Chapter 3
Taking Action
I woke up after an 8 hour long sleeping session (because a good night’s sleep wouldn’t be appropriate to say) and I had to go to the throne room. She told me that we needed to show off our skills so we could make techniques. After that, we had to go out and lure out Nightmare Moon’s demon guards. I suppose we could have 3 hours showing off skills and creating plans and then put them to the test.
When I had gotten to the main room, everypony was already awake and eating breakfast. They all welcomed me to a seat with my meal of carrots and apples sitting there. I decided to start eating and catch up with the others. “Princess Celestia spoke to me,” time to break the news; “she said that we needed to show our power and then create techniques. After that, we head straight to the battle and lure Nightmare Moon’s demon guards.” Everypony mumbled and nodded.
We all finished our breakfast and we were off into the fields practicing. We decided to have Elizabeth show her magic first. “I have learned from Twilight Sparkle,” she introduced, “Twilight has taught me about the ways to levitate items and also use fabrication magic.” Her horn began to glow and a bouquet of flowers appeared; suddenly transforming into a brick. She levitated it and flung it at a dead tree which had seemed to have made a decent amount of damage to it. Everypony clapped and Elizabeth bowed.
Next up was Cherilee, for her presentation there had to be an injured pony. Elizabeth decided to drop the brick on herself as a sacrifice. Cherilee took action. In her medical saddle bag, she brought out some magic potions. She started to pour the mysterious substance onto Elizabeth and all the pain disappeared from her face. She poured a light blue potion onto her and all the cuts had run away as well. “You could say I learned alchemy.” Everypony was surprised that Fluttershy even knew of those things. Living near Zecora must be a virtue.
Lyra jumped in for an entrance and began to speak in an enthusiastic tone, “Now everypony! I learned how to use my lyre as an actual weapon against dangerous forces in the world!” She whipped out her lyre and began to play it. Suddenly a green aura surrounded Bon-Bon and she was doing a really weird dance. Some ponies were unsure of what was happening. “I’m not doing this on my own!” Bon-Bon screamed, “Lyra what did you do?!” Everypony now understood her magic. It was mine control magic but we all knew that it wasn’t powerful enough to last forever. Lyra stopped playing her lyre and put Bon-Bon down. She left the spotlight and welcomed Bon-Bon.
Bon-Bon brushed herself off and cleared her throat, “Now I went to Applejack and Pinkie pie for speed and power. That leaves me quite weak in defenses though.” She began to run around some trees as her demonstration of agility and then started to buck them. They all cracked and fell. Some even caught some air time. Everypony was surprised that a lover pony could be so powerful.
Photo Finish was next and she put on hoof on her chest. “I have only been to Applejack! I am strong and defensive but unable to run fast!” She bucked the rest of the trees and they all flew at least 1 foot away. For her defense presentation, she jumped high and threw herself on the ground several times. Despite being busy, she felt no pain and bowed.
“It’s your turn Ditzy Doo!” Cherilee called out. After all of this, I wondered if I was good enough to be their leader. I introduced myself, “I went to Rarity first to get this illusionary blindfold to hide my eyes and a cape to match it. Then I went to Rainbow Dash to learn how to fly straight. I’m speedy and able to dodge obstacles. I’m rather strong when at full speed and able to resist attacks.” I prepared myself and flew around all the upcoming magic attacks. I weaved through them with ease which was too simple. I let one of them hit me so I could demonstrate defense. Last but not least, I went head to head at some magic and succeeded. Everypony cheered and agreed that I was definitely fit to be their leader. I was surprised, after all these other performances, I seemed to be approved.
“Now everypony, after we’ve seen all that we need to make a plan,” I said, “I can lure out the guards if I’m able to distract them. I’ll fly as fast as I can whilst everypony else attacks them. Cherilee will heal injured soldiers. Lyra you try to play the lyre and mind control one of the guards. Elizabeth and Photo Finish will attack the earth guards and Bon-Bon will be the one taunting them.” It was a simple plan but I haven’t been able to see their true power. Everypony knew that it wasn’t the best and just accepted it.
“Now let’s get into that action!” Lyra yelled. We all cheered and ran off to the battle field.
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So this is what the battlefield was like. Cherilee would be a big help here. There was the war and the safe zone. The warzone didn’t even look like Ponyville anymore. The houses were rubble, the ground was like a gigantic crater, and there were injured and dead ponies everywhere. Magic may have been the main attacker but guns were certainly something that was used. Nightmare Moon was in the sky, a group of guards surrounded her in the air and on the ground. Every once and a while she would send down a lightning bolt.
I could sense fear in my team but I decided to step up to the plate. “Hey guards!” I taunted them, “Is your princess too weak to protect herself?!” Nightmare Moon was annoyed. “Guards!” she commanded, “Get that weakling!” They all started to fly towards me in a line. They were faster than I thought but now she was defenseless. “Elizabeth, Lyra!” I called out, “It’s your turn!” Lyra’s lyre began to play and in my surprise, it controlled all of them and they fell to the ground. Photo Finish and Bon-Bon came to take advantage of that. Elizabeth used her bricks and her flowers to do the rest. Lyra concentrated on playing the lyre and keeping them pinned to the ground.
I could tell it was getting easier for her. They were getting weak but they could still flail around. You could see some black liquid excreting from the guards which was a bit weird. A group of earth pony guards were sneaking up behind them silently. That was my cue. I flew towards them and started put speed and power into the tips of my hooves. Unlike Rainbow Dash, the air didn’t bend around me and it didn’t make a giant rainbow but it was still quite speedy and powerful. I weaved around the guards to confuse them and smacked them all down in a circle. They stayed on the ground for a while with some blood running down their body. They weren’t dead, but they weren’t very alive either. I could see Cherilee running around and pouring her magic potions.
A demon guard snuck up behind me. One of them must have been released from control. I fell to the ground and got back up quickly and charged at him. The guard was fast and dodged my attack but I didn’t let that bring me down, I did a U-turn and attacked him from behind. He didn’t fall to the ground but I knew he was in pain. I had to admit, I’m starting to fall.
The guard, bewildered of my approach, flew at me quicker than I would have thought. He opened his mouth full of fangs and almost bit me. Luckily I moved to the side but I could tell he’s wanted to do the same dirty cheat I did so I twirled around and started to fly headfirst at him. Lightning crackled in the sky as we headed towards each other. I tried to fly faster but my wings were getting weak. I could tell the demon was starting to grow weak as well.
Nightmare Moon’s cackle distracted me a bit but I returned to my original state of concentration. *BOOM* Lightning crackled near me. I decided to use it to my advantage. I swirled around the lightning bolt to absorb the energy and suddenly I felt so much faster and much more powerful. I headed towards the shocked guard and tackled him with electricity and power. He was fired towards the ground and created a crater. The guard disappeared with a pile of dust.
On the other side of things, the controlled guards were also dead. Lyra was tired and was taking potions from Cherilee. The rest of the crew was off fighting some earth guards. Photo Finish seemed fine from here but the rest were damaged in some form. Elizabeth’s clean white coat was covered with blood from her and her rivals. Bon-Bon was much slower than usual. We’d have to be shark bait for the rest of the “day.” The team was shark bait but also seemed to do a lot of the fighting. Maybe shark bait isn’t our only role. I must admit though, we were luring them more than we were attacking. Everypony else usually charged at the lured enemies. We were doing a great job at taunting, especially Lyra.
Nightmare Moon stared at me. She was aware of how well the newcomers were doing and she wanted to get rid of them. “Guys!” I called out, “I think we’ve done enough! We’re going back!”
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I felt bad for retreating; I just didn’t want Nightmare Moon to lash out some real power against us. Cherilee was healing us all after that long battle. It was already 6:00 and it was time for dinner. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked in to visit us. “Now my little ponies,” Celestia said, “I’m surprised at the amount of power you all hold. I guess saying weak ponies wasn’t appropriate. I’m sorry you must keep this job, I might present you all another job sooner or later. Luna?” Princess Luna used some magic to heal us all. We felt rejuvenated and ready for battle again but it was already late. “Sweet dreams,” she said sweetly.
We all ate our dinner and went to bed to get ready to do that again tomorrow. It wasn’t as bad but it wasn’t a dream life either. Sooner or later I drifted off into a deep sleep and dreamt of Equestria in the past. I dreamt of perfection.