My Little Pony - Friendship is magic : New adventures

by Poggy

Twilight takeover

It happened soundlessly and instantaneously. No one sensed it, even more so in their sleep. Only Luna saw it taking over, just as she was leaving Anita’s dream. She suddenly saw Equestria taking on an orange hue, far away from the serene semi-obscurity of her night. Outside, trillions of tiny black squares erupted from the ground before getting lost in the fiery sky, harmlessly passing through everything.

The Princess of the Night immediately woke up Anita, allowed her to dress up, and they hurried through the corridors. As they were approaching Celestia’s bedroom, a shadow materialized at the last corner before their destination. When it took form, Luna and Anita immediately recognized it ; Midna was right in describing them : they were crudely shaped humans modeled after Link or Zelda, carved from a sharp, purple crystal. The polygon Link instantly spotted them in the middle of the corridor and ran towards the pony princess and Anita ; it seemed faster than its flesh counterpart. It jumped in the air, its triangular spike fused with its hand drawn on Anita, ready to impale her ; instead, it hit the air and pierced the ground. The creature had not begun to remove the spear stuck in the floor that a powerful kick to the side of its head smashed it into the adjacent wall, and another the following second snapped its blade in two. Anita paused, ready to kick again. Luna’s horn glowed with a blue aura, but the point-blank range magic beam ricocheted against the crystalline surface and broke a window before getting lost into the Twilight. Undeterred, the Princess of the Night quickly shattered the humanoid’s entire right side with a single bucking motion. The thing fell on the floor, breaking in half on impact and scattering crystal shards everywhere. Celestia appeared into the corridor and looked at the half-pulverized thing with a puzzled look.

"We’re under attack sister ! We must wake up everyone, ring the alarm and declare a state of emergency !" Luna exclaimed.

"We’ll alert the Guard once our friends are woken up", Celestia decided as they ran through the empty corridors. "By the way, did you really destroy that thing ?"

"Yes, but Anita did most of the job, I just finished it off !" Her sister replied. "My magic bounced off it, we must destroy these things with pure physical force ! Our hooves can shatter them !"

"You are definitely full of surprises Anita", Celestia complimented. "How do you know to fight so well ?"

"At the beginning of my career, I worked on an action film involving many fighting scenes, so I trained briefly in martial arts at the suggestion of the director. I wasn’t expecting to like them so much and to continue practicing despite my job taking much of my free time. I never reached top level, and there were so many martial arts in Galania, not counting the ones from others worlds, I can’t even begin to list them. There’s also one important thing : despite being a scientific race, Galanians were, for most of them at least, natural fighters since birth", Anita answered as the three finally stopped in front of Peach, Mario and Arancia’s bedroom. Another humanoid, this time shaped like Zelda, appeared in the corridor, and, like the other one, charged at them with its thin crystal rapier ; Celestia teleported right in front of it and bucked the moving pile of crystals with her hind legs right in its “face” ; the force of the blow instantly shattered the head of the creature ; it fell on its knees before collapsing, motionless.

The two princesses and Anita woke up Mario, his wife and his daughter ; they quickly acknowledged the situation, put their clothes on and everyone ran outside the bedroom to find Link, Zelda, Daisy and Luigi, with Peach with Arancia in her arms at the end of the procession.

They found Link and Zelda, already dressed, in the middle of a corridor, inside a circle of purple shards.

"The Twilight is taking over. But these creatures are not from the Twilight Realm", Zelda affirmed. "I am surprised, but absolutely relieved to find you in physical form. As you heard Midna say, every being without magic or divine protection is reduced to a lost soul in the Twilight. Maybe the magic of Equestria is disrupting the Twilight, one way or another…"

As they were searching for Luigi, Zelda theorized that their alicorn magic had prevented Celestia and Luna to become lost souls, and that the close proximity of Luna had helped Anita to resist it too ; she was not sure for Anita, as it could simply be a particularity of her race. Peach and Arancia’s love magic was a perfectly believable shield.

In a corridor, slowly moving back and forth, they encountered a tiny blue flame : Link explained it was probably the soul of a guard.

They found Luigi in his green pajamas crawling against a wall, a pile of crystal dust and burned walls behind him ; Polterpup was his scout, but also his savior : already being a soul, the ghost dog was totally immune to the effects of the Twilight and so had woken up its master : it was patrolling the corridors to alert Luigi of the presence of the polygon clones, but one of them had almost taken him by surprise ; the scared plumber had literally discharged a tornado of green fire against his attacker to little effect, but a defensive explosive punch had reduced it to smithereens.

"Daisy wasn’t with me when Polterpup got me up ! I don’t know where she is !" Luigi panicked.

They hurried again through the corridors before hearing Daisy’s voice. They ran into a hallway covered with wines, petals, flowers, Venus fly-traps and polygon dust ; crystal limbs were protruding from some of the carnivorous flowers ; the plants were still growing and ensnaring the attackers when Daisy, in the middle of the corridor in her translucent orange night gown, saw them. The vegetal stopped their growth as their creator kicked the last remaining intruder in the head, reducing it into shards and flower petals.

"They can’t talk, or they don’t wanna", Daisy said as she rejoined the group. "Y’all okay, guys ?"

"Everything is fine. It seems all of us have some degree of fighting prowess", Celestia observed.

"That’s good ! Because we’ll definitely find the guy who’s behind that and kick his butt, like, very hard. Oh, by the way, Luigi, I’m a sleep-walker, that’s why I wasn’t with ya ; I was in that corridor before these things snapped me out. Sorry for makin’ ya worry", the ruler of the Samsara Kingdom apologized.

"We must go to the Castle of Friendship immediately", Celestia decided. "We don’t know how our friends are dealing with these creatures".

"Worse, I think the enemy’s forces will be concentrated there : they are probably searching for Midna, but I cannot ascertain my theory", Zelda added.

"How do we get there ?" Luigi asked.

"We’ll take the tr…" Luna interrupted herself. "Has everypony, besides us alicorns, turned into a lost soul which we can’t interact with ?" She interrogated.

"This is most likely the case. I do not know the fate of our friends, except Twilight Sparkle who, as an alicorn, is also probably immune to the Twilight", the Princess of Hyrule replied.

"So we’ll walk", Luna sighed. "It will take a very long time… too much time in fact..."

"You can do this much better than me, but I can fly too", Peach pointed out, showing her umbrella. "I can fly down all the way to Ponyville".

"Me and my brother can follow you on land", Mario added. "We’ll jump down the mountain".

"Huh… I can use a dandelion, but three of us can’t fly or jump that high", Daisy grumbled, looking at herself, Anita, Zelda and Link. "Or… I’m being dumb and just can lend y’all a dandelion…"

"Maybe it would be prudent to get rid of the intruders in the castle ? We’re not sure everypony is transformed, but at the same time…" Celestia thought aloud.

"It could attract attention", her sister finished. "We'll see how many of these things are on the way, and destroy as much as possible. Do everyone agree ?"

"The lost souls cannot be harmed, but they nonetheless can be scared. It is the most reasonable course of action", Zelda affirmed.

"I’ll make dandelions outside. Let me get dressed, and we’ll be in Ponyville in no time", Daisy said.

There were only three polygon statues remaining in the castle, but lots of souls ; Zelda theorized that, whoever was behind this, he was not aware of the properties of some of the magic of Equestria and had not bothered to send many troops.

Once outside, the view of Canterlot smothered in Twilight made them stop : the once colorful world was now only orange, black, brown, grey and everything in between : the contrast was striking, but not devoid of a certain beauty. In the main streets of the Equestrian city, some humanoids were patrolling, although the ponies were probably sleeping, blissfully unaware of their situation, or hiding from the silent angular things.

The group discreetly walked until the edge of the cliff, where Daisy made six dandelions sprout from the ground by simply touching it : they were almost twice as tall as Anita. The beautiful yellow flower heads quickly withered until their last stage before death, their seeds still firmly hooked on the calyculi. The lightweight stems were cut and Daisy explained that since there was no wind to force her to use more magic, they just had to follow her. They had to firmly grip their stem ; she also advised the princesses of Equestria to not fly too close to the dandelions, because the wind created by their wings could accidentally blow away some of the seeds, thus reducing the effectiveness of the dried flowers.

Daisy jumped first, and she perfectly floated towards their destination ; the others followed her, with Peach making sure to secure her child before jumping of the cliff with her open umbrella held in one hand. None of the intruders noticed the strange floating procession slowly heading towards Ponyville.

As a Twili, Midna sensed the Twilight taking over, even in her sleep ; she brutally woke up, jumped out of her bed and ran towards Twilight’s bedroom. Twilight and Starlight were peacefully sleeping ; when Midna woke them up, they were so tired they failed to notice the Twilight around them.

"Everything’s fine, Princess Midna… We’re in the middle of the night, it’s perfectly normal that the sky’s orange…" Twilight grumbled. "Wait, WHAT !?" She suddenly exclaimed.

"Not so loud Twi…" Her lover whispered.

"Starlight, wake up ! Twilight’s taking over Equestria !" The Princess of Friendship shouted, shaking the half asleep unicorn.

"What…" Starlight opened her eyes on the window ; once she saw the black squares rising in the orange sky, she jumped out of the bed.

"What’s happening !?"

"The Twilight is invading your country !" Midna replied. "I don’t know how you’re still physical and not reduced to lost souls, but we must hurry and find everyone !"

Spike was the most difficult to wake up, and Twilight briefly envisaged letting him sleep ; once he understood the situation however, he panicked :

"Rarity ! We must find Rarity !"

"We’ll search for Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash in that order", Twilight decided. "We’ll go to Canterlot together".

As they went to get out of the castle, a lone polygon clone blocked their way, standing in front of the exit door ; the crystal Link wasted no time at charging at them, and they barely escaped its spike.

"It’s them !" Midna screamed. "The ones that took over my kingdom !"

Twilight and Starlight’s magic bounced off the crystal creature which attacked Midna.

"Back in there, I destroyed some of them with brute force !" The Twilight Princess exclaimed as she managed to avoid the strike and kick the monster away, accidentally towards Starlight.

The unicorn thought fast : she turned around, closed her eyes and bucked the legs of the thing as hard as she could ; the crystals cracked and the humanoid lost its balance ; it stammered towards Twilight : the Princess of Friendship bucked it in the torso, sending him flying and crashing in the middle of the hall ; the broken parts still moved for some seconds before finally collapsing.

The streets of Ponyville were almost empty, save for the patrolling humanoids : Twilight saw most of them converging towards her castle. Even with the invisibility spell, the group was moving slowly and under cover ; they reached Sugarcube Corner and quickly went inside the bakery : they rapidly found Pinkie Pie, but the whole Cake family and Gummy were reduced to wisps.

"They’re lost souls now, it’s akin to being a shadow ; you can’t interact with them or see them ; once the Twilight will be dispelled, they’ll be physical again. Don’t worry, they can’t be harmed… but their life has become a lie…" Midna explained sadly.

Pinkie Pie cried over the little flames : judging by their position, they were still peacefully sleeping.

"We’ll free them", the Princess of the Twilight Realm promised.

"It’ll be quick", Pinkie Pie told the souls, even though they could not hear her ; Gummy’s soul however, seemed to react and moved closer to its owner ; Twilight internally swore she could almost see the toothless baby alligator sitting patiently, eyes lost in the distance as ever, waiting for them to solve the disaster.

There was a lone polygon patrolling not far away the Carousel Boutique, but everyone avoided it easily rather than engaging a fight : they did not know if the thing could ring a sort of alarm and if it could, they would be easily overwhelmed by a swarm of cold crystalline statues. Twilight picked up the lock and they broke into the building ; they climbed the stairs and found Rarity asleep on the table of her workshop, a half finished dress sewn with the gems from the crystal cave of Bowser’s castle beside her. In Sweetie Belle’s bedroom, the intact filly was also sleeping in her bed. They woke up Rarity slowly : the unicorn was disoriented and it took several minutes and the sight of the crystal clone of Zelda from her window to make her understand the situation. Her sister was much more reactive however, and she was the first to ask :

"Now what ? With all these creepy things outside, there’s not much we can do !"

"We must find everyone and go to Canterlot without being seen", Starlight explained. "Our closest friend’s Fluttershy ; we must go to her cottage".

"I still wonder why none of you are affected by the Twilight", Midna mused aloud.

"I have a theory", Twilight affirmed. "The Magic of Friendship is protecting us from the grasp of that power. Also, even though we’re relinquished them to the Tree of Harmony, we’re still, in a sense, the Elements of Harmony. I’m not sure how these powers are interacting with each other, but I do know that the Magic of Friendship is responsible for our protection".

Twilight’s theory convinced everyone, and they discreetly left Rarity’s boutique under the cover of the invisibility spell ; however, the alicorn informed everyone that she probably could not maintain the spell for so much people when they would find the rest of their friends.

Fluttershy’s cottage was surrounded by little flames ; Starlight explained it was probably the souls of the numerous animals living next to or inside the house. No humanoid was here and Twilight and Starlight deactivated the invisibility spell before gently knocking at the door as Midna monitored the surroundings. The insistent knocking made Fluttershy open the door ; she was panicked and her muzzle was wet with tears : inside her house, all of her animals were reduced to wisps ; Midna was surprised to see so many souls inside the cottage.

"What’s happening !? The animals… they’re…"

"They’re still there Fluttershy, you just can’t interact with them ! See these flames ? It’s their soul ! Fluttershy, the Twilight has taken over Equestria ! We must go to find Applejack and Rainbow Dash before any of them encounter a bunch of polygon things !" Twilight exclaimed.

"What are you…"

Fluttershy’s words died out in her throat : behind her friends, a crystal clone, in the form of Link, was approaching. The terrified expression of her pegasus friend made Twilight turn around ; the crystal statue initiated its jump ; it had not left the ground that a rope wrapped itself around its neck, preventing it from attacking ; it kneeled and planted its shield in the dirt, keeping it from being dragged by Applejack. It approached its sword to cut the rope ; Twilight appeared in front of the polygon and shattered its head with her rear hooves. Applejack was here with her sister, their hooves covered in crystal dust.

"Applejack ! Apple Bloom ! You’re safe !" Twilight exclaimed as she embraced her friends. "Where are Big Mac and Granny Smith ?"

The two siblings did not answer ; they began to cry.

"They’re fine", Starlight reassured. "Were there two blue flames in your farm, where Granny Smith and Big Mac should’ve been ?"

"Yes… There was… that-that blue fire thing… in their beds. Why ?" Applejack spluttered.

"Look around us ! These are the souls of the ones under the Twilight’s effects ! All these flames are the souls of Fluttershy’s animals, so the ones in your farm are definitively your granny and your brother !" Starlight explained.

"But we can’t… They can’t see us… They can’t touch us…" Apple Bloom said as she was trying to dry her tears.

"No, but they’re safe in a sense. Once the Twilight will be dispelled, they will become physical again. I don’t know how the Light of your world has been sealed however. Remember what we’ve talked about : in Hyrule, the Light Spirits were the guardians of that Light ; it was shattered into Tears of Light and put into… insect-things that Link had to destroy ; the Spirits gave us a vessel to stock the tears before giving them back to them. You obviously don’t have Light Spirits here, so we must find the source of the Twilight before destroying it", Midna explained.

"We find Rainbow Dash and go to Canterlot first", Twilight objected.

"Yes, of course. As we are now, we stand no chance against the enemy", her fellow princess concurred.

The invisibility spell was too much with Fluttershy, Applejack and Apple Bloom added ; the group instead got around Ponyville to go to Rainbow Dash’s house ; it took much more time, but they evaded every polygon statue inside the village.

The Cloudominium had also lost its colors ; the rainbow-colored waterfalls and streams were now just shades of pale orange and yellow, grey and black ; the clouds themselves were black and lacked much of their substance : they were slowly withering away, threatening to make the house collapse ; despite this, the building was managing to keep its integrity, given the very slow rate of the disintegration.

Twilight and Fluttershy flew towards their friend’s house and vehemently knocked at the door ; hearing no response and seeing their hooves sinking a few millimeters in the Twilight clouds, they flew in front of the window of their friend’s bedroom before crashing inside.

The noise almost failed to wake up Rainbow Dash, deeply asleep in her slowly sinking bed.

"Rainbow, wake up !" Fluttershy shouted ; it was not really a shout given her voice, but it made the blue pegasus open her eyes nonetheless.

"If… ya… wanted to… sleep with… me… You could’ve… said so", the half-asleep Rainbow Dash replied vaguely with a blush and a giggle.

Fluttershy blushed, but she firmly shook her lover :

"Open your eyes ! Rainbow, we’re in the Twilight ! Look around ! Open your eyes !"

The magenta eyes left the lovely sight of Fluttershy to look at Twilight, then at her bedroom. Once she registered the orange sky, the black clouds and the squares of pure blackness rising from the ground, she froze in place.

"What… what the hay’s happening !?" She spluttered, rubbing her eyes.

"The Twilight, the essence of Midna’s realm, is invading Equestria ! Rainbow, we must get out of here ! Your house, it’s sinking !" Twilight exclaimed, pointing the bed with her hoof.

Rainbow Dash panicked ; she jumped out of her bed, went through the smashed window and flew around her house ; it was too late : she could not do anything but witness the inevitable : her house would eventually pass through the clouds and crash to the ground ; she rejoined Twilight and Fluttershy.

"I take Tank, my books and my photos. Can you help me ?" She asked with a monotone voice before breaking down in tears.

Fluttershy tightly hugged her as Twilight put the books and photos into a bag ; the alicorn suddenly realized something and bit her lip.

"About Tank…" She began as she looked at the blue flame in a corner of Rainbow Dash’s bedroom.

"Tank… TANK !?" The cyan pegasus screamed as she frantically searched her room.

"WHERE IS HE !?"

"He’s here…" Fluttershy whispered, pointing at the wisp with her hoof ; she tried to take it into her hooves, but she passed through it ; fortunately, moving the basket of the turtle along the flame that it had become was effective, and they left the sinking house.

The three flying ponies, after explaining the situation to the rest of group, took the time to drop off Tank and Rainbow Dash’s possessions at Fluttershy’s cottage : the sky was empty and thus safe, but they spotted flying things near the Castle of Friendship, and so made the way back to their friends much quicker ; the sky would not be safe for too long. Rainbow Dash was not willing to see her home crashing to the ground ; even if it was not really high, the damage would be irreversible ; she squeezed her eyes shut as everyone walked away from the doomed house.

Higher in the sky, the clouds were keeping their solidity ; the ponies had an intense moment of panic when they thought about Cloudsdale, the cloud factory and everything else above their heads. Rainbow Dash had volunteered to check, and, although the clouds were dark and smoky and the sky city totally empty, it was obviously not sinking in the slightest.

"But why ?" Applejack interrogated.

"The clouds, the higher ones, aren’t disintegrating", Rainbow Dash replied as the thought of her house crossed her mind ; she shook her head in sadness.

"The effect on the clouds doesn’t seem to reach past a certain point… That doesn’t mean it won’t. I think there are two explanations for this, given that the Twilight has a lone power source, that of which we can’t be sure : Rainbow Dash’s house is closer to the source, or the source is grounded, limiting the corruption to the ground and part of the sky. As I said, we can’t be sure the area of effect won’t expand though", Twilight theorized.

"Do you have any idea what this source could be ?" Rarity interrogated.

"No, I don’t. But finding it and destroying it is the key to free Equestria", Twilight replied.

"Maybe someone’s the source ? Is this possible ?" Starlight asked to Midna.

"Back in Hyrule, Zant was capable of instantly reinstating Twilight even after Light was restored, so I would say yes. If this is the case, slaying the instigator might be effective", the Twilight Princess replied.

"Huh… Maybe… hem… just stopping him first would be sufficient ?" Spike suggested.

"Maybe. Let’s say killing would be our last resort", Midna decided.

"Hey, guys, I don’t think I’ll go in the sky again. There is huh… some kind of… huge black… huh… birds up there. I’d kick the butt of most of them of course, but they’re like hundreds and they’re everywhere !"

"They’re probably the monsters of my realm brought here", Midna replied. "Someone is trying to install Twilight here, permanently…" She growled, clenching her teeth.

As they were getting around Ponyville, they took a small bushy hill overlooking the village, allowing them to see without being seen. From there, they spotted the birds on some roofs of the village ; Fluttershy almost screamed and Rarity turned away in disgust : they were only called “birds” because of their two frayed, thin wings full of holes ; they had no feathers ; their head consisted only of a trumpet-like horn, with the insides glowing with a red pattern not unlike those on Midna’s body ; their dark body was emaciated and all of their bones were visible under their papery skin ; their long tail looked broken at many points at its tip ; their muscular legs were supported by clawless talons.

"Stay away from them", Midna warned. "If one spots us, it’ll shout and they’ll all come after us, and probably the… Polygons too".

"We continue to get around to Ponyville and… oh no !" Twilight exclaimed as she glimpsed a tiny shadow sneaking between the houses, tables and bushes ; she was lucky to spot it, but as nothing else was moving beside the polygon statues, it was easy to focus on it.

"Who’s that !?" Rarity asked with horror.

"It’s… It’s Scootaloo ! She’s going to the castle !" The Princess of Friendship panicked.

"I’ll go !" Rainbow Dash decided before unfurling her wings.

"No ! Even with your speed, you’ll be spotted ! These things, they have no eyes, but they’re birds of prey, they have a very good view, trust me !" Midna protested.

Twilight activated an invisibility spell, disappearing from view.

"I’ll go alone to rescue her ; it’ll be easier", she stated before taking off and flying towards Ponyville without listening to the protestations of her friends.

She flew slowly, silently and far away from any birds, careful to not raise any dust from the ground. Scootaloo appeared in her field of view just as her head popped out of a bush. It happened too fast : as soon as the low croak mixed with a trumpet sound reached Twilight’s ears, she understood one of the monsters had spotted the filly ; she saw the only one which could have seen Scootaloo, perched on the edge of a roof of a house facing the bush ; it seemed unsure of what it had seen, as the Cutie Mark Crusader had precipitately put her head back into the foliage. However, it stayed fixed on the spot, preventing the filly from moving. Suddenly, it went stiff, stammered while letting out a small cry and fell from its perch, an arrow deeply embedded in its heart ; it exploded into a myriad of small Twilight particles once it touched the ground. The death of one of their brethren precipitated the other birds into frenzy ; they shouted a powerful horn sound, left their perches and started to patrol in the sky and the streets, searching for the culprit ; alerted, the Polygons began their hunt too, two by street, one searching inside the houses and the other outside. Another bird fell, caught in mid-air by another arrow ; five followed before a small explosion at the outskirts of Ponyville was heard : all the monsters blindly followed the source of the noise and emptied the streets and homes. Scootaloo popped her head again before leaving the bush ; Twilight went after her.

"Stop !" She whispered once she managed to catch up to the filly.

"Stop !" Another female voice said right in front of them.

Peach and Arancia, Celestia, Luna, Daisy, Mario, Luigi, Anita, Link and Zelda appeared as the two princesses of Equestria lifted the invisibility spell ; Twilight did the same.

"What were you thinking !?" Anita reprimanded.

"I-I was going to the castle…" Scootaloo replied, a hint of guilt in her voice. "Everypony’s… everypony’s gone…" She cried.

"Do not worry ; they are lost souls now, those blue flames you probably saw everywhere. You cannot do anything for them, but you should have stayed hidden", Zelda said. "We must move, the diversion will not last".

"Come with me, everyone’s on that hill", Twilight indicated, showing the location with her hoof.

They followed her and reunited with the others.

"I suppose there is not only alicorn’s magic that can protect you", Zelda observed as she looked at the ponies.

"The Magic of Friendship’s probably the source of our protection", Starlight explained.

"That is why I have not turned into a wolf this time", Link mused aloud.

Suddenly, as she was lost in deep thought, Midna exclaimed :

"We must not only find the source of the Twilight, but also the portal from where the creatures are coming ! It’ll be my chance to go back home, free my people and get back my throne ! When I appeared here, there was no portal around me, but now, we’re sure there is one somewhere, surely not far away from my point of origin".

"Which was the Everfree Forest", Rarity recalled with a shiver.

"Going to the Everfree under the effects of the Twilight won’t be easy at all", Luna warned. "We don’t know how the forest reacted to this magic, or if it’s not filled with these crystal things or monsters".

"If only someone could sense the source", Midna sighed.

"Oh, there’s definitely someone who can", a familiar voice resonated above them.

"Discord !" Fluttershy beamed before flying towards him to give him a hug.

"I’m so glad to see you unharmed, dear Fluttershy", the Spirit of Disharmony said. "Oh, and you too of course", he added quickly to everyone.

"You can track the magic like you did with Tirek ?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, even if that magic’s radically different from anything I know. Of course, having me with you is almost cheating against our enemy, but I can’t be sure how my magic will react with the other one if I try to stop it", Discord replied.

"At least you can stop these polygon things and these horrible birds", Fluttershy assured.

"I can certainly do something about that, yes", the draconequus confirmed. "As for the source of that magic, it’s indeed in the Everfree Forest. I’ll guide you".

Everyone followed Discord, all the while explaining to him what was happening ; after fifteen minutes, they found themselves at the edge of the forest. Under the Twilight, the trees were even more twisted than usual : their foliage was forming a giant mass of pure blackness ; it seemed like the woods had become a single, disproportionate, monstrous tree.

"That’s not really enticing…" Starlight observed.

Suddenly, two large bright red arrows signs illuminated with light bulbs materialized on each side of the path to the forest, along with a brightly lighted archway that was reading “Welcome to the Everfree Forest, creepier than ever”.

"And now ?" Discord asked.

The signs slowly blackened however, blending with the surroundings ; the corruption then abruptly stopped and everything made of chaos disintegrated into thin Twilight particles.

Discord looked at the black squares – that seconds ago were his creations – going upwards and frowned :

"That’s well… unexpected. At least my magic works… almost".

"I don’t suppose it’s safe to teleport us directly to the source then…" Twilight sighed.

"We… you’ll have to walk, yes", Discord replied.

They had not make one step into the forest that, popping out of the foliage, the head of a moving, monstrous dark plant clapped its jaws on Discord’s body ; the fluorescent pink lips closed on thin air however, and the two halves of the draconequus fused back together ; the Spirit of Disharmony snapped his paws and the head disappeared out of existence. However, less than one second later, another reappeared at the same spot ; Link cut it immediately and the Twilight vegetal died for good.

"Even your powerful magic is disrupted", Zelda told Discord.

"Only a form of Light can truly cut the Twilight", Link added.

"I hope our magic will work against it…" Luna wished.

"I do not know. However, I think we will soon find out", Zelda said.

Zelda’s intuition was right : another plant popped out of the foliage after a few steps ; Celestia immediately blasted the monster with her magic ; it did not recover.

"It’s gonna be long…" Applejack sighed.

"If not endless…" Daisy added. "I’m sorry guys, I have no power over these huh… plants".

"If we knew when Bowser would come back, it could spare us this hazardous expedition", Peach said, looking at her daughter sleeping in her arms.

"You should’ve stayed somewhere safe with Arancia", Mario told her.

"I do not want to be a burden, however, I also doubt “somewhere safe” exists anymore", she replied ; Mario silently agreed.

They managed to progress – albeit very slowly – in the forest, the unicorn and alicorn’s magic blasting any plant in the way.

"We’re getting closer", Discord affirmed after one kilometer.

"I don’t like the direction the source is coming from… it’s up to no good if my theory’s right", Twilight said worryingly.

"What are you thinking of ?" Starlight interrogated.

"That direction is in the vicinity of…" Twilight replied before being interrupted by a growl.

Right in front of them, blocking the path, was a small, strangely shaped hill. When looked closer however, it was not a hill at all : it was a giant, sleeping Timberwolf ; the ponies almost failed to recognize it : it was highly disfigured by the Twilight and concealed by the surrounding darkness. The beast – four times as tall as Discord – was still made of wood and leaves ; however, they were black and sharp, dripping with a viscous fluid and covered in the strange maze-like red patterns found on other Twilight creatures. Its face was transformed : it was now made of grey stone and deprived of eyes ; hanging under the jaw, viscous tendrils were moving on their own ; they were also growing on the neck, forming a dense mane almost covering the spiky protrusions of wood on the back. Although the beast had no eyes, its position and regular growl indicated that it was fortunately sleeping.

The group took a few steps back away from the wolf-shaped, towering mass of black wood.

"Now what ?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We could get around it", Rarity suggested.

"Or jumping or flying over it", Luigi proposed.

As everyone was thinking about the possibilities, a loud cry made their blood freeze ; Arancia was awake and visibly scared by her surroundings. Peach immediately sedated her with magic, too late : they heard an annoyed growl behind them, and the beast slowly woke up. It stood up, further gaining in height, and looked at the group with its non-existent eyes.

"Great…" Discord grumbled ; he snapped his claws and the monster found itself with its jaws tightly muzzled with iron ; a rope around its neck was tied to a giant pole firmly stuck in the ground. However, after a few seconds, Discord’s creations turned into Twilight and faded away.

"Bad doggie…" The Spirit of Disharmony frowned.

The Timberwolf lunged at the group which dodged it ; orange and green fireballs immediately hit in the face and it stepped back, slightly burned. It tried to swipe at Celestia and Luna, only for them to fly over the paw and fire magic at it ; while it ricocheted off the stone face, it destroyed chunks of the huge body. Twilight, Starlight, Rarity and even Sweetie Belle joined the princesses, severely injuring the monster’s torso. As it was recoiling, Link almost cut its right front leg, nearly making it fall. The monster quickly thought on how to gain the upper hand ; getting rid of the weakest would probably help ; it recovered and focused its attention on Peach and her child, far behind the group of attackers. It took its decision and jumped over the group in an impressive leap, its jaws ready to swallow the princess and the baby whole ; instead of closing its mouth on them, it crashed on a giant, pink glass-like heart-shaped surface, stunning him long enough for Peach to rejoin the group and give her child to Mario.

"I can’t say I approve of what you’re going to do", he said as he took his daughter in his arms. "We can fight it, our attacks are working and it’s wounded…"

"This creature has attacked my child, our child", her wife replied with a cold anger as the monster turned towards the group. "I thoroughly despise anyone or anything that preys on the weakest".

"Yes, I know that, but…" Mario began, but Peach interrupted him.

"Stand back Mario. Stand back everyone. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, Miss Glimmer, can you make a shield big enough to protect everyone ?" She asked.

"Yes, we can, but…" Twilight object before being cut off.

"One hundred meters from here will be sufficient", Peach affirmed.

"Guys, better listen to her. She’s really too scary when she’s like that", Daisy warned. "It’s gonna be a mess".

Everyone reluctantly obeyed and they observed the princess facing off with the monster.

"This is crazy ! We should be helping her !" Twilight exclaimed as she formed the shield with the princesses and Starlight.

"I wouldn’t do that if I were you", Luigi replied. "Trust me, you wouldn't wanna be outside of that shield when it’ll happen".

"What ? What will happen ?" A confused Rainbow Dash asked.

"How to say it…" Luigi mused aloud.

"The Timberwolf ! It’s regenerating !" Applejack exclaimed as the monster slowly generated new, identic parts to replace the damaged ones.

The now fully healed beast leaped towards Peach and tried to crush her in its paws. Twilight was stunned by the speed of Peach’s jump, blurry to her eyes ; she saw her fellow princess floating right in front of the face of the monster. Peach suddenly threw her rear and hips at the stone mask : the explosion of hearts and fire that occurred instantly vaporized the nearby trees and made the shield tremble.

Everyone except for Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Link and Zelda stayed mouth agape.

"What I told ya ?" Luigi told Twilight as the fire engulfed everything around them, putting pressure on the shield.

"That’s why I never, ever anger her", Mario whispered.

"She-she-she’s so scary…" A frightened Spike spluttered.

"Ain’t she ? Even though she looks weaker than me, and I hate to say it, it’s actually the contrary", Daisy said.

The flames subsided and Peach emerged from the explosion totally unscathed ; behind her, the fire was cooling down : the monster and the trees were reduced to little piles of ash and bits of burnt wood ; the ponies lowered the shield.

"It will probably attract attention, so we should attain our destination as soon as possible", the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom suggested as she dusted off her gown.

The ponies, Anita, Midna and Discord shook their head in disbelief. The latter took the lead again, and everyone followed him.

"You’re just awesome !" Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo exclaimed simultaneously.

"Thank you", Peach replied as she took back her child. "But I simply have some... trump cards in my sleeve for dire situations", she added with a wink.

Author's Note:

Like in Smash Bros. 64, Polygons are weak, but I think ponies possess tremendous strength in their legs :D

Maybe we'll get back at Gummy and his reaction to the Twilight later ;)

And of course Peach's really powerful (far more than in the video games, it's not that difficult though...) ;)