It began like all good stories begin, with one orange pegasi asleep in his bed. There, the sound of soft snores could be heard as his hooves clenched his bedcovers over his body. The defender was having a nightmare, tossing and turning in his sleep as the dream continued.
"Ugh...no." he sleeptalked as he continued to roll around. "Don't...I can't...AAAAAH!" Then, he sprung up, his eyes wide open in fear. Sweat began to fall down his face, his hoof grasping the side of his head as he panted, "No! I....I...."
"You okay?" asked a voice in the room, causing the soldier to turn. There, his blue partner stood up and stared at him, "I could sense some fear in you Flash. Was it a nightmare?"
"It was..." Flash replied before shaking his head, "It was just a nightmare. Though I gotta say...it was a rough one."
"Wanna talk about it?"
Flash looked back at his partner, his breathing pace going back to normal, "No. I'm okay Springer. Its not like last time, where it kept happening and interfered with everything."
"Yeah...okay." Springer responded as he sunk back into the basket. He had to admit, it was true. Flash hadn't been having some marathon of nightmares like last time, as this was the first time in at least a week since Flash had a bad dream. Or, at least how his aura could tell. "Just...tell me if something's wrong Flash. Please."
"I will." Flash replied as he turned over, closing his eyes. With that, the two soon fell back to asleep, only to wake a few hours later for morning training.
Morning training...
Celestia's sun was about to crack the sky, ready to shine on for the day. As it did, two figures clashed over the grass, both weapons making a series of clangs as they battled. It was Flash and Iron, both using their weapons at full throttle.
"Eat it, bird boy!" Iron yelled as his metal spear swung at Flash, the pegasi easily blocking it. Iron then retracted the spear, quickly shooting it out again as Flash blocked once more. "Grrr...stay still!"
"Why would I do that?" Flash remarked as he blocked the attack for the third time. "That all you got Iron?!"
"Not a chance!" Iron roared as he switched the spear to a hammer, swinging the mallet downward. "Iron Quake!" Flash's wings flared as he took to the sky, dodging the attack. But this was what Iron wanted, who morphed his Piecemaker back into a spear and pointed it at the flying pony, "Iron Lance Fury!" The projectiles shot like bullets at the defender. But as they did, the orange pegasi closed his eyes, only to disappear as soon as he opened them. Iron just stared at the sky, surprise on his face, "What the-"
"Too slow." Flash said with a tap of the hoof on Iron's shoulder. Iron turned his head, only for his face to feel the might of one orange hoof uppercut.
"Puwaugh!" Iron spat out as he was knocked upward, his form soon hitting the dirt. He then began to roll, quickly recovering with a spin, only to feel Flash's blade at his neck.
"I win." Flash flatly stated, his eyes completely blank.
"Grrrr...stupid Theta thing!" Iron growled, putting his weapon down. Seeing this, Flash put his blade away as well, which Iron then commented, "You know, you're relying on that thing way too much lately."
"I'm not. I'm trying to figure out the best ways to use it Iron." Flash replied as he walked up to their gear and pulled out a canteen. "I have to get stronger, so I need to figure out all my tools."
"Tch...sure you do." Iron grumbled as Flash threw the canteen to him. "Too bad you can't figure out what the best tool you have is."
Flash opened his mouth to reply, only to look away, pulling out another canteen as he began to take a drink of water. "Yeah...I know."
Iron crossed his hooves as he took a swig of water, "So, you gonna finally tell me why you're so damn serious recently?"
"No." Flash replied as he put the drink away. "That's enough training. Let's go on patrol now."
"Now hang-"
"GOOOOOOOD MORNING!" yelled a new voice, causing the two to look over and see the voice's owner. It was one Pinkie Pie, who had Wild Smile trailing right behind her, his five puppets on his back. The duo blinked at the sight, wondering why the two were up so early.
"Hey Pinkie. What are you doing here?" Flash asked as Pinkie hopped right in front him.
"Hiya Flashy! Me and Wild are here to greet you two fine defenders and thank you for your service as Ponyville's protectors!"
Flash and Iron glanced at each other before blinking back at Pinkie, "Um...really? Why would you do that Pinkie?"
She shined a huge grin, "Cuz its the nice thing to do!"
"Nice thing, nice thing!" the puppets repeated.
"Those five are right! And as such," She put her hoof in her mane before pulling out a plate with three cupcakes on it. "These are me and Wild's 'Thank you for being the town's defenders' cupcakes for you!" She then leaned in and pointed to the cupcake that was colored blue, "Don't worry, this one is sugar-free, so Springer can have it without the whole 'yellow mouse rage' thing."
"Um...okay." Flash replied before him and Iron took the cupcakes from the plate. "Thanks Pinkie and Wild."
"You're welcome!" Pinkie shined another grin before zipping her head left and right, "Say, where's Springer?"
Flash pointed to a hill behind himself, "He's on the other side of that mound over there. He's trying to figure out something with his aura, so he's training alone."
"Okay!" Pinkie responded before bouncing onto her tail like a spring, quickly hopping over the two as she headed to the mound. As they watched the sight in confusion, the defender duo shrugged it off and both began eating the cupcakes.
"Mmm...not bad." Flash commented as he put the whole treat in his mouth, "Tastes like....huh?"
"What's wrong?" Iron asked as he gulped down his dessert.
"It feels like....AAAHHH!!!" Flash yelped, only for flames to suddenly come out of his mouth. "HOT! HOT! HOT!!!"
"What are you-urk!" Iron tried to say, only for his hooves to suddenly wrap around his body. "Cold....why do I feel so cold?!"
"AHAHAHAHA!" laughed the sound of two ponies as the two turned around, only to see Wild and Pinkie rolling on the ground, giggling like maniacs. "You fell for it!"
"Fell for it! Fell for it!"
"HOT! HOT! HOT!" Flash yelled again as another fireball flew out of his mouth. He then zipped up to the mare and grabbed her by the collar, "Pinkie! What did you do to those cupcakes?!"
"Oh, nothing much. Just a little prank me and Wild cooked up. Isn't it funny?"
"Its not-"
"Mmmph! MMMmmph!" said a new voice, causing them to all turn and see Springer, his mouth now completely covered in brown goo.
Flash glared back at Pinkie, "What did you do to Springer?"
"Peanut Butter."
"Peanut...oh, you gotta be kidding me." Flash groaned as he facehoofed, "Pinkie, why did you do this?!"
Pinkie just waved her hoof, patting the defender, "Aw come on Flash, we were just having some harmless fun. Besides, you looked like somepony who needed some cheering up with a dose of good old fashioned pranking. Here, have another cupcake." she said as she somehow conjured another plate with cupcakes.
"No. Go away Pinkie." Flash replied as he looked away.
"No. Stay Pinkie." Iron remarked as he cracked his hooves, "Please, give me another reason to-"
"We'll be leaving." Wild interrupted as he grabbed Pinkie's shoulder, "Right prank pal?"
"You got it, my mischief minion!"
"Leaving, leaving."
With that, the two ponies and five puppets hightailed it out of there, leaving the three defenders in the dust. But as they did, Flash turned to Iron, "They're gonna start pranking everypony in Ponyville, aren't they?"
"Probably."
As it turned out, the two were right. As they began their patrol, they soon found that Pinkie and Wild were going to be their source of trouble that day. It started with them replacing Twilight's ink for her research papers with invisible ink, (Pinkie mainly doing this as she thought it was an old classic) then a spree of random cream pies to anypony's face, which Flash got three different ones that day. The prank raid then went to Wild and his puppets painting a wall to look like gems with some help of his magic, causing Spike to run into the wall, teeth and claw first. It was here that Iron made Wild repair the wall while Pinkie was caught trying to make a paint-filled water balloon to sneakily use on Rarity. Flash was able to 'punish' her by making Rarity agree to bore Pinkie to death by making her model dresses at the slowest pace possible for the rest of the day.
But it wasn't enough. As the day passed, Flash soon found out Pinkie and Wild were just getting started. The next day, they continued their spree, mainly deciding to have a three day prank war with each other. Flash then had to help clean up just about every mess from these joke battles, causing his patience to grow thinner and thinner.
Three days later...
It was yet another beautiful day in Ponyville, a rainbow appearing in the sky due to the big thunder storm that had been blowing through the previous night. It had happened due to a mix-up in the weather schedule, (Not caused by Pinkie or Wild) in where a bunch of storm clouds got improperly placed and hit the roofs of several houses.
Flash, Springer, Twilight and the rest of their friends, minus Rainbow and Pinkie, were walking towards the street. Iron was pulling a large cart, full of cans filled with Time Turner's anti-lightning paint.
"Remind me again why we have to do this?" Iron asked as he continued to haul the heavy cart from the back of the pack.
Twilight turned to him. "The mishap with the thunderstorm last night caused several houses to get struck, but luckily, the insulation paint was able to protect them from the damage. Now, we need to repaint them so they'll be protected for the next storm."
Iron grumbled under his breath, obviously not liking the idea of this. With that explanation out of the way, the group arrived at the street they were gonna be working on, Applejack looking up at the roofs. "Hard to believe these things were hit by lightning. They still look brand new."
Rarity moved over to her, dressed in fashionable overall. "You can thank Mr. Time Turner's paint for that."
"Too bad it only works once," Flash said as he and Twilight started to remove the lids from the cans. "He said he's working on a batch that lasts longer, but for now, we need to repaint them."
Fluttershy, who had been carrying a bag of paint brushes, placed them on the ground. "So...um...we have to paint all these houses?"
"Just the roofs," Twilight replied as she started handing out face masks. "This shouldn't take too long, not with all of us chipping in."
Spike, the one holding the bag of masks, groaned. "Too bad Rainbow's still at that academy thing. With her speed, this'd be over in ten seconds flat."
"Well, she's not." Springer told him with a nudge. "Besides, this'll be fun."
Spike turned to him with a deadpan glare, "You and I have very different ideas on what counts as fun."
"Quit complaining you two," Flash told him as he looked around. "Now where's Pinkie and Wild? They said they'd help. That, and this is the only way we can keep them out of-"
"We're up here." Everypony looked up and saw the two standing on one of the roofs, Wild's puppets floating around them.
"What are you two doing up there?" Twilight asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Wild pointed at Pinkie. "It was her idea. I'm just here because it looked like fun."
"Fun, fun!" His puppets repeated.
"It is fun," Pinkie replied as she looked around in an exaggerated way. "Oh, cool! I can see my house from up here."
Wild laughed at that. "That's not hard, considering your house is one of the tallest in town." His puppets began laughing along with him.
Flash rolled his eyes as he said, "Will you two-er...seven, get down here?! We've got work to do!"
"Okay!" Pinkie said before leaping into the air. She then plummeted towards the ground, landing squarely on the end of the cart Iron had been pulling. Doing so caused the cart's rear end, where the lidless paint cans were, to be thrown into the air. "Oops."
Everypony watched as the paint cans spun through the air, the paint soon covering the sky. The batch of color turned into a wave as gravity pulled the liquid downward, splashing the group of ponies, jakhowl and dragon. Cries of annoyance filled the air as everypony except Spike was drenched in the paint. The young dragon, who had been on the far side of the group, looked down at himself and saw he did not have a speck on him. He breathed a sigh of relief before turning to the others, seeing them all covered in the stuff.
"Seriously?!" Flash moaned as he looked down at himself. "PINKIE!"
"Now Rarity," Applejack told the now panicking unicorn. "Try to stay calm."
Rarity was beginning to pant heavily, seeing the paint ruin her overalls along with her coat and hair. "I...I...I."
"Oh boy, that ain't good." Applejack gulped before turning to Twilight. "You think you can do something about this? You know, before she explodes."
Twilight nodded as her horn began to glow, the light quickly flowing to the others. Everypony watched as the paint began to float off of them. Twilight's magic then enveloped the fallen paint cans, making them levitate as they began to scoop up the floating paint. Despite this, the lot of them were still damp from the paint's moisture. Twilight then told them that there was nothing she could do about that, saying they would simply have to take a bath. This made the whole group turn towards the one responsible for this, Pinkie giving them a nervous smile as Wild finally managed to climb down and stand next to her. "Um...sorry?"
Their glares only intensified, Iron needing to be held back by Fluttershy, making them both gulp. Wild began to nervously chuckle as he grabbed Pinkie's shoulder, "So...if that's all you need from us." The two of them slowly started walking away. "Then we'll just...be...going-"
"Springer," Flash deadpanned as he rubbed his wings from the still-lingering paint goop feeling. Springer responded by creating an Aura Blast and throwing it at the two, the attack hitting the ground in front of them.
"Hey! Your dog just shot at us!" Wild barked back.
"Yes, I know," Flash growled as he gave Springer a small nod. "I told him to."
Wild and Pinkie both glared at the little creature. "Not cool Spring."
"Not cool, not cool."
Flash then walked over to them, an even bigger glare than before on his face. "Well, since you guys have nothing better to do than mess around..." His eyes narrowed as the volume of his voice increased, "You can cover for all of us while we go clean ourselves up!"
Wild shined a big smirk. "Ha! No problem! I'll just magic the paint onto-"
"No." Flash growled before holding up a pair of brushes. "The only magic you're allowed to use is to levitate these."
"What?!" Wild yelped, "But-"
"But nothing Wild." Flash interrupted before turning to one no longer smiling pink pony, "And no Pinkie shenanigans from you. Get to work."
"Okay." Pinkie replied as her hair deflated, her hoof slowly taking a brush. She then leaned over and loudly whispered to her partner, "You know, he's really become a tyrant."
"Power will do that to a stallion," Wild snickered. "Why do you think there's no male alicorns?"
Flash stomped his hoof, getting their attention. "Just get to work you two. Now."
Twilight leaned over to her assistant. "Spike?" The drake turned to the unicorn with expectant eyes, "Since you're clean, you stay here and make sure they don't shirk their duties or cheat."
Spike's expression turned to a frown, now wishing he had actually gotten dirty. That is, till Twilight's horn began to glow, soon teleporting a beach chair and a stack of comic books next to him. "You heard them," he said as he leapt into the chair. "No slacking."
Pinkie and Wild both frowned again before beginning to get to work, Flash and the others now starting to head out back home. As the two of them split off from the others, Twilight turned to Flash. "You think we might have been a bit too hard on them?"
Flash turned back to Twilight. "Look, I love Pinkie and Wild's...starting to grow on me. But those two have gotta learn to stop messing around when there's work to be done. Not only that, all they've done the past few days has been...annoying."
"They were just harmless pranks Flash." Twilight replied with a mid-frown.
Flash let out a long sigh in response, "Twilight, I like having fun as much as the next pony, but when something important is happening, it needs to be put on the back burner. We need to repaint the houses so they don't get destroyed if another storm happens, which means Pinkie and Wild need to learn how to be serious at times."
"Yeah," Springer nodded in agreement, "I mean, think if we were in a battle. You think how Pinkie or Wild acts would be at all useful in that situation?"
Twilight wanted to tell the jakhowl that in their battle against the Changelings, Pinkie's unusual mannerisms had defeated many of the insectoid ponies. But she really didn't want to get into an argument, instead wanting to simply get a bath going. "I guess that makes sense....but I still think we were too hard on them."
"We weren't, trust me. There's some lessons you need to learn, and you have to be harsh to learn them." Flash grumbled as looked down at his still damp and sticky body. "Now come on, let's get this stuff off of us."
"Okay..." Twilight whispered as she followed Flash back to the library. As she did, she stared at her old friend with worry in her eyes. That is, till she saw him rub his X shaped scar on his chest, making her blink at the stallion. He then entered the library first as Twilight stood outside alone for a moment, commenting at a new thought that hopped into her head, "But you were still too hard on her Flash. That and everything else lately...and I think I finally know why."
Later that day...
After getting themselves cleaned up, Flash and Springer went out on patrol. They had plans to check on Pinkie and Wild's progress, but first, Flash needed to grab something from the Ponyville jail cell.
The jail cell, the one built after Flash, Twilight and Trixie had beaten Big Score and his cronies, was a simple stone building. It was reinforced with magic, since ponies like Iron, or other criminals could smash right through normal rock and the building was also split into two, the front half with the door being where non-criminals would stand if they wanted to talk to the ones locked up.
Flash landed infront of the building, Springer jumping off his back. "Won't be a second bud," Flash told his partner. "I just gotta grab something." He opened the front door and stepped inside, only to hear something above him.
"Hmm? What the-whoa!" Flash cried out, as he felt himself suddenly be buried under something. Quickly pulling his head out of the pile dropped on him, he looked down at it and saw he had been buried in peaches. "Oh, for the love of Celestia!" He yelled as he started to try and free himself, "Who did-wait a minute, why am I even asking?!" His volume increased as he yelled at the ceiling, "PINKIE! WILD! Oh, I've got another street of houses with your names on it! I'm gonna-" His rant was cut short when he heard the sound of munching, causing him to look down and see Springer chowing down on a peach. "Really?! You're eating the evidence?!"
Springer, mouth full, only responded with a shrug.
When Flash finally managed to pull himself free, he and Springer were back in the air and on their way to where Pinkie and Wild were. "Where are those two?" He asked as he looked around. "I guess I've just gotta look for some kind of prank disaster or-"
"Flash!"
The pegasus and jakhowl looked down and saw a peach coloured earth pony they recognised as Nectarina, a pony who had a small but successful peach orchid at the edge of town. The two flew down and landed in front of her. "What's the problem?"
"Somepony stole my whole peach crop," Nectarina replied with tears brimming in her eyes. "I only looked away from my stand for a few seconds, but when I looked back they were all gone."
Flash and Springer both raised an eyebrow and shared a look with each other before replying, "I think we know where they are."
"You do?"
"Yeah," Flash crossed his hooves in irritation. "Somepony used them as ammo for some prank and I think know who."
"Oh dear," Nectarina gasped, putting a hoof over her mouth.
"Flash!" yelled another voice before they could do anything else. They all turned to see Lyra and Bon Bon rushing over to them, Bon Bon in the lead. "You've gotta help us!"
"What's wrong?" Flash asked as he turned to them.
This time, Lyra stepped up. "Mmmnnn, mmmnmnnmn."
Flash and Springer now shared a confused look. "Come again?"
"She can't talk," Bon Bon told them as she pointed to the green unicorn. "Somepony messed with my toffee recipe and made it to sticky! Lyra and a bunch of ponies who ate it now have their teeth stuck together!"
Flash scratched his head at this, "Oookay. Looks like those two were busy while I was-"
Suddenly, another pony rushed up to them, followed by another and another until Flash and Springer were completely surrounded. Some were telling him that they had had items stolen, like pins, sneezing powder, flowers, loud speakers and other stuff. Others were all complaining about having horrible pranks pulled on them, such as sitting down on chairs that had pins on the seat or finding flowers at the doorstep that they were allergic too.
"Okay, okay!" Flash told them all, leaping into the air with Springer on this back, "I understand and promise to get to the bottom of this. Everypony please head home and be on the look out." The ponies all grumbled before turning to leave, causing Flash and Springer to sigh in relief. "Good grief, this is a lot. Come on buddy, we need to do some investigating."
But their investigation wouldn't begin yet, as they then heard a, "ACHOO!" The two quickly turned to see Rarity walking down the street with a frown on her face. "Achoo!" She sneezed once again.
"You okay Rarity?" Flash asked as he landed back down.
"Hm?" The unicorn replied as she hopped in place, now seeing the duo at first before nodding to them. "Oh yes, I'm just...just...just...ACHOO!"
"What's wrong with you? Got a cold?" Springer asked before closing his eyes. "Hmm...your aura looks okay."
Rarity let out a long sigh. "I had just gotten out of my bath and started powdering my nose, but it seems my powder was replaced with some kind of high strength sneezing powder. I've taken another bath, but its still not stopped the sneezing. Achoo!"
Flash turned to his partner, "Wasn't sneezing powder one of the things that got stolen from the crowd earlier?"
Springer nodded at this while Rarity listened, causing her to speak up, "I'm guessing this is Pinkie's doing, especially with her and Wild's recent parade of pranks. Though I'm surprised, you said the powder was stolen."
"Yeah, somepony did say-"
"Sentry!" a voice interrupted them, causing them to turn and see Iron, Fluttershy and Applejack heading their way. "We've got a problem."
Flash crossed his hooves, "Let me guess. You've been pranked or had something stolen?"
"Yes," Fluttershy said with a nod and frown. "Somepony hid speakers all over my garden and started playing loud angry music which upset all my animals."
"I could hear it from my shack," Iron added. "The place got turned into a mad house."
Applejack stepped up next. "Somepony's put super glue on every single one of my apples. I can't buck them off, no matter how hard me or Mac kick."
Flash and Springer shared a glance at this as Flash commented, "Okay....this is going really far." He then motioned to Iron, "I don't know about you, but I'm more than ready to go stop this."
"Same here." Iron said with a nod, "I'm guessing you're thinking what I'm thinking?"
"You bet. Let's go."
It didn't take long for the two to get to their destination. As they made their way to the buildings they were about to paint earlier, Twilight had joined as well. She had been stuck at the library, as somepony had rearranged her books by basically putting them all on the floor. However, thanks to her magic, the cleanup didn't take long and she joined them in finding the cause of all the problems.
But as they arrived, they were surprised to see that both Wild and Pinkie were still painting the houses. It looked like they had only gotten half the street done, with Spike watching every now and then before focusing back to his comic. Seeing this, Twilight turned to the defenders before saying, "Um...it looks like they've been working the whole time. Are we sure they-"
Her words fell on deaf ears though, as Iron stomped the ground with a mighty quake, almost shaking the buildings. The force caught the trio's attention, specifically Wild and Pinkie as they looked down from the roof. "You two!" He almost yelled as he pointed at them. "Down here, now!"
The two shared a confused look before climbing down, Pinkie then asked, "What's up?"
Iron glared at them, giving them a look that would make anypony want to run away as Iron pointed at them. "Fess up you two! You've been playing pranks on everypony and it's driving them all nuts."
The duo both raised their eyebrows at this, only to share a look and then back at Iron as Wild said, "We don't have a clue about what you're talking about."
"Yeah," Pinkie added with a nod, "we've been here since you guys left."
"It's true," Spike told them from his chair. "Unless they figured out how to copy themselves, they haven't left this street once."
"See?" Pinkie replied as she pointed to Spike. "We've been good and were painting the houses with the lightning paint stuff."
Iron let out a shot of steam from his nostrils as he walked up Pinkie, his hoof slowly raising up, "Don't play dumb. You two have been on a pranking spree and everypony in town just went through a whole mess of pranks!"
"But we haven't done any pranks today Iron. Honest." Pinkie said with a slight gulp, only to see Flash put his hoof on her shoulder.
"Pinkie, you're on thin ice right now." Flash added before giving Wild an icy glare, "That includes you too. Now, I want you to tell me and Iron everything you've done today." He grit his teeth as then hissed, "Now."
Pinkie and Wild looked at each other again, both gulping as they looked back at the crowd glaring at them. They then recounted their day, was mainly them planning a water balloon fight if they hadn't gotten trouble with the paint ordeal. This was going to be followed with them helping the Cakes with the twins, where they were going to take the foals to the park. And as the group heard this, all the mares and Springer were convinced, but...
"Then how did all of this happen?!" Iron yelled as he and Flash told them the pranks the crowd from earlier had talked about.
"But...we would never steal." Pinkie whimpered out as she and Wild backpedaled from Iron and Flash's rage. "I mean, none of those things sound fun at all. Scaring animals, ruining toffee and stealing, that's just mean."
Iron and Flash opened their mouths to reply, only for both to be shut with Twilight's magic. She then magically pulled both of their ears as she said, "We get it you two. You're innocent."
"Twilight! What are you-ack!" Flash yelped as the tug on his ear increased. "Ow! Stop that Twilight!"
Twilight walked in front of the defenders and pointed to Pinkie and Wild, "Apologize to them. NOW!"
Flash and Iron shared a look, only to drop their heads as they both replied, "Sorry for suspecting you."
"Good." Twilight growled as she crossed her hooves. "Now, let's calm down and figure out what's really going on."
"But if it isn't them Twilight, who else could it be?" Flash asked, only to see Iron open his mouth. The pegasi quickly glared at him as he said, "And don't say its my sister and her friends. They're still at school!"
Iron closed his mouth at this, only to turn and glare at the Pinkie and Wild, "I don't like this. If its not them or those three, then we don't have any suspects."
"Yeah..." Flash muttered in agreement, his gaze now directing towards Pinkie and Wild again, "I don't like this either. If its not....hm?"
In that moment, Flash felt a familiar shiver go down his spine. In response, he turned to his jakhowl partner, only to see him with his eyes closed, his ears flaring as aura glowed around his body. Flash blinked at the sight, slowly speaking up, "What's up bud? Ya sense something?"
Springer didn't reply. Instead, the jakhowl suddenly leapt into the air and formed an Aura Blast in his paw, which he tossed towards some nearby trash cans. The strike knocked the cans flying, kicking up a dust cloud. But the cloud wasn't the strange part, as their ears now caught on to something new. Something was coughing, all thanks to the dust cloud.
The group all went on high alert as they watched the something slowly appear, the dust now settling. Standing on the upturned trash can, was a two foot high bipedal creature. It had bright pink skin with purple dots scattered around its body. Large pointed ears and purple hair like spikes struck out of its head, along with a long tail and sharp looking claws. The little creature turned towards the group, seeing that they were looking at it before looking down at itself. Whatever it was suddenly had a surprised look on its face, but the that surprise turned to strange focus as it scrunched up its face. This caused Pinkie to giggle, getting a strange look from everypony. "What?" she asked them as she pointed at the creature. "It looks like its trying to do number two."
The others rolled their eyes before turning back to the creature, seeing it was still doing whatever it was doing. Then, it stopped while panting heavily before looking back up at them.
"Uhhh," was all Flash could say at first, "anypony wanna tell me what the heck that thing is?"
"Beats me, I've never seen anything like it. Damn ugly though." Iron replied before turning to Fluttershy, who just shook her head.
"Sorry Iron, I don't know either."
"Great, another mystery..." Applejack commented in a deadpan tone as she pointed at the creature, "does anypony have any actual idea of what that thing is?"
Twilight, who had been searching through the vast mental library of her brain, finally found the mental book she had been looking for. Her eyes shrunk as she stuttered out the answer, "Gremlin."
The others turned her, Flash asking, "Come again?"
Twilight blinked at the sight, rubbing her chin as she scanned the creature over to be sure. "It's a gremlin."
"What's a Gremlin?"
"In one word...trouble."
As soon as those words left the unicorn's mouth, the gremlin quickly lived up to that name. It a bolt of motion, the being leapt onto Flash's back. "Hey! Get off!" Flash yelled as he tried to grab it, only for it to leap again.
"Get offa me, yah varmint!" Applejack yelped as it landed on her. She tried to buck it off, but the gremlin went full on rodeo and held on.
"I'll get him!" Springer yelled as he tried to tackle the gremlin, only for it to leap off Applejack and cause him to go flying over her. "Ow!" He cried as he slammed into the ground.
The gremlin this time landed back on the ground, and started laughing. Seeing that it was occupied with laughter, Flash turned to Twilight. "Some more info on this thing would be useful."
Twilight continued to scan her brain, tapping the side of her head as she began to explain, "If I remember right, they're pranksters by nature. They use their invisibility powers to play tricks on others."
"Guess we now know who's been playing all those silly pranks," Rarity said before sneezing again.
"But what's it doing here?"
"I don't know," Twilight told them with a shake of the head. "Their natural habitats are supposed to be mountains, where stray storm clouds gather."
"Storm clouds?"
"They're attracted to electrical energy. It acts like food to them, while also allowing them to turn invisible." A bulb instantly went off in Twilight's head as she finished her own explanation. "Yesterday's storm must have drawn them here."
"So...how do we deal with it?" Wild asked as his puppets hopped onto his back.
"Deal with it, deal with it!"
"I don't know," Twilight replied as she rubbed her chin. "None of the books I've read about it have ever explained how to get rid of one."
Iron let out a dark chuckle as he pulled out Piecemaker. "Oh please! I'll show you how we get rid of it!"
"I'm with you on that," Flash said as he pulled out Lightbringer. However, in that moment the gremlin snickered as it reached into the upturned trash can before pulling something out. That something what a bottle of some kind of liquid, which it ripped the top off before tossing its contents at the two knights.
Not expecting this, the two defenders of the peace didn't have time to react and soon felt the liquid land on their weapons. "What the?!" Iron said at his weapon.
Flash sniffed his blade, recognising the smell of the liquid. "Cooking oil?" He shook his head and focused on the gremlin. "Flash-" He didn't get to finish his attack, for when he swung his sword back, it slipped out of his hoof. Flash's friends all yelped as they ducked, the Celestic Gear going over their heads. They looked around to see Lightbringer stick into a nearby house wall before turning back to Flash, glaring at him. Flash cringed at this. "Sorry."
Iron stepped in front of him. "My turn. Iron-" He thrust his weapon forward, causing the spear to slip out of his hoof and land infront of the gremlin.
The little creature began to laugh again. "Gotcha!"
"It can talk?" Springer asked in surprise.
"No," Twilight immediately replied, "its just it's natural cry. Like a lion's roar or a cat's purr. That's where the term came from."
"Fascinating," Flash grumbled as he went over and tried to pull his weapon out of the wall, the oil making the grip extra tricky.
"I got this," Springer said as he created a Bone Breaker and charged at the beast. But as he did, the gremlin easily dodged the first swing with a hop, only to start hopping around like a bunny as Springer continued to miss. "Hold still, blast it!"
"That thing's on a permanent sugar rush," Wild said as he watched the two creatures rush around.
Pinkie chuckled. "That looks like fun."
"Its not!" Springer yelled as he missed again. "Can somepony please help me?!"
Twilight watched as the gremlin leapt away, trying to figure out where it would land next. As it hopped again, her horn lit up, only for a full magic aura to cover the gremlin in one fell swoop. There, it cried out as it tried to escape, but to no avail. Seeing this, Twilight levitated it up to the group, "Alright, you little trouble maker. Where should we put you until we find a way to get you back to your proper home?"
"I suggest somewhere small and very uncomfortable," Applejack growled with a glare.
Fluttershy stepped up next, putting her hoof between Twilight and Applejack. "Now hang on everypony. I'm sure he was only acting out because he's scared."
"Scared?!" Iron yelped with wide eyes.
Fluttershy nodded before turning to the gremlin. "You're in a strange place, and all of your friends are gone. That would make anypony act out. If you calm down and apologize, my friend Twilight promises to let you go."
The gremlin stared at her for several seconds, until finally it replied by spitting a raspberry in her face. Fluttershy moved back with a gasp. "How rude."
Iron picked his weapon back up. "You little-" He didn't get to finish his threat, as in that moment, the gremlin put two of its fingers up to his mouth and blew.
A high pitched whistle escaped his lips and echoed through the town, causing everypony to cover their ears. "What's it doing!?" Flash cried over the noise as he finally got his blade free and sheathed it.
"I don't know," Twilight replied, his face cringing up. "I have a feeling its nothing good though."
Pinkie, the only one unaffected as she had pulled out a pair of sound concealers out of her mane, saw the gremlin looking up at the roof. She followed his view and looked up, only to gasp and start tapping Flash on the shoulder.
"Not now Pinkie," Flash told her as he went up and began hitting the gremlin with his hoof. "Be quiet you little-" But Pinkie tapped his shoulder again, "I said, not now Pinkie! What do you-"
Pinkie didn't reply. Instead, she just pointed upwards.
Slowly, Flash and the others looked up and saw what she was pointing at. Gremlins, tons of them, appearing one after the other. They were all on the roof, smiling down at them all.
"Oh.." Flash, Iron and Springer said.
"Sweet.." Applejack, Rarity and Spike added.
"CELESTIA!" Twilight finished, as she accidently dropped the gremlin she was holding.
The free gremlin leapt up onto a nearby drainpipe and climbed up it, joining the rest of its kind. Once there, it let out some kinda babble before the group rushed off to cause more mischief.
"Oh ponyfeathers," Flash moaned as he with a face hoof, "This is gonna be worst than the Parasprite incident, isn't it?"
"Everypony after them!" Twilight called out. The group raced off in different directions, rushing around the town as they saw the gremlins do what they do best. Now that they were exposed, they were forgoing the previous subtlety and were simply causing major carnage.
Flash, Springer and Twilight followed one group and found them at the market, where they were throwing fruit and vegetables at running away ponies. "Gotcha, gotcha!" The gremlins cried out.
Flash pulled out his blade again, only for huge frown to appear on his face when he saw Scootaloo and her friends walk into the market. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, fresh out of school, had been heading to their club house and had cut through town, only to be bombarded by the gremlins. One of the gremlins had knocked Scootaloo off her scooter and started racing around on it, the pegasus chasing after it. "Give it back!" She cried as she tried to follow.
In that moment, Flash shot forward, knocking the gremlin off the scooter with one swift kick. He then turned to his sister and her friends, "You all okay?"
Scootaloo nodded as she got back on her scooter. "Yeah. Thanks Flash."
"No problem. Now get inside!"
Scootaloo nodded as she rushed away, grabbing her friends and heading to the closest building they could find cover in. With them out of danger, Flash turned back to the gremlins. "Alright, you freaks! You're going down, now!" He leapt into the air, the now dried Lightbringer in his grasp. "Let's see if you lot can handle this. Flash Cutter!" He swung his blade around, unleashing a barrage of energy blades.
However, the pink monsters saw them coming and smirked before pulling out a makeshift catapult and unleashing a barrage of tomatoes and carrots. The weaponized produce flew through the air and struck the energy blades, cutting them completely off. "What the heck?!" Flash cried before realizing they were already shooting another round, causing him to go into his Theta Mode and dodge the oncoming projectiles.
Twilight on the other hoof, was once again trying to use her magic to capture the gremlins, but the sheer number and their constant movements made it impossible. Soon enough, she found herself in the cross-hairs of their catapult as they fired a volley of oranges at her.
"Look out!" Springer cried as he leapt infront of her and created a Bone Breaker, spinning it around to block the fruit. But the jakhowl's defense wasn't enough, as they pulled out another catapult out of nowhere and shot another barrage. This time, a volley of pears struck the jakhowl, knocking him over instantly.
"Springer!" Flash yelled as he landed by him. "You okay?!"
"Look out!" Twilight told him, causing him to spin around and see another wave of flying fruit.
SMASH!
"Augh!" Flash yelped as the food hit him with full force, knocking him and Springer into Twilight. The trio then smashed into a stand, all of them groaning from the blow.
"Gotcha! Gotcha!" The gremlins cheered as they rushed off.
Twilight let out a moan as she pulled herself out of the stand. "That didn't go well. I really hope the others are having better luck than us."
Meanwhile...
Iron and Fluttershy had chased the gremlins to Time Turner's lab, where they found them messing with his machinery.
"Stop that!" Time Turner cried as he tried to use a broom to knock a gremlin off of one of his inventions. However, the gremlin was out of reach and more focused on the machine. It then stuck its claws onto the machine, sparks starting to shoot out of it and into the claws. Electricity began to surge around the gremlin's body, the creature's face one of pure bliss as it did this before the machine shut down to the loss of energy.
Then, as if on cue, the gremlin vanished into thin air.
"What the heck!? Where did it go?!" Iron asked as he looked around.
"I don't know," Fluttershy replied, only for the two to hear a sound above them. They looked up, only to see a floating can of grease.
SPLAT!
"Eeek!" Fluttershy cried as the grease drenched her and Iron.
"Gotcha!" The invisible gremlin cheered before leaping down and rushing out the lab, sliding on the greasy floor for fun.
"What in the name of time is going on?!" Time Turner screamed.
Meanwhile, again...
Applejack, Spike and Rarity had arrived in Bon Bon's candy store, where she and Lyra were standing on one of the island tables hugging each other in fear. The gremlins were going through their food, stuffing their faces with anything edible.
"Help us!" Bon Bon cried.
"Mmnnn!" Lyra tried to talk, but her mouth was still sealed shut.
"Hold on!" Applejack roared as she charged at the gremlins, spinning around and bucking them away with her hind legs. But the gremlins didn't seem phased by Applejack's unbelievable horsepower Instead, they all simply bounced off whatever surface they were bucked into like a rubber ball, laughing as they did.
"Lands sake!" Applejack yelled as she watched them return to their meal of candy. "What are these things made of?!"
Spike stepped up next. "Let's see how they like a little fire then!" He took a deep breath and unleashed a burst of flames, which flew at the gremlins and consumed them. However, the gremlins just stood there, unphased by the flames as well.
"They're fire proof as well?" Rarity asked in shock.
"Forget the fire! Just grab'em!" Applejack told the two, causing them all to leap at once. As they did, one gremlin grabbed a nearby bag of flour and slammed it into the ground, a white cloud flour quickly filling the room.
"I've got one!" Applejack yelled as the cloud continued to fill the building.
"I do too," Rarity added.
"Uhh...girls," Spike said as the flour cloud faded. When it did, Applejack and Rarity were revealed to be holding onto Spike, Applejack his tail and Rarity his right claw.
"Gotcha!" The gremlins all cheered from the door, all soon rushing out of the building to search for their next bit of mayhem.
"Aw shoot..."
Meanwhile, yet again...
Pinkie and Wild had chased a group of gremlins who had made their way to Sugarcube Corner, where Mr. and Mrs. Cake were cowering in the corner while protecting their twins. "Mister and Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie cried as she and Wild burst into the bakery.
"Pinkie!" Mr. Cake cried.
"Wild!" Mrs. Cake screamed. "What are these things?!"
"No time to explain," Wild said before turning to his puppets. "You know what to do!" The puppets zipped across the room and got between the bakers and the gremlins.
"Back off!" The five puppets yelled, their eyes glowing red. The gremlins looked at the wooden figures, only for all of them to jump on the puppets, banging them with their claws.
"Ha! We got them now!" Wild said as he pointed to this puppets. "Spin 'em till they barf, buddies!"
The puppets did just that, almost turning into a tornado as they spun the creatures around. Their eyes quickly turned to swirls as they all fell off, all of the gremlins either crashing or wobbling around the room.
"My turn!" Pinkie said as she pulled a leaf blower out from nowhere, blasting them out the door and the windows. "I like a good joke more than anypony, but you all go too far! You don't prank foals!" With that, she cracked the blower to its highest setting and created a small tornado that sent most of the gremlins flying away. Seeing no fun here, the remaining gremlins rushed out the door. Pinkie smiled at this, blowing the end of her blower like a cowboy would on a pistol. "Gotcha." She and Wild then turned to the Cakes. "Are you all okay?"
"We are now. Thank you."
"Aw, it was nothing."
"You four might want to lock this place up," Wild told them as he motioned to his puppets. "At least until we can rid of these things."
"Good idea," Mrs. Cake replied.
The two ponies nodded before rushing back out the bakery.
A little later...
Pinkie and Wild were now heading over to the main square, seeing the gremlins continue to cause major havoc on the way. The ponies of the town had all locked themselves away, trying to their homes safe from the invaders. And as they finally arrived outside town hall, they spotted the rest of their friends there. The eight of them did not look happy, as they were all covered in fruit, grease or flour.
"These things are unbeatable," Springer said as he tried to wipe the fruit of out his fur.
"I second that," Rarity added.
"There has to be some way of stopping them," Flash moaned as he helped Springer get clean. "We just have to think."
"There's too many of them to deal with one at a time," Twilight explained as she pulled an applecore out of her hair. "If we focus on one, the others use the distraction to get to us."
"Then we've gotta take them all out at once," Iron said while pumping his hooves. "Sounds good to me."
"And how'd you suppose we do that?" Applejack asked. "These things are so fast, plus they disappear whenever they get their claws on electricity."
"Agreed..." Twilight responded, only for another click to go off in her brain. "Wait a minute! We could use that!"
"What?"
"Storm clouds!" Twilight cheered as she clapped her hooves, "Remember, they brought the gremlins here. They're attracted to the storm clouds!"
Flash caught on to what she was saying, clapping his hooves as well, "Let me guess, you want us to use the storm clouds to lure them somewhere?"
"Correct. Then we can catch them all in one fell swoop." Twilight finished.
Pinkie's face morphed into a big frown. "Are you sure that's a good idea? These things seem pretty smart."
Flash just rolled his eyes. "They're just fun loving nuisances. They might be able to play a few pranks, but there's no way they'll outsmart us."
"But-"
"This isn't the parasprite incident Pinkie. We'll beat these things together." Flash barked back with a glare before turning to the others, "Okay, here's the plan. Fluttershy and I will gather as many storm clouds as we can while the rest of you work on setting up a trap. Agreed?"
"Agreed," everypony except Pinkie and Wild said before rushing off.
Pinkie's frown increased as her hair started to go flat. "I know they're still upset about the paint, but its like they're not even listening to me. Especially Flash."
Wild placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. They're all just upset because of the situation."
"I'm upset too!" Pinkie whimpered back. "But even so, they're not thinking this situation through. What if the gremlins get their claws on the electricity in the clouds? That could make them unstoppable."
"Then we'll deal with it," Wild told her with a wink. "Now come on. The least we can do is try Flash and Twilight's idea."
Pinkie sighed before nodding, the two following the others at a slightly slower pace.
And so, the group began Flash and Twilight's plan. Flash and Fluttershy managed to get their hooves on some storm clouds, which they were flying over the two to attract the gremlins. Said gremlins quickly followed the lightning, almost as if they could smell it. Soon enough, the two of them had all the gremlins chasing after them, causing Fluttershy to shake a little in fear.
"Relax," Flash told her as he looked down at the gremlins. They had climbed onto the roofs of buildings before leaping off to try and grab onto the clouds, only to miss over and over again. "See that? They can't reach us. Just stick to the plan."
"Okay," Fluttershy muttered as she kept pushing forward. "Um...Flash?"
"Yeah?"
"If they're attracted to electricity, couldn't we just lead them out of town?"
"Hmmm...I guess we could try that. If it doesn't work, we could still do plan A." Flash remarked as the two pegasi changed direction and headed to the edge of town towards Flash and Iron's training ground. Flash knew that if they reached there, he could use Lightbringer to cause a rock slide in the canyon and block them from heading back.
But as they got closer, the two pegasi came to stop as they saw that the gremlins had stopped following them. The two looked down, only to see the gremlins all talk to each other in gibberish.
"What are they...hey!" Flash yelled, getting their attention. "Come on you guys! Follow us!"
But the gremlins just gave him a blank stare, only to turn and rush back to Ponyville. Seeing this, Fluttershy commented, "I guess they don't want to leave."
"Great..." Flash growled, "so much for plan B. Come on, let's get back to plan A."
Fluttershy nodded and the two of them turned back to the town, following their original plan and gathering the gremlins once again. As they did, Flash opened up his aura connection with Springer. "How's it going partner?"
"Working on it," Springer replied as he followed Rarity with a batch of fabric. "We need a little more time."
The team were currently working on digging a large pitfall trap. Iron, Applejack, Pinkie, and Wild were digging it, Iron using Piecemaker as a shovel while Twilight supervised and calculated whether or not it was deep enough. Rarity, Spike and Springer were gathering green fabric from her shop, which they would use to cover the pit once it was done.
"Please tell me you lot are almost done," Spike said as they arrived.
"Almost," Twilight said as she looked down at the pit. It was currently five meters deep and eight meters wide, which based on the size of the gremlins and their number was just deep enough. "Alright," she used her magic to lift the others out before throwing the covering over it. "We're ready."
Springer nodded and opened his connection with his partner. "Now Flash!"
"You got it!" Flash replied before he and Fluttershy turned towards the location. The gremlins followed suit, still chasing and jumping after the cloud. And as they arrived at the spot where the hole was, Twilight and the others hid themselves away.
Soon enough, the two pegasi were floating just above the edge of the pit. There, they slowly descended with the cloud while Fluttershy shook as they all stared at them, Flash instead waiting for them to act. "Come on...just a little more..." he whispered under his breath.
Finally, the gremlins all leapt at them with their claws at the ready.
"NOW!" Flash yelled as he dragged Fluttershy and the clouds up and out of their reach, causing the gremlins to jump right into the green covering of the pit. The whole lot instantly went through the fabric, all of them falling like bricks.
"Yes!" Flash cheered as he busted the clouds and flew down towards the edge of the pit, the others coming out of hiding at the same time. They all looked down into the pit and saw the gremlins clawing at the side of the hole, trying to climb out, but with no luck.
"Looks like it worked," Twilight said with a smile.
"Ah'll say," Applejack added. "No way them varmints are gettin out of there."
However, in that moment, a pink claw appeared over the edge of the pit. The group flinched back in surprise before looking inside the pit to see that one of the gremlins, who was standing on the shoulders of another, was now on top of a tower like creation made by other gremlins.
"Seems you were wrong darling," Rarity shrieked. "They've already got out!"
The gremlin pulled itself up, only to find Iron's hoof in its face, knocking it back into the hole. That is, till three more gremlins heads popped up, only for his hooves to knock them all down as well. "This isn't working," he told the others as another gremlin tried to pull itself out of the hole, only to get the same treatment.
Flash turned to Twilight. "Uhh...think you can do something?"
Twilight nodded and turned back to the hole, her horn glowing as it created a barrier over the entire pit. The gremlin looked up and the purple shield, trying to claw at it with no result. "This should hold them...for now!"
For several minutes, they watched as the gremlins tried to escape with no success. The rest of the townsponies soon came out of their homes, coming over to them so they could get a look at the gremlins.
"So...what exactly are we gonna do with them?" Fluttershy asked.
Flash scratched his head. "I'm...not sure."
Twilight's face was scrunched up in focus. "Well, could you hurry up and think of something?! I can't hold this barrier forever!"
"We'll think of something." Iron replied as he watched the put with a cold glare. "Just...give us a minute."
Pinkie continued to watch as gremlins tried to escape, but then she noticed something. The gremlins were now further away from the edge of the pit, but how could that be possible? She racked her brain, until a single horrible thought entered her mind.
"Um...Twilight?"
"Little busy right now Pinkie."
"I know, but I have a really important question."
"Can it wait?"
"No."
"Fine. What is it?"
"Can gremlins...dig?"
Twilight turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"
Before Pinkie could reply, a new sound caught everypony's attention. They turned to the sound's source, only to see the ground suddenly break open, creating a small mole hill like hole. From out of that hole, a gremlin's head popped out.
"Gotcha," the gremlin laughed before leaping out. Another gremlin then followed, along with another and another.
"Plug it up!" Flash yelled as he, Springer and Iron leapt at the hole to cover it. However, another hole appeared a few feet away and the gremlins began rushing out of it. Everypony watched as more and more holes appeared, with every single gremlin climbing out of them. Eventually, the pit they had dug was completely empty.
WIth this, the townsponies rushed back into their homes, as the gremlins once again started causing mayhem. Flash picked himself up and looked around and saw the gremlins rushing about the town, swinging from lamp posts and causing whatever bit of havoc they could find. Seeing that they were back to square one, Flash collapsed onto his flank. "That's it, I give up!"
Twilight and the others rushed over to him and frowned, "Flash, you can't give up."
"Why not?! These things are unstoppable!"
The others wanted to refuse that, but then they looked around and started think he was right. "Maybe...maybe we should call the princesses for help."
"This is gonna be embarrassing," Iron admitted as he slumped down as well.
Applejack had to agree with that. "We've beaten crazy alicorns, chaos demons and shadow monsters, yet we can't beat a bunch of two foot high critters."
Everyone sighed and sat down along with Flash, leaving only one pony on her hooves. Pinkie looked around at her friends, seeing them all simply giving up after their plan failing. This caused her usual happy look to shift to one of seriousness as she moved in front of them. "Up on your hooves everypony! We're not done yet!"
Everypony looked up at her, giving her an odd look. That is, except Flash who just glared at her, "What exactly do you think we can do to stop these things?! Everything we've done doesn't do a thing." He let out a long sigh. "And...You were right. They're too smart."
"Exactly," Pinkie told him as she tapped her chest, "which is why to beat them, we can't outsmart them. We need to out-prank them."
Everypony stared at her with a round of deadpan stares, Twilight speaking up, "Pinkie, what are you talking about?"
"I know these things better than they know themselves. They're only after their own enjoyment. If we turn the tables on them and stop their fun, they'll get bored and leave on their own."
The group continued to give her a flat look as Rarity decided to add her two cents, "Pinkie darling, I honestly doubt it's that simple."
The others nodded in agreement, making Pinkie frown, until one of them stood up. Wild got onto his hooves and moved over to her with his tongue sticking out, "Come on everypony, what have we got to lose by trying? If this doesn't work, we have the princess plan to fall back on." Turned to Pinkie and smiled. "If anypony has a chance of stopping these things, its her."
Pinkie shined a huge grin back before turning to her friends. "Please...just trust me on this one."
One by one, the group smiled at her before getting up. "Alright Pinkie," Twilight told her. "We'll give your plan a shot."
"Indeed," Rarity continued.
"What have we got to lose?" Applejack added.
"I'll help to," Fluttershy said with a nod.
Iron smirked. "Same here. Beats having to ask the princess for help."
"We're in too," Spike and Springer replied in unison.
They turned to the last pony on the ground, Flash. However, he kept staring at the ground, only to feel a certain magic tug on his ear as Twilight spoke up, "Come on Flash, give her a chance."
Flash looked back up and stared at Pinkie for a moment, a sigh following as he picked himself up. "Alright Pinkie, what's the plan?"
The gremlins were continuing to look for anything fun to do, but the ponies being locked away was seriously limiting their options. It was in that moment that a group spotted Flash and Twilight sitting at a table, the two involved in a game of pony chess. The gremlins all snickered at this before moving over to them.
Flash picked up one of his pieces and moved it in a L shape. "So if I move my cockatrice here, then isn't that checkmate and I win?"
Twilight looked the board over. "Hmm..." In that moment, one of the gremlins jumped up on the table and flipped the board over, ruining their game. The rest of the gremlins waited to see their angry expressions, but were shocked to see the two ponies looking completely unphased by their actions. Instead, Twilight horn flared, and caused the board and its pieces to reappear in the exact same way they were before. "Maybe."
The gremlins were befuddled by this.
"I'm pretty sure it is Twilight, your alicorn is trapped." He pointed to spaces on the board. "You can't move there because of my minotaur." The board was once again flipped over, only to be restored by Twilight again. "You can't move there because of my manticore, and you can't move there, there, or there because of my dragon. So, that's check mate."
All the while he had been talking, the gremlins flipped the table again and again, only to get no reaction. No matter how much noise they made, the two would not acknowledge them. Seeing this, the gremlins all shrugged before turning away to find someplace else to cause some havoc.
But no sooner had they did this, each of them suddenly felt something smack the back of their heads. They cried out as they spun around and looked down, seeing small stones on the ground. They then looked up at Twilight and Flash, seeing that they were still looking down at their game.
The gremlins frowned at this and turned around again, only to be struck in the back of the head once more. They looked around and saw the exact same thing as before, stones on the ground and the two ponies playing their game.
"Want a rematch?" Flash asked in a low, lazy tone.
"Sure," Twilight said with a small shrug, "that last game was just a fluke anyway."
They all growled and began to walk off, keeping their backs away from the two until they were a fair distance away. Once they were gone, Twilight and Flash smirked before high hoofing. "Looks like it's working."
"I can't believe it is." Flash commented as he stared at the stones that had been used to hit the gremlins' heads.
"Because you doubted Pinkie." Twilight hissed as her horn started to glow, almost ready to pull Flash's ear. "You were really not nice to her earlier Flash."
"I...I know. I'm gonna apologize to her later Twilight." Flash admitted as he slumped in his chair. He glanced back at Twilight, only to see a huge scowl on her face. "I promise. I will apologize to her."
"Good." Twilight replied, her horn now back to normal. "Now...anything else you want to talk about?"
"No. Why do you ask?" Flash said as he blinked at her, a questioning gaze on his face. But in that moment, his hoof subconsciously raised itself over the X shaped scar on his chest.
This did not go unnoticed, making Twilight frown. "So that's it. Looks like your battle with Sombra got to you."
Flash blinked at her again. "I don't know what you're talking about-urk!"
That little yelp of pain was from a magical tug on Flash's ear, causing him to cringe. Twilight then leaned over, a cold glare on her face. "Now that I think about it, you've been acting strange ever since that battle. I know you were really happy at your birthday, but you've been nothing but serious these past few weeks, even going so far with you not going with Scootaloo to go camping! You were also especially bad when we went to go see Rainbow."
"Twilight, I told you about that. I'm a solider and-augh! Stop pulling my ear!"
"No! No excuses!" Twilight yelled as she slammed her hoof on the table. "Tell me what happened, now!"
"Twilight, I'm not-"
"Stop it." Twilight interrupted again, her glare now changing to one of sympathy. "I know you better than anypony else Flash. I've seen you like this, it was only back when we lived in Canterlot when Lightning Blitz would pick on you all the time." Twilight put her hoof to her lips as she continued, "Flash...what did Sombra do? Is it the scar?"
"I....no." Flash admitted as he could now feel Twilight's magical aura disappear around his ear. He knew he couldn't get out of this, and continued, "I just...when I fought that guy, I...." He looked back up at her, misery mixed with fear all over his face, "I really thought I was gonna die. Like...he had me and everything."
Twilight blinked at this, tilting her head with a frown. "What do you mean?"
Flash shook his head, tears almost beginning to form, "I...no, me and Ruby....we didn't even hurt the guy. Any blow we did, it didn't do a thing Twilight." Flash pulled out Lightbringer and stared at the blade with sad eyes. "But it wasn't just that. That guy...Sombra, he was pure evil."
"Pure evil? You mean, he was worse than the others we've faced?"
Flash nodded, "Yeah. He...I could tell he wanted to do nothing but bring misery to everypony. And I couldn't stop him." Flash looked down and rubbed the scar again, "When he did this...this scar to me, I could see his face as he did it. He...was smiling. A full, genuine smile was on his face while he was causing me pain." Flash looked back up at Twilight, "Even Lightning, who hated me, was never like that."
"Flash..."
"And yet....I got in that situation because I was overconfident. I know I was also going in there to save Ruby but..." Flash let out a long sigh as he looked down at his scar again, "I thought for sure I could take him. I went in thinking I could just win the fight like I always do, only this time...this time I got punished for being an idiot."
"Oh Flash..." Twilight got up and hugged the pegasi, the defender slowly embracing back. After a few moments, she backed off and stared right into his eyes. "You need to stop punishing yourself over this. We still won that fight, Flash. You need to move on, got it?"
"But-"
"No buts Flash." Twilight interrupted, grabbing her shoulders with her hooves, "We're all here for you, and we'll help you move on, okay?"
"I..." Flash tried to reply as he looked up at her, only to see a huge, kind smile on her face. Seeing this, he nodded as a small smile appeared on his. "Okay. Thanks Twilight."
"Good. Next time something like this happens, you need to tell me and the others, okay? We're all here to help you."
"Okay." Flash replied with a nod.
Twilight released her grip as she motioned him to follow her. "Alright. Come on, the others might need our help."
"Sounds good to me."
Several more gremlins were in the park, looking for some fun. They soon noticed Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Spike all having a picnic, with tea and sandwiches.
The gremlins smirked at this before rushing past them, grabbing the picnic supplies as they soon scarfed them down. No sooner had they swallowed, their throats suddenly seemed to catch fire. The lot of them screamed as they rushed over to a nearby fountain and dunked their heads inside. But they soon learned that this was also mistake, as the fountain contained not water but soapy bubbles.
The gremlins all cried out as the horrible taste mixed with the spicy food. They all stuck out their tongues and started scratching them, trying to get the bad taste off of them.
The three ponies and baby dragon laughed at this, making the gremlins angry as they ran off from the humiliation.
The last group of gremlins found Iron and Springer in the forest training ground, where they looked to be starting their exercise.
When they saw the two heading over to where they kept the heavy lifting gear, the gremlins smirked before racing past them. They each grabbed the heaviest weight they could find and pulled it away from them, holding each of them above their heads as trophies. They expected the two to be annoyed, but instead, they just smirked.
"Gotcha," Iron chuckled as he pointed to the weights they had grabbed.
The gremlins were confused by this, until they all realized their claws were stuck to the weights. It was as if somepony had covered them in glue, which was exactly what they had done.
"Try dodging now," Springer said as he and Iron prepared an Aura Blast and an Iron Lance Fury. They fired their attacks, easily striking the now weighed down gremlins. The gremlins all cried out in pain, soon trying to run away as they stumbled over the weights stuck to their claws.
"I can't believe this is working," Iron said as he kept laughing at the sight.
"It's up to Pinkie's grand finale now," Springer told him with crossed paws. "Can't wait to see it happen."
The gremlins all met up in the center of town, all of them seeing their friends in different states of annoyance.
As they all spoke to each other, a nearby door cracked opened to show Pinkie's eye. Seeing them like this, she giggled before yanking the door open. "Alright everypony, let 'em have it!"
The gremlins looked up at her before hearing the sound of doors and window flying open, causing them to turn around and see everypony else in Ponyville. They were all holding large cream pies, which they soon turned into a storm of pies headed towards the whole horde of gremlins. The gremlins cried out as they tried to run away, but no matter where they went, more and more cream pies kept splattering in their faces. As they did this, the sound of laughter filled the streets, making the gremlins put their claws over their ears.
But as they continued to run away, they then saw somepony up the street. It was Wild, who was holding up a book Twilight had given him. "Hope I get this right," he said as his horn glowed. He then shot a beam at the ground in front of the gremlins, causing it and the path ahead to become covered in ice. Before the gremlins could stop themselves, they slipped on the ice, soon sliding down the street at high speed.
Then they saw something that made them all go wide eyed. Pinkie had somehow gotten her hooves on a large ramp, which she pushed into position at the end of the ice path. The gremlins hit the ramp and shot up into the air, only to look down and saw that they were still in trouble.
Twilight, Flash, Rarity and Applejack were all carrying a gigantic cream pie, and were positioning it so the gremlins would land in it. "A little to the left," Twilight said as she judged the gremlins' flight path. "A little more...perfect. Drop it everypony."
They did just as the first gremlin flew into it with a splat, followed by another and until they all landed in the pie. As the gremlins all pulled themselves out, the sound of pony laughter made them look to see Pinkie and the rest of Ponyville's citizens laughing at them. "GOTCHA! GOTCHA! GOTCHA!"
The gremlins all growled at them, only for Pinkie to say, "Give it up. We can prank just as good as you. So either behave or leave, your choice."
The gremlins all looked at each other, seeing that they had been beaten. With that, they turned tail and ran away, admitting defeat. Everypony watched as the last of the pink monsters disappeared, never to be seen again. The entire town was filled with an uproar of cheer, everypony celebrating the gremlins' departure.
"I can't believe that actually worked," Flash commented with a big smile.
Twilight giggled at him. "I told you, you just needed to trust in Pinkie."
"Yeah..." Flash said before turning back to the party pony. He once again reached up and touched the scar on his chest. "I guess you're right."
The next day...
Rainbow Dash flew through the air, making her way back from the Wonderbolt Academy. After the Lightning incident, Rainbow's time at the academy had been incredible, especially after what had happened between her and Soarin. Just thinking about it made her blush.
But as she broke through some clouds and the town came into view, her eyes went wide as she found the town in disarray. "What the heck?!" She asked as she flew down and landed in the main square, only to see ponies walk by with timber and tools. "What's going on?"
"Rainbow!" The pegasus turned to see Twilight rush up to her. "You're back!"
"What happened to Ponyville?" Rainbow asked as she continued to look around. "It looks like a tornado just tore through this place!"
"It's a long story," Twilight explained as she levitated some tool up to the weather pony. "I'll tell you as we work. You up for a little rebuilding?"
"Um...sure?"
Pinkie and Wild were helping fix up Sugarcube Corner, specifically a part of the roof that had been damaged by a gremlin. Pinkie was hammering away at the wood she and Wild were using to fill the damage as she turned to the unicorn and smiled at him. "Thanks by the way. If you hadn't stood by me, the others might not have agreed to try my plan."
"No problem." Wild told her as he motioned his puppets to give him another piece of lumber. "I'm just glad it worked."
"So am I." said a third voice. The two looked down at the ground and saw Flash looking up at them.
"Pinkie, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Pinkie and Wild shared a glance, Wild nodding before returning to work while Pinkie climbed down the ladder. She and Flash moved away from the building as Pinkie spoke up, "So, what's up Flashy?"
Flash let out a small sigh as a big frown appeared on his face. "I just wanted to say...I'm sorry I've been so hard on you recently."
"It's alright."
"No, its not. I've been mean to you ever since we got back from the Crystal Empire." Flash told her as he traced his hoof over the scar on his chest. "It's just...when I fought against Sombra, I was still making jokes and messing around. I wasn't serious enough and...he almost killed me."
"But we beat Sombra."
"Barely. If I hadn't been kidding around, I might have been able to put up a better fight. So instead, I started being more serious and....mean lately." He admitted as remembered having Sombra's Spirit Breaker spell used on him, which made him clutch the scar again. "I needed to be focused and...and I realize that. But that doesn't mean I should force my friends to act that way....or be that way to them."
Pinkie shook her head at this. "Flash, you're wrong."
Flash turned to her. "What?"
"Making jokes, messing around, there's nothing wrong with that. You can be like that and still be serious." Pinkie put her hoof on his shoulder, "Laughing, joking, that's how ponies deal with their fear. Remember when we went after the Elements in the Everfree Forest when you got separated from us?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"Well, everypony got really scared, but then I helped them laugh their fears away."
"You did?"
Pinkie nodded. "I think making jokes and messing around is just your way of facing your fears. It's your way of giggling at the ghosties." Flash's eyes went wide. He had never thought of it like that. But before he could say anything, Pinkie continued as she patted his shoulder, "And it's not just you that your jokes make calm. After all, isn't it a knight's job to make everypony feel safe and calm?"
"It is..." Flash said with a slow nod.
Pinkie gave him a wink, a huge grin popping onto her face. "You see? You can be serious and still joke around."
Flash chuckled at this, shaking his head. "Thanks Pinkie. I get it now."
"That's good. But can you make me a Pinkie Promise?"
"Um....sure?"
"I want you to Pinkie Promise that from now on, whenever you're in a fight, no matter how bad it looks for you, that you'll keep a bright smile on your face. Even if it's just you fighting on your own, you should always have a big goofy grin on your lips." Pinkie's grin continued to grow, "That way, everypony, friend or foe, can see that you will win and save the day. Okay?"
For the first time in the last few days, Flash's face showed a true smile. "Alright. I promise to keep smiling," he said as he did the action. "Pinkie Promise."
Pinkie's own smile doubled as she threw her arms around his neck. "YAY!"
"Thanks again Pinkie." Flash laughed as she pulled away. "Now come on, this town's not gonna rebuild itself."
"Alrighty!"