//------------------------------// // Team B Strategy (Edited by BS) // Story: The Humble Prince // by Lighting Ace //------------------------------// "There, that should do it," The prince informed Celestia as he cleaned some sweat from his forehead after placing the last gym mat on the floor next to a line of others for the students to use as improvised beds. "Would that be all?" "It's OK...ah, Blueblood, we can take it from here," Celestia replied, trying to hide her embarrassment. "To tell you the truth, I'm still feeling a bit bad letting you help us this much; I'm the one that should be doing all of this." The principal confessed with a slight chuckle. Once everyone was safe and sound, the principals got to work organizing the students and using the gym equipment and other materials to form improvised beds for everyone, something that was easier said than done since everyone was still pretty stressed out, tired, and irritable, making following any order a gamble with everyone being only one complaint away to becoming a huge problem. It did not help when the royal group discovered Twilight's equipment was damaged and in dire need of repair. Despite all that, the prince was prepared this time and decided to use his courtly training to keep the peace amongst the students and get them to cooperate with the Principals while some tried to clean the mess in the lab. After an hour or so, everyone was set and finally resting peacefully "Don't mention it; that is what we are here for. Listen, if you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask; I will be in Twilight's lab, go ahead and take a break." "Oh no! I couldn't possibly..." Celestia tried to protest, yet she quickly sat on a mat at the prince's insistence. "I insist; you must also rest like your sister." He reminded her, gesturing at Luna, sleeping near the entrance. Earlier, she had offered to stand guard, though five minutes from beginning her vigil, she was out like a light, so Blueblood placed her on a nearby mat. "But I can't. I know you mean well, but my principles won't let me leave everything in the hands of children. I...I..." She tried to struggle, but her tired body screamed at her to stop, and she soon faced a losing battle against slumber. "Think of it this way. We may still need the help of a supervisor; if that happens, we will rest easy knowing that they would not be fighting against falling asleep, right?" "I...suppose not" She nodded once, closing her eyes. "Plus, I still need to ground my Bludegard. OK, but just for a bit." She lays her head down on the makeshift futon, and the prince uses a sheet of fabric from home economics as a blanket for her. This brilliant idea came courtesy of Nefi, who saw multiple blankets with all the yarn she found. The prince nodded, stood up, and left the room with his work done. His copy was close behind, looking on with envy and curiosity about how well he managed to handle his aunt. After a short walk, the prince entered the lab, where everyone else was present. "She can read our minds with the sand?" Sonata reacted in shock while the prince took a seat next to her. Once she finishes reading, Sonata puts down the wall of texts Pinkie just sent them detailing everything they saw, Tempo's master plan, and how dangerous her feathers are. She then placed the phone at the center of a table. At the suggestion of Sonata, the royals decided to connect the phone to a power source so as not to risk it running out of battery life. They placed the phone on a conference call with everyone they could keep contact with in both the waking and sleeping world, an impressive and almost impossible feat if it weren't for Pinkie's intervention, asking one of the sleeping students to describe to her briefly what a cell phone is so she could make a couple of them. "That's just the tip of the iceberg, Sonny. My major concern is how using the equivalent of their elements against Tempo didn't stop her in her tracks. Shouldn't that be impossible? How could she keep going despite being blasted repeatedly?" Nefi said, trying to come up with a plan. "To use the elements, you must stay calm, focused, and relaxed." Twilight explained from the dream realm. "In theory, the elements are unstoppable, but if the users get distracted or have questions and doubts, their power diminishes; that is why when Princess Celestia used them on Luna a thousand years ago, they only managed to seal her in the moon rather than cure her. At that time, she had too many emotions swirling inside her for a clear goal to be reached. Tempo most likely used the same principle for her defense. Using their dreams and desires in a peaceful dream to mess up their concentration." She sighed as a not-too-pleasant memory surfaced. "That's how Discord prevented us from using the elements against him the first time. Tempo used the same trick, and they weren't prepared for it." "Then we simply have to blast her right away before she has time to mess with our heads. Once there, Blueblood fires immediately and doesn't think about it. The fallout from a blast can cover the planet like when we used them against the likes of Discord; I think if you do the same, we can save us all from a lot of trouble." Dash suggested. "Besides, this is what? The fourth time you dealt with this kind of thing?" "This would be the fifth, actually, and it's not that easy, Dash; of the previous four times, I only managed to prepare for one, and the last one, I was half prepared, but Desire still managed to get the jump on me. This time we face a completely different problem. Our foe is not seeking me out, and it's not planning anything. It's doing nothing and still somehow gaining power. This issue is like trying to scale a wall made of sand, the moment you make the first attempt, there is nothing to hold on to, and you end up back at the start, or you trip and fall." "Will all due respect Bluey, Dash does have a point." Sierra observed. "From what I gather, each and every test you have endured has been unique in its own way; sure, three of them were surprise attacks, but you, for each, were a force to think on your hooves, find an angle, and think outside the box." "Yeah, like she said, this is a weird one, but so were the others. You can handle this, Blue. Just use that head of yours." Dash encouraged him enthusiastically. "And preferably, with a plan for us to kick some butt on the way." "Thank you for the votes of confidence, girls; I appreciate it; I will keep all of that in mind. But my point still stands, due to the unusual nature of this, we can't just march straight in as Twilight and her friends did. That would end up with us swallowed by the sand; we need to carefully plan each step we make while we still have time." "Speaking of which, darling, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but..." Rarity spoke, concerned creeping into her voice. "What is it, Rarity?" "Before I tell you, promise me you will not stress out over this and rush anything." Those present at the table exchanged glances before nodding. "We promise" "Good, then just as the other Pinkie mentioned, we started hearing Tempo singing in the sky not too long ago before a very unusual electric storm emerged not too far from Canterlot. And this one... erased everything the lighting touched." "It disintegrates everything it touches?" "Not exactly," Sierra replied. "I have never seen this phenomenon before, but it erases things. As Rarity said, Blueblood, each time the lightning strikes, a perfect spherical crater forms, no debris, no smoke, no explosion, no nothing; it's like it just took a chunk of the ground or the building or whatever it touches, it even defies gravity as the structure remains with the hole." "Reality itself, oh no, oh no, no, no, no, it's starting!" Twilight yells, starting to hyperventilate." "Darling, you promised!" Rarity complained, sounding rather upset "Well, we did, but technically not Twilight," Sonata reminded her, much to Rarity's annoyance. "What is starting Twilight?" Blueblood asked, trying to remain as calm as possible. "Reality is unraveling. I read this in one of Star Swirl's books on quantum magics; it's pure theory, but he stated that if you open a big enough portal between two worlds, one of the worlds would start to tear or split into pieces. He also says that if you continue to pour magic into the bridges, that one would become a hot rod that would start to undo the basic principles of matter and..." "Ah, Twilight? Can you explain it in a simpler way?" Sonata interrupted, starting to lose track of what she was saying. With a sigh, the princess relented and explained it differently. "Imagine traveling between worlds is like walking on a frozen lake. Stepping through a stable portal is like you stepping lightly and carefully checking if the ice is strong. What Tempo is doing is stomping everywhere with heated boots! Step too hard, and the ice starts to crack, which is the storm Rarity described. It is the second layer, and the sand and breaches are the first; there are three layers of protection. When we hit the third one, huge chunks of matter will start getting sucked away from each world to appear or disappear randomly somewhere and somewhen else." Dash gets the idea and gulps, "Ah, just out of curiosity, what happens when the ice finally cracks open?" "...Existence breaks and collapses on itself; we would no longer exist." Twilight replied grimly. "WHAT?!" Teenager Blueblood startled everyone as the group turned their attention to the entrance where the student entered and closed the door behind him with a look of pure horror. "Blueblood! Now I know you just broke your promise." Rarity called out in disappointment and anger. "It wasn't me, Rarity...it was my human counterpart." The prince explained before approaching him, "Blueblood, what are you doing here? Aren't you tired?" "Forget that! Did your Twilight say that our worlds are ending?!" Nobody answered, and the silence was deafening. The prince could only sigh and look at Nefertiti, who nodded and sped behind the teenager to lock the door before he could leave and gently held his shoulders. "Yes, she said that, which is why we are working hard to prevent that from happening." The prince replied as Nefertiti pushed Bludegard forward. "And now you, naughty, curious boy, will have to be part of said group for snooping in a private meeting," Nefertiti whispered, increasing the pressure on his shoulders and leaning over to his ear. "Unless you want to be trussed up, gagged, and stuffed in some locker. We can't have you going around yelling about how the world is ending and causing mass panic." The teenager gulped and nervously nodded at her implied treat as she sat him in a chair—Twilight then sighed. "It would not change things anyway; soon, the effects would start pouring into their world too." Everyone exchanged worried glances before the prince addressed Twilight again: "Twilight, how much time do we have before the final layer of reality collapses?" "From what Rarity is telling us, we should have a couple of hours at best, and from what you told me, using any portal in either world would only speed things up; not only that, but unless we stabilized it first, using them would be dangerous, you could swap minds, lose limbs, or go blind and those are the best case scenarios." The implication of those being the best options made everyone shiver at what could be the worst. "Is there a way to buy us more time? And make use of portals again?" Sierra asked, trying to come up with a solution. "There is; the elements can patch things up somewhat, and although they have never been used for this, they can reinforce the layers of reality once more, giving us more time. However, if we do that, you lose your main advantage, Blueblood." Everyone looked on as Blueblood drew Llamrai and stared at the glow surrounding it; he addressed the others with a sigh and a determined look. "A necessary loss. I don't like the idea of parting with my sword or relinquishing the elements, but it seems we are out of options now." "Maybe not. What if we use something even stronger instead?" Sonata asked, remembering something and gaining everyone's full attention. "Hear me out here, according to Pinkie, through music; magic manifests in this world. Remember when you try to use the elements against us, and we manage to overcome it?" Sonata told Twilight "Yeah, I remember we turn the tides when Sunset starts singing again and...Sonata, what are you thinking?" "Well, since I got these new and improved siren powers, I'm more in touch with my singing and sound; if I use and aim my music at the tears, we could reinforce the layers even more. I mean, you all remember when I first sang?" Those at the table all recalled the illusion. "She has a point, it could work, and we can still keep our advantage that way," Dash mentioned. "Plus, it would explain why all the breaches have closed since we exited the mall," Nefertiti added. "It even gave the survivors a boost of energy to meet us from what they told us. Sonny might be onto something." "We also have another thing that we should consider," Pinkie mentioned, "Bluey's Dusk form; with it, he would be protected from Dreams detection, right? Why else would he have to keep the princesses close to him?" The rest pondered her reasoning and determined that she had a point. "Dusk Form?" The students repeated with a raised eyebrow "Blueblood, can you tap into that form in that world?" Twilight asks with a mix of curiosity and concern. "I suppose it is a possibility, even more so with the elements still working here, but I wasn't sure if I should even try; magic works differently here, after all." "In any other situation, I would not even consider it, but this is an emergency, and we must use everything we can; Pinkie is right. In the worst-case scenario, you would be better protected," Sierra confirmed, The prince thought it over before nodding. "Fair enough. I will attempt to tap into that form before we depart." "Good; meanwhile, Nefertiti, could you help me with the machine the other Twilight and Sunset built? With the help of Sierra, I'm sure the three of us could repair it. "Can I trust you? The fate of the world ending should be enough incentive for you to follow my instructions to the letter, right cat?" "Go ahead and gloat, you pesky mutt; rest assured, I will return the favor in kind...later." Nefertiti promised as she sighed, "Don't worry, Twilight, I will help as best as I can." "O...k?" Twilight replied, unsure what to do with the sudden tension she was stuck in the middle of. "Meanwhile, I will speak with the principals." Sonata offered. "If I'm correct with my theory, I will need their help, and any other student that's good with a musical instrument, plus I kind of owe them after we tricked their nephew into escaping with us, and the last thing we need is them getting angry or scared again." "Thanks, Sonata" The prince nodded and smiled at her before looking at his counterpart. "You should go with her. The two of you can build a solid case, and I know how things are with your aunts. Maybe it would be best if you don't stray too far." The student thought about it and shivered in fear before shaking his head. "Y-Yeah, I can do that later, and maybe it would be best if we don't tell them about the sword incident; we need them to trust you, right?" The royals exchanged a glance and shrugged. "Makes sense, but it wasn't like I was gonna harm you." "That is not how they would see it, and you haven't told them what the deal is with you being armed and just dropped it because they got distracted, so let's avoid certain details for now. I need to discuss something with you, so that I will follow you for the moment. I'll need to prepare if I'm going into that mess." That surprised the group, but the royals smiled and nodded. "We will not question it if you decide to join Blueblood, but I suggest you tell your Aunts what you will do. Otherwise, you might get in even more trouble." The prince warned him as Bludegard nodded. "Duly noted it, but I'd rather go with you than face my aunts with how they are now." Nefertiti shrugged and shook her head. "Suit yourself. Welcome aboard, junior; it will be nice having you on the team." "Guys, we are still missing something," Skystar, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up. "Crossfire Tempo and Dream, how do we deal with them? How do we even open a portal TO them now." "The portal in front of the school is still there and has been cleared of sand, and Twilight's coordinates are still here. We can use them to make a path.” Sonata reply "If not, I can make it into one," Sierra promised, "I just need a crash course on how things work and CLEAR information. Thank you in advance, kitty. Nefertiti grumbled, and the prince could hear her mutter, "Only until we are safe," in a grumbling tone. "As for those women," Bludegard inquired, "I may have an idea, but I need to confirm something with my copy first...and it's a sensitive and private subject. Is Tempo your godmother too?..." He asks in a sorrowful voice. "...yes," The prince replied, realizing something he had forgotten until his counterpart brought it up. He still needed to prepare mentally to face a family member that was not possessed, an evil copy, or had bad intentions." "Yeah, then we need to discuss something. I'm starting to see where this plan of hers comes from. Everyone glared at him as he confessed to spying once more. "OK! I admit I have a problem! Can we not point fingers now?! At least you don't have to repeat anything." The prince sighed and shook his head. "We can discuss what you want to do on the roof and see if it helps while I try to commune with my Dusk form. While we do that, Nefi, you are the expert on strategies, traps, and schemes." "You are making me blush, honey," She smirked with no hint of sarcasm. "I know what you are about to ask, and yes, I think I can come up with several ideas on what to do once we go there. Once you are done, let me know what you come up with from your private chat. I'm curious to know what Junior has in his head." "A cat that's curious, what a surprise." Sierra quipped, earning a snarling hiss from Nefi "You know what? You're a straight dogsh..." "OK, enough, you two!" Having enough of their back and forth, the prince interceded, "We had an understanding; you two promised me that you would not allow your action to be dictated by your families OR stereotypes, right? So act your age, tone down the jabs, and try to work together, OK?" "....Sorry, Blueblood," The princesses apologized at the same time, making everyone that wasn't present in the casino blink in surprise. "We know what we must do, so let's go. We have two worlds to save, and every minute counts," He ordered before exiting the room, followed closely by Nefertiti as the rest still tried to figure out what they had just witnessed. "Ah, does anyone else know what just happened?" Sonata finally asked both the phone and the local Blueblood. "Lots of things happened in Las Pegasus, darling," Rarity finally answered. "Yeah! Bluey has stepped up to take on the ruler's mantle... Cool, right?" Skystar adds with a giggle. "Oh, sorry, almost forgot," Nefertiti returned and picked up the cell phone. "Need that, OK Mu...Sierra, what do you need to know first?" The princess sighed and approached Twilight's blueprints as the teenagers only shrugged and left for their respective missions.