As the large heavenly body more commonly known as the sun made it’s way across the clear blue skies, a purple alicorn was sitting on her balcony and enjoying a nice, thick—think three dictionaries stacked on top of each other with no pictures whatsoever—book on theoretical astrospells. On her flank was a starburst pattern of purple and white with five smaller starbursts surrounding it.
From her perch she could see one of her dear friends, a pristinely white unicorn, using her horn’s magic to load a cart with several bolts of plain red, green, and plaid fabric. After she tucked a few more embellishments like lace and ribbon neatly to one side of the cart she surveyed her work and smiled. On her flank were three blue diamonds.
The driver of the cart, a strong and hardy orange earth pony, tilted her large stetson in thanks. She began to make her way through town pulling the laden cart with ease. Five minutes passed before she found herself back on her homestead, Sweet Apple Acres, the local apple orchard. Before entering, she approached a nearby tree and, with a nice solid kick, allowed one of it’s glistening red fruits to land neatly on her hoof. She smiled before eating the prize in one glorious bite. The fruit, before its consumption, greatly complemented the three identical fruits neatly enveloping her flanks on either side.
She was met at the door to her house by a pink pony with the biggest grin you would ever find on any pony. She bounced and laughed as she assisted in unloading the cart right before she disappeared in a puff of smoke. She returned a moment later with several tanks of helium and more than enough balloons. It was best not to question how she managed it. The first three were inflated in less than a moment and perfectly reflected the three yellow and blue balloons neatly imprinted on her flanks.
It was that moment that a cerulean pegasus with a permanently wind-swept rainbow mane landed on a fluffy cloud that sat just above the homestead of Sweet Apple Acres. After receiving instructions from the orange pony, she gave a salute and dashed away. In ten seconds she found herself right on the other side of town—which was a good thirty-minute trot across—in ten seconds flat. A single bead of sweat rolled down and along the image of a cloud with a lightning bolt of blue, yellow, and red on her flanks.
On the ground below was a yellow pegasus with a long, flowing pink mane. She skipped merrily between her small animal charges as she graced each of them with her eyes that seemed to radiate pure, tender emotion. Her attention was caught by the pegasus on the cloud. She nodded and approached a large grizzly bear. After striking a friendly conversation, the bear handed her a neatly wrapped gift box which jingled and jangled at the slightest movement. She returned to the other pegasus with a bounding gait which seemed to only emphasize the three pink butterflies that occupied her flanks.
None of this mattered to three particular fillies who were taking a nice afternoon stroll in the Everfree Forest.
Many ponies deliberately avoided going near the Everfree due to its more unique environment compared with the rest of the magical land of Equestria. The trees hid amongst and within them a myriad of strange flora and fauna. From fearsome beasts like the manticore, a creature the size of a small house with a lion’s head and body, two large bat-like wings and a scorpion’s tail, to poison joke, a small innocuous-seeming blue flower that when made contact with affected the victim with a taste of delicious irony—sometimes literally.
“Are you sure we should even be here?” asked the small white unicorn filly with purple and pink curls whose eyes were darting between the gaps in the trees.
“Of course Ah am, Sweetie Belle.” answered the yellow, red-maned earth pony with a over-sized pink bow sitting neatly on her highly held head.
“Are you sure where you’re going, Apple Bloom?” countered the orange pegasus with the messy mane of purple as her tiny wings fluttered and caused her to hover for a moment.
“Is this proof enough for ya, Scootaloo?” she said as she brought out a small map from her apple-green saddle bags. She laid it out on the ground and pointed a hoof at a cluster of trees that surrounded a rock that had the odd shape of some hybrid abomination of a spoon and a fork.
The three fillies looked up and saw a nearly identical rock not too far from their position.
“The cave should be right around the corner.” Apple Bloom broke into a smile. “Can you just imagine gettin’ Cutie Marks in cave spelunking?” she said as she took a long look at her noticably blank flank.
Scootaloo responded with a hearty nod as she glanced at her own, similarly blank, flank. “And even if we don’t, I bet there’ll be something awesome in there like treasure!”
“I’m still not sure about this,” said Sweetie as she looked to her own blank flank, “but since we’re already here we might as well try it out.” She looked to her friends before adding, “What could go wrong?”
They made their way into the thick brush carefully avoiding any suspicious looking plants. This made it difficult as, to their untrained eyes, most of the brush could qualify for suspicious. As they waded through the thick and sometimes sticky grass—and going around the occasional snake hiss or low growl—they found themselves at the maw of a menacing looking hole on the side of the local rocky outcropping.
They stared with widening eyes at the ever consuming blackness of the cave. The blackness stared back.
Apple Bloom looked to her two friends. “Well? Let’s go!” she declared in an inappropriately appropriate excited tone as she pulled a flashlight from the depths of her bag. The light sat neatly on her side thanks to a special holster.
The other two mirrored her actions and followed Apple Bloom deeper into the void.
Rocky stalactites hung from the ceiling and from a few of them, water fell drop by drop in a manner disturbingly similar to that of a predator’s hungry, salivating jaws. This thought sent more than a shiver down the back of the white filly. “Girls, don’t you think we’ve gone far enough?” asked Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom’s eyes widened as she saw an outcropping of rocks that looked far too reminiscent of an angry tiger’s head. She shook her head before she turned it to look at her friend. “It’s not too bad, Sweetie. Just don’t let your imagination get away from you and you’ll see that it ain’t that scary.”
Scootaloo furrowed her brows as unsavory shadows slithered across the craggy and damp walls of the cavern. Her ears perked up at the sound of a drop of water striking the harsh ground. “Y-yeah Sweetie.” She gulped. “It’s all in your head.”
The three turned a corner and another and another before they noticed something very deeply troubling. Apple Bloom looked frantically at the visually identical walls, ceiling, and floor of the brown, earthy cave before spinning around and promptly causing her friends to crash into her.
After several groans and colorful reprimands from the other two as they all got back on their hooves, Apple Bloom asked them, “Do any of ya’ll remember where the entrance is?”
They were stock still as Sweetie and Scootaloo locked their eyes, now the size of pinpricks, on the sheepish yellow pony. “We’re lost?!”
“No!” Apple Bloom quickly reassured. “We can always just retrace our steps,” she said with a weak grin. The supports of the grin promptly collapsed as she deflated in front of the companions. “Ah’m sorry, ya’ll. Guess Ah shoulda thought this one through a bit more.”
Sweetie smiled and gave her friend a much needed hug. “Don’t worry Apple Bloom. We’ll find a way out of here as long as we stick together.”
Scootaloo released a pent up sigh. “Well I suppose we’ve been in worse situations.”
They collected themselves before peering back into the darkness. Despite the assistance of their flashlights, the blackness went on and on and on.
They had been walking for what seemed like hours. Scootaloo was starting to suspect they had been going in circles as she recognized a particular formation on the cave walls. She raised her concerns but she was countered by the fact that they had been going forward the entire time and had yet to encounter any sort of turn or fork in the cave; which made going in a loop impossible.
The unthinkable, yet somewhat predictable given their situation, happened. Sweetie and Scootaloo’s flashlights died out in sudden and sad final flash. Apple Bloom’s flashlight was beginning to flicker as the three looked at each other with eyes more commonly associated with the very cowardly.
“Uh oh,” was all she could say. The trio stumbled and shuffled across the increasingly rugged and dark terrain.
“Hey, Apple Bloom, I’m no expert at caves and stuff, but doesn’t the ground getting rougher mean we’re just going deeper?” asked Sweetie.
Apple Bloom considered this before a flash of light briefly caught her eyes’ attention. “Did you girls see that?” she asked excitedly.
“Yeah!” answered Scootaloo. “There was a really quick flash just further down this part of the cave. What do you think it was?”
“It could be the way out. Come on girls” said Apple Bloom as she quickened her pace towards the supposed source. She glanced back to Sweetie. “Maybe Ah’ll actually get a cutie mark in spelunking after all!”
Sweetie smiled at her friend’s enthusiasm. “That’d be awesome, Apple Bloom.”
Their pace quickened before they were virtually trotting along the rocky ground. Sweetie and Scootaloo heard a rough thud as their friend and light source fell to the embrace of the cold, hard ground.
“Apple Bloom?” asked Scootaloo as she rushed over to help her.
“I’m okay,” replied the slightly bruised pony.
“Whoa!” said Sweetie, drawing the other two’s attention.”
“What is it?” asked Scootaloo as they approached her.
“It’s...a mirror?” said Sweetie with an eyebrow raised. The mirror itself was very clearly ornate with a surface that still managed to reflect her image perfectly despite the deprivation of light. Around it was a frame with that looked to be made of woven gold strands neatly interlocking in a way that made Sweetie’s mind wonder.
She gasped. “Girls! I think this is a magic mirror!”
The two quickly closed the distance between them and their friend. “Really?” asked Apple Bloom as she focused her light onto the glittering frame.
“Yeah. I remember one of the books Twilight made me read that talked about patterns and leylines and stuff and I’m sure I've seen these patterns before.”
Scootaloo tilted her head at the sight of its reflective surface. “You think it’s anything like that mirror Twilight said she passed through in the Crystal Empire?”
Apple Bloom raised her eyebrow. “The one with all them two-legged folks with the phalanges?” She reached out a hoof for the mirror. It was as solid as a fragile crystal ought to be. “Ah don’t think this is a portal.”
“Darn,” said Scootaloo as she readied to kick a pebble at her hoof. “I was hoping we’d be able to get out of here.” She missed.
“Hey, what’s this?” asked Apple Bloom as she shined her light on a red ruby at the tip of the mirror’s frame.
Blinding light took them before roughly tossing them into the hooves of absolute darkness.
now loading:
cutie mark crusader mission
operation:
s.t.a.r.t.i.n.g.
strange
transdimensional
artifact
removes
training
in
notable
guerillas
The tall white mare cackled wildly as she looked down on the group of ruffians. Her white wings blew a wave of hot air with each beat as her flowing corona of a mane flowed along an unseen breeze. The likeness of the sun that was neatly on her flanks seemed to glow with its own power as she held her position above everypony else.
She gently made her way back down to the crowd of mares and stallions, all bedecked in strange, wafer-looking armor, that surrounded five fatigued foals. She herself was more bare than her minions with only an ornate crown, a meticulously molded and bejewelled necklace and four golden shoes to call an outfit. Still, she towered over all of them with ease as her amethyst eyes locked onto the group of children.
“Did you really think you could beat me?” she said in a voice like that of a lady’s who hailed from a noble house and who acted as a drill sergeant in her spare time.
One of the foals was a unicorn with a light purple coat and a mop of golden hair. On her horn was a piece of wood that was most certainly part of something bigger. Whatever it was, it was either gone or part of the smoldering pile of equipment on one side of the large hall they were all in. She slightly raised her very blank flank as she glared at the tall, white alicorn. “You’ll never get away with this, Princess!”
Princess snorted. “Your defiance is amusing Numbuh Two, but make no mistake. There is no stopping what will happen here today.” She leaped from her position and onto a raised platform that contained a small and physically unremarkable handmirror. Around them were several marble pillars that supported a large domed roof. There were no windows in this three-story chamber with only two entrances.
Another of the foals, a grey one with black hair that was styled to look blown back, smirked at the arrogant marked. “That’s what you think.”
The walls began to shake as a low rumble filled the room. Princess’ eyes darted back and forth, scanning the walls, as the sneers on her minion’s muzzles intensified. Numbuh Two began to wear her own smirk.
The grey foal stood to his full height—one-and-a-half heads shorter than the smallest minion—and took a deep breath. “Cutie Mark Crusaders! Battle stations!” he shouted
Like renovation by angry, bitter contractors, the room gained several more entrances as three wooden carriages burst into the room at breakneck speed. Their wheels had been taken off and two large tubes were attached to the side that sprouted green flame and provided propulsion for the cobbled-together vehicle. On the roof of each carriage were other foals, each clad in armor that were made from an assortment of styrofoam, cardboard boxes, and spandex. Their helmets, meanwhile, were composed of colanders and added metal strips to the sides for extra protection.
Each of them wielded a firearm that, in essence, consisted of a piece of wood with a used tin can and a bottle on top that was neatly equipped to the side of their armor pieces. Despite the breaks in conventional thinking, they managed to produce a sort of weaponized plasma as green globs of the stuff hurtled towards the assembled minions.
Princess’ nostrils flared as her ethereal mane ignited into a raging firestorm. The glare she gave the Crusaders could burn through metal. Literally. “GET THEM!”
The various minions began to scramble and equip their own weapons. They were three, long cylinders attached to their left side that, through three different tubes, connected to tanks neatly balanced on their backs. They took aim and fired blindly at the air above them. From each tube came a different flavor of ice cream: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
The carriages bobbed and weaved through the creamy storm but were quickly racking up damage to their respective hulls. One of the carriages made a beeline for the five foals on the ground and skidded to the ground. The doors burst open as two operatives dressed similarly to the ones on the carriage roofs, but with significantly smaller weapons, jumped around and cleared the area around the five.
Ice cream minion after ice cream minion were knocked out as their large weapons were no match for the more agile foals’ miniature blasters. In the confusion, two other foals quickly dragged the injured inside. Once the doors were shut, the two who burst out jumped onto the landed carriage’s roof and attached special cords to rings that went around its perimeter. It took off and made straight for one of the new entrances. The other two followed suit and made their escape.
Princess watched them leave. Her minions looked to her for orders but she waved them off. She shrugged and returned her gaze to the hand mirror: her real prize.
Meanwhile, inside the carriage with the five foals, a carnation pink filly with two-toned silver and purple hair glared at the two conscious, and three unconscious, operatives. Rather than armor, she instead wore a purple sweater that reached her front fetlocks. Her weapon was a more elegant and streamlined metal cylinder that had a pink paintjob that went well with her coat’s shade. She did not wear a helmet, but instead wore a diamond encrusted tiara. Her flank was, like all those in the carriages, a nice empty canvas.
“I knew we shouldn’t have sent you losers in for such an important mission,” she said in an unmistakably haughty voice. It was at the same time insulting and grating to the ears. Like modern pop music.
Numbuh 2 rolled her eyes. “Thanks Numbuh 86.” She turned to her grey pegasus companion. “You holding out Numbuh 4?”
He smiled and shrugged, “I’ll live.” His brows furrowed as he looked to the three still unconscious operatives: a yellow earth pony, a white unicorn, and an orange pegasus. “I’m more worried about them.”
transmission interrupted