//------------------------------// // Royal vs Paulie; the last laugh // Story: The Ballad of Royal Blue // by PonyWithAPen //------------------------------// Paulie lay in a heap, partially embedded in one of the walls of the cave adjacent to Swelter Canyon. The changeling army still watched their fearless leader, having forgotten about the Mane Six. Twilight and the others relished every second of this unexpected rest. Royal had given his cape to Pinkie, a gesture that made the others smile and turn away, blushing. It was a nice moment of happiness in the midst of a battle which saw the fate of Ponyville and the surrounding area hang in the balance. The expression on Royal’s face hadn’t changed. Sure, he’d pulled out a one-liner, but his demeanor was as serious as it could be. Paulie began to stand up. “Oh, don’t get up. I’m serious. Don’t get up.” Paulie ignored the quip and got up, shaking his head. “I warned you!” Royal ran toward the stunned griffon and decked him once again. He did not stop there. The girls watched as their young friend hit the arrogant griffon with everything that he had. Royal was not holding back for anything. Scootaloo could have appeared and told him to stop and he probably would not have listened. He was paying Paulie back for everything he had done in the past several months. He kidnapped the Cutie Mark Crusaders and threatened them, he showed no hesitation in trying to kill Scootaloo, and now, he’d resorted to physically abusing one of the sweetest ponies in the entire world. In short, Paulie needed to die. No half-baked apology was going to cut it. Twilight turned to her friends. “Girls, get ready. It’s almost time.” Queen Chrysalis, who had been busy lounging around and waiting for her army to vanquish “those pesky little ponies” glanced over at her stunned troops. Needless to say, she was not happy. “Soldiers! Why are you standing around? There’s work to be done! Destroy Twilight Sparkle and her friends!” The command got the army’s attention, and they turned back to the resting Mane Six. Unfortunately, Pinkie was still out of commission. Applejack gently set her down. Keep resting, Pinkie. We need ya. The rest of the group resumed the battle with the changelings, but something was missing. That cheery demeanor pushing them onwards was resting with the injured, innocent pink pony. The group looked sluggish, and starting losing again as a result. Despite the anger in each of them, there was a lack of energy. Rainbow got decked by two changelings at once and began to slump towards the ground, defeated. However, she felt herself stop. She looked up. Gilda had caught her. “G…Gilda…” Rainbow stared in awe. “Hey, Dash. Got room for one more?” Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “You bet!” Gilda grinned as she turned her attention to the army. She was ready for action, and a chance to screw over her now ex-boyfriend. “All right. Time to bring it, Gilda Griffon style!” Paulie had finally come back to his senses and engaged Royal in combat. Unfortunately for him, this meant little more than simply blocking some of the blows being thrown his way by the angry stallion. He could muster no offense of his own at the moment. Royal seemed like an unstoppable machine. Royal finally unloaded one ultimate blow, comprised of all of the pent-up anger and sorrow he’d felt, which sent Paulie crashing into another wall of the cave. He looked ready to collapse, letting out a huge breath as he turned around to face the battle. He noticed Pinkie still resting in the corner. I’ll go watch over her until she feels better. As he made his way over to Pinkie, he saw that Gilda had joined the fight against the changelings. This put a big smile on his face. Darn…now I wish I hadn’t knocked Big Bird silly. I’d like to see the look on his face now. Good for you, Gilda. Royal finally made his way over to Pinkie and collapsed next to her. He’d poured most of his energy into pounding Paulie into the ground. He looked over at her, remembering he had given her his cape. Now that he’d leveled his arrogant foe, his #1 priority was protecting Pinkie and preparing to enter the battle against the changelings, if at all necessary. Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Scootaloo sat on Royal’s sofa, anxious about how the battle was going. She knew she would not find any news on the subject of this battle for a while. She hoped everyone was okay. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” the filly said. Apple Bloom was on the other side. “Hey Apple Bloom, what brings you here?” Scootaloo asked her friend. “Well, I just got to thinkin’ how you’re alone over here, and I was wonderin’ if you’d want to spend the night? Granny Smith said it’s okay! We can do some crusadin’ today, too!” Scootaloo cracked a smile. “Sure. I’d love to.” Apple Bloom could tell that her friend wasn’t feeling her best. There was a sense of emotionlessness in Scootaloo’s voice, rather than the usual enthusiasm she had. It was one of the many ways she had been told she was just like Rainbow Dash. “Okay then, let’s go!” Bloom said. Scootaloo nodded and grabbed her scooter. She needed something to take her mind off of her worries. As he watched the battle unfold before him, Royal could not help but think of everyone back home; both in Ponyville and his native Fillydelphia. He hoped they were doing okay and that he could help bring this premature takeover plan to a screeching halt. He had done his part, taking out the brawn of the operation. Now he watched over a still-resting Pinkie Pie as she got her strength back little-by-little. As soon as she was healed, Royal figured Twilight would bestow the Elements of Harmony upon her friends and that it would be curtains for the duo of Paulie and Chrysalis. “All right, girls! You’ve got ‘em on the ropes! Now let’s finish this and go home!” Royal acted as an entire cheer section for his friends as they fought on. However, he suddenly felt a violent shock go through his body. It was the same pain he’d felt when he was Paulie’s prisoner in the CMC kidnapping scheme some time earlier. The shock was powerful enough to cause him to rock backwards. Paulie then decked him from behind with a massive punch, causing him to crash into the nearest wall and slump to the ground. “Did you honestly think your weak little attack could topple me, Blue Boy? Now it’s my turn.” Paulie grabbed Royal and held him up, only to punch him and throw him back upon the ground. Applejack saw this change in momentum. Oh no! Royal’s in trouble! But I thought he’d beaten Paulie! Time to give him a helping hoof! AJ barreled her way through several changelings. Queen Chrysalis, who had done nothing but watch the entire scenario unfold before her, decided to spring into action at that very moment. She landed in front of AJ and surrounded her with more changeling soldiers. “Out of the way, queenie! I don’t have time for this!” Chrysalis grinned. “You’re not going anywhere! You and your friends ruined my wedding. It’s time for me to take my revenge!” Chrysalis created a barrier that split the room in half, separating the changeling battle from Royal and Paulie. “There! Now I’ve got all of you where I want you!” AJ was forced to resume fighting the changelings, only able to think about Royal’s predicament. Royal took another vicious hit from the enraged Paulie. This sent him sprawling to the ground once more. Royal noticed that he was now bleeding. This did not escape his opponent. “I’ve only hit you a few times, and you’re already bleeding. You’re softer than I thought. Killing you should be a piece of cake!” He decked Royal again, which only served to draw more blood. Paulie now had the young stallion backpedaling. “You were a fool to come back! I guess you’re just a glutton for punishment, aren’t you?” “You might kill me, Paulie…but your little plan is never going to work!” Royal grinned. Paulie started laughing. “Oh really? Tell me, pathetic blue punching bag, just how exactly is my plan going to fail?” Royal still smiled, despite his increasing pain. “Your plan was screwed the moment I got here.” Paulie’s eyes grew wide. “Then I know what I have to do!” He grabbed Royal, who wasn’t the fleetest of hoof at that moment, punched him several times, and threw him to the ground violently. Royal was now spitting blood. “You caught me off guard earlier. I can’t believe you were stupid enough to put everything you had into a wasted effort! I shall not waste mine. Die, Blue Boy!” He began firing his strange energy beams again and sending shock waves coursing through Royal’s body. Royal howled in pain. These were twice as painful as when Paulie tortured the young stallion while he was his prisoner. The screams of pain caught the attention of everyone on the other side of the barrier. “Those shock waves! Paulie’s gonna kill him!” Gilda said in horror. Rainbow watched, not believing what she was seeing. No! Little brother! You can’t…die! Rarity had tears in her eyes, as did Twilight and Fluttershy. Applejack was angry. She kept busting changelings left and right during the whole scene. Paulie gradually intensified the shock waves, causing Royal to writhe in pain. He had ravaged his voice from all of the yelling he’d done to showcase the pain he was in. It appeared it was all over for the kid from Fillydelphia. He was about to die protecting those who cared about. If it was any consolation, it was the hero’s way to go out. I guess this is it for me…if anypony can hear me right now…take good care of Scootaloo…tell her she’ll always be my little sister… Suddenly a blast emitted from the corner. Somehow, against all of the laws of physics, the blast tore a hole in Chrysalis’s barrier. It traveled further and struck Paulie in his back, causing him to stumble forward and cease his assault on Royal, who lay in a heap on the ground. Naturally, the griffon was confused and angry. Who could have possibly done this to him? Everyone in the area was either near death or fighting against the changelings. “Whoever did that is next in line to die after Blue Boy!” Everyone except Royal turned to see Pinkie Pie, hobbled as she was, smirking as she leaned against her most trusted weapon; her party cannon. “Did someone call for a party?” Paulie’s jaw dropped. “Her??? She shot me? But she’s supposed to be the nice one! She’s vulnerable and weak! How could she have shot me?” Paulie, given the power to pass through the barrier, did so and approached Pinkie. She had the cannon pointed right at him. “I’m not as weak as you think, Mr. Griffon! All I want is to see my friends smile. But you took that away from them! You also hurt my #1 protector! All bets are off!” To this, Paulie laughed and reached for her. “We’ll see how confident you are when I crush what’s left of your essence!” He tried to grab her again, but he was met with Pinkie’s own barrier; the shield which emitted from Royal’s cape. Paulie, having only encountered this shield once before, decided to try every trick in the book to get around it and get at Pinkie. He tried scratching a hole in it, but he nearly ripped the nails from his talons. He tried pounding on it like one would pound on anything to try and break it, but the first attempt sent pain shooting through his right talon. Royal, who had recovered enough to turn his head to the side, watched Paulie and chuckled to himself. He had recently modified his cape to increase its strength. He’d done it before his trip to Canterlot, which explained his ability to use it without draining any of his own energy when he rescued Vinyl in that bar. He had spent several nights at the library studying new ways to modify his cape with Twilight’s help. Now, with someone like Pinkie Pie wearing it, it would never run out of energy. Paulie could keep at it for an eternity and he would never win. That’s why I gave it to her. Now join the rest of the girls and get this thing over with. Paulie stormed back through the barrier and grabbed Royal, violently choking him. “What is with that cape? Tell me!” Royal, knowing he was likely about to die, knew he had to choose his next sentence wisely. “I…foolproofed…it…” he quipped. Paulie threw him to the ground again. He had gone insane with rage. “You know…if you keep…me in here…Pinkie’s just gonna…keep shooting…you…” Paulie, who had begun to prepare for more “shock therapy,” stopped. He realized Royal was correct. “You’re right…I know exactly where to take you!” Paulie grabbed Royal and spread his wings, leaving the cave and flying up the side of Swelter Canyon. Gilda, who had seen her former boyfriend leave, slipped away from the battle and approached Pinkie. “Oh, hi Gilda!” Despite the encounter they’d had a year ago, Pinkie still greeted her as if she was a friend. “No time to explain, Pink. If you can, get back in the battle. I have to go!” Gilda left before Pinkie could speak with her some more. “Okay Pinkie Pie, you have to do this! For your #1 protector!” She aimed her party cannon right at Chrysalis. Royal sat in Paulie’s grasp, hanging hundreds of feet above the lava that ran through Swelter Canyon. Paulie looked down at him, grinning. “So tell me again, you pathetic worm…how is it exactly that my plan is destined to fail?” Royal took a deep breath and sighed heavily. He knew it would eventually come to this. He had to tell his potential killer everything. “Well? I’m waiting! Speak up, Blue Boy! How is my plan going to fail?” Paulie, knowing he was in complete control of his young rival’s life, started laughing maniacally. He knew nothing could touch his mission to take over Equestria, and he was ready to have Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance bow to him. And all he had to do was eliminate one blue pest. It was too easy. Or was it?