//------------------------------//
// 6 - With Your Powers Combined 
// Story: Six Two Six Two 
// by lunabrony 
//------------------------------//

	With Stitch back in Equestria, a few security measures had to be taken. Nothing significant, but the majority of the ponies did not need to know about the existence of interdimensional travel. It would only complicate things. Stitch was to stay only with the designated six 'Ambassadors of Fun', as Pinkie called them. However, with Twilight and Applejack incapacitated, that number had dwindled down to four.
"Come on, Spike, hurry up!" Pinkie said, bouncing impatiently outside Fluttershy's door. Spike came waddling up the outer path, his little legs dragging.
"Twilight usually lets me ride..." he panted, giving a jealous look at the blue alien precariously perched on Pinkie's posterior.
"Yes, well Stitch has to ride, because if he walks then he could run off, and if he runs off he could break something, and if he breaks something then he could cause chaos,  and if he causes chaos the whole WORLD could be in danger! In short, your  not wanting to exercise could doom all of Equestria!" She announced.
Spike blinked. "I don't think it works like-"
He was interrupted by Fluttershy's door opening, and peered upwards at the tall, skinny figure framed in the opening.
"Did somepony say chaos?" Discord asked with a grin.
"I may have mentioned it,"  Pinkie said. "Is Fluttershy here?"
Discord looked hurt. "You're not here to see me? I'm falling to pieces with sadness." And he did just that, his limbs detaching from his body and falling to a jumbled pile on the floor.
Spike made a face and jumped backwards as an antler came to rest at his feet. "Dude! That's creepy."
Fluttershy peeked out from around the corner of the door. "Oh, Pinkie, I thought I heard-" She saw Stitch sitting calmly on the latter's back, and her eyes went wide. "Oh, horseapples..." Despite the fact that she had been at the meeting regarding the plan to go get 626, it didn't make her any  more enthused to see him.
"Does Twilight know you're back? With him?" She asked.
Pinkie's smile vanished. 
"Twilight is... in a bit of a hard place right now," Pinkie said. "We came here first, because you're so good with animals. Besides, Stitch has agreed to behave himself this time. Haven't you, Stitch?"
"Ih!" He agreed.
"Well, alright, if he promises..."
"Don't worry! He does!"
Stitch made a cross sign across his chest. "Promise!"
Fluttershy seemed to lighten up a bit, and stepped over Discord's arm laying in the doorway. "I'm happy to help. Where are we off to?"
"We're off to see the wizard!" Pinkie said cheerfully.
"...What does Trixie have to do with this?"
"What? No, silly! Rarity! We need a unicorn!"
"And Twilight isn't..."
Pinkie gave her a look, a look of such misery and sympathy that Fluttershy couldn't help but suspect the worst.
"Oh, no... not Twilight..."
Pinkie quickly chimed in. "Don't worry, we're gonna help fix her! That's what friends do! In fact I'm working on a song for just such an occasion!" She took a deep breath, and Fluttershy shook her head while lifting a grateful Spike up onto her back. Pinkie bounced towards Ponyville with Fluttershy in tow, singing.
A really good friend helps a friend who needs help!
A friend will be there to help... the other friend with vision problems...
"It's a work in progress," Pinkie said.
As the two left, Discord pulled himself together, quite literally, and snapped his arm back into place. "She really needs to get a better lyricist," he mused.
***
Sweetie Belle raced through the lower level of the Boutique, after having nearly tripped down the stairs on the long scarf that trailed behind her. She seemed in quite the hurry, an excited smile plastered on her features.
"Slow down, darling!" Rarity scolded. "If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, please do not run in the Boutique! What's got you in such a hurry?"
"Rainbow Dash rented a snowstorm from Cloudsdale, and she's gonna make it snow all over that big hill at Sweet Apple Acres so we can get our cutie marks in to*squeak*bogganing!"
Rarity frowned. She didn't like the sound of that. "What in Celestia's name is tobogganing?" Sweetie Belle had been an extra hoof-full lately, as she and Scootaloo had been working overtime to cheer up Apple Bloom, who'd been heartbroken over learning that her older sister was 'sick' and staying in Canterlot for a while.
"I don't know!" Sweetie Belle said. "But Scootaloo said we get to go really fast! And Rainbow Dash is going to be watching us, so we'll be really super safe!"
"...Well, alright. If Rainbow is watching out for you. But don't you go doing anything dangerous. We don't want a repeat of last summers wasp incident. Infected red welts all over one's body is absolutely NOT fashionable."
"I will, I will, I promise! Bye!" She bolted out the door, crashing right through Spike who'd been reaching up to ring the doorbell. "Hi Spike! Bye Spike!" Sweetie Belle called, as Spike pulled himself from the bushes, wobbling a bit.
"Good evening, girls!" Rarity called. "I was just cleaning up a bit, and..." She trailed off, her eyes locking on Stitch.
"Do you think she's forgotten about Stitch ruining her dresses last time?" Fluttershy whispered.
"You. Rarity hissed.
"Nnnnnnnope." Pinkie said.
Rarity tossed her mane back. "I will have you know that I am a lady, and ladies do not hold grudges as it is unbecoming. However, if you decide to show even the slightest notion of acting out, I will not hesitate to-"
Stitch, in the meantime, had crawled forward and wrapped his arms around Rarity's neck.
Rarity froze. "What is this? What are you doing?"
"Stitch sorry..." He said.
"Hugs! Hugs are good!" Pinkie giggled.
Rarity was bright red. "Yes. Well. Just the same, I have taken the liberty of stashing away my rare and expensive things just in case. So don't you get any ideas. Now then. Business. I was under the impression that Twilight would be joining us, and it's not like her to be late. So, as the kids say these days, what's the dealio?"
"Twilight's getting stoned at the moment," Fluttershy said, which caused Pinkie to snort so hard she jolted backwards several inches.
"Our Twilight?" Rarity asked suspiciously. "Why, I don't believe that for a moment."
"Twilight was attacked," said Spike suddenly, in a tone of voice akin to that of a small child which had watched their mother be dragged away.  It had such a degree of sadness to it that all three mares were suddenly quiet.
"Just like Celestia?" Rarity asked after a moment.
"Just like Celestia." Fluttershy said.
Rarity nudged Stitch onto her back, and was suddenly serious. "Well then. Whatever was in Canterlot is now here, and appears to be coming after us. We need to find out what this thing is, and immediately. Let's go fetch Rainbow Dash first, and I'll make sure my sister gets home safely. I don't want her out with this thing on the loose. We have no idea or what it is."
"Maybe it's Wob Niar!" Pinkie said.
Rarity facehooved. "Pinkie, darling, we've been over this..."
"Fine, but one day it is going to be Wob Niar, and I'll be there to say I told you so!"
"Very well." Rarity said. "Let's get moving! We have friends to save!"
"Do we have time for a Lets Go Save Our Friends party first?" Pinkie asked.
"No." Fluttershy said.
"Aw..."
***
Although winter had come to Equestria, snow had not yet fallen. This changed with the snowclouds Rainbow Dash had gotten from Cloudsdale, and turned a large hill into a slippery playground in less than an hour. The Crusaders were all dressed in boots and scarves, and squealing with delight as they rode a long sled all the way down the hill. They were particularly excited due to the permanent state of darkness the sky was in, and it made them feel like they were getting to stay up far past their bedtimes.
"Turn, Scootaloo, turn!"
"I can't! If I put too much torque on the axis, the velocity will flip the vehicle!"
"What?!"
"Ponies go boom!" Scootaloo yelled back.
Rainbow Dash was flying overhead, watching protectively in case anything went wrong. She didn't take her eyes away until the sled had coasted to a near stop at the bottom, and trotted over to meet her approaching friends. She lit up as she saw Stitch, and the two exchanged a complicated sort of hoofbump. Spike was no longer among them, who had detoured back to the library to prepare it for company and to talk to Twilight. He insisted that she could hear him, and talking to her made him feel less lonely.
"When did you decide to become so close with Stitch, Rainbow Dash? When we saw him last, you hated him!" Rarity remarked.
"Yeah, well... I thought about it, and I figure anypony who can pull off stunts like that at such high speeds is pretty okay. Maybe not as awesome as me, but okay."
Stitch grinned, and leaped from Rarity on Rainbow's head, tugging on her ears like reins. "Vroom Vroom!" He exclaimed. Rainbow winced. "Ouch, watch it! So why are you guys here? I thought we were gonna meet at Twilight's library?"
Rarity began to say something, but glanced at the fillies in the background. Instead, she leaned in and whispered in Rainbow's ear, who frowned more deeply as the whispering went on. 
"And we can't just go clobber this thing?" She hissed.
"We don't even know what this thing is yet," Fluttershy said. "But if anypony knows, it's Twilight.
"But she can't..."
"No, she can't. But she lives in a library, there has to be something there that can help us!"
"Alright then, we go to the library and make battle plans, and take this thing out before it gets to any more of us. Here on out, we stick together. Right?"
"Right!"
"Um...okay..."
"Most agreeable!"
"Ih!"
"Girls! Playtime is over. I need you to return to your homes at once."
"But we just got here!" Scootaloo complained. "Rainbow Dash, you said we could!"
"I'm sorry. But something has come up. I can always get another cloud later. Right now, you three need to go home. It's not safe."
"Ah guess we could always do somethin' at the Clubhouse..." Apple Bloom sighed. "So much fer tobogganing." The group headed off towards Ponyville, which the smaller group heading towards a farmhouse in the distance, and the larger group retreating deeper into the center of town.
None of them noticed the hulking creature which emerged from the darkness of the surrounding forest, watching them with angry yellow eyes. It reached down with clawed hands and picked up the toboggan, and snapped it in half over one leg.