MLP FiM x Fairy Tail: Wizards in Equestria

by SonnL

Chapter 3 (1/3): Darkspark's Scheme

Long after Equestria was plunged into war, Fairy Tail and the Council of Friendship achieved their first decisive victory against the evil Order of Scarlet Night. The spirits of Equestria’s citizens couldn’t be any higher and the Fairy Tail mages are lauded as heroes for their efforts. With Fairy Tail around, Equestria has nothing to fear. Or so everypony believed.

The Order of Scarlet Night continued waging their war despite Fairy Tail’s constant interferences, and it wasn’t long before stronger monsters began appearing. Due to the monsters’ increasing threat level, the major Fairy Tail members such as Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, Juvia, Gajeel, and Laxus had been going out in the field more and more often.

Many also thought that after the defeat of three Red Moon Generals, the dark unicorns would be more afraid. While the defeat of three of their generals initially came as a huge shock to the dark unicorns, they soon saw it as new opportunities, and the majority of them began working to gain Dread Lord’s approval. After all, he currently holds the highest authority in the Order of Scarlet Night, only until Scarlet Night returns.

At Trottingham, Natsu subdued several dark unicorns that were terrorizing the city.

“When do I get to fight a Red Moon General?” Natsu groaned. “Now I wish I didn’t let Laxus beat me to the Lower 3.”

“Hold it right there!” Another dark unicorn confronted Natsu and he was holding a pegasus colt hostage.

“Make any sudden moves, and this colt gets it!” the dark unicorn threatened.

Happy got the jump on the dark unicorn while the latter’s attention was on Natsu. From above, Happy struck the dark unicorn on the head with a golf club, knocking him out and saving the colt.

In the Forbidden Jungle, Bisca and Alzack were preparing to raid an enemy camp. At the camp, goblins were moving around explosive materials while under the supervision of some dark unicorns.

Bisca was sitting at a high vantage point, observing the camp through the scope on her sniper rifle, while Alzack was hiding behind some bushes close to the camp. First, Bisca sniped at the dark unicorns. Once they’re eliminated, she fired shots at the explosives, detonating them. As the camp erupted into chaos from the explosions, Alzack rushed in guns blazing while Bisca provided some support.

At Manehattan Park, Gray and Juvia dealt with a pack of wolf monsters. Meanwhile, in front of the Manehattan theatre, Erza sliced apart a group of stone trolls.

“Thank you so much miss.” Coco Pommel expressed her gratitude to Erza.

“Not a problem, citizen.” Erza replied.

---

Aside from the ongoing war with the Order of Scarlet Night, there is a series of incidents in which ponies’ cutie marks were mysteriously replaced by X marks.

The Council of Friendship visited all the towns and villages where these incidents happened. They questioned all the victims, but were not able to obtain any promising leads. The victims even had no idea how they lost their cutie marks in the first place.

They eventually visited Starlight’s old village. The ponies living there became the most recent victims of the X mark cases.

“So you have no idea who or what took your cutie mark?” Twilight asked Party Favor.

“No clue. I woke up one morning and found this mark on my flank.” Party Favor answered.

“This is exactly what the other ponies said.” Twilight said sadly.

“How long are we going to live like this? This feels even more depressing than when Starlight ran this village. Not that I suspect her or anything. She is a completely different pony now after all.” Party Favor said nervously.

Twilight then thanked Party Favor for his time before meeting up with her friends.

“Got any useful information?” Twilight asked her friends.

“Afraid not. They all say the same thing. They woke up one morning with these X marks.” Applejack answered.

“Once again, we got nothing. Without a single lead, we are nowhere closer to solving this case.” Twilight was beginning to feel disheartened.

“Should we ask Fairy Tail to help with this investigation?” Fluttershy asked.

“Fairy Tail already has done so much for us. We also need to put in the effort to help our citizens. But I did ask them to let us know if they find anything.” Twilight replied.

---

While many dark unicorns were competing for a position in the Red Moon Generals, a certain dark unicorn, Darkspark, aimed to go above the rank of Lower 5 and her target is Ponyville. For some time, Darkspark has been coming up with a scheme to gain more recognition and humiliate Fairy Tail. However, for her scheme to work, she would need a lot of careful preparations. She has been studying Fairy Tail extensively. And she did it with the assistance of her spybugs, which are actually ordinary insects put under her spell and she can see through their eyes. She used them to observe Fairy Tail, both out in the field and in Ponyville. Since the spybugs are not monsters created by the Order of Scarlet Night, they can bypass the barrier surrounding Ponyville. She also occasionally hypnotized some reporters and journalists and used them to gather information from the Fairy Tail mages themselves, such as which of them are the most accomplished in the guild. Makarov and the other guild members had no idea that the ponies that were interviewing them were being used as spies. One story that interested Darkspark was how the guild had hit rock bottom for seven years during the absence of some certain members, and they rose back to fame only after those members returned. This gave Darkspark an idea of who to put on her list of foes to be most cautious about. She hated the idea that she needed to avoid a head-on confrontation with certain enemies, but she’s going to be smart about it lest she meets the same fate as the three lower generals who were defeated and many other dark unicorns. As for the Council of Friendship, Darkspark had a plan for them as well.

---

A few days after visiting Starlight’s old village, the Council of Friendship was having an important meeting inside the Castle of Friendship throne room.

“You got a lead?!” Twilight’s friends exclaimed.

“I received an anonymous tip. It said that the one responsible for the X marks is in Klugetown.” Twilight explained.

“You think we can trust… this anonymous tip?” Rainbow was being skeptical about it.

“We have no other leads. This is the only thing we can work with so far.” Twilight responded.

“This just seems too good to be true.” Rainbow said.

“But still, we need to look into this. Doing nothing won’t do us any good anyway.” Applejack commented.

After pondering for a moment, Fluttershy spoke up. “What if the culprit is a Red Moon General? Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Rarity, you encountered one of them at the Doom Cruiser.”

“Yeah, and he was super tough to fight.” Pinkie said.

“To be honest, we would have been in serious trouble if Laxus had not stepped in.” Rarity added.

“Don’t worry. No matter what foe we may encounter, we’ll face them together.” Twilight assured her friends.

“Yeah, and if all else fails, we have our Rainbow Laser.” Rainbow chimed in.

“Then it’s decided. We’re going to Klugetown.” Twilight said before concluding the meeting.

Twilight then teleported back to Canterlot to prepare for the trip to Klugetown.

“Ugh. I never thought I would be setting hoof in that place again.” Rarity said with displeasure.

Unbeknownst to them, Natsu and Happy were standing outside the throne room, listening in on their conversation.

“Happy, I know where we’re going next.” Natsu said to his partner.

---

In the Canterlot royal castle…

“Spike. I’ll be going to Klugetown and hopefully, we’ll be able to resolve this X mark case. In the meantime, I’m leaving you in charge of Canterlot.” Twilight told Spike.

“You got it, Twilight! You can count on me!” Spike saluted.

“And if there’s any trouble in Canterlot, Gildarts is here to help.”

“Yeah.” Spike chuckled. “Having an ally as powerful as him is truly reassuring.”

“Yes, I know.” Twilight smiled before leaving.

The Council of Friendship later arrived at Klugetown, hoping to catch their culprit. The first thing they did after arriving was meeting up with an acquaintance, Capper.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle! And friends! It’s great to see you all again! It has been a while!” Capper greeted the Council of Friendship.

“Good to see you too, Capper.” Twilight greeted back.

“So what brings you six to Klugetown?” Capper inquired. “I have a feeling that you didn’t come all this way for a casual visit.”

“There is a bizarre case that has been plaguing Equestria for some time. Ponies have been losing their cutie marks, which were being replaced by X marks.” Twilight answered.

“That does sound strange.” Capper commented.

“We came to Klugetown because we received an anonymous tip that the culprit is in this town. So Capper, are there any… strange unicorns here?” Rarity asked.

“Now that you mentioned it. There is a peculiar-looking unicorn living in Klugetown. And trust me, he doesn’t seem to be the pleasant type.” Capper explained.

“That must be the one we’ve been searching for!” Rainbow got excited.

Capper told the six where this unicorn lived and gave them directions. Twilight and her friends later arrived at an old and decrepit house.

“So this is where the unicorn lives?” Applejack asked.

“This does look like the kind of place a dark unicorn would hole up in.” Rainbow commented.

The Mane 6 then approached the house. Using her magic, Twilight opened the front door quietly. The six silently entered the house and searched the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom while remaining on the alert for any dark unicorn.

“Find anything?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nothing yet.” Applejack answered.

“Hey, look here.” Pinkie found a hatch on the floor in the living room.

Twilight opened the hatch and discovered stairs that lead to the basement.

“A basement. The perfect place to store stolen cutie marks.” Twilight quietly said.

They then went down the stairs until they reached a door. Twilight slowly opened the door and took a peek into the basement room. She saw no living thing in there, and they all entered the room to investigate. They did not find anything as the basement appeared to be completely empty.

“This place is empty. There’s nothing here.” Rainbow said distressed.

The moment she said that, the Mane 6 were caught in a stasis field, which is generated by a crystal on the basement’s ceiling. They found themselves completely frozen still, and they couldn’t even move their mouths to speak. They then heard cackling and hoofsteps coming down the stairs. A dark unicorn entered the basement and locked the door.

“I got you! You six have taken the bait, just like she said you would!” The dark unicorn said excitedly.

“Oh no! This is a trap!” Twilight thought. “I… I can’t use my magic! And I can’t summon my armor!”

“You won’t be able to escape. This stasis field completely inhibits all of your powers. I also added a little curse to this trap. This stasis field is also draining you of all your magic.”

The Mane Six’s minds were being filled with fear after hearing the dark unicorn’s words.

“Once you’re drained of all of your magic, I will maim each of you to the point that you won’t be able to move again. And when I deliver you six to Dread Lord, I’ll win his approval and join the ranks of the Red Moon Generals!”

Suddenly, Natsu burst through the door and struck the dark unicorn in the face with a fiery fist. The dark unicorn was incapacitated after he was sent crashing into the wall.

“This isn’t a Red Moon General either. What a letdown.” Natsu said with disappointment.

He then noticed the Mane Six’s current predicament and freed them by destroying the crystal on the basement ceiling. Lucy arrived at the basement shortly afterwards.

“Are you all alright?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, we’re fine.” Twilight said. “What are you two doing here?”

“Natsu overheard your conversation back at the Castle of Friendship. He decided to follow you here in case you would run into a Red Moon General. I went along with him to make sure he doesn’t do anything crazy.” Lucy explained.

“Anyway, was that dark unicorn the culprit behind the X marks?” Pinkie asked.

They then noticed that the dark unicorn Natsu knocked out had disintegrated.

“If only they can be taken alive.” Twilight grumbled.

“Then how will we find the stolen cutie marks?” Rarity asked.

“Right now, I’ll contact Gildarts and see how things are going at Canterlot.” Twilight then tried contacting Gildarts using her Aura bracelet but noticed that she could not get in touch with him. “This is strange. I can’t call him.”

The Mane 6, Natsu, and Lucy tried contacting the other Fairy Tail guild members, only to find out they couldn’t.

“Something’s wrong. Why couldn’t we contact anyone?” Lucy said.

Happy suddenly rushed into the basement. “Everyone! Come outside, quick!” He shouted.

They quickly exited the house and discovered that Klugetown is completely surrounded by a dome-shaped barrier.

A hologram of Darkspark appeared in the sky.

“Greetings, Council of Friendship!” the hologram said. “If you are viewing this message, then this means that the dark unicorn failed and you escaped the trap in the basement. But don’t go patting yourself on the back just yet. Because the barrier surrounding Klugetown is the real trap!”

“Does she think she can just trap us here?” Rainbow scoffed.

“And this trap isn’t something you can simply escape from; even teleportation won’t do you any good. Because this barrier is made with magic runes. Anyone inside is bound by its rules and the only way to escape is to follow them. And the rules I set are absolute.” The hologram continued with the explanation.

“This is like Freed’s magic!” Lucy noticed.

“Allow me to explain how this barrier works. First, it prevents any creature inside from leaving and any creature outside from entering, except for those I allow. Second, this barrier prevents any kind of communication with the outside, meaning you won’t be able to call for help, and those on the outside won’t be able to contact anyone on the inside either. Third, there is only one way to escape. The barrier will be deactivated once every monster that I’m about to unleash on Klugetown is defeated, and the number of monsters that need to be defeated is… 3000!”

“3000 monsters?! Are you kidding me?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Good luck Council of Friendship! Hope you can protect the inhabitants of Klugetown and survive!” The hologram cackled before vanishing.

Numerous portals then appeared above Klugetown. Falling out of these portals are amorphous slime monsters covered with eyes, teeth, and spikes. Right after landing, the monsters began demolishing buildings and attacking the town’s inhabitants. The monsters also fire energy beams from the eyes. Klugetown quickly plunged into chaos and the inhabitants either sought shelter or armed themselves with whatever weapon they could find and fight back.

“So we have to defeat all these monsters. Better get started then.” Natsu fired up his fists.

“Hold on Natsu! Can we defeat 3000 monsters?!” Twilight shouted.

“No point thinking about it! Just fight!” Natsu gave his simple answer as he rushed to attack any monster in sight.

“Natsu’s right! Right now, we’re the only ones who can protect this town!” Lucy said as she took out her Celestial Spirit Gate Keys.

Twilight summoned her armor and her friends summoned their robes.

---

Back in Ponyville…

While out delivering mail, Derpy stopped by at the Fairy Tail guild hall.

“Hello! I have a package for a Makarov Dreyar!” Derpy said.

“I’m right here!” Makarov called out.

Derpy then gave Makarov the package and left the guild hall. Makarov then opened the package and took out a shiny light blue crystal.

“I wonder who sent this to me.” Makarov then placed the crystal on the counter.

The guild hall then received an alert.

“Everyone! We have an emergency situation!” Warren cried out.

“What is it?!” Makarov questioned.

“The Crystal Empire, Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Baltimare are under attack! There are thousands of goblins, groups of giant metal titans, and hundreds of dark unicorns!”

“Jeez! The Order of Scarlet Night is going all out this time!” one of the wizards said.

“We have another problem! I can’t get a hold of Natsu, Happy, and Lucy!” Warren exclaimed.

“What do you mean you can’t get a hold of them?!” Makarov bellowed.

“I’m trying to get in contact with them, but they’re not responding! I can’t even reach them with telepathy!” Warren answered.

“Seriously?! Where could they be at a time like this?!” Gray said.

“There is no time to waste! We have a crisis on our hands! Gray, Erza, Wendy, Gajeel, Panther Lily, Juvia, Laxus, Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen! Go out there and stop the monsters and the dark unicorns!” Makarov commanded.

The ten Fairy Tail members immediately departed. Many other guild members including Carla, Bisca, Alzack, Cana, and Mest joined to assist them.

Derpy also went to the School of Friendship to deliver a package there as well. The mailmare went to Starlight’s office and knocked on the door. Starlight answered and opened the door.

“Oh, hello there Derpy.” Starlight greeted.

“I have a package for you Starlight.” Derpy handed Starlight the package.

“A package for me?” Starlight took the package and Derpy left.

Starlight opened the package and took out a bright yellow stone.

“Ooh, this is a nice-looking stone. It will make a nice decoration for my office. But who gave it to me?”

She took the stone to her desk. “Now where should I put you?”

The stone suddenly glowed bright for a short time and once the light faded, Starlight was put to sleep.

Back at the guild hall, the crystal that Makarov received started shining. The moment Makarov noticed, the crystal released a stasis field that affects the entire guild hall. Makarov, Warren, and a few wizards that were inside the guild hall were caught in the stasis field. They are still conscious and aware, but they cannot move nor use their magic.

Meanwhile, Canterlot is under attack by an enemy no one expected. It was a massive swarm of fly-ders, all bred and weaponized by the Order of Scarlet Night. There were billions, if not trillions, of them and they swarmed every corner of Canterlot, including the royal castle. Terrified citizens flew into a panic as the fly-ders shot webs everywhere.

Spike used his fire breath but had to be careful not to set anything on fire. Gildarts also tried his best to help but had to hold back to avoid causing any collateral damage. However, no matter how many fly-ders they eliminated, there seemed to be no end to the swarm.

With Starlight put into a deep sleep, the Council of Friendship fallen into a trap, and all of Fairy Tail’s best wizards preoccupied elsewhere, it was time for Darkspark to strike Ponyville.

“My plan is working perfectly. Soon, I will no longer be at the bottom rung of the Red Moon Generals.”