The Mare Who Fell to Earth

by HudsonHawk

Chapter Six: Wednesday, April 30

Ding-dong!

The sound of the doorbell woke me from, for once, a pleasant night's sleep. Twilight knew what she was doing with that love spell. I looked at the time on my phone: 10 AM. I got up, still clad in my clothes from the night before, as I had been too tired to change for bed. I walked to the front door and opened it.

I saw a girl with long, rainbow-colored hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was clad in a Starter jacket, Chicago Bulls jersey, blue jean shorts, and sneakers. She was standing on my front step along with an energetic, pink haired girl in a brightly colored sweater, yoga pants, leg-warmer and tennis shoe ensemble. She didn't walk so much as she bounced.

"Hi." The rainbow-haired one said, in a gruff yet feminine voice so appropriate for a tomboy. "You know a woman named Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes." I replied. "She's insi-"

The rainbow-haired one had me pinned against the hall closet door in seconds, her hand around my neck. "All right, what did you do to her?

"Pardon?" I managed to wheeze out. Matt was off the couch and on his feet when that happened.

"Don't play dumb with me." She snapped back. "I got a message from her yesterday."

Yesterday? I remembered now. She said she had sent out a message...

"Let my pal go, lady." Matt said.

"Who are you calling 'lady'?" The rainbow-haired one replied.

"Whatever is going on out here?" I heard Rarity shout as she entered the living room, followed by Twilight. They both had the same idea as me: don't change for bed, just sleep where you fall.

"Rarity?" The woman said. "Twilight?"

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight replied.

She immediately let me go and ran to the two women, embracing them both in a bear hug. The pink-haired girl followed her inside and let out a loud gasp.

"Rarity?! Twilight?! Ohh, I'm so glad to see you're safe!"

"Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked. Pinkie ran over to her friends and joined in on the hug fest.

"I mean, if we came back to Ponyville without you two, what would we do? Who would I go to for advice? You know what? We should throw a 'Just-Found-Our-Friends' party!" Pinkie said, somehow producing noisemakers and confetti from nowhere.

"Maybe later, Pinkie." Twilight replied. "We still have to find Applejack and Fluttershy, and if my message brought you here, then they should be joining us soon."

"Rarity, Twilight..." Dash started, "Who're the strange guys?"

Rarity helped me up. "This is Jimmy Quinn, and that charmer over there is his best friend... uhh...."

"Matt Borchers." Matt introduced himself and shook Dash's hand. "Delighted to meet you."

"Same here." Dash replied.

"Jimmy here took me in, and he's been looking out for me ever since I got here." Rarity explained.

Pinkie zoomed over and hugged me, her embrace like a vice. "Thank you so, so, so much for taking care of my friend! If anything happened to her, I don't know what I'd do." She let go and took another look at me. "I've never met anyone from another universe before. I have so many questions... What do you eat? Do you watch movies? WHat do you like to drink? What's your favorite color? Do you have books here? Why don't you have a tail? Do you have parties? Oh, I hope you have parties here... please say you have parties here..."

"Pinkie!" Dash shouted, "Cool it!" Dash removed her jacket, showing a pair of blue wings on her back. "Much better."

Matt was in awe. "Since all of you are ponies... let me guess. A pegasus?"

"Yep." Dash replied, beaming. "The best flyer in Equestria."

Before she settled into a conversation with Matt, she turned to me with a sheepish grin. "Sorry about the neck."

"It's no problem." I replied. "You were worried about your friend. I don't think you or the pink one have been properly introduced."

"Someone call me?" Pinkie said, somehow emerging from the hall closet.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, and this is Pinkie Pie." I shook their hands.

"Do you have any children?" Pinkie asked.

"I have a nephew..." I started.

Pinkie let out a loud gasp. "Can I babysit? Can I plan his birthday party?"

"Pinkie!" Dash shouted. "Focus!"

Pinkie stopped for a moment. "Sorry."

"So, enough chatter." Dash said. "What's going on?"

---

"...and that's the gist of it." Twilight finished.

All of us sat in silence. Pinkie was about to speak when there was a soft knock at the door.

"Hello?" I said as I opened the door. There was a very shy and nervous pink haired woman on the doorstep. She wore a light-pink jacket, yellow blouse, pink skirt, and pink tennis shoes.

"Hello." She replied, in a barely audible voice.

"Can you speak up?" I asked.

"Hello." This time it was a bit louder. "Is Twilight Sparkle here?"

"Yes she is, are you a friend of hers?"

"Yes, we are."

"We?"

"Yes." She motioned for someone to come over. A woman in a brown Stetson, plaid shirt tied up at the midriff, Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots walked up. She had a backpack in her hand.

"Hello!" She said, shaking my hand. "I'm Applejack, and this is Fluttershy. Pleased to meet you..."

"Jimmy." I said. "Jimmy Quinn." I showed them inside. Needless to say, there was another round of hugs, introductions and playing catch-up. Afterwards, Applejack spoke.

"Well, we've got the time talisman, all we've gotta do is find Lord Maliss."

"Yeah." I said. "Let's go find an eight foot-tall minotaur with conquest on his mind. That should end well."

"Well, we have the Elements of Harmony." Applejack opened the bag and dumped it out. Five gold necklaces and an ornate tiara fell out, each with a shaped jewel inthe center.

"You keep mentioning them, but you've never told me..." I started. "What are the Elements of Harmony?"

Twilight spoke. "The Elements of Harmony were found and taken from the Tree of Harmony by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of years ago. They are six supernatural artifacts representing six subjective aspects of harmony: honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty and magic. They can only be used by somepony who embodies a said aspect, and are arguably the most powerful force in Equestria. They are not used for any lethal purpose. The most they do is imprison or banish. It freed Luna from being Nightmare Moon, and turned a god of chaos into stone. Much like friends, they are no good on their own, and their true potential can only be unlocked when they are used together."

"Much like Voltron." Matt said. This was met with puzzled stares from the six Equestrians. "I'll explain later."

Twilight continued. "With these, we can return Lord Maliss to Tartarus, retrieve the Alicorn Amulet and space talisman, and end this."

She looked around. "None of us can do it alone. However, if any of you want to back out now, I'll understand."

"I'm in." Rarity said, and put her hand out.

"I'm in." Dash said, putting her hand on top of Rarity's.

"I'm in." Pinkie said, putting her hand on the pile.

"I guess I'm in." Fluttershy said tentatively, putting her hand on the pile.

"Back out and leave my friends high and dry? Why in tarnation would I do that?" Applejack said. She put her hand on the pile and said "I'm in."

"I'm in." Twilight said. She then looked over at Matt and I. "You two have done a lot already. You don't need to do this."

"I'm in." I said, putting my hand on the pile.

"If he's in, so am I." Matt said, as he put his hand in the pile.

"We don't stop until Maliss is defeated." Twilight declared. "Agreed."

"Agreed." We said in unison, raising our hands at the same time.

I looked at the clock. It was 11:35 PM. Wow, the day went by fast. Then again, much of it spent playing catch up. I was about to call it a night when I heard something thump against the door. I opened it and looked outside. There was a scroll with a rock tied to it on the mat.

"What's this?" I said to myself as I read the scroll. My heart stopped and I walked back to the group.

"What is it, darling?" Rarity asked. I didn't answer. I felt sick.

"Sugarcube, what's going on?" Applejack asked. I finally handed her the scroll. She began to read.

"Dear Jimmy.

Since you will not hand over the time talisman of your own free will, I am sure your family will be able to convince you. If you want to see them alive again, bring the talisman to the building known as the Park Plaza Mall in one hour. If you don't, well, the family's that's slain together, stays together.

XOXO

Lord Maliss.

P.S. Bring your friends. The more, the merrier."

"The bastard is going down." I said. "It's one thing to threaten me, but bringing my family into this? That's a new low."

"Calm down, darling." Rarity said. "We'll make sure your family gets out safe and sound."

I looked around. All of my friends were in agreement. The bastard was going down.

I went into my room and grabbed Zar 'Roc. I decided not to take the rifle. If it couldn't take down a flytrap, what use was it against the lord of fear? I made one last look around the house for weapons to use. I came out with an aluminum bat, an axe, and at Applejack's request, I found a coil of rope that she made into a lasso. We managed to squeeze four of us into the back of Matt's Charger: Matt drove, Fluttershy up front, with myself, Applejack, Pinkie, and Dash in the back. Twilight and Rarity took Twilight's bike. Matt led the way to downtown Carney, where the Park Plaza Mall was located.

"Hang on, guys." I thought. "We're on our way."

Author's Note:

Soundtrack:
Jerry Goldsmith - Short Hair (from "Mulan"): http://grooveshark.com/s/05+Short+Hair+Mulan+OST/4l0xny?src=5 (Maliss' letter and prepping for battle)