//------------------------------// // Act 14: Abandon Ship // Story: Friendship is Failure #8: Teen Titans HSM V: Ways of Life // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// ACT FOURTEEN The dragon’s roar echoed all over the ship, and the friends could hear it in the halls. Spike yipped and dove deep into Twilight’s knapsack, and Fluttershy jumped into Rainbow’s arms, while Rarity leapt into Applejack’s. “Please, no…!” Sunset cried as she dashed up the hallway. “Sunset…!” Celestia shouted, and the others hurried on after her. The dragon glared at the villains backed against the wall, and he looked ready for a big bite! “Shoot him!” shouted Jason, and they all grabbed their guns and fired like crazy until they had run out of ammo, but their bullets weren’t strong enough to penetrate the dragon’s solid scales. Now the creature was madder than ever as was hinted when it roared and lunged for the people! The people scattered and the dragon hit the wall, denting it hard, and from behind, he swung his tail hard striking the burning engine panel, breaking it wide open and spreading the flames! The ship gave a huge shake as the engines began to malfunction…! The team also fell down in the hallways. “Now what’s happened?” snapped Rainbow. “Sounds like we’re breaking up!” cried Flash. Suddenly, there was a load of screams as the villains came rushing down the halls, and ran right past their prisoners not even noticing or caring much that they had ever escaped. “Golly, what’s got them so scared?” asked Applejack, that’s when they all heard a loud roar followed by a huge crash that shook the ship again. Spike peeked through a porthole window and gasped, “…My guess is… THAT!!” Everyone looked and saw the dragon fly by, and they all let out a scream of fright, and Rarity couldn’t help but faint softly into Applejack’s arms again. The zeppelin was slowly losing altitude and went into a soft forward decent due to the malfunctioning engines. At the present it would be a while before it crashed, unless things worsened, and while the dragon flew in furious circles around the sinking ship, something was definitely bound to go worse. Suddenly, the air-force appeared with an even larger fleet of jets were arriving on the scene, having heard the emergency report from the first wing-leader after his crash. The pilots saw the zeppelin, but they were ever so surprised to see the dragon! “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?!” “It looks like a… like a…!” “…DRAGON!!!” One of the pilots fell into a panic and fired two small missiles against orders to wait! Unfortunately, the missiles were not aimed and missed the dragon entirely, and exploded in midair, which alerted the dragon of the fleet’s presence behind him! He turned and roared at all the jets, frightening many of the pilots into retreating, while others decided to recklessly attack against orders, but again, their machine gun bullets could not harm the dragon’s thick scales, angering the beast further. Before the fleet could launch any missiles, the dragon opened his huge jaws, and at once, a magical glow emitted from inside his mouth, and he fired a powerful blast of not fire, but a burst of magical energy… The planes all swerved, but some of them couldn’t get out in time, forcing the pilots to eject before their jets exploded in midair; vaporized into ashes, however, when the smoke had cleared… there… in the sky where the blast had hit the squad of jets, was a hole, showing the sights of another world! Sunset gawked at the anomaly and recognized it instantly, “…It’s Equestria!” she cried, and everyone was inclined to agree, remembering what happened from the Friendship Games when Twilight unleashed the magic she had inadvertently captured. “That dragon!” she cried “It must’ve been created from the magic! Nothing else could explain it!” Again, everyone agreed, “But wait!” said Pinkie “Who is the dragon? We know he’s not one of the villains, they just ran past us.” “Maybe they experimented on one of their men?” Celestia suggested, but Twilight and Sunset disproved of it entirely, noting the dragon’s shape and behaviour. “I remember my evil transformation…” Sunset said “When I became that demon, I was feeling a surge of power, but at the same time, I was thinking of evil and extreme chaos.” Twilight, regrettably, remembered when she became Midnight Sparkle, “I remember, I felt overcome with power, as if I could use it to ease my lonesome, to make a change, but all-in-all, I felt trapped in the dark!” It was now clear to everyone that the magic, when absorbed abruptly onto a subject at such a massive amount, the shape that subject took depended widely on the emotions of that person. The dragon was highly enraged and savage; suggesting whoever it was feeling highly negative emotions-- outrage, frustration… “…Anger!” Sunset realized, and suddenly she and everyone else felt a strong thought but at the same time extreme disbelief. “No, it couldn’t possibly…!” cried Rarity. Suddenly, the dragon flew past the zeppelin. The air current made the ship tilt and teeter rocking things about. That’s when a pair of sunglasses and a dog-whistle slid along the floor and hit Rainbow’s feet. “Hey!” she cried a she examined the shades and the whistle, and everyone instantly recognized the shades anywhere. “It’s Garfield!” cried Fluttershy! “But… But…how can that be…?” Atop the zeppelin, a hatchway opened and a lift pushed a helicopter upward. Inside the six villains were prepared to bail their dying ship. “Come on, hurry!” cried Jillian “I wouldn’t want to be here if that creep hits us again!” “Be quiet!” snapped her mother “It’s your fault that creature is even there! We told you not to shoot the boy that close!” Jackie lividly protested, “Like we had any way of knowing this would happen!” “Enough!” shouted Jason “Let’s just get out of here! Hang on!” The chopper lifted off the roof of the zeppelin, just in time too…! The dragon ignored the remaining jets and turned back to face the ship, and angrily began to attack it… firing magical blasts as the propellers and the tail, creating massive explosions that shook the ship violently! The Equestrians screamed and shouted as they fall all over the place inside. The force of the explosion was so great that it rocked the villains’ chopper, veering towards the ground! “Jason, do something!” screamed Janene “I’m trying!” her husband shouted, but engine began to overheat from the stress, causing the chopped to crash hard but safely on its skids. The ship’s backside was on fire, causing the ship to shoot straight on in a faster-dive over the lands below. “We don’t have much time!” shouted Rainbow “We’ve gotta ditch this hulk before it takes a nosedive!” “But how are we even supposed to get off? Just jump out?” cried Flash. Twilight suddenly realized “Of course… Flash you’re a genius!” and she quickly pecked his cheek, making him blush like crazy. “Follow me!” shouted Twilight, and everyone followed her. Applejack was forced to drag a stunned Flash along which helped snap him to his senses. The ship was falling faster by the minute… it wouldn’t be long before it crashed. The worst of it was, the Equestrians discovered from their run about that the entire ship was pretty much automated. There no pilots, no technicians, nothing other than the unconscious goons that lay all about. “For a bunch of rich snobs, they sure didn’t care much for buying out safety precautions.” scoffed Celestia. Twilight began to scrounge around, knowing from what she studied from aircraft, and to her accuracy she found parachutes in cupboards on the wall… …but there were only four chutes, not nearly enough for the nine of them! “Oh, great… what now… we draw straws?” asked Applejack. “No…” replied Twilight “There’s still a way. It’s risky, but it’s our only chance.” Her plan was simply: four of them-- Celestia, Sunset, Rainbow, and Flash-- would wear the chutes, and hold another gang member by the hand to help guide them down. Celestia was physically stronger due to her adult strength and held Pinkie Pie in her left hand, while Pinkie held Fluttershy’s hand. “I hope that you are certain of this, Twilight?” said Rarity “Jumping form such a dizzy height isn’t one of my fortes and I would prefer an easy landing.” “It should work.” replied Twilight, and she worked on her calculator, “Even out combined weights with each jumping team won’t provide any trouble.” The ship gave another violent jolt. It would now crash any minute. The hatchway was opened, but it was still a bit of a drop below. Fluttershy backed away in fright, “I don’t think I can do this!” she whimpered. “Fluttershy, you have to.” said Sunset, “She’s right.” agreed Applejack “If you stay here, you’ll go down with the ship.” Despite her overwhelming fears, Fluttershy took Celestia’s hand. “It’ll be okay, I promise.” she assured her. Everyone stood at the hatch, and one by one they all leapt out, and fell for a few moments before pulling the chutes open to let the ship fly away from them. “INCOMING!!” Rainbow shouted as everyone watched the ship fly down, down, down… disappearing over the dark hills…! The ship CRASHED with such a thud that shook the lands and burst into huge flames that seemed to reach way up into the dark skies! In the midst of the crash, Garfield’s moped, completely and miraculously unscathed by the stress, rolled along the ground away from the wreckage and just stood on the grounds. As for the Equestrians, they all landed safely on the ground; all of them never so scared in their lives considering what they had just done. “Is everyone okay?” Celestia called. “I think so…” answered Sunset. “Yeah, but… where are we?” asked Pinkie. Lightning and thunder shook the pitch-dark skies, followed the sounds of wolves howling. That’s when the gang could see the mansion… the lake… the forest…! “Oh, no…! We’re in Garfield’s homeland again!” groaned Spike “I said never wanted to come back here again!!” “What?” snapped Flash “You mean to tell me Garfield lives here?!” Celestia was half surprised and half horrified, “So… it’s true.” She muttered remembering Spike’s story, and seeing just how horrifying the land was already, “…I can’t believe anyone would live in such a place!” It wasn’t quite so dark this time, only because the massive fires from the zeppelin wreckage over the hills gave an eerie glow, but just as stormy and dreary as ever. Suddenly, there was a growl, which made everyone freeze on the spot. “Tell me that wasn’t what I think it was…” whimpered Fluttershy. More growls followed, and everyone turned round to see what had to be the biggest pack of snarling, angry wolves they had ever seen. Flash was sweating up a storm in fear, and Celestia was quivering fearfully as wolves got closer and closer, when suddenly they looked frightened and turned to dash back to the forest! “Hey, look at them go…!” Rainbow teased “Cowards…!” Pinkie stuck out her lounge and blew raspberries at the running wolves, “Nya-Nya…!” Spike peeked out from Twilight’s knapsack, looking behind everyone and he gasped. He stuttered and stammered trying to find his voice. “Um… Uh… Ga… Geh…!” “What is it, Spike?” Twilight asked, and she looked over her shoulder, and winced fretfully. “Um… guys…!” she cried, and the others turned round…! There, standing behind them, stood the dragon. It had followed the crashing ship, and was now starring the gang down… …and he ROARED thunderously as lightning struck the skies! “LOOK OUT!!” screamed Sunset, and everyone scattered just as the dragon blasted at them, striking the ground, opening yet another rift to Equestria. “Garfield!” Sunset called to him “Garfield, stop this!” The dragon, unfazed, and lunged at her. “Look out!” shouted applejack as she rushed and pushed Sunset to the ground as the dragon rushed over them. “Garfield, please listen to us!” shouted Rarity. “It’s not good, Rarity!” Celestia called “I don’t think he hear us!” Twilight figured it was because of all the magic combined with his obvious extreme amount of rage and hatred. Garfield was totally unaware of what he was doing, yet he seemed to determine in destroying anything he saw… Including all of them! The dragon roared fiercely at everyone, proving her theory. “Anybody got any ideas…?” Applejack asked. The dragon powered up for another blast… “Yes…” peeped Fluttershy, and then she screamed in fright “…RUN!!!” The dragon launched another blast, forcing everyone jump out of the way as the beam soared by and struck the mansion, blowing it up in a great ball of flames, and opening yet another Equestrian rift… This time however, viciously plant vines began to seep through the hole and spread into the lands, as the monstrous heads of the plants popped out, snarling at the gang and whipping their vines, forcing the friends to flee about. “Oh, great… now we have even more monsters coming at us!” said Rainbow. The plant monsters couldn’t go much further, but were still menacing and violently swinging at whatever came their way, and between they and the dragon the friends couldn’t go on like this. “We’ve got to get our magic back!” cried Fluttershy. Twilight agreed, “And I know how…” she said as she reached into her knapsack, and pulled out the smashed locket-device she confiscated. Spike frowned, “Twilight, what good will that do? It’s all smashed.” Twilight then reached into her pack and pulled out her own locket-device, the very one she had made during the Friendship Games. It was altered so that it could no longer absorb magic like it initially could, but her plan was use components from it to restore the broken one, “If it works, I can get the magic out of Garfield and give it back to all of you.” she said to the girls. “Well, shake a leg, girl!” said applejack “We’ll keep Garfield distracted so you can work.” “We will?” groaned Fluttershy. The dragon roared again and gaze chase, and everyone scattered about to distract it while Twilight ducked down behind a large rock formation and set to work with her mini tool-kit, but it would take a little time as she didn’t have much light or proper settings to work with. Unfortunately, the gang as already getting tired from all the running around they had done, while the dragon didn’t seem to be tired in the least. The dragon swung its tail, slashed its claws and made lunges to bite at the friends, forcing them all to, inadvertently; jump into one space all huddled together, and now stood with the dragon in front of them, and the plant monsters snarling and whipping close behind them! “Well that was dumb!” snapped Rainbow. “Whatever shall we do now!” cried Rarity. The dragon roared and the plants snarled. “…WE PANIC!” shouted Pinkie! Her shout echoed all across the stormy lands.