//------------------------------// // The Stage is Set. // Story: Phonyville*: Things Change (Part 1) // by RainbowSplash //------------------------------// The sunrise over Ponyville was beautiful. The sunlight shone through the clouds in a stunning manner. The snow on the mountains were drenched in the light's golden glow. It was a perfect beginning of a perfect day. Stupid Murphy's Law. Twilight Sparkle woke up feeling a bit groggy. She was having a hard time remembering her dream. It was something strange about the sea and this weird dark red symbol that incessantly flashed in her mind. Whatever, it was just a dream. "I is OK, it be tahm to (pineapples) sdart today." She said. Her eyes widened. "Wut. Whah amma speteakin liek amman idioioit and not ahl intillectualifiedal!" She tried speaking like she used to be able to, with her annoying high pitched voice, but she found she was unable to! Deciding that she must have screwed up some spell last night, she began to think of just what she could've done to get these odd results. Spike arose from his slumber in the opposite manner. He felt completely refreshed and ready to begin a full day of enslavement. "Hey Twi, would you stop acting like Derpy and tell me to do something already?" He said. But, at that very moment, a feeling of longing overcame him that he didn't understand. He felt a strange desire to leave the library. So he did. Just like that. On his way out the door, he sprayed a flame at Twilight, creating a scroll. Without a word, he walked out the Library doors and down the street. "Wat da Derpy do ya fink ura doing (torches), Spahk? I can has need your 'elp (muffins)!" Twilight cried. After stumbling down the stairs, she picked up the scroll and opened it. "WASSAP TWILIGHT GUESS WHAT YOUR INVITED TO CELESTIA'S TOTALLY RANDOM PARTY TODAY SWAG!" The scroll screamed. "Oh dats blunderful." Said Twilight. "BE THERE AT 6:00! THIS SCROLL WILL NOW SELF-DESTRUCT!" The scroll screeched. "Oh dats blunderful." Said Twilight. The scroll then exploded with such force that Twilight was thrust into a closet full of a countless number of full ink bottles, which all were shattered. She was drenched. ********************************************************************************************************************************************* Scarinaa was ultimately pleased. The company had recently sent out a shipment of 2 tons of rainbow liquid for 10,000 bits. This was the largest amount pound for pound sold in a long time. Best yet, none of the kidnappings have been discovered. Everything was going according to plan. It appeared that the secret Equestrian police had noticed nothing. It would stay that way. She was a large pony. Not fat, not particularly muscular, just big. It was as if some one stretched and skewed a pony on paint. She was dark brown and had jet black hair which spiked out in multiple directions, giving her a kind of bed-head look. She always wore her factory suit, which was essentially just small and short aprons in front off each leg and over her back. This prevented too much blood from getting on her and any of the workers. She never washed it, because she knew the blood stains were intimidating. Her CM was a weird, red, star/ bird shaped symbol, and nopony knew what it was. She always had a crazed, wild, blood thirsty look about in eyes and at this moment had a wicked smile on her face. Scarinaa ran an underground company that produced rainbows the "easy and efficient" way, that is, they drained Pegasus's blood and used its colors to create a multicolored liquid which had a variety of different uses. Obviously, this was completely illegal, but rainbow liquid was incredibly difficult to make with any alternative methods and ergo was worth a lot of money. The Central Equestrian Intelligence Agency (CEIA) still had no idea what was going on, which was kind of surprising knowing the size of the company and its impact on the black market. Then again, it wasn't that surprising when you recall that Scarinaa likewise had a group of agents who kept things under wraps. "Scarinaa, we discovered a person snooping around the facilities. We don't know how they got there, but they were armed. So far, we have no reason to believe they are a member of the CEIA. From what we've seen, they don't appear to be a member. We are still investigating." Said Jott, Scarinaa's assistant. "I need to take a look myself. We might be able to use them." Said Scarinaa. "Lead me to the security chambers." ************************************************************************************************************************************************ Spike continued on his way, following his bizarre feelings. He followed them down the street and through the square. He walked and walked until finally he came to the Everfree forest. A being slipped out of the darkness between the trees. In a slippery, whispering voice it said to Spike: "Follow me. My master is calling you..." Spike followed it deeper into the forest. ************************************************************************************************************************************************** Twilight was going insane. Obviously she messed up something earlier during the week as she practiced her spells, but as far as she could remember this kind of side effect was unheard of. To make things worse, she couldn't read anything from her spell books because the letters just swam around the page like pool balls bouncing around a pool table. It was impossible to read anything. To make things even worse, she was still covered in ink because she never learned the ink removal spell that removed ink from hair. To make matters even WORSE, she couldn't turn up to Celestia's totally random party like this. Extreme actions would have to be taken. To Zecora! **************************************************************************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash noticed something strange about Spike as she flew over the town. He seemed to be walking aimlessly without Twilight. Was he lost or confused? She flew down to Spike as he approached and entered the Everfree forest. Something weird was going on here. She flew down into the forest undergrowth. Try as she might, she kept losing track of Spike. He just seemed to appear and disappear. Finally, after about an hour, she seemed to have lost him for good. Now she was kind of lost. She had never been in this part of the forest before. The trees above her were so thick, it would be a real effort to climb up and out. But she didn't really have a choice. Just as she was about to leap upward, she caught sight of something large, colored black and silver. She stealthily crept toward it, trying to be invisible among the trees. Unfortunately, being blue and rainbow colored doesn't exactly provide the best camouflage. "HAY! What do you think your doing?! Who are you?!" Cried a pony. RD spun around to see a blue pegasus about her size with multicolored hair. He was had pitch black plates of metal outlined silver covering his entire body except his head. He had his hoof pointed at her, and within the hoof was a kind of cannon in which electricity swirled around in a frightening manner. "What's going on? I'm just a Pony from Ponyville!" Cried RD. "From Ponyville? Why are you so far out in this forest? Don't you know that's not safe?" "Of course I do! It's kind of complicated, I was trying to help a friend... But why are you here? What are you wearing, and what is that on your hoof?" He looked at her for a moment and then began to answer her questions, deciding she was truthful. "I can't tell you why I'm here, but I can answer your other questions because I can't see how it would hurt. I'm wearing electricity and fire proof armor. The extremely dangerous weapon I'm pointing at your face is the Pegashot v. 63. It is capable of firing directed bolts of electricity, flash freezing things in front of it, and it triples as a flamethrower. It also can create fog. Of course, to control these weather based weapons, it needs a pegasus, which I am and you appear to be. However, to use it, it has to be implanted in your hoof. That's a price I paid for this power." "Umm... I guess that's kind of cool." Said RD, who was still in shock. "Look, you need to get out of here before the others find you. Forget what happened here and now. Just get out of here. I can assist you if you need help, but seriously, I'm contractually obligated to blow your head off. Go, NOW." And RD took off at that very second. She shot up through the trees and into the sky above.She was on the verge of turning home when she though: What are you doing? Below you is an adventure just waiting to happen! Don't leave opportunity knocking at the door, rip down the door and drag him in by the throat! Meanwhile, down below, Rainbow Slash, a member of the CEIA, was wondering just who that Pegasus was. She looked exactly like him. They had to have some connection, right? There is no way somepony else could have such similar DNA without being related. That was impossible. Was that his sister he just met?! There was no way. And yet...