The sun was already setting in the horizon, and the streets of Ponyville were busy with ponies trotting about. They were going to and from the marketplace, to prepare for their meals later at dinner time.
Their hoofsteps and voices echoed all around, and it was like music to a lone, blue little creature that stood on a barrel in an alleyway, its long and blue antennae twitched ever so slightly at the sounds. One of its club-like arms was over its eyes as it smiled and stared at the sea of ponies going about.
“Mana,” it said to itself, smiling in wonderment. It has never seen such many creatures moving around before.
Well, to be fair, it just hatched, and that realization made the little creature blink, and then it chuckled to itself. It has heard its parents' voice already while the creature was still inside the egg, so when it pick their voices, it'll just have to follow it, which will lead it to them! The blue creature sighed dreamily.
Strange that the creature was left all alone inside that gloomy place. It even prepared a big smile as soon as it hatched, but no one was there to see it. Maybe its parents just went out to find food? The creature wasn't sure. It hadn't seen them yet, which was making the creature so excited. It wondered what mama and papa would look like. It also wondered why it heard three voices. Mama and papa makes two, so who was the third one? Uncle? Aunt? Or maybe its sibling? It doesn't know and it was very excited to—
It sniffed the air, and oh, how wonderful that aroma was. It felt like she was already swimming in the vast, beautiful and heavenly ocean. Sniffing again and again, it turned, following where that wonderful aroma was coming from. It opened its eyes, and it eyed a weird building across the path. It blinked, and looked down on its stubby feet. Huh, it didn't turn that much, it realized. It shrugged. Oh well. With a smile, it jumped down on the earthy ground, and wobbled its way towards the building to figure out what that sweet aroma was.
It didn't care of the many hoofsteps that might stomp on it. It didn't know any better, anyway.
“Save me some dessert, ya hear?” Applejack shouted back as she waved a hoof while walking down the path towards Ponyville. “I'll be back by dinnertime!”
“Just have fun, Applejack!” Granny Smith said, waving a hoof along with Big Mac outside their home's door. “And try to talk to some stallions that you meet on the way!” As soon as Applejack was no longer in sight, Granny Smith shook her head slightly. “Ung... That mare needs to find a stallion soon. I'm not getting any younger...”
Big Mac rolled his eyes. Not this again.
“And you, Big Mac, need to find yourself a mare! I wanna have some grandkids before I bite the dust! And no! Applejack doesn't count!”
The red stallion sighed. He doesn't really have the time to go out there and find a mare to get to know with. Well, he can always ask one of his sister's friends. Rainbow Dash seemed to like him, for they do spend some time for a while, but he was just too darn busy with the farm, now that Applejack was also one of the ambassadors of friendship, or whatever it was called.
The two Apples went inside the barn house. As soon as the door closed, a filly's head popped out from a bush near the house. Sweetie Belle then slowly and quietly moved towards the windows, and took a peak inside.
‘If that thing's inside, then one of them is probably gonna freak out,’ she thought, moving slowly towards the back. ‘The thing just hatched, so I guess it's probably hungry. If it's a carnivore, then it'll probably prey on easy targets, since it just hatched, after all.’
She saw the Apple Family's chicken pen, and the chickens inside were ‘boking’ normally, without a care in the world.
The filly sighed. ‘I just wish those two are having better luck than I am...’
“Where the heck could that thing be?” Applebloom said to herself as she trotted through the many ponies in the busy street. She already bumped into a number of ponies though, but she didn't care. She was looking for something, and she and the girls needed to find it before it starts causing trouble. What kind of trouble? She wasn't sure, but her and her friends' current condition was a pretty good hint. ‘I wonder if I should ask anypony... Nah, I wouldn't want them to panic... That might put us in even more trouble...’
She finally reached a fork, where there were less ponies and more air for the filly to move and breathe. After taking a small breather, she looked around, and saw Fluttershy trotting towards her. “Hello, Applebloom.”
“Hey there, Fluttershy!” Applebloom greeted, and then she mentally slapped herself for forgetting to add some accent. “U-um... How are you today?”
Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, I'm good. Thank you for asking. Angel finally brought in his new family at the cottage, and oh, the cute little baby rabbits are so cute!” the pegasus squeed.
Applebloom fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Um... T-that's great! I guess...” ‘Wait... That annoying rabbit has a family now? There's going to be a lot of Angel Juniors soon?!’
“Um... Applebloom?”
“Buh?” Applebloom snapped back in reality.
“Are you alright?”
“Huh? Oh!” The filly shook her head. That future rabbit problem is future Scootaloo's problem. “Y-yeah! Sure! Why wouldn't I be?”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am! Now uh...wait,” she blinked. ‘Well, maybe she can help, slightly.’ “Have you seen any weird animals lately, Fluttershy?”
The pegasus mare frowned. “Applebloom, you already promised not to put my animal friends into your crusades.”
“I know, I know. I was just curious, since we don't meet that often anymore.”
Fluttershy blinked. “But you invited me to your farm yesterday to check on your chickens...”
“Er... I'll take that as a no then. Well, thanks Fluttershy, but I gotta go! Bye!” and the filly ran off to a random direction.
“Weird...” Fluttershy muttered to herself before she continued her trot towards the castle. “I just hope that nothing's really bothering the poor filly. I should probably ask Applejack to check up on her sister later...”
With Fluttershy now out of sight, Applebloom finally trotted out from hiding behind a tree. She turned and stared at the direction towards Fluttershy's cottage. “I wonder if the little guy went there?”
“Here ya go!” Pinkie Pie gave a paper bag to an earth pony customer. “Two chocolate cupcakes for your kids, one daisy cupcake for your sweetie plum, and, blech—” she stuck her tongue out in disgust, “—one plain bread...”
Her customer chuckled, rolled his eyes, and placed the bits on the counter. “Sorry Pinkie. But you know that I'm not allowed to eat anything sweet. Doctor's orders.”
“I know! And it sucks!” Pinkie wailed. “Not eating anything sweet! Oh, the horror!” she shivered, pupils shrinking to dots. She shook her head and then took a deep breath. “Well, anyway, thanks and come again! Next!”
“Hey there, Pinkie Pie!”
“Why, hello there, Spike!” Pinkie leaned over the counter to pat the little purple dragon's head. “How's our favorite dragon doing?”
Spike shrugged. “Eh, you know. Still trying to control myself from eating Twilight's new crystal castle.”
A few ponies behind him chuckled.
Pinkie Pie nodded with a smile. “Heheh... That's our Spike! So, how may I help ya?”
“Well, Twilight said that she ordered something for later?”
“Ah, the cupcakes! Be right back, Spike,” she said, bouncing towards the kitchen. She returned behind the counter not long after, a purple-colored box balanced on her back. “Here you go, Spike! Twilight already paid for it, even though I insisted that she didn't need to!”
“Sugarcube Corner will go broke if you don't accept payment, Pinkie,” the little dragon chuckled, said and waved goodbye, and turned to the door as Pinkie called her next customer.
And he bumped into something blue and kinda soft. The dragon blinked, and so did the weird creature. It was the same height as he was, until the creature extended its antennae as it looked around, completely ignoring him.
“Friend of yours, Spike?” one of the mares in line asked.
Spike slowly, slowly shook his head, his eyes still locked on the weird thing. “Not...really...”
“Mana...” the creature whispered with a growing smile.
“Uh, hello?”
No response.
“Hello?”
The creature started sniffing the air. That's something, Spike guessed.
“Um...so can you move please? You're kinda in my way.”
The creature closed its eyes, deciding to let its nose lead it to the source of the sweet aroma. Which was everywhere. At least there was something sweet close by. Opening its eyes again, it saw the box the dragon was carrying on top of his head with both claws holding it for balance.
“Mana!” she smiled, and then started pointing at the box.
“Uh, no,” Spike guessed. “It's a box, not your momma.”
“Mana!” the creature hopped in place. “Mana! Mana mana!”
“Oh dear,” one of the ponies in line said. “Is it looking for its mommy?”
“I have no idea...” Spike sighed, balancing the box on his scale on his head so he could use a claw to push the thing to the side. Gently. The thing was so soft Spike felt that it was so fragile. “Excuse me, little guy, but I need to get going.” He smiled wearily at the smiling creature that was still eyeing the box on his head, and then he slowly walked out of the store. Once he was out, he let out a sigh of relief, and he then went towards the castle. “I wonder what that—ugh,” he grunted, regaining his balance, “w-what that thing was. I better ask Twilight about it later. Gangway, ponies! Spike the dragon, coming through!”
Little did the little dragon know that the little blue creature was now happily sitting on top of the box that was over his little head. And the ponies just looked and stared and blinked and wondered.
Scootaloo was about to knock on the door when the door itself swung open inwardly.
“Scootaloo?” Rarity blinked. “Do you need anything, darling?”
Scootaloo blinked. ‘Oh, right... I'm still Scootaloo.’ She fought the urge to sigh, instead, she smiled. “Hey there, Miss Rarity,” ‘it's really weird calling my sister like that.’ “Is Sweetie Belle here?”
Rarity shook her head as she stepped out of her boutique. “She was here a few hours ago. Oh, and the blue contact lens looks good on you, by the way.”
The filly blinked. “Uh, thanks?”
“I believe my sister went back to you clubhouse, my dear. Although,” Rarity tapped her chin with a hoof, “she was acting kind of strange.”
The filly gulped.
“Did something happen?”
“Um... M-maybe?”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “I should have known. I guess I'll be asking her about it later.”
Scootaloo wasn't looking forward to that.
“In any case,” she turned and summoned magic to her horn, closing the door with magic and locking it. “I'm sorry if I should be sending you away, Scootaloo, but I must be going to the castle.”
“Oh, well, it's okay, Miss Rarity!”
“If you see my sister, tell her that I'll be back by dinnertime. I'll be off now.”
As Rarity turned and trotted towards the castle, Scootaloo waved a hoof at her retreating form. “Bye, sis,” she whispered, and sniffed. She shook her head and turned back to the door with squinting eyes. ‘If something came inside, my sister would have noticed and freaked the whole town. So it's safe to assume that it's not inside...I think.’
She looked around, and after making sure that nopony was paying her any attention, she turned and grabbed a key behind a flower pot by the door.
‘But it's better to be safe than sorry, I guess.’ She inserted the key to the keyhole, and turned it, opening the door in the process. ‘I just hope Scootaloo didn't have any bad history with Opal.’
She went inside and closed the door behind her.
Outside, by the main road, Spike blinked. “What was Scootaloo doing?” After a while of staring, he shrugged and continued on his way. “Meh. Probably another crusading stuff.”
He still wasn't aware that he was drawing ponies' attentions with that cute little blue creature sitting on the box, happily munching on the cupcakes.
A stallion was about to call the dragon's attention, but his wife slapped his hoof, stopping him, and telling him that bad things will happen if they try and stop bad things from going to happen.
It didn't made sense to the poor stallion.
‘No signs of any weird creatures here...’ Sweetie Belle sighed as she closed the Apple Family's pig pen. ‘And whew... Is it just me, or was it pretty dang sticky in there.’ She blinked after she saw her white hoof. ‘Probably just me being Sweetie Belle...’ She sat on the ground and put a muddy hoof on her chin. ‘I was really certain that it was gonna be here, to eat something. Wait... Maybe it's not a carnivore after all! Gah!’ She slapped her forehead, cringing a bit when she accidentally hit the base of her horn. ‘Ow! That hurts like hell! Are horns really that sensitive?’ She shook her head. ‘Anyway, why didn't I think of that sooner?! The clubhouse is surrounded by apple trees! If the thing really was not a meat-eater, then it probably just climbed up and ate a few apples! If the thing can climb, that is...’
With that in thought, she hurried back to their clubhouse, failing to notice the red stallion who just went out from the back door of the barn house. Blinking, Big Mac stared at the retreating filly's form. “Now what the hay are those fillies up to?”
“Ahhh!” Scootaloo screamed as she ran around, trying in vain to avoid the claws of the vicious and angry Opal. “I'm sorry! I'm sorry!”
Crash!
Applebloom reached Fluttershy's cottage. It was already starting to get dark, and she was starting to get tired, but she shoved the feeling to the side and started wandering around the cottage, looking at the animals around. She was thankful to see no signs of bunnies.
“Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary,” the filly said to herself, taking note of how calm and peaceful the animals were. The sun was almost completely gone, and the moon was already visible by the horizon, so it would make sense that the animals would be preparing to sleep and call it a night.
...a light bulb turned on.
“Wait. Birds consider their hatching place as their home!” Applebloom said out loud, remembering that Rainbow Dash had taught her that during their flying lessons. “And I think most creatures consider their birthplace as their homes, too!” At least, that's what she remembered from their ‘field trip’ at Fluttershy's cottage a few months ago.
With that information in mind, she galloped down the path, back towards Ponyville.
With jingling bells, the door of Carousel Boutique closed. As soon as it did, Scootaloo slumped down on the welcome mat with a tired sigh. The poor filly's mane and fur were messy and full of scratch marks. A few of her feathers weren't as lucky as well.
Street lamps suddenly glowed, as if by magic, illuminating the streets before it complete got dark. Scootaloo stared at a lamp and remembered that Rarity had told her that the lamps were magical, wherein they'll store sun energy and will release said energy when sunlight was no longer present.
After another sigh, she slowly opened her eyes, and saw a bright, pink, and grinning face in front of her. The filly was gone with a yelp of surprise.
“Hey there, scaredy pants!” Pinkie Pie greeted the pegasus filly that was flying a few feet in the air. “Wat'cha doing?”
“Pinkie?” Scootaloo asked, looking down. As soon as she did, she realized that she was flying. Her wings froze, and she fell down.
“Whoopsie,” the pink party pony caught her before the welcome mat did. She put her down on her shaky hooves and giggled. “So, jumpy pants, what's up?”
“Well...” she bit her tongue. She wondered if telling Pinkie that she was looking for some sort of baby monster would be a good idea. Maybe she can be vague about it? “The girls and I are just looking for something...weird.”
“Weird? Okay!” the mare nodded.
“So like... Have you seen anything weird lately, Pinkie Pie?”
“Hm...” the pink mare brought a hoof to her chin, thinking. “Well, I had a customer who bought a sweetless loaf of bread earlier.” She looked back at the blinking filly. “Does that count?”
“I...guess so?”
Pinkie Pie smiled, and patted the filly's head. “Glad I could help! He lives two houses away from the currently-under-repair library to the left. Have fun!” and she bounced off towards somewhere, leaving the filly sitting on the mat and sighing. “I wonder if Spike noticed that weird blue creature that was eating our cupcakes for the meeting...”
Scootaloo blinked, and then her eye twitched. She jumped on all four. “W-wait, Pinkie!”
Pinkie Pie froze in mid-air.
Scootaloo was suddenly beside her. “What did— Um... You can go down now.”
Pinkie did just that.
“What did you just say? About a blue creature?” The baby creature was blue, right? It would make sense, since the eggshell was blue as well.
Pinkie blinked. “What blue creature?”
Scootaloo's eye twitched. “Just...forget it...” At least she knew where it was. “Can I ask for your help?”
“Sure! I love to help my friends!” she hugged the filly, and let's her go.
Scootaloo coughed twice. “Uh, right... Can you tell me where Applebloom and Scootaloo are?”
Pinkie Pie blinked at her.
The filly's ears drooped. “Uh... I mean Sweetie Belle.”
“Why are your eyes blue?”
“That's not important right now.”
“Okie dokie lokie! Sweetie Belle's a few apple trees away from your clubhouse. Applebloom's in town, but she's running back to your clubhouse.”
“Thanks! Gotta go, so bye!” and the filly dashed for it.
Pinkie shrugged and bounced towards the castle. “I wonder if Rarity has an extra pair of blue contact lenses...”
“But Pinkie Pie, you already have blue eyes!” Rarity reasoned as she sat on her crystal throne-like chair. Each of her friends has one that circled around a crystal-like round table.
“Rarity has a point, Pinkie,” Applejack nodded, and then returned to Rarity. “But Rares, why'd you gave them those...lenses anyway?”
The white unicorn shook her head. “I didn't give them those, Applejack. I don't even own a pair.” She rose her nose up in the air. “My eyes are perfectly clear, just so you know.”
“I never said anything about your eyes, Rares,” Applejack shook her head. “I just thought that they came from you 'cause I heard that those things are, y'know, some sort of fashion accessory or somethin'.”
Rarity blinked. “Huh. Well, they kinda are, actually. But no, I don't own any.”
“So where can we buy some?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“But why would you need them, dear?” Rarity asked. “Surely, you don't have any eye problems, right?”
“I already told you! I think blue looks good on me,” the pink mare smiled brightly.
Her other friends sighed.
“Anyway,” Rainbow Dash said, sitting up. “I'm wondering if you guys noticed anything strange with your sisters?”
Rarity and Applejack turned to her.
“I mean, Scoots is cool and all, but earlier today, she seemed...I dunno...weird. Maybe something happened to their crusading or something. I dunno... I wanted to ask Scoots about it, but...eh...”
“Well,” Rarity brought a hoof to her chin. “Sweetie Belle was acting strange earlier, too.” She turned to the apple farmer. “Her actions earlier kind of reminded me of your sister, Applejack.”
“Huh?” Applejack blinked. “Whatever for?”
Rarity shook her head. “I don't really know. But that was the impression I had on my sister earlier. She even fought with Opal!”
“Huh...” Rainbow Dash blinked. “Scoots acted a little skittish earlier. And she talked weird... I don't know if she was trying to imitate Sweetie Belle's squeaky voice.”
“My sister does not have a squeaky voice!” Rarity defended.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Pfft... Please, Rares... You know better than anypony else that what you just said isn't true.”
“Hmph!” Rarity turned away from her.
Applejack just rubbed her cheek. “Well, Applebloom was kinda...acting slightly weird, I guess?” she shrugged. “But I think it's just that we haven't asked her to help around the farm for a while now.”
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were just staring at their friends during their exchange. Both were unsure if they should let their presence known.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, girls,” Twilight said, smiling sheepishly as she levitated a tray of cups and a teapot behind her, Spike following close behind with a box on top of his head. “I somehow managed to misplace my tea set...again...” her ears drooped, “...for the seventeenth time...”
“Oh, it's totally quite alright, Twilight,” Rarity said, summoning her own magic to help Twilight set up the tea on the table. “I'm sure you're still adjusting to your new home. Give it time.”
“I'm sure you'll be comfortable here in no time,” Fluttershy smiled.
Twilight tried to smile, but sighed after a while. “And that's the problem,” she said as she sat on her chair and levivated the box of cupcakes, placing it on the middle of the table. “I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to having my own castle. I mean,” she smiled slightly as Spike sat on his chair, but glared at him when Spike began licking the crystal chair. He stopped immediately. “I mean, the library was homely enough, and I guess I've gotten used to it...”
“Isn't that why you ordered those construction crew to repair the library, Twi?” Applejack smiled reassuringly.
Twilight sighed. “It just doesn't feel right to have somepony else to fix it. The library felt like home, and I feel like I should be the one repairing it.” With her alicorn powers, she was sure that she can do it, if she was provided with the right materials for the repairs.
“You know that you can always lend a hoof in the repairs, right?” Rarity asked.
The alicorn nodded. “I know, I know... But every time I show up, the ponies there go all ‘super-working mode’ just to impress this ‘newly-crowned princess’,” she complained, complete with air-quotes.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie chuckled.
“Well, you are a princess, after all,” Rainbow chuckled again.
Twilight sighed. “I just wanted to be Twilight again. The normal Twilight, not Princess Twilight. I want everypony to treat me like how they used to treat me.”
“A librarian virgin?” Rainbow teased.
Twilight glared at her. Pinkie Pie giggled. Fluttershy blushed.
“Give it time, sugarcube,” Applejack smiled, ignoring Rarity scolding Rainbow Dash. “Lyra and Bonbon aren't treating you like a princess now, last I heard from you.”
“And the Cakes still treat you like the old Twilight!” Pinkie Pie chirped.
Twilight smiled. “I...guess there are a few ponies.” She eyed the box. “Well, anyway... I'm getting kinda hungry. Let's start this meeting now, shall we? And stop licking your chair, Spike!”
“I'm sorry! It won't happen again!”
Their friends chuckled at their exchange.
“Oh, I knew I should have started counting how many times Spike would be saying that,” Rainbow said.
Twilight just rolled her eyes and started enveloping her magic around the cupcake box. ‘Odd that the contents feel weird... I wonder if Spike dropped a few, or ate a few...’ It wouldn't be the first time. Rolling her eyes, she lifted the box's lid with her magic.
‘Still nothing,’ Sweetie Belle sighed as she trotted towards the next apple tree, and stared at the leaves and branches.
The sun was completely gone now, but the silver moon was giving off enough light for her to see. Their clubhouse was close by, she noted, and she kept an eye on it, in case the creature decided to come back.
‘Come to think of it, how did that thing got out? I doubt it could be tall enough to open the door. Or maybe we left it open?’
Her ears twitched when she heard sounds of hooves from a distance. She turned and saw Applebloom rushing towards their clubhouse.
“Oi!” Sweetie Belle called, running towards the clubhouse as well to meet with the earth pony filly. “What's the rush? Did you find anything?”
“No,” Applebloom was gasping for breath as she and Sweetie Belle stood before the stairs. “B-but I just thought that it might be back! The day's over, so it must be back home.”
“Home?” Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow. Her eyes then grew wide in realization. “Oh! I get it! But I didn't see the thing coming back, I'm afraid.”
“Well,” Applebloom climbed up the stairs. “I'm checking it out anyway.”
Sweetie Belle shrugged and followed her.
Reaching the door, Applebloom pushed it open, letting the setting moon's glow to enter their gloomy clubhouse.
There were still no signs of the creature around.
Ears drooping, Applebloom sat down and sighed. “This is getting stupid.”
Sweetie Belle tapped the earth pony filly's shoulder. “I have a feeling it'll get even stupider,” she said, staring at the familiar filly who was galloping towards the clubhouse.
“Huh?” Applebloom stood up, turned and looked. “Oh, hey! It's me!”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and went back down the stairs, Applebloom following close behind.
“Girls!” Scootaloo gasped, gasping for breath after reaching her friends.
“Did something happen?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Worse,” the pegasus filly gulped. She was looking tired and worried. “I...I-I think I know where the creature is...”
“Wow, really?” Applebloom smiled excitedly.
“Then tell us!” Sweetie Belle said desperately. “No offense, Sweetie, but I'd rather have my own body back.”
Scootaloo blinked at her former self. “Ugh... Rarity's so gonna give me an earful after she sees me like that!” she pointed at the dirty unicorn filly.
Sweetie Belle deadpanned. “Ahem...”
“Oh, right...” Scootaloo's ears drooped. “W-well, the thing is inside—”
“What is that thing,” Rainbow Dash went back to her seat, while pointing at the box with a hoof. “And what's it doing inside the box?”
The rest of her friends were still craning their necks, staring at the sleeping blue thing.
“Aww,” Fluttershy aww'd, “it's so cute! Can I keep it? I promise I'll take good care of it!”
“Fluttershy,” Twilight said.
“Pretty, pretty please, Twilight?”
The alicorn slowly shook her head. “We don't even know what this thing is!”
Her voice made the blue creature to slightly move and stir on its sleep, now on its back, but still sound asleep.
A few of them aww'd again.
“Oh, hey,” Spike blinked. “That's the thing that bumped into me earlier at Sugarcube Corner.”
“Oh?”
The dragon nodded. “It kept on saying ‘momma’ or something...”
“Mana...” the creature mumbled.
“Yeah, that,” Spike confirmed.
Twilight sat back on her seat, a hoof rubbing her chin. “Hm... Interesting... I did hear it, Spike. Maybe that thing can talk.”
Fluttershy and the rest returned to their seats. “And it sounds like it's lost and looking for its mother. Oh, the poor dear.”
“Should we wake the thing?” Applejack asked, blinking at the creature, and noticing the rise and fall of its chest.
“We should,” Rarity agreed with a nod. “But we should do it in a delicate way. The poor dear looks like an infant.”
Twilight nodded.
“Hey there, kiddo!” Pinkie shouted as she jumped on the table and leaned her face closer to the startled blue creature, leaving her friends startled and shock on their seats. The party pony picked the thing up with both hooves and raised it up on eye level. “You're new in town, and do you know what that means?!”
The creature started shaking.
“Pinkie,” Twilight called, nervously. “I don't thi—”
“A party!” the pink mare shouted, throwing the creature high up, and making her friends gasp in unison.
“Mana-aaaaaaaaa!” the creature started crying, even after it was safely caught by the pink mare.
Pinkie Pie started rocking her. “Shh... Shh... There, there... It's alright.”
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity scolded. “What were you—”
“—naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!” the blue creature's ears glowed brightly in white and red.
“Uh... Twilight?”
Red energy lines soared into the air from the creature's ears, and it quickly struck everyone around in a zigzaggy pattern.
There was a bright, white, and familiar light coming out from the opened doors of the crystal-like castle, and the three galloping fillies skidded to a stop as soon as they got inside, and waited for the light to die down.
“—naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!”
Their hearts froze.
“—naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!”
They didn't even notice the crying blue creature running pass them, out of the castle.
“H-hey!” Applebloom snapped back and turned, spotting the fleeing blue...something. She chased after it. “Get back here!”
The castle became quiet, and then, sounds of groaning echoed around as the ponies and the dragon slowly regained their consciousness, rubbing their aching heads.
“W-why does my hoof and my head feel weird?” Spike asked in a mumble.
“...can we tell them now?” Scootaloo asked quietly.
Sweetie Belle slowly nodded in agreement. “We're dead.”