“Guests to see you, Princess” said Luigi, leading in a group of ponies into the library.
“Hello Mario” said the princess of the night, yawning as she stood up. “I see you have recovered another element” she said, as Big Macintosh entered the room. Following him was the rest of his party. “Another young filly as well. I’m not going to question your methods.”
“Do you require a report?” asked the plumber, as he sat down. A lone medic had followed them in, beginning to tend to the wounds of the ponies.
“If you would. But this time, I request a full report of what has happened so far. The barrier has given us more breathing room and you lot look like you need a rest” said the princess of the night, looking at the three fillies sitting on a cushion in the middle of the room.
“Okay then, Princess” said Mario, sitting at a desk, followed by the winged unicorn. He began to recite his tale from the past few days.
This whole thing began back when I was invited to attend a party at the castle. The Elements of Harmony had been invited too, but they never turned up. You had taken it upon yourself to escort them, leaving you out of the castle for what transpired next. I had managed to find my way into the fabled Hall of Harmony and was caught up by Princess Celestia. Upon us talking, we were interrupted by the spirit of chaos, Discord. He had claimed to have an artifact called the Star Rod, enabling his escape from his prison and boost in power. In a demonstration, he stole Canterlot Castle and suspended it in the sky. In an attempt to strike him, he knocked me out of the window. I luckily landed in the care of a farm, which I later found out belonged to the Element of Honesty. I had learnt of the kidnap of a young filly’s siblings, and after making an enemy with another filly her age, set out to town to find out what has happened. Before we reached the town, we were assaulted by a duo of con men, looking to claim the farm as theirs. They were wielding a machine which had been powered by energy from Discord. Despite this, Applebloom and I were able to trick the machine into breaking and disposing of the brothers. Upon reaching town, we had noticed a crime scene at the library, from where we had met Princess Luna. She began giving us information on the kidnapping, as well as a target to investigate. We also met Princess Cadence, who was able to act as a communication link between here and the castle.
Upon trying to leave Ponyville for Trottingham, we were met with resistance from Changelings, disguised as guards, but they were easily disposed of. Upon reaching Trottingham, we noted that there was a lack of villagers, finding only one remaining. This was a young pegasus called Scootaloo, being a friend of my companion Applebloom. Our suspicions were also confirmed in that the local tower had been captured by the changelings. We were captured by them on an attempt to infiltrate the tower, leading to us being placed in their prison. Here, we met up with another member of my party, the older brother of Applebloom and the Element of Honesty, Big Macintosh. With his help, the convicts managed to escape their grasps and give us an opportunity to confront the Elites that occupied the top of the tower. Seeing through their illusions, we managed to defeat them and recover a large card containing the Element of Honesty, Applejack. Returning to Ponyville, we had another skirmish with the brat I met at the apple farm. The situation was diffused easily, allowing us to return to our base of operations in the library, showing Princess Luna the card. She agreed to work on reversing the magic that caused this, while we followed up on a lead Princess Cadence had found in the castle.
We took a train to Dodge Junction, but it was stopped by interference by Discord, forcing us to disembark at the nearby village of Oasis. Adventuring up Mt. Oasis, we came to the aid of a postmare named Ditzy Doo. She had been attacked by a Griffon higher up the mountain. We encountered the avian called Gilda and subdued her in a fight, allowing us passage to the desert between the mountain and Dodge Junction. Upon setting out in this sandstorm, we discovered an actress who had become deluded into believing she was the character she was famous for playing. Using some aid from her, we managed to venture through the sandstorm into the town. There, an ex-captain donkey named Cranky gave us information on a gang of bandits who had been attacking the town. They were operating out of the tomb of Standing Bull, lead by a large blue ape. We set out to find out what they were doing, when we snuck into the cave and saw them. The gang consisted of a Bobcat, a Panther, a Kitten, a giant black snake and the blue ape himself. He was a creature called Ahuizotl, from the Daring Do stories. He had also captured the actress who thought she was Daring Do as well, seemingly to murder her. We subdued all of them but the snake, who escaped the cave before the guards could catch him. The actress managed to escape too, leaving us to recover the card containing the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy. Upon returning to Ponyville, we had learnt that the town was being treated as a refugee base as more of Equestria fell to Discord’s influence. We also had word from Cadence on a possible location for the next element.
We entered the Everfree forest to gain the advice of a Zebra who lived there in order to gain some advice. Discovering she had been attacked by a task force from Discord who wanted information, we tracked them down through the forest. Close to the cave where we were headed, we were attacked by a unicorn named Trixie who had mistaken us for Discord’s goons. Accepting her help, the two of us snuck into the cave to find her lost possessions in return for the Element of Magic she was holding as a ransom. In the ensuing scuffle, the Ursa’s inhabiting the cave were awakened, leading to them attacking us. I managed to pacify the bears by forcing Trixie to remove the ice spells she had cast on the area. This worked, and she joined me and the rest of the group on our return to Ponyville, along with the card containing Twilight Sparkle. On the way, we encountered the aggressive filly Diamond Tiara who had attacked us before. We warded her off safely, but she imparted detail of an attack on Ponyville by Diamond Dogs.
Upon meeting with Princess Luna, we learnt of the defences she was setting up to defend the town from further attack. As well as this, she had created a thrall of one of the Diamond Dog leaders, giving us passage into the tunnels where the dogs reside. This plan backfired and the dog shook off the mind control, attacking us and holding us prisoner in the tunnels. Using the force of a cockatrice, he managed to petrify all of us to offer as gifts to Discord, save for Scootaloo and Applebloom. They had managed to escape to a room which held petrified ponies in cages. Whilst in this room, they were cornered by the cockatrice from before, and managed to defeat it. This allowed for them to rescue all of the ponies that were captured and lead an attack to free me, Trixie, Ditzy and Big Macintosh. In the brawl that occurred between the dogs and the ponies, I managed to find the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash. This is all that has happened so far.
“Looks like you are starting to get on his nerves if he wants you captured” said Luna, with a slight chuckle. She folded up the piece of parchment she had been writing on and put it inside a black envelope.
“So what do we do now?” asked Scootaloo, looking at her freshly healed knees.
“Cadence hasn’t visited, so I know as much as the next pony when it comes to the lunatics plans. As far as we know, this ‘Garble’ chap is our best hope, but he’s not mentioned anywhere. Hay, he’s not even a fictional character” said the princess of the night as she fired a blue pulse out of the building." I did find something interesting about the magic used to seal the elements away though, but I suggest you rest up for the time being until--”
Suddenly, a massive earthquake shook the room, knocking everything inside the room down and covering all Mario could see in darkness...