//------------------------------// // Equestria's Problems/ The Three Talk // Story: The Pony King // by Darth Redbeard //------------------------------//         While Spike, Snips, and Snails were growing up away from all the trouble in Equestria, the ponies of Ponyville were suffering under Blueblood’s rule. What was once a beautiful town was now crumbling from Blueblood’s reign. While Canterlot was prospering, mostly due to the nobles living on high while others were being forced to work for them.         Blueblood was sitting on his throne, admiring what he had done. He was able to win control over Equestria, and he only had to get his hooves dirty a few times. He was on top of the world. No pony could resist him like before.         “My lord, we found it!” Rover yelled, as Fido and Spot carried in a massive mirror to the wall next to the throne.         “I was hoping to find this by now,” Blueblood said as he walked over to it. “Mirror mirror on the wall, is this the best kingdom ever?” When he finished, two heads appeared. A blue stallion and a green stallion looked around.         “And you are?” The Green one asked.         “I am King Blueblood of Equestria,” Blueblood replied. The blue head began laughing.         “If you're a king, then I’m an Alicorn!” he said. The green head soon joined in, laughing at Blueblood.         “Then I’m King of Prance!” They continued to laugh until Blueblood shot a spell at the mirror, only to have it bounce back at them.         “You can’t hit us, na na na na na na!” The two heads laughed even more, as Fido also began laughing before Rover hit him, causing him to stop. Blueblood’s ears began to steam as he levitated the mirror to the window and threw it out in hopes of getting rid of it. As he looked down and saw the mirror crash, he smiled until…         “We’re still alive!” It shouted. Blueblood grabbed a nearby sledgehammer and dropped it down on the mirror. “Still alive!” All Blueblood could do was walk away, trying to ignore the mirror’s taunts.         “I still need a queen to make my rule permanent, but who could I pick?” As he paced around, he remembered about a white unicorn humiliating him at the Gala, and decided to take revenge. ‘I guess I could take her sister as my queen.” Blueblood walked away from the room and to his royal chariot for a trip to Ponyville. “Time for some payback on her for what she did,” he said to himself.         Miles away, three stallions were laying in the grass looking up at the night sky after a large meal, hoping to let them sleep off their food.         “It sure is a beautiful night,” Snips commented.         “You got that right,” Snails replied.         “Eeyup,” Spike included. They had ran around bowling for changelings all day after a group of them found their hideout. The changelings ran right towards them, only to have the three push boulders on top of them. Needless to say, the changelings gave up, letting the three live in peace.         As they looked at the sky, Snips began to speak.         “Have either of you two ever wondered what those bright lights up in the sky are?”         “I don’t wonder,” Snails said. “I know.”         “What are they?” Snips asked.         “Their flies that caught on fire and are stuck up there burning.” Snails said, a feeling of confidence in himself as if he had solved all the problems in the world.         “I thought that they were just some strange light of beings from other universes and those were their ships traveling everywhere.” Snips said.         “Snips,” Snails began. “There’s no such thing as other universes.”         “Oh yeah?”         “Yeah.” Before Spike could do anything, Snips and Snails began another fight. It happened over the simplest of things. From who got the last piece of food, to who got the top bunk in their cabin. Spike just spent the nights outside so he could get to sleep.         Well, attempt to get some sleep. The nightmares of what happened that day in the Everfree with the timberwolves still plagued him even after all these years. He kept seeing his dad fighting the timberwolves. Him hiding behind the rocks as they began to attack his dad. He could always remember the words that Blueblood said to him before he left.         As Snips and Snails continued to argue, Spike got up and went to his own quiet spot, hoping to spend the night by himself again. As he arrived, he laid down, not knowing that what he hit was some of the leaves that had fallen recently. As he lay there, the leaves flew off, far out of sight towards the Everfree Forest and the Castle of the Two Sisters.         At the castle, Celestia and Luna were had just returned from going into Canterlot with a giant mirror. As they set it up, the two heads appeared again.         “Did it work?” the Green one asked.         “Like a charm.” Celestia replied, grinning from ear to ear. The heads disappeared.         “OK, come out you two,” Luna said, smiling at what happened. She went over to where a massive curtain was.         “Pay no attention to the ponies behind the curtain,” one of the voices said.         “We know not of whom you seek,” another said.         “OK you two,” Luna began. “Knock it off before we get into trouble for copyrighted material. You two already stole the mirror from Shrek, and stole a line from Wizard of Oz.”         “But it’s fun.” The blue one said as he walked out. He was a blue earth pony with a bright red mane, while the other was a green earth pony with a golden mane.         “Tell that to the companies,” Celestia mentioned.         “Dumb corporations,” the blue one said.         “Will you calm down, Darth.” Luna said. “I know you hate them, but give it a break.”         “Fine,” Darth said. “So, what’s next?”         Before anyone could say anything, Rarity stormed in with Twilight trying to calm her down.         “That BRUTE!” Rarity yelled. “How dare he try and lay a hoof on my sister. If I could, I’d teach him a few things.”         “Do I want to know?” the green one asked.         “Hope,” Darth began. “I don’t think that was a good question to ask.” Rarity had launched into one of her famous rants. While normal rants were a pain, these ones could kill a pony if they had to keep listening to one.         “That brute of a king told Sweetie Belle to be his bride or be placed in the dungeons,” Rarity said. “As soon as he finished, she ran off into the Everfree. I can’t find her anywhere.” She collapsed on the ground as Twilight and Celestia tried to calm her down.         Before they could try to do anything, leaves began to blow in through the window and fly around the six, as if saying something before leaving the castle, heading back into the Everfree.         “It can’t be,” Luna said as the leaves left. She ran over to a wall that she had decorated and pulled down the curtain. “We thought he was dead.”         “What do you mean?” Twilight asked, confused.         “Apparently,” Celestia began. “Spike is still alive. Blueblood tricked us.” Twilight’s mane and tail burst into flames as soon as Celestia finished speaking.         “Darth,” Celestia said. “You and Hope are to head to the Crystal Empire. It’s about time to reclaim Canterlot.”         “ARE YOU CRAZY?” Darth and Hope shouted. “We’re earth ponies. We won’t be able to fight all those Diamond Dogs.” As soon as they finished, a bright light enveloped them. When the light faded, they both had horns and wings.         “Now you can,” Luna said, smiling at her little joke.         “This had better be temporary,” Darth said, not wanting to be an Alicorn. When Darth and Hope tried to fly out, they crashed on the ground.         “Looks like we need to teach them to fly first,” Twilight said after she had calmed down. For the next few hours, the princesses began teaching the two ponies how to fly.         Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle was running as far as she could from Ponyville. When she heard what Blueblood had wanted, she immediately ran off in hopes of getting as far from him as possible. The only place she could find was the Everfree Forest, to which she hid as fast as she could when the Diamond Dogs appeared.         “You see that unicorn anywhere?” Fido asked.         “No,” Rover replied.         “Same here,” Spot replied. “Now we lost her just like we lost that Alicorn years ago. He’s dead by now, anyhow. Most likely killed himself after Blueblood tricked him into thinking he killed his dad.”         “Yeah, that purple and green Alicorn was nothing but a pain anyhow.” Fido said. The three walked away, allowing Sweetie Belle to come out.         “Spike got away,” she said to herself. “I knew something didn’t add up. I don’t care what they said. Spike is still alive, and I’ll find him. Even if all I find is his body, they can’t say that I didn’t try to find my friend.” When she began running, the Diamond Dogs noticed her and began to run after her, but was stopped by a massive piece of glass. All they could do was watch as the unicorn         “Hey, why don’t you do something constructive for a change like, what we should do now!” Fido exclaimed.         Cause I don’t like you.         “Well I hate you you snotty son of a”         I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. The Diamond Dogs heads soon began to shake at one hundred mph as squeaky voices came from them. I’m having some fun now.         “Fido were you fighting with the narrator?” Spot asked.         “Well he started it,” Fido replied.         Did not.         “Did too”         Did not         “Did too”         Did not         “Did too”         “Fido, will you please stop?” Spot yelled. “This is getting nowhere. besides, the narrator is nothing but a jerk anyhow.” A massive hand soon appeared and picked up the Diamond Dogs and flung them back to Canterlot as Sweetie Belle watched on.         “Thanks Mr. Narrator.” Sweetie yelled.         You’re welcome, now go get Spike. Sweetie Belle ran off, following where her heart said that Spike was.