Ponyville Library
Twilight crossed out another item on the list with a red marker. "Okay, so marshmallows are not the ingredient we need to find a cure for magic-induced-fillyhood."
"No kidding." Spike said sarcastically, using a trowel to peel some kind of immobile, green splotch on the wall. Disturbingly, it smelled like a combination of overheated glue and baked goods.
"We need to try something else." Twilight analyzed, putting the marker down. "We need to think of something else that can trigger a reverse effect from my spell."
The two purple creatures thought for a moment, but then an idea hit Twilight. "If the spell had backfired because that gray pony crashed into me... Maybe if somepony crashes into me while I try to cast the spell, it'll reverse the effects on everything!"
Spike was somewhat skeptical on the idea. "But what happens if it only makes things worse?"
"Impossible!" Twilight exclaimed. "For you see," She magically pulled a rolling chalkboard into view. She levitated a piece of chalk and starting writing all sorts of diagrams and equations. "Let's assume that Derpy Hooves is a negative energy source and that my spell was the base of…"
About a half-hour later (actually, it was nearly impossible to tell, since the sun and moon kept swapping places for all that time and the clock was destroyed from one of the experiments), Twilight finished her speech of how the reverse polarity of two negative energy sources would surely be able to fix all the damage the spell had done. Spike had fallen asleep during the first five minutes, which went unnoticed by Twilight due to her continuous rambling.
"-and that's why the effects of- Spike! Are you asleep?"
Spike shot awake at hearing his name. "Huh… wha? Did I miss the fire?"
"You didn't hear anything, did you?"
"Um… It has something to do with magic, right?"
Twilight sighed. Instead of telling Spike again, she just decided to get on with finding the answer to the problem. "Okay, I know what can reverse my spell, now how are we going to recreate it?" Twilight thought for a moment, bring a hoof to her chin. Then another idea reared its head. "Congratulations Spike! You're the new crash test pony!"
A few minutes later, Spike found himself in an unexpected predicament.
"How did I get stuck into this mess?" Spike thought miserably as he sat in a ready-to-fire catapult while tied up. He was aimed right at the balcony of the tree home.
Twilight was right next to him with an encouraging smile. "Now when I yell 'go,' launch yourself into the library and crash into me. When I focus the magic into the rod again, it should fix everything."
"But I don't wanna shoot myself out of a catapult!"
Twilight facehoofed in realization. "Of course! How could I have been so naïve?"
Two minutes later, Spike found himself stuck inside a cannon.
"Not what I had in mind…" Spike mumbled.
Twilight smiled. "This will be better to match Derpy's speed at the time. Owlowicious will light the fuse for you, so get ready."
Owlowicious was ready to light the fuse, match in claw. She ran back into the library, leaving a panicked Spike and a stoic Owlowicious, ready to light the fuse at any time.
About two minutes later, a loud, pained "G-g-go!" came from the library.
"I'm having second thoughts!" Spike cried as Owlowicious struck the match and lit it ablaze. He let the flame connect with the fuse tip. "Wait! Stop Owl-"
BOOM!
Spike was fired out of the cannon at unbelievable-speeds. He soared through the air with a green, fiery tail like a comet.
"OWWIICCIIIIOOOOUSS!" The dragon wailed as he neared the library. He saw Twilight, focusing her magic on another two apples. "This is gonna hurt!"
Like Twilight's calculations predicted, the dragon crashed right into Twilight, knocking them both over. However, instead of the magic being scattered, it instead shot out a wrecking-ball sized bullet out of Twilight's horn, straight through the wall. The result was an enormous, burnt-in hole in the wall.
"It didn't work?" Twilight cried. "B-But I calculated everything to the last thousandth in each equation! How is it possible that it failed?"
Spike got up dazed, stars swirling around his head. "I think… I'm gonna… be sick…" His face turned green as he raced upstairs to find a bucket.
Twilight was left alone to think about what had gone wrong. "It doesn't make sense…" She looked up at her chalkboard. The near-infinite equations were still there. "I don't understand. The power of the cannon was approximate and almost exactly the same angle and speed Derpy crashed into me. I was channeling magic exactly I was before… One apple was a red and the other was green…"
Then Twilight realized what had gone wrong.
"How could I have been so oblivious?" Twilight realized. She used her magic to pick up a piece of chalk and started writing. "If it was a pony that crashed into me, then Spike is nowhere near the correct mass, height, or amount of legs to properly conduct the test! I need Derpy Hooves to perform the test properly!" She clopped her front hooves together and started "clapping."
With a new goal in mind, Twilight quickly rushed out the door, leaving the very air-sick dragon alone to himself. Owlowicious flew inside through the new, gaping hole in the wall. He noticed the apples still on the table and helped himself to the red one.
Canterlot
The two princesses frolicked in the streets of Canterlot. Granted, it was a lot tidier than Manehattan or Fillydelphia, but that didn't mean it was danger-free.
"That was so fun!" Celestia giggled. "It was so funny seeing those weird ponies keep adding dates on their calendar every time we made it daytime!"
"So what do we do now?" Luna asked, looking up at her big sister.
Celestia thought for a moment. "Uhh…" She put a hoof to her chin in thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling sound. "Say, let's go get some food!"
Luna nodded. "Okay! Do you have money?"
The white alicorn laughed. "We don't need money."
"Really? Why?"
Ten minutes later, the two young alicorns walked away from a burning bakery with a large meteor crushing it. They carried a basket of cupcakes and smiles.
Not much farther away, Applejack and Rarity were running around asking anypony they could find if they saw the two fillies. They had finally stopped fighting long enough to realize that they let the princesses run off.
"It's hopeless! We'll never catch those fillies." Applejack said after the seventeenth pony she asked denied seeing the fillies.
Rarity sighed. "We must have asked every pony in this town. If we can't find them this will be THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!"
Applejack thumped her head with her hoof. "C'mon Applejack," She said to herself. "Think… think…"
On cue, a panicked, formally dressed colt ran by screaming, "METEOR IN THE BAKERY! METEOR IN THE BAKERY! THE HORROR! THE HORROR! Run for the hills! The apocalypse is upon us!"
Applejack and Rarity exchanged looks.
"'Ah think ah know where those silly fillies are." Applejack said flatly. "To the bakery!"
The two ponies soon sped up to a fast gallop. When they got to the leveled bakery, they were shocked to see how much destruction was caused. Not only was the bakery destroyed beyond recognition, almost the entire block was engulfed in the shockwave, destroying them as well. Many ponies were laying on the ground, knocked out and severely hurt. Many ambulances were at the scene, as nurses loaded injured ponies into the vehicles.
"My goodness!" Rarity exclaimed. "How could those sweet little ponies cause all this destruction?"
Applejack's face was full of worry. "If we don't stop them, they could destroy all of Canterlot!"
The two ponies spent a good 20 minutes looking around the wreckage, but neither of the princesses were nearby.
While Applejack traversed in the wreckage of the bakery, she noticed a white hoof sticking out from under several nailed pieces of wood. "Oh no!" She quickly dug up whatever was covering the pony. "If this is Celestia…"
Luckily for Applejack, it was only the manager of the bakery who was horribly crippled, bruised, and bleeding under the wood boards. "Thanks!" The colt gratefully thanked. "It was horrible! Horrible!"
"What happened?" Applejack asked as she helped the stranger up.
"There were two little fillies," The manager explained. "It's kind of odd, because they had both wings and unicorn horns. They wanted some cupcakes, so we made them some. But when they said they couldn't pay, we told them we couldn't give them the cupcakes. Then, a meteor landed on our bakery! Somehow, the little winged unicorns came out unscathed and walked away with our cupcakes towards the local Canterlot Park."
"Thanks a bunch mister fer the info." Applejack said, shaking the other pony's hoof.
"Not a problem… Wanna go out?"
"'Beg yer pardon?"
"You got a nice flank babe; so where's my answer?"
One face-bucking session later, Applejack met up with Rarity again. She was talking to another pony about where the fillies were. With a quick thank you, the pony was on her way. Rarity turned to her friend.
"They're probably at the park." Applejack reported. "We better get there as fast as we can if we don't wanna lose 'em again."
Rarity nodded. "I was just told the same thing." She looked up to the sky. There was now a sunset. The only oddity was that there were stars in the sky, arranged in such a way that the constellations resembled an Ursa Minor and a large dragon wrestling. "If those little ponies aren't careful, then they could cause devastation all over the entire wide world of Equestria!"
As if on cue, a comet soared overhead, just happening to zip right past a hummingbird, frying it until a tender golden-brown.
"Then we better git' goin' quick!" Applejack commented.
"Lead on, darling." Rarity said. Hopefully they would be able to talk the princesses into stopping their field trip.
Sugarcube Corner
Pinkie and Sweet Tooth were now inside the bakery. They were gathering many sweets and stuffing them in large saddlebags. From cakes to pie, the two were stockpiling with many treats.
"Oh, you mind getting that syrup?" Pinkie asked her partner. She was standing on her hind legs to reach in a high cabinet to get another item.
The alien nodded. "Syrup!" He bounced to a low cabinet and picked out a bottle of maple syrup. "What we need this for?"
Pinkie Pie walked to the puffball. "I'll show you!" She took the bottle with her mouth and took it to a counter, where many other foods were. "I learned this potion from Zecora!"
She grabbed the bowl and set it into the middle of the table. The pony placed some of the syrup into the bowl and threw some green apples in it. She grabbed a stirring spoon and mixed the ingredients. "Here," She handed the spoon to the pink alien. "You stir. I'll go get some sprinkles!"
Sweet Tooth started stirring and Pinkie left to the front counter. She was about to take the sprinkles from under the cashier table until two ponies ran into the store. They were the same two that Granny Smith accused of stealing her pie.
"Are they still following us?" The male one asked.
"The answer hasn't changed the last 5 times you asked; still yes." The female replied. She looked at Pinkie. "Hey you! You know a hiding place?"
The pink pony nodded happily. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie and I live in this bakery! You can probably hide in the basement! Why? What's going on-"
The two ponies immediately ran to the interior of the building, stunning Pinkie as they sped past her. They quickly found the door to the basement. This was mainly because there was a very bright sign that explicitly said "BASEMENT" right above it.
The basement was pitch black. For some odd reason, the door behind them was shut. They fumbled around for a bit, but because they couldn't see anything, they fell down the (splintery) stairs.
"Ow! Get your butt out of my face!"
"Technically, we're ponies. So it's not my butt; it's my flank."
An annoyed moan was sounded. "You know I hate it when you do that."
"Here, let's try to find the lights here."
"Yeah… I think I found it!"
"OW! That's my wing!"
"Sorry. Um… Ah! Found it!"
With a click, the light was turned on.
"OH MY GOODNESS!"
"THERE IS NO HEAVEN! RUN!"
Back at the surface, Pinkie Pie was assisting her puffball. She had finally completed her brew. Luckily, the guards that were chasing the two ponies neglected to follow them to the bakery. Mainly because the idea of thieves hiding in a semi-edible bakery who's only inhabitants are a married couple and their twin foals, a somewhat insane pink pony, and a toothless baby alligator seemed a bit silly.
"Twilight was right!" Pinkie exclaimed as she poured the bowl's contents into a cup. "Science is great!"
Sweet Tooth stared at the odd concoction. "What is it?" He asked.
"Look here!" Pinkie smiled, gesturing to the clear cup. The concoction was purple. "Right now it's grape juice!" She took a very small sip. The color changed to a clear-yellowish color. "Now it's apple juice!"
She grasped the cup with both hooves carefully and handed it to Sweet Tooth. He took a sip. Instead of changing color, the object now changed shape into a desert on a silver platter. "It's cheesecake!" The puffball giggled.
"Yeah!" Pinkie laughed.
"RUN FOR THE HILLS!" Yelled the other two ponies as they broke through the basement door. "NO LAND IS SAFE!" They ran out the window, smashing it to pieces.
Pinkie's eyes went a little wider than normal and her smile grew. "Oh! Did that basement remodeling company finally come while I was out? Yay!" She turned to Sweet Tooth. "Stay here and keep stirring the next batch. We'll need more of this stuff before we go."
The pony scrambled down to the basement. When she got there, she clearly saw what freaked the guests out. "… Oh… I see now…"
There was a table with chairs, a sign on the wall, balloons, and décor scattered everywhere. However, the horror was about what the objects were made of.
The table and chair's legs were composed of bones and the tablecloth of skin stitched together. The balloons were actually inflated, bloody organs, tied up with string to keep them from letting the air out. Streamers were intestines, hanging from one edge of the room to another. Hooked chains had several, crudely colored pony skulls hanging on them, some slightly broken. Bloods splatters were all over the floor and walls, but most disturbingly of all, the sign was made up entirely of stitched up pony skins, similar to the tablecloth. With deep red blood, "It's Party Time" written on it in a creepy font.
Pinkie sighed. "Those Ponyville basement-remodelers are the worst I've ever seen!" She pulled out a flier from nowhere. "I specifically said I wanted the 'Pink Party Extravaganza;' not the 'Horror Basement Scarefest!'"
She looked at the picture on her paper. It was a bright pink room, with the tables, décor, and sign in exactly the same place as the current room. However, there was no disturbing pony-parts or skulls anywhere.
Instead, the table was a bright pink, hardwood, hoof-crafted masterpiece, while the fluffy, cushioned chairs surrounded it. There were actual balloons tied to the chairs and table and streams hung across the room. Instead of hooks and chains, there were more streamers. The sign was surrounded by a gold frame with "It's Party Time!" written on it in a.
Pinkie sighed. "They're almost as bad as the Ponyville Engineers." She reached for a phone and dialed the company's number using her nose. "Hello? I'd like to speak to customer service."
Everfree Forest
The timid Pegasus was already regretting her decision to journey into the forest to find Big Macintosh. The forest air was chilling her to the bone and the shadows hung all over the place, giving it a more eerie look.
The shy pony was walking on a dirty path with many trees, bushes, and other plant life on each side of it. The most peculiar thing, was that there were no animals at all around, not even snails on the road or wild birds in the trees.
A freezing breeze passed by, making the yellow pony shiver. "It's so cold…" She muttered. "Even though it's summer…"
She silently continued her slow trot. All sorts of questions raced through her mind. Would Big Macintosh be angry at her for running off? Would she ever find him? Should she go back and ask what that kind serpent's name was? How-
"Eep!" Fluttershy fell to the dirt ground. "Ooh…" She looked behind her fallen self to see that she had tripped over a surfaced root. She got up, her coat dirty and her mane messy.
The pony sighed. She continued her trot, this time paying more attention to the ground for any more obstacles, successfully evading a rock.
A rumbling sound came from her empty stomach. The pony frowned miserably. If there was one thing about the Everfree Forest other than the dangerous creatures, creepiness, and the disturbing amount of times she went in there, is its distinct lack of edible foods for a pony.
Fluttershy tried to ignore the gnawing hunger in her stomach, but was failing miserably. Letting her hunger getting the best of her, she flew up to the trees to see if there was anything remotely edible. Nothing.
"Ooh… Could this get any worse?" Fluttershy cried. She wasn't normally the one to complain, but she was cold, tired, and hungry.
On cue, a booming crash of thunder was heard, making Fluttershy jump in shock. "EEK!"
A few quivering seconds later, she realized what the sound was. "Oh no! A thunderstorm!" She realized. "I need to find shelter!"
She looked around, but there were only trees and darkness. Rainbow Dash had told her one time that hiding under a tree is one of the worst places to be in a storm, so that was definitely out of the question.
Another crackling boom was sounded. Fluttershy flinched at the noise and put her hooves over her head. "Somepony help!" She closed her eyes, tears flowing down them.
"Fluttershy?"
The Pegasus opened her eyes and saw the colt she was looking for. "B-Big Mac-"
"'Ahm so glad I found ya!" Big Macintosh cut her off. He quickly hauled the pony onto his back. "Come on, let's get outta here. You look like yer about ta pass out!"
This time, Fluttershy did not object to being led away. She knew she wasn't in the condition to keep going on, not that she needed to anymore.
"You had no idea how worried ya got me." She heard his voice calmly say. "'Specially when ya ran off like that."
"I-I'm sorry." Fluttershy quietly apologized. "I… I don't know what got into me before."
Big Macintosh sighed. "'Ah don't blame ya. 'Ah was actin' really dumb back there."
"You weren't being that bad." Flutttershy quickly caught her mistake in speech. "Sorry! I didn't mean-"
"Naw, it's okay." Big Macintosh replied. "Sorry ah made ya scared. Ah'm not exactly a gentleco-"
Big Macintosh stopped when he felt the pony he was carrying hug his neck. A small smile crept onto his face. "Thank you… for coming to find me." Fluttershy quietly said, blushing.
"Anytime." Big Macintosh replied. "But we still gotta get outta here…" He paused for a moment. "Do you happen to know which way we came from?"
"No… We're lost…" Fluttershy realized. "I-In… the… Everfree Forest…" Her smile turned into a fear-filled frown.
"Fluttershy? Ya'lright sugar?"
In a fit of nervousness, Fluttershy started giggling uncontrollably. "Hehehe… Lost in the Everfree Forest… Haha…"
"Fluttershy? Ca- Urk!"
He was interrupted when Fluttershy involuntarily tightened her hug around his neck, choking him. Her eyes were suddenly filled with fear and panic.
"WE'RE GOING TO DIIIEEEEEE!"