The Equestrian Wildcards: Doughnut mess with the baker.

by JitteryDragon

7: The one with a basement.

'Ah, look who finally decided to arrive,' Sunny Days said cheerfully, the first time she had been lifted to such a mood for the last two hours.

Oracle, unfortunately, wasn't of the same enthusiasm. 'Great...' she muttered depressingly, her heart having sunk deep into chest.

The two captured ponies were shoved right on through the front door with encouragement from the dragons outside. Cookie tripped on his own hoof and fell sideways into a stool, causing the whole room to shake briefly. A painting on the wall straightened.

Sparky Scamper, on the other hand, saw Oracle and immediately looked significantly more happy, considering the circumstances. 'Good to see you're okay, champ,' she said with relief.

'Same of you,’ Oracle replied, sincerely. ‘I was starting to think the worst.'

Sparky waved a hoof. 'Shouldn't have. The two of us had everything under control. Right up until the end there,' she glanced sideways at Cookie, whom replied with a grin.

Sunny gave a hearty laugh. 'I didn't actually think it would be this easy. Oh, joy is me!' She clapped her front hooves together. 'Alright, now that I have you all here and under control, I can get to work finishing up my last dragon.'

'On that topic, what happens to us now?' Oracle asked, to which Sunny just gave an evil smile.

When the door slammed shut, the basement fell into complete darkness. A loud click echoed through the room as the lock was set, and afterward the room quickly became silent.

'That was rude,' Oracle pouted, breaking said silence.

'I didn't even think a place like this would have a basement,' Sparky said.

'You and me both.'

'Did somepony touch me?' Cookie asked.

'I'm not even near you,' grumbled Sparky.

Cookie gave a shout. 'AH! SPIDER! SPIDER ON MY FACE!' There was a crash shortly afterward and what sounded like sticks falling over one by one.

'Everypony be quiet for a second,' Oracle said. 'We need to think.'

'Well, how about some light?' Sparky said. With that, her familiar green light touched every corner of the basement.

'Thank you, Sparky,' Oracle said. Her eyes danced around the now green colored room. There really wasn't much in it, covering perhaps thirty feet square. The stairs reached down from the side of the room, the ponies having been ushered down one by one. Sparky, of course, had to be carried. Thus, Cookie obliged, against mild protest from the unicorn.

'This is very awkward,' Sparky had said, as she sat on Cookies back, wishing she had just teleported. Then again, might as well keep Sunny in the dark about that little trick.

'I'm not usually this good with stairs,' Cookie chirped, rather proudly.

'Don't tell me that now!'

Apart from the stairs, several bricks lay in a corner in a heap, a log sat against another wall alongside another slightly shorter one, similar to what had been used to build the walls of the cabin. Cookie lay on his back on the opposite side, still as a rock, with several dry mops over the top of him.

Sparky coughed, the air was filled with dust thanks to Cookie dancing around the room. 'You'd think she'd have been a little more hospitable, eh?'

'To me, she was. Considering I'm just a little filly, though, and you two actually have... er... had... the ability to stop her. Then again, I really don't know what's going through her mind right now. She's a bit drunk,'

'With power?'

'With alcohol.'

'Ah, well that's interesting, to say the least.' Sparky wished she was slightly intoxicated right about now. It would at the very least lighten her dimming mood.

'She's nervous, which shouldn't be a surprise given what she plans to do.'

'Do you know what she is planning?'

'Somewhat. She was loose of tongue, and told me she was making these dragons for some third party in return for bits.'

'That can’t be good, but why go that far?’

'So that she can buy back her business,' Oracle replied, to which the wheelchair mare simply rolled her eyes playfully.

‘Typical,’ Sparky began, ‘always gotta go with the strangest option, couldn’t have just taken a loan or something.’ She crossed her forelegs. ‘Nope, bake giant scary dragons for money.’

‘Her father is also sick, and the bits would likely cover that too.’

‘Ah.’

Still didn't make much sense to her, though.

'I didn’t learn what this other fellow really plans to do with the dragons, but it can't be for nice reasons. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had to go to all this effort with regards to secrecy. What type of pony wants a small army of dragons, anyway?'

Cookie butted in. 'An evil pony, that's who!'

'Wow, you should be a detective!'

Sparky nearly choked on her laughter.

Oracle continued, regardless. 'What really matters at the moment, though, is getting out of here and stopping her before she does anything or hurts anypony. We have to talk her out of this.'

'I'm thinking of a way to get out,' Sparky said, 'I can teleport to the other side of the door and open it from there, but there is the risk of the noise my porting makes, and... well, that looked like a keyhole on the handle, I don't think it'll open without a key.'

'You're thinking very intelligently, though, Sparky,' Oracle replied. 'How about an unlocking spell of some sort?'

Sparky shrugged. 'No, sorry. I never had any use for such a spell.'

Oracle nodded. 'Fair enough. How about you, Cookie,' she turned to the fluffy pegasus, 'any ideas?'

This brightened him up. 'Well, maybe I can try something.'

'Something?'

'I have a special door opening trick.'

The other two looked at one another, then back at Cookie. Oracle tried to form words. 'W... what?'

'I learned it back in my secret temple place I'm not really supposed to tell you about.' He played with the dust on the ground with a hoof, looking down. 'That is, if you want, of course.'

'Is it quiet?'

Cookie nodded with his tongue poking out.

'Good enough for me. Go right ahead.'

Sparky crossed her arms, turning back to Oracle. 'And once the door is open, then what?'

'We grab Sunny and get answers from her, quietly if possible. If we can find a way to take out the dragons, that would be even-'

BANG!

Both Sparky and Oracle jumped. Eyes focused on Cookie, who had a foreleg pressed up against the door, his face slightly twisted.

Oracle struggled with her words, again. 'Did you just... punch the door?'

'Ow...' he replied with a whimper, 'I think I just broke my hoof.'

Sparky yelled up to him. 'Was that supposed to be your version of quiet? How does punching a door even-'

Said door opened with a slight creak.

Sparkys mouth fell wide open, and so did Oracle's at that. 'How...'

Cookie returned a sheepish grin. 'Has a silly name, I just call it the door opening trick.'

Oracle shook her head, regaining her composure. 'Well, it worked, I guess that's what counts.'

The trio immediately made for the other side, Cookie once again carrying Sparky up the stairs.

‘This isn't any better,’ she grumbled.

Once that was done, the hallway awaited them. There was no sign of life, and it was also scaringly quiet here. The kind of silence you really didn’t want to hear (or not hear, I guess). Oracle felt something could jump out from around a corner at any minute, though in the back of her mind there was little chance of such a thing happening considering the size of the dragons. She hoped at the very least they weren't into renovating a house, by stomping all over it.

Sparky, meanwhile, had turned around to face the door from this side, and had taken a moment to get her brain to start working again after what she saw. 'Uh, Cookie?'

'Yes, miss Sparkster?'

She pointed her hoof at handle, and the disengaged lock.

'Door opening trick.'

She decided to not to even try pressing any further. However, she did take point, considering her wheels were quieter than hoof steps on this wooden floorboard. Carefully peering into each open room, she saw no pony whatsoever, nor did her ears pick up a sound. Finally, they made their way back into the main lounge room next to the kitchen, and Oracles ears shot up.

'Sounds like she's outside, talking to... some pony else?'

'Another pony, are you sure?'

'She can't be talking to herself, can she?'

Oracle tried to look out the window in the lounge room, but lacked the height to get any real view. Sparky took her place and placed her elbow along her head as she looked out, the sun was starting to poke out through the clouds, and a small stream of light needled through the trees along this side of the house.

Leaping onto the mares lap, Oracle looked through the window. 'Maybe she's around the back side of the house.'

'You right there, missy?'

Oracle gave a sheepish grin. 'Heh, sorry.'

'Alright, so maybe we should go the other way,' Sparky said, after Oracle had jumped back down to the floor.

Cookie was way ahead of them, having made his way to the bedroom at the back of the house. Apart from the typical bed, there was also a cabinet with several pictures. One of these pictures grabbed the attention of Oracle, a black and white photo of two ponies together with arms around each other. A young looking pegasus smiled back at her, with messy hair reaching around her neck. She stood upright and professionally like you might expect a pony to when their photo was being taken, but she was angled slightly, and Oracle could just see the cutie mark. It was clearly Sunny, though the lack of color had thrown the filly detective for just a moment.

Next to her, was an older pony, lacking wings and quite more rounded than the slender mare he hugged closely. Oracle assumed that this was Sunnys father, though that was only a guess, since it seemed a bit odd that whilst Sunny was a pegasus, the other was an earth pony.

It was likely her mother was a pegasus too, since Sunny Days had talked so much about family, but the fact she couldn't see a photo of another pony apart from those too suggested her mother...

Poor girl. No wonder she valued her father so much.

Cookie gave an excited little jump. 'There she is!'

This got the attention of Oracle, and also Sparky who was looking through the window on another wall.

'She's with those scary dragon things,' Cookie continued, 'in a big circle. Wow, there's a lot of them, isn't there?'

When Oracle had a chance to get a view, she had to agree. There was at least ten small dragons, in addition to the large dragon that had brought Oracle here in the first place.

No sign of the other big dragon that Sunny was talking about, though. Must be putting the final touches on it. Strange she would have none of them keeping an eye on the cabin just in case the three of them broke out of the basement (which they had), but maybe Sunny was just overconfident... and there was also the fact that three ponies weren't much of a match for eleven dragons.

'What do we do?' Sparky asked Oracle.

'I... don't know.'

'Good plan.'

'I know, I know... but the three of us-'

Sparky waved her hoof and gave a chuckle. 'Yeah, a cripple, filly and loony aren't much of a match for what’s outside. However, the plan was to get you out of here, and since we have you safely we can probably get a move on.'

Oracle shook her head. 'We still need to find out what's going on, we have to confront her.'

'And if she wants to just lock us up again? Or worse this time?'

Oracle paused, and thought about such a circumstance for a moment. 'I honestly don't know what we could do. There's still a chance, though, that I can talk her out of this. If she truly is doing this to regain her business, there has to be an easier way.'

Deep inside her gut, however, she knew that Sunny had likely exhausted every other option. There was another reason she was doing all of this.

Sparky nodded, and gave a sigh. 'I guess there's no turning back now, is there?' Reflecting Oracle own thoughts exactly.

'Let's just talk to her, okay?'

'Okay. I'll be right behind, champ. I won't let anything happen to you.'

'Thank you, Sparky.'

Cookie tapped his chin, deep in thought. 'So, am I the loony?'

The three ponies made their way to the front door. As they made their way outside, Oracle pulled Sparky aside, leaving Cookie to wander off on his own, humming a tune to himself as he did.

'Sparky...'

'Yes, champ?'

'Thank you.'

'You already said that, several times I recall.'

'I mean... for all of this.'

Sparky tilted her head, raising a brow as she did.

'You could have just said no, but instead you tagged along on my crazy little mission.'

Sparky shrugged in reply, unsure of herself in what to really say. 'Well, I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Okay, so there was a couple of moments, but,' she thought back to that exciting little moment she had on the trail to the cabin, where she had felt like a little filly again, 'it's been quite a rush, something I've missed for a long time.'

Oracle smiled. 'You're a good friend, Sparky.'

This made the unicorn smile. 'Heh, and you've been a big load of surprises since I first met you beside my upside down table.'

They shared a short laugh together, before remembering what they were here for.

'Shall we? Before Cookie blunders into those dragons by himself?'

'Lead on, champ.'

- - -

Sunny looked surprised as she turned to face the three ponies. The dragons had moved either side to reveal her standing in the middle with a large pile of dough that was roughly shaped like a dragon. For their part, the three had done a poor job of stylishly approaching the crowd, so much so that the triumphant music appropriate for such a moment hadn't even started.

'You're earlier than I expected you to be. These days you just can't keep a bunch of ponies locked up, can you?'

'I just wanted to talk, that's all,' Oracle replied.

'Yes, I'm sure. There's little else you can do, but you really would have been better off staying inside and letting me do my work.'

'You have to stop this, Sunny.' Oracle waved a hoof at all the dragons. 'There has to be an easier way than this... insanity.'

Sunny did not look pleased at this, her smile turning upside down. 'Insanity?! Is that what you think it is?' She began to laugh, slowly at first, but quickly becoming more boisterous in tone... which didn't help her image one bit. 'Of course you think it is insanity, dear. Why didn't I just try something simple, like work a job or sell cookies?'

She approached the ponies, close to where Oracle stood, and looked grimly upon the young earth pony. 'Oh, I tried, believe me. Every... single... day, I tried. As hard as I could, and what did I get from it? A handful of bits and a father who was getting sicker every day.'

'And you think this is the best way to get your business back? An army of dragons to cause all sorts of havoc?'

'Havoc?' She began to laugh again, but held herself back this time around, 'no dear, they're not for that sort of mischief. I'm just making them for someone else, who offered a large sum for the work, that is all.'

Oracle raised her brow. 'What kind of noble minded pony orders an army of gingerbread dragons?

As Sunny opened her mouth to speak, a thin shadow loomed over all of them. The sky seemed to turn red through the trees, a streak of bloody ink cutting through them. Her eyes peered upwards, and then back at the trio. 'Why don't you ask him yourself?'

In what was becoming a regular trend, Cookie was terrified and frozen still. Then again, if you saw a sliver of red snaking its way down to where you stood, chances are good you'd also be a little spooked.

It struck above the dragon much like a drop of ink touched water, slowly absorbing itself into the lifeless creature. The last signs disappeared as the head of the creature raised from the ground.

Sunny smiled to herself, turning to face the rising dragon. It stood tall over the seemingly insignificant ponies in front of it, three times larger than the other dragons, and slightly bigger still than the other large gingerbread dragon. 'So it is done then, is this enough for you?'

And then the dragon spoke, with a dark gravelly voice. 'This will do,' it said down to Sunny Days.

No pony went colder than Oracle. 'It talks?'

The dragon lifted it's head past Sunny, blank biscuit eyes staring at the filly detective. 'And who is this... that speaks?'

Sunny stepped forward. 'No pony special, just a troublemaker. Not a very successful one mind-'

'The question was not directed to you, pegasus,' the voice spoke like ice daggers. Sunny went still and quiet, head down, as the dragon repeated the question.

'My name is Oracle, I am the filly detective.'

'I see, though I am afraid I have not heard of you before. Where are my manners, though... I am knows as Diabolicus Bakerus, have you heard of me?'

A thought clicked in Oracles mind, thinking back to the book that Cookie had stolen. 'D Bakerus, you wrote the book on baking and summoning spirits.'

'I'm glad you have heard of my work, though I must admit I did not truly write it. I merely advised a pony of this world to write for me.'

'Then that makes you a spirit, a creature from another plane of existence.'

'Perhaps a formal introduction might better explain myself. I am the embodiment of all that is bakery, the great spirit lord of Bakerus, the plane of eternal dough.'

Sparky tilted her head with a mixture of confusion and surprise. 'You can't be serious, that's... well-'

'Ridiculous? Stupid? From your perspective, perhaps it is. But, I would say the same of your world. So many strange things, a landscape made of crushed rocks, clear liquid floating about in large quantities, sometimes even in the sky. And all around us,’ the dragon gestured wide, ‘an invisible substance that you creatures need to survive. Now that... that is ridiculous.'

'If it is so strange a place, to you, then why did you come here?' Oracle asked. 'What is so special about Equestria?'

'It is a focal point of magic, far stronger than the smaller planes of existence that lie close to it.'

'And what is so important about magic, to you?'

'It would make me, and my plane... stronger.'

Oracle was already beginning to dread the answer to the next question. 'How do you intend to get your... claws... on this magic?'

'By taking over Equestria, of course.'

She didn't really like that answer, but then again neither did any of the other ponies, who shared confuse looks upon one another. Even Sunny seemed a taken aback, though she said nothing.

'A little cliché,' Oracle replied, returning her eyes from the other ponies back to the dragon, 'but even so, you expect to win with just this many dragons?'

'Yes, actually. I don't expect you to understand, little one, but things are never as simple as they seem. I've been preparing for years on my plane, all that was needed to complete my plans was someone from this world willing to help me.'

'That wasn’t part of the deal,' Sunny Days said nervously, 'all I was asked to do was make some dragons, and I was promised a reward in return.'

'Ah, yes you were, and you shall receive it as promised, my dear. But, for now, I need you for one final task.'

'W... what do you need?'

'Your body.'

As Sunny opened her mouth to reply, a whip of reddish light struck out from the dragon and around the pegasus. So bright was this light, Oracle and the others covered their eyes with hooves, and when it had finally died down, Sunny Days faced them.

She checked a foreleg like she was looking for the time on a watch. 'Squishy,' she said, still using her own voice, 'small frame, hearing is a little weak, too... but to see this world as it is supposed to be seen is a nice advantage.'

Oracle had taken a moment to realize what had possibly happened. 'What... what have you done?'

'Possession, little one. You really should read up on your evil spirits. It's what we do, it's what we have to do if we wish to have a true, physical, effect on this world.'

Sparky had backed off slightly, siding next to Cookie. 'We have to do something, right now,' she said from the side of her mouth.

Cookie replied by shaking his head. 'No, not now.'

'Why? What the heck do you mean with no? You're seeing what I'm seeing right?'

The possessed Sunny sighed. 'I'm a little disappointed to be honest. I was expecting some form of resistance, like perhaps a wizard or some knights from Canterlot. I guess this pegasus was actually pretty good at hiding her intentions, my own fault for underestimating I suppose. Still, very little magic flows in this place we now stand in. Unfortunate, but expected.’

Looking over the three ponies, he scoffed. 'I must apologize, you're not worth my time, since I have work to do, and every second in this world is dangerous to me.' She walked backwards for a few steps as she spoke, before turning around and hopping on top of the large dragons head... whom had bowed down low so that it reached the ground. 'It'll take time to get used to these tiny wings.'

As the dragon raised once more, and wings spread out wide, Sunny gave a wave. 'Also, thank you for not doing anything stupid to try and stop me, I didn't really want to waste my time and energy on you, both are precious. Still, once I've begun the conversion of this world, you'll be glad I spared you. Bakerus really is a nice place, you'll quite like it, I promise.'

With that, the dragons, all of them, lifted off, and took into to the air directly upwards.

Oracle faced her allies, and her calm demeanor broke down, becoming the equivalent of five years old. 'Oh my goodness what do we do what do we do?!'

Cookie stepped forward and hushed her with a hoof, placed gently to her mouth, still looking up in the air. 'We have to knock out Sunny Days.'

Sparky butted in. 'I think you mean Sunny... oh wait, you said her name right that time.'

He continued. 'Sunny willingly gave her body as a vessel when she accepted that reward. She didn’t know it, but spirits like that one create binding deals, and this one had fine print she didn't read. But, it's still a contract, and it can be broken. If we knock out Sunny, Bakerus will be separated, and in his power weakened.'

'And then what, smarty pants?'

He wheeled around to face Sparky. 'A spirit form is extremely weak, and vul... v... vuln... um... it's very weak to being struck with magic from our world. He's not used to it, and has little protections against its raw power. We have to wait for the right moment though, because I think I know what he is going to do... and if he does it, we can send him back to his own world.'

‘What is he going to do?’ Oracle asked, stuttering slightly.

‘Open a portal to his world, and bring his army into ours. I’ve seen it done before, you need magic and some sort of way to connect the two worlds.’

‘Like, for example, those dragons?’

‘Yep!’

'I think I see where this is going.'

Taking a moment to breathe, Cookie then faced Sparky again. 'I need your help, miss Sparky. I can knock Sunny out, but I need the help of your magic skills to take out Bakerus.'

She nodded. ‘Alright, I’ll do my best.’

'What about me?' Oracle asked. 'What can I do?'

'No offense, champ, but this is something for the big kids.' Sparky focused back on Cookie. 'So, what are we waiting for? How do we get back to Ponyville?'

'I have no idea,' he said.

'Wonderful,' Sparky replied, deflated.

Oracle looked up. 'I think I have an idea,' she said. 'But, I don't think you're going to like it.'

Comments

[Shadowshame]

Looks like we are getting to the climactic finale