My Final Pony Fantasy II

by Vimtrust5

Chapter 7: The Dreadnought

A horrible laugh...

It was all that Twilight and Cadence could hear in the darkness...

What they saw...

A frightened alicorn filly...

"Flurry Heart...!"

The two ran toward the child, only for her to vanish without a trace...

The wicked being laughed once more...

"You cannot save this little one," it said.

"No...!"

"Bow... to me..."

"Never!"

"Then die!"

---

The two alicorns sat up and gasped. They looked at each other panting. Looking into the others' eyes, they immediately knew they shared the same exact dream. Twilight and Cadence knew that if they were to make sure this dream didn't become a reality, they were to defeat the Emperor and save little Flurry.

The princesses met up with their friends at a table.

"Is Egil's Torch still lit?"

"Yes," said Guy. "Flame still burning."

"That's incredible."

"So, what's the plan?" Spike asked.

"Isn't that obvious, Spike?" said Twilight. "We rescue Cid and Princess Hilda, look for Flurry, and use the Sunfire to destroy the Dreadnought before they have a chance to use it again."

"I agree," said Firion. "But first we need some information."

"Are you coming, Gordon?"

"Yes, I am," the prince answered. "I cannot abandon Hilda. I won't!"

"Then it's settled."

Twilight nodded in agreement. They left the hotel and went back into the base to learn from a wizard that the Empire had a supply station far north of Fynn, and it was there the Dreadnought was most likely refueling. Our heroes left Altair and stepped back into the field and journeyed to the Fynn area. Just several miles northwest of the town lay the airship used by the Palamecian Empire in their quest for power. To reach the ship, they had to travel through a deep forest, and a vile marsh. Finally, in a grassy area surrounded almost entirely by trees, lay the evil warship. Once they approached it, Twilight and Cadence glared directly at the machine, knowing this was going to be their last chance at stopping it before the number of casualties increased.

Before that, though Twilight cast an invisibility spell on herself and her fellow Equestrians to evade detection.

---

Inside the Dreadnought

As soon as our heroes went inside the dreaded warship, they surveyed the area and found technology everywhere.

"I can't believe we're here," Twilight whispered.

"This thing has taken so many lives. It's time to put an end to it!"

The group showed their pass to the sentry guarding the entrance; satisfied, he allowed them entry.

"That was... easy," said Twilight.

"Yeah..." Spike agreed.

Our heroes walked along the steel floor and made their way through the ship. Up the stairs were several doors, but Twililght, not wanting to be caught by surprise once more, ignored them and went left from the stairs to find a treasure chest. Upon opening it, they found 600 gil.

Might as well take it, Twilight thought.

The party split up once more with Twilight, Spike, Firion and Gordon heading straight into a stairway that led them to a treasure chest. The iron gate couldn't be opened, but as they went near the stairs they found a secret passage into the cell. They opened the chest and accidentally released an imperial sergeant along with a lower ranked soldier and three evil magicians!

Twilight and Spike targeted the sergeant with their magic spells and dragon breath, defeating him quickly with Gordon taking down the soldier with ease. The magicians, however, proved to be formidable with their high-level magic. Firion rolled forwards, dodging their attacks and sliced one magician in half, causing it to vanish. Gordon also defeated a magician and Spike quickly sent the last remaining magician after nearly being struck with a level 5 thunder spell.

"Victory!" said Spike. For their efforts, the part was rewarded a Sleep Blade. Tucking it away in their bag, the group left the room and ventured onward.

*music changes back*

The group that consisted of Maria and Cadence along with Flutterhsy and Guy, went straight into two rooms on the left only to fight several monsters including Mines, another member of the Bomb family. After defeating them as well as increasing their agility and magical capabilities, the four went through the door into the upper-right corner and went down the stairs.

Firion's group then reunited with them on the next level to find four large cats with long whiskers waiting for them. Standing their ground, the party drew out their weapons ready to fight these Werepanthers. The creatures attacks occasionally inflicted poison on their adversaries, but were taken care of with antidotes. As Twilight and Maria cast their magic, the monsters were defeated, and the two ladies magic force increased.

Twilight heard something. In the cell blocked by an iron gate, they could see two people occupying the cell as prisoners. They were none other than Cid and Princess Hilda.

"It's them!" said Maria.

"We need get them out!"

"Right!" said Fluttershy.

With the iron gate opened, our heroes ran straight into the cell.

"Princess Hilda! Cid!"

"Everyone!" Hilda cried. "I meant to meet you all at Kashuan Keep, but things didn't go as planned... I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Your Highness," Twilight assured her.

Hilda looked around, confused. "Who said that??"

"Oh, right!" Twilight chuckled. "I forgot I was invisible."

"Well, anyway... Thank you for coming to rescue me."

"Let's save the 'thank yous' for later," said Cid. "I'll keep the airship with the princess. You find the engine and toss the Sunfire in, got it? I'm gonna get the airship ready for takeoff, and I don't plan on waiting around long!"

The two prisoners escaped the cell, leaving the group behind to finish their work. Our heroes, having freed the two, left the area whence they came and went back to the main room and after going through the narrow corridors and more stairs, they reached the next level. It was an area with a large section of walls in the center, and on the floor the insivibile Equestrians saw several soldiers moving around, inspecting the pipes from which flowed steam.

After defeating the monsters they came across, the party went through the door and after descending and another flight of stairs discovered several soldiers patrolling the area.

"Just what we need: a heavily guarded entrance," said Twilight.

"But we need to get to engine," said Guy.

He was right. They snuck around the guards as quietly as they could and found four treasure chests all lined up in a row. The first one on the left contained a trident; the first one on the right had a Giant's Helm for Guy who quickly placed it on his head. The second chest from the left contained a knife identified as a Main Gauche which raised the invasion rate of its wielder.

As soon as they opened the third chest from the left, a fearsome giant called Hill Gigas appeared! The creature wasted no time delivering its fist right to Firion's face.

"Are you alright, Firion?"

"Y-Yeah," he said, rubbing his face.

Guy furiously charged the giant and gave it a slash across the chest with his axe. The beast growled, clutching its chest and leering at our heroes. Spike let out a powerful flame, causing the giant to flail about, while Maria cast a level 7 thunder spell on it, causing it to collapse and vanish.

With the giant defeated, our heroes obtained the Ice Shield, but before they could go up the stairs in the center of the floor, several of the guards had witnessed the battle. And if things weren't bad enough, Twilight's invisibility spell broke at the moment. Thinking quickly, the two alicorns grabbed the guards with a levitation spell and tossed them to the walls, knocking them unconscious. The party finally reached the door and found themselves in a small room with only a door in the west corner; they opened the door and went down another flight of stairs to find a room with several guards.

"The ship's core has to be here," Firion deduced.

Our heroes snuck around the area to avoid being caught, and after exploiting the guards' blind spots, finally reached the engine room. Within stood four resting engines and in the middle stood a machine with a glowing green aura. Twilight levitated Egil's torch, carrying it and sending the Sunfire into the core, causing the engines to overload, and explode.

"We did it! Let's escape!" said Spike. But just then the Dark Knight appeared, clenching his fists.

"You!" said Firion.

"What have you done?!" yelled the Dark Knight.

"Making sure your technological terror never destroys again," Cadence glared.

Maria gasped, apparently recognizing his voice. "Leon!" she shouted. "Is it really you?"

"Never mind, Maria," said Firion. "We've got no time for that now! Let's catch Cid's airship!"

The Dark Knight growled. "Don't think you've won yet!"

The rest of the party agreed and ran. After hurrying through several flights of stairs, they finally reached the airship and quickly boarded the vessel. As it took off, the sound of several explosions alerted them and as they watched the Dreadnought be destroyed, the Equestrians felt elated for it would never again kill or destroy.

Aboard the airship, our heroes celebrated with cheer and joy.

"We did it!"

"We've won!"

"We did it, Princess Twilight," said Firion. "We've stopped them."

"Yeah, we did."

"Let's get back to the base; everyone's gotta hear the news!"

While the others were celebrating, Maria was still in shock.

"Maria?" asked Twilight.

The young woman's eyes teared up.

"You don't really think...?"

Maria's thoughts went back to their encounter with the Dark Knight. Could it truly have been her dear brother?

Leon... she thought. Why...?

---

Meanwhile...

An imperial messenger nervously walked into the throne room, kneeling before his Emperor.

"Your Excellency!"

"What is it?"

The messenger gulped. "Th-The Dreadnought..."

"Yes...?"

"Th-Th-The Dreadnought h-h-has been... has been d-d-d--"

"Destroyed?" the Emperor asked calmly.

The messenger immediately replied, "Yes! We've lost the Dreadnought, sire! The ones responsible were a band of teenage rebels and different colored beings! Please... don't punish me!"

To his surprise, Mateus chuckled.

"Y... Your Excellency?"

"Oh, forgive me, but did you think the Dreadnought was all we had in our arsenal?"

"Well... no, sire! But I thought with the rebels--"

"Silence!"

The grunt took a step back.

"I have something far greater planned for those worms. And after that..." The evil man looked over to his prisoner, chuckling once more.

*music fades out*

Author's Note:

I'll be changing a few events in the next chapter. That way, everyone can somewhat relax.

Comments

[Tailbiter231]

Next chapter... That'll be there the king of Fynn dies, sends Firion and his party to Deist to get a Wyvern, they fight Leila's pirates and she joins their party, then they go to Deist where the Wyvern was poisoned and has Firion place its egg in the Life Spring... I wonder what events will be changed "so everyone can somewhat relax"?

And of course I know exactly who the Emperor's prisoner is, and what happens after Deist.

[Omegamorph]

Funny how soldiers hiding in a treasure chest almost seems mundane by Final Fantasy standards.

[Vimtrust5]

10818723
Actually just some ideas I have for the next chapter, since the destruction of the Dreadnought's pretty much a good thing for everyone. So everything will be find until the end and I'll pick up from there in the one after that.

[Vimtrust5]

10818855
Yeah. Then again, it's the classic monster-in-a-box trick that RPGs are very fond of.

[Omegamorph]

10821515
I can only wonder how would that would turn out for more cinematic HD games like FF15 and the 7 remake.