//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 "surviving Canterlot" // Story: Nightmares Coming to Life // by Spore Harvest //------------------------------// When our six heroes finally finished their little tea party, they went outside to test what kind of powers Bon Bon's relic has. After some talking and a little bit of an argument between them, which was surprising for them to hear and see, but after they both cooled off and apologised they tried to decide on a name for the relic. Name after name was suggested but each one was rejected. When they saw that they were not going anywhere fast Bon Bon said. "Okay then if you don't like any of my suggestions, then why don't you show me what you can do so that we can decide on a name then. Or you can just tell me what you want to be named." The element then blinked its candy shaped gem and Bon Bon sighed in relief before she continued. "Thank you. So what can you do?" The element then released a bright flash, which blinded everybody present. When it passed Bon Bon was standing there fully enclosed in a set of black armour with some silver highlights around the eyes and faceplate. Lyra then stepped up to her. "Wow, Bon Bon you look like one of those Canterlot knights... But allot more... intimidating." "Really. Could I perhaps get a mirror to check myself out." Bon Bon asked, at which point she heard a snap accompanied by a full-length mirror appearing in front of her, which is the point when she saw herself in her full intimidating glory. "Wow, this is freaking awesome. And I think I just figured out the perfect name for you." The gem then blinked twice and Bon Bon continued. "Yeah, how does Gadget sound?" She suggested, after which everything was quiet for a bit and then it blinked. After that Bon Bon jumped into the air, did a backflip and then finished everything off by accidentally bucking a three-meter rock clear out of the courtyard. "Finally I got a name for you!" She said excitedly, forgetting her friends for a moment. When she remembered them, she turned to everyone present and noticed that they were all slack-jawed. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that?" "Um, you do realise that you just bucked a three-meter large rock straight over that wall and I still didn't hear it land?" The Doctor said before they all heard a crash from deep within the forest. "I think the boulder just landed." Said Discord disappearing and after a second returning. "Let me rephrase that I think the pile of rubble just landed." "So you also amplify my earth pony strength. Cool." After that, the armour disappeared. "Okay then now that we have that finished, we have to go to Canterlot and finish this little fetch quest and return balance to Equestria." "Well alrighty, if you guys are all ready then, I am going to teleport you to the bottom of Canterlot mountain. With that, I wish you good luck." Were the last thing that Discord said before they were all teleported in a bright flash. ***Canterlot castle throne room*** "Okay girls let's bring this show to a big finale. Does everyone know their own part of the plan?" All off Twilights friends then nodded and right after Discord popped in. "Hello, there girls. I am here to inform you that the substitute elements are already at the bottom of Canterlot mountain and are currently making their way inside of the city." Twilight then simply smiled and said. "Excellent now refresh our disguises and then we can start this little boss rush." After that Discord snapped his fingers and sure enough every pony in the room and Spike turned into their nightmare modes and were teleported to their respective places where they are going to engage the substitute elements except for Twilight and Spike who simply walked to their respective thrones. When they both sat down Twilight levitated out the last relic and gave it to Discord then she said. "Discord make sure that they get this when they defeat all of my friends after that you can go to the island and enjoy yourself." "Your wish is my command, my queen." After that Twilight tossed the element to him, he caught it and then teleported away. After that Spike turned to her and asked. "So should I go and guard the gate or wait here until they arrive for the finale?" "Eh I think it would be better if you stay here and help us, but since that is going to take some time why don't you go and prepare some tea." "Okay, I'll have it prepared in ten minutes." After that, he jumped out of his throne and ran to the kitchen to prepare the aforementioned beverage while Twilight tried to entertain herself by floating a couple of things around her. Sadly she quickly got bored and sighed. "Oh, I hope that they get here quick. Well, I guess I could watch my friends fighting them but how to do it?" She asked while tapping her chin. After a minute she snapped her hoof. "Oh yeah, a viewing mirror might work. Eh, only one way to find out." Then she started on the spell and sure enough when she finished a full-length mirror was in front of her showing the Doctor and her friends climbing up the mountain. "Now let's see how they fare against their first challenge." ***Canterlot mountainside*** When our six heroes managed to blink the spots from their eyes they noticed that they were at the bottom of the mountain, but that wasn't the only thing that they saw. There on a ledge Applejack was waiting for them. "Why howdy there thieves. You finally decided to show yourselves." After that, the Doctor stepped forward and said. "As a matter of fact yes we did, so I politely ask that you surrender and let us pass or we will force you to move." Then all of his friends powered up their elements and went into their combat stances. "So now would you kindly surrender." He finished off with a smirk. "Oh, so we have ourselves some heroes over here. Well, I have heroes of my own. Thugs attack!" With that, she stomped on the ground and six earth pony guards appeared wearing the armour of her division. After they were all present and accounted for they attacked the group making sure to separate the group as soon as possible as to make it easier for them to pick them off. Surprisingly Derpy was actually the first one to dispose of her opponent. How, you may ask, did the ditzy mare manage to accomplish that you may or may not be asking yourself? Well you see, the guard actually couldn't even land a hit on her because the mare accidentally teleported a nearby rock right on top of his head knocking him out. After that, she approached the guard and placed a muffin in front of him with a note that said that she was sorry for knocking him out. Then she turned towards Applejack and did the thing that all Portal fans did at some point. She opened a portal below and above her causing her to fall into an infinite loop. After that, we turn to Octavia and see that she is having some trouble with her opponent. He had incredible speed which caused him to leave after images, that confused her way too much. It confused her so much that she decided to consult Radiance. "Radiance do you have any useful ideas on how to defeat this guy. He is really starting to annoy me since I can't grab him with our telekinesis." Then the guard decided to try and strike at her, but when he came within striking distance, Octavia floated up in the air causing the guy to faceplant into the dirt. His meeting with the ground was short lived since he started to run once more, leaving after images once more. After all, that Radiance blinked four times. "But won't that kill him?" Then the necklace blinks two more times. "Oh, okay then." When she finished talking to her necklace, she noticed that the guard was just sitting there, tapping his hoof, waiting. "Are you done talking to yourself now. I'm getting bored here." After that, he stood back up. "Now, let's continue this fight because every minute I waste here, rips of twenty bits from my paycheck." At first, Octavia looked at him for awhile and after a minute to consider it she said. "Sure. Let's continue." Then he started running again leaving after images. Putting Radiances plan into action Octavia levitated herself back to the ground and waited for the guard to attack her again and sure enough, he did but this time she was prepared and put the plan into action. She covered him with a boulder which she hollowed up using telekinesis. The plan worked and after a minute of trying to escape the guard said. "Okay then, I'm tired now and am going to sleep goodnight." And then she heard snoring coming from the inside. Continuing to our next hero we have Vinyl who is using her constructs to play with her guard who is now laying on the ground, covering his head, begging her to stop. Bon Bon is currently pounding her guard into the ground, Lyra is juggling her guard with a couple of rocks. Doc had the worst time since his guard seemed to be immune to every single spell that he could throw at him. After his next attempt, he decided to ask. "Why does every single spell that I use fizzle up upon contact?" The guard then punched his chest plate while telling him. "The armour was enchanted by Twilight Sparkle making it immune to any spells up to level seven. Anything above that, are spells that are performed by unicorns whose special talent is magic or are alicorns." After that, the Doctor blasted him, knocking out the soldier and embedding him in the wall. Finishing his spell he was completely out of breath. When he caught it he said. "Thank you for telling me. Now let's see what Applejack is..." He turned his head towards where Applejack was standing and saw her knocked out and tied up with all of his friends standing around her. "...standing. How did you manage to defeat her?" "Well, Derpy trapped her in a portal loop, after that Lyra went up to her and punched her which knocked her out. After that, Octavia and I tied her up." Vinyl finished of her recap with a big grin. When the Doctor processed everything he shook his head and asked. "So what do we do with her now?" "I guess we can leave her here. She isn't going anywhere." Said Octavia. With Applejacks fate decided they started to climb the mountain, towards their next destination. ***Canterlot front gate*** After about five minutes of climbing, they finally reached the top where Pinkie was waiting for them. "Hey there friends. How are you all holding up?" She asked with her trademark smile plastered on her face. "Oh, we are doing just dandy Pinky. But can I ask? Why are you her?" The Doctor asked stepping in front of his friends. "Oh, that's easy. I'm here to stop you from getting the final relic, which is not located in the library under the r sect..." Pinkie was then cut off by another very familiar, tomboyish voice. "Pinkie please stop talking before you reveal something else that Twilight told you explicitly to not tell anyone," Rainbow said while landing next to Pinkie. "Honestly it's like you can't keep a secret or something." "Uh... I'm sorry if we are interrupting, but could you two just let us through without having to fight you two." Derpy asked giving both of them the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. The effect on Pinkie was almost immediate if her clenching her heart and falling over unconscious had anything to say about it. But Rainbow was a totally different story. "Sorry, Derpy that isn't going to work on me and you know it." Derpy then amped up her act by quivering her lower lip. "Derpy please stop. It's getting embarrassing." Derpy then dropped her pout. "Oh well, I guess it can't work on everypony but it did keep you distracted." Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Distracted? Distracted from what?" Derpy simply pointed upwards. Rainbow then looked up and saw a collection of very heavy looking objects right above her. The last thing that she managed to say was. "Oh, pony feathers." Before she got squashed by the giant heap of trash. "Heh, excellent acting there Derps. You sure had her fooled." Vinyl said while draping one hoof around her neck. "Yes for once I agree with Vinyl on this. That was amazing. But how did you know I was going to drop a pile of trash on top of her." Octavia asked, curiosity filling her voice. "I didn't I just improvised. And I knew that if she did attack me that you would all back me up. So yeah." She said finishing it with a smile. "While I'm glad that it worked out, that was incredibly dangerous," Doc said in a scolding tone which quickly changed to caring. "Next time please just run it by us before you act. Okay?" Derpy then nodded. "Good. Now that's two more down that leaves us with three elements a dragon and possibly draconeques that we still have to defeat. Eather that or find the relic." "Yeah and I really hope we can accomplish the lather rather than the former," Lyra said shaking at the thought of facing Fluttershy again. "Yeah, I hope so two. Now be sure to stick to the shadows we are sneaking into the castle library." The Doctor said, which was followed by his friends nodding, determination filling their faces. *** Several hours of sneaking later*** "Seriously how many guards could they possibly have. This is complete overkill." Said Bon Bon. "I mean it's really just a waste of resources." They were now all located inside the castle and were slowly making their way to the library. Trying to avoid the guards. "And you would know that because...?" Asked Lyra while raising an eyebrow. Bon Bon started to sweat bullets. "Um, I read it in a book once." She offered, hoping that will satisfy Lyras curiosity. "Oh. Okay then." She then turned to The Doctor while BonBon let out a sigh of relief. "So Doc how do we proceed?" "The library should be located right behind those doors, but as you can see we have a big problem." He said. Pointing to the big black dragon who was guarding the door. "We need to find a way to get past Spike." "How about we try charging him and then quickly get inside." Offered Vinyl. "No, he would see us coming and alert the guards." "What if I levitate him away." Octavia tried. The Doctor again shot the idea down. After some time spent in silence, Derpy got an idea. "How about I just teleport him to the Crystal empire?" The Doctor gave it some thought and then he tried to speak before he got interrupted by Spike snoring. After that, they turned to him and noticed that his eyes were actually closed with the eyelids painted white. "I think that won't be necessary Derpy. Let's just sneak by him and get the final relic. Then we can finally return to our normal lives in Ponywille." With that, they all snuck past Spike and closed the door. ***Meanwhile on the random island*** The princesses and Shining were watching our six heroes sneaking their way through the castle. They were all watching very intently until they saw Spike sleeping at which point Shining just shut of the magical mirror. "I can't believe what Spike just did I was hoping to see a good fight." He said looking both frustrated and sad. "Oh Shiny I know how you feel, but we also know that they wouldn't have engaged him because they would have alerted all the guards and the rest of the elements to their presence." Shining thought about it for a second before he nodded. "I guess you're right honey. But I really want to see more action." "I can arrange that," Luna said. Shining looked up. "How?" "Just be patient Shining. Turn the mirror back on and I'll set it up." Luna finished with a mischievous smile. Shining did as he was asked and then they all continued to watch what the Doc and company were doing. But not before Celestia leaned towards her sister and whispered. "Make sure that they at least get the chance to win." "Of course sister. Otherwise, this would not be fun." Luna whispered back before she started crafting her spell. ***Canterlot castle library*** The inside of the Canterloot library was an enormous place filled to the top with tablets, scrolls, various memory orbs and of course lots and lots of books. Our six friends were watching in complete shock at the humongous space all yaws hitting the floor except for the Doctor who instead walked to a corridor with two shelves both labelled R. "Okay guys let's start searching and if you find anything completely out of place then please bring it to me, okay." After he said that everypony snapped out of their funks and quickly followed him into that corridor. But little did they know that a certain dragon entered the library as well and started to search for them as well. *** Several hours later and they just managed to finish the bottom floor of shelves in the library and the Doctor was getting a little bit jittery. "Oh, where could it be. We searched the entire r section and still nothing. Oh if we can't find the last relic then we can never return things back to normal and if that's the case then we will have to be on the run forever or at least until we are..." And after that, the others left him be for a bit not wanting to listen to his ramblings anymore. "Derpy did you snatch the map? He seemed to have completely forgotten about it." Vinyl asked derpy while massaging one of her temples. "Yep. Got it right here." Derpy said while holding the aforementioned item. "But why aren't we just telling the Doctor about it?" Vinyl just pointed at the stallion who was currently in a fetal position rocking back and forth while muttering to himself. "Oh. Yeah, I can see why now." She said, handing the map to Vinyl. "Okay then. Let's see." Vinyl said while turning the map until it shimmered for a second. "Ah, there we go. Let's get the relic and then let's snap doc out of his little episode." With that, they all walked to where the map was shoving. When they got to the place they found a simple book of which the title was "Red Robin and his Adventures." Vinyl stepped closer to the book and reached for it before she remembered that the relics shock the pony if they are not the one meant to use it. After she remembered that she turned to Octavia. "Any ideas on how to bring the book back to Doc since we can't touch it?" "Hmm, what if we tried to sort of clamp it with another book. Would that work?" Octavia suggested to which Vinyl shook her head. "No that won't work. It's too thick." Lyra then suggested grabbing it with her magic, but as soon as she touched it with her hand Blinky released a high-pitched beep which caused her to drop it immediately. After that, they all put their hands together and started coming up with ideas. Well almost all of them. Derpy instead decided to just grab the book and started to carry it even though all her hair was standing on end and lightning coursing through her system. "Okay, then we use some paper and make a sort of glove and then we..." Octavia started to say, but when she turned around she immediately stopped and stared at Derpy. "Or we could let derpy take it to the doctor since she seems to be immune to the lightning." Vinyl said with a big grin on her face. Sadly that grin quickly faded when they heard a big crash coming from the direction where they left the Doctor. They didn't even speak before they ran back to him and what they saw made them prepare for battle. The Doctor was battling Spike who was breathing fire at him like crazy. Thankfully he was able to deflect all the fire and make sure to prevent it from spreading to the books. When Spike saw that fire wasn't working he changed his stance and started attacking him with malle attacks. Sadly one of them hit him and sent him flying towards Octavia who quickly caught him in her magick and laid him on the ground. "Okay guys, Derpy you stay back and help Doc." Derpy nodded and did as she was told. "Lyra, Bon Bon. You two go at him head on and try to distract him while Octavia and I go behind him and try to knock him out. Did you get all that?" They all nodded and commenced their attack. Bon Bon and Lyra both changed into their magical forms and charged at Spike. The first one to reach him was Lyra who immediately delivered a giant haymaker to his face. Which was closely followed by his legs falling from underneath him thanks to Bon Bon, who was wearing her armour. Spike quickly got back up and prepared to release his dragonfire. Right when he was about to release it, he was stopped by Lyra who grabbed his snout with her hand and kept it closed. With the fire having no way to go out the intended way it instead left through a much more painful way propelling the Dragon straight into a bookshelf. When that opportunity presented itself Vinyl and Octavia quickly activated their magic. Octavia picked him up and Vinyl quickly created a microphone with a long cable and wrapped it around him to hopefully keep him still. Sadly it didn't hold very long because he shredded through it and Octavia's magic almost immediately. After he jumped right back into the fray with his hands now encased in hos neon green fire and looking very angry. While they continued to act Derpy instead tried to wake up the Doctor. "Okay, it's time to wake up." She said shaking him slightly but that didn't garner any reaction. After that, she tried a bit more forcefully with a slap to the cheek. "Come on Doc don't you die on me. Please wake up." After that, she stopped everything and started to think. And when she saw the relic she got an idea. She picked up the book and lightning once again coursed through her. Now with her electrified hoof, she touched the Doctor who on contact immediately woke up. "WHA?! WHO?! WHERE?!" He said in a panicky voice, but when he saw Derpy he calmed down. "What happened? where is Spike?" Derpy pointed behind the Doctor. "He is currently occupied by our friends who are kicking his butt." She said before hoofing him the book. "But before we go and help them you should really put the relic on." The Doctor then took the book which on contact once again flashed and morphed into the Doctors relic. Once the light stopped the Doctor felt around his neck and was confused. "Uhm Derpy could you perchance tell me what happened to the book." "Yeah, it turned into a funny looking hat," Derpy said after which Doc checked his head and sure enough there was a hat on his head. He took it off to see what it was. It turned out that the funny looking hat was actually a fez. It was coloured red with a black tassel poking out and on the front of it, it had a yellow gem which matched his cutie mark. "Okay then didn't expect for that to happen." The gem blinked. "Well I was expecting another necklace, but this is perfect none the less... So what can you do?" The gem blinked a couple of times after which the doctor grinned and put the fez back on his head. "Okay, then Deus let's kick some dragon tail." After which he activated their power. Time stopped around Doc, but he left him with the ability to still move. This caused him to smile once more. "This is so awesome. But we need to take care of him before he does any more damage to the library." He said looking at Spike. He quickly scanned the immediate area to see what he had at his disposal. He walked up to spike and punched him in the face at which point he restarted time for a split second. After that, he saw that he was heading for a wall which he promptly let impact before continuing. Then he grabbed Derpy and put her so that she was facing him before restarting time. "Derpy I need you to place a portal over Spike and behind yourself, I have an idea on how to stop him." After Derpy gathered her thoughts and processed what he has just done and said. She nodded and did as she was told. Then the Doctor again stopped time and continued his little plan. Overtop the portal that was behind Derpy the doctor placed a large collection of books chairs tables beanbags and whatever else he was able to gather and place on top of it until he had a giant mountain full of furniture. Once finished he again started time. "Hey, Spike look up." The Doc said after which the dragon looked up to see a huge pile of approaching his face. He didn't even have enough time to blink before he got squashed and knocked out. After the dust settled, the Doctor asked. "Is everypony alright?" To this, he got some yeahs and a couple of grunts. "I'll take that as a yes." ***On the random island*** "Ah, no fair! He cheated we demand a rematch!" Luna screamed at the mirror as if she could actually talk to the ponies on the other side. It actually came to the point where she was literally smashing her muzzle into it with a deranged look in her eye. Thankfully before she could smash it she got stopped by Celestia. "Now, now Luna that is not how you should act when faced with defeat. Now please calm down because your scarring Shining and Cadence." She said in a calm voice. Luna then looked towards the couple to see them trembling in the corner. After that, she climbed down from the mirror and hung her head in shame. "I am sorry for my outburst it was not warranted. I hope you can forgive me." "No problem l Luna. Apology excepted just please don't do it again." Shining said after a moment of silence. Cadence only nodded and offered a small smile. Luna then perked up slightly. "Thank you." Okay, then everypony I think it is time for us to take our positions. It's time to go back to work." Celestia said standing up and teleporting all of the stuff they had used on the island to a storage room in the castle. The others sighed but nodded before they also teleported to the castle. ***Canterlot castle*** "I hope you are right about this Deus because if you're not them Equestria is doomed forever." The Doctor said with a hint of worry present in his voice. They had talked about what they are going to do to purge the elements and the plan was nothing more than a ticking bomb. It mostly involved capturing Twilight and hoping that by purging her will affect the other elements. The plan was pretty far fetched. But really the only other option was to get them one by one and they didn't have enough time for that. Deus then blinked a couple of times reassuring him that it will work out. "Okay then. Let's go and take back Equestria!" He said before they all ran towards the throne room. Once they arrived they kicked open the door and were met with the sight of all the elements standing together along with Discord and Spike. "Well, well, well. Looks like you finally got all of your precious little relics. What do you plan to do with them, smack us into submission?" Twilight said an evil grin appearing on her face. "Not really Twilight," Doc said disappearing and reappearing behind her holding a rope that has her tied up. "We just need to purge you and then we can easily deal with the rest." After that, all of the elements and Spike jumped at him trying to pin him down. But sadly they only hit nothing as they crashed to the ground. Discord took that chance to grab Fluttershy hair and wrap it around the other elements. The doctor was now at the bottom of the stairs to the throne, Twilight struggling in the middle of all of the relic bearers. "Let's end this." The Doctor said closing his eyes and concentrating. His friends soon followed which then caused all of the gems to glow. Twilight continued to struggle before she realized that the rope was designed with her in mind. Then she noticed the light and got scared. "No please don't do this. I can give you all anything you want! Fame, power, riches, anything just please don't destroy me!" She pleaded bit was ignored. Fluttershy tried to untangle hair but found the task impossible. "Discord get Twilight out of there this instant and untie me!" She shrieked. "No can do Flutters. Just stay back and enjoy the show." And what a show it was the lights brightened and brightened until it looked like a miniature sun was shining in the throne room. After that there was a loud shriek and an explosion of rainbow colours streaking across Equestria, undoing everything that the elements had done. When the light show was finished there were several unconscious ponies a dragon who was much in the same state and Discord who was covered in smoke from head to toe watching in complete shock. "Well, I didn't expect that." He said before he coughed up some smoke and then fell back, joining his friends in la la land.