Dark Times in Ponyville

by TheDarkprince600

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Slice of Life, Sad
Length: 4865

Strange things are happening in Ponyville. Now Spike has to figure out what's going on and put a stop to it.

Twilight went to Canterlot on some royal business with the princess and Spike is told to watch the house while she's away. Three days later Spike wanted to head into town to find some pony to hang out with, meanwhile Everypony in Ponyville are all starting to act all strange as if they're only adapting to their negative emotions, and also the animals are starting to act wilder than they orginally are. The ponies were all depressed, bitter, rude and hopeless, Spike is somehow the only one immume to whatever is happening and is worried that something way worse could happen. Which of course, it has. Because the as the negativity grows stronger, the shadows of the ponies start to evolve into these dark ominous visible Shadow Ponies. Along the way, Spike meets a White Earth pony named; McAllister who is also immuned to the negativity.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-20 19:44:01 UTC

Chapter 1: What's Happening in Ponyville?

Three days have passed and Spike was extremely bored, he kept on walking back and forth, reading Twilight's books, tried to talk to Twilight's pet owl and then he went to a counter to grab some spoons out of the drawer and started counting all the spoons;

"One Spoon, Two Spoon, *Gasps* Oh my goodness, this is amazing! *Sarcastic tone* Three Spoons Four Spoons, Five Spoons... oh this is so not entertaining! I can't take it anymore!!!"

It's funny, before the three days he had all to himself right after Twilight left, he would always come with various activities to do and have fun doing, but then after the three days... he had been reduced to counting spoons. After that, Spike started rolling down the stairs in order to achieve entertainment, but what he only achieved... was pain and lots of it. After his insult to injury, Spike thought that if he's gonna get entertained, he should go to some pony he knows that's very entertaining; so Spike had taken the liberty to go "Sugar Cube Corners" to visit Pinkie Pie.

So when Spike finally arrived to Sugar Cube Corners, he wanted to see Pinkie Pie in order to ask if she can come play with him or something entertaining of the sort, and then as she shows up, Spike asks Pinkie Pie if she wanted to hang out with her and do some crazy fun stuff together, but then Spike starts to notice something unusual about Pinkie Pie's behavior. She was rather gloomy and a bit bitter, and Spike was getting a little worried about her, and so he asks if she was alright and she started replying in a moody tone;

“Yes Spike, I’m real peachy. Why don't you do yourself a favor and-”

And then Spike interrupts Pinkie Pie by asking her if she and Spike wanted to cook some delicious sweets or pull some pranks or anything that says fun. But Pinkie Pie wasn’t in the greatest of moods to do anything fun with Spike, she also told him that she rather lick doorknobs than go have fun with an annoying chatterbox, called Spike. This got him disappointed and her rude remarks got his feelings hurt, and so he left Sugar Cube Corners and went to go find Applejack to see if she needed any help by plucking the apples out of the trees.

So, on his way to Sweet Apple Acres, Spike sets out to find Applejack and ask her if she needs help with her work. She found her and she was laying down on a tree relaxing, Spike walked up to her and asks if he can help her by plucking the apples and then she told him that she could use some help with the work… so now Spike is out plucking all the apples all by himself and Applejack continues to lay back and relax. After work, Spike was bushed and needed something to eat so he asks AJ that if he can have an apple and she responded; "Geez Spike, knock yourself out. Now, if you don't mind, I've got some sleep, so don't bother me.". So Spike just climbed up the tree, pick an apple from the branches, then he fell down on his back and furthermore... he ate the apple without her knowing because he was very hungry, after that he went to go see Rainbow Dash just to see what new and awesome stunts she’s learned today.

He kept searching and searching and so far nothing, he was getting tired of looking for RD, so he just skipped it and went to go see Fluttershy instead. Little did Spike know that she was doing what she always does… which is sleeping on the highest cloud. Anyhow, Spike went to Fluttershy’s cottage to see if she was doing anything productive and plus he went to her because she’s so nice and is always busy taking care of animals. Spike went inside, so far the inside of the house looked like that a tornado struck her home and without even striking the outside of the cottage. While inside, all the animals in her house were all afraid and Spike was getting worried about them and so he went to Fluttershy’s room to see what was going on with the critters, he went in and notices that her room was even messier the rest of the rooms in the house. And there she was, right in front of him, staring outside through the window... then Spike walks up and asks her;

"Uh, hey Fluttershy um, you do notice that your cottage is quite eh... messy right?"

Then he started chuckling nervously after he said what he had said. And he also mentioned that the animals that Fluttershy cater for are all hiding and quivering in fear and wonders why, then Fluttershy turns around and tells Spike; "Oh, is that so? Well then, I don't suppose you should clean it up around here. So make yourself useful for once and clean up my cottage. That's pretty much all you're good for."

Spike was kinda confused and a bit timid to Fluttershy's new behavior and as she kept going on and on about how soft, messy and weak the animals are, Spike tried to get away while she wasn't looking. After he left Fluttershy's home, he was scared of the fact that there was something definitely going on in Ponyville and it's not good, meanwhile Fluttershy was through talking bad about the animals and the ponies and then went back to the window that she was standing next to and resumed to staring the outside. And just right behind her, her shadow started to get darker and a little foggier and the fact that there was something ominous growing inside that shadow of hers...

Now back to Spike; he was just about to visit Rarity to see if she was okay and not completely out of it like the others were, but just in his way; Rainbow Dash was performing spectacular stunts for all sorts of other ponies who were watching. However they all didn't seem to interested, in fact they weren't even paying attention and as for Dash, she was still at it and believes that the ponies were watching and admiring her. Spike walked up to Rainbow and asked her that there something unusual happening in the town, she flew down towards him and said to him;

"No fooling, these ponies are at the least interested at what I give em I mean come on, I know that these are just stunts that worked on for weeks but they're not that old."

"That's not the point!" Spike Said.

And just as he said that, he also told her that the ponies in Ponyville and that included their friends were acting very strange, so strange they're not themselves he kept proclaiming. But Dash wasn't paying attention to what spike said, she was busy muttering to herself about learning some incredibly new and spectacular stunts for the folks to see.

"Hello, are you even listening to me!?"

Spike yelled out, then Dash replied;

"Sorry Steve, I gotta get back and come up with some new stunts to work on. But first... I need some rest."

"Wait, come back! I believe that there's something happening in... ...wait a second. Did she just call me Steve?!"

Spike yelled out in confusion and Rainbow was already on her way back to Cloudsdale and wished Spike or "Shawn" another name that she called him good luck on whatever he was doing. After that little mishap, Spike was totally confused than he was before and then he said;

"I said it before and I'll say it again... What in the name of Ponyville is going on here!?"

And after his commotion, he went to go see how Rarity is keeping up but he worries that Rarity might be as worse as the others he's tried talking to today. So as he arrived to Rarity's boutique shop, he took a huge gulp... wondering what will be waiting for him inside. He was inside the shop, and right at the moment as he turned around, the shop was a complete mess, well... more than it's usual share of messes of course. Spike was becoming more worried than he was when he visited Fluttershy's place, then as he got in further in the shop, he went into the other room and saw Rarity on the ground in gloom and despair. Spike walked up to her and asked what was wrong, and she replied;

"Oh my, this can't be happening... not to poor ol' Rarity! It's just awful, it's most tragic in fact... it could just be the worst possible thing!"

And after her little dramatic performance, Spike asks what exactly is the worst possible thing that's happened to Rarity, and she tells him that she has lost the ability to make dresses and also because she has lost her artistic potential, her inspiration and her materials. And even though Rarity still has all the materials needed to make dresses which was obvious to Spike, she still doesn't feel the need to make dresses. But then Spike tries to make her feel better in anyway possible and then he tried to encourage Rarity to make dresses again, he even said that he's willing to help her dig up and collect some gems for her and her new line of clothing. But alas, she still didn't want to because she is afraid that someone might actually hate her designs, or they'll say what she wants to hear but secretly, they dislike them and will not approve of them. This was unbelievable to Spike, even the one Unicorn pony that he loves most has fallen to pieces, all the more reason that he should worry, it was very convenient... Ponyville has been turned upside down. And while Rarity continues to have an episode, Spike leaves the shop to investigate what's going on in Ponyville.

Chapter 2: What are those Dark Shadowy things?

So after his visit with Rarity, Spike was getting more anxious by the minute, he went to go see if everything else was still going well in Ponyville. Then on his way, he bumps into the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Spike notices that they were looking glum, then he asks them what was wrong, and one of them; Scootaloo, replies to Spike;

"Nothing, just like our flanks."

Then Sweetie Belle says;

"I just don't get it, no matter what we do, we'll never figure out our talents, therefore we'll never get our cutie marks."

And then, Apple bloom's response was;

"I don't know about you gals, but I'm thinking about giving up the mission to find our cutie marks. I mean, let's face it. We'll just end being blank flanks for the rest of our lives."

Then, Spike tries to cheer them up and encourage them to continue to searching for their talents, but not one word reached out to them. Afterwards, Spike continued to figure out what the problem was, he still fears that something really bad is going to happen and of course... he wishes he hadn't said that. Because the skies were starting to get a little dark, assuming that Spike thought it was night time already, but it wasn't. And then, just up ahead of him, he sees another pony in total gloom and right behind him, his shadow started forming into something rather unusual and was coming to life.

It was floating in midair, started to take its form into a Pony and it looked so sinister, Spike had more reason to be afraid because has he turned around, there were many others like it in the whole town and they were all gathering in one spot, forming a colony and already they have their eyes set out on Spike. Then the shadow like figures were after Spike, causing him to run for his life and it would seem that where ever he would go, he would bump into another swarm of those shadow ponies, even when he went back to Twilight's there was but another group of the shadow ponies. And so Spike had no choice but to flee the town and find help elsewhere. But as he was leaving Ponyville, he sees all the citizens deeply depressed, others confused and or afraid and another few being cruel and mean to other ponies and he also notices that the more negativity that the ponies dish out the more stronger and darker the Shadow Ponies become. After he left town, the Shadow Ponies were chasing after him, Spike was already in the deep part of the woods trying to shake off the Shadow Ponies tailing on him. Spike was lost for a second as he was scouting through the woods for a way out, but then he somehow he stumbled into a pathway in the deep woods.

"This is good, now I can find my way out of these woods."

Spike said with excitement, and as he kept following the trail, the trail had lead him into an old hut. As Spike gets close to the Hut, he starts to hear distant whistling inside, right on top of the second floor. Spike went inside very slowly and quietly so that he doesn't disturb anyone who lives inside the hut, he went up the stairs and as he was going up the stairs, the whistling got louder... and when Spike stumbled into a room, he saw a young white Earth Pony painting the room with a wood-like color. The pony continued to whistle until he stop and told Spike to come on in and not to be shy or afraid, Spike was rather surprised that the pony was able to know that Spike was around without even looking, but he walked on in to the room anyway just so he can talk to the pony. The young white colt starts off the conversation with;

"Welcome to my home, blah blah blah blah blah... the usual boring salutations... anyway, it is good to see you again Spike."

"Yeah, it's good to see- wait, again? But we never met before"

Said Spike, and then the White colt says to him;

"Before, After, It is all the same my friend."

And then after that, Spike wanted to know how the young white colt knew his name, but the young white colt changed the subject about the room's new coat of paint.

"Wow, that's a nice coat of paint that you're putting on in this room. What type is it?"

After Spike told him about the coat of paint he was using, the white colt replied to him;

"It's oak, makes the room feel like it's a part of nature don't ya think?"

Afterwards, Spike told the pony that if he's a painter, and the young white colt said to him that he's not a painter at heart but he's really good at it. Then Spike notices that the young white colt has a blank flank and soon to expect that he might be a painter pony, but then after he was done painting, he still had a blank flank.

"I don't understand, I mean your a great painter how can you don't have a cutie mark in painting? After all your work is flawless."

After Spike mentioned that to him, the mysterious colt replied;

"Well, it's just as I told you... I'm not a painter at heart, but I am really good at it. In fact, it's one of the many things I'm good at but will never be my true talent."

Spike had never heard about a pony being good at anything but doesn't have one thing that is his true talent and he also wanted to know how long he's been a blank flank, then the young white colt tells him that he's had a blank flank for quite a while now and will resume until he finds his true talent.

"But I am curious as to why your in my humble abode, I mean no one knows that I even live out here and no offense, I tend to keep it that way."

He also wanted to know that if anyone had followed Spike here, and then Spike tells the pony that he was being chased by Shadow Ponies. After hearing that he was being chased, the pony rushed to the living room to look out his window to see if they were out there, Spike also mentions him that he had to shake them off so that they will stop chasing after him. Then, the White colt wanted to know why Spike was being chased by Shadow Ponies in the first place, and then Spike starts explaining to "mister blank flank" as he calls him, that Ponyville is being invaded by Shadow Ponies and it's all due to the Ponyville ponies negative emotions. So now Spike needs help trying to put Ponyville back in order and he's asking the mysterious White colt to help him stop the shadow ponies, then the young white colt offers Spike something that will shine some light into the situation;

"two words my dragon friend, Be Positive."

Spike was confused to hear that the White colt told him to "Be Positive", and then he tells him how he's suppose to be positive if Ponyville is under the influence of negativity and at the moment, the White colt tells Spike;

"Exactly my point, just be positive... no matter what happens. Because remember this, when times like these are dark, a hint of light will outshine the darkness. And that light will shine if you just be positive, no matter what you have to do or how you do it... do it while being positive."

After what he said, Spike started to have comfort in the White colt's words, but then that comfort went away after he turned around and saw the shadow ponies outside through the window. He was yelling out loud and told the young white colt that the shadow ponies had arrived, and when the young white colt finally came down stairs, telling Spike to turn his volume level down, he looked out the window and saw the shadow ponies and then he said;

"Hmm, I don't remember inviting anyone to my hut..."

Chapter 3: The Power of Positivity

They were surrounded, Spike was cowering to the shadow ponies, then he asks the White colt what do they do now and the White colt replies that he should get his ready for his guests. Leaving spike all alone with the shadow ponies, he was super afraid, he wanted to move but he couldn't move an inch for he was scared stiff. the shadow ponies have Spike outnumbered a hundred to one, and as the shadow ponies were cornering in on Spike, the White colt shows up out of nowhere in fancy red shirt with white vertical stripes, with a hat of the same color and style, and started singing fancy show tunes. While he was singing out to the shadow ponies to get their attention, he signals Spike to escape while they were distracted, and so Spike makes his move while the shadow ponies started getting into the music. The White colt continued singing while the shadows started dancing, bouncing, limbos and doing the conga line and after a minute and a half of the singing and dancing, the young white colt makes his hasty escape while the shadows continued to get distracted some more.

Eventually they started to realize that they were duped and proceeded to chase after the White colt and Spike, so now we move with the two on the run back to Ponyville, and as they got back, Spike notices that Ponyville is an even bigger mess than what it was when he left to get help.

"Wow, you weren't kidding, this place is totally out of whack."

After he said that, Spike tells him that he needs his help to get to Twilight's place so that he can write a letter to the princess stating that Ponyville is in deep trouble.

"Fiddle sticks Spike!" Yelled out the White colt; "Haven't I told you that the only way to bring peace and prosperity is through the power of positivity."

Spike still didn't understand how being positive is going to help fix the mess that they got themselves into, but then mister Blank Flank started showing Spike the power of positivity through example. He walks up to an Earth Pony, asking her;

"what's wrong, young little filly?"

She replies to him; “I lost the ability and the desire to water my gardens, I mean what’s the point in even watering them if they’re die in the end?”

And the White Colt tells her; “sure they’ll lose their life, if you don’t give what they need. The plant is a lot like you and I, it needs to live too ya know? And plus, there’s always new life out there to plant no? I mean take this bean, this soil and some water; put them together, and you got a tiny bean stalk. And look, more beans!”

And then he continues telling her that there are other plants that need growing as well, and what’s important is that the plants will look beautiful while in their time of bloom just like the gardener and that’s what matters he concluded. After that, she started smiling again and started to feel full of life once again and what’s even better is that the shadow pony started to reverse back into the shadow of the filly from whence it came from and the filly started to shine once more. Now Spike started to understand about being positive, and so he started to spread that positivity through compliments and perseverance. Spike was going everywhere in Ponyville, high and low, telling all the pony folk to continue what they do best because it makes them feel good about themselves and everyone around them, it brings positivity in the world.

And then, Spike needed to bring positive energy to his friends once more, so he goes to each of them; telling them to never give up, to always keep trying at what their good at, never let anything bring them down and always put on a big smile. Then the five started to go back to their old selves at last, and they were happy that Spike gave them the pep talk and as a result, the shadow ponies started to revert back into the shadows of the pony folk in Ponyville. Peace, joy and harmony was finally restored in Ponyville, the skies were starting to look bright again, new plants started to grow, the animals were being nice and good and most of all, all the pony folk were all happy that everything is back to normal. And it was all thanks to Spike and the mysterious White colt with the blank flank. Speaking of which, Spike wanted to know where he was so that he can introduce the five to him, then he noticed that he was outside of Ponyville, heading back home and Spike went to go after him. Spike finally caught up with him, he wanted to know why he was leaving, then the white colt tells him;

"Well, our work here is done my friend, and you did a tremendous job restoring order into this town. I gotta say, you've really changed, prince- oops, I mean spike."

Afterwards, when the White colt went to leave, Spike wanted to know his name so that he'll remember for when the next time they meet again.

"Wait, Before you go, I still don't know your name yet." Yelled out Spike.

And then hearing Spike wanting to know his name, the young white colt tells him his name;

"Just call me... McAllister."

After finding out his name, McAllister informs spike about his friends: "Hey, you do know that you have friends waiting for you, You know?"

Then, Spike turns around and notices that Twilight has finally come home to Ponyville. He immediately rushed over there so he can hug her, after all, he did miss her after being gone and all. So he ran as fast as he could, and before Twilight could even say hi, Spike just tackled her and gave her a big hug, the others were laughing of course, then Spike tries to tell Twilight everything that has happened. after he had told her what happened when she was away, then out of nowhere, Princess Celestia showed up from behind Spike and says;

"Hmm, it seems like young Spike has learned something new from his little experience with saving the citizens of Ponyville."

Then Spike says; "I sure have, I've learned that; no matter what happens, even if the darkest of times occur, you always gotta keep positive. Keep doing whatever it is that you enjoy doing, what you do best, don't let anything ever bring you down and lose sight and interest of whatever it is that you love doing. There's always going to be something that will tear you away of your talents, desires and goals, so always stay positive and... Oh, and always keep smiling."

After he gave in his report to the princess, she immediately went back to Canterlot to do what she does best and as for the gang, well... Let's just say the next day came, and everyone was at another picnic. Having the time of their lives, especially Spike. But of course, Spike was still thinking about McAllister and what he said before he left, about him being changed and the fact that McAllister almost called Spike "prince," as if he knew him somewhere before. So now, after the picnic, Spike is going to figure out who McAllister is and what connections he might have with Spike, if there are any then we'll know soon enough. But for right now, Spike continues to enjoy this picnic with Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Because at the moment, that's the number one thing to do is have a good time.

The end. Well, for now at least.

Prologue: The Picnic

So the story begins with the skies that are super clear, the sun is up, Pegasus ponies are flying about and right below on the fields are all the ponies having a fabulous picnic. Rarity had a decorative cloth ready for the ground, Pinkie Pie and Applejack had the snacks and beverages, Fluttershy of course provided the excellent spot on the field to have the picnic, Twilight had a list of all the things needed for the picnic and has checked off everything on the list including the; "Rainbow Dash sleeping on a tree branch in order to avoid helping out setting up the picnic."

So now that everypony was having a wonderful time on this picnic, Spike most of all because he was eating up all the snacks, but that’s beside the point… the point is that Twilight and friends were having a spectacular picnic day ever, there was laughter, birds chirping, other animals at peace, even other ponies that were at the fields were also having a tremendous picnic. But then there was something unusual happening also, a few ponies from other picnic sites were started to act a little rude and out of line for reasons unknown. The negativity grew and grew on those three random ponies and then they took off to their separate ways, Twilight and friends wanted to figure out what that was all about but for now they have explanation for it.

So in the meantime that was put aside until it became a serious problem, meanwhile back at the library/home… twilight was just packing up in order to go to Canterlot on some official business and while she does that, Spike; her loyal assistant has to stay put and watch the place while she's away, of course he never did agreed to stay put and watch the house and also he too wanted to go with Twilight but couldn't because someone has to keep an eye on the house and that someone is Spike... and plus Twilight has to go alone, she can't bring Spike or any pony else. And so for that, Spike has to stay behind and watch the house, Twilight was already on her way to Canterlot and as she was about to leave, she tells Spike;

"Spike, try to make sure the house stays spotless when I come back." After that she closes the door, Spike exhaled his breath in relaxation, and then the door opens again and Twilight tells Spike; "and don't you dare get into any trouble either." After that she left and good ol' Spike is all alone in the library/home with nothing to do and no one to talk to.

"So I'll just... wait here till you get back. Great." He then rolls his eyes because he knew he had to stay put in the library until Twilight's return.