//------------------------------//
// Civil Disagreement 
// Story: Ponies in a Half-Shell 
// by MetalJrock 
//------------------------------//

Raphael snapped his eyes open, feeling himself drift off into pure darkness. Realizing this, the turtle flipped himself upright, landing on nothing. "Where the shell am I?" he asked to the darkness, hoping that it would answer him. The only thing that he found was endless silence in the black void he was in. 

He gazed downward, noticing that something was forming below his feet. A stain glass painting began to appear beneath him. "What is this?" he questioned once again. He took a step, trying to see as much of the picture as much as he could.

"Are they... My family?" he questioned. The picture was of Raphael floating. Next to him were icons of Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Splinter. Each photo were surrounded by a red outline that seemed to glow in the endless void. Raphael raised a brow, now even more curious as to where he is at.

"What does it mean? Why am I here?" the turtle wondered. He continued to pace around the stain-glass window, walking around in an endless circle. He had no idea what to do, or how to escape the prison, at least he thought it was a prison. Raphael held his head, continuing tomgaze upon the portrait that he stood upon, trying to figure out the meaning behind its appearance.

Suddenly, the blue background that the portrait was made upon started to change, the picture of Raphael and his family change into something different. Now, in its place was a picutre of the ponies he had met while in Equestria. Pictures of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity circled one another, all surrounding more pictures of Spike, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Each image was covered in a golden outline surrounding the edge of each portrait, once more glowing.

Then, when Raphael took another step, the picture faded once more. This time the peaceful blue backdrop was replaced by a much more sinister red. Only two figures overtook the picture. On the right was a laughing King Sombra, and on the left was the Shredder, who held no emotion at all. "That's right..."

Raphael pulled out his sai, turning his head quickly, trying to find a way to escape. "Sombra took my body away from me! Show yourself you annoying tyrant so I can mess you up before my brothers can ever get the chance!"

'Hahahaha!' a deep voice laughed, 'So, you managed to figure it out, Raphael? Good... Gives me the chance to end you permanently...' the voice said.

A figure stood on the other side of the stain-glass window platform. Raphael gritted his teeth, awaiting the reveal. He took a small step forward. "What the shell?"

The figure was him, but covered in armor. 'Yes... Now you shall suffer by me, the Nightwatcher.'

"Nightwatcher? Huh, gotta remember that!" Raphael admitted that he liked the name. "But that's because I will get my body back from you, Sombra."

Nightwatcher vanished, appearing behind Raph in a matter of second before the turtle could react. He karate chopped Raph in the back of the neck stunning him. "Gah!" he choked out, feeling a stinging sensation in the back of his head.

"Cheap shot!" Raphael managed to say, holding the sore spot, rubbing it quickly.

'Not cheap, turtle. Pragmatic... I thought you were all about that?' Nightwatcher mocked, holding his arms out, annoying Raphael much more than earlier. 'It's just as I predicted. You're weak, Raphael. I'm doing you a favor by taking this body. I'll make better use of it than you ever will. Heh...'

Raphael growled, "I'll kick ya out and slice ya to pieces!"

Nightwatcher vanished once more, confusing Raphael again. The turtle spun around, searching for his body thief. He looked up to see Nightwatcher coming down on him feet first. Raph rolled away, letting the armored doppelganger land on the platform, causing it to crack in a few areas.

Raphael held a hand on the glass where he dropped his sai, he picked it up and lunged at Nightwatcher, who was unprepared for Raphael's counterattack. The turtle stabbed his weapon through the armor, just enough to leave a mark on the being's skin. 'You will pay for that you annoying reptile.'

"You bad guys always know what to say, don'tcha?" Raph mocked, removing the sai from the dent he made in Sombra's imaginary turtle armor. "Good, gives me a good reason to shut yer trap. Especially when it's comin' out of my own mouth."

'I'll shut you up, turtle!' Sombra grumbled.

Raphael used his weapons to block Nightwatcher's own. The Nightwatcher kneed Raphael in the chest, harming him with the help of his armor. He placed a hand on his ribs, attending to the pain while using his other hand to hold up his doppelganger's sai from stabbing right through him.

Using his hand that held his chest, Raphael managed to punch Nightwatcher in the knee, making him flinch in his spot, allowing Raphael an opportunity to strike. Raph jumped, using his momentum to spin-kick Nightwatcher in his armored head. Nightwatcher stumbled backwards, holding his helmet in place from falling off. Raphael heard him groan something, which amused him greatly.

'That... Was a petty attempt...' Nightwatcher moaned.

"No... Pragmatic. I thought you were all about that, Sombra?" Raph echoed Sombra's earlier words.

'You...'

Raph smirked, "Yeah, me... What about it?"

'Oh... What about it?' Nightwatcher repeated, "I don't know... Once I'm done with you and you get out of my rightful body for good, then I'll kill your brothers and friends, all while wearing your face, Raphael. Think about it. Your family will die by the hands of one of their own." Nightwatcher said in glee.

"You sick bastard!" Raphael said, running to his armored doppelganger in rage. The turtle lunged his fist at Nightwatcher, but the dark king vanished without a trace of where he went. The ninja turtle looked around, only seeing the dark void that was the remnants of his mind. "Where the shell are ya?"

'Right here...' Nightwatcher whispered. Raphael opened his mouth, scream, blood pouring out of it. He slowly turned his gaze downward, looking at the hole left by the Nightwatcher with the use of his sai. 'Patheic... This was too easy...'

Nightwatcher removed the sai from the spot he stabbed Raphael in. He watched as the turtle fell onto the platform with a thud, blood pouring from his mouth and the wound in his shell. Raph held the spot, looking at the blood covering his green hand. 'No... I-I failed...Everyone's g-gonna die because'a me...' the turtle thought, losing consciousness. 

'My brothers... T-The ponies, and Shredder's gonna get away with it... Our worlds are gonna die.'

Nightwatcher laughed, 'Look around, Raphael. There is nothing left for you here. Let me take over...'

"N-No... There's too many people countin' on me... My brothers... Father, they'll be devastated... I ain't g-gonna do that... I'll stop ya, and I'll make sure it's permanent..." Raph spat on the glass. "Equestria's not gonna fall to some poser usin' my body."

'I would love to see you do that in the state you're in.' Nightwatcher chuckled, kneeling down to look Raphael in the face, getting in one last laugh before his demise.

On the ground, Raphael clenched his fist. Suddenly, a golden aura began to form around his body. Nightwatcher furrowed a brow at the this turn of events. 'What's this?' he wondered. He saw the aura cover Raphael's entire body. The blood that covered his body and the floor vanished in the blink of an eye. He noticed that Raph twitched, despite believing him to succumb to his wounds. 

"Heh heh... Guess I found my second wind..." Raph said, feeling a new surge of energy flow within him. His green form was now golden, the chest wound was gone and any sign of battle damage on Raphael's being to be all gone. Nightwatcher's eyes widened, wondering how he could have survived. "And with that said, I think I should keep to my word, don't ya think, Sombra?"

'How is that possible!?' Nightwatcher questioned in disbelief. 'You should be gone!'

"Ya should know better, Sombra." Raphael replied, punching Nightwatcher in the gut, his hand phasing through the thick metal armor he wore. "If there're people countin' on me. Yer a damn idiot to think that I'll give up on them." he boasted, digging his hand deeper into the armor Sombra wore, a blinding light overtaking the whole he had made with his attack. 

'N-No! I was supposed to win!' Sombra shouted, now back in his astral pony form, 'You were all supposed to die!'

Raph pointed his sai at Sombra's weakened being, "Yeah, like that was ever gonna happen." he joked.

Raphael stabbed his weapon through Sombra's barrel, a beam of light causing him to combust within the mind of the turtle. Soon, Raph looked down to see the stain-glass window change once more, for the final time. Now it was a picture of Raphael at the center, with his family and pony friends surrounding his portrait. The darkness that surrounded him once more became a much more welcoming white, the very same way it looked when he met Solar.

"Is that was Solar was yappin' on about?" Raph realized, looking at he window. "My devotion... I get it now... Heh, guess all that cryptic mumbo jumbo paid off in the end." after that, Raphael faded, ready to head back to reality.





Underneath the armored helmet, Raph's eyes snapped open once again. He heard the sound of chatter, his brothers. 'They're all right... Good, I got here just in time.'

"He hasn't woken up..." Leonardo said.

"We did just punch him clean in the jaw Leonardo..." Donatello replied to his brother, "And that was after Master Splinter pushed him into the crystal walls."

"Ah, maybe he's just bein' lazy like always." Michaelangelo joked.

"Don't think I don't hear ya..."

The three turtles and rat got into a defensive stance, prepared to fight once again. Raphael got up, and removed the helmet from his head, revealing a smile. "Hey, bros easy. It's me. For real this time." the turtle insisted, removing as much of the armor as he could, 'As cool as it looks, it's very crappy in terms of bein' mobile.'

Mikey was the first to hug Raph, "We did it!" he cheered.

"Nice to see you well, my son." Splinter nodded.

"I take it Sombra's gone, Raph?" Leo asked, happy to see his brother well.

"Yeah, we won't be seein' him for a long while." Raph answered. "Now, how about we help those ponies? Lord knows there's now way they can handle Chrome Dome on their own."





Twilight and Rarity used their magic to knock away as many Foot soldiers as they could, trying to open a path to reach Shredder before he could find the crystal. The unicorn and alicorn took turns in using their horns to conserve energy needed for what could be a long drawn out battle with the army. The two shot one more blast together, sending three Foot soldiers into the wall.

Rainbow Dash stood in front of Fluttershy, kicking down any robots that got near them. Fluttershy shivered behind her rainbow-maned frined, who took on the robots without any hesitation, "I got ya covered, Fluttershy." she assured, stomping her hooves on one more robot after leaping and finding an opening. Fluttershy watched Rainbow continuously beat down the ninjas.

Pinkie Pie revealed her Party Cannon once again, blasting more cake and sweets at the robot ninjas, the frosting causing them to short circuit in a matter of seconds. Pinkie held her trusty weapon in her hooves, aiming them in all directions.

"This is pathetic." Shredder noted, placing a hand on one of the crystals.

"Says you!" Dash retorted.

Applejack spun around, kicking down more robots. The farmpony turned around once she fell onto the ground panting, watching more soldiers withdraw their weapons. Shining Armor noticed Applejack getting worn out and decided to lend a hoof. The prince aimed his horn at three Foot robots, covering them in a strange forcefield and trapped them in their spots. Closing his eyes, Shining created a small blade with his magic and sliced the robots' bodies, destroying them instantly.

"Nice trick..." Applejack complimented.

"Thanks. Being a guard has its advantages..." Shining panted, worn out from the use of the spell.

Spike stood behind Cadence, realizing that despite being a baby dragon, he never had much training with the turtles. The Princess of Love used her magic to shield the dragon and herself, the power of the spell making the Foot soldiers explode upon contact with the surrounding orb that covered the two. Spike wiped the sweat off his head, "Nice save..."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure how long I can hold it." Cadence revealed, bending down slightly, her voice strained.

"Of course..." the drake sighed.

Twilight swayed her body to the left of a ninja's sword, avoiding contact with the blade. Once she saw that the robot was raising its arms once again, she covered herself in a magenta field, blocking the slice and removed the shield from her being, attacking the offending ninja with a buck to its torso. The Foot soldier staggered silently, giving Pinkie an opening to shoot her cannon once more.

The ponies realized that Shredder's numbers were dwindling. Even Shredder himself realized this and made a retreat, heading deeper into the crystal mines. The ponies followed suit, hurrying.

Meanwhile, the turtles and Splinter leaped in. "Alright, guys. From the looks of it, the ponies already rid of Chrome Dome's numbers." Leo noted to his brothers. Donatello squinted his eyes, seeing shadows reflect in the gems.

"I see them. They're chasing Shredder."

Raphael smirked, "Heh. The ponies got Shredder on the run. Now that's funny." he chuckled.

"So you do have a sense of humor." Mikey snickered, earning himself a slap to the back of the head by Raphael.

"Hurry up, my sons!" Splinter ordered, already ahead of them by a good margin, his voice echoing through the caverns.