//------------------------------// // The Fight Begins! // Story: Friendship Through the Worlds // by ThomasZoey3000 //------------------------------// Chapter 8: The Fight Begins! Splat! Splat! The paintballs hit their targets with various degrees of success as Patrick, Ryan and Emily practiced with Matthew's extra paintball guns. "Man, it's been too long since I last used one of these things," grumbled Patrick. "My aim stinks!" "Well it's still better than missing the target like me," said Ryan. "Besides, this is why we're practicing out here. We need to be ready for when Starlight Glimmer shows up." "Which could be any minute," added Emily. Patrick took in a deep breath, aimed once more and fired off his paintball gun once again at the target. It wasn't a perfect hit, but at least it could do some damage. From the porch, Matthew and the ponies were looking on with interest, and a little bit of worry. "She is a very powerful unicorn," Rainbow Dash pointed out, "do you really think your paintballs will actually hurt her?" Matthew shrugged, "they might, but then again, she might just stop them. But that's a risk we're willing to take Dash. Plus, with her attention on us, she won't see you guys coming." "Good thinking." Rainbow Dash started rubbing her hooves, "oh I can't wait to teach that sorry unicorn a lesson. Nopony does this to us and gets away with it!" Twilight looked Rainbow Dash firmly in the eyes, "let's not start throwing punches until we've exhausted all other options. She's been on this world with no one to really talk to, so surely she's been lonely and maybe a little scared. That might just convince her to stop, and to take us back home." "And she's probably been without food too," added Applejack, "so she might be hungry and willing to listen to reason at that point." Twilight nodded, "maybe Applejack." "Yeah, but if all else fails, we kick her flank!" Rainbow Dash shouted. Matthew rolled his eyes, but then looked back to Twilight, "could she just appear out of nowhere?" "She might, but teleportation isn't that simple. It can get you from place to place, but if you're travelling from let's say, Washago to here, then she'll have to do a lot of teleporting, meaning she will have to stop for a rest." She looked back towards the house, "that's why both Pinkie Pie and Rarity are watching your news channels, just in case she pops up somewhere she shouldn't." "And should she show up here without notice?" Matthew asked curiously. Twilight sighed and answered with; "if she does, then we're just going have to through with the plan right then and there." "So in other words, talk or fight," called Patrick as he fired again, only to miss. "Yes, that's it exactly," answered Twilight. Patrick groaned and started waving the paintball gun around, scaring Fluttershy badly, "what is wrong with this stupid thing?! I can't seem to get this thing to work with me!" "Maybe it's because you're holding it with one hand when it's a two handed weapon!" called out Matthew. "Nah, it's the weapon!" Matthew groaned, but then smirked when he saw Patrick using both hands on the paintball gun. "Told you!" he shouted back. Patrick rolled his eyes, all the while, Ryan and Emily were chuckling. Celestia's sun lowered for the end of another day, meaning ponies could close up shop and get ready to go home for a rest. In the Starswirl wing though, rest was the last thing on two ponies' minds. Sunset Shimmer and Princess Luna were still looking through the scrolls while Spike, Celestia and Moondancer had a small sleep. Their sleep however was interrupted by Sunset's existed shoot. "I FOUND IT!" Celestia was the first to approach, but seeing Sunset tense up, she backed up. Spike stepped forward and accepted the scroll before passing it to Celestia. "Yes, this is it, we can finally get to that world and bring Twilight and the others home!" The others cheered as Celestia's horn lit up. Suddenly, sparks flew from her horn, nearly setting a few scrolls on fire. "What happened?" Moondancer asked. "I don't know, but I think Miss Glimmer has blocked us from getting to the others." "She can't do that! Can she?" Moondancer looked to Sunset for an answer. The orange pony nodded, "if she's strong enough to take me on, and teleport the others to another world, then she can do anything." Sunset Shimmer was right. Starlight Glimmer, figuring that Twilight might still have some way of connecting with Equestria, used her magic, blocking anypony from Equestria from coming to Earth. As for other dimensions, she didn't really care. All that mattered to her was getting even with the magical alicorn. "She and her friends waltz in, take over my town again, force me to run, get trapped on this world with apes with no hair, and now she's making me teleport across this world to get to her." She growled loudly through her teeth, "just you wait Twilight Sparkle! I'm coming for you and your friends!" Police Cars swarmed around her, but she disappeared from their view, but not before throwing them either onto their sides or their roofs. It was dark in the back yard of Matthew's house. Twilight and her friends stood ready while Matthew, Patrick, Ryan and Emily waited in the shadows. "This is insane," Emily whispered. "We came up to see an old friend, and now we're gonna have to fight a magical unicorn who hates Cutie Marks." "I know it's beyond weird, but what's worse, Miss Glimmer hurting them, or us making sure she can't hurt anyone else again?" Patrick raised an eyebrow at her. "The latter," she answered. "Shh you two," Ryan whispered, "there she is!" With a pop of magic, the unicorn of their discussion appeared. She stared down at the six ponies, all the while, the humans kept their weapons pointed at her. "Starlight, please stop this," Twilight begged as she stepped forward. "You've had to spend so long outdoors and alone. You're probably also hungry." "That doesn't bother me!" snapped the angry unicorn. "All I care about is making sure you don't stop me again!" "We're all a long way's off from Equestria," Twilight continued, " so how can you really do what you want to do if we're all here on Earth?" She showed a caring smile and extended out her hoof, "please Starlight, help us get home, then we can all be with our loved ones. Wouldn't you like that?" There was silence from the unicorn. "Maybe this will work," Emily whispered. "Go home? Be with loved ones?" "Yes," Twilight nodded. "I bet you're longing to see them." Starlight Glimmer started to laugh, but not in a cheerful manner. It was more like a sinister kind of way. "Or perhaps not," Emily groaned. "You foolish Alicorn, I have no one to go back to! As for being away from Equestria, it don't bother me, as long as I never have to see anymore of those cutie marks! As for you six, well-" she paused as her horn glowed, "I'll make sure you never stand in my way again!" And she fired magic off at the six ponies. Twilight fell back, but luckily, Fluttershy caught her. "It was a good plan, but she's too stubborn." "Well luckily, so are we," smirked Applejack. She looked up to Rainbow Dash, "ready for this?" "Oh yeah, let's kick her sorry flank!" As they charged in, Matthew aimed his paintball gun, "smile now you son of a-" and he fired off his paintballs, which caught Starlight Glimmer's attention. She tried to stop them, but they still got through, and because she was focusing on them, she didn't notice Applejack or Rainbow Dash coming in and punching her so hard that she went flying. She went a short distance before landing at the foot of the driveway. "Okay, so they got help. Now where are-" But she never finished that thought as more paintballs fired at her, followed by magical beams of magic and some hoof punches. Across the street, the neighbor was curious as to what was going on. They left their house and looked as best as they could. They almost reached the edge of their driveway, when they saw magical beams of magic and a unicorn pony. "What in the world?!" they shirked. This however caught the attention of Starlight Glimmer. Her horn started to glow as she focused on the neighbor. Matthew saw this and shouted out, "leave them alone!" Starlight turned and saw Matthew coming out of his hiding spot. She smirked, "there you are. Think you were smart there huh? Well I'll teach you!" And she fired off her magic right at Matthew, only to be blocked by Twilight's magic. "Find a hiding spot, and don't let her see you!" Twilight cried. Matthew nodded and went to find a different spot, which was difficult as there was nothing but open area between the bushes he was hiding behind and his garage. The neighbor meanwhile had run back into the house and was calling the police. "I don't know what's going on over there, but I've seen explosions. Please send help." "We're on our way," came the reply. With nowhere to really hide, Matthew had no choice but to start firing everything he could at Starlight Glimmer. Sadly, since she could see him, she was able to stop him. Applejack and Rarity stayed with him, "Sugarcube, did you plan on a back-up plan?" "No AJ, I did not. Luckily she doesn't know where the others are." Starlight stopped, causing everyone to look to her confused. Her horn lit up, and moments later, Ryan, Patrick and Emily were lifted out of their hiding spots and thrown to the nearby farmer's field. "Then again, I could be wrong," Matthew groaned. "Right, I'm done playing Miss Nice Pony with this monster!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "I'm going after her!" "Rainbow wait!" Twilight shouted. It was too late. Rainbow Dash charged in at Starlight Glimmer, only to get hit by her magic and thrown into a tree. She shouted; "I'm okay!" though it sounded like she wasn't. Twilight looked at Starlight Glimmer angerly. "I've tried to reason with you, I've tried to help you, but if all you want to do is fight, then you got a fight!" Her horn lit, and both unicorn and alicorn fired off their magic at each other. Sparks flew from all directions as their magic duel went on. Ryan, Patrick and Emily ran over to Matthew, "well that went well, got anymore ideas?" "Yeah, hit her now while she's distracted." The four humans took up their positions and fired off all the paintballs they had in their paintball guns. It didn't work though as Starlight Glimmer somehow blocked them. "Blast!" Matthew groaned as he stopped firing. He then felt a tap on his shoulder, "uh Matthew Darling," Rarity called out, "are those people suppose to be here?" He looked confused, until she pointed to the road and he saw a dozen or so police cars coming up, followed by news reporters and civilians. "No they aren't. Keep hitting her with everything you got! Fluttershy, Applejack, you're with me!" They made their way through the battle, somehow not getting hit in the process until they reached the front of the driveway. One officer saw his paintball gun and drew their own weapon, "put your weapon down and put your hands in the air!" "This is just a paintball gun!" Matthew shouted back. "I don't care what it is, put the weapon-" but the officer's words were cut off as an explosion was heard. Then two beams of magic shot towards them. Matthew and the ponies had to duck out of the way, and so did the officers. "Sir!" called a news reporter, "what is going on here?!" "Don't have time for this." Matthew turned to the officer, "if you really want to help, you can keep all these people back while we deal with a mad-pony!" "We will not, now on the ground!" Another explosion was heard, followed by Twilight's scream. Matthew glared at the officer, "protector of peace huh? If you don't start helping, we'll have your badge for this! Now keep them back!" A small stand-off occurred between them until the officer backed down. The officer turned to the people, "alright everyone, please move away! Nothing to see here!" "But there are explosions!" shouted the neighbor. "As I said, nothing to see here!" With the public dealt with, Matthew turned back to the fight. Rainbow Dash, who had finally climbed down from the tree, was seeing if Twilight was okay after going for a short flight. Ryan and Emily were firing at Starlight while Patrick tended to an injury on Pinkie Pie. Suddenly, Matthew noticed a two by four sitting nearby. He had used it recently to work on his fence, but forgot he had left it there. "Right, that pony's going to get it." He picked it up and charged in. With Starlight's focus on the others, she didn't see Matthew coming. He swung the two by four, and it hit Starlight hard, making her fall over. In Equestria, Celestia was trying again to open the portal to Earth. Finally with a cheerful shout; "I got it!" "Well then, what are we waiting for?" cheered Sunset, "let's go!" Magic engulfed all five figures in the room and they disappeared. Starlight Glimmer got to her hooves. She lifted one up to her mouth, only to discover a small patch of blood coming from her muzzle. "Okay, you hit me with a two by four. That got me. But not again human!" Matthew lifted up his paintball gun and aimed it, "let's put that theory to the test then." He charged in at her, firing off his gun and swinging the two by four, but she dodged them both. Of course she would, that was his plan. He ducked down, allowing Rainbow Dash and Applejack to hit Starlight again. Twilight walked over towards her, "please Starlight, none of this is necessary, just stop this pointless fighting and let's all go home together." She reached out her hoof, hoping this time Starlight Glimmer would except. The now injured unicorn stumbled a bit as she got back to her hooves. She looked Twilight dead in the eyes and shouted; "UP YOURS SPARKLE!" And she attacked Twilight again with a magical blast. "Twilight!" cried Fluttershy as she and Rarity ran to her aid. "That's it! I'm done playing games with you!" Matthew shouted. He ran over to his house, grabbed a second, but smaller, paintball gun and came back pointing it at Starlight Glimmer, "you want to hurt my friends, well then you'll have to deal with me!" And he fired all his paintballs at her, but of course, she blocked them as she could see them. "Did you really think that work?" "Nope, but that will!" he said, looking behind her. Ryan and Emily charged in with wood planks and smacked her with them, hurting her and making more blood come out of her mouth. "Had enough?" Matthew asked. "Not even close!" Starlight snapped and lifted Matthew up with her magic, "of all the two legged creatures of this world, you are by far the most annoying, now be off with you!" And she threw him, right into a tree. There was a shout of pain, followed by a crack that came from his backside. "MATTHEW!" his old friends shouted and ran towards them. Twilight had seen everything, and she had had enough! She turned to Starlight Glimmer, and with all the strength she had right then and there, she unleashed her magic on the unicorn. Sending her flying up and over Matthew's garage and into the nearby field. She ran after Starlight, shouting that she was not going to harm anymore of her friends. Pinkie Pie was the first to bounce over to Matthew, "can you get up?" she asked with worry. Matthew tried to get up, only to fall back down. "Nope, I'm down and my back is gone." "I can fix that," said Rainbow Dash. "Oh horseapples you will!" snapped Applejack, "I can fix him." Before both ponies could do anything, magic appeared around them, stopping them in their tracks. They looked back to see Rarity stopping them. "You'll do more harm than good. This isn't one of your competitions you know?!" Both ponies stopped, realizing she was right. She lowered them down to the ground, just as another explosion was heard, followed by shouts from Twilight. "I have to get back in there to help," Matthew groaned. "You can barely get up, how can you help?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Maybe we can offer some assistance," said a voice. All eyes looked to a bright light. They closed their eyes upon seeing it, and when it faded, five figures appeared, one of which was the owner of that voice; Princess Celestia.