Rainbow Dash zoomed up and down the castle hallway, knocking down lamps and scratching off paint. Two seconds.
"Hey cool a new record!" she cheered to herself. Twilight would probably yell at her later for damaging the castle, but who cared what she thought? She was Rainbow Dash, the best flyer in all Equestria. It was just too bad that Twilight put a protection ward around the castle, otherwise she'd be flying outside. Twilight had said going outside without a guard escort would, "make her a target". Rainbow chuckled at the thought. She didn't need anypony to 'protect' her, they'd just slow her down. With the sheer amount of awesomeness she had, she could kick anypony who tried to mess with her all the way to Manehatten. She could do whatever she wanted, and nopony could tell her otherwise. Certainly not some loser egghead like Twilight. Sure Twilight and the others would take care of pesky details, but Rainbow was the real reason any of their plans worked. Yeah they'd been caught last time, but only because Twilight was too stuck up to just run in and grab the diamond. The only reason Rainbow even stuck around in this stupid castle was because of this sweet "Ruler of Equestria" gig. So called Princess Twilight would deal with any nuisances, and all Rainbow would have to do is sit back and reap the rewards.
Nuisances... like those duplicates of theirs. The other Rainbow Dash was just as fast as her, and maybe even almost as awesome. But for some reason she seemed like she actually cared what the rest of her team wanted. Please. Why should you care about other ponies when you could leave them in the dust without even trying? She reached the end of the hallway, and prepared to take off for another lap. Behind the door, she could hear muffled voices. Curious. She leaned against the door to listen.
"Honestly sometimes I wonder about Rainbow. She seems too weak to even be worthy of wearing an element." Twilight said. Weak? Her? She was the toughest pony around!
"Yeah totally. She's so... slow and dumb too. It's kind of sad to watch really." Was that... Pinkamena?
Rainbow felt herself boil with anger. She kicked open the door violently, causing Twilight to jerk backwards in surprise. Twilight muttered a small, "oops" and disappeared in a flash of purple. Pinkamena simply brushed her long hair out of her eyes and looked at Rainbow with indifference. "SLOW and DUMB?! I'll show you SLOW!" Rainbow yelled angrily. She zoomed toward Pinkamena ready pummel that sorry sad face of hers. "GOTCHA... wait huh?" Rainbow found herself holding empty air.
"Catch me if you can! Or are you too stupid to even do that?" Pinkamena said dryly standing at the other end of the hallway. How did she... nevermind, she'd get what was coming to her. Rainbow had had enough of all these pretentious losers talking down to her. She raced toward Pinkamena, eyes blazing with anger. Pinkamena didn't flinch and simply looked up at her, emotionless. "YOU'RE DEAD!" Rainbow felt her rage multiply exponentially as black bolts shot from her locket. She slammed herself down, right into Pinkamena. "HA, who's slow now PUNK... WHAT?!" Empty air again.
"Best flyer in Equestria? Really?" Pinkamena said sarcastically, standing at the end of a hallway to Rainbow's left. Rainbow stood up, enraged. Her element crackled with dark energy as she charged at Pinkamena once again.
Rarity casually hummed as she trotted back to the treasure room. She had just had a wonderful hooficure and facial at the castle spa, courtesy of the mind-controlled spa ponies. Now it was time to get back to her wonderful, wonderful gems. Ever since Twilight had increased taxes on the citizens, more and more ponies had been giving away their gems to keep from being thrown in Canterlot Dungeon. Perhaps it was the fact that Fluttershy was the new warden. None of this bothered Rarity too much, as long as the bits and gems kept flowing in.
She felt giddy just thinking about all the shiny trinkets she could incorporate into her new dresses. Castle life was so much better than having to steal from or sweet talk a pony every time there was a new gem she liked. Really if ponies would just give her what she wanted things would be so much simpler. Rarity sighed, and used her magic to open the door to her stash.
"Uh oh." a surprised looking Applejack said in a low voice. She had her hooves full of bits, and was shoveling even more into a small sack.
"AHA! I've caught you red hoofed you fiend! Those are my bits. MINE!" Rarity yelled. Applejack grabbed the sack in her mouth and darted out the door. Rarity galloped after her, face red with anger. "THOUGHT I WOULDN'T NOTICE?! I knew for weeks you've been stealing my bits! GET BACK HERE!"
Fluttershy tiptoed toward her bedroom, careful to keep her hoofsteps light. She didn't want to wake the animals just yet. Their surprised and scared faces when she slammed the door open were absolutely adorable. Perhaps today they'd keep working on that dance routine, and if anyone stepped out of line...Fluttershy smiled, relishing the thought. Then the real fun would begin.
She silently made her way up to the door, preparing to throw it open. Inside her room, a familiar voice said, "Go on little guys, come on quickly before she comes back! Not yet Angel we gotta wait for-" BAM.
"Rainbow Dash?!" Fluttershy yelled furiously. "What're you... no NO!" Every single one of her animals was gone. And it wasn't hard to see where they'd went either. Rainbow Dash stood near a wide open window, holding Angel. "DON'T YOU DARE!" Rainbow let the bunny go, and it hopped out the window to freedom. "WHY YOU-"
Rainbow Dash yawned. "Heelllooo, Element of Disloyalty? Serves you right!" she answered, grinning. "Seeya Fluttershy!" In a flash Rainbow flew past Fluttershy out into the hall.
Fluttershy growled in anger and took off after her. Rainbow taunted, "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!" Her element glowed with dark energy, sparking like crazy as Fluttershy flew after Rainbow, her face filled with malice.
Twilight checked the mirror excitedly, hoping the searcher spell had finally found the power dimension. No such luck, but she wasn't worried. Based on the algorithm she'd put into the spell, it would be a maximum of twenty more minutes. Once she finally found the source of the alicorn's magic, nothing could stop her. Immortality itself was within her grasp!
She'd find Derpy and those troublesome duplicates, and make them talk. After a visit from Fluttershy, Twilight was sure Derpy would be more than willing to tell her how to undo the spell that blocked off the dimension that alicorn Twilight and her precious friends came from. She would go from Princess of one world to two. But why stop there? There might be hundreds, even thousands of worlds out there for the taking. She would go from Princess of Disharmony, to RULER OF THE COSMO-
"Twilight thinks she can lead us? Please." Fluttershy said, just outside the lab door.
"Agreed darling. She really has no sense of style. I mean she doesn't even wear trendy shawls. Don't I look fabulous?!" Rarity concurred.
"Um yes Rarity. She is um... so going down! She has such a big um... ego she probably won't even see it coming." Fluttershy plotted. "Um in fact-"
Twilight burst through the lab door, her whole body radiating magic. "PLOTTING TO OVERTHROW ME HUH? NOPONY CAN EVER DEFEAT THE PRINCESS OF DISHARMONY!"
"Yikes!" Rarity gulped. Suddenly Twilight was blinded as Rarity flashed her sparkling shawl right in her face.
"Gah!" Twilight stumbled around as the shine disoriented her. She shot beams of magic in random directions, trying to regain her bearings. When she looked back, both Rarity and Fluttershy were gone. She turned right and saw a door swinging back and forth. To her left she caught Fluttershy rounding the corner. Twilight started toward the right, but Fluttershy stuck her head out from behind the far wall and grinned. So they wanted her to go after Rarity! Well she wouldn't fall for it! Twilight shot a beam at Fluttershy, which the pegasus ducked with a small yelp. "YOU CAN'T RUN! MY POWER IS UNSTOPPABLE!" Twilight galloped after her, not noticing her element glowing with dark magic.
"So ya think Twilight's alicorn plan could really work? Like we'd become immortal n' all?" Applejack asked. She and Pinkamena trotted back to their rooms after a long sojourn in the castle library, looking through family records to see if they were related. Despair and Deceit had a nice ring to it in her opinion. They hadn't gotten any conclusive answer, mostly because Pinkamena would often stop researching and just stare off into the distance, as if she was looking at something far, far away.
"Possibly. Does it really matter? Does anything really matter Applejack?" Pinkamena questioned.
"Yer a real barrel o' laughs ya know that?" Applejack muttered shaking her head. She felt a small breeze behind her and suddenly her head felt... lighter.
Rarity galloped in front of them, Applejack's hat in her mouth. She tossed the jet black hat hat up onto her head and grinned. "This hat looks absolutely gorgeous on me don't you think dear?"
Applejack could feel the anger slowly rising up within her. Nopony NOPONY touched her hat. Ever. Still, she kept her tone even, "Now sugarcube, j-just give that back here right now and ah won't do anything to ya. We can forget this little mistake here ever happened. Just hand it over nice and quick now." She was lying of course. Once Applejack got the hat back, she'd throw all of Rarity's gems down a deep, deep well. If she was lucky Rarity might even dive after them.
"Ha not a chance! This fabulous hat is MINE now!" Rarity scoffed. Before Applejack could react, Rarity galloped down the hall and turned out of sight.
"Greedy little...c'mon lets go catch that weasel!" Applejack said furiously. The Element of Deceit crackled as Applejack's previous lie and now her anger fed it greater and greater amounts of energy.
Pinkamena narrowed her eyes. She shrugged and said, "Fine with me." The two mares galloped after Rarity at top speed.
Twilight anxiously waited in the throne room pacing back and forth under her stealth spell, cast just beside the ornate entrance doors. In no uncertain terms, her friends were risking alot doing this. But this was the only plan they had, and if they didn't stop their counterparts now, they could do untold damage. Sitting next to her, Derpy dutifully kept her eye on her watch. She held up a hoof, "Alright it's been twenty minutes. Send them the signal." Twilight nodded and channeled her magic. "Now we wait." Twilight placed her hoof on her chest, and breathed several times. She had to have absolute focus if this was going to work.
She listened intently, until finally the sound of galloping came from five directions. "They did it!" she exclaimed. Now it was her turn. The galloping got closer. She held her breath. This had to be timed perfectly. Wait for it. Wait...Wait...BANG! Five entrances to the throne room burst open. Twilight concentrated hard, harder than she ever had before. With five flashes her friends teleported beside her. A split second later, three of Trixie's high grade smoke bombs detonated, filling the entire room with thick smog.
A cacophony of coughs followed as everypony inhaled the smoke. Luckily for Twilight, the stealth spell muffled any sound they made. On the other side of the room, Twilight saw a horn glow purple. A sharp whistling filled her ears as a strong wind buffeted the smoke away.
Next to her Applejack finished her last cough. "Thank Celestia that's over." She took off her fake locket and placed it beside her.
Pinkie did a vigorous shake, and her mane went from droopy to poofy in the blink of an eye. She made a flourished bow and smiled. "Acting!"
Fluttershy shuddered, "She almost caught me a couple times there."
Meanwhile in the middle of the throne room, six ponies were really, really angry.
"What the hay are ya tryna pull?! Give me my hat back THIEF!" M-Applejack demanded, all veneer of forgiveness gone.
"I'M a THIEF?! A liar as always! You're the one that stole my BITS! I saw you do it with my own two eyes!" M-Rarity yelled.
M-Applejack stomped a hoof, "I didn't steal no bits ya two timing varmint!"
M-Rainbow grabbed Pinkamena roughly. "SLOW AND DUMB HUH? We'll see who's dumb when I knock you stupid!" Pinkamena raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything.
"YOU. LET. ANGEL. GO." Fluttershy screamed. She then yelled a series of words that Twilight mentally blocked out.
Rainbow turned toward her with a confused look. "Huh? No I-"
"NOPONY OVERTHROWS THE PRINCESS OF DISHARMONY!" M-Twilight's voice was so loud, it made Twilight's ears ring. "You're all traitors, trying to steal the power that's rightfully MINE! It's time I dealt with you, ONCE AND FOR ALL!" Her crackling element enveloped her in a black aura, and she rose from the floor.
"I'm tired of you LOSERS! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" M-Rainbow was lifted off the floor in her own black glow.
"THIEVES! It's MINE! IT'S ALL MINE!"
"There can only be one pony rulin' this town. And that's no LIE!"
"I. Wasn't. Done. Playing. With. ANGEL!" The glow became so bright that Twilight could barely see the six ponies. Beams of dark magic shot out of each element, colliding spectacularly in the middle. A ball of energy crackled at the midpoint, growing larger and larger as the elements struggled against each other. Twilight was forced to avert her eyes from the intense light, as sparks shot out randomly from the magical mass.
Beside her she heard Pinkie muttering. "That can't be right... itchy neck, pinchy knees... NO!"
Twilight felt an unseen force slam against her, pushing her out the doors. She heard a loud BANG as the large throne room doors shut before her. Barely a moment later, a huge explosion shook the entire castle as hard as a 6.0 earthquake. The entire building rumbled loudly as the very foundations of the centuries old building were moved.
Then, as quick as it started, the shaking stopped. Twilight got up unsteadily, her hooves still wobbling. She looked around, and saw her friends slowly getting to their hooves as well. All her friends... minus Pinkie. Panic began to swell in Twilight's chest. "Pinkie?! Where is she where is she?!" Twilight telekinetically threw the throne room doors open, and galloped in.
In the middle of the room, Twilight saw the unmoving bodies of the M-Mane 6. The thrones had been blown to bits, and black scorch marks were all over the walls and floor. Twilight frantically scanned the room for Pinkie.
"There!" Rarity pointed to Twilight's left. Pinkie was lying on the floor, totally still. Everypony galloped over to her as fast as they could.
Twilight heard a door slam open and tiny footsteps. "Can't a dragon get any sleep around... oh it's you lot again!" Spike said. He turned and looked at the rest of his gang. "Blimey..."
"Unless you want me to start lecturing again, I suggest you put your claws up and join your friends over there." Derpy said sternly.
"Alright, alright. Yeesh." Spike put his hands up and walked to the middle of the room. He prodded M-Twilight with a claw. "Good gravy! She's breathin!"
That gave Twilight hope. She gently turned Pinkie over, and sure enough, her chest moved ever so slightly. Her breathing was rattled and erratic, and her lips were completely black. Derpy trotted over and examined her. "I think we both know what this is Twilight. Dark magic poisoning." Twilight gulped. She knew... and she knew the answer to the next question. It wasn't a good one.
"Will- will she be okay?" Rainbow Dash asked tentatively.
"I don't know." Derpy drooped her head sadly. "Some ponies make it... others don't. Either way it takes weeks for the body to fight the poison."
"Her Pinkie Sense saved us." Twilight said flatly. "She must've somehow pushed us all out of the way, and pulled the throne room doors shut so we wouldn't be hit." She laughed dryly, "And I didn't even believe in it at one point..."
"Uh um everypony I know now's not the best time but-"
"Later Fluttershy. Is there anything we can do to help?" Rainbow questioned with earnest.
"No. She has to fight the poison on her-"
"EVERYPONY PLEASE." Everypony turned to Fluttershy with expressions of bewilderment. "Um I know we're all worried about Pinkie a-and I am too but... where's Pinkamena?" She was right. Only five ponies lay unconscious in the middle of the throne room, joined now by their bored looking dragon companion.
For the second time, Twilight looked around frantically, searching for any trace of Pinkie Pie's opposite. "She must've escaped!" Twilight heard a loud groan. The five other counterparts slowly got to their hooves. Each of their locket gems was completely smashed. The lockets clicked open, and a foul smoke poured out. It gathered together and slowly made it's way out into the grand hall. Twilight heard glass break as the smoke smashed the six cutie mark windows and floated outside, slowly dissipating.
M-Twilight blinked several times. "I feel... drained. So... weak. YOU!" She pointed a hoof accusingly at Twilight. "What did you...how did you?" she asked, dumbfounded.
Twilight gave her the short version. "Your protection spell counted on us coming on foot or by the air. Fortunately thanks to some... canine friends... we didn't do either. As for the rest... concealing spell for my wings, Pinkie changed her mane style, fake lockets. All of which would've been easy to see through if your elements weren't controlling you."
M-Twilight raised her eyebrows. "They were controlling-"
"They were parasitic artifacts, increasing and feeding off of your negative feelings. We used that to turn you against each other, then we lured you here, knowing that because you considered each other a threat, the elements would attack each other to protect the host. The smoke covered my friends' escape, and you did the rest. Your magic will be gone for a while, years at least." Twilight took a breath. "NOW. Where is Pinkamena?"
M-Twilight looked behind her, then looked back wide eyed. "That two timing-"
Twilight stepped toward her, a dangerous expression on her face. "Where. Is. She."
"I don't know! Unless... the lab! She's gonna take the power for herself! I have to stop her!" M-Twilight tried to gallop, but her weakened state wouldn't let her. She knelt down panting.
"You're not going anywhere." Twilight's horn flashed, and a cage appeared around M-Twilight and her accomplices.
Derpy put a hoof on her shoulder. "Go. I'll watch them... and Pinkie too."
"She's a tough un'. She'll pull through, ah just know it." Applejack said with a hopeful tone.
Shining Armor, Pinkie... they'd both sacrificed themselves so Twilight and the others would have a chance. They had to honor those sacrifices. "We still have a job to do girls. Pinkamena's Element of Despair might still be intact. We have to find her and destroy it at all costs."
Everypony nodded their assent. Twilight turned and looked at Pinkie one last time. Then, she galloped out of the room, as fast as she could. The others followed, matching her urgency. Twilight already knew the way. Derpy had showed them a map of the castle as they planned out their second attack on the M-Mane 6. Everypony memorized one route to the throne room, but naturally, Twilight memorized the entire map.
Thus within five minutes they ended up at the door to M-Twilight's lab. She kicked open the door, expecting to catch Pinkamena setting up apparatus or somehow trying to transfer power to herself. Nothing. Nopony.
Rarity pointed a hoof. "She... went in." She was right. The mirror had a portal active, leading to some other world.
Applejack placed a hoof on her chin. "Hmm, theres alota drag marks round here... like she took somethin' big in with her. How would it fit-"
Rainbow shook her head. "She's Pinkie's opposite remember?"
"She can't have got far. We'll have to go in after her." Twilight decided. Everypony gathered beside her, in front of the mirror. "On three. One...two...THREE!" Together they dove into the swirling vortex.
The portal wasn't as bad this time. Twilight was twisted and squeezed like a piece of taffy, but at least she knew it was going to happen. Her eyes were closed tight, waiting for it to end.
Twilight felt herself arc through the air for a second, and then hit something solid with a great THUD. Getting up, she blinked her eyes open, taking in the surroundings. There was... nothing. The expanse beyond was filled with distant stars, twinkling in a black and blue void. Beneath her, the ground was made of tiny stars, forming a single lit up path.
Everypony was amazed, looking around at the starry skies that surrounded them with wide eyes.
"T-Twi... what is this place?" Applejack asked with awe.
This place, strange though it was, was a place Twilight would always remember. "This was the place where Princess Celestia made me an Alicorn..."
