//------------------------------//
// Act 5, Chapter 2 - The Battle Begins 
// Story: Hoof and Claw Versus the World 
// by Chythar 
//------------------------------//

Nightmare Moon and her sister had begun their final battle for control of the planet Earth.  I was about to fight the Mane Six, and had just knocked Twilight Sparkle out with paralyzing lightning.  So would I then be facing the Mane Five?







"TWILIGHT!"

I cleared my throat to get their attention.

"Excuse me!  No attacking the Mistress without MY permission.

"Oh, and Twilight'll be fine.  She's just knocked out."

The mares all let out sighs of relief.  Then Rainbow Dash laid into me.

"What the hay is wrong with you!"

"Oh, I don't know.  Where do I start?  And if I start, we'll be here all day.

"So, let's talk about you instead."

"Me?!"

"Yeah.  Well, all of you.  Delicate mares such as yourselves just shouldn't be here!  It's way too dangerous, and I know you CAN'T HANDLE IT."

"Buck you!  I can too!"

"Nah.  I think you and Rarity should set up a shop together.  I can see you modeling for her, wearing all sorts of frou-frou dresses.  And you'd be bragging to everyone, 'Rainbow Dash always dresses in style!'"

"THAT'S IT!"

Rainbow Dash finally lost her temper and blasted off towards me.  Which was exactly what I wanted her to do: make a reckless charge and leave her friends behind.  With a thought, I summoned a flat shield and swatted Dash away like she was an errant flashbang.  The sky-blue mare screamed as she tumbled through the air to my left.  She crashed into a flower bed and rolled until she smacked headfirst into a crabapple tree.  The tree shook from the impact and a bunch of apples were knocked out of its branches.  The apples dropped on top of Dash and buried her underneath them.

"HI!"

The randomness that was Pinkie Pie appeared, right in front of my face.  Just as I expected her to do.

"Hi Pinkie!  I have a tasty treat for you!"

"OOH!  OOH!  What is it?!"

I hid my hands behind my back, then pulled a yellow and brown box out of my pocket dimension.  I brought my hands back around, and presented my gift to the pink pronking pony.

"A big box of Fudgsicle Pops, just for you!"

I opened the package, unwrapped a popsicle and shoved the frozen treat into Pinkie's open mouth.  The mare chewed and ate it, stick and all.  Her eyes lit up, and she shouted her excitement for all to hear.

"YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!"

The party pony grabbed the box and ran off behind a nearby bush to enjoy her treats.

Oh, did I forget to mention my new pocket dimension?  Nightmare Moon and I had to wait a long time before our minions found someone to bring us to the White House.  While we waited, I asked Luna to teach me about her pocket dimension.  She couldn't teach me how to make one, but she made one for me instead.  Then she taught me how to use it.  I was sure I'd have to fight the Mane Six one day, so I filled the pocket dimension with things that I thought I might need.  As time did not pass in the pocket dimension, the Fudgsicles would have stayed frozen literally forever.  I had several other surprises stored in there, but time would tell if I needed to use them all.

Luna had then given me access to a few of her spells, through the gem in my armor.  But she also taught me a couple of basic spells: a sleep spell, and a 'Nothing to See Here' spell.  Casting the latter on a person or pony would make everyone in the area ignore them, while casting it in an area would cause all those nearby to get bored and leave.  I learned these spells by hard study and practice, instead of a magical transfer or through the gem in my armor.  So I was quite proud of them.

I turned back to the remaining three ponies, and deftly caught Applejack's lasso in my right hand.

Looks like somepony's got some skills.  She almost caught me while I was dealing with Pinkie.

The lasso in my hand began to glow in my magic just as the farm pony yanked back on the rope.  I let go of the lasso, then took control.  The rope zipped back towards Applejack before she could react.  I slipped the lasso over the mare's neck, then dragged her out onto the lawn while she choked.  Once she was close to me, I loosened the noose a bit so she could breathe.  Then I wrapped the rest of the rope around her legs to hogtie her good.  The mare wobbled on her hooves for a bit before she fell over onto the grass.  Applejack struggled frantically, but couldn't get herself free.

"Consarn it!"

"You're a silly pony, Applejack."

"BUCK YOU!"

"Maybe not that silly."

I turned to look at the last two ponies on the battlefield.  Fluttershy was hiding behind the damaged pillar, which left Rarity.  The fashionista took a deep breath, then drew herself up under my gaze.

"Do your worst, you ruffian!  I am prepared!"

"Hardly, my dear."

A quick application of illusion magic, and Rarity's mane and tail changed color to a dark green.  I added illusory wriggling worms that stuck out all through her hair.

"Take my Boast Busters special!"

"What.  Did.  You.  DO?!"

I removed a full-length mirror from my pocket dimension, which I had decided to nickname 'hammerspace'.  I then set the mirror down in front of Rarity.  Her eyes opened wide in shock, then she screamed in terror!

"No, not my beautiful HAIR!  Not again!!"

Rarity then ran off crying into the garden.

Whoops, looks like Trixie already made her appearance in Ponyville.  Then that trick won't hold her for long.

I turned to look at Fluttershy, who was attempting to hide behind the cracked and damaged support pillar on my left.  I didn't want to harm her, but she was a Bearer so I couldn't ignore her either.  My decision made, I began to walk purposely towards the mare's hiding space.  When Fluttershy noticed I was heading her way, I gave her a friendly wave.  She meeped cutely, then ducked around the pillar so I could no longer see her.  I didn't want to scare her too much, so I slowed down and approached the pillar carefully.  My feet padded up the stairs, then I looked behind the pillar.

No Fluttershy.

That was a surprise.  How had she moved so fast, yet stayed hidden?  I scanned the bushes and trees for any movement, but I didn't see any.  However, I did see a bright bit of pink sticking out from behind a nearby tree.  As quietly as I could, I tiptoed towards that tree.  It didn't take long to see that the pink thing was a tail, and not just a bunch of flowers.  I continued my sneaky sashay to the tree, then peeked around it to see Fluttershy hiding there.  To get her attention, I gently cleared my throat.  The mare peeked out from behind her mane to look at me, then meeped again.  Her body then began to tremble in fear.  I gently knelt down next to the pastel yellow mare, then whispered softly to her.

"It's okay.  I promise, I won't hurt you."

Time to get her out of the combat zone.

I pulled two items out of hammerspace: a small Equestrian cloud, which was just big enough for a single pony; and a large white rabbit plush.  The plush was almost as big as Fluttershy herself.  With a swish of magic, I lifted Fluttershy up and placed her gently upon the cloud.  The mare crouched down on the springy surface and shivered in terror.  A touch of magic on the cloud, and I made it look like it was made of butterflies.  The insects were colored and shaped the same as the ones in her cutie mark.

"You're safe, Fluttershy.  Really.  I could never hurt a kind mare such as yourself.  Just open your eyes, you'll see."

She shook for a moment longer, then her quaking suddenly stopped.  The mare lifted her head up and opened her eyes wide, not quite believing that she was floating on a cloud of butterflies.

"See?  I told you.  Here, I have a gift for you."

Fluttershy turned her wide eyes towards me, then at the white bunny plush I held in my hand.

"I know this isn't your bunny Angel, but maybe he can help keep you safe."

I held out the plush to the pastel yellow mare.  Fluttershy looked at the plush, then back at me as if to ask permission.  I nodded slowly in response.  She tenderly reached out to the toy, and gently took it out of my hand.  She pulled the stuffed bunny in close, sniffed at it briefly, then buried her muzzle deep into its fur.  I took that moment to give the cloud a gentle push to the southwest, both up and away.  As I watched, it and its passenger slowly floated across the White House lawn and began to rise up into the air.

Now that I had separated Fluttershy from the rest of the group, I knew that Twilight couldn't activate the Elements of Harmony.  My next task was to keep the mares busy until my Queen could defeat her sister.  The tree I was standing behind was in the southwest corner of the Rose Garden.  From there, I could see that Twilight was still unconscious at the base of the stairs.  Rarity, Dash and Pinkie were nowhere in my sight.  But Applejack was awake and out in the open lawn.  The farm pony was still tied up, but had somehow gotten to her hooves.  She was slowly hopping away from the battlefield to the east.

Nope, no escape for you AJ.

I strode through a flower bed and got three steps onto the lawn before my vision turned pink.

"Hey there, Mister Cat-Man!"

Pinkie.

The pink receded until I could see the whole party pony.  She was holding the Fudgsicle box I gave her, and was shaking it upside-down to show me it was empty.

"Those were good!  Got any more?"

"Nope, but I have something even better."

"Really?! What?"

I grinned and threw my arms open.  

"A HUG!"

Pinkie Pie squealed, then jumped into my arms for a full-body crushing hug!  I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight, then buried my face into her mane.  I was not surprised to discover that Pinkie's mane smelled like cotton candy.  I let loose a great sigh, then summoned a strong dose of paralyzing lightning into my hands.  The pink pony shook in my embrace, then dropped limp into my arms.  I knelt down and gently set the unconscious mare on to the grassy lawn.

"Sorry, Pinkie.  But I had to do it."

I swear I heard Pinkie's voice whisper, "it's ok."  But it couldn't have been her, because she was unconscious and paralyzed.  I didn't have time to figure it out because Rainbow Dash took that moment to make herself known.

"Hey!  You leave her ALONE!"

I looked up towards the voice, and saw Rainbow Dash standing next to Applejack.  AJ had been untied, and Dash was holding some of the rope in her hooves.  Dash was also staring angrily at me.  I stuck my thumbs in my ears, wiggled my fingers and stuck my tongue out at the future Wonderbolt.  The brash mare rushed me again, anger in her eyes.  Dash was so predictable!  Applejack shouted out a warning, but was too late.

"No, Rainbow!"

All too easy...

I only had a second before Rainbow Dash clocked me.  But that was plenty of time to set up my next plan.  I set up several curved shields in a familiar pattern.  I used to play with Hot Wheels tracks when I was a kid, and made loops and banked curves out of the flexible plastic tracks.  I set up my shields just like those tracks.  The entrance was in front of Rainbow Dash, right where she couldn't miss it.  The magical track curved around in the air and exited right in front of Applejack.  Rainbow Dash slammed into the bottom of the magical track, and let out a surprised yelp.  She found herself sliding along its length, away from me and back in the direction she came from.

"Woahoohoohooh--!"

Dash's shout was music to my ears.  Just as she rounded the last bend into the final straightaway, I gave the sky-blue mare a hard magical push.  A moment later, she slammed into Applejack at speed.  The two collided with a satisfying crunch, then rolled in the grass until their momentum ran out.  The mares lay there, both breathing but unconscious. 

I should probably tie those two up with AJ's rope--

My forehead suddenly exploded in pain!  Stunned, I reached up to the wound and my hand touched something wet.  I brought it down to see that my fingers were covered in blood.  MY blood!  Suddenly, my right shoulder screamed in pain!  Another blast of agony burst from my right thigh!  Instinct finally kicked in, and I threw up a flat shield.  An instant later, that shield was smashed by four sudden impacts.  But that was enough time for me to raise my full shield, along with several physical shunts attached to it.  The pain slowly faded away as my donated alicorn magic began to heal my wounds.  Two more impacts hit my shield, but this time I barely felt them.  I knew my shield would keep me safe, so I stood up straight and looked for my attacker.  Yet another item impacted my shield, but I finally saw what it was!  Strangely enough, it was a large gemstone.  It took no effort to follow the gemstone's path to its origin, where I saw an incensed Rarity standing some hundred or so feet away.  She was levitating gemstones out of her saddlebags, which she had gotten from somewhere, and would periodically throw gems at me.  But I was protected, and the priceless gemstones did nothing against the strength of my shield.

Oh, and her mane & tail had been restored to their beautiful violet coloring and curls.

Looks like the Mane6 team got Rarity's attack style right.

"You ruffian!  Drop that shield RIGHT NOW and take your punishment like a stallion!"

"Let me think about that for a moment.

"How about, NO.  Let me take those."

I levitated Rarity's saddlebags off her flanks, and tossed the bags over a tree.

"HEY!  Those are MINE!  Don't you know it's rude to take a lady's things?"

"It's also rude to throw things at someone you just met."

"You...you...!  Such an uncouth stallion!  I shall have to make an exception in your case!"

"You look stressed, Miss Rarity.  Why don't you just take a spa day?"

"What?!  What do you mean?"

Without warning, I used my magic to tear chunks of dirt and sod out of the ground underneath Rarity.  The mare squealed as she fell into the new hole in the dirt.  She quickly got to her hooves, and discovered to her surprise that her head and shoulders stuck up out of the pit.  Before she could climb out, I summoned water in the air above her.  Rarity squealed as she was suddenly soaked in cold water, which partially filled the hole.  As fast as I could, I dipped the dirt in the water and packed the wet chunks all over Rarity's body.  The water quickly soaked into the dirt and turned it into sticky mud.  I covered the mare in the sticky mud, though I left her head free.  However, I made sure to pin her mane in the mud.  The fashionista was effectively immobilized, even though her horn was still free.  As I expected, Rarity freaked out and forgot that she could use magic to free herself.

"Aah!  What have you done to me?!

"No!

"You'll stain my coat!

"Eew, it's COLD!

"I can't move!  You...you...ruffian!"

"But I thought you liked mud baths, Rarity?"

"Not this kind of mud, it's dirty!"

The fashionista let loose with a long string of invectives, most of which I had never heard before but sounded quite nasty.  I believe she even questioned how often my family tree forked.  While I was impressed with her verbal creativity, her bitchy tone was getting on my nerves.   I had to shut her up somehow, and after a moment of mental searching I came up with an idea.  My magic levitated a handful of mud off of her back, then slapped it on to her muzzle.  Of course, some of it got into her mouth.  It did shut her up for a moment, but she spit the glob out and let out a shrill scream.  She then resumed cursing me out.

While her screams were hurting my ears, they didn't stop me from checking the rest of the mares out for trouble.  I could see Dash, Applejack and Pinkie were still lying where I had left them.  So I knew they were still out cold.  I couldn't see Fluttershy anywhere, so she was probably still floating away on her cloud.  Rarity was still trapped under mud and screaming curses at me.  At that moment, she was implying something very lurid between me and my mother.  Considering my mother had been dead for several years, that made her insults even more disturbing.  I glanced over at the last remaining Element Bearer to check her status.  Twilight Sparkle had not only woken up, but was trying to stand on her hooves.  

Whups, better zap her again.

To my surprise, she blocked my paralyzing lightning with a shield of her own.

"Oh no you don't!  You won't be doing that to me again."

"Aww, you always take away all my fun."

Twilight smirked at me.

"I'm going to stop you."

"Oh, really?  You and what army?"

The mare looked around, and her smile dropped as she realized that she was the only one left to fight.  She closed her eyes, and her horn lit up with magic.  A bright flash appeared around Dash, AJ and Pinkie.  Applejack and Dash immediately groaned in pain.  They both sat up, then rubbed their heads with their hooves.  Pinkie was also awake, but every time she tried to stand up she fell over.

"Oh, no!  My hooves fell asleep!"

Twilight smirked at me again.

"Now that the odds are more in my favor, it's time--"

My eyes were blinded by a sudden bright light!  I closed my eyes and lifted an arm to protect myself.  I could hear a loud warbling, buzzing sound coming from Twilight's direction.  At the same time, I heard a female voice shout out from far above.

"TWILIGHT!!"

That shout had to come from Celestia.  I also heard a mad cackle, also from above, that sounded just like Nightmare Moon.  The bright light vanished as suddenly as it began, and I blinked several times to clear the spots from my eyes.  When I could see clearly again, I saw a frazzled Twilight Sparkle.  Although she seemed to be in one piece, she had this dazed, thousand-yard stare on her muzzle.  Her shield was down and her fur was smoking slightly, but she was still standing on her hooves.  Barely.  A blur of white zipped out of the sky and made a hard landing next to Twilight.  The sudden impact was too much for the purple mare, and she began to topple over.  However, Celestia scooped up her faithful student in a wing and gently set her down on the lawn.  By some miracle, Twilight was still conscious and was struggling to stand up.  Celestia put an end to that, by covering Twilight with a wing until she stopped moving.  When Celestia lifted her wing, Twilight could be seen lying quietly in the grass.

A black blur rocketed out of the sky and slammed into the ground next to me.  Nightmare Moon stood up from her crouched position, then opened her wings in a show of force.

"Excellent aim, sister!  I am certain that your student would agree!"

Celestia frowned as she looked over the battlefield, where she saw five battered ponies and two uninjured opponents.  If I were in her horseshoes, I would realize that I was in danger of losing the battle.  It seemed that the Princess had reached that same conclusion.

"This isn't over, sister."

In a flash of golden magic, Celestia disappeared along with the five remaining Bearers.  I heard a wet squelch as the mud that had been packed around Rarity collapsed in on itself.

"Excellent work, my Captain.  The ponies that hold the Elements of Harmony looked to be much the worse for wear.

"However, I noticed that one of the Bearers was missing.  Did you silence her?"

"No, I stuck her on a cloud and pushed her away from the battle.  She was too scared to move."

"I see.

"I am disappointed in you.  I had hoped that you would have permanently silenced one of them, to guarantee that the Elements could not be used against me."

You may be a killer, Nighty - but I am NOT.  Better change the subject.

"Good job on that Solar Beam, my Queen.  Tricking Celestia to hit her student was inspired."

"Ah, that was mere luck.  I simply deflected the beam towards the ground."

I felt the blood drain from my body, and terror took its place.

You mean...that beam could have hit ME, instead?!

FUCK!!