One-Horse Town: A My Little Pony Story

Prose and Chorus waited outside of the forest for Ginger Blush to emerge.

“You don’t think…” Chorus started.

“No, I’m sure she just got turned around somewhere,” Prose assured.

They walked the outskirts of the forest, calling out for their missing friend. They felt like they’d circled the entire forest twice before it felt like Ginger might not be coming out of it.

“She’s probably just hiding. That’s it! She found somewhere else to hide, and that’s why she’s not coming out of the forest right now,” Chorus concluded.

“That’s… certainly a possibility,” Prose declared.

They stood in an uncertain silence for a moment.

“We definitely can’t go back into the forest. I’m surprised we survived as long as we did in there. It’s time to face the threat in Ponyville,” Prose devised.

Chorus grimaced. “I don’t think we’re the best ponies for that job, Prose.”

“We’re the only ponies for the job,” Prose stated.

A vision of Twilight Sparkle’s unconscious body flashed across Chorus’s mind.

“I guess that’s true,” Chorus admitted. “Ginger will surely catch up with us eventually.”

Prose’s eyebrows slanted with doubt.

“Surely, she will,” Chorus repeated.

Prose and Chorus followed the long path back to Ponyville, concocting a plan as they walked.

“The only viable way to reverse all of this magic is with a strong enough opposing magic,” Prose thought aloud.

Chorus sighed. “I told you, I do music magic. I can’t reverse everything the Dollkeeper has done. His magic is one of the strongest I’ve ever seen. I wonder what his specialty even is.”

“It didn’t seem like your music specialty was holding you back when you successfully teleported us out of the Mirror Pool,” Prose clarified.

“That was different! I was only focusing on one type of spell, and it had a clear outcome. In order to fix this mess, I’d have to somehow wake up everypony down in the Mirror Pool cave, erase every clone out of Ponyville, and somehow stop the Dollkeeper from just doing it all again. Also, the teleportation spell was done with high stakes and under high pressure!” Chorus explained.

“Is this situation not high stakes and high pressure?” Prose asked.

Chorus gave that some thought.

“I guess it might be,” Chorus conceded. “Still, I’m not Twilight Sparkle. I’ve never practiced magic that intense. The first time I’ve done anything remotely impressive was literally yesterday. To stop an evil mastermind the day after seems like a big leap.”

The ponies had reached Ponyville. Ponies still roamed the streets and went about business as usual. They were either clones blending in, or oblivious ponies, blissfully unaware of the danger they were facing.

“I think I know something that could help,” Prose vaguely suggested as she began to lead Chorus through the streets of Ponyville.

They arrived at the door to Twilight’s castle, and Prose knocked her hoof on the door. The door swung open, open and unlocked. Clearly, Twilight wasn’t home, but it was possible somepony else was. She would have to move quickly. Prose entered the castle, scanning her surroundings for unexpected visitors. Once she confirmed the coast was clear, she walked up to an oh-so-familiar table and grabbed The Legend of the Mirror Pool off of it, exactly where they had left it earlier. Prose silently slipped back out of the door, closing it behind her. She handed the book to Chorus.

“The spell to stop the clones is in this book. That should help, right?”

“Ideally, yea. But, once again, I do muuuuuuuusic magic!” Chorus insisted.

“I don’t want to have to go over this again, but I will. Magic is magic. I’ve seen you push the capabilities of what your magic can do. I know you are capable of more than you think you are. All you have to do is believe it too. And, no pressure, but the fate of Equestria kinda hangs in the balance,” Prose illustrated.

Chorus glanced down at the book in his hands. “I guess…” he started. “I guess I could give it a try.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Prose cheered. “Now, let’s find somewhere safe that we can-”

Prose was interrupted by a subtle, yet noticeable rumbling that was coming from the ground. After a few seconds, the rumbling had increased in volume, and small pebbles and dust began to vibrate and bounce off of the ground. It looked like all the clear warning signs of either an earthquake or a-

“STAMPEDE!” a Ponyville civilian shouted.

Chorus and Prose each walked to peer around opposite sides of Twilight’s castle. A horde of ponies was storming through the streets, frightening anypony who was simply minding their business.

“Should we run?” Chorus turned to Prose.

Prose turned to Chorus. “Yea.”

Chorus and Prose began to run from the horde, which was quickly gaining on them. Their hooves pounded the ground as they desperately tried to outrun the stampede. Chorus and Prose’s hectic past couple days had unfortunately hindered their running abilities, and the crowd eventually caught up with them. They were tossed and pushed through the running ponies, unable to find their footing.

Chorus was filtered through the ponies and thrown out of the side of the crowd, crashing onto the street. Prose was caught in between a tightly knit group of ponies, unable to free herself from her trap. The ponies dragged her along until they had crossed the boundaries of Ponyville, entering the clean grasslands outside of town. The town began to look so small as the stampeding ponies started to slow to a halt.

“This seems far enough…” “This should be good…” Prose heard murmurs throughout the crowd.

Far enough from what? she wondered.

Chorus picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off. The remaining ponies in town looked just as confused as he was. Chorus looked around for something that could possibly warrant running from. In his search, his eyes landed on a figure standing on the balcony of Twilight’s castle. A glimpse of red fur caught his eye, and suddenly Chorus had an inkling of what was about to happen. He set his legs into hyperdrive as he darted towards his house.

As he crossed the town, he passed a plethora of concerned ponies, unaware of the danger they were in.

“Run!” he shouted as he passed.

Much to his dismay, his warnings only confused the ponies more. Chorus arrived at his house and threw himself through the doorway. He closed his door tightly behind him, and stationed himself at his window. He watched as a beam of red light shot towards the sky, birthing a colossal red cloud. The dusty mass grew and grew as it began to lower towards Ponyville. Chorus watched as the sparkling cloud descended into town, clouding the streets. The fog climbed up his window, blocking his view.

Prose watched from the fields beyond Ponyville as a blanket of red clouds coated the town. She stared in horror as the Dollkeeper literally painted the town red. She knew the ponies of Ponyville were probably collapsing in the streets, succumbing to their eternal sleeps. She fell to her knees, realizing Chorus was not dragged out of there with her.

Chorus slammed The Legend of the Mirror Pool down onto his pinkly-painted wooden table. He flipped through the pages until he landed on the reversal spell. This was Equestria’s last hope. He had never conducted a spell of this capacity, but he was surely going to try.