Flurry Heart's Story: The Ghost of Grogar

Chapters

7. Retrovania: Return of the Ram
1. An Ancient Evil Returns
2. Enjoying the Clubhouse
3. Quarrels and Congregations
4. Presents, Cake, and Table Top RPGs
5. Get a Cue
6. Steamboat Fillie
8. Let's Roll...FOR INITIATIVE!
9. The (Not-So-Final) Boss
10. Courtship Dance
11. That Time I Got Sent to an Anime World With My Friends
12. JUST WHO THE HAY DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!
13. Discord Meets an Old Friend
14. They Are the Ones...

7. Retrovania: Return of the Ram

All the dragons listened carefully as Discord described the next scene for their Ogres and Oubliettes campaign. He spoke in a deep, spooky voice to help get them into the atmosphere of the fictional setting. It seemed to be working on everyone except Barb, Scorch and Singe.

“As you wander through the forest, you come across a fatally-wounded pobold soldier who gives you his final words and a dying wish: ‘The Squizard is in yonder tower, dear traveler. I cannot go on any longer. Avenge me!’ The path is set before you. What do you do?”

“What do you think?” Singe said, bombastically. “I go after that Squizard and kick his sorry tentacles!”

“Singe, wait!” cried Buttercream.

Discord rolled the die and got a result for ten. He had a cautious look on his face and consulted the player’s manual.

“Uh…okay, Singe. You get through the skeleton army but the Squizard smacks you with his tentacles back to whence you came and you lose half your health. I’d recommend not going after him as you’re not well equipped for it. If you do it now, you risk losing all health and leaving the game.”

“Oh. Oops,” Singe said, embarrassingly.

“That’s okay, Singe. It happens to the best of us on our first games,” said Lily, petting Pansy.

“Discord, what’s a pobold?” asked Barb.

“It’s a race of creatures in the game that are part pony part dragon in appearance.”

“So…kinda like kirins?”

“Well pobolds are mostly dragonlike in this game. They’re just as small as ponies and walk on all fours and have no wings. Kirins only have some scales and fire-based powers, but that’s it.”

“Interesting.”

“So we’re already where we need to be and we can’t even get to the Squizard guy yet?” Scorch asked.

“It’s definitely not a good idea to take on him right now, bro,” Spike explained. “Some of us more experienced players might be able to do it, but we want you guys to join us and we have a way better chance of beating him if all eight of us go.”

“Great, so we’re this close but we can’t even get him. Now what do we do?”

“You can always upgrade your character,” Billow said. “I can help with that once we get back into town, Scorch.”

“Thanks,” Scorch replied bashfully.

“Alright, Esteragon the Ranger, your turn now,” Discord told Aster.

Aster cleared his throat and prepared to speak in a heroic accent as if he was his character.

“I refuse to go any further and abandon my friends, so I sheathe my sword and signal for the others to do the same. I then look back to Wrathulu and utter these parting words: ‘Wrathulu, your reign of terror will come to an end, but it will not be today. My friends and I will be here to fight you again!’”

Discord rolled the dice and then picked up the manual.

“The Squizard laughs maniacally as his army joins him. The skeletons that Scaledron took down reanimate themselves and prepare to fortify the tower. You’re next, Lady Mandolina.”

Butter picked up an acoustic mandolin and began to play a forlorn but hopeful tune.

“I look to all my friends and tell them we’re weary from our travels, so we best take this time to rest and get some refreshments at the tavern. I play this song to instill them with optimism.”

“Nice mandolin, skills, Butter!” Spike complimented.

“Thanks! Got inspired to learn it after Nighty showed me how bards work in this game!”

Discord rolled the dice and got a promising result.

“The bard’s tune fills Scaledron with hope and he begins to heal, but it only gives him about twenty percent of his health back. You’re next, Garbunkle.”

“I cast a healing spell for my fallen comrade before we head back to the village,” Spike said.

“Alright, thankfully you got a result for eighteen, so Lady Ki-hana, would you like to help out?”

“Yes,” Lily replied. “I fill his health up completely using some of my own. I’ll recover it at the infirmary.”

“Thanks, Lily,” Singe said. “I don’t know what I was thinking back there.”

“So how long do we have to wait till we can take on this guy?” asked Barb.

“Until we all have enough energy to start a fight. We’re going to want to make sure we have one hundred percent health as well,” said Spike.

“This is gonna take forever,” Scorch said, leaning his head on his right claw.

“We’ll get there, big guy,” Billow said, putting her claw on his shoulder.

“The game’s still fun, right guys?” Butter asked them.

“It’s okay,” Barb said, nervously.

“I like it, it’s just hard to work with all these rules,” Singe replied.

“Eh…I guess,” Scorch said, flatly.

Spike and Buttercream exchanged nervous glances until she turned back to her siblings.

“Don’t worry, it’ll get a lot more interesting by the time we take on the Squizard. I promise!”

“Alright,” Discord said, reading from the manual, “The pobold guards welcome you back into town and one of the constables directs you to the nearest tavern. You’re greeted by an entourage of citizens that congratulate you on getting this far…”

As Discord continued his work as the OM, Spike looked out the window and saw the Harmony Clubhouse tree in the distance. It was well past bed time and the lights were turned off.

“Good. They went to sleep no problem,” he said to himself. “Hopefully they’re having sweet dreams.”

Meanwhile, inside the strange dream-like realm, Flurry and her friends all fell through Rascally Ram’s portal and felt another jolt go through their bodies. They saw a mosaic of strange, green tiles before them. They landed hard on it and blacked out for a brief second. Flurry opened her eyes and saw her own hoof was made of two-dimensional blocks. Although she now had color, her entire body and the world around her was made entirely of pixels. They had landed in an environment that resembled a retro side-scrolling video game. The world they were currently in was a typical outdoor level. Ahead of her were floating platforms with vegetation on top and rocks and earth on the bottom. Coming out of the ground were tall rectangular hills. In the distance were forests, mountains and some castle ruins with statues. They were likely still in Equestria since Canterlot could be seen in the distance. She gasped in a voice with 16-bit quality. Everyone else got up and looked around in shock. Their movements were jankier than the last world. While this world was still well-drawn in color with 2D pixels, Flurry wasn’t nearly as fond of it as the rubberhose cartoon world. Stormy, on the other hoof, was instantly blown away.

“YES!! I knew it! We’re in a video game now! This is the best place to be!” he said, flying up to random trees to observe them.

“Guys, why does this keep happening?” Annie asked, worriedly.

“And how do we get out of this place and back to the real world?” Chip asked.

“It’s Rascally Ram,” Pound said. “You heard what he said back there: Luna’s not guiding us through a dream. He’s the one who brought us here!”

“And how do we even know we’re dreaming at this point? Flurry, is he using magic on us from the real world?” Pumpkin asked Flurry.

“I don’t know, Pumpkin,” Flurry responded, rubbing her chin as a small word bubble appeared over her head with gears turning inside. “If he’s the one who brought us here as he claims…gosh. This is a really powerful magic that’s being cast on us right now. I think we’re in a sort of dreamscape realm similar to when somepony has a visit from Luna in their dreams. But if he’s brought us into this realm while we’re sleeping in the real world, that means Luna can’t rescue us. This doesn’t bode well.”

“Yeah, but at least we’re in a cool world! Check this out!” Stormy said before lifting a rock and throwing it at a wall as it crumbled.

“Whoa! Great job, Stormy!” Pumpkin cheered. “Had no idea you were that strong!”

“Anything is possible in a video game!”

“Hold on, what’s that thing you just uncovered from under the rock?” Chip asked.

Everyone walked over to where the rock used to be. In its place was a silver key with a red gem, spinning slowly above the ground.

“Oh, it’s a key! We’ll probably need it for some secret passage or something,” Pumpkin said.

“Well there’s one right over there, but it looks like we’ll need three keys to open it,” Pound added, pointing over to the side of a column of earth with a large decorative doorway in the side.

The door had three empty holes on it that were shaped like keys. Flurry picked up the key with her magic and walked over to the door. Before she could even put it in, the key immediately appeared right in one of the holes, surprising Flurry.

“Whoa! I didn’t even do anything!” she exclaimed.

“Flurr, come on! You need to get out more, girl! Everyone knows things in video games automatically move into place when you walk up to them!” Pumpkin teased.

“Alright, well I guess if it makes things easier. But what about the other keys?”

“Guys, I think I just found one right over here!” Annie called.

Everyone looked as Annie bucked a nearby tree. A key with a blue gem fell down and a 16-bit chime sounded.

“Wow, I didn’t know I had it in me!”

Annie tried to grab the key until a white strand of pixelated spider silk crept down and yanked the key away from her. Everyone looked up and saw a huge pixelated cyborg spider lower itself down from the sky. It shrieked and started moving around while shooting fireballs at them.

“That must be the first boss!” Stormy shouted.

“Boss? Boss of what?” asked Flurry.

“LET’S GET HIM, GUYS!”

The brave little colt flew right and left, hitting the spider and causing its entire body to flash on and off like a flickering light, indicating that it had been injured. The spider then covered up its eyes with its front legs and Stormy’s attack had no effect. He was then smacked by one of its legs and flew backwards while flashing.

“The eyes are the weak spot! Hit his eyes when he’s not covering them up,” shouted Pound as he took flight to prepare himself to do the same attack as Stormy.

The spider lowered itself to the ground and walked back and forth as energetic music began to play. Stormy and Pound did the flying attack on the spider when it had its eyes uncovered, while Flurry and Pumpkin shot magic blasts at its eyes. The spider learned quickly and started covering its eyes more often. It then shot four smaller spiders out of its abdomen to distract them. Flurry and Pumpkin blasted all the spiders quickly, but the spider kept repeating this method. There seemed to be no way to hurt it now that it had its eyes permanently covered, but Chip thought of something.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from some video game bosses, it’s to get them to fall over and they reveal a weak point! Everyone aim for the legs!” he shouted.

Everyone then began attacking the six remaining legs of the spider. The legs flashed and finally curved upward. When it was only standing on two legs, it lost its balance and fell down. The front legs moved to reveal its eyes again and it stayed put for a few seconds while everyone took the chance to attack its eyes. The eyes flashed on and off until the spider got back up and covered them again.

“So do we just keep doing that until it’s dead?” asked Flurry.

“Yup. That’s pretty much how a boss fight works,” Pound told her.

“Interesting. I’m actually liking how this battle is set up. I didn’t think video games could be this educational!”

“Told ya video games were awesome!” Stormy teased.

“Only question is: how long does it take to beat it? Like do we have to hit it a certain amount of times?”

“Check the health meter, silly!” Pumpkin said, pointing behind Flurry.

Flurry looked back to see a tube-like object floating around next to them. Two thirds of it were full of green pixels. Flurry quickly figured out what this represented.

“Oh. Of course. Silly me.”

The kids tried their technique several more times as the green pixels in the health meter turned yellow and then red as its health was depleted. They finally landed their last hits on the spider and it fell down with explosions animating all around it. The spider flashed dimmer and dimmer until it was completely consumed by the explosions and disappeared, leaving behind its large center eye and a treasure chest.

“Alright! We did it! Now what’s in this chest?” asked Flurry.

“Open it and see!” Pound said, excitedly.

Flurry opened up the chest and slowly took out the item inside. While she was doing this, some 16-bit music played, growing faster and higher to build up suspense. She then turned around and held up her hoof with the key floating a few pixels above it. The music turned into a triumphant little fanfare.

“I got the second key!” she shouted.

“Alright, Flurry!” Chip and Annie said in unison.

“Oh, hold on a second. This key has a green gem. What happened to the blue one that Annie found?”

“I got it!” Pumpkin called.

Everyone looked to see Pumpkin blasting open the remaining eyeball with her magic. The blue key appeared floating, as the eyeball left some pixelated slime on the ground that grew smaller until it disappeared.

“Pretty gross, but also pretty effective!” Flurry chimed.

Flurry and Pumpkin then placed the keys on the door. The door began to open slowly until it was shut again. The keys all disappeared and there were now six holes.

“What?!” Flurry asked.

“Oh come on! I hate when this happens in games!” Stormy whined.

The ground then began to shake and the sky darkened as thick clouds covered the sun. The kids all trembled as they heard the laugh of a dark and foreboding male voice.

“Hehehehe! AHAHAHAHA!”

“Wha-wha-what’s happening now?” Annie asked.

“Guys, look!” Pumpkin exclaimed, pointing to the sky.

Everyone looked as a tall figure with the face of a ram with curly horns levitated down in front of them. He was accompanied by bats with ram horns on their heads. They appeared around him and then fluttered away. The tall, imposing villain was now wearing more aristocratic attire. He was still anthropomorphic as he was standing on two legs and had digits on his upper extremities. This was likely Rascally Ram who had taken on a new form to fit the theme of the video game. His voice had changed as well. He now spoke in a loud arrogant tone like a typical villain in any video game.

“There he is!” shouted Flurry.

“What is this, Retrovania?” Stormy asked.

“So you little ones really did survive the jump into the next realm,” cackled the ram. “I must say I am impressed to see you beat my first minion so quickly.”

“Rascally Ram! What have you done?” Pound asked.

“Call me Count now, young leader. Count Aries Von Tambelon!”

“Just what do you want, Count Aries?!” Flurry demanded. “What did we do to you to make you do put us in here?”

“Yeah, and how do we get back? Not that there’s anything wrong with this cool world,” Stormy added.

“Oh you’re about to find out, little ones,” the dark ram responded. “Like I said, it’s impressive how you beat the first boss and found those three keys so quickly, but now it’s time to raise the stakes. Each of you must find six keys to that door. It leads to Canterlot, which I am about to transform into my castle. If you can make it to my lair and beat me in combat, you shall be awarded with the Easter Egg.”

“Easter Egg?” Flurry asked.

“It’s a video game thing,” Pound replied.

“Yeah, but will it unlock the 100% ending too?” asked Stormy.

“SILENCE!” shouted Count Aries. “Your journeys begin now!”

He then lifted both his hands and orbs of energy emitted from them. Everything around the kids flashed and then turned to dark. Flurry opened her eyes to see herself in a different level. It appeared to be castle ruins similar to the ones in the background of the last level, but there was one problem: the others were gone.

“Pound…Pumpkin? Stormy? Chip?! Annie?! Where are you guys?!” she shouted helplessly.

Count Aries had transported all six of them into their own individual levels where they would be challenged differently to complete tasks and achieve the keys. Flurry already suspected this villain had set traps and puzzles she could solve easily, but she worried what had happened to the others.

“I…I guess I’m on my own now. Alright, Count Aries, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m ready for whatever you’ve got coming my way! And I’m going to find my friends no matter what!”

1. An Ancient Evil Returns

Prologue

1980 Anno Harmony
(days before Princess Twilight Sparkle’s coronation)

Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow stared in horror as Twilight Sparkle and all her friends glowed with light. Twilight continued to deliver her passionate speech about friendship before they met their defeat.

“Now I truly understand! The Elements were just symbols! The real magic has always been right here! And the more who understand how powerful friendship is, the stronger we will all be! Together!”

Three separate rainbow beams emitted from the Pillars of Equestria, the students, and Twilight’s friends. They met Twilight in the center and filled her with power. She shot a beam in the sky that disintegrated the windigoes and cleared the dark clouds.

“This is bad. Isn’t it?” Cozy Glow said.

The beam arced downward and hit the trio of villains, absorbing all the magic they had taken from Grogar’s bell. It would have normally been returned back to those it was taken from, but this magic was different. It belonged to someone else. The only other magic left inside the bell was that of Discord, Celestia, and Luna’s, which was not being used at the moment. The bell appeared to turn off and fall to the ground. Unbeknownst to anyone, something terrible had just happened: something with the potential to doom Equestria.

The magic was returned to the bell and completed an enchantment that had been cast on it over a thousand years ago. There was something inside waiting to be freed, and now it could finally leave its prison. The bell landed on the ground. It bounced and rolled over, while making one last deafening ring. After it settled on the grass, black sludge slowly leaked out like blood. The sludge sat on the dirt for a moment and then began to move in a lifelike manner, creeping through the grass. A head formed at the end farthest from the bell and opened to reveal a mouth and two glowing yellow eyes. It looked back to see one of the ponies grab the bell while no one else was watching. Pinkie Pie did not see what had come out of it. No one could.

The sludge continued creeping through the grass and hid behind a small branch on the ground. It listened as Queen Chrysalis cursed the ponies that had just defeated them. It sat still for a moment and felt energy flowing through the air. Someone had just cast a powerful chaos magic spell. The apparition looked up to see tiny orbs of light floating around. It smiled and began to chomp away at the particles. It grew bigger and took on a more smoke-like form. On the other side of the branch, a huge cupcake fell down on top of the trio. Discord’s chaos magic from the bell was at work. That spell produced more magic leftovers. The particles descended once again and the apparition consumed them. It slithered away and began to laugh quietly in a deep, demonic voice.

It continued until it reached the forest nearby and rested next to a tree. It watched as the princesses used their magic to get rid of the cupcake, while Discord turned the trio into stone. Little did all of these beings know: they were feeding this demonic entity with each spell they cast. The apparition laughed again and ate more particles. It was slightly bigger and had now grown two curly horns out of its head. Its face was more defined and resembled a sheep with sharp fangs and sideways slit pupils. The rest of its body was still a cloud of smoke waving around as it moved through the air. It crept through the forest before it and became one with the darkness. It spread outward like smoke filling a room, still laughing and slithering like an eel through water.

The apparition continued through the forest and all around Canterlot Mountain. It encountered more particles to feed on and grew bigger and more powerful, though it chose to keep its size at a minimum and not attract any attention.

Finally came the night. The apparition climbed to the top of the mountain and settled down. He looked out at the horizon, taking in his surroundings and observing the land he once ruled.

“So this is modern Equestria. How lovely. Much has changed I see…but then again, not so much. Heheheh. Silly little ponies; they really thought they could keep me away all this time.”

The apparition then transported itself inside the Canterlot throne room, invisible and undetected by any other creature. It observed the stained glass windows depicting all the villains that had risen against Equestria and were defeated.

“I see Nightmare Moon has already been dealt with. And my old friend Accord…such a pity what has become of you, though I did not anticipate how useful you could actually be in this new form of yours. Of course I cannot face you like this. I must acquire more magic. It will take years. That is all right. I’ve waited over a millennium for my freedom.”

Finally it appeared in the Canterlot garden and stopped in front of the statue of the villainous trio that had just been imprisoned.

“Who knew these three fools would be the ones to find the bell. Even Gusty’s spell was not enough to protect it. Their cooperation freed the bell, and now they have freed me. Now that this new princess Twilight Sparkle is around, perhaps I should allow her time before I have a little fun. The changeling, the centaur and the child will be released another day. Their return and subsequent defeat will only empower me. I see these ponies have been busy. Good. They’ve left behind plenty of morsels. The magic flows through the air even now. I can feel it making me stronger. There will be limitations to what I can do, but I am not alone. Now I must find my herald, Bray. I sense he may be in danger.”

The Ghost of Grogar

1989 Anno Harmony
(The Present)

The citizens of Ponyville walked through town that fine morning. It had been several days since Queen Chrysalis’s takeover of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich’s wedding and her ensuing defeat. Pinkie and Cheese were now on their honeymoon, and everypony else was still dealing with the aftermath. There was still much work to be done, repairing the town, but the entire populace pitched in to help out. Princess Twilight Sparkle even instructed a regimen of national guards to keep an eye on the town to make sure there were no changelings left over. Even Discord stuck around to help out. Things were already going back to normal and the threat of the evil changeling queen and her army had been relinquished.

The tree Tirek planted where Golden Oaks Library once stood was now finally completed for the children. Twilight Sparkle had set aside funds to hire a team of contractor ponies to renovate it. They had finished chiseling out windows, doors, stairs and other improvements on the inside to make it as livable as the library once was. They even put toys, games and other novelties in the living room and a bedroom in the second floor towards the top for sleepovers. There was a small kitchen in the ground floor with snacks and a working refrigerator. On the outside were decks to walk out on, swings and a large slide. As promised, the tree was converted into a clubhouse for Flurry Heart and her friends to use for get-togethers and pastime.

After some deliberation, Spike had been convinced to let them spend an all-nighter in it. Flurry stood there with all her friends, waiting. Joining them were Spike and all his four siblings. Spike had already finished touring the inside of the clubhouse before everyone else arrived. He was emotional after being reminded of the old library he and Twilight once lived in, but he fought back his tears and did his best to check everything inside and make sure it was safe for the kids. The contractors left the clubhouse and took some tools with them.

“Well Princess, we hope we did it justice,” said a foreman stallion as he removed his hard hat in respect.

“We got all the books, games, toys and furniture we could think of to spice up the place,” said a worker next to him. “Let us know if there’s anything you’d like added. We’d be happy to help.”

“Thank you so much, sirs,” Flurry said, bowing respectfully.

“You guys did fantastic,” Spike told the workers. “It really brings back memories of Golden Oaks Library. I’m getting misty-eyed just looking at it. I’ll have to bring Twilight by some time, but for now, the kids have really been itching to give this place a try.”

“You bet we have! This place looks so cool!” Storm Streak squealed joyfully.

“We really appreciate it, guys. We’ll let you know if we need anything else,” Pound Cake told them.

The worker ponies all waved to them, as the kids waved back and said goodbye. Flurry and her friends then turned to Spike and all his siblings.

“Now, Flurry, are you sure you guys will be okay in here by yourselves tonight?” Spike asked, as he knelt down to Flurry’s level.

“Yes, Spike. You don’t have to worry about a thing. We already celebrated your and Buttercream’s birthday yesterday with everyone. Now it’s time for you go celebrate with your siblings.”

“Yeah, we got this, Spike!” Pumpkin Cake chimed in.

“They’ll be okay, Spike,” Buttercream told her brother. “There are still some national guardponies sticking around Ponyville, but I’m pretty sure that spell that Flurry’s parents did took care of all the other changelings. Nothing’s getting to these kids.”

“You sure you don’t want me to send over Starlight or Sunburst?” Spike asked Flurry again. “I could at least have somepony come by every hour or so to check just to make sure you’re-”

“Spike, come on. Everything’s gonna be all right,” Barb said, patting her little brother on the head.

“Yeah, these kids are built of tough stuff,” Scorch added.

“I know, it’s just…I’m a little nervous about leaving her like this, especially after last weekend.”

“Did you have Princess Twilight’s permission to do it?” asked Singe.

“Yeah, she said it’s fine, and there’s a lot more protection around town to make sure no changelings return; I just want to be sure she’ll be alright.”

“We’ll be fine, Spike,” Apple Chip said, putting his arm around his sister.

“Yeah. We’ve got this,” Annie Smith added.

“Well…all right,” Spike said, anxiously. “Just remember to lock all the windows and doors at night. Also, turn off all the lights when you go to bed. And no scary movies or late snacks. And be in bed by at least ten o’clock. Oh, and don’t leave the oven on for more than…er, wait…that’s right; there’s no oven. They installed a microwave instead.”

Flurry rolled her eyes and giggled, as she pushed Spike over the ground toward his siblings.

“Spike, we’ve got this, okay?” she told him. “Now go have some fun with your family, eat lots of cake, open presents and play some Ogres and Oubliettes.”

“Ooooh! We’re gonna play O&O?! I love that game!” Buttercream said, hopping up and down next to Spike.

“What’s Ogres and Oblia…oblio…uh…what’s that supposed to be?” asked Scorch.

“It’s a game Nightwatch and his friends showed me how to play back when I was little! And as luck would have it, Spike does campaigns with Discord and Big Macintosh every so often! We can show you guys how to play! Lily and Aster are huge fans too!”

“So your Eastern Drake friends Lily and Aster are going to make it after all?” asked Spike.

“Yup! They said they could come! You’re gonna love them, Spike! Lily’s such a sweet girl and she’s really smart. Oh and Aster’s a real character. He’s so funny!”

“And is Princess Billow going to make it too?” asked Barb.

“Oh! That’s right! Billow also knows how to play O&O!”

“Billow’s coming? Er…I mean, that’s nice of her to show up,” Scorch said, bashfully.

“That’s right, bro!” Singe teased. “Princess Thunder-Thighs' gonna be there for you to ogle at!”

“All right, that’ll do, Singe,” Barb laughed, rubbing Singe’s head.

As they all chatted, Spike looked back to see the kids still waving to him as he waved back. He still didn’t feel right leaving them alone this night, but Twilight trusted him with it, so he did his best to stop worrying and enjoy his time off. He finally turned away and continued down the street with his family.

“He does look a bit worried. I hope he doesn’t have a panic attack or anything,” said Flurry.

“I don’t blame him with the recent invasion, but we’ll be fine,” said Pound.

“Yeah, we’re gonna have fun tonight and no one’s gonna stop us!” said Stormy.

“That’s right! We’re all friends after all and nothing can go wrong as long as we stick together!” Pumpkin added, exuberantly.

Flurry then noticed Melody Heartsong and Cozy Glow approaching them.

“Hey kids!” said Melody.

“Oh, hey, Melody! Hey Cozy Glow!” Flurry called back.

“Hey. We heard the clubhouse was finished. Is it true you’re all going to spend the night in there?” Cozy asked.

“Sure are! Would you like to join us?”

“Well…I mean if it isn’t too much trouble or anything…”

“You can come in, Cozy. We’d be happy to have you,” Chip said.

“Thanks. Is Spike or someone going to be there?”

“Actually Spike’s taking the night off. He and Buttercream are celebrating their birthday with the rest of his siblings and some of her old friends,” Flurry explained.

“Oh…uh, Mom, should I try another night then?” Cozy asked Melody.

“Well, I wasn’t aware they’d be alone tonight,” Melody responded, cautiously.

“She’ll be alright with us,” Pound said.

“Yeah. Mom and Dad let me and Pound stay home alone sometimes. One time they actually got stranded in Phillydelphia after their delivery cart broke down and we actually ran the business without them for an entire workday! Craziest thing ever, right?!” Pumpkin babbled.

Cozy looked up to her mother. Melody thought for a second and then smiled.

“I guess it’s fine with me. Just take care of my little Half Note for me,” she said.

“Thanks Mom,” Cozy said, hugging her tenderly.

“We’ll look out for her, Melody,” Flurry said, as Cozy walked over to them.

“Take care, everyone!” Melody called as they all walked towards the entrance.

“Guys look!” Stormy said, opening the door. “It’s so cool in here! Come check it out!”

“We’re coming, Storm. We’re coming,” Pound giggled as everyone else followed after him.

The door shut and the sound of the children talking behind the glass windows could be heard. Unbeknownst to any of them, a dark shadowy entity was watching them from under a bush at the base of the tree. It was the same apparition that escaped from the bell almost nine years ago. Now he had his sights on the kids. He laughed quietly as he watched them through the windows.

“Such charming children. That little princess does seem rather special. She’s accomplished so much this summer in her friendship quests. Perhaps she and her friends all have the potential I’ve been looking for. I think I’ll keep a close eye on them tonight…”

Author's Note

2. Enjoying the Clubhouse

Spike and Buttercream led Barb, Scorch and Singe down the streets of Ponyville until they got to the edge of town and were in front of the crystal castle. They had never seen such a huge clump of gems in one place. Even in Nordo Dracos, huts and castles were made primarily of stone. The gems in this castle looked like the kind dragons would feed off of.

“Whoa...is that...is that castle made of gems?!” Singe said, wiping drool from his lower jaw.

“Yeah, it was made by the Tree of Harmony,” Spike explained.

“Is it even edible?”

“Well yeah, but we don’t eat it, bro. Don’t worry; I’ve made you guys plenty of gem-themed snacks inside. We’re going to have a feast tonight.”

“That castle is something else,” Barb said, observing the structure. “So is this where Princess Twilight used to live?”

“Yeah, until she became Equestria’s new leader. Now Starlight Glimmer owns it and she rents it out to Sunburst and Trixie. Twilight and her friends all come here every month to talk things over and spend time together. It kind of doubles as an administration building for the School of Friendship next door.”

“Ah, so that’s where the School of Friendship is,” Scorch said. “You know, we mentioned that to Dad the other day. He says some of our people are interested in getting in on the exchange program, so we can send some young Northern Drakes to the school.”

“Yeah, it would be really good for relations with Equestria,” Barb added.

“Really? That’s not a bad idea!” Spike beamed.

“Come inside, you guys!” Buttercream said excitedly, pulling the front door open.

They filed into the castle and admired the scenery. Singe let his tongue hang out as he rubbed his belly.

“Bro, pinch me! I must be dreaming!” he said, nudging Scorch.

“Alright, keep it together, Singe,” Barb said, pushing Singe’s jaw back up. “I know it looks tasty, but we’re here to spend the night, not devour the entire place.”

“Lucky for you, Spike makes a really mean gem cake, and I’m gonna use my mad-scientist level confectionary skills to help him with it!” Buttercream told Singe.

“Cake? What’s that?” Singe asked.

“The sweetest, most delectable, most sugary, most scrumptious, mouth-watering, lip-smacking treat you will ever lay eyes on!” Buttercream said, with hearts over her head and her pupils dilated.

“Is that one of those things you got your name from?” asked Barb.

“Yup! Buttercream frosting goes great on cakes and even little tiny versions of them called cupcakes! Nightwatch named me after the cupcakes his mother made him the morning he found me!”

“Heh. They sound pretty delicious,” Scorch added.

“Oh you bet your scales they are!”

“Alright, guys, we’ve got the rest of the day to just chill until Butter’s friends arrive,” said Spike as he walked backwards while everyone walked down the hallway. “I’ll show you around while Butter gets the food ready. After we’re all here, we’ll eat, open presents, and then later I guess we’ll play some O&O once we have everything set up for the game.”

“You got it, lil’ bro!” Scorch said, nudging Spike playfully.

Buttercream took off flying towards the kitchen as Spike walked about with his siblings, showing them the rest of the castle and the rooms they’d be using.

“So Spike, how long did it even take to build this place?” asked Barb.

“Oh, we didn’t have to build it!” Spike replied.

“So did it just appear by magic?” Scorch jested.

“As a matter of fact, yeah! Pretty much!”

“Er…wait really?”

“You know Tirek, the centaur that was helping us fight the changelings the other day? Well back when he was a criminal, Twilight and her friends figured out how to beat him with the power of the Elements, and after it happened, the Tree of Harmony just, POOF, used the key box like a seed to plant this giant crystal castle right out in an open field in Ponyville! It came right in the nick of time since we had just lost the library.”

Barb, Scorch and Singe looked at each other with confused expressions, as Spike talked on.

“Uh…the tree of harmony?” Singe asked.

“Yup! That’s where the Elements are usually housed. It was destroyed by King Sombra, but then a new tree eventually grew over by the Everfree Palace.”

“This is all kinda confusing,” Scorch said, scratching his head.

“Yeah, it’s a lot to take in. I can tell you more later.”

“Well it’s good to know Tirek eventually changed,” Barb said.

“Cept that crazy changeling queen,” Singe added. “You think we’ll be safe from her?”

“Yeah, we should be fine,” Spike replied. “Discord’s in his dimension right now keeping her from…oh, wait. He’s actually gonna be out of it tonight cuz he’s coming over here. I hadn’t thought of that. I hope she’ll be locked up in there safely. I’d hate for her to escape when the kids are all by themselves in that clubhouse. Maybe I should send him over there real quick to check on them…”

Spike then flew over to a nearby window and looked out to see the clubhouse in the center of town. Barb walked up behind her little brother and put her arm around him.

“Don’t worry about them, Spike,” she said.

“Yeah, they’re gonna be fine,” Scorch added.

“I hope. I’ve never left them alone like this,” Spike said cautiously, continuing to stare at the clubhouse.

Barb looked worried for Spike. She didn’t want him preoccupied with something that would ruin his big night, so she finally picked him up and started tickling him to get his mind off of it.

“AGH! Alright, alright, I get it, Barb!” he giggled.

“You worry too much, little guy,” she jested, setting him back down. “Come on. Let’s keep ourselves busy. We’ve got a big night ahead of us.”

Back at the clubhouse, the kids excitedly began to check out everything inside. The first floor was decorated like a living room: complete with a toy chest, a cabinet to store board games in, shelves for stuffed animals and books, and even a TV set with video games and a VHS player. There was a small kitchen off to the side with snacks, a refrigerator and a working sink. The workers had left behind some snacks in the cupboards and drinks and microwavable food for them in the fridge that they would eat later that night.

As Stormy flew around, admiring everything, Chip and Annie stuck together to do their own little journey of the clubhouse. Flurry and Cozy flew around to look at things, though they were far more reserved than Stormy was. Pumpkin was full of energy and bouncing all over the place to get the lay of the land, while Pound trying his best to calm everyone down.

“Alright guys, let’s not wreck the place,” he said, anxiously.

“Bro, you’ve got to see the toys in this chest!” Pumpkin beamed, pulling out a large chest and opening it up.

“Yeah, that’s pretty cool, Pump, but let’s-”

“WHOA! Look at these awesome toys! This is one of those cool transforming robot things!” Stormy shouted, picking up a toy.

“Look! They have a Tendonin 64 set up!” Chip chimed in as he sat down in front of the TV.

“And it’s got Seapony Adventures!” Annie added.

“You wanna watch me play it, Annie?”

“Sure!”

“Wait, Chip, Annie, I thought we’d wait to do the games after we all just sit down and decide our agenda for this stay-over,” Pound told them.

“They’ll be alright, Pound,” Flurry said.

“Well…alright. I just kinda feel like we’re not thinking things through. This is our first time in here after all.”

“Maybe you guys can come over and watch us all play it. I’m pretty good at this game, Pound,” Chip said.

“I guess that could work. Hey guys? Can we…uh, guys?”

Pound called to everyone else, but was getting no response. Stormy was busy trying to figure out how to transform the robot, while Pumpkin was singing along with a karaoke player. Pound was unable to get their attention.

“Guys?”

“Pound, it’s okay. Just let them have their fun,” Flurry said, putting her hoof on his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go up and see what the second floor is like. I saw Cozy fly up there earlier. We wouldn’t want her to be alone.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Pound put on a smile and decided to follow Flurry upstairs. Near the front entrance was a winding staircase that led to the second floor. On this level were some dressers for blankets and clothes as well as some shelves for more books and games. All around the walls were beds for the kids to sleep in. Some of them had been carved into the side of the tree with a small window right next to it. The beds were all made and looked very comfy. There was one more set of stairs that lead to a wooden platform encompassing the whole room. On this platform was a door to the top observation deck where a telescope could be found. To the left and right were doors that lead to a side balcony and the giant slide on the other side of the clubhouse. The floor of this room was the area of the tree where the top branches parted, so the ceiling had a roof made to protect against weather. Just like the downstairs, this whole level had a very livable and welcoming feel, and the added balconies gave extra access to the outdoors. Over by a small table, Cozy could be seen flipping through a book.

“Cozy, you don’t want to join everyone downstairs?” Pound asked.

“Oh, sorry,” Cozy replied. “I wasn’t avoiding you guys or anything. I just wanted to check things out up here. It’s very lofty and peaceful and there are some nice books.”

“Oh that’s okay. Make yourself at home.”

“Gosh, the view from the balcony sure is great, Pound!” Flurry said as she looked out the window of the door leading to the balcony.

Pound and Cozy followed Flurry out to the balcony. They looked out to see all the cottages in Ponyville. Since they all had wings, they were used to seeing from such an angle, but it felt good to stand and view the whole town like this. It was not quite as tall as the crystal castle, but its smaller size gave it a more personalized feel. It was the perfect place for the kids to get together.

“Quite a view,” said Pound.

“And a really nice telescope too,” Flurry added, admiring the telescope that had been installed on the rail.

“You know guys, we should try and invite other kids to this clubhouse when we can,” Cozy suggested.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Pound added. “I don’t know if you girls have met Chip and Annie’s cousins Pine Cone and Fern, but they’re really nice. We should definitely let them in some time.

“That’s a good idea!” Flurry replied. “Also, doesn’t Sandbar have a sister that’s about our age?”

“Yup, she’d be good too.”

“Oh, and that one girl I met in Nightshade’s class. I think her name was Allegra. If I see her again, maybe I’ll invite her over. And Ocellus’s siblings would probably be interested if she ever brings them by again.”

“Wow, we’re already starting quite a club,” Cozy said. “I’m glad we got this treehouse made for us. I just hope me being here doesn’t prevent other kids from wanting to come.”

“It’ll be alright, Cozy. If any kids judge you, they’re probably not the types that would want to be around us either,” Flurry said.

“Well it wouldn’t really surprise me if it happened. I know I’m reformed and all, but I did kidnap some of their parents back when I was the Sorceress. Plus I feel I haven’t really done much to prove I’m reformed outside of helping clean up after the changeling invasion.”

“You’ll get there, Cozy,” Pound told her. “For now, let’s enjoy our time here and look forward to inviting other kids in.”

The three of them nodded in approval and took one more relaxing look out into the town. The silence was suddenly interrupted by the sound of furniture falling over downstairs, causing them all to jump in shock.

“What was that?!” Flurry asked, frantically.

“Come on!” Pound shouted, flying back through the door.

When they arrived downstairs, the tall cabinet containing games and toys had fallen over on its side. Some of the boxes had spilled out and lost their pieces in a heap on the ground. Nothing appeared to be badly damaged, but it had already caused an uproar.

“GUYS!” Pound shouted angrily. “What did you do?!”

“It was Stormy!” Chip said.

“What? No it wasn’t!” Stormy responded.

“You were standing on the cabinet earlier! I told you not to!”

“It fell over like ten seconds after I flew off of it!”

Stormy got up in Chip’s face until Pumpkin came between them.

“Alright guys, let’s not get too worked up,” she said. “We’ll just pick these things up and put ‘em back like it never happened.”

“I’m not getting worked up. Chip’s just full of Cesium Celery!” Stormy remarked.

“Oh, you wanna go there? Well you’re full of Beryllium Broccoli!” Chip shouted back.

“Please stop! I hate when you guys fight!” Annie begged, but she could not stop the ensuing battle of wits.

“Cesium Celery!”

“Beryllium Broccoli!”

“CESIUM CELERY!”

“BERYLLIUM BROCCOLI!”

Annie pulled Chip back, while Pound yanked Stormy down by his tail to keep him at bay.

“HEY!!!” screamed Pound. “Enough, you two! If this fighting continues, I’m gonna…wonderful. Now I sound like my Mom.”

“Guys, please, let’s not fight!” Flurry said, landing between everyone. “Look, the cabinet’s still fine. We just have to pick some of these things up, but I can help with my magic, okay?”

“That’s right guys,” Cozy added. “Remember, we have this clubhouse to enjoy our time and get along. Let’s not bicker when this is our big night, okay?”

“And remember what Pumpkin said earlier: that nothing can go wrong as long as we’re friends,” added Annie.

Chip and Stormy thought about what Flurry and Cozy had said and hung their heads in sorrow. They then looked at each other to make their apologies.

“Sorry, Stormy,” said Chip. “I don’t know if you knocked it over or not, but I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”

“It’s okay, Chip,” Stormy replied. “I’m sorry I was kinda rough-housing when you asked me not to.”

Chip and Stormy shook their hooves and smiled, as everyone else sighed in relief.

“There we go!” Pumpkin chimed in. “Now, who’s ready for some karaoke?”

“Oooh! Me! Uh…wait, what’s kara…ka…kakoki?” Stormy asked.

“Karaoke, silly! You just sing into a microphone while this boombox plays music! We can sing our favorite songs on here!”

“Oh. Nah, I’m playing with this cool robot!”

“Alright, well anyone else wanna join me?”

“I’ll join you, Pumpkin,” Annie said.

“Alright Annie! Let’s sing to some Countess Coloratura!”

As Stormy was flying around, playing with his robot, Annie and Pumpkin went over to turn on the karaoke machine. Razzle Dazzle by Coloratura began to play. Pumpkin quickly started singing, but Annie looked a bit shocked.

“Time for the spectacle! Time for the show! The Lights are bright and the colors glow! Uh…Annie, aren’t you gonna sing?” Pumpkin asked, pressing the pause button.

“Sorry. I thought you said we were singing to Countess Coloratura’s music.”

“This is her music.”

“It is?”

“Yeah, you’ve never heard this song?”

“It…uh… just doesn’t really sound like her.”

“You’re probably thinking of her new music. This is one of her older songs before she left the industry. I know she doesn’t really do this sort of music anymore, but I still like it.”

“I see. Well I’m sorry, but it’s too much pop for my taste.”

Pumpkin sighed.

“Alright, alright. We’ll play something else.”

Pumpkin began digging through a box full of cassette tapes to find something Annie would have no problem singing along to. In the meantime, Chip continued to play the Super Tendonin Entertainment System. Cozy, Flurry and Pound lifted the cabinet up and put it back where it was. They then landed in front of it to pick up the game pieces.

“Uh…guys, I’m not familiar with these games, so does anyone know where these pieces go?” Cozy asked.

“Yeah, that’s the candlestick and the lead pipe for the game Cue. I got those, Cozy,” Flurry replied.

“Thanks.”

“Great,” Pound grumbled. “Everypony’s still getting too rambunctious in here.”

“Give em time, Pound. We’ll all get together to do something eventually,” Flurry told him.

As they were picking things up, behind the cabinet was the Apparition. He slithered around, observing the kids. He had already started his work by knocking over the cabinet and getting Chip to blame Stormy, but the kids had already made up and forgotten about it. He needed to find ways to keep them arguing. Suddenly a bright flash of light appeared to the side. Everyone turned to see Discord in front of the entrance, admiring the new clubhouse. The Apparition instantly disappeared.

“Hello, kids!” he said, waving.

“Hey, Discord!” Stormy said, flying by with the toy robot, which was now in the shape of a spaceship. Discord ducked to evade him.

“Whoa! Hey, Stormy!”

“Discord! Thank goodness you’re here!” Flurry said.

“Think you could help out?” Cozy asked.

“Oh! Had a little accident with the boardgames? Say no more!”

Discord snapped his fingers and the game pieces all teleported back into their respective boxes. The boxes then disappeared and reappeared in the cabinet in the shape of a house of cards.

“Uh…thanks,” Pound said, flatly.

“Oh no problem. So this is the new clubhouse, eh?”

“Sure is!” Flurry said. “Doesn’t it look awesome?”

“It really does bring back some memories. I wasn’t in the old Golden Oaks Library that much back then since it was destroyed not long after I reformed, but I do remember a few little moments in it.”

“Like the time you pretended to be sick with the ‘blue flu’?”

“Ah, good times. I’m surprised you know about that though. You’ve been reading up on the Journal of Friendship, haven’t you?”

“I’ve kinda memorized some of it now.”

“Well hey, good to see you’re here too, Cozy. I see the reformation is going along smoothly for you,” Discord said, turning to Cozy.

“Thanks,” Cozy replied bashfully.

A basketball suddenly bounced right in front of Discord and off the wall and ceiling several times. Stormy flew by trying to catch the ball. In the background, Pumpkin could be heard singing loudly to music while Annie looked annoyed by the volume.

“Stormy!” Pound yelled.

“Sorry, Pound, I’ll get it under control!” Chip said, running after Stormy.

“I’ll help out with you!” Cozy added, trying to catch the ball and get Stormy to calm down.

“Sorry things are kind of a mess here. I’m trying to get the others to listen for once.”

“Ah, kids will be kids, sport,” Discord said, patting an irritated Pound on the head.

“Well anywho, Spike asked me to stop by here to make sure everything was fine before I head over there tonight to OM for everyone.”

“Spike sent you?” Flurry asked.

“Yeah, he actually said, ‘Discord, make sure there’s no chaos’. Like does he even know who he’s talking to? Hehe!”

Discord waved his lion paw over his face and it transformed into a head that resembled Spike’s but still had the shape of Discord’s skull and differently-sized eyes. He spoke in an accent to mimic Spike’s voice. Flurry giggled while Pound rolled his eyes.

“Just tell him we’re okay. He’s got a birthday party to worry about over in the castle,” Flurry said.

“And DON’T say anything about the cabinet or the basketball. We’ve got everything under control here,” Pound added, firmly.

Discord then appeared to be wearing a backwards cap, a set of headphones around his neck and a jacket with a white undershirt.

“Alright! Fresh! Well I’ll be on my way then, kiddos! Time for a little Draconequi and Dragons tonight!”

“Bye, Discord!” Flurry called back.

“Peace out!”

Discord put his eagle claw on the door as if to open it but disappeared instead. A moment later, a canister full of colored pencils splattered against the door.

“NOW WHO THE HAY DID THAT?!” shouted Pound.

3. Quarrels and Congregations

An hour had passed and things had settled down in the clubhouse. As the kids all did their own things without any interruptions, the Apparition lurked in the shadows, looking through some comic books that had been left open on the floor. None of the kids could see the ghostly, horned creature as it observed modern media aimed at pony youth. He grinned in amusement at what he saw.

“Such interesting culture these ponies have developed. They rely so much on myths and heroes to tell tales, all while living said tales at the same time. Even more interesting is how they have turned me into a legendary villain in this ‘video game’ technology. Such fools. They don’t even know Emperor Grogar is still very much alive and among them.”

He watched the kids play, grinning and slithering around to study how each of them interacted.

“These children have taken in much of this modern media. They are inspired and uplifted by these heroic tales, but not all of it is myth. Some of them have relatives that have stood up to numerous foes and beaten them in battles of wits. It would stand to reason that they look to their heroes for encouragement. One day they too shall be fighting the same battles no doubt. Flurry Heart has already had a taste of such accomplishments and would be an excellent test subject. She is so sure of herself and butts heads with the eldest child, Pound Cake. His habit of playing the adult will get the best of him. I will see to that.”

The Apparition crept underneath the couch and moved toward the Super Tendonin Entertainment System. He absorbed himself into the vents then exited the console, laughing quietly.

Pound walked over just after this happened and sat down to play a game on the system. He opened the top to put in a new cartridge and then closed it. After turning on the TV monitor, he pressed the power button on the console. He expected the Tendonin logo to show up and for the title screen to appear, but he could only see the blank screen on the TV monitor. He then noticed the power button wasn’t glowing and the console wasn’t making a sound. He checked multiple times to make sure all the cords were securely plugged in, only to grow more aggravated. After several long minutes of troubleshooting he put both his hooves on his face and groaned.

“UGH! What happened to the darn STES?! We just got this thing!”

He then looked behind him at everyone else in the room, wondering who could have broken the console. His face grew stern and he reached to unplug the system to prepare for interrogation.

“So, who broke the STES? I just wanna know.” Pound firmly asked his six friends, as they all gathered around a table with the console in the center.

The others looked around nervously. They all knew they didn’t break it, but each one thought one of their other friends was the culprit. Flurry was afraid drama would ensue and quickly thought of a way to avoid it.

“Pound, it was me,” she said. “It’s okay, I can pay for it. Just let me-”

“No, no, Flurry, I know it wasn’t you. You don’t play video games,” Pound interrupted.

“But…”

“Stormy?”

“Wasn’t me,” Stormy replied. “I’ll bet it was Chip.”

“What? What makes you think it was me?” Chip said, angrily.

“You just look kinda suspicious.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Hold on, guys,” Pumpkin interjected. “Look, no offense or anything, but I did see Annie with the STES last. She might have done it.”

“That’s a lie. I don’t play video games, they’re too violent,” Annie said, defensively.

“But you were watching the intro for Seapony Adventures after Chip was done with it.”

“Yeah, I like to watch the intro because the music is uplifting, Pumpkin!”

As tensions rose, Flurry tried one last attempt to keep this day from being ruined.

“Guys, please, let’s not fight!” she begged. “Look, I’m a princess. I have a lot of money. Let me pay for-”

Flurry was then interrupted by Pound’s hoof being shoved into her mouth.

“Flurry, stop lying!” he hollered. “Who broke it?!”

Everyone then looked over to the only one that hadn’t said anything yet. Cozy had been quiet the entire time. They were hard-pressed to blame her since she had been reformed recently and was doing a good job at not being a villain anymore. She was sure they wouldn’t blame her, but she still wanted to help keep everyone from fighting.

“Uh…guys, I don’t play video games either. I don’t even know where the power button is on that thing; they were pretty different back in my day. But I…I’m sure we can get a new one. Maybe we could all chip in some of our allowance?” she suggested, bashfully.

“I still say it was Chip!” Stormy shouted.

“Stormy, it wasn’t me!” yelled Chip. “Again, you’re full of Beryllium Broccoli!”

“Cesium Celery!”

“Guys!” shouted Pound in the midst of the uproar.

As the bedlam went on, the Apparition watched them behind the couch, laughing at having accomplished his goal to divide them. Pound could take it no longer and picked up the console and carried it away to the cabinet.

“Alright, you know what, if you guys aren’t going to fess up, no more video games!” he shouted angrily.

“Pound, look…” Flurry tried pleading.

“NOPE!”

Pound threw the console into the cabinet and slammed the door behind him.

“Pound, how do we know you weren’t the one to break it?” Chip asked.

“Chip’s got a point,” Annie added.

“Don’t shift the blame to me! I just turned it on and it did nothing! I wouldn’t lie about this!” Pound barked back.

“Did you check the power cords?” Flurry asked.

“Or blowing on the cartridge?” Chip asked.

“I tried everything! And blowing on cartridges doesn’t work, Chip!”

Pound started breathing heavily. Even Flurry was past trying to reason with him. Cozy looked very worried. She flew up to put her hoof on Pound’s shoulder.

“Pound, let’s just forget about the Tendonin,” she begged. “We can always find something else to do. There are plenty of books and board games and stuff.”

Pound took a deep breath and covered his face with one hoof.

“Look, can we all just behave?” he asked, doing his best to remain calm. “I tried asking you guys to settle down earlier and you almost wrecked the place. I don’t know who broke the STES, but it’s already ruined our first stay here. This is why I wanted us all to just sit down and do the same thing first and be more organized.”

Just as Pound had finished, the front door opened and Starlight Glimmer stepped inside. Everyone jumped at the sound of the door opening and immediately tried to play cool.

“Hey, kids!” Starlight said.

“STARLIGHT!” Flurry shouted as everyone put on smiles.

“Everything going alright in this awesome new clubhouse so far?”

“YEAH! I mean, yeah! We’re doing great! Right, Pound?”

“Riiiight!” Pound said, nervously.

Flurry and Pound put their hooves around their shoulders and grinned from ear to ear. Chip and Stormy gave each other a hoof bump, while Pumpkin gave Annie an uncomfortably tight hug. Everyone smiled nervously, hoping it would convince Starlight.

“Oh, good. That’s great to hear,” Starlight continued. “I was a little worried when Spike asked me to stop over and check on you. He made it sound like you were in danger or something.”

“UGH! Tell Spike he’s a worry wart!” Flurry said, still smiling nervously.

“Yeah, we got this!” Pound added.

“Totally!” Pumpkin followed up.

Starlight was a little put off by their nervous looks on their faces, but couldn’t see any signs that something bad had occurred. Cozy looked a little nervous at first but smiled and nodded to Starlight.

“Alright. I’ll tell him everything’s fine. He and all the other dragons are going to be spending the night in the castle. Hopefully they don’t wreck the place cuz Trixie’s on a tour while Sunburst is visiting his parents, so I’m gonna be on dragon-sitting duty. Wish me luck!”

“Yup. Good luck with that, Starlight. Thanks for stopping by,” Cozy said, as Starlight left and closed the door behind her.

Everyone dropped their smiles and separated themselves from each other. Cozy turned around quickly to address them before anyone said something they’d regret.

“See guys, we can still get along!” she said.

Everyone looked suspiciously at the pony they were next to. They didn’t seem very pleased with each other after that tirade, but Cozy was determined to keep it from getting worse.

“Hey, look, we’ll get over this. We can still have fun even without the video games. Don’t we have plenty of board games in there?”

“Yeah, we do,” Flurry said.

“Great! What was that one game we were picking up earlier, Pound? The one with the candlestick piece?”

“You mean Cue?” Pound replied.

“Yeah, that one. Maybe we could all play that.”

“Eh, Cue is kinda fun,” Stormy said.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind it,” Annie added.

“Alright, so how about we take Cue and set it down here and give it a try?”

Everyone slowly started to smile again and turned to the pony next to them. Flurry had an apologetic look on her face as she spoke to Pound.

“Cozy’s right,” she said, going to take the game out of the cabinet. “Let’s just get our minds off of the Tendonin and have some fun with a board game.”

“There!” Cozy said, happily. “See? I always knew friendship would come through with you guys!”

As they all set the game up, the Apparition watched with a disapproving scowl.

“That Cozy Glow is getting to be a thorn in my side. I should have left her as a stone statue in that garden. No matter. I am not through with them yet.”

As the kids began to set up the board game, the Apparition noticed Flurry Heart’s Journal of Friendship book on the table in the kitchen. He grinned and slowly crept into the kitchen to take a look.

Spike, Barb, Scorch and Singe sat comfortably on some couches in a living room in the crystal castle, while Buttercream was busy in the kitchen. Discord walked by, dressed as a waiter with a plate full of gems. He lowered the plate and let them grab some gems, as Spike told his siblings tales of his past.

“So yeah, that’s how I almost became the Dragon Lord,” he said before munching on a gem.

“Wow, Spike! You should’ve just taken it!” Singe said.

“Nah. I was too young and I never really wanted to be a leader.”

“Lo and behold, you were royalty all along,” Barb teased.

“Yeah, touché. Still, Ember deserved to lead the migratory dragons and she’s done a great job ever since.”

“Alright, everybody!” Buttercream said, walking in from the kitchen. “The cake’s baking as we speak. Oh, hey Discord!”

“Hello there, Buttercream,” Discord replied, as the chubby little dragoness gave him a hug, and he patted her head spikes. “Now is it true we have a few others joining us for O&O tonight?”

“Yup! Billow’s coming back and so are my long friends, Aster and Lily and their little pet wyrm, Pansy!”

“Oh? Eastern Drakes…my, I haven’t talked to a long in years! I avoided going over there after reforming for fear they might think I’ve, how shall I say it… appropriated their look.”

“Nah, Aster and Lily are totally chill and I don’t think anyone in Ester Dracos really minds that.”

“That’s good to hear. I mean I have admired the majesty of the longs, but…well, that’s not what inspired me with this look. In any case, do they all know how to play O&O?”

“Sure do! Aster usually OMs for us, but he’ll get to sit back this time and be a regular player!”

Just then, everyone heard the large set of doors open and Billow walked inside, carrying Beo Tuag in her wings. Everyone turned to greet her.

“Hey everyone. Hope I didn’t miss anything,” she said as Buttercream ran in for a hug.

“BILLIE!” she squealed. “You made it! Are the others here too?”

“See for yourself!”

Everyone looked down the hallway to see several serpentine dragons coming in. One of them was using an announcer voice as if to introduce them.

“Been a while since we’ve seen ‘em, but they’re back in action! Straight outa’ Ester Dracos! Folks, give it up for Lily, Pansy aaaaand Aster!”

Everyone watched as they entered the room. First came Lily, a long whitish-green dragon with green hair, a yellow underbelly and red eyes. Her body length and antlers had grown much longer since her youth. Her snout had grown out more and she now had the appearance of a young adult long. Pansy was a maroon wyrm with no legs or wings and could not speak, but could still hover around. She had also grown longer and her pink spikes were more prominent now. Behind them was Aster, who had grown so long, he was taller than Discord. He was a darker shade of green with a yellow underbelly, magenta hair, and purple eyes. He had magenta whiskers growing from his snout as most male longs tended to have. His antlers had grown another point since the time Buttercream first met them.

“Hey everyone!” Lily shouted happily.

“AUF AUF!!” Pansy barked as she flew next to her owner.

“LILY!!” Buttercream squealed as she flew up to hug her friend.

Everyone watched as the longs flew around in circles, meandering gracefully until they landed to get themselves acquainted. Lily coiled herself around Buttercream as they gave each other a tight hug.

“Butter, it’s been such a long time! OOOH! Is this the family?!”

They parted and Lily immediately drew her attention to Buttercream’s siblings. Full of energy, she began introducing herself and shook Barb’s hand with excitement.

“Hi! I’m Lily! Buttercream and Nightwatch met me years ago when I was just a little tiny long! We had the most epic adventures ever with them! And you must be Princess Barb?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s me,” Barb said, barely able to keep up with the effervescent dragoness.

“It’s such an honor to meet you, your highness! Hey there, Tall and Handsome! I know that’s not your real name! Hehe! You’re Singe I believe?” Lily said, shaking Scorch’s hand.

“Hey, nice to meet you. I’m Scorch actually. He’s Singe,” Scorch said, pointing to his brother.

“AWWW! Butter, you’ve got such adorable siblings!”

Lily gave Singe a hug so tight; his eyes bulged out a little and he lost his ability to breathe momentarily.

“UGH! Nice to meet you too, Miss!” he croaked.

“Oh, and is this little guy your twin brother?! AAAAGGGGHHH!!! HE’S JUST AS CUTE AS YOU ARE, BUTTER!!!”

Lily then noticed Spike, put her hands up to her cheeks and squealed with delight. Spike started to reach out to shake her hand, but she dove in and coiled herself around him and hugged him tenderly. Spike noticed how soft and fuzzy she felt. He then remembered that most Eastern Drakes were covered in fur with the exception of their underbellies and nose bridges. She nuzzled against the side of his face like a friendly kitten. Spike had never met someone so welcoming and willing to give a hug. Lily then recollected herself and tried her best to speak at a lower volume.

“Sorry. I’m kind of a bit of a hugger, plus where I come from, chubby dragons are a little rare and it’s considered good luck to hug one.”

Singe rubbed his arm while Spike blushed and put his hands behind his back.

“Heh…well it’s good to know we have that affect on you guys,” Spike said, bashfully. “So you guys are Easterns. This is my first time meeting one believe it or not.”

Pansy then slithered up next to Spike and licked him with her tongue. It was not as wet and slobbery as a dog’s, but it tickled his face.

“Hahaha! And who’s this?”

“That’s my pet wyrm, Pansy! She goes wherever I go!”

“AUF AUF AUF!”

Pansy barked happily and proceeded to show friendship the rest of Spike’s siblings. Aster then began introducing himself to them.

“Madam, it’s an honor to meet the heir of Nordo Dracos at long last,” he said, bowing respectfully and shaking her hand. “The name’s Aster. I’m Emperor Antirrhinum’s ambassador.”

“Ah, so that’s who the Emperor chose. It’s good to finally meet you too, Aster,” Barb said, shaking his hand. “These are my two younger brothers, Scorch and Singe, and you already know Butter, so this little guy here is Spike.”

“Hey there,” Spike said, stepping forward to shake Aster’s hand.

“So this is Butter’s twin brother, eh? She’s told us a lot about you. Can’t believe you two went this long without knowing each other all these years. Might wanna check those milk cartons a little more.”

Lily and Buttercream snickered at Aster as he rubbed Spike’s head. Lily then noticed Discord and slithered in right next to him.

“Ooooh! Bro, check this guy out! I’m guessing this is Discord, the Lord of Chaos!” Lily said.

“Yup, that’s Discord!” Buttercream said.

“Well now. You’re a tall drink of water,” Aster told Discord, observing his mixed body parts. “Loving the style of anatomy you’ve got going on here. Like a fine Picoltso portrait.”

“Oh thank you. It’s not offensive, I hope,” Discord said.

“Oh no, not at all!” Lily replied. “You look so cool!”

“The long dragon body is usually believed to be mystical and divine, so that’s a compliment really. Did you always look this way?” Aster asked.

“Eh, not always,”

“Yeah, but it’s okay, cuz he’s reformed now too,” Spike said, trying to keep Discord from having to talk about his past.

“Yeah, Discord used to be a villain, but he’s a totally chill guy now!” Buttercream said.

“Yeah, you should’ve seen him last week with the changeling queen!” Scorch added.

“Tell me about it. That battle was something else. Great to see you again, Scorch,” Billow said, walking in next to Scorch.

“You too, Billow,” Scorch said, shaking her claw again.

Barb looked happily at the two of them while Buttercream and Singe started giggling and whispering to each other.

“Singe, which do you think sounds better: Scillow or Borch?” Buttercream asked.

“Huh? Oh, you mean like their names? I dunno, I think Scorchillow rolls off the tongue better,” he replied.

“Alright, knock it off you two,” Barb said, giving Singe a noogie and lifting up Buttercream to tickle her. “Sorry. I’ll keep them under control.”

“Oh I’m already used to it,” Billow told Barb. “Hope you guys didn’t mind me bringing Beo along too.”

“Not at all! Can’t have Billow without Beo!” Buttercream said, cheerfully.

Billow opened her wings and let Beo hover into her hand to be held. She put her other hand on her hip and used Beo like a staff. The sentient axe glowed with light and leaned in to speak to her dragon wielder telepathically.

“You’re doing great so far, Billow. When he’s watching you, keep giving him a loving gaze and sway your hips a little as you walk. Don’t be afraid to flirt. Your mother was really good at that when she was trying to woo your father.”

“Yeah, Beo, let’s not overdo it, okay? We’re here for Spike and Butter don’t forget.”

Everyone looked at Billow, not able to figure out what she meant since they could not hear the voice she was responding to.

“Um…sorry. You might see me talking with her like that a lot tonight.”

Beo leaned in again to bonk Billow on her head teasingly. Billow looked annoyed and put her other hand on Beo to keep her still.

“Anyway, are we ready for the food and presents soon?”

“Oh yes!” Buttercream replied. “We’re gonna do me and Spike’s presents before the food is ready, and then later tonight is gonna be the best O&O campaign ever!”

“Alright guys, I say we do the presents now,” said Barb.

Everyone else cheered and nodded in agreement as they all sat down to open gifts. Spike and Buttercream looked excitedly as they joined each other on the ground in the center.

“I’m so looking forward to our party tonight, Spike,” she told him as they held hands. “This is going to be our first time celebrating after finding out we’re twins.”

“I know. I can’t wait to do this. I wish the kids could be here tho-”

Buttercream put her finger on Spike’s lips to keep him from finishing his sentence.

“Shush. The kids are alright. I spoke with Starlight earlier in the kitchen before she went off to finish some office work. She checked on them like you asked.”

“Oh, she did? Well that’s good to know. Guess I’ve got nothing to worry about.”

4. Presents, Cake, and Table Top RPGs

The castle festivities continued as Spike and Buttercream opened all their presents. Barb, Scorch, and Singe gave them some sweet gems to eat and some hand-crafted charms that were said to bring good luck in Nordo Dracos. Billow’s gifts were small statues from Soder Dracos that were crafted after ancient Southern Drake warriors. Buttercream told Lily and Aster that Spike was also a fan of the Dragon Warriors franchise, so they bought him and Buttercream some action figures based on the characters. Buttercream had just opened a plushie of Smelt the Warrior as he appeared in the Super Dragon Warriors game, while Spike got a plushie of Grumblebog.

“EEEH! You got me Smelt! I love it guys!” Buttercream said, giving Lily and Aster a hug.

“We’ve been keeping that one for the past few months, hoping you hadn’t already bought it!” Lily replied.

“Thanks guys!” Spike told them, joining in the hug. “Grumblebog’s my favorite character to play as.”

“Yup! Butter told us all about your playing habits in a letter, and we had to go real quick to get the plushies from Myositi’s stand before they ran out,” Aster said.

“Wait, Myosoti? The creator of the Dragon Warriors franchise?! You guys KNOW him?!”

“Sure do! Butter knows him too!” Lily explained, excitedly. “She and Nighty met him back when they first came to Ester Dracos! That was back when Dragon Warriors was kinda new and hadn’t been released in Equestria yet.”

“But Myosoti was so nice and he even gave us a copy of the game and a free TES! Nighty and I were the first ones to play the game in Equestria!”

“Butter! I knew you had connections, but I didn’t think you had connections!” Spike teased, giving her a nooggie as she giggled.

“So is this Dragon Warriors thing like one of those energy based games they play in Ester Dracos?” Barb asked Aster.

“That would be the video game, Princess,” Aster responded. “Do they play those in Nordo Dracos?”

“Eh…not that I’ve heard of. We’re kinda old-fashioned up there.”

“I wouldn’t mind giving it a try someday,” Singe said.

“Yeah, it sounds like an interesting piece of technology,” Scorch added.

“It’s quite a pastime, just remember to balance it with some outdoor activity!” Lily told them.

“Alright you two,” said Barb. “There are two more gifts we have for both of you.”

Spike looked around to see if there were any presents left but couldn’t find any. He then saw Barb reach behind the couch and pull out a large purple egg with green and yellow swirls on it. The very bottom of the egg was flat and smooth to allow it to stand upright without rolling over. It didn’t look much like a real dragon egg and had a pearlescent glimmer to it. It appeared to be made out of a rare gemstone and had a zig-zagged crack going through it. Scorch then took another egg with the same colors out and gave it to Buttercream.

“There’s two sets for both of you,” Barb told both of them. “Sorry we didn’t put them in that colorful paper. Dragons don’t really do the whole wrapping thing when we give gifts.”

“That’s okay, Barb,” Spike replied, taking the egg. “Uh…so is this a real dragon egg?”

“Nope, that’s carved out of a special mineral that grows in Nordo Dracos. See that crack in the middle? Lift it up and see what’s inside.”

Spike and Buttercream lifted the top half of the egg to reveal another smaller egg that was pink with turquoise speckles. They realized both these eggs looked like their parents.

“Oh, I get it now: they’re Mom and Dad’s eggs!” Spike said.

“And that’s not all. Keep opening them,” Scorch said.

Spike and Buttercream lifted the top half of the second egg to reveal another smaller egg inside that was Barb’s colors followed by Scorch, Singe, Spike and finally Buttercream. Each egg was colored like everyone in Spike’s family and their sizes went in order of age. Buttercream’s was the smallest and was solid and unable to split in half since she was the youngest. All these eggs were able to fit inside each other and stored away inside Smite’s largest egg.

“Awww! It’s us!” Buttercream said, rubbing her egg against her cheek.

“They’re beautiful,” Spike said, wiping a tear from his eye.

“They’re called nesting eggs,” Barb explained. “It’s tradition in Nordo Dracos to make these for our families.”

“Even though we thought you two were gone, our sets back at home still have your eggs. We had to get two more sets of them made again for you when you came back,” Scorch added.

“And now we’ve all got our own nesting egg sets!” Singe said, rubbing Spike’s head.

“Thanks guys,” Spike said, hugging all his siblings one by one as Buttercream joined in.

Billow, Aster and Lily looked happily at the dragon family as they embraced one another. Discord started getting emotional and summoned a tissue to dab his eyes.

“Alright, anyone else got presents left?” asked Buttercream.

“Oh, just one more thing!” Discord said, making the tissue disappear.

He then made two tiny presents appear floating in front of Spike and Buttercream. The ribbons untied themselves and the boxes opened to reveal two custom sculpted figurines of Spike and Buttercream’s avatars they would use in Ogres and Oubliettes. Spike had just used a small paper with a drawing of his avatar in the past and Buttercream used a small clay sculpture she made when she was little, but these new ones were crafted rather well. Buttercream’s resembled herself dressed as a bard and carrying an old-fashioned mandolin, while Spike was still using his bearded wizard avatar, Garbunkle.

“Discord, did you make these yourself?” Buttercream asked, ecstatically.

“Well when you’re a creature of chaos, it’s not that hard to make things randomly appear…but yeah, I did the best I could to work harder on them without snapping the ‘ol fingers.”

The two chubby dragons went in to hug Discord as he put his arms around them both.

“Alright, anything left?” Billow asked.

“Nope. Looks like that settles it!” Lily said.

“Alrighty then! Bring out the cake, Starlight!” Discord called.

Everyone looked to the doorway to see Starlight bringing in a large chocolate birthday cake for the twin dragons. Buttercream had baked the cake herself and helped Starlight with some of the icing. She then left to go unwrap presents so she could be surprised with the rest of the cake. It was now finished and had all candles lit. Starlight began singing the birthday song as Discord, Lily, Aster and Billow joined in. Barb, Scorch and Singe looked surprised since this was the first time they had seen a birthday cake. They also did not know the lyrics to the song, so they awkwardly nodded their heads back and forth.

“Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Spike and Buttercream! Happy Birthday to you!”

“And many mooooooooore!” Aster followed up, using a soothing baritone voice.

Everyone clapped as Starlight set the cake down on a nearby table. Spike and Buttercream bent over and blew out the candles. As the clapping continued, they hugged each other and Starlight walked in with a knife to begin cutting the cake as Buttercream removed all the candles and licked them.

“Alright, first pieces go to the birthday boy and girl!” Starlight said, handing pieces to them both.

“Oh man! Butter, you made this?” Spike said after taking a bite.

“With a little help from Starlight, yeah! Chocolate frosting with vanilla cake inside and some creamy raspberry frosting in the center layer! One of my best recipes!” she responded.

Barb, Scorch and Singe were handed their pieces on plates. Lily and Billow showed them how to hold their forks right.

“Give it a try, guys!” Buttercream said as everyone watched to see their reactions.

They all took bites and waited a few seconds to taste it. Singe’s pupils grew so large and sparkly once the taste had set in for him.

“This…..THIS IS THE BEST FOOD EVER!” he exclaimed before taking several more huge bites.

“Hehe! I knew he’d love it!” Buttercream giggled.

“Whoa! This is good!” Scorch said as he took another bite.

“This tastes like Grandma Pebble’s sugarcane garnets!” Barb added.

“There’s more to where that came from! This little one can cook up the finest gourmet deserts!” Aster told them.

“She had the best culinary arts teachers back in Daleshire!” Lily added.

As everyone was talking, Billow continued staring amorously at Scorch as he finished his cake. She admired his muscular build and his wide shoulders that complimented her round physique. She had seen plenty of handsome male Southerns in her homeland, but Scorch was just the right type for her, whether or not he had horns. She did not realize Buttercream was watching the entire time. She nudged Singe and they both started giggling. Scorch looked at them confused and then turned his head the other way to Billow. She immediately picked her plate back up and ate it to avoid letting Scorch see her.

“Er…um…mmmm! Good stuff, Butter!” she said with her mouth full.

“Yeah, he sure is!” Buttercream said, playfully.

Barb rolled her eyes at her siblings antics and then got up to stretch.

“Alright, so we still doing this Ogres and Oubliettes thing?” she asked Discord.

“Oh, right!” Discord said, simultaneously dumping the cake, plate and fork in his mouth and chewing them up. “Sorry everyone, I’m still getting a few things ready for the game. Butter, I’m not familiar with how you set up for campaigns so would you like to give me a claw?”

“Sure thing, Discord!” Butter said, skipping away to follow Discord to the large table behind them.

As they both walked to the table, everyone else kept themselves busy with conversation. Barb walked over to speak with Billow as Scorch was busy with the others.

“I see you’re still eying my brother,” she told Billow.

“Er… sorry about that,” Billow said, bashfully.

“Oh no, that’s okay. I’ve been trying to get him a girl for a while now. Honestly, I think he likes you too.”

“Does he?”

“Yeah. He’s been asking about you ever since the wedding.”

“Well I hope I’m not distracting from the festivities. Being the heir of Soder Dracos, I’m kinda expected to find a gentleman soon, but I don’t want to intrude or anything.”

“Oh, I know how that feels. And don’t worry about it. I think you guys would both be great for each other.”

Billow blushed, as Barb walked off to speak with Scorch, who had just finished talking to Aster. She elbowed him to get his attention.

“You gonna make any moves yet?” she asked him.

“Moves on what?”

“You know what. Or rather who.”

“Oh. I mean, she is really cute.”

“And?”

“Well I came here for Butter and Spike tonight, so I wouldn’t wanna ruin it for them.”

“You won’t ruin it, Scorch. I can tell she likes you back. Don’t be afraid to talk to her some more.”

“Yeah, bro. You’d better hurry or I’ll be the one to court a girl first,” Singe teased.

Barb rubbed Singe’s head, as he walked by, eating his second piece of cake. He walked over to the table to see what Discord and Buttercream were doing. Sprawled out across the table were cards, papers, pencils and other game pieces that Buttercream was setting up. Discord was in the middle of reading a list that she had made for him.

“Hey guys, mind if I watch?” Singe asked.

“Sure! Come on over, bro!” Buttercream responded.

“So this is the game? This looks kinda cool.”

“I know, right? It might take a while to play, but since this is your first time, I made this one easy for you, Barb and Scorch. Discord just needs a minute to get familiar with this style of play since he’s usually playing the more advanced edition with Spike and Big Macintosh.”

“Yeah. I think we’ll have fun with it.”

“So do you like my friends from Ester Dracos?”

“Yeah, they’re really nice.”

“How about Lily? She’s kinda cute, isn’t she?”

Buttercream nudged him teasingly as he looked bashful at the question. Although he didn’t disagree, he had someone else on his mind.

“She is, but I’ve already got my eyes on another dragoness back home.”

Buttercream looked surprised. She leaned in closer to listen what her brother was saying.

“Oooooh! Who is she, Singe?!”

“Her name’s Simmer. Her dad works in the guard so our families have known each other for a while. I had her in some of my classes when Barb, Scorch and I were still schooling. She’s a dainty little thing, but she’s a lively one at that.”

“She sounds cute!”

“You bet she is. She kinda reminds me of you.”

“EEEEH! I have GOT to meet her someday!”

“I’ll introduce you next time you come up to Nordo Dracos. And when I get there, I’m gonna see if I can court her.”

“Sounds romantic! What’s dragon-courting like in Nordo Dracos?”

“Well, you see-”

The lights suddenly turned off and Discord could be seen at the end of the table with a flashlight under his face. He spoke in a daunting voice that echoed throughout the room. Everyone else around the couches dropped everything they were doing and drew their attention to the game.

“Gather around, children of the land, as we begin our journey into the world of Ogres and Oubliettes! Are you ready to fight the darkness that seeks to conquer the land and stop the evil, tentacled demon of the depths, Wrathulu, or as we like to call him, THE SQUIZARD?”

“You bet we are! Garbunkle is here to fight!" Spike said, flying in and placing his new figurine on the table.

Lily, Aster and Billow all came in and put down their own set pieces they had made for them years ago. Lily’s was a druid, Aster’s was a ranger, and Billow’s was a barbarian.

“Here are our figurines! We had these made for us in Ester Dracos!” Lily chimed.

“And nice job with the voice there, Discord!” Aster complimented the Lord of Chaos.

“Why thank you, Aster. I’ve been practicing. Anyway, if you’re all ready, I’ve got my piece set up right here.”

Discord snapped his fingers and a figurine appeared that resembled him with long blond hair and an archer’s uniform, wielding a bow and arrow.

“This is Captain Wuzzolas the Archer. I sort of gave his name an upgrade from the original ‘Captain Wuzz’ that I randomly generated from my chaotic mind when I first played with Spike and Big Macintosh. Unfortunately Big Mac isn’t here tonight, so I guess that means Sir McBiggun won’t be joining our party, but oh well. We can just say he’s at the tavern having a little too much chocolate milk or something. Hehe.”

“Uh…wait, guys, when are we playing the game?” Scorch asked, looking around, confused.

“This is the game, silly!” Buttercream told him.

“Er…oh, it’s one of those games then.”

Scorch looked disappointed. He looked down at all the set pieces and cards before him, not sure of what to make of it all.

“Is everything okay, Scorch?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, it’s just…well…I thought it was a game where you get up and move around to play it, preferably outside. I didn’t think it was a game you had to sit down for and use these…whatever you call these little gems with runes on them.”

“The dice you mean? That’s okay, we’ll guide you through the whole thing.”

“Eh…okay.”

Scorch sat down as everyone else found seats. Barb almost sat next to him but signaled to Billow that she can take the seat instead.

“Go ahead, Billow. This is a good chance to help him out and win him over,” Beo Tuag told Billow.

Billow complied and sat down next to Scorch. He already looked a little bored, so she gave him assurance.

“Hey, if you need any help, let me know,” she told him.

“Thanks,” Scorch said, smiling.

“Alright, Barb, Scorch and Singe, there are plenty of classes to play as,” Discord told the royal dragon siblings as a sheet floated in with artwork depicting samples of the players in the game, “Which do you want: mage, druid, barbarian, ranger, paladin, bard, rogue?”

The three of them looked very confused at what Discord had just said. Discord then snapped his fingers and made three figurines appear for them.

“That’s okay. I decided to just make these up on the fly in case you couldn’t figure out what to decide on. Barb will be Flamina the Magician, Singe will be Scaledron the Fighter, and Scorch will be Nordomir the Paladin.”

He snapped his fingers a second time. Tons of little figurines that resembled skeletons with weapons appeared in the center with a figurine of Wrathulu the Sorcerer. Behind Wrathulu was a tall castle with a pony inside the tallest tower that resembled Rarity.

“I simplified the campaign as best I could so we aren’t here till morning. Here’s the rundown: the evil Squizard has captured the lovely and fair Princess Shmarity and placed her in a tall tower. Our goal is to make our way to the battlefield, fight the skeleton army, slay the Friendcraftian beast, and rescue the princess. Simple as that. Everyone ready to enter the world of Ogres and Oubliettes?”

Discord looked around to check all the players. Barb and Singe had nervous smiles while Scorch was doing his best to enjoy himself. Discord picked up the 20-sided dice and shook it around in his hand.

“Alrighty then! Rolling in three…two…one!”

5. Get a Cue

“And I get a seven,” said Pound.

The rest of the kids watched as the two six-sided dice landed and Pound began to move his green player token. The game of Cue had a board with a plastic toy castle in the center. There were square cobblestone steps between and around each building that the character tokens could be moved over. On all sides were nine larger squares that represented buildings the players could enter during the game. The castle in the center was mostly for looks and could not be accessed by the player tokens, but it contained a chest at the top. Inside the chest were three cards that determined the criminal, their weapon and what building the crime was committed in.

“So once you get to one of these buildings, you get to guess three cards?” asked Cozy.

“Yup. You have to include the building you’re in but you get to pick a character and weapon,” explained Chip, as Stormy took his turn. “Since it’s early in the game, we can pretty much pick whoever we want until we narrow the results down. When you say which character used what weapon in that room, the player to your left can show you if they have one of those cards and only one. If they do have one of the cards, write it down so you remember to not guess it again. If they don’t have any of the cards, check to see if the one to their left does.”

“And the three cards we’re trying to guess are what’s in this chest at the top tower?”

“Yup.”

“Alright, I get five!” Stormy chimed as he moved his yellow token over five steps.

As they kept playing, the Apparition was reading Flurry’s Journal of Friendship book downstairs. He leafed through the pages until he got to a chapter that stuck out to him most.

“Friendship isn’t easy, but it’s worth fighting for…” he said, reading the final lesson of the chapter out loud. “So that’s how you did it, Accord: a hypnosis spell that turns them against one another. Heh. Child’s play. Even with all this potential you finally learned to embrace, I should have known you would resort to such a cheap method and only get yourself turned to stone a second time. And now look at you: still embracing the name of Discord yet playing the protagonist. The greatest feats of evil do not require a mind-control spell that a host can easily snap out of at any given moment. Allow me to show you the proper way to make children bicker.”

The Apparition closed the book and slowly crept through the living room and up the stairs. Once he got to the bedroom above, he shrank himself down to tiny size and slithered over to the game to read its instructions. Having understood the rules rather well, he quietly crept around each of them and observed their cards.

“Seven! Yes!” shouted Pumpkin as she moved her white token into a building at the base of the castle.

Everyone watched as Pumpkin thought hard and then made her guess.

“Alright guys, I’m gonna say it was Colonel Dandelion in the Theater with the Candlestick.”

Annie showed the Candlestick card to Pumpkin and Pumpkin checked it off on her notes. Annie then rolled the dice.

“Four,” she said, picking up her blue token and moving it up the steps before Chip took his turn.

“So Flurry, I know if one of us figures out the mystery, we open the chest at the top, but what if we don’t get it right?” asked Cozy.

“If you get all three right, you win the game and can show everyone the cards,” Flurry said as she rolled the dice and moved her red token. “If you get even one card wrong, you lose the game. When that happens, you can’t make anymore guesses for the rest of the game, but you still have to be in if you need to show a card when someone else guesses. I wouldn’t worry about that right now. We have to go through more of the game before we can start making the accusation.”

“Alright, I think I’ve got it now.”

“Good, because it’s your turn.”

Flurry handed Cozy the dice. Cozy rolled the dice and got a result for nine steps.

“Okay, I got nine. Oh, that means I can go into…what’s this place called? The Observatory.”

She picked up her pink token and then made her guess.

“I’m gonna say… Professor Prune in the Observatory with the Broadsword. Pound, do you have one of those?”

“Nope,” Pound replied, nodding his head back and forth.

“So does that mean I can check the chest?”

“Not yet. You gotta check with Stormy, and if he doesn’t have one, you ask Pumpkin next. Stormy, do you have one of those cards?”

“Yup. Everyone look away. Here you go, Cozy, and don’t tell anyone which card this is,” Stormy replied, showing Cozy the card for Professor Prune.

“Okay, and then I just write that down,” Cozy said, taking her notes and checking Professor Prune off. “Wow, this game is pretty fun, guys.”

“Yeah, I’m glad you suggested we play it!” Pumpkin said, happily.

The Apparition finally made his move. He crept underneath the table and phased through the wood and plastic castle set. Once he got to the top, he went inside the chest and looked at the cards. The combination was Pink Carnation in the Throne Room with the Rope. He listened to the children and waited for one of them to decide when to make the accusation and open the chest.

“Alright, I’m guessing it was Feather Duster in the Observatory with the Chain Mace,” said Stormy. “Pumpkin, do you have one of those?”

“Nope,” Pumpkin replied.

“Annie?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one,” Annie responded, carefully showing him the card for Feather Duster while everyone else closed their eyes or looked away.

“Alright, my turn,” said Pumpkin, rolling the dice and getting a result that allowed her to enter the Balcony.

“Alright guys, I’m guessing it was Pink Carnation on the Balcony with the Dagger.

Annie then showed her the card for the Dagger and rolled the dice for her turn. The next whole round just had everyone moving and not entering buildings. When they got to Cozy again, she was ready to make the accusation.

“Alright guys, I think I know the cards in the chest,” she said.

“Are you sure?” asked Pound.

“Yup. Alright…I accuse Pink Carnation…in the Throne Room…with the Rope.”

“Alright, only one way to find out,” Flurry said, using her magic to lift the chest off of the castle piece in the center.

Before the chest moved out, the Apparition cast a spell to transform the Rope card to Spear so Cozy would guess wrong. He then quickly disappeared. Flurry handed the chest to Cozy and Cozy opened to check the cards. She was excited once she saw that her first two guesses were right, but then frowned once she saw that she guessed the wrong weapon card.

“Aw. I’m sorry guys. I only got two of them right,” she said, glumly.

“That’s okay, Cozy. It happens,” Flurry said.

“But I still have to be in the game?”

“Yeah, you just can’t do anything except show a card that someone tries to guess if you have it,” Pound told her.

“Alright. Well I guess we can’t all be winners. It’ll still be exciting to see who does win.”

Pound then rolled the dice and moved a few spaces over. The next few turns were not enough to let anyone enter a building until it was Chip’s turn.

“Alright, five. That puts me in the Marketplace!” Chip said, moving his purple token. “And I think it can give me a chance to accuse. I accuse Pink Carnation in the Throne Room with the Spear.”

“Ah. The young farmer boy is smart,” said the Apparition as he changed the Pink Carnation card to Professor Prune. “But not smart enough.”

Chip checked the cards only to realize he had lost.

“Darnit. I got one wrong too.”

“Wow, two of us in a row? That’s a little weird,” said Stormy.

“It’s okay, guys,” Pound said, “Sometimes that happens cuz we didn’t know what Cozy got wrong earlier, so we all have to make our own guesses based on what cards we’re shown.”

Flurry then took her turn and got a result to place her token in the Throne Room.

“Alright. I accuse Professor Prune in the Throne Room with the Candlestick.”

Flurry opened the chest to see she got all of them wrong. The three cards said Blue Macaw in the Marketplace with the Axe.

“What? I got all three of them wrong? How’s that even possible?!”

“It’s okay, Flurry. Remember we can’t all be winners,” said Cozy.

“I’m not mad about not winning, I’m just confused. I spent all that time observing all the cards I saw. Something feels off.”

“Well let’s just continue, Flurry,” Pound said taking his turn.

As everyone else kept playing, Flurry looked curiously at the chest. Since she could not make anymore guesses, she thought she would observe the guesses everyone else was making. She marked off Professor Prune, Throne Room and Candlestick and took note of the correct three cards, waiting till someone made another accusation. When it was Annie’s turn, she made it.

“I accuse Colonel Dandelion in the Observatory with the Axe.”

Annie checked the cards. Everyone waited anxiously for her to tell them she had won, but unfortunately her guess was also wrong. She hung her head and put the chest back.

“I also got all three of them wrong.”

“Wow, this game is intense!” Stormy said.

“Wait a minute…” Flurry said abruptly, as everyone drew their attention to her. “Guys, I think something’s wrong with the cards.”

“Uh…Flurry…” Pound began to say.

“Seriously, I accused Professor Prune in the Throne Room with the Candlestick earlier, but I got it wrong and one of the cards that I saw in the chest was Axe. Annie guessed Axe but said that she got all three wrong. How did she not see Axe it but I did?”

Everyone looked at each other suspiciously. Finally Pound spoke up after rolling his eyes.

“Hold on. Let me check and see the results” he said, opening the chest, “Annie, did you see Blue Macaw in the Marketplace with the Broadsword?”

“Yeah.”

“What? When I last checked I saw Blue Macaw in the Marketplace with the Axe!” Flurry said.

“I saw Pink Carnation in the Throne Room with the Spear!” Cozy added.

“What? How is that even possible, girls?” asked Chip. “I saw Professor Prune in the Throne Room with the Candlestick!”

“What the hay is going on?!” asked Stormy.

“Alright, calm down!” Pound shouted as he started taking everyone’s cards to check them. “Look, let’s just start over and we’ll count these cards to make sure they’re all fine.”

“But Pound, aren’t you wondering how that happened? How many cards are actually in that chest?” Flurry asked.

“Only three. Blue Macaw, Marketplace and Broadsword.”

“But…how…ugh! Alright fine, we’ll start over.”

“Alright, here are the cards,” Pound said, sounding angrier as he went. “Professor Prune, Colonel Dandelion, Blue Macaw, Feather Duster, Pink Carnation, Bronze Buckler, Cold Hard Cash, Hot Tamale, Broadsword, Candlestick, Dagger, Chain Mace, Spear, Axe, Rope, Grappling Hook, Marketplace, Balcony, Throne Room, Observatory, Theater, Coloseum, Library, Dining Hall, Prison Block. We’ve got all the cards and I’m not seeing any duplicates. No extra cards are in the chest. Now can we play again and not fight?! Good!”

Pound furiously shuffled the cards. Everyone else looked scared, while Flurry was rolling her eyes and nodding her head back and forth. The Apparition watched them through the windows in the toy castle, smiling wickedly at the bedlam.

“Excellent. The princess noticed my one mistake earlier, yet they still continue to fight. That’s it, children. Let the anger flow through you. Let it divide you.”

Pound did his best to calm himself down as he passed the cards out. Flurry was already mad enough though and had started to lose control.

“Pound, if you’re going to be like this maybe we should just-”

Pumpkin then whispered Flurry’s name and stroked the tip of her hoof over her neck. Flurry just closed her eyes and sighed.

“Alright, we’ll be the same players as last time to avoid confusion. Does everyone have their cards? Good. I’m putting three, count em three, cards in the chest here and putting it up top.”

The Apparition watched as Pound placed the cards back in the chest. He entered the chest again and saw Hot Tamale in the Prison Block with the Chain Mace. The kids took their turns and he watched as Pound and Flurry tried their best to calm down, but could not get rid of the irritated looks on their faces. For several minutes, the kids continued to play, making guesses along the way until it was Stormy’s turn and he tried to make an accusation.

“I accuse Hot Tamale in the Prison Block with the Chain Mace,” he said, determinedly.

The Apparition changed Prison Block to Observatory and watched as Stormy grew disappointed at losing.

“WHAT?! I got it wrong too!”

“UGH!” Flurry groaned.

“Alright, everyone calm down,” Pumpkin said, nervously.

“Yeah, Stormy just didn’t take good enough notes,” Chip remarked.

“Hey, I did too!” Stormy responded, abrasively.

“Guys, come on, let’s just keep playing,” Cozy begged as Pumpkin took her turn.

The next few rounds had several others making guesses until Pound was ready to make an accusation.

“Alright. I accuse Hot Tamale in the Observatory with the Chain Mace.”

Once he opened the chest, he found he had gotten all the answers wrong. He closed the chest, crossed his arms and placed one hoof over his face in disappointment.

“You got it all wrong too?” Stormy asked.

“Yes,” Pound said, flatly.

“Pound, maybe Flurry’s right,” said Chip.

“Guys, it’s okay, we can just keep going,” said Pumpkin as Stormy took his turn.

Pumpkin rolled after Stormy was done and got a result to go into the Marketplace where she prepared to make a guess. The Apparition was getting tired of doing his deeds in the center castle, so he decided to phase back through the table and start switching the cards the kids were holding. As Pumpkin began to make her guess, he observed Annie’s cards right next to her.

“Alright. Hot Tamale in the Marketplace with the Candlestick,” said Pumpkin.

“I have one,” Annie said.

Annie then picked up one of her cards that said Candlestick, but the Apparition had switched it over to Rope. Before Annie could see what was done to her card, she showed it to Pumpkin.

“Uh…Annie, I didn’t guess that card,” Pumpkin said.

“Huh? Oh, sorry I picked the wrong…wait…I never had that card. And where’s the one I was going to show you?”

Annie started looking around to find her Candlestick card but could not find it anywhere.

“I could have sworn I had that card. Maybe I was confused.”

“Well I’ll check the others. Chip, do you have one?”

“No,” Chip replied.

“Flurry?”

“Me neither,”

“Wow, really? Nobody has Hot Tamale, Marketplace or Candlestick?”

Everyone nodded their heads back and forth. Pumpkin then eyed the chest in the castle and smiled mischievously.

“Well that means I can make an accusation! Alright, I accuse with all those three cards!”

Pumpkin used her magic to bring the chest out of the tower and open it up to find the cards for Cold Hard Cash, Coloseum and Axe.

“You…you’ve got to be kidding me! How are none of us winning this?! I’ve never seen Cue go on this long!” Pumpkin squawked.

“Alright, Flurry, what did you do?!” Stormy demanded.

“What did I do? What makes you think I would sabotage this game?” Flurry asked.

“You have magic! Did you change the cards or something?”

“Storm does have a point, Flurry,” Pound added.

“Why are you accusing me of that when we’ve got another magic user in here?”

“Because Pumpkin usually can’t use her magic on something if she can’t see it. Also she doesn’t know a spell powerful enough to switch cards around like that.”

“It’s true,” Pumpkin said, forlornly.

“So Flurry, did you switch the cards to help someone else to win?”

“What? No!”

“Well I’m just saying, since we were all fighting earlier, it could be possible you’re trying to manipulate the outcome so to help us get along, but it’s caused trouble.”

“You can have your theories, Pound, but it wasn’t me! How about we just see what the results are in that chest and then decide who got close enough to the result?”

“Flurry hold on, maybe we should…” Cozy tried to interject, but Flurry had already opened the chest.

Flurry looked in amazement at the cards. Not only were there cards she had already seen in both her pile and others, but there were more than three cards in it. She looked up at everyone else and turned the cards around. They all gasped collectively. She then turned to Pound and scowled at him.

“Pound…IT WAS YOU!! Why did you put more than three cards in the chest?!” she hollered.

“I didn’t put in more than three!”

“Well I didn’t use my magic!”

“Guys please!” Cozy begged frantically, as the hysteria got worse. “There are twenty-five cards, right? Let’s do a count and see how many we each have!”

“Maybe we should try again and have someone sit out to make sure the cards never change!” said Stormy.

“Good idea! I vote you!” Chip added.

“Why me!? I don’t wanna be bored!”

“You’re more likely to cheat!”

“Pumpkin did you take my card earlier? I thought I had Candlestick, but I never got Rope!” Annie asked Pumpkin.

“No, I didn’t take your card! Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know! Maybe to manipulate the outcome so you could win!”

“Say whaaaaat?!”

“Seriously, I think it was Pound! He was the one who switched the cards!” Flurry shouted, standing on the table and knocking over some of the game pieces.

“Yeah, well I think it was Flurry with her magic!” Pound shouted back, pressing his nose firmly against hers.

“Guys, stop it now!” Cozy screamed, trying to push them apart.

“I accuse Pound in the Clubhouse with Axe!”

“I accuse Flurry in the Clubhouse with Magic! Also, you really were the one who ruined the STES earlier like you said! After all, you’ve done a good job of ruining our first day here!”

Flurry looked hurt by Pound’s words at first, but then gritted her teeth in rage. She was so angry; she sounded like a kettle that had been sitting on top of a stove burner for too long. She puffed up her cheeks and untied her bows as her face turned red.

“Great job, Pound! You made her mad!” shouted Chip.

“Uh…what’s she doing?” asked Cozy.

“Oh no! She’s becoming a Hot Tamale!! EVERYPONY HIT THE DECK!” Pumpkin cried, ducking under the table.

Everyone watched as Flurry threw her bows aside and began to levitate without using her wings. Her hair moved upwards as if she was underwater and her body glowed brightly. She puffed her cheeks even harder and then finally let all her anger explode. Her irises turned red and her hair now had the appearance of fire.

“GAAAAAAAAH!!! AAAAAAGGGGGH!!!” Flurry roared.

Everyone else put their heads down under their hooves and hid under the table. Flurry took pauses between each eruption to catch her breath and then start over again. She had black marks around her body like she had caught on fire. She continued raging with her fiery hair until a stream of white foam doused her completely. Pound had grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and used it on her before an accident could occur. He then set it down and looked concernedly at Flurry, realizing already he had taken it too far and made her this way. She shook off all the foam and glared at him. He was about ready to start apologizing but her wrath was too quick.

“Pound, what was that for?!” she shouted, angrily.

“What? You were going to set the whole clubhouse on fire!” he replied.

“Yeah, did you have to do that in a place made entirely of wood?” asked Pumpkin.

“For real, Flurry!” Stormy added.

“That wasn’t fire! That was my hair! The magic flows through my follicles and creates an effect that resembles….UUUGGGHHH!! You know what, forget it! If you’re going to be like this, I don’t want to play anymore games with you, Pound Cake! And you guys too if you’re gonna take his side like this!”

Flurry pointed to Stormy and Pumpkin as they shimmied behind Pound. Chip and Annie walked in behind Flurry to take her side. Neither of them were impressed with Pound.

“She’s right, Pound!” Chip said, firmly. “I don’t care what happened to the game; you could’ve handled that better!”

“I agree!” Annie said. “Why did you have to accuse her of doing all those things? We should’ve just stopped playing!”

“No offense, but she did kinda overreact,” Pumpkin said.

“Yeah, she was accusing Pound too!” Stormy added.

“Of course you’re going to defend your brother, Pumpkin! And you’re no different, Stormy!” Chip hollered.

“Cesium Celery!”

“Beryllium Broccoli!”

“Guys, please!” Cozy pleaded. “This is no way for friends to beha-”

“If you three are going to be that way, then fine by me,” Pound told Flurry, Chip and Annie before turning back to the other two. “Pumpkin Cake, Storm Streak, come on. Let’s find something else to do.”

Pound, Pumpkin and Stormy marched angrily downstairs as Chip and Annie stayed behind to wipe off Flurry. Cozy watched the former three go down and tried to stop them.

“Guys wait! Can’t we just…” she tried to say before Pound slammed the door behind them.

“I tell you, sometimes I just can’t stand him!” Flurry complained. “I don’t know why he has to pretend like he’s the one in charge!”

“He does that cuz he’s the oldest,” said Annie.

“Yeah, but he could’ve been nicer. Usually he’s in the right, but this wasn’t one of those times,” Chip added.

“I’m sorry I overreacted back there, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. I should apologize eventually, but I’m not in the mood for that right now,”

“Guys…why did it have to be this way?” Cozy asked them. “I thought you were friends. I wanted to be with you all to help with my reformation.”

“Well I’m sorry Cozy, but sometimes friendships don’t always work out. At least you can say you weren’t the bad guy this time,” Flurry told her.

Cozy hung her head in sorrow and picked up all the cards and tokens for the Cue game. She then folded up the castle set and put everything back in the box. With nothing else to do and already so disappointed in her friends for their actions that day, she trudged over to her bed and sat down to look out the window. Back by the game, the Apparition slowly crept out and returned to the shadows, smiling wickedly. He had done his deed and now awaited nightfall to make his next move.

Downstairs, Pound had turned on the TV and put in a VHS tape for he, Pumpkin and Stormy to watch. It hadn’t been rewound, so they had to wait a few minutes before watching it. He sat down and sighed deeply.

“She’ll come around again, bro,” Pumpkin said, putting her hoof on his shoulder.

“I hope so. I feel bad about what happened up there. I really do. I’m just gonna have to wait till she’s ready to talk it out. Today’s been totally ruined and I blame myself.”

“Don’t you guys wonder what was actually going on up there with the cards though?” Stormy asked. “Probably wasn’t Flurry, but who could it have been?”

“Who knows,” Pound replied. “But we’ll worry about that later. Right now let’s just get our mind off of things. We might not be able to play any video games, but at least the VHS player still works…for now.”

An hour passed and the sun had set. Flurry, Chip and Annie had all kept themselves busy by looking through some picture books in the upstairs bedroom while Cozy read a book before going to sleep. Pound, Pumpkin and Stormy had already fallen asleep during their movie and the player had finished. As Flurry, Chip and Annie began to fall asleep much faster than normal, the Apparition lifted them with his magic and brought them downstairs to be with the others. He placed all six of them on a round rug in the center of the downstairs living room. As they slept peacefully, he started to circle around them.

“There you go, Accord. I created a little dissonance without even needing to cast a single mind-control spell like you did with Princess Twilight and the others. That way they’ll all know their feelings toward each other were real and it will be harder to bear. Will they learn their lessons and make up? Hopefully they do. I’m depending on these little ones to figure out every challenge I throw at them tonight, but we are done with the real world for now. So rest, dear children, and let us play a different kind of game. I’ll see you in there. Hahahaha!”

An orange aura surrounded all the kids, as a curly, Y-shaped symbol appeared in the center of the rug. The Apparition laughed and absorbed himself into the symbol. The symbol disappeared, but the laughter could still be heard and the children were all still glowing. Although asleep, their minds were slowly transported into another realm. Their physical bodies would be fine in the real world, but they were about to go on a perilous adventure in the dreamscape, and this time, this ghostly spirit would have full control.

6. Steamboat Fillie

The kids all felt a slight zap go through their bodies as they began to wake up. Before they could open their eyes, they all found themselves plopping onto the ground as if they had fallen several feet. Upon falling, there was a percussion bang sound effect. They groaned as they heard the sound of birds tweeting around their heads. The tweeting faded away and they opened their eyes to see no colors before them.

The entire world they were in was grayscale and had tiny specks around them that blipped in and out like film grain from old movies. All of the plant life and even animals were shaped differently. The trees and flowers had faces and were slightly anthropomorphic. Most of them were humming, whistling and dancing in a life-like manner. Even the sun and clouds had faces. Flurry thought she was in a theater showing an old black and white film, but as she turned her head, she noticed it was all around her. She then looked down at her hooves and noticed something radically different. She too had no color anywhere on her body. Her hooves were a separate color from the rest of her legs, which were bending in a curve rather than an angle. It was almost as if she had no bones. Her body was also perfectly round and her neck was as thin as her legs. She wasn’t able to see her face, but she was sure she knew what it looked like once she turned to look at all her friends. Their eyes were large, black, vertical ovals with a triangular pie-cut on the outside. Their snouts were bigger and rounder than normal as were their ears. Even their cutie marks looked different and were more simplified. They all resembled old animated characters drawn in a ‘rubber-hose’ cartoon style. Only Cozy Glow was missing.

“Pou…Pound? Pumpkin?! WHAT HAPPENED TO US?!” she screeched in a voice that sounded like it was recorded on old phonographic equipment.

They all turned their heads around and jumped in surprise at the sight of one another. Tiny lines flew out of their heads to show surprise, accompanied by musical sound effects. Every expression they made looked exactly like it would in such a cartoon.

“Flurry? Is that you?!” shouted Pound.

“What the hay? Where are we?” Stormy squawked, flapping his tiny wings and zooming around to observe the land they were in.

“Whoa! Are we in one of those old-school cartoons our grandparents grew up on? That’s kinda cool!” exclaimed Pumpkin, who was already amused with everything.

“Why…why are we here? How do we get out of this place?” asked Annie, trembling at the sight of everything.

“It’ll be fine, Annie. This is obviously some crazy dream,” Chip told her.

“Yeah, you know what they say: if you bite yourself, you’ll wake up!” Stormy said, biting one of his front legs. “OW! There see? We’re…still here…”

Everyone looked as nothing happened to Stormy. He was still in the air flapping his wings and the strange monochromatic environment persisted around them.

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Storm,” Pound said.

“That’s weird. They always say that works in cartoons.”

“That’s cuz they only say that in cartoons, silly,” Pumpkin jested.

“Well how do we get out of this place?” asked Flurry, “I’m pretty sure we weren’t just sent here or anything, so it’s gotta be a dream. Even so, it feels too real to be a dream, but it looks so radically different. Also, where’s Cozy Glow?”

“That’s a good question,” Pound said, looking around.

“Maybe she’s not asleep like the rest of us,” Chip said, stroking his chin. “Well anyway, maybe we could just go with it? Like just hang around and see if we eventually wake up?”

“That might be the only option. We can’t just keep biting ourselves,” said Pound.

“Guys, look! There’s Ponyville!” Pumpkin said as everyone raced to a nearby hilltop she was on.

They all looked out to see a stylized version of Ponyville, drawn like an old cartoon while still staying true to the overall structures of the buildings. The clock tower struck nine o’clock, but instead of ringing like it normally would, it came to life and grew a face and arms. It yawned and stretched, then cleared its throat to speak.

“It’s nine o’clock, folks! Time to open all the businesses and wake the kids up! So begins another day in Ponyville!”

The clock tower then went back to normal. Ponies all took notice of the time and came outside to begin their day. The ponies in the town all looked just like the kids with the same pie-cut eyes, loopy legs and circular bodies. Some bobbed up and down and whistled just like the plants Flurry saw earlier, while others walked about, doing normal things that were expected in Ponyville. Right now, everything seemed fine to the kids.

“Well, Ponyville looks like it’s doing alright,” said Pound.

“Yeah, no villains trying to ruin things,” Pumpkin added.

“Just a goofy clock tower,” said Chip.

“I kind of like it now that I see it,” Annie said, smiling.

“Annie’s right,” Flurry said. “I could get used to this for now.”

“Bleh. Why couldn’t we be in one of those really cool action cartoons with the explosions and the monsters and stuff?” Stormy whined.

“Stormy, have you seen any old cartoons? There’s plenty of action in them too!” Pumpkin responded.

“Yeah, but not as cool.”

“Well I say we go down town and just have some fun,” Flurry said, taking flight. “Maybe we’ll figure out how to get back home, but we might as well make the best of it for now.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and followed Flurry into Ponyville. As they left, a shadow lurked in the bushes, spying on the children. Behind the bushes stood a tall silhouette of a creature with curly horns. He laughed in a maniacal cartoonish manner and rubbed his hands together. He then shrank back down into the bushes and crept along where no one would see him.

As the children walked around, the townsfolk greeted them by saying “good morning” as if they were singing a song. The kids were having so much fun, they had already forgotten about their fight they had earlier in the real world. Since they all figured this was a dream, they thought perhaps each of them was only a character in their dreams and not the actual pony they knew in real life. Therefore, there was no need to bring up what had happened earlier. The positive and cheerful atmosphere had already gotten most of them to forget it anyway.

“Well this place sure is fun!” Pumpkin said, happily.

“Yeah, it’s hard to believe it’s not real. It feels so real being here,” Chip added.

“How is that possible though?” Flurry asked. “Like…if it’s not a dream, how did we get here? Did someone cast a spell on us?”

“Who cares, Flurry? At least everyone here is nice!” Pumpkin said, bouncing right next to Flurry.

“I still prefer the cooler cartoons, but at least I’m still fast!” Stormy said before zooming around, leaving little white puffs behind him.

As Stormy raced around, he caused some ponies’ hats to fly off and some flowers to lose their petals. They shook their fists at him and mumbled in incoherent gibberish as the kids all laughed. Their laughing was suddenly interrupted by a loud scream. They looked to the side to see a female shop owner run out of a building, shouting to warn everyone.

“Help! Help! That ugly old ram is up to his old tricks again! He stole all my money!” she yelped.

“What?! Why that no-good, double-crossing, snaggle-toothed, son of a one-eyed goat!” said a male pony in front of her.

“Quick! Somepony call the constable!” shouted another female pony.

Nearby was a large stallion pulling a cart with a wailing siren and light. It stopped abruptly and separated from its wheels until it landed back down, causing the whole cart to squish and then return to its normal shape. Several police officer stallions walked out accompanied by a detective. The detective pulled out a pipe and began to smoke it.

“What seems to be the trouble?” he asked the shop owner.

“Oh detective! Rascally Ram is at it again! He just made off with my earnings!”

“Rascally Ram, eh? So he has broken out of prison. He’s wanted for 1000 bits. Say no more, madam. I’ll figure this out!”

The detective took out a magnifying glass and walked into the shop to start his search, as the police looked around for any clues.

“Rascally Ram?” asked Flurry. “Who the hay is that?”

“Sounds like a villainous character from an old cartoon,” Pound answered.

“Should we keep an eye out for him?” Annie said, trembling.

“Hey guys! Come check this out!” Stormy said, pointing at something.

Everyone rushed over to see what Stormy was pointing at. They all got behind a hedgerow of bushes and peered over it. Not too far off was a bipedal, anthropomorphic creature. He had his head inside a huge bag with a dollar sign on it. As he searched the bag, he threw random vegetables out. They noticed he had fingers on the end of his arms and wore white gloves and patched overalls. He suddenly took his head out and the kids all saw that he was the same ram the townsfolk had spoken of earlier. He wore a bowler hat, had large curly horns, and pie-cut eyes like everyone else, only his were stretched horizontally to evoke ram pupils. He mumbled to himself as he tossed the vegetables.

“Vegetables?! Harrumph! Nasty old things! Away with you! Ah, there’s that sweet, cold, hard cash! Come to papa!”

The ram picked up a wad of cash and flicked through all the dollar bills while giggling. The kids all looked on nervously from behind the bushes.

“That must be Rascally Ram,” Flurry whispered.

“What do we do?” asked Annie.

“What do you think?” Pound responded. “We go tell the cops we found-hi-”

“I’VE GOT YOU, RASCALLY RAM!” shouted Stormy, zooming right over to he villain.

“And there goes Stormy again.”

Stormy flew by Rascally Ram and the wind caused his hat to come off and some of the money to fly away.

“NO! You little brat! Look what you’ve done to my money!” he growled.

Stormy tried to grab some of the bills, but Rascally Ram stretched out his arms and grabbed each one before it hit the ground. Stormy could not keep up with his hands and watched in confusion until all the bills were retrieved.

“Hey! That money doesn’t belong to you, Rascally Ram!” Flurry shouted as she and her friends all emerged from the hedge.

“Listen you petulant, peevish, problem-producing ponies, all the money in this town belongs only to one: RASCALLY RAM! Now leave me to my revelry!” he barked at the kids.

“Don’t worry guys, I got him!” Stormy said, flying back down to Rascally Ram before being flicked away by one of his fingers.

“Hey! Leave Stormy alone!” Pumpkin hollered.

“Maybe your little loud-mouthed friend should try picking on someone his own size!”

Rascally Ram then took out a match, lit it and set fire to the grass in front of them. The fire came to life and split apart into several anthropomorphic fireballs with arms, legs and faces. They danced around and chased the kids back into the town, spreading all around and creating new fireballs. The townsfolk saw what was happening, but thankfully the fire brigade came right in time. A large fire engine with a face stopped at a lurch, causing the firefighter ponies to be launched out. They landed on their heads but bounced back on their legs and shook off the pain. They then used the hose to spread water to take out the fireballs. Large anthropomorphic water droplets emerged from the hose and chased after the fireballs, wrestling them to the ground and cuffing their hands. The townsfolk cheered for the firefighters and droplets as they took the fireballs into custody.

“Well so far we’ve had Rascally Ram return and then all of Ponyville nearly burnt down. This has been quite a day,” said the detective pony.

“Sir, we saw Rascally Ram! He was the one who started that fire!” said Flurry Heart.

“You saw him? Where did he scamper off to?”

“He went that way!” said Stormy as he pointed in the direction the villain had escaped in.

“Well what are we waiting for! Let’s get him, boys!”

The detective and cops all filed back into their cart and started the siren up again. The stallion in front reared and then pulled them along.

“Well that went from a 1 to a 10 real fast,” said Pound.

“Hey, we’re in an old comical cartoon. What do you expect, bro?” Pumpkin said, leaning on her brother.

“Maybe we should go help them out!” said Stormy.

“Stormy, it’s too dangerous,” Flurry replied.

“Well are we just gonna sit around and do nothing?” asked Pound.

“Yeah, let’s go see what’s happening at least!” Pumpkin added.

“Guys, I’m with Flurry on this. Maybe we should just stick around town and mind our own business,” Chip said.

“I agree,” Annie added.

“UGH! Come on guys! I wanna see more action in this boring cartoon world! If it’s a dream, can it even hurt us?” Stormy asked.

“Flurry come on, we’ll be fine,” Pound said.

“You think almost getting burnt alive is fine?” Flurry asked, angrily.

“I mean we’re probably just gonna run around with our butts on fire, find a pool of water, jump into it, cool off and then we’re back to normal. That always happens in cartoons,” Pumpkin explained.

“My point exactly.”

“Pound, this is all a bad idea!” Flurry shouted, pressing her nose against Pound’s as they both gritted their teeth.

Suddenly Flurry realized what she was doing and shrank back with a sad expression on her face. Pound looked concerned.

“Flurry?” he asked.

“Pound…we’re behaving just like we did in the real world earlier…when we all got in a big fight over Cue.”

“So you remember that?”

“How could I forget it? I really lost my temper back there. I’m surprised I managed to fall asleep so well. It was really eating me. I never got to say I’m sorry, but I really am.”

Pound hung his head and took a moment to think. He too felt bad over how he handled things earlier. This was now his chance to make up.

“I’m sorry too, Flurry. I shouldn’t have been so…hold on a minute. Do you guys all remember that too?”

“Mhm,” they all said in unison.

“So…if we all remember that happening, then that means you’re not all just figments of my own dream; you’re real! We’re all real and we’re here in the same dream!”

“Whoa. You have a point there, Pound! I didn’t think you guys were all quite the same pony I know in real life, so I just assumed you didn’t remember that,” Pumpkin added.

“So…do you guys think maybe that’s why we’re here now?” asked Flurry.

“What do you mean?” asked Pound.

“Well…think about it: we’re all supposed to be friends, but we behaved so selfishly and need to be taught a lesson. Perhaps someone is using magic to do this to us. Maybe it’s…maybe it’s Princess Luna! Maybe she’s using her dream powers to put us in a scenario where we have to work together and stop a villain! That’s the real reason why Cozy isn’t here: she didn’t fight like the rest of us!”

“Hey, that actually makes sense! Flurry, you’re a genius!” Chip said.

“Yeah, now that I think about it, I think that’s exactly why we’re here,” Annie added, nodding her head.

“Well where’s Princess Luna then?” Stormy asked, looking around.

“According to what I read in the Journal of Friendship, Luna usually wouldn’t reveal herself right away when she would visit some ponies in their dreams. Maybe she won’t show up until the time is right. Probably once we do something about Rascally Ram.”

“So then will you come with us to stop him, Flurry?” Pound said, offering her his hoof.

Flurry looked down at Pound’s hoof, smiled warmly and gave him a hug instead. Pound was surprised at first but quickly hugged her back. Everyone else joined in.

“Of course I’ll come with you, Pound,” she replied.

“And I forgive you for earlier. Can you forgive me?”

“Absolutely.”

“I’m sorry, Chip,” Stormy told Chip.

“I’m sorry too,” Chip responded, giving him a high five.

“I’m sorry, Pumpkin and I forgive you,” Annie told Pumpkin.

“Thanks, Annie! Yay! We’re all friends again!” Pumpkin squealed, giving Annie a hug.

“Alright guys, let’s all kick some ram behind!” Stormy asked them.

“YOU SAID IT!” they all replied in unison, running off into the forest.

Before long, the kids all found a clearing where Rascally Ram had tied up the detective and cops. He was laughing as he counted the dollar bills and lit a match to put in the detective’s pipe. Before he could start smoking the pipe, it was blasted out of his hand. He looked to the side to see Flurry Heart had just fired the blast. She was with all her friends.

“We’ve got you now, Rascally Ram!” she called.

“Why you little bumbling, bothersome, bottle-sucking babies!” he grumbled. “Just who do you think you are, following me like this?!”

“We know you’re not real and we’re being tested, so we’ve all decided to work together to stop you!”

“That’s right! We may have fought before, but we’re friends again and we’re ready to do what’s right!” Pound added.

“Yeah, and Princess Luna will be proud of us when we all learn our lesson and stand up to you!” Stormy said.

Rascally Ram then widened his eyes and stared for a second before falling backwards in hysteria, laughing. Tears flew out of his eyes as he kicked his legs and pounded the ground with one of his fists.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” Pumpkin asked.

“You actually think this is all Princess Luna’s doing?” he asked, wiping a tear from his eye and getting back up.

“Huh?” they all asked.

Rascally Ram had a black, smokey aura around him. As he spoke, his voice sounded deeper and more monstrous.

“You foolish children. I am the one who called you here. I thought we’d all have some fun after your little fiasco.”

“Wait, YOU’RE the one doing this to us?!” Flurry shouted.

“Just who are you anyway?” Pound demanded.

Rascally Ram then cleared his throat and cracked his knuckles. The aura stopped and his voice went back to normal.

“Who am I? Why I’m Rascally Ram of course!”

“Flurry, have you ever heard of this guy in some history book?” Chip asked Flurry.

“No, I don’t believe so…unless…is this even his real form?”

“Enough questions, you little weasels!” said the deranged ram. “Take this!”

Rascally Ram then picked up a nearby barrel and hurled it at the kids. They all jumped just in time to avoid the barrel. Another barrel was thrown which they also avoided, but Chip and Annie landed on top of it. They ran against the barrel to avoid getting flattened by it, but were rescued by Pound and Flurry before it crashed into a nearby tree.

“That does it! I’m gonna teach this guy who’s boss!” Stormy said angrily.

Everyone watched as Stormy flew around Rascally Ram and created a tornado. Rascally Ram held onto a nearby tree to avoid being thrown off balance. He then grabbed the tornado as if it were a solid object. Using the tornado, he sucked Stormy into it along with all the other kids. He the swung the tornado around several times, until he pointed it to a nearby pond. They all splashed into the pond as Rascally Ram laughed. They emerged with lilli pads and frogs on their heads and spat water out.

“We’re not done yet!” Flurry said, firing another magic blast from her horn as Pumpkin lifted one of the barrels.

Rascally Ram held out his hand and stopped Flurry’s beam. The barrel then came crashing down on top of him. He went dizzy for a few seconds with tiny unicorns spinning around his head, but quickly shook off the pain. He then pulled a random giant mallet with a face out from behind his back.

“Where the hay did that come from?!” Chip asked.

“Eh, cartoon villains always do that. Oldest trick in the book,” Pumpkin said, flatly.

Rascally Ram then started smacking the mallet on the ground many times, as the kids avoided getting hit. After a few minutes, he ran out of breath and started huffing and puffing. Pound Cake then threw a random pie he managed to summon from behind him like Rascally Ram did. The pie splattered on his face, followed by several apples that Chip and Annie had found in a nearby tree. Rascally Ram stuck out his long tongue and licked up the pie and apples and then glared at them.

“Had enough yet?” Pound taunted.

“Oh I’m just getting started!” Rascally Ram said, pointing his finger at them and firing a small magic bullet.

The kids all dodged the bullets until he fired six big ones at once and hit them all at the same time, electrocuting them. Their skeletons blinked underneath their flesh repeatedly until they fell to the ground in a heap.

“AHAHAHA! That felt wonderful!” Rascally Ram cackled.

The kids all recollected themselves and watched as Rascally Ram turned around and spun his finger in a circle to open up a portal. Inside the portal was a swirling vortex that had colors. It was animated very differently from everything else in the rubberhose cartoon world they were still in, meaning this portal could lead to a different world. Leaving the money behind, Rascally Ram stepped inside and looked back to them. His voice returned to sounding deeper and the black aura appeared again.

“Well I think that’s enough of this world. I must admit: you ponies definitely have a taste for the theatrical with this ‘cartoon animation’. It amuses me, but I’m already growing tired of it. Perhaps it’s time we try a different style? I’ll be waiting for you! Hehehe…”

The kids all watched as Rascally Ram walked into the vortex and disappeared. Thankfully, the portal was still open for them to follow him.

“Come on! We have to follow him!” Flurry said, helping Pound up.

“She’s right! Come on guys!”

“Wait, hold on!” Stormy said.

Everyone watched as Stormy flew around and undid all the ropes that the cops and detective were bound by.

“I know you guys probably aren’t real, but I just thought I’d help out,” he said.

“Thanks, young lad,” said the detective. “Go now! Get that Rascally Ram for us!”

They all walked through the portal. As they entered, their bodies quickly returned to normal while still in the vortex, but they started glitching into other different art styles while screaming. Finally another portal opened up and they zoomed right through to enter the next level…

8. Let's Roll...FOR INITIATIVE!

“Alright, can we fight the Squiz-thing already?” Scorch asked crossly with his hands over his face. “I can’t keep track of whatever it is we’re doing right now.”

“Yeah, don’t we have enough weapons and stuff?” asked Singe.

“Now now, guys, we still have to get through the skeleton army,” Butter told her brothers.

“But are the three of us at a good enough level to take on the Squizard?” asked Barb.

“You should be by now,” said Discord as his eyes floated around, examining Barb, Scorch, and Singe’s characters stats before returning to his skull.

“Alright, well it might still be a good idea for me and Aster to go first since we have the best stats,” Lily said as she took her turn. “I race in and cast a temporary level five protection spell on myself and all other users.”

“Good call Lady Ki-hana, but let’s see if it works,” Discord said, rolling the dice. “Alright. The spell is cast but only effects three users. The first skeletons throw spears, which do not harm the ones with shields, but all the others get ten points of health taken off. That’s all of you except Lily, Aster and Buttercream.”

“Ah great,” Lily said, forlornly.

“Not such a great start for the rest of us behind Butter, but we’ll get there,” Spike added.

“Alright, folks, I’m gonna do something a little daring,” said Aster. “I charge the skeletons, use my broadsword to take them out and my buckler shield for defense.”

Discord rolled the dice.

“Oooh! Good call, Esteragon!” he said, joyfully. “You destroy ten skeletons and knock down the brute warriors. The brutes ahead of you try to fight back but your shield protects you before you attack. This will help pave the way for the next few players to take those brutes out since they now have fifty percent health. Lady Mandolina is next.”

Buttercream took her mandolin back out and began to play as she described her next move.

“I go back to help out everyone that received damage earlier. I play a song of healing and inspiration to keep them going.”

“Your song works and gives everyone their health back that just lost it, but only the next player is affected by your inspiration spell. The Squizard begins charging his first attack.”

“Alright, so just me then,” said Spike. “I use my newfound inspiration to cast a pacifying spell on the Squizard to keep him from hurting the others.”

“The attack succeeds thanks to the inspiration spell and takes down ten percent of his health points. He shakes it off though and gains back five percent but is still pacified so the next user can make their move unprovoked by him. Now’s your chance, Scaledron!”

“Awesome!” shouted Singe, “I dash forward and use my best sword on the Squizard with all my might!”

“Uh…Singe, are you sure you wanna do that?” Buttercream asked, nervously.

“Sure, why not?”

“Well…I mean you could deal some damage, but you’re also getting pretty close to him which means he can hit you right after your move.”

“Can I use arrows or something?”

“Did you buy any in the village?”

“Yeah, I have like fifty of them…oh…wait, I forgot the bow. Ah whatever. I do it anyway. Someone with magic can heal me back later.”

“Alright then,” said Discord. “You only deal two percent damage and the Squizard casts a spell on you which takes down twenty percent damage and immobilizes you for the next turn. Sorry.”

“GAH! Why is it so hard to do this?”

“I’d recommend staying to fight the skeletons next time, Singe. We best take out as many of them as we can first,” said Billow before taking her turn. “Alright, Discord. Staying close to Sir Nordomir, I use my axe on the skeletons in front of me and then pass him one of my elixirs to boost his defense.”

“Good job, Billow! He’s sure to appreciate that!” said Beo Tuag.

“You take down seven skeletons and receive no damage. The elixir works on Nordomir,” said Discord.

“Thanks, Billow,” Scorch said bashfully as Buttercream giggled. “Alright…um…I think I’ll fight the brute skeletons with two…what do you call em… longswords.”

“Good move…oh, actually you can only use one longsword,” said Billow.

“What? Darnit. Well can I use these two swords?”

“Yeah, those will work, but just remember you won’t have that much defense without a shield.”

“Alright, I’ll use the longsword and a shield I guess.”

Scorch rested his head on his hand again and spoke as if he was bored out of his mind. Barb put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him

“It’s okay, Scorch. I’m having a hard time with this too,” she said.

Discord rolled the dice.

“Alright, Sir Nordomir fights the skeletons, but does not deal as heavy of damage, though he is protected well enough with his shield and Lady Bella Rosa’s elixir.”

“Doesn’t deal heavy damage? What’s wrong with the sword I used?”

“Well those are brute skeletons you’re dealing with, but a longsword is kind of a wild card anyway. Discord probably got a low result with the dice,” Billow explained.

“Only three. Sorry, some of this is a bit luck-based,” said Discord

“UGH! That’s not even fair!” Scorch grumbled.

“It’s okay, Scorch, we still have a chance to kill all the skeletons. When we reach the Squizard, me and Lily will cast some spells to weaken him,” Spike told his brother.

Scorch did not reply but continued to bury his face in his hands.

“Alright, I’m next then,” said Barb. “I use my strongest wand on the rest of the skeletons to pacify them for the next seven turns.”

“That’s a bit of a risky move, but if the dice rolls a high result, it could work. Are you sure you want to go with a pacifying spell for that many turns?” Discord asked Barb.

“Should I go for less then?”

“I’d try three turns.”

“Alright, three turns.”

“The spell works for three turns, but you only pacify four out of the remaining twelve skeletons.”

“Well it was a long shot I guess.”

For the next few turns, they made progress in beating the skeletons, but the Squizard started gaining on them and gave heavy damage to all of them and revived some of the skeletons. Barb, Scorch and Singe grew more confused and frustrated. Spike and Buttercream looked very nervous and not too optimistic about this game. Normally they would be able to keep playing and beat the Squizard with the supporting characters’ help, but their siblings not enjoying it was resulting in a very unsatisfactory experience. When it came Scorch’s turn to fight the Squizard, he sounded like he was already about to quit.

“Alright, I throw my sword at one of his eyes or something. I dunno. Whatever it takes to kill this thing,” he groaned.

“You can throw swords, but you have to role a high result in order for it to actually hit the target,” Discord responded.

“Alright, so I slash him instead.”

“That’s a better move. Alright, you got a result of eleven which means…oh dear…”

“Great. Did I miss?”

“Not exactly. You slash one eye but it only takes down ten percent of his health and he fires an optic beam at you with the other eye, which takes down… fifty percent of your own.”

Everyone else got tense and swallowed hard, preparing for Scorch’s reaction. They knew it was not going to be pleasant.

“Alright, that’s it!!” Scorch barked, standing up. “Spike, Butter, everyone, I’m sorry, but I can’t enjoy this anymore! This game doesn’t work! It makes no sense! I thought I bought good weapons earlier and they’re not doing me any good at all. I know you said it’s going to get better, but I’m getting too impatient. I wanna actually move around and be active in a game, not sit down and think about all the numbers and stats and what weapons to use. Everything we’re doing in this game could be done in just a matter of minutes but we’ve been here for over two hours now. This feels like school all over again, not a fun game.”

Scorch took a moment to catch his breath. He put his hand back over his face and sighed. No one dared protest to what he was saying, because everyone else understood this was not a good idea to begin with. Barb and Singe were just as annoyed as him. Barb stood up and put her hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten so mad like that, but I just can’t do this anymore. I forfeit.”

“Me too,” said Singe, standing up. “This isn’t really our thing. I was kinda enjoying it at first, but I can’t even play like I was hoping I could.”

“I forfeit as well,” Barb added. “Scorch is right about this not being a Nordo Dracos thing. We probably should’ve been better about letting you know that.”

“And now we ruined your big night,” Scorch said, sitting back down with his arms crossed. “Some big brother I am.”

“No, it’s okay, guys,” said Spike. “You’re right. Butter and I were so focused on making you happy, we didn’t stop to think maybe this game is way out of your league.”

“In an effort to introduce you to our own culture we grew up with, we kinda ignored what Nordo Dracos culture is like and tried too hard at getting you into this,” Buttercream added.

“And we’re sorry for it.”

“Both of us.”

“So Discord, don’t even bother suspending this campaign, we’ll just scrap the whole thing.”

Everyone else smiled and accepted the matter for what it was. Discord closed the manual and made the entire game set disappear from the table and reappear back in the box. The only thing left behind were the custom character set pieces for each player. Those would at least be good heirlooms to keep since the characters were memorable enough.

“Well at least we handled that well,” Scorch said. “Sorry again for that outrage. I’m usually pretty chill.”

“It’s no problem, Scorch,” Butter said, flying over the table to go hug her brother.

“Yeah, happens to the best of us,” Billow said, holding Beo Tuag and doing her best to still flirt with him and let her feelings be known.

Scorch smiled back lovingly to Billow. He didn’t realize Buttercream saw them both and put her hand up to her mouth to hide her giggling. Singe quickly joined her.

“Well everyone,” Discord began saying, “since we’ve all decided that playing Ogres and Oubliettes the table-top RPG didn’t work out for us, Spike, may I suggest the alternative?”

Spike gave Discord a glance and then turned to everyone else while smiling. They didn’t know what Discord was talking about, but Spike knew very well.

“That just might work! Alright, Barb, Scorch, Singe, so the game didn’t work, but you guys wanna actually play the game…like as in literally be IN the game itself actually moving around and being your character?”

“Wait what?” asked Singe.

“Be our characters? How is that possible?” asked Scorch.

“Spike, that sounds so awesome!” Buttercream beamed, hopping up and down. “Have you done it before?”

“Yup! When Discord first played, he was also pretty bored with the game, but he found a way to enjoy it with me and Big Macintosh. You wanna try it out?”

“Let me guess: Discord can actually do that for us with his magic?” Barb asked.

“Oh, Princess, you have no idea what the Lord of Chaos is capable of!” Discord said, mischievously.

Discord then snapped his fingers and the figurines floated in front of all their users. They glowed with light and were absorbed into each dragon. Just then, the entire world around them turned into an open landscape with tall mountains and statues. Everyone was wearing the outfits their figurines had and were armed with the weapons and tools they would be using to fight back. Spike was dressed in a wizard’s robe, complete with a tree branch staff, a white beard and a pointy hat; Buttercream had on a bard’s outfit and carried a now fancier-looking mandolin; Lily wore an eastern-inspired dress with fresh flowers and plants adorning her body and carried elixirs and staffs; Barb wore a dress and haltered top with a hooded cape and had wands with jewels and a few other magical; Aster was dressed like a ranger and was armed with a sword, a shield and a bow with a quiver full of arrows; Singe had on a similar outfit, though rougher in appearance and with more weapons like a chain flail and throwing knives; Billow wore bikini armor and various animal skins and carried Beo Tuag and a few smaller throwing axes; lastly Scorch was dressed in shiny golden armor and carried a magnificent long sword and shield adorned with occasional gemstones and gold accents. Even Discord had joined them as his blonde-haired archer character.

“Whoa! It actually worked!” Singe said, examining his weapons.

“EEEEEH! Discord, I had no idea your magic could do this?!” Buttercream squealed as she took out her new mandolin and began tuning it.

“Wow! Now that’s more like it! I feel way better about this! Check out this awesome sword!” Scorch exclaimed, pulling out his sword and pointing it skyward.

“So, this more your speed?” Billow asked.

“Definitely!”

“That’s a pretty handsome suit of armor you got there. A lot of Southern Drakes would be jealous to see you in that.”

“Thanks! Oh, um…you don’t look so bad yourself!”

Scorch noticed Billow in her revealing attire and immediately blushed. He put his hand behind his head and couldn’t help but stare at the curvy horned dragoness. He looked nervous, but smiled nonetheless.

“Go on. You’ve got him right where you need him,” Beo whispered.

Billow put her finger up to the head of the living axe as if to shush her. She then turned back to Scorch, put her hand against her hip and grinned flirtatiously.

“Thanks,” she said, amorously.

“Aster, look! This is just like how our figurines were sculpted!” Lily exclaimed as Pansy flew around her, barking excitedly.

“I see that, Lil! Now that’s what I call an upgrade!” Aster exclaimed.

“Told ya he could do it!” Spike said proudly.

“Now how do we know how to use these things?” Barb asked, taking out a very large staff with a gemstone at the end as her other weapons levitated around her.

“I’ve made it so none of you have to think about the stats of these weapons or your power levels or health or anything,” Discord explained. “You’re all as capable as you so desire, so long as you fight with all your might and don’t lose any confidence!”

“And if you do, I’ll be here to help keep with that!” Buttercream said, going airborne and playing her mandolin.

“Just the way it should be!” Singe added. “This definitely feels more like something we’d do to pass time in Nordo Dracos.”

Everyone got out their weapons and took a moment to practice with them. Suddenly there was a thunderous noise in the distance and they looked to see a colossal creature standing before them in a black wizard’s robe. The robe was covering the lower half of its body, but several tentacles were at the bottom, propping him up like legs. He had two long arms with several tentacles at the end and carried a tall black staff with a red glowing gem at the top. His head looked like an entire squid propped up on the body with tons more tentacles where his mouth would be and two glowing yellow eyes. The top of his head was covered in a pointy black hat similar to Spike’s; only it was adorned with red symbols in place of stars and moons. This was the antagonist of the game: Wrathulu, or the Squizard. His voice was even more daunting than the one that Spike and Big Macintosh were introduced to when they first played with Discord.

“Who dares enter the dominion of the mighty Wrathulu?!” he said in an echoing raspy voice.

“Oh sweet mother of Shokubutsu! Is that him?!” asked Aster.

“That’s him,” said Spike and Discord, reading their weapons.

“Man, Discord! You really made him look as evil as possible!” Buttercream remarked.

“He’s based on the first edition of O&O,” Discord told them. “They don’t make ‘em nearly this dark anymore now that they’re trying to market this game towards kids.”

“Well I’m not afraid of him!” said Billow. “You ready to get your tentacles sliced, Wrathulu?!”

The Squizard drew his attention to Billow and surrounded her in a red aura. She froze and was lifted into the air, with her fist still holding Beo Tuag. The living axe nearly pulled herself out to fight back, but Billow’s hand was already frozen in place and she could not open it.

“BILLOW?! Hey, put her down, monster!” Scorch snarled.

“Oh, I don’t think so, little Northern Drake!” Wrathulu replied.

“Hey! Let me go, you creep!” she shouted. “Beo, can you break free?”

“I don’t know,” Beo responded telepathically. “If you can open your hand, I might be able to escape since he can’t lift me alone, but I have a better idea.”

“Better idea?”

“SILENCE!” the monster shouted. “Your plump barbarian girl will be the perfect stand-in for the princess since your ‘Shmarity’ is mysteriously absent!”

Billow and Beo then disappeared in a flash of light, leaving everyone in shock.

“BILLOW!” shouted Buttercream.

“What did you do to her?!” Barb growled.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” Scorch added, pointing his sword at Wrathulu as everyone else drew their weapons.

“Oh relax. She’s alive and well, but I cannot say the same for her dignity. Hahaha!” Wrathulu responded.

There was a flash of light from inside the window at the top of the tower behind the Squizard. Someone walked out to look down. It was Billow but she was now dressed in a frilly princess outfit with makeup on her face. She was not amused with this costume change.

“Hey! What am I wearing?!” she said angrily. “What happened to my cool barbarian outfit!?”

“Billow, relax! This is perfect!” said Beo Tuag behind her.

“Perfect? Beo, I may be a princess but I’m not THIS kind of princess!”

“Yes, but look where you are? You’re a damsel in distress and you need to be rescued by your knight in shining armor!”

“Oh, you’re right.”

“Sooooo?”

“Alright, fine.”

Billow cleared her throat and began to speak in a very dramatic voice with the back of her hand to her forehead.

“Oh, woe is me! I’ve been captured by the hideous, foul beast and placed in this tower! If only there was a handsome dragon knight to rescue me!”

“We’ll get you Billow! Well, we’ll let Scorch take care of that, while we hold off Wrathulu. Right Scorch?” Buttercream teased.

“Uh…okay but why me specifically?” Scorch asked.

“You know why.”

Buttercream moved in close to Scorch and wiggled her eyebrows as he blushed.

“Geez, you guys really are trying to set me up with her, aren’t you?”

“This is your chance at winning her, bro! Hurry up! I wouldn’t mind having some nieces and nephews!” Singe whispered loudly.

“Alright, Singe, knock it off,” Barb said, elbowing, Singe. “Come on everybody! We’ve all got a job to do!”

“Barb’s right! What do you say we fricassee this cuttlefish?!” Aster said, swinging his sword around.

“I’m ready! How about you guys?” asked Spike.

“READY!” everyone else called.

“Alright, dragons! Time to roll for initiative!” shouted Discord.

Wrathulu then zapped the ground beneath him and the skeleton horses crawled out of the cracks in the dirt. They were already armed with their weapons and immediately ran towards the dragon warriors and their draconequus archer. Both sides got closer and closer till they were covered in a dust cloud, followed by the sound of weapons clashing, magic spells being cast, and a mandolin being played with Buttercream’s sweet voice accompanying it.

9. The (Not-So-Final) Boss

Stormy zoomed through the colorful pixelated world while destroying the enemy robots around him. His level was a brightly-colored tropical land with checkered patterns on the grass and dirt, populated by giant flowers and palm trees. There were large loop-shaped structures in the ground that he was able to run right through like a roller coaster. He was so fast; he found he was able to run over the ground with his legs spinning in a circular motion. His flying still came in handy for spots where he’d need to fly higher in order to collect tiny lightning-bolt shaped icons. The robots he was fighting released small animals that were trapped inside when destroyed. To destroy the robots, he could ram into them while flying, but he found he was also able to somersault into them to do damage. Every time a robot attacked him or he hit metal spikes growing out of the ground, he would get knocked back and lose all his lightning bolts, but he was able to retrieve some of them before they’d disappear. The levels in his world were designed for speed. The goal was to get to the end of the level to flip a sign of a ram’s head to one that resembled his. Next he had to enter a giant lightning bolt that would transport him to the next level.

“Man this game is fun! Sure wish the others could join me, but hopefully they’re doing okay in their places,” he said before jumping on top of a spring pad that launched him upwards.

As Stormy continued his quest, the others were all busy in their own respective levels.

Pound Cake was also battling robots but doing so in a world made primarily out of machinery. Some of his robots were also animal-themed, but they released small chocolate cake items that would fill up his gauge for health points. He had found a small canister shaped gun shaped somewhat like Pinkie Pie’s party cannon. If he placed it over one of his front hooves, it fired blasts that would destroy the robots. He was also able to fly, but some enemies made it difficult, so he stayed mostly on the ground and would jump every so often to get to platforms. He still could use his ramming move that he and Stormy had in the first level where they fought the spider, but the arm cannon made it way easier to destroy the robots. To get through crevices, he had to duck own and do a sliding kick, which he was already good at due to his years of playing baseball. At the end of each level was a larger robot character that would give him a new ability like launching a flying drill or spinning some bladed leaves around him. He would change colors when he used these abilities.

Pumpkin was using a weapon similar to Pound’s, but her world was very different. She was in a dark, cavernous environment with strange alien wildlife. Creatures where everywhere, crawling on the walls and flying around to give her trouble, but she used her arm cannon well and could fire all sorts of different blasts. There were griffon statues holding pumpkin pies in them that would upgrade her cannon to launch missiles. They also gave her other abilities like rolling into a ball, shooting a freezing blast, or running so fast till she could barrage through certain walls. Although this world wasn’t much her style, she bravely continued and enjoyed it nonetheless.

Chip’s world was colorful like Stormy’s, though the style was different. Instead of checkered patterns, the ground and hills in the background had zig-zags and the hills and clouds even had tiny black eyes. His jumping was much higher now and he was able to still use a bucking move like he and Annie started off with. This worked to knock his enemies down, though they would eventually get back up. His enemies were turtles and strange walking mushrooms, but if Chip jumped high enough, he could hit floating blocks that would release large red apples with eyes. Touching these apples would make him bigger and able to take out his enemies by hopping on top of them, while the green ones gave him extra “lives.” After getting through the first level, he had just found a block with a different item inside. Instead of an apple, it was a flower blossom from an apple tree. Touching this flower would change his coat white and his hair bright orange and grant him the ability to shoot fireballs from his hooves. This could defeat enemies just as quick a stomping on them, but sometimes he had to use his buck move to just knock them down and then pick them up to throw or place on buttons to open doors.

Annie’s world was also bright and colorful and had blocks to destroy, though the enemies and mechanics were different. Her enemies were cuter, though they could be quite aggressive if she didn’t defend herself. She mostly tried to avoid them, as her bucking did no good and she thought they were good due to their innocent looks, but she found there were various color-coded apples hidden everywhere. Eating one would give her a special hat and a new power to use. If she ate an orange one, it would give her a crest with fire on top and the ability to breathe fire. It made her sad to use it on the adorable critters around her, but thankfully they just disappeared with a tiny puff of magic dust and there was no violence. If she was hit by one of them, she would lose her power, but there were plenty of apples left for her to eat. The blue apples gave her a crest with icicles and the ability to use ice breath, the green ones gave her a phrygian cap and a sword to attack with, the red ones gave her a backwards baseball cap and allowed her to spin around like a wheel and ram into her enemies, the yellow one gave her a crest with lightning on top and the ability to surround herself in an electric field, and the brown one gave her a soldier’s helmet and allowed her to transform into a rock. Despite not liking video games, she was already having fun playing this one even if the enemies were too cute to want to hurt.

In Flurry’s level, she had gotten past the ruins outside and made her way into a nearby castle, but it was not like the Crystal Empire Palace. This castle had a very dark and foreboding design. It almost looked more like a gothic monastery. The enemies were also very frightening. Such enemies included horrible monsters like demons, werewolves, ghosts, ghouls, animated skeletons and bats. They would burst into flames if she killed one. She could blast them with magic from her horn, but she also found other weapons. First there was a powerful whip, which she found after breaking open a stone wall. It dealt heavy damage to the enemies and could be spun around rapidly to cause repetitive damage. If she attacked lit candles, they would drop throwing knives, axes, or bladed throwing stars that were shaped like the Element of Magic gem. If they didn’t drop a weapon, they would instead drop crystal hearts that would give her more of whichever item she was holding. Flurry’s inexperience with video games was still an issue for her, but being in the game and experiencing it helped her to understand the gameplay mechanics. Some of the rooms she would go into required intense puzzle-solving, and she was well-educated enough to understand them. She made it to one final room with tons of enemies she had to fight. After she had defeated them all, she was awarded a key with a crystal shaped like a heart. After acquiring the key, a door opened on the other end of the room with a bright light coming from it.

“PHEW! Finally! I hope the others found their keys,” she said.

As she went through the door, the light died out and she was now back in the outdoor level she and her friends had started out in. Just as he entered, five other doors opened around her and her friends emerged from each of them. The doors then disappeared behind them.

“GUYS!” she shouted. “Did you get your keys too?”

“Sure did!” Pound said, holding a key with a gem shaped like his cutie mark.

“Check mine out! It’s got a lightning bolt!” Stormy exclaimed, holing his key in the air as it hovered above his hoof.

“Pound! Look! We both got the same arm gun thingies!” exclaimed Pumpkin, showing off her cannon.

“Oh, nice! Yours looks a little more futuristic though,” Pound replied.

“Annie, I’m guessing your level had apples in it too?” Chip asked his sister.

“Yeah, how could you tell?” she asked.

“The power-ups in mine were apples just like my cutie mark. Well there were also apple tree flowers. Did your guys’ power-ups all look like your cutie marks?”

“Sure did!” Pumpkin said, shooting pie missiles out of her cannon at a nearby rock. “And we all got these awesome weapons too!”

“I can’t believe I had to go through all that,” Annie continued. “My place had these really cute little critters that kept hurting me every time I touched one, but I’ve seen enough of Chip playing games to know those are enemies, so I had to fight them. Thankfully it wasn’t as violent as I was afraid it would be. It was actually kinda fun.”

“So Chip, you can change colors when you use your powers too?” asked Pound.

“Yeah, that happens after I touch the apple flower. Now I can shoot fireballs!” Chip said, shooting a fireball that bounced over the ground until it hit the nearest wall. “My enemies were kinda cute too, Annie. My world was also pretty colorful. Somehow games like that can still be really fun!”

“You guys should’ve seen my place,” Flurry said. “I was in a really dark castle and it had all these creepy monsters like zombies and bats and skeletons. It was kinda scary.”

“Yeah, mine was kinda creepy too. I was in some crazy underground cave with spikey aliens, but no big deal. Got right through it!” Pumpkin said.

“Oh dear. I’m glad we weren’t in that world,” Annie replied.

“Are you kidding?! That world sounds awesome!” Stormy remarked.

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck in the distance around Canterlot Mountain. They all looked back to see the castle had transformed into a larger and darker one. The sky had also darkened with clouds and the atmosphere was far more frightening. Annie quickly ran behind her brother as the others flinched at the sound of thunder.

“Oh right. We have to get to the castle now,” Pumpkin said.

“Well we’ve all got our keys. No time to waste. Let’s get this door open and get to Count Aries!”

Everyone walked to the door with six holes. Their keys floated out and fit in the holes to unlock the door. The door lit up and then faded into dust, revealing a doorway into the caverns.

“Alright, we all ready?” Flurry asked her friends.

“READY!” they shouted.

“Let’s go!”

They all ran through the cave into a new zone where there were dark creatures similar to the ones Flurry fought.

“Interesting. This looks a lot like my level. It’s almost like he just had me transported somewhere else in this same world,” Flurry said.

“Plus you came out of a door in the side of that cliff on the other side,” Pound responded.

“I did? Interesting. So you guys were all transported to different worlds with different styles and enemies, while mine stayed the same.”

“And we all completed our worlds at the exact same time.”

“Yeah, that lends more credence to the theory that this ram character is using powerful magic to keep us busy in here. I also find it interesting that I’m the only one without a cutie mark, but the heart symbol was on my key and my…what do you call them again? Power-ups.”

“That is kinda curious. You think this guy knows what your cutie mark is going to be?” asked Chip.

“Probably not, he probably just assumes it’s because of my name having the word ‘heart’ in it.”

“Whatever. That Count Aries Von Tam-Baloney guy is goin’ down!” Stormy chided.

“Von Tambelon, Stormy. That’s also an interesting choice of names. ‘From Tambelon.’ It’s probably because he’s a ram. Most sheep originate from that country. So do cattle, donkeys and goats.”

The kids all ran through the caverns, fighting occasional enemies with their weapons and solving puzzles to get past obstacles. The further on they went, the more this level looked like a castle. There were still power-ups in the form of hearts, just like Flurry’s level she went through alone. The other five were even capable of using the weapons that would fall from the candles. Once they got to levels with windows, Flurry looked out one of them and saw familiar architecture in the distance.

“Hey, I know that building! That’s the Canterlot Opera House! We must be getting close!” she said.

“You think he’s in the throne room where Twilight should be?” Pound asked.

“Most likely.”

“Well, he’d better be ready for us!” Pumpkin said.

A few minutes later, they came to a long set of stairs leading up into the main throne room. The door was already open as if someone was expecting them. Just ahead was Count Aries, sitting on Twilight’s throne and sipping a glass of grape juice.

“We’ve found you, Count Aries!” Flurry called.

“Well now. You ponies are just miserable little piles of secrets!” the evil ram sneered, tossing the glass on the ground.

“Before we fight you, tell us what’s going on!” Pound ordered.

“As I said in the last realm: you children called me here. You call yourselves friends yet you argued and fought like animals over a scrap of meat. Consider this a trial to atone for your actions.”

“Well we’re friends again and we’ve made up! Right guys?” asked Pumpkin as everyone nodded their heads.

“Yes. I can see that. Now you are friends only because I put you here.”

“We’re friends because we know friendship is stronger than any force in the world. Still, we should thank you for doing this for us, otherwise we might still be fighting,” Flurry said.

“Whoever you are, whatever you’re trying to do, we’ve learned our lesson, Count Aries. We’re ready for you!” Pound added.

“And you’ve done very well to get to this place, but friendship will not get you far! Now have at you!”

Count Aries stood up from his throne and teleported away in a column of light. He then appeared behind the kids and lifted one side of his red cape. Three ferocious bats emerged to attack the kids. They all jumped to avoid the bats, but Chip and Annie were not fast enough and took damage.

“AGH! Chip!” Annie cried.

“Annie, are you okay?” Chip asked his sister, helping her up.

“MUAHAHAHA!” Count Aries cackled as he teleported to the other side of the room and shot thunderbolts out of his cape.

“I got this!” Stormy called, dodging the thunderbolts.

The brave little pegasus then and attempted to spin-attack into him, but the attack failed and he jumped back in pain.

“GAAAH! How didn’t that hurt him?!”

Pound and Pumpkin tried shooting him with their cannons, but there was no affect. They even tried using more powerful weapons or abilities they had achieved and it still didn’t work.

“I don’t think any of our attacks are working on him!” Pumpkin said.

“Well we have to have some sort of attack that hurts him or this game is totally broken!” Pound remarked.

“Hold on, I think I know what it is!” Flurry said.

When Count Aries teleported back, Flurry tried using her six-sided throwing stars at him and they caused damage. They spun right through him and he flashed rapidly for a moment. Flurry had just enough time to try her whip, which also worked.

“AAAAGGGGH!!” screamed Count Aries before vanishing.

“The whip and stars work! Everyone, take my stars and I’ll use my whip!” Flurry called to her friends, tossing several star icons on the ground.

The others grabbed a star and started throwing them at Count Aries. He continued to scream in pain every time they hit him, but he didn’t flinch and was able to still launch his attacks from his cape and teleport just fine. Pound noticed there were two health bars on the side, and one of them was almost depleted. Just as the monster launched fireballs from his cape one last time, Pound took this opportunity to throw a star at his head. The star came back to Pound and the evil count paused as everyone took a moment to catch their breath.

“I think we got him!” Flurry said.

“Not yet. That’s probably only his first form,” Pound said.

“First form? Wait, there’s a second?!”

“Hahahaha! This isn’t the end, my little ponies!” shouted Count Aries.

The children watched as the anthropomorphic ram put his arms in the air and slowly transformed into a huge, far more monstrous version of himself. The environment around them looked like they were floating around in space with a spiral galaxy turning around in a three-dimensional format. The ground did not appear beneath them, but somehow they were still able to walk as if there was ground. The kids all huddled together in fear over what they saw before them. Count Aries’ new form no longer had clothes, but it was far more muscular and stood hunched over, ready to pounce. The demonic ram made one long roar before it started leaping across the battlefield, launching fireballs from its mouth and lightning from its hands.

“AGH! What is that thing?!” Annie cried, trembling.

“Oh that’s nothing! Final bosses do this all the time! We just fight his second form and then we get the Easter Egg!” said Stormy.

“Come on! We won’t get anything done sitting around!” Pound said, throwing a star at the beast’s head till it flashed.

This battle took as long as the last one, but Count Aries’ new form was far more erratic and difficult to track. His elemental attacks also took down a lot of health for the kids every time they were hit. When his health was at its lowest, so was theirs. They also could no longer throw any stars since they had used up all their hearts. The only thing that could harm him now was Flurry’s whip, but she had the least amount of health left. All hope seemed lost, until Chip had an idea.

“Guys, here, I saved these in case things got hairy!” Chip said, lending them all five red apples as he used his own.

Everyone watched as Chip grew twice his size. They touched their apples and grew just as big. This would be enough to help them stay in the game before dealing the final blow. They all ran at the beast as he blasted fireballs at them. They shrank back down after getting hit, but this gave Flurry the chance to use her whip one last time. She swung at his head and his health bar melted. Explosions began to appear all over his body.

“No! Impossible!! AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!”

They were all consumed by light and in a few seconds, the environment transformed back into the throne room. Count Aries was back to his first form and was kneeling on the ground in defeat.

“Heheheh…that’s more fun than I’ve had in almost two millennia,” He crooned. “But we’re not done yet!”

Count Aries’ voice grew deeper and he morphed into black smoke again. A portal opened behind the kids. Both the smoke and the portal were not made of pixels like everything else in this world. He was ready to take them into another realm with a different art style.

“I’ll see you children on the other side! HAHAHAHA!”

The black smoke flew through the portal as it stayed open for them to step into.

“He’s getting away!” Flurry shouted.

“Come on guys! We gotta stop this monster!” Pound called as he and Flurry ran into the portal.

“But what about the Easter Egg?” asked Stormy.

“Who cares about the Easter Egg?! It’s probably just some random little message or cut-scene that has no importance to the game anyway!” Pumpkin said, pushing Stormy along.

“Come on, Annie!” Chip said, holding his sister’s hoof.

“I sure hope this is all over soon!” Annie replied.

Everyone hopped through the portal and it disappeared. There was silence in the throne room until the sound of wings flapping could be heard off to the side. A grey female pegasus with blonde hair and eyes pointing in different directions came in. She was wearing a pizza delivery uniform and carrying a box of pizza.

“Pizza time! Is there a Count Aries Von Tambelon in here? Hello?” she asked, looking around. “Oh dear. Looks like everyone missed the Easter Egg. Oh well.”

Back in the real world, Cozy slept peacefully in her bed with the book she had been reading next to her. She woke up and noticed that neither Flurry, Chip nor Annie were in their beds. She got up to look around for them.

“Uh, guys? Where are you?” she asked.

She suddenly noticed a light coming from downstairs that was visible on the wall next to the door that was left open. She heard faint voices from below. Thinking this was her friends speaking to each other, a good feeling came over her.

“Oh, they’re together again. That’s great! That means they’ve made up!”

Cozy flew downstairs while speaking happily to her friends.

“Guys? Hey, if you’re all down here, I’m glad to see you’ve made up. I know what happened earlier was pretty bad, but this just goes to show friendship really is….magic?”

Cozy made her way downstairs and was not ready for what she saw. All her friends were lying asleep on the ground, but they were covered in a red magical aura. They were moving a little and mumbling to themselves, but were still fast asleep.

“Guys?! What’s going on? Flurry? Hey! Flurry, can you hear me?”

Cozy walked up to Flurry and gave her a nudge, but Flurry did not wake up. She flew around and tried all the others.

“Pound? Pumpkin? Stormy? Chip and Annie!? Guys, please don’t make me scream!”

She tried raising her voice, but none of them woke up. She then walked over and turned on the karaoke machine to a loud volume while covering her ears. None of them reacted to the sound. Finally she dug through the toy chest and found a pair of cymbals. She reluctantly clanged them together loudly, but still had no luck in waking her friends up.

“Guys, what’s happening to you?! Think, Cozy! Think!”

Cozy paced around, thinking of another way to help wake up her friends. She was so puzzled by the red aura.

“Is…is this a magic spell? Who even cast this spell? Well I’d better just go get help. Discord said he’d be with Spike and his family at the castle. Maybe he can figure this out. Hang in there, guys! I’ll be back!”

10. Courtship Dance

Scorch hacked his way through the skeleton army, causing their bones to scatter and pile up in a heap on the ground. He was a little worn out, so Buttercream sent some magic healing his way with the power of her singing. Singe and Aster stood back to back with their shields up, surrounded by a dozen brute skeletons. Aster signaled to Singe and Singe ducked down as Aster used his magic to swing his sword around all of them and cut their heads off. As they tried to retrieve their skulls, Singe took his chance and crushed them all with a spikey mace. Lily and Barb took a break from healing their friends to start casting offensive spells on more of the skeletons, while Spike backed them up. Even Buttercream had resorted to fighting some of the smaller skeletons that were giving Scorch trouble. Before long, they had taken out all of the skeleton army.

“I think that’s all of them!” shouted Discord.

“Not so fast, archer!” mocked Wrathulu as he directed his staff at them.

The staff fired a red laser from its tip, which everyone dodged quickly. He fired more blasts, but the magic-wielders began firing their own blasts back at him. Discord and Aster both took out their bows and fired several arrows into his head. He was too big for any of them to sink that deeply, but it was still painful. While he was distracted, Scorch finally took his chance to fly up to the tower to rescue Billow. Wrathulu noticed him and tried to grab him with one of his tentacle hands. Scorch dodged his tentacles, while his siblings all came to his aid.

“Oh, so you think flying will do you any good? We’ll see about that!”

Wrathulu then cast a spell on all of them and their wings instantly folded up against their backs. Scorch plummeted to the ground and bounced off one of his lower tentacles behind him. They were now tasked with having to fight the monster without their ability to fly. Scorch was still close to the tower so he began to climb up it to reach Billow. Billow looked down to see him. They locked eyes and smiled at each other.

“Here he comes! Get ready!” said Beo Tuag.

Scorch finally made his way into the tower and climbed up over the balcony. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood proudly with his sword in his hand.

“Princess Billow, sorry I’m a little late,” he said.

Billow blushed and looked nervous. Beo Tuag floated behind her and gave her a push. Now closer to the handsome Northern Drake, she finally spoke.

“Hey Scorch. Sorry you had to see me like this.”

“That’s okay. It looks nice on you.”

“You think so? Well thanks, though I still don’t think it’s my sty –WHOAAAAAH!!”

Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled and the tower started to topple over. Wrathulu had fired a beam into the base of the tower. With no ability to fly, Scorch wasn’t sure how else to rescue Billow, but he grabbed hold of her and wrapped his arms around her. Billow reached for Beo Tuag to keep her afloat, but Beo Tuag was caught up in the rubble. Before they could hit the ground, Spike had already cast a telekinesis spell to slow them down and land them safely.

“Thanks, Spike,” Scorch said.

“Any time, bro,” Spike replied.

They all turned to see Wrathulu was now smacking the ground with his tentacles to fight back. Buttercream stayed safely behind a rock but continued to sing and play her mandolin. Her singing gave everyone their confidence back and they slowly began to pry open their wings. Scorch found the courage to fly back up to the monster, but he was quickly sent flying back by one of the tentacles and buried underneath some rubble where he lost his sword and shield.

“Scorch!” called Billow as she rushed to help him.

“I’m okay!” Scorch said.

Just then, one of the tentacles wrapped around Billow and pulled her away towards Wrathulu.

“Hey! Lay off, will you!” she scolded.

“Not a chance, little princess! You’re mine now!” Wrathulu laughed.

Scorch pushed the rocks away with all his might and noticed that Beo Tuag was next to him. In his desire to save the beautiful dragon princess, he forgot he wasn’t able to lift the axe like her, but he reached over, wrapped his fingers around it and slowly began to pick it up.

As Wrathulu was laughing, he then felt a spike of pain in the tentacle he was holding Billow with. The tentacle fell to the ground and Billow pushed it off her and spread her wings to fly. She landed on a nearby rock and Scorch and the tentacle landed next to each other. She then noticed something very strange about Scorch. He was holding Beo Tuag in his claw. The axe chose him!

“I knew it!” Billow said.

“Scorch…you’re…YOU’RE HOLDING BEO TUAG!!” shouted Buttercream.

Everyone else cheered Scorch on as he took a moment to catch his breath.

“It’s good to meet you, Scorch,” said Beo Tuag.

“What?! Oh. Yeah, that’s right. You can talk to me,” Scorch replied.

“I normally don’t choose to let others wield me outside of the royal family, but I like you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I also gravitate to dragons that I feel can be good romantic partners for the royals, and you and Billow are perfect for each other.”

“Thanks…er…wait what?”

“SCORCH, LOOK OUT!” shouted Singe.

Scorch looked back and saw another one of Wrathulu’s tentacles coming right at him. He quickly swiped at it with Beo Tuag and cut it clean off. Wrathulu tried to blast him with his staff, but Scorch used the axe to reflect it at his face. Wrathulu groaned in pain and everyone began to fight back and cut off more of his tentacles.

“Oh I am so hot for him right now!” Billow said, amorously. “Well, what am I sitting around like a hatchling for?! This Princess has had enough! No messing with my future king!”

She wiped her makeup away with her forearm and then tore off her dress to reveal she still had on her bikini armor and weapons underneath. Using two throwing axes, she tossed them at Wrathulu’s face and then pulled Scorch’s sword out from underneath a rock. Wrathulu was weakening quickly and the spells that Barb, Lily and Spike were casting were too much for him to fight back against. Billow cut off his arm that was holding his staff, preventing him from casting anymore powerful spells. Scorch took one final swipe at his neck with Beo Tuag, causing the Squizard’s head to fall off. The brave dragon prince hovered down to the ground and landed heroically with Billow by his side. Wrathulu’s body then collapsed behind them and burst into flames.

“WHOOOOOOO!” everyone hollered as they gathered around the couple.

Buttercream pulled two pom-poms out from behind her back and started reciting a cheer for the pair.

“S-C-O-R-C-H! He gave that squid one big headache! GOOOOOO SCORCH!”

Scorch and Billow waved to everyone and posed heroically with their weapons.

“Billow, you didn’t tell me I could wield her too!” Scorch laughed.

“I didn’t know you had it in ya!” she replied.

“Of course you did,” Beo Tuag remarked. “I always choose a good man for the Soder Dracos princesses. You were both meant for each other.”

“Beo, stop!” Billow said, blushing.

“B to the I to the L-L-O-W! She was sent right from above you! NOOOOOOW KISS!” Buttercream continued.

Scorch blushed even harder now as his little sister teased him. He put his hand behind his head, while still holding Beo Tuag in his other hand.

“Hey! Butter, come on, I don’t think now’s the time for-WHOA!”

Beo then moved herself around Scorch as he held her. It caused him to spin around and bump right into Billow. They lost their balance and fell down to the ground with Scorch cushioned by Beo’s soft belly. Their snouts made contact and they stared into teach other’s eyes. There was a moment of awkward silence as everyone paused. Only snickering from Butter and Singe could be barely heard. Discord snapped his fingers. Everyone was back in the same room as before without their costumes or weapons. Scorch and Billow were now on the table, still staring.

“Awkwaaaaard,” said Discord.

The pair finally cracked smiles and everyone else burst into laughter. Scorch got up and helped Billow to her feet before they hopped down from the table. Billow called Beo Tuag over to her hand.

“HA! Best night of your life, eh bro?” Singe teased.

“That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen!” Buttercream said, pressing her hands against her chubby cheeks.

“Alright, knock it off, you two,” Barb said, giving both of them noogies before walking over to her brother and his damsel. “Everyone, I think it’s time we give Scorch and Billow a moment alone.”

“That’s a good idea, Barb,” said Discord. “Don’t worry, we’ll all keep ourselves busy in here.”

Barb then led them over to a set of doors with a balcony just outside. She opened the doors and let them both walk out to talk. Barb smiled and gave her brother a wink before closing the doors and pulling the curtains. Scorch and Billow were now finally alone and had a chance to get to know each other. They both smiled and walked out onto the balcony. Scorch sighed contently and initiated the conversation.

“So, Billow, you’re the heir to the throne of Soder Dracos. Does that mean you’ve been using Beo Tuag ever since you were born?”

“Not exactly. Royals usually have to come of age or just be ready. I actually have your little sister to thank for helping with that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Back when I first met her and Nightwatch, they kinda helped me with my parents and some other crazy stuff we were dealing with. I was young and not that appreciative of them back then. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, they’re just a bit overbearing at times. Thankfully I get along with them a lot more now. I think it really touched Beo to see me open up to them and she took notice of how I was definitely ready to start learning how to wield her. ”

“And do you have any siblings?”

“Yeah. Two younger twin brothers. They’re crazy little eggs, but I wouldn’t trade ‘em for the world.”

“Well you’ve met all my siblings, but we never really took the chance to introduce you to Mom and Dad. I did tell them about you though.”

“What did they say?”

“Heh…well they pretty much did exactly what Singe and Butter have been doing for days now: teasing me to no end. I have no doubt they’d like you. Do you think your parents would like me if we met?”

“Oh I’m sure they would. They’re pretty protective of me, but I told my parents about you and they had the same reaction. They’ve really been itching to get me with a man lately. It’s getting kind of annoying, but it’s tradition for royal heirs in Soder Dracos to start looking at this age. If Beo likes you, they surely will. Dad and Beo have known each other for ages. Both he and Mom can pick her up and talk to her like I can. It’s amazing you can do it now too. I didn’t think I’d see that happen this soon.”

As they continued speaking, Billow let Beo Tuag float over next to a nearby potted plant where she would remain while they spoke. They walked out to the edge and sat next to each other on the crystal railing.

“So I’m the first guy to lift and talk to Beo since you?” he asked.

“Yup. She really saw something in you.”

They both paused for a second and looked at each other. Billow inched herself closer to him as she spoke. Scorch grew a little nervous to ask his next question, but he was already doing so well with her; he knew she’d take it well.

“I think she said something about how the axe helps choose a mate for the heir. Is that true.”

“Yep. That’s part of the tradition and Beo’s really good at reading others. She knows love when she sees it.”

Billow inched in closer to Scorch and placed her hand on top of his. They both looked down at their hands making contact but did not move them. They locked eyes once again and stared lovingly. After a few seconds, Scorch said one more thing.

“Well…I guess she chose well.”

They continued to stare. Billow grinned mischievously and giggled, causing Scorch to smile bigger. He didn’t feel so nervous anymore. Somehow he felt very brave. Billow then slowly got down from the railing and started to walk past him in the direction of the semi-circular balcony. She looked back at him, still grinning. Without even thinking, Scorch got down from the railing and walked after her. Before he knew it, they were both walking on all fours with their wings folded up against their backs. They walked in a circle, still looking at each other as they went. Billow continued to smile as she could not take her eyes off him. Scorch did the same. Whatever was happening, they both liked it and somehow knew what they were doing. After they walked three rounds, they stopped and turned to face each other. Still standing on all fours, they raised their rumps in the air and slowly wagged their tails back and forth like two cats about to pounce on each other. Finally they ran forward as if to hug, but began wrestling playfully. Scorch had done plenty of wrestling in his life to practice for wrangling rituals, but he had no idea Southern Drakes were also good at it. It wasn’t such a serious, rough match. Instead they were softer on one another, but continued to make an attempt at pinning the other down. Billow got behind him at one point and wrapped her legs around his abdominal region and her one arm around his neck while her other arm was under his left arm. He used his right arm to grab her and pull her down. She allowed him to do the same to her; only he used his arms to pull up both of hers. He underestimated her and she wrapped her tail around one of his legs and tripped him. They rolled around several times until they managed to stand back up and start over again. They laughed and smiled all the way.

Scorch finally managed to get Billow turned around and have her belly facing the ground. He pinned both her arms down with his so she could not reach for him. Billow continued to laugh and allowed him to win. She was enjoying it whether or not she could beat him. Their hearts were racing in all the excitement, but they finally started to calm down. As Scorch snuggled himself up on top of her, he opened his wings.

“I gotcha,” he said.

“Hehe. Yep. You got me,” she responded, flirtatiously.

Scorch then took his hands off of Billow’s arms and allowed her to roll over underneath him. She giggled and let the tall, handsome Northern Drake rest himself on top of her. He joined her in laughing as they both calmed themselves down.

“That was dragon courtship, wasn’t it?” Scorch asked.

“It was, and I haven’t seen a male drake do it nearly as good as you,” Billow told him as she put her arms behind her head.

“So I’m not the first guy you’ve courted?”

“Mom and Dad have had me give several suitors a try. They were nice, but they didn’t seem to click that well with me. Since I’m the heir, they’ve been wanting to get it done a little sooner.”

“Well Dad’s told me about courting before. I’ve seen him and Mom do it plenty of times, but I didn’t think it would come so naturally.”

“Wait…this is your first time courting a girl?”

“Sure is.”

“Wow. Well if this is your first time, you really know what you’re doing.”

“Dad says it’s a biological thing and dragons just sort of do it without even thinking. Either way, it’s the best experience I’ve had with any dragoness.”

“Hehehe…”

“Hehe…”

They both giggled, closed their eyes and started to nuzzle their snouts, as their tails joined and wrapped around one another. Scorch felt the warmth and tenderness of her pudgy body against his as Billow felt his firm, muscular build. Both complimented each other perfectly. In Nordo Dracos, a fat dragon and a slim dragon often made the perfect couple so one could keep the other warm during the winter. Scorch never had an issue with the cold, but the warmness of cuddling with a girl was something he had really been missing out on. He had definitely hit the jack-pot tonight with Billow. She was smitten at first by his good looks, but now she also saw him as a protector and an ideal mate with how strong he had proven to be. Scorch admired her ability to be both tough and also feminine. She truly was made for him. They parted their beaks and went back to staring lovingly.

“I had fun tonight, Scorch,” she said, hugging him.

“So did I. I’m glad we met, Billow.”

“There’s just one little problem.”

“Oh?”

“As great of a job you did courting me, I gotta say, this balcony just isn’t big enough.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I almost hit the railing several times.”

“You wanna get away from here and maybe find a bigger area to wrestle in?”

“Definitely.”

Scorch got up and helped pull Billow up by her hand the same way he did when they first met. She held onto his hand and used her other one to bring Beo Tuag back in. They took off flying to look for a better place to court in. Beo Tuag complimented her royal wielder.

“You did great,” she said.

“Thanks,” Billow responded.

11. That Time I Got Sent to an Anime World With My Friends

The kids fell through the next portal. This time they fell out of a large square pedestal and onto some grass. Flurry started to open her eyes and saw a school in front of her. She looked around and saw she was in the middle of a town. She thought she was back home at last because this place resembled Equestria and had an art style that seemed real enough to be familiar; she just wasn’t sure where they were. Behind her was the block they had just phased through. On top of it was a statue of a tall, muscular earth pony. She also noticed a sign that read ‘Canterlot High’, so she thought it was Canterlot, though she didn’t know there was a high school in the capital city. This place also didn’t resemble any part of Canterlot. The castle and mountain the city was built next to weren’t anywhere in view.

“Uh…guys?” she asked as she looked around for her friends.

She turned her head to see a pile of strange bipedal creatures next to her. They resembled her friends, though they appeared more like primates. They had round ears on the sides of their heads, tiny noses and five digits on the ends of their arms. Their hair and coat colors looked like her friends’ though a closer look showed they didn’t have coats, just skin in the same colors. They were also wearing clothes with the designs of their cutie marks incorporated into them. They started to stand up on all fours rather clumsily as if they didn’t know how to handle their own bodies.

“Flurry? Is that you?” asked the one that resembled Pound.

“Pound?!” Flurry exclaimed. “What happened to you guys?!”

“What happened to you?!” asked Pumpkin.

Flurry then looked down at her front hooves. She too had fingers and was wearing a dress. She gasped in surprise and then screamed loudly while looking up to the sky.

“AAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!”

“What are these things on my hooves! GET ‘EM OFF!!” Stormy shouted, wiggling his newly-acquired hands around.

“Flurry, what happened to us?!” Annie asked.

“I…I don’t know! I think we’ve turned into…what did Aunt Twilight call them…humans?” Flurry responded.

“Is that kind of like what Ahuizotl is in the Daring Do novels? Cuz we don’t have tails with an extra hand on the end of them. Or eyes at the end of our snouts,” said Chip.

“According to what Twilight told me, they’re kind of like monkeys or apes. It’s amazing how many creatures in Equestria actually have digits, but we ponies have gotten around just fine without them.”

“This is so weird. How are we even supposed to walk?” asked Pound.

“And can we take these pesky outfits off too?” asked Pumpkin, pulling at her sleeves with her teeth.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, careful. I don’t think you’re supposed to do that in this world, Pumpkin” Flurry warned.

“Why the hay not?”

They were all suddenly interrupted by a sinister laugh off to the side of the statue. They turned to see a tall human creature sporting a dark blue suit. It wasn’t nearly as ornate as he one that Count Aries Von Tambelon was wearing, but it made him appear very fashionable. Perhaps he was one of the staff members of the school before them. His hair was white and his skin was blue, but unlike the previous two villains, he actually had no ram horns. This could have passed as a different being, but Flurry quickly realized this was the same mysterious ram creature that was tormenting them in their dreams. He was wearing a necklace with a golden ram skull and had a cane with a ram’s head on top. He also had a round orange brooch attached to his vest with a curly, red Y in the center.

“Hehehe. There you are, little ones,” he said. “I see you haven’t figured out how to stand up yet.”

“What did you do this time, Count Aries?!” Flurry demanded. “Is this our home? It looks like Equestria, but there’s no way this town is Canterlot.”

“You are the well-educated one, Princess. I’m sure you know where you are. You’ve already been told about this place. It wasn’t very hard to conjure since beings from your own world have already entered it multiple times. ”

“So this is the mirror world Sunset and Twilight traveled into.”

“Precisely.”

“Are you going to tell us what your game is now?” Pound asked angrily.

“We’re already having too much fun, young leader. Why would I spoil the surprise? Anyway, we best move on. We aren’t going to have that exciting of a battle here. Now catch me if you can!”

He then turned around and opened his fingers to create another portal in front of him. His body turned black and smoky once again. He entered the portal and allowed it to stay open for them. Flurry and her friends had no time to figure out how to run on two legs. Stormy crawled over on his hands and knees and put his limp fist forward, not realizing he could use his index finger to point.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get him!” he shouted.

Everyone else crawled around like Stormy until they were finally able to reach the portal and climb in before it closed.

Over on the other side of the statue, the actual human counterparts to Flurry had just witnessed everything. They looked exactly like them only they were standing on two legs, having been in this world all their lives. They all stood with their mouths hanging wide open over what they just saw.

“What…just happened?” asked human Flurry.

On the other side of the portal, the kids zoomed through the in-between dimension and out of the exiting portal. The next world they landed in was very peculiar. They were in a forest, but everything looked like a fine art portrait. Only the birds and anything that could move had black outlines around it. This place resembled an old cartoon, though more colorful and not quite as smoothly animated as the first world. They examined their bodies and were glad to see they felt normal, but something was still off. Looking at each other, they noticed their legs, bodies and snouts were shaped very differently and their eyes were a bit smaller. The expressions they made were somehow not as dramatic as in the real world. Even more odd was the fact that some of them had different-looking cutie marks. Chip and Annie’s cutie marks had seven apples instead of one, Pound’s cutie mark looked like a more decorative birthday cake, Pumpkin’s was a pumpkin pie with whip cream on top and Stormy’s was a single lightning bolt coming out of a dark cloud. Flurry still had no cutie mark. Annie and Pumpkin had bows in their tails while each of the boys had their own unique clothes. Chip had a scarf, Stormy had a ball cap and Pound had an apron. Things got even weirder the moment they started talking.

“Aw, what now? Whoa, what’s with my voice?!” Flurry asked.

“Yeah, we sound like we can’t even talk right,” asked Pound.

“For real! I sound like a baby from one of those weird cartoons or something!” Stormy said.

“Well at least we have our pony bodies back…just a little different,” said Annie.

“A little different?! Look at our cutie marks!” said Pumpkin, pointing to her flank.

“Yeah, this is weird. This kinda looks more like home, but we can’t stay here,” Chip added.

“Chip’s right,” said Flurry. “We need to find that darn ram, whatever his name is here!”

“Look! He’s over there!” shouted Stormy.

Everyone looked over to see a tall blue ram with navy blue horns and hooves. He was standing on all fours this time and looked just like a regular Tambelonian sheep, though his eyes were pure red with no pupils. He had razor sharp teeth and was wearing a red collar around his neck with golden bucklers and a silver bell in the center. Like the kids, his lines were delivered awkwardly, but he also spoke with a snarl in his voice.

“HAHAHAH! Foolish ponies! You have no power against me here!” he sneered.

Pumpkin nudged her brother.

“Hey Pound, doesn’t he kinda look like Grogar in Super Dragon Warriors?” she asked

“Yeah, you make a good point,” Pound replied. “Funny since we were already in the video game wor-”

“Who you calling foolish?! I’ll make mutton out of you, you overgrown billy-goat!” Stormy shouted as he flapped his wings and took off.

The brave little pegasus flew toward the evil ram. The ram’s horns glowed brightly as he snarled. He blasted Stormy back with two bolts of lightning, accompanied by sci-fi sound effects from an old syndicated Saturday morning cartoon. Stormy somersaulted through the air and tumbled around in font of his friends.

“STORMY!” they all shouted.

“OW! He’s too strong!”

“Alright, that’s it!” Flurry shouted, preparing her own spell.

The ram laughed as Flurry’s horn glowed and fired a smaller lightning bolt at his face. He turned his head to the left but was barely affected by the blast.

“Not good enough, little princess! Now you will see true power!”

The ram then turned around and fired another bolt that created a portal. He once again transformed into black smoke and escaped through the portal.

“Aw! Do we have to keep chasing this guy?” Pumpkin whined.

“We have no choice! Come on everypony!” Pound replied as he flew towards the portal.

Everyone followed Pound through the portal and disappeared once again to find the next strange realm.

Watching nearby was a tiny dragon that resembled Spike when he was young, but he had ears and his underbelly was bright purple. He had just seen everything and ran back to warn his two human friends: a blonde-haired girl wearing a pink shirt and frilly overalls, and a younger boy with orange hair, wearing a ball cap, some jeans and a white and blue striped polo shirt.

“Oh no! Was that who I think it was?! Megan! Danny! Oh boy, you guys aren’t gonna believe this!” he screamed in a raspy voice.

“Spike? What’s the matter?” asked Megan.

“Yeah, you’re acting like Ponyland is coming to an end!” said Danny.

“Gr…gr…gr…Grogar!” shouted the strange iteration of Spike. “I saw Grogar! He was bullying these little baby ponies and then they all just disappeared in this big shiny thing!”

“What? That can’t be possible!” said Megan.

“Yeah, Spike. Everyone knows Grogar, Bray and the Troggles were defeated thanks to the Bell of Tambelon. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Danny told him.

“But I saw it! I know I saw it!”

“Perhaps you’re just daydreaming,” Megan said, patting him on the head. “Or maybe that was one of Grogar’s brothers or something?”

“Gee, I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I’m going crazy or something.”

Meanwhile, Flurry and her friends continued to chase the ram in a montage of all sorts of crazy worlds. They went through a world where they existed as sock-puppets, a world resembling a claymation cartoon, a world made out of toy building-blocks, abstract art style, and live action. The being they were chasing took on variations of his blue ram form. Once they got past the final portal, they sped past bright light effects as their bodies glitched though tons of different forms. The dark smoky cloud appeared in front of them and entered one last portal.

“Let’s hope you’re ready for the final realm!” he called in his default deep voice.

As they made it through the portal, they fell to the ground once again and blacked out momentarily. When Flurry woke up, her friends all appeared normal, but once again the world was different. They also didn’t appear to be anywhere in Equestria, but there was a giant sign that said “Canterlot 3”. It didn’t look anything even remotely like Canterlot, and it certainly wasn’t drawn in the same art style as the human world. Instead the art style was similar to the fourth world, but in higher quality traditional paintings. It resembled a futuristic city with high-rise buildings and no one was outside in the streets except the kids. The kids all appeared in an art style with black lines. They were drawn close to their real appearances, but still different in many ways. Their noses were smaller and their eyes were big but no longer had the roundness they did in the real world. Even their mouths were smaller and they didn’t sync up well with their lip movement.

“Are you guys okay?” Flurry asked.

“I think so,” Pound said, rubbing his head.

“Where are we now?” asked Annie.

“We’re in an anime world! YES! I’m gonna love it here!” Stormy beamed.

“Anime? What’s anime?” asked Flurry.

“Foreign animation,” explained Pound. “I think most of it’s done in Ester Dracos.

“Oh. That. I’ve heard of these shows before.”

“Yeah, they’re a little over-the-top, but pretty cool,” said Pumpkin.

“Yup. Just Stormy’s style,” Chip remarked before Stormy started up again.

“Guys, anime means we can see all sorts of awesome things!” shouted the little pegasus colt. “Maybe we have super powers like that one show, Dragon Star X!”

“Uh…okay,” said Flurry. “What’s that about?”

“It’s this really cool show where all the characters can do really cool martial arts and fly without wings and shoot fireballs from their hands and stuff! When they get really powerful, they scream and their hair turns a different color! Also, when the seven Dragon Stars line up in the sky, a long dragon appears and grants them a wish! That’s why they call it Dragon Star X! I still don’t know what the X stands for though.”

As everyone rolled their eyes at Stormy blabbing on, the ground suddenly shook as they heard a loud foot-stomp in the distance accompanied by sirens in the city. The stomps continued and got louder as the thing making them got closer. They then heard the sound of turbine engines. They looked to see futuristic helicopters with the Wonderbolts logo flying in reverse out from behind a nearby mountain. Next appeared an enormous creature that stood several hundred feet tall. It was bipedal and had a very gangly appearance. It was dark blue with really long arms and sharp, clawed fingers. It had exo-skeletal bones all over its torso and huge shoulders and its abdominal region was thin and almost non-existent. Inside a cavity in its chest was a glowing, red diamond. Its head resembled a ram skull with tiny little black eyes and two massive curly horns. The creature didn’t speak or make a sound, but walked slowly into the city as the helicopters began firing bullets at it.

“All units engage target now!” shouted a pilot over the helicopter loudspeakers.

“Enemy’s IT Field is too powerful!” shouted another.

“Use missiles! It may be our only hope!”

“Roger that! Missiles locked and loaded!”

The helicopters started launching missiles, but like the bullets, they were blocked by an invisible force-field surrounding the creature. One of them launched a very large missile, but the creature put its hand up to stop the missile. The missile kept propelling itself forward so the creature let it fly through and get shredded by its fingers until it reached the explosive end and exploded. It then began its offensive attack. Its eyes glowed and produced a loud, blaring laser sound effect. In front of it, a building exploded into a column of light that parted at the top into the shape of a curly Y similar to the broach he was wearing in the third world. It used this attack several more times on buildings and the helicopters to get them out of the way.

The kids all watched in horror from a distance. Even Stormy was disturbed by what he was seeing.

“Never mind,” he said nervously. “This is more like that one anime Mommy won’t let me watch because she says it’ll make me depressed.”

“There’s…other reasons you can’t watch that show, buddy,” Pumpkin told him.

“But that’s him, right?” asked Pound. “It’s the same ram we’ve been chasing this entire time: Rascally Ram or Count Aries or whatever his name is. Just what does he call himself now? Ramael?!”

Just then, the gem in the creature’s chest floated out in front of him. It warped around into various three-dimensional shapes, glowing brightly. It made the sound of a woman screaming to the top of her lungs and then fired a powerful beam, disintegrating all the copters and taking out the entire side of a mountain. The effect was so loud and intense; it caused everything around them to shake and some of the buildings to melt. They all looked away from the blinding light and began running in the opposite direction.

“Alright, we can’t stay here! Let’s ski-daddle!” shouted Pumpkin as tiny floating tears appeared around her head.

“Right behind you!” Flurry shouted as she took flight.

The kids ran through the streets to get to a safer part of town. Flurry looked back every so often to see the creature was using its eye beam attack on spots all around the city. Sometimes an explosion would happen way too close to them. This entire place was too dangerous for them to be in any longer, so she had to take matters into her own hooves.

“Hold on! I’m going to teleport us out of here!” she called as her horn charged.

Everyone disappeared with Flurry and reappeared on a cliff outside of the city. They could still see the giant horned monster roaming around, destroying everything in sight. They noticed how some blocks in the city began to move down into square openings in the ground. It was almost as if the city was on mechanical risers and had subterranean section underneath. A voice then started sounding over loudspeakers throughout the city.

“Attention all citizens of Canterlot 3! We now have confirmed the appearance of the first fallen angel attempting to initiate the Third Contact! Everyone make your way to the nearest shelters! SWERV is now attempting to lure the angel outside of the city!”

“That thing is an angel?” asked Annie.

“This place is such a weird parody of Equestria; it’s not even funny,” Flurry remarked.

Back at the crystal castle, the dragons all lounged in the guest room after allowing Scorch and Billow some alone time. Starlight had come back out with fresh horderves and joined them in conversation.

“So what are they even doing out there right now?” she asked.

“Hopefully they’re courting,” Singe said, stuffing himself with another piece of cake.

“That’s usually what happens after a male and female decide they like each other,” added Barb. “Dad’s had me court a few men before, but he’s still working on getting me one I actually like. I’ve got high standards.”

“I’m sure it’s going to work out great for them,” Buttercream said, happily.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen Billie in love before, but I can definitely tell she’s got the hots for your brother!” Lily added.

“And how, might I ask, do Northerns and Southerns do courtship?” asked Discord.

“Through wrestling,” answered Singe. “They get down on all fours and circle around slowly until they’re ready to pounce, and then it’s go time.”

“And after they wrestle around playfully for a minute or two, they lie down and cuddle and usually strike up a little conversation,” added Barb.

“So that’s how Northerns do it, eh?” asked Spike. “That sounds like such a fun way to bond.”

“Ah. That is romantic!” Discord said.

“Suuuuper romantic!” Buttercream added, adoringly. “I’m just picturing them doing it right now!”

“And also very fitting of a Northern!” Lily said. “Just like their wrangling rituals, wrestling is part of their culture. Southerns don’t rely on it quiet as much; they’re more of metal-smiths and weapons masters, but they share the same romantic traditions as Northerns. I know that’s how Hosta, Daisy and Ammy’s parents did it, at least partly.”

“Yes. Easterns have a rather different way of courting, and when you’ve got Easterns mixing with Northerns or Southerns, they might mix things up a bit. A little wrestling match that slowly evolves into a romantic dance in the sky,” Aster said, making eloquent gestures with his arms.

“Dragon dancing, huh? You guys wanna show us what that’s like?” asked Starlight.

“Sure! It’s a little something like this! Come on, Spike!” Lily said, grabbing Spike’s hand.

“Whoa, Lily what are we doing?” Spike asked, blushing.

Lily brought Spike up in the air with her. He reluctantly opened his wings to fly, but she led the way, circling around him. He looked around confused until he finally decided to fly after her.

“Aw! Spike you guys are doing great!” Buttercream called.

“Hehe, thanks!”

“There you go, Spike! Don’t worry, we won’t go through the whole entire thing. This is just for show,” Lily said, winking to Spike as he blushed even harder.

Before they could continue, the inside doors to the guest room swung open and everyone stopped what they were doing. They turned around to see a rather panicky Cozy Glow had entered.

“GUYS! I…I need you to come quick!” she shouted, trying to catch her breath.

“Cozy, what’s wrong?” asked Buttercream.

“And where are Flurry and the others?” Spike asked.

“Asleep back at the clubhouse, but they won’t wake up no matter how loud of a noise I make! Even more concerning: they’re all glowing with this red aura around them!”

“WHAT?!” shouted Spike with his hands on his head. “Oooooh! I knew something crazy would happen if I left them alone!”

“Spike, it’s okay,” Buttercream said, calming her brother down. “We’ll go let Scorch and Billow know and then Discord can just blip us all right over to the clubhouse.”

Everyone then walked over to the balcony doors. Barb went first and opened the doors to find the balcony was empty and Scorch and Billow were nowhere to be seen. Everyone gasped in shock.

“Scorch? Billow?!” asked Spike.

“And just like that, they’re already off,” Aster said, covering his face with his claw.

“Darnit! Those silly lovebirds! We shouldn’t have let ‘em get out of our sight!” Butter cried.

“Great. We’re gonna have to search every bedroom in the castle now. OW!” Singe remarked before getting bopped on the head by Barb.

“SINGE! Don’t be a pervert!” she scolded. “Look, we don’t have time to search for them! Discord, take us over to the clubhouse!”

“I’m coming with you!” said Starlight. “That thing about the red aura sounds concerning.”

“Alright, everyone ready?” Discord called.

They all gathered around him and he put his arms out before a flash of light surrounded them all. He instantly transported them in front of the clubhouse so Aster wouldn’t hit his head on the ceiling upon arrival. They all turned around and Cozy entered the front door with Starlight, Lily, Spike and Buttercream behind her. Singe followed after, but underestimated the size of the door and got stuck. He looked up to see Barb and Aster flying in through one of the large windows at the top and signaled for Barb to help him. She rolled her eyes and pulled her pudgy brother through the door until he plopped on the ground. After everyone had gotten inside, Discord teleported himself in and saw what Cozy was talking about. Starlight walked up close to the kids to check on them.

“Kids?! What’s happened to them?!” she asked, giving Flurry a nudge.

“Hold on, folks. I might know a little cure for this,” said Aster as he cracked his knuckles and his horns glowed.

Everyone watched as the kids were covered in a bright blue aura. Aster tried his hardest, but it was quickly cancelled out and the red aura persisted.

“Ugh! Well that was disappointing.”

“Yeah, that spell usually works to wake up any dragon that’s been knocked out. It’s supposed to work on ponies too,” said Lily.

“Discord, your magic should work. Can you give it a try?” asked Cozy.

“I’m on it,” said Discord.

He put his lion finger in the air and charged up a little orb of magic above it. He then zapped all the kids with his finger and they shone with light, but this effect was also cancelled out.

“What? How did that not work?!” Discord said, surprised.

“Really! Discord has arguably the most powerful magic in Equestria!” said Starlight.

Spike knelt down and put his hand on top of Flurry’s head. He started breathing heavily.

“Guys, what are we gonna do?! Who even cast this spell?” he asked frantically.

“Whoever did it is extraordinarily powerful, especially if it can shield my own magic,” Discord said, stroking his beard.

“Discord, is this anything like the spell you used on us earlier while we were playing real life Ogres and Oubliettes?” asked Buttercream.

“Not exactly,” Discord answered. “I transformed the environment around you, but that did not require you to be asleep. That’s high-level chaos magic, but this is different. This is like a dream spell, but not the kind Luna uses. She enters dreams and speaks to the ponies in their sleep. I think whoever’s doing this is putting them in the dream realm, but I haven’t seen a spell quite this powerful since before…well, before my Discord days.”

“Hold on…I was reading a book that described something like this earlier,” said Cozy. “In ancient times, ponies would find their loved ones in a state of consciousness, but they were asleep and couldn’t be awoken. The only way to help them wake up was to fall asleep next to them and then enter the…”

“THE ASTRAL PLANE!!” shouted Discord and Starlight in unison.

“Yeah, I think that’s what it was called,”

“What in Solder’s name is that?” asked Singe.

“It’s kind of hard to explain. Basically it’s a subconscious or psychic realm with altered reality where you may exist as a different version of yourself if your mind somehow enters it,” Discord explained, “Some have even attributed it to multiversal travel, though it’s mostly just dream-like and won’t affect you in the real world. Starswirl the Bearded figured out a way to enter something like this a while ago with that mirror.”

“Can he do anything about this?” asked Starlight.

“I doubt it. He created a portal into another alternate reality. To my knowledge, he never tried to put anyone into the astral plane as a form of torture, nor can he manipulate what you see or feel in there. Ancient demonic forces were responsible for that. Again, this is the work of someone really powerful.”

“And is it true that you can join them and help them get through the realm they’re in until they wake up?” asked Cozy.

“That’s supposedly how ponies get out of it. Otherwise they could be trapped in there forever until their mortal bodies pass on and their spirits enter the afterlife.”

“So all we have to do is fall asleep with them and then we can help them in there,” said Starlight.

“I suppose so. That shouldn’t be too difficult if-”

“I’ll do it,” Cozy said.

“What?! Cozy, no! It could be dangerous!” said Spike.

“Spike, I wasn’t going to say this, but…well, things didn’t exactly go as we planned for our first night here. They all had a big fight earlier and split up.”

“They did?”

“Yeah. I tried getting them to stop arguing over the game they were playing, but they just kept bursting out in anger until they went their separate ways. I think whoever put them in the astral plane set this all up. The book I read said ancient spirits and sorcerers would spend their time tormenting and sabotaging the lives of ponies in the physical world to get them to blame each other for it. They bickered so much until they fell asleep and were then sent into a realm like this as a form of punishment. The only way out was if they learned to work together. I was curious as to why the games we were playing kept feeling like they were magically working against us, so I looked it up in that book and it lead me to the part about the astral plane. Maybe if I go in there with them, they’ll listen and all seven of us can get overcome whatever’s in there.”

“Cozy, are you really sure you want to do this?” asked Buttercream.

“She’ll be fine,” Discord said, smiling. “If she’s in there too long, we have no shortage of allies who can enter with them and fight back whatever foul demon is doing this.”

“And Discord and I know a spell that can make you fall asleep quickly,” said Starlight.

“Cozy, just be careful,” said Spike, “I don’t want to give a bad report to your mother.”

“I will, Spike. Discord, Starlight, I’m ready,” Cozy said, bravely.

Discord and Starlight charged up their magic as Cozy lay down next to Flurry and closed her eyes. They cast the spell, and she fell asleep instantly. Her vision turned black and then she started seeing stars and bright lights go past her. She looked down at her hoof to see it changing back and forth into different forms rapidly. The spell worked and she was already on her way to help her friends in the astral plane.

“Hang on, guys. I’m coming…”

12. JUST WHO THE HAY DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!

The sky filled with dark clouds, as the titan ram continued its rampage throughout Ponyville 3. As explosions appeared across the cityscape, a bright light shone by some bushes in a park. Cozy Glow appeared out of it and fell a few feet onto the grass. She shook her head about and then realized this world was drawn differently. Since this was her first time experiencing the astral plane effects, she was very surprised.

“What the hay? What happened to me? And where am I? Flurry? Anyone?!” she yelped.

As Cozy just noticed smoke and fire billowing from the high-rise buildings, she looked back to see the ram walking in. More helicopters flew by and the ram swiped at them with its arms. They fell to the ground and exploded a few hundred yards from Cozy. She diverted her eyes from the intense heat and quickly spread her wings to fly to safety.

“This can’t be the right place! Why would I be sent here? And what is that thing?!”

The ram then noticed the little filly and reached for her with its giant sharp claws. It grabbed her just before she could escape.

“AGH! HELP!!”

Just as the ram lifted her high, a glowing blast hit the side of its head. Cozy looked over to see Stormy with his hoof facing the monster with an orb of energy in front of it.

“Let her go, Count Rascal Aries Vombalon Whatever-Your-Name-Is-Here!” he shouted.

The ram looked at Stormy and its eyes began to glow. Stormy forgot about its eye beam attack and just barely avoided it, as a building behind him exploded. Pound then came in and did a flying kick to the monster’s arm, allowing Cozy to escape from its clutches.

“Pound? What is going on? And what’s with Stormy all of a sudden?” she asked.

“Stormy’s kinda figured out how to tap into his inner anime geek,” Pound replied.

“Oh…an anime cartoon. Is that what this place is supposed to look like?”

“Yeah. This place is kinda weird. Wait a second…you’re here now! How did you get in here?!”

“Well I saw you guys all sleeping downstairs and you had this weird red aura glowing around you. I had to go get help from the others. Even Discord was puzzled by it.”

“We were asleep back in the real world? So then we are dreaming.”

“Well, not exactly. Discord said this world was like an alternate universe or something. Your bodies are in the real world but your minds are in here. It’s kinda hard to explain.”

“Did you find out who put us in here?”

“No. We didn’t see anyone else in the clubhouse.”

“Well that thing you see there has been giving us trouble in every single world we’ve been in so far. It always takes on a ram-like appearance. He said he put us in here to have fun after seeing us all fight.”

“Then this thing must really be like one of those ancient sorcerers or spirits that liked to torment ponies back in the day by sending them to these worlds.”

“How do you know about that?”

“I read it in a book while you guys were sleeping. Well in any case, we gotta get out of here and work together. Have you guys made up yet?”

“We did,” said Flurry behind her.

“Flurry! Where’s everypony else?”

“Trying their best to implement these weird anime powers to fight that thing. It’s not going so smoothly.”

Cozy looked to see Chip, Annie and Pumpkin helping Stormy. Chip was using the same fighting moves as Stormy, while Annie and Pumpkin were dressed like magical girls, wearing skirts and carrying wands. Their hair was done up in two buns and had long flowing ribbons tied in them.

“In the name of friendship, we will vanquish you!” Pumpkin said, posing in the air.

“Pumpkin, do we really need to use catch-phrases?” Annie asked, wearing a bored anime face.

“Hey, it works in Mariner Moon!”

The ram opened the red octahedron gem on its chest. The gem charged up and screamed before firing at Stormy. Stormy flew out of its way, but was still singed by the blast. He fell to the ground and was caught in midair by Pound and Flurry. Despite how capable the beam was at destroying the helicopters and mountains, Stormy was still alive and well, albeit dizzy.

“Stormy, are you okay?” Flurry asked.

“Im…fine…ugh,” he mumbled.

“Alright, we might as well get out of here. I knew we wouldn’t be able to fight it like this.”

“Flurry, we have to fight it back in order to get out of here! This guy said it would be the final world!” Pound said, angrily.

“Pound, Stormy almost got himself killed just now! I can’t let that happen to anymore of you guys!”

“Stormy’s fine! We can fight it, we just have to-”

An explosion suddenly knocked all three of them back. They had temporary hearing loss and slowly blacked out. When they woke up, the rest of their friends were hovering over them as their vision slowly faded in.

“Bro? You all right?” asked Pumpkin, nudging her brother.

“Pump? What happened?” he asked.

“You guys blacked out for a few minutes. We had to get you somewhere safe,” said Chip.

All three of them got up and looked out to see the ram still in the city as they stood on a faraway cliff. Tons of tanks and fighter jets were firing at it, but it did no good, as it kept using its shield for protection. The red gem in its chest kept morphing into various shapes and firing lasers at them in retaliation.

“That thing is still out there!” Stormy said.

“Yeah, but we’re not getting any further with beating it,” Annie added.

“What’s the point?” Flurry asked forlornly, as she turned away from her friends and sat alone.

“Flurry, what kind of attitude is that?” asked Pound.

“We’ve already tried so many times against this thing. He didn’t go down in all the other worlds. It won’t be any different here. We can’t stop it.”

“Flurry, yes you can! You have to!” said Cozy. “Look, I read a book earlier that said these things like to torment ponies that are quarreling with each other, so it transfers your mind into a world like this in your sleep. You’re meant to go through challenges till you and your friends all learn to work together.”

“Flurry, don’t you see what’s happening to us?” asked Pound, sitting next to her. “He said he wanted to have fun with us earlier after seeing us all fight in the clubhouse. This guy wants to prove we can’t do it just because we all had one disagreement, but we have to prove him wrong. We have to fight back.”

“But how? We’ve tried using these anime abilities and they just don’t add up to the magnitude of that thing’s firepower. We can’t even put a dent in it thanks to its shield. It’s probably got a power level as good as Discord’s or even bigger.”

“Don’t worry about the numbers or the science, Flurr. This world doesn’t really follow physics anyway. Plus look at everything Twilight and the others accomplished in our world without thinking about any of that. All we need is confidence and we’ll beat this thing.”

“Hey, that reminds me!” Stormy chimed in. “Flurry, there’s this awesome anime show called Robo-Link Combiners where they fight in giant robots called gunpons, but the robots don’t run on energy and stuff, they run on confidence and courage! If we have enough of that, we could fight it in giant robots too!”

“Stormy’s right. That show’s all about fighting spirit.”

“And it’s pretty uplifting too!” Pumpkin added.

“We can do it Flurry. We’ll beat that thing if we work together,” said Chip.

“I may not know much about anime, but I’ve seen some of that show, and it is pretty encouraging,” Annie added.

“That’s the spirit guys,” said Cozy, joining them in a huddle. “That’s what we need to take on this thing. Together!”

Flurry smiled and wiped her tears away. She looked at all her friends before her and put her arms around Pound and Pumpkin as everyone else did the same.

“Thanks, guys. I know I’ve been a fool, but I’m ready to show this blasted ram who we really are. Let’s do this. Let’s kick reality to the curb and do the impossible!”

“YEAH!” they all shouted in unison.

Several loud crashes suddenly sounded on the side of the mountain opposite of the city. They all turned and looked to see giant mechs standing before each of them. Before even thinking anything up, their confidence had already caused giant robots to materialize. Their colors made it easy to figure out which ones were meant for each pony, but they all had unique shapes as well.

Pound’s mech was mostly brown with some beige highlights. It had a round center, which served as both the face and body, with its left eye being the cockpit hatch. Down the middle it had a circular saw-blade. Its legs were somewhat short and stubby but its arms were longer and thicker, giving it a simian appearance. It had three fingers on each hand and a shield on its right shoulder. This mech was clearly a bare-knuckle fighting unit.

Pumpkin’s mech was round and had the appearance of a jack-o-lantern. It was orange with two big, blue eyes. Below its eyes was a zigzag line for its mouth, which would open to reveal the hatch. On top was a long green sniper cannon that could extend and pivot to point forward. It had short, stubby arms and legs, but they appeared to be able to retract to allow the mech to roll into a ball.

Chip’s mech was green with yellow highlights and was boxy and rectilinear. It had spikes all over its head and rump and a spikey ball on the end of its tail. It stood on four legs and had four digits on its front legs. The front and rear ends of the machine were connected by a thinner abdominal region, making it appear as if this mech could pivot itself and stand up on its hind legs. It had a chin that jutted out and a mouth with a zigzag pattern like Pumpkin’s mech. This mech had more of a scowl and ferocious look to it, which contrasted heavily to his sister’s.

Annie’s red and white mech had more circular, organic features. It resembled a cat or a young pony. It had pointy ears and an innocent face with large eyes on the side. It also stood on four dainty legs but could stand on two if it wanted. Its tail was shorter than Chip’s mech’s tail and had a sharp spear-like object at the end. On its back was a large missile rack. It was as cute as Pumpkin’s mech, possessing less of a sharp and ferocious look as the boys’, but it was clearly just as capable.

Stormy’s mech was a blue jet adorned with yellow lightning bolts. It had a triangular front end and eyes in place of a traditional oval cockpit. It had a face just like all the others and twin jet boosters on the back, but a careful look showed this mech was capable of transforming into a bipedal mode like the others. The jet boosters and rear portion resembled legs folded up and the wings appeared to have the arms making up the front part with long fingers visible. The nosecone would undoubtedly fold down to become the head, while the rest of the fuselage was the body.

Flurry’s pink and purple mech stood the tallest and had a rather elegant humanoid design. Its head had no facial features, but it wore a helmet with a unicorn horn. On the back of the helmet was a teal, x-shaped object that was probably meant to represent the bow she wore. It was sharp and could probably double as a shuriken. The face of the mech was actually in the chest and appeared skull-like. Unbeknownst to her, it had two jet thrusters on its back to give it boosts in midair.

Cozy’s mech was the most peculiar. It was the tiniest one and just big enough to fit a pony or two inside. It resembled a pony head but the upper half of its cranium was folded away with a small area inside for the pilot to sit at the controls. Underneath were several equine legs and it had two robotic pegasus wings and pointy ears above them. Behind it was a large silver drill that served as a tail.

The kids all stared in amazement at their mechs until Stormy finally spoke with exuberance.

“AAAGH! THESE ARE SO COOL!” he screamed.

“Whoa! Did these things just appear because of our confidence?!” asked Chip.

“I guess so!” said Pumpkin. “I’m guessing the fat orange one with the gun head is mine! Hehe, it looks just like a pumpkin!”

“Aw, mine’s kind of cute! I just might have fun riding in it!” said Annie.

“Mine’s kinda small, but it looks like it could really pack a punch!” Cozy added.

“Gosh. You guys really were right about the confidence thing after all! They’re amazing!” Flurry said as she flew up to her mech, which it opened its mouth in the abdominal region to allow her to enter the cockpit.

“Alright, gang, let’s get in these machines and kick some flank!” Pound said as he entered his mech.

Everyone else entered their mechs through the opened mouths or circular entry ports. The hatches closed behind them. Cozy sat inside her tiny mech and two semicircular segments that resembled brain caps folded over to protect her inside. Each mech had a seat inside with some control levers, designed to operate with their hooves. In front was a console with a circular monitor that turned on as soon as they sat down and grabbed the handles. It showed a spiral graphic being filled up with green until the machines were fully powered. The mechs had no glass cockpits to view through, but monitors suddenly turned on around them with a graphic resembling their faces and a loading meter underneath. Once the meters had finished moving all the way to the right, they could then see all around them on the outside as if the walls of the cockpits were invisible. It enabled them uncompromised vision, so they could have the optimal fighting experience. As they put their hooves in the control levers, the mechs began to move. Even when they spoke, the mechs’ jaws would move in sync.

“This is so awesome! Look! Mine can even transform!” Stormy shouted as his mech hovered in the air, converted into its bipedal form and did a fist pump.

“YAY! Pound, check me out!” Pumpkin said as her mech hopped around on its tiny legs.

“Hehe! Check THIS out!” Pound said, pushing his mech’s right fist into its left palm.

“Whoa…this is kinda tough to balance,” Flurry said as her mech stumbled a bit before finally standing.

“Good job, Flurr! Alright, gang, are we all ready?”

“READY!”

“LET’S DO IT!!”

The mechs all jumped down the side of the cliff, while Stormy’s mech transformed and took flight with Cozy close behind. Flurry, Pound and Pumpkin surfed down the steep incline while Chip and Annie ran on all fours as fast as they could. Once they got to the bottom, they all ran alongside each other through the forest, doing their best to avoid hitting any trees and buildings.

Over in the center of the city, things were still looking bleak as the ram continued its destruction. Almost all of the helicopters and fighter jets had retreated and the tanks had stopped firing at them. The female captain of the Wonderbolts spoke as they withdrew.

“All units fall back! We’re done here!” she said.

“Captain Spitfire, should we request a bomb be dropped?” asked one of her soldiers.

“That may be the only option. We’ll have to lure it away from the city first.”

“That won’t be necessary, Wonderbolts,” said Flurry as her face appeared on the monitors and the audio from her mech had already connected to their comm system.

“Who was that? That sounded like a child!”

“Don’t worry about our age. We’ve got his!” said Pound.

“Yeah, these mechs can take him down!” Stormy added.

The mechs all landed in an area where some buildings had moved downward into the earth and created a level battlefield.

“We’re here to help you guys!” Chip said.

“What?! But you’re all just kids!” said another soldier.

“And where did you get those…um…robot costumes?” asked another.

“It’s kinda hard to explain,” said Annie.

“It’s okay though. We should have the necessary firepower to take him down!”

“Captain, I don’t see how any of this is going to work. I mean look at how ridiculous those things are. I can’t take them seriously,” said one soldier.

“Kids, I really don’t think this is a good id-”

“Hey Ramael!” shouted Pound.

The massive fallen angel turned around to see the seven colorful mechs before it.

“You think you can just go around terrorizing this city? Well we’re in charge now!”

“Yeah! When they talk about their awesome leaders, they’re talking about us!” Pumpkin backed him up.

“Uh…guys?” Flurry asked before Stormy jumped into the heroic monologue.

“That’s right! We believe me who believes in ourselves! Er…we believe in ourselves who believes in …wait, what’s the phrase again?”

The ram then blasted them with an eye beam attack and the mechs all scattered about, flailing their arms and having comical anime expressions on their faces just like the ponies piloting them.

“AAAAGGGHHH!!!” they all screamed, tumbling around and falling down.

“Guys, I think we can save the crazy speeches for later, don’t you think?” asked Flurry.

“That’s how this anime works though!” said Stormy.

“Okay, but lets not get too distracted is all.”

Flurry’s mech stood up and ran towards the ram. It tried firing another eye beam at her, but this time she punched at it with her mech’s fists and it reflected the blast. She tried to punch the ram, but its ‘IT field’ went up and she was unable to get to him. The mech’s fingers pierced through the shield as it slowly began to pry it apart. Finally the shield was weakened and Flurry had a window of opportunity, but was blasted back by the eye beam attack. Pound came up behind her and folded his mech’s legs back, while the arms went erect and pointed out. The saw blade in the center began to spin around and acted as a wheel. The mech rode up the monster’s leg, splitting it in half until he had climbed up to the top and started pummeling its face. The ram then grabbed Pound’s mech by one of its fists, but was shot by a powerful blast. Pumpkin had angled her mech’s sniper canon towards the ram and fired right at him.

“You leave my brother alone, Rammy Boy!” she taunted.

The ram’s leg mended itself back together. Pumpkin’s mech retracted its arms, legs and cannon before rolling into a ball towards the ram. Both of the ram’s arms went limp and then moved up with great force. They now behaved like powerful tentacles and he whipped them forward in attempt to stop Pumpkin. A large chunk of cement had moved up, giving Pumpkin the chance to use it as a ramp. She rolled off of it and slammed into the ram’s head. The ram stumbled backwards but showed no signs of pain, until it was barraged by a volley of missiles. After the explosions died down, it looked skyward to see Stormy’s mech in its jet mode. The mech transformed into its more versatile bipedal form and flew toward him with its right fist aimed at the ram’s head. The ram stood still and allowed Stormy to punch it. The punches had no effect and the ram wrapped both its arms around Stormy’s mech. Chip and Annie’s mechs then ran at full tilt into the ram’s legs until it fell over. This caused it to loosen its grip on Stormy’s mech, which then flew away.

“You leave Stormy alone!” shouted Cozy as she flew over the ram and shot drill missiles out of the circular port on her mech’s forehead.

Chip’s mech stood bipedal and removed its tail to use as a spiky flail, bludgeoning the ram’s legs over and over again. The ram tried to reach for him, but Annie stretched her mech’s tail out and wrapped it around the ram’s arm. The ram tried to pound her into the ground with its other arm, but her mech went airborne and launched missiles at it. Stormy, Chip, and Pumpkin’s mechs joined in. The ram was surrounded in explosions and could not be seen. Everyone rested for a moment as the dust and smoke settled. Suddenly they saw the silhouette of the ram still standing, barely swayed by the attack. Its eyes glowed and sent everyone flying back from an explosion. Only Flurry managed to dodge the explosion and shot forward to fight the ram again. She did a flying kick to its face, causing it to bend backwards but not fall completely off of its feet. She then flipped back a few hundred yards and charged the beast again. It bent forward and put up several IT fields, making it very difficult for Flurry to break through like last time. The rest of the mechs then did their own attacks and managed to break through on the other side. Pound and Stormy grabbed the ram by its arms while Annie wrapped her tail around its left leg and got it to fall down. Chip stomped on the ram with Pumpkin helping him out. The ram’s arms turned into tendrils again and slipped through Pound and Stormy’s grip. It wrapped its arms around them and threw them off to the side.

“UGH!” Pound grunted.

“Pound, you okay?” asked Stormy.

“I’ve felt better.”

The ram aimed for Annie next until Chip dove in the way and was thrown instead. The ram stood up and grabbed Pumpkin’s mech by its cannon with its other arm as Flurry and Annie began punching it. Pumpkin retracted her cannon to escape the grip and rolled around in ball form to escape and tend to the others. Cozy flew in and flipped her mech’s drill-shaped tail down while retracting its legs. It now had the appearance of a head with a drill for its neck. It tried to use its new drill form to attack, but the ram swatted at it with its arms and sent it flying away into a nearby building. Something spun through the air and sliced off the ram’s arm. It came back around like a boomerang and Flurry’s mech caught it. The object that was thrown was the x-shaped boomerang that came from the back of the mech’s helmet. She put it back on and it shrunk down to a more appropriate size. The ram quickly regenerated its arm and charged up the red gem in its chest while screaming. Flurry looked in shock. She had no time to run, so she quickly shielded herself with her arms, but was too late. The ram blasted her mech right through its head, causing the helmet to fall off. The head shattered into hundreds of pieces and the mech fell back.

“FLURRY!” shouted Pound.

“Flurry! She’s…” Pumpkin began to say with tears in her eyes.

“Guys, I’m all right!” Flurry called back as her mech stood on its feet again.

“Flurry, we thought you were a goner!” Chip said.

“How are you still alive?” asked Cozy.

“I’m in the chest, not the head,” she replied, pointing to the mech’s actual face.

Everyone was relieved to know she was all right, but her mech lost its entire head and could not store its boomerang bow anymore.

“Guys, how much longer till this thing gives up?” asked Annie.

“Not much longer. I have an idea,” Pound replied. “Stormy, you ready to do the you-know-what?”

“You mean we’re gonna combine?” asked Stormy with excitement.

“Combine?” everyone else asked one by one.

“Hay yes we are!”

Pound’s mech then jumped high in the air and began to transform. It folded its legs up and used its right arm to pop off its left one. It then swung it underneath and the left arm joined with the right arm to combine and make a stronger right arm. The biceps and forearms magnetized and opened up to allow the combination to work while the hands joined together to create a larger hand with two thumbs. The circular port remaining on the left side was open for combining with another mech, acting as the body.

“Good thinking, bro!” Pumpkin shouted.

Her mech then transformed its entire lower half into a bicep, forearm and hand while a combining port appeared on its right side. It had transformed into a left arm to compliment Pound’s mech.

As this happened, Chip and Annie’s mechs transformed into the left and right lower legs respectively. Chip’s mech pivoted its inner joint so that the head was on the bottom and its chin acted as a foot. The rear end bent upward and the spike on its back pointed up to combine with the thigh of another mech. It folded its arms and legs up on the side and the tail was left dangling on the back. Annie’s mech did the same but used its front legs as heels and its tail as a combining peg for the right thigh.

Stormy’s mech half-transformed into jet mode with its three-pronged wings still protruding. The arms stayed out to become shoulder straps. The jet engines were still capable and he was now the jetpack of a larger mech.

Flurry saw what was happening and questioned how any of this was possible. Pound, Pumpkin and Stormy’s mech remained hovering, while they waited for her mech to become the body.

“Guys…wait…how did you do that?” she asked.

“Just use your imagination, silly!” shouted Pumpkin.

“Don’t worry, Flurry! It all comes naturally!” Chip told her.

“Yeah, I barely had to think to get it to do this!” Annie added.

“You can do it, Flurry!” Stormy cheered on.

“Come on, Flurr. We’re here for ya!” Pound said as his mech moved its arm and gave thumbs up to Flurry.

“Go ahead, Flurry. You be the body. I’ll be the head,” Cozy said, landing her mech right next to Flurry’s.

“Alright…LETS GO!”

Flurry’s mech then jumped in the air and moved its arms downward to bulk up the abdominal area. Its forelegs folded up on the side to reveal holes in the shins to combine with Chip and Annie’s mechs. The two jet boosters on the back folded to the side to combine with the shoulders of Pound and Pumpkin’s mechs. Stormy’s mech then flew forward and magnetized onto the back of Flurry’s mech and wrapped its arms around her to secure itself.

“Alright, now the finishing touch!” Pound added.

“Ready when you are, Cozy!” shouted Stormy.

Cozy’s mech transformed into its drill form and drilled itself into the neck area of Flurry’s mech. It magically healed all the damaged metal and the drill went through the roof of the cockpit, safely behind Flurry’s head. Even the metal on the rest of the robot morphed to look more muscular and humanoid. Absolutely no one could explain what was going on, but it was working. They had now formed a combined giant robot out of seven mechs. The screens on everyone’s dashboard showed a graphic of a larger robot with pulsing lines showing that the combination was underway. The robot was now fully powered with all its parts. It put both its arms up in the air and then brought them back down with both fists clenched. Kanji symbols appeared behind it and bright rays of light shone everywhere.

“Alright! Good job, guys!” Pound added.

“Now let’s get this weirdo!” Pumpkin shouted.

“YEAH! TEAM FRIENDSHIP GO!” everyone else said in unison.

The robot landed on the ground and quickly charged the ram. The ram put up its IT field again, but the robot punched right through and shattered it.

“TAKE THIS!!” Stormy hollered excitedly.

It then punched the ram in the head repeatedly until they all heard a screaming sound. The gem fired at the robot, sending it sliding back a couple hundred feet, but it did not lose its footing in the process. It had its arms crossed to shield itself from the blast. The gem finally stopped firing and there was a brief pause.

“That was a close one. You guys all still with me?” asked Pound.

“YEAH!” they responded.

“Alright, let’s make this next one count! We’re gonna use the drill move from that anime!”

“I have no idea what that’s referencing, but my confidence is already doing all the work for me!” Flurry said back.

“Then let’s do it together!” Annie shouted.

“Yeah! We’ll show this creep!” Chip added.

The mech stood tall and pointed at the ram as Flurry spoke.

“Alright, whoever you are! You’ve given us quite a challenge here, but it’s over!” she said.

“We may all just be a bunch of kids that aren’t perfect and may get into fights with each other sometimes…” said Pound.

“But it doesn’t mean we can’t learn to put aside our differences and fight back!” said Pumpkin.

“And we’ll keep getting back up and trying again!” said Stormy.

“Because that’s what friends do!” said Chip.

“And no one’s taking that away from us!” said Annie.

“Not even you!” said Cozy.

As they spoke, the robot reached down and picked up the helmet that had fallen off earlier. It put it on the newly acquired head and it morphed to allow the ears and wings of Cozy’s mech to burst through. Inside the cockpit of her mech, Flurry went airborne and crossed her arms. A red cape magically appeared, wrapped around her neck. In front of her eyes was a heart-shaped pair of shades with a triangular cut at the bottom for her nose bridge. She placed the shades over her eyes and stayed suspended over the seat, not needing to even touch the controls anymore to pilot her mech.

“Just who the hay do you think we are?! We’re Team Friendship! And we’re gonna pierce you with our drill!” she shouted.

The ram retaliated with more eye beam attacks. The left arm on the robot moved its canon down and fired back, breaking through the IT field easily. The ram was blasted several times and became momentarily dizzy. With the opportunity now open, the robot launched the bow off of its helmet and it split in half. It grabbed both of the bladed boomerangs and threw them at the ram. Both boomerangs stabbed right into the creature’s ankles and wrists so it could no longer move its limbs or try to run away. It was suspended in air, allowing the kids to make their final move. The robot lifted its right arm skyward and pointed to the heavens.

“YOU GUYS READY?!” Flurry asked.

“READY!” they shouted back.

The fist then transformed into an enormous drill and pointed it forward as it began to spin at blinding speeds.

“FRIENDSHIP…IS…MAGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!!!!!!”

Everyone shouted to the top of their lungs and swung their right hooves forward. The energy from their confidence powered the machine and launched it toward the ram. The drill hit the gem in the center and began chiseling away at it. The ram tried one more eye beam attack, but the mech used its left hand to push the ram’s head back. The gem finally shattered and the drill created a huge open hole in the upper body of the ram. The mech zoomed through and landed on the other side. The drill transformed back into a fist and both of the boomerangs returned to the helmet. The ram turned into thousands of sharp crystal shards pointing outward. It made one final unearthly screech that echoed across the land and exploded. A beam of light shot upward from the explosion and parted to create a six-sided star in the shape of the Element of Magic. The mech didn’t flinch at all from the explosion but slowly stood up. Tons of rain began to fall from the sky and created a rainbow behind the bright six-sided star. The sun finally broke through the dark clouds and shone on the mech. Ponies on the outskirts of the city erupted in thunderous applause.

“We…we did it…WE DID IT!” Flurry said, panting.

“YES WE DID!” Pumpkin replied.

“YEAH! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!” Stormy shouted, jumping out of his seat.

Everyone else took a moment to cheer and rest themselves after a battle well fought.

“Man, that’s more action than I bargained for, but at least it’s finally over! You guys did awesome!” Cozy told all her friends.

“See, Flurr?” said Pound. “Nothing to it. All it takes is a little confidence and a whole lotta friend-whoa…”

Suddenly everyone felt themselves being sucked away into a portal behind them. The giant robot dematerialized and all the kids found themselves being sucked back into the vortex as they heard the voice of their mysterious captor once again.

“Well done, children. I knew you could do it; I just wanted to be sure…”

“AAAAAGGGGH!” everyone screamed as their bodies flew through the strange abstract world until everything turned to black.

A moment later, they all felt themselves lying down on a rug and immediately woke up with a jump. They were breathing fast and sweating.

“Flurry?! FLURRY, YOU’RE ALL RIGHT!” said a familiar voice.

Flurry turned to see Spike reach down and pick her up in his arms. He squeezed her tightly against his warm body. She noticed that Starlight Glimmer, Discord, and all of Spike’s siblings were in there, including two Eastern Drakes she had not yet met. The only one missing was Scorch. She also remembered hearing that Billow would be visiting them at the castle, but she too was missing. Her six friends were all there and they were back in the clubhouse. She wondered how she Chip and Annie had woken up in the living room on the first floor, but all that mattered was that they were finally out of that crazy dreamlike realm and back to their real lives.

“Flurry, I was so worried!” Spike cried, holding her close.

“I’m all right, Spike,” she replied. “Cozy came in and helped us out.”

Cozy blushed and rubbed one of her front legs. Discord put his lion paw on her head and petted her tenderly.

“Well done, Cozy,” he said. “I knew you had it in you,”

“Thanks,” she replied.

“You guys should’ve seen it!” Stormy started up. “First we were in this old cartoon world and then this video game world, and then we looked like monkeys or something, and then we were sock puppets and clay ponies and a bunch of other weird things, and then we fought his crazy ram thing in an anime world and piloted giant mechs, and then-”

Pound flew in next to Stormy and used his hoof to cover Stormy’s mouth to get him to shut up.

“What Stormy means to say is we had a grand adventure,” he said.

“More like ten grand adventures, but yeah, we had quite a trip!” Pumpkin added as she gave Buttercream a hug.

“Gosh, you guys really gave us a scare! You were all asleep and we couldn’t wake you up!” Buttercream said.

“We never thought we’d have to deal with someone being sent into the astral plane like that,” said Starlight.

“Is that where we were?” asked Flurry.

“Most likely. Nobody’s been sent there in quite a while though.”

“What exactly did you do to enter the astral plane, might I ask?” said Aster before realizing they hadn’t been introduced. “Oh, sorry, where are my manners. I’m Aster and this is my sister Lily.”

“Oh, so you guys are the Eastern Drakes Butter was talking about?” asked Flurry as she flew in to meet them.

“Sure are! It’s great to finally meet you, Princess!” Lily said, shaking Flurry’s hand.

“Whoa cool! You guys look just like the Leviathan ride from last week!” Stormy said, examining Aster.

“Oh, well we’re not exactly leviathans, but it’s flattering that you see us that way,” said Aster.

“I don’t mean to sour the mood here, but can you children explain exactly what being was in there putting you through the astral plane? And what is this ram Stormy speaks of?” asked Discord.

Before anyone could give him an answer, the lamps in the room began to flicker until they turned off and the only source of light was the moonlight coming in from the windows. The black smoky Apparition materialized in front of everyone. This was their first time seeing it with a ram’s head. Cozy felt like she had met this creature before. It began laughing again as everyone looked in horror.

“Great. Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” said Pound.

Author's Note

Recommended listening:

Angel of Doom (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Pierce the Heavens with your Drill! (Gurren Lagann)

13. Discord Meets an Old Friend

The Apparition continued to laugh, as everyone stared, not knowing what to do. Only Cozy recognized this entity. She trembled but finally spoke.

“G…g…guys…I’ve seen that thing before,” she said. “That’s the thing that released me, Tirek and Chrysalis!”

“What?!” That thing broke the spell on the stone?” asked Starlight.

“I think so. As soon as we came out, I saw it right above me and then it disappeared.”

“Well, how do we stop it now?” asked Lily.

“Leave that to me,” Discord said, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. “Stand back everyone. This guy’s hist-”

Unfortunately, before the Lord of Chaos could cast a single spell, he was instantly enveloped by the black smoke. He flailed his arms around and tried fighting the smoke and snapping his fingers, but somehow his magic was cancelled out.

“Whoa! AAAGH!! MY MAGIC ISN’T WORKING!” Discord yelped as his head disappeared in the pitch-black mist.

“DISCORD!” shouted all the kids.

“Discord, hang on!” Starlight said, getting ready to cast a spell.

The dragons jumped in to help Starlight, but the Apparition stretched out several misty tendrils at the dragons. The tendrils transformed into smaller clouds of black smoke surrounded by orange electricity and pinned them against the walls of the clubhouse. They were all paralyzed and barely able to talk or move their eyes. Aster and Lily couldn’t even cast spells with their antlers.

“SPIKE!” shouted Flurry.

“Butter, are you okay?!” asked Pumpkin.

“CAN’T…MOVE!” Buttercream said through her teeth.

The kids all stood in shock, unable to do anything but tremble. Chip and Annie held each other close while Pound and Flurry kept low to the ground, not risking taking flight at the moment. Stormy, however, had his own plans.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stop him!” he said, flying forward.

“STORMY, NO!” everyone shouted.

Stormy tried doing a flying kick to the smoke, but only flew right into it. He was quickly thrown out and bounced off of the couch in front of the television.

“Stormy! Why do you always gotta rush into things like that, buddy?” Pumpkin scolded the eager little colt.

“Sorry,” Stormy said, shaking the pain off.

“Oooooh! This is not good!” Flurry said, frantically.

“Guys, what’s going on?” Cozy asked. “I thought you said he’d leave us alone after that fight we just had in the astral plane!”

“He said he would,” answered Pound. “I guess he just meant the last fight with us.”

“How do we even stop him now?” asked Annie.

“Flurry, any ideas?” asked Chip.

“I don’t know how we can,” Flurry replied. “We’re not able to make things just materialize out of thin air or use fantastical powers…unless… Hold on, let me try something.”

Flurry tried zapping the smoke with an experimental magic spell, but it had no effect.

“Yeah…just as I thought.”

“Well this is just great,” Chip said with his hoof over his face. “And here we thought that was the last we’d seen of this thing.”

“What’s he even got against Discord?” asked Cozy.

“I don’t know. I just hope he’s alright in there,” Flurry replied.

As the kids conversed, things looked very different inside the cloud of smoke. Discord had his arms over his head, as his powers proved useless. He was transported into a large empty space. Dark clouds slowly circled around him, but there was enough light in the center for him to see. Finally a dark figure appeared from beyond the smoke and started walking towards him. It was shaped like a tall ram with massive curly horns. As the ram walked into the light, Discord got a better look at him. His coat was blue and his mane, eyebrows and tail were white. He had dark blue horns and hooves and wore a red collar around his neck with golden bells hanging around it. His eyes were yellow with red pupils and he had fangs protruding from his lower jaw. He entered with a neutral look on his face, but once he was close enough, he gave a wicked grin. Discord knew this look very well. Not only was it was the same one he used almost nine years ago to fool Cozy, Tirek and Chrysalis; it was the look of an old friend of his that he hadn’t seen since the time of Equestria’s founding.

“Do you remember me, old friend?” asked the ram in a gruff, elderly voice.

“Impossible.” Discord replied, faintly.

“Does this look bare resemblance to the disguise you used? You got my look right, but you left out so much of my backstory. Then again, perhaps that is best.”

“There’s now way you can be here. They told me you died in Tartarus!”

“Did they? Look at me now, Accord. I have never been more alive!”

“I go by a different name now.”

Discord gave the ram a stern look as the ram paced around him.

“Ah, yes, you call yourself Discord now. ‘Discord the Lord of Chaos’, but are you really when you’ve joined these ponies, Senator?”

“Please…I don’t want to be reminded of that.”

“If that is the case, then why do you still look like this?!”

The ram raised his voice in a mocking tone and picked up one of Discord’s wings with his magic. Discord pulled it back in.

“This is merely a change of style. The alicorn body wasn’t enough for me.”

“HA! You’ve really lost your mind, Accord. You consider yourself a hero, yet you dabble in chaos magic and want to forget about your past deeds under Solmidas’s rule. And to think these powers were meant to out-do Starswirl.”

“This had nothing to do with Starswirl. Look, I’ll admit I’ve made some mistakes. When I learned chaos magic, I had bad intents, but I’ve washed my hands clean of that. Equestria needs me and I’ve come to see the importance of friendship now.”

The ram shrugged his shoulders and walked away from his old friend.

“All right then. Have it your way. Honestly, I prefer the old Discord back when he first took over Equestria. When he wasn’t afraid to stand up to those spoiled princesses. Follow in the hoof-steps of his old friend. Your powers are impressive, yet you refuse to use them at their full potential. You remember how you learned them, don’t you?”

The ram turned his head to an opening in the smoke. A stone wall appeared with a carving of a chimeric, serpentine creature that resembled him, only its look was symmetrical. It had two massive deer antlers on its horse-like head and a long flowing mane that flared out like a cobra hood. It had a wide smile stretching underneath its eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Both of its arms were reptilian in appearance and it had huge bat wings and legs with cloven hooves. The center of its body appeared to be made out of a shark’s body with a tiger’s tale and a rattlesnake’s rattle at the tip. It was drawn in a very rectilinear style like ancient hieroglyphs depicting pagan gods. Most didn’t know what this creature even was, but Discord knew it very well.

“No…it can’t be!” Discord said, horrified.

“That’s right. Your old friend, Eris. I think she’d be disappointed to see much you’re holding yourself back. Perhaps we should call her forth?”

“What?! You’re crazy! She’s not even real!”

“Oh she’s real. You’ve made her real. You know how the prophecy works.”

“It’s all just malarkey! I’ve been using these powers long enough!”

“Maybe you’re right. Then perhaps we should initiate her coming right now.”

“No!”

“Oh yes!”

“I MEAN IT, GROGAR! STOP!”

Outside of the cloud of smoke, the kids watched, still wondering what to do. No one could hear what was going on with Discord and his mysterious visitor. They heard some mumbles, but the voices were muffled out by the smoke.

“Maybe we should get Twilight,” said Pound.

“If Discord can’t fight this monster, I doubt she can either,” Flurry responded. “I can’t think of what else would work, unless…wait. I’ve got an idea. I don’t think it’ll cause much damage, but hopefully it scares him off. Starswirl says this spell doesn’t work so well on physical beings, but this thing is more like a ghost.”

“Anything we can do to help?” asked Pound.

“Just send me some strength.”

Flurry put her arms out for everyone to give her a hug. They all huddled together as her horn glowed brightly.

Inside the cloud, Discord kept screaming at the ram as the ram laughed. He looked up to see the creature on the wall start to move and come to life. Its smile moved up and its pupil looked in his direction. One of the reptilian claws waved at him.

“PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!” he begged.

“HAHAHA…what?”

Suddenly the ram sensed power nearby. In his ghost form on the outside, he peaked his head out to see light coming from Flurry. Her friends all moved away as she levitated and her horn glowed. Before the Apparition could react, a burst of magic shone forth, illuminating the entire room. A ring of light shot out and pushed all the dark clouds away from Discord.

“AAAAAARRRGGGH!”

The Apparition screamed in agony and was thrown against the wall right next to the large window in the first floor. It phased through and fell out the other side as a steaming pile of black sludge. In the clubhouse, Flurry slowly floated back down and closed her eyes. The light had also destroyed the smoke surrounding all the dragons and Starlight. They rushed to check on Flurry with the kids. Discord took his hands off his head and looked around to see the smoke was gone. He noticed a marking on the wall that was shaped like a ram’s head but quickly turned to check on Flurry.

“Flurry! Are you alright?!” Spike asked, picking her up.

“Ugh…I’m fine,” she said, tiredly.

“What did you do to him?” asked Buttercream.

“I think I got rid of him…for now.”

“Better yet, Discord, what did that thing do to you?” asked Starlight.

“He…it was just…I don’t know. It was just tormenting me, but at least it’s gone now.”

“Will you be alright, Flurr?” Pound asked as he and Pumpkin helped Flurry up.

“I think so. I’m just glad we got that out of the way. This has been such a weird night for us.”

“So you guys went through a ton of different worlds in your sleep, you say?” Buttercream asked. “Bet that was interesting!”

“You bet it was!” said Stormy.

“Not meaning to be nosey, but did you kids actually have a little fight earlier like Cozy said?” asked Singe.

“Yeah, we kinda did,” Pound replied.

“But we made up,” said Pumpkin.

“Yeah, it took some apologies and teamwork,” Annie added.

“Well that’s good to know,” said Barb. “We all had a similar thing happen back at the castle.”

“You did?” asked Flurry.

“We all tried playing that Ogre game Spike and Butter enjoyed, but me, Scorch and Barb just couldn’t get into it,” said Singe. “We had to be honest with them about how we felt, but we all came to an understanding and decided to stop playing.”

“And we did manage to find a different way to have fun with the game, so it all turned out well in the end,” said Buttercream.

“I see,” said Flurry. “Well it’s a shame we didn’t follow your example. We all had quite a conniption earlier over a game we were playing as well.”

“But that ghost thing was probably messing around with our game anyway,” said Chip.

“Yeah, he did this to us, but we all outsmarted him in the end!” Pumpkin said, cheerfully.

“Well despite how awkward of a first meeting this was, I’m glad you little urchins got it all worked out,” said Aster, moving down to the kids’ level so they could properly introduce themselves.

“Oh, that’s right,” said Flurry. “Aster, Lily, these are my friends Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Apple Chip, Annie Smith, Storm Streak and Cozy Glow.”

“It’s great to meet you, kids!” Lily said, cheerfully, petting some of them on their heads. “Butter’s told us such great things about you!”

“It’s great seeing you guys too,” said Pound, shaking Aster’s claw.

“Are you guys unlockable characters in Super Dragon Warriors?” Stormy asked, excitedly.

“Ah ah ah, all good things come to those who wait, little guy,” Aster said, putting his finger over Stormy’s lips. “Play one hundred rounds in VS mode and you’ll see what happens!”

“Hehe, you’ll get used to Stormy soon enough,” said Chip.

“I’m sure they’d be really fun to play as just like Billow!” said Stormy.

“Hey, speaking of Billow, wasn’t she supposed to be with you guys? And where’s Scorch?” asked Flurry.

Spike and his siblings all gave each other glances and then turned back to the kids nervously.

“Uh…well, they’re kinda in the middle of something,” said Buttercream with her arms behind her back.

“Something romantic,” said Singe before Barb shushed him.

“Romantic?! Wait, are they…?” Pumpkin asked, putting her hooves to her cheeks.

Just then a loud thud could be heard outside of the clubhouse, which caused the floor to shake a little. The sound of a male voice and female voice laughing could be heard. Barb, Singe, Lily, and Aster flew to the large windows while Buttercream, Starlight and Spike used the front door with the kids following them out. Discord only stuck his head out of the door to see what was happening. As soon as Buttercream could see, she immediately put her hands against her cheeks. Barb, Singe and Spike all looked equally surprised. Scorch and Billow had landed in front of the clubhouse and were in the middle of another dragon courting ritual, as Beo Tuag watched nearby. They wrestled playfully, throwing themselves to the ground and wrapping their arms and legs around each other. Billow had Scorch down at one point but he spun around to pin her to the ground.

“Pinned ya!” Scorch said.

“You sure did,” she giggled, flirtatiously.

They both settled down and stared affectionately until they both noticed they were being watched. Scorch got up and took Billow’s hand to help her up. She brushed herself off and called Beo Tuag over.

“GUYS!” shouted Scorch. “We were just…uh…”

“We were just having fun!” Billow said, nervously.

“Yeah! Just having fun!”

There was a moment of silence until Singe opened his mouth.

“YOU GUYS WERE COURTING!!!” he shouted.

“EEEEEEEH!” screamed Buttercream.

“Scorch, Billow, are you guys, like…a thing now?” asked Spike.

They both looked at each other and held hands. Scorch put his other arm around Billow as she let go of Beo Tuag and put her arm around him.

“I guess we are,” said Billow.

“What can I say? She really gets me,” said Scorch, nuzzling his girlfriend.

Billow giggled as she nuzzled him back and everyone began celebrating.

“Aw! Congratulations you two!” said Lily.

“I knew it! I knew it all along! You guys are so in love!” shouted Singe as he pumped his fist in the air. “Congrats on courting before me, bro! Just you remember all the encouragement I gave you when you make me an uncle somed-MMMPH!”

Barb reached down and closed Singe’s mouth with her claw.

“We’re happy for you is what he’s trying to say,” she said, smiling and winking to Scorch.

“Thanks, Barb,” said Scorch.

“Hey, congrats, Scorch!” Spike said, giving his older brother a high five.

“Billie, I know it’s only been almost a week, but words cannot convey how happy I am you guys finally got together!” Buttercream said, giving Billow a hug.

“Aw, thanks, Butter,” Billow replied, hugging her back.

“BLEGH! Romance,” Stormy said, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

“Um…says the guy that’s got a crush on Somnambula?” Chip remarked.

“Touché,”

“Wow, you guys got a lot done while we were in the clubhouse I see!” Flurry told Starlight.

“Hehe. Yeah, these dragons had their own little adventure,” Starlight said.

“You should’ve seen them playing O&O once Discord used his crazy powers. Hoooo boy, did we have a blast!” said Lily.

“We had a blast too! It was the coolest thing ever!” Stormy said.

“Well we’re going to have to exchange stories tomorrow. I’m pretty tired,” said Flurry before yawning.

“Yeah, we all are,” Cozy added.

“Oh! Hey kids,” Billow said, waving. “Sorry if we woke you up in there. Scorch and I just wanted to do some wrestling in a wide open area and we weren’t really paying attention to where we landed.”

“Oh, that’s fine, Billow,” Flurry responded.

“Are you kids doing alright?” asked Scorch. “You kinda look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

The kids all looked at each other nervously and then began to smile.

“Hehe…about that…” said Flurry.

“Funny you should mention, but…” said Pumpkin.

“We kinda did,” said Pound.

The kids all started laughing as some of the dragons joined in. Discord smiled and listened to them. He pulled his head back into the front door frame to look at the marking on the wall. The smile left his face.

“I know I did,” he said under his breath.

On the other side of the tree clubhouse, the black sludge slowly began to move until it was able to slither through the grass again. It transformed back into smoke and grew its horns and face back. The Apparition smiled and laughed as he disappeared into the night, although everyone thought him to be defeated, he was only chased away. Unbeknownst to everyone else, he had already accomplished his goal that night and got even more than he bargained for.

“Thank you, little princess. That was just what I needed.”

Author's Note

Recommended listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZE2gUAiHzw

14. They Are the Ones...

While Starlight stayed in the castle to inform Sunburst and Trixie about last night’s events, Discord and the dragons took the kids out to a local café that next morning to reflect. They told more about their experiences and decided that the Apparition was definitely the one who caused them to fight just so it could easily put them in the astral plane. Discord kept its identity secret from the others for fear of worrying the kids, but he knew he’d have to let Twilight know eventually. After Spike brought in a quill and parchment, Flurry and her friends all took turns delivering a friendship report as he wrote it down.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

We all learned a valuable lesson last night about friendship. Even if you are friends with someone, there will be times when arguments happen and harsh words are exchanged. It might seem like all hope is lost and you’ll never be friends again, but that’s simply not true. When you’re in a dire situation, you have to remember your friends and work with them to get out of it. And in such moments, you’ll forget about all those fights you had and work together no matter what. And with teamwork, you can overcome anything! And pretty soon, you’ll look back on those tough times you had and either forget them or just laugh it off. And that is undeniable proof that friendship truly is magic.

Your niece and all her friends,

Flurry Heart, Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Apple Chip, Annie Smith, Storm Streak, and Cozy Glow

Everyone else applauded the kids. Spike rolled up the scroll to send it to Twilight with his magic fire, impressing his siblings in the process.

“Wow, so that’s how your fire works, Spike!” said Buttercream, watching the green fire zoom up to Canterlot.

“Yup. Princess Celestia figured out my fire was magic and taught me how to control it,” Spike replied.

“That’s our magical little bro!” said Singe, giving Spike a noogie.

“We’re gonna have to get something set up so you can send letters to Nordo Dracos!” added Scorch.

“Well I’m glad you guys all learned your lesson,” Barb said, turning to the kids. “I know it’s kinda rough when you have disagreements, but next time just remember how we handled it and it’ll be easier for you.”

“You got it, Barb,” Pound said putting his arms around Flurry and Pumpkin as all the kids did the same next to each other.

“I just still can’t get over these crazy worlds you guys went to,” said Spike. “Discord told us the astral plane can take you into weird alternate universes or something, but I didn’t think they were that amazing!”

“I know, right?! One of them looked like a video game, Spike!” Stormy beamed.

“That is pretty awesome that they got to experience that,” said Lily. “We’ve had our fair share of video games in Ester Dracos, but nothing like what you kids are telling us!”

“Yeah, talk about hitting the highest score possible!” said Aster. “We let Myosoti know about this and maybe he’ll make a game out of it!”

“You guys know Myosoti, the creator of Super Dragon Warriors?!” asked Stormy.

“Sure do. We could take you to see him some time!”

“EEEEEH! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!”

“Well it’s good to know you kids made it out okay,” said Singe. “We were all pretty worried when we saw you in there.”

“It was a pretty unforgettable experience,” Pumpkin said.

“Minus all the fighting we had to do and the scary ram things we kept encountering,” Annie added.

“Well I for one am glad that thing is gone and it’s all over,” Flurry said with relief in her voice. “I dunno about you guys, but I think I’m a little tired now of playing hero. At least that experience didn’t cause any damage in the real world.”

“Aw, why not? I thought that was all awesome!” said Stormy.

“Now now, Storm,” said Chip. “We are just kids after all.”

“Well at least we all have great stories to tell others one day,” said Pound. “Heroism comes in many forms after all.”

“So Discord, did we figure out what that thing was?” asked Billow.

“Eh, I’m guessing it was a miasma or something,” Discord said, nonchalantly. “They’re spirits that like to torment ponies in their sleep much like the kids described.”

“So what was with the horns then?” asked Aster.

Discord’s eyes then widened and he spoke nervously.

“Uh…well…”

“Yeah, he kept looking like a ram in all the places we went to, except that one where we all had weird clothes on and looked like humies or whatever they’re called,” Stormy interjected.

“Humans, Stormy,” Flurry told him.

“Yeah, what she says.”

“But he also looked just like Grogar in that one place,” said Pumpkin.

“Pump’s right,” said Pound. “It reminds me of how Grogar appears in the Super Dragon Warriors game.”

“Only two-dimensional and drawn like a Saturday morning cartoon,” added Chip.

“Plus there were those curly V-shaped explosion things in the anime world,” Pumpkin said.

“Curly explosions? Uh…did they look like this?” Buttercream asked, making an Aries symbol in the air with her fingers.

“Yeah, like this.”

“Like thiiiis?”

Buttercream made the shape several times to get confirmation from Pumpkin. They all nodded their heads. She appeared concerned but then brushed it off like it was nothing.

“Ah well. You know anime. They use weird symbolism in there. It’s probably nothing.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s not Grogar, guys,” said Chip.

“Isn’t Grogar from like two thousand years ago?” asked Annie.

“Maybe he was turned into stone and then came back?” said Chip.

“Or escaped from Tartarus?” added Pumpkin.

“He’s dead,” Discord said, quickly.

Everyone turned their heads to Discord. He took a sip from his teacup before continuing.

“Grogar was defeated after Gusty the Great took his Bewitching Bell. He had both his horns sawn off and was imprisoned in Tartarus where he eventually died. I can confirm it. I checked and there’s nothing but bones.”

“Oh…” Flurry said.

“Well that’s a relief to know,” added Spike.

“I had a feeling your story for him wasn’t adding up. But how is it Tirek and I didn’t see his skeleton when we were both in there,” Cozy asked, suspiciously.

“He was imprisoned way down deep, never to be seen again. Even if he were still alive, neither of you would have been able to speak with him. I’m guessing Tirek hadn’t heard about it since Grogar died after his imprisonment in Tartarus and he never would have bothered to educate himself on recent Equestrian history during his last few fiascos. Sorry again for tricking the three of you by the way.”

Cozy seemed to make sense of what Discord was saying and smiled in response.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. And apology accepted, Discord,” she said, as he smiled back.

“Well at least we know it’s not Grogar,” said Flurry. “Grogar did a lot of horrible things back in the day, and it would definitely be a problem if he returned. And I’m guessing that thing was powerful enough to release Cozy and the other two from stone since that wasn’t done with the Elements of Harmony. Still, it’s concerning that he was powerful enough to break it, let alone keep you from using your powers.”

Discord did his best to humor Flurry so she wouldn’t panic over recent developments and keep asking questions. He was determined to make sure the children would not know what he knew and worry them. With a smile on his face, he went back to drinking his tea in a more chaotic fashion.

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about it, Flurry Heart. I’ll say something to Twilight when I get the chance just to be safe.”

“Well hey, that was pretty awesome how Flurry took him down,” said Singe as Flurry blushed. “You shoulda seen it, bro!”

“Well let’s not pretend Scorch and Billow weren’t spending their time wisely,” Pumpkin said, lovingly.

“That’s right. They certainly had their own little adventure! Hehe!” Buttercream said, giggling.

“Thanks guys,” Scorch said with Billow cuddling up next to him. “Well Barb, think the three of us should head back to Nordo Dracos and give Mom and Dad the good news?”

“Oh that’s right! Shoot. Mom and Dad are not gonna live it down that you found a date before I did,” Barb said sarcastically.

“We’ll get you hitched someday, Barb,” Singe teased.

“Yeah yeah, I hear ya. I gotta find me a king soon. I’ll get to it. Meanwhile you need to court Simmer.”

“Oh I will. This handsome drake’s got it covered!”

Barb smiled and rolled her eyes, as Singe tried to act cool and slick his spikes back. While everyone else laughed and made conversation, Buttercream signaled to Discord with a small note in her hand. Discord stretched his tail behind Barb and used the tip of his tail to grab it. While they were all distracted, he read the note, which said, “Definitely Grogar. Curly V means Brotherhood. We need to see Twi later.” Discord moved his eyes in her direction and they both winked at each other. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Discord and Buttercream had actually known each other behind the scenes for a while now, and what they had just encountered had both of them worried.

A few hours later, they both went to Canterlot to speak with Twilight behind closed doors. Their discussion contained highly classified information, so Twilight had to use a sound-dampening spell on the entire throne room to prevent anyone else from hearing. They spoke as Twilight stared into one of the stained glass windows.

“He didn’t say how he did it, just that he’s ‘never been more alive,’ whatever that means,” said Discord.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” said Buttercream. “Nightwatch’s been worried sick but he didn’t find any concrete proof. We all just assumed Bray was talking about Discord’s disguise when he said Grogar had returned. That ghost didn’t show up till last night.”

“It’s okay, Buttercream,” Twilight said, turning around. “It’s my fault for not looking into this. Lately I’ve been having visions about Grogar, but I believe he’s been around much longer than we think.”

“Longer than we think? You don’t actually think he resurrected himself, do you?”

“He must’ve given up a portion of his life force and hid it inside the bell,” said Discord. “That would explain why he died so easily in Tartarus. And when you and your friends all used the Elements to stop those three, it completed a spell to release his spirit from the bell and take on the form I saw last night.”

“Discord, are you suggesting Grogar let Gusty take the bell from him? All so he could trick us into thinking he was defeated and passed away, only to eventually come back?” Twilight asked.

“Grogar was an absolute genius. He could wait for centuries before setting things into motion, regardless of any setbacks. That’s how he overtook the Golem production industry in Tambelon so effectively. I think it’s very possible he knew he wouldn’t have enough power during his reign, so yes, he had the whole thing planned.”

“Can you stop him?”

“Right now I don’t think he’s quite as powerful as I am, but the fact that he put the kids into a stupor and then transported their minds cross-dimensionally really concerns me. Either way, chaos magic isn’t going to work so well against his powers, so we need to keep the Elements handy.”

Twilight paused and thought hard. She looked over at the friendship report that was sent to her earlier. Her thoughts then turned to Flurry Heart and her friends. What had happened to them last night had her even more worried. Perhaps Grogar had very sinister plans that involved them. She knew the answer to the question she was about to ask, but she asked anyway.

“And why was he after the kids?” she asked.

“I think he just wanted to mess around with the young ones and see if he could actually turn them against one another. Thankfully it backfired, but he probably planned for that too. There’s no way Flurry’s light spell did any real damage. She just scared him off, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that.”

“No wonder Bray was so confident in Grogar. He’s probably still out there too,” Buttercream sighed.

“Is Nightwatch aware of this yet?” asked Twilight.

“I sent him a letter earlier. Sorry he still hasn’t reached out to you yet. He’s… kinda shy. Plus he’s still searching for that Golem he saw a few years ago.”

“Yes, we need to figure out who’s piloting that thing. I thought the Brotherhood had been neutralized years ago and now I’m hearing this. I’m pretty sure they’re related. Well, thanks for letting me know about this, you two. I suggest we all keep in contact. Report to me immediately if you see Grogar or any Golems out there. I’m going to put my troops on high alert.”

“Should everyone else know?”

“Not until we have more answers. I can’t let this go public right now, or there will be propaganda everywhere. I don’t want everyone thinking we’re at war with Tambelon.”

“Okay. Just don’t stress yourself out, Twi. I’ll keep Nighty informed and he’ll talk to ya, soon.”

Buttercream gave Twilight a tender hug and then did the same to Discord. She then left the room, waving to both of them. After the door closed, Discord turned back to Twilight. She was expecting him to say his good-byes, but he had other important matters to discuss that he didn’t want Buttercream hearing.

“Twilight, now that we’re alone, there’s something else you need to know,”

“What’s that?”

“Remember when I told you about Eris?”

Twilight appeared confused at first and then gave Discord a stern look.

“Discord, what happened?”

Discord closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He was hesitant to continue. Twilight’s voice grew graver.

“Discord, what’s wrong? Is she here too?”

Beyond Canterlot, a lone figure stood on top of a mountain, watching the capital city and the country village in the valley below. It was a donkey, cloaked and hooded, with his front left hoof made of silver. He kept his face mostly obscured under his hood, but had a large snout with two large teeth protruding from his top jaw. He wore a brooch with the Aries symbol that kept his cloak tied together.

As the mysterious donkey waited patiently, the Apparition returned to him after a long night’s work. It crept over the grass and rocks till he reached his minion. The donkey smiled wickedly as the black cloud circled around him.

“Are those children the ones, Master?” asked the donkey.

“Yes, Bray. They are most definitely the ones.”

THE END