The time for ponies of Equestria to hit other ponies over the head with blunt objects has come.
The Great Equestrian Foam Sword Fight is a fabled event that happens once every fifty years. To win the event, one must incapacitate another pony using the most dangerous weapon known to pony-kind.
The foam sword.
The winner of the event is also said to win untold riches that nopony knows about. With everypony trying to win those riches, the strongest bonds will shatter, the dirtiest of tricks will be played and all bets are off. After all, there can only be one winner.
It is also one of the few times were a pony can legally knock out another pony using a piece of foam.
Tagged other due to fimficiton only allowing 5 characters.
It was like any other day in Ponyville, the sun was shining, the water sparkling, and Ponyville was preparing for an Equestrian-wide civil war. A civil war of epic proportions involving the most painful weapon developed by ponykind, the foam sword. The weapon of mythical proportions could drop a grown stallion in a couple of deadly, and blunt, hits.
It was a great entertainment breakthrough when the sun goddess decided to found the event in 605 A.B. Said event only happens once every 50 years, few ponies ever experience two events in their life. Ever since then, seven events of epic proportion had occurred, with each a winner of unknown riches.
The winners were completely different from each other, all of them were from different background.
The first one was the very own Princess Celestia, who used her magic to wield hundreds of the blunt weapon and decimate the competition.
The second was a frail unicorn, who used magical runes to trick ponies of all kind into forfeiting the prize.
The third was an unknown peagusus, who had used stealth and precision to silently take out the targets presented.
The fourth winner was a trottingham unicorn, who had used mirrors to fool competitors before pummeling them with a rain of foam swords.
The fifth winner was a peagasus filly from Cloudsdale, who had managed to engineer a cloud that can rain foam swords.
The sixth winner was an earth pony who had managed win by not attacking anyone. No one knows how said pony won, the only response given from the pony was 'magic'.
And the latest winner was an earth pony from the city, who had bought a large portion of the foam sword business. With a large portion gone, the pony was able to cripple competitors by refusing to sell the weapon.
When confronted about the prizes, each responded it was glorious, and it was to be kept a secret. It is said that the prize is worth all of the blunt hits the foam sword can give and more.
To this day, nopony knows what the fabled prize could be. With the latest event nearing the corner, all ponies around Equestria were preparing for the legendary event. Friends would become enemies; the strongest of bonds would be tested.
There could only be one winner in this event, and everypony was furiously trying to get it. All rules are off, one can use any means necessary to knock out the competition.
This, ladies and gentlecolts, is the great Equestian foam sword fight.
-
"Alright, ponies. As you all know, the great Equestrian foam sword fight is nearing. Many of you have prepared for this, stockpiling all kinds of foam swords for this event," said Mayor Mare, before continuing on with the rules. "At noon, the event will begin. The competition will continue for a whole week, and anypony that does not wish to fight should leave to the nearest sanctuary. Most of the other rules are the same, once you yield to your attacker you must yell the safe word. If you are not being attacked, but get tricked into saying the safe word, you are still disqualified. The only other rule is to be careful with the foals participating in this event, a simple tap to any part of their body will eliminate them. There are no other rules, so one is able to do anything that comes to mind. The event shall begin all over Equestria in about two hours, so please make the final preparations or head to the nearest competition sanctuary if you do not wish to fight. Also, the safety word is banana."
With the speech finished, ponies set about figuring out what to do. Many went off to prepare for the competition, while few headed to the sanctuary. The six holders of harmony also set about putting the final touches on each of their own master plans. Pinkie trotted to Sugarcube corner, saying something about stuffing foam into a cannon and firing it at ponies. To the surprise of her friends, Fluttershy had also joined the competition, and was making her way to her comfy abode. Rarity was mumbling to herself about gem encrusted foam swords, pondering about the damage they could cause. Applejack was wondering if she could buck swords at ponies. Rainbow was buzzing about, dreaming how awesome the prize would be. Finally, Twilight sat in her library, gathering the knowledge of the ancients. She was doing what she did best.
Reading books.
Time ticked by as the elements set about tinkering with their plans, all of them preparing the best they could. Minutes transformed into hours, and before anypony knew it, the time for the competition had arrived. A loudspeaker blared out a countdown, signaling one minute until the event would start. Ponies hid in their homes, putting the final touches on their plans. Others set about donning armor to protect against the foamy blows from opponents. At the twenty-second countdown, ponies of all kind charged out of their homes. Most of them were prepared for the firefight that would ensue. Few smart ponies sat in their homes, waiting to pick off stragglers after the main fight.
Ten-seconds to countdown, most ponies were outside, glaring at their competitors with malice. With the timer still ticking, ponies had equipped their foam weapons. Five seconds on the clock, the mass began taking a fighting stance, their muscles tensing. The final second were filled with anxiety, as ponies of all kind glared at each other, intent on wining the fabled prize.
Once the timer hit zero, the crowd exploded into action. Foam flew through the air, loud thuds and the sound of objects hitting flesh resounded through the town. Screams of pain and ponies yelling 'banana' filled the air. The great event had begun, and would continue until a single week had passed.
The time for ponies to legally hit other ponies over the head with blunt objects had begun, and said time would be utilized to its fullest extent.
Twilight stared out from her tree abode, looking out to the ponies mindlessly bludgeoning another with a variety of foam. With a smile on her face, she headed to the innards of the tree. Twilight was searching for the objects and saddlebags she would need to venture out into the harsh open environment called Ponyville. With a checklist at the ready, she set about gathering the things she would need.
First on her list, she gathered a spare pair of striped lavender socks in case she got cold.
Next was some suitable reading material. With a fruitless search for a book in her library she had yet to read, she decided that ‘An eggheads guide to pick-up lines’ should do. What could possible go wrong with reading a simple book?
The third step being absolutely essential, Twilight required the newest invention to grace Equestria. A technological advancement that allows two ponies to converse using a hybrid of magical and scientific power.
The walkie talkie.
After searching and finding the magical contraption, she returned to her checklist. To complement the already dangerous package, she ended up bringing twelve foam swords lined with a variety of chemicals that could cause permanent damage or other unknown effects. She quickly stuffed most of the items into her spacious saddlebags, being forced to carry two swords in her magical field. A pony must always have these things available, no matter the situation. One would never know when they would need to force dangerous chemicals into another pony’s body.
With her checklist of destruction ready, she headed upstairs to inform a sleeping spike he had the day off; to which Spike responded with a half-hearted cheer as he dozed off again. Satisfied with the response, she headed to the one thing protecting her from a foam beating. She stared at the wooded door, a gateway that separated her from a foamy defeat.
Twilight and her friends had planned to group together for the most part of the competition to ensure that one of them would win the fabled prize. With plans set, the group decided that once the competition started that they would meet up at the park to discuss strategies.
With a sigh, she opened the doorway and was greeted with sunshine. The beautiful sun radiated a feeling of safety, a safety that was quickly shattered by a foamy smack to the studious unicorn's face.
-({Pinkie Pie's room} 1:05 P.M)-
Pinkie was bouncing around the room, an unknown energy source fueling her every move. With every bounce, an audible ‘sproing’ resonated throughout the room. This is how she would usually plan things, quite literally bouncing ideas off a wall. With each bounce, a new idea came to the pink pony’s mind. With each idea came a variety of new scenarios, and how to get the desired result. To a common pony, the way Pinkie brainstormed would likely result in severe head trauma. Pinkie knew it was not the case, seeing how the cakes demanded a psychiatrist to evaluate her sanity. Sure, she had a few disorders, the major one being multi personality disorder, but that does not mean she was unfit to work for the cakes. Besides, she was great with foals.
Having finished her daily brainstorming session, she begun to do the one thing ponies would never imagine her to. An act so out of nature, one would think that Discord had returned. She was organizing the things she would need for the foam filled adventure. With a small, yet needed checklist, the pink party pony pranced thought her pink room.
With a quick look at her rather clean room, she decided that a checklist would make things dull and boring. With that notion in her mind, she quickly threw away said checklist and gathered her saddlebags. Next, she closed her eyes and set about stuffing anything she could into her bags. A flurry of a variety of objects flew around the room, each of them finding their mark in the safety of the bright pink saddlebags.
After a few minutes of throwing, she opened her eyes and quickly closed the saddlebags. Now it would even be a surprise for her should she open them. With a twitch of her tail, she turned to look up, only to be met with a face full of green scales.
With Gummy on her head, the idea of leaving her pet alligator suddenly dawned on her. Would she leave her poor scaly pet behind? Pinkie stared at the unblinking gator, before it suddenly blinked once at her. With the persuasion the gator had just given, she quickly grabbed its green body and placed him on her back.
Having finished her haphazardly thrown together checklist, she began to trot to the door with her green pet behind her. With a smile on her face, she stared at the wooden door. The wooden door was the one thing protecting Ponyville from the pink menace raining down foamy destruction.
With a grin still adorning her face, she stepped out and was greeted with the sounds of foam hitting objects. Pinkie looked around, only to see Twilight stepping out of her library. With an idea forming in her head, she shoved a hoof into her saddlebag and pulled out a foam sword that should have not fit in said saddlebag. Satisfied with the result, she quickly looked back to Twilight, only to see her relaxing with both eyes closed in the warm sunny day.
Pinkie quietly approached the relaxed mare, careful not to make a single sound. A few paces away from the lavender pony, Pinkie stopped moving. She craned her neck back to secure Gummy, before suddenly jumping on Twilight. Said foamy hit caused a yelp to spew from the unicorn’s muzzle, effectively dazing her.
-({Ponyville streets} 1:24 P.M)-
Twilight looked up to her attacker, only to find a mesh of pink that wore a smile staring back at the purple pony. With a small yelp of surprise, she quickly got to her feet and glared at the party pony.
"Pinkie! What the hay!?" She screamed at her pink attacker.
The pastel pink party pony only kept on staring at Twilight, who only grew more annoyed, before responding to the lavender pony's question. "Well, I wanted to drop in and say hi!" Pinkie said, emphasizing the word 'drop'.
"By hitting me in the face with a foam sword?" Twilight deadpanned.
"That was actually Gummy's idea. He is very convincing when he wants to do something." She finished off by turning around, revealing the green alligator. Said reptile only blinked when confronted with the unicorn. Twilight only glared at the alligator, before continuing her conversation with Pinkie with a sigh.
"Anyways, are you ready to go to the meeting place?" She questioned the pink pony.
With a unsettling casual response, Pinkie responded. "I have no idea! I closed my eyes, and stuffed anything I could into these babies!" She finished by motioning to her saddlebags, before continuing. "That way, it will even be a surprise for me when I open them."
Once again, another sigh escaped the unicorn’s muzzle. "Pinkie, why would you do that?" A tone of annoyance visible on Twilight’s voice.
"Well, Gummy told me to!" Realizing that she was getting nowhere with the pink pony's answers, Twilight gave up the argument and instead decided to head towards the designated meeting point with a sudden loathing for a green alligator.
-({Ponyville park} 1:34 P.M)-
As Twilight and Pinkie made their way to the park, they both began to notice the eerie silence. The sounds that littered Ponyville had all but disappeared, as if all the fighting had stopped. The occasional thudding sound of foam hitting flesh had disappeared, as well as the voices and screams of 'banana'. Soon, the only sound to be heard was the dull hoof steps between Twilight and Pinkie. The eerie silence did not go unnoticed, as Twilight's ears perked up.
“Well, what do you mean by that silly? I don’t hear anything!” Pinkie blabbed, not caring at all about privacy. With a motion to be quiet from Twilight, they both began to pay attention to their surroundings. Both of their ears were met with a deadly silence, the only sound being made were the natural sounds of the area they occupied.
“That’s the problem Pinkie, there is no sound. Where did the other ponies go? Why did the sound of fighting disappear?” A tone of worry soon overtook the one of curiosity for the lavender mare. “Hurry up Pinkie, we need to get to the meeting area. I worry something has happened…”
With the words leaving the unicorn’s muzzle, she and her pink companion quickly sped off to the one spot all six friends decided to meet at. The closer to the hill at the center of the park they got, the more prominent a low sound of fighting became. Soft foamy smacks soon became hard hitting hits as they approached the hill. The known sound of fighting soon filled the air, as a crowd of ponies had congregated at the top of the hill, fighting an unknown enemy. Screams of bananas filled the air as the bright blur that was a pony continued to drop her targets, wielding small foam weapons. With each pony the mysterious blur managed to defeat, more ponies took their place.
To the side of the crowd, Rarity was fending for herself. A pony could clearly see she was struggling to hold off the mass of ponies slowly making their way to the marshmallow colored mare. With small, yet precise hits, she was ever-so-slowly managing to defeat pony after pony.
Both Twilight and Pinkie stared at the scene before them, before the blur that bounced around the depths of the crowd made a bee-line for the duo. With a hard collision, both ponies looked up to their attacker, only to be shocked at who it was.
As Fluttershy stared out of her cottage window, she was formulating an action plan. A plan that would ensure her friends chances of winning the fabled prize. She could care less for the prize, she already had the one thing a pony would always need. She had the best friends in the world, and nothing could take them away.
For a reason unknown to her friends, the butter yellow pegasus called Fluttershy had decided to compete in the upcoming foam sword fight. There were a few reasons for the shy mare to compete, one of them being that ponies should not underestimate her. All of her friends thought that Fluttershy would never cause harm to anything with a pulse, being the element of kindness and whatnot. What her friends did not know was that Fluttershy had a PhD. A PhD that Twilight could never hope of achieving.
Fluttershy had a PhD in being adorable.
That, and another PhD in magical engineering. It was commonly thought that only unicorns could cast magic with their horns. What was more uncommonly known was that pegasus wings could act as basic magical batteries. How she found that out and how she achieved her degree is a story for another time.
With both degrees, Fluttershy had secretly prepared for the upcoming battle. Instead of harvesting foam like her competitors, she had begun research on how to synthesize the foamy structure from raw materials. From dirt to rocks, metals of all kinds, she had found a way to synthesize foam using a mesh of technology, science, a carrot, raw energy, and friendship.
Fluttershy had made the one thing that could provide her friends with anything they may need on the go. Using a combination of engineering and a mirror, she ever so slowly created the thing that would assist her friends in winning the prize. It was a marvel of scientific and magical power, capable of running solely of friendship.
She quickly thought over the best plan of action, before retreating into the one place no one would ever look. Fluttershy quietly retreated into the shed outside her home, hidden by the comfy abode called her cottage. Inside the shed, her base of operations sat.
With a quick unlocking of the various locks hiding the innards of the shed, Fluttershy stared into the one thing she had created. The shed itself just stored basic lab equipment ranging from a simple microscope to advanced machinery that lined the walls. This was the one place no one, except Angel, knew about; more importantly, the one place not a single pony would ever look.
With a flick of a hoof, she hit a small lever. The machinery inside the shed began to rumble to life, slowly getting louder and louder. Gears and cogs came to life, eager to fulfill their purpose. In the midst of it all, a lone contraption lay. Nothing coursed through its machinery, as it lay motionless and oblivious to the world around it.
It was also the project Fluttershy had been working on. With it veering on the edge of completion, the chances of one of her friends winning would double. Bearing no unknown circumstance, it would also be nearly indestructible. The contraption in question was made of three different types of metallic alloy, making it able to shrug off most foamy attacks.
The innards of the machine were unique as well, being composed of cables and whatnot. The one thing that made it special was the on-board wireless controller. It allowed Fluttershy to control the machinery and receive audio and video input to another piece of machinery, a virtual reality helmet.
With those machines at the ready, she trotted to the contraption. On the back of its neck, a single shiny red button stood proudly. With the hit of said button, the machine slowly came to life. The batteries holding a magical charge slowly began to drain, sending energy through the cables and metal in the machine. Visible sparks began to arc through its yellow frame, its vibrant green-blue eyes slowly blinked to life. With a sudden twitch from the machine, its butter yellow limbs rose and began to support the weight of their owner.
At full power, the creature was an exact replica of the pegasus called Fluttershy. That is, if you ignore the occasional puff of steam and the soft rumbling of machinery emanating from its frame. And the vibrant glowing eyes. Don’t forget the fact that the machine’s entire framework slowly shook, and the occasional arc of energy that appeared. And that it was made from a relatively shiny metal.
Other than that, it was a perfect replica of our favorite butter yellow pegasus.
With the replica powered, it awaited its owner to begin controlling it. Not wanting to keep the object waiting, Fluttershy quickly trotted up to its control center. It had very basic controls, just equip the stylish robot helmet and one could easily control the machinery with a mere thought. With the helm at hoof, she slowly placed the object on top of her head. The helm took a quite considerable amount of space, blocking her field of view and encasing her vision in darkness.
With a soft and short frizzle of energy, a voluminous amount of lights exploded in her vision. A barrage of colors danced across her view, giving a series of diagnostics and vision from the robot. In the mist of it all sat a few words, stating the name of the robot. A simple and effective name that would ensure absolutely no confusion whatsoever.
The contraption that was created by the yellow pegasus was simply called ‘Fluttershy’s Lawful Ultra Tactical Technological Extremity Replica,’ or the FLUTTER bot for short. It was the result of months of preparation, the fruit of her labor.
With a small smile on the pegasus’ face, she quickly experimented by simply trotting to another corner of the room, eager to see if it would obey simple commands like walking and running. The machine responded the way it was intended, slowly, but efficiently, it managed to canter to the other side of the room. With the simple test complete, she moved on to something more complex.
The notion of flying came to the aid of a pegasus by instinct, so she was worried about her contraption's ability to complete the task. With the thought of flight bouncing around the yellow pegasus' brain, she hoped the machine would respond to the command.
To her relief, it did. The makeshift metal wings slowly expanded, before a harsh gust of wind soon overtook the lab. Fluttershy stared through the visor, and saw that the robot had managed to achieve flight.
With the basic tests complete, she quickly landed the machine. With a glee hidden behind the helmet, she made the machine trot to the entrance to her lab. With a flick of a metallic hoof, the door swung open and revealed the peaceful expanses of the area near her cottage. With one goal set on her mind, she quickly headed out in an explosion of speed.
She would find her friends, and help them win.
-({Rarity's boutique} 1:14)-
Rarity rummaged about the boutique, busy gathering gems for the weapons she would use. Even though they would be used for violence, she thought they should still be stylish. Why bludgeon a pony with foam if you can't set trends in the process?
Suddenly, the marshmallow colored unicorn shouted out, "Idea!" with a singing voice. She quickly gathered any available gems, multiple foamy weapons, and quite a bit of needles and string. With the materials at the ready, Rarity quickly enveloped them into her magical field. Precise movements of needles, strings, and gems quickly swarmed the foamy weapons. The hilts of said weapons meshed into one, their points still standing proudly. With more precise movements, gems and an army of needles swarmed the points, intent on covering everything called foam with solid and hard gems.
Gems flew through the air, landing on the intended position and sticking to it. A few more chaotic minutes passed, before the monstrosity called a weapon was finally finished. It was a six-pointed weapon wrapped in a hard coating of gems. If one held it up to the sunlight, a barrage of light would flood their eyes. It was a pony's bane, and the marshmallow colored mare decided if they would continue to exist or be crushed by the gargantuan weapon.
With a satisfied sigh, she picked up the gem encrusted weapon. Not knowing its true weight, it quickly escaped from its owner's grasp and embedded itself into the floor below with a sickening slash. Rarity just stared at the monstrosity she had just created and effortlessly embedded into the floor. Without a second thought, she slowly grabbed a single foam weapon and set about to work once again, deciding to leave the embedded weapon alone for the moment.
It was at that moment that a hurried knock appeared at the door of the boutique, followed by screams from the outside. Having piqued Rarity's interest, she stared at the door for a moment. A single moment is all it took for all hell to break loose, as the poor door was smashed into smithereens. In the midst of it all stood a shining lump of metal, which was oddly colored yellow. On a closer inspection, the shiny metal bore a resemblance to a pony. Just behind the shiny pony thing, a rather angry looking mob loomed just behind the metalwork.
With no time to spare, the machine said, "Rarity! There is no time to explain, get on the robot!"
"...Fluttershy?" Was all the marshmallow colored pony could blurt out, before the robot forcefully grabbed her and the gargantuan weapon with one fell swoop. With another great leap, the machine made its way through the roof of the boutique, much to Rarity’s distress, and flew off to the location called Ponyville Park.
Chapter 3: Of sparkling pies and shimmering butterflies
As the wind rushed by both of the ponies, they continued to stare at the congregation of ponies following them below. Rarity stared with a confused expression, while Fluttershy (bot?) stared down crestfallenly. The mob below only seemed to retaliate the stare, glaring with malice at the duo that flew above.
"...Why are they following us?" Rarity finally spoke up, breaking the tense silence. With a sigh emanating from the machine, Fluttershy continued to stare ahead.
“Rarity, what would you do if a town knows that you and a group of six mares saved Equestria a numerous amount of times?”
“Where are you going with this, dear?”
“Everypony is trying so hard to win the prize. They said that to increase their chances of winning, they would have to eliminate the biggest threat to the prize…” Fluttershy finished the statement with a hint of remorse in her voice. As the words left her mouth, Rarity let out a barely audible gasp.
"Us..." was all the unicorn could say, looking down at the mob following them bellow. On closer inspection, she saw the mob had developed what appeared to be foam pitchforks. On an even closer inspection, the pitchforks were on fire. The foam itself showed no visible signs of combustion, so she ended up assuming it was some form of unicorn wizardry. With a sigh, Rarity gave up looking at the crowd and instead focused on the task at hand.
“Why are the pegasi not following us…?”
As if on cue, a flurry of wings erupted from the crowd. Most of them carried a variety of foamy weapons, be it their original flaming pitchforks or a regular foam sword. One could clearly see their intent to take the duo down in their eyes, the will not to give up visibly flowed through their nimble and light frames. Well, the will not to give up untill they got tired and require a power nap.
Then and then only would they give up the chase and pursue the goal of a nap.
With their window of escape quickly closing, the Flutterbot did the only thing that came to mind. With a quick motion, her metallic wings snapped shut. The congregation of ponies bellow barely managed to dodge the metal machine as it plummeted.
As always, Rarity screamed and flailed all four hooves the way down.
A few seconds passed by, the robot still refusing to open her wings and ride the winds of safety. The crowd above could only stare with confusion at the display, wondering why the duo was not pulling up.
Three seconds from impact, Rarity let out a silent prayer to Celestia. She dared not look at the upcoming ground. Two seconds from impact, the group of pegasus hovering above them quickly looked away, knowing the disastrous impact that was about to occur.
In what appeared to be the span of a few milliseconds, a heavy looking object separated from somewhere inside the robot. As that occurred, Fluttershy quickly pulled up, barely dodging a hug from the solid ground.
The effect she wanted was achieved, as the hunk of metal that was dropped simulated a collision with the ground. Once the piece of metal hit the earth, a dust cloud spread in the surrounding area. The pegasus above only saw the two ponies crash into the ground, resulting with them wincing at the sound of a thud. What remained unseen was the small hole that was made in the dust cloud, and the fact that the Flutterbot was rapidly flying away.
To add to the effect of defeat, the metallic object that was dropped exploded in a shower of sparks and flames. The group of pegasus above only stared down in shock, simply wanting to remove the duo from the competition and not murder them. They remained silent, until a random pony went down to investigate the smoldering crater. After a few tense seconds, the brave pegasus re-emerged from the crater with a look of confusion.
"Does anyone know when the bearers of harmony became robots?"
-({Ponyville park} 1:29 P.M)-
Far away from the explosion, the duo had landed at their designated meeting point. With the thought of safety in their skulls, they let their guard down and simply relaxed. The pair took time to enjoy the evening, basking in the sunlight while they waited for the rest of their friends to arrive.
A solid thirty seconds passed of relaxation, as a sudden cough startled the duo. Right behind them stood the massive group of ponies that were chasing them, excluding the pegasi who had given up and pursued the goal of a power nap.
The congregation of ponies were still wielding their weapons form earlier, magical flaming pitchforks. Both bearers of harmony stared at the crowd, before the Flutterbot simply facehooved.
“Why did I forget that we only got rid of the pegasi of the group?”
And then the bludgeoning began.
-({Ponyville Park} 1:35)-
“And so here we are,” Fluttershy finished the retelling of how they got here, still fighting the ever so growing amounts of ponies. Rarity was still barely managing to defeat competitor after competitor, while Twilight was not fairing any better than her marshmallowy companion. Meanwhile, Pinkie lay in the center of the fighting; eating what appeared to be popcorn and remaining oblivious to the carnage surrounding her.
“Cool story filly, could you tell it again?” Pinkie innocently asked, as a rather sneaky lime green unicorn snuck up behind the pink pony. To the misfortune of the unicorn, an elaborate trap was sprung. A rather comical oversized spring popped out of the ground, sending the poor pony flying.
“Pinkie, could you please help instead of eating popcorn…where did you get popcorn anyways?” The lavender unicorn said, using a regular foamy weapon to violently swing at a pony in front of her.
The pink pony simply pointed to her saddle bags, saying something along the lines of ‘hammerspace’ and ‘the author wanting room for even more creativity’.
"Why did I bother asking... Pinkie, could you at the very least help us?" Twiligh finished by pointing at the mass of ponies in front of her, and the fact that the three ponies were on the verge of being overrun.
"Are you sure about that? You look like you're fine to me," she replied with a small smile, yet her shaking voice told a different story.
'You should let me play Pinkie, it's been so long since I've been outside...' A voice resonated in the mind of the pink pony, a voice she had not heard in a long time. The voice was composed of pure insanity; it sung a serenade of violence. It was the voice of one of her multiple personalities, more specifically the voice of Pinkamena Diane Pie.
'Remember all the fun we had, force feeding pasteries into unsuspecting ponies? Remember the times when we forced towns to try our cherrychimmi changa? I still do, and you should remember the feeling of it all. So I plead you, let me out and you and your friends will win this fight. I'll even promise not to make them cake.'
With the ideas slowly filling her mind, Pinkie's poofy mane slowly began to deflate. Poofy curls soon became straight, as the once bright coloration of the pink pony soon transformed into a pessimistic and dull pink. The once vivid eyes grew into a sadistic glare, as a twisted grin shattered the happy smile worn by Pinkie at all times.
"You wanted my help, so here I am!" The pink pony screamed like a maniac, as she let out an ice cold laughter. The ponies in the immediate vicinity stopped their mindless hitting, and simply stared at the once colorful pony. All the while, she still let out that ice chilling laugh, the laugh of a madmare past redemption.
“All of you,” she pointed to the crowd , before continuing, "thought this would be an easy fight," she paused for a moment, before reaching out a hoof to thin air. A single second passed, as her bright pink saddlebags appeared out of thin air.
"Well, guess what?" she asked the now terrified crowd, as both of her front forehooves dug into the bags. "The battle is just getting started!" Pinkamena shouted out, as she pulled out a pair of foam sabers from the bags. With a wicked glee that froze the group of attacking ponies, and with another bout of laughing, she charged at them with flailing hooves.
The wall of pony was no match for the insane mare, as she effortlessly poured through the congregation while taking down a couple of ponies with her. Behind the wall of pony, she was quickly tearing apart their ranks. From precise hits to sloppy flails, she continued to make the army crumple between her hooves.
With panic spreading through the crowd, Pinkamena went for a more efficient option. A flick of her forehooves was all it took to thrust the handles of the sabers into her waiting jaw. With a sharp snap, both sabers' handles rested comfortably in her mouth.
She looked out to the crowd once again, only to see that in the time it took to preform the small action, the group around her encompassed the pony and effectively sealed her escape. As the ponies around her grew confidence with the fact that they had surrounded the menace, Pinkamena's eyes only shrunk more and her grin became even more twisted.
With a twitch that resonated through the entire frame of the once pink pony, she suddenly vanished. The crowd of ponies around her became confused at the sudden disappearance, as they all moved to the spot where the maniac once occupied. The seed of confusion grew even more in the kinds of the ponies, before a sudden war cry erupted from above.
Above the entire crowd was Pinkamena, who was rapidly falling to the place with the highest pony concentration. The ponies below her could only stare at their demise, as the giggling maniac fell even faster.
With a loud thud that resonated throughout the park, she landed on top of countless ponies that unwillingly cushioned Pinkamena's fall. The fall alone did not cause much damage, but what resulted after did. As soon as she had landed, Pinkamena began to flail her head back and forth. With both sabers still in her hold, it did a massive amount of damage to the surrounding ponies. Their screams of banana went unheard of by the dull pink pony, as she continued to mindlessly pound them with her foamy harbingers of destruction.
Meanwhile, off to the side and a fair distance away from the epicenter of fighting, lay the three other friends of Pinkie. The expressions on their faces each told a different story, Twilight's expression showed a deep fear, Rarity's showed shock, and Fluttershy/bot showed nothing.
Because robots don't have facial expressions, if they did, it would be silly.
"Should we stop her...?" asked a concerned Twilight, who was still watching the carnage as her pink friend tore through the masses of ponies.
"She seems to be having... fun... to say the least," Rarity answered, as Pinkamena began humming a song similar to 'I'm Walking On Sunshine' while an unsuspecting pony slowly snuck up on her.
With a sword at hoof, she made a rapid movement to the unsuspecting pink pony. A short second was all it took before the foamy weapon struck the side of Pinkamena’s head; it was a blow that had somehow managed to knock her off balance and send her sprawling into the dirt.
The effect of the attack shocked the pale cream colored mare. Once the results of defeating a threat settled in, she grew a smile and did a small victory dance that consisted of awkwardly jumping from hoof to hoof. The mare was so enthralled in her jig, she failed to realize the pink mare getting up again. Pinkamena looked different; the once happy and psychotic look that adorned her features was replaced by one of pure hatred.
Pinkamena slowly got up from the spot she lay, and silently made her way to the mare who had supposedly defeated her. Still caught in her victory dance, the mare ignored the actions of the pink one.
The pink mare slowly got behind the still dancing mare, and pulled out both sabers out of her straight locks.
“Should we tell Bon Bon she didn’t defeat Pinkie?” Rarity said, still looking at the dancing mare. Meer centimeters from the ears of Bon Bon, Pinkamena whispered something incomprehensible to the mares off to the side. Whatever it was, it made the once happy mare freeze in fright.
It’s a good thing Pinkamena’s sabers quickly brought the mare out of the shock. Unfortunately, it also brought her into a coma-like state.
“Bon Bon is fine…”
With the defeat of the poor pale cream colored mare, Pinkamena quickly resumed the mindless beating of anything with a pulse.
-({Ponyville Park}2:00 P.M)-
After a solid thirty minutes of intense fighting, and thirty minutes of intense staring from the others, the quadruplet of ponies stared out at the carnage. In total, Pinkie managed to successfully remove an estimated three hundred ponies.
When told the estimation, Pinkie froze up and closed her eyes. It seemed like she was fighting with a part of her mind, but the world may never know. With the lengthy battle finished, and the worry of being ambushed by another group of ponies present, the bearers of harmony decided to continue to moving. With their destination unknown, they quickly returned to Ponyville to gather last minute supplies.
Said supplies consisted of a map, a compass, food, and sleeping bags. With the materials for survival ready, they hurriedly left Ponyville.
After a solid minute of walking, Pinkie asked the studious unicorn, “Hey, Twi, where are we going?”
“We,” Twilight paused for dramatic effect. “Are headed to Canterlot.”
A rather angry looking lime green unicorn slowly trotted at a begrudging pace back to the center of the park. With the trap Pinkie pulled on her, it had unexpectedly sent her flying into a tree. The good news was, she landed on top of it and was safety cushioned by many rather pointy sticks. The bad thing was that the tree also happened to be a few feet tall.
It was also the moment Lyra realized she had a deep fear of heights.
Were it not for her phobia, she would have quickly returned to the battle and helped defeat the elements. Being completely oblivious to the events that transcribed at the battle, she rather casually walked in. Not expecting anything brutal, she quickly took a fighting stance and looked around for the four ponies.
The universe seemed like it was a good day to ruin Lyra's mood. All around the lime green unicorn, hundreds of pony bodies littered the park. With the occasional murmur of bananas and often groans of pain, it was truly a gruesome sight. Welts colored the coats of almost all the ponies, as the once colorful variety of coats had turned a light purple with the bruises caused by an unknown foamy weapon.
With the realization of defeat dawning on her, she froze in shock. If those mares managed to defeat their mob/crowd/army, then they also would have managed to defeat somepony dear to her. The mare that was always close to her heart, the one who would always be there for her in her time of need.
Their defeat meant that Bon Bon was also defeated, and could be anywhere. With fear quickly gripping her heart, she set out and began to frantically search for her household companion. With each new pony she saw, their wounds grew worse. The coat coloring grew darker as she slowly approached the supposed center of the battle.
What lay in the middle only served to confirm the unicorn’s fears. Clear of pony bodies and lying quietly and motionless was Bon Bon. From Lyra's point of view, she could easily see an abnormal amount of purplish welts. With tears forming in her eyes, Lyra slowly made her way to her companion.
"Bon Bon... Is that you?" she barely managed to hold back a sob at the sight of her. When the cream colored mare heard her name, she ever so slowly opened her eyes. The look in her eyes still held a deep fear of something, a fear of something that no mortal should ever see.
"Lyra...?" was all the sound the poor mare could muster. As soon as she finished her sentence, a series of heavy coughs soon overtook her. With seeing the sight her companion was in, Lyra quietly collapse on her legs, and let out a small stream of tears.
"Who...who did this?" she managed to choke out, her amber eyes mixing worry and hatred. Bon Bon quickly saw the anguish in her eyes, and slowly, but painfully, raised a single hoof to comfort the lime green unicorn. At the gesture, Lyra slowly regained composure and became calm once again.
"It doesn't matter, what is important right now is that you must defeat the elements... my time has come, and I'm afraid I don't have long to chat," was all the weak mare could sputter before another series of coughs came.
"Bon Bon, hold on for a bit longer... I still have one more question..." Lyra managed to say through a sea of tears that now freely flowed down her coat. Without a word, she slowly moved her muzzle closer to the cream colored mare. The green colored unicorn paused for a few seconds, as the tension began to build in the air.
A few seconds passed, as Lyra was no more than a few centimeters from the cream mare’s muzzle. As the tension reached its peak, it was soon shattered by the voice of Lyra.
“But… but Bon Bon, you don’t understand. You can’t go, if you do…” her voice trailed off, before quickly resuming the sentence. “If you do… then who will make my daily bon bons?!”Lyra barely managed to speak as another round of sobs quickly muffled any coherent sentence. The mere thought of not having her daily delicious desert was the sole reason for the waterworks.
-({Somewhere in Ponyville} 2:10 P.M)-
Suddenly, Sweetie Belle felt as if she was deeply needed somewhere. It was almost like she needed to scream something out, but she could not figure it out for the life of her.
“Sweetie Belle! Stop standing around and start beating, cutie marks don't earn themselves!” screamed Scootaloo, while mercilessly pounding a grayish amber stallion with an oddly proportioned foam sword. Apple bloom was somehow managing to pin down the grown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark.
"Hurry up Sweeite, ah wanna have mah turn too!" Apple Bloom piqued up, still somehow managing to hold the stallion in place.
"Sorry girls, I just had a feeling somepony needed me for a moment," Sweetie Belle finished, and quickly picked up her foam sword and once again begun to beat the stallion senseless.
"Why does this hurt so much?!" the poor pony's screams when unnoticed as the adorable fillies continued to brutally beat the pony.
-({Ponyville park} 2:13 P.M)-
Bon Bon just sighed, and with a monotone voice stated, "There are some left in the fridge at home, those should keep you full for a week or so." With Lyra's worries laid to rest, the waterworks immediately stopped and the lime green unicorn's mood drastically improved.
"Well why didn't you say so earlier? You have no idea how much that means to me Bon Bon, I truly am lucky to have such a great friend," Lyra finished her compliment with a great hug. Imagine the look on Bon Bon's face as she received the hug. She was so happy, tears of joy streamed down her muzzle.
Oh wait, those are tears of pain because she is bruised all over. My bad.
Anyways, with the might bear hug over, she could finally rest in peace. Barely able to mutter banana, Bon Bon fell into the realm of the unconscious. All of which went unnoticed by our suddenly happy unicorn, who pranced along to feast on the delicious treats left at home.
-({Lyra and Bon Bon's residence} 2:20)-
After a few minutes of happily prancing and dreaming about chocolate, she had finally reached the bakery/home they both shared. Sure, it wasn't as great as sugar cube corner, but it still produced top notch chocolate treats. The most famous ones being Bon Bon's delicious bon bons.
Realizing she was incredibly close to tasting the delicious confections, Lyra quickly sped up and began to fumble around with door handle with both hooves. After an astounding five seconds, Lyra realized she possessed magic and the wooden door violently swung open.
What lay inside could only be described as horrifying to the lime unicorn. Inside their home was a chocolate slaughter. The sweet brown substance lined the walls and there was an abundance of grey feathers for some reason. That truly caught her attention was the rustling that occurred in the house's kitchen. Peeling her amber eyes away from the delicious crime scene, Lyra noted that the culprit was still in the vivacity. Frantically looking around for anything foamy, her eyes settled on the conveniently placed sword that lay in the middle of the room.
Armed with a weapon of destruction, she ever so slowly moved into the area the criminal occupied.
"Stop right there, criminal scu- hold on a second," she paused, squinting hard in the dark kitchen. The only light source present was the faint light emanating from the kitchen’s refrigerator.
With a small flare from Lyra’s horn, the kitchen illuminated in a dazzling display of green. With the new source of light, she could now make out more detail about the culprit.
"Much better, now where was I? Oh yes. Stop right there, criminal scum! You have violated the laws o- Derpy?" true to her word, the thief was none other than the slate grey pegasus. What was even more horrifying was the fact that chocolate stained her muzzle and crumbs littered the pegasus's mouth.
With a calmness that nopony could match, the clumsy pegasus looked up from her feast. She quickly moved her eyes back down to it. And once again back up, before finally arriving at a conclusion.
"And that's when I flew in through the roof, and ate all those chocolaty things in your fridge," Derpy finished telling the story of how she managed to violate the poor refrigerator. All the while, Lyra fought a battle to not swing her foamy weapon at the wall eyed pegasus.
"That's a wonderful story; now, why did you eat my bon bons?"
"Oh... well... they looked like chocolate muffins," Derpy replied with a smile, to which Lyra groaned. With a plan formulating in her brain, Lyra silently mused before setting it into motion.
"Would you like to play a game?" the green unicorn replied, futilely trying to hide the hatred in her voice.
"Oh boy, I love games! What's this one called?" the grey pegasus said with excitement in her voice, completely oblivious to the hate emanating from Lyra.
"It's called hide and pray I don't find you!" she finished by springing from her seat and charging at the grey pegasus. To her great surprise, Derpy quickly responded by jumping from her own seat and flying to the top of the room.
"You can't beat me at this game, silly Lyra! Carrot top and I play this all the time," Derpy responded casually while somehow walking on the roof upside down. Her wings lay motionless as she trotted around the musician's roof. All the while, Lyra just stared at the pegasus, awestruck at the feat being performed.
"You know what? I'm done for today. First, I get flung into a tree. Then I come home to see you eating my food. I'm done, if you need me I'll be outside. Screaming at walls seems fun right now," finishing her rant, the unicorn slowly trotted out with her head hung low. By the time Lyra had left, Derpy had realized that she had pushed the green unicorn past her edge. With guilt slowly filling the muffin lover's heart, she trotted outside to comfort the angry mare. Before she left, Derpy took a quick glance at the refrigerator. The only object that lay inside was a single, untouched, and perfectly clean bon bon.
Balancing the chocolate confectionary on her nose, she slowly made her way outside. Outside where countless ponies still battled with foamy weapons.
-({Ponyville streets} 2:45)-
"You dumb piece of bricks! Or rocks! Or whatever this wall is made out of!" Lyra yelled at the poor unfortunate wall that happened to be outside. The fortress of stone simply said nothing, as the green unicorn continued to throw insult after insult at the wall.
Mid rant, Lyra felt an object prodding her shoulder. When she turned around to spew an insult at the offending object, she was only met with a pair of guilt filled yellow eyes. What truly caught her attention was the single treat that sat on the grey pegasus's muzzle.
"There was one left over, if you still want it," came the guilt ridden voice from the muzzle the confection was balanced on. As if by magic, all the malice once held in the unicorn's heart melted away by the display of kindness. Even though Derpy did steal the treat, it still brought a fuzzy feeling into Lyra's heart.
"Thanks... I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart, thank you," Lyra managed to say, before a stream of happy tears begun to roll down her green fur. The idea of knowing she would have a single bon bon was enough to satisfy her cravings.
As Lyra's tears began to increase, so did her lack of vision. Derpy silently handed the chocolate covered treat over; a new feature became apparent on its chocolate cover. On its side, it adorned a bright blue dot. As the treat left Derpy's muzzle, both of her eyes seemed to focus on the still visible dot.
"Hey, Lyra?" her voice was no longer guilt ridden, but held a high curiosity towards the shiny dot.
"Not now Derpy, this is a food I will forever savor until next week!" Lyra's voice was still choppy due to the tears of happiness that freely fell down her face.
"But Lyra," Derpy's voice whined, "There’s a shiny thingy o-" her words were in vain, as the chocolaty treat was flung into the air. Closing her eyes, Lyra opened her mouth and awaited the treat in an almost comical manner.
At that moment, a single sound that would haunt the lyrist for days to come. A loud electronic noise that could only be described as a 'wub' quickly flew in from a direction to the left of her. As the green unicorn heard the wub, another sickening explosion sounded above her. A rather slimy piece of something had exploded and decided to give the unicorn a makeover. Daring to find out what the substance was, Lyra drew out her lengthy tongue to give it a taste test.
One could easily see the look of happiness quickly shatter into one of pure horror as realization of what the substance was dawned on the poor unicorn. The object that had exploded was the delicious confection, and its blast had showered the unicorn with a chocolate rain.
"Oh, so that's what the shiny thing did. It makes things explode," Derpy's voice seemed relieved of confusion, as she remained completely oblivious to the chocolate covered mare in front of her.
-({Random Ponyville Roof} 2:50 P.M)-
Off a fair distance away, more specifically a house's roof in front of the grey and green ponies, an annoyed pair of bickering voices resonated.
"How could you miss!? She's only 20 yards away!" screamed a light gray coated mare to another pale white coated mare. In response to the screech, the pale coated made only winced.
"It's rather hard trying to aim this thing, 'Tavi," was the meek retort given by the unicorn lying in a prone position.
"Vinyl, it's a precision weapon. It has a thing you call a 'scope', and the weapon itself is probably the only one I existence. You made it. You know how it works, how to use it, how to power it, and yet you miss," the prim pony gave an exasperated sign at the end of the statement, which only served to kill the unicorn's mood even more.
"Well... when you put it that way..." the unicorn barely manage to let out a whisper as the stated facts sunk in.
"Vinyl, just give me the... whatever you call that 'thing'," Octavia pointed to the metal chassis that lay motionless on the roof.
"But 'Tavi, I don't think you could be able to handle the kick it gives off. It could blow you, literally, away," the white coated mare's voice only held concern for the greyish mare.
“It can’t be that bad, and its rather small… what’s the worst that can happen?”
“You remember my bass cannon experiment?" Vinyl deadpanned. A brief moment of silence fell on the duo.
"It still can't be that bad," Octavia's voice grew a tad bit shaky, remembering in vivid detail the explosion and sound the demoniacal contraption has caused.
With a sigh, Vinyl handed over the wub maker to the unprepared pony, "Have a shot at it if you think you can handle it, it should be easy for a master of music, right?"
Unable to back down from a challenge, the nervousness of the grayish coated mare soon dissolved into a competitive flair, "I'll show you who can handle this petite weapon," the cellist mumbled in an angry tone. With a rather forceful grab, the musical harbinger fell into the hooves of the master of the cello.
With an angry flop, the grey pony fell into a prone position. Grabbing the weapon and making herself comfortable, Octavia settled into her position and looked into the piece of magnifying glass.
"Uh, 'Tavi?" Vinyl asked with small traces of fear held inside.
"Not now, I'm busy trying to find those two that you somehow missed," hissed the prim pony back at her companion before going back to the tedious task of searching for two ponies.
“But that’s the problem…” the bass loving mare stated, as her voice fell into a whisper.
“What is so important that I have to stop searching for those two hiding fools…? Hey, I’m talking to yo-“ Octavia’s voice froze like ice at the sight of two ponies standing behind them.
Behind the grey and white duo, stood another duo; A much more angry looking duo. Well, as angry as a green unicorn and a wall-eyed pegasus can get.
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” the mint green unicorn said, hiding malice as a few chunky pieces of chocolate still stuck to her mane, “but I do believe you said we are ‘fools’, right?
A few tense seconds passed, as both duos just stared intently at each other. The emotions varied as hatred, curiosity, and fear flew thought the air. Each pair of vibrant eyes summed their competitors up, battle plans already formulating in their minds. Each second began to tick slower, as the final preparations fell in place. The mint green unicorn was the first to act with a smart and efficient move that would ensure their victory.
"Derpy." Lyra paused and waited until the mail mare's attention was focused on her, before continuing and motioning her hoof to the enemies, "They stole your muffin."
-({???} 3:30 P.M)-
A sudden jolt passed through two shrouded beings as they watched the battles rage across Equestria via an unknown means. They both paused their over worldly viewing and gave a silent prayer to the ponies that incurred the wrath of a being of great power.
"Who would do such a thing to their own kind? Force that great power onto mortals, nonetheless," the smaller shrouded being softly said, as the larger being responded with a blunt retributal.
"Who cares? That means more fun for us to watch!"
A brief moment passed as the smaller being shrugged at the response, as they both resumed their viewing of ponies bludgeoning other ponies with foal toys.
-({Ponyville roof} 3:01 P.M)-
Back to the rooftop, the musical duo found themselves on the receiving edge of a rather large foamy paddle. Said foamy paddle was wielded by the muffin mare on a mission to severely maim. The paddle itself was shaped in a perfect formation of a muffin.
It was as if somepony grabbed a giant muffin made out of foam, stabbed it onto a stick, and used it to beat the tar out of some unfortunate creature. For Octavia, that was exactly what was about to happen.
"Vinyl! Why won’t this thing shoot whatever it shoots!" screamed the prim pony as the muffin eater slowly approached her with a fearsome pole arm equipped. Octavia was doing what any normal pony would do, panic and try to press the trigger with flat hooves.
"Well." Vinly paused for a moment and briefly looked at the weapon in question, "Maybe it's because you can't pull the trigger?" the white made coyly said. Upon hearing the response, the cellist stopped trying to futilely activate the weapon and instead grabbed it like one would grab a sword. At the gesture of using the precision weapon as a saber, Vinyl let out a gasp.
With a quick burst of magic, the wub bringer was forcefully yanked out of the hooves of Octavia, "'Tavi, I know that you can't use the weapon; but, you will NOT use it like a bat!"
With the only means of defense taken away from the cellist, Octavia threw a harsh glare at Vinyl, "Vinyl, give me the weapon."
"No."
"Stop being stubborn and give me the weapon! What will I defend myself with!?" Octavia yelled at the white mare as the harbinger of muffins slowly got closer and closer.
"I recommend curling up into a ball and crying, that might work," the DJ said with a matter of facility.
"Vinyl, this is serious. Just give me the thing and everything will be OK."
"No." The white mare added with a pout.
"Fine, be a stubborn mule. Can you at least shoot them?" Octavia said, her patience visibly wearing thin.
"I was going to do that, but you called me a mule." Vinyl retorted.
"You know what, forget you. I'll do this myself," Octavia finally ceased her useless pleas, as she took a battle stance. What she failed to realize was that talking about useless things makes time fly by. As soon as she turned around, the cellist was given an unruly hug by a foam pole arm.
With the foamy hit came a great pain, a pain enough to send the musician sprawling to the ground. Octavia barely had any time to react to the next swing from the master of muffins, as she dodged the one hit that would have sealed her doom.
On the sidelines, the white mare stared with a small grin at the display happening in front of her. Unbeknownst to Vinyl, a still chocolate glazed mare ever so slowly crept up to her side.
"Why aren't you helping her? She's bound to lose if you don't," the lyrist said, faking concern for the cellist.
"Oh, I will help her; but I wanted to see her fight first and get roughed up a bit," Vinyl added with a playful grin as she kept on watching the battle before her.
"Why?" Vinyl's answer only served to confuse Lyra.
"Because little miss prim and proper is a pain in the flank, that's why. She always gets everything she asks for, no matter how crazy it is. On the other hand, I get nothing."
"Hold on a second, what is she to you?" was the only question to come to Lyra's mind. Her answer was delayed by another sound of foam hitting soft flesh.
"Vinyl, help me or I swear to Celestia you will sleep on the couch forever!" Octavia barely managed to scream as she narrowly avoided another blow from the lengthy and blunt pole arm. The order only inspired a grin and a small laugh from Vinyl directed at the cellist.
"She." Vinyl pointed to the running pony, barely able to stifle a laugh as the pole arm grazed the cellist, "Is my sister."
"Fascinating," Lyra feigned amazement as she slowly inched toward the wub machine. As Vinyl resumed stating out at the live reenactment of cat and mouse involving ponies, the green colored made made a move. Using a faint hint of magic from her horn, the weapon at Vinyl's side slowly levitated off the ground.
Careful about giving away her plan to the disk jockey, Lyra made slow progress and focused on keeping the weapon in Vinyl's blind spot. As the weapon of mass wubstruction slowly floated toward the lime mare, her smile grew more sinister. Vinyl still sat there and stared with amusement at the fighting in front of her, remaining completely oblivious to the actions occurring behind her back.
“Well, it’s been fun having this conversation Vinyl; but I think ‘we’ should take our leave,” Lyra finally broke her friendly guise, letting her malice run freely. “and by ‘we’, I mean all four of us.”
"What do you mean by all of..." Vinyl's voice trailed off when she saw the unicorn aim the weapon at her. "oh, I see your point." the white mare finished with a shakey voice.
"It's nice to know that we have all willingly agreed to this. Now if you excuse me, I must tell Derpy that her muffin bandits are in Canterlot." Lyra curtsied and began to walk with a spring in her hooves to the firefight between two different grey ponies, still holding the weapon in her magical field.
"Hold on a second," Vinyl said to herself, "Did I just get mugged by my own weapon for my own weapon? That crafty little-“
On the other side of the roof, Octavia found herself in quite a pickle. She had tripped on her own hooves and was sent sprawling to the ground. Not far behind, the foamy pole arm slowly approached. The cellist prepared herself for the worst, having resigned her fate to Derpy.
The silence on the roof was full of suspense, as Octavia had taken Vinyl's advice and curled up into a ball. She waited and waited, yet nothing came. Daring to poke her head out from the cover of her hooves, she meekly looked around the mediocre roof. What she saw instead of the furious monster was a curious wall eyed pegasus stating with rapt attention at her. To the side of the former monster stood Lyra with a bored expression, waiting for the cellist to get up.
"Well?" the unicorn asked.
"Well what?! That, that... thing... nearly killed me! I think I should be the one asking questions!" Octavia retorted, still visibly shaken from the experience.
“Oh, that, you’re still worrying about that. It was an honest mistake that won’t happen again. Now, get up, we’re going to Canterlot.” Not saying another word, the mare turned around and began searching for a way down that did not involve Derpy carrying them off the roof one at a time. In her wake, the green unicorn left Octavia in a state of confusion.
“Hold on! What gives you the right to order me around? Why do you have Vinyl’s weapon? Answer me!” her confusion and anger were quickly vanquished when she saw Derpy slowly approach her, curiosity evident.
“Wait! I regret everything I’ve said! Don’t leave me with her!”
"Dash, get yer lazy flank down here! We're gonna be late to the meet up!" Applejack's voice blared out from below, directed to the cyan mare that rested on top of her apple tree. Her ears merely twitched in response to the angry mare, completely ignoring her word.
The farmpony stared up at the cloud in annoyance, before grabbing a convenient lasso and throwing it onto the cloud. With a hard yank, the cloud and its occupant fell from the sky. A victorious smile flashed on her face, as she prepared to pounce on the sleeping pegasus.
Once the white fluff of moisture reached ground level, Applejack began her attack. With a swift kick from her hind legs, she bounced up and managed successfully jump and kick Rainbow off of the cloud. To the farmpony's surprise, the cyan colored made still ignored her, managing to land on all fours and continuing to sleep.
"For Celestia's sake, how is she still sleepin'?" Applejack muttered, before trotting up to Rainbow. The pegasus remained oblivious, as she continued to dream of high flying and fame. All the while, Applejack continued to do anything to wake the mare up, be it from light prods to violent shaking. Rainbow Dash still continued to sleep, only smiling lightly if a stray hoof managed to tickled her.
Fed up with the prismatic mare, Applejack grabbed the same rope she had used to pull Rainbow down. Next, she proceeded to once again tie up the pegasus and haul her up and onto the cloud once again. Once Rainbow had settled down on the could, Applejack grabbed the rope and gave a small tug.
At the pull, both the cloud and the pegasus both began to move towards her. Satisfied with the makeshift cart, Applejack began the long process of getting out of the sizable orchard. With another tug, the duo began their trek towards Ponyville, completely oblivious to the raging fights happening inside.
-({Ponyville border} 1:15)-
"Fer a mare that's all athletic and whatnot, she's heavy as hay," Applejack said with a huff, finally having reached the edge of Ponyville. A thin sheet of sweat had appeared on her forehead, as she paused for a second to take a breather. Applejack shot a glare at the still sleeping pegasus, before throwing out a sigh and proceeding to grab the rope that kept the pegasus and cloud together.
Before she once again pulled the cloud cart, a faint noise became apparent that resonated from the distance. It resembled the sound of a dull, yet repetitive, thwak. What intrigued her most were the odd intervals of the noise, as if it was being produced from multiple sources.
Instead of tugging the cloud in the direction of Ponyville, Applejack moved towards the thwacking at a slow pace. As she got closer, she could barely make out the faint whispers of voices behind a series of greenery.
"...ebelle, stop standing around! Cutie marks don't earn themselves," a rough, yet childlike, voice rung out from behind the entanglement of bushes. As soon as that was said, another dull sound followed. Applejack hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether to confront the group or make a run for it. From the constant thwaks, she could tell her opponents were armed with weapons to a degree.
Her fears were only confirmed when another voice resonated out, obviously in pain, "Why does this hurt so much?!"
Applejack stood still, before looking back towards the sleeping mare on top of the cloud. If she escaped right now she could end up saving both of them from a battle; if she stayed to fight, she could get weapons for both of them. Her ideas were soon interrupted by another loud scream, before silence blanketed the area.
"Ah think he might be dead..." another voice spoke up.
"Unconscious," yet another voice spoke up, bringing the total ponies in the group to three.
"Gesundheit," the other two voices responded immediately.
Applejack stood completely still, not daring move a muscle. The trio was obviously dangerous; their victim's screams confirming that. Meanwhile, the trio of voices silently sat there, simply staring at the now limp body.
"Well, now we can't git our cutie marks..."
"Don't be sad 'Bloom, maybe we're not trying hard enough!"
"Yeah, what she said!"
"But who can we get to help us?"
A faint, yet audible noise appeared and disappeared. Applejack looked at her hooves, only to find a single twig had snapped from the force of backing away. To further disappoint the orange mare, a series of crunches soon followed. Worst of all, the sound was coming closer to her.
There was only one word that could describe what was going on in Applejack’s mind.
“Nope,” she muttered, slowly backing up more. All the while, she stepped on even more twigs. "nopenopenopenopenope..." She continued to back away faster; the idea of leaving the rainbow mare to fend for herself briefly flashed through her mind.
“Girls, ah think I heard a critter behind the bushes…”
“OOOH, Idea! Maybe we can get it to help us!”
“That’s a great idea!”
That was the only conformation Applejack needed to break into a sprint, not wanting to fall victim to the series of twisted test the unknown trio would perform on her. In her mind, escape was the only option; even if it meant leaving Rainbow Dash behind.
She continued to run, completely oblivious to her surroundings. She dared to look back, and saw three shadowy figures appear from the underbrush.
In her brief moment of distraction, something managed to hit one of her orange legs. With that, she was sent flying.
"Hey Apple Bloom, isn't that your big sister?" Scootaloo said as the trio managed to get through the bushes. A fair distance away, an orange mare could be seen.
"Well yeah, it is... wonder what she's doin around here," the younger sibling replied, still staring as Applejack continued to run.
"Girls, what is she running from?" Sweetie Belle spoke up, drawing both Scootaloo and Apple bloom’s attention. As soon as she finished speaking, the trio resumed staring at Applejack.
"Maybe it's a game?" Apple Bloom said, not moving her eyes away from her sister.
"...she does see that there's a giant rock in front of her, right?" Scootaloo said, pointing to the grey obstruction that laid ahead.
"Ah hope she does..." the trio continued to watch as the mare got closer to the boulder. Much to their surprise, she began moving faster towards the piece of rock.
"Should we tell her about what she's going to run into?" the white filly asked her comrades, as confusion slowly etched itself onto their faces.
"Maybe she'll figure it out on her own?" Scootaloo asked, only to be answered as Applejack crashed into the rock and fell to the ground with a thud. The trio sat there in silence, watching to see if the fallen mare would get back up.
"Er..." Scootaloo began, "does that count as being disqualified?"
"I don't know... the rules are really easy to exploit," Sweetie Belle answered.
"Should we go an help her?" Apple Bloom's asked, as one of Applejack's legs began to twitch erratically in the air. Their small moment of indecision was interrupted by a loud gasp.
"OHMYGOSHRAINBOWDASH!" Scootaloo shouted vigorously, before jumping onto the cloud with a small boost from her tiny wings. Before both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle could blink, Scootaloo was snuggling with a sleeping Rainbow Dash. Both fillies continued to stare at the display in front of them before shrugging to the best of their abilities and looking back towards where Applejack laid. Wordlessly, they both trotted forward and began to slowly carry the grown mare back to the cloud where the two content pegasus lay.
-({???} 1:40 P.M)-
Applejack awoke with a start, jumping up from the position she was sprawled out in. Her eyes darted around the surrounding area, hoping to catch a glimpse of something. To her dismay, all that surrounded her was darkness. Fear soon gripped the farmpony, as various scenarios flashed before her mind. The most logical one at the moment was that she had been knocked out and captured; forced into hiding by her captors.
One train of thought led to another, as she soon realized something else. If she had been captured, then so had Rainbow Dash. Panic once again began to take control of her mind, as she furiously darted her eyes across the dark room. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light, new features began to make themselves out in the room. To her left, a wooden nightstand stood. On the stand, her orange Stetson comfortably laid. Before she grabbed the hat, a few more interesting details appeared throughout the room. To her right, the outline of a door could be seen. Furthermore, a dresser stood against the furthest wall; a faintly visible mirror was secured to its top.
Deciding to not dwell on the purpose of the room, she grabbed her Stetson and got off of the soft surface she occupied. With her trusty hat, she slowly made way for the nearly invisible door; careful to not alert her captors of her escape actions. She cautiously grabbed the handle and slowly pushed the door open. With a careful peek, she stuck her head out of the door and peered into the hallway; equally as dark as the room behind her. Applejack threw one past look at the room, before moving through the door and disappearing into the dark corridor.
The corridor itself seemed to span infinitely in both directions, forcing Applejack to make a random decision that would, hopefully, end in her freedom. With the seemingly random choice set in her head, she ventured out into the dark unknown.
-({Cutie Mark Crusaders's Clubhouse} 1:45 P.M.)-
"Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked the pony next to her, as both of them continued to stare out the window.
"Yeah?" the yellow pony responded.
"Should we maybe stop Scoots from doing what she's doing?"
"Why?"
"Well," Sweetie Belle stopped speaking in order to look at the pair of pegasus, “she’s just been sitting there, watching Rainbow Dash sleep."
"What's so bad about that?" Apple Bloom asked.
"She hasn't blinked for fifteen minutes. She's just sorta sitting there, it's kinda creepy..." With that said, the duo continued to stare at the odd display laid before them.
-({???} 1:50 P.M)-
"Cosdarnit, where am ah even going?" Applejack asked the darkness, still continuing to trot at an eager pace. With all the walking she had done, there had been no reward for her actions; no doors, turns, signs of light, absolutely nothing.
All that there was for her was long dark corridor.
-({Cutie Mark Crusaders's Clubhouse} 1:53 P.M.)-
"Hey Apple Bloom, do you think your sisters awake yet?" Sweetie Belle asked the yellow pony.
"Ah dunno, maybe? She's really tough, but that bump looked painful..." Apple Bloom let her voice trail off. As soon as we finished her sentence, there was a small pause between both ponies.
"Should we go check on her to make sure she's all right?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Why not? The only problem ah can see is who will watch over Rainbow Dash?" Apple Bloom retorted. They both shot a glance at the prismatic pegasus. With no surprise, the orange filly was still staring at her. It was almost as if Scootaloo had even gotten uncomfortably close; only a couple of inches separating them.
"She'll be fine. Besides, doncha wanna see if you sister is awake?"
"Fine, but if anythin bad happens to those two, it's your fault." Apple Bloom finished, turning away from the window and trotting over to one of the clubhouses’ corners. Sweetie Belle slowly followed behind the yellow filly. On the very corner of the room, a nearly invisible small slab of wood jutted out at an odd angle; almost looking like a lever. With a flick of a yellow hoof, the piece of wood lowered and a new entry way opened to their side. Wordlessly, the two fillies trotted down into the darkness that made up the underground portion of the tree house.
-({???} 1:57 P.M)-
Applejack peered down the corridor in curiosity as a block of light appeared at the end. No sooner had it appeared, two dark blobs entered and the portal of light behind them closed. Whatever they were, Applejack knew she was no longer alone in the dark corridor; she knew there would be nowhere to hide from them.
"Where did we put her again?" a one of the voices ahead asked the other.
"She should be at the end of the hall, it's not that far away." the other voice answered. After a faint pause, Applejack heard a soft patter of hoofsteps heading in her direction. Being forced into a confrontation, she did the one thing her desperate, panicking mind told her to do.
"And that's how we ended up here," Sweetie Belle finished explains the situation to a very confused Applejack. All of their so called explaining only led to even more questions, one of them being why they were beating a pony in the woods with foam swords. The next being why the pony did not fight back. As a multitude of other questions flocked to her mind, one of them stood out from the rest.
"Where is... here," Applejack paused and motioned to her surroundings, "exactly?"
"That's easy! We're under the tree house right now, in what we call the BAMF headquarters!" Sweetie Belle answered with a smile on her face.
"Bamf?" Applejack questioned.
"Yep! This area was a leftover part of when we tried to git out cutie marks in secret surveillance across Equestria, ah built it myself!" Apple Bloom answered.
"So, ya built all of this and called it bamf headquarters? What does bamf even mean?" Another one of Applejack's questions fired.
"Bamf is something all three of us came up with, each one of us chose a word that we liked and mashed them together. I chose beautiful, Apple Bloom chose amazing, and Scoots chose masterful. The 'f' stands for fillies!" Sweetie Bells finished her explanation.
"Okay, but why not just use cutie mark crusaders as an acronym?" Applejack once again asked.
"Because sis, it wouldn't be secret surveillance if everypony knew it was us, we needed a cool name for a secret place," Apple Bloom said.
"Well, that kinda makes sense, I suppose. As long as it's a harmless name it's all right with me. Speaking of who made the name, where's the third of y'all?"
"Ya mean Scootaloo? She's up in the clubhouse takin' care of Rainbow-" Apple Bloom was interrupted by a loud crash that came from above. As soon as the noise came, a high-pitched scream soon followed. All three of them looked to the location of the noise, before they looked back and stared at each other.
"Taking care' of Rainbow?" Applejack asked with a plain look. A short pause followed, as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nervously looked at each other.
"...maybe we shouldn't have left her alone with Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle half-stated half-asked.
"Ya think?" Applejack said in a sarcastic manner.
"It's Sweetie's fault," Apple Bloom blurted out, causing the white filly to glare at her. Applejack rolled her eyes.
"Stop bickerin, both of ya. There's something up there causing a ruckus, and we don't know what it is," she said and began looking around. There was a moment of tense silence as both fillies looked at her in curiosity. As the silence grew longer, the pace at which Applejack searched quickened.
Finally, Sweetie Belle asked, "What are you looking for?" With a sigh of defeat, Applejack gave up and said down with a downcast look.
"The way out..."
-({Cutie Mark Crusaders' Clubhouse} 2:00 P.M)-
The clubhouse was silence, save for the occasional ruffle of feathers from the two pegasi. Unsurprisingly, Scootaloo was still staring at Rainbow Dash, not giving a care in the world as the seconds flew by. As the enthusiastic filly continued to stare, a new noise quietly sounded. The sounds of shifting grass and snapping twigs did nothing to alert the orange filly of something getting close.
Behind a series of trees, two separate groups of ponies looked at the two pegasi. The head of the first group, a light pink mare with a blue mane looked over at the other leader, a light blue mare with a pink mane. Silently, they began to exchange a series of complicated gestures. The pink mare began to point at the cloud in front of the tree house, tiptoed in place, then thruster her hooves out and began to violently shake them.
The blue mare looked confused, repeating the same actions. Instead of violently shaking her hooves at a imaginary foe, she slowly kneaded them into the air; almost like a massage. A few seconds later, she threw a snarl on her face, forced her hooves into the air and violently turned them to the left. She looked over to the pink mare, only to find her shrugging at the actions. A short deadpan look later, both resumed staring at the two pegasi; the ponies hidden behind them growing anxious at the wait.
After a brief moment of consideration and a completely necessary full-body roll later, the blue and pink mare were united again with their backs against the tree.
"...What now?" The blue mare asked.
"Wait for it..." The pink one replied. A shift of movement caught their eyes, as the orange filly slowly got closer to the prismatic mare.
"Now?"
"I said wait for it."
Looking back to the pair of pegasus, the orange filly slowly started to climb the mare, stopping once she reached the area in between the blue wings. With a content sigh, she lowered her head into the rainbow mane and sat there.
"Is she... Is she sniffing her-"
"Now!" The pink mare shouted out; a stampede of hooves followed. Ponies rushed to grab their foamy weapons and charged at the element of loyalty. A series of war cries erupted from the crowd as more ponies began to surround the floating cloud. As the incoming onslaught approached, both ponies in the cloud paid them no heed.
Seconds flew by as the group of ponies formed a complete circle around the cloud. Finally, a single blue ear twitched and turned to the crunching grass beneath the rapid movement of hooves.
"RAINBOW DASH, ELEMENT OF LOYALTY, KINDLY ROLL OVER AND SAY THE B-WORD!" The pink mare shouted out.
"By b-word she means bananas, right?" A random mare whispered from the crowd, only to topple over unconscious a second later; much to the distraught of the ponies surrounding her.
"That is why you don't say the b-word, I'm surprised the mayor forgot to read how self-disqualification works," the blue mare said, sadly looking at the fallen soldier.
"Lotus! Less sad, more angry, we can't let the enemy see weakness!" the pink mare known as Aloe yelled out, not taking her eyes off of the sleeping Rainbow Dash. Lotus shot a quick look at the sleeping ponies on the cloud, before shooting a deadpan look at her twin.
"But they're asleep."
"I don't care if they're asleep, they are still our targets and we cannot fail!" Aloe yelled out.
"Ok, first stop yelling, I'm right here. Secondly, if you haven't noticed, they. are. asleep." Lotus emphasized the last words with dramatic hoof gestures. Aloe made her first mistake and took her eyes off of Rainbow Dash to glare at her twin. Not even a second after her eyes wandered, a high-pitched scream erupted from the moving blob of pony. Soon after that a extremely distressed looking stallion ran out of the crowd and towards the direction of Ponyville. The crowd was unfazed by the commotion, they were too busy stating towards who started it.
In the center of the crowd, a lightly snoring sky blue pony draped in a orange filly held a foam sword limply in her mouth. The crowd stared silently, only for a single loud snore to break the silence.
"Oh for Celestia's sake, is she really sleeping? This is what that coward was afraid of?" Aloe deadpanned as she walked over to the sleepwalking pony. The crowd of ponies cautiously stared at Rainbow, the fear of looking away weighted heavily on them.
As if it was made to be a distraction, a wooden door opened from the ground with a patch of grass hanging limply on top of it. A trio of figures emerged from the depths, drawing the attention of the crowd.
"Sweetie, I told ya we would get out faster this way, imagine what would have happened if we followed your directions," a yellowish filly came out of the darkness, looking behind her to talk to someone. Several ponies tried to move and get a better view of the talking filly.
A blue ear twitched at the crunching grass.
"It's not my fault you built this and didn't give me and Scoots a map," an annoyed voice followed from behind. By the time she had finished speaking, the sun beat down on both of the fillies.
"Girls stop fightin', just take me to Dash and then we can why did you stop—" the last pony came out of the door and nearly bumped into the two frozen fillies. All around them ponies armed to various degrees curiously stared at the group, until their eyes landed on Applejack.
"Ptss, isn't that Applejack?" A series of whispers were said from the crowd. At the mention of her name, Applejack visibly stiffened.
"Apple Bloom, I want you to take Sweetie Belle and go back inside," Applejack faintly whispered.
"But why?" the filly replied.
"Hey, is it she also an Element of Harmony like that rainbow chick?" another pony stated from within the crowd.
"Apple Bloom, I swear to Celestia if you don't get back inside I will take your desert for a month."
"But—"
"If ya finish that sentence, I'll make it a year." Apple Bloom hastily stopped speaking and shoved Sweetie Belle back into the door on the ground. As soon as the duo of fillies left, another more pink and blue duo shoved their way to the front of the crowd.
"APPLEJACK, SURRENDER OR—" Aloe was quickly shut up as a blue hoof shoved itself into her mouth.
"Aloe," Lotus strained to appear calm, "if you yell one more time I'm going to slap you. Applejack is right there, use a normal pony voice."
"But the yelling makes it better," Aloe quietly replied. "Alright, Applejack, surrender and disqualify yourself or else."
"See, was that too hard to say?" Lotus said and earned a glare from her sibling.
"Quiet you," Aloe replied.
"I am being quiet, you're the one who has to yell everything," Lotus turned her face away from Aloe and raised her shot up to the sky in a snootily manner.
"Uh, Gals? Why are you here?" Applejack cautiously stared at the twins.
"Oh, so you think your better than me?" Aloe ignored Applejack and looked straight at her sister.
"Mother did say I gave the better massage."
"I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S BETTER WITH THEIR HOOVES!" Aloe yelled out and tackled her sister into the ground. Before the feud could start, a pair of screams came from the crowd once again. Both Aloe and Lotus stopped with hooves in mid-air and looked towards the noise. This time no ponies came running out.
"OH MY CELESTIA SHE HAD THREE SWORDS NOW!" a mare yelled out from somewhere in the crowd. Temporarily forgetting their differences, the fighting duo raced to get to the center of commotion. Once again in the center stood Rainbow Dash with a foam weapon held in her mouth and in each of her now curved wings. What was surprising was the fact that the orange ball of fluff was still huddled on her back. Right beside the prismatic mare laid two unconscious ponies covered in a series of horrible welts and bruises.
Another snore came from the standing mare. "What is the matter with you foals, she is asleep! How can a sleeping mare do that to a fully aware pony!?" Lotus yelled out.
"Look who's finally yelling," Aloe muttered under her breath. A blue ear swiveled to the direction of the yell.
"How can a fully grown mare sneak past the eyes of a hundred ponies, who are suppose to be capturing said mare in the first place! I can't believe the lot of you let that happen," Lotus finished just in time to see a blue blur fly directly towards her. Not a second later, she flew to the ground and barely managed to catch a glimpse at her attacker. Rainbow Dash now stood sleeping over the unconscious and battered form of Lotus.
-({Under CMC's clubhouse} 2:20 P.M)-
"Apple Bloom, why did we listen to your sis and go back, it was getting interesting out there!" Sweetie stared angrily at Apple Bloom, who silently stared at the door separating her from Applejack.
"She threatened me with mah disserts," Apple Bloom said, continuing to stare at the wooden hatch.
"Who cares about some stupid desserts, we could be out there seeing what's going on." As soon an Sweetie Belle finished talking, Apple Bloom gave her a death glare, almost as if daring her to insult desserts.
"Sweetie, mah disserts are serious business, don't ever call them stupid again." She finished her glare and reined staring at the wooden door. A long period of silence followed.
"Can we at least take a quick peek outside?" Sweetie Belle meekly asked, not wanting to feel the country filly's hate again.
"Ah guess a quick peek won't hurt... Just don't make a sound and we might git away with it," Apple Bloom motioned Sweetie to follow her to the exit. Wordlessly and as cautiously as they could be, both pairs of hooves slowly raised the wooden hatch up just enough so that they could see outside. As soon as both of them gazed outside, a blue mare with a pink mane limply fell in front of their little peephole.
Disregarding everything Apple Bloom said, they screamed like the little fillies they were and carelessly bolted out of their hiding place.
-({Cutie Mark Crusaders' Clubhouse} 2:30 P.M.)-
"Applejack!" a pair of crying fillies shot out of the area behind of where Lotus fell. They ran past the series of confused ponies who still stared at Rainbow and jump into Applejack, clinging to her neck. "Weweresittingthereboredandsweetiewantedalookandsowelookedoutsideandthentherewasadeadponyandimsoscaredsiswhatdoido!" Apple Bloom whined out to her sister while Sweetie Belle silently shivered. Applejack sighed and carefully let down both of the fillies onto the grass.
"Girls, Lotus ain't dead, she's just... sleepin," Applejack comforted the sobbing fillies as Aloe slowly made her way towards the still sleeping Rainbow Dash with a snarl on her face.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO KNOCK OUT MY SISTER, ONLY I GET TO DO THAT!" Aloe yelled out and prepared to pounce on the prismatic mare. "PREPARE TO MEET YOUR DOOM," she once again yelled out and jumped toward Rainbow Dash, blissfully unaware that both blue ears were pointed at her.
All it took was a dodge and a swift whack to the back of the skull for Aloe to meet her twin's fate. As soon as Aloe's body thudded against the ground, a particularly loud snore and a bit of drool escaped from Rainbow's lips.
"How in the name of— OHSWEETCELESTIAGETHEROFF!" A unfortunate mare yelled out as Rainbow beat them silly in a flurry of foam. Once again, the crowd was shocked at the speed of the attack.
"How does she do thaaaaAAAAAAAUGH!" another pony fell victim to the blue blur.
"Hold on, I think she can only attack when— MOMMY!" a stallion tried to warn the others before brought down by the barrage of foam.
"Everypony just be QUIET!" Applejack yelled out, only to be met with Rainbow Dash standing less than a foot away from her. Luckily, the crowd obediently stayed quiet. Not a second after yelling, Rainbow Dash went limp and fell towards Applejack, who grunted and managed to catch her. She looked back towards the crowd and managed to signal with a spare hoof for them to leave. As soon as the signal was given, many of the congregated ponies slowly backpedaled, not daring to take their eyes off of the sleeping mare. Due to the fact that most ponies dared not look behind them, they failed to see the bushel of twigs and fallen branches they were obliviously walking into.
All it took was a single snap for the screaming to begin.
"Sis... I'm scared..." Apple Bloom weakly whimpered out.
"I CAN'T FEEL MY SPLEEN!"
"Don't worry Bloom, it'll be over soon," Applejack held the shivering filly in between her legs.
"HAVE MERCY, I BEG OF YOU!"
"Can I also have a hug?" Sweetie Belle managed to whisper out, only for Applejack to pick both fillies up and wrap them in her embrace.
"RUN YOU FOOLS, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
The screams fell on deaf ears as Rainbow continued to mercilessly pound running ponies into oblivion. In every visible direction ponies fled, futilely trying to get away from the rainbow menace. Each scream caused another victim, each whine signaled another defeat. From another's perspective, it would be described as a complete and utter slaughter.
Eventually a small task force desperately gathered, all of which were heavily armed and rather upset with the crushing defeat. A short meet-up and a quick pep-talk later, they had all agreed to face the monster and finally defeat her with a foolproof coordinated attack.
Naturally, they wheeled the catapult in.
One by one they loaded themselves into the arm of the machine, leaving a single pony behind in order for the catapult to be fired. A brief period of calculations later, the catapult was fired and all the ponies aboard it went soaring through the air. They armed their weapons as they prepared to land right on top of the still sleep-fighting mare, when suddenly a seemingly magical gust of air blew them away. Every time a pegasus in the flying group tried to correct their course, the wind magically pushed them back farther. By the time they realized what was going on, they were already black specks in the blue sky.
Meanwhile on the no-so-safe ground, all resistance had stopped and the last few ponies capable of running had escaped. The field was littered with twitching ponies who sported multiple bruises. In the midst of it all was what appeared to be the only survivor; a rainbow maned mare who lazily sloshed around, almost as if trying to keep balance.
After what had seemed like hours for the frightened trio of ponies, they finally dared to look up just in time to see Rainbow Dash tip over and fall into the lush grass. Wordlessly, Applejack ran towards the fallen mare.
As soon as she had gotten there, she discovered to her slight amazement that the orange ball of fluff called Scootaloo was still attached to her idol. Shoving the surprise away from the forefront of her mind, she quickly began looking at Rainbow Dash for any signs of damage or bruises. To her relief, there were none.
"Girls, it's safe now, ya can come over 'ere," Applejack motioned both fear stricken fillies towards her. Hesitantly, they both scooted towards the country mare and stared down at the sleeping Rainbow Dash.
"How is Scoots still on her, Rainbow's laying on her side and yet she's still in the same position."
"Maybe it's a pegasus thingy?"
"Girls," Applejack said, "we need to get these two back into your little house, it's not safe up 'ere. Who knows when more of those ponies will come back?"
"Alright, sis, just stand perfectly still and don't scream," Apple Bloom said and tapped her hooves twice on the ground beneath them.
"Now hold on, what do you mean by—" Applejack failed to finish before the ground beneath them fell into a newly created hole.
