//------------------------------// // Fight for Friendship // Story: Mission to the Pony Planet // by ersmiller //------------------------------// “Where’d she go?!” gasped Twily. “That’s not what happened at the Fall Formal!” Flash pointed out. “She exploded like the Memory Stone?!” cried Wallflower. “I knew it!” Aria shouted. “Why’d you make me join? We killed her!” BAM A loud impact was heard outside. They all gasped and ran for the doors. At least those who knew how to run in their current bodies ran. Three ponies were left behind. Flash, Wallflower, and Twily glanced at each other and struggled to get their hooves walking. Out in the hallway, the other thirteen rushed to the nearest windows and looked out. In the ground not far from the palace was a shallow trench leading up to what appeared to be a crater. It was hard to tell with all the smoke and steam. “We blew her sideways?” suggested Peachie. They peered closer as the smoke cleared, revealing Sunset, still in her nightmare alicorn form. “It didn’t work?!” Primo yelled. “The rainbows always work!” In the crater, Sunset stood and teleported herself out to stand beside it on the grass that began fuming at the touch of her hooves. She spread her wings and flapped, getting some altitude and began flying forward. It wasn’t five yards before she planted her face into the dirt. Twi’s eyes widened. “It didn’t work because she teleported away before the rainbow hit her!” “Then what’s the crater all about?” asked Ponyjack. “She hasn’t learned how to fly.” "The instinct hasn't kicked in yet," Butterfly noted. "She's a unicorn by birth," said Twi, "even with all that magic she might not have a flying instinct." “Why that little …“ Aria growled. “After all that she’s just running away?! I did friendship magic for her and she dodged!? Soon as I get my hooves on her I’ll tear her a new one!” She banged on the window. “Get back here, you coward and take my friendship like a—“ A wheeze cut her off and she turned back, bounding for the bathtub. The others watched her go, her powerful tail easily propelling her forward and leaping over the newest ponies still in the portal room. Finally, she landed in the tub with a splash. A few glubs of aquatic breathing later, she popped her head up and shouted, “This sucks!” Back outside, Sunset had cleaned herself off and was inspecting her wings more closely, giving them slow flaps and watching how they moved. Rad saw this and opened her window. “We got to stop her!” “Plan B it is!” Renae nodded resolutely. “We’re getting our friend back one way or another!” “That’s right!” Jackie added. “We’ll hogtie her if we have to!” Butterfly joined Rad on the windowsill. “Whatever it takes to save her!” “We need a plan!” Twi insisted. “I have one!” Rad answered. “Primo, you’re with me! The rest of you, keep her grounded!” The Rainbows took off, flying high. Butterfly jumped out the window and swooped low, Posey following after her. Shindy jumped onto Twi’s back. “Let’s go, Twi-Twi! Light that horn and zap us down there!” Peachie, Jackie, Ponyjack, Renae, Share, and Claws, all huddled around Twi who looked out and saw the Fluttershies already orbiting Sunset with determined expressions. “This is not a complete plan!” Twi groaned, but teleported them out of the palace anyway. “What!? Hey! What about us?” complained Flash, just making it into the hallway. “What happened? Where’d they go?” added Wallflower. “Twi can teleport.” answered Twily. “And they left us behind!” grumbled Aria from the bathtub. “I suppose there’s not a lot we could do,” sighed Wallflower, continuing across toward the windows. “We can barely even walk,” Twily agreed. “Flash, can you fly?” “Fly?” he returned. “Why would I be able to fly?” Wallflower and Twily glanced at each other, then back to Flash. “Have you even looked at yourself yet?” Twily asked. “Haven’t really had a—“ Flash stopped, looking back at his sides. “—I have wings?!” “That would be a no!” Aria shouted at them. “How do I move them?” “That would be a big no!” Twily reached forward and touched one of Flash’s wings and they snapped open, giving her a face full of feathers. “Phfff!” “Sorry!” Wallflower reached the windows and jumped her forelegs up to grab the sill of the open one, pulling herself up to get a closer look. “Whoa,” she gasped. Their wingless friends had surrounded Sunset to keep her from running, those with wings hovered above her to keep her from taking to the air, and the Rarities kept pelting Sunset’s horn with small rocks any time it lit up. The Rainbows, meanwhile, were high in the sky pushing clouds around. Flash, having managed to get his wings folded, turned at the gasp and followed her to the open window. Twily followed beside him. Aria just blew bubbles in frustration when they walked out of sight. “They’re all swarming her,” Flash observed. “As much as the magic’s affecting her, Sunset’s still holding back,” Twily added. “She doesn’t want to hurt her friends,” Wallflower noted. While they watched, a gentle breeze blew in through their window and Flash took a breath, opening his wings. “Wow …. Did, did you two feel that?” Twily and Wallflower glanced at each other with puzzled expressions. “Feel what?” Twily asked. “The air is sparkling,” Flash breathed, jumping up to stand on the windowsill. “Flash! What are you doing?!” Twily yelled. “Helping Sunset stay Sunset,” he answered calmly before launching himself out of the window. Wallflower and Twily tried to grab him but he slipped through their hooves He fell like a rock. Several stories down, his wings finally seemed to catch the air and his fall turned into a curved dive that eventually leveled out. There was a lot of wobbling, and multiple near hits as he passed trees and other obstacles, but he managed to cover the distance and joined the other winged ponies providing air cover over Sunset. Twily and Wallflower stared, stunned at the sudden ability until loud scraping sounds behind them brought their attention back to the portal room. Just in time to see the bathtub skid into view. Aria hopped behind it, planted her fore hooves into the crystal floor and “kicked” with her tail. The resulting force ejected the tub from the portal room and into the hallway. Wheezing, Aria jumped into the water. “I am not sitting this out!” she declared after a moment to breathe. Twily looked at the tub, then back at the commotion outside. Specifically the lit horns any time magic was in use. She concentrated on the tub, remembering the feel of her telekinesis back home, and focused that feeling toward her head. She gave her horn a few taps when it refused to light and focused harder. Finally, her horn sparked, flaring for a moment before beginning to hum and pulsate. After a few shorts, the bathtub lurched and lifted as the glow of Twily’s horn stabilized. “Whoa!” Aria jolted up. “Careful, Four-eyes! This is my oxygen supply here!” "Then maybe you shouldn't call me Four-eyes," Twily retorted. Carefully moving the tub down the hall, Twily and Wallflower walked after it, as fast as their hooves would cooperate. It was only a few minutes until their nemesis appeared. Stairs. The three of them stared at the stairwell. Dread rising. Twily placed the tub back on the floor with a sigh. “Hay, Four-eyes,” Aria broke the silence, “Think you can do a force-field?” “Uh, maybe?” Twily answered. “Good.” With that, Aria leaned out and grabbed first Wallflower, then Twily’s tails with her mouth, pulling them into the tub one at a time. “You’ve seen a luge, right?” *** *** *** “”… aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”” three voices yelled as a bathtub-shaped toboggan burst through the doors leading to the stairwell, skirted across the foyer, through the front doors, and outside. Finally coming to a halt, Twily dispelled her shield and one girl dropped below the water line to take a breath while the other two coughed to clear water out of their airways and climbed out of the tub to do the same. Aria recovered first and took in the battle. Not much had changed other than Sunset being more upset than before. That, and the Applejacks had a metal chain in their mouths laid over Sunset’s back to keep her and her wings down. The center of the chain was glowing red from the heat coming off her. Claws, being a dragon immune to heat, had grabbed onto Sunset’s long tail, though it didn’t seem to affect much as he was whipped all around. Having landed belly up on the steps outside the palace, Wallflower got a better look at the Rainbows. They weren’t just moving clouds, they had been making them rain … into other clouds. Wallflower rolled over, missing her hooves completely, rolling down the last of the stairs, and landing on the dirt pathway. She gasped, her whole body freezing upon contact with the ground. Her eyes went wide, pupils dilating. More focused on the fight, Twily got to her hooves and lifted the bathtub again, finding both easier than before, and headed after the others. “Let me GO!” Sunset bellowed, trying to rear back. The chain strained, the reddest links beginning to warp and stretch. “No deal till you calm down and stop being an angry-pants!” answered Peachie. “But none of you wear pants!” replied Shindy. “Seriously, didn’t see a single pair all day. Not even Fancy Pants had any! Skirts and dresses, sure, even a kilt! But no pants anywhere.” “Shindy! Focus!” Twily called, joining the fray, setting the tub nearby. “What? Oh, right!” Shindy turned back to Sunset and shook her tail. “Take this!” With a squeak, a rubber chicken bounced off Sunset’s horn and landed on her muzzle where it slowly melted. “Noooo! That was my replica Boneless Jr. MK-II I got at a Cheese Sandwich concert. He was a collector’s item!” Sunset scraped the melting rubber off her face. “Gah! That smells!” Then tried to open her wings again, jumping back in the process. The chain finally snapped. “”GANGWAY! MOVE IT!”” the Rainbows shouted. Flash, Twi, and the Fluttershies abandoned their aerial coverage, and the ground troops spread out, Renae tagging Sunset’s horn one last time to keep her from teleporting before diving behind a tree. Aria ducked into her bathtub and Twily hid behind it. Sunset looked up to see a fluffy ceiling descend on her, just before that ceiling exploded. White mist expanded all around her. Hissing, sizzling, and groaning could be heard as things cleared. Sunset lay on her side. The fire in her mane and tail had gone out, leaving limp red and yellow hair. The two strips of chain were no longer red, and plenty of water remained on her, soaking her through without evaporating away. Wallflower jumped forward, startling the others who hadn’t noticed she was there, and latched onto Sunset’s neck. “”Pony pile!”” shouted the Pinkies, following suit, jumping onto Sunset, and grabbing her forelegs. Flash and the Fluttershies grabbed onto Sunset’s free wing. The Applejacks went for one of the chains and began looping it around her hindlegs. Aria launched herself out of the bathtub. She and Twily crossed the distance and joined Wallflower. The Rarities were ready with more projectiles in their magic, aiming for Sunset’s horn. The Rainbows climbed for another drenched cloud should another water bomb become necessary. Twi crouched in front of Sunset. “Please stop fighting us.” Sunset opened her eyes, the pupils dimmed slightly from before. “Stop. Fighting. Me!” She struggled again, but all of her limbs were bound one way or another. She charged her horn only for a rock to bounce off it, disrupting her spell. With a roar, Sunset’s mane and tail steamed then ignited again. The friends holding her jolted and felt the temperature rising again. “Um,” squeaked Flash, “can we do that friendship magic while holding her down, because I think we really need to do it now.” ““Hold tight!”” announced the Rainbows with another cloud. Smaller than the last, but still bulging out. Everyone braced themselves, eyes and ears closing as tightly as they were holding on to Sunset. At the last second before impact, Twi noticed Sunset’s expression turn into a smirk. The cloud hit. When Twi, Claws, the Rarities, the Applejacks, and the Rainbows opened their eyes, they saw the rest were gone. A loud crash rang out from within the Everfree Forest and the Rarities gasped. “”Why that sneaky little—she waited till we closed our eyes and teleported!”” *** *** *** Landing with a crash, and jostling those holding on to her, Sunset grunted. Not her smoothest teleport, nor was the last, but it worked. She looked around. A thickly wooded area. The Fluttershies, the Pinkies, Wallflower, Twily, Aria, and Flash were still on her. Sunset bucked a tree behind her, shattering the bark and the chain around her hindlegs. Two legs now free, she pushed with the wing underneath her, leaned back to get into a sitting position, and flailed her forelegs. “”WEEEEEEEE~HOOOAAAAA!”” the Pinkies let out a cheer that wavered as their grip around Sunset’s remaining legs faltered. Sunset whipped her legs forward once more with all her strength and sent the Pinkies airborne. “”WEEEEEEEEEEEEE?”” “”Pinkies!”” the Fluttershies shrieked, and took off after the still rising mares. Sunset pointed a hoof at the Pinkies, then the top of Twi’s palace in the distance. They flashed the same color of her horn and disappeared. The Fluttershies gasped, turning back to Sunset and separating so she couldn’t teleport them away as well. Flash, still clamped to Sunset’s left wing, looked up. “She’s still heating up! Get more clouds and call the others!” They nodded and turned away, Posey rushing toward the palace and Butterfly heading for the sky. “Sunset, please stop!” pleaded Twily. “You’re not thinking right, Shimmer,” Aria added. “The Sunset we know would never do this,” agreed Wallflower. Whatever words Sunset’s growl might have been about to turn into were cut off when a raining cloud descended around them. The cloud pushed heavily on Sunset and Flash, causing Sunset to stumble and Flash to nearly lose his grip. Twily, Aria, and Wallflower were unaffected. While it failed to explode, it did fit around her like a ring, cooling off Sunset and extinguishing her mane and tail. They all looked up to a sheepish Butterfly. “I don’t know how to make them explode.” Sunset rolled her eyes and teleported Butterfly away. “Get. Off. Me!” Sunset then growled at her four remaining tagalongs, zapping the cloud several times with beams from her horn, evaporating it and starting small fires on the ground. She twirled, bucking violently and shaking her head to dislodge her passengers. Flash’s already loosened grip faltered and he slipped along the edge of her wing, getting caught by a sharp talon in the process. He landed beside a tree and held his foreleg close. Wallflower was next, landing in the dirt. “Stop! Sunset, please!” cried Twily before also getting ejected, landing near Flash. Something snagged Sunset’s back left hoof and pulled her down. Sunset looked back and saw a vine snaking its way around her leg. “What?” She looked around and saw Wallflower staring intensely at it, her hooves dug slightly in the ground. “Well, look who’s a quick learner.“ Sunset stood on her other three legs and turned, only for a low branch to whip out and trip her. She growled, using her magic to rip the branch off the tree and burn the vine, only for another vine to grab a different hoof. “That’s it!” Sunset yelled, lifting Wallflower into the air, severing her connection with the plantlife. Wallflower shrieked, dangling in Sunset’s grasp. Sunset glared at her. Wheezing took her attention away. “This isn’t you,” Aria gasped, still dangling off Sunset’s neck, her gills pulsating. “Let go. I’ll teleport you to water.” “No.” “You need to breathe.” “You need to … look around.” Sunset looked up from the gasping Aria. The fires from Sunset’s attacks had started spreading. Twily lay moaning on her side. Flash tended to Twily despite his bleeding leg. Wallflower hovered in Sunset’s grasp, pawing at her neck from the grip being too tight. Sunset’s breathing grew shallow and rapid. She immediately lowered Wallflower and put out the flames. “G-girls? Flash?” her voice shrank to a whisper and the pitch black sclera of her eyes softened to a gray. CRACK Sunset collapsed. Butterfly hovered over the fallen form, the ripped branch in her forelegs with a new crack in the middle. “Um,” she squeaked. “Plan C?”