//------------------------------// // A Meeting of Nightmares // Story: My Little Pony: Return of the Primal Fear // by Lizardsareradical //------------------------------// Chapter 12: A Meeting of Nightmares Trixie, Blubayou, Anvillain, and the group of Mara found themselves in the middle of an apple tree forest. Blu and the Golem had exactly no idea where they were, but Trixie knew exactly where she brought them. She turned towards her two accomplices. "Okay you two. We're in Sweet Apple Acres." Trixie informed them. "From what Trixie remembers, an Element of Harmony lives around here. That might just be worthy to be considered "one pure of heart". Is Trixie right?" Blubayou, Anvillain, and the Mara just stared at her. Finally, an Earth Mara managed to quickly nod in agreement. Trixie looked at it, and then at all the others. She then put a hoof on her chin in thought. "Hmmmm? Trixie might need to hide you guys somewhere." She deduced staring at the group of over thirty Mara. She then came up with the idea to make the creatures of fear invisible. Her horn began to glow and with the blink of an eye, all the Mara disappeared. Anvillain looked without any care, but Blubayou croaked in surprise. "What ya do to em Trix?" The amphibipony asked the magician awestruck. He looked left and right for them. Trixie just brushed her mane. "All Trixie did was bring them back to the Dreamworld." She then walked over to him and petted the blue pony as if he was a dog. "Don't you worry about a thing. Trixie's got all the planning covered." She then turned towards the iron pony, not noticing Blubayou sticking his long tongue out at her. "And besides, those creatures would only draw attention towards us." Anvillain nodded in agreement but Blu was still confused. "But all three of us stick out anyways. You wear a bright purple dress…" "Cloak." The blue mare corrected. "Cloak. Whatever. Anvillain's a giant iron pony, and I'm extraordinarily handsome." The frogpony told them as he pointed to himself with a smug grin. Trixie just facehoofed and the construct just ignored him. "Ugh! Less sore hooves. Whatever." Trixie told him losing her patience. Blubayou thought for a moment and happily agreed with her. Anvillain finally began to walk towards the edge of the forest. It then turned back to the two ponies and spoke in a very monotone manner, but also had the sounds of clanging metal. "I suggest that we split into two groups. I will hunt for the pegasus filly with no mark. While you two, search for one true of heart." He then squinted at the two. "But whatever you do, do not go to crowded areas." He then proceeded to gallop away. Trixie watched then metal being leave and then turned to Blubayou. She saw him watching a pure grey bunny hop around as he watched in curiosity. He hopped where it hopped as he inspected the animal. He moved up to it, took a small sniff, and then licked the bunny. As the blue pony was spat the fur out, the bunny just looked back at him with a horrified expression. Blu moved back and used his tongue to grab an apple from a nearby tree. He then placed it right next to the bunny, which hesitantly ate it. After some staring, the animal decided to move closer to the strange pony. The bunny stretched out its paw and touched his clammy skin. It considered hopping away but it saw the amphibipony stay still. After a bit, Blubayou slowly laid down a hoof in front of the bunny. The bunny moved up slowly, but when it saw the warm smile on the pony's face, it decided to move slowly up the hoof. After a bit, it began to feel more comfortable and hopped onto the gentle pony's head. Blubayou let out an innocent chuckle and turned to Trixie. "What is this oh so glorious animal madam?" Blubayou asked Trixie as her slowly petted the animal on his head. He had never seen one before, but he enjoyed them a lot. They were calm, fluffy, compassionate, and didn't try to eat him. Trixie stared at him with disbelieving eyes. She was not at all mad though. She was more surprised by his actions, almost disappointed. She remembered what Screameater told her what to do if he became a liability. And to Trixie, that meant forging emotional bonds with the outside world. She looked away and him and began to walk aimlessly. "It's a rabbit Blu." Trixie told him forcing a smile as he walked up beside her. "Well then! Guess I'm gonna name this rabbit Hopz!" Blu then petted the rabbit. Hopz just chattered in delight as it got of his new friend's head and settled down on his slimy yet warm and protective back. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle and Coocoodrill had managed to recruit Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity to help them on their search for Spike. Rarity mentioned that she saw him near the café, but he only took a look at her and turned away. This only worried the violet and green unicorns even more. As they looked around the local plaza, they noticed Fluttershy, whistling as she walked out of the plaza. Rainbow Dash quickly rushed towards her, with the others following her. "Hey Fluttershy!" The cyan pegasus greeted her friend in a hasty manner. "Where have you been? We've been looking for you?" Fluttershy looked at RD in a blissful mode. "Oh hey everypony. I was just on my way home from lunch with Paramail. He was helping me with the animals." Rainbow calm down after hearing what her friend has been up to. She then began to snicker a bit. "So Fluttershy? Was this a date?" She then elbowed her a bit. "Huh? Huh?" Fluttershy just backed away a few feet, her face completely red. She then began to speak timidly. "Oh no, no! This was just…friend stuff." Rainbow Dash, Coocoodrill, and Pinkie Pie just looked away with smiles on their faces. Twilight just walked up to the blushing mare. "Is Paramail around?" The Element of Magic asked her friend, looking up, right, and left. Fluttershy just daintily shook her head. "I'm afraid not. He said he had things to do." Fluttershy replied as she stared into space. "But he was great company. We talked about our favorite books, animal care, our families…" Twilight just stuck a hoof in her mouth. "That's nice and all. But Spikes missing at the moment and we're looking for him. Have you seen him anywhere?" Fluttershy was slammed back into reality. She let out a tiny shriek. "Spike's gone?" Coocoodrill solemnly nodded, acknowledging why he ran off. Rarity patted Fluttershy on the back, trying to make her feel better. "I know this is hard to grasp dear. But we are going to find our dear friend even if it's the last thing we do. Will you help us?" Fluttershy quickly nodded. Rainbow Dash then flew up and away. "I'm going to find Baldy! You guys continue searching for Spike!" Rainbow Dash called back as she flew off. The others were about to walk off until Pinkie started shaking like crazy. The mares moved away from her but Coocoo just looked confused. "What's the matter Pink?" Coocoodrill asked his friend concerned for her well being. All of a sudden, she stopped shaking. "We got a doozy on our hooves." Pinkie told the group with her eyes wide open, terror running down her spine. The girls just gasped in uncertain horror. Coocoodrill just let out a sigh of comforting relief. "Alright! No big deal! I was just a…" He then realized what she just said. "…Say what now?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Macintosh just rounded up all of the sheep and was expecting Applejack to help with the cows. As he looked into the distance chewing a piece of hay, a bright light temporarily blinded him, causing him to put a hoof over his eyes. As he squinted to look at what it was, he saw a stallion the size of Celestia herself. He noticed that the stranger's body was shining silver; even thinking he saw his own reflection off of it. The towering pony walked up to the red stallion with a face void of emotion. Big Mac couldn't help but move back a few feet. But ebing the nice pony he was, he decided that a greeting was necessary. "Why hello there stranger. What brings ya to Sweet Apple Acres?" The Iron Pony just looked down at the farmer without any expression. "I am here to find a pegasus filly with no mark." It brought his face down to Big Mac. "Have you seen one?" Big Mac definitely saw his reflection now. He even began to doubt he was talking to a pony. He began to frown as he wondered why this being would want a filly. He took a defensive position and looked at the golem straight into in its ruby eyes. "Why should I tell you stranger?" Anvillain just lifted its head, but still looked down on the angry stallion. It stomped its hoof. "Ritual." Big Mac hardly even understood what this thing said. "Rita-what?" But instead of an answer, he just saw the "pony" swing a forehoof at him. The stallion dodged to the left and knowing that there was no dealing with this thing, bucked it at the side with all his might, creating a loud clanging sound. Anvillain staggered back, but the golem didn't even make a sound. But Big Mac felt a surge of pain rush towards his hind hooves. When he looked back, he saw that the golem was still up. He saw two small dents at its side, but it appeared that his target didn't even feel pain. He then realized it. Eeyup. This pony's made outta metal. But before he could react, Anvillain charged towards him head first. The head butt sent the red pony flying back twenty feet. As Big Mac got up, he saw the iron pony charging at him again. He tried to brace himself for impact, but the construct was too strong, even for a pony as tough as him. He fell to the ground with a loud thud. As Macintosh tried to get up once again, he felt a hoof on his side, around the area where the ribs would be. He looked up and saw Anvillain staring down at him, still with a purely emotionless face. "What are you?" The stallion weakly asked his assailant as he winced in pain. That pain just got worse as he felt the golem slowly added more force to its hoof. "I am Anvillain." The metal being answered him. "But where is a pegasus filly with no mark? Tell me now." "Nnope." Was the only reply the red pony can say. He knew it was talking about somepony like Scootaloo and he knew where she was. But he wasn't about to let this monster find her. "Where is the pegasus filly?" Anvillain asked once again as it asserted more pressure onto the poor pony, causing him to grunt in pain. It got up on its hind legs and was ready to smash the stallion. Big Mac couldn't handle the pain anymore. "Fine. There's an orange filly just around there." He pointed to the edge of a part of the apple tree forest. He then shed a tear. "But I'm beggin ya. Please don't hurt any one of em!" Anvillain looked at the beaten stallion without any care. It looked up towards where the pony pointed and saw a faint light blue aura. The golem then heard somepony call from behind it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Macintosh!" Applejack called out to her brother as her and Caramel saw him on the ground next to a gigantic pony. Both ponies ran towards the assailant. But to her anger, she just saw the giant pony kick her brother one last time in the gut, flipping him over. The being then galloped off. Applejack considered chasing the attacker down, but she controlled herself enough to follow Caramel to check on Big Mac, who was too injured to move. As they went to his side, Big Mac softly spoke up. "That metal pony's runnin off to see the fillies." He visibly winced from his injured, but continued to speak. "Save them." Applejack knew what she had to do. She signaled Caramel to help her brother get to the hospital. She ran after the iron pony as fast as she could. Caramel lifted the big red pony up and helped him walk towards the medical center. "I hope I'm not too late." Applejack told herself as she followed the golem that beat her brother and forced information out of him. She knew it was time for the Elements of Harmony to go back into action. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paramail was just lying back on a cloud in the sky in complete bliss. His meeting with Fluttershy was a success in his opinion. He helped her with her animals, sang along with her, and even took her out to lunch. It wasn't exactly a date, but it was start. He didn't know what to call it, but he was so at ease after being with her, and that was saying something. He should be doing some paperwork right now, but he had no concern for that right now. He was in such a carefree mood; he could just take a relaxing nap right then and there. But lady luck had other things planned for Paramail as his light blue pegasus friend landed on the same cloud as him. "BALDY WAKE UP!" Raibow Dash called the dozing stallion as she shook him rapidly. Paramail quickly jolted back to reality with a look of terror in his face. "What's the matter?" Paramail frantically asked jumping to his feet. "Is Ponyville on fire? Hydra attack? Political mutiny?" Rainbow just rolled her eyes at his farfetched disasters. She then just shook her head. "No, no, no. None of those things. The problem is that Spike's missing. Have you seen him?" Paramail began to panic even more. His eyes widening, forehooves on both sides of his face and making a deep gasp of shock "Missing? That's…that's horrible!" He then had a dark thought. "What if he was taken by this Screameater fellow and used as a sacrifice?" RD just chuckled, amused by her friend's antics. "Don't worry so much. He's just mad that's all! Nothing some good old fashion cheering up wouldn't fix!" She then made a sly smile. "But I heard you had lunch with a certain pony." Paramail just looked away and turned as red as the ripest tomato. He began to speak nervously. "W-well, I was j-just h-h-h-helping her with the animals. I just then took her ou-ou-out to lunch." He began to sweat and speak through his chattering teeth. "No biggie at all." Rainbow just hollered with laughter as she patted his back. "Whatever lover boy! C'mon let's get going!" She took to the air and soared above the clouds. The cyan pegasus then looked behind herself, and saw that Paramail wasn't following her. Annoyed, she dashed back to the cloud, seeing him looking towards the horizon. "Baldy! What are you looking at?" Rainbow exclaimed to him quite impatient. She flew over to him and saw the teal stallion staring at the ground a little over a mile away. He had a face of pure concern as he squinted his eyes. "Why are you just staring at a bunch of apple trees?" The mare questioned him as she waved her hoof in front of his face. She knew he had a knack for seeing things, but had no idea what he was looking at. Paramail pointed to where he was looking, breathing heavily. "Something bad's going to happen!" "On a scale of one to ten, how bad?" Rainbow asked him unsure if he was just over reacting or not. Paramail stopped making eye contact and took a second look. He took a long breath. "Would you say that a bunch of fillies being stalked by a running giant metal pony with Applejack pursuing it with a look of focused rage be about a solid ten?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were out trying to get pest control cutie marks. They were protecting this one large tree from animals that would want to steal the apples. They made a little fortress out of sticks and rocks and took cover behind it. Each filly also had a helmet on that was too big for them. "Do ya see anything yet?" Applebloom asked her two friends getting bored. For as long as they guarding this tree, nothing came around. The animals were smart enough to go to other trees, ignoring the cutie Mark Crusaders. "Nothing yet." Sweetie replied as she looked into her binoculars. As she put the binoculars down, her helmet went down to her eyes. "But why are we trying to be pest control when we were just trying to be rangers yesterday?" He question was ignored. Scootaloo just looked right and left, looking for apple thieves. She then looked back to her two friends with a smile of pride. "Well I guess we're so good, they didn't even want go near us. Nothing's stirring about. Not even a…" She then heard a stick snap from behind her. All three of them turned around and saw only a small mouse. Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief as they stood guard of the tree. "Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo called to the other two. "You know what to…AHHHHH!"Before any of the fillies could react, Scootaloo was grabbed this gigantic earth pony that charged from their side, decimating their little stick fortress. All three of them screamed as the shiny silver stallion held Scootaloo within its teeth. "RITUAL!" Anvillain called out in its monotone manner with the pegasus still in its mouth. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trixie and Blubayou were at the other side of the apple forest when they heard the golem call out. Trixie quickly had her, Blu, and the rabbit Hopz teleported to where the scream was heard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applejack caught up to the construct that attacked her brother and gave it a good buck to the rear. Anvillain staggered back, dropping Scootaloo, who along with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, scurried behind the orange mare. "What'ya want with a little filly?" Applejack questioned the iron pony, demanding an answer. The bucking he gave it hurt her more than she expected. All Anvillain cried out was "Ritual" as it got ready to charge towards her, digging its hoof into the ground. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash couldn't bear to hear anymore. She knew what she had to do to save her friend. "Alright, I'll help AJ and stall for time! You go and find the others!" Paramail quickly nodded and flew away so fast, Dash was surprised. "Hm? When you want him to go towards something, he's a slowpoke. But away, totally different story." She then flew down towards the commotion as fast as she could. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anvillain was charging towards Applejack and all three of the Crusaders, ready to take Scootaloo and trample the other three. But as it was only inches away, the artificial pony saw a rainbow blur hit it straight in the face, causing it to stop. Applejack took this opportunity to move the three fillies away from the golem. "Go Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cheered as she galloped away to safety. The Element of Honesty made sure that her sister and two friends were far away from the giant metal pony. She then stood her ground, ready to face this new threat. When Anvillain got to its senses, the iron pony saw a female pegasus with a multicolored mane along with the orange earth pony with the hat standing in front of it. Neither pony was radiating an aura, but when it looked to its right, the golem saw the light blue aura radiating from the pegasus filly. It then noticed that the blue mare in front of him was speaking. "Just who do you this you are?" Rainbow Dash questioned the iron pony stamping a hoof. Applejack added in. "Ya think you could just walk around these parts, beat up my brother and walk away as if nothing had happened?" She snorted. "Well ya gotta another thing…" Anvillain just pushed both ponies out of the way and charged towards the three fillies, crying out "Ritual". "Where'd ya think you're going?" Applejack called back to the golem as she ran after him. Rainbow Dash flew ahead of her, determined to flank the metal horse. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trixie and Blubayou teleported too far from the point of the scream and were running the rest of the way. Hopz was on Blubayou's back, enjoying the ride as the amphibipony hopped forward. As they were going towards the shout's point of origin, Trixie saw three fillies running away screaming. She saw that one of the fillies was a pegasus without a cutie mark. She stopped galloping and used her magic to stop Blu from hopping. "Whad the matter Trix?" The blue stallion asked his partner confused why they stopped. All it took was Trixie pointing at the running fillies for Blu to understand why. Trixie teleported towards the three fillies and before they knew it, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo were being levitated into the air. They tried to struggle but it was useless. "Who are you?" Applebloom asked trembling at the presence of the sorceress. All the fillies began to tremble even more as they saw the monstrous frogpony hop towards them, bunny in tow. Trixie chuckled with pride. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is what I like to go by." She then put down Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. But before they can escape, she used her Amulet of Alteration to morph the ground into a cage, trapping them. Blubayou hopped to the cage and crouched down to their level. "Don't worry you two. All we need is your buddy for a bit." Blubayou said looking down at the two weeping fillies. Sweetie Belle turned away frightened, but Applebloom stared him straight in the eyes. "I hate you." The young earth filly muttered as she comforted her friend. Blubayou was taken aback by what she just said. He then looked at his rabbit. Hopz just looked at the two unsure of itself, causing Blu to just shrug. "Anvillain's coming!" Trixie muttered to Blu, signaling him to moved next to her. The blue stallion listened and hopped next to her, waiting for the iron pony to arrive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Coocoodrill, and Rarity were still looking around town, calling out for Spike, still without any signs of him around. Just then, Paramail flew to the ground, panting and with a panicked look on his face. "T-T-There's a metal pony at Sweet Apple Acres!" Paramail told the group quickly and frightened out of his mind. He was flailing his hooves around in panic. "It's for some reason after this orange pegasus filly! For some sort of ritual or something! We have to hurry!" Twilight Sparkle and Coocoodrill looked at one another, knowing from the Book of Phobos about the ritual. They both yelled out "SCREAMEATER!" to one another. Twilight then turned to the others and spoke up. "As the Elements of Harmony, it is our sworn duty to protect Equestria from all evil!" "It is?" The shivering bald stallion asked Rarity. The white mare reluctantly nodded. Twilight then turned towards Paramail. "Where is this all going on?" "Sweet Apple Acres acre 3-G!" The Element of Caring spat out to her still quivering in fear. As a mailpony, he had to split the whole town up into certain areas. Finally it became useful. Twilight nodded in understanding and got her magic ready. Within a flash, all six of them were teleported away. Only a few meters away, a dizzy and stinking "Spike" came stumbling about from around the corner, wondering what the sudden flash was all about. It then just shrugged and moved on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anvillain was on its way to its two partners. The cyan pegasus was on its head, trying to wrestle the construct down with no success. It also heard the hoofsteps of the earth pony behind it. Finally, it saw its two partners and rushed towards them. But as the golem was a fifty feet away, a purple mare along with five more ponies teleported in front of it. All the ponies but this purple mare was slightly disoriented from the teleportation. Anvillain stopped and took a closer look at the six new ponies. It saw the light blue aura around the pink earth pony, yellow pegasus, teal pegasus, and the purple unicorn. It then began to mutter "Ritual" as it moved closer towards the group. Twilight analyzed the large pony walking up to her. From what she could see, it was a metallic silver stallion the size of her tutor. She saw the ruby eyes, anvil cutie mark with a heart in one of them. She also noticed Rainbow Dash trying to wrestle the colossal being down, hitting it again and again, making loud clanging sounds. This thing didn't even react; it just looked around at her, Fluttershy, Paramail, and Pinkie Pie. She looked towards the rest of the group, who all had the same reaction. They were all thinking the same thing. What is that thing? "Twilight!" Applejack called out to her friend. "Don't let this monster get near you!" She ran ahead of Anvillain and up to the rest of the group. Rainbow Dash felt like she had no choice but to also fly to the group, she was smart enough to know that there was safety in numbers. Twilight used her magic to lift the metal pony into the air. It was quite heavy, but for a unicorn like her, this was absolutely nothing. But as she was lifting it up, the metal pony stopped struggling as the magic aura changed from her standard pink to a light blue. The iron pony was then lifted behind the group without her control. All eight of them looked behind and saw the golem land next to a blue, amphibious stallion and a familiar unicorn mare. "Trixie? What are you doing here?" Rarity questioned the magician wary of her surroundings. Trixie just made a soft chuckle. "Tis I, the Great and Powerful Trixie!" "And I'm Blubayou!" The amphibipony happily stated out loud. He then pointed to the golem. "And this here's Anvillain!" He then also pointed to his rabbit. "And this is Hopz! With a Z not an S. It's betta that way." "Ritual." Anvillain stated once again, looking directly at Paramail. The teal pegasus just gulped. Applejack just stared at Blubayou almost in pity. How did he end up with this form? But then she got to bigger issues as she and the rest of the group noticed Scootaloo behind Trixie. "HELP!" Scootaloo shouted to the group. "Let her go!" Rainbow demanded as she stomped a hoof. Trixie jokingly thought for a second, but then shook her head with an obnoxious grin. "I don't think Screameater would want that." All eight elements gasped at the name. These three were working for the fallen prince himself. "Why would you work for Mr. Meanypants?" Pinkie asked the magician confused. Trixie just shrugged. "You know. Power, wealth, stuff like that." "None of us are letting you get away with this!" Twilight shouted at the three servants of Screameater. "Try us." Trixie answered back as she used her magic to summon the Mara back. Seven of the eight elements were stunned to see these dark, mouthless, orange eyed pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies. Coocoodrill just scoffed. "They're not that scary!" He commented to Trixie. Trixie rolled her eyes and used her Necklace of Alteration to give each Mara a mouth with long, sharp teeth. All thirty Mara growled as they surrounded the eight. Coocoodrill's ears just drooped. "Okay. Now they're scary." Trixie signaled Blubayou and Anvillain to join the Mara. Blubayou put Hopz safe in a hole in a tree before joining. All eight ponies got on the defensive. An Earth Mara rushed towards Rarity and tried to hit her with a forehoof. Rarity ducked and bucked the Mara straight in the face. Everyone watched as the nightmarish equine staggered back seeing stars. Half its teeth were knocked right out and it was muttering to itself as it hit the ground. It then disappeared in a purple haze. Trixie was shocked that such a dainty unicorn can pack such a wallop. She then charged up her magic, and aimed at the purple mare. "Well let's get started." Trixie then shot a turquoise beam of energy from her horn at Twilight. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight countered the beam of energy with a purple energy wall. She focused her magic on moving the beam away from her friends. But Trixie pressed on with the spell, causing a stand still. She then saw a unicorn Mara summon a short, red blade of energy from its horn. It then charged at Twilight, ready to slash at her. But Coocoodrill came from underground and dragged the twisted unicorn down into the ground. Seconds later, the hole filled up with purple haze as the green stallion jumped right out. "Don't worry Twi! I got your back!" Coocoo assured Twilight in midair. He then used his magic to drill into the earth again, horn first. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash and Paramail were back-to-back fighting off seven Pegasus Mara twenty feet in the air. A Mara lunged at the cyan pegasus, and she just roundhouse kicked it straight in the face, causing it to disappear. "Dude! These things are all bark and no bite!" Rainbow commented to her fighting partner as she hit one of them into the ground below. Paramail was wrestling with a Mara, who was trying to bite him. The teal pony headbutted the attacker, taking it out. Paramail then shook his sore head as he held onto an incoming Mara's jaws. He then answered his friend. "That's easy for a black belt to say!" He then flung it to two others and panted for air. "But sadly, I'm not one!" The two Mara didn't even dematerialize, they just wobbled in the air for a bit and left, targeting Fluttershy. Paramail looked in horror. "Hey RD!" Paramail called out to his fighting partner as he decked a Mara in the face, taking it out. "I gotta cover Fluttershy!" Rainbow jokingly saluted him as she had a Mara in a headlock. He then pursued the two Mara. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Despite popular belief, Fluttershy could handle herself in a fight. She was fast and nimble, and thanks to massaging bears, knew several pressure points. She darted under an Earth Mara, kicking it in the stomach, vaporizing it. She then somersault kicked a Unicorn Mara straight in the face, making it form into the purple haze. But as she turned around, she saw two Pegasus Mara about to strike her down. But before they got to her, Paramail tackled one of them into the dirt, taking it out. The other one was then hit with the same rock multiple times. She saw that the rock came from Rarity, who was magically lifting five rocks at the same time, flinging them at Mara then reeling them back to her for another use. The yellow pegasus then saw a Unicorn Mara about to ambush the prone Paramail with some sort of magical blade emanating from its horn. She quickly rushed over and applied a pressure point move to the Unicorn's neck, causing it to go to its knees. She then helped the stallion up. "Th-Thanks." Paramail muttered to his crush panting for air. He, along with most of these ponies was not too suited for fighting. He thanked Celestia these things were so easy to take out. Both pegasi then went opposite directions to take out more Mara. Paramail went back to helping Rainbow Dash while Fluttershy helped Coocoodrill cover Twilight Sparkle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie was confronted by three Earth Mara. She just giggled, flipped back, and took out her trusty party cannon from who-knows-where. "Allow me to introduce you to my trusty party cannon!" Pinkie Pie told the Mara in her cheery nature. She then shot the cannon at them point blank, sending them flying into the air with cake on their faces. But there was also that one cupcake that hit Anvillain right in the face. It wiped the custard away and charged at the pink mare, destroying three Mara on the way there. Pinkie used her Pinkie sense to dodge to golem as it smashed everything in its way. She tried to hit the golem, but he was too durable. So she called out for Coocoodrill for help. "Coocoo!" "Yeah?" The green unicorn replied as he drop kicked a Unicorn Mara. "Can you do some kind of spell to weaken and slow this tin butt?" Pinkie requested still in her bubbly mood. Coocoodrill thought for a moment as he grabbed and piledrivered an Earth Mara. He then shot out a bright green ray out of his horn. He was aiming for Anvillain, but to his dismay, Pinkie got in the way. She suddenly stopped with her eyes wide open in shock. Coocoodrill had no idea what to do. But then she saw her shaking uncontrollably and fidgeting around. She then jumped high into the air. "SUGAR RUSH!" Pinkie screamed out at the top of her lungs as she bucked a Pegasus Mara in midair. She then landed on the dart, darting around the battle, beating up every Mara there. Anvillain tried to tackle her, but she easily dodged it, making the construct fall on its face. She then jumped on the iron pony again and again, making huge dents in the pony. Anvillain had a chance to crawl away as she lost interested and went after a bunch of Mara, all of them running away from her screaming. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seeing that his closest friend was covered, Coocoodrill focused on saving Scootaloo. Trixie looked too busy trying to breach Twilight's defenses with her beam. It looked like an ideal opportunity. So he dug into the ground and began to tunnel his way to her. Rainbow Dash saw what he was doing and flew towards Trixie in an attempt to save her number one fan. She went for the left while Coocoodrill popped up to the magician's right. Both ponies tried to grab the filly, but Trixie used a force push to send both of them flying back. Both ponies hit the back of a tree and both of them were knocked out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blubayou was too nervous to fight the group. In fact, he never fought before, only ran. He tried to stay at the edge of the area, relieved that nopony was attacking him. But as he turned around, he saw the orange, freckled mare lunge at him and tackle him to the ground. He tried to struggle out, but she was too strong. "Why are you helping Screameater?" Applejack demanded. "He…raised…me…" Blubayou got his hind legs loose and pushed Applejack into the air. "…like a SON!" The amphibipony then hopped onto the top of the tree, checking the hole to see if Hopz was fine. He then stayed on a branch. Applejack got up and bucked the tree. She was beginning to lose her temper. "So you want to do this the hard way? Fine!" She bucked the apple tree so hard, it caused the tree to tremble, causing Blu to almost fall off. Blubayou then realized how much she could've scared Hopz. He felt like he had to defend the bunny from this mean mare. He jumped down and tried to hit Applejack with both forehooves, but she managed to block with her forehooves, causing them to struggle against one another, both on their hind legs. "But resorting to kidnapping?" Applejack questioned him as she gained the upper hand. "I know ya can be better than that!" Blubayou wouldn't hear any of it. He quickly inflated his throat sack to its maximum size, pushing Applejack back a few feet. He then quickly hopped behind several Mara, who rushed towards her. The Mara were about to attack, but then they saw the energized Pinkie and escaped the fight in horror. Applejack looked around and saw the remaining Mara begin to retreat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trixie saw this and then realized that Twilight was beginning to overwhelm her. She then also noticed that Anvillain was limping towards her, a huge dent in its back. She also saw Blubayou cowering next to her. She made a thorough and wise decision; retreat. "Let's get out of here!" Trixie told both Anvillain and Blubayou. She ended the beam spell and began to gallop away with Scootaloo in tow. Blubayou and Anvillain followed her. Anvillain turned around to see the pink mare moving as quick as lighting towards it. The golem only shouted "Pink one!" and picked up the pace. But when Pinkie was only a foot away from it, she just collapsed onto the ground, fast asleep. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applejack, Twilight, Paramail, Fluttershy and Rarity saw the group run off. But they were all determined to get Scootaloo from them. Twilight turned to the group. "Alright gang! Me, Applejack and Rarity will pursue them!" Twilight told them in a serious manner. "Paramail, Fluttershy, you two keep an eye on Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Coocoodrill!" All of them nodded and Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack galloped off. Paramail and Fluttershy brought the unconscious ponies together. RD and Coocoo didn't have any bad injuries and Pinkie was just in a sugar crash. Fluttershy couldn't help but chuckle as she thought of how much pastries her friend always had, but never losing energy. But as Paramail looked around for any Mara, he saw something move inside one of the apple trees. He took a better look and saw that it was a grey bunny. "Fluttershy." The teal pegasus said to her. "There's some sort of bunny in that tree over there." He pointed towards the tree. Fluttershy, extremely caring of animals, quickly flew towards the tree. She looked into the hole and grabbed the grey rabbit. The bunny tried to struggle free, but was calmed down by Fluttershy's soothing demeanor. It made Paramail remember why he liked her so much. Fluttershy then recognized the bunny as Hopz, the same bunny Blubayou had on its back before the battle. She then remembered the "Fishpony" news Twilight Sparkle told her. "Paramail?" Fluttershy softly said. "Yes?" "I think we just saw the Element of Tolerance. And from what I saw, he only fought when Applejack hit the tree." She then looked at the stallion. "He was protecting this bunny." She then began to softly cry, shaken from the fight and upset about Blu's fate. Paramail just looked down and sighed as he walked over to her. He then hugged her, trying to make her feel better. "I understand. We have to find a way to get him to our side."