//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The Battle for Peace of Mind // Story: The New World // by jt45fan //------------------------------// Chapter 6: The Battle for Peace of Mind While we were in the car, on the way to Grand Island, New York, my hometown (yes I live on an island in New York State, no I cannot see the Statue of Liberty from my house), I explained how to utilize each weapon, explaining how load, fire, clear jams, and aim, especially aim. Being able to hit what you’re going to shoot at is a very important skill. I know how to aim, I was a fairly good shot with a rifle back home, but in battle, it’s a completely different thing. Your adrenalin is flowing, your heart is beating rapidly, and you need to hit what is trying to kill you. I assumed that Discord would have an army to back him up against threats that he knew were coming in from the outside world. I assumed it would be the most terrifying thing I could think of to fight against. It doesn't sound that bad, but then you begin to think of what I, as a nerd, read of, or saw in a video game. Then I saw it, well, nearly hit it. It was odd. We nearly reached the North Grand Island Bridges, the way to get to my hometown, the place where Discord could start infecting my memories, because of the concentration of them there. But as we were about to cross over the bridge, it exploded with a beautiful blast of chocolate milk. And on the other side of the river were a pair of Stormtroopers. But that wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind. Blowing up the bridges, that was part of my crackpot plan to defend the island in case Canada or someone else invaded, but especially Canada. But that’s off topic. “Discord!” I yelled, not expecting an answer. “You can’t come up with a better plan than what I already came up with years ago?” “Well, you think you are a military genius.” resonated a voice throughout the world that was my mind. And I knew that I wasn’t the only one to hear it, as the others in the car fidgeted and looked around when it appeared. “So you should find the faults in your own plan, right?” and the voice was gone. “Mo, I’m going to need your help with this.” I said to the still stunned friend of mine. There were only four people at school who knew anything of military tactics. One was a teacher, one was, well you could say he was my arch-rival ( what I’m nerdy enough to have such things), one was me, and the other was Mo. We walked out of the car to the map of Grand Island I summoned, complete with notations of the defenses on it. “I could help too, if thats ok with you.” came the soft voice of Fluttershy from behind us. “You know military strategy?”I asked her. Now I have nothing against girls and military strategy, hell the teacher I mentioned was a girl, but if anybody would know anything about tactics, I expected it would have been Rainbow Dash. “Yes I do. I don’t like to fight, but when I do, I makes sure I do it well.” she responded to my question, forcing me to stifle a laugh. “Mo, you good with this?” then I asked my Napoleonic friend. He nodded in approval, which I thought he would anyways, but that's beside the point. “You can help us. An extra pair of hands is always a good thing.” I rolled out the map, and pointed to a beach on the southern side of the island, in Beaver Island State Park. “Here would be the weakest point in the defences.” “Actually,” said Fluttershy, “the creek here looks like we can sneak in under the cover of night.” as she pointed at the mouth of Big Six Marina. I looked at the defences there and realized she was right. “Well I know where Discord will be holed up, so let's roll.” I said as I readied the boat, that I summoned. “Mo, Fluttershy, go get the others and tell them what we’re doing. Also tell them that we don’t have anything to worry about when they’ll shoot at us.” “Why?” asked Fluttershy, unaware that the Stormtroopers had no accuracy whatsoever in the original trilogy. “I’ll explain.” said Mo as he and Fluttershy walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts, well technically I was my thoughts, but still. It took me only a couple of seconds to ready the boat, so I had extra time on my hands. I was checking over the .38 Specials that I summoned for myself. Sapphire grips, blued steel body, my name engraved on both of them, hell I wish I could take them with me when we left. I then checked the chambers and saw I had six rounds in each. Good. “We ready to leave?” asked Devlin as he walked around the bent to the boat. “As soon as the sun goes down.” I said to him. I then willed the the time to change, causing the sun to disappear behind the horizon. “And look, it just did.” “H-h-how did you do that?” asked Twilight, who now seemed to be afraid of me. “E-especially considering my magic didn’t work in here.” “Would you like the long version, or the short one?” I asked her. “The short one.” said Rainbow Dash impatiently. “More or less, my mind, my rules.” I responded to her. “Now everybody into the boat.” It took us about an hour to get to Big Six Marina. When we got there I docked the boat and said “Everybody get out, I’ll follow you guys after I tie her up.” After I got up to the road, Mo asked “Where is Discord hiding?” “If I’m right, he should be at the command center.” I told them in an obvious tone. “Where would that be?” asked Ryan. “The place that would fit the most, school.” I responded. ____________________________________________________________ We sat in my friends house, which was right across from the school. “So, how do we assault that?” yelled Shamus, referencing that the school was currently transformed into a fortress. Around it was dug a trench, the side facing away from the school wrapped in barbed wire. Spaced along it were machine gun emplacements, that could cause overlapping fire. “If he’s in there, I’m not quite sure.” was my response. “I’m not in there right now.” said the new being that walked into the room. It was him. In the space on two or three seconds, every gun in the room was pointed at him, including Pinkie Pie’s RPG-7. “That won’t work either. This really isn’t me, just a projection.” I pushed the business end of the RPG down, but left the other guns pointed at him, in case of monkey business. “Why are you here? And where are you hiding then if you’re not at the school?” I asked the being. “The answer to the first question is to tell you I’m not in the school right now.” he told me. “The second is that I’ll be back there after you evict my friends, the stormtroopers. I’ve got to go now, I’ll see you later.” he said smugly. “What the buck just happened?” asked Rainbow Dash after he left. “I think he just dissed us.” said Devlin. “That changes everything.” I said, crossing my hands in the process. “Now instead of just sneaking in, we have to attack. But what angle would I have in have what is in effect twelve juggernauts attacking my lines?” I sat there for a moment, contemplating it when I happened upon a similar situation that happen to me before. I was playing Rome: Total War online with some friends. My one friend lead an assault against me with small amounts of well trained troops, but I beat him by separating them and swarming each unit individually. So thats what Discord was up to. “We could hit it from all sides at once, all of us having to fight few then if we were together.” suggested Fluttershy, mirroring my friends strategy back on Earth. “No.” I responded with a great calm. “That is what he wants us to do. I was on the defense once, and my opponent did exactly that. He lost. No, what we need to do is set up an ambush. We’ll drive them into it, and they’ll be lost.” “How, they outnumber us hundreds to one?” asked Rainbow Dash. After waiting a moment to summon it I said “The answer to that question is outside.” We left the apartment (What Apartment) and walked into the backyard of my friends flat, exposing my trump card, a Scorpion tank from Halo. “Really.” said Mo sarcastically. “But wait, there’s more.” I said as I turned it on. The engine rumbled to life, followed by a pleasant voice. "Hello, and thank you for activating the M808V Main Battle Tank. You may call me Sheila." I then put on my best Caboose impersonation, saying. “Hello Sheila, nice tank lady.” I then turned to Mo and said “You jealous yet?” He was dumbstruck so I decided to tell him the first step in the plan. “Mo, you and Fluttershy need to get to the top of the hill. And take Pinkie and Dev with you, to hold them off a bit if they attack you while in total retreat.” My four friends left the back lot and snuck across the road. I gave them time to get into position then said “Rainbow, get in the small turret seat. The rest of you, be prepared to follow the hole I make in their lines. We good.” They all nodded in approval. “Good, give me a moment.” I said to them. I then sent out a mental probe to the hill behind the school, and detected Mo. ‘Hey, you ready?’ I asked him telepathically. ‘What the hell.’ he thought, in reaction to another entity in his head. He forced me out so I tried again telling him my name. ‘How are you...’ he was about to ask before he then remembered ‘His mind, his rules.’ I then filled him in on the plan before I left I told him to tell the others. I returned to my body and said “Sheila, HUD.” causing the Heads Up Display to appear on the windscreen before me. I then pressed one of the two of six pedals that I had narrowed the movement forward to, causing the gun to rise in elevation. ‘I knew it,’ I thought before I pressed the other one, causing the armored vehicle to lurch forward. “Hey watch it.” came a voice from below me. I started up again, pulled around the house and brought my gun to bear on a MG nest in the trenches surrounding the school. A stormtrooper pointed at the tank in alarm, but it was too late as I was already pulling the trigger to fire the gun. “Firing Main Cannon” said the automated voice, but it was shortly covered up by the deafening blast. Then the bunker exploded, several troopers flying through the air. I accelerated forward into the the trenches. In the seat below me the 7.62mm Machine Gun roared to life, probably ripping through stormtroopers. I thought back to the talk I had with my troops on the way. ‘Remember, whatever you do, you can’t show any mercy. These are constructs. They have no sense of pain.’ Then I heard the rest of my friends rushing past me. Ryan and Applejack ran into an underground room, and out of my view. I sent a mental lance in there to see what was going on and saw several stormtroopers that were surprised by my friends’ sudden appearance. They looked at eachother for a moment before they fired on the stunned troopers. In five shells, the Stormtroopers fell and my friends left the bunker, more sadness on their faces. I spotted a group of troopers leaving one of the school entrances. ‘No remorse’ I thought as I lined up the shot. Then Pinkie jumped on the canopy of the tank and said “I got this.” as she swung up her rocket and fired it at the troopers. They didn’t know what hit them. After that the battle dissolved into a bloody mess, my friends backed up to the tank, defending it from attacks from the troopers as they rushed it. I hadn’t heard anything from Mo since my attack stalled, so I was seriously afraid for him. But suddenly I had a bigger concern. A Halo Elite jumped onto the canopy of the tank, holding an energy sword. I thought I was done for, but then I heard a bang, second only to the main gun of the tank. And the Elite was gone. “You owe me one.” said Mo over the radio. About the same time Dev ran into the trench and asked where Pinkie was, seeming worried. I pointed him to where she was. He ran over to her and talked to her for a moment before she got a small smile on his face. I was now screwed. All my friends would probably die I couldn’t come up with something. And I had few precious moments to do so. And, not to be cliche, I did. I turned on the radio and said to Mo “I giving you the one I owe you.” and teleported him into the cockpit of the A-10 Thunderbolt II. “Tell me next time you do that.” he said as he pulled it out of a steep dive. He then circled around the battlefield before coming in for a strafing run with the 30mm gatling gun. The now obviously mixed force began to scatter as the first rounds began to rip open the ground, but they were too late as they were starting to be riddled with holes. And by riddled with holes, I meant ripped in half. Their commander must have been hit, because after the strafing run, they broke. They ran for the woods, the hills, even the river. “Is that it?” asked Rainbow Dash, climbing out of the smaller gun from the tank. “Not yet.” said Discord as he materialized in front to us, in the now crater strewn field. He then lifted his sword, the same blade of void he used the night before, and pointed it at Sheila. Rainbow and I leapt clear to the side only moments before a beam shot from the sword at the tank. It exploded, flipping the tank onto its top. The frightened A.I. asked “Caboose, will I dream? Daisy, Daisy...” “I would call you on that, but at this point were both breaking the rules.” I yelled at him. Rainbow began to rush at him before I put my hand up to her saying “No this is my fight.” I then turned to face him as I willed the armor back to my body. He was levitating twenty feet of the now crater strewn lawn. I floated up to be at eye level with him before I said “This shall be a duel for the ages.” “It will be sung about, if any of you survive.” he responded just several breaths before he lunged at me. It was like our first duel, but this time he seemed slower, but much more fluid. I flew backwards and drew the sword out of its scabbard before I flipped over and slashed at his ribs. I must have caught him off guard too, because I actually hit him. We were evenly matched in every way, I later found out from the others that he didn’t slow down, I sped up to meet him. Yes, we were even, too even. We fought to a standstill, each looking for an advantage over the other. We found ours at the same time. A loud shot rang out from my left, and Discord blocked something with the flat of his blade. Before the item was enveloped by the darkness you saw it was a .50 caliber sniper round. Both of us looked in direction it came from, seeing my girlfriend looking down the sights of a large caliber rifle. The first thought that ran through my head was ‘Man I got a badass girlfriend.’ The second was ‘Oh shit, she just provoked him!’ I yelled “Diana! Look out!” but, not to be cliche, I was too late. He fired some sort of corrupted version of Link’s energy beam from his sword at her, knocking her flying across the battlefield. She landed limply in a crater as Fluttershy and Shamus ran towards her. I was able to overpower him at only seeing her captured; right now, she was most likely dead or dying. “Do you see what happens when you fight above your weight class.” I don’t know if that was him taunting me or warning me, but it pissed me off to a level of rage in Michael Jones and Lewis Black would have be afraid of. I then teleported behind Discord and slashed at his head, with a speed unmatched by anybody before. He barely had time to deflect it over him, then I teleported directly in front of him and grabbed him by his immaterial throat. “You should remember that as well.” I said to him, moments before I plunged my blade into his chest. “And tell the boss that ‘Next time, do not hurt my friends.” He then lit up a dark gold and began to dissolve. I threw the remnants of his body to the ground before flying over to Diana. Fluttershy looked at me before saying “She’s alive, but barely. She needs medical attention now.” “Then I’ll take her to a Doctor.” I responded. I then teleported all of us to the TARDIS, using the last of the energy my rage gave me. I carried her into it and called “Doctor!” He and Lyra stuck their heads over the rail, giant grins on their faces. “Did you win- oh god.” He yelled as he saw Diana. “Help her now!” I barked at him. “I was planing on it.” He responded as I set her down in front of him. Under his breath I heard him mumble “I already lost Rose, Donna, and Rory. I’m not losing another friend.” He began to tap her head. After observing something that escaped me, he formed a fist and hit her in the chest. Rainbow began to run at him before I put my arm up to stop her. I knew the Doctor knew what he was doing. He then took out the Sonic Screwdriver and scanned her. “I don’t know what hit her, but I can’t fix it. The only thing that I can think of is magic, so we need to leave right now!” I ran out of the TARDIS, as the Doctor began to flip levers and push buttons. As I shut the door behind me I heard the Doctor yell “Hold on! This will be a bumpy ride!” I then used the last of my energy to summon a baseball bat. I held it and thought ‘This will hurt.’ as I readied to hit myself to wake up. Then I knocked myself out. ____________________________________________________________ Three days. That is how long I waited for her to wake up. I sat in Ponyville General, waiting, sitting, eating, waiting. The others were there, talking, joking, laughing, just over all trying to make me feel better. They all came, even the Doctor, and he hates hospitals, they remind him too much of Rory and Martha. But the pony that was there the most was Rainbow Dash. She said that she didn’t want to see her roommate bummed out. But there was something else in her voice. Lyra and Derpy were sitting with me in the cafeteria, my first meal in a day in a half, when Nurse Redheart walked into the room. “She’s awake, but very weak.” she said to us, but all I heard was ‘She’s awake’ before I ran up the stairs and into the room. The unicorn mare sat up in the bed, her head bandaged and a black eye. “Hey.” I said to her as I walked into the room. “Hey.” she said back. “How much do you remember.” I asked her. “Well I remember that you saved me, that I lived in Fillydelphia for most of my life-” she was cut of by my hoof in her mouth. “What is your name?” I asked her, very concerned voice. “Bookworm.” she said as if she was questioning why I asked that. “Why, you met me earlier Blueblade.” I couldn’t take it I left, and flew to Rainbow’s house and collapsed into my bed. I cried. I did so, because she didn’t remember. I lost. I killed “Discord” but I lost the battle. However, the war was just beginning.