That Pink Rock

by Troika

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders
Length: 6302

Where did all the ponies go?!

Twilight Sparkle thought she had a solution for every problem, but then there comes a day where not only is her knowledge faulty - it causes catastrophic problems for not just Equestria but for all of her world. The only hope Equestria may have now lies in a place that lies beyond the Everfree Forest....

Published 2014-04-20 03:50:05 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-24 02:43:18 UTC

Old Man Jenkins has Dementia

Only old man Jenkins was around getting his horses some blankets for the winter night when the hills next to the Williams farm started echoing with a strange sound. It went something like VWORP! VWORP! VWORP! – Something over there was lighting up with a blue light and spooking the horses away from whatever it was. Now the thing about old man Jenkins is that he migrated from England when he was a child and he could swear that sounded like one of the classic blue Police Call Boxes he saw around London one day as a child. The sound was super distinctive and so was the young man that popped out of it one day who wore the blue suit and tie with the very tall dark hair.

Old man Jenkins would never forget that particular day filled with strange men and their magic blue boxes…there was an invasion by giant space chickens as well. It was such a strange day that when it was over no one had actually acknowledged that it had happened and just pretended otherwise. So much time had passed that old man Jenkins was starting to believe it himself, except now he wanted to know what that strange VWORP!-ing noise was coming from.

There was a gate built into the fencing that would lead to the Williams side of the farm land, and against his better judgment to maybe grab a flashlight and possibly shotgun before going further, old man Jenkins went through the gate anyway to find where the strangely familiar noise came from.
“Hello? Anyone there?” No one answered, it was just the horses. Then again Old Man Jenkins really didn’t bother speaking up that loudly.
“Okay is everyone here?” Someone said something…but it wasn’t him.
“Coulda swore I heard -“

“Roll call my little ponies, Apple Doom?”
“It’s actually Bloom, Mr. Turner.” Old Man Jenkins had really wished he brought a flashlight now; it was just him and the horses out here.
“Sweetie Belt?”
“Does he mean me?”That sounded like a little girl just now. Okay this was getting spooky someone was OBVIOUSLY talking but he couldn’t pin down where they were out here in the dark.
“Now where is Scootazoom?”
“D-did you just call me a camera?”
“Excellent! It looks like we all made it!”

“Hello! Whose out there?!” Everything went quiet except for some horses who you could hear whinny at the loud noises Jenkins was making.
“Did you foals here an old man yelling just now?”
“Uhh…what exactly does an old man yelling sound like? Is it anything like Granny Smith when she can’t find her walker?”
“Very apt Ms. Doom -”
“Bloom.”
“But now’s not the time for games, we have to solve the mystery of where this book brought us.” Just now in the dark by the light of the moon, Old Man Jenkins saw something that looked a white book with gold lettering on its cover catch the moon light.
The old man gasped and was briefly taken aback. That was most definitely a horse hoof that hoisted that book up. Jenkins lost the ability to speak or to even stand up at the moment as he fell backwards onto his rear. He had to have been seeing things. Seeing things and hearing things.

He just told himself it was anatomically impossible for horses to hold up objects in their hooves, and to talk, and to even be associated with a half-distant long gone memory from his days as a boy in London. Just best to forget about that for tonight and let Mr. Williams know he might have some extra guests in his grazing field tomorrow morning when he see’s him next.
“But what are we supposed to do in the mean time about the others?” Asked Sweetie Belle.
“We left everyone back home between a rock and a hard place.” Said Scootaloo.
“More rock than hard place really.” Quipped Apple Bloom.

There was a bright pink rock hoisted up in the night air, its color was strikingly similar to that of a pink pony they all knew.
“All part of the plan while we’re here, it’s two-fold in nature. Figure out this mysterious book to find out what happened to everypony back home, and then use that knowledge to fix our friends. So while here I’ll blend in with the natives anonymously and learn what they know to find out what makes this place so special. From now on ladies for the sake of anonymity, I am no longer Time Turner of Ponyville – call me Timmy Turner…Timmy Turner who has an affinity for pink things, like this rock!”

“Uhh…ah don’t really think these ponies can really help us much Mr. Time, uh…Timmy sir.”
“Nonsense! These fellow horses are good salt of the earth ponies. Hello chum, names Timmy what can you tell me about the local archaic energies of your world?” The random horse had no idea he was being addressed to in an intelligent manner so he just huffed at the brown pony talking to him and moved on to more quite pastures, this of course confounded the pony Mr. Timmy Turner who was holding onto a pink rock.
“Hrm, ladies I think we have our work cut out for us here.”

Meanwhile back at his home, Old Man Jenkins was making an appointment with the local hospital to get checked for Dementia.

Author's Note

Going for shorter chapters, that is all

The place beyond the Everfree Forest

The place beyond the Everfree Forest

Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger, brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.

This was known as the Age of Harmony, the time when the two sisters actually worked and ruled together in peace, long, long before the fallout between the two became a legend in a book. Of course there are other stories that come out of this great prosperous age as well that you don’t always hear about – the time when the older sister met a centaur – the time the younger sister learned she could make the stars in the night sky sway under her command – or how about the time the two sisters worked together to defeat an evil force called “The Shmooze” that could take some of the most powerful elements in Equestria like, love, magic, and friendship, and turn them inside-out creating more evil to fuel its growth.

Those are some interesting stories too, but you won’t find them in any book like you would, “The Mare in The Moon”. All of these types of stories actually come from Princess Celestia’s personal journals, where she has recorded more than eight thousand years worth of adventures. As Equestria’s sole ruling monarch it’s important to keep such detailed records for both historical reasons and posterity, and these tomes usually remain locked up in the princess’s private chamber where she can work on them in peace…away from prying eyes of young students not yet ready for such horrible – terrible – ancient knowledge contained in an ivy white book that has gold lettering on its cover.

But supposing one of Celestia’s students had heard rumor of such a fabled room filled with the untold secrets of Equestria…how would a young filly with such un-honed magical skills even get into such a secure place, much less find the one journal that she was not ready to peer into for the long years to come? What if the this curious student of Celestia’s actually tried to use the knowledge they learned from that ivy white book with the gold lettering, before they were ever fully ready to use it?

PONYVILLE Several Years Later…

Tomorrow is the big day, Princess Celestia’s birthday. All of Equestria was in overdrive making sure their preparations were in order for the festival celebration. No detail was too small to fuss over, and nothing was being left up to chance. Princess Celestia was going to tour all of the country for her big day and would be hitting all of the major Metropolitan cities like Manehatten, Phillydelphia, and Appleloosa…but first on the list was Ponyville - KABOOM!!! – which just prematurely set off its fireworks display that were meant to welcome Princess Celestia.

In the center of town where the blast had erupted, a large arrangement of silk screen banners, which were hanging in a row in front of town hall were burning up. The banners all formed a giant regal image of Princess Celestia, but now a burning hole was destroying the entire portion of her head. The unicorn; Twilight Sparkle who had been helping plan the festivities as an event coordinator, and the mayor of Ponyville; Mayor Mare – were ducking and covering with their front hooves over their heads while smaller explosions popped all around them in delightful colors. The baby dragon Spike was knocked down covered in soot and had giant swirls for eyes. The grayish-purple unicorn with a blonde wavy mane, Ponet was the only one standing as all the chaos unfolded on all sides. His attention was solely on the burning silk banner arrangement he had worked so hard on…the paint brush fell from his mouth as his bottom jaw quivered.
“The horror – t-t-the horror!”He looked away with tears in his eyes before he ran away crying.

After a few seconds the sounds of explosions stopped ringing so Twilight Sparkle knew it was a good moment to pop her head up and look around. Yep, just as she thought. Everything around her in a fifty foot radius was pretty much on fire.
“Hang tight Mayor, I’ll take care of this.”

“Oh my.” Was all the elected official said. Twilight Sparkle tried to think quickly of how to contain this. The best solution was to smother all of the fires at once before they started burning out of control, simple. So Twilight concentrated hard and focused her unicorn magic into forming a whirlwind. Her horn glowed and the wind started to blow her way. Of course Twilight already knew it would be dangerous to summon strong winds to try and put out small communal fires, which could run the risk of causing them to spread further if the wind picked them up and carried them away, which is why she summoned the whirlwind far away from her location and had it pick up dirt and sand as it traveled. The small fires were put out no problem this way and now Twilight Sparkle could breathe a sigh of relief

Mayor Mare finally looked up and saw that a thick layer of dirt and sand had now been added to the list of things that had damaged everyone’s festival displays. Lyra and Bon Bon were holding each other and crying over all the crud that covered what was left of their ice sculpture of Princess Celestia that hadn’t been decimated by a stray firework rocket.
“Oh my.” She said worriedly.

It was around this moment that the dragon Spike wobbled back into consciousness, holding one hand to the side of his pounding head.
“Whu happened?” He asked incomprehensively.
“Oh you’re up, figures it would take a storm to wake you.” Twilight Sparkle was being noticeably snippy with Spike but that was soaring right over the baby dragon’s head as he looked at himself.
“A storm? Is that why I’m caked in dirt and sand and soot?”
“The soot is your fault, Spike!” Twilight pointed a hoof at him, which surprised the dragon.
“Why did you ignite the fireworks display?”

“Me?! I’m innocent! The display got in the way of my flame blast! I was just doing what you asked of me by marking the spots where the fireworks should go when all of a sudden it got in my way.” Twilight Sparkle just rolled here eyes and groaned.
“Spike, admit it, you got careless. Wooden crates just don’t move on their own - not without some sort of enchantment on them anyway. Now did you see an enchantment on the crate?” The baby dragon folded his arms and gave a stern look.

“No, but I saw a pair of pink legs under them.” Twilight’s face went blank and it was accompanied by a thousand-mile stare. She just sighed and put a hoof over her eyes when she put two and two together.
“Haaaa…of course, pink legs means a pink coat, which are probably attached to a magenta mane named PIIIIIIINKIE PIIIIE!”
“Yes Twilight!” The pony suddenly emerged from the bush behind Twilight Sparkle with black soot patches all over her coat, startling everyone who was not expecting such an immediate exuberant response. Mayor Mare put a hoof over her pounding heart.
“Oh my!” She stated exasperated.

“Pinkie Pie why were you trying to haul away the fireworks display?!” Despite Twilight snapping quite harshly at her, Pinkie just giggled like she always does.
“Uh, duh silly! What else am I supposed to do when - my front legs lock up – I see yellow swirls in my eyes – and my latent ability to communicate with tree’s kicks in?” Pinkie Pie was looking at Twilight Sparkle with her big blue eyes awaiting an earnest response from her friend…who couldn’t think of anyway to respond to that.

“Shhh! don’t help her Mr. Saperstein she has to figure it out on her own.” Pinkie Pie just shushed a Pine tree that was rustling from the winds Twilight had stirred up. This was actually nothing unusual for the pink pony mind you but it still left Twilight speechless.
“That means her ‘Pinkie Sense’ is tingling.” Said Spike in a whisper voice with one hand to the side of his mouth.
“Thank you Spike I get it. I just don’t understand what warning this combination of precognitive signals is supposed to mean this time.” Twilight rubbed her jaw with her hoof as she pondered this.
“Me neither!” Squealed Pinkie Pie gleefully as she jumped five feet into the air while her hooves flittered below her.

“I just know it has something to do with protecting myself from crazed animals! So I figured no better way than with fireworks! Wild animals are totally scared of them you know, or wait…are they actually attracted to them? Oh that’s right, it the Platypus who love fireworks! Do you think I’m supposed to lookout for Platypus attacks Twilight?” The unicorn just wined quietly to herself, it hurt sometimes trying to understand Pinkie Pie, better to just change the subject entirely.

“So if you’re here Pinkie…does that mean no one is helping Applejack over at Sugarcube Corner with any of the baking for the festival’s banquet?” Pinkie Pie just giggled again.
“Don’t be so silly, silly! Of course I didn’t leave Applejack all alone; Mr. and Mrs. Cake are there to help as well!” Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Pinkie, I saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake busy setting up their festival booth ten minutes ago on my way over here. There’s no way they’re in two places at once.”
“Ohhhh.” The realization came slowly to Pinkie Pie.
“Well I guess I did leave her all alone then!” Twilight Sparkle just grumbled, grabbed Spike’s tail-end with her teeth, and threw him onto her back.
“Come on Spike it looks like our priorities have shifted, we’ve got another fire to put out so to speak. You too Pinkie, I wanna keep you where I can see you.”
“Okey-Dokey-Lokey!” As both ponies left together, Mayor Mare breathed a sigh of relief, she had no idea just how much of a hoof-full those two could be. She felt better once they were both a good distance away where they couldn’t get to her.

The last charred silken banner hanging up over the entrance of town hall was blown down at that moment thanks to the wind Twilight Sparkle had conjured up. Mayor Mare saw the shadow being cast over her and looked up with just enough time to gasp as she was smothered by the giant silken sheet. Luckily there was a hole big enough burned into the sheet where she could stick her head through...so now it looked like Princess Celestia’s cutie mark was the Mayor’s head.
“Oh my.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes just followed the steady-rhythmic bouncing of her cohort as they went down the busy road past the dozens of other ponies who were getting ready for tomorrow’s festival.
“So how much baking did you actually get done, Pinkie?”
“Oh a whole lot, We made apple pies, apple fritters, apple cakes apple cupcakes, caramel apples, apple taffy, apples alamode!”
“You mean ‘a la mode’.” Said Twilight correcting Pinkie’s grammar.
“Isn’t that what I said?” Asked Pinkie.
“You said ‘alamode’, that’s a silk.”
“Oh yeah? I think we made some of those too!” Twilight counted backwards from ten in her head.
“Anyway – why aren’t you helping Applejack right now?”

“Oh it’s because she asked me to go get more eggs from Fluttershy so we could make more batter!”
“And did you ever pick up the eggs so you wouldn’t return empty handed?”
“Nope, never got around to it!” Twilight was amazed how energetically Pinkie Pie could bound around even when she knew she had screwed something up.
“So you mean we’re heading back to Sugarcube Corner without the one thing you were told specifically to get so it would be possible for you and Applejack to continue working?” Pinkie actually held still for a moment so her brain’s train of thought could catch up to her.

“I guess when you put it that way it does sound kind of bad…hmm…well I guess if we head over to Fluttershy’s place right now we could be back in an hour with twice as many eggs! There’s no way Applejack could stay mad once she see’s how many eggs we’ve brought her!” Twilight Sparkle just shook her head.
“That’s just gonna complicate things by wasting more time you don’t have the luxury of wasting. Maybe if I use a multiplying or speed boost hex it could help you get the work done.” Twilight thought of using teleportation but quickly nixed that thought.
“You’d really do that for us Twilight? YAY! THANK YOU SO MUCH!” Pinkie Pie nearly jumped a mile in euphoria but Twilight Sparkle quickly interrupted to make a point.
“Hold on now! I’m not using my magic to do your job Pinkie. I’m simply doing it to help make up for lost time, that’s all! It’s still up to you to finish meeting your quota, so while you’re doing that AND apologizing to Applejack for leaving her by herself, I’ll be the one that get’s the eggs from Fluttershy.”
Pinkie’s thoughtful face was replaced by her usual bubbly one.
“Oh Twilight! I’ve known Applejack since we were fillies, there’s no way she could ever stay mad at me!”

Sugarcube Corner….

“Consarnit Pinkie Pie! I asked you to do one simple thing and you disappear leaving me high and dry! Ditzy Doo is more reliable than you are! Oh sure, it may take her the better part of three weeks to deliver a letter but at least I got some eggs with my mail for some reason last time!” Applejack’s golden tan coat had white flour splotches all over it, and her blonde mane was looking rather frazzled from having been left to fend for herself the past few hours. Her cowboy hat was in better shape than she was; barely any stains on it at all.

“No way she could stay mad at you, hu?” Asked Twilight sarcastically.
“This is actually pretty calm for her she hasn’t tried using her lasso yet.”
“Count your lucky stars I left it back at Sweet Apple Acres!” Applejack pulled back her rear legs and kicked a half-empty sugar sack aiming right for Pinkie. Both Twilight and Pinkie gasped at the incoming ballistic burlap sack, Twilight ducked behind the kitchen counter and Pinkie jumped - hanging onto the rack of pots and pans suspended over the kitchen counter. The sugar sack smacked into the wall and exploded into a sweet-gritty explosion, the small granules made pleasant pinging sounds as they bounced off every hard surface.

“Applejack, stop! I have an idea that can help you with your baking!” Twilight peered over the kitchen counter with a colander on her head as a makeshift helmet.
“Much appreciated Twi but it’s gonna have to wait until I’m done hashing it out with Pinkie here, hold still ya varmint!” Applejack was using lemons now, still trying to knock Pinkie Pie down from the hanging rack.

“Hey be careful Applejack! You could get lemon juice in someone’s eyes that way!”
“Ain’t no one gonna get lemons in their eyes ‘cept YOU!” Applejack lined up what she thought was a perfect shot and let it fly. Pinkie Pie was hanging/hiding behind a baking sheet, which acted as a ramp for the ballistic citrus and launched it right out the skylight behind Pinkie and into the sky where it twinkled out of sight.
The impressive trajectory of the shot actually made everyone stop and take notice…Spike’s ears twitched briefly as he was looking up like everyone else.
“Do you guys hear that?”
“Hear what?” Asked Twilight.
“It sounds like someone…screaming.”

“yyeeeeaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” The unmistakable high-speed scream of Rainbow Dash came barreling into the kitchen through the skylight and luckily for the sky-blue Pegasus, CRASH!!! into a spice rack that stopped her momentum. There was also a cart Rainbow Dash was hauling with her that gave everyone a scare when it burst through the ceiling and landed right on its wheels without collapsing under its own weight.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight took the cookware off her head and shared the same look of confusion Applejack had when she saw who had literally dropped by.
“Oh my gosh are you okay Dashy?!” Pinkie zipped right over to her downed friend with the rainbow striped mane and matching tail, intending to help her up but the young Pegasus was tougher than she looked and just shook the multitude of spices off her like she was shedding the damage she had endured in the crash.

“Heh I usually prefer a bookshelf as my stop-gap but a spice rack ain’t bad either.” Spike was looking amazed at the undamaged cart and examining the fluffy almost cumulus-cloud like white cloth that was covering the cargo while the other ponies were chatting away.

“What in Equestria happened to you up there?” Twilight looked up at the hole in the roof noticing a visible rainbow-tinged vapor trail in the sky.
“I have no idea how this stuff keeps happening to me, I was just flying along minding my own business when suddenly outta nowhere a lemon clips my wing sending me into a tailspin!” Rainbow Dash unfurled her left wing and dropped the evidence to the floor with a splat. Pinkie Pie just looked at Applejack with a rather smug look and Applejack returned the favor by glaring at Pinkie sternly.

“Oh wipe that smug look off yer face already!” Pinkie sighed wistfully and passed her hoof over her face like she was “wiping” it away going back to her usual happy-go-lucky expression.
“Umm…do you know something about this surface-to-air citrus, Applejack?” Rainbow Dash batted at the lemon with her hoof as she asked her question.
“Heh-heh, sorry about that sugar cube yeah, that’d be my doin’.” Applejack was all red around her freckles as she confessed. Rainbow Dash was looking at her friend with an analytical stare for a good minute.

“I’ve got the strangest feeling there’s a lengthy explanation involved that I don’t have time for right now, I’ve got a delivery to make!” Everypony looked at Rainbow’s wooden cart that was intact despite the pounding it took during the crash.
“I thought all the pegasus ponies in Cloudsdale were busy clearing the skies for Princess Celestia’s arrival tomorrow?” asked Twilight curiously.
“Correction – all the OTHER pegasus ponies are all busy clearing the skies. Naturally a talent like mine was needed for something greater.”
“Like delivering mail for the ‘Pony Express’?” Asked Twilight again, pointing her hoof at the backside of the cart that had the Pony Express Mail Delivery Service emblem on it.

The ever-curious Spike was dying to know what was under that fluffy white cloth that was strapped down ever so securely. He kept fidgeting with the tied-down chords to see if he could loosen them just a tad to take a look inside the cart.
“Hey this ain’t no laughing matter.”
“WHOOOAAAA!!!” The one chord Spike tried to loosen came free and like a bungee-chord stretched to the max, it snapped back taking the baby dragon and the white sheet with it revealing a practical mountain of white eggs underneath. Spike was slammed into the wall upside-down and thanks to his carapace digging into the wall; he was stuck there.

“Someone’s gotta clean up all these eggs Ditzy Doo delivered.” Twilight Sparkle was floored to the literal extent her jaw was on the floor and everything. Pinkie Pie’s smile was almost as big as her sparkling eyes. Applejack was stunned beyond belief; everything she needed had literally fallen from the sky.

“I gotta say Dash I’m mightily impressed these eggs managed to stay in one piece.” Rainbow Dash just puffed out her chest looking rather pleased and smug.
“Superior Pegasus pony packing technology my bumpkin friend, cumulus clouds are the best thing to happen to package delivery since the Styrofoam peanut! Each individual egg is literally sitting comfortably in an air cradle. Heck, you get this sucker hot enough it’ll even incubate ‘em for ya.”

“You don’t say, well would you mind terribly if I helped myself to a couple dozen of these eggs?”
“You mean actually lighten my work load? Take all ya need! I was just gonna unload these on Fluttershy anyway when I found her.” In the background, Twilight Sparkle was using her magic to get Spike down off the wall, although it wasn’t going too well at the moment.

“You were looking for Fluttershy too?!” Pinkie was suddenly investing herself in the conversation.
“What a coinkydink! So am I or actually I was until my “pinkie sense” went all WHAM! BIFF! POW! and I blew up city hall with fireworks which is when Twilight started screaming PIIIIIIINKIE PIIIIE! And I told her about my front legs locking up and the swirls in my MMPH!” Applejack cut the speech short with a wad of sticky taffy to the mouth, which made Pinkie Pie hum delightfully as she chewed on it.

“What our motor-mouthed acquaintance is trying to say in summation is that she was going to rustle up a few more eggs from Fluttershy’s chickens so we could go on our way bakin’.”
“Well good thing you didn’t go looking for her since it woulda been a lost cause. Even with my air superiority I haven’t seen her anywhere.”
“I reckon she’s holed up somewhere then, helping some squirrel find a nut no doubt. No use gettin’ our manes in a tangle, it all worked itself out and besides it’s not like Fluttershy was going to find us.”

DING-A-LING! The small brass bell hanging over the front entrance to Sugarcube corner jingled as the top of the door swept across it.
“Hello?” Came the call of a very soft feminine voice…a very familiar feminine voice. With a final tug of her telekinetic grip, Twilight Sparkle dislodged Spike from the wall and safely onto her back, plaster and tiles still wedged a few inches deep into Spike’s green fringe.

All four ponies plus one baby dragon came out from the kitchen to see who was at the front desk. There was no way it could have been Fluttershy that would have been too great a coincidence after specifically mentioning her – and as it turned out it wasn’t.

“Oh hiiiiiii Rarity.” The young love-struck dragon was hovering off Twilight Sparkles back at the sight of his one true love, the Unicorn Rarity with the light azure gray coat and indigo colored mane and tail that had this delicate curl to them. Rarity was surprised to see all of them as well.
“Oh hello there ladies, hello Spike, fancy meeting you all here…what are you all doing here covered in various substances?” The group looked at each other wondering what to say to the menagerie of various black soot, white baking powder, and wall tile that they were wearing.
“Eh, it’s a long story.” Said Applejack; being blasé about it.

“Yeah we just really ended up running into each other.” Mentioned; Rainbow Dash.
“Well actually more like shot down, blown up, set abla-MMPH!” Twilight Sparkle shoved a cupcake in Pinkie Pie’s mouth who squealed delightfully at the fluffy texture of the confectionary good.
“We actually thought we heard Fluttershy out here.” Said Twilight Sparkle getting to the point,
“Fluttershy? Well funny you should mention it because she’s right here.” Rarity gestured to the still open front door and everyone watched as a rabbit in lederhosen came hopping in followed by a pegasus pony with a pale amber coat and a pink mane/tail.

“Come on Mr. Hasenpfeffer there you go.” The rabbit bounded into the open broom closet door where Fluttershy said some comforting words that were inaudible to them and then closed the door.
“Oh Hello there.” Said Fluttershy in her usual gentle tones as she looked at her friends standing around and waving her front hoof at them.
“I’m sorry ladies but I was monopolizing Fluttershy for myself. You see I needed some extra help over at Carousel Boutique with my sewing for the festival pageant – not to mention helping me keep my sister and her friends corralled - while they’re out of school - for an entire week.” Rarity was noticeably on edge mentioning not her sister, but that one detail about a whole week.

“Oh they’re not all that bad, really. They’re actually quite helpful when you need them to be.”Fluttershy had convinced herself of this and then as if right on cue, came a perfectly synched trifecta of a scream that shook Sugarcube corner like an earthquake.

CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ANIMAL RESCUE TO THE RESCUE!!!” A terrified white field mouse came running into the sweet shop followed by three little fillies in hot pursuit; Scootaloo, a Pegasus with a light orange amber coat and fuchsia mane/tail - Sweetie Belle, a unicorn with a light gray coat and a blended curly grayish rose and purple mane/tail – and finally there was Apple Bloom with the pale olive coat and brilliant rose red mane/tail who also had a giant pink bow tied to the back of her mane.

The front lobby of Sugarcube Corner was thoroughly ransacked as the three fillies chased the white field mouse all around trying their best to corner him, only to have him get away every time. Add to that six ponies and one dragon getting in the way of the rambunctious trio and it was utter chaos.

“Like I said WHOO~!” Rarity’s sentence was interrupted by Apple Bloom running under her body and tickling her belly with the top of her mane-bow.
“Like I said Twilight, I needed help keeping them corralled.” Twilight caught the emphasis Rarity was placing on the last word and caught her meaning.
“On three then?” Asked Twilight.
“Three!” Pronounced Rarity. Both unicorns used their magic to stop the Cutie Mark Crusaders in their tracks and hoist them up in the air. The three fillies were confused at first and then disappointed as a conjured-up chicken coop from Twilight surrounded them keeping them in place. The ever-grateful field mouse ran up Fluttershy’s front leg and into her mane where it hunkered down and quivered in fear.

“Apple Bloom! What in tarnatrion has gotten into you?!” Applejack was now in big-sister mode feeling the need to flex some authority and Rarity was feeling the same way as she looked at Sweetie Belle.
“Care to explain yourself young lady? You’ve really outdone yourself this time.” The front lobby to Sugarcube corner was completely thrashed and left the other ponies plus one baby dragon dazed at the blur of pre-pubescence that passed through.

“Sorry big sis.” Said Apple Bloom with her southern twang as she hung her head.
“Yeah, sorry.” Said Sweetie Belle mimicking her friend.
“This doesn’t look that bad.” Said the tomboyish Scootaloo. Her two friends looked at her befuddled.
“What? It looks like my room.”

In her head Twilight Sparkle was trying piece this mystery together and looked at Fluttershy.
“If you don’t mind me asking Fluttershy, why are the girls suddenly interested in animal rescue?”
“Oh well you see they were assisting me assist Rarity by sitting perfectly still…when quite suddenly all the animals outside started panicking.”
“I saw that when I was flying over head too.” Added Rainbow Dash.
“At first I thought they were just trying to get away from the blaze at town hall but it wasn’t just there, it was happening all over Ponyville.”
“And my “Pinkie Sense” was trying to warn me about animals!” Chimed Pinkie.
“Opal Essence has been acting rather strange as well. She’s refused to come out from under my bed.” Said Rarity recalling how strange her cat had been acting. Twilight’s minds eye started to narrow as this mystery came into focus.

“So you all know what I’m talking about. Something from the Everfree Forest spooked all the animals and I couldn’t just leave them scared and alone like that so I took it upon myself to find them places to stay where they could feel safe. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were nice enough to lend a hand, weren’t you girls?”
All three fillies head beaming smiles and shiny halos above their heads. Rarity swatted the halos away as she removed their confines and used her magic to bring out everything she could from the broom closet. Mr. Hasenpfeffer didn’t appreciate the disturbance and huffed at Rarity before slamming the door closed behind him.

“No doubt they were hoping their acts of altruism would finally earn them their cutie marks.” The three girls had their beaming smiles again trying to play up their child like innocence but they had red horns instead of halos now.
“Well girls if you’re so eager to do some good then I suggest you work on being Cutie Mark cleaners. Being responsible for your actions is good karma.” There was a very audible moan of disappointment from the three fillies.
“Who wants a mop on their flank anyway?” Questioned Scootaloo.
“What would a karma cutie mark look like?” Asked Sweetie Belle as she picked up a mop.
“Sumthin’ like a yin-yang?” Postulated Apple Bloom.

“Something’s not right.” Twilight Sparkle was simply surmising her thoughts; she wasn’t trying to get everyone’s attention but saying something dramatic like that is an attention getter.
“The way the animals are acting, they sense danger and are trying to get away from it. Everything you guys said points to that conclusion…something is coming from the Everfree Forest.” The whole room did a collective gulp – what a scary thought – what a scary place!

Twilight trotted outside and looked in the direction of the Everfree Forest.
“What are you thinking you have to do Twilight?” Asked Rainbow Dash, Twilight turned around.
“I’m going to find Zecora and ask her. Odds are she might know something about what’s going on, she might have even seen something.”

There came a sound like a peel of thunder that came across the partially cloudy bright day sky. Every pony in Ponyville froze up in shock from the sound and as they all looked up to see what caused the commotion, they were all caught off guard by the shockwave that felt and actually sounded like a howling wind coming from the direction of the Everfree Forest. All the hard work everypony had put in to preparing for the festival had nearly been destroyed by that unexpected shockwave that was like an invisible beast that knocked everything down that it came across…but that wasn’t even the worst of it.

The ground swelled and then rumbled ferociously for a moment causing even more damage to the festival and Ponyville in general…and then it happened…a veritable sign of things to come…a pillar of greasy black smoke shot straight up into the air from the Everfree Forest with amazing ferocity that it made a sound like a raging demon. Every creature, not just the ponies, watched this thing shoot into the sky for what seemed like eternity before it dissipated and left behind a flurry of gray ashes raining down that obscured the daylight.

Reactions to this onslaught of accursed conditions were mixed. Some ponies panicked, others still were confused, Ditzy Doo saw straight for a good minute. Then there was Twilight’s group of friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they looked at her look at everything going on around her with an analytical curiosity. She wasn’t scared – she was remembering. That ivy white book with the gold lettering she saw as a filly in Princess Celestia’s private chamber.
It was so many years ago but Twilight could somewhat recall bits and pieces of a story about a black something just like this attacking Equestria…what was it called…shmog…ooze…shmooze?

Author's Note

Okay Chapter numero uno! Stay with me sweetness it's gonna veer widely next chapter into the WTFery!