The Tree of Harmony may have fallen, but everything turns out okay in the end. The Changelings are on their side, the Foundation is getting stronger everyday, and the TARDIS is ready to bring hope... Then, why are they still fighting for Equestria?
Princess Celestia nodded before lying back down on the bed. She looked up to the ceiling above her in deep thought. "The Tree of Harmony has fallen..." She took a deep breath. "Just a few hours ago I was cursed into becoming the Day Breaker." She closed her eyes and sad look slowly formed on her face. "Is it too late to achieve Peace and Harmony?"
The Changelings are allies. The SCP Foundation is getting stronger than ever. The Mane Six has grown stronger every day even more. A new embodiment of Chaos and Harmony was born and Discord will never betray Equestria since he's a father now.
Then, what kind of horrible threat looms over the horizon? Because the stronger the heroes get, the more powerful the villain will become. With the heroes having a whole army and a reality warper on their side, one would shudder to think what the villain has...
She remembered facing a giant metal figure. It could be Bastion, but she wasn't so sure. She also remembered feeling very angry at somepony, but she couldn't quite remember who. "Ugh... Oww... My head..." A splitting headache interrupted her musings. It was Bastion no doubt. What else in Equestria can make her feel like she just got hit by a fifty tonnes metal giant?
The pony blearily opened her eyes and found herself lying down on the ground. The first thing she saw was a pair of bright blue eyes and a whole lot of pink. She moved her head a little and saw the rest of her friends looking at her in worry and a hint of fear. Fear of what? She couldn't quite tell.
"Twilight! You woke up!" The pink pony exclaimed with her face only about five millimeters away from Twilight. The purple pony moved her head back and struggled to stand up. "Ooh! Ooh! Are you feeling any murderous intention at all?" Twilight ignored her for now as she tried to move her hooves. They felt more like jellies than hooves. "Are you still trying to kill us all?" Twilight gritted her teeth, still struggling to get up from her position.
A few seconds later, Pinkie Pie decided to help her. She lowered herself beside Twilight and let the unicorn use her as support. "Thanks, Pinkie..." She said towards her friend with a grateful smile on her face. Pinkie Pie grinned and maneuver her way below Twilight. She raised her body up and Twilight found herself sitting on top of Pinkie Pie. "Whoa!" She exclaimed in surprise. "Okay Pinkie..."
Now, sitting on top of her friend, Twilight can see her surroundings a little bit better. All of her friends, including Bon-Bon, Lyra, Doctor Whooves, Trixie, and a mare that may or may not be a changeling in disguise stood in front of her. She waved at them all with a sheepish look on her face. "Uh... hi everypony! What happened?" Everypony looked down and start poking on the ground with a nervous expression on their faces. She sighed and looked at Pinkie standing below her. "Pinkie, do you know what happened?"
The Earth Pony smiled and nodded vigorously. "Yep! I know exactly what happened!" She pointed at her surroundings. On their right is a certain blue police box sitting near Fluttershy's Cabin. Right in front of it is a huge pile of rusted scrap metals and the ground all around it is covered with craters and scorch marks.
"First, we stood in front of the TARDIS to celebrate your arrival." She pointed at few tents and a couple of party tables full of snacks sitting behind them. "Then, you walk out of it being super angry at Bruce and you start zapping him all around Fluttershy's Cabin." She pointed at the pile of scrap metals sitting in front of the TARDIS. "Bruce asked for Bastion's help, but you destroyed Bastion by turning him into dust using a very powerful age spell." Pinkie Pie looked at Fluttershy's Cabin. "Then you shot Bruce with an eradication spell and almost killed him if it wasn't for Trixie and Discord."
It took Twilight twenty seconds to process what Pinkie Pie just said. Exactly twenty seconds later, she jolted off Pinkie Pie's back and looked at everyone else in disbelief. "I DID WHAT?!" She yelled in shock. Everypony cringed at her sudden outburst and took a few steps back. "Wh-what happened? The last thing I remember was..." She looked down and think hard about what happened. "I was going on that trip back in time to get the Kontron Crystal and..." Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. "I can't remember anything!"
Twilight looked at her friends and saw them shifting away from her gaze. Her breath hitched when she saw a look of fear flashing on her friend's face. "Wh-why are you looking at me like that?" She walked towards her friends, only to have them looking down nervously. "A-are you scared? Of me?" They all shook their heads and walked towards her.
"Look, Darling..." Rarity spoke with a barely noticeable stutter in her voice. "We are not afraid of you. We are just a bit worried that the spell doesn't work." She sighed and put a hoof over Twilight's shoulder. "But since you're not screaming for his blood then we can all safely say that the spell worked wonderfully."
Twilight looked at the rest of her friends and saw them nodding in agreement. She sighed in relief before looking back at the cabin. "Is... Bruce all right? And why in the hay would I want to kill him?" Before anyone could answer her question, the cabin door opened, revealing a familiar earth pony.
His usual dark blue mane has strands of red at the side of it and his bright blue coat looked a bit paler than usual. His Atom Cutie Mark lost a bunch of electrons and his sparkling obsidian eyes dulled a little. However, he still hasn't lost that huge grin on his face. He smiled at Twilight and waved his hoof around. "Heya! Are we cool or should I start running?" He joked, trying to lighten the mood.
The unicorn slowly walked towards him with a regretful look on her face. "Bruce? Why are you a pony? What happened to you?" She took a closer look at the earth pony and gasped when she saw a gash at the sight of his torso. "D-did I do that?" Her eyes welled up and she took a step back in disbelief. "Wh-what have I done?"
The Pony smiled at her comfortingly. "Call me Atom and don't worry Twi, I've been through worse." Then he sighed and looked at his body. "First of all, that eradication spell was very effective. If it weren't for Discord and Zecora I would've been deader than dead. But they managed to save me with an unholy combination of chaos magic and poison jokes." Then he smiled at her and put a hoof on her back comfortingly. "Relax Twilight, I'm all right, I promise I'll turn back into a human better than ever in the next chapter."
The unicorn shook her head and looked at her friends. The fear in their eyes replaced by a relieved expression. "Phew! Now, we can know for certain that the spell worked." Rainbow Dash said in relief. "You were cursed by the way, Atom said that it was some sort of an ancient curse that made you go berserk." She explained.
Twilight nodded in conclusion. "Did I hurt anyone else?" She asked again.
Everypony shook their heads. "Don' you worry sugar cube, while you did try yer' darnest to kill Bruce; you didn' hurt any of us." Applejack said comfortingly. Then she pointed at the pile of scrap metal sitting in front of the TARDIS. "Maybe Bastion, but Bruce said he can rebuild him from scratch so he doesn't count." She explained.
Comforting words, but still not enough to remove the guilt. Twilight looked down and took a deep breath. "Look everypony, this-oof!" A pleasant group hug interrupted her from her musings. A smile slowly stretched upon her face and she hugged her friends back in joy. "I missed you all so much..." She whispered. "It felt like it's been years since we've met..."
"PARTY!!!" Pinkie Pie shouted randomly. Everypony let go of the hug and looked at her in confusion. "Come on everypony! I've prepared a welcome party for Twilight remember?" She gestured at the decoration the tents all around her. "Nopony is leaving until we have a party." She said with 5% amount of threat, 20% amount of creepy, and 75% amount of excitement in her voice. 'BOOM' she shot out a DJ table, two giant speakers, and DJ PON3 with her party cannon. 'BOOM' She shot out a stage complete with all of Trixie's magical tools. "NOW LET'S PARTY!!!" She shouted.
DJ PON3 fired up the speaker and funky techno music started booming through the whole place. In just a few seconds, everypony start nodding and stomping their hooves with the beat. In just a few minutes, everypony start dancing with the music. Cheerful laughs and chatterings followed shortly after and everypony start smiling and dancing together. "Mission Accomplished!!!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a proud smile on her face.
Atom who is still standing in front of Twilight just shrugged. "Say Twi, I always wondered, how do ponies dance?" He asked her. "Can you show me?" The Unicorn chuckled and start shaking her body around. She stood on her hind hooves and spun around. Then she balanced herself on one of her front hoofs and start kicking the air like a pro.
"Whoa, Twilight! I never knew you can dance like that!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in amazement. She watched as Twilight start kicking and hoof punching around expertly at an invisible target. 'Bzzt' The Pony teleported a few feet up into the sky and landed back onto the ground on her front hooves. Then she started spinning around like a helicopter, making everypony cheer at her.
"I don't know, but I'm not complaining!" Twilight exclaimed. She stood on her hind hooves and backflipped straight at Trixie's stage. Then she started to moonwalk on the stage, followed by a Pinkie Pie-worthy break dance. She did a backflip and gently lowered her horn onto the floor. A purple aura appeared all around her and the unicorn start spinning like a top on her horn. "Woohoo!!!" She shouted, followed by an applause from Equestria Girl Pinkie Pie and cheers from the ponies.
Soon, however, Twilight ended her performance before walking down from the stage. She watched as all of her friends kept on cheering her in excitement. "Hey!" She exclaimed when she realized that Atom's Pet Falcon was recording her performance with his spy cam all this time.
"This'll get me enough bits to rebuild Bastion!" Atom exclaimed as he watched the Falcon's recording. Then his eyes widened in realization. "Oh, and by the way, the spell I used to stop the curse was a memory spell. So you might retain some muscle memory from our trip." He walked towards her and pat her horn once. "What was the last thing you remembered?"
Twilight thought about it for a second. "We were going to retrieve the Kontron Crystal for the TARDIS. Then I met..." A huge smile spread on her face. "Oh my gosh!!! YEARLING!!!" She yelled in excitement. "Is this 23rd August yet?" Atom nodded and Twilight teleported right beside Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash!! You have to come with me!"
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash walked through the dark woods somewhere in Equestria. Each one of them wearing only their armor saddlebag filled with some food and water. If anything goes FUBAR, they will use the Walkie Talkie to summon the TARDIS.
"What are we doing here again Twilight?" Rainbow asked as they walked deeper and deeper into the dark untamed jungle. She looked around the forest, feeling a sense of familiarity like she has heard of this place before. "Who is this Yearling person anyway?" She asked again.
The Unicorn chuckled and looked at Rainbow in amusement. "Come on RD, the woods, the branches, the dark untamed jungle." The Pegasus looked around once more and a nagging feeling started to appear behind her head. "Are you sure you've never heard of this place before? Perhaps, from a certain book?"
Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened and her mouth slowly gaped open. She looked at Twilight in disbelief and she started hyperventilating in excitement. "Whoa, whoa, hold on a second! A-are you saying that..." A permanent grin formed on her face. "Daring Do is a real pony? And she lives in this forest?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Twilight pointed at a pony standing in the distance. 'Whoosh' Rainbow Dash vanished in a blur of rainbows. "Fangirls..." Twilight walked closer towards the figure and saw a very familiar pony she met across Time and Space. "A.K Yearling!" The Unicorn greeted her.
"Twilight Sparkle!" Daring Do walked towards her and hoof-bumped with her. "Exactly 20 years later at this spot just like he said, looks like I owe him 100 bits." Then she smirked. "Or at least in my perspective, Mrs. Time Traveler?" Twilight smiled sheepishly and saw Rainbow Dash sneaking on a bush nearby.
"So, you told me that there's somepony you wanted me to meet?" Rainbow Dash's ears perked up when she heard Daring said that. Could it be that Twilight told Daring Do about her? She doesn't want to put her hopes up too high, but the thought about it makes her feel like the happiest pony in all Equestria.
"Yeah, she's a stuff of legend." Daring Do raised an eyebrow in interest. "She caused one of the most amazing phenomena in all Equestria." Twilight explained grinning as the adventurer tried to figure out what she's talking about.
Yearling rubbed her chin and looked down in deep thought. "A Phenomenon... A legendary phenomenon..." She looked up to the sky and a smile graced her face. "Oh, I see... Well, I cannot wait to meet her then." She observed the area around her and smirked. "You can come out now! I know you've been listening!"
Rainbow Dash gasped and jumped out of the bushes. She walked towards her hero with stars sparkling in her eyes. "H-how did you know?" Then a look of realization appeared on her face and she put a hoof over her face. "No wait, of course, you know, you're Daring Do!" She exclaimed.
Daring Do just chuckle in response. "To be fair, I didn't know where you are. I just said that out loud to trick you into revealing yourself." She pats Rainbow's back with a friendly grin on her face. "Word of advice, don't fall into an obvious trap."
The Blue Pegasus just nodded mutely with a huge grin on her face. She couldn't believe it. Here it is, her life-long hero, the coolest most, awesomest pony ever existed standing tall and proud in front of her. If this is a dream, she hoped that Tank would eat the alarm clock again. Chocking hazard be damned.
"So uh... you haven't told me your name." Daring Do said while watching the awestruck pegasus in front of her. "Hello? You okay there?" She waved her hoof in front of her face.
Rainbow Dash shook her head and took a deep breath to regain her composure. "Uh yeah! Don't worry, I'm okay. My name's Rainbow Dash!" She said. Then she leaned closer towards Daring Do. "I really love your books..." She whispered to her.
Daring Do just chuckle when she heard that. "I'm glad to hear that." Then she looked around warily and start walking deeper into the forest. "Come on, it's almost noon, my home is just up ahead." Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle followed close right behind her.
The forest is much different from the Everfree Forest. The wildlife is much more natural than the ones in the Everfree Forest. The trees looked like normal trees and the animals looked more like actual animals than mythological monsters. Too bad Rainbow Dash is too busy admiring Daring Do to notice anything.
A few minutes later, they made it in front of a wooden cabin in the middle of a small clearing. "Here it is, home sweet home." Daring Do walked took out her key and narrowed her eyes when she realized that the door is unlocked. She opened the door and everypony gasped in shock.
"Who would do something like this..." Rainbow Dash whispered in disbelief. She took a double take on the house. The floors are filled with pieces of ripped papers and books. The furniture is broken beyond all repair, leaving the only thing left standing is a wooden shelf sitting on the corner.
Daring Do sprinted into the house and grabbed a book from the shelf. She opened it, revealing a hidden compartment with a golden ring inside it. "It's safe..." She sighed in relief. Then she walked towards the ponies and smirked. "Pop Quiz, what am I holding?" She asked them while twirling the ring with her hooves.
"Oh, it must be the..." "The Ring of Scorchero!!!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, cutting Twilight off.
Daring Do smiled and walked back to the shelf. "Seems like you really like my works." She took out another book from the shelf. "Here, the hidden prequel of my books. Daring Do and The Kontron Crystal." She gave the book to Rainbow Dash who looked like she was about to faint in sheer happiness.
The Blue Pegasus looked at the cover and gasped. There's a picture Daring Do and Twilight Sparkle stood side by side in front of a huge Tatzlwurm and a pack of Timberwolves. There's also a picture of Ahuizotl jumping from a cliff towards the TARDIS flying at the corner. "Twi-Twilight... Is that really you?" Rainbow Dash whispered in disbelief. "B-but I thought you were dealing with political issues in the past..."
Daring laughed when she heard that. "Political issues? Twilight Sparkle and that human barged into my house and demanded that I gave her my Kontron Crystal." She sighed and looked at Twilight who just looked at her with a sheepish smile on her face. "Of course I refused, but then Ahuizotl jumped in and took the crystal away from us." Then she pointed at the book. "Well, just read the book if you want to know more."
Suddenly, a knocking sound came from the door. Followed by a loud masculine voice yelling at her to get out. "Looks like we got some company." The adventurer walked towards Rainbow and gave her the ring. "Here you go, Rainbow Dash." She put the ring around RD's neck. "Keep them warm for me okay?" She winked at her before stepping out of the cabin to welcome her guests.
Daring Do stood in front of a bunch of henchponies and Dr. Caballeron himself. She watched each and every single one of them with a confident smirk on her face, knowing for certain that they are no match for her. "Caballeron my good old friend!" Daring Do exclaimed like greeting an old friend.
Caballeron gritted her teeth in frustration. "That's Doctor Caballeron to you!" He exclaimed angrily.
Daring raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh I'm sorry, 'Doctor,' but I need to reschedule my appointment." She looked at her nonexistent watch. "I'm free next Sunday four p.m. How's that sound?" She asked Caballeron, earning a growl from the stallion.
"ENOUGH!!!" He yelled. "Give me that ring Daring Do!"
The Pegasus checked on her pockets and shrugged. "Oh, how silly of me, I must've misplaced it somewhere in this vast forest." She pointed at a tree nearby. "Of course, I certainly did not hide it inside that huge tree over there." Two henchponies actually walked towards the tree to check if there's a ring in there. 'Woosh' 'Thump' They fell down into trap hole hiding under the tree.
Daring Do stifled another laugh. "Really? Well, I certainly did not put it near that creek full of Piranhas over there." Two henchponies walked towards the creek. They all looked around warily, expecting for some traps. 'Splash' They slipped into the creek and found themselves surrounded by hundreds of hungry piranhas.
Daring Do held back a chuckle. "I told you, I didn't put in there!" She pointed at a bunch of bushes glowing in neon green lights nearby. "And I definitely did not put it near those radioactive bushes over there." Doctor Caballeron motioned his henchponies to check on the bushes. 'Thud' The two henchponies fell after touching the poisonous bushes. Daring Do struggled to hold back a laugh. "What did you do that for? I told you I didn't put it in there!"
Then, Daring Do pointed at her hut. "And I certainly did not hide it inside my home." She said with a smirk on her face. Dr. Caballeron gritted his teeth when he realized that none of his henchponies dared to check on the house. "Good to see that you've learned," Daring said before walking back towards her home.
"Not so fast Daring Do, you are not getting away so easily." Dr. Caballeron said. "Get her!!" The Henchponies nodded and lunged at the pegasus. 'Smack' She knocked away three stallions with a single roundhouse kick and floated a few feet up. Some pegasus henchponies tried to test their luck against the adventurer. 'Crack' They fell back to the ground with sprained wings and a killing migraine.
"Look Caballeron, I've fought an entire army and won," Daring said with a deadpan look on her face. "So come back later when you have an army on your own," Caballeron smirked and stomped his hooves. A Dozen giant cats emerged from the trees, each one of them baring their fangs threateningly at the Pegasus. "All right, guess you did learn from your lesson."
Daring Do jumped back and dodged a swipe from a tiger's claw. She hoof punched the cat in the face and kicked away a panther that was about to sneak up on her. She looked around and saw a couple of Jaguars circling her from all sides. The Jaguars lunged at her, and she jumped up to dodge the attack.
'BAM' The Jaguars hit each other and Daring Do body-slam their heads for good measure. Then she looked at a couple more tigers and panthers surrounding her from all sides. "Bring it!" A tiger lunged at her and Daring Do returned the favor with a left hook. A Panther followed the tiger's lead and found itself soaring towards the radioactive bushes.
She smirked at the rest of the big cats. "Is that all? Because I need to get back in writing." She said, causing Dr. Caballeron to growl in anger. "Hey, good stories are hard to come by, especially with some crazy neighbor like you all." She ducked from a strike from a little kitten and looked at Caballeron with a flat look on her face. "Really?"
"Enough!" A voice appeared from the forest. "You've humored me enough Dr. Caballeron. I will take the ring myself." A huge hulking primate beast emerged from the woods. He growled threateningly at the Pegasus and clapped his hands. A pack of lions emerged from the woods and trudged slowly towards the Pegasus.
Daring Do's eyes widened at the sight of the lions. She quickly flew twenty feet up to assess the situation. There are almost thirty big cats surrounding her from all sides and Ahuizotl himself stalking her from the ground. A soft smile appeared on Daring Do's face. She closed her eyes, clamped her wings shut, and let her instincts take over.
Two lions lunged at her and she met their claws with her hooves. Then she kicked the lions back to the ground, sending them and a few more lions sprawling onto the ground. A soft whistling sound appeared from behind her and she held up her hoof to block a strike from Ahuizotl. Finally, she landed right on top of a lion and start riding it like a rodeo.
Ahuizotl narrowed his eyes and looked at the cabin. An evil grin appeared on his face when he saw two ponies looking out the window with one of them wearing the golden ring on her neck. The ponies quickly hid away inside the cabin while Ahuizotl started to walk towards the cabin with a cruel smirk on his face.
'BANG' Ahuizotl kicked the door open and saw a Unicorn and a Pegasus looking at him with a terrified look on their faces. The beast walked towards the Pegasus and held out his hand. "Ring." He said threateningly.
Rainbow Dash whimpered and gave him the ring. "Good girl..." Ahuizotl walked away from the house and smirked in victory. "That's enough boys! I have the ring." He showed everypony the golden ring he got, followed by a victorious cheer from doctor Caballeron and his Henchponies. "Now we shall rule the world in an eternal heat!!!"
Daring Do watched as the primate and his minions run away from her house. She looked back to the hut and saw Twilight walking out of it with a sly grin on her face. "Don't worry Yearling, they can have it." A golden ring floated up from her saddlebag. "I got a better one."
Daring Do peeked out of the bushes near the giant temple. She observed the henchponies and tribe ponies guarding the perimeter of the temple. She looked behind and saw Twilight Sparkle looking at her with a confident look on her face. "Are you sure you are up for this?" The pegasus asked.
Twilight nodded and her horn started to glow brightly. In a flash of light, Twilight turned into a perfect copy of Daring Do; minus the hat and her vest. "I'm always ready." She walked towards Daring and took off her hat. "If anything goes wrong, Rainbow Dash will summon the TARDIS."
Daring Do took off her robe and gave it to Twilight. The unicorn turned pegasus took off her saddlebag and gave it to Daring Do. Her horn glows brightly for a moment and Daring Do turned into a perfect copy of Twilight. "Now you should be able to use my saddlebag. Without the magical enchantment of course." the pegasus turned unicorn put on the saddlebag and pressed the button.
"Okay, here goes nothing, wish me luck everypony!" Twilight ran out of the bushes and start making her way to the center of the temple. "OVER HERE!!! CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!!!" She yelled. The Guards saw her and quickly marched down from the temple to capture her. "Yeah! You can't catch me! I'm too fast for you!" Twilight yelled.
Meanwhile, the real Daring Do and Rainbow Dash sneaked around the temple. They went to the opposite direction Twilight went and slipped towards the back entrance of the temple. There, they found three henchponies 'Bonk' 'Pow' 'Smack' standing, lying down in pain in front of the stone entrance.
They walked closer towards the entrance and realized that it is locked from the inside. "I have an idea, but I prefer to use it as last resort." Daring Do said while observing the double stone door in front of her. "If you can somehow open 5 tonnes of a magically enforced stone gate, don't hesitate."
Rainbow Dash thought about it for a second. "I do have one." She took out the Sonic Screwdriver from her saddlebag. "Bruce told me you can open any locks and doors with this." She walked towards the door with the Sonic Screwdriver in her mouth. She pointed it at the door but nothing happens. "He forgot to tell me how to use this..." She muttered.
Daring Do took the Sonic Screwdriver from RD's mouth and held it with her hoof. She pressed a button on the side of it and it started to glow brightly. "Let's see.." She pointed it at the sides of the door and the whole place starts shaking. Rainbow Dash gaped at Daring Do in disbelief. "Here, thanks." Daring Do put the Screwdriver back into RD's mouth with a smirk on her face.
With that, they stepped into the temple. The first thing they saw was a huge corridor filled with ancient drawings decorating the walls and torches glowing in crimson fire illuminating their path. "Do you know what this means Twilight? I mean Daring Do?" Rainbow Dash asked, momentarily forgetting that the pony beside him is Daring Do in disguise.
Daring Do took a closer look at the ancient drawings. "There's this dark orb depicted as the Core of Corruption." She pointed at an illustration of dark orb sitting on a pedestal. "Then a powerful Unicorn, possibly Starswirl the Bearded, separated the orb into five pieces." Daring Do carefully wipe some dust off the walls. "Two pieces of the orb corrupted the two princesses. But Starswirl interferes and turned them into his prized pupils. That way, he can postpone the corruption process."
Daring Do stepped back from the wall and looked back at Rainbow Dash. "That's all I can decipher... The rest is... Well here, take a look." She said. Rainbow Dash walked closer to the walls and saw rough scratch marks covering the drawings. "Looks like Ahuizotl doesn't want us to find out what he's planning..." Daring muttered.
Then they walked deeper and deeper into the temple. More and more scratch marks covered the ancient writings and the two pegasuses decided to focus on stopping Ahuizotl. Soon, however, they found themselves standing in front of tiled patches of a floor with many different symbols above it.
"Oh, look, a riddle." Daring Do tried to fly over it and realized that she is a unicorn now. "Right, I don't have any wings..." She looked at Rainbow Dash. "You mind solving this riddle for me Rainbow Dash?" She asked her.
Rainbow Dash gulped and flew a few feet up. She has seen this trap pattern before, it's similar to the one found in the third Daring Do novel. Apparently, there's actually an ancient company who sells deadly traps for a very low price. Most of the traps can be easily bypassed, but Ahuizotl seemed to order a special made.
The airborne pegasus took a deep breath when he realized that the trap is made in a standard storytelling format. "Uh... you can step forward." She put a hoof over her face as Daring Do stepped onto the first tile. She sighed in relief when nothing happened. She looked at the choices, the traps are usually easy to bypass if you know the password so the next tile shouldn't be too far.
"Umm... The ship of Equus sailed through the waters of..." There are four different tiles. Sun, Moon, Tree, and Apple. "Celestial Sea? The sun, I think?" Daring Do hopped onto the tile calmly, unlike Rainbow whose biting her hoof in fear. "Okay, the discovery of the..." She pressed her head with her hooves in frustration. "Aah! What was it? The..." She hoof punched herself and a bright smile appeared on her face. "Tenochtitlan Basin!! The Crusader of Equus discovered the Tenochtitlan Basin when they arrived in Equestria!"
Daring Do hopped onto the illustration of the said Basin. She looked up and cringed a little when she realized that Rainbow Dash is sweating bullets in a nervous wreck. "Okay!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, taking a deep breath to regain her composure. "The Basin then... They discovered the uh... No! They were attacked by the Ketztwctl Empress!" Daring Do hopped on to the next tile and realized that there are only two tiles left.
Rainbow Dash starts hyperventilating as she tried to figure out what's next. "Okay! The next one is..." She gasped in shock when she realized that all the next tiles are identical. "Uh... Lucky number four?" Daring Do raised an eyebrow and jumped onto the fourth tiles from the left. "No, wait! It was five mountain peaks!!!"
'Click' The Pegasuses eyes widened and a bunch of arrows shot out of the walls around them. "NOOOOO!!!! DARING DO!!!" Rainbow Dash yelled in panic and anguish. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell down to the end of the puzzle. However, Daring Do just jumped two feet up and landed on the puzzle tile floor. She looked at Rainbow Dash lying unconscious in front of her with an amused smile on her face.
"Huh, this armor is amazing..." Daring Do muttered, after realizing how easy it is for her to jump through the puzzles. She gently woke up Rainbow Dash. "Come on Dashie, I don't like it when my partner slacks on the job." Dashie blearily opened her eyes and looked around.
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened when she realized where she is. "No, you are not dreaming. Now come on, let's go find Ahuizotl before Twilight is forced to blow her cover." The blue pegasus just nodded mutely before following her hero deeper and deeper into the temple.
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle disguised as Daring Do was strapped on a wall inside a small chamber that's slowly filling up with water full of hungry piranhas. She struggled against the bindings and tried to resist the urge of teleporting away out of existence before her friends saved her. "Surrender now, Ahuizotl, or I'll be forced to take you down!" She exclaimed.
Ahuizotl just laughed arrogantly. "Oh, Daring Do, I will so miss your amusing laughter-jokes." He turned around and walked back into the temple. "Now, I must leave to commence the ring-placing ceremony to unleash eight hundred years of unrelenting, sweltering heat!"
Twilight gritted her teeth as she tried to pull against the bindings with all her might. She used a subtle magic to make the stone lighter and managed to free one of her hooves. "Ugh... Where are they..." She grunted in exhaustion. "Can't believe Daring Do actually has to deal with this on daily basis..." She freed one of her hind hooves.
"Ouch!!!" She looked down and saw one of the piranhas chewing one of her hooves. "Get off of me you!" She kicked the fish away from her hoof and accidentally freed her other front hooves. "WHOA!!!" She lost her balance and she found herself hanging on her hind hoof face first on the water below her.
A Piranha bit her nose and Twilight start moving erratically in panic. 'Splash' Her bindings gave in and she fell into the water. "AAAAHH!!! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! GAME OVER! I'M OUT OF HERE!!!" 'Bzzzt' She turned back into a unicorn and teleported away to safety. "Ugh... Daring Do makes it look so much easier..." She muttered while shaking off all the water from her body.
Ironically, Daring Do and Rainbow Dash arrived just a few minutes later. "You're late..." Twilight muttered with a deadpan expression on her face. "What took you so long?" Rainbow Dash and Daring Do said nothing. They just pointed at Twilight mutely. "What?"
"Umm... that, on your left ear." Rainbow Dash said. The unicorn narrowed her eyes and conjured up a mirror right in front of her. She gritted her teeth when she realized that there's a piranha munching on her left ear. 'Smack' She slapped it away harshly from her ear and zapped it away into ashes. Love and harmony be damned.
"Come on... I have something to say to Mr. Ahuizotl about his choice of death traps..." She muttered darkly.
Rainbow Dash leaned closer towards Daring Do. "There was a time where I was forced to save my enemy's life from my own friend..." She whispered to her.
"I get it... Yeah, I'll make sure she doesn't fatally hurt Ahuizotl..."
After navigating through the temples, the trio arrived in the middle of the palace. The rhythmic sounds of thudding drums through the air as Ahuizotl began the ceremony. The beast held up the fake ring up to the sky and laughed in victory. "Finally!!! With the ring of destiny, I will summon the powerful Day Breaker and rule the world in 800 years of scorching heat!!! AHAHAHA!!!" He laughed in mirth.
Meanwhile, the trio watched the ape with an amused smirk on their faces. "Oh, just think about the look on his face when he put that ring and nothing happened." Rainbow Dash said with a victorious smile on her face.
Twilight, however, felt like something very wrong is about to happen. She took a closer look at the tower where Ahuizotl put the rings and narrowed her eyes. "Huh... That almost looked like a magic transmitter..." She muttered. "Impressive how old civilizations have already discovered old technology far before we do right?"
"What's a magic transmitter?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"It's a technology used to focus a huge amount of magic using special magic conducting items such as gold and crystals..." Twilight's eyes widened and her face paled in realization. "Just like the perfect copy I made..." They all watched in horror and confusion as Ahuizotl put the last ring into the tower.
'Vwoosh' A huge column of orange light shot out of the tower. The sun above them turned crimson red and the sky turned orange through the sheer heat. "Finally!!! Victory is mine!!" Ahuizotl exclaimed. He watched in glee as the column of light turned into a huge ball of light and fire, forming into a white and red mare.
The mare has a red and white coat with a red sun cutie marks on her flanks. She has crimson fires flowing on her head and fire burning inside her eyes. A huge wave of fire shot out of her body and the altar lit up with flames. "AHAHAHA!!!" She laughed maniacally. "Now, time for the big premiere..."
The flaming pony flew up to the sky and floated above the sun. Tendrils of crimson flames shot out of the sun and soared through all edges of Equestria. "EQUESTRIA!!!" Her voice boomed through the entire world. "Your weak and pathetic Princess Celestia has fallen." Waves of fire shot out to the sky, forming into an image of red sun. "Replaced by the rightful ruler of Equestria, The Greater, Powerful, and More Beautiful version of her." Another columns of fire surrounded her. "DAY BREAKER!!!"
'Vworrp' 'Vworrp' 'Vworrp' The TARDIS materialized right beside the three ponies. The door opened, revealing The Doctor and Trixie walking out of it with a panicked look on their faces. "What in the name of TARDIS is going on here?" The Doctor yelled in disbelief. "The whole Equestria is in chaos and Princess Celestia has gone missing!!!"
"WHERE'S BRUCE?!" Rainbow Dash and Twilight exclaimed at once.
This time, Trixie stepped forward with a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry, but Bruce is in no condition to fight." She looked at Twilight. "Your... Eradication spell did a number on his physical body." Then she smiled confidently. "But don't worry, Trixie has another plan." The unicorn took off her head and pulled out a Discord out of it.
A relieved look appeared on everypony's face. Now that they have a reality warper on their side, they should be able to defeat the Day Breaker. "Oh, my! Is that the Day Breaker?" Discord said in amazement. "I can see why Swirly asked me to put all corruption into Luna instead of Celestia." He said with a very intrigued expression on her face. "I too prefer Nightmare Moon over Nightmare Star..."
The Draconequus walked towards the Day Breaker, ignoring the flames all around him. "Ahem, good afternoon Day Breaker. Would you please..." 'BOOM' A huge beam of crimson red and yellow magic shot out of the mare's horn, cutting him off. The spell lasted for twenty seconds and everypony shuddered at the sight before them.
A huge trench filled with molten lava was all that remains from one side of the temple. "Hey!!! That was a priceless ancient archaeological site you just destroyed there!" Discord exclaimed right behind the Day Breaker. 'BOOM' She shot another beam of magic at Discord, destroying half of the temple in the process. "Are you kidding me?"
Discord snapped his fingers and all damages done to the temple reversed. Save for the fact that all ancient writing was replaced by a fifty thousand words long poetry and song telling about how great Discord and Trixie is. "There we go, everything back to normal." Then he shuddered. "Can't believe I just said that."
He snapped his fingers and a giant fire extinguisher appeared right in front of him. "Now, time to put down the fire." He shot Day Breaker with the fire hydrant and the mare retailed with a huge wave of scorching fire. "Phew, you really need to chill down." He snapped his fingers and ten more fire extinguisher appeared all around the Day Breaker.
"AAAAHH!!!" The Day Breaker yelled in agony as the waves of Carbon dioxide smothers her flames. A look of rage appeared on the mare's face and the flame turned into plasma. 'Poof' All fire extinguisher disappeared in a puff of smoke. "You will regret this!!!" Day Breaker exclaimed.
Discord narrowed his eyes. "Plasma eh?" He snapped his fingers and a bucket of liquid nitrogen appeared above Day Breaker. 'Sshh' The liquid nitrogen vaporized without damaging the pony. "Huh... that's odd..." He snapped his finger and a swimming pool filled with liquid oxygen appeared above them.
'Vwoosshh' It vaporized in an instant, sending fresh air to the whole area. "Do you really think you can douse the sun itself?" Day Breaker asked mockingly. "I am nothing like Princess Celestia, and you are no match for my power!" She shot Discord with another beam of magic again and Discord appeared behind her again.
"I can do this all day. You see what I did there? Day Breaker? Ahahaha!!!" He laughed in mirth. A giant marshmallow appeared on his hands. He held it above the fiery pony's head and smirked. "Wow, I never knew you are great for roasting marshmallows!!" Discord exclaimed, enjoying the pissed off expression on Day Breaker's face more than the taste of the marshmallow.
'Vwoosh' Day Breaker shot out a huge wave of fire towards the Draconequus. The fire dies down five minutes later, revealing Discord with some clothing hanging beside him. "You're also great for drying my laundry!" He exclaimed while putting the clothes into a basket. "I wonder what else you're good at?"
A cruel smirk appeared on Day Breaker's face as her horn glows brightly. "Oh, I am quite skilled in destroying the ones you love!!!" She aimed her horn at the ponies and shot them all with her magic before Discord could react. When the beam dies down, the only thing left is a huge crater filled with molten lava.
"TRIXIE!!!!" Discord yelled out in panic. 'BOOM' The Day Breaker shot him in his moment of vulnerability. "GAH!!" Discord yelped in pain as the scorching hot magic hit him dead on. The Draconequus could feel the magic burning away his physical form and his magical form. He closed his eyes as he felt his body stiffened and slowly turning back into stone.
'Vworrp' 'Vworrp' The TARDIS appeared right in front of the reality warper, blocking the beam of magic from petrifying him. The door slammed open and Discord wasted no time jumping into the TARDIS. He looked around and saw everypony including Ahuizotl, the tribal ponies, Dr. Caballeron, and his henchponies cowering in fear inside the TARDIS.
The Doctor walked towards him and start scanning him with his Sonic Screwdriver. "Are you all right Discord? I'm sorry, but Day Breaker has enough power to level the Elements of Harmony. At this moment it would be unwise for you to fight her." The Doctor explained.
"So, what's the plan?" Discord asked.
A voice from the walkie-talkie answered his question. "The SCP shall restrain the Day Breaker." Everypony just narrowed their eyes when they heard that. Each one of them wondering what the SCP has against the Day Breaker. "ETA one minute." Discord shrugged and opened the TARDIS, curious about the Foundation's plan.
Loud whirring sounds appeared from the sky. Everypony including the Day Breaker watched in disbelief as five helicopters soared down from the sky. Each one of them armed with magical explosive and magic rifles, ready to level an entire army. Dozens of Pegasus, all armed to the teeth with magical weapons surrounded the helicopters from all sides.
From inside one of the Helicopter, Princess Luna jumped out. She soared down right towards the Day Breaker and her horn glows brightly. The Moon itself slowly rose from the horizon and shield the earth from the sun, creating the second eclipse in the history of Equestria. "Stop this at once sister! Or I will be forced to strike you down!" Princess Luna exclaimed.
Day Breaker sent a hail of fire, but Princess Luna disappeared in a flash of light. "Very well then..." Princess Luna said from right behind the Day Breaker. "Agents! Secure the main target! Initiate Operation Solar Flare!" she yelled out.
Dozens upon dozens of agents jumped down from the helicopter. Each one of them holding the Sonic Screwdriver in their mouths. 'BANG' 'BANG' 'BANG' 'BANG' 'BANG' The helicopters dropped down five black stone structures around the Day Breaker. A wave of green light appeared from all around the stone structures and start sucking the Day Breaker's magic.
The Agents landed all around the stone structures and aimed their Sonic Screwdrivers towards the Day Breaker, disrupting her magic and stopping her from escaping away. "Surrender now Day Breaker! Or I will have no choice but take extreme measures!" Princess Luna exclaimed
Day Breaker narrowed her eyes and a huge pulse of power shot out of her body, knocking away all the agents. She wasted no time teleporting away from the stone structures and glared at Princess Luna. "Bring it on!!!" She exclaimed stubbornly. "You and your pathetic toys are no match for me."
Princess Luna narrowed her eyes. "Bring out the Wingless Angel."
A wingless pegasus who looked almost exactly like Rainbow Dash jumped down from one of the helicopters and soared down towards the Day Breaker. The pony wore a full body suit that concealed her whole body save for her rainbow-colored mane. 'SMACK' She punched Day Breaker in the face and kicked her away back to the stone structures.
Day Breaker growled in anger and tried to gallop out of the stone structures. But the agent stood in her way with a determined look on her face. Using the last of her magic, Day Breaker shot out a wave of fire at the agent.
Agent Wingless Angel held up the sonic screwdriver on her hoof and pointed it at the incoming waves of fire. The fire dissipated when it gets near and the Day Breaker start howling in anger. "You insolent mortals!!!" Her horn glows bright, preparing to unleash a powerful beam of magic.
Three agents jumped down from the helicopters and soared down towards the rainbow-maned agent. They all wore the same black suit that covered their whole body safe for their face and mane. They held out their sonic screwdriver and aimed it point blank at the Day Breaker. "Don't even think about it..." Agent Sweetie Drops said while walking closer towards the Day Breaker. "Surrender now Day Breaker!"
"NEVER!!!" Day Breaker unleashed another powerful pulse of magic. All agents aside from an agent who looked like Fluttershy were sent flying away through her sheer raw power. "I am the Day Breaker and no Changeling Magical Stones, Sonic Magical Vibration, and some measly Martial Arts will ever defeat me!" She exclaimed.
"Initiate Interstellar Shower..." Agent Sweet said through her Walkie-Talkie.
All SCP agents in the surrounding area took out their magical rifles. The Helicopters lowered down a little more above the Day Breaker. 'RATATATATA' Flashes of multi-colored lights appeared from all directions as hundred upon hundreds of spells shot down towards the Day Breaker. "AAAHH!!!" The mare yelled in agony. Her horn glows bright and a huge shield appeared all around her.
Day Breaker glared at the agents in front of her from behind her shield. A blinding light appeared from her horn and the sun started to grew bigger and bigger. "Foolish little sister! If you don't cease your attack, I will burn everything with the sun!" She laughed in maniacally as the air grew hotter and hotter.
"All SCP Agents! Disrupt her magic! Stop her from pulling the sun!" Agent Sweet exclaimed. All SCP Agents surrounded the Day Breaker and start breaking through her shield using their Sonic Screwdriver. "The rest of you, remove the magic transmitter before it's too late!!!"
Discord snapped his fingers and teleported himself, Twilight, Trixie, Rainbow Dash, and Daring Do into the magical shield. They stood face to face with the Day Breaker and prepared themselves for a final standoff. "Why hello there Day Breaker! Are you ready for a rematch?" He asked her.
A dozen sabers made out of pure fire magic appeared all around the flaming mare. They soared towards the draconequus, only to be deflected by some floating swordfishes. "En Garde!!!" The swordfish and the solar sabers faced off against each other. Sending sparks of plasma and pieces of fried fish fillets flying in all directions every time they clashed with each other.
An untold amount of magic builds up on Day Breaker's horn. She aimed her horn straight at the ponies and 'BOOM' she shot out a huge beam of magic at the ponies. "Die!!" Day Breaker yelled. However, Trixie's crystal glows bright and an invisible shield appeared all around her. Disrupting the magical beam until it dissipated completely.
"Not when the Great and Powerful Trixie is around!" The blue unicorn stepped forward and looked at Discord with an excited smirk on her face. "Come on Discord my dear! Let's show this mare why nopony should mess with the Stars of Equestria!!!" Discord chuckled and snapped his fingers.
A bright blue light engulfed the unicorn. She floated a few inches off the ground and start turning into a her Equestria Girl Counterpart. The Crystal on the girl's chest glow brightly and she smirked confidently at the Day Breaker. "Now show me what you got!!!" She exclaimed confidently.
'BOOM' The Day Breaker shot out a beam of magic towards the Equestria Girl. "That old trick again?" The spell stopped just a few inches away from Trixie's body. She put a hand over her crystal and the spell turned into a ball of pure magical energy. "Trixie cannot be defeated with such a weak spell!" She exclaimed.
The ball of pure magical energy shot back towards the Day Breaker and 'BOOM' the spell exploded in her face. The Day Breaker glared murderously at the Equestria Girl and charged towards her. A swirling vortex of magic appeared above her horn as she galloped closer and closer towards Trixie.
'Clash' A purple shield of magic stopped Day Breaker in her tracks. Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, armed with her armor and start rapidly shooting the Day Breaker with her own magic. "Rainbow Dash! Daring Do! Remove those rings right now!" The unicorn exclaimed while dodging a strike from a solar saber.
Daring Do and Rainbow Dash quickly flew towards the Altar. They quickly removed the first ring and a yell of agony could be heard from the Day Breaker. "Note to self, when making a copy, never make it too prefect..." Daring Do muttered while she and Rainbow Dash removed the second ring.
Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. "Yeah, what do you think is powering up this magic transmitter?" She asked Daring Do while removing the third ring.
Daring Do think back to the drawings inside the temple. "I think it's the Core of Corruption." She gritted her teeth when she realized that the rings are getting heavier and heavier. "When we removed the last one, the whole temple will fall apart. We need to fly out or escape back into the TARDIS."
Meanwhile, with the rings removed, Day Breaker is getting weaker and weaker. Her fiery mane started to dissipate and her breathing get labored. She looked at Discord and the unicorns standing in front of her defiantly. "You might have defeated me... But you will never get your Princess back! I, The Day Breaker will..." 'SMACK' A powerful left hook, 'BOOF' followed by a roundhouse kick from Trixie knocked her down mid-sentence.
"Now that felt good..." Trixie muttered while rubbing her fist with a smirk on her face. Discord snapped his fingers and Trixie turned back into a pony. "Aww..." She whined at the Draconequus.
'Vworrp' 'Vworrp' 'Vworrp' The TARDIS arrived near Fluttershy's cabin. Twilight Sparkle, Daring Do, Rainbow Dash, Trixie, and Discord stepped out of it with a relieved look on their faces. They looked around and saw all of their friends standing in front of them with an exhausted look on their faces. "Hello everypony!"
A flash of green flame appeared around a nearby mare and she turned into Chrysalis. The Changeling walked towards Twilight and dropped down in front of her. "Mistress... I have done as you asked... Screwball is sleeping inside the Cabin." She said between her breaths.
The unicorn smiled at Chrysalis and the changeling stood up from the ground. "Thank you Chrysalis. I know I can always count on you." She looked back at Trixie and Discord who were looking at Chrysalis in amazement. "See? I told you she could handle it. Now go and meet your daughter, I need to check on Atom."
Discord and Trixie disappeared in a flash of light. "Rainbow Dash, why don't you give Daring Do a quick tour around Ponyville before The Doctor send her back to the forest?" Twilight said towards the pegasus.
Rainbow Dash grinned and looked at Daring Do. "Sure, lead the way Dash." Daring Do replied coolly.
Twilight looked around and saw a very familiar human standing beside Fluttershy and Rarity. A relieved smile appeared on her face and quickly walked towards the human. "Bruce! Oh I'm so glad you're all right!" The unicorn lunged at him and gave him a quick hug. "I thought you're stuck as a pony forever."
The human however just cringed. He looked at Twilight with a regretful look on his face. "Forgive me mistress, but..." He turned into a changeling in a flash of green light. "Lord Bruce ordered me to disguise myself as him for fifteen seconds." The changeling explained.
Twilight looked at the changeling in disbelief. A hand pat her head from behind and the unicorn quickly turned around. Bruce Gunderson stood behind her with both of his hands inside his pocket and a relieved look on his face. "Sup girl! How's the trip?" he asked her.
The unicorn just chuckled and playfully hoof-punched him. "What was that all about?" She asked him, wondering why the human would abuse his power just to make him hug some random changeling.
Bruce looked at Twilight with a knowing look on his face. "Look Twi, no offense, but I need to make sure the memory block is powerful enough to make sure you don't kill me on sight." He explained. Then he smiled cheerfully. "Of course, since you're not zapping me all the way to the Crystal Empire we can safely say that everything is all right."
Twilight nodded in agreement. "Yes... Everything is all right in the end..."
Princess Celestia laid down on a bed beside her throne with an exhausted look on her face. She looked at her sister flipping through some of her paper works with a grateful expression on her face. "Thank you, Princess Luna, I did not expect you to help me with my paperwork."
Princess Luna looked at her older sister with a flat look on her face. "To be honest, I prefer sitting in my room and play the video games my counterpart gave me from the mirror dimension." Then her expression softened. "But I suppose you need all the rest you can get. So I decided to help you."
The princess of the sun chuckled a little before sitting up from her position. "Luna, I'm very curious. Where did you get all those flying vehicles?" She asked her. "Did you asked Bruce to build them for you or..."
Princess Luna shook her head. "Bruce only builds the magical weapons for those helicopters. As for where I get those helicopters..." A smile slowly spread across her face. "Apparently my human counterpart Principal Luna was a high-level general who worked in the military. She doesn't mind borrowing me some of those helicopters from her private collection." She explained.
Princess Celestia nodded before lying back down on the bed. She looked up to the ceiling above her in deep thought. "The Tree of Harmony has fallen..." She took a deep breath. "Just a few hours ago I was turned into the Day Breaker." She closed her eyes and sad look slowly formed on her face. "Is it too late to achieve Peace and Harmony?"
Bruce Gunderson lies down on a giant fluffy sofa inside the Crusader's Clubhouse. How does a giant sofa fit inside a small wooden clubhouse? Just like a certain time-traveling blue box, the clubhouse is much bigger on the inside.
The interior of the clubhouse is filled with many types of furniture. There are three small couches and a sofa which Bruce is lying down on, three different wooden cupboards filled with many tools and gadgets for all protagonizing needs, and a huge circular table in the middle of the room with a 3D holographic replica of Ponyville in the middle of it.
Currently, three red dots blinked near the the Ponyville Schoolhouse. A purple dot blinked near the Golden Oak Library, and a blue dot blinked right in the middle of the Clubhouse itself.
Bruce looked to his left and saw a Falcon resting on a perch near the window. The Falcon has brown feather and obsidian black eyes. He wore a lightweight vest with a spy camera strapped in the middle of his chest and a small booster behind his back.
The human sat up from his position. “Hey Skywalker, wake up buddy.” Bruce snapped his fingers and the falcon opened its eyes lazily. “Can you check on the Crusaders for me?” He asked him nicely.
‘Squawk’
Bruce narrowed his eyes. “Hey! I’m not lazy, I have work to do here.” The Falcon gave Bruce a falcon’s equivalent of deadpan look. “Look, I’m just tired, all right? Come on pal, help me out here. Please?” Skywalker rolled his eyes in response before pecking a small button near the window.
The window opened and Bruce Gunderson smiled gratefully. “Good boy Skywalker!!!” He exclaimed as the falcon took off to find the Crusaders. “You can have my fish sticks if you want!”
Then, Bruce snapped his fingers and the ceiling above him opened. A monitor descended down from the ceiling and Bruce took out his remote. “Now, let’s see...” He pressed a button and he can see Twilight Sparkle tidying up the Golden Oak library. “Nope.”
He pressed another button and he can see his empty room in the second story of Fluttershy’s Cabin. “Wow, thanks Fluttershy...” He said to himself when he realized that his room isn’t a complete shipwreck he left it as. “I really need to make it up to her somehow.”
He pressed another button and he can see a live footage of the whole Ponyville from above the sky. “Ah! Finally.” It is Skywalker’s Spy Cam. With it, he can do an aerial patrol of the whole Ponyville Village from the comfort of the sofa. He can easily contact the Crusaders to dispatch trivial matters, contact Twilight AKA Mare Do Well to dispatch minor threats, or just get out and deal with some major problem if he really has to.
A few minutes later, Skywalker made it towards a stage near Ponyville Schoolhouse. He watched in confusion when he saw Rainbow Dash and Daring Do watching the Crusader’s flag-carrying routine for the Equestria Games when in reality they should waiting for the Doctor near Fluttershy’s Cabin.
Skywalker soared down towards a branch nearby and the human realized that it is almost time for Crusader’s performance. He put a hand over his earpiece and start talking. “Look up Crusaders!” He said.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked up. “Look! It’s Bruce’s Pet Eagle!” Apple Bloom waved at the camera, followed by her friends. “Bruce! Are you getting this?” She asked him. “Can you go here and see our routine?”
“First of all, Skywalker is a Falcon, not an eagle.” The Crusaders rolled their eyes when he said that. “Second of all, I’m a bit busy here with something.” The fillies groaned when they heard that. “Don’t worry, Skywalker will record it for me if I miss it.”
Apple Bloom nodded and walked closer towards the cam strapped on Skywalker’s chest. “Do you think we’ll make it?” She asked him. “Rainbow Dash said that a special guest has arrived to judge our performance.” The filly pointed at Daring Do standing beside Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo stepped forward and sighed. “We’re really nervous Bruce, do you think we’ll make it?” She asked with a hint of hope in her eyes.
Bruce nodded in response although the crusaders couldn’t see it. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll make it.” He said.
The Crusaders nodded before saluting Bruce with a determined look on their faces. “We’ll make you proud Protector!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
Bruce saluted at them from the Clubhouse. “I know you will Crusaders. Now go and show the world who you are!” He cut off the connection and smirked to himself. “Now let’s see if Daring Do and Rainbow Dash is late for the Doctor’s appointment.” He muttered to himelf.
Then he picked up his Quantum Walkie-Talkie lying down beside him. “Hey Doc! Is Daring Do and Rainbow Dash with you?” He narrowed his eyes. “Hmm, you sure they’re not a changeling?” He asked him again. “Okay, thanks for telling me. I better go.”
Bruce stood up from the sofa and walked towards his bag lying in the corner. He wore it and the backpack unfolded itself into blue and black body armor with a couple of electric blue wings with white crack-like patterns behind it. “Looks like some changelings forgot rule number one...”
Meanwhile, at that exact time, Daring Do and Rainbow Dash stood in front of the TARDIS near Fluttershy’s Cabin. The doctor is about to send Daring Do back home and it’s time for them to say goodbye. They hoof-bumped and smiled at each other. “I’ll see you later Daring Do.” Rainbow Dash said with a wistful smile on her face. “I hope Ponyville isn’t too boring for an adventurer like you.” She added.
Daring Do chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t worry Dashie, with ponies like you here; nothing’s gonna be boring.” Then she looked at the Doctor standing inside the TARDIS. “Okay Doc, I’m ready to go back home.”
‘Bzzt’ A flash of white light appeared in front of them, they all took a step back warily as a Stallion suddenly appeared from the flash. The Stallion has grey coat, hourglass cutie mark similar to the doctor, and black floppy mane. He wore a red fez on his head and a red bowtie around his neck. He smiled and waved at everypony around him.
“Hey! Tenth Doctor!” The newly arrived doctor exclaimed after noticing the Doctor staring at him inside the TARDIS before anyone could say anything. “Damn I looked good!” Then he realized something and he moved his attention to the Pegasus.
“Yearling! Oh you looked so young!” He took out a black watch-like device from out of nowhere. “Here, I fixed your Time Vortex Manipulator!” He gave her the device before anypony could say anything. “Don’t worry she got a new one.” He showed her another one of those watch around his left front hoof. “Good Bye!!!”
The stallion stood on his hind hoof and pressed a button on his watch. ‘Bzzt’ He disappeared in a flash of white light, leaving three confused ponies in his wake. “What just happened?” Daring Do asked while inspecting the watch in her hoofs. “And what is this thing?” She asked again.
The Doctor took a closer look at the watch in front of him. He whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver and scanned the watch. “For some reason after another, my future-self decided that it is wise to give you a Time Vortex Manipulator.” He said in total confusion. “I really don’t get it, why would I make this thing anyway? This’ll just lead to more troubles!” He exclaimed.
Daring Do’s eyes brightens when she heard that. “Did you say Time Travelling Device?” She asked in excitement. “You mean I can travel back in time with this?”
The Doctor nodded. “I suppose so, but don’t get your hopes up. Even I don’t know how to use this.” He said. “It might take you years just to master basic teleportation with this device let alone travelling back in time.”
‘Bzzt’ The doctor from the future appeared again in a flash of light. This time, he is holding a mop on his left hoof and a piece of paper in his mouth. “Oh! I almost forgot! Here’s the manual!” He said, giving Daring Do a piece of paper. “Trust me, it’s not as hard as it looks.” He winked at her before disappearing again in a flash of white light.
“Well...” The Doctor looked at Daring Do and Rainbow Dash for a moment before sighing. “Since I’ve installed a Paradox prevention matrix all across Ponyville, you can go whenever you want without creating a paradox.” The two Pegasus just blinked owlishly at him. “Or in layman’s turn, go nuts.”
Rainbow Dash and Daring Do grinned at each other. “What do you say partner? Discord’s first tyranny? The Battle of Sun and Moon? The Birth of the Tree of Harmony?” Daring Do fiddled for a moment with the Time Vortex Manipulator. “What will it be?”
Rainbow Dash thought about it for a second. “Umm... how about an hour ago?” She asked her with a sheepish look on her face. “I promised Ms. Harshwhinny to become the judge of Ponyville flag carrying routine for the Equestria Games. But you were there so... You know the rest.”
Daring Do chuckled. “All right then, you know the drill right? Don’t let your past-self sees you.” She looked at the manual and nodded. “Let’s see... Shouldn’t be too hard, put your hoof on this fancy little watch and we are good to go!” Rainbow Dash put a hoof over the watch around Daring’s hoof.
Daring Do pressed a button and in a flash of light she and Rainbow Dash found themselves standing around in the middle of a clearing. Then they all looked around and saw dozens of ponies staring at them in shock and disbelief. Daring looked behind her and saw the Ponyville Schoolhouse in the distance. “I might’ve missed the destination a little...” Daring Do muttered. “Come on, let’s see when we are.”
Rainbow Dash nodded and followed her idol’s lead. She looked at the ponies around them and waved sheepishly. “Uh... Twilight botched another spell!” She exclaimed. The ponies oohed in realization before going about their business. “Works every time...” She muttered with a smirk on her face.
Soon, the two Pegasus made it towards the Ponyville Schoolhouse. There, they saw the Crusaders standing around with some fillies and Ms. Harshwhinny waiting for them. “Rainbow Dash! You came!!!” Scootaloo exclaimed in excitement. “See? I told you she’s coming!” She said towards her friends with a smug look on her face.
Ms. Harshwhinny walked towards them and narrowed her eyes. “Weren’t you just here telling me that you couldn’t come?” She asked with a steely look in her eyes. “And who is that cosplayer?” She pointed at Daring Do standing beside Rainbow Dash.
“Well that’s new...” Daring Do muttered while holding Rainbow dash back from obliterating the mare in front of her. “And no I am not a Cosplayer; I am A.K. Yearling the writer of the Daring Do series.”
Ms. Harshwhinny smiled at her. “I always knew you based your character over yourself.” Then she looked back at Rainbow Dash with a flat look on her face. “And since you’re here, now I can go and deal with more important matter. Good bye.”
Ms. Harshwhinny left the Ponyville Schoolhouse, leaving Rainbow Dash with a bunch of performance to judge. “Okay, now let’s see all of your flag carrying routines.” She said with a smile on her face. “Who wants to go first?”
“I do.” A voice suddenly appeared right behind them. Rainbow Dash turned around and saw Bruce looking at her with a flat look on his face. “Would you please explain to me how you can be in two places at once?” He folded his arms in front of his chest. “Or are you not Rainbow Dash at all? Rule Number One remember?”
Rainbow Dash just looked at him in confusion. She looked at Daring Do and saw pressing her hoof against her forehead in realization. “Umm, what’s going on?” She asked the Adventurer. “Do you know what’s happening?”
Daring Do nodded and looked at Bruce. She held up her left hoof to show him the Time Vortex Manipulator. “The Doctor gave this to me. It lets time travel and teleport.” She pressed a button and disappeared out of existence. She reappeared 10 seconds later behind Bruce.
“Oooh... So that’s how you can be in two places at once.” Bruce said in realization. “Well I trust the Doctor, just make sure you don’t rip this world apart okay?” Then he looked at the students who were staring at him in confusion. “Twilight botched another spell.” He said.
The students nodded, satisfied by the excuse.
Meanwhile after Daring Do and Rainbow Dash left...
The Doctor walked into the TARDIS with a very exhausted look on his face. Already, he could feel the incoming headache from the stunt he'll do in the future. He still has no idea why his future self would build another time travelling device, let alone giving one to some random pony. If only he could go and ask him about it.
He looked around and realized where he's standing in right now. "Right... I do have a time machine..." He walked towards the TARDIS and prepare himself for some journey. Starting with setting the destination, priming the Helmic Regulator, unlocking the temporal lock down switch, and finally...
'Vworrp' 'Vworrp' 'Vworrp'
The Doctor pulled the lever and The TARDIS took off. The whole place shook beneath his feet but The Doctor doesn't even flinch. Right now, he only wants answers, answers that can only be answered by himself. "Where did I get that Time Vortex Manipulator?"
Soon, the TARDIS arrived at his destination. Before the Tenth Doctor could walk out of the TARDIS, the Eleventh Doctor walks like he owns the place. "Why did you build it?" Tenth asked his future counterpart. "What kind of horrible danger forced you to create another Time Travelling device?"
The Eleventh, still wearing that fez and that bow tie just shrugged. "I didn't build that device." He replied with a knowing smile on his face. "In fact, it wasn't even created. It exist on its own." The Tenth Doctor gasped in realization. "Eeyup, the Ontological Paradox." Eleventh said.
"Are you saying that... The Time Vortex Manipulator you fixed is the one you just gave Daring Do." A huge smile slowly grew on the Tenth's face. "Now this, is fascinating! An actual impossible particle stuck inside an infinite loop of time with no point of origin or destruction!"
The Eleventh nodded in agreement. "I know right? In a few decades or so, I still can't keep track of the time. Daring Do would broke his watch and I will fix it then build a new one. After that I will give the fixed Time Vortex Manipulator back to Daring Do and repeat." He explained. "Mystery that can never be solved... Where did that thing comes from?"
The Tenth sighed and looked at his counterpart with knowing smile on his face. "I have a theory..." The Eleventh nodded and smiled back at him. Of course, he already knows what that 'theory' is...
Those bats... Oh, those furry little devils. How she hated them. They ruined everything, her apples, her orchard, her crops... They flew in like they own the bloody place and start sucking everything dry with their tiny little monster fangs.
Worst of all, those bats are starting to take interest on her precious apple. The huge apple she has grown for months with all her love and compassion. The apple that’s gonna take her to the first place in harvest fair. The apple filled with so much earth pony Biomancer Magic, it could terraform the moon into an apple orchard.
If those bats wanna take that apple, they gotta have to pry it away from her cold, dead hooves.
‘Clang’ ‘Clang’ ‘Clang’ Applejack rang the bells on top of her barn, summoning her friends to aide her in this war against the bats. ‘Thump’, she jumped off of the building and landed safely on the ground without breaking a sweat.
After a few minutes of waiting, Twilight teleported right in front of her, followed by Rainbow Dash flying high above the sky with Bruce Gunderson, Rarity galloping in a hurry with Fluttershy, and finally Pinkie Pie who just appeared out of nowhere.
The Cow Mare sighed in relief when she saw them. She looked at each one of them and put on her War Helmet. "Attention!!!" Everypony stood straight still after hearing her command. "This is a Sweet Apple Acres code red!" Everypony just narrowed their eyes in confusion, but nopony dares to interrupt her. "I need all hooves – and hands – on deck!"
Everypony saluted at her, ready to take orders. “Follow my lead soldiers, I’ll show you the situation.” Applejack marched away from the entrance, followed by everypony else. Soon, they made it towards the Apple Orchard. “This is what we’re facing, Vampire Fruit Bats. Life sucking creatures who will ruin everything unless we do somethin’ about it.”
Twilight and the rest of the mane six watched grimly at the sight before them. The trees were withered and dying, hundreds of rotten apples littered the ground, and sounds of certain airborne mammals filled the air. Not a sign of life could be felt from the apple farm.
"Wow, no wonder you went full war veteran..." Twilight muttered to herself. She walked closer towards one of the trees and saw a dozen pair of blood red eyes staring at her from above. The Unicorn shuddered a little before stepping away from the tree. "What’s the plan?" She asked AJ.
Applejack shook her head. "I don' know, but there's another thing you need to see." She led them towards an apple tree leaning down on to the ground with a thick white fabric draped at the base of it. The earth pony walked towards the fabric and pulled it, revealing a sight to behold.
A giant red apple the size of a boulder hangs from the apple tree. It glistened in the sunlight, making it looked as fresh as a cold glass of Apple Cider in a hot day. To those who can sense magic, it glows a little in golden light because of the sheer amount of magic contained within it. "Whoa..." Everypony whispered in awe at the sweet, fresh, delicious, and magical apple in front of them.
Applejack gently wiped the side of the apple. "This here's our entry into the Appleloosa State Fair's produce competition." She explained amidst all the gasp of awe and amazement from all of her friends. "You know how much TLC goes into getting an apple to grow like this?"
Bruce Gunderson stepped forward with a scanner in his hand. "Oh I can only imagine Applejack." He scanned the apple in front of him and a huge grin slowly appeared on his face. "Oh, ho, ho!!! This is AMAZING!" he looked at Applejack with an impressed look on his face. "You've been using your Earth Pony Biomancer Magic for all it's worth in this one fruit haven't you?" He patted the Applesaurus Rex with his hand. "This baby is charged with enough bio-energy to Terra-Form the moon into an apple orchard!"
Applejack nodded even though she has no idea about half the things he just said. "Exactly! And I'll be darned if those vampires dare to put their fangs in to this apple." She said with a no nonsense look on her face. "Them vampire bats want to shrivel it up like a raisin!" She waved her hoof around in frustration. "We need to get rid of them and fast!"
Fluttershy shook her head. "Now, now, don't be too hasty Applejack." She said with a comforting smile on her face. "I'm sure if we just let them know how special that particular apple is to you, they'll leave it alone." She said.
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Sure, be my guest."
Fluttershy walked towards a nearby tree. A few fruit bats were eating some apples on top of it and neither of them noticed the pegasus walking towards them. "Umm... Excuse me, Mr. Vampire Bat?" The Pegasus asked as sweetly as possible. 'Splat' An apple dropped down right in front of her. "We were just wondering if maybe you wouldn't mind leaving that really big apple alone?" Fluttershy used diplomacy, it's not effective.
The Fruit Bats narrowed their eyes and start glaring at Fluttershy. "Please?" Hundreds of seed bullets shot out of the bats. The vampire bats used bullet seeds, it's Super Effective. "Eeep!" Fluttershy fled the scene and trotted back towards her friend. She looked down a little when she realized that she couldn't understand a word those bats said.
"Well? What'd he say? Applejack asked.
Fluttershy poked the ground nervously. "Um... Yes?" Applejack smiled when she heard that. "Well it could've been no..." AJ's smile faltered. "This is the first vampire fruit bat I've ever met and, well, it might take some time for me to really understand their language." She explained.
Applejack frowned and looked at her Apple Orchard. "Uh-huh. And in the meantime, this pest and his vermin friends are gonna go after my prized apple and, while they're at it, every other apple in the orchard! These vampire bats are nothin' but a bunch of monsters!" She declared, making Fluttershy gasp in shock.
"M-monsters?" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Th-that's a bit too harsh, don't you think?" She whispered.
Applejack gave her a very cold look when she heard that. "No I do not..."
'Bzzt' Twilight Sparkle suddenly teleported right between them. "Whoa, whoa, okay that's enough girls..." She said. "Those Bats might've ruined AJ's Orchard, but that doesn't mean we should let them ruin our friendship right?" Fluttershy and Applejack looked down when they heard that. "Now let's deal with this logically."
Twilight walked closer towards the Apple Orchard. "It's simple actually, these Fruit Bats shouldn't be here. So all we have to do is to find them a new home." She looked back at the rest of her friends. "Rarity, Bruce, and Pinkie Pie; you will all try to find a new home for these Fruit Bats, preferably as far away from here." They all nodded in excitement. "The rest of us will help Applejack gather all the Fruit Bats and defend the Big Apple."
Bruce saluted at her and motioned Rarity and Pinkie Pie to follow him. "Come on girls, let's see if we can find a new home for the bats." They all left the orchard, leaving Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight to deal with the fruit bats.
Twilight watched her friends disappear into the distance before looking at Applejack's proudest masterpiece. "Okay, now let me put this up just for a precaution." Her horn glows bright and a purple shield appeared around Applejack's Giant Apple. "There we go, now the Fruit Bats won't be able to touch that apple."
Applejack walked towards the apple and patted the barrier. "Hmm... Seems sturdy enough." She turned around and held her hind hoofs up, ready to buck the magic barrier. 'Boof' The barrier pushed her away and knocked her to the ground. "I can't even put a dent on it... Good work Soldier!" She exclaimed after realizing that her apple is safe. "Now we just have to deal with those vermin, any ideas?"
Twilight rubbed her chin in deep thought before smiling a little. "Well I suppose there's no harm to it..." Her horn glows bright and flashes of green light filled the area. When the light dies down, about a dozen of Changelings stood in front of her, ready to serve their queen.
The unicorn looked at the Changelings in front of her nervously. "If any of you were in the middle of something, please return immediately." One by one the changelings disappeared in a flash of green light; leaving only five changelings and Chrysalis to help them. "Now, I have a mission for you all."
Rarity and Pinkie Pie stood in front of Fluttershy's cabin. They've been standing there for five minutes waiting for Bruce who went in to get a 'Portable Magic Driven Terraformer Device'. Neither of them knew what it does and frankly they don't care. All they wanted is to find a home for those bats and be done with it.
After another minutes of waiting, they started to get bored. Rarity looked at Pinkie and started a conversation just to defeat the boredom. "So, Pinkie Pie... This power of yours, how does it work?" She asked her. "Can you use it as a pony or do you have to turn into a human first?"
In a flash of pink light, Pinkie Pie turned into her Equestria Girl counterpart. "Of course!" She exclaimed. "Only a human can snap fingers." She snapped her fingers and a picnic blanket complete with snacks appeared beneath them. She smiled and sat down on top of the picnic blanket. "Sit down Rarity..." She said while patting the spot beside her.
Rarity just shrugged and sat down right next to her. Spending time with Pinkie Pie meant throwing logic and common sense out of the window. Sometimes, quite literally. "So, you can make things appear with a snap of your finger?" She asked the pink pony. "Can you make things happen like Discord did?"
Pinkie Pie shook her head. "Nope! I can make things appear for fun. But I can never make thing happens." She snapped her finger and a pink, cotton candy cloud appeared out of thin air. "I can make sweet cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate milk, but I can't control the weather like Rainbow Dash." A cup appeared in her hands and chocolate milk poured down from the cloud. "Of course, I'm not as powerful as Discord."
Rarity raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean darling? I saw the goof off between you and Discord. I was quite sure you can stand on your own against him." She asked her. "Or maybe, he's just holding back?"
Pinkie Pie shook her head again. "Nope! Discord boosts my toon-force to make it more interesting." She explained with a knowing smile on her face. Suddenly, a loud thumping and clunking sound came from Fluttershy's Cabin. "Oh look! He's here, get up Rarity we're going somewhere very far away."
Rarity narrowed her eyes when she heard that. "Very far away? What do you mean?" She asked her. Pinkie Pie just pointed at a certain blue box standing behind them. "When did it get here?" She muttered after noticing the Time And Relative Dimension In Space standing tall behind them. "And for that matter, how far are we going?"
Bruce Gunderson stepped out of Fluttershy's Cabin hauling a huge mechanical device behind his back. The device is a short tower-like device the size of a regular Pony. "Little help?" Bruce asked with an incredulous expression on his face. A purple hue appeared all around the device and Bruce sighed in relief. "Thanks..."
Together, they hauled the device into the TARDIS. Inside, they saw the Doctor and Derpy standing around with an excited look on his face. "Terra Forming!!!" The Doctor exclaimed in excitement. Then he looked at his number one companion. "Oh Derpy this is going to be magnificent! Just imagine, pulses of bio-energy pumped into the earth again and again, turning even the most desolate land into fertile soil!" He explained.
Derpy grinned and hoof-bumped with the Doctor. "Well go on then Doctor! I'm ready for an adventure!" She exclaimed. The Stallion pulled the takeoff lever and the whole place shook. “Yay!!!” The Pegasus exclaimed in excitement.
Fortunately, since the TARDIS isn't flying through time, the ride is rather smooth. They can actually sit down and not frantically running around the console. Everypony took this time to talk and get to know each other even more. Rarity scooted over closer to the human and smiled at him. "So Bruce, have you ever thought about finding a special somepony?"
Bruce rolled his eyes in response. "Last I check; I'm a bipedal primate carbon-based life-form." He replied flatly. "I am also the last of my kind and I have this little spark of hatred against all humanity." He added. “Did I mention that I don’t age? Think about it.”
Rarity pointed at Equestria Girl Pinkie Pie talking with Derpy at the other side of the room. "She's a human."
Bruce sighed and looked at the unicorn with a serious expression on his face. "Rarity, do you know the reason why Princess Celestia and Princess Luna doesn't have a special somepony in their life?" He asked her. "Do you know the reason why in all my times of dimension hopping, I never found a special someone?" He gazed at her deep in the eyes. "Do you know why, Rarity?"
The Unicorn looked down. She pondered a little about why somepony as great as Princess Celestia doesn't have a special somepony in her life. "I-I don't know... I never noticed, why don't they have any special somepony?" She asked Bruce.
Bruce took a deep breath. "Because just like me, they are immortal Rarity, we'll live forever, young and healthy." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "While the rest of you will crumble away into dust. We will be forever trapped inside a cycle of losing those we love and it will never end until the end of us." He looked at his smooth unblemished hands. "That is the Curse of Immortality."
Rarity gasped and put a hoof over her mouth. “O-oh... dear...” Her eyes started to well up and she gently embraced him into a hug. "Oh I'm so, so, sorry to hear that darling I..." She sobbed a little. "You-you're fated to be alone for the rest of your immortal life and..." Suddenly, the Unicorn's eyes widened in realization. "Wait a second... You are all immortals..."
The human, knowing exactly what Rarity is thinking about quickly let go of her. "Nope, nope, don't even think about it!" He held up his hands warily. The only response she got is a huge grin on Rarity's face. "Oh you are just like your little sister! NO!" He shouted the last part.
"Oh this is perfect!" Rarity exclaimed, completely ignoring Bruce from the start. "You and Princess Celestia are both immortal and in desperate need of a companion!" She exclaimed in excitement. "You both are truly my OTP! We need to do something about this, hold on." She trotted off towards Equestria Girl Pinkie Pie before Bruce could do or say anything.
The human watched in horror as the pink girl exploded like fireworks in sheer excitement. 'Oh no...' Pinkie Pie and Rarity matchmaking him with Princess Celestia? What could possibly go wrong??? Everything, that's what.
He looked around him and realized that the TARDIS door is opened and the Doctor is nowhere to be seen. "Perfect..." Bruce picked up his Terra-Former and escaped from the TARDIS, hoping that he can post pone their mysterious crazy scheme.
A wave of freezing cold air and snowy wasteland welcomed him as he stepped out of the magical blue box. He looked around and saw the Doctor crouching down amidst the snow.
Bruce put the terraformer on to the snow and walked towards the Doctor. There, he could see him looking at a very familiar crimson red horn in front of him. "Look at you..." The Doctor whispered. "So weak and powerless..." He picked up the horn with his hoof. "You chose this path King Sombra, I warned you again and again so many years ago." He lazily threw away the horn and Bruce caught it. "Take it to the Foundation."
The human pocketed the piece of horn and walked back towards where he left his machine. "Come on Doc! let's fire this baby up." He slammed the device on to the ground and pressed a few buttons at the side of it. "Come to think of it, this works almost exactly like the Crystal Heart. Just less magical and more sciencey..."
'Thump' A small bubble of magic appeared around the Terraformer. 'Thump' The bubble of magic grew a little bigger while the area inside the bubble started to melt, leaving a patch of grass land beneath. 'Thump' It grew even bigger, but not enough to fit a human and a stallion.
"Yoo hoo! I'm here! What did I miss?" A very familiar feminine voice rang out from the TARDIS. Bruce and The Doctor looked back and saw Rarity wearing an elegant white sweater and a very long scarf walking towards them. "Oh and I simply love this sweater, is this Derpy's?" She asked the Doctor.
The Doctor nodded hesitantly, that clothing is actually his, just that he never realized that it's clothing for mares. "Yep, it's definitely Derpy's. Speaking of Derpy where is she?" He looked at the TARDIS and saw the pegasus walking together with Pinkie Pie towards them.
"Doctor!" Derpy galloped towards him and stopped right in front the Terraformer. Now, the magic bubble has grown almost as big as the TARDIS. A small patch of dry land that is just barely enough for the ponies plus the human surrounded the Terraformer. "Ooh... So pretty..." She said while looking at the machine thumping around in the snow. "How long until it's finished?" She asked him.
The Doctor looked at Bruce and the human took out his watch. "Give or take... Twelve hours..." He replied.
Rarity just looked at Bruce incredulously. "Are saying that we have to wait for until tonight?" She asked in disbelief.
Bruce just shook his head. "No, of course not." He pointed at the TARDIS standing around near them. "We can always use the TARDIS to travel twelve hours into the future." Then he sat down in front of his Terra-Former, enjoying the warming sensation it gave him. "Or we can all sit here and tell each other stories."
The Doctor sat down right next to him followed by Derpy and Equestria Girl Pinkie Pie. "So, this is like a campfire then? Only instead bonfire, it's this terra thing and instead night, it's day time." Rarity asked while trying to find the driest patch of grass for her to sit in. "That doesn't sound so bad..." She added to herself. "Now what do we do?"
Bruce looked at Pinkie Pie and Rarity with a deadpan look on his face. "Now you're gonna tell me your plan." He said. "Then, I am going to give you a very logical reason of why it will never work so you can give up on your OTP forever."
Of course, neither of them wavered under his stare. "I'm sorry Darling, but this is for your own good." Rarity said defiantly. "I simply cannot let you suffer alone for eternity, what kind of friend will I be if I let that happen?"
Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared inches away from Bruce's face. "Yeah! Don't even think about stopping us!" She jabbed her fingers on to Bruce's chest. "Because we're going to trick Princess Celestia into coming into your room and we'll lock you both in there with a romantic dinner table and balloon animals!" Rarity face hoofed after hearing Pinkie telling Bruce the whole plan. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"
Bruce shook his head. "And just how are you going to pull that off?" He asked incredulously. "How are you going to trick Princess Celestia? How are you going to stop us from teleporting away? And how are you going to get everypony agree to do this?"
"Oh that's easy! We'll just... Mmph! Mmphh!" Rarity put a hoof over Pinkie's mouth before she could blow their plan. "We'll just ask for Twilight and Discord's help!" Another pony Pinkie Pie said.
Bruce's face paled considerably when he heard that. The sheer fact that the most clever and the most powerful creature in all Equestria are going to help them makes him very, very afraid. He looked beside him and saw the Doctor laughing silently at his predicament. "Help me..."
The Doctor smiled and gently patted Bruce's shoulder. "Look, it's either this or go to your room and design a fancy Screwdriver. Don't make the same mistake I did." He replied calmly.
Bruce threw his arms up in defeat. "You know what? Fine! Let's see how it will end up, I bet nothing will go wrong." He tempted fate in sheer frustration. "I'm sure that whatever you're planning will not backfire and ruin everything."
It took The Doctor twenty seconds to figure out what Bruce just did. When he does, he couldn't help but laugh at his cleverness. "Deliberately tempting fate just to avoid a nice little date." He shook his head. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Meanwhile back in Ponyville, the day is almost over. The Apple Orchard is still infested with bats and everypony are still gathering them all up on a single tree.
The Changelings with the help of Rainbow Dash and Applejack lured all the bats towards the biggest apple tree they can find. Twilight and Chrysalis guarded the giant apple from the incoming wave of bats using their magic, while Fluttershy was trying her best to learn bat language.
Applejack watched grimly as the bats started to finish all the lures she prepared for them all. "Twilight, it’s been hours. We can't keep 'em here forever. Do you have any other plan?" She asked the purple unicorn. "I mean, we still have no idea when are they going to get back."
Twilight thought about it for a second before taking out her walkie-talkie. "Bruce, where are you?" Her expression slowly turned into a mixture of fascination and annoyance. "That's really great Bruce, but do you really think this is a good time? I mean they are devouring those apples faster than we can get them." Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll see what I can do."
Twilight cut off the connection and looked at Applejack. "New plan, we are going to temporarily make the fruit bats hate apples." She explained. "Tonight Bruce will set off a bat signal that'll send those bats flying away to their new home. Any questions?"
Fluttershy gently raised her hoof. "Umm.. I have a question..." She muttered nervously. "Will the bats be okay? It will be horrible if they can't eat anymore apples..." She added.
Twilight just smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry Fluttershy, in the morning the spell will reverse and the bats will turn back to normal." Fluttershy sighed in relief after hearing her explanation. "Now I need your help to use the stare on them."
The Pegasus cringed and backed away from her. "N-no, it's dangerous! Don't you remember? It gave them heart attacks!" She shuddered at the thought of her stare hurting those animals. "Pl-please don't make me do it..." She begged.
Twilight looked back unflinchingly at those huge watery eyes and quivering mouth begging her not to do it. She couldn't quite tell why, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by that petrifying puppy dog face. It’s like she’s immune to it or something.
"It's only for a brief moment Fluttershy, they won't feel a thing." The Pegasus sighed and looked down in defeat. "Look Fluttershy, I am so sorry. I really wish there's something else we can do about this."
Fluttershy nodded understandingly. "I understand, we can't let those bats ruin Applejack's crops. We have to stop them." She floated up towards the bats and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry bats, I really am..."
Twilight watched as the bats stood frozen at Fluttershy's hypnotizing glare. "All right, here goes nothing..." Her horn glows bright and a wave of magical energy shot out of her horn. "Okay you can stop now Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed a few seconds later.
Fluttershy blinked owlishly and shook her head. She floated back down towards her friends and sighed in relief. "Is that all?"
Rainbow Dash flew up and held an apple in front of a random bat. It sniffed at the apple before turning its head around. "Yep! It works all right, those bats hate apple now." She flew back down towards the ground. "Now can we have some apple cider?" She asked/begged Applejack.
The Earth Pony thought about it for a second and smiled after a brilliant idea appeared in her head. "How about we have a sleepover here tonight, to celebrate our victory." Applejack looked at the Changelings and smiled at them. "You're all invited, that includes you changelings." The Shapeshifters and The Ponies smiled and cheered when they heard that. Most of them never had a sleepover before, mostly because they are pretty new here in Ponyville.
A few hours later...
Finally, it is time for the sleepover. Everypony sat together on a circle inside the barn. Right in the middle of them is a glass bottle. "You ready everypony?" Twilight asked as her horn glows bright. Everypony nodded and she spun the bottle with her magic. "Please don't land on me, please don't land on me..." She whispered to herself.
The Bottle slowed down and everypony held their breaths. It spun slower and slower until it stopped, pointing straight towards Applejack. "Applejack! Truth or Dare?" Twilight asked while everypony else just looked at her with an excited smirk on their faces.
Applejack gave Twilight an amused smile. "This better be not a joke for me being the Element of Honesty... I choose Truth!!!" She replied easily.
In a matter of seconds, Applejack found herself teleported to the other side of the room while everypony else huddled together to decide about what question to ask her. "Ya better not thinking about asking my family secret recipes!" The Element of Honesty exclaimed. "And don't ask anything about other pony's secret."
A few minutes later, Twilight Sparkle walked towards Applejack with a devilish smirk on her face. "So Applejack, this question came from your good old friend Rainbow Dash." The Earth Pony groaned when she heard that. "The Question is simple, on a scale of one to ten, how awesome is Rainbow Dash?"
Applejack just looked at Rainbow Dash flatly. "Really Dash? Another cheap trick to make ponies praise you? I'll give you eight for effort."
"Ooh... Ouch!" Everypony exclaimed at her brutal honesty. The Pegasus meanwhile put a hoof over her chest in mock pain while gasping for breath. "Honesty hurts...." She whispered to herself.
Applejack just shrugged at her reaction. "Well ya did ask me to be honest." She said easily. "If I said that you're the greatest pony there is, I'd be lyin'." She added. Then her expression softened a little. "But of course, lots of ponies out there would say otherwise and performing a legendary phenomenon that's visible from the other side of Equestria is pretty darn impressive."
A confident smirk appeared on Rainbow Dash’s face. "You're right, somepony would say otherwise." She floated a few feet up. "Who thinks I'm awesome raise your hoof!!!" Twilight raised her hoof and three changelings turned into an exact copy of Rainbow Dash before raising theirs. "Oh yeah! I am awesome!!!" She exclaimed.
Applejack just rolled her eyes as they gather around for another game of Truth or Dare. "Ready everypony?" Twilight spun the bottle and everypony watched intensely as the bottle stopped in front of a certain Changeling. "Chrysalis, you're next! Truth or Dare?" The Unicorn asked.
The Ex Queen thought about it for a second. "I choose Dare." She replied confidently.
Twilight thought about it for a second before smirking. "We dare you to surprise us, show us something completely unexpected." She replied simply.
Queen Chrysalis thought about it for a second before smirking. "You asked for this." A huge wave of green flames engulfed her and everypony took a step back warily. The flame dies down moments later, revealing a white maned unicorn wearing blue pointy hat and a blue cape. "It is I... Starswirl The Bearded!!!" He/She exclaimed. "Your move Twilight Sparkle..."
Twilight raised an eyebrow in amusement. "I don't remember this being a competition, but all right then." Her horn glows bright and she turned into a perfect copy of Bruce Gunderson, the lord of changelings himself. "Well, Chrysalis?" The human/pony asked. "Your turn!"
Chrysalis thought about it for a second before smirking. "Well two can play at that game..." Another column of green fire engulfed her, when it dies down a human girl replaced her. The girl has thin lithe figure and she stood about three quarters of Bruce's height. She has long black hair, cream white skin, and a pair of sparkling volcanic black eyes. She gave everypony a gentle smile and they all instinctively smiled back at her.
Twilight turned back to normal in shock after realizing who the girl in front of her is. "It can't be... Even he forget how she looked like and..." The unicorn took a few steps toward the changeling. "Is this how she looked like?"
The girl spoke in a soft yet cheerful voice. "Yes, I am Lily, Bruce's younger sister." Another wave of green flame engulfed her and she turned back into Chrysalis. "It is obvious that you are very surprised." She said with a smirk on her face. "That means I won and we can continue with the game."
Twilight just nodded mutely before spinning the bottle. It stopped right in front of a certain pink maned pegasus. "Fluttershy!" She exclaimed. "Truth or Dare?"
The Pegasus shuddered and looked down nervously. "Tr-truth! N-no I mean Dare... No wait! I-I..." She put a hoof over her face. "I can't choose!!!" She exclaimed in panic and confusion.
The Unicorn sighed patiently and gently stroked Fluttershy's mane. "To improve your courage, I challenge you to..." She leaned closer to her. "Make us feel very, very, scared." She said, making Fluttershy shudder a little.
Fluttershy just sat there, petrified at her words. "I-I can't... I'm sorry everypony I can't!" She turned around and galloped away from them all. "I can't! I'm sorry but I can't!!!" She exclaimed before disappearing away into the night.
Everypony watched as Fluttershy disappeared away out of the barn. "I really hope she's trying to scare us..." Applejack muttered to herself. "'Cause I'm gettin' a little bit scared already." She added to herself. “Come on, let’s see where she headed.”
The Sweet Apple Acres was dark. The apple trees have uncharacteristically wide leaves and sprawling branches that guarded the darkness, disfiguring the beautiful moonlight above. Voices of creatures from the dark and haunting whispers from the winds filled orchard. Twin dots of lights blinked and moved through the darkness. Roots and branches covered the forest floor, concealing the trapping holes and gaps below. Only the bravest of all ponies would dare to traverse through the place.
Twilight led all of her friends through the forest. Each one of them looking around warily for any signs of the pink maned pegasus. "Okay Fluttershy... You win, we can return to the game and..." A snarling sounds and mysterious whispering interrupted her. "Umm... Fluttershy? Is that you?" She stopped in her tracks and backed away for a moment. "Fluttershy?"
A huge shadow soared down from above the sky. "AAAAHH!!!" Everypony but Chrysalis and Twilight yelled out in terror. They ran/flew around in panic at the sight of the mysterious shadow. "Enough!" Twilight and Chrysalis yelled at the same time. The unicorn's horn glows brightly, illuminating the whole place. Slowly but surely, everypony calmed down just a bit.
"Stay together everypony." Twilight exclaimed. "Now let's think clearly and logically. It is obvious that the shadow from earlier was Fluttershy and chances are, she is waiting for us inside the barn." She explained optimistically. "You know, since she just did her dare and scared us all."
Rainbow Dash shook her head in disagreement. "I don't know Twilight, it doesn't sound like her to play pranks like this." A snarling sound came from one of the trees and Rainbow Dash shuddered a little. "Especially a very elaborate one like this."
Suddenly a small thudding sound came from a distance. "Something is trying to get through my shield..." Twilight muttered. "I don't understand, those bats should hate apples now..."
Applejack gritted her teeth in frustration. "We must've missed one of those vermin." She ran away from the group, ignoring Twilight's warning not to split up. Before she knew it, the forest gets darker and darker as she went further away from Twilight's light.
Soon, Applejack made it towards the big apple. There, she saw dark shady figure trying to break through the magical barrier around her precious. The Pony gulped nervously when she realized that it is not a bat that's trying to get through the barrier. "H-hey! G-get away from my apple!" Applejack dared to take another step forward. She sighed a little when she saw an unmistakable pink mane around the figure's head.
"All right, that's enough Sugar Cube you got us." Applejack took a few steps forwards. "Fluttershy?" Under the faint light of Twilight's spell, Applejack saw a pair of leathery bat-like wings and a pair of blood red eyes. The earth pony shuddered a little and took a few steps back in fear. "Fluttershy?" She whispered warily.
The mysterious bat paused for a second before turning her head 180 degrees towards Applejack. She snarled at the earth pony and slithered right behind her. Applejack tried to run away but sharp clawed wings embraced her from behind, stopping her from going anywhere. "Hello Apple... Jack." The bat whispered to her ears.
Applejack could only stand petrified in shock and horror as the bat pony breathed into her ears. "I hope you are just as delicious as your name..." A single tear of pure terror trickled down her cheek when she felt the clawed wing running down her spine. "Oh I am so... Famished!!!" Flutterbat licked Applejack's tear away with her long snake-like tongue.
"Applejack! Fluttershy!" A voice called out from the distance. Flutterbat turned around and saw Twilight Sparkle walking towards them with Rainbow Dash and whole army of terrified changelings. She snarled at them all before disappearing away into the dark. "No wait!!!" The unicorn exclaimed.
Twilight sighed when she realized that the pegasus is out of her reach. She looked at Applejack and saw her curling up on the ground in terror. "Applejack? What's going on? Was that Fluttershy?" She walked closer towards her and gently helped her up. "Calm down Applejack, we're together now..." The unicorn's horn glows brightly and Applejack took a deep breath in relief. "See? All better, now tell us what happened."
Applejack nodded and took a deep breath. "I-I was just here, checkin' on my apple... I thought it was a bat, but it was somethin' else." She closed her eyes as she tried to remember what it looked like. "It was a half pony, half bat, and the worst thing is that it looked like... Fluttershy!"
The Unicorn nodded and rubbed her chin in deep thought. "Let's see... What do you think Chrysalis?" She asked the changeling standing beside her. "Wait, how about you look into her memories and show us how she looks like?" She asked her.
Chrysalis nodded and gazed at the earth pony. A flash of green light engulfed her, when it died down a half pony half bat creature replaced her. She has dark yellow coat and dirty pink mane. She has leathery clawed wings and blood red eyes. She grinned at them all, showing her long terrifying fangs.
Everypony gasped and took a step back in fear. "Oh my dear Celestia!!! What happened to her?" Twilight exclaimed in shock. "We need to find her and quick before..." She paused for a second when she realized that everypony are staring at her with a terrified look on her faces. "She's right behind me isn't she?"
Sharp claws pressed against Twilight's neck and the unicorn's horn started to glow. "Now, now, no need for magic..." A soft yet firm wing snuffed out the magic from her horn. "Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to sleep..." Flutterbat whispered to her ears. "Don't be afraid... You won't feel a thing..."
Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Where's Fluttershy? What did you do to her?" She asked.
Flutterbat paused for a moment when she heard that. "Oh don't you worry Twilight, she's sleeping peacefully somewhere in here." Then she smirked and gently stroked her head. "It's already late, don't you think?" The Bat Pony opened her mouth, showing her huge fangs glistening in the moon light. "Go to sleep..."
'VHWOOM' A huge beacon of light shot out of a place somewhere far away. Flutterbat stood frozen and slowly let go of Twilight. She unfolded her wings and shot out of the sky towards the beam of light. The sky goes dark as hundreds upon hundreds of bats took off to the sky and followed Flutterbat towards the beacon of light.
Twilight sighed in relief and walked back towards her friends. Rainbow Dash and Applejack hugged her for a moment before looking at the beacon. "So... That's the bat signal..." Rainbow Dash muttered. Twilight just nodded mutely in response. "Will Fluttershy be all right?"
Twilight nodded confidently. "Don't worry, since she's a bat now she can use her magic echolocation to avoid obstacles and storms. She'll probably get there tomorrow at noon and Bruce should be there to deal with her." She explained. "She should transform back into pony when the sun rises, because Flutterbat told me she was merely sleeping."
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes in confusion. "But doesn't that mean she'll turn back into pony mid-way?" She asked her. "What happens then?"
The Unicorn's face paled in realization. "Oh dear..."
Twilight Sparkle and Applejack sat on top of a patch of cloud soaring above the sky. Tied to the cloud in front of them is Rainbow Dash, garbed in her armor she pulled all of her friends on their journey to follow the bat's migration. "We can't thank you enough Rainbow Dash..." The unicorn said.
"I know..." Rainbow Dash replied quickly, trying to save all energy she can.
Applejack sighed and scooted closer towards the pegasus. "Hey, remember when you asked me how awesome you are?" She asked her. The Pegasus just nodded silently. "I changed my mind, I'll give eleven out of ten for effort."
"You're just saying that..." Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk on her face.
Suddenly, the flock of bats in front of them flew higher up above the clouds. "Hang on everypony... We're flying above the storm..." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as fast as she can and soared higher above the sky. "Phew..." She gasped in exhaustion. "You... sure you can't call them?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, the bat signal must've interfered with my walkie-talkie. I can't reach them." She replied. "Just hang on Rainbow Dash, tonight will be over in half an hour."
Rainbow Dash exhaled a breath of exhaustion. "Wow... These bats are fast..." She whispered to herself. "Oh my head..." The cloud shook and slowly floated down back to the ground as Rainbow Dash fainted on top of the cloud in sheer exhaustion. "I'm... sorry..."
Twilight Sparkle sighed and conjured up a blanket for the pegasus. "You did an amazing work Rainbow Dash..." She said with a soft smile on her face. "Rest now, we'll take it from here." She looked around as the cloud sunk down back to the ground. It is only now that she realized that Rainbow Dash have taken them all the way past the Crystal Empire.
They all landed on a thick blanket of ice and snow. Twilight quickly summoned a small wagon for Rainbow Dash so she won't freeze in the cold. "Twilight." Applejack said suddenly. "Do me a favor and get in to the wagon." She strapped the wagon's leash on herself. "We need you to stay alert in the whole trip."
With that, the earth pony galloped through the cold and desolate tundra carrying two ponies behind her. They've all gone this far and she'll be darn if they all failed because of her. She was the one who brought them all into this mess and she is determined to fix it before it's too late. "Just have to follow the light..."
After almost an hour of galloping through the tundra, the sun rises and a single figure start falling down from the sky. "Twilight!!! Quick!" Applejack warned.
The Unicorn swiftly jumped out of the wagon and her horn glows bright. Shining purple aura appeared around the fallen pegasus and her descend slows down until she's only about a few feet away from the ground. Twilight gently put Fluttershy next to Rainbow Dash inside the wagon before exhaling a breath of relief.
"Umm... Twi? Now what?" Applejack asked.
Twilight looked around and she realized that they are still trapped on a tundra in the middle of nowhere. Her horn glows bright and a dome of magic surrounded them from all sides, protecting them from the cold and the snow. “There we go, we just have to stay here until the beacon dies down.”
Applejack sighed and looked at Twilight tirelessly holding up the shield. “Can’t you conjure up a shelter or somethin’?” She asked her.
The Unicorn shook her head. “Sorry, but I have to continuously fill it up with magic to make sure it stays intact. A magical barrier is more efficient.” No sooner after she said that, the carriage they used to carry the pegasus disappeared from existence. “Don’t worry Applejack, if Princess Cadance can protect a whole kingdom; why can’t I?”
Applejack didn’t say anything. She embraced Twilight from behind and closed her eyes. “Thank you Twilight...”
It’s been almost an hour after Twilight fell. Now it is up to her to save her friends from the unforgiving cold. She gently put her friends on the patch of cloud from earlier and tied herself to it. Then she started walking all alone through the cold tundra with only the beacon as her source of guidance. “Hang on...” She whispered to herself. “Almost there, we’ll make it...”
After almost an hour of walking, a harsh gust of wind pushed the cloud away and Applejack was knocked down towards the cold snow below her. Her armor has long lost its power and there is nothing else protecting her from the cold. “Just one more step...”
The Earth Pony staggered up from her position and took a step forward. “Just one more step...” She took another step forward. “Just one more... step” She couldn’t feel her hooves and she blinked rapidly. “Ju-just one more step... please...” Her hoof moved on its own and she took a step forward.
“Just... one... more...” ‘Thud’ She fell on to the snow and start sobbing in despair. She looked back towards her friends and sighed. “I’m... sorry...” A blur of yellow and pink filled her vision before everything went black.
A few hours later, just a few miles away from them.
"Rarity, Derpy, wake up..." Bruce said while gently nudging the ponies sleeping on the makeshift bed inside the TARDIS. Rarity yawned a little before slowly opening her eyes. She looked around her in confusion when she realized that she is not inside her room. "Afternoon girl!"
The Unicorn stepped out of the bed and her horn glows a little. She stood there beside the bed as if waiting for something. "Uh, Rarity?" Rarity held up her hoof to shut Bruce up. "What are you doing?" The human asked, getting more and more curious about what's going on. "Are you casting a spell?"
'Whoosh' The human could only watch in awe and disbelief as a sofa and a full-body mirror flew into the TARDIS. They landed right in front of Rarity and the unicorn calmly observed herself in front of the mirror. "Did you just summon a sofa and a mirror from your boutique all the way in Ponyville?" Bruce asked incredulously.
After a few minutes of redesigning her mane, (Which by the way looked exactly like before), Rarity lay down on the sofa for a moment. "Well... I simply cannot get out without knowing how I looked like." She said easily. "I also need my sofa because I like my sofa." She added.
“Make sense.” Bruce commented. Then he looked at Derpy and saw her waking up from her sleep. The Pegasus yawned a little before floating a few inches up from the bed. “Afternoon Derpy! The Doctor is waiting for you outside.” Bruce said.
The human watched in amusement as the Pegasus clumsily flew out of the TARDIS to meet the doctor. “Are you ready Rarity?” Bruce looked behind and saw Rarity holding a couple of scarves with her magic. “Oh for goodness sake Rarity, it’s no longer cold outside.”
The Unicorn just rolled her eyes before picking a blue one. “Well I for one, am always prepared for any situations.” She replied as she walked towards the TARDIS door with Bruce. “Oh, I almost forgot.” Her horn glows brightly and the sofa and the mirror flew out of the TARDIS, no doubt they’re flying back to the carousel boutique.
They all walked out of the TARDIS and saw a remarkable sight. The cold tundra they were in was replaced by a beautiful grassy plain. Patches of flower beds and small creeks decorated the whole place. Bird baths with beautiful pony sculptures on top of it scattered all around the plain. Finally, a huge section filled with apple trees could be seen at the side of the plain.
“Terraforming Mares and Gentlecolts!!!” The Doctor exclaimed proudly. “Magic and Science combined!!! It’s like the Crystal Dimension in the making.” He added. “Amazing, don’t you think Derpy?”
The Pegasus smiled and nodded at him. “So pretty...” She whispered towards a statue nearby. “But where did you get the statues?” She asked the Doctor.
Suddenly, a wild Equestria Girl Pinkie Pie appeared. “I made them!!!” She exclaimed with a chisel in her hands. “I also made the flower beds and the apple trees. That’s why they smell like chocolate.” She walked over towards a flower and took a deep breath. “Hmm... Sweet chocolate fudge...”
Derpy walked towards one of the flower in curiosity and took a sniff. “Ooh, smells like chocolate.” Then she ate the flower. “But it taste like flowers.” She spat out the flower before walking towards the secluded filled with dozens of Apple Trees. A huge beacon of light could be seen shooting out of it. “Is that the bat sanctuary?”
Bruce nodded and looked at his watch. “Eeyup! And if my calculation is correct, those bats should arrive in...” the whole plains goes dark as hundreds upon hundreds of bats soared above the sky. They concealed the sunlight above, casting a shadow of a huge bat-like creature. “Look at them go!!!”
Everypony watched in amazement as the bats slowly floated down right towards their new home. Pinkie Pie snapped her fingers and hundreds of apples rained down from the sky. “Welcome to your new home!!!” She exclaimed, followed by a cheer from everypony else.
After he was sure that all bats have arrived in the sanctuary, Bruce took out his sonic screwdriver. He pressed a button and the beacon of light dies down gradually. “There we go, now those bats have a new place to call home and sergeant AJ should be satisfied.”
Suddenly, loud beeping sound came from Bruce’s pocket. He took out his walkie-talkie and his eyes widened in fear. “Fifteen distressed calls...” He whispered to himself. The human quickly pressed a few button to call Twilight. “Twilight? Twilight!!! Where are you? Are you okay!?”
“What is it Bruce? What happened to Twilight?” The Doctor asked in alert. The human could only shook his head in panic.
After a few minutes of no response, Bruce quickly ran back towards the TARDIS. He walked towards his backpack and took out small radar. “Oh no...” He put on his backpack and it unfolded itself into the Pegasus Might Armor. He looked behind and saw everypony looking at him worriedly. “I’ll be back everyone! I have to save my friends!”
Bruce ran out of the TARDIS and took off to the sky. He looked at his radar and followed the blinking dots in a distance. “Hang on Twilight!” He turned on his booster and he started flying in a supersonic speed. “Come on... Faster!!! Overclock come on!!!”
‘BOOM’ A Sonic Rainboom formed because of his sheer speed, but Bruce couldn’t care less. All he wanted is to get there before anything bad happen to his friends. He soared through the unforgiving storm and snow of Equestria. He swore he could almost hear the Windigos laughing at him from above the sky.
The beeping sound from the radar get louder and Bruce flew down towards the ground. Soon, he could see Applejack, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash lying down on a small patch of cloud. He flew closer and saw Fluttershy pulling the cloud towards the direction of the beacon.
Bruce landed right in front of them, sending a huge gust of winds that pushed away all snow in the surrounding area. He took out his Sonic Screwdriver and pointed it at the sky. It flashes orange for a moment before he put it back into his pocket. “Fluttershy?”
The human took a closer look at the yellow pegasus and raised an eyebrow in interest. The Pegasus’s wings have turned into wide bat-like wings with sharp claw on top of it. The pegasus’s eyes have turned blood red and a pair of sharp fangs protruded out of her mouth. “Wow... Just wow Fluttershy... I really did not expect this.” He muttered in amazement.
Bruce took out a couple of huge blanket from his backpack and draped it over Flutterbat and the ponies sleeping on the cloud. “You all right?”
The bat-pony nodded. “I better go...” She spoke in a soft yet terrifying whisper. “Take care of her protector...” Then she glared at the human and put her wing’s claw on Bruce’s neck. “Or I will eat you.” She added threateningly.
The human watched in fascination as the bat-pony slowly turned back into a normal pony. The huge leather wings slowly shrunk back into pegasus wings and the fangs retracted back to her mouth. Her eye color changed back to normal and Fluttershy dropped down on to the snow in exhaustion.
‘Vworrp’ ‘Vworrp’ ‘Vworrp’ The TARDIS arrived a few minutes later. “Took you long enough...” Bruce muttered while carrying the ponies into the box. “That recall function is not to be used on a tight situation.” He added.
The Mane Six plus Bruce, Derpy, and The Doctor sat together in the middle of a picnic blanket. They all have a relieved smile on their faces as they talked about one heck of a day that just transpired.
“So Fluttershy, is it true? Did you actually turn into a bat?” Rarity asked in disbelief.
Fluttershy nodded shyly. “I-I’m sorry if Flutterbat scares you...” She replied nervously. “She’s actually really nice if you get to know her...” She added with a small smile on her face.
Applejack just looked at Fluttershy with a deadpan look on her face. “That Bat Pony tried to eat me!” She exclaimed. “Then she would’ve killed Twilight if it’s not for the bat signal!” She added.
The Pegasus looked down when she heard that. “She said she was sorry. I mean, can you blame her?” She looked at her friend for a moment. “She literally just born yesterday, just that she has my memories.”
The Doctor took out the Sonic Screwdriver and scanned the pegasus in front of him. “I suppose she already told you what happen if you go to sleep?” He asked her.
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, if I fell asleep she will wake up. If she fell asleep I will wake up.” Some of her friends cringed a little when they heard that. The Pegasus looked at her friends with an encouraging smile on her face. “Oh don’t worry everypony, she promised me that she’ll try not to scare you.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes when she heard that. “Does that mean you will always stay awake? Even at night? What if your body went tired?” She asked her.
The Pegasus paused for a second when she heard that. “I did not think that far ahead...” She muttered to herself. “But I think whatever happens to her won’t affect me at all.”
“Can you go to sleep now? I really, really want to talk to this Flutterbat.” Bruce asked suddenly with an excited grin on his face. He looked beside him and saw some of his friends looking at him in disbelief. “Aww come on! Love? Harmony? Tolerance? You did warmed up to Discord and Chrysalis pretty quickly.”
Pinkie Pie the Pink Pony suddenly appeared right behind Fluttershy. “Yeah! I would love to meet a new friend inside my old friend!” She pressed Fluttershy’s cheek together in excitement. “That’ll be like having two friends inside one friend!!! That’ll be amazing!”
Fluttershy yawned and slowly closed her eyes. Everyone but Bruce, Pinkie Pie, and The Doctor scrambled away from her to give her some space. “Oh man... Where’s Skywalker when you need him?” Bruce muttered to himself as Fluttershy started to transform slowly.
The yellow Pegasus opened her eyes, revealing a pair of blood red eyes. She stretched her body and her Pegasus wings were replaced by huge leather bat-like wings. She yawned, revealing her long vampire-like fangs. She looked at the ponies and the human in front of her for a moment. “Hello...” She whispered.
“HI!!!” Pinkie Pie yelled inches away from Flutterbat’s face. The Bat hissed and scrambled away from her. “Oh! So you’re shy too like Fluttershy? Cool! Is there anything else you have in common? What about animals, do you like animals? What about pets? Do you have any favorite animals? What do you do for fun?” The Earth Pony asked rapidly.
Flutterbat blinked owlishly before slithering right behind Pinkie Pie. “Oh... I do have favorite animal...” She leaned herself closer towards Pinkie’s ear. “Ponies... Sweet, Juicy, and Delicious, Ponies...”
Pinkie Pie didn’t even flinch. Instead she just grinned and smiled at the bat. “That’s great!!! I like ponies too!” She didn’t even notice the look of disbelief on Flutterbat’s face. “But you talked like ponies are delicious, do ponies taste good? I never tried ponies before...”
Bruce’s eyes widened in alert when he heard that. Visions from his adventures through the corrupted multiverse filled his head as he thought about what might happen to this universe. “What do they taste like anyway?” Pinkie Pie asked again, making Bruce even more terrified. “Do they taste good raw like fruits? Or do you have to bake them like... Cupcakes...”
The human opened his mouth but no words came out. He raised his hand and put it down a few moments later. "All right that's it, I'm out of here..." ‘Thud’ He fainted on the ground much to everypony’s confusion.
Pinkie Pie smirked and hoof bumped with Flutterbat. “See? I told you it’s easy to mess with him.” Pinkie Pie said easily. “He’s not that scary when you get to know him.”
Fluttershy smirked back at her. “Come to my place tonight, and I’ll show you some of my... Prank ideas.” She whispered to her.
The rest of the main six watched the interaction between those two in horror. For one reason after another, they felt like saying good bye to peaceful undisturbed sleep in Ponyville. “Welp... There goes our good night sleep...” Applejack muttered with finality.
It was after-school... Time where she can relax and study all she wants without having to do any social interactions. Time when she is alone in her thoughts and nobody can disturb her. Time when she can do anything she wants without anyone judging her. Time when she can walk through the hallways of the Crystal Prep Academy with peace and quiet.
After walking through the hallways all on her own, she finally made it in front of her room. The girl gently opened the door, revealing a cold and lifeless room filled with unfinished task and projects. She carelessly threw her bag to the corner and walked towards her computer.
“Finally...” She sat on to her chair and looked around the place. “Home sweet home...” She muttered to herself.
‘This is not a home...’ That little voice in her head said. ‘This is a prison...’
“Shut up.” Twilight muttered to herself. “This is what I wanted. I don’t need anyone.” She turned towards her computer and booted it up. “I can do anything I wanted... I have everything I need... I have...”
A small tired sigh escaped her throat as she looked at the screen in front of her. A little purple puppy with green tuft of hair sat in her computer screen. ‘I have nobody...’ She looked at the picture of the puppy in front of her. A shadow of her own past, the day when she made the worst possible mistake she can ever make.
Just two years ago, Principal Cinch retired from her job. Another woman replaced her, Mistress Principal they always call her. The woman gave Twilight a chance, a chance to make her dream come true. She promised to give her everything she has ever wanted. To do science, to research, to experiment all she wants without worry.
But there’s a catch, she has to sacrifice all of her personal attachment. She has to sacrifice everything that makes her Twilight Sparkle, from her personal stuff to her beloved dog Spike. Worst of all, she didn’t even hesitate. It was so easy for her to let go of them all, to abandon everything dearest to her.
'Knock' 'Knock'
A knocking sound interrupted Twilight from her musings. She stood from her seat and cleared her throat. "Ahem... I'm coming!" The girl put a hand on the door knob and paused for a second. "Who is this?" She asked warily.
There was no response. The girl waited for a moment before repeating her question. "Uh, who is this? This better not be a prank." She opened the door, revealing an empty hallway of Crystal Prep Academy. "Of course..." She was about to close the door when she realized that there's something lying down in front of her doorstep.
It is four gift box stacked on top of one another with a rainbow letter lying on top of them. The smallest one on top is wrapped in a white paper with star and musical notes pattern all over it. The second one is wrapped in a green paper with red apple pattern all over it. The third one is wrapped in a dark orange paper with lightning bolts pattern all over it. The last one is wrapped in bright purple paper with swirling patterns all over it.
Twilight crouched down and picked up the note. "For Twilight Sparkle, love C.M.C." She whispered in disbelief. Nobody has ever sent her gifts before, especially from somebody she never heard of. She put the gifts into her room and closed the door behind her. Then she walked towards her study table and opened up the letter.
The first thing she saw was a cute little handwriting that looked like it was made by young children. Not only that, but the letter is also filled with glitters and botches of paint that makes it much more lively than usual. There are also some misspelled words and a lot of grammar mistakes. The fact that this innocent little piece of letter was written by children gives off a new sense of feeling, a nice little detour from the cold and suffocating formalities of her school.
'Dear Twillight Twilight Sparkle'
'My name is Apple Bloom, sitting beside me is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and floating on a coton cotton candy cloud behind me is The Cute and Powerful Screwball. Together we are...THECUTIEMARKCRUSADERS!!!'
Twilight rolled her eyes at the sight of the words Cutie Mark Crusaders written using paintbrush and glitters, making it almost impossible to be read.
'We are bringing you this letter and fourfivesevenFOURSEVEN---]\\!@&$^%*#'
The girl could almost hear them all arguing at each other about the number of gifts they gave to her.
Four gift box to cheer you up.
Twilight narrowed her eyes in confusion when she read that. Why would anyone who she probably never met before in her life wanted to cheer her up?
Why? Because as the Crusaders, it is our duty to help other ponies people in need.
Did this writing just reply to her?
The handwriting changed just a bit, not anymore tidier, just different.
How do we know you need help? Just a hunch! Don't think about it or you might hurt your head.
For some reason, Twilight felt that those words held more truth than she'll ever know.
Yeah, hold on to that reason! It's important, do not try to think this logically. Unless your name is Twilight Sparkle.
No! That came out wrong, I mean not you Twilight, I mean our pony Twilight! Just don't think about it okay? It's for your own good.
Telling her not to think about it just makes her even more curious.
'Moving on, like Apple Bloom just wrote, we're gonna cheer you up! Starting by opening Sweetie Belle's giftgiftsgiftGIFTSGIFT BOX.'
For one reason after another, Twilight really, really wanted to be there when they're making this letter, bickering and arguing about how many gift they sent to her.
Her present gift box is the white one. Go ahead, open it. Close this letter and open it.
It was then that Twilight realized that it is the end of the letter. She was a bit disappointed that the letter is so brief, but she really is curious about what they gave to her.
The girl picked up the smallest box on top of the others and gently ripped off the wrapping. She took out a small pocket knife from her pocket and slice open the box, revealing a beautiful dress folded in such way that it somehow fits into the box. "Oh my gosh..." She picked up the dress and found herself staring at a glorious blue dress worthy of a princess.
“It’s beautiful...” Then she looked back at the box and saw a small letter sitting on the bottom. She gently put the dress on her lap before picking up the message. “To Twilight Sparkle, love Sweetie Belle.” She opened the letter and saw a cute little letter decorated with ribbons and laces.
Dear Twilight
‘Hi! Do you like the dress? I hope so, because my sister Rarity worked so hard on that.’
Twilight took another look at the dress and nodded to herself. She still couldn’t understand why someone would send her a dress. It’s too elaborate to be a prank, that’s for sure.
‘By the way, I also brought you another gift! I imbued this letter with my healing magic, so if you’re hurt just put this letter over your wound and you’ll feel even better!!!’
Twilight just rolled her eyes when she read that. She can see why they argued about how many gifts the sent to her.
‘By the way, does that dress matches your size? We based the size on Pinkie Pie.’
The girl looked at the dress again and realized that whoever this Pinkie Pie person is, she has the same size as her.
‘Oh and open Apple Bloom’s present next! She has something very special for you!’
It’s not hard for Twilight to figure out that Apple Bloom sent the Apple-Patterned present. She folded the dress back into the box, knowing for a fact that she won’t ever use it. “Sorry Sweetie Belle, but the day I went into party is the day I get myself expelled from this place...” She muttered to herself.
She opened the next gift and saw a cute little handbag lying down at the bottom of it. She picked up the bag and realized that there’s something in it. The girl took out a box of pie out of the bag. “It’s still warm...” She opened the box and the sweet scent of apple pie filled her senses.
Twilight put down the box and quickly walked over towards her study table. She took out the cleanest knife she could find and used it to slice open the Apple Pie. “Wow...” Instead of the usual yellow apple jam, rainbow colored goodness filled the pastry. She picked up a slice and took a closer look at it.
“Why do I have a feeling that this pie is drugged...” She took a small bite and her face started to melt in pleasure. The magical taste of the Zap Apple filled her mouth the second she took a bite from the pie. “Nevermind...” She whispered in bliss before taking another bite. “Drugged or not, this is delicious!”
A few seconds later, Twilight finished the slice of apple pie in her hand. She was about to take another slice when she saw another note lying down near the bag. She picked it up and opened it, revealing another letter written with pen and a generous amount of paint.
‘Hi Twilight! Do you like Zap Apple Pie? Granny Smith helped me cook it a few weeks ago.’
Twilight narrowed her eyes in confusion. If she made it weeks ago then how come it’s still warm?
‘Oh that’s easy Twilight!’
And how come these letters keep responding to her thoughts?
‘The Zap Apple Harvest day was weeks ago, so I asked the Doctor to take me back in time to make some apple pie with Granny Smith. Then I asked Screwball to put it inside a Quantum Lock to make sure it stays warm until you open the box!’
That story was so absurd, she couldn’t even argue against it. “Okay then... Magical paper, magical pies, and...” She took a closer look at the handbag and picked it up. It is a green handbag with a symbol of rainbow colored apple at the back of it. “This is pretty cool...”
‘Oh and Twilight!!! The bag’s bigger on the inside and you should definitely open Scootaloo’s presents for you!’
The girl took a closer at the backpack and gasped in disbelief. “No way...” She looked at the pie box she took out from the bag and realized that it is about twice as big. Not only that, but the handbag didn’t even have a single bulge in it whenever she put things in it. “But this is impossible...” She tried putting the box of pie back into the backpack and blinked owlishly at how easy for it to get in.
Twilight decided not to think about the backpack for now and looked at the third gift. She opened it, revealing a huge poster rolled up inside of it. “What in the...” The poster has an image of a blue winged pony with rainbow mane floating proudly in midair with clouds surrounding her from all sides. The craziest thing however, is the fact that the painting is bigger on the inside. Like an actual window, Twilight could lean to the right and see more of the picture from another angle.
“That pie is definitely spiked with LSD.”
The girl looked back at the gift box and saw a pair of roller skates sitting inside it. Twilight sighed a little as she picked it up; sport has never been her forte. She doesn’t even know the first thing about wearing roller skates. “Sorry Scootaloo, but I might not be able to use all of your presents.”
Then she picked up the next letter and quickly shielded her eyes from the lights coming from the letter. “Looks like somebody love glitters...” She squint her eyes as she read the letter in her hands.
‘Hi Twilight!! I don’t know what to give you, but Apple Bloom told me to give you something to cheer you up. So I give you something that always cheers me up.’
‘I gave you my Rainbow Dash Bigger in the Inside Poster that Screwball made for me a few months ago.’
Twilight started detecting a pattern here. Bigger in the inside, almost all gifts except for the one Sweetie Belle sent to her are bigger in the inside.
‘Oh and try the roller skates! I was going to send you two pairs, but Screwball convinced me that a pair is enough. I really, really hope our present will cheer you up. If not, then it is up to Screwball’s mysterious present.’
Twilight Sparkle didn’t know how to feel. It’s been a long time since anyone other than Cadance tries to cheer her up. Even then, a fake smile and an okay always keep her away from disturbing her works.
“I don’t know crusaders... I really don’t know how to feel...”
Finally, she opened the last gift box, revealing an odd antenna-like device sitting at the bottom, a few dozen DVD’s, and bottle of chocolate milk. Twilight picked up the letter strapped on to one of the DVD and opened it.
‘Hi Twilight! Do you like our little plan to cheer you up? I know that this seems weird, but trust me when I told you that we just want you to be happy.’
Twilight just sighed tiredly. She really felt guilty for not appreciating these gifts but it’s just hard for her to believe that there’s someone out there who really care for her. Especially with all the torments she went through every day, it’s hard for her to feel loved.
‘Don’t worry Twilight, it’s never your fault. Oh! And are you thirsty? I gave you a bottle of chocolate milk, try some. My dad’s original recipe.’
Twilight picked up the bottle of chocolate milk and took a sip. She smiled at the sweet taste of the cocoa running down her throat. Then she start gulping down the chocolate milk, eager to finish it in one go. “Huh?” Only to find out that the bottle is still full no matter how much she drank.
The girl looked around before carefully pouring down the bottle, but the milk in it seemed to have suspended by some invisible force. She put the bottle on to the floor and looked back at the letter.
‘I bet you just tried to flood your room with an unlimited amount of chocolate milk. Don’t worry I get it, you’re scientist right? That’s what you do; you do stupid things and make it look smart.’
Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle a little after reading that. She felt like there’s an amount of truth hidden behind those words. Scientist does perform the most stupid thing and make it looked smart.
‘That’s my first gift, unlimited chocolate milk! Or at least as long as I’m still alive.’
Twilight shivered a little when she heard that. She really hoped the day won’t come when she ran out of chocolate milk.
‘My second gift for you are the DVDs I made for you. Some of it I found from my friend’s Pet Falcon Spy Cam, others I made by myself with the Crusaders, others I recorded using my Highly Adaptable Surveillance Buddy Real-time Observer... or HASBRO for short. Now play the top most DVD!’
That’s the end of the letter and Twilight concluded that the rest of the letter must be inside the DVD. She picked up the disk and walked towards her laptop. For once in a very long time, she doesn’t pause to look at the picture of her dog. Instead, she went straight to media player to watch the mysterious message.
The first thing she saw when she played the video was a young teenage girl with light pink skin and purple hair with white linings. The odd thing about her is her eyes, they don't have pupils, just white swirling pattern all over. She sat on top of red sofa while waving at the camera. "Behold! The Cute and Powerful Screwball!!!" The girl floated a few inches up and pressed her thumb against her chest.
Then she floated back on to the sofa and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry! Force of habit..." She muttered. "By the way, do you think I look cute?"
Twilight took a closer look at the girl in front of her. From the odd yellow cap she wore to her purple swirly eyes and finally to the purple dress she wore. "Why do I have a feeling that you can hear me?" She said suspiciously towards the screen. "But I think you looked cute."
Just as she thought, Screwball grinned after she said that. "Am I? I thought Bruce was just trying to flatter me..." A bright flash of light engulfed her, when it fades away a little pony replaced her. "How about now? Do you think I'm cute?" The pony asked with a huge grin on her face. "Well?"
Twilight took one look at the filly and her eyelids dropped a little. From her huge swirly eyes and her puppy-like figure. She couldn’t help but feel reminded of Spike in some way. "D'awww... You look adorable, how did you do that?" The pony just giggled before turning back into a teenage girl.
"Well they don't call me the Cute and Powerful Screwball for nothing." The chaotic girl replied easily. Then her eyes widened and she quickly walked closer towards the camera in panic. "Oh no! Someone's coming!!!" Twilight just blinked owlishly while looking at Screwball who hasn't move from her spot. "I mean you!!! Twilight! Door! Hallway! Anomalous Gifts!"
"OH!!!" Twilight exclaimed in realization. She quickly pause the video and stood from her seat. "Okay Twilight think!" She looked at the boxes and the presents in front of her, trying to find the best place to hide them. Then her eyes lingered on the green handbag Apple Bloom sent to her. "All right... Let's see just how big this bag is in the inside..."
Twilight quickly put everything including the gift wrap into their respective boxes and put all the gift boxes into the backpack. It was then that she realized that all items she store in there shrunk significantly. "So it's not actually bigger in the inside..." She muttered to herself before closing the bag and put it on her study desk.
Knocking sound came from the door mere moments later. "Twilight? Are you in there?" A kind female voice came from behind the door. Twilight let out a breath of relief before opening the door, revealing a pink haired woman looking at her worriedly. "Twilight, are you all right?"
Twilight just smiled at her. "Yes, yes I'm all right." She replied. "What is it Mrs. Cadance?"
Cadance smiled back at her. "I'm glad you're all right. Mistress Principal wanted to speak with you in an hour. You better get yourself ready." She replied with a hint of relief after knowing that Twilight seemed happy and all right at the moment. "You looked rather happy today, find something interesting?"
The purple girl chuckled a little when she heard that. "Something like that, but I better get ready." Cadance nodded before leaving the room to let Twilight prepare. "Now that she's out of the way..." She walked back towards her laptop and starts the video.
She watched as Screwball sighed and sat back on to the sofa. "Phew, that was close. Was she one of your friends?" She asked her.
Twilight nodded with no hesitation. "Yeah, she's Dean Cadance. She's the nicest if not the only nice person here in the Academy." She replied.
The pony turned human thought about it for a second. "What about Mistress Principal? Is she nice?" Then Screwball's face turned into horror in a matter of seconds. "Dear Dad... She's the Mistress..." She quickly grabbed the camera in front of her with her hands. "Twilight!" She shouted. "For the love of Discord, please stay away from the Mistress!!!"
Twilight narrowed her eyes in confusion when she heard that. "What are you talking about?" She asked her. "And how do you keep responding to me anyway? I thought you're just a video." She asked in confusion.
Screwball sighed in frustration before leaning back to the sofa. "On second thought, it's safe for you to meet her. She still hasn't gained all of her memories, just her personality..." The pony looked back at camera with a serious expression on her face.
"As for your last question..." She took a deep breath to prepare herself. "Well I can actually look into the future and determine your answer based on the biggest possibility.” She explained. “Plus! Since I’m not from your world I don’t have to worry about those Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Paradoxical Stuffs.”
Twilight cocked her head to the side for a moment. “Are you an ancient deity?” She asked her.
“Deity? Yes. Ancient? Nope! I’m just a few months old to be honest.” Twilight looked at her in disbelief. “Yeah, I’m supposed to be a little foal. But I decided that being a foal is boring so I made myself older.”
Twilight sighed and took a deep breath. “Look. Would you please tell me why you’re doing this?” She asked her. “I don’t understand! I’m happy the way I am, I don’t need anyone to cheer me up!” She looked up and rubbed her face in frustration. “Now I’m having the biggest existential crisis of my life!!!”
Screwball sighed and looked at straight into her eyes. “Twilight, answer me this honestly...” Her eyes glow in an ethereal purple light. “Are you happy?”
The video ended and Twilight slammed her hands on to desk in frustration. She stood off from her seat and quickly grabbed a couple more discs. “I am not done with you Screwball...” The video started and Twilight could see teenage girl sitting on a park bench. The girl wore a pair of sunglasses, concealing her purple swirly eyes.
"Hi Twilight!" Screwball greeted her. "So you just watched my first video huh? Try not to finish them in one go, make this a weekly thing. You know, so I don't have to keep sending you these videos."
Twilight narrowed her eyes when she heard that. She took a deep breath and glared at the girl. “STOP IT!!!” She slammed her hand on to her desk. “I don’t even who you are, what you are! And you just suddenly popped into my life telling me what to do? Why are you doing this?”
Screwball said nothing, she just fiddled around with an upside down yo-yo in her hand. “Oh I don’t know... Oops!” Her hand slipped and the yo-yo fell up into the sky. “Where was I? Oh right!” She looked at Twilight with a knowing smirk on her face. “Why am I doing this? The big question, am I right?”
Twilight just gritted her teeth at the way she’s looking at her. She knew that the person inside her computer isn’t someone to mess with, but right now she wants nothing more but to strangle her to death. “Hey now, don’t be like that! Whatever did I do to you to deserve such thoughts?”
Then the omnipotent teen shrugged and walked closer towards the camera. She put both of her hands behind her back and leaned her face closer towards the screen. “Pop Quiz: When you’re omnipotent, when you can have anything you want, when you can reshape the world with a single thought.” She gave Twilight a sweet, sweet smile. “How do you fight boredom?”
Twilight felt her heart skipped a beat when she heard that. The gravity of the situation struck her like a thunder. She realized now just what this being in front of her wanted. She knew that there is nothing she can do about this. “You meddle and interfere... That’s what you do when you’re bored... You play god.”
Sounds of applause suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Screwball stood from her seat and a microphone suddenly appeared in her hand. “Congratulations!!! You’ve answered my first question!” She exclaimed with a smirk on her face. “Now for the next question! And trust me, this is a good one... Drumroll please!!!” There’s a drumroll for dramatic effect before Screwball flipped the microphone and held it close to her mouth.
“What are my plans for you?”
Twilight sighed and looked down. “How should I know...” She muttered. “You’re probably planning on turning me into your personal plaything or something...” Siren sounds appeared from her computer, followed by jeering voices from an invisible audience.
“Oh so very wrong my dear Twilight!” Screwball exclaimed. “I have a lot of personal plaything. And yes that includes you HASBRO.” She added towards her floating robot ball camera. “Try again!”
The human narrowed her eyes when she heard that. “You wanted to...” She looked at the gifts and the letters Screwball sent to her. “Just cheer me up?”
“CORRECT!!!” Fireworks exploded all around her, followed by confetti raining down from the sky. “Screwball just wanted to cheer you up!” She exclaimed with a huge grin on her face.
Twilight pressed her hand over her face and groaned in confusion. “But I don’t need cheering up!” She looked at Screwball with a very tired look on her face. “All you’re doing is confusing me!”
Screwball just smiled patiently before taking a few steps back from the camera. She floated a few feet in the air and the camera followed her movement. “Come on Twilight! Let me give you a tour through Ponyville!!!” She exclaimed with a huge grin on her face.
For the next few minutes Twilight found herself watching a montage of a beautiful and colorful city. Ponies populated the land instead of humans and they all live in a much more primitive lifestyle. There are no cars, phones, or anything that resembles electronic devices. It’s like looking at some sort of fairytale land.
Screwball soared down towards the marketplace. HASBRO the camera bot followed her movement and Twilight can see the town from a much closer look. She can see many types of Ponies around the town. Some has wings, some has horn, and some has neither. The one with horn can use some sort of a power to levitate objects while others use their mouth to pick things up.
Then, Screwball walked towards a yellow coated Pegasus walking through the market with a saddlebag full of groceries. “Hello Fluttershy!” the girl exclaimed cheerfully. “What are you doing?”
Fluttershy smiled back at Screwball. “Oh... Hello Screwball, I’m just buying some groceries.” She replied in a soft and kind tone. “What are you doing?” She looked straight at the camera in confusion. “And what is that?”
The swirly eyed teen grinned and pushed Fluttershy closer towards the camera. “I’m making a video to cheer my friend up! Why don’t you say something to her Fluttershy?” The Pegasus just looked down nervously when she heard that. “Aww come on, don’t be shy Fluttershy!”
Twilight watched in curiosity as the Pegasus walked closer towards her. “Umm... Hi, my name’s Fluttershy...” She said in an almost inaudible whisper. “Screwball said you need to cheer up. Are you sad? I hope you’re not sad.” Fluttershy smiled encouragingly at Twilight.
“Whenever I feel sad I always talk to my friends. They are always there for me whenever I need them. They encourage me whenever I’m sad. They never leave me behind no matter how much I deserve it.” Fluttershy sighed and looked up to the sky. “I can’t think of a reason to be sad when there’s a friend by my side.” Then she looked back at the camera. “What about you? Why don’t you talk to your friends?”
Twilight took a deep breath and looked away from the screen. “Why am I not talking to my friends?” She closed her eyes and put a hand over her forehead. “Cause I don’t need friends...” ‘Because I don’t have friends.’ she looked back at the screen. “I’m doing fine on my own, I don’t someone to talk to.”
“Okay...” Screwball muttered to herself. “Maybe we should talk to Pinkie Pie. Bye Flutters!!!” Fluttershy bid her farewell as HASBRO and Screwball flew up into the sky. “Next stop! Sugar Cube corner.” She said
A few minutes later, Twilight found herself staring at very-very pink pony.
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!!! Screwball said you need some cheering up, so I’m going to cheer you up! Do you like cakes? Puddings? Pies? Sweet things always cheer me up! Oh and my friends! They always cheer me up! Especially when I’m the one cheering them up, I always love making my friends smile! What about you? What’s your favorite thing to do? Play Games? Reading? Bungee Jumping?”
Twilight blinked owlishly, unsure how to react. The pony’s face is covering every inch of her screen and she has no idea what’s about to happen next. “I KNOW!!!” Pinkie Pie yelled without warning. “I’ll just sing you a song to cheer you up!!!”
A flash of pink filled the whole screen. When it dies down, Twilight saw a human girl standing on top of a stage that just appeared out of nowhere. Then, the girl started to sing.
“When you’re rife the devastation, there’s a simple explanation.” Pinkie Pie grabbed HASBRO and held it close to her face. “You’re a toymaker’s creation, trapped inside a crystal ball.”
Twilight watched dizzily as Pinkie Pie starts tilting around HASBRO. “And whichever he tilts it, know that we must be resilient.” Pinkie Pie threw the camera ball up to the sky and start balancing it on top of her head. “We won’t let them break our spirits, as we sing our silly song!!!”
Pinkie let go of HASBRO and Twilight could see her sitting on top of a stool with a reminiscing look on her face. “When I was a little filly, a Sonic Rainboom overtook my home. So I moved myself off to Ponyville. Said, ditch those rots if you wanna fit in”
The Pink girl jumped off the stage and start hopping around the place. “So I start one thousand parties for a million orphan foals! Now memories are blurred and their faces are obscured, but I still remember the words of this song!” A few other Pinkie Pies appeared out of nowhere and became the backup dancers.
“When you’ve bungled all your bangles and your loved ones have been mangled”. Twilight found herself smiling and nodding with the beat amidst all the crazyness behind the screen. “Listen to the Jingle Jangle of my Gypsy Tambourine.”
“Cause these chords are hypnotizing and our worlds are harmonizing.” Pinkie Pie walked towards the camera and start spinning around with it. “So please Twilight stop your skulking and just sing along with me!”
Twilight smiled at Pinkie Pie and she too started singing. “When you’ve bungled all your bangles and your loved ones have been mangled, listen to the jingle jangle of our gypsy tambourine.” Pinkie Pie grinned and joined in. “Cause these chords are hypnotizing and our worlds are harmonizing, so please Twilight stop your crying and just sing along with me!”
The song ended and Twilight can’t help but grin cheerfully. “Okay Screwball, mission accomplished! You just cheered me up.” She said while silently giggling to herself. “Say thank you for Pinkie Pie for me will you?”
“Oh no problem!” Pinkie Pie said suddenly. “Feel free to visit me someday, I always love to cheer everypony up!” Then Pinkie Pie turned back into a pony. “You should always try to befriend my counterpart! She would love to meet new friends!”
Twilight Sparkle could only blink owlishly as Screwball took HASBRO away from the sugar cube corner. “Did she say counterpart?” She asked her. “Is this another universe or a Paralel Universe?”
Screwball smirked and pointed at a huge city at the side of a mountain. “That, right there is Canterlot. Home to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, sounds familiar?” Twilight has heard about that place before. She even considered researching the anomalies in that place.
“The Canterlot High School... Does that mean?”
Screwball nodded. “Yup! There’s a Crystal Empire about a few thousand miles north from here.” She replied. “Filled with Crystal Ponies and ruled by Princess Cadance.”
Twilight gasped in disbelief when she heard that. “Princess Cadance? You mean she’s a princess?” Then she looked at Screwball in curiosity. “What about me? What am I in your world?” She asked.
The Omnipotent Teen just laughed and flew straight towards a giant tree. “For starters, you work in a library.” Screwball opened the library door, revealing hundreds of books stacked together all around the trunk of the tree. She walked towards a very familiar unicorn rearranging some books in one of the shelves.
Twilight Sparkle looked at her Pony Counterpart in wonder. They are so similar in so much ways, from their hair, their coat/skin color, to their eyes. “She’s just like me... A bookworm.” She muttered to herself. “I should’ve known...”
Screwball just shook her head and walked towards Pony Twilight. “Hi Twilight!” She exclaimed. “Can you help me?” She asked her. “I’m making a video for a friend of mine and she is a huge fan of you. Can you tell something to her about yourself?”
The Unicorn levitated some book down before looking at Screwball. “Why don’t you ask her to come here? It’s not like I’m that busy right?” She said with a kind smile on her face. “Who is this friend of yours anyway? And why are you a human?”
Screwball dragged Pony Twilight right in front of HASBRO. “Come on Twilight please! Tell everyone how awesome you are! Tell them about the elements! Tell them about your adventure as the hero of Ponyville! Tell everyone how you almost killed your best friend!” She cringed a little at the look Twilight gave him. “Uh... I mean, tell them about your adventures through Time and Space with the Doctor!”
The Unicorn just rolled her eyes before smiling at the camera. “Hi! It’s me Twilight Sparkle.” She waved kindly at the camera. “I know you might’ve heard some stories. About me, the bearer of the Element of Magic, Princess Celestia’s Prized Student, the Powerful Mare Do Well, the Savior of the Crystal Empire.” She chuckled a little before looking around. “But look where I am! I’m arranging some books inside a library.”
Pony Twilight sighed and looked back at the camera. “Let me tell you this... I can’t even dream to do a quarter of the things I did if it’s not for my friends. You think I defeated Nightmare Moon all by myself? Of course not! I won because I was not alone, I have my friends standing together to help me.”
The Unicorn looked up with a soft smile on her face. “Without her friends, Twilight Sparkle is nothing more but a very smart Unicorn who loves to read books. With her friends, Twilight Sparkle is a remarkable unicorn who saved Ponyville and the whole world for about...” She looked at Screwball for a moment.
“Four times this week.” Screwball said.
The Unicorn just chuckled. “Right, four times this week...” Then she looked back at the camera. “Remember, I did not do any of that alone. I always have my friends helping in every step of the way.”
“Actually, that one with Corrupted Acid Rain was 100% you.” Screwball piped in.
The pony just looked at Screwball with a flat look on her face. “Screwball, you are not helping. Go stand in the corner.” She deadpanned. Then she looked back at the camera and smiled kindly. “As for you my mysterious fan, perhaps you can be just as amazing as me with the help of your friends.”
Screwball grinned and clapped her hands. “Now that I think about it, I think your huge fan right here can become as amazing as you with the help of her friends.” Then she walked closer towards HASBRO with a knowing look on her face. “Still think you don’t need friends? Twilight Sparkle?” She whispered to her.
Twilight the human just sighed when the video end just like that. She quickly took another disc and inserted it into the slot. “Come on...” She muttered impatiently as her laptop booted up the video.
The first thing she saw when the video started was Screwball lying down on top of a giant marshmallow in the middle of a chocolate pool. She waved at Twilight Sparkle before sitting up from her position. “Third video? Really? I thought I told you not to finish them in one go?” Screwball asked with a mysterious smirk on her face. “Oh and we can’t speak for long. Mistress Principal’s calling remember?”
Twilight the human shook her head. “No, forget the Mistress. You were right... I understand now why you’re doing this.” She took a deep breath and looked away from the screen. “You made me realize just how lonely I am, just how much I need someone by my side.” She looked down and sighed in regret. “And yes! You were right, I need friend, I need companion, I need someone to talk to.”
Screwball just shrugged when she heard that. “Well, good for you then.” She snapped her fingers and a mirror suddenly appeared right behind her. “I’m a bit busy now. So see you later Sparkles!!!”
Twilight could only watch helplessly as Screwball disappeared into the mirror. She jolted off of her seat and grabbed her handbag. “Where is it...” She muttered in frustration as she scrambled through the contents of the bigger in the inside bag. She flipped the bag and start pouring down the contents to the floor below.
Fifteen minutes passed and Twilight started to lose hope. The Anomalous Gifts are scattered all across the room in her desperate attempt to find those discs. The dress Sweetie Belle sent to her was lying down carelessly on the floor with the poster Scootaloo sent to her. The skates and all the letters were hastily put together inside a single gift box.
Right now, Twilight is eating the Zap Apple Pie with a very tired look on her face. In a few minutes, the Principal will be looking for her. She couldn’t care less however, all she wanted right now is just wallow in sorrow while eating some delicious magical pie.
‘Knock’ ‘Knock’
There it is, Mrs. Cadance or perhaps the Mistress herself looking for her. “Yes... I’m coming...” She looked around and realized that magical anomalous gifts are scattered around the floor. “What’s the point...” She ignored the items and walked towards the door.
Twilight opened the door and her eyes widened as she observed the person standing on her doorframe. “Screwball?” The swirly eyed girl just smiled sheepishly at her. She entered the room and closed the door behind her. “What are you doing here?”
Screwball snapped her fingers and a sofa suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. “Sorry! I was going to teleport straight here the second I entered that mirror, but then I saw Sunset, Starlight, and you’re not gonna believe this but I also met Lily Gunderson!!!” She laughed in mirth, not noticing the pissed off look on Twilight’s face. “Seriously!!! The same Lily from a paralel Universe! The last human!!! Oh just imagine what would happen if Bruce knew about this... CHAOS!!! That’s what, A Big Delicious Chunk of Chaos just waiting to happen! Oh I can’t wait to...”
‘SLAP’
A hand slapped her cheek, cutting Screwball’s excited monologue. She put a hand over her face in extreme disbelief as she looked at her attacker. “Okay... okay... wow...” She muttered, still trying to process what just happen. “Did you just slap the Heir of Chaos and the Embodiment of Harmony herself?”
Twilight gritted her teeth and stomped her foot in frustration. “YES!!! Yes I did! That’s what you get for leaving me alone just like that!” She walked closer towards the sofa and jabbed her finger on Screwball’s chest. “I thought you just left me forever! And now you just strolled in like you own the place and...”
The girl gasped when a pair of arms suddenly embraced her. “Stop it... You can’t get away with just a hug.” Twilight whispered. ‘Please... Don’t let go...’ Screwball could hear her screaming on the inside. “All right... Just this once, you can get away with just a hug.” Twilight hugged her back and exhaled a breath in relief. ‘Please don’t leave me again...’
A few seconds later, Screwball let go of Twilight and smiled at her. “See? Hugs, fun!” Twilight just rolled her eyes in response and sat right next to her. “Pop Quiz, who drugged the teacher’s Water Fountain with some sedative?” She asked suddenly.
Twilight just chuckled after hearing that. “Does that mean I don’t have to meet the principal?” She asked her. “Or perhaps, you have other plans for Mistress?”
Screwball grinned at Twilight after hearing that. “When I met you, I thought you’re just Twilight’s Counterpart.” She took out a magnifying glass out of nowhere. “Same hair, same eyes, same magic resonation...” Then the magnifying glass disappeared from her hand and she put a hand over her cheek. “But then you slapped me, and I know for a fact that I just found my partner in crime.”
This time Twilight held up her hands defensively. “Whoa! What do you mean by partner in crime?” She asked her. “I’m not doing any crimes!!! I’m a law abiding citizen.”
The Omnipotent Girl wiggled her fingers chidingly. “Well of course we’re not doing any crimes against the government.” She snapped her other fingers and a clipboard appeared right in front of her. “We’re doing crimes against Fate, Destiny, Nature, Time, and Space. So, are you in or are you in!?”
Twilight looked at the clipboard in front of her before looking back at Screwball. “I’m going to leave everything behind aren’t I?” She asked her. “All my works, projects, grades...” She looked around her room in deep thought. “I don’t think I can do that...”
Screwball rubbed her chin in deep thought. “Well... How about this, for our first crime against the Cosmic Laws of Everything we are going to...” Sounds of drumroll appeared out of nowhere for dramatic effects. “Steal your dog!!!”
The human girl cringed and jerked back in shock. “Excuse me?!” She exclaimed in disbelief. “I beg your pardon!?”
The Embodiment of Chaos shrugged. “Well, a couple of years ago after you abandoned and threw out your dog like a heartless monster...” She just smirked back at the murderous glare Twilight gave her. “Mistress Principal decided to turn Spike into her test subject and experimented on him. Safe to say he survived for three weeks in pain, agony, and insanity beyond everything you’ve ever known before.”
Twilight growled under her breath and balled his hands in to fists. “She promised me she’ll take a good care of him...” She muttered with a barely restrained anger. She looked at Screwball with determination flashing behind her eyes. “Where do we start?”
“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!!!” Screwball snapped her fingers and everything goes white.
Twilight blearily opened her eyes. She looked around and found herself standing in front of the Crystal Prep Academy. She looked to her left and saw Screwball standing around with a pair of binoculars in her hands. “So... Are we actually back in time?” She asked her.
Screwball nodded and walked closer towards Twilight. “Okay, close your eyes. I’m going to give you some of Fluttershy’s magic.” She said.
“What for?” Twilight asked warily.
“So you can speak and understand animals. You know, to make this easier!” Screwball jabbed her middle and pointer finger at Twilight’s forehead. “By the way, there’s a fifty percent chance this will become permanent.”
A bright flash of light filled Twilight’s vision and she blinked rapidly. “Ugh... My head!!!” Pounding headache starts drumming inside her head and she could hear ringing sounds from everywhere. “Was that really necessary?”
Screwball just looked at Twilight incredulously. “You just got blessed with the power to communicate with animals by an actual deity and that’s your response? ‘Was that really necessary?’” She deadpanned.
Twilight just shrugged before looking at her school in the distance. “So... How are we going to get in there unnoticed?” She moved her attention towards Screwball. “And what would happen if I met my past-self?”
The pony turned girl just shrugged. “Well, reality would shatter and my parents will probably ground me for months while they try to figure out how to fix everything.” Then she took out a couple of necklaces out of her pocket. “That’s why I’m bringing this!!! Perception Filterer Necklaces.” She gave the silver necklace with purple pendant to Twilight. “Put one of these beauties over your neck and you can stroll into the white house unnoticed!”
Twilight wore the necklace and looked at her hands. “I don’t feel invisible...” She looked around and realized that Screwball just disappeared. “Screwball! Where are you?”
“Right in front of you!”
The girl narrowed her eyes and concentrate real hard. Soon, she can see Screwball grinning at her while twirling the necklace around her neck. “So that’s how it works...” Twilight said in fascination. “We didn’t turn invisible, we just turn unnoticeable.”
Screwball nodded and pointed at the school in front of her. “Correct! Now if my timing is correct, we should be able to stop Mistress Principal in front of her chamber.”
The two of them ran towards the school. Not one student or staff members noticed them. They just walk past them like they don’t exist. It’s like being invisible, but much more effective.
“So do we have to whisper?” Twilight whispered to Screwball while slipping through the crowds of students.
“Not much, just don’t shout.” Screwball replied simply as she floated leisurely above everyone else. “By the way, there is a good chance that I missed the timeline and we are actually too late or too early. So...” She grinned at Twilight sheepishly. “Promise me you won’t try to kill me if that happen.”
Twilight gave Screwball a very dangerous look. “As long as we’re not too late then it’s okay.” Then she looked at the entrance to her room in the distance. “You think it’s safe for us to go in there?” She asked her.
Screwball shook her head and pointed at The Mistress walking towards the door. “We are just in time, come on!” She flew gracefully through the air, leaving Twilight to navigate through the crowds.
After a few minutes of slipping and weaving through the crowds, Twilight Sparkle finally made it in front of her room. She watched her past-self walking out of her room with a huge box behind her. “Mistress Principal!” Past Twilight exclaimed. “I’ve packed everything and I am ready for my independent study program.”
The Mistress smiled and nodded approvingly. “Very good Twilight Sparkle. It’s about time you take your studies seriously.” She took a step forward and noticed a blur of purple hiding behind Twilight. “Hmm... I suppose you are going to get rid of that thing too...”
Past Twilight looked behind her and saw Spike curling up around her feet. “Do I really have to mistress? What about my study on human and animal relationship behavior?” She asked the Mistress. “Do I really have to let him go?”
“Twilight Sparkle...” The Mistress said in a calm yet threatening look on her face. “I promised you to fund all of your experiments and research with just one price.” She gazed at the purple dog below her. “You have to let go of all these annoying distraction, especially your little mutt.”
“You take that back right now miss!!!” Spike growled in anger even though no one can actually understand him. “I am not leaving Twilight alone and she will never let go of me no matter what!!!” He barked at the Mistress angrily, making her took a step back in disgust.
Twilight Sparkle sighed and gently picked up Spike from the floor. She held him in front of her with an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry Spike, but I have to do this...” She ignored the look of utter betrayal from his companion and hand him over to the Mistress.
“NO!!!” Spike barked in fear. “Please! Don’t let her take me away! Twilight I’m begging you, don’t...” A pair of cold harsh hands grabbed his torso and Spike growled in anger. He looked at the Principal and start barking at her furiously. “Get your hands off me!!!”
The dog struggled and growled against The Mistress’s grip. The sheer thought of leaving Twilight alone terrifies him to no end. ‘Snap’ He bit the woman’s finger in panic and jumped way from her grasp. Then he took cover behind Twilight before pausing to catch his breath.
The Mistress hissed in pain while checking on her fingers. “Twilight, take control of your mutt before I expel you from my school!” She exclaimed with a threatening look on her face. “And get me some disinfectant before I contracted a disease.”
Twilight nodded and quickly ran back to her room in panic. She took out a bottle of disinfectant from desk and hand it over to the mistress. “Mistress... I am so, so sorry. I swear; Spike usually isn’t like this.” She said guiltily. “Please don’t expel me...”
Then the girl moved her attention towards the dog. She crouched down right in front of him and gazed at him with a cold look on her face. “Spike...” She glared at her dog, ignoring the miserable expression on his face. “Behave!”
Spike whimpered under her stare. He looked down and took a couple of steps back. “No, no, no. Twilight please!!! I’m so, so, sorry!!!” He cried in fear and regret. “Please, please, please Twilight don’t do this!!! I’m begging you, I can’t live without you! Ple... Gah!!!” The girl harshly picked him up and threw him into a cage like some sort of rabid animal.
‘Clang’ Twilight kicked away the cage straight towards the door before sighing to herself. “Sorry about all that Mistress...” She muttered. “Do I still have that independent study program?” She asked her with a hopeful look on her face.
The Mistress took one look at the dog crying and whimpering inside the cage before smiling at Twilight. “Of course you have my dear...” She gently put a hand over Twilight’s head. “Now, return to your room and impress me with your brilliant ideas.”
Meanwhile, just a couple of meters away from the room...
“Twilight, I can’t believe I’m saying this but... Get a hold of yourself.” Screwball said while maintaining an invisible force field to stop Twilight from performing a reality breaking Paradox so early in their endeavor.
Twilight didn’t hear her. She just kept punching and kicking the barrier in fury and regret. “AAAH!!!” She howled furiously. “Let Me Out Of Here Screwball! I’m Going To Kill Her!!!” Her voice drowned out significantly by the barrier.
Screwball cringed a little when she heard that. “I’m not an expert, but I don’t think fatally injuring your past self is a good idea.” She snapped her fingers and the force field doubled in power. “And I think it’s a bit early on our adventure to shatter reality itself...”
Soon, Twilight stopped her desperate struggle and dropped down inside the barrier. She closed her eyes and starts sobbing quietly. “I never realized...” She whispered to herself. “He was begging me not to let him go, he was scared, he was panicked, and I...” ‘Crack’ she punched the floor in frustration before curling up in regret. “You were right. I am a heartless monster...”
The force field fell and Screwball stepped into it with a comforting smile on her face. “Hey now, stop beating yourself up! You can still make it up for him, that’s why we’re here for, remember?” She crouched down and gently embraced her into a hug. “Now come on Sparkles, let’s see just how much we’ll screw up.” Then she chuckled a little. “Get it? Screw up?”
The girl just sighed and giggled a little. She wiped the tears off her face and stood up from her position. “Okay so... What’s the plan?” The only response she got is a sheepish smile and a nervous look from her associate. “And why don’t you have a plan after we’ve gone this far?”
Screwball held up her finger and opened her mouth. Then she closed her mouth and lowered her finger. Then she raised her finger and opened her mouth again. “That’s because you’re the strategist! You’re the brain and I’m the muscle! So...” She grinned at Twilight. “What now boss?”
Twilight rolled her eyes and watched as Mistress Principal took away Spike. “Hmm... Just how good are you at making false money? I want this to be as quick and easy as possible.”
The omnipotent teen just sighed after hearing that. “So boring... But here, I’ll give you half of my pocket money.” She snapped her fingers and a bag of bits appeared out of thin air. “My parents are a very, very wealthy traveling magician.”
With that, they followed the Mistress through the Crystal Prep Academy. They were half expecting her to go to her chamber, but the mistress went to the parking lot instead. She entered her car and start driving away from the Crystal Prep Academy.
“Okay, we have two choices here...” Twilight muttered. “We can follow her and see where she took him, or we can skip all the troubles and just save Spike.” She looked at Screwball. “What do you think?”
Screwball snapped her fingers and an Automatic Off-Road Motorcycle appeared right next to her. “Right...” Twilight muttered to herself. “I’m driving aren’t I?” She asked her warily.
The swirly eyed girl nodded. “Well of course you are!” She exclaimed. “I’m just a few months old; you can’t expect me to drive a motorcycle, let alone an Anti-Gravity one!” Twilight walked towards the motorcycle and put a hand over the handle. “That’s the spirit!”
They both sat on top the motorcycle and get themselves ready for a chase. “Oh, by the way, since you’re wearing that Perception Filterer, no one on the street will notice you.” Screwball said, making Twilight even more nervous than before. “You can take it off, but we shouldn’t really risk anyone noticing us or Butterfly Effect.”
‘Vroom’ Twilight started the engine. She watched carefully as the Principal’s car left the parking lot. “How hard do you think it is to drive an invisible motorcycle?” She asked Screwball suddenly. “Answer: Not that much...”
With a yank, Twilight drove the motorcycle through the roads. She expertly turned and manouver her way through the street with determination flashing in her eyes. “Woohoo!” Screwball shouted as the motorcycle weaved its way through the traffic.
Suddenly, red traffic light blocked their way. Twilight gritted her teeth when she saw the principal’s car leaving them behind, only missing the red light by an inch. She pulled the handle and start breaking through the red light.
Dozens of cars and motorcycle came right around them. Not one people driving those vehicles can notice them since they wore the Perception Filterer Necklace. Twilight didn’t even flinch however, she just moved faster through the cross-section and leaned to the right to dodge an incoming car.
A huge truck came lumbering towards them and an ambulance came rushing in from behind. The girl just smirked and starts heading straight towards the truck. “Uh... What are you doing?” Screwball asked warily as they went closer and closer towards the truck.
Twilight took a deep breath and leaned all of her weight to the left. The motorcycle tilted and starts drifting in a ninety degrees angle. “Hang on!!!” The Motorcycle stopped drifting and missed the ambulance by just an inch. She quickly regained control of the motorcycle before going straight through the roads like nothing just happen.
“Twilight, have I ever told you how much I love you?” Screwball asked in awe and amazement.
The human girl just chuckled in response. “Nope, but it’s a start.” She drove the car further and further through the road and realized that they couldn’t see any sign of the principal’s car. “Screwball, where did she go?”
Screwball thought about it for a second before sighing. “She went to the highway. If we want to catch up, we need to go...” She looked around for a moment. “That way!!!” Twilight looked at that direction and saw a massive traffic jam on the right lane.
Disregarding all traffic signs, lights, and common sense, Twilight Sparkle went straight to the opposing lane. Dozens of car starts approaching right in front of her and the girl just pulled the gas all the way down.
‘Whoosh’ The Motorcycle went straight past a speeding car before turning to dodge an incoming motorcycle. ‘Thump’ Twilight expertly dodge a fire truck and made the motorcycle moving through the sidewalk. ‘swish’ ‘swish’ ‘swish’ The motor moved back and forth from left to right to dodge dozens of incoming traffic signs and innocent bystander.
Soon, they encountered a heavy traffic jam on both lane and no principal’s car on sight. Hundreds of cars and motorcycles lined up in front of them and some cars are approaching from behind. "You said something about anti-gravity right?" Twilight asked. Screwball pressed a button and the motorcycle starts hovering a few inches up. "Nice!"
Twilight grinned and pulled the handle. ‘Vroom’ The Motorcycle hovered above one of the cars before it start soaring above the traffic. Like soaring through a bumpy landscape, the motorcycle kept bouncing through the cars the faster they gets.
A truck moved unexpectedly while the motor is hovering above it. Twilight loses control of the Anti-Gravity Motorcycle and start veering off the road. “Hang on!” She yanked the handle to the left and the vehicle soared wildly through the road.
After a few minutes of trying to control their vehicle, Twilight found the brakes and stopped at the side of the road. She looked around her and realized that she has no idea where she is. “Okay... Where is the principal?”
Screwball thought about it for a second. “I got a plan and it’s a crazy one!” She exclaimed.
“Screwball, I am driving an Anti-Gravity Motorcycle chasing after my own Principal who took my dog for experimenting.” Twilight exclaimed before continuing her way through the road. “Oh and did I mention that we also traveled back in time?”
The chaotic girl shrugged and pointed at an empty trailer truck in the distance. “Okay, let me make this easy for you...” She snapped her fingers and a slope appeared behind the trailer truck. “Go do your stunt and leave the rest to me.”
Twilight looked at the slope with a determined look on her face. She smirked and pulled the handlebar all the way down. “Geronimo...” She whispered to herself.
‘VROOOM’ The Motorcycle is a blur as it soared above the cars towards the slope. When it gets near the slope, loud beeping sound came from the back of the motorcycle and it started to move faster. ‘Whoosh’ the slope launched the motorcycle high up above the sky. It went higher and higher until they can’t even see the road below her.
Soon, the motorcycle breached through the clouds and the passengers felt like driving a motorcycle through a cloud highway. They could see columns of clouds all shifting and turning around them. It was a very magical moment that makes no sense at all.
“I love this so much!!!” Twilight exclaimed as she steered the motorcycle away from a column of storm clouds. “Is this what you’re feeling every day? No wonder you’re so gosh darn happy!” She leaned to the right and the motorcycle starts drilling through the air like a missile.
Screwball just grinned and snapped her fingers. A selfie stick appeared in her hands and held it up in front of Twilight. “Say cheese Twilight!” They both smiled and a flash of light came from the camera. “How viral do you think these photos will become?”
Twilight just laughed in response. “Oh I don’t know! How about we take a selfie in front of the Lost City of Atlantis?” She replied mirthfully. “Then, we should do a moonwalk tutorial video! On the moon!”
Screwball laughed out loud when she heard that. Just the thought of making some video blogs and doing selfie through time and space makes her feel more alive than ever. “Twilight, have I ever told you how much I love you!?” Screwball exclaimed as she imagined all the things she could do with her.
After almost half an hour of flying through the clouds, groaning sounds came from the engine. Twilight and Screwball cringed when the motorcycle start soaring down back to earth. “Screwball, this is the part where you tell me what I’m supposed to do!”
Screwball closed her eyes before smirking to herself. “Okay, we are going to hitch a ride. Just hold on to the brakes and don’t let go.” She said with a barely contained hint of excitement in her face. “Seriously, don’t let go.”
It took Twilight a couple of seconds to realize what’s about to happen. When she did, she let out a laugh in a mixture of mirth and disbelief. “Oh you are insane Screwball!!!” Loud humming sounds came from behind them. “And so am I!!!”
The girl leaned to the right and start falling right towards a black shape on the clouds below them. When they get nearer, they can finally see a Military Jet floating just below them. ‘Clunk’ The not-so-Anti-Gravity Motorcycle landed on top of the jet’s body.
“This jet is flying straight towards the White House! Fortunately, my internal radar is telling me that the Principal lives near that place so we can hitch a ride!” Screwball exclaimed. “Just don’t let go of the brakes, it makes the motorcycle stick to any surfaces.”
A second after she said that, the jet took a strong left turn. “Change of plans! This is not the right plane. Let go of the brakes!!!” Screwball exclaimed suddenly.
Twilight let go of the brakes and they all start soaring down towards the ground. “Now what?” she asked Screwball. “And are we anywhere close to the principal?”
Screwball took out a pair of binoculars and used it to observe the city below them. “There! The Principal’s car! Just a few miles away from here.” She snapped her finger and the motorcycle suddenly hit an invisible slope. “Okay, we are about to do something freakishly dangerous! Take this! To make it less dangerous.” She gave Twilight a pair of shades.
Twilight wore the shades and instinctively face-palmed in disbelief. “Screwball, you are an idiot!!!”
Using the shades, Twilight could see that Screwball just erected an invisible force field all over the city. But that’s not the idiotic part, the idiotic part would be the fact that the invisible force field formed an overly convoluted tracks. Like some sort of a twisted roller coaster filled with loops and drops and other stomach-explosion inducing stuff, the invisible track in front of her are supposed to keep her alive.
‘VROOM’ The Motorcycle soared through the sky on top of an invisible sky tracks. Twilight leaned to the right and the motorcycle start soaring down to the ground in a corkscrew motion with the help of the track. “I have to admit, this is not such a bad idea!” Twilight exclaimed in excitement as the track took the motorcycle zipping and turning through the whole city.
A few minutes later, Twilight could see the principal’s car in a distance away from them. “Screwball, I’m getting off the rails!” The motorcycle veered to the left and start falling down to the road a few feet below them. ‘Bang’ small cracks formed on the asphalt upon their impact only to be fixed by a simple magic by Screwball.
The principal car turned towards a small neighborhood and Twilight sighed in relief. “Finally...” They all followed the principal car towards a house in the middle of the real estate before stopping right near it. “Come on Screwball, let’s get this over with...”
Twilight Sparkle and Screwball slipped right through the entrance of the house. They observed their surroundings and found themselves standing in the middle of a huge mansion. The floors below them and the walls around them are made out of solid marble covered with priceless tapestry. The furniture around them are made out of gold plated marmer and other precious stone.
They followed the principal towards a steel door that led downstairs to the basement. “Okay, most definitely an evil lair...” Twilight muttered to herself. Then she looked at Screwball warily. “So, what’s going on in there?”
The Omnipotent Girl flinched and looked at Twilight with a look of panic in her face. “Twilight, I need to get rid of Fluttershy’s magic from you. You really do not want to understand any animal language in the vicinity.”
It took a few seconds for Twilight to process what’s going on and she shuddered a little. “Yes, please, I really do not want to hear them...” She muttered to herself. “But I thought there’s a fifty percent chance that it’s permanent?”
Screwball sighed and nodded before pressing her fingers against Twilight’s forehead. “Yeah, let’s just hope it’s not or I might have to turn down your hearing for a moment.” A bright flash of light engulfed Twilight for a few seconds before it fades away.
“Can you understand me?” Screwball asked.
Twilight nodded. “You’re speaking English right?” The look on Screwball’s face told her otherwise. “Okay, so it’s permanent then. What language did you speak?”
The human just sighed before looking at the set of stairs beyond the steel door. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go find Spike and figure out what the hell is going on here.” She walked down the stairs with Screwball following her closely from behind.
Cold stone walls surround them as they walked down deeper and deeper down to the basement. Dimly lit light bulbs illuminated the whole area, bright enough to help anyone navigate through the stairs but not bright enough to make them notice any necessary details.
After a few minutes of walking, Screwball and Twilight could hear voices coming from a distance. “Screwball, are those voices...” She let the question hang, not wanting to continue with the line of thought.
“Yup”, Screwball replied simply.
Twilight sighed and took a deep breath to prepare herself. “Can’t you just fix everything with your powerful Reality Warper ability?” She asked the embodiment of chaos. “I mean, you did make us travel back in time with just a snap of your fingers. Can’t you snap your fingers and do the same thing?”
Screwball just shrugged in response. “Well if you say so. What do you want me to do boss?”
The girl thought about it for a second before looking down at the endless staircase. “Take us to the bottom of this stairs.” Screwball snapped her fingers and they all found themselves standing in front dark dungeon filled with hundreds upon hundreds of caged animal at the side of it.
Most of the animals are pet animal. Like dogs, cats, rabbits, and turtles. But there are so a couple of tiger and a wolf trapped inside a heavy duty cage in the bottom. One thing they have in common though is the fact that they are screaming, begging, crying out to be freed from their prison.
“Help us!” “Please don’t let her hurt us!” “I want to go home!” “I have to return to my family!” “I don’t want to die!” “Somebody please save us!!!”
The animals howled, growled, and hissed in fear and panic. Each one of them was begging to be freed while some just wept in despair. They struggled against their cages while cursing the woman standing in front of a testing table in the middle of the room.
Twilight’s breath hitched as she listened to the screaming coming from the animals around her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to regain her composure. “You okay Twilight?” Screwball asked, sensing her distress. “Look, you don’t have to do this. I can save Spike and get us out of here faster than you can spell lollipop.”
The human shook her head and looked forward with a steely look on her face. “No, there’s still one thing I need to do...” She walked closer towards the Principal standing in front of a testing table. “Screwball, I’m about to do something very insane.”
Screwball watched in a mixture of disbelief and amazement as her friend yanked the Perception Filterer Necklace out of her neck. “Forget ponies, this Twilight is a bad ass...” She purred in cat language. “I want her so bad...”
Twilight Sparkle walked towards the Principal, her footsteps drowned out by the wailings of the animals around her. She cracked her knuckles before stopping a few feet away from the woman “Mistress Principal!!!” She exclaimed.
The Mistress jolted and looked back in shock. “Twilight?” She asked in confusion and disbelief. “What do you think you’re doing?” She walked closer towards the girl. “And how did you get here unnoticed?”
‘SMACK’ A haymaker to the face, ‘BOOF’ and a kick to the solar plexus answered her question. ‘Thump’ the principal dropped just like that. “That felt good...” Twilight muttered while rubbing her knuckles. “Who knew martial arts lesson from Wiki-How actually worked.”
Screwball suddenly appeared behind her and attacked her with a surprise hug. “Forget Rainbow Dash, you are the awesomest thing ever!” She exclaimed. “I’ve never seen any good guys do that!” She let go of Twilight and looked at her in amusement. “I mean seriously! Usually the good guys will chit-chat, giving the bad guys a plan of escape. But you? You didn’t even give her a chance!!!”
Twilight just smiled sheepishly. “It’s nothing, now come on. Let’s go find Spike.” She walked closer towards the testing table and sighed in relief when she realized that the table is empty. “Spike! Spike!” She exclaimed. “Where are you boy?”
She tried to hear amidst all the roaring, growling, and howling of the creatures around her. “Twilight!” A voice called out to her from a distance. She wasted no time following the voice. “Twilight over here!!!”
The girl paused and looked to her left. A huge relieved smile stretched upon her face when she saw Spike sitting inside a cage safe and sound. “SPIKE!!!” She crouched down and unlocked the cage. The dog lunged at her in excitement. “Oh Spike, I’m so, so, so, sorry!!” She hugged her dog in joy and relief. “I’m so glad you’re okay...”
Spike smiled and starts barking around in excitement. “See? I knew you’ll come and rescue me!!! It was all a plan right? You were just tricking the principal to save all of these animals!” He exclaimed in relief. “It was me who should apologize; I should’ve known that you will never leave me...”
Twilight just smiled and pressed her forehead to his. “No, I won’t... Not today, not ever...”
A few days later...
Fluttershy walked through the bustling City of Canterlot. She watched the streets and the crowds all around her with a tired look on her face. All those smoke coming from the cars, the trash thrown out carelessly on the streets, and those electromagnetic signals crowding the sky... They harm nature and those beautiful animals she loves.
What’s more, the Canterlot Animal Shelter is having an economic crisis. The little building couldn’t hope to keep shelter of all animals in Canterlot. The fact that more and more horrible owners start abandoning their pets doesn’t help at all.
Above all this however, one thing troubles her most. Her own Principal the Mistress wanted to buy the animal shelter and turn it into a convenient store. She couldn’t bear the thought of what would happen to the animals if that happens.
After a few minutes of walking, Fluttershy stopped in her tracks. “No...” She gasped in horror. “Oh no, please...” There, in the distance she could see a construction site where she knew the Animal Shelter is. She almost broke down right there on the sidewalk, but she couldn’t stay still until she knew what happened to the animals.
The girl ran as fast as she can towards the construction site. Her hope diminished as she gets closer and closer. She leapt over a patch of cement and slid down to dodge a huge metal beam coming her way. She observed her surroundings and realized that they still haven’t demolished the Canterlot Animal Shelter.
Fluttershy ran straight towards the shelter entrance, ignoring the cries of warning from the workers. A bunch of workers stood in her way and the girl narrowed her eyes. She lunged at one of the workers and used his shoulder as a boost to do a graceful front flip above them. ‘Tap’ She landed in front of the door on one foot before she ran straight into the shelter.
Inside, Fluttershy realized that everything stays intact. She looked around and saw a dark purple haired girl crouching down while playing and talking with a bunch of little hamsters. She walked towards the girl hesitantly and cleared her throat. “Ahem... Excuse me... I’m sorry, what are you doing here?” Her voice still wavers through the emotional turmoil she had.
The girl looked at Fluttershy and smiled at her. “Hi! You must be Fluttershy, my name’s Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight said with a kind smile on her face. “I’m here here to keep watch on the construction.” She pointed at the ceiling. “Mostly on the second and third floor.”
Fluttershy sat down right next to Twilight. “A-are you the one responsible behind all this?” She asked in disbelief. “Are you the one who bought the shelter?”
Twilight nodded then shook her head. “Yes and no, yes I bought the shelter, and no I didn’t pay for it. My friend Screwball used her few months’ worth of pocket money to buy the Shelter.” She leaned closer to Fluttershy. “She’s rich...” She whispered to her.
The pink haired girl said nothing. She just sighed and looked down in defeat. “Can you at least... Let us keep the first floor as a shelter?” She looked at the hamsters and kittens all around her. “I can’t bear the thought of them losing their only home.”
A sudden look of realization appeared on Twilight’s face. She put a hand over her forehead and sighed. “I told her to start advertising...” She muttered to herself. “Fluttershy, we are not destroying the shelter, we are renovating the shelter.”
“Wh-what?” Fluttershy asked in disbelief. “Y-you’re not destroying the shelter?” She asked.
Twilight shook her head. “No! We’re giving it some new floors to shelter more animals.” She pointed at a brown hamster standing in front of her. “And according to Mr. Curtis here, the overcrowding will drive them insane so we’ll make a couple more hamster habitat.”
The girl looked at Fluttershy and saw a trickle of tear running down her face. “No don’t cry! We’re not destroying the shelter, I swear! We just-oh!” Her words were cut short when Fluttershy embraced her and start crying tears of joy.
“Thank you... Thank you so much Twilight... How will I ever repay your kindness?” She whispered to her.
Twilight smiled and hugged her back. “Be kind, that’s how you can repay my kindness. Be kind to anyone and anything.” She whispered to her. “But don’t forget that you also have to be strong. There are times where you have to be brave to protect those you love. Be kind and be strong Fluttershy...”
Fluttershy smiled and hugged her tighter. “I will... I promise you, I will.” They let go of each other and smiled. “So... You’re my new manager then?” She asked her.
The purple girl sighed and shook her head. “No, I’m staying here until Screwball and I sort out the paradox.” Fluttershy was about to ask something but Twilight held up her hand to stop her. “Something that you shouldn’t really know.” Twilight added quickly.
Suddenly, a little pink filly with swirly eyes appeared right beside Twilight. She grinned at the sight of Fluttershy and waved at her. “Hi!!!” Then she closed her eyes and braced herself.
Fluttershy squealed in glee before gently grabbing the filly with her hands. “Oh my gosh! You’re adorable!!!” She hugged the filly tightly for a moment before taking a closer look at her. “I’ve never seen a pony like you before and...” She gasped and squished the filly’s cheek together. “I hear you talk earlier! Was it my imagination?” She held up the filly higher and took a closer look at her.
“Nope!” Screwball replied, making Fluttershy squeal again at how adorable she sounds. The girl gently caressed the filly’s cheek and scratched the back of her ears. “This is worth it...” she muttered in bliss as Fluttershy scratched her ears and rubbed her chin like a professional petter.
A few minutes later Twilight sighed and took Screwball away from Fluttershy’s grasp. “Mind telling me why you did that?” she asked Screwball sternly. “I thought your existence is supposed to be a secret!?”
Screwball rubbed the back of her head with her hooves before floating a distance away from them. In a flash of light she turned into a teenage girl. “And miss the greatest pet in my entire life?” She asked. “By the way, your hands are magic Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy smiled and nodded at her. “Thank you, I learnt from the internet that cosmic pony deity loves to be petted.” She replied.
Twilight just blinked owlishly after hearing that. “Okay then...” She looked at Screwball. “Did you fix the time rip?” She asked her.
A piece of paper suddenly appeared in her hands. She hand it over to Fluttershy and gave her a pen. “Sign this and the shelter is yours.” Fluttershy just blinked owlishly in response. “Sign this and the shelter is yours and I’ll give you the power to understand animals.”
The girl’s hand is a blur as she signed the contract the second she heard that. “When can I speak with animals?” Fluttershy asked impatiently. “Oh and how am I supposed to take care of this place all day? I still have to go to school.” She added as an afterthought.
Screwball just shook her head. “Don’t worry Flutters, just because you own this place doesn’t mean you have to manage it.” She said easily. “The staffs and workers are still the same. I gave you this place just to make sure no idiot would try to turn it into a convenient store.”
With that, the three of them sat together inside the shelter. Each one of them smiling and laughing as they talked to the hamsters and other animals in the shelters.
“And that’s the reason why I wanted to go to the Canterlot High School.” Filly Screwball ended her story in front of her parents. “So... Can I please go mom? Dad?” She added with a cosmic puppy dog eyes and general adorability.
Trixie and Discord looked at each other before smirking. “Of course my Cute and Powerful Screwball can go to the high school! Especially at such a young age!” Trixie said proudly. “Oh, Trixie knows that my proud little Screwball will become the most talented, most amazing, and smartest student in her school!”
Discord stepped forward and gave Screwball a small notepad. “This is the list of all the things I will do if I ever made it to the human world.” Then he scowled a little. “But Swirly Beard decided to ban me from the human world. So do me a favor and...” He smiled at his daughter. “Make your old man proud and turn their world upside down!!!”
It's been two days since the events of the near future. Now, it is time for Twilight to say her last good bye to the Crystal Prep Academy. It's going to be hard for her, especially with all the memories she made in that place. All her projects, research, everything... The Crystal Prep Academy is her home and...
Who am I kidding? She hates that place! The only good memories she has were the ones with Spike and the day when the Crusaders sent her those gifts. The only reason why she's still in that place is because Cadance needs time to arrange the document for her transfer to the Canterlot High School.
Now, Twilight is flipping through the discs Screwball sent to her. At first, she couldn't find them since Screwball forgot to tell her where she hid the rest of the disc. However, through the sheer amount of boredom she managed to find those discs hiding behind an invisible locker behind an invisible patch of wall behind her computer desk.
She picked up a random disc and inserted it to her laptop. At first, she expected Screwball grinning at her from behind the screen while congratulating her for finding those discs. But instead, she found herself staring at filly Screwball and three little fillies who she presumed to be the Crusaders.
The fillies stood in the middle of the park. Twilight looked at each one of them before smiling at how adorable they are. She noticed that each one of them represents the different type of ponies. There's the yellow earth pony wearing red ribbon, a white unicorn wearing some sort of Tiara in her head, and an orange pegasus wearing shades on her face.
"Crusaders! Are you ready?" Screwball exclaimed suddenly. The crusaders just nodded in excitement. "Today is the premiere of the first episode of..." The cosmic filly clapped her hoofs and the ground beneath them shook. Theme song appeared out of nowhere and the three regular fillies stood closer to prepare themselves.
A huge stone platform burst out of the ground right underneath the Crusaders. It brought them higher and higher above the ground before stopping to a halt. The Crusaders looked around warily as dozens upon dozens of stone pillars rose from the ground and surrounded them from all sides.
"THE GAME OF CHAOS!!!!" Screwball shouted in glee. She looked at the camera and winked at Twilight before diving down to the ground below her. 'CRACK' She punched the ground beneath her and the earth split apart. Hot, red, smoldering lava starts bursting from the ground, turning the nice little park into a hellish landscape full of lava and destruction.
Twilight could only watch in disbelief as the Cute and Powerful Screwball literally trapped her own friends in a platform standing on top of a pool of death. "Screwball! Are you out of your mind?" She asked, hoping that Screwball can hear her.
"No! I'm positively crazy!!!" The Omnipotent Filly starts waving her hooves around like a conductor and everything starts moving on its own. The pillars arranged themselves into a bunch of obstacles and platforms for the crusaders to get through. Not only that, there are also pillars of lava here and there, mini volcanoes surrounding the park, giant lava monsters lurking beneath the lava pool, and the Eye of Sauron looming high behind them because why the hell not?
The purple filly flew up into the air and floated in front of HASBRO the camera. Then she start speaking like a professional MC. “Ladies and Gentleman!!!, welcome to the first episode of the Game of Chaos!!!” Floating words appeared in front of her and formed into a subtitle. "I'm your host The Cute and Powerful Screwball."
Confetti appeared out of nowhere as the Crusaders waved at the camera. “And these are our brave contestant!!!” Fireworks appeared out of thin air as The Crusaders walked closer to the edge of the platform. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders!!!”
Sounds of applause appeared out of thin air followed by a face-palm from the only audience. “Now, in this beautiful day at the park...” The Camera zoomed away, showing a huge obstacle course floating above a pool of lava in the middle of a park. “We shall test the agility, bravery, stupidity, and general awesomeness of these brave fillies.”
The platform beneath them rose a few feet up and couple of wall structures facing each other appeared in front of the Crusaders. A bunch of explosive mines sticks out of the walls and the walls start getting closer and closer as the time move on. “First obstacle, classic lava pit: Two walls, one lava pool, ridiculous amount of bombs, and one way out. Will they get through this?” Screwball commented from right on top of a camera.
Apple Bloom stepped forward and jumped on the left wall. “And there she goes!!! The pride of the Apple family!” Then the filly jumped to wall beside her, only missing a mine by an inch. Withour breaking a sweat, Apple Bloom jumped to the next platform safe and sound. “She did it everyone!!!”
Scootaloo stepped forward with a confident smirk on her face. She jumped on the side of the wall and start walking on the wall with ease. “Ooh!!! The Ninjasitter Perk everyone! The power to stick into any surfaces at any angle!” The Pegasus crossed the pit with ease and landed on the next platform. “Call it cheating if you want, but you gotta admit that is pretty darn cool!”
Sweetie Belle stepped forward and jumped on to the left wall. But instead of jumping on the right wall, she jumped up and landed on top of the walls. “Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!!!” The unicorn just walked leisurely on top of the walls before jumping down right in front of the rest of her friends. “Now that! Is what I call, thinking outside the box.”
‘BOOM’ The mines on the walls hit each other and the platform beneath the Crusaders rose a couple of feet up. Stone pillars rose from the ground and start moving randomly in front of them. “Second obstacle: A dozen stone pillar, one lava pool, and a way out somewhere around here...” Screwball commented while holding a pair of binoculars backwards in front of her face.
The Crusaders nodded at each other before jumping on three separate pillars at the same time. They jumped gracefully on every pillars before stopping at one giant platform in the center of the lava pool. “Whoops! This doesn't look like a way out...” The pillars around the giant platform descended back into the lava, trapping the Crusaders together in the middle of the lava lake. “This looks more like... An arena!”
Dozens of stone ponies grew out of the pillar below them. The stone ponies growled before moving in to attack the crusaders. “The Army of Stones!!!” The Crusaders smirked and assumed their combat stance. Apple Bloom stood in front of her friends, ready to intercept the attacker. Scootaloo stood at the side, ready to deal surprise attack and the hard hitting blow. Sweetie Belle stood behind them all, ready to heal and support her comrades.
"Let's see how the Crusaders handle this!" The stone ponies marched forward in a full on frontal assault. Apple Bloom charged towards one of them. ‘Crack’ With a single kick she sent a stone pony out of the arena and into the lava pool below. Apple Bloom gave the rest of the stone ponies a Fluttershy-worthy stare. “Take another step forward, I dare you!!!”
The Stone Ponies looked at each other before charging towards the little filly. Apple Bloom prepared her hind hooves for a powerful roundhouse kick. ‘Crack’ She knocked five of them back and two of them into the lava pool. The ones that are still standing growled at her before surrounding her from all sides.
“Surprise!!!” A flash of dark orange filled the stone pony’s vision before they found themselves flying out of the platform. A few seconds later, Scootaloo suddenly appeared right beside Apple Bloom. The pegasus's coat glows in a yellow light and her mane is flowing in some invisible force. “Thanks for the boost Sweetie Belle!!!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
The Unicorn filly nodded and her horn glows brightly. A flash of yellow light appeared from her horn and hit Apple Bloom. The earth pony smiled as a wave of new-found power coursed through her body. “Would you look at that?” Screwball exclaimed from the sky. “Converting Healing Spell into a powerful enchantment spell; these stone ponies doesn’t stand a chance!”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom grinned at each other before charging towards the stone ponies. With just one kick from Apple Bloom, the stone ponies shattered into rubble. With a punch from Scootaloo, the stone ponies went flying to the atmosphere.
“HELP!!!” Apple Bloom looked back and saw Sweetie Belle hanging on the side of the pillar with a bunch of Stone Ponies surrounding her. “Hurry!!! I can’t hold on much longer!”
‘Whoosh’ Scootaloo ran towards Sweetie Belle before Apple Bloom could react. The Pegasus kicked the stone ponies away before helping the unicorn up to the pillar. “Next time, try to be more... whoa!!!”
Twilight gasped in horror when she saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle falling off the cliff. "Screwball!!! You have to save them!" She exclaimed in panic. The second she said that, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle disappeared from the arena. A double dinging sound appeared out of nowhere.
"Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle lost one life!" Screwball exclaimed.
Meanwhile at the arena, Apple Bloom is glaring at the stone pony who knocked her friends away. "Oh you are going to be so sorry mister!!!" The earth filly ran towards the stone pony and tackled it to the ground. She grabbed one of the stone pony's hoof with her front hoofs before standing on her hind hooves. She looked at the rest of the stone ponies with a steely look on her eyes.
Screwball watched with wide eyes as the earth pony dragged the poor earth pony by the hooves towards its brethren. "The following content may contain elements that are not suitable for some audiences." She said towards the camera.
Twilight Sparkle watched in sick fascination as Apple Bloom used the Stone Pony in her hoof as a giant mace. 'BANG' 'BANG' 'CRACK' The filly pulverized all stone ponies standing in her way. When the stone ponies in her hoofs shattered, she easily take another one and repeat. Soon enough, all Stone Ponies took the hint and decided to stay away from the angry filly.
"Whoa, Apple Bloom... Tone it down will you?" Scootaloo commented after she and Sweetie Belle materialized right behind her. "You know we still have two lives left right?"
Apple Bloom looked back at her friend and shrugged. "You both just lost one life already and the game just started." She said easily. "We need all the life we can get to defeat that!" She pointed at a Giant Three-Headed Lava Snake waiting for them at the end of the obstacle course.
The platform beneath them brought them towards the next part of the challenge. A rope bridge stretches right in front of the crusaders. Axes, blades, flamethrowers, timberwolves, drills, and fluffy kittens swung back and forth above the rope bridge. The descended down gradually every second, ready to snap the bridge in half.
"Behold!!! The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror!!!" Screwball exclaimed. "Yes, that was an Undertale reference."
Twilight Sparkle held her breath as she watched the brave little earth pony running through the tightrope bridge with ease. She gasped a little when an ax sliced through the ribbon on her head and almost knocked her off the bridge. 'Whoosh' Apple Bloom halted just in time to stop herself from running face first to a plume of fire. When the fire dissipated, she quickly lunged towards the next platform.
Then it is Scootaloo's turn. She crouched down and unfolded her wings. 'Whoosh' The pegasus was a blur as she zipped through the rope bridge faster than eyes can see. 'CLANG' Twilight cringed when Scootaloo smashed face first to the side of a huge ax. Thankfully, the pegasus is unharmed and she can continue her way through the rope bridge albeit more carefully.
Finally, it's Sweetie Belle's turn. This time, she has to be very, very, very quick or else the blades will destroy the bridge. The unicorn glows in yellow light as she used her magic to move even faster than normal. 'SNAP' Twilight gasped in shock as blade cut one of the ropes behind the unicorn. The bridge starts falling apart before Sweetie Belle can reach the end of the platform.
The unicorn filly hold on to what's left of the bridge and start swinging towards the platform. She slowed down just in time before she impacted the base of the platform. She looked up and saw Scootaloo scaling the edge of the platform to rescue her. "Come on Sweetie Belle! We can't risk losing another life or... AAAH!!" A bunch of fluffy kittens fell off the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror and assaulted the two fillies.
Both Apple Bloom and Twilight Sparkle face palmed after seeing Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle falling off the platform for the second time. The two of them appeared a few minutes later behind Apple Bloom with a sheepish look on their faces. "This is going to be harder than I expected..." the yellow filly said.
ROARR A huge three headed lava snake roared at them. Each of its head opened its mouth and shoots out a plume of fire. "Don't worry I got it!" Sweetie Belle's horn glows bright and a force field appeared in front of her. It protects everypony behind her and herself from the fire.
Too bad Apple Bloom was standing in front of her. 'Ding' Apple Bloom burnt into ashes before materializing behind Sweetie Belle with an annoyed look on her face. "Sorry Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
Now, the crusaders have to defeat the Giant Snake with only 4 lives total. All they have to do is to formulate a good strategy with their remaining lives. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, ATTACK!!!" Or they can just charge in, why the hell not?
Apple Bloom ran towards the snake. She dodged the plumes of fire coming her way before lunging towards the snake and raised her hoofs. 'SMACK' The snake slapped Apple Bloom away with its tail and the filly soared away towards the lava pool below.
"Okay, we need a plan!" Apple Bloom said after materializing behind her friends. "And quick because we only have one life left." She added while she and her friends jumped up to dodge a tail swipe from the snake.
A few seconds later, Apple Bloom somehow managed to formulate a plan. She looked at her winged friend jumping around to dodge the incoming fireball. "Scootaloo! I need you to distract all of its head!" She looked at Sweetie Belle who's holding off a plume of fire with her magic. "Sweetie Belle! You have to restrain that snake after I give you a signal." Finally she looked at the snake. "Snake!!! I need you to keep your eyes on Scootaloo and don't struggle too much when Sweetie Belle tried to restrain you." The Snake blinked owlishly before nodding in response.
Scootaloo went straight into action. She ran around in circles around the snake while the beast tried to strike him with its three jaws. "Haha!!! Catch me if you... omph!" A huge tail appeared out of nowhere and struck him straight in the face. The Snake smirked and the middle head start moving towards the pegasus filly.
"Now Sweetie Belle!!!" The Unicorn nodded and bright blue light appeared all around the snake, restraining it from doing anything. She gritted her teeth as she took a few steps back to pull the snake's maw from Scootaloo.
Twilight Sparkle watched in disbelief when Apple Bloom came running straight at her instead of the snake. The screen shook as Apple Bloom grabbed HASBRO like some sort of a basketball and start running towards the snake. 'Crack' the earth pony struck the snake with the robot camera, knocking one of its heads out cold. "Together everyone!!!" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo delivered another blow at the snake, disorienting it.
Sweetie Belle's horn glows bright. A huge wave of force field appeared right in front of her. With all her magic, Sweetie Belle pushed the three headed snake off to the lava pool below... and both of her friends too. Leaving her alone standing in the platform. "Oops..." She muttered to herself.
"AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!!" Screwball shouted. "With her sheer luck and superior power, Sweetie Belle has won this round of the Game of Chaos!!!" She clapped her hoof once and a blinding light engulfed the whole screen.
The light faded away a few minutes later, revealing the Crusaders standing together on a normal non-lava park. Sweetie Belle stood in the middle of them with a gold medal draped around her neck. They all smiled and waved their hoofs at Twilight. "Tune in next time for the next episode!!!" Screwball exclaimed. "Or you know, just grab another disc."
The video ended and Twilight Sparkle sighed with a satisfied look on her face. She looked at the pile of disc behind her and shook her head. "No thanks... I want this to last." She muttered to herself. "We'll see you soon Screwball, don't we Spike?" She looked behind and saw her dog sleeping peacefully on a sofa Screwball materialized a few days ago.
She smiled and sat right beside Spike. She gently picked him up and put him on her lap. "I can't wait to get out of here..."