Chapter 35: Scones

"…And if it means anything at all, I am awfully sorry. Wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't though."

Twilight finished reading the note written by the Earth Mara and looked insightfully at what she once thought was her dragon helper. She had given it a paper and pen due to lack of a mouth to speak with in order to communicate with the unicorn. The being looked away in shame, ready for punishment.

From what the mare read, the Mara was only three weeks old, created when a Minotaur dreamt about giant spiders. Since birth, all it knew about was scaring all sorts of beings, reveling in their nightmares. It gained all of its information from what it saw in its victim's distorted terrors. After being summoned and gaining Spike's form, it was treated with all these possible emotions such as respect, kindness, concern, love and tolerance. After witnessing such acts, it was at first baffled by such concepts. But when it saw Twilight and Coocoodrill embrace it with tender affection, it began to feel genuinely guilty. Not long after, it was ordered by its master to end the Element of Magic's life due to already getting the Pure of Heart. But after all of its treatment it finally broke down from guilt.

Twilight let out an exhausted sigh as she put down the piece of paper. "Alright then. So you're only three weeks old?"

It slowly nodded. It then grabbed another piece of paper and began to scribble on it. The Mara then gave it to Twilight to read.

Indeed I am, I have met much older ones. Us Mara are created with adult bodies. We act like infants at first, but due to having access to the minds of mortals, my kind matures real fast and we learn such things as lexicon and mathematics. Some of these beings on this world have most…interesting thoughts.

In any other alternate world, Twilight would be ecstatic about having the chance to get information of a new world, especially of a world she has went to often, but never acknowledged. She read somewhere that a normal pony only uses a small fraction of its mind. Possibly with the help of beings similar to this one in front of her, ponies might be able to look into their dreams, hopefully being able to tap into the rest of their mind. The possibilities could infinite, but Twilight had another subject on her mind. If she was to be taken out due to being unnecessary to capture, who did they take in her place?

She passed the paper back to the tame monster and it wrote a couple of more sentences before passing it back to her.

I do not know who is to be taken, but I have seen an aura around the timid mare which is friend to all nature. But master has told me more than one pony had the aura and Anvillain was sent to capture it. So I have no clue of who the ritual shall be.

Twilight began to feel a chill up her spine. If Fluttershy was a candidate for the ritual, she was at risk. As she also remembered, this Anvillain also did a number on Big Macintosh, the strongest stallion in Ponyville. Who knows what that golem could do to her? She grabbed a spare notebook from her desk and gave it to the Mara. She knew what she had to do. She might have to do a bit of arguing, but it could be a big help to stop Screameater. She tried not to panic as she spoke. "Alright! We're going to see the Princess! She'll know what to do!"

The Mara's orange eyes grew to twice their size. It began to shiver and if it had a mouth, it would've screamed. Twilight put a hoof on its shoulder to reassure it. "It's alright. As long as you don't try to attack anything, you'll be fine."

She then grabbed the still panicking Mara and used her magic to teleport to her teacher. Next thing it knew, the Mara was in a ballroom that looked as if it was hit by a twister. It saw a the same white, stylish unicorn fainted on a red sofa with a pink pony trying to wake her up as well as a green stallion helping some other mare with shades sort out her discs.

It then looked behind itself and saw the Princess of the Sun herself. She looked down upon it with stern disapproval and looked as if ready to send it back to whence it came.

All the Mara did in retaliation was quickly scribble word on a piece on a piece of paper and show it to her in a panic.

PLEASE DON'T HURT ME! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!

As Pinkie was trying to wake Rarity up with a fan, she noticed Twilight Sparkle teleport in. She almost gasped when she saw an Earth Mara with her friend. She saw that Celestia wasn't too happy with the guest either, staring down at the monster, her horn ready to cast a spell. Pinkie was hoping that there won't have to battle another group of Mara.

But then she then saw Twilight step in between Celestia and the quivering Mara. She couldn't hear what they were saying due to being too far away, but she could tell Twilight was begging her to spare the nightmarish abomination, going down to her knees. After a minute of talking, Celestia slowly calmed down and began to sit down as Twilight began to explain. Pinkie tried to pay some kind of attention, but the only word she could hear right was "help". The mare knew this use of the word "help" was not to get assistance to stop a bad guy, but of getting assistance from a good guy.

Pinkie took a breath of relief as Celestia, though still appearing skeptic, nodded her head in approval. By the looks of it, the Mara also felt like this kind of mercy was a miracle, relieved that it will not receive the princess's wrath. Pinkie Pie then looked towards Coocoo and the DJ as she continued to try to wake Rarity up.

"So there I was, in the center of the mountain all day. Mining has been closed there for years for specific reasons I do not know about. Something about jewels or something. But anyways, as I'm exploring these caverns, I hear this…" Coocoodrill paused for emphasis on his anecdote. "…singing."

"What was the song? You recognized it?" The DJ asked intrigued as she finished putting away her CDs. Lady Luck must have been on her side tonight as none of the CDs were damaged.

"Something about rescuing their love from an imposter or something." He shrugged. "But anyways, after a long and grueling journey back, I totally scored two hundred bits for that dare. Got myself some awesome Equimorph figures with those bits." He let out a little sigh. "Feel a little bad about that ghost though. Must have kicked the bucket tragically."

The DJ just raised a hoof to correct him. "Uh…Dude? I think that was the princess of the Royal Wedding a little while back."

Coocoodrill contemplated this concept for a while, and then just shrugged. "Eh. Maybe. Never heard about any Royal Wedding but maybe."

Pinkie's ear twitched a bit from hearing that, but she was too busy getting some water to wake Rarity up.

The mare just rolled her eyes from under her shades, but then put a hoof on his shoulder. "It was…pretty big. But it got kinda weird. But anyways…thanks for saving a while back."

"Don't worry. No prob at all." The green unicorn said humbly. "It's only part of being an Element of Harmony."

The DJ lowered her shades, so Coocoo can see her magenta eyes. "That's pretty rad Cooks. After you and your buds stop this monster, we should have a bite to eat together."

Coocoodrill didn't get the flirtatious manner of the offer, but she did mention food. He quickly nodded. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! We definitely should! It'll be some much fun! And with all the Canterlot food!" His mouth began to water at the thought of all those Canterlot pastries as well as their renowned veggie burgers.

Both ponies then heard a scream from the drama queen as water was dumped on her. Rarity quickly opened her eyes to see the culprit. "PINKIE!" The party pony just smiled sheepishly and apologetically.

The DJ then looked back to Coocoo, shrugged, and grabbed him in her forehooves. She brought him so close to her face that their horns were touching. She then nuzzled the stallion affectionately a bit. Rarity stopped her outburst to stare at the unicorns with her jaw agape. Pinkie just looked away, whistling awkwardly.

DJ PON-3 soon let go of Coocoodrill, whose heterochromiac eyes wide opened. The green pony had no idea what to do in such a situation. He just stood completely still, his mouth agape, and staring into space. The pony then slowly walked towards her equipment, rubbing the stunned stallion's chin with her tail. As she got her supplies, she patted the unicorn on the back.

"Go get em tiger." She then winked and left the manor, glad that this gig was somewhat worth it.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie just stared at Coocoodrill for a bit, unsure what to make of it. Rarity was the one to break the ice.

"Wha…what just happened." She had no idea how a mare would even be attracted to such a nut job of a pony. Not to mention the last time she took in a wiff of him, he smelled liked a Minotaur's backside.

The stallion slowly answered while remaining motionless and keeping the same shocked expression. "I…I…don't…know."

Rarity turned away from the stupefied pony and saw Celestia and Twilight walking up to them. But when she got a better look, she flipped out.

"MARA!" She jumped ten feet into the air, landing straight on her four hooves. She activated her magic and was ready to cast a spell, but Twilight got in her way.

"Wait a minute Rarity!" Twilight frantically told her friend. "This Mara's on our side now! It even volunteered to navigate us to Phobos!"

Rarity turned off her magically, but was still plenty suspicious. Her eyes were squinted and staring right at the nightmare being. "What makes you so sure it won't betray us Twilight?"

Celestia spoke up, also looking at the still nervous Mara. "I told it that if that ever happens, I'll send it into deep space, living in eternal boredom."

Pinkie happily bounced up to the Mara, poking it. "Hello nice Mara! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's yours?"

It contemplated for a bit, but then it just wrote is its note book and showed its answer to her.

I don't recall that I have one.

Pinkie let out an overdramatic gasp as she went on two legs, bouncing around in horror. "YOU DON'T HAVE A NAME? THAT'S HORRIBLY HORRIBLE! EVERYPONY SHOULD HAVE A NAME!" She then got on all fours, looked at both Rarity and Twilight Sparkle with an overly serious face and began to speak while gritting her teeth and squinting her eyes. "We must name it."

Rarity raised a hoof, still glaring at the nameless thing. "Now Pinkie, is it really necessary to..."

"Yes." Fire lit up in the pink mare's eyes.

Rarity let out an exasperated groan as she and the other mares thought of a reasonable name. After a few seconds, she came up with an idea. "Alright, I say Shade."

The Mara just shook its head at her. Rarity just huffed, annoyed by the rejection.

Twilight was the next one to come up with a name. She said the name with pride and respect. "How about Morpheus the Mighty? Like the great unicorn philo…" It shook its head again. "Drat."

Pinkie looked around the room, thinking of ideas. As she looked at the destroyed buffet, she saw all those pastries lying on the ground. The cheesecakes, the cookies, the cupcakes, the…

"Scones." Pinkie Pie looked over to the Mara with an assuring smile. "How about Scones?"

The Mara considered the name, revealingly saying the name in its mind. It then wrote in its notebook and showed it to the bubbly mare.

"YES!" Pinkie Pie did a back flip in the air as she hollered in joy. "Your name is now SCONES!"

Twilight, Rarity and Celestia just looked at the newly named Mara. "Scones?" Celestia asked the Mara much more warmly. "Is that what you want your name to be?"

Scones just nodded its head, wrote something and showed the group.

It's better than Shade.

Celestia, Pinkie and Twilight laughed a bit while Rarity just gave Scones a stern look.

After a good laugh, Twilight looked around for a bit. "Where's Fluttershy and Paramail?"

All the ponies and the Mara's tone completely changed to concern and fear. Celestia used a spell to show where the Element of Kindness was. They didn't like what they saw.

From what they saw from the magical gate on the floor, Fluttershy was in a cell curled up and looking at the wall. She was obviously miserable, but who could blame her? The iron alicorn and a crimson colored Blueblood Mara were teasing her with black manticoreskin rugs. They were both wearing them as if they were costumes, making mock roaring sounds as they danced around the dungeon. From the looks of it, Paramail was not around.

Celestia turned off the spell in disgust. "How can they do such a thing to such an innocent pony?"

Rarity also piped up. "And why is that vile impersonator now red?"

Scones quickly wrote something and showed it to the group.

That Mara is crimson for a special reason. My kind refers to them as the Thirteenth Spawn. They are created from the thirteenth nightmare of a thirteen year old victim once every thirteen generations per thirteen family trees. Word has it that any nightmare they make instantly becomes a night terror. This is the first time I actually saw one of these things, but I know well enough that Thirteenth Spawn are monsters even by our standards. So watch yourself with this one.

Twilight Sparkle and the other mares took their time to contemplate what Scones just told them. She knew these "Thirteenth Spawn" were a menace, but she was glad that there were so few. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there. But what about Paramail?"

Celestia opened another vision gate and they saw the teal pegasus flying as fast as it can towards Ponyville. Tears wear streaming out of his eyes and he was choking on his own sobs. He was shouting to himself about how he could just let them take her. Celestia then closed the vision gate.

Scones was beginning to feel terrible once again. Not only did it give romantic advice to an innocent mare that was into an innocent stallion, it also brought her to her doom, in front of that stallion. That just made the capture that much more heartwrenching.

Celestia let out a sympathetic sigh. She then looked at all everypony in front of her. "I regret to tell you this, but you must go to Phobos to stop my insane brother. His reign of terror must stop now. Who knows what he will do next to get at us. So rest my little ponies…" She looked towards Scones. "…and Mara, for tomorrow, you shall sail to Phobos by ship."

Coocoodrill finally snapped out of his daze. "Wait what?"

"I'm going to send you to Phobos by ship. In fact, one of your parent's ships to be exact." Celestia answered him. The stallion just went back to staring into space.

Twilight asked one question to her teacher. "But? What about you?" She was obviously concerned for the princess's safety.

"Do not worry about me Twilight." Celestia said as she began to walk towards the exit. "I'll get your brother to create a force field around the city for the safety of everypony inside." She then began to flap her wings as she looked back towards the five. "Stay safe tonight my little…" She looked around for a more politically correct word. "…ones." And off she went.

Twilight looked towards the group. "Come on. Let's go to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us."

Everyone but the catatonic Coocoodrill nodded in agreement and began to walk towards the exit of Blueblood manor. Twilight Sparkle just picked up the still completely stiff Coocoodrill with her magic an continued to walk. As Scones was leaving, Pinkie Pie tied something around its neck.

"Here you go Scones." She said as she finished tying a blue bandana to its neck. "Now we tell you apart from the rest of those meanies." She gave it a wide smile.

Scones admired the accessory for a bit before scribbling something in its notebook. Scones then showed it to Pinkie Pie.

Thank you.

Underneath the words was a picture of a smiling pony.

Anybody here see the finale? It was AWESOME! And my canon didn't get hurt too badly. Just ONE little fix and it's all good. Double bonus. But now we have to wait for season 3. But no big deal.

If you want, you can check out the poll on my profile to vote for your favorite OC. Scones is going to be added now.

Thanks for all the reviews and such.