Shisno Chronicles: Friendship is Magic

by nightelf37

Chapter 10: Swarm of the Century

Chapter 10: Swarm of the Century

In Chronicle's dreamscape…

The blue unicorn was cautiously re-reading the "Cupcakes" book given to him by Blue Diary when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Timmy!", it came, drawn out so he could hear it.

Chronicle 'put down' his book and looked up to see a blue and brown figure descend from above. It circled for a while before putting some distance between himself and it, then turning around to approach him. Thankfully, the figure began to slow like an airplane on a runway.

Finally, upon stopping, Chronicle got a good look at this arrival, who gave a wide beam. He had the exact color scheme and appearance as him and was of the same race (a unicorn), only he definitely looked like a stallion, he looked quite older, and his hair was very sleek. He also wore goggles similar to those the Wonderbolts use, which now hung around his neck. He also had a pair of contraptions on his sides, which were currently open, revealing wings out of brown cloth/leather and a wooden frame. They also had some form of propulsion on the bottom, making the whole thing seem like airplane wings.

"Heya, little Timmy!", the supposed-cousin greeted. "Oh wait, it's Chronicle now."

And then it hit him. "Oh, Uncle Tycho.", he grumbled.

"It's Clockwork now." Clockwork's horn then glowed as he 'pushed' a button somewhere. Immediately, the wings began to fold up until all that could be seen now was a pair of wooden saddlebags. While Clockwork was a tech wiz, having made his wings himself, Chronicle excelled more in spellcasting than he did.

"I see. Why're you here?"

Clockwork pshawed. "Come on. Am I not allowed to see my favorite nephew?"

"I'm your on—" He then smacked himself in the face. "Right."

"You were gonna say 'I'm your only nephew', were you?"

"Just a slip of the tongue is all."

"Okay."Clockwork then decided to change the subject. "Say, how's Princess Celestia's student doing there?"

"Well, Twilight Sparkle can be a hassle with her work and all, but I can tolerate it. How's yours?"

"I love flying with Rainbow Dash on my wings, even though I can't catch up with her even in full speed."

"Hold on a second, Rainbow Dash is Celestia's student there?!"

"Yup. As far as I can tell, that's the capital difference Rainbow Equestria has over yours."

"What else is there?"

"Let's see." As Clockwork began to think, a light-bulb shape formed over his head for a second thanks to his magic. "Well, Ditzy Doo is a fillyhood friend of Rainbow Dash there while that isn't the case in yours and Blue Diary's."

"And in here she's named Derpy Hooves."

"Also, Shining Armor—"

"Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot?"

"The very same. He's Twilight Sparkle's brother."

"That's also the case in Blue Diary's Equestria. Can't say for certain if that also applies here and I won't assume that until I get an undeniable confirmation. After all, Berry Punch is related to Cheerilee in Luna Equestria while I found no such relationship in here. In LUNA-EQ, Fluttershy has a stipend from her very rich parents, while in EQ-Prime, she has no such thing as far as I can coax from her."

"I see." Clockwork paused for a moment. "Wanna spar for a bit?"

"No, thank you. I'm still rusty in fights against flyers. Try Blue Diary."

"Tried that before coming here. He was effectively invincible."

"Two words: physical hits."

"That's harder than it looks. The only reason why Corona won against Blue in his fight with her was because she landed a lucky hit. That is before she would've resorted to threatening his friends. Or have found out his weakness eventually."

"Oh."

"Well, I better get ready. The fight with Nightmare Moon has only begun." Clockwork's wings then opened as he turned to leave.

"Huh?"

Clockwork turned back to Chronicle. "You're lucky yours is already done. And quickly too."

"Why is Nightmare Moon still out there in your Equestria?"

"Well, you see, my 'adventure' didn't start a couple of months ago. It just started only a few days."

"Anything I can do to help an uncle of mine?", Chronicle offered. "After all, I did face off against her for a while."

"I'm afraid not. This Nightmare Moon is far more dangerous than the one you have faced. She would've given you a harder time."

"Really? How?"

"Well, this one didn't merely have an evil laugh, she took friends of ours as hostages and turned them into Shadowbolts, and these had wing-blades to boot. She also had a mind-reading spell, and was quite liberal in her lightning."

"What about the trip to the Everfree Forest?"

"Well, after Rainbow and I took off to find Zecora, who was known to have some knowledge on the old legends, we fought off the Shadowbolts, then got into a bind where said zebra arrived in the nick of time. We then returned to the library where the others were, then soon took off to the forest again. The obstacles we encountered were a Swamp of Despair, a horde of Diamond Dogs," He then gave a shudder. "Sea ponies—"

"Sweet Celestia. Sea ponies?"

"Yes. Same thing Jenny saw back when she was a few years younger than you are now." Jenny was Chronicle's mother, who was a Field Op assigned to 'Dream Valley' in her younger days, where she had made a friend in the farm girl named Megan Williams, her siblings Molly and Danny, the pink pegasus pony Firefly, and a lot more others.

Presently, she's a Field Op in 'Equestria Alpha', where the bearers of the Elements of Harmony are reincarnations of her old pony friends, among them Firefly. From what he could think back from what she told him of them before he was assigned to 'Equestria Prime', their personalities were quite similar to that of his friends' and even their races, although there were two exceptions.

"Wow."

"They were more vicious though, but we managed to convince them not to drown us. Then they gave us a ride on a fabulous-looking river serpent. As of now, I'm sleeping on his back with the others thanks to some powder of Zecora's." Clockwork then turned around once again. "Let's see if I can coax a duel out of Cousin Rokuban before I have to wake." He then have a salute. "Wish me luck!" The 'jets' on his wings then activated, spewing out magic. Clockwork then broke off into a gallop before taking off into the black 'sky' and disappearing from sight. A twinkle followed, reminding Chronicle of some bad guys in another world the Story Crew was assigned to.

"Good luck, Uncle!" he the toned down and said to himself. "I'll have to be stronger, too. Even though Nightmare Moon is no more, there are still a lot of potential enemies."

C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C—C

Daytime…

In Mystic Shield's Self-Defense Academy For Unicorns…

"All right, everypony. Listen up!" Mystic Shield, with bandages on his head, had all of his students (well, those he could gather anyway that weren't busy) gather in rows. He was marching like a drill sergeant all the while, but not speaking like one. "Princess Celestia is coming to Ponyville tomorrow. While I'm sure nobody would attempt anything…against her, it pays to be careful regardless, so I want you all to stay sharp and be wary of anything you're not familiar with and might cause trouble. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Master Shield.", chorused his students.

"If it looks dangerous, be aware. If it's cute, be doubly aware."

"Doubly aware, Master?", asked Holly Dash.

"Yes. There are those who pull the cute looks and not get suspected specifically for that reason." He then stopped in his step. "That is why I will never break any promise I make to Pinkie Pie ever again. Or hurt an animal in Fluttershy's presence if I can help it, intentional or otherwise."

"Is that where you got that head injury, Master?", inquired Chrono Cards.

"Only from the former. The latter had no need of a beat-up to get her point across, although I won't be able to look her in the eye for a long while."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't want anyone to experience what I had experienced when I looked into them when she talked me down."

"Is Fluttershy really capable of doing that?", asked Written Script.

"Well, there's only my word. And Chronicle's. And Twilight Sparkle's. And Rarity's. And Rainbow Dash's. And Applejack's. And Pinkie Pie's."

"Are you talking about the incident at the mountain?"

"Yes. Yes, I am." He then shook his head vigorously. "Hold on a second. I think we're getting off topic here. And by the way, you forgot to address me as Master, Written Script."

"Sorry, Master Shield."

"Well, do not repeat it. Now, everypony, what is it you should do today and tomorrow?"

"We should stay alert and make sure nothing goes wrong in Princess Celestia's visit.", Greatstone stated.

"And what else?"

"Watch out for anything dangerous, and especially anything cute."

"Good. Class dismissed."

And with that, everypony left, already chattering about what to do for the arrival of the Princess. That left Mystic Shield and a magic clone of Chronicle, the real one in the Books and Branches Library helping out Twilight Sparkle in fixing up the place.

"That could've gone better.", Mystic's co-teacher's clone said.

"Sorry. Still, I don't get why everypony's getting so riled up in an unofficial, casual visit."

"There's nothing casual about royalty, even if she very well wanted it to be."

"How do you know that?"

"I can tell from how she behaves after being in Canterlot for a long while. I've had many charges who've had to have an audience with the Princess. And while she never demanded respect, they always gave it like their lives depended on it. And whenever they thought they slipped up, they always profusely apologized as if she would banish them to the moon or something, even if it was something minor like spilling something on the carpet. And as far as I could tell from her during those times, she definitely isn't the type to make disproportionate retributions, though everypony treats her as such."

"So…"

"She still gives appropriate punishment for those who justifiably break conduct, although it's just the guards who deliver punishment."

C—MS—G—CC—WS—HD—C—MS—G—CC—WS—HD

Meanwhile…

The real Chronicle trotted alongside a high-strung Twilight Sparkle—leaving another magical clone with Spike to help out—as they saw the trees are now bedecked with flowers and banners. Fortunately, his charge became high-strung no more as the spectacle brought a smile to her face. As they crossed the bridge over the stream, he could see that it—and even the stream banks themselves—form just part of the decoration effort put forth by the crews of hardworking ponies.

He could see Daisy watering some tulips, Minuette pulling a banner in place, Heartstrings checking out the flowers with Apple Bumpkin and Apple Cobbler watching her, Derpy Hooves flying by, Twinkle carrying a ribbon in her mouth, Cherry Berry raking the grass, and Dizzy Twister holding another ribbon in her hooves.

The two then stopped in front of a a banner being hoisted between two poles by Golden Harvest and Berry Punch, and saw its message; “Welcome Princess Celest”. From what he could see, the I in “Princess” had been dotted with a heart, and the lettering was not very neat.

Chronicle could only give a 'face hoof' as Twilight asked, "What happened to the rest of her name?

"We couldn’t fit it all in.", apologized Carrot Top.

"You can’t hang a banner that says “Welcome Princess Celest”! Take it down and try again."

She then galloped off, missing the double eye roll the two sent after her. Before Chronicle followed shortly after, he said, "You better do as she says. The writing also needs work." Once he caught sight of his charge, he saw her approach Bon Bon, who was watering some flowers.

"That looks perfect. Keep up the good work!", she commented before running off again, missing the smile the earth pony gave before resuming.

As he soon caught up to his charge, they were approaching Sugarcube Corner. By the time he greeted Amethyst Star, Rainbowshine, and Shoeshine with Goldengrape, they were at the door, where they saw two earth ponies at work.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. How’s the banquet coming?", Twilight greeted.

Mrs. (Cup) Cake was a middle-aged light blue, violet-eyed, earth pony mare with a two-tone, rose-colored mane and tail carefully styled to resemble cupcake frosting and a chubby build. She wore an apron and small pink earrings. Her cutie mark consisted of three cupcakes. She was working a rolling pin with her hooves (somehow) on a mass of dough.

Mr. (Carrot) Cake was an earth pony stallion of about the same age and a lanky build. He bore a yellow-orange coat, a short, deep orange-brown mane and tail, a square jaw, wore an apron, a red/white bow tie, and low-crowned cap, had birdcatcher spots around his nose, and a cutie mark of three cake slices. He was currently carrying an empty platter to a table.

Mrs. Cake uneasily pointed ahead. "Uh…" At the table she was indicating, virtually every food item had a bite taken out of it. "…it would be coming a little better if…" She trailed off.

There stood one large two-tier cake topped with a crown…which was swiftly disintegrated under Pinkie Pie’s assault from behind. Within seconds, she has devoured the whole thing, leaving only splatters on the table, a swath of white frosting that covers the lower half of her face to resemble a full beard and mustache, and the crown on her head. Noticing the mess on her face, she licked herself clean just in time for Twilight to see the damage and freak out and for Chronicle to join her and groan.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?!", his charge exclaimed. "Those sweets are supposed to be for the Princess!"

Pinkie nervously tapped front hooves together. "I know. That’s why I’m tasting them. Somepony needs to make sure that everything is tasty enough to touch the royal tongue!" The last few words were slightly garbled due to sticking out her tongue and showing the food still on it, an image Twilight found revolting. The sugar-rushing pink pony then reeled it in and zipped to an open area of the floor as she then spoke in a haughty tone, trotting across the floor. "And I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a king, or a queen, or a princess!"

She wound up next to an untouched cake and was about to hork it down, her crown falling off, before Twilight and Chronicle gave her a very nasty look to stop her cold.

"Next time, Pinkie, just take a small slice. Or a sample.", the bodyguard said. "Wouldn't want to deny the Princess all this delicious food, now would you?"

"Twilight! Chronicle! Pinkie!", a familiar voice called, music to his ears. As the three turned, they saw Fluttershy bound in. "You won’t believe…" She skid to a stop and wound up sitting on her haunches, another moment Chronicle was going to commit to memory. "Oh. I’m sorry. I…am I interrupting?"

"No, not at all.", Pinkie replied. "Come on in and make yourself at home." Before she could lash out her tongue to grab the cake, it was 'moved' out of range by Chronicle's telekinesis and swapped for a cardboard copy that just happened to be there. The pink earth pony pulled the entire "cake" into her mouth, and swallowed it in one throat-stretching bite, not choking in the slightest. Twilight had no idea what to make of this bit of digestive idiocy. "What’s going on, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy stood again. "You won’t believe what I found at the edge of the Everfree Forest. " She then addressed herself toward her mane. "Come on out, little guy. It’s okay."

Peeking out with a happy little coo was a tiny critter smaller than a pony's eye. It had a spherical blue body with enormous green eyes that have no trace of scleras or pupils, two pairs of fly wings, two pairs of spindly insect legs, and a small smiling mouth. It was followed, to her considerable surprise, by a yellow, and a gray one. She gasped softly at this. "Three?"

Twilight moved closer. "They’re amazing! What are they?", she asked as they flew around the pair.

"I’m not sure. I’m also not sure where these other two came from."

"I’ll take one off your hooves." The yellow one lighted on her foreleg and she cuddled it. "I’ve never seen anything so…adorable!" It flitted around her head. "Besides, it’ll be nice to have a companion for Spike so he won’t bother me so much while I’m studying."

"Pinkie, Chronicle, do you want the others?"

While Chronicle was peeking into his "hammerspace" for some reason, its rift open right in front of his face, Pinkie stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Blecch! A parasprite?! Are you kidding?!" She then trotted past the pair.

Fluttershy was confused at this reaction. "'Ugh'?"

Twilight was too. "A para-what?"

"How could you not like—"

Pinkie, now at the door, groaned impatiently. "Now I gotta go find a trombone!"

Fluttershy, with one parasprite in her mane, and Twilight, with two on her back, traded a puzzled look, then one of the other two silently made its way to Chronicle, snuggling itself on his mane just as he 'closed' his rift.

"A what?", he asked.

"A trombone! You know…" Sitting on her haunches, she mimicked the horn’s sound while moving one foreleg in and out to show the slide in motion. A moment later, she was gone, and Twilight sighed.

"Typical Pinkie.", she said as her yellow parasprite hovered up at cheek level with an affectionate coo. Suddenly, there was a zoom and a cloud of dust that bypassed them, blowing the two mares' manes a bit. Once it cleared, they turned to see where it went off to to see Chronicle leaving, then turned to where he was…only to see him there too.

"What?", the Chronicle in the store asked.

"Which one of you is the clone?", inquired Twilight.

"Does it matter?" He was the clone. "Shouldn't we head off to Carousel Boutique, anyway?"

C—TS—F—PP—MCC—MCC—C—TS—F—PP—MCC—MCC

Outside, in a Ponyville street…

Chronicle, the real one, slowed down and trotted along, looking for Pinkie Pie, before bumping into Mystic Shield. "Mystic.", he called. "Just the pony I was looking for." He added under his breath. "Aside from Pinkie."

"What seems to be the problem?", the purple unicorn asked.

"I think I got something in my mane, but I can't get it to get out. Could you cast a barrier spell on me?"

"Seriously? You want me to do something mundane with such a spell?"

"Please."

"Fine." Mystic's horn began to glow and he started the barrier somewhere in Chronicle's head. As he then expanded it, his carrot-top-blond friend shuddered a bit as the barrier pushed other things in his head before it reached the roots of his mane—and purged not one parasprite, but two. "What the hay is that?"

"Parasprites." Chronicle then caught the two critters in his aura. "In spite of how cute they look, they're very dangerous in swarms. Encountered them once before."

F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K

Chocolate Sun, Chronicle, and Nalego were on the run for a swarm of parasprites, the former 'carrying' a small cake. How and why he had it? The bodyguard never got the answer to that question as Nalego occasionally tossed pouches of powder that burst and caused some of them to sleep.

"Ditch the cake!", he ordered.

"No!", Chocolate replied.

"I said ditch the cake!"

"No!"

"The parasprites are after that cake, not us! So drop it!"

"But what will I eat for dinner?!"

"We'll find something! Nalego won't be able to hold them off for long!" Indeed, their zebra guide was running out of pouches of sleeping powder. "Besides, the niceties and comforts you take for granted back in Canterlot won't help you in this forest! You have to let that go!"

Chocolate looked torn at the decision he was forced to make. "Be quick in what you choose.", Nalego suddenly spoke. "Else there be more we will lose."

"What's that supposed to mean?", asked the Canterlot pony.

"It means we're nearing a cliff!"

And indeed they were. And with the speed they're going, if they don't turn soon, they would fall off. Eventually…

"All right, you pests! Take it!" And with that, Chocolate Sun decided to 'hurl' his cake over the cliff…and the parasprites naturally followed as the three equines made a turn to the right and slowed down.

As they finally stopped, Chronicle finally said, "That was one of the craziest chases I have ever been in."

E—N—D—F—L—A—S—H—B—A—C—K

"Very…interesting experience. I still don't know why he had that cake, though."

"Wow, and I can't believe I just saw an example of the lesson I had been teaching ten minutes prior."

Chronicle then fired two 'shurikens' at the parasprites, and they turned into black smoke and dust. This made Mystic Shield wince a bit at the quick life-ending spell his carrot-top-blond friend pulled off.

"What did you just do?", he asked with shock.

"I just applied another spell to my magic before I shot those parasprites.", Chronicle explained. "When I use that spell, any living being with insect-like properties will be disintegrated upon contact with anything in my aura."

"You're…you're willing to k—"

"If I hadn't used that spell, you would've been seeing four parasprite halves, and that would be creepy, right? And yes, it is an option for me. Just don't tell Fluttershy, okay?"

"I promise."

"Pinkie Swear?"

Mystic rolled his eyes before proceeding with the oath, learning it from Pinkie sometime before his first breaking of one, pantomiming each bit of the rhyme. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Just before poking his front hoof to his eye, he made sure to close it.

All of a sudden, Pinkie popped up from in front of them, went to Mystic's face, "Remember he trusts you. And losing a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever!"

"Come on, Pinkie.", Chronicle said. "Even if he were to break my trust, he'll just have to gain it all over and before we know it we're friends again. And it depends on the secret I ask him to keep."

"And I still remember what you did to me when I broke a promise to you." Mystic indicated the bandages on his head. "I'd be a foal to repeat the same mistake so soon."

"Hey, that rhymes! Though you still got a long way to go before you can compete with Zecora on that regard!", Pinkie said, then resumed a serious face. "Now I need to find a lyre."

With that, she dashed off, but not before Chronicle bit into her tail in an attempt to stop her, only to be pulled along for the ride. "PINKIE!!"

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

Erstwhile, At Carousel Boutique…

At the ground-floor showroom, Rainbow Dash was standing on a table and dressed in a very high, ornate, curled wig, along with a lacy, form-fitting, gold-trimmed magenta outfit and gold shoes on all four hooves. She was fidgeting impatiently at having been pressed into dressmaker’s-dummy duty as Rarity eyed one bit of the rig closely, pins clamped in her teeth.

"Stand still, Rainbow Dash!", the fashionista was saying.

"I can’t!" Rainbow tried to fly, but Rarity held her tail down. "I need to fly!" Once she gave up and landed, Rarity let go as the pegasus turned to face her. "This is way too boring for me."

Rarity let the pins drop. "Do you want to look nice for Princess Celestia or not?"

The two glared at each other before the pegasus sat down on her rump. Shortly, Twilight and Chronicle entered, noting two similar outfits on equinequins.

Wow. That wig would have done Madame de Pompadour proud., the sole stallion thought.

"Wow! Rarity, those outfits are gorgeous!", Twilight said.

Rarity gave a chuckle. "Thank you, Twilight. Nice to know someone appreciates my talents."

Rainbow groaned and pulled at her face. "So boring!"

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of parasprite chirps. While Chronicle stood wary, Rarity stepped suspiciously toward Twilight. "Huh?"

Rainbow hovered near. "What’s that sound, Twilight?" It proved to be coming from a light blue one that popped out of her mane. From behind it came two others, a dark blue and the yellow one she started with. "Wow! What are they?"

"The better question is, where did they come from? I only had one a minute ago."

One was grabbed. "Uh, I’ll take one!"

"Me too!", agreed Rarity. "Oh, they’re perfect!"

All of a sudden, Pinkie arrived at the shop, slightly out of breath. The real Chronicle was behind her, slightly out of breath as well. "Does anypony know where I can find an accordion?", she asked.

But nopony was paying attention, not even the Chronicle clone, but not because he was cooing over the girls' acquisitions but because he was looking around Rarity's place for…something.

Pinkie waved, standing on hind legs. "Gals! Hel-lo? This is important!" She then She dropped back to all fours with a groan. "Thanks a lot!"

As she then stormed off, the real Chronicle followed. "Wait up! Explain to me why you need the instruments!"

C—TS—RD—R—PP—C—TS—RD—R—PP—C—TS—RD—R—PP

Later that evening…

After losing sight of Pinkie, and not finding her in Sugarcube Corner after deciding to wait there, Chronicle returned to the library, ignoring the squeaky-and-sparkling-clean place. As he reached the upper-story room, he glimpsed his charge worriedly surveying the area from the loft. And as he reached his bed, he saw Spike sleeping in his basket, cuddling the yellow parasprite and snoring happily.

"Oh, the decorations, the banquet…" He heard her say as she then looked out the window. "…I really hope everything comes together in time for tomorrow." As he reached the bed, and started to tuck in for the night, Twilight yawned and said in a drowsy tone, "What’s there to worry about?"

"We're gonna find out very soon, Twilight.", Chronicle grumbled as the lights were turned off and he drifted off to sleep. "And you're not gonna like it."

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

The next day…

"Spike!" a familiar voice came.

As he heard a thump immediately after, Chronicle's eyes fluttered open…and the first thing he saw was a brown parasprite in front of him. His first reaction was to immediately cast a barrier around himself and expand it, disintegrating all the parasprites around him. Getting up from bed, he saw his charge run over to Spike's basket, which is also overpopulated—including two that have nestled on the baby dragon's eyes.

"Wake up! What happened?", she was saying.

"Huh?", he sat up, then screamed and yanked the parasprites off his eyes. "What’s going on?" They now saw that the entire room is swarming with the critters. And that some were being hit by Chronicle's shots as they disappeared completely, although they left some black dust.

"Where did they come from?"

"I don’t know. The little guy got hungry in the night, so I gave him a snack, but I have no idea where these others came from." As they spoke, they had flitted off and now were rapidly undoing the cleanup efforts, dumping books and scrolls every which way. "Oh, no! They’re messing up all my hard work!"

Already, the swarm has begun turning the entire place upside down now. "The Princess will be here in a few hours!"

She then galloped away, and Spike tried vainly to grab a scroll from the parasprite that was flying it across the loft. Down below, Twilight levitated her feather duster to shoo a few away. All the while, Chronicle was still shooting down parasprites, being careful not to be the cause of anything broken.

"Spike, help me round up these little guys!"

"What does it…look like I’m…doing?", Spike asked as he eventually found himself with a basket stacked high with them. Eventually, gravity got the better of him, dumping the parasprites out of the basket to bury him. Twilight quickly plied the duster and dug him out. "I know, I know. Stop fooling around."

"And I can't believe you didn't consider me!", Chronicle said as he caught their attention. They turned to see him still shooting down parapsrites and when too many started to cluster around him, he created a barrier around himself and then expanded it, turning every parasprite it made contact with into black dust.

"What did you just do?!", Twilight asked in shock.

"What else do you think?", he retorted. "Unlike everypony here, I don't live a perfectly pacifist life. And unfortunately, these have to go. And fast. And I'm surprised you weren't even the slightest bit curious as to what these things were."

"Sorry. They were so cute the idea never crossed my mind."

The bodyguard groaned at this. "Lesson one; be especially aware if something's cute. I believe Basil, the red dragon from the mountain, had learned that with regards to Fluttershy."

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

Later…

Two magical clones of Chronicle exited the library, one to call for Mystic Shield, and one to ask Pinkie Pie on why she started looking for instruments upon seeing a parasprite.

I wonder how the rest are doing?, they thought. Just then, they saw Rainbow Dash pass by…and on her were parasprites, arranged in such a suggestive way the word "bikini" flashed in their minds. She was followed by a few others as well. As the clone searching for Pinkie continued on, the one headed for Mystic Shield reached his academy. Since he can't open the door by himself, the clone teleported inside, then ran over to the doorway leading to his living quarters.

There, the clone saw Mystic sleeping in a mattress, not having a bed, with a blanket draped over his body. He walked over to the sleeping pony and said, "Mystic Shield, wake up. We got a problem."

The purple stallion slowly opened his green eyes. "What is it, Chronicle? It's still a bit early for me to conduct classes."

"I'm not here for the classes. It's about the parasprites."

"What about them?"

"I got an outbreak of them in the library. And if yesterday's events are any indication, they'll be more in Fluttershy's cottage, the Carousel Boutique, and Rainbow Dash's cloud house."

"And you need me because…"

"You demonstrated that you can select what goes in and out of your barriers, right?"

"Right?"

"Well, can you use it to hold in parasprites?"

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

Elsewhere…

The other Chronicle clone was walking along, his eyes peeled for Pinkie Pie. "Where is that girl?", he asked himself. "Just why does she need the instruments? Are they somehow instrumental to stopping them?"

Don't be silly., a voice in his head replied. This is Pinkie Pie we're talking about.

"Hey, haven't we learned not to simply ignore the loon and take even their behavior in consideration? There were very grave consequences back when I ignored Aunt Fanny's warning about these things when Tabitha, Crais, and I practiced walking on fours with her." And Blue was such a klutz on that department. Come to think of it, Aunt Fanny's pony form kinda looks like Pinkie—

You got a point there.

"Hey, did you just interrupt me, mid-thought?"

Oops. I better shut up lest you go crazy.

"You better." Thankfully, the clone had been speaking in such a hushed tone that nopony gave him any weird stares. Just then, he realized he reached Carousel Boutique, and Rarity was walking out with a pair of saddlebags bulging with what he assumed were parasprites.

"Rarity!", he called. "Have you seen Pinkie Pie?"

"Why, yes.", she answered, looking real distressed as she pointed somewhere. "She went that way."

"Thanks." And with that, he cast a spell on his feet, then was off like the wind.

C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS—C—MS

A while later…

The real Chronicle galloped alongside his charge down a road, the latter with her own set of jam-packed saddlebags.

"Why can't you put the parasprites inside your "hammerpsace"?", Twilight asked him.

"Three reasons. One, I'd sooner disintegrate the lot of them. Two, I don't want them messing up the stuff I already have inside. And three, it actually has a limited amount of space." After all, it's just my backpack now turned into what it is now upon my coming here.

"How limited is it?"

"Twice or thrice the capacity of a single saddlebag."

"Then why won't you—"

"Reasons number one and two, or have you forgotten so quickly?"

She didn't get to reply as she stopped with a gasp as they met Rarity coming from the opposite direction.

"Huh?", the white unicorn let out as she blinked at the sight of Chronicle, then took a good look at Twilight’s load, which was pulsating with parasprites. "I see we’re having the same problem."

"Ditto!", another voice came. They looked and saw Rainbow Dash flying in, then stop mid-air to shake off some parasprites clinging to her, then flew off as they give chase.

"Fluttershy knows everything about animals.", Twilight said as the three unicorns galloped. "I’m sure she can tell us how to stop them from multiplying." Before they knew it, they were at the door of her cottage. However, just as his charge was about to knock, it burst open to release a huge swarm of the flying things…and most of them got disintegrated upon impact on Chronicle's barrier, which he had instinctively conjured. "Or not."

Houston, we got a problem.

C—TS—R—C—TS—R—C—TS—R—C—TS—R

Eyecatch (video-type) - Parapsrites crowd the screen before getting disintegrated into black dust by Chronicle's various spells. By the time he's done, he was in the center of the screen, with the show's logo larger than usual and right behind him as he looked around some more.

C—TS—R—C—TS—R—C—TS—R—C—TS—R

The three unicorns were now standing at the doorway, now joined by Rainbow Dash who hovered above them as they witness the cloud of parasprites right in front of them.

"Do something, Fluttershy!", Twilight cried out. From what they could see inside, small houses for birds and other animals have been mounted at various heights, with small staircases running up to some of them—including one placed by the chimney of a fireplace. A few mouse holes can be seen in the baseboards. And the air was thick with these flying pests. Fluttershy herself, panicked, bounded into view among them. "Can’t you control them?"

"I’ve tried everything I know! I’ve tried begging, and pleading, and beseeching, and asking politely, and—" She darted off before she could finish.

"Have you tried more…assertive methods?", Chronicle asked as Rainbow made a noise of disgust. I'm not gonna disintegrate these parasprites in front of her. I've seen her angry at me and I do not want to see it ever again. Suddenly, the notion of Princess Celestia being attacked by parasprites and carried away by them flashed in his mind. What…was…that?

As he snapped out of his reverie, he realized that everypony else was outside…and that his left flank was touching Fluttershy's, who was facing the other way. He quickly turned around to see the others outside as well, his charge having a face of horror.

"If we can’t get them under control before the Princess arrives…it’ll be total disaster!"

One coughed up a kid in front of Rarity, who cried out, "Ewwww! If you ask me, it’s already a total disaster!"

"Hey, that's a great idea!", Chronicle said, which made everypony turn to face him and stare as if he grew a second head.

"How is that a great idea?!", his charge asked, ballistic at the thought.

"Surely Princess Celestia can get the problem under control, right?"

"But she's coming on an official visit! We can't ask her for help!"

"It's an unofficial, casual visit!" He approached his charge. "She stated it herself, remember?! You just can't bother to see it that way and nopony else could either!"

She went up to his face in turn and their horns crossed. "And how doyou know what the Princess is really like?!"

Before they could argue further, they were interrupted by Applejack arriving at the scene, hauling a full apple cart toward the cottage. "Here’s all those apples you wanted, Fluttershy.", she called before stopping short. "But I still can’t figure why you need so many." She got her answer when several of the little menaces consumed the entire load in two seconds. The harvester was not amused. "Hey!"

"What do we do?", Fluttershy asked.

Twilight gasps happily, getting an idea, "I got it! Nopony can herd like Applejack."

"Yeah!", Rainbow agreed. "We can drive ’em back into the forest!"

Applejack, hearing this, gave a sigh. "I’ll rassle ’em up, but I’ll need everypony’s help to do it."

Just as she said that, one of the Chronicle clones arrived with Mystic Shield.

"Applejack!", Mystic called.

"Mystic Shield! Just in time! I could use your help." She then pointed at her friends accordingly. "Twilight, you, Chronicle and Rarity wait over there. I’ll herd the little critters straight at you like a funnel." The three galloped off, the cone accompanying them as the two pegasi came over to await their orders, "Rainbow Dash, you and Fluttershy stay on top of ’em. Don’t let ’em fly away."

"Aye-aye!" Rainbow gave a salute before the two pegasi flew ahead.

"Mystic Shield! I was wonderin' if you could use that shield spell o' yours to—"

"Trap the parapsrites?", he finished. "You can count on me."

Applejack then reared up and let out a "Yee-haa!" before charging after the critters in question, forcing them to fly ahead of her and gradually concentrate into an increasingly smaller space. Those at greater heights began to drift downward as the two pegasi made pass after pass. A few others fled before Twilight’s rush, but they and all the others soon found themselves clumped into a single huge ball. Mystic then did his part and conjured a sphere barrier around the parasprites, trapping them.

"All right, y’all. Here goes nothin’!" Applejack's next charge set the mass rolling. As she brought up the rear, the two unicorn mares took point, with the pegasi keeping pace above Applejack as the unicorn stallions flanked the left and right sides, Mystic averting his gaze from Fluttershy all the while. A few bumped at the barrier, but Chronicle had placed his own magic on it and those who dared push were disintegrated. Somehow, the rest of the swarm kept away from the barrier and so the zappings-into-black-dust were few. "Hold on, guys! We’re almost there!"

Twilight was clearly enjoying both the exercise and the success of her idea to recruit Applejack, then gasped in surprise as she saw Pinkie next to her, matching her stride for stride. Chronicle's other clone was there as`well.

"Pinkie!"

"Twilight! We don’t have much time!"

"You’re telling me! The Princess could arrive at any moment!"

Pinkie gave a smile. "Exactly! That’s why I need you gals to drop what you’re doing and help me find some maracas!" On this last word, she bent her neck 90 degrees to her left, toward Twilight, and swiveled her head slightly upward to see the unicorn from the top corners of her eyes.

The words and the maneuver left Twilight even more puzzled. "Maracas? Pinkie, we’ve got much bigger problems than missing maracas!"

Pinkie straightened up and gasped. "You’re right! Getting a tuba has to be our number-one goal!" She then dived away. "Follow me!" The only one who did was the Chronicle clone that had been chasing her. However, she then zipped in again, this time galloping backwards so she can look Twilight straight in the face. "I said, follow me!"

"Pinkie Pie, you are so random.", Rainbow said in an annoyed tone.

"And you are all so stubborn!"

On this line, she put her legs in forward gear and races back along the road past Applejack, the clone following her…following her. "Pinkie!", he called. "Would you just explain?!"

"Forget her, ladies.", Applejack stated.

"Excuse me?", retorted the stallions in unison.

"Focus! Head ’em up and move ’em out!"

"You do know I'm a stallion, right?", Mystic said as they eventually neared the Everfree Forest and rumbled away from Ponyville. As they approached, everypony else stopped short and Mystic removed his barrier around the parasprites. However, a blue barrier from the remaining Chronicle clone persisted as he continued to lead them out.

"All right!", Rainbow whooped as they disappeared, then did a high five with Fluttershy, smacking her front hooves hard enough to make her wince.

"Ouch."

"Will he be all right?", Rarity wondered, thinking the Chronicle who went in with the parasprites was the real him.

"Of course he will.", the blue stallion answered as he walked up next to her. "He's a capable fighter like I am." He then nudged her hard, proving he was the real deal. "Besides, I could use a little more Everfree Forest knowledge."

"We did it!" Whooped Twilight as the pegasi landed. "Nice work, Applejack!"

"Couldn’t-a done it without y’all.", the farmpony replied.

"Now let’s get back and clean up the mess they made before the Princess arrives." She then started ahead and they all followed.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

At Fluttershy’s cottage…

The company made their way at the entrance, Twilight was speaking. "Okay. Everyone knows what to do, right? We gotta work extra hard to make up for lost time."

The property owner dropped in front of the door, got the handle in her teeth—and was immediately beset by another huge parasprite swarm as soon as she opened it. The wake of their massed flight caused Rainbow to drift out of view and nearly blew Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity off their hooves. As for the stallions, they conjured barriers around themselves, Chronicle's zapping many of the pests into dust.

"Where did they come from?", shouted Mystic.

One popped up near Fluttershy as she apologized sheepishly. "Well…I may have kept just one." She then gave a soft chuckle as it jumped up and down on her back.

Instantly, Chronicle teleported up to her face, took in a deep breath, then…did a strong blow on her face, blowing the parasprite away. He then 'took out' his paddle and slapped her on the noggin twice before saying, "Idiot. Had my preference to you been anything like Applejack's, your back would've met my frying pan."

She reeled back a bit on getting what he meant as she saw everypony put all the fury they can into their eyes, some of the parasprites flipping Applejack’s hat off her head, which she quickly retrieved. "I couldn’t help myself. They’re just…so…cute." She then made another gasp of shock as she realized that the parasprites hitting Chronicle's barrier were being zapped into black dust.

He noticed this and said, "I'm sorry, but my aura has…negative effects on insects. I've been practicing cancelling that, but I can't do it while I'm stressed, and I'm plenty stressed right now due to all these damned parasprites."

"I'm gonna have a talk with everypony later on the dangers of cuteness.", Mystic grumbled.

"We don’t have time to keep rounding up these things!", Twilight said. "What do we do now?"

Rainbow landed behind the others, now with a pair of goggles propped on her head. "We call in the weather patrol!" She then took off straight up, cruising over as Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity tried to cope with the infestation. Fluttershy was nowhere in sight, having apparently ducked back into her cottage.

Mystic gestured and said, "Why not go all out on those parapsrites?"

Chronicle shook his head at the idea and nudged at where Fluttershy was, replying, "You know what she will do to me if she sees me doing that, right? I was lucky she didn't get mad at me from what I said."

"That was a lie, is it?"

"Better she not know, lest I face her wrath."

Rainbow then pulled the goggles over her eyes. "Time to take out the adorable trash." With a savage yell, she plunged toward the airborne annoyances and zipped around in all directions, streaking the air behind her. In due time, she whipped up a tornado that quickly sucked in the entire swarm as it roved across the meadow. To avoid being swept away by the wind, Twilight grabbed a fence post, Applejack—giving her hat to Chronicle for safekeeping—bit down on Twilight’s tail, Rarity seized a shrub, and Mystic put a barrier around himself and Chronicle, keeping the wind out. A distance away, the twister kept doing its work.

"Way to go, Rainbow Dash!", Twilight whooped as she and Applejack let go.

"Looks like our problems are solved!"

"Don't be so sure.", Mystic gave an uncertain look as he glanced at Pinkie, who was trotting over with a pair of cymbals slung on a cord around her neck, and the wind and her motion caused them to clash against each other repeatedly. The Chronicle clone following her was right behind, panting

"They will be with these cymbals!", she said. Just then, a gust snapped them both free of the cord and carried them away. "Hey! Gimme those back!"

The two brass disks were swiftly pulled in, presumably forcing Rainbow to duck with a yell time after time as they whirled around her. The Chronicle clone, not actually weighing much as he was just made out of magic, got pulled in as well, much to everypony's surprise, including the real deal. As a result, the tornado began to bend and swerve crazily on the path.

"I can’t hold it!", they heard Rainbow say. "She’s breaking up!" Finally, she was thrown clear, slamming into a tree back first, and Twilight gaped at the sight of thousands of parasprites escaping from the rapidly shrinking twister and making a beeline for Ponyville. As for the magical clone, he was hurled right for his summoner, who deftly dodged him as he then dissipated. The would-be percussionist then found three irate ponies facing her.

"Pinkie Pie, what have you done?!", Twilight scolded, Fluttershy now hovering above them.

"I’ve lost a brand-new pair of cymbals, that’s what I’ve done!"

"Will you forget about your silly instruments for one second? You’re ruining our efforts to save Ponyville!"

"Me? Ruin? I’m not the ruiner! I’m the ruin-ee!...or is it “ruin-ess”?" She sat on her haunches to think. "“Ruin-ette”?"

Applejack zipped up near her. "Come on, girls. There’s no reasonin’ with that one." She and the rest of the girls took off. "She’s a few apples short of a bushel."

Pinkie called after them, but it was in vain. "Hey! I’m trying to tell you all that the ruining is on the other hoof—if you’d just slow down and LISTEN TO ME!" She was left alone to fume in the middle of the road.

The two stallions, having been left behind, walked up to her, Chronicle with the cymbals she had lost. Pinkie moved to retrieve them, but he just 'moved' them out of her reach, then 'closed' them on her head, making a crashing cymbal clash and rendering her dizzy for a second.

"Do you always treat your friends like this?", Mystic asked as Pinkie's eyes spun. Meanwhile, Rainbow had recovered and flew off after the parasprites.

"Only when they're unreasonable, and even then I just use a paddle or a pan. But given the circumstances, I thought I'd use the cymbals she had would get my point across." Once Pinkie's eyes stopped rolling, he turned to her, cast a "binding circle" to make sure she wouldn't run off suddenly, and scolded, "Pinkie Pie! You better explain to us right now why you need all those instruments!" She was about to speak up when he cut her off again. "And wipe that stupid smile right off your stupid face! That's why the others can't take you seriously! Even I have problems taking you seriously right now! The only reason I am is because I've also seen parasprites before like you apparently have!"

"Please, Pinkie. We're here to listen.", Mystic said. "You seem to know these parasprites. And from what I could piece together from what Chronicle told me, the instruments are the key. Could you please tell us how and why?"

For a second, Pinkie stood there, then was about to crack a smile before a harsh glare from Chronicle stopped her. After gathering her thoughts, which only took one second, she began to explain.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

Erstwhile, in Ponyville…

The parasprites floated town onto the several ponies who stared contentedly up at them, unaware of their imminent danger, although a few unicorns—having just taken Mystic Shield's lesson—were wary. One perched on the hoof of Bon Bon, who stood at a table outside Sugarcube Corner, then surprised her by gobbling down the slices of cake and pie that stood on the table. Bon Bon gasped in surprise at this split-second gluttony, while Heartstrings—who was across the table—was on the verge of tears.

Elsewhere, a mare started to water her garden, only to have a horde eat it down to the dirt in an instant. All the other parasprites started devastating Ponyvile of anything remotely edible. There were only pocket efforts of resistance from the unicorns who attended Mystic's class earlier that day.

Twilight and her friends could only stare helplessly at the chaos as they arrived. Rainbow had put her goggles away since she was definitely not going to use her tornado technique right here.

"What do we do?", asked Fluttershy. "They’re eating all the food in town!"

Applejack gasped, "My apples!", then galloped off.

"We’ve gotta do something!", Twilight thought out loud. She then founds herself face to face with a parasprite that was carrying an apple cupcake, no doubt swiped from Applejack’s inventory. Her eyes then popped and she smiled as it dropped the treat and flew off. "I got it! I’ll cast a spell to make them stop eating all the food!"

She hunkered down and threw a wide-angle beam from her horn that created harmless shockwaves that quickly washed over the entire town. Many stopped in their tracks above they were about to eat; others grimaced and popped their eyes open, dazed. And Twilight and company found themselves surrounded by placid critters that were, for once, eating absolutely nothing.

Chronicle then teleported right among them and said to his charge, "Nice work. Had you not done this, I fear they would've started eating ponies." All his friends gasped in shock, Fluttershy's the loudest. "Well, I learned from my clone that followed that ball of parasprites earlier that parasprites are part of the Everfree Forest's life cycle. They're part of the food chain, something you wouldn't be familiar with given your vegetarian diets."

Pinkie then zipped up, a pair of loaded saddlebags on her back. "Look! Tambourines! If you could all just…" Getting no response from the others, Chronicle wondering about the spell's other effects, she growled in frustration and galloped off, the tremors of her flanks rattling the tambourines’ shakers.

Mystic was right behind her, carrying some of the other instruments Pinkie had been looking for, yelling, "Wait for me!" as he followed.

One of the pests flew to an apple in an otherwise empty basket on the ground and sniffed at it, prompting a worried gasp from Twilight—and then it frowned and gave a disdainful little chirp, refusing to eat. The unicorn sighed in relief as nervous sweat ran down her face.

Its next trick was to open wide and gulp down the basket, apple and all, then spit the fruit out untouched. Another then chowed down on the Sugarcube Corner sign, a third ate the light fixture on a lamppost, and a swarm decimated the roof of a nearby house.

A produce cart was next to go—but not the apples on it, one of which rolled to a stop in front of Rainbow, who gave a sarcastic chuckle to Twilight "Hey. It worked." She pointed at the apple. "They’re not eating the food anymore."

As the spellcaster cringed at these words, trying to smile at this spectacular backfire, Chronicle then said, "Yeah. Now they're eating everything else." He waved his hoof at two trying to eat a gold horseshoe. "And we have no idea whether or not ponies are in that list or the other." He then paused for a while. Wait, was that a horseshoe I just saw?

Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Rarity stared open-mouthed at the pesky things, then a sudden horrifying thought struck the latter. "Oh, no. If they get inside my store…" She then completely freaked out. "…EVERYPONY FOR HERSELF!!" She then raced off.

Chronicle then took off in a different direction as well, making a barrier around himself as a swarm headed for the library, plowing through them and reducing them to black dust. There's no way I'm letting them take those! Once he was sure Fluttershy wouldn't see him, he also began firing shots, knowing his "horn blade" would be too ineffective on swarms.

C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS

At Carousel Boutique…

Rarity finally made it to her home and workplace, only to quickly confirm her worst fears as she barreled toward the front door and into the showroom. "My outfits!" Two of them were eaten right off the equinequins, and a third starts to meet the same fate until Rarity waved its eater off. "Go on! Shoo! Get out, you naughty, naughty—"

It coughed up a new parasprite and she backs away, revolted. The sound of more young being hocked into the world unbalanced her sense of decorum even more. Finally, she jumped onto a stool and huddled among the madness with a cry of terror.

"I got this!", a voice called.

At the door was Mystic Shield, who let the sunlight silhouette him for a moment, then tromped resolutely across the floor as Rarity gave him a look of pure admiration. This turned to puzzlement as he marched past her without stopping and approached a recorder lying on a table at the far side of the room.

He blew a few notes into it, then said, "This'll do." He then turned to Rarity, then at the parasprites, then conjured a green barrier around himself, then expanded it until it encompassed the entire showroom, something Chronicle hasn't mastered yet. The barrier was then contracted, this time keeping in any parasprites inside as it shrunk until it was a dome around him. Next, he kept the barrier in its place, pushing through the parasprites that thankfully weren't considering him yet, and exited the barrier he had cast, its center no longer on him.

"No time to waste.", he said as he turned to Rarity, gave her an informal salute, then ran out, 'rolling' his "ball of parasprites" out of the boutique. Seconds after he was out of the building, he heard an ear-shattering scream.
Now what? No, no time for that. Pinkie Pie needs her instruments.

R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS

Eyecatch (video-type) - Parapsrites crowd the screen before getting crowded by a green barrier that closes in around them. After contacting into the size of a large circus ball, Mystic Shield trots in from the left and starts to 'roll' the 'ball' away, revealing the show's logo larger than usual behind it.

R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS—R—MS

At Books and Branches Library…

Chronicle was at the loft, his front half under his bed as he looked for something. Outside it, his tail swished the parasprites bothering him as they curiously went for his cutie mark.

"Got it." He pulled his head out, something in his teeth. They were magazines featuring Fluttershy during her short time as a supermodel thanks to a pony named Photo Finish. The parasprites then head for them, only to be disintegrated by a barrier spell from him. "Oh, no you don't.", he said as he then 'moved' the magazines into "hammerspace", where they would be safe from those pests. He then proceeded to blast every parasprite he could see into black dust. As he made his way down, he saw Twilight Sparkle race in and see the parasprites wreaking havoc; several were carrying books through the air, and Spike peeked out from under his basket.

"Help!", he cried out. A book then bounced off the basket, slamming it down on top of him. He lifted it clear again as Twilight dodged a throw. At floor level, one eagerly licked an exposed page and she gasped at this. Another—complete with knife, fork, and napkin—was sucking down a thin ribbon of ink from its book as if this were a strand of spaghetti.

"They’re eating the words!", she gasped.

After it finished, she leaped up, snagged a parasprite’s wing in her teeth, and gallops out with the pest in tow. Chronicle summoned a magical clone to go after her.

Spike looked out from under his basket. "Help?"

"I gotcha.", Chronicle said as he 'pulled' the basket off continued to blast parasprites and salvage whatever books he could, placing them around himself as he protected himself and the books with a barrier. "Spike! Get me all the one-of-a-kind-books in this library!"

"What?"

"We obviously can't salvage everything. Books can be replaced, but if the parasprites eat the one-of-a-kind ones, their knowledge will be lost forever! We can't have that, now can we?"

"Right!" And Spike quickly got to work, starting with The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.

C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S—C—TS—S

Meanwhile…

Twilight, followed by the clone dispatched after her, raced through the forest toward the twisted old tree that served as the home of Zecora. Just as the copy caught up with her, she bulled through the door, and they managed to see that they had interrupted Zecora's meditation, which consisted of her balancing upside down and headfirst atop a bamboo pole. Naturally, with the interruption, she lost her focus and balance and tumbled to the floor.

"Have you gone mad?!", she berated as Twilight spit the parasprite free.

"Zecora, these little guys are devouring Ponyville, and the Princess is on her way!" The little insect flew across the hut and to Zecora as she stood up and eyed it. "Can you help us? Please?"

"Oh, monster of so little size." It then lighted on her nose. "Is that a parasprite before my eyes?"

"I don’t know! Is it?" It then flew back toward her.

"Isn't it obvious already?", snarked Chronicle.

"Tales of crops and harvests consumed.", she began as she walked up to her cauldron, which was bubbling with green liquid. "If these creatures are in Ponyville…" The parasprite then yakked up a duplicate. "…you’re doomed."

This was exactly what the overstressed young unicorn did not want to hear, judging from her nervous gulp.

C—TS—Z—C—TS—Z—C—TS—Z—C—TS—Z

The two unicorns galloped out of the forest, the male one zapping the parasprites following them. They then skid to a stop as the female one looked skyward.

"Oh, no!", Twilight gasped, seeing a familiar pegasus-drawn chariot begin to fly down. "Here she comes!"

"Just in time.", the Chronicle clone said as he galloped his way straight for it while his charge galloped through town only to find herself staring at frazzled, screaming ponies and extensive structural damage in all directions. Just as the real Chronicle approached her, disintegrating more parasprites, he saw that her overtaxed brain finally threw a rod. Her eyes contracted to fixed points as a crazed little smile took root beneath them.

"Okay. Here’s the plan. Rainbow Dash, you distract them." Rainbow rocketed past, screaming with a horde in pursuit. "Good! Everyone else, we need to build an exact copy of Ponyville—" She pointed to one side, where Firecracker Burst was incinerating parasprites, but taking care not to burn anything else. "—right over there. We’ve got less than a minute!" The continued wailing and crashing all around forced her back into reality, and she slumped resignedly toward the ground. "Zecora was right. We’re doomed." Just then, there was a distant trumpet fanfare. "Oh, no." She turned to the ruined main street. "The Princess’s procession is here! It’s all over!"

The real Chronicle however gave a little smile. "About time." The fanfare gave way to a lively oompah/polka-flavored tune in B flat major. What emerged over the horizon was not Celestia’s chariot, not a royal brass band, but something pink that resolved into Pinkie with a great many musical instruments clustered around her. Accompanying her were Noteworthy, Mystic Shield, and Heartstrings, all with an assortment of instruments around them and playing them. Twilight rubbed her disbelieving eyes for a better look, and she then realized that they have become a four-pony band.

A banjo was slung around Pinkie's neck, with Applejack’s harmonica attached so she can easily reach it with her mouth. A tuba and an accordion were hooked up on her back, the former worn around her midsection. As she alternated blowing into the harmonica and the tuba mouthpiece, cymbals could be seen strapped to her forelegs so that they clashed on every step. She also had a tambourine on her left side. Mystic only had a snare drum and an oboe while Lyra had a generous number of lyres, whereas Noteworthy alternated between a saxophone and a clarinet, held by special harnesses that closed holes whenever a note was played.

I wonder where Blues got that?, Chronicle wondered (knowing Blues as another name for Noteworthy) as the band marched past him and Twilight.

"Pinkie, we’re in the middle of a crisis here!", his charge was saying. "This is no time for your—" She was interrupted by her bodyguard nudging her side, then pointing up. She looked up as well and lost steam "…nonsense?"

The parasprites have stopped eating and began to bob up and down in time with the rhythm. Gradually, they worked their way down to ground level and fell in step behind the band, forming a bouncy procession that followed them past Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Rarity. None of them could find any words to describe their reaction, and Twilight could manage only a bewildered shrug when she joined them.

The band soon reached the park, and the five and Chronicle were now at the tail end of the very long marching line.

Twilight suddenly pointed upward (again). "Look!"

As Celestia’s chariot touched down, the Chronicle clone ahead expecting it, the six galloped/flew past the four-pony-band, who kept right on playing. They all knelt before the regal winged unicorn once she has stepped out, with the exception of Chronicle and his clone, who bowed their heads and raised a foreleg so that it was in front of their body and perpendicular to their other legs, just like the last time they met her after defeating Nightmare Moon.

"Twilight Sparkle, my prize pupil!", the princess said.

Twilight sat up on her haunches. "Hello, Princess!"

Everypony stood to attention. "So lovely to see you again, as well as your friends." The growing sound of Pinkie’s approach stopped her cold and threw a scare into the five mares when they saw the puzzled look on her face. Then came the band, parasprites and all.

Twilight tried to sound casual and said, "So…how was the trip? Hit much traffic?"

"Like there'd be traffic for a pegasus-driven chariot?", snarked Chronicle. And any traffic would've pulled aside or be pushed aside by Celestia herself.

There came a soft gasp from the princess. "What is this?" A parasprite cooed and landed on her wing. She laughed and lifted it for a closer look, and it darted away. "These creatures are adorable!"

"They’re not that adorable.", Rainbow muttered to Rarity, who gave her a pained smile.

I’m terribly honored that you and the good citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit."

"Parade?", Twilight parroted before catching on. "Oh…yes! The parade!" Both Chronicles rolled their eyes at this.

"Unfortunately, that visit is going to have to wait for another time. I’m afraid an emergency has come up in Fillydelphia. Apparently there’s been some sort of…infestation."

Twilight managed a smile. "An…infestation?"

"Yes. A swarm of incredibly bothersome creatures has invaded the poor town." The real Chronicle did a snark cough. "I’m sorry, Twilight, to have to put you all through so much trouble."

"Trouble?" The bookworm gave a laugh. "What trouble?"

"Before I have to go, would you care to give me your latest report on the magic of friendship in person?"

Twilight was taken aback. "My…report?"

Chronicle's clone then gazed at the band, who have stopped at the forest’s edge and kept playing as the parasprites bounced happily along the road into it. Haven’t you learned anything about friendship?"

The faithful student thought very hard for a moment and then smiled as an idea hit her. "Actually, I have." Her friends reacted proudly as she began. "I’ve learned that sometimes the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it." As she spoke, they all (save for Rainbow and the Chronicle clone) approached Celestia as she got back onto her chariot. "It’s a good idea to stop and listen to your friends’ opinions and perspectives…" A big cymbal crash startled them all and Fluttershy wound up hovering. "…even when they don’t always seem to make sense."

"I’m so proud of you, Twilight Sparkle, and I’m very impressed with your friends as well. It sounds like you’re all learning so much from each other.

"Thank you, Princess."

"All in a day's work.", said Chronicle with sarcasm as the chariot then rolled away.

But just as the chariot passed by the clone, Celestia gave a knowing wink at him, leaving him confused for a bit before understanding; she knew parasprites infested Ponyville but pretended otherwise to spare them the embarrassment. With a knowing smile, he dismissed himself, the knowledge of this passing going straight to his real self as he and his friends crossed to the band, who stopped playing after the last parasprite had passed them and gone into the forest.

"Hey! What happened to the Princess?", Pinkie asked.

"Emergency in Fillydelphia.", answered Twilight.

Rainbow gave a knowing smile. "Some sort of infestation."

"Oh, no! Have they got parasprites too? ‘Well, have tuba, will travel!"

"Just great…", complained Blues and the two unicorns in the band groaned while Pinkie got a lungful of air ready for the tuba, but managed no more than one note before Twilight stopped her.

"I think the Princess can handle it."

"So you knew what those critters were all along, huh, Pinkie Pie?", Applejack asked.

"Well, duh! Why do you think I was so frantic to get my hooves on all these instruments? I tried to tell you."

"We know, Pinkie Pie, and we’re sorry we didn’t listen." As her friends offered their apologies, Chronicle felt something was missing as Blues, Lyra, and Mystic decided to head back to whatever was left of Ponyville. "You’re a great friend—" Pinkie beamed hugely. "—even if we don’t always understand you."

"Thanks, guys. You’re all great friends too, even when I don’t understand me."

"You saved my reputation with Princess Celestia, and more importantly, you saved Ponyville."

C—TS—LH—A—RD—R—F—PP—MS—BN

Everyone but Pinkie stared around themselves with obvious discontent at what remained of Sugarcube Corner and several other buildings in what used to be a very nice place to live. A piece of the bakery’s roof fell to the ground.

"Or not."

"Could've been worse.", Chronicle attempted a tone of optimism as he saw Pinkie play the "losing horns" tune with trombone while facing away from them. Then it hit him. "Oh, wait a second!"

"What?", asked Rainbow.

"There's a another lesson to be learned here! Unfortunately, unlike all the others, the lesson didn't solve our problem because it was only learned after failing to solve it." He then 'produced' a quill and paper and 'passed' it to his charge. "Twilight, write another report. Reserve it for next week."

"Okay."

Chronicle then walked over to Pinkie, tapped her on the back, making her turn around, then said, "Pinkie Pie! We could've avoided all this if you Just. Explained. Why. You needed. All. Those. Instruments. In the first place! If you haven't learned the lesson yet, you're gonna learn it now." Pinkie sat on her haunches as he cleared his throat.

C—S—A—RD—R—F—PP—C—TS—A—RD—R—F—PP

(A/N: This isn't what he said, but the message is still there.)

Two weeks later, after the library was fixed…

Chronicle had Spike write a letter while his charge was out.

“Dear Princess Celestia: Now that I look back at the…incident in Ponyville, I have discovered that there was another lesson about friendship. Pinkie Pie is a great friend, always there to give laughs or make you smile. She can also be quite a ditz. This caused a bit of trouble with the parasprite problem I know you knew we had.” Spike stopped writing at this.

"Wait, she knew?", Spike asked.

"She gave me a knowing wink.", Chronicle replied. "You don't wink for no reason. Also, she seemed confused and startled at the parade instead of excited and happier about it. Then again, perhaps she was startled because she failed again to make her visit casual. After all, casual visits don't warrant parades specifically for them."

"But why you? Why does she trust you with this?"

"I don't know. Maybe because she knows I can keep a secret and will not judge others in a heartbeat. Also, she didn't want my friends, especially her student Twilight, to feel ashamed or anything and thus feigned not knowing. Now please continue."

"Okay." And Spike resumed writing while Chronicle resumed dictating.

“Hopefully, thanks to me, Pinkie has discovered that not everypony thinks the same way she does and that explaining yourself properly is the best way to get your friends to heed your advice, especially when you're known for being silly, who don't tend to be paid attention to that much. Twilight Sparkle's stalwart bodyguard, Chronicle.

“P.S. Please treat this as if this letter was from Twilight. She can be quite strict in her need to submit one letter every week. And please reply to assure her that because I'm sending this letter without her knowing. ;)”

"You done?", Spike asked. "And are you sure about this "smiley"?"

Chronicle smacked himself in the face, then said, "Well, it's too late to erase that now. I believe it's safe to send it."

"All right. But I still don't think this is a good idea." Spike rolled it up, then burnt the scroll with his breath, sending it to Canterlot. "Are you sure 'bout this?"

"Sometimes, you gotta help your friends, even if they don't think they need it." Chronicle then paused. "Hey, that makes for another lesson about friendship. But I'll write that later. It doesn't apply for every situation after all. Spike, I'm writing another letter."

"Another?!" The baby dragon seemed tired at this.

"We can have this sent another time, put it in reserve in case Twilight doesn't have a letter to send for the week."

"All right." He then took out another paper and started to write again.

“Dear Princess Celestia: This is not a friendship report, but is still an important lesson nonetheless. No matter how cute they are or how much you like them, taking animals you are not familiar with away from their natural environment is a bad idea, especially if they come from some place like the Everfree Forest. Since they come from there, whatever rules of living they follow there get applied to wherever they go. And since it's 'not natural', it can cause imbalance and chaos.

“P.S. I'm a bit fuddled in the meaning of natural here. Sorry, if I don't make much sense.”

"You done?", asked Spike.

"Yes. Yes I am."

"Finally."

C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S—C—S

At the present…

Chronicle continued his tirade. "Instead of saying what you said yesterday, you could've said something like…" He proceeded to try to mimic Pinkie's voice. "A parasprite! Don't you know how dangerous they are? THEY COULD EAT ALL THE CANDY IN THE CITY!!!! I'm off to get a trombone! TO SAVE THE CANDY!"

Pinkie replied, "I don't sound like that. But yeah, I guess I could've easily said something like that."

He resumed normal tone. "See?" He then turned to the others, particularly Twilight and Fluttershy, and said, "And either of you could've said, 'A parasprite? So you know what they are? What does that have to do with a trombone?'" This time, he didn't mimic either of their voices. "We could've avoided all this if we didn't get distracted by things just because they look cute."

"That's right!", Mystic Shield called in the distance as he had Greatstone and a few others, among them not his students, help him in rebuilding his academy.

"I hope we all learned our lessons here. Now let's get Ponyville back up and running. The town's not gonna fix itself, you know."

With that, his friends sighed in relief (that Chronicle's lecture was over), and got to work.

Author's Note:

Thankfully, you will have footnotes here because the only thing that would be at the top is the disclaimer, which is already applied in almost every chapter anyway.

1. While Chronicle does know who Shining Armor is, he won't find out his family relation to Twilight Sparkle's until I reach the chapter based on the episode he's officially introduced in.

2. Yeah. Cholocate Sun and Nalego were supposed to be one-shot flashback characters, but I couldn't resist bringing them back. I know it doesn't really advance the plot, but maybe it will become a running gag of sorts; Times with Chocolate Sun and Nalego in the Wild. Hmm… No, I can't make a mini-series. I got too much to do.

3. I realize the first eyecatch may be a bit child-unfriendly if eyecatches were to ever be in the show.

4. I skipped the part at the farm because we all know what happened and because none of my OCs (Chronicle or Mystic Shield) are present.

Not really a good end, sorry. I'll try and do better in future. See ya on Third!

Comments

[Pixels]

Basically, it's a 'retelling' of the popular "Friendship is Magic" TV series with an OC.

Well, at least you're honest.
And this is the first not terrible PC image.

[nightelf37]

2013492
Thank you. I wanted to be clear and not give others the wrong idea.

"First not terrible PC image"? What do you mean by that?

[Pixels]

2017042
Most of the time, Pony Creator images look terrible. This one is actually not bad.
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1077opHMI1r3zat8.gif

[nightelf37]

2019050
Thanks. It was actually a screw-up when I realized he had a mare-muzzle, but I decided to roll with it.