{"sf1_id":791825,"sf2_id":null,"title":"To Boldly Hoof It Ch 16. The Battle (Part 1)","author":"BluebloodFan91","words":4313,"posted_at":"2014-12-04T19:49:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Blueblood","Celestia","Character Development","Clean","Equine","Fantasy","Flam","Flim","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","Stallion","Starswirl","Starswirl the Bearded","Story Progression","Story Series","Sunset shimmer","To Boldly Flee","Trixie","Unicorn","Upper Crust","alicorn","changeling","dumbbell","gilda","parody","score","space"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791825-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-16-the-battle-part-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/791825","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=791825\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Ch 16. The Battle (Part 1)\nGilda felt herself being awoken by rough hooves shaking her.\"Wake\nup!\" said a gruff male voice. Gilda opened her eyes. She was lying on a\ncarpeted floor in a brightly lit room. She felt that she was no longer\nin her Robo-suit, and she felt her forelegs, hind legs, and wings were\nall bound with iron cuffs. She also felt a throbbing pain in her\nforehead.She glanced up at her\nsurroundings. She was in some kind of elegant throne room on board the\nHeart Star. There were two royal unicorn guards standing over her, one\nof whom was shaking her body with his hoof. In front of her, sitting\nupon a big purple throne, was Princess Celestia herself, and standing\nbeside her throne was Lightning Dust, who was not bound or restrained in\nany way.Gilda remembered what had happened. Lightning Dust had bucked her in the head!\"She's awake!\" said the guard again.\"On your feet before Princess Celestia!\" spat the second guard.Gilda\nfelt her body being enveloped in a magical hold and then felt herself\nbeing forcefully lifted up onto all fours by magic. Gilda could see one\nof the unicorn guards' horns was glowing with emerald green light,\nindicating he was the one levitating her body.She\nlooked back at Lightning Dust. \"Lightning Dust... what the heck?\" Gilda\nasked her friend, desperate for an explanation as to why she had bucked\nher in the head and knocked her out.\"I'm\nsorry,\" said Lighting, looking away from Gilda with a look of shame on\nher face, which was an expression Gilda had never seen on her friend\nbefore.Gilda was shocked.Princess Celestia spoke. \"Lightning Dust chose to join our side! She wants to help us, so I've given her the chance.\"Gilda stared at Lightning Dust in utter bewilderment. \"WHY?\" Gilda demanded, not convinced that Lightning Dust had just simply 'chose to join Celestia's side' like Celestia had said.\"She said she would make me a Wonderbolt,\" Lightning Dust said, still keeping her head turned away from Gilda out of shame.Gilda gaped at Lightning Dust in disbelief.Celestia\nspoke again. \"I'm helping her out as a favor because she chose to do\nthe right thing and help us.\" Celestia extended one of her wings and\nwrapped it around Lightning Dust's shoulder, looking down at the pegasus\nwith a warm smile. \"You're our friend now, Lightning Dust. And friends\nhelp each other out.\" She smiled kindly at Lightning Dust, who,\nhonestly, looked a little creeped out by the Princess's advances.Gilda's\nexpression became one of rage. \"YOU TRAITOR!\" she yelled at Lightning\nDust, trying to leap forward and attack her, but was held back by her\nbonds and the unicorn guards' magic. Still she struggled to get at the\npegasus mare. \"YOU SELL OUT! YOU TOOL! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!\"\"SETTLE\nDOWN, YOU!\" shouted one of the guards, pulling the enraged griffon back\naway from a wide-eyed Lightning Dust, and using his magic to hold her\ndown against the floor.Celestia looked\ndown at Gilda. \"You also have a chance to do the right thing, Gilda,\"\nsaid Celestia. \"Join us. Help us do something wonderful for the world.\"Gilda spat on Celestia's face. \"Go buck yourself!\" she said.\"HOW\nDARE YOU DISRESPECT THE PRINCESS!\" the two guards next to Gilda yelled,\none of them hitting her hard in her side with a hoof. Gilda grunted in\npain as she was knocked onto her side by the blow.Celestia held up a hoof to stop the two guards. \"Enough!\" she said to them.The two guards stopped assaulting Gilda.Celestia\nwiped the spit off her face and looked back down at Gilda. \"Very well.\nIn that case, you can stay and watch the birth of a new world with us. A\nworld where all living things live together in friendship and harmony.\"Gilda\ngrowled as she got to her feet and glared at the princess. \"I know what\nyou did!\" she stated, then she looked over at Lightning Dust. \"You\ndon't realize what she's done, Lightning Dust. How many lives this bitch\nhas ruined.\"\"Don't listen to her, Lightning Dust,\" Celestia said to the pegasus beside her. \"She's just trying to confuse you.\"Gilda\ncontinued. \"The spell she's about to use, she used it on a race called\nthe Flutterponies a long time ago, but the spell went wrong, and they\nall ended up turning into changelings because of it!\"\"What?\" exclaimed Lightning Dust, actually turning her head to look at Gilda now with wide eyes.\"That's ridiculous!\" said Celestia firmly.\"There's\nmore!\" said Gilda. \"When Princess Luna was going to tell everypony\nabout what Celestia had done, Celestia put a spell on her to make her go\ninsane in order to keep her quiet. That's why Luna really became Nightmare Moon! Celestia pretty much lobotomized her own sister!\"\"ENOUGH\nOF YOUR LIES, CRIMINAL SCUM!\" shouted a guard loudly in Gilda's ear,\nhitting her hard in her gut again with his hoof. Gilda grunted in pain\nagain and fell to the floor.Celestia held\nup a hoof to stop the two guards again. \"I said enough!\" Celestia\nraised her voice at them, making them stop assaulting Gilda once again.\nCelestia looked back at Lightning Dust. \"Lightning Dust, I promise you. None of that is true. I would never harm anypony.\"Gilda\nglared at Celestia. The big white princess was clearly a very skilled\nliar. Had Gilda not known the truth, she herself would have believed the\nPrincess's statements. It was like her sweet motherly voice got inside\nyour head and made you want to believe the things she was saying. Gilda wondered if magic was involved with that. Then again, Celestia would have to be a good liar in order to still have so many ponies complete blind faith and belief in her after all these centuries.\"IT IS TRUE!\" Gilda shouted at them all. \"WE LEARNED IT FROM LUNA HERSELF!\"\"I SAID ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!\" the guard yelled in Gilda's ear again.Celestia\nraised her hoof again to calm her guards down before they started\nbeating Gilda again. Then she looked at Gilda. \"Well, Gilda, even if you\nwon't cooperate, you are still welcome to stay here and watch.\"Her\nthrone magically spun around to face a set of closed curtains.\nCelestia's horn glowed, and then the curtains were magically pulled\naside, revealing a wide circular window that looked out into space.\nOutside she could see the house ship Defiant being chased by the massive battle cruiser Ascendency, both of them firing weapons at each other.\"We\nare going to use the spell on your friends on board their ship, so they\nwill stop acting foolish, and cooperate,\" said Celestia.At that, Gilda struggled angrily, but was still held back by her bonds. \"NO!\" Gilda shouted in anger.Celestia simply ignored Gilda's protests and continued to smile calmly, which infuriated Gilda to no end.Unknown to both of them, Lightning Dust was staring down at the floor, a look of uncertainty on her face...................The Defiant did battle with the Ascendency.Trixie\nwatched the viewscreen as they fired their rail gun at the enemy ship,\nbut the blasts just simply bounced off Shining Armor's powerful shield\nspell that he had erected around his ship. They kept trying to evade the\npowerful energy blasts the Ascendency fired at them every several seconds.\"What is the status of the Ascendency?\" Trixie demanded.\"It's\nsustained some damage to its hull from when it and the other ships were\nfiring on each other,\" said Iron Will. \"But other than that, it's\ncompletely intact and operational. And Shining Armor's shield spell is\nprotecting it from taking any more damage.\"\"Keep\ntrying!\" Trixie ordered, her hope in Blueblood and Gilda being pushed\nto the limit. \"Load the alchemy bombs! Give 'em everything we've got!\"The\nships pitched out of control as they took a hit from an energy beam.\nThey held onto their chairs as they all almost fell out of them.\"Shields\nat sixty two percent!\" shouted Sunset after they had recovered from the\nblast, having seated herself down at an open computer console.Trixie\ncringed. That was almost half their shield strength gone, and they had\nonly taken one hit! Sunset may have improved their ships systems, but\nthey still wouldn't hold up very long against the Ascendency's kind of fire power.Their ship banked to the left to avoid another energy beam from the Ascendency...................Shining Armor watched the struggling Defiant\non the viewscreen with satisfaction. \"Target weapon systems and\nshields,\" he ordered to his weapons officer. \"We want to capture that\nship, not destroy it.\"On the viewscreen, another dazzling white blast seared from the front of the Ascendency at the tiny house ship, just missing it's target as the Defiant swerved out of the way yet again.Beside him, he heard Rarity speaking softly to herself. \"Why don't you give up, Blueblood?\" she said. \"You know you can't win.\"Shining\nknew it didn't matter. This battle wouldn't take very long anyway. And\nthen Blueblood and his annoying friends would all be brought to justice.\nOf course, knowing Princess Celestia, she would probably want to help\nthem and rehabilitate them with magic and guidance to make them better\nponies. And although he would never disagree with the Princess's\ndecision, personally, he would rather they were all just thrown in a\ndungeon cell and left to rot.The Defiant\nmade a pass at them and fired another volley of blasts from it's tiny\ngun mounted on it's hull, but Shining Armor wasn't worried in the least\nas the blasts simply bounced off his shield bubble protecting the ship,\ncausing only tiny ripples to appear on the bubble where they impacted.\"Is that the best you got?\" Shining gloated, watching as another white blast shot from his ship at the Defiant...................\"Just answer me one thing, your highness,\" said Gilda to Celestia. Celestia turned back to face Gilda, and she continued. \"Why are you trying to make the world a paradise? Isn't the world pretty much already\na paradise as it is? You control the weather, the seasons, and\npractically all of nature itself! Practically everyone is a total goody\ntwo shoes who whistles while they work, and breaks into songs about\nfriendship and love at the drop of a hat! There haven't been any wars in\nhundreds of years! There is plenty of food and water to go around,\npractically no pollution, or any big problems of any kind! Sure, there\nare a few enemies out there, but you can always easily take care of them\nwith the Elements of Harmony. It can't really get much better than that! Isn't that good enough?\"\"No,\nit isn't,\" said Celestia plainly. \"There are still those out there,\nlike you, who still live unhappily because they don't understand the\nhappiness that comes from friendship and honest lives.\"\"Okay,\nfirst of all, the only thing making me unhappy right now is YOU!\" said\nGilda. \"Second of all, SO WHAT!? If they want to live their lives that\nway, then that is their choice, and it's their right to choose that if they want! So just LET THEM BE!\"\"NO!\" said Celestia, shaking her head. \"If I know there are those out there who need help, then I have to help them. It's my duty as a princess.\"\"No, your duty as a princess is to run and defend your kingdom, not to interfere in the personal lives of its citizens! And even so, if you want to help others, then help them by just simply talking to them! Offer them advice if they want it! Don't start casting spells on ponies!\"\"That's\nthe problem!\" Celestia sighed. \"I've tried talking to the many\ncreatures of this world for centuries, but it does little good. So many,\nlike dragons, diamond dogs, and you and even some of my own little\nponies, just refuse to listen! So they've left me with no choice but to\ntake more... drastic action.\"\"THAT'S WRONG!\" Gilda shouted angrily. \"IF THEY DON'T WANT HELP, THEN THAT'S THEIR CHOICE, AND THEIR RIGHT!\"\"I\nam their princess, and I know what is best for them! Sometimes you need\nto help those who might not realize that they need help, or even want help, and sometimes there are those who need to be made to do things they might not want to do... for their own good.\"Gilda growled at Celestia. \"We aren't your children! We have rights!\"\"Gilda, I consider\nyou all like my children. And as my children, it's my duty to take care\nof you all, and do what is best for you.\" Celestia smiled. \"Just trust\nin me, Gilda. This is for the best.\"Gilda\ngroaned. There was no point in talking to Celestia. She was clearly\nconvinced that her intentions were righteous, and there was no\nconvincing her otherwise. Still, Gilda would have given both her wings\njust to wipe that infuriatingly calm smile from Celestia's face.Suddenly,\na pair of double doors at the back of the throne room opened up, and an\nEarth pony guard entered the room. \"Princess Celestia, I'm here to\ninform you that the Heart Star has absorbed enough energy from the plot\nhole to use the spell amplifying array now.\"Gilda's heart sunk, as she knew what that meant.\"Thank\nyou,\" said Celestia to the guard, who bowed his head to her before\nwalking back out of the room. \"The time is finally here!\" Celestia said\nto them excitedly. \"This is my destiny, and Equestria's destiny!\" She\npressed one of several buttons on the arm of her throne with her hoof,\nwhich Gilda hadn't noticed were there before. \"Deploy the array!\" she\nsaid aloud, Gilda supposing she was talking over an intercom to\nsomewhere else on the space station. \"And target the Defiant.\"\"No!\" Gilda attempted to leap at Celestia to attack her, but was held back by the two unicorn guards' magic.Celestia's\nhorn glowed, and a circular panel opened up in the sealing in the room\nright above Celestia. Then some sort of machine, attached to a thick\ntube and many wires, descended down out from it, settling right above\nCelestia's head.Celestia raised her head\nupwards and slid her horn up into a small hole in the bottom of the\nmachine above her head, which was just the right size for her horn. She\nthen closed her eyes as she began casting her spell to be amplified by\nthe Heart Star.The machine connected to\nCelestia's horn began to glow and pulse with the same golden yellow glow\nas Celestia's magic, and then the glow ran up the tubes and wires\nattached to it into the open panel in the sealing.Suddenly,\nthe large circular window in the room flickered with light, and then an\nimage appeared on it, revealing that it was also a viewscreen.  The\nimage was a camera view of the outside of the Heart Star. More\nspecifically, the bottom tip of the heart shaped space station.The\npointed bottom of the heart shaped space station began to slowly fold\nopen, like a flower's petals opening up, revealing a giant dish antenna\ninside. The antenna began to spark and then glow with the golden light\nof Celestia's magic. It was apparently being used as a giant, artificial\nunicorn's horn.Then, at the tip of the\nantenna, a pink heart made of magical energy formed. The pink heart\nbegan to pulsate as more magic was poured into it, making it bigger... and\nbigger... and bigger!..................On board the Defiant, and the Ascendency, both crews took notice of the giant pink heart of magic forming at the tip of an antenna that had opened up on the Heart Star.\"What the heck is that?\" asked Hoops fearfully, pointing at the image on the viewscreen.\"I think that's bad news,\" said Iron Will.Trixie and the rest of them all agreed with him, all of them gulping nervously, fearing that this was the end...................\"Finally!\nA perfect world!\" Celestia said to herself as she watched the spell\namplifying array readying her spell on the viewscreen, tears of\nhappiness starting to well up in her eyes.Then\nsuddenly, there were a few wild sparks of electricity on the antenna,\nand then the golden yellow glow around the antenna faded away.\nCelestia's smile fell into a frown of confusion as the pink heart of\nmagical energy stopped pulsating, and then dissipated into nothingness,\nand then the antenna began letting off smoke into space.Gilda was pleasantly surprised by this sudden turn of events, and she breathed a sigh of relief.\"What? What happened?\" Celestia said, clearly worried and confused.Gilda\ngrinned as something occurred to her. \"Well, maybe it has something to\ndo with the fact that, right after I teleported over here, I screwed\naround with a bunch of the machines and computers in this place. You\nknow, blew stuff up, did some damage. Whatever I thought looked\nimportant.\"As if to confirm this,\nsuddenly the same Earth pony guard as before burst into the room again, a\npanicked look on his face. \"Your majesty! A number of the Heart Star's\nsystems have been damaged and the array is inoperable! Its gonna take a\nbit of time to repair them.\"Celestia\nglared down at Gilda furiously, and it looked like the Princess might\nactually attack the griffon. Gilda just continued to grin up at\nCelestia, happy to see that she had finally been able to get on the\nPrincess's nerves and upset her.\"What's the matter, Princess? I haven't made you mad, have I?\" Gilda said mockingly.Celestia\ntook a deep breath, and regained her composure. \"Guards, lock Gilda up\nwith our other... guest. I'm going to assist in repairing the array.\"\nCelestia's horn glowed, and then, in a flash of light, she teleported\nout of the room.Gilda was suddenly yanked\nby the unicorn guards' magic towards the doors at the back of the\nthrone room. \"COME ON! MOVE IT!\" one of them ordered her.\"Hey,\nLightning,\" Gilda shouted back over her shoulder at the pegasus mare\nwhile she was being pulled out of the room, getting her attention. \"You\nrealize Celestia's gonna cast that spell on you too, don't you? You're\ngonna have your head messed with, just like everyone else! Ya know, in\nall the time I knew you, I never took you as a pony who kissed others'\nflanks to get ahead in life. I thought you were a rebel, like me, who\ndidn't take shit from anyone, who didn't act like an obedient little\nfilly and waited for things to be given to her, but who took what\nshe wanted. And more importantly, I thought you were my friend,\nLightning! But I guess you caved and became a lame-o tool, just like\nRainbow Dash!\"Lightning Dust stood there,\nstunned, staring back at Gilda as she was dragged out of the throne\nroom. Lightning Dust began to think about what Gilda had said, and about\nthe whole situation...................Princess\nCelestia teleported into the Heart Star's engineering area. A number of\nengineering ponies' heads turned to look at her sudden appearance.\nCelestia could see they were hard at work tried to fix the array, a\ngreat number of them gathered around an area with a large metal tube\nrunning up and down an open shaft in the center of the Heart Star.A\nfew of them were at a table, looking over a large open book with\nblueprints and instructions inside it. Celestia walked over to them.\"How are the repairs coming?\" Celestia asked.They\nall turned to look at her, quickly bowing their heads to her. \"There\nwas a lot of damage, your highness,\" said one of the engineers, an\nindigo Earth pony mare with a magenta mane and tail, both of which were\ndone up in a bun, wearing a white lab coat and lime green glasses. \"And\nthis book is so BIG! This might take a while.\"Celestia\nsighed in frustration, wishing she had Twilight with her to help with\nthis. \"We don't have time for this. Turn on the video tutorial!\"\nCelestia ordered.Above their heads, a\nviewscreen turned on and a video started playing on it. It showed a\nbunch of blueprints and instructions on screen. Then she frowned when\nshe heard a voice start speaking on the video, only it wasn't in\nEnglish.\"Oh no, you got it in FRENCH!\" Celestia cried out in dismay. She facehooved. \"Darn! The one language I can't speak!\"\"What do we do now, Princess?\" the indigo mare asked.Celestia looked down at her. \"Find somepony who can speak French!\"..................Shining\nArmor stared at the image before him on the viewscreen of the\nsmoldering antenna of the Heart Star, his mouth agape in disbelief. Why\nhadn't it worked? \"The Heart Star is non-functional! Our fleet is\ndestroyed! What else could go wrong?!\" he groaned loudly.Rarity\nsuddenly stepped up beside Shining Armor and hit him hard with her\nrump, sending him flying across the deck, landing on his side on the\nfloor with a loud thud.\"Move aside,\ndarling!\" Rarity said while he gaped up at her from the floor, in total\nshock at her actions. \"It's clear to me that you are unfit to command in\nthe emotional state you're in. So... I'm taking command!\" She\nturned to face the stunned crew. \"Maximize power to the engines!\nIntensify forward firepower! Target their shields and weapon systems\nonly! And somepony bring me the complete works of Shakespeare and Herman Melville! I have some quoting to do!\"Everyone\non the bridge continued to stare at the scene, not sure what to think,\nbut soon they all shrugged and began to carry out Rarity's orders.Rarity smiles gleefully as she sees another one of their energy blasts hit the Defiant, sending it hurtling out of control. She laughed out loud. \"Ha ha ha ha! From Tartarus's heart, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee! Ha ha ha ha!!\"Shining Armor got up from the floor onto all fours and stared at Rarity in deep concern. Oh yeah, you're not taking this too far at all, he thought to himself...................\"SHIELDS\nAT TWENTY FIVE PERCENT!\" Sunset screamed after Dumbbell and Hoops had\nused their gaming skills to get their ship back under control again.\"Fire alchemy bomb!\" Trixie ordered, pounding her hoof down against the arm of her chair.She watched on the viewscreen as one of the tiny metal spheres was fired from beneath their ship, soaring towards the Ascendency\nlike a rocket. It made contact with Shining Armor's shield and\nexploded, creating a blinding white light that lit up their entire\nviewscreen. They all have to squint their eyes and put their hooves in\nfront of their faces from the blinding explosion. Trixie was hopeful\nthat it had worked, and that the Ascendency had been destroyed, or at the very least, the shield bubble spell had been destroyed.Trixie's hopes were crushed however when the bright light from the explosion faded, and the Ascendency\nwas still there, completely unharmed, and Shining Armor's shield bubble\nwas also still around it, shimmering dazzlingly from the residual heat\nfrom the explosion.\"IT'S NO USE!\" Iron\nWill shouted furiously. \"Shining Armor's shield spell is too strong! The\nalchemy bombs aren't powerful enough, and we're running out of them!\"\"DARN\nIT!\" Trixie slammed her hooves down on the arms of her command chair in\nfrustration. She was considering just turning the ship around and\nescaping to hyperspace. At the moment she couldn't see anyway they could\nwin this if Gilda or Blueblood didn't succeed in their own missions.\nShe wondered how they both were doing.Gilda,\nwhat's taking so long? Blueblood, I hope you were right and that you\ncan find a way to stop the plot hole from the inside. We could use all\nthe help we could get right now...................Blueblood woke up and opened his eyes. He found that he was lying on his side on... something. Something that he couldn't see, or feel for that matter.He\nlooked around him. It looked like he was in the vacuum of space, but he\nknew he couldn't be, as he was breathing, and not frozen. Yet there\nwere tiny twinkling stars all around him, and it really looked like he\nwas lying out in space.He got up and stood on all fours, but he wasn't exactly sure what he was standing on. Magic?\"Where the heck am I?\" Blueblood asked himself aloud, totally confused. \"The Twilight Zone? Wait, am I dead!?\"\nHe lifted his foreleg up to his mouth and bit into his flesh. It hurt.\n\"Nope. Not dead. So what is this?\" Off all the things he had expected\nwhen he had flown into the plot hole... well, to be honest, he wasn't sure\nwhat he had expected to find.It\nthen occurred to him that he wasn't entirely sure how he had gotten\nhere. He looked around for the escape pod he had been in, but it was\nnowhere to be seen.\"Hello, Prince Blueblood,\" said a voice behind him. It was an elderly male voice, and it was somewhat familiar.Blueblood spun around, and he saw, standing there before him, none other than Starswirl the Bearded.\"Starswirl?\"\nBlueblood said in amazement. It was indeed him, wearing his trademark\nlong cloak wrapped around his body, and his pointed hat atop his head.\nAnd they even had the accurate bells on them. This was definitely\nStarswirl the Bearded.\"Yes, Blueblood. It's me,\" the elderly unicorn said.\"I thought you were dead.\"\"I\nwas... but now I have risen.\" Starswirl's cloak suddenly flew open as if\nby some magical wind, revealing two big, feathery wings unfurling from\nhis sides, which he extended dramatically in full view for Blueblood to\nsee.Blueblood's mouth gaped open. He\ncould hardly believe his eyes, even as he stared at those big, feathery\nwings coming out of Starswirl's back. Starswirl the Bearded was now an\nalicorn! He had actually become an alicorn!\"And\nyou have risen too in a way, I see, Blueblood,\" said Starswirl. \"You\nhave achieved something few other ponies have ever accomplished! Now,\nBlueblood, are you ready?\"Blueblood looked at Starswirl in confusion. \"Ready for what?\" he asked, feeling both excited and nervous.Starswirl continued. \"To finally achieve your destiny, Blueblood. Are you ready... to become an alicorn?\"","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791821-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-15-distraction.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791828-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-17-the-battle-part-2.json"}