//------------------------------// // Things get complicated // Story: Love is in the Air, Literally // by Nexas //------------------------------// Spike kept screaming. "Honestly love, you have some impressive lungs." Lyra complimented the Dragon. "I bet you have a lovely singing voice." She walked over to Celestia, who was staring down the Dragon,. "Our music will be beautiful when you love me." "I'm not going to love you!" Spike screamed at her, straining under the ropes that held him down. She patted Celestia's side. "That's why I have the Princess now. I can make you love me." "You can't do that!" He pleaded. She tilted her head questioningly. "Why not?" She stamped her hoof and Celestia started to focus, her horn lighting up with magic. Streams fo magic came out of the horn and shot towards Ponyville, where the love cloud still hung in the air. The magic wrapped around the cloud and to Spike's shock and horror the cloud started to move towards them, moving in a stream of love mist, pulled by magic. The mist swirled over the mob of Ponies and up to Spike, Lyra and Celestia, curling though the air like a massive snake. It slowly climbed the hill and came to a stop right behind Celestia, towering above her and pointing towards Spike. "Any last words before we're together forever?" Lyra giggled happily. "A few but Twilight's told me to never say them." He muttered. Celestia launched the mist at Spike, firing it at him in one long wave. "I hate pink." Spike grumbled, bracing himself for the impact. The wave was just about to hit him when Lyra cried out. "Stop!" The wave halted and everypony looked at her, confused. Celestia tilted her head confusingly. "Did I do something wrong dear?" "No, you were exceptional, but I just thought of a brand new plan!" Lyra grinned ear to ear at the thought that entered her head. She leapt onto Celestia's back and whispered into her ear. A grin slowly grew on the princesses face as well. She spread her wings and flew up into the air. "I'll be right back!" Lyra shouted back to Spike. "I have to prepare a proper gift for my love!" With that she and Celestia soared away, the love mist drifting behind them. Leaving behind Spike who was still tied to a pole, to watch them go. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Without warning, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Bon Bon ran up from behind him, screaming at the top of their lungs and clad in what looked like kitchen pots and pans along with their gas masks. Bon Bon struck a fighting pose. "Lyra, I don't want to hurt you but you'd better give spike back or...or..." Bon Bon lowered her makeshift weapon, a frying pan, and inspected her surroundings more clearly, coming to the eventual, obvious conclusion that her marefriend wasn't here. "She's not here." She glumly noted. Applejack lowered her weapon and sighed. "Really? Ah wanted to give her a whopping." Bon Bon glared at the farmer. "Ah-Ah mean, Ah wanted to help her and...stuff." Pinkie, who was the weapon that Applejack had wielded, lowered her own weapon as well. "So she's not here?" "You just missed her." Spike chimed in. The three turned and realized for the first time that they had blindly ran past the Dragon they were going to rescue. "Spike!" The three shouted, taking off their gas masks. Applejack walked over and untied him. "Where's Lyra?" "She was here earlier; Princess Celestia had stepped in to save me." Applejack looked around. "Celestia was here?" She must have come to help." "Hooray!" Pinkie cheered. "Where is she?" Applejack asked excitedly. He pointed to the sky where the Alicorn was flying away. The others looked up in the direction. "There she is!" "But why is that cloud of love stuff following her?" "And why is Lyra on her back, laughing insanely?" Everypony went silent as they came to the same conclusion. "Spike..." Applejack spoke slowly, not taking her eyes off the swirling mist that got farther and farther away. "What's going on here?" Spike looked nervously at the three earth ponies. "Princess Celestia...got hit with the love potion." Their hopeful expressions quickly dropped. "Hurroo." Pinkie said quietly. "Now the princess is under the spell?!" Applejack exclaimed. "And she's in love with Lyra." "Oh come on!" Bon Bon screamed. She ripped off her makeshift armor and threw it to the ground. "First she fell in love with that little squirt-" "Hey!" "And now our Princess is in love with her?!" She stared at the ground despairingly. "How am I supposed to compete with a sun goddess?" "Why is she leaving?" Applejack asked. "All she said was that she needed to prepare a proper gift." Spike shook his head, trying to figure out what that meant exactly. "She's probably going to prepare for your royal wedding." The three turned to Pinkie, who was still watching the long trail of mist, float away. "What makes you say that?" Bon Bon asked the pink Pony. Pinkie pointed in the direction of the ever-shrinking love cloud. "Because she's heading in the direction of Canterlot." "..." "WHAT?!" "CANTERLOT?!" Applejack screamed, throwing her hat to the ground. "Really?!" "I guess we need to go there and stop them." Bon Bon shook her head, exasperatedly. "And I thought things couldn't get worse." "And it's about to get a lot worse." Pinkie pointed again. "Look!" She had pointed to the base of the hill, where the horde of love struck Ponies had finally realized that their leader was gone and had decided to have Spike for themselves instead. They climbed up the hill, and over each other, to try and get to the Dragon. The group fearfully stepped away from the advancing mob. Spike gulped. "It could be worse." Applejack glared at him. "How can it get any worse?!" She frantically shouted. He shrugged. "Twilight could be here?" *** "RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" A tree flew into the air of the Everfree forest, pulled down by gravity a moment later, the loud crunch of splintering wood echoed off the trees. Twilight Sparkle roared in fury. "You made me lose my SPIKEY WIKEY!!!" Twilight effortlessly ripped a tree straight out of the ground with her magic and with another fierce cry, she flung it at the focus of her anger; Rarity. Rarity was strung up by her legs a few feet off the ground, her body held up by magically controlled vines. She constantly swayed back and forth, oblivious to her lover's intent. Every time Twilight had attempted to crush her with a tree, she either dodged the attack or in Twilight's rage, she threw to hard and the tree was sent far away. "Oh Twilight!" Rarity cooed. "I didn't know you were into things like this!" "Shut up!" Twilight growled at the white unicorn. "It's your fault that my true love got away!" She suddenly got quiet, a look of despair on her face. "Now that musician probably has him." Rarity stopped swinging and looked at her new lover sympathetically. "Awwww, would my Sparkle kitten like it if I help her find Spike?" "No!" Twilight shouted at her. "You'll screw it up or you'll try and kill him or something!" "Kill him?" Rarity gasped. "I am a Pony of etiquette, I abhor violence." She winked at Twilight. "But I am all for spreading the love, if you know what I mean." "Unfortunately, for once I do." Twilight glared at Rarity, full of contempt for her once-friend. "But no." She refused. "I will find Spike alone and will crush anypony who stands in my way!" To emphasize her point, Twilight magically ripped a tree from the ground and compressed it into a flat disk before shooting it at Rarity, cutting through the vines that held her up and sending her crashing to the forest floor in a jumbled heap. Twilght stormed off, mumbling to herself about various magic tracers and teleportation spells. "Twilight!" Rarity called to her lover, she struggled to stand up in the mass of vines. "Wait for me please!" "I will find you Spike." Twilight muttered to herself. "And nopony's going to stop me." *** After a moment of planning, the group had finally come to the conclusion that the best course of action would be to head to Canterlot by train and administer the antidote there. The problem was getting there before the love horde got them first. "Keep running!" Applejack shouted as they raced through Ponyville, trying to outrun the hordes of lovers trying to kil them or worse. "The train station is this way!" "No it's not!" Bon Bon shouted back, Spike clinging to her flying mane for dear life. "That way leads to the post office, the station is this way!" "Are you doubting mah navigation talents?" "What if I am?" "Guys?" Spike asked meekly. "Now's probably not the right time to argue." "Hey girls?" Pinkie called from behind them. She seemed to be dragging her hoofs a bit. "Try to keep up Sugercube." Applejack told her. Pinkie shook her head, the tip of her hair whipping back and forth. "No, no, no, no. I mean I'm trying to keep up but one of the lovey-dovey ponies caught up to me and is clinging to my tail by its teeth." She paused for a moment. "Should I be worried about that?" "Don't be, we'll pry it off when we get to the train." Applejack reassured her. "If we get to the train." "Alright, that's it!" Applejack shouted at Bon Bon. "Ah know exactly where Ahm going!" "No, I do!" Bon Bon shouted back. "Actually, you're both wrong." Pinkie hopped up in between them, each hop accompanied by a rythmic thumping behind her. She pointed in her own direction. "The train station is right there." The two looked in Pinkie's pointed out direction and realized that she was right, the station was just ahead of them and they hadn't noticed. "See? It's right there." She repeated happily. "So it is." Applejack duly noted; mentally facehoofing. The train station was strangely empty, zero Ponies lined the usually full ticket booths and the sides of the track where the Ponyville train sat were completely barren. The train itself sat silently on the tracks, nopony seemingly around to even operate it. Spike and the girls raced up the steps to the platform. "Alright, this is the time when freeloaders get off." Applejack said. She walked over to Pinkie and the pony that was still attached to her tail, raised her hoof and knocked the pony away, sending with it a chunk of Pinkie's tail. "Now that that's out of the way." Applejack continued, eying the quiet locomotive. "Does anypony know how to drive a train?" "Oh, oh, I do!" Pinkie raised her hoof, hopping up and down. Applejack eyed the pastry chef confusingly. "Really? You can drive a train?" Pinkie hopped ahead of the group, the part of her tail that was bit off growing back with a *poof*. "I expect so." She noted. "It's that sort of day." With the sounds of love starved hordes on their heels the group decided not to argue and took off after her. *** "Commander, any news on my sister?" "Negative Princess, she hasn't reported back yet." Princess Luna paced the courtyard of the royal castle, her mane full of stars, glittering in the sunlight. Celestia, her sister had left to Ponyville for some strange reason that Luna couldn't fathom nor would her sister tell her. All she had said was that she would be going to investigate why her prized student, Twilight Sparkle hadn't sent her a friendship letter in quite some time. That had been a few hours ago. "We need to scramble the troops, Commander." She had insisted. "We need to find my sister." "With all due respect, your highness, the Princess is probably fine, all we need to do is wait." Luna was distraught, something was wrong; she could feel it in the wind. "I have to do something!" She exclaimed, her wings unfurling with a powerful gust of wind. "There is something very wrong today! I have to find-" "Princess Celestia! Coming in from the west!" One of the guard towers suddenly cried out. Luna, closed her wings and ran to the wall to get a closer look, the other soldiers following her. She instantly recognized her sister, flying towards the battlements, radiating light. But something was off. For one, there was a pony riding on her back, Luna quickly noted that it was a unicorn and Celestia was flying in a lazy fashion, swaying blissfully back in forth to the tune of a silent music For two, there was a strange pink cloud that seemed to follow her. "Commander?" "Yes Princess." "Do you see a pink mist snaking behind Celestia?" She hesitantly asked the armoured Pegasus. "Yes Princess." He nodded, as confused as Luna but not showing it. "Thank goodness." She sighed. "I thought I was the only one." She spread her wings again and took off towards her sister. As she neared, Celestia came to a stop, the mist curling around her. "Dear sister!" Luna cried. "You have finally come back from Ponyville!" Celestia smiled. "Yes Luna, you would not believe what has happened." "What is that strange mist?" Luna asked, she tried to inspect the mist but something inside Luna told her that it was dangerous. "It's the scent of love, dearest Luna." Celestia told her, taking a deep breath of the mist and exhaling dreamily. Luna was growing confused. "Love? What do you mean?" "Oh Luna, it's the most wonderful thing!" Celestia giggled merrily. "I went to Ponyville to investigate and came back with the love of my life!" She turned sideways, allowing Luna to see the mint unicorn on her back. "Meet Lyra, the love of my life!" Lyra smirked at Luna and waved a hoof daintily. "Charmed." Luna was tremendously confused. "Celestia? Are you having..." She paused, composing herself. "...urges again? You know that we have guards trained for that." Celestia waved her off. "No, no Luna, this is true love." "Speak for yourself." The unicorn name Lyra added, she leaned towards the moon princess, grinning wickedly. "I have come here to prepare the greatest gift I can muster for my love." "...And that is?" Luna asked hesitantly. Lyra threw up her arms into the air dramatically. "An entire kingdom!" She shouted "With me as the queen and him as my king!" Luna glared at the overenthusiastic unicorn. "You can't be serious." She said. "Oh yes I am." The musician proudly proclaimed. She ran a hoof through the mist that surrounded her. "And with this love mist, I'm going to spread the love in Canterlot." She narrowed her eyes. "Whether they want it or not." She pointed at Luna. "Starting with you!" Luna's horn glowed defensively. "You can't stop me." Lyra laughed gleefully, with a hint of malicious intent. "You don't know what ponies will do for love. Celestia?" Celestia lowered her horn at Luna, her eyes fiery with anger. Luna was shocked by the sudden change of expression from her usually loving sister. "...Tia...?" Before she could say anything else, the mist that surrounded Celestia suddenly slammed into her, knocking her back a couple of feet through the air. Luna quickly righted herself just in time to see the mist building up above her sister into a massive ball. She had nowhere to run. "Celestia!" Luna screamed. "Please stop this!" "Sorry Luna." Lyra told her. "But you know what they say; love is the strongest thing there is." With that, Celestia launched the ball of mist at the dark Alicorn. Luna had no time to react before she was engulfed by the mass. She ended up trapped inside the ball, the heaviness of the mist compared to the air outside pulling it downward towards Canterlot. Luna thrashed inside the mist, trying to break free of the pink cloud but caught completely by surprise. As she breathed she found the mist to smell sweet but at the same time horrible, it almost hurt her. Back on the castle grounds and even in the city that surrounded it, citizens and guards were begining to notice the approaching pink asteroid and had begun to either panic or stand and watch, curiously as the mist fell. "W-what do we do Commander?" One of the guards asked the Commander as the watched the ball fall towards them. He shook his head. "There's nothing we can do." The love mist asteroid collided with the castle. Canterlot errupted. The ball of compressed love mist had come apart when it had crashed into the castle, the mist shooting out even to the farthest corners of the city. The explosion of compressed mist had damaged the castle; breaking almost all of the windows and breaking off multiple balconies and towers of the castle. The Ponies of the city had finally decided that now was a time to panic and were trying to run from the spreading mist but without anywhere to run. Luna shot out of the ball when it had exploded, unfortunately smashing into the side of the castle and falling to the ground far bellow with a crash. "Ugh..." She groaned, she felt horrible; her body was sore from the sudden attack and her head was swimming from the mist. Using all the strength she could muster, she lifted her head up and opened her eyes. Her sister stood over her, gazing down at her downed sister with an expression that despite the love potion still showed concern. "...Tia..." She muttered before darkness overtook her.