“I miss it already,” sighed Spike as he rubbed below his snout, the space bare once again. He had with him a blue backpack that was half filled with scrolls, quills, and bottles of ink and the other half empty for anything he or Twilight might pick acquire on their journey after exiting the Golden Oak Library.
“Sorry Spike,” Twilight told him as she made her way out of Ponyville with the dragon riding on her back. “But we’re on a serious mission now. We don’t have time for silly distractions.”
“I know,” he answered her. “Still, I can’t believe Celestia’s old castle was this close to Ponyville.”
“If we figured out the clue correctly,” Twilight added. “But, at least, it sounds promising. The book features a castle tucked far away in a dark and scary forest.”
“And that’s when I told you there’s supposed to be an old castle in the Everfree Forest, on the outskirts of town,” recalled Spike. “And I’d hate to imagine a forest that’s even spookier than this one in all of Equestria. Still, I don’t know for sure if there really is a castle there or not. It could just be an old Pony’s tale like the headless horse or Nightmare Moon, though I suppose she’s not a tall tale anymore.” Pondering over this, Spike hugged Twilight’s neck nervously. “Y-You don’t think the headless horse could be real too?”
Sighing a little, Twilight shook her head. “I highly doubt the headless horse is real, Spike. How could any creature survive without their head?”she pointed out. “And even if they somehow could, how would they be able to do anything when the only sense available to them is touch? In a story they might be scary, but think how silly they’d look stumbling around.”
“Heheh, I guess that would be funny to see,” chuckled Spike, his worries quickly forgotten.”
“Anyway, that’s not what we need to focus on. We need to see if this rumored castle really exists,” Twilight told him, sounding a bit excited and added some spring to her trot. “And if it is, just think. An ancient Pony Castle, the very one Princess Celestia used to live in, that would have to be an archeologist’s dream to explore. Imagine all the ancient treasures that could be housed in there like tapestries, jewels, and tons of other priceless artifacts from days long gone. Imagine seeing the place where the princess lived in her youth, untouched by Pony hands for ages. Oh, and most of all, just think of what the castle library must be like.”
“Figures you’d be dorking out over the library,” joked Spike. “But let’s not forget we still have to get through the forest to reach it and that place is no picnic. It is incredibly dangerous with ferocious cragodiles, packs of howling timber wolves, all kinds of Pony-eating plants, and who knows what else. No sane Pony would ever dare set hoof in that place.”
“Sane or not, we’ve got no choice but to go,” Twilight reminded Spike. “That’s where the Elements of Harmony are hidden. As for the dangers, I shouldn’t have any trouble dealing with them thanks to my magic. All we’ve got to do is keep our eyes open for any dangers and we should be able to make it to the castle without too much trouble.”
“You make it sound so easy,” worried Spike. “But if we’re not careful we’ll meet our untimely end before our adventure has even begun.”
“That’s certainly gonna happen with thinking like that,” commented Twilight, turning to Spike. “Think you can try to be a bit more positive?”
“That is a bit hard to do,” admitted Spike, giving his belly a rub as it gurgled. “Particularly when I’m hungry.”
“I thought you had like four hay burgers while waiting for me and Trixie to have our magic duel,” she reminded Spike. “I can’t imagine you still being hungry after all that.”
“Actually, I only had three,” he confessed to Twilight and second, my internal clock is so messed up from this darkness that I don’t know if it should be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or time for one of my late night snacks. All I know for certain is that my belly’s hungry for food.”
“Did you pack anything to eat?” wondered Twilight.
“No,” Spike admitted. “But on our way to the Everfree Forest, we can make a pitstop at the farm over there called ‘Sweet Apple Acres.’ The Apple family lives there and they’re more than happy to welcome in travelers. I could definitely get a bite to eat while we’re there.”
“We could hardly be considered travelers after walking for not even ten minutes,” commented Twilight.
“By the time we reach the river and cross over the bridge we’ll have traveled for ten minutes,” pointed out Spike before he looked ahead of them and gently tugged on Twilight’s mane. “Whoa! Hold up a minute.”
“Why?” she asked scanning the area. “What do you see?”
“An answer to my prayers,” he replied as he hopped off her back and hurried further down the path they were on, straight to something they were heading towards.
“What is it?” wondered Twilight as she approached, a few steps behind Spike. “When she got close enough to see, she raised an eyebrow in confusion at the brown, sweet-smelling object before them. “Muffins? Why are there a whole bunch of muffins just left here like this?”
“Who cares?” questioned Spike. “They are ours now.”
“They have to belong to somepony,” Twilight informed Spike. “And they’ve been laying on the ground for who knows how long. They’re probably just trash now.”
“One Pony’s trash can be this dragon’s treasure,” he salivated hungrily. Seeing no way to convince the hungry dragon not to eat them, Twilight just rolled her eyes and waited.
Picking one up from the pile, Spike licked his chops and then opened his maw to gobble it up. However, he immediately stopped and stared at the confection when he suddenly noticed that it was staring back at him. “What the?” pondered Spike as he looked closer at the odd confection.
“Don’t eat me!” the muffin suddenly cried, freaking Spike out.
“Wargh!” the dragon screamed, tossing the muffin away and stumbled backwards, falling onto his back, but still attempted to retreat.
“What’s wrong?” called Twilight, seeing his unexpected freakout.
“That muffin was alive!” he told her, fearfully, much to her belief, however, as the muffin fell back onto the rest of them, they all came to life, sprouting little feet as they scampered around frantically.
“Don’t eat us!” they all cried, further scaring Spike and even Twilight too as they kept their distance from them. The muffins then turned and retreated down the path and away from Twilight and Spike, soon vanishing from sight.
“That… was… freaky,” panted Spike as he hugged Twilight’s leg tightly. “And I think I lost my appetite.” His stomach grumbled. “Uh, never mind that last part, but that was still weird.”
“Enchanting muffins to come alive certainly isn’t commonplace magic,” answered Twilight as she pondered this.”
“You think Nightmare Moon could be behind it?” suggested Spike.
“I doubt it,” figured Twilight. “She can’t know where I am and even if she did, would she seriously send muffsassins or whatever those things are to stop me? They just freaked out and ran away.”
“Yeah, in the direction we were going,” gulped Spike.
“Well, if we do run into any more, we’ll be ready for them,” Twilight told Spike. “After all, how bad can some baked goods be?”
Celestia didn’t have much else to do while trapped in her own room, save rereading the letter Twilight had written her and hope she was still doing alright. Every so often, she listened at her door, to check if the guards were still at their post and to make certain nopony was going to suddenly barge in and catch her with the letter.
“Stand aside,” ordered Nightmare Moon in her loud, commanding voice from the other side of Celestia’s door. With such generous forewarning of her arrival, the sun princess was able to quickly stash away the letter under her bed and quickly situate herself to appear as if she had been resting on her side with her pillow wrapped around the back of her head the entire time.
“Arise, Celestia,” announced Nightmare Moon as she entered. “I bring great new!”
“That you changed your mind and decided to go back to living on the moon?” she asked.
“Oh, did you think I meant good news for you?” she asked smugly. “Sorry, none of that today. I’ve made my first announcement as the new ruler of Equestria, just a little earlier.”
“I know. I could hear it from here,” she replied, stretching and sitting atop her bed. “You woke me up when I was attempting to get some rest.”
“Oh, sorry,” Nightmare Moon apologized before realizing what she said. “Wait! I do not need to apologize to you for anything. If nothing else, you should be the one begging me for forgiveness!”
“Like it would even make a difference at this point,” scoffed Celestia.
“Very true,” Nightmare Moon agreed, taking a seat beside Celestia. With the white Alicorn’s magic suppressed, she was free to be as relaxed around her prisoner as she wanted. “And all that is a thousand moons in the past. Nothing can stop what has already been set in motion.”
“Tell me,” continued Celestia, turning to the black Alicorn. “Do you honestly think the Ponies of this land will willingly follow you?”
“They followed you,” countered Nightmare Moon, grinning as she enjoyed fighting Celestria, this time in a battle of wits. “And for a lot less than the promise of a fortune in gems.”
“Bribery will only get you so far,” stated Celestia.
“Maybe not as far and lies and deceit,” she admitted. “But in time they will come to understand that my rule will be absolute, but also fair. So long as they follow behind me and don’t stand in my way, they shall have no fear of being trampled under hoof. It’s as simple as that.”
“You make it sound as if you’ve already won and you’re just waiting for everypony to just fall in line,” commented Celestia. “But you aren’t the ruler of anypony just yet.”
“I admit, there are a few loose ends to tie up,” acknowledged the moon princess. “But I’ll have them tied up very soon. After that, nothing will be able to stop me.”
“Your majesty,” spoke one of the Pony guards at the door. “I have an urgent message for you.”
“Please come in at once,” Celestia and Nightmare Moon spoke in unison.
“Hey, I’m the one in charge now,” snapped Nightmare Moon.
“Oh, force of habit, I suppose,” Celestia admitted with a chuckle.
Nightmare Moon muttered some words and then called for her guard to enter once more. He came into Celestia’s room, levitating a crystal ball in front of him. “What is it that you have come to report?”
“One of your Dreamers on the ground has contacted you,” he explained, handing off possession of the orb to Nightmare Moon.
“Dreamers?” questioned Celestia.
“My loyal followers,” Nightmare Moon explained. “Ponies I’ve visited in dreams in the recent months before my return. I struck a deal with them for whatever their greatest dream was in exchange for swearing their loyalty to me. Once they awakened they have no memory of the agreement, but become my sleeper agents, waiting for when I need them. In this way, I’ve built up a following without anyone the wiser. Now, all over Equestria, I have a number of agents in every city and town to act as my eyes and ears. And, when other Ponies see what could await them for joining my side, they will wholeheartedly jump at the chance to.”
“Your majesty,” reminded the guard. “The transmission.”
“Oh, right,” remembered the dark Alicorn as she cast a spell on the crystal ball, changing it from reflecting a distorted image of the room to displaying a large pair of derpy, yellow eyes. Seeing such a thing, caught Nightmare Moon off guard and almost made her drop the orb.
“Princess Nightmare,” the Pony belonging to those eyes called to her. “Princess, I’ve got something to report. Are you there?”
“Y-Yes, I am,” Nightmare Moon answered her. “You don’t have the press your face against your crystal ball. Take a few steps back.”
“Sorry, about that,” she apologized and did so, revealing the rest of her body. She was a gray-haired Pegasus with a simple blonde mane and tail. She had a regal red robe with white trim draped over her back and a golden crown atop her head that was a giant muffin affixed to it. All around her she had tons of sentient muffins, including two that were sitting on her shoulders, one flavored with cherries and the other blueberry. “Is that better?”
“Much better, Muffin Queen,” replied Nightmare Moon.
“Uh…” stared Princess Celestia, struggling to find the words to say. “Muffin Queen?”
“This was her dream,” whispered Nightmare Moon to Celestia. “And she was more of a guinea pig I awakened early to make sure my magic worked as I intended it to.”
“Ah, I see,” nodded Celestia.
“Ahem,” Nightmare Moon cleared her throat before returning her focus to her Dreamer. “You said you have something to report?”
“What?” she asked scratching her head as she thought for a moment. “Oh, right. Yeah. Some giant, purple dragon tried to eat some of my muffin subjects.”
“A giant, purple dragon,” replied Nightmare Moon looking concerned. “I certainly can’t have such a beast threatening my kingdom after I just claimed ownership of it. I’ll handle the creature right away.”
“What’s that?” asked the Muffin Queen as one of her muffins spoke to her. “Uh huh… Oh, okay.” She then turned back to the orb to speak to Nightmare Moon again. “It seems that the dragon was giant because my muffins are so small. They think he was around three feet tall, but he was definitely purple. Purple with green spikes.”
“Spike,” thought Celestia upon hearing such a description.
“Sounds like a young welp of a dragon,” replied Nightmare Moon. “Such a creature shouldn’t pose any trouble to you, but I doubt it would be on its own. They didn’t see any other dragons along with it, did they?”
Celestia tensed up, certain that Twilight was with her draconic ward and feared what Nightmare Moon would do if she became aware of this fact. “No,” the Muffin Queen answered her. “There were no other dragons with him.” Celestia let out a silent sigh of relief. “However, there was a purple Unicorn with him.” Celestia bit her lip in worry.
“A purple… Unicorn?” questioned Nightmare Moon, leaning closer to her crystal ball.
“Um, now you’re getting too close,” commented the Muffin Queen as she saw the dark Alicorn’s pointy teeth and slit pupils up close on the orb.
“Tell me about this Unicorn,” Nightmare Moon demanded to know. “Where is she now?”
“She was down the road from my tower,” she answered. “My muffins said she was heading this way too.”
“Hold on for one minute,” Nightmare Moon instructed her and cast another spell upon the orb, changing what it showed to an overhead view of Equestria. From so far away, it was hard to make out much of anything beyond the general layout of the land. Nightmare Moon then used her magic to zoom in closer, concentrating it upon the area the Muffin Queen’s tower was located. “Let’s see now. She was stationed just outside of a small town, uh, Ponyville. Now, if they were headed down the path towards her then they should be close by. Finding the tower, Nightmare Moon followed the dirt road between it and the town till she spotted somepony heading towards it. Just as the Muffin Queen had said, it was a small purple dragon and a Unicorn. “Aha! Found them!” Zooming in further, she saw Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon headed for the Muffin Queen’s tower. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? This is that student of yours you helped to escape earlier, isn’t it Celestia?”
“Yes,” admitted Celestia, seeing no point in denying the obvious. “What of it? She’s already proven to be no match for you.”
“I know that, but still, you saved her and a short while later she’s headed straight for the Everfree Forest where our old castle resides. That’s no mere coincidence. Without a doubt, she is after the Elements of Harmony. Well, she can try all she wants, but she will never find them.” With a smirk, she chuckled. “But seeing her try would prove most entertaining.”
“Entertaining?” questioned Celestia. “What are you planning now?”
Ignoring Princess Celestia, Nightmare Moon returned to her conversation with the Muffin Queen. “Those two are indeed headed straight for your tower,” Nightmare Moon informed her minion. “When they arrive, you are to defeat and capture them for me. It’s time for you to prove yourself, Queen of Muffins. I trust you will not disappoint me.”
“Okey dokey lokey,” she replied with a derpy smile. “You can count on me, Princess Nightmare.”
The transmission came to an end and Nightmare Moon grinned at Celestia. “Well, it seems that you’ll get to see your protege beaten yet again,” she cackled. “Won’t that be thrilling to see and by muffins no less.”
“I wouldn’t count Twilight out yet,” countered Celestia. “Twilight is far more capable than you give her credit for. What’s more, she is not daunted by challenges. They only make her that much more determined.”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see now, won’t we,” stated Nightmare Moon as she got up to leave the room.
“Where are you going now?” wondered Celestia. “I can hardly watch a good brawl without a snack. Some popcorn would be good right about now.” She proceeded to leave, but stopped and turned back to Celestia. “Uh, this place is a lot bigger than our old haunt. How do I get to the-”
“The kitchen is on the lower floor second room on the right,” Celestia told her. “Oh, and can you grab me a slice of cake while you’re down there? The red velvet one, though, not the one with strawberries on top. I prefer to enjoy that sort of cake when I want to be in a relaxed mood.”
“Ok,” she nodded. “Be right back.” Reaching the door, she stopped and turned back to Celestia. “Wait, you are my prisoner. I’m not going to bring you cake.”
“Then I’m not going to tell you where the popcorn is,” smirked Celestia. “I’m sure you can figure which cabinet it’s in in time to make it back here to see how Twilight will fare against your Queen of Muffins, at least by the time the battle is wrapping up.”
“Fine, I’ll get your cake,” grumbled NIghtmare Moon. “Now, divulge the whereabouts of the popcorn!”
“It should be in one of the cabinets over the sink,” she told her. “Now remember, the red velvet cake.”
“I know, I know,” Nightmare Moon grumbled as she took her leave.
Once she was gone, Celestia wasted no time in hurrying over to her desk, taking out some scroll paper, ink and a quill. The princess hurried to write a letter and roll it up. Then, with a bit of magic, she ignited it into pink flames and watched the embers vanish into smoke that flew away just the same as Spike’s burned letters.
“Please let that reach Twilight in time,” prayed Celestia. “And please let her find the power within herself to be able to combat this Queen of Muffins.”
“That’s strange,” commented Spike as he looked at the raging river that cut off their access to Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree Forest. “This river was never this wild or large. Even I could have waded across it.”
“What about that?” questioned Twilight as she pointed at the large stone tower that bridged both sides of land over the water. It looked to be at least three stories tall and had a muffin emblem carved into the front door.
“That was supposed to be the bridge where we could cross,” he answered. “I have no idea why there’s a tower here now, though that muffin symbol on the door does make me worry, considering what we saw before.”
“It’ll be fine,” Twilight told Spike. “Let’s just knock on the door and explain that we need to get across. I’m sure whoever is in there will grant us safe passage through.”
Walking to the entrance to the tower, Twilight knocked on the door and called to whoever resided inside. “Hello?” she spoke. “Is anyone in here?”
“Just a minute,” came a voice from inside that soon unlocked the door. “Hello, I’m the Muffin Queen. How can I help you?”
“Huh?” mumbled Twilight, momentarily distracted by the Pegasus’s odd, royal getup, but she quickly recovered. “Oh, yes. The two of us just need to get to the other side of this river, so I was hoping you’d let us cross from here.”
“Okey dokey lokey,” she answered with a nod. Twilight took a step forward, but some murmuring on the other side of the door caught the Muffin Queen’s attention and she turned to listen. “What’s that? Oh, this is the one we’re supposed to capture?” She turned back to Twilight. “Sorry, to ask you this, but can you let us hold you against you will?”
“Does she even realize the contradiction in such a request?” wondered Spike to himself.
“Uh… no,” answered Twilight very slowly to allow her some time to cautiously back away.
“Guess we gotta do this the hard way then,” the Muffin Queen figured before raising her voice as she pointed at Twilight. “Muffins! Attack!”
“Yeargh!” the little confections screamed as they pushed open the door and pursued Twilight who quickly turned and ran.
“Spike! Run!” cried Twilight as she reached him and the two tried to flee, however, they were soon met by another horde of muffins that had been hiding in the nearby bushes and trees. They surrounded the dragon and the Pony and slowly started to move in closer.
“You know,” commented Spike as he watched the muffins approach them, snarling and prepared to take a bite out of them with their nonexistent teeth. “I thought if we’d meet an untimely end, it would have been to some ferocious beast in the Everfree Forest, not on the way to it and not by muffins of all things.”
“We can’t let this be the end,” Twilight replied. “We’re outnumbered, but we’ve got size and strength on our side. We’ll turn our defense into offense and take them down as they attack us.”
“Got that from a book too?” wondered Spike.
“Yes, but we can discuss that later,” Twilight told him as the first of the muffins started their assault. Quickly, Twilight shot small bursts of magic at them, blasting the treats to pieces. Spike slashed at them with his claws, batting them away and breaking them apart just as easily. With almost no trouble at all, they managed to beat off the first wave.
“Hey, this is actually pretty easy,” admitted the dragon, getting ready for more with increased confidence.
“No, my muffins,” cried the Muffin Queen as she saw the carnage of them being broken into crumbs. “How could you do this to them?”
“You were the one who sent them to attack us,” retorted Spike.
“I’m just doing what Princess Nightmare said for me to do,” she explained. “If I don’t do this she might make me not the Muffin Queen anymore and then I’ll have to go back to my regular old job at the post office.”
“The post office?” questioned Twilight as she looked more closely at the Muffin Queen. “Wait a minute, you’re our regular mail Pony.”
“Oh, yeah,” Spike realized after Twilight pointed it out. “You went missing a few days ago. So, you were here the whole time, being the Muffin Queen?”
“Uh huh,” she nodded. “And Princess Nightmare said I can be the Muffin Queen so long as I do what she wants when she needs me.”
“Look, uh,” Twilight tried to say to her, but was drawing a blank on her real name. She turned to Spike, hoping he would know.
“Her name is, uh, Derpy Whooves,” he managed to recall.
“Yes, Derpy,” Twilight continued. “I know that you feel indebted to Nightmare Moon, but you have to let us through so that we can stop her. The fate of Equestria is in the balance.”
“Well, I’d really like to help you,” Derpy replied as she looked down at her cherry and blueberry muffins. “But I really do like being the Muffin Queen. So, sorry about this.” Turning back to her tower, she called to it. “Come on out everyone else!”
“Reinforcements?” worried Twilight after her attempts to reason with Derpy failed.
“If it’s reinforcements, how many more muffins can she even have?” pointed out Spike, before the front door burst open with a flood of muffins coming out. They split up to avoid plowing into their queen as they made their way towards Spike and Twilight.
“Me and my big mouth,” gulped Spike as the countless confections joined with the others already attacking the duo and washed over them like an ocean wave. The two attempted to struggle their way to the surface, but the muffins just swarmed them more, burying the two in their golden brown hides. As their strength exhausted from trying to get free, the mound of muffins eventually became still, with Twilight and Spike trapped within its center.
“Yay!” cheered Derpy with a big smile on her face. “I win! I win!”
“Hahahah!” laughed Nightmare Moon, spilling some popcorn from her bucket as she watched with villainous glee as Twilight struggled against that army of muffins till at last she was lost within them. “What a victory and what a way to go, drowning in muffins.” She then turned to Celestia, with a big smirk on her face. “So, tell me, how does it feel that your precious student has been bested by a bunch of baked bads?”
“I prefer to give my final evaluation for once something is truly over,” retorted Celestia as she levitated her fork to break off a piece of her cake and bring it to her mouth to eat.
“You think it’s not over yet?” questioned Nightmare Moon as she used her magic to send a single piece of popcorn into the air and catch it in her mouth. “Even when we were kids, you never knew when to give up.”
“And I also never lost,” pointed out Celestia. “In particular, never to you.”
“Urgh!” growled Nightmare Moon, those words only serving to agitate her further. “Well, that was all in the past. If you haven’t already forgotten, in our last confrontation, it was I who emerged victorious.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Princess Celestia acknowledged. “I’ll admit I lost, but I wouldn’t say you’ve won either.”
“Don’t you dare try to cheapen what I’ve yearned for these last thousand moons!” she snapped. “I won and that’s all there is to it!”
“If that were true,” Celestia pointed out. “Then why even bother to have your Dreamer confront Twilight to capture her? If she were not a threat to you then you wouldn’t even need to bother with her at all.”
“I’ll admit,” Nightmare Moon confessed, scowling and narrowing her eyes at her fellow princess. “I was intrigued that she was still making an effort to stop me even after witnessing my insurmountable power. However, whether or not she could have posed a threat to me is now a moot point. She’s been defeated and, this time, you can’t help her get away.”
“I win! I win!” the Muffin Queen continued to cheer happily alongside her cherry and blueberry muffins while the rest of her army remained piled on top of Twilight and Spike. However, what she couldn’t see, thanks to the coverage the baked goods provided was the bubble of magic that Twilight managed to put up to separate the two of them from the muffins. The few that managed to slip in while she formed it were quickly reduced to crumb by the dragon who was developing a strong distaste for them.
“Once we get out of this mess, I never want to see another muffin again for as long as I live,” stated Spike as he brushed the crumbs off his claws. He then turned to Twilight who was squished uncomfortably close to Spike within their protective bubble. “Twilight, I’m glad you thought of putting up this barrier to keep these muffins from swarming us, but do you think you can make it a little bigger. I’ve practically got my feet in my mouth.”
“Sorry, Spike,” she apologized, curled up as compact as she could get her body. “But the bigger the barrier, the more magic I use and until we figure out a way to defeat these muffins I have to use what I have sparingly.”
“Well, if Derpy is the one leading them, then don’t we just need to defeat her to put an end to this?” Spike suggested.
“We don’t know that for certain,” replied Twilight, rubbing her chin. “And I don’t want to hurt her. She’s just a pawn of Nightmare Moon and doesn’t realize what she’s doing.”
“Maybe we could just defeat all these muffins,” Spike offered a second idea. “If she has no muffins to lead then can win that way.”
“That would work, but if we exhaust ourselves before then we’d be completely helpless,” analyzed Twilight. “And, for all we know, there could still be more muffins still inside her tower.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” worried Spike as he looked at all the muffins pressed against Twilight’s barrier, attempting to get in. Fortunately, they couldn’t do more than wait for Twilight’s magic to run out.
“I don’t know,” sighed Twilight. “There are too many unknowns to this problem. We need more data before we can act.”
“Yeah, but how exactly can we get any in here- ugh!” Spike replied, before he covered his mouth as his stomach rumbled.
“Spike!” worried Twilight, expanding the size of her barrier to give them more room, worried that her friend was getting sick. “You aren’t claustrophobic, are you?”
“No,” he groaned with his claws covering over his muzzle as his cheeks bulged. “But you might wanna put up a barrier between us now.”
Listening to Spike’s warning, Twilight put up a barrier to divide them and watched behind the safety of it as he belched out green flames. “Uh, was that indigestion or something?” she asked.
“Nope,” Spike answered as he presented her with a rolled up scroll. “I just got a message from Princess Celestia. She wrote back to us.”
“A letter from the princess!” gasped Twilight, undoing the shield between them to read it. “Even while a prisoner in her own castle, she’s doing whatever she can to help us.”
“I hope you’re right,” replied Spike. “What’s it say?”
To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,
First, let me tell you how relieved I am to know that you have escaped safely from the castle. Second, please do not blame yourself for what has happened. My hesitation was my fault and mine alone. Nightmare Moon was supposed to be my burden to bear, but now I am in no state to be able to handle her. I can only hope that you and the rest of Equestria can forgive me for my failure in protecting you all.
I have no right to ask you to put yourself in harm’s way to retrieve the Elements of Harmony, but if that is what you’ve truly decided to do on your own, I can only wish you the best of luck and offer you what information I can gather and pass on to you underneath Nightmare Moon’s nose. I’ve managed to learn that she has amassed a number of Equestria’s citizens as her loyal followers by granting them their greatest dreams in return. She calls them Dreamers and by the time you receive this letter you should be in the midst of battle with one. Unfortunately, I was unable to learn how to break whatever kind of spell she has enchanted them with, but I know there must be a way and I know you can find it. When you put your mind to it, there isn’t an answer to a problem that you are unable to find.
Now, go forth Twilight. Find the answers that only you can.
Princess Celestia
“That was a nice letter and all,” commented Spike, looking a bit sad. “But she didn’t even mention anything about me in the letter.”
“Oh, there’s a bit more down here,” noticed Twilight as she unrolled the scroll some more.
P.S.
Spike, I am glad that you are doing well and hope we can meet again once this whole ordeal is resolved. Till then, please lend Twilight your strength. I’m certain she will need all the friends she can get on this journey.
As for your birthday, I think you will be pleased with what I’ve prepared for you. I’d tell you more, but I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.
“Now I’m extra excited for my birthday,” smiled Spike as he licked his chops. “And that’s one more reason we’ve got to get out of this mess. So, Twilight, did that help you out at all?”
“Hmm,” she pondered as she closed her eyes to think, factoring in this new information with what she already knew. After a few minutes, she opened up her eyes and looked at Spike. “There might be a way, but this is only a theory. These Dreamers are dreaming.”
“That is the insight that you were able to come up with after reading Celestia’s letter?” he asked her. “I mean that’s pretty much what she said. Nightmare Moon gained their loyalty by giving them their greatest dream.”
“Exactly,” she continued. “So, all we’ve got to do is wake them up. If we can do that then whatever magic Nightmare Moon has on them should be broken too. Spike, if you can lure the muffins away, I should be able to awaken her. Maybe try the whole dragon kidnapping royalty routine.”
“Just for the record, it’s cliches like that that give dragons a bad name,” Spike told her. “Secondly, I see myself as more of a heroic and brave knight than some evil fiend. But, if that’s what it’ll take to get us out of this mess, I’ll do it.”
“Glad you’re on board,” she told Spike as she put him into a magical bubble within the one they were already in.
“Uh, what’s this for?” he asked, watching as her horn glowed, the point aimed directly at him.
“Getting you out of here,” she explained. “Good luck.”
Twilight blasted the magically protected dragon, breaking a hole in the bubble they were in and launching him, bubble and all out of the muffin mound. Gravity pulled it back to the ground and, after bouncing a few times and then rolling to a stop, it popped to let him out. With Spike freed, Twilight was quick to restore her own barrier and stomp on any muffins that managed to slip inside of it.
“That was certainly some ride,” groaned Spike as he woozily got up. Derpy and her two henchmuffins beside her saw his escape and turned to converse with one another.
“Dragon escaped,” the blueberry muffin told the Muffin Queen.
“Should we go after him?” the cherry one asked next.
“Um, we were only supposed to capture the purple Pony, so I don’t think we have to,” she pondered.
“Okay, Spike,” thought the dragon as he approached Derpy. “You’ve just got to convince her you’re a ferocious dragon and make her send her muffin army on you. No pressure.” Looking behind him, he could see just the massive pile of muffins that’d come after him and swallowed hard. “Okay, having all that chase after me and the fate of Equestria hanging in the balance, maybe a little pressure.” Standing in front of Derpy, she and her muffin minions just stared at him, wondering what he planned to do. Drawing up his courage, he held his arms up, claws out and planned to let out the fiercest roar he could manage. “Ra-awr…” His voice crack. It didn’t sound threatening in the least.
“Ah!” freaked out the Queen of Muffins. “Dragon attack!”
“Dragon attack!” the blueberry muffin cried out.
“Protect the queen!” the cherry one ordered, causing all the muffins still swarming Twilight to follow their newest orders and go after the not so ferocious dragon attacking the Muffin Queen.
“Uh, good, it worked,” smiled Spike, surprised that his lackluster performance actually succeeded. However, seeing the muffin swarm charging at him, the blueberry and cherry flavored ones leading the pack, started to make him regret it. “Crud! It worked!”
Spike ran with all the might his short legs could waddle to save his scaly hide. He also kept in mind to lead them as far away from the two Ponies to allow Twilight time to fulfill her part of the plan.
As Twilight had hoped, every last muffin had left the mound, freeing her to drop her barrier and confront the unguarded Queen. “Good job, Spike,” spoke Twilight quietly. “Just leave the rest to me.”
Approaching Derpy once more, she called out to her. “Okay, Derpy, it’s time to wake up!”
“But the sun is not up yet,” she pointed out.
“And it never will again if Nightmare Moon has her way,” explained Twilight. “Equestria will be in an eternal state of darkness. Did you really agree to be a part of this just so you can be the Queen of Muffins?”
“I didn’t know about any of this,” she admitted. “When Princess Nightmare said she could make me a Queen of Muffins for real she said she’d only want a favor or two back in return.”
“And what were these favors she asked of you?” Twilight questioned her.
“Just to guard this tower and report anyone attempting to cross to the other side. Oh, and she also wanted me to capture you. That one is new.”
“Do you want to do any of that?” continued Twilight walking towards her. “To dream of being a Queen when you are only really being a puppet in Nightmare Moon’s plans? Would you be happy just living here by yourself with nothing but muffins to keep you company?”
“When you put it like that,” Derpy pondered as considered her position. “It is pretty boring here and being Muffin Queen isn’t nearly as fun as I thought it’d be. I can’t even eat muffins now. I know they are just enchanted to be alive, but I just can’t bring myself to, not when they are looking at me.”
“Yeah,” nodded Twilight. “Spike ran into the same problem when we met a bunch of your muffins earlier.”
“Hey!” shouted Spike, struggling against the swarm of muffins that finally caught up with him. “Get off me you stupid baked bads. Don’t make me smoosh- ow!” He pulled one off of his tail. “You don’t even have teeth. How can you even bite me?” The muffin didn’t answer him with words, just a raspberry to his face, getting him more annoyed. “That’s it! I don’t care if you’re magically enchanted to be alive or whatever. You all just earned a trip into my belly.” Opening his maw, he chomped on the muffin while he grabbed another with his free hand. “Mmm, pretty tasty actually.”
“But I think he’s just gotten over it,” she added, watching Spike in the distance keeping the swarm of muffins preoccupied.
“So, what now?” asked Derpy.
“I’m not entirely sure how this Dreamer magic works,” admitted Twilight as she pondered it some more. “I technically didn’t defeat you, just convinced you to stop, but I guess you could probably just call off your muffins, let us through your tower and then head back to town and your regular life. Simple as that.”
“Okey dokey lokey,” Derpy agreed, removing her crown.
“Nokey dokey lokey!” snapped Nightmare Moon as her enraged visage appeared in the sky overhead. “You were given an order to defeat and capture Twilight Sparkle, my Muffin Queen. You can’t just give up on doing that.”
“Why not?” she asked, looking up at the giant illusion of Nightmare Moon’s head.
“Why not?” she repeated, growing more agitated by this betrayal. “Because… because…” Nightmare Moon attempted to come up with a convincing reason, but she was struggling to think of something. “B-Because that’s the agreement we made. I give you what you want and you obey my orders.”
“Well, if I give it back to you, then I shouldn’t have to listen to you anymore,” Derpy countered with a smile on her face.
“That sounds fair to me,” commented Twilight, finding a guilty pleasure is seeing Nightmare Moon so flummoxed from her back and forth with Derpy.
“You keep out of this!” hissed Nightmare Moon to Twilight before attempting to force the nicest face she could make to Derpy to get her to reconsider. “My, dear Muffin Queen. Perhaps you don’t fully grasp the situation that’s RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE!” Her attempt to keep a cool head failed. “The Pony I want you to capture is right there! Do this for me and you can have whatever you desire, no strings attached!”
“No thank you,” she replied, such a happy rejection causing Nightmare Moon’s eye to twitch before she got her illusionary face right up against Derpy’s.
“WHAT?!?” she raged.
“You’re too close again,” Derpy told her, taking a few steps back, away from her.
“I was going to give you whatever you could ever want and you just turned my offer down?” she questioned her.
“Yup,” Derpy nodded. “Sorry to disappoint you Princess Nightmare.”
“It’s Nightmare Moon!” she corrected her.
“Just give it a rest,” Twilight Sparkle told her. “She won’t be bought by anything you’re selling anymore, so just give up.”
“Very well then,” the dark Alicorn conceded. Her horn glowed and then in a poof of magic, Derpy’s crown and robe vanished. The tower that connected both ends of the the river went away, returning the bridge to how it normally was. As for the river itself, both ends came closer together, making it more narrow while the water also became shallow and its flow was reduced to a crawl, returning it to being no more than a gentle stream.
At the same time, the muffins Spike was still in the middle of battling stopped moving and returned back to being lifeless confections. Digging himself out of the pile of them, Spike rubbed his bulging gut as moans leaked out of his crumb-covered muzzle. “I never want to eat another muffin for as long as I live,” he groaned and let out a fiery belch.
“Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle,” spoke Nightmare Moon. “You’ve managed to overcome one of my Dreamers with barely more than some words and compassion. That was quite impressive, actually. I find it hard to believe that you of all Ponies are one of Celestia’s greatest students.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked Nightmare Moon sternly.
“Simply that Celestia would not have acted in such a manner when she could much more efficiently remove the problem with far less effort,” she answered Twilight’s inquiry.
“That’s a lie!” Twilight argued with the illusion of Nightmare Moon in the sky. “Celestia is a kind and benevolent ruler. She wouldn’t harm a fly.”
“No, Celestia is the liar,” countered Nightmare Moon. “I have been nothing but honest from the moment I’ve returned to Equestria. This just goes to show how little you know about us and how much Celestia has worked to keep such information hidden from the world.”
“If Celestia is hiding secrets,” spoke Twilight. “Then tell me what they are.”
“It’d be a waste of my breath to do that,” she scoffed. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I did tell you. Instead, I’m going to allow you to continue on with this futile quest of yours a little longer. I’ll even give you a little word of warning. The Dreamer you just bested was nothing more than practice before I activated all the others. Compared to the Muffin Queen, they will be far stronger. You won’t be able to simply talk them into surrendering. No, with them, you will have to fight your hardest-”
“Just to survive,” assumed Twilight.
“But you will still lose,” corrected Nightmare Moon. “Even so, please try your best. It will be very entertaining to watch you struggle and I am eager to see the look of despair wash over you precious Celestia’s face when you fail. Once that happens, then my reign over this land will finally, truly begin. Until then, enjoy the nightlife!”
Opening her maw, Nightmare Moon dove down at Twilight to swallow her up. The young, purple Pony braced herself by reflex, but the illusion of Nightmare Moon merely dissipated into magical spoke that slowly faded away. Twilight was completely unharmed, but Nightmare’s Moon’s words continued to linger on her mind.
“Wow, she sure knows how to make an exit,” commented Derpy watching the last bits of smoke vanish.
“Yeah,” agreed Twilight. “Unfortunately, she’ll be back. Derpy, do you think you can get back to town on your own?”
“Sure, no problem,” she nodded and flapped her wings to fly back the way Twilight had come from. Twilight then made her way over to her traveling companion, Spike.
“Ugh,” the purple dragon continued to groan, resting atop the once more inanimate muffins and comforting his stuffed gut. “I take it you won.”
“Piece of cake,” Twilight told him. Hearing her mention food caused Spike to moan even louder as he rubbed his belly in an effort to soothe it. “Uh, poor choice of words?”
“You think?” he replied as she very gently lifted him onto her back.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “You just take it easy and let me do the leg work. We’ll take a pitstop at the apple farm and then we can start heading into the Everfree Forest from there.”
“Uh huh,” nodded Spike. “And Nightmare Moon, said we’d be facing even greater dangers ahead?”
“Yeah,” answered Twilight as she made her way over the bridge, finally getting them across the river. “A lot tougher than Derpy and her muffins.”
“So long as I don’t have to go through that again,” he answered. “You can count on me.” Quickly turning his head, Spike unleashed another belch, spewing green flames into the air.
“Your student is quite impressive,” admitted Nightmare Moon, to Celestia once she had finished speaking to Twilight through that illusion of herself. “But if that’s the best she can do, she will not stand a chance against who I have in mind to challenge her next.”
“And who would that be?” questioned Celestia, placing her now empty plate down upon her bed.
“I could tell you, but it’d be far more fun to show you,” she explained as she suddenly shouted with her royal voice, speaking a command that could be heard throughout the entire castle. “SHADOWBOLTS! ASSEMBLE BEFORE ME AT ONCE!!!”
Back down in the banquet hall, a number of creatures were sitting around, enjoying the remains of the Summer Sun Celebration gala. Sitting at one of the tables was a group of four Pegasi. They were all dressed in matching, full body, purple uniforms that were black halfway up their four hooves. From their heads and on the center of their chest was black also done in the shape of a lightning bolt. Dividing the black and purple were lightning bolt lines of yellow. Over their eyes, they wore purple framed, yellow-tinted goggles, angled at the top like angry eyes to add to their intimidating appearance.
Among the Shadow Bolts there were two mares and two stallions. They all had wild blue manes and tails. Their hair was a paler blue hue as were their wings. While their Cutie Marks couldn’t be seen due to their body suits, on their flanks could be seen a winged skull, the symbol of the aerial group.
“Sounds like the boss is calling us,” one of the stallions stated as he finished gulping down some punch.
“Guess that party’s over,” one of the mares replied. “Oh, well. Not like there was much for us to do after Nightmare Moon had all the fun herself.”
“But it sounds like she’s got a new job for us,” the other stallion commented with a smirk. He wiped away some cookie crumbs from his muzzle as they got into a diamond formation and stood perfectly still. “That should be fun.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” the taller of the stallions standing in back asked. “Our master calls.”
“We’re finally part of a flying squad,” the mares in the center left position reminded him. “We can’t simply be the best fliers. We’ve also got to be the best team. Not just for ourselves, but for her too.”
“I know,” he nodded. “Which is also why we should be hurrying to her.”
“And needless talking isn’t making us waste even more time?” the male in the center right position pointed out.
“Shadowbolts!” announced the mare standing in the front, getting them to all become silent and focused in an instant. “Wings out!” In unison, they all opened their wings. “Get set!” They all got into a crouching position as they prepared for the final singal. “Take flight!”
Together, the four dark Pegasi leapt up as their wings flapped, allowing them to take off quickly from the ground. The foursome then started circling around the banquet hall as they picked up more speed with each flap of their wings. As they flew, they left behind a tail of black clouds that created a swirling pattern around the upper half of the hall.
The other dreamers still enjoying the party watched their routine finish up as they all moved to the room, impressing everyone that they managed to fly so fast while remaining in such a tight formation. From there, the group dove straight down to pick up as much speed as possible. It looked like the group was going fast to avoid a crash landing as they neared the floor, but, at the very last second they pulled up into a simultaneous loop-de-loop that filled the room with applause.
“We’re so awesome, the rear Shadowbolt told the group that was all big smirks for pulling off that little performance with complete ease.
“Of course we are,” the lead mare stated as they flew out of the banquet hall and then out a window to reach Nightmare Moon from outside the castle. “It’s our dream come true.”
“They should be here any moment now,” stated the Alicorn of the night as she counted the seconds. “Three… two… one…” Before she could complete her countdown, all four flew through the window of Celestia’s balcony and landed, still staying in their proper formation. Nightmare Moon beamed with pride at the speed and style of her personal flying team. “Excellent work, my little Ponies.”
“Shadow Bolt, Firestorm reporting for duty,” the lead mare greeted her master.
“Shadow Bolt, Nightshroud is here,” said the stallion in the rear position.
“Shadow Bolt, Gale Force, at your service,” she bowed before Nightmare Moon.
“Shadow Bolt, Sunny Day is also present,” the second stallion introduced himself, getting an awkward look from the others. “Uh, I’m still trying to come up with a scarier-sounding name.”
“Uh, well, behold, Celestia, my special flying unit, the Shadow Bolts!” she gloated at the Princess of the Sun.
“Am I supposed to be impressed?” questioned Celestia. “All this seems to be is an edgier version of my own flying team, the Wonderbolts. You really haven’t changed at all. You’ve always gotta have everything that I do.”
“That’s not true!” she argued with Celestia. “I, uh, I don’t have my own magical protege like you do.”
“Knowing you,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s only a matter of time.”
“Well, my flying team will make quick work of your protege,” she assured her. Turning to the Shadow Bolts, she gave them their instructions. “Shadow Bolts, I have an important assignment for you all.” With her magic, she created an image of Twilight Sparkle. “Your task is to find and capture this Pony, Twilight Sparkle and bring her here to me. You may use whatever means you want, but I expect her brought before me begging for mercy. Make her regret ever attempting to stand in my way.”
“You can count on us,” Firestorm vowed.
“Excellent,” grinned Nightmare Moon sinisterly as she tapped her front hooves together. “She is currently en route to the Everfree Forest to reach Celestia and my old castle. If she thinks that I would allow her to so easily obtain the Elements of Harmony than she’s even more of a fool than I thought.” She and the Shadowbolts cackled as she said that. When they calmed down, she continued to instruct them. “I don’t care where you decide to confront her, but I will be watching and expect this battle to be an entertaining one, do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” they all saluted their Princess. Then, flying in unison once more, they took out through Celestia’s balcony. As they flew towards the barrier, Nightmare Moon opened a gap in it to allow them passage through it. From there, they headed straight for the Everfree Forest.
“Before this night is over,” cackled Nightmare Moon. “Twilight Sparkle will meet her end!”
“Easy for you to say when you are making it an eternal night,” scoffed Celestia, to Nightmare Moon’s chagrin.
“Why must you always put a damper on my celebration?” pouted Nightmare Moon.