"Oh the tragedy of it all, kicked out of one of Equestria's most illustrious clubs, all because of one simple little accident." A voice murmured as a wandering pony made her way off the train in Ponyville. A blue coat and a striped purple and lavender mane curled with a soft poofy appearance in a very prestigious style, this unicorn was rather oddly out of place with her fancy art cap and scarf with spectacles on the very end of her snout. "Those snooty Canterlot elite, throwing me away just like that, you'd think they'd be somewhat reasonable, HMPH!" Sticking her nose up she strutted through the train station with her pet dog and another pony behind her, a stallion wearing a suit and tie. She calmly gave them a beckoning call, "Come Humphrey, you too Red Tie." The old stallion Red Tie had a cutie mark of a collar and red bow tie with cufflinks. His head was not adorn with a horn, but he was a simple earth pony of a beige coat, white tail and mane cut very cleanly for his job, with a funky old style mustache. Humphrey was of course a very unpleasant terrier with his shaggy little coat, he looked like a primped fur ball flopping by her side barking occasionally at the passerby ponies.
"Coming mizz Rose..." Red replied with a slow old tone as he trotted behind her with her luggage. The preoccupied mind of the unicorn was full of questions as she took a few glances around the town of Ponyville. With a half sour face she mumbled,
"Ewww this is just, no... NO I shall not judge, this is going to be my new home, yes... i'll make this work somehow..." Red stopped by her side and Humphrey sniffed his hoof. Red gave him a very annoyed expression and Humphrey backed away with a slight whimper, barking back when he was in a safe distance behind Rose's hooves. "Oh Humphrey stop that infernal barking you're giving me a headache, oh Red I'm dreadfully sorry that you have to come with me, though you had the choice to stay back at Canterlot with mom and dad you know..."
"It is fine mizz Rose." With a smile she turned to him nodding with a nervous smirk,
"Well be that as it may, let's not doddle, first we need to find a nice place to call home..."
"And then I swooped down and was like BOOM!" Scootaloo began to ramble on about her day which she apparently almost crashed after she was chased by something she didn't know. "I swear it, on Celestia's crown I never seen anything like it..."
"You sure it wasn't a griffin, they've been restless you know, and some come over to Ponyville and pick on passerbys..."
"I'm tellin you North, that was no Griffin, it was more like a, like a snakee... dragon thingy, I don't know it wasn't a Griffin though..." Scootaloo, North and Spike were heading over to pick up Sketch-it to go over to Jaxx and lend a hand on the ranch, Jaxx was prepared to use some of the money to pay them for working, but North insisted it was free of charge.
"How did I get pulled into this again?" Spike mumbled as he waddled behind the two ponies.
"Because you are a really good friend Spike, and you know you want to help, because it's either that or be alone with Owlicious back at the library every day for like the rest of your life..." Spike pondered the thought of being alone with nopony to bug him in his naps, but he also thought about how boring it would be not to have anything to do but look at books and shelf them. He cringed at the thought and picked up his step agreeing,
"Yeah now that I think about it, getting out of the library every once in a while doesn't sound so bad..." North smiled with a smart expression answering,
"I thought so..." The two mares were paused by the sound of Sketch-it running out of her house as a purple cloud engulfed the building and seeped through the open windows and the open door! She was coughing extremely loud with sparkles coming out of her mouth! "What in Equestria just... Sketch-it are you ok!?" The dazed unicorn turned to them and she flopped on the ground mumbling,
"Agghh... blechhh, that spell backfired........... really really baddd!!!" North took a whiff and suddenly, her ears began to jitter around, tears started to run down her face with her mouth and nose sucking in tight. She took a deep painful inhale yelling,
"OHHH JEEZE, WHAT IS THAT SMELL!?" Spike nearly fell over and Scootaloo's wings started to flap madly as she tried to throw the smelly magic cloud away! Ponies nearby started to watch awkwardly as the cloud loomed overhead not suspecting the smell. "What did you try to do Sketch!?"
"Nothing really, it was a simple spell. I was just trying to replicate a fragrance from this candle I bought at the store, only I was going to fill the entire house with it, but something really bad went up my nose. I didn't know where it came from but when it hit... I felt myself falling back and a loud POOM! Next thing I know the house is sparkling with this smelly cloud...!" North glanced up to the cloud and watched as a bird flew into it and immediately dropped on the ground gagging.
"Well good thing it doesn't have any other property than just smelling bad, would've been terrible if you accidentally let loose some random spell cloud on the town..." Sketch-it shook her head around and her ears drooped as she felt guilty for letting loose a cloud of nasty smelling magic poof on everypony. "Don't fret, me and Scootaloo will clear it up..."
"Righhhhtt... you go do that, i'm no..." North gave a sharp glare at Scootaloo. "Ok. Fine..." They flew up and began to dissipate the cloud harmlessly with a few fly by swipes. The odor still remained around the town but it was faint enough to disappear without causing too much discomfort.
The ponies traveled down the road towards Jaxx's ranch home, the front sign was already standing. Sketch-it read it to herself,
"The Copperplate Ranch..." Suddenly a voice answered back behind the sign,
"Yep, that there's a beaut ain't she, I carved that old hickory wood way back in Appaloosa, I've planned this dream since I was just a lil colt." Jaxx's father was standing by the sign with his charcoal mane and dirty brown coat, his middle aged hooves callaced from hard work. The aged stallion's cutie mark was that of a plate of copper. "Rusty's the name, Rusty Copperplate, and over here's mah kids..." The happy mid aged stallion wanted to formally greet the friends of his oldest filly. "You three know Jaxx already, that one o'er there's her lil sis, we call her Chess Pie, and that little fire cracker of a colt, is Lil Bullet. He's mah lil pride n joy I tell ya, just like his ole pappy." The two youngest were playing around with Jaxx trying to beat her at a game she was oh too familiar with.
"You'll never beat me, this here's mah game'o choice!"
"Don't let her get in yer head bullet, she's just tryin ta make us scared..." Chess growled playfully as she prepared to drop the ball. Jaxx gave them an intense playful stare as she replied,
"Now ya'll know the rules of jacks? Ya gotta..." Both Chess Pie and Lil Bullet nodded reciting their sister's words by heart,
"Toss the ball in the air with yer throwin hoof an pick up one jack in yer throwing hoof, catch the ball back in your throwing hoof before it hits the ground, do that until ya get all ten, then next time you pick up twosies then threesies and foursies all the way up to tensies." Jaxx looked awkwardly at her siblings realizing she probably has reminded them a hundred times about how to play the game. Each of them had a seperate circle filled with jacks.
As they were about to play they heard their dad call out,
"Jaxx, yer friends are here!" Jaxx jumped up and started galloping over to greet her friends, her siblings both discouraged stomped their hooves crying out,
"Awwww Sis, can't we play just one more round!?"
"I'm sorry Chess n Lil B, but I have to get to work now, ya'll can still play." The little filly and colt started to play without their sister mumbling to one another, wishing their sister didn't have to work.
"Hey Jaxx, we said we'd be here and we're here." North responded courteously. Jaxx had a rather relieved expression smiling warmly.
"It's a sure good thing ya'll did, I asked ya yesterday about helpin out cause the pegasus we were hirin had an accident an they couldn't make it." In response to this North grinned with a smarty pants tone,
"Looks like you lucked out then, you got free labor today." Jaxx nodded back and turned her attention to the ranch house still missing some roofing, and the barn needed some color. She pointed to what needed to be fixed up for the ponies... Spike chose to hang on Sketch-it's back and help her beautify the farm with the paints.
"Alright so we all know what we're doin, let's get down ta business then."
As they were getting down to business as Jaxx said, over in Ponyville, a persnickety unicorn was eyeballing the town after she ordered a room from a small inn. Trotting along the sidewalk, alone with her butler watching over her pet and her room. She examined the many different sights in the quaint little village town.
"Once you get past the strange background odor and the run of the mill buildings here, it really is quite exquisite... a beautiful back drop of Canterlot with those pristine waterfalls, on those gorgeous mountains in the horizon... I Lavender Rose must capture this image in canvas...!"
Prancing her way towards the fields, she felt determined to get this image drawn down, only to her knowledge she has yet to know anypony that had captured a perfect image of Canterlot in the background. Of all places she could stop, she had found the secret place where Sketch-it had made her painting, but of course Starlight was floating in the water in a small little boat her father crafted for her when she was a filly, only she was pretty big for the little boat so she had modified it a bit.
"Excuse me, but would you mind if I paint here, or will I be encroaching?" Lavender generously requested to Starlight. The sudden disturbance of silence made Starlight jump into the cat tails. "Oh, oh my I'm sorry for startling you... I'll just be on my way I suppose..." Lavender feeling discouraged began to turn around replying, "Though this place is a perfect vantage point to capture a glorious picture of Canterlot, but I won't bother you with my presence if I'm disrupting your peace..." Feeling she may had overreacted she hopped out looking upon Lavender's cutie mark. It was a beautiful lavender rose stemming from a stroke of lavender color on her blue coat from a paint brush that represented the stem. She immediately began to insist,
"Oh ... it's no biggy really, I don't usually have visitors coming around. Ummm if you want to paint here I don't mind, I have a friend that comes here sometimes to paint too..." The unicorn gladly accepted her invitation and began to bring out the few supplies she had in her small carry bag. With a small pad and pen she began to outline and shade the scene replying,
"Oh this is just simply magnificent, this scene is like something out of a fairytale really, you ponies here in Ponyville are truly blessed with some impressive landscape, despite having its poor taste in class, this is a very nice town..." She paused a moment in her sketch and she turned to Starlight bringing up the topic, "Did... you say you had another painter that comes here, what is their name? If he or she is not locally here, perchance I may have heard of them...?" Excited to know she awaited Starlight's reply. Starlight kicked the dirt under her hoof nervously as she insisted on herself to answer,
"Well she's a pony from Galloport is all I really know. Oh, and her name is Sketch-it of course, we're good friends..." It was almost as if Starlight began to rise the sun after a thousand years of darkness! Lavender felt so enchanted with this information that she nearly swooned! "Ohh, umm... are you ok miss... misss, umm what is your name?" Not caring that she was laying in the grass she looked up with an entranced expression rejoicing,
"This must be my lucky break, a reward from Celestia herself for all my misfortune, I can almost hear her saying Lavender, go to her, go to your opportunity! Of course Celestia I shall go to her, EHEHEHEHEHEHUEHUEH!!!" Giggling to herself like a little school pony she hopped up and replied, "Why, do you know who has graced your very existence mare?" Starlight wanted to tell her but before she could get out the words she began at,
"Well..." but was cut off when Lavender continued,
"Only the most talented and quick hoofed pony in all of Equestria, well I'm being overly dramatic now listen to mee... ahahahahaha, well really she's nowhere near a legend in all of equestria, but she has so much talented potential in her hoof, she can drawn circles around a huge majority of artists throughout the empires..." She paused a moment and began to ponder again of a recent happening,
"Though I do recall she had stopped her exhibitions a while back and went into hiding, I can't believe nopony around here has not put up some sort of sign that said, HERE, is one of Equestria's finest! Oh I must meet her face to face, I've never really had the privilege to see her up close, but once when I was attending a field trip to her expo in the Galloport National Gallery, there that young filly was standing proudly with her works. Of course us school fillies couldn't come close to her or her art, so we admired from afar..." She again paused to have found herself rambling excessively leaving her listener in a befuddlement. "Oh I'm sorry for rambling, if it is no trouble could you please tell or show me where this pony resides please?" Lavender gave a big smile hoping that she could find the whereabouts of this fine pony.
Starlight does not refuse miss Rose and escorts the pony to town to see where Sketch-it is now residing.
"Woooo!" Scootaloo was flying with a large two by four in her hooves yelling, "I donno why but this feels awesome!" Of course she was speaking about the sensation of the massive gliding air pushing against her as she flew with a huge non aerodynamic object.
"Stop horsing around Scootaloo..." North used her magic to snatch the board away.
"What awww, come on I'm getting so bored..."
"We've not even started..."
"I know right, so you know how I feel right now..." Completely over her mane, Scootaloo did not get what North was trying to prove, thus leading North to put a strong hoof to her face as she felt Scootaloo was not going take her seriously.
North mended the roof as best she could with her magic, which she was a whiz pretty much at doing. Jaxx checked up on Spike and Sketch-it at the barn to see how the paint job was going.
"Woo WEE, now that ain't the perttiest shade o red I ever did see I wouldn't know of it." Jaxx admired the bright red and white colors. "Be sure ta keep from paintin on the roof mkay, keep up the good work there." Lil Bullet ran up to Jaxx with his sister Chess asking if they could help, the rambunctious siblings wanted to be a part of the work and were willing to do whatever they could. "Lil B you can help Pa with the fencin, he's o'r yonder mkay, he needs somepony to help him carry his tools... an Chess you can help by gettin some blackberry cider fer our guests." Chess excitedly hopped in the air as she ran to the ranch house to get some blackberry cider from the cellar.
Spike had hopped in a hammock nearby and was soaking up the shade.
"Aghhh yeah this is how I work heh..." Sketch-it turned her head to Spike giving him a snickering gesture, but his eyes were closed so this snicker was more sinister as she brought down a paint brush up to his face replying,
"Hey spike look..." Poor spike raised up and the wet red paint whiskers brushed across his face. He opened his eyes startled by the assault on his face, he fell off the hammock yelling,
"AGHHHHH WHAT THE... OOMPH!" Sketch-it giggled at him uncontrollably. She fell on her side laughing at him when he arose with a red mustache. "What's so funny!" She rubbed her eyes with her hoof laughing,
"Oh it's nothing Red..." He was confused why she called him red until he stepped on the red paint brush.
"Whaa... awww... no you didn't!" she quickly snatched the paint brush bringing it to her face laughing,
"Oh I totally did, hehehe..." With no mirror or reflection nearby, he had to suffer not knowing exactly what she did to him. "Come on Spike can ya give me a hoof here. Get around the base of the barn while I get the hard to reach places." Spike accepted the job quickly grabbing a paint brush and Starting to work around the base of the barn. "So what no complaining?" Sketch-it asked Spike. He shook his head answering,
"Nahh, I was just waiting for you to tell me what to do, I didn't want to really get in your way seeing as this is your thing." Sketch's face drooped as she mumbled losing her amusement,
"Gee, thanks..."
The group spent a good time on the work until they were called by a sweet little voice, and the sound of a bell chiming. Chess Pie had fixed up a round of blackberry cider and a sweet black berry pie as well. The ponies all took a break to sit and have a chat. Spike strolled in with his funky red stripe and North's face lit up as she replied pointing to his face,
"Spike you got... ... kkekekekkk..." She started to snicker out of control as Scootaloo couldn't hold in her goofy outburst!
"GAHAHAHAHAHAHaa... SPIKE what is that on your face!" Spike began to grow more aware of whatever was done to his face and he cried out!
"What's wrong, what did you do to me Sketch!?" A chuckling Jaxx pointed over at the well which he had yet to notice with a silly response,
"Come o're here and ya'll see ... heehhehehehe..." Spike ran over to the well and looked down. There across his face was twirled lines of red making a funny looking twirled mustache.
"Heheheheh... hey that is pretty funny..." Spike laughed to himself as he turned back to grab himself a drink with the giggling fillies.
Meanwhile back in Ponyville, something was amiss. Starlight and Lavender began to trot into the town, but nopony was around. Doors were shut, and windows closed. It seemed everypony ran into their homes and closed from something outside.
"Ahhh... I don't know but something gives me an oh so very bad feeling that something is not right..." Starlight mumbled as she began to back trot slowly. Lavender admitted as well she felt something was not right,
"This entire town was bustling when I arrived, common sense would tell a pony not to go any futher, hold on let me just..." She concentrated a magic spark and sent it straight to Red Tie making his ears twitch. This was the way Lavender would get his attention when out of ear shot. Red Tie locked Humphrey up in his cage and trotted out replying,
"Now do behave in there Master Humphrey, I shall return momentarily." The dog scoffed as if he was disappointed to think Red Tie would assume he would not behave. As he trotted down the stairs, he could see a congregation of ponies looking out into the streets. The old stallion didn't let the wandering eyed ponies stop him. He crept away to a window and jumped out without a sound.
In no time flat a pony dressed in a tux ran to the mares replying, "Mizz Rose, you rang?" She nodded and pointed her hoof to the town.
"Please if you would Red, can you escort us to the inn, we will have to postpone our original destination. I don't feel very comfortable walking about in an empty street..." She took a few whiffs smelling the strange odor from before, only it was stronger. "Ughhh that odor is unbearable..." Wasting no precious moments they galloped towards the inn, but only to find something that Red was not aware of in his sneaking out.
The three ponies stopped in their tracks to a large group of angry looking PLANTS! Uprooted and searching around the town for something to eat, they turned their attention to Starlight, Red, and Lavender. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA ARE THOSE THINGS...!" Lavender screeched as she backed behind Starlight and Red. Her scream made the plants give chase!
"EEEEEEEEEP!" Starlight freaked out completely and fled the scene scared for her life!
"Mizz Rose, I believe we should run..." Red answered with one glance at the mutated magic plant monsters, he did not want to tangle with them. A frightened Lavender could not agree more as she seen one coming over from a garden. As it began to come down at her with sharp ferocious teeth she leaped on Red's back and squealed,
"GO.. GO... NOW NOW!!!" She held her hooves around his neck, and the stout stallion butler took off leaving a plant behind smacking the ground with its face. They had to fight off a few which were no match for the butler's skill at self defense, oddly it was hard to believe for his age he could do such damage. "Give that ruffian a good left hoof! Now a right!" Red had brought one down with a powerful buck that broke its stem in half. Still holding on as her butler fought through the plants, the mass of evil smelly weeds were thickening in number. She barked angrily, "GIVEM ONE FOR ME!"
"As you wish Miss Rose." Luck would not be with a particular green bloom plant as it had its mouth open only to receive a teeth shattering WHOP! Like an injured dog it yipped away with it's broken teeth. The butler trampled through several plants making his way towards the inn when Lavender blurted,
"Oh Red did you remember to put Humphrey up?"
"Yes Mizz Rose..." Quickly he escorted the frightened Lavender to the Inn where they were welcomed in by the hiding pony crowd inside.
"This is just a dreadful start, not even part of the day through and the plants have come alive wanting to eat me... excuse me sir but does this happen often?" She inquired a pony as he stood gazing at the beasts eating the food around the marketplace. He watched as his stand was gobbled up by one red bloom plant which was sniffing his vegetables, he was hoping it wasn't a vegetarian but apparently this also counts as cannibalism.
"Nooo, nooo it don't, and there goes my entire stock for this week..." The discouraged stallion drooped knowing it was going to be tough to get that made up for.
Starlight was flying frantically when she accidentally caught wings with a derpy pony in the sky and both dropped into a nearby cloud! Starlight shook her head to find the wandering eyes of Derpy Hooves.
"Aghhh... Derpy!!" Starlight began to try and explain through her frantic words, "There'ss... big... and huge clawwss, with... sharppp teeth... and there's Rawrr Rawrrr RAWWRRRR... grrrr In... TOWN!" All this time she was animating herself like some monster, Derpy didn't know what to think, at the moment she was just flying around and out of nowhere a pony runs into her acting like a crazy monster. "Do know where... Scootaloo, or North is!?" Out of breath Starlight's own words were sounding quite derped. Derpy put her hoof to her chin and attempted to remember.
Her efforts were in vain as she shrugged not knowing where they were. "Ohhhhh... Fiddlesticks!" Starlight flew off to find them across Ponyville, she even resorted to Wailing their names. Derpy being as thoughtful as a Derpy could be, flew around Ponyville too yelling,
"NORTH, SCOOTALOO!" Though she thought it was funny, she didn't realize she was being a helpful pony in her own way.
At this moment, derpy was flying overhead towards the Copperplate Ranch.
"Hey, hey North look at me..." North turned her head to see Scootaloo's rear end in her face!
"AGGHHH WHAT THE!!!... AGGHHHH!" She fell on her flank and sent a levitating hammer flopping off the roof and hitting Jaxx in the head!
"Owww... what in tarnation!" Scootaloo rolled on her belly and laughed at both of them crying out,
"HAHAHAHAHa, That was sooo FUNNY! You should've seen the look on your face North, you were all like 'AGAHHHHH!!!' HAHAHAHAAA!" Before North could attempt to kill Scootaloo's victory with a smart remark, Jaxx barked at both of them,
"Ya'll if that hammer had hit one'o my siblins I'd have you down here faster than you could say Hoof Wrastlin!" Jaxx was getting rather fed up with the horsing around, North was as well. Scootaloo seen the look North had on her face...
"I guess I have been over doing it..."
"Yeah there's no guessing about it you have... ..." North paused her words as she heard a voice in the sky echoing,
"North, Scootaloo!" They glanced up and seen Derpy flying overhead shouting about.
"Derpy wanting us for something... that's a first." Scootaloo answered raising a curious brow. North shrugged but was too curious to find out what she was wanting. The two ponies intercepted her.
"What is it Derpy?" North asked the perplexing pony. A rather concerned expression of utter confusion came to Derpy, not knowing why she was calling out their names, but as she gave it time she recalled Starlight's crazy dancing. She mimicked it and bumbled,
"Bigg... sharp teeth... town Grrrr... clawwss... go Rawwrrr Rawrr RAAWWWRRR..." They glanced at one another wondering how to decipher what she said. "Dah Starlight wants fiddlesticks!"
"Riiighht... thanks for that interesting display Derpy, that was very helpful..." North commented. Of course Derpy knew the situation in town all along and before she flew away she blurted,
"DAghh... ok North, Derpy be going home now... BIG BAD PLANTS eated Derpy's favorite Foods in Town!" North and Scootaloo had the same surprised look as they turned to one another!
"Big plants!?"
They left the Ranch to analyze the situation over in Ponyville, just as Derpy had said. Giant plants were eating everything that was edible! Ponies unlucky to have been caught outside were running scared as plants were trying to chow down on them!
"What the hay, how did this happen...?" Scootaloo confused on how a mass of cannibal plants were made, asked her intellectual friend about this. North pondered her mind on the pieces of this vexing puzzle.
"I have an idea but I gotta... ... AWWW JEEZE!!!" The smell of dead plants flew up into her nose and immediately she knew what had happened! "CARNIVEROUS STINKPLANT!!"
"Carniwhatsit now!?" Scootaloo blurted with a perplexed expression on her face.
"Carniverous Stinkplant, it's usually used in treating some illnesses, when it's freshly cut the plant gives a nasty nasty smell, but these things don't usually grow but like maybe a leg length. If Sketch-it had smelled one, she may have accidentally replicated the Stinkplant's smell, and when we..........." She began to feel the guilt going over her as she remembered what she did. "Spread the cloud over the Town, whoever had the dead stinkplants probably had a rude awakening seeing as the spell she made was basically a growth spell, she grew the stinkplants to life through replicating their scent by accident!"
"So what you're saying is we blew a cloud over the town that turned dead things back to life, and then mutated them into super large versions of their normal self... LIKE MUTANT ZOMBIE PLANTS!!!" Exclaimed with her excited fear of realizing she was part of zombification!
"Pretty much... but they are not zombies, they were the seeds of the plants and they grew unnaturally by magic." North answered back to counter her undead accusation.
"Agghhh that's just boring i'm gonna just say they are mutant zombie plants!" North quickly assessed the situation. She told Scootaloo to go get the gang at the Ranch to come to town,
"Tell them it's an emergency." Scootaloo nodded and flew back to get the gang. At that moment Starlight bumped into North and began to yelled,
"MONSTER PLANTSSSS!!! You see, do you see them down there... they're all just vicious evil nasty creatures..." She grabbed a hold of North tightly squeezing her, with North's wings trying hard to keep them both in the air as Starlight squealed more, "EVIL I TELL YOU, AND SMELLY!!!" North feeling her body being crushed blurted out,
"Cann...youshh let goshh of meeshhh..." As quickly as she latched on, she let go.
"I'm sorry it's just, those things scare me so much..."
The ponies soared down by a small roof and observed while they wait for the others to get there. "So what are you gonna do about them North..." The alicorn turned her attention to the slinking pegasus and gave her a scoffing remark,
"Ohhh, what's this you stuff lately with all you ponies, WE... are all gonna clean up this mess, one pony is not enough to fix this." Whimpering Starlight muttered,
"That's what I was afraid you were gonna say..."
Scootaloo escorted Jaxx, Sketch, and Spike to the town. As they galloped to the scene of the destruction, Scootaloo filled in Sketch-it on how she played a part in this problem.
"I... did all that!?"
"Yeah, well me and North did spread the cloud over the town, but pretty much you created the spell and made Mutant Zombie Plants..." Spike went further in this long explanation and added,
"So what you're saying is Sketch here smelled a dead plant and brought it to LIFE! AND THEN MUTATED IT!!!" Spike was also freaking out about this, and Scootaloo was enjoying every minute of it.
"Yyyup!" She grinned as she led him into the false truth. Spike looked down at Sketch-it as he rode on her back slightly afraid now.
"Then that means Sketch-it has like some sort of dark necromancy powers, SHE HAS THE SMELL OF DEATH AHHH... and... I'm close enough to her... do you smell me Sketch!!!?" Sketch-it turned her head at Spike and assured him,
"I'm not a necromancer, I don't even know what necromancy is..."
"You don't have to know, it's magic... dark evil magic!" Spike added, and Scootaloo began to get in on it replying,
"Yeah, Sketch you're one bad mojo unicorn you know, wait till you see your first evil minions you summoned... they're pretty RAD!"
"Oh my gosh, I know a necropony. This is sooo cool, but also scary cuz I mean she could one day zombify me... Sketch would you tell me if you zombified me?" Spike asked curiously genuinely falling for this entire hoax. Sketch-it shook her head around and halted for a moment growling at them,
"Would you two stop I'm not a necropony..." Jaxx halted her trail blazing and agreed defending Sketch-it,
"We ain't got time to be discussin who is what right now, if there's twelve foot pony gobbling plants in Ponyville we need to be hoofin it to stop them, not askin some silly questions. Besides, everypony knows there's no such thing as zombies, that's just plain silly talk, right Sketch?" She looked at Sketch with a small ounce of doubt feeling zombies may be a possibility.
"Of course not, there's no such thing as zombies or necromancy..." Sketch reassuringly responded.
Arriving just outside the town, they could see the large monstrous plants skittering about and eating up food that had been out in the marketplace, the cake family was attempting to fight off the monsters as they tried to eat their house due to it looking like a sweet treat!
"Holy Haystacks, that's one big weed problem I'll tell ya..." Jaxx uttered under her surprised expression. Spike's mouth gapped open at the sight of how many there was. North flew over to them with Starlight following close on her tail.
"Ok so yeah ummm... good news is we can deal with this problem easy..." Sketch-it looked at the vicious plants snapping their chops about and asked how in Equestria this was going to be easy. "Simple, WE PUMMEL THEM WEEDS TO A PULP!" With a big evil grin North stomped her hoof in the ground to express the ease it was going to be. "They are not really strong, or smart, they just got a mean bite and they stink. SO LET'S GETTEM!" Some of the ponies were reluctant, until Jaxx raised her hooves up and whinnied,
"I SAY LET'S POUND THEM WEEDS IN THE GROUND YEE HAWW!" The green flash barreled out towards the town in a full gallop, North liked the enthusiasm and followed her in with a bolt of speed flying for the plant stems!
Sketch-it asked the others if they should go with them. They all shrugged, but Spike raised up on her back and with a sharp expression, he reached down and grabbed a stick from the ground lifting himself up once more and pointed out,
"I say we go for it!"
"YEAH!!! LAST ONE KICKING MUTANT ZOMBIE PLANT BUTT IS A SCAREDY FILLY!" Scootaloo shot off to the town in action, leaving Sketch-it, Spike and the still frightened pegasus. Sketch-it decided to make the charge wondering how this plan was going to end, leaving Starlight inching slowly mumbling,
"But I am a scaredy filly when it comes to vicious creatures, oh dear, wait for me oh no wait I... I have to go get something..." Starlight suddenly left from the town to someplace. While she left, the ponies were in town causing a wild ruckus!
"BACK GET BACK, AGGHH!!" Mr. Cake had the only defensive weapon he could find, a broom of all things trying to back a plant from his home. Pound cake came out from a window wailing like a warpony! His sister had pulled a chair behind the plant and as he bucked, the plant staggered and fell to the ground snarling.
North flew overhead and told them to break the stems.
"They can't function without their roots!" The plants were keeping their roots in the ground as they skittered around. North dropped her hooves down and snapped the plant in half, leaving it to wither away letting out that nasty odor.
Jaxx brought out her trusty lasso and began to round up several as they cluttered close together she yanked them down with a crashing thud! She proceeded to squeeze the rope till the plant stems broke and they began to all wilt away.
"And that's how ya round up weeds mares..." Scootaloo gave a mean grin as she turned her attention to a row of plants terrorizing a pony as she ran across the street to her little filly.
"Pffft watch a pro weed killer Jaxx, I call this the Close Shave!" She whipped through the air and with her hooves she busted through the stems one by one in a row, dropping them like dominos!
"Good move, but i know a better one Scootaloo... check it, this is called the MAGIC PILEDRIVER!" North grabbed a hold of the creatures with her magic and focused as hard as she could to hold them in place, followed by a dive bomb right into their cross sectioned stems snapping them in half with a powerful WHOMPH!
"That's all good girls but we're not even near finished!!!" Sketch-it pointed over at the thick of the monsters. The mares knew they had to fight fierce! At that time the ponies around the town had observed the fight and thought that maybe they could stand a chance!
Anvil took a broad battle blade in his teeth and ran out in a gunning glory to take down the beastly weeds! Many ponies came out to help but most were appalled by the sheer stink from the wilting plants to even leave their homes. One being Lavender of course, but something was wrong for her.
Off in the distance she could see a white fluffy ball jumping around and the faint sound of a bark in the thick of all the other noises.
"What is that little creature doing out... is that... ..." She began to feel her hooves jump as she turned to Humphrey's cage, not seeing a Humphrey inside! She screamed out, "HUMPHREY MY POOR DEAR LITTLE PUP WHAT IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU DOING, HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF YOUR CAGE!" Her voice began to sound hoarse and infuriated as her rebellious dog was attempting to fight a plant to prove he was not as sissy as he looked! "NO, I won't let my precious Humphrey be plant food for some common smelly weed!" Red followed behind Lavender as she blew open the door with an angry flash of her horn, "DON'T WORRY BABY MOMMA'S COMING!" Lavender ran out into the fray, with a vicious expression as she carried her parasol from her bag as a spear, she made a gallant charge to rescue her precious pet!
Humphrey growled and snarled as he bit the root of a monster, it roared turning down at the little puff ball. Humphrey's courageous attitude instantly was shattered when the plant gave a monstrous roar blowing the primped pooch's hair back like a porcupine! Yipping Humphrey began to run towards the embracing arms of his owner Lavender! "Awww My poor baby... look at you, now you're all filthy, I knew I should've kept you by my side, now I have to wash your coat again to get that nasty plant breath off you..." In her complaints she heard the sound of a loud roar brush a nasty wind across her body! "Aggghhh, what the....... Ewwww now I need a bath..." Her face turned grim with horror as she mumbled, "It's right behind me isn't it?" Humphrey started to whimper. She turned her head to a grinning row of sharp teeth. She gave a nervous smile and proceeded to SCREAM AS LOUD AS SHE COULD RUNNING AWAY! "What's tha... AGGHHH!" Suddenly she ran into the stem of a plant, she tried to run the other way and soon another stem was in the way. Every direction she tried was a plant! "RED... HELP ME!" She cried out as the monsters drew closer, her dog whimpering for its life.
"Dreadfully sorry Miss Rose, but I seem to be in a jam myself." She looked over to find Red in the mouth of one of the creatures holding it wide open trying to keep himself from being eaten.
"SOMEBODY PLEASE SAVE ME!" Lavender cried out for the love of Equestria, she didn't want to end up eaten by some smelly plant! As sudden as she thought hope was lost, a blazing green and yellow streak came out of the blue and WHICK!
Stems broke apart and the one behind her still standing was pummeled by the wind gust and began to tilt. Sketch-it came and sent a small push forcing the plant to fall on top of the one holding Red in its mouth, sending the stallion flying in the air and being caught by Scootaloo. "Thank Celestia the Royal Guard has come to..." She took a moment to recalculate what she was seeing. "Wait a minute that's not a guard... it's an ALICORN!?" She gazed upon the flashing alicorn and the unicorn using her simple magic tricks to fool and divert the monsters away, where they were rounded up and crushed by an earth pony. Out of the group she was more fascinated by the magic ponies gracing her vision. A small stunted plant started growling beside her and she just threw her parasol in its mouth snarling, "OH SHUT IT!" She opened it up and the monster's face blew up into an umbrella shape with it's eyes bugging out in shock.
The ponies fought harder attempting to overpower the mass of plants, but then the plan started to fail when Scootaloo was snagged by one of the weeds.
"Agghhh let go you smelly weed, AGHH!" She bucked and tried to wiggle free but the monster just laughed. North came to her rescue, but was caught by the feet and brought down!
"SHOOT!" THWOP! North felt the dirt rub against her face as she plowed the ground. Sketch-it grimmaced with impending fear that she was next, and sure enough she turned around hearing the sound of Spike yelling,
"SKETCH WATCH OUT!" In a shock she turned to see one holding Spike ready to make a snack out of him!
"AGGHH WHAT AM I GONNA DO!?" Sketch looked around to find everypony in the clutches of those nasty monsters she had made come to life! Just when she thought all was lost a voice cried out,
"CHARGGEEE!!!! SHOW NO MERCY!... well maybe a little." Lavender turned her head to see a vast wave of small creatures charging her way. She lurched in terror as her pupils narrowed to find an army of,
"BUGS... EEEEEKKKKK!" Her butler quickly swooped beneath her and took off with Lavender screaming!
Starlight had rounded up an army of her little friends from around the woodlands. Hungry caterpillars and grasshoppers, crickets... just many little insects hungry for a feast that they could sense at a distance from the vast smell. In no time flat the bugs made quick work of the plants, chowing down on them! The mighty Starlight flew down by Sketch-it smiling innocently as she observed her plan at work.
"Wow, how did you..." Completely out of words Sketch-it could not believe the amount of insects that came to the call, she gazed upon the sweet Starlight just standing and admiring her deed.
"Well it's nothing special, I know a few of them, and they have family, and their family has family and it just goes on and on and on." She paused turning her head slightly with a confident smile, "Funny I only helped a few but then one friend turned to a thousand then... well you know how it goes..."
"Clearly..." Sketch-it couldn't even begin to count how many bugs were crawling and flying in the air. When the last plant fell, the army of now stuffed bugs made their way over to Starlight who gave a nod and a warm welcoming compliment to them,
"Good job fellas, you can all go home now, and thank you so very much for the help it is very appreciated." The swarm of insects proceeded to leave the town to go chill out after their huge meal.
The Ponies in town all began to pour into the streets to find a still lingering nasty smell.
"Oh this is just revolting, that smell EEWWW, it feels like it's seeping into my coat, ohhh this just won't do I'm going to be showering for weeeks!" Lavender could not stand it, the whole day has just been completely chaotic for her. North gave it some thought on how to fix the smell, when it hit her.
"Sketch you think you still got enough magic to do one more replicate spell?" Sketch-it didn't know for sure if she could do it, she had to keep her magic on a minimum when she dealt with the stinkplants, cause that morning dud she caused was a painful strain.
"I don't know but I can try." North zipped off to SugarCube Corner and asked the cake family for a cupcake. North flashed back as soon as she obtained one and commanded Sketch-it,
"Replicate this smell..." She shoved the icing on Sketch-it's nose with the smell of strawberry icing, she attempted to clone the scent. North felt confident she could do it herself. The ponies all watched her in suspense.
Sketch-it didn't realize the whole town was gazing at her, Lavender's eyes set curiously wondering what was happening. A cloud of magic began to form with the tasty smell of strawberry cream cupcakes.
"Come on Sketch, you can do it...!" Sketch had a feeling she was going to be completely tired the rest of the day doing this, but she had to clean up the mess someway, and cleaning the air from the disgusting stinkplant smell, was probably a good start. Sparks flew into the cloud as she concentrated all her energy, bending her knee forward as it weighed her down.
When she fired off the spell, the cloud plumed into the air with a THOOM! It began to slowly dissipate leaving a lovely smell of cupcakes over the nasty stinkplants. When the ponyvillians began to smell what she was cooking up, the crowd cheered her on! Startled she turned to see everypony around stomping their hooves and crying out. The group of friends trotted up to Sketch with the Mayor rejoicing to them,
"You ponies have shown a great deal of courage fighting those things, Ponyville is... well we're ever so much in your debt for stopping this very odd outbreak of monstrous and smelly weeds. In fact I would go as far as to say you all deserve an award for such valiant behavior..." Sketch-it of course didn't want the town to really give her credit, since she was originally the one that caused the problem, but she also wanted to keep her trap shut from the ridicule it may come with. Jaxx looked at her concerned that she wouldn't tell the truth.
With a sigh she stepped a hoof forward to the mayor, and with a swallow of reluctance stated,
"To be honest, it was my fault this happened in the first place. You see the smelly cloud was my fault, when I tried to make a fragrance for my house, a nasty smell went up my nose and caused me to lose focus, and I accidentally, replicated the said smell that caused the plants to mutate the way they did..." She hung her head low as she mumbled, "I deserve whatever punishment for causing this problem to start with." The mayor was withdrawn by the response, but she just smiled back and assured the ponies,
"Well even if you did start the problem it was clear to see you took responsibility to fix it, and that's still a noble deed. I believe facing your goof up was more than enough punishment in my opinion. In any case we are in debt to you for getting rid of them. I'm afraid though this probably has set back the marketplace quite a bit from the damages..." The ponies agreed they would help in any way they could. Sketch-it decided to donate some of her brother's earnings she had to spare for rebuilding some of the stalls.
The day rolled on and left everypony tired as they worked to fix the mess. Anvil assisted with heavy lifting, along with a crew of pegasi. In no time the stalls were as good as new, and all the stall vendors were getting their goods resupplied.
"Kinda almost too late to be setting up shop now don't ya think?" North commented to a nearby shop vendor. The mare shook her head and pointed her hoof to a group of ponies trotting in a line.
"Well ponies still need to do their shopping still, we may be behind but the demand is still there don't ya know."
"I feel like just going to bed now girls..." Sketch mumbled with her groggy eyes wandering about aimlessly. Before she could leave though, the dear Lavender Rose caught the glimpse of the unicorn's cutie mark, and suddenly knew without a doubt who it was!
"Sweet Celestia it's you! Sketch-it! The little filly from Galloport I heard so much about!" The high spoken Lavender startled Sketch! "Please ohh, allow me to introduce myself, I am Lavender Rose dear. I am... ... well..." She paused in her words to correct herself as she felt flustered from the excitement. "Was a well known artist myself..." She raised her hoof in an elegant manner adding, "More known for my critique than my work, you see I'm in the business of providing the important information to artists, on how to go about their work and assist in bringing out the best of said artists."
She felt herself beat around the bush to ask the most important question she hunted her down for, which was inquiring, "Would you be so gracious as to allow me to be your assistant, to help your talent shine throughout Equestria, I mean of course it has before, but I mean to outshine even the elite of artistic genius!"
"I don't know I wasn't really wanting to..." Lavender turned to her pet and told Humphrey to turn around.
"I don't want you to see mommy doing this..." She literally groveled on Sketch-it's hoof and cried, "Ohhhh PLEEASSSEE... please please please, I assure you I will only adhere to your tastes, if you don't want to be the twinkling sensation of everypony's eye then we don't have to, it's just a grand honor to meet you face to face and I wish to help you in your endeavors any way I can PLEASSEEEE!" Humphrey just gave a snarl rolling his eyes at the way Lavender was begging, as if he expected this was going to happen. Lavender's eyes looked up with twinkling tearful power!
Sketch pondered about it for a moment only to be trapped by her sad gaze, the dreaded adorable 'pleeeasssseee...' face, Sketch could not resist, even with her fatigue about to force her eyes shut!
"Well... I guess I do need to get more business, I'm running low on money to really do much of anything but eat free apples." Lavender jumped with ecstatic energy!
"Oh this is positively splendid, I shall begin preparations to organize your art works immediately, I just need to see what you have already done and we can get started from there... please dear show me your STUDIO!"
North approached them with Spike behind her waddling his way over.
"I'm gonna go read up on some stuff in the library Sketch i'll see ya round." Spike nudged North and asked,
"Can I please get a ride, I hate walking seriously... just this one time."
"No Spike, and the library's like right over there, quit being such a baby dragon..." As North trotted along leaving Sketch-it, Spike followed her with an angry stare as he growled,
"Pfft, I'm not a baby dragon anymore..." Spike commenced to raising his claw up in a fist and barked, "I totally beat down one of those stinkplants! I'm totally not a baby dragon!"
Sketch-it escorted Lavender and her precious pup with Red tagging behind them, to the lovely abode that is her house. Lavender's eyes fell upon the townhouse and started to feel unnerved.
"Aahhhh..." A nervous laugh came from her as she entered inside to find home and studio mixed together. Her face turned into a grimmace of slight disgust, but she attempted to keep from insulting her idol artist, "Ohhh, you... have you just recently moved? Dear usually when artists live with their work it is usually well more organized... ehhhh..." She had an idea of how a studio home would look, and she really desired to live in a lavishing studio mixed with a home comfort, but this was literally a studio smashed into a home cluttered in a disorganized wreck.
"Yeah... around sometime last month I did. Really had no time to make an actual studio, sorry for the clutter, I've been working on several projects." Under her breath Lavender mumbled to her pup,
"Momma's gonna have a lot of work on her hooves apparently..." Pausing she gazed upon the out of place excellent art which deserved more than just to be shuffled together in a cramped living space. "Oh look at these beautiful works of art... ahhh, and this one especially, that gorgeous backdrop of Canterlot over those purple mountains... oh so majestic, darling these are not to be shoved together on the floor, they are to be hung in a gallery dear, oh I just need to find a less crowded space to show your artistic prowess!" Lavender flicked her elegant mane gazing upon the makeshift gallery.
Suddenly an idea hit her making Lavender even more giddy with excitement. "I already know exactly what to do, I'm going to open and operate an art gallery in this very TOWN, OH THIS WILL BE SO EXCITING, this way I can be right in the heart of the creative culture, we'll include exhibitions of local artists in Ponyville, but our main goal will be to show off your work..."
Sketch-it began to nod off mumbling,
"Thatsss... ounds like a cool id...ea... if you'l...scuse me i'm gon......" She crawled on her couch and in an extremely exhausted grunt she plopped into the cushions and fell fast asleep leaving the house guests confused really.
"Oh that poor dear, Red will you be a darling and..." Before she could continue, Red had already took Sketch-it on his back and escorted her up the stairs quietly replying,
"At once Miss Rose..." Lavender took a look around for more art when she stumbled across an opened letter. Her curious eye struck a glimpse of it and she wanted to see what it was. Nopony was around but she felt invasive to do such a thing, and to a pony she revered well.
"Oh noooo, Lavender you must not succumb to the wandering eye, it is her private matters and none of my business... but the parchment is first class it must be important but not personal... ohhh... don't..." She attempted to keep her curiosity away, but could not stand seeing it flashing before her eyes! "I'll just read the header, that's all i'll do, if it is a personal matter I will cease, if it's something like say anything related to her art work then I am more than welcome to read it..." Slowly she approached the note with her head leaning over reading, "Canterlot SteamExpress, First Class..."
Reading further down she got to the introduction, "Dear, sis..." She wanted to stop right there but suddenly her eyes jerked to the writings of her brother's adventure.
(Flash Back to Lieutenant LightHeart)
"ALL HANDS PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!" The shaking hooves as thunderous guns roared in the night, marking the first day of naval combat Lightheart had ever seen up close. Lightheart looked upon the port of the steamship his division was on, the Imperial SteamShip IronSaddle had been hit several times with heavy shelling, but she still stood firm with her fleet. Lightheart made a run for one of his fallen comrades, he felt dirty for having to pry the bit out of his fellow soldier's mouth, but to get a weapon to defend against the invading forces was the primary goal. He slid over the wood and thick cast iron deck!
"AGGHHH!" He turned to find a beastly looking pony with a dark mask coming down at him with a saber in mouth! He caught the blade on the side of the bit, reared up with his foe and with his front hooves he gave a powerful kick sending the pony flying off the edge of the flying ship!
"INCOMING, EVERYONE GET DOWN!" A squad of enemy fliers began to drop magic guided bombs down on the ship deck! "Agghhh, Admiral they're trying to destroy the transport ships, they don't seem to be worried about the escorts at all..." The ship captain's words reached through the radio on the Canterlot Class Battleship steaming in the center of the mass of ships. The beastly iron behemoth steam battleship was armed with 12x 18in guns, the main weapon of choice were specially made Magus Harmonized Blast Ordinance MHBO, better known as the BIG MOs!
To be a gunner for a Canterlot Battleship was to be the most elite Unicorn, with the strength to launch and propel these monstrous shells the size of tree trunks with magic. Usually two unicorns are required in each gun station. Just so happens this relevant explanation came in physical form when Lightheart felt the air around the ships quake when six BIG Mo's fired simultaneously sending a shock wave of magical energy surging through the fleet, the shells pinpointed directly and guided straight into the boarding vessel connected to the transport ship. The overkill was violent as thrashing magic energy rippled through the skies!
The blasts sent a furious roar of heat and metal shards spewing as the vessel broke off and descended in the darkness of the lost world's endless open night sky! It was bad enough the air quaked when they fired, but feeling the strength of the shell rip that vessel off the side of the ship made the Ironsaddle jerk a few inches to the port!
"AGGHH.... AGGKKKK!" Lightheart drew out his cutlass and sunk it through the enemy's chest with the levitated blade. The dark clothing stained as drops of blood dripped out of the wound making pools on the already dirtied and battle torn deck. There was no expression but a pain stricken grunt coming from the enemy soldier. Lightheart could not stand hearing that pain, and with a flick of his magic threw the pony off his blade into the abyssmal jungle below.
"BIG MACINTOSH, WHERE ARE YOU!?" The lieutenant called out for his close comrade, Big Macintosh heard the call and attempted to end the fight with two enemies who had him cornered. Flak rounds from a nearby destroyer steaming by the Ironsaddle started wailing close by at passing marauder pegasi. Snails galloped across the port side of the ship screaming as four of the boarding ponies chased him around. Guns firing and swords swishing in the air he used all the magic he could and opened a hatch hoping it would slow the enemy down. Just above them the gunners were trying to keep the pesky pegasi bombers off their decks when the rear most nest felt the fury of a magic ordinance bomb completely turning the ponies and the nest itself into a pile of ash lofting in the thick air.
"HEEELLLP!!" He cried again, Big Macintosh was close by and decided to aid Snails in escaping. With a quick buck he sent one flying off the rail as he barreled around the hatch blindly, he slammed the hatch back and a quick burst fire plastered the other on the side of the ship. A round clipped his mane causing Mac to stop for a brief moment. The strange sound came through his ears as they perked. The sound of moaning metal echoing through the night skies. A loud explosion with roaring flames as a nearby destroyer escort was hit in the shell magazine. With enough spell power the blast caused a furious storm of magic plumes and flame that reached over to their transport vessel giving a heavy choking air. The sounds of eerie screams from ponies who were no doubt going to plummet to their death filled his ears. A round shooting him in the shoulder snapped him out of it, and in the thick smoke he snorted and fired back killing the other two with a spray of his machine gun bit.
Snails continued to run on towards Lightheart! As Big Macintosh turned to group with his Lieutenant, he was petrified in place by shock and awe of the vast naval combat happening in front of them. Twitching nervously the three stallions watched as the sounds of guns bellowed in the night, machine guns, and flak were killing pegasi left and right. The accompanying Carrier SoaringWind was dispensing warbirds and pegasi squadron across the night sky just as the anti fighter guns were dispersing rounds. The steam turbines were screaming as they periodically gave a loud exhaust of steam clouds pushing thrust for the floating warships.
By their hooves were the lost comrades who were hit before the boarding began, off in the distance in the moonlight were silhouettes of the opposing fleet. Majestic Wing had lost four ships in her formation, the Imperial Flagship Majesty's Harmony fired her guns in anger ripping the fleet ahead to shreds with her superior gun power. Magic auras and flak charges were pummeling the night air thicker and thicker, it seemed there would be no end.
Lightheart gazed around to find the enemy had only managed to bring two boarding vessels near the transports so the destroyers by their side were doing their job which was good to know. The night seemed to be going towards their side of victory, until the enemy fleet pulled something somewhat suicidal. They turned their ships and headed straight for the 9th fleet, rather than pass around them in a ranged fight. They knew the best bet to stop the 9th fleet was to hit head on!
"By the Sisters of the Sun and Moon, they.... THEY'RE GOING FOR SUICIDE!" The shadows of the ships turning towards the fleet and firing, was a spooky scene. The flashes and sounds of the whizzing shells was frightening to on deck naval stallions.
"ISS CopperPlate Taking Damage, losing pressure, we're going down!" The sister transport began to descend as the turning enemy ships all focused fire straight for it, Pegasi were launched to rescue any survivors and bring them to the IronSaddle. Shells as if guided to the transport ship scared LightHeart as he felt the power of the enemy ships attempting to bring their vessel down. Almost as if mesmerized to how useless they would be defending the ship, he watched their escorts raising a magic shield barrier in front of them to protect them somewhat from the shells.
"ALL ESCORTS PROTECT THOSE LAST TWO TRANSPORTS!" The three ponies observed as the escorts started to turn broadside to cover the ships from sight, and with all their guns they returned fired furiously lighting up the fleet ahead. "Apparently they are confident our ships won't be a problem..."
"Well Admiral they probably are preventing us from deploying ground forces in the jungle, there's only so much we can do without knowing exactly where the enemy is on the ground..." The Admiral turned his bearded face with a scoff,
"Do not talk to me like i'm ignorant to military tactics Lieutenant! I am your superior officer, what I say is infallible truth, and what I know is absolutely everything! If I want to talk to myself about sunshine and rainbows then I shall do so... WITHOUT YOUR INTERJECTIONS OF FACTS AND THEORIES!"
"Sorry sir, it won't happen again Admiral Red Mane Sir." The inferior officer answered back to the white maned pony. The only red in Red Mane's mane was the small red streak still left from his age.
The Admiral stood firmly glaring under his cap at the incoming threat, the flashes of light blinking in the night sky giving precise positions of the enemy ships. Unicorn developed radar systems were still superior to tracking the big hunks of targets ahead. The sounds engulfing the entire area sounded like a raging thunderstorm non stop!
Lightheart closed his eyes just as the moment an escort destroyer in front of them erupted! Opening back up he could see the ponies silhouetted by the roaring flames, and it just continued to depress him more. They had no time to react to the sadness of lost lives though, as enemy pegasi dropped on the side and commenced high caliber round firing. The bullets were tearing through the wooden deck and the three ponies dropped to the side of a solid cast iron siding.
"Squad intercept now!" As the three stallions hit the deck, a squad of fillies came from across the SoaringWind and opened fire after the enemy squadron.
"What'r we gonna do ahhh Lieutenant... sirr...?" Snails bumbled. Lightheart took a look up at the inoperative defense gun nests above them. He had an idea but it was going to be rough on his magic. The ponies who were on the guns were massacred, which left the transport ship unable defend itself.
The squad of fliers came back around for another strafe run trying to ignore the fillies behind them, and Lightheart responded with a strain on his magic as he took hold of the Port mounted gun nests and started to let out a raging TAT TAT TAT TAT TAT TAT! Caught by the surprise of magic guided rounds the squad of five were torn by screaming rounds and ripped to bloody messes before they could even fire a single shot coming around. His two comrades were mighty impressed by their commanding officer's ability. He ordered them to follow him up to the nests, with the main gun crew dead they had to compensate for the lost defense. The fillies flew overhead and their leader had a half cocked smile as she mumbled,
"Well well, that unicorn can hold his own afterall. WHOA SHOOT! That was close!" Flak rounds pelted the air near them as three broken squad fliers were coming in with bombs to drop on the transport Ironbox.
The fight raged on viciously with bombs dropping, shells soaring back and forth, the ship dreadnought that was leading the enemy fleet attempted to outgun the mighty Canterlot flagship, the fight would be a challenge of who could outlast the pummel from the other. The dreadnought's strong armor could hold off even the massive shells from the Majesty's Harmony. The dreadnought's smaller firepower though couldn't seem to damage the battleship.
The guns echoed and roared more frequently as the fight came up close and personal! Pegasi and aircraft were getting squeezed by the thick fighter suppression of flak and small arms fire. Lightheart watched as a dogfight started but ended tragically with both sides being blown up in a flak clouds friendly and enemy.
"Look out, theressss another one of them thingies!" Snails yelled frightfully watching a small boarding vessel zip by the port side.
"GIVEM ALL YA GOT STALLIONS!" Lightheart operated two while Snails and Macintosh operated the other two seperately. The medium sized steam vessel began to draw close with it's pneumatic tubes exposed. They peppered the vessel until the rounds began to tear up the port side tubes causing steam to sporadically shoot everywhere causing the ship to lose control! The boarding lander made a loud hiss and scratched across the side of the Ironsaddle! It tore some of the hull from the ship as it plummeted down into the jungle graveyard!
(Returning to the Present with Lavender Rose)
Lavender heard the voice of her butler, which startled her reading!
"Ahhh wha... ahhh..." She backed from the note looking to the stairs. She ran her hoof across her face. Relieved it was just Red she replied, "Oh it's you Red..." She turned her attention back over to the letter and thought to herself. 'The poor mare, her brother fighting in the great unknown, that dreadful Lost World...' Lavender took her hoof and stomped the floor with an elegent softness as to not disrupt her host. Her voice softened as she insisted, "Red, get Humphrey, we're going back to the inn, I'm not going to stand around and twiddle my hooves, we need to make necessary arrangements and soon..." She trotted out of the house with Humphrey riding on Red's back.
The two out of place dressed ponies trotted along the sidewalk, and all the while Lavender was plotting a location in her mind for a gallery. "Hmmm... over there, no that's too small, ooohhh maybe there..." She gazed at a nice looking building, but before she could make any thoughts it collapsed right before her eyes as construction was underway for a new business. "Ughhh, certainly there's some nice place to procure a cultural art gallery in this drabby little town..." It just so happens a nearby pony of the high class variety heard her complaints, and was interested to trot over and ask,
"Excuse me but are you interested in developing a cultural arts gallery in Ponyville... is that correct?" Her flank had a silver spoon shining across her gray coat, with a white mane glistening through the afternoon sunlight, she was a pretty rich sight to see. Lavender acknowledged her noseyness remarking,
"I see you heard me complaining, well as a matter of fact yes I have been contemplating on renting a business space for said reason..." In return she added as if the answer was obvious, "I suppose you might happen to know of somepony who could help me with this problem?" The gray mare giggled to herself and looked about as if she had a secret to tell. She told Lavender to follow her.
"I know exactly who can help you miss..." she paused in her sentence waiting for Lavender to introduce her name. The two mares trotted by one another's side with Lavender replying,
"Lavender, Lavender Rose, and you are?" The mysterious earth pony just swished her mane and scoffed,
"Silver Spoon of course, you obviously must be new to Ponyville, it is a good thing you've bumped into me miss Rose... it is best to always be in the right crowd if you know what I mean..." Lavender began to laugh with Silver Spoon, but an unsettling nervous smile ran across her face as she seen that even Ponyville was going to have... THOSE PONIES!
Poor Lavender didn't like where this was going as she was escorted towards a rather clean corporate building. On the one hand this was pleasing to see, but she knew where this was going, and it just made her swell up nervously. On the front awning the picture of a silhouette pony head and a tiara over it was followed by the gold letters across the entrance 'D'Tiara Inc...' None other than the infamous Diamond Tiara. Everypony knew about her rise to power in much of the many industries she took hold of and it made her lurch even more.
Her father Filthy Rich was getting of age, and when she was given the responsibility of some of his businesses, she blind sided him. Her own flesh and blood! She managed to take the few businesses given to her and absolutely run her father out of his own. Now she runs her own monopolized business and investment enterprise making her known across Equestria as the Baron Princess. Lavender knew to take a deal with her was to make a deal with a dark force indeed. The building was an eye sore for the quaint Ponyville village, but again Anvil's Forge was also out of place too.
She was brought to the elevator by Silver Spoon passing up the receptionists and the few ponies running ragged with statistics on Diamond Tiara's latest corporate blind side. Entering the elevator with Red following behind, Silver Spoon began to explain some things about Ponyville that most commoners did not know, "Normally I don't talk about this in front of anypony but you I like, do you know the secret behind Ponyville right now, how the economy here has been so well?" Lavender shrugged not really interested in any economical or political jabber, she was just building hunting. "Well if you are anypony it's no real secret that D'Tiara Inc and Anvil's Forge have been the lifeblood of this town. One ships weapons components to major factories across the Empire, and of course D'Tiara..." A voice came over a small intercom of a loud angry
"EHEM!" ... Diamond Tiara was hearing her right hand mare about to let out something she didn't want to be known and quickly stopped her mid sentence with, "Please Silver Spoon, do you ever stop to think about what you are saying..." Silver Spoon quickly shut her mouth and drooped shamefully.
The elevator door swung open and she escorted the two ponies quietly into the office of none other than the one and only... Diamond Tiara. The pink pony with a sweet purple and white mane had her flank turned to the doorway as she glanced over Ponyville. "So what do we have here..." Her tone just as sharp and high strung as when she was just a filly. "What's with this visit Silver Spoon, this better be important." Silver Spoon nodded slowly and mumbled,
"Well yes, ummm It is, I have ummm..." She stopped herself and stepped aside to reveal the two ponies Lavender and Red. "Miss Rose here wishes to purchase a building to hold an art gallery..." Diamond Tiara seen the ponies in the reflection of her window and she grew a smug disgusted expression crinkling her snout.
"An art gallery... in a town so poor in culture, of rank and sophistication... dear Miss Rose the best you're going to get is a bunch of washed up beatnick folk artists who would clearly do nothing but ruin your reputation and class. Might I suggest to you something a little more private and extensive than some local gallery?"
"Well now...!" Lavender knew Diamond Tiara was going to be snooty, but to immediately detour her from creating an art gallery because of some assumption the artists of Ponyville were nothing more than beatnicks of low class. "Fine I was willing to pay a pretty bit for a building to host a gallery of fine art work, especially seeing as this art work would include a new local artist by the name of Sketch-It!" Diamond Tiara was no stranger to this pony and immediately retracted her plan thinking this could be a rather healthy investment.
Lavender began to double think what she had said grimacing. She had a sharp reminder in her mind that Sketch-it was not really wanting any special attention. "Well actually now that I think about it..."
"Oh WAIT!" She turned from the window to face Lavender, retracting her previous statement. "How much were you planning to spend..." Lavender began to backtrot from the room uncomfortable that just being here may have stirred something she was later going to regret.
"No really I'm just wasting your time, I'm dreadfully sorry Miss Tiara, it was a pleasure meeting you but I really must be going, I seem to have forgot a few important errands I had to run today..."
Before Diamond Tiara to get a word out, her investment galloped out and down the stairs with Red following her trail. Diamond Tiara just stood with a very peculiar look.
"Silver Spoon..." Her faithful assistant turned to her ready to listen to her whim. "Keep an eye on this Lavender, find out where this Sketch-It is, when you find her, I want to know so I can make a personal visit..."
"Will do Miss Tiara..." Diamond Tiara grinned an evil grin as she turned around to her window view.
"Excellent, I've been waiting for an opportunity like this, I can see it now, Galloport's crown jewel prodigy, supported by mwah..." She pointed to herself with an upstart expression whipping her tail in the air. "Ponyville will truly grovel at my hooves in gratitude, they will be like 'Oh Miss Tiara, we are in debt to you, our town now has sophistication!' Mwahahahaa!" She seemed to be very excited and full of evil conniving ideas. "That's when I will finally drive these Ponyvillians to renaming their home to Tiara Town... or Diamondville..." Silver Spoon gave Tiara a strange look. Diamond Tiara noticed she was still standing there and she snapped, "I'll think of a name when I reach that point, what are you doing still standing here, get me a cup of tea, then go do what I told you to do!"
"Right away Miss Tiara..." Silver Spoon quickly trotted out to fetch a cup of tea for Diamond Tiara. She returned in a flash with the cup and Diamond Tiara took a seat in her chair. Diamond Tiara began to take a sip as she schemed,
"Someday all of Ponyville will be mine... hahahahaha MWHAHAHAHAHAA MUAAHAHAHAAAAGGGKKK... PLUAH... BLEEHHH...!" A horrible taste ran down her throat. She glared at Silver Spoon who had a scared grimace as she barked, "AGGHH NO SUGAR... Go back and get it RIGHT THIS TIME!" She tossed the tea cup across the room and the cup shattered by Silver Spoon's face!
"Sorry Miss Tiara, I didn't mean to..."
"Ugghhh lousy assistants, problem is I had this one ever since I was a filly and she still can't do EVERYTHING RIGHT... guahhh..."