//------------------------------//
// The Conflict 
// Story: Beat It 
// by Spirit Guide 
//------------------------------//

"This is it, girls," Twilight Sparkle announced to the five mares before her. "Today's the day we get back at them."

Rainbow Dash punched a hoof into the air. "Yeah, we're gonna give 'em what for."

"Ah'll sure be glad to show them what we're made of," Applejack said, adjusting her stetson.

"I for one will be more than willing to teach those ruffians a lesson!" Rarity cried, trying to keep her composure.

"I've got my Party Cannon all ready!" announced Pinkie Pie with a crazy grin, stroking the shiny surface of her portable artillery

Fluttershy glared at a trash can on the other side of the street. The waste container seemed to cower against the wall of the building it was next to. "This will teach them not to draw horrible pictures of us," she whispered fiercely.

Twilight nodded approvingly. "Alright everypony, it's time. The bronies have been using us as an excuse to get away with their deeds and even now they violate our land. No more will they breach our territory. Do we want to see them around here anymore?"

"No!" came the reply from the five other ponies.

"We don't want to see their faces no more!" Rainbow shouted. "After we're through with them, they'll wish they could disappear."

"Let's go find em and send those addicted equines running for the hills!" roared Applejack.

"Bearers of the Elements of Harmony," Twilight addressed them, "this is not a fight against the usual Equestria-threatening evil. This is a battle for our home, our history, our lives. We will not give it up. With Celestia and Luna as our witnesses, we shall prevail!"

"YEAH!" With that last outcry, the six ponies walked down the street, shoulder to shoulder, spanning the asphalt road. They had their mission and now they were going to carry it out. However, as they made their way to the center of town, they failed to notice the lone yellow filly who stood atop one of the tall buildings in the area. She was dressed in a sparkling black jacket, jet-black hat and a white hoof-glove. She had no cutie mark and a pink bow was tied in her red mane. The filly looked down at the sextet of ponies marching down the street in an unbreakable line. She was going to have to get involved.

"The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear
So beat it..."


*


"So much for friendship is magic," grumbled Digibrony.

"I thought they would care," Feather muttered. "I really thought they'd care."

"There's nothing more to say," Saberspark remarked. "They've made their position clear."

"Thhhhhhhhbt," said Fluffle Puff, who hadn't quite grasped the gravity of the situation.

"WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR, THEN?" Solrac screamed, shattering several light bulbs inside the streetlamps.

Rina-chan stood up, her red eyes gleaming angrily in the moonlight. "We've tried, bronies. We believed that the ponies we loved were kind and caring, but it turns out that not everything you dream is possible. Now we must cleanse the town of our mistake."

Feather held her paintbrush in her mouth, glaring dangerously towards the end of the road. "They'll pay for shattering my dreams."

"So many videos," Digibrony said quietly. "So many reviews. All for nothing."

"All those meet-ups," remembered Saberspark. "All those conventions, promoting love and tolerance. Yet how can we continue when the very roots of what we stand for are fake?"

"Thhhbt," Fluffle Puff sighed, trying to comfort the others.

"Come on, everypony," Rina called. "We know what we must do. To save us and the rest of our misguided herd, we have to defeat that which threatens to destroys us. Are you ready?"

Solrac grabbed his face and pulled in both directions. "LET'S DO THIS!"

"We're ready when you are, Rina," Saberspark said supportively.

"Yeah," added Feather. "We have to do this."

"They'd better run while they still can," Digibrony retorted.

Saberspark nodded in agreement. "If they don't want to see any blood, they'd better run. No need to be all manly about it."

Rina took a deep breath and climbed to her hooves. "Alright bronies, our time is now. We must take what we learned and use it to protect ourselves from the illusion that has guided us up until now. We won't be led blindly anymore. We shall see with our own eyes the possibilities of friendship. Our community shall live on!"

"BRONY ON!" came the reply from the other bronies, as well as a loud long 'thhhhbt' from Fluffle. Together, side by side, they began their journey down the street towards Town Square. They knew they had to stop the evil threat of the ponies they had once loved. Unknown to the bronies, a grey pegasus was perched on the apartment block above them, watching their small party. The stallion was wearing a silvery grey jacket, a white wide-brimmed hat and a bracer with a picture of a gryphon. His cutie mark was a golden eighth note next to an infinity symbol of the same color. He looked down at the fast-moving team of strong-willed stallions and mares. He was going to have to intervene.

"You wanna be tough, better do what you can
So beat it..."


*


The filly bounced from rooftop to rooftop, keeping up with the conflict-driven ponies as they sought out their adversaries. She just couldn't understand it. She got along with the bronies very nicely. Well, one of the bronies anyway. He was a nice stallion with a great musical talent, and had taking a liking to her almost immediately. After their first meeting, they began hanging out regularly in private, away from the others, for they knew that if their friendship was discovered, it would be dismantled from both sides.

It just ain't right, she said to herself. What happened to all the kind ponies ah once knew? Even Applejack is actin' funny. It really was strange, for the bronies hadn't really done anything to deserve the treatment the ponies had been giving them. Sure, there were always the bothersome foals, such as the cloppers, who had shown the bronies in a bad light, but other than that the motives of their herd was pure.

Oh well. Maybe together we'll be able to think of somethin'. Resting on a high balcony, she looked out over the buildings, big and small, that made up the city, keeping an eye open for her friend. Within a minute, a grey figure clad in white could be seen leaping over the tops of the tall apartment buildings, using his wings to extend his jumps. The filly waved at him, being kind of hard to miss in her flashy outfit. The pegasus stallion jumped the last three houses and spread his wings, soaring over and landing on the roof upon which the filly was waiting.

"Evening, Apple Bloom," the brony called.

"Howdy, Gryph," she replied. "What's going on down at your end?"

"It's awful, AB. The bronies are all riled up. They're convinced that the ponies have wronged them and are bent on ruining their lives. We've always supported and stood for love and tolerance, but we were inspired by the ponies of Equestria. Now they're saying that the ponies are treating us like dirt beneath their hooves, the bronies feel like the only way to fix this is by fighting."

Apple Bloom gasped. "That's almost the exact same thing that's goin' on with us! Mah sister and her friends think that it's you guys who've been exploitin' them or somethin' like that, Ah don't really know what that means. Have you been doin' bad stuff?"

Gryph placed a hoof on the smaller pony's shoulder. "Of course not, Apple Bloom. You ponies are our friends. You taught us about friendship and from that we learned how to love and tolerate. We would never plot attacks against Equestria."

The yellow filly sniffed and hugged the grey pegasus. "Ah knew it couldn't be anything else!"

"While we're still on topic," Gryph continued, "what have the ponies been doing to make us think they've forsaken us?"

"Nothing!" Apple Bloom cried out. "We'd never do anything nasty to the brony community. You guys followed us since the beginning while everypony else turned away."

Gryph straightened his hat. "I thought so. You're all far to kind and forgiving to commit such atrocious acts. I wonder what could have caused all our friends to think so."

"Ah just wish the Princesses were here," Apple Bloom sighed. "They'd know how to fix this ."

"It's our mission in life to repent for our sins and forgive each others mistakes. I'm sure that's what they would have wanted."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Apple Bloom looked down at the city beneath them, the brightly lit streets, the friendly faces of everypony she knew. Soon, that may become just a memory. "Come on, let's go find them. Even if we can't come up with a good plan, we may be able to stop the fighting."

"I'll always stand with you, Apple Bloom," Gryph said. He too had some good memories of times well spent, hanging out with the bronies. Without Equestria and its residents, that never would've happened. He knew they must end the feuding before it destroyed them all.

Wordlessly, Apple Bloom jumped from the roof they were on to the next one over, making her way across town in the quickest way possible. Gryph pulled his hat down tight over his head and leapt after her. The two friends sped over the tops of the buildings, determined not to let their friends meet as enemies in combat.