I'm running out of minions thought Discord as he sat upon his throne. In his room, he was surrounded by farm animals dressed up as clowns. Frolicking in the middle of them was his head minion, as well as occasional secretary, Screwball. She had been out scouting recently. I wonder if she found anyone.
"Screwball, dear, could you report to me your findings?" asked the Draconequus in a sweet voice. Floating over to him, the pink earth pony cleared her throat.
"Only one possible minion could be available. She's lurking outside Ponyville, seemingly waiting for somepony" the assistant said, bringing up a photo from her bag. Jumping from his seat, the lord of chaos snatched the image from her.
"Good work, Screwy!" he roared, hugging her. "While I'm out, go and visit that cloud city and bring our guest back here.
"Of course boss" she said, bowing as she flew out of the room. Snapping his fingers, the rod appeared in Discord's claw. With a swirl, a portal was opened to the location of his target, which the spirit of disharmony then climbed into.
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"Do we have any plan then?" asked Ditzy, walking alongside Mario. They were heading through town, weaving between the makeshift campsites that covered every free space in the town.
"I'd say beat them up, but I think they are much stronger than any old Diamond Dog or Griffon" replied the plumber, looking up at the outline of the mountain visible through the forcefield.
"Anything strong enough to turn a regular mountain into a highly volatile volcano is much too strong to take on in classic combat. We need a method of distraction and a set of fast legs" said the mage, Trixie. As the group neared a checkpoint in the barrier, a set of rapid hoofsteps came thundering from behind them. Turning to see what it was, the red stallions saw a purple mare with a pink mane hugging the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"I'm so happy to see you!" the mare said, overjoyed. "I've lost so many students since this whole chaos thing and I thought you kids might have been the cause of it again!"
"Put us down please, Miss Cheerilee..." groaned Scootaloo, being crushed in her teachers tight grip. Obliging, the purple pony rubbed her mane.
"Sorry, I'm just so relieved. Where are you off to anyway?" she asked, looking over towards the group.
"Going to investigate the big explosion we saw earlier. Don't worry about following" huffed Trixie, turning her head.
"I know that you lot work for Luna" Cheerilee said, her voice becoming a bit more serious. "I want to help."
"Help by going away" snapped the witch. "Don't you have some fillies to cuddle or something?"
"They all have families or other carers. Now, blue, I'm not a fan of what you are doing" the teacher replied, getting close to the blue mage. "I need to fight against Discord, not sit here and sob over the friends lost to indoctrination, whilst getting my revenge on him. Now are we going to play fairly?"
"I'd love to see you attempt to fight me" said Trixie, lighting up her horn as the purple mare pawed the ground. Stepping in between them, the large farmer opened his mouth.
"Stop it, both of you! None of this fighting is going to help" he said, turning between them. "Cheerilee, the people of the town need you for support."
"I know... I just wanted to get away from here. It's tearing me apart, and I just want to help somewhere else" she said, bowing her head.
"Wait" said Mario, putting a hoof to his jaw. "Do you know how to fight?"
"I wrestled a bit when I was younger" Cheerilee said, winking at Big Macintosh, who instantly turned redder than he already was. "I can certainly take on a couple of stallions."
"Welcome to the team then" said the plumber, smiling.
"Wait, what?" asked Trixie. "We don't need any more ponies following us around."
"As you said, we need all the help we can get. She's willing and capable" replied the moustachioed leader. "Strength in numbers and all that." Grumbling in response, the mage flicked her mane away from her eyes. Behind them, Sweetie Belle had a look of confusion on her face.
"Why was Big Mac so embarrassed when Miss Cheerilee said she was a wrestler?" she asked.
"Maybe she beat him so hard, he's still ashamed of it" replied Scootaloo.
"My brother is 25. He ain't ever wrestled and the first time he ever really met Cheerilee was last year when we had that meeting at the school" said Applebloom, shaking her head.
"Maybe they do it secretly?" asked Scootaloo, a little loudly. This caused both of the ponies being talked about to blush, as well as creating a little giggle from Ditzy.
"It was more of a playfight on the playground, girls" said the teacher, trying to keep her composure.
"But you said fighting was bad" said the small white unicorn, with a confused look on her face.
"Only if you are doing it with malicious intent" the purple mare said, starting to sweat. Looking over to Big Macintosh for help, she could see Trixie smirking at her. "I do hope that you are trying to stay safe" she said, glancing at Scootaloo's bandaged ear.
"I've beaten up Changelings, Cats and an army of Diamond Dogs. I don't think whatever is up this mountain can hurt me" said the orange pegasus, with a sense of pride.
"Arrogance will only get us killed" said Mario, continuing to walk. "We need to hurry and get up the mountain, before it's too late." Behind him, his assortment of ponies began to follow, along with the teacher they picked up.
As they walked up the mountain, the plumber dropped back to walk alongside his farmer friend. "So how good is Cheerilee at fighting?" he asked.
"She runs fast and can pin pretty much any pony. She was used to be on the Trottingham University running team, ya know" said the large red pony. "Honestly, she could probably beat the hay out of a royal guard any day of the week."
"I thought she said she was a wrestler" said Mario, grinning. "Or did she just wrestle with you?"
"That's all in the past. Just take my word for it, she can and will have all of our backs in a scrap" replied Big Mac, trying to avoid eye contact with the other stallion.
"That's good. My gut is telling me we have something really big waiting for us" replied the moustachioed pony.
"You feel that too?" asked Ditzy, who was flying beside them. Her flight wasn't exactly straight, so she occasionally veered off course towards the lava slowly flowing down the mountain. "It feels like we're going to melt if it gets any hotter here."
"Volcanoes do that" shouted Trixie from ahead. "Not getting to hot for you, is it teacher?"
"Not at all dear" replied Cheerilee, a smile forming on her face. She had been at the back along with Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.
"I'm gonna go scout ahead" said the mailmare, flapping higher into the sky. A short while later, the pegasus descended back to the altitude her companions were at.
"What did you see?" asked Mario, wiping some sweat off of his brow.
"I saw a small tent, but I could hear three voices. They sounded male, but like teenagers" replied Ditzy, scratching her head.
"He's scraping the barrel a bit if he's hiring teenagers to attack us, isn't he?" asked Applebloom.
"They could be like alicorns or something. Or maybe even Discord's kids!" said Sweetie Belle, who seemed excited at the prospect of the last one for some reason.
"If there was more than one Discord, I think we would have been rubber ducks a long time ago" said the plumber, shaking his head. "I suppose we should hurry up and find out what's up there. Even if it is a bunch of teenagers, they probably could burp fire and bite a rock in half" he said, trotting up the slope once again, leading the rest of the ponies
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As they arrived at the summit of the mountain, a small brown tent could be seen near the entrance to a cavern. Flowing from the sides of the cavern was lava which seemed to defy gravity as it floated through the sky towards Ponyville. Inside the tent, the silhouette of a pegasus could be seen.
"That tent looks familiar..." said Scootaloo, with deep thought.
"I agree" said Mario, walking closer. As he approached the entrance to the tent, the pegasus leapt from the door.
"Long time, no see!" shouted Daring Do, as she hugged the plumber. "Are you here for the treasure that's up here?"
"Nope" said Big Macintosh, glancing towards the contents of her shelter. Inside was a bunch of crude drawings of what appeared to be a group of dragons entering the cave.
"Wait, isn't Daring Do a fictional character?" asked Cheerilee, confused yet again.
"Me, fictional? Pah, I'm the most famous archaologist in the entire world! Every museum and bad guy knows me from Saddle Arabia all the way to West Zebrica!" the adventurous pegasus said, looking at the teacher.
"Just play along with it, it's easier that way" said Ditzy quickly, as she pulled a muffin from her saddlebag.
"Anyways, since you helped me out in the desert, I guess I should drop you a hoof" she said, walking closer to the plumber. "I saw a bunch of dragons fly in here and I chased them all the way up here. As you should know, wherever a dragon goes, there will be gems."
"You couldn't even beat a bunch of cats, much less some dragons" said Trixie, sighing at the pegasus. "Unless you fancy being made into toast, I'd suggest you let the professional take care of this, as well as the ponies that follow her around."
"I don't think that mare is going to be able to defeat three teenage dragons on her own" Daring said, pointing at Cheerilee.
Giving the adventurer a deathly glare, the mage turned around. "Don't expect me to save your sorry flank then."
"Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea for you to try and rob these dragons. Discord has probably powered them up and they are in their natural habitat. Not that I'm questioning our abilities, but brute force cannot win this time" said Mario, looking over the area they were in. As well as the lava floating through the air, the ground that the ponies were resting on was rubbery and pink.
"I have a plan. Gather around, kids" said the delusional actress. "While you guys go in there and distract the dragons, I'll go in and steal all the gems safely." Looking around, she received glares from all of the surrounding ponies. "Fine. What is it that you're here for?"
"We need another element of harmony card" said the teacher, recalling what she had been told by Big Macintosh as they climbed the mountain.
"Those dragons must have it in their stash!" said Applebloom, pointing towards the cave entrance.
"I think we can run with my plan then" replied Daring.
"What?!" Mario snapped back, almost instantly.
"With a few modifications, of course. What I say is then we have two teams. Team 1 can be the distraction unit, and Team 2 can be the theft unit. You can decide the teams, red" said the black maned pegasus, laying back on the floor.
"Well, I suppose you, Big Mac and the kids can take up theft duty. Me, Trixie, Ditzy and Cheerilee can handle keeping the dragons off of you" said the plumber, scratching his healing stab wound.
"And when we get the card? I imagine we will be dealing with some rather irritated dragons as a result" said the blue mage, drinking some water from her canteen.
"Run like Tartarus towards Ponyville. Luna's barrier should keep us safe from the dragons" replied the moustachioed pony. "Everyone take a short break. This is going to get dangerous."
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About twenty minutes later, the ponies lined up to enter the cave. In the lead was the distraction group, headed up by Mario. Waiting slightly behind them was the theft group, lead by Daring Do. "Good luck! We'll join you in about ten minutes" said the adventurer, waving to the other group.
Leaning her head in, Ditzy whispered "Since when did she become competent?" as they entered the cave.
"Not a clue" replied the plumber, looking deep into the chamber. In the distance, he could hear some voices in the distance.
"That's them. They're the voices I heard" confirmed the mailmare, nodding her head. "How are we gonna play this?"
"We sneak in and keep them busy. Maybe trick them into hitting one another" said Mario, peering into the distance. He could feel the temperature of the air around him rising as he walked towards the chamber. "How good are you with those flares, Trixie?" he asked.
"My skill with illusions is world class. Frankly, you only need me for this job" said the mage, chuckling to herself.
"So you'd be ok with us going to join the theft crew then?' asked Cheerilee, a smile forming on her face.
"I still need to set up my best techniques. I need meat shields, something Earth Ponies are more than suited for" smirked back the unicorn.
"Shh" said Mario, bringing his hoof up to stop the ponies following him. "I think we have found their lair" he said, gazing over towards the lava palace in the centre of the cavern. Sitting in the middle of the chamber surrounded by gems, they could see three dragons along with a large playing card upon a small throne.