In Pinkie Pie's kitchen, she stands in a meditative state beside her oven with a souffle baking inside, softly chanting something to herself. "…Zephyr Breeze, Zipporwhill…" she snaps out of her meditation and opens the oven, removing a fresh, hot souffle. "Done! Now to get this to Rarity on time!" she sets a timer for seven minutes and rushes to the door. "Outta the way!" She kicks the door open.
Outside, she's not met by cold white snow, but a smog-filled black void. "W-what's going on? Where am I?" She slowly fills with dread as she takes in her situation, then realizing the souffle's gone, or rather it was never there.
"That's right… I saved a talking dog, the building collapsed, then…" her eyes widen in horror. "No… no, no, no! This can't be happening! This… is just a nightmare!" she panicked. "Yeah! I'll wake up safe in bed, and none of that ever happened!"
"Pinkie…" a distorted voice called out.
Within the smoke, high above where Pinkie Pie stood are angry white eyes, recognizing them as the last thing she saw before Sugarcube Corner collapsed on her. "W-who are you?"
"I… am…" the entity began speaking, but is drowned out by whispers before its next clear words. "…darkness… and…"
"D-darkness…?" if she wasn't horrified before, she is now. "Darkness and… what?" Pinkie Pie asked for elaboration from the entity.
Instead of a response, a massive black hand emerges from the smog towards her. She would've run, but she was too frozen in fear to move. The last thing she sees is the entity's palm, and the last thing she felt was intense crushing pain.
"Aaah!" she shot up from her bed with a violent scream. She finds herself waking up on a hospital bed beside a window view of the night skyline, and sees her friends surrounding her, including Flash Sentry holding his camera drone and a bandaged Spike, all staring tearfully. "E…veryone… wh-what…?" she trembled sitting there.
"Pinkie…" Fluttershy gasped as she covers her mouth in disbelief.
"You're alive!" Rarity goes to hug Pinkie Pie, followed by Applejack, then Rainbow Dash, then the rest of her friends all at once; Flash Sentry and Spike last.
"Wait!" Twilight Sparkle realized before they all break up. "Your bones are still broken! We shouldn't be doing this so soon."
"What happened? Did we save everyone? Where am I?" Pinkie Pie asked them.
"Fortunately, with the help of the fire department, we evacuated everyone out of the way safely." Fluttershy assured.
"For the most part." Rainbow Dash added.
"Many were injured in the attack, and are being treated at his very hospital." Rarity added. "Though none of their injures can compare to, uh…" she hesitated as she stares at Pinkie Pie's body.
"That's good to hear." Pinkie Pie said in relief.
"While you were out cold, they told me everything. It sounded terrifying and horrible…" Spike added. "For once, I'm really glad I was asleep for this adventure."
"Since I'm in a hospital bed, I guess I got caught in the chaos. I'm sure I'll be fine." Pinkie Pie said.
"Pinkie… how should I put this?" Applejack nervously took off her hat, putting it to her chest.
"The dragon crushed you while you were trapped in Sugarcube Corner with the other thing's head…" Flash Sentry answered quickly. "…If it had one."
"Crushed?!" Pinkie Pie screamed as she tries to get out of bed before Sunset Shimmer carefully stops her, placing her hands on Pinkie Pie's shoulders.
"Take it easy. The doctors said you broke every bone in your body." Sunset Shimmer advised.
"They didn't think you'd make it. In fact, you… you…" Rainbow Dash added, hesitantly trying to say her next words. "…flatlined just now."
"But I feel fine. My bones don't feel broken. Look." Pinkie Pie gets out of bed.
"Pinkie, no!" Rarity tries to stop her, but was too late when Pinkie Pie's feet meet the floor.
Everybody was expecting her to crumple, but she's completely intact. Pinkie Pie starts dancing, starting with flossing, then hitting the woah, ending with the shoot, shifting weight onto one leg yet not skipping a beat despite her supposed broken bones. "See? Can someone with broken bones do that?"
"I can't believe it… you completely healed!" Twilight Sparkle observed in disbelief.
"And considering she just croaked a few seconds ago, it's double-unbelievable!" Spike added.
"Please don't remind us, Spike." Rarity told him uncomfortably.
"That's weird, even for our standards." Sunset Shimmer commented.
"Equestrian standards or just you guys?" Flash Sentry asked.
"Both."
"We can probably chalk it up to the Magic of Friendship. It does wonders to the body." Rainbow Dash joked as she flexes her arms.
"With how little we really know about our magic, it's entirely plausible. Perhaps just us being here for you caused you to heal from your injuries instantaneously." Twilight Sparkle postulated.
"Wait, the dragon and the other thing…" Pinkie Pie remembered. "Where'd they go? Did you guys beat them without me?"
"Actually, the dragon beat the thing and flew away. We haven't seen it since." Fluttershy answered.
"And the other thing? The eyes?" Pinkie Pie asked, suddenly receiving rapid glimpses of the moment she almost died. "Ooof, ow…" she clutched her head.
"We're not sure where it went." Applejack answered.
"After the smoke cleared, we couldn't find a trace of it." Twilight Sparkle answered.
"What was it, anyway? Something from Equestria?" Spike wondered.
"Earlier this morning, Princess Twilight wrote to me about an adventure to the Dragon Lands to stop a rampaging dragon. It ended in failure, with the dragon and his daughter, who tried to stop him, escaping into a mysterious portal to another world." Sunset Shimmer informed everyone. "She didn't know for sure they'd end up here, but warned me just in case."
"So there's two dragons?" Spike noted.
"Here's hopin' the other won't give us too much trouble if it shows up." Applejack commented.
"And the eyes?" Fluttershy asked Sunset Shimmer.
"Not sure. I've never seen anything like it."
"I guess we know what we're doing for the holidays." Spike anticipates their latest adventure.
"And here I was worrying about what to put up for our holiday slumber party." Rarity bemoaned.
"Once I'm discharged, we'll go out and do some sleuthing!" Pinkie Pie said as she jumps back to sit on her bed. The moment her bottom touches the mattress, she finds something surprisingly hard and immediately leaps off. "Ow! Did they put a brick here, or something?" She pulls the blanket off to reveal a black pistol, causing everyone to step away. "What the heck is this doing here?!"
"I thought the doctors got rid of that thing!" Applejack shouted.
"Wait, what?!" Pinkie Pie turned to her.
"When the firefighters pulled you out, you were holding onto it!" Twilight Sparkle pointed to the weapon.
"Despite your broken bone-ness, you gripped it pretty tight." Fluttershy added. "The doctors spend an hour trying to remove it without hurting you."
"How'd it end up in this room?" Rarity wondered before turning to Rainbow Dash with an angry scowl.
"It wasn't me; I swear! I was here the whole time." Rainbow Dash refuted. "It's gotta be Flash!" she pointed to Flash Sentry shielding himself with his camera drone.
"Lil or regular?" Flash Sentry asked with an awkward smile. The drone activates, hovers in front of him, then bumps his head.
"Get rid of it, get rid of it!" Spike hurried.
Pinkie Pie grabs the pistol, then suddenly freezes the moment she touches the cold steel. "Trigger…" a voice whispered in Pinkie Pie's ear.
"Did someone say something?" Pinkie Pie turned to her friends.
"No, we didn't! Hurry an' hide it!" Applejack hurried.
"Pull the trigger…"
"There it is again." Pinkie Pie gasped.
As bad luck would have it, the doorknob at the door turns. She scrambles to hide the pistol until the door opens, revealing a worried Maud Pie. "Pinkie…?" she sees her sister shut a drawer, not knowing the pistol is hidden inside. She dashes to her sister and gives her a hug. "When the doctors called me about you, I came as fast as I could." Maud Pie said as she looks into her sister's eyes. "I thought the worst happened after seeing the news, but I'm glad you're not hurt. I wouldn't know what I'd do if anything happened to you."
"Worry, I guess. That's what sisters do for each other." Pinkie Pie shrugged.
"Why don't you give me your usual smile?" Maud Pie suggested.
"Smile… Smile…" the voice echoed in Pinkie Pie's head, and she pushes her sister away.
"Pinkie?" Maud Pie said in surprise, seeing her sister's irises shrinking, frozen in fear.
"Smile! Smile! Smile!" the voice roared in Pinkie Pie's head, causing her to panic.
"Pinkie, are you okay, dear?" Rarity asked her, causing the voice to stop.
"Ehehe…" Pinkie Pie gave a nervous chuckle. "I guess I'm still recovering."
Maud Pie gives her a concerned look when they hear the door creak open.
Entering the room is a slim, copper-skinned man wearing a black suit-and-tie, sunglasses to hide his face and a trilby with locks of black and red sticking out the back; typical of a mysterious agent. "Ahem, Rainbooms?"
"Black suit and sunglasses?" Rainbow Dash smiled seeing him. "Things are 'boutta get interesting."
"We're in the middle of something." Fluttershy responded.
The man turns his head back to the hall. "In here." marching into the room are similarly-dressed men that surround the friends.
"Who are you people?!" Twilight Sparkle darts her head from agent-to-agent.
They watch as the agents rummage through their backpacks they left on the floor before confiscating them. Pinkie Pie meanwhile anxiously stares at the drawer where she hid the pistol as agents repeatedly pass by, hoping they won't find it.
One agent grabs Flash Sentry's drone, but the young man pulls back tightly. "Hands off my camera!" he tries to pull the drone away until the agent instead removes the mounted camera and runs off. "You'll regret messing with Lil Flash!" he cursed them before another agent runs by and snatches his drone, then another swipes his metal briefcase.
Two agents corner Spike, and when he tries to run between their legs, he's grabbed and placed inside a dog carrier. "Barkbarkbarkbarkbark!"
"Hey!" Fluttershy stepped up. "Don't you dare—"
The two agents quickly turn their head to Fluttershy, staring down at her with unfeeling, unmoving gazes. She's frozen stiff, allowing them to walk away with Spike.
"It's imperative that you come with us immediately." The lead agent informed them.
"Should we follow them? I'm getting real bad vibes from them." Pinkie Pie asked Twilight Sparkle.
"If we start a fight trying to resist, people could get hurt in this hospital because of us." Twilight Sparkle answered. Then she looks at the agents guarding the pet carrier containing the terrified, whimpering Spike. "And they have Spike… I don't want anything bad happen to him because of our mistake."
"Let's be careful. We don't know what they really want with us." Sunset Shimmer added, eyeing the lead agent blocking the door.
"Pinkie, are you in trouble?" Maud Pie asked Pinkie Pie, sounding very much concerned.
"I'll be fine, Maud. Just wait for me at home. I'll be back before you know it." Pinkie Pie told her as Twilight Sparkle walks past, approaching the man.
"We'll come with, but you better promise to not hurt my friends." Twilight Sparkle told the agent.
"You have my word." The man nodded before opening the door for them. The agents finish searching the room and escort the girls and Flash Sentry out of the room.
Maud Pie tries to follow them, but is stopped by the lead agent. "Don't worry, miss. Your sister and her friends are in good hands." he assured before walking away with the team.
He closes the door behind the group, leaving Maud Pie alone in the room, worrying about her sister more than when she first arrived.
They're all transported in a fleet of black S.U.V.s to the east side of the city, down to the loading area of a "Hayes' Pizza".
"A pizzeria?" Pinkie Pie raised her eyebrow as everyone leaves the vehicles.
"It's their front. Super-secret organizations in movies have underground bases under public places like malls and restaurants." Rainbow Dash postulated.
"We sure ain't here for dinner." Applejack added.
From the S.U.V. carrying the confiscated items and Spike, a blinding flash sends agents inside tumbling onto the pavement. "My eyes!" one agent screamed as Lil Flash rolls off his hands.
"Friendly fire!" Spike shouted as he rubs his eyes.
"Told ya not to mess with him." Flash Sentry gave the agents a smug look before being escorted with the girls through the back door.
The pizzeria was typical of any other; brown-tiled walls and Italian livery, but devoid of customers and staff, having been evacuated earlier. "This way." The lead agent leads them to the walk-in fridge.
"This must be their disguised elevator!" Rainbow Dash said before the agents shove everyone into the fridge with the lead agent last, closing the door shut.
They stand in an overcrowded refrigerated room, smelling strongly of ingredients. "I'd say it's too disguised." Rarity pinches her nose from the overwhelming smell.
The lead agent pushes aside an olive oil can to reveal a keypad which he inputs a code into. Afterwards, the high-schoolers feel the floor beneath shift and descend, just like an elevator. They were shocked and surprised, but Rainbow Dash smiles the whole way down.
Meanwhile, a troubled Pinkie Pie is frozen in thought. What was that voice? Why did it speak when she touched the pistol? "Did… nobody say anything when I grabbed the… thing?"
"Your bones might be fixed, but is your head okay?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"You were unusually quiet in the car." Flash Sentry added.
"Are you upset about the holiday souffle?" Rarity puts her hand on Pinkie Pie's shoulder, who faces her with a lost look. "Oh, don't fret, Pinkie. You'll make an even better souffle next year, I just know it." she assured.
Pinkie Pie gives a slight smile, putting her hand on Rarity's.
With a ding, the elevator stops and the door opens, revealing a massive chrome room with rows of desks, hundreds of agents roaming the floor, and above all is signage reading "We're Everywhere and We're Nowhere".
They walk down the floor, agents staring at them as they pass by. They stop at a massive monitor tended by technicians where a tall man observes locations across the city. "Agent Furlong, the Rainbooms have arrived." The lead agent announced.
The tall man turns to the teens, revealing a bristled old man with salt-and-pepper hair and bushy eyebrows, wearing a fierce, but rigid pair of eyes. "Thank you, Agent Bravo. I'll take it from here." He robotically thanked the agent.
Sunset Shimmer steps forward, but is stopped by Agent Bravo keeping distance between her and Furlong. "Who are you people? What do you want from us?"
Then, Rainbow Dash gets in her way to speak to Furlong. "About time you men in black showed up! I've been waiting for you guys since the Fall Formal forever ago!" she complained before Fluttershy pulls her away.
"I'm Agent Furlong, leader of the Secret Magic Intelligence League of Earth, or S.M.I.L.E. for short." The man blankly introduces himself.
"S.M.I.L.E.?" Rainbow Dash snickered. "You even got a dumb acronym!" she almost giggled when she stops to look at Pinkie Pie shivering beside her.
"Smile… Smile…" the voice rang through Pinkie Pie's skull, causing her distress.
"Pinkie, are you okay?" Rarity asked.
"Smile… Smile… Smile…" the echoing voices overlap, causing her to clutch her head and hyperventilate. She then collapses for Rarity to catch her.
"Is your friend alright?" Furlong raised his eyebrows.
"She's still recovering from the dragon attack." Twilight Sparkle answered.
The voices suddenly cease, and Pinkie Pie slowly looks up to the agents and her friends, giving an awkward smile. "I'll be fine."
Furlong clears his throat. "If we're done with pleasantries, let's—"
"This is the part where you say you've been watching us for a while, and you show us creepy spy cam footage of us, right?" Rainbow Dash asked excitedly.
Furlong sighs. "Yes, we know who you are."
Then, the giant screen switches to a mosaic of spy recordings, news reports, and amateur footage of many of the girls' adventures. It displayed everything from the climax of the Battle of the Bands to an incident where six monsters ran amok in the streets in the weeks leading to Halloween. "This is everything we've done… the Friendship Games, Camp Everfree, Equestria Land… everything." Twilight Sparkle observed.
"Our organization was founded in response to the magical occurrence at your school's Fall Formal, anticipating future incidents of similar nature."
"So, you know about Equestria?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"We understand very little about Equestria, but the exploration of another world is none of our concern. Investigating magic that seeps from there into ours is." Furlong responded.
"Why contact us now? Not during the Friendship Games, or Equestria Land's grand opening?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"Thanks to your efforts, most incidents you partook in were self-contained to one area, namely your school." Furlong cups his hands together. "We had no reason to interfere… until now." He shows news footage of the dragon attacking the town, which Fluttershy hides from behind Rainbow Dash.
The news report focuses on the then-arriving eyes staring at the dragon. Pinkie Pie locks eyes on the eyes for a moment before being snapped out by its unearthly scream.
"Due to this incident, the board decided to offer our intel and resources in order to continue your efforts." Furlong informed them.
"We were just about to investigate the dragon ourselves." Sunset Shimmer added.
"Then you're in luck: we have a lead that might interest you." Furlong informed them.
The heroes follow Furlong into a laboratory containing remants of the girls' previous adventures, from the contained remnants of the Dazzlings' gems, live specimens of killer plants, and preserved remains of Gaea Everfree's thorny brambles. "We research magic from analysing magical artifacts and residues left behind in your wake with purpose-built instruments and programs." Furlong informed them. "Unfortunately, most of the desired materials were swept-up by a then-unknown third party." He eyes Twilight Sparkle behind him.
"Sorry, I didn't consider anyone else to be following this trail." Twilight Sparkle giggled nervously.
They come to a large tinted glass box containing a growling presence. "Here is our lead." Furlong nods to Bravo attending the box.
Bravo nods back, then types at a computer hooked up to the box. The black tint blinks off, revealing the contents of the cell: the talking blue dog.
Pinkie Pie recognizes the dog and steps forth. "I know that dog! It talks just like Spike!"
"What?!" Spike said in surprise, still carried inside the carrier by an agent.
"Get me outta here, two-legged bald things!" the other dog demanded.
"Another talking dog?" Twilight Sparkle turned to Pinkie Pie.
"You didn't know? After I saved her from Sugarcube Corner, I sent her to you to save me. Isn't that how you found me?" Pinkie Pie explained.
"Bon Bon showed up an' told us you were trapped. We didn't see no dog." Applejack answered.
"Alongside the dragon, this dog was first detected manifesting on Canterlot Beach." Agent Furlong said. "We tried talking to it, but it insisted speaking to Twilight Sparkle."
"That's me." Twilight Sparkle stepped forward to the box. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." She introduces herself to the dog.
The dog looks at her funny. "You don't look like Twilight Sparkle. Then again, I'm not good with faces." She said in doubt. "Wait!" she covers her eyes with her paws. "Say something dumb, smart, whatever a pony would say!"
Twilight Sparkle raises an eyebrow. "The Klein bottle is an example of a non-orientable surface; it's a two-dimensional manifold against which—"
"Twilight!" the dog takes her paws off her eyes, wagging her tail. "It really is you!"
"You know the princess?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"Sure do. She's a friend of mine that I met a while ago." the dog hesitated her words.
"What's your name?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"I'm Princess Ember, Dragon Lord of the Dragon Lands." Ember proudly introduces herself.
"A dragon? Like the other Twilight's Spike!" Fluttershy observed.
"I've heard of you." Sunset Shimmer told Ember. "The princess wrote to me in my magic journal, and mentioned you being pulled into the portal with another dragon."
"That dragon is Torch: the Dragon Lord before me…" Ember explained, lowering her head, taking a depressed tone. "…and my father…"
"What's he doing in our world? Why's he trashing the place?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"He woke up one day and started attacking the Dragon Lands. We dragons tried everything from fighting to actually talking, but when nothing worked, I called Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends to help out." Ember explained. "After a long day of rescue plans, we snapped him back to reality, and learned a parasite was responsible for his mindless rampage. Unfortunately, it took back control before we could kill it."
"So, he's not in control of his actions!" Fluttershy noted.
"Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, he was sucked in by a portal that just… appeared." Ember continued. "I tried freeing him, but I was pulled in with him and ended up in this weird world as a dog of all things."
"Speakin' of, why's he still a dragon, but you's a dog?" Applejack wondered.
"I'm dunno, but I blame that parasite!" Ember growled. "When I get my claws on that spiked bugger…"
"Do you know anything about the other thing? The big white eyes?" Pinkie Pie asked Ember desperately. "Ow." She squeaked as she received a sharp pain in her head.
Hearing this, Ember's furious flame douses, taking horrified eyes matching Pinkie Pie's own. "I… don't like talking about it."
"When the eyes manifested, it exhibited similar energy readings to Torch and Ember's arrival, so we assume it's also from Equestria." Furlong explained. "Appearing thirdly, we classified this entity as The Third."
"So this isn't a dragon-slaying adventure…" Rainbow Dash realized. "This is a rescue mission!"
"Ember, leave it to us! We promise to get your dad back to his senses." Twilight Sparkle declared.
"You better." Ember scowled. "The other Twilight promised me that, yet here I am."
Rainbow Dash turns to Furlong. "So, did your spy satellites track down the dragon?"
"Indeed they have. Torch flew southwest after his rampage, last detected above Everfree Forest Reserve." He answered. "On your go, we'll mobilize to Everfree."
"There are a lotta lives at stake here, not just our friends and families in Canterlot, but Torch's as well. Once again, the lives at two worlds depend on us." Sunset Shimmer told her friends before putting her hand flat-out to them. "So, everyone ready to save the holiday?"
"Yup!" Applejack stacks her hand on top of Rainbow Dash.
"Anything to help a cute doggy." Fluttershy agreed.
"I always have the time to lend a hand." Rarity stacked hers.
"Justice never takes a holiday, apparently." Twilight Sparkle added hers.
"No question!" Rainbow Dash puts her hand forth.
After prying Lil Flash off an agent, Flash Sentry does too. "Just another adventure for the record."
A purple paw stacks on, and they see Bravo lifting Spike's carrier to allow him to do so. "Uh, thanks." Spike eyed Bravo.
They then turn to Pinkie Pie drifting off in her own misery. "Pinkie?" Rarity called.
Pinkie Pie turns back to them, and tops the stack with a nervous smile. "Uh-huh, yeah…" she mustered what little enthusiasm remained.
"Go…" Rainbow Dash started.
"…Rainbooms!" they yelled as they throw hands up. Pinkie Pie was the least enthusiastic, and turned away afterwards, gaining her friends' concern.
As they murmur about the dejected Pinkie Pie, a distanced Bravo stares at her, and cracks a smirk.
To be continued...