{"sf1_id":791821,"sf2_id":null,"title":"To Boldly Hoof It Ch 15. Distraction","author":"BluebloodFan91","words":5305,"posted_at":"2014-12-04T19:43:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Blueblood","Catbug","Celestia","Character Development","Clean","Equine","Fantasy","Flam","Flim","Flirtation","Friendship is magic","Griffin","Gryphon","Hoops","Horse","Humor","Iron Will","Jet Set","Lightning Dust","MLP","Mare","Minotaur","My Little Pony","Pegasus","Plot Development","Pony","Prince Blueblood","Princess Celestia","Rarity","Sci-Fi","Shining Armor","Singing","Stallion","Story Progression","Story Series","Sunset shimmer","To Boldly Flee","Trixie","Unicorn","Upper Crust","alicorn","changeling","dumbbell","gilda","parody","score","space","surprise"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791821-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-15-distraction","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/791821","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=791821\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n\nCh 15. Distraction\n\n\n\n\"Here you go,\" Catbug said to Rarity as he held out a microphone to Rarity on the bridge of the Ascendency.\nRarity's horn glowed with blue magic, and she levitated the microphone\ninto the air and brought it up to her mouth. Catbug then walked over to\nthe Karaoke machine they had brought onto the bridge and, flaring his\nladybug wings, flew up to the controls and pressed the start button.\"Oh\nmy, this is going to be so much fun!\" Rarity said as the music began\nplaying. She looked at the Karaoke machine and began to sing the lyrics\nthat started to appear on the screen.\"There's a fire going onBut the party's just begunSo keep your focus looking at me tonight.So the world's about to endGonna party with my friendsAnd ain't nopony gonna say it's not right.\"..................Down in an empty corridor in another part of the Ascendency,\nthere were two bright flashes of light as Sunset and Score appeared. In\naddition to Sunset wearing a red bandana on her head like Winry\nRockbell, she was also wearing a pair of saddlebags full of mechanical\nequipment and tools she would need to tamper with the ships tactical\ncomputer.Score was wearing a grey bandana around his head and an eye patch over his left eye.Sunset looked at her partner in confusion. \"Why are you wearing a bandana and an eye patch?\"\"Because it makes me look dangerous!\" Score said with a grin.Sunset\nrolled her eyes and the two began walking through the corridor. \"Well,\nwearing an eye patch isn't going to help your depth perception,\" said\nSunset.* Smack! *Score,\nat that moment, had walked face first into a support beam in the middle\nof the corridor. Score stumbled backwards and held his nose with his\nhoof, groaning in pain.\"See?\" said Sunset callously while she continued walking.\"Who put that there?\" Score grunted, standing in the middle of the corridor, still pressing his hoof against his nose.\"Would\nyou quit your fooling around, you knobhead!\" Sunset snapped at him\nimpatiently. She turned her head and looked around them in all\ndirections. \"Lets find a map or something so we can find that computer\nroom!\"..................Back up on the bridge, Rarity continued to sing while Shinging Armor and the rest of the crewponies and guards watched her.\"And I know... nothing's gonna stand in my way, No matter the ponies may say, Just don't turn around and keep looking straight. And I see... that everypony's starting to yell...How the world around you's going to Hell. I'm here to tell you all it's just fate.\"..................On\nthe Heart Star, two unicorn guards were walking through a corridor when\nsuddenly, up ahead of them in the corridor, there was a bright flash of\nlight, and then something appeared from it. They paused.It\nlooked like a griffon, except it was covered from beak to tail in\nsilver and black metal armor. It looked like a griffon version of\nRobocop.It turned it's head and looked at\nthem. \"I'm Robogriffon!\" it said in a mechanized female voice, so they\nguessed it was a she. \"Put down your weapons! You have five seconds to\ncomply.\"The two unicorn guards looked at each other, and then looked back at the intruder. \"But... our weapons are our horns. We can't put them down because they're attached to our heads.\"\"Sucks\nto be you then,\" the griffon said. A split second later, she grabbed\nsomething on her right thigh with her front talons and brought it out in\nfront of her, pointing it at the two guards. The surprised guards had\nno time to react when the gun suddenly glowed with purple light, and\nthen a blast of blue, magical energy shot out of a small opening at the\nend of the barrel. It struck the two guards, who instantly shook like\nthey were being zapped with electricity, and then collapsed onto the\nfloor, unconscious.Gilda looked down at the magitech Caster gun Sunset had made for her. \"I love this thing!\" she said with a grin.She\nthen looked around her, making sure the coast was clear both directions\nin the corridor, and the bolted off through it in search for Lightning\nDust...................Back on the bridge of the Ascendency, Rarity continued singing.\"I'm a distraction Of pure satisfaction, Keep your eyes all on me, For what you're gonna see Will redefine the height of attraction.I'm a distraction And I'm ready for action, So the world's gonna blow, Stop complaining and go to the show.\"..................\"It\nlooks like the computer room is this way,\" said Sunset, pointing at a\nspot on the internal map of the ship she and Score had found on the wall\nin one of the corridors of the Ascendency.Suddenly\nthey head approaching hoof steps and voices. They both turned their\nheads and looked in the direction the voices were coming from.\"Someone's coming,\" hissed Sunset.\"Hide!\" said Score. He turned back to Sunset, only to see that she was suddenly gone.\"Sunset?\" Score asked. He looked around him in all directions, but Sunset was suddenly nowhere to be seen.Score\nheard the hoof steps and voices still approaching from down the\ncorridor. Growling in frustration, and not seeing anywhere else to hide,\nhe did the only thing he could think of doing. He pulled out a folded\nup large cardboard box from his saddlebags, quickly folded it into a\nbox, and hid underneath it. He kept still as he heard the hoof steps\napproaching him him.\"I heard there's this\nthing on the bridge we should see!\" said a male voice. \"Some sort of\nadorable little cat thing with ladybug wings!\"\"Oh my, gosh, I want to see that!\" said an excited female voice.Score\nwaited and listened as he heard the hoof steps pass by the box outside.\nHe was about to breath a sigh of relief when he heard one of them stop\noutside his box.\"Hey, did we always have a pony size box here?\" asked a third male voice.The\nother hoof steps also stopped outside. Score started to panic, praying\nfor a miracle. That they would just walk away from the box and not\ndiscover him.However he had no such luck\nas the box was suddenly lifted up, and the head of an Earth pony royal\nguard came into view. Going with the first idea that came to mind, Score\nspun around and bucked the surprised guard right in his head.The\nguard fell backwards onto his back, knocked out from the blow. Score\ndidn't celebrate, however, because at that moment, he saw two more royal\nguards standing in front of him, a unicorn mare, and a pegasus\nstallion. The unicorn was pointing her horn at him, and it lit up with a\nyellow glow as she prepared to cast a spell at him. Score cringed and readied himself for the attack, knowing there was nothing he could do.Suddenly,\nthe unicorn flinched and grunted, stumbling backwards like she had just\nbeen hit in the face. Her horn stopped glowing as she lost her\nconcentration on her spell. Then she stumbled forward, like she had been\nhit on the back of her head, and then she collapsed to the floor,\nknocked out.Score and the other guard had\nwatched the scene in complete bewilderment. Then the exact same thing\nhappened to the other guard, who fell to the floor unconscious beside\nhis friend.Just as Score was struggling\nto figure out just what the heck had happened, there was a distortion in\nthe air in front of him, and then Sunset Shimmer appeared.Score stared at her in amazement. \"How did you do that?\"\"The cloaking device I invented,\" said Sunset with a shrug.Score gaped at her. \"You invented a cloaking device!? Why didn't you give me one?\"\"Because\nI only had the one. Now come on! Lets hoof it before somepony finds\nthese guards!\" She gestured to the three unconscious guards lying at\ntheir hooves...................Back up on the bridge, Rarity continued to sing.\"There's explosions in the sky And the neighborhood is fried But you don't have to join them in all the fuss. Act like nothing's going wrong And just keep playing my song Until there's nothing left around here but us.\"Rarity\nlevitated the microphone over to a surprised Shining Armor, whose horn\nglowed blue as he took the mic into his own magic and levitated it out\nin front of him.\"No, Rarity, don't make\nme...\" Shining Armor began, but then quickly brought the mic to his mouth\nas the next lyrics began to appear on the screen, and began to sing.\"And I know... something's gonna happen tonight All the stars around us start taking flight But there's something that invites me to stay,'Cause I'm drawn... to the rhythm of the music they play And we're all gonna die anyway So enjoy it while you can, come what may.\"Rarity\ncame over next to Shining Armor and pulled the mic a bit lower down\nwith her magic, and leaned her head up so that both she and Shining\nArmor could sing into it together.\"We're a distraction Of pure satisfactionThere's a war going on But in here, we all won 'Cause nopony is slowing the traction\"..................Back\non the Heart Star, Gilda came across a big heavy door that had a sign\non it that read 'Restricted Area'. Hoping she would find Lightning Dust\ninside, she pulled out a red Caster shell and loaded it into her gun.\nShe then fired it at the door, releasing a red blast of magical energy\nthat blasted the door open.When the smoke cleared she looked inside the doorway. She didn't find Lightning Dust, but what she did find made her eyes widen.Inside\nwas a large room, except she wasn't sure if she should call it a room\nbecause it didn't look like it had a ceiling of floor. It was more like\nan open shaft, going upwards and downwards for what looked like forever.\nRunning down in the center of the open shaft was a giant metal tube.\nThe tube was glowing with white lights, which were running up and down\nall over it, and it was humming loudly like it was pulsating with\nenergy. It was connected to the walls of the giant shaft by a bunch of\nother smaller tubes.\"Well, this looks important!\" said Gilda with a smirk. She flapped her wings, which were two of the few things not covered in robot armor, and flew out into the shaft.She\nloaded another red caster shell into her gun, and then aimed it at the\nhumming, glowing tube running through the shaft. She then began opening\nfire on the tube.The red magical energy blasts hit the tube, causing big explosions wherever they struck.\"This is fun!\" Gilda said cheerfully as she kept flying around inside the shaft and firing the gun.After\nseveral good hits in several locations on the tube and causing some\ndecent damage to it, the humming that was coming from it suddenly came\nto a whining stop, and the glowing lights that were coming from it\nflickered for a few moments, and then went out.Flapping\nher wings and staying hovering in mid air, she admired her handiwork of\ndestruction for a few seconds before she spun around and began flying\nback towards the way she had come in from. She stopped mid air, however,\nwhen she saw several pegasus guards appear in the doorway.\"STOP!\" they yelled at her angrily when they saw her.Having\nno interest in complying with their demands, Gilda flapped her wings\nand dived down the shaft away from them. Looking back up above her while\nshe dived, she saw the pegasus guards flying into the shaft after her.Looks like they want to play aerial tag, Gilda thought to herself...................Back on the bridge of the Ascendency, Rarity and Shining Armor kept singing.\"Take a step, come inside, Buy a stub, ride the ride of your life\"Shining Armor began singing solo again.\"Nothing ever will come from saying never, So join the fun wherever it is.There's a power that's growing by the hour, I'm positive I don't want to miss. I'm a distraction...\"..................Score\nand Sunset burst into the computer room. Inside they immediately saw\nseveral refrigerator size metal boxes, all of them covered in thousands\nof wires, dials, circuit boards, tape reels, buttons, and blinking\nlights. They instantly realized these must be the computers they were\nlooking for. They walked over to them.\"These\ncomputers network the whole fleet's weapons systems together so they\ncan coordinate their attacks with each other,\" said Sunset. \"Make sure\nthey don't accidentally hit each other in the crossfire. An\nincredibly organized system.\" She then looked at him with a grin. \"So\nwhat do you say we make a little chaos?\"\"I'd say Discord would be proud,\" said Score in agreement.\"Okay. Time for me to work my magic,\" said Sunset as she got to work on the computers.Score\nwatched as Sunset took off her saddlebags and began rummaging through\nthem. She levitated out a few tools like pliers and wrenches, and\nstarted opening up the computers.\"So...\" Score said idly while Sunset did her work, \"when all this is over... you want to... get dinner together sometime, or...?\"\"I already have a boyfriend,\" said Sunset flatly while she was pulling some wires with her pliers.\"Oh,\" said Score in disappointment, his ears lowering against his head sadly.\"His\nname is Edward Elric,\" Sunset continued. \"He's a state alchemist! He\nhas blond hair like me, two automail limbs that I made for him myself,\nand he's very short because he didn't drink enough milk when he was a\nchild.\" She shook her head. \"He hates milk!\"\"Oh,\"\nScore responded. He realized that whoever this Edward Elric was just\nmust be 'Winry's' boyfriend, whoever it was she had turned into because\nof the anomaly that had affected her...................Back up on the bridge, Rarity and Shining Armor were still singing.\"We're a distraction Of pure satisfaction. Keep your eyes all on me For what you're gonna see Will redefine the height of attraction. I'm a distraction And I'm ready for action.So the world's gonna blow, Stop complaining and go. Just start watching the show 'Cause there's no more to know. Here we go!\"..................Blueblood\ncould see the glowing swirling vortex that was the plot hole ahead of\nhim in space. It looked like it had gotten even bigger since the last\ntime he had seen it. It looked like it had nearly doubled in size.He hesitated for a moment. His heart was pounding and his breathing was heavy with nervousness and fear. What if he was\nwrong about this, and he was flying to his own death? He was half\nconsidering turning back and not going through with what he was going to\ndo, but he knew deep down he had come to far now to do that.\"Well, I didn't fly all the way out here to not do this,\" he told himself nervously. \"I'm not wrong. There's something, or someone, that sent us those dreams. I know my destiny lies in there. I'm sure of it.\"Hesitating\nfor a few moments more, he finally just swallowed his fear, and pushed\nforward on the navigation controls with his magic. The escape pod\nBlueblood was in accelerated forward towards the opening in space.Just\nas Blueblood was about to cross the threshold, he instinctively sucked\nin a breath of air and held it, and closed his eyes. And then the escape\npod flew into the swirling vortex of the plot hole.....................\"I'm a distraction,\" sang Shining Armor.\"He's a distraction,\" sang Rarity.\"We're a distraction,\" the two white unicorns sang together.Then Catbug flew up into the air to the microphone Rarity and Shining Armor were sharing.\"We're a distwactiooooooooooooooooon!!!\" he sang loudly and adorably.All\nthe guards and crewponies on the bridge applauded and cheered for\nShining Armor and Rarity and Catbug after they finished singing the\nsong.\"I love you,\" Rarity suddenly\nwhispered to Shining Armor while the ponies were applauding them.\nImmediately after she said that, she wondered why she just had. She had just been so in the moment that she hadn't been able to resist saying it to him.Shining Armor looked down at her in surprise. \"What was that?\" he asked.Rarity started to panic, frantically trying to think of something to say. \"I said... err... I love... food.\"\"You love food?\" Shining Armor said to Rarity, raising an eyebrow at her in confusion.\"Yes! I love food! Now let us never speak of this again.\" She let out a sigh of relief...................\"Done!\" said Sunset as she took a step back from the computers. \"I'll signal Entomala that we're done.\"She\nlevitated all her tools back into her bag, and then she levitated out a\nsmall, round device from the bag. She pressed a button on it, and the\ndevice began making a beeping noise. Several seconds later, Score and Sunset were both instantly teleported back to the Defiant in a flash of light...................\"I want to sing 'Let It Go' next!\" cried Rarity with glee. \"I'd make a perfect Elsa!\"Suddenly they all heard a beeping noise coming from somewhere on the bridge.\"What's that?\" asked Shining Armor.Catbug\nreached behind him and pulled a small round device out from under his\nladybug wings, revealing the beeping was coming from it.\"Well, looks like its time for me to go,\" said Catbug, suddenly smiling sinisterly.\"What?\" said Rarity, confused.\"Oh, and by the way...\"Everyone\non the bridge gasped loudly when Catbug's eyes suddenly glowed a sickly\ngreen, and then green flames ran up his entire body. When the flames\ncleared, Catbug was gone, and a changeling queen with red eyes was now\nstanding there, grinning evilly at them all.\"Fooled you!\" she sang in a mocking tone.A\nsecond later, the changeling queen disappeared in a bright flash of\nlight, leaving everyone on the bridge with looks of shock and confusion...................Back on the bridge of the Defiant, Flam's voice was heard on the ships intercom. \"Everyone, Sunset, Score, and Entomala are back on board!\" he said.Trixie pressed the intercom button on the captain's chair. \"What about Gilda?\" she asked.\"No, nothing yet,\" Flam responded. \"She still hasn't activated her beacon.\"\"All\nright,\" acknowledged Trixie, wondering how Gilda was doing rescuing\nLightning Dust. \"Well, we need to strike the fleet before they find out\nwhat we've done to their computers. So let's begin this attack!\nDumbbell, take us into firing range!\"\"Aye aye, Captain!\" Dumbbell said enthusiastically as he began working the navigation controls...................Back\non the Heart Star, Gilda continued to evade the pegasus guards that\nwere flying after her inside the giant shaft. She fired the Caster gun\nback at her pursuers, managing to hit a few of them and stun them,\nsending them falling out of the air and down the shaft into the darkness\nbelow.\"GILDA!?\"Gilda's\nears perked up at the voice she recognized all too well. She looked\naround in every direction for Lightning Dust, not quite sure where her\nvoice had come from, as it was kind of echoy inside the shaft. Then she\nspotted Lightning Dust standing up above her in the same doorway Gilda\nhad entered the shaft through. She flew up to where she was and landed\nright beside her.\"Lightning Dust!\" Gilda took off her helmet so her friend could see that it was her. \"Come on! Lets get out of here!\"Lightning Dust just stared at her with a shocked look on her face. \"I can't believe it! You actually came to save me!\"\"Of course I did! Couldn't resist a chance to have you owe me one, after all,\" Gilda joked.\"What's with the Robocop getup?\" asked Lightning Dust, gesturing to what Gilda was wearing.\"Yeah,\nwell, I asked Sunset to make me a cyborg, but she said she wouldn't cut\noff my limbs just to give me robot parts because it was 'immoral', or\nsome crap like that, so she made me a Robocop suit instead. Now come on!\nLets blow this joint!\"Lightning Dust hesitated and didn't move. Gilda stared at her friend in confusion.\"Lighting, what are you waiting for? Lets go!\"\"I'm sorry,\" Lightning Dust said.Before Gilda could do anything, Lightning Dust suddenly spun around and then bucked Gilda right in her head, hard. The stunned griffon let out a squawk of surprise and pain, and then blacked out.....................Back on the bridge of the Ascendency,\nRarity and Shining Armor and the rest of the crew on the bridge were\ntrying to understand just what the heck had just happened.\"A\nchangeling queen?!\" Shinging Armor exclaimed, still staring at the spot\nwhere the monster had disappeared. Bad memories of changelings\ninstantly started flooding back to him. He involuntarily shuddered at\nthose memories.\"What was a changeling queen doing here?\" asked Rarity, sounding just as terrified as Shining Armor felt at that moment.Suddenly, one of the crewponies spoke up loudly from their post. \"Sir, the Defiant has just been spotted on our sensors! It's headed right towards us!\"\"What!?\"\nexclaimed Shining, instantly coming back to reality. He walked towards\nthe front of the bridge in front of the viewscreen. \"On screen!\"The\nviewscreen changed to the image of Blueblood's mansion, turned space\nship, off in the distance, coming from the direction of the yellow moon\nTitan. It was indeed flying right towards their position.Shining\nArmor regained his composure and calmed himself so he could focus on\nthe situation at hoof. \"Open communications with the fleet,\" he ordered.\"Yes, sir,\" said another crewpony.There\nwas a small beep, indicating the channel was open, and Shining Armor\nbegan speaking. \"All ships, this is Shining Armor. Lock on to the Defiant\nand fire on my command. Fire to disable only! I repeat, fire to disable\nonly! Remember, Princess Luna is on board that ship. We want to get her\nback alive and unharmed.\"A few seconds passed before the crewpony spoke again. \"The fleet's responded, sir. They're standing by.\"Shining Armor nodded. On the viewscreen he could see the rest of his fleet moving into position between the Defiant and the Heart Star, right beside his ship, ready to fire upon the Defiant.He waited for the Defiant\nto get into firing range of their cannons. Shining smirked smugly when\nhe saw the Defiant was still heading straight towards the armada.\"The idiots aren't even changing coarse,\" he said with a chuckle to his crew. \"What the heck are they thinking?\"His crew all smirked at him in agreement with what he said.After a few more moments, the Defiant finally came into their weapons' range. \"Fire!\" Shining Armor ordered.The\nfleet opened fire, and then Shining's smug smile instantly disappeared\nwhen the ship suddenly gave a sharp lurch to the side like it had been\nhit by something, and he almost lost his balance. A split second later,\nthe ship suddenly shook sharply again. On the viewscreen, he saw in\nhorror that their fleet was all firing energy blasts on each other instead of on the Defiant. A blast from his own ship struck the ship beside them, the Destiny.\"CEASE\nFIRE! CEASE FIRE!\" Shining shouted in panic over the commotion on the\nbridge. He had no idea what was going on. On the viewscreen, he saw the\nother four ships in the fleet taking heavy damage from each other's\nenergy beam weapons. Realizing he had to do something quickly, began\npumping magic into his horn as he prepared to cast the spell he was\nfamous for with his skill at. Concentrating as hard as he could, he cast\nhis shield spell around their entire ship. He breathed a sigh of relief\nas he saw the magical shield around their ship now protecting them from\nthe energy blasts from the other ships.But\nhis relief was short lived as he saw what was happening to the other\nfour ships on the viewscreen. The ships were literally being broken\napart by the assaults they were taking, huge chunks of debris being\nhurled from their hulls by explosions. The glowing magical energy\nspheres within the ring in the center of the ships faded as the ships\nlost power, and the ships began drifting from their positions,\ncompletely out of control. The Destiny and the Devotion crashed into each other, their hulls crumbling from the impact. A few moments later, the Harmony and the Monarch\nalso collided with each other. The four ships were now floating\ncompletely powerless in space, debris from their hulls floating all\naround them like a cloud.Shining Armor and Rarity, and the rest of the crew on the bridge of the Ascendency, all stared at the wreckage of their fleet with mouths agape and eyes as wide as saucers.\"WHAT IN TARTARUS JUST HAPPENED!?!\" Shining Armor demanded furiously.\"DID WE JUST DESTROY OUR OWN ARMADA!?!\" exclaimed Rarity.Shining Armor turned to his crew. \"SOMEPONY EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT JUST HAPPENED?\"After\nseveral seconds, one of the crewponies at a computer console spoke.\n\"Sir, there appears to be some sort of glitch in our networked tactical\ncomputers!\"Shining looked at him. \"A glitch!?\" he exclaimed.\"Yes, sir. I think it's been tampered with.\"Shining\nArmor wondered how this could have happened. Then he remembered the\nchangeling. His eyes widened when realization hit him. \"How could I have\nallowed my self to get fooled like that?!\" Shining Armor growled in\nfrustration, angry at both himself, and at the enemy. \"And on duty, too!\nThose sneaky S.O.B.s.\" He turned back to his crew. \"Switch all tactical\ncontrols to manual! Bring us about!\".....................On\nthe Defiant, they watched as the enemy ships all opened fire on each\nother. They had to squint their eyes at the bright explosions as the\nenemy ships fired on each other. They flew right past the fleet of five\ndistraught ships without a single problem.\"I'm\na leaf on the wind,\" said Dumbbell to himself as he piloted their ship\nright past the other ships, swerving to avoid the crossfire of energy\nblasts. \"Watch how I soar!\"Hoops looked over at him. \"Dude, did you just quote Wash from Serenity?\"\"Yeah. So?\"\"Don't you remember what happened to him after he said that?\"Dumbbell thought, then his eyes widened in realization as he remembered. Then his ears lowered sadly. \"Oh. Right.\"Once they were past the armada, they headed straight towards the Heart Star.Trixie pressed the intercom button on her chair for engineering again. \"Flim, Flam, any word from Gilda yet?\"Flim's voice, or Flam's voice, she could really tell because they both sounded alike, responded. \"No, Trixie. Gilda still hasn't activated her beacon.\"\"The Heart Star is in firing range!\" Iron Will announced.Trixie\nlooked back up at the viewscreen. The giant, heart-shaped space station\nwas right in front of them, defenseless. They had the perfect\nopportunity to attack it with their alchemy bombs, which Sunset had told\nthem were basically mini-nukes, and put an end to all this madness.Everybody on the bridge looked at Trixie, wanting to know what they should do.Trixie\nsighed in frustration. She knew they couldn't teleport Gilda or\nLightning Dust off the Heart Star unless knew they knew her exact\nlocation, but they also couldn't blow up the Heart Star with their friends still on it.At\nthat moment, Sunset, Score, and Queen Entomala walked onto the bridge.\nThey looked at the Heart Star on the viewscreen and then looked at\neveryone on the bridge, clearly wondering what was going on.Trixie\nswallowed as she made her decision. \"We have to give Gilda more time,\"\nshe said to everyone, sitting back in her chair. \"We'll wait.\"\n\"Um... everypony,\" said a nervous sounding Jet Set suddenly. Everybody\nlooked at him. \"...It looks like one of the enemy battle cruisers...\nsurvived!\"Trixie instantly sat up in a panic at what Jet Set said. \"WHAT!?\"\"It's moving towards us!\"\"On screen,\" ordered Trixie.The\nviewscreen changed to the view behind their ship, showing one of the\ngiant battle cruisers turning around towards them out of the wreckage of\nthe other disabled battle cruisers. They all groaned when they saw it\nwas none other than Rarity and Shining Armor's ship, the Ascendency.At\nthat moment, the ship fired a blast of white energy out of its main\ncannon at them. The blast passed right close by their ship. So close\nthat they all felt the ship vibrate as it shot by.\"THAT WAS TOO CLOSE!\" shouted Hoops in terror.\"I think we pissed them off!\" said Dumbbell.\"SHIELDS UP!\" Trixie ordered frantically. \"MOVE THE SHIP! EVASIVE MANEUVERS!\"Dumbbell and Hoops got to work. The maneuvering thrusters fired and the ship began speeding away from the Ascendency. Sunset hurried over to an empty computer console and started putting up the force field around the ship.\"We're being hailed!\" announced Upper Crust suddenly.\"On screen,\" said Trixie.The image on the viewscreen changed to the image of the Ascendency's bridge. Shining Armor and Rarity were glaring at them furiously. They did indeed look pissed.\"WHAT IN CELESTIA'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?\" Shining yelled at them.Trixie\nnarrowed her eyes at the two white unicorns on the screen. \"We're\ntrying to stop Celestia from ruining the world!\" she said confidently.\"Ruining it!?\" exclaimed Rarity. \"Princess Celestia is trying to make the world a better place! Horrible ponies like you are the ones ruining the world!\"Shining\nArmor must have just noticed Entomala at that moment because he the\nthen shouted, \"How could you be in league with a changeling!? This proves that you're all evil!\"\"We're\nnot evil!\" shot Upper Crust from her seat. \"Celestia's the evil one!\nDon't you realize what she's doing? She wants to brainwash the entire world!\"\"It's\nnot brainwashing!\" Rarity argued back. \"Her spell will simply take the\ninner goodness and better natures of every creature in the world, and\nbring it out in them. That way, all creatures can finally live together\nin friendship and happiness.\"\"It's just like my wife's love spell that she uses to bring out the love ponies have inside them,\" Shining Armor added.Trixie\ngritted her teeth and growled. \"How can you just be completely okay\nwith Celestia, or any of the princesses, messing with everypony's minds\nwith magic? Don't you think that's... violating them?\"Rarity\nstuck up her nose at them. \"Not in the least. Princess Celestia knows\nwhat is best for all of us! She is the kindest, wisest, most wonderful\npony in the entire world, and she is always right!\"\"HA!\"\nshouted Entomala suddenly, buzzing her wings and flying up to the front\nof the bridge, right where the viewscreen was. \"Don't you know what\nthat bitch Celestia has done!? She created my kind, the\nchangelings, by trying to mind-rape a bunch of ponies with her spell a\nmillennia ago! Oh, and the whole story about Nightmare Moon is also a\nlie! Celestia turned Luna evil on purpose so she wouldn't tell everypony about her little secret.\"\"BLASPHEMY!\" Rarity shouted in total rage back at Entomala. \"HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT THE PRINCESS THAT WAY!?\"\"YOU HONESTLY EXPECT US TO BELIEVE A LOAD OF LIES LIKE THAT?!\" Shining Armor yelled, just as enraged as Rarity was.\"It's the truth!\" said Trixie. \"We saw it in Luna's memories!\"\"Yeah, right!\" Shining Armor scoffed. \"By the way, where's Blueblood?\"Trixie froze at that question.\"Yes, where is that pathetic excuse for a pony,\" said Rarity, her eyes looking around their bridge.Trixie panicked. She didn't think telling them he had gone into the plot hole was a good idea. They might start... firing into the plot hole or something. She tried to quickly think up a lie for him.\"Oh,\nhe's... um... in the john!\" she said. She mentally cursed herself for\ncoming up with such a stupid reply, but it had been the first thing that\nhad popped into her head.Rarity scoffed. \"I'm sure. More likely he's hiding somewhere, like the coward he is!\"Shining\nArmor nodded in agreement. \"Surrender now, and give us back Princess\nLuna, or you will all face the consequences!\" With that, Shining Armor's\nhorn glowed with blue light, and the transmission suddenly ended, the\nviewscreen cutting back to the view outside the ship of the Ascendency chasing after them.\"Balls!\"\nTrixie cursed. \"Evasive maneuvers! Weapons at the ready!\" She knew this\nwasn't gonna be a walk in the park, and she knew the rest of them knew\nthat as well. Darn it, Gilda, what's taking you so long!? ","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791820-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-14-taking-a-stand.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791825-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-16-the-battle-part-1.json"}