The Pony Protection Program

Twilight's jaw dropped. "... D-did you just say that... we're in danger?" Her eyes widened. 'Oh, no. No. No. No! This cannot be happening! It's just a cruel joke! Celestia is too polite and all that to know any good jokes.' The unicorn spun around, expecting to see her friends in a panic. They weren't though. Their faces showed fear and surprise, but they weren't panicking.

Applejack swallowed a large lump that had been forming in her throat. With as steady as a voice as she could muster, she said, "... I-I'm sure that it's nothin' that we can't handle. I mean, we've all been through so much.... We've restored the Elements of Harmony, defeated Discord, learned valueable lessons, fought changlings, and...." She looked back at Fluttershy, who was peeking out from behind Pinkie. "Fluttershy faced a... minotaur? She was also the only one willin' to befriend Discord! An' we also faced an army of Pinkie's. And.... I was almost a Timberwolve's lunch once!" Applejack chuckled nervously. "Point is, Princess. We can handle jus' about anythin'!"

Twilight began to calm down after hearing Applejack's words. Soon, something like courage replaced her fear. She still felt a little uneasy, but that was to be expected. 'Of course Applejack would be the most calm in a situation like this. She's right, we can take care of this situation as long as we work together.'

Celestia's gaze softened. "I am sorry, but this is different from most of those situations. As far as I know, most of the foes you have faced did not want to actually... kill you. Hurt you, both physically and mentally? Yes. Rule over and torture you? Most likely. The point is that this new foe wants to kill you, and only you six."

"Only us?" Rainbow Dash asked, walking up next to Applejack. "Well, that's unusual. I mean, when something attacks us, it also attacks everypony else!... Why are we here? Shouldn't we be taking care of the bad guys?"

The alicorn princess opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. Instead, she glanced over at the old grandfather clock that seemed a little out of place in the throne room. It was ten past noon. She whipped her head back around to stare at the little ponies infront of her. They looked up at her with scared, pleading eyes.

The tip of her horn began to glow brightly. "I think it would be better if I showed you," she stated, taking a long stride towards them. She lowered her glowing horn, which was shining so bright that they all had to close their eyes tight, and gently touched them all with it. She started with Applejack, then Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and left Twilight for last. A white string connected them all to each other, and to the surprise of some of them, they began to feel like they were falling. All too suddenly, their hooves touched solid ground. It was like the floor beneath them had just fallen, and they fell down to the floor below. Only, they weren't hurt.

After a few seconds, Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes. Both she and Rainbow were a few feet above the others, having instinctively opened their wings and started flying. Applejack and Rarity looked quite frazzled and were a little uneasy on their hooves. The only ones who didn't even seem to blink at the feeling of being teleported were Twilight, Princess Celestia, and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was unusually quiet though.

"Oh... my," the yellow mare whispered as she softly landed on the tiled floor. "Did we just...?"

Applejack leaned against the wall. "Whew! I... don't think I was one o' those who believe that they were supposed t' be what they weren't. I'm 100% Earth pony!" She gently pushed off against the wall, having regained her balance, and slowly turned towards Twilight. "Twilight, how can ya do that all the time?"

She shrugged. "I guess I'm just used to it. But the first time I tried a teleportation spell, I was sick for the rest of the day." Twilight looked around her surroundings to see that they were in a large round room that was painted white. There were no windows, nor where there any doors. Other than that, it looked like a normal waiting room with a receptionist desk, chairs, and tables with magazines resting on them. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, which was the main source of light. A couple of lamps were placed at some of the darker edges of the room. "This is strange," she whispered to herself. "No doors or windows. Looks like only unicorns can get in."

A loud gasp was ripped from the throat of a certain unicorn. "This is the. Worst. Possible thing! All my make-up isn't here! It must still be in the throne room back at the Canterlot palace! Oh, if only I could do a conjuring spell!"

"What's a conjuring spell?" Pinkie asked, hopping around everypony else. She didn't give them time to answer her though before asking her own questions. "So where are we? And why aren't there any windows? Are there any snacks here?"

"Would you like to see dirt, worms, or maybe the occasional bone when you looked out of one?"

Almost in unison, the group turned around to see a beautiful unicorn with a shiny steel blue coat. Her eyes were silver and sparkled, and her silver mane was styled in a bun. The pony wore a collar and her cutie mark was a detailed butterfly. She gave a small smile, while still keeping her serious demeanour. Most wouldn't have even noticed the fact that her smile was forced. "Nice to finally meet you all," she greeted with a curt nod.

Celestia opened her mouth to say something when two unicorns beat her to it. "You're Cosmeta!"

"Ummm.... Is Cosmeta famous?" Applejack felt dumb for asking that, and it was quite obvious. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know who this pony was though.

Rarity looked offended, raising a hoof to her chest. "Cosmeta was once a spokesmodel for Stable Mare's cosmetics! I remember seeing her in a few of my mother's magazines. I was old enough to remember seeing her in a few commericals shortly after she was replaced by Windy Gossamer. They were obviously soon replaced by newer Stable Mare commericals. Anyways, as soon as I first saw her, I wanted to grow up so that I could wear make-up." A sigh escaped her lips as she smiled in rememberance. "I didn't know that Twilight was interested in Stable Mare's make-up. You should've told me sooner so that we could have traded tips."

Twilight looked at Rarity as if her mane had turned green again. She pointed a hoof at Cosmeta and said, "You must have the wrong Cosmeta, because she is reknowned for her spells. Cosmeta made a break-through in appearance altering spells. She was the one who made it possible for a pony to be able to hide their cutie mark for some reason or another! I also used one of her spells to change an apple into an orange."

"Ya did what?!" It was Applejack's turn to look offended now.

"Well, who is she?!" Rainbow asked, growing impatient. She folded her arms and glared at this new pony, waiting for an answer.

Cosmeta shifted in place, looking a little uncomfortable. "Actually, Twilight.... While I was a model, I was inspired to create new spells that would change ones appearance."

Twilight could feel her face grow warm. She mentally facehoofed. 'Ugh! I should've known that! Even if I'm not interested in make-up, I still feel like I should've known that!' The purple unicorn expected to hear laughter from the others. She was almost surprised that she didn't though.

Applejack, noticing how her friend was embarrassed, said, "Well, that shows ya how different Rarity and Twilight are. One loves make-up, while the other always has her nose in a book."

Celestia smiled at Applejack, who grinned back a little sheepishly. The alicorn then turned her attention towards the mare, and said, "I believe that we are ready."

Rainbow jumped up into the air. "Excuse me, Princess. But I still don't get what's going on. First, you invite us to Canterlot, telling us to only bring what was most important to us. Then you teleport us here after telling us that our lives are in danger. Sorry, but I want to know everything."

Cosmeta gave Celestia a look that would have made a royal guard tackle her and left Twilight apalled. "You haven't told them where we are?"

"I was about to get to that. But I do think that it is best if we show them first."

The blue unicorn nodded. Turning around, her horn began to glow. Before the group's eyes, a door seemed to appear out of nowhere. The door reached all the way to the ceiling, but was only wide enough for one pony to go through at a time. Holding her magic, Cosmeta walked through the magical aura that surrounded the door and pushed it open. Noise came from the other side of the door and not even half of the ponies could catch a glimpse.

Walking through the door, one by one, they found themselves in another, much larger room. Many ponies were trotting in many different directions, and going through countless doors. Every pony, and some other creatures, looked like they had come from all the corners of the Earth. Some looked suspicious, while others looked like celebrities. They all looked nervous though. Especially the minorities, like griffins and diamond dogs and other non-equines. Some pony was pushing a coffee cart, and another was pushing a rack of clothes. One unicorn was using his magic to hand out files to a family of four.

Twilight could feel her jaw hit the floor as she realized something. "Wait. Don't tell me that we're...."

"Welcome, to the Pony Protection Program, my little ponies."