A completely normal day in Ponyville. We swear.
It was a normal day in Ponyville.
Spike hefted the stack of papers with a tiny grunt of effort and placed them onto the cart next to several barrels of apples. An errant breeze threatened to carry away the top of the stack, but with a quick hop Spike jumped onto the bed and caught them with a claw. He straightened the stack and sat down in the cart, slipping the first page out and giving the rest a reassuring pat.
“Got everypony’s forms organized alphabetically and by section,” the dragon said, eyeing the stack warily as it started to slide in the other direction. “Err… and you’re sure you need all this?”
Twilight Sparkle breathed in the crisp autumn air and beamed at her faithful assistant. “Of course we do, Spike. Mayor Mare is relying on us to organize the Autumn festival, and that means keeping proper check of the many stalls and stands in attendance. And for that, we need forms!”
Applejack whistled as she straightened up, lifting the ends of the cart’s harness comfortably on her back and starting forward. “If you say so, Twi. Ah have to say, yer practically bouncin’ on your hooves! Ah haven’t seen you this excited in a long time? Lookin’ forward to the festival that much?”
Twilight paused in mid-skip and grinned sheepishly at her friend. “A little. It’s nice to have something simple like a festival to organize, compared to planning school work and such. Besides, Shining, Cadance, and little Flurry Heart said they’ll be showing up!”
A sudden roar broke the three friends from their conversation. They spun around and saw a cloud of dust rise over a house several streets over. Without a word they ran towards it as fast as they could, Spike barely managing to keep the stack of forms flying away as they took the corner too fast.
Ahead of them, a giant cragadile stomped through the center of town. It was almost twice the size of the last one they had seen and clearly angry about something. Fortunately most of the ponies had already made their way to the festival grounds, but there was still a hoofful running about its legs in a panic. The cragadile menaced a small filly and lunged, but at the last second a rainbow blur shot between its jaws and scooped the filly out of harm’s way.
Rainbow Dash placed the filly on the ground and watched her scamper away to safety as Twilight and Applejack skidded to a halt next to her. Within moments Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy appeared at a dead sprint and joined them.
“How did such a tremendous creature make it all the way into Ponyville?!” Rarity exclaimed, wincing as its tail smashed off part of a house. “Do you know what it wants, Fluttershy?”
The timid pegasus shook her head worriedly. “I’m afraid she’s not really saying anything at all. I don’t know why she’s so upset, but I don’t think she’ll listen to us.”
“Then it’s monster butt-kicking time!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, knocking her forehooves together in excitement.
Spike crawled to the front of the cart and leaned over it. “Twilight? Is there anything I can do to help?”
In answer, Twilight picked him up in her magic and placed him in front of the harness just as Applejack shucked out of it. “Just get clear, Spike. Let the Mayor know that were going to take care of this.”
She turned and struck a pose with her friends, lighting up her horn in anticipation of the fight to come. “All right, girls. Let’s save the day!”
The cragadile roar in challenge as the six ponies leapt forward to do battle and drive it back into the Everfree.
Just a normal day in Ponyville.
Mayor Mare let the cool autumn breeze play through her hair and sighed in contentment. She blinked open her eyes and surveyed the preparations going on around her. From her spot on a little rise she could see most of the fairgrounds. To one side, a row of tables stretched in an arc around the open area. At the nearest one that local farmer Big Mac and his new marefriend were just about done setting up their table, merely waiting for his sister to arrive with their wares. Across from them some of the local musicians were setting up their instruments in the gazeebo. In an open patch the local schoolteacher Cheerilee oversaw a game of tag involving a veritable herd of the town’s youth and some students from Twilight’s school. In fact, most of the town had already shown up and were milling about good-naturedly, despite how the festival had yet to properly start.
The Mayor smiled pleasantly. Just another beautiful day in the town she loved.
“Everything looks like it’s coming together wonderfully,” their guest, Princess Cadance, said. Her husband stood at her side, holding his giggling filly to his chest proudly.
A similar pride shone in the Mayor’s eyes as she turned her attention back to her guests. “Of course, your Highness. We’ve been planning this for quite a while. In fact,” she said, waving a hoof at a familiar mare as she passed close by, “I want to introduce you to one of my closest friends, Amethyst Star. She helped plan this festival with Princess Twilight.”
“You mean listened while she did all the work!” Amethyst laughed, and then seemed to realize just who she’d made the joke to. “Oh! I mean… it’s just, you see, Twilight was… I mean, you sister… I mean the Princess…!”
The two royals broke out into peals of laughter and Shining put up a calming hoof. “It’s alright, calm down! We know how Twily can get and that sounds just like her!”
Amethyst gave a nervous laugh and visibly relaxed. “Ah ha, sorry. I used to do all the planning for stuff like this before she came to town, you see, and it’s nice to get to do it again.”
“And what great work you have done!” the Mayor said, earning a grateful smile from the mare, “Everything seems to be coming along swimmingly! Why don’t we-”
Whatever she’d been about to suggest was cut short as a scream cut through the air. “MONSTER!!!!!”
All of the ponies shrieked in horror as a massive blue claw burst out of the ground at the edge of the fairgrounds closest to the Everfree forest. Within moments a large creature resembling nothing more than a muscular mole had clawed its way up from the ground and squatted on the edge of the forest. It let out a terrible roar and as if on cue all the ponies started running about in a panic.
The Mayor blinked and turned a stiff look to Amethyst. “Tell me again, was it yours or the Princess’s idea to place the festival right next to the Everfree forest?”
“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!” Roseluck screamed, rushing between them closely followed by Daisy and Lily Valley. Ponies were running about every which way, somehow miraculously not running into any of the stalls or breaking anything for once. All the noise and commotion seemed to be really bothering the creature, which had its paws pressed to the side of its head to cover its ears.
The Mayor snapped back to the present and rushed forward into the crowd of panicked citizens. She held up her hooves to try to restore order. “Calm down, everypony! It’s just another monster attack! We know what to do!”
“This happens often?” Princess Cadance asked in a horrified tone.
The Mayor spun back around and gave the princess a tired smile. “One of the prices of living next to a place like the Everfree Forest. But everything will be alright! When a monster comes into town, Princess Twilight and her friends always take care of it!”
“Whoa!” a voice cried out, and they turned towards the town to see Spike pulling, or rather being pulled by, the harness of a cart as it picked up speed going down a hill. The little dragon had apparently been running and didn’t have the energy to slow the cart’s momentum on the final stretch. He planted his feet into the ground and dug up twin trenches of earth as he coasted to a stop just before the Mayor and the rest.
“Spike?” the Mayor asked, looking around expectantly, “Where’s Twilight and the others?”
“They’re… not here…” Spike gasped as he tried to get his breath back, “There was a… another monster in town… they’re… they’re getting rid of it… probably already… on the other side of the town…”
The Mayor blinked rapidly as she tried to digest this new information. “So… they’re not coming?”
“GRAAAHHH!!!!” the creature roared, swinging a claw and sending a table flying through the air.
“We’re on our own?” Amethyst said in dawning horror, “We’re on our own! What do we do?”
“What did you do before Twilight moved to town?” Princess Cadance asked.
The Mayor was still coming out of her shock but managed to give the problem some thought. “I… don’t remember. Those six have taken care of stuff like this for so long, I can’t recall what we did before!”
“PANIC!” Lily cried as the flower trio ran past them again, inexplicably going in the opposite direction from before.
The monster charged forward to where a small cluster of students, including a dragon, a hippogriff, a changeling, a yak, and a griffon, were trying to hide against the gazeebo. It raised a claw to swipe at them, but at the last moment a shimmering shield of blue magic interposed itself between them.
Shinning Armor’s legs buckled a little due to the strain his shield was under. “It’s really strong! What is this thing?”
“It’s a maulwurf!” Starlight Glimmer said, teleporting in next to the prince and charging her own shield to help hold up his. “Trixie and I met one when we were sent to the changeling hive. Actually, this almost looks like the same one!”
“It’s tracked us down to enact its revenge!” one of the cowering ponies, the magician Starlight had just mentioned, exclaimed as she tried unsuccessfully to hide inside her own hat.
“Calm down, Trixie!” Starlight said, dragging her friend out and prodding her towards the forest. “If it is after us, we can lead it away! Come on, follow me! Maybe we can lead it all the way back to the changeling hive!”
“Wasn’t that what got us into trouble in the first place?” Trixie exclaimed, but Starlight had already run off. “Starlight? Starlight, wait for me! Starlight, I can’t run all the way to the changeling empire…”
The maulwurf watched the two ponies flee off into the trees and sniffed at the air. It let loose a roar and charged after the retreating duo, smashing through the trees that got in its way.
As the Mayor’s group ran up, Shining held out his daughter to his wife. “Here, take Flurry. I can’t let those two face that thing alone!”
“Be safe!” Cadance said, giving her husband a quick kiss on the cheek before he ran down the broken trail after them.
“Are they going to be alright?” Amethyst asked, worry etching her features. “That monster was strong enough it took two of them working together to hold it back. There must be some way to calm it down that won’t need brute force!”
“If Fluttershy were here…” the Mayor started, before noticing whose stall they were standing closest to, “But we have the next best right here! Zecora!”
The zebra looked up sharply from the bottles she was trying to right as the small group crowded around her. “Yes? Is there some way I can assist, now that the creature is not in our midst?”
The Mayor pointed down the trail of broken trees. Already, flashes of magic could be seen in the dark depths of the forest. “They need help stopping it! Do you have some kind of potion that can put it to sleep or something?”
Zecora scratched her chin and appraised the collection of flasks around her. “Perhaps I have a brew or two that can do that for you!”
“Great!” Spike said, scooping up an armful of them and hopping onto the zebra’s back. “You run and I’ll unstopper them! I want to help too, since I couldn’t help against the cragadile!”
“Very well, but hold tight! I don’t wish to lose you in my flight!” Zecora said, dashing off to catch up to the distant battle. Very soon they were lost to the distance and the Mayor stared after them with a weird look on her face.
“Something wasn’t right about that…” she said to herself, but then shook her head and broke out of her reverie. “Alright everypony, the trouble has passed! Let’s all get this cleaned up and get the festival back on track!”
Cadence could only stare as the ponies of Ponyville swiftly returned and set about picking up where they left off. “Just like that? I mean, you were just attacked by a monster and it’s just business as usual?”
“It happens more than we would like,” the Mayor sighed, as a couple of musicians started tuning up their instruments in the gazeebo, “but we’re a hardy bunch. It’ll take more than one monster to break our town spirit!”
“ANOTHER MONSTER!” Roseluck shouted, and the group spun around to see a mound of earth surge up into the air like a mini volcano.
“Did the maulwurf come back?!” Amethyst shouted, leaping forward to place herself between it and the filly in the group, but it wasn’t the maulwurf.
Instead, a half dozen diamond dogs burst forth from the top of the mound and rushed the stage. The poor musicians didn’t have any time to react as the dogs snatched their instruments right out of their hooves. The dogs tore back to their tunnel, and one wearing a red vest paused at the lip and turned to address his stunned audience.
“Ponies too noisy!” the dog barked in a raspy voice, lifting the prench horn he’d stolen over his head like a trophy, “Diamond dogs tired of pony noise! Diamond dogs put end to pony music!”
“No!” Octavia yelled, barely being restrained by her friend Vinyl Scratch as the dog disappeared down the hole, “I’ve had that cello for years! I will not lose it like this!”
With pure earth pony strength, Octavia dragged Vinyl all the way to the top of the hole as if she weren’t there. It took the Mayor, Amethyst, and Cadance combined to stop her from diving straight into the tunnel. Flurry Heart bounced in her mother’s magic, clearly loving all this excitement.
“Octavia, stop and think!” the Mayor said, “Rarity told me once that these tunnels stretch for miles under the town. You’ll never find them in that maze!”
“You know, it’s a little strange we’ve never done anything about the town being literally undermined beneath our hooves…” Amethyst muttered to the aside.
The Mayor glared at her, and then turned back to Octavia. “My point is that they could be anywhere by now, and nopony in town would be able to find them!”
“Technically, that isn’t true,” a dull voice broke in to their conversation. “Maud knows all the tunnels beneath this town, including all the branches, caves, caverns, crosscuts, hollows, mines, passages, pits, shafts, and other subterranean areas in the vicinity. She does make her residence within them, after all.”
The group turned their attention to a plain looking pony the Mayor thought was named Mud Briar as he continued to lecture them. “Although, at present my marefriend is outside the town limits, so technically she is not ‘in town’, so your statement is technically correct after all.”
“Wait, your marefriend?” the Mayor asked, wheels spinning in overdrive in her head, “Does that mean you also know your way down there?”
“Technically, I only know the parts I have already been to, which would include all extant tunnels, unless more have been dug recently by the diamond dogs ingress, of course-”
“Indeed!” the Mayor cut him off, directing her attention to the still straining Octavia, “And you’re determined to go down there right now, without waiting for any back-up?”
Octavia gave the Mayor a glare as if even the thought being separated from her precious cello for even a moment longer was unacceptable. Vinyl eased back and gave a nod that seemed to convey that she would stand by her friend through any danger in a way that simple words could not.
The Mayor sighed and backed away from the hole. “Alright, then good luck to you!”
“And I’m going with them!” Princess Cadance said with finality. She passed her daughter into Amethyst’s surprised hooves, and the filly giggled and immediately started chewing on the end of Amethyst’s mane.
The Mayor sputtered for a second and held up a hoof. “But Princess, you are our guest! We couldn’t ask you to put yourself in danger!”
“As a Princess, I might be able to find a way to solve this problem diplomatically,” she said, “And if it should come to a fight, then an alicorn will be more than enough protection.”
“I… very well, then…” the Mayor said in defeat as the four of them descending into the tunnels and were soon gone. She stood at the lip of the hole, lost in her own thoughts as she stared down into it.
Amethyst approached, struggling to hold onto the playful alicorn. “Mayor, are you alright? What’s bothering you?”
“That wasn’t right either…” the Mayor muttered to herself, before shaking her head and coming back to the present. “This is a disaster, Amethyst! Our royal guests have all run off to put themselves into harm’s way! I can’t think of any way this could get worse!”
“AHHHH!!! SOMETHING ELSE IS ATTACKING!!!” Lily screamed.
“THE HORROR!! THE HORROR!!” Daisy wailed.
The Mayor felt one of her eyes start to twitch as she turned around to see what new catastrophe was unfolding. She stood shock still for several moments, then tilted her head slightly in her friend’s direction. “Amethyst?”
“Yes, Mayor?”
“Are those trees pulling themselves out of the ground and lumbering towards us?”
“Um… yes, Mayor. That does seem to be what’s happening.”
A nearby hill was currently giving new meaning to the word ‘deforestation’ as every tree on it was currently making its slow way towards the festival. Ponies screamed and ran about aimlessly as the trees walked amongst them, honestly doing more damage to themselves as they ran into each other in their panic. In fact, the trees seemed to be doing their best to avoid contact with anypony, though their sluggish movements didn’t give them a lot of time to get out of the way of the excited citizenry.
“Could be worse,” Amethyst said as the leafy horde descended upon them, “It could be trees from the Everfree.”
A large, wizened oak tree led the throng, and it appeared to be growing something of a face on its front. It suddenly started shouting in a deep, ancient voice. “I am the Great Oak! I seek the aid of your champions!”
“THEY WANT TO TURN US INTO FERTILIZER! WE'RE DOOMED!” the flower trio keened in perfect harmony, inciting the rest of the ponies into further panic.
The Mayor and Amethyst ran down the hill and tried to calm everypony down, to little success. Realizing that this might be a chance to talk down a situation, the Mayor turned her attention back to the tree and realized she was not going to be the first to try.
“Um, Mr. Great Oak?” Apple Bloom said, a nervous hitch underlying her voice as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stood by her for support, “My sister and her friends usually protect Ponyville, but they aren’t here right now…”
The Great Oak regarded them gravely before intoning loud enough to be heard by everypony in the fairgrounds. “The Tree King has called us to service against the Moss’d Ones, but we know that without aid our forces shall fail! We will await for your champions here, but the Moss’d Ones may come for us soon and battle may be brought upon you all! Prepare for the toil ahead!”
“NO no no no no no!” the Mayor said in a panic, rushing up to the Great Oak closely followed by Amethyst. “There must be some way to avoid a war here!”
The Great Oak bent over as much as its ridged body would allow to stare down at her. “Indeed, we would wish to join our brethren on the traditional holy fields of battle, but we must not go without support! And who are you to speak so proprietorially for this settlement?!”
“My name is Mayor Mare!” the Mayor babbled, “And this is Amethyst Star and Princess Flurry Heart and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and…”
“We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Scootaloo said proudly, before getting elbowed in the side by a glaring Sweetie Belle. “What, not the time?”
The Great Oak’s… eyes… widened a little at her declaration and it leaned back. “Crusaders?! The name is known to us, and as warriors of great valor! You seem a tad small for such titles, but then all of you are quite small already… very well! We accept your aid, champions!”
“Wait, what?!” the Crusaders all exclaimed at the same time.
The Mayor, on the other hand, pushed the three of them forward. “Yes, indeed! They can help you!”
“Now wait just one minute!” Cheerilee shouted, rushing forward to stand angrily in the Mayor’s face. “You can’t just send these fillies off to fight in a magical war! What are you thinking?!”
“Yes, what are you thinking?” Amethyst asking in a whisper, concern starting to edge into her voice.
The Mayor ignored her and whispered fiercely back to the schoolteacher. “We have no idea when Twilight or any of the others are going to make it back, and I have a duty to protect this town. These girls have more experience with adventures than anypony else here combined, and they’ve been around their sisters long enough that they have to have picked up on… something! Aren’t their special talents helping ponies? They’ve got this! Besides, can you think of anything other way to get rid of them?”
Cheerilee’s determination appeared to waver as the Mayor’s arguments settled in uncomfortably. “I may not have another answer right now, but I certainly know that sending three little fillies into danger all on their own is a horrible idea!”
“Then come with us!” Sweetie Belle said, startling the two adults out of their staring contest. “You can keep an eye on us and make sure we don’t get hurt.”
“And we can bring my brother too!” Apple Bloom said excitedly, “He’s super strong and knows a lot about trees. He’ll help!”
“Eey-what?” Big Mac sputtered, surprised to have been dragged into this. He glanced over and met Cheerilee’s eyes for a moment, and then to two of them looked away at the same time.
Unfortunately, Sugar Belle caught the awkward glance and interpreted something in it. She stepped close to Big Mac and put a foreleg possessively around him, glaring a little at Cheerilee. “If he’s going, I’m going to!” she declared.
“Very well!” the Great Oak intoned before anypony else could say anything, “We must ready ourselves for battle! TREE MAGIC!”
A green flash of light surrounded the six ponies, and when it vanished they were all clad in wooden armor and each had a wooden sword clenched in their teeth. With another cry of “TREE MAGIC!” the Great Oak’s green magic teleported the six of them and all the other animated trees in one giant flash of light. The remaining ponies all slowly walked back into the middle of the festival grounds, still a little shocked at the suddenness of that whole exchange.
Amethyst looked over at the Mayor and did a double take.” Are you smiling? What about all of that is there to smile about?”
“I figured it out!” the Mayor said, grinning with just a little bit of mania, “I knew the other groups felt wrong. But it wasn’t the ponies, it was the number-”
“ANOTHER MONSTER!!!!” Roseluck, Lily, and Daisy all screamed at the same time. Unfortunately they happened to be standing right behind the Mayor at the time.
“GAH!” the Mayor shouted, immediately rubbing a hoof into her ringing ears, “Don’t do that! I’m honestly not sure how much more… I can… take…”
Her words died away as she noticed the latest disaster rearing its ugly head. And it continued to rear its head for quite a while, as the entire hill that the army of trees had abandoned was slowly standing up. As it did, it unfolded arms and legs of a truly frightening size from beneath it, and a craggy stone face that would give even the fiercest dragon nightmares. The thing towered over the town at its full height, and it scratched the bare place on its back that used to be forested.
“COLD,” it said in a voice that shook the very ground it stood on. There was a loud groan from the ponies before they started screaming and running about for the fourth time today. Fifth, for those few who had been in town for the cragadile earlier.
“What even is that?!” the Mayor shouted in exasperation, clearly at the end of her rope.
“It’s a Joten!”
The Mayor froze, as she hadn’t actually expected an answer. She turned slowly to see a young yak staring up at the giant in awe.
“Yak tell stories of Jotens!” Yona continued, “Great stone trolls, that can sleep for years and years! Great for smashing, but smash back if you wake them! Many yak heroes fight Jotens!”
“What’s one doing all the way in the pony lands?” Silverstream asked.
“Getting ready to smash the town flat, from the looks of it,” Gallus said snidely, as the stone giant lumbered closer to the town it appeared completely oblivious to.
The Mayor did a quick calculation in her head and sprang at the students, thrusting her hoof at them. “You said you know what that thing is?”
Yona nodded happily. “Yes!”
“Great!” the Mayor exclaimed, “Then you all can get rid of it!”
The students didn’t react at first, staring at the Mayor as if she’d started speaking a different language. Finally, Smolder lifted a claw as if she were answering a question in class. “Um… what?”
“You all are friends, right?”
“Yes?” Ocellus said hesitantly.
“Good friends?” the Mayor pressed.
“The best!” Silverstream said, hugging Sandbar and Ocellus at the same time.
“And there’s six of you?”
“Obviously,” Gallus said, rolling his eyes, “Where are you going with this?”
“You are six best friends!” the Mayor exclaimed as if she were delivering decisive evidence in a court drama. “That means this kind of situation was made for you! You can use your friendship powers and save us! You’ve got this!”
Yona tilted her head sideways and looked at her friends. “Yona not understand. Is this some pony joke?”
“Actually,” Sandbar said thoughtfully, “I think she might be right.”
“What?!” Smolder exclaimed, using both arms to indicate the several-dozen-story-tall creature ambling about, “What are you talking about? We can’t fight that thing!”
“I know it seems impossible,” Sandbar said, conviction slowly growing in his tone, “But I’ve seen this kind of thing over and over again here in Ponyville. Headmare Twilight Sparkle and her friends take on monsters like this all the time and win.”
“But aren’t they, like, super powered-up with magic from the Crystal Tree and the Elements or something?” Silverstream put in, tapping the end of her beak in thought.
Sandbar shook his head. “Yes, but they’re always saying in class how it was their friendship that really led them to victory. And our friendship is just as strong. We beat the Tree’s challenges under the school, didn’t we? We saved all of Equestria from Cozy Glow’s plans. We can do this!”
“Well… we are pretty incredible…” Smolder said, starting to come around to the idea.
“It appears like it’s not really trying to cause trouble,” Ocellus said, watching the giant closely, “Maybe we can just lead it away somewhere?”
“We can fly around his head and get his attention!” Slipstream said, nudging Gallus in the shoulder and grinning at him. Gallus grunted but didn’t object to the plan.
“Yona get to fight Joten?!” Yona shouted, practically bouncing in glee. “This is best day EVER!”
“Come on guys, let’s do it!” Sandbar shouted, throwing up his hoof. The other five shouted and saluted as well, and the six of them ran off towards the giant.
The Mayor nodded in satisfaction and turned to address the rapidly depleting crowds. “Alright, everypony, crisis averted! Let’s get back to preparations!”
A few half-hearted cheers met her announcement. An enterprising pony had set up a table covered in glasses of water during the last panic, and a throng of tired ponies drifted towards it to quench their sore throats. The Mayor turned around and came face to face with Amethyst, who was glaring darkly at her. The effect was somewhat spoiled by Flurry Heart, who was absolutely loving all the excitement and cooing happily in Amethyst’s forelegs, but it was still enough to cause the Mayor to go back a step.
“What did you just do?”
The Mayor’s eye twitched as she tried to understand. “I took care of the problem! It’s the Mayor’s duty to delegate-”
“You sent six children to fight a dangerous monster!” Amethyst accused.
“I…” the Mayor began, before realization washed over her features. “You’re right. Oh Celestia, what did I just do? They could be in danger, and it’s all my fault!”
Concern replacing the anger, Amethyst stepped forward and placed a supporting hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, come on. You could never have predicted… well, a situation like this happening…”
“It’s just all so crazy,” the Mayor continued, “And it keeps getting worse and worse. I mean, the Princess and her friends are dealing with a cragadile? While all… this is going on? I’m honestly not sure how much more I can take…”
There was a tremendous explosion from the center of the festival and an extremely loud voice boomed out. “I NEED YOUR ASSASTANCE!”
“Oh for Celestia’s sake!” the Mayor snapped, spinning around in fury, “I’ve just about had it with all this… oh! Ah… I-I’m so sorry, y-you’re Majesty!”
“There is no time for formalities!” Princess Luna declaimed, commanding the attention of everypony in the vicinity, “The Tantabus has escaped!”
Everypony let out a scream and started running about in a panic again.
“Err… wait, I didn’t mean it was loose here!” Luna said hesitantly, trying and failing to get their attention back, “It’s running rampant in Canterlot, but I’ve come to procure assistance from the ponies experienced in facing it.”
“I’m afraid that Twilight and the others are busy at the moment,” Amethyst said, trying to keep a squirming Flurry Heart from flying up to hug her auntie.
Luna reared back at the news and fidgeted a little, clearly eager to get back to Canterlot. “That is truly a shame, but in the world of dreams imagination matters more than ability. This was the town that defeated it the last time and everypony took part in the battle. You all are equally capable.”
“Alright! Fine! Whatever!” the Mayor shouted, throwing up her forehooves in exasperation, “You heard her, we need volunteers! Who here has friends?”
Everypony shuffled their hooves awkwardly, shying away from others lest they imply they were part of a group of six or so. Lyra slowly raised her hoof, before Bon Bon slapped it out of the air with a hiss. Too little too late, though, as the Mayor latched onto the movement and jabbed a hoof at the two of them.
“You two! Excellent! Who else?”
“I think I remember you,” Luna said to Filthy Rich, who was trying to hide behind the gazeebo. “Weren’t you the one flying around on a great stream of bits?”
“Perfect!” the Mayor shouted, running over and pulling the protesting businesspony out of hiding. “Any other takers?”
A somewhat spirited game of tag ensued with the Mayor dashing about with the townsfolk doing their best to escape her notice. In a surprisingly short amount of time she’d shoved Bulk Biceps, Time Turner, and Derpy Hooves before the Princess. For her part, Derpy at least looked excited to be of help.
“There! Six ponies to help! Off you go!”
“But… there’s no limit to how many can provide aid. If there is anypony else who would-”
“Nope!” the Mayor interrupted, the twitch in her eye going so fast it was ticking her head to one side, “Six is all you get! At the rate we’re going, we’ll need all the rest! Off you go!”
Apparently Luna was too worried about her literal demons to argue as she teleported the entire group right away in a flash of magic and smoke. The Mayor and Amethyst coughed and waved the smoke away before resuming their argument.
“So should I start grouping the rest of the town into clumps of six?” Amethyst asked icily.
“Do you think it would save time?” the Mayor said.
“Mayor Mare!” Amethyst exclaimed.
“I might not be joking,” the Mayor sighed, her tone revealing just how tired she was becoming, “Do you happen to know if Discord has been seen around town? This whole fiasco just reeks of his involvement… say, do unicorns usually make this much smoke when they teleport?”
The two of them suddenly noticed that the cloud of smoke was not only thickening rather than dispersing, but also growing larger and darker. It swelled and spun in upon itself, collecting into a dark mass that loomed up over the festival. Two glowing green eyes glowed in existence at the top of the smog, along with a long red spike like a sharply curved horn. A bleak face grew out around these featured and let loose a low evil cackle.
“…sslaaaveeesss…”
Everypony started freaking out and running around screaming… again. King Sombra seemed to enjoy the panic and floated menacingly over enerypony’s heads, delighting in their fear.
“What even is today?!” the Mayor cried, gesturing in an aggressive manner, “I mean, a smoke monster? What is that? Really, what even is that?!?”
“…Soommbraaa…”
“Yes, you're a somber smoke monster,” the Mayor snapped, glaring up at him, “I gathered that! What do you want?!”
“…cryyssstallsss…” Sombra hissed.
The Mayor eye began twitching violently again. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?! Crystals! Does anypony have crystals for the smoke monster?!”
Far on the other side of the fairgrounds, Mr. and Mrs. Cake shared a glance before he raised a hoof. “Actually, we made a couple special cupcakes for Spike.”
He held up a pastry whose blue frosting was liberally speckled with sapphires. Sombra’s eyes locked on to it immediately and he floated right over, causing the Cakes to flinch back underneath their table.
Amethyst was startled out of her shock as the Mayor dropped a hoof on both her shoulders and gave her a very serious look. “Amethyst, I need you to do something for me.”
“Wh-what?” Amethyst stammered, taken aback by the shift in the Mayor’s mood. She was so surprised that she didn’t react in time as the Mayor pulled Flurry out of her forehoof.
“You and the Cakes have to lead that thing away.”
“WHAT?!” Amethyst shouted, panicking quite a bit at the suggestion, “Why me? What can I do?”
“Look at it!” the Mayor shouted, pointing at the creature as it hovered over the bakers. Mr. Cake was waving the cupcake back and forth and Sombra’s eyes were following it like a cat. “I don’t think it’s all that smart. Just lead it away and get it comfortable until somepony more powerful than us can take care of it! In fact, you there! Quills and Sofas pony!”
“I have a name, you know!”
“What is it?!”
“Davenport.”
“Great!” the Mayor shouted with a crazy look on her face, “Davenport! Learn something new every day. Well, Davenpont, go with Amethyst and the Cakes and see if this thing would like a comfy couch to lay on with his crystals!”
“WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!” Roseluck, Lily, and Daisy screamed, running too close past the Mayor and causing her to leap in surprise. “THE HORROR! THE HORROR!”
“AND TAKE THOSE THREE WITH YOU!” the Mayor shouted, all but throwing Amethyst into the three of them with one earth-pony-strength assisted toss, “I’m tired of them screaming bloody murder right into my ear every five minutes!”
“What are we supposed to do?” Roseluck asked, bewildered, “We’re not heroes.”
“Flowers!” the Mayor shouted wildly, “Couches, flowers, and all the crystal cupcakes he wants! Just keep him busy and out of my hair!”
Amethyst shook her head and tried one last time to appeal to the Mayor’s senses. “But, there’ll be seven of us, not six.”
“Seven is better than six!” the Mayor shouted, shoving them on their way. “Now get going, shoo, scat! Defeat the villain and learn a precious lesson about friendship in the process this instant!!!!”
With one last startled look at their crazed mayor, the newly formed team ran off into the town proper. The Cakes held all the crystal pastries they’d prepared over their heads as they ran and Sombra followed after them as if hypnotized. Mayor Mare collapsed to the ground and bounced Flurry Heart idly in her lap, a dazed expression on her face.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if anything more happens, little one,” she said to the filly, her eyes seeing much farther than what was in front of her, “If another monster attacks, or a villain shows up, or a giant army marched upon the town…”
“A giant army is marching upon the town!” somepony shouted, and everypony started panicking once more.
Flurry Heart cooed innocently up at the Mayor as the Mayor’s eye began to twitch again.
“This is it!” Queen Chrysalis gloating, as her army flowed over the hills around her. “Today I will have my revenge! Revenge upon those who’ve thwarted me time and time again!”
It was a long, long road to this moment. Discovering the lost hive of changelings deep in the Badlands was a stroke of wonderful luck. Battling their false queen, taking over rule of the hive, and crushing any groups still loyal to their former queen had made her feel more like herself than she had in forever. And now here she was leading her new forces to crush the ponies once and for all.
And this time, it would be different! No tricks, no complex plans that could be overturned by one little overlooked variable. No, this time she’d just overwhelm them in one strong wave of battle, sweep through them like a scythe before they had even a moment to enact a meager defense! And she’d start in Ponyville, the home of those insufferable…
“My Queen!” a drone said, flying up to her and snapping a salute, “There are six ponies standing between the town and our army.”
“At last!” Chrysalis crowed, a magnificent smile stretching her face as she zoomed through the air to confront her hated nemeses, “I knew it would come down to this! Face me on the field of battle, and I will finally get my revenge… who are you?”
“We are the six heroes who will stop you!” Mayor Mare shouted dramatically, her confident tone completely at odds with insane grin on her face. “Our friendship will be your downfall!”
She gestured to the ones standing extremely reluctantly at her side. Cranky Doodle grunted and looked annoyed that somepony was using the word friend in relation to him. Granny Smith started awake and looked around with bleary eyes. Diamond Tiara tried to hide behind Granny Smith. Flurry Heart giggled and stuffed one of her wings into her mouth to chew on. And at the very end of the line was… a changeling.
“I was just here for the food…” the changeling sighed, cracking his neck and charging his horn up with magic.
Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed in recognition and a perverse glee. “Kevin, the traitor! I have no idea why you are here, or who any of you are, but it will make my victory all the sweeter to defeat you before crushing your puny town! Attack, my army!”
Her forces swarmed around her, swiftly covering the entire hillside in a chittering black swarm. The six mismatched defenders reluctantly ran forward to meet them. They looked pitifully small in comparison to her forces, and Queen Chrysalis smirked. It was completely obvious how this was going to turn out.
For the rest of her days, Chrysalis never understood how she lost that fight.
“Well, it was a tough fight, girls. But we saved the town once again!” Twilight said, leading her friends out of the Everfree Forest. They were all dirty and tired, but happy with a job well done.
“Like there was ever any doubt!” Rainbow Dash crowed, flying to the front of the group in her excitement. “Did you see me punch that cragadile right in the jaw? That was awesome!”
“I’m just glad we were able to calm her down and find her babies,” Fluttershy said, “And they’ve promised their mother not to go wandering away from their home ever again.”
Rarity pulled a twig out of her hair and whined at the split ends it revealed. “I’m absolutely filthy! I think I’m just going to pop home for a bit and take a long bath…”
“It’s almost nighttime,” Twilight said, putting a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder and holding her back with a smile, “We may have missed most of the Autumn Festival, but we should still show up for the fireworks.”
“Like I would ever miss a party!” Pinkie Pie shouted, bouncing forward to the front of the group as they rounded the bend and came in sight of the festival. They all came to a halt and Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. “…And it looks like I didn’t miss this one either!”
All of the tables lay bare and everypony was milling about or lying on the ground in small groups. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were collapsed in a pile, apparently exhausted from a game of pretend sword fighting judging from the clearly fake wooden swords next to them. Princess Cadance sat next to a hole somepony had dug next to the gazeebo for some reason, brushing dirt out of her hair. Other ponies were drifting into the open grounds in groups of six or so and just falling down where they were, or grabbing drinks from the one stand that seems to have been fully set up.
“Oh my…” Twilight said, before a thought crossed her mind and she smiled in understanding, “Without us here, nopony was able to organize the festival!”
