Our Inner Ponies 3: A New Villain

I was the first one to catch up with Maya when she ran back to the spot she'd claim the villain was located. At first, nothing was there and I was just about ready to recommend some good mental hospitals for her when a small bunny rabbit hopped out from nowhere.

"Yeah, we've got ourselves a true bad guy here," Rainbow wisecracked as Fluttershy scooped up the baby rabbit and cradled it in her yellow arms.

"I'm not afraid to go Pinkamena on you," Maya warned, pointing a finger at the Pegasus. "Just try me and I'll snap." You're already doing that, I thought, looking between the innocent rabbit and my about-to-go-insane friend. Suddenly I heard a soft squeak and saw a hint of white pass my eyes. The bunny seemed to be part dog, chasing its tail around and around in a cute circle, but seemed to stop when everyone (except Maya) said a simultaneous "Aww!" I was about to scoop it up myself when I noticed a dark purple glow seeping out of its chest.

"Exorcist bunny!" I couldn't help but scream, half joking half serious. Everyone looked at me as if I were a complete loon, but looked back at the bunny when it opened its mouth and squeaked out a familiar laugh. An evil laugh. My eyes widened. Back in my room earlier, had that sugary sweet but demon laugh come from...a bunny?!

"See? What'd I tell you guys?" Maya gloated, crossing her arms. "No one ever listens to the insane chick, and you wonder why everyone else disappears but the insane one survives. So sad..."

"Okay, so this bunny just laughed. Now what?" AJ asked.

"Maybe we should take him to a hospital?" Fluttershy suggested softly, looking at the bunny with worried eyes. The bunny turned its back to us and started hopping away like all of us had burst into flames.

"Hey, get back here!" I cried, running after the bunny with the others on my heels. We literally spent the next half hour chasing this stupid animal around trees, through bushes, and into lakes. Using magic and speed wasn't enough to stop this runner, but a small sliver of violence did the trick. I dive-bombed on the bunny and held it up above me like that baboon did with Simba in the Lion King.

"Got him! I got him!" I chanted over and over until the others caught up with me. "Okay bunny, what was with that evil laugh? Talk fast! I know you want to!" Maya cleared her throat.

"Uh, Zaria...?"

"Ssh! Not now Maya! I'm getting some 411 with this guy!" Another evil laugh echoed in my ears, but this time it hadn't come from the bunny. I looked up to see a dark violet cloud spinning above my head, producing mini lightning bolts, a hint of thunder, and a lot of wind.

"Didn't I tell you? Naive, naive is what she is!" a voice inside the cloud said. "Chasing an animal and then talking to it like it's some sort of criminal? HA!"

"If you're so brave to talk like that, then why don't you say it to our faces?" Rainbow shouted over the roaring wind. "We're not afraid of you!" The voice in the cloud laughed again.

"I wouldn't be that stupid to reveal my true identity, now would I?"

"Wait a minute! I know who that voice belongs to!" Maya cried, hair flying everywhere. "Yeah! I know that voice! It's—" The cloud got wider than ever and, like a vacuum cleaner, sucked Maya inside as well as the other ponies. It didn't suck in Lucky, which made me both grateful and annoyed.

"Give me my friends back!" I demanded when the cloud shrunk back to it's original size. "You're so gonna regret ever doing that when I get my hands on you!"

"Listen: if you ever want your friends back, meet me somewhere where no one will ever suspect us. I'll give you a bunch of clues that lead to the destination, and if you follow them right, I'll give you your friends back. If you don't, I'll happily destroy them and then you two love birds next."

"We're not love birds!" I objected. The voice ignored me.

"Here's the first clue!" it began as it faded from me and Lucky's view. "Where ponies walk, talk, eat, and play, this'll be the first clue to find your way. One answer is false, three are true. If you don't follow these instructions, I'll destroy you!" Kind of harsh for a little riddle, huh? The cloud poofed out of sight, leaving an awkward moment between me and Lucky.

"Sooo....should we get started on the riddle?" he asked when a full minute passed. When I didn't answer, he talked some more. "Okay, so this place is where ponies talk, walk, eat, and play. Maybe it's a school, 'cause ponies do all of that inside, right? Ooh, or maybe it's a park since a lot of ponies play there." There could be a million location choices for the riddle, and by the time we found the right one, it'd be too late.

"She said one answer was false and three were true," I pointed out. "What did she mean by that? One of our choices is wrong and the others are correct?"

"Maybe she just said that because she was running out of rhymes." I gave Lucky an are-you-this-stupid? look and began heading in an opposite direction from him, hopefully towards Ponyville.

"I guess we'll search the park first," I said once Lucky was next to me again. "If this town even has a park. Should've asked Maya about that when she was still around." Lucky looked a little bit confused, so I had to tell him she was a real expert about Ponyville. I didn't tell her how she'd gotten so smart about this place, but I did tell him that she was my BFFL and I wanted her back now.

"You two are real good friends, huh?" Lucky asked when my story was finished.

"Of course," I replied. "I couldn't imagine life without having her as my friend. Nothing would be the same anymore." Lucky nodded.

"And if this whole rescuing thing doesn't go as planned...you still have me—"

"Don't even think about it," I snapped, noticing his outstretched wing hanging near my shoulder. It retracted immediately. Somehow through all that silence, we made it to some kind of town square.

"This is probably it," Lucky announced, flying ahead of me.

"Where are you going?" I asked, running to catch up. "Lucky, what are you doing? We have to focus!"

"This could be an answer to the riddle that cloud gave us," he replied, looking around. "There are ponies here walking and talking."

"Yeah, but nobody's eating or playing," I pointed out.

"We don't know that for sure," Lucky responded, walking further into the town square. "It's like when Twilight was inspecting that grass. This time, we're expecting a simple town square. Who knows? Maybe the riddle's answer could be right under us." I couldn't argue with that logic, so I kept quiet as we searched through the square, sidestepping multiple ponies and crates full of fruits. Farther into the square seemed like some sort of fair or something. Colorful streamers were taped everywhere, and ponies were laughing and smiling with others.

"See? I told you," Lucky bragged. "Ponies are walking, talking, and eating."

"Okay, okay, you were right. But no one's playing. We might as well turn around and look some place else—"

"Hey! You two love birds over there! Are you gonna stand around or earn some tickets in our booths?" a blue pony shouted at the two of us. I was about to ask why she thought we were "love birds" when I felt Lucky's left wing wrapped around my left shoulder. Mental note: Snap his wings later, search now. Ignoring the blue pony and shrugging of Lucky's wing, the two of us continued our walk down the square until nothing else was left to look at but four broken crates. Four...

"One is false, three are true," I recited the cloud's rhyme. I turned to Lucky. "One is false, three are true! Maybe these crates are holding the answer Lucky! We found it!" Out of habit, I pulled Lucky into a quick hug before I rushed over to the crates, looking at them carefully. I then realized I was searching for an answer all by myself, and when I looked up at Lucky, he was standing there frozen. I could've sworn he was blushing, but I guess it was just the light from the sun making his skin look rosy.

"Are you going to help me with this or not?" I asked, and when he didn't move, I continued searching for something when I finally found it: three pieces of torn paper under one of the three broken crates. I stuck the pieces together, which formed some kind of rhyme.

You've found these pieces using your mind, but better hurry or you'll run out of time. Where ponies run, shake, and yell, follow a path that'll lead you to a spell.

"What path?" I whispered to myself. "What spell?" I had no idea what to do next, but one thing was certain: This riddle wasn't solved just yet.