Dr. McNinja and Gordito continued to receive a multitude of stares as they followed Twilight Sparkle through Ponyville. The lavender unicorn had Spike riding on her back and was at a full gallop, with Dr. McNinja right behind her and Gordito lagging behind. Gordito sorely missed Yoshi as he ran, both out of love for his loyal steed and out of the pain in his legs as he worked hard to keep up.
Soon the group of four came upon a large bakery. Despite the overly girly atmosphere of the village, Gordito had to admit that the bakery itself looked pretty sweet, both literally and figuratively. Like most of the buildings in Ponyville, it had light tan walls, pink windows, and a pink door. That was where the similarities ended. Instead of straw, the roof appeared to be made of gingerbread with white frosting on the edges. On top of the roof was a tower that bore an uncanny resemblance to two cupcakes with pink frosting stacked on top of each other. The only fault Gordito could find in the design was the three giant lit candles on top of the cupcake tower, which was more of a fire hazard than an eyesore.
As Gordito followed Twilight, Spike, and Dr. McNinja inside the bakery, he noticed a light pink pony with a magenta curly mane receiving a small brown bag of something from a tall and lanky yellow stallion.
"Here you go, Pinkie Pie," the lanky stallion was saying. "Enjoy the rest of your afternoon."
"Thank you, Mr. Cake. But before I clock out, I'm going to buy a snack to go," said Pinkie Pie.
"Pinkie Pie, I need you to come right away, Canterlot has—" Twilight started to say before Pinkie Pie interrupted.
"Just a moment, Twilight, I have to help the customer first."
Gordito glanced around. Aside from Dr. McNinja, Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Mr. Cake, and himself, no one was present in the confection store.
"Um, Pinkie Pie," said Twilight as she came to the same conclusion as Gordito, "No one else is in the—"
"I'd like to buy a cake please!" Pinkie Pie said as she turned towards the counter, which no one was currently standing behind at the moment.
The split second the request was out of her mouth, Pinkie Pie zipped around and appeared behind the counter faster than physics should have allowed.
"Sure can do!" she replied cheerfully to herself. "What kind of cake would you like?"
Zip.
"I'd like the strawberry one with pink frosting," she said as she pointed a hoof, playing the part of the customer as she appeared in front of the counter again.
Zip.
"Okey dokey, that will be six bits."
Zip.
Pinkie Pie reached into her brown bag and scooped out six gold coins with her hoof, which she then proceeded to drop over the counter before zipping around and catching them from the other side. She then set the cake on the counter, wished herself a nice day, picked up the cake, walked over to Twilight Sparkle, and ate the entire cake in one bite.
"Orkay, er'm ready now," she said through a mouthful of cake.
"Eating habits like that is a great way to get type two diabetes," Dr. McNinja said disapprovingly.
"Whush diabertays?" Pinkie Pie asked innocently.
"Dr. McNinja and Gordito, Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie, Dr. McNinja and Gordito," Twilight Sparkle said quickly. "Now come on, we have to go save Equestria from a psychotic unicorn."
"Sombra?" Pinkie Pie said with cake-free speech.
"No, somepony else."
"Did you seriously just say somepony?" Gordito groaned.
"I did... what about it?" Twilight Sparkle asked slowly.
"Weren't we in a rush?" said Dr. McNinja.
"Yes, yes, right," Twilight Sparkle said. "Pinkie Pie, I need you to go get Applejack and Rainbow Dash while I go get Rarity and Fluttershy. We'll all meet the libr—"
Twilight Sparkle cut herself off as she recalled what had been going on between Celestia and Luna at the library.
"Um, Rarity's place. We'll all meet at Rarity's," she said. "You got all that?"
"Ay-yi, Twi-li!" Pinkie Pie said as she saluted with a hoof. Then she set her hoof down and didn't move.
"Could you... do it right now?" Twilight asked after a moment. "And fast?"
Pinkie Pie nodded and rocketed out of the confection shop, leaving a trail of smoke in her wake. If Twilight Sparkle was surprised by the act, she didn't show it.
"Well, I guess you two can just follow me," she said to Dr. McNinja and Gordito.
**************************************************
Sparklelord sat the red cushioning a tall golden throne as he scrutinized the statue of Discord he had moved to the throne room. The land Sparklelord had seen from the mountaintop looked nothing like Radical Land, yet here before him was the spitting image of one of its inhabitants. It made no sense, much like the inspiring draconequus himself. Greatly puzzled, Sparkle Lord rose from the throne and wandered out of the throne room and into a hallway with large stained glass windows. That was when he saw it.
One of the stained glass windows was a scene that clearly involved Discord. The draconequus was inside some sort of circle of light, connected by what appeared to be magic beams emitting from six ponies. Sparklelord glanced around, and was perturbed to realize that he had destroyed most of the stained glass windows on his way in. Then the psychotic unicorn spotted another one with Discord in it. This time, Discord was colored only in gray colors, and was being struck by light from alicorns that bore an uncanny resemblance to the ones he had found in the throne room. At that point Sparkle Lord came to a startling conclusion. The statue was not a replica of Discord, the statue was Discord.
Sparklelord turned his attention back to the window depicting Discord and the alicorns, hoping to find more clues as to what was going on. The sun and the moon were also included in the picture, with the sun close to the white alicorn, and the moon close to the darker one. Sparklelord blinked as he recalled the images that had been located on the flanks of the alicorns, and a theory formed in his mind.
Even as he shattered another nearby window and looked outside at the sun, Sparklelord told himself that his theory was impossible. But when Sparkle Lord concentrated his recently stolen powers on the sun, it moved.
Sparklelord stared up at the sky in disbelief. The sun had just visibly moved to the left. Then, ever so slowly, Sparklelord began to chuckle.
"You think you can put chaos on a leash by petrifying my god?!" A twisted grin stretched across Sparklelord's face. "We'll see about that! Ahahahahahahaha!"