//------------------------------// // return of the mane six! // Story: Classroom of the future // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Return of the Mane Six! "Are you sure we're going the right way, Applejack?" Cheerilee asked her, as the five ponies followed the dusty path through the Purple Mountains. "Yep, this is the way, I'm sure of it!" The old mare snorted, giving Cheerilee an annoyed look. "I've been wandering back and forth over these peaks for over a thousand years! Ya think I wouldn't know my way around here?!?" "Vou need to calm down, dahiling!" Gypsy told the yellow earth pony. "I know vou are vorried about ze escaped villains, but we vill have ziz problem zolved soon!" "I don't think it's the fiends that are unnerving her, Gypsy!" Locket snorted, flying over all of the other's heads. "I think she's a bit more nervous, about literally facing herself!" "That would make a bit more sense, Miss Locket." Cheerilee responded. "And I know this plan is a bit... unorthodox. But I really think this is our best bet in dealing with these villains of literature!" "We must be careful in dealing with these strange make-believe characters, dearest." Wigwam told Cheerilee, shaking his mane. "As they are fictionalized versions of the ponies we know of, there is no telling what they might do." "We'll be careful, Wigwam, don't you worry!" Cheerilee smiled back at Wigwam, trying to ease his tension through the lifebond. "We'll be ready for whatever comes through that portal!" "This isn't the first time in dealing with the land of Legends, Cheerilee." Locket whinnied. "Glory once accidentally wished herself there, and an evil wizard tried to steal her horn!" "Don't forget about all the weird fairy tale characters that were running loose for a few months, until we got them all put back!" Applejack snorted. "I can't tell ya how many times we put Humpty Dumpty back together again!" "Zee zing to rember zough, girls, iz zat zhe creatures from behind zat door... zhey are not truly zee ponies und characters zhey represent!" Gypsy reminded them. "Zhey are zee finctional version of zee peoples vou read about... literally text brovght to life!" "Well, I hate to break up the intriguing conversation." Applejack whinnied, shaking her mane. "But we're here!" The five ponies stopped in front of the large golden door, that seemed to be an entrance to the mountainside itself. Large chains had been placed over the entranceway- a protection, to keep anyone form getting out or in. Several large locks in the center, served to hold the chains firmly in place. "Don't worry, girls." Locket told them, flying up to the locks. "I got this!" The twinkle-eyed pony tinkered and fiddled with the locks, her hooves carefully moving the parts and gears in the lock's mechanism. When the last of the locks came undone, it tumbled to the ground, and the giant golden door slowly creaked open. The five ponies trotted up to the entrance, and peered into the golden light. “You see anything in there?” Applejack asked, shielding her eyes “Just looks like a bunch of light ta me!” “Hello?” Cheerilee called out, worrying if her hunch was right or not. “Anypony in there?” It was only a few moments of silence, before a loud giggling sound came from within the light. A pink comet suddenly came barreling out of the brightness, plowing into Cheerilee, and knocking her over. “Heya, Cherilee! Howya doin?” Pinkie Pie laughed, sitting on top of the other pink pony. “Oooh, are these friends of yours? I just love making new friends to party with!” “P-pinkie Pie?” Cheerilee asked, almost not believing her eyes. “You’ll have to pardon Pinkie, darling. She’s just excited to be out here.” Rarity trotted out of the entrance elegantly. “It’s so good to see you again, Cheerilee. And you might your friends here be?” “A pleasure to meet you, Darlink!” Gypsy responded, trotting up to the white unicorn. “My name iz Gypzy, und I am honored to vinally meet zee famous Rarity!” “That is an interesting accent you have there, Miss Gypsy.” Twilight Sparkle replied, trotting though the door. “It sounds similar to Foto Finish’s accent, but is an entirely different from her dialect.” “Awww, stop worryin’ about the egghead stuff, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash suddenly flew out, looking down on all the other ponies besides Locket, “Nice at meet ya, Gypsy.. And great to see you again, Cheerilee!” “Miss Rainbow Dash… it is a honor to meet such a highly esteemed Pegasus.” Locket bowed, smiling at her fellow flyer. “My name’s Locket, Dream Castle dungeon warden. I’ve heard so many stories about you from my mother!” “Um, excuse me.” Fluttershy whispered, slowly emerging from the door. “I don’t mean to bother you…but why are your eyes all glassy?” “Why, she’s a Twinkle-eyed pony, Fluttershy!" Cheerilee replied, sounding just like a teacher. "She's a pony who had her eyes replaced with gems, in order to correct her vision flaws." "Yep, goblins in my prison gouged my eyes out during an escape attempt." Locket blinked her glass eyes. "Never leave anything sharp within the reach of monsters." "Oh, that is sooo cool!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Can you, like, see through walls and stuff with those eyes?" "Well, they do enhance my vision at night, yes." The Pegasus nodded. "But I have never been able to see through walls." "O-oh my..." Fluttershy whimpered, casting a nervous glance at the twinkle-eyed Pegasus. "That is slightly... freaky, isn't it?" "And who's this pony?" Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at Wigwam. "He looks like he's all dressed up like a buffalo!" "Oh, that's- that's Wigwam." Cheerilee replied sheepishly. "He's my lifebond partner." "It is a great honor, top stand before likenesses of the harmony bearers of legend!" Wigwam smiled, bowing to the mares respectfully. "Bravo, Cheerilee!" Rarity congratulated her. "I had always hoped you would find a stallion of true quality!" As the five new arrivals chatted it up with their old friend, Applejack stared into the open portal way. It wasn't long before another orange earth pony came trotting out of the doorway, looking like a younger Applejack, but wearing a cowpony hat and having a slightly different cutie mark. The strange cowpony circled around AJ, staring at the mare in a confused state. "An' who're you supposed t' be?" The filly asked in a southern accent. "Y'all are the poorest lookin critter ah evah did see!" "Oh brother, this is completely crazy!" AJ rolled her eyes. "Was I really that deluded back then?" "If yer me, why's yer voice so goofy?" The AJ look-alike snorted. "An' whar's yer hat? Ah would nevah be caught deahd without mine!" "My hat went the same place your manners did!" AJ snorted, as the two ponies stared each other down angrily. "So why don't you just give your jaw a rest, and keep it shut!" "Girls! Girls! Please!" Twilight came in between the two. "This isn't going to get us anywhere! Now, we know the villains from the land of legends are what is causing the problem, but we don't know what they've been up to since they escaped! So if you could please fill us in on what's-" "Whatever it is, they're not going to get away with it!" A Darker colored Pegasus mare emerged from the light, trotting out to meet the Dream Valley ponies. She wore and explorer's hat and shirt, and carried a whip by her side. "Dahling, iz zhat..." Gypsy looked on in surprise. "Iz zhat Daring Do? Zee adventurer und explorer vrom zee books zeries?" "Oh great, now we gotta put up with the pony version of Indiana Jones." Applejack snorted. Every other pony glared at her. "What? Both Twilight Shine and I love the George Lucas movies Megan brought over from the human world. Daring Do doesn't hold a candle to Harrison Ford!" "Hey, I loved those books as a filly, AJ!" Locket snapped at the earth pony. "Daring Do had a lot of really amazing adventures!" "George who?" Rarity asked. "What's the human world?" Rainbow Dash added. "What's a human?" Pinkie Pie chimed in. "Save it, girls!" Daring Do spoke up, before turning to Cheerilee and the others. "Now, what can you tell us about Azoutohil and the other villains?" ... The villainous armies marched far and wide across the surface of Ponyland, all the way to the glistening shores of the Jewel Sea. There, the Changelings and Diamond dogs set up camp at the edge of the crystalline waters, eager to march onward, and take the waiting prize within the Royal Paradise. But for the moment, Queen Chrysalis had a more... personal matter to deal with. "We caught this one snooping around the edge of the camp." Nightmare Moon hissed, as her shadowbolts brought a chained Masquerade before the Changeling Queen. "I believe she has been spying on us since we escaped from the door, and has been reporting our movements back to Queen Majesty!" "A clan Shadowvale changeling!" Chrysalis mused. "Tell me, race traitor, what drives you to stand against your own herd?" "You and your lackeys are not my herd, you slimy old witch!" Masquerade hissed, spitting at the Changeling queen. "YOU are nothing but a pale shadow of the queen who betrayed her people, and led them down the path of evil!" "Fool! We drained what we needed to, in order to survive!" Chrysalis snapped back. "Draining the ponies was our only way to survive, barring drinking that GARBAGE Queen Majesty's bloodline has you addicted to. You and your fellow Shadowvale are all drugged-up slaves!" Masquerade scowled, and said nothing. It was at that point, that Azoutohil walked into the room. "Oh! So sorry, Senioritas." He hissed, grinning with a toothy smile. "Am I interrupting anything?" "Never you mind that, fang face!" The changeling queen hissed. "What is it that you want?" "We are making final preparations to cross the jewel sea, and were wondering if you'd care to join us, por favor?" The storybook villain inquired. "Why, I would be glad to, my dear Azutohil!" The Changeling Queen hissed, morphing into a likeness of Masquerade. "And I know just how to get us into the Royal Paradise without lifting a hoof!" "Ohhh, such an excellent deception my dear!" Discord quipped, popping into the room suddenly. "Those ponies haven't dealt with changelings in so long, they'll never see your little trick coming!" "And what exactly do you hope to gain from aiding us, dracoequuis?" Nightmare moon asked, looking up at him. "Chrysalis will be getting a food supply for her people, and I will get the power and respect I deserve! But what's in it for you?" "Why, the spread of the Chaos I so love, of course!" Discord tapped his claws together gleefully. "You can all have the love, the admiration, and the power! The pain and suffering that the chaos I stir up brings... ah, now that is truly music to my ears!" "Discord, you are truly a warped and demented creature!" Nightmare moon snorted, in half pity and half disgust. "But as long as your perversions and demented sadism serve my needs, I will find it within my magnanimous heart to barely tolerate you miserable existence!" "Why thank you, my dear!" The spirit of Chaos chuckled gleefully. "It's a good thing I get along much better with our dear changeling over here!" "That's right, Disky! We share a special kinship!" Chrysalis rubbed her hoof against the draconequuis's chin playfully. "Our historical counterparts did fight the Harmony Bearers several times! While you, Night Moon, only fought them once!" "Chrysalis and I even teamed up a time or two!" Discord replied gleefully. "True, you two did lose to those several times, while I only lost to them once." Nightmare Moon replied sarcastically. "Oh poor, poor me!" The two villains scowled at her, as Azutohil growled at all of them. "Enough of this foolishness! We have work to do!" The villain pointed towards masquerade. "Bring her and de filly North Star out to de center of de camp! We offer dem up as de sacrifice to de success of our endeavor!" With that, Azoutohil stomped out of the tent, as the other villains made with their sinister preparations. Meanwhile, a team of eleven Ponies were currently sneaking up on the unsuspecting pack of literary fiends, who were totally unaware of what was about to befall them. “Cheerilee, my love, I hope your plan will work.” One of the equines whispered to the other. “But no matter what happens, we’re behind you all the way!” “Thank you, Wiggy, That means a lot to me!” Another pony whispered back, “And don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll all come out of this alive!” "At least, I hope so..."