Chapter 3: An Abnormal Army
Outside Sugar Cube Corner, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Autumn, 1002 C.E.
The Doctor, Twilight, Derpy, Spike, and the others ran outside to see what was happening. They looked in the direction of the Everfree Forest to see a line of black figures marching their way towards town. Some were flying but most were on the ground. They quickly realized that the black figures were actually more living dolls.
"There's more of them?!" asked Derpy timidly.
"What the hell's going on?!" snapped Rainbow Dash.
"An invasion," said the Doctor.
"We've got to stop them from reaching the town!" said Twilight as she began running towards the edge of town. The Doctor and the others chased after her.
Some of the pegasus dolls had managed to reach the town earlier than the others. Ponies ran in fear as long arms of hair reached for them. Twilight and Spike used fire to fight off the dolls while the Doctor used his Sonic Screwdriver to disable the arms. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took to the sky and fought the dolls in the air, though Rainbow Dash did most of the fighting. They eventually made it to the edge of town and the doll army was approaching fast. Some of the other ponies in town had come together to form a makeshift militia to ward off the dolls. Applejack looked and saw that Big Macintosh was leading them.
"Be careful, Big Mac!" she called.
"Eeyup!" he called back.
"Not much of a talker, that one," said the Doctor.
"So what do we do now?" Derpy asked as they turned to face the dolls.
"We take them down. It shouldn't be too hard. We've managed to take down a few already."
"That doesn't make this look any easier," Twilight gulped. Suddenly, something heavy landed next to the Doctor. It was a large blue cannon with purple wheels, which had pictures of flowers on them.
"I'm ready!" said Pinkie Pie as she aimed her party cannon.
"Where did that come from?!" asked the Doctor.
"I never go anywhere without my party cannon!"
"But how could you carry that? It's as big as you are!"
Twilight patted the Doctor on the shoulder and said, "Doctor, it's best not to try and make sense of what Pinkie does."
"But how did-"
"Please, Doctor. Drop it. Even your head would explode if you tried to find out how Pinkie Pie's mind works."
The Doctor still had plenty of questions but he figured that he'd probably never get a satisfying answer.
Big Mac and his militia were the first to charge. Rainbow Dash flew alongside them.
"Okay, Doctor! You, me, and Applejack will head out with the others!" said Twilight. The unicorn then looked back at the others. "Spike. You, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Derpy will hold back and fend off any dolls that break through." She looked into the dragon's eyes to see that he was still upset. She knelt down to his level and kissed him on the forehead. "I'll be fine. Remember the promise I made five months ago?"
"Yeah," Spike replied.
"I said that I would come back. It may have taken longer than either of us expected but I managed to keep that promise. I'm back now. Please don't be mad anymore, Spike."
"I don't want to be mad anymore, Twilight. But that still doesn't change the fact that you just up and disappeared for nearly half a year."
"Can we discuss this later? We have bigger problems on our hooves at the moment!" said Applejack. The Ponyville militia and the dolls had already begun to clash. The Doctor and Twilight nodded to each other and followed Applejack out into the battlefield. Pinkie stood behind her party cannon and waited.
"He sure is a strange stallion isn't he? The Doctor," said Rarity.
"Strange, but I trust him nonetheless," said Fluttershy.
"I'm not done with my conversation with him yet," said Spike.
"He's going to save us. I know he will," said Derpy.
The Edge of Town, Ponyville, Equestria, Gaia, Autumn, 1002 C.E.
The fight was having mixed results. Some of the dolls had managed to capture some of the ponies and had taken them back into the Everfree Forest. The Doctor and Twilight were a force to be reckoned with. If one was caught then the other would free them. The Doctor was beginning to like the Sonic Screwdriver's new abilities. At one point he actually managed to make one of the dolls sink into the earth but he was unsure about how he had been able to do it. If there was one thing the dolls hated, it was fire. Twilight found herself relying mostly on fire spells during the fight. The dolls' hair arms didn't stand a chance against the orange flames. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were also making up a good team. Rainbow Dash picked up Applejack and Applejack used her strong hind legs to kick the dolls as she sped through the air. A few dolls managed to get beyond the militia but Pinkie was able to fend them off with her party cannon and Spike sent them running away with his fire blasts. Derpy, Fluttershy, and Rarity teamed up to fight a doll that had three heads for some reason. Fluttershy and Rarity managed to distract the doll while Derpy took it out from behind with a frying pan.
"Good going!" Rarity complemented. The fight must have lasted for around twenty minutes before the dolls began retreating into the forest.
"They're retreating!" Twilight cheered.
"Eeyup!" called Big Mac. Most of the ponies had received only minor injuries from the fight but that still didn't change the fact that some of them had been taken.
"What do they want?" asked Fluttershy as everypony grouped up again.
"Any ideas, Doctor?" Spike asked.
"Not really. We just need to find out the identity of their master and then we can find out how to win this battle," the Doctor replied. He turned back towards the forest. "They'll be back soon. I'm guessing we have an hour at max before they decide to strike again."
"How can you be so sure?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I've seen enough battles in my life to know how battle tactics work."
"So what's the plan now?" Applejack asked.
"We might want to try and establish some form of protection over the town just in case they try to play dirty and strike when we're recovering," Rarity suggested.
"Good thinking, Rarity!" said Twilight. "I think I know just the thing. I learned how to cast this following my brother's wedding."
Twilight's horn began to glow and a large blast of energy shot up into the sky. Within seconds, a massive, purple barrier had formed around Ponyville. Twilight then fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?!" Spike asked.
"I'm fine. It's just a very demanding spell," replied the weakened unicorn. "This should give us a couple hours of protection at max."
"This can give us some time to find out more about our enemy," said Rainbow Dash.
"Right," said the Doctor. "And I think I know just where to start."