Stone Cold

Rainbow Dash and Rarity arrived at Cloudsdale and went straight to the foal play center. They instantly checked in with the mare who ran the place.

“Welcome! How may I help you?” The mare asked.

“This is going to sound weird, but we’re here on serious business.” Rainbow Dash said. “Have any foals in Cloudsdale been turned to stone lately?”

“Excuse me?” The mare asked with a look of confusion on her face.

“We’re not joking around.” Rarity said. “Newborn foals in Ponyville have been turned into stone by some unknown entity. We need to know if the same thing is happening here.”

“Not that I’m aware of. All of the foals here at the play center are just fine, and there have been no reports of foals turning into stone.”

“Do you mind if we check for ourselves?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Go right ahead.” The mare said. Rarity and Rainbow Dash then walked into the main playroom. All of the foals were normal, playing with toys and each other.

Rainbow Dash looked over at Rarity. “Huh, I guess there’s nothing to-”

Rainbow Dash was then cut off by a bright flash of light. She and Rarity then looked around the room to find all of the foals had been turned to stone.

They then heard screaming outside. They both rushed outside to find parents in shock that their foals had been turned to stone as well. It only got worse when the stone foals began falling through the clouds.

Rainbow Dash took off and grabbed as many stone foals as she could, but she could only hold so many. Rarity used her magic to create a giant net that caught the rest of the stone foals and safely lowered them to the ground.

Rainbow Dash flew back up to Rarity. “We have to tell Twilight, and fast!” Rainbow Dash said.

Once AppleJack and Fluttershy arrived in Appleloosa, they found the town to be oddly quiet.

“Hello! Is there anypony here?!” AppleJack called out.

A pony came out of his house and waved his hoof over at AppleJack and Fluttershy. “Over here, quick!” He called out.

Fluttershy and AppleJack rushed over to him and he let them inside of his home. Over in a corner was a mare sitting beside a wooden cradle crying.

“What’s going on?” AppleJack asked.

The pony lowered his head. “It’s just awful! There was a bright flash of light in the sky, and the next thing we knew all of the foals in town had been turned to stone!”

AppleJack and Fluttershy gasped. They then ran over to the cradle to find a sleeping foal completely turned to stone.

“My baby! My beautiful baby!” The mare yelled. She then buried her face in her hooves and continued to cry.

“When did this happen?” Fluttershy asked.

“It happened earlier today.” The pony replied. “The entire town won't go outside in fear that it will happen again.”

AppleJack explained that the same thing had happened in Ponyville, and that foals one year old or younger were only affected.

Fluttershy hugged the mare. “I am so sorry.”

“We have to tell Twilight. This is getting worse and worse by the minute.” AppleJack said.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all arrived at the Crystal Empire. The guards escorted them straight to the palace where Cadence and Shining Armor were waiting for them.

“Twilight, what’s going on?” Shining Armor asked.

“Something horrible is happening to baby foals in Ponyville!” Twilight said. “Something is turning them into stone!”

“That’s terrible!” Cadence said.

“We’re checking to see if the same thing is happening elsewhere in Equestria.” Said Spike.

Shining thought for a moment. “No, we haven’t received any reports of that happening in the Crystal Empire.”

“May we check in on Flurry Heart?” Twilight asked.

Cadence nodded her head. “Of course.” She then led everypony (and dragon) into Flurry Heart’s room. Flurry Heart was in her crib, using her magic to levitate balls above her.

“Flurry Heart, you have a special visitor!” Cadence said.

Flurry Heart poked her head out of the crib and smiled as soon as she spotted Twilight. Flurry Heart then flew over to Twilight and hugged her.

“BAE! BAE!”

“Aw! She’s learning to talk!” Twilight said while nuzzling Flurry Heart.

Shining Armor chuckled. “Yeah, she says that all the time.”

A guard then arrived at the entrance to Flurry Heart’s room. “Your highnesses, There are four ponies at the gate who say that they are friends of Princess Twilight. They have urgent news to report.”

“Those are my friends. Please let them in.” Twilight said. Flurry Heart teleported over to Cadence.

Rarity, AppleJack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all came running into Flurry Heart’s room.

Twilight! It’s worse than we thought!” Rainbow Dash said.

“All of the foals in Cloudsdale have been turned to stone!” Rarity said. “They almost fell through the clouds to the ground, but Rainbow Dash and I were able to save them.”

“The same thing happened in Appleloosa!” AppleJack said. “There was a bright light, and then every foal turned to stone!”

“If this is happening all over Equestria, it may be happening here.” Cadence said with a worried face.

“I’ll inform all of the guards to do a complete sweep of the city to find out if any foals have been turned to stone.” Shining said.

Cadence placed Flurry Heart back in her crib. “Just can’t imagine something like that happening to Flurry Heart.” She said to Twilight.

“Don’t worry Cadence. Whoever or whatever is responsible for this, my friends and I will catch them.” Twilight said reassuringly.