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Twilight light visit grim worlds 7 'Cutie Re-Mark'

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*Sadly, despite my best efforts, there HAVE been versions of myself who fell to darkness. One particular version of myself murdered her friends to steal their Elements to be her own, seeking to cleanse the multiverse of anything her twisted mind labeled Disharmonic. While I had managed to give a version of that world it's happy ending before her rampage could begin, in another timeline (by the same Shadow) she had already succeeded in her original goal and soon moved on to a new universe to try and conquer. I couldn't let her succeed.*

---

Twilight and her friends stared down the dark, extra dimensional version of herself. Not a Nightmare, the 'Empress of Harmony' was a Devil. A fallen Alicorn. The battle wasn't going well, she was incredibly strong, and she feared using the Elements against her...because she herself supposed had all six. Could the Elements beat a being with a set of their own? It seemed impossible...

*Don't forget. You've faced a being with an Element of Harmony before.*

As Rainbow Dash tackled Twilight Sparkle out of a beam from 'Empress Twilight', Twilight's mind flashed back.

*You've faced someone using a stolen Element before, haven't you? Don't give up, you can win this.*

Twilight stood up, staring down her evil self from another world.

"Please, see reason," Empress Twilight said in an even voice. "I don't want to have to kill my friends again, I no longer need to. Nor do I want to end those who are a part of Harmony. Isn't a perfectly harmonic multiverse worth cleansing it of those who taint that perfection?"

The Princess of Friendship glared daggers. "No, it's not. The idea of a world of true Harmony is tempting...but how can I ever accept a world built on oceans of blood? Girls! Formation!"

Rainbow Dash was to her friends side in seconds, always loyal. "Gotcha! Let's send her packing already!

Fluttershy was giving a Stare level glare at the Devil. "I'm sorry, other Twilight. But you're being a big dumb meanie."

Pinkie Pie was at her friend's side. "Do you ever laugh anymore?" she asked the corrupted version of her friend. "Your eyes...deep down you don't feel happy, do you?"

Applejack lowered her hat and glared. "No sugarcoatin' it, 'Empress' Twilight. Yer sick and need help!"

Rarity stood by her friend's side. "I'll give it my all...if it means my Sweetie Belle never experiences what YOU did to yours!" she growled.

Six Elements shown bright.

The Empress sighed. "Do you really expect that to work? I AM Harmony!" The Devil tried to channel her own set of Elements she'd merged with herself to counter...only to gasp in pain. "W-What?"

[=Boss - Perfect Dark Gaia - Sonic Unleashed =]

The Empress tried to channel the Elements again, but had another ripple of pain through her chest. She finally screamed in agony as six spheres of light ripped there way out of her, each one matching one of the Elements of Harmony, including her own. Each one took a spot in a circle before the bearers, a beam of energy connecting them to their corresponding Bearer.

The Empress stared in complete disbelief, seeing one of her murdered friends superimposed over each of the orbs. "How...why did they reject me...they're mine...I AM HARMONY WHY?!"

Princess Twilight's eyes glowed white, as did those of her friends. "You may have had their power, but they were NEVER yours. How can Kindness live in a cruel heart or Honesty in a deceiver's? How can Generosity live in the heart of one who would kill their friends if it got them their heart's desire? How could Loyalty live in a heart like that?...How can Laughter live in the heart of somepony who lives with that much shame? You STOLE them. They weren't yours. Even Magic rejected your heart because you have threw your friends away!"

The Elements fired, going through the circle formed by the second set. In a burst of rainbow colored light, the beam of Harmony doubled in power, becoming an ocean.

Empress Twilight threw up a barrier against the assault that began dissolving into nothing the moment it touched, the sheer force forcing her backwards. It only took a few seconds before it was annihilated and the Rainbow of Light engulfed her.

---

"No! This...this can't...how..." the Devil stuttered...then tears welled up in her eyes. "What did I do wrong? Why...why did they reject me?

*It was all for nothing. You could never TRULY steal the Elements.*

"But...but..." she started sobbing as her wings began to dissolve into light. "If...that means..."

*You killed your friends for nothing. You killed billions in your home dimension for nothing.*

"...I..."

*Are you sorry?*

"...I...I can't have been wrong...what I wanted to do was right! I just...Went about it wrong...I...I can't...My friends...they..."

*...So that's your final answer?*

"There's no way a universe of perfect Harmony can be wrong! It was worth trial and error...it..."

*...Then there's nothing more I can do for you...I hope some day you'll realize the truth.*
---

The Empress' crown fell to the ground and shattered to pieces, the rest like Tirek being sent straight to Tartarus.

The Bearers watched the second set of Elements fly up to them, five specters giving a smile, finally able to rest in peace. The magical orbs then fly through the portal the Empress had used to enter her world, to see TRUE Bearers where they belonged. The Empress' memory alteration spell on the populace of her home world shattering like glass as the portal vanished, threat ended forever.

*I couldn't save my other self...But I did give this world the happiest ending. I only hope someday she will realize the truth.*

By Alex Warlorn. Cutie Re-Mark Tie In.

Zecora stared down the queen of all changelings as Twilight Sparkle and her dragon ran, these strangers from a world where none of this nightmare existed. Twilight had said that she was friends with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Zecora herself in that world that was supposed to exist. Yes, this world... Zecora's magic had shown Twilight and Spike as their selves... and had shown... they were more true than the life Zecora remembered living.

Zecora remembered the night that had lasted much longer on what was supposed to be the shortest night of the year. How Princess Celestia with a heavy heart had sealed away her sister again for another thousand years. Twilight said in her world the Elements of Harmony had healed her mind.

Zecora wondered... why had Celestia not found another student besides this young purple Alicorn? Celestia had been no fool. Why?  The only thing Zecora could think of was that while Starlight Glimmer had altered an event in the past, decisions from the 'present' she came from had remained the same in many spots in spite of their illogic. Time was a river, when you blocked the stream, there was no telling what the flood you set loose would do, or what it would destroy.

Speaking of illogic, next came Discord... Zecora and Twilight had spoken... Discord's escape had been ... somehow EARLIER in the 'real' timeline... Celestia had never passed on the Elements to another group of heroes... Discord had been sealed up again before he could cause any real damage, his fight with Princess Celestia had been brief and sudden, as the lack of the Elements being transferred result in the seal remaining longer and stronger. Or so Zecora had learned from her pony friends... like... Apple Bloom... Zecora hoped the filly's fate would be better than she was in this version of reality.

Then... of course... came the wedding of Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadence... instead it was the day that Chrysalis claimed Canterlot for her own... her changelings and she had spread through Equestria like a cancer ... Equestria had never dealt with changelings before... while Zecora later developed a mix of body paint that made them shape shifting impossible and reverted them to their true form.

Shining Armor, Celestia, and Cadence, had been reduced to nothing more than living batteries to feed Chrysalis.

Ponies had eventually fled into the Everfree... Zecora was confused that they had never the 'plunder vines' but Twilight said it might be because 'Sunset Shimmer' never came through the portal to steal the Element of Magic and weaken the Tree of Harmony's seal on them, so they remained dormant.

As for Zecora... ponies had once been terrified of her... now as the only one who knew the Everfree better than anything else on four hooves... they turned to her as their leader... they became her herd. Zecora was not happy to teach these ponies that there were enemies that couldn't be reasoned with, that in the Everfree, animals lived by the rule 'kill or be killed' instead of being fed by ponies, and had no interest in learning how, instead, the ponies would have to learn from them.

Sombra appeared, along with the return of the Crystal Empire... Chrysalis had used the ponies she enslaved, and her own changelings as fodder against Sombra's own army of brainwashed slaves. Eventually, Chrysalis had feinted defeat, swore her loyalty to Sombra... then killed him and claimed the Empire as another spoil... after assuming the form of the only mare King Sombra had ever loved in the distant past of his black heart. Zecora didn't know if to be impressed or disgusted or feel pity.

The Ponies had ironically gotten a reprieve when Tirek had grown strong enough to go after larger sources of magic... and had continued to feed, to where some ponies thought Tirek was their savor, until they learned Tirek didn't desire their loyal, only their extermination. Chrysalis at least needed ponies alive as cattle. Chrysalis had fed on her own inner circle's love to power herself up again to defeat Tirek, costing her the power boast she had claimed. Zecora could still remember the laughter of the Changeling Queen regardless of the damage she'd received: after all, how many could claim victory over the dreaded Tirek himself?

And... during it all... Zecora and her ponies made raids... curing what ponies they could of Chrysalis' brainwashing... adding to their numbers ever so slowly... Equestrian towns allowed to continue to exist... existing purely as pens for love cattle, for changelings to come and harvest at their leisure. Of course Ponyville was first ruthlessly harvested to a fraction of its former numbers.

And in the end... these ponies... her family, her herd, they endured, they looked to HER for guidance... having lost their goddess, Zecora was all that remained to show them a path to the light. Zecora had never wanted to be a hero, a savior, or anything else but a shaman/witch-doctor however it translated into pony language. But what pony in their right mind ever did? It was a horrible burden that needed to be kept invisible so those around you did not lose hope in tomorrow.

Zecora of Everfree... she could have fled back to her homeland... and left these ponies to their doom... and for what? Who would help them in her place? And... like it or not, many of these ponies were her FRIENDS! And now they were FAMILY!

And now the Hidden Village had been found... Zecora darkly for a moment wondered if Twilight's great magic had led them here... or had it been the changeling who had replaced Tornado Bolt and one pony not thinking to make sure she was really Tornado Bolt (there was no mystery what had happened to the REAL little filly). But it didn't matter... not anymore. Twilight WOULD make it, Zecora BELIEVED she would, Zecora KNEW she would... and she would prevent this hell from ever happening, Zecora's dark day would never have been... Zecora hoped the Zecora that was supposed to exist found happiness.

The Changelings swarmed like the plague they were... every pony alive would be their food... and Zecora too... Twilight... so naive... she really thought Chrysalis would keep her word about ANYTHING if it didn't suit her best interests?

"FOR A BETTER TODAY! I WILL KEEP YOU AT BAY!" Zecora shouted as she charged right at Chrysalis, struck at the ancient horror... and was blown back instantly... would Zecora know when this world ended? Or would it be a simple, non-existence? One moment here, the next gone?

"... I never thought you were THAT STUPID Zecora... all these years... and you come at me with a full frontal assault? When you KNOW you can't win? You've gotten a swelled head," Chrysalis remarked.

"As I'm about to run out of time,
I wanted one shot at you, you piece of slime.
To quote a book once given to me,
To the last I grapple with thee!"

".... pathetic... in the end, you're the same as every other self proclaimed 'hero' I've crushed... I thought you were smarter than that."

'Twilight how long?
How long before my nightmare is gone?'

"No..."

"No what?"

"Oh.
It is not only my nightmare,
I have far too many that I care."

Zecora looked around, her herd, her ponies, were fighting to the bitter end, they wouldn't be made cattle of Chrysalis to the bitter end. Trixie screamed at the top of her lungs, Zecora had always told her her fireworks spells were too dangerous, too loud, and too bright... now Trixie was using them with impudence, figured Trixie would want to go out with a show. One last magic show for Hidden Village.

'Supposed to exist' or not... these were their lives... their homes... their memories... they had so precious little left, and formed such bonds with each other and her... they wouldn't give it up without a fight. Zecora didn't regret telling Twilight to do what must be done... but...

Chrysalis blasted her into a tree... Zecora heard bones break.

"Caught you napping. I need to tell YOU to keep your mind on the battle?" Chrysalis remarked... Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy screamed as they came at Chrysalis from both sides, only for the changeling queen to swat them away. They skidded across the ground and were covered by changelings.

=But the Earth Refused to Die - Undertale =

Zecora turned her head and saw... everywhere... her friends... numbers overwhelming... hurry Twilight...

Then Zecora saw it... their eyes... everypony... their eyes were on her... even after being struck down by Chrysalis... they... they still believed in her...

Zecora felt it... everypony here... no... every pony in Equestria... every pony ALIVE... they believe in HER... they looked up to HER... they were.... they were.. her... responsibility... that was why Twilight had thought even a slim chance of mercy from Chrysalis was so worth a risk... they were... they were...

Zecora slowly stood up.

She felt her bone crack... she continued to stand up... they... everywhere... depending on.... She felt inside... a fire she hadn't even known was there, but had been there all along... and it grew larger... and larger...

"You have much to fear...
For I won't die here..."

Zecora body felt like it was on fire.

"You worthless knave...
We won't be your slaves..."

"You swarm of phonies...
Get the buck away, from my ponies!"

Zecora's entire body exploded from her own perspective.

Everything was blinded by the pillar of light that appeared, along with six rainbow colored lights that swirled around it for a second.

Zecora stood, or COULD HAVE been Zecora... but larger... more eligant... and a spiral horn atop her head... and a pair of black and white wings... Zecora opened her eyes only now realizing she had closed them. She didn't understand totally, but she didn't have to. Something in the Everfree HAD HEARD HER... and had answered back.

"You dirt rats,
You'll have to try harder than that."

The wind was howling.

= Battle Against A True Hero - Undertale =

"KILL HER!" Chrysalis screamed.

The changelings swarmed... with a whirl wind flap of her wings, Zecora sent the changelings crashing back, now it was there turn to be struck while they were on the ground by Zecora's ponies.

Chrysalis fired her spell beam, Zecora on instinct did the same, they clashed... Zecora buck away a changeling that tried to attack her while distracted... Chrysalis choked when a vine grew at Zecora's magic and wrapped around her throat. This caught Chrysalis off guard, trying to rip the vine off, letting Zecora hit her dead center.

Chrysalis snarled, and shape shifted into a manticore, and flew above Zecora, poison tail right at her. Unlike a normal changeling, Chrysalis' shape shifting enabled her abilities a true member of that species had. That tail's poison was very real.

Zecora caught the queen in her telekenesis, her instincts telling her to do so, to grab with hands unseen, and slammed the manitor into the ground. Chrysalis changed into a cragagator and ramed the new Alicorn Princess, Zecora was tackled through two buildings. With strength she hadn't had before, she threw Chrysalis up into the air... Chrysalis changed into a black and green griffin and caught herself in the air and dove down.

Zecora without a second thought flew up to meet her, stabbing the queen in the chest with her horn. Chrysalis gasp and pulled away, green flame burned around her as she used her own shape shifting to heal her body, a taxing act for any changeling, and Zecora was certain she had pierced something vital. Zecora didn't hesitate as she blasted the recovering queen in the face, cracking her facial carapace and pummeled the cracks, making the queen bleed green. They landed in the ground creating a crater blinded by dust.

"GET AWAY!" Chrysalis snarled, striking Zecora with her forehoof and sending her rolling out of the crater. Zecora rose her head. A moment later Fluttershy was at her side.

"Oh! Zecora are you hurt?"

"This pain I must bear,
Not that you care." Zecora blasted Fluttershy at point blank range... Chrysalis cursed and snarled as she shifted back to her true form, bringing up a barrier to block the blast of magic.

The changelings tried to help their queen, but now were on the receiving end of not being able to help their leader. The ponies... they cheered for their savior.

And as the two traded blows... and blasts of magic... a white light spread from somewhere in the Everfree, growing larger and faster as it went into it enveloped everything before they could think...

And...the sky was black... and ... all the world was in grays ... and the ponies... changelings, Zecora and the Chrysalis... were all transparent... like shadows. And... the cold... it was... so cold. And an overwhelming sense of emptiness... filled everyone. Water froze solid. Flower wilted and died on the spot turning to ash.

"So... that is it... that is... how it is
... that answers that quiz." Zecora said.


"WHAT HAS HAPPENED?!" Chrysalis demanded.

"Simple is the gist,
We no longer exist."


"WHAT?!"

Zecora laughed a bitter, empty hollow laugh.

A short while later, Pensilis stood in a graveyard between his domain and Entropy's, at the border of Sacrifice and Oblivion. Thousands of markers, each with a name of a pony who sacrificed their own existence in an act of heroism. With a simple flash of his horn, a new marker appeared: 'Zecora, Guardian of Everfree.'

Meanwhile... Amicitia... screamed in agony. She fell on her side... twisting and bending her body in pain. Tears streamed down her face. "What... what... this is... I feel... " And she knew... she understood... she saw... so many world lines... brought into existence ... each one worse than the last... and... in the end... all of them erased... only the original timeline was eventually restored... while the others were no more... Applejack in one, and Zecora in another knew their timelines were not 'natural' and were happy at the idea of a better one replacing it... but now... so many ponies... banished to oblivion... so many world lines...

And ALL with one thing in common... the Sonic Rainboom never happened.

-One where Equestria fought in war against Sombra and his enslaved Crystal Ponies.

-Another where changeling ruled Equestria (ironically rippled into existence by the bullies BEING FRIENDS with Fluttershy rather than tormenting her).

-One where Nightmare Moon ruled an endless night that had not wiped out all life in Equestria.

-One where Discord ... again Discord... had not been stopped on the second day... and Celestia and Luna were his personal clowns.

-Another where Tirek sought to enact the utter destruction of Equestria with all ponies harvested of their magic. To obliterate any signs of their existence as he had his own kind.

-One where Flim and Flam had taken economics to insane levels across Equestria (only considered worse due to how twisted in knots time had grown by that point).

-And... one where Equestria was truly and utterly devoid of life... where it might as well have been already part of Entropy's realm... did even the undead ponies survive there?

And AGAIN... all because of the lack of the Sonic Rainboom... but twists in reality from the repeat use of Time Travel resulted in EVEN GREATER distortions to history. Twists in reality from a time paradox, from a vengeance crazed unicorn not caring if she deleted her own reason for traveling back in time if it meant getting what she desired.

The scariest part was that mare seemed like a mirror of Eclipse...or a shadow of her long gone evil.

Zecora hadn't been entirely correct, time was not always a river, many 'times' it was an ocean, and Starlight Glimmer had created tidal waves.

*I cried.* "I... I..." *I knew that Twilight and that Spike had done only their best to save the reality they knew, and had seen what a destructive and utterly miserable worlds they were... What they had done was not evil or selfish, and others had ASKED THEM to change the world back to how it once was.

And Twilight had been right that a WORSE timeline than that empty barren world could have awaited them... but.... it felt like Nightmare Eclipse all over again.... GIVING UP on those worlds, writing them off as HOPELESS...* "And now... now they're all... they're all... now they're all empty shadows... I... I DON'T WANT THAT FOR THEM! I WANT TO GIVE THEM HAPPY ENDINGS TOO!"

"... Want some help?"

"NIGHTMARE MIRROR! I DON'T HAVE TIME... for... your... games?"

Nightmare Mirror was crying.

"Ah swear... no games, no tricks, no nasty surprises... no play on words... Ah Pinkie Pie Swear, cross mah heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. We're on the same side right now Ah..." The Cruelest of Truths sobbed. "Let me help."

"Can... Can I help too?"

Nightmare Mirror and Princess Amicitia turned to see... the immature and rather over the top looking version of Twilight Sparkle as an Alicorn, Dues Ex Machina. "I promise to think about what I do, then think about it again, then ask your advice before I do it, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye... I... " Deus Ex Machina was crying as well. "I don't want to see so many Equestrias ruined or just eaten by Entropy either...And that one...the one with the sports bullies...it reminded me of my own mistake too..."

Amicitia sniffed... and... hugged her ... not quite friends... but... maybe right now... close enough, or maybe, friends after all soon enough?

"All three of us together... working together... seven Equestrias... we can do it."

-
MtangaLion


In the heart of her realm, Rota Fortuna shuddered, gritting her teeth.  "I will endure this.  I will..."

"You can..." echoed a dark mockery of her own voice.  Shadows began to seep in through cracks in reality, pooling around her.  "The question is, why should you?"

Rota snorted.  "I did not break when Cupid died.  That hurt far, far worse."

"Ah, but that was once and done.  Each time Starlight Glimmer's spell was triggered, those three went back and erased their own actions taken not even an hour ago!  It must have been like a knife in your gut, hammered and twisted, hammered and twisted...  You can put an end to such things, now and forever."

Rota Fortuna sighed.  "Will you make the same argument yet again?  To repeat the same action, expecting a different result, is madness."  The Alicorn of Fate and Free Will smirked briefly... how ironic that seemed now.

The inky darkness coalesced into the image of another Alicorn, one so heavily armored in cold iron that nothing could be seen of the mare underneath, except for her burning draconic eyes.  "Why should my argument be any different?  I'm still right, and you're as deluded as ever!  Did you not see how even the whims of innocent foals can save Equestria or cast it into fire and darkness?  Mortals should not be permitted to make their own decisions!  You can do better... a perfect world, a perfect narrative controlled by you alone, authored by you from start to finish!"

Rota Fortuna scowled.  "Nightmare Destiny... my perfect world begins with me, choosing to NEVER become you."

The dark image splattered like ink cast into a pool of water.  The shadows fled away and vanished without a trace.

The door to her study banged open, and her Wolf padded in, nosing at her flank.  "Mother, are you well?  I felt..."

"I know," she told her Blank Wolf softly.  She focused her telekinesis, fetching her quill, and seven fresh blank tomes, each ready for a new world line, a new beginning.  "By now, you will have sensed Amicitia and her allies at work on the time tangle.  Do not interfere more than you must.  I have chosen to support them."

Kendell2 with Edits

"...The first thin' we need tah accept...is when we're gonna need tah change things," Mirror explained. "...As sad as it is, we need tah split off these timelines before Twilight returns to the past...the truth is we've got eight worlds to save, not just seven..." the Nightmare explained. "...If we don't split 'em before Twilight goes back to the past, then Twilight heads back in time, and that world gets unmade. Unlike Nightmare Eclipse...Twilight's ain't tryin' tah undo her own bad end, she's tryin' tah get her happy endin'. If we ask her to stay trying to save THAT world line, we'd be cheaten, and if we did...her timeline is the one that ends up in the big nothing in the void. And every timeline after that one Starlight was supposed tah make fer that matter."

Amicitia sadly nodded. "... If we diverge the timeline enough before Twilight makes the jump to the past, be it before her arrival or just before she leaves, then the worldline becomes an alternate universe onto itself, and Twilight's actions will only create the next line. But if we 'nudge things along' too much before Twilight arrives, then she might hesitate to return to the past." she explained. Sadly, Zecora had ascended too late, Twilight had already began the reset...but if they could do something before then. "...The question is, where do we start? What choice can we help change that's that different than the one Twilight would later witness that can diverge the timeline?"

Deus put a hoof to her chin. "...Hey...what Zecora did...I think I have an idea to save Sombra's timeline..."





(As Twilight Prime was talking to Applejack)

Rainbow Dash stared up at the terror of the north, held down by two Crystal Ponies, held imprisoned by their own armor. Rainbow didn't blame them.

She'd attacked Sombra to save another member of her squad...after failing Fluttershy all those years ago, she had to try. She succeeded in doing that, but after a beating was at his mercy. Her eye had a cut across it, she hopped that a medic could heal it, should she survive somehow.

Equestria was her home...while she wasn't as confident as she once was, she knew she had to remain loyal to it.

Even more so when Celestia, with no one to purify her sister, had had to banish her once more, leaving her alone. She had swiftly and decisively resealed Discord. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor had managed to repel the Changeling invasion, just barely. Cadence had needed rescue from the mines by Prince Blueblood reach the wedding hall. Even then she endured a beating from Chrysalis to reach her husband and repel the invaders. They had gone to the Chrystal Empire together to try and help the crystal ponies when the Empire first returned... not knowing Sombra himself had also returned... none knew what became of them.

Celestia had had so little left to support her...and yet there she was on the battlefield. Rainbow Dash had to at least try, right?

"You do not fear death," the dark King said, then smiled sadistically. "But you do fear losing this..."

The king's telekinesis grabbed her left wing, her only wing that was still real. Her right one a mechanical prosthetic that Pinkie and Maud had crafted her after her other wing had been lost in battle. 'No...please...not that...'

*You care about your flight?*

'Of course I do!'

[Then why don't yah have faith in it?]

'I...Fluttershy...I love being able to fly, more than anything!...But...'

-But you're still loyal to everything, right?-

'Of course!'

*Then look around.*

The mare's eyes looked around the battlefield. So many battling. So many striving. Innocent Crystal Ponies fighting against their will, Equestrians who just wanted peace again. Celestia herself, who just now noticed what was going on and rushing to try and aid her.

-You want this to end, right?-

'...Of course I do...'

[Then wouldn't the loyal thing tah do...tah be stop holdin' back and pityin' yourself? Yah know yer faster than this so show it! That metal wing ain't holdin' yah back any and yah know it!]

Rainbow Dash felt a moment of worry grip her heart as King Sombra prepared to remove her wing. She only had nanoseconds to choose.

*What's your choice?*

'I choose...'

Rainbow Dash swung her legs up, landing a cheap shot on the king's horn and break his concentration, surprising her holders long enough to allow her to slam their heads together hard enough to crack their helmets and short out the mind control.

'To be loyal to everything I believe in...I choose...'

Sombra sneered. "Are you going to fight me, welp?"

The pegasus knew that fighting head on was worthless...however...

Sombra smirked as the pegasus flew off, allowing him to turn towards a charging Celestia...

"TO FLY!"

[=The Flash (2014)- Main Theme=]

Sombra snapped back as a rainbow colored shockwave went off in the distance. Everypony on both sides turned to see it. As it rippled over the battlefield, the dark crystals cracked from its force and the positive energy contained in it (including the ones making up the Crystal Ponies' armor that controlled their minds and bodies), the king cringing as he himself was hit.

The Sonic Rainboom come ten years late.

Pinkie and Maud looked up at it in amazement...and Pinkie couldn't help but smile at the shockwave. Her mane suddenly poofed out into a mess of curls, causing her sister to blink in surprise. "Pinkie?"

"I'm...I'm happy."

Far way, an old, bitter mare who'd had ten years to dwell on the fruits of her revenge, stared at the shockwave in shock. "Impossible...how could..."

Rainbow Dash kept flying. "Come on, come on! I can't let anything stop me!"

She flew so fast her single Sonic Rainboom became a double one, cracking the black armor and the dark crystals even further.

Sombra snarled and fired his mightiest blast of dark magic.

"Nothing is going to stop me! I'm going to be loyal to everything I love!"

Rainbow Dash began to glow with a rainbow light, a branch on a crystal tree in Everfree answering her call. Her mechanical wing began to shake from the G-Forces, bits of it coming off and flying into the air. The wing, having been built to endure her upper limits and survive, was beginning to come apart.

"...And I'm going to be loyal to myself...I'll never doubt myself again!"

Rainbow's eyes went wide as Sombra's beam struck her wing, pieces of metal falling away. But then determination filled her eyes. "DON'T GIVE UP NOW! I DON'T CARE IF I HAVE TO USE MY PEGASUS MAGIC ALONE TO KEEP FLYING! THIS ENDS TODAY!"

The pegasus was engulfed in a blinding pillar of light.
---

King Sombra gasped as he saw another rainbow colored shockwave coming from BEHIND him. "Impossible!"

A rainbow colored blur slammed into the King with such force even the powerful shadow pony was sent skidding backwards, bits of his armor flying off from the blow as it kept going. On impact another rainbow colored shockwave was let out, causing the dark armor of his slaves to begin to shatter.

Maud and Pinkie stared in shock. "Rainbow?" Pinkie asked.

"...Pinkie, look," Maud said, eyes wide. She'd taken time to learn how to show her emotions to everypony, for the sake of letting her comrades learn what she was thinking from looking.

Falling from the sky were the shattered remains of Rainbow's mechanical wing. The one they'd had to help her repair after every battle.

A few moments later, the blur came back around from where it'd came, slamming into him even faster and blowing off even more of his armor.

Several Crystal Ponies found their armor SHATTERING allowing their own minds to reassert themselves finally. They looked up at the beautiful rainbow colored shockwaves...and their tyrant reeling in pain.

"But..." Pinkie gasped. "How is she still flying?!"

A third hit came, the king's cape and the points in his armor it was attached to being torn off by the blur. A fourth impact sent his crown flying. A fifth knocked him to the ground. Each pass leaving a trench in the ground from the sheer speed it was passing out.

With each shockwave, more and more of the Crystal Ponies returned to their own wills and were free...and stared in shock as their tyrant was wounded.

"She's...hurting him?" asked one in shock. The elation. "She's hurting him!"

"He can be beaten?" another one asked, eyes going wide.

"Go Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie called, her sister at her side.

King Sombra gasped, feeling the fear he was composed of, that fueled him, that sustained him slipping away. "NO! STOP!"

A sixth his sent him flipping head over hooves, and he heard a CRACK.

Looking down, the king saw a crack going along his body as if it were made of crystal.
And for the first time in his life, he felt fear himself

Looking up, he saw Rainbow Dash, armor ripped off by sheer g-forces. She seemed to be vibrating, as if her very body was moving at high speeds. But that wasn't the most shocking thing.

It was not a pegasus that stood before her. It was an ALICORN.

Two organic wings spread out beside her, crackling with rainbow colored lightning. The right wing looked like all the feathers were brand new and clean, not an ounce of dirt or dried on blood on it.

"Impossible!" Sombra roared, firing a blast of hatred at the mare, who merely flash stepped to the side and rushed forwards.

"You said that already!" The King screamed in pain as the mare hammered away at his chest like a hypersonic jackhammer, punching so fast no one's eyes could keep up with the blows. Each blow causing his body to gain another crack. The Crystal Ponies began cheering loudly, the king feeling his life blood fear slipping away completely.

"THIS WAR IS OVER!" Rainbow Dash screamed, bringing both hooves forwards at impossible speeds.

Sombra gave an echoing scream of fury as the final blow practically caused him to explode, shattering him with such force some of his pieces would likely find their way back to the arctic north.

His severed horn bounced along the ground and slid to a stop at Celestia's hooves. The Dayarch stared in amazement for a few moments before silently atomizing the horn.

The cracked and damaged mind control armor of the pony Princess Celestia had been fighting fell to pieces in front of the Alicorn of the Day. Underneath... Celestia gasped.

"C-Cadence?!"

"A-Auntie..." The cut and bloody Princess Cadence panted... falling to her knees. The goddess immediately nuzzled her niece.

Rainbow Dash panted, her body finally returning to normal speed. "...Let...let there be peace..." she muttered, collapsing...but finding herself caught by a pink and grey pair of ponies who gently brought the exhausted Alicorn to the ground.

Pinkie smiled, looking at her friend's regenerated wing. "...Congrats Dashie..."

The Princess of the Day trotted over and kneeled next to Equestria's newest Alicorn. "Rest now, young one. You deserve it." As Rainbow Dash let sleep take her, Celestia turned to both sides. The ponies of Equestria and the Crystal Ponies who were now ponies again, not puppets. "THE WAR IS OVER! LET THERE BE PEACE!"

It'd been a long time since Equestria had heard such cheers.

Rainbow Dash for the first time in years had sweet dreams...and felt content and fulfilled. Imagine her shock when she'd awake later to discover a coronation was on it's way.

Alex Warlorn

The noose was closing in around the capital of the Crystal Empire.

The Crystal Empire was losing the lion share of its army by the day, leaving only loyalists and crystal beast, with no ability to create more. And they had lost the enslaved Princess Cadence, and .... Queen Radiance had lost her husband. The only one among them that was an equal to Princess Celestia... and a NEW Alicorn Princess had appeared... THREE Alicorn Princesses to fight at once . . .

As the Empire lost numbers, the crystal ponies usurpers GAINED numbers. And many Crystal Ponies were again calling Princess Cadence their True Queen of the Crystal Empire. And that Sombra's 'add-on' had no business being on the throne.

The Equestria were a 100 miles away from the capital, then 50, then 25, then 5, and finally were outside the capital.

But nothing could get past the barrier around the Crystal Capital... It was WHY they had never had to fear the capital from attack and why Sombra could fight on the front lines.

That was until Princess Cadence had touched her horn on the barrier... and in an instant... her love spread through the barrier's magic... and to her husband... Shining Armor was free!

Now the Equestrians were inside the city... five city blocks... three... two... one... at the Palace Gates!

Queen Radiance had given her orders... delay the Equestrians as long as possible to the bitter end.

Now they were inside... Queen Radiance had retreated to the lower bunker of her husband's palace... protected by needing to be a user of black magic and needing to face your worst fear... her husband had taught her, and she had already experienced her worst fear.

It turns out Princess Celestia knew black magic... who knew?

When the Alicorns stormed the King's Bunker... Queen Radiance had madly attacked her husband's murderer... she lasted about fifteen seconds ... VERY impressive all things considered she had three battle hardened Alicorns bearing down on her.

"You want to fight monsters!? Then here are monsters!"

She didn't WANT to release the Umbrum before, both her and her husband knowing what they'd do to the world... but with Sombra gone and all he built being destroyed, she has nothing left.

She began to open the seal holding back the monsters who had given birth to her husband.

She was blasted in the back by a rainbow colored swirl of magic... Her crown given to her by her love falling from her head... Darkness surrounded her, and she had no expectations of waking up. Her only regret that she'd failed to avenge her beloved.

She woke up anyway... surrounded by Equestrian Guards and the Princesses and Shining Armor... the later looking ready to crush her into singularity. She had a seal on her horn.

"Why am I still alive?" Said asked with all the dignity and regal she could.

"Oh BELIEVE ME! I WANTED to..." Princess Rainbow Dash growled. "You and those other girls, working for Sombra after everything he's done?! You make me sick!"

"Not to mention it would make things a lot neater for Cadence!" Shining Armor said darkly at the mare had held the chain of his slavery.

"However!" Princess Celestia said, "I do not believe in the slaughter of innocents for even the most noble of causes. We ponies will never become monsters, no matter what monsters we fight! And that besides... you are needed to sign the Crystal Empire's unconditional surrender. And I can assure you, it WILL be your last act as queen."

Queen Radiance snapped. She didn't fear death. Not since she had heard Sombra was no more. "And why SHOULD I?"

Celestia said evenly. "With Sombra gone, you are the now the closest thing to a head of state the crystal empire has, unless YOU surrender, your war machine will keep on going until there is NOTHING LEFT of the crystal empire."

Queen Radiance cried. "I already have nothing left!"

"You little-" Princess Celestia stopped the most junior princess. She did not blame the young Alicorn, even the elder Princess had difficulty retaining her fury at the ones who'd willingly partaken in the death and destruction that had hit both kingdoms. But there was a time for wrath...and a time for mercy.

Celestia said tenderly. "The Umbrum USED you, they USED Sombra... do you WANT their evil to continue to cause MORE suffering?...Hatred and fear is their lifeblood, do you wish to give them more of what they desire?"

Queen Radiance said nothing.

After over three long years of war... the Crystal Empire declared its unconditional surrender.

"Now kill me."

"I have no intention of doing that," Princess Celestia said.

"But you said it would be my last act of queen!"

"And it will be... Queen Radiance, otherwise known as Radiant Hope, you are hereby stripped of all power and titles... Cadence will be claiming her divine and ancestral right as leader of the crystal ponies..."

"Banishment then?"

"No."

"The dungeon?"

"No."

"Are you insane?!"

"I think living among your fellow crystal ponies will be punishment enough ... there had ALREADY been enough killing... I vow you and your foal will be protected."

"YOU KNOW?!"

"I said I didn't believe in the slaughter of innocents didn't I?"

Radiant...while it took time. Came to one conclusion in her mind. The Umbrum...they'd convinced her husband that he had no choice, that a monster was what he was born and made to be...and they were the ones to truly blame for his fall. Sombra had made choices, but they had broken him.

She had no one else to hate. Rainbow Dash...as much as it pained her to say it had done the only thing that could have stopped her husband. The Princesses had spared her unborn child. The Umbrum were the only ones left for her to hate.

So the mare decided there could be no better vengeance on those horrors...than to prove them wrong and raise her hybrid child as a good pony. That would be her gift to her husband and her revenge upon his 'family'.

Yoshiegg64

"Princess do you think it was wise to let her free? What if she tries to release the umbra again or something else?"

"Don't worry, I am confident she won't cause any trouble anymore."

--------------
Elsewhere
-------------

"So with this stroll I can travel back in time to prevent my husband from dying and losing the war?"

The worst part was... Hope had been told by Sombra that the creature recreated by the rune in the Crystal Empire would NOT be him... it would be a replica in theory, but not in fact. Sombra having free will, emotions, an IDENTITY, had been a 'glitch' brought on by none other than Radiant Hope herself. Still, she thought she could teach Sombra's brother to have an identity as well... And the rune had been destroyed by the invading Equestrians anyway. She admitted, she had been bluffing with Celestia... she hadn't known she was pregnant.


"Yes and so much more. Just touch it while imaging a place and time and it will take you there." said the grinning unicorn levitating a stroll.

Hope took the stroll in her magic and contemplated all the possibilities. With this magic she could fix any mistake. She could be queen again. Her foal would have her father back. In fact why stop there? She could make it so Sombra was never banished in the first place! She moved her hoof to grab the stroll before stopping.

"........"

"What are you waiting for? Take it!"

"No"

"WHAT? Don't you want to see your husband again?"

"I do but....only a petty fool would mess around with time travel. I would probably just make everything worse."

Somewhere in equestria a mare sneezed.

"Thanks but no thanks Mr. Breeze." Hope said before tearing the stroll apart with her magic. She then walked away with her foal in toll, not paying attention to the disgruntled pony disappearing in the wind.

MtangaLion



"It's not right!" bellowed Scootaloo.  She and Rainbow Dash stood on a lower cloud together with dozens of pegasi refugees, watching thick, unbreathable smog engulf Cloudsdale.  "The Princesses would never have let this happen!"

Rainbow Dash sighed, all the fire seemingly gone out of her.  "The Princesses aren't the Princesses any more.  "Ponies voted for Flim and Flam's new power plants and factories.  There's nothing we can do about it."

Scootaloo stamped at the cloud.  "You mean, a bunch of earth pony and unicorn big cities voted for it.  It's not right!"  She dove off the cloud and took off at her top speed.

"Hey, not so fast!" shouted Rainbow after her.  "It's dangerous... and it's not like there's anyplace to go."

Scootaloo sobbed, her tears instantly blown away in her slipstream.

( Why not fly over the Everfree?  The air is still clean over that way. )

"Yeah, why not..."  The little orange pegasus with her shiny new butterfly cutie mark banked that way, drifting lower as the forest came into sight.  Nothing new, nothing dangerous to her way up in the air... until a blinding gleam from the bottom of a canyon nearly made her swerve into a tree trunk.

What she found in the canyon changed everything.

---

Ten years later, Ponyville was a sprawling, smog-filled metropolis, and the wild Everfree forest had been hacked down to a fraction of its former sprawl.  A small group of ponies stood in front of that canyon, stubbornly refusing to clear the area and let a squad of fifty coal and steam-powered timber harvesting robots do their work.

Scootaloo, now a grown mare in black leather jacket, stared down the robots and adjusted the flight goggles on her forehead.  "We have to stick together.  They can work around single ponies, but not all of us.  They'll have to send somepony official to hear our demands!"

"That's the spirit!" cried Sweetie Belle.  Still wearing a fashionable dress despite the dangerous forest, she trotted past her friends and sang a happy melody, as if she was doing one of her big "Cheer Up, Equestria!" concert tours just for them.  "It's too bad Flim Flam Corp didn't send real ponies instead of these machines."

Diamond Tiara smirked.  "What, so you could sing all of our problems away?"  She hesitated.  "Sorry, I guess that wasn't very nice."  The former bully and professional social snob had practically become a whole new pony in recent years, donating large amounts of the Rich fortune to medical research that helped ponies sickened by the dirty air.  It was a shame that it had taken the death of her mother from that very illness, and the extinction of zap apples to do it.

"I do hope there isn't going to be any fighting," fretted Fluttershy.  The older mare paced nervously.  "The Everfree has already suffered so much.  I'd feel safer if Starlight would put that shield up again."

Starlight Glimmer looked up from her research notes, startled.  "What?  No, no, I can't be distracted now.  After all these years, I'm so close to understanding the Tree of Harmony.  It's the key to everything!"

"What's one tree," boomed one of the robots in an amplified voice, "more or less?"  That robot was stamping towards them with clanking, steam-puffing steps.  Then the armor folded aside, revealing that this robot wasn't a robot at all, but rather a suit of powered armor!  A yellow mare with her red mane cut short stepped out.

Scootaloo gawked.  "Is that... Apple Bloom?  You got your cutie mark?"

Indeed, Apple Bloom had a large silver gear on her flanks.  "No thanks to any of you," she remarked, not in her old country accent, but in a neutral, businesslike tone.

Sweetie Belle's big grin faltered for a moment.  "But, this is great.  I had no idea that you were working inside Flim Flam Corp!  You can help us!"

Apple Bloom just arched an eyebrow.  "Why would I do that, when I run Flim Flam Corporation, and clearcutting the Everfree Forest was my idea?  Just because we played some silly foal games years ago?"

Starlight flinched.  "Clearcut?  You can't.  The magic in this tree is essential to Equestria.  Essential to me... I need to fix things... I have to make up... for my mistakes..."

Diamond rolled her eyes.  "Wait a minute... You, run Flim Flam Corp?  I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here, but... you couldn't even run your family's apple stall in the market back in the day."

Apple Bloom gestured, and all of the robots moved in unison, each taking an aggressive step forward.  "Shut up, you spoiled brat.  I worked hard for this.  Worked my way up from an 18 hours a day factory job, after we lost the farm.  Flim and Flam taught me everything they knew, and I sure taught them a thing or two, after I showed them what I could do."  She glanced back at her cutie mark, grinning.  "What I could create.  Now, I'm the majority stockholder, and they handle the boring politics for me."

Fluttershy gasped.  "You... you did this?  Oh, Apple Bloom, how could you?"  Even with the hurt in her eyes, Fluttershy still looked like she wanted to rush forward and give the yellow mare a big hug.

Apple Bloom hoof-shrugged.  "It's all about the numbers.  Numbers don't lie.  Modern labor saving devices and transportation... a robot army that defeated Sombra without a single pony life lost... that's what the majority of Equestrians want, and what they voted for.  The greatest benefit to the most ponies, and the greatest benefit for the company shareholders too.  Win, win.  There are enormous deposits of coal and mana crystals beneath this land, and the company needs it.  Equestria needs it.  Now, if... ahem, ya'll would kindly git out of our way?"

[ What if... ]

Scootaloo stepped forward, wings spread.  "What if I could prove to you that all of this is wrong?  That you've been tearing down Equestria, not building it up?"  The others watched in confusion, and even Scootaloo wasn't sure where she was going with this... she was totally winging it.

Apple Bloom blinked.  "If you had solid proof?  Naturally, I'd think about what I did wrong and decide on a new course of action, but that's a pretty heavy burden of proof on you, don't you think?"

"And if you found out you were wrong," pressed Scootaloo, "You'd tell your board of directors and everypony?  You wouldn't just lie about it and cut down the forest anyway?"

Apple Bloom frowned uncomfortably.  "Ah'd never!  Ah'm an Apple, dang it, and Ah don't lie, even if...  I mean, even if being an Apple just doesn't mean... what it used to?"

An brilliant rainbow glow had begun to shine from the canyon.  Starlight gasped, actually prancing around.  "That's it... this is it!  I learned everything I could about the Tree, but I just couldn't make the magic work by myself!"  A purple glow shone down on Diamond Tiara.  "Generosity!" she exclaimed.  A red glow enveloped Scootaloo.  "Loyalty!"  Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle...  Apple Bloom?!  "Kindness, Laughter, Honesty!"

One by one, jeweled chokers began to appear on the mares, in the shape of their cutie marks.  "And when the five come together, a spark will reveal the sixth!"  A teal glow became a crown, lifting a joyful, weeping Starlight Glimmer off the ground.  A column of rainbow light enveloped the six mares and shot into the heavens... blasting the dense smog clouds clean away, until all of Equestria saw the sun shining bright once again.

---

Three days later, after the quickest recall election in pony history, some un-retired Royal Guards were roughly evicting Flim and Flam from Canterlot Palace.  "There's been some mistake!" insisted Flam.

"It's all a scam!" echoed Flim.  "Completely illegitimate!"

Princess Celestia smiled patiently.  "The citizens of Equestria have spoken.  Those were your words ten years ago, I believe."  Celestia strode back inside and made her way to the old audience hall, where Luna was giving their first and so far only petitioner a silent, withering glare.

Apple Bloom bowed her head low, heavy-hearted.  The mare wore no fancy dress, just a simple white lab coat, and her new Element of Honesty.

Luna cleared her throat.  "We will serve you notice now.  In the coming days, we will proclaim new laws for the protection of the environment, and many current practices of your company will be made illegal."  Her eyes narrowed.  "Furthermore, we command that you will wear that sacred token of Honesty at all times, so that neither you nor anypony else will forget what you did."

Apple Bloom slowly stopped her shivering...  she'd expected worse.  "Words can't say how sorry Ah am, yer Highnesses.  But maybe this can..."  She cautiously held up a manila folder.

"Have we not had enough of your schemes?" snapped Luna.  "Begone from..."

"I want to hear what she has to say," interrupted Celestia.  "Please, go on."

Apple Bloom gulped.  "Your Highness, Ah'm worried.  About the future.  Ponies are happy to see the sun again now, but if ya just shut down all the power plants, Manehatten, Baltimare, and Ponyville will be rioting in a matter of days.  That's... that's why Ah've been thinking... coming up with new ideas"  She opened the folder and offered a blueprint, which Celestia took in her magic.  "This is a power plant that runs off sunlight.  No smog.  And this one is designed to catch lightning that pegasi funnel into it."

Celestia and Luna exchanged glances.  

"They'll cost more and won't make as much electricity as the coal plants," continued Apple Bloom nervously.  "But Ah thought, maybe...  And, um, whatever ya'll decide, Ah can pledge right now that the company will obey all of the new rules while Ah'm in charge, no cheating.  Ah swear on mah family name."

Celestia finally offered her a reserved smile.  "I also remember when the word of an Apple meant a great deal.  Perhaps... it will again."
Number seven of Twilight Sparkle's adventure through different fan fictions to give them a happy ending UNDER THEIR OWN POWER. But even Twilight Sparkle can't give these stories happy ending if the author won't let them it seems. And given the emotional investments creators have int heir own work, as do readers, there are those who will not let some of these world lines reach a better conclusion.


This is a record of other pony fanon worlds visited by Amciitia that came to a bad end. And her attempts to nudge things to a brighter future.


ONE DOWN. SIX TO GO! 
TWO DOWN. FIVE TO GO! 
THREE DOWN. FOUR TO GO! 


Anyone can write one. 

Parts Added:
Kendell2
Alex Warlorn Cutie Mark Re-Mark Tie In!!!
MtangaLion
Kendell2 with edits
Alex Warlorn
Yoshiegg64 (minor addition by me)
MtangaLion
Wolfram-and-Hart

Amiticia's rules:

1) She can not 'assume direct control' of anyone under any circumstances. 

  

2) She can not physically manifest unless it can be passed off as a hallucination or trick of the mind, and may NOT physically meddle. 


3) If a deity who is not native to that universe has already intervened or taken part in things, Amicitia can perform much more blatant miracles to help others.


4) She can manifest as a pony's 'shoulder angel', conscience, voice of reason, voice of courage, voice of inspiration, what have you to others at critical moments. (She's able to bend this rule a little when it's that reality's Twilight Sparkle she's speaking to since she's speaking to herself.) 


5) She CANNOT give information that person couldn't logically know. 


6) She can speak more directly to the pets (Gummy, etc), but they CAN NOT act out of character, nor can they give information they wouldn't logically have or act in ways that don't make sense in story. 


7) If something has been established as how the laws of magic or physics works in that world, Amicitia CAN NOT change it. 


8) Amicitia can arrange things behind the scenes that are improbable, but NEVER impossible. 


9) Amicitia once provided Applebloom and Sweetie Belle in the Friendship is Oppression verse an anonymous vision to inspire them to find the Element of Chaos, she is strictly forbidden from helping that world further under penalty of violence. 


10 )Above everything, it must be like from the story's own narrative that Amicitia was not there at all, like a ghost. (Like how REAL ninja made a point of no one knowing there WAS a ninja.) 


11) If Amicitia become an Insert (for example, appears, hands Applebloom the Master Sword when Bloom cornered by zombies, or blasts the zombies to ashes herself), the Blank Wolf of that timeline will erase everything she's done and she can not try again. 


12) TL;DR Amicitia can not break the suspension of disbelief, create a plot hole, violate anyone's free will, or make it seem like she was there at all from the perception of the characters or the narrative.


Detailed version here: alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/jou…


Covert art by leffenkitty.deviantart.com/art…

© 2015 - 2024 alexwarlorn
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PsychoDemonFox's avatar
I've been thinking about the destroyed future, and I wonder... what if it had to do with Starlight Glimmer's plans? That would have made for some delicious irony... and if the time-travelling Starlight saw what her ambitions had brought about, that might be a better reason for her to change her ways... but that's just me.