Apples for Ebony 14, Katrina's Revenge Part 2.
 
A bolt of magic flew from Katrina's hand, moving at those before her. But at the last moment, Ebony raised his hooves, his bracers Magix grabbing the magic blast and tossing it skyward.
 
"Go!" He screamed, another blast exoding behind him as he ran, the massive feline slamming her hands to the ground. The group was knocked off of their feet and hooves, turning to the massive form.
 
*"NONE SHALL ESCAPE US!"*
 
"OK, I got this!" Discord said, snapping his fingers as he grew in size, looking like a pro wrestler. He took hold of the giant Katrina and tossed her to the ground. The others watched as Discord tried to hold her down.
 
"We need to extract the tome from her. If we do that, everything she absorbed will be released back k where they were." Ebony looked to Applejack. "Get Ponyville evacuated, this is going to get rough!"
 
Applejack kissed his cheek. "Stay alive." She turned to Fluttershy. "You come with me!"
 
Ebony watched them go then swallowed. Sure he knew what to do... BUT HOW IN TARTARUS WAS HE SUPPOSED TO DO IT!?
 
Worse, Discord was sent sprawling beside him, the dragoequuis gritting his tooth. "Remind when this is over to punish you for having that tome."
 
Ebony nodded. "Noted." He stood up, Discord beside him as the being came closer. But suddenly a blast of green energy knocked the giantess off of her feet. Ebony cheered as he saw Stage, FT, and Rainbow Dash standing nearby, Stage having fired a bolt of energy.
 
"There is only room for one giant monster resident in Ponyville, and that is me!" Stage growled, FT beside him decked out in guards armor, as Rainbow Dash flew at the being as she went to get up, slamming like a bullet into her chest and knocking her back again. She then flew to Ebony, the others following.
 
"Twilight is on her way, as is Luna and Celestia. What is that thing?"
 
Ebony sighed. "Not what. Who. It's Katrina."
 
Stage blinked. "Katrina? That half baked feline who cast the curse on you?"
 
Ebony nodded. "That's the one. Apparently she felt Equestria needed a new villian so... yeah."
 
FT sighed. "Some just don't get how important peace is. So.... how do we stop her?"
 
Ebony lifted a Boulder using his bracers, tossing it at the feline. "Yeah, working on that. We need to extract the knowledge of the dark tome from her and put it back in the book, and that should reverse everything. But... I'm not sure how yet."
 
Stage sent another blast as the feline got annoyed. "And until then?"
 
Ebony gritted his teeth. "Keep her down."
 
FT chuckled as his Lance crackled. "Well been awhile since I fought something.... so let's see if I still got it." And the group proceeded to try and bind the feline.
 
Meanwhile, Applejack and Fluttershy were evacuating Ponyville, soon at the home of Cheese and Pinkie Pie. The door opened to reveal the party ponies.
 
"Come on Pinkie! We got to move!" Fluttershy said. Pinkie shook her head.
 
"Nah, we are fine."
 
Applejack blinked. "But... the giant cat..."
 
"You ask SHODAN about it?"
 
Applejack was about to speak... when she realized that might have been why SHODAN was sabotaged! Of course the AI had seen all the potions, so she would know how to counter them!
 
Running as fast as she could she went to th e alchemy shop and saw SHODAN had just rebooted.
 
"Applejack?" The confused AI said, but Applejack shook her head.
 
"We need counter potions! Size, intelligence, dark magic, the works!"
 
SHODAN nodded and began to process data.
 
*******
 
A massive blast sent the group flying in various directions as Ebony slammed into a tree beside Rainbow Dash.
 
"OK, this is not going well..... we need to make her smaller!" He shouted, before the massive feline grabbed his hind leg, holding him up.
 
*"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU, SURRENDER OR I TEAR THIS ONE APART!"*
 
The group froze, gritting their teeth. The feline smiled as she looked at Ponyville and licked her chops.
 
*"FOOLS. NOW THERE IS NOTHING TO STOP ME FROM DESTROYING YOUR PATHETIC TOWN!"*
 
The feline tossed Ebony into the air, maw open.... when suddenly an alicorn flew through and caught him!
 
*"OH COME ON, THIS IS GETTING ANNOYING!"*
 
Entering the fight was three Alicorns, two of which being former Princesses, and the third the current ruler of Equestria. All three leveled a beam on the feline sending her flying back. They looked to the group and helped them up.
 
"She is down but not for long, that blast did almost nothing." Luna said, watching as the feline began to get up again. "Tell us the situation fast!"
 
Quickly, the group filled the ruling ladies in on the whole story, Twilight thinking hard.
 
"Well it seems to me that her power is based on all the monsters she ate. Remove them and she should get weaker again." She hypothesized. "But that won't keep her from using the dark power again. We need to remove that at the core."
 
"I can help with that!" Applejack said, running over as they spoke. She was holding a cloudy potion with green lumps in it. "SHODAN said we can remove the dark Magic from the core of the soul if we drink this. Then we can enter her mind!"
 
Ebony looked at her and nodded. "Alright. The rest of you hold her at bay. We got this." He looked to his fiancée. "Let's go love."
 
Applejack nodded, each taking a swig. Unlike most potions this one was horrible. Ebony swore he would never let SHODAN make another potion. The two went rigid, their souls leaving their bodies, looking at the slowly recovering Catrina. The two flew at her, slamming into her forehead and entering her mind.
 
And what they saw would shock them more than anything else today.
 
****************
 
When they entered the psyche of the feline they expected many things. Evil lairs, plots against ponies, dark and foreboding atmosphere.
 
But instead, they were in a room, filled with comic books about the mane six and their adventures. And there at a desk was a kitten playing on an arcade machine. When Ebony and Applejack glanced at it, they were dumbfounded, as they were seeing the battle they were having from the eyes of the feline!
 
Also surprising was the posters of monsters and villians on the wall, some of which moving. The two were confused as they saw fan posters of Tirek, Cozy Glow, Starlight, Discord, and Chrysalis almoside posters of the Mane Six and even Twilight herself. What did it all mean?
 
"Hey! You two! Your not supposed to be here!" They heard a voice say. When they looked, they saw the most adorable feline girl ever giving the grumpy cat face. "I'm trying to get a high score here!"
 
The two approached, Ebony speaking, slightly confused. "Sorry... we were looking for Katrina...?"
 
"Yeah thats me!" The kitten said, returning to her game. "Wassup? Like my room?"
 
Applejack sighed. "Umm...its....nice?"
 
"Thanks! It's too the most awesome guys in history!" She motioned to the posters, Cozy Glows actually blushing. "These were some of the coolest heroes and villians in Equestrian history. Aren't they just... awsome!?"
 
Ebony blinked. "Wait.... you like the mane six?"
 
"Sure do!" The feline said... then got sad. "But... there are no more villians for them to face. They saved the world. And... welll.... they need a villian."
 
"But they are heroes, and they saved everyone!" Ebony stated, but the feline shook her head.
 
"That's the problem! There needs to be something for them to face! Something bad that brings out the good! Like when Tirek did his energy sapping thing, the mane six showed everyone how powerful magic was!"
 
The poster of Tirek actually changed where he was flexing.
 
"Or when Chrysalis took over all Equestria, it took a bunch of side heroes with no magic to show the changelings what love could do!"
 
Chrysalis blinked in confusion.
 
"If not for the villians the lessons the heroes teach would never be understood! We need villians as much as heroes, or we will tear each other apart. A world without villains may very well divide all equestria. But these awesome villians help us focus on what is better."
 
Ebony gave a sigh and shook his head. Now he was getting an idea.
 
"That's what you wanted to do huh. Be a villian to unite Equestria?"
 
The feline stopped playing games, sighed. For a moment all was silent. Then...
 
"I see what peace does. It makes ponies not appreciate what they have. I saw it with my family." She looked at a picture. "We had so much good, but we always wanted more. More peace, more prosperity, more this, more that...
 
"Then when we almost drove each other apart, Chrysalis attacked. My family and others united against her and drove her back. You would think I was proud of them, and what they became after.
 
"But..."
 
She walked to Chrysalis, who seemed to blush.
 
"Truth is I was greatful to Chrysalis. Because she challenged us and made is stronger. And.... well I wanted to be like her. A villian that would cause ponies to unite to save the day. Like... like when you two united against me."
 
The room began to fade, the feline looking like her true self again... but different. Less sinister. "It made you two close... and made me excited. I was actually a good villian! I did it, I was able to have a positive impact!
 
"So I knew I had to do more. I had to do what I did to unite Equestria if it looked like it would sever. So....."
 
Applejack finished. "You took the potion so you could be the biggest villian ever."
 
"Right." Catrina said. "Imagine how good it would be if all equestria united against me. I know I would be punished but... it would be worth it for the end result."
 
Ebony put a hoof on the feline. "Peace is not a bad thing. It's not the big showy villians that makes the heroes." He turned to the posters. "No offense."
 
"NONE taken." They said, making Applejack jump.
 
"It's facing the everyday problems. The bias ponies can have, issues at school or home, Big projects, making time for those you love. Those are just as much makers of heroes."
 
Catrina sighed. "But... if there are no villians... how can we have real heroes?"
 
Applejack smiled. "Because they are still our heroes just doing what they can. Heroes can be anyone, doing the things we all try to. And there doesn't need to be a villian to show us that."
 
The feline of the mind nodded. "Yeah.... I guess your right...."
 
"Besides, I think you already did what ypu needed to do, if your trying to teach a lesson. Just next time... not so drastic okay?" Ebony actually ruffled the cats head some, and Catrina smiled. She then went over to a dark, shadowy tome on her bookcase, then looked to the villian posters.
 
"You guys still rock in my opinion." She told them. Ebony chuckled as the one with Tirek posed smugly. She then walked to the duo, holding the tome.
 
"Here.... guess I didn't need this after all." She said, handing it to the two. "I know I'm gonna be in trouble but..... I hope I can do this again sometime. It was fun."
 
Ebony and Applejack watched as she hit a switch nearby, and suddenly the posters in the room began to blank out, and Ebonynand Applejack began to leave...
 
*************
 
Outside, everyone watched the feline stand up, roaring into the sky as the denizens She had absorbed left her, going back to where they were before. The status returned to normal, the darker creatures of the everfree were sent back to its heart, and even the casual monsters were returned to normal, leaving the area. Only Catrina remained, seemingly out of energy as the well dressed cat lady fell forward and suddenly fell asleep. Everyone looked her way as Ebony and Applejack approached her.
 
"She won't be any trouble now I think." Ebony said, setting the feline by the princesses. Twilight nodded.
 
"Indeed. We could hear the conversation she had with you. Although her methods were wrong, her goals were surprisingly noble. And she is right: good IS powerless without that contrast evil provides. Still.... she needs to be punished."
 
Ebony thought on it. "I have an idea."
 
****************
 
A few days later, young fillies were listening as the new guide for the Garden of Villians was talking about them. Catrina smiled as not only did she mention the dark deeds done, but the good they did, and the good that came of ponies uniting against the villians. It was a big hit, and Twilight watched with a smile.
 
"I must admit, this was a good idea." The Princess said, watching with Spike.
 
"Yeah.... who would have thought making her a villian tour guide as her community service would do the trick." He replied, Big arms crossed with a chuckle. "Speaking of service, her highness DOES owe me an alicorn dinner."
 
Twilight giggled, giving Spike a playful nuzzle. Even as the ruler of Equestria she was still able to have fun.
 
"Later Spike. First.... we have a wedding to go to."
 
 
 
To Be Concluded!