Sweetie Belle Plays Games

by IndigoMoon

Chapter 9: Ogres and Oubliettes Part 4 (The Finale)

Everyone other than Garbunkle and Captain Wuzz stood on the dock, dumbfounded.

Eclipse turned to Garbunkle and said, "How in the name of my sister's cotton-candy mane did you get a submarine?!" Garbunkle just smiled and pointed at Captain Wuzz. "How do you think?" Captain Wuzz was climbing into the submarine, while holding a mildly-disturbed looking Shamrock under his arm.

"Ack! Put down my Sweetie Be- er, Shamrock!" yelped Eclipse, darting down the hatch after Captain Wuzz. Shakespony, Sir McBiggun, and Garbunkle all climbed in after Eclipse, with Garbunkle closing the latch. As soon as he did, Captain Wuzz's voice rang out over the submarine's intercom: "Tally-ho Desmond! We've got a Squizard to defeat!"

In the control room, Desmond blared the horn one last time before the submarine descended beneath the surface once more. Shamrock had managed to escape Captain Wuzz with Eclipse, and the pair was currently making their way to the control room. Once they arrived, they saw Captain Wuzz managing the periscope, Garbunkle and Shakespony at navigation, and Desmond piloting. They sat down next to Sir McBiggun, who offered each of them an apple, which they gladly accepted.

---

After a short time, everyone was bored. But, just as Shamrock opened her mouth to comment on the fact, the submarine was rocked with a vicious bang. Everyone ran for the view-port to look outside, only to find it covered by a big metal something. More banging continued to sound throughout the sub and it sustained repeated hits. Garbunkle said something unintelligible and everything froze. Discord appeared in all his majestic cloudiness, and said: "For the spell to work, you must roll a 12 or higher, and for all our sakes, I hope you do." He opened his mouth and allowed the dice to roll of his tongue. It fell, and landed on the floor spinning madly. It slowed and fell over, revealing the number on the top. 11. Discord's eyes widened as Shakespony pointed at the main view-port, which was riddled with cracks. "RUN!!!" she shouted. And everyone did. They ran down the interior of the submarine and began to see the extent of the damage their attacker caused. Water was leaking in from what seemed like everywhere. They reached the back, where four open hatches lined the walls, leading into a small room with a window. Desmond pointed at them and said, "Two per pod! Now!! Once you are inside, throw the giant switch on the wall!"

They each scrambled for a pod. Discord slithered into the first and pulled the door shut. Sir McBiggun and Garbunkle hustled into the second, while Desmond and Shakespony launched themselves into the third. Loud shots rang out as each pod was ejected. Eclipse grabbed Shamrock and dived into the last, and slammed the door shut. Shamrock managed to squirm out from under Eclipse's foreleg, and ran over to the door and slammed the level down. There was a sound like a gunshot as their pod shot out of the submarine. Eclipse sat down at the controls and began driving the pod.

"Do you even know how to drive this thing?" asked Shamrock. "Well," replied Eclipse. "It can't be that hard. These controls don't look to different compared to those of an X-Wing or something." Shamrock facehoofed as Eclipse swung the pod around so it faced the sub. "Now is not the time for game jokes..." Shamrock trailed off, because as the pair looked outside the window, they saw what had attacked them. It was a giant, metal squid. It's bulbous yellow eye was glowing, and Shamrock could just see someone inside, controlling it.

A crackle sounded from the comms as Captain Wuzz's distorted voice rang through the pod. "As you can see, a giant robo-squid seems to have attacked our transport. I say we teach this machine some manners. Pilots, on the console in front of you should be a big red button. Do NOT push it, until I say so. For now, everyone get into the positions I've sent to each of your individual sonars. The spot where you are is the center, obviously. A purple dot should show where you need to-"

Captain Wuzz's voice was cutoff as a loud explosion rang out around them. The squid had exploded their submarine. It swam away from the sinking wreckage, and towards the pods. Shamrock stood over the sonar, telling Eclipse where to pilot the pod. "Left! Forward! Stop-stop-stop!!" She ran over to the comms and pressed the talk button, "Captain Wuzz, Eclipse and I are in position." Shakespony's and Garbunkle's voices replied in a similar manner. "Excellent," said Captain Wuzz. "Now, there should be a silver joystick that moves a circle on your viewport. Give it a twirl." Eclipse grabbed the joystick in her magic and moved the joystick around. "Now," continued Captain Wuzz. "Move the circle so it sits right over the eye of our naughty friend." Eclipse moved the joystick to Captain Wuzz's instructions. Shamrock spoke into the comm mic and said, "We are locked on target, Captain Wuzz. Await further orders." Eclipse turned and looked at Shamrock with a raised eyebrow. "When did you become so fluent in military talk?" Shamrock smirked. "I play as many games as you do, Eclipse."

"Okay," said Captain Wuzz. "On the count of three, pilots... punch the big red button. 3... 2... 1... NOW!" Eclipse's hoof smacked down onto the button, and a loud *PEW* sound rang throughout the pod. And within the same nanosecond of Eclipse pushing the button, time froze. Discord's voice crackled over the comms: "I'm rolling one dice for each of you. A 15 or higher means you hit the squid and do damage. It should be obvious what anything less means." Discord's end went silent with the exception of a distant, light tapping noise. Discord's voice sailed through the speakers again: "Oh bother. Both my torpedoes and those of Sir McBiggun and Garbunkle are ineffective. However, Eclipse and Desmond's torpedoes hit the target with ironic justice."

Time resumed and Shamrock watched with Eclipse as four yellow-tipped missiles shot through the water and smashed into the eye of the squid with an explosion that rivaled that of the deceased submarine. A voice rang out through the comms. "RRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! NOW YOU'RE GONNA GET, YOU STUPID PONIES!!!" shouted Anon. The squid swam up, and angled itself so where the mouth would be was pointing in the general direction of the pods. "DIE!!" yelled Anon. A bright yellow laser tore through the water. Eclipse yanked the steering handles to the right, and the pod swerved right, narrowly avoiding the blast fired by Anon. Captain Wuzz's voice flared through the comms.

"That's it. Forget the dice, and just FIRE EVERYTHING!!! Push every button you can!! They'll all shoot something, probably!"

Eclipse's hooves blazed across the console, pressing every button she could while Shamrock ran around pushing every button she could on the wall. A cacophony of video-game-weapon-noises rang out throughout the nearby sea. Lasers, missiles, machine guns, magic bolts, and all other manner of lethal projectile fired from the pods. Phasers, lasers, tasers and more. Anon's robo-squid was beginning to buckle under the barrage of the returning fire. Suddenly, the squid's head detached from the body, and propelled itself away just as the body self-destructed. Anon's voice came across the comms again.

"Missed me, missed me, miss-"

And suddenly, it went quiet, with only static remaining. Captain Wuzz's voice spoke. "That's better. I sent him back to whatever dimension he came from. He was beginning to bother me. Well, onwards to the castle of the Squizard!"

The four pods slowly made their way through the ocean, descending deeper into the depths, until...

"Hey," said Shamrock. "I can see the lights of the castle! We made it!"

And indeed they had. They had finally arrived at the Squizard's Palace. They landed their subs on the balcony outside the throne room. Garbunkle attempted to cast the spell he had tried to on the submarine, this time successfully rolling an 18. Shamrock then saw a bubble appear around her head, along with one appearing around Eclipse's. They departed their escaped pods and saw the others floating around theirs. They all swam to the doors of the throne room.

"Do we just go in and attack?" asked Desmond. "Uh... yes. I think that's what we're supposed to do," said Garbunkle. "Really?" asked Shamrock with a raised eyebrow. Sir McBiggun nodded. "Eeyup," he said. The group swam back some, charged, barged into the throne room, and landed on their faces.

A laugh rang throughout the throne room. Eclipse and Shamrock clambered to their hooves as they looked up to see the dreaded Squizard, the most malicious being in all of Spike-topia, in all is cardboard drawing glory, sitting in his throne. In a hanging cage next to the throne, Shamrock saw

"Rarity?!?!"

Captain Wuzz nudged her. "It's Shmarity, actually." Both Shamrock and Eclipse raised an eyebrow at Garbunkle. "Really," Shamrock asked. Garbunkle could only shrug and blush.

"Oh thank heavens," cried Shmarity. "Garbunkle! You've come to save me!"

A collective urge to facehoof with every hoof possible passed through the group like a plague, sparing only Garbunkle and Sir McBiggun. "Yes, it is I," said Garbunkle dramatically. "My compatriots: Sir McBiggun the Knight, Captain Wuzz the Archer, Desmond Miles the Rogue, Shakespony the Bard, Mistress Shamrock the Druid, Eclipse the Ranger, and I have come to rescue you!"

"Not so fast!" yelled the Squizard. "You may have defeated my Anon creature, but you still have to get through me!"

"Dude, we literally sent you hightailing it after we shot you in the butt with an arrow. This should be a cinch," said Garbunkle in a dead-pan tone.

But the Squizard only laughed. "That's you think, you fool of a wizard!" A magic tinkling noise filled the air, followed by a loud *POOF* and a large cloud of pink smoke. Once the cloud dissipated, the heroes found themselves standing an arena, opposite a giant blue squid wearing an orange cape and a pointy blue hat, while wielding two wands.

"Oh poop," said Shamrock.

The Squizard waved a wand through the air and fired a spell directly at Garbunkle, but before it could hit, time froze. Discord poofed above, sitting atop a cotton-candy cloud. "Guess what!" he said. "No dice rolling for this! Freezing time every time someone wants to attack would just ruin the epicness of this final boss. Besides, I'm sure the audience at home wouldn't approve," he said while winking towards the reader. "Let us resume!" he cried. He disappeared, reappearing as Captain Wuzz where he was before, and time began again. Garbunkle was sent flying by the spell, and hit the wall. He clambered back up slowly as Desmond charged the Squizard with her sword, Shakespony in hot pursuit, her tail launching spontaneously generating pies like a catapult.

The Squizard swatted the pair across the arena and barreled down upon Eclipse. For the first time since she joined the game, Eclipse unslung her bow, nocked an arrow, yelled "Ignis!", and fired. Halfway through it's flight, the tip of the arrow burst into flames and punctured the Squizard in the side. He yelled in pain and fired a spell at Eclipse, who was saved by a cry of "Clipeum! from Garbunkle, which produced a shield which was immediately encased in ice from the Squizard's spell.

Shamrock had managed to sneak behind the Squizard and plant seeds from a small pouch labelled Entangling Vine before she was caught by one of the Squizard's tentacles. "And what do we have here?" asked the Squizard. "The little druid thinks she can sneak up on me? Ha! Now, what were you doing back there, hmm?" Shamrock glowered at the Squizard before yelling, "CRESCERE!!!" Shamrock's hooves glowed green as the seeds began to sprout at an astonishing speed. Vines shot out of the ground and wrapped around two of the eight smaller tentacles the Squizard was using to walk, and began dragging them underground. The Squizard dropped Shamrock, who was caught in fly-by from Desmond. Captain Wuzz and Eclipse continued firing enchanted arrows at the Squizard with cries of: "Ignis!" "Glacies!" "Venenum!" "Interitus!"

Pies flew through the air in increasingly ridiculous numbers from Shakespony, Desmond and McBiggun attempting to hack at the Squizard's "legs", Captain Wuzz and Eclipse continued their barrage, Garbunkle continued firing magical blasts at the Squizard, and Shamrock had planted at least a dozen projectile-firing plants including Gatling Peashooters, Coconut Cannons, Dusk Lobbers launching shadow spheres and Bombegrantes, and Snapdragons that breathed streams of fire.

But they had no effect. The Squizard was too powerful. Nothing seemed to harm him. Then, when all hope seemed lost, Shamrock had an idea so crazy, it might just be crazy enough to work.

"Desmond! C'mere!!" she yelled. Desmond flew over, narrowly dodging a blast from the Squizard. "Yeah?" she asked. Shamrock leaned into Desmond's ear and whispered something. Desmond slowly grinned as Shamrock whispered her idea into Desmond's ear. "Now got tell the others to do that on my mark," said Shamrock. Desmond flew up into the air and saluted. "Aye aye!" she said, and then zipped off. "Keep firing," Shamrock told the plants, before creeping off behind the Squizard once again.

Desmond flew over the arena, diving down only to whisper the plan to the others, before resuming her attack on the Squizard. Shortly, Shamrock ran up to Desmond. "Gather the others. It's time to initiate the plan," said Shamrock. Desmond took off, telling the others to regroup with Shamrock. As soon as the others arrived, Captain Wuzz said, "As good a plan as it is, it still insults me." Shamrock ignored him and said, "You guys ready?" Shakespony hefted up two pies as if to say yes, while Captain Wuzz and Eclipse readied their bows and nodded. Garbunkle gripped his staff with both hands and nodded, while Desmond and Sir McBiggun hoisted their swords in the air.

"Are you guys giving up?" taunted the Squizard. "But I was having fun. Oh well. Time to die, heroes."

"Actually," said Shamrock, stepping forward. "We are about to defeat you." Shamrock stepped forward, lifter her front two hooves and shouted "CRESCERE!!!!!" As soon as she did, her hooves blazed green, and hundreds of Entangling Vines burst from the ground around the Squizard and began to encase him. At the same time, Desmond took off and knock one wand out of the Squizard's left tentacle using her sword, while Sir McBiggun disarmed the right with his sword. As more and more vines crept up the struggling Squizard, while Eclipse and Captain Wuzz yelled "Lapis!!" whilst firing arrows at an alarming rate, with Garbunkle yelling "Carcerem!!" As arrows struck the vines, the vines began to turn to stone, not only trapping the Squizard in Entangling Vines, but also turning him and the vines to stone, in one giant prison.

"NO!! NO!! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!!" cried the Squizard. "STOP!!! STOP IT!!! STOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPP!!!" And with that, the Squizard was no more. The arena disappeared and the heroes found themselves in the throne room with a stone statue of a piece of cardboard with a squid covered in vines drawn on it. Shmarity's cage disappeared, and as soon as she landed, she ran over to Garbunkle, who waited with arms out-stretched. But just before they embraced, she was gone, along with the throne room.

They were back in Twilight's castle, their mission complete. Everyone's appearance had gone back to normal, the most noticeable was Luna's mane being all flow-y again. Everyone embraced, for they had defeated the scourge of Spike-topia at long last. Spike had to wipe away tears, obviously because the game was over, and NOT because he didn't get to kiss Shmarity, or as Sweetie Belle now refers to her, Not-Rarity. As Sweetie Belle looked around, she noticed a figure standing in the doorway. The figure stepped into the light, revealing himself to be Sam.

"Seems like I missed something interesting, didn't I?" he asked, smiling. Sweetie Belle waved. "Hi, Sam!" Sam walked over to Princess Luna and Sweetie Belle. "I was sent here by Rarity and hour ago to collect Sweetie Belle, but you guys looked busy, so I didn't want to interrupt," said Sam, winking at Princess Luna. Luna smiled, and said, "Well then, we'd better get her home, shouldn't we?" Sam nodded, noticing Sweetie Belle trying to conceal a yawn. "Thank you for having us over, Spike," said Princess Luna. "Discord. Big MacIntosh. Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie." She nodded to each dragon. draconequus and pony as she said their names. "I bid you all a good night on behalf of myself, and Sweetie Belle. Goodbye."

"Bye, Princess!" called Pinkie.

As they walked out the door, Sweetie turned to Sam. "How long were you watching us?" she asked him. Sam looked down at her. "Well," he said. "I got there just before you encountered the Anon-creature." Sweetie Belle nodded as Sam continued. "But I have a question," he said. "What did you whisper in Rainbow Dash's ear before you defeated... uh... whatever that was?"

"Well, first off, the thing was called the Squizard. Like Squid-wizard. But what I whispered in Rainbow's ear was this: 'Tell the others: we need to do what the Elements did to Discord!! We need to turn him into stone.'" Sam nodded. "That's clever. A bit poorly phrased, I think, but clever." Princess Luna nodded in agreement.

---

By the time the trio had reached Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle was fast asleep on Luna's back. They knocked on the door, and were quickly let inside by Rarity. While Princess Luna tucked in Sweetie Belle, Sam apologized for bringing Sweetie home an hour late and explained what had happened. After Princess Luna thanked Rarity for allowing her to hang out with Sweetie Belle, both Sam and the Princess of the Night headed back to Canterlot for the evening, so Sam could return home, and Princess Luna could begin her nightly duties. And while the game may have been finished in "real life", Mistress Shamrock and Eclipse had many more adventures in the dreams of Sweetie Belle in nights to come.

Fin

Author's Note:

And that's the end! I hope you enjoyed it, and apologies to those who's game suggestions never made it to the "big screen", as it were. I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope to see you guys soon in the sequel...

The projectile-firing plants are all from Plant vs Zombies.
Spell translations from Latin to English:
Ignis - Fire
Clipeum - Shield
Crescere- Grow
Glacies - Ice
Venenum - Poison
Interitus - Decay
Lapis - Stone
Carcerem - Prison

Comments

[LunaAlpha]

loved it!

[IndigoMoon]

10140794
Thank you!