Mega Mare

Chapter 2 – Apple Jacked

The gleaming white sparkles of teleportation faded around her, leaving Twilight in a grassy field. She opened her eyes and sent a mental command along the band of metal over his horn. A light on it blinked and a holographic map of the town projected from it. Alongside the map a data feed about the town began to scroll.

Founded by earth ponies centuries ago, Ponyville hadn't embraced technology as heavily as the rest of Equestria. The townsfolk mostly used technology for the essentials to keep up with Equestria, such as the teleportation bureau and docking and recharge stations for airships. Otherwise they still built their homes out of wood and stone inspired by ancient earth pony architecture, and the streets had been left unpaved and open. Information stands for visitors stood on the street corners and the authority services like police and medical staff had hovercraft for emergency responses, but otherwise the town was like a quaint relic from centuries past.

Twilight trotted to the town, looking over the old-fashioned structures. The town was as peaceful and quiet as Spike's data feed said. Too peaceful and quiet, in fact. Aside from the very distant hum of information stands and miniature transport cards that lay against the sides of homes, there was dead silence. Even Twilight's hooves on the thick grass didn't do much to fill the void, the clops and less-occasional metal clanks echoing between buildings.

"Where is everypony?" Twilight headed to one of the nearest buildings, a round structure decorated with blue paint and pink awnings over the windows and door. She poked the door open with a hoof and saw a room full of clothing with a platform surrounded by mirrors against one wall, but nopony was inside. Swatches of fabric and sewing equipment were strewn across a desk, like the owner had been in the middle of something and then suddenly left.

"Spike, is this place supposed to be like this?" Twilight left the building and looked down the street. Judging from the closed doors and darkened windows, she doubted she'd be having much luck finding anypony in them either.

"No, Ponyville is usually pretty bustling for a town of its size. This is weird," Spike muttered, his hologram scratching his head.

"Ya think?" Twilight replied, looking in the window of another home. It was empty too, the inside dark and motionless. "I was at least expecting to find somepony around."

"Me too. Well, there are some ponies around, but not nearly as many as I should see." Spike pulled her map up in front of her face again. "I'm reading the biosignature of one of Celestia's aides on the other side of town, and there's a few other ponies hanging around, but that's it. It's like they abandoned the town."

"Maybe they're hiding from the berserk ponies Celestia warned us about?"

"Nope, if they were anywhere here I should still be able to pick them up, and according to my readings the ones left are milling about in the streets."

"Right... we have to start the investigation somewhere. Where's the nearest pony you can sense?" Twilight watched as her map shifted and zoomed out, a blinking red dot appearing down a street.

"Down this street and to the left, there's two ponies over behind the library. There are several others but those two are closest."

Twilight followed the map's directions, her eyes still scanning the town for any signs of activity along the way. She found none. Shops and stalls in the streets were left unattended, unprotected wares sitting in the open. Every house was dark with their doors closed, and carts and buggy of goods had been forgotten by their owners. Twilight suppressed a shudder at the disconcerting thoughts the sights were bringing to mind, and focused on the building rising ahead.

Ponyville's library was a massive oak tree, windows and balconies built into its sides. It towered over the other structures in the town by two full stories, and over the tree's branches an anti-gravity platform with astronomy equipment hovered in place, a rope ladder descending to a balcony below. At the foot of the library two earth ponies stood, staring blankly into space. One had a metal plate running over her flank and down her hind legs, the other had a Multitool on one of her front hooves. At Twilight's approach they both turned to her.

"Hi girls." She waved at them. They didn't return the gesture. "You wouldn't happen to know where everypony is, would you?"

"They've all run off," the violet pony said. Her face was blank as she spoke, eyes not fully focused on Twilight as she looked at her.

"The Master called them, and they went," the blue one said, using the same tone.

"Um, the 'Master'?" Twilight asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm scanning their systems remotely," Spike's voice sounded in her head. Twilight jerked slightly in surprise at the mental communication. The two ponies before her didn't notice.

"We're fine. We merely need to wait." The violet pony nodded as if it was an obvious fact.

"Yes. The Master has not called us yet, but she will call us soon," the blue one agreed.

"Oookaaaay… sure," Twilight said, forcing a smile.

"I'm sensing a lot of programming anomalies," Spike muttered. Twilight looked over her shoulder at the hologram. It was holding still, looking like a baby dragon riding a pony; the processes Spike was carrying out didn't show in its behavior.

"Are you two sure you're fine?" Twilight pressed, looking back at the earth ponies. "Celestia told me ponies in the town have been acting odd, and I just–" She stopped suddenly as the two ponies narrowed their eyes, their eyes glowing bright red for a moment.

"Celestia is the enemy of the Master," they said in unison, taking a step forward.

"Oh, is she?" Twilight backed up, looking between them. "Good to know."

The two earth ponies continued coming towards her, and suddenly Spike's voice was shouting in her head. "Twilight, there's some sort of system corruption!" Before she could think of a response, the pony with the Multitool jumped at her. Twilight dodged to the side, and the other pony tackled her on her back. She reared up to stomp, and her steel hooves whirred, metal plates sliding apart and retracting. Two spiked wheels emerged on the side of each hoof, and Twilight rolled out of the way, the spiked wheels kicking up dirt and grass. Twilight got to her feet and looked between them. Both ponies were glaring at her now, their eyes pulsing in a steady rhythm of red light.

"I can't interface with their minds without authorization, you'll need to fight back," Spike said."Have any combat spells?" Twilight made a face and thought.

"I can fire concussive magic blasts from my horn. Would that work?" Before Spike could respond, the Multitool pony was charging her again, her head down. Twilight rolled to the side and looked at the other pony, who had leapt into the air to deliver a diving kick spinning wheels on her hooves. She ducked and aimed her horn forward. An orb of violet light lit up on the end, and the concussion spell launched, a slim bolt of violet energy shooting forward. Twilight fired two more blasts, and the attacking pony was hit in the back, the bolts flashing on impact. The pony fell forward and was still, one hoof twitching.

"That's the best you've got?" Spike exclaimed.

"Well I'm not used to fighting, I barely even glanced at that spell!" Twilight called back. The pony with the Multitool was coming at her again, standing on her hind hooves while her Multitool shifted apart and extended. This peripheral Twilight recognized from Canterlot's gardeners, a four-pronged claw meant for digging out circles of ground for planting flowers. The pony advanced on Twilight, swinging the claw through the air, and Twilight stumbled back and ducked to avoid the swipes. She fired two more concussive bolts, the pony took them in the chest and stumbled back, her claw going into a spasm. Twilight fired once more at the claw itself, and the force spun the pony around and sent her tumbling to the grass, unconscious.

Twilight looked back at the blue pony, but she wasn't moving again yet. "What... was that?"

"No clue." Spike's hologram shrugged. "I was picking up a lot of programming quirks, but nothing to suggest they might attack you."

"Are they okay?" Twilight cautiously approached the violet pony and nudged her hind hoof. No response, but the other pony's chest indicated she was alive and breathing. "I've never had to fight another pony before..."

"My scans show their vital signs and internals are fine. I think the fight just gave them a system shock and stunned them," Spike replied. "On the other hoof, bad news. The life signs of the other ponies in the town are moving."

"Moving?" Twilight asked.

"Yup, and now there's a nice bright red dotted line forming to point us at the apple orchards," Spike said. Twilight called up her map and saw Spike's scanners confirming his comparison. She groaned.

"They aren't going to be friendly, are they?"

"Well, impossible to tell without getting close enough to scan their systems for corruption, but I'd hedge my bets."

"So would I..." Twilight looked back at the two unconscious ponies. They had nothing more for weapons than farming implements, dangerous ones, they had certainly proven that. But Ponyville didn't seem the type of town to keep trained fighters and weapon peripherals around. "As long as this is the worst we come across, we can handle this. Come on, Spike. Let's find Celesta's aide and get out of here!"

Twilight called up her map and followed the path that pointed towards Celestia's aide. She didn't get far down the next street before two more earth ponies charged at her from an alleyway, their eyes showing the tell-tale red glow already. One of them raised a steel hoof, the metal folding back into the same four-pronged claw the violet earth pony had. The other was wearing a mechanical saddle, two claws emerging from the side on extending steel tubes. Twilight avoided the first pony's claw swipe and ducked the second to fire three energy bolts. Her eyes flashed with violet light as the bolts exploded just inches away and sent the pony stumbling backwards, collapsing. The pony with the saddle sent one of the claws towards Twilight. It buried itself in the ground beside her hoof, and when the other came at her Twilight jumped over it and attacked the saddle directly. The claws shuddered in the air and the earth pony fell on his side.

Twilight continued down the path, the map showing Celestia's aide was getting closer as she galloped. The next pony to obstruct her path was another unicorn, with a pale pink coat and a bright blue mane, a band of metal circling her horn. Her horn lit up blue and she fired two magic shots at Twilight. She ducked and weaved to avoid them and fired her own, but the enemy unicorn kept firing. The attacks crackled against each other in a flash of violet and blue light and fizzled out, electricity filling the air.

"Attacking blindly isn't going to work."

"I'm open to suggestions then!" Twilight snapped back, dodging two more bolts. They hit a fruit stand behind her and the wood splintered and collapsed, apples falling from their baskets and rumbling across the grass.

"She can only fire so many blasts before she starts tiring! Wait for an opening." Twilight dodged another bolt, and the unicorn stopped, panting slightly. Twilight took her opening and aimed carefully, three bolts of magic flying. The unicorn dodged two of them, but the third caught her in the neck and she fell over with a jerk, her eyes closing. Twilight ran up to her to check on her. As before, she was unconscious, but alive.

"Any more ponies in the way?" She asked, running down the street again.

"Aside from Celestia's aide, just one," Spike replied. Twilight saw the street up ahead end, and it looked like a large apple orchard stretched beyond the city limits. She was almost out of the town, when she saw movement from the corner of her eye and skidded to a halt. A large red earth pony stallion stepped out from an alleyway, standing in the street and glaring down at her with glowing red eyes. His coat was a deep red, and a metal horse collar ran around his neck.

"That's a Farm Breaker collar. They're designed to disintegrate rocks and tree stumps in the way of crops." Spike said in her head.

Twilight gulped and slowly backed away. "Uh… don't suppose you're friendly?"

The stallion growled and pawed at the ground with a snort. "Nnnope."

"Great," Twilight groaned. The earth pony lowered his head, and the two metal orbs poking up from the horse collar on his neck lit up red. Twilight's eyed widened and she dove away as two blasts of red energy shot towards her, zigzagging through the air and exploding on the ground. The stallion turned towards her and the orbs lit up again. This time Twilight was on her hooves and running, the ground behind her erupting in a shower of dirt as the blasts missed. The heat singed her tail, the fine furs of her coat standing up from the electricity in the air.

Twilight turned her head as she ran and fired off a few shots of her own. They hit the stallion's collar, and he flinched slightly and stumbled back a step, but it didn't look like he was falling down like the rest.

"Must be a lot tougher than the normal ponies," she said. Dirt and grass flew up behind her from another pair of energy bolts trying to pin her down. "I can't keep running forever. Any suggestions, Spike?"

"Those shots didn't do much but faze him, so I think the collar isn't his main implant. And he keeps missing you, so he seems kinda slow on the turning," the AI observed. "See if you can get behind him!" Twilight thought, and as the next energy bolt fired, she turned to run straight towards the stallion. He looked surprised, but the orbs on the horse collar were charging up again. At the last moment, she leapt, and the blasts fired.

The ground beneath Twilight's feet exploded, the shockwave aiding in her leap over the earth pony, who looked up at her as she cleared over his hear. She looked down and her eyes widened in triumph. On his back, behind the horse collar, a large metal plate with rows of blinking lights and interface connections.

"Gotcha!" Twilight landed on her feet and lowered her head. Several blasts fired from her horn, impacting the stallion's implant. The pony let out a loud whinny and reared up, then fell forward on his stomach and was still. Twilight took the moment to catch her breath.

"And they... give that stuff to farmers?" She said, staring at the stallion's collar.

"Maybe he overloaded the power breaker. Usually the energy output is much lower, but you can hack them," Spike explained.

"I'm going to have to have a talk with the Minister of Agriculture when this is over." Twilight grumbled under her breath and made sure the stallion was breathing before looking at the apple orchard. Slowly walking towards it, the orchard was more lively than the town at least, birds could be heard and seen flitting among the apple trees. The sign over the entrance to the apple orchard proudly read "Sweet Apple Acres". As Twilight passed it and entered the apple fields, she looked around for any sign of ponies, berserk or otherwise. She saw none. She approached the house and looked inside, but it was as abandoned as the rest of the homes in Ponyville.

"She's in the barn," Spike said. Twilight nodded and headed behind the house. A large motorized plow sat outside the closed barn doors, and opposite it lay a large hovercraft, currently deactivated and laying on the bare soil. Four claws ran from the craft, which had a large steel bin on top. Twilight walked between the two machines and used her magic to seize one of the barn doors, sliding it back.

"Hello-o-o," she called, the sound echoing between the walls. "Anypony home?"

"Hey there!" Twilight looked up.

An orange earth pony with a pale yellow mane trotted down the steps leading up to the hayloft. Her hind hooves were stainless steel from hoof to flank, the hooves showing signs of industrial reinforcement, bands of darker metal running along their length. She wore a large metal cowpony hat.

"Hi. Are you…" Twilight mentally read the data Spike was feeding her. "Applejack?"

The earth pony nodded as she reached the ground. "Ah sure as sugar am. An' who might you be?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to look for you."

"I'm not reading any signs of system corruption," Spike said. Twilight came into the barn, she relaxed slightly at Spike's reassurance but still watched Applejack closely. Applejack looked at Twilight suspiciously and turned her head away slightly.

"Now why would y'all be here lookin' fer me?"

"Well, I heard you were in trouble, and came to track you down and protect you. The ponies in town are acting weird," Twilight replied.

Applejack smiled. "Ah appreciate the concern, hun, but ah'm fine. All them other ponies took off bah now, it's just been me an' mah brother holdin' the fort. He's a big red feller, 'round here somewhere doin' his rounds. Maybe ya seen him comin' in?"

"Eh-heh... yeah, I think I saw him." Twilight laughed awkwardly.

"He's been pretty good about holdin' off them crazies, he's one of the toughest ponies in town," Applejack said proudly.

"Should we mention her tough brother got taken down by one unicorn?" Spike snickered.

"Let's not," Twilight snapped, glaring at the hologram. Applejack looked confused at the response to the program's thought, and Twilight forced a smile. "Nevermind. So, you're safe, that's good. Any advice you have on what's been going on around here would be appreciated too. We're trying to figure out what's happening."

"Well, lemme think." Applejack raised a hoof to her chin and tilted an eyebrow. "Mah memory's a bit fuzzy... ah think it began last night. Ah had some visitors on the farm, and..." The farmer stopped talking and winced, putting a hoof to the side of her head. She blinked rapidly and took a moment to focus before continuing. "Sorry. Not much else is comin' to me. Think maybe ah bucked one o' them trees too hard or sumthin', mah head's spinnin'."

"That's fine, thank you for trying. What's most important is that we've found you and you're safe." Twilight turned to look at the holographic dragon on her back. "Spike, see if you can get through to Princess Celestia. Let her know we're still investigating here, but we've found Applejack and she's fine."

"No she's not!" Twilight looked forward to see Applejack's face go blank, and her eyes glow red.

"Sorry, hun," the earth pony said. The tone reminded Twilight of the two mares she had seen in town earlier. "But now ah've gotta destroy ya." Before Twilight could react, Applejack turned on her front hooves and bucked hard. Twilight went flying backwards, the force of Applejack's metal hooves sending her through the air to hit hard on the barn door. The wood cracked apart and Twilight fell forward on her stomach. The sound of ringing metal filled her ears, her vision swimming. She blinked rapidly and focused her eyes in time to see Applejack running towards her.

"It's the same corruption I read before, run!" Spike said. Twilight scrambled to her hooves and ran

Applejack stopped, and Twilight heard the ground of whirring gears and grinding metal. The farmer's hat shot straight out of her head, a think metal chain connecting it to an implant in her head. The hat hit the barn door where Twilight had hit before, sending the wood flying out over the farm grounds. Applejack jerked her head back, the chain retracted and the hat coiled through the air back to her head. The attack avoided, Twilight aimed for Applejack's flank and fired off two magic shots before Applejack turned back towards her. They made direct contract and the metal flashed violet as they fizzled out against it, but Applejack didn't wasn't fazed at all and she charged again.

Twilight ran up a nearby ladder into the rafters as Applejack stopped and fired her hat again. The steel tore apart the bottom of the ladder, the wood cracking apart and collapsing to the ground. Twilight jumped back to the ground from the falling ladder, a cloud of dirt and dust kicking up as she rolled to her feet, and fired off a few more shots. Applejack was facing her again, but she didn't run. Instead, she lifted her hind hooves, standing on her front two only. Twilight both heard and saw metal components in Applejack's hooves shift, the bottom widening into a cylindrical cone. The cone coiled up to a third its length, and Applejack stomped the ground, her hooves shooting out to their full length on impact.

Twilight's world shook as a shockwave rumbled through the ground. She felt queasy and tasted metal. It felt even worse than the buck Applejack had delivered it just minutes ago. Applejack was coming towards her again now. Twilight tried to move but only her three biological hooves obeyed her, the fourth stayed rooted. She looked up and braced herself as Applejack stopped and the cowpony hat shooting into her side. Twilight spun through the air, a bale of hay graciously catching her instead of the dirt ground. She clutched her stomach with her biological hoof and stumbled against the broken bales to climb out of the pile. She felt like she had just been bowled down a hill, and Applejack wasn't letting up.

"Whatever she did when she stomped, it temporarily disrupted the circuits in your hoof, she cut you off from it. Try to avoid it." Spike advised.

"How about I avoid all of whatever she can do to hurt me," Twilight groaned, stumbling to stay standing upright.

"You mean that wasn't the plan anyway up until now?"

Twilight bit back a retort; she was regaining her senses and had worse things to worry about than a snarky AI. Applejack was charging across the barn, her head held down. On solid ground, Twilight pushed away the dizziness and sore ribs and ran forward. Applejack's hat flew past her, the chain's clinking filling Twilight's ears as she narrowly dodged it. Instead the earth pony took out a support beam for the rafters, and another three energy shots connected with the metal plate on her flank.

"Why aren't my attacks doing anything?" Twilight rolled away as Applejack charged her and climbed to her feet to see the other mare turning back to face her.

"They are, my scanners are showing that the virus corrupting her is a lot stronger though. I'm guessing it'll take a lot more force to knock her out." Applejack stood forward on her front hooves, her rear ones shifting and re-configuring. Twilight gasped and ran away, taking a leap into the air. The steel hooves slammed into the ground, sending out another shockwave. Twilight landed and waited for the paralysis in her hoof. To her relief, it didn't come.

"She can't stun me if I'm in the air!" She smiled in triumph at the realization. Applejack must have figured that out too now, because she looked angry as she came at Twilight again, lowering her head. Twilight was already moving to the side as the cowpony hat launched at her, knocking over a pile of hay bales and sending a flurry of broken hay into the air from them. Twilight circled her, firing energy blasts rapidly. Applejack didn't retract her hat this time, instead she flung her head about, sending the hat and chain whirling through the air with a chorus of metallic clanks. Twilight jumped over the chain as it came around, and Applejack snapped her head down to bring the hat and chain down hard. Twilight avoided them and kept firing. Applejack retracted her hat, a few shots being deflecting as it spun through the air towards her before resting on her head again.

"Y'all are makin' me angry, hun!" Applejack lifted her hind hooves, and Twilight saw the motion as they shifted form. She jumped into the air again to avoid the expected shockwave. Applejack looked up at her as she planted her hooves on the ground again and fired her hat up. Twilight fell too quickly for it to hit her, the hat cracking apart a wooden rafter overhead, and the rafter collapsed, sending hay barrels, parts of an old cart, and wood pieces falling to the ground. Twilight landed, ran to dodge the debris, and fired at Applejack's flank as fast as she could before the hat retracted and Applejack turned. Twilight steadied her hoofs on the ground and waited, staring down the galloping pony coming closer. She heard and saw the telltale signs of a chain, and swiftly rolled, her horn glowing bright violet.

Applejack ran past Twilight, her hat shooting out and narrowly missing her to hit the wall of the barn. Going too fast to stop quickly enough, Applejack slowed, her hooves skidding on the ground, kicking up bits of stone and hay in a cloud of dust. Behind her, Twilight rolled back on her feet and opened fire. The air flashed with the light of a flurry of energy bolts raining out from her horn, bombarding Applejack's flank. With a frenzied cry, Applejack stumbled forward, and Twilight stopped, watching. She wavered from side to side as her hat slowly retracted back to her head, falling back into place than being pulled. With a long, low groan, Applejack finally fell on her side, her eyes drifting shut.

"Did we do it?" Twilight asked, watching her closely.

"Scanning… she's out, we got her." Twilight let out a long groan of relief and pain at the report and collapsed on her stomach. Dust, dirt, and bits of hay covered her mane and coat, and her ribs were sore from where Applejack's attacks had landed. Looking down Twilight saw a bruise starting to form beneath the lavender fur.

"I'm going to feel that buck for a week."

"You take it easy, I'll scan her systems and see what I can find out," Spike said. Twilight nodded, putting her head down. She wondered if those healing salves Celestia had given her would work to relief a headache. As she felt her cybernetics work with Spike's scans, Twilight eventually climbed to her feet and walked over to inspect Applejack's motionless form. Her hat lay on the ground, the chain had gone slack when she collapsed and the hat fell off her head without the tension. Twilight cautiously poked one of the steel hind hooves with her own, remembering the stunning shockwave she had unleashed.

"Alright, she's definitely got some sort of system corruption, maybe a virus infection. I didn't detect it before, it must have been benign. I guess something set it off big time," Spike said. "I can't figure out what the cause is though."

"Well we better try to figure it out. Whatever set them off, this wasn't just random mischief. These ponies are turning violent." Did Celestia realize how dangerous this mission was, that the ponies were attacking her like this? Maybe she should have asked for back-up, or some sort of weapon. Her magic blasts were reliable, but they were not her first choice for offense when it came to fighting hostile ponies. Unicorn magic could work just as good as an energy blaster in the hands of a trained military unicorn, but she was not. Barring that, some body armor might be nice.

"Think we can find some sort of protection around here?" Twilight asked Spike. "Something to wear that will hopefully cushion against supercharged steel bucking hooves?"

"Not likely, you'd have to ask Celestia for that type of gear," Spike replied. "But, I might have something for you still. I was able to find some executable files in Applejack's databanks, may come in handy if we're going to fight. Your hoof is a Multitool, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Hang on, lemme copy the program from her and make some configurations." Twilight felt her cybernetic parts come to life and looked down at her hoof. Beneath the steel exterior, microscopic nanomachines were coming to life, forming some sort of construct. That was the glory of a Multitool, almost anything the owner needed could be formed from the interior components re-configuring themselves. She didn't know what Spike was doing to her, but she was silent while he worked. The exterior of her hoof twisted apart at the bottom, and four prongs emerged, curving into a four-pointed claw. Her entire hoof extended slightly, forming a series of metal rings with gaps between them.

"Alright, the files are copied and the hoof reworked," Spike said. "Lift your hoof and point at something, then activate the hoof add-on." Twilight turned to face the barn doors, lifted her hoof, and activated the new program Spike had created in her databanks. The bottom half of the hoof shot forward on a long, narrow chain, the metal rings extending out with it. The claw embedded in the barn door, and she pulled back, a plank of wood coming off and skidding across the floor to lay at her feet. Twilight looked down at her hoof and grinned.

"It's like what she did with her hat!"

"Yup, was pretty easy to modify the schematics to give you something a bit more useful on the end than a hat," Spike explained. "I've saved the program and archived the schematic, so in the future we can rework your hoof into a grappling chain in just a second or two."

"What's the program called?" Twilight asked.

"It didn't have a name in her systems, so for us, I call it… Apple Grapple!" Spike said. Twilight made a face and turned to look at the hologram. "What?"

"You just wanted to make that pun, didn't you?"

"It's a good one!" Spike protested. "Uh, how about Apple Whip?" Before the unicorn could respond, her systems beeped. "We're receiving a transmission. It's from Celestia!" Spike said. Twilight looked forward as her horn projected a blue hologram of her Celestia's head in front of her.

"Twilight Sparkle, the interference in your location has cleared up. What's the situation?"

"We got to Ponyville. Almost all the ponies here are gone, and the ones left aren't just mischievous, they're violent. We had to fight our way through the city to find your aide, Applejack," Twilight explained.

Celestia gasped and leaned forward slightly. "Oh dear, this is worse than I expected. Are you alright?" Twilight guessed her filthy and wounded state wasn't showing well through the transmission.

"I got more than a little beat up, but I think I'm okay. Applejack was corrupted too, and she puts up a good fight. But she's safe now, we incapacitated her."

"Princess, there's some sort of program corruption infecting the ponies here. I think that's the cause of their odd behavior," Spike cut in.

"I see. With the interference cleared up we have teleporter capabilities in the town again. I'll have the teleporters take care of Applejack." As Celestia finished, Twilight saw Applejack's body light up and vanish in a shower of sparkles. "With her safe here we can run diagnostics. Hopefully we can get her back to normal and find out what's causing this."

"Right. And we need to find your other four aides, they weren't here, but I'm guessing they haven't gotten very far," Twilight said.

"You're sure you'll be safe on your own?" Celestia asked. Twilight thought. Part of her wanted to say 'no, I'm not, please send help, preferably in the form of your strongest guard ponies, at least three'. But she remembered Celestia's trust in her. Her mentor sent her, above anyone else she could have chosen, to solve this mystery. She had called on Twilight, and Twilight had assured her she could do it. The mare looked over at Applejack, remembering how many ponies in town beside her had the same glowing red eyes, and the system corruption Spike had detected. Finding her courage again, Twilight turned back to Celestia and nodded.

"I'm fine. I was able to incapacitate the crazed ponies without hurting them too badly, and I'm feeling alright. I can handle this, for now, anyway."

"If you're certain, then I shall trust you, but do not hesitate to contact me again if the situation worsens. Take care, my student." The Celestia hologram faded, and Twilight looked back at Spike.

"So, where to now?" she asked.

"I think the system corruption in Applejack was what was disrupting the transmissions around here, once we beat her Celestia's transmission got through fine," Spike said. "And with the interference cleared up, I'm detecting another one of Celestia's aides. She's in the forest north of Ponyville."

"Well then, let's get going!"

Three sets of eyes watched the holographic display of Twilight Sparkle and Spike trotting down the streets of Ponyville.

"It is as the Master expected. Celestia has dispatched someone to investigate," one of the three ponies said.

"Yeah, and she freed one of the aides," another replied.

"It is of no concern. They serve only as a diversion. The Unification can proceed without them," the first said.

"Yes, it can," the third spoke up, turning from the display. "But, we must remember, the Master told us to keep Celestia's aides out of her grasp. They have the fragments of the Program. We cannot allow Celestia to obtain it."

"You don't seriously think one unicorn can defeat our forces alone, and rescue the other four?" the first pony snorted.

"She's already got one," the second said. "I'm not gonna take the blame from the Master if she gets to more of them. Why not take care of her now?"

"We have matters here to concern ourselves with. It is only one unicorn, we need not fear her," the first insisted.

"No, we do not, but the Master has entrusted us to ensure nopony interferes, and that is what has occurred, and so we must take action." The third pony looked back at the display of Twilight, and a blue aura appeared over her horn, the controls below the display lighting up the same color as she manipulated them. "I'm already sending the signal to our allies at the mountain. They will be ready for her. The Unification shall not be impeded by one unicorn."

"And the Program?" the first pony asked. The third pony smiled as she finished her work.

"If we must, then we will take care of the situation personally."

LEVEL COMPLETE

WEAPON ACQUIRED – APPLE WHIP