The Amphibious Hope

by TheClownPrinceofCrime

Chapter 1: Survival of the Hopeful

The land of Equestria was swarmed by a horde of frobots; all of them surrounded every city and every town. The sky was dark orange as the sun was covered by thunderous, dark red clouds.

At Canterlot, the castle had an imprinted insignia of The Core whereas the Unity Crystals still hovered above the palace. The frobots guarded both the front gates and within every hallway of the castle.

The ponies however went back to their homes. Some of them had uncertain looks on their faces after Feisty had given her reassuring speech earlier.

“I kinda wish we had Twilight as our ruler again,” said one earth pony.

“Tell me about it. Twilight would never force us to obey her! *sigh* I just want things to get back the way they were,” a mare sighed.

“One can only hope, Blossom. One can only hope,” he sadly replied.

As the ponies entered their houses, a gray-tailed hawk stood on a roof and observed everything. Then it flew off to the Everfree Forest and landed on a particular grown dragon as he was sitting down on a log.

“How’s Ponyville holding up?” Spike asked.

“Let’s see…gloomy atmosphere, fearful ponies, doubt, uncertainty, anti-creatures, tyranny…yep, the usual,” the hawk nonchalantly replied, morphing into a draconequus.

“There has to be a way we can overthrow that…thing! We can’t let it ruin everything we love and cherish!” Spike exclaimed.

“Well, technically, it already has,” Discord corrected, trimming his lion claws with a butter knife.

“Discord, this is serious! If we don’t do something now, we may never get our lives back!”

Discord then grabbed his thinking cap and placed it on his head. The cap then started to produce a few lightbulbs all at once. As soon as it finished, he threw it away and scrutinized each of the bulbs.

“Hmm, let’s see.” He grabbed one of them and zoomed his eyeball right into it. “Nope, too boring,” he said, throwing it away.

Then he grabbed another. “Nah, too cliche.”

For the third, “Nope, another boring trope.”

For the fourth, “Oh, no, we’ll get copyrighted for that.”

For the fifth, “Yuck, I hate that universe!”

Finally, he picked up the last one, “Ahhh, now this is more like it!”

“What is it?”

“Oh, you know, it’s been years since I’ve visited that world. Much like Equestria, it has many wonders, surprises, amusements, and a lot of interesting creatures. I believe they will help us.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Take us there!” Spike urged.

“I wish I could, but this time, I don’t have the ability to create portals at the moment,” replied Discord, looking down sadly.

“What?? You’re literally the Lord of Chaos!! Don’t you travel through inter-dimensional places anymore?”

“Blame those annoying robots for shooting those magic-draining darts at me,” he groaned, plucking said dart from his back. “Luckily, they only managed to land one hit. I still have magic…except I can’t create portals for the next 5 hours. It requires a lot of magical energy to perform that operation.”

“So what are we supposed to do until then?”

“I suppose we can check on our friends and make sure they’re alright,” Discord suggested before his ears literally deflated. “Fluttershy must be worried sick.”

“Good thing you rescued us from that dungeon or else we would have been toast sooner or later,” Spike smiled until he suddenly remembered something. “Wait, how did you get past those robots anyway? I’ve been meaning to ask you that for a long time.”

“Ha, it was super easy! Barely an inconvenience!” Discord chuckled.

“Oh really?” Spike scoffed, arching an eyebrow.

“It’s true! I didn’t even need to get my claws dirty!” Discord explained, pulling the flashback slide out of thin air.

---

The draconequus disguised himself as a mechanic before he approached the frobot guards. The latter drew out their blasters at him.

“State your business.”

“Pardon me, sirs, but I was called to fix a certain toilet problem in the dungeon,” Discord replied, talking with a British accent. “Allow me through, if you please.”

The frobots looked at each other before they withdrew their weapons. “Make it quick.”

Once he was able to gain access into the dungeon, he spotted Spike and the Mane Five therein.

“Discord, you’re here!” Fluttershy cheered.

“Shhh! Don’t wanna alert the other robots,” Discord whispered. Once he snapped his fingers, they all vanished.

---

Spike looked at him puzzled. “Seriously? Those guys were that dumb?”

“That’s what I thought! But then again, villains usually don’t have smart minions. I guess that’s one of the reasons why they always lose,” Discord grinned.

“Anyway, let’s get out of here. There’s no time to waste.”

“Well then…” replied Discord, turning into a helicopter. “Let’s roll out.” Thus, he followed Spike out of the forest.

Later that evening, Spike and Discord arrived in Ponyville which was heavily guarded by frobots on all sides. The duo hid behind the bushes and quietly snuck right into the back door of Sugercube Corner. Locking the door, they entered into the basement floor of the building.

As they slid right down on the ground, there was the Mane Five, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Big Mac along with his wife and son, Twilight’s parents, and Cheese Sandwich who was watching over Lil’ Cheese.

“Is everypony okay?” Spike asked.

“Surviving but…barely,” Applejack replied, organizing what remained of her apples.

“I hate it when these meanies always make everypony miserable! No parties, no treats, nothing!” Pinkie ranted, her hair deflating.

“I’m sure it will all be over soon, sweets. Nothing like pure optimism to keep the light shining!” Cheese Sandwich assured, embracing her. Pinkie smiled in response.

“Right. Gotta be hopeful for our little pie,” she replied, hugging their little foal.

“We can’t just sit here and do nothing while that lunatic mare destroys Equestria! We have to fight back!” Rainbow spoke up.

“How? We are no match for those ruffians!” Rarity doubted.

“We faced many villains before, and these guys are no different!” Rainbow argued.

“Yeah, that’s because we had the Magic of Friendship until Feisty destroyed it! Face it, Rainbow, we’re never getting our lives back,” Rarity replied, sitting back down depressed.

“So that’s it? We’re just gonna give up? Just like that?!” Sweetie Belle shouted, looking at her older sister.

“When was the last time any of you gave up?” Scootaloo asked.

Nopony answered.

“We may not be as powerful as these frog critters, but we can still kick their sorry behinds goodbye!” Apple Bloom encouraged.

“Apple Bloom’s right! We have to fight back. I mean, look how far we’ve survived!” Sweetie continued. “Rarity told me how Twilight was on the verge of giving up until she and the rest of you reminded her of the power of friendship. We all came together to stop Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek despite the odds! No matter how much they damaged Equestria, they still lost at the end!”

Everyone smiled as they recalled the memory.

“Huh, it’s interesting how history often repeats itself,” said Discord, grinning. “But it’s getting more unoriginal by adding another psychopathic unicorn into the mix for the hundredth time.”

“Ahem,” Spike elbowed him.

“What? It’s true!”

Rarity sighed deeply as she thought on her sister’s speech. “You’ve come a long way, Sweetie Belle. And you’re right; I should’ve never given up hope. It’s just that this feels more…”

“Everlasting? Yeah, I guess that’s what seven years can do to us,” Sweetie replied.

“Let’s not forget about Twilight! I don’t know what that horrible alien looks like, but I hope it didn’t hurt her!” Velvet cried. Night Light placed his arm around her.

“Once this is all over, I’ll make sure that abomination never enslaves anypony else…EVER again,” he added, glaring at the ceiling.

“See? That’s the fighting spirit I wanna see! We can do this!” Rainbow shouted.

“Eeeyup!” Big Mac agreed.

“Well, if it means protecting our family from evil…then it’s worth a shot,” Sugar Belle nodded, determined.

“But we still have no means of fighting them. With what little magic we have, it won’t be enough to stop them. We need a plan to figure this all out,” Fluttershy reminded.

As everyone was thinking, Discord stepped forward. “Weeeeelll…I may have a solution for our little setback.”

This caught everyone’s attention. “Oh boy…it’s always gotta be his ideas,” Applejack groaned, face-hoofing herself.

“At the moment, my portal-creating abilities will return to me after 5 hours. At that point, I can send myself and Spike to a world that can help us.”

“Another world? Like Sunset’s world?” Rainbow asked.

“Hmm, no. I was thinking something more…amphibious….if you know what I mean,” Discord smirked.

“No. No, we don’t,” Applejack bluntly replied.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other excited before they approached him. “We can come with you guys! I’ve always wanted to travel to a different universe!” Scootaloo volunteered, flapping her wings.

“No, you should all stay here where you’re safe. Discord and I can handle this,” Spike objected.

“Oh, come on! The three of us are grown mares now! Why do ya guys always have all the fun?” Apple Bloom whined.

“Because…the plot said so?” Discord replied, eating roasted pickles.

“Don’t worry; I know Discord and Spike will find some outside help,” Fluttershy assured.

“Thank you, my dear,” the draconequus warmly smiled. “Well, Spike, you think you’ll be up for the challenge?”

“Anything to save Equestria and bring Twilight back!” Spike responded, clenching his fists.

Before the duo could leave, Rarity tapped Spike’s back. “Spike, just remember…be safe out there.”

“Hey, you know me. Always prepared for anything!” Spike smiled.

“Of course. Even though you’ve grown, you’ll always be my Spikey-Wikey…” Rarity whispered, hugging him.

Slightly blushing, Spike briefly hugged her back. Once they broke the embrace, Discord teleported himself and Spike out of the basement.

Comments

[MLPFollower]

Slightly blushing, Spike briefly hugged her back. Once they broke the embrace, Discord teleported himself and Spike out of the basement.

And so we return to the world of Amphibia… I hope we get to see what the characters there have been doing after the Calamity Trio returned home. Maybe what happened with that new continent?

[OP Omni God-Emperor Doom]

Discord then grabbed his thinking cap and placed it on his head. The cap then started to produce a few lightbulbs all at once. As soon as it finished, he threw it away and scrutinized each of the bulbs.

“Hmm, let’s see.” He grabbed one of them and zoomed his eyeball right into it. “Nope, too boring,” he said, throwing it away.

Then he grabbed another. “Nah, too cliche.”

For the third, “Nope, another boring trope.”

For the fourth, “Oh, no, we’ll get copyrighted for that.”

For the fifth, “Yuck, I hate that universe!”

Finally, he picked up the last one, “Ahhh, now this is more like it!”

“What is it?”

“Oh, you know, it’s been years since I’ve visited that world. Much like Equestria, it has many wonders, surprises, amusements, and a lot of interesting creatures. I believe they will help us.”

What were those various "worlds"/"universes"/franchises did Discord looked? I know that the last one is obviously Amphibia.