Episode 38: Season Finale - Part 2
HARPFLANK AND SWEETS CONTINUE STRIKING BACK
by Arcainum
Scene 1
The bullet struck Vinyl Scratch directly between the eyes, sending the technologically-possessed unicorn spiralling backwards with a piercing static scream. Flying almost the entire length of the corridor, the red blur shot past Octavia as her mind struggled to process the events that had just occurred. With a series of heavy thuds, the suited Vinyl landed and finally rolled to halt before the main elevators.
There was a terrible silence, broken only by the faint rumblings of the sonic rainboom still echoing throughout the base. Octavia slowly began to turn, forcing herself to see what she did not want to see. What she did not expect, however, was the tinkle of the bullet falling to the floor and a low groan that could only have come from...
“Ow. Seriously, ow.”
Octavia whirled around to see Vinyl pulling herself up to a sitting position, rubbing the swelling bruise beneath her horn and still decidedly alive. The red nanosuit was dissolving, collapsing into a pool of lifeless sludge accompanied by a dwindling hiss and its crimson light fading. Octavia tried to speak, but was unable to say a word. She settled instead for rushing to Vinyl’s side and hugging her tightly. Vinyl winced as she was crushed in her partner’s embrace, but laughed anyway.
“Whoa, Tavi, I thought I was the emotional one!”
Octavia released her as Derpy appeared from her office. She seemed none the worse for wear for her impact with the wall. She flew over with a smile on her face and her eyes crossed in delight.
“Are you okay, Vinyl Scratch?! We thought you were a goner for sure!”
Octavia, the thrill of fear subsiding, was falling back into her usual calculating self.
“I don’t understand. How in Metropony did that not kill you?”
Vinyl grinned.
“The central nerve cluster, duh.”
Octavia stared, then uncharacteristically facehoofed, such was the degree of her frustration.
“How could I forget? It must have slipped my mind in my pani... In the heat of the moment.”
Vinyl waved her hoof at her patronisingly.
“It’s okay, Tavi. We can’t all be so level-headed in a crisis.”
Octavia’s retort was cut off by Derpy landing and poking her head into the discussion.
“I’m sorry, could someone explain? I just don’t know what went right.”
Vinyl moved to stand up, but gave up as the pain from both her struggles with the suit and recent crash-landing hit her again. Resting on her haunches, she began to explain.
“Okay, so the nanomachines use a central AI, right? You remember when that Lunatron army invaded? We stole the method Trixie was using to make the robots work in tandem and applied it to the nanos.”
Derpy nodded slowly, clearly only barely following.
“The problem was that the program was way too complicated to operate in a system-wide cloud. We needed a central unit to hold the core program. So, there’s always one cluster of nanomachines in each suit that’s running said core program and relaying it to the other nanos. It also makes all the decisions.”
Derpy’s eyes, if possible, crossed even further. Her expression showed a confusion bordering on physical pain as Vinyl’s words washed over her.
“So, basically, there’s one point on each suit which the program will automatically task way more defensive power to. If it is destroyed, there’s nothing running the suit and the whole thing deconstructs. And that’s exactly what you hit. Nice shot, Commander!”
She gave Derpy a sly wink as the Commander coughed, realising the explanation had ended without her noticing, and drew herself up into an official-looking stance.
“Yes, well. They don’t call me ‘Deadeye Derpy’ for nothing, you know.”
Octavia still looked incredulous, her desire for a rational explanation visibly battling her relief at her friend’s survival.
“I agree that we designed the nerve cluster to be far more durable than the rest of the suit, but that would mean... the Commander’s bullet must have been travelling at precisely the right speed. Fast enough to destroy the cluster and slow enough to not penetrate when the nanos took the impact. The odds against that are...”
Vinyl grinned again and nodded vigourously.
“Yup. Lucky me, huh?”
She reached a hoof to her head in pain again.
“Man, we are good. I can’t believe I took a shot from Bubbles in the head and actually made it.”
Derpy saluted with a smile.
“And we’re glad you did, Vinyl. We’d hate to lose you. Now, I hate to ask after all this madness, but I need you both on mission support for Lyra and Bon-Bon. Who knows what Trixie has been throwing at them while we’ve been occupied?”
The two specialists returned the salute and Octavia helped Vinyl to her feet.
“Roger that, Commander Hooves. Returning to ExTech immediately.”
With that, they began the long, painful walk back to the lab.
Scene 2
Trixie looked out across Metropony from her place atop the enormous Lunatron. The missile barrage had left huge craters pockmarking the streets, as if some great beast had smashed at the ground in fury. Ash wafted through the sky as the wind whipped at the broken metropolis and fires raged across the city, feeding each other. Here and there a skyscraper would crumble as the small businesses that formed their foundation were consumed by the flames. At last, her victory was complete. Luna would rule. From this ruin, She would raise the capital of Her Empire, an empire that would rise to surpass Celestia’s and bring an end to the weakness that infested the world.
To think that it had been so simple. For months she had had doubts that her mistress was correct. Her constant defeat at the hooves of Harpflank and Sweets had led her to believe that, perhaps, right was not on their side. But Lyra and Bon-Bon’s vile betrayal had cemented the truth in her mind. The world was corrupt.
At the thought of Lyra, she turned to face her new ally, who was also staring out across the city, her face unreadable. Trixie trotted to where Lyra stood, at the edge of the metal platform that topped the Lunatron’s head. The nanosuit’s blue glow almost matched Trixie’s own coat.
“You see, Lyra? We are great and powerful, and the ponies below were weak. They spent their time babbling nothings and toying with each others’ hearts, confident that their ‘friends’ would keep them all safe. Yet here we stand, victori-”
Lyra spun to face her and cut her off with a sharp tone.
“Shut up, Trixie. I’m here because I think the world needs shaking up, not because I want to hear you rant about The Great and Powerful You. This...” She waved a hoof vaguely towards the smoking ruins. “This is... necessary. I get that.”
She turned back to the burning city, away from the pouting Trixie, and said quietly, half to herself,
“But nopony should enjoy it. Nopony.”
Trixie harrumphed and conjured her control panel again. With a few button presses, the Lunatron turned ponderously, coming to rest facing the one building in the city that still stood above them: Celestia Tower.
Metropony’s centre of government, the tower was the city’s direct link to Canterlot, in which thousands of bureaucrats, accountants and busybodies took the vague diktats laid out in the letters that occasionally arrived from the Equestrian capital and translated them into workable policy. Its destruction would be both functional and symbolic; it would both sever Metropony’s connection to the rest of the world and show the citizens that Celestia’s rule here was truly over.
As the colossal robot began its journey to the centre of the city where the slender white spire reached heavenwards, Lyra watched her home burn. She could never forget this moment, the moment she left everything behind for a new future.
If she did, she would never forgive herself.
Scene 3
Bon-Bon watched her friend turn away from her, from their home. She could no longer see Lyra as the vast Lunatron began its advance on Celestia Tower, obscured as she was by both the metallic bulk of the robot and the rising smoke and ash. The square had been untouched by the missile barrage, but the great fires were closing in from the areas that had and Bon-Bon began to feel the heat as the decorative greenery that ringed the plaza began to burn.
Even as the flames drew closer, she sat, unmoving. But her mind was not numb and empty as it had been when Lyra had abandoned her. A single thought was thrusting itself into her consciousness, demanding she acknowledge it even through her despair.
At that moment, she had seen something in Lyra’s eyes. At the huge distance, it could easily have been her imagination. But somehow she knew that what she had seen was the truth. A single spark of emotion had escaped her friend’s heart and written itself on her face for an instant, and it filled Bon-Bon with hope.
She stood, slowly, every movement brimming with purpose. She turned to face the Lunatron, steadying herself as the ground shook with its every step. With practiced efficiency, she reached into her utility saddlebag and pulled free her grapple gun. In the same motion, she took aim and fired, the coil of metal wire flying true to the roof of a nearby building. She was airborne in an instant. As she neared the line’s point of contact, she retracted the hook and fired again. Swinging between the remaining buildings, she began her pursuit of the accelerating Lunatron.
Her eyes burned with determination. She knew now that she could save her friend. And she would.
Scene 4
Vinyl slumped into her chair in Head Office, aching from her ordeal under the suit’s control. Octavia was already tapping away at her terminal, calling up the city-wide monitoring and communications systems that they used to aid Lyra and Bon-Bon from behind the scenes. As Vinyl took a moment to close her eyes, breathe deeply, and appreciate being alive, the tapping stopped. Octavia called her over, concern clear in her voice. The day had been exhausting so far and promised to continue to be so, and the computer genius’ taciturn facade was slipping ever further as events escalated.
“Vinyl, you really need to see this.”
Spurred into urgency by Octavia’s continuing displays of emotion, Vinyl crossed the room to the main terminal as fast as her body would allow her. She gasped as she took in what the readouts were telling them.
“That... that can’t be right. Every pony in the city?!”
On the main screen was an aerial view of the cratered Metropony, with information such as population density, defensive viability, and the position of organisation patrols thickly covering it. Every graph, scale and gauge was at zero. There was not a single pony in the city, save the two riding the grey mass of the Lunatron that was crossing the map. And, far behind but gaining fast, a single cream icon. As the two specialists stared at the chaos portrayed before them, Vinyl realised something.
“Lyra is with Trixie... Something’s gone way wrong while we were busy, Tavi.”
Octavia nodded, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
“The Empire must be far more powerful than we ever suspected. An operation of this scale is unthinkable. How could they have moved every single pony from the city without us noticing?”
Vinyl shrugged, eyes still focused on the flashing symbol denoting Bon-Bon.
“No idea. Maybe they hacked our sensors without us noticing and did it while we were blind. Maybe the suit going haywire was a set-up to distract us. Maybe Luna’s so awesome she just up and ‘ported them all out. Whatever it was, Trixie’s got something planned. Look where she’s headed.”
Octavia followed Vinyl’s pointing hoof and narrowed her eyes.
“Celestia Tower. This is getting worse by the minute. If Trixie finds what we’re building in there...”
Vinyl finished her sentence for her.
“We’re in big trouble. I think...”
They looked at each other, coming to an agreement without needing words. They nodded, and Vinyl opened a channel to the Commanders office.
“Derpy, sir? You might want to get Bubbles ready. We’re moving out.”
Scene 5
Lyra stared. She had expected Bon-Bon to leave, to go back to base and inform them of her betrayal. It was the logical thing to do. Report, re-arm, retaliate. As often as circumstances forced her act otherwise, Bon-Bon put great stock in regulations and would follow them wherever possible. But now...
Her ex-partner was keeping pace with the Lunatron, unable to gain any distance as it reached its cruising speed but not falling behind due to the skill of her grapnel swings. Bon-Bon’s eyes were fixed firmly on Lyra, and the determined pony’s expression caused a strange fear to grip her tightly. Her horn flared.
Green light surrounded chunks of rubble and metal from the gutted skyscrapers hurtled at Bon-Bon, trying to swat her out of the air as Lyra panicked. Bon-Bon twisted, altering her swings at the last moment in such a way to dodge the flying debris but maintain her momentum. She wove a deft path of least resistance through the rain of projectiles with almost balletic grace. Lyra’s horn glowed brighter as the strange feeling grew stronger, and the storm of masonry intensified. She started shouting across the distance, trying to dissuade her friend from her course before something terrible happened.
“Please, BB! Don’t make me do this!”
Despite her protestations, the debris continued to fly at Bon-Bon. Lyra’s nanosuit shone brighter than ever.
Then, suddenly, it was over. A chunk of stone ripped from the corner of the Apple Family Bank swung at Bon-Bon at a trajectory that she just couldn’t avoid in time. It slammed into her side, snapping her line and sending her tumbling towards the ground. Lyra rushed to the very edge of the platform in horror, watching her pursuer’s body fall from sight, curled in pain.
But Bon-Bon wasn’t finished. Recovering from the hit and twisting in mid-air as she fell, she pulled a cord on her saddlebag that Lyra had never seen before. The saddlebags began to move strangely and swiftly, surface shimmering and somehow... changing. In seconds, they had become a series of shifting metal plates that began to expand and form two large metal cylinders, almost the size of Bon-Bon herself, tipped with whirling fans. With a whine that even Lyra could hear, a deep orange glow flickered into life in the depths of the tubes. A roar erupted from below as great plumes of flame burst from the back of what Lyra now realised was the jetpack Vinyl had been working on for months now. Bon-Bon’s descent immediately reversed and she rocketed upwards, trailing smoke. Lyra fell back as the flying pony zoomed past, mane streaming in the rush of air her passage brought with it. She picked herself up as Bon-Bon’s trajectory took her up... and up... and up, until she was a speck in the centre of the shining circle of the sun.
Then, she began to fall. As the speck grew into a blur, and the blur into Bon-Bon, Lyra stumbled backwards as her inexplicable terror reached its peak. She scrabbled at the platform, desperately searching for some hatch into the workings of the machine, but her gaze was pulled upwards again by the sound of a voice. Bon-Bon’s scream ripped through the air, growing louder by the second as the jetpack propelled her ever faster downwards.
“Lyyyyyyraaaaaaaaa!”
She drew level with the Lunatron, and just as it seemed she would pass it and fly into the ground, she pulled up in an instant and shot straight at Lyra. With a tremendous impact that took the wind out of both of them, the two ponies collided, Bon-Bon wrapping her forelegs around Lyra’s midriff and carrying her off the Lunatron and into the air beyond. The jetpack sputtered and failed after being pushed harder than it was ever meant to pushed, and they crashed onto the rooftop of the Department of Loyalty, one of the five ministries surrounding Celestia Tower. They rolled with the crash, the sheer force of Bon-Bon’s descent carrying them to the very edge of the roof. Lyra ended up on her back, with Bon-Bon straddling her. Before Lyra could do anything to throw her off, Bon-Bon raised her foreleg and roared,
“WHAT THEY HAY DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”
Her hoof came down, all her rage and sadness and hope infusing it with a power beyond any mere punch. Bon-Bon’s feelings condensed in her strike as it swung towards Lyra’s face, its descent seeming somehow more awesome and terrible than even the fall of the megacello, so many weeks ago.
The blow connected. The world stood still, for just one moment. Two ponies, betrayer and betrayed. Bon-Bon’s hoof slamming into Lyra’s cheek, and Lyra’s eyes, in that very second, brimming with realisation.
Time began again and the incredible power of Bon-Bon’s punch sent Lyra skidding out from underneath her, coming to a halt a few feet away. She lay on her back, Bon-Bon’s hoofmark gracing her face, and stared into the sky as what she had almost done became clear.
A shadow fell over her and Bon-Bon’s head appeared in her vision, smiling now with a warmth that brought tears to Lyra’s eyes. She turned her face away, unable to meet her friend’s gaze. Through the tears, she admitted to Bon-Bon what she could only now admit to herself, words tumbling over themselves to be said.
“BB, I thought it was the suit dragging me on. I felt so powerful after the cello thing, all the time, and... unappreciated and... and the suit made it better. Then they started playing up and I started feeling even worse, and when I was wearing the suit I didn’t have to think, just act, and then...”
She took a deep breath and carried on, forcing the words out between the great sobs that were now wracking her.
“It was me, Bon-Bon. It was all me. My suit was malfunctioning because it was holding me back. I... I stood back and I let this happen, and I did it of my own accord.”
The hoof that had so recently smashed into her face with such force now gently nudged her face around to face Bon-Bon, who was still giving Lyra that friendly smile.
“I know.”
Lyra sat up, blinking away the tears to stare at her friend.
“You... what?”
Bon-Bon shrugged with impossible nonchalance.
“I know it was all you.”
She grew more serious, but the smile never left her face.
“I saw you turning away, all the way up there on the Lunatron. And I saw something that I figured you couldn’t see in yourself. When I looked into your eyes as you betrayed everything you loved...”
She helped Lyra to her feet as she spoke. Placing a comforting hoof on her friend’s shoulder, she continued,
“I saw regret. And that’s when I knew I’d get you back.”
Lyra’s eyes welled with tears again and she managed to say,
“Why’d you come back for me, BB?”
Bon-Bon laughed and pulled her into a hug, an embrace so tight it felt like they would never separate.
“Because you’re my best friend, dummy. And I love you too much to let you do something stupid like become a supervillain.”
They were still for a moment, basking in the reaffirmation of their friendship. Lyra wiped her eyes and sniffed as, as if its job was done, the nanosuit began to deconstruct itself, dissolving into the air as the nanomachines lost cohesion and drifted away.
A few seconds later, she began to wriggle.
“Okay, that’s too much hugging now. Don’t go getting the wrong idea.”
Bon-Bon let go and laughed again, the laughter of true happiness. Lyra joined her and, for just a minute, all was right with the world.
Scene 6
The moment was broken by a scream.
“No! NO!”
The Lunatron had followed them, Trixie’s wrathful form atop its head. Her face was a mask of hatred. She continued to rant as Lyra and Bon-Bon span to face her, ready to do whatever they could against this impossible enemy.
“I thought you were strong, Lyra! I thought you understood power! I... I thought you understood me! You could’ve been great and powerful! But instead you will die, along with the pathetic friendship you so treasure!”
The Lunatron raised a leg to crush Lyra and Bon-Bon once and for all. The two friends watched it descend and realised that they had no way to defend against it. They braced themselves for the end.
But the end never came. There was an explosion that shook the very ground and the Lunatron’s leg shattered in a burst of blue energy, great shards of metal raining across the empty city. Trixie exclaimed in surprise and the Lunatron crashed to the ground, struggling to balance on three legs. A voice rang out across the battlefield, coming from the roof of the Department of Laughter. What they saw there made Lyra and Bon-Bon’s hearts leap.
“Sorry we’re late, guys!”
Vinyl Scratch stood atop the ministry building holding an enormous plasma cannon, obviously cannibalised from one of Trixie’s Lunatrons. It was almost three times the size of the pony that held it, supported by a series of makeshift tripods. How she had got it there, the two heroes couldn’t even begin to guess.
The Lunatron rose again, Trixie putting everything she could into making it rear and swipe at Lyra and Bon-Bon again, swinging its remaining foreleg at the pair. But before it could get anywhere near them, it went the same way as its twin, blue flame ripping through it and vaporising it from the knee down. The path of the projectile led to the Department of Generosity, where Octavia stood with a copy of Vinyl’s cannon.
“We have come to aid you.”
Trixie continued to hammer at her control panel. Panels opened all along the Lunatron and missiles swarmed forth, homing in on the four ponies that opposed her. As they flew into the air, however, a storm of gunfire erupted from the Department of Kindness as the bandaged Nurse Redheart fired her collection of heavy weaponry into the sky, ripping through the missiles and causing a chain reaction that destroyed half the swarm before they could even lock targets. The remainder began to scatter beyond Redheart’s ability to hit them, but a single white line streaked from the Department of Honesty. The line struck a single missile and at the exact same moment broke the rainbow barrier, creating a sonic rainboom that swept across the sky, exploding every other missile simultaneously. Redheart threw a curt nod at Derpy, who was already readying Bubbles for a second shot.
With every new arrival, Lyra and Bon-Bon gained new strength. They felt something deep inside them, something they had never even known existed. It was as if their very souls had somehow... changed.
Trixie screamed, incoherent with the intensity of her anger. She was beyond words now, and her horn began to shine so brightly that it hurt to look at. The Lunatron was engulfed entirely in the light of her magic and, where the forelegs had been destroyed, two blue outlines formed in the air. It stood upon the magical legs and screamed with its mistress, Trixie’s rage and hatred and terrible loneliness giving it life that it might do her bidding. The blazing unicorn finally managed to speak, crying to the heavens.
“Why, Celestia?! Why do your lies give them such power?! Why can they not understand?!”
“We do understand, Trixie!”
Trixie’s gaze snapped to where Lyra and Bon-Bon stood determined, every inch of them resolute and filled with conviction. Lyra’s magic enveloped both her and Bon-Bon and, as Trixie watched in astonishment, the green light began to develop a cream hue.
“But that’s impossible! You’re an earth pony! You can’t use magic! How are you doing that?!”
The magical light drew a line from Lyra and Bon-Bon to Vinyl Scratch, surrounding her as well. Her own horn began to glow, a blue border forming around the two-toned light that covered her. Her voice rang out, the voice of the inventor who never let a failure get her down, who took everything in her stride and always saw the bright side.
“It’s not just magic, Trixie! It’s what this city embodies, what we give our all to protect!”
The light moved on, linking Vinyl to Octavia. As the light covered her and added a refined grey to its palette, the specialist who did everything for her friends, never complaining or showing her emotions as she worked for the benefit of the city, shouted across the city.
“It is what fuelled our designs, what gave them the edge over yours! It is what gave us our strength when we fought!”
Next in the light’s path was Derpy, eyes aligned perfectly as her words erupted straight from her heart, clear of any deception, saying exactly what she meant. The light seemed to sharpen, become clearer.
“It’s what makes us work as a unit! As a team! As a family!”
Redheart joined the congregation as the light engulfed her, crystal voice filled with the conviction to protect what she held dear, and to always do the best for others. With her voice, the light brightened, suffused with a healing warmth.
“It’s what makes us stand up when we fall to the ground, and help our comrades when they do the same!”
The light at last finished its circuit and came back to Lyra and Bon-Bon. They stood on their back legs side by side, each with a hoof pointed to the sun, sunlight gleaming from the tips. The light was incandescent now, the unbroken line from pony to pony forming an irregular five-pointed star with Celestia Tower as its centre. Lyra’s voice cried out across the city, thick with emotion and trembling as the magic continued to build, aided by this strange change within them.
“It’s what keeps us together, even when... even when the journey seems darkest and the only way is forward!”
The Lunatron writhed in the centre of the star, the aura of the six ponies’ power forcing it to the ground even as Trixie’s berserk magical overload pushed it back up. Trixie was barely coherent, railing against the defeat that seemed, once again, inevitable. Her voice wracked with despair, she cried to the ponies around her, pleading.
“What is your strength?! What makes you so powerful?! I don’t understand!”
Bon-Bon closed her eyes, a single tear running down her cheek as she readied herself for what she feared was to come. She had no idea, none of them did, what would happen when the power that was building within them was released.
“I know, Trixie. And you never will. We tried to show you, but you turned away, unable to look beyond yourself! Friendship... Friendship is not corruption.”
She opened her eyes, and when she spoke, the five other ponies spoke with her, the power in their voices echoing cross the city and sending shockwaves through the very fabric of reality.
“Friendship...IS MAGIC!”
The light they had brought forth erupted into a pillar of brilliance, five-pointed star extending into the sky. Celestia Tower began to shine like the sun, throwing its own lance of light heavenwards. High above the city, the six beams converged to form a dazzling rainbow that gracefully arced downwards, racing towards the screaming Trixie. The Lunatron, infused with all her emotion, roared one final time, screaming with its mistress against a world that had rejected her.
The rainbow engulfed the Lunatron. Slowly, almost kindly, it began to vanish. Starting from its back legs, the metal pony glowed brightly and began to dissipate into golden motes that wafted gently into the air. The process continued along its body and upwards, finally reaching the head. As the shining particles floated back down to the city, the wounded metropolis began to rebuild, craters filling themselves and shattered buildings climbing back into the sky. The magic of friendship recreated its greatest bastion as fast as it had been destroyed, restoring Metropony to its former glory in a gentle shower of healing rain.
As the light reached Trixie, she too began to disappear. But even as she vanished, a smile crept onto her face. The rainbow’s warmth gave her what a lifetime of striving and hardship had never managed. Deep within her soul, something... changed.
“Ah... so that’s it...”
And then she was gone.
Scene 7
The six ponies sat on the Department of Loyalty’s rooftop, watching the sun set over the renewed Metropony. Even now, organisation forces were combing the catacombs for the missing citizenry and bringing them to the surface, and were reporting that Luna’s operations seemed to have been largely abandoned. The Princess Herself had seemingly vanished.
The six were silent. They had all felt the change within them, and the power they had unleashed was like nothing they had ever heard of. An unspoken bond, both magical and emotional, tied them now, and none of them quite felt ready to address it. Finally, Lyra spoke.
“So... what happened?”
Vinyl hesitantly replied.
“I remember finding a weird book in Sparkle Library one time. It had... legends. About certain groups of ponies.”
Octavia scoffed.
“The Elements of Harmony? I presume your next claim is that the Secret Six are going to appear next?”
Derpy interrupted politely.
“I’m sorry, but I deal with military affairs mostly, so if someone could fill me in...”
Vinyl put her explaining face on.
“Supposedly, there’s this group of six...call them elemental forces. They encapsulate everything that’s good about ponies. Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter and... something else. That one’s hazy. When the world is in crazy danger, these forces...I don’t know...let’s say ‘possess’ six ponies who embody those virtues and give them the power to end the threat.”
Bon-Bon chimed in, looking thoughtful.
“And you think we might be those ponies? Who were those Secret Six Octavia mentioned?”
Vinyl nodded, acknowledging the hole in her story.
“Well, apparently the founders of this city were bearers of the Elements. But nopony knows who they were. Supposedly some of the landmarks in the city are named after them, but that’s the weird thing. We don’t know which ones.”
She shrugged.
“Anyway, that’s my take on it. It’s the only thing I can think of that could explain us being able to do... well, what we did.”
They settled back into silence, each thinking their way through the implications of them potentially being magically linked to the safety of the world.
Lyra spoke again, glancing at the starred hat that lay beside her.
“She’s... not coming back next week. Not this time.”
Bon-Bon sighed deeply, still not sure if Trixie’s fate had been necessary, or even right.
“No.”
“... She didn’t have to die.”
“No, she didn’t. And that’s our fault. We couldn’t control our power.”
She stood up, and turned to face her five closest friends.
Lyra, partner in battle and, though she sometimes faltered, eternally loyal.
Derpy, honest to a fault and surrogate mother to every member of her organisation.
Vinyl, irrepressible and optimistic to the end.
Octavia, endlessly working out of sight to aid those she cared for.
Redheart, never flinching in her duty to the wounded and the needy, no matter the cost to herself.
Sat together like this, the five of them looked... right. As if this was how things had always been meant to be.
“She turned her back on ponykind because ponykind turned its back on her. It’s our job now to ensure that this never happens again. We have to stop Luna. We have to stop Her Empire, based solely on power. We have to stop her twisted philosophy turning good ponies against each other. And we have to stop her together.”
As the sun bathed them in its fading rays, Bon-Bon’s heart was full. Not with hope, but with certainty. Together, as friends, they would win.
They would win.
HARPFLANK AND SWEETS: SEASON FINALE - FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC... SOMETIMES
[ Credits roll. ]
--------------------
The battle is over, but the city-spanning adventures of Harpflank and Sweets will continue and the greatest pony of them all - The Great and Powerful Trixie - will return.
Coming soon: Harpflank and Sweets: The Movie - The Mare On The Moon!
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The near-super sentai concept and general campiness was rather fun and endearing after a fashion.
I dislike the end tremendously and the message it seems to give: can't help someone, just kill them.
205249 I wrestled with the ending. In fact, upon rereading I have noticed a GRIEVOUS hole in my editing in which Bon-Bon is meant to be a lot less sure of what the friendship beam is going to do. The end result wasn't their intent, they barely knew what happening themselves. Much like in the anime I was trying to emulate, stuff just happened and they got swept along with it.
"Metropony" totally remembers me of T.U.F.F. Puppy!
205268 To elaborate on my vague comment, sorry for that by the way, I dislike the end because of the break in the inherent traits of the story. Forgive me, but I can't seem to remember the term. It is a comedy with quite a bit of random, but it throws tracks right to a sad feel in relation to Trixie's issues and what she sees as a betrayal by Lyra and Bon Bon. I think it needs a sad tag thrown on it.
I don't like Trixie per se, well other than the way she rolls her r's and certain fanfiction portrayals of her, but I think you were rather hard on the poor girl.
Aw, a tragic ending. I was hoping to see a delightfully cheesy and sappy "friendship conquers all" type of thing.
Ah, well, can't please them all. Still, I did like the campiness of the final scene and the mega-awesome-super-duper-ally-ooper rainbow of life/death at the end. Was Celestial Tower representing the Element of Magic? Was that what the organization was afraid Trixie would find?
Loved Derpy's line after the Sonic Rainbullet part. Figures that she'd get something right without even knowing.
Also liked some of the mythology that was brought up in regards to the previous bearers of harmony. I was wondering why some of the buildings had familiar titles to them.
Wonderful story! Will we be seeing a season 2? The Return of the Great and Powerful One? Will Luna avenge her most faithful servant? Stay tuned next fall!
Not a bad story, it really had that feel of a 80s 90s hero show and all the cheesy wonderfulness that comes with it.
My only regret, is that there wasn't an appearance of the Mysterious Mare-do-well. Oh the missed opportunities. But hey, There were 32 other episodes, so who knows, maybe it did happen.
Hm. I liked the ending. Let me start off with that.
I'm afraid that I must report my socks to still be firmly in place, however. I feel like the story slipped away from the hokey, campy feel it started with (which is what I loved about it) and into a more dramatic, unbelievable (is that a word I can credibly use about a story featuring magical talking ponies in cybersuits that wield megacellos?) tone. The somber after-thoughts of the fight, Lyra's (eventual) 360, I dunno...
It's your story to do with as you want. We're just along for the ride.
Curse your resilient socks =p The tone shift was half-intentional, half-unintentional. As the story went on it became apparent that I wanted to deconstruct rather than straight-up parody just by the way it was developing in my head, so I just kind of rolled with it. Part of the issue is that I was making this all up as I went, because I thought I wasn't going to do any more every time I started a chapter.
I can say, however, that the 'movie' will be VERY MUCH a return to the hokum. VERY MUCH. And also that I wish I hadn't been so mean to Trixie. But the end-note wasn't lying. She'll be back.
229180 You seriously have no idea how many rejected ideas ("deleted scenes?") there are that involve Luna watching that soap. I had to fight myself to not include more. Ditto with the Flim Flams, really. That episode basically started as an excuse for me to write about Luna and the Flim Flams.
This almost made me cry manly tears on the outside
But it horribly made me cry manly tears on the inside
I also agree that what happened to Trixie was not needed but...
Screw the fact that my comment is almost 2 months later than the others. This needs to be commented on dang it.
As a season finale that was pretty epic.
I'll throw my vote on the "good season finale" side.
205268 I can't believe you Garhalla'd Trixie!
205249 Yup, that kind of joke is better suited to Adventure Time.
229227 GIVE US THE OMAKE FILES! GIVE THEM TO US!
The Tengen Toppa inspiration is clear, but I gave up on that anime, so in my opinion you are doing a better job at balancing the stupid over the top with the real emotions. Also, your sense of humour is better.
205268
While I fully recognize what it is you were trying to do... that really was way more sentai than mecha.
god damn :D