The Sparkle Dash Family
Prompt 363: One year too late - Sparkle Army
Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Deep beneath the Golden Oaks Library three ponies and a dragon sat around a table. The table was covered in diagrams and a map of Ponyville. There were markers placed across the map of Ponyville, some purple, most of them blue.
Twilight Sparkle eyed the blue markers with a displeased glare. She was currently dressed in her black bodysuit, though her mane was styled as normal. She did wear an eyepatch, a demand from Pinkie Pie for joining her side. Not that it had mattered however. Even with Pinkie Pie’s genius they were losing ground daily.
“And ya’ll are sure about that Spike?” Applejack asked. The farmer was wearing a green flak vest, each pocket filled with supplies.
“Sure as I can be about anything anymore Applejack. Fluttershy has finally chosen a side, and she’s siding with Rainbow Dash.” Spike said solemnly.
“Consarn it Twilight! I told ya that your last target was too close to Fluttershy’s critters. Now she’s gone an’ sided with the enemy!” Applejack was cross. They were already losing this war, and while Fluttershy wasn’t much of an antagonist, the fact that she could paralyze anypony with a look made her a dangerous adversary.
“It doesn’t matter Applejack. Fluttershy was always going to side with Rainbow Dash, it was just a matter of time.” Twilight said, her voice calm despite the dire news her assistant had just delivered.
“So what’re we gonna do General Sprinkles?” Pinkie Pie asked. Her attention didn’t seem to be on the group before them, but on a box she held in her hooves. Pinkie Pie had opted to wear a simple leather jacket and sunglasses, despite the low light of the room they were currently in.
“I told you Pinkie, it’s General Sparkle!” Twilight said.
Pinkie Pie shook her head. “I wasn’t talking to you General Sparkle! I was asking General Sprinkles!” She opened the box to reveal one donut, frosted and covered in sprinkles. For some reason it also had a set of plastic googly eyes stuck to the frosting, and a bubble pipe was poking out of the side.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Riiiiight. Anyways, we’re going to have to make a big move next. We’ve lost control of too many areas this last month. If Rainbow Dash is able to take Sugarcube Corner we’ll be completely cut-off from supplies.” Twilight said, pointing a hoof to the purple marker which showed Sugarcube Corner on the map.
Applejack let her eyes roam over the map, looking for a suitable target. “I don’ know Twi, Dash has got more ponies than we do. She’s keeping her territory guarded tighter than a lasso knot. Especially with what we did to her house. Hittin any of her bases ain’t gonna be easy.”
Twilight nodded. “You’re right Applejack, it won’t be easy. But I’ve got an ace up my sleeve.”
“Ohhh you do! I normally keep a couple jokers up my sleeves. And some balloons, and a spatula, some confetti-” Pinkie Pie rambled, pulling random objects from the sleeves of her jacket.
“It’s just an expression Pinkie Pie. I have a pony working on the inside of Dash’s group. She should be here any minute in fact.” Twilight sounded quite smug about that.
“Oh? Who’d ya get?” Applejack asked, “ I know it ain’t Rarity after she accidently got hit in that crossfire.”
“Yeah, she’s still pretty ticked at you guys for that.” A new voice said as a pony entered the hidden bunker. Applejack and Pinkie Pie both gasped in surprise at the sight of the newcomer, while Spike smiled knowingly.
“Scootaloo? You’re the spy?!” Applejack asked incredulously.
“Yep. I’ve been feeding mom information.. er... I’ve been giving Twilight-mom information on Dash-mom’s plans.” Scootaloo said, realizing the confusion that would spring from referring to both ponies as “mom”.
“She’s the reason we were able to retreat from that last skirmish and trick Dash’s group into that trap.” Twilight said proudly. She gave Scootaloo a quick hug, before pulling the filly closer to the table. “Alright Scootaloo, lets hear your report.”
“It’s just like you thought. Mom’s got most of her territory guarded pretty heavily after what you guys did to Tank. That was great by the way!” Scootaloo said, beaming happily at her mom.
“So it’s hopeless then?” Applejack asked.
“Nope. See, mom’s got a lot of ponies, but they’re spread thin now. She’s had to pull back all her scouts just to help cover her territory, but there’s still weak points.” Scootaloo pointed to a blue marker in the center of the map. “Right now they’ve stored most of their supplies in Town Hall. It’s guarded more heavily than most of the other targets, but here’s the thing: Mom promised Fluttershy that she’d have a group of ponies respond instantly to any attacks on Fluttershy’s home.”
“Of course!” Twilight smiled proudly at Scootaloo, “We send a small force to Fluttershy’s house as a diversion. While Rainbow is responding to that, the rest of us take Town Hall and claim Rainbow’s supplies as our own!”
“But Twi! Them ponies that ya’ll send to Fluttershy’s are basically goin’ on a suicide mission!” Applejack argued. She hated to send ponies to a battle there was no chance of winning.
“I know Applejack, but this could be our only chance. We have to halt Rainbow’s momentum somehow. Of course, I won’t order anypony on this mission. We’ll see if anypony wants to volunteer for it first.” Twilight said.
Pinkie Pie jumped forward at this. “Oh! I’ll do it General Sparkle!”
Twilight looked surprised at this. “Are you sure Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie Pie nodded her head. “Sure do! This’ll be super fun! I’ve never gotten to go against Fluttershy before.”
Spike decided to speak up at this. “Oh come on girls, isn’t this enough? This has been going on forever now, can’t you just apologize and stop all this?” The dragon asked in exasperation.
“Sorry Spike, but-” Twilight began, only to be cut off by Pinkie Pie.
“It’s one year too late!” Pinkie Pie said, pulling a second pair of sunglasses out of her jacket and placing them atop the ones she was already wearing.
“YEEAAAAAAAAH!” Snowflake yelled, causing the rest of the ponies to blink at him. He nodded at each pony, before turning and flying out of the room on his tiny wings.
“Right... Well, let’s go over the plan then. It’s time to finish this!” Twilight said, as she began listing off both sides of the plan to her allies.
Rainbow Dash wouldn’t know what hit her.