My Paper Pony

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 0-1: A Party in the Stars
Chapter 0-2: Crash Landing
Chapter 0-3: The Three Princesses
Chapter 1-1: Bug Hunt
Chapter 1-2: Castle Crashers
Chapter 2-1: Spirit Tracks
Chapter 2-2: Sand Stream
Chapter 2-3: Tomb Raider
Chapter 3-1: Into The Woods
Chapter 3-2: Master of Illusions
Chapter 3-3: Magic and Diamonds
Chapter 4-1: The Dogs of War
Chapter 4-2: Stone Cold
Chapter 4-3: The Cutie Mark Crusaders Ride Again!
Interlude: Our story so far...
Chapter 5-1: Tectonics
Chapter 5-2: Teachers and Adventurers
Chapter 1-3: Deceptive Cadence

Prologue

My Paper Pony
My Little Pony is owned by Hasbro and all the other cool people working on the show, and Paper Mario is owned by Nintendo.
________________________________________________________________

Equestria.

Land governed by the benevolent Princess Celestia and her younger sister, Luna. But high above this pleasant land lies a sanctuary. High above Cloudsdale, or even the mountains that pierce the sky. Most ponies believe this to be an old mares tale, asking "How can an island float in the sky?". "If this is real, then why can't I see it?" asks an inquisitive foal. Few ponies know of this shrine, and the questions about it are numerous around the land.

The island itself is completely invisible to the naked eye, being protected by some force. But inside the forcefield, there lays a simple island, with a lone temple on top. Inside, there lays a single chamber. A simple room made of stone, with no notable features, apart from one. In the centre of the room lies a simple stave, guarded by the lights from six gems. One gem was shaped like an apple, another like a butterfly. A rather shiny one was shaped like a diamond, and alongside it one shaped like a balloon, and another like a thunderbolt. But the largest light there was had the form of a large star. Nothing could approach the sceptre, not even Princess Celestia.

A tale that was passed down said that harmony protected the fate of that rod, and should the elements fall, so would the barrier…

________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the dark of the night, several ponies were moving rapidly. At a farm, a gang knocked down the doors leading into the farmhouse, rushing into the house, searching for somepony. They grabbed a young mare from her bed and began a curse, involving the darkest of all magic. Doing this had lead to a large fracas, which lead her big brother coming to her aid. Despite his best efforts, he was knocked out cold, and the poor young girl was sealed inside a card. "One down", a cruel and chilling voice said, dragging the unconscious stallions body away.

In the local bakery, another young mare had headed off to bed. She liked sleep, because there she played with her friends while resting up for the next day. Five minutes later, she was no longer asleep, but trapped, never to wake up again. "That's the second" growled the voice, eating a slice of cake he had rudely helped himself to as he let himself out quietly.

A bunch of flying creatures approached a manor in the sky. "It was of an amazing design, such a shame they had to trash it" lamented one. Upon barging in, they found the occupant ready for a fight, in a stance that showed she meant business. A few moments afterwards, she fell prey to the same curse that had claimed two others the same night. "Six against one is impossible odds" laughed a twisted monster, kicking down a wall

Nearby, a pink maned pegasus had heard the fight above, and had retreated to hiding under her bed. Breaking into her house, they dragged her kicking and sobbing into the centre of the room. Her cries were silenced by the boom of the curse.

In a carousel shaped building, a young filly was being put to sleep by her elder sister. "Don’t be silly, Sweetie, there are no monsters hiding under your bed" she said to console the young girl.

A large reptilian monster slithered past the window, unnoticed. The elder pony had retired to her room, and began to fall into a deep slumber. Silently, intruders broke into their house and crept up on her, ready to lay the foul curse upon her. Upon the completion of the spell, the younger pony had been woken up by a loud bang. She crept ever so quietly to the room of her sister, fear and terror in her heart. She slowly opened the door, and met two beady eyes, red as deep as any ruby staring deep inside her. She didn't even have time to scream before she hit the floor.

"The last building you need is the library" hissed a stern old Pegasus. He stood tall above other stallions, and was so fearsome, he drove even the bravest manticore to tears. His band of followers ran down to the large tree standing in the centre of Ponyville. Inside, an owl and a young phoenix were moving scrolls around. They failed to notice the creatures climbing past the window, ever so silently climbing to the highest window. With a gentle nudge, the window opened. There was a purple unicorn at a desk, seemingly writing down notes on a piece of parchment. Sneaking up on her, the curse was applied without her realizing anything was amiss.

"That’s the lot" cheered a younger changeling, getting ready to leave the house and return to their master. "Not so fast" growled a voice, seemingly coming from the darkness. A baby dragon lunged at the changeling, only to be hit by a bolt of black energy, as dark as night itself. Despite the shrieks of pain given by the dragon writhing on the ground, the dragon too was changed into a card, ending its suffering. Not willing to be ambushed again, the posse fled into the cover of the Everfree Forest.

At that instant, the lights protecting the artifact fell dim, and so did the barrier hiding the island. Seizing the opportunity to finalize their plan, a gang of pegasi and an earth pony; who flew from the aid of her beanie, flew up to the sacred rock. They landed on the island, entering the temple cautiously.

"Is this the place?" inquired a mare with a bubblegum blue mane. The pink earth pony nodded slowly, with the slight hint of a maniacal smile. She skipped up to the altar and grabbed the rod.

She read aloud "The bearer of the star rod shall have their wishes granted".

"This is it boss" growled the stallion involved in the assaults at Ponyville, "Our lord will return tonight". No longer smiling, the purple mare cackled loudly, much like a hag. She closed her eyes in deep concentration, ushering in a deep silence across the room. The building darkened, until no-one could see their own hooves. Suddenly, a brilliant light shot out, returning the room to the state it was just moments ago.

"Let's go meet him shall we?" said the female pegasus, as the others joined her in their descent to the land.

At the statue of a feared and loathed tyrant of a bygone age stood a small group of ponies, changelings and zebras. The earth suddenly shuddered, as if a large amount of pressure was alleviated from it. A wave of pure coldness swept over the gang, as if the earth was attacking them. Finally, the statue began to crack, and black gas seeped out from deep within. "He's here…" grinned the purple mare…

Chapter 0-1: A Party in the Stars

In the countryside of Equestria, near the small town of Ponyville, laid a small house separated from the rest of the town by a good mile. There wasn't much special about this house, apart from a large sign above the door. 'Mario', read the board in large red letters, identifying the owner of the house.

A grey pegasus flew down to the house, flying face first into the earth nearby with an almighty crash. She stumbled out of the crater she had left, and to the mailbox. She reached into her satchel, and pulled out a letter and put it in more delicately than she usually did. "Mail call!" she yelled, quickly taking off so she could finish early today. It was her daughters birthday, after all. Down below, a grumpy green earth pony with a slick black mane and moustache exited the house. "Damn featherbrained mare, that's the third time this week," he mused to himself as he trotted past the crater and to the mailbox. Looking at the letter, he saw that it was addressed to 'the Mario brothers'. Waiting no longer, he opened it up as he returned to the house. "Hey Mario, we have mail from the Princess," he called out to his elder brother. Another pony, this one was red, a bit shorter and chubbier than his brother and had a messy brown mane. His moustache was just as magnificent, if not more, which brought upon the envy of stallions everywhere in Equestria. He walked over to his sibling and said "What does it say?". Clearing his throat, the green pony read out:

"Dear Mario and Luigi
I would like to invite you to a party at my castle today. Many dignitaries from across the realm are attending, and you have been picked to represent Ponyville. There will be food and entertainment, the best from across the land.
Hope to see you there.

From, Princess Celestia"

"Sounds good," said Mario "Lets-a go!". On that note, they began their trek to Ponyville, in order to catch their train to Canterlot.

At the end of the trail, they arrived at the town's main street. "It seems a bit… odd here" muttered Luigi, seeing the scared looks on the locals faces, and the several royal guards standing around the area. "Looks like something big went down last night here" noted Mario, noting the large amounts of cordons blocking certain parts of town off. "Don't worry brother, we can find out later what happened, the Princess is going to be waiting for us at Canterlot" said Luigi. Mario nodded in agreement, and they walked to the train station on the other side of town, past all of the crime scenes.

A short train ride later, and the train pulled up in the city of Canterlot, deep in the commercial district. Mario had rarely visited here since he moved away as a child with his parents. They were advisors to the Princess, and were sent out to act as ambassadors in the countryside. It was such a long time ago, and yet the streets still had a sense of familiarity about them. In the distance, he spied a large building, standing tall even from the tower blocks around the city. "That’s the place," called out Luigi, with a hint of excitement in his voice. They began a walk to the castle, through the streets paved with rocks from the nearby mountains, and past many high class shops, clusters of upper class ponies and groups of young colts and fillies on a vacation to the big city. Finally, they reached the gates of the castle, standing tall and foreboding with a few guards standing at the entrances, checking tickets. The brothers walked towards the gates, in a queue that seemingly stretched out forever. Next to them stood a large zebra, covered in golden jewellery and robes. He seemed to be twice the size of Mario, and his jewellery shimmered in the light of the sun. On the other side stood a white unicorn, with a blue mane and moustache, and wearing a fine dinner suit. Next to him stood another unicorn, very tall and with a long pink mane. She had three fleur-de-lis's on her flank, and stood with her head rested on the males shoulder.

In no time whatsoever though, the line began moving as people were admitted into the castle. After a short wait, the brothers themselves were allowed in, after a stern looking guard stared at them for what felt like forever. The grounds of the castle were just as beautiful as the architecture of the building, with many statues decorating the gardens, and a large hedge maze spreading far into the distance. There was one oddity, and that was the absence of a certain statue from its pedestal. Luigi had read about the prized possession of Celestia, which was a statue of the ancient tyrant of Equestria. There were no signs of a struggle near the statues pedestal, and it looked as if the statue had simply vanished into thin air. There was a legend that it was actually the tyrant himself sealed in stone, performed by the princess and her sister thousands of years ago. Of course, Luigi didn’t believe a word of it, it was written in a children's book, so it had to be a fairy tale. Shrugging off the mystery of the missing statue, Luigi caught up with his brother as they entered the castle itself.

As they stepped into the main chamber of the castle, they were greeted by the sight of hundreds of ponies, zebras and griffons socialising. There were nearly an equal number of servants, carrying drinks and food around for the guests. At one side of the chamber, there was a lavish selection of food, ranging from pasta dishes from the deserts to borscht from the frozen north. Upon seeing the large buffet, Luigi's eyes gleamed and he cheerfully yelled "FREE FOOD!", charging off to the end of the room, along with a chubby grey griffon who seemed equally pleased to see such a variety of treats. Mario facehooved and began to wander around the castle, looking for anyone he might recognise. "I wonder if those six mares from Ponyville are here?" he thought to himself, referring to the bearers of the elements of harmony. They had become celebrities in their own right after defeating the threat of Nightmare Moon and some other monster that attacked Equestria. Mario was abroad on holiday with his brother at the time, and all there was left of the incident after he returned was a couple of lakes of chocolate. At the time, he figured it was just a rather wild party that had gotten out of hand, but the rumours said that it was the very same being as the statue that Celestia had kept in her garden."Could the tales have been true," thought Mario with a hint of fear rumbling through him. As he thought, he went deeper into the castle, passing several guards who had begun to fall asleep at their positions guarding the castle.

Mario entered a pair of doors with a gigantic star on them, and found a large room filled only with stained glass windows depicting heroes of times gone by. At the end of the hall laid a large door, with a small hole in it, just large enough to fit a horn. As he approached it, he heard a loud, but kind voice call out "Who dares trespass here?". With a yelp, not unlike a young filly finding a spider in her bed, Mario stammered "M-Mario, it's Mario!" He turned around, only to find a large white winged unicorn looking back at him. She stood a good four foot taller than him, and yet still retained all of her grace and elegance. Her rainbow coloured mane flowed lightly, and it seemingly shimmered in the air. "Oh, it's just you" she said, seemingly relieved. "It is terribly rude to invite yourself into the private rooms of my house," she said, with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Still stammering, Mario said "A-Ah sorry princess, I-I'm terribly sorry princess"

"Don’t worry my loyal subject, I forgive you"

"Thank you princess," Mario managed to say, regaining his composure. She was a kind ruler, but ponies were still terrified of incurring her wrath.

"Now, we should be returning to the party, shouldn't we Mario?" Celestia chuckled, motioning the way to the door.

And on that note, a blast of sickeningly bright light shot out from in front of the door. Covering their eyes, a foul burst of energy coated the room and the ponies standing inside it. Opening their eyes, Mario and Celestia saw four intruders standing at the door of the room, blocking the exit to the rest of the castle. Standing there was a large male pegasus, with a pale blue coloration and a silver mohican standing tall. He was almost as big as the zebra from earlier, thought Mario as he looked at the intruder, standing next to the princess. With him, was a white pegasus mare with a violent glare in her eyes. Her purple mane was almost shaved to nothingness, and she stood in a fighting stance. Hovering next to her was a pale purple earth pony mare with a dark purple and white mane, and eyes of violet with spirals within them. She had a slashers smile, as if she was about to attack at any second. But the most terrifying of the group was not a pony. A large chimera stood tall above the others, chuckling to himself.

"My, my Celestia, it has been a while hasn't it?" said the beast in a calm, yet cruel voice
.

"Discord," Celestia growled "How are you out of your prison again?"

"Now now dear, I would never reveal my magic to you, but for a little hint, take a look at what I have in my hands".

As soon as he finished talking, a pink sceptre, with a star on its end appeared in his hands. He twirled it between his fingers as he boasted "With this, my followers managed to free me from that oh-so-cold stone grave, and with it now, I think I will have a little fun". There was a hint of maliciousness in his voice, and he turned its edge towards Celestia. With a yell, the princess fired a yellow bolt of energy, primed for Discord's smug grin. It was absorbed by a force field around his body, negating the spell that she had cast at him. He laughed loudly, stopping only to make a swiping motion back at her with the rod. Celestia braced for impact, yet it never came. She looked around in confusion and saw that neither her or Mario had been hit. Instead, an almighty quake shook the castle violently, knocking the duo to the ground and winding them. A burst of energy forced the castle into the sky, with lightning crackling in the air around the flying building. The castle rose further into the sky until it was higher than even the shrine in the sky, and out of the atmosphere.

Down on the ground, confused and scared ponies had just seen their castle torn from their city, and seemingly into space. But perhaps the most confused was Luigi, who had left the castle to catch a breath of fresh air. However, he was only halfway out of the door when the castle left the ground. He fell head over hooves to the ground and face planted on the ground, leaving a large face shaped hole in the ground. "Wha-" groggily mumbled Luigi, looking at the large crater at where the castle used to be, "What the heck was that?" he asked himself, in disbelief of what just happened.

Back in the castle, Discord was laughing again. "This is just my first change around here Celly, and this castle now belongs to me. Are you going to come quietly or do I have to do this the difficult way?" he inquired cruelly. Celestia stayed silent, with her eyes closed in deep thought and a she stood silently for a minute. To Mario, this felt like an eternity, as he nervously tried to creep away from the fight. "I'll go find some guards," he thought as he moved away from the fray, but a black glow encircled his body, dragging him back to the draconequus in the centre of the room.

"My, my, what do we have here?" snarled Discord, holding the red pony by his rear leg, "A little pony. How cute Celestia, your guards aren't even armed," he chuckled, with a large smile across his face. "Let's dispose of this trash humanely shall we?" he asked the male pegasus at his side. The blue stallion nodded and said in a rough voice "Do you want me to arrest him, sir?" Before he could answer, Mario had pounced at Discord, ready to kick him in the face. But as soon as his hoof connected with Discords foul mug, a blast of energy knocked the would-be attacker flying across the room. He was headed straight for a window depicting a group of six ponies attacking the same beast that invaded the room at an alarming rate. With an almighty crash, the window was broken and out tumbled the red pony, down to the earth below. Celestia could only look on in horror, as Discord let out a laugh that echoed in the hall what felt like hours…

"Please Mario…. survive…" prayed Princess Celestia, as she was being arrested by the two pegasi…

Chapter 0-2: Crash Landing

Mario was falling quickly down to earth, rushing past clouds that littered the sky. He struggled to keep his eyes open as he fell to the earth, just trying to see a soft landing. But all he could see were trees, and other farmland. Bracing for impact and hoping for the best, Mario closed his eyes as tight as he could, as the ground approached ever closer. He hit the ground with a sickening thud, and blacked out soon after.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" called out a high voice, with a hint of a southern accent. "Hellooooo!". Mario struggled to regain his consciousness, but the fight for it was just as futile as the one against Discord high in the castle. Giving up, he finally fell asleep, as the sound of hooves rushing towards him shook the ground, and the high pitched voice yelling "Help!".

Groggily, Mario woke up, and found himself in a bed. It was hard and itchy, unlike his, but it provided comfort well enough. He looked around the room, seeing that it was sparsely decorated, with a single table with a vase holding a blue flower within it next to the bed. Other than that, there was nothing of note within the room. The door creaked open slowly, showing a small yellow filly, who had a red mane with a bow in it. Upon seeing Mario, she ran back out of the door yelling "Granny Smith, Granny Smith, that red pony that fell from the sky is awake!". Another voice rang out, this one a lot older. "Ah'm coming, ah'm coming already," it said. After what felt like forever, another pony creaked through the door, followed by the filly from earlier.

"So you're awake now, huh? Gave us all a fright you did, crashing into the farm like that" said the older pony, with a voice that was slow and laboured. The pony herself was very old, had fur coloured green and had a white mane tied into a bun. "Now you're awake, you can tell us why you dropped in on us." Mario explained what had transpired at the party, from finding himself in the private chamber all the way up to him being knocked out of the window.

"Well," muttered the elderly mare "It looks like Equestria is in danger. Again". Her words seemed as if she was tired of the threats of danger that often beset this world. She seemed pretty sleepy as well, as she yawned loudly and walked out of the room. She called out "You're welcome to stay here until you recover, just don’t wake me up". And with that, she could be heard snoring loudly, louder than any Ursa, or even Luigi.

Slowly crawling out of bed, Mario managed to get to his hooves after a struggle and walked slowly. His legs still worked, which was certainly a lot more than he expected. A little voice piped up "If you're getting out of bed, why don'tcha visit the rest of my family." The little pony looked sad after she said that, as if saying it brought back a bad memory. Deciding against pressing further on the girl, Mario joined her as they left the farmhouse.

Outside, the two ponies arrived at the barn. "Strudel, Braeburn, we have a visitor," shouted the girl. She had a tremendously loud voice for someone of such small stature, thought Mario as his head began to hurt again. Out of the barn came two ponies, both of which were stallions. The older one had a pale brown coat of fur, and a white mane, moustache and beard. He wore upon his head a green hat with a red feather protruding from it. Next to him stood a younger pony, who was a good foot taller than Mario was. He was a pale yellow colour, with a golden mane on his head. Mario had never seen either of these ponies around Ponyville, and they certainly seemed to not be from these parts.

"Applebloom, have you been pestering our visitor?" asked the younger stallion. He had a kind voice, but he was very loud when he talked.

"No, I promise cousin Braeburn, I'm just showing him around the place," she retorted quickly, like a child being scolded would.

"Okay, but don't rush him" said the elder pony. His voice was scratchy and high, most unfitting for what seemed to be a rather manly stallion. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" he asked Applebloom.

"Oh I'm sorry, uncle Strudel, cousin Braeburn, this is Mario. He was with the princess when the castle was yanked into the sky" said the yellow filly. "And these are my relatives Mario, they came recently to help with the incident we had recently". She pointed her hoof at the farmhouse, indicating the holes in the wall.

"What happened?" asked Mario, with concern in his voice.

"Her brother and sister got kidnapped two nights ago," said Braeburn. "We came over to help out, such as carry out their jobs on the farm and fix up the damage caused by them attackers".

"Is there anything I can do?" asked the red stallion. He had to repay their hospitality some way, after all.

"Well, I suppose you could go down Ponyville, see if anyone saw the kidnappers last night. Take Applebloom with you, she's a smart girl," said Strudel, pointing at the little pony standing at Mario's side. Mario nodded his head, and looked at the filly by his side. She nodded in agreement, and said to Mario "Before we leave, can you go get my encyclopaedia? It would certainly come into use on our journey."

"We're only going down the road, it's not that much of a journey," said the red stallion.

"I know, but it never hurts to be prepared," said Applebloom. She did have a point, thought Mario.

"Where is it then?" he asked. She pointed in the direction of the orchard. "It's in my clubhouse, you can't miss it. I'm going to pack my bags". She then turned and walked back to the house, skipping as she went. Mario then trotted off to the orchards, leaving the other two stallions to work in the barn.

Twenty minutes later, Mario arrived at a tree house. It was surprisingly complex, and not something you'd expect a young girl to be able to build, or even look after. It was immaculate inside too, he thought as he searched for the book. On a desk rested the 'Encyclopaedia Equestria". It had a map of Equestria on its cover, and on the inside of the cover were three names written. There was two scrawls of names written there very messily, reading 'Applebloom' and 'Scootaloo'. Underneath these was a name written with beautiful handwriting. It read 'Sweetie Belle', and had a picture of a unicorn doodled next to it. Further in the book, there were pictures of the many creatures that inhabited Equestria. Some also had tactics for removing them too. Mario picked the book up in his mouth, and left the building.

Outside, he climbed down the ladder, and onto something soft. It emitted a high pitched squeak, much like a kazoo. Mario quickly turned around to see what he had trod on. It was a small doll in the shape of a pink unicorn, which was covered in expensive clothing. Unfortunately, it now had a large dent in the side from where he had trodden on it. Suddenly, something attacked him from the bushes. Struggling against the monster grabbing his head, he threw his assailant off onto the floor. Mario couldn't believe it, but his attacker was a small filly too, not much older than Applebloom. She was a small pink earth pony with a purple and white mane. She wore on her head a small tiara, now dented, and a look of sheer anger on her face.

"How dare you lay a hoof on me," she screamed in an extremely bratty tone. "You first break Miss Moneypony, and then you headbutt me."

"I'm sorry, but it was an accident!" Mario said, trying to plead with the crazed pony advancing on him.

"My father taught me how to deal with bullies like you!" she snarled. She ran at him and pounced in an attempt to knock him down to the ground. Mario ducked and rolled away from where he was standing, and out of the way of the flying pony. With a huge thud, the filly had hit the tree and knocked herself down to the ground. With a black eye and a lump on her head, she stood up again.

"Don't think this is over, jerk, I will hunt you down and have my revenge, or my name isnt Diamond Tiara," she growled at Mario. Her voice was filled with anger and hatred, and was much lower than it was before. Upon saying that, she ran off, with her broken doll in her mouth. Mario stood there for a minute, wondering what the hell had just happened. In the last day, he had been thrown through a window, fallen to earth from space and now he had just made another enemy, this time a schoolgirl. He sighed and thought "This is going to be a long day"…

Returning on the route that he had come from, he arrived back at the farmhouse. Waiting for him there was Applebloom, Braeburn and Strudel. It would seem that none of them wanted to disturb Granny Smiths nap either. On the little fillies back was a small satchel, and next to her was a much larger one.

"What took you so long?" she asked, dragging the bags over to where Mario stood.

"You didn’t tell me you kept psychopaths on your farm!" Mario said, recalling the fight he had gotten into earlier.

"Huh?" said Applebloom, with a confused look on her face. After racking her mind for a minute, she said "Oh, that’s just Diamond Tiara. Don’t worry about anything she might have said, her bark is worse than her bite. Now, put this bag on", indicating to the large bag on the floor. The yellow pony then grabbed the encyclopaedia from Mario's mouth and placed it in her bag.

"Now take care you two" said Strudel, in the same scratchy voice he usually spoke with. The two said their goodbyes and began to walk down the trail towards Ponyville, with Applebloom enthusiastically running ahead, and Mario struggling to keep up.

High above them, the purple pony that was at Discord's side saw the duo leave on their journey. "How did he manage to survive that fall?" she asked herself, as she floated in the air. Shaking her hooves in anger, she floated over the farm until she saw two unicorns further down the path. "Of course!" she thought, looking at the redheaded duo, "I'll enlist some help in eliminating them." Her smile spread wide across her face, as she began her flight over to her allies…

Chapter 0-3: The Three Princesses

Deep in the orchard, a wooden mechanical monstrosity stood deep in between the trees. Riding it were two unicorns, nearly indistinguishable from one another. They had pale yellow fur, and their manes were a mix of red and white. The only way to tell them apart was via their facial hair. One had a moustache, while the other did not own one.

"Why, this orchard is just prime for picking" said the moustachioed stallion, to his brother.

"Anything on this farm is free for us to poach, and the cider business is ripe for taking" he replied.

"We shall be millionaires by next week, and no-one will be able to stop us". He noticed a mare flying towards him. "It looks like the boss has new orders", said the pony lacking a moustache. They turned off their machine and watched as the purple pony landed. "Miss Screwball, what message do you bring for us?" said the bald lipped pony.

"We have some…. Loose ends, shall we say, near your position. I need you to destroy the red stallion that is on the path from the farm. Bring me his body, if you choose to leave any remains" she said, in a voice that sounded cruel. It sent shivers down the brothers spines, and leaving a tingly feeling in their hooves.

She clapped her hooves together, and began to giggle. From her body, a burst of black energy erupted over the machine. It began to transform it into a larger structure, more guarded from attack than ever before, and carrying heavy weaponry on it. "This should help in the fight" the mare said, as she began to float away. "Now don't screw this up, or else I'll break you myself" she growled at the two.

With a laugh between the two, the brothers started up their new tank, and drove through the orchard towards Ponyville.

"How long did you say this path was?" gasped Mario, still trying to keep up with the bundle of energy that was Applebloom.

"Not long now mister, we just got about another…". Her face dropped as she saw a giant wooden machine blocking the path, and two familiar faces riding it. "Oh no, not now…"

"What's wrong, we can just walk round it can't we?" asked Mario, in an attempt to console the little filly.

"No, they're here for a fight. They're Flim and Flam, two con-ponies who attempted to steal the farm a while back. I think they've seen us too." she said, slowly backing away.

"Don't worry, I'll have a little talk with them." He walked up to the approaching machine and stood in front of it.
"Why hello, little pony. Are you lost?" said Flim, with a sneer in his voice. "We have plans for this farm, so kindly step aside, before I run you down."

"In fact brother, why don't we run him down anyway? We won't even leave a stain…" They had a sickening smile on their faces, spread wide as their horns began to glow

"Get outta the way, mister!" Applebloom yelled. Mario dived to the sides of the path as the contraption charged at them. The tank narrowly missed, and it skidded around again. In its turn, it knocked down several trees, splintering them in to sharp shapes.

"You can't run now, this machine will never relent!" shouted Flim. "How about you try some apples?" he laughed, flipping a switch from under his hoof.

A large hose extended from the rear of the machine and rose high above the trees. "I think we should run!" Mario called out to the filly, rushing through the orchard. They were stumbling over roots and rocks, until they reached a ditch. "You got any ideas on how to stop them?" the red stallion asked his companion, gasping for breath. Similarly out of breath, Applebloom managed to say "If we can knock out the brothers, the machine should stop working, and we can flee from them".

As soon as she said that, a loud rumbling shook the ground. The tank had managed to creep up on the two, and from on top the two unicorns looked down with large grins on their face. "Let's make this a little fairer, shall we? We'll count to five, and then we attack. Ready? One…" said Flim, with a large smile still on his face. Mario grabbed Applebloom and scrambled to climb out of the ditch.

"Two…" As hard as they tried, they couldn’t escape the hole.

"Three."

"Four." Mario launched Applebloom out of the ditch. She landed up in a tree, as Mario leaped to the edge. He managed to clamber onto the side, just clearing the edge.

"Five. Fire!" Just then, the large hose aimed at Mario. He had begun to run towards the contraption in an effort to attack. The hose began to fire apples at a high rate towards the red stallion. A few hit glancing blows, just barely missing. Mario leaped into the air and prepared a kick for the moustachioed unicorn. But before he could hit his jaw, an apple struck him in the face. This caused him to fumble his kick, making him miss and break a large bulb on the machine.

Sparks flew out of the damaged bulb, as the machine began to swerve erratically. "Fool, what have you done!?" shouted Flam, with a hint of terror in his voice. The unicorn lacking a moustache threw a punch at the red stallion, which was narrowly dodged. The tank swerved into a tree, knocking all of the ponies on board over onto their faces, save for the moustached pony. From the tree, a filly fell and head butted Flim on the nose. This caused him to stumble and hit his head on the other bulb. This one began to spark profusely too, as they soon became overloaded.

"Let's get outta here Mario!" shouted Applebloom. The red stallion nodded in agreement, and they galloped far from the vehicle, fearful of what may happen.

The machine developed several flames on its surface. "Oh my brother, it appears we might be out of a machine" said Flim.

"Agreed. Shall we make a break for it?" replied his brother. After a short pause, they screamed and began to run from the condemned vehicle. Unfortunately, the machine exploded with a violent green flame soon after they bailed, launching the two unfortunate ponies flying across the farm.

Looking upon the destruction left in the farm, Applebloom let out a bemused sigh and said "Applejacks gonna be mad when she sees this…". Mario couldn't help but let out a small laugh at this, and together they began to return to the path, in order to get back to their original goal of heading towards Ponyville. They were both bruised and battered, but they had managed to survive.

High above the crater of the tank, the purple pony was hovering again. "Fools," she thought, looking at the wreckage of their machine, "he managed to overcome the idiots". A worried look came over her face. "Maybe he could be a problem in the future. Discord must hear about this!". She began to float off towards the castle, still nervous about her masters reaction to the news.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Deep inside the castle, Discord had fashioned himself a throne. It was a mish-mash of Luna and Celestia's thrones, with some of his own personal designs mixed in. He had already thrown the princess into her room, and sealed her in. There was no way she could escape through her door, thanks to a spell he cast on it. He hadn't wasted his time on the throne, as occasionally, he might turn one of his prisoners into a penguin or others into newspapers, just for the hell of it, but at the moment, he was just relishing in his new spot of power.

Bursting through the door, the purple pony galloped up to her master. "Terrible news, milord!" she blurted out, dropping to her knees in front of him.

"Oh, what is it Screwball?" he asked, with a hint of boredom in his voice.

"That pony you threw out of the window? He's alive and in Ponyville. He also managed to defeat the Flim Flam brothers, even with some of our magic under their belts." she said, with an uncharacteristic frown on her face.

"Why are you worried, dear, the element bearers are gone, and without them, there are no threats to my throne. Those fools couldn't fight their way out of a kindergarten, let alone a stallion. Just send the message to the fortress near Trottingham to be on lookout for our little friend". Discord slumped back in his chair, still bored. "Well? Get to it!" he shouted.

Without missing a beat, Screwball ran back out of the door, and exited the castle. Discord looked at a small tree in the corner of the room, and transformed it into a topiary of himself. "Much better" he thought.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Mario and Applebloom arrived at the town center. They were standing near the towns library, which was still cordoned off. "What happened here?" asked the red stallion to a nearby police officer. He looked down his nose at the duo and said "Nothing to see here, citizen", pushing him away.

With a worried look on her face, Applebloom said "Maybe they got Twilight as well!"

From inside the building, as soon as the filly closed her mouth, exited a large winged unicorn. Her coat was a navy blue, and her mane was similar to the nights sky. "Young lady, are you the sister of Applejack?" Applebloom nodded excitedly and said "Do you know where she has been taken?".

The blue pony looked down at her feet and said "She is missing too?. So it would appear that all six have been taken. This may well be the end…". She had begun to turn and wander back into the library. He thought he could see a tear in her eye, but she was hiding it well.

"Wait, what?" asked Mario, confused by her words. "What do you mean, it's all over?"

"Without those six, we can't defeat Discord, who has taken the castle hostage, as well as my sister" said the tall blue pony. She had begun to walk away from the stallion.

"I was at that party. I saw him with my own two eyes, and felt his power with my entire body".

Turning around quickly, the mare jumped towards Mario. "You were there? You must tell me what happened, and how you escaped!" she said, with a large eager smile on her face.

The red stallion recounted his tale to her, including his clash with Discord, his arrival at the farm and the fight with the Flim Flam brothers.

"This seems quite the tale, young stallion, but I believe you" said the pony, with her eyes closed and hoof on her chin. She opened her eyes and stood in a typical royal fashion. "I'm Princess Luna, and from now on, you are working for me in order to stop Discord. To return harmony. AND TO SAVE EQUESTRIA!" With the last one, she struck a pose with her hoof outstretched to the sky. Mario and Applebloom looked on with bewildered stares at the overly dramatic princess.

"Anyway princess, do we have any leads on the kidnappers?" the stallion asked Luna.

"I have been investigating the crime scenes, and my group of detectives have managed to track the kidnappers as having gone towards Trottingham. Maybe there would be a good place to search for them…". She pulled a map of Equestria from a nearby table and marked a large 'X' on the town.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back in the castle, Celestia was sitting in her room. "How could she have failed her subjects again?" she thought, with guilt racking her mind. "If only there was some way I could help stop Discord". She threw herself on the bed, hoping to come up with an idea. Soon after, a light knocking was heard at her window. She slowly walked towards it, worried about what could be on the other side. Suddenly, the window burst open, forcing her to give out a little yelp. Fortunately, it appeared that Discords force field created a small atmosphere around the castle, preventing her from being sucked out into space. In front of her however, laid a pink winged unicorn.

"Cadence, what are you doing inside this room, shouldn’t you be imprisoned in the dungeons?" Celestia asked.
The intruder got to her feet and walked up to her aunt. "Shining Armour gave me a mini forcefield that helped me to escape the jails. I just had to check up on you" she said, with some slight pep in her voice.
"I am fine dear, but sneaking around can lead to you being killed. I would like you to find Luna, and ensure she is safe". She laid her hoof on the younger ponies hair, slightly ruffling it.

"She isn't in the castle. At least, she isnt in the dungeons or her room." said Cadence. "However, I have discovered something my husband's spell has allowed me to do. It has given me the ability to pass the forcefield, much like Discords forces". She was standing on the edge of the window, showing perfect balance.

Celestia stood in deep thought for a moment, before an idea came to her. "You should be able to return to the ground, shouldn't you?" she said.

"I think so, yes" the pink pony said, walking towards the window.

"Then, I order you to fly down to the surface, and search for Luna, and the element bearers. Return to me with any information that you find". Cadence nodded in acceptance, and dived out of the window towards the surface of Equestria. Celestia smiled down at the flying pony, and closed her windows after she had left her field of vision.

Chapter 1-1: Bug Hunt

Diving straight down, Cadence reached speeds of which she had never felt before. Wind rushed past her feathers, and her eyes were watering from the air blowing into them. In her mind, she repeated her mission over and over, knowing full well the fate of Equestria was solely in her hooves.

"Where does Twilight and her friends live?" she thought to herself. She thought back to her wedding, trying to remember anything that was said to her. Suddenly, it came to her.

"That white pony who made my dress said her shop was in Ponyville. Maybe that's where they are!" she monologued. She slowed herself to a stop, and saw in the distance, past the mountain range Canterlot sat on, a small town surrounded by fields of green. Diving once again, she flew towards to settlement, which was hopefully where the elements of harmony were.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, back at Twilight's library, Mario and Applebloom were preparing to carry out their plan to chase down the ponynappers. Their bags were packed to the brim with supplies, such as mushrooms and flowers. Applebloom was had decided that they needed to be prepared for any occasion. She also had made the decision to make her companion carry the load, much to his annoyance.

"I shall escort you to the edge of town, my little ponies, but I have decided to remain here to continue my investigation into the break ins". Luna was standing tall next to the two. She seemed almost excited for the prospect of carrying out forensics on a real crime scene.

"What if we run into any troubles? Having you around will be really useful in a scrap" said Mario. "After all, if there were going to be anymore ponies such as the nutjobs at the farm, we need to be able to protect ourselves".

"You managed to survive your run in with those 'nutjobs', didn’t you? Also, no, I'm not much of a fighter. Celly is better at combat, and besides, every team needs someone at base, researching for intelligence and barking commands" the princess reasoned, with a wink. Mario sighed. He couldn't argue with her, but at least he had Applebloom for company on his trek.

"Hold on, what's that?" the filly said, indicating to a pink pony rapidly approaching their location. She flew faster and faster, descending rapidly, until she landed on the ground in front of the trio.

"Princess Luna, why am I glad to see you!" said the pink pony, who was out of breath and very ragged. Her hair was strewn all over the place, and her makeup had run down her face. "I bring a message for you from Celestia".

"It is good to see you safe Cadence. May I ask, what is the message that my sister has sent?" replied Luna. She seemed to return to her regular formalities when talking to the other princess, noted Mario.

"She requested to know your condition, and the whereabouts of the element bearers". She had a serious look on her face, standing to alert. Many ponies had begun to gather around, looking on at the meeting between the royals.

"I am perfectly fine. However, the same cannot be said for the others. It would appear that they have been attacked, and their current location is unknown. I have managed to ascertain the possible position of where our culprits may have returned to. Also, I have enlisted the help of Mario here, who has promised to help the rescue efforts." Luna was equally serious, standing in a similar position to the mare opposite her.

"Such news is sad to hear. I shall return to the castle in order to inform Celestia our situation." She had spread her pink wings wide, ready for takeoff. The blue mare held out her hoof towards her fellow princess.

"Wait. How are you able to return to the surface and no-one else is?" Luna had scepticism in her eyes looking at Cadence.

"Something about barriers negating each other. Unfortunately, Shining Armour is in no fit state to cast his barriers on the rest of the prisoners, so at the moment, I am the only one able to leave the castle. I shall return to you with any further news from the princess". She launched herself into the sky, and began flapping high into the clouds. Soon, she was out of sight of all of the ponies on the ground.

"That certainly is a piece of good news. Shall we begin our journey?" said the remaining princess, standing near Mario and Applebloom. "We aren't going to solve these mysteries by sitting around".

Together, the trio walked towards the eastern exit of Ponyville. They were flanked by many guards, who were seemingly keeping eyes on the crowds, searching for suspicious individuals. Mario was deep in thought, wondering if the princess was worried about his welfare after being ejected from her castle. Shaking his head, he decided to keep his mind on the job at hoof. Applebloom seemed equally determined. Whether this was to get her siblings back, or to please the princesses, it was a mystery. The red stallion didn't care though. He was just glad to have a companion on his journey. It was a shame Luigi wasn't here to join him on his adventure, he mused to himself.

After a short walk they arrived at another footpath. In the distance, another town could be seen, lurking in the shadows of a menacing tower behind it. In front of the trio, however, stood two royal guards.

"Halt!" cried one. His voice was raspy and seemed unponylike.

"By order of the princesses, we are preventing access to Trottingham. Please turn around and try again never." The female guard, of which there are few in the force, had a similarly sinister tone of voice.

"What is the meaning of this?" shouted Luna, "I am a princess, now stand down!"

"No can do, these are orders from the top. Celestia herself has ordered us to allow no passage to anyone, especially her sister". The male guard had a smirk on his face as he said those words.

Suddenly shouting very loudly, the blue pony bellowed "IF YOU DO NOT STAND DOWN, I SHALL ARREST YOU FOR TREASON!"

The two guards just stood there and smiled at the angry princess in front of them.

"Fine. As you wish," said Luna. She turned her backs on the two and closed her eyes. Suddenly, a cluster of clouds formed above the two guards. Several bolts of lightning rained down on the hapless duo, as shrieks of pain came from the area of the attack. Mario stood there with a shocked look on his face.

"How could she be so nonchalant in her court martialling?" he thought. As the smoke cleared, there were two figures lying on the ground.

Before all of the shocked onlookers, laid two insect like creatures. They had black bodies, pale blue wings which were full of holes, much like their legs. The princess of the night prodded one with her hoof, jabbing it in the place where its ribs should be.

"As I thought," she said, "they were Changelings. It would appear they may have something to do with Discords return. You may want to excise caution on your journey, and be vigilant for these blighters." She indicated to some guards, who arrested the two imposters and took them to a wagon with thick metal bars on it. "I wish the best of luck to you two," she said, turning away again and walking back towards the town. Mario turned towards Applebloom and asked, "are you ready for this?" The young filly was noticeably shaken by the events of what just happened, and took a big gulp. "I gotta stay strong for Applejack and Big Macintosh. No matter what Mario, I'm coming with you" she said, with a glint of determination in her eyes. Together, they galloped off towards the far away town, past all off the fields of green.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back up at the castle, Cadence had managed to elude the guards that had defected, either by their own lack of guts, or by Discord's magic. She returned to the balcony at the princess' room. She tapped lightly on the window, and saw Celestia's silhouette approaching the window.

"Welcome back, my dear. I hope you bring good news" said Celestia, ushering in her guest.

"I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I have found Luna safe and sound. She is in Ponyville at the moment" replied Cadence.

"And the bad news?" said Celestia, with fear in her voice.

"It would appear that the elements have been attacked, and they have not been seen for the last two days". The younger pony bowed her head when saying these words, sad at their loss too.

"Darn" said the sun princess. She was never one to swear, and she wasn't about to start now. "It would appear that this plot has been well formulated."

"Despite this, it would appear that your sister has a plan. She is currently investigating the crime scenes left by the attackers in Ponyville, and has enlisted the help of a stallion named Mario".

As soon as his name was mentioned, Celestia seemingly cheered up a bit. "Mario is safe?" she asked. Her mind was covered in guilt for not being able to save him from his apparent death, and hearing about this was a relief for her.

"Indeed he is. He has begun to track down the possible location of the attackers. Luna is also staying in Ponyville to continue her investigation." Cadence had also cheered up, with their situation not looking as bleak as it originally was.
"We mustn't let them do all of the work though. We must help in any way that we can." The pink princess nodded in agreement, and they sat and began to think deeply about how they can help.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later, on the surface, Mario and Applebloom had arrived at Trottingham. On the journey, she had read to him what her encyclopaedia had to say about Changelings. From what he had learned, Mario had decided that they were vile creatures. They thought they had seen a couple on their journey, in their peripheral vision, but they were sure they was just imagining it. The red stallion couldn't shift the feeling that he was being watched though.

As they walked under the main arch to the town, there was something wrong about the town. "Does this feel a little deserted to you?" asked Applebloom. Mario nodded, and began to slowly walk into the settlement. It felt like a ghost town, with the occasional gust blowing dust around behind them, causing the duo to jump.

"I'm not scared, I'm not scared…" Mario repeated under his breath. He glanced at his assistant, who seemed to be taking this better than him. As they walked through the town, there were increasingly more signs of a struggle in the streets. Rubbish was strewn across the roads, and many brick walls were damaged, with chunks missing from them. Standing high above the town was a large stone tower. It had steep walls, and many cannons adorning the sides. Mario also thought he could see something moving around at the top of the tower.

The deeper into the town they went, the more damaged the town looked. "This is horrible. Usually it's such a bright and nice town here" said Applebloom, searching for any sign of a survivor in the town. "What do you think could have caused this?" she asked Mario.

"I don’t know, but something tells me it was something to do with those bugs back in Ponyville" he replied. Part of him didn't want to know what happened here, but another wanted to solve this mystery.

"Applebloom!" called out a quiet voice. She perked her ears up, and Mario turned his head towards the source of the voice.
"I think it came from in there" he whispered, indicating to a particularly dilapidated house. Applebloom nodded and together they approached with caution.

"Quick, get inside before they see you!". The voice sounded like it was from a panicked filly, which was understandable. A door opened a bit, as Mario opened it slowly. It creaked loudly, and revealed a room cloaked in darkness.

"Over here!" called the voice, but still in a hushed tone. A candle was lit, and it illuminated it's holder, which was an orange pegasus filly, with a purple mane.

"SCOOTALOO!" Applebloom called out, running to see her friend. Mario closed the door again, and approached the two fillies. "Be quiet, or they'll find us!" the orange pegasus hissed at her friend.

"Sorry. Why are you in this ghost town, anyways?" the yellow filly asked.

"I was staying with my aunt and uncle for the weekend, but then those icky bugs arrived" Scootaloo explained.

"Called it" said Mario, who was looking around the room. The purple maned filly shot him a dirty look and said "Who's the guy you've dragged along?"

"Oh, he's just on some mission from the princesses to rescue the elements of harmony who have been attacked and we need them to defeat discord, or else the whole world will go loopy" Applebloom said in one breath. She took a couple of breaths and said "So what have these bugs done?"

"Every now and then, they would swoop down and kidnap a few villagers. Sometimes they even disguise themselves as one of us, and attempt to infiltrate our houses. For a while now, everyone's just hid inside their houses" explained the orange pony.

"So where are your aunt and uncle then?" the stallion asked. He would need information about the area if he was going to do anything about this situation.

"They've been taken too. I saw them being flown up to the tower, like everyone else they take." she explained, looking out of the window at the tower.

Applebloom gasped and ran over to Mario. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked him.

"You think that our culprits are up in that tower, and they also took the element bearers there?" he replied. "It's worth a shot. Thanks for your hospitality young lady, and try to stay safe" he said to Scootaloo.

She stomped her hoof down and said "I'm coming with you guys. I want to rescue people too. Maybe we can be cutie mark crusader rescue workers!" She and her friend cheered at this, but the yellow filly noticed something and said "I wonder what happened to Sweetie Belle, she was staying with Rarity that night." The orange girl replied with "If they did kidnap her, we'll find her in the tower!" She turned to Mario and said "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!", as she grabbed her scooter and opened the door to the town.

Mario smiled. The more, the merrier, after all, and a few more hooves wouldn't hurt to have around. He followed the fillies out of the door, and gazed up at the tower. At the top, it appeared that there were Changelings staring back. He let out an audible gulp, as bugs began to take off from the top.

Chapter 1-2: Castle Crashers

A few changelings rose into the sky, having seen some fresh prey. They gave out a terrifying shriek, and retreated towards their comrades.

"Not wanting to alarm you, but I think we might have company in a minute," Mario called out to his companions. "We should consider doing something so we don’t get our blood sucked or something!"

"They suck love, not blood you doofus" replied Applebloom. "Scootaloo, what should we do? Fight them?"

Looking around, with an expression that screamed 'what the hay do you think?', she replied "Run. Definitely run!" She began to flutter her wings faster to propel her scooter, and began to leave Mario behind.

"Wait up for me!" he called, trying his best to keep up. He turned his head to the sky and saw that the majority of it was blotted out by the sea of black insects. With even more reason to run now, he followed the two fillies through the deserted town.

Soon after, the swarm had arrived at the town. Accompanying them was a dreadful drone of wings fluttering as they swooped down into the town. The trio were almost out of the town when another three changelings hit the ground before them. Scootaloo and Applebloom jumped over the snarling beasts, and Mario kicked one in the face as he jumped over. He did feel a little happiness in kicking that bugs nose, or where one should be on its face.

"Where are we gonna go?" Scootaloo asked the now caught up Mario. It would seem that the majority of the swarm was hovering around the town, looking to try and find their hiding place. After all, no-one would be stupid enough to try and escape, they controlled the whole area. At least, that’s what their leaders thought.

"We've got to lose our heat" Mario said, looking for a hiding spot. "There" he said, indicating a piece of shrubbery at the side of the road, "Hide in here for a while." The two fillies leapt in the bush, along with their scooter, and were soon followed by the stallion.

Hours passed as the trio stayed silent in their makeshift hiding place. They had seen many changelings pass the area, some with victims they had found. But none had passed in the last quarter of an hour.

"Do you think it's safe to come out yet?" asked the yellow filly.

"Not yet. I think I hear someone coming" replied Mario. He slowly opened up part of the bush, just enough so he could see. There were two ponies approaching, both female unicorns. One had a grey mane and white body, and the other had a red mane and orange body.

"We should warn them about this area" said Scootaloo, about to climb out of the bush. The red stallion grabbed her tail and pulled her back.

"They could be working for the bad guys. Let's watch them for a bit." Unfortunately for them, the two unicorns heard some movement in the bushes. They began to walk over towards the spot where the two were hiding. Inside, Mario was holding his breath and sweating buckets. He turned and saw that his companions were in a similar situation.

"Musta been some rabbits" said one of the voices. "Come on, let's go, there isn't gonna be no ponies around here now." He could hear a whooshing noise accompanied by a bright green light. The buzzing began again as the deceivers took off.

"Should we follow them?" asked Applebloom, who was catching her breath after holding it for so long.

"Let's go" replied Mario. Never again did he want to be caught in a situation like that. Once this fiasco was over, he hoped to never see a changeling again. "Horrible, disgusting creatures" he thought.

Once they were out of the bush, they could see in the distance some remnants of the mob returning to the tower. There was a fork in the road ahead of them, with a familiar signpost on it.

"We turned right for Trottingham, so let's go left" said Applebloom, pointing down a path towards the tower. It was in much worse condition than the other path, with an uneven surface and dead trees lying across the path.

"It's like the road's saying stay away" commented Scootaloo. Nevertheless, they began their journey towards the tower. Every now and then, something would fly overhead, causing the ponies to dive to the edges of the road. Luckily, it was always a bird flying overhead, but it never failed to scare Mario out of his skin.

Soon after starting, they found a gorge at the end of the path. There was a bridge, but it was one of the new drawbridges, and it had been pulled up. "Probably to keep unwanted visitors out" thought Mario. On the other side was a lever, seemingly joined to the bridge. Through simple logic, it could be concluded that it controlled the bridge.

"It's a shame we can't cross this here, we're gonna have to find a way around" said the red stallion, disappointed by the news.

"Hold on guys, I have a plan" said the orange filly. She was making a very rickety ramp from the wood at the sides of the path. "Applebloom, fix this up for me please".

"OK!" said the other filly, rushing to her friends side. Together, the duo managed to make a ramp that was actually quite impressive. Mario could only look on at the sidelines, feeling rather useless as the little girls managed to create it all themselves. Soon after, all three of them were on top of the ramp. Scootaloo was standing on her scooter, with the other two behind her.

"On the count of three, push me down the slope" she said.

"One". Mario and Applebloom gripped onto the back of the scooter rider.

"Two". She clenched her teeth and lowered her head.

"Three!" she shouted. On the utterance of the word, the other two ponies began to push her down the slope, following her down the hill. She quickly built up speed, and left her companions on the slope. As she went above the crevice, she looked down. Below her, there was a thirty foot drop onto some jagged rocks. With a gulp, she began to flutter her wings desperately in order to gain just enough height to clear the cliff.

A few seconds after, she managed to land on the grass on the other side. The landing was less than smooth though, and Scootaloo face planted on the ground, skidding to a stop. Wincing, Mario called out "You OK over there?"

"Yeah, just a scratch" came the reply. She pulled herself up and walked over to the lever, giving it a good pull. Loudly, the gears groaned and the chain creaked as the bridge slowly dropped to allow passage. Luckily, none of the inhabitants of the tower heard the bridge lowering, so the trio remained under the radar.

Further down the path, Scootaloo had arrived at the tower. She had run ahead, eager to get inside the tower to rescue her relatives. Shortly afterwards, Mario and Applebloom caught up with her, and together they stood in front of the imposing tower.

"It's a lot bigger than it looks from back there. Do you think we could just walk through the door" said the yellow filly, indicating to the giant pair of iron doors sitting just over a small bridge.

"Something tells me they would notice us just wandering in" replied her friend. "Maybe there is a secret entrance around here." Despite searching around, the fort was impregnable. There was an open window, but it was a good ten meter vertical climb.

"Looks like we'll have to try the door. Try to be sneaky guys, and keep to the shadows" said Mario. He slowly creeped up to the doors, and opened up the door. "Come on, keep close" he whispered to the two fillies. Silently the door opened and the trio crept in.

"See, nothing to worry ab-". He had bumped into something cold and hard. With a look of horror on his face, the stallion looked up and saw the worst possible thing ever: A giant changeling with a huge grin on his face.

The scuffle was short lived, and ended with three ponies chained up and being dragged by some goons. The two girls looked at the stallion between them and shot him looks saying "You dumbass" and "Told you the front door was a stupid idea". Mario didn't care, thinking of a plan to try and escape. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of anything, so he just sighed, resigned to his fate.

On a stone bridge above a pit, the prisoners stopped their journey. The changelings hissed something at each other, until one kicked the bundle off the edge. The screaming trio fell through the air, as they fell towards their possible demise.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the floor, Mario woke up covered in a blanket. Sitting next to him were Scootaloo and Applebloom, seemingly waiting for him to wake up. Scootaloo had a bandage on her head fashioned from some old rag, and Applebloom was talking to a large red stallion.

"Hey, Mario's awake!" called out the orange filly. Looking around, he could see many ponies sitting around on other ragged blankets. His two companions were sitting next to him, as was the large red stallion.

"Who's your friend, AB?" the groggy pony asked, head ringing from the fall.

"He's my big brother. Meet Big Macintosh!" she said. "He wants to help us!" Her voice was really cheerful, which was understandable given her completion of half of her quest.

"Mah lil' sis was taken by these blighters as well. I reckon' she could be in this big tower too" he said, with a slow and low voice. His voice was similar to that of his sisters, but was much more manly. He also stood taller than Mario, and his legs were about as thick as the moustachioed stallions neck.

"We can't do much stuck in here though, can we?" he replied. So much for saving Equestria and stopping Discord. Maybe he could make a little home in the hole, put up some curtains on the wall. It would be a good life. Other than the whole imprisonment thing, which put a bit of a damper on it.

"Don't worry, we have a little escape planned." He indicated over to a wall, where multiple ponies were kicking at a wall. "Few more hours, and we'll be outta here". He helped Mario to his hooves, leading him to the excavation site.

A few hours later, all but one pony had retired for the night. Still furiously kicking, Big Mac saw a few bricks become loose.

He walked over to the sleeping Mario, and woke him up. "Tomorrow mornin', we bust outta here."

"Great, now go to sleep. It's like midnight" replied the grumpy stallion. He hated it when people interrupted his sleep.

"Eeyup". The larger stallion retired to the blanket near the one which his little sister was wrapped up in.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning, the ponies had all gathered at their escape tunnel. With a huge buck, Big Mac forced the wall down in a hole. "Run, now!" he yelled, indicating for everyone to flee. Him, Mario, Scootaloo and Applebloom all waited until the last pony had fled.

"What's the plan?" asked the orange filly.

"We make our way to the top, beating the snot out of anyone we see. Hopefully, they'll all be preoccupied with our little jailbreak to be able to fight back properly" replied the smaller stallion. Even in the chambers above, he could hear fights breaking out. "Let's go!"

Together, they ran up several spiral staircases leading around the tower. Every now and then, they saw a pile of unconscious changelings, who had foolishly got in the way of the angry ponies. Many more were fleeing from mobs chasing them down. As a result, there was a lot less hostile forces around to intercept them than previously anticipated. As they progressed higher, they noticed how the fort was in increasingly worse condition. The ground was uneven, causing them to stumble often and sometimes trip and fall over. Soon enough, they managed to reach the roof of the castle.

Across a small stone bridge laid another tower, which had a small building on it, looking as dull as the rest of the area. "Do ya think that's where they would be hiding her?" asked Applebloom. Her and Scootaloo were both shivering from the cold wind that was biting them down to the bone.

"Only one way to find out" replied Mario, who had a bit of a shudder in his voice. He was cold as well, which forced his jaw to begin shaking. As they walked towards the building, the large wooden doors opened wide. From inside, four cannons poked out from the darkness, aimed right at the quartet.

"DUCK!" yelled Big Macintosh, throwing everyone down. Miniseconds later, the cannons roared and fired large steel balls towards them. Narrowly missing the ponies, they flew off into the horizon.

"Rush them!" called out Mario, thinking on his feet. They all ran at once towards the reloading beasts, approaching ever closer. Knowing that if they stayed they would be attacked, the beasts pushed the cannons towards the ponies and retreated back into the room. The colourful equines easily dodged the artillery that was thrown at them, and reached the door.

"Open up you cowards!" shouted Applebloom, hammering on the door with her hooves.

"Stand back everypony" said the massive stallion. He reared up next to the door, and unleashed his massive weight onto the door, forcing it open.

"Thanks, Big Mac" said Scootaloo, as they ran into the building. Inside was a room that looked like a base of commands. There were maps on tables and walls around the room, and little figurines looking like the changelings dotted around on them. A lot were clustered on the cloud city of Cloudsdale, and many elsewhere in the realm.

Standing in the middle of the room were four massive female changelings. They were twice the size of a normal goon, and they had long, dirty turquoise green hair flowing down their sides, and long horns with chunks missing extended from their heads.

Speaking in unison, they said "You've made a terrible mistake, haven't you?"

Chapter 2-1: Spirit Tracks

Mario and his sidekick entered the library to find the princess of the night sitting at the table, with a book in front of her. She had her head rested on the table and her eyes closed, lightly snoring.

"Wake up Princess, we have news to report to you" said Mario, tapping the sleeping mare on the shoulder. She shot up and blinked her eyes, whilst stretching out her wings.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" she said, looking around the room. Her eyes set at the red stallion standing next to her. "Oh it’s you. I'm sorry about that, I get awfully tired during the day. So what is your news?"

"First the good news. We think we have recovered one of the elements" he said.

"Excellent! Cadence was correct with her assumption" she said with a great smile. "It certainly looks like we have a good start on the road for harmony."

"That's the thing, really. Scoots, can you fetch the element?" asked Mario to his sidekick.

"Yes sir!" she cheered, running out of the room, and dragged a large card back in.

Upon seeing the cardified Applejack, Luna placed a hoof over her mouth "My lord, what happened to her? It feels like some seriously dark magic is emanating from this. It certainly sends shivers down my spine" she said, looking over the card.

"What are we going to do about it then?" asked Mario to the princess.

"I will find out a way to break the curse placed on her, and you will continue your search for the elements. Take your assistant-"

"Sidekick!" Scootaloo interrupted.

"Whatever. Take her and head towards the desert regions to the south of Equestria, near Dodge Junction" she said, waving a hoof towards the filly. "I have taken some notes regarding what you should expect to see in the wastelands down there".

"Won't you need to investigate the crime scenes anymore?" asked the stallion.

"All of our searches proved fruitless, and besides, we have some help from above in that respect" she said, pointing to the sky.

"So I'm assuming Cadence told you where we have to go?" asked Mario.

"Indeed" she said, yawning. "Would you like to look at the notes before you leave. I am really tired right now, and I cannot afford to make any mistakes when every second counts". She passed the note to Mario, who read it aloud.

"Desert regions- Was once populated by violent bandits, but the efforts of the buffalo tribes drove them away. Thought to still exist in the many cave networks dotting the area, but activity is subdued. Former royal guard captain situated in Dodge Junction to investigate chaos damage to the deserts. Local delicacies include cherry pies, cherrychangas and pasta. Train runs straight to the town, should be easy to get to this time. Please pick me up a few lemons while you are down there."

He looked up, "Most of this stuff is irrelevant" he said, but to his dismay, the princess had already returned to sleep.

"Well, do you know when the train to Dodge leaves?" he asked his sidekick as they walked out of the building.

"Not a clue" she replied. "Hey, it looks like Applebloom and Big Mac are back" she said, pointing to the duo of ponies approaching.

"Good to see you again" said Mario to the larger stallion.

"As it is to you. Any news on the situation?" he asked.

"Well, Luna said she'd try to solve the problem regarding the card, but she thinks it'd be best if we kept looking for the other elements" Mario replied.

"Sounds like a solid plan. Do we know of the location of any?" Big Mac said.

"Near Dodge Junction, apparently. I think we can get a train down there from here" the moustachioed stallion said.

"What are we waiting for then? Girls, come on, we're going!" he called out to the two fillies. They ran to his side and ran alongside him. How he could command such utter control, Mario would never understand.

At the train station, Mario and co. saw a large predicament affecting the rails of the track. In front of the pink train was a large boulder, blocking the path.

"Big Macintosh! Just the pony I wanted to see" called the engineer, running over to them. He had a mustache which put Mario to shame, and a cutie mark featuring a pocket watch. "A large boulder was put on the tracks, and we need all the muscle we can get to shift it!"

"We'll see what we can do. Come on Mario, we need to shift this boulder" he said.

"I suppose" he replied, walking towards the boulder.

Hours had passed, with a team of stallions bucking away at the rock, slowly breaking it down into smaller chunks. Finally, it had crumbled into small chunks.

"Thank you boys for that hand. I owe you guys one" said the engineer.

"Hang on, do you know when the next train to dodge junction leaves?" Mario asked.

"Well, this train leaves for Appleloosa in five minutes. I suppose I could make a stop off there for you guys" he replied.

"Cheers" said the moustachioed stallion. "Girls, we're leaving in a minute, so hop on the train!" he called out.

"Coming!" they said in unison, running onto the carriage, with the two stallions shortly behind them.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

The train sped through the wastelands in which they were headed. The train itself stuck out horribly, which attracted attention from a large snake that slithered along the track. Mario gulped as he saw it, hoping it would lose interest and go away. He hated snakes almost as much as changelings. Sure enough, the snake left the train alone as it approached a small town, with a sign saying 'Oasis'.

"This ain't Dodge" said Big Macintosh to the engineer.

"Sadly, it seems as though ahead from here, the tracks have been formed into a statue of sorts". He pointed towards a large metal figurine depicting Discord riding Princess Celestia with a look of glee in his face. "Looks like we're going to have to turn back" he said to his group of other engineers.

"How are we gonna get to Dodge Junction then?" asked Applebloom.

"You could stay the night here, and walk across Mt. Oasis to Dodge. Not too far of a walk, and it is relatively well trod" replied the engineer, pushing levers on the train.

"Well, thanks anyway" said Mario. The group walked towards the town centre as the sun set across the desert landscape. The town was very small, with around thirty houses and a few public houses surrounding a lake which was the namesake of the village. They walked into the pub, and rented a room for the night.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the morning, Mario woke up next to Big Macintosh. The bed was quite small for a double, and as such they were pressed up against one another. On the floor in sleeping bags were the two fillies, curled up into small balls. Mario slowly moved from the bed and over to the window, which he opened to see the sun rising. Just behind a cluster of houses was a route leading up the mountain, which was a popular tourist spot according to the landlord of the pub. He heard movement behind him as the other ponies woke up.

"Morning guys" said Mario, still gazing out of the window. "We all ready for our trek across the mountains?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, boss" said Scootaloo, with Applebloom nodding in agreement.

"Let's go, then" he said, and they went downstairs for a breakfast of hay, which was dried in the sun. As they left, a letter fell and hit the red stallion in his face.

"Ow" he stated, picking up the letter. It was addressed to 'Cherry Jubilee, Dodge Junction'. Mario looked up and saw a familiar grey pegasus falling to the ground above the mountain.

"She could be hurt!" said Applebloom with concern in her voice. "We gotta hurry!"

They ran as quickly as they could up the path. Thankfully, the route was smooth and easy to run on, due to it being the main trade route before the trains covered the deserts . About halfway up the peak they found the crashed pegasus desperately picking up the letters spilled across the ground.

"Are you okay?" asked Scootaloo to the downed mare.

"I'm fine, just had a minor spill" she said, with a voice that sounded like she had a blocked nose. Mario recognised her as the local postmare, Ditzy 'Derpy' Doo.

"Why are you so far from Ponyville?" asked Mario, helping her to her feet.

"The entirety of the postal squad woke up a few days ago without any wings. This left me with the entirety of the postal work for Equestria, and I just got jumped by somepony" she replied.

"Did you see them?" asked Big Macintosh, trying not to stare at her lazy eye.

"Nope, but they slashed me with something" she said, pointing to a scratch she had gained on her flank. "Anyway, my rounds can't wait, so I'm off to Dodge junction, injury or no injury".

"Hold on, are you sure you don't want some escorts in case the thugs come back?" asked Scootaloo. "We beat up a bunch of changelings earlier, so some bullies should be no problem for us!"

"Actually, yeah, would you please actually?" she said, blushing.

"Of course, miss Doo" said Big Mac. The group walked together, with Ditzy hovering above them, towards the a chasm laying between the two large mountains. Behind them, Oasis was just a small sight, dwarfed by the metal statue of Discord. Ahead, a desert spread expansively into the horizon. In order to cross the gorge, there was a rickety rope bridge spreading the entire width. The posse crossed the bridge, trying to avoid the rotten planks which broke away underneath them. As they reached the end, they felt a jolt as something landed on the other end of the bridge. Mario looked back to see what it was, and he saw a large, eagle like being land on the other end of the bridge, with a sword in its hand. It brought it down hard on the bridge, severing the ropes that was holding it up.

Seeing the bridge begin to collapse, he yelled "RUN FOR IT!". Ditzy grabbed Scootaloo and flew to safety with her, while Big Macintosh grabbed Applebloom and placed her on his back. The bridge slowly fell as the panicked ponies fled towards the end of the bridge. Thankfully, they escaped the collapsing bridge, and ended up panting on the floor of the path leading down the other mountain. The eagle like figure flew towards them and landed in front of the out of breath stallions.

"What are you doing in my territory, dweebs?" it asked with a low, but feminine voice. Upon closer inspection, it would appear that she was a griffon, with a large imposing structure. She held a steel claymore in her left claw, much like many of the griffon troops, and plate armour down her front left leg. On the end was a claw, which fitted over her talons and made them even sharper. On the tips, there were blood stains, probably from some unfortunate pegasus.

"Passing by. Now let us through please" said Ditzy.

"Oh hey, it's my friend from earlier" the griffon said, approaching the pegasus mare. "Surprised a loser like you would even dare returning here."

"The mailmare never flees in fear" she said, trying not to stammer.

"Adorable. Now hold still, I wont miss this time" it replied, drawing her sword above her head.

"Wait, why are you attacking us?" asked Applebloom.

"The boss gave me the entire desert as my grounds, as long as I cause as much trouble as I can. The names Gilda, and it'll be the last you ever hear" she said, pointing her blade at the fillies.

"Oh great, another of Discords goons" sighed Mario. "Do you just want to let us go? I think I have some pasta here for you if you do, and my pasta is delicious" he said, rummaging through his bag.

"I don't want any of your stinking pony food!" she said, now pointing her sword at the red stallion. "To be honest, now I look at you, you kinda look like this Mario guy the boss has put us on lookout for. Let me take a nice look at that cutie mark of yours, and maybe I'll let you pass…" she said, advancing on him.

"Err, its not really that interesting" he stammered, backing away.

"Red M on a white background, eh?" she said, grabbing him. "YOUR HEAD IS MINE!" she yelled, preparing to swing her blade. She was caught short as Big Macintosh kicked her in the ribs, causing her to drop Mario.

"LEG IT!" the smaller stallion yelled, running down the path.

"Mario!" said Big Macintosh, who had caught up with him, "We ain't gonna outrun her. We have to fight her, or at least disarm her".

"Any bright ideas guys?" the red stallion asked his entourage. They all shook their heads while running for their lives from the crazed griffon.

"I have you now!" Gilda yelled, diving at the ground in front of the adults, and with her back to the children. "Luckily for you, moustache boy, boss wants you alive. Your friends… not so much" she said, licking her beak.

"Know any secrets about griffons from your book?" whispered Scootaloo to Applebloom.

"Apparently, they're really proud. Don't see how that will help us" she said, watching the griffon advancing on the three adults.

"Hold on a second, I'm going to do something both awesome and crazy" the orange filly said. She stood tall in the clearing and yelled "Hey, featherbrain! Your mother was a manticore, and your dad only had one wing!"

Turning around swiftly, she screamed "He was a veteran! How dare you mock him like that!".

"Your sister is a fillyfooler, and your feathers look like my grandmothers!" she taunted.

Scootaloo wondered if she had gone too far, as she could see tears forming in her eyes. "I'LL EVISCERATE YOU!" she shrieked, grabbing Scootaloo by her neck and choking her.

"Get your dirty claws off of her, half breed!" yelled Mario as he unleashed a flying kick to her head. She fell to the ground, unconscious, and released her grip on the filly. "Are you okay Scoots?" he asked her.

"I'm ok. I think we should clear out before she wakes up" she replied, coughing. The others agreed, and they continued their journey down the side of the mountain, away from the knocked out griffon.

"Finally!" said Scootaloo, running ahead of the group. "We made it to the desert!"

"But where do we go from here?" asked Applebloom, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Due west if I'm not mistaken" Ditzy said, pointing towards the horizon, through a sandstorm.

"Great" sighed Mario. "Might as well get this over and done with" he said as they walked towards the storm.

Chapter 2-2: Sand Stream

The desert sun bore down on the heroes intensely, scorching the sand around them. The sand was also swirling around, covering them in grit. The conditions made it impossible for Ditzy to fly, so she was grounded with the rest of them. In the distance, Mario saw a small tent.

"We should see who lives in there, see if the inhabitant will give us some shelter" he said to his colleagues.

"I agree. All this sand is burning my hooves" said Scootaloo. They all ran to the large, beige tent sitting on the edge of the sandstorm.

"Um, hello, anyone in there?" asked Applebloom, peeking around the tent door.

A hoarse, feminine voice called out "Come in, come in". As Mario and the others walked in, they saw a pale greeny-beige pegasus, with a grey mane and wearing an explorers hat. "I'm just getting ready to raid the tomb of Standing Bull" she said, putting food in her saddlebags, which were sitting on a crate by a camp bed.

"You kinda look like Daring Do..." said Scootaloo, looking at the pegasus.

"That's me, greatest explorer in Equestria" she said proudly.

"I always thought she was a fictional character" asked Ditzy to Big Macintosh.

"I'm as real as the moustache on your face" Daring said to Mario, flicking him on the nose.

"Sorry. Do you know a way we can cross the desert in this storm?" he asked her, rubbing his nose.

"Hmm. Try putting these rags on your hooves and wrapping these cloths around your faces. Should keep the sand outta your eyes" she said, pulling a bundle of rags from a box in the corner.

"Wait, I got it!" shouted Scootaloo. "You're Sophia Sorrel!" The other ponies looked at her in confusion. "The actress who plays her in the movies?"

"Wait, is that the one which Rainbow Dash wouldn't shut up about?" asked Applebloom.

"Yeah!" said Scootaloo, almost full to the brim with happiness. "I'm your second biggest fan, Sophia. Can I have your signature?" asked the filly, beaming.

"Don't know about any Sophia, kid. You can have my autograph if you want though" the explorer said, grabbing a pen.

"Please!" said Scootaloo, almost tackling the pegasus.

"Now, now Scoots, we can't pester the nice lady" Mario said, pulling the filly away. "Thank you for the, er, rags. We'll just be on our way" he said, walking the fangirl out of the door.

"What the hay, Mario, I almost had her signature!" said Scootaloo.

"As you said, it's clearly the actress who's been brainwashed" he said, putting on his face guard.

"But who would do such a thing?" she asked.

"Discord?" asked Applebloom.

"Discord" stated Big Macintosh. "We can't dawdle about, she isn't important. Right now, we should be focusing on finding Dodge Junction."

"I agree" said Ditzy. She had put her face guard over her eyes, and stumbled around. "Little help?" she asked. Luckily, Applebloom came to her aid, tugging on her mask. Finally prepared, they set off from the delusional mare, and into the ferocious sandstorm that was sweeping the desert.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours had passed, and the storm had shown no signs of letting up. The group trudged through the sand, until they reached another oasis in the desert.

"FINALLY" yelled Scootaloo, running ahead and jumping in the lake.

"It seems that the storm has died down a bit around here. Could be a good place to rest up a bit" said Big Macintosh, taking off his head scarf. The group laid down and drank from the oasis, and waited in the calm part of the desert, where no sand was flying around. Big Macintosh got up and walked towards a large tree. He kicked it, and down dropped several lemons.
"Got us something to eat" said the farmpony, carrying over a bag full of fruit.

"Great, now we have a souvenir for Luna. At least we finished one of our missions" Mario said, biting down into a lemon.
"Also, it would seem that the storm is dying down a fair bit. I think we could make it to the town shortly if we leave soon" he continued, picking up his bags.

"I agree. The quicker we get to the town, the quicker we can find the element and stop Discord. Girls, we're moving out!" called Ditzy. The two fillies, who were swimming in the lake, ran up to the pegasus, following her as the group began the last leg of the journey towards the town.

Shortly afterwards, the group arrived at a small town. It was roughly the same size as Oasis, but had a large cherry orchard in the rear, on land which was just as pleasant as Ponyville. Sadly, all of the cherries had been turned into frogs and those were bright pink. The streets were crowded with all of the civilians who had decided to make demands of the royal guards who had arrived at the town. At the front of the pack, there was two armoured pegasi and an elderly donkey.

"CALM DOWN!" yelled the donkey, and the crowd fell silent. "We are trying our best to solve these issues, so our advice is for you to continue with your lives normally and to not panic. On my honour as a guard, we will stop whoever is causing this". As he said that, the crowd began muttering.

One mare screamed out "What about my orchard? I've lost a year of business here, and my stores are dwindling!"

"Do not worry, we will have aid sent here in order to feed everypony" one of the pegasi said. He glanced over at the metal draconequus in the distance and sighed. "Please return to your houses. Anyone still outside after seven o'clock shall be arrested on suspicion of treason".

Mario walked towards the donkey and his two aides. "What do you want?" the donkey barked at the red pony.

"I presume that you are the captain sent here by the princess?" asked Mario.

"Ex-captain, but what is your business here? This town is one frog from falling apart, and I'm getting quite stressed out" said the donkey.

"I'm Mario, and I was sent here by princess Luna in order to find you. She said you had some information regarding the elements of harmony" the moustachioed pony said.

"Oh, the princess did mention you when she gave us orders. Crazy old mare, she is. Well, I carried out my orders, and I found out some interesting information about this desert. Word on the street is that lots of activity has been seen around this big old tomb in the centre of the desert. Could be worth an investigation" the donkey said.

"Cheers for the information" said Mario. Applebloom walked up to him and squinted.

"You look familiar. I think I know you from somewhere" she said.

"Yeah, he does" said Ditzy. "You look like someone from Ponyville".

"Heh, you got me. I'm Cranky Doodle Donkey, retired captain of the royal guard. That Luna girl called up every person that has ever been on the records for the guard to help with the situation here. I pulled the short straw, so here I am in this sandy hellhole" he said.

"Oh that reminds me, I have mail to deliver!" said Ditzy. She gave him a small letter written in elegant handwriting. She darted off into the sky, occasionally swooping down towards a house. A faint thud could be heard as she landed.

"Oh, that'll be Matilda. Poor girl was beside herself with worry when I told her I had been called into action once again. Anyway, the quicker you find that element, the less everyone suffers".

"You know anything about the gang that could be hiding out in the tomb then?" asked Big Macintosh.

"Not a lot, actually. From what I've heard, there are no ponies in it, and it's lead by a big blue ape. The tomb itself is Standing Bull's, a famous buffalo leader" said the donkey.

"Anything special about it?" asked Mario.

"Not really. The buffalo rarely visit it and it was made way before they started developing anything resembling machinery" said Cranky.

"Cheers for the help, captain" said Scootaloo, saluting the donkey. He shot her a dirty look, causing her to drop her hoof. "Sorry" she said sheepishly.

"Should we wait for the mailmare?" asked Applebloom, as Cranky walked away towards the other guards.

"I think that's her there now" said her brother, pointing at the gliding pegasus. "Did you decide to continue on our adventure with us?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess returning harmony is a bit more important than some late mail. Do we know where we are going?" she asked.
"The same tomb that delusional actress was talking about, apparently" said Mario. He pointed out to the desert from where they had arrived from. "Somewhere in that general direction."

"Great" she said dryly. "Anyone fancy a bite to eat, I'm famished." The rest of the ponies agreed, and they made their way to a small restaurant. Inside, Mario and Big Macintosh drank cider, grown in the nearby Appaloosa. The fillies had flower sandwiches, and Ditzy had a large muffin.

Talking with her mouth full, Scootaloo asked "Should we find Sophia for help?"

"I think she'd already be there. We should head towards her tent, and just search around there. See if she left any research lying around. Everyone ready to go?" asked Mario. Everyone replied with the affirmative, so they left the restaurant, after paying for their food. Far too expensive thought Mario.

A few hours later, they had reached the tent at which they had met the actress. The moon was struggling to stay in the sky, as it was being turned into cardboard, and having crude images of Celestia and Discord drawn on it. Inside the tent, the only noticeable piece of paper was a map on the table. On it was a position marked a kilometre north of the camp.

"I hope that's the cave, I'm tired" said Scootaloo, yawning.

"It is getting pretty late. I'm sure miss Sorrel won't mind us staying here for a bit" said Big Macintosh. Mario agreed, and pulled the tent door shut.

In the morning, the sun was blazing brighter than ever before. It felt like it was closer to the land, and it had a vile green colour. The group of ponies stood together outside in the storm, covering themselves in gear in order to survive their journey.

"Right, we're going to have to use stealth here. We don't know how dangerous this gang is, and personally, I don't think we can win a scrap against more than a few ponies. So keep your eyes peeled and be ready to leg it" said Mario, prepping his team. They all nodded in agreement and began their journey towards the north of the desert.

Upon arrival, they saw a small opening into a cave. Outside was a few crates, covered in tarpaulin and rope. Several ponies were tied up and chained together, being led into the cavern.

"What do you think they are doing in there?" asked Ditzy, her voice full of concern.

"Don't know, but it doesn't seem too pleasant" replied Mario. After a while, everything was moved inside the cave by cloaked individuals, and all of the prisoners were taken in too.

"So are we going to beat them up and free the prisoners?" asked Scootaloo.

"Didn't ya listen earlier?" asked Applebloom. "If we run in there, all that's gonna happen is we're gonna get thrown in jail again."

"Thanks, dear. I suggest we sneak in the front, and try to release the prisoners. Get another riot going so we can have a look around in peace" said Mario to his group.

"Sounds like a plan to me" said Big Macintosh, nodding his head.

"Let's go then" said Mario, running towards the entrance.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the cave, there were candles illuminating the room, but only slightly. The crates were piled to the ceiling, and a foul musk was emanating from deeper in the tomb. Big Macintosh opened up a nearby crate, and saw inside bundles of food, likely stolen from the locals.

"Why would they have only stolen food, not anything like gold?" asked Applebloom.

"The area isn't exactly rich, maybe there wasn't anything to steal?" proposed Ditzy.

"Whatever the reason, I don't like this" said Mario, as he wandered further into the cave. In the next room, there were several cages with unconscious ponies inside them.

"Bugger, there goes plan A" said the moustached stallion, kicking a cage. In the rear of the room, a hiss could be heard behind the cages. "W-what was that?" he said, holding onto Big Macintosh.

The farmpony looked down at the cowering pony. "It's a snake. No need to worry, it won't bite" he said. Mario gave a sigh of relief, letting go of the other stallion. "Much" Big Mac said, grinning.

"Should we follow it?" asked Scootaloo.

"Do I really have to answer that?" replied Mario sarcastically.

"Yes?" asked the orange filly, with his sarcasm lost on her.

"I think Mario has a fear of snakes" teased Applebloom.

"I don't. I simply don't want to meet anyone hostile down here" said the stallion, holding his head up in the air.

"It doesn't matter, we have to get to the bottom of this cavern, and this mystery. And I hate to break it to you, the only way we are advancing is through where the snake went. Quicker we go, the quicker you can leave the snakes behind" said Big Macintosh.

"Fine" said Mario. In the next room, they found themselves overlooking a large chamber. In the centre was a pedestal, with a figure tied down on it unconscious. Surrounding it were several felines, armed with flails, maces and swords. The largest of the group was a large blue ape-like figure, which was wearing jewellery made of gold, and holding a dagger with his paw on his hand.

"That looks like Sophia down there on the altar" said Applebloom.

"That blue thing looks like Ahuizotl as well" whispered Scootaloo. She was met with blank stares, which caused her to sigh. "Daring Do's nemesis. But he doesn't exist, he's just a character. Why is he here, and more importantly, why is he only taking food? Normally, he just wants money and power."

"Those questions can be answered later" said Mario. "Frankly, I don't fancy our chances with those goons. I propose we sneak around them into the burial chamber behind them" he said, pointing to the large door behind the gang of beasts. It had words written over it in ancient Buffalo, and was very rotten.

"And leave her to die? Never!" hissed Scootaloo, jumping in front of the stallion. When she did, the platform she was standing on crumbled and began to crack loudly.

"Who goes there!" shouted Ahuizotl.

"Bugger" whispered Mario. " Keep low and hide."

"Rowan, that had better be you!" the ape called out. A loud hissing accompanied the call, and the ground began to rumble. Ditzy peeked over the edge and gasped, before stuffing her hoof in her mouth.

"I think we found our snake" she whispered, beckoning Mario over to her. He crawled over and saw the mythical villain sitting proud on a large, muscular black snake.

"Oh bugger" he understated.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Authors Note

Yes, Sophia Sorrel is a reference to 'The Prince and the Workhorse', which was a fic I enjoyed quite a bit.

Chapter 2-3: Tomb Raider

Ahuizotl rested upon his pet snake in the centre of the room. The snake was roughly three times his size, and was as dark as the night sky. In the apes paw rested a dagger, covered in jewels and gold. His entourage; made up of a tiger, panther, leopard, bobcat and a small kitten, also had similar weapons, albeit less ornate and more damaged.

"Go check on my prisoners, will you minions? We may have some unwanted visitors in here, and I'd hate that" said Ahuizotl, pointing his dagger towards the door at which Mario and his team were hiding near. "Bring me anyone you find out of their cage, Rowan is getting hungry."

"Horseapples" whispered Applebloom. "How are we gonna get outta this one?"

"I say we beat them down" said Scootaloo slapping her hooves together.

"They have weapons. I don't particularly fancy having a cat stab me today" hissed Mario.

"Would you prefer to be snake food then?" asked Ditzy.

"Not really. We gonna try and sneak then?" replied the moustached stallion. Before anyone could reply, he looked up and saw a panther looking down at him, a large grin hidden behind a club in his mouth.

"Buck it" said Big Macintosh, as he brought his hind legs up into the air. "We can break these kitties easily" he said, slamming his hooves into the black cat's jaw. The panther was sent through the air and tumbled to the ground at the other side of the chamber. Unfortunately, this drew the attention of the other cats, and they ran towards the ponies.

"Quick, Ditzy, grab the fillies and fly! Me and Mac will buy you time to flee!" said Mario. She nodded reluctantly in agreement, and picked up the young girls by their tails and flew off. "Any ideas on how we are going to win this fight then?" asked Mario to the larger stallion.

"Not a clue. Try to not get cornered, and dodge the attacks" said Big Macintosh. The tiger threw himself at the stallions, spinning his flail around his head. The large farmpony headbutted the tiger, causing it to reel back in pain. Throwing caution to the wind, Mario dived at the tiger, and stole the flail from him. Disarmed, the striped cat pounced for the red stallion, but was met with a flail to the face. Behind them, they heard a shriek as a small kitten pulled a pipe from its mouth.

Mario turned around and saw a grey pegasus falling from the sky with a small piece of wood protruding from her wing. She hit the ground with a thud, landing awkwardly on the ground. In the collision, the two ponies she was carrying were sent flying across the floor. Upon trying to stand up, the pegasus flopped to the ground, unable to carry her own weight.

"It's a muscle relaxant!" shouted Applebloom, running to the Pegasus's aid. "It should wear off soon" said the filly, pulling the dart out with her teeth. Ditzy winced, but was still unable to stand under her own strength. "I'll look after her, get rid of the kitten quickly!" she shouted at her friend.

Scootaloo nodded and ran towards the fight. She jumped off of the back of Mario, who was fighting a leopard armed with a mace. Using him like a springboard, she dove over their heads, and towards the white kitten. Bringing up its pipe to fire another shot, the orange filly slid to the ground, missing her target by inches. The cat slowly strolled up to her, and aimed its pipe at the cowering filly. Thinking quickly, Scootaloo placed her mouth over the pipe and blew hard. The dart flew into the kittens mouth, and caused it to spasm wildly. It fell onto the ground, twitching and drooling.

Seeing its comrades plight, the bobcat armed with the spear snuck up on the celebrating filly. He prepared his aim for the orange head bobbing in front of him. With a snarl, he the feline threw it's weapon. The weapon arced through the air as Scootaloo turned her head towards the stick flying towards her face.

Looking on in horror, Mario saw red as he flipped the leopard onto its back, and galloped towards the bobcat. Swinging the flail above his head, he threw it at the cat at high speed. With an almighty crunch, the metal ball connected with the foul cats face and sent it crumpling to the ground. Seeing the attacker was unconscious, he ran over to the injured filly.

"Owwwwwwww" she moaned. The spear had closely missed her head, but instead tore a piece of her ear off. "This really hurts." Her eyes were welling up with tears and blood was dripping from her ear.

"You'll be alright Scoots" said Mario, relieved to see his sidekick safe. He pulled a bandage from his bag and strapped up her ear. "Think you'll still be able to fight?"

"I'll give it a shot" she said, grinning. Behind them, Big Macintosh had finished beating up the leopard and DItzy had managed to return to her hooves.

"I see you are more formidable than I first thought" said a low voice with an accent. Ahuizotl was standing upon his giant snake. In one hand he had his dagger, whilst in the other a bound and gagged pegasus. Upon closer inspection, it was Sophia Sorrel, the actress who thought she was Daring Do.

"Put her down, Ahuizotl. No-one else needs to get hurt" said Mario, squaring up to the ape.

"No-one needs to get hurt? Please, you come into my house and hurt my friends. Luckily for you, I'm in a good mood, so get out of here before I spill more than this pegasus over the floor" he said, drawing his knife closer to the crying captive.
"Why are you doing this. I thought you were aiming to be the ruler of the world unchallenged. Why would you become a lackey to someone like Discord" said Mario, walking closer.

"I am more than a mere lackey!" shouted the blue bandit. "Ahuizotl works for no-one, but he delivers favours to those who help him in his time of need!"

"What?" said Applebloom, a confused look on her face. "Why would Discord show compassion?"

"He's quite the nice guy, once you get to know him. Not the utter devil you ponies make him out to be. A few days ago, I woke up in the middle of a large castle I had never seen before. Before me stood the great spirit himself, along with his assistant. I was given money, weapons and even a new crew, all for the price of me promising to guard some of his treasures. He teleported my new gang to this desert, and showed us this cave we can use as our base of operations. I decided this would make a perfect evil lair, and began hoarding slaves and food for me to overtake this foul country" he monologued.

Scootaloo yawned and said "We don't care, chimp face, all we want to know is if you have an element of harmony."

"I know not of what this element you speak of is, but I do have a wonderful playing card of a yellow pony." Scootaloo's mouth dropped as she heard that he had it.

"Give it here, before we kick your tail!" she shouted.

"No need to get angry, filly, are you forgetting the advantage I have?" the ape said, holding up his prisoner. "I'm more than willing to eliminate this thorn in my side right here. Imagine my joy when I saw her run in here, trying to steal my treasure again. Well, no more I say. Look away, kiddy, this might get a bit bloody" he said, winking at Scootaloo.

As he laid his prisoner on the altar and raised his dagger, the wails of his prisoner grew louder. "I can't take this anymore!" hissed Ditzy, as she took to the air with a look of contempt on her face. Flapping her wings furiously, she dived towards the sadistic monster and tackled him to the ground. As quick as a flash, the other ponies ran to her aid attacking the beast. Throwing the pegasus off of himself, Ahuizotl got up quickly and wielded his dagger at the ponies that surrounded him.
"Not going to be smart and flee, eh?" sneered the ape. "Hit me again, derp eyes, and I'll gouge them both out and eat them as a snack" he growled at Ditzy. As soon as his head turned, Big Macintosh was standing in front of him, and bit down on his tail. Ahuizotl shrieked in pain, and tried to slash at his attacker.

"Fantastic filly..." rang out two girly voices. Both Ahuizotl and Big Macintosh stopped fighting and turned to see where the noise had come from. "TAKEDOWN!" yelled Scootaloo and Applebloom as they flew towards the ape. Their hooves connected with his face, causing him to stumble over. While his head was being stomped on, the farmpony had pinned him down.

"Hold on Daring, I've got ya" said Mario as he ran towards the tied up pony. Undoing her knots, he took the rope from her and brought it up to the beaten beast. In no time whatsoever, he was tied up and howling on the floor.

"Don't think you've heard the last of Ahuizotl! I shall have my revenge on all of you!" he said, laying next to his unconscious crew. The ponies were ignoring him however, and were standing by the door to the treasure room.

"Are you OK Daring?" asked Ditzy.

The adventurer nodded her head, and said "Yeah, I had the entire situation under control. Thanks for the help with the escape though."

Mario rolled his eyes and said "You were tied up and about to executed, while sobbing for your mother. I don't call that under control, that's just panicking."

"I've had worse scrapes than that. Daring Do always comes through. And besides, I was acting all distressed. He couldn't kill a helpless little filly" she said, walking into the room. "Here it is." Daring returned from the chamber holding up a golden crown. "Standing Bull's crown. This will look lovely next to my sapphire stone. I guess I'll see you guys later" she said, running out of the cave.

"She's going to end up killed, isn't she?" asked Ditzy.

"Eeyup" said Big Macintosh, as he walked into the treasure room. "Hey guys, I found something. It's another element!" he called out.

Running into the room, Mario saw a card lying on a large stand. "It looks like miss Fluttershy cooped up in there" said Applebloom, who had followed him in.

"Well, looks like we are all done here" said Scootaloo. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah, I guess. We should get the guards down here as well to arrest this clown" he said, pointing to the ranting ape. "Was you naming your attacks back there?" he asked his sidekick.

"All the cool superheroes do it" she replied. "We thought, why not join in on the act?"

As they walked out, they had seen that the cages that were once full of prisoners was now empty.

"Do you feel like we're forgetting something?" asked Ditzy.

"Wasn't there a big snake around here? One that ate ponies?" replied Scootaloo.

Mario stopped dead in his tracks. "Why did you have to remind me about him?" he said, panicking.

"Ease up sonny" said a gruff voice. Cranky Doodle Donkey was standing in the doorway, with a keychain around his hoof. "The snake didn't eat those prisoners, we got them all outside" he said, pointing towards the guards at the entrance. "Although, we did see a big black snake fleeing the tomb as we arrived. Something must have scared it good."

Walking with the donkey out of the cave, they arrived at the desert by the entrance to the tomb. There were many ponies hugging, or eating some of the food retrieved by the guards. "I'm assuming those bandits in there are in horrible shape?" Cranky asked.

"We tanned their sorry hides" said Big Macintosh, catching up with the ex-captain. "I know you are busy with all of these prisoners you have to rehabilitate and a killer snake on the loose, but do you think it would be possible for us to hitch a ride back to Ponyville as a favour?" he asked.

"Sure ya can, you're practically a hero around these parts now. When those two guards finish taking the ponies back to town, I'm sure they'll give you a lift." He called over two burly white pegasi guards, and whispered something into their ears.

"We'll take you guys when we go to get more supplies from Ponyville" said one of the guards. His voice was quite high, which amused Mario to no end. Attempting to stifle his laughter, Ditzy shot him a dirty look. Scootaloo was less subtle and was rolling on the floor laughing, much to the chagrin of the guard, who rolled his eyes and walked off.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

High in the sky, Canterlot Castle was floating in the upper atmosphere. Around it, the forcefield coated the stolen building in a sea of lilac. Inside a small room inside the tower, two princesses were discussing possible escape tactics.

"We could always knock the guards out, and sneak around that way" said Cadance.

"I refuse to injure any of my subjects, especially those who are brainwashed" said Celestia. "I shall only attack in self defence. And besides, it would bring too much attention to ourselves. We still have a perfectly good way of spying though."

"Am I going to have to go in the tunnel again?" asked the pink princess. Celestia just smiled at her niece, and pointed to the suit of armour. Groaning, the younger princess put it on, and walked over to the hidden tunnel.

"Stay safe, Cadence" said the white princess. As soon as Cadence had crawled into the tunnel, she heard the door to the room open with a creak.

"Why hello, sweetie" rang out a cold, cruel voice. "I see you are enjoying yourself in your room."

"What do you want, Discord?" asked the ruler of Equestria, with bitterness and anger in her voice.

"Why the resentment, Celly? I've given you only the best treatment since I commandeered this castle, and last time I checked, you turned me to stone for a few thousand years. Stone isn't as comfortable as this room" replied the spirit of chaos, floating over to sit next to her on the bed.

"I'd much rather you don't terrorise my little ponies, and you go away somewhere" she said, still with a stern look on her face. Cadence lingered near the exit to the tunnel to see how the argument panned out.

"Now, we both know that's not going to happen, so let me tell you why I came here to talk to you" he hissed. Celestia continued glaring at the usurper in her room. "I have caught wind of a little force your sister has set up, and frankly I don't like it. Have you heard about Ahuizotl?" he asked.

"I cannot say I have. Is he from Tartarus?" she asked.

"Even better. I read this wonderful book you had in the classroom, and I saw that there was this villain in it, who was so fearsome he could easily conquer the world."

"Why should I care, Discord? If you like to read children's stories, please do. I don't need to know about it."

"He was a fearsome ape, who only had one that could stop him. So I decided to visit his dimension, and give him a few promises about power here. All lies, of course, but he eagerly accepted. I even gave him a giant snake as a present, and complete control over the deserts, along with a griffon girl whose name escapes me. Anyway, my troops saw your little fighting squad going to the desert, and it'll be a matter of minutes before they are all snake food" he said, with a cruel smile on his face.

"I have complete faith that they shall prevail. After all, you seem quite concerned about them succeeding, if you require the help of fictional characters" smirked Celestia.

"Overconfidence is a terrible trait to have. I would know" said Discord. Seeing a purple pony float by, he exclaimed "Ah, Screwball dear, I hope you have good news for me. Hopefully regarding a few dead ponies", while signalling her to join him in the room.

The floating earth pony bobbed towards the room, with a bashful look on her face. Upon seeing her expression, his face dropped. "They took out Ahuizotl, didn't they?" he asked with an irritated tone.

"They found the element of kindness as well. Rowan escaped the fray, and is currently held in custody of the changelings. Also, project Everfree is complete, and is ready to be activated. Just give the word" she said.
"What was that about overconfidence?" asked Celestia, grinning at her enemy.

"Shut it, Celly" Discord snarled. "Luckily, anypony who attempts to enter the Everfree shall be left bearly alive. I wish you good luck, my little princess" he said, stroking the princesses mane before leaving the room with his assistant in tow, chuckling at his pun.

When he was out of earshot, Celestia whispered to Cadance "You can come out now."

Cadance crawled out of the tunnel, picking flies out of her mane. "So the Everfree forest has an element being held captive. Can't say I'm surprised, it's chaotic enough there without him running around."

"It could be anywhere in there, it's huge. Still, you should tell Luna where the heroes should head next" said Celestia. "She could do a little probing into the area, and maybe find whereabouts the element could be." Nodding, Cadance spread her wings and dived from the bedroom once again, and dove towards the land through the force field, leaving a small ripple in the lilac sea of energy.

Chapter 3-1: Into The Woods

High above the desert, the steel chariot soared towards the town of Ponyville. It was pulled by a duo of white guards, clad in shimmering golden armour. In the chariot they were pulling were 50 ponies, packed like sardines. Among these were a group of battered ponies, carrying a precious cargo.

Looking out of the window, Mario saw the town come into view. Many carriages were entering and leaving the town, heading towards settlements all across Equestria. The hospital on the outskirts of town also had many carriages flying towards it, attempting to cater for the wounded guardsponies.Looks like Luna turned the town into a refugee site he thought.

Shortly afterwards, the chariot landed near the town hall, where officials were holding registers for the immigrants to the town. Behind the old building were many tents, set up to accommodate the ponies that had fled to Ponyville to escape. As they were unloaded off of the carriage, a blue stallion walked up to them. "Do you have your papers?" asked the official, in a snooty tone.

"Why would we need papers?" replied Mario.

"So we know what ruffians we have entering this town" he sneered, not even looking at the group he had accosted.

"Stand down, Grand Assembly, these guys are working for me" said a smooth, feminine voice. Walking up behind the ponies, Princess Luna picked up the card holding Fluttershy with her telekinesis. "Great job out there guys, we'll have them all before too long at this rate. Come with me to the library, we have a few things to discuss." Mario and his team followed the princess of the night, flanked by guards wielding spears. Turning around, Scootaloo poked her tongue out at the register taker, who turned his nose up in disgust before finding another group of refugees.

The library wasn't too far from the town hall, and had many tents around it, each with the insignia of the royal guard. Many guards were standing about the place, some with bat wings and others dressed in the attire Celestia preferred. "As you can see, I have had to ramp up security around here. Discord isn't too pleased about your shenanigans, and is apparently 'going to step up his game'. Luckily for us, he hid his next prisoner not too far from here."

"Whereabouts is the next element then?" asked Scootaloo.

"You should let me have a look at that ear, subject. Certainly looks bad" she said, pointing to the fillies bandages. They were covered in sand, and blood had begun to seep through. "But to answer your question, the next bearer is trapped in the Everfree Forest." Collectively, everypony in the room, except the guards who remained as stoic as ever, groaned at hearing that dreadful places name. "Luckily for you, the guard have covered an aerial search of the area and discovered the rough area where it should be" she continued, pointing to an old map she had placed on the wall, next to the cards of Applejack and Fluttershy. "Only a few acres of the forest have had any real magical activity there recently, and chances are that's where the next rapscallion is."

"Any advances on curing the curse yet?" Applebloom asked, pointing to her sister.

"Sadly not, it seems to be a type of pure chaos energy, stronger than anything ever used before. Not even this amount of energy was used to steal the castle from us" the princess said mournfully. "We'd need the elements to counteract this, and we don't have their bearers or their stones. Hopefully, we can work a solution out later. Our motivation now should be to regain the elements."

"Sounds like an idea" said Big Macintosh, as the princess walked over to the wounded filly.

"This may sting a little" Luna said, taking off the bandage with her magic. Scootaloo closed her eyes as her ear glowed a dark blue. The large cut sealed itself, and the bleeding stopped. "All done" the moon controller said, smiling. "I don't have much skill in healing magic, so I couldn't replace the missing part of your ear, but I closed the wound. Some of my private doctors could help you but they're over at the hospital treating the wounded."

"Thanks princess" said the orange filly, rubbing her wounded ear. "We got you a lemon from the desert" she said, pulling the fruit out from her saddlebag. "As you requested."

Luna's face lit up, as she said "I didn't think you would seriously get me that, but thanks!" Biting down on the fruit, Ditzy looked on at the winged unicorn eating the citrus fruit in front of her, trying to avoid being squirted with lemon juice.
"Why are there so many ponies coming to town then?" she asked, wiping some juice off of her wing.

Drawing her hoof across her mouth, Luna said "We are fighting a losing battle, really. Most of the settlements in Equestria have been rendered grossly unsafe by Discord, and so everyone is trying to stay in Ponyville and the countryside surrounding it. I have been fighting off his magic, but even I can't stand up to the power the sceptre of harmony granted him. Even keeping Tartarus sealed is hard enough, but thankfully Fido hasn't turned against us yet."

"Fido?" asked Mario.

"My little guard dog at the gates. Despite his appearance, he's an old softy really. So I must stress the importance of you finding all of the elements as quickly as possible, before hell really does break loose." She opened the door with her magic, and escorted them out. "Also, miss Doo, I will inform your superiors of your situation. I foresee they will accept my offer to them, so there is no need to worry about losing your job."

"Wait, how did you even know my name?" asked Ditzy, confused.

"The mayor was mentioning how her new vase arrived damaged. She seemed to be blaming someone who looks just like you" the princess said, winking. "Also, keep an eye out for ponies corrupted by Discord. They tend to get a bit rowdy" she called after them as they walk off.

"My mum is going to be so angry at me for losing an ear" said Scootaloo.

"I'd imagine she's worried sick about you" said Big Macintosh, as they walked towards the forest to the west of town. As they walked, they passed a guard who was frothing at the mouth and trying to headbutt the others that were restraining him. They had tied a rope around his legs, and were trying to lock him in the paddy wagon with the other restrained ponies.

"I wonder how long it'll be before Ponyville is overrun in chaos again?" asked Ditzy.

"I don't know, but we are going to need a plan if we are to survive going into the woods" said Mario, turning to face the group.

"How about we go visit miss Zecora? Her shack ain't too far into the forest, and it's easy to get to. Plus, she knows that part of the Everfree like the back of her hoof" said Applebloom eagerly.

"Sounds good. Lead the way, squirt" replied Mario, as the group ran from the town to the forest.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the forest, the ponies remained on a narrow dirt path that wound through the forest. As they progressed further, the road got narrower and rougher, with the tree's growing large and intruding further into the way.

A cold breeze blew past Mario, which caused him to turn around quickly. "I think we're being followed, guys" he said, concerned.

"It might be another snake. Do you need to be protected by big ol' Scootaloo?" laughed the orange filly. Glaring a look of utter contempt at her, Mario snorted.

"I'm feeding you to it first, Scoots" he said jokingly. "How much further to Zecora's place?"

"Not far now, should be just over this ditch" said Applebloom. Almost directly after her saying it, a small hut in a clearing of the forest came into view.

"Do we just knock, or what?" asked Ditzy, as she slowly flapped towards the hut.

"Do not linger out there,

For you may receive a great scare" called out a female voice from within the hut. Opening the door, Mario could see a female zebra there. Her mohican was tatty, and her face was sporting a large black eye. On her forelegs were several lacerations, covered in a green gel.

"What happened to you, miss Zecora?" asked Applebloom.

"Ah, little miss Applebloom,

I didn't expect to see you so soon.

I was accosted by a group of beasts three,

Who tried to steal the secrets of the forest from me" she said, closing the door after all the ponies had entered her hut.

"Why would they want to do that?" asked Ditzy.

"The Everfree is like a home to me,

Making me knowledgeable of all the things you may see.

They asked me questions of a certain beast,

Which sadly, I know the least.

They got annoyed, and began to fight,

One of which gave me this nasty bite" she continued, pointing to a particularly gruesome wound on her leg.

"What monster was it they wanted to know about?" asked Mario.

"Information about the Ursa is what they wished to know,

A foul beast, with a temper that shows,

It rampages around this area of the wood,

Leaving destruction from where it once stood.

Beating the answers out of me,

I directed them to where you may see

The Ursa and its mother, inside their cave.

Dire warnings I gave,

of those who had found the bear.

Not a single trace has been found, not even a hair."

"Wait, wasn't an Ursa Minor that thing that trashed Bonbon's house a while back?" asked Ditzy.

"I think it was" agreed Big Macintosh. "As far as I can see, Discord hid the next element in the home of the bear."

"Bugger. Any advice for us, miss zebra?" asked Mario.

"If you must venture deeper into this forest,

be aware of a thick mist.

For that is the shroud of the home,

which belongs to the bear that groans" she said, quickly thinking of rhymes.

"Thanks for the help. Do you know what way the cave would be be?" asked Mario. Zecora pointed towards a mountain which jutted out from the forest, reaching high into the sky and peaked with snow.

"At least we don't have to climb it. I hope" said Scootaloo.

Thanking the zebra for her hospitality, they left the hut. Soon, the trees blocked out the light from the hut, leaving the ponies in pitch black. By some random piece of luck, Discord's current moon was a luminous pink, and the stars were all spotlights. This lit up the sky sufficiently for the ponies to be able to navigate towards the cave.

"So what I could gleam from her rhymes is that the Ursa Minor is dangerous, and will outright kill us. Great" said Mario.
"Didn't you know how bad it was before? It did rampage through town" replied Ditzy.

"I don't really live inside town, I mainly stay in my cottage with my brother and run our little business" said Mario. "I didn't see the bear when it paid a visit, thankfully."

"Either way, we are going to need a plan if we are going to manage to sneak into the cave and out again, whilst not dying" said Big Macintosh. "I suggest we slowly creep in and hope that the monster is asleep, and get away without it noticing us."

"And if it does?" asked Mario.

"Run like hell and try to escape. Although, I don't think it would have any problem keeping pace with us should it come to that" said the large farmpony.

"If it comes to it, why don't I distract it a bit to let you guys escape" said Ditzy.

"Last time I checked, Ursa Minor or Major couldn't fly, so it shouldn't be able to catch you. Sounds good to me" said Applebloom. "I wonder if it is actually working with Discord though."

"Good lord, I hope not" said Big Macintosh. "You certainly seem more focused than usual, Ditzy."

"Huh?" asked the grey pegasus as she narrowly missed a branch. "The Doctor has been teaching me how to be better co-ordinated."

"Didn't stop you from leaving a dent in my garden" grumbled Mario.

"I try. At least I didn't break your roof" replied Ditzy, chuckling.

"Yeah, Cheerilee almost cried when she saw what happened to her house that day" laughed Scootaloo.

"Good times" said Applebloom, laughing too. "Is it me or is it getting foggier around here?" she asked. The forest had grown increasingly foggier, and the mist turned the entire forest white, apart from the silhouettes of the trees.

"It's like a smokescreen!" shouted Scootaloo. "I can't see a thing!"

Visibility in the forest had dropped to only a few pony lengths in front of them, and the ground was turning colder and colder, until frost began to cover it up. "It's getting colder too!" said Applebloom, who was jogging on the spot, trying to keep her hooves warm.

"I bet Discord is causing this cold weather" said Scootaloo, climbing on the back of Mario.

"I'm not carrying you, Scoots" the red stallion said, bumping the filly off of him. "At least, with this mist we know we are close to the cave of the Ursas".

"It certainly looks like something big has been running around in this neck of the woods" said Big Macintosh, pointing towards a frozen pile of dead trees, haphazardly strewn across the woods. "By the looks of it, whatever caused this is also rather irritated."

"Glorious" snarked Mario, walking towards the broken logs. "With any luck, it will start flying after us."

"We might as well follow this trail of destruction" said Ditzy, slowly floating through the air. Suddenly, a blast of pale blue light covered the group of ponies, and threw them into the trees lying about. With a loud crack, Mario felt his consciousness slip from him, causing him to fall into a sleep, along with his other companions, deep in the frozen forest.

Chapter 3-2: Master of Illusions

"Wake up, you foal" rang out a feminine voice. Immediately afterwards, a burst of magic electrocuted Mario. Quickly opening his eyes, he saw a pale blue unicorn standing in front of him. "I hope you had a nice rest."

Mario wriggled in an attempt to stand up, but he quickly realised he had been bound up by his captor. Looking around, he could see that his companions were all still unconscious and tied up. "Why do you have me tied up here?" he asked.

"Self defence. When you invade my home, I hold every right to beat you up. Frankly, I should have left you to freeze to death" she said, sparking up a small flame in front of the ponies. "Explain yourself."

"Not before you tell us why you have us bound up, you psychopath" spat Mario.

"Very well. I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, have made this part of the Everfree forest my home. Here is notably safer than Fillydelphia, where I have quite a few, uh, associates wishing certain things from me" said the unicorn, who had begun to put a cape and a hat on. "No sane pony would willingly enter here and expect to live, so I'm safe for the time being."
"I'm not questioning the flaw in your logic, but why are you attacking us?" replied Mario, trying to squeeze out of his binds.

"Don't wriggle, I'll only make them tighter" she said. "I set up my camp here, and I created a frozen wasteland, and worsened the fog to create my shield from any wildlife foolish to stumble upon me. A few charms later, and I am hidden from any pony that should try to find me. So imagine my surprise when I see a group of ponies walk right into my camp, searching for something. The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't take mercy on fools, and I quickly disposed of you. Now, tell me why you were sniffing around here and I won't have to mess you up even more."

Seeing his captor's horn begin to glow as she brought it closer to him, he began to think quickly. What if she is one of Discord's goons? She certainly seems tough enough he thought. "Taking a nice stroll in the woo-- GAH!" the stallion said, as she shot a bolt of energy at his stomach.

"Don't buck around with me, I'm a sorceress without compare. Well, at least not anymore" said Trixie.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Mario, spluttering and wheezing for air.

"Well, back in my days as a travelling showmare, I came across a town not too far from here. I bigged myself up for the act, and anyone who dared take me on was humiliated quickly. But, there was one unicorn who managed to show me up."

"Something involving an Ursa Minor I presume?"

"Er... yes. Anyway, she was the only pony who has ever beaten The Great and Powerful Trixie at anything. So imagine my surprise when I found little Twilight Sparkle trapped in a playing card, unable to do anything to save herself."

"YOU WORK FOR DISCORD?!" shouted Mario, trying to break free of his bounds. He wanted to beat the smug unicorn standing in front of him to a pulp, but the ropes squeezed even harder on his legs.

"Trixie told you not to flail. Now look what happened. Besides, I'm insulted. Why would I want to work for anyone, Trixie looks out only for number one."

"Where did you get the card then?" asked the red stallion.

"Some pegasi wearing black armour came here, looking for something. Natural, Trixie lured them into her trap and managed to rob them easily. In their haste to flee, they left this card, but they also swiped one of my possessions, and held it to ransom. They even gave me a little note" she said, levitating a small scrap of parchment towards the bound pony.

"To dumb showmare
Give us back the card, or you will feel pain never known to you. Bring it to us in the cave of the Ursa, and we will give you back your chest.

The Legion of Chaos"

"They call themselves the legion of chaos now?" asked Mario, incredulously.

"It would seem so" said Trixie. "That chest contains many treasures I am less than willing to share with them, and those half-wits could pose a threat to me, should we there be a full fight in that cave."

"Well, I guess you don't work for 'The Legion of Chaos' then. If I told you we were also looking for something stolen from us by them as well, what would you say?"

"Well, I would think that you would be perfect for my plan then" she said, loosening the rope around his hooves. "However, if you think about trying to steal miss Sparkle, or just running away, that'll be one thing your friends will never do again." She walked over to the motionless figure of Ditzy and lightly tapped her knee, whilst making a cracking noise. "Do I have your word?"

"Yeah, I guess. What is your plan then?" asked Mario.

"We meet up with them and uh, negotiate" said Trixie, with a wink.

"That translates as beat them up and run for it, right?" asked the red stallion.

"Of course. Since we need to be stealthy, it'll just be us two going. Don't worry about your friends, the ice shields should keep any threats from here" she said, moving the fire over to the unconscious ponies.

"How far is the cave then?" asked Mario.

"Not too far, we can follow its inhabitant's wake of destruction, like you planned to. Once we get near, Trixie will cast some of her astounding magic on us" she said, gesturing for her escort to follow her. As they walked, they passed many shards of ice burst from the floor, covered in cracks and a pale blue liquid. As well as this, the fog began to rethicken as they left the showmare's camp, as if it was all a shield to protect Trixie.

"Do all of this yourself then?" asked the mustached stallion.

"Would you expect any less from the greatest unicorn in Equestria?" she replied, lifting her nose up. "Anyway, this is where Trixie defeated some foolish ponies," pointing to the spot Mario had stood only hours before.

"Yeah, thanks for that" he replied, voice dripping in sarcasm.

"No need to thank Trixie, she was simply doing what she enjoys. The scary bear lives just a bit down from here, so we will need to don our disguises now. Hold still, or you might lose a few limbs" she said, grinning and casting a blue light over the both of them. With a loud snap, Mario flinched from the burst of light. Opening his eye's, he looked at his hooves and was surprised by what he saw.

"What happened to me?" he asked, looking at where the boaster had once stood. Seeing nothing there, he said "What happened to you?"

"I merely turned us invisible. This will let us get the drop on them" said the floating hat and cape. She quickly threw them down to the ground, and kicked a few leaves over them. "If you do exactly as Trixie says, we shall be in and out in less than ten minutes, and the demon wont wake up. Stay close, lest you get us both killed."

Mario nodded, despite the fact that she couldn't see him to know he had. Following the light tapping of her hooves, the stallion kept close behind the sorceress. Occasionally, he'd bump into her flank, which would ilicit an irritated growl from her, or a swift kick to the jaw. Soon after, they arrived at the mouth of the cave.

"From here on, hold onto my tail, and don't say a damn word" hissed the witch. His voice muffled by the mass of hair in his mouth, he mumbled something that sounded like "Okay."

"If this goes to pot, leg it and try to make it back to my camp. If it is your fault we fail... Oh, who am I kidding, I'm not going to slip up. I can and will slaughter you where you stand. Hear me, moustache?" spat Trixie.

"Loud and clear" mumbled Mario. He followed into the cave, where they lightly tiptoed in, unaware of the sheer amount of danger that lurked in the shadows for them.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the cave, there was little light. In the distance, a small torch could be seen, emanating an orange glow and casting the shadow of a pegasus across the cave. Trixie trotted quickly over to where the light was coming from, with Mario in tow with her. Hiding behind a rock, she listened in to what was being said.

"So do you think that crazy mare is going to turn up?" asked a high pitched voice. It seemed this belonged to a young griffon, wearing a poorly fitted set of armour. It was nothing compared to Gilda's, noted Mario. It certainly wasn't as fancy he thought, comparing it to the griffon that had accosted him at the mountain near Oasis.

"Of course she will. Whatever is in this box, she must want it pretty bad, considering the look she had on her face when we took it. Reminded me of my ex-wife when she saw me with that filly from the pub" replied a lower, more gruff voice. Upon inspection, this was a green pegasus, who was wearing a bloodied guards helmet and a black suit of armour. His legs were also covered in scars, and had a bandage covering the knee of one of his forelegs.

"So when we get the card back, are we just leaving it lying around here? Sounds kinda risky, I've seen Luna and her do-gooders sniffing around the forest for a while. We should at least leave it with something we know the allegiance of" said a third voice, that belonging to a mule. She was elderly, but had a look of danger in her eyes, and was surprisingly toned for an elderly woman. On her back was a blade, sheathed in a black scabbard.

"Even old Moony wouldn't think about getting on the bad side of these two. When Screwy thinks going after this is risky, no sane pony would even dare to do it" replied the pegasus, kicking the chest they had stolen.

"Stick close" said Trixie, who had started to crawl over to the thugs, dragging her captive with her. "What did you say they had taken from you?" she asked as they reached a better vantage point.

"A card containing Twilight Sparkle" whispered Mario, grinning. The witch stopped dead in her tracks, turning around slowly.
"Not as dumb as you look, Trixie likes that. Although, I could have guessed, going by your reaction to it earlier. If this goes off well, I may entertain your claim to the card. For the time being, try to sneak up on the pegasus, and wait for my signal" she said, preparing a spell.

"What will I do at that point then?" the stallion asked.

"Kick him hard and take the chest. Run like hell after that."

"Gotcha." Crawling behind the stallion, he could smell a foul odour coming from the pegasus.

As soon as he got into position, a large blast of white light rocketed towards the griffon, causing him to squawk in pain and cover his eyes with his claws, sobbing. Seeing his comrade be attacked, the pegasus yelled "It's the witch! Get --urk!" as Mario landed a kick square on his kidney, causing him to fall to the floor and writhe.

With the griffon holding his eyes, blinded and trying to find his attacker, and the pegasus wheezing for breath on the floor, the mule drew her sword. It was a katana, a type of sword rarely seen in central Equestria. "Playing hard to get, are we, little girl?" she said, throwing down a smoke grenade. "Let's even the playing field, shall we? You can't see me, I can't see you, and any loud noises could bring an invincible foe to the battle. And that'd be terrible, wouldn't it?" Staring carefully through the smoke, she saw a small chest moving through the smoke.

Mario had decided that fleeing the crazed ninja was probably the best idea, so he had grabbed the chest and ran for the exit. Blocking his way was a sword which came down onto his chest. Feeling the steel cut into him, he let out a loud yelp and stumbled, but not stopping in his dash for safety, despite feeling his chest tear and a shooting pain rocket through him.
"Now I've wounded you, all I have to do is look for some blood to find you. You should never judge a book by its cover, you know" gloated the elderly mule.

"You dumbass" hissed Trixie. Charging up a spell, she looked towards the smoke surrounding the battlefield. A powerful wind blew through the cave, causing the smoke to dissipate. "I'd run, old lady, before I bust out the big guns."

"You're a two bit performer, Trixie. The biggest gun you have is that mouth of yours. Tell me, how many towns have you been chased out of?" said the mule, looking around for the invisible ponies. "Maybe you should meet up with the Flim Flam Brothers. I hear they're just as pathetic as you are."

"I shall not be compared to such failures as them!" shrieked Trixie, firing off a huge flare at the ninja. Even Mario, who was near the edge of the cave, had to cover his eyes to prevent him receiving the same fate as the unfortunate griffon. As the light died down, the mule began to laugh.

"Only an idiot wouldn't close their eyes when they saw a flare being fired at them. Was that the best you've got?" she asked. Deep in the cave, a low growl came from the darkness, and the ground began to shake as it began to slowly walk towards the group. Everyone in the cave was in stunned silence, and in the shadows, a bright pair of yellow and red eyes glared at the intruders in its home.

Chapter 3-3: Magic and Diamonds

The cave shook as the awoken beast began to take steps toward the intruders into its home. Slowly, it entered the pale moonlight that lit up a small part of the gargantuan cave. The deep blue fur of the beast shimmered as it stood on its rear legs, towering above the ponies and the mule that cowered in its lair. Giving out a low roar towards its prey, it spat slimy saliva towards them.

"Ugh. Trixie does not approve of this sort of behaviour!" said a blue unicorn, whose invisibility had begun to wear off. Her horn begun to light up, and it created a pale blue mist in the cave that shrouded everything. "Moustache boy, we are getting out of here!" she said, running toward the exit. Noticing his invisibility was wearing off too, Mario grabbed the small chest and begun to run towards the exit.

Somewhere in the mist, a female voice called out, accompanied with the sound of a sheathing blade. "Do not think this is over, mage. We will find you, and you shall be one of my lords trophies."

"Boss, help me!" cried out the voice of the griffon, who had managed to recover a bit from the flare.

"Meet me at the rendezvous point, boys" shouted back the ninja, as she fled the home of the Ursa Minor.

"I can't see a flippin' thing!" wailed the griffon, who had begun to panic.

"Calm down, you daft bastard. Just trust your instincts and you will be fine. Now, can you carry me?" asked the green pegasus, who had just managed to pull himself to his feet. "Those little foals did a number on my old ribs." Nodding, the griffon flew over to the voice and picked his comrade up, before flying away from the slobbering beast and over the other fleeing ponies.

Standing outside the cave, Mario waited for Trixie to escape with him. Running from the mist by the cave, the unicorn joined the earth pony near the exit. "That could have gone better" said the stallion.

"You only have yourself to blame. Trixie stuck to the plan" she said, sticking her nose into the air. "You were invisible. I don't see how you could get slashed like that."

Looking down at his chest, Mario saw the wound that had gone across his chest. Luckily, it wasn't bleeding too much."Do you have anything I can--" he said, before being interrupted by a loud roar coming from the cave.

"That one sounded angry. I think we should get some space between us and this cave" said the wounded pony.

"Agreed. I'd rather not tangle with it ag-AHHH!" screamed Trixie, as the Ursa Minor slammed its titanic paw down near her. "Run for it!" she shrieked, trying to run from the irate bear. Seeing the intruders beginning to flee, the monster jumped ahead of them, and landed on a frozen tree. This shattered, showering frozen chunks of wood over the two ponies. Howling in pain, the blue beast cried out in a roar.

"Should we try to run around it?" asked Mario, who had caught up with Trixie.

"Be my guest. I think it hurt itself badly anyway" replied the unicorn. Suddenly, the ground shook even more violently than before, causing trees to topple over, and even the Ursa Minor to shake.

"What the hay was that!?" asked the stallion, trying to regain his footing as the rumbling stopped.

"Something very, very, very bad" said Trixie, her eyes filling up with fear. "We have to run. Now." Before she could move, a massive purple paw slammed down next to her. It was many times larger than the ponies, and it made the blue bear look tiny in comparison. "We may have just woken up its mum."

"Wait, what?" said Mario, with a dumbfounded look on his face. "This is just the kid?"

"Sadly, yes. And I don't think that my ice spells will affect it too much, so we won't be able to try and scare it off. If that thing leaves the cave, we are all dead, including the cowards that ran from here, the rhyming zebra and even my amazing campsite" she said, casting another shroud of mist into the clearing as the ground shook again, this time even more violently than before.

"Surely it won't find us if we run?" asked the moustached stallion. "We must be like ants to that thing."

The ground shook as it thudded again, and the Ursa Minor ran to the cave entrance. "It'd sniff us down, and it wouldn't stop until it finds us. Despite how much it pains me to say this, I need your help, Mario" said the mage.

"Do we have a plan then?" asked the wounded pony.

"On the outside, those things are invincible, so..." Trixie said, making a swallowing motion with her mouth.

"No. I'm not getting swallowed by anything today" replied Mario, sternly.

"Boring. We could try to pacify them then. Miss Goody Four-Hooves put it to sleep when the Minor attacked Ponyville, maybe we could try something like that?" she said, staring at the slowly emerging purple beast.

"Can you do a lullaby or something then?" asked the red stallion, who was slowly stepping back from the cave.

"I was thinking more of knocking it unconscious, but that might work. You will sing though, as Trixie's singing voice is far too good for the likes of these... things to hear" she said, still watching the emerging Ursa Major. It's snout was now nearly out of the cave, and it was emitting a low growl.

"Let's call that plan B. I'm going to try some diplomacy" replied the stallion, walking towards the two bears, both now fully emerged from the cave.

"Your funeral. Trixie will be over here, coming up with up with another plan, in the likely event you are swallowed whole" she said, walking over to a pile of broken trees with her treasure chest on her back.

Jeez, they are much larger than I thought they were thought Mario, as he walked over towards the bears, stopping about fifty metres before them. "Hey, uh, Miss Major, can you hear me?" he asked. In the distance, he could hear Trixie facehoof and sigh. Nevertheless, the Ursa Major turned its gaze from its wounded child to the red pony, scowling and baring its fangs.

Dear lord, each one of them is like three Big Macintoshes stacked he thought, staring at the gargantuan teeth. "We are sorry that you had to wake up so early, but uh..." He looked at the beast glaring at him, the rude and insignificant being who dared intrude onto the Ursa's territory. Gulping down his fear, Mario continued. "We meant no harm to you, and were merely trying to retrieve some goods that were taken from my friend over there" he said, gesturing towards Trixie. Seeing the bear look at her, she gave out a whimper and hid behind a fallen tree.

"At the moment, the world is pretty messed up, and it's survival depends on me managing to return to my base. I know, deep inside of you, that your only aim is to protect your child. Well, let me help you with that. What's wrong?" he asked, slowly walking towards the duo. Snarling, the mother slammed its paw into the ground, toppling several frozen trees to the ground. This also knocked Mario to the ground, leading him to shriek like a little girl. After the ground stopped shaking, he could hear a voice calling out to him.

"Look, it isnt going to work. They are two giant bears, who could easily turn you inside out. Frankly, I wouldn't care if that happened to you, but I still have a shred of empathy for idiots like you!" shouted the blue unicorn. "Run, dammit!"

Ignoring the pleas of his comrade, the red stallion stood up once more. "We might be able to help you!" he shouted.
Looking at the frozen trees scattered around the mouth of the cave, an idea hit him. "Is the ice around here irritating you?" he shouted up to the bears. Still glaring, the Ursa Major stopped baring its fangs at the moustached pony. "If we make all of the ice go away, would you kindly let us go without rampaging and destroying everything?" he asked. The purple bear's expression softened as she continued looking at the red pony.

"Ok, just let me sort this out" he shouted, retreating to his comrade. "Can you make the ice retreat?" he said as he got closer to her.

"If we do that, the Ursa's will be able to roam around here again, and possibly eat us" she stated.

"I think it's likely that is what is irritating them. Come on, make it melt. It is worth a shot" persuaded Mario.

"No deal. Frankly, I think I should try to ice these up to keep them from running" said Trixie, with a huff.

The red stallion sighed. "Fine, I didn't want to have to do this, but you're under arrest, Trixie Lulamoon."

"Wha-what?" said the mage, her jaw dropping. "What the hay is up with you?"

"I work for Princess Luna as part of her special forces, and you have attacked us and now are compromising our mission" lied Mario. Well, I do sort of work for Luna. Just not as a soldier. More of a courier, really. "I ask that you comply with us immediately."

"You're lying. A weedy shrimp such as yourself would never make the Royal Guard, much less the special forces" sneered the blue unicorn, waving a hoof at him. "Besides, you need all the help you can get in this situation with the Ursa's. I weep for Equestria's safety if we have ponies such as you guarding us."

Hey, I'm not that weedy! he thought. Thinking quickly to try and find a chink in the icy unicorn's armour, Mario coolly said "We know of things that you have done in the past. Things that could very well come and ruin your cosy little life." Upon hearing this, Trixie froze and her ears perked up. Grinning, the red stallion continued, saying "Of course, if you help us now in our time of need, we may be able to arrange a pardon for you. Also, before you question my claims, know that we managed to track you down effortlessly. Who else but the special forces could do that?"

Turning around to face the earth pony, Trixie had a huge, fake smile plastered on her face. "Of course, Mr. Agent, right away" she said, her smile not cracking. She turned her horn to the sky, as it began to glow with a pale blue tint. Suddenly, the temperature in the forest began to rise as the ice covering the ground and trees began to thaw. "Anything else, Mr. Agent?" she said, her facade beginning to slip as her sarcastic tone began to slip back.

"Let's just wait to see what happens before we do anything" said Mario, gesturing towards the bears. Standing on its hind legs, the Ursa Major looked around the forest. For as far as it could see, the forest had returned to being as regular as it usually is. With a low grunt, it ushered its blue child into the cave, stomping in after it.

"Of course, The Great and Powerful Trixie was always able to vanquish such vile beasts. Shall we arrange our deal then?" she asked, still smiling widely.

Grinning to himself, Mario shook his head. "No, I think we should head back to your camp first. Recover what I need, and then we can talk business" he said, still attempting to keep a stoic look on his face.

"Of course, sir. Follow me" she said, picking up the chest and leading off towards the campsite.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

The return to the campsite was much quicker than the journey from it, and on the way, Trixie had found her cloak and hat again. She quickly placed it on, without stopping and as such, it was all crooked and dishevelled. After a short while, they arrived at the campsite, which was a lot more basic now all of the ice shields had been lowered. All that remained was a small tent, a few cardboard boxes under a thin metal shelter and four ponies tied to poles around a fire, which had burnt to embers.

"Would you kindly cut down my team?" asked Mario, putting on a deadpan tone.

"Of course" replied Trixie, her horn lighting up the ropes and dropping the captured ponies to the ground. Waking up quickly, Applebloom rubbed her head.

"What the hay is going on?" she said, looking around. She saw that Big Macintosh, Scootaloo and Ditzy were also on the ground, slowly waking up. In front of her, stood a red stallion with a black moustache and beside him, a pale blue unicorn scowling at him behind his back.

"My good friend here had attacked us for intruding on her property. Luckily, I managed to smooth things out with her, and we are going to discuss a few things" Mario said, still putting on his act.

"Are these your fellow agents?" asked Trixie.

"Agents? I'm a mailmare, and he's the town plumber" said Ditzy, with a confused look on her face. Both the red stallion and the mage's faces dropped, as the blue unicorn shot a death glare at him.

"You... lying, cheating, slimy bastard!" shouted Trixie, advancing on the plumber as her horn lit up. "I bet you work for those thugs of Discord!" A lightning bolt shot past Mario's head and hit a nearby tree, causing it to topple over. "To think I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, even believed you. I suggest you and your little friends leave quickly, before I improve my aim."

"Ok, so I wasn't some big old agent. But I swear, that was my only lie. We truly do work on Luna's orders, as well as trying to restore sense to this messed up world" pleaded the moustached plumber.

"I don't believe you" she said, wandering over to Scootaloo, who was backing away slowly.

"If I was part of the Legion of Chaos, would that mule have attacked me?" asked Mario, gesturing to the wound on his chest, which was still bleeding.

Letting out a small sigh, she walked towards the wounded pony. "I guess. I still don't trust you entirely, by the way." Opening up one of her boxes, she pulled out a green tin. "There should be plenty of bandages in there. Use how much you want, it doesn't matter, just leave Trixie alone" she said, walking into her tent, dragging her chest with her.

Ditzy had walked over to Mario, and began to apply the bandages to his chest, covering up the wound. "I'd see a doctor about getting that closed up a bit more, but it's better than leaving it open" she said, putting the tin back to where the mage had taken them from.

"Well, did you find the next element of harmony in the cave then?" asked Scootaloo, sitting on the ground next to the mailmare. "Or do we have to spend more time in this damn forest. I think I saw a bunch of timber wolves lurking around here."

"Oh, that reminds me" said Mario, slapping his head with a hoof. Walking slowly towards the tent, closely followed by an orange filly, he called out to the blue unicorn. "Trixie..."

"Go away, or I will gut every single one of you bucking morons, and feed you to a bear!" she shouted. Flinching in shock, Mario recoiled, and Scootaloo fled behind Ditzy.

"I know I may have told you a little white lie, but I swear on my life, I wouldn't work for that sleaze ball Discord. I know you wouldn't either, and we need all the Great and Powerful ponies in order to fight him. That's why we need you" he said, beginning to walk towards the tent again.

From inside the tent, Trixie gave a small chuckle. "Stroke my ego, why don't you?"

"Is that a yes?"

"No. Frankly, I don't see what gain I get from this."

"Fame, fortune and men?" asked Mario, leaning towards the tent door.

She laughed again, and said "You tempt me well. I have made up my mind. You shall receive my prisoner and the honour of coming with me to Ponyville. Between the two children and derp face over there-"

"Hey!" shouted Ditzy, indignantly.

"-you wouldn't stand a chance against me in a fight anyway" continued the witch, ignoring the pegasus. "Also, liar with the moustache, you can carry me the way there" she laughed, exiting the tent, with her cape blowing in the wind she had conjured up.

"Wait, what?" said the plumber, the smile wiped off of his face.

"You sound like you need dear miss Sparkle desperately, and if you want her, you have to take me with you on my conditions" she said, levitating the card containing Twilight Sparkle out of the tent. "And Trixie wants to be carried. Of course, I'm sure you could take that draconequus down without the element of magic."

"Can't Big Mac carry you?" asked the smaller red stallion, pointing towards his larger comrade.

"Nope" he said, causing Applebloom and Scootaloo to begin sniggering.

"Fine. Just don't fidget" Mario said, in a huff.

"Trixie knew you would come around" the mage said, as she climbed on his back. "So, faithful steed, what way is it to Ponyville?"

Grumbling under his breath, the red stallion shot a glare at the chuckling Big Macintosh, who had picked up the element of harmony card, and placed it on his back. "I think it was north for about five miles, then the footpath back from Zecora's place."

"Lead on then, hick" said Trixie, which wiped the grin off of Macintosh's face.

"Seeing as how we don't need everypony here, why don't I take Scootaloo and fly back to Ponyville. I'll tell Luna everything that happened, and we can start the plan for our next move early" said Ditzy, squatting down next to the orange filly.

"I'd be up for that" the young pegasus replied, climbing onto the mailmare's back.

"Ok then, just stay safe" said Mario, as they took off.

"Well? What are we waiting for? Mush!" shouted Trixie, as she kicked her steed in the ribs.

This is going to be a long journey he thought, as they began their trek back to civilization.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

High above the clouds, Canterlot Castle still floated, surrounded by an energy shield. Inside her bedchambers, Celestia had laid down in her bed, and had managed to catch some sleep. It had been eluding her recently, what with her constantly worrying about the condition of her fair country. It had only been on Cadence's insistence that she rested, so that she could be ready for when the time came to fight back. Upon seeing that her aunt had finally gone to bed, the young princess of love had decided to don the ancient armour once again, and to attempt to sneak through the castle and find out more clues regarding Discord's plans.

Ugh, all this grime will take forever to get out of my mane thought Cadence, as she climbed out of the tunnel.

Unsurprisingly, the room was unguarded again, which gave her free reign to look around the castle. Slipping into a smaller room, on the side of the main chamber, the pink princess heard a couple of voices talking.

"What I'm saying is, I don't know why the boss doesn't want us to ignore the prisoners. It'd make the princess angry and it'd save us a lot of hassle. I mean, that captain nearly broke my nose earlier when I delivered their food. You'd think they'd be grateful" said a female voice, high and whiny.

That's my Shiny thought Cadence, smirking to herself.

"Don't question the boss, lass. You're lucky he let his prisoners work for him, he isn't usually that merciful to defectors" said a familiar, loud voice. Peeking over the bookshelf, the princess saw that the two talking ponies were the large pegasus she had met earlier, and a young golden mare, wearing a suit of armour which ill fitted her. Squinting, she recognised her as one of the guests from the party.

A traitor! thought the pink winged unicorn, ducking back behind cover. She's willing to cause pain and misery, just to save her own hide. She seethed with anger, her hooves almost shaking in fury. Attempting to calm herself down, she began to take deeper breaths.

"Now, can I leave you here to guard these ledgers? Since you are new blood, we don't particularly want to take you on any important jobs, so just stay here and shut up" said the stallion.

"What if someone comes to attack me?" said the mare, frightened.

"I heard you tend to sleep with ponies to get your way. Why don't you try that?" laughed the pegasus, as he walked out of the room, through a door on the opposite side of the room from Cadence. Giving out a shocked gasp, the traitor yelled several expletives at her superior.

Slowly creeping up on the lone mare, the winged unicorn made her voice lower. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" she said, attempting to emulate a certain chaos spirit's voice.

"Who is it! I'm warning you, I'm armed" yelled the golden mare, drawing a dagger from a sheath.

Walking out from the shadows, Cadence put on a stern face. "Report your name and status, private".

Seeing the large, armoured winged unicorn approach her, the mare stood sloppily to alert. "Amber Crystal, I think I'm a private." She looked closer at the soldier that had approached her. "Is that you, Princess Cadence?"

"Indeed. Our lord Discord wishes to look at some of the records. I request that you stand down" lied the pink princess. With any luck, she'd be dumb enough to fall for this she thought.

"Aren't you meant to be imprisoned?" Amber asked, with a sceptical look on her face.

The princess of love's eyes opened wide. Thinking quickly, she came up with an excuse as to why she was out and about in the castle. "I too betrayed my country for my own, selfish needs" she said, taking a subtle jab at the noble in front of her.

"Uh, of course" said golden earth pony. Walking away from the desk, Cadence saw her chance. Grabbing her by the shoulders, the pink princess threw the guard into a wardrobe nearby.

"Wa-huh? Let me out of here, traitor!" shouted the earth pony.

"A bit ironic, no?" said Cadence, as she forced the doors closed with her magic. Turning the wardrobe around, she pushed the doors against the walls. "I'd suggest that you keep quiet. After all, Discord will be annoyed that some of his plans have fallen into our hooves."

Ignoring the curses of the trapped pony, she began to look over the paperwork on the desk. The majority of it read of words which meant absolutely nothing, as well as making little sense. But in a small drawer, there was a small black book. Inside, read of a few trades made between one of Discord's top goons, and several targets. The most eye catching one read:

200,000 bits worth of jewels from the royal vaults transferred to the Diamond Dogs of Ponyville Wastelands, for services carried out.

500,000 bits worth of jewels from the royal vaults transferred to Garble, for services to be carried out.

Oh my Celestia! thought Cadence, with a look of horror on her face, They've emptied out the vaults! Wait a minute... "Services carried out" near Ponyville. This can't be good!

Running out of the room, she breathed a sigh of relief seeing her tunnel unguarded. Diving in, she scrambled as quick as she could, with the book in her mouth, towards the room of the Princess of the Sun.

"I'mofftostopaplottodestroyPonyville,readthisbook,it'llanswerprettymucheverything" shouted the pink princess as she threw the ledger at the awakening ruler. Throwing open the windows, Cadence dived from the window towards the earth below.

"Huh?" said a very groggy Princess Celestia, wiping her eyes.

With her wings tucked close to her body, the princess of love went faster and faster towards the small town. Smoke was rising from several houses there, and many beings could be seen running around to try and extinguish the flames. Flying even faster, she saw that her worst fears were true. Ponyville was in flames, and the culprits were dragging dozens of captives back to their lair.

Chapter 4-1: The Dogs of War

"Is that... fire?" asked a grey pegasus, who was soaring above a huge expanse of trees.

"I don't know, I can't see from here!" replied her passenger, an orange filly holding on for dear life. "Slow down a bit so I can see where we are going!" Her eyes were clenched shut, to protect her eyes from grit as they flew.

"I think that's Ponyville over there... on fire" said Ditzy, slowing down her flight. "What do you think, Scootaloo?"

Opening her eyes, she saw in the distance pillars of smoke rising, turning the evening sky from a green hue to jet black, blocking out the orange moon. "FLY FASTER, FLY FASTER, FLY FASTER!" shouted the young pegasus, forcing her eyes shut again.

Nodding in agreement, the mailmare dived towards the ground to build up speed. Just feet above the tree layer, she rocketed towards the town, with all the grace of a maimed sloth. In the distance, she could see a large, armoured pink winged unicorn diving towards the town as well. Flying to intercept her, she noticed the other pony had stopped. "Hey, do you know what happened?" the grey pegasus called out to the other pony.

Turning her head towards the voice, Cadence saw a grey pegasus with bugged out eyes flying towards her. On her back was an orange filly, biting down hard on the blonde mane of the adult. "No, I just arrived. May I ask who you are?"

"I'm Ditzy Doo, and this is Scootaloo. You look familiar..." the mailmare said, scrunching her face up.

"I'm Princess Cadence. But I think this conversation can wait, as we need to help the civilians here" the armoured pony said, flying towards a large white marquee.

"Should we help?" asked Scootaloo, opening her eyes again.

"We should, but I think the guard can handle this. We need to find Luna. The quicker we find the elements, the quicker ponies stop getting hurt" said the grey pegasus, as she glided towards the large tree library.

Landing gracefully on the ground, Princess Cadence galloped towards the entrance of the tent, which was blocked by two of Luna's personal guard. "Halt, my lady" said one of the guards.

"Open the path, soldier. I request that I am allowed to assist the wounded ponies" said the pink pony, taking her helmet off.

"By order of the Princess of the Moon, we have been entrusted to ensure you stay in secure zones" replied the other. "We shall escort you to the safe zone, if that is ok with you?"

"I'm guessing I don't get much of a choice in this, do I?" said Cadence, her mood souring. Not only had Ponyville been attacked, but her superior wasn't letting her help. Looking back into the tent, she saw ponies flailing and attacking one another.

"Luna doesn't want you to do anything without her say so anymore, in the interests of your safety. I doubt Ponyville can take another attack like that, and we are losing more ponies to Discord by the hour" said the guard, leading her to the centre of town. As they walked, they wandered past the various tents, which had now covered every piece of free land in the town. In the distance, a huge mass of white could be seen covering the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. In front of the library, the princess saw two familiar ponies.

"I see we are both here for the same reason" said the pink winged unicorn.

"We would be, except Luna isn't accepting any visitors at the moment. That guard said something about 'Intelligence gathering'" said Scootaloo, brushing one of her hooves on the ground.

Cadence looked at the guard, and saw that he looked out of place. His green coat clashed horribly with the ill fitting royal guard armour, and he looked less muscular than other guards. "May my companions and I pass through? We have urgent news regarding the current climate."

"Nah, old Loony said she doesn't want to see anyone at the moment" he said, slouching in his pose.

"Are you sure this is a real guard?" asked Cadence to her bat-like guards, not breaking eye contact with the 'soldier'.

"New recruit. Apparently he was quite effective in the siege of Canterlot. I think he came down along with all of the refugees from there."

"Do we still control Canterlot, then?" she asked, knowing the answer already.

"No. It was last seen floating past Tartarus."

"So this is our last stronghold. Simply great."

"What about Trottingham? We kicked the changelings out of there" asked Scootaloo.

"Our forces are stretched thin as it is. It was safer for everypony that we moved the inhabitants from there to here" the guard said to the filly. "It is entirely possible that we still have Cloudsdale. The problem is that any soldier sent up there to get us a status report never returns. No word from the Wonderbolts, either" he said, turning to the armoured princess.

"I see Nocturnal has filled you in on the details" a booming voice said. The green guard quickly opened the door, allowing for the large navy blue princess to be seen. "You may stand down now, guards. Cadence, Ditzy, Scootaloo, follow me" she said, walking back into the library with her guests following.

"So as you can see, we aren't doing too well right now" said Luna, standing in front of the three ponies. "We were completely outmatched by those mangy mutts, even on the home field. Luckily, we have our reinforcements from Canterlot, so I don't think we should be at risk from another invasion on this scale. Anyway, I hope you bring good news from the forest."

"Well, we received aid from a Zebra named Zecora in the forest, who told us of her being interrogated by a gang of Discord's goons. After we started chasing them down, we got ambushed by a unicorn who had turned that part of the forest into an icy waste" said Ditzy, stepping forwards.

"That must have been what all of the magic we detected was. Continue" mused the princess of the night.

"Anyway, she turned out to be on our side, as well as owning the card containing Twilight Sparkle. Unfortunately, she isn't the most co-operative of ponies and requested Mario's aid in getting her stuff back from the gang. From what he told us, it ended up as a fight between a ninja mule, them two and the two Ursas in the forest. Thankfully, they somehow got out of that scrap alive, and the others are on the way back here. Anything else you want us to do, Princess?" asked the mailmare.

"I'll brief you in a minute. Cadence, what news do you bring?" said the blue winged unicorn, turning to her pink kin.

"I was doing some snooping around in the castle, when I found this ledger of trades in there. Inside were records of deals with the pack of diamond dogs that live on the outskirts of town, as well as a deal with somepony known as 'Garble'" replied Cadence.

"If what you said is true, this could possibly mean that he trusted those mutts with a card. Miss Doo, I request that you find one of the guard captains and get the lowdown on the enemy. Return here once Mario arrives, understand?" Luna said, turning to the two pegasi.

"Yes ma'am" said Ditzy, as Scootaloo saluted. Watching the pair walk out of the door, the princess of the night turned to Cadence.

"That armour suits you, by the way. Reminds me of Tia when she was young. Now on with business. I don't need to tell you that your snooping is vital in the return of harmony in Equestria" she said. "But before you go, I would like to request that you spend a little time with me. I have a visitor of sorts coming, and I need you to aid me."

"In what?" asked the princess of love, confused.

"Cleaning this place up" Luna replied, pointing to the unmoving body of a massive diamond dog. "My interrogation got awfully messy."

Cadence rolled her eyes, and walked over to the prisoner, letting out a little sigh.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are we there yet?" asked Trixie, putting on a childish tone.

"NO!" shouted Mario, who had endured this question for the last forty minutes. Smirking to herself, the mage on the plumbers back yawned.

"Lighten up, moustache boy, it should be an honour to have the Great and Powerful Trixie ride you" she said, causing Big Macintosh to snicker.

"Hold on a second, I think I hear something" said Applebloom, who was walking a bit ahead of the group. "It sounds like rustling in that tree up there" she said, pointing to a bent tree.

"It looks like I've lost the element of surprise today" said a female voice from the tree.

Wait, I recognise that voice thought Mario.

"Come out, Diamond Tiara" said the yellow filly, her voice showing a hint of annoyance.

"Fine" the rich filly said, flying out of the bush. Her mane had leaves and twigs sticking out of it, and her suit of metal armour had grass stains on it. One major addition had been made to her armour, and that was a pair of fake wings.

"H-how are you flying?" asked the plumber, his jaw dropping.

"After being humiliated at your hooves near Trottingham, I decided I needed revenge on you-" Diamond Tiara said, her robotic wings still flapping.

"For breaking your toy" replied Mario in a deadpan tone.

"You also kicked me into a tree. You hurt me, I hurt you. Anyway, my uncle is an inventor and since he had to flee his workshop, I didn't see any reason why he'd want these wonderful things anymore." She fluttered about some more, admiring the whirring technology on her back.

"Go home, Tiara. It isn't safe out here" said the moustachioed plumber.

"For people like you, maybe. I saw this sketchy looking pegasus earlier and I beat him down. His little griffon friend could only try to flee in terror, but I made sure he didn't get far" she said, smirking.

"Seriously, you're going to make some powerful enemies doing stunts like that" said Mario.

"What, like you? None of you can even attempt to hurt me now that I can fly out of your reach" the armoured filly said, laughing to herself. Suddenly, a bolt of magic rocketed past her head, causing Diamond Tiara to shriek.

"Listen, girly, if you wish to fight the Great and Powerful Trixie, you would not even last a minute. So why don't you take your chubby pink flank and scram" growled the blue mage, who's hat had floated over towards Big Macintosh.

"Chubby? Listen, you two bit unicorn, I am the prettiest and richest filly in Ponyville. You do a single thing to me, and my father will destroy you" the armoured pony growled. Trixie raised her eyebrow at her, and began charging up another bolt. "I don't have time to mess around with small fish like you anyway. Oh, by the way, I heard Ponyville has been attacked by some dogs. Thought you ought to know" she said, flying off above the trees.

"Cheers for getting rid of her" said Mario, looking at his passenger.

"She had it coming. By the sounds of it, I think you should be running faster" she replied, levitating her hat from Big Mac's head.

"Eeyup" said the farmer, dashing off towards the town, with Mario in hot pursuit
.

"Hey, wait up for me!" yelled Applebloom, trying to keep up with the running ponies.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"I can't believe Chancellor Bloodwing is blaming us for all of this" said Cadence, watching a unit of griffons fly out of town. "I mean, it's pretty damn obvious we need help from those feather brains if any sort of order is going to remain in this world" she said, turning to Luna.

"The griffons have always been only worried by problems that are immediately affecting them. Would you believe they thought that Chrysalis was less of a threat than a dragon that decided he wanted to live 3 miles in the border?" laughed the princess of the night, as she walked back into the library. "This does put us under a bit of pressure to solve this issue though."

"Why? It's going to affect them too."

"As far as they see it, Discord is from Equestria, therefore it should be our responsibility to deal with him and if he attacks their territories, it's almost as bad as invasion."

"Has he already been attacking them?"

"Not properly, only a few eyries have been turned into candy floss so far. Still annoying those hot headed feather brains to no end. But I digress. Thank you for your help in cleaning up those dogs and making this place almost presentable. Now, I must insist you return to my sister and find out more from that ledger up in the castle."

"No problem, Luna" said Cadence, as she picked up the armour that was put into a cupboard. "Anything you'd like me to tell her?" she asked.

"Just say that I have everything under control. Goodbye, and good luck up there" said the princess of the night, opening the door to the exit. Waiting for her there were a gang of ponies, all out of breath. At the front of them was a red stallion with bandages wrapped around his chest and a blue unicorn riding on his back.

"What... Happened... Princess?" gasped Mario.

"Diamond dogs. Come in, you lot, we need a team talk" replied Luna, walking back into the building.

"Well... good luck down here" said Cadence as she walked past the large red farmer, who was carrying a large playing card on his back. Spreading her wings out wide, she took off high into the sky through the smoke clouds that hung above the town.

"As I told miss Doo, we got attacked by the local Diamond dog gang. Cadence also confirmed that they are working with Discord" said the princess, walking around the ponies. "But anyway, let's see what good news we have."

"Well, we found Twilight Sparkle, as well as got a name for our little group of delinquents" said Mario. Big Macintosh put the card on the floor, facing up towards Luna. "Turns out they call themselves 'The Legion of Chaos'."

"Really?" asked the winged unicorn in a deadpan tone. Levitating the card, she placed it next to the card containing Fluttershy. "Do go on."

"We also found another piece of help in the form of... her" said the plumber, pointing his hoof to the unicorn standing next to him, who was looking at a suspicious puddle of blood in the room.

"Trixie Lulamoon. You have been on my radars for a while..." said Luna, grinning.

"Wha- what did you know?" asked the mage, standing completely upright.

"Well, that depends. Are you willing to work for our cause?" asked the princess, winking at Scootaloo, who snickered.

"Uh, yes. Yes I am" said the unicorn, sweating heavily.

"Good. I'll see if we can wipe off your record after this mess is cleared up."

"Uh thanks." She turned to Mario and hissed "So you weren't lying. I'm surprised."

"Anyway, it's good we have more hooves to help us. Thanks to the clues we have amassed, I have reason to believe that somewhere those mutts have an element in their home. Going in there straight will be suicide, no matter how strong you are. They may not be smart, but they number in the hundreds" said Luna.

"My big brother could easily beat them up. Miss Trixie beat us all up, so she must be like 5 Mario's" said Applebloom. "If we surprise them, we can destroy most of them!"

"Trixie agrees. I have won my share of scrapes, so an ambush is the perfect idea to crush these mutts" she said, raising her nose into the air.

"I have a better idea. Come out, Fido!" Luna called. From another room, a lumbering, great blue dog, wearing a grey vest top. His eyes were a pale blue with black swirls, and his jaw was hanging slightly open. "Turns out this big boy is one of the leaders of that gang. He will be your ticket into their caves, and hopefully into their inner sanctum."

"What... did you do to him?" asked Scootaloo, looking at the dogs eyes.

"A little mind control. Me and Cadence have given him the commands, all you have to do is blow into the whistle and he will act it up. Your secondary objective is to rescue any hostages you may find. Diamond Dogs are known for kidnapping ponies and forcing them to work in their mines, and we lost a good 200 ponies to them in the fight."

"How... did you even get him to bow down to the spell? I'd have thought he'd have been thrashing too much for you to get it on him correctly" asked Trixie, looking at the idle dog closely.

"He and a bunch of his friends decided that this was a good target. Frankly, I think they were more surprised than me when they saw me" replied the princess. "Anyway, they don't move much when you shut down their motor functions."

"So when do we move out?" asked Scootaloo, who was replacing her bandage with one from Twilight's cupboard. "I mean, the last bit of rest we had was when we were tied up to those poles."

"I'd rather you do this as soon as possible, but I suppose you can rest. Tiredness will only lead to mistakes. 0600 hours I expect to see you all ready to go down here." The princess turned her horn to the canine thrall and forced him to fall asleep on the floor in a heap, with his rear pointing straight at Mario.

"Trixie calls double bed" said the mage, walking up the stairs with a barrier up. Scootaloo attempted to run past her, but the white energy shield pushed her back. "You can have the basket."

Grumbling, the orange filly climbed up the stairs behind her, with a snickering Applebloom behind her.

When everyone had left the room, apart from Mario, he walked up behind the princess. "Do you think Discord will pull another attack like this?"

"Of course he will. I'm actually surprised it took him this long. Luckily for us, I am working on replicating Captain Shining Armour's shield spell. For now, you should focus on your upcoming fight with the dogs."

"I suppose. Goodnight, Luna" said Mario, heading up the stairs.

"Goodnight" said the winged unicorn, placing a blue nightcap on her head, sitting down on a large cushion in the centre of the room

Chapter 4-2: Stone Cold

"Hey Mario, get up!" yelled a chipper voice. Opening his eyes slowly, the red stallion saw a pair of purple eyes right up close to his. "Luna wants us all downstairs!" Scootaloo cheerfully said, running over to the bed of the room.

It's so damn early... How in Tartarus can she be so chipper? he thought. Slowly getting up, Mario felt a sharp pain in his chest. Opening up his ragged bandages, he saw a cut zigzagging across his chest.

"You're gonna want to clean that up before it goes septic" said a low voice from behind him. A large red stallion was standing there, moving a pile of blankets from the centre of the room. "Frankly I'm surprised you're not bleeding more."

"I'm just as surprised. Maybe I'm just lucky" said the plumber, walking towards the bathroom. In the distance, he could hear Trixie and Scootaloo arguing.

"I don't care if the fate of Equestria is in my hooves, don't wake me up like that!" shrieked the mage.

"You had a forcefield up around the bed to stop us entering! The only way I could get you up was by throwing that bucket of water" shouted back the orange filly.

"You're lucky there are witnesses here, otherwise I'd have turned you into a puddle of rainbow!" shouted back the unicorn.

Shaking his head, Mario opened up a cabinet in the bathroom. Inside was a small set of antiseptic herbs. "Do you want help with that?" asked a voice from behind him. Turning around, he saw two yellow, wonky eyes looking at him. "It is a pretty big cut, after all."

"Do you know where there could be any bandages then? There doesn't seem to be any here."

Walking over to a pile of sheets, Ditzy tore a length off of one of them. "If we just use these, it should cover the wound enough for it to not go disgusting."

"Thanks" said the plumber, wincing as the powdered herbs were put into his gash. "Are you ready to go into the caves with us yet?"

"I should be, but I can't help but be concerned for my daughter's safety. I haven't heard any word from any kids recently, other than Applebloom and Scootaloo."

"They are likely safe. Hay, nearly every guard in Equestria are here, nothing bad can happen now. I can understand if you wanted to duck out now though. I'm missing my brother too."

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know. As far as I know, he is still up in Canterlot Castle."

"Princess Celestia is up there. She won't let any harm come to anypony."

"I hope you're right. Are we going to see Luna now?"

"I guess we should" replied Mario, leading the pegasus down the stairs. Waiting at the bottom were the rest of his party, each wearing armour that fitted horribly. Applebloom and Scootaloo were wearing leather chestplates, Trixie was wearing a suit of chainmail and her trademark hat and cape. Finally, Big Macintosh was wearing a suit of black armour, usually reserved for the Lunar guard.

"Took your time, you two. Put on those breastplates, we don't have much time to talk" said Luna, pointing her hoof over to a pile of armour. "Now that you are all here, I will start my briefing. As we know, Discord has been working with the dogs, and likely has made them stronger than they were before and driven them a bit crazy. Luckily for us, we have our secret weapon" she said, pointing at the blue hound sitting in the corner. "Your job is to go in there, steal the element of harmony and get back here. If you can rescue any ponies, go ahead, but it isn't your main job at the moment."

"What about if Discord decides to attack Ponyville again? What if that Garble guy attacks when we are gone?" asked Scootaloo.

"I took the liberty of creating a new barrier spell last night. Me and a few of the Unicorn guard will be maintaining it in order to prevent us being attacked again." Suddenly, the front door burst open, revealing the green guard from the night before.

"Princess, there has been sightings of dogs on the outskirts of town and they...." he said, falling silent when he saw a red stallion standing in the room. "Brother, is that you?" he asked.

Mario looked hard at the guard, and saw a familiar glint in his eyes. "Luigi, you're safe? I thought you were stuck in the castle."

"I left at the last second and I've been in Canterlot ever since" replied his brother.

"What's with the getup then?" the red plumber asked.

"Canterlot was being corrupted rapidly, as well as there being Changelings flying about everywhere. The royal guard were snapping up every healthy male to fight and I managed to be quite effective. So here I am, Luna's personal guard."

"Trixie thinks your reunion is absolutely charming, but can't it wait?" asked the mage.

"Yes, what was you saying, Luigi?" said the princess of the night, walking towards her guard.

"A small unit of the dogs have been spotted on the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres, and they look angry and ready to fight. A bunch of the guard have already headed over there already." Upon hearing this, Big Macintosh stormed out of the door.

"What's up with him?" asked Scootaloo, who was wearing a coat of leather.

"Ah, he just gets grouchy when he hears people are threatening the farm" said Applebloom, who was wearing a similar jacket. "He's probably gone to fight them off."

"This could be a problem. We need to quell them soon, especially considering that if we are to get a strong enough barrier up, me and my mages need to sleep" said Luna.

"What do you suggest then, Princess?" asked Ditzy, placing a silver helmet on her head.

"We start moving now. By creeping past Carousel Boutique and into the badlands, you should be able to get into the caverns. Take the element of harmony and get out of there. I will send an attack squad in 5 hours, in which you should be able to use as a distraction in order to get out of there. Good luck and don't screw this up, my little ponies" said the princess, firing a bolt of light at the dazed diamond dog. Jerkily, the dog stood to its feet and stared at Mario.

"That thing is already creeping me out" said Scootaloo, trying not to look at it.

"Should we get my brother first?" asked Applebloom.

Almost instantaneously, Luna replied "No. There is no time. Hurry and find the next element, before the whole of Ponyville falls to them." Nodding in agreement, Mario, Ditzy, Applebloom and Scootaloo ran through the door, with a lumbering Fido running on all fours behind them.

"What are we going to do if this doesn't work?" asked Luigi, picking up some books that had fallen on the floor.

"We fight to the death, for if Ponyville falls, Equestria falls" replied the Princess, with a grim look on her face.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I can't believe my brother is safe" said Mario, as he ran out of Ponyville. The outskirts of town were a combination of chaotic nature, such as pink trees and a river of lemons, as well as a barricade that was turned into bubblegum.

"It does seem to be quite lucky" said Ditzy, flying alongside him. "One question that bugs me is why Discord hasn't attacked us directly."

"Maybe it's a thing about powerful magicians?" asked Scootaloo, who was riding on Fido's shoulder, along with Applebloom. "He's just so arrogant, he doesn't even think we are worth attacking."

Glaring at the orange filly, Trixie hissed back "I hope that wasn't a dig at me, because I'm not above frying smartflanks."

"Calm down girls, we are almost here" said the red stallion, slowing down. In front of him was a large plain of the badlands, covered in holes. Surrounding a few of the holes were diamond dogs, which were wielding large spears and standing in a group. As if by magic, the large blue diamond dog that was carrying two fillies bolted upright. His large yellow eyes glared at the ponies surrounding him.

"Ponies... Must destroy Ponies" he growled.

"Wait, what?" asked Ditzy, watching it throw off the two fillies that were riding it.

"Did Luna's spell fail?" asked Mario, backing away

"It doesn't matter, get out of the way!" yelled Trixie, standing in front of the red stallion. Firing off a white blast of magic, she covered her eyes with her hoof as a powerful light exploded upon his face. Slowly opening her eyes, she felt a powerful paw around her neck, causing her purple hat to fall off.

"Silly little ponies magic don't work on me. Lord Discord has made me indestructible" replied the grinning dog, as he slammed the squirming mare into the ground. Groaning in pain, her horn flared up again. Seeing this, he swung a fist at the mages face, knocking her towards the ground in front of Mario.

Looking at the unconscious mare, Scootaloo ran towards the huge dog yelling. Grinning, he took another swipe, easily knocking the young orange pegasus flying, causing her to collide with the young earth pony, knocking both of them out.

"Ditzy, fly away and get help! I'll hold them off!" shouted Mario, putting himself into a fighting stance.

"That's suicide! I'm not leaving!" she shouted back, before flying down towards Fido with her legs outstretched.

"Stop!" shouted the red plumber, as the diamond dog leaped into the sky. Reaching the same level as the pegasus, he slammed his fist down onto her skull, firing her towards the ground, where she landed with a dull thud. Running towards her, Mario heard footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw the guards that were near the hole approaching. Forming a circle around him, they all began to bark at one another and pick up the unconscious body. Smiling, Fido began to walk towards the red earth pony.

"The boss is gonna give us all of the gems in Equestria when he sees we captured you" he laughed, throwing a right hook at Mario's face, causing him to crumple to the ground.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Are they awake?" growled a voice. Trying to open his eyes, all of what Mario could see was blurry outlines of his companions sprawled out on the floor in front of him.

"I think red pony is awake" said another one, with a higher pitched voice.

"Bring him to me" said the first voice. Shortly afterwards, the red stallion heard a clanging of keys, and some paws on the ground next to him. Picking him up by his neck, he felt his body being dragged out of the jail. "Wake up, pony" he said, slapping him across the face.

Feeling the sting of the paw on his cheek, Mario coughed up some grit. Blinking his eyes, he saw three diamond dogs looking at him, all wearing earmuffs. One of them was the one that had betrayed them earlier, along with a lanky gray one, wearing a red waistcoat and a short yellow one wearing a similar gray waistcoat to the largest dog. "Why are you doing this?" asked the plumber.

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" asked the lanky dog, reaching into his pockets. Pulling out a bundle of shimmering diamonds, he threw them at the ponies face. "The boss promised all members of the Legion of Chaos anything they wished for. We wished for more diamonds than we could ever possible use, along with the pony that humiliated us so long ago" he continued, snapping his finger. On cue, two smaller dogs walked in with a large chest.

"Unfortunately, Boss is a trickster. He give us rainbow pony, not white, loud pony" said the large dog, opening the trunk to reveal the card holding a blue pegasus.

"I hear that you are looking for these" said the short one, grabbing the stallions face. "Unfortunately for you, us dogs are much smarter than Apes, Changelings and Mule."

"So what are you planning on doing then?" asked Mario through the paw of the dog.

"Well, first of all, we are going to send your broken bodies up to Canterlot Castle, so the boss can torment you for eternity. Then, we will attack the pony village and take the scary princess as our own" quickly said the small dog. Hearing this, the lanky dog smacked him around the back of his head.

"Idiot! Don't tell him our plan! Anyway, it looks like your friends are awake now" said the gray mutt, gesturing towards a large metal cage. "Any last words you'd like to say to them?"

"Wha-?" asked a dazed Ditzy, blood trickling down her face. "What's going on?"

"You lot will be our trophies. Now hold still, while we get our pet in here" growled the small dog.

"Wake up Trixie!" shouted Applebloom, who was shaking her awake along with Scootaloo. In the distance, they could hear a soft clucking, as well as some soft footsteps along the ground.

"Wait, I recognise those" said Scootaloo softly, with a hint of dread in her voice. "I just can't remember!"

"What is it Scoots?" shouted Mario, being held back by 3 armoured dogs.

"I think it's a cockatrice!" she screamed, breaking into sobs. Upon hearing this, Applebloom's jaw dropped and a loud shriek was heard as a reptilian figure entered the room.

"Lord Discord gave us this little present a while ago, back when it was that crazy pony running the show. Now, our little collection of ponies could do with some more added to it. Now... Who to petrify first?" said the lanky dog, a grin creeping across his face.

"I will snap every bone in your body and feed you to a manticore if you even so much as think about touching them" snarled Mario, still fighting against his captors.

Laughing, the largest dog punched the red stallion in his gut. "I think he said he wants the funny eye pony turned first" it laughed, hitting him in the stomach again.

"Good idea. Dig dogs, grab her" barked the smallest diamond dog. Two armoured dogs entered the cell and grabbed the gray pegasus by her legs. Wailing and begging for mercy, they dragged her into the alcove where the cockatrice was hiding. After a few seconds, there was silence and the dogs returned to the room, dragging a petrified Ditzy behind them.

"Who next then?" asked the lanky dog. Mario was looking down, with his eyes clenched shut. "I think blue mage is a good one to go for."

"The big Hero doesn't seem to be arguing about it anymore. Take her off!" shouted the small dog again. Much like last time, they dragged the motionless body of Trixie off, returning a short while later with a stone figure of the unconscious mage. "Looks like it's just the little fillies left" laughed the dog, as he wandered over to the cowering fillies. Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"What is that?" asked the dog wearing the red waistcoat. Almost instantaneously, three unconscious Dig dogs rolled through a hole in the wall, followed by a massive red stallion. Barrelling towards the yellow dog, Big Macintosh, skidded to a stop and turned around. Extending his powerful hind legs into the jaw of the dog, he caused it to fly across the room into the opposite wall.

"Big Macintosh!" cheered Applebloom. "We thought you had gone to the farm!"

"Run you two" he growled, turning to face the advancing dogs. His body was covered in cuts and scrapes. "Get away from here!"

Nodding in understanding, the fillies fled the room, ignored by the dogs who were defending against the giant who had begun to attack them. "Put that pony down if you know what is good for you" snarled the farmer.

"Hah, you should be more concerned about yourself" laughed the lanky dog. A low growl emanated from behind the orange maned stallion, causing him to turn around. Directly behind him was a large reptilian chicken, looking directly into his eyes. Before a noise could come out of his mouth, Big Macintosh was turned to stone.

"Now that little distraction is gone, all that we have left to do is get you ready for transport" said the large blue dog, walking towards the red stallion, who was still being restrained by the dig dogs.

"When Luna finds out what has happened down here, she'll destroy each and every one of you" said Mario, fighting back tears. We've lost he thought, soon those dogs will attack Ponyville again and destroy it, along with the rest of Equestria.

The large blue dog laughed and said "Of course she will. With any luck, our army will bring her beaten body to us. Discord will make us Diamond Dogs the dominant race in Equestria! Now, any last words?"

"Choke on a flint" the red stallion said, putting on a brave face as the cockatrice approached. Staring deep into the monsters blood red eyes, he felt the life in his body slipping away, until all that remained was darkness.

Chapter 4-3: The Cutie Mark Crusaders Ride Again!

"Hello, my little Celestia!" called out a familiar voice. Quickly throwing Cadence into her wardrobe, the Princess of the Sun looked on as Discord teleported into her room. "You'll never guess what I've just received word of!"

"I don't particularly care, so please leave my room" replied the princess, not even looking at him.

"Oh, but you should. It involves all of your little ponies, especially that little red whelp" he said, floating over to her. "Let's just say, him and his friends have all been dragged through the rocks."

"I highly doubt that. Mario has enough resolve to fight off anything you could ever throw at him" said Celestia, glaring at the Draconequus.

"Even a Cockatrice? Because a little puppy told me that he tried that and now all of his friends are little statues" Discord said, putting his arm around the princess.

"I don't believe you" said Celestia, her voice faltering slightly.

"Well, when I get those garden decorations delivered tomorrow, you can see for yourself. Hell, I'll even let you have one if you want. Do you know what the best bit is? Those stupid dogs will all be chimps after I get my trophies, then I don't even need to get the dragons I hired into position. I'll make sure I pop in and see Loony on the way back!" he cackled, teleporting back out of the room.

Crawling out of the wardrobe with a pale blue dress caught on her horn, Cadence slowly walked up to Celestia. "Do you think he is telling the truth?" she asked.

"Deep down inside, I think he is. I wish he weren't though, since we only have half of the elements so far" she said, levitating her dress off of the pink princess. "Still, we mustn't think negatively, and I think we might have a lead on that Garble which we saw in the ledger."

"Go on" said Cadence, sitting next to her on the bed.

"I think he may be involved with the dragons Discord mentioned he hired. It'd make sense if he was their leader."

"The odds do keep getting stacked against us, don't they?" replied the pink princess, dryly.

"Either way, we need to wait and see if they really did fail in their mission. If they did, we will need to make alternate arrangements" said Celestia, looking out of her window towards the sun she once controlled.

Elsewhere in the castle, a certain earth pony had just returned from the surface of Equestria. "Lord Discord!" she called out as she floated through the castle between rooms. In front of her, a large lump of ice formed in front of her. Chunks of it broke off, revealing the form of a Draconequus. Proceeding to break out of his icy form, Discord floated towards his minion.

"You're back, Screwy!" he cheered, picking her up. "What news do we bring from the surface!"

"The Diamond Dogs have set up a total of 4 statues for you, as well as amassing their troops into an army for you. They are ready to sack Ponyville at your command" she said, reading off of a notebook she conjured up. "Do you want them to attack now?"

"No, we'll let them go crazy with fear first. Get the dogs to sit around the outskirts of Luna's barrier and let nothing in. Then, after I go and break her poor little mind, the dogs can attack" he dictated to his assistant.

"Anything else?" the pink pony asked.

"Not at all, my little piece of chaos. Now run along, I have a party to organise" he said, teleporting away again. Humming to herself, Screwball floated back off to the guard tower and disappeared in a whirl of purple magic.

"Keep up Applebloom!" called out Scootaloo.

"I'm trying to, but my knee really hurts!" called back Applebloom. Turning around, Scootaloo came to a stop. They had been running from the chamber in which a Cockatrice had been unleashed upon their friends, thanks to Big Macintosh's sacrifice. "What are we gonna do, Scoots?"

"Well, Rainbow Dash would charge in there and beat up every single dog in there" said Scootaloo, smacking her hooves together.

"Even if we did that, we couldn't take down that Cockatrice. You saw how quickly it petrified my brother!" gasped Applebloom, struggling to breathe. "That thing would turn us to stone in seconds and we don't even have Fluttershy around to save us! We're doomed to stay in this hole forever!" she sobbed, beginning to cry.

"We'll find a way, so dry your eyes up" said the orange filly. "First of all, we need to find some help if we are going to escape here. Didn't Princess Luna say that guards had been attacking here? Maybe we can get some prisoners to help us."

Sniffing, the yellow filly chuckled. "We always seem to do that, don't we. Ok, let's go!" she said, picking herself up, jogging after Scootaloo. Shortly after they began running, they happened upon a large chamber, which was shrouded in darkness.
"This room feels... creepy" said Scootaloo, grabbing a torch from the wall. Illuminating the room, she could see multiple cages lined up and covered in cloths.

"Something tells me that what's under there is going to be bad" said the yellow filly as her friend approached the cage. Pulling the sheet off, the orange pegasus jumped back in shock, giving off a yelp. Inside the cage were about 3 guardsmen, all turned to stone. "Check the others!" shouted Applebloom, running over to the other cages. As they uncovered each of the cages, they saw more and more petrified guardsponies. At the end of the room was a giant cage, cloaked in a blood red sheet.

"Do we really want to check that cage?" asked the earth pony, trying not to look at the guardsponies' looks of horror frozen to their faces.

"We have to try. It could be hours until the reinforcements arrive and we are deep behind enemy lines" replied Scootaloo, approaching the prison. Giving the sheet a quick tug, they saw the faces of many familiar ponies. In the centre was one that belonged to one that was their fellow crusader.

"SWEETIE BELLE!" they yelled together, surprised at the look of horror frozen on the unicorn fillies face.

"Oh Celestia, they got her, Lyra and Vinyl in there!" said Scootaloo, trying to break open the cage. There were also ponies that they didn't recognise, likely ponies who had attempted to find asylum in Ponyville from around Equestria.

"Stay calm Scoots!" yelled Applebloom, trying to pull her friend off of the cage. The pegasus had been biting at the lock and slamming it on the bars. Putting her hoof over Scootaloo's mouth, the yellow filly pointed towards the hole in which they entered the room. "I think I hear something coming" she whispered. Hiding behind the cage, the two fillies watched the entrance.

"I'm telling you, I heard a scream from down here" growled a low voice. Entering the room was two of the dig dogs, along with the reptilian creature from before. "I think some prisoners may have escaped from their stone prisons."

"It just your imagination. Still, let bird-dragon go sniff out any intruders" said the second one, nudging the Cockatrice into the room.

"What are we gonna do?" whispered Scootaloo.

"What did Fluttershy do to get rid of it when we went into the forest alone?" asked Applebloom.

"She went all crazy on it, threatening to tell its mother on it. Do you think we should do that?" asked the pegasus. Just then, they heard armour clanging and the dogs leaving the room. Poking her head around the corner of the cage, she saw that the monster was on its own, looking at the statue of a cowering guard.

"You can try, but she used that stare thingy. I don't think we could pull it off" replied the yellow filly. "Maybe we should do it like my big sis would do it."

"Tie it up and beat it?" asked Scootaloo. "Rainbow Dash would do that, and when has she ever lost a fight?"

"My big sister could beat her up!" said Applebloom, her voice getting louder.

"Keep it down!" hissed the orange pegasi, putting her hoof over her friends mouth. "We need to think of a plan before that thing gets us."

"I have an idea..." said the earth pony, looking at a pile of rocks near them.

Running towards the monster, Scootaloo chucked stones at its head. "Hey Bird-brain! You missed a pony!" she shouted, throwing stones at its face. "Come and get me!" Squawking in rage, the Cockatrice ran after the filly. Pouncing on its prey, the reptile sank its claws into the pegasus' hind quarters.

"Incoming!" yelled Applebloom, running up to the half dragon, half chicken's side. Swinging a makeshift sling out of her saddlebag and a few rocks she found, it collided with the Cockatrice's skull, knocking it to the ground. Running over to it, she covered the birds head with her bag and swung a hoof at it. "Unstone all of the ponies!" yelled the earth pony, bucking it in the ribs.

Squawking in pain, the monster swung its tail around, narrowly missing Scootaloo. "I don't think it is working!" she shouted, dodging the flailing reptile.

"It just needs a little more persuasion!" replied the yellow filly, swinging another hoof at the Cockatrice. As soon as the hoof collided with the beak of the beast, it stopped flailing and slumped to the floor. Shaking her hoof off, Applebloom looked around and saw several bursts of light erupting from cages.

"I'm alive!" yelled one pony from his cage. Other murmurs of similar joy could be heard, with many ponies hugging their family members.

"Sweetie Belle!" yelled Scootaloo, running towards the cage that held her friend. "You're OK!"

Shaking her head, the white unicorn ran up to the edge of the cage, putting her hooves through the gaps. "Where... Am I?"

"Well, currently, we are inside the tunnels that are owned by the local Diamond Dog gang. But don't worry, we are gonna beat up these dogs and make our way and rescue all the ponies down here!" said Applebloom, kicking the lock on the cage.

"What." said Sweetie Belle flatly. "What is even going on."

"We'll explain later, but we are gonna need more ponypower" said the pegasus filly, looking over to the cage containing some angry guards.

"Hu-what?!" shouted Spot, looking over at his prized possessions. His presents to Discord had been unpetrified, and were glaring right at him.

"We're alive!" yelled Ditzy, picking Trixie up off of the ground.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie requests that you do not shake her so much" she said, looking rather ill.

"Hey mutts!" yelled Mario, helping Big Macintosh to his feet. "Why aren't we stone anymore?"

"We, we don't know!" shouted Fido, blowing on his whistle. "Dogs! Find that damn bird and get it down here!"

Looking around, the large red farmer saw the absence of a small yellow filly. "Where's Applebloom!" he yelled, kicking at the door. Seeing the metal door begin to buckle, Big Mac began swinging his legs harder and harder.

"Hold on a second, Mac, we're gonna need some more firepower to break this door down" said Mario, calling over the pegasus and unicorn with him. "On my mark, we buck the door down."

"3". They tensed the muscles in their legs.

"2". They squatted down on their front legs.

"1". They raised their hind legs.

"NOW!" the plumber yelled, unleashing power on his hind legs. The door began to shake, but it still stood strong, albeit dented and scuffed. "And again!"

"Stop!" yelled Spot, running up to the cage. "One more kick and I'll spear the lot of you!" he said, poking a spear into the cage, narrowly missing the grey pegasus' head.

"Where are those damn soldiers!" yelled Fido, looking away at the tunnel. "We need these petrified before Discord gets here, otherwise we won't get to be his number one species!"

"He will only betray you" said Mario, pushing the spear out of the way. "Chances are he'll pick dragons or even Parasprites over you mutts."

"ENOUGH!" yelled the small dog by their cage. "I will not have such insolence by filthy ponies such as you!"

"What's the matter? Did we strike a nerve or something?" asked Trixie, smirking. Just before the dog could reply or swing a spear around, a dig dog ran into the room. Barking into the ear of Rover, he said something that caused the leader's jaw to drop.

"What do you mean, there has been a prison break? I want you in there beating those ponies to dust!" Barking into his ear again, the dog began flailing his arms frantically.

"About a hundred ponies, with three little fillies leading them shouting 'Cutie Mark Crusader Rioter's, yay'?" said the boss dog, incredulously.

Whispering to the large red stallion, Ditzy said "That sounds like the girls we know."

"We can use this as a distraction. When they all bust in, we kick down the gate and you three join the brawl. I'll run off and try to find where they hid their element." whispered Mario in a huddle. In the distance, a rumble of hooves could be heard. "Get ready, here comes the cavalry..."

"CHAAAAAARGE!!" yelled Scootaloo, as she weaved between the legs of the armoured dogs. In a panic, the canine soldiers began to flee at the sight of an enraged unit of soldiers running straight at them, along with a bunch of angry civilians all wielding primitive clubs.

"Why are we leading the charge?" asked Sweetie Belle, trying to keep up with her friends. "We aren't even armed."
"Don't ask questions, we're just bringing all of the ponies back to where my big brother is being held" said Applebloom, tripping a particularly dumb dig dog with her tail. "We should nearly be there now."

"I hope so, I think I have a stitch" groaned the white filly, jumping of the back of a collapsed dog. In the distance, they saw a small hole in the wall.

"Through here, girls!" called out the earth filly, jumping through a large hole in the wall. In front of them was a bunch of dogs surrounding their destination. "Hold on tight!" she shouted, jumping towards the lead dog. With her fellow crusaders holding onto her back, she pounced onto his shoulders and used them as a springboard over the array of spears. Hearing a clunk of Scootaloo's hooves connecting with the head of a dig dog, Applebloom rolled under the legs of the lumbering guards and dived into the room. Following her was the small unicorn, now covered in dirt and an orange pegasus, covered in bruises.

"Over there! That's them!" shouted Scootaloo, as she regained her footing.

"It's the brats!" shouted Trixie, seeing the intruders to the room.

"On three!" yelled Mario, getting into position. "One... Two... Three... NOW!"

"Wha-Stop!" shouted Spot, before he was knocked flying by the collapsing gate. From captivity ran a gaggle of disgruntled ponies, towards the retreating dogs. One remained behind to pick up the dazed dog on the floor, as the cavern slowly descended into a chaotic brawl between jailers and prisoners.

Dragging the dog away from the fight, the red plumber held his prior captor up against a wall. "Where is the element of harmony?" he said, pushing his hoof on his throat.

"I'll never talk for you! LEGION OF CHAOS!!!!!" yelled the small dog, pulling a small ruby from his pocket. Swinging at the stallion, a small gash opened on Mario's face. Recoiling in pain, he dropped the dog and brought a hoof to his cheek. "I'll gut you before you can even see the loyal pony !" Spot yelled, pouncing at his victim.

Feeling the dogs wet breath on him as he tried to defend himself from the sharp jewel, the plumber felt his strength slowly fall away from him. Suddenly visions of several ponies appeared in front of his eyes. First was a large, navy-blue winged unicorn, closely followed by a pair of earth ponies, the male in a suit and the female in a set of denim dungarees. After them was his current companions, then Luigi. All of them were sitting around him, cheering him on and chanting his name.
Dramatically, a huge surge of power rushed through the red earth ponies muscles. Throwing the aggressive diamond dogs away from him, he ran forward and headbutted him in the stomach. "The element. Now." he growled.

"I shall never falter with Discord on my si-AHdargh!" yelled Spot, as the enraged stallion crushed his paw. "In the crate next to the cage!" sobbed the dog as he cradled his paw.

Ignoring the whimpering puppy, Mario stormed towards the battle. Breathing a sigh of relief, he saw that only a few valiant dogs were still standing, the others knocked unconscious by the fury of a bunch of ponies, led by a whirling tornado of three fillies. Galloping towards the crate, he opened it up and saw a large envelope inside. Quickly tearing off the paper, he saw a blue pegasus mare with a rainbow mane sealed within the card. Pulling it out of the crate, he felt a pegasus land next to him. Ditzy had a black eye from the fight and was visibly roughed up from the fight. "That definitely looks like Rainbow Dash" said the pegasus, as the other ponies joined him by the crate. Walking near him, an older white stallion in a golden suit of armour.

"You're that Mario kid Luna is always on about, aren't you?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"Er, yes" replied the plumber, slightly scared of the giant in front of him.

"Get yer arse back to her then with the element then, we'll finish up down here."

Nodding, Big Macintosh picked up the card and placed it on his back, followed closely by Scootaloo. "Anyone know the way out?" he asked, leading the group out of the cavern, away from the protests of the captive dogs.

"I think it's just up this tunnel, straight ahead" said Applebloom, pointing towards the largest exit, surrounded by unconscious dig dogs.

"Thanks for the diversion by the way, kids. Also, who's the unicorn you found?" Mario asked the young earth filly.

"That's Sweetie Belle, and the third Cutie Mark Crusader!" shouted Scootaloo, who had dropped back a little bit, leaving Trixie alone with the farmer ahead of the group. "Hey girls, I wonder if we got our cutie marks in prison breaking?"

"Cutie mark whats?" asked Mario.

"Aww, no cutie mark on you Scoots" said Sweetie Belle. "But I think you have something on you, Applebloom!"

"Naw, that's just a bruise" replied the yellow pony.

"Cutie mark whats?" replied Mario, still confused.

"Hey mister, how did you get your mark?" asked the unicorn filly.

"I.... I don't remember" the plumber lied, trying to escape the crazed children.

"Of course you do. My big brother is older than you and he remembers his" said Applebloom.

"You don't even know my age" said Mario. He was younger than Big Macintosh, but he wasn't going to let the girls know that.

"I'm 25 and I know you're at least 3 years younger than me" said Ditzy, flying close to him. Upon seeing the red stallions mouth open to protest, she quickly said "I deliver your mail and talk to your brother. Of course I know your age and you aren't old enough to be forgetting things."

"So how did you get your mark then?" asked Scootaloo, nearly jumping on him.

"Well, it was a long time ago...." he said, starting his story.

"Mario, come down here please" said a motherly looking earth pony. Her fur was a pale pink and she was wearing a faded blue pair of dungarees. Running down the stairs came a small red colt wearing a similarly red cap.

"What is it mother?" he asked, in a squeaky voice.

"Your father has been called into Canterlot on important business, and my brother has fallen ill so I need to look after him in Trottingham. I need you to look after Luigi" she said, pointing at a baby in the cot. Remember, if anything goes wrong, I can't be back quickly so try to resolve it quickly" said his mother, kissing him on the head.

"I will" he said, watching his mother walking out of the door. Slowly trotting over to his younger brother, Mario put his front hooves on the side. Instantly, the green foal began crying. "Did you want some water?" the red pony asked, walking over to the kitchen. Upon turning on the tap, no water came out. Opening up the drawer underneath the sink, Mario grabbed a small wrench and begun to play around with the pipes.

"There" said the young pony, throwing his tool down. "One bottle of water" he said, carrying the drink to his brother. Looking back, the kitchen was in disarray, with water spilt everywhere and spanners strewn across the room. But on his flank, he saw a cutie mark forming, making the shape of a M on a white circle.

"Wait, what does your cutie mark have to do with plumbing?" asked Applebloom, walking alongside him.

"I don't know. Maybe it isn't for plumbing, but it's what I'm good at, so it must be" said the red stallion.

"While that story was lovely, we are nearly at Ponyville now so pay attention" spat Trixie from ahead. In front of them was a large, navy-blue dome sitting in the middle of the contorted earth, a dull beacon of hope.

"It looks like the Princess really did get the shield up!" cheerfully yelled Scootaloo.

"I still have no clue what is even going on" said Sweetie Belle.

"Well, we'll need to submit a report to Princess Luna, so I guess you can find out then" said Ditzy as several soldiers flew towards them to escort them into the safe zone.

Interlude: Our story so far...

“Guests to see you, Princess” said Luigi, leading in a group of ponies into the library.

“Hello Mario” said the princess of the night, yawning as she stood up. “I see you have recovered another element” she said, as Big Macintosh entered the room. Following him was the rest of his party. “Another young filly as well. I’m not going to question your methods.”

“Do you require a report?” asked the plumber, as he sat down. A lone medic had followed them in, beginning to tend to the wounds of the ponies.

“If you would. But this time, I request a full report of what has happened so far. The barrier has given us more breathing room and you lot look like you need a rest” said the princess of the night, looking at the three fillies sitting on a cushion in the middle of the room.

“Okay then, Princess” said Mario, sitting at a desk, followed by the winged unicorn. He began to recite his tale from the past few days.

This whole thing began back when I was invited to attend a party at the castle. The Elements of Harmony had been invited too, but they never turned up. You had taken it upon yourself to escort them, leaving you out of the castle for what transpired next. I had managed to find my way into the fabled Hall of Harmony and was caught up by Princess Celestia. Upon us talking, we were interrupted by the spirit of chaos, Discord. He had claimed to have an artifact called the Star Rod, enabling his escape from his prison and boost in power. In a demonstration, he stole Canterlot Castle and suspended it in the sky. In an attempt to strike him, he knocked me out of the window. I luckily landed in the care of a farm, which I later found out belonged to the Element of Honesty. I had learnt of the kidnap of a young filly’s siblings, and after making an enemy with another filly her age, set out to town to find out what has happened. Before we reached the town, we were assaulted by a duo of con men, looking to claim the farm as theirs. They were wielding a machine which had been powered by energy from Discord. Despite this, Applebloom and I were able to trick the machine into breaking and disposing of the brothers. Upon reaching town, we had noticed a crime scene at the library, from where we had met Princess Luna. She began giving us information on the kidnapping, as well as a target to investigate. We also met Princess Cadence, who was able to act as a communication link between here and the castle.

Upon trying to leave Ponyville for Trottingham, we were met with resistance from Changelings, disguised as guards, but they were easily disposed of. Upon reaching Trottingham, we noted that there was a lack of villagers, finding only one remaining. This was a young pegasus called Scootaloo, being a friend of my companion Applebloom. Our suspicions were also confirmed in that the local tower had been captured by the changelings. We were captured by them on an attempt to infiltrate the tower, leading to us being placed in their prison. Here, we met up with another member of my party, the older brother of Applebloom and the Element of Honesty, Big Macintosh. With his help, the convicts managed to escape their grasps and give us an opportunity to confront the Elites that occupied the top of the tower. Seeing through their illusions, we managed to defeat them and recover a large card containing the Element of Honesty, Applejack. Returning to Ponyville, we had another skirmish with the brat I met at the apple farm. The situation was diffused easily, allowing us to return to our base of operations in the library, showing Princess Luna the card. She agreed to work on reversing the magic that caused this, while we followed up on a lead Princess Cadence had found in the castle.

We took a train to Dodge Junction, but it was stopped by interference by Discord, forcing us to disembark at the nearby village of Oasis. Adventuring up Mt. Oasis, we came to the aid of a postmare named Ditzy Doo. She had been attacked by a Griffon higher up the mountain. We encountered the avian called Gilda and subdued her in a fight, allowing us passage to the desert between the mountain and Dodge Junction. Upon setting out in this sandstorm, we discovered an actress who had become deluded into believing she was the character she was famous for playing. Using some aid from her, we managed to venture through the sandstorm into the town. There, an ex-captain donkey named Cranky gave us information on a gang of bandits who had been attacking the town. They were operating out of the tomb of Standing Bull, lead by a large blue ape. We set out to find out what they were doing, when we snuck into the cave and saw them. The gang consisted of a Bobcat, a Panther, a Kitten, a giant black snake and the blue ape himself. He was a creature called Ahuizotl, from the Daring Do stories. He had also captured the actress who thought she was Daring Do as well, seemingly to murder her. We subdued all of them but the snake, who escaped the cave before the guards could catch him. The actress managed to escape too, leaving us to recover the card containing the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy. Upon returning to Ponyville, we had learnt that the town was being treated as a refugee base as more of Equestria fell to Discord’s influence. We also had word from Cadence on a possible location for the next element.

We entered the Everfree forest to gain the advice of a Zebra who lived there in order to gain some advice. Discovering she had been attacked by a task force from Discord who wanted information, we tracked them down through the forest. Close to the cave where we were headed, we were attacked by a unicorn named Trixie who had mistaken us for Discord’s goons. Accepting her help, the two of us snuck into the cave to find her lost possessions in return for the Element of Magic she was holding as a ransom. In the ensuing scuffle, the Ursa’s inhabiting the cave were awakened, leading to them attacking us. I managed to pacify the bears by forcing Trixie to remove the ice spells she had cast on the area. This worked, and she joined me and the rest of the group on our return to Ponyville, along with the card containing Twilight Sparkle. On the way, we encountered the aggressive filly Diamond Tiara who had attacked us before. We warded her off safely, but she imparted detail of an attack on Ponyville by Diamond Dogs.

Upon meeting with Princess Luna, we learnt of the defences she was setting up to defend the town from further attack. As well as this, she had created a thrall of one of the Diamond Dog leaders, giving us passage into the tunnels where the dogs reside. This plan backfired and the dog shook off the mind control, attacking us and holding us prisoner in the tunnels. Using the force of a cockatrice, he managed to petrify all of us to offer as gifts to Discord, save for Scootaloo and Applebloom. They had managed to escape to a room which held petrified ponies in cages. Whilst in this room, they were cornered by the cockatrice from before, and managed to defeat it. This allowed for them to rescue all of the ponies that were captured and lead an attack to free me, Trixie, Ditzy and Big Macintosh. In the brawl that occurred between the dogs and the ponies, I managed to find the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash. This is all that has happened so far.

“Looks like you are starting to get on his nerves if he wants you captured” said Luna, with a slight chuckle. She folded up the piece of parchment she had been writing on and put it inside a black envelope.

“So what do we do now?” asked Scootaloo, looking at her freshly healed knees.

“Cadence hasn’t visited, so I know as much as the next pony when it comes to the lunatics plans. As far as we know, this ‘Garble’ chap is our best hope, but he’s not mentioned anywhere. Hay, he’s not even a fictional character” said the princess of the night as she fired a blue pulse out of the building." I did find something interesting about the magic used to seal the elements away though, but I suggest you rest up for the time being until--”

Suddenly, a massive earthquake shook the room, knocking everything inside the room down and covering all Mario could see in darkness...

Author's Note

Since I am nice, have some character comparisons (If you couldn't work them out already)

Mario- Mario
Princess Celestia- Princess Peach
Discord- Bowser
Screwball- Kammy Koopa
Twink- Princess Cadence
Goombario- Applebloom
Red, Blue and the Goomba King- Flim, Flam and the Super Cider Tank 6000
Jr. Troopa- Diamond Tiara
Merlon- Princess Luna
Kooper- Scootaloo
Bombette- Big Macintosh
The Koopa Bros.- Changeling Elites
Eldstar- Applejack
Parakarry- Ditzy Doo
Buzzar- Gilda
Kolorado- Daring Do
Moustafa- Cranky Doodle Donkey
Tutankoopa- Ahuizotl
Mamar- Fluttershy
Bow- Trixie
Tubba Blubba- Ursa Major and Minor
Skolar- Twilight Sparkle
Watt- Sweetie Belle
Big Lantern Ghost- Cockatrice
General Guy- Rover (Along with Spot and Fido)
Muskular- Rainbow Dash

Chapter 5 will reintroduce a character absent for a few chapters, along with introducing a new companion

Chapter 5-1: Tectonics

Five minutes ago

In a flash of white light, a draconequus appeared in the middle of a rocky outcropping. In the distance behind him, a large navy blue dome could be seen, resisting his influence. Around him, he could see signs of battle, with broken spears and pieces of armour strewn around the place. Chuckling, he began to teleport towards the main chamber of the Diamond Dogs, whilst turning a few ponies he saw into balloon animals. Arriving in the main chamber, he saw the room in a state of disarray. Looking up, a small grey dog gave out a shriek.

"Alright gentlemen, where are my decorations?" asked Discord, picking up the cowering dog.

"W-w-we lost them..." he stammered, flinching. His fellow dogs began to back away slowly, as quietly as possible.

"What" said the lord of chaos flatly, his face dropping. "What did you just say?"

"They somehow managed to break free from the petrification curse we placed upon them" sobbed the dog, shielding his face from the snarling Draconequus. Throwing the canine against a wall, the chaos spirit floated into the centre of the cavern.

"Fools!" he bellowed, raising his paw and claw into the air. "Now I have to betray you earlier than I planned and actually talk to those dragons!" His body began to be coated in a flashing white aura, engulfing his body. As the Diamond and Dig dogs began to scatter, a massive pulse of chaotic energy erupted from his body, tearing the cave system from the ground and hurling it into the sky. Summoning his sceptre, Discord flew up into the sky along with the spinning mass of rock. A bright blue light shone through the crystal at the end of the rod, filling the skies with violent purple clouds. The clouds converged into a huge, draconequus shaped cloud, crackling with power. A humongous purple paw swung down onto the floating cavern full of screaming dogs, smashing it towards the ground.

The ground shook as if it was falling apart as the enraged spirit of disharmony looked on from high, wand in hand. He saw the dogs crawling from the wreckage in an attempt to flee his wrath, but with a snap of his fingers, they were all turned into stone, along with a bunch of ponies he saw running towards the town. Looking upon the carnage he had brought upon the countryside, Discord laughed before descending into deep thought.I suppose the next stage of my plan needs to be activated he thought, teleporting away from the town.

In a forest, to the far west of Ponyville, were a gang of three teenage dragons. Their reckless ways had led to them being ostracized from their families, especially after their overhunting of phoenix's came to light. Life had been rough for them since then, since no dragon wanted to be associated with them. Their leader, a red male called Garble, was sure it was down to some baby he had met at the last migration. He had links to that pathetic Princess Celestia, who in turn had links to the Grand Dragon. His word was final on any matter involving dragons, even if it lead to somedragon's death. Stupid old fart thought the red teen, chewing on a rabbit he had caught. Dragons weren't usually carnivorous, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

But not much longer thought Garble, his mind drifting back to that odd pony that spoke to him a while back. She was bright pink and moved in ways that living things shouldn't. He was going to pound her into the dirt, when she spoke of the amount of gems she had access to. "Enough to feed you for the rest of your life" she had said, wicked grin on her face. All she had asked for was to be ready to look after some sort of treasure in a cave somewhere. He accepted instantly, having sensed his fates turning.

"Watcha thinkin' about, boss?" asked a lanky purple dragon, who was sitting on a log next to a fire, along with a short and fat brown dragon.

"About that crazy dame that offered us that job. Don't know when she's gonna get in touch with us. Just told us to wait in these woods" the red dragon replied, walking towards his friends.

"Hope it's sometime soon, these plants and bunnies are killing my guts" said the brown one, his belly audibly rumbling. Suddenly, a bright ball of white energy appeared above the fire, snuffing it out.

Jumping up, the teenagers got into battle stances around the sphere of light. Unrolling itself, the large form of a draconequus stretched his arms out.

"Who are you?" shouted Garble, getting ready to pounce.

"Ah, so you are the boys my secretary found. I am a friend, and a high paying friend at that" said Discord, bowing in front of them. Easing up their stances, the teenagers stood at alert in front of him.

"Ready to serve, sir" said the purple dragon. "Where do you want us to go?"

"The position isn't set up yet, but if you fly east, you'll know where it is" said the spirit of disharmony, a wicked grin spreading across his face. "Now if you excuse me, I have some preparations to do. Ciao!" he shouted, disappearing in another burst of light.

"Something about him seems... odd" said the chunky dragon, stretching his wings out.

"Yeah, I've never seen any dragon that looks like him before, boss" said the lanky dragon.

"That doesn't matter, what matters is that we are gonna eat like kings tonight, boys" said the leader, taking off from the ground into the night sky, closely followed by his gang.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

In the present

After the ground stopped shaking, the ponies began to pick themselves up. Emerging from under a pile of books, Applebloom ran over to her friends. "What the hay was that?" she asked.

"That felt like an earthquake" said Luna, firing a few more blue bolts out of the door towards the barrier. "A really strong one at that."

"Ponyville has never had an earthquake in all the years us Apples have lived here" stated Big Macintosh, helping Ditzy to her feet. "What could have caused it?"

"Five bits says Discord is behind this" said Mario, helping his younger brother up off the floor.

"If he is, that means he has finally decided to attack us" said the princess, walking out of the front door. As soon as she did, two pegasi guards flew into her. Quickly standing to attention before her, they saluted.

"M'lady, there was a sighting of Discord just out of town" said one of the guards, gasping for air.

"Go on" she said, rubbing her head.

"He was throwing some rocks around and literally kicking up a storm. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be aimed at the town" said the other soldier.

"Where about was this?" asked the princess of the night.

"Right where the Diamond Dog lair was" said the first guard.

"Dismissed, men" said Luna, ordering the guards away.

"Looks like Discord isn't a gracious loser then" said Trixie smugly, as the guards flew away from the library.

"We still don't know what he has in store for us though" said Ditzy, nursing a bruised knee. "He could just wish us all into marshmallows and eat us all up."

"If you remain under my shield, he cannot harm you" said the princess, picking up the report that was knocked onto the floor.

"How?" asked Scootaloo. "The storybooks say that the rod can grant any wish possible. He could turn your shield into a rain of spiders if he wanted to." Mario shuddered at the implication of that.

"I could explain where my source of magic comes from, but it'd take far too long. Let's just say it is formed from a mix of natural talent and harmony" Luna said, heading into the kitchen. "Now, while we have some downtime, you should eat." Nodding in agreement, the ponies followed her into the other room.

Floating high above the town, a Draconequus and a large playing card observed the barrier pulsing below him. I cannot touch this, if I know Loony right. I still need to get her attention though, without destroying the town. Snapping his fingers, as if struck by inspiration, Discord transferred his consciousness into a pale blue ghost version of himself floating next to her. Very handsome, if I do say so myself he thought, smirking. Snapping his fingers, the ghost of Discord teleported himself into the town.

Landing in Twilight Sparkle's bedroom, he heard muffled noises coming from downstairs. Time to pay them a little visit he thought, floating down the stairs. Standing in the main room were a few guards, wearing armour that had been dulled by a lack of care given. Snapping his fingers again, they all slumped over, asleep. In the next room, he could hear some children talking.

"Then I tripped over a Dig Dog, causing him to slap his friend in the face. It was so awesome" said a filly. Peering around a corner, the draconequus could see it was small orange pegasus talking. Floating into the room, Discord waved a claw at the Princess.

"Hello Loony!" shouted the spirit of chaos floating towards her.

"Guards!" shrieked Luna, flaring up her horn. Behind the ghost, the other ponies pulled into battle stances, dropping their food on the floor.

"Oh please, do be serious. Even if I hadn't knocked out all of your little soldiers, none of you could land a hit on me. Not you Princess, not you magician and certainly not you moustache" snickered Discord, wiping his mouth with a paw. "Heck, even the little girls have a better chance than you."

"What do you want?" growled Mario, getting ready to pounce.

"Just your attention. In about five minutes, there shall be some beautiful fireworks in your honour. You already have more than half of the elements, after all. Why not celebrate this?" said the ghost, sitting on the lap of the snarling plumber. Upon hearing this, Luna's face faulted.

"GO PROTECT THE ELEMENTS!" she yelled at Big Macintosh, who began to run out of the room.

"There's no need, farmboy. I cannot grab things in this form, telekinetically or otherwise. Anyhoo, I should be off. I have some preparations for my guests to do, so guten tag, meine kleine pferd!" the draconequus said, disappearing in a burst of light.

Now she has been scared, my next stage can commence he thought, returning to his regular body.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"How much longer, boss?" asked the chubby brown dragon, lagging behind his comrades.

"We've only been flying for fifty minutes. Quit whining" said Garble, leading the trio. "Anyone see anything... Woah" he said, slowing to a stop. Ahead of him, the world was contorted into odd shapes, with the effects of the chaos magic being more intense than in the forest the dragons had lived in.

"Do you think that is what he meant by 'we would know it when we see it'?" asked the purple dragon, pulling up alongside his red leader. Suddenly, Discord arrived next to the group in a flash of light.

"Hello, hello my draconic friends" said the draconequus, spinning around the leader. "I was just about to set up your home."

"Where?" asked the fat dragon, looking around at the environment. There wasn't a cave to be seen.

"Hold on just a minute" said the spirit of disharmony, teleporting the dragons and himself to above Ponyville. "First of all, here is what you will be guarding" he said, snapping his fingers. In another burst of light, a giant playing card materialized. Looking at the pony contained inside it, a glare formed on Garble's face.

"Her" he growled, flying to pick up the card containing a white unicorn with a purple mane.

"She looks like that one who protected that pathetic baby dragon. The one that got us exiled!" snarled the brown dragon.

"The one and same. Guard it with your life and be on the lookout for a bunch of ponies lead by a red earth with a moustache. They don't look like much, but they are tenacious" said Discord, his sceptre appearing in his hands. "Brace yourselves, this will be quite loud" he said, raising the rod above his head. A red pulse struck a large mountain sitting north of the barrier, causing it to visibly shudder. After a few seconds of calmness, the earth began to shake and the mountain gained a bright red glow as the earth began to calm down returning to normal. The peak of the mountain bulged and shuddered. Finally, the top of the mountain exploded, showering the barrier and dragons in magma and boulders.
After the smoke cleared, Garble looked over to newly formed volcano. It had lava flowing all over it and smoke gets obscuring any real entrances. In other words, a paradise for dragons. Smirking, the spirit of chaos snapped his fingers again. "Your payment is awaiting you in there. Don't eat it all at once, or you'll end up looking like your mothers!" he said, teleporting away.

"Was that an insult?" asked the lanky dragon. "I think we should pound his arse!"

"Not worth it. Come on, we have a job to do" said the red leader, flying towards his new lair.

Looking up at the sky, Mario could see a large crater open up on the local mountain. At least, he could when the world stopped shaking.

"I'm guessing those were the fireworks he mentioned" groaned Sweetie Belle, picking herself up from under another pile of books. "Oh my, are you OK princess?" she asked, running over to the shuddering figure of Luna.

"I am fine, my dear. I didn't expect such a large hit on the barrier" she said, attempting to smile.

"Are you sure? You look like you've been hit by a train" said the plumber as he helped the mare of the moon to her hooves.

"I am fine. Honestly. Now, hurry to the mountain!" she said, pointing the ponies towards the door. Nodding in acceptance, the crew consisting of Mario, Big Macintosh, Ditzy Doo, Trixie and the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran out of the door towards the billowing smoke in the distance.

Author's Note

Trust me, everything will be explained.

If anyone wants to name the other dragons, suggest some names in the comments

Chapter 5-2: Teachers and Adventurers

I'm running out of minions thought Discord as he sat upon his throne. In his room, he was surrounded by farm animals dressed up as clowns. Frolicking in the middle of them was his head minion, as well as occasional secretary, Screwball. She had been out scouting recently. I wonder if she found anyone.

"Screwball, dear, could you report to me your findings?" asked the Draconequus in a sweet voice. Floating over to him, the pink earth pony cleared her throat.

"Only one possible minion could be available. She's lurking outside Ponyville, seemingly waiting for somepony" the assistant said, bringing up a photo from her bag. Jumping from his seat, the lord of chaos snatched the image from her.
"Good work, Screwy!" he roared, hugging her. "While I'm out, go and visit that cloud city and bring our guest back here.

"Of course boss" she said, bowing as she flew out of the room. Snapping his fingers, the rod appeared in Discord's claw. With a swirl, a portal was opened to the location of his target, which the spirit of disharmony then climbed into.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Do we have any plan then?" asked Ditzy, walking alongside Mario. They were heading through town, weaving between the makeshift campsites that covered every free space in the town.

"I'd say beat them up, but I think they are much stronger than any old Diamond Dog or Griffon" replied the plumber, looking up at the outline of the mountain visible through the forcefield.

"Anything strong enough to turn a regular mountain into a highly volatile volcano is much too strong to take on in classic combat. We need a method of distraction and a set of fast legs" said the mage, Trixie. As the group neared a checkpoint in the barrier, a set of rapid hoofsteps came thundering from behind them. Turning to see what it was, the red stallions saw a purple mare with a pink mane hugging the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"I'm so happy to see you!" the mare said, overjoyed. "I've lost so many students since this whole chaos thing and I thought you kids might have been the cause of it again!"

"Put us down please, Miss Cheerilee..." groaned Scootaloo, being crushed in her teachers tight grip. Obliging, the purple pony rubbed her mane.

"Sorry, I'm just so relieved. Where are you off to anyway?" she asked, looking over towards the group.

"Going to investigate the big explosion we saw earlier. Don't worry about following" huffed Trixie, turning her head.

"I know that you lot work for Luna" Cheerilee said, her voice becoming a bit more serious. "I want to help."

"Help by going away" snapped the witch. "Don't you have some fillies to cuddle or something?"

"They all have families or other carers. Now, blue, I'm not a fan of what you are doing" the teacher replied, getting close to the blue mage. "I need to fight against Discord, not sit here and sob over the friends lost to indoctrination, whilst getting my revenge on him. Now are we going to play fairly?"

"I'd love to see you attempt to fight me" said Trixie, lighting up her horn as the purple mare pawed the ground. Stepping in between them, the large farmer opened his mouth.

"Stop it, both of you! None of this fighting is going to help" he said, turning between them. "Cheerilee, the people of the town need you for support."

"I know... I just wanted to get away from here. It's tearing me apart, and I just want to help somewhere else" she said, bowing her head.

"Wait" said Mario, putting a hoof to his jaw. "Do you know how to fight?"

"I wrestled a bit when I was younger" Cheerilee said, winking at Big Macintosh, who instantly turned redder than he already was. "I can certainly take on a couple of stallions."

"Welcome to the team then" said the plumber, smiling.

"Wait, what?" asked Trixie. "We don't need any more ponies following us around."

"As you said, we need all the help we can get. She's willing and capable" replied the moustachioed leader. "Strength in numbers and all that." Grumbling in response, the mage flicked her mane away from her eyes. Behind them, Sweetie Belle had a look of confusion on her face.

"Why was Big Mac so embarrassed when Miss Cheerilee said she was a wrestler?" she asked.

"Maybe she beat him so hard, he's still ashamed of it" replied Scootaloo.

"My brother is 25. He ain't ever wrestled and the first time he ever really met Cheerilee was last year when we had that meeting at the school" said Applebloom, shaking her head.

"Maybe they do it secretly?" asked Scootaloo, a little loudly. This caused both of the ponies being talked about to blush, as well as creating a little giggle from Ditzy.

"It was more of a playfight on the playground, girls" said the teacher, trying to keep her composure.

"But you said fighting was bad" said the small white unicorn, with a confused look on her face.

"Only if you are doing it with malicious intent" the purple mare said, starting to sweat. Looking over to Big Macintosh for help, she could see Trixie smirking at her. "I do hope that you are trying to stay safe" she said, glancing at Scootaloo's bandaged ear.

"I've beaten up Changelings, Cats and an army of Diamond Dogs. I don't think whatever is up this mountain can hurt me" said the orange pegasus, with a sense of pride.

"Arrogance will only get us killed" said Mario, continuing to walk. "We need to hurry and get up the mountain, before it's too late." Behind him, his assortment of ponies began to follow, along with the teacher they picked up.

As they walked up the mountain, the plumber dropped back to walk alongside his farmer friend. "So how good is Cheerilee at fighting?" he asked.

"She runs fast and can pin pretty much any pony. She was used to be on the Trottingham University running team, ya know" said the large red pony. "Honestly, she could probably beat the hay out of a royal guard any day of the week."

"I thought she said she was a wrestler" said Mario, grinning. "Or did she just wrestle with you?"

"That's all in the past. Just take my word for it, she can and will have all of our backs in a scrap" replied Big Mac, trying to avoid eye contact with the other stallion.

"That's good. My gut is telling me we have something really big waiting for us" replied the moustachioed pony.

"You feel that too?" asked Ditzy, who was flying beside them. Her flight wasn't exactly straight, so she occasionally veered off course towards the lava slowly flowing down the mountain. "It feels like we're going to melt if it gets any hotter here."

"Volcanoes do that" shouted Trixie from ahead. "Not getting to hot for you, is it teacher?"

"Not at all dear" replied Cheerilee, a smile forming on her face. She had been at the back along with Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

"I'm gonna go scout ahead" said the mailmare, flapping higher into the sky. A short while later, the pegasus descended back to the altitude her companions were at.

"What did you see?" asked Mario, wiping some sweat off of his brow.

"I saw a small tent, but I could hear three voices. They sounded male, but like teenagers" replied Ditzy, scratching her head.

"He's scraping the barrel a bit if he's hiring teenagers to attack us, isn't he?" asked Applebloom.

"They could be like alicorns or something. Or maybe even Discord's kids!" said Sweetie Belle, who seemed excited at the prospect of the last one for some reason.

"If there was more than one Discord, I think we would have been rubber ducks a long time ago" said the plumber, shaking his head. "I suppose we should hurry up and find out what's up there. Even if it is a bunch of teenagers, they probably could burp fire and bite a rock in half" he said, trotting up the slope once again, leading the rest of the ponies

__________________________________________________________________________________________

As they arrived at the summit of the mountain, a small brown tent could be seen near the entrance to a cavern. Flowing from the sides of the cavern was lava which seemed to defy gravity as it floated through the sky towards Ponyville. Inside the tent, the silhouette of a pegasus could be seen.

"That tent looks familiar..." said Scootaloo, with deep thought.

"I agree" said Mario, walking closer. As he approached the entrance to the tent, the pegasus leapt from the door.

"Long time, no see!" shouted Daring Do, as she hugged the plumber. "Are you here for the treasure that's up here?"

"Nope" said Big Macintosh, glancing towards the contents of her shelter. Inside was a bunch of crude drawings of what appeared to be a group of dragons entering the cave.

"Wait, isn't Daring Do a fictional character?" asked Cheerilee, confused yet again.

"Me, fictional? Pah, I'm the most famous archaologist in the entire world! Every museum and bad guy knows me from Saddle Arabia all the way to West Zebrica!" the adventurous pegasus said, looking at the teacher.

"Just play along with it, it's easier that way" said Ditzy quickly, as she pulled a muffin from her saddlebag.

"Anyways, since you helped me out in the desert, I guess I should drop you a hoof" she said, walking closer to the plumber. "I saw a bunch of dragons fly in here and I chased them all the way up here. As you should know, wherever a dragon goes, there will be gems."

"You couldn't even beat a bunch of cats, much less some dragons" said Trixie, sighing at the pegasus. "Unless you fancy being made into toast, I'd suggest you let the professional take care of this, as well as the ponies that follow her around."

"I don't think that mare is going to be able to defeat three teenage dragons on her own" Daring said, pointing at Cheerilee.
Giving the adventurer a deathly glare, the mage turned around. "Don't expect me to save your sorry flank then."

"Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea for you to try and rob these dragons. Discord has probably powered them up and they are in their natural habitat. Not that I'm questioning our abilities, but brute force cannot win this time" said Mario, looking over the area they were in. As well as the lava floating through the air, the ground that the ponies were resting on was rubbery and pink.

"I have a plan. Gather around, kids" said the delusional actress. "While you guys go in there and distract the dragons, I'll go in and steal all the gems safely." Looking around, she received glares from all of the surrounding ponies. "Fine. What is it that you're here for?"

"We need another element of harmony card" said the teacher, recalling what she had been told by Big Macintosh as they climbed the mountain.

"Those dragons must have it in their stash!" said Applebloom, pointing towards the cave entrance.

"I think we can run with my plan then" replied Daring.

"What?!" Mario snapped back, almost instantly.

"With a few modifications, of course. What I say is then we have two teams. Team 1 can be the distraction unit, and Team 2 can be the theft unit. You can decide the teams, red" said the black maned pegasus, laying back on the floor.

"Well, I suppose you, Big Mac and the kids can take up theft duty. Me, Trixie, Ditzy and Cheerilee can handle keeping the dragons off of you" said the plumber, scratching his healing stab wound.

"And when we get the card? I imagine we will be dealing with some rather irritated dragons as a result" said the blue mage, drinking some water from her canteen.

"Run like Tartarus towards Ponyville. Luna's barrier should keep us safe from the dragons" replied the moustachioed pony. "Everyone take a short break. This is going to get dangerous."

__________________________________________________________________________________________

About twenty minutes later, the ponies lined up to enter the cave. In the lead was the distraction group, headed up by Mario. Waiting slightly behind them was the theft group, lead by Daring Do. "Good luck! We'll join you in about ten minutes" said the adventurer, waving to the other group.

Leaning her head in, Ditzy whispered "Since when did she become competent?" as they entered the cave.

"Not a clue" replied the plumber, looking deep into the chamber. In the distance, he could hear some voices in the distance.

"That's them. They're the voices I heard" confirmed the mailmare, nodding her head. "How are we gonna play this?"

"We sneak in and keep them busy. Maybe trick them into hitting one another" said Mario, peering into the distance. He could feel the temperature of the air around him rising as he walked towards the chamber. "How good are you with those flares, Trixie?" he asked.

"My skill with illusions is world class. Frankly, you only need me for this job" said the mage, chuckling to herself.

"So you'd be ok with us going to join the theft crew then?' asked Cheerilee, a smile forming on her face.

"I still need to set up my best techniques. I need meat shields, something Earth Ponies are more than suited for" smirked back the unicorn.

"Shh" said Mario, bringing his hoof up to stop the ponies following him. "I think we have found their lair" he said, gazing over towards the lava palace in the centre of the cavern. Sitting in the middle of the chamber surrounded by gems, they could see three dragons along with a large playing card upon a small throne.

Author's Note

Talk about a schedule slip :P

Chapter 1-3: Deceptive Cadence

The four giant changelings advanced on the party, baring their teeth.

"It looks like we have a few trespassers. How about we show you what pain really is?" said the monsters in unison and licking their lips.

"Enough! Who are you!" shouted Mario, standing defiantly to the advancing bugs.

"Why, we're your worst nightmares" they said, in unison once again. Their voices were smooth as usual, yet had an undertone of cruelty to them. One of them transformed into a yellow earth pony with black hair. "Do you miss me, Macintosh?" called the new pony. "I've missed you so much".

Big Macintosh was snarling at the group. "How dare you use her image like that!" he yelled at the fake pony. He charged at her, but was intercepted by a green bolt of energy. It knocked him over, and caused him to tumble into a bookshelf.

"Big Mac!" cried out Applebloom. she looked over at the source of the bolt and saw Twilight Sparkle standing there. Behind her was the other two female changelings standing with huge grins on their faces.

"Move a muscle, filly, and I'll hit him again" she said, pointing her horn at the incapacitated stallion.

"You ain't Twilight. You're just heartless monster, who needs to be put in their place!" she shouted back with tears in her eyes.

"Little Applebloom, why are you crying? Don’t worry, mummy is here to console you" said the fake pony walking towards the filly, chuckling as she approached.

"Get away from her, bug brains!" yelled Scootaloo, as she dived headfirst at her, smashing her face into the copy of Mrs. Apple. The impact caused the clone to stumble and collapse unconscious, and drop its disguise. Its true form was that of a regular changeling, but much larger than normal and wearing regal armour. Scootaloo also was knocked out by the impact, due to her prior head injury, and she slouched to the floor.

In the wake of the fight, Big Mac had managed to sneak up on the fake Twilight. He reared up a buck and unleashed it on the unsuspecting fiends head, knocking it flying into another wall. In a similar fashion, it transformed into its true form as well, leaving only two able to fight.

"Fools, you have incurred the wrath of your princesses!" shouted the Luna copy. Their forms were now that of the two rulers of Equestria, but with expressions of pure anger on their faces.

"Give it up, we know you're just a pair of bugs there" said Mario. "Now surrender, or I will kick you so hard, the real queen changeling will feel it!"

"Never!" replied the Celestia clone, hissing at the trio. A brilliant light filled the room, as the temperature began to rise. "Now burn to cinders!" it screamed.

Mario ran towards the white fake princess, and grabbed her face between his hooves. He jumped up on her back, and began to hit her in the face, causing her to shriek. Applebloom also ran over and did the same to Luna clone, and steered her towards the one the stallion was controlling.

"Unhand me, you filthy cur!" shouted the fake Celestia, trying to shake Mario off.

"Now, kick Luna as hard as you can Big Mac!" called out Mario. He unleashed a gigantic buck into the side of Luna, sending her flying into the side of her sister. Together, they crashed into the wall, but had left their riders unscathed. Finally, the last two changelings transformed back into their base forms.

"Tie those clowns up, AB, and look after Scoots, Big Mac" the moustached pony ordered.

"Eeyup" said the larger stallion, picking up the unconscious filly.

Mario searched the room, checking every nook and cranny in there. At long last, he found a switch hidden in the wall.

"Aha!" he exclaimed, "Found something". He pushed in the switch, and immediately, the stones in the wall began to fall down, opening passage to the elusive chamber. Inside was very small, with a few candles to light the room. But in the centre was a most shocking secret: A large playing card with a pony on it.

Running over with the filly on his back, Big Mac said "Why is there a playing card with my sister on it in here?", with a bemused look on his face.

"I don't know. Maybe princess Luna could elaborate more on it?" replied Mario. He picked up the large card and placed it on his back, so the horrified face of Applejack was pointing towards the sky.

"Come on missy, we should be gettin' along now" the larger stallion said to his sister.

"Coming!" called Applebloom as she ran towards the group. "Why do you have a card of my sister on my back Mario?" she said with a confused look on her face.

"Just as puzzled as you are. We're going to need some clues to explain what is going on, don’t we?" he replied. In all truth, he didn't even know where they were going to go. The royal guard were bound to be on their way to the castle to arrest the captured changelings, but they hadn't found an element of harmony there. He sighed and began his journey back to Ponyville.

As they approached the town, Scootaloo woke up quickly. "What did I miss?" she asked.

"Just Big Mac kicking Twilight and Luna in the face" said Mario, trying not to crack a smile.

"WHAT!?" she said, with a shocked look on her face.

"Relax, they were changelings, I ain't no traitor" he replied calmly.

In the bushes near them, there was some rustling. "I have you now, Mario" said the unseen hunter under its breath.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the castle in the sky, the two princesses were still brainstorming on how they could help.

"I've got it!" said Cadence, eyes filled with glee.

"Do explain, dear" replied Celestia, who was very tired and trying to stifle a yawn.

"Discord himself doesn't act on a plan, but one of his cronies might. If we can steal it, we would be able to find where he has taken the elements" exclaimed the pink princess. "That way, we could be one step ahead of him".

"A very good plan, but how do you suggest we get out of the room and to one of their control rooms undetected?" asked the white princess.

"There must be some secret passages in this castle that lead from here" said the younger pony. She walked towards the bookshelf, looking for a book on the castle. She saw a book labelled 'Canterlot Through the Ages', and tried to pick it up. As soon as she picked it up, a loud rumbling sound shook the bedroom.

"This may be our escape route in here" said Celestia, extinguishing the fire with a spell from her horn. The tunnel behind the fireplace was small and dark, with a foul musk coming from it. "It would appear to be too small for me to enter. Be a dear and follow the tunnel, would you?" asked the princess.

"Why thank you, auntie," said Cadence sarcastically, "but I think that if I was to be discovered on the other side, our entire plan could be ruined".

"I understand your plight, and I think I have a solution. Put this suit of armour on" she said, pulling a box out from her closets. "It's the armour I wore a thousand years ago when I faced Nightmare Moon. The brainwashed guards aren't too smart so they should let you pass without too much persuasion". The armour consisted of a silver helmet, golden chest plate and a set of silver chain mail across her back. Cadence slipped into it, finding it was almost a perfect fit. "Good luck, and take care" the sun princess said.

The disguised princess crawled into the dingy tunnel, crawling over the putrid puddles and musty moss. She barely fit, and her fur and feathers were being tarnished by the rotten route. A small grille was allowing light in, and she could hear two voices talking. She leaned in, listening to the conversation beneath her.

"Once again, I bring bad news" said a shrill female voice. "The changeling occupation at Trottingham Tower has been repelled. According to the bugs that fled, it was that red stallion again who attacked them. Also, the Honesty card is missing from its chamber, and we have no clue of its whereabouts".

"Do you have any of the deserters here with you?" said an angry male voice.

"Whole unit of them" replied the girl. The unit was frogmarched in, taken as prisoners by the brainwashed soldiers of Discord. Cadence climbed to get a better view of the situation and saw it was indeed the spirit of chaos and his assistant standing in the throne room.

With a snap of his fingers, the draconequus turned all of the changelings into chickens, and then into multiple colours. He turned to his assistant and said "Raise the alarm at all other places, and warn the bugs queen. Failure won't be tolerated again, tell her."

"Understood, my lord" she replied, saluting before she floated out of the room above the mass of panicked poultry. With some new knowledge under her belt, Cadence continued her crawl to her destination, through the foul tunnels.

Underneath a large flight of stairs, Cadence emerged from her tunnel. She looked around and saw that the chamber she was in was mainly empty, which meant she didn’t need to be as stealthy. Slowly but surely, she searched rooms around the castle, spotting only a few guards blocking access to the throne room and other important rooms.

Eventually, she found herself inside a large room, full of maps. On the central table, there was a map of the great desert that covered much of Equestria's southern half. In the middle was a large red X, seemingly marking a point in the desert near a small town known as 'Dodge Junction'. Cadence quickly took note of this, memorizing the position of the cross. Suddenly, she felt a blade on the back of her neck. "What are you doing here?" said the loud, brash voice that had accosted her.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I think we may finally be back!" said Scootaloo, seeing the pleasant town close by.

"It was nice to be able to make a journey without being attacked for once" said Mario, helping Big Macintosh to carry the Applejack card.

"Not so fast!" shouted a high pitched voice, jumping from the bushes.

"Goddammit" cursed Mario. "What the hell do you want?"

"I'm here for my revenge! Not only did you break my doll, you humiliated me! At least now I am able to beat you up with my new technique" Diamond Tiara shrieked. She pulled a metal helmet from her bag, and placed it on her head. "Try kicking me now, it wont work!"

"Why is she out for your blood Mario?" asked Scootaloo, with a bemused look on her face.

"Honestly, I don't know. Come on, let's just ignore her" he replied, walking past her. Suddenly, a hoof swung out and smacked him on the nose. "Ow, what the hay?" exclaimed Mario, holding his face.

"I told you, I'm not letting you past without me smacking you around a bit" she said, getting angrier.

"Let me go past, and I won't have to hurt you" he replied stomping on the ground.

"Fine. Be that way" she said, walking away. Mario let out a sigh of relief, thinking "It's always the crazy ones". As soon as he thought that, he heard Applebloom shout out for him.

"Look out!" she yelled. Mario turned around and saw the armoured filly flying towards him. He ducked, causing her to narrowly miss, and making her roll on the ground to her feet. She prepared another dive, but her body was tackled by the duo of Scootaloo and Applebloom.

"Buzz off, Diamond Tiara, this isn't a game!" the orange filly said, struggling to hold the squirming pony.

"I never said it was! This common thug attacked me in that dumb farm of yours, and I want revenge!" she screamed, stamping her hooves. The group of four ponies began to advance on her, causing her to take a few steps back. "However, I don’t think this is the time for it. Mark my words, colt, I will kick you in the teeth soon" she said, running away.

The party looked on, at the fleeing filly, confused as to what the moustachioed stallion had done to her. "Why do I get the feeling we're going to see a lot more of her?" asked Mario, shrugging.

"Because you attacked her?" asked Scootaloo.

"Not on purpose. Besides, she's insane" he replied.

"Agree with you there" said Applebloom.

"Shall we continue our journey into Ponyville then?" asked Big Macintosh. The other ponies agreed, and began walking towards the centre of town.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Why aren't you at your position, soldier?" asked a huge pegasus. He was pale blue and had a silver mohican, and had a large scar on his face. "ANSWER ME!" he bellowed.

Cadence stumbled, trying to get to her hooves. "I thought I saw an intruder sir, I followed him sir. No intruders here, sir!" she said, in an attempt to imitate the royal guard, albeit horribly.

"You look different to the regular guardsmen" he said, closing in on Cadence, still with his sword in his mouth. She began to nervously twitch her eyes around and sweat heavily. "We don't see many female guards ponies here. 'Specially not after the boss took over"

"Only working to protect and serve our great overlord, sir" she said, her voice beginning to crack with fear.

"You seem like a good soldier. You might have Discords will appeased on you" he said, walking out of the room. When he was out of earshot, Cadence gave out a huge gasp of relief. She was centimetres away from discords third in command, and she had somehow not been caught. She looked down at herself and saw that the grime in the tunnels had stained her and feathers brown, which improved her disguise.

"Are you going to go to your post, soldier?" she heard the captain bark. Running out of the door, she fled the room and stood at alert at the bottom of the stairs. She waited until the old pegasus left the room, and she ducked into the hole in the ground and began her journey back to the princess.

Cadence crawled out of the small tunnel, and into the bedroom.

"My gosh, dear you look awful" said Celestia to the filthy princess.

"The tunnel doesn't look like it gets cleaned often" said the younger princess to her elder. "I have discovered some intelligence that could well be useful" she said, taking off the helmet that was loaned to her.

"Interesting, do proceed" said the sun princess, cleaning the helmet that was just set on her bed.

Brushing her mane, Cadence said "First of all, they have lost control of the element of Honesty. Also, it would appear that there is some operations taking place in the desert regions near Dodge Junction. It would be well worth an investigation into the area, just in case it could hold more clues".

"I agree" Celestia said, placing the helmet back on her niece. "Go and find Luna and inform her of the new intelligence, as well as the great news regarding the recovery of the elements".

"Will do" said the mucky pony, opening the windows and diving down to the earth. Celestia smiled, and closed the windows. She turned and looked at the carpet, and saw a stain on it. She frowned, and summoned a bucket and mop to her hooves.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the town centre, they could see the library tree, still covered in police tape. The farmer stallion tapped Mario on the shoulder, and began whispering in his ear.

"After what happened up at the tower, my little sis is going to have questions about our mother. I'll take her back to the farmhouse, and I'll explain to granny what's going on as well" he whispered.

Mario nodded and said "We'll be at the library if you decide to rejoin us. Thanks for the help anyway".

"Just looking after my family" he said. "AB, we're going to visit granny!" he called out.

"See you later, Scoots" she said, running over to her brother. The two began to walk towards the farm leaving the other two behind.

"Are you going to stay and be my assistant too?" he asked the orange filly beside him.

"Only if I get to be a sidekick" she said excitedly.

"Fine." Mario sighed and led her towards the library, past the yellow tape.