Twilight and her seven friends wove through the crowd of ponies scattered across the long road that spanned the city, trying to reach the center. When the other ponies realized what was going on, they quickly moved to the pavement and watched with concern and confusion as the group consisting of the Mane 6 and two of their friends continued to march down the street.
"Where are they off to?" Derpy whispered to the Doctor.
"I do believe they're off for an encounter with the bronies, to get back at them for all the atrocities they've committed."
"I heard that the bronies were going to banish the Crystal Empire again," Bon Bon told Lyra.
"I was told that they were trying to find a way into the human world," Lyra replied.
"Did you see Vinyl anywhere?" Neon Lights asked Octavia.
"I think she's got her DJ stand set up somewhere down the road."
However, all these gossips and rumors didn't stop the determined octet from carrying on, the sound of their hooves against the asphalt echoing across the rather unusually silent street, their gaze set on the small advancing group further down the road.
"This is going to be strange," Cheerilee whispered to Big Macintosh. "Interesting, but strange."
"Eeyup."
*
Meanwhile, on the other end of the street, Rina-chan led her team of able-bodied bronies towards Town Square, where they would meet the ponies head on. On either side of the road they trotted upon, bronies watched with wary eyes, some of them wishing their brave herdmates good luck, others longing for the end of the conflict and that the whole thing would just blow over.
"Wait, so only now they decided to fight it out with them?" Marina said in disbelief.
Eurobeat removed his shades and shined them up a bit. "That seems to be the case."
"You think they agreed to do this before or after they blew up the music chamber?" Voice of Reason asked Redcord
"Who knows? I just hope they come out of this with something worth reviewing," he replied with a grin.
I Bring Da LULZ nudged the blue unicorn next to him. "Hey Paleo, do you know where Glaze has gone off to? I can't find him anywhere."
"I'm pretty sure he said he was going to 'drop the bass' or something," said Paleosteno, shrugging.
The chatter continued, but the team of bronies ignored them, each of them focused on the mission at hoof, their eyes watching the road where their foes appeared. Five blocks away, then four, three, two, one block between them. Now they could see each others faces, not one of them smiling (Except for Pinkie and Fluffle, of course). Other expression varied from frowns to sneers, but all in all, the sixteen ponies stood firm and unyielding, each of them waiting for the call that would soon sound throughout the city, officially marking the end of their friendship. That call was supposed to be coming from the DJ stand arranged on the pavement, although the two musician ponies behind it were in no apparent hurry.
"This is totally bogus," declared Vinyl Scratch, absentmindedly wiping her nose on the back of her hoof.
"You've got me," Glaze announced. "I don't want to fight you guys. I know you didn't blow up the theater my buddy Mic was jamming in."
"Thanks, and don't worry, I know you're not behind the shattering in Manehatten, but man, that was one heck of a mess. And done with Base Cannons too," she added, fondly stroking the shiny surface beneath them.
The pale-yellow pegasus sighed. "Yeah. Too bad we're stuck with our orders."
"Should we sound the call?"
"Yep."
"Max volume?"
"Uh-huh."
"Mess them up as best we can?"
"Oh yeah."
The disc jockey and the brony musician switched on their equipment. Two panels opened up on the front of their stand, revealing what appeared to be two glowing-blue loudspeaker woofers. A high-pitched whining filled the air as the devices began charging, drawing looks of realization and sudden unease from the two lines of ponies. Their mouths split in wide grins, Vinyl and Glaze activated their Base Cannons.
WHOOOOSH!!!! A wave of electric blue light erupted from both woofers, rushing towards the ponies and the bronies. The force of the impact from the sonic energy knocked everypony off their hooves, all of them tumbling over each other. The two equines operating the sound-based weapons didn't let up, allowing their Cannons to release their never-ending stream of dubstep. Once they felt like they had made their point, Vinyl and Glaze shut off their devices, cutting off the blaring flow.
Rainbow Dash was the first to rise. Shaking all over, she glanced around at her friends and newly-marked enemies. They were all lying in the road, the ponies and bronies on either side of the street trotting over to see what happened. Rainbow shot a look at the two behind the mass-knockout. Glaze and Vinyl just sat there, back to back, giving her stern, serious looks. In that moment, Rainbow Dash almost regretted taking part in this feud, but memories of a deteriorating cloudtrack and screaming pegasi drove away the remorseful feeling. Instead, she began to nudge her friends awake, helping them up. Opposite the multicolored mare and her teammates, Feather Pony was in a similar state of surprise, shock and temporary shame. Her reaction was even less emphatic than Rainbow's already-quiet act, but relatively the same. Vinyl and Glaze shared a brohoof, enjoying their short victory while their friends tried to expel the still-resounding sound of the Base Cannons from their eardrums.
When they had all cleared their heads a bit, Twilight walked to the front of her team, spreading her wings in a rather majestic manner. She glared at the bronies before her and began to speak, her volume increased slightly as if by the Royal Canterlot Voice. "You have crossed the line, bronies. For years we have shown you kindness, we offered you our friendship, and this is how you repay us? By destroying our home and threatening the lives of countless ponies? I don't know how you live with yourselves."
Rina listened to the alicorn but the moment she stopped speaking, the pink unicorn stepped forwards. "You call yourself the Princess of Friendship, yet this is what you, your friends and your subjects do to us? Sabotage our work? Ruin our celebrations, which we hold in your honor? So much for your 'friendship is magic'."
"What are you saying?" spluttered Rainbow Dash, flying to Twilight's defense. She hovered over Rina's head, looking her straight in the eye. "You're the ones causing all the destruction in Equestria, not us!"
Saberspark flew over to assist Rina, staying in line with Rainbow. "I guess that means that it's not your six-colored mane hair we found at the theater. Yeah, whatever."
"That's it! Ah refuse to hear another word!" Having said her piece, Applejack leapt forward, her lips drawn back in a snarl.
"Incoming!" Race shouted, jumping over the other bronies. The two Earth ponies met in the middle of the street and began bucking at each other. But no matter how many times they kicked, their opponent always managed to roll out of the way and fire their own legs for a counterattack.
Seeing this, Pinkie immediately went into Battle-Mode. "C'mon Cheese!" she squealed, "let's party!"
"Right with ya, Pinkie!" The two party ponies reached behind and pulled two cannons out of nowhere. Grinning madly, they wheeled them forwards on either side of Twilight and positioned their hooves over the buttons.
Mic the Microphone vaulted over his line of friends, magically dragging a large cube on wheels around them. "Hey Feather. Quick, we gotta return fire!"
"But I don't like dropping the base," the pegasus mare complained.
"Then don't! Just shoot them with something!"
Feather perked up at this. "Okay!" She grabbed her own boxed, wheel-mounted loudspeaker and brought it up on Rina's left while Mic hovered his over to the mare's right side.
"3, 2, 1, FIRE!" Pinkie and Cheese slammed their hooves down and activated their Cannons, sending a mixture of confetti, streamers, firecrackers and noise out of the barrels, heading straight for the bronies. At the same time, Mic and Feather switched on their Cannons, letting loose with a resounding, two-way barrage of sound. The two expelled forces met in midair between the two groups, exploding in a spontaneous orb of colors and dissonance. Twilight, Rina and the four artillery-equipped ponies were thrown backwards by the force of the explosion, their Cannons sent spinning away. Rainbow and Saber had successfully evaded the backlash by rising several meters above the brief exchange.
"This is outrageous!" cried Rarity, trotting into 'no-pony's land'. "Can't any of you fight with a bit of glamor?"
"You don't fight with glamor, Rarity," Digibrony hissed as he levitated a pair of garbage bins, overflowing with waste. "You fight with whatever you have on hoof." And he threw his stinking load at the white mare.
"AAAAAH!" Rarity shrieked, ducking to avoid the putrid projectiles. Even so, several pieces of dirty trash landed on her, staining her coat with numerous multicolored streaks and splatters. She took one look at her coat before shooting Digibrony a look of pure hate.
"Oh. it. Is. ON!"
Igniting her horn, Rarity ripped off a large piece of the curb, carefully aiming the concrete block at the grey unicorn. "Maybe this will teach you not to play in the rubbish!" She flung her improvised missile at Digibrony, but it shattered against the force field the he conjured up.
Trixie and Fluttershy appeared on either side of Rarity. "No more shall we stand aside and watch you burn our homes!" Trixie hollered.
Solrac and Fluffle Puff dashed over to assist their friend, flanking Digi. "BRING IT ON!" screamed Solrac.
Twilight, having recovered from the concussion caused by the Cannon recoil, leapt to the head of her team. "Alright everypony! ATTACK!"
Rina-chan had recovered too, and raised her hoof in the air. "Bronies, CHARGE!"
The two forces converged on the field of battle, each one facing their own adversary. Twilight was facing Rina and Mic in a magic dual, the two unicorns almost matching her alicorn magic. Rainbow Dash was up against Saberspark in a dogfight, while Applejack was fruitlessly beating away at Fluffle Puff, the fluffy pony's thick coat protecting her from the farmpony's kicks. Rarity and Trixie took their battle straight to Digibrony, but could only equal his power, effectively drawing his attention away from the other combatants. Pinkie Pie had somehow gotten a rope around Feather's waist and was hanging on for dear life as the pegasister flew around the Square, causing the party pony to collide with a number of lampposts and walls. Cheese Sandwich and AC Racebest were in some sort of 'comic-relief' battle, slapping each other across the face one at a time, each in turn. Fluttershy and Solrac were having a combination Staring/Shouting match, the two ponies both keeping eye-contact and screaming in their opponent's face with increasing volume. On either side of the battlefield other ponies had gathered, some of them attempting to backpedal away from danger, others raring to join the fight. However, in the building across the road from Vinyl and Glaze's DJ stand, watching from a balcony extending off the roof, a number of Equestrians and bronies looked down at their brawling friends, wondering what could have caused it all.
"I just don't understand it, Dave," Spike confessed to the cobalt blue dragon beside him. "Twilight and the others don't usually solve this kind of problem by fighting. We get along just fine and so did they. What's going on?"
Crikey Dave patted the purple dragon on the shoulder. "I wish I knew too, Spike. We all lived in harmony at one point, yet now something has driven us apart."
"It's much worse that that, Dave." The two dragons looked to the right, where a grey pegasus with dual-green-colored mane stood beside them, looking down at the warring ponies. "This kind of hostility could disrupt the balance of harmony connecting Equestria to our world. We can't afford to break our bond of friendship, especially in such a manner."
"But what can we do, Forest Rain?" asked Pipsqueak, popping up beside the brony.
"Well, for one, we can notify the Princesses. Maybe they can help."
A stallion in a white lab coat and a zebra with rings on her neck stepped out of the shadows of the rooftop. "Hold up there, Forest," the stallion said. "I think we should try and learn something from this experience."
"No, Calpain," growled Dave, "we will not learn anything, anything from this fight, especially if we don't settle the dispute somehow!"
Forest Rain nodded at the dragon's words. "What say you, Zecora?"
The zebra looked up at the moon, then down at the brawling ponies. "The time for sitting idly is past. We must mend the bond or we shall not last."
"In other words," Calpain explained to Pipsqueak and Spike, "we've done enough waiting around on the sidelines and watching events unfold. It's time to take matters into our own hooves. Or claws, as it were."
"First, we must alert the Princesses. Then stop the fight before somepony gets hurt."
"I'll get our fastest ponies out immediately," Forest announced, taking to the air. "With any luck, they'll reach our leaders quickly and they'll come to help us."
"You'd better hurry," warned Dave. "They've started calling for reinforcements down there."
*
And, indeed, although almost nopony was hurt yet, the fighting was still ferocious. Often switching between adversaries in the middle of an exchange, the combatants wove through the field, more ponies and bronies joining the fight every minute. It was still not enough, though, to decide the outcome of the battle.
Twilight decided it was time to bring out the big guns. "Discord!" she shouted into the night sky, "we need you!"
In a flash of light, the draconequus appeared, a tea tray balanced on the end of his tail. "Oh really, Twilight," complained Discord, sipping a cup of tea, slurping up the ceramic and leaving the boiling drink in mid-air. "I was just settling down to enjoy a quiet evening free of strife."
"How can you say that?" Twilight spluttered. "After everything the bronies had done to Equestria, you haven't noticed a thing?"
Discord thought about this for a moment. "Well now, I wouldn't put it that way. Let's just say that I've sort of been turning-" One of his eyes rolled into the back of his head, leaving a blank yellow eyeball- "a blind eye."
Twilight sighed. Talking with Discord was like trying to get cupcakes out of a rock. Which, with Discord around, was actually a possibility. "Okay, I get it, ha ha. Now could you please help us?"
"Well, please always helps, but I'm beginning to wonder if Celestia would really want you to solve this problem by fighting. After all," he added, "you are the Princess of Friendship now."
"Fluttershy needs you!" Twilight hollered, pointing to where Fluttershy was lying on the floor, her hooves over her head while Vocal Score and Eliyora crept towards her.
Smiling evilly, Discord vanished in another flash, materializing behind the bronies. He stomped on the asphalt road and two holes appeared in the ground, swallowing Eliyora and Vocal Score. While Discord went to comfort his friend, two shafts appeared over a green dumpster, depositing the two bronies inside it, both looking extremely dizzy.
"Are you all right, Fluttershy?" Discord asked, his voice full of concern.
Fluttershy hugged the draconequus. "Oh thank you, Discord. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't come along."
"A pleasure, my dear. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some chaos to reap amongst our adversaries. See you around!" Discord flew off to where most of the bronies were fighting off ponies.
Rina-chan saw him coming. "Great," she muttered to the cyan pegasister she was fighting alongside, "they've invited Discord. Now we're in for it."
Kim Possible shook her head to dislodge the dust stuck in her mane. "Well, you know what they say: sometimes, you've got to fight fire with fire."
Rina raised an eyebrow at KP, but once she took another look at Discord, who was busy throwing pies in every brony's face, she finally caught on. "Of course! That could work. But can you call him?"
Pulling out a slightly unnecessarily large megaphone out of nowhere, Kim answered her, "Oh yeah." Switching on the megaphone she shouted into it "HEY JOHN! YOU WANNA LEND A HELPING HOOF?!"
Every pony within fifteen feet had their eardrums blasted so hard their hearing was temporarily diminished, but the summons worked. In a yellow flash of light, a brown unicorn stallion with a graying mane appeared. He was dressed in a dark-blue suit and green bow-tie and his cutie was a sealed scroll.
"Hello there, Kim," the unicorn greeted. "And you, Rina. How nice it is to see you." He ducked as two pegasi tumbled over his head. "Although, it probably would be nicer if everypony wasn't fighting."
"Hi John, nice to see you too," Rina said quickly. "Now, could you please help us out? They've got Discord on their side!"
De Lancie looked to his right, where Discord had his tail wrapped around a dark-blue pegasus and a wolf. He touched their foreheads and a wave of grey discoloration spread from the contact point.
"Oh dear," muttered John. "I'd better go. See you, hopefully, after this all blows over!"
"What's that supposed to mean, 'after this all blows over'?" asked Kim, watching the unicorn gallop over to the draconequus.
Rina shrugged. "Who knows? He's John de Lancie. Now come on, let's go knock some more heads."
"We still have to knock one head."
De Lancie made straight for Discord, weaving in and out between the ponies and bronies. When he reached Discord, he leapt into the air and headbutted the draconequus, causing him to lose his focus and release his captives. The dark-blue pegasus shook his head, the color returning to him. "Thanks a bunch, John," he said, adjusting his dark glasses. "I thought we'd be deharmonized for sure."
"Your welcome Aviators. Now hurry, you and Dr. Wolf should leave before Discord comes to."
"But what about you?" inquired Dr. Wolf. "Will you be okay?"
"I'll be fine. Now go, bronies!"
Aviators and Dr. Wolf rushed back into the fray and John turned his attention to Discord. He didn't hit the Spirit of Disharmony very hard and he soon began to stir. Discord shot up, his mismatched eyes scanning the area. "What's going on? What happened? Who am I?"
John sighed. "Drop the act Discord," he ordered, crouching down into a battle position. "I know your faking."
Discord seemed surprised by de Lancie's arrival. "Oh, hello John. How are you?"
"I thought so, and very well up until the point where everypony started fighting." He waved a hoof around, gesturing to the many clashes around them.
Undeterred, Discord lounged back against a dumpster, gazing up at the sky. "I must say, Luna's done an amazing job tonight. Would you look at all those stars?" He conjured up a telescope and peered through it.
"Stop it Discord." John walked over to the draconequus and slapped the telescope, which crumbled into nothing. "This is not the time for stargazing."
"What do you mean? It's nighttime, of course it's the time for stargazing."
"No. All of our friends-"
"Most," corrected Discord. "Most of our friends."
John groaned. "Fine. Most of our friends are in a fight-to-the-finish, each one believing the other is responsible for the hardships they have faced recently. If we don't do something soon, they'll beat each other to hay fries!"
Discord did a three-sixty. "Alright, how about this: you cause chaos for my friends, indirectly trying to stop the fight, and I'll do the same for the bronies, hm?"
De Lancie's eyes changed, briefly taking on the appearance of Discord's own different-sized pupils. "You're on. Good luck, Discord!"
"And you too, John." The two dashed off in opposite directions, each one plotting his way across the battlefield, causing utter confusion among the fighting ponies. While Discord tangled up Gibbontake and Tommy Oliver in plunderseed vines, John de Lancie tried a hoof at warping reality, swapping Flitter's and Thunderlane's bodies around and leaving the two pegasi in shock and embarrassment.
On the bronies side of the street, Crowne Prince and Mad Munchkin were trying their best to keep their friends out of the fight, much like police forces at events. "Settle down, everypony!" Crowne shouted over the sound of the roaring crowd. "SETTLE DOWN!"
"This isn't working!" grunted Maddie, trying to hold back Brony Dance Party and Golden Fox. "We need a new plan."
"A new plan, you say?"
Crowne groaned. He knew that voice all too well. He turned his head to find a pale-yellow unicorn stallion in a striped shirt and straw hat. "I believe we have just what your looking for, my good friend."
Another pony, who looked just like the other one, popped up beside Maddie. "In fact, I say we have the perfect solution to your mob problem."
"Look," Crowne said, ignoring the fact that the brony riot had quieted down and was now watching them, "me and Maddie are doing just fine, we don't need help, and we certainly don't require assistance from a couple of swindlers!"
Flim gasped. "Are you saying we're a pair of dishonest businessponies?"
"I find that hard to believe, brother," declared Flam. "After all, we have offered our services at many of your conventions."
"And while you're all here," Flim added, pulling out a collapsible table, "how would you bronies like to place some bets on the outcome of this match?
Flam sidled up beside his brother. "The odds are against Racebest, Cheese is the true comedian."
"Who here thinks Fluttershy is doomed to the volume of Solrac? Or will her powerful, sweet voice end the dual?"
"1 to 6 says that Twilight will defeat every unicorn thrown at her, unless somepony thinks otherwise?"
"I'd go with the likeliness of Rainbow Dash Sonic Rainbooming all the pegasisters away."
"And don't forget, the best-case scenario of-"
Flam's sentence was cut off by a grayish-violet brony with a wild green and yellow mane, who body-slammed the salespony into the building upon which the peaceful community members hid. "Get out of here, Phlegm Phlagm Brothers," he demanded, pulling his pink plastic glasses over his eyes. "This is brony territory and you guys ain't welcome over here or over there."
A grayish blue brony with a paper roll stuck to his head bashed his head into Flim, sending the second brother flying and impacting against the opposite building. "Listen to my brother Keg when he tells you to steer clear," he told the dazed salespony, his pink 'Unicorn Power' shirt glowing bright in the lamplight. "Make like a parasprite and flee."
The Flim Flam Brothers scampered to their feet, giving the other two siblings calm looks. "Come now, surely we can share customers, can't we?" inquiered Flim, with just a tinge of hope in his voice.
Keg Standard looked at his brother. "You hear that, Phantom? They want to make a profit with us."
Phantom Horn cracked his hooves threateningly. "These guys just don't give up, do they?"
"Nope."
"Let's air-mail them outta here."
"Free shipping."
The two brothers spun around, reared and gave both Flim and Flam a strong buck to the muzzle. The salesponies went flying over the battlefield and amid the ponies who, upon seeing the swindlers, fell on them in a furious rage, every one of them eager to take a whack at the swindlers who had made fools of them on more than one occasion.
The bronies cheered for Keg and Phantom, walking over for a brohoof or to clop them on the back. Crowne and Maddie approached the siblings. "Thank guys," said Maddie. "You helped us out of a jam. You got rid of Flim and Flam and also managed to calm the bronies."
Phantom Horn rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "It was really nothing. Just trying to help the herd, y'know."
"This is gay," complained Keg Standard as he brohoofed yet another brony. "Why can't a guy do a public service without being showered with praise from other guys?"
Crowne Prince shrugged. "That's just the way things are, I guess."
Elie Monty was standing just a few feet away from this scene, but her attention was quickly recaptured by the chaotic duo still running amok, causing both sides immeasurable amounts of trouble. "Hey look," she said to the two bronies, one blue and one a light gold, standing beside her. "John de Lancie's joined the fight."
The blue pony raised an eyebrow. "And that's supposed to make me feel better because?"
"Loosen up, Acoustic," the golden pony said, patting his friend on the shoulder. "Just be glad we're not getting involved."
"You say that Mando, but it doesn't change the way thing are," Acoustic Brony moped.
Elie wrapped a hoof around each of her herdmates. "We can't give up hope. There's always a chance somepony will come shining through."
Mando looked up at the tall building behind the DJ stand. From his viewpoint, it seemed to be reaching up to touch the moon. "I'm sure some little pony is out there somewhere, ready to save the day."