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Twilight Manages to Screw Up More Than Usual

by Fire Gazer the Alchemist

Chapter 27: It's a Start

Previous Chapter

Vinyl returned to civilization spitting.

It was a tad bit unceremonious, considering how long she had been away, but when you walk straight into a spider web after making it through a mile of the Everfree Forest unscathed, it can’t be helped.

“Gah! Pffbt!” Vinyl wiped her face, cursing the very second she’d taken her sunglasses off.

“Oh my gosh!” The concern in Lyra’s voice was palpable.

“Aw, don’t worry about me.” Vinyl wiped away the last of the webs clinging to her cheek. “I’m fine.”

“T-That’s not what I’m worried about,” Lyra shakily said.

Vinyl looked up, and followed Lyra’s gaze to see what had her in so much open-mouthed shock. “Then what— oh…”

Her jaw dropped down to match Lyra’s. And it was easy to see why.

Ponyville was a mess. Houses were floating randomly around, some tilted, some upside down, but most all of them in mid-air. Right alongside the new sky front property were pink clouds that zipped around diagonally across the sky as a dark brown liquid dripped out of them in clumps.

On the ground—the swirly, neon colored and checkerboarded ground—trees scuttled around, using their roots as flappy tentacles.

Vinyl rubbed her eyes. Nope, all still there.

And now she noticed the sun, which appeared to be having a blast by doing loop de loops in the sky. Vinyl grasped her shades and let them rest back on her face. They provided a familiar comfort amidst all this…

“Chaos.” Lyra took the words right out of her brain.

“Holy crap. You don’t think that Discord guy did… all of this, do you?” Vinyl asked.

Lyra managed to close her jaw and give her a slightly dead-pan look. “No, I’m sure there’s some other chaos god that’s behind it.”

Viny narrowed her eyes. “You’ve been spending too much time with Tavi, you know that?”

With a shake of her head, Lyra looked over the town before her attention turned east. Her eyes chased the horizon where the purple sky met checkered grounds, and Vinyl followed.

They both knew what the other was thinking, mostly because they were thinking about the only hope ponykind had.

The Elements.

And that freaking tracking spell.

Vinyl wasn’t going to lie, she knew she could be annoying. However, no matter how badly she’d pestered Twilight over the past few weeks, she knew it could not have been anywhere near as bad as the constant, radiating tingle her brain was enduring right now.

It was an agonizingly constant pull that wouldn’t leave her alone, even if she tried distracting herself with other thoughts. A pretty good incentive to get finding her Element over with, at least.

“Mine’s still pretty far away,” Lyra said.

“Same.” Vinyl didn’t hesitate to leap back into walking. “Let’s see if the train’s working.”

“What?” Lyra rushed to catch up to her, appearing in her peripherals just a nanosecond later. “Are you being serious?”

“Uh, yeah.” Vinyl narrowed her eyes in confusion, not that Lyra could tell. “Why?”

“Equestria looks like… this!” She waved her hoof to the whole of what used to be Ponyville. “And you think the trains are still working?”

Viny shrugged. “Worth a shot. Unless you’ve got a better way of getting us to the Elements.”

Lyra opened her mouth, hoof raised, and froze. Vinyl could see the gears of her mind whirring in protest as they tried to think of any other idea, only to grind to a halt upon realizing their failure.

“Train it is, then.” Vinyl couldn’t resist a smirk.

A sigh chased after her as Lyra lost her will to retaliate against Vinyl’s logic. She pulled up alongside her and matched her pace as they made their way towards the screwed up version of Ponyville before them.

Silence, aside from sparse, distant screams of horror, accompanied their walk. Not wanting the mood to be brought down any further, Vinyl started to hum a little tune to herself. It was simple enough, and a bit of an earworm despite being something she just came up with off the top of her head. What could she say, she was a musical genius after all.

Her genius did not go unnoticed, either. The infectious melody she’d constructed was picked up by the musically-inclined Lyra and pretty soon they were both humming along like goofballs while the world was ending around them.

Too bad it couldn’t last.

“Get down!” Lyra suddenly pounced onto Vinyl, knocking both of them into a golden-leafed bush.

“Ah!” Vinyl winced as the leaves and branches scraped against her. It poked way worse than a normal bush would, too. She was just grateful she had her shades on. “What the heck, Lyra?”

A mint hoof clasped over her mouth. “Shh!”

Lyra was frantic as she pressed them both deeper into the bush, keeping her eyes set on the outside as her ears folded down. Vinyl just raised her eyebrows in confusion, but followed Lyra’s line of sight.

Up above them, just a blip in the purple sky, was a long brown figure seemingly doing a backstroke as it floated across the sky.

“Mmhmrd?” Vinyl asked through the hoof in her mouth.

Lyra nodded through a newly formed grimace. The chaos spirit loomed in her line of sight, causing her to sweat. “Yeah…”

Vinyl swatted away Lyra’s hoof. “What’s he doing here?” she whispered.

“I don’t know!” Lyra hissed, the fear wrapped into her voice enough to give Vinyl shivers. “But how are we supposed to get to the train station now?”

Vinyl tried to look around for ideas, but the leaves of the bush blocked her every which way when she turned. Groaning softly, Vinyl almost resigned herself to just cowering in the bush with Lyra until Discord left. Then from the corner of her eye she noticed one of the trees from earlier darting by, its bark cracking loudly at the unnatural movements it made.

“I have an idea.”

“What— Hey!” Lyra squirmed, nearly popping out of the bush as Vinyl wiggled around beside her. “What are you doing?”

“Just a sec.” Vinyl planted her hooves on the ground and pushed up, snapping the roots of the bush from from the ground. “There we go. Insta-camouflage.”

Lyra struggled in her side of the bush, managing to stand after wrestling noisily with the leaves. “What, we’re just going to walk to the train station like this?”

“I was thinking we run,” Vinyl replied.

Lyra bit her lip and glanced up towards Discord again. He was still lazily floating above them, maybe high enough to completely miss the fact that one bush had suddenly grown legs. Then again… maybe not.

“Okay, let’s run.”

Vinyl kicked into a full on gallop, snapping Lyra back and giving her a nasty case of leafy whiplash before she could process the need to keep up.

They each winced at the loud, metallic sounding rustling of the golden leaves surrounding them, but pressed on regardless. It certainly helped that the ground was mostly empty, devoid of both houses and the ponies who lived in them.

And now that Vinyl thought about it, it was kind of odd that she didn’t see any townsponies.

“Where is everypony?” She asked.

“Hiding, if they’re smart,” she whispered back.

Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, I would be too.”

“Really?” Lyra snickered. “You would be hiding?”

“I’m hiding now,” Vinyl said as they continued to run out in the open.

“You know what I mean,” Lyra fired back. “You didn’t sit by when the Ursa attacked, why would you with this?”

“‘Cause with the Ursa I had Smart Mare to back me up.”

Lyra frowned. “And now you only have me, huh?”

Vinyl slowed, shooting a glance her way. “Hey now, don’t sell yourself short like that.”

Lyra dropped to a slow trot and Vinyl struggled to match her pace before she barreled right out of the bush. “Oh come on, it’s true. I’m not half as good at magic as Twilight is. And besides I… I’m scared of like, everything.”

“No you aren’t.”

“Heights, The Everfree, Ursas, changelings, Nightmare Moon, Discord…” she laughed softly. “I’m even scared of doing the one thing my Cutie Mark tells me I’m good at. I’m nothing but a chicken...”

That actually got Vinyl to shut up for longer than two seconds. Lyra had never referred to her stage fright as an actual phobia before, she had always hid behind calling it ‘anxiety’.

Having Lyra open up like this to her was a level of trust Vinyl didn’t think she had with her fellow unicorn.

“Well… hey, everypony’s afraid of something,” Vinyl told her. Oh yeah, bust out those cliches. I’m sure Lyra hasn’t heard that about a hundred times already.

“I know,” Lyra huffed, confirming that theory. “But that doesn’t make me less afraid of any of those things.”

“I don’t think you give yourself enough credit,” Vinyl fired back. “I mean, look at all the stuff you’ve done. You’ve been into the Everfree Forest twice, fought Chrysalis, and played your harp-thingy for changelings. I mean, seriously. What kind of chicken does all that?”

“I guess you’re right…” Lyra sounded very convinced. Like, as convinced as an ant saying ‘everything’s fine’ as it watched a hoof come down to squish it. About that much.

The train station had appeared before them now, thankfully being one of the few buildings in town to not be floating. However, Vinyl didn’t care about that right now. She was more focused on her friend. Slowing down, she dragged them both to a complete stop, earning Lyra’s full attention. Biting her lip, Vinyl sighed. “Hey, you want to know something?”

“What?”

“I’m freaking terrified to play Music-ade.”

“What?!”

Vinyl winced as Lyra apparently forgot they were trying to be stealthy. She shook her head to dispel the ringing in her ears, and was momentarily impressed in Lyra’s ability to do that to her of all ponies.

“Yeah, I am,” Vinyl frowned. It felt weird to admit it out loud for once. “I mean, I have to do an entire float by myself. You at least have a whole orchestra to fall back on if you screw up, but me? If I make a mistake then everypony’s going to know it.” She laughed uncomfortably. “I know I don’t really act like it, but yeah. That’s got me a little shaken up.”

Lyra looked genuinely surprised, but that wasn’t surprising. Nopony really would’ve guessed how nervous Vinyl could be even if they knew her. “Wow…” she mumbled.

“Yeah…” Vinyl awkwardly looked away. She hadn’t really expected hiding in a bush to lead to a heart to heart like this. Ready to just act like it never happened, Vinyl was about to start walking again when she felt a nudge on her shoulder.

“Thanks for telling me, Vinyl.” Lyra smiled.

Vinyl returned the sentiment. “Heh… no prob.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll knock it out of the park at Music-ade.”

Vinyl couldn’t hold back a brief laugh. “Thanks. I know you will too. Now come on, we got some Elements to find.”

Lyra actually brightened a little. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it.”

Trotting in tandem, they made their way into the train station. Their bushy camo scraped the sides of the door as they pushed their way inside. Vinyl eyed the inside, noting the ransacked, panicky look of the place.

Decorative ferns had been knocked over while tickets and dropped suitcases littered the tiled floor, likely left behind from ponies fleeing in terror. Looking past all of that, Vinyl finally caught a glimpse of the train tracks. They were waving about in midair, like ripples in a disturbed river.

But luckily the train was there, bobbing along with the displaced rails. It was wearing a giant fish costume, but it was still definitely a train.

She pulled the bush over to the ticket booth, Lyra following with a hesitant, “uh…”.

Behind the glass window, there was an attendant scrambling about in a flurry. He seemed to be throwing as many of his possessions as he could into his saddlebags, mumbling incoherently to himself. It was clear his intent was to pack up and get the heck out before anything worse happened to Ponyville. Keeping that in mind, Vinyl decided not to waste too much of his time.

“Excuse me,” she cleared her throat.

The attendant turned around, eyes widening as he noticed the golden bush that trudged up to his booth. Vinyl poked her head out from the leaves, causing the poor guy to flinch.

“Hey, so is the train still running or what?”


They were back in Dodge.

Bon Bon only had to breathe in the scent of ripened cherries to know that much. Even though there was also a distinctly peppermint smell too.

The tree trunks of the cherry orchard had all been replaced with giant candy canes, though the cherries themselves had been left unharmed and dangling from the tips of the cane.

“That’s… not exactly natural,” Octavia whispered.

Bon Bon could only nod. Nod, and shudder at what other chaos might be plaguing Equestria. She doubted all of it was as harmless as this.

...Unless of course the candy canes also ate ponies or something. That was much less harmless.

“Do you feel where your Element is?” Octavia asked.

“Uh…” Bon Bon followed the pull of her brain as the path to her Element pushed out and careened off to the right. She pointed. “That way.”

Looking back to Octavia, she saw her friend gazing off to the left. “Oh…”

They were going to have to split up. It was the only way to track down both Elements in a reasonable amount of time, after all.

But in a world of purple skies and candy cane trees, Bon Bon was terrified to go it alone. Though, it wasn’t like going with Octavia would be much different.

She winced, realizing how bad that sounded. She didn’t mean that to discredit her friend in any way, it was just that a baker on her own in the desert was barely different than a baker and a cellist on their own in the desert.

“So… what do we do?” Octavia turned to her, voice cracking. She wasn’t exactly keen on splitting up either.

Bon Bon pressed her lips together. She looked around, absorbing every detail of the red and white striped forest before her. Her eyes glazed over a small set of buildings in the distance, before doubling back and focusing in on it.

“Let’s go further into town,” she suggested. “We both have a little bit to go before we have to split, right?”

Octavia paused for a moment to furrow her brow. As her face crinkled into serious thought, she shifted on her heels. “I guess so.”

“Come on. Who knows, maybe somepony in Dodge can help us out.” Bon Bon started trotting forward, stopping only to poke at one of the candy canes to see if it would come to life and try to eat them. It didn’t.

Octavia followed her, eventually pulling up at her side and matching her pace. As they trotted through the grove, the odd mix of peppermint and cherries assaulted Bon Bon’s nose, which wrinkled in discomfort.

As they weaved in between candy trunks, Bon Bon eyed the town ahead to look for anything chaotic. It wasn’t like there was much she could do about any of Discord’s handiwork if she did see some of it, but knowing about it would at least make her feel like she was prepared.

Because she was definitely not prepared. Like, at all.

Her frying pan aside, she had nothing that could stand up to the wrath of a chaos demon. In fact, she probably had nothing that could stand up to the wrath of the desert. She hadn’t really packed any water or anything, an absence she would feel when tracking down her Element. Aside from a vague direction and vaguer distance, she didn’t have much for the journey she was about to undertake.

“Nervous?” Octavia’s voice brought Bon Bon back to reality. She shook her head and turned to her friend, only to be greeted by a worried look. It was then that Bon Bon noticed the cold sweat breaking out on her… everywhere.

“Fine,” she squeaked out. Coughing, she tried again. “I’m fine. You?”

Octavia held back a frown. “I could be doing worse.”

But you could be doing better, is what Bon Bon got out of that.

Biting her lip, Bon Bon looked up at the sky. Pink clouds darted across the purple expanse at very uncloud-like speeds, leaving very unrain-like drops of brown liquid in their wake. A few splashed down in front of Bon Bon, and she flinched.

“Is it bad that I really don’t want to know what that stuff is?” She asked Octavia.

The far-braver-than-her cellist bent down slightly at the puddle and sniffed. “Chocolate milk.”

Bon Bon breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness.”

Octavia watched the clouds zip away, before her attention fell to the dark stains they left behind on the candy cane trees and beyond. “Maybe we should split up now. I don’t want to waste anymore time; I’m worried everything we’ve seen so far has just been a warm-up act.”

Bon Bon swallowed, sending a shake down her neck that spread to her entire body. When her tremor passed she found the nerve to speak up. “A-Already?”

“It’s probably for the best, right?” Octavia asked. “Why, is something the matter? I mean, besides the obvious… everything.”

There wasn’t much of a point to lying, so Bon Bon didn’t. With a hefty pause to delay the inevitable, she said, “I don’t want to be alone for this.”

“Oh.” Octavia was silent for a moment.

Ears dropping, Bon Bon winced, knowing she’d only made this more difficult. “Sorry, I—”

“No, no, don’t be sorry,” Octavia told her. She forced back an awkward laugh. “I mean, do you know how nervous I am to go it alone?”

“A little?”

“A lot.” Octavia breathed as the weight left her chest. “Like, a lot a lot.”

“Really?” Bon Bon must’ve sounded as incredulous as she felt, because Octavia’s brow rose.

“Yes really. Bon Bon, just a few weeks ago the biggest worry on my mind was making sure my orchestra could play Music-ade. Now the fate of Equestria depends on me tracking down an Element of Harmony in a chaos infested desert.” Octavia didn’t force down her next laugh. “I’m terrified.

Bon Bon had to take a moment to process. “Huh…”

“I’m honestly surprised you’re scared.”

Bon Bon had to take several moments to process that. “What?

Octavia’s ears flopped down as she floundered. “Well, I just figured… I mean, you beat Chrysalis, after all.”

“I hit her with a frying pan! That’s how I handle all bugs!” She put a hoof to her chest to calm down. It worked, slightly. “I mean, I bake cake for a living! You’re the pony who never seems to flinch in the face of danger!”

Octavia blinked. “I guess we both kind of looked up to each other, huh?”

Bon Bon lowered her hoof. “Y-Yeah… kind of.”

There was a beat where nothing happened outside of awkward ground poking.

Finally, Bon Bon cleared her throat. “I still don’t want to go alone.”

Octavia frowned and nodded. Then her ears perked back up. “Wait, doesn’t Cherry Jubilee live nearby?”

Bon Bon’s brain clicked with understanding. “With a wagon pulled by a bunch of fast-looking stallions? Yeah, she does.”

With a clap, Octavia nodded. “I do believe we can stick together, after all.”


Twilight’s grip on Derpy’s neck tightened. Wind blasted her face, whipping her mane back in a frenzy of hair spasms. She opened her mouth to politely suggest they slow down, but only ended up screaming at the top of her lungs.

“What? I didn’t quite catch that!” Derpy cried back.

Twilight screamed again.

“Oh, okay.” Derpy turned back to the purple expanse ahead.

She swooped forward, cutting across the sky as her speed doubled. Canterlot was just ahead, zooming towards them. Even at their speed, Twilight could make out the finer details of the city. And that included all the chaos.

It was safe to say Canterlot had seen better days. Buildings had sprouted pink and hairy legs and were walking around. Every so often their front doors would open up only for fire to spew out.

Not even the castle had been spared. It looked deflated, like if it was an inflatable with a leak. It was just… floppy. Twilight winced at the sight.

“This doesn’t look good. We need to find Princess Celestia fast,” Twilight said

“And Nightmare,” Derpy added.

Twilight couldn’t hold back a frown. “Yeah... You, do have a plan to stop her, right?”

“With the magic of friendship of course!” Derpy’s optimism was sweet enough to give candymakers diabetes. But optimism probably wouldn’t be enough.

Biting her lower lip, Twilight tried to think about the best way to break that news to her. “Are you sure that’s going to cut it?”

Derpy nodded. “She’s not evil Twilight, she’s my friend. You’ll see. Deep down, she’s just a big ole softy.”

Twilight held back a groan. Somehow that just didn’t seem likely to her. But she was confident between her magic and Celestia’s they would be able to subdue Nightmare without too much trouble.

“Do you at least see where Princess Celestia and Nightmare are?” she asked, hoping their flight was coming to a close.

Derpy opened her mouth only to rudely be cut off by an explosion. The palace garden suddenly erupted with magic and stone fragments.

“There!” Twilight pointed as several dark blue blasts whizzed into view.

“I see it!” Derpy swooped, changing direction for a collision course with the garden. Her wings angled themselves and they started diving.

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!” Twilight winced as wind pummeled her face. Her stomach flopped faster than her racing heart. She squeezed Derpy’s neck in panic.

“Too tight!” Derpy hacked.

“Too fast!” Twilight screamed.

They zoomed toward the castle, each choking up in their own way. Twilight could barely think as they sped towards the gardens, but fear somehow managed to dominate her brain anyway.

The closer they got the clearer things became. The gardens looked like a warzone, hedges holed and burning, statues decimated, and in the middle of it all were two alicorns.

Terror shorting out her ability to talk, Twilight just pointed fervently at her teacher.

“Hang on!” Derpy rocketed forward.

Twilight’s head whipped back, but she kept her eyes on the battle before her. Princess Celestia was lying on the ground, battered and bruised. That really caught Twilight off guard. Celestia had easily dispatched Nightmare last time. What was going on?

She didn’t have time to figure that out, because in the very next instant Nightmare Moon lowered her horn, aiming right for Celestia’s head.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh no…”

Derpy’s wings flapped double time. “Nightmare, stop! Don’t do it!”

They were so close now that Twilight could see Nightmare’s ears flick at the sound of Derpy’s voice. She turned her head just in time to see the two of them blast past her.

Derpy hardly had the room to slow down, but must’ve felt obligated to at this point because she dug her hooves into the ground and started skidding. Twilight lurched forward and flew over her head. Her dive was thankfully cushioned by a nearby hedge just as the nearby squealing sounds of hooves against concrete stopped.

Twilight opened her eyes to be greeted by an upside down view of two shocked alicorn faces.

“D-Derpy?” Nightmare Moon gaped.

“Twilight?” Celestia’s eyes widened.

“What are you doing here?” They chimed in tandem.

Twilight didn’t bother with a weak smile. She just waved. “Hey.”

Gravity suddenly seemed to realized there was a problem and began pulling at her once more. Her body slid free of the leaves, giving her very little time to flail into a decent falling position.

“Owowowow.” Derpy hopped in place for a moment, her hooves looking a little red from the landing. When she realized half of the question was directed at her she looked up. “Nightmare, you’ve got to stop this, please!”

“You’re not serious, are you?” Nightmare squinted. “I should vaporize you on the spot for interrupting my moment of triumph.”

“Trying to kill your sister is not a triumph!” Derpy shouted. Twilight’s eyes widened at the suddenness of it. Nightmare actually flinched. Briefly.

Using that time to her advantage, Twilight scrambled to her feet and raced over to Princess Celestia. She only needed a second to take in how exhausted she looked. Her usual composure that bled confidence, her regal stature, all of it compromised by how beaten down she was.

Turning, Twilight threw up a magical shield around them before Nightmare could do anything else.

In response, she just lowered her brow. “Really?”

“You won’t touch her,” Twilight growled. “I won’t let you get the chance.”

“Twilight…” Celestia whispered.

Nightmare Moon chuckled lowly. “To think I actually thought you had potential. Is this what you want? To throw away your life to protect her?”

“Twilight, run. You have to get out of here!” Celestia pleaded.

“You know, Sparkle, as much as it makes me want to vomit, I actually see a little bit of myself in you.”

Twilight squinted. “W-What?”

“Scorned by the same pony, prone to isolation,” Nightmare looked away for a moment. “Though in your case, intentional.”

“Don’t even compare us! We are nothing alike!” Twilight yelled. “I spent my time trying to fix the Elements for the good of Equestria. You want to plunge the world into eternal night!”

Nightmare tsked. “Oh don’t try to act all high and mighty about it. You were repairing the Elements to fix your standing with her, not because you cared for the good of Equestria. Am I right?”

Twilight pressed her lips together in a thin line. Thinking back on it, she couldn’t deny her motivations were a little selfish. But that didn’t make her a bad pony, right?

“I thought so. You’re just a spell away from where I’m standing, Twilight. Don’t lie to yourself.”

That’s not true. “You’re wrong!”

“Am I?” Her sinister voice sent a shiver down Twilight’s spine.

And then Nightmare ripped through her bubble with one swift slash of her horn.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she watched her shield dissipate. Tiny fragments fluttered before her like popped balloon bits. Her jaw met the ground.

“Remember how she treated you back at the Everfree?” Nightmare hissed. “How dismissive she was of you? I was there, I could hear the contempt in her voice, Twilight. Don’t waste your time defending her. Step aside now, and I will consider being merciful.”

Twilight swallowed, her legs shaking. The dark figure of Nightmare loomed over her, letting her know in more ways than one just how outclassed she was. If she stood her ground, there wouldn’t be a fight; it would be a slaughter.

“Twilight, it’s okay. You don’t need to protect me,” Celestia told her. She struggled her hooves, limbs wobbly.

“No!” Twilight lit up her horn, digging in her heels. “I won’t let her do this! She can’t do this!”

“Oh, how touching.” Nightmare Moon smirked. “Are you going to hug, too?”

Twilight gritted her teeth, and let her horn glow brighter. She was ready to put the full force of her magic behind her next spell, hoping it would be enough to counter whatever Nightmare was planning on.

Dark horn raised and blazing, Nightmare struck an intimidating pose over her. Just feeling the magic radiating off of her let Twilight know she stood no chance, but she still refused to back down.

“No hug then?” Nightmare grinned. “How about the sweet embrace of death instead.” Her horn flared, ready to attack.

“Stop!”

Twilight did a double take as Derpy planted herself in-between them. Determination and grit dominated her face as she looked up at evil incarnate.

Nightmare actually paused. “Derpy, get out of my way.”

“No!” Derpy spread her wings, hooves outstretched to block Nightmare as much as her tiny body could. “You can’t do this Nightmare.”

“I’m fairly certain I can.”

Derpy narrowed her eyes. “Then you’ll have to kill me too, because I’m not moving.”

Twilight blinked. “Derpy…”

Nightmare narrowed her eyes. But, to Twilight’s surprise, she didn’t blow them all away right away. Instead, a dark blue aura wrapped around Derpy and lifted her into the air.

“Hey!” She thrashed around, but couldn’t escape as Nightmare lightly tossed her over to the side.

“Now then, where were we?” Nightmare turned back to Twilight and Celestia. “Ah yes, your timely demises.” She lowered her horn.

Twilight winced as her horn flared. Celestia’s wing suddenly jumped in front of her view, and she felt her teacher wrap her forelegs around her as a last minute sheild.

“I said no!”

Twilight could barely see it through Celestia’s feathers, but Derpy flew back in and pushed Nightmare’s head away just as a bolt of magic launched out of it. The beam flew past them, barely grazing Celestia’s coat before racing off to the horizon.

Celestia lowered her wing in shock, giving Twilight a good look at the astonishment on Nightmare’s face.

She glanced down at a narrow-eyed Derpy. “What are you doing?”

Derpy just frowned at her. “Nightmare, I’m not letting you go through with this.”

“You cannot be serious right now.” Nightmare looked at Twilight. “Is she serious?”

Twilight just nodded.

“Freaking fantastic.”

Derpy stamped her hoof against the ground. “Nightmare, if you go through with this then I will never, ever be able to forgive you and that’s a promise.”

Nightmare Moon bared her fangs. “Oh, don’t even. I have been working for this day for a thousand years! I mastered dark magic spells the likes of which would turn your mortal mind to mush. I have lived through a thousand years of isolation. Do you honestly think losing your friendship would matter to me?”

“Yes, I do.” Derpy said plainly.

They dropped into a chilling silence. Twilight felt goose bumps as she looked between the two, waiting for somepony to say something.

Finally, Nightmare narrowed her eyes. “Then you don’t know me.”

“I know you better than you think!” Derpy fired back. “I know you’re not a bad pony deep down. You’re just angry and hurt. But you don’t have to take out that anger on the ponies around you! I want to be your friend; I want to help you. Don’t push me away.”

“I’ve already been pushed away,” Nightmare said lowly. She looked out to Canterlot and the land beyond. “By my country. By my subjects.” Her head swiveled back, eyes drilling Celestia. “By my sister. I’m not the one pushing here, Derpy. I’m grabbing at what I can so it will never leave me again. I’m taking what is rightfully mine!”

“That won’t fix you,” Derpy whispered. Nightmare actually finched. “You’ll just be lonely forever. You’ll be empty forever. Please Nightmare… I don’t want that to happen to you.”

More silence. Less chilling and more pensive this time, however.

A house walked by the gardens in the meantime.

Twilight finally cleared her throat. “Listen, Nightmare, I know you’re mad at Princess Celestia but right now Equestria is facing a bigger problem than your emotional-ego trip.”

“I promise you nothing in this world is bigger than that,” Nightmare growled.

“Regardless,” Twilight snapped. “You know Equestria’s in danger. And you know Discord is a threat you can’t handle on your own.”

“Says you!” Nightmare growled.

“Says logic!” Twilight fired back. “He is way too powerful for any of us to defeat alone. Just look at the sky! Look at those houses!”

“Humph.” Nightmare rolled her eyes, looking at neither. “Anypony could do that.”

Twilight frowned, but detect a hint of hesitation behind Nightmare’s bravado.

“Luna,” Celestia interjected. “We could only beat him with the Elements last time.”

Nightmare bared her fangs. “You shut up before I finish the job I started!” Celestia snapped her jaw shut.

“That’s enough!” Twilight puffed up her chest, adding a whole twenty percent more to her intimidation factor. “You have to help us stop Discord. The only way we stand a chance against him is together.”

“Nothing about that doesn’t make me want to vomit.” Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes. “I really can’t fathom how you think I’ll actually help you.”

Twilight bit her lip. She was running out of convincing arguments, and Nightmare still undoubtedly wanted to kill them.

“Would you do it for me?” Derpy asked. “Would you do it because we’re friends?”

Nightmare blinked in response. Though Twilight couldn't see Derpy’s face, she was willing to bet that the evilest mare in existence was on the receiving end of one heck of a puppy-dog face. But even if Derpy could make her criss-crossed eyes the size of dinner saucers, that wouldn’t work.

“Could I get more blueberry muffins?” Nightmare asked.

...Wait, did that just work?

Derpy smiled. “Sure, I know Bon Bon would be happy to make some. We can eat them later today while you and Princess Celestia talk out your differences.”

Nightmare looked ready to kill again. “Don’t ruin muffins for me.”

“Wait, you mean you’re actually going to help us?” Celestia asked. From the sound of her voice it felt like she might pass out from sheer disbelief. That, or she was becoming just the slightest bit hopeful that Nightmare could be saved.

“No, ‘Sister of the Millennium’, I’m going to help myself.” She pointed to Twilight. “It’s like this idiot said, I can use you all as meat shields to make beating Discord easier.”

“Well, I didn’t put it like that,” Twilight mumbled.

“You I still very much plan to kill,” Nightmare growled at Celestia.

Announcing her intentions of sororicide didn’t really seem to faze the Princess that much anymore. She just frowned as she looked out to Equestria. “I just don’t know how we can stop Discord. Even with all of us combined, I fear we don’t stand a chance.”

“Oh, well then we better get the Elements back together,” Derpy said.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she swerved around to look at Derpy. “Wait, you mean the Elements of Harmony were restored?”

Derpy nodded simply. “Yup, Twilight did it.”

Princess Celestia couldn’t widen her eyes any further. She turned to Twilight as her shock morphed into pride. “Heh… of course she did.” She gave Twilight a smile of adoration. “If anypony could do the impossible, it’s you.”

Twilight’s heart swelled at the words. It had been weeks since she heard praise from Princess Celestia and although it was a little painful to admit, it was still a drug she was addicted to.

“So where are the Elements?” Celestia asked. She looked around briefly, as if they would suddenly spawn into existence right in front of her. “Did you leave them with Shining and Cadance?”

“Uhh…” Twilight didn’t have a good answer to that, and she really didn’t want to go into withdrawal.

“I think mine’s over there.” Derpy pointed off to the horizon.

Feeling the sudden tug in her mind, Twilight couldn’t resist turning opposite of Derpy.

“Wait, you mean the Elements have been scattered?” Fear crept into Celestia’s voice.

Derpy nodded simply. “Yup, Discord did it.”

Celestia’s ears folded down. “Oh my.”

“Hmmph, it seems even when your student succeeds, she still screws up,” Nightmare gloated.

“Don’t worry!” Twilight quickly jumped into Celestia’s line of sight. “I’ve cast a tracking spell on them. Right now all of my friends are out hunting down their Elements.”

“Your… friends?” Twilight feared Celestia had received one too many surprises today.

“We should probably find ours too,” Derpy said. “I’m sure everypony else is nearly done by now.”

“Right.” Twilight looked back to Princess Celestia, taking in how exhausted the Princess looked. In her state, hunting down the Elements or fighting Discord was out of the question. Unless… “Princess, do you think you could fly to the Everfree Forest like this?”

Celestia extended her wings and gave them a light flap. “I’m sure I can find the strength to, why?”

Twilight just smiled. “I think we need to make a pit stop is all.”

“A what?”

“Oh yeah! The Tree!” Derpy exclaimed excitedly.

Celestia blinked. “You mean the Tree of Harmony?”

“Yes, we found it!” Twilight told her. “And it really looks like you could stand to touch it right now.”

“...What?”

“I’ll explain everything on the way,” Twilight assured her. “Derpy are you ready to fly?”

“Sure thing!” Derpy wiped the sweat from her brow and spread her wings. Though she was trying to hide it, Twilight could tell she was breathing heavily. She wasn’t entirely sure Derpy could make it all the way back to the Forest either.

Suddenly, Derpy was wrapped in a dark blue aura and lifted into the air. Before she could even react she found herself lowered onto Nightmare Moon’s back.

“What?” Derpy blinked in surprise.

“You’re tired,” Nightmare said simply. “You won’t make it if you have to fly all the way back to the Everfree while carrying that fat flank.”

“HEY!” Twilight growled.

“Aww thanks Nightmare. Also, I’m pretty sure Twilight’s an average weight for her body size.”

Nightmare snorted, dignifying neither response.

“Uh, but what about me?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not letting two ponies on my back,” Nightmare retorted lowly. “You’re lucky I deigned to hold one of you.”

“Hmm,” Derpy tapped her chin. “What if I carried Twilight while you carry me?”

“No.”

Twilight frowned, but changed that quickly when Celestia bent down.

“You can ride with me, Twilight,” Princess Celestia said. “I’m certain I can make it to the Everfree with you as well.”

Twilight smiled. She climbed onto her back as Celestia unfurled her wings. “Thank you, Princess.”

“I should be thanking you,” Celestia said. “Thanks to you, we have a chance.”

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