//------------------------------//
// Ch. 20 [Part 4] The bigger picture 
// Story: An Island built in the sky 
// by Brotato 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 20


Part 4: The bigger picture



Celestia and Hammer met up with Twilight and her friends in the throne room. The area bristled with twice as many guards the last time they were there. Even the hallways they had to go through to get here had doubled. The quick deployment of so many guards in such a short span of time was quite astounding to Hammer. He doubted Caelondia's defenders would've reacted so quickly.

"I'm glad you could all make it here," Celestia said in relief. She had feared Discord might have gone after them to prevent the Elements from joining once more. Her fears melted away when she spotted the other bearers safe within Canterlot's walls.

Rainbow Dash hovered a foot above the other five ponies around her. "Don't worry Princess, we wouldn't let you down. We'll kick his flank and send him back in the garden where he belongs."

While Celestia felt some comfort in Dash's words, there was still the matter of how and when he will return. Discord may act childish with his pranks at times, but he wasn't stupid. He was also true to his word and never backed down on a promise. Meaning he most definitely would be returning.

"Is Tale alright?" Hammer asked, making himself noticed by stepping past Celestia. "Why didn't he come with you?"

Rarity, after eyeing his odd human form, spoke up. "I'm sorry darling, but he decided to stay back with the Bastion. I can sympathize for him staying after all since he created it. I wouldn't want any ruffians destroying the dresses I worked so tirelessly on."

Rucks, you old fool.

"Is there any way you could send some guards to protect the Bastion, Princess? We ran into some trouble with gryphons and I fear they might come back while he's alone."

Celestia hummed thoughtfully before nodding her head. "I can send you some recent recruits, but nothing more."

A small smile tugged at Hammer's lips. "That would be wonderful. Thank you."

It took a moment for the guards to appear as they were in the barracks resting. They didn't seem any different compared to the other guards physically, but their lack of discipline was evident. Theirs eyes would wander toward sounds or sights and their attention was easy to catch.
With the help of directions from Hammer, Celestia explained where they were going and what their job was. It seemed simple, yet odd, to them. Guarding a floating island was an odd request, but they followed their order faithfully.

"Should we gather the Elements now, Princess? Unless Discord has already taken them..." Twilight trailed off. The others looked at Celesta as well, waiting for any words of action.

Celestia shook her head. "The elements are safe, my student. After Discords previous break-in I learned a great deal on how to improve its security." The simple act of walking toward one of the doors proved enough for the others to follow suit.

However, Hammer stayed put in the middle of the throne room. He didn't feel prepared for the coming fight ahead. Sure he had his hammer, but to him it wasn't enough. If he was going to fight this strange being called Discord, he will need some serious firepower. And he knew exactly where to go.

"Princess!" Hammer caught up with her and the others. Celestia raised a expectant brow and asked what was wrong. "I need to get back to the Bastion. There's something I need to grab, else I don't feel ready against Discord."

"Of course," she responded simply. Her horn glowed yellow for a moment before speaking again. "I've informed the guard to prepare the royal chariot for you. Go now and please be careful. Do not fight Discord alone if you see him."

After receiving a short instruction on how to reach the chariot's landing, Hammer thanks her with a small bow. "Of course, Princess. I'll be back shortly." He then ran toward his destination, following the Princess instructions. It didn't take long to reach it since it was located down a hallway after crossing the royal gardens. Already two royal guards were attached to the chariot and waited for him.
The room was quite large and held several types of vehicles ranging from small wood chariots most likely used for transporting goods, to a single gold chariot. That one was probably used by the Princesses for the extra shock and awe affect. 

"Where to Hammer Whirl?" One of the guards asked when he turned his head to look at him. Hammer was thankful that the guards cared little of his appearance. Or at least didn't show it.

"The Bastion. It's a floating island just above Trottingham," Hammer said with urgency. He wished to get what he needed and return as soon as possible.

The guard furrowed his brow in disbelief, but said nothing of the sort. "Very well." without another word, both guards galloped forward, pulling the chariot with them as if it and Hammer weighed nothing. The sudden surge of movement caught Hammer off-guard and he quickly grabbed hold of the chariot before rolling off.





The flight was short thanks to how fast the chariot was traveling with the two guards pulling it. It was also, thankfully, uneventful with no sight of Discord. The sun was at its apex when the island came in sight after flying through a large cloud. Even though he knew it would still be there, Hammer sighed in relief to see it still intact. Who knows what might have happened while he was gone.

On second thought... where is he?

The chariot landed on the most open space available, which was near the southern edge of the island. Hammer stepped off and thanked the two guards for the lift. The two recruits that had been assigned were already looking around with curiosity, but Hammer didn't mind. So long as they stayed away from the bar for a drink.

"Can you pull the chariot over to that building over there." He pointed toward a brick building that clearly resembled a forge of some sort. No smoke was billowing out of the chimney since it hasn't been used in almost a week. A thin metal sign sat on top, taking the form of a humanoid bending metal on an anvil.
The two guards simply nodded and pulled the chariot away while Hammer checked the other buildings for Rucks. Unfortunately, he couldn't find the old man anywhere. Or old pony in this case, he corrected. That left the only place he could be was in the bowels of the Bastion.
Hammer wasn't too fond on how the Bastion worked. He was mostly out in the field collecting shards or cores anyway, leaving Rucks to handle such matters. This was a chance for him to sate a building curiosity as to what was really below the island.
Not wanting to pass up the chance, and find Rucks as well, Hammer followed the flight of stairs located on the outside rim of the island. They lead to the living spaces him and his compatriots would stay after a long day in Caelondia. There was a full kitchen, which to his dismay, had been long forgotten. Memories of Zia's superb cooking flashed in his mind and made his belly grumble.

Not now, stomach.

There was a small passage next to the front counter of the fully-stocked kitchen and dining area. It was a simple doorway dug through the earth with a catwalk. Metal beams and clumps of rebar could be seen sticking out to hold the dirt together.
A pipe down the winding dirt hallways would creak or the catwalk would groan from his weight, setting him on edge as he walked through the Bastion. Now that Hammer was down here, the insides of the Bastion scared him a bit. It wasn't the dim lighting from the sparsely spaced lamps or the sound, but the fact that his weapon was useless. He wouldn't be able to swing it in such tight confines.
"Maybe I should've grabbed my pike before going down here," Kid muttered.
Turning a corner, he found himself in front of a large metal door. Calm multi-colored lights came from the small circle of a window to peek through. Kid grabbed onto the small red wheel and turned it. He tugged the door and a loud groan echoed throughout the halls, obviously warning anything down here that he was there. Though he was relieved and shocked with who he saw on the ground inside the room.
"Rucks!" Hammer ran to the prone pony on the ground. He didn't respond when he shook him, but his chest clearly showed he was still breathing. He sighed in relief that he was still okay, but he looked around the room to see why he was like this. The room was covered in the calm glow of rainbow colors from the device in the middle of the room.
Hammer patted Tale's head for a moment as a calming gesture before leaving his kneeling position to investigate the odd looking lava lamp. The globs of rainbow substance seemed agitated. They distorted and stretched as if trying to force themselves to leave their natural sphere shape.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Hammer unslung his weapon and swung it at the direction the voice came from, only hitting and dislodging a metal pipe. A faint hissing came from it as steam spewed out. Discord laughed and materialized on the other side of the room, far away from his Hammer.

Discord crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall behind him."I swear, nopony ever just wants to talk anymore. It's always screaming and yelling, and trying-to-smack-me-with-a-hammer-ask-questions-later."

"Maybe if you stopped being evil, ponies wouldn't be frightened of you." Hammer retorted while clenching his weapon.

"Nah, too much work." Discord waved his paw to shoo away the idea. "I already have a a solution to the problem anyway." An unsettling grin formed on his face. "That reminds me, this is the cliche part where I fill you in on my plans and gloat that there's nothing you can do to stop me. Matter of fact there is nothing you can do to stop me, but I like to make it sound you have a chance."

"Right," Hammer rolled his eyes. "So go on with your plan before I swing my hammer at you again."

"Very well. Has it ever occurred to you that Equestria is actually Caelondia?"

"You're lying." He furrowed his brow in anger for saying such a thing. "The Bastion was meant to-"

"It was meant to create land," Discord finished. "Your land to be more specific, but I just so happened to have a way to change all that." He hovered over the dome in the middle of the room and stroked it lovingly. "You see, after watching you for so long, I figured out how your little cores worked. So I created my own, and when you traveled across Caelondia to claim one, I replaced every single one with mine."

Hammer rubbed his forehead for a moment as he tried to remember everything Discord was telling him. "I get that, but I don't understand why? Why would you go through all this trouble just to use the Bastion to create Equestria?"
For a moment, Hammer noticed Discord ball his fist in anger. It went away shortly after.

"Because of the Elements of Harmony and Celestia, that's why. I don't have enough time to change the world to my vision before they trap me again. Your Bastion solved this problem. It created Equestria at the pull of a lever. A lever that you pulled might I add," he pointed a talon at Hammer.

Even with the comment of involving him with creating Equestria, a smug smirk formed on Hammers mouth. "Well it's not like you can use it anyway. Did you not notice the missing distribution pipe? It won't work without it." A laugh from Discord quickly made his smirk fall.

"Sorry, I just find it funny I know more about the Bastion than you. It will still work alright, but it just wont be distributed evenly. Let's just call it 'adding more chaos' to the chaos I'm about to create."

Hammer's eyes widened. "Are you insane? If you do that... I don't know what would exactly happen, but that's the point. You have no idea-"

"That's the wonder of chaos, little human!" Discord shouted happily, spreading his arms wide. "You never know what might happen." He then clasped them together and rubbed them eagerly. "Now, I must be off. I have a lever to pull with my name on it." With that said, he disappeared in a flash.

"Damnit Discord!" Hammer threw his weapon at where he was standing, but it only smacked against the wall and buried itself about an inch inside the dirt. All this planning Celestia was doing would be for nothing. Equestria itself would be torn asunder and formed to whatever wretched vision Discord had planned for it.
And it was his fault too. How could he be so stupid to not notice Discords hand in all of this? All he wanted was to return to Caelondia and live his previous life. Instead he has to be thrust into a new world with colorful equines. But that didn't mean he didn't enjoy his time with them. In fact, he had more friends here than in Caelondia. They treated him with respect and didn't judge by the color of his hair or anything else about him.

Maybe I never want to go back to Caelondia...

A deep groan woke Hammer up from his thoughts and noticed Rucks was waking up. He looked at him with bleary eyes before speaking in a tired voice.

"Hammer? What are you doing here?"

"Came to visit and ask you to come to Canterlot, but now everything is ruined," Hammer explained with a defeated tone. He laid his back against the device and rested his arms against his knees. "Discord is about to use the Bastion to form Equestria into his own image, even with the distribution pipe missing."

"Now that's a problem," Rucks said with a grunt. The calmness in his voice agitated Hammer.

"Don't you get it? We lost! Who knows what will happen when he activates the Bastion." The chuckle from Rucks utterly confused him. This was hardly the point to start laughing.

"Isn't it obvious, Kid? Just flip the other lever before he does."

Hammer's mouth opened slightly in a mix of realization and how absolutely crazy the idea was "You want me to pull the evacuation lever? You do realize what that will do, right?"

Rucks nodded his head. "But it's worth it if it means saving Equestria from Discord."

The idea was absolutely crazy in Hammer's mind. Evacuation with the Bastion would shatter the pillar that released the world-changing energy. Doing that also shattered any hopes he had of returning to Caelondia. But if he didn't stop Discord, who knows what might happen. Would his memories be erased? Would he be back to being a pony?
A chill went down his spine at the next thought. Would he cease to exist completely?

"Kid..." Rucks breathed deeply. "Remember what I told you when we were back in Caelondia? When you had trouble decided which lever to pull?"

Hammer nodded like it was obvious. How could he forget?





“Now, now, don’t let it get to ya. I don’t expect this to be easy on anyone if they were in your shoes. Just remember that there is no right or wrong answer, Kid. Just listen to what your heart tells ya,” he chuckled. “As Cliché as that must sound.”





"Then you know what to do." A small smile crept on Rucks lips. "Go on kid. Either way you choose, I hope we will see each other again."

"I... think I understand." He stood up and yanked free his hammer. Feeling the urgency that he had wasted enough time, he bolted down the hallway and towards the pillar above. No doubt it wouldn't be long before Discord activated the Bastion. Already the pipes were rattling and dirt was falling on his head as he ran through the tunnels. The very island itself shook from the unstable energies Discord put into it.

But should he take the chance of letting him rebuild Equestria? Doing so would save the Bastion and thus save his chance to return home, but who knows what the new world would look like. Or he could stop him and save Equestria, but be forced to live the rest of his days here?

Hammer found himself back above-ground. Already the chariot and two guards were missing. Several of the buildings around the Bastion looked ready to crumble at a moments notice from the tremors rocking the very foundations of the island. But he wasn't focused on any of those things.
Discord was tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for the pillar to raise itself. Even with whatever knowledge he had with the Bastion, he clearly overlooked how long it took for the island to prepare itself. It wasn't a small feat to change the form of an entire world.

"Ah, glad you could join me," Discord grumbled. "Laugh it up, Kid. Yes, I didn't know this would take so long, but it only delays the inevitable. Just sit there and I'll get this thing started up in a jiffy.

With Discord's back turned, Hammer knew he could easily flip the other switch before Discord did. This was his chance.....