//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Exploding Problem // Story: Royal Princess on a Date // by JusSonic //------------------------------// Chapter 3: An Exploding Problem The Mane Six at this time was finishing the last of the petitioners. The visitors were expecting to talk to the princess and her colt-friend but got the council instead. Not too much of a disappointment though, at least some of their requests are reasonable and are either considered or promised to think about at a later time. "Well, that's the last one." Fluttershy said with a sigh, sitting down a bit. "I'm glad that's over." "I am. It's just 'food that' and 'taxes that." Rainbow remarks with a scoff, sitting in a chair while crossing her upper forelegs. "Can't they take that stuff to the Mayor?" "Yes, but not everything can be handled by her, Rainbow." "And it's only 8:30!" Rarity exclaims in amazement as she looks at the clock nearby. "My! How time flies when one pony is having fun!" "If yew says so," Applejack remarks with a shrug. "Well, Ah done think we got everything our princess wants us 'ta do; So how about we hang back an' wait a while until Twilight an' Ben comes back fro' their date?" Her friends considered that idea; Nothing else to do for the day, right? Suddenly the phone rang, making Pinkie's eyes widen as she calls out, "The Princess Phone!" The pink pony rushes over and answers a phone nearby. "Hello! Sorry, the princess's out right now! Wanna leave a message?" The mare listens in, nodding, "Uh huh. Uh huh! Yeah? Really! Cool! Take a party, we'll be right there!" As Pinkie hangs up, Rainbow asks, "So who is it? Another confused census taker?" "Nope! Just Omega telling us that he, my other self and Goldie are fighting a bunch of Kalidahs near the Everfree Forest and may need our help." "Uh oh," Applejack yelps a bit in worry. "We better take care o' those an' quick! We don't want them fellers ruining Twilight an' Ben's date." "Yes, yes, they are doing so peacefully so far. Who are we to ruin it for them?" Rarity asks in agreement as she and her friends prepare to head out to assist Golden Heart's group and fast. ----------------------------------- Twilight and Ben smiles, sitting on a bench in the park; so far, no problems, no royal decrees and all that, just the two lovers on a date; Being comfortable and loving every moment of it. "I gotta admit, Ben. I had a great time." Twilight said, nuzzling her love a bit while looking out at the water. "You and the others were right about this." "Ain't we always?" Ben teases while kissing Twilight a bit. "I almost wish mom had this better luck when dating, especially when it comes to Azure Phoenix, the good version of Sombra, and..." "Your father?" "...yeah, dad if I only knew who he was. But still, it's a great time spending here with you, Twiley." As the two lovers kept on glancing at the water happily, they fail to see their old pals rushing by behind them. Pinkie saw them and was going to call out but Rainbow covers her mouth, shaking her head 'no' silently before the gang runs off to avoid being seen or interrupting Twilight and Ben's date. Luckily for them, the gang rush by without the two noticing especially when Nyx, Phobos and Spike was following the others in secret. "I almost wish that this would continue on forever." Twilight giggles, kissing Ben on the cheek. "Yeah, me too, honey, me too." Ben said with a happy sigh. ------------------- Pinkamena keeps fighting as she is riding one as she rams it into another one and grabs them and then then sends both of them flying. "Come on you creatures, bring it on!" Pinkamena demands, being so darn fighting bad. Omega fires missile at some of the Kalidahs, making them growl and rush back into the forest. The robot said, "Looks like we are making some of them retreat." "Right, but it won't be long before..." Golden Heart said as he blasts one Kalidah, sending it flying back into the forest. From within the forest, there was a large size beast that was growling from it's thunder stomping noises. It was an orange beast that really did have the body of a bear with black spots and the normal orange tiger head with black stripes with a with mouth and yellow eyes. In short, this was how a Kalidah was seen, and it was nearly 4 times bigger than the others. "Before the big brothers show up," Golden Heart said with a deep frown as Kalidah hits Omega, sending it right into the ground. "This is why we need enforcements." "Yew needs 'em? Yew got 'em, partner!" Applejack laughs as she and her group shows up with their weapons in hoof or claw. "Enforcements are here!" "Looks like these guys are gotta get busted!" Rainbow laughs as she fires shots at the big guy but it swipes at her in the air. "Hey!" Rarity kicks at one Kalidah, knocking it back. She say, "Best to keep things quiet, Darling. We don't want our friends' date to be ruined." "No problem!" Nyx exclaims as she transforms into her Battle Mode form. "Mother and father are away from the battle area." "And luckily it's not ten yet, so we can do this!" Spike exclaims, shooting out a fire blast at a big Kalidah, causing it to roar. "BANZAI," Phobos exclaims, jumping at a Kalidah and hitting it a few times. The ponies quickly work on blasting the Kalidahs, chasing them into the Everfree. "Yeah; So far we are so doing this!" Rainbow exclaims with a pleased look on her face. "Make sure yew keep them fro' getting into town, ponies!" Applejack exclaims, using hejr lasso to toss one Kalidah back into the forest. "We ain't letting our pals' date git interrupted!" "Get away from them!" Pinkie shouted while hitting another Kalidah with her Party Cannon, sending it flying into the forest. "Nopony's allowed to ruin Twilight's date!" One Kalidah growls, looking annoyed before quickly doing something unexpected...he fuses with another become a huge Kalidah like the other ones. "These guys can fuse?!" Spike asks with shock and alarmed. "Well, the Everfree Forest is a mystery even to us ponies." Nyx explains to Spike. "Who knows what these guys can do?" "Great! And here, I thought I would enjoy my day off." Phobos remarks with a groan of annoyance. "What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked in worry. "Keep fighting and sending them back to the forest, that's what!" Rainbow shouted while she kicked another Kalidah in midair. "Yes! We must keep Ponyville safe at all cost!" Golden Heart exclaims, fighting off another Kalidah. "Hey, Nyx; this reminds you of when you were saving Ponyville one time, correct?" Rarity asks Nyx with a smile as the two fight alongside each other. "Yeah, it was thanks to that that I got my cutie mark!" Nyx replied with a smile. She remembered that day very well. The ponies kept on fighting but more of these Kalidahs kept on coming. It may not be easier than expected. "You know this might be harder than we thought." Rainbow groans, punching a Kalidah and chasing it off. Pinkie Pie happily firing off her party cannon, exclaims, "Cheer up, Dashie! This is going to be fun and look! Pinkamena is having fun!" She points and Rainbow Dash sees Pinkamena wrestling with a Kalidah as she slams it to the ground and gives it a toss far away in the forest. Pinkamena says loudly, "Next time I will not go easy on you or the rest of you creatures!" Another eats Pinkamena who prys the mouth open and then grabs the creature by the nose. Then she spins around and then tosses the creature far away as she shouts, "BRING IT OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!" Pinkamena tackles another one and flings it as the others stare. Golden Heart says, "You know I think she may be enjoying it too well but a least it helps her improve her strength and skills." The others nod as they get back to their task as another one is sent flying by Pinkamena. One Kalidah prepares to slash Fluttershy but she Stare at it, snapping, "Back off!" The Kalidah yelped in fear before backing away from Fluttershy, recoiling from the Stare. Omega fires a lot of rockets, sending the remaining Kalidahs packing without their luggage. It looks like the threat is over. "Look, one is making a break into town!" Spike exclaims, pointing a claw in worry as the others saw a Kalidah rushing to Ponyville. "Not good! We gotta stop it!" Applejack exclaims in worry. But before the last Kalidah could end up rushing into town fully, a huge baseball glove came from out of nowhere and caught it; Discord, the one owning the glove, smiles as he appears, holding the creature as he came over. "No worries! He's out." Discord remarks with a delighted chuckle. "Good catch, Discord!" Rainbow complimented the draconequus with a grin. "Okay, and the pitch and the toss!" Discord exclaims, tossing the remaining Kalidah right back into the Everfree Forest. "Going...going...HE'S OUTTA HERE!" "HOME RUN," Pinkie cheers, holding up a hoof glove labeled 'Go Team'. "Oh yeah, we ruled!" "Check this out. All the Kalidahs are back in the forest!" Nyx squeals a bit as she turns back to her filly self. "And right out of Ponyville." "Without alerting Ben and Twilight," Rairty said with a happy sigh. "I think that ended well." "Yep! No problems at all." Applejack said proudly. "Now we need to get back to the castle and everything will be fine for the night." Fluttershy said with a squeal. "We need to put these two to bed by 10:00." "Awww," Nyx and Spike whine a bit in disappointment. "Come, come, we will have nothing to hear of it." Rarity insists as she pushes Nyx and Spike forward, "Time to get to bed, darlings." "Geez, one of those Kalidahs helped a big hole in here." Phobos remarked, frowning as he saw a hole that was dug. "And there's some device in here." "Device," The ponies ask in alarm as they look in the hole. Sure enough, there's a device inside which has a couple of wires, chemical packs...and a timer. "Holy horse feathers; It's a chemical bomb!" Applejack exclaims frantically. "What is it doing buried here?" Fluttershy ask Applejack scared. "One o' our enemies must've planted it...luckily it didn't go off during 'de battle." Applejack said in relief, seeing that the bomb didn't go off during the madness. "Well, lucky us!" Pinkie giggles as she pats the bomb thing...but to her shock, the timer suddenly is activated, starting off from '5:00' and counting down, "Oopsie." "PINKIE," Most of her friends yell out in horror. "Discord, quick! Shut it off!" Pinkamena exclaims to Discord in worry. "I'm trying! But it won't go off!" Discord exclaims, trying to use his magic to shut the bomb off but it won't do so. "It must be immune to magic!" "Not good, this whole area is going to go up." Golden Heart said in worry. "Chemical bombs got enough power to blow up various counties!" "Nice going, Pinkie!" Rainbow said sarcastically and angrily. "Don't blame Auntie Pinkie. She didn't mean to." Nyx said to Rainbow in a whimper. "Sorry, sorry. My bad, I guess the stress got to me." Rainbow said with a sigh. "Wait! Twilight got a 'How to Disable Bombs' book back at the castle, along with some wire cutters and stuff!" Spike exclaims in realization. "Right; we better get this bomb over there pronto." Golden Heart said as the bomb is carefully put onto his back. "We must be careful. Any violent reaction could cause this thing to go off instantly." Rarity didn't waste time as she put a cloth over the bomb to hide it from view. The mare said, "Okay, just move gently through town." "An' no shenanigans," Applejack exclaims in concern. "We ain't gotta cause a panic or ruin Ben an' Twilight's date." The group nods in agreement. They quickly head through Ponyville, preparing on a trek to disable the bomb or else. --------------------------------------------------- The Mane Six, Nyx, Discord, the Dragons, Golden Heart, Pinkamena, Omega and Gold Wing move through town quietly, dodging ponies. If they can make it to the castle without running into anyone and before the bomb goes off, they can get what they themselves need to deactivate the bomb. "So far, so good," Golden Heart mumbles a bit as he trots carefully. "Why couldn't we teleport?" Phobos asks quietly. "I mean Golden Heart or Discord could do so!" "Because even teleportation could be violent enough to set that chemical bomb off. We can't do anything that..." "Yikes!" Pinkie yelps, bouncing up and startling the gang. Applejack quickly holds the hidden bomb to keep it from falling off. "Great horny toads, Pinkie; Careful," Applejack exclaims to Pinkie in concern. "Yew wanna blow us up 'ta smithereens?!" "Look up ahead!" The group looks up to see a dancing festival happening right now in front of them. They groan a bit, some of them even face-hoof. The group has forgotten that the Mayor has ordered a dancing party to celebrate the new princess of Ponyville! Not good. How will the gang get around this problem? There doesn't appear to be any other way around and it will take too long to go back and find a way. "Great, why must this happen?" Rainbow asks in annoyance, crossing her upper forearms, "Now what?" "We just gotta go through." Spike suggests in concern. The gang just gotta go around without causing any violent reactions that could set the bomb off. "Follow my lead." Golden Heart whispers. The others nod then heads through the party in hopes to get to the other side without bumping into any ponies, "Hey there, hello!" "Hey there! Cute pony! Got a cute pony here," Pinkamena giggles as she holds up Nyx who gave a squeaky grin while the gang passes through the crowd carefully. "Yes, hi; There; Council members, business," Rarity calling out with a giggle. "Yes, yes! Howdy! Any request, just meet us in 'de castle tomorrow!" Applejack exclaims awkwardly, giving out a smile. For a moment, it looks like the gang will make it through...that is until a familiar Alicorn appears with her love. Twilight calls out, "Hey, everypony!' "Oh horse feathers!" "Hey, are you all coming to the party too?" Ben ask his friends who gave awkward smiles to him. "What's with the awkward smiles?" Applejack gulps, trying not to lie since it got her in trouble the last time. Fluttershy said meekly, "Oh, we got...our business done...and decide to see this party out; oh yes, looks good, yes!" "Right, right, and we brought Nyx and Spike along to watch." Omega said quickly, playing along. "But I confirmed that we're done so we should head back to the Rainbow Friendship Kingdom." "Yes, yes, gotta go! Gotta party elsewhere," Pinkie exclaims quickly as the group, minus the couple, is heading to the other side. Once they leave, the gang will get back to the castle and deactivate the bomb. "No bomb here!" "Bomb," The couple ask confused. "I mean party cannon! Yes, yes! Didn't bring my party cannon; can't explode stuff without it!" "Can't you just bring it up instantly?" Ben asks Pinkie puzzled. "I mean, since when are you ever without your party cannon?" "Oh well, we got soooooo busy, that Pinkie made a boo-boo." Rarity said awkwardly while chuckling uneasily, "So we must go, Rarity and her friends must leave!" "Wait, why are you so eager to leave?" Twilight ask, arching a curious eyebrow at her nervous friends. "You all just got here." "You said Nyx and Spike need to be home by bed, right?" Rainbow asks quickly as he motions to Nyx and Spike who quickly pretend to be tired, "Awww, look. They are soooooo tired." "Well, I can always let the ten Curfew pass. No need for them to miss out on the party." Pinkamena peeks under the sheet, yelping a bit, "Gah! 3 and 45 minutes left!" "For what," Ben ask confused, making Pinkamena yelps as she put the sheet down. "And what's under the sheet on Golden Heart's back?" "Just some private equipment," Golden Heart exclaims nervously, backing up. "No need to look. No one but me must ever look under there; nope; nope!" "What are you all so nervous?" Twilight ask suspiciously, making her friends worried. They got to leave now but their Alicorn friend and her colt-friend are getting more suspicious. Discord was quiet during the whole thing...and he knew that he must do something. That chemical bomb could go off at any given moment! The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony think of something...and fast! Discord quickly teleports onto the stage and grabs a mic, speaking into it, "Hey everypony! This is me, Discord! In honor of the new dancing party...I thought we shall give a special couple the chance to dance...THE TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" A spotlight came onto Twilight and Ben who looks surprised. The crowd cheered on, "Dance; Dance; Dance; Dance!" The Mane Six and the remaining others, getting the idea, calls out as well, "Dance; Dance; Dance; Dance!" "Well, who are we to deny these ponies?" Ben ask, taking Twilight by the hoof, "Dance?" "You betcha," Twilight giggles a bit as she and Ben heads to the center of the dance floor. Discord snaps his finger as a rock band (made up of rocks with instruments) appears, performing. Twilight and Ben laughs as they dance...kinda like how the mare normally dance...with the ponies cheering them on. This is a fun dance! Discord sure knows how to help! Discord, unknown to the lovers, was waving a paw to his group motioning them to get going. The Mane Six's group didn't waste time in leaving without no one noticing. ----------- The group didn't have any more trouble in getting into the castle. Quickly, they enter the lab as Phobos quickly closes the door. He ask frantically, "How much time do we got left?!" "1 hour and 15 minutes!" Pinkamena yelps as she removes the sheet before the mare and her brother gently put the chemical bomb onto the table. "Quick, quick; get the stuff!" Pinkie calls out frantically. Nyx quickly grabs the equipment with the wire cutters while Spike grabs the book to disable bombs. "Hurry; 55 minutes," Fluttershy yelped, seeing the time going down faster, "Oh dear!" "Spike, hurry, hurry," Nyx exclaims to Spike who flips through the pages like mad. "Here it is!" Spike exclaims, finding the page that was needed. "Now listen carefully because one false trigger could set it off!" "Allow me." Golden Heart said as he uses his magic to take the equipment from Nyx, setting it near him. The Alicorn, getting the wire cutters out, then ask, "Help me through this, Spike!" Spike quickly instructs Golden Heart who works on disabling the chemical bomb as best as he could. So far, the Alicorn was able to cut some wires or disable some parts without fail. Soon it came down to one part, but there appears to be a problem. "Okay, I got a red wire and a blue wire." Golden Heart said to Spike in concern, seeing two wires left on the bomb. "Only 1 wire is needed to disable the chemical bomb fully; which one?" "I don't know! That part of the page has been burnt!" Spike complains, seeing a burnt page on the last part needed to deactivate this bomb. "Okay! Who has been eating S'mores on this?!" The others glance at Phobos who blinks innocently as he ask, "What? So I like S'mores and been using the book as a coaster!" "Allow me." Pinkamena said as she took the wire cutters from Golden Heart. "Pinkie Sense...help me." The others back away, preparing for the worst should this fail. Pinkamena hold her breath and closes her eyes. Her Pinkie Senses guide her as she moves the wire cutters to a specific wire. The Pinkie Pie lookalike prepares herself...and cut the wire. For a moment...nothing happened. The others, especially Pinkamena, sighs a bit as the chemical bomb appears to be going off...that is until a loud beeping noise is heard, making the gang horrified. That doesn't sound good... The bomb went off and...send whipped cream onto everypony?! The gang looks confused as they got whipped cream on themselves...and more! "Ugh! Whipped cream," Rarity cried out at the whipped cream on herself. "What 'de hay?" Applejack asks confused. "Ah thought we were done fer!" "Wait a minute." Spike said with a frown, glancing at the bomb carefully. "This bomb is a fake!" "A FAKE," Most of the ponies yell out in shock and disbelief. The gang went through all that trouble...for a fake bomb?! "Yeah, this timer is actually a clock one and the chemicals in these packs are instant whipped cream!" "Ooooh, funny that I didn't notice that earlier," Phobos said sheepishly. "There's a message here: 'Property of Rainbow Dash'?" Fluttershy ask as she notices a label on the bottom of the fake bomb. The others glance at Rainbow who then realizes something, then nervously say, "Well, what do you know! So that's where I left one of my prank bombs from last April Foals' Day! I was going to use it to freak out my former Flight School bullies and I guess I must've dropped it during that day and it got buried somehow." "Why didn't you say something before," Most of the gang yells out upset to Rainbow. They would’ve dodged the problems with the fake prank, Twilight and Ben, etc. if she would’ve mentioned this fact sooner! "Hey, I forgot about it until now! Give me a break!" Most of the gang groans, some of them fell to the floor in exhaustion. All that trouble, over a prank bomb!