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                      The Pony Patrol                      
                    -by AzulDesperado-                     
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                Welcome to Ponyville Part 1                
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Welcome to Ponyville Part 1
Welcome to Ponyville  
Part 1
Spitfire and Soarin’ were relaxing on a cloud watching two other Wonderbolts practicing their flight maneuvers. The coach gave them the rest of the afternoon off to do whatever they pleased. There was another Wonderbolt sitting next to them, but his head was buried in the cloud. Spitfire and Soarin’ leaned over to see what was wrong.
“You alright Stratos?” asked Soarin’ patting the stallion on the back.
“Kind of,” mumbled the down trodden pony with his head still in the cloud.
“You’ve been down this whole week, what's bothering you?" asked Spitfire as she flew to the opposite side of Stratos.
“Something just feels missing about my life,” sighed Stratos pulling his face out of the cloud.
“What do you mean?” asked Soarin’.
“I don’t know, something feels empty inside me,” replied Stratos scratching his head.
“Is it about not having a cutie mark,” stated Spitfire patting Stratos's blank flank.
“…partially,” muttered Stratos putting his head on his hoof.
Spitfire and Soarin’ were worried; Stratos had never acted so depressed before. Stratos usually had a pleasant demeanor and an adventurous nature. It was weird seeing their youngest member not flying through the clouds at amazing speeds.
“Come on Stratos lets go get some ice cream,” said Spitfire trying to get a smile out of her friend.
“How’s that gonna help?” asked Stratos with a puzzled look on his face.
“It’ll at least fill you up, because we didn’t see you at breakfast this morning and your stomach is starting the sound like an angry bullfrog,” answered Spitfire landing on the cloud and leading the way to the ice cream parlor.
Stratos chuckled and followed her with Soarin’ close behind. They stopped off at the locker room to change out of their Wonderbolt uniforms, so they could be more comfortable outside just relaxing. Stratos stopped in front of the tall mirror right next to the exit. His blue mane was pushed back during all the flying he did during the morning. He began messing up his hair until it was the kind of messy style that he liked. He checked his silver coat in the mirror by turning around constantly.
“Stratos you look fine. Let’s going before a line starts to build in front of the parlor,” said Spitfire waiting by the door.
They all soon arrived at Blueberry Swirl’s ice cream parlor, one of the most popular places in all of Cloudsdale. Spitfire and Soarin’ were chomping away at their ice cream like there was no tomorrow, because they hadn’t eaten since breakfast and they had an intense practice all morning. Stratos was just picking at his ice cream, but his stomach was growling at him to eat more.
“Now as you were saying earlier about feeling empty inside,” said Soarin’ finishing his ice cream.
“Well…I’ve just been thinking about all that I accomplished in my life. Ever since I was little I wanted to join the Wonderbolts after my father told me about his days as one of the founding members...” said Stratos.
“Ah yes, I remember hearing stories about your father Mach…oh sorry, please continue,” thought aloud Soarin’ without realizing that he interrupted Stratos.
“Anyway, after I spent my whole life training to get into the Wonderbolts. I still didn’t get my cutie mark when you guys accepted me. I thought since I’m one of the select few ponies in all of Equestria to achieve this honor, I should get my cutie mark for sure, but I didn’t. Now I’m consumed with this idea that I should go out searching for what I’m meant to do, my ‘calling’ if you will,” said Stratos poking at his ice cream.
“Well, you know what you should do Stratos,” replied Spitfire putting her hoof on Startos’s shoulder.
“What?” muttered Stratos slipping deeper into his depression.
“You need to take a vacation, go soul-searching, or do whatever it takes to put a smile back on your face. You’ve done nothing, but train for months; in fact you train longer than anyone else on the team. Just take a good break to get your mind settled. You’re our friend and we don’t like seeing you this way,” explained Spitfire with Soarin’ nodding in agreement.
“You sure the coach and Princess Celestia won’t mind?” asked Stratos with a worried look on his face.
“The coach knows you put in a lot of effort and I’m sure Princess Celestia will understand given your situation and feelings. Besides were not having a performance for a few months so, you won’t be missing anything important. Now just go, we’ll take care of things here,” assured Spitfire.
“Thanks guys, you two are the best friends I’ve ever had,” said Stratos with a smile slowly forming on his face.
Later on Stratos went back into the locker room. He walked over to his locker and pulled out his Wonderbolt uniform. He folded it gently and stuffed into his backpack. With a shut of the door and a quick sprint to gain momentum, he was airborne and off to where ever the wind took him.
A train pulled up into the train station and stopped with loud wisp of steam. The doors flew open and ponies started pouring out. A white-coated colt with a black mane wearing a black magician’s hat strolled off the passenger car. He also had on a black cape with a triangular emerald holding the collar together (like Trixie’s cape). He reached into his knapsack that was concealed by his cape and pulled out a magic spell book. He flipped the cover and pulled out a small sheet of paper. The colt walked around the station asking people if they knew where the ponies that were on the sheet of paper lived. Most of them were new to Ponyville, so they didn’t know. Just when he was about to give up hope, someone pointed to a dirt road that led to one of the ponies on the paper. His face was beaming with happiness as he trotted down the road. Eventually he came across an arch covered in leaves and in the distance he saw an immense red and purple barn. He slowly walked onto the grounds trying to find someone to help him.
“Hello!” called the colt examining the chicken coop thoroughly.
“Can I help ya?” asked Apple Bloom staring at the colt that was halfway underneath the coop.
“Oh yes, could you please tell me where I may be able to find anyone of these ponies?” replied the colt handing Apple Bloom the sheet of paper.
“These look like Applejack and her friends,” stated Apple Bloom looking over the accurately drawn pictures of them.
“Ya called sugarcube?” asked Applejack walking towards them.
“He’s lookin' for you and your friends Applejack” said Apple Bloom pointing to the colt.
Applejack examined the white colt from head to hoof; she noticed the wizard outfit and remembered her encounter with a very vain mare.
“You wouldn’t happen to know a unicorn named Trixie would you?” questioned Applejack.
“I’ve never met anyone by the name,” replied the colt raising an eyebrow.
“Alright then, so what can I do ya for?” asked Applejack regaining her cheerful mood.
“I’m looking for this pony in particular, because my teacher told me to deliver a book to her that she cannot decipher, hoping that she could possible translate some of it,” said the colt point to a fairly decent drawing of Twilight Sparkle.
“Hmm… I believe Twilight said she was going to be over at Rarity’s place,” stated Applejack, “Apple Bloom take um… I forgot to ask your name”.
“Oh my apologies, I am Astral,” said the colt bowing and tipping his hat by using magic.
“Apple Bloom, please take Astral to Rarity’s for me, I’ve gotta help Big Macintosh move two of the apple trees that flew during last night’s storm,” replied Applejack patting Apple Bloom on the back and walking off towards the back fields.
Apple Bloom led the way as they marched down the Southern path into town.
“So where ya from Astral?” asked Apple Bloom trying to spark a conversation.
“I am from Trottingham,” replied Astral keeping the same pace as her.
“Gol-ly, that’s really far away, this must really be important for you to come up here on your own,”
“It is important according to what my teacher told me, and I’m quite used to traveling on my own. Being an orphan you tend to become more self-reliant,”
“Orphan,” repeated Apple Bloom shocked at what she heard, “I’m sorry to hear that”.
“Don’t be sorry, like I said I am quite used to this and you should not get so sad about this, since it is not a problem that affects you,” said Astral patting her on the shoulder.
“Uh…so why are ya dressed like a wizard?”
“My teacher picked out this costume for me, because it went well with me learning spell-casting,”
“So you’re a real wizard and not pretend, can ya show me some spells?”
“Well, I know only one, it is an offense move. I guess I could show you,” responded Astral looking around for a target.
He found a dead tree that was on the edge of the road. Astral stood upright and put his front two hooves together, while he spread his back hooves apart. A white circle appeared on the ground with him in the center as black aura crawled up his body until it reached the tip of his hat.
“Umbra Hastae!” yelled Astral pointing to the tree with his right hoof.
A black energy sphere zoomed out of his hoof and collided with the tree, destroying it instantly. Branches and bark were sent flying everywhere. The black aura disappeared quickly and Astral returned to being on all fours. He turned back to see Apple Bloom. Her face was in combination of shock and awe. Her mouth dropped to its lowest point, her pupils were enormous, and there was a few twigs caught in her hair. Her eyes slowly returned to normal size and a wild smile started to form.
“That was amazing!” cheered Apple Bloom jumping up and down.
“It is quite a spell, but it is nothing compared to what my teacher is capable of,” replied Astral slowly starting to lose his balance.
“You okay?” asked Apple Bloom reaching over trying to keep Astral upright.
“Yes, my spells take a considerable amount of energy, which leaves me dizzy and slightly hungry,”
His hat slid off his head and a small blue creature fluttered out. It had red wings, adorably big lime-green eyes, and short stubby legs. It flew around erratically until landing on the tip of Apple Bloom’s nose.
“Para-para-parasprite!” screamed Apple Bloom swatting at the small creature.
Astral grabbed his hat and used it as a butterfly net to catch the parasprite before Apple Bloom could hurt it. Astral slapped his hat back on his head. The parasprite bounced around in his hat until it crawled out and sat on the brim of his hat.
“Why do ya have a parasprite?” asked Apple Bloom with her eyes locked on the adorably deadly creature.
“I found this little guy on my way from Trottingham, so I decided to keep him,” answered Astral petting the scared little creature to calm it down.
“Ya better keep that thing close by, because that critter can eat up a whole town,”
“Uh…Sure, I shall keep an eye on the poor creature,” replied Astral raising an eyebrow.
Rarity’s house was in sight and Apple Bloom wanted to keep the conversation afloat. Before Apple Bloom could speak, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle rode past them on a scooter at a frightening speed. They saw Apple Bloom and immediately made a U-turn to meet up with her. They braked and jumped off the scooter.
“Hey Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in unison.
“Hey girls,” replied Apple Bloom.
“Who’s your new friend?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“He’s Astral, he’s a wizard and he’s new to town,” said Apple Bloom pointing to Astral.
“Greetings,” stated Astral bowing and tipping his hat.
“Hi, I’m Sweetie Belle,”
“I’m Scootaloo,”
“Hey Scootaloo, do ya think we can all fit on your scooter? Astral needs to get to Rarity’s place,” asked Apple bloom.
“We can try,”
All four ponies managed to balance themselves on the scooter and were off down the road to Rarity’s house.
A little filly with a lavender coat and a red mane, wearing a postal hat and a small set of mail bags, trotted out of the Post office. She pulled out a map of Ponyville from underneath her hat and studied it for a few minutes until she memorized the layout. She stuffed it back into her hat and took off running down the road. She reached into her mail bag, bit into a letter, and flung it into the mail slot of the house she just passed by. The filly quickly cleared the first street and turned to the next street on her map. She jumped onto an apple stand and back flipped off of it, throwing more letters into their respective mail slots. She landed on her front hooves and began cart-wheeling down the road. She wasn’t paying much attention and ran into cart that was blocking the road.
“Owwie,” said the filly rubbing her head.
“Are you okay young filly?” asked a stallion wearing a white apron with a bright green pear on it.
“Yes sir,” replied the filly standing back up and adjusting her hat, “What seems to be the problem here”?
“My cart’s front wheels broke and I can’t move it out of the way,” said the Stallion looking at his stationary produce.
“Don’t worry sir I got this,” said the little filly.
She crawled under the cart and with a loud grunt; the cart lifted off the road. The stallion was in awe of this enormous feat of strength and soon other people stopped by to watch the filly move the big cart of pears. She dropped the cart close to another stand that sold peaches, but when she turned around a whole crowd of people was watching and cheering at what she had done.
“That was simply amazing young filly, please tell me what your name is?” asked the stallion.
“Allieyoop,” replied the little filly taking a bow.
“Well Allieyoop, take this,” said the stallion handing Allieyoop a white card with a pear on it, “Just present this to me when my stand is ready and you can have as many pears as you want”.
“Thank you sir,” replied Allieyoop taking the card and putting it in the pocket of her mail jacket, “Now I must be off, the mail still needs delivering”.
Allieyoop took off in a full sprint, tossing letters in to their respective houses down the lane. She parkoured off anything she could jump onto or swing off of. She eventually ran into a bubbly pony with a gray mare and a blond mane, wearing a mail-pony outfit. The mare was looking closely at one of the letters trying read it.
“Hey Derpy, how’s it going?” asked Allieyoop landing beside the confused mare.
“I’m alright Allieyoop, just trying to read the address,” replied Derpy turning the paper upside-down and then sideways.
“This is addressed to Sugar Cube Corner,” said Allieyoop looking over Derpy’s shoulder.
“Oh…makes sense…thanks Allieyoop,” replied Derpy turning towards Sugar Cube Corner.
Allieyoop kept close behind Derpy as they made their way to Sugar Cube Corner. Derpy took a minute to slip the letter in the mailbox, but she got it in and continued off on her route with Allieyoop bouncing beside her.
“Hey Allieyoop,” asked Derpy, “Why are you still a mail pony, you could do other things with your super strength”?
“I was thinking about that for a while, but I like being a mail pony. I get to see everyone in town, and I like meeting new people,” replied Allieyoop shifting her weight forward and walking on her front hooves.
“I was just wondering, because I heard there have been some strange things happening,” said Derpy.
“Like what?” asked Allieyoop.
“Things are disappearing and reappearing, and black figures moving in and out of the shadows. I think some ponies are just seeing things,” said Derpy looking around.
“Really, I need to pay more attention to things,” remarked Allieyoop.
Just as they reached the school, a black pony appeared on top of the roof. The black pony was solid black with piercing yellow eyes; it had tendrils flicking around in the wind. It looked down towards them and slowly walked forward. Derpy hid behind Allieyoop, while Allieyoop took a karate pose. The black pony jumped into the air and landed directly in front of Allieyoop and Derpy.
“Eve of Equinox,” whispered the pony as it faded away.
Derpy and Allieyoop gave each other a confused look and ran back towards the post office. They kept looking over their shoulders to see if the pony was following them.
Octavia and Vinyl Scratch walked out of the Day Spa fully rejuvenated and ready to take on the day.
“Hurry up sis!” called Vinyl Scratch turning back towards the Spa.
A mare with a long, blonde mane with dyed neon green tips, a white coat, and blue headphones wrapped around her neck trotted happily out of the spa.
“About time sis, we still got half of Ponyville to rock,” said Vinyl Scratch.
“Don’t you think we should call it a night…well more like day? We’ve been up for thirty-four hours straight, I want to go to bed,” replied Octavia trying to keep up and her eyes open.
“No way Ocatavia, it’s Fortissima’s first time in Ponyville, and we need to show her around in style,” said Vinyl Scratch standing on her back hooves and waving her front hooves in the air.
“Thanks Vinyl, but I think we should party on our own, Octavia looks really tired. Besides, I still need to unpack all my things,” remarked Fortissima patting Octavia on the back.
“Fine,” replied Vinyl Scratch.
They trotted off towards their house with Octavia slowly bringing up the rear. When they got in Octavia collapsed on the couch and Fortissima placed a cover over her, then she and Vinyl Scratch started bringing amps and guitars.
“Always thinking of other,” said Vinyl holding Fortissima’s guitar.
“Somebody has to,” responded Fortissima taking her guitar back.
“Sis, I can’t begin to imagine how much fun we’re gonna have, gigs and festivals will never be rocked as much as when we do them,” said Vinyl Scratch getting all jumpy.
“I can’t wait either,” replied Fortissima.
When they got up to Fortissima’s new room, they found a black pony with a solid black coat with piercing yellow eyes. Its tendrils were flicking around wildly. The pony was searching in one of the drawers that was already inside.
“What the...who the heck are you?” questioned Vinyl Scratch dropping the amp.
“Eve of Equinox,” whispered the pony as it ran for the window.
“Hey wait!” yelled Fortissima.
Fortissima and Vinyl Scratch ran after the black pony. The black pony crashed through the window and tumbled onto the ground below. Fortissima and Vinyl jumped out, narrowly missing the glass. The black pony ran through food stands and knocked other ponies to the ground, with Fortissima and Vinyl keeping close behind him. They kept up with him until they reached the edge of the Everfree Forest. Vinyl Scratch bit Fortissima’s tail before she entered any further into the forest.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, we are not going in there,” said Vinyl starting to shake from the thoughts of what might be in the forest.
“But we need to know who he was, what if he took something?” replied Fortissima.
“I didn’t see him carry anything in his mouth and he didn’t have anything on his back, so I don’t think he took anything,” stated Vinyl turning back towards the house.
Fortissima and Vinyl trotted back to the house, picking up to where they left off with the luggage. Octavia was still sound asleep on the couch and snoring loudly.
“True, let’s get some practice on,” said Vinyl opening a door to the basement.
They trotted down into the basement and found a recording studio with dozens of instruments. The walls were thick and made of solid steel.
“Wow,” muttered Fortissima with sheer amazement.
“I built this for me and Octavia. Whenever one of needs to practice, but the other one is asleep, they just come down here,” said Vinyl closing the door and turning on the disco ball and neon lights.
Vinyl took her spot at the disk table and Fortissima stood by the mic holding her guitar.
“1…2…3…4…PARTY!” cheered Vinyl turning on the speakers.
Vinyl stated busting out sick beats and Fortissima started shredding on her guitar. The room started shaking and the lights went berserk.
“Fortissima, hit me with a high note!” yelled Vinyl throwing her hooves in the air.
Fortissima took a deep breath and loud circular voice waves flew out of her mouth, knocking everything to the other side of the room. Everything became disconnected, except for one light still amazingly stuck to the ceiling. Vinyl was flung into the wall.
“Sweet Celestia,” said Vinyl as she slid down the wall.
“Oh no, Vinyl I’m sorry, I forgot about my voice whenever I hit high notes,” stated Fortissima running over and helping Vinyl up.
“That was…AWESOME, sis when did you learn how to do that?” asked Vinyl jumping up.
“About 2 years ago when I was practicing for a concert, I tried hitting high notes and when I hit the highest, sonic boom rings shot out of my mouth,” explained Fortissima.
“Sis, with those amazing vocal powers, we can have the best and loudest parties in all of Equestria!” cheered Vinyl imagining the amazing parties to happen in the future.

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                Welcome to Ponyville Part 2                
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Welcome to Ponyville Part 2
Welcome to Ponyville  
Part 2
Fluttershy was outside watering the flowers in her garden with her green watering can. One by one the flowers rose up and bloomed.
“There you go little flowers,” said Fluttershy sprinkling the thirsty flowers.
The ground began shaking slowly, the pebbles on the ground started bouncing. The shaking started getting worse and worse, causing one of the newly planted trees by her house to fall over.
“Quickly, everyone inside there’s an earthquake happening!” cried Fluttershy grabbing some of her woodland friends and bringing them inside.
Fluttershy left the door open for the rest of her non-flying friends to come in. She shut the door and pushed the book shelf in front of it. They peered out the window to see what was happening. Off in the distance she could see a large dust cloud, and it kept growing bigger with each passing second. Eventually she could see it was a huge swarm of small animals as they passed by her house. Bringing up the rear was a stallion riding on a larger version of the animals.
“Vamos Amigos, according to the map we should be close to new ranch!” yelled the stallion cracking his whip.
Fluttershy flew out of the house, following a fair distance behind the stallion. As she flew by, she saw a black pony being followed by two other ponies. The stampede slowed down as they approached a large fenced off area with a large house beside it. The animals funneled into the squared off area of fencing, and the stallion behind them shut the front gate. He hopped off and cracked his whip. The sound made the creature he was riding on jump into the enclosure. Fluttershy caught up the stallion and stopped in awe. He was a fairly tall stallion with a wild-red, orange, and yellow mane and a grayish-teal coat. They met eye to eye and Fluttershy immediately shrunk in position and became overwhelmed with shyness.
“Ah, buenos dias señorita what can I do for you?” asked the stallion.
Fluttershy slowly backed up and mumbled her name.
“Quite the shy one ain’t ya,”
Fluttershy looked down and kicked one of her hooves up.
“I’m not gonna bite,” said the stallion as one of the animals jumped over the fence and started hopping over to Fluttershy.
The animal stopped in front of her and squeaked. Fluttershy was overcome with excitement and cuteness, becuase she had never seen this kind of animal before.
“Ooo, what are you little guy?” asked Fluttershy picking up the little animal that was eating a small grass seed it picked up.
“Her name's Whitney, she's a kangaroo rat,”
“Kangaroo rat?”
“One of those,” said the cowboy stallion pointing to the massive conglomeration of kangaroo rats in the enclosure.
Fluttershy flew over and her mouth dropped at the enormous amount of kangaroo rats. Some were hopping around, some were eating, and some were sleeping after the long journey from home.
“What adorable animals?” asked Fluttershy as the kangaroo rat jumped out of her hooves and back into the corral.
“My family has raised Kangaroo rats for five generations and I’ve named each of these 15732 kangaroo rats,”
“All of them?”
“Yup, there’s Roxanne, Brawly, Wattson, Flannery, Norman, Winona, Tate, Lisa, and Juan just to name a few,”
“Wow,”
“I’m Buckaroo Blitz, how about you little lady?”
“I’m…Fluttershy,”
“Nice to meet you Fluttershy, since you seem to like my little friends, would you like to meet Gordon?”
“Gordon?”
Buckaroo Blitz whistled loudly and the biggest kangaroo rat hopped out of the fence. He hopped over to Buckaroo Blitz and started rubbing his head against his head.
“He may be a giant for his species, but he significantly gentler,”
Fluttershy was scared by the creature that was even bigger than her. Buckaroo Blitz reached into his knapsack and tossed Fluttershy a sunflower plant. She caught it and Gordon started hopping towards her. She started shaking as he came closer. Gordon grabbed the flower and started it nibbling on it. Gordon finished eating and started rubbing his head on her head, making loud squeaks and purring noises.
“See, what did I tell ya,”
“He’s pretty sweet and cute,”
“Señorita Fluttershy, would you like to help me feed my little amigos?”
“Oh yes, that would be wonderful,”
Buckaroo Blitz jumped on Gordon and motioned for Fluttershy to get on. She climbed up behind him and they jumped into the corral.
“Alright, my little amigos already have enough food on the ground since this is a new pasture, but it won’t last. We need to break open these sunflowers and throw them out para mis amigos,” said Buckaroo Blitz handing Fluttershy a handful of sunflowers.
They began ripping the heads of the flowers and tossed the seeds in random directions. The kangaroo rats swarmed into small groups and ate the fresh food.
“So, are you new to Ponyville?” asked Fluttershy.
“Yup, me and mis amigos had a long trip from Dodge Junction,”
“Why do you say weird words?”
“Mis amigos on the nearby ranches spoke a different language and I picked up on it,”
“Oh, that’s pretty cool,”
“Sure is, right now I’m goin’ on my own to start up a new ranch,”
“If you would like some help…I’d like to come by and help feed and groom them,”
“Really, that would be really helpful, gracias señorita Fluttershy,”
They finished feeding the kangaroo rats and hopped off of Gordon.
“Would you like to have something to eat or drink, you really should have something for helping me,”
“Oh it’s fine,”
“No no I insist, let me cook you a traditional Dodge Junction almuerzo,”
Buckaroo Blitz led Fluttershy into the house, which was fully furbished. The kitchen was filled with fresh produce, yet it was missing a stove.
“Wow, for a new house this pretty full,” said Fluttershy looking around the rooms.
“Had my cousins Apple Jack, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh fix this place up for me when I told them that I’d be comin' by,”
“Need help with cooking?” asked Fluttershy flying into the kitchen.
“Nope, just sit down at the table and I should have this done in a few minutes,”
Buckaroo Blitz grabbed some celery, onions, and mushrooms from the basket by the refrigerator. He chopped them up and threw them into a frying pan. He cracked three walnuts tossed them into the pan as well. Buckaroo Blitz began flipping the ingredients in air. He reached into the fridge and pulled out some cheese and milk, and reached into the cupboard and pulled some dried spaghetti. He threw it all in the pan and started mixing it. He placed a lid on top of the pan and locked it tight. He held the pan away from himself, took a deep breath and blew a small stream of fire. He began throwing the pan in the air while keeping contact the fire. After three minutes he slammed the pan on the table and opened the lid. The aroma of freshly cooked fettuccine in white sauce filled the room. Fluttershy was jaw dropped throughout the whole cooking session. He reached over and closed her mouth.
“I get that reaction a lot,” said Buckaroo Blitz.
“How-how did you do that?”
“I’ve always been able to breathe fire ever since I was a little colt,”
Buckaroo Blitz placed the pan onto to the table.
“Dig in señorita Fluttershy,”
“Uh…thanks Buckaroo Blitz,”
A train pulled up to the Ponyville train station. A young colt slid out of the train and dashed full speed down the road. The colt had an olive-green mane and a bright yellow mane. He passed dozens of people and jumped over many different stands. He reached Sugarcube Corner and ran up the stairs. The colt banged his head on the door.
“Cousin Pinkie Pie!!!” yelled the colt.
The door swung right open and Pinkie Pie was standing right before the colt. Her eyes widened and her smile grew enormous.
“Cousin Storm Shock!!!” yelled Pinkie Pie jumping up and down, “How is my favorite cousin doing today”?
“Awesome, mom and dad said I could stay for the weekend,”
“COOL, so what do you wanna do first, have a cupcake eating contest or have an awesome welcoming party?”
Before Storm Shock could reply, a black pony with a spiky black mane appeared behind him.
“Who’s your friend Storm Shock?” asked Pinkie Pie pointing to the ominous looking pony.
“Don’t know him Pinkie,”
“Eve of Equinox,” stated the pony.
The pony’s eyes glowed bright yellow and he stared at Pinkie Pie. He lunged forward and knocked her into one of the chairs of her room.
“Pinkie!” cried Storm Shock running over to her.
The black pony was enveloped in a black energy. He put his front right hoof on her head and pulled out a sphere of pink energy. Storm Shock rammed into the black pony. As the pony slid across the floor, Storm Shock stood up on his back hooves, and pointed at the pony. Random sparks started to appear around him and his mane started moving wildly.
“Ka-Chow!” yelled Storm Shock as a lightning bolt blasted out of his hand.
The lightning bolt connected with the pony, sending him flying out of Sugarcube Corner. He lay motionless on the ground. Storm Shock jumped out and tumbled on the ground, Pinkie Pie followed him down.
“Who was this guy?” asked Pinkie Pie rubbing her forehead.
“Whoever he is now, he’s not waking up any time soon,” replied Storm Shock rubbing his firing hoof.
The black pony’s corpse dissolved into the air and flew off with the gusting wind. Storm Shock and Pinkie Pie immediately took off running. Pinkie was leading the way, and she knew who would know what was going on at a time like this. They hustle all the way to Twilight’s house, but the door was locked and a note was taped to the door.
Dear Whoever Needs at the Moment,
I’m currently at my friend Rarity’s house. I shall return to my house around 7 o’clock tonight. If the matter is pressing, then meet me at her house, Signed, Twilight Sparkle,”
Pinkie turned around and headed off to Rarity’s with Storm Shock following close behind. Pinkie rammed through Rarity’s front door with Storm Shock's added strength.
“We’ve got problems girls,” said Pinkie Pie panting feverishly.
Twilight and Rarity were looking confused at what had just happened. Rarity was in the middle of making Twilight a new dress.
“Pinkie you ruined my front door, what is the matter with you!” yelled Rarity walking over to her demolished front door.
“There was this black pony that attacked me and my little cousin Storm Shock, he pulled something pink from my head, but then Storm Shock zapped the pony with a lightning bolt, and the black pony flew out of Sugarcube Corner and fell to the ground. But then, he evaporated and flew away with the wind. We decided to come to you Twilight, because I knew you knew what would be going on,” said Pinkie Pie in one continuous breath.
Twilight and Rarity were even more confused. Twilight slowly took off the unfinished dress and trotted towards Pinkie.
“What?” replied Rarity.
“Pinkie, I don’t know anything about a 'Black Pony’, and how can this little colt shoot lightning?” asked Twilight looking at Pinkie and then to Storm Shock.
“This is Storm Shock, he’s my cousin from Los Pegasus. He’s here for the weekend and he can shoot lightning bolts,”
“I highly doubt he can shoot lightning Pinkie, but Storm Shock is cute, I’ll give him that,” said Rarity rubbing Storm Shock’s mane.
As Rarity rubbed his mane, more and more sparks began to appear and eventually Storm Shock discharged a massive amount of electricity and shocked Rarity, causing her to fall over. Twilight and Pinkie went over to help her up.
“Sorry Rarity, I do that whenever ponies rub my mane for too long,” muttered Storm Shock with a guilty look on his face.
“It’s quite alright,” replied Rarity amazed at what happened.
Twilight and Rarity were amazed that this colt could create massive amounts of electricity. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Astral appeared in the space where the front door used to be.
“Twilight Sparkle I presume?” asked Astral looking at Rarity.
Apple Bloom turned Astral until he was looking at Twilight.
“Oh, thank you Apple Bloom. Ms. Twilight Sparkle may I have a word with you?” asked Astral again.
“Uh sure,”
“My Master has been having trouble deciphering the texts in this spell book; it appears to be of another language. So far, we have only translated the first spell, but that was only because there was a note card inside that showed how to pronounce the word. I am here in Ponyville to see if you know the language in said book,” explained Astral pulling out a black and white book.
Twilight levitated the book closer to her; she didn’t recognize any of the characters on the cover. She flipped the cover and scanned through the pages.
“I’m sorry, I don’t recognize these letters. Nothing in my library has anything similar to them, but I think Princess Celestia might,”
“Who?”
Everyone grew quiet and looked at Astral.
“You don’t know who Princess Celestia is?” asked Rarity.
“Not in the slightest, but she sounds important,”
“This day keeps getting weirder and weirder,” mumbled Twilight scratching her head in confusion.
Rain started pouring outside. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom ran inside and tried to prop the front door up, but it was too broken to be useful. The rain quickly escalated into hail, which were slowly making holes in the roof.
“Oh my beautiful shop, where did this weather come from?” questioned Rarity as she cleaned the ice and debris off the floor.
“It looked perfectly fine when we made our way here,” replied Apple Bloom.
One of the black ponies appeared in the doorway, eyes glowing and flaring his fangs. Storm Shock attempted the same lightning bolt trick from before, but when he shot the bolt, the pony dissolved into the air and then reappeared as it went by. The girls stepped back, with Astral protecting them. The black pony became engulfed in black energy and fired energy blast at Storm Shock, knocking him into the air. Astral opened his spell book and preformed the same spell from earlier.
“Umbra Hastae!”
A black sphere zoomed out of his hoof and struck directly at the black pony’s chest. He exploded, sending black pieces everywhere.
“Woah,” muttered Scootaloo as everyone else remained quiet with awe.
The black pieces moved across the floor and joined together, bringing the black pony back to life. He popped his neck and the joints in his legs, and then walked forward while everyone else back up. The black pony chanted a series of odd words and two streams of energy flew out of his two front hooves and struck Twilight and Rarity’s heads. Purple and white spheres were dragged from their heads and were absorbed into the pony’s body. He quickly evaporated and left the shop.
“Come on wizard colt, we’ve got a black pony to capture!” yelled Storm Shock charging out of the shop.
Astral followed close behind, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were following him. Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity were left to figure out what had just happened to them.
Stratos lowered his altitude and saw Ponyville in his sights. He leaned forward and slowed down his speed so he could land safely. He descended through the clouds and gently touched the ground. He moved his goggles to the top of head and surveyed the area. Some ponies were passing by with carts, some were over by the spa going in for an appointment, and some were just chatting on the side of the lane.
“Quiet, pretty homely, nice place for a rest,” said Stratos giving a good stretch of his back.
He noticed a blue pegasus mare with a rainbow mane and tail sleeping on passing by cloud. Her snoring was atrocious and there was a white "DO NOT DISTURB" sign attached to the cloud.
“Excuse me miss?”
Rainbow Dash rolled over and peered over the side of the cloud. Her eyes were barely open, but Stratos could feel the sharp sting of anger.
“What?” muttered Rainbow grumpily.
“Do you know of any hotels or any restaurants in the general area?”
Rainbow got up and fluttered down to the ground. She stretched her back and legs and resumed the conversation.
“We don’t have hotels in Ponyville, but if you wanna eat we have the café over there and we have Sugarcube Corner,” yawned Rainbow pointing in two different directions.
“Uh…could you please show me where they are?”
“I guess,”
Rainbow trotted down the road with Stratos. Occasionally she would start to fall behind from being too tired, but she snapped to her senses and continued directing him. Rainbow noticed Stratos's goggles and his oddly windblown back hair; she recognized him from somewhere, but she couldn't put her hoof on it.
“So I take it that you’re a Wonderbolt fan aren’t you?”
“Uh…more like a…,”
Rainbow interrupted “I can’t blame you, because they’re only most amazing series of ponies in the world,”
“Yeah, they’re pretty amazing,” replied Stratos enjoying the compliment.
“I’m going to join the Wonderbolts when they realize how good I am,”
“How good are you then?”
“You ever heard of a Sonic Rainboom, I did that…three times,”
“…OH, one of those, I remember Spitfire mentioning that she met a mare who could do that,”
“Yeah, my skills are pretty well known…wait…did you Spitfire?”
“Yes,”
“You know one of the Wonderbolts!”
“I know ALL of the Spitfire, Soarin’, Rapidfire, Fleetfoot, Overdrive, Autumn Breeze, and Skylight,”
Rainbow’s mouth dropped. This stallion knew all of her idols.
“How do you know all of them, are you like one of those ‘Number One Fans’?"
“I’m not a fan, I am a Wonderbolt,”
Rainbow’s eyes widened and her hair started to spike up.
“I don’t believe you,” her voice shaking.
Stratos went behind a nearby large bush and changed into his uniform. He slid his goggles over his eyes and stepped out. Rainbow was astounded; this stallion was the real deal.
“You’re a real Wonderbolt!” screamed Rainbow Dash in shock and amazement.
“Yup, Stratos Airhart, Stratos for short, what’s your name?”
“R-R-Rainbow Dash,”
“Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash,”
Rainbow just stared at Stratos. She was once again in the presence of a Wonderbolt.
“Uh, could you stop doing that please, it’s really creepy?”
“Oh sorry, it’s just that…What you guys do is amazing!”
“…understandable,”
Rainbow and Stratos continued trotting down the road, Rainbow of course going on and on about the Wonderbolts. They reached Sugar Cube Corner, but they stopped when they noticed a black pony standing on the roof. It jumped off and glared at Rainbow.
“Hey pal you got a problem or something?”
The black pony cast the same spell that was used on Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity. A light blue sphere rose was pulled out of her head and absorbed into his hoof. Fortissima and Vinyl Scratch ran to the scene and tried to tackle the pony. The black pony turned to face them; blue energy engulfed the pony. Fortissima and Vinyl just phased through the pony. The pony ran off to the direction of the town square.
“You’re not getting away this time,” said Fortissima and Vinyl chasing after him.
“You okay?” asked Stratos.
“I’m fine, let’s go get that stupid pony,” replied Rainbow standing back up and zooming after the pony.
Stratos trailed Rainbow as the large group headed towards the town square.
Meanwhile at Kangaroo Rat Ranch
Fluttershy and Buckaroo Blitz had just finished eating lunch.
“So how was the grub señorita Fluttershy?”
“Oh it was quiet delicious, thank you Buckaroo Blitz,”
“De nada,”
A series of hoof steps could be heard coming from the next room. Fluttershy and Buckaroo looked to the kitchen entrance and saw a black pony.
“Hey amigo, who are you and why are you here?” asked Buckaroo jumping out of his chair.
The black pony charged forward and grappled with Buckaroo. Buckaroo slammed the pony on the floor and then threw him against the wall.
“Alright partner, you better have a good reason for coming into mi casa uninvited,”
The black pony kicked Buckaroo back and began to cast a spell similar to the one used on Rainbow earlier. A stream of energy flew out of the pony’s hoof and struck Fluttershy’s forehead. A small yellow sphere was pulled from her head and absorbed into his hoof. The black pony quickly made his escape from the house.
“Señorita Fluttershy are you okay,”
“Uh I-I think so,” replied Fluttershy rubbing her forehead.
Buckaroo flung Fluttershy on his back and he chased after the black pony, all the way to the town square. The three ponies that were being chased all met up at the town square.
“You’re surrounded,” said Buckaroo as his front hooves lit on fire.
“Prepare for payback,” added Storm Shock with static coursing through his mane.
Buckaroo, Storm Shock, Fortissima, Astral, Allieyoop, Stratos, and Rainbow Dash covered all of the black ponies’s escape routes. The three ponies started to chant a spell and a bigger symbol appeared under their feet. The area of the symbol erupted in a geyser of black energy. The black ponies had disappeared and a different stallion arose from the ground. His coat was jet black like the midnight sky and his mane was sleek silver like the linings of storm clouds. His eyes glowed bright yellow, a red cape formed along his back, and red sage hat appeared on his head. The spheres taken from the wielders of the Elements of Harmony appeared around him.
“The light, I see it again, it’s great to be back,” said the stallion popping his neck.
“Who are you?” asked Buckaroo.
“I’m Malice, strongest sage in all of Equestria. I was exiled by a magic spell and the only way to bring me back was to use an even stronger magic force, which was thanks to the Elements of Harmony,” replied Malice, “Now tell me, where is Discord?”.
Everyone except the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash remembered who Discord was.
“Discord is gone, sealed by the Elements of Harmony,” stated Rainbow Dash.
“Huh is that so, I thought he would have taken over by now,” replied Malice, “Oh well, I guess that means I have to bring him back so we can take over”.
“W…why do you want to take over Equestria?” asked Fluttershy.
Malice turned to look at Fluttershy, his eyes turned red.
“King Solaris,” muttered Malice grating his teeth.
“King Solaris sealed you away when you and Discord planned to usurp the crown,” said Twilight as she, Pinkie, Rarity, and Apple Jack walked up to the square.
“I see my exploits are well known,” replied Malice turning his attention towards Twilight.
“We won’t allow you to take the crown,” said Twilight.
“Oh really, with the Elements of Harmony in my possession, I’d like to see you try,” replied Malice, “I’m heading to that accursed castle, I’m going to give that infernal King a piece of my mind for locking me away”.
Malice rose into the air and a sphere of black energy appeared around him. The sphere condensed and with a white flash, he was gone.
“This is bad, I need to get to Spike and inform Princess Celestia,” said Twilight quickly totting back to her house.
Everyone else followed suit.