The Great Equestrian War

The Great Equestrian War

Chapter 5 - The Confusion

"M'Lord, we bring excellent news."

Discord opened his eyes, the missized red pupils scanning the Chaos One. "Tell me."

The black construct bowed. "We have captured the Everfree Village, with no casualties."

"Excellent. And what of the actual thing you were meant to get?"

Pinkamena burst through the door, dragging the limp avian behind her. "Got her!"

"Bravo, Pinkamena!" Discord clapped, sounding off unusual noises with each clap. "I'd promote you, but you're already at the highest rank possible."

"Thank you, Lord." She waved the Chaos One off, and it took to the air. She threw Fluttershy to the ground hard.

"You know, I wonder why we bothered capturing her in the first place."

"Do speak. I always like hearing other's thoughts."

"With me and her working for you, Celestia can't use the elements. It would have been easier to just leave her.

"Oh, that." Discord walked slowly towards the two of them. "It would have been possible for her to use the existing elements to draw you back to them, and then she would have you being used against me."

"That's a good point."

"Of course, it is possible to do the same thing now, but it would take longer to pull off."

Discord crouched next to Fluttershy, now at Pinkamena's height. "I'll just secure her. You can go if you want."

"Nah, I've got nothing to do."

"Fair enough." Discord grabbed the frightened avian, and pulled her back to his throne. A sly grin grew on his face. "You know, she's a fine piece of work, isn't she?"

Pinkamena blushed slightly. "I guess."

Discord placed his hand on Fluttershy's shoulder, her squeaking in response. "I guess I can have a bit of fun with her." He looked up to Pinkamena. "Care to join?"

"No thanks. I'll just watch."

Discord slid his hand along Fluttershy's arm, and moved to her leg. Pinkamena felt her balance shoot off, and she stumbled. A pain grew in her lungs, causing her breath to shorten. Discord, oblivious of her sudden upset, stroked the avian's body, causing her to shudder. He stopped close to her chest when Pinkamena coughed harshly.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine," She saw blood on her hand, and looked to Discord. "Just fine."

"If you insist." He continued moving his clawed hand up Fluttershy's body, her squirming weakly. He grabbed one of her breasts, only to pull back when Pinkamena fell to the ground, coughing intensely, a red puddle forming.

"Pinkamena, are you sure you're ok?"

"No..." She said weakly. "But go on."

Discord slowly turned his head back to the shocked avian. Shocked not from her just being handled inappropriately, but at Pinkamena's state. Discord grabbed the neck of Fluttershy's collar, and pulled it down. His hand grazed a metal object, partially embedded in her now-exposed cleavage, and stopped. Pinkamena felt herself not getting any worse, and looked up.

"What the..."

The canister pulsed, a bright pink light flashing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue glow from Pinkamena's waist.

"What's this?"

The canisters pulsed again, a small disk of energy blinking between the two of them. They pulsed again, then again, then more and more times, pulsing even sooner with each one. The disk formed with every pulse, throwing up a small burst of electricity each time. Pinkamena walked closer, the pulses firing several times a second now, the disk becoming larger each time. A small sphere of energy formed in the centre, a swirling pink and blue orb, sparking continuously.

Discord was in too much awe to feel Fluttershy pulling herself free, and flying up to Pinkamena. The orb grew to enormous size, and with a tap from Pinkamena, sent a beam of two-coloured light crashing into Discord, breaking his throne with his impact. The pulsing stopped, leaving sparks to die out in the air.

He pulled himself up, looking irritated. "Why did you do that, Pinkamena?"

"I-I didn't!" She protested. "It happened on its own!" She looked to Fluttershy, who looked calmer beside her, somehow. Pinkamena coughed again, a small spray of red hitting her hand.

"Then what about that giant beam thing?"

"I-I..." Before Pinkamena could continue, she collapsed to the ground, in extreme pain. Fluttershy grabbed her and pulled her up. Suddenly, the pain alleviated, and she no longer felt like coughing. "How did you do that?"

"I figured you were being killed by Discord's actions, so I reversed the steps." She gave her a small grin, to which Pinkamena felt extremely happy. It felt good.

"Spare me the lame sentimental crap, Pinkamena." He dusted his coat off, and walked up to them. "Give her back."

She looked at Fluttershy, who looked frightened. She looked to the ground, and thought. "You know what?"

Discord smacked his face. "Oh come on."

"I won't."

"Wha- But that's an order!"

"Well, I am of now no longer part of this army. Good day." She grabbed Fluttershy by her waist, and walked out.

"You signed a life contract!" Discord panicked. "You can't back out of this!"

"Well, you obviously don't know me."

Dash landed softly on the deck of the Dauntless, and looked to Applejack, the only one up there. "Man, it's good to fly freely again."

"Ah hear ya, sugarcube." Applejack threw her apple core off the side of the deck, and watched it fall. "Soak it in while ya can, we'll be fighting again soon."

"Darn."

"Yeah." The two leaned in silence for the best part of a minute. "Hey, have ya noticed somethin?"

"Eh?"

"With Rarity and Twilight. Twi seems ta be a wee bit jumpy when anything with Rarity is involved."

"You know, I have noticed." Dash pushed herself of the rail, and cracked her neck. "And Rarity acts a little familiar with her."

"Maybe they like each other or somethin'."

"Likely. Why'dya bring it up?"

"Ah dunno." She looked slightly away from Rainbow. "Just thinkin'."

"Are you sure you're not lying?"

She glared up at the smiling avian. "Ah'm the Element of Loyalty, Dash! Why would I lie?"

"Because you have lied many times."

She turned away, blushing. "Th-that's irrelevant!"

Dash grinned slyly. "You like me, don't you."

"Wha- No, ah just-"

"There you go, lying again."

"Yeah, ah do, okay? What's it ta you?"

"How long have you liked me?"

"A few weeks now. But why-"

"Because I've liked you for about 8 or more years."

"Wait, wha-" Rainbow moved closer, and pressed her forehead against Applejack's.

"Have I ever told you you're cute? Of course, I'm cuter, but still."

"This is embarrasin'."

"No one's looking." The two leaned closer and closer, and were about to touch their lips when they were interrupted.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," Rarity, who had just walked up to the deck, hid her laughter almost perfectly. "But we've got an incoming unknown unit, so you'd better prepare yourself."

Applejack shoved Rainbow off, blushing. "Alrighty then."

"Dash, you are to head to the air and scout."

Dash fired off a quick salute before launching off. The two left on the deck watched her create a rainbow wake as she soared off.

Rarity could no longer contain it. She burst into hysterical laughter, catching Applejack's glare, which made her only laugh more.

"What in tarnation is so funny?"

Rarity stifled her laughter. "It's just... perfect timing!" She continued laughing, collapsing to the ground in fits of hysteria.

"What?"

"I came onto the deck just as you were-" She couldn't finish her sentence before she fell into even more laughter.

"How the hay is that funny?"

"I don't know!"

Applejack chose to ignore Rarity, and watched Dash arc back to the deck.

"It's a Chaos aircraft." She looked at Rarity, her laugh dying off slowly. "What's up with her?"

"Ya don't wanna know."

"Hey, Rarity!"

Rarity stood up, still recovering. "Yes?"

"The incoming is a Chaos aircraft. ETA damn soon."

"Well then, I shall alert the ship. You stay here, Dash. Applejack-"

"Ah don't take orders from you."

"It's a suggestion that will prevent us from being killed."

"Fine then. Shoot."

"-You can man that gun."

"Nah, I'll just head to the ground." Applejack pulled herself off the side of the bow, and started falling to the ground.

"Why did you do that? You'll get yourself killed!"

"Shock absorbers!" She yelled as she plummeted to the ground.

Rarity saw her drop, and merely leaned back and sighed.

"Honestly, I will never understand her."

* * *

The jet soared along nicely, making quick progress to the Dauntless. Fluttershy looked nervous, though.

"Um, Pinkie?"

"Yeah?" Pinkie, her hair still smooth, looked at her.

"Are you sure it's safe to fly up to a war ship in a military-grade jet?"

"I wouldn't worry about it. There's a little white fla-"

The jet suddenly jolted under a storm of plasma bolts, one of which hit the jet.

Fluttershy went into panic mode, gripping onto Pinkie harder. Pinkie aimed the jet, which was slowly losing control and structural integrity, to the hull, and opened the cockpit. She leapt from it, holding Fluttershy in her arm, and landed with the jet soaring over her head and crashing into one of the guns shooting her. She pulled out a smaller version of her plasma cannon, and looked around. She saw Rarity approaching, blade unsheathed and pointed at her.

"Hi, Rarity!"

"Don't try to sympathise with me, Chaos dog."

"Wait!" Fluttershy squeaked, but was unheard.

"I'm not a Chaos dog! I'm a human!"

"Do you honestly think I'll fall for that?"

"Fall for the truth? Yeah, obviously."

"Well, it is not going to work!" She slashed at Pinkie, who tossed the scared avian out of harm's way and blocked with her gun. The blade stopped half-way through, caught in a bundle of wires.

"Fluttershy!" Pinkie screamed as Rarity pulled her blade back. "Run!"

Fluttershy panicked. She looked at the edge of the deck, and her wings froze.

"I can't!"

"Of course you ca-" Pinkie was kicked in the chest, and sent flying.

Into Fluttershy.

Both of them were sent flying off the deck. Fluttershy screamed, while Pinkie just looked down, seeing a rainbow streak aimed right for them. Before she could react, it passed her, grabbing the frightened avian.

"Hold on, Fluttershy!" She yelled to her, though it was unlikely she could hear her. With a scream of reality tearing, she unfurled her glider, and fired up the jets. She arced up, nearly scraping the hull of the airship, and aimed for Rainbow Dash.

* * *

Dash, still watching the remains of the jet crashing and disintegrating, caught sight of Fluttershy falling off the edge of the Dauntless, with Pinkie following. She went to full speed, and snatched her before Pinkie could react to her. Fluttershy curled up after impact, opening her eye after a second.

"Rainbow?"

"Yo. Long time no see."

"L-Likewise. What are you doing?"

"Saving you from Pinkie, obviously."

"But-" Fluttershy was cut off with the sound of reality tearing, and spotted Pinkie catching up. Dash turned her head back, and saw her roaring to her.

"Dashie!" Pinkie yelled, almost inaudible. The advantage of wings is that they're quieter than engines, which is why most of the air force is actually avians.

"Get lost!"

"Wait! I have something to tell you!"

"I don't care! Stay away from Fluttershy!"

"I'm trying to save her!"

"No you're not! You have no reason!"

"I totally have a reason!" Pinkie was nearly on top of Dash now. "Slow down so I ca-"

One of the wing tips on the glider suddenly sliced cleanly off. Pinkie was sent into a corkscrew, and nearly clipped Dash as she fell. Dash felt her comm buzz.

"I expect you to thank me later." Rarity said, her voice distorted by wind and the usual broadcast noise.

"What for?"

"For stopping Pinkie, obviously. Anyway, you have to land on ground."

"Why?"

"We're not prepared. Simple as that. Land on the ground and we'll pick you up."

"Kay then!"

"You're girlfriend will be there too."

Dash blushed. "My- wha- uh- who?"

Rarity chuckled, and the comm buzzed out.

"Um... Rainbow?"

"Not now."

"But, this is impor-"

"I said, not now!"

"Um, can you just listen to me for-?"

"I'm busy trying to land!" She glided along the side of the Dauntless, and aimed for a soft spot of land.

"Dash!"

She turned her head rapidly, and saw Pinkie gliding, sun mostly behind her.

"What the hell?"

"Stop!"

"No way!"

"But I need you to stop!"

"Why?"

"So I can explain everything!"

"Explain what?"

"I'll tell you when you stop!"

"That won't work on me!"

Pinkie made a noise that could only be related to frustration. She pulled out her blade, and whacked Dash on her side with the flat of the blade. Hard. Dash released her grip of Fluttershy, and started arcing down. Pinkie tossed her blade aside, and grabbed Fluttershy, then angled herself to Rainbow Dash, and grabbed her.

"Sorry, Dashie." Dash was in too much pain to respond. "You ok, Fluttershy?" Fluttershy was in too much shock to also respond.

She glided slowly down, a familiar thumping sound rising from the ground.

"Hey!"

Pinkie cocked her head to the sound, and saw a fast-moving armoured person thud beside her.

"Hey, Applejack!"

"Stop this nonsense, Pinkie, and leave before we have to kill you!"

"I'm not causing any nonsense."

"Ya look like you a- Wait."

"Eh?"

"Y'all didn't rage about yer name."

"Well, my short name is Pinkie."

"But a day ago, ya would've said it was Pinkamena of Chaos or something."

"Oh that. I quit."

"Ya WHAT?!"

"I quit. Simple as that."

"Holy apple branches that changes everything."

"Like?"

"We can use the Elements of Harmony!"

"Sound grea-" A bolt of energy tore through her glider, and burst from her chest and blasted into the ground.

"What in tarnation-"

"You payed me for this job, remember?" A familiar voice shot through her memory.

"Gilda?"

"Yeah, that's me." She pulled back before either of them could reply. After all, Applejack did smash her into the dirt a while back.

Meanwhile, Pinkie had just snapped back from her state of subconsciousness, and flipped to her back. She pushed the avians with as much force as she could muster, which mostly matched her now-dropping speed, and she crashed violently into the ground. The avians, now with their momentum expended, simply ragdolled on the ground a few metres below them.

* * *

Dash regained her consciousness to see Fluttershy pull her up, and Applejack storm past.

"Ow, my wings." She sat up. "You ok? What happened?"

"Pinkie saved us."

"She hit me, and then grabbed you, you mean."

"No, Pinkie grabbed me thenyou."

"Why did she? Aren't we enemies?"

"So were you and Spitfire."

"Oh yeah." Dash stood up, but nearly fell from pain. "Where's Pinkie?"

"Over there." Fluttershy supported Dash as they limped up to the small ditch created from Pinkie's fall.

"Hey AJ."

"Howdy, Sugarcube. Y'all right?"

"I'll get better. What's the story?"

"With Pinkie, right?"

"Duh."

"Ah, well, she grabbed tha two of you, and I tried to stop her. Gilda blasted her through, and she pushed you two back ta save you from crashing like this."

"Wow." Dash kind of stood in amazement. "I thought she hated us."

"That was Pinkamena." Fluttershy said softly. "This is Pinkie."

Dash looked at the wreckage, and saw that the glider hadn't disintegrated yet. Still strapped to it was a peaceful-looking Pinkie, her hair still straight.

"Is she..."

"Nah, just unconscious." Applejack flicked one of the straps off Pinkie, and reached for the next one. "Can one of ya still fly?"

"I can, but I'm supporting Dash."

"I'll be fine. Just lower me slowly." She cringed as Fluttershy slowly dropped her to her knees. "Thanks."

"Now, sugarcube, Ah need you to hold Pinkie's shoulders."

"Okay." Fluttershy flapped up to Pinkie, and held her by the shoulders. "Any reason?"

"Ah don't want her falling when her glider goes up." She loosened another strap, and placed her hand on the other one. "Ready?"

Fluttershy gave as stern a nod she could give. Applejack flicked the last strap, yet nothing happened. "Lift her up and place her down here."

"Okay." Fluttershy lifted Pinkie slowly up, and pulled her slightly to the left. The mangled glider started extruding a glowing pink energy, which swirled around aimlessly when Pinkie was set down. Most of the energy dissipated, but two strands pulled themselves around the wounded girls. Dash jumped up after the surge, and flew up, looped a few times, and landed softly.

"Whatever just happened, I'm glad it did." She saw the other coil flood into Pinkie's body. Pinkie jolted, and her eyes opened.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey, Pinkie." Dash replied, and leaned next to Pinkie, who was now being supported by Applejack. "You ok?"

"I think Gilda missed the important stuff." She said, fingers hovering over her still-open wound, which was cauterised, at least. "But I need important medical treatment."

"Well, Twilight is on her way down, with a full team ready to bring us on board." Applejack replied, and gently lifted her up. "So ya might want ta relax a bit."

"But Twilight doesn't know-"

"Ah told her and Rarity. Loosen up a bit."

* * *

Pinkie lay on the medical table, a unicorn concentrating on her wound, which was slowly healing and spitting out burnt flesh occasionally.

"So, Pinkie, explain to me what happened between the meeting and now." Twilight held out a page of paper, quill pressed on it.

Pinkie, lying half-naked but covered with a blanket, explained the invasion, her bringing Fluttershy to Discord, and how their Elements reacted when she mentioned something that made Fluttershy blush. She then went onto explain the events after, but was stopped by Dash.

"We were in that bit. We know what happened then."

"Oh." Pinkie coughed, which the medical staff member healing her looked slightly distressed. "K then."

Twilight wrote into some parchment, which she flared in green energy which flew through a crack in the window frame. "There. The Princesses have been informed." She turned to the staff member healing Pinkie. "Can I help?"

"You're not qualified, ma'am. I'd like you to, but you can't."

"I'm Magika Commander, so I do actually have authority to help. I know some restoration magic."

"Uh... I guess. I never got informed of this, but..."

"Also, Pinkie's my friend. I want to help her."

Dash whined a bit. "Unicorns are so lucky."

"You have the natural ability to fly and manipulate weather, and move faster than other human subspecies." Rarity pointed out.

"Point taken."

Twilight leaned closer to Pinkie, and concentrated. At about 50 times the speed of the staff member could, her wound healed in a few seconds. Pinkie opened her eyes from the now-gone pain that accompanied the healing process.

"I think I'm good now."

"Excellent." Twilight flicked a bit of burned flesh off her face, which fortunately was the only bit that hit anyone. "So, we're mobile now?"

"Of course!"

A hurried running echoed from the hallway, and a panting Trixie stood there. She regained her composure quickly.

"Commander Twilight?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"There's something you should see."

* * *

"It can't be..."

"It is." A glowing spike of energy shot into the sky, several kilometres away, crackling tendrils arcing to the ground, distorting the land nearby.

"A terraforming spell?"

"Looks like it. But I've read up on terraformation. This isn't any normal spell." She pointed to the spike. "Terraforming only affects the ground, not the sky. And energy isn't normally built up in the centre of a column of magic which also doesn't happen in normal terraformation spells."

"How the heck do you know this?"

"Luna gave me a book to read about it."

"I see. Wait-" She leant closer. "It's getting stronger."

"Probably a shockwave build up. We'll be fine."

"Not that!"

"Huh?"

"The distortion is getting stronger, and further! It looks like the ground is about to crack!"

"Oh crap."

Before any of them could say more, the glowing ball of energy at the centre of the blast burst open, a blue-edged shockwave soared over the land. It passed further than the bulging land, which was tearing itself up, and passed harmlessly through the mountains and the airship. The clouds swirled above the origin, and the ground broke into an odd pattern and chunks were forming a cloud around the centre. The air suddenly buckled, sending the Dauntless into an odd position. Twilight stumbled, and started falling, when she was grabbed by Trixie.

"Now we're even."

"Thank you, Trixie!" She pulled herself up as the Dauntless levelled back to a resting position. She looked over to the mountains, and saw that a huge chunk shattered and was falling for...

"Canterlot..." Twilight murmured, and then repeated it panic.

"I'm sure the Princesses have it under control!"

She was too busy stressing to listen. Trixie grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and shook her.

"Oi! Calm down!"

"Ok, Ok!" She said, clutching her head. "I'm sure it will be fine."

A letter materialised in front of her, and fell to the ground. In a fluster, she picked it up and read the words inside.

My most faithful student/Commander Twilight,

We're fine. Do not worry. No one has been killed by the avalanche, only wounded and collapsed buildings. We will deal with the rebuild.

You, on the other hand, must go to the origin and defeat Discord, with the Elements of Harmony. Good luck to you all.

Princess Celestia

"What's it say?" Trixie tilted her head.

"We have to go to the origin."

"What? Why?"

"We need to use the Elements on Discord."

"I see." Trixie saw Dash fly straight up the stairway, followed by Applejack, then Rarity, then Pinkie covering her chest with a blanket, with Fluttershy helping her.

"What the hell happened?" Dash yelled, panicked. "We were fine until the ship just flipped about!"

"That was caused by a shockwave from there." She pointed to the column of energy, with ground and clouds circling around it.

"Uh... What the hay is that?" Applejack asked.

"I know." Pinkie said darkly. "Discord's broken his fortress spell, which he had only because I was working in his place."

"So a whole cataclysm was caused by a spell break?"

"Well, he did spend five years building up excess energy. The spell made his fortress impenetrable to normal methods, but with it broken we should be able to head on in and stop him from taking over Equestria."

"I shall head us there." Rarity chimed, and grabbed Twilight's arm. "Come on." She pulled her back down the stairs.

"Well, better get some rest before we go, AJ."

"Not a bad idea, RD. Let's go."

"I need to practice." Trixie said deadpan, following the other two down the stairway.

Pinkie and Fluttershy remained on the top, looking over the blighted land that was caused by the chaos. The ship slowly turned to the pillar of energy, and held when it was pointing its bow nearly dead centre.

Pinkie grinned. "You know, there's something I've always wanted to do."

"Oh?"

She tossed the blanket aside, and pointed to the pillar. Fluttershy blushed and her wings burst out, but Pinkie seemed oblivious, even to the cold air coiling around her naked torso.

"Onward, to VICTORY!!"

To Be Continued