The Drone Epidemic!

After the trip, Twilight finally arrived at Canterlot. She got off the train, and walked around, observing how things were. While walking around the train station, she saw that most, if not all of the ponies there were also ponydrones. Remembering the coffee stand owned by Donut Joe, she went to it, only to find about the same situation as in Sugarcube Corner.

The plates and cups were covered and stained yellow, making Twilight feel disgusted. Besides, the pastries and coffees were yellow, and even Donut Joe, only recognizable by his clothes, was yellow. Twilight looked around the shop, but it seemed that nothing else was as amiss as the coffee machine filled to the brim with yellow liquid.

She took an instant disgust, and turned away, leaving the train station. In the city, she found that the walls of the buildings were quite different from when she last visited, them being coated in yellow. She looked around, and everypony was yellow, she was living in a world of yellow. It was quite akin to the song “I’m Yellow” by Everfree 65. She sang it as she went along, “That lives in a yellow world, and all day and all night, and everything it sees is yellow, like it inside and outside. Yellow its house, with a yellow little window, and a yellow carriage, and everything is yellow for it~”

Although she was trying to keep her spirits up by singing the song, deep inside, she was disappointed with what had happened to her former neighborhood at Canterlot. She imagined the royal city, one full of fame and glory, and compared it to its now queer look. What had once been a place of comfort, a place of safety and familiarity, had now become another strange place to her. While time, she knew, could no doubt change things, bring ponies together, and split ponies apart, she did not think that once beloved city could have undergone such big changes in such a short time.

Going down to the castle, she tried to find the Royal Guards of Canterlot, who failed to show up to pull her chariot. As she thought about that, she wondered if she could stop the changes in time if she did come in her chariot. But then again, the changes couldn’t have just happened in a day, could it?

A loud squeak was heard, and suddenly, a large shadow was seen. Looking above, she saw a group of flying… ponies? Twilight looked at the shadows, and could only see silhouettes of ponies, and looking above, well, the sun blinded her, but she was sure that she saw ponies as well. Not wanting to investigate, she then ignored them, and walked forward.

She walked down the street, until she found a puddle of yellow. “Mph!” she thought. She jumped over it, and continued to the castle. Walking more, she suddenly was shocked by a blob of yellow goop falling down in front of her. Looking up, she saw the flying ponies from before, dropping down the goop. She swiftly and nimbly avoided the goop, and ran to the castle at a faster pace than before.

Soon, she arrived in front of the yellow castle. “Yellow!? She thought to herself. Sure, the castle’s roofs were always quite golden, but now, all the roofs, the walls, were yellow. Seeing it, and turning around to see the rest of the city she just passed through, she swallowed her feelings of disgust and fear, and headed forward.

Entering the castle, she was relieved to find the interior the same, but there seemed to be a different atmosphere, a creepy and eerie feeling enveloping the castle, seeping into the castle walls, and even into its residents, and anyone who dared step hoof into the castle. At the entrance was an obvious lack of the royal guards, who usually took care of the corridors near the entrance.

Walking through the hallway to the throne room, a gust of cold wind blew through, and Twilight soon felt cold. Soon, she reached the throne room, and sitting on the throne was Princess Celestia, watching, waiting for Twilight.

“My faithful student,” she called. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been…”

“Squeak!”

“What’s that sound?”

“That sound? Just ignore it. My castle has been infiltrated by the yellow ponies downtown, so as you can see, I only sit here, doing nothing. The hallways are cold, the yellow ponies not needing heat or feeling cold, even. I sit here, basking under the sunlight emanating through the windows of stained glass, for the ponies will find me easily near pony-generated heat like fires. Squeak!”

“Are you cold?” asked Twilight, noticing Princess Celestia’s blanket.

“Yes, I am.”

“Would you like to go out?”

“No, I’d rather stay inside. It’s a yellow pony world outside.”

“And so is the situation at Ponyville and Dodge Junction!” reported Twilight.

“Is that so? When I returned from the trip, about twenty five percent of houses were yellow already.”

“That’s fast. What should we do about them, anyway?”

“I… I don’t know. Squeak!”

“Are you feeling alright? I keep hearing squeaks coming from you.”

“I assure you, I’m quite- squeak!”

“Squeak? I think you need to see a doctor,” said Twilight.

“Doctor? There’s no doctor around here anymore. They’re all like me.”

“Like you?”

“Gone the way of the yellow pony road.”

“You’ve gone down the way of the yellow, wait, what am I saying? What’s the yellow pony road?”

“Oh, you’ll soon see,” replied Princess Celestia. “I’m afraid it’s too late for me. I’m halfway there. Just a few more squeaks, then…”

“Squeak!” “Squeak!” “Squeak!” A bunch of ponydrones entered the throne room.

“My friends… They’ve finally come to get me…”

“Your friends?” Twilight remarked as she observed the yellow ponies. Compared to the other ponies of Species X that she had seen before, they were rather weird, as they lacked the black cutie mark that all the Species X ponies had.

“Yes, friends. Or rather, guards, at least, formerly. Now they’re just friends for pleasure and fun! Peers!”

Indeed, upon closer inspection, Twilight found their cutie marks were merely covered by the now bright yellow armor that the royal guards originally wore. Now, she finally knew why the chariot did not come to her. The royal guards were now of Species X, which meant, the ponies of Species X were actually the ponies themselves!?

As Twilight made the revelation, she heard more squeaks, and Princess Celestia spoke.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Princess Celestia lifted off the blanket covering her, revealing her bottom flank, which was now yellow instead of white, and a big yellow bulge.

“I’m… one of them. Come, my brethren. Bring your wrath of yellow upon me.”

“Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!” The ponydrones pressed and kicked Princess Celestia’s bulge.

“I’m feeling.. Hor… Ugh…” Princess Celestia said, as a yellow spherical orb suddenly came out of her mouth, followed by a few more. The orbs bounced on the ground, some bursting and splatting yellow goop, while others remained as they were, but on the floor.

“What’s going on with you?”

“I’m breeding, ejecting eggs. Those orbs… min-ahhh!”

As she said those words, Twilight noticed that the yellow on Princess Celestia’s torso was climbing up and down, spreading more and more across her body.

“Ahhhhh…. Mmmm!” Princess Celestia accidentally bit open an orb in her mouth, causing the goop to fill her mouth, sealing it shut. “Mmmmmpppppphhhh!”

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight cried out, seeing holes, no, valves forming at the sides of her cheeks.

Gradually, Princess Celestia’s colorful hair turned darker and darker until it was black and shiny, and her colorful tail also turned black too. Princess Celestia was losing her color! Her horn turned yellow along with the rest of her body.

Soon, with a few more pants and moans, Twilight saw Princess Celestia squirming about as her eyes changed into visors, then stopping all of a sudden.

“No, not Princess Celestia!” said Twilight, attracting the attention of the new ponydrone, Princess Celestia, and her ponydrone guards.

Princess Celestia dashed towards Twilight, who immediately started running. She ran and ran out of the throne room, and into the garden. However, the garden was not as she had known. The grass was all yellow, the soil, a different black from normal, the flowers and bushes yellow. The trees were yellow in their leaves, and black in their sticks, branches and trunk. Twilight was horrified by the sight, but she kept on running, and so did Princess Celestia. Princess Celestia chased after Twilight like a bull seeing a red cloth. Soon, however, Twilight entered a maze of shrubs, which she had traversed many times before, knowing the maze like the back of her hoof. She knew that if she was careful enough, she could escape from Princess Celestia.

However, things didn't go as she had planned, as the landmarks in the maze that were previously identifiable to her, were now barely recognizable in their new color scheme. She got lost frequently, reaching dead ends and having to backtrack a lot. Even so, she eventually found the exit, but Princess Celestia, who, by great luck, or great misfortune to Twilight, had found her way, and was not far behind Twilight, who immediately started running again. It seemed that she still could not lose Princess Twilight.

They ran more and more until they finally reached a small lake. Seeing a boat, Twilight got on it and started to row as fast as she could, thinking that it would take Princess Celestia longer to go around or swim. However, Princess Celestia seemed pretty much unfazed, just inflating herself, and using her legs to paddle herself across the lake. She was not fast, but her speed was still fast enough to keep up with Twilight. Reaching shore, Twilight ran off again, while Princess Celestia took a little time to deflate.

It wasn’t before that Twilight reached the center of the garden, where the old water fountain was standing, except it looked different. Not only was the color scheme different, but the look and feel of the statue were radically different. The fountain, all yellow and black, had a new statue atop the middle, spouting not water, but yellow and black goop. But that was not the eerie part; the statue was just a ponydrone posed there in some sort of pirouette, standing on one hoof, holding two hooves in the air, and the last hoof rubbing its bulge as it continuously discharged yellow and black goop from both of its valves.

The statue was not the worst part, as upon further inspection by Twilight, the bricks below that contained the goop, formerly water, were not merely yellow and black blocks of latex; they were also ponydrones! The ponydrones stuck to each other, muzzle to bulge, and buried their hooves in the ground, making them appear shorter. They stood there knocking each other’s bulge, with each one knocking the bulge of the one before it, all in a circle around the fountain statue.

Looking at the macabre fountain with morbid curiosity, Twilight had completely forgotten about Princess Celestia, whose squeak made Twilight remember her threat. She ran some more, beyond the fountain, trees of yellow and black, and soon she re-entered the castle, with Princess Celestia still hot on the trail.

Not wanting to stay in the castle or be chased by Princess Celestia any longer, Twilight rushed out of the castle, headed back to the train station. She knew that Canterlot was no longer a safe haven for her, and she wanted to leave as quickly as possible. However, stepping out from the castle, a new sense of dread washed over her, as the city was even stranger than when she had arrived earlier.

Now, the roads were also yellow and black, but unlike normal. The roads were not painted yellow and black, but were yellow and black ponydrones! The old road was dug up, and around five layers of ponydrones were in the road, lying down. With every step, Twilight heard a squeak from below, and sometimes some “Mmmmmmpppppppppphhhhhhh''s when their bulges were stepped on. In that instant, Twilight suddenly realized what Princess Celestia meant by the “yellow pony road”. The pants and moans were already enough to creep her out, when she realized that the pants and moans were not only coming from below, but also from above. Looking up, she noticed the street lamps were no ordinary street lamps, as they did not need to be lit.

In fact, they lit themselves. The lamp posts were not just a recolor, but an upgrade. The pole’s top half was yellow and the bottom half was black. But that was not the strangest part, the top was. Like a normal lamp, it had a similar shape on top, with the topmost being black, but the bottom of it yellow. The lamp was split into four sides, a squarish shape at its perimeter. At every corner was a yellow cylinder, splitting the four plastic panes, which each emitted faint lights of various colors. On the pole was a rubber circular item that when pressed, increased the intensity of the light, and weird squeaks could be heard each time. That’s right, the lamp posts were in fact ponydrones!

Under the light of the lamps, Twilight started to feel a bit light headed, and she looked at her hooves to find that she was in fact getting shinier, and maybe a bit lighter. Seeing that, she ran faster and faster to the train station, where she found that even the walls of the train station were just ponydrones covered in yellow and black goop, as if the ponydrones were the bricks and the goop was the concrete. There were no doors; Twilight just ran through the now empty door sills as fast as she could, though she felt it was getting harder and harder for her to run as she was slowly floating bit by bit.

“Squeak!” a sound came from behind, but she did not bother to look, and continued running. Luckily, the train, still normal, had just arrived with its door open. She dashed through the door, closing the door, and the train started to move. Out of the window she saw the ponydrone Princess Celestia, standing there, looking at the train going away. She then sat down on a chair and fell asleep.

To be continued...