//------------------------------// // The Beginning of the Fall // Story: Return of the Core // by TheClownPrinceofCrime //------------------------------// “Thank you for your bountiful wisdom, Princess.” After the stallion bowed and departed from the throne room, there were three other ponies awaiting permission to enter. Seeing them, Twilight motioned to Gallus to let them in. The trio slowly walked in and kneeled before her. “Your Highness…” “What seems to be the problem, my little ponies?” Two of them looked at each other sadly before one of them replied, “Well…it’s something about our old friend. She—well, we, rather, um…haven’t spoken to her in years. And…” “Well, she didn’t want to talk to us,” the second mare interjected. “After everything we’ve done for her, she cuts ties with us! The nerve!” “Not helping!” the third mare quietly scolded, bumping her on the shoulder. “*ahem* What she means to say is that we are concerned for her, and we can’t seem to find her anywhere.” “Is that so? When was the last time you saw her?” Twilight asked. “Well, we spotted her in her own home recently but after that, she was never seen again.” “We even talked to her mom just this morning. She told us…she never came back home…” the first mare added, sadly looking down on the floor. Widening her eyes in surprise, Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. As she nodded, she summoned two Royal Guards in the throne room. “This is very concerning; for all we know, your friend could be lost. My guards will help you find her.” Then she faced her guards. “Report back to me once you find her.” “Yes, Your Highness,” they complied. “Thank you kindly, Princess. Once we reunite, we’ll have a lot to catch up on,” Red Berry smiled. “Yeah, for sure…” Blue Berry sarcastically muttered. Suddenly, a royal guard burst into the throne with sweat covering his face. “Your Highness, there is a disturbance downtown in Canterlot! It is highly urgent!” Startled by the news, Twilight nodded to the other guards before they ran out to the designated area he mentioned. “You all can go and search for this pony while I conduct some urgent business,” she commanded. As she flew away, the guards left with the three mares in front of them. “The nerve of that unicorn! She leaves us without saying a word?! Such rudeness!” “Oh, come on, Blue, I’m sure she had no malicious intent in leaving us all those years ago,” Red said, nervously smiling. “And besides, we haven’t been talking to her either. I can’t even recall a time we even reached out to her,” added Purple Berry. “Let’s just say we both need to work on our communication.” “Hmmm, fair enough,” Blue hesitantly conceded. Three yaks were violently stomping on the wagons filled with fruits, just right in front of the terrified salespony and his wife. “YAK SMASH PONY FOOD!” “YAK HATE FRUIT!” the other yelled. “YAK NOT LIKE BEING BULLIED!” the third screamed. “Stop this! Stop this madness this instant!” the mare shouted. “What is the meaning of this?!” the salespony demanded. At that moment, Princess Twilight and the guards arrived on the scene and witnessed the yaks angrily smashing the merchandise with all the fruit remains all over the ground. “Enough!” Twilight ordered, using telekinesis to separate the yaks from the scared ponies. “Can somepony explain to me what exactly is going on?” “Those yaks destroyed our goods! We don’t know why they did it, but they ruined our business!” the salespony angrily explained, pointing his hoof at them. “Who do you think you are to ruin our merchandise?!” his wife added, glaring at the yaks. “YAKS GOT HIT BY FRUITS! PONY THREW AT US!!” the first yak accused. “YAKS NOT LIKE PONIES THROWING FOOD AT US!!” the third growled. “What?! We did no such thing! How dare you accuse us!” the salespony denied. “That’s enough, all of you,” Twilight sternly interrupted. “I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation for this situation, so why don’t we listen to the yaks and hear them out from their perspective?” Snorting, the two ponies nodded. Turning to the yaks, the latter grabbed the last unscathed fruit and laid it on the ground. “Yaks minding our own business, doing our own things until somepony threw something at us. THIS FRUIT!” he yelled, stomping it into pieces. “Pony ran away before we face ‘em!” “A pony threw a fruit at you and then ran off?” Twilight repeated, arching an eyebrow. “YEAH!!” “I highly doubt that a random pony would suddenly decide to throw one of our precious goods at your hide for no apparent reason. Clearly, you’re making all this up just to justify your destructive behavior,” the salespony scoffed. The yaks angrily growled as they were about to charge at him in full power. However, Twilight swiftly opened her wings which allowed strong bursts of wind to silence them. “Listen, I’m sorry to see all your hard work being reduced to nothing, but throwing accusations and screaming aren’t going to solve the issue. My guards will conduct an investigation to see who is actually responsible for this,” Twilight said, motioning the guards to move. Compliant, they helped the ponies to clean up the mess while the others flew off to begin their investigation. Meanwhile, Feisty—disguising herself with a dark cloak—chuckled in amusement before she quietly ran off elsewhere. Later in the morning, she spotted six changelings chatting with each other near a mountain side. Snickering, she picked up pumpkin pies from her bag and threw them at the changelings from behind. Then she quickly hid behind a bush as they looked around. “What in Celestia’s name was that?!” “Did somepony throw these at us?” “What’s the big idea?!” “Yeah, who would be so mean enough to throw…pumpkin pie? Seriously?! Some pony would waste sweet, delicious pies?” one of them complained, licking up the remains thereof. “I don’t see anyone near us. They must’ve ran off or something,” said the other. “Hey, you guys see them? I see some ponies down there with…the same exact pies!” “You think they did it?” “Obviously! They just assaulted us with food! I’m gonna give them a piece of my mind!” another one growled, shapeshifting into a buffalo. Meanwhile, three teenage ponies were juggling pumpkin pies and cream pies in the air while laughing together. “Look at us! We’re already pros at this!” shouted one of them, a pie falling on his face. “Yeah! This is so much fun!” At that moment, the “buffalo” charged at them in full speed. The kids screamed in terror before jumping out of the way, seconds away from being hit. The beast crashed against a supermarket in the process. “You little brats did this to us, didn’t you?!” three other changelings accused, glaring. “What? I-I-I don’t know what you’re—?” “You threw pies at us for no reason! You actually think this is funny? Throwing food at random strangers?” “We didn’t do anything wrong! We were just having some fun!” the young pegasus explained, sweating. “Liars. You know what happens when ponies lie to me?” she sneered, shapeshifting into a bug bear. Shaking in fear, the teenage trio ran off. “Yeah, you better run! Hope you learned your lesson!” “Dumb ponies. They really get on my nerves sometimes,” said the female changeling, changing back to normal. As Feisty observed from above, she sinisterly grinned. She jumped back down to the ground and walked away into a dark tunnel.