It all had begun, Celestia thought to herself, with something insignificant - one of the Royal Guards had spelled a word incorrectly. But that was all it took. One wrong word was the beginning of a pandemonium on a massive scale.
Earlier
"...so I said, 'That's alot-"
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All of a sudden, the guard in question was sitting astride a big, shaggy beast - a single short, stubby fang was protruding from its lower jaw, a pair of short horns adorned its head, its gaze quite vacant.
Deathly silence ensued as everypony present in the barracks stared at the guard and his mount. Warily, one stallion spoke up.
"Uh... how does saying 'that's alot' make th-"
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The second guard found himself atop a similar beast. Silence ensued again. Until somepony else spoke up, that is.
"Alot."
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The mare who'd spoken blinked, mildly dazed as she surveyed the mess hall from her new vantage point.
"Alot."
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Yet another pony was astride a shaggy mount of his.
"Alot." plorf
"Alot." plorf
"Alot." plorf
Encouraged by the animals' overall lack of hostility, or lack of any reactions whatsoever, other guards repeated the word, more and more of the furry creatures popping into existence. Soon, there was a considerable lack of space in the mess hall, and they filed outside, the beasts obedient, if a little dim. The news were spread, and the word echoed in the halls of the Canterlot Castle, spoken by all but a few of the guards, who unitedly agreed the rest of their comrades had gone insane.
Celestia hummed to herself as she cantered down the hallway at a leisurely pace, her body warmed in the rays of the morning sun. Another day was beginning, and she was confident and ready, looking forwards to dealing with the Day Court for a change.
And then she was bowled over by something big and soft that sent her cartwheeling.
"Sorry for that, Princess~!" A guard shouted apologetically at her, clinging to the beast's back as the odd duo disappeared around a corner, soon followed by an entire dozen of the things, thumping along, following the first guard's path. The alabaster alicorn stared dumbly before resolutely standing back up.
No. This day was going to be perfect. She would show the nobles what-for when they came to brown-nose. And if they didn't like it, meritocracy awaited. She was going to an independent black mare who don't need no stallion!
Wait, what?
The diarch's smile faltered for a moment once she saw the two guards stationed outside the throne room doors - both were sitting astride a shaggy mount. Upon seeing her, they pulled the doors open. Nodding faintly to the two, she strode in, unnerved by the animals' unfocused eyes. It was just so friggin' creepy.
Refocusing on the task ahead, she continued towards her throne, but nearly ground to a halt upon seeing that the guards watching over the spacious room were also astride the very same animals, each and every one of them. Sighing determinedly, she sat down upon her throne, smiling at her assistant, Ink Well. The mare was in a chipper mood as she passed a small stack of papers to the alicorn.
"Here's that today's list of visitors, Princess."
"The usual mix of fetlock-biters, I presume?"
"Snerk. Exactly, Princess, though some of the requests on the list seem reasonable, so it may not be all headache today."
The alicorn stared at the mounted guards for a moment before sighing. "Here's hoping."
Celestia trudged wearily into her bedroom, her willpower utterly drained from the day's events.
Whenever the throne room's doors were opened to let the petitioner in, a horde of the shaggy beasts would lumber past with their riders atop them, throwing pastries at each other. As she later found out, Canterlotians had also began to utter the word, and Equestria's capital soon was positively bursting with the godsdamned things, with the creatures and their riders stampeding all across the city. They'd been named Alots, referring to the word used to summon the creatures. And now, Canterlot was falling apart at the seams as order gave way to anarchy.
Exasperated, she grumbled to herself. "How does even that work? What sort of a spell uses 'alot' as its key ph-oh, for the love of-"
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