Pinkamena 'Pinkie' Pie the Earth pony smiled broadly as she merrily skipped her way across Ponyville towards Carousel Boutique, the home and business of the unicorn Rarity, one of Pinkie's best friends. Pinkie's adorable smile, perfectly pink coat, party balloon cutie mark, and curly, bouncy mane brought delight to all of the ponies that saw her, and the villagers smiled and waved as she passed by.
Pinkie was one of the most important ponies that dwelled in Ponyville. She wielded the Element of Laughter, one part of the Elements of Harmony which were one of the most powerful magical artifacts in the world, capable of vanquishing those who sought to bring harm upon Equestria. Pinkie was also the go-to mare for any kind of party, and was capable of setting up a celebration in a jiffy with her trusty party cannon. Pinkie also served as Ponyville's welcoming committee, and every new resident of Ponyville swiftly became Pinkie's friend because she will do whatever it takes to make them feel at home. It was also discovered that Ponyville can not function without Pinkie Pie, because after a magical mishap which swapped away Pinkie's cutie mark it was discovered that without Pinkie Pie doing what she does best, the whole village fell apart until her cutie mark - her destiny - was restored.
Pinkie Pie had one more important role, a role so shrouded in secrecy that not even her family nor closest friends knew about it. Pinkie was a member of the Moonlight Knights, a clandestine organization that answered only to Princess Luna and were responsible for protecting Equestria's national security. Pinkie had been recruited to the covert group not long after she helped to defeat Nightmare Moon after Princess Celestia, Luna's sister, showed the recovering Luna Pinkie's special Pinkie Powers.
Pinkie's abilities made her the perfect candidate for the Moonlight Knights, and she had quickly become one of Luna's top agents thanks to her powers. Far from being a 'normal' Earth pony, Pinkie Pie possesses several supernatural abilities such as super speed, spontaneous disguises, teleportation, super strength, and a means to predict the future which she calls Pinkie Sense.
Her Pinkie Sense began to tingle as she approached Rarity's house. First her ear twitched, then her tail swished to the right, followed by her front right leg shivering. This meant that she would be tasked with something very important in the near future. Pinkie began to think about what Rarity might have in store for her and galloped the rest of the way to the boutique as anticipation overwhelmed her.
"Hello, Rarity!" Pinkie yelled as she barreled into the shop and began to eyeball a magenta dress that was on display.
A white coated unicorn with a gorgeously groomed purple mane laughed nervously and smiled at Pinkie from behind the counter. "Thank you for coming, Pinkie," Rarity said. "I was just about to take my lunch break, have you eaten yet?"
"Of course, but I could go for a bite," Pinkie replied. She had in fact just finished off a seven layer cake back at Sugar Cube Corner, the bakery where she lived and worked. Pinkie was well known for her gluttony, although her physique hid it very well.
Rarity led Pinkie back to the kitchen and began to use her unicorn magic to prepare a salad for their lunch.
"Did you know Sweetie Belle's birthday is coming up next week?" Rarity asked as she sliced up a carrot.
"I knew that," Pinkie said. Pinkie had all the birthdays of everypony in Ponyville memorized.
"Yes, well, I really want to make sure that Sweetie Belle's birthday party goes better than last year's," Rarity said.
Pinkie shuddered as she remembered. Last year Sweetie Belle had a piñata at her party and one of her friends - a brash little pegasus filly named Scootaloo - had wound up face first in the cake when it was her turn to try and break open the piñata. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom decided to faceplant into the cake as well as part of their crusade to get their cutie marks.
"So no piñatas then," Pinkie said.
Rarity vigorously shook her head. "Oh, dear me, no. My parents blamed me and I had to not only clean up the house, I had to get Sweetie and her friends bathed as well. There was frosting and cake in every nook and cranny on their excruciatingly adorable little bodies! It was dreadful."
Pinkie laughed. "I've been there! At least it wasn't pie, that can be the worst with all the little crumbs gooed up in your mane and coat..."
Rarity squinted her eyes as she carefully spread some dressing over their salads, being sure to obtain the optimal distribution so that every bite would offer a taste. Once that was done, Rarity used her magic to carry the bowls over to the table and sat down across from Pinkie. "Here you are, Pinkie."
Pinkie licked her lips as she watched her salad slowly get placed before her. "Mmm, thank you."
"You're welcome," Rarity replied. She took a few lady-like bites of her lunch then said, "Anyways, the reason I wanted to see you today was so I could get your expert's opinion on a party plan for my sister."
Pinkie sat back in her chair and stroked at her chin. "Hmm... Aha! I've got it, how about a costume party?"
Rarity nodded appreciatively. "That sounds splendid. My sister and her friends do like to play pretend."
"Exactly," Pinkie said. "Plus, it can drum up some clients since you're the best seamstress in Equestria. I can't wait to see what you come up with for next Nightmare Night."
Rarity blushed. "Hopefully this year I can create something that Princess Luna will enjoy. She didn't quite like the pink princess get up I had to whip up on the spot last year."
"I'm sure you'll come up with something she will adore," Pinkie said in between mouthfuls of her lunch. She paused as her Pinkie Sense began to act up again. She could feel the sensation of a hoof lightly tracing the shape of a crescent moon on her belly. This meant that Princess Luna urgently wished to see her with official Moonlight Knights business.
"Well if you're all set, I gotta go," Pinkie said. "Places to be, ponies to meet, all that. I'll start the preparations for Sweetie Belle's party. Do you still want a cake?"
"Yes, but how about an ice cream cake? That should be a little easier to clean up, if need be," Rarity replied.
"Sure thing," Pinkie said. She opened her mouth wide and slammed her hoof on the edge of the bowl, catapulting the remaining salad into her mouth. She swallowed it whole and waved goodbye to the bewildered Rarity as she darted out the back door and ran at full speed towards Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie flew into the bakery and her hooves barely touched the ground as she disappeared up the stairs and into her room in a pink blur - the only sign of her passing was a crumb-laden tray which moments before was full of freshly made doughnuts which Pinkie had inhaled as she ran past.
Pinkie grinned as she picked up her beloved toothless pet alligator and put him on her back,"Hiya, Gummy!"
Gummy responded in his usual fashion: staring vacantly.
Pinkie laughed. "I missed you too!" Her eyes darted around the room and she lowered her voice. "Princess Luna needs me on important business, so remember: don't say a word to anypony about what you may, or may not, witness."
Pinkie stared at Gummy until he blinked, then she smiled. "Good! And remember, that's a Pinkie Promise!" Gummy slowly moved his leg over his eye to verify his Pinkie Promise (a Pinkie Promise was an oath sworn to Pinkie Pie, with dire consequences for any who break their promise.)
With her companion's trust secured, Pinkie stealthily crept over to her dresser and, after ensuring that nopony was watching, began to twist the knobs as if she was entering the combination of a safe. Once that step was completed, Pinkie pulled out the middle drawer, then the upper drawer, then pushed both back in at the same time as she pulled out the bottom drawer. There was an audible CLICK as Pinkie pushed the bottom drawer back in and a secret panel opened in the wall next to the dresser.
Inside this secret compartment was all of Pinkie's Moonlight Knights spy gear: a pair of thermal/night vision goggles, a small hoofheld mirror to see around corners and under doors, flash grenades to blind, deafen, and stun adversaries, a skin-tight, hooded stealth suit that greatly enhanced the wearer's ability to blend into shadows, noisemakers covered in an adhesive resin to allow them to be attached to walls and other surfaces as a distraction, a multifunction watch which has a built in communicator, a cutting laser, disposable lock picks, and a grappling hook, and Pinkie's favorite device: sleeping gas grenades, used to knock out bad guys and Pinkie herself on a few occasions when she has a major sugar rush and needs to get some sleep.
Pinkie strapped on the watch and carefully packed the stealth suit and the gadgets into a nondescript saddlebag and then tucked in Gummy as well. She frowned as she switched on her watch and read the message that awaited her: "Agent Pie, you have less than fifty-nine hours to avert a disaster of epic proportions. Report to Canterlot Castle as soon as you are able - Princess Luna."
Pinkie sighed, "Nuts, I guess the ear twitch-tail swish-leg shiver wasn't about Sweetie Belle's party after all..."
After making sure her pack, and Gummy, were secured, Pinkie started galloping at ludicrous speed towards Canterlot. It was a half-hour ride by train, but Pinkie was there in under ten minutes. The guards at the gates of Canterlot Castle stared at Pinkie's rear in confusion as she sprinted past them and navigated her way past the palace staff and guests as she ran towards guest room number fourty-two. Pinkie quickly closed the door behind her and laid down on the bed, then reached over and pulled on an ornate dragon sculpture that was on the bed stand.
Pinkie giggled in delight as the bed's secret trapdoor opened and she was dropped down onto a plump cushion. Pinkie looked around the secret lair of the Moonlight Knights and saw Princess Luna seated before a pile of books on a round table, flanked by two her royal guards, who were also members of the Knights. There was also a new, if familiar face, Lightning Dust, a pegasus mare with a turquoise coat, brilliant amber and gold mane, and a cutie mark of a lightning bolt with three stars. Lightning Dust had been one of the cadets in Pinkie Pie's friend Rainbow Dash's class at Wonderbolts Academy. That meeting had almost caused the gruesome demise of Pinkie and her friends, so she was a little annoyed, if curious, as to why Lightning was in the Knights' chambers.
Princess Luna, a somber faced alicorn mare with a dark blue coat, crescent moon cutie mark, and a sapphire blue mane that sparkled like the night sky greeted the new arrival. "Hello, Pinkie Pie."
"Heya, Princess Luna," Pinkie replied. She turned and slightly bowed her head to Luna's royal guards; bat-winged, fanged ponies with slit pupil eyes. "Waxing, Waning, how are you?"
Waning yawned. "Not good, Pinkie. We've all been having trouble sleeping. Something has been haunting our dreams."
"It's been haunting the dreams of many a pony, I'm afraid," Luna sadly said. She gestured to the chair next to Lightning Dust. "Be seated."
After Pinkie sat down, a magical aura surrounded Luna's horn as she began to cast a spell. An image of a strange pony-like being appeared above the table as Luna finished the spell. A pair of vicious fangs protruded from the upper jaw and the mane and tail of the creature were composed of serpents. "This is a Gorgoneion, one of the magically mutated tribes from the great Unicorn Wars. They were a wicked group with the ability to petrify - to turn to stone - any that dared meet their gaze. Their home was in the Shadowed Lands, a cursed domain near our ancient homeland."
Luna used her magic to pick up a dusty tome from the pile on the table. "My ancient Pegasus is a little rusty, but according to this record, a pegasus champion single-hoofedly vanquished the Gorgoneions. He apparently tricked them into looking into a mirrored object, turning themselves to stone. The Gorgoneions lived, and perished, long before Equestria, and their existence has mostly been forgotten thanks to the great fire at the library of Pegasandria, with only a few surviving references here and there, like this tome."
Luna stopped channeling her spell and the image of the Gorgoneion blinked out of sight. "Which makes it all the more troubling that ponies around the world have been having nightmares involving these long forgotten people. Worse yet, when I am helping the ponies to escape these nightmares, something speaks to me in a whispered chant. 'When the moon is blue. an ancient host shall emerge from the Shadowed Lands like a plague of locusts. Chaos will be sown in their hoofsteps, and all that witness their passing shall be lapidified.'"
Lightning Dust furrowed her brow. "Lapidified?"
"Just a fancy way of saying 'turned to stone,'" Luna explained.
"Well, princess, as long as you don't turn the moon blue, there shouldn't be any problems, right?" Pinkie said. "Why would you make the moon blue, anyway?"
Lune stifled a laugh. "No, Pinkie. A blue moon can mean two full moons in one month. It is a rare occurrence which only happens once every two to three years. It is scheduled to occur in less than three days."
"Oh..." Lightning Dust said. "So that's what the fifty-nine hours was about on your message."
"Okay, so we've got some nasties from the past that are going to come back to life somehow," Pinkie said. "What do you need us to do, princess?"
"Pinkie, Lightning, you two are going to work together on this operation," Luna said. "I want you to travel to the Shadowed Lands and investigate the Gorgoneion ruins. If some evil pony out there is trying to resurrect them, you must prevent or sabotage their attempt."
Waxing pressed a secret switch hidden in the wall and it slowly slid open to reveal a hangar bay. Inside the hangar was a Mark V Revenant, a state of the art four-bladed, twin-engined gyrocopter designed for stealth. The carbon black Revenant featured a tandem cockpit for a two-pony crew, a nose-mounted sensor suite with night vision and forward looking infrared (FLIR), and a small cargo compartment, which could also hold some cramped prisoners. The Revenant was armed with four No-Go Goo adhesive missiles. The NGGs produced a pool of an extremely sticky substance which could immobilize any foe.
"Lightning Dust will provide aerial support from the Revenant while you investigate on hoof, Pinkie," Luna ordered. "Waning, would you please demonstrate the new device to Pinkie and Lightning?"
Waning picked up a long cylinder from a workbench and held it up before him. "This is what we're calling a slimy shocker." He unscrewed the top and pulled down on the cylinder, revealing an eel in a flexible sleeve attached to a handle. "Unscrew the protective sheath to expose the electric eel, then you can wield the slimy shocker like a whip. Once the slimy shocker comes in contact with a body, it will release an electrical surge, knocking them out immediately. But be careful, we call it 'slimy' for a reason. The sleeve that surrounds the eel is very slippery, meaning it can and probably will fall off a target if they don't go down immediately. However, you can potentially get a two-for-one bonus with the slimy shocker by leaving it wrapped around a fallen foe. His buddy tries to help him out and touches it, lights out for him too."
"Won't the eels zap us as well?" Lightning asked.
Waning shook his head. "These are specially trained eels, they will only zap hostile targets." Waning gently stroked the eel with his wing. "See? The trained eels won't shock you, so you can remove the slimy shocker from a downed foe. Bear that in mind if you ever try to jury rig one of these in the field, because a wild eel will not behave like these guys."
"Alright, my little Knights, you know your mission. Do you girls have any questions?" Luna asked.
Pinkie whirled a slimy shocker in the air then slipped it into her backpack. "Fly to the Shadowed Lands, kick as many tails that need to be kicked before the blue moon, stop some ancient tribe of evil from coming back and petrifying ponies... Nope, seems pretty simple."
Lightning grinned. "Yeah, sounds pretty easy."
"I hope you are correct," Luna said with sincerity. "Very well, if you are all set, you must depart immediately. By the powers invested in me as princess of Equestria, I do hereby authorize you to complete this mission by any means necessary. As usual, if you are captured or exposed, myself and Princess Celestia will disavow all knowledge of you and your actions. We will not negotiate for your release, and your fate will be in your own hooves."
Pinkie and Lightning both brought their hooves up in a salute. "Understood, Princess Luna."
Luna flashed them a weary smile. "Good luck, girls." Luna watched as Pinkie and Lightning loaded their kits into the Revenant and began to clamber into the cockpit. She called out, "Oh, and Pinkie, don't do anything foalish! If you need help, just ask."
Pinkie dismissively waved her hoof. "I know..."
Luna placed her front hooves on the wall as the Revenant's rotors whirred to life. They produced barely a whisper thanks to the stealth technology. Luna's horn began to glow as she used her magic to produce a magical portal in the wall, which opened up in the skies somewhere over Canterlot.
Lightning and Pinkie waved at Luna as they got their craft airborne and gently nosed into the portal, which transported them through with a loud suction noise. After they appeared on the other side, Pinkie and Lightning got their bearings and then set a course for the Shadowed Lands.
"Hey, Dusty," Pinkie said.
Lightning looked back over her shoulder. "Yeah?"
"Think you can handle this puppy on your own? I want to catch a few winks."
"Go ahead, I've got over a hundred hours logged on this baby," Lightning proudly said.
Pinkie yawned and slumped back in her seat. "Thanks Dusty, wake me if you need me."
The vibrations of the Revenant and the soft hum of the engines swiftly put Pinkie to sleep as soon as she closed her eyes. When she dreamed she saw the Gorgoneions stampeding through Ponyville and then onto Canterlot, leaving all of Pinkie's friends as petrified statues.
Pinkie mumbled in her sleep, "Chaos will be sown in their hoofsteps..."
Lightning frowned and looked down at the air speed indicator. It would be a few hours until they'd arrive at the Shadowed Lands based off their current speed. She took a concerned glance back at Pinkie, who continued muttering snippets of the chant Luna had mentioned, then settled back down in her seat and switched on the autopilot. She stretched out her legs and sighed in contentment, then pulled out a Daring Do novel to read.
Lightning gasped as Pinkie suddenly bolted awake and leaned down over her seat and said, "Hey, I've read that book!" Then, just as suddenly, Pinkie fell back into her seat and began to snore. Luna had warned Lightning about Pinkie's eccentricities, but she hadn't been quite sure of what to expect. She slowly re-opened her book and took a wary glance back at Pinkie before attempting to read once more.
Lightning sighed, then thought to herself, This may be a *long** flight...*
