Book One: Gremlins and Gumm-Gumms
Chapter Four
"AAAHH!!!" Rarity's scream echoed through the night as she fled from her boutique. She had been enjoying a relaxing evening with a cup of tea and a good book when, out of nowhere, some manner of horrid things had descended on her shop, chasing her around and shredding all of her completed products, all of her fabric bolts, and in a few cases even the ponikins. "Uncouth beasts!" She shouted. "My entire summer line is ruined! It's the worst possible thing!" Growling sounds all around caused her ears to perk up. "Then again, I suppose things could get even worse..." She spun about, horn glowing with magic, trying to face the creatures which were converging on her, but they were coming from all directions.
Seeing a single place in the circle where there were fewer of the monsters, Rarity decided to make a break for it. She charged, firing a blast of magic from her horn which splattered two and caused the rest of them to spread further apart. Heartened by this, sure she would make it through, the unicorn cheered and galloped as fast as her hooves would carry her. It wasn't fast enough. She didn't even get halfway before several of the monsters dragged her to the ground. "What do you want you horrors!?" She exclaimed.
One of the creatures produced an old 'speak 'n spell' toy (After a previous leader had found and used one, the gremlins became obsessed with the things) and pressed a button. "'D' is for Dinner. Yum yum." The machine said, and the creature added it's own two bits: "Kitty yum-yum. Pony have kitty. Pony yum-yum..."
"Oh no, pony is not on the menu! Kitty either! If you've harmed a hair on my Opalescence's head-!" Rarity shouted, struggling to get free, to no avail. But then, just before she could give up all hope, a sound of laughter rang out across the town. Pony and gremlins both looked towards the source, which proved to be- "You've got to be kidding me." Rarity deadpanned.
Perched atop the very peak of Carousel Boutique was a pony. A pink pony. A pink pony dressed in an all-too-familiar spandex suit. "I am the terror that bakes in the night!" The pony vanished in a puff of smoke, to reappear atop another building. "I am the hooved scourge that bucks at your nightmare!" Another puff of smoke and she vanished again, reappearing on the ground before Rarity and the gremlins. "I... ...Am Mare Do Well!!"
The gremlins reacted swiftly, a quartet of them continuing to hold Rarity down while the rest converged on this new oddity. "Pinkie! Run!" Rarity screamed.
"Rares! No giving away my secret identity!" Pinkie hissed. "And don't worry, I've got this..." From behind her back, Pinkie produced... ...A tanning lamp. She switched it on (unplugged, don't ask) and in an instant the gremlins began to smoke and scream in pain, fleeing the sun-like U.V. rays which, though multiple orders of magnitude weaker than actual sunlight and therefore unable to turn them to stone, were still no fun for the creatures to be around.
"Pinkie!" Rarity cheered as she ran to her friend and hugged her tightly. "You saved my life!" She released another sigh of relief as Opalescence came running and rubbed against her forelegs, purring.
"All in a day's work." Pinkie answered, removing her mask. "Though actually I suppose it's a night's work since it's after dark. And I don't think anyone would appreciate me stopping now and waiting until tomorrow night just because tonight's work is done. Sorry I didn't make it in time to save the inside of your shop. These guys are everywhere!"
"What!? It's not just those!?" Rarity gasped. "Sweetie Belle! I have to find her!"
"Don't worry, we will!" Pinkie replied. She pulled her mask back on, then passed Rarity another of the Mare Do Well costumes. "Now suit up."
"Oh Pinkie, I don't think..."
Pinkie leaned in close, staring Rarity in the eyes. "Suit. Up."
Rarity sighed. This was going to be a long strange night...
XXXXX
As the gremlins converged, Macintosh and Bethany both thought fast: Mac grabbed a tall umbrella pole from the coffee house's patio (thankfully not open) in his mouth and began wielding it like a polearm, stabbing at the closest gremlins to keep them away. Bethany, meanwhile, grabbed up a full pot of coffee and flung the contents at the creatures on her side, scalding them. They screamed and thrashed and melted into goop. Beth looked at the shop's griffon barista. "Geez Gewolt, what do you put in this stuff?"
"You humans are the ones who like it to be able to stand up on it's own." the griffon answered, then took out another gremlin with a swipe of her claws. "But seriously, it's just normal coffee, if a bit strong for my tastes."
"Maybe they're allergic to caffeine?" Beth's mother suggested.
"Hell of an allergy." Beth said.
"Eenope." Macintosh answered, able to speak after rearing up and transferring the pole to his hooves. "Folks in Arcadia said these things were squishy." He swung again, taking out several more, but they just kept coming.
Raymond said "Squishy or not, there's too many of them! We've gotta get out of here!"
"But they've got us surrounded!" Beth said.
"Not all of us!" Gewolt said. "Hang on, I'll get help!" She spread her wings and flew up and out, several gremlins trying to jump up and grab on though she was too high for that.
"We need better weapons!" Ray shouted. "Any more of that coffee?"
Bethany quickly examined the counter. A smile came over her face. "No, but I see something better!"
Sitting on the counter was a box filled with darts for the coffee house's boards. There were a lot of darts. Beth grabbed up the box and started throwing, some of the gremlins taking hits and popping, others jumping clear, luckily none of them smart enough to throw them back. The barrage drove the gremlins back, some, but there were still so many of them and Bethany's ammo was only going to last so long. Which really, was all she had in mind: Buying time for Gewolt to return with more help.
Which the griffon did in an unexpected fashion. With a loud roar Bert Gumbal's Hummer braked to a halt before the coffee house, and even before it had totally stopped moving the passenger doors burst open. From the back door came Gewolt, swiping with her claws, while from the front came Bert's dog Shadow and Rainbow Dash, the latter wielding a club in her forehooves. Surrounded, the gremlins still tried to fight for a few moments, but when Bert emerged and cocked his gun, they screamed and fled.
"Oh thank god..." Bethany breathed out.
"Eeyup, that's some good timin' Bert." Macintosh agreed.
"Thank Gewolt for that." Bert said. "I was goin' the other way when she flagged us down."
"Is this... Normal around here?" Martha asked.
"Eh kinda-sorta." Dash answered, waggling a hoof back and forth. "You get long stretches with nothing, then BAM!"
"Yeah pretty much that." Beth confirmed, and everyone said the same.
Bert said "We were on our way to town hall, hoping to find Tucker and maybe Twilight. I'd say our best plan is to get Ray and Martha to the window edge, out of danger, then all go ahead with that."
"Good thinkin'." Mac nodded.
"Mom, Dad, go with Bert. He can have you there in like a minute, then pick us up to go on to town hall." Bethany urged her parents into the Hummer, though Martha was protesting.
"We can't leave you!"
"Mom, you're not really here remember? We'll be okay. Go!" She slammed the door shut and Bert peeled out.
"Ge, you're coming with us. I'm not leaving you here alone." Mac said.
"Hoped you'd say that." The griffon answered, "But I'll fly overhead on the way. Less crowded in the vehicle that way and I can keep an eye open for anyone else needing help."
"I would too," Dash said, but..." She spread her wings, showing that a number of feathers were missing. "Be several days before I'm in the air again."
"Yikes! Are you okay otherwise!?" Beth asked.
"Oh, yeah, it's fine. Just wish I hadn't been asleep when it started. I might've gotten clear. And then of course, it's not like I'm-" Dash's eyes went wide as a sudden realization hit her. "Fluttershy!"
XXXXX
"Now what do we do!?" Sarah Riggs exclaimed. Along with her brother Micheal, another boy named Paul, and Crusaders, she had been pursued by monsters, from the club house all the way back to where they had hoped to find shelter at the Apple farm house only to find it surrounded as well.
"We can't run all the way back to town!" Scootaloo said, "We'll never make it that far!" Sure enough, the sounds of the pursuing creatures was getting louder.
"What about hiding in the henhouses?" Sweetie Belle suggested. "Or the pig pen? Didn't Mac hide from something by coating himself in mud once?"
"That was special circumstances." Apple Bloom explained. "Doubt it'd work on these guys."
"Well we've gotta do something!" Micheal exclaimed.
Just then, something was done for them: The front door of the Apple's house swung open and Applejack appeared, armored in pots and pans, swinging a frying pan like a cudgel. "Run!" She shouted to the kids, who didn't have to be told twice. The gremlins kept coming, but Applejack swung a mean fry pan, keeping them at bay just long enough for everyone to make it inside, Granny Smith slamming the door shut of several 'foot in the door' gremlins who screamed in pain and limped away while the rest continued to beat at the door.
Apple Bloom hugged her big sister while Scootaloo asked "Are we safe in here?"
"Long as they don't bust out a window we should be." Apple Jack said. "Granny and me made sure both doors an' all the windows upstairs an' down were locked. Same with the cellar doors."
Outside, a pattering sound could be heard, as several of the creatures seeming to finally accept that they wouldn't get in on the ground floor began to climb the walls. Everyone in the house looked up, as the pattering sound also came from the roof. "You sealed the upstairs windows..." Paul asked, "But what about the chimney?"
"Horseapples." Apple Jack cursed.
"Oh come on!" Scootaloo said, "There's a raging fire and a pot of Granny's soup in there! They won't be dumb enough to-"
She was cut off as the first creature dropped into the pot, lived long enough to point at Apple Bloom and scream "Waka Chaka!" then realized it was standing in boiling liquid and keeled over. As it did so, the kettle tipped, spilling soup and liquified gremlin onto the floor, and making room in the fireplace for more of the creatures to appear and crawl along the top and sides, away from the fire, into the room.
"They're after 'Bloom 'cause of the one she killed!" Sarah said.
"Ah didn't mean 't hurt it! I just wanted it off my friend!"
"Don't think that matters to 'em." Apple Jack said. She picked up her fry pan again, but there were far too many without an exit strategy.
"Ah'm open 't suggestions..."
XXXXX
As soon as Bert had returned, Beth, Dash, and Mac piled into the Hummer, Dash shouting the need to go and check on Fluttershy. "If these things went after her, there's no telling what's happened!"
"Calm down Dash, she probably just stared them down." Macintosh said.
"Yeah maybe but what if it didn't work?" Dash insisted. "These don't seem like the kind of things that would be intimidated even by that."
"She's right. We should go." Beth agreed.
Bert nodded. "Alright then. Fluttershy's it is."
He put the Hummer back in gear, and swerved off, around a corner and straight down main street, the griffon Gewolt flying overhead. As they went, it became clear that most people were at least trying to fight back, with some measure of success. They passed numerous piles of goo, and while there were still tons of the creatures about their numbers were very obviously diminished compared to when things had started.
Bert ran down another pair of the gremlins, rounded another corner, and came to a stop in front of Fluttershy's property. Everyone piled out of the vehicle and ran towards the house, stumbling to a stop at the unexpected sight that greeted them. SIlver Spoon lay on the door step, using a first aid kit to tend to a laceration on her back. Fluttershy stood tall, breathing hard and with fire in her eyes, covered in the goo remains of several gremlins with a lot more of the mess scattered all around on the ground. Before her was a terrified blue gremlin, cowering for it's life.
"What... Happened...?" Beth asked.
Silver Spoon looked up. "It was the most amazing thing ever!" She gushed. "One of them jumped on my back and clawed at me, and Miss Fluttershy went ballistic!"
While Beth and Mac examined Silver's wound, confirming it would probably need stitches but wasn't as bad as it had initially looked, Bert and Dash approached Fluttershy. "Fluttershy...?" Bert asked.
The yellow pegasus exploded at the surviving Gremlin. "You! Don't! Hurt! Children!!!!" She screamed, and the creature cowered back further.
Bert grabbed the gremlin up and stuffed it in a bag while muttering something about "Prisoner of War," and wondering if "Geneva applies to gremlins?"
Dash laid a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Flutters? You okay?"
The contact broke her out of her trance. "Oh! Rainbow Dash!" She whispered. Looked herself over. "Terribly sorry, but I think I need a shower..." And she fainted dead away.