“Hmmm? What is it now?”
The Changeling Queen said to a small group of her loyal servants, who turned in the message that the capture of the duo in Las Pegasus had not gone as planned. Chrysalis flew down from her new throne upon the news.
“Very interesting,” Chrysalis muttered, clearly annoyed. “Was this the doing of the young girl we’ve captured?”
The changelings look back and forth to each other.
“Keep a close eye on her actions. If you find anything suspicious, tell me,” She demanded. “For now... We’ll have to expand the scope of our conquest. And I’ve already made my move- This time, that fiend would not stop me.”
Applejack stepped off the Friendship Express to the place she knew best out of any other pony of the group- Appleloosa.
The familiar Wild West vibe was present, and from a distance, she could see all was well in the town. Locals were around tending to their usual business of the day, no one seemed terrified, making her place a firm bet the town has yet to be invaded, which made her job much easier despite the absence of either Arle or Amitie.
She, on her own, was entrusted to find a relatively tall teenage boy by the name of Lemres. Dubbed the “Comet Warlock”, he looked like a wizard, evident from his distinctive hat, cape, both dark green on the outside and tinted orange on the inside, a wand with a comet-shaped tip, and he was also especially pointed out as “Having magic fuelled by confectionary”. The mare did not understand why this is, but the information was there.
Besides all that, he wears pretty casual clothes on the inside, either dark green and orange to suit his other garments. His right eye was strangely obstructed by his tannish hair, though.
The cowgirl entered the town, seeing everything in order. At the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar pony just wandering about.
“*gasp* Braeburn!”
The two met up and start to chat.
“Ah, cousin Applejack!” Braeburn said, “What brings you back to good ol’ Appleloosa?”
“Well, It’s a very long story, but have you seen someone like this in town recently?” Applejack asked, showing Braeburn the report of Lemres from her saddlebags. “Twilight came to me about this.”
The stallion nodded his head. “Sure did!”
“Really! Where?”
“Just at the pub, chatting with the locals. Hey, let me tell ya, this new guy’s got some real good attention from us locals.”
“Why so?” Applejack asked as she followed.
“You can ask the special guest himself,” Braeburn said.
As soon as she entered Applejack heard quite a lot of chatting. That’s normal until she noticed it all came majorly around the table near the bartender. Ponies gather up near a very distinctive figure as he casually leans against the table while chatting, enjoying a slice of what seems to be apple pie.
During the conversation, Applejack had to get his attention.
“*clears throat* ‘Scuse me everypony,” She called, “Princess Twilight wishes to find the one y’all are talking to, for serious matters.”
The ponies look to one another, shrug, and made way upon hearing it was royalty’s order. ”I mean, I was just sent by her, but I’ll take that,” Applejack thought.
“You called me?”
The teenage boy looked at her.
“Ah, Yes,” She replied, sitting on the stool next to him. “You must be Lemres, the one my friend was talking about.”
Lemres nodded. “Yes, it is me,” He said, before offering a slice of pie. “You want?”
“Why not, thanks,” She accepted. “Now, let me explain why I’m here. I am Applejack, a friend of Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“Friend of the Princess, eh?” Lemres unintentionally cuts her off. “The locals told me about her.”
“Oh, that sure saves a lot of explanation. Basically, she sent me here to find you, in hopes of us solving a crisis throughout Equestria.”
“Changelings.”
Applejack gasped at his response. Lemres shrugged.
“I’ll start from the top,” He said, “A few days ago, I-“
“You got teleported from another world?”
“Uh, Yes. So, I was dropped off here, and soon I see a nearby town seemingly getting attacked by a sinister force. I kinda pushed away my confusion for a moment about this world and went to help them fend the horde off. Aaaaaaand apparently I’m the talk of the town after saving them. I’d be interested to find a way back home but I can stay for a while.”
“You possess great Puyo skills, huh?”
Lemres turned upon her mention of the world Puyo. “Oh? How did you know?”
“I’m here because I want you to come with me back to Ponyville to meet Twilight. Two people, who we assume are your friends, met up with us a few days ago, and we found out there’s a whole lot of you guys out here around Equestria. We’re trying to recruit you all to counter-attack the same horde you faced.”
“Ah, so I’m not the only one here. Predictable.”
“Your friends did mention you all, like my friends and I, go on adventures often.”
Lemres shrugged. “That’s our Friendship in a nutshell, I guess. Well, there’s still much I can tell you but if it’s a serious adventure we’re talking about, and if it means my friends and I can regroup, I’ll spare it for later.”
Applejack was about to say something else when a flood of terrifying screams rang from outside.
“They’re here!?” She gasped. “We need to get back on that train right now!”
Lemres whipped out his wand. “As a part of the Puyo Gang, I’m not entirely sure I can watch this place fall to their hands. Give me a minute and I’ll catch up.”
“Wh-What?”
“Relax, you’ll see why.”
Out in the open, as some ponies were immediately sent into a panic, the stronger ones started engaging in close combat, putting their bucking skills into the mix. Applejack was not slacking off at the situation at the slightest, joining the defense. Meanwhile, more locals fell back to launch the artillery, and by artillery, it is more like tossing apple pies right in the face of the invading changelings.
This strategy did succeed on stopping the front line, where changelings were either knocked out cold by the pie trays that came with the pies, or the desserts themselves confused them, leaving for an open window for close attacks. However, wave after wave of changelings came forth after the earlier groups exhausted the townsponies.
About 10-15 minutes later, the changelings successfully flanked the group from behind while unnoticed. The second they launched a backstab the horde was able to close in. Precisely, the remaining ponies not harmed by the initial move would be trapped in the Changeling's goo in minutes.
Unless they do something about it.
"Parfait!"
Lemres jumped right in the middle of the group and blasted whipped cream at every last changeling within his view.
"Lemres!"
The teen re-positioned the wand he held. "Told ya to give me some time."
He continued his Puyo building as the ponies begin to fight back as a diversion. It was a brilliant move of the wizard to step in as the artillery soon started running low on ammo. Another 5 minutes later the front-line of the defense was gassed out, and Lemres was full on ready.
"I got this," He said, coming out from his cover of the artillery.
A flick of his wand and several twirls along with it spawned an abundance of pies, floating in the air like cannons about to launch a decisive blow. The changelings caught on, stopped in their tracks, and were ready to flee.
"Cream Pies!"
And chaos followed. Pies splattered everywhere as the devastated horde attempted to flee. What's worse was that the cream on the pies was expanding, engulfing its prey. And with another command of his magic and a snap of his fingers, the creamy substance blew up.
Poof.
Every attacker dropped to the floor, first extremely dizzy, then utterly unconscious.
The ponies had won. They celebrate and free the trapped ponies from the goo, thankful that the horde did not steal their love, now able to continue fine and well. Applejack was about the thank the young one when she realized he was not feeling well either. He was down on one knee.
"You alright, sugarcube?"
He panted. "I'm good. Phew... I literally could use some sugar right now."
Applejack let out a chuckle. "So this is what your friends told us about- That your magic is fueled with sweets, eh?"
"Yeah. I just needed time to absorb some more magic, that's why I was late to the party."
The pony insisted on helping him up. "Well, you'll be delighted to know one of my friends, then. I wonder why she wasn’t the one coming to recruit you, though.”
He shrugged. “Dunno. Who is this friend?”
“She’s a party planner. She operates a bakery back at Ponyville, where we’re going back to.”
“Ah, interesting. Shall we make our departure?”
“Yup! We’ve got an Equestria to save! Come on.”
Lemres nodded and followed her lead to the station. The moment they board the train and about to turn left into the carriage, someone awaited them.
“Lemres!” Amitie gave a wave.
He took a seat next to her. “Hey, Amitie. You’re here too?”
“Mhmm! Pinkie and I just picked up Ringo. Applejack, I assume mission is a success?”
“Apart from nearly being ambushed by Changelings, yep!”
The group all had a laugh except Ringo, shivering at the thought.
“Pinkie, right?” Lemres asked.
“Yup!” She giggled, pulling a cupcake out of nowhere. “Want one?”
“Gladly, I need it for my magic. Was drained from that fight.”
“I’ll do you bigger once we get back to Ponyville. You’ll love my recipes!”
“Cool. Looking forward to that.”
“Other than that, we better recruit the others soon,” Ringo interrupted, “We are in the middle of an adventure. It’s not like we can’t take a break but still...”
“Pinkie, how are Fluttershy and Arle doing?” Applejack asked.
The pink pony pulls out her magic walkie talkie from her mane, created by Twilight with the idea from Arle. (Just Because.)
“Psst, this is Agent Pinkie, copy?” She said in a dramatic voice.
“This is Arle. What’s up?”
“How are you and Fluttershy doing?”
“Just about done. When the train comes around I think we’ll be ready to come on board.”
“Great! We’ll see you there!”
Puyo Sorcerer Lemres has joined the party