Percy stared at himself in the mirror. It was odd enough to see a black pegasus staring back, but now that the black pegasus had golden armor on his chest, hooves, and along the length of the nose, he look like the other soldiers save for the bags full of water draped over his back.

"You look ready for battle." Rarity gushed as she looked at her final product.

"Good, because we've gotten word that Rockville is trying to rebell against the monsters, but without a unicorn or . . . you, they don't stand a chance."

"Rockville?" Pinkie Pie instantly went from her happy-go-lucky attitude to one of an overprotective parent. "Turn this train around. Forward ho! We must help them." A loud bang went off, and Percy startled so bad that without realizing it he had summoned the water to grab his sword. He became aware of confetti falling everywhere, and he willed his heart to slow down.

"Where did that come from?" He asked as he tried to recover.

"My party canon?" Pinkie Pie asked. "I never leave home without my party canon. I do tend to lose them on occasion. I wonder if I left them here on the train?"

"You mean you have more than one canon?"

"Well, yeah!" She said it as though it were obvious.

An idea started to perculate inside Percy's head. "I think I have an idea."

"Does it have anything to do with a party?" Pinkie blurted out.

"Kind of. How do you feel about projectiles in your cannons?"

"But I thought nothing but your sword can hurt them?" Rainbow dash asked.

"True. But it sure would distract them. then I can stoop down to finish them off."

"Ooh, a distraction." Pinkie Pie looked excited.

"Exactly. Pinkie Pie, do you think you can round up all of your cannons and get them to the roof of the train?"

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie disappeared in a flash.

"Do you think this plan of yours will work?" Prince Shining Armor asked.

"Guess we'll find out." Percy said nervously.

"Where do you want us?" he asked.

Percy thought about it for a moment, then said, "I think the best place for you and your men, er, ponies is to flank the town while we're distracting the monsters, and get everyone to safety.

"Everypony." Rainbow Dash corrected.

Percy gave her a funny look. "Yeah, them."

"This could work." Shining Armor said. "Let's get everything prepared."

They got the train ready to go. Pinkie Pie had located five party cannons, which they filled with any sharp objects they could find: knives, rocks, and something that looked very close to fireworks. The train pulled out early in the morning. As they approached the town, the soldiers got off with Shining Armor. Percy and Rainbow Dash took off flying.

Percy looked down and saw a drab village. There was no grass, no flowers, nothing but rock as far as he could see. "Wow, they really wrecked this place." Percy commented.

"Actually," Rainbow Dash said, "It always looks like this. There's a reason it's called Rockville."

"Why would anyone want to live here?"

"As far as I can tell, they like it here. They harvest rocks for our buildings. Pinkie pie's family lives on a rock farm."

"Percy gave her a strange look. "A rock farm? Are you serious?"

"Oh, it's no joking matter. They take their rocks seriously. As explosive as Pinkie Pie is, her family is the exact opposite."

Percy processed this information. They were far above the train, as they watched it approach the small town. Percy could hear the blaring of music, even as high up as he was. Percy spotted several dracnea slither out into the open towards the train.

"Let's hide in that cloud just above the town." Rainbow Dash suggested.

"Lead the way." Percy agreed. Rainbow Dash swooped expertly down and landed gently on top of the cloud. Percy swooped down and thought he was going to head straight through the cloud, because he couldn't stop in time. Instead, he did a little tumble on the top of the cloud. "This cloud is solid. How is that possible?" Percy said with surprise.

"Of course it is. We're pegasus." Rainbow Dash said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Right." Percy could hear Pinkie Pie's blaring music better now, and could see her in some ridiculous costume. "Wow, when she does a distraction, she does a distraction."

"That's Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said with some pride in her voice.

Percy counted fifteen dracnea slithering out of every hole possible, with their long snake tail slithering behind them, and their head of hair filled with snakes hissing and snapping. If Pinkie Pie was worried, she sure didn't show it.

"Welcome to Equestria!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

Percy spread his wings as the dracnea gave each other confused looks. The cannons went off all at once. Knives, rocks, and the rat-tat-tat of fire crackers rained upon the dracnea. Before the dracnea could retaliate, Percy sweep down and willed the water to grab his sword. She glided just above their heads with his sword below him cutting through the dracnea in one swift move. He landed a little bit clumsily, but stood ready for the oncoming fight. What dracnea were left, charged towards him. His fist of water gripping his sword, sliced through the last of the dracnea.

"Wow," Pinkie Pie hop down from the roof of the train, "that actually worked."

"Pinkie?" A voice asked.

"Mom, Dad, Marble, Limestone." Pinkie Pie ran over to some very plain-looking ponies. She hugged them with such force that they looked like they were having a hard time breathing. Then they returned the hug. They all seemed genuinely happy to see each other.

"What is going on?" Her father asked.

Pinkie Pie took a dramatic deep breath and said in a rush, "Equestria is being invaded by monsters from another world and we're fighting back with a son of Poseidon, who crash-landed in the crystal mountains, and he used to be a creature that stands on two legs and has weird hooves, but now he's a pegasus, because his father is Poseidon, who's the father of Pegasus, and he can control water, and his cutie mark turns into a sword that kills the monsters. And Twilight Sparkle went to investigate the other crash site in Starlight Glimmers old town, and we think the same thing may be happening to them."

Everyone was quiet for a moment after Pinkie finished her rushed explanation.

"Uh, we will be leaving some unicorns here to protect the town." Prince Shining Armor explained. "We are heading up to Canterlot to rid the land of these creatures."

"Well, anyway we can help, let us know." Pinkie's father offered.

"Tending to the wounded and protecting the citizens is our up most concern. But I also think if you had some extra hard rocks that we could fill Pinkie Pie's cannons with, would be helpful."

They looked questioningly at each other. Then limestone said in a monotone voice, "We've got the hardest rocks in Equestria here. We can fill Pinkie Pie's cannons."

"Let's get this party started and take back Equestria!" Pinkie Pie shouted excitedly.

Percy and Rainbow Dash exchanged a look. "Exact opposites." She shared Percy's thoughts.