The Drone Epidemic!

After exiting the train station, Twilight and her acquaintances were greeted by the sight of a nice big city. Twilight gave out a sigh of relief seeing that her former home was still in its glory. Without wasting time, they started walking down the same path that Twilight had gone down so many times before; the same one as in her dream.

Twilight walked while noticing the houses standing around, still the same as old, though some actually had some stains of Mph. It seemed that Canterlot, too, was not immune to the ponydrones’ invasion, but was merely more resistant. As she walked, she observed some more, seeing that the lamp posts were fortunately still normal.

“Relax, Twilight. This isn’t like your dream at all!”

“Her dream?” Kurojyaku asked. “She told you about it?”

“Yeah, she did. But this isn’t like her dream at all.”

“Well, my dream only became a nightmare near the end…”

“Let’s just keep our hopes up, okay?”

The three continued walking and soon they reached the castle. Entering the hallway, Twilight felt the same chill that she felt in her dream, but now at least she knew what it meant; ponydrones were lurking around inside the castle. As in her dream, there were no royal guards, making it a bit weird for her to not be greeted. Entering the throne room, Twilight was suddenly washed over by trembling anxiety, for she hoped so much that she would not have to find Princess Celestia in the form that she found her in her dreams.

However, Twilight found herself even shocked when she found the throne room to be empty, no ponydrones and no Princess Celestia. She was worried sick, worried that she had come too late, and that no one could save Equestria anymore.

“She’s not here,” sighed Twilight. “Are we too late?”

Kurojyaku and Muffins nodded to each other and Muffins said, “Relax, I’m sure the princess has her ways, Kurojyaku and I will split up to find her in the castle, you just stay here and wait, okay?”

“Okay,” Twilight said as the other two split up and started looking for Princess Celestia. Twilight was left walking around in the throne room, waiting for the other two’s results. Twilight particularly examined the thrones and windows, then looked through the corridors leading to other rooms from the throne room.

“My faithful student,” a voice suddenly called from behind. “How have you been?”

“Princess Celestia! How wonderful it is to be able to see you.”

“Yes, it certainly is. Why have you come here? To discuss about the yellowness?”

“You know?”

“I am not ignorant, child, and as I was returning from our trip, I found some of my guards turned into the yellow ponies. Do you have them too? The yellow ponies?”

“Yes, we have them. In fact, almost all of Ponyville are now antiponies.”

“Antiponies?”

“Yes, that’s what we call the yellow ponies.”

“I see. Why didn’t you come earlier?”

“The chariot did not come.”

“Ah, my guards! They’re just busy pleasuring themselves now, I’m afraid.”

“I see. Well, it seems that you know how the antiponies are formed then.”

“Yes, I do.”

“But do you know how to turn them back into normal ponies?”

“That I do not. If I had, I would have cured them by now. As a matter of fact, I was just searching in the library for a solution.”

“Were there any?”

“I haven’t searched all of it yet, but so far, no. It seems that there’s no magic that can solve it.”

“I’m sorry for disturbing you. Do you need my help finding a spell for it?”

“Yes, any help would be appreciated.”

“In that case, let me go find my friends for more assistance.”

“No need, my chime system at the library can tell me where they are if they pass a sensor.”

“Wow, you have sensors?”

“Well, it’s just a simple tripwire.”

“Alright then.”

The two of them then headed into the library. Along the walk to the library, they saw ponydrones pleasuring themselves. Twilight saw them, and felt a sense of disappointment that the royal guards so valiant and chivalrous before had now turned into self-indulgent and hedonistic ponydrones. Twilight wanted to commend and reprimand them, but seeing Princess Celestia’s nonchalant attitude, she decided not to.

Soon they reached the library. It was locked shut, and Princess Celestia opened it with her key. “It’s locked.”

“Yes, to keep the yellow ponies out. Lock it back after you come in.”

“Okay,” Twilight said, locking the door. “So…”

“Those stacks on your left are the ones I’ve checked through and the ones on the right and on the shelves have not been checked yet.”

“Hmm…”

“Well, you should know all these spells by heart already, no?”

“Magic, as you know, is not static, and every few moons there are new spells and new innovations, so I can’t really keep up all that much. If I did, I wouldn’t need all these books, nor would I be unable to solve the yellow pony crisis.”

“All right.”

“Enough of chatter-” “Ring!” A bell rang. “That must be one of your friends, Twilight.”

“How do you know it’s not an antipony?”

“Well, as far as I’ve observed, the antiponies have a slightly odd way of walking, that makes them not hit the strings, or at least based on where I’ve placed them.”

“I see. So where does that bell correspond to?”

“The east wing.”

“Ring!”

“How about that one?”

“The northwest wing. Seems like they’re headed in two different directions.”

“Yeah, we split up to try to find you.”

“Well, you’re lucky it was not a wild goose chase; for I was planning to leave this small library and go to the Library of Magic to find the spell directly.”

“Why didn’t you go there in the first place?”

“Well, I thought I might have had a book about the yellow ailment, but no, I do not. All I have is a cure for jaundice.”

“Why don’t we go directly to the library now, then?” Twilight asked Princess Celestia as the both of them were still examining the books.

“Aha! Got it!”

“Really?”

“To cure a bee sting… Hmm… I doubt that the ailment can be caused by a bee sting…”

“On that matter, how did the guards turn yellow?” asked Twilight.

“I don’t know, nearly all of the guards were already yellow when I arrived. And when I heard a large scream, I was too late as when I got there, the guard had already become yellow. All I saw was a few yellow ponies, and a puddle of yellow goop on the floor.”

“Hmm… well, the ponies were all yellow too when I arrived at Ponyville.”

“Enough of chit chat, we have to go find your friends.”

“Alright.”

The two of them then went in their own directions, looking for Twilight’s friends. It did not take long for them to get both Kurojyaku and Muffins, and with the expanded party, the four of them head off to the Library of Magic.

To be continued...