keeping her from crying. You tune her out as this gangly, spindly serial killer catch his bearings as he begins rising up. You shout one thing. "WHERE. IS. FLUTTERSHY?!"

"Hmm," he grunts at first as he clambers back onto his hooves. He opens his mouth, and then looks at you perplexed as he notices the same thing you do: blood pouring out of his mouth as a tooth is clearly missing. He runs his tongue across his lip as he seems to double-check the taste of iron. "Flutter...shy..." he whispers, emotionless and yet still clearly bearing a confused facial expression. "I know...not of this name-"

"Deer's got them!" Canny suddenly shouts behind you, before beginning to hack up a lung. A prospect that would have been far more literal if he had continued savagely beating her any longer. "Whole...cult...tribe...fuck," she whispers, and you turn back just long enough to see Twilight and Rarity carry her back towards Ponyville, while she points in a very particular direction.

You look back to the reindeer, and scowl. "Well, now I know where she is. Now tell me, asshat," you gruffly impose. To your left, Applejack stomps on the ground and produces an armor around herself of dirt and stone. To your right, Pinkie looks uncharacteristically serious even as her Stand looks poised to dance like nobody's watching. The deer, clearly both fatigued and injured, clenches his jaw and draws out his serial killer of a Stand. "What have you done to her?" you finally ask.

He stares at you. "With any hope...she's already dead, with the rest," he responds.

Sick to your stomach, you step forward, only to be stopped by some dirt on your shoulder. "Go on, sugarcube," Applejack tells you. "I don't rightly know if me and Pinkie can take 'im, but I do know Fluttershy and the rest of 'em need someone fresh and fast to save them. Go ahead." You frown, but nod.

"Knock him dead for me?" You request, before you unfurl your wings and soar up and into the direction Canny pointed. You don't have a choice now. It's save Fluttershy, or nothing.

Perspective Shift: Shooting Star

Huffing along with Ziggy, your hooves are wrapped around the handles of the massive doors in the sacrificial pit, desperate to close them once more. At first, you and your team felt comfortable in bearing the storm, but they began coming faster and fighting harder despite their size. The onslaught seemed never-ending, fallen creatures replenished in the night with no true end in sight, and so you all made the conscious decision to run for it, past the horde of chicken-headed petrifiers and antler'd rabbits. Fortunately, aside from some scrapes, you made it to the other side, but now was the matter of keeping it that way. "Come on, close it!" You shout to yourself, and to Ziggy as well.

The large door creaks as it closes ever tighter. "One more push, lad," Ziggy encourages as he breathes in deep. Together, you two let out a sigh of relief once the final push completes and the door slams shut, the remaining animals scattered from the rest and easy to pick off or otherwise distract or scare away.

As you and Ziggy begin clean-up duty, Zecora waves her torch around to get a good feel of your new area. "Light!" She announces as the last Pukwudgie is knocked away like a rollie-pollie covered in a shield of pens. "I continue to appreciate you, so bright," Zecora rhymes. Indeed, you see it. A door on the far side of the room, with the silver glow of a full moon through the crack under the door.

Fluttershy gasps happily. "Yes!" She announces. "I...hmm, w-why would they-"

"They don't expect their sacrifices to live long," Lupina then considers. "Maybe...even the Stoneslinger...they were all diversions," she then opines. "Think of it, a whole chamber of honestly minuscule beasts? Barely any danger? The Stoneslinger was for weak ones. This chamber..." Zecora waves her torch to the ground, to reveal a narrow stone walkway a few feet above a pit of shimmering water. Water where bones still yet float. Pony, zebra, and others. "This chamber is the true end of everything."

"False hope," Ziggy confirms as he floats towards the bridge. "Make you think it's an easy escape, then their nastiest beastie comes out to rip you to shreds and send your soul to that...nonce. Whatever their god's name was." He grunts. "Clever...monstrous, yet clever. Just as I'd expect."

You sniff and march up, as well. "Nightvision, see anything?"

Ziggy and Lupina look down. "Only bones," she tells you. "Unless the water is very deep, I don't see anything hiding."

"Above-ground. But then, why all the bones in the water?" Ziggy hums. "I can think of no creature that ritualistically buries it's prey in water."

As you all stop and think of how to proceed, unfortunately, the threat comes to you threefold. First, a couple shadows block the moonlight but for a second, confirming that someone is at the door and waiting for you. Secondly, your ear flicks as you hear something slither across the ceiling of the cavern. And third, Lupina gasps as she and Ziggy step back, before a massive claw rises from the water with a sickening roar, bringing it down where they stood and crushing the rock under a massive weight. As its hand drifts back to the water, you dare a glance to see a rock-like amphibian with angry orange eyes staring back. A fearsome Cragodile. You bring out New Divide, only to see a shrill screech coming from above. On instinct, you dodge just as sharp claws slice towards you, leaping above them and landing on your hooves, closer to the walkway. A bright green serpent with sharp fangs just attacked you, before staring down Fluttershy, hiding behind both Zecora and a snarling Powerwolf. This one, you had only seen in books. A Grootslang.

The Cragodile roars and turns its attention to you, leaping from the water with it's jaws wide and biting towards you. Fortunately, Ziggy tackles you to the other side of the walkway, only for the Cragodile's weight to crush the stone of the bridge, stranding you and Ziggy doorside. You're lucky his white suit and the moonlight can keep you running. Meanwhile, the Grootslang charges towards the others, still on the other side. Powerwolf's claws meet the Grootslang's in the middle, a shimmering silver spark dancing between the blades as he parries the beast. Sliding away, it goes for another pass of teeth, with Lupina instead sprouting some thorned vines from within her body and leaping towards the beast's tongue. It starts closing it's mouth, only to recoil back and keep it's jaws open from the barbs in its taste buds.

No time to focus on the Grootslang, as the Cragodile circles the desiccated rubble. "Any ideas?" You ask Ziggy.

"Got one, still got that Stoneslinger-"

"Slingtail!"

"Bloody-fine!" He hurriedly corrects. "Slingtail folded?" You nod. "Good, I've got an angle. I lift him up, you toss him like a ball!" He floats over the waters, and spins around to capture the Cragodile's attention. It leaps up towards him, jaws gnashing and roaring powerfully, only for Ziggy to dodge and wave his hand, using Space Oddity to remove it's gravity and floating it up and out of the water. "NOW!" You toss the folded Slingtail towards the Cragodile, and New Divide unfolds it, carrying that momentum. The Slingtail, might confused, flies towards the Cragodile and smacks it straight in the muzzle, it's strong tail cracking the stony-scales as the other beast's sturdy frame knocks the Slingtail into the wall of it's water pit. Ziggy sends the Cragodile falling at the same time. "Hopefully they'll kill eachother!" He shouts.

You focus back on the other side, seeing a tougher fight. Zecora, separated from the others and grabbing the Grootslang's attention while it snaps back at Fluttershy and Lupina, uses her Hamon expertly to deliver strong blows, only to find it still willing to fight. Despite whatever pain it feels, it swipes towards Zecora, one claw catching her side and drawing blood. It doesn't look to be a deep cut, but the torchlight makes it harder to tell. She gasps as it rears back to finish her, only for Powerwolf and Lupina to both leap onto its back in this, its moment of distraction. Powerwolf's deft claws and Lupina's Evolution and her own teeth begin cracking scales and tearing into flesh, sending it screaming in pain. Zecora takes a deep, pained breath, before charging towards the Grootslang. It bucks Lupina away and Powerwolf flies off just as she reaches the serpent, coated in golden energy. "I won't be taking a dive!" She announces. "Face my Sunlight YELLOW OVERDRIVE!" Her fist flies into the creature's underbelly, followed by her suddenly punching as fast as New Divide can, a yellow-gilded rush of blows bearing down to its exposed body. With a yell, and one final punch, it is knocked back into the wall, where with a groan of pain, it slowly slides off into the water.

"G-Good job!" Fluttershy cheers. "It seemed too angry to talk to..." You can barely even hear her, the distance making her already quiet voice but a whisper, the only reason you can make out a word being the sudden quiet.

"Ziggy, take us back over there," You tell him as you take a deep breath in. With the creatures quieted, you look back, and your intuition proves right: the shadows are drawing closer and more frequent. "We need to prepare."

Ziggy nods, and holds onto you as you both begin floating back. You feel weightless as you hover over the water pit. You hear Ziggy growl a bit to himself, before he sets you down with the others. You rest on your hooves"Alright, gang," he quietly rallies, breaking the relief as Zecora rests her Hamon-powered hoof against her cut. "Some rat bastard is about to open that door. No doubt they can jump the bridge. Let's make this a chokepoint, get ready to funnel the rat back into the trap."

Fluttershy interjects, shyly, with "Um...mouse traps are rather inhumane...sir."

Ziggy sighs. "Deer trap? Whatever. Babe-" Lupina growls. "Sorry, sorry. Lupina, Zecora, Shy, Star? Ready?" You nod, ready as you can be. Any second now, that door will open. Whoever comes through, you have to be ready to fight. "Put up your dukes and raise whatever supernatural ability you can muster. I don't care if it's Emeritus, his two little brown-nosers, members of his fanclub, or their dark god Gargle or what have you!"

"This ends, now!"
Let the imagination run wild!
Stand for Equestria: Origin of Harmony

Author's Note

o/
HELLO AGAIN! I'm sorry if this chapter is below par, I wrote this all out in about a full evening because I wanted to write again and I still love this fic and I still love this show and-

Ahem
Well, I'm just glad this site's still around. :)

Chapter 21, huh? That's the longest a fic of mine has run and we're not even done! I hope you enjoyed!

As a reminder of our Mane Six's Stands, since three of them became very important to the current conflict:

Rainbow Dash's Stand is Rainbow in the Dark. As of right now, it bears the ability to give Rainbow a small speed increase. But it's possibility of growth and evolution may give it the edge.

Applejack's Stand is Folsom Prison, with the ability to create armor from the landscape around her. It's an equivalent exchange: she turns the landscape into armor, not just the material it's made from.

Pinkie Pie's Stand is Safety Dance, and its ability is to randomly affect reality through dancing. Pinkie is only partially able to control what Safety Dance affects or how helpful it is.

Rarity's Stand is Black Veil Bride, carrying the ability to convert objects or body parts into felt creations that can then be manipulated like any other arts and crafts project.

Twilight Sparkle's Stand is Weird Science, and it can "trap" any object with a material presence, and release it later. While the full power set for it already exists, Twilight has yet to experiment with more than that.

And we've met Fluttershy's. Powerwolf is a fully sentient, sapient manifestation of Fluttershy's anger and the fight or flight instinct of the animals she cares for. His proper ability is technically it's razor sharp claws, able to slash through materials most swords can't even manage, but the snarling wolf that acts independently of his master is the more obvious skill.

So! A lot more perspectives, I hope that's not too crazy? Lol I'm probably overthinking it.
Question of the Chapter!

Are you a fan of Equestria Girls, and what's your favorite bit of it?

Because A) I am, :)
And B) if we make it that far, there will absolutely be EG Stand for Equestria, and I want to see what portion of this spin-off excites everyone the most!

Thank you for reading, sorry for the delay, ADHD, business, the works.
I hope to finally get next chapter out at a reasonable time. Until then, comment and enjoy!

Edit (5/25/2023): Temporarily unpublished the chapter to add more detail and possibly get it onto the New Updates list at a time people would be awake to notice. Didn't work, but ah well!