//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 - Admiral Producer // Story: 40 Years // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// “Shields, now!!” Twilight ordered using the Royal Canterlot Voice, her command reaching the entire army of ponies behind her. Without missing a beat, the unicorns collectively nodded and threw up their shields as a torrent of fire rained down towards the ground. The many auras of magic combined together to generate a massive rainbow dome around the entire area. The flames hit the top, but were unable to penetrate it and soon sizzled into nothing. Grogar roared and tried again, shooting one ball of fire after another. He screamed with unrelenting fury with each attempt, the sheer bravery of his combatants frustrating him further and further. He had never seen such defiance on a level like this before. After the ninth attempt, the shield broke and he launched himself at the ponies, intending to crush them once and for all. The ponies scattered into several different directions as he hit the ground face first. He stood up, shaking the leaves and branches off of his face. He roared and charged after the earth ponies, only to be met by a barrage of pegasi blocking his path. Led by Rainbow Dash, they held them back, grunting as he fought against them. He bucked and growled, eventually sending them tumbling through the sky. “Clouds!!” Rainbow Dash commanded them. The pegasi reacted and flew up to the skies, grabbing multiple clouds of different shapes and sizes, before hurling them at him as hard as they could. With each cloud that landed in his face, Grogar was momentarily blinded each time, allowing two herds of earth ponies to charge in and take turns bucking him across the field. He teleported away from them, only to be met by more unicorns. A squad led by Minuette blasted him across the field, scorching the ground beneath him and setting it ablaze. Grogar was on his hooves in an instant once more as the unicorn squad charged at him again. Reacting quickly, he blasted them all back with a powerful beam of yellow magic, sending them flying in opposite directions and landing with a thud. “You have exhausted my patience,” he seethed. “I offered you a chance to surrender. But know now, that even as I do this, this is me being reasonable.” His body shimmered with golden energy as he prepared to fire a lethal blast of energy. However, just as he was about to do so, he was tackled from behind by Sunny in her alicorn form. She blasted a powerful beam of yellow magic at Grogar, but he anticipated her move and threw up a shield. He then proceeded to pick her up with his magic and throw her all the way across the field where she landed in the dirt. Sunny groaned, her forehead beginning to bleed with the massive gash she had received upon impact. She gritted her teeth and pulled herself up, feeling an extreme amount of pain as she did so. She blinked back tears and launched herself at the demonic ram once again. The two engaged in a tustle on the ground, both trying to get the upper hand by beating each other up with their hooves. She clawed at his face and in response, he grabbed her in a chokehold by the neck using his magic. She struggled and twisted in his grasp, only to be rewarded for her futile efforts by being thrown in the direction of the dirt once again. She coughed out blood and stood on trembling hooves once again, now severely weakened from all the fighting. “Son of a bitch…” she cursed. Within seconds, he had her underneath his weight, hitting her over and over multiple times across the face. She cried out in pain as he did so, her pleas only making his sadistic smile grow wider. She screamed as she slowly felt herself slipping from consciousness. It was at this moment that Twilight reacted. Together with Misty, the two ponies pounced on Grogar, knocking him off the orange earth pony. He snarled and threw Misty off him as the unicorn attempted to hit him back. She was sent barreling into Pipp and both of them toppled like dominos. Twilight then punched Grogar into the sky before flying up to meet him. The two titans pummeled at each other, engaging in an all out aerial battle. Grogar levitated himself using his magic in order to keep himself from falling back down, all the while reading his hoof back to deliver a devastating blow. Twilight noticed this action and charged up her horn, emitting a pinkish yellow aura that she prepared to throw at him. With a loud cry, she launched a beam just as Grogar launched his. The two beans collided, creating an explosion of energy that knocked them both out of the sky. As Twilight began to fall, she caught herself and flew down towards her opponent, landing on his chest and hitting him over and over until they both landed on the ground. Twilight skidded her hooves to avoid falling and then punched Grogar again. The ram landed several feet away and opened his eyes, only to be met by a barrage of magic beams sent hurling his way by several unicorn citizens. It was then that Glory and Starlight ran up from behind with their attacks. Starlight's eyes were filled with anger as she sent a massive blast of magic hurling at Grogar, sending him flying for several miles. She took a deep breath, only to see the ram reappear in front of her in an instant, hitting her across the neck. She felt her neck bone snap and she cried out as she caught in his grip. He then proceeded to blast a massive beam of magic at her chest. Starlight screamed as she was caught in the magical grip once again, now inches away from the ram’s face. Grogar smiled. “Die with the knowledge that you tried.” It was then that he sent her flying several meters into the air. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she spiraled through the clouds. As the air became thinner and she began to suffocate, she thought she was going to die. But it was right at that moment when Rainbow Dash rocketed into the sky after her faster than the speed of light. As she soared after the lavender unicorn, the air in front of her began morphing into a cone shape before it exploded into a Sonic Rainboom. With a rainbow contrail streaming behind her, she caught the panicked Starlight in her hooves as she flew back towards the ground. The rainbow ring expanded out behind them as they headed downwards. As Dash landed, wings folding, Twilight disengaged with Grogar, who was still being distracted by the other unicorns, and ran up to see if her apprentice was okay. “Starlight!!” Twilight cried. “Oh please be okay, please be okay, please be okay…” That was when eyes fluttered open and she weakly croaked out: “T-Twilight?” Twilight’s eyes were full of worry. “I’m here, Starlight! I’m here!” She turned towards Dash. “Put pressure on the wound, she’s bleeding out!” Dash nodded, lowering her towards the ground and putting her hooves on the massive hole in the unicorn’s chest. All the while, Twilight kept shaking her head and pleaded for her not to die. After a while, the bleeding stopped and Starlight looked up at her former mentor, coughing out tiny pools of blood as she did so. “T-Twilight…I-I think I’m d-done…” “Yes, yes, you are done.” Twilight agreed. “You did well, you can rest. You can rest. Please…rest your voice.” “N-no, T-Twilight, I-“ “What is it?” Twilight asked, her voice growing increasingly more panicked. “I’m here, Starlight. You can tell me.” “I-I-I’m s-sorry f-for…” Starlight didn’t get to finish her sentence as that was the moment when her eyes rolled back and her head went limp in Rainbow Dash’s hooves, all the life having gone out of her. Rainbow Dash immediately knew what had just happened and she hung her head low in despair, mourning for the unicorn she had once called a friend. Twilight, however, wasn’t taking it well in the slightest. Upon feeling her former student again and realizing that the body was cold, her eyes went wide with horror. “No no…Starlight!!!!” She shrieked with grief and threw herself onto the unicorn’s lifeless corpse and sobbed relentlessly, feeling more helpless than she had ever felt in her whole life. “Don’t do this, Starlight! This is not okay! This is not okay! Please…” She shook with despair. Oh my student…no…” Sunny and Misty came up from behind and saw what was going on, dropping to their knees in sadness. Tears streamed down their cheeks as they watched Twilight grieve the loss of the pony she practically called her own. “Please, no…MY Starlight!!!!!” Twilight howled, collapsing to the ground and continuing to sob over and over. Sunny put her hoof around her idol, sharing in her grief. She let her own tears fall as well, which landed on Starlight's body, mixing in with the rapidly drying blood. If only they had been there to help. This wasn’t supposed to happen. How could they let Starlight take on Grogar like that? Why would they let one of their friends die? “You see what mess you have made, Twilight Sparkle?” Twilight looked up from the ground, her mane all covered in grass and leaves, her eyes still brimming with fresh tears. Grogar stepped towards her menacingly. He had already torn through the crowds of unicorns and many lay on the ground either injured or critically wounded. Some were even dead, their bodies impaled on the tips of magical javelins and spears that stuck out from the ground. He flicked pieces of pony flesh and meat off him casually, his face contorting into one of mock pity. “You knew you couldn’t defeat me. That’s why you needed the help of these pathetic weaklings from different universes!! You risked your home, the lives of your friends, to fight me!! You really gonna take the coward’s way out now that your student is dead?” Twilight punched at the ground, getting to her hooves. Her eyes were filled with a murderous fury. Her heart was now as black as stone. She felt nothing but anger and guilt. But most of all, she wanted to make that murderous scum of the earth pay for what he had done. “Twilight, no-“ Misty began to warn her. “No,” Twilight replied angrily, cutting both of her subordinates off. “I just want to kill you myself.” Sunny, Misty, and Rainbow Dash gasped at the statement, never expecting to hear such words coming from their friend. Grogar grinned maniacally. “‘Atta girl!!” He had her now, and there was nothing she could do about it now. At this point, it didn’t matter whether he lived or died. The whole world would now know how much of a fraud the Princess of Friendship was, having murdered her enemy in cold blood. In the end, he had won. Twilight launched herself at Grogar, pinning the ram onto the ground. With a loud yell, he blasted her back, but she got right back up again and before he could fire, she punched him several feet away. She teleported on top of him before he could even process what had just happened, proceeding to strike him across the face repeatedly. The more she kept at it, the stronger the blows got, the sheer force reverberating across the area. Purple blood squirted out with each punch as the Father of Monsters realized he had met his match. He tried conjuring up his magic again, but before he could do so, he was grabbed in a pink chokehold and shaken violently before tossed onto the ground again like a rag doll. He grunted and got back up, feeling his energy rapidly depleting with all the fighting he had been doing. From afar, Sweetie Belle and Gusty were watching the two go at each other with expressions of deep concern. They looked at one another and silently nodded, knowing what they had to do. Twilight’s punches were getting even more intense. She struck at the top of Grogar’s head, severing his middle horn and sending it falling towards the ground next to him. Blood sprayed out from where it broke. He cried out in anguish as a feeling of intense pain enveloped his body. His once cocky expression morphed into one of great fear as the Princess of Friendship then blasted a beam of magic at him, severing his left horn. He screamed as she did so, before they were abruptly cut off when she lifted him up by the neck with her hooves, carrying him into the air. Tears of grief and anger streamed down her face. Her horn emitting a purple and green, smoky aura, Twilight began conjuring up all of the dark magic she knew in order to finish the beast once and for all. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to tear him apart to pieces. She wanted him to feel the pain of several thousand ponies. As her pupils disappeared and her eyes turned completely green with smoke coming out of them, Grogar could not believe what he was seeing. This was the end. “D-do it!!” Grogar yelled between chokes and gags. “Finish it, Twilight Sparkle!! KILL ME!!!!! AND SHOW YOUR SUBJECTS WHO YOU TRULY ARE!!!” Meanwhile down below, Sunny witnessed what was going on and it was at that moment she knew that she couldn’t let her idol proceed with killing Grogar. The purple alicorn was on the brink of losing all grasp on reality and she couldn’t let that happen. Without a second thought, she flew into the air and got in front of Twilight right as she was about to cast the potentially lethal spell. Seeing somepony else blocking her way, Twilight stopped the spell, her eyes still filled with rage. Sunny said nothing, only looking at her with a look of deep sadness. Gradually, Twilight’s eyes returned to normal and she took a few deep breaths before her eyes went wide with terror upon realizing what she was about to do. The magical grip faded and Grogar dropped to the ground, landing face first in the dirt. “Twilight, you can’t do this.” Sunny pleaded with her. “You know [Starlight] wouldn’t’ve wanted to see you do this.” “But he-he killed her-“ Twilight started to say, tears welling up again. “I know,” Sunny replied solemnly. “And I wish we didn’t let Starlight fight him. But…you’re the Princess of Friendship, the ruler of Equestria. You always knew how to find a better way no matter what, you…you inspired me.” Twilight took a few more deep breaths and wiped her tears away. “You’re…you’re right, Sunny…I’m letting him win by doing this. This isn’t what she would’ve wanted…” She looked down at the evil ram below her. “If there’s one thing Starlight taught me…it’s that no creature is beyond redemption.” The two alicorns slowly flew back down towards the ground, where they found Grogar currently trapped in a giant magic bubble made up of all the surviving unicorns. Gusty, Twilight, and Sweetie Belle were leading them, with Misty and Sunburst not too far behind. Grogar shouted with rage and slammed himself against the bubble to no avail. He snarled upon seeing his two alicorn opponents come up to him. Twilight was the first to speak. “You know, you nearly had me, Grogar. I’d imagine that killing you is what you ultimately wanted of me. You wanted me to finish you off in order to prove a sick point about friendship. But you failed. I’ll never turn to the dark side. I will not stoop to your level.” “WHY NOT?!!” Grogar shrieked. “I KILLED YOUR PRECIOUS STARLIGHT!!!! YOU’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE HER AGAIN!!!” “True,” Twilight continued with hints of sadness in her voice. “But a future scholar of mine reminded me that I have a choice on how to respond. I can choose to let my anger drive me and become no better than you, or I can choose to rise above my grief and be the Princess she always knew I was, and respond with empathy, not rage. I think my answer is clear.” She turned her head to face Gusty. “Release him.” Gusty looked confused. “But Twilight, he’ll-“ “It’s his choice, Gusty.” Twilight informed her. “We’re going to let him decide on his own.” Gusty sighed and nodded to Twilight and Sweetie Belle. All at once, the unicorns terminated the spell and the magic bubble dissipated, allowing Grogar to step out and face them. “We will never forgive, nor forget what you have done,” Twilight told him firmly. “But we’re giving you the opportunity to leave. You’ve been critically injured due to our attacks and your power has been depleted to the point where it’ll take you years to recover. The Bell is ours. But we’re still offering you a chance to live and reflect on what your actions.” Grogar roared. “You can’t keep me away forever!!!!” “No,” Sunny agreed. “But we can keep you away from our friends. The choice is yours.” At that moment, every single remaining pony from each generation gathered in a defensive position behind her and Twilight, determined expressions on their faces. It was a magical moment, the very day that her father dreamed of had come true in a way she never expected; all ponies had united together in friendship regardless of what universe they were from. They were one. Realizing that they were serious and too tired to go on, Grogar knew what option to take. Using his remaining strength, he conjured up a weak teleportation spell and vanished from sight without another word, disappearing to parts unknown. Once he was gone, the ponies all breathed sighs of relief and hoof bumped each other, beaming with expressions of triumph and happiness. Many of them embraced one another and began to engage in excited chatter. Amidst all the commotion, Twilight stared off into the distance solemnly. Sunny came up next to her. “What’s wrong, Twilight?” Twilight looked back at her. “Oh, Sunny, I…” “Am I bothering you? I’m sorry. I know you’re thinking about-“ “Starlight?” Twilight blinked back tears. “Yeah, I am. I feel like I failed her as a mentor by letting her die. I know I’m going to have to bury her.” She looked back off into the horizon. “And we just let one of the most dangerous creatures of all time go. With alicorn magic in his system to boot.” Sunny nodded slowly. “Yeah, we did. But who knows? Maybe he’ll learn his lesson. I mean, the kindness we showed him was probably more than he ever got before in his life.” “We’ll have to hope so.” Twilight replied. “All I know is, Equestria will have to be on high alert for his return. Whenever that is…” “But are you sure you’ll be okay?” Sunny asked, her eyes still filled with deep concern. “It’ll take me a while to process…” Twilight admitted. “Starlight meant a lot to me. She was practically my own daughter with how close we were…I’m going to miss her so much…” “Well, at least you won’t have to go through that grief alone, right?” Sunny asked her, smiling slightly. “No,” Twilight answered, smiling back. “No, I don’t. Now I have more friends to help me deal with it than I realized. I’ll be okay, I promise.” She ruffled Sunny’s mane playfully. “You remind me a lot of her. Thanks for snapping me out of my rage. Just like Starlight did, you taught me an important lesson. I needed that.” “What are friends for?” “It was exactly what I needed. Now I guess we can relax.” “Yeah. Just as long there’s not this possibly bigger, other conflict we also have to worry about,” Sunny said jokingly. “That would be pretty lame.” Twilight laughed. “Yeah, that certainly would be-“ Then her face changed as she realized what was still going on. “Oh my Celestia! Sprout!! Hitch is probably still holding him off!” Sunny facehoofed. “I meant that as a figure of speech.” Twilight ran up to the assembled ponies and addressed them. “Friends, it’s not over yet! We need to help Hitch stop Sprout from starting the robot apocalypse!” With that, the ponies all galloped and trotted off into the distance with their final mission in mind. The day had not been won yet, but it would be soon. ——————————————————————————————————————————————— Deep within the darkest caves outside of Ponyville, Sprout Cloverleaf stood with his army of about a thousand robotic machines standing behind him. He had built the greatest army the world had ever seen and was about to show all those who had ever stood in his way what he was truly capable of. The universe would soon know his name. But right as he was about to activate his army and begin his long-awaited conquest, there was the sound of hoofsteps approaching behind him. “Enjoying your little robot party, Sprout?” His ears pricked up, detecting the sound of a familiar voice. He knew who it was. It was the stallion who had always stood in his way, the pony who had robbed him of his rightful destiny. He turned around, only to see Hitch standing behind him with a mischievous grin. “Well, it appears that we’ve gotten some neighborhood complaints.” “Excuse me?!” Sprout demanded. “What are you doing here, Hitch?!” Hitch smirked. “Party’s over, deputy.” Wasting no time, he reared his hood back and punched the red earth pony in the stomach, sending him flying back and barreling into about five robots, all of which collapsed on top of him in a pathetic heap of scrap metal. Sprout threw the discarded robot parts off of him and snarled, getting back up to his hooves. “You will not steal my victory away again, Hitch!” “Bring it on.” Hitch challenged him. “When we get back to Maretime Bay, you’re facing the death penalty.” “So be it!” Sprout yelled and launched himself at Hitch, who quickly reacted. Stepping off to the side, Hitch watched as his former deputy unwittingly hurl himself straight into a wall headfirst. “Oh wow. That was pathetic.” remarked Hitch, chuckling. “Fillies and gentlecolts, I present to you your new emperor!” Upon recovering, he glared daggers at Hitch. “That’s not funny!!” “Eh, I certainly thought it was.” “Well then,” Sprout said, smiling devilishly. “You want to see something not funny?! Well then, I got just the thing for you.” He pulled out a remote device that was hidden in his mane and pressed the red button in the center. “Execute Order 66.” Hitch cocked his head in confusion. “So you’re referencing Pony Wars now? I see.” But right as he said that, he noticed the robots were beginning to turn on. Their eyes glowed piercing red and they began to march in formation towards him. “How do ya like funny now, sheriff?!” Sprout asked, grinning from ear to ear as he saw his former superior back away in fear. “All hail Sprouticus! All hail Sprouticus! All hail Sprouticus! All hail Sprouticus!” The robots chanted in unison as they marched closer and closer towards him. Hitch swallowed hard. “On second thought…maaaybe Sunny was right about the ‘killing myself’ part.” The battle was on.