//------------------------------// // The Battle of Ponyville! (Part III) // Story: The DisQord Continuum // by ZoidbergIsBestPony //------------------------------// The Battle of Ponyville! (Part III) “Errrgh!” Worf growled, flinging his opponent to the ground with his Bat’leth. His team had been attacked by a Bratak squad just outside of town looking towards the apple farm. They managed to kill two of Worf’s men thus far, with himself and two others remaining. His team members were laying cover fire with their phasers, which were promptly reflected off of the shields the soldiers carried in their hands. An arrow soared through the fight striking a female security officer through the neck. It had been sent by the squad’s leader who was monitoring the fight from behind. Worf, switching readily between his Bat’leth and phaser, fired repeated blasts towards the leader who shot the arrow. One of the shots struck another Bratak warrior in the face where there was no armor to protect him. He fell to the ground dead. Worf had switched his phaser setting to lethal due to the vast size of the creatures. Stun had zero effect on them. Just behind Worf, stood another soldier poised to strike. He swung his axe down, straight at Worf’s head. Worf saw the warrior’s reflection on the blade of his Bat’leth. Reacting swiftly, he stopped the swing of the warrior’s axe by thrusting his blade between them. Turning to face him, he then jabbed the long edge of the blade at the Bratak warrior’s chest sharply pushing him backward, followed by smashing the right end of the Bat’leth across his jaw breaking it, and finally stabbing him in the abdomen. The soldier fell to the ground at the same time Worf’s last remaining team member fell to one of the enemy leader’s deadly accurate arrows. The Bratak warrior had already lined up his next shot with Worf’s chest. Reacting quickly, Worf pulled his blade out of his former opponent, swinging just in time to smack the arrow off course breaking it apart so that it struck the ground in pieces. The arrowhead itself, sliced one of Worf’s fingers as it was deflected. It started to bleed, but it was not serious enough for Worf to even notice it dripping down. It was down to the two of them. The leader looked around at Worf’s work of his men with respect. He threw his bow and shield off to the side. Worf reciprocated, placing his phaser on the grass below him. “I like you, warrior!” the leader spoke. “I am Bot’nar, Chief Ogrum under the Bratak Emperor. Let us settle this the way proud warriors should!” He unsheathed a four foot double-ridged sword. It was made of a bluish metal with a two pointed silver hilt in the shapes of faces screaming. Worf could see the blade had been sharpened to be razor thin at each ridge along the blade. It had the distinct signs of having fought many battles, yet shined like new. The soldier had put a lot of love into this weapon. “I am Lieutenant Worf of the United Federation of Planets. There is no need for us to fight. However, if necessary, we should fight and die with honor!” He raised his Bat’leth which showed just as much love and care. He spread his hands across the handles with the blade horizontal in front of his chest. He began twisting it around in a mesmerizing dance. Bot’nar too began spinning his blade, building momentum. They approached each other, slowly circling around, sizing each other up. Worf stood about one foot taller than the Bratak warrior. However, Bot’nar was at least a third larger in muscular girth. Their overall strength looked to be an even match. When they reached five feet from one another, they rushed in, thrusting their blades over their heads colliding between them. Sparks flew out where the blades had met. They pushed into each other in a show of strength. Worf appeared to have the upper hand as he pushed down against Bot’nar’s blade. Realizing this, Bot’nar pushed his hoof into Worf’s abdomen thrusting them apart. He quickly raced forward with his sword pointed out attempting to stab his opponent. Worf used his Bat’leth to hook the sword through one of its holes and twist it forcing the point to stab into the ground. Bot’nar stepped on Worf’s blade pulling his sword back out. He immediately thrusted it into Worf, stabbing his right arm as he attempted to dodge. Worf kicked Bot’nar separating them, pulling the blade from his arm and freeing his Bat’leth. Their blades quickly met again with Bot’nar striking down and Worf defending, the Bat'leth held horizontally in front of him, holding up his opponent’s strike. His right arm weakened from the wound, Worf quickly used his legs to compensate and give extra strength as he thrust his blade upward. He then spun his blade to the left, smacking Bot’nar across the face; which was immediately followed up with the other side; finally slicing the Bat’leth across his neck. Bot’nar’s severed head rolled in the grass. His body immediately followed, collapsing to the ground. “You fought honorably,” Worf said to his now deceased opponent. Turning towards the open field leading to the farm, he saw a tremendous battle unfolding. Hundreds of animals were charging out from the forest, towards a large group of soldiers. They were being led by a yellow pony with a pink mane and wings. Leaving his fallen teammates behind for now, he headed out, to join the battle. * * * Arrows soared across the sky towards the animals charging out from the Ever-Free forest. The deadly projectiles headed straight for their targets, one striking a large brown bear in the shoulder. The rest never landed. Birds in the sky began zipping down and snatching them right out of the air. The bear simply brushed the arrow off his thick fur as if a small annoying bug had bit him. The animals continued forward unimpeded. The soldiers got into formation to deflect the incoming enemy. Their swords pointed out from their shields to strike the first in line. As the animals charged with Fluttershy leading in the front, flying with at least 5.6 wingpower, small furry balls started soaring just over the heads of the front line. A dozen flying squirrels had been launched by several larger animals ahead of the charge. Upon reaching the front line, they released their payload of acorns onto the enemies’ heads, quickly veering away from the other soldiers. While not being able to do any real damage, it had the perfect effect of getting the warriors in the front line to look up just as the animals plowed into them. Their guard down, the front line was decimated in an instant. Fluttershy jumped onto one soldier, grabbing his helmet and pulling it down over his eyes. “You hurt my friends, YOUR TIME ENDS!!!” She screamed in a sudden resurgence of Iron Will’s ‘New Fluttershy’ persona. She dodged the soldier’s blind axe swings, grabbed it from him, and spun it around striking the soldier in his helmet. It echoed inside like a bell ringing so loudly the soldier collapsed to the ground unconscious. Snakes slithered through the grass striking soldiers in areas with no armor. Each bite released large doses of venom into them. Their bodies fell to the ground paralyzed, unable to move. The brown bear continued plowing through soldiers swiping his big arms lifting them off the ground and throwing them into the air landing on top other warriors. The birds in the sky continued to deflect any arrow that was launched and dove at warriors caught unaware, scratching their eyes, rendering them blind. One soldier managed to catch Fluttershy unaware as she lashed out at another. He swung his axe down with enough force to slice her in half. A Bat’leth blocked the strike at the last second. Worf threw the axe with his blade back at the soldier striking him in his helmet. The warrior was knocked out cold by the blow. Fluttershy turned, nearly striking Worf, before realizing who he was. “You fight well, pony,” Worf curtly complimented. Fluttershy’s rage was momentarily interrupted by Worf’s words. “Oh…Um…Thank you…,” she said with a small shy smile. It did not last long however, as a soldier pushed Fluttershy down to the ground unintentionally, while backing away from a fight with a particularly angry bull. “You get me bruised, I MAKE YOU LOSE!!!” she screamed, grabbing the warrior by the back of his pants. She lifted him a foot off the ground with her wings and hurled him towards the bull, who used his horns like a shovel to scoop him and fling him off into the distance. Steam blew out of his nostrils as the bull grunted in triumph. Worf had never seen anything so…‘cute’…be so formidable. He proudly fought alongside Fluttershy throughout the battle. The Bratak soldiers were rapidly overwhelmed and were eventually completely overrun as Fluttershy, Worf, and the animals charged toward the area the soldiers were coming from, Applejack’s family farm. * * * The last group of Bratak warriors in town was now within sight of the Ponyville library. They ran straight towards it with no obstacles blocking their path. Within twenty feet of the door, the entire front line, all of the sudden, stopped mid-run, tripping over and falling to the ground. Looking at what literally stopped them in their tracks, they saw their hooves glued to the ground in a rainbow-colored gel. It took their full strength to pry themselves off and stand back up. Once again beginning the charge toward the library, the same rainbow gel struck several warriors in their faces. Behind large fake bushes that had been setup next to the library, fifteen “Pinkie-Cannons” were hiding, armed with pie-tins filled with Zap-Apple Jam. Zap-Apple Jam may be most well known as ‘The best tasting jam in Equestria’, but it is also well known as ‘The stickiest, hardest to get out, jam in Equestria’. With faces full of jam, the soldiers were blinded. Their hands became glued to their faces, trying to pry the jam away. The five or six warriors who made it through without being pie'd were again impeded by a second line of jam hidden in the ground. Applejack, a few volunteers, and the rest of the Royal Guard who remained at the library to protect the princess, simply walked up to the soldiers on the ground and slapped jam pies into their faces. “Applejack to Pinkie,” she happily called into the communicator. “Your crazy plan worked! They’re all stuck! Yeeeee-haaaaahh!!!!!” She threw her Stetson hat into the air in celebration. “Yay, Applejack!” Pinkie said over in the town hall. “Now we need to get to your farm and make that big baddy smile!” “We’re on our way now!” Applejack replied laughing. Pinkie’s smile quickly faded when she looked over at Twilight, who was still beside herself. She was lying on a sheet, hugging her tail, crying. “Doctor! We need help over here!” one of the Royal Guard called out, as the doors to the town hall swung open. Two guards had brought Shining Armor in and laid him on the first available empty sheet on the floor. Dr. Crusher rushed over examining the wound. “He’s going to be okay, all his organs are intact. I’ve sedated him for now. He’ll need to be operated on to close up the wound, but for now, the nurse here will cover him with bandages.” The pony nurse standing next to the doctor started to wrap Shining’s shoulder with cloth she had made into bandages from donated sheets. There were not enough bandages available to help so many patients, but the ripped cloth would suffice. Dr. Crusher had only enough time to make quick assessments on the incoming wounded, as so many critically injured patients required her immediate attention. Pinkie saw the commotion and spotted Shining Armor. “Twilight! Your brother is here! He’s OK! Shining’s OK!” she said shaking Twilight, trying to get her attention. “Shining…No…Dead…My brother is dead…” Twilight cried and hugged her tail tighter. Rainbow Dash saw Shining too and went to Twilight to get her to snap out of it. “TWILIGHT LOOK!!!” she screamed, grabbing Twilight by her head and picking her up off the sheet. The pain it caused was enough to break Twilight’s trance. “Ow ow ow! Rainbow, stop! You’re hurting me!” She said trying to pry Rainbow’s hooves off her head. It was just long enough for Twilight’s eyes to catch sight of her brother. “Shining?…SHINING!!!” she screamed at the sight of her brother. She raced to his side and hugged him. “Is he…Is Shining going to…” she tried to get the words out. “He’s going to be fine, Twilight,” the nurse pony said. The nurse happened to be one of the same ponies who cared for Rainbow Dash when she had broken her wing. Twilight thanked the nurse again and again. Tears of happiness streaked down her sides dripping onto Shining’s bandages. “Twilight…you okay now?...” Rainbow hesitantly asked. Twilight quickly wiped her tears away. She stood up from her brother’s side and turned to face Rainbow and Pinkie Pie. “Let’s end this horrible war once and for all!” She said with renewed confidence. Pinkie quickly got Twilight up to speed on all that had happened. Geordi heard back from Worf and explained how Worf and Fluttershy, with the help of the animals from the Ever-Free forest, were on their way to the farmhouse. “Pinkie…You’re incredible!” Twilight said in awe of how much she accomplished. Pinkie simply shrugged and laughed, Twilight joining in the laughter. Twilight did not know what to make of Fluttershy joining the fight. Nor did Pinkie or Rainbow, but with the last of the warriors to fight all located at the farm, they got themselves together and started to make their way over. Rarity and Applejack headed over from their positions as well. * * * Captain Picard and Princess Celestia continued to watch the progress of the game on the screen Discord had set up for them in the library. They were happy to see that the tables had turned, and it looked as though the game would be coming to an end soon. “What a show, what a show!” Discord sang with his hands raised in the air, dancing in celebration. He wore a lei around his neck and a Pink flower by one horn to add to the flair. “Q, do you realize how many beings died today? How many of my men? How many ponies? This has to stop!” Picard raged at Discord, who finally stopped dancing. “Oh, you’re no fun!” Discord frowned, crossing his arms. His costume decorations vanished. All that remained was the Starfleet uniform he enjoyed wearing so much. “Discord, we have already beaten you!” said the princess. “End this game now and do no more harm to everypony else. I beg you.” “Hmmm…a princess begging me is a rare thing indeed! ...” He leaned over to Picard whispering, “Well…not THAT rare!” He winked at the captain who scoffed at him, as he was in no mood for his oafish jokes. Speaking to the group again Discord said, “You may be close to the end of this game, but the real test has just now started!” Without explaining what he meant, Discord once again vanished leaving the pair of them with naught to do but to continue watching the screen. * * * Everyone/everypony gathered just outside the farmhouse. The last of the guards were quickly subdued, leaving only the leader of the Bratak residing inside. Commander Riker recommended trying diplomacy first. He called out to the leader inside, “Your men have been defeated! You are alone. Surrender and we promise to negotiate for your people’s survival!” No sound could be heard coming from the farmhouse. With a nod from Commander Riker, Lieutenant Worf approached the front door slowly. He found the door to be unlocked. He started to slowly pull the door open keeping his phaser at the ready. It had barely opened an inch, when the entire door burst off its hinges, taking Worf with it. He flew several feet back smacking the ground hard with the door landing on top of him. Geordi rushed over and lifted the door off of him. Worf was knocked out cold. The Bratak leader stepped forth from the farmhouse. In one hand was a massive spiked metal ball attached to a chain. It was large enough and heavy enough to take out the door and Worf in one hit. Riker and Geordi reached for their phasers, firing at him. With his other hand, he quickly maneuvered his shield in front of himself, easily deflecting their shots with it. Swinging his massive war flail around, it flew across Riker and Geordi’s path, shattering both of their arms, in a single swipe. They fell to the ground with massive injuries to their hands and forearms. Dr. Crusher would have to repair them from scratch. Their phasers were completely destroyed. Looking at the animals and ponies before him, the warrior let out a massive roar that sent every last animal fleeing in terror. Only Twilight and her friends remained present and unharmed. “You won't scare us!” Twilight screamed. “No matter what, we will stop you!” The leader roared again. His voice echoed through the trees creating a stadium effect that made it all the more terrifying to hear. Five of the ponies shrank backward in fear. Fluttershy remained. She hadn’t even flinched. Despite all that had happened, Fluttershy's fury and animosity had passed. She stared at the warrior, not with hate in her eyes, but compassion. “You have nothing to fear from us!” she called out to him. “Why must you continue to try and kill all of us?” The Bratak leader wouldn’t speak. He continued to growl as he swung his weapon around trying to hit Fluttershy. She swiftly dodged his attack using her wings with no difficulty. “You’ve lost the fight already… Why not return home to your family?” she continued to try to reason with the warrior. Finally he spoke. His voice was deep, loud, and gurgled, like a bull frog talking into a megaphone. “Go home? …MY FAMILY!? ...Thanks to you sick creatures, my home will be destroyed, and my family with it!!!” he screamed, once again swinging his massive war flail at the yellow Pegasus. Fluttershy quickly dodged again, the spiked ball slamming into the ground, shaking the earth beneath everypony. “Why would that happen?” Fluttershy asked genuinely concerned. “That creature showed us! A massive burning rock is going to hit our world, killing everyone!” His anger was peaking. With his options diminishing, he was becoming even more dangerous. Geordi who had heard about the meteor when Q explained it to them, struggled to regain enough composure to call out. “..we…We can help!” He was too weak to get up off the ground. The Bratak leader looked at the wounded human. “What can YOU do?” His anger and distrust made him wary. But with his men defeated, his eventual defeat was now inevitable. “Our ship…we can…destroy…meteors…save your people!” Geordi explained panting from the blood-loss. “Why would you help me human? We just killed your people, and I just smashed your hand!” “Because…it was Discord… who did this…not…you…We can…help!” Geordi continued to get weaker. He and Will needed medical attention fast. “Will you swear it with your blood human?” “I haven’t got much left, …but… I swear it!” The Bratak leader looked around. Everypony looked at him with hope in their eyes. Seeing no alternative, and a possible hope for the rescue of his family and people, he finally said, “I…sigh…yield” in a subdued, defeated voice. He let the handle of his weapon fall from his hands to the ground. Twilight and her friends cheered, thanking the Bratak leader. They hugged each other and rejoiced at the end of the war. “Well done! WELL DONE, my little ponies!” Discord cheered, appearing alongside them, clapping. “You’ve captured their leader and doomed their people to death. Oh well done, indeed!” “No, we haven’t” Twilight said. “Geordi and Riker will save them and their world!” “Oh they better not!” Discord warned. “If they do, you will have lost this little game and you yourselves will be eliminated in their place!” “NO!” everypony cried in unison. “You can’t do that!” Twilight said “We made a promise!” “And no pony breaks a Pinkie-Promise!” Pinkie Pie yelled. “I’m sorry, but you need to make a choice, girls: them or you; you or them.” They all stared daggers at Discord. The Bratak leader stealthily picked up the handle of his flail and swung it at the infuriating monster. Discord swiftly phased out and back again, allowing the spiked ball to fly straight across without hitting anything. It quickly wrapped around the Bratak leader finally smashing into his own skull. He fell to ground, dead. “NOW MAKE YOUR CHOICE!” Discord screamed, his eyes turning red. Twilight looked from Rarity, to Pinkie, to Rainbow, to Applejack, to Fluttershy. They all nodded simultaneously in silent agreement. All of them hastily grabbed their Elements of Harmony they had hidden away and put them on. “Oh not this old thing again…” Discord faked a sigh loudly. “You know that never really worked right?” Twilight, after putting on her crown, clicked her communicator pin. “Twilight to Data! Are you ready?” “Data here, ready when you are.” “Fire!” Twilight screamed. She waited…and waited…but nothing happened. “Fire…what exactly, my dear Twilight?” Discord asked smiling. “Having trouble talking to the ship? “Twilight to Data…Data…Respond!...” Twilight looked at everypony nervously. Their plan didn’t work. “Now what do we do?” they all thought. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw Lieutenant Worf, who had regained consciousness, crawl up to Discord with something in his hand. He looked at her and winked. Clicking her pin again, she yelled, “Twilight to Data, Fire!” “Acknowledged,” Data successfully answered. “WHAT?” Discord yelled, genuinely shocked. “How could…?” He turned around to see Worf holding one of the MCP Shielding devices they had created. “Give me that you…” He struggled to pry the device from Worf’s hand with great difficulty. The device had successfully rendered Discord powerless. Discord turned to face the mane six just as a massive beam of energy struck them from the sky. Tens of trillions of monoceros particles, which had been collecting in the Enterprise’s Main Deflector Array over the last thirty-seven hours, were now pouring directly into Twilight’s horn. The energy instantly activated the Elements of Harmony; all six ponies glowing with a massive aura unlike anything anypony had ever encountered in living memory. Firing directly at Discord, his body started turning back into stone. He struggled to free himself and get away. “Wait! Let’s talk about this! Stop!…DON’T!!…NO!!!...PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!!” he screamed just as his head returned to a marble state. But the energy flow did not stop. It kept pouring into Discord. His marble body started to crack. Lines started appearing all over his stone body, spreading like branches of a tree. Twilight heard Discord's plea. She saw the cracks spreading throughout his marble body. She struggled to end the spell but found she could not. The cracks continued to spread until the they finally interlocked together and... The Discord statue exploded, sending marble debris flying everywhere. The Elements did not cease, but continued to remain active; the aura surrounding the six ponies steadily growing. Riker clicked his communicator with his left hand. “Riker to …Data…Shut off the Deflector Array!” Despite Data’s attempts to shut off the beam, more and more particles continued to flood into Twilight’s horn. “Data to Commander Riker, unable to comply. There is a feedback loop in the array that is preventing me from shutting down the flow of particles.” Twilight began floating even higher above the group. Magical energy could be seen emanating out of every orifice of her body. Her eyes were lit up like spot beams. She started screaming in pain. “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!” In a bright flash of light, Twilight vanished from the sky.