Chapter 1: Sprout Becomes A Bloodthirsty Murderer Because Of Aliens
It was another beautiful day in Maretime Bay. The Sun was shining brightly in the sky and everypony was leisurely going about their daily lives. The pegasi flew across the skies, the unicorns casted their spells and bagged groceries, and the earth ponies practiced their magic and grew their crops.
The sky was clear and a relaxing breeze permeated the area underneath it. The birds sang in the trees as some ponies drove vehicles across the street in leisurely fashion.
It seemed like nothing could go wrong today.
Well, if only that were the case. Our story all begins near the Canterlogic factory with a group of four ponies working construction. They were helping to renovate a portion of the factory after Phyllis Cloverleaf had requested repairs.
The ponies panted as the Sun’s rays beat down on their faces in a harsh manner. The garbage trucks were helping to remove any excess junk in the nearby vicinity as maintenance crews hammered the new material in.
One of the ponies working on this renovation project was named Sprout Cloverleaf. He was a red stallion with a yellow mane and tail, and a petulant attitude about him. He didn’t like doing this sort of work in the slightest, although his former employer Hitch Trailblazer had made it quite clear that it was either this or face serious jail time for becoming dictator for life.
As he moved the new fencing into place, he suddenly pricked his hoof on a loose wood plank and got a splinter as a result.
“OW!!” Sprout yelped. “My hoof!!!!” When he saw that nobody was paying any attention to him or even cared that he had gotten hurt, he growled. “Hey!! I’m hurt over here!!!!”
“Nopony cares, Sprout!” called one of his parole officers.
Sprout sighed. What happened to him? He used to be a powerful pony who everyone listened to. He used to be the sole leader of Maretime Bay once Hitch left. He had all the ponies under his mighty hoof.
Now he was no one. He had fallen from grace so quickly that he couldn’t believe that he had even risen so high to begin with. All that fear-mongering and power…gone in an instant.
As he watched his fellow ponies laugh at his expense, his eyebrows furrowed in absolute fury and he yelled up at the sky: “I WISH I WAS POWERFUL AGAIN!!!!”
Right at that instant, there was a flash of green light in the sky and a UFO started to descend from high above. His mouth dropped open in shock! Aliens?! He was not expecting this!
[Whoa whoa whoa!!]
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Maretime Bay Studio….
“Aw cut!!” Hawk Nightwing ordered in exasperation. This was the third time he had been rudely interrupted.
The cameras stopped rolling at once and all ponies looked at him in anticipation for his next order and with annoyance at Sprout.
Sprout looked at him from upon the stage in confusion. “I’m sorry, Mr. Director, but am I supposed to take the presence of aliens in Maretime Bay seriously?! This isn’t even realistic!!”
Hawk raised one eyebrow. “Is that right? And what day is it, Sprout?”
Sprout thought for a moment. “Um…April 1st?”
Hawk nodded. “That’s right. It’s April Fools Day. So quit your complaining. I’m taking a break from the type of stories I usually write for this day. All darkness, grittiness, and realism goes out the window today!”
Sprout had to concede that point, but there still was something he didn’t understand. “Alright, alright. But…hey! You already made an April Fools story just last night!!”
Hawk shrugged. “Whatever. Double features are my strong suit. Besides, I’m thinking this will help me on my writer’s block for The Fall of Opaline. Now get back to work!!”
Sprout finally gave in. “Ugh, fine!! I guess we’re going with aliens.” He didn’t sound too happy about it in the slightest.
Hawk sighed in exasperation. “Actors…what are you going to do with them…?” Without missing a beat, he grabbed his clapboard again and pointed it at the stage: “And action!!”
———————————————————————————————————————————————
The alien UFO slowly descended from the sky and towards the ground. Ponies from all across the town stopped what they were doing and looked at the sight in shock and horror.
The rumors had been true. Decades of scientific research, speculation, conspiracy theories, and space exploration had turned out to be true after all.
Alien life was real.
The alien mothership finally landed on the ground right in front of the terrified construction ponies and a large ramp opened up from the front. It hit the ground with a large thud, dust and smoke swirling around the entrance.
Sprout walked up slowly next to his superiors, anxiously anticipating what was about to become of him in just a few short moments. Slowly but surely, more ponies began to surround the sight of the alien spacecraft, worried looks on their faces.
Finally, a tall black alien with a royal cape walked to the very edge of the ramp and stared at the gathering ponies with a mix of amusement and stoicism.
“Greetings, ponies of Equestria!!” The alien greeted the terrified populace. “I am King Alienus Maximus of the race known as the Black Plague and we have come to seek out one of your own!!”
The ponies looked at each other nervously. One of them? What was going to happen to them? This didn’t make sense.
It wasn’t long before Sunny Starscout and the Mane Five joined the crowd. Hitch stepped forward towards King Alienus and addressed him.
“Hello, your majesty,” Hitch spoke sternly. “No need to be offended, but you are causing a scene here in the town. As sheriff, I will not have it!!”
Sprout rolled his eyes.
King Alienus chuckled. “Oh not to worry, Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer. We are not here to cause a scene. I simply stand before you to select a new Chosen One who may be gifted with my powers!!”
“Who?” Zipp inquired skeptically.
King Alienus checked his notepad and smiled. “Ah yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!! May the pony known as Sprout Cloverleaf come forward!!”
Sprout did a double take in surprise after hearing his name called. He slowly approached the alien king without a second thought.
King Alienus got to his level. “You are a very special pony, Sprout. From now on, you shall be tasked with carrying out the mission of the Black Plague!”
“Which is?” Sprout asked.
“GENOCIDE!!!!” King Alienus declared proudly. “You see, whenever a planet becomes too infested with friendship and harmony, the Black Plague comes along and destroys it. That has been our mission for generations!!” He coughed. “Alas, I am aging fast and I need an heir. After bending this measly town to your will, I believe you shall be my perfect successor!!”
“Really?!” Sprout was getting excited now. At last he was finally useful for something!
King Alienus smiled sinisterly. “That’s right, my little pony. Now, my champion…ARISE!!!!!!” Without hesitation, he rammed his paw into Sprout’s chest.
All at once, it was like something inside Sprout had awoken. Explosions went off inside his mind as his DNA seemed like it was being completely rewritten. All the gears clicked into place and Sprout felt like he had unlocked 100% brain capacity.
Electricity crackled in his eyes as he finally opened them. He had never felt so powerful before in his life!! No more was he to be subservient to anypony in Maretime Bay. He was their ruler! He was their king!!
No.
He was their god!
Sunny touched her former friend on the shoulder nervously. “Um…Sprout? Are you okay? How do you feel?”
Sprout whirled around, a maniacal and psychotic look in his eyes. “Okay? I’m better than okay, Sunny!! I feel WONDERFUL!!!!!!!” Magical energy started sizzling on the tip of his hooves as he thought about all of those who wronged him, those who defeated him. He thought about those who humiliated him. Those who wouldn’t take him seriously.
Oh they were going to pay big time. They would pay for ever getting in his way like they did. They would pay for daring to stand up to him.
For it was time for him to get his long-overdue revenge.
“Alright, everypony!!” Hitch called to the crowd. “Just back away slowly!! Sheriff Hitch’s orders!! Just remain calm!!”
The crowd did as they were told, though the fear still remained in their eyes. By this point, King Alienus had already dropped to the ground dead, his lifeless body disappearing and leaving only his cape behind.
“Uh, Hitch?” Izzy suggested. “Perhaps, maybe we should deal with a superpowered Sprout first? Just a thought.”
Hitch nodded. “Right. Come along, Sprout. I’m going to get you evaluated for mental sanity.” Right as he was about to touch Sprout however, the red earth pony jerked back.
“STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!” Sprout yelled. He looked at his hooves again, which were now filled with crackling electricity. “Oh the power…the absolute…
POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Before anypony could react or even say a word, Sprout rocketed up into the air and crashed down onto the ground with his hooves, sending out a blast of magic that reduced everypony in the nearby vicinity to nothing but ash and smoke.
The area around the factory was utterly decimated and all the construction equipment had been vaporized in an instant.
Fortunately, Izzy had managed to teleport her friends out to safety. They reappeared several feet away from the site of destruction.
Sunny was sobbing at the sight of a portion of Maretime Bay being destroyed while her friends were still trying to process what had just happened.
“HAS SPROUT LOST HIS MIND?!!” Pipp shrieked.
“He’s lost his marbles!!” Izzy added.
“Oh, he’s lost way more than that,” Zipp answered. “Quick! We have to get to a safe spot now-“ She was cut off by the sound of maniacal laughter. She looked up in the air and saw Sprout hovering above her, ready to strike.
“RUN!!!!!” Hitch screamed.
The five of them ran as fast as they could as Sprout crashed down on the ground multiple times, reducing the sidewalks and streets to flaming rubble. They ran for their lives as the red earth pony chased after them in rapid fashion.
As he continued the chase, however, Sprout managed to take a swipe at Izzy’s back hooves. The moment her hooves made contact with the dark energy, Izzy screamed in pain and fell right into Hitch, sending all of them tumbling onto the streets below.
While her friends recovered from the impact, Izzy sat on the ground and looked at her back hooves, which were bleeding all over from the collision.
Sunny looked around frantically for a safe place to hide, but couldn’t find anywhere. They were trapped.
“Oh SUNNY!!!!!!!” came Sprout’s voice. “What’s the matter?! This is just a game, right?!!”
Sunny’s breathing increased rapidly as she searched her mind for what to do. Right as she was about to give up hope, however, she spotted the Crystal Brighthouse out of the corner of her eye.
“COME ON, EVERYPONY!!!” Sunny shouted. “TO THE BRIGHTHOUSE!!!”
They sprinted across the ruined streets, dodging and avoiding all the fiery laser blasts as they made a beeline towards the Brighthouse. Sunny looked behind her and saw Sprout rapidly gaining on them.
“Go! Go! Go!”
They continued on as all the nearby buildings were destroyed in the pursuit. Sprout descended from mid-air and grabbed Hitch by the tail, dragging him into the air.
Sunny skidded to a halt as the realization that her best friend was no longer in front of her finally set in.
“HITCH!!!!!” she howled.
“Save yourseeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllvvvveeeeeeeeessss!!!!!!” Hitch yelled back as he was obliterated by one tap from Sprout’s laser-coated hooves.
Sunny prepared to run again, but caught Izzy stopping for a moment to catch her breath. Sunny didn’t know what to do for a couple seconds. Zipp and Pipp were already way in front of them and most likely safe. Cursing under her breath, Sunny picked up the struggling lilac unicorn and loaded her onto her back, taking off at what seemed like the speed of light.
Sunny ran and ran with the thoughts of getting Izzy to safety and surviving Sprout being the only things on her mind. Her hooves stampeded across the ruined ground before she tripped on a loose piece of rock and was sent falling headfirst onto the pavement in front of her.
Izzy fell several feet away from her, but managed to steady herself. She looked up at her horn and saw that it was damaged and badly bent. Now how could she cast magic?
Sprout finally touched down on the ground. “Oh, noble Sunny. Why do you fight? You can’t save her. You can’t save any of them. The great darkness begins.”
Sunny slowly stood up. Her head was bleeding both internally and externally and she struggled to keep a grasp on reality. She felt lightheaded and was close to fainting from all the blood lost. Yet, she wouldn’t give up.
Defiantly, she stamped her hooves on the ground, ready to face Sprout one and one and die protecting Izzy, her first friend the other pony races that she ever met.
However, right as she was about to take on the genocidal earth pony, she heard a strange, but melodic voice behind her.
“Sunny, you read me?”
Sunny blinked in confusion. She didn’t recognize this voice in the slightest, so how did it know her name? Was she hallucinating things?
“Sunny, it’s Sam. You hear me?”
Sunny looked around, but couldn’t find the source of the voice. Finally, a yellow portal began opening next to her and the voice spoke again, this time clearer.
“On your left.”
Sunny turned around and out of the portal emerged a couple of tall Alicorns. One of them was a white alicorn with an ethereal, multicolored mane and tail with a sun symbol for a cutie mark. The other was a blue alicorn with a starry mane and tail and a moon symbol for a cutie mark.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. But that couldn’t be. They had retired a long time ago! What was going on?
Had Sunny finally lost it?
As Sunny faced Luna, the smaller alicorn gave a simple nod. Suddenly, another portal opened up and a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail came flying out. This was followed by a thousand portals opening up around her.
Out of one portal came the rest of the Guardians of Harmony with Princess Twilight Sparkle in the lead. Then came the Pillars of Old Equestria with Starswirl the Bearded in front. In front of them landed their close companion Stygian, looking up at the sight around him.
Sunny stared in utter shock as Twilight shouted orders to her friends and the Pillars. The army was growing bigger as more ponies stepped out of the portal.
Out of the portals above emerged several starships. Several anthropomorphic creatures with glowing laser swords landed on the ground. This was then followed by another portal releasing an army of tall blue aliens carrying bows and arrows. From another portal emerged a small yellow talking sponge, a pink starfish, a red crab, a squirrel in a spacesuit, a tall squid, and a tiny green creature.
Another portal opened up releasing the Backyardigans, the Transformers, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, all of the Disney princesses, King Leonidas and his Spartan army from 300, the Justice League, the Teen Titans, the six main Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Miles Morales and the Spider-Society from Across the Spider-Verse, Mickey Mouse and his friends, Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, Puss In Boots, Kitty Softpaws, Perrito, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the characters from Gravity Falls, James Bond, all 15 incarnations of The Doctor from Doctor Who, the Snyderverse Justice League, and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl.
Then came all the characters from Toy Story, The Owl House, Amphibia, and so much more. All of the various iterations of the Batman throughout the years came through other portals as well, John Wick came through another, followed by Jack and Rose from Titanic, followed by the characters of Phineas and Ferb, Chip and Dale, Dumbo, Bambi, Todd and Copper, all the characters from The Lion King franchise, Ralph, Vanellope von Schweetz, Sergeant Calhoun, Fix-It Felix, Shank, Knowsmore, Yesss, the remaining racers, Ruby Gillman and Chelsea, Max, Duke, Gidget, Snowball, the characters of Pirates of the Caribbean, the Lego Movie, Nicholas Cage’s Superman, Christopher Reeves’ Superman, Helen Slater’s Supergirl, Grant Gustin’s Flash, Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman, Brandon Routh’s Superman, Morbius, Venom, Black Adam, the Justice Society, Shazam and his Shazamily, and Tom Holland’s, Toby Maguire’s, and Andrew Garfield’s three iterations of Spider-Man.
Several more portals opened, releasing armies of changelings, hippogriffs, yaks, griffons, and dragons, followed by all the remaining characters from Friendship is Magic.
Sprout could not believe his eyes. This was impossible!!!
As the Young Six emerged from a portal next to Twilight, Princess Luna looked at her sister. “Is that everyone?”
“What? You wanted more?” Celestia asked.
The ground began to shake and out from a pile of rubble emerged Indiana Jones and Mario. They all stared at Sprout with determined expressions as Dr. Jones cracked his whip.
Everyone shouted battle cries as they all held their weapons up for battle. Sunny faced a bamboozled Sprout once more, this time with a determined expression.
“Avengers!!” Sunny shouted at her now expansive army as a lightsaber was thrown at her hoof. She picked it up and turned it on, whispering: “Assemble…”
All the characters let out a bellowing battle cry as they charged with Sunny into battle against Sprout. The ships above them charged in as well, firing at the seemingly defenseless red earth pony.
Reacting quickly, Sprout charged at the army with all the power he could muster. As the two sides came closer to one another, they collided in an all out brawl. Sprout was firing at as much characters he could find, but was being overwhelmed from every side all the same.
As the Na’vi from Avatar and the Jedi from Star Wars teamed up to overwhelm Sprout from behind, Sunny managed to sneak away and find Izzy. After catching their breaths, they continued their run towards the Crystal Brighthouse.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Sunny and Izzy burst through the door of the Brighthouse where their friends were sitting in the main living room, utterly relieved to see them.
“Sunny!! Are you okay?” Zipp asked in a concerned tone. “You’re all bloodied and bruised. What happened?”
Sunny took a moment to catch her breath. “You will not believe what I just saw! It was a miracle!!”
“What did you see?” Pipp asked.
Sunny indicated to the window and Pipp looked outside to see a massive battle raging between all the major characters of pop culture and Sprout.
“I…don’t believe this!” she exclaimed.
“It came out of nowhere!!” Sunny exclaimed. “And I got to fight with Princess Twilight Sparkle!!!!! At least briefly.”
“That sounds great, Sunny,” Zipp told her, though her eyes indicated great worry. “Although…we lost Hitch. And that army can’t hold them forever.”
An explosion went off at the Canterlogic factory, indicating that Phyllis Cloverleaf and the factory workers had died. Off in the distance, Sprout and Henry Cavill’s Superman were in an all out brawl with the two trying to beat each other to death while flying in the air through several buildings.
Sunny sighed. “You’re right. And I wish we could’ve said goodbye…” However, she refused to give in to sadness and looked up at the remainder of her friends with determination in her eyes. “But it doesn’t matter. We will avenge him. We will stop Sprout whatever it takes. That army can’t hold him forever. But we will rise to our friends’ aid. We just need a plan.”
“But how?” Pipp asked. “We’re on our own. Sooner or later, that army will be blasted to bits. We can’t take him on by ourselves.”
Sunny’s resolve held firm. “We’re going to have to whether we want to or not. The fate of Equestria depends on us now. It’s time we stand in solidarity. Sprout is definitely strong, but he’s never fought us. Not us united.”
The ponies touched their hooves together in a circle, symbolizing their unity. Their cutie marks glowed as their resolve became clear.
They were not going to let Sprout get away with this. No matter what it took, they would formulate a plan.
And they would save Equestria or die trying.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
“Alright!” Hawk declared, setting his clapboard down in satisfaction. He stood up and walked towards the stage. “Way to go, everyone!! You did great!!”
Sunny sighed in exasperation. “Are we really ending on another cliffhanger, Mr. Nightwing?! We already did that same cliffhanger twice already! Once with Worthless and then with Forgiven. Can’t we just give the audience what they want and say Sprout’s defeated?!”
“Nope!” Hawk quipped cheerfully. “You see, that is what they expect us to do. You see, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in making good April Fools stories, never play into the audience’s expectations.”
That was when Misty came out from backstage with Opaline close behind her. “Sooooooo…we’re done? I thought you said I was going to be featured in some capacity. What happened?”
“Yeah!” Opaline demanded. “Do you know how many bits I spent to get Misty in your show, Mr. Director??!”
“Oh stop whining, Opaline,” Hawk replied. “You already feature a lot in the Misty Saga as it is. I’ve had three of my stories open with you. So be grateful. Besides, I already spent all of the budget paying for all those cameos anyway. Misty’s role had to be cut for time constraints.”
“Is that why I get killed off screen?!” Phyllis demanded. “The indignities!!”
“And are Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood even aware of Sprout’s genocide?!” Zipp inquired. “I have so many questions about this script. Main one being, where did the aliens come from?!!”
Hawk groaned. “Alright, alright! You win. Let’s just shoot a short post credits scene that shoves Misty and Opaline in there. I wanna go to bed.”
“Yay!!!!” Misty exclaimed happily. “I’m in the movie!”
“I want my money back…” Opaline groaned.
“Action!!”
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Three months later….
Sprout sat on his throne inside the ruins of Hitch’s sheriff office, striking the head of his mother Phyllis sinisterly and smiling to himself. He had done it. He had won and now Maretime Bay was his once again.
On the news in front of him, the TV reporters were talking about the destruction of Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights and how the casualties were enormous. Equestria was now in a state of fear and panic once again and those who survived the attack blamed the other races.
Sprout was satisfied now that everything was now back the way that he felt it should be. No more unity and equality.
Only hatred and fear remained.
As the demonic despot set his mother’s head down and took a sip out of a chocolate-flavored smoothie, the television suddenly switched off and the lights went out.
Sprout looked up, alarmed. What was happening?!
Fog and smoke began to gather in front of him as the sound of maniacal and dark laughter could be heard in the distance. The voices sounded like two ponies, one older and the other one younger. Alas, he could not determine the sources of the voices. He could only hear them.
“Ooh! You’ve got it, Misty!”
“Really?! Yay!! I can do an evil laugh!!”
“Yes, yes you can. Now then…how do these smoke effects work again?”
“Just walk towards him menacingly, I guess.”
“Right.”
Sprout sat up, peering into the fog to see if there was anypony there. Slowly, but surely, he could hear the sound of hoofsteps and a large silhouette of an alicorn appeared in the mist. The fog soon cleared to reveal a dark purple alicorn with a white and blue mane and tail. Behind her was a small blue unicorn mare.
“Who are you two?!” Sprout demanded. “This is my kingdom!!!!”
“We’re here to congratulate you, Sprout!” Misty piped up. “For all of your extremely hard work. Subjugating a whole continent isn’t easy!”
Sprout still wasn’t convinced. “Right. And you two are?!”
Opaline smiled diabolically. “It’s been a while since anypony’s made Equestria…this terrified.” She reached a welcoming hoof out towards him. “Sprout Cloverleaf, perhaps we should start…a league of our own.”
Sprout’s skeptical expression soon morphed into an evil grin of his own. He reached out his own hoof towards Opaline…
…and grasped it.