Twilight dashed across the room, levitating books in a line looking at their titles, "No, no, no, no, NO! Where's my copy of Marvelous Magic and Heinous Hexes?"
"It should be under "M" for "marvelous" right?" asked Spike.
"No! I told you, they should be sorted by author then sorted by title within that author's section!"
"Here it is!" Pinkie said as she hopped out of the pile of books.
"Pinkie? When did you get here?" asked Twilight.
"Well, I read that book you gave Rainbow Dash Guineighs Book of Equestrian Records and saw one that was happiest town and it wasn't Ponyville so I decided that I would make this the happiest town and get Ponyville in the book and make all the ponies here happy too, so I ran around town doing things to make everypony happy. First, I helped Fluttershy feed all the cute little critters, then I baked a bunch of muffins for Derpy, and I..." Twilight put her hoof over Pinkie's mouth.
"Okay, thank you Pinkie." Said Twilight, exhausted by Pinkies rapid-fire explanation of her entire day.
"Glad to help! Time to help the Cutie Mark Crusaders bungee jump down Ghastly Gorge!" Pinkie said as she hopped away.
"Ah, here they are, 'The Elders', a trio of powerful unicorns with magical ability rivaling that of the Princesses! They were sealed into three urns and hidden deep in a cave somewhere in the Everfree Forest." Twilight read, "Wow, I would love to learn some of their powerful magic!"
Pinkie, still within earshot, thought to herself "Ooh, if I set them free Twilight could talk to them and learn those spells and she would be so grateful and happy and we're sure to be the happiest town EVER!" Pinkie dashed off to the Everfree Forest.
"But, that would be impossible, they tried to take over Equestria." finished Twilight.
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Pinkie hummed one of her random songs as she hopped through the Everfree forest, totally oblivious to the dangers.
"Well here's a cave, it looks pretty deep." Pinkie said to herself, "I guess it's probably in here somewhere."
"Wow, it sure is dark in here" Pinkie muttered as she walked into the cave.
A dim, yellow ball of light floated towards Pinkie.
"Ooh, who are you?" Pinkie asked the strange creature.
It remained silent as it drifted through the damp air of the cave, seemingly not noticing the pink pony.
"Do you want to play follow the leader? Okay, you can be the leader first!" Pinkie said excitedly as she followed the blue ball of light deeper into the cave.
The orb stopped and floated straight up and into a glass box made of mirrors. The mirrors reflected its light and lit the room just enough for Pinkie to see three old-looking urns covered in dust. A plaque underneath them was covered in inscriptions.
"Within these the urns great evil is sealed, magical power they used to wield, forces of cruelty that will not yield, reading this they are revealed, weep young one their curse repealed!" Pinkie read off of the plaque.
Suddenly, the urns began to shake violently and crack. The cracks glowed with powerful magic and the urns burst, releasing clouds of smoke which quickly formed themselves into three unicorns. One cackling madly had a maroon coat and a mane that looked like it was made of fire. Another, in complete contrast, was black and thin, with an ash gray mane, and soulless eyes. The third was straw-yellow, had a pure white mane and beautiful emerald eyes.
"Finally we are free! Now, my brothers, come with me to Ponyville, where we will begin our reign." The third unicorn shouted.
The three unicorns vanished in a flash of magic leaving Pinkie alone in the dark cave.
"Hey, glowing ball thingy, do you know the way out?"
The ball lazily drifted out of the cave with Pinkie right behind it.
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Spike wandered through the library, unsure where Twilight was. It wasn't like her to leave without telling him or at least leaving a note. Spike was starting to get worried when he heard a noise coming from the basement. He heard a familiar voice shout in surprise.
"Twilight?" Spike shouted as he ran to the basement door, "Are you okay?"
Spike heard different voices coming from the basement.
"Who's there?" asked a stallion with an eerily calm and charismatic voice.
"Come out now… we don't bite… usually…" said another stallion with a higher voice.
"Twilight?" Spike was really worried about Twilight and opened the door, shining light into the basement.
"There you are!" shouted the second stallion.
A fireball flew towards Twilight. Spike jumped in front of it to protect her and was hit directly by it. Spike fell down the stairs and laid at the bottom smoking.
"Spike!" Twilight yelled.
Twilight fired a bolt of magic at the stallion that launched the fireball. The stallion was knocked back and slammed against the basement wall cackling madly.
"Who are you?" shouted Twilight.
The stallion with the charismatic voice responded, "We are the Elders, the rightful rulers of Equestria. Any who stand in our way will perish."
"The Elders?!" Twilight shouted, remembering the book she had just read, "That's impossible! The Princesses sealed you away over a thousand years ago!"
"But we got out" responded the second stallion in a sing-song voice.
"With some help from a pink mare, a cute one too." added the first, "Pardon my manners, I am the Bard, the insane one is Hellfire, and the quiet, grim one is Pestilence."
A gaunt stallion with a pitch-black coat and an ash-gray mane stepped out from the shadows.
"Judging by your screaming I know that you're Twilight and the smoking thing over there is Spike." said the Bard, "I must apologize, we cannot stay any longer. Just don't get in our way and your suffering will be minimal"
"No" answered Twilight, "I'm not letting you leave this room."
"Oh, well we can't have that happen now can we?" The Bard said as his horn glowed emerald, "Little dragon as my slave, send this filly to her grave."
Spike got up, his eyes still closed, and he began walking clumsily towards Twilight.
"What did you do to him?" Twilight screamed.
"Oh, just a little mind control, nothing permanent, maybe a headache afterwards. Plus whatever you'll have to do to get him away. Well goodbye for now! You'll be hearing from us again!" With that the Bard, along with the three other unicorns vanished.
Spike crawled up the stairs towards Twilight. Twilight rushed up the stairs, out of the basement, and slammed the door. Twilight began searching through her books trying to find a cure to mind control. Finally she found one, and opened the basement door to use it on Spike. But he was gone, and there was a Spike-sized burrow through the wall leading up out of the library.
"Ugh, honestly Spike?"
Twilight rushed out the library door looking for any signs, but all she found was the exit hole, until she saw Spike using his claws to climb up into the canopy of the library. By the time she noticed, he was already hidden among the leaves. Twilight heard growling noises from the tree and saw Spike leap towards her. Twilight quickly casted the curing spell and Spike landed face first onto the ground.
"Oww, what happened?" grumbled Spike.
"I'll explain on the way."
"On the way where?"
"Canterlot, for the Elements of Harmony."
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"Princess! Have you heard the news?" shouted Twilight, "The Elders escaped and they said they were planning to take over Equestria!"
"Calm down my little ponies, they failed once and they will fail again. Now how were they freed from the urns?"
"I'm not sure, but the Bard said he had help from a pink mare. We can only assume it was Pinkie."
"Where is Pinkie?" asked Applejack.
"Oh my, she isn't here." said Fluttershy.
"I thought you guys knew." said Rainbow Dash, "She hasn't been seen all day."
"You go looking for her, my sister and I will keep the Elders at bay until you return." said Princess Celestia.
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"Are you sure this is the way to go? I don't remember a damp, depressing swamp." Pinkie asked the glowing ball of light.
The ball of light remained silent and kept drifting slowly deeper into the swamp. Pinkie was puzzled, did he not like her? Can he talk? What is he? Questions reeled through Pinkie's head. But she remained friendly and doesn't give up on making a friend.
"Are you angry at me? Was I talking too much? I'll be quieter."
"Pinkie?" called Twilight.
"Twilight? Is that you?" called back Pinkie.
"Finally! We found you! What were you doing here?" asked Twilight.
"Don't worry! My friend here, the glowy ball helped me!" Pinkie happily said.
"Pinkie! That's a Will-o-wisp! They get ponies to follow them and get them lost then feed on their fear!"
"Well, he must be hungry! I haven't been scared all day! Here, I'll feed him!" Pinkie held her breath and focused.
"Pinkie! Stop it!" Twilight said, waving her hoof in front of Pinkie's face.
"He's cute, I think I'll call you Wispy. Or maybe Glowy. No wait, Shiny!"
"Pinkie! You can't keep it!"
"I've got it! Monroe!"
Twilight sighed, knowing she couldn't convince her otherwise.
"Come on, Pinkie." Twilight said, walking in the direction of Ponyville.
"Monroe thinks Ponyville is this way" said Pinkie, pointing a hoof the opposite way.
"FORGET ABOUT MONROE!"
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After an hour of walking, Pinkie and Twilight finally get out of the Everfree Forest. Monroe the will-o-wisp trailing lazily behind.
"Is that thing still following us?" asked Twilight.
"You should be nicer, Monroe never hurt anyone." replied Pinkie, "You're just jealous that I didn't knit you a super cool sweater!" Pinkie pulls a tiny striped sweater out of nowhere and puts it on Monroe.
"How could I have been jealous about something I didn't know about?"
"Well, I thought you might have looked into the future."
"I don't use my magic to tear a hole through the fabric of time just to see if one of my friends knitted a sweater for a will-o-wisp!"
"You don't? Well, you're missing out."
"We're here." Twilight said, both physically and mentally exhausted.
"Uh, Twilight, are you sure this is the right Ponyville? This one seems a bit…well…apocolypsy."
Twilight looked up to see Ponyville in flames, Spike acting like a zombie again, and almost everypony gone. She could make out a few she recognized among those still there. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and a few other pegasi were dragging around clouds to put out the flaming houses. Applejack was hurrying ponies into the Sweet Apple Acres barn. And in the middle of it all, the three Elders stood. Hellfire was cackling madly, Pestilence stood grimly surveying the wreckage, and the Bard was muttering incantations and launching magical bolts at ponies running by.
"Do it again, do it again!" shouted Hellfire.
"Oh, okay." responded the Bard, narrowly missing a pony with a magical bolt shaped like a skull.
"Come on! It's been a thousand years since I've had this much fun! Hit one of them this time!"
"No!" shouted Twilight.
The Elders all turned to look at Twilight.
"Oh, hello Twilight. We've been expecting you. You're the only pony standing between us and rulership of Equestria." said the Bard.
"Well it stops here!" shouted Twilight.
"That's funny, that's just what Celestia said."
"Where is she?"
"Oh, she's right over there." said the Bard, a smile creeping up his lips as he gestures towards the limp form of Celestia, her eyes wide open with terror.
"What did you do to her?" shouted Twilight, tears welling up in her cheeks.
"I call it the Waking Nightmare. It's a spell of my own invention. It locks the victim inside their worst nightmare. See for yourself." The Bard launches a smoky black skull-shaped spell at Twilight.
The smoke envelops Twilight and she sees everything go black.
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Twilight wakes up in bed, she looks around and sees everything completely normal.
"Was it all a dream?" she asked herself.
Twilight hears a knock at the door. She walks down the stairs and opens the door. Standing in front of the door, in all his chaotic splendor, was Discord himself.
"Hello there Twilight, I thought it would be best if I were to break the news to you. I turned your friends into their opposites again, then me and Chrysy regrew Sombra from the horn shard, and turned Luna back into Nightmare Moon." said Discord, "And get this! We used a magic shield to evict Celestia, blew her to bits, turned the bits into stone, and banished the rocks to the moon! Talk about the irony!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Twilight.
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"Twilight? Uh, Twilight?" asked Pinkie.
"Give up on her. She has already succumbed to the Waking Nightmare." said the Bard.
Monroe drifted slowly towards Twilight. He slowly began to grow bigger.
"Yeah! Go Monroe!" shouted Pinkie Pie.
"Oh no you don't! Tiny fairy of little force, I will turn you into a horse" shouted the Bard.
An emerald glow surrounded Monroe, turning him into a unicorn stallion with a pale yellow coat and a golden mane.
"Wha… what happened?" asked Monroe, panicking, "Why can't I fly? Why are you all staring at me?"
Hellfire and the Bard burst out laughing. Pestilence slowly walked away from them.
"Where are you going? We haven't taken care of them yet." said the Bard
"You've done quite enough…" said Pestilence, "You two idiots have had your fun. All this time you said we'd rise to the top of Equestria. All you've done is played around like foals. I will be the ruler of Equestria. You two, if you surrender now, I may be kind enough to allow you to live."
"You! Allow us to live?" the Bard and Hellfire began to laugh even louder.
"Chains of old, the curse unfold, these ponies you hold, render them cold." chanted Pestilence.
Ice creeps up the legs of the Bard and Hellfire.
"H…how?" the Bard asked, panicking.
"All this time I've spent sitting on the sidelines, I've mastered your riddle magic." said Pestilence, "And now, to finish you."
"NOOOOO!" shouted the Bard and Hellfire.
"Sealed in their dusty tomb, like a foal in its mother's womb, send them away, to their fate and doom."
Two urns materialize in front of Pestilence and suck the two other Elders into them. The urns vanish in a flash of light.
"And now, to rule Equestria!" Pestilence shouted.
"Not so fast." said a powerful and familiar voice.
Pestilence turned around and saw Princess Celestia standing behind him, her horn glowing and an urn beside her, "Sealing away the Bard dispelled his nightmare spell, leaving the odds Equestria versus you. Still feel good about that plan of yours?"
"P…P…Princess…Celestia…?"
"Yes, and for your crimes, I banish you back into the Everfree caves once again!"
Pestilence struggled to fight her but was quickly sucked back into the urn and teleported into the caves.
"And now, to undo all the chaos he caused." Princess Celestia's horn glowed brightly as the house fires went out, Spike was cured of the curse, and all his other magic undone.
Celestia then turned to Monroe, "If you want, I can turn you back to your original form."
"Wha… Who…?"
Celestia chuckled, "Well, if you ever change your mind, you can ask me and I will turn you back."
Pinkie gasped, "This is the perfect time for a party! While everypony's houses are being fixed, I could invite them to Sugarcube Corner for Monroe's Birthday, or would it be Ponyday? Birthpony? Birthponyday? Dayponybirth?"
Everypony except Pinkie laughed, because she was still looking for the perfect combination.
"I've got it! Monroeday!"