//------------------------------// // Final: Pushback // Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// "This... this isn't working. This isn't working," Twilight said. The dark army was surrounding their own with superior numbers, using volume alone to squeeze them. The robotic sales ponies were clearly being used as cannon fodder, disposable tin cans to wear down the Royal Guards. Meanwhile, the assassins and black-clad ninjas behind them threw precision weapons, piercing the shield where they could. Some of their spears landed inside the shield, but the guard ponies had their own shields to supplement them. Injuries remained light. But they were slowly losing ground. From high above the battlefield, Twilight and Captain Springer could tell things weren't going well. "I, uhmm..." Springer tapped the controls of her PIPBuck. She swallowed. "What does OATES say about the enemy? Any tactical advice?" "Uh, well, according to my calculations... we're uh, screwed." Twilight didn't bother casting a glare over her shoulder. She should've known this wasn't the time for wisecracks, or anything that might've sounded defeatist. This wasn't the time for anything unhelpful, but Springer had spoken out of true concern, real fear, not anything else. Now, their resolve faltered, and losing it might lose the battle. It would come before their soldiers fell; they'd lose their will and then the fight. Before Twilight could say anything, Springer got more bad news. "Shadowbolts! Shadowbolts, inc-" A spray of dark purple bolts sizzled through the air. Twilight barely had enough time to react; she teleported to Spinner, grabbed the armored pegasus and dove under the protection of the magic shield. Another spray of shadow energy bolts splattered against the shield just above their heads, the Shadowbolts themselves already racing past. They were good, very good, and it didn't take flying experience to know it. Springer tracked them with her visor's HUD. "They're not banking. They're going after the-" Once again, Twilight could only react. She summoned her magic to extend the shield bubble to cover Applejack and the artillery cannons. The Shadowbolts blitzed overhead, shooting the shield with their shoulder-mounted shadow blasters. Truly, devious armaments indeed, made more insidious by disguising them as shoulder pads. 1980s-style with dark magic weaponry was a deadly combination. Now, the magical shimmering shield of energy was their only defense. They were all underneath it now, Twilight and all the royalist forces, unable to mount a serious attack of their own and rapidly losing ground. And then, things still got worse. "Springer," Twilight said, teeth gritted. She had to concentrate on the shield, she had to. "Springer, the lava rocks. The rocks, Springer!" "G-got it!" Springer popped halfway out of the shield, enough for the barrels on her saddleback plasma casters to stick through. She fired green bolts of patented Fallout Enclave-style plasma at the oncoming rocks. It took a few hits on each, but like a good Enclave pegasister soldier, she had plenty of points in her Energy Weapons skill. Including the Plasma Spaz perk and Meltdown! She was still a fangirl, after all. She wasn't able to hit all of the rocks, even though some of them exploded into green bursts, taking others with them. Some of the enemy ballista hit the shield, straining the magical barrier. The burning rocks sparked against the shield, chunks of molten mineral melting through, or sticking to the shield itself before it could be repaired. The leader of the unicorn battalion was especially feeling the strain. "Trixie needs everypony to keep things together for... for my sake!" In a circle with other unicorns, Trixie led the royalist magic-users in the combined shield spell. Theirs was a mental battle, one that required all their attention and focus. Using their horns and combining their magic, the unicorns were able to feel through the shield spell most everything around them. Such a large shield required all their magic to maintain and repair where it was damaged, rapidly rotating those that needed to recharge their magic. When unicorns strained their magic, it was possible they could even shatter their horns. The horn felt fuzzy, then pressure built where it connected to the cranium as the unicorn forced more magic into that single point, sometimes stressing the horn's structure. It was hard to describe, and not something pegasi or earth ponies understood easily, but it was all too easy for a magician pony to lose themselves conjuring magic. Right now, Trixie's horn felt like it was on fire, but she held on. The trained mare wouldn't give up on her kingdom, her friends, and most importantly not her show's audience when all this was over. She considered them all her fans, even if they didn't. "All Enclave squads, fall back to the barrier! Regroup on me!" Springer ordered. The Enclave ponies rushed to her position. Fortunately, all were still flying. "Need some back up?" "Rainbow?" Rainbow Dash, Spitfire and the Wonderbolts appeared along with the Enclave squads. And the Wonderbolts were dressed in the Taco Fiesta Hailstorm armor that General Winter had worn. "Hope you don't mind," Rainbow said. "They were out of the other armor suits." "It's fine- get into formation! We've got artillery fire incoming! And thanks!" Twilight quickly yelled. The Wonderbolts joined the Enclave power-armored pegasus squads in shooting down the flaming rocks. Instead of plasma, Soarin and Spitfire had nacho cheese cannons, but the gooey cheese helped to deflect at least some of the rocks. They were still on the defensive, still losing ground. Now, Twilight was having to use all her power to extend and maintain the shield protecting them. They needed something, someone to do something to break the deadlock or they were going to lose this one. Several of the Shadowbolts broke from formation, flying elsewhere. But most of the dark pegasi continued their fire on the shield, along with the constant flaming rock barrage and the droves of robots being sent at the Royal Guards. Phoenix and some of the other tank crews had joined them. Whenever the robots broke through the edge of the shield, his sword or a lance or a blast from a unicorn guard hit it back. Their numbers seemed to be endless, while the royal guards were running out of energy. Running out of time. "We can't keep this up forever, Twilight!" Springer shouted. "I know, I..." Twilight broke her focus for a second. "Trixie!" "Yes... Twilight Sp-Sparkle?" "Can you hold up the shield while I find Dan?" "...I'm gonna be honest, Trixie's gonna need like... a Gatorade, or something, Twilight Sparkle. Seriously, this is tough, even for me." Springer nodded. "She dropped the third-person dialogue, you know she's exhausted." "We need something... we need something! We need one more crazy person to charge ahead and break the lines!" Twilight said, gritting her teeth. "So, again, I ask, WHERE THE BUCK IS-" "Look!" "C'mon guys! We're almost there," George Washington, the hippy pony said. On the mountain side, the nomadic group of hippies were slowly making their way down, intent on getting involved in the fighting. Well, mostly protesting the fighting, to be honest. "Warmongers! Go back to your own kingdom if you wanna fight!" "Give peace a chance! Again!" "Think of the nature you're harming by shooting all these guns here!" "The environment, man!" "Join the movement! Earth first!" "What?" "I mean, they should blow up Earth first." "Oh. Yeah, blow up Earth first! Many of the hippies were ponies themselves, they just didn't consider themselves part of Equestria. The hippies didn't like war, or revenge, and many of them didn't like Dan or his friends. They also didn't have much to do, so they were going to protest the Equestrians, the Director's army, and pretty much anything else. To his credit, George Washington(hippy) was trying to get his hippy friends to see another side of things. "Harper, c'mon. Even if we don't agree with the fighting, we can still be supportive and stuff. They're gonna need, like, medicine." Harper glared at George. "I ain't given mah weed ta no jackbooted thugs." "Dude, you have a lot of weed. You can share." "Well... maybe," Harper said. "Hey..." George looked around. "You guys here something?" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" "Oh mai gawd!" George shouted. "It's just like the world's largest electric digeri-" Dan's train blasted through the hippies, plowing through their caravan wagons and blowing over their tents. The jet flames set their protest signs on fire. Harper ran over to his wagon. "MY WEED!!!" Completely incinerated, only a pile of ash was left between four wagon wheels, the remnants of many types of cannabis scattered between them. "I'm sorry, dude," George said, trying to comfort his friend. But Harper was having none of it. The stallion felt his blood boil. He clenched his jaw, his face turning into a snarl of pure rage, anger burning, threating to set coat ablaze as he raised his hooves and yelled, "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!""