//------------------------------// // Act 2 Chapter 2 // Story: All the Trolls. ALL OF THEM. // by Alex Prior //------------------------------// Begin Chapter Two ----- “Ugh…” Spike’s eyes gradually opened, and the blurry image before him focused. Twilight and Luna were standing over him, as well as the rest of the Elements of Harmony. “Aw, jeez. What happened? Where am I?” “You’re in the hospital, Spike,” Twilight said. “Oh, I’m just glad to hear the nurses say you’re going to be alright.” “Great,” Spike groaned. “Urk… you oughtta send a letter to that mailbox company and complain. Mailboxes aren’t supposed to go exploding on ponies.” Twilight gave a short laugh at this. “No Spike, they aren’t.” From across the room, Applejack caught Twilight’s eye with a serious look. Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry Spike, but I can’t stay for much longer. I’ve got things to intend to.” “It‘s alright,” Spike said. “Go do… that. I’m gonna take another nap.” He turned over and began snoozing away, leaving the ponies to glance awkwardly at each other. Applejack coughed, and led the group out of the room. “Twilight, we need ta talk,” she said. “That exploding mailbox would’ve killed you if Spike hadn’t gone and got it instead. Thank goodness dragons are so resilient, but regardless…” “It… looks like it was an accident,” Twilight explained. “I took a look at the wreckage. It seemed like a chemical explosion. There were some burnt packages in there, and I couldn’t get a good look at what they said. I guess they could’ve just been some deliveries for my lab that leaked together…” “There. It was an accident and we’re lucky no one died. Problem solved,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s just… I didn’t think I’d ordered any chemicals in a while,” Twilight revealed, putting a hoof to her chin. “Somethin’ about this just ain’t adding up,” Applejack said. “Indeed,” Luna agreed. “Tis a most unlikely of coincidences. Methinks something more shadowy may be ahoof.” “Oh- Princess Luna!” a voice cried. The group turned to see a nurse standing behind them. “I was coming by to give Spike his medicine when I spotted you. I just want to say how thankful I am that you helped the town last night.” “Err- thank ye, citizen,” Luna stammered. “Truth be told, We are not quite use to such praise, so thank ye. Umm…” “Shouldn’t we be seeing you off, Luna?” Twilight asked. “What?” Luna cried. “Us? Leave now, when some menace may be plotting a dastardly crime? Never.” “Luna, it’s OK, I swear,” Twilight swore. “I’m sure it was all an accident, and I shouldn’t let my life interrupt your plans. Go. We’ll all be fine.” “We… thank ye again, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna wavered. “We shall be off, but- contact us if necessary. We shall work to complete Our training in as brief a period possible, but regardless- please, summon us if ye need assistance.” The group had reached the hospital entrance, and as they exited through the double doors, Luna took to the skies. “Farewell, Elements of Harmony. We shall see thee in short measure,” Luna called as she soared off. The Elements waved goodbye to the exiting Princess ‘till she flew below the horizon and disappeared. “Well, we ought to be heading back home, eh?” Twilight asked. “Twilight,” Applejack said seriously, “are you sure you’re OK? That nothing bad’s going to happen?” “I’m… I’m fine, Applejack,” Twilight assured. “Now I need to go. I’ve got to order a new mailbox.” The Elements of Harmony turned and, reluctantly, went their separate ways. ----- “Hey, everyone,” Captor called, gesturing to the trolls spread throughout the lab, doing their separate things. “Come here. You’re goiing to want to 2ee thii2.” The trolls turned to gather around Captor, who was seated before one of the lab’s multiple computer systems. “Look at what I’ve found,” he said, opening one of the many programs. A view of Equestria suddenly appeared on the screen, a live map of the enormous country. Captor keyed in several commands and suddenly the view zoomed, to an image of Luna and the Elements of Harmony gathered around Spike’s hospital bed. Redglare perked up. “W41t. 1s th1s r34l-t1m3?” Captor made a jerky half-nod. “2ort of. There ii2 a biit of a lag, but ye2. Real enough.” Zahhak narrowed his eyes. “D --> What f001 attacked a child?” He swept his gaze across the suddenly frightened trolls. “D --> Our fight was with our actual enemies. Who attacked the child?” Captor pondered. “Unle22 there wa2 a 2tray bla2t, whiich there weren’t, iit wa2n’t me.” Mindfang also shook her head. “My quarrel was with the Princess.” Maryam, in contrast, narrowed her own eyes back. “Are You Suggesting That I Would Intentionally Harm A Young One? Especially Considering What Landed Me In Stone? Is That What You Are Saying, Zahhak?” The muscled troll gulped. “D --> No, Maryam. That is not-- the very idea is 100dicrous!” The Caretaker smiled sweetly. “Thank You, Zahhak.” Now it was her gaze sweeping across the remaining trolls. “But He Raises A Good Point. Who Attacked The Child?” Nitram also shook his head rapidly. “nO,, i DIDN’T,, i--” He seemed to compose himself. “All 1 d1d was put K1ndness to sleep and t8ke over the Pr1ncess... 1... 1f she harmed a c1v1l1an... 1’m sorry.” He bowed his head. Mindfang facepalmed. “The Princess focused on the rest of the Elements, Tore8dork.” Redglare shook her head. “1 don’t th1nk 4ny of us 4tt4ck3d 4 c1v1l14n. Must b3 som3on3 3ls3 4t work.” “L00k everyb0dy, they’re m0ving,” Megido interrupted, pointing at the screen. “Capt0r, can y0u get a split-screen thing g0ing, tracking each 0f the Elements simultane0usly?” “II’ll 2ee what II can do,” Captor said, his fingers already flying across the keyboard. The trolls watched, enraptured, for the next thirty or so minutes as painful events unfolded on-screen. “Ouch.” “Ooh, that’s gotta hurt.” “What’s with the hand?” “What hand?” “That looks like a painful way to die.” “Shut 1t, S3rk3t.” Maryam, who had watched in silence up until this point, spoke up. “We Need To Help Those Ponies.” “Wwhat?” Ampora cried. “Look at this! All our enemies, taken care of! If wwe just let things play out, wwe’ll subjugate Equestria in one fell swwoop. Wwe-” Maryam fixed the seadweller with a glare that would melt stone. “...Wwe’ve gotta help those- you know what, no! Wwe do not havve to help those ponies, and nothing you can say is going to make me change my mind!” he shouted. “Come on, Peixes. Let’s go.” “Maryam’s right,” Vantas growled at Ampora. The seadweller ignored him. Sighing, Vantas turned to the rest of his group. “Look at this, this is the obvious work of some other entity, a competing force trying to conquer Equestria. Cliché as it may be, only one can rule, and if it’s going to be us, we can’t have these guys in the picture. There’s only one thing for it.” He turned to his team. “Save the ponies, and stop the guys behind it. Let’s go.” ----- What events were these trolls referring to? Well, readers, this is where the Narrative takes a turn for the dark. “Ooh! A spooky story! I love spooky stories!!!” Ah yes, it’s you, Pinkie. I suppose you’ll just be another tag-along on my endless quest to chart out this great ordeal. I suppose we ought to get started-- cherub style! There’s the Rainbow Dash pony. You like the Rainbow Dash pony best, don’t you? You can relate to her. She’s a like-minded prankster. “Well, yeah. I mean, she’s my good friend. I wouldn’t say I like any of my friends best, but I love pulling pranks with her! Wait. She’s first to go, isn’t she?” Look at these idiot ponies. Splitting up, letting their main powerhouse, Princess Luna, get away. You just know their foolishness will be punished, and rightly so. And what have we here? Wait for it… ---- Rainbow Dash took to the skies, flying back to her house. She took a glance around, and noted what a beautiful day it was. Despite all the excitement and explosions earlier, the sun was out and everypony else seemed quite happy. It would be a perfect day for a nap. Rainbow’s reminiscence on the beauty of the day was, however, one factor that lead to her noticing a storm cloud rolling in from the west, while searching for a comfy napping cloud. “That’s odd,” she said aloud. “I thought the weather team hadn’t scheduled rain till Saturday. Maybe it’s a rogue storm.” Rainbow took off towards the cloud, intent on correcting a potential threat to her peaceful afternoon. Suddenly, a kite popped into her view, and the pegasus flew right into the hovering toy. Her rapidly beating wings tangled in the string and tails of the kite, and she found herself panicking. She glanced down, and spotted a young foal holding the kite’s string. The foal glanced up and smiled, before releasing the kite into the breeze. Rainbow Dash had no time to yell for help, as the storm cloud suddenly rolled around her, pelting her with rain and pulsing with electricity. “Oh no,” Rainbow moaned, furiously flapping her wings but only succeeding in getting more tangled in the kite. “No no no no no!” A flash of lightning and Rainbow felt the wind pick up as she dropped towards the ground, as well as the lightness of a rapidly fading consciousness. ----- Boo. Yeah. “No! Rainbow! Is she going to be OK?” Haa Haa Haa! Such a total goner. She’s slipping away from us. Bye, Rainbow Dash Pony. Hee Hee Haa Haa Hoo Hoo. “Mr. Narrator, I hope you’re just making a reference to something I can’t possibly know about, because otherwise you’re being a very mean pony right now.” What can I say? It’s just loads of fun. Will you get a mammoth load of this clueless unicorn Rarity? She actually “cares” about stuff. And like- always has moist eye holes. What a joke. I really hate her. Why all the stallions and young dragons flush over this rambling overly dramatic imbecile, I will never know. Talk about thick headed. Her skull is almost as thick as… somepony with a very thick skull. Yes. “Umm… was this dialogue written for your species, Narrator? It seems to be referring to somepony else.” Be quiet. We’re only now getting to the good part. ----- While Twilight had things to get done, Rarity thankfully did not, and as such was back in the hospital, peering through a sheet of glass at the napping dragon with obvious concern. Few truly understood her feelings for the young drake- indeed, sometimes she barely grasped at it herself. It was an odd feeling, something she was sure she’d never experience anywhere else. Though completely platonic, some love stirred within her, some tug at her heart that kept her beside Spike’s hospital bed. She felt this strange, abnormal love for Spike, and it drove her to help him fight against the dragon’s more savage instincts, to tame a being who would’ve otherwise posed a threat to society. She never thought to look for some explanation for this strange love in another culture entirely... “Hey! Rarity!” the seamstress turned to see a very famous cream-colored pony traipsing down the hallway. “S-s-sapphire Shores?” Rarity stammered. “In the flesh,” Sapphire Shores responded. “I was looking for you earlier, but had no idea where you’d gone. Then somepony told me to check the hospital and- well here I am. I need a new dress.” “Oh. Now?” Rarity asked. “Not now. By the end of the week, though,” Sapphire Shores explained. “We should head back to your boutique. I can tell you what I’m thinking on the way.” “Err-” Rarity glanced back at Spike, snoozing away in his room. She turned to the nurse, who gave a smile. “Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll be sure to alert you if there are any developments.” Rarity nodded, then turned to follow the pop star, who was already trotting ahead. The two hurried out the hospital entrance. A road ran across Ponyville, right in front of the hospital. Sapphire Shores galloped across the street, Rarity struggling to keep up. Suddenly her rear hoof went Splat! into something in the middle of the road. She glanced down and saw the hoof encased in some green slime that refused to release her, no matter how hard she tugged. “Err- Sapphire Shores?” Rarity called, glancing back up. Sapphire Shores was gone. *Beep Beep* Rarity glanced to the left and saw a great carriage barreling down the street, at speeds too great to stop in time. All the Unicorn could do was close her eyes and brace for impact. ----- “Oh no! Rarity!” Hmm? What are you so worried about? She is a worthless hack. Always caring far too much about what’s in style, up to date, trying to reinvent the wheel of fashion. Always wanting the attention of everypony, everything around her. Probably some day I’ll teach her a lesson for that. “OK, Mr. Narrator. You’ve crossed the fine line from acceptably referential malevolence to flat out meanness by allusion, and if you don’t stop I’m going to get very upset and have to do something about it.” How? You have no power in this dimension. “Well- I’ll think of something!” Mmm, yes. In the meantime, check out this tree-hugger, Fluttershy. Except she’s not really a tree-hugger. I hope I never meet an actual tree-hugger. But I think this faux-ranger has gotten a bit carried away here. All thinking she can do heroic stuff and “save animal lives.” Ugh. But the Fluttershy pony has miscalculated. This ridiculous female has failed to take into consideration that you can’t… escape… the wilds! ----- Fluttershy had a long walk back to her cottage, but she didn’t her mind. She took the time to give thought to something that had been eating at her for some time: the trolls. There were only twelve of them known to exist, and Celestia wanted to lock them away forever. Did one of the most critically endangered species on the planet truly deserve such a fate? She’d yet to object to the Princess’s plans, but she’d definitely thought of more questions. Which species deserved to exist, and which deserved to be locked away. How many species had ponies killed forever because they deemed them “too dangerous?” And how had this affected the environment? Removing species from their natural habitats never ended well. Fluttershy’s rather tree-huggery musings were interrupted by the call of a nearby pony. “Fluttershy!” a townspony the pegasus had never seen before called. “Thank goodness I’ve found you. There’s a manticore on the outskirts of town, and it’s lying on the ground. I think it may be sick.” “Oh- oh dear,” Fluttershy said with worry. “Well, don’t just stand there. Lead me to him!” The townspony nodded, and turn to gallop out of town, to a nearby field. Lying prone on the ground was a manticore, it’s chest rising in ragged huffs, it’s eyes tightly shut. Fluttershy stepped closer to examine him. “He definitely seems ill. His breathing is arhythmic, and he’s sweating quite a bit. Perhaps if I went home and grabbed some herbs-” Suddenly, the manticore sprang up from the ground, so quickly that Fluttershy stumbled back in surprise. She glanced back; the townspony was gone. She glanced forward. The manticore was poised on the balls of its paws, saliva dripping from its teeth, its eyes tinged with lime green. Fluttershy threw back her head and screamed. ----- Ah Haa Haa Haa Hee Hee! “You can’t escape the wilds” is totally going to become a thing, Pinkie. There’s nothing you can do about it because you’ll be dead! Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo Haa Haa! “Fluttershy… you know, I bet she’s still alive! You never showed her being attacked! I bet she’s actually fine and you’re just being a mean laughing meanie for nothing!” Whatever. We both know the lame Fluttershy female was toast there. “...” OK. Say what you will about the lame ponies and the fashionista hacks. But the Applejack pony is a pretty cool mare. She gets things done and isn’t afraid to rough things up. Like- she actually listens to stuff that’s important for a mare to get off her chest. You know she gets exactly that which the others can never understand. I guess what I mean is she really knows what it means to truly be a family pony. But don’t get me wrong about the Applejack pony. I’d still love to watch her die… “No…” ----- Applejack, strolling with purpose along the road that wound up to her farm, suddenly noticed a trail of apples leading off the road and into the woods. The farmer sighed. “Alright,” she said aloud, “You must think I’m a gosh-darned idiot if you think I’m gonna fall for such an obvious-” Applejack’s rant became a gasp as her eyes traveled upwards and she found Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith, gagged and tied together. Without a second thought, Applejack raced towards her family, never once stopping to glance at the ground flying by beneath her hooves. The earth suddenly gave way, and Applejack fell. She looked up from the bottom of a steep pit, at the faces of her family, who’d shed their ropes. But they weren’t her family. Her family would never make those… twisted grins. They’d never glare at her as if they were about to do something very painful. ----- “A-applejack?” Hee Hee Hee. Ooh, I wonder who’s next. “You- you monster!” Now hold up, Pinkie. I have no part in any of this. I’m just the narrator, and I’m only doing my- wait what are you doing with that? “You’re going to apologize for what you said about my friends, Mr. Narrator!” No! Ow! Ow ow ow! Stop that- OW!!! How are you even doing this? “I don’t know. How could you be so cruel?! Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! OWWW!!!!! Don’t you think you have better things to worry about? “Hmm? Like what?” Oh, I don’t know. Maybe your own imminent demise. ----- “What?” Pinkie’s eyes shot open as she glanced around Sugar Cube Corner, having been jolted back to reality. “Oh no,” she moaned. “You heard the Narrator. I’m next!” She glanced around frantically, looking for the spot where the enemy could appear. “They could bust through the windows!” Pinkie cried. She ran to fetch some wood and nails, and began hammering planks over the windows. “Wait- what if they come through the ventilation shafts?” She turned her tools on the ventilation, and began boarding up the grates. “But wait- what if they teleport in?” She dashed downstairs and retrieved one of her multiple tomes describing ancient rituals of magic-purging. “But wait-” Pinkie stopped yet again. “What if they come in through a portal from another dimension!?!” Pinkie’s nervous surveying of the area became a frenzied blur as she analyzed the plentiful weak-points and entrances of Sugar Cube Corner. “I’ve got to get out of here,” she whispered to herself. With a jolt, she dashed out the front door, before turning and sprinting away down Ponyville’s main street. “I’ve got to go somewhere far away where they’ll never find me!” she screamed as her hooves became blurs of pink. Two ponies stood outside Sugar Cube Corner’s swinging door. Each held knives, though no longer poised to strike. They glanced at each other, shrugged, and walked off. ----- Haa Haa Haa! I don’t think we’ll be seeing her anytime soon! Haa Haa Haa Hee Hee Hee. Hee Hee Hoo Hoo. Hoo Hoo Haa. Hee. … Wow. I guess it’s just not as interesting without Pinkie around. Alright, here’s Twilight. ----- Twilight Sparkle was thinking cautiously about the day’s events. More specifically- could it be true? Was somepony out to get her? It seemed so crazy, and yet- she knew she hadn’t ordered any new chemicals in months. And if she really was being targeted, should she really be staying around? Spike had already been injured by these mystery ponies. What would happen if one of her friends was around- or worse, if they got worse then a few days in the hospital. “Twilight!” The librarian in question looked up and saw a pony approaching, holding a strange bouquet. “I heard that Spike was hurt, so I bought these. i was wondering if you could give them to him.” “Err- sure,” Twilight replied taking the bouquet. “Thank you Mr.-” She glanced up to get an answer, but the pony had disappeared. Taking another glance at the flowers, she spotted a couple odd blooms- the petals were curled in, and a deep black. She leaned in for a closer look-- Suddenly, the buds unfolded, and sprayed a cloud of pollen into Twilight’s face. She sneezed, though it didn’t do much good as her horn suddenly lit. Acting uncontrollably, Twilight’s horn lifted her into the sky. Twilight screamed as she fired several blasts of magic on the town below, against her will. The resulting explosions and screams made her cringe. Her crazed horn telekinetically threw her down on the ground, and then slammed her against the walls of a building several times. She turned upwards, and fired an enormous beam of energy into the sky. Finally, her horn tired, fizzling out before depositing her in the middle of the road. Twilight rose unsteadily to her hooves after several seconds lying in the street. Suddenly, she turned and saw an empty cart rushing down the hill towards her. Twilight tried to move out of the way, but her bruised body ached under the strain of movement. With a jarring impact Twilight was knocked into the cart. She tried to reach out with her telekinesis and stop the cart, only to find her magic reserves empty, drained by her horn’s sudden attack. Twilight glimpsed through her half-closed eyelids the path on which she rode- and the cliff at which it ended. Two hundred feet up, Rainbow Dash, her world fading away muttered softly, “Help…” Stuck in the street, a carriage approaching, Rarity screeched, “HELP!!!” Alone in a field, a crazed beast frothing at the mouth before her, Fluttershy cried, “Help!” Trapped in a pit, grinning doppelgangers leering above her, Applejack shouted, “Help!” Traveling at a rate that would quickly take her out of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie wailed, “Help!!!” And weakened, riding a cart soon to tumble off a steep cliff, Twilight Sparkle moaned, “Help…” ----- End Chapter Two