Harmony's Defeat

We were now in pursuit of Dracos. He wasn’t far ahead of us but the trees and other plant life made it difficult for us to get a good shot so I just held my fire for now. Liam was driving us in, out and around the trees as we tried to catch up on Dracos’ jeep.
“Courage! This is Twilight, what’s your situation?”
“We are right on Dracos’ tail now. We are trying to get in weapons range but these trees are making it tough to get a shot. Why? What you got for us?”
“Okay, the Tempest Warriors tell me that Dracos is planning to destroy the elements in the Manehatten steel refinery! You have to stop him before he does! Luna is prepping units to back you up but it’ll take a while. Do what you can to slow him down and try not to let Discord’s forces take you out first. It’s at least eighty miles from where you are now”
“Wait... A steel refinery in Manehatten? But I thought...”
“No Courage. We are not completely backward... In fact Manehatten is almost the same as any human city...”
“You mean it has cars and roads too?!?” I yelled in surprise.
“Yes. Buses and trains too. In the past few years, Pony tech has improved dramatically in Manehatten. The rest of Equestria just hasn’t had the time or need for it though”
“Well that explains how Rainbow knew what a bus was...” I mumbled to myself. “So he plans to throw the elements in molten steel. Will that really destroy them? Do the elements really have a melting point?”
“We don’t know! But 4000 degrees of molten metal never did any good for anything except for melting and destroying things. For all we know it could cause a huge nuclear explosion!” she yelled in fear. “...That's why you need to stop him. We cannot take any chances!”
“All right. You got it Twilight. We’ll let you know when it’s done. Courage out”

We had been following Dracos for about ten minutes but we couldn’t get any closer. The fact that our vehicles were statistically identical didn’t help. Same speed, same acceleration, same handling; none of us had the upper hand. These damn trees didn’t help either because I still couldn’t get a clear shot on him.
“We got company!” I yelled, looking up behind us as two fighters approached us. Black with purple trim? They belonged to Discord alright. Looks like they wanted to stop Dracos as much as we did. They began to open fire on us and Dracos. Me and Russell got our heads down as the fighters passed over head.
“Fuck that was close!”
I grabbed the gun and spun it round to face the front and I began to fire on the enemy fighters. Dracos’ gunner was doing the same. The trees stopped us from firing at each other but nothing stopped us from shooting up. The fighters came back around for another run, spraying more machine gun bullets. They missed Dracos but we took a fair few hits and we were forced to pull into the thicker tree line for cover. This also meant we had to slow down dramatically to avoid crashing. We went from sixty five miles per hour to thirty five. Dracos was going to get ahead for sure but at least we knew where he was going. In the mean time we needed to deal with the fighters before we could continue our pursuit of Dracos. They were on their way back around and I sprayed continuously at them.
“Get your heads down!!”
The fighters passed over again and I turned the gun on them. I continued to fire on the and I managed to take one out. The second turned back around again to make another run, this time firing missiles. I focused my fire on the missiles as I tried to take them out in flight. I managed to take out two but the rest were already too close. Luckily Liam managed to avoid the blasts. We were now crossing a large open field. Liam picked up the pace and we were going much faster now. The fighter was closing in from behind. I sprayed bullets continuously and so did he. It was now about who could hit who first. The chain gun continued to spin as I kept hold of the trigger, the fighter getting closer.
“C’mon. C’mon!”
The fighter was coming in real low and it was getting much closer. Closer. Closer.
Bam!
The cock-pit burst into flames and the fighter came crashing down. It’s husks crashing across the field and massive flames rising above it. It was like a napalm strike.
“Alright! Fighter’s down! Get back on Dracos!”
“You got it boss!”

We were finally out of the forest now and crossing the plains between the Ever Free Forest and Manehatten. We were still thirty miles from Manehatten but if we stay at this speed then we should get their in fifteen minutes.
“Princess Luna, this is Courage. What’s the status on that Back up?”
I waited for a response but didn’t get one.
“Luna? This is Courage. Repeat. This is Courage. What’s the status on my re-enforcements?”
I waited but my ear piece remained silent.
“Twilight? Tasha? Big Mac? Some one. Anyone. Respond...”
There must have been something wrong with my ear piece or maybe we were out of range or something. This was not good.
“Damn it! We’re on our own guys”
“We’ll never be able to catch Dracos now! We are too far out and I’m not a good enough driver to catch up!” complained Liam.
“We have to try! Now punch it!”
Liam slammed down the pedal and we continued on to Manehatten. I just had to hope that we were not too late.

We were now approaching Manehatten. It was huge! Unfortunately Dracos had already made it inside.
“We’re too late...” I said in despair.
“Not yet! He still needs to make it to the steel refinery!” stated Liam with confidence.
“Oh yeah? And you know where that is do you?!?” I shouted angrily.
“Yes. Three miles down meter street, a right onto fetal road then take the second road to the left onto the Gama highway... then we follow that for twenty miles then turn off at the junction and we will have arrived at the steel refinery”
“How the fuck do you know that?!?” I asked in confusion.
“Says it right here on the computer navigation...”
“Oh... Well do it then! Get us to the steel refinery!”
“You got it! We’ll be there in-”
We then started to take machine gun fire from multiple buggys that were behind us.
“Damn it! Discord’s goons are back!”
I returned fire with the mounted gun.

We were now entering Manehatten. Three buggys were still on our tail. Ponies on the side walks just watched us as we drove down the road firing at each other. I got my head down as a huge barrage of bullets impacted my guns shield. I grabbed the gun again and focused my fire on the front buggy. I pulled the trigger and sprayed a load of bullets into his windscreen. I took him out and his buggy went out of control. The others tried to avoid the crashing buggy but they ended up crashing into a few parked cars.
“The cars here look weird Lol!” laughed Liam.

We were now on the highway. We could see Dracos’ jeep not far ahead of us.
“Liam! Catch up on that Mofo!”
“On it!”
“Watch out! We’ve got company!” shouted Russell as he pointed to two enemy transports. These transports had purple trim so they belonged to Discord also. I grabbed the gun and opened fire. Heavy laser fire came from the transports sides. I fired on the gunners and took them out. One of them even fell out and landed on a civilian car. There were many civilians driving on this highway so I had to be careful. The transport flew ahead and focused on Dracos. Three buggys came from the next junction up and started to fire on us. I returned fire as did Russell. We tried to take out the buggys but they used the civilian cars and trucks for cover. One came out from the side and rammed us, causing us to nearly crash. Liam rammed back and launched him into a lorry. The buggy crashed and was taken out of the fight. Only two left and they were on our tail. I fired at them and they swerved side to side to avoid my bullets, returning fire as they did.
“Shit! Can’t you go any faster Liam?!?”
“I’m going one hundred miles per hour! It wont go much faster!”
The enemy buggers got closer and opened fire on us. We were sprayed with bullets. I took a few hits to the left arm.
“Ah Fuck!”
We were passing another junction. Suddenly the buggys took some heavy fire and lost control. Two of Luna’s jeeps came driving up the ramp and onto the highway.
“Girls!!”
“Hay there Courage! You didn’t think we’d leave you to do all this alone did you?” Rarity said happily.
“That right! We’re a team and we shall work as one!” stated Twilight confidently.
The first jeep was being driven by Rarity. Applejack was gunner and Pinkie was the passenger. Twilight was on the gun of the second jeep with a pony soldier driving and Blades in the passenger seat. Rainbow then flew up beside me. Looking forward confidently with a big smile. Rarity wasn’t wearing her helmet.
“Rarity? Wheres your helmet?” I asked.
“I lost it in the battle back at Dracos’ base. Don’t worry though, I wasn’t hurt.
“Okay good. But that’s two helmets we’ve lost now...”
“C’mon! Lets focus on the elements!” ordered Twilight.
“Right!”

We had about fifteen miles to go before we reached the steel refinery. Two jeeps were coming in behind us. They were red with orange flames and the mounted dragon soldiers had read heads so I assumed they were here to help Dracos. Two of Discord’s transports were also inbound. Three jet pack soldiers jumped from them and flew towards us. The other two pony jeeps focused on suppressing the enemy jeep’s advance while I focused on firing at the jet pack dudes. The jet pack enemies used civilian vehicles for cover against my bullets so hitting them was not likely, at least not without taking out a few civilians. Bullets were flying everywhere with all these combatants involved.
“We need to split this up! We got jeep’s on our six, jet pack dudes and transports firing at us!”
“Got it!” replied Rarity as she drove off at a junction.
Both the enemy jeeps followed her but the jet pack enemies stayed on us and Dracos. At least now it was only a two way fight between us and Discord. Two more jet pack dragon warriors jumped from the transports but they flew ahead of us for Dracos. The transport then flew slightly ahead. I couldn’t see what it was doing because I was focusing on the jet pack soldiers behind us. I heard a sniper shot from behind. I turned to find Russell had been shot.
“Shit! Sniper!” I shouted as I ducked for cover.
There was a sniper shooting from the side of the transport. The sniper was now focusing on Twilight’s jeep. I turned back to man the gun but as I turned I was kicked back by one of the jet pack soldiers.
“You want to fight on top of a speeding jeep?”
I then kicked him off. He used his jet pack to land back on it.
“Oh right, Yeah... forgot about that” I mumbled to myself.
He tried to punch me but I grabbed his fist before he could. He then kicked me back and pulled out his energy sword. He swung at me but I dodged it and grabbed his other arm. I then threw him off the front of the jeep. He used his jet pack again to recover and landed back on the jeep, swinging his sword as he did. I dodged it again and punch him in the body. He swung over my head as I ducked to avoid his attack. I then kicked him back and he boosted forward to knock me off me feet. I looked up as he walked towards me to stab me in the head. Russell then woke up, grabbed his foot and pulled him down. He then got up and jumped on him, drew his knife and stabbed him in the eye. The second jet pack soldier moved to save his comrade. Rainbow was fighting the third in the air so she was not available to help us. As he approached the jeep I drew my weapon and fired. He dodged and jumped down to attack. He swung his leg at me and I ducked. Russell then jumped over me and swung his leg forward into the enemy. The enemy was knocked off the jeep but again, his bloody jet pack saved him. He flew back and kicked me away. I was kicked all the way to the front and I nearly lost my balance. Russell then threw a punch but the dragon warrior dodged. The soldier then kicked Russell off the back but before Russell fell he grabbed the turret and used it to swing round back towards the dragon soldier. Russell swung round and kicked him towards me. I then grabbed him, tripped him, slammed him to the floor and Russell drew a pistol and shot him in the head.
“Nice team work Russell”
“Meh...”

Twilight was firing on the transport to try and suppress the sniper. The transport then rotated sideways and a firing squad aimed their weapons at us. Rockets, lasers and grenades bombed the road as our jeeps swerved around to dodge it all. I grabbed the gun and returned fire on the transport and so did Twilight. Liam drove round a truck as a rocket hit the road beside us. Twilight’s jeep had gone onto the oncoming side to spread out the enemy fire. We did manage to take down a few of the enemies but we were moving too fast to get good aim, especially when the enemy transport was swerving side to side to dodge our fire.
“We need to take it out now!!” I shouted.
“I’m trying!!” replied Twilight angrily.
We were getting closer to Dracos who was having some trouble with the other jet pack troops. We were in weapons range but we couldn’t fire on him with this fucking transport bombing us with lasers and explosives.
“Need some help?!?” shouted Rarity cheerfully through my ear piece.
Rarity’s jeep then flew over the highway railing and Pinkie Pie fired a rocket into the transport. Rarity then landed her jeep down right in front of us and joined us in our pursuit of Dracos. The transport exploded above us and crashed behind us. Now it was just us and Dracos left.

We rolled up on Dracos firing away at his jeep. Another one of his jeeps had come to back him up so we fired forward on both of them. Driving fast down the road spraying bullets everywhere and dodging civilian cars. We were not getting any closer. Rainbow then swooped down and landed down on Dracos’ jeep. She started to fight with Dracos in hoof to Claw combat. She swung a hoof but Dracos ducked and punched her in the stomach. He then punched her in the back and pinned her down. He then moved to stab her but she blocked it and knocked him away. He swung again but she flew up into the air. She came down behind him and kicked him. He stumbled forward but then swung his fist round to attack. She flew out the way again and kicked him from the side. He was definitely getting frustrated.
I was then sprayed by a load of bullets. I got my head down then looked back up to the other jeep. I began to fire at the gunner but then noticed that the passenger was getting out a rocket launcher. He fired it and Liam swerved to avoid it. It flew past us and hit Twilight’s jeep. Twilight’s driver slowed down and tried to regain control. I looked back at the enemy jeep and began to fire. I noticed the road signs telling us that we were only a few miles from the steel refinery. I continued to fire on the enemy jeep. I took out the gunner and the passenger in about a minute.
Rarity was moving up on Dracos and Rainbow was having trouble fighting Dracos and his gunner. She was being held by the gunner while Dracos got up and moved to punch her. I fired at the gunner and wounded his back. Rainbow then broke free and flew up. Dracos then drew his pistol and fired at Rainbow. Rainbow managed to avoid a few shots but then she was hit in the face. Her visor smashed and she fell from the sky like a brick. She was about to hit the ground but I caught her as Liam drove past her. I laid her down but then I was nearly knocked over as an enemy jeep rammed us. Looks like killing his gunner and passenger wasn’t enough. He rammed us again and we nearly crashed into a truck. Liam managed to dodge it and rammed him back. The enemy jeep hit the crash barrier and then spun out of control before flipping over and crashing into a car.

I took out Dracos’ gunner and Liam drove up beside his jeep. Dracos fired a few shots at us but Russell jumped onto his jeep and knocked the pistol from his claws. This angered Dracos and so Dracos grabbed Russell by the throat and slammed him down against the jeep. I jumped across and kicked Dracos in the side. Well I didn’t because he grabbed my foot as I kicked. He twisted my leg round violently and then pushed me to the edge. I flailed my arms around as I tried to stop myself from falling off. I managed to regain my balance. I then heard a click behind me so I ducked. As I ducked a grenade flew over my head. It was Semtex? He must of nicked it from Russell. I turned around and was met with Dracos’ fist. He hit me in the head and then he tried to swipe my legs. I jumped up to avoid the swipe and went to punch him. He grabbed my wrist, kicked me in the side and threw me to the front of the jeep. I looked up, in the distant sky were more incoming Discord fighters. They were approaching fast. I got up while Dracos fought with Russell. Dracos threw a punch and Russell countered, returning the favour with a punch of his own. I joined in by smacking Dracos in the back of the head. He reacted and punched me back. He then blocked Russell’s attack. I tried to attack again but he grabbed me and kicked me in the leg. He threw a punch and I tried to block with my arm, but he quickly changed hand and punched me with the left instead. Russell came behind him but Dracos turned and tripped him and stamped on him. I started to get up but he kicked me back down.
He moved to kick me off but suddenly rockets began to hit the road. The vehicle began to swerve around the road. Rarity and Liam were forced to pull back. Rarity, Liam and Twilight’s jeeps were now too far behind to help while Dracos’ driver was suicidally driving though the missile barrages coming from the fighters. I got up and kicked Dracos. He tried to throw a punch but another rocket blast knocked him over. I then tried to punch but he jumped up and out the way. I looked up at the signs to see us approaching the junction for the steel refinery. Caught off guard, Dracos managed to punch me before I could react. I stumbled back and accidentally stepped on the drivers head. The driver was put of his driving and we were hit by a rocket. The vehicle began to lurch and swerve all over the road down the junction. We all lost our footing and grabbed the jeep to try and hold on. The driver tried to regain control as we approached the road at the end of the junction. A fuel truck drove out in front of us! We hit it and it exploded! We and the jeep were blown over the road and the wall to the steel mill and we crashed down in the parking lot.

I woke up under a burning jeep and surrounded by low flames. I could see Dracos stumbling away slowly towards the steel refinery with the element case in his claws. I got up gingerly and tried to stumble over to Dracos. I was in bad shape. My HUD on my helmet was twitchy and static-y. I was hurt bad and I couldn’t move fast enough to catch Dracos. He was going to destroy the elements! Liam then drove through the flames and hit Dracos with his jeep. Liam jumped out and approached Dracos. Dracos tried to get back up but Liam kicked him in the head. Liam kicked him again then tried a third time. The third time, Dracos grabbed Liam’s leg and pulled him to the floor. I quickly limped over as Dracos pulled off Liam’s helmet. Dracos began to beat him senseless. I moved up and pushed Dracos off. I swung at him with my fist sluggishly and he ducked. He then moved to punch me and I grabbed his fist. He swung his other fist and I grabbed that too.
“Give up human...” he said slowly. “...You, urgh... cannot beat me...”
“Oh yeah.... Just watch me...”
I then pushed him away and swung at him. He grabbed my arm and kicked me. I was knocked back and Dracos made a run for the interior of the building.

I was inside the building now looking for Dracos. I couldn’t find him. I was just hoping I still had time. I then found him on a cat walk that lead in above a massive pool of molten steel. He was standing at the end and staring into the molten steel below.
“Good bye elements... Once you’re out of the picture, nothing will stop me from over-throwing Discord and taking over the universe!”
“Stop Dracos!” I shouted demandingly, aiming my pistol at him. “You drop that case and you wont live to take over the universe!”
“Sure... You know I could most likely survive your shots and rip you to pieces...”
“Maybe... but do you really wanna take the risk?”
“If you capture me then I’ve lost anyway. I’d rather take my chances with you than just let you arrest me...”
“Don’t do it Dracos!!”
I suddenly heard energy weapons loading and priming behind me. I looked over my shoulder to find eight red head dragon soldiers all aiming their weapons at me. Dracos then chuckled under his breathe.
“Now who will stop me human. You shoot me and you’ll die. And I think it’ll take more than one shot to kill me. Put down your weapon and surrender”
I lifted my weapon to my face to focus aim on Dracos. Dracos lifted the case high above his head and turned to face the molten steel pool.
“Don’t do it Dracos! Don’t Do It!!”
He threw it over the edge and it fell towards the molten pool of burning hot liquid.
“Nooo!!” I shouted.
“Now you see human? I cannot be stopped. I was destined to rule the universe. You cannot brake destiny...”
“I’ll think you’ll find that I am the decider of your destiny!!” shouted a proud and royal voice.
Behind Dracos floated the element case and the valiant white princess Celestia. She was levitating the element case in front of her and she had the most satanic frown of her face as she stared at Dracos. The dragon warriors all lifted their weapons to fire at her but all their weapons just levitated away from them. Princess Celestia then dropped all but one of their weapons into the molten steel. She then bit down on the last remaining laser rifle and snapped it with her teeth.
“HOW DARE YOU TRY TO DESTROY THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!!” She shouted as she levitated Dracos towards her. Dracos was cowering behind his claws as Celestia’s face built up in more rage.
“Explain yourself!!”
“I’m sorry Celestia... I... I didn’t mean anything by it...”
Celestia then put down the case and threw Dracos across the room into a load of control panels. The dragon warriors all fled in fear. Celestia flew gracefully over to Dracos and picked him up again with her levitation.
“You are going to be locked away for a long time! And I’m going to make sure those 1000 years are the worst and most painful years of your life!” She was very angry with him, furious even.
“No! I’m sorry! You can’t do this!!”
Celestia’s horn began to glow and Dracos disappeared in a flash of light.
“He will not see the light for a long time...”
“Woah Celestia... I... I never seen you like that before... It’s kinda scary...” I said in hesitant shock.
“I am truly sorry you had to see that Courage. I’m not normally like that. I’m actually very reasonable. I just think he deserved all that...” she said in shame.
“It’s okay Celestia, I think you did the right thing...”
“Thank you Courage. Just please don’t mention that to the others. Keep it between us. I’d hate for the ponies to live in false fear. I’m not the tyrant people make me out to be...” she was quiet and she was quite sad, she even tilted her head away from me in sadness. “Being the great ruler of a whole world just leads everyone to fear you. No one treats me like their friend out of fear of offending me. Everypony always assumes I’ll banish them or send them to the moon or lock them in my dungeon...”
“It’s okay Celestia. This will stay between us... If it makes you feel any better, I don’t fear you...”
“Thanks Courage...”
“I don’t fear you... mwa ha ha ha ha...” laughed a quiet evil voice.
We turned to the elements and found Discord standing over the empty case. The gems floated between his claws as they glew bright. He grinned evilly at them.
“When I’m done with these elements, it’ll be all of you who fear me!!”
At this moment the others, besides Liam and Pinkie, had came into the building to check on us, only to find me and Celestia staring at Discord as he... did something with the elements. My best guess was he was absorbing their power. I pulled up my pistol and fired a few shots. The bullets just bounced off a shield that surrounded Discord. I lowered my pistol and I just looked at him with fear.
“It’s hopeless Courage. You and the ponies have failed... Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!!”