Ponyville
Pinkie Pie bounced as she hummed a familiar tune to herself. Ponyville was crowded with ponies, which was no surprise. She took care not to accidentally bump into anypony. She was sent by the Cakes to go get more sugar. The party pony smiled to herself. That new recipe for cupcakes she found really were raking in tons of business for the bakery.
Pinkie Pie looked around for the local "Sweets Warehouse", which was basically a supplier for anything involving sugar. She peered over a blue unicorn's head to see the building she was looking for. With her grin bigger, she increased her hopping speed to get there faster.
Out of the blur, she was toppled over by another pony. "Aaah!" She cried as she was knocked to the ground.
A familiar, deep voice responded from behind her. "Whoops."
Pinkie felt somepony grab her tail and lift her back on her feet. She turned to see Big Macintosh, who looked as if running
late, considering how nervous he looked. "Hey Big Macintosh! How's things going? Where are you going in such a hurry? How'd you run so fast? Why do you look like you're about to throw up at any moment? And how-"
"'Ah don't have time ta talk, Pinkie Pie. 'Ah need to find Fluttershy as soon as possible!" Big Macintosh looked all around in the crowd of ponies, as if searching for her.
Pinkie Pie thought for a moment. "I think she's in her cottage on the other side of town near the Everfree Forest probably tending to some animals! You know, it's kind of weird that she lives on the edge of the Everfree Forest even though she's deathly afraid of that-" Pinkie then realized she was talking to a Big Macintosh-shaped dustcloud. "place..."
Pinkie Pie shrugged. "I guess those silly bunnies are running amok at the farm again. Oh well! Still have to get that sugar!" She hopped into the building as if nothing had happened between the two ponies.
About 10 minutes and several failed haggling attempts later, Pinkie Pie walked out of the warehouse with a saddle full of sugar. Ready to head back to the bakery, Pinkie Pie started her little tune from the top.
However, this time she was stopped when Twilight Sparkle ran past her at surprisingly fast speeds. "Hi Twilight!" Pinkie called out.
Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. She ran back to Pinkie. "There you are! I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Pinkie asked, tipping her head to the side.
"One of my spells went wrong..." Twilight admitted. "Very wrong."
Pinkie looked at her friend with an eyebrow raised. "How much wrong? Discord-turning-us-against-each-other wrong, the you-going-insane-with-the-doll wrong, or the Rainbow-Dash-blowing-up-Applejack's-barn-and-accidentally-setting-half-the-orchard-on-fire-offscreen wrong?"
"Worse than all of that!" Twilight revealed. "You see..."
…
"This is going to be the most crucial spell that I've ever pulled off." Twilight told her assistant. Currently in the library, performing some kind of experiment. "It's extremely important that we have no disturbances while I try and try this spell."
"Check!" Spike remarked. "So... uhh... what spell is this again?"
Twilight groaned. "This is only the 4th time I've told you, but I'll do it again; I'm trying to see if I can take these apple," She gestured to a couple of apples standing on top of a table. "And transform it into a gateway between any two areas. If I can pull this off, traveling between any two areas would be simplified! The unicorns in Canterlot can visit Ponyville or maybe the Fillydelphia residents can visit Appleloosa."
"Uh huh..."
"Stand back Spike, and be sure to record whatever happens." Twilight commanded.
Twilight channeled magic into her horn. She calmly touched the first apple with her glowing horn, then the second. The magic transfer increased tenfold as the apples started to shake and wobble. Twilight was trying her best to hold her footing.
The apples started to grow.
Spike furiously scribbled down the growth. "It's working... I think...!" He whispered.
"Hnnngg...!" Twilight grumbled as she tried her best to focus the magic onto the target. The apples grew to three times its original size. After reaching a certain size, they began to take the form of circular see-through portals.
The news-breaking discovery would have been accomplished. However...
"INCOMIIIIING!"
A gray, blond mare bashed through the window and into Twilight. Twilight had been channeling so much magic, however, that when the connection was broken, the magic was unleashed all around her. Magical spheres were flung all around the room at lightning speeds from Twilight's horn.
Several of these balls flew right out of the room. Where did they hit?
One managed to find its way to Sweet Apple Acres and hit Big Macintosh in the face.
Another one smashed right into the ground, leaving a star-shaped burn pattern on the earth.
Two of them were flung into Canterlot and happened to slip into Princess Celestia and Luna's rooms.
One found its way into the Cloudsdale Rainbow Factory.
Yet another flew into the Everfree Forest.
The rest kept ricocheting off the walls.
"Twilight do something!" Spike pleaded, dodging a magic ball that would have hit his tail.
Twilight looked around. She then remembered. "The magic lightning rod! If it can protect the library from lightning, it can surely absorb the very magic that created it."
She channeled all the magic she had left, making herself a magical magnet. Once all the magical essences were attached to her fur, Twilight launched a large magic ball directly up. This went straight through the ceiling, but managed to hit the magical lightning rod's base, absorbing the magic like a vacuum cleaner.
"Whoa..." Spike stood in awe. "When'd you learn that?"
"Not learn." Twilight replied, out of breath and exhausted. "Made up..." She fell to the ground, her own legs failing in keeping her up.
"I brought you a letter!" Spike turned to the gray pegasus who barged into the house. Her cross-eyed gaze leisurely glanced over to Spike with a letter in her smiling mouth.
"Dude that's creepy."
…
"After that," Twilight continued. "I found out that my spell had caused a ton of damage everywhere! Rainbow Dash said that the Rainbow Factory's machine had gone haywire and is spitting out liquid rainbows all over Equestria! Creatures from the Everfree Forest have escaped their habitat, and worst of all, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have regressed into fillies!"
"Wait..." Pinkie recalled, discarding an empty popcorn bag. "In that flashback, I saw Big Macintosh get hit. He came by earlier all sweaty saying that he needed Fluttershy for something."
"That can't be good." Twilight bit her lip. "Ugh! We have too many problems, but not enough ponies! Rainbow Dash and everyone in Cloudsdale is trying her best to shut down the factory and Applejack and Rarity went to Canterlot to care for the princesses until I find a way to return them to normal. But there’s still much more chaos everywhere!"
"The cupcakes can wait!" Pinkie Pie saluted. "What are your orders Captain T. Sparkle?"
"I need you to report to me if you see anything else weird going on. I'm trying my best to fix this problem, and any news would really help."
"Okie dokey lokie!" Pinkie Pie replied. The two ponies parted ways, each on their mission to save Ponyville, and possibly all of Equestria.
Edge of the Everfree Forest
"Okay Angel," Fluttershy quietly addressed. "Tell me where you saw the manticore and I'll make sure he understands what he's doing."
The pegasus was already at work trying to get rid of the creatures from the Everfree Forest. Apparently, some of the animals were scared when a manticore found its way near Ponyville.
It didn't take long until the pony and bunny found the manticore that was disturbing her friends. Fluttershy recognized it as the same manticore she had tamed on her first adventure into the Everfree Forest. The beast was at a river, swiping its paw against the water trying to catch a fish.
Fluttershy flew next to the beast and nudged him slightly. The manticore turned, ready to attack whoever was disturbing him. However, as soon as he realized that it was Fluttershy, he only licked her face.
"Um... Hello," Fluttershy began. "I'm sorry to bother you, but you're upsetting the animals here in Ponyville. Do you think you can go back into the forest... If that's okay with you?"
The beast shook its head, then shivered.
"You won't because..." Fluttershy paused, not understanding what the manticore was doing. One thing about her, she was a terrible charades player. "You're… cold? No… Because you're… embarrassed? Is it… scared?"
The manticore nodded.
"What did you see?" Fluttershy inquired again.
The manticore got up on its back legs and made an intimidating stance, coupled with a horrifying roar. Once it stopped, it got back into its legs.
Fluttershy tried guessing. "A... dancer? No... a monkey?"
Both Angel and the Manticore face-pawed. Aggravated by Fluttershy's horrible guessing, he extended one of his sharp nails and used it to explicitly write "A MONSTER" in the dirt.
"A m-m-monster...?"
The manticore nodded. Fluttershy was scared now. If there was a monster in the Everfree Forest scary enough to frighten a manticore, it was going to be very, very horrifying.
"Oh... my..." Fluttershy squeaked. "If I'm going to get this little guy back into the forest, I'm going to need to brave whatever huge monster is in the forest..." She shivered in fear.
"Fluttershy!"
Before she could react, Fluttershy was tackled to the ground. She opened her eyes to see Big Macintosh on top of her.
The stallion turned to the manticore, as if read to fight. "If ya want her, yer gonna need ta get past me!"
The manticore did not take kindly to the red pony tackling his friend. "RROOOAAAR!"
"Roar, roar, roar yerself!" Big Macintosh replied coldly.
The manticore teared up and started crying. The poor beast ran away, terribly hurt by whatever Macintosh had just said.
"W-What are you doing?" Fluttershy finally asked.
Instead of replying, Big Macintosh got off of the mare, picked her up, and hugged her with his front hooves. "Ah'm glad I got here in time! That horrible monster would've gobbled ya up in a second!"
Fluttershy didn't understand why the stallion was trying to protect her, nor did she understand why he was hugging her. Being the one to blush easily, the pegasus's face turned a bit red.
"But he wasn't a monster..." Fluttershy quietly stated. "He was one of my animal friends..."
"Aw phooey!" Macintosh responded, letting go of Fluttershy. "Didn't ya see how he roared at ya? Ah'm trying to protect ya!"
"He was showing me-"
"Hush..." He placed a hoof on Fluttershy's lip. "Come now, it ain't safe out here."
"But I need to-"
"It's far too dangerous out here fer such a delicate-"
"I need to go into the Everfree Forest!" Fluttershy said quickly so that Macintosh wouldn't interrupt her again.
"Why do ya need to go inta that fer'saken place?" Macintosh asked, getting closer.
Fluttershy could tell that Macintosh was getting closer. "There's something in there that's making all the creatures scared and I... um... You're getting into my... personal space..." Fluttershy was now leaning a considerable distance backwards, almost to the point of falling over. She was still worriedly meeting Macintosh's eye contact at headbutt-range.
Macintosh raised an eyebrow. "Well why don't ah come with ya into the forest? The more ponies the better." He backed away from Fluttershy and headed towards the forest, letting her topple over.
Fluttershy turned to Angel, who seemed as confused as Fluttershy was. "Keep everything under control until I get back. Um... if that's okay with you..."
The bunny gave her a nod and saluted.
Fluttershy and Big Macintosh began their journey into the forest. Throughout the entire time, Fluttershy couldn't help but feel that her normally stoic companion was deviously eyeing her flank.
Cloudsdale
Rainbow Dash looked into her binoculars. The factory was spitting a huge amount of rainbow-liquid. The whole area was a rainbow minefield, plus the factory itself was covered in the goo.
"Shoot." Rainbow Dash muttered. She and most of Cloudsdale's population stood behind the barricade of clouds they erected. The factory was spitting out rainbows like a cannon. Contrary to popular belief, if someone was hit with a blast of pure rainbow, it would hurt them very badly; as well as leave the worst aftertaste known to ponykind.
Rainbow Dash turned to a lavender, blond mare. "Cloud Kicker, did you get everyone out of the building?"
"Yeah," she replied. "But Leeroy Wingkins rushed in there by himself again!"
"That featherbrain!" Rainbow Dash complained. "It's a wonder how he did so well in the 'Best Flyer's Competition'. We gotta get him out of there and find a way to stop the rainbow onslaught!"
A light-yellow pony with mint-blue hair looked up from the barricade. She was hit in the face with a large rainbow-rocket. "Arrgghh! The taste! It's unbearable!" The pony then fainted.
Rainbow sighed. "Raindrops... whether its unloading pianos or not-getting-hit, she's always finds a way to somehow get into trouble..."
The rainbow mare looked up only high enough to peek at the factory. Somehow, the rainbow liquid had manifested into odd forms. Whatever was possessing the factory was corrupting the rainbows. They looked much darker, with a notably different color pattern.
Two "rainbow guards" were stationed in front of the factory. They took some kind of alien form, unknown to the pony. Some kind of bipedal creature that appeared to be about six feet high, which was quite tall for a pony. They appeared to carry some sort of weapon. It was unidentifiable, since the weapon was made up of rainbow liquid like the rest of the soldier.
The rainbow creatures communicated with gestures with their hands and arms. One raised up its ‘gun’ and appeared to laugh.
Rainbow ducked back under the cloud. "If only Twilight were here. She'd be able to make a plan really quick!"
Cloud Kicker, a lavender coated blonde pegasus, interrupted her. "Why? Is she the only one you know that can make plans?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Rainbow Dash replied.
"Oh come on, I'm positive that you make a plan just as rational as Twilight." Cloud Kicker replied. “The only one who knows that place as well as the workers is you, and they’re still unconscious from the rainbow blasts from the initial escape. So whether or not you like it, you’re the new captain.”
Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. I'm not good at making speeches. She looked at the crowd of leaderless pegasi. Though, I guess now's a good time as ever...
Outloud, the pegasus spoke to the crowd. "Okay, here's the plan. It looks like whatever's in the factory is mass-producing these weird rainbow things. I'll lead a small rescue team of a few ponies to get Wingkins out of there! Once we're out, we'll get all our best fliers to take the place out. Everyone else needs to stay here to prevent any of those rainbow creatures from spreading anywhere else into Cloudsdale or even to Ponyville! Everypony ready?"
Many cries of approval rang from the crowd. Rainbow Dash was quite satisfied, considering she had never made a public speech before, minus a short bragging scene that ended with her getting pushed off the podium by Twilight.
Rainbow counted up the athletic ponies. She would need the bravest, strongest, and smartest ponies to break into that facility. But there were not enough superbly athletic ponies to assist her. Cloud Kicker and Derpy Hooves (this came as shock to many) were athletic enough to keep up with Rainbow, but all the others we just not able to match up to her expectations.
"If this is the team I'm stuck with, Wingkins is as good as doomed." Rainbow Dash realized. The trio did not know what was in the factory, but such an ill-prepared team rushing in there would surely be suicide. "Leeroy's going to need a miracle to save him."
"Or maybe some Wonderbolts!" A voice called out from above.
"Wait... I know that voice..." Rainbow Dash realized. "Spitfire!"
Sure enough, a squadron of Wonderbolts were flying overhead. The trail of smoke they left behind them was easily noticeable, so it wasn't long until all the ponies were staring up into the sky.
The performing group made their descent on the clouds. "Wonderbolts at your service." Their leader introduced.
Rainbow Dash instantly recognized Spitfire and Soarin' from the group. "Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! W-what are you guys doing here?"
"We saw all the chaos happening in Cloudsdale." Spitfire replied. "So we went and answered the call for help!"
"But we didn't ask for help..." Rainbow Dash looked over to her original candidates and saw Derpy attempting to using a telephone with her hoof. However, since she was using... well, her hoof, she kept pressing all the buttons at once instead of her intended number.
The gray pegasus tried dialing another number. "Hello? Is this Cheerilee? No? Oh, hey Bon-Bon! Can you do me a favor? If you see her, can you tell Cheerilee that Dinky can stay over for any after-school activities? I'm gonna be a bit busy. Nothing major."
"Oh..." Rainbow Dash realized.
One of the other Wonderbolts looked Rainbow Dash up and down. "I'll take it you're the one in charge right now?"
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash admitted with a bit of pride in her voice. "We were about to go save one of our ponies who was left inside the factory, but we need some more ponies if we're going to save Leeroy Wingkins."
"That colt who did 15 barrel rolls in a row?" Soarin' instantly recalled. "He was awesome!"
Spitfire thought for a moment. "Me and Soarin' can accompany you guys to save your friend. The rest of the Wonderbolts can help out in any other way they can."
Rainbow tried her best not to scream like a fangirl in front of her idols. She was going to be saving the day; with the Wonderbolts! The pony kept her cool for the moment.
"Alright then!" Cloud Kicker shouted. "Looks like we have our crew now Rainbow."
Dash nodded. Steely determination was in her eyes as she gazed towards the cloud-building. "Next stop; the Rainbow Factory!"