One-Horse Town: A My Little Pony Story

Chorus steadily picked himself up from the ground and looked back and forth between the two other ponies.

“What are you two doing here?”

Prose looked at Ginger Blush and Chorus, and Ginger Blush looked at Prose and Chorus.

“Well, I’m trying to find something for my friend Twilight,” Prose explained.

“Twilight? Like, Princess Twilight Sparkle?” Chorus asked.

“Yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Prose elaborated.

Ginger Blush chimed in. “So, you guys aren’t here for whatever suspicious meeting is supposed to be happening at the Mirror Pool tonight?”

Chorus and Prose both looked at her with puzzled expressions.

“There’s supposed to be a meeting here tonight?” Prose questioned.

“Well, yes. That’s why I’m here actually,” Ginger spoke. “Not to attend the meeting, I mean. I actually don’t even know what the meeting is for. This is the Mirror Pool, right?”

“This is definitely the Mirror Pool. The rhymes never lie,” Chorus clarified.

Ginger Blush and Prose stared at Chorus, wondering if what he just said was supposed to make sense.

“Just trust me, this is the right place,” Chorus clarified again.

“So… are we just supposed to jump in this ominous dark hole?” Prose prodded the edge of the hole with her hoof.

Chorus gazed down the hole, unable to see the bottom of it. “I’m sure it’s perfectly safe. My friend Pinkie did it once and she’s totally fine!”

All three of them shared a moment of remembering the Pinkie Pie clone incident.

“She was mostly fine!” Chorus corrected.

The three of them gazed down into the deep dark hole.

“You know, I might just sit this one ou-” Ginger Blush was interrupted by the sound of rustling vines and ponies conversing.

“I wish we didn’t have to go through all of these vines every time we came here,” an unknown voice complained.

Chorus, Prose, and Ginger Blush all exchanged frightened looks. Chorus closed his eyes and took a leap of faith into the sinister hole, hoping to avoid meeting any more ponies that night. Prose watched as Chorus disappeared into the darkness and hesitantly jumped in after him. Ginger Blush weighed her options, anxiously pacing around the edges of the hole. As the voices neared, she backed away from the sound. She took one step too far back, slipped, and fell backwards into the entrance to the Mirror Pool.

The ponies tumbled and twisted through the dark underground tunnel. Chorus was the first to come out of the other side. Prose followed soon after, crashing into Chorus and knocking them both over. Ginger rolled out of the tunnel a short moment after that, and landed right next to Chorus and Prose. All three of them stood up to face the Mirror Pool. They didn’t know what they expected the Mirror Pool to look like, but it wasn’t this.

The magic pond was there, of course, in all of its watery glory. It was what was surrounding it that was surprising. Firstly, it seemed like half of the ponies in Ponyville were there. The ambient bioluminescence revealed so many familiar faces among the numerous ponies gathered in the echoing cave. Chorus gasped at the sight of Pinkie Pie amidst the crowd. Ginger Blush shuddered after catching a glimpse of Rarity's freshly done mane somewhere in the mess of ponies. Prose sighed in relief that Twilight Sparkle was nowhere to be seen.

Chorus, Prose, and Ginger Blush had never been to the Mirror Pool, but none of them had imagined it would look this… busy. There were tents set up all around, tables strewn about, and it looked like some sort of amateur construction crew had come through and renovated the place. There was a stone stage area carved out of one of the cave walls. There were entrances to several crude tunnels in several different places around the cave. It was plainly evident that some covert operation was happening down there.

The sound of more ponies crashing down the entrance tunnel suddenly became audible to Prose, Chorus, and Ginger.

“What do we do?” Prose panicked.

Prose scanned the environment of the cavern. She spotted an area crowded with stalagmites, devoid of any bioluminescent plants. It was dark and obscure. It was a perfect place to hide. Prose turned to her new accomplices.

“Follow me,” she advised.

Chorus and Ginger did indeed follow her. The three ponies tiptoed stealthily through the dark. Prose guided them to their hiding spot, and each pony picked a rock to hide behind. Their new secret vantage point allowed for further investigation of their surroundings. Ginger Blush noticed something strange about all of the tools and appliances she noticed on the tables and in the tents around the cave. She turned to whisper her findings to Chorus and Prose.

“Hey guys,” she called. “I’m noticing that all these tools that these ponies are using are cosmetic.”

“What do you mean?” Chorus whispered.

“I mean, I could probably find everything they’re using back in my salon. It’s like they’re doing makeovers or something down here.”

Prose thought about what Ginger said before something very specific caught her eye. She spied a very special book on the table closest to their hiding spot.

“I think they might be doing a little more than makeovers down here…” Prose ominously proposed.

She reached into her saddle bag and pulled out the book she had taken from Twilight’s castle earlier. She raised it up to her line of sight, comparing it to the book on the table. It was unmistakably the same book. Prose recalled something Twilight told her earlier that day: ‘Transmutation and Disguise for Beginners! An interesting read. It’s also one of only two copies in existence!’ It seemed like Prose had just found the second copy. It was stacked on top of one other book. The Legend of the Mirror Pool, Prose presumed.

“Guys, I think something really shady is happening. I think we should get out of here. Like now,” Prose warned.

“What? What’s happening?” Chorus fearfully asked. “Guys, what is going on?”

Suddenly, the entire cave fell nearly silent. The conversations between ponies had stopped, and everypony had gathered around the stone stage. A unicorn with deep maroon fur stood alone in front of the crowd.

“Hello, everypony,” his voice boomed and echoed across the cavern.

“Hello, Dollkeeper,” the crowd responded in eerie unison.

Chorus, Prose, and Ginger Blush watched from their hiding spots, deeply concerned by the events that were currently unfolding.

“I know we’re all probably tired of reviewing all of this, but these steps are necessary for the smoothest transition possible. We can’t risk anypony becoming suspicious before the plan is complete. I’m sure we all understand that.”

Everypony murmured in calm agreement.

“Now, as long as we’re all on the same page about that, I thought I would create a few more Dolls tonight, to be introduced into town tomorrow.”

The dark crimson pony stepped down from the stage, parting the crowd with ease. He crossed the cavern to its center, where the Mirror Pool patiently waited. The Dollkeeper set hoof into the pool, submerging himself beneath the surface. As he remerged, two Dollkeepers stood side by side. He had cloned himself.

The three hiding ponies shared a terrified look. They watched as the Dollkeeper’s horn began to glow with a red aura of magic. A string of red light streamed out of his horn and wrapped around his clone’s body. The light swirled and glowed as it cloaked the pony. As the magic dissipated, it was clear what the book on the table was for. The pony emerging out of the magic was no longer a clone of the Dollkeeper. He had transformed into a completely different pony. One that looked vaguely familiar to Chorus, Prose, and Ginger Blush. It was an innocent Ponyville civilian. Just another one of their neighbors, perfectly replicated in seconds. The Dollkeeper turned to address the group once more.

“I’ll head into town early tomorrow and obtain the Originals as quickly as possible. I want these Dolls out there by tomorrow evening. I expect you all to brief and prep them by then. Am I understood?”

Everypony obediently nodded in agreement.

“Great. A perfect Ponyville is just a few Dolls away. A perfect Equestria is within our reach,” the Dollkeeper propagandized.

The Dollkeeper stepped towards the pond again, presumably to make more clones of himself. Chorus backed away from his rock.

“You’re right, we should get out of here,” he spoke to Prose. “Something really weird is happening here. We need to get help.”

Prose’s eyes darted around the cavern, searching for an exit. Her gaze landed on one of the crude tunnels that was closest to them.

“There,” she pointed. “That has to lead somewhere.”

She carefully, quietly moved towards the tunnel entrance with Prose and Ginger in tow. They sneaked in the dark and slipped into the tunnel completely unseen. They immediately wished they hadn’t. The bioluminescent plants illuminated a spacious tunnel, stretching out into an unknown darkness. Lined all along the walls of the tunnel were unconscious, sleeping, unmoving ponies. Chorus immediately noticed a dormant Pinkie Pie lying near the entrance. He kneeled by her side and shook her motionless body.

“Pinkie, wake up! I can get you out of here. It’s me! It’s Chorus! Pinkie!” It was no use. She was out cold.

Ginger Blush gazed down the tunnel at the infinite darkness that laid beyond.

“I don’t think this is an exit,” she guessed.

Prose tried quickly to think of a plan.

“You’re a unicorn, right?” she spoke to Chorus. “Can you teleport us out of here?”

“Well, teleportation magic is really complex, and my speciality is in music magic. So, the short answer is no; I definitely can’t do that,” Chorus responded.

“Magic is magic. I’ve read dozens of books on this stuff. There are shared properties across all magic. You figure out a way to teleport us out of here. I need to go grab something,” Prose darted out of the tunnel, back into the main chamber of the cave.

Ginger Blush and Chorus shared a lost glance at each other.

“What does she mean that all magic has shared properties? What, am I supposed to sing a song that magically teleports us out of here?” Chorus asked.

Ginger blinked in realization. “I think that’s exactly what you should do.”

“What?” Chorus looked confused.

“You could create a song that channels whatever magic you need to teleport us out of here! That makes sense, right?” Ginger explained.

“No, it doesn’t. I’ve never even tried that before,” Chorus refuted.

“Well, now is as good a time as ever to try,” Ginger encouraged.

Chorus scoffed at the idea. But, it seemed there was no other viable escape plan at the time.

“Fine, okay. But don’t judge of if the lyrics are bad. I’m being put on the spot here,” Chorus pleaded.

“This is a judgment-free zone, okay? Take your time.” Ginger took a seat, preparing for the performance.

Chorus focused on his music magic as his horn began to glow. A clunky melody streamed out of his horn as he thought of some lyrics that would somehow constitute a teleportation spell. He closed his eyes and began to sing:

I’m trapped in here, and I can’t leave
It’s scary here, and hard to breathe
I wish I were back above the ground
Where singing birds are the only sound

Chorus opened his eyes and watched his magic fizzle out. The spell did not work.

“It’s not working,” he whined.

“Try it again. You can do it,” Ginger assured him.

Chorus closed his eyes and initiated his music magic once again.

I’m in a place I don’t belong
And all I feel is fear
So I sing this magic song
To teleport us out of here
His magic fizzled out once again as he opened his eyes.

“This is hopeless. There has to be another exit,” Chorus conceded.

As he finished that sentence, Prose rushed back into the tunnel, tucking a book into her saddle bag.

“How’s the teleportation coming along?” Prose asked.

“It’s not,” Chorus replied.

“Hm. Okay, well no rush, but I think somepony out there saw me, and there’s a slight possibility they’re following me right now.”

Chorus and Ginger stared at Prose.

“We should probably start running,” she advised.

Suddenly, one of the ponies from the main chamber appeared at the entrance to the tunnel. He didn’t look happy. The three ponies took the hint, and began to run in the opposite direction.

“Now would be a really good time for a teleportation spell!” Prose shouted as they ran.

“I tried! I couldn’t do it!” Chorus confirmed.

Ginger turned to face Chorus as they ran.

“Try it one more time. We don’t really have many other options here,” she suggested.

Chorus sighed and concentrated on his music magic one final time. He closed his eyes and the magic sparked and shined from his horn. He focused all of his energy into his song. A bubbly, swirly melody erupted from his horn as he began to sing his lyrics.

Desperate times call for desperate measures
Now’s the time for something clever
As I run right into total darkness
This is my last ditch effort

I don’t know any fancy spells
So I’ll call upon this song
Save us from this prison cell
Take us back where we belong

A pink glow of magic burst out of Chorus’s horn and engulfed Prose, Ginger, and himself. The ponies disappeared from the tunnels of the Mirror Pool, and reappeared out onto the streets of Ponyville. The moon shone in the sky, illuminating the dark city. The ponies looked around, realizing the song spell had worked. They were back in Ponyville.

“I did it!” Chorus exclaimed.