Hasbro Corporate Building – 9:00 AM Monday, 5 November 2012
Chatter filling the room, middle aged and relatively young men begin filing into a large meeting room. The day is just beginning, as the sun has only recently poked its gleaming face over the eastern horizon. The sunlight fills the room through its large ten feet high by sixteen feet wide windows. The room was placed perfectly to overlook the entire eastern seaboard of the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The carpet had been freshly pressed and steamed by the janitors’ weekend work. It gives off a refreshing scent to the tired members; after all, it IS a Monday. The large elliptical meeting table catches the sun’s glare on its glossy walnut surface. At the table, eight cushy, ergonomic office-chairs stand pushed under the lip of the polished laminate. At both apogees of the table lay a leather-bound office chair, signifying the spot for the CEO and the chairperson.
The board members file in on their own time. Since the board meeting was called at the last minute, the chairperson has allowed everyone to arrive at an indefinite, yet reasonable, time. Despite this ambiguous freedom, most of them arrive at their usual time. They arrive in their normal business attire which consists of white collared-shirt, slacks, and matching jacket. Most appear to be wearing black with the exception of a few in a greyish-blue theme. One even dares to enter the room with a plaid and green setup.
“Seriously Johnson; you came to this meeting wearing THAT?!”
“Shut up, Patrick! It was the only suit I had clean this morning.”
On that note, the CEO and chairman walk into the room. They immediately take their respective seats, influencing the others to take their seats as well. One however, pulls out a typical black office telephone and places it near the center of the table. No one but the CEO and the chairman knew why the meeting was called and it was even more surprising when a member pulled out the office phone.
As the board member began connecting extension cords into the wall, the CEO spoke up, “I’d like to thank everyone for coming to this meeting on a somewhat short notice. I’d also like to thank Johnson for adding some color to this meeting with his lime-green plaid.”
“My favorite color, Sir,” Johnson said while grinning at his office friend, Patrick.
“Anyways,” the CEO continued, “I’m sure everyone who has been on the internet in the past two months has noticed the constant complaining from the Brony Community.” Everyone nodded in agreement followed by a symphony of hums that filled the room. “Frankly, I can’t blame them. First, we allow the release of the fact that only 13 episodes are being aired for Season Three, and then we wait forever to tell them that the release date is this weekend.”
The room falls silent, as the board members look around to their peers in guilt. They all knew they had a part in this so-called “marketing strategy.” The Chairman pipes in, “This is why I’ve called you all here and why we’ll have the phone ready to call Lauren Faust in a few minutes. We need to have all of this sorted out so we don’t screw with the largest and most unexpected following we’ve ever had for any of our toy-inspired shows again.”
“It’s ready,” chimes the board member as he just finishes the setup of the office phone.
“Excellent, get Ms. Faust on speaker, please,” commands the CEO.
As the member dials the number, the rest of the room grows tense. They were running out of ideas and weren’t sure if they could come up with any more.
The room is silent again as the only sound heard is the tone of the speaker dialing the other end…
“Is this Hasbro?”
The chairman starts, “Yes, hello Miss Faust. We would like to first thank you for agreeing to take our call this morning.”
Faust adds, “Oh, it’s no problem; what do you gentlemen need? I assume it has to do with a new season for Friendship is Magic?”
The CEO then speaks, “Yes, indeed. We’ll talk about the contract at a later date, but we wanted to discuss ideas for season four. So now, I would just like everyone to brainstorm any ideas they have for a new season. And Miss Faust, we would very much appreciate any and all commentary from you on these ideas.”
Once again, the room falls silent. Just as everyone expected; no one had any bright ideas. One member opened his mouth and motioned as though he would have something useful to say. Everyone turned their attention to him. However, he slid back into his chair and began contemplating again like the rest.
Lauren Faust broke the silence, “Hello? Guys? Is there anyone there? This is an empty-room prank isn’t?”
“No, no, we’re still thinking. We almost had an idea until SOMEONE decided to keep their mouth shut,” uttered the chairman.
And just like that, the room was silent again. Members slouched in their seats. Faces were distorted in an odd way which signified thought. No one had any idea on what to do.
Then, like a rocket, Johnson shot up and exclaimed, “I HAVE AN IDEA!”
His outburst was so loud and surprising that a majority of the now daydreaming board members fell out of their chairs. Lauren Faust was even startled by it on the phone.
“For the love of God, man, don’t startle us like that!” The CEO was irritated but more interested in what Johnson had to say. Even he was lost and was willing to listen to any idea that somebody had. “Please, share with us. You are the only one who ever had any idea in the whole twenty minutes we’ve been at this.”
“Okay, hear me out,” Johnson began to explain, “We merge MLP with Nerf! We’ve yet to do anything with the Nerf franchise besides a Wii game that didn’t do as well as we expected.”
“That is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard from you, Johnson. How would that even work?”
Patrick, like the rest, questioned this rather obscure idea of merging a friendly, but violent series of toys with a show that promotes the magic of friendship.
“Like you’ve ever contributed to this whole,” Johnson makes the quotation marks with his hands, “discussion. As Mr. CEO said, I’m the only one with any ideas here, and all I’m looking for right now is an audience so that we can have at least something on the table.”
Embarrassed, Patrick recedes into his chair. He sunk so far into himself; he could almost be described as a human-turtle.
With that, Johnson continued his convoluted plan, “Moving on, this could be an opportunity to expand with a franchise we never went too far with. It would also appeal to more males and I’m sure the Brony Community would love it. As for how it would work,” Johnson motions in Patrick’s direction, “They are cartoon characters. In the show, we’ve had many ponies hold things with just their hooves. The Bronies even seem to have fun with that fact as well as the animators’ mistake with the way Lyra Heartstrings sits.”
“Frankly, I’m willing to see how this would turn out myself,” piped the chairman. He looks at the CEO, who was simply fishing for anything at that point in time, and nods in approval. “Miss Faust, can you maybe do something with this whole idea of merging darts with ponies? This won’t be permanent and we’ll happily pay any expenses this idea might use.”
Unnerved, Lauren Faust comments, “I have to say, this is very unusual. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to keep consistent with the main theme of the show. I’ll do it, but I seriously doubt that this will work. Goodbye gentlemen, it’s been… awkward speaking with you today.”
The “click” of Lauren Faust’s phone hanging up seems to relieve some of the tension in the room. All of the members begin their departure from the meeting room with worried looks on their faces. What had they just done? Nerf with ponies?! They would just have to wait and see the uncertain creation that would emanate.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville…
“Spike! Do you hear that noise?” Twilight Sparkle shouted from the ground floor of her library. She had been extremely focused on the new, more advanced studies that Princess Celestia had assigned to her, yet a strange chopping noise seemed to have been emanating from the skies effectively distracting Twilight.
“Yeah, I do. What the hay is that?” the young purple dragon questioned as he made his way down the circular staircase. Although the strange noise appeared more important, Spike couldn’t help but notice the piles upon piles of books that were laid out on the floor.
He saw one of the piles adjust slightly and assumed that Twilight had been hidden behind it lost in her studies. “You know, sometimes I wonder why I’m still here with you and then when I see these messes it reminds me that you simply can’t survive one day without your number one assistant.” Spike remarked as he found Twilight sitting behind the disoriented stack.
“Haha,” Twilight said dully, “but I’m serious, I’ve never heard this noise before and it sounds like it’s coming closer.”
With that, both Twilight and Spike ran out of their house looking towards the clouds. The noise, whatever it was, resembled a rapid chopping sound against the wind. As Twilight carefully observed, the sound was indeed approaching the town every second they spent looking for its source. Soon it could be made out to be multiple objects making the same sound.
Spike looked at their surroundings, “It looks like we’re not the only one who’s hearing this.” Twilight turned her head down to notice almost everypony in Ponyville looking up in the same direction. Many of the ponies had been in the middle of their daily routine when they took notice.
Roseluck had just wrapped up a bouquet of Lavender and Lilly’s for a customer before noticing that her client had found interest in something else. Lyra and Bon Bon were enjoying their regular lunch when Lyra had taken notice of the obscure chopping sound. Pinkie Pie was entertaining the Cake’s foals outside when her tail twitched before her whole body began to do the same. She immediately took it as a “doozy falling from the sky.” Soon one of ponies had pointed towards an odd charcoal-colored speck in the sky. Even Applejack had halted her work at the apple orchards to see what the commotion, or lack thereof, is in Ponyville.
Twilight turned back up towards the sky where she could make out a dark-grey speck growing over Ponyville. Soon it had grown enough that the speck appeared to actually be multiple objects spinning at an incredibly fast rate towards the town creating the loud chopping sound that had confounded the townsponies the entire duration. “It looks like,” Twilight squinted her eyes in an attempt to gain clarity in her view of the falling objects; “It looks like they’re slowing down.”
This knowledge temporarily relaxed Twilight and the rest of the ponies within earshot. “TWILIGHT!” She turned and saw Rainbow Dash flying towards her at a remarkable speed.
Twilight recognized her immediately, “Rainbow Dash, how good to see you. What’s going on?” She quickly noticed a look of urgency and fear on Rainbow’s face sensing that something was wrong and that it might have something to do with the falling objects. She also observed a strange harness strapped to Rainbow Dash’s body in a way that it didn’t inhibit her flying but clung with immeasurable force.
“Watch out, don’t let those things grab you!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. However, it was already too late to do anything as Twilight and Spike were the first hit by the mysterious objects. The objects had fallen close enough to the town and began seeking out every pony they could find.
What appeared to be propeller blades began moving and wrapping themselves around the ponies like a pair of crossed belts. Should the somehow-alive harnesses find themselves attached to a Pegasus, the straps accommodated for the wings so as not to ground anypony. Once the ends of the straps met each other on the backs of their victims, they tightened enough to their coats to make a somewhat comfortable fit but did not allow for any slack as the straps began to meld into one, seamless “X.” It was obvious to the citizens that the harnesses were not supposed to be removed.
“Rainbow Dash, what’s happening? What are these things?” Twilight frantically asked as she attempted to remove the harness with no success. Rainbow replied, “I don’t know, Cloudsdale was hit first with these things; probably because of the higher altitude. I rushed over here to warn you, but it seems I was too late.”
“So ‘Ah reckon we’re not the only ones goin’ through this, right?” Applejack said as she approached with Rarity and Pinkie Pie by her side. Each was trying their own desperate methods to remove the harnesses, each yielding no triumph. Applejack continued, “Where’s Fluttershy in all of this chaos?”
Twilight answered, “She’s probably at her cottage quivering in fear, which is quite understandable. We should probably check on her and make sure she’s all right.”
The five began making their way to Fluttershy’s cottage. When they arrived, everything seemed awfully quiet. They had expected Fluttershy to be outside at least trying to remove the indestructible harness but everything appeared peaceful. When Rainbow Dash knocked on her door, a shout rang through the wood as Fluttershy screamed, “Go away, no more aliens, please!”
“Fluttershy, it’s us, your friends. We came over to check on you!” Rainbow yelled back. The frightened yellow pegasus then proceeded to swing the door open and tackle Rainbow Dash asking, “Did you get this thing off? Can you get this thing off? Please get rid of it!”
“I’m sorry Fluttershy, but it doesn’t look like these things were meant to come off.” Twilight explained, her own fears being cast aside as her natural instinct to investigate took over. “I should probably send a letter to Celestia; maybe she has some answers.”
Just then, Spike expunged the Sun-princess’s perfectly timed letter toward the six. Twilight unrolled the scroll and read aloud:
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
It may disappoint you to know, but I have no answers as to what is happening across Equestria. So far as I can tell, this situation has not occurred in any of the other empires. I have received dozens of letters from every city within only our kingdom all explaining the same scenario, all begging me for answers.
This is where I need you. I am giving you the task of discovering whatever these harnesses are meant to do. However, you will not be alone in this venture. Luna has explained to me that one named Lyra Heartstings has a peculiar interest of which neither Luna nor I can explain. She may be able to provide insight into whatever this situation will evolve into.
You must consult her and use whatever means necessary to discover the intent of these “aliens.” The faster I receive answers, the faster I can calm the citizens of this kingdom.
Your mentor,
Princess Celestia.
Just as Twilight had finished reading the letter, a series of explosions sounded from various distances. The gang glanced up again and saw a rather large capsule, about the size of a cottage, slam just outside of Ponyville; the dust concealing their view of the entire town.
