Chapter 1
Separated Bandicoots, the Ponies Who Met Them and Mind-Controlled Manticores
What ever had shaken the lab had finished and all was still. *creak. crash* Well, almost. The lab needed repairs and power. The figure walked over to his nearly shattered control panel. "Confound it all! Everything's ruined! At least the crystals and gem are still in pl..." at that moment, the power sapper which took power from the master and slave crystals, exploded. The explosion sent every crystal flying off in different directions, "...ace?" Cortex fell to his knees, "No, NO! Now the bandicoot...is gone!" the mad scientist got up to his feet and danced, Russian folk dance style, but he danced, laughing the whole while.
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The explosion had separated the bandicoots, while sending them off flying. Only one was his normal self, and he stuffed his finger in his ear. He somehow pulled out a Wumpa fruit out of his ear, and tossed it before he hit a wall. When he hit he let out an iconic "Woah!" before he passed out on the owner's front mat. Coco, though, had a relatively better outcome, as she landed in a tree, her coveralls snagged on a branch that was filled with...Wumpa Fruits? No, those grew on the palm trees of Insanity Island. These were a fruit she had never seen before, but she didn't think about it for too long. Coco hadn't expected to land in an orchard, more or less in a position that was very uncomfortable. Her coveralls were riding up and giving her a wedgie any male would have cringed at, and her t-shirt tore in the back, so Coco could feel some of the leaves on her back and, she would never admit it, but it was tickling her so badly she started laughing out loud. She soon became numb to them as the sun started to rise.
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Applejack was up before the sun, as usual, and was beginning to work on her chores for the day when a loud explosion made her turn her head to the Everfree. She saw a large number of purple lights emerge from the trees and spread out across the horizon and towards Ponyville. "What in tarnation!?" she then heard a louder crash than the explosion near the middle of the orchard. She saw a purple glow coming from that area almost as if it was filled with too much magic. Well ah could go see what the hay that was. But if it's magic, ah'd better get Twilight. the orange earthmare nodded at her idea and galloped off to the library.
Meanwhile-Fluttershy's Cottage
Fluttershy was having the most wonderful dream of an orange pegasus stallion in shining armor. She was swept off her hooves as he held her in one of his forehooves, and he leaned in to kiss her. She blushed furiously, but returned the motion. Their lips were about to meet, she blushed a brighter red, and his breath was warm, and then...*thumpthumpthumpthump*!
"Hmm?" Fluttershy was shaken awake by a small white rabbit, whom Fluttershy smiled softly at, "Oh Angel Bunny, are you hungry?" the white rabbit shook his head, "Are you hurt?" Angel shook his head harder, he had been pointing at the stairs since she woke up, "Do you need something downstairs?" The rabbit's expression deadpanned at his softhearted and sometime oblivious owner. He hopped down from the bed and hopped down the stairs, the sleepy pegasus following close behind, her mind still feeling the intensity of her dream. She blushed a bit as she remembered that stallion, but stopped when Angel pointed at the door urgently.
"I don't see why you can't go inside, you have a toilet." Fluttershy said absentmindedly, refering to Angel's house inside the cottage, of which she built herself, she opened the door anyways just because she knew if she didn't she would get a carrot to the back of the head, "Okay Angel, there you go." Fluttershy flew to the side with the door in her hooves and eyes closed. She waited a bit before she got a cough from her little companion. She looked at the bunny, who was pointing at something outside. "Is there a wild animal out there?" this got a shake of the head and a louder cough, "Is it a manticore!?" this was a new one, he slapped his face with his paw then coughed a very coltly cough as he hopped outside and jumped up and down on top of an orange mound of fur and, was that denim, Fluttershy knew that was a very rare material for clothes, Wait, clothes? as soon as the thought entered her mind, it got a result, which turned out more like a panicked pegasus floating over an unconscious bandicoot trying to figure out if it was alive. Sooner or later, Fluttershy took the surprisingly light bandicoot into the cottage and rushed to get the first-aid kit. While she franticly searched for the kit though, her unexpected guest woke up, looking around and scratching his head. He got up and his eye twitched as he realized he had another Wumpa fruit stuck in his ear. He stuck his finger in it and pulled the rogue fruit out. He tossed it over his shoulder and scratched his belly.
"Okay I found it! Now let's get you patched up. Eep!" Fluttershy darted into the nearest hole at the sight of the walking patient. He noticed and looked into it, a smile plastered on his face. He only saw eyes as the frightened pegasus looked at him. Oblivious to the fact she was frightened, he waved, but when he didn't get results he only shugged and walked away. He immediately stopped at the sound of clucking chickens. When Fluttershy saw him head out the door towards her chickens, she flew after him, watching from affar as he chased Elizibeak. When he caught her, sat and scratched his head, obviously confused at the fact he had caught the chicken. But it didn't last, he hugged the chicken and set it free, deciding to focus on the goats instead. Fluttershy was more comfortable at approaching him after that, but she never got the chance.
Earlier-Cortex's lab, Everfree Forest
Cortex had been busy all morning creating a mind controlling helmet so he could control a large animal to take him to the nearest crystal. He saw it land somewhere near his lab, but when it landed it was accompanied by a loud roar, like Tiny's! The useless imbecile was probably banging his head against a rock. Now cortex had a problem, he needed to get the device on an animal first. He quickly created a remote controlled hovering bot that he could use to place the device and give orders through. "Dr. Neo Cortex, you are a genius!" he said to himself, as he sent the bot, along with the device, off over the forest. He soon spotted a lion and sent the bot after it. "Mwahahahahaha! I've got you now! You're mine! HAHAHAHAHAHAHahahaha!?" the doctor was now confused, it was a lion, with large leathery wings and a scorpion's tail. "A manticore? Oh well, it's mine now!" the bot did it's job well. In fact, the manticore didn't even notice it was about to be outfitted with the helmet until it already was. It was pretty strong-minded, for an animal, but it had fallen under Cortex's control.
"Go and retrieve the power crystal!" the mad scientist commanded, the controlling helmet taking the command and forcing the wearer to obey. Problem was, because the manticore had no idea what a power crystal was, is sat down. Cortex facepalmed, then gave another order, "Follow the flying robot." The manticore only knew flying and assumed the talking metal thing was a robot, so it followed it. It hovered over a glowing crystal and told the manticore, "This is a power crystal, grab it and follow the robot." The manticore was hating the fact it couldn't do anything to the robot, it hated taking orders, let alone from something that caused it to be taking orders in the first place. It grabbed the crystal and put it in it's mouth. As soon as it did the power crystal surged and sent a ripple of power out in a small radius. Cortex lost control of both machines, and this resulted in a short-circuit with the helmet. The manticore now growled, it headed in the direction of the pegasus that took care of it not too long ago, one thing on it's mind, well...two things, help and destroy! Cortex was dumbfounded when the helmet's readings came back on-line. "It's making it...evil?" he stared at the screen, then smiled. He set off to create more helmets out of his nearly destroyed lab.
Present time-Fluttershy's cottage
Fluttershy shrieked as a manticore burst out of the forest, a strange helmet on his head and a purple crystal in his mouth. He saw Fluttershy and charged towards her. Fluttershy's wings glued themselves to her sides out of pure terror. This manticore was filled with bloodlust and had the pegasus in it's sights. Fluttershy closed her eyes as she awaited her doom, but when it didn't come, she dared to peek out at the scene before her, and she gasped. The orange bandicoot was riding on the manticore's back, making it stab itself with it's tail. It was soon slowed down in it's rampage and the bandicoot jumped off, and then it spun around really fast, hitting the manticore and causing to fall over. During all this, the bandicoot never lost it's smile, and in fact, grabbed the helmet and crystal. It looked at the crystal and nodded, then looked at the helmet and tossed it behind him. It landed at Fluttershy's hooves and crackled, it reminded her of a machine in Twilight's basement. She checked on the manticore, knowing it was the one she helped earlier that week, she put some bandages on it and flew up to the bandicoot. "Um...could you come with me...that is if you don't mind." she said in a barely audible whisper.
The bandicoot nodded enthusiastically, allowing the obviously shy Pegasus to lead the way. Fluttershy was uncomfortable about being near the bandicoot, but felt better knowing it was an animal, even if it took on a manticore and won. The two headed towards Twilight's library as fast as Fluttershy could gallop. The bandicoot kept up surprisingly well, despite running on two legs.
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Big Mac had gotten up a little late, but he got up before the sun got over the horizon, and he had a weird morning after that. He started the applebucking because AJ was missing, then he saw a purple glow and went to investigate, and then he got hit on the head with a couple of apples, thrown by what looked like a female bandicoot (He remembered Fluttershy talking about them, they weren't native to this area.) who was appologizing and asking if he could get her out of the tree she was stuck in. He obliged and caught her. She thanked him and asked if there was a town nearby. Big Mac decided to accompany her to Ponyville instead of just tell her, just in case. He offered her a ride and she accepted, she talked alot but Big Mac listened. His manners were perfected from years of living with Granny Smith and his own personality. It soon got to the point where they talked about nothing inperticular, but enough that Big Mac asked about where the bandicoot came from. This escalated to a conversation about each-other's worlds all the way to Ponyville.
End of first chapter.
Author's note: Don't hold back. I know I made you wait and the content might not be enough but I'm ready for your criticism. Let the comments fly! Ack! Not so hard! I need you all to tell me what's wrong with my chapter before I move on to the next one. I look forward to it. ;)