{"sf1_id":791828,"sf2_id":null,"title":"To Boldly Hoof It Ch 17. The Battle (part 2)","author":"BluebloodFan91","words":4267,"posted_at":"2014-12-04T19:54:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Blueblood","Celestia","Character Development","Clean","Doctor Whooves","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/791828-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-17-the-battle-part-2","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/791828","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=791828\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Ch 16. The Battle (part 2)\n\"Are you ready... to become an alicorn?\" Starswirl asked Blueblood.Blueblood\nstared at Starswirl, shocked at what the elderly pony had said. This\nwas not what he had been expecting as his destiny. His shock then\nquickly transformed into confusion.And he also felt offended.\"What!?\" Blueblood exclaimed.Starswirl appeared surprised by Blueblood's outburst. \"Beg pardon?\"Blueblood continued while he glared at Starswirl, very upset. \"Are you saying there's something wrong with my body the way it is!?\"Starswirl's eyes widened in surprise. \"What? No, I-\"Blueblood cut Starswirl off. \"I'll have you know my\nbody is perfect just the way it is! Look at this body!\" Blueblood posed\nfor Starswirl, so that he could get a good look at his entire well\nbuilt body. \"I'm sexy and I know it! I work out! Also, what would even be the point of me changing species? What's wrong with being a unicorn?\"\"Nothing...\" Starswirl said, \"but wouldn't you rather be an alicorn?\"\"NO!\" Blueblood said, holding his head up proudly. \"I'm proud to be a unicorn.\"\"But aren't alicorns better?\" asked Starswirl.Blueblood\ngaped at Starswirl, appalled at what the elderly alicorn had just said.\n\"OF COURSE NOT!\" Blueblood shouted angrily. \"THAT'S RASIST! Or...\nspeciesist. One of those things. Anyway, no species is better than any other! That's one of the things we're taught in school as children!\nGranted, I never paid much attention in school, but I still got the\nmessage! Me turning into an alicorn because it's 'better' would be like...\na donkey... or a griffon turning into a pony because it's 'better', and I\nknow that's not right! Every species has it's own individual strengths\nand weaknesses, pros and cons, benefits and costs. Yes, I know I say some speciesist things sometimes, but I'm just joking when I say those things! I don't actually think those things!\"\"But Blueblood...\" Starswirl looked at Blueblood in concern. \"This is your destiny!\"Blueblood thought for a moment about that. \"Well... if that's my destiny, then... buck destiny! I'm saying no!\"Starswirl\nstared at Blueblood in silence for a long moment after that. Then... a\nsmile appeared on Starswirl's face. \"Congratulations, Blueblood,\" he\nfinally said. \"That was exactly the answer I wanted to hear.\"Blueblood was taken aback by that response. Now he was even more confused.Starswirl's\nhorn began to glow with magic. Blueblood watched as both of the elderly\npony's big wings also glowed with magic, and then began to fade away,\nbecoming transparent like a ghost, before disappearing all together.Blueblood stared at the now wingless Starswirl in utter confusion. \"Your wings?\" he asked.\"They\nweren't real,\" Starswirl said. \"They were just an allusion created by a\nsimple spell I cast on myself before you got here. I'm not an alicorn,\nBlueblood. I'm a unicorn! I've always been a unicorn, and I will always be\na unicorn. And that isn't a bad thing at all. I apologize for the\ndeception, Blueblood, but it was necessary to make sure I could rely on\nyou.\"\"What do you mean? WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?\" Blueblood demanded, becoming impatient.Starswirl walked up in front of Blueblood and looked him in the eye. \"I need your help, son.\"..................The Defiant bridge lurched as the ship was nicked by another blast from the Ascendency.\"OUR SHIELDS ARE FAILING!\" Sunset shrieked. \"WE CAN'T TAKE ANOTHER HIT!\"\"Then\nlets make sure we don't get hit!\" Trixie shouted up at Dumbbell and\nHoops at the helm controls. She rubbed her hooves through her mane as\nshe struggled to come up with an idea about what they could do. She\nthought about their ship and what it was capable of, but she couldn't\ncome up with much. They didn't have a lot of firepower, and their\nshields were almost gone, their speed and agility were okay, but nothing\nimpressive, and their ship was tiny compared to the Ascendency.Wait! They were tiny! Maybe they could use that\nto there advantage. She looked at the enemy ship. Its weapons seemed to\nall be long range, good at hitting things far away from the ship, but\nit looked like it would have some difficulty hitting a tiny moving\ntarget that was right up next to the ship. She got an idea.\"Maybe\nwe can use our small size to our advantage!\" she spoke up to everyone\naround her on the bridge. She then pointed at the image of the Ascendency\non the viewscreen. \"Take us in closer to that ship! Get us as close to\ntheir hull as you can without hitting their shield bubble!\"They all looked at her like she was insane!\"CLOSER!?\" exclaimed Dumbbell. \"We should be flying away from that thing!\"\"JUST\nDO IT! TRIXIE HAS A PLAN!\" she shouted back at him. \"They wont be able\nto hit us with their weapons if we stay close to them.\"After a few seconds, the others expressions all changed from confusion to understanding, and they nodded.Dumbbell flew them in closer to the Ascendency,\ndodging another powerful blast from the enemy ship as they did. Up next\nto the gigantic ship's hull, their ship was like a tiny pebble.\"That's\nit, just keep us close, and keep moving around them,\" Trixie said while\nDumbbell and Hoops put their gamer skills to the max as they worked the\nship's helm controls, trying to keep them as close as they could to the\nAscendency without bumping into it's shield bubble. They were flying around the enemy ship like a fly buzzing around a pony's head...................\"Where are they?\" Rarity asked, having not seen the Defiant on the viewscreen for several seconds now.One\nof the crewponies at a computer console responded. \"They're... flying\naround right close up to our ship,\" the stallion said in a confused\nvoice.\"What the hay are they doing?\" Rarity asked thoughtfully. \"Oh well. Just get them.\"\"Sure you don't want me to do this?\" Shining Armor asked in annoyance, standing off to the side of the bridge.\"No,\ndarling, I can handle this,\" Rarity said to him, holding up her hoof to\nstop him from interfering. Then she looked back at the viewscreen.\n\"Tickle me, do I not laugh? Prick me, do I not bleed? Wrong me... do I not\nrevenge?\" she muttered under her breath...................Back\non the Heart Star, Princess Celestia and the other ponies in\nengineering were still trying to repair the spell-amplifying array. The\nPrincess was still waiting for them to find somepony who could speak\nFrench to translate the video instructions playing on the large computer\nscreen in the room.\"Princess,\" the\nmagenta mare scientist from before said as she walked up to Celestia.\n\"We've done a check, and no pony on the Heart Star can speak French.\"Celestia\nsighed, rubbing her hooves against her temples. Then a new idea came to\nher. She looked down at the Earth pony mare in front of her. \"Turn on\nthe computer's French translator!\"\"Yes,\nyour highness,\" said the mare, bowing her head before trotting over to\nthe controls for the computer screen. \"Why didn't we just do that\nbefore?\"After the mare pressed a few\nbuttons with her hooves, Celestia was surprised when the image of a\ngriffon suddenly appeared on the computer screen. She quickly recognized\nthe griffon as the famous baker, Gustave.\"Bonjour!\" Gustave said. \"I am Gustave, your French instructor. To continue this lesson in French, press 1 now.\"Celestia and the rest of the ponies in engineering all gaped at the screen in complete bewilderment.\"That\ndoesn't even make any sense!\" Celestia exclaimed, throwing her front\nhoves into the air above her head. \"How could anypony learn French from\nan instructor who is only speaking French?\"\"I now understand why we didn't just do this before,\" said the magenta mare scientist in mild amusement...................In\na different part of the Heart Star, Gilda was sitting on her haunches\non a metal bench in a prison cell. Across from her, sitting on the bench\nagainst the opposite wall of the cell, was Doctor Whooves. She had been\nsurprised to find him in the cell when she had first been thrown into\nit earlier.\"So Celestia caused Luna to become Nightmare Moon on purpose, and\naccidentally created the changelings?\" the Doctor said after Gilda had\nfinished explaining everything that had happened to her and her friends\nup till now. \"Boy, I always suspected Celestia had some skeletons in her\ncloset, but this...\" He shook his head. \"Blimey!\"\"Yep,\" Gilda said. \"So can't you use your sonic screwdriver or something to get us out of here?\"The\nDoctor sighed. \"Unfortunately they took my sonic screwdriver when they\nimprisoned me! I've tried looking for other means of escaping this cell,\nbut it's no good. This cell is magically sealed. It can only be opened\nfrom the outside.\" He let out a groan. \"I hate magic.\"Gilda\nalso groaned. The door of the cell didn't have any bars, so she\ncouldn't reach her arm through and open the cell. The door only had a\nsmall slot for food to slide through, and for talking through, and her\nbeacon had been in her Robocop armor, which they had taken off of her\nwhen she had been knocked out, so teleporting out of this place wasn't\nan option either.Her thoughts changed to Lightning Dust. This was all her\nfault. At the moment, she hated Lightning Dust. How could her supposed\nbest friend have done this to her? She knew Lightning Dust wanted to be a\nWonderbolt, but she hadn't thought she would stab her in the back to become one.Suddenly\nthey heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching from outside the cell. A\nfew seconds later, the steps stopped outside their cell, and the slot on\nthe door opened up, letting in a stream of light from outside. Then a\npony's face appeared outside the slot. Gilda scowled when she saw who it\nwas.\"What are you doing here?\" spat Gilda at Lightning Dust. \"Come to gloat, traitor?\"\"Tell\nme the truth,\" Lightning Dust said to Gilda, ignoring her question.\n\"Were you being honest when you said what Celestia did to Luna, and the\nchangelings too?\"\"Yes,\" said Gilda. \"Like\nI said, we learned it from Luna herself. That was what was in her head\nthat she wanted us to know! Come on, Lightning, I'm Gilda, your best\nfriend... well, FORMER best friend! Would I lie to you?\"\"Um...\" began Lightning Dust.\"You know what, don't answer that,\" Gilda quickly said. \"But I'm telling the truth this time! You have to believe me!\"Lightning\nDust stared at Gilda for several seconds, looking like she was\nconsidering. After a few seconds, she said, \"I believe you.\"Suddenly\nGilda heard a few small clicking noises, and then the cell door swung\nopen, revealing Lightning Dust standing alone outside.\"Well, come on! Don't you know a jail break when you see one?\" said Lightning Dust with a smirk.Gilda\nand the Doctor got up off of the benches and stared at her. \"What about\nbecoming a Wonderbolt?\" asked Gilda, raising an eyebrow at the pegasus.\n\"Oh...\" Lightning Dust looked away. \"I just figured... I don't need\nCelestia to become a Wonderbolt! I'll do it myself! And even if I don't...\nwell... who wants to be a Wonderbolt anyway? They SUCK! I heard three of\nthem got knocked unconscious in the air once by a flailing mare who they\nwere trying to save from falling to her death, and another time, when\nthere was a dragon attack on Ponyville, they were totally useless! So...\nyeah. Why bother joining those losers? I'm already way better than they'll ever be! I've saved the world!\"In\nthat instant, Gilda couldn't be mad a Lightning Dust any more. Gilda\nsmirked, and then walked up to Lightning Dust. \"I knew you missed me,\"\nshe said, quickly grabbing Lightning Dust in a headlock, before she\ncould react, and giving the pegasus a noogie.\"Oh, shut up!\" Lightning Dust growled as she escaped the headlock and pushed away from Gilda. \"You're not that awesome.\"\"Am too!\" Gilda shot back, though still smiling.\"Ladies, if you don't mind, might we get out of here now?\" asked the Doctor as he walked up to the two.They both turned their heads to stare at him.\"Call me lady again, and I'll deck you in the schnoz,\" said Gilda.The Doctor raised his eyebrow at Gilda, unfazed by the griffon's threat. \"In that case... ALLONS-Y!\"The\nDoctor took off galloping out of the cell and proceeded down the\ncorridor out of the cellblock. Gilda and Lightning Dust quickly hurried\noff after him...................\"You need my help?\"\nBlueblood said to Starswirl. He was so confused at that moment. He was\nprobably more confused then he had ever been in his entire life.Starswirl nodded. \"Yes. That's the reason I called you here.\"\"Called me here?\" inquired Blueblood, not knowing what Starswirl meant.\"Yes,\"\nStarswirl said. \"Those dreams you have been having, I sent them to you,\nin the hopes that you would come here. And you did.\"Blueblood remembered the dreams he had been having. \"You\nsent those dreams to me?\" Then something occurred to Blueblood. \"And\nTrixie and Sunset's dreams? The ones that showed them the spell to enter\nLuna's mind?\"Starswirl nodded. \"Yes, I sent them those dreams as well.\"\"How?\" asked Blueblood. \"Why? And how are you here alive right now? I watched you DIE!\"Starswirl\nheld up a hoof to silence Blueblood. \"Calm down, young Prince. I\nunderstand you must have a lot of questions, and I will answer all of\nthem.\"Blueblood scowled, but he obeyed.Starswirl\nbegan. \"I was indeed dead. As you may recall, my remains were launched\ninto space as a final tribute to me. Against all odds, they flew into\nthe plot hole, and the plot hole somehow granted me new life.\"\"That's... incredible!\" said Blueblood, truly amazed.Starswirl\ncontinued. \"This place... it is quite different from our universe. It\nexists outside our universe, and the laws of time and space have no\nmeaning here. As such, I gained the ability to see all places at every\nmoment in history at once. To be quite honest, it gave me quite a\nheadache.\"\"What is this place, exactly?\" asked Blueblood out of curiosity, gesturing around him at their cosmic surroundings.\"That... is a bit complicated,\" said Starswirl. \"We are... in a realm that serves as a buffer zone between our universe, and the universe where the writers exist.\"\"The writers?\" asked Blueblood.\"Yes.\nThey are the creators of our universe, and many other universes, and\nall of the characters within them, like us. But I'll get to them later.\nAnyway, I guess you could say we are... atop the fourth wall.\"Blueblood was now paying attention to Starswirl with complete interest.\"Anyway,\"\ncontinued Starswirl, \"after I came here, I discovered some things that\ndeeply concerned me, the truth about Princess Celestia and Princess\nLuna, the changelings, and fact that the plot hole is going to destroy\nthe whole of creation if it is not stopped.\"\"The\nplot hole! Yes!\" said Blueblood. \"That's why I came here! To find a way\nto stop the plot hole from destroying the universe!\"\"That\nis also the reason why I called you here, Blueblood,\" said Starswirl.\n\"I need your help to restore balance to the universe.\"Then\nsomething occurred to Blueblood. \"Hold on. If all you needed to do was\ntell me these things, why didn't you just tell me them in the dreams you\nsent me instead of making me come here?\"\"Because\nit was too dangerous! Going inside another ponies mind was dangerous to\ntheir mental state. You saw what happened to Princess Luna because I\nlingered in her mind for too long, didn't you? It put her into a coma!\nHad I tried the same with you or another pony, it might have killed you!\nI could only risk sending you small clues to help you along. Anymore\nthen that, and you might have ended up no better then Princess Luna is\nnow, or worse.\"\"Oh,\" said Blueblood. \"Well then... why can't you stop the plot hole yourself?\"\"I\ncan't leave the plot hole, Blueblood,\" Starswirl explained. \"If I\nleave, I'll be reduced back to nothing more then a pile of ashes in an\nurn. If I want to stay alive, I have to stay here... forever.\"Blueblood felt sorry for Starswirl, but he kept his mind on the situation at hoof. \"But I can leave?\"\"You can leave this place whenever you want, Blueblood.\"That\nwas a big relief to Blueblood. He had been worried he was stuck in this\nplace. \"Okay, then tell me how to stop the plot hole!\"\"Patience,\nmy boy,\" said Starswirl. \"If you're going to save the universe, then I\nhave more to teach you then just that. There is much you need to know.\"\"But there's no time!\" Blueblood protested. \"My friends are in danger NOW!\"\"Actually,\nwe have all the time we could ever need,\" Starswirl said with a\nchuckle. \"Like I said, time has no meaning in this place, because it\nexists outside of our universe. We could spend what might seem like an\nhour in here talking, but out there, it is literally whatever time we\nwant it to be. You can chose to leave this place and go wherever and\nwhenever you want.\"\"Wow!\" said Blueblood, amazed by this information.\"Sit,\" Starswirl said, motioning for Blueblood to sit down.Starswirl and Blueblood both sat down on their haunches beside each other.\"Blueblood, you came in here because I told you your destiny was in here, didn't you?\" Starswirl asked.\"Yes,\" Blueblood nodded. \"But also because I thought my destiny was to stop the plot hole.\"\"Well\nthere is something you need to know,\" Starswirl said. \"A truth that so\nmany ponies don't realize. You see... there is no such thing as destiny.\"Blueblood stared at Starswirl in shock. \"No destiny!?\" Starswirl\nshook his head. \"No. There cannot be. If there were, and the future was\nalready set in stone, then there would be no free will in the world.\nBut all living creatures have free will, so there for, things like\ndestiny cannot exist. Many try to fool themselves into believing that\nthey are meant for something to try to make themselves feel better about\nthemselves, that there is predetermined plan for them, but it is a lie.\nNone of us are meant to do anything. We are born, we live, and\nthen we die, and during that time we make the best choices we can. When\nyou and your friends saved the world from Queen Chrysalis and King\nSombra, you didn't do it because you were destined to. You did it because you chose\nto of your own free will, just as the Element Bearers were not destined\nto become the Element Bearers. They became them because they made the\nchoice to go and find the Elements of Harmony that night when Nightmare\nMoon returned. You see, great ponies are not chosen. Great ponies are the ones who make the choice. And that is an encouraging fact, Blueblood.\"\"It is?\" asked Blueblood, still shocked at what Starswirl was telling him. How could not being destined for anything special be an encouraging fact?\"Yes,\"\ncontinued Starswirl, \"because it means that it doesn't matter who you\nare, it doesn't mater if you're rich or poor, or have great magic or\nnone, or have wings, or horn, or neither, or both, or have a royal title\nor are a commoner, or even what species you are. None of that matters!\nAll that maters is what we as individuals choose to do with our lives.\nIf you put your mind to it, and work hard at something, and don't give\nup, you can accomplish anything you want in life.\"\"But what about cutiemarks?\" asked Blueblood, glancing down at his own compass rose cutiemark on his flank.\"Ah,\nyes. Cutiemarks,\" Starswirl said with a nod. \"Well, Blueblood, you see...\njust like power levels in the anime series 'Dragonball Z', cutiemarks\nare bullshit!\"Blueblood was surprised to hear profanity come from Starswirl the Bearded.Starswirl\ncontinued talking. \"No mark on your flank can tell you your\nlimitations, or what to do with your life! The only one who can decide\nthat is yourself. Everypony has the potential to do whatever they want\nwith their life! All they have to do is put their minds to it, and work\nhard at it, and any pony can accomplish anything! Cutiemarks came about\nlong ago simply to show a pony's natural special talent or personality\ntrait that they had, in order to show ponies that there was something\nspecial about them, but then the plot hole began changing things, and\nponies forgot the cutiemark's true purpose. Now, instead of thinking for\nthemselves, ponies rely purely on their cutiemarks to tell them what to\ndo with their lives, believing that the mark is their destiny, and has\ntotal control of them and their lives. It's dreadful!\"\"But what does any of this have to do with stopping\nthe plot hole?\" asked Blueblood impatiently. As interesting as he found\nwhat Starswirl was telling him, he just didn't feel like it was helping\nhim stop the plot hole from destroying the universe.Starswirl\nlooked annoyed that he had been interrupted, but he spoke calmly.\n\"Blueblood, if you want to save the universe, then you have to\nunderstand what I'm trying to teach you. Only if you understand these\nthings will you be able to know how to save the universe from the plot\nhole, as well as prevent this catastrophe from ever happening again.\"Blueblood let out a sigh of impatiens, but nodded and allowed Starswirl to continue.Starswirl\ngrinned. \"I'm going to tell you a secret, Blueblood. A secret I've been\nkeeping my entire life. My cutiemark that I've been showing off for all\nthese years... Its fake.\"Blueblood was shocked. \"Fake?\"Starswirl stood up on all fours. \"Here is my true\ncutiemark that I have been concealing my whole life.\" He lifted his\ncloak up so that Blueblood could see his flank. Blueblood looked at it\nclosely, seeing, to his surprise, the image of a pair of barber's\nscissors and a comb.\"\"Barber's scissors and a comb?\" Blueblood asked.Starswirl\nnodded. \"I remember the day I got my cutiemark, back when I was just a\nlittle colt. Mane and tail styling was my special talent. And I was very\ngood at it too. The only problem was it wasn't what I wanted to do with\nmy life. I wanted to study magic. I didn't care if it wasn't my special\ntalent or my destiny. I wanted to dedicate my life to magic and become a\ngreat sorcerer. But I new my parents and teachers would never give me\nthe chance when they saw my cutiemark wasn't magic related. So... before\nanypony noticed my cutiemark, I covered it up with a fake one, and\ncontinued to do so for the rest of my life. It wasn't easy, but it\nfooled ponies, and I was granted the chance to study magic with\nprofessional teachers. As you can imagine, my schooling wasn't easy,\nsince I wasn't truly naturally talented at magic like my fellow\nclassmates, but I worked hard, and never gave up. And it paid off. It\ntook me many decades, but I eventually became one of the most skilled\nponies in magic that ever lived. I defied my so-called 'destiny',\nBlueblood, and I don't regret it for one second.\"Blueblood gaped at Starswirl in utter amazement. He could hardly believe what he had just heard. Starswirl the Bearded had not been naturally gifted with magic. He had defied his cutiemark, and it had actually paid off for him. This meant so many things in their history books were false!However, something was still bothering Blueblood.\"But Starswirl, if we're all just characters in a story, like you said, then doesn't that mean we don't really have free will at all? That everything we do and say is being controlled by the writers?\"Starswirl\nsmiled at him. \"Well... yes and no. Listen closely, Blueblood, because\nwhat I'm about to tell you is very important. It is true, we are\ncharacters in a story, and everything that happens in that story is\nwritten by the writer, but... in truly good stories, the writers are not\nsupposed to just write whatever they want. It is the writer's job to\nlisten to the characters in the story, and then write the characters the\nway the characters tell the writer to write them. For you see, in a\ngood story, characters truly do take on a life of their own. Even\nfictional characters, like us. Just because we're fictional doesn't\nmean we aren't alive. The characters and the writer form a sort of\nsymbiotic relationship. We need them to write us so that we exist, and\nthey need us to tell them what to write. The writer's job is to write a\nfictional story exactly like it might actually happen as if it were\nreal, with sense and logic. That way the suspension of disbelief can be\nmaintained. Only if the suspension of disbelief is maintained can a\nfictional universe, and all the characters in it, exist. But without\nsense and logic, plot holes will be created, and will destroy our\nuniverse, and all of us with it, and we will all cease to exist. So you\nsee, we are supposed to be written... with the freedom to choose our lives\nfor ourselves. Do you understand?\"\"I\nthink so,\" said Blueblood, nodding as his brain processed everything\nStarswirl had told him. It was all so complicated, but incredible. These\nbeings called writers, who existed in another realm, made entire\nuniverses and characters! But at the same time, they needed the\ncharacters just as much as the characters needed them, because the\nwriters wrote what the characters told them to write in order to make\nthe story the best they could.But he still didn't understand how any of this would help him stop the plot hole from destroying the universe.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791825-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-16-the-battle-part-1.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/791829-to-boldly-hoof-it-ch-18-the-battle-part-3.json"}