Celestia burned with the fury of her sun as she rained destructive magic down on Mewtwo. Explosions like crashing comets hit him from all sides, launched en masse from the princess's blazing horn. On her right, Cadance had covered the edges of her wings with razor sharp crystals that she used to beat at the Pokémon, or stab him with during high speed strafing runs. Having entered the Dream World, Luna had called upon her Tantabus. The creature had wrapped itself around her, creating illusions of its mistress as she battled, forcing her opponent to deal with after images that extended from her every movement.
For his part, Mewtwo held his own. He dodged in and out of the streams of magic, while launching Aura Spheres. His Mega X form gave him the strength advantage, though the princesses had managed to adapt to, and now matched his speed. The fighters were long past exhaustion. Determination and rage kept them going, and neither their emotions nor their battle showed signs of weakening.
Mewtwo dodged a fiery beam of magic from Celestia, teleporting into close quarters to counterattack with a Psycho Cut. The princess dodged and kicked out at the larger creature. He caught her hoof to hold her in place, and began a series of furious, one handed body blows. Celestia's armor shattered at the Pokémon's punches. Though surprised, she reacted immediately after the first strike. Her wings aflame, she beat at Mewtwo, not caring for defense but only the damage she could do at point blank range. Cadance darted down and cut Mewtwo's back. Her attack was partially deflected as Mewtwo tried to force her off course with Psychic, though the cut along his shoulder blade was still deep. As Cadance came around for another attack, he released Celestia and teleported away, only to be struck from behind by an invisible force. Luna had camouflaged herself, cloaked by the dream energy of the battlefield channeled through her Tantabus.
Mewtwo turned, unable to see the princess. He could feel her, though. She was right in front of him, her thoughts racing as she charged another destructive beam. He charged a Psystrike and launched it in the direction of his opponent. The enormous wave cut through the abstract space of the Dream World, casting light on the edges of the strange tunnel they fought in. For the first time, the combatants could see that which had been hidden in the labyrinthine walls of this reality. Millions upon millions of Unown stared back at them as they floated in the roiling, purple void.
Luna immediately changed the nature of her spell to raise a shield in defense, drawing in, and hardening the dream clouds that covered the battlefield to block Mewtwo's Psystrike. It broke away almost instantly, taking the brunt of the attack and leaving Luna to face the rest. Stunned and bruised, she hesitated for a moment. Mewtwo took the advantage and teleported directly above her, only to face the blades of the Tantabus as it defended its mistress. Mewtwo struggled to dodge the four smoky blades formed from the nightmare creature's shapeless body, trying to close in on his target with a Psycho Cut. The diversion lasted only two seconds, but it was enough. Princess Luna recovered from the shock of the blast, teleporting away as her friends appeared at Mewtwo's sides. Celestia and Cadance blasted the Pokémon with their magic, sending him spiraling backward to crash into the prison of Dark Arceus.
"I… can't beat you…" Mewtwo said between panting breaths. "Perhaps if there weren't three of you…"
"We are friends and allies," Celestia said as Luna and Cadance flew to her sides. "We stand together! We would still have you stand with us…"
"Ha!" Mewtwo said, bitterly. "For what purpose? Dark Arceus is already breaking free! I know where I stand. I am a tool. I was always meant to be a tool for someone. It might as well be a higher power than myself."
"What are you talking about?" Luna said. Her next sentence stopped in her throat as she saw pieces of the rainbow prison begin falling away. Layer after layer of patchwork magic fell into the void of the Dream World. From the distant walls of the labyrinthine tunnel came the song of the Unown. They began appearing through the fog of the void, their power shaking the foundations of the landscape they had created. Their song was strange and alluring, but there was a sinister note in it that terrified the princesses. It wasn't fear that held them in place, however. Shackles of psychic energy, created by the Unown, latched onto their legs. They pulled, but couldn't move far enough to reach Mewtwo. They fired beams of magic, but an invisible shield now surrounded them, absorbing their attacks.
"When Arceus first created our universe, it did so with its one thousand arms," Mewtwo said as he placed a hand on the crackling prison. "They were the first Unown, from which all other Unown come, and they were one with the god. When Arceus cast off its evil, it abandoned over three hundred of the Unown that helped it shape reality. Angry and confused the Unown came together to create a body; one in the form of the god they had lost. The Mew sacrificed their entire species to destroy that body, but they couldn't destroy the Unown. They could only imprison them. Held captive within God's Breath, their collective consciousness continued to plot against the city as the being known as Dark Arceus. Now the Unown seek a new body, and I will provide."
Mewtwo charged a Psystrike and hit the prison hard. A noise like thunder boomed through the ether as he struck the largest crack in the prison. Again he charged his attack, and again he hit the floating ball.
"This is insane!" Cadance yelled. "You can't possibly bring yourself to embrace such evil, can you?"
"Evil has embraced my world since its birth," Mewtwo said as he charged his most powerful Psystrike yet. With a roar, he heaved the psychic energy at the prison and it finally cracked open. "I'm simply giving in to those emotions which led to my creation, and when I'm done with God's Breath, I'll return to my world and give the humans my gratitude. After all, they are the best example of evil."
Darkness poured out of the broken prison and enveloped Mewtwo. Red eyes peered out of the smoke that swirled around the Pokémon, shining brightly with malice before dimming and disappearing. When the smoky darkness cleared, Mewtwo hovered before the ponies, his body covered in the symbols of the Unown. As one, the princesses began shining brightly, channeling their magic to its extremes. The desperate fury they released disentigrated their shackles and broke the barrier surrounding them. The Unown scattered before the alicorns as they charged Mewtwo. The Genetic Pokémon held out a hand before him and his foes crashed into a pulsating shield of psychic energy. They began to fall into the nothingness of the void, but quickly regained their composure. Together, they teleported behind Mewtwo and let loose with powerful beams of magic.
The destructive force crashed against the Pokémon's shield harmlessly. Mewtwo turned his head to face the princesses, his eyes now red, his expression violence incarnate. He raised a hand, and with a simple gesture he shoved the princesses back. It was like being hit by a mountain. They screamed as they rode out the force of the blow before crashing into a massive golden chain.
"W-what is this?" Luna asked weakly as she forced her wings to regain flight.
"It is the instrument of your demise," Mewtwo said as he floated up to them. His voice was more calm and in control than they had ever heard it. There was a new malice in it, as well, and an almost palpable pleasure. "It was not my intention to arrive in your world. I was stopped too soon after Siebold's demise. I didn't expect his blessing upon the High Council to be so great. The land you see now is but a fraction of the endless Dream World. My Unown created it as a pathway, a tunnel if you will, connecting your world with the others we have visited."
"What do you mean, Mewtwo?" Celestia said.
"I am more than Mewtwo, now. I am the avatar of Dark Arceus. I am the god reborn. As for my intentions…"
He motioned behind him, pointing toward the void beyond. The ponies turned to follow his guesture. Suddenly, they could hear a sound approaching. A blood-red glow began lighting the tunnel, and the chain rattled ominously as something pulled on it.
"They are the Gods of Chaos, and they approach quickly. With them they bring your world. Don't worry," Mewtwo added as the Princesses turned in anger. "Killing you is beneath me, now. Your world will be safe until it rests between Battleworld and the Chaos that will fill the ether. After that, I will let those two forces extinguish Equestria, just as I will let Chaos extinguish you."
"I have a feeling this will backfire on you, Charles," Celestia said, smiling suddenly despite her injuries and exhaustion.
"My name is not…"
"I was told your name by Joan, and I will use it. We've already overcome the horrors of that universe."
"They were but shadows of what will come…"
"And they will fail, as well. I know my people, and I know yours. I know that you know this, too."
"Nothing in your world can stand against my might! With the hatred of Chaos and the evil of Doom, you are already dead!"
"Oh, I doubt that," said the cool, cunning voice of Discord. He appeared from nothing to stand atop the chain next to the princesses. He was heavily scarred, with one claw now mechanical and wearing a mixture of leather and steel plate. A small pony looked out from behind one of his scales, her eyes wide in shock.
"Discord," Celestia said, relief flooding her as she looked upon the Draconequus. "You seem a bit worse for wear."
"Not at all, princess," Discord said as he waved a claw and his strange outfit disappeared. "That attire was just so I could fit in. The circumstances under which I aquired it are quite fascinating, however. I'll be sure to wear it for Princess Cadance's next costume ball, so all may ask for the story."
"You," Charles said, his voice seething. He raised a hand and Discord exploded, leaving only the patch containing Tree Hugger intact.
"My, my," Discord's mouth said as it flew through the air. His injuries were like soft, torn clay, though he was still smiling as he molded himself back together. "Such a temper, but less effective than you thought it would be, I'd wager. I can only be successfully countered by love and harmony. That's my kryptonite, I suppose."
"I've seen things…" Tree Hugger said suddenly, her voice haunted and distant. "Were they real?"
"No, they weren't real," Discord said as he patted her head.
"Really?" Tree Hugger said, hopefully.
"Of course! Assuming that makes you feel better, none of it was real."
"It was all real!" Mewtwo yelled. "Every last bit of it! That's why I made this chain. That's why I'm sticking your world in the middle of a bloodbath! I… I can't even…"
Mewtwo put his hand to his forehead, cradling it as if it hurt. He mumbled something almost inaudible, and for a moment Celestia thought he was talking to a person she couldn't see.
"The first world I come to has to be a land full of that which I despise!" he said after a moment, in near disbelief. "Me! Do you know what I am?"
"It's alright, now, Charles," Luna said, gently. "You need to calm down."
"I am the avatar of Dark Arceus! I am the embodiment of evil within the Pokémon world! I don't have to be calm!"
"A few too many exclamation points there, old chap," Discord said as a comfortable recliner appeared before him and he sat down. "You may be dragging our planet into the center of your little destruction fantasy, but that doesn't mean it'll actually be harmed. We have ways of protecting ourselves in Equestria. And from what I've just come through, I can tell you that once you return to wherever it is you came from before this little fight, you'll be quite busy dealing with all the deities you've gotten involved here."
"Their purpose is to prove a point," Mewtwo said, his voice low and angry. "A point to someone I killed long ago; someone who needs to shut up, now!"
"And what would that point be?" Cadance asked as she carefully approached the Pokémon. "Whatever it is, if it's brought you to this its not worthwhile. We can still help you, Charles."
"His name is Charles?" Tree Hugger asked. "That's not real, like, threatening."
The massive chain began to shake and rattle more violently, distracting the group from their conversation. Looking down the tunnel of dreams, they saw four great appendages dragging the blood-red backdrop of Chaos behind them. Daemons charged down the length of the chain, jabbering and screaming as they approached.
"You have more important things to worry about than my name," Mewtwo said, a sadistic smile now covering his face. "Good luck surviving that."
With a manic laugh, he disappeared, leaving the others to watch as the enemy approached.
"Discord, can you break the chain?" Celestia asked.
"Hmm, probably not. Whatever it's made of, it seems pretty tough to me."
"If I channel the abstract power of the Dream, I can likely break it," Luna said as she pulled a cloud from the smoky, blue landscape. Her Tantabus formed itself into griffon talons and helped her shape the swirling mist into a blade. "These are hopes and dreams, thoughts and ideas manifested in physical form. Such things can be dispersed, but never destroyed. If I can make my blade sharp enough, I can cut this chain."
"I wouldn't suggest staying here to do that, though," Celestia said as she eyed the approaching daemonic horde. "I assume you have a way home, Discord?"
"But of course. Tree Hugger almost used it several times when I was fighting those things."
He pointed behind him at the monsters running along the chain.
"Almost, but not quite," Tree Hugger said. "You had some difficulty with the sorcerers a few times. They were, like, powerful."
"What made you bring Ms. Tree Hugger with you," Cadance asked, politely.
"She insisted on coming because my 'aura was turning violent'," Discord said. "To be honest, though, it was good to have a friend along. Her expression when we crossed over into that realm of chaos was priceless!"
"It bothered you, too," Tree Hugger pointed out. "You were almost sick twice, and I had to buck you in the stomach to keep you from becoming a Chaos God."
"My brand of chaos is not reflected there," Discord said, haughtily. "Despite my desire to educate them, their tactics are beneath me. What matters is that I have multiple friends, and they even care about me! It's quite the breath of fresh air."
"If I reforge this at the castle…" Luna muttered to herself as she examined her new blade. A group of Bloodletters, urged on by a large Bloodthirster, had reached the group. Her back to them, the deamons lunged for Luna. With a speed that belied her exhaustion, she turned and cut through them, her blade parting their essence as a pegasus might part a cloud. They vanished into nothingness, their very beings undone by the purity of thought contained in her sword.
"What is our plan, then?" Cadance asked as she began blasting the monsters that swarmed towards them.
"We'll go home," Celestia said, confidently. "Our armor can be repaired with the final piece of the petrified dragon's tooth shard. We'll prepare Equestria as our base of operations. Then, when we arrive at Battleworld, we'll end this."
"To the pocket!" Discord shouted as he shrunk the whole group down. All that was left of Discord's body was the scale that the ponies now hung out over. The deamons stopped in their rampage to stare at the sight, unsure what to make of it.
"Down here," Discord said as he motioned with a claw from within the pocket. The ponies ducked down into the room beneath them and followed Discord through the doorway into Canterlot Castle.
It came as a shock. Korish had spent every day in Battleworld flying through towns, opening portals and strangling humans in their beds. She took pleasure in spreading death and fear in places that the humans believed to be safe from the shades their heroes battled against. She was busy singing to a small child as he lay next to the broken bodies of his parents when the feeling struck.
They hadn't been normal humans. One had climbed up walls and fired electrified webs out of his wrists. The other had blasted Korish backward with her mind and turned her skin into diamond. Korish had broken the wall-crawling human's body over his wife's skin. Then she had ripped the woman's soul from her body, dragging the process out long enough for the human to lose control of her powers. Korish returned the helpless spirit to its body and clawed the woman to death as she struggled to recover. Now she hovered over their son's bed wondering what this feeling was.
The child looked up at her and sobbed as he lay next to his parent's corpses, but Korish paid him no attention. Her connection to her god had faded. She searched her mind as she felt for the familiar presence of her master. It was faint, but the seething hatred that had driven her for generations was still there. The only thing missing was the pressure that the god used to manipulate her. It had been the driving force behind her actions, fading only when the god slept in the months between King Siebold's yearly rituals. Now it was lessened in her mind, as if the god had gone to sleep. But she still felt the roiling hatred that told her Dark Arceus was active and focused. It just wasn't focused on her.
Her smile disappeared as she floated toward the window. She looked down at her blood stained hands. A Scyther shade hid beneath the windowsill in silence. After questioning herself for a moment, she gave the shade an order, then vanished without a second thought for the child behind her or the humans she had killed. She knew that she had to plan and prepare, but her hands were shaking at the thought of what would come next. Dark Arceus had plans that extended beyond this massive, ramshackle planet. Korish understood them. She had discussed them with Feefee at length. There was only one path forward, now. All Korish could do was prepare, follow her master's wishes, and hope that the others would understand.