THE FORCE OF HATRED (2019 with MLP Version)

ACT TWENTY-TWO

The heroes all appeared in Discord’s dimension, right outside his house where there were no Dark Soldiers or Hate to get at them.

However, their magical armor had vanished due to Discord no longer being with them.

“Discord!!” cried Fluttershy “Discord!! No…!” she began to run along a pathway, into seemingly nowhere.

“Fluttershy…!” Rainbow shouted as she zoomed up to catch her.

Fluttershy put up a fuss, screaming, “No! But Discord… Let me go!!”

“Fluttershy, stop it!” cried Rainbow “…He’s gone!”

Fluttershy quivered, and then buried her face over Rainbow’s back and let out her emotion.

Rainbow cried softly as she embraced her friend.

“Discord.” sobbed Twilight “I can’t believe it!”

The ponies were all sobbing softly.

Cyborg thrust his left fist hard into the ground, “DANG!!” he cried as he quivered angrily and sadly, and he gazed at his right arm which Discord gave him.

Raven held her head low, clenching her fists, “That dumb idiot!” she grumbled “I should’ve helped him when I had the chance!”

Robin shook his head grimly, “It wouldn’t have mattered. He knew he wouldn’t have made it even with help.”

Terra was stiff and solid with grief, not just by the loss of their friend, but because his last words repeated in her head over and over.

“You were the best friend… that I ever had.”

It brought on all those memories of her and Beast Boy again, and made her all the more determined to save him and set things right again, but the way things were going, even she was starting to lose confidence.

Starfire comforted her, “Do not despair. We shall avenge our friends, and we will save Beast Boy.”

Terra smiled sadly, but admitted, “How? That evil is so powerful and sneaky, even a reality bending god couldn’t beat him.

He outwitted us entirely!”

Twilight remembered, “Now his goons are attacking The Ark.”

“And our world too.” added Robin “We’ve got to go back!”

Pinkie looked one way, and then another, comparing the dangers, “So we have to split up?”

“There’s no other choice.” said Starlight “We can’t just leave either place to suffer.”

The others all agreed, but Raven pointed out, “We’re all still tired and weak, and I can’t transport both teams to both places, I was barely able to get us here the first time.”

“Dag nabbit!” growled Applejack “Why can’t anything just go easy for us for a change?”

Fluttershy was still far too lost in her despair to really hear anything that was said as Rainbow continued to comfort her.

Then suddenly, there was a glowing from underneath, and she pulled out the orb that Discord had given her.

The orb began to fly up high for everyone to see, and it glowed brighter and brighter, and it bestowed a shimmering light onto all the ponies and the Titans, healing them and restoring their strengths to normal, but that wasn’t all.

Fluttershy was still glowing, and when the light had ceased, she felt very strange, as she levitated off the ground without flapping her wings.

“What’s happening?!” she cried.

Then her head came off her body, and she screamed as the others gawked.

“Are you seeing this?!” cried Applejack.

“She’s doing the things Discord used to be able to do.” added Pinkie.

Twilight was most astounded, “Discord strengthened us, and gave Fluttershy what was left of his powers.”

Fluttershy blinked twice in shock, and her eyes grew large, to the size of basketballs, with steam literally shooting through her ears.

All of a sudden, she was normal again and standing firmly on the ground gazing down at her hooves.

Discord’s voice was then heard saying, “You were the best friend I ever had, Fluttershy, and for that, in my dying moments I give you this little piece of my powers. You’ll be able to do some of the things I did before, including teleport back to Equestria and through dimensions.

It was all I could give, but the least I can do. Use my gift wisely…

…Oh, and, be a good dear and keep a good watch over my place.”

Though she was still a little scared and unsure of her new powers, Fluttershy clutched her heart softly, softly praying to her friend. “Thank you, Discord. We will avenge you! That’s a promise!”

“Wow, Fluttershy… you have the power to manipulate reality!” cried Starlight.

“Darling, this is incredible, for you I mean.” said Rarity.

Fluttershy felt honored to have such magical abilities, but it would take her time to understand it better.

“Quick!” said Twilight “Can you try and form a portal back to Equestria?”

“Oh… um… Well, I…!” The more Fluttershy stammered, the more she seemed to crumple to pieces, literally as she fell to bits on the floor. Her mouth was still intact. “…I think I need help to understand this.”

“Come on, pull yourself together!” said Applejack “If you don’t, our friends will get slaughtered just like the rest!”

Remembered this, Fluttershy’s features changed, and her courage burned brightly.

POP!! She was back in one piece. “You’re right! We need to get back to Equestria now!”

Suddenly, by the magic of her words, a portal appeared, right back to Equestria.

“Hey, I’ve got it!” said Robin “Maybe Discord’s powers were connected to his beliefs and his emotions. The more he felt or wished for something, the more he could make it happen.”

Fluttershy felt this astounding, but there was no real time now for experimenting.

“We have to get to Cadance, quick!” said Twilight.

She paused, and then looked back at the Titans.

There was no choice; they had to return to their own dimension.

Twilight and Robin gazed deeply at one another, both feeling the same-- wishing they could be with each other for support in the battles ahead.

Robin then smiled bravely at her, “Good luck!”

She smiled back at him, “You too!”

The Titans and the ponies all nodded at one another, and soon the ponies leapt through their own portal, and Raven used her powers to cast herself and the Titans back into the warp-zone.

The ponies made it back to the ground, landing with a thud!

“Hey!!” groaned Rainbow.

“Sorry,” said Fluttershy “I guess I have a lot to learn about dimensional warping.”

“Come on! Let’s get to The Ark!” said Twilight.

The ponies began to head off for the nearest secret entry. It was a good thing Cadance showed them all the entry ways.

Meanwhile, because Raven now knew the way back home, the Titans made it back to Jump City easily; landing in the city square, but upon their arrival, a terrible sight met their eyes…!

The city was looking pretty beat up.

Buildings were busted up and slightly tilted, with fires blazing in their windows. The streets lay in ruins and destruction with corpses and bones of all victims killed.

Terra could even see Jackie and Jillian’s bodies The sky was just as red, eerie, and filled with lightning and thunder as they were in Equestria.

“Our home!” cried Starfire.

“Looks like Yami’s been as busy as he said while we were away.” said Cyborg.

“That’s an understatement.” grumbled Raven.

Robin clenched his fists angrily, and his blood boiled with rage.

“Welcome home, Titans!” Yami called to them, but he was nowhere to be seen “…Or what you may consider, what’s left of it.”

Robin shouted out furiously, “…Where are you?!!”

Terra gasped, “He’s got to be there!” she pointed out across the water, at Titan’s Tower, which looked in bad shape, but still standing, and there was a distinctive flaming aura emitting from it.

This time, it had to be the real deal, not a puppet clone.

Yami snickered at them. “Let’s see if you can actually make it over here, and then we’ll settle things.”

With that, Dark Soldiers came rushing in from around corners, leaping off from rooftops, or just materializing up from the ground.

The other Titans looked ready to fight them, but Robin cautioned them, “No! This is just what he wants-- he wants us to fight them so we’ll get tired again!”

“We should head straight for the tower!” insisted Starfire.

“But wait…!” snapped Cyborg “What if that’s a big setup too?”

The soldiers were getting closer, and with no time to really think things out. “I say we go for the tower.” said Raven.

Terra nodded, “Let’s go!” and she dug out a huge rock big enough for her and Robin to ride on together, while the others flew naturally up into the air.

The soldiers began to open fire with their flaming attacks, and because Raven’s barriers wouldn’t help, the heroes to dodge and swerve in midair.

“Whoa!!” Robin shouted as Terra made the rock spin and dive so sharply. “Sorry, can’t help it.” she said.

Soon they were out of range of the firing, and the tower was growing ever closer in sight.

“Think we can take him on without the ponies backing us up?” asked Cyborg.

Robin really didn’t know, “I do know one thing, we stick to the original plan, and give him all the hate he wants!”

The others all agreed, remembering what happened to the puppet clone they fought.

Terra especially prayed it would help; she couldn’t stand anymore of this and she really wanted to save Beast Boy finally and for good!

Suddenly, the flaming aura around the tower began to stir up, and formed into two monstrous hands.

“Look out!!” shouted Starfire as the hands came zooming at the heroes, forcing them to dodge again.

Blasting or firing at them proved to be ineffective as it was just flaming aura, yet despite this, the hands were capable of contacting with the heroes!

The hands kept swinging around back and forth as Yami controlled them from the roof of the tower.

Robin saw him, and cringed angrily.

“Terra, try to get me in closer! The rest of you draw the hands off!”

The other three Titans agreed, and soared about to draw the hands away allowing Terra to steer the rock past them, and Robin to leap down onto the roof where he confronting Yami face-to-face.

The two glared at each other deeply, their capes fluttered in the breeze.

But all Yami did was snap his fingers, and Robin was ensnared by magical bindings generated by the hateful aura!

“Robin!!” cried Starfire, and suddenly, WHAMM!! One of the hands swatted her really hard, knocking her down, down, down!

“Hang on, Star!” cried Terra, and she steered her rock in, catching her friend in her arms, but this made it harder for her to steer rock and avoid the monstrous hands.

WHOOSH! She barely dodged one that swung past her.

“A’RGH!!” but Cyborg was hit, damaging his jet propulsion. “I’m going down!!” he shouted.

Raven quickly used her powers to grab him on a chain of dark aura, letting him dangle below.

Yami then waved his hand in a circle, and the two monstrous hands grabbed the four Titans.

“No!!” cried Robin.

Yami laughed, “You’re not so strong without your little ponies to back you up, are you? Another perfect example how truly pathetic you really are!”

He began to slowly curl his finger into a fist, causing the bindings to squeeze on the Titans, making them all groan and moan in pain, much to his delight seeing them suffer.

“It’s a shame your friend Beast Boy can’t be here to see this. Finally, he would get to see the so-called friends he once trusted getting the punishment they so richly deserve for all the torment and humiliation inflected on him!”

The Titans felt their anger rising, as well as the pressure on them!

“We… had… good times!” Robin growled “We… cared for him! He was… one of us!”

“Ha!” scoffed Yami “Your lies are as pitiful as your quest for peace and love! It matters not what good times you had, you’ve been more hateful than you have been loving, which outweighs whatever love and hope you had, until only the hate falls permanently into place, and nothing you say or do will ever tip it off again!”

The Titans wanted to deny this, but all the images of the bad things happening, especially Terra’s “Things Change” speech, and the Titans agreeing with it all-- letting go of the past… even if it meant letting go of good times, and hope that was tied to it.

Plus, good memories really were as painful as preached about-- constantly reminded everyone of the good things they had but were now forever silenced and wouldn’t likely return.

“You monster!” thundered Starfire “Beast Boy will always be our friend, no matter how much you say we aren’t!!”

“That’s right!” groaned Cyborg “If BB was here, the one thing he’d want most is to kick you round the floor for all the damage you’ve caused and all them innocent lives you took!!”

“We all make mistakes!” added Raven “But we learn from them, and we can become better people because of them!”

Yami just laughed, “Really? And are you any better now than you were before? Face it: You can beg and plead and apologize all you like, and it won’t make a difference! Your crimes are clear, and nothing said or done can reverse or redeem you!”

Every word, the Titans felt it striking them with such shame, guilt, and pain! Especially for Terra as she felt her role played the worst in all this!

Robin glared angrily at Yami, but remained silent and still as Yami continued to put pressure on him and the others.

“You see how it is!” hissed Yami “Friendship is useless and a waste of time and effort, whereas the hate gains you everything you could ever want, and speaking of friendship, I wonder how your little pony posse is handling my invasion.

Then again, since everything is going as I planned it would, I can just picture it now!”

“What do you mean “The way you planned?” Robin asked.

In The Ark, the Dark Soldiers spent a while hammering, blasting and forcing their way through the blockades leading to the inner-village.

“Princess!” one of the guards called to Cadance “The barriers are weakening! We can’t hold them of much longer!”

Cadance was beginning to fret, and she didn’t dare use up anymore magic, rendering herself totally exhausted and defenceless!

“Guards, prepare to engage the enemy!”

The sentries grabbed their weapons and took their places ready to engage, just as the barriers finally ceased and the soldiers came flooding in!

“Activate Traps!” shouted Cadance.

The Ark was not all that defenseless! The entry ways were rigged with devices built to further protect the refugees.

The soldiers began to fall through trap holes forcing other soldiers to leap over them, only to be bashed by swinging boulders on chains!

Still, no matter how many soldiers were downed, more and more seemed to burst their way in!

The guards rushed to the attack, warding them off as best as they could.

The villagers could see the events from the far side of the village, and while they were told to contain their fears and control their rage so as not to strengthen the soldiers, it was exceedingly hard to do so!

At the head of the group were none other than the Cutiemark Crusaders; Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo; all of whom were miraculously saved from the chaos by Cadance and her army.

“Hey, come on every pony and creature!” said Applebloom “We’ve got to try and hold ourselves together so we don’t give them bad guys a boost.”

“Try and hold it in,” added Sweetie Belle “Just don’t look down there!”

The crowds began to contemplate the theory.

“Just don’t look! Just Don’t Look!” chanted Scootaloo.

All three crusaders began to chant, “Just Don’t Look! Just Don’t Look!”

Their chanting won over the crowds and they began to look away chanting along with them. “JUST DON’T LOOK!! JUST DON’T LOOK!!”

This helped lower the fear and anger, so the soldiers didn’t receive too much of a boost, but the guards they were battling couldn’t hold back their resentments and strengths at all while they were fighting.

The managed to hold back a good number of the soldiers, but the evil creeps continued to force their way in, pushing the guards back.

“We can’t hold them back!”

“We can’t give up! We must protect the village!”

The soldiers began to fight dirty and pushed many of the guards out of the way, killing some of them too.

“Oh, no!!” cried Cadance.

…But just as all hope was starting to fade!

“…CHARGE!!!”

Twilight and her friends came rushing through the tunnels, and began to fire magical blasts from the elements, stunning the soldiers.

“Twilight!” cried Cadance. As excited as she was to see the team coming in, she couldn’t see Discord or the Titans!

“Take this!!” Twilight shouted as she fired a magical blast right at the villains.

Starlight used her magic like Rarity had before, coating her horn in magical aura and used it as a sword to have at the soldiers and their weapons.

Still, the soldiers continued to appear in vast numbers!

Fluttershy then stood before them, ready to put her new powers to use.

“Time to get busy!!” she growled, and she stuck out her hooves, the ground beneath the solders turned into a pit of goop, and they began to sink slowly downward!

“That’ll teach you!” she sneered at them, but the angry soldiers began to charge up with flaming aura, hardening the goop, and breaking from it easily.

Fluttershy then attempted to blast the soldiers with all kinds of elemental pulses, but the soldiers blocked her every assault with their weapons, and fired their own power back at her, forcing Fluttershy to break her body into segments to dodge them.

“This isn’t working!” she whimpered.

The soldiers began to charge at her, and she screamed!! She would have surely been downed had Rainbow not came soaring in and scooped her up, flying her out of the way.

“You okay?” Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy was okay, but she felt really stupid for still not being able to control her new powers so well yet.

“Thank you, for saving me!” she cried softly.

Suddenly Rainbow was shot at from below by the soldiers, forcing her to swerve and dodge, but suddenly she was hit, and she and Fluttershy began to plummet down.

“Help them!” cried Rarity.

Cadance and Twilight both flew up and caught their friends with their levitation magic!

“Yee-Haw! Awesome catch!” hollered Applejack.

Suddenly she was surrounded by soldiers! “Okay! Who wants some?!”

Pinkie leapt into the fray, “I do!”

The two ponies huddled together, side-by-side, but facing opposite directions, and their elements were glowing brightly!

The two then roared and unleashed powerful rays of light knocking the soldiers back hard, sending them crashing into walls of the cave, and unfortunately into some of the stone houses too, crumpling them to the ground!

“Sorry…” squeaked Pinkie.

Cadance and Twilight landed safely, setting Fluttershy and Rainbow down, and the friends regrouped.

“Where are the Titans, and Discord?” Cadance asked.

“Well,” Pinkie said, and she took in a huge breath to say things very fast…

“We thought we were battling Yamimakai but it turned out to be a fake, and it turned out he had returned to the Titans’ home world, and that evil creep took down Discord, but Discord sent us all to his world and gave Fluttershy a small piece of his powers, Yami told us that he sent his goons here, and so we and the Titans decided to split up, and so here we all are now.”

Cadance looked flabbergasted, but more the fact that Discord was dead. Much as she wanted ot extend her sympathy or everyone…!

“…More soldiers!” cried Starlight.

The ponies looked and gasped as more soldiers came flooding in through the tunnels. The pony guards tried their very best but could hardly hold them off.

“Stop them!!” shouted Twilight.

The ponies all split up, and took to the battle, but it only seemed more and more soldiers began to materialize out of nowhere, which led Cadance to theorize “It’s Yamimakai! He’s control them!”

This made all the ponies finally understand they had been set up once again!

“Yami did all this to split us and the Titans apart so our teams would be divided up, and weaker!” cried Twilight.

“Oh, well this is just dandy!” groaned Applejack.

“What are we going to do?!” cried Rarity.

“What CAN we do?” added Starlight!

With the soldiers flooding The Ark, and The Titans at the mercy of the enemy, Yamimakai was laughing most triumphantly. “Long live The Hate!”