Twilight Sparkle was in a Pickle. She didn’t know why Pinkie Pie had named the chariot that, and had decided that she didn’t want to know. There were more pressing matters on her mind, such as the stolen Tunnel Jet she and her friends were pursuing through the sky.
The aircraft was the best product of science and magic that ponykind had ever produced. Built by Canterlot Aeronautical Laboratories, it was the perfect prototype to perform advanced scientific study. And then somepony had to go and steal it.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy pulled the chariot in pursuit of the stolen jet. Unfortunately, despite being the fastest pegasus in Equestria, the extra weight slowed Rainbow down. The chariot was pretty heavy, too.
“We’re never going to catch up at this rate!” Applejack shouted, bracing her hat as she stared ahead at the jet pulling away from them.
“We can’t give up!” Rarity reminded her. “That is a very important piece of technology that we have to recover!’
The jet kept pulling away, however. A cone of magic and compressed atmosphere began to form around its nose. The sky ahead seemed to shimmer and then the Tunnel Jet did just as its name suggested and punched a tunnel through reality.
“Not the fabric of the universe!” Twilight shrieked. “We just got that stitched back up!”
But her cries were in vain. The jet escaped through the wormhole that it had just torn open.
“So, do we follow it or what?” Rainbow called from her place at the front of the chariot.
“I don’t think…” wheezed Fluttershy.
Twilight’s jaw tightened. If they didn’t keep up their pursuit, the jet might be lost forever. “No choice. We’re going after it.”
Meanwhile, on a small island called Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Maverick and Goose were sprinting for their Tomcat.
Proper safety precautions and following checklists were important, but responding as quickly as possible to a potential attack shoved that aside.
The refueling truck was parked by the F-14, refilling the tanks when the two of them ran up.
“Get that out of here!” shouted Maverick, waving his arms wildly at the fuel guy. He and Goose scrambled aboard the jet. Goose kicked the ladder away and jumped in the backseat.
The gang arrived just in time to see the engines spin up. The canopy was already down and Maverick released the brakes.
The scream of two afterburning jet engines was enough to make everyone seek shelter in a ditch beside the runway. The Tomcat turned onto the pavement and accelerated into a takeoff roll.
Meanwhile, the strange new jet that was potentially from another dimension was getting closer, still pursued by the chariot.
Fred, watching the F-14 race for the other end of the runway, directly towards the oncoming unknown aircraft, exclaimed, “They’re going to crash!”
However, Maverick hauled the control stick back at just the right moment and the Tomcat leaped into the air, barely passing over the otherworldly airplane. The chariot was not so lucky and was knocked for a loop in the jetwash.
The F-14’s wings were still spread for takeoff and it instantly leaned into a turn as Maverick pulled around to give chase to the mysterious jet.
“It’s heading straight down the runway,” Goose reported. “Bring the nose around and let me get the radar on it.”
Maverick complied, shoving the throttles forward as the Tomcat came around. The other jet was accelerating, but there were very few things that could outrun an F-14.
The first thing Maverick noticed about the foreign jet was that it was fuschia and made of a lot of soft shapes. It looked like a little girl had designed it. The second thing he noticed was that there seemed to be a pony inside it.
Of course, he observed this by flying upside down directly above the other plane. If there was another way to do an intercept, he and Goose didn’t know it.
“So, what do we do now?” Goose asked. “I mean, I feel like a dog that caught a car. What are we supposed to do with this thing?”
“We politely ask him to land,” Maverick decided. He shrugged inside his flight harness as he hung upside down. “And if he doesn’t, we put a missile in him. Simple.”
Meanwhile, the girls should have had things so easy.
Unused to flying over pavement baking in the tropical sun, Rainbow and Fluttershy struggled, losing lift in the hot air and making an involuntary dive for the runway. The Pickle and the ponies made a crash landing, tumbling across the pavement and landing in a heap.
The gang were the first ones on the scene. They all stopped a short distance away, staring with apprehension at the dazed ponies picking themselves up from the ruins of the chariot.
Shaggy started to speak, but then shook his head. “Nope. This isn’t happening.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure that I’m not under the influence of anything,” said Daphne. “And I’m also pretty sure those are miniature horses in technicolor.”
“While I can’t see what any of you are talking about,” said Velma, “I think we should send Scooby to check it out.”
“Nuh uh!” Scooby disagreed, sitting on his haunches with his paws crossed.
“You have keener senses and you're more alert to danger,” reminded Velma, putting her hands on her hips and squinting the wrong direction. “Plus you’re faster at running away. You’re the best qualified to investigate, uh, miniature horses in technicolor.”
“Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?” Fred asked.
Scooby considered it, glancing at the small, colorful ponies still picking themselves up from the crash. “Reah, okay.”
Fred gave him the treat. Scooby reacted as he tended to do, and once he calmed down, went to take a look.
Sniffing as he got closer, Scooby stopped just a few feet from the wreck. There was something pink sticking out from under the ruined chariot. It looked somewhat like cotton candy. However, before Scooby could take an exploratory bite, the fluff vanished, replaced by the thing that was apparently on the other end of it.
“Hi!” said the thing. “I’m Pinkie Pie!”
Scooby frowned in confusion and sniffed her.
She screwed up her face and sniffed right back at him. “Do I smell Scooby Snacks?”