Episode 1: 00:00PM - 01:00AM
SPIKE (O.S.)
The following takes place between
12AM and 1AM. Events occur in real
time.
INT. MILITARY BUNKER OFF THE COAST OF STABLESIDE, SOUTH
EQUESTRIA - NIGHT
00:00
Inside an off-shore Military Bunker. A small number of
pegasi guards are keeping watch inside.
00:00
EXT. MILITARY BUNKER OFF THE COAST OF STABLESIDE, SOUTH
EQUESTRIA - NIGHT
00:02
Guards are outside, keeping watch. It is raining.
Suddenly, a large number of pegasi in dark outfits descend
from the skies and a battle ensues. The dark pegasi ambush
the guards and begin to overwhelm them. GILDA, a griffon,
swoops down and breaks the necks of two grounded guards who
attempt to man their cannons.
Some of the invading pegasi are armed with spears. Others
are armed with AK-47 assault rifles and other sub-machine
guns. The guards are armed with M4A1 carbines and are
returning fire as best they can.
Gilda takes a few shots to the chest, but she is able to
shrug them off easily, her hide tougher than most bullets.
She lets out a shrill cry. The invading pegasi land and
engage the guards on the ground with spears. They fight
through the guards with Gilda and make their way inside the
bunker.
00:04
INT. MILITARY BUNKER OFF THE COAST OF STABLESIDE, SOUTH
EQUESTRIA - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS
00:04
Gilda and the pegasi storm through into the bunker. The
guards panic, suddenly overwhelmed by the brutality of the
attack. Gilda uses her claws to tear the head off an unlucky
guard.
She lets out a battle cry and the pegasi kill the guards one
by one. They are powerless to stop them.
The invaders reach their prize - an experimental
magi-nuclear weapon. Four pegasi work
together to lift it out of the base and into the air, where
they all flock together behind Gilda and head back towards
the shore.
A single guard is still alive, and crawls, mortally wounded
to the emergency telephone and picks it up desperately with
his hoof. With his last ounce of strength, he speaks into
the receiver:
GUARD
Higaldo is gone. Armageddon is here. This is the
end.
He falls forward and dies, a pool of blood expanding
underneath him.
00:14
EXT. FLYING CHARIOT FROM CANTERLOT TO MANECHESTER
00:17
Rarity and Sweetie Belle are sitting in the flying chariot.
Sweetie Belle is now a teenager, too young to drink alcohol
legally.
SWEETIE BELLE
I can't believe you're dragging me
all the way to Manechester.
RARITY
I don't really have a choice. I'm
not exactly in the position to
refuse a direct order from the
Princess.
SWEETIE BELLE
No but why do I have to come?
RARITY
Because if you think I'm leaving
you in the house on your own, you
can jolly-well think again.
SWEETIE BELLE
Awww c'mon big sis! I'm sixteen!
RARITY
(rolling her eyes)
Exactly. And that's why when we
touch down I'm dropping you off
with the Apple family. You can stay
with Applebloom until my business
in Mancechester is finished.
SWEETIE BELLE
(alarmed)
Applebloom? B-but we haven't spoken
in ages! Not since...
RARITY
(thinking quickly)
Not since we moved to Canterlot?
SWEETIE BELLE
(dips her head, sadly)
No.
Rarity puts a hoof around Sweetie Belle, comfortingly.
RARITY
You never parted with her on bad
terms and I'm still good friends
with the Apple family. You'll be
fine.
SWEETIE BELLE
(mumbling, sad)
If you say so.
RARITY
Chin up, Sweetie Belle. We're
almost there.
The chariot approaches the large city of Manechester and
dips into a dive.
00:21
INT. TWILIGHT SPARKLE'S LIBRARY, MANECHESTER - NIGHT
00:27
TWILIGHT SPARKLE and SPIKE are playing chess in the library.
Twilight is a unicorn in her late twenties, SPIKE is a
dragon who is the equivelant of roughly thirty pony years
thanks to a sudden growth spurt. He is slightly taller than
Twilight Sparkle, has a set of small, but usable wings and
has well developed muscles and powerful claws. He is no
longer a baby dragon, but a small adult one.
Twilight and Spike now live in Manechester, an amalgamation
of Manehattan and Ponyville which was created due to massive
urbanisation. Manechester has a population of over 8 million
and is populated by Ponies, Griffons, Zebras and more.
Twilight places Spike's king in check with her bishop.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Check.
SPIKE
Damn it, Twilight.
He studies the board, then makes his move.
Twilight smiles wryly and checks him again, this time with
her Queen.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Check.
Spike growls, irritated.
SPIKE
Not again.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
You could just give up? Checkmate
in two moves anyway.
SPIKE
We'll see about that.
He moves his rook to block her Queen. She checks him with
her knight.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Check.
Spike moves his king. An act of futility. Twilight
Checkmates takes his rook and checkmates him with a
combination of Knight and Queen.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Checkmate.
Spike studies the board. Suddenly, he feels a letter coming
and burps it up, scorching the chessboard and reducing all
of the pieces to ash.
Twilight looks down at the board in horror. Spike smirks
slightly as he unrolls the letter.
SPIKE
What a shame.
Twilight is concerned.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Who is that from at this hour?
Spike reads. His eyes widen.
SPIKE
Pinkie Pie. We're needed at ECTU.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Now?
Spike gets up from the table and pulls on his leather
Jacket.
SPIKE
Now.
00:39
INT. ECTU HQ - MANECHESTER - NIGHT
00:52
ECTU: Manechester, Equestria's Counter Terrorist Unit is a
federal agency dedicated to stopping terrorism.
ECTU personel arrive in dribs and drabs. FLUTTERSHY is
already there, working on her computer station. APPLEJACK
comes in with RAINBOW DASH. Spike and Twilight are next.
RARITY and PINKIE PIE are in Pinkie Pie's office. Pinkie Pie
is jumping around while Rarity is trying to talk to her.
Other ponies are there in the background. When everypony is
gathered around, Rarity and Pinkie Pie emerge from Pinkie's
office.
Pinkie Pie is the acting Director of ECTU. Twilight Sparkle
is the Senior Special Agent, former director who recently
stepped down from management due to health concerns. Rarity
functions as the royal liasion officer and is not
technically part of ECTU. Fluttershy works communications.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack are field agents along with
Spike.
PINKIE PIE
Alright listen up everypony because
this is super-duper ginormously
important!
Everypony stops talking.
PINKIE PIE
(talking quickly, hyperactive,
ticking nervously whenever she
says "bombs")
Now, I know it's late and we all
need our beauty sleep and BOMBS!
but something simply terrible has
happened and it's awful and BOMBS!
and everypony at ECTU needs to be
super-duper focused and listen and-
Rarity cuts her off:
RARITY
Let's give them the abridged
version, eh?
Pinkie Pie nods silently.
PINKIE PIE
WE'VE LOST A MAGI-NUCLEAR BOMB!
Gasps.
Twilight and Spike exchange glances. Rainbow Dash is
scratching her head, puzzled.
RAINBOW DASH
What's a Magi-nuclear bomb?
RARITY
Twilight? Care to explain?
Twilight Sparkle clears her throat. Everypony turns to her.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
A Magi-nuclear bomb is a concept in
theoretical magi-physics. You
combine a magic trigger with
nuclear fuel and it creates vast
quantities of energy with minimum
waste. I wasn't aware that a bomb
had actually been created?
RARITY
Neither were we until half an hour
ago when we were briefed by
Princess Celestia herself. Codename
Higaldo-45 is an experimental
magi-nuclear bomb. It's got enough
force behind it to level cities to
dust in seconds. It cancels out any
magical forcefield or energy
protection spells that may be in
place. No pony can survive it.
Worried glances.
APPLEJACK
Y'all mean to say the princess
authorised the construction of a
super powerful weapon right under
our noses? How in the heck did ECTU
not know about it?
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
It must have been done covertly.
RARITY
Indeed. And frankly, I'm rather
hurt they even kept me out of the
loop.
PINKIE PIE
Unbelievable!
Ponies start to shout and talk over each other. Suddenly
Rainbow Dash flies upwards and starts screaming:
RAINBOW DASH
Wait a second!
Everypony shuts up.
RAINBOW DASH
Who cares who knew about what? The
point is, we have a nuclear magic,
or whatever BOMB missing? How the
heck does a BOMB go missing?
FLUTTERSHY
Umm... it was stolen.
Everypony turns to Fluttershy. She lowers her head,
nervously.
FLUTTERSHY
At around midnight, umm... one of
our military bases was attacked by
a squad of... flying ponies.
RAINBOW DASH
(angrily)
Pegasi?
Fluttershy nods, awkwardly.
FLUTTERSHY
Y-yeah. Pegasi. At least, that's
what witnesses saw - a cloud of
pegasi leaving the base. We're
assuming they took the bomb with
them.
SPIKE
(irritated)
How does an entire military base
that is guarded by highly trained
soldiers get overwhelmed like that?
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Spike's right - you'd think that
security would have been tighter.
RARITY
I think the base's best defence was
its anonymity. Nobody was supposed
to know about it, but somehow that
information got leaked.
Disturbance and chatter. Pinkie Pie calls order.
RARITY
The fact of the matter is, if we
don't get this bomb back and it
goes off somewhere in Equestria, or
anywhere else in the world for that
matter... we'll be looking at
Armageddon. Not even magic can
protect us from this bomb.
Nervous glances.
SPIKE
(arms folded)
Do we have any leads yet?
RARITY
(acknowledging him)
Only one.
Pause.
RARITY
They carried it back to shore where
they presumably stored it in a
wagon. Only a few types of wagon
are large enough to carry a
magi-nuclear bomb, and one was
reported stolen in Manechester two
hours before the bomb went missing.
It's a safe bet that whoever has it
is coming back to Manechester with
it.
APPLEJACK
We'll liaise with the police, see
if we can get them to track it
down.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
Fluttershy can try and pick it up
on satellite. I'll coordinate the
intelligence. The existence of the
bomb was highly classified - even
we didn't know about it. We need
the names of everypony who did.
Ponies are nodding all around. Pinkie calls order and
speaks:
PINKIE PIE
I don't think I need to tell you
ponies how important it is that we
find this bomb and get it back from
whichever nastypants pony decided
to take it. We're going to be
working round the clock until we
can find it - understood?
Nods.
PINKIE PIE
Alright - let's go to work
everypony!
Fade to clock.
00:59:56
00:59:57
00:59:58
00:59:59
01:00:00
END OF TRANSMISSION