Chapter 23 False Minds And True Hearts
Applejack leading the team stormed into the missile chamber and never hesitated to gasp in shock, gazing at the gigantic missile which was emitting smoke and other fumes from the bottom, it was going to launch soon. An automated voice spoke over the intercom, "Project: meteor initiation to launch in 15 minutes and counting..."
Applejack stepped forward, "Cmon everypony! Half of ya'll go with Twilight, half of ya'll come with me and RD. Let's get to it!"
The team dispersed into the two groups and galloped on. Rainbow Dash and Applejack's half dealt with the rest of Nova's army while Twilight and her team tried to make their way to deactivate the rocket. There were dogs surrounding the missile, protecting it from Twilight's hooves. If she could get to the controls, she knew how she could stop it but it would require a great effort. They were now out numbered and the odds were stacked against them. But with a determined effort, she lead her team to take on the pack of dogs. Everypony brawled and fought around, grappling with the mutts.
Meanwhile, Applejack and Rainbow Dash strayed away from their half of the team and found the stairwell down to the dungeon. They nodded to each other and started descending slowly, being cautious of any traps and tricks Nova might have in store for them. They got down to the door and peered through the window. With delight, they see the figures of a yellow Pegasus and a pink pony then burst through the door, "Pinkie Pie! Fluttershy! We finally found you!" shouted Rainbow Dash joyfully.
There was no response. The two mares were facing the wall, standing inside their cells. AJ and Rainbow felt uneasy but proceeded further to confront them, "Uh Girls? Are ya'll ok? It's us. Applejack and Rainbow Dash..."
Again no reaction as the nervous ponies approached the cells, then the lights suddenly brightened and Dash and Applejack turned to the door. They glared at the figure standing next to the door. Nova Sparks laughed, "Ah Looks like you've finally found your friends. Wonderful, the girls have been dying to meet with you two once again."
Applejack snapped at the villain, "Nova! Get our friends out right this minute! Er else were gonna have to get really ugly..."
Sparks huffed at them as his glasses reflected in the light like before, "As if things aren't ugly enough as they are, plus the cells are already unlocked. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with destiny. I think in another...10 minutes? Meteor will be flying through the sky...Have fun ladies..."
He shut the door behind them and went back up the stairs. Applejack ran and tried to catch the evil pony but when she tried to open the door, it wouldn't open. She pulled and pushed and it wouldn't budge. She threw down her hat in anger, "That coward locked the door on us!"
Dash shook her head, "Well let's hurry up and find a way to open it quick. Were wasting time! Come on girls...Fluttershy? Pinkie?...Girls?"
The catatonic ponies turned around and stared into their eyes, smiling demonically. Rainbow backed away uneasily, "Uh Applejack? I think there's something wrong..."
Applejack looked at their eyes, then stepped forward ready to fight. Dash was puzzled, "Applejack what are you doing? We can't fight them!"
"Sure we can! Rainbow, that's not Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie, on the outside that is...I've seen that look in a ponies eye before. Their brainwashed." Applejack explained.
"How do you know?" She asked, holding Applejack back.
AJ pushed her aside, "It's the same look that Big Macintosh had in his eyes when he was brainwashed. Our girls are in there somewhere. We got to find em..."
"We still can't hurt them! It's still Pinkie and Fluttershy!" Dash exclaimed angrily.
"I'm not gonna hurt em. But their gonna try and hurt us. I'm just protectin myself. You should do the same." AJ said approaching the cell door cautiously.
She opened it and stood in the doorway. Talking calmly to Fluttershy, "You ok hun? It's me, Applejack. Ya'll are gonna be ok now...Fluttersh..."
Fluttershy spontaneously surged ahead and jumped Applejack, strangling her. Rainbow galloped quickly to help her but then restrained by Pinkie Pie, choking her from behind. AJ rolled over swiftly and tried to pin her friend down, "Now calm down Fluttershy. This ain't you! Snap out of it!"
Meanwhile Rainbow was struggling to break Pinkie's grip but she had too good of an advantage. Then Dash backed up against the wall multiple times, eventually weakening her. She broke free and turned around, trying to wrestle Pinkie Pie to the ground. Applejack had a good position until Fluttershy leaned to the side and bit AJ's hoof. Forcing her to let go, "Ow! Fluttershy listen to me!"
She was ignored as Fluttershy took a hold of her and flew upward conking Applejack head against the rock ceiling. She shook her head and tried push away from Fluttershy, "Put me down this instant Missy!"
Fluttershy held her close, "With pleasure..."
Then the hypnotized Pegasus let go and Applejack fell to the ground, inflicting pain to her already damaged leg. Rainbow realized what happened and shoved Pinkie back in the cell and slammed the door. She trotted over to AJ and tended to her, "You alright Applejack?"
Applejack cradled back and forth then looked up from her leg with concern and then pointed behind her, "Look out RD!"
Pinkie Pie came up from behind again and tried to smack her with a leftover nightstick. Rainbow dodged multiple strikes, then remembered dumbfoundedly that she could fly. But as soon as she was airborne, Dash was checked in mid-air by Fluttershy. They landed on the ground with Fluttershy on top, trying to hit her. But Rainbow's hooves were free and she blocked the attacks. Fluttershy then reached for her wing and tried to break it. Rainbow let her get close then flapped her wing in Fluttershy's face, knocking her back and off of Rainbow Dash. Applejack struggled to get up then was met with Pinkie Pie who loomed over her with the nightstick. AJ's voice shook as she tried to reason with her, "Pinkie Pie for the love of Celestia you gotta snap outta this. Just put the stick down and talk to me."
The pink pony continued to trot towards her with the baton. She looked like a psychopath with her flat mane and crazed eyes staring at the downed Earth pony. She raised the baton. Applejack had no choice and kicked her with her good leg and Pinkie tripped up. Applejack looked around and noticed a length of chain in the corner of the room. She crawled over but Pinkie slowed her down and held on to her leg. AJ was determined and ignored the extra weight, dragging Pinkie Pie along. She reached for the chain but her intentions were foiled as Fluttershy kicked it away and stood above Applejack. The Not-so-timid one lifted her up and shoved her away even further from the chain. Applejack looked over and seen Rainbow dazed on the floor, "Ya alright Rainbow?"
Dash clicked back into focus, "Fluttershy is strong for the kinda pony she is..."
"My question is where they learned to fight like that?" AJ wondered, scooting away.
She pointed over at the chains, "Rainbow, get me those chains over there. Were gonna have to tie em up."
Dash nodded and flew for the chains. Pinkie Pie tried to bat her out of the air but she was too fast and dodged the swing. She flew by the chains and scooped them up. With great speed, Rainbow Dash took the length of chain and flew around Fluttershy. Wrapping her in a tight coil. She tried to struggle out of it but Dash put her in too much of a bind. Rainbow landed on the ground laughing, "That oughta hold you...Now where is..."
Pinkie clubbed Dash in the back of the head and lurked towards Applejack, still wielding the nightstick. AJ continued to back away but stopped as she felt the cold steel bars of the cell on her back. She picked herself up, limping on her bad leg. Pinkie Pie and Applejack circled around each other, waiting for the other to strike first. Rainbow was incapacitated and couldn't help. Although Fluttershy was no longer a dangerous factor as long as the chains were wrapped around her. Now it was one on one but with the slight handicap of Applejack's sprained leg. She knew reasoning was useless and had to do something. If she leaped forward she'd be clubbed and Pinkie could still use AJ's bad leg as an advantage. She looked around the room and couldn't find anything that could help, unless she could use the cell for anything. She thought about it while they still went around each other, then decided. Despite her bad leg, she waited until Pinkie was in front of the opened cell then charged her. Ignoring the tremendous pain, Applejack managed to tackle Pinkie Pie who attempted to swing at her. She swung and swung but Applejack had her head under Pinkie's front leg and shoved her into the cell then slammed the door shut, leaning up against it. Pinkie sprang up and pressed against the door, trying to escape. She took the nightstick and shoved it through the openings in the cell and tried to jab Applejack. But AJ stepped away from her attacks and still kept the door shut. Applejack called over to Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow? Rainbow! Get up! I need yer help. We got em trapped!"
The blue Pegasus stirred, "W-w-what happened? What's going on?"
AJ was starting to lose her stance as Pinkie pushed harder, "GET YER FLANK UP HERE AND HELP ME!"
Dash was startled and jumped up to assist Applejack, "Keep this here gate shut. I'm goin to get Twilight. Maybe she can help us break this here brainwashin magic..."
Rainbow took control and Applejack limped to the door. She turned the handle and that's when she remembered that Nova locked it on them, "Uh oh..."
"What is it AJ?" Rainbow asked, struggling to keep the frantic Pinkie caged.
"I fergot Nova went and locked the door." She answered worriedly.
She looked over the door, trying to find something to help her. Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Why don't you just buck it down? Your strong enough to smash it down aren't you?"
She shook her head and extended out her sore leg, "I can't. Fer one thing this is a solid steel door and second my darn leg's given out on me. I think I might of sprained it...But I could break the window and call fer help?"
Rainbow nodded in agreement, "Yeah that should work."
"Jus need somethin to smash it with..." She said looking around the room.
Rainbow wondered too then look at Pinkie Pie who was still trying to push her way out of the cell. Dash smiled and quickly yanked the nightstick from her and tossed it over to Applejack, "This should work."
AJ caught it and laughed briefly, "Yeah thanks..."
She trotted back to the door and took one big swing at the window, shattering it to pieces. Applejack broke out whatever remained from the window and brushed the glass away, then stuck her head through and called to the upstairs, "Hey ya'll! Somepony get down here and help us! Were trapped and need somepony to open this here door fer us? Were locked in!"
-----
Meanwhile, Twilight and her team were still battling with the armada of canines Nova had put to protect the missile which was set to launch in a matter of minutes. Twilight used her E-Sword to combat with her foes. But the dogs were ruthless and swiped at her every chance they got...
"Project: meteor initiation to launch in 5 minutes and counting..." Informed the robotic intercom.
Twilight Sparkle overheard the message and fought harder with time not on her side. With help from the others and her advantage to her beam sword, they managed to deplete half of the remaining dogs but still had more to deal with as her team's numbers were falling as well. Few died from neuro-toxins, few died from injury. Others died while fighting their opponent. Slaying each other at the same time. With only a hoof full of ponies left to take on the still thirty strong Novan squad of elites, they had to fight harder. Twilight and her remaining comrades continued to fight with the savage mutts. She herself, took on the biggest dog of the group. A black coated canine with a deep voice and the possible leader of the pack, "You will not pass. You will fail..." He said boldly.
Twilight panted from all the action and tried to reason with him, "You don't realize what Nova has in plan for the dogs do you?"
He began to circle Twilight like a piece of raw meat, "Just what are you talking about?"
"He plans to get rid of all his dogs after he is finished his research. He won't be needing you and plans to kill you all! You have to listen to me!" she exclaimed passionately.
The massive mutt shook his head, "You can't lie to me. Nova would never do something like that. Look at what he's accomplished. Do you think he would've gotten this far without our help?"
Twilight nodded, "Exactly! He's only using all of you. Not only you, but his Earth and Pegesi as well!"
He scoffed, "Your pathetic you know that? To say that about a great leader who was falsely exiled. Just like the rest of us who joined him."
"He mentally scarred another Unicorn and disobeyed Princess Celestia after she told him not to perform those surguries!" she argued.
The dog looked puzzled, "...What surguries? Another Unicorn what? What are you talking about? Stop lying!"
He swiped at her and knocked her off balance. She staggered and continued to dig deeper into the conversation, "He never told you this? That's why he was banished. What did he tell you otherwise?"
He proudly defended his leader, "Nova was wrongly exiled. A victim of Celestia's corrupt power for simply correcting something she said. We all agreed she had to be stop and that Nova would lead us there. A new genesis of leadership."
Twilight struck back and swung the beam sword, grazing the canines jumpsuit, "The Princess would NEVER do such a thing. She ruled with honour and respectability. She gave as much respect as she received. Nova's real story was because he was messing with genetics and caused a poor Unicorn to lose his mind. The Unicorn's family was devestated and demanded Sparks be exiled. He tried to mess with the art of magic and wound up in the trouble he caused himself!"
He denied the truth again and clawed Twilight's side. She stumbled back and rushed forward with a swing of the sword, slashing the dogs leg and causing him to buckle. He knelt down, tending to his leg then while Twilight wasn't looking. He twisted his N-Tech and unveiled the deadly needle. Not noticing, Twilight began to trot forward and held the sword with her horn. Ready to strike down the injured dog, "Face it...Nova Sparks is nothing but a mad scientist who wants to throw the world into chaos and he's going to start with Equestria and Nydeabaen!"
With blinding speed, the dog lifted himself and went to drive the toxic substance into her neck. But Twilight was saved as he was drawn back and thrown into the pool of water beneath the missile stage by Big Macintosh, "Every dog has his day..."
Twilight skipped a heart beat and hugged him, sighing with relief, "Oh Big Macintosh...Thank you so much..."
"Eeyup!" he smiled.
Twilight moved aside and finally stepped up to the controls of meteor. While she tried to hack the controls, Big Mac, Spike, and Rarity defended her. The remainder of the team dealt with the rest of Nova's army. His numbers were depleting fast while the rebels determination climbed higher. One by one the forces began to collapse and the numbers on each side were evening.
Meanwhile, in his office sitting by the window, Nova stared down at Twilight who was beginning to fiddle with the controls. He looked at his clock and crossed his hooves seeing there was a mere 2 minutes until the launch. He began to feel the adrenaline rush through his veins. With dogs crowding around, Spike, Macintosh and Rarity stood their ground. Hooves, paws, and claws were flying everywhere. Big Mac used his tremendous strength to throw and shoved the dogs away. Spike had his claws to slash and skewer the canines legs and faces when he had the chance. Then Rarity used her magic to take a dog's nightsticks and held them off with the club. The three tried to hold off as long as they could until Twilight could deactivate the missile. She clicked through the computer programming and tried to crack the system. When that didn't work, she started switching various levers and turning all sorts of knobs, but that failed as well. She eyed at the countdown on a monitor screen and began to sweat with only a minute remaining. Spike called over anxiously, "Twi were running out of time!"
"I know! Just gimme a minute!" she exclaimed with her hoof to her head.
"A minute is all we got!" Rarity hollered.
Twilight finally knew that the only way to stop meteor was to manually deactivate it from the rocket itself. She leaped on the control board and on to the shaft. She looked around it for a panel, feeling around all the sides. Luckily she found it on top and quickly used her horn to unscrew the attached plate. Twilight tore it open and quickly hauled out the schematics from her saddlebag. She scanned through the blueprints and sought for a solution. At last she seen where the connection to the programming was wired and tossed the paper away and dug down into the shaft in search for a blue wire. She pushed away the surrounding wires and found nothing but red ones, green ones, yellow ones, and black ones. None that were blue. Twilight shoved her leg down as far as she could and scooped up a mess of wires. She hung on and searched with her free hoof. Wire after wire she seen nothing with a blue hue. She was going frantic and scooped up another batch of wires. The sweat was pouring from her forehead, she was running out of time. The pressured Twilight was down to the last few wires until...she finally found it. She proceeded to bite down on the blue wire when all of a sudden, the cavern began to shake and Twilight was slipping off the missile. She dropped the blue wire back on top the others and tried to scrap her way back to the panel...Meteor was a go. Twilight made one last effort to reach the wires but fell off the launching missile as it ascended. Twilight landed on the controls and tried to halt it, "NO! Oh My gosh NO!"
Spike and the others looked up. He ran to Twilight, looking terrified, "What are going to do now?!"
Twilight trotted back and forth on the platform and pondered. She looked up with a possible idea and galloped off. Spike called out, "Twilight, where are you going?"
She looked back and continued running, "I'm going to find Rainbow Dash. Somepony has got to stop it and she's the only one who can..."
Twilight galloped all over the room and seen no sign of the girls. She trotted upstairs and still couldn't find them. Then she looked down at the lower level and seen one of her allies down but alive leaning against the wall, holding his side. She ran frantically down the stairs and galloped towards the injured pony. He looked up at her with a weak expression. She crouched down next to him, "Are you ok?"
He nodded slowly, "Yeah I'll be fine, just a flesh wound..."
The Earth pony moved his hoof away from his side and exposed a knife slash and his ribs were tender. She forced him to put pressure back on his gash, "You wait here and I'll get somepony to get you out of here...Have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere?"
He moved his head aside and pointed to a stairwell that lead down to the jail cells, "I'm pretty sure I seen her and Applejack go down there...Please hurry..."
Twilight shook his hoof smiling, "I will, I promise."
She looked up and seen another one of her remaining allies running around, "Hey you! Come here!"
The other pony came trotting along and Twilight pointed to the injured friend, "Get him out of here. Take him outside."
She then galloped off and lurked down the stairs, then heard the sound of a familiar voice, "Will somepony get us outta here? Were gettin mighty impatient!"
"Applejack!" she exclaimed happily.
Twilight approached the bottom of the stairs and looked at AJ who had her face stuck in the window, "Twilight! Thank Celestia...Get us outta here."
"Hang on..." She said, unlocking the door.
Twilight stepped inside and found Applejack holding her leg, Fluttershy wrapped in chains, and Rainbow holding a hostile Pinkie Pie in the cell, "What's going on here?" She asked puzzled.
Applejack explained, "We found Pinkie and Fluttershy and tried to save em. But then we found out Nova had the girls brainwashed. We were tryin to hold them still till you got here. We thought you could do somethin..."
"Yes I'll see what I can do but girls we got a problem!" she exclaimed pointing upstairs.
"What's goin on sugarcube?" AJ asked worriedly.
She clenched on to Applejack's shoulders screaming, "The missile was set off and somepony has to fly up there and stop it!"
They both turned their heads and looked at Rainbow. She stared back, realizing that she was going to have to be the one to stop meteor, "But I don't know the first thing about disarming a bomb..." She said discouraged with her ears buckled.
Twilight nodded, "It's ok I already got it ready for you. I was about to cut the wire when it knocked me off while it launched. You just have to catch up with it and cut that blue wire. There's only one so you shouldn't have any trouble."
Dash slowly bobbed her head willingly, "Alright but we gotta do something about the girls here first."
Twilight rushed over and took control of holding the door, "Don't worry. I know what to do...Rainbow I'm sure the sky hatch is still open, if you leave now you can catch it before Nova shuts it."
"Got it." Dash smirked confidently.
"Good luck RD." Applejack praised.
"Thanks. You too." She shouted as Rainbow took off and flew out the door and up the stairs.
-----
Nova continued to watch the battles wage over the big room through his window. His smile was glued to his face as he watched the smoke clear from meteor. He had finally fulfilled his destiny. All that was to do now was to wait...Until he seen the flash of a blue Pegasus dart from the side and fly out the opened hatch. His smile turned to worry as he jumped out of his seat and rushed over to his desk. He switched on the radio and called his ship, "This is Nova! Khan Quest, I am ordering you to release the Thunderbolts now! That Rainbow Dash is trying to take out Meteor! I've come too close to lose it now! I will not have that Pegasus ruin all my progress!"
The Captain's voice cut in, "Right away sir!"
Sparks turned off his radio and brought his chair back over. He sat down and pushed a button installed underneath the desk and a monitor flipped open on top, showing a digital map of Equestria and Nydeabaen with a blinking yellow dot that was labelled "Meteor". He poured himself another drink, then waited. His plans were about to come to fruition. Despite Rainbow's efforts, he still had confidence that meteor would reach it destination. He sat in the darkness of his office and thought with a cocky smirk, "Finally. All these years of scratching at Celestia's door step has paid off. Nydeabaen is about to have the living daylights taken from them and soon their minerals will be mine to take. If you think it's something that can be stopped Rainbow Dash, then just try to stop it before you get struck by my Thunderbolts."
-----
Rainbow flew out and up and seen the exhaust streak across the sky. She followed and soon seen the image of a moving object. Dash smiled, "There you are..."
She sped up and tried to catch up with the missile until she was checked into. She was knocked off course and almost flew into a nearby rock of the canyon. She looked back and seen three Pegesi looming towards her. She gazed back and put her hoof over her forehead to shield herself from the light and focused in. She recognized the ponies. Soon realizing that the Thunderbolts...Were the Wonderbolts; Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot. She gasped, "The W-w-wonderbolts? Not you guys too..."
Rainbow had to go against the odds once again but had the courage to reach meteor and out fly her idols, "It's time to see what these old wings are made of..."
Rainbow licked her lips and darted off, reaching incredible speed but was still being chased by the impending Thunderbolts with a view to a kill. Rainbow knew she had to hurry. The future fate of Equestria was now in her hooves and she had to stop the impending disaster that Nova had plotted. Dash was racing against time, speed, and Thunderbolts.
[...To be continued]