Harpflank and Sweets

by Arcainum

Harpflank and Sweets: The Movie - Part 2

WIN A COPY OF THE “HARPFLANK AND SWEETS: THE MOVIE” DVD, SIGNED BY THE CAST, BY ANSWERING THIS QUESTION:

What are Harpflank and Sweets’ real names?

a.) Myra and Ron-Ron
b.) Lyra and Bon-Bon
c.) Berkle and McReady

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The feature will now resume.

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Scene 7

The wind whipped at Trixie’s cloak in the aftermath of her dramatic entrance. Lyra’s voice burst from Tavinger’s speakers, thick with surprise.

“Trixie?! But... you’re dead! You died!”

Trixie tossed her mane and dismissed Lyra’s question.

“It’s quite the long story, Harpflank and Sweets! I shall explain when this is over! Follow my lead!”

She leapt high into the space between Tavinger Z and the Moonatron. Before Nightmare Moon or her creation could react, the ground shook and yet another robot burst forth. The equine mecha rose from beneath the ground, as so many of Trixie’s creations had risen before, the cracking of the plaza’s stones throwing the Moonatron off-balance. It stumbled backwards, leaving enough space for the machine to reach its full height.

Coloured the same blue as Trixie’s coat, dotted with stars and bearing her cutie mark on its enormous flanks, the latest arrival in the battle bore a horn that pulsed with arcane energy. Trixie landed on its head as it rose and quickly opened an access hatch, hopping into the machine, and for the first time in a year her magically-enhanced voice boomed out across Metropony.

“Enter Trixer Robo, the most spectacular robot ever witnessed by pony eyes!”

The metallic unicorn reared for effect as she spoke. It occurred to Lyra and Bon-Bon that wherever Trixie had been for the past year, it had done nothing to dull her showpony instincts. Nightmare Moon scoffed at the display.

“PAH! WHAT HAVE I TO FEAR FROM A FOOLISH UNICORN WHO COULD NOT DEFEAT TWO PONIES WITH ALL I GAVE HER?”

Trixer Robo pointed a hoof at the Moonatron and Trixie replied with gusto.

“I am no longer the Trixie you corrupted, Nightmare Moon! I am free of the darkness you planted in my soul! Now you are my enemy, and I shall fight by the side of Lyra and Bon-Bon!”

Even through the distortion of the speakers, the catch in Trixie’s voice was audible.

“By the side of my friends.”

Within the cockpit of Tavinger Z, Lyra and Bon-Bon exchanged wide smiles.

“I guess we’re a dynamic trio now, BB.”

“Let’s do this.”

Where Tavinger’s back legs had been removed by the Moonatron’s vicious blades, the same mechanism that had replaced the rocket hooves kicked into gear. The robot shot back to its hooves as they appeared, and Tavinger took its position beside Trixer Robo. The Moonatron roared as it recovered from its fall. Nightmare Moon’s magical command compelled it to charge, bladed wings outspread to attack both enemies facing it. Trixie addressed her allies with urgency.

“Now! With all your power!”

Within Tavinger’s cockpit, Lyra and Bon-Bon reached in tandem for a huge red lever covered in warning labels and, with concerted effort, yanked it towards them. Tavinger settled into a strong stance and the V across its chest began to hum with energy. At the same time, Trixer Robo’s horn glowed brighter, the blue light deepening and crackling with bursts of electricity as technology and magic mixed. The Moonatron rumbled towards them, the darklight of Nightmare Moon’s power flickering around it, lending it strength.

As it drew closer, Tavinger and Trixer’s weapons continued to charge, thrumming with energy as their generators and pilots fed them with power. Lyra and Bon-Bon pushed buttons and twisted dials, forcing Tavinger Z closer and closer to its maximum destructive potential. Their very seats were vibrating now with the Moonatron’s approach. Both Tavinger’s chest-piece and Trixer’s horn were painful to look at now, shining with accumulated heat.

The Moonatron was only seconds away now. Trixie, Lyra and Bon-Bon’s voices rang out simultaneously.

“Now! TRIXER BEAM!”

“CHEST FIRE!”

Twin waves of energy erupted from the two machines. The Trixie Beam was a thin spear of blue plasma, contrasting the violent orange wave of Tavinger’s Chest Fire. As they raced towards the advancing foe, the two colours entwined and combined, their twin energies forming a raging torrent of destruction that engulfed the Moonatron and halted its charge instantly, hurling it across the square. As it tumbled through the air, the vicious flames tore through the Moonatron’s structure, deconstructing at a subatomic level. By the time it would have reached the ground, the Moonatron was almost completely vapourised, nothing more than dust on the wind.

Nightmare stood stunned at the display of power, gazing in what came close to awe at the twin mecha. They posed triumphantly, sun gleaming from the tip of Trixer Robo’s horn and Tavinger Z’s chest-piece.

“Your move, Nightmare Moon.”

At Trixie’s words, the alicorn scowled.

“YOUR VICTORY HERE MEANS NOTHING, LITTLE PONIES. IF I CANNOT DESTROY YOU HERE, I SHALL MERELY SET MY PLANS INTO MOTION EARLY. ENJOY YOUR TIME WITH YOUR NEW ALLIES, TRIXIE, FOR IT WILL BE SHORT.”

She spat the last with venom and was suffused with the light of her magic. In a flash of darkness, she flew into the sky at impossible speed, blurring into a purple line that reached from the rooftop to the distant reaches of the heavens. The roar of her ascent faded into silence.

The battle, at last, was over.

Scene 8

The atmosphere in the briefing room was painfully tense.

Derpy sat in her Commander’s chair at the head of the conference table, beneath a huge viewscreen that covered one wall. To her left sat Trixie, reclining nonchalantly in her chair as she faced the ponies that sat opposite her. Along the other side of the table were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Lyra and Bon-Bon were perched nervously on the edge of their seats, unsure of how the meeting would progress. Vinyl Scratch glared at Trixie with undisguised distaste, face-to-face with her technological rival at last. Octavia and Redheart’s expressions were, as ever, unreadable. Vinyl broke the silence first.

“So, what, you’re a good guy now?”

Trixie leaned forward and smiled with infuriating smugness.

“Yes, Vinyl Scratch. I am, as you put it, a good guy now.”

Her face softened and she looked down as she added,

“And I have both explanations and... apologies to make.”

Vinyl looked taken aback by Trixie’s sudden abashedness. Derpy took control of the discussion.

“Okay, we’ve all got a lot to say. Trixie, we spent years in conflict and now all of a sudden here you helping us out of the blue. We’ve taken a huge risk letting you in, and I think we deserve to know your story.”

Trixie nodded, surprised at Derpy’s calm tones. Since Nightmare Moon’s unveiling, a change had come over the Commander. M.A.R.E. clerks had been stunned to discover, within hours of the armed wing’s retreat, the organisation’s entire backlog of paperwork complete and correctly filed. Sweeping changes had been made to operations around the city, increasing efficiency and security twofold. It was if she the Element she bore had somehow... focused her, magically aiding her to be the commander she had always been ready to be.

“Thank you, Commander.”

Trixie stood up and pointed to the gem that affixed her cloak with a flourish. Her next pronouncement, however, was surprisingly humble.

“I suppose the first thing I should say is that I hold the Element of Magic.”

They all gasped on cue, causing the faintest hints of a smile to twitch at the corners of Trixie’s mouth. The effect was ruined by Vinyl slamming her hoof on the table in realisation.

“That’s it!”

She leapt up and began to tap at the viewscreen’s keyboard, bringing up the readouts from Trixie’s defeat again. Even Trixie herself looked interested, Vinyl’s skill and insight having penetrated even her rock-hard self-esteem after years of defeat.

“Trixie, you said something during the fight about you being ‘corrupted’. What did you mean?”

Trixie cleared her throat and began to explain as Vinyl continued to scroll through reams of data on the screen.

“That was my second revelation. You have not been fighting me these past years, not truly. Though at first I fought for Luna willingly, over time the darkness within her slowly crept within me too. Even now I can barely remember my time as your enemy.”

Octavia spoke up softly but incisively.

“You mean to say Nightmare Moon is a corrupting influence?”

Trixie nodded.

“In my time... away, I learned many things. Perhaps the strangest is the nature of Nightmare Moon. She is not, in fact, the Princess Luna.”

Lyra leaned forward questioningly, eyes narrowed as she struggled to keep up.

“So, what, you’re saying that Luna and Nightmare Moon are separate ponies? Then... why did Luna transform into her? You saying Nightmare Moon is controlling Her or something?”

“Exactly right.”

Lyra blinked, as surprised at her correct answer as anypony else in the room.

“Oh. Uh... right. Fair enough.”

Vinyl piped up, having finally found what she was looking for.

“Take a look at this.”

She pointed to a section of graph in which a dark line merged briefly with the other coloured marks, and disappeared.

“We couldn’t match this wavelength to anypony present at your defeat, Trixie.”

Trixie winced slightly at the word ‘defeat’ and Vinyl grinned.

“Sorry, during the fight. Anyway, we had you, us, the Tower, and this one. It kinda comes out of nowhere, gets mixed in with the energy from the Elements, then vanishes. Are you saying that was Nightmare Moon?”

Trixie nodded and continued her explanation.

“Indeed, but not quite. You see, Nightmare Moon is not an alicorn, or even a pony. She is a magical force, a poisonous shard of a far greater entity, long since vanished, that gave her life. I don’t know all the details, but I do know she was planted in Luna thousands of years ago and has never been fully removed. My constant proximity to the Princess made me susceptible and eventually my Element, too weak alone, was suppressed before it could awaken. That is what that line denotes.”

She trotted over the graph and ran her hoof along the line.

“This is the fragment of Nightmare Moon being extracted by your attack. Here, the Elements purify me, removing the corruption. And here the line fades... as did I.”

Vinyl’s eyes widened again.

“Because we only had five!”

Trixie looked at her quizzically.

“I beg your pardon?”

Vinyl went back to the keyboard and brought up a screenshot of the broken book that had taught them about Nightmare Moon in the first place.

“See here? Celestia is banishing Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony, all six of them. The sixth, the one we were missing until now, is the biggest in the drawing and right in the centre. It never really occurred to me until now because of how stylised the picture is, but maybe that’s because it’ the most important!”

She looked around the room, questioning the ponies present.

“When we fired that... beam thing, we all said ‘Friendship is magic’, right?”

They nodded, none having forgotten the world-changing event.

“Well, I know I didn’t think of saying that. It kind of... came from within. Maybe that was the Elements trying to tell us that that’s what we were missing!”

She turned to Trixie and pointed a triumphant hoof.

“Magic!”

Trixie began to pace back and forth, lost in thought despite herself.

“So as the Elements attempted to purify me and destroy what there was of Nightmare Moon within me, they were without their unifying Element and were forced to work through the Tower...”

Vinyl continued her sentence.

“And the resulting attack didn’t work as intended, sending you wherever you went...”

The two ponies came to the same conclusion at the same time, speaking simultaneously.

“Which is why she fled, because she knows we have all the Elements to banish her!”

There was a brief silence. The other ponies smiled knowingly. Vinyl and Trixie were more alike than they thought, loath as they would be to admit it. The two scientists coughed and turned away from each other, returning to their seats. Derpy sat back in her chair, looking pensive.

“So, the question now is what to do about Nightmare Moon. We know she can be defeated, and we know it has to be us. I say we take the fight to her. I don’t want to let what happened with you and Luna happen again. But... where did she go?”

Trixie looked surprised.

“I’m amazed you haven’t worked it out yet. You said yourself that your Element revealed her identity to you. She is The Mare In The Moon, or, more accurately, The Mare On The Moon. And that is precisely where she has gone.”

There was a silence as the ponies processed this.

Eventually, Redheart spoke two words, echoing the thoughts of everypony there.

“The moon.”

The floodgates opened, everypony starting to talk at once.

“Seriously, the moon? What’s she even gonna do from there?”

“Her magic must be crazy powerful if she can just fly to the moon, how do we beat her?”

“The situation seems...difficult.”

“This is far beyond our scope of operations.”

Derpy waved her forelegs wildly in an futile attempt to calm them all down. Eventually they quieted, looking to Trixie for further explanation. Relishing the attention as usual, she continued.

“Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon and even now controls its natural ruler. That is where her true power lies. I recall Luna talking often of some terrible weapon she had up there, some ultimate failsafe that she could rely on were we to be brought the brink of defeat. I can only assume that Nightmare Moon plans to make use of this... whatever it is.”

There was another brief silence. Their previous conflict seemed to have become almost insignificant. For all their battles, the Empire and M.A.R.E. had been confined to the ground, their constant back-and-forth within terrestrial constraints that the ponies had considered, until now, to be absolute. But now events had taken a terrifying turn, evolving from an ideological skirmish against a rebel Princess to a full-on declaration of war by an elemental force of pure evil.

Derpy stood authoritatively and they all looked to her for guidance.

“I think the answer is obvious. We go to the moon.”

Vinyl raised a hoof respectfully even as she voiced her dissent.

“With respect, Commander, how? We’ve never taken space travel anywhere beyond wild theory, so unless there’s something that can get us to the moon and back just lying around, then we’re... pretty...”

She trailed off as a dreadful realisation hit her. Everypony looked at Trixie, whose face was a visual definition of the word “smug”. Vinyl facehoofed.

“Oh, come on.”

Scene 9

To Vinyl’s intense disappointment, Trixie had been true to her word. She had led them to a portion of the Empire’s abandoned underground base, long since picked clean by M.A.R.E. clean-up crews, and revealed a secret passage hidden behind multiple layers of security. After hidden doors, huge bulkheads, and the occasional firefight with Lunatrons that had never been deactivated, they had stepped out into a chamber almost a mile high.

Trixie had explained that Luna had commissioned the rocket early in her service, when Nightmare Moon’s influence was weaker and the Princess still had moments of lucidity. Though Trixie had worked diligently on the enormous spacecraft, Luna had never made use of it. She suspected that Luna had somehow found a way to hide the knowledge from Nightmare Moon. At that point, Bon-Bon had said quietly,

“Maybe she knew this was coming. Maybe, somehow, as she lost control of herself and her crusade... she wanted to help.”

Since then, preparations had moved swiftly. The full brunt of M.A.R.E.’s resources was brought to bear on making the rocket space-worthy. Vinyl, Octavia and Trixie had worked sleeplessly for almost a week as Lyra and Bon-Bon trained their bodies harder than they had ever trained before. Derpy had continued to put everything she had into bringing M.A.R.E. to the height of its potential so as to act independently while she was gone. Redheart had simply run the infirmary as ever, treating those that had been wounded in the battle at Celestia Tower. Every day that passed was a day that could be the end of everything they knew, but spirits were high. Victory would mean victory over evil itself. And they had never lost before.

At last, the rocket was deemed ready for launch. They had risked one more day for the scientists to rest their exhausted minds and bodies. And now the day had finally come.

The bearers of the Elements of Harmony walked six abreast along the massive gantry, dressed in skintight spacesuits coloured to match their coats. Assembled below were the collected forces of M.A.R.E., gathered to bid farewell to the departing heroes. Above them, the rocket loomed.

As they neared the entrance to the cockpit, the metal roof of the chamber began to grind open. Sunlight pierced the gloom of the underground hangar, a line of brilliance that widened to cast its warmth across the heroes of Equestria as they prepared to leave their home, their very planet, to save it. They reached the door, flanked by two guards. Derpy moved ahead of her companions and turned to face them. A guard dropped a grey metal suitcase on the floor that sprang into a pop-up podium. The Commander addressed her charges.

“For years, we’ve fought the Luna Empire to defend this city and the ponies that call it their home. We’ve battled monsters, robots, and even other ponies, to this end and you have all done your duty. You never complained, and you never quit. Thank you.”

Her voice washed over the organisation, the Element she bore ensuring everypony felt the sincerity of her feelings.

“But now we, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, must fight without your help. We go to fight, not a rogue Princess, but evil itself. You can’t follow us, but your prayers can.”

The sun seemed to shine brighter as if to lend power to her words, light filling the enormous room.

“So that is all I ask. Pray for us, everypony, and your friendship will carry us through!”

There was silence following her brief speech. Nopony moved.

Derpy looked around uncertainly and turned to her friends.

“Was it something I said? I thought that was a pretty good speech!”

The other Elements were staring into the sky. Lyra spoke, almost in a whisper, voice hoarse with amazement.

“Celestia...”

Derpy raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe not that good.”

Lyra trotted up to her silently, neck still craned upwards in awe, and grabbed Derpy’s head, angling it upwards. The Commander’s crooked eyes widened as she realised the truth.

“Oh. Right.”

The sun had become brighter. It shone powerfully into the hangar, framing the descending shadow with its golden rays. As the shape flew lightly downwards and landed with unearthly grace on the gantry before the Elements of Harmony, the forces of M.A.R.E. knelt as one. The newcomer folded Her wings and smiled warmly, a smile that seemed to contain all the world’s kindness. The sunlight glinted from Her horn and Her mane was afire with colour.

The ponies on the gantry followed M.A.R.E.’s example, kneeling with utmost respect. Princess Celestia laughed, and the sound seemed to fill them with strength.

“Rise, my little ponies.”

They all stood slowly, awaiting the Princess’ next words. Celestia hadn’t been seen outside of Her castle for decades, Her only contact with the outside world the occasional letter to the various governments of Equestria and fleeting appearances at the Grand Galloping Gala, as if merely to reassure Her subjects of Her existence. Her presence was not insignificant.

“Ponies of M.A.R.E.. Your Commander is right. You have done more for this city in a few years than I have done for my entire kingdom in a millenium.”

She turned to the Elements and they were startled to see remorse in the Princess’ expression. Stories painted Celestia as nigh-infallible, a living incarnation of perfect governance. But this was not the Celestia they had been told ruled from Canterlot with infinite wisdom, simply a pony who had made terrible mistakes and was ready, almost desperate, to apologise.

“And you, bearers of the Elements of Harmony, have done even more. While I stood by, allowing my sister to run rampant under the control of a threat I refused to admit was undefeated, you have risen to the challenge and saved Equestria from destruction countless times.”

Vinyl threw a snide glance at Trixie, who tossed her mane with a barely audible harrumph.

“And now you must leave our world itself to do what I should have done a thousand years ago. Thank you. Thank you.”

Then, to the shock of all present, Princess Celestia Herself knelt before the stunned seven.

“Please, save my sister. Do what I couldn’t. Save Equestria from my mistake.”

The resulting silence was broken by Lyra.

“Well... duh.”

Several hundred ponies mentally facehoofed.

“We’re going up there anyway, You didn’t have to come down and tell us Yourself. Not that we don’t appreciate it, Princess. I mean, it’s obviously a pretty big deal, and it’s pretty cool to meet You in the fl-”

She was interrupted by Bon-Bon grabbing her in a tight stranglehold and dragging her towards the open door of the rocket. Celestia blinked, then laughed again and stood back up. Derpy gave an embarrassed grin on behalf of her subordinate and knelt briefly a final time before turning to usher the other Elements into the rocket. All decorum and ceremony deflated, they trotted out of sight, into their vehicle to the stars. Vinyl and Octavia waved at the Princess, Redheart gave a short nod, and Trixie bowed theatrically before turning to leave.

The door hissed closed, cutting off Vinyl’s sudden laughter and Bon-Bon’s cries of, “I can’t believe you, Lyra! That was Princess Celestia Herself! PRINCESS CELES-”

As ponies began to scramble to their positions and the ignition sequence commenced, Celestia gazed up at the enormous machine, the metal bulk casting its shadow over the Princess as She contemplated the distant past, casting Her mind back to a time of villages, thatched roofs and pony-pulled trains. Times had changed. He had made sure of that.

But maybe, She thought, just maybe... they’ll be the ones to change them back.

Scene 10

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Where does she find these things?”

The screens adorning the bridge’s front wall were showing the camera feed from the rocket’s exterior, and what lay on the moon’s surface was more than they had ever imagined.

Nestled in an impact crater that stretched for miles was a vast black city, almost the mirror of Metropony but with sinister differences. Where their hometown was graced by towering office blocks and residential buildings, Nightmare Moon’s fortress was comprised of huge factories that belched magic-tinged smoke into the thin air. Difficult to see at this distance, sleek silver craft swooped among the monolithic structures, no doubt delivering raw materials to fuel the Mare In The Moon’s war machine. Fields of strange red weeds replaced the parks. In the centre of it all, an enormous castle, shaped like the crescent moon, took Celestia Tower’s place in the twisted duplicate.

The ponies in the rocket stared at the impossible stronghold as they stood around the main screen, their mission seeming more insane than ever. Vinyl broke the reflective silence.

“So, who’s flying those things?”

Octavia answered, her voice as steady as ever even faced with the enormity of their task.

“Perhaps an AI? The entire city may be automated.”

Trixie shook her head and cut in.

“I can explain. I joined my Lady Luna at first because I truly believed in Her cause. Back then both She and I were unaffected by Nightmare Moon, and we fought because we thought we were right. As time went on I became unsure if we were truly correct, and asked Her for guidance. She took me to an observation chamber and showed me the moon, and told me of Her banishment by Celestia. She didn’t say anything about Nightmare Moon, of course. I’m sure by then her influence was growing.”

They all turned to look at Trixie, whose voice was now edged with sorrow. They had noticed this over the past few days, a melancholy that sometimes gripped the otherwise irrepressible scientist. Her memories of her time as Luna’s servant clearly caused her great distress. Both her guilt at her actions and her care for the Princess whom she had originally pledged her allegiance to seemed to gnaw at her.

“She told me of infinite loneliness, of being trapped in a piece of rock for a thousand years with only the knowledge that you have done nothing wrong. She told me how She watched as Celestia took over Her duties and the world carried on as if She wasn’t even needed.”

The other ponies were rapt, seeing a new side to both Trixie and Luna. For years they had only seen a rogue Princess threatening the city and somepony giving Her the weapons to do it. But it had become clear, as the layers of deception peeled away, that all they had ever been fighting were two ponies who had been betrayed by fate, lashing out to change the world for what they saw as the better.

Trixie sighed and carried on.

“And then She told me that when everything had seemed darkest, She... made friends.”

Derpy’s eyebrow raised.

“But there’s nopony on the moon.”

Trixie shook her head.

“Exactly. She made friends. She may have been trapped, but She was still in the moon, Her sovereign territory. Using the power it gave Her, She shaped creatures of raw magic and gave them a semblance of life. These moonwraiths, silent, subservient, and tainted by Nightmare Moon, were all the company She had for over five hundred years.”

There was a somber silence as they contemplated the horrors of Luna’s banishment. The more they learned, the more it seemed that the Elements were not the all-powerful bringers of light they seemed. Even when wielded by Celestia, considered the most powerful magical entity in the world, they had been unable to separate Nightmare Moon from Luna, forcing Her to live out Her terrible sentence. Even now the Princess was a prisoner in Her own body, surrounded by soulless foes that She had created.

Lyra slapped Bon-Bon on the back.

“Cheer up, everypony. All I hear is we just got even more reason to do this right! Let’s go kick Nightmare Moon’s tail and bring our Princess back!”

Lyra’s enthusiasm was infectious and the mood began to lift. Bon-Bon smiled and returned the hoofbump her partner proffered.

“If the Elements can make Trixie our friend, what chance does Nightmare Moon have?”

Trixie flounced back to her chair, mock-offended.

“Ha and ha. How very droll.”

As they laughed and returned to their stations, Derpy felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Redheart, who was tapping a viewscreen with her other hoof.

“What is it?”

Redheart pointed more vigourously, urging the Commander to look closer. Derpy peered at the screen, eyes narrowed. Rolling her eyes, Redheart tapped a few keys and brought the image to the main screen.

“Oh.”

A silver cloud was rising from the city in the distance, sparkling in the vista of space like minnows in a black sea. Vinyl scrambled closer to investigate, an effort that was not helped by Trixie trying to occupy exactly the same space as she attempted to do the same.

“What is that?Is Nightmare Moon doing some kind of magic?”

The cloud swirled in the air above the city for a few moments, then with alarming speed began to streak towards them, spreading into a wide V. Bon-Bon spoke urgently as the situation became apparent.

“I think we just got noticed.”

Derpy began barking orders as the mass of fighters, horizontal silver crescents with a red light sliding back and forth across their strangely helmet-like cockpits, became clearer onscreen.

“Trixie, Bon-Bon, evasive manuevers! Lyra, Octavia, get on the guns. Vinyl, prepare for combat repairs. Redheart, get your supplies ready. I don’t want anypony taking any permanent damage.”

As Trixie slipped into her chair, Bon-Bon looked back at the Commander quizzically.

“What are you going to do, Commander?”

Derpy smiled her goofy smile.

“I’m going to give us a little boost.”

And she disappeared from the room, heading into the bowels of the rocket.

Lyra and Octavia had meanwhile made their way to two alcoves halfway up the walls of the bridge, heavy doors slamming closed behind them. The chairs they now sat in hummed upwards, coming to rest within two gun turrets on either side of their spacecraft. Craning her neck to see through the clear surface of her gunner’s compartment, Lyra flicked her communicator on.

“Just the two of us? That cloud of fighters is pretty big. Can’t this thing throw out any more firepower?”

Octavia’s quiet voice emerged from the speaker.

“Like this?”

The sound of keys tapping came over the airwaves and suddenly Lyra saw turrets spring up across the entire length of the rocket, hidden panels sliding aside to let the plasma cannons emerge. Within moments, it bristled with enough firepower to shame even the mightiest Lunatron, each gun powered by a shining blue orb at its centre. Lyra placed her hooves on the controls of her own turret and grinned.

“Yeah, that works.”

As the fighters came into range, their formation disintegrated. Breaking off in all directions, the wave of enemies began to attack seemingly at random. The first shots impacted with the rocket moments later, but the armour held and was left with only small dents. As one, the turrets returned fire, hurling hundreds of blue bolts at the swooping enemy craft. Every time a plasma shot so much as clipped a fighter it exploded instantly, as if they were held together with little more than imagination. Purple wisps edged the balls of flame as the wraiths within were consumed by the explosion.

At the pilots’ station, Trixie and Bon-Bon were wrestling with the controls, trying to somehow both maintain their course and engage in a dogfight while piloting a vehicle that, despite the three scientists’ best efforts, could be best described as cumbersome. Though they were able to evade some of the fighters’ attack runs by jinking as hard as the massive craft could, the fact was that they were just too big, and every change in trajectory meant more time in the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree hail of fire. The space surrounding them was alight with colours, a fireworks display of lethal energy, and it was impossible to avoid the hundreds of bolts flying at them. Bon-Bon yanked at the heavy controls while Trixie furiously hammered at the console, pressing buttons and tapping keys seemingly at random.

“Trixie, what are you doing?!”

“I’m gong to detach us from the main body of the rocket!”

Bon-Bon looked at the viewscreen, still blanketed in shining silver as the fighters swarmed.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?!”

Trixie flinched, the console sparking as something no doubt important was damaged by the constant incoming fire, then resumed her attack on the controls.

“Can you think of anything better? It’ll make us more maneuverable and the armour’s just as strong!”

Bon-Bon gave up. No one knew the ship better than the one who had built it. She just hoped Trixie had thought this through.

Vinyl was galloping back and forth in the corridor outside the bridge, trying to simultaneously effect repairs on multiple systems. Rerouting power here, severing overloading fuses there, the genius mechanic was almost a blur as she worked faster and harder than she had ever worked. Using her magic to its fullest, she sweated with the concentration of performing upwards of three tasks at once, tools flying about the place like her own swarm of fighters.

There was a deep rumble and the lights failed briefly, plunging the ponies into darkness for one terrifying moment. Vinyl gritted her teeth. The enemy were starting to penetrate the rocket’s armour, the sheer concentration of fire making up for what the fighters lacked in raw power. She ran to the bridge door and shouted in.

“I hope someone has a plan because I can’t keep us together much longer!”

Trixie replied, not looking up from her console.

“I’m almost there! Just a few moments unti-”

She was interrupted by Derpy bursting into the room, bowling into Vinyl and sending her rolling. The Commander dove for her chair and strapped herself in, desperately motioning for Vinyl to do the same.

“Quick! Everyone buckle up!”

Vinyl picked herself up unsteadily and stumbled towards her chair in a daze, magically bringing the clasps together as she shook her head to clear the effects of her tumble.

“Wassa problem? Wha’ you do?”

Derpy grinned widely, looking pleased with herself.

“I hooked up Bubbles’ generator to the engines to give us more power!”

Vinyl immediately broke free of her stupor and Trixie fumbled at the controls in surprise, almost slamming her face into the console. They cried in unison,

“You did wha-”

At that moment, there was a deafening boom and they were slammed back into their chairs as the rocket leapt forward. The room shook violently and everypony found themselves completely unable to act, pinned by the sudden incredible acceleration. The external cameras showed the engines’ flames become so hot as to leave the visible spectrum. The cabin rocked as the rocket tore into the cloud of fighters, smashing through those that couldn’t fly out of the way fast enough and destroying them instantly.. Before they could react, the speeding craft had broken free of their encirclement.

Inside, the ponies were still pinned to their chairs. Vinyl managed to speak over the roar of the supercharged engines, barely understandable as the vibrations rocked them.

“W-w-wha-a-a-at e-e-e-xa-a-a-ctl-y-y-y m-m-ma-a-ade y-y-y-ou-ou-ou thi-i-ink thi-i-is wa-a-as a-a-a g-g-go-o-od i-i-ide-e-e-a-a-a?!”

Derpy’s voice was equally distorted but did nothing to hide her embarrassment.

“I-I-I di-i-idn’t thi-i-ink i-i-it wou-ou-ould be-e-e thi-i-is s-s-stro-o-ong-g-g!”

The comms crackled into life and Lyra’s voice juddered out.

“U-u-uh, gu-u-uys-s-s? Th-th-tha-a-at to-o-ow-w-wer’s g-g-ge-e-etti-i-ing clo-lo-lose-e-er!”

The main screen, image tearing as the cameras were slowly ripped from their housing, confirmed this. Their trajectory was carrying them towards the tower fast. Very fast. The rocket shuddered even more as they crashed through the atmosphere and began to descend rapidly, heading straight for the black crescent. Gun emplacements scattered across the city fired into the sky to destroy the incoming craft, but to no avail.

Bon-Bon had managed to hook her forelegs around the controls, hauling at them in an attempt to steer them towards a wide hanger visible a little over halfway up the tower. Trixie reached with all her strength to the console, her hoof hovering over the final button in the shuttle release sequence she had been working through before Derpy’s jury-rigged supercharger had fired. Their only hope now was to detach the command module and pull out of the dive before the rocket impacted. The tower filled the screen now, and everypony closed their eyes, bracing themselves for the incoming crash. With one last effort, Trixie brought her hoof down.

The rocket smashed into the tower, piercing the hangar directly. Though huge, the bay doors’ height did not match the rocket’s diameter, and with a keening screech that carried even in the thin moon air it slowly came to a halt. The tower shook to its foundations as it struggled against the massive impact. After what seemed like an eternity, it was over. Smoke poured from the crash site, giving the strangest impression that the tower was smoking a giant metal cigar. In the aftermath of the titanic collision, there was silence.

Moments later, it was broken by the resounding clang of the command module coming loose and crashing to the floor of the hangar.

Scene 11

Silver-armoured moonwraiths crowded around the wreckafnasdjknfkdsanlfs~^%&(*^W

--------------------

We are sorry, it appears that parasprites have found their way into our projector! Our exterminator has been contacted and his instruments prepared.

Please remain in your seats, attendants will be along shortly to distribute complimentary cider!

Comments

[rychu_supadude]

In the future, this story shall be the medium against which all would-be forms of "awesome" entertainment shall be judged. So sayeth Commander Derpy!

[RTStephens]

When you said that Luna's forces were bigger than we realized, you weren't kidding.

Now you've got another Hasbro franchise sneaking in! When will the madness stop?!

It makes me wonder what Celestia thinks of all this. It can't be easy to see a brand new group of Elements after having such a close relation with the previous set.

It also makes me wonder if these new elements are reincarnations of the ponies in the show, seeing as they all share the same mannerisms (well, Trixie at least, since she's one of the few that has a personality from canon).

Keep it up! The Epic is Rising!

[A sleepy brony]

Triximus Prime made me lol.
Those damn parasprites-interrupting the awesomeness!

[Arcainum]

269187 If I'm honest it's only called that because I couldn't think of a way to make "Trixie" fit into "Getter Robo".

[Arcainum]

271344 The DVD has a special feature where the Elements and Luna MST3K themselves.

[LooneyToon1990]

Trixie is best Green Ranger!

[Borg]

Oh no! Toasters!

[Puzzle Reader]

Someone totally needs to animate this series. Heck, even POPSICLE-STICK PUPPETS would work.

[Commander Rainstorm]

To good! Just too good! It really is like a movie! Looking forward to more reading!

[PresentPerfect]

what a way to end a chapter XD