ATC's Scrapbox

Chapters

The most POWERFUL stallion in Equestria
Power is my Mind
A book fit for a pegasus
Change is Good
Change is Good: Final Confrontation
Crusader Engineering Systems
High Energy Ponytons
Darkness Eternal
Deus Ex Valkyrie (AKA: Cosmic Overkill)
Equestria Needs Stallions (Dead Roleplay notes/GMposts, and source of some extra characters.)
Frame Shift
Daring Do and the Frozen God
One Thousand Years Ago, there was a war that changed the world...
Busta Machine, Sunset Shimmer!

The most POWERFUL stallion in Equestria

Prince Blueblood is our favorite unlovable snobbish pony. As a unicorn noble, he considers himself to be ABOVE such things as work and dirt. And his attitude reflects a level of spoiled that’s almost satirical. Wait, who are we kidding? It IS satirical.

But what if it was really just an act. What if he used it to cover up a job of far greater importance? One appointed to him by Celestia herself. What if he was…

The most POWERFUL Stallion in the Universe!

Prince blueblood smiled haughtily as the camera focused.

“I am Blueblood,” he began. “Prince of Equestria and keeper of the secrets of castle Everfree.”

The unicorn then turned his head to an earth pony standing next to him.

“This is doorstop,” he continued. “My faithful servant.”

Then the stallion stood up straight as he continued to narrate.

“Fabulous secr-“

The unicorn prince was interrupted by a loud explosion behind him. As he spun in surprise, a large green dragon swooped by, blasting parts of Canterlot castle with flame. A moment later, a blue unicorn in a star-decorated cloak and hat appeared in a flash of light, unleashing a swarm of parasprites. She was quickly joined by an enraged hydra and its many snarling heads.

Then the sky suddenly darkened as the moon drifted across the sun, casting the land into into shadow. From the darkness, a figure of a winged unicorn emerged, eyes glowing with magical power, reflecting coldly off her battle armor.

Then at last, there was a sickeningly demented chuckle as the non-corporeal image of Discord appeared in the sky, menace visible on his features. Then with a sweep of his taloned arm, pink clouds scattered across the land, delivering a chocolate downpour as he openly laughed in amusement.

Blueblood’s eyes narrowed in anger at the display ravaging the land of Equestria.

Rearing back on his hind legs, he raised his head until the unicorn prince had his horn pointing mightily at the sky. Then he shouted.

“BY THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!”

A bolt of brilliant blue lightning lanced through Discord’s demented clouds, striking the unicorn upon the tip of his horn and enveloping him in a flash of light that washed away the darkness of the eclipse. All the attacking creatures halted their actions to look at the display of power in surprise.

As the flash faded, where Blueblood once stood was a large, muscular, winged unicorn stallion, his eyes glowing white with incredible magical power and his short, blond mane blowing in a wind that didn’t exist.

“I have THE POWER!!!!” he shouted, his voice echoing impossibly across the land.

The stallion dropped to all fours, his hooves cracking the ground and kicking up dust around him as he took an aggressive stance. His wings fluttered a little and then tucked themselves away.

HE-MANE, HE-MANE!

AND THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY

Six ponies quickly rushed to his side, two unicorns who’s magic glowed brightly about them, a pair of pegasi who quickly swooped in to provide assistance in the air, and finally, two Earth ponies looking ready to rumble. Each one sported a mysterious jeweled ornament that glowed with an inner power.

HE-MANE!

Only three ponies know about his secret.

His friends, the Sorceress… (Twilight Sparkle)

Fancy Pants, and Derpy.

Power is my Mind

What IS Discord?

Many believe his title and take it at face value. ‘Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony’. A malicious prankster out to reap havoc far and wide with his Q-like power. But perhaps, upon closer examination, people are wrong about his nature. Many apply the emphasis of the ‘chaos’ in his title to what he is.

But I ask you, what is his NAME? Names have meaning, and first and foremost, his name is Discord. Discord does not mean chaos. It means disagreement, disharmony. This is not a creature OF chaos; he just likes to cause it because he’s being disagreeable. Remove the word chaos from his title and he is really ‘Discord: Spirit of Disharmony’. The chaos part was something he added for flair, perhaps even to confuse those who might attempt to see through him and discover his weakness.

True Chaos is primordial. It is entropy, and it is raw power. Discord’s chaos was little more than wacky-land silliness. For all of his power, for all of his cruel jokes, Discord was all but harmless.

Perhaps the question should be where did he get his power? Because it’s not magic. And where did Discord come from?

“Twilight!” Applejack panted as she caught up with her friend. “Get away from that thing! You know what happened last time he got loose!”

Twilight Sparkle stared up at the statue of Discord, his face frozen in a mask of terror from the moment the Elements of Harmony had unleashed their magic upon him.

‘You can only touch as much power as your mind can handle,’ the creature’s voice echoed in her thoughts once more. ‘I discovered that the hard way. I tried to touch it, to grasp it. But I was never meant to. I overestimated my mind and my will. And for that foolishness it nearly destroyed me, nearly left me a mindless vegetable. Whatever I had been was shattered. My form changed to reflect it as I became this Chimera. But I survived; I found sanctity in the utter madness of the truth. The madness that Equestria was one big, BORING joke. A big spinning ball of monotony and stagnation. So I set out to show everypony that joke. That’s what happens when you behold true power. I am not evil Twilight Sparkle. Evil beings destroy. While I have always laughed at my jokes at the expense of other ponies, never once have I physically brought permanent harm to them. As I had told Celestia that day, I don’t turn ponies into stone. She is powerful, wise, and kind. I will grant her that much. But she does not understand. None of you do. Of course, none of you ever bothered to ask…’

“Why?” Twilight mouthed the final word the Draco- No, the Chimera had spoken into her mind so many days ago.

‘Remember, Twilight Sparkle,’ the echo of the voice continued. ‘Even the most powerful magic is little more than a light show without the mind to control it. The mind shapes it, gives it form. Chocolate milk raining from cotton candy clouds, hedge mazes that retract on a whim, or even turning dirt roads into roads of soapy water… It’s all so simple, so childish. And yet, nopony appreciates how horrendously complex it is. If you’ve ever baked a loaf of bread in your life, you must surely understand just how complicated a process it is to change one thing into another. And you must also realize just how much power and focus it takes to move even a medium sized rock. The mind is the key Twilight Sparkle. You came so close to understanding that when you freed your friends from my influence. The mind is the key, the power… And your mind is strong.’

“My mind is the power,” Twilight muttered to herself.

Then she stepped forward, approaching the statue of their most dangerous foe.

“What are you doing?!” she heard Rainbow Dash shout.

She lowered her head. What had the chimera said had freed him the first time? Three fillies having a childish argument in his presence? Of course. Discord was freed, by simple discord.

Well, Twilight had something a little more potent than mere childish bickering. A LOT more potent. The unicorn touched her horn to the stone, closing her eyes.

Down she reached, deep into the depths of her consciousness. She mustered the emotion buried there, a feeling she kept behind her mind’s closed doors. Something she had started to feel when discord had done his worst, something she had felt ashamed of even against him. But if this is what it took, so be it. If this is what he wanted, he could have it.

“ALL OF MY HATE!” Twilight snarled, her eyes snapping open.

‘CRACK!’

The sound was like a tree branch breaking in a storm. Twilight jumped back to see the sudden long fracture that had erupted where her horn had touched the statue. It traveled with frightening speed; spider-webbing out across Discord’s petrified form. For just a moment, apprehension made every muscle in her body tense. After all, this creature had nearly-

No, what’s done is done. It was too late for second thoughts.

The fractures widened, covering the entire statue before the stone began to crumble. She could hear her friends gasping in horror. But strangely, she no longer felt the same horror. Discord had ‘done his worst’ to them once. Yet, now she understood. His worst was not THE worst his power could do. His reign of terror little more than super powered practical jokes.

Had she been that blind? Too preoccupied with just stopping him to even realize how he’d messed with her friends, and then too upset to realize what it was. The cruel logic she had attuned herself to from years of study saw right through Discord’s game this time. No friendship, no magic, no emotions to cloud her vision from what the others couldn’t see. Just the facts filtered from a stream of data flooded with opinions.

Discord was a spoiled rotten child who just spent over a thousand years in cosmic timeout.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE! WHAT HAVE YOU-” the sound of Princess Celestia cut off as she heard her mentor land somewhere behind her. The sound replaced by a gasp of shock. The stone was crumbling away now, revealing the colored fur, the scales, and every other assortment of animal hide that covered the creature.

With a sudden gasp as if emerging from a deep pool, Discord took a deep breath and relaxed, the terror his features had been frozen in being replaced by a simple, blank look.

Nobody spoke, too thunderstruck save for Twilight.

Discord blinked, reaching up to rub his eyes, then stretched, causing several joints to pop loudly as he did so.

“You know,” he began in a simple, conversational tone. “You could have just gone with irritation, or perhaps smoldering anger and petty jealousy. But Hate…”

Discord glanced around, noting his audience for a moment.

“Hate is like hot sauce,” he declared. “It adds flavor, but you’re not supposed to down the bottle.”

“Discord!” Celestia finally found her voice. One that hinted at the impotent rage she was controlling. “What have you done to my precious student?”

“Done?” Discord glanced at Celestia, a frown crossing his features. “Celestia, you above all ponies should know I was powerless to DO anything trapped in that statue.”

“Don’t lie to me Discord,” the princess advanced in an almost predatory fashion. “My student would never-“

Celestia the snail couldn’t really finish the statement. All the ponies recoiled in horror.

“I am many things,” Discord glowered at the mollusk of the sun. “Menace, monster, fool, trickster… I even make liars out of ponies.”

Then the chimera approached the diminished form of Celestia, long contained flickers of anger smote in the pits of his eyes.

“But I am NOT a liar,” he continued in a threatening growl.

“Could have fooled me,” Applejack glared.

The chimera’s head glanced up at her remark.

“Ah,” he smirked, though this one wasn’t his usual smirk of fun, but one hiding far more anger. “You would be one to speak about honesty, wouldn’t you?”

Applejack opened her mouth to reply….

Except she no longer had a mouth.

“I’m afraid the ADULTS are speaking at the moment however,” Discord continued in a tone that was genuine venom. “That should prevent you from interrupting us again. If anypony else wants to interrupt. I can assure that what I did before was mere card tricks to what I am fully capable of when angered. So I suggest you leave me to-“

Discord was cut off as he found himself smacked right to the ground by an irresistible force of power.

“You will turn them back.” The tone from Twilight Sparkle was firm, but devoid of anger one would have expected. It held the strength of a command, but lacked any of the pretenses a command would have had. It was a statement of fact.

“Oh?” Discord turned, his expression drifting toward a grin as he turned to face the mare. “And why would I do such a thing? Hmmm?”

“Because I said so.”

Discord blinked… Then he choked, a laugh barely escaping his throat. He tried to contain his mirth. The very idea that a pony was ordering him around and expecting him to listen with a reas-

“This isn’t a joke,” Twilight’s tone was that same factual monotone as before. “Neither was what you did to them. And nopony is laughing.”

Discord stopped, once again blinking. Was this really the same-?

“It’s not funny,” Twilight repeated. “So you will turn them back.”

The chimera stood in place, regarding Twilight with an ever growing look of perplexion. Then after a moment, he leaned down, stopping only when he was inches from her face, gazing into her eyes. Twilight kept her expression firm, her only seeming reaction to take a much deeper breath than before.

They kept this pose for a good thirty seconds before Discord allowed himself to slowly raise back, now looking confused.

“Something has changed in you Twilight Sparkle,” he announced as glanced around. “Is it possible you understand?”

Then he frowned, continuing to narrate his thoughts.

“No. You wouldn’t have come to me if you did…”

Then he leaned down, this time his face losing the mask of whatever emotion he was trying to play at, revealing a genuine expression of curiosity.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“I’m here for my answer,” Twilight replied evenly.

“Your answer?” the chimera asked. “But you never asked me a question. What answer do you want?”

“Why?”

Discord blinked.

“Why is the sky blue,” Twilight began. “Why do you seek pleasure in hurting others. Why is happiness so important? Why do you have powers that allow you to change the world itself on a whim, but yet you can’t fight off the Elements?”

Then she took a breath, closing her eyes.

“Why are WE here?”

Silence, for several seconds. The ‘Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony’ slowly coiled himself back, as the young mare kept him locked in her gaze.

“Why?” he mouthed after a moment, his features changing from confusion to delight. “Why? Such an amazing question. Simple, yet complex. One with so much meaning and force that it is power unto itself.”

Then Discord dropped to all fours, seeming to stalk forward as he started circling twilight.

“Your friends will be returned to normal,” he commented idly. “But you will be the one to do it.”

Twilight lost her composure for a moment, her guard thrown off.

“What?” she asked.

“No!” Discord snapped like a beast. “Not what… Why.”

Twilight took a deep breath and glared at the Chimera.

“Okay,” she breathed. “WHY?”

Discord grinned.

“WHY? Are you asking me?” he seemed to mock the very statement. “You’re already much closer than you think.”

“Why, do you say I’m close?” Twilight asked. Discord started to look almost giddy with excitement.

“You can feel it,” he replied. “It’s there on the edge of your mind, staring back at you while you stare right through it.”

“Why do you speak in riddles?” Twilight asked with a hint of annoyance. “Why must you resort to tricks?”

“I speak in riddles because the answers you seek cannot be learned by being told,” Discord replied honestly. “You must discover them yourself if they are to have meaning. Try again Twilight Sparkle. Why is a powerful question, but like a spell, you must find the right use for it.

Twilight paused to think for several seconds. Through the entire exchange her friends had watched in morbid fascination, expecting Discord to unleash his usual trickery at any moment.

“Why-” she continued again. Discord practically giggled in anticipation. “-is my mind so important?”

“For that answer,” Discord commented almost immediately. “Simply remember that which you have already learned.”

The mind is the key. Twilight frowned. Her mind was her key, no… Her mind was her power.

“Why…” she took a breath.

“Why is my mind power?”

“THAT…” Discord grinned. “Is an excellent question.”

Then the chimera stopped circling her, raising himself to his full height.

“Notice,” he pointed out. “How you just asked that question. What did you just call your mind.”

Twilight gazed up at him, his features suddenly clouded with confusion.

“WHY,” Discord glanced at the audience for a second, his raised tone causing the other ponies to step back. “-Is your mind POWER? Notice that in that statement, you did away with the sense of belonging. You simply equated your mind to power. And when you have two equal things in mathematics, what is it you can do with them?”

Twilight stood transfixed as she mulled over it. Then as it slowly started to slide into place, her expression melted from confusion, to utter shock.

“Reach within’ Twilight Sparkle,” Discord crossed his arms, looking like an instructor evaluating his student. “What you seek does not reside out here in the material world. Reach deep. You may have to use your magic the first time.”

Twilight Sparkle shut her eyes, reaching deep within’. A touch of magic to push... Her mind, her will… There was something tangible about it. Like levitating a parchment and quill. A kind of feeling of-

Twilight gasped and fell over, the feeling of an anvil having struck her head. Her mind reeled for a moment as she tried to make her eyes focus on the two blurred images of Discord looking on her with a satisfied smirk. Behind him, her friends had been apprehensive as they all fidgeted in place.

“What-…” she gasped. “What was…”

“Did you feel it?” he smirked. “You touched it, I can tell.”

“So much…” the unicorn closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Amazing isn’t it?” Discord seemed to be melting away into his usual habits. The sly smirk and the floating were telltale signs. “If you want to know, my secrets, you’ll have to grasp it. Only then can you get that answer.”

Twilight sat up, trying to steady herself as she glanced at the greatest terror Equestria had ever known. But she had seen greater. In just that instant she had felt a force so terrible that she was certain now that Discord had always been playing very, VERY nice.

“I…” she blinked, looking down. “It’s just… I can’t…”

Discord frowned.

“Fear?” he asked. “Come now Twilight Sparkle, after pushing past the fear of punishment for releasing me again, and the fear of my powers themselves, you balk a little touch of the unknown? That is the reason we have the question WHY. You have stuck the key in the lock girl. All you have to do is to turn it.”

“I can’t,” Twilight’s face started to lose its color. And not the kind Discord usually caused. Her breath coming more and more unevenly.

“Hmmm…” the Chimera frowned, leaning down. “Fear of falling can be a problem for those who like to fly.”

Twilight’s panic-stricken expression crossed with confusion as her eyes drew up to his rapidly widening grin.

“They spend their lives standing by the edge of a cliff,” he continued, examining his talon arm innocently. “Longing for the sky.”

Then Discord turned, his features growing sinister.

“Sometimes, all they need is a little push…”

He reached out, and Twilight’s eyes widened as the ‘Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony’ extended one of his claws.

“TWILIGHT!” her friends all shouted in panic.

‘Tap…’ Discord touched Twilight right on the top of her head, and her mind exploded. Forcefully she was plunged deep into the abyss she’d barely felt the edge of. It was like nothing she’d ever known. Fire and ice, light and dark, strong and weak. It felt so much like magic, but had a nature all its own. It was everywhere, yet nowhere. The contradictions warred with each other, vying for domination. Already she understood how it could be maddening. Even now, what felt like an eternity of instants, she could feel that thread of her mind she knew as Twilight Sparkle reeling and losing itself in the swirling tumult of unbridled chaos.

Chaos?

The name felt so worthless, yet so right. The power of chaos, twisted and warped into a point too small to see, yet so vast and powerful that it overwhelmed any poor sod who was fool enough to touch it. The hurricane of conceptual images swirled around Twilight Sparkle as she latched on to the word. The only meaning against an unstoppable tide of meaninglessness. It pressed on her from all sides, crushing, squeezing, suffocating...

Twilight screamed.

The blast blew Discord right across the courtyard, depositing him behind the rest of Twilight’s friends. They all stared in shock at the otherwise near invulnerable master of mischief as he rubbed his head.

“What just-” Rarity couldn’t finish her question.

“WHAT IS THAT?!” Rainbow Dash pointed at the massive purple aura around Twilight. It was bright, yet seemed to cast no illumination; edges seeming to absorb light instead of emit it. Twilight’s eyes themselves were glowing much the same way they had done when she had wielded the element of Magic.

“That,” Discord’s voice began as he crawled to his feet. “Is power.”

Then he slinked forward, snaking uncomfortably close to the pegasus as he waved at Twilight with his hand.

“Limitless Power.”

Back within’ the realms of what had been Twilight’s mind, the unicorn thrashed at the darkness around her. Chaos, chaos everywhere. It burned, it froze, it hurt. There was too much chaos. Too much. If only it would move away from her, give her mind a moment.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” she howled at the hurricane of force. However voice meant nothing. If anything, the chaos itself seemed to scream back, as if mocking her.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” she shouted again. Yet, it was unrelenting. Twilight felt fear well up in her mind. Fear she would be stuck with it forever, or until it snuffed her and absorbed her into the stream. She could feel mental tears coming on as the force closed in, ever tighter. Why… WHY did it have to be like this? Why was it so hard?

WHY!?

… Why?

Twilight examined the simple, powerful question.

Why did it have to be so hard?

Why DID it have to be so hard?!

Twilight clamped onto the word with all her will. WHY? Was the chaos so hard to control? WHY was it too much? And WHY wasn’t she in control. She was only in her own mind.

HER mind.

HER power.

They were one in the same.

“I said…” Twilight summoned her will.

“STOP!” she snarled into the courtyard with a force that shattered the windows as high up as the castle tower. In an instant, the power surrounding her body flared brightly, nearly blinding the onlookers. Then it subsided, drawing in around her until it had nearly vanished. Save for her eyes, which glowed brilliant golden white in their sockets.

“Ow…” Rainbow Dash forced herself to her feet, her ears still ringing from the percussion. “What happened?”

Discord, who seemed unhindered by such mere things glanced up at the figure of Twilight. He could sense her now, a deep abyss beyond anything any of the other ponies could understand.

“I…” Twilight’s voice resonated as loud as if she were inside their minds. “I think I get it.”

“Behold,” Discord presented the unicorn to her friends. “True power.”

“Uh… Girls?” Twilight looked around. “I’m going to… Oh, I’ll just do it. It’s easy enough.”

There was flash, and Celestia stumbled in place, her normal form restored. A moment later Applejack gasped a sigh of relief from the mouth she’d always spoken with.

“Tarnation!” she breathed. “I don’t ever… I mean. What just happened?”

“What did you do to Twilight?!” the Princess demanded, stamping her hoof at Discord.

“You still ask the same tired questions Celestia,” the chimera tsked. “The WRONG questions. Always ‘WHAT’, never ‘why’.”

“It doesn’t matter why,” Celestia glared. “My student-“

“Your STUDENT has come into contact with the very power I myself possess,” Discord interrupted the princess. Then he glanced at Twilight’s form.

“And she seems to be in control,” he provided. “Bravo miss Twilight. Bravo. I spent days in the madness before I learned what I could hold.”

Then he looked back at Celestia, a sinister smile on his features.

“Looks like you’re out of the job.”

Celestia’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“What?” she asked.

“I don’t need you,” Discord slapped his face. “I just need a recording that says ‘what’ all the time…”

Then he paused.

“I know!”

Discord snapped his fingers, a record player appearing in his hand.

“What? What? What? What? Wha-”

‘CRASH!’

“On second thought,” he muttered as he dusted his claws off, you do have one redeeming quality…”

Then he spun to Celestia once more.

“But you’re obsolete,” he continued. “Out dated, out of warrantee, out of service, expired, rendered a redundancy. You are no longer needed.”

Celestia’s eyes grew as he continued to grin as if laying on the greatest punchline of any joke.

“And now that the student has surpassed her teacher, I think you would look better in something I can mock at any time… Like a Snow globe. Oh, you’ll like snow globes.”

“No,” Celestia started to mouth.

“Nothing personal,” Discord hissed. Then he stopped. “Actually, it is… You locked me in a rock for a thousand years after all.”

Discord snapped his fingers.

There was flash, and Discord grinned at his handiwork, staring right into the golden eyes of Twilight Sparkle.

“Wait, that’s not-,” he stood up to his full height and turned. Celestia was right where he left her, several dozen feet away.

“I could have sworn I just,” he snapped his fingers again. Another flash of light and he was once again staring into those golden orbs.

“No,” Twilight’s voice resonated firmly. “You will not pick on the weak anymore.”

“Pick on the weak?” Discord laughed. “I recall that Celestia was never a weak princes-“

Then he stopped.

“Your SANE,” he stood in shock.

“VERY sane,” Twilight’s voice echoed. “And I’m VERY upset that you would willingly risk my sanity after all that talk about not hurting anypony.”

“What’s a little sanity?” Discord waved it away. “I turned out okay.”

“You pushed me into a nightmare of mental power,” Twilight’s glowing golden eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “I was not ready and you know it.”

“You would have tried eventually with the same results,” Discord snapped back. “There is no preparing for-“

“The PAIN?” Twilight asked. “I would have liked a little warning. Is that what broke your mind? The pain? Agony? Your mind trying to grasp at anything it could understand in a maelstrom of thoughts and concepts? You said it made you what you are now. A deranged mental wreck wrapped up in a super-powered package with the maturity of a child.”

“Well,” Discord stood up straight. “I NEVER…”

Then he turned and started to walk away.

“I’m leaving,” he announced.

A flash of light and Discord was gazing right into Twilight’s eyes once more.

“You will stand still and face me when I’m talking to you,” Twilight’s resonant voice commanded FACT, and nothing more.

“Stop DOING that,” Discord shouted as he jumped away. Or would have, had he not been locked in place by the raw domination she was having over his form.

“I will NOT,” Twilight glared. “You will answer me.”

“I should think not!” Discord snapped indignantly. “I showed you how to touch the power, how to grasp it. At best you shouldn’t be able to form coherent sentences for a week. Let alone override MY power.”

“You showed me how to touch the power,” Twilight nodded. “I followed what you did until you shoved me in.”

“Then you should be a gibbering wreck like I was,” he snapped.

“Maybe,” Twilight smirked. The glowing of her eyes made it eerie even for Discord. “But I think I found the mistake you made. And did something you didn’t.”

“And that was?” he asked, irritated.

“I asked WHY,” Twilight seemed to relish the irony. “Why couldn’t I handle it? Why COULDN’T I handle it, just because I found it for the first time? I didn’t just ask why discord, I actually searched for the answer, it was the only way not to lose myself. Like you lost yourself.”

The chimera frowned.

“And what did you discover?” he asked.

“My answer,” Twilight’s voice seemed proud. “I understand your riddle. I found my power. Found how, WHY it was connected to that chaos you touched. I solved the riddle.”

“Then what is your answer, Twilight Sparkle,” Discord asked. Twilight’s eyes flared, and there was a thump that seemed to darken the sky.

“My mind is my power,” she resonated in a haunting tone, probably deliberate. “POWER is my mind. When uncorrupted by other elements, my mind becomes PURE power.”

Discord tried to take a step back.

“And I see right through you,” Twilight continued. “Your power is your mind, tied to the primordial chaos of existence. You kept asking why until you hit it, and then it hit back, and you faltered. I KNOW you now Discord. I know what you really are. I know your limits now. And I’ve seen what you’ve seen.”

“Nopony knows where you came from,” she continued. “Why you’re here. But I figured it out. You’re not a spirit. You’re not disharmony or chaos. Those are concepts you appointed yourself. Titles born of a fractured mind. A mind warped while attempting to protect itself from the chaos it hadn’t been prepared to touch. A mind of a PONY who had once been, and then, only a great mind, from a great pony, one who’s existence predates Equestria itself.”

Even Celestia was watching in mute fascination at this point, her eyes locked on Discord as the creature literally stood there, face screwed up like a child who’d been caught with his hoof in the cookie jar by his mother. She could feel the force Twilight was exerting, holding Discord on the spot with so much raw mental power that she was certain she could feel it giving her a migraine.

“A pony who vanished from history for no reason,” Twilight continued oblivious to her friends. “I read the books, and I know who you are now…”

Discord suddenly stumbled back, released from the hold of Twilight’s gaze as she let the glow die.

“Starswirl, the Bearded,” her features were sad, pitying even. “Look what you’ve done to yourself…”

Yes, I know there's a Lord of Nightmares Ref. in there... The concept of this fragment came from that.

A book fit for a pegasus

Rainbow Dash’s new adventure into the realm of literature has left her with the desire to fill a void she never realized she had. A sense of imagination long dormant in the deepest corner of her mind. But now that she’s tasted it, just finishing one book series won’t be enough. What kind of books will she hunt down once she runs out of Daring Do?

Rainbow Dash frowned as she pulled a dusty old book from the corner of the flying section. It’s title was fading, but she could still make out the word ‘ace’ on it. Given the section she was in focused on flying, she figured it had to be something good about some legendary pegasus.

Pulling it down and trotting over to a table, she carefully parted the pages, making sure it was going to stay in one piece as she read the delicate script on the first page.

“Chapter one,” she began... “The Nightmare.”

Rainbow Dash blinked... Nightmare? Not, Nightmare Moon is it? With no further hesitation, Rainbow Dash turned the page.

“I saw my death in my dreams,” she read, “Many times…”

It was dark, ponies were fighting every which direction, lightning and thunder ripping about as they used the very weather itself for weapons.

“Magic to Spectrum Leader,” the voice crackled over a telepathic link. “Bogies are confirmed hostile on a direct course for Mareami.”

There was something out there in the dark, fast, mean. Where was it?

“You are cleared to engage and destroy…” the telepathic voice continued.

“A nightmare I’ll never forget…”

Then, there it was! Out of the shadows, its bestial form like a giant cat with wings, claws extended for the pounce. It was too late to react as the creature turned sharply, it’s beak open in a predatory smile as it prepared to snap the neck of its next victim. There was only time to throw a hoof up in a feeble gesture of defense, but even that… That could never hope to stop it…

Colonel Rainbow lowered her hoof, blinking away the terror, now only an echo in her heartbeat.

Glancing around, she noticed she was still in formation, the other pegasi with her as they raced over the countryside. She could see them now in the distance, ponies, other pegasi, fighting everywhere in madness. There was a group coming up, looking to be in trouble.

Nightmares brushed aside, she angled to the right, adjusting formation and prepared for a dive. The mission was clear. Down all hostiles and protect the city from attack.

Colonel Rainbow reached up with a hoof and pulled her goggles over her eyes. She could already see the first target sweeping in below. She waited until her enemy was lined up perfectly, snapped her wings, and pounced.

“Spectrum One!” the voice of her wingmare snapped. “Spectrum one! Tally Bandit One O clock!”

Talk about stating the obvious.

“He’s mine Scoots,” Rainbow replied. That was all she had time to say as her opponent broke hard to the left, seeking shelter from a lightning bolt as it struck one of the nearby buildings. The colonel rolled to follow, unwilling to be thwarted by such a simple attempt.

“I got your back boss,” Scoots replied as she focused. The pegasus in front of her refused to go down easy, zipping through buildings and trees trying to drive her to make a mistake. However, Colonel Rainbow did not humor her opponent today, dropping her enemy from the sky with a bolt of lightning right to the wing. She had a limited amount, but being fresh to the battle, had plenty left.

“Spectrum,” the telepathic voice warned. “Bandits are heading for the mill!”

Plenty to use on the next pegasus that zipped into her vision. No sooner did the first opponent go down than did she set her sights on this one. He too wove a course in an attempt to out-fly her, but ultimately, proved not to be the best pegasus to ever take the sky when she accidentally smashed through a windmill blade.

Rainbow flinched as one of the wooden beams that scattered from the impact struck her right in the wing, almost taking her down with her opponent. Luckily, it didn’t feel like anything was broken as she managed to right herself.

“Spectrum leader,” Scoot’s voice called in concern. “Colonel?”

Rainbow grit her teeth, the stinging sensation starting to fade.

“I took some shrapnel,” she replied. “I’m okay, but my wing feels a bit bruised. I’m going to do some checks. Watch my tail.”

Scoots came back a second later. “Go for it Dash,”

“WHOA…” Rainbow Dash lowered her book. “That’s one serious pegasus. Last time I busted a wing I went down on the spot and spent the next few days…”

Then she grinned, raising the book back up.

Spectrum squinted through the flash as four simultaneous bolts of lightning struck her targets. Each pegasus went down, knocked cold from the strikes. Suddenly, Spectrum two could be heard shouting off to one side.

“Colonel!” she heard her wingmare shout. “It’s HER! That jerk eagle!”

“BLAST!” Colonel Rainbow snapped as the griffin let go of a lightning bolt and turned. There was no time to turn as the harsh blue-white glow grew too bright to look at.

Then with a jarring boom, every nerve in her body seized up as it struck, paralyzing her instantly.

As the colonel came to, she found she was falling slowly towards the ground, ponies from her unit dropping all around her. She was struck by something that revealed to be a lion’s tail as the griffin that had taken her own whipped by, pursuing her remaining squad mates.

Then with a sudden realization of horror, the creature turned hard, diving for her, claws outstretched, beak open to snap her neck. It was all she could do to throw her hoof up in futility.

“RAINBOW DASH!”

Dash jumped as Twilight shouted in her ear.

“I hear you Magic!” Dash snapped, slamming the book down. Then she paused, realizing Twilight and Spike were looking at her strangely.

“You know,” Twilight commented idly. “You CAN check the book out. It’s almost time to close for the night.”

“Huh?” Dash turned, looking out the window. The sun had already set and the evening shadows were deepening.

“Oh,” she turned to Twilight, a sheepish grin on her face. “Heheh... Sorry Twilight.”

Change is Good

The 'ponyfall' collaboration, while not the most well executed reverse HIE (EoE) stories in existence, do provide inspiration for scenerios of what-ifs for any decent writer.

Since what-ifs are my bread and butter when it comes to writing. I figured I'd touch upon at least a fragment of the ponyfall style,

The subject of this fragment (and if you guys like it, I could always expand.) is none other than her royal deceptiveness, Queen Chrysalis of the changelings. The plot device that causes this can be left up to imagination, but after that, we apply a little of my signature realism to the Ponyfall scenerio.

When you find an unconscious, naked woman at random, what do you do? Obviously some crazy people think the answer is to take them home and bundle them up. Any intelligent person however, gets straight to work contacting the authorities and getting the unfortunate woman medical attention. Because she didn't just fall asleep in a ditch naked... (Are you people flippin' insane?)

Other fun things to explore realistically... Is that no, you do not know who/what you actually have on your hands. Not right away, and certainly not in a manner you are going to believe right away either. If I found Chrysalis, I find it unlikely I would spot the connection, even with the hints staring me in the face. After all Chrysalis is not real. Why would I even THINK I had the possibility of having the real deal?

“Go faster.”

Where do I begin?

“We’re not going any faster.”

“But your ground machine is so fast! I want to see how fast it can really go.”

“Christi, we’re on a back road, already above the speed limit. I’m not in the mood for splattering all over a tree or getting a ticket. The cops LOVE to lurk around corners.”

I guess I’ll just start with right now.

“But-“

“I said NO.”

I was driving home, heavy one passenger. A young girl by the name of Christi. At least, we think her name is Christi. I was on my way home from class a week ago when it happened. I just happened to be glancing out the window after rounding a corner when something had flashed by.

For a second, I thought nothing of it until I realized the shape I had seen looked a lot like a prone body.

I know one thing; my anti-lock brakes do work as advertised. I hadn’t slammed on them that hard, EVER.

It turned out to be a young woman. From the looks, battered, bruised, and then dumped and left for dead. I never thought I’d ever have to use the ‘Evaluate a Casualty’ section of my old IET handbook on anyone ever in my life...

Luckily, while beat up, she was alive, and somewhat awake by the time I’d managed to get an emergency blanket out of my car and unwrapped. If you call rambling, incoherent, semi-delirious nonsense ‘awake’.

I’d rushed her straight to Scott & White from there. I can evaluate a casualty, but I’m not a doctor.

According to the doctors, she’d be fine. Aside from looking like she’d been struck face on by something large, she was mostly unhurt. However she seemed to have had a nasty concussion, and that made everything she told the doctors, and eventually the police when they showed up, sound like nonsense.

When the doctors had finished questioning me, and the police combing the scene I’d shown them, they hadn’t found a thing. No identification, no clothing, no evidence of anything beyond a broken tree branch...

And ‘SHE’ wasn’t helping with her delirious rants either. Claims of being queen, having to feed all her subjects, and cursing ‘them’, whoever they were for blasting her in the face with powerful ‘magic’...

A serious concussion, most likely needing her to be on continuous watch. That’s what all involved decided on.

I was allowed to FINALLY go home, after leaving the police and doctors my contact info in case they needed to question me on anything else.

And that’s the last I heard of them.

For about a week.

Then the call came in around noon.
‘Christi’, that’s the name it seemed she was responding to the best, appeared to be doing well. Well enough that she could be discharged from the hospital. Her ranting had died down, her conversations fully lucid and logical.

Problem is, she still could not give the doctors or police any meaningful forms of identification. No full names, no understanding of the term ‘ethnicity’, no next of kin, not even a blasted social security number.

‘Christi’ had no identity. And with no Identity, nobody could figure out anything to do. She couldn’t be kept in the hospital, and the police just aren’t set up to baby-sit someone like that.

Guess what they decided to do?

Oh yeah, you see where this is going.

Since they knew from bringing her in that I could be more or less trusted with her, they’d somehow decided to ask if it would be possible if I could care for her. (Compensated for with food stamps. ...Damn they’re cheap. I might as well tell them I have plenty of money to handle it.)

So before I let a long explanation get too long, I cautiously agreed to look after ‘Christi’... Or Chrysilla, or Christina, or whatever she was going to go by.

Let me just say, I’ve been around her for thirty minutes on the drive home, and already she’s proven to be a combination of, naive to the point of it being cute, and obnoxious as hell.

I mean, for Christsake... When we walked her into the parking lot, she freaked out at the sight of a truck parked nearby. Mainly the diesel engine it was revving.

It took ten minutes just to coax her out of the building and into my car.

But once she was in my car, it was...

Well, it’s like she’d never seen a car before.

“I’m ORDERING you to speed up,” her tone of voice suddenly shifted. I’m so glad I’d removed the passenger seat of my car to use as a flight simulation chair. It meant she was stuck sitting in the BACK seat, where she wouldn’t be RIGHT next to me acting bossy.

“NOPE!” I snapped back at her. “I’m afraid the inside of this vehicle is the sovereign territory of the dictatorship of me, myself, and I. No other authorities are recognized within’ its boundaries. Have a nice day.”

“PLEEEEEEASE?”

She’d switched from aggressive to pleading almost as if she were going down a list. Of course, by this point, it was transparent.

“HAH!” I couldn’t help but laugh at her reflection in my rear-view mirror. Her still-bruised features framed in unkempt hair that had a deep, pine-green dye applied to it. “Nice try. But you need to get it through your head. I’m NOT speeding up. It is DANGEROUS.”

“UGH!” Christi crossed her arms with a huff. “Why does NO ONE listen to me here?”

I scoffed, earning a scowl, but said nothing. Christi sat for a few minutes in silence as I drove the back road home. Before long, she started occupying herself with her hands. She seemed almost fascinated by them. I’d caught her staring at them with this odd perplexed look a few times already. She’d just sit there, frowning as she wiggled her fingers. Then she’d slowly, deliberately reach down to grab onto various things lying on the floor. More than once, she played with the handle to my electronics tackle box. At least twice, she became completely enthralled with rolling the window up and down.

Luckily, she hadn’t seemed to realize or figure out the latches on the tackle box, or the button on the seat belt.

Before long though, she became bored with the objects in the car and just sat, staring out as the scenery rolled by. At some point, it struck me that I hadn’t locked the doors. She hadn’t yet seemed to notice the door latch itself, but the very thought of her, in this strange naive state, trying to jump out of a moving vehicle...

I immediately reached over and slapped my lock, which acted as a master to the entire power lock group.

“What was that?!” she snapped in fear. FEAR! Can you believe it?

“You’re leaning on the door,” I replied. “I’m just locking it so you don’t accidentally fall out.”

Christi blinked at me confused for a moment, then glanced down.

“I’m tied to this seat by this insane harness,” she pointed out.

“Better safe than dead,” I shrugged back.

We crossed the railroad track, 2243 coming to an abrupt end at 183. Christi appeared a bit unnerved at the sound and vibration, but started to relax after she made eye contact with me in the rear view mirror. I used the time spent at the light to watch her in the mirror. Again, it’s like she’d never seen anything even remotely modern before. There was no hiding the curious eye she gave as she watched the traffic pass in front of us. Nor the way she cringed back a bit when one of those happened to be an 18-wheeler barreling by at fifty miles per hour, just feet away. The draft off the vehicle was strong enough to shake my tiny car in place.

Like I said, it was almost cute... It’s just she had this odd, almost caustic attitude about her when she wasn’t too busy being awed by everything that moved.

The light went green, allowing me to cross the highway safely. I noticed that while we were just cruising, Christi was fine, but whenever we had stopped and started, she did become a bit apprehensive, grabbing the handle next to her.

And she wanted me to go faster... HAH! Not on THOSE curves...

“Where are you taking me?” she demanded at last, her eyes darting between the various buildings.

“Home,” I replied. “The doctors and the police would like me to take care of you until they can get this mess sorted out. So you’ll be staying with me.”

“Really?” she asked. “You’re going to take care of me? That’s... sweet of you.”

Stop sign, left turn signal, clear left, clear right, clear left... Rolling. I could do this in my sleep. (Not that I would.) Something about the way she said that last part. I was a bit preoccupied driving, but my brain latched on to it. The tone in particular... It sounded so... scripted. Like every food service employee I’d ever known.

I knew exactly two versions of that tone.

Version One, the ‘I’d rather not be here and I’d like to call you SO many names right now, but can’t because I have to make ends meet.’ Tone.
And...

Version Two, the ‘If I butter you up, you’ll give me a big fat tip, right?’ tone.

I distinctly picked up version two. Just the way she said that. After the way she’d been acting the last half an hour, it contrasted so hard compared to even her transparent little attempt at begging that I couldn’t help but not miss it.

Part of me, the sinister, paranoid part, wondered if maybe her lying in the ditch, looking like something had just beaten the shit out of her, was without a perfectly reasonable cause. Not that I’d go so far as to speculate what actually happened. But the idea that maybe the way she was trying to be two-faced and for some reason, not quite concealing the fact at least put me partially on my mental gua-

Right turn, almost missed it.

-guard.

After all, I had a felon convicted of fraud living across from me for three months. After having my trust bite me in the ass on that one, any unusual behaviors tipped me off.

After another minute of driving, I parked my car in the driveway, killing the engine.

“We’re here,” I chimed, moving to unbuckle and open the door.

“This is your home?” Christi asked in surprise as I crawled out of my seat. “I thought you lived in a castle like that place we left...”

“Castle?” I stuck my head back in the door. Now THAT one was just out there. “The Hospital?”

“That was a hospital?” she blinked back. The tone seemed sincere. So much so that I was getting more of The Weird Vibes from her. “That place was HUGE!”

“Yeah,” I stepped away. “Hospitals are like that... And my house is just a house. Come on.”

I turned to shut the driver-side-door...

“WAIT!”

And stopped at the shout.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m still stuck in this harness!” Christi complained. Oh you’ve got to- she hasn’t figured that out YET?

“Just push the button,” I replied back.

“Button?” she asked. The young lady glanced around frantically. “Button?!”

I wish I could say I’ve never met people this clueless before but...

“Here,” I walked around to the other side of the car, opening the rear passenger door. “I got it.”

I reached in, firmly grabbing the buckle where it stuck out of the seat and gave the brightly marked, easy to spot orange button a push.

‘Click!’
The shoulder harness snapped free, retracting up and away. Christi jumped in her spot as it moved.

“Jeez,” I looked at where she’d grabbed my arm, her eyes locked on the harmless device. “Aren’t you jumpy?”

It was almost funny. Even the way she looked at me, just for a moment, looking like a terrified animal before she tried to hide it. Her mood swings were unpredictable. One moment she was bossy, the next curious, then afraid, and then back to obnoxious and bossy. That concussion probably knocked a lot of screws loose...

“It’s a seat belt,” I stated firmly. “It doesn’t bite. It’s designed to do that.”

I felt like I was explaining the concept to a two-year-old, but couldn’t resist reassuring her as to the function and purpose of the device as I calmly reached over her shoulder and grabbed the harness. Pulling it and releasing it several times to show her that it did the same thing, every time.

“See?” I asked. “Nothing here’s going to eat you. Now relax.”

My arm was ‘returned to me’ after a moment, allowing me to back out and assist Christi in scrambling out of the vehicle.

“Let’s get inside and get out of this heat,” I continued as she glanced around the neighborhood. I could already feel the sun baking me in my own clothes. It just never seemed to stay pleasant very long in Texas. It was either blistering, or winter. Or both... Yeah, I went there. Welcome to Texas, don’t like the weather? Wait a minute, it’ll change.

About half way to the door I stopped, turning to Christi and she followed me, seeming to be unsure of something. It’s like she was afraid of something.

Then a thought struck me.

“Oh by the way,” I began. “We’ve got a dog here. He’s big, but more annoying than scary. So stay calm.”

Change is Good: Final Confrontation

EDIT: Addition of a short, painful fight with two goddesses... Does not end very well.

A continuation of the 'Change is Good' scenerio. The idea that sticks in my head is that after 'rehabilitating' the queen over a period of a few months, the human who's perspective the reader shares gets dragged with her back to her home.

Except, the same mechanism that made her a human reverses the process and makes the human a changeling. And with no concept of how changeling magic works, he struggles to help her make peace with Equestria, without the slightest ability to change shape, or even use TK.

Having not realized how much 'love' energy he's been absorbing, he's got quite a stockpile when the confrontation goes down quite messily in canterlot court. The queen came asking forgiveness for her selfish actions. The princesses kneejerked that it was another coming attack and struck first.

The 'powerless Changeling' can only look on in horror as his months of kindness and teaching get blasted to the floor.

And he snaps.

"What the hell..."

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Both of the princesses removed their attention from Chrysalis where she lay cringing on the floor. I had worked so hard to rehabilitate- To point out the error of her ways. And they just went and blasted her full on without provocation!

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" I snarled. It sounded funny in this changeling body.

"BE SILENT LITTLE ONE," Luna thundered. "THIS DOES NOT CONCERN YOU UNLESS YOU WANT TO JOIN HER. BE GRATEFUL WE TAKE PITY ON YOU FOR YOUR LACK OF POWER."

"NO!" I snapped, stomping one of these deformed hooves. "NOT YET... I'm not done yet... We're not finished here."

The princess of the night turned, stepping towards me in a deliberately measured move meant to intimidate. But I felt no such threat from her. I was too angry at what had just transpired. Good Guys or not, kind princesses or not, understandable or not... There are some things you just don't do, and that was one of them.

"Sure," I continued. "She made a mistake. She gathered an army, launched an attack, and tried to conquor Equestria. But she did it for her subjects. Like you raise the sun for yours. And she learned from that mistake. Learned that she could do better, BE better. She came to ask forgiveness, and what do you give her?"

I glared between the two winged unicorns as they now stood side-by-side, glaring back. Then glanced down where some small curls of smoke drifted from the queen's singed wings, the holes even more pronounced than before.

"THIS?!" I snapped my head back up. "THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!"

"S- stop," Chrysalis choked out. "It... It's okay. I desserve it for what I did."

"Absolutely not," I turned to the pitiful changeling. "You already served your time, stuck in a world where you spent months afraid of everything that moved. You don't need to be punished twice for your actions. WE don't believe in it. I don't believe in it. They hit you without provocation... This time you desserve to hit back."

"And just what do you plan to do, Changeling?" Celestia fixated me with a firm warning gaze that promised I would join the queen on the floor if I continued.

"It's funny," I locked gazes with the princess. She was so much bigger... If only I had my own body, I'd be able stand level with her. "I have SO many ideas what I could do to you right now if only I had HANDS."

That earned me some confused looks. If only I had HANDS...

"You don't have to do this," the queen all but whimpered.

"I promised you that if you could change your ways that I would protect you," I kept my gaze locked on the princess in front of me. "You kept your end of the bargain. Now it's my turn."

My mouth was writing checks this body couldn't cash. Some corner of my mind was screaming to stop before I ended up a smoldering heap. But my rage wouldn't let me. I saw... green. Green rage instead of red. If only I had my body. IF ONLY I HAD MY BODY!

I saw more green, green flames.

Then I realized it was a reflection from a body mirror behind the princesses. That weird horn on my 'changeling' head. It was glowing. But not just glowing, it was on fire, burning with a green flame.

The queen had told me that to use changeling magic, she just had to 'WANT' something enough. To change form, she just wanted to take that form and visualize it. But that hadn't worked with me. We thought I was simply powerless because I never had that magic to start with. We thought it was just a body with me.

But looking at the flame in my reflection, it made sense. I couldn't use that power because I just didn't want it enough. I didn't WANT it enough to use it.

Now? Now I wanted something... I wanted it a LOT.

I want my old body so I can strangle some sense into these technicolor talking horses.

"Crissy..." I used my nickname for the queen. "Leave this to me."

I reared back on my 'hind legs', crossing my 'hooves' and drawing out all the want I could muster, visualizing what I really was. I felt the heat from my head, and saw the reflection flare. Both princesses stepped back as a burst of green fire ripped up around me.

The sensation was like falling and stretching a day after a heavy workout all at once. The world around me shrank slightly. The awkward sensation of standing improperly for a four-legged creature faded, replaced by the familliar sense of balance I almost thought I'd never feel again.

The fire fading, I raised my arm, curling my fingers in front of my face, loosening the tension and causing the knuckles to pop. The small group of nobles audibly gasped as I glanced past the two princesses and smirked at my reflection. THIS was a creature they'd never seen before.

Yanking my gaze back down, I impacted my fist into my other hand and squeezed, popping the rest of my knuckles. I KNEW how to use this body. In this form, everything I could find became an ad-hoc weapon. Even the princess' own bodies. All I had to do was get a grip.

"ENOUGH TALK..." I glared.

"Let's fight."

And in retrospect... Perhaps challenging two magically empowered Epic level creatures to a fist fight wasn't exactly my most brilliant move. But even though it hurt, it was strangely satisfying.

I think it lasted about two minutes. Something I mulled over as I lay wheezing with one eye swelling shut on the cold stone flagging of Celestia's throne room. Once I'd issued my challenge, Celestia had nodded and promptly shot a magic beam at me.

Thing is, I did something simple, I dodged. More adept to my own body than the previously clumsy footwork of the quadraped body I'd been stuck in for days, I had proven to be quite the little worm and had managed to slip in close to the sun princess.

Close enough to grab her with my bare hands.

But I learned very quickly that grabbing a magically charged horn belonging to a creature who reprisented a glowing nuclear furnace was foolish move. Burned the crap out of my hand... But despite searing my hand on the winged unicorn, I'd managed to yank her right off her feet.

I expected more honestly, physically, not just that magic insanity I almost got fried with. But I guess when you spend a millenia without doing any heavy workouts, you lose a bit of body toning. Of course, I wouldn't call her fat. In fact, she was disgustingly light for something that looked to be about my mass.

So despite burning myself, I managed to literally throw the pony princess on her side. And had it been a simple one-on-one, I probably would have bagged a victory on momentum alone.

But it was two on one, and Princess Luna, while smaller, was a lot more well toned than her elder sister. I think when she kicked me it broke a rib or two.

She sent me sprawlng, and that allowed her own sister to recover, but I refused to be dropped that easily.

Interesting thing is: They behaved so much like you would expect the 'good guys' to act. They hesitated to continue attacking me. Once I had been knocked down. Were this a fight between humans, chances are I wouldn't have been allowed to get back up. And for good reason. Luna learned rather quickly that just hittng me once wasn't going to stop the fight.

Because I got back up and tackled her full on... My hands, though one was burnt, proved to be useful as I got tangled up with her on the ground, grabbing tightly onto anything I could find.

When we finally broke the tangle, we each had a few new bruises to add to our counts. Hers from where I had done my best to find some part of her anatomy to punch, and me from getting battered by surprisingly iron-like wings. I'd like to think I came away the victor of that scuffle, seeing as I had come out of it with a fist full of feathers.

Of course, once seperated, and while I was distracted, Celestia tried another solar zap...

I don't know how she expected to hit me with it though. Or anyone who didn't stand still for that matter... It made the most distinctive whining sound like a distorted tea kettle.

I dodged, it missed...

Well, mostly. It knicked my side and burned a gash just above my waist. I was forced to duck away from the solar princess, using her own throne-room furniture to keep that laser-horn attack from roasting me. And from that, I had turned from bare-handed brawl to improvised weapons, procuring one of the candle staff... lamp thingies that were sitting on each side of the throne.

I got Celstia good with it too... right in the wing with a swing like I was holding a baseball bat. In the heat of the moment, I was rather satisfied at the distinct sound of a crunch on impact. But in attacking one princess, I left myself open to the other. Luna tagged me again. I'm sure it was this hit that gave me my black eye. She'd knocked me right in the noggin, causing me to topple off the raised section of the throne dais, and into the small fountain on its side.

And then she'd tried to jump and stomp on me. Which probably would have worked except adrenaline had taken over, and I was moving like a frightened, angry mouse.

I'd lost my weapon, but the water slowed Luna down as she splashed in it. I got a nice, clean right-hook to the Lunar Princess' jaw, or snout... er... It was her face. 'Nuff said.

But I think she had just about had it after that. Because the next thing I knew, she'd gone Jedi Master on me and simply threw me half way across the room with a telikinetic toss, her eyes glowing a frightening white. Then she'd yanked up the lamp staff I'd been using with that TK and knocked the wind out of me before I had a chance to recover. Probably cracked another rib...

After that, things went downhill pretty quickly. The princess finally got it into her head to weaponize her TK, and just beat the tar out of me at a distance until I quit trying to get up. The changeling transformation magic I'd managed to grasp to restore my real body faded, dropping me back into this near impossible to use body once more.

Still, as I lay, staring through one good eye at the now huffing princess of the night, I couldn't help but find it strangely satisfying and funny how the brawl turned out. I lost... I guess I knew I was going to lose. Mortal vs near goddesses after all... But I could tell from the way her own eye was starting to swell shut, and the way Celestia's left wing was now bent in a strange direction, that I'd successfully paid them back for their previous uncalled for actions.

"Heh..." I managed to breathe at the younger princess and realized how torn up I'd gotten in such a short time. "Well... That went about as well as I expected... But I guess we're even now."

Crusader Engineering Systems

What if the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided to one-up Equestrian Innovations' ORBITAL FRIENDSHIP CANNON in their never-ending quest for cuties marks...

And succeded? (In the oneupemanship, not the cutie marks...)

**Because of character-matching colors, this scrap is best read in DARK screen mode. Switch now, your eyes will thank you.**

**Also, grab the video link below so you can start the music on cue with the picture... Best effect that way.
SOUNDTRACK LINK

"Some days ya' just gotter' do what ya gotter do-"

"SHHH!!! It's starting!"

"Scootaloo, it's yer line!"

"What? OH! Right..."

"Welcome investors. Scootaloo here with Crusader Engineering Systems."

"As the market for pony-based materials continues to grow, so too does the many fields of the pony industry. Most notably, the field of pony science. Recent developments from Equestria Innovations such as the Portal to Equestria and the ever popular ponyboard have had investors reaching frequently for their checkbooks."

"However, we’ve come to realize that while it is a highly stimulating and often rewarding intellectual endeavor, science alone is unable to produce the fiscal earnings needed to maintain a stable work environment-“

"In other words, science doesn't pay the bills..."

"It don't get you yer cutie mark either-"

"Quiet! Both of you!"

“Recently, you may have noticed that many Investors have made similar observations. Despite a constant influx of new and innovative ideas, the return on investment funding has been stuck in the red. And with investors scrutinizing their bottom lines more than ever due to the recent downturn in the economy, scientists have found that they just can’t come up with the kinds of products needed to meet the ever-changing demands of investors.”

“But engineers on thah otha’ hoof…”

“Recently you might have heard about the launch of Equestrian Innovations' new Orbital Friendship Cannon. A device vaunted for the catchphrase 'when you absolutely positively have to love and tolerate the [CENSORED] out of something.' "

"I'm so telling Dash she said that-"

"Quiet Sweetie Belle!"

“This marvel of engineering has been considered one of the greatest feats of science and technology of the modern age. But as Captain Shining Armor, commander of the Equestrian Royal Guard, once mentioned: Any weapon that’s predictable is about as useful as a swarm of parasprites during applebuck season... And being a satellite, the orbital friendship cannon is about as predictable as they come. Which makes it an investment liability…”

"And that makes it a problem..."

"Crusader took care of that..."

Developed in a joint venture with Dash Aerospace and General PieNamics...

Constructed in secret at Luna Shipyards...

420 megatons of advanced alloys.

700,000 kilometers of integrated digital networking systems.

56 mid-range twin heavy railgun turrets.

768 heavy long-range missile launchers.

56 short-range medium particle beam turrets.

64 heavy anti-ship torpedo launchers.

And 1, 26-kilogram payload antay-deuterium artillery grav-cannon.

“THIS is the Celestia...”

“Three thousand seven hundred meters of warmth and sunshine-spitting super-dreadnaught the likes of which would make Nightmare Moon crawl back to bed with a teddy bear.”

“This is the ULTIMATE Friend-making tool, for when loving and tolerating just doesn’t cut it anymore...”

“This is for when you have to show somepony the light.”

“All one point thray gigatons of it...”

“And you don’t even have to take our word for it... Just look!”

“Whoa... Rarity would LOVE to get her hooves on that thing-”

“SHHHH!!!”

“Originally this vessel was going to be powered by Love, but after recent events on Hearts and Hooves Day, we decided to use something a little... less volatile.”

“...and gross.”

“Instead we went with a General PieNamics Antimatter Party Power Plant-“

“-Which if ‘ahm readin’ this paper right, means that tha’ matter in the core gets so excited from the party music that it flips over ta’ antimatter-“

“Apple Bloom, that’s a trade secret! You can’t tell them that!”

“Quiet Sweetie Belle, like they’ll figya’ it out-“

“ERHEM! I bet everypony’s wondering just how much this vessel costs. Well, put those calculators away, they don’t have enough zeroes to convey how many bits that got spent building this thing.”

“All you need to know is that you’ll need the backing of a few wealthier countries... or Prince Blueblood.”

“Good Luck with tha' one...”

“Scootaloo, Crusader Engineering, we’re done here.”

...

“So, anything?”

“Nadda...”

“Ah horseapples! I thought fa’ SURE we’d get our cutie marks this time. We did get a star dread-not all built fer reals...”

"So much for THAT idea..."

"What about the Celestia?"

"Deorbit it into the moon ah' guess..."

“Would somepony turn the camera off?”

High Energy Ponytons

So in today's what-if scrap. Chrysalis strikes down Celestia... However, instead of every pony in the room sitting there and taking it like a herd of cowards, Twilight Sparkle gets angry. After all the emotional hurt, the wrongdoing done to her oldest friend, her brother, and now her princess... she snaps. And if we recall the last time she lost her temper... it wasn't pretty.

I hope Chrissy has Life Insurance...

This particular piece is inspired by the track:
High Energy Protons

Listen to it, and FEEL the powah.

"No..."

All eyes fell on Twilight, eyes narrowed. The changeling queen just chuckled.

"Oh, YES," she mocked. "I've won... and now it's just a matter of minutes until my army-"

"NO!" Twilight snapped forcefully. "I've had it with you. It ends NOW. You tricked us, brainwashed my brother, attacked and imprisoned one of my oldest friends, and hurt my teacher! You've gone TOO FAR!"

"HAH!" the Chrysalis mocked. "And just what do you plan to do? You couldn't stand up to me before, and I just defeated your PRECIOUS princess with the power of your brother's own love."

Even as the changeling said that, something unsettled her. All of her antennae were silently buzzing as if lightning were about to strike. Something was in the room with them.

"Maybe," Twilight voiced into the queen's thoughts. "But how much of that power did you just use up just to take on the princess?"

The other ponies around them finally noticed a strange breeze blowing through the room. One normally felt only on an open field on a warm summer day. Yet, none of the chapel windows were open properly.

-You're gonna' have a WONDERFUL trip...-

"I don't think you can pull that off twice," Twilight continued. There was definitely a strong breeze in the room. "And I don't think you realize..."

Twilight's horn lit up, magic sparking off it as she brought her power into focus.

"... I AM the princess' personal student."

"Whoa nelly..." Applejack blinked.

Chrysalis said nothing, simply opting to fire another magical beam to silence the upstart. It scattered on a purple shield that flashed into existence around the smaller pony.

"HGRT!" The queen bit down to hide the strain she felt from the shield's resistance.

"Not so tough, are you?" Twilight glared from inside her shield. "Not when you've used up what limited energy you can collect from others."

"I beat Celestia," Chrysalis snarled as she forced more power into her beam. The other ponies in the room quickly began to step. "I can beat you!"

"I don't think so," Twilight growled back. "Because you're already struggling, and I'm just getting started..."

The shield suddenly started to shrink, and for just a moment Chrysalis thought that maybe Sparkle's comment was a bluff. But then she realized the pony was only looking angrier by the second. And then it felt as if someone had yanked on her mind. All the energy in the room, all the magic. She could feel it being pulled away, towards some invisible point, towards Twilight Sparkle.

There was a flash and a concussion and the unicorn appeared to burst into flames, a wall of fire expanding several feet away from the pony. Everypony in the room made to duck, but it was unneeded as the flames seemed to slow to a halt in the air.

Then the wind that had been almost fogrotten in the clash suddenly kicked up, swirling into a vortex that sucked the fire into a dancing whirlwind of bright orange flames. Chrysalis, in fact, everypony had to partially shield themselves from the sudden burst of intense heat that radiated from the conflagration.

From amidst the swirl of fire, two glowing red orbs appeared. Twilight Sparkle then stepped through the infernal vortex, her mane replaced with fire, her purple fur now white.

"THIS-" she stated in a tone that was as if to lecture the changeling. "Is something I discovered I can do when I get REALLY angry... And I've found that no matter how hot I make this fire, I can't be burned. You might even call this the heat of my anger..."

Then Twilight glared again, her glowing red eyes turning white with intensity. The flames around her became angrier, hotter. The ground nearest her hooves melted slightly, becoming a semi-molten puddle.

"And right now... I'm REALLY angry," Sparkle continued. The changeling queen had all but forgotten her assault in her surprise at the unicorn's impossible fire. "You've hurt my brother, my princess, and my friends."

-You're gonna' have a WONDERFUL trip...-

"So we're going to do things like this," the flaming unicorn continued. "You've got thirty seconds to release my brother, call off your army, and surrender unconditionally..."

The angry yellow flames turned white hot, every pony in the room stumbled back, surprised at the intensity of the heat.

"...Or I will IMMOLATE you where you stand."

Darkness Eternal

Could you imagine what it would do to Nightmare Moon to come back from her lunar exile to find the world she was banished from blasted and broken, and her sister long dead? A quick thread response from a line of discussion on Spacebattles. Long enough to be a quite.

If you do not feel an empty place in your soul after this, you are not human.

Only one track fits...
DEFCON

Nightmare Moon inspected the landscape before her. In every direction all the way to the horizon, the once fertile plains had long since been erased. In their place, the land was scorched and melted. Beautiful hills and majestic mountains, smashed and scattered like pebbles. The air itself assaulted her throat, parching it and invading with the acrid oder of brimstone and ash. Life had been here once, but not anymore. Nothing could live on this desolate world. It was a hostile place, a scar on the universe where nopony would ever walk again. Nightmare Moon knew, even as she tried to deny it. Nopony would love her, no vengeance could satisfy her. There was nothing left, nothing.

It was sobering for the vengeful spirit. And in her reflection she realized that her own selfish whims and juvenile whining were nothing compared to the horror that had obviously taken place here. She could still feel it, the echos of magics long since extinguished. The power of the sun against chaos unrestrained. They had warred on this very spot, releasing forces so catclysmic that both had been consumed by their hatred and destroyed beyond hope of recovery. And the land itself had been immolated as testament to that power.

"Apologies... Sister." The nightmare spoke evenly. "Had it not been for our own petty concerns, this world may yet be a place of life and happiness. In becoming our own hubris, we hath robbed thee of the tools that could have been used to stop the madness. We could have stood there by your side in thy darkest hour, and prevented the horror we now bear witness to."

Nightmare Moon lowered her head in mourning, removing her armored helmet to place upon a nearby stone. After a moment, it morphed, returning to the shape of a black crown. Several more articles of armor joined it a moment later, returning to their original forms.

Now free of her trappings, the corrupted princess raised her head to the sky. The sun beat down upon the land, dim and red as if it too had all but died. The heat it released was merciless and cruel, nothing at all like it used to be.

"We are not, nor have we ever been worthy," she continued solemly. "Where you hath always been a shining beacon of hope, there to guide your little ponies, we... I hath always been the jealous one. Desiring that which I never did understand, wanting for that which you hath earned. I am not worthy of the Royal We. I am not worthy to be ruler of the night. A true ruler of the night would never have allowed this... unspeakable act to come to pass, not over her own selfish desires. I renounce my crown, renounce it to a land unable to hear me, or to care. A land long since dead along with a sister I never desserved, and will never know again."

Nightmare moon lowered her head once more, bowing to the dying sun above, the mystical sparkles in her mane dying as its color faded to a dull gray blue color. Then she raised her head once more.

"Rest," she commanded, forcing the sun to lower one final time towards the horizon. "Rest and be at peace. Let this land, blasted by your cleansing fires become frozen in time, serving as a warning to any from beyond who may discover this place. Let it serve as a reminder that there are responsibilities greater than our own selfish needs."

With one last shot of green, the sun vanished over the horizon, quickly plunging the world into the cold grays of moonlight. A sad, forlorn moonlight that did little to hide the destruction wrought upon the surface. Nightmare Moon stared out one last time, contemplating where she could go from here. She had her Eternal Night at last, but it would never be the beautiful tapestry of stars and meteors she once invisioned, iliciting coos of inspiration from all who would look up to her. Instead, it was an end... A silent closure to what was little more than the memory of laughter long since forgotten. Cold and lifeless on a rock drifting through the cosmos.

"The Night is Forever," she stated in reverence. "And life is but a brief flicker of light and hope like a candle in a storm. Fare thee well, Equestria. I will miss thee, for all eternity."

And with that, Nightmare Moon lit her magic, her mind catching hold of a strange thread that led off into the aether beyond knowlege. Feeling there was nothing else worth doing, she latched on to it, and teleported.

Deus Ex Valkyrie (AKA: Cosmic Overkill)

After watching the season 4 finale, I couldn't help but imagine an old character concept of mine facing off against Tirek.

As big a threat as he is, at one point I was writing characters for cosmic scale. Characters who qualify for the God category with a capital G. Megumi Tenrai is one such character. 20,000 years old, a goddess tier humanoid trained for combat. She is Lance Master of the Valkyrie, leader of the order that exterminates threats to the peace of the cosmos with EXTREME prejudice. Also, a little silly until the combat training kicks in...

I suggest a good dose of epic music from Two Steps From Hell to support the next scene.
[Wait until the proper time to play this.]

A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!

[MEGUMI TENRAI]
Now you're in trouble...

Also, yes... She's way overkill and OCP for the setting. Still, you know you want this.

Tirek smirked, the power of the Alicorn Princesses now at his fingertips. Centuries of waiting, a few well timed words and some luck was all it took after the setback his traitor of a brother had brought him. But now it was done. Power, absolute power, all for him. He even had the added bonus of gaining all of Discord's chaotic magic.

It was almost TOO easy.

Almost.

Tirek turned his attentions away from the ponies and their begrudgingly capable Princess Twilight Sparkle as they limped away to drown their woes... however they would drown them. With their magic now his, he had no reason to deal with mere insects. There were more important things to do...

Like renovation. For a god such as himself, only the most impressive of fortresses would due.

Tirek glanced around at the trees near the small pony town. Eh... As good a place as any.

The beast lit his newfound magic, preparing to blast away what was now weeds to him-

“Excuse me?”

For Tirek, that pleasantly soft pony voice sent a shiver of disgust through his being. It completely ruined the mood. The beast turned, his massive form searching for which of those pastel equine weaklings would dare interrupt his victory so soon.

“WHAT?!” he thundered.

A nearby rock outcropping caught Tirek's attention, if mainly for the stark red contrast adorning the creature that stood there. It was a pitiful looking thing, bipedal and lithe, with pale skin about its face and a mop of silvery-blue hair for a mane. It was a small wonder its voice even carried to the ears of the newly established god.

“Greetings, Lord Tirek.” the tiny insect continued in her -Tirek assumed it was a female- voice. “I am Megumi Tenrai. I represent the interests of the free peoples of the Orion Arm. After witnessing the events that have unfolded this local celestial day, I am required by the ancient laws to inform you that your actions as of late can be constituted as a threat to the cosmos. As such, it is my obligation to ask that you cease and desist any and all tyrannical activities and return that which you stole to the citizens of this world.”

Tirek, in all his power and glory, came up with a suitable retort.

“What?”

“Oh!” the creature that called itself 'Megaumi-Tenrai' covered her mouth in surprise. “I'm sorry... The standard ultimatum can be a bit wordy. But I'm required by oath to attempt diplomacy first and foremost in all initial contact cases. It's imperative that I try to resolve conflicts peacefully, after all.”

Tirek frowned. Something was off about this situation. This... 'Megumi-Tenrai' sounded a lot like that mewling weakling, Celestia.

“What is your point, little one?” he placed special emphasis on the word 'little' as he leaned down to exemplify this observation, face-to-face.

The 'insect' shifted her posture, the slight placid negotiable face she'd been holding during her strange tirade losing just the slightest amount of its emotion before her she smiled amiably.

“To be blunt,” she began. “I am officially requesting that you surrender your power back to the populace and stand down... Or face judgment.”

Tirek blinked, standing up straight once more. Was this creature right in the head? He couldn't have heard that right. There was no way that this... THING had the audacity to order him, TIREK! The new god of this world, to step down.

Tirek did the only logical thing he could think of at that moment. He burst out laughing.

“JUDGEMENT!?” he howled. “YOU?!”

He stopped abruptly, leaning down once more. Now that he was greater in size than a dragon, it was almost trivial to imagine he could snap her up and devour her in one quick bite. Not that he would. There was no telling what this strange creature would taste like.

“I am required to inform you that what you might observe about me at this time is off by several orders of magnitude,” Megumi stated, her features seeming slightly sad. “I cannot implore you enough to consider your next words very carefully.”

“Are you hearing yourself?” Tirek asked, straightening again. “You threaten me, TIREK?! I have in my grasp all the magical power of Equestria AND the lord of chaos himself! There isn't a being in this world with the power to rival me! I. AM. A. GOD!”

The creature's features fell to sadness as she closed her eyes.

“It is unfortunate...” she stated quietly.

“What is?” Tirek asked, narrowing his eyes. He was growing tired of this pest.

“That you believe yourself a god...”

The statement perplexed Tirek. And it also angered him as well. He possessed all the magical potency of Equestria, the power of the Alicorns, and the strength of the lord of chaos himself. Who was this creature to think she could order him around? Who was this sniveling, sweet-talking little insect with the magical power to rival only that pathetic trickster of a unicorn who's best skill was fireworks?

Lord Tirek, Master of Equestria looked down upon this 'Megumi-Tenrai' with contempt. It might not be much compared to what he now possessed, but Tirek decided he could always use a little more magical power.

“Fool,” he stated, his features turning grim. “If challenging me is your wish, then so be it. I shall enjoy devouring what little magic you have before I cast you aside with the rest of these pathetic creatures.”

He leaned down, power crossing between his horns as he made to hold the pathetic mortal before him.

“I tried...” he heard the weakling's voice-

Tirek's nose shattered under the force of a meteor-impact, his body careening backwards before his mind registered the stars swimming in his vision. The ground met him and he tumbled to a halt. It took a few more seconds for him to blink away the sudden searing pain in the center of his face.

[I suggest that music track starting here.]

Sitting up in a slight haze, Tirek glanced forward at the rock outcropping he'd been previously standing in front of. As the double-vision resolved itself, he was greeted by the sight of the creature's silhoete, accented with a disjointed spear in her hands, and two white glowing pinpricks where her eyes would be. She stood upon that outcropping her mop of hair blowing in the wind unleashed from his unplanned flight.

Tirek sneered, righting himself.

“So be it!” he snarled and charged his stolen magic. The beast unleashed the torrent of equestrian magic. It didn't matter if he ruined the land. That would just speed up the process of landscaping. It seared the ground as it passed. His target would have to be able to move faster than even Twilight Sparkle if she wanted to-

Tirek felt the spell almost the same time his jaw twisted with the blow. The small creature was along side him, her fist stringing along a sonic boom in its wake even as the magic he'd lobbed detonated in the distance.

“HOW?!” he managed to gnash out as his body swung off its center of gravity.

The thunderclap of her movement followed well after she'd unwound. Tirek hit the ground for the second time in so many seconds.

“Last warning, Tirek,” Megumi's voice was no longer that gentle mewling he'd come to associate with the ponies. It carried a sense of weight behind its magically amplified volume the likes of which the beast had only heard from the Royal Canterlot Dialect. “I am the goddess Megumi Tenrai, Lance Master of the Valkyrie and keeper of the legendary spear Regulus. You are under arrest for your crimes against this world and its inhabitants. If you resist, I will smite you from the face of the cosmos as is my authority. Surrender now, and only your pride and your nose need be broken this day.”

Tirek snorted as he rolled over, pushing once more to a stand. Megumi was standing below him, the opportunity to strike begging to him.

“SMITE THIS!” he snarled, stomping on her position.

He felt the spell again, fleeting in its brevity but foreign in its nature. The pest, who was turning out to be far stronger than Tirek wanted to admit, had vanished in another clap of thunder to reappear on a hill nearby. She brandished the strange disjointed spear of hers at him as if to act as a ward.

Tirek launched a magic blast at her with a snarl and a lunge. The beam of brilliant white that erupted from Megumi's spear in response was far faster and crossed the distance in an eye blink. It skewered Tirek's attack like a kebab and continued on to knock him on his back once more.

Tirek sneered at the sky as it mocked him for a third time with its clear blues.

“You handle your power like a child throwing a tantrum,” Megumi's voice carried across the wind. “It is slow and cumbersome, much like that form you use to contain it. Even the most green of Valkyrie trainees could use you as little more than a practice dummy. If this is the best you can do then it is of little wonder that you choose to bully these peaceful creatures.”

Tirek paid his adversary, upgraded from 'pest' moments before, little heed as he began to formulate a plan. She moved like Princess Twilight's blasted teleport, but hit far harder if she was easily matching the might of all of Equestria's magic. He'd have to throw everything he had at this creature, otherwise this might actually get unpleasant.

Pushing himself to a standing position, he regarded the tiny powerhouse in front of him with a little more respect as he began to slowly build his magic up.

“I admit, you surprise me,” he began, buying time to gather more and more power. “Perhaps underestimating you was sloppy on my part. I see now that perhaps I should take this fight seriously.”

“You desire to compare raw power,” Megumi's voice carried up to his ears. “A typical response of someone who knows they're beaten, and an infantile one as well.”

Tirek resisted the urge to lash out prematurely at the barb. It was all just battle taunts, nothing he was ignorant of in the least.

“Maybe,” he voiced. “But the way I see it, since you value the lives of all the little ponies, then perhaps you're just as foolish as Princess Twilight.”

Just a little more.

“Tell me,” he asked. “When I set this thing off, what do you think the damage is going to be? I don't care what happens to these pathetic equines. But I wonder if you're going to be able to use whatever trick it is to strike me when everything in the area is reduced to ash.”

The creature before Tirek was pleasingly silent for a moment as she shifted stances. Tirek had seen enough spears in all his years to recognize a general throwing stance.

“How about a deal?” he asked. “Give me whatever magic you possess, and I DON'T lay waste to this land right here and now.”

He was lying of course. After the humiliation, and his nose...

“I call,” the creature known as Megumi stated ominously. “Show me your power.”

Tirek hesitated, slightly surprised at her audacity. Then he exhaled slowly as he pushed a few more moments into his gathering power.

“Very well,” he continued at length. “Become one with the dust.”

Magic coalesced between Tirek's horns, and he unlashed a blast that would scour the land.

Megumi stared down the warped blob of raw magical power, her eyes narrowing just the slightest as she examined the field of battle. Then her head snapped up slightly as she began to coil back her arm.

“No, child,” her voice seemed to speak only to herself. “Instead, witness true power.”

Regulus flew.

Tirek followed his plan to the letter. The moment he saw the 'Valkyrie' wind up, he used the blast of magic he fired to conceal his own actions, and jumped, knowing he'd easily clear the arc of the spear she all but told him she was going to throw. He began charging a second strike, knowing she'd probably arrange some way to avoid-

Searing pain tore into Tirek's chest as a blinding flash shredded his magical blast like tissue paper. The momentum of his jump went from vertical, to backwards with the force to give even his colossal form whiplash. He felt something strike his back, crumbling with an earth-shattering noise as he tumbled end over end at the edge of consciousness. After a few more seconds of pain, the world rolled to a halt, the sound of distant thunder echoing off the hilltops barely audible of the ringing in his ears.

Three times...

Even has the box of harmony opened, Twilight Sparkle was worried. She'd felt a time spell no less than three times in rapid succession. There was no mistaking that kind of signature even with her magic drained to almost nothing. If Tirek was already flinging around time spells, there was no telling what he might do next. With the power he was harnessing, he could even go back in time to the distant past and rewrite all of history in his favor. A disturbing prospect, and all the more reason to put an end to this before he could gain a better grasp on the powers he'd gathered.

Harmony was a wonderful magic of course... Twilight could feel her strength returning as she watched her friends transform right before her eyes. The manes were a bit over the top, especially Rainbow's. She now looked like a living rainbow lightning bolt. Fitting, if worth a laugh later when this was over.

The power spreading, Twilight gathered her friends about her and began to ascend. It was time to teach Tirek the most important lesson of all. The lesson of Friendsh-

Twilight flinched as the sky split asunder, her concentration nearly failing her as a mountain top to the northwest shattered like one of those expensive vases she'd broken some six years ago back in Canterlot. For a brief moment, she thought Tirek had discovered some truly horrific spell to unleash upon Equestria.

But after a few seconds to gather her wits, she realized that said beast was nowhere in sight. She could feel his power with a quick thought, confirming he was... somewhere. But it felt strangely diminished. Twilight couldn't tell if it was because of the harmony around her self and friends, or what. But it was weak, and accompanied by the strangest ringing spell hum she'd ever sensed. It was almost like starlight focused through iron and struck with a tuning fork... If one could describe magical feedback with sound...

Wait... That hum's an echo! If that's the echo, what just got cast?!

Tirek cursed within the haze clouding his mind. The Valkyrie had read his move like an open book. No sooner than did he tense to spring then did she adjust her aim. The spear, no more than a toothpick in size compared to him, none-the-less had pierced his chest and struck his heart. Not that this would be fatal with the power he was channeling at the moment, but it would have to go. Even as Tirek managed to choke on his own breath, the tiny weapon burned his insides with an unquenchable fire.

Forcing his body to sit up, Tirek reached to pluck the weapon from his body.

He felt the spell.

His body slammed into the ground even as the thunderclap announced Megumi's arrival and strike, causing a pained howl to escape Tirek as something he never expected to feel gurgled in his throat.

Standing on his chest, Megumi reached down and grabbed the haft of her spear, planting one foot to give it a tug that freed it from the beast's body. The weapon sizzled as ichor burned off the blade on its tip, revealing a red glow like the hot iron of a blacksmith.

Twilight felt the time spell go off again. Her mind, amplified through the magic of harmony, was able to pick out almost with a gasp that it was an amazingly compact, inverted time-dilation bubble. It was accompanied with an audible sonic boom and she could feel the whole thing traversing the distance of the countryside in the blink of an eye. It didn't take Equestria's arguably greatest mind to realize the application of such a magic as the bubble collapsed on the far side of the shattered mountain.

Thinking fast, Twilight steadied her friends and set them all down on the ground, the magic of the tree of harmony still swirling in and around their bodies.

Changing gears on her plans, Twilight cast a scrying spell with utmost ease. The window showed the group the plains and hills on the far side of the mountain, and a tumble of rocks where Tirek lay shockingly still as a creature Twilight instantly recognized from her time through the mirror stood atop him.

“WHAT IN TARNATION!?” AJ pretty much spoke for everypony.

[I suggest a track switch]

“Lord Tirek of Equestria,” Megumi's voice resonated from atop the beast's chest with a weight far betraying the power he knew was behind it now. “Your pride and greed know no bounds. You bully the weak while stealing what little they have for your own petty gain. Your judgement is at hand. What do you have to say in your defense?”

Tirek grit his teeth as he forced himself to partially sit up. The creature that had struck him down multiple times now alighted easily to one side. The beast clutched the wound in his chest even as he felt the magic healing it. He was down, but not out. Not by a long shot.

“You think,” he huffed, working to stand once more. “You think I'm going to bow to your demands? Creature? Valkyrie? Don't make me laugh. That strike hurt, but it is nothing...”

Tirek caught his breath, feeling the wound closing up much faster.

“NOTHING!” he snarled, and went to Smash the Valkyrie, even as he realized she probably would just dodge it.

To his utter surprise, his smash connected with something, and he felt the ground give against the impact, eliciting a slight feeling of satisfaction.

At least, for a moment that feeling persisted, until he realized what he'd intended to smash wasn't as squishy as something that's been smashed should have been.

Tirek lifted his fists, and for the first time in his life, he felt fear.

Megumi stood at the bottom of the crater that had formed around her, eyes glowing bright enough to illuminate the shadows around her. Her arm was outstretched, a single finger extended, acting as the entire method by which she'd blocked her adversary's blow.

“So be it,” she stated curtly, lowering her arm. “If nothing is your defense, then nothing you shall become...”

Twilight felt the time spells go off in rapid succession. Her friends winced in sympathy as the strange bipedal creature that had just completely ignored Tirek's attack suddenly vanished, only to reappear and vanish as she delivered a barrage of apparently agonizing physical strikes. Tirek had no time to howl in pain, or even fight back. In a flurry of motion, he was broken in dozens of places and cast to the ground like a rag doll.

It ended as suddenly as it began, with the strange creature reappearing a short distance from Tirek's broken form. Almost immediately, Twilight noticed glowing lines tracing themselves around the battlefield.

Tirek sucked in a breath. Pain was temporary. He had to keep going, he couldn't lose to this... this... THING! He had plenty of power yet. He was far from finished.

Tirek focused on healing his legs, ignoring the other aches of his body and the glowing runic symbols tracing around him. He made a lunge, and the back of a spear swatted his face aside.

“I, Megumi Tenrai,” the monster (newly upgraded) began in a tone of authority. “Lance Master of the Valkyries; Keeper of Regulus; guardian of the Orion Arm, and protector of the innocent, here by condemn you, Lord Tirek, to the final eternity and cast your from this mortal realm.”

Tirek attempted another lunge augmented by a smattering of magic blasts, but once more, that BLASTED spell went off and his target landed a distance away. Immediately as she landed, a beam of light erupted in front of Tirek, causing him to stumble back, noticing five other beams circled around him, each lancing skyward from the symbols glowing on the ground.

“You claim to be a god, Tirek,” Megumi's voice stated almost conversationally. “Allow me to show you the hollowness of said claim.”

Transparent force closed around Tirek, each of the six beams surrounding him closing together in containment. He made to bash the side of his new prison, panic rapidly starting to set in as he felt the power continue to rise. The center symbol, which had yet to emit a beam, began to hum with a power Tirek was more familiar with, having used something similar to remove the other three Princesses not long ago. Only this... It was bigger.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” He snarled in full panic at this point.

“I'm putting your existence in perspective,” Megumi's voice spoke cryptically. “I'm going to show you the heart of our cosmos.”

“WHAT?!”

Twilight almost fell down as the portal spell she tracked kept going, and going, and going...

The trace didn't even touch Tartarus. Instead, the tunnel that was forming just kept extending above the sky. It passed the moon, the sun, and seemed to stretch on to the stars. Twilight chased it, drawing upon the power of harmony to keep up. Her mind reeled at the distances. Stars passed her in her mind's eye, becoming more numerous the further she pushed. Still, the path outraced her, going deeper into the cosmos than she could ever have imagined. She didn't hear her friends start to call her name with worry as she lost herself in the void. The path went on. The stars were closer together, crowded even, then packed, crushed, and suddenly... The connection was made.

Twilight let out a strangled scream as her mind overloaded.

Tirek felt the gateway shudder, a thin slip of light erupting from the center. Panic gave way to terror, terror like no creature in Equestria had ever known. He could feel it. He could feel unimaginable power leaking through but a crack in the cosmos. Power that dwarfed a million alicorns the same way a mountain dwarfs an ant.

“LET ME OUT!” he bashed up against the barrier around the gateway with enough force to elicit a crack from his shoulder.

“YOU CAN'T DO THIS!” he thundered as he ignored the pain. The light began to intensify. The ground around it was already melting.

“Twilight!”

The princess snapped to her senses to see a beam of light so brilliant that the noon sun looked like dull moonlight in comparison.

“What is that thing?!” one of her friends, she couldn't really focus on who at the moment, asked in horror. Twilight cleared her head from the aching feedback that had hit her. The path, the path had shot straight and true, right to the most crowded part of the sky. It had connected to the center... the heart.

“A gateway...” she uttered under her breath. “A gateway to power unfathomable.”

“Tarnation!” only by word choice could Twilight recognize that was AJ talking. “Yer not making any sense Twi! What power makes the Elements look like firecrackers like that?!”

Gathering her wits a little more, Twilight Sparkle came up with a name fitting enough that it surprisingly matched that which she had not actually heard.

“The heart of the cosmos...” she uttered.

Megumi raised her hand, and Tirek paled, gathering all the magic he could muster to shield himself, despite realizing the futility.

“TRUE GATE OF RA!” she snapped her hand open.

Light. Light was everything. It was nothing.

It simply was.

Even shielding their eyes and looking away, six friends were almost blinded by the brilliance, sound seeming to vanish as all thoughts were occupied with the light. The beam, contained as it was, erupted into the sky as the portal laid bare the heart of a galaxy before mortal eyes. It was not magic. There was no comparison. It was power, raw and primordial. The heat of a million suns and more, infernos each capable of reducing worlds to vaporous clouds if they so much as sputtered wrong, poured their energy through a hole in space and time for all to witness.

And indeed, all witnessed the event. For the light was bright enough to reflect off the moon and shine upon the far side of the planet.

Tirek, to his credit, lasted a bit more than a split second after the gate opened before the magic of Equestria buckled under the force of raw power. And then he vanished, his existence popping like a balloon. And like that, he was ended, the magic he stole scattering as his body was obliterated.

The gate was only open a few seconds. But to those who witnessed it directly, it seemed like an eternity. A shining column of fire that smote the heavens before snapping shut with a residual crack. Even in passing, the air trapped in the containment barrier glowed in wake of the wrath it had just been subjected to, if air it could be called.

Six friends, still wrapped in the the magic of Harmony, the strongest power Equestria had known, sat thunderstruck as they tried to blink the spots out of their vision.

“Is everypony okay?” Twilight asked, her mind in a slight panic. “Can anypony see?”

“Gosh darnit!” AJ's voice carried around the group. “All I can see is a huge blue box right in the middle of my sight. And I didn't even look at that thing!”

“This BETTER not be permenant!” Rainbow Dash's voice jumped in next. “I can't fly BLIND! That's SO uncool!”

The complaints piled on quickly, but ultimately proved not to be an issue as their eyesight returned to normal. Twilight was just wondering what they were going to do now that Tirek had obviously been obliterated when a voice cleared itself behind her.

“Excuse me?”

“WAH!”

Let it be said that Twilight has all the grace of a one-legged swan trying to land when she's startled.

“Oh! Apologies!” all eyes turned to the bipedal creature standing next to the group. Even still powered by harmony, they all backpedaled away from the one that had laid waste to Tirek. The glow may have been gone from her eyes, and her voice seemed nice enough, but after what they'd just witnessed... Well, nopony felt like chances were worth taking.

“I just thought I'd like to inform...” she hesitated as if checking a mental list. “Princess Twilight, Sparkle?”

Twilight's ears perked up, causing the bipedal creature to smile and continue with more confidence.

“I'd like to inform you that the magic which was taken from your people has been returned and should restore itself to the natural order shortly.” The female then closed her eyes and smiled apologetically. “I must also apologize for any inconvenience the True Gate of Ra may have had on anyone within' eyesight of it. The galactic inferno is not meant to be witnessed with unprotected vision.”

“Uh...” Twilight began. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” the creature bowed slightly. “Also... Do not attempt to replicate opening that gateway without a valid certification from a Valkyrie instructor. The complete annihilation of your world could result from improper procedure.”

Twilight blinked. “O...kay?”

“Good,” the Valkyrie nodded. “Good day to you.”

And with that, the creature turned, hefting her spear and wandering lithely into the Everfree. After several seconds of silence, Rainbow Dash finally spoke up.

“Okay...” she snapped in agitaton. “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!”

Equestria Needs Stallions (Dead Roleplay notes/GMposts, and source of some extra characters.)

A little over a year ago as of this posting, I started up a role play on Spacebattles. The game was going to be a restart of 'Equestria Needs Stallions', which had died due to the previous GM getting buried by life.

Unfortunately, this Roleplay did not last long, as this was right in the lead up to my calculus and research methods classes. The roleplay died then.

Originally under the previous GM, ENS was going to go along the lines of romantic comedy with some action in it. I don't know what was originally planned for the bigger story, but when I restarted it and gathered the players, I started working right at the beginning of the changeling invasion, and was going to twist the game into the players leading a changeling civil war at the direction of Chrysalis' daughter, Princess Mayfly. (A changeling proto-queen)

The starting premise, was that five pony mares got together to commission Zecora for a ritual spell to find their perfect special someponies. (Because each character had circumstances that made it hard for them to find a good stallion.) What they got were the player characters. Part of the early plot was that Mayfly was the actual reason Canterlot was even on alert, having slipped the rumor about her mother's invasion scheme in during her own investigations into the love energy Equestria had. She discovered the ritual being planned and was interested in this potential source of infinite love, and accidentally almost caused disaster.

The roleplay is the source of several of my additional background ponies, such as Nora and Crystal, seen in the full story version of 'Change is Good'. The events depicted here can be said to be partially canon with that story.

The characters that show up:...

Mares Visual Image

Crystal Clear:
Unicorn, and Daughter of Jet Set and Upper Crust.
Commissioned Zecora for the ritual both to find her own colt friend, and to take a stab at her parents. She's a good soul with a distaste of her parent's 'stuck-up upper-class' behaviors. Essentially, the reverse of Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich. Smart, well liked, and quite friendly when she's not being too vocal. Her special ability is a mimic of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Lady Nora Stonewall
('Nora' added in Change Is Good.)
Earth Pony; Executive administrator of the Canterlot city services department. (IE: Utilities, trash handling, etc...) She works a position that requires a utilitarian personality to keep it running, but has to deal with a city full of nobles who'd sooner like to forget such essential services have to exist, and that SONEPONY has to be around to do it. She is often scoffed at by many nobles, but not openly disrespected, and she certainly isn't trifled with. (Unless the nobles like having their refuse build up around their estates.) She was present for this ritual because finding a suitable stallion for her in Canterlot was... Well, Earth Pony administrator in canterlot who'd sooner sock a noble than date one...
Just imagine Mayor Mare, turn down the flakiness by more than half, turn up the 'irritated' knob to about nine point five, and add a degree in project management.

Canterlot is HER city. (And she WILL ensure it keeps running.)

Lace Curtain:
Unicorn; A struggling Canterlot shopkeeper who's curtain shop is only still in business thanks to her best friend Crystal Clear. She's the group fluttershy and hasn't had too much personality added to her.

Storm Crow:
Pegasus
A Wonderbolt, but just a rank-and-file one. Her skills are sharp, but par for a typical Bolt. Average speed, average maneuverability, a bit of a disregard for authority and a lack of major aspirations. She's enough of a 'fighter-jock' to get herself into trouble from time to time, but not so bad as to get drummed out of the bolts for misconduct. (Unlike Lightning Dust) Stormcrow has one unique ability. She can wrap storm clouds on her forelegs and arc electricity across them to launch lightning bolts. This skill allows her to completely rewrite pegasus air combat in her presence. Too bad Spitfire doesn't see any merit in the method. Storm Crow ducked a mandatory formation to attend the ritual. She wanted a colt friend who wouldn't be after her because she was a Bolt.

Northwind:
Pegasus; A sleepy weather pony and courier from up north near the location of the Crystal Empire. Spends a lot of her time indoors just staying out of the way of snowstorms. Attended the ritual to find her own little snuggle colt... since her post was rather lonely and quiet.

Princess Mayfly
Changeling Protoqueen

Daughter of Chrysalis, and well on her way to being groomed as the next queen, Mayfly was the first to scout Canterlot and discover Equestria's abundant love. However, unlike her mother, she has some empathy still and thought an invasion was silly. So she tried to tip the Equestrians off. It's just her mother happened to be moving her plans forward at a faster timetable. She despises 'stupidity', having had nothing but her mother's 'yes-changeling' lackeys around her most her life. She would risk getting killed to have a massive argument with Celestia and Luna just for a taste of intelligent conversation. She investigated the Ritual because there seemed potential in it for some kind of infinite food supply for changelings. She was hoping that if she could learn how, she could cut her mother's plans off at the last second and avoid a potential conflict.

It should be mentioned that some of the concepts for the RP were pulled from Those who Hunt Elves.... You'll see shortly.
For control purposes, due to trying to play this on a web forum with odd hours, the RP was going to be played in rounds. GM post, followed by the players in no particular order, but only one post per round.

What follows are a few of my saved GM posts. Mainly an introductory round, and the big opening event that was supposed to set the tone of the rest of the game. Mainly they're useful for getting some character templates from, and large enough to warrant mention here in my scrap box.

But, now that I've talked your eyes out, let's have at them.

ROUND 001: First you learn to walk...

Somewhere in Canterlot...

“Are you sure this is a good idea Crystal?”

“Lacy, for the last time. Yes, I'm sure. We've been planning this for weeks now. Don't tell me you're getting cold hooves about it.”

Two ponies round a corner, stepping off one of Canterlot's main thoroughfares and taking a deserted side street. One, a cream colored unicorn with a gray mane, and what appears to be her friend, a sky blue unicorn with a pink and blue striped mane. The cream colored one can be seen frowning at her worried partner as they trot along.

“It's not that,” the sky-blue unicorn replies after a moment. “It's just that... Today, of all days? Why now?”

“I told you Lacy,” the cream colored unicorn begins. “With just about everypony either attending the wedding or parties celebrating the wedding, now is the perfect time to do this. Besides... This is the only time I could get away from my dad without making him suspicious. He and mom will be too busy burying their noses in royal flanks to even notice I'm not there. You saw him. The moment Fancy Pants appeared, it's like I ceased to exist.”

“But what about the guard?” the unicorn apparently called 'Lacy' continues to question. “Aren't they on high alert for this 'threat' we've been hearing about? What if something happens and they think we're the threat?”

“Cheh!” The cream-colored unicorn named 'Crystal' scoffs. “Did you even look out the window of your shop yesterday? Princess Celestia was up on the tower ALL DAY staring through her telescope. Every guard in the city is either guarding the wedding chapel, or posted at the checkpoints. Trust me Lacy... All eyes are aimed OUT.”

“I still don't know,” Lacy purses her lips for a moment. “It just seems like a bad idea to play around with powerful spells like this when security is this tight. If it causes a false alarm, I have the feeling we'll get more than just a stern talking-to about safe magical practice.”

“Like I said,” Crystal replies. “All eyes are pointed out. I doubt the guard would even notice anything going on in the city until it was too late. Hay, if this so-called 'threat' knew this would happen, it's probably already got somepony in the city somewhere waiting like we a-”

BANG!

“-ARE!”

Both unicorns jump when a wooden board, dislodged by a gust of wind, noisly smacks into the ground. For several long seconds they stare at the rogue plank before laughing a little.

“All this talk of guards and threats is making me jumpy,” Crystal smirks at her friend.

“Yeah,” Lacy replies. “Just a little...”

“Well,” Crystal sucks up a deep breath and puts on her best war face. (Which for her comes off as utterly adorable rather than abominable.) “Let's hurry up and get there already, summon our perfect coltfriends, and hit the parties. I want to see the look on Mom's face when I walk in with a stallion to rival Fancy Pants.”

“Somehow I don't think you get the point of this spell,” Lacy comments with a sidelong glance. “The way you talk, it sounds more like you're after an ornament rather than the stallion of your dreams...”

“Hey!” Crystal pouts at her friend. “He'll definitely be the stallion of my dreams. It just happens that rubbing perfection my parents could never achieve in their faces is one of those dreams.”

Crystal then turns her eyes away, muttering not-quite-silently under her breath.

“Self-centered, stuck-up, brown-nosing twits...”

The two unicorns reach a small building near the back end of the city, practically built into the cliff face of the mountain Canterlot rests on. Crystal trots up to the a small wooden door and quickly knocks.

'Tap ta-ta-tap tap... Tap Tap.'

“What's that mean anyway?” Lacy asks.

“Shave and a haircut: two bits,” Crystal shruggs back. “Don't ask me why. I'VE never gotten a two-bit haircut...”

Suddenly, a small slot in the middle of the door opens. A pair of pink eyes glance out at the two before a gruff voice, or rather, a voice attempting to sound gruff and failing spectacularly due to being unable to hide how refined it is, asks:

“What's the password?”

“Ms. Stonewall,” Crystal rolls her eyes. “It's us...”

“Sorry,” the voice on the other side replies after a moment. “No password, no entry.”

“Seriously?” Crystal rolls her eyes.

“The password?” the faux gruff-mare on the other side asks more insistently.

Crystal and Lacy glance at each other with glum looks before turning to recite in unison.

“We solemnly swear that we're up to no good.”

Silence reigns for several seconds before the slot shuts with a snap. After a few more seconds, the sound of nearly a dozen deadbolts and chains can be heard being undone. The door then swings open with a teeth-grinding creak, allowing the two unicorns entry.

They enter, the room before them dark save for the eerie green glow of a runic circle in front of them and the light of the door behind. Sitting in the center of the runes is the dark form of a Zebra shaman, balanced precariously on the end of a stick, seemingly in a trance.

“It's about time you arrived,” the gruffness is gone from the voice behind them, replaced with a cultured accent more befitting the capital of Equestria. “An hour behind to an appointment YOU scheduled.”

“Sorry,” Crystal lets her ears droop just a little as she turns to see a pink earth pony in spectacles quickly closing the door behind them. “I had to wait until mom and dad were in full form before I could sneak away.”

The pink pony glances between the two newcomers, reaching up to adjust her spectacles in the process.

“Indeed,” she calmly recites. “I suppose it can't be helped. Getting away from THOSE TWO when they don't want to be gotten rid of has proven problematic even for the likes of Prince Blueblood. Not that he'd TRY to get away from a couple of yes-pony lackeys... No offense dear.”

“None taken...” Crystal shrugs. “So how'd you get away from your job, 'Lady' Stonewall? I can't say the department of city services expected a slow down during one of the biggest events of the season.”

“Please...” 'Lady' Stonewall makes a mock dignified wave of her hoof. “I had a vacation day planned for today ever since the announcement of the wedding. First-come first-serve and all. As for those two...”

Lady Stonewall turns towards a pair pegasi, all but invisible in the dark if they hadn't been pointed out.

“Ms. Northwind of course doesn't have any time sensitive obligations this time of year,” Stonewall continues. “However, I can't say the same about LIUTENANT Stormcrow...”

Upon hearing the emphasis of the rank, one of the Pegasi's ears kicks up, followed quickly by her eyes, and then the rest of her. The light colored pegasus quickly stands and stretches before half-trotting, half-gliding over to the three chatting mares.

“Yeah yeah,” the pegasus complains. “I'm technically supposed to be in formation right now, but instead I'm supposedly laid up in bed with the feather flu. So if anypony asks, ESPECIALLY Sorin or Spitfire, you never saw me.”

“Really,” Lady Stonewall rolls her eyes. “I don't know why you just didn't take a vacation day like me. At least then you wouldn't be risking getting into trouble for this... More than we already are.”

“I told you,” Stormcrow frowns at the earth pony. “Wonderbolts don't get the luxury of 'vacation days' the way you civilians do. We have to give at least three months notice. I'd be lucky to be in the same city if it wasn't for the wedding. I was in Las Pegasus for six weeks doing air shows daily before word got out.”

Lady Stonewall adjusts her spectacles once more, a silent but implied 'indeed' on her face. Stormcrow takes that as the end of the conversation and turns to the remaining slumbering pegasus, shaking her from her sleep.

“Hey,” she snaps. “Rise and shine ice-pick. We're about ready to get started.”
The final pegasus lets out a long, cat-like yawn before slowly standing and continuing with several equally cat-like stretches. A few satisfyingly loud cracks later she joins the group.

“Morning...”

“Afternoon actually, Northwind...” Stormcrow corrects.

“Oh,” Northwind blinks. “Okay. That too...”

“Ah...”

All five mares jump in fright from the sound of the nearly forgotten zebra shaman sitting in the center of the room.

“I see you are all here,” the shaman continues. “It took some time, but your schedules, now clear.”

Several long seconds are taken for the five mares to collect themselves. After a decent number of exchanged glances, Lacy finally speaks quietly to Crystal.

“Where did you find this piece of work anyway?”

“Ponyville,” Crystal whispers back. “I was down there ordering a dress from this cute little shop. I don't know where mom and dad found out about it. You wouldn't catch them dead in such a place. But she caught me ogling this really hunky stallion plowing a field when I was done. We had a chat over lunch and here we are.”

“Are you sure she can be trusted?” Lacy gives the zebra an unsure eye, who simply gives her a placid stare in return. “I mean, she seems a bit... you know, creepy.”

“The locals trust her,” Crystal shrugs. “Plus she knew this really quaint place to eat. Really good cupcakes. But I suggest avoiding the crazy pink one that works there. A little too hyperactive for me.”

“What's her name anyway?” Stormcrow interjects. “I couldn't get her to so much as say three words the entire time.”

“Zecora,” Crystal provides.

“Zecora eh?” Stormcrow turns to the zebra. “I like that name.”

“As do I,” Zecora comments idly from atop her stick. “Much as you like to fly.”

“Well,” Lady Stonewall interrupts. “No sense in wasting any more time, let's get this thing over with. I want to meet my ideal stallion already.”

The other mares nod their agreement.

“Fan out in a circle and be quick,” Zecora commands. “For this spell is fickle, and is no mean trick.”

The mares fan out around the circle, each being careful not to stop on the drawings. As they do so, the building creaks slightly, causing a little bit of dust from the rafters to fall on Zecora's nose.

“This place is falling apart,” she shakes her head after snorting the offending grit away. “Not the ideal place to examine one's heart.”

Zecora then turns and examines the group.

“Stand on the points of the star if you would,” she commands. “Only then will this spell work as it should.”

A little more shuffling and the mares are in place. Zecora quickly moves off to the side to a smaller mark in the ground and gently settles into a squat, laying her stick in front of her and opening a tome.

“And now we start,” she instructs. “The spell that finds one's heart. No matter what you must move not from your place; nor should you open your face. Fail this, and you will be forever lost in the abyss.”

Zecora is met by a series of gulps and silent nods. The Zebra casts one last gaze across the group before her eyes focus on the book before her. With but this glance, the tome seems to read her very thoughts and bursts open, pages flying on their own before stopping suddenly, a harsh glow lighting the shaman's face.

“I begin,” Zecora states without her usual flair, instead her eyes begin to glow an unsettling golden hue.

“Thou who art lost and alone, free thyselves of your bonds...”

“Ashita. No kaze. Fuku goro ni.”
“Waratte yo. Namaikina mama. De Ite.”
“Akireru. Hodo.”

The runic circle begins to glow brighter, the eerie green seeming to reach out around the five mares, almost as if to outline the area and divide it from the rest of the universe. The sounds of the building around them quiet to the point of silence. All that can be heard aside from Zecora's voice is the sound of five mares breathing.

“Mokoi kaze. Fuku asa mo.”
“Waratte yo. Tsuki mo. Itsuka.”
“Muite. Kuru. Sukoshi kori”
“Na yatsu ga. Kimi rashii.”

The sound of breathing is now joined by the hum of powerful magics. The wall of magic separating the five now appears almost solid. Zecora glances up from her reading for just a moment as it generates a stray arc, but continues without missing a beat. Her voice now seems to echo in space.

“Kono. Machi de.”
“Don chu. Su renda.”
“An chelbloo!”

Completing her chant, Zecora looks up once more. There is a pulse of magic and the intensity of the spell continues to grow. The sound it makes rises in pitch like a giant tea kettle, the green of the light fading to the purest white imaginable. More arcs of stray magic lance out, one of which strikes a boarded up window, shattering it like matchsticks.

Zecora's eyes narrow. The spell is not supposed to-

“No!” the Zebra's eyes widen. “Something is wrong... The flow of magic is all oblong!”

Zecora quickly scans the group. Everypony is where they should be. The runes are right.

“Wha-” Crystal begins to open her mouth.

“DO NOT SPEAK!” Zecora commands an other-worldly authority. “This spell I can still tweak!”

The ground beings to vibrate as the pulses of magic continue to increase in their intensity. The room is now lit as bright as if it were exposed to full daylight from above.

ABOVE!

Zecora's eyes dart up, examining the rafters.

“YOU FOOL!” She snaps out of the blue at something that couldn't be seen before. “YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU DO! THIS MAGIC CAN KILL US ALL! EVEN ME, AND YOU!”

Something above them makes to dart into the shadows.

“NO!” Zecora yells over the growing din, halting the shadow. “IT IS TOO LATE! YOU ARE PART OF IT NOW! THE WALL YOU MUSTN'T BREAK! TO THE CENTER YOU MUST GO! SEMMETRY MUST EXIST FOR MAGIC FLOW! GO NOW! BE FAST! OR WE ALL DIE IN A FIREY BLAST!”

The shadow seems to hesitate for a few more moments. The din rises to almost painful levels.

“GO!” Zecora shouts, dropping her rhymes. “GO NOW! HURRY!”

The shadow spins and scrambles over towards the center of the glowing collumn of light. The light and noise becoming desensitizing, vibrations becoming painful to everypony's skulls. Dust begins to rain from the rafters; a few loose items fall over. The pressure and light reaches an apex.

And then the noise suddenly drops to dead silence, the light fading to nothing.
Everypony stands still in surprise. After a few seconds, Crystal turns her head towards Zecora, who's looking to each side leerily.

“Who were you-”

The sound was like metal striking metal, ringing on forever as the world went pure white.

The column of supernatural energy passed through the roof without incident, screaming skyward seemingly into forever. Windows in every direction for several blocks blew in and the thunderous concussion could be heard from just about anywhere in the city.

After ten solid seconds of dazzling light, the beacon began to fade, normal daylight returning to the city.

Back inside the building, Crystal Clear stood frozen, her mouth parted in mid sentence as the room plunged into pitch darkness. After a noment to realize she was still alive, and that she could hear over the ringing in her ears, she shut her mouth, then spoke up again, her question changed.

“Do you think anypony saw that?”

Maybe? There was some activity for round 2 before round 3 introduced my... slightly cinematic overkill game opening.

Also yes, the 'incantation' to the spell was simply the lyrics to Angel Blue.

ENS Round 003: 'Now, RUN!'

Crystal clear almost jumps as Vanathor's character manages to croak out a question. She then quickly shifts to using some TK to try and gently lift him to his hooves, her light spell dimming slightly in the process.

“Shshshsh...” she comments gently. “You're safe. That summoning spell was a bit much.”

Simultaneously, Stormcrow performs a similar action with Asmodius, though not with as much tact.

“Come on,” she smirks, trying to shrug it off. “Don't tell me you've never seen a wonderbolt before.”

She then pauses and takes to the air, using all four legs to try and haul Asmodius up. It fails when he stumbles and returns to a lying position.

“Hey, you alright? You're alright... right?”

These responses make Lady Stonewall hesitate as she tries to help Leon89 stand up. When he in turn asks the same thing as the others, she pauses and steps back.

“Something's not right,” she announces officiously.

“Yeah,” Northwind announces from Artemis' spot. “They're all hurt...”

“Not what I mean Ms. Wind,” the Earth pony corrects. “What I mean to say is...”

She pauses, trying not to mince words before looking down at what she considers to be a rather good looking stallion in front of her.

“How does a summoning spell WORK?”

Crystal Clear unceremoniously drops Vanathor from her TK. He stumbles, but is the first to manage standing, though he still appears dazed.

“What?” she asks. She then looks at Vanathor again and back to Stonewall. “A summoning does exactly what it-”

She pauses and glances at Vanathor again.

“It takes something from somewhere else and brings it-”

“-ZECORAAAA!!!!”

Crystal Clear's voice rises an octave and amplifies to an explosive volume that literally matches Princess Luna's Royal Canterlot dialect. Everyone cringes and covers their ears in pain. Restless Coyote is particularly affected as if he'd been physically struck.

“CRYSTAL!” Lacy whines. “We're right here!”

“Yes my dear...” Zecora frowns at her. “Your voice is fittingly, Crystal Clear. What is the matter?”

Crystal Clear is now breathing very fast, borderline hyperventilating.

“Please...” she begins, glancing back and forth between Lady Stonewall and Vanathor. “Please tell me that spell didn't...”

She pauses, taking a long, slow breath. Her lighting spell continues to waver in brightness.

“Tell me we didn't just foalnap six stallions from across Equestria... ”

Zecora blinks for a moment before her eyes narrow.

“I thought I had explained it well,” she begins. “The mechanics of this summoning spell.”

“Ms. Zecora...” Lady Stonewall steps forward. “Please elaborate. I hold a very precarious position in my line of work. And the last thing I need is the crime of foalnapping stallions ruining my career. If this is true, then we have to return them IMMEDIATELY!”

“Huh?” Lace Curtain blinks back at Stonewall. “But... They just got here? And this one's cute!”

The other four mares blanch.

“If that's her idea of cute,” Stormcrow rolls her eyes but leaves the rest of her comment unspoken as Zecora interrupts.

“Be at ease and relax,” she begans. “I would never permit magic this crude. Those are the facts.”

After a moment of silence, Zecora notes the stallions are starting to pay more attention and straightens her posture.

“The spell I invoked,” she continued. “Must first be provoked. It searches your heart and uses that as a start. Searching far and wide, it calls beyond the sun and the tide. Only when it finds a willing match will it return to you with it's catch.”

“They certainly don't look WILLING,” Crystal cuts in, her voice only barely contained.

“It is not the mind but the soul,” Zecora points out. “A true link is the perfect goal.”

Zecora then trots over, noting how nopony else had yet to check on Questiondecca, though he was slowly getting on his own fours himself.

“Equestrian Stallions it did not take,” she continues, helping Questiondecca steady himself politely. “For that would leave chaos in its wake. Ponies now they might be, but only because the forms agree. Minutes ago, this one had a life. But deep in his soul, he desires a wife. This magic knows this, it senses the void. If agreement is made, he becomes equinoid. Though his mind may deny it and he never once decided, his soul signed the contract, his new life provided.”
Silence before Crystal speaks up.

“What?”

“Duh...” Stormcrow voices. “It means the spell searched the universe for lonely souls to match us with. Found six aliens, and brought them here for us while turning them into stallions. What's so hard about that?”

Everypony stares at Stormcrow in surprise.

“What?” She asks. “Am I not allowed to be smart? I'm a wonderbolt, not an idiot.”

“Well...” Lady Stonewall sighs. “That's good news. So long as this is more like a really REALLY strange intervention, and not outright foalnapping someone, I think I can live with it if they're not too upset. But I have to ask... Who wanted TWO? There's six of them, remember?”

“Yeah,” Crystal turns to Zecora. “It didn't pull one for you did it?”

“No.” Zecora states without skipping a beat. “I was outside the spell looking in. Only those inside would be subject to its whim.”

“Then who...?” Crystal begins to ask.

“As I have said, this is tricky magic,” Zecora continued. “But our unexpected guest was fast, so the end was not tragic.”

The zebra points up to one of the rafters, the girls turn to look, but at that exact moment there's a loud crash from the door.

The deadbolts are pulled right out of their anchors and the hinges snap as it is knocked in. The silhouette of a large pony blocks the entrance as natural daylight floods the room!

“ROYAL GUARD!” he announces in a loud angry tone. “NOPONY MOVE!”

Four guards file into the room around him. Two unicorns who immediately light the room far better better than before, and two pegasi who fan out to each side. The girls immediately back away as he enters. Almost immediately he recognizes Lady Stonewall.

“Madam Stonewall,” the stallion snaps in irritation. “What's going on? We saw a beam of light from the checkpoint.”

“Commander Hammer...” Stonewall says with a mixture of both shock and irritation, but she quickly masks it. “It's nothing that concerns you commander.”

“Nothing my flank,” Hammer trots into the room and looks around. “What have you been doing in here with-”

The guard officer pauses as he glances at Restless Coyote.

“What are you doing in here?!” he snaps. “Aren't you supposed to be on duty with the others!?”

Hammer advances on Coyote but doesn't get far before Lace Curtain steps in front of him.

“He's not a guard!” she snaps, but immediately blanches as the larger stallion glares. “He's not...”

“Madam Stonewall!” the officer glares over his shoulder. “EXPLAIN. NOW.”

Lady Stonewall sighs, making a slight adjustment to her glasses once more.

“We were using a ritual summoning spell for personal reasons,” she stated in a none-to-gentle tone. “And it's not catagorized as dangerous as far as I know.”

“Not cat- Dangerous?” Hammer stutters. “HAVE YOU LOOKED OUTSIDE?! That thing damaged every building on the block! That beam went right through Commander Armor's shield! Our defenses might be comrpomised because of you!”

Hammer then pauses to collect himself before.

“I'm sorry Lady Stonewall, but I'm going to have to put you AND all of your associates here under arrest-”

Stonewall turns his head and appears to be taking a head count as he talks. He stops on Stormcrow.

“What the-” He stops, sighs and just facehoofs. “And a Wonderbolt. Just great...”

“Uh oh...” Stormcrow mutters... “There goes leave for the year.”

“Oh you're in far bigger trouble...” Hammer practically growls as he trots toward her. “You're supposed to be in formation with the other Wonderbolts as per Spitfire's orders as part of the security detail for Canterlot.”

Stormcrow begins backing up from the advancing officer. Hammer continues his tirade, his temper slowly getting the best of him.

“Unless you're sick, and in bed. And you Leiutenant, don't look very ill to me, or in bed. When Spitfire gets done with you, you'll be lucky if you're still a Bolt ! Not only did you blow off a mandatory formation with your squadron, you blew off a formation critical to the safety of EQUESTRIA AND YOU PARTICIPATED IN AN ACTIVITY THAT MAY HAVE FURTHER COMPROMISED ITS SAFETY!”

Hammer backs Stormcrow into a wooden post where she shuffles up against it to continue receiving her verbal abuse. Just as Hammer reaches his crescendo, he's interrupted by a tearing snap, followed by a vibration in the floor, and dust raining down. The entire room freezes.

“Out...” Hammer mouths, his anger completely abandoned, then suddenly he spins into action, . “OUT NOW! EVERYPONY OUT! LET'S GO!”

Another snap is heard and a rafter slams noisily to the ground behind Stormcrow. She yelps and takes to the air. Hammer effortlessly scoops up Asmodius as he passes, hauling him towards the door. More snaps can be heard around and above.

“IT'S COMING DOWN!” Hammer repeats once more. “OUT OF THE BUILDING! NOW!”

The girls, with the assistance of the other guards, quickly begin shoving their still-dazed, but at least stumbling new guests towards the entrance. Wood, dust, and straw rain down as everypony piles out the door as fast as they can.

Zecora and Questiondecca are the last to the door, the Zebra almost takes a four-inch beam to her head when Q10 inexplicably shoves her out of the way. There's a crack and a ragged scream as it strikes him instead. A second later, the rest of the roof caves in on the building, burying him in rubble right at the door.

“STALLION DOWN!” Hammer snaps to one of the pegasi. “Get a medic over here, NOW!”

“SIR!” The pegasus takes off without wasting time on formalities.

“Captain Armor's going to kill me if somepony dies on his wedding day...” he mutters as he dashes over and starts pulling at the debris.

Suddenly the rubble begins to glow with an aquamarine TK field before it rises and shifts. Hammer and the two Unicorn guards quickly provide assistance, pulling the debris away and freeing Questiondecca. But not only Questiondecca.

“What-...” Hammer blinks. “What ARE you?”

Perched protectively over Qdecca is... something. It's pony-like, but instead of soft fur, it's covered in a black, exoskeleton-like material that shines in the sunlight. Her, for she is definitely feminine, her hair a dirty green color, with a curved horn protruding from it. On her back, a pair of insect-like wings can also been seen.

She appears nervous as she stares up at Hammer with slit aquamarine eyes. He continues to return the stare in pure confusion before a shifting of the debris brings him back to business.

“Get them out of there,” he orders. “Make sure... she's okay. And check him.”

“I-I'm fine,” the creature states in a strange, resonating voice. It's like listening to three people all say the same thing at the same time.

However, the female creature is lifted by the two guards and set aside while they finish pulling Questiondecca out of the wreckage.

“Whoa...” Crystal clear trots up to the newcomer. “What race of pony are YOU? Some kind of Bug Pony? What's your name?”

The 'bug pony' glances around nervously again as if expecting something. She laughs unsteadily before answering.

“M- Mayfly.”

“Mayfly?” Crystal tilts her head to the side. “Neato. You must have been the intruder Zecora was talking about.”

“I- I really have to get going,” Mayfly announces. She seems REALLY skittish for some strange reason.

“You stay RIGHT THERE,” Hammer orders. “You may have just saved that stallion's life. I'm sure he'd like to thank you personally.”

Hammer then turns back to the other guards.

“How is he?”

“Broken wing sir,” one of the unicorns states. “A few scrapes and bruises as well, but nothing looks worse than that.”

“Oh good,” Hammer sighs in relief. “You hear that strange miss? Thanks to you, he'll be alright.”

Mayfly just can't seem to quit with being extremely nervous, she keeps eyeing the guards as if expecting to get jumped any second.

“Something wrong?” Hammer asks.

“SIR!”

Suddenly a pegasus guard (the same one from earlier? A different one? They all look alike...) lands and skids to a halt, looking exhausted and horrified.

“Jetstream!” Hammer snaps. “What's the problem?”

“They-” the newcomer coughs. “They've taken out Princess Celestia!”

One could hear a pin drop in the silence. Lady Stonewall is the first to recover.

“They- They did WHAT?” she asks. “WHO!? WHAT ABOUT SHINING?”

“Shining's been compromised,” Jetstream huffs. “I don't know... some kind... Some kind of shape shifting bug pon-”

Jetstream stops as he finally notices Mayfly. His eyes almost seem to bug out as he begins to backpedal.

“Holy Faust on High THERE'S TWO OF THEM!!!!”

“WHAT?!” Hammer rounds on Mayfly, his form a good head taller than her.

Mayfly jumps back as Hammer trots angrily towards her.
“EXPLAIN!” he orders.

“I- NO! I'm not with-” Mayfly stutters. “I mean, I didn't... Mother... and-”

CRACK!

The sound's like a glacier calving. The twisting, whipping sound of a giant chunk of ice splitting away echoes across all over Canterlot. Hammer slowly looks up, everyone else follows. And high above, the top of Shining Armor's shield can be seen, fracturing. But just beyond that, a mass of dark... No, lots of little black things. It's hard to tell from the ground, but they appear to be pulsating against the shield.

“No...” Hammer mouths and looks back down. “Just what are-”

He blinks. Mayfly is nowhere in sight.

CRACK!

“This is bad...” Jetstream voices. “This is VERY BAD.”

“How many do you think there are?” One of the unicorn guards asks worriedly. “Four... five thousand?”

Hammer looks down at him before his glance looks around at the mares around him, then at the stallions who had yet to speak much for themselves. He grits his teeth and turns to Lady Stonewall.

“If this turns out to be your fault...” he hisses, then quickly turns to Jetstream.

“WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!” He snaps the pegasus out of his shock. “RAISE THE ALARM! GATHER EVERYPONY FROM THE SOUTH GATE AND PREPARE FOR AIR AND GROUND COMBAT!”

“YESSIR!”

“The rest of you!” he snaps at both the guards and the mares. “We have to get to the shelter!”

A final crack above dissolves into a tinkling as if a thousand windows were smashed on the ground. Pink shards of Shining Armor's shield can be seen falling even as they dissolve into harmless sparkles.

“Time's up!” Hammer snaps and turns. “Let's go!”

The group quickly organizes themselves as Hammer begins trotting at a hurried canter towards a main street. In the distance, hundreds of black creatures can be seen descending on Canterlot Castle like a swarm of bees.

“Stay close to the buildings,” Hammer instructs, glancing over his shoulder. The longer they don't see us, the longer they- Where's Stormcrow?”
'WHAM!'

Something green and on fire lands in front of Hammer as he hesitates, punching a hole in the overhang above him. The creature looks like a smaller, less-unique version of that bug-pony Mayfly. It glances around for a moment then grins through its fangs, and hisses.

Hammer simply frowns and rises to his full height.

“Can I HELP you?” he asks menacingly.

The little creature balks a little, backing up. Then it grins and bursts into flames. A moment later, an exact copy of Hammer is standing in its place.

“WHAT THE?!” Hammer retreats a step.

“Can I help you?” the dopplegenger mocks.

Several more crashes announce the arrival of more of the creatures. They each burst into flame and more duplicates of Hammer emerge, each sporting a hideous sneer.

“Can we help you?” they all mock in unison.

“I- IMPOSSIBLE!” Hammer seems too shocked to move. Suddenly Leon89 manages to find his voice and croaks out in shock.

“Ch- CHANGELINGS!”

Everyone looks at him at once, both pony and changeling alike. The latter mentioned shape-shifters seem surprised the ponies even recognized what they were.

“Stop gawking like an idiot!” Lady Stonewall announces suddenly. “They're obviously not here to give us a hug!”

Broken from his shock, Hammer turns to the changeling copy in front of him.

“Copy me will you...”

Hammer rounds, planting his front legs and giving a mighty heave with his back pair. His hooves connect and the copy slams into a storm water barrel some feet away.

“RUN!” he snaps into the opening. Aside from some stumbling from the stallions now clustered in the middle of the group, that's exactly what happens.

Hammer leads ahead, breaking out of the narrow alley onto one of Canterlot's main thoroughfares, a battle already raging at full intensity as dozens of panicked upper-class ponies run in terror this way and that.

“Faust almighty!” Hammer swears as he dodges around a changeling cratering the road in front of him. “WHERE'S AIR SUPPORT?!”

“Aether-net's down!” One of the unicorn guards snaps. “I can't reach anypony! And- BLAST!”

The guard goes down, his hoof caught in some kind of green goop. Northwind and Twitchy Artemis stop in concern. A moment later, a changeling lands and gives a menacing hiss, this time to much more intimidating effect when about six of its associates join.

“Oh-” Northwind stumbles back. “Horsea-”

Then every hair on her body begins to prickle, a sensation felt by everypony in the group.

*BOOM!*

A blinding flash of light and a clap of thunder later and the seven changelings that had been clustered together collapse in a smoldering heap. There's a blur overhead that resolves into Stormcrow pulling up and away. Several black blurs follow her a second later in chase.

“HAH!” her voice can be heard over the roar of her passing. “That's why I'm a WONDERBOLT, NAGS! Name's not STORMCROW for nothing!”

Stormcrow continues to climb in an arc towards the sun before gracefully rolling vertical, then she drops back into a dive. Several reports of thunder sound from above and the changelings that had been chasing her go down in flames. She comes down and half-flies, half canters on her hind legs into the group, her fore hooves covered half way up to her shoulders with cloud. A burst of lightning arcs between her hooves and a full-fledged bolt lances out right past Hammer as another changeling tries to get the drop on him.

“Don't let them push you around!” she snaps as she takes flight again. “There's a lot of them, but they're WIMPS!”

“We're going to have to take them,” Stonewall announces to the group.

“Madam Stonewall,” Hammer turns. “You can't be serious.”

“We don't exactly have a choice,” the earth mare points out. “We'll never make it to safety like this.”

“You can't possibly think we can fight this many,” Hammer argues.

“I am, and we are,” Stonewall declares. “Now are you a Guardspony or a coward?”

“Eh-” Hammer blinks and then shakes his head. “We are so going to lose...”

“Don't count me out just yet,” Stonewall smirks. “This is MY city... And I didn't get my position as head of city services by rolling over every time somepony tried to make my job hard. ...Crystal!”

“Yes ma'am?” Crystal Clear asks.

“Take the left flank,” Stonewall instructs. “Lace, take the right flank. Grab anything that isn't bolted down.”
“Hunter, Seeker,” Hammer catches on. “Front and back. Stormcrow, you're on air support. Make up for that formation you missed and depending on how things go I may forget I saw you today.”

“Roger!” Stormcrow cracks a vicious grin as she looks at other approaching changelings. “My Sky.”

The mares and guardsponies form a loose circle around their newly summoned stallions. The changeling army, now fully terrorizing the capital takes note of the formation and turns almost as one. Several dozen charge in, almost immediately half of them fall to to a crazy branching bolt of lightning that grounds itself on a nearby flagpole. The ones who don't get struck drop low and charge in, immediately receiving a magic bolt to the face from one of the unicorn guards.

Seeing this, the swarm begins amassing for a real fight. Hissing menacingly as they do so. On the street below, a brown stallion with an hour glass cutie mark goes running by being chased by his own group of attackers.

The swarm breaks, dodging around as they try to break through Stormcrow's vicious lightning magic.

About two dozen prepare to jump the group at once.

“Crystal?” Lady Stonewall glances at the younger unicorn. “Be a dear and give these brutes a Princess Luna Special.”

“With pleasure,” Crystal Clear smirks and calmly clears her throat.

Several changelings stop right in front of her and grin to each other before they all burst into flame and come out exact copies of her. Crystal pauses and swipes a hoof through her mane.

“Wow, do I really look like that? I need to have my mane done. That summoning spell made it all... frazzed.”

Her copies just blink in confusion.

“Oh and-”

“HUZZAH!”

All the changelings directly in front of her and then some are blown over by the wall of sound so solid it hits like a ton of bricks. Behind her, Restless Coyote drops to the ground, cringing in pain.

“Was that-” Hammer looks at Crystal in shock. “Was that the Royal-”

“YES,” Stonewall interrupts. “She's been working on it ever since the princess returned. Now, places everypony, I don't think they're going to leave us alone just yet...”

As if on cue, several changelings land, this time keeping a more cautious distance. More start backing them up, followed by a third group landing on the other side of the group.

The next few minutes would go down in history as one of the strangest battles Canterlot had ever seen. Over five-hundred changelings attacking a group numbering fewer than twenty ponies, and the swarm of attacking insects falling to bolts of lightning from a lone Wonderbolt, concussive walls of sound and bolts of magic and thrown items from unicorns, and finally any that got through being physically smacked around by a couple of angry earth ponies. However, quantity has a quality all its own, and nopony can keep up their defenses forever.

“HUZZAH!” Crystal Clear coughs after having projected her voice at phenominal volume over six-dozen times. “Anypony got some water?”

“There's too many of them!” Hammer growls to Lady Stonewall. “We can't hold out like this, we have to make a break for it!”

“We can't!” Northwind interrupts. “We've got an injured pegasus with us!”

“I can't keep this up forever!” Lace Curtain pulls a piece of gutter off the side of a building and uses it to smack a changeling away from her. “Forty-seven by the way...”

“Keep trying,” Lady Stonewall instructs. “If they want to get at us, we're going to make them earn every step!”

“Not to be rude Ma'am” one of the unicorn guards interrupts. “But we're trained for this kind of thing, and honestly, we're bucked.”

Stormcrow rockets overhead, weaving in and out as green changeling magic nip past her. She turns hard, trying her best to take more shots, but the numbers dogging her have reached critical levels. She does... something, that somehow manages to corkscrew her behind her assailants before hitting the group with lightning. Immediately after, she breaks away and lands in the middle of the group.

“It's no good,” she gasps for air. “I zap one, two more take its place! There's just no end to these things!”

“We've got to fall back!” Hammer insists.

“There's nowhere to fall back TO,” Stonewall argues.

“We can't stand in the open!” Hammer retorts.

“We can't fight them off if they trap us either!” Stonewall abandons her fight to argue with the guardspony.

“We can't make a last stand lik-” Hammer begins but is suddenly interrupted.

“ENOUGH!”

To everypony's surprise, this doesn't just stop the argument, but every changeling still attacking freezes stock still before quickly jumping back. After a few seconds of scurrying, they all line up along the roads. The immediate area goes deathly quiet though the sounds of battle still echo in the distance. The reason becomes clear after a moment as Mayfly comes trotting calmly up the street. Every changeling she passes bows slightly as she walks up to the group and stops. After a few moments to look the group over, she turns to address one of the seemingly random bug-ponies nearby.

“TK421,” she begins commandingly. “What's this?”

The 'random' changeling she'd been looking at glances back and forth for a moment before answering.

“Just a small pocket of resistance we're taking care of,” it answers. “Nothing you need be concerned over.”

Mayfly glances back up at the group, then looks around at the number of dazed and unconscious changelings that had already been felled by a token set of guards and some mares.

“Some resistance,” she states with just a hint of sarcasm, then sighs. “How many are down?”

“Only a couple hundred,” the drone replies. “Light injuries at most. We've been holding back to try and wear them down.”

“Good,” Mayfly nods. “Seems you're not a total idiot.”

The changeling then waves a hoof dismissively.

“Take the number four battalion and move to reinforce mother's personal guard,” she commands. “Feed if you must, but don't gorge yourselves like a bunch of grubs.”

“What about these ponies?” the drone asks in confusion.

“I'll handle them,” Mayfly comments flippantly.

“What?” the drone blinks. “But... Lady Mayfly, they just took down over 400 of our troops. Surely you don't think-”

“I think a LOT more than you do TK421,” Mayfly glares at the drone next to her. “Now grab your unit and GO. That's an ORDER.”

The drone glances back at the group, then at Mayfly. Some form of unspoken command sets those of the swarm that can move into motion and they all take to the air at once.

Mayfly continues to stand there, a seemingly smug look on her face even as something in the distance behind her suddenly flashes.

“What was that?” one of the changelings asks.

Mayfly turns to look even as an expanding bubble of pink glowing light comes bursting out of one of the towers. The changeling freezes in terror as do the other changelings as it comes racing towards them at incredible speed.

Within' seconds it's upon the group. The changelings find themselves being forcefully ejected from the city at nearly the speed of sound. As the wave passes over the group, you guys feel as if you'd been struck by a truck, but the feeling subsides almost immediately and you're only knocked on your haunches.

Surprisingly, Mayfly fares about the same. She's knocked across the street by the force of the magic, but it quickly drops her after a moment, depositing her roughly into a water collection barrel below a gutter drain.

Silence falls once the screaming of changelings fades into the distance. It is broken after about a minute by Hammer as he looks around at the now nearly empty street.

“What just happened?”

And that was the two largest GM posts. We made it to round 10 and I was in the process of writing round 11 when Calculus destroyed me. But that's more or less the source of at least Nora and Crystal Clear. Built to be high-interaction characters for this RP.

Author's Note

As an aside, I was actually naming rounds to an extent.

001: First you learn to walk.
002: Then you learn to talk.
003: Now RUN!

Frame Shift

Anyone Play Elite: Dangerous? A full-scale Milky-Way galaxy with a navigation mechanic that is truly what space simulation gaming always should have been. Too bad it requires a robust back-end to simulate at the scale it does. I'd love to build a single-player game off the concept, but with classic empire-building gameplay to drive goals. But we still get some stunning visuals. Either ships, or space itself.

This is part of a concept I imagine where Rarity gets herself in a little over her head, and has to make her way in the galaxy before she can make her way home. Her first Frame Shift.

“You're lucky,” the human commented idly as he passed through the security door to the hangar. “Most people don't get called to meet Emperor Duval in person. Usually it's just some liason passing a message along with orders. Orders typed up by some secretary with a digital signature.”

Rarity did her best to shrug as she followed her chauffeur. Weeks working cargo loading having taught her to move briskly if she wanted to keep up with the gate of the longer-limbed beings.

“What can I say Darling?” she responded to his conversational tone in kind. “I'm just-”

And then she got a look at the pilot's ship.

“Oh my...”

The human stopped, turning back to look at the unicorn as she tilted her head, examining the large vessel for several seconds. Rarity honestly didn't know spaceships could look the way this one did. Her time on the station was spent staring at the flank-end of giant pizza-boxes and shapes better suited being made by the students in Ms. Cheerilee's class. But this...

“Imperial Clipper,” the human said. “A bit difficult to get one's hands on, but gorgeous none-the-less.”

“I'll say,” Rarity continued in an awestruck voice. The curves, smooth and glossy finish to the metal, highlights in all the right places. If the ships were clothing, most of what Rarity had helped load to this point would be muddy work boots, and this 'Clipper' was a Gala Dress. If the inside was anything like the outside – and in rarity's recent experience that tended to be the case – she was in for a treat.

With an excited skip in her step, Rarity quickly trotted forward, passing the human as she headed towards the boarding steps on the front gear.

“I simply MUST see the interior,” she spoke hastily. Behind her, the pilot laughed a little.

On board, Rarity was not disappointed. The theme of graceful curves and accent lighting remained, joined by molded rubber trims and an emphasis on interior space. It was flying luxury.

“Absolutely gorgeous,” she agreed to the pilot's earlier statement. “If only I were back home... I've ideas for an entire new line of dresses.”

“And here I thought you didn't even wear clothes,” the pilot joined her on the deck, making his way towards the control seat. “You wander around without the slightest hint at modesty.”

Rarity rolled her eyes, having gotten that same response out of every human she'd had longer than five minutes of conversation with... Which considering most found her interesting and adorable enough to try and prolong a conversation as much as possible, was everyone.

“Dear,” she began, trotting towards the second seat. “Just because I don't wear clothes, doesn't mean I DON'T WEAR CLOTHES.”

A glance at the chair made for human ergonomics ilicited a snort of annoyance from the mare.

“After all, a lady must accessorize properly... And how do you expect me to sit in this seat?”

“As best as you can,” the pilot replied with a glance. “I was told I was transporting an alien to Kamadhenu. I wasn't told I was going to accommodate her in the cabin or that I would have to worry about making them comfortable. I'm just a package guy.”

“Well,” Rarity huffed. “So much for a comfortable trip then.”

“Don't worry,” the pilot tried to sooth the unicorn as he strapped himself in. “The Dynasty rides pretty smooth. You shouldn't have to worry. Even if we get interdicted, the Clipper is the fastest ship in use.”

“What do you mean, 'interdicted',” Rarity asked.

“Nothing for you to worry your cute alien face about,” her chauffeur smirked. “Now I suggest you at least hold on to the chair until we're clear. The ride's smooth, but it's not without a few predictable bumps.”

“Right,” Rarity shook her head and grabbed the side panel of the seat she stood next to. A second later, there was a jolt as the ship's platform began sliding forward. After a second, it stopped, jolting again as it began ascending into the docking bay proper. Once in place, Rarity felt the platform lock through her hooves. Her pilot went through several checks speaking into a commlink and informing dock control of their immediate departure.

“Departing in five...” he informed her.

Not that many seconds later, there was a jolt, and Rarity felt the deck rise against her hooves.

“SHIP RELEASED.” a loud, posh feminine voice announced from seemingly everywhere. “ENGINES ENGAGED.”

The pilot made swift and smooth motions as the vessel began to move forward through the station with a gentle hum.

“LANDING GEAR RETRACTED.” the informative voice commented.

Rarity examined her surroundings outside the ship for the first time as they crossed the bay. They were inside some kind of cylindrical space, docking platforms on the floor, walls and ceiling. To the untrained eye, it was a mess of boxes and glowing holographic numbers. But she recognized the simple layout quickly enough... Though placing things on the ceiling seemed a bit... Odd?

“Looks like someone didn't get out of the mail slot fast enough,” her pilot suddenly commented, pointing at what Rarity was certain used to be one of those 'pizza box' ships spinning gently to one side.

“Oh my,” the unicorn brought a hoof to her muzzle in shock. “Do you think the poor dear's okay?”

“Maybe,” the pilot shrugged. “Maybe not. Everyone gets stuck in the mail slot at least once. Expensive mistake, and they use lethal force to clear it.”

Rarity bit her lip in anxiety. What if they got stuck, the 'mail slot' didn't look very large.

However, thankfully, her human pilot made no errors slipping through the entrance to the docking bay and passing into open space. Not for the first time, Rarity found herself looking around in awe. Before her was effectively the night sky with a planet lazily floating about in the distance. She'd seen it from her sleeping quarters on the station, but never where it wasn't moving constantly thanks to the rotation of said station.

“More... Ideas,” she commented quietly. The human ignored her, turning the ship about as they rumbled along. A small display he was messing with showed thousands of small dots arranged in a spiral pattern that he quickly sorted through, selecting something and closing the window.

“Course plotted,” he announced. “It'll be about thirty jumps to Khamadenu and I'll be dropping you off Couper Hub. Should be no more than an hour, assuming no idiots think they can chase down a clipper. So sit back and enjoy. This is the best part of the ride."

With that, the human reached out and pressed a button. There was a small, but distinct beep.

“FRAME SHIFT DRIVE CHARGING,” the informative Princess Luna wannabe announced. At the same time, Rarity felt the rumble of something deep and powerful begin to build in the deck below her hooves. The sound worried her for a moment, but the human seemed undisturbed by it, so she chose to accept it as normal.

A moment later, the sound reached a creshendo and the information voice popped on again.

“FOUR.”

“THREE.”

“TWO.”

“ONE.”

As the voice counted, the rumble turned into a high pitched whine that reminded Rarity of Pinkie Pie learning she was throwing a birthday party for some VIPs for the first time. It was accompanied by a sound like that of tearing paper, and a light show in front of the ship that looked as if the world around them was being pulled into a black point.

“ENGAGE.”

'BAM!'

The world snapped, rushing past them in an indescibable blur. One moment they were in space, the next they were... Somewhere else. Lights zipped past, strange clouds drifted by, and Rarity could swear she heard whispers on the edge of her hearing. The ship itself rocked slightly like a carriage caught in turbulence, but it wasn't anything the unicorn couldn't handle.

No sooner was Rarity getting used to this sight then there was a second loud crack followed by a winding-down kind of noise.

And a star flying right at her face.

“YEEK!”

Rarity dove behind the chair as if it could protect her from the giant fireball.

It took a few seconds further before she realize she hadn't been thrown into a sun, and that the human was laughing like Rainbow Dash after a particularly nasty prank.

“Tha-ha-ha-hat... Reac-tion,” he shook. “What, have you never done a frame shift before?”

Rarity took a few more seconds to get her heart under control, shooting the pilot an annoyed glare before she answered.

“Last time I was on board a ship,” she snapped. “I was stuck in the cargo hold for hours. I didn't know what was going on, or that it was so... surprising.”

“You get used to it,” the human replied as he too calmed down. “After a while, the whole thing just becomes routine.”

“Indeed,” the Unicorn slowly retook her position. “So long as we don't get cooked to a cinder, I'll take your word for it.”

“Just to warn you, we're going to get closer to that star. So don't panic on me again, it's safe.”

“What ever for?” Rarity asked honestly as the ship seemed to zip forward, making the huge object seem smaller and closer than it really was. Suddenly there was a click and a strange sound as the pilot pulled the ship level with the horizon of the blazing inferno.

“FUEL SCOOPING,” Not-Luna announced.

“It's how we refuel between jumps,” the pilot informed Rarity. “FSD Hyperspace jumps eat fuel by the ton. Luckily, we can pick it up by the ton as well just by skimming the corona of a star while in supercruise. Without fuel scoops, getting anywhere in space would be a lot more troublesome and painful.”

“FUEL SCOOPING COMPLETE.”

The clipper pitched up again, aligning itself with a marker projected on the canopy glass as they began to accelerate away from the star with a telltale hum.

“FUEL SCOOP, DISENGAGED.”

Click-beep.

“FRAME SHIFT DRIVE CHARGING.”

Rarity watched the information displays this time as the rumble built. The ship reached its crescendo once more, and then like before, reality seemed to warp before it snapped past them, dumping them once more into the strange not-space that would be more at home as Discord's back yard.

After about fifteen seconds of this, the ship returned to what Rarity could only assume was the real world with a crack, a star once more racing at them. But this time, the unicorn stood her ground, watching as just as soon as it appeared, the giant ball of flame slowed to a halt a distance in front of them.

“Nothing to it,” the pilot commented idly, taking the ship towards the star ahead.

“FUEL SCOOPING.”

Rarity said nothing, opting to watch the process. Part of her mind wondering why they were staring at a sun and not going blind from how bright it should have been.

Once finished, the ship pulled out, aiming into the void before the same announcement, the same countdown, and the same un-space zipped past them. Once the shock wore off a bit more, Rarity realized just how simple the procedure really was to the human. Jump, fuel, charge, jump. Each instance, they covered the distance between stars, a distance she didn't care to comprehend, even if she could.

As they flew away from one star, Rarity watched as little white dots in the distance drifted by. The void in front of them faded from a wall of black with a few white dots, to a vivid canvas of color and light, showing off the galaxy beyond in a manner that would put one of Luna's night skies to shame.

The jumps blurred together. They were moving with a speed no Equestrian before her could comprehend. If Twilight were here, she'd likely be talking the Unicorn's ear off about the energies and technologies that must be required. It was enough to overwhelm any pony.

But at the same time... At the same time, it was beautiful.

“So many ideas,” Rarity muttered quietly to herself, admiring a planet as it closed in on them and growing in size to fill the viewport.

Then the ship shook.

'BANG!'

Rarity nearly jumped out of her fur as a giant, sphear-ended cylindrical shape suddenly appeared in front of them with a sound like that of a sonic-rainboom.

“And, arrived,” her pilot announced casually as the ship made noises akin to spinning objects winding down. Rarity brought her free hoof up to her chest to still her beating heart once more. She glanced around, wondering where the time went. Was that really an hour? How far had they gone? How fast had they been going?

Another part of the unicorn's mind had a completely different question in mind.

Could they do that again?

Author's Note

So much detail to describe for just doing an FSD hyperjump.

Daring Do and the Frozen God

Author's Note

Just reading some DD based fics as of late. Needed to kill an idea and put its trophy on display.

Daring Do and the Frozen God

It was the voice that woke me.

“-on't let you get away with this!”

Not that one.

“Ah, but Miss Do, I already have!”

That's the one. It sounded like someone who gargled with marbles and subsisted on a diet of machine oil enriched with helium bubbles.

“HE is already reviving! And there is NOTHING you can do about it!”

I wanted to smack it. But I just couldn't muster the will to move.

“We'll see about THAT!”

What? Me smacking the voice or... Wait.

There was the sound of soft impacts, like stones striking leather, or some such ruckus. As that went on, I tried to piece together why this was so wrong. Everything felt cold, and I could swear there was a reason there was nothing wrong with that. If anything, something was wrong with being able to hear anyone in my-

My eyes snapped open as my thoughts started to catch up. Unfortunately, I found a few things wrong with that.

First one being, light.

It burned.

I snarled in pain, or would have if my chest would obey my orders. Instead, I let loose a hacking moan, cool fluid running down my face.

“It LIVES!” the marble and helium voice cackled, punctuated by an entirely overzealous laugh of victory. Honestly, if only it would shut up. “Now you will finally meet your DESTINY!”

“I don't know,” the other voice, more feminine and slightly cocky declared. “Seems like your sleeping god isn't much of a morning pony. Maybe once I take care of you, a few lullabies and it'll be like none of this ever happened.”

I really need to be in the now.

Blinking, I tried to ignore the burning of light. Orange light, flickering from torches. A few more blinks and I could see the room I was in.

…

What did they DO to the the place?!

I spat the last of the fluid from my lungs and took a deep breath, sitting up as my body protested quietly. The scuffle between the two voices silenced as I did so, a quiet gasp emanating from somewhere in front and below. A few more blinks revealed them to be the local sapients. Ponies, if I recall. One was a winged flier with yellow fur and a two-toned gray mane. The other was an earthen color with a horn and a blue mane. They were both covered in scratches and bruises... At least, I think they were. I wasn't familiar with their anatomy to make a call on that.

“Ugh...” I moaned, testing my voice out a little.

The horned pony, unicorn if I'm not mistaken, scrambled to prostrate himself in front of me.

“Master,” he groveled.

Master?

What?

“Ugh...” I repeated, reaching my hand behind my neck to stretch my arm. “How long was I OUT?”

“Master,” the unicorn repeated in a reverent tone. “I have woken you from your thousand year slumber as was you will.”

Thousand year-!?

“Thousand years?” my voice boomed unexpectedly with my shock. I was supposed to be woken up after only TEN years. That's standard procedure!

“Yes my master,” the unicorn continued to bow in an increasingly uncomfortable display. “As was prophecised in the scrolls, I have awoken you from your slumber so that you may cast your judgment upon Equestria, and the world.”

“Huh...” I commented, ignoring most of what the unicorn was saying. He seemed a bit out there. About that moment, a knot in my neck made itself known. I let out a mighty groan as I worked at it, stretching my arms and twisting my head until it popped.

“Oh,” I relaxed at the sensation, casting a glance at the... Pegasus? ...that was scowling at me. “That's better. You know, a thousand years can really give you SUCH a crick in the neck.”

The pegasus only snorted, ears flattening and leaning back slightly as if I'd smacked her. I think it was a 'her'. The unicorn had 'annoying male voice of marbles and helium' covered.

“If you think you can destroy Equestria, you've got another thing coming,” she spoke up as if this was an entirely different conversation.

“What?” I asked.

“Ignore her,” the unicorn snarled as he stood to face her. “She is but a bump in the path to true power. A mere annoyance named Daring Do, who will soon be an ex-annoyance.”

“Awww...” the pegasus broke her stone-faced glare to cast a condescending look at the unicorn. “That's cute. Colts move so fast these days. Not even kissed me yet and I'm already your 'ex'. I'd make a crack about first dates, but this adventure is close enough.”

The unicorn only growled in response.

I think I'm missing some context here...

“Master,” the unicorn continued to growl. “Allow me to do the honors and remove this FILTH-” the pegasus took offense to that descriptor “-from your sight. Grant me your power, and I'll even make a show of it.”

The Pegasus, what did he call her, Daring Do? She tensed, as if expecting to be jumped any moment.

“Alright,” I began, she tensed even further, wings deploying for takeoff as my arms raised.

“Time out,” I announced, reaching out with my will and lifting the two of them into the air.

“Horseapples!” Daring snapped as I pulled the two of them firmly in front of me, but just out of range to do anything other than flail at me uselessly. “The scroll said nothing about super levitation powers!”

“Hah!” the unicorn scoffed even as he dangled in front of me. “You think a frozen god's full arsenal of powers would be on display on a mere SCROLL?! And you were calling ME the amateur earlier!”

“You ARE the amateur!” Daring snapped. “You set off every single death trap in this place in your mad scramble to get here first! You're lucky half of them were already too far gone to actually go off properly, and that I'd rather have your corpse on my conscience for the rest!”

“It just goes to show how much of an amateur fool you really are!” Marbles- I'm going to call him Marbles -responded. “To let your enemy live-”

His voice didn't get any less annoying in the last five minutes. I flexed my hand and increased the pressure of my power.

“-ack!” he choked as my power squeezed his throat.

“What do you mean, DEATH TRAPS?” I asked, turning my gaze on Daring.

“Uh... The traps that protect your crypt from intruders?” she answered in the form of a question.

“Crypt?” I answered in kind. Again, my eyes swept the torch-lit room, and suddenly the … 'décor' made sense.

Unceremoniously dropping the two ponies, I let my hand rest on the bridge of my nose as I groaned.

“I'm going to kill them,” I uttered quietly. “I'm going to find those prank-pulling princesses, and I'm going to kill them.”

As if this was some other conversation, Daring immediately jumped in front of me, snorting in an adorably futile manner as she blocked what I could only assume was the way out.

“Over my dead body,” she growled.

“Ever the fool,” Marbles coughed yet laughed. “Did you not just feel what he did to us with a THOUGHT? He's going to cut through you like a hot knife through butter! Then he's going to kill the princesses and bring Equestria to its knees!”

Okay, I'm STILL lost.

“What are you two TALKING ABOUT?!” I snapped. Both froze and stared at me in silence as my voice echoed through the chambers into the distance.

“It's like we're in two different places here,” I continued in annoyance. “I mean- Look. I just woke up, and you're going on about wiping each other out, death traps, and bringing Equestria to its knees...? Who do you think I am? A God of Destruction?”

Silence continued for a few more seconds before...

“But the scrolls said-” Marbles muttered.

“What SCROLLS?” I asked. “Context! I need it.”

“The Iron Box Scrolls,” Darring spoke informatively, her eyes locked on my face. “Recovered from the ruins of Castle Everfree. They speak of the frozen god, sealed away by the princesses a thousand years ago, and suspected of being the reason princess Luna lost her mind for a time.”

“The scrolls also tell of the power of the frozen god,” Marbles continued. “That the Key would call to those worthy and that in helping release him, would grant them the power to reshape the land with fire and lightning.”

“So in short,” Daring continued. “Releasing you means the destruction of Equstria, and I CAN'T allow that.”

I blinked in silence, processing that last part.

“I don't want to destroy Equestria,” I stated matter-of-factly.

Silence. Then:

“What?” Daring asked.

“I don't want to destroy anything,” I continued. “I'm just angry Celestia and Luna made my chamber into some kind of silly Crypt and then let me oversleep... by a MILLENIUM!”

“What?” Marbles gulped, dashing over to a bad in the corner. “That can't be right! The scrolls-”

My power flexed as I reached out, grabbing both Marbles and the bag up in my grip, and pulling them back to me. Reaching in, I quickly found what he was rooting around for and pulled it out, dropping the back on the ground.

It only took a few seconds to identify the 'scroll' Marbles had been referencing.

It wasn't a scroll, or a prophecy, or anything of the kind.

“See for yourself,” the unicorn panted, pointing at the old and crinkled synthetic paper in my grasp. “Unless I'm mistaken, it says-”

“For emergency cryo-pod release,” I stated calmly. “Press the EMO button located under panel C.”

“-that th- what?”

“In the event of power failure, use hand crank to charge power cell.” I added. “Hand crank is located under panel H. Use caution when removing panel H, as cryogenic liquid may be present.”

“Is that-” Daring began, her eyes growing.

“This is the instruction manual for my cryo pod,” I stated bluntly. Then looked at the deteriorating material it was made of. “Well... What's left of it. I can only assume someone looted it at some point and since ponies don't write in Standard, you garbled the translation. And from the sounds of it, garbled it BAD.”

Marbles, equally shocked, now struggled in the air.

“But,” he desperately squawked. “But! The temple! The death traps!”

“Not my doing,” I shrugged. In front of me, Daring was now trying to suppress laughter and rapidly failing.

“The Power!” Marbles continued. “You have the power to levitate us with a-”

“You can do that too,” Daring snapped around laughs. “You're a unicorn, remember?”

“But he's so much stronger!” Marbles was all but hysterical.

“I'm a psionic,” I stated bluntly, turning to Daring, now wiping tears from her eyes. “So what's with marbles here? He seems to be of the killy-murder kind of summon bigger fish.”

“Eh,” Daring wing-shrugged. “Typical whack-job. Wants to destroy Equestria and remake it in his image. I'm sure you know the type.”

“Doomsday cultist,” I grumbled, glancing at the unicorn. “Waste of oxygen.”
With a flick of the wrist, I propelled marbles across the room, he yelped before hitting the wall with a thud and sliding down. A moment later, he rose to his hooves, casting a glare before racing out through an arch way as fast as he could.

“Are you sure it's a good idea to let him go,” Daring asked. “He did pretty much succeed in almost destroying Equestria.”

“Did you disable the death traps?” I asked.

An ear piercing shriek came to us from down the hall, the sound of stone-on-stone, splashing water, and snarling animals mixed in with it. Daring winced.

“I was busy,” she shrugged.

“So,” Daring retracted her toasted marshmallow from the camp fire we'd been sitting around for the last few hours. “After your ship crashed in the Everfree, Celestia and Luna helped recover the cryogenic pod from the wreckage and set it up in that cave to protect it from the weather. And your plan was to just sleep until your distress beacon prompted a rescue ship to come pick you up.”

“They were supposed to wake me in ten years,” I shook my head. “But from what you're telling me, the whole Nightmare Moon thing happened and I was kind of forgotten. The pod cult must have happened some time after that and they took the beacon and the manual.”

“And built the temple and death traps,” Daring shrugged. “Man, we all kind of screwed that one up.”

“I don't blame you,” I replied. “At least someone got around to waking me up. Now I just need to figure out where the heck the beacon went.”

“Well,” Daring pondered over a mouth full of toasted, melty sugar. “There is the changeling legend of the 'chirping stone' south of the badlands. Nopony's ever talked about noise making rocks, so there's been very little to go on for that one. Maybe I've been thinking about that one all wrong. Changelings can sense some pretty strange things, and from what you told me, there might be more to it than imagining a stone that sounds like a cricket. You up for some adventure?”

I glanced up at the pegasus.

“I've been a sleep for a thousand years,” I stated bluntly. “Anything to stretch my legs.”

One Thousand Years Ago, there was a war that changed the world...

What really happened between Celestia and Luna a thousand years ago? Did the younger sister spontaneously just SNAP one day and decide to bring about eternal night? Or was something more sinister at work? Word of God had suggested that Luna had been transformed into the nightmare with a spell that could not be reversed. But, who cast that spell? Were they equipping her for battle?

Here is what 'really' happened all those years ago...

"Oh her?"

"Yes. I know her..."

"She's my sister after all... It happened long ago."

...

"Did you know, there are three kinds of ponies?"

"Those who have strength."
"Those who live to fly."
"And those who can read the flow of magic."

"Those are the three."

"But her?"

PROJECT EQUINE

[PRINCESS, WE CAN NOT AUTHORIZE A RETREAT! INTERCEPT THEM!]

We figured you'd say that! THIS will cost thou extra!

"A thousand years ago, there was a war that engulfed the world."

[THERE'S A LARGE SCALE BATTLE TAKING PLACE NEAR EVERFREE CASTLE!]

THE SKY IS PACKED WITH PONIES!

[PRINCESS! GET OVER THERE AND PROVIDE COVER!]

Hey Sister, this kind of thing is why they need us!

"She was a pony they called Midnight Wing Luna."

"This mare was her sister."

[GRIFFON FIGHTERS APPROACHING! TAKE THEM DOWN AND SECURE OUR AIR SUPERIORITY!]

They've come to greet us with the dawn!

"SHE is the Mare I seek."

[THEY'RE FASTER THAN ANYTHING WE'VE COME ACROSS!]

These are Everfree Fighters! Stay sharp!

A horn AND a wing, I've heard of this pony...
It's a great place for you filthy mares to be buried!

[WARNING! UNKNOWN PONY APPROACHING!]

This is Everfree! Discord's words hold no meaning!

"And so... With the words of Midnight Wing..."

"The curtain rises."

"It was a Cold and Snowy Day."

ACE COMBAT LUNAR: THE MIDNIGHT WAR

We WILL survive Celestia!

The sun peaked out from behind the moon, free from the darkness for the first time in twelve hours. Celestia breathed a sigh of releif as he guard flew up to join her.

"We did it!" he announced. "Now the war is finally over!"

The guard's worn armor clanged slightly as he pushed himself up and over the princess, leveling off on her right.

"I've got a mare back at the castle," he continued. "I'm going to propose to her when we get back. I even got her flowers."

"WARNING!" a telepathic shout ripped though their minds. "Unknown pony approaching at high speed! BREAK! BREAK!"

There was a flash of light as the guard tried to jump in front of his princess, and suddenly, from a cloud, a vicious bolt of lightning lashed out. There was barely even time to think, let alone react before it struck the hapless pegasus head on. He didn't even manage to scream before he was knocked clean out of the sky.

Celestia's pupils shrank to prinpricks in horror and shock as she helplessly watched her most loyal guard plummet lifelessly towards the canopy of the Everfree Forest.

After several long moments of disbelief, her eyes drifted back to the clouds ahead where the bolt had come from. There was somepony out there... It was a mare, midnight black, clad in armor. The most shocking part was that it had both wings and a horn...

"So..." the telepathic voice caught her attention. "Have you found a reason to fight yet..."

"Sister?"

!!!?

"LUNA"

Operation: ....
1510 hours. 31 December
Everfree Forest

Eagle Eye: Confirmed continued partial eclipse of the sun! Celestia, continue your mission! Engage!

EE: Stand by, we're analyzing the situation.

LUNA: Here comes the night...

EE: Keep your sister busy. I'll run a magic analysis and fill you in A.S.A.P.

LUNA: Those who recieve the most praise start to feel they can do no wrong.

LUNA: I bet you do too sister...

EE: Phase one analysis complete... Magical power from your sister detected. She's controlling the eclipse!

LUNA: Do you see any friends up here? What have friends given us?

LUNA: We're going to start over from scratch. That's what Eternal Night is for.

LUNA: There's only one way sister. You've got to fight for what you believe in!

LUNA: They don't actually care about us. They just want us to run the cycle. That's all there is to it.

LUNA: It's time...

EE: DANGIT! Confirm total eclipse of the sun!

LUNA: Too bad sister...

LUNA: This twisted game needs to be reset.

LUNA: We'll start over from zero with Eternal Night. And trust the future generations to appreciate it.

EE: This is Haywax! Listen up Celestia!

EE: We've completed analysis of your sister's transformation.

EE: Codename: Nightmare Moon.

EE: This mare is protected by a magical defense barrier. Her only weakness is the tip of her horn. You'll have to attack her head-on with the Elements of Harmony.

EE: Go, take down Nightmare. You're the only one who can stop her...

EE: Friendship Element of Magic, I pray for your success...

Nightmare Moon: You and I are opposite sides of the same coin.

NMM: When we face each other, we will finally see our true selves.

NMM: There may be a ressemblance. But we never face the same direction.

EE: Celestia! Go for the tip of her horn! Use the Elements!

NMM: Now we find out who is the better ruler!

NMM: Looks like we both have a lot of power left...

EE: Use the elements from head on!

NMM: Go on!

NMM: Fire your magic COWARD!

NMM: Get ready...

NMM: COME ON!!!!

Celestia blinked as the magic from the Elements struck home. The two princesses were still jousting head on with each other. Nightmare Moon spun one way, prompting the elder sister to twist the other, another burst of Elemental Magic lashing out as she raced past. She could feel the tremendous power she had to stop. It was now or never...

The two passed, less than a wing's length from each other. Celestia could hear her heart beating as the Elements worked their magic. Then they were past each other. Celestia glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the flash of light. Then after a few seconds, a beam of light shot away from the surface, high into the sky above. Then, with a brilliant flash, the moon changed, an image of a unicorn's head imprinting on it.

It began to move at this time, the sun emerging once more from behind the lunar body, it's warming rays cast a glow upon the princess. She continued to fly, shocked at what had just happened. Her own sister, perpatrator of this entire fiasco? It couldn't be. But there was no doubt about it. She knew that magic anywhere. And now she'd...

"Mission accomplished Celestia!" the telepathic voice interrupted her thoughts. "Come on, let's go back to Canterlot. We wouldn't want to keep anypony waiting."

Celestia let herself frown at the elated tone in his voice, but quickly buried it. It couldn't be helped if he was happy. It wasn't his sister that she'd just banished. It was her sister. And his job was simply to help her win.

As she glanced up, a single tear rolled down her face.

"I'll see you again, sister. I will save you."

"Somehow..."

Busta Machine, Sunset Shimmer!

Over on Spacebattles, we've got a thread going based on the Time Loops concept from My Innortal...

I ran into an idea that I just couldn't put down until I ejected it from my mind.

I hope you have enough Hot Blood for this new type of Sunset Shimmer.

The shield had fallen... This loop, Cadance and Shining weren't awake, and so far, things were not looking good for Twilight. Despite her experience, it seemed this time around it seemed Sombra just might win this one. Loathe as she was to admit it, a slight alteration in his traps had caught her off guard. It seemed almost funny to have fallen into such a rut about it. But, there had been worse. Sombra was hardly the most horrific being she'd encountered after all this time.

Still, it was embarrassing to find herself not only tangled up in plunder vines, but also caught in an anti-teleport field. Usually, this kind of trick wouldn't even be a problem. Except there was this feedback loop built in that she was having trouble working through. The more power she tried to use, the stronger it got. Almost like a struggle bind her friend used.

Down below, Sombra swirled and floated his way into the city, a sneer on his face and malice in his eyes as he cast his gaze upon a crystal pony unlucky enough to be closest to him.

The dark lord chuckled as he leaned down at the cowering mare.

"K-k-King S-S.. Sombra," she choked out.

"My crystal slavesss..." the king returned a hiss of satisfaction.

Part of Twilight was curious, even as the exchange went down, she wanted to know what the king would do if, or when he reestablished control of the city. Bad Things, of course, but the academic part of her wanted to know exactly what the king would do. They'd never let him win, ever. What if-

The jolt of a powerful transport magic shot through her body.

Down in the city, Sombra was thrown back when a crystal spire that he'd created shattered. The crystal pony he'd been accosting cringing in terror at the unexpected violent act.

The king snarled in anger as he wiped a shard off his face, his eyes being drawn towards the glowing orange in the corner of his vision.

Even as he did so, crystal ponies around him gasped at the sight of the unicorn floating in front of him. Reared back on her hind legs, hooves crossed in a pose of absolute disdain, a disapproving frown on her face. The mare's brilliant orange and yellow mane billowing above her.

Sombra sneered... The little upstart wanted to fight? Without warning he unleashed his magic, striking down the foal. She wasn't a crystal pony so-

Even as his magic shot out, a pinprick of perfect darkness appeared in front of the mare's horn. Every pony in the field of view watched as the King's attack bounced back, compressed, and was sucked into oblivion in the blink of an eye.

Twilight gaped in surprise at the mare below. Even from here, there was no mistaking that mane.

"Sunset...?" she all but gasped. "But... How-"

"By Rift!" Sunset snapped into the relative silence. "For my bond between myself and my friends... Dimensions are no boundary!"

Nearby, Shining Armor blinked in surprise. He'd never seen this mare in his life.

"Who is she?" he all but mouthed. And it seemed the mare heard him.

"Equestrian Royal Academy Apprentice to the Celestial Throne." she snapped. "Unicorn First Rank Arcane Magister of the Sun under her Highness herself!"

"Sunset Shimmer!"

'This seems oddly familiar...' Twilight frowned.

Down below, Sombra struck once more, his magic being hurled at Sunset in waves. To his surprise, they were batted aside as if nothing by her magic.

"I was a fool," Sunset snapped as Sombra recoiled in shock. "Whether one is an alicorn or not doesn't matter!"

'She isn't...' Twilight couldn't decide on chagrin, or laughter. With a slight grunt, she managed to twist to get a better view of the action below. Sombra was preparing to attack once more, shadows forming into razor sharp crystals.

"One who thinks:" Sunset continued seemingly without concern for the rain of crystalline spears being aimed at her. "'If only I were a princess!' would NEVER meet her true potential! After all..."

There was a flash, and in an instant, the unicorn struck back. Beams of radiance lanced from her horn, shredding the King's dark attacks to nothing. Still, even at that point, Sunset had yet to break pose.

"A pony's true strength rests in her will to believe in herself to the very end!"

Sombra snarled and leapt forward. If magic wasn't going to do this, he'd rip the unarmored fool apart with his own horn.

"Because surely any unicorn," Sunset continued to glare back at the king.

"ANY PONY!" she snapped louder, head tilting slightly and locking eyes with the approaching darkness.

"IS AN ALICORN IN HER HEART!!!"

Twilight wished she could find some popcorn... This was about to get good.

Sunset Shimmer burst into flames, a flash of light that reflected off every crystal surface in the area as arcane fire swirled and wrapped itself about her horn, a miniature star seeming to ignite at the tip.

"FUSION LAAAAAANCE!!!"

Sombra was caught completely off guard, a ray of what seemed to be raw concentrated sunlight slammed into the shadow lord face first, completely reversing his charge into a wild and out of control flight. In a few seconds, the king was hurled clear out of the city and into the tundra and still his body continued to ride the beam, searing in pain as it went. He would have howled if he had time, but even as he sucked in the breath for it, a mountain rose up to greet him violently.

Back in the city, Sunset finished inhaling a breath of her own.

"FLASH!"

Crystal ponies screamed, Twilight squinted her eyes shut, and even as far away as Canterlot, Princess Celestia was startled from her own attentions as a brilliant light, seemingly brighter than the sun, lit the Crystal Empire up in a blinding burst of purest white.

After a few seconds it began to fade in an eerie silence. Those who could still make use of their eyes turned in the direction Sombra had been launched. In the far distance, what had once been one of the bordering Crystal Mountains was now shrouded in a harsh orange ball of fire, rising rapidly into the sky as it dimmed into a huge tower of smoke. Concentric rings of white clouds formed and dissipated around it as it rapidly rose into the stratosphere.

Then, eyes locked on the sight in awe failed to alert ponies to the arrival of the shockwave, many more screamed in terror for a moment as the entire city shook from a colossal 'boom' that cracked windows and kicked up dust.

Finally, after several uneasy seconds of terror, silence fell. Sunset Shimmer remained exactly as she had appeared, reared up on her hind legs, forehooves still crossed.

Not a single crystal pony spoke as the distant smoke cloud began to dissipate in the northern winds. After a minute, and there seemed to be no other activity, a quiet voice piped up from the back of the gathering crowd.

"Did she just annihilate King Sombra?"

Even without the Crystal Heart at the center, the resulting cheer set the tower off.

*************

"So... Your solution to defeating Sombra," Twilight began over a cider. "Was nuclear fusion?"

"You should know better than anypony that the best way to get rid of the darkness is to turn on a light," Sunset smirked back. "I just took that idea to its logical conclusion."

"But nuclear FUSION!" Twilight laughed. "I never would have pegged you as using the 'power of the sun' in the most literal sense possible. I mean..."

"Yes, yes..." Sunset waved it away with a hoof before taking a sip of her mug. "Normally Celestia's shtick... But I figured I'd get the best use of the Light arcane element if I went right to the literal source. But I was pretty sure Celestia would take exception to me Hijacking the actual sun and throwing it at Sombra. So instead I left for Earth early this loop and took some courses in nuclear engineering. I already had enough arcane knowledge to put the whole thing together, so I wasn't really missing out on anything as Celestia's 'Previous Faithful Student'."

"I see..." Twilight smirked. "So what about that entrance of yours? For the longest time I thought I was the only one awake this loop, and then you pop up like that. Actually caught me off guard for a moment. Not too shabby really."

"I've been wanting to do that for over a dozen loops now," Sunset smirked. "I never realized just how good it feels to pull off."

"I see," Twilight then drained her cider before continuing. "Had a run in with Nono, eh?"

"Once you've been bustered..." Sunset grinned. Twilight blinked.

"What?"

"Oh, you didn't know," Sunset snerked. "I didn't go through that loop as any of the buster corps."

"Then..." Twilight pointed a hoof silently.

"I was the space monster," Sunset grinned. "And you don't truly know a Buster Machine until you've been killed by one."