//------------------------------// // Alright. // Story: Tremors // by Crimson_Lance //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie is a headache in the minds of physicists everywhere; time and time again she has defied the laws of reality. It is said that her powers, while whimsical in the nature of its control, is the only chaotic force to equal Discord's. Once more, she reached a hoof into her hammerspace and obtained a force to be reckoned with. Steam pistons pounding, she rushed the on-coming sphere. The mass of locomotive machinery not only knocks trees down, but splinters the trunks. ----- You begin to slow before the machine's rush. Looking closer at it brings a smirk you to your face. "Grab me, come on, grab me." The pink steam golem slammed into the ball, knocking it back towards town and the advancing town guard, along with the other Aspects of Harmony. Pinkie then aims its right arm and fires it off at the ball, whilst charging her left arm for another piston-boosted punch. Pre-empting Pinkie's pop-up, you begin to spin up once more to slam into the Party Mecha. The impact interrupts the punch and stuns Pinkie. Next, you begin to focus your strength into the earth, causing fissures to ripple from where you stand. This succeeds in rattling the pink powerhouse's suit to pieces and ensuring your escape. One cerise mare, shaken, not stirred, crawled out from the pile of smoldering scrap metal. "Quit feeding, fatty." ----- "This isn't over, Rammus!" Pinkie shook her hoof angrily at the speeding armor-dillo. Her reinforcements finally caught up and looked over the battle site. "Pinkie! Are you alright?!" Twilight immediately began to scrutinize her being with several kinds of medical scanning spells. Everything seemed fine, but there was a familiar, sad, yet unsettling glint in the party mare's eyes. Moreover, her mane was long and straight. "Twilight... am I fat?" ----- Zecora had finally finished restocking her supplies in her hut. It had been a long going; it took her a good week to restock her supplies after Discord had played little "pranks" on anyone in and around Ponyville, including animals and beasts in the Everfree. "Pleased that I am done with my work, I cannot help think that somewhere nearby, ill tidings lurk." As if the universe itself was listening in like a mean kid on a sunny day with a magnifying glass, the earth trembled and the air rumbled. Zecora, knocked off balance, tumbled into a hollow tree. Cursing in her native tongues, she poked her head out of the hole of the tree, only to quickly tuck it back in to avoid losing it to the rampaging lavender sphere rolling through the Everfree. After the dust cleared, she beheld its devastation; torn up earth and roots, split trunks, pulverized rocks, and fragments of cart from the marketplace, along with some of the well-pressed goods on them. “Of all the absurdities I have seen today, I believe my sanity is slipping away!” ----- Princess Luna, the warden of dreams, is actually incapable of dreaming herself. This is due to her affinity with dream-walking and her role as princess of the night; that being said, her sleep schedule was practically the inverse of everypony else. But this day, she could not find sleep; she could swear she had seen those tracks at the ruins before. She couldn’t quite put a hoof on where exactly. All she could recall is that it was in- how did ponies say –a video game. And one she played quite recently at that. Suddenly, to pull her from her line of thought, there was a puff of green flames and a scroll that materialized out from the fireball. Dear Princess Luna, Ponyville was just leveled by a strange, taciturn creature. It still rampages in the Everfree Forest. Please help! -Twilight Sparkle With no further delay, Luna took off into her jeweled night, winging to the ruin that was Ponyville. ----- Somewhere deep in this jungle, you come to a complete stop; your pursuers seemed to have lost you. You come out of your protective curl and attempt to leave the lavender barrier, only to find that, like before, the ball only gets rolling and runs over yet another tree. You could try to quake your way out, but you’re quite frankly exhausted. You sit still and think. “… so. This ball…” You poke the walls of your arcane prison with an inquisitive claw. It makes a sound not-unlike glass, but there was a low humming of electricity. “Well snap my spikes and split my shell. I’m trapped.” You see very few possibilities to escape your vehicle of unexpected salvation. There’s little more to do than curl up and sleep on. However, before you could even get count the first sheep, your ball is blasted with a beam of silver and cobalt light. ----- Luna couldn’t be angrier at what she saw in Ponyville; there was wreckage everywhere, from the hills of rubble from crews of rescuers to the cracked, sundered earth beneath her hooves just about everywhere in town. There were wounded ponies everywhere, but thankfully without any casualties. Worst of all, however, was the ruins of one certain bakery in this hamlet; the little known bakery known as Insomiacs’ Indulgence was famed for the Moon Pie, invented about 20 years before her return from the moon and also her favored dessert, was flattened, much like one of its higher-end Ger-mane chocolate crepes, complete with powdered sugar coating the ruin. “WE SHALL NOT HAVE THIS WANTON DESTRUCTION!” She boomed. Her eyes began to glow with the light of her namesake. “THIS CREATURE SHALL BE BANISHED FOR ITS CRIMES!” “... against our MOON PIES!” She took off like a lightning bolt towards the forest, following the path of smashed foliage and torn trees. Soon enough, she saw a curious purple orb ahead. She cloaked herself in the shadows and had a closer look. Stalking from shade to shade, she glimpsed at the orb and its inhabitant; it leered with its red eyes briefly, but not at her. It was merely scanning its surroundings, but had not seen the moon goddess. It curled into a ball. Normally, she’d find the creature’s habit to be quite adorable, but in this case, she had some come-uppance to deliver. “Hold still…” She fires up her horn… ----- Twilight winced at the sudden rumbling in her skull, specifically from the root of her horn. Unfortunately, the subsequent forming, reinforcing, containing, and stasis spells had exhausted her immediate magic reserves. As a result, she hung back in what was left of Sugarcube Corner along with her friends to recover. Spike was sent off by Twilight to aid Mayor Mare in recording the damages. “Twi, are ya OK there? Ya looked like somepony jabbed ya with needle.” Rarity looked about the floating needle in her magical grips. She blushed and levitated them back into their cushion. “I’m fine, Applejack.” The farmer shot her a flat look. “Element of Honesty. Ah can tell you’re lyin’. ” Before she could retort with a recollection of the farmer’s stubbornness that one harvest season, there was a large cloud that mushroomed out and over the canopy of the Everfree. Simultaneously, Twilight yelped with pain, and the earth beneath them trembled, shuddered, and then rocked Ponyville to its foundations. ----- Elsewhere, the insurance agent of Ponyville scrambled out from her desk and proceeded to flip said desk as she stormed out, muttering about moving to Appleloosa.