The morning dawned on Ponyville, bringing warmth to the countryside. It was a happy and bright day, but Twilight Sparkle wasn't feeling happy and bright. If anything, she was feeling completely and utterly exhausted. She was the last of the group present to take watch of Scootaloo and this new creature that held her so close to it. Twilight stared at it, perplexed and confused at the same time. This thing didn't sleep at all. It's glowing yellow portholes shined brightly throughout the night and continued into the morning, being dimmed by the rising sun. Scootaloo slept soundly, resting her head on it's leg. Twilight stared at this "Mr. Bubbles".
It stared right back at her.
They'd been staring at each other all night long. She had tried to get as close as she could the previous night, though she could only get about eight feet away from them before it started to get angry and Scootaloo would have to calm it down.
Twilight hated the creature.
If it wasn't for this...thing, she could be getting sleep and waking up in her bed. She could be getting ready for a nice day on the town. But most of all, Scootloo could be sleeping in her own bed as well. Even though Scootaloo had said that it had saved her from the jaws of a monstrous manticore, Twilight couldn't help but feel a certain deposition for the thing.
"Twilight, hey, you okay?" The alicorn heard her friend Rainbow Dash ask from behind. She turned and gave a small nod toward the pegasus, who sighed. "You can go sleep now, Twilight. I've got this." The princess shook her head.
"No, I...I can't sleep anyway." Twilight said. "Not while this...monster is still here."
"Well, it's protecting her, at least." Rainbow said. "It saved her-"
"From a manticore, yeah I remember." Twilight said. "Still I just...I just can't trust this thing."
"Well, what are we going to do?" Rainbow asked. "None of us can get close enough to grab Scoots to get her away from it."
"Well, I've sent a letter to Princess Celestia requesting assistance." Twilight said before sighing quietly and rolling her eyes. "She hasn't replied yet."
"Well, Spike's busy sawing logs right now." Rainbow said. "Maybe the letter will come in after he wakes up."
"It doesn't..." Twilight snapped before gaining control of herself. She was tired and grumpy, but there was no reason to take out her frustrations on Rainbow Dash. "It doesn't work like that. He gets the messages whether he's awake or not. If she sends it while he's sleeping, it would wake him up."
"What are you guys talking about?" Scootaloo asked as she stood up and stretched.
"Oh, it's nothing, Scoots." Rainbow said. "Don't worry about it."
"Well, do you have any kind of a plan yet?" The filly asked. "You know, to get me away from him?"
"We're still thinking about it, Scootaloo." Twilight said. "This situation is...well, none of us could have possible anticipated it. But we're trying. I promise."
"Okay." Scootaloo said, giving the princess and her idol a small nod.
"How'd you sleep, Scootaloo?" Rainbow Dash asked her.
"I slept alright, I guess." Scootaloo said. "I have a little crick in my neck...but that's about it."
"Rainbow, could you go get Spike for me?" Twilight asked. "Just wake him up if he's asleep." Some time later, Spike came running from the farm house and looked up at Twilight.
"Hey, Twilight." He asked. "What's up?"
"Is there any news on that letter from Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. Spike shook his head and frowned.
"No, I wish." Spike said. "Princess Celestia would know what to do."
"I swear, the only time she doesn't answer..." Twilight said before looking at her dragon companion.
"Get the girls." Twilight said. "All of them. We need to do this ourselves."
"What do you mean, Twilight?" Spike asked the princess, who returned her glare to the creature now standing in front of Scootaloo.
"I have a plan."
_____
Pinkie Pie hummed happily to herself as she continued decorating the two-tiered cake she was preparing for some filly's birthday party. She didn't know who exactly, but she had gotten the order from Mrs. Cake, as well as a small slip of paper with the filly in question's name on it. Pinkie appraised her cake and the work she had put into it so far. It looked decent, but nowhere near presentable by Sugarcube Corner standards. She immediately hopped back to work applying details to make the design of the cake truly pop.
Pinkie worked happily, humming a little tune. Despite the bad news of Applejack's injury, as soon as she heard that her farm mare friend would be okay, she immediately returned to her usual perky and happy mannerisms. Some more details needed more work to make the cake complete, but Pinkie felt a compelling urge to decorate the top of the cake to get it out of the way. Decorating the top was always the most tiring and meticulous, because it was always the part of the work that involved the most danger of messing the cake up.
"Okay, time to get this done." Pinkie mumbled to herself as she began making icing flowers on the top. What she did, it was an art...at least to her. She put mental power into each flower and each icing petal looked to be near perfect. Sure, there were several small imperfections; but to the untrained eye, they were unnoticeable. The time eventually came for her to write the filly's name on top of the cake in hot pink frosting. She reached for it on the table...to find that it wasn't there.
Pinkie Pie's heart jumped as she frantically began searching for the slip of paper. She frowned and groaned as she looked in every possible place for the paper. A voice from the front of the sweet shop shocked her from her search.
"Pinkie Pie!" Mrs. Cake called from the front. "You have a visitor!"
"Coming!" Pinkie said. She cantered out of the kitchen to behold Fluttershy. She beamed happily at the sight of her new friend. "Fluttershy! HI!" She cried as she wrapped her friend in a tight hug.
"Uh...Hi, Pinkie Pie..." Fluttershy said, slightly out of breath. "Could you...put me down, please?"
"Oh! Yeah, sorry." Pinkie Pie said before giving off a small nervous chuckle. "What did you need?"
"Oh, well...Rarity told me to come get you because we have to go to Sweet Apple Acres." The timid yellow pegasus said. "Twilight needs to talk to us." Pinkie Pie nodded happily.
"Mrs. Cake?" Pinkie asked her employer.
"Oh, certainly." Mrs. Cake said. "I wouldn't deny a summons from the Princess. I can finish the cake, Pinkie dear. You go on to Princess Twilight."
"Thanks, Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie Pie said happily before leaving the store and heading toward Sweet Apple Acres with Fluttershy. "So what did Twilight want us for, Fluttershy?" The party pony asked.
"Oh, I don't know." Fluttershy replied. "Rarity told me it was urgent, though."
"Well, that's good enough for me." Pinkie said before quickening her pace. "Let's go! If it's urgent, that means that Twilight needs us!" The two ponies moved faster. As Pinkie Pie began to run faster than Fluttershy, the pegasus began to fly to increase her speed, though not by much. They arrived at Sweet Apple Acres before long.
And promptly screamed at what they saw. Fluttershy immediately hid behind Pinkie Pie, who stood and stared at Mr. Bubbles, astonished.
"Girls, girls, calm down." Rainbow Dash said as she flew up to the both of them quickly.
"Wh-What is that thing?" Fluttershy stammered, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"We don't know." Rainbow said, as the three of them began to walk to the rest of the group. Fluttershy made it a point to tiptoe behind Rainbow. "Real quick description here: It's protecting Scootaloo for some reason. We don't know why. All we do know is, that it'll attack anything that tries to get to her. I myself have experienced that, and if it wasn't for Scootaloo, I'd be dead. It apparently killed a manticore like it was nothing." Pinkie Pie's eyes widened at the statement as Fluttershy merely cowered further behind Rainbow Dash.
"So...what exactly are we going to do about, uh..." Pinkie Pie asked. "It?"
"Well apparently, Twilight has a plan she wants to share with us." Rainbow said as they neared further and further to the group. Applejack had a splint, which didn't fail to concern Pinkie and Fluttershy.
"Applejack, a-are you alright?" Fluttershy asked. Applejack smiled at her and nodded slowly.
"Ah'm alright, sugarcube." Applejack said. "Just got my leg hurt a bit, that's all."
"Did that thing do it to you?" Pinkie asked. Applejack nodded. They all looked at the Big Daddy, which by this point had stood and began to stand in a ready stance to combat anything that might try to harm Scootaloo.
"Girls, if I could have your attention, I was thinking we could get started." Twilight said before looking at Scootaloo. "Applejack, could you stay here and watch over Scootaloo?"
"What, so Ah'm not part of the plan?" Applejack asked Twilight who nodded at her.
"You are, but because of your injury, you'd be playing a different part in the plan than you would if you weren't injured. We'll be coming back here to fill you in. But for now, because of your splint, please stay here." Twilight said.
"Twilight, we can't just leave her here." Rainbow said to the alicorn, bringing a hoof into the air.
"Who's going to watch over Scootaloo if we take Applejack with us?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We don't have to go somewhere else." Rainbow said. "We can discuss everything right here."
"What if that thing can understand us?" Twilight asked.
"It can't!" Rainbow said quickly before looking at the metal behemoth. "Hey! What are you doing just standing there? Growl if you can understand me!" The protector did nothing. It merely stood at the ready and watched them.
"Rainbow, that doesn't mean anything." Twilight said. "It could still understand us and just-"
"Look, we've never done anything like this without Applejack!" Rainbow said angrily. "It's not right!"
"Rainbow, it's fine." Applejack said. "Y'all go on. Ah'll wait here."
"But Applejack-" Rainbow began. Applejack moved toward Rainbow a put a hoof on her cheek.
"Don't worry, Dash." Applejack said with a warm smile. "I'll be fine." Rainbow sighed and nodded.
"Okay, well, let's go." Rainbow said. A flash of magic came from Twilight's horn and in an instant, they were in Golden Oaks Library. Rainbow Dash sighed. "Okay, so what's the plan, exactly?"
"Well, it's not going to be simple by any stretch of the word..." Twilight said, sitting down in the parlor. "But if we pull it off, I think we can separate Scootaloo from that monster long enough for him to lose track of her."
_____
Each of the six friends stood in place, ready to execute their part of the plan. Scootaloo stood nervously behind her protector, wondering exactly what was going to happen. Twilight furrowed her eyebrows at her five friends, who stood ready. She looked at the nearby trees. If they weren't going to be able to be moved, it would all be ruined. If things truly went to pot with this plan, it could go extremely wrong with everyone else involved, but as far as she knew...Scootaloo was in danger. She hadn't eaten for at least twenty four hours, and it was more as if Scootaloo was a prisoner instead of the Big Daddy's charge. Applejack looked at the farmhouse up the hill and shivered slightly in concern for her family, who was now locked away inside for safety.
Twilight looked quickly at Pinkie Pie and nodded. The pink party pony aimed her party cannon at the Big Daddy and fired it, immediately enraging it. Confetti, balloons, bouncy balls and streamers flew all over the Big Daddy, making him let out an earth shaking roar of rage. It's portholes turned dark red as it charged toward Pinkie Pie, distorted. This allowed Pinkie to easily dodge him and run away, still holding his attention.
Twilight shot a magical blast at the protector, further confusing him. He aimed his drill toward Twilight. The alicorn wondered what exactly it was doing until she registered the drill had fired from it's arm. She moved too late as the drill collided with her wing and broke it. Twilight let out a cry of agony as her crippled, bloody wing attempted to keep her airborne. It failed miserably as she fell clumsily to the ground.
"Twilight!" Scootaloo nearly screamed. The Big Daddy approached her, it's drill now back in it's place on it's arm. It revved the weapon before feeling another magical blast from behind.
"You! Monster!" Rarity cried. "Over here!" The Big Daddy quickly turned it's attention on the white unicorn, who suddenly felt a distinct fear. Twilight stood as quickly as she could as the Big Daddy ran at Rarity, who tried to avoid is as well as she possibly could.
"Got her!" They all heard Rainbow Dash cry out, as she held Scootaloo. She immediately flew as quickly as she could toward Ponyville, Fluttershy carrying Applejack on her back following close behind. The Big Daddy bellowed monstrously, shaking the very air around it. Their ears ringing, Twilight and Rarity used their magic to tie a large blanket over the Big Daddy's portholes. They then manipulated the two nearby trees to wrap all their roots and branches around the behemoth. For added measure, Pinkie fired the party cannon into the mixture of steel and tree branches. Twilight then focused all of her mental power to create a force field around the Big Daddy and the trees. The entire restraining process lasted merely four seconds, and even as soon as the trees massive roots wrapped around the Big Daddy's arms and legs, he shattered them.
It was already failing.
"Quick! Twilight!" Rarity cried. "Atop my back! You have to maintain that force field if the plan is to succeed!" Twilight had to ride on Rarity's back, in order to maintain complete mental concentration. As soon as they began to run away, the Big Daddy smashed through the trunks of both trees and ran against the force field. Realizing it was trapped, it began to pound away at the force field, making the ground shake. Twilight strained even now as the behemoth just started to pound against it.
"Hurry...Rarity." Twilight said. "The force field won't last long."
Back in Ponyville, Rainbow quickly landed before the library and ran inside, Scootaloo in tow. Applejack and Fluttershy sat perched atop the library, keeping watch on the monster currently inside the force field. It was seeming to break through.
"Ponyfeathers." Applejack said. "If that thing breaks through the force field before Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie are out of it's sight, they're done for." Fluttershy sniffled and wiped away tears from her eyes. Thankfully, the three of them were able to get inside Ponyville as the Big Daddy continued to pound on the force field.
"They're in!" Applejack cried happily. Inside the library, Rainbow Dash sat up in Twilight's room with Scootaloo, who was sobbing and clutching onto the pegasus tightly. They sat close to the window, ready to fly away if the monster found them.
"Twilight's gonna die because of me!" Scootaloo cried, her tears wetting Rainbow Dash's chest.
"It's going to be okay." Rainbow Dash said as comfortingly as she could. "It's going to be alright. Twilight's going to be alright."
"You don't know that!" Scootaloo cried before they heard the front door of the library open. Scootaloo immediately ran toward the source of the noise, leaving Rainbow Dash behind.
"Scootaloo! Scootaloo, wait!" Rainbow cried as she ran after the filly, who she found being held back by Rarity. Scootaloo was attempting to get to Twilight. She mumbled apologies at miles a minute.
"Rainbow, come get her." Rarity said. "Twilight needs to focus. Now, Scootaloo, calm down."
"Oh, Goddesses, her wing!" Scootaloo nearly screamed, tears running down her face.
"Come on, Scootaloo." Rainbow said, pulling Scootaloo back. She held the filly close and kissed her on the head. Scootaloo grabbed onto Rainbow Dash and held her tightly, never taking her eyes of Twilight as Rainbow took her back to the upstairs window. Suddenly, Twilight let out a loud shriek of agony and fell onto her side, breathing heavily and deeply.
"Twilight!" Rarity cried. "Are you okay?"
"It's..." Twilight breathed, looking up at Rarity with tears in her eyes. "It's coming. I...I failed. Tell Rainbow Dash to get as far away from here as possible..." Rarity nodded and quickly ran up to the room.
"Rainbow! Get out of here now! It's coming!" Rarity cried.
"We're not going to be able to leave." Rainbow said, her eyes widening as she looked out the window. Scootaloo had buried her face in Rainbow's chest.
"Why?" Rarity asked as she looked out the window. An enormous green force field laid over Ponyville, except for one large hole. This hole faced the Everfree Forest and the army of Changelings headed for it. Accompanying them was what looked to be a possessed Ursa Minor, and leading them into battle was none other than Queen Chrysalis.