Hugs and kisses verses the black storm
The nightmares had been getting worse. Every mare in Ponyville, Butterfly Island, and Unicornia was suffering each night, visited by images that had worn on their psyches like sandpaper on the inside of their heads.
Ponies had dragged themselves to their shops and social spots, their motions sluggish, their faces weary. It was never ending. Every pony dreaded closing their eyes.
Just the fact such a thing could exist was alien and frightening. This was gajillion times worse than Pinkie Pie's bad dream with the big scary storm when she'd gone camping.
Cotton Candy had sold more tea, coffee, and soda in the last few days than she could remember, and was having to order more.
Sunny Daze had turned her tanning bed on full blast not to work on her tan, but to act as a giant night light.
A letter from Unicornia said Princess Rarity had been crying herself to sleep, only to cry even worse when awakening half way through the night. Cheerilee comforted her charge as best she could, but she was in little better shape.
Lily Lightly was putting up lights around Unicornia like it was the Festival of Lights times five.
Ponies avoiding sleep to endure less of the nightmares was taking its toll. Toola-Roola's paintings were becoming sloppy messes that even the most abstract expressionist wouldn't find inspiring. And Rainbow Dash's hooves were covered in needle marks, and had had a painfully close call involving her mane and her sewing machine.
The Breezies had abandoned Breezie Blossom coming to Ponyville begging to sleep under the big pony's beds or snuggle with their teddy bears or a zillion other things that might make the nightmares go away.
They had tried everything from glasses of warm milk to happy bedtime stories, nothing worked.
Spike had been through the entire castle library trying to find the answer, but had no idea where the nightmares were coming from. It didn't help he had been suffering nightmares too, just as bad as theirs.
Ponies had been lining up to speak with Kimono, the wisest pony in the land, begging her for an answer, any answer. Kimono herself admitted this was the only time in her life that she regretted living outside of town.
But this wasn't the childish antics of little ponies, this was a plague. Kimono listened to nature's voice, hoping for anything to heal the nightmares plaguing her sleep and those of her friends.
Her only answer was silence. This was unheard of. She persisted.
Still nothing. This was wrong.
Her mind reached one truth at least. These nightmares were not natural. They were not of Ponyland. They were not born of the imaginary monsters and bad feelings of the ponies having them. This was something from outside.
These nightmares were not meant to exist.
Minty was the first pony struck by the nightmares, followed quickly by everyone else.
The setting were always different, the creatures in them changed, the voices, the faces, never quite the same, but the message was the constant: hate.
These ponies didn't even know what that word was, but they were learning it quickly.
Sometimes they were stuffed into ovens, with the monsters chanting "Kill it with fire!" Otherwise there were fire breathing dragons burning them and their homes to ashes. Then there were the times the monsters had big metal backpacks, and things that looked like squirt-guns, like the kind Sunny Daze has used for her Water Fight Party last summer, but these shot flames. Sometimes the monsters laughed. Other times they sang. Other times they called the ponies names, hit them and spat on them.
And the ponies would would wake up, terrified, but not hurt. Sweet Berry and Sweetie Belle had become convinced their own ovens were going to eat them if they didn't keep an eye on them.
There was Sunny Daze's nightmares of being put in a sack, and thrown into a lake to drown.
Rainbow Dash admitted to nightmares where a pegasus version of her kept calling her ugly! It had taken a lot of hugs to assure the beauty conscious fashionista that she was very pretty.
She closed her eyes in the cafe, and was now on a cliff surrounded by monsters. "Please, stop," She whimpered. They monsters laughed at her, and hog-tied her when she tried to run.
"The REAL Rainbow Dash doesn't stay 'Darling' to annoy everyone all the time!"
"The REAL Rainbow Dash is a pegasus!"
"The REAL Rainbow Dash can fly!"
"If you can't fly, you're not the real Rainbow Dash."
"Then must mean you're a fake! So go ahead..." They roared with laughter and threw her over the cliff. "Fly."
Rainbow Dash awoke her heart pounding and looked at Pinkie Pie.
"Darlings, it's not really annoying that I say 'darlings' is it darlings?" Rainbow Dash asked, unsure and scared, not like her normal self at all.
"I think it's cute," Pinkie Pie promised. "After all, all you have to do is kill it with fire." She pulled off her Pinkie Pie mask revealing one of the monsters underneath. Followed by everyone in the cafe as they surrounded Rainbow Dash who could only sob in the corner as they approached with the torches, tying her up, and throwing her into a bond fire. That was when Rainbow Dash woke up for real...and found out she had wet the bed.
Pinkie Pie did the same after she dreamed that she was turned into a balloon and popped by a purple unicorn.
Triplet Treat had gotten so distracted that her mix and match desserts had gone from surprising and clever to...a little bit better than the monstrosity that was supposed to be a cake that Sweetie Belle's friends had so 'helpfully' created using her kitchen that one time.
And the nightmares, just, didn't, stop!
How did you get a nightmare to stop being not-nice to you?
Sky Wishes had wished harder than she ever had before for a good night's sleep. And it seemed to work...for half a night, then she was caught sleep-running screaming how the monsters were going to eat her. Twinkle Twirl had to bring her back to her senses.
And the nightmares wouldn't leave them alone.
Even Starsong Melody's most beautiful and soothing lullabies that she had sang to Princess Rarity to make her go to sleep hadn't worked to banish these bad dreams.
Ever honest and blunt Sunny Daze said it first, "It's like these nightmares aren't going to go away until we're all crazy or...or we go away from not being able to sleep."
"That's because you are a corrupt, and must be purified," Cotton Candy said before turning into a monster and throwing Sunny Daze into sun. "KILL IT WITH FIRE!"
When Sunny Daze would up right after, she had practically crawled to Sparkleworks' house had spent the rest of the night crying in her arms. She was humiliated. She, the confident and always 'take it as it comes' surfer girl sobbing like a filly, she only trusted Sparkleworks not to tell a soul.
"Promise me this isn't another nightmare."
"I promise this isn't a nightmare."
"Super special promise you're not a monster."
"I super special promise I'm not a monster."
"Super extra special promise you won't hurt me."
"Super extra special promise I won't hurt you." Sparkleworks gently nuzzled her as she felt Sunny Daze shudder.
The nightmares didn't get better.
Princess Rarity opened the door to the royal ballroom. But instead of finding her collection of giant rubber balls, she was buried in an avalanche of fru-fru dresses (like the kind Cheerilee would get upset whenever Rarity would play in one after Cheerilee put one on her).
The rainbow princess pushed her head up from the flood of clothes. She was surrounded by ponies in fancies clothes. They shouted and snarled at her.
"The real Rarity isn't a princess!" "She doesn't play in the mud!" "She's a fine lady and she makes dresses!" "Make dresses!" They pulled and pushed at her worse than any of her 'made presentable' sessions. Some forced her into dresses, one on top of the other. The other ponies pushed her in front of a sewing machine and kept shouting at her to make dresses even if the poor filly didn't have a clue how. Then they tied her to a table, pulled her mouth open, and began stuffing the dresses down her throat.
Princess Rarity awoke on the castle's nice warm sunny balcony. She pinched herself several times to make sure she was really really awake. Then she knew it was okay to cry.
No, they didn't get better at all.
Pinkie Pie stood in a big big room with lots and lots of chairs, the ponies...all looked really weird. Rounder head, smaller muzzles, their eyes closer together, and they were all skinny, and...really lacked any shading, and they only seemed viewable from a few angles.
They were likes ponies, but not ponies, it made Pinkie Pie sick to her stomach.
One of the like-ponies stood on a podium holding a clicker in their mouth. A big picture behind him appeared showing...it might have been Pinkie Pie and her friends...if their faces were stretched, if their eyes were sunken, if they looked the opposite of pretty, and had an expression that said 'I'm gonna eat your brains with salt!'
"And as you can see, we have complete and total proof that these...so called 'ponies', the corruption in pony form, will lynch anypony who dares bring up they should eat anything but sweets and anypony who brings eating vegetables will be murdered on the spot by them."
The audience gasped.
"And so you see we must cleanse the world of the corruption, kill it fire, destroy it, exterminate it! We WILL protect our families and our loved ones with this disease that wears the faces of ponies!"
"NONE OF THAT'S TRUE!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "It's really important to eat your vegetables! Mommy Pinkie Pie always said so!"
"IT'S ONE OF THEM!" A pony with a rose cutie mark shouted in terror.
"Don't worry! I'll save you!" Said a pony with a hour-glass cutie mark and brought a tiny silvery magic wand and zapped Pinkie Pie with it...oh no, not this again! It was, she popped like a balloon.
"YEAH! The doctor saved us from the corruption! He's a hero!" The rose cutie mark pony said again and Pinkie Pie floated down to the floor in pieces that were scooped up and put in the trash.
"Pinkie Pie?" Asked Daffidazey, "It's Daisyjo's birthday party tomorrow and I was wondering if you could do some balloon animals for-"
"NO!"
Nope. They didn't get better at all. And the ponies weren't getting used to them.
"Hi, I'm Zipzee, can you tell me where I can find my friends Tra La La and Tiddwink?"
"ACK! MUTANT PARASPRITE!" The flat looking pony shot her with bug spray.
But Zipzee admitted, after being hit with bug spray for the twelfth time in her dreams, she might have begun to be slightly numb to it.
Finally, the Winter Wishes Festival came, and poor little Twinkle Wish was, for the first time the ponies had known, forced to say she couldn't grant a wish despite being fully rested.
"I'm sorry, but...this isn't from this world...I can't grant that wish...To do that I'd have to effect something outside my reach..."
The ponies were all distraught and at a loss for what to do. They still had their wish, but what could they do?
Pinkie Pie thankfully had a bright idea and did her well known Pinkie Squink...and got an idea. "Twinkle Wish...if you can't make this 'hate' thing stop, can you let something else get through that can help? Not like bring it here, but invite it over? Like for a party?"
"...Yes, Pinkie Pie, I think I can grant that wish."
And the wish was granted. However, Kimono had a different wish.
"I wish...I could know more I could do to help my friends..."
Kimono's wish came true, and for reasons no one knew went to the mountains inhabited by their dear friend Whimsey Weatherbe.
That night, different dreams came along with the old ones. It was the 'ugly' ponies again, but this time they saw more.
"I have learned a very valuable lesson about friendship: I was so afraid of being thought of as a showoff, that I was hiding a part of who I am. My friends helped me realize that it's okay to be proud of your talents, and there are times when it's appropriate to show them off... Especially when when you're standing up for your friends."
Lily Lightly saw a purple pony recite after being accepted by her friends for a talent she felt would alienate her.
"You've got to giggle at the ghosty!"
Pinkie saw the pony looking so much like her sing to raise her friends spirits and help them face their fears.
"Having a sister is just about the bestest thing in the world. But it sure isn't the easiest."
"I agree that being sisters is a wonderful thing, but it takes teamwork. Sometimes it's about compromising. Sometimes it's about accepting each others' differences. But mostly, it's about having fun together. Even if it means getting your hooves a little bit dirty."
Sweetie Belle and Rarity didn't know why the ponies named after them were sisters, but were amazed to watch them put aside their differences and accept and love each other.
"The Fire of Friendship lives in our hearts
As long as as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be 'til the very end!"
Minty Pie heard a story that reminded her of Christmas for some reason. Where despite the hatred surrounding them, three ponies became friends and saved everypony.
"I know you can do this, I believe in you!"
Zipzee and her fellow Breezies saw images of other Breezies. Even if they looked different, they still learned to support each other and love each other. They still cared for each other.
"Friendship is a wondrous and powerful thing. Even the worst of enemies can become friends. You need understanding and compromise. You've got to share. You've got to care."
They all saw these images and so many more.
And not only that, but they saw other ponies that looked different befriending ugly creatures who were nice inside called Grundles. They saw them teach big meanies to be nice creatures.
And they saw seven ponies who, despite their butting heads and disagreeing, were still friends at heart.
And lastly, they all saw a little red haired, pale skinned creature with hands kinda like Spike and Whimsey, but no scales. Kinda like what Santa Claus was supposed to look like, but a girl. She was playing with little toy ponies...then years later put that childhood love into making something hundreds loved. Even the ones who thought ponies were girly. And gladly standing up when those fans faced hatred themselves.
The next morning the ponies came together again. "Those ponies..." Minty said. "They...they look different...but..."
"They learned what I learned..." Lilly said, making her horn glow.
"They're nice and friendly, just like us..." said Zipzee.
"I...I don't know about you, darlings, but..." Rainbow Dash began. "...I feel bad for thinking they're ugly..."
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yeah...they're nothing like that mean 'hate' made them out to be...they're just like us..."
They all came to the same agreement: the ponies looked different...but deep down, they were all ponies, just like them.
"...We shouldn't judge someone based on how they look," Pinkie Pie said. "...That's what kinda meanies do..."
"Yeah..." Lilly Lightly replied. "...I should have known better..." she said, putting a hoof to her horn.
"And I'm certain by their own standards they aren't ugly at all, darlings," Rainbow Dash replied. "I thought their 'Rarity' was actually rather nice."
"So was their Pinkie Pie," Pinkie chimed in.
"And...even if their Rainbow Dash was nothing like me...I can't say I wouldn't like to know her. She was...somewhat brash, but she was still...nice..."
The ground seemed to rumble as the ponies continued to talk about what they'd liked and agreed with in what they'd seen.
Then Lily, who had herself realized the same truth before, looked up. "Hey...do you think...maybe what those things in our dreams did the same thing? Maybe...we're not...what they think we are?"
"...Yeah, that's right..." Zipzee replied.
Pinkie looked around. "...How did we let these big meanies make us be all sad? We're NEVER this upset..."
The group all looked at each other. "...We've let those brutes ruin our happy days...that is very unlike us..."
The rumbling got worse.
Princess Rarity looked up. "So...I'm not annoying? I'm not bad?"
Cheerilee hugged her charge. "Not at all, Rarity. You're fine just the way you are..."
"I think we all are, darlings..." Rainbow Dash replied with a smile. "...We were being silly to let some bad dreams convince us of otherwise."
While the ponies' lifted each others' spirits, the quaking increased.
"Why is the earth quaking?" Sunny Daze asked as all the ground based ponies noticed it.
"Maybe it had a bad dream too?" Minty suggested.
"Must have been a REALLY bad dream!" Sunny Daze declared.
Across the horizon, in every direction, the ponies saw the black storm clouds forming, big, ugly, and not looking very nice, not 'play in the puddles' stormy at all, more like 'hide under your bed' stormy!
"It's coming from everywhere!" Pinkie Pie shouted.
"Everypony get inside!" Wysteria shouted too.
The breezies huddled close together.
The rumbling was getting bigger, Cotton Candy was sure all her stuff had fallen off its shelves by this point. It was going to be such a mess!
"I'll see if I can get a better look!" Star Catcher flew up high, high above Ponyville, higher and higher until she was above the clouds, so high she could see Breezy Blossom and barely see Unicornia and a dot of Butterfly Island on the ocean's horizon.
And the clouds...the big black clouds, they were all around everything, in a big black cloudy ring!
Then it got really scary, and the clouds rose up, they were big, really biiiig, Star-Catcher was sure you could fit Butterfly Island inside one! No wait! Only part of the clouds were rising up, like a staircase without any steps, but the clouds were more shaped like a rope. Then the clouds began turning, looking towards Star Catcher! And Star Catcher noticed that storm clouds were shaped like a big black snake! And its head was moving straight towards Ponyville!
The cloud snake roared, its bellow sounding like all the mean things they'd been hearing in their nightmares being screamed at once.
Star Catcher's heart skipped a beat as the monster stared at her.
She flew straight down back to Ponyville. "Everypony! It's coming!"
"What's coming?" Pinkie Pie asked, not liking seeing her friend this frightened. Or frightened at all.
"The nightmares!"
The population of Ponyville all looked up as the cloud snake gave another roar, barreling down on top of them. Several of them found the ground under their hooves become wet for some reason.
The ponies had never felt such...fear before in their lives.
It roared, blowing several of them off their hooves. Cheerilee caught Rarity and hit her head a little hard on the ground, but prevented her charge from being hurt. Pinkie Pie protected Minty much the same way.
They all froze as the creature's maul filled with flames. "KiLL iT wItH FiRe!" the chorus of mean voices all at once.
Several of the ponies tried to shield one another from what was coming, but didn't know what it would be, only that from their dreams it'd be REALLY bad.
The storms reared back prepared to torch the entirety of Ponyville to the ground in an instant.
However, before it could, a miniature blizzard surged into its jaws, extinguishing the flames in a cascade of steam that blinded the horror.
"Please leave my friends be."
The ponies looked up to see a familiar sight. "Whimsey!" called Rainbow Dash as the orange dragon descended to the ground. "Oh it's never been more wonderful to see you darling!" the Earth Pony said, hugging their friend.
Kimono hopped down off of the weather dragon's back. "Kimono!" called Minty, running to the pony. "Thank goodness you're alright!"
Whimsey had to breath a surge of intense heat at the storm snake when it tried to send a surge of bug spray at the Breezies. The spray ignited in its throat. "It feels...wrong...to do that..." she muttered, feeling like doing that, even to save her friends, was just WRONG to do.
Every single pony felt exactly the same way.
The pony nodded with an unfortunately grave look. "Sorry, I took so long, but I had to get to Whimsey."
"Because she can help us?" Sunny Daze asked, watching Whimsey use her ice generation to extinguish the storm snake's next attempt to burn them all to ash.
"No...well, yes, that is part of it..." said Kimono, looking up at the nightmares. "But Whimsey can't do it without end. Eventually she's going to get tired..."
The ponies hopes suddenly came crashing down. "Then...why?" Minty asked.
"Twinkle Wish granted my wish by showing me the nightmare's true nature. Remember how I mentioned 'hatred' before?"
"Yes darling...it sounds most uncouth," said Rainbow Dash replied.
The pony looked at the storm snake above them. "The good feelings in our hearts have power, we've seen that time and again...but these nightmares...they're the opposite. This storm's either composed of or acting on nothing but hatred and intolerance from something of another land...a force powered by the bad feelings in the hearts of creatures in another land."
"So some meanies from another land sent this nasty thing after us?" Pinkie asked, shocked such a thing could exist.
"No, they didn't send it. They likely don't even know our world's in jeopardy...they do hate us...they don't tolerate us...but this storm...it is merely acting on emotions, whether those who 'sent' it know it is or not...I sincerely hope if they did they would not wish this to happen."
"So it's a mean version of Twinkle Wish?" Minty asked, looking at it and was unable to help trembling a little bit.
"That's one way to put it...but there is a way to drain its power and that's what I saw. Pinkie Pie! Rainbow Dash! Minty! Star-Catcher! Princess Rarity! Spike! Come here please!"
The beckoned ponies (and dragon) all came together. "What is it, Kimono?"
"The only thing that can beat hatred and intolerance is its antithesis."
"Anti-whatie what?"
"Antithesis, it means the opposite number of something. Its mirror. Like hot is the opposite of cold," Spike helpfully explained.
"He is correct. Star-Catcher, you are the first Pegasus to contact us, Rarity, you are the first unicorn Princess we ever encountered, and Spike, you are one of only two dragons we've ever met."
"And Whimsey?"
"She was the first dragon we ever met."
"You're all my first friends," Whimsey called, giving a smile as she used her weather magic to create lightning bolts to counteract an attempt to fry them all with lightning. The Weather Dragoness was already showing signs of fatigue.
"That is why she's able to protect us," Kimono explained. "She's protecting us out of LOVE, the opposite of hate and despite our differences we see her as no different than ourselves. But as I said, she can only last so long. We must hurry," Kimono implored in a tone the group had never heard her use before. One of complete worry and urgency. "Join hooves-"
"Um, pardon, but I have claws."
"Hooves and claws, my mistake, and and focus on how we met each other! Especially on how you're different but it doesn't matter! Together you're a beacon of tolerance and love! That is the only thing that can stop it! Hurry! Whimsey can't hold them off forever!"
The group all nodded slowly and formed a circle, hoof in hoof and claw in claw as Whimsey continued to do all she could to protect them from the leviathan the size of the land.
Pinkie Pie thought of how Spike had smelled REALLY bad when they'd met him. Of how he confused her sometimes...but also of how she never wanted to be without him as her friend. About how little she cared about him being a dragon.
Forever her other half, Minty thought of the same things as Pinkie Pie. How the two argued about the color of their floats for the Promenade. How she loved green, but Pinkie Pie loved pink. How no one loved socks as much as she did. But Minty was willing to paint HERSELF pink if it made Pinkie Pie happy.
Star-Catcher thought of how odd it was for ponies to be grounded, or for unicorns to make something that was in the sky. But how none of that mattered. About how she never, EVER wanted to be parted from them.
Princess Rarity thought of how stuffy Rainbow Dash could be and how she didn't like to ruff it. Rainbow Dash thought about how annoyingly rambunctious Rarity could sometimes be. But both would never want to be apart for a moment.
Spike thought about how frustrating it could sometimes be to be near ponies who didn't always understand what he was saying. How downtrodden it'd made him when Wisteria had seemingly turned down being Princess after all his hard work, not wanting to be 'extra special'...but also how fun things had become in the end. How despite being so different than those around him, he was never treated as anything but a friend.
The circle of friends glowed with a bright light and the cloud serpent roared out as though it were in pain, flickering like a fading movie image and seeming to shrink down a tiny tiny bit.
The beast roared in fury now that it had finally felt pain itself and snaked around, finally managing to take Whimsey off guard and send her flying through a wall with a smash of its head.
"Whimsey!" yelled Sweetie Belle, running to the dragon's side.
The beast roared. "CeAsE tO Be, CoRrupTionS!" it screamed.
And then the land was enveloped in complete shadow.
The circle of friends could see nothing but blackness, only seeing one another because of their circle's light radiating from them lighting them up.
They tried to keep their eyes closed and focus on one another, but the bad voices...the monsters...
"Fake Pinkie Pie. Ugly. Uses way way way way way way way too much pink. Too girly."
Pinkie whimpered.
"Retard. Spaz. Ugly. Sock fixation when ponies don't wear clothes. Too girly."
Minty pinned her ears.
"Fake Rainbow Dash. Ugly. Stupid annoying verbal tic. Fat. Too girly."
Rainbow Dash felt like crying.
"Fake Spike. Ugly. Creepy. Stupid. Annoying."
Spike looked down. "I'm...I'm not truly annoying, am I?"
"Fake Rarity. Annoying. Spoiled brat. Ugly. FAR TOO GIRLY."
Rarity actually DID start crying.
"Fake Celestia. Ugly. Too girly. No personality."
The cruel words kept coming from all sides like a downpour. It took all their will not to cover their ears against it and break their circle.
They began to just feel...helpless...and the storm began to close in. The shadows began to draw closer as the light began to fade. As their hopes began to lessen. As the pain of the mean words grew more painful.
"Don't give up Spike!"
Spike blinked, looking back to see Zipzee and her fellow Breezies fly up and hug him and the others.
Pinkie opened her eyes to find Star Song hugging her as well, Lily Lightly doing the same thing with Rainbow Dash. Cheerilee galloped up and hugged Rarity.
"Girls?"
"It's hard to be tiny when everypony is so much much much bigger than us!" Zipzee admitted, then gave a smile. "But...we'd never want to be without you big ponies! Not now, not ever! Right!"
"Right!" replied the other Breezies, causing the light to glow brighter and the behemoth to scream in pain and recoil a little further back from them.
"And I thought you'd all laugh at me for being different!" called Lily Lightly. "But you never did! Not at all!...Thank you!"
The darkness recoiled further from the light.
"And Princess Rarity...I admit sometimes you can be a bit of a pain, and I know sometimes you think I'm a little too strict, but I never wish I wasn't your friend!" Cheerilee added.
Kimono, focusing her eyes on the light after everything faded into darkness. "Of course...Everypony!! We have to do this together! Six isn't enough! Quickly now!"
Kimono galloped up and joined in the hug. She thought about how happy it made her that no pony minded her choice to live away from everypony. How despite her intelligence making things somewhat frustrating sometimes, she'd never want to be TRULY absolutely alone.
Whimsey, after being helped out of the damaged building (despite HOW she'd ended up going through it, she swore to herself that she'd help repair it when all this was over), and...what did you call it when your leg wasn't working entirely as it should? Limped? She did that towards the group and hugged the ponies, remembering how they'd been her first friends, how being a dragon didn't effect that one bit. She also remember that little Spike hadn't thought any less of her when they'd finally met despite her being nowhere near as educated as him.
The cloud beast recoiled in pain as Ponyland found their way through its shadows and joined in the embrace, the glowing light sending it reeling.
"kiLl iT WiTh fiRE! DiE!"
Rainbow Dash looked up as flames ignited in the snake's throat. But unlike before...she wasn't afraid...not at all...She thought back to the good dreams that had happened with the bad ones thanks to Twinkle Wish.
Of all those ponies that looked so different but were no different than they were. Her mind wondered back to the group who had been friends with the...girl who that looked like what Santa Claus was. And she began to sing.
"My Little Pony...My Little Pony
What will today's adventure be?
My Little Pony...My Little Pony
Will there be exciting sights to see?"
Everypony swore they saw those ponies, that...human, and a little baby dragon singing with her.
The torrent of flame the beast attempted to unleash was forced back into its jaws by a pulse of warm light.
Cheerilee's mind wondered to the group of seven very different ponies who were somehow always friends. And she joined in.
""Schoolhouse is our very first stop
Then let's try the ice cream shop.
My Little Pony, My Little Pony, My Little Pony tales!
My Little Pony, My Little Pony, My Little Pony tales!"
Once more, seven ponies seemed to join her. While the beat was a little different, the song still seemed to mesh as one whole.
Minty looked around her friends and smiled. She had friends all around her she'd never enjoy parting with. Another voice joining the chorus.
"My little pony, my little pony!
How I love to play with you!
No way of knowing, where we'll be going!
Our adventures never end!"
Minty found her friends joining her in that verse.
Pinkie Pie's mind wondered to one last world...the world with the other her. The other her that wanted to do nothing more than make everypony laugh and enjoy themselves. They weren't different, not one bit.
"Our friendship's magic
And it's growing all the time!
A new adventure waits for us
Each is yours and mine!"
Six more ponies and a little dragon seemed to join her.
The monster screamed in pain and was sent recoiling as the light erupted from the ponies, surging out and beginning the eat away at it's form. The mammoth beast began to shrink down with each verse sung at it. Each word ripping more of its form away.
And ALL the voices sang at last.
"My Little Pony, My Little Pony
We may be different, that much is true!
My Little Pony, My Little Pony
But I don't want to be without you!
No matter how different we may be
At heart we could not be more the same!
We're all friendly ponies you and me
Friendship is never a losing game!"
The cloud serpent shrank down faster and faster, receding from the land and imploding down until it was the size of a pony, the light engulfing it.
The terror from another world began to try and run away from the innocent little creatures who's song was destroying it bit by bit.
"My Little Pony, My Little Pony
These adventures of ours will not end!
My Little Pony, My Little Pony
We're all My Little Ponies, our friends!"
The monster writhed as light began erupting out of its body with each line. With a last surge of light, the nightmares, the monsters, the HATE gave and with a echoing roar and exploded into particles of light that rained down in a dazzling light show, vanishing like what it truly was: a nightmare destined to fade away with the dawn, leaving only a bright new day behind.
[=My Little Pony – Dreams Do Come True=]
The ponies opened their eyes, finding the world ending calamity, the ONLY one this innocent world had ever known, finally over. Not by hatred or fighting (though they appreciated Whimsey doing so for them, though they were not proud of it at ALL). Not by mean words or nasty actions. But by nice words and love. The things this world knew completely and utterly.
With a cheer, Ponyland hugged itself. The nightmare was over and now they had another fun day to play in!
Well, almost.
"Um...Sweetie Belle...I think it was your house I crashed through...sorry..." Whimsey said sheepishly.
"Oh! It's no problem! You were protecting us! And...oh! Whimsey! You're...what's the word? Hurt!"
Whimsey had gotten a few bad booboos from the strike, and was naturally tired and exhausted. Her leg was particularly hurt, though thankfully nothing too severe. "Oh, no, it's no problem. Dragons don't get hurt easily and heal fast..."
"That's a relief."
The ponies all gave the weather dragoness a huge hug for coming to their rescue.
Pinkie Pie gave a smile...then blinked, swearing for a moment she saw those ponies from another place smiling at them. Maybe it was just being tired.
Ponyville was naturally rebuilt by the next day. Why wouldn't it be? Being literally painted a different color or having several floats crash, or the occasional pie incident, had never caused any major trouble. Why would a fight with a big cloud monster the size of Ponyland be any different?
And with everything back to how it should be, the town, and their friendly neighboring Weather Dragoness, gathered as the sun rose up nearby.
Pinkie Pie looked to Kimono. "Kimono? What if those mean thoughts make another nasty thing?"
Kimono smiled lightly, no trace of worry on her face. "The answer to that is simple, Pinkie Pie. We'll show it a little love and tolerance just like we did the last one."
No pony had any objections to that plan. Not one.
They were too busy looking forwards to their next adventure. To more sunny days and endless games. To more fun with friends.
To their happily ever after.
Fin.
